Manius Aemilius Lepidus was a Roman senator who was active during the Principate. He was ordinary consul in AD 11 as the colleague of Titus Statilius Taurus.[1] Tacitus reports that Augustus, while discussing possible rivals for the Roman Emperor Tiberius on his deathbed, described him as worthy of becoming emperor (capax imperii), but "disdainful" of supreme power.[2]
Lepidus has been assumed to be the son of Marcus Aemilius Lepidus the Younger and his wife Servilia Isaurica, but modern-day historians believe he was more likely the nephew of Lepidus the Younger. He had a sister named Aemilia Lepida.
After 5 BC, but prior to acceding to the consulship, Lepidus was co-opted as an Augur.[3] He defended his sister at her trial in AD 20. At the trial of Clutorius Priscus, he argued without success that the proposed death sentence was excessively harsh.[4] [5] In AD 21, he achieved the pinacle of a Senatorial career, the proconsular governorship of Asia.[6]
He had a daughter also called Aemilia Lepida who married Emperor Galba.[7]