No, Sejanus could not just “pull a Plutarch”
This is a take I see often, which is used as a critisism against Sejanus and him being *too emotional*, usually looking like: “with his money he would have impacted the world if only he waited around like Plutarch did”.
No, he would not, and let me explain why it is impossible with Sejanus’ foundation as a character.
A thing that is constantly ignored in this debate is the entirely different social situations those two characters are in. Plutarch was not just rich, well-educated, and read a lot. He was a Capitol elite from one of the most influential families in the whole city - they have halls named after them, the Heavensebees were literally one of the ones to build the Capitol. Part of the reasons Plutarch could run around the town doing whatever the hell he wants, organize rebellions, get away for the attempts to break the Arena and stay off radars was because he was a Heavensebee.
Now take Sejanus, who is he? No matter his money that Strabo throws around (many times to bail him out), Sejanus is not just an outsider with too political views, he is a District born immigrat who lived in Two most of his life. He knows he doesn’t belong, his classmates turn his nose at him, and the only person who is not as terrible to him as everyone else is already considered his best friend. Sejanus was in a very vulnerable position when he was taken from his home and his father immediatly went nuclear, saying to forget his old life in Two and accept that the Capitol (which showed that doesn’t want him) is his home now. Outside of the money, the Plinths had no connections and no protection, money being the only thing they weren’t thrown out yet. Unlike Plutarch, who is separate from the issue and knows all about it from history books, Sejanus identifies himself as/is district: “Don’t forget, I’m part of this litter”, meaning he watched injustice happen to his own people for close to a decade with Games and oppression, and we don’t know how much were the districts abused by the Capitol before the first rebellion.
Since the beginning, those two characters have next to nothing in common besides being rich and being rebels. They have entirely different backgrounds and definitely not in a favor of Sejanus.
Sejanus was “emotional” only because he was desparate from getting no support from the people around besides Strabo throwing money to “fix” the problems (and honestly Strabo worsened his already bad condition by pulling that stunt with Marcus). On the other hand, Plutarch was never an outcast in the Capitol, got himself connections practically handled and this + his own wit formed his personality and his worldview, making him more cold and resourceful.
Point blank, Plutarch could afford himself to sit down and plan his rebellion because he most likely started it while being mature and stable (and as we are shown in SOTR, other people, even the uninvolved in the rebellion like Wiress ended up being punished instead of him). Plutarch was a Capitol man with an idea, Sejanus was a while privileged, a District kid forced into a society that did not want him, and this caused him to lash out - in the end, it shows that even the money, the resource that always protected Sejanus, had its limits and end.
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