chapter 10

).

Sabina an object of love: Agrippina murdered (chapters 11-16).

Domitia put to death: festivities: Nero sings to the accompaniment of his lyre (chapters 17-21).

DURATION OF TIME.

M. Asinius Marcellus, Manius Acilius Aviola. (A.D. 54 = a.u. 807 = First of Nero, from Oct. 13th).

Nero Caesar Aug., L. Antistius Vetus. (A.D. 55 = a.u. 808 = Second of Nero).

Q. Volusius Saturninus, P. Cornelius Scipio. (A.D. 56 = a.u. 809 = Third of Nero).

Nero Caesar Aug. (II), L. Calpurnius Piso. (A.D. 57 = a.u. 810 = Fourth of Nero).

Nero Caesar Aug. (III), M. Valerius Messala. (A.D. 58 = a.u. 811 = Fifth of Nero).

C. Vipsanius Apronianus, L. Fonteius Capito. (A.D. 59 = a.u. 812 = Sixth of Nero).

Nero Caesar Aug. (IV), Cornelius Lentulus Cossus. (A.D. 60 = a.u. 813 = Seventh of Nero).

[Sidenote: A.D. 54 (a.u. 807)] [Sidenote:--1--] At the death of Claudius the leadership on most just principles belonged to Britannicus, who had been born a legitimate son of Claudius and in physical development was beyond what would have been expected of his years. Yet by law the power passed to Nero on account of his adoption. No claim, indeed, is stronger than that of arms. Every one who possesses superior force has always the appearance of both saying and doing what is more just. So Nero, having first disposed of Claudius's will and having succeeded him as master of the whole empire, put Britannicus and his sisters out of the way. Why, then, should one stop to lament the misfortunes of other victims?

[Sidenote:--2--] The following signs of dominion had been observed in his career. At his birth just before dawn rays not cast by any beam of sunlight yet visible surrounded his form. And a certain astrologer from this and from the motion of the stars at that time and their relation to one another divined two things in regard to him,--that he would rule and that he would murder his mother. Agrippina on hearing this became for the moment so beside herself as actually to cry out: "Let him kill me, if only he shall rule." Later she was destined to repent bitterly of her prayer. Some people become so steeped in folly that if they expect to obtain some blessing mingled with evil, they at once through their anxiety for the advantage pay no heed to the detriment. When the time for the latter also comes, they are cast down and would choose not to have secured even the greatest good thing. Yet Domitius, the father of Nero, had a sufficient previous intimation of his son's coming baseness and licentiousness, not by any oracle but through the nature of his own and Agrippina's characters. And he declared: "It is impossible for any good man to be born from me and from her." As time went on, the finding of a serpent skin around Nero's neck when he was but a boy caused the seers to say: "He shall acquire great power from the aged man." Serpents are thought to slough off their old age with their old skin, and so get power.

[Sidenote:--3--] Nero was seventeen years of age when he began to rule. He first entered the camp, and, after reading to the soldiers all that Seneca had written, he promised them as much as Claudius had been accustomed to give. Before the senate he read such a considerable document,--this, too, written by Seneca,--that it was voted the statements should be inscribed on a silver tablet and should be read every time the new consuls took up the duties of their office. Consequently those who heard him made themselves ready to enjoy a good reign according to the letter of the compilation. At first Agrippina [in company with Pallas, a vulgar and tiresome man,] managed all affairs pertaining to the empire, and she and her son went about together, often reclining in the same litter; usually, however, she would be carried and he would follow alongside. It was she who transacted business with embassies and sent letters to peoples and governors and kings. When this had gone on for a considerable time, it aroused the displeasure of Seneca and Burrus, who were both the most sensible and the most influential of the advisers of Nero. The one was his teacher and the other was prefect of the Pretorians. They took the following occasion to stop this method of procedure. An embassy of Armenians had arrived and Agrippina wished to ascend the platform from which Nero was talking with them. The two men, seeing her approach, persuaded the young man to go down before she could reach there and meet his mother, pretending some form of greeting. After that was done they did not return again, making some excuse to prevent the foreigners from seeing the flaw in the empire. Subsequently they labored to keep any public business from being again committed to her hands.

[Sidenote:--4--] When they had accomplished this, they themselves took charge of the entire empire and gave it the very best and fairest management that they could. Nero was not in general fond of affairs and was glad to live at leisure. [The reason, indeed, that he had previously distrusted his mother and now was fond of her lay in the fact that now he was free to enjoy himself, and the government was being carried on no less well. And his advisers after consultation made many changes in existing customs, abolishing some things altogether and passing a number of new laws.] They let Nero sow his wild oats with the intention of bringing about in him through the satisfaction of all his desires a changed attitude of mind, while in the meantime no great damage should be done to public interests. Surely they must have known that a young and self-willed spirit, when reared in unreproved license and in absolute authority, so far from becoming satiated by the indulgence of its passions is ruined more and more by these very agencies. Indeed, Nero at first gave but simple dinners; his revels, his drunkenness, his amours were moderate. Afterward, as no one reproved him for them and public business was carried forward none the worse for all of it, he began to believe that what he did was right and that he could carry his practices to even greater lengths. [Consequently he began to indulge in each of these pursuits in a more open and precipitate fashion. And in case his guardians gave him any warning or his mother any rebuke, he would appear abashed while they were present and promise to reform; but as soon as they were gone, he would again become the slave of his desire and yield to those who were dragging him in the other direction,--a straight course down hill.] Next he came to despise instruction, inasmuch as he was always hearing from his associates, "Do _you_ submit to this?" or "Do _you_ fear these people?", "Don't you know that you are Caesar?", "Have not you the authority over them rather than they over you?" He was also animated by obstinacy, not wishing to acknowledge his mother as superior and himself as inferior, nor to admit the greater good sense of Seneca and Burrus.

[Sidenote:--5--] Finally he passed the possibility of being shamed, dashed to the ground and trampled under foot all their suggestions, and began to follow in the steps of Gaius. When he had once felt a desire to emulate him, he quite outdid him, for he believed that the imperial power must manifest itself among other ways by allowing no one to surpass it even in the vilest deeds. [As he was praised for this by the crowds, and received many pleasant compliments from them, he gave himself no rest. His doings were at first confined to his home and associates, but were later on carried abroad. Thus he attached a mighty disgrace to the whole Roman race and committed many outrages upon the individuals composing it. Innumerable acts of violence and insult, of rape and murder, were committed both by the emperor himself and by those who at one time or another had influence with him. And, as certainly and inevitably follows in all such practices], great sums of money naturally were spent, great sums unjustly procured, and great sums seized by force. For under no circumstances was Nero niggardly. Here is an illustration. He had ordered no less than two hundred and fifty myriads at one time to be given to Doryphorus, who attended to the state documents of his empire. Agrippina had it all piled in a heap, hoping by showing him the money all together to make him change his mind. Instead, he asked how much the mass before him amounted to, and when he was informed he doubled it, saying: "I was not aware that I had allowed him so little." It can clearly be seen, then, that as a result of the magnitude of his expenditures he would quickly exhaust the treasures in the royal vaults and quickly need new revenues. Hence unusual taxes were imposed and the property of the well-to-do was not left intact. Some lost their possessions to spite him and others destroyed themselves with their livelihoods. Similarly he hated and made away with some others who had no considerable wealth; for, if they possessed any excellent trait or were of a good family, he became suspicious that they disliked him.

[Sidenote:--6--] Such were the general characteristics of Nero. I shall now proceed to details.

In the matter of horse-races Nero grew so enthusiastic that he adorned famous race-horses that had passed their prime with the regular street costume for men and honored them with money for their fodder. The horsebreeders and charioteers, elated at this enthusiasm of his, proceeded to abuse unjustifiably even the praetors and consuls. But Aulus Fabricius, when praetor, finding that they refused to hold contests on fair terms, dispensed with them entirely. He trained dogs to draw chariots and introduced them in place of horses. When this was done, the wearers of the white and of the red immediately entered their chariots: but, as the Greens and the Blues would not even then participate, Nero at his own cost gave the prizes to the horses, and the regular program of the circus was carried out.

Agrippina showed readiness to attack the greatest undertakings, as is evidenced by her causing the death of Marcus Julius Silanus, to whom she sent some of the poison with which she had treacherously murdered her husband.

Silanus was governor of Asia, and was in no respect inferior to the general character of his family. It was for this, more than for anything else, she said, that she killed him, not wishing to have him preferred before Nero, by reason of the latter's manner of life. Moreover, she turned everything into trade and gathered money from the most insignificant and basest sources.

Laelianus, who was despatched to Armenia in place of Pollio, had been assigned to the command of the night watch. And he was no better than Pollio, for, while surpassing him in reputation, he was all the more insatiable in respect to gain.

[Sidenote: A.D. 55 (a.u. 808)] [Sidenote:--7--] Agrippina found a grievance in the fact that she was no longer supreme in affairs of the palace. It was chiefly because of Acte. Acte had been brought as a slave from Asia. She caught the fancy of Nero, was adopted into the family of Attalus, and was cherished much more carefully than was Nero's wife Octavia. Agrippina, indignant at this and at other matters, first attempted to rebuke him, and set herself to humiliating his associates, some by beatings and by getting rid of others. But when she accomplished nothing, she took it greatly to heart and remarked to him: "It was I who made you emperor," just as if she had the power to take away the authority from him again. She did not comprehend that every form of independent power given to any one by a private citizen immediately ceases to be the property of the giver and belongs to the one who receives it to use against his benefactor.

Britannicus Nero murdered treacherously by poison, and then, as the skin was turned livid by the action of the drug, he smeared the body with gypsum. But as it was being carried through the Forum a heavy rain falling while the gypsum was still damp washed it all away, so that the horror was exposed not only to comment but to view. [After Britannicus was dead Seneca and Burrus ceased to give careful attention to public interests and were satisfied if they might manage them conservatively and still preserve their lives. Consequently Nero now made himself conspicuous by giving free rein to all his desires without fear of retribution. His behavior began to be absolutely insensate, as is shown, for instance, by his punishing a certain knight, Antonius, as a seller of poisons and by further burning the poisons publicly. He took great credit for this action as well as for prosecuting some persons who had tampered with wills; but other people only laughed to see him punishing his own acts in the persons of others.]

[Sidenote:--8--] His secret acts of licentiousness were many, both at home and throughout the City, by night and by day. He used to frequent the taverns and wandered about everywhere like a private person. Any number of beatings and insults took place in this connection and the evil spread to the theatres, so that those who worked as dancers and who had charge of the horses paid no attention either to praetors or to consuls. They were disorderly themselves and led others to be the same, while Nero not only did not restrain them even by words, but stirred them up all the more. He delighted in their actions and used to be secretly conveyed in a litter into the theatres, where unseen by the rest he watched the proceedings. Indeed, he forbade the soldiers who had usually been in attendance at all public gatherings to appear there any longer. The reason he assigned was that they ought not to superintend anything but strictly military affairs, but his true purpose was to afford those who wished to raise a disturbance the amplest scope. He made use of the same excuse in reference to his not allowing any soldier to attend his mother, saying that no one except the emperor ought to be guarded by them. In this way he displayed his enmity toward the masses, and as for his mother he was already openly at variance with her. Everything that they said to each other, or that the imperial pair did each day, was reported outside the palace, yet it did not all reach the public and hence conjectures were made to supply missing details and different versions arose. What was conceivable as happening, in view of the baseness and lewdness of the pair, was noised abroad as having already taken place, and reports possessing some credibility were believed as true. The populace, seeing Agrippina now for the first time without Pretorians, took care not to fall in with her even by accident; and if any one did chance to meet her he would hastily get out of the way without saying a word.

[Sidenote:--9--] At one spectacle men on horseback overcame bulls while riding along beside them, and the knights who served as Nero's personal guard brought down with their javelins four hundred bears and three hundred lions. On the same occasion thirty knights belonging to the military fought in the arena. The emperor sanctioned such proceedings openly. Secretly, however, he carried on nocturnal revels throughout the length and breadth of the city, insulting the women, practicing lewdness on boys, stripping those whom he encountered, striking, wounding, murdering. He had an idea that his incognito was impenetrable, for he used all sorts of different costumes and false hair at different times: but he would be recognized by his retinue and by his deeds. No one else would have dared to commit so many and such gross outrages so recklessly. [Sidenote: A.D. 56 (a.u. 809)] It was becoming unsafe even for a person to stay at home, since he would break into shops and houses. It came about that a certain Julius Montanus, [Footnote: _C. Iulius Montanus C.F._ (Cp. Suetonius, Life of Nero,