Sejanus' birthday was honoured as if he were a member of the imperial family. According to the author and historian Richard Alston, "Sejanus' association with Tiberius must have at least indicated to the people that he would be further elevated". Downfall The very next year saw a direct attack on Agrippina and Nero. Tiberius sent a letter to the Senate in which he accused Agrippina and Nero of misconduct, but was unable to convict them of any attempt at rebellion. The attitude of the former and the sexual activity of the latter were the primary accusations against them. Agrippina was popular with the people, as was the family of Germanicus, and the people surrounded the senate-house carrying likenesses of the two in protest against the latter. The Senate refused to come to a resolution on the matter until it received a clear direction from the emperor to do so. Tiberius found it necessary to repeat his charges, and when he did, the Senate no longer delayed; the fate of Agrippina and Nero was sealed. Nero was declared an enemy of the state, removed to the island of Pontia, and was killed or encouraged to kill himself in AD 31. According to Suetonius, he put an end to his own life when the executioner appeared before him with the instruments of death. Post mortem His brother Drusus was later also exiled on similar charges of sexual misdemeanours. Sejanus remained powerful until his sudden downfall and summary execution in October AD 31, just after the death of Nero. The specific reasons for his downfall remain unclear. Alston suggests that Sejanus may have been doing a favour for Tiberius by removing Germanicus' family from power, noting that Agrippina and Nero's brother Drusus were left in exile even after Sejanus' death. The deaths of Germanicus' oldest sons elevated his third son, Gaius Caesar (Caligula), to successor and he became princeps when Tiberius died in AD 37. Drusus the Younger's son Tiberius Gemellus was summoned to Capri by his grandfather Tiberius, where he and Gaius Caligula were made joint-heirs. When Caligula assumed power, he made Gemellus his adopted son, but Caligula soon had Gemellus killed for plotting against him. In AD 37, Nero's bones were returned to Rome and interred at the Mausoleum of Augustus by Caligula. Ancestry See also Julio-Claudian family tree References Bibliography Primary sources Cassius Dio, Roman History Book 58, English translation