Lucius Pedanius Secundus (d. AD 61) was a Roman senator of the first century. After he was murdered by one of his slaves, the senate and emperor Nero approved the execution of all four hundred under his ownership.
Biography
The Pedanii had their roots as Roman colonists in the town of Barcino in Hispania Tarraconensis. Secundus' descendants include a series of consuls, beginning with his son Gnaeus Pedanius Fuscus Salinator, consul in AD 61.
In AD 43, during the reign of Claudius, Secundus was consul suffectus from the Kalends of March to the Kalends of July, together with Sextus Palpellius Hister. Secundus was the first senator from the Spanish provinces to achieve the rank of consul since the anomalous tenure of Lucius Cornelius Balbus in 40 BC. In 56, Nero appointed Secundus praefectus urbi.
In AD 61, Secundus was murdered by one of his slaves. The senate, moved by Gaius Cassius Longinus and others, approved the execution of all of Pedanius' four hundred slaves, in accordance with Roman law, for failing to prevent their master's murder. An abridged version of Longinus' speech was preserved by Tacitus. The people demanded the release of the hundreds of slaves who were innocent of the murder, but Nero deployed the Roman army to prevent the mob from disrupting the executions.