Lucius Pomponius Flaccus was a crony of Tiberius, whom ancient historians noted for indulging the emperor's vices rather than for any important political or military accomplishments. In 16 CE, as the paranoid ruler was launching his reign of terror by eliminating any suspected political threat, the praetor Drusus Libo -- a nephew of Augustus' first wife [Scribonia] -- was charged with sedition for invoking the spirits of his great-grandfather Pompey & other dead relatives. When the distraught suspect committed suicide, Flaccus earned appointment as consul of Rome for the following year by proposing that the date of this suicide be celebrated annually as a day of national thanksgiving. In 18 CE he served without distinction as imperial legate to the province of Moesia in the Balkans, which was thereafter abandoned to the Dacians. Fifteen years later, after the fall of the praetorian captain Sejanus, the aging Tiberius entrusted Flaccus to be the first imperial legate to take control of Syria in more than a decade simply because he appeared to be a "most agreeable friend" during a two day drinking bout. Having arrived at Damascus, he briefly became patron to his old friend, Herod's impoverished grandson Agrippa, after Agrippa's own uncle, Antipas, had dismissed him (35 CE). Flaccus died within the year.

References: Tacitus, Annals 2.28-32; 6.27.
                   Suetonius, Twelve Caesars: Tiberius 42.
                   Josephus, Antiquities 18.150-154.                   

Other resources on line:

• Flaccus, L. Pomponius  - brief entry in the Jewish Encyclopedia.