Being a delator could be a lucrative, but much despised profession under the Roman emperors. The delator was an informer or informant. Delatores (the Latin plural of delator) were despised for bringing forth trumped-up charges and adversely affecting freedom of speech. Often a delator was paid by the emperor for the accusations. Delatores were sometimes paid a fee and sometimes a set portion of the victim's fine. Money confiscated also went into the imperial treasury.
The people who were accused by the delator were mostly those of the senatorial class, so it is not surprising that the emperors especially associated with the delatores were those otherwise disliked by senatorial class writers, Pliny, Cassius Dio, Suetonius, and Tacitus. One of the marks against the reign of Tiberius was the rise in the use of delatores after Sejanus gained power. Two other emperors connected with a heavy use of delatores are the despised Nero, after the Pisonian conspiracy, and Domitian.
"But the words of the assassin sunk deep into the mind of Commodus, and left an indelible impression of fear and hatred against the whole body of the senate. Those whom he had dreaded as importunate ministers, he now suspected as secret enemies. The Delators, a race of men discouraged, and almost extinguished, under the former reigns, again became formidable, as soon as they discovered that the emperor was desirous of finding disaffection and treason in the senate."
Gibbon
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