Nicolaus had managed to build himself a distinguished career of being really close to people who pissed Augustus off. He was appointed as tutor to the children of Antony and Cleopatra, which was probably amazing until they fell out with Augustus. Somehow Nicolaus escaped that situation and he took up with Herod the Great, the king of Judea, aka that Herod from the Bible with the baby killing. The baby killing wasn’t a massive problem for Augustus but going to war with the king of Arabia without permission was, so Herod had to send Nicolaus off to Rome to try to beg Augustus for forgiveness.
