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, chapter 60).] a senator, enraged on his
wife's account, fell upon this reveler and inflicted many blows upon him,
so that he had to remain several days in concealment by reason of the
black eyes he had received. Montanus did not suffer for it, since Nero
thought the violence had been all an accident and was for showing no anger
at the occurrence, had not the other sent him a letter begging his pardon.
Nero on reading the epistle remarked: "So he knew that he was striking
Nero." The suicide of Montanus followed hard after.
[Sidenote: A.D. 57 (a.u. 810)] In the course of producing a spectacle at
one of the theatres, he suddenly filled the place with sea-water so that
the fishes and sea-monsters [Footnote: [Greek: ktaenae] of the MSS. was
changed to [Greek: kaetae] on the conjecture of Sylburgius, who was
followed by Bekker, Dindorf, and Boissevain. (Compare also Suetonius, Life
of Nero, chapter 12).] swam in it, and had a naval battle between
"Persians" and "Athenians." At the close of it he suddenly withdrew the
water, dried the subsoil, and continued land contests, not only between
two men at a time but with crowds pitted against other crowds.
[Sidenote: A.D. 58 (a.u. 811)] [Sidenote:--10--] Subsequent to this,
oratorical contests took place, and as a result even of these numbers were
exiled and put to death.--Seneca also was held to account, one of the
charges against him being that he was intimate with Agrippina. [It had not
been enough for him to debauch Julia, nor had he become better as a result
of exile, but he went on to make advances to such a woman as Agrippina,
with such a son.] Not only in this instance but in others he was convicted
of doing precisely the opposite of what he taught in his philosophical
doctrines. He brought accusations against tyranny, yet he made himself a
teacher of tyrants: he denounced such of his associates as were powerful,
yet he did not hold aloof from the palace himself: he had nothing good to
say of flatterers, yet he had so fawned upon Messalina and Claudius's
freedmen [that he had sent them from the island a book containing eulogies
upon them; this latter caused him such mortification that he erased the
passage.] While finding fault with the rich, he himself possessed a
property of seven thousand five hundred myriads; and though he censured
the extravagances of others, he kept five hundred three-legged tables of
cedar wood, every one of them with identical ivory feet, and he gave
banquets on them. In mentioning these details I have at least given a hint
of their inevitable adjuncts,--the licentiousness in which he indulged at
the very time that he made a most brilliant marriage, and the delight that
he took in boys past their prime (a practice which he also taught Nero to
follow). Nevertheless, his austerity of life had earlier been so severe
that he had asked his pupil neither to kiss him nor to eat at the same
table with him. [For the latter request he had a good reason, namely, that
Nero's absence would enable him to conduct his philosophical studies at
leisure without being hindered by the young man's dinners. But as for the
kiss, I can not conceive how that tradition came about. The only
explanation which one could imagine, namely, his unwillingness to kiss
that sort of mouth, is proved to be false by the facts concerning his
favorites. For this and for his adultery some complaints were lodged
against him, but at this time he was himself released without formal
accusations and succeeded in begging off Pallas and Burrus. Later on he
did not come out so well.]
[Sidenote: A.D. 59 (a.u. 811)] [Sidenote:--11--] There was a certain
Marcus Salvius Otho, who through similarity of character and sharing in
wrongdoing had become so intimate with Nero that he was not even punished
for saying one day to the latter: "Then I hope you may see me Caesar." All
that came of it was the response: "I sha'n't see you even consul." It was
to him that the emperor gave Sabina, of patrician family, after separating
her from her husband, and they both enjoyed her together. Agrippina,
therefore, fearing that Nero would marry the woman (for he was now
beginning to entertain a mad passion for her), ventured upon a most unholy
course. As if it were not enough for her story that she had attracted her
uncle Claudius into love for her by her blandishments and uncontrolled
looks and kisses, she undertook to enslave Nero also in similar fashion.
However, I am not sure whether this actually occurred, or whether it was
invented to fit their characters: but I state here what is admitted by
all, that Nero had a mistress resembling Agrippina of whom he was
especially fond because of this very resemblance. And when he toyed with
the girl herself or threw out hints about it to others, he would say that
he was having intercourse with his mother.
[Sidenote: A.D. 59 (a.u. 812)] Sabina on hearing about this began to
persuade Nero to get rid of his mother in order to forestall her alleged
plots against him. He was likewise incited,--so many trustworthy men have
stated,--by Seneca, whether it was to obscure the complaint against his
own name that the latter was anxious or to lead Nero on to a career of
unholy bloodguiltiness that should bring about most speedily his
destruction by gods and men. But they shrank from doing the deed openly
and were not able to put her out of the way secretly by means of poison,
for she took extreme precautions against all such things. One day they saw
in the theatre a ship that automatically separated in two, let out some
beasts, and came together again so as to be once more seaworthy; and they
at once had another one built like it. By the time the ship was finished
Agrippina had been quite won over by Nero's attentions, for he exhibited
devotion to her in every way to make sure that she should suspect nothing
and be off her guard. He dared, however, do nothing in Rome for fear the
crime should become widely known. Hence he went some distance into
Campania accompanied by his mother, and took a sail on the fatal ship
itself, which was adorned in the most brilliant fashion to the end that
she might feel a desire to use the vessel continually.
[Sidenote:--13--] When they reached Bauli, he gave for several days most
costly dinners at which he showed great solicitude in entertaining his
mother. If she were absent he feigned to miss her sorely, and if she were
present he was lavish of caresses. He bade her ask whatever she desired
and bestowed many gifts without her asking. When he had shaped the
situation to this extent [Footnote: Adopting Reiske's conjecture,
_nv_.], then rising from dinner about midnight he embraced her, and
straining her to his breast kissed her eyes and hands, exclaiming:
"Mother, farewell, and happiness attend you! For you I live and because of
you I rule." He then gave her in charge of Anicetus, a freedman,
supposedly to convey her home on the ship that he had prepared.
But the sea would not endure the tragedy about to be enacted on it nor
would it submit to assume responsibility for the deception wrought by the
monstrous contrivance: therefore, though the ship parted asunder and
Agrippina fell into the water, she did not perish. In spite of the fact
that it was dark and she was full of strong drink and that the sailors
used their oar blades on her, so much so that they killed Acerronia Polla,
her fellow voyager, she nevertheless saved her life and reached home.
Thereupon she affected not to realize that it was a plot and let not a
word of it be known, but sent speedily to her son an account of the
occurrence with the implication that it had happened by accident, and
conveyed to him the good news (as she assumed it to be) that she was safe.
Nero hearing this could not endure the unexpected outcome but punished the
messenger as savagely as if he had come to assassinate him, and at once
despatched Anicetus with the sailors to make an end of his mother. He
would not entrust the killing of her to the Pretorians. When she saw them,
she knew for what they had come, and leaping from her bed tore open her
clothing; exposing her abdomen, and cried out: "Strike here, Anicetus,
strike here, for this bore Nero!"
[Sidenote:--14--] Thus was Agrippina, daughter of Germanicus, grandchild of
Agrippa, descendant of Augustus, slain by the very son to whom she had
given the sovereignty and for whose sake she had killed her uncle and
others. Nero when informed that she was dead would not believe it, for the
monstrousness of his bold deed plunged him in doubts; therefore he desired
to behold the victim with his own eyes. So he laid bare her body, looked
her all over and inspected her wounds, finally uttering a remark far more
abominable even than the crime. What he said was: "I did not know I had so
beautiful a mother."
To the Pretorians he gave money evidently to secure their prayers for many
such occurrences, and he sent to the senate a message in which he
enumerated the offences of which he knew she was guilty, stating also that
she had plotted against him and on being detected had committed suicide.
Yet for all this calm explanation to the governing body he was frequently
subject to agitation at night, so that he would even leap suddenly from
his bed. And by day terror seized him at the sound of trumpets that seemed
to blare forth some horrid din of war from the spot where lay Agrippina's
bones. Therefore he went elsewhere. And when in his new abode he had again
the same experience, he distractedly transferred his residence to some
other place.
Nero, not having a word of truth from any one and seeing that all approved
what he had been doing, thought that either his actions had escaped notice
or that he had conducted himself correctly. Hence he became much worse
also in other respects. He came to think that all that it was in his power
to do was right and gave heed to those whose speech was prompted by fear
or flattery as if they told absolute truth. For a time he was subject to
fears and questionings, but, after the ambassadors had made him a number
of pleasing speeches, he regained courage.
[Sidenote:--15--] The population of Rome, on hearing the report, though
horrified were nevertheless joyful, because they thought that now he would
surely come to ruin. Nearly all of the senators pretended to rejoice at
what had taken place, participated in Nero's pleasure, and voted many
measures of which they thought he would be glad. Publius Thrasea Paetus
had also come to the senate-house and listened to the letter. When,
however, the reading was done, he at once rose without making any comment
and went out. Thus what he would have said he could not, and what he could
have said he would not. He behaved in the same way under all other
conditions. For he used to say: "If it were a matter of Nero's putting
only me to death, I could easily pardon the rest who load him with
flatteries. But since among those even who praise him so excessively he
has gotten rid of some and will yet destroy others, why should one stoop
to indecent behavior and perish like a slave, when like a freeman one may
pay the debt to nature? There shall be talk of me hereafter, but of these
men not a word save for the single fact that they were killed." Such was
the kind of man Thrasea showed himself, and he would always encourage
himself by saying: "Nero can kill me, but he can not harm me."
[Sidenote:--16--] When Nero after his mother's murder reentered Rome,
people paid him reverence in public, but in private so long as any one
could speak frankly with safety they tore his character to very tatters.
And first they hung by night a piece of hide on one of his statues to
signify that he himself ought to have a hiding. Second, they threw down in
the Forum a baby to which was fastened a board, saying: "I will not take
you up for fear you may slay your mother."
At Nero's entrance into Rome they took down the statues of Agrippina. But
there was one which they did not cut loose soon enough, and so they threw
over it a cloth which gave it the appearance of being veiled. Thereupon
somebody at once affixed to the statue the following inscription: "I am
abashed and thou art unashamed."
In many quarters at once, also, might be read the inscription:
"Nero, Orestes, Alemeon, matricides."
Persons could actually be heard saying in so many words: "Nero put his
mother out of the way." Not a few lodged information that certain persons
had spoken in this way, their object being not so much to destroy those
whom they accused as to bring reproach, on Nero. Hence he would admit no
suit of that kind, either not wishing that the rumor should become more
widespread by such means, or out of utter contempt for what was said.
However, in the midst of the sacrifices offered in memory of Agrippina
according to decree, the sun suffered a total eclipse and the stars could
be seen. Also, the elephants drawing the chariot of Augustus entered the
hippodrome and went as far as the senators' seats, but at that point they
stopped and refused to proceed farther. And the event which one might most
readily conjecture to have taken place through divine means was that a
thunderbolt descended upon his dinner and consumed it all as it was being
brought to him, like some tremendous harpy snatching away his food.
[Sidenote:--17--] [In spite of this he killed by poison also his aunt
Domitia, whom likewise he used to say he revered like a mother. He would
not even wait a few days for her to die a natural death of old age, but
was eager to destroy her also. His haste to do this was inspired by her
possessions at Baiae and Ravenna, which included magnificent amusement
pavilions that she had erected and] are in fine condition even now. In
honor of his mother he celebrated a very great and costly festival, events
taking place for several days in five or six theatres at once. It was then
that an elephant was led to the very top of the vault of the theatre and
walked down from that point on ropes, carrying a rider. There was another
exhibition at once most disgraceful and shocking. Men and women not only
of equestrian but even of senatorial rank appeared in the orchestra, the
hippodrome, and even the hunting-theatre, like the veriest outcasts. Some
of them played the flute and danced or acted tragedies and comedies or
sang to the lyre. They drove horses, killed beasts, fought as gladiators,
some willingly, others with a very bad grace. Men of that day beheld the
great families,--the Furii, the Horatii, the Fabii, Poreii, Valerii, and
all the rest whose trophies, whose temples were to be seen,--standing down
below the level of the spectators and doing some things to which no common
citizen even would stoop. So they would point them out to one another and
make remarks, Macedonians saying: "That is the descendant of Paulus";
Greeks, "Yonder the offspring of Mummius"; Sicilians, "Look at Claudius";
the Epirots, "Look at Appius"; Asiatics, "There's Lucius"; Iberians,
"There's Publius"; Carthaginians, "There's Africanus"; Romans, "There they
all are". Such was the expiation that the emperor chose to offer for his
own indecency.
[Sidenote:--18--] All who had sense, likewise, bewailed the multitude of
expenditures. Every costliest viand that men eat, everything else, indeed,
of the highest value,--horses, slaves, teams, gold, silver, raiment of
varied hues,--was given away by tickets. Nero would throw tiny balls, each
one appropriately inscribed, among the populace and that article
represented by the token received would be presented to the person who had
seized it. The sensible, I say, reflected that, when he spent so much to
prevent molestation in his disgraceful course, he would not be restrained
from any most outrageous proceedings through mere hope of profit.
Some portents had taken place about this time, which the seers declared
imported destruction to him, and they advised him to divert the danger
upon others. So he would have immediately put numbers of men out of the
way, had not Seneca said to him: "No matter how many you may slay, you can
not kill your successor."
It was now that he celebrated a corresponding number of "Preservation
Sacrifices," as he called them, and dedicated the forum for the sale of
dainties, called _Macellum_. [Sidenote:--19--] Somewhat later he
instituted a different kind of feast (called Juvenalia, a word that showed
it belonged in some way to "youth"). The occasion was the shaving of his
beard for the first time. The hairs he cast into a small golden globe and
offered to Jupiter Capitolinus. To furnish amusement members of the
noblest families as well as others did not fail to give exhibitions. For
instance, Aelia Catella danced: he was first of all a man prominent for
family and wealth and also advanced in years,--he was eighty years of age.
Others who on account of old age or disease could not do anything on their
own account sang as chorus. All devoted themselves to practicing as much
as and by whatever way they were able. Regularly appointed "schools" were
frequented by the most distinguished men, women, girls, lads, old women,
old men. In case any one was unable to appear in any other fashion, he
would enter the choruses. And whereas some of them out of shame had put on
masks to avoid being recognized, Nero at the request of the populace had
them taken off and showed these people to those by whom they had once been
ruled. Now most of all it was that these amateur performers and others
deemed the dead happy; for many of the foremost men this year had been
slain. Some of them, charged with conspiracy against Nero, were surrounded
by the soldiers and stoned to death.
[Sidenote:--20--] And, as there needed to be a fitting climax to these
deeds, Nero himself appeared as an actor and Gallio [Footnote: _L.
Iunius Gallio_.] proclaimed him by name. There stood Caesar on the
stage wearing the garb of a singing zither-player. Spoke the emperor: "My
lords, of your kindness give me ear." Then did the Augustus sing to the
zither a thing called "Attis or the Bacchantes," [Footnote: The title of
one of Nero's poems.] whilst many soldiers stood by and all the people
that the seats would hold sat watching. Yet had he (according to the
tradition) but a slight voice and an indistinct, so that he moved all
present to laughter and tears at once. Beside him stood Burrus and Seneca
like teachers prompting a pupil: they would wave their hands and togas at
every utterance and draw others on to do the same. Indeed, Nero had ready
a peculiar corps of about five thousand soldiers, called Augustans; these
would begin the applause, and all the rest, however loath, were obliged to
shout aloud with them,--except Thrasea. He would never stoop to such
conduct. But the rest, and especially the prominent men, gathered with
alacrity even when in grief and joined as if glad in all the shouts of the
Augustans. One could hear them saying: "Excellent Caesar! Apollo!
Augustus! One like unto the Pythian! By thine own self, O Caesar, no one
can surpass thee!" After this performance he entertained the people at a
feast on boats on the site of the naval battle given by Augustus: thence
at midnight he sailed through a canal into the Tiber.
[Sidenote: A.D. 60 (a.u. 813)] [Sidenote:--21--] This, then, he did to
celebrate the shaving of his chin. In behalf of his preservation and the
continuance of his authority,--thus he gave notice,--he instituted
quinquennial games, naming them Neronia. In honor of the event he also
constructed the gymnasium at the dedication of which he made a free
distribution of olive oil to the senators and knights. The crown for
singing to the zither, moreover, he took without a contest, for all others
were debarred on the assumption that they were unworthy of victory. [And
immediately in their garb he was enrolled on the very lists of the
gymnasium.] Thenceforward all other crowns for zither playing at all the
contests were sent to him as the only person competent to win victories of
that sort.
DIO'S ROMAN HISTORY
62
About the disaster to the Romans in Britain, brought upon them by Buduica
(chapters 1-7).
Paulinus, returning from subduing the island of Mona, conquers in battle
(chapters 8-12).
Octavia Augusta and Burrus, likewise Plautus and Pallas, are put to death
by Nero (chapters 13, 14).
Most swinish reveling at the games of Tigillinus (chapter 15).
How Nero set the city on fire (chapters 16-18).
The uprightness of Corbulo: proceedings against Vologaesus and Tiridates
(chapters 19, 20).
Misfortune attends the endeavors of Paetus: Vologaesus forms a compact
with Corbulo (chapters 21-23).
Seneca, Soranus, Thrasea, Sabina are put to death: Musonius and Cornutus
are banished (chapters 24-29).