PISO'S CONSPIRACY.
A.D. 65
Origin and nature of Piso's conspiracy.--Lucan, the Latin poet.--His
quarrel with Nero.--Lateranus.--Celebrity of his name.--The church
of St. John Lateran.--Fenius Rufus.--A woman in the secret.--Plans
and arrangements of the conspirators.--Bold proposals of Flavius.--The
palace to be set on fire.--Epicharis impatient.--She goes to the
fleet.--She communicates with Proculus at Misenum.--Proculus reveals
the plot to Nero.--Nero perplexed.--Epicharis imprisoned.--A new
plan.--Piso's objections.--Reasons.--Final arrangements agreed
upon.--Nero to be slain in the theatre.--The several parts
assigned.--Scevinus.--Excitement of Scevinus.--His knife.--He gives
his knife to Milichus to be ground.--Milichus confers with his
wife.--Their suspicions.--Revelations made by Milichus.--Scevinus's
defense.--He denies the allegations of his accuser.--Nero
perplexed.--The truth at last discovered.--Scevinus and Natalis make
a full confession.
Although the people of Rome were generally so overawed by the terror
of Nero's power, that for a long period no one dared to make any
open resistance to his will, still his excesses and cruelties
excited in the minds of men a great many secret feelings of
resentment and detestation. At one period in the course of his reign
a very desperate conspiracy was formed by some of the leading men of
the state, to dethrone and destroy the tyrant. This plot was a very
extensive and a very formidable one. It was, however, accidentally
discovered before it was fully mature, and thus was unsuccessful. It
is known in history as Piso's Conspiracy--deriving its name from
that of the principal leader of it, Caius Calpurnius Piso.
It is not supposed, however, that Piso was absolutely the originator
of the conspiracy, nor is it known, in fact, who the originator of
it was. A great number of prominent men were involved in the
plot--men who, possessing very different characters, and occupying
very different stations in life, were probably induced by various
motives to take part in the conspiracy. A conspiracy, however, of
this kind, against so merciless a tyrant as Nero, is an enterprise
of such frightful danger, and is attended, if unsuccessful, with
such awful consequences to all concerned in it, that men will seldom
engage in such a scheme until goaded to desperation, and almost
maddened, by the wrongs which they have endured.
And yet the exasperation which these conspirators felt against Nero,
seems to have been produced, in some instances at least, by what we
should now consider rather inadequate causes. For example, one of
the men most active in this secret league, was the celebrated Latin
poet Lucan. In the early part of his life, Lucan had been one of
Nero's principal flatterers, having written hymns and sonnets in his
praise. At length, as it was said, some public occasion occurred in
which verses were to be recited in public, for a prize. Nero, who
imagined himself to excel in every human art or attainment, offered
some of his own verses in the competition. The prize, however, was
adjudged to Lucan. Nero's mind was accordingly filled with envy and
hate toward his rival, and he soon found some pretext for forbidding
Lucan ever to recite any verses in public again. This of course
exasperated Lucan in his turn, and was the cause of his joining in
the conspiracy.
Another of the conspirators was a certain Roman nobleman, whose
family name has since become very widely known in all parts of the
civilized world, through an estate in the city with which it was
associated,--which estate, and certain buildings erected upon it,
became subsequently greatly celebrated in the ecclesiastical history
of Rome. The name of this nobleman was Plautius Lateranus. When
Lateranus was put to death at the detection of the conspiracy, in
the manner to be presently described, his estate was confiscated.
The palace and grounds thus became the property of the Roman
emperors. In process of time, the emperor Constantine gave the place
to the pope, and from that period it continued to be the residence
of the successive pontiffs for a thousand years. A church was built
upon the ground, called the Basilica of St. John of Lateran, where
many ancient councils were held, known in ecclesiastical history as
the councils of the Lateran. This church is still used for some of
the ceremonies connected with the inauguration of the pope, but the
palace is now uninhabited. It presents, however, in its ruins, a
vast and imposing, though desolate aspect.
Lateranus was an unprincipled and dissolute man, and in consequence
of certain crimes which he committed in connection with Messalina,
during the reign of Claudius, he had been condemned to death. The
sentence of death was not executed, though Lateranus was deprived of
his rank, and doomed to live in retirement and disgrace. At the
death of Claudius, and the accession of Nero, Lateranus was fully
pardoned and restored to his former rank and position, through
Nero's instrumentality. It might have been supposed that gratitude
for these favors would have prevented Lateranus from joining such a
conspiracy as this against his benefactor, but gratitude has very
little place in the hearts of those who dwell in the courts and
palaces of such tyrants as Nero.
The man on whom the conspirators relied most for efficient military
aid, so far as such aid should be needed in their enterprise, was a
certain Fenius Rufus, a captain of the imperial guards. He was a man
of very resolute and decided character, and was very highly esteemed
by the people of Rome. He was not one of the originators of the
plot, but joined it at a later period; and when the news of his
accession to it was communicated to the rest, it gave them great
encouragement, as they attached great importance to the adhesion of
such a man to their cause. They now immediately began to take
measures for executing their plans.
There was a woman in the secret of this conspiracy, though how she
obtained a knowledge of it no one seemed to know. Her name was
Epicharis. While the execution of the plans of the confederates was
delayed, Epicharis came to the principal conspirators privately,
first to one and then to another, and urged them to action. None of
the members of the plot would admit that they had given her any
information on the subject, and how she obtained her information no
one could tell. She was a woman of bad character, and as such women
often are, she was violent and implacable in her hatred. She hated
Nero, and was so impatient at the delay of the conspirators that
she made repeated and earnest efforts to urge them on.
The conspirators in the mean time held various secret meetings to
mature their plans, and to complete the preparation for the
execution of them. They designed to destroy Nero by some violent
means, and then to cause Piso to be proclaimed emperor in his place.
Piso was a man well suited for their purpose in this respect. He was
tall and graceful in form, and his personal appearance was in every
respect prepossessing. His rank was very high, and he was held in
great estimation by all the people of the city for the many generous
and noble qualities that he possessed. He was allied, too, to the
most illustrious families of Rome, and he occupied in all respects
so conspicuous a position, and was so much an object of popular
favor, that the conspirators believed that his elevation to the
empire could easily be effected, if Nero himself could once be put
out of the way. To effect the assassination of Nero, therefore, was
the first step.
After much debate, and many consultations in respect to the best
course to be pursued, it was decided to accept the offer of a
certain Subrius Flavius, who undertook to kill the emperor in the
streets, at night, at some time when he was roaming about in his
carousals. Flavius, in fact, was very daring and resolute in his
proposals, though wanting, as it proved in the end, in the
fulfillment of them. He offered to stab Nero in the theater, when he
was singing on the stage, in the midst of all the thousands of
spectators convened there. This the conspirators thought, it seems,
an unnecessarily bold and desperate mode of accomplishing the end in
view, and the plan was accordingly overruled. Flavius then proposed
to set the palace on fire some night when Nero was out in the city,
and then, in the confusion that would ensue, and while the attention
of the guards who had accompanied Nero should be drawn toward the
fire, to assassinate the emperor in the streets. This plan was
acceded to by the conspirators, and it was left to Flavius to select
a favorable time for the execution of it.
Time passed on, however, and nothing was done. The favorable time
which Flavius looked for did not appear. In the meanwhile Epicharis
became more and more impatient of the delay. She urged the
conspirators to do their work, and chided in the strongest terms
their irresolution and pusillanimity. At length finding that her
invectives and reproaches were of no avail, she determined to leave
them, and to see what she could do herself toward the attainment of
the end.
She accordingly left Rome and proceeded southwardly along the coast
till she came to Misenum, which, as has already been said, was the
great naval station of the empire at this time. Epicharis went to
some of the officers of the fleet, many of whom she knew,--and in a
very secret and cautious manner made known to them the nature of the
plot which had been formed at Rome for the destruction of Nero and
the elevation of Piso to the empire in his stead. Before, however,
communicating intelligence of the conspiracy to any persons
whatever, Epicharis would converse with them secretly and
confidentially to learn how they were affected toward Nero and his
government. If she found them well disposed she said nothing. If on
the other hand any one appeared discontented with the government, or
hostile to it in any way, she would cautiously make known to him
the plans which were concocting at Rome for the overthrow of it. She
took care, however, in these conversations to have never more than
one person present with her at a time, and she revealed none of the
names of the conspirators.
Among the other officers of the fleet was a certain Proculus, who
was one of the first with whom Epicharis communicated. Proculus was
one of the men who had been employed by Nero in his attempts to
assassinate Agrippina his mother, and for his services on that
occasion had been promoted to the command of a certain number of
ships, a number containing in all one thousand men. This promotion,
however, as Epicharis found when she came to converse with him,
Proculus did not consider as great a reward as his services had
deserved. The perpetration of so horrible a crime as the murder of
the emperor's mother, merited, in his opinion, as he said to
Epicharis, a much higher recompense than the command of a thousand
men. Epicharis thought so too. She talked with Proculus about his
wrongs, and the injuries which he suffered from Nero's ingratitude
and neglect, until she fancied that he was in a state of mind which
would prepare him to join in the plans of the conspirators, and then
she cautiously unfolded them to him.
Proculus listened with great apparent interest to Epicharis's
communication, and pretended to enter very cordially into the plan
of the conspiracy; but as soon as the interview was ended he
immediately left Misenum, and proceeded immediately to Rome, where
he divulged the whole design to Nero.
Nero was exceedingly alarmed, and sent officers off at once to seize
Epicharis and bring her before him. Epicharis, when questioned and
confronted with Proculus, resolutely denied that she had ever held
any such conversation with Proculus as he alledged, and feigned the
utmost astonishment at what she termed the impudence of his
accusation. She called for witnesses and proofs. Proculus of course
could produce none, for Epicharis had taken care that there should
be no third person present at their interviews. Proculus could not
even give the names of any of the conspirators at Rome. He could
only persist in his declaration that Epicharis had really disclosed
to him the existence of the conspiracy, and had proposed to him to
join in it; while she on the contrary as strenuously and positively
denied it. Nero was perplexed. He found it impossible to determine
what to believe. He finally dismissed Proculus, and sent Epicharis
to prison, intending that she should remain there until he could
make a more full examination into the case, and determine what to
do.
In the mean time the conspirators became considerably alarmed when
they heard of the arrest of Epicharis, and though they knew that
thus far she had revealed nothing, they could not tell how soon her
fidelity and firmness might yield under the tortures to which she
was every day liable to be subjected; and as there appeared to be
now no prospect that Flavius would ever undertake to execute his
plan, they began to devise some other means of attaining the end.
It seems that Piso possessed at this time a villa and country-seat
at Baiae, on the coast south of Rome, and near to Misenum, and that
Nero was accustomed sometimes to visit Piso here. It was now
proposed by some of the conspirators that Piso should invite Nero to
visit him at this villa, as if to witness some spectacles or shows
which should be arranged for his entertainment there, and that then
persons employed for the purpose should suddenly assassinate him,
when off his guard, in the midst of some scene of convivial
pleasure. Piso, however, objected to this plan. He conceived, he
said, that it would be dishonorable in him to commit an act of
violence upon a guest whom he had invited under his roof, as his
friend. He was willing to take his full share of the responsibility
of destroying the tyrant in any fair and manly way, but he would not
violate the sacred rites of hospitality to accomplish the end.
So this plan was abandoned. It was supposed, however, that Piso had
another and a deeper reason for his unwillingness that Nero should
be assassinated at Baiae than his regard for his honor as a host. He
thought, it was said, that it would not be safe for him to be away
from Rome when the death of Nero should be proclaimed in the
capitol, lest some other Roman nobleman or great officer of state
should suddenly arise in the emergency and assume the empire. There
were, in fact, one or two men in Rome of great power and influence,
of whom Piso was specially jealous and he was naturally very much
disposed to be on his guard against opening any door of opportunity
for them to rise to power. To commit a great crime in order to
secure his own aggrandizement, and yet to manage the commission of
it in such a way as not only to shut himself off from the expected
benefit, but to secure that benefit to a hated rival, would have
been a very fatal misstep. So the plan of destroying Nero at Baiae
was overruled.
At length one more, and as it proved a final scheme, was formed for
accomplishing the purpose of the conspiracy. It was determined to
execute Nero in Rome, at a great public celebration which was then
about to take place. It seems that it was sometimes customary in
ancient times for persons who had any request or petition to make to
an emperor or king, to avail themselves of the occasion of such
celebrations to present them. Accordingly it was determined that
Lateranus should approach Nero at a certain time during the
celebration of the games, as if to offer a petition,--the other
conspirators being close at hand, and ready to act at a moment's
warning. Lateranus, as soon as he was near enough, was to kneel down
and suddenly draw the emperor's robes about his feet, and then
clasp the feet thus enveloped, in his arms, so as to render Nero
helpless. The other conspirators were then to rush forward and kill
their victim with their daggers. In the mean time while Lateranus
and his associates were perpetrating this deed in the circus where
the games were to be exhibited, Piso was to station himself in a
certain temple not far distant, to await the result; while Fenius,
the officer of the guard, who has already been mentioned as the
chief military reliance of the conspirators, was to be posted in
another part of the city, with a military cavalcade in array, ready
to proceed through the streets and bring Piso forth to be proclaimed
emperor as soon as he should receive the tidings that Nero had been
slain. It is said that in order to give additional eclat and
popularity to the proceeding, it was arranged that Octavia, a
daughter of Claudius, the former emperor, was to be brought forward
with Piso in the cavalcade, as if to combine the influence of her
hereditary claims, whatever they might be, with the personal
popularity of Piso in favor of the new government about to be
established.
Thus every thing was arranged. To each conspirator, his own
particular duty was assigned, and, as the day approached for the
execution of the scheme, every thing seemed to promise success. It
is obvious, however, that, as the affair had been arranged, all
would depend upon the resolution and fidelity of those who had been
designated to stab the emperor with their daggers, when Lateranus
should have grasped his feet. The slightest faltering or fear at
this point, would be fatal to the whole scheme. The man on whom the
conspirators chiefly relied for this part of their work, was a
certain desperate profligate, named Scevinus, who had been one of
the earliest originators of the conspiracy, and one of the most
dauntless and determined of the promoters of it, so far as words and
professions could go. He particularly desired that the privilege of
plunging the first dagger into Nero's heart should be granted to
him. He had a knife, he said, which he had found in a certain temple
a long time before, and which he had preserved and carried about his
person constantly ever since, for some such deed. So it was arranged
that Scevinus should strike the fatal blow.
As the time drew nigh, Scevinus seemed to grow more and more excited
with the thoughts of what was before him. He attracted the attention
of the domestics at his house, by his strange and mysterious
demeanor. He held a long and secret consultation with Natalis,
another conspirator, on the day before the one appointed for the
execution of the plot, under such circumstances as to increase still
more the wonder and curiosity of his servants. He formally executed
his will, as if he were approaching some dangerous crisis. He made
presents to his servants, and actually emancipated one or two of his
favorite slaves. He talked with all he met, in a rapid and
incoherent manner, on various subjects, and with an air of gayety
and cheerfulness which it was obvious to those who observed him was
all assumed; for, in the intervals of these conversations, and at
every pause, he relapsed into a thoughtful and absent mood, as if he
were meditating some deep and dangerous design.
That night, too, he took out his knife from its sheath, and gave it
to one of his servants, named Milichus, to be ground. He directed
Milichus to be particularly attentive to the sharpening of the
point. Before Milichus brought back the knife, Scevinus directed him
to prepare bandages such as would be suitable for binding up wounds
to stop the effusion of blood. Milichus observed all these
directions, and, having made all the preparations required,
according to the orders which Scevinus had given him--keeping the
knife, however, still in his possession--he went to report the whole
case to his wife, in order to consult with her in respect to the
meaning of all these mysterious indications.
[Illustration: THE KNIFE.]
The wife of Milichus soon came to the conclusion, that these strange
proceedings could denote nothing less than a plot against the life
of the emperor; and she urged her husband to go early the next
morning, and make known his discovery. She told him that it was
impossible that such a conspiracy should succeed, for it must be
known to a great many persons, some one of whom would be sure to
divulge it in hope of a reward. "If you divulge it," she added, "you
will secure the reward for yourself; and if you do not, you will be
supposed to be privy to it, when it is made known by others, and so
will be sacrificed with the rest to Nero's anger."
Milichus was convinced by his wife's reasonings, and on the
following morning, as soon as the day dawned, he rose and repaired
to the palace. At first he was refused admittance, but on sending
word to the officer of the household, that he had intelligence of
the most urgent importance to communicate to Nero, they allowed him
to come in. When brought into Nero's presence, he told his story,
describing particularly all the circumstances that he had observed,
which had led him to suppose that a conspiracy was formed. He spoke
of the long and mysterious consultation which Scevinus and Natalis
had held together on the preceding day; he described the singular
conduct and demeanor which Scevinus had subsequently manifested, the
execution of his will, his wild and incoherent conversation, his
directions in respect to the sharpening of the knife and the
preparation of the bandages; and, to crown his proofs, he produced
the knife itself, which he had kept for this purpose, and which thus
furnished, in some sense, an ocular demonstration of the truth of
what he had declared.
Officers were immediately sent to seize Scevinus, and to bring him
into the presence of the emperor. Scevinus knew, of course, that the
only possible hope for him was in a bold and resolute denial of the
charge made against him. He accordingly denied, in the most solemn
manner, that there was any plot or conspiracy whatever, and he
attempted to explain all the circumstances which had awakened his
servant's suspicions. The knife or dagger which Milichus had
produced, was an ancient family relic, he said,--one which he had
kept for a long time in his chamber, and which his servant had
obtained surreptitiously, for the purpose of sustaining his false
and malicious charge against his master. As to his will, he often
made and signed a will anew, he said, as many other persons were
accustomed to do, and no just inference against him could be drawn
from the circumstance that he had done this on the preceding day;
and in respect to the bandages and other preparation for the
dressing of wounds which Milichus alledged that he had ordered, he
denied the statement altogether. He had not given any such orders.
The whole story was the fabrication of a vile slave, attempting, by
these infamous means, to compass his master's destruction. Scevinus
said all this with so bold and intrepid a tone of voice, and with
such an air of injured innocence, that Nero and his friends were
half disposed to believe that he was unjustly accused, and to
dismiss him from custody. This might very probably have been the
result, and Milichus himself might have been punished for making a
false and malicious accusation, had not the sagacity of his wife,
who was all the time watching these proceedings with the most
anxious interest, furnished a clew which, in the end, brought the
whole truth to light.
She called attention to the long conference which Scevinus had held
with Natalis on the preceding day. Scevinus was accordingly
questioned concerning it. He declared that his interview was nothing
but an innocent consultation about his own private affairs. He was
questioned then about the particulars of the conversation. Of course
he was compelled to fabricate a statement in reply. Natalis himself
was then sent for, and examined, apart from Scevinus, in regard to
the conversation they had held together. Natalis, of course,
fabricated a story too,--but, as usual with such fabrications, the
two accounts having been invented independently, were inconsistent
with each other. Nero was immediately convinced that the men were
guilty, and that some sort of plot or conspiracy had been formed. He
ordered that they should both be put to the torture in order to
compel them to confess their crime, and disclose the names of their
accomplices. In the mean time they were sent to prison, and loaded
with irons, to be kept in that condition until the instruments of
torture could be prepared.
When at length they were brought to the rack, the sight of the
horrid machinery unmanned them. They begged to be spared, and
promised to reveal the whole. They acknowledged that a conspiracy
had been formed, and gave the names of all who had participated in
it. They explained fully, too, the plans which had been devised, and
as in this case, though they were examined separately, their
statements agreed, Nero and his friends were convinced of the truth
of their declarations, and thus at last the plot was fully brought
to light. Nero himself was struck with consternation and terror at
discovering the formidable danger to which he had been exposed.