In later life, he became infamous for his luxurious tastes and cruelty to his slaves – when they displeased him, he had them fed to "lampreys"[notes 1] that he maintained for that purpose, which was deemed to be an exceedingly cruel act.

[12] Cicero, governor of Cilicia, was travelling near Laodicea in 50 BC, when Publius Vedius met him with a large retinue, and several wild asses and a baboon in a chariot.

Cicero took these to be trophies of Vedius' sexual conquests,[12] and, while highly praising her publicly,[14] in correspondence he criticized her for the indiscretion [13][12] and her husband and brother for their lack of awareness of her conduct.

The emperor demolished at least part of Pollio's house in Rome and constructed in its place a colonnade, the Porticus of Livia in honour of his wife, which he dedicated in 7 BC.

During or shortly after Augustus's reign, Ovid praised his demolition of Vedius's house as a grand statement against immoral luxury made even at the emperor's own cost.

[24] Pliny the Elder mentioned Vedius's lampreys in his Natural History while treating varieties of fish, noting the man's friendship with Augustus while ignoring the story of the latter's clemency.

He embellished the story by claiming that Augustus manumitted all of Vedius's slaves, a statement not based on any ancient source, in one 1763 lecture even estimating the value of the property their master thus lost.