GLABRIONE ACILIO. - Belonging to a noble senatorial family, he was consul in A.D. 91 together with Traiano; he was put to death by Domiziano in 95 after having been forced to fight a lion in a villa at Albano.
It seems that G. perished because of his adherence to Christianity. According to the testimony of Svetonio (Domitianus, 10), indeed, Domiziano had many senators and former consuls, among them G., put to death as « molitores rerum novarum ». Dione Cassio (Hist., 67, 14) adds that G. was condemned because he was accused of atheism and of having embraced Jewish customs. Now it is known that in the first centuries these accusations were directed against Christians converted from paganism, whence the Christianity of G. is highly probable. The literary testimonies are further indirectly confirmed by the existence of a Christian hypogeum belonging to the Acili family, descendants of G., discovered by G. B. De Rossi in the cemetery of Priscilla on the Via Salaria nuova, which dates back to the 2nd century.