I'm interested that, while acting as a tough political in-fighter for Octavian, Maecenas is also shown as being politically corrupt. I'm afraid I'm not on top of the sources on this, but I wonder if they're building up to the fact that, for reasons we don't really understand, sometime in the '20's BC, Maecenas was apparently removed from an intimate position with Octavian and, while he was not punished, his loyalty was called into question. If I recall, he passed along a top state secret to someone else, who spread it around, which Octavian/Augustus found unforgiveable. He retired to his lavish villa on the Esquiline (still there, although of course you can't apparently visit it) for the rest of his life.

And of course, especially while Octavian was doing his "virtuous Roman husband and father routine," Maecenas was known for more salacious entertainment.

Here's the article in Wikipedia. I'm just wondering if the script writers are setting it up for the (later) fall from grace? OR possibly, if they're hinting at a real-life character they've omitted from the series - Salvidienus Rufus, who betrayed Octavian so badly in the first decade that he was executed?

Here's the stuff on Rufus, another fascinating character we didn't get to see, but whose betrayal may be influencing what's going on with Maecenas. . . Salvidienus Rufus .