DRUSUS CAESAR (c. 15 B.c.—A.D. 23), commonly called Drusus junior, to distinguish him from his uncle Nero Claudius Drusus, was the only son of the Emperor Tiberius. He was consul elect in A.D. 14, and on the accession of Tiberius was sent to put down a mutiny of the troops in Pannonia (Tacitus, Annals, i. 24-3o). As governor of Illyricum (17 A.D.), he set the Germanic tribes against one another. On his return Drusus was consul a second time (21 A.D.) and in the following year re ceived the tribunician power which indicated him as heir to the throne. Seianus, who also aspired to the supreme power, de termined to remove Drusus. He seduced Drusus's wife and persuaded her to assist him in murdering her husband. A slow poison was administered, from the effects of which Drusus died after a lingering illness. Drusus was a man of violent passions, but not entirely devoid of better feelings, as is shown by his undoubtedly sincere grief at the death of Germanicus.
See Tacitus Annals, i. 76, iv. 8—s s ; Dio Cassius lvii. 13, 14 ; Suetonius Tiberius, 62; J. C. Tarver Tiberius the Tyrant