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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/6391.txt b/6391.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..5898e66 --- /dev/null +++ b/6391.txt @@ -0,0 +1,2964 @@ +Project Gutenberg's Nero Claudius Caesar (Nero), +by C. Suetonius Tranquillus + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Nero Claudius Caesar (Nero) + The Lives Of The Twelve Caesars, Volume 6. + +Author: C. Suetonius Tranquillus + +Release Date: December 13, 2004 [EBook #6391] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK NERO CLAUDIUS CAESAR *** + + + + +Produced by Tapio Riikonen and David Widger + + + + + + THE LIVES + OF + THE TWELVE CAESARS + + By + C. Suetonius Tranquillus; + + To which are added, + + HIS LIVES OF THE GRAMMARIANS, RHETORICIANS, AND POETS. + + + The Translation of + Alexander Thomson, M.D. + + revised and corrected by + T.Forester, Esq., A.M. + + + + +NERO CLAUDIUS CAESAR. + +(337) + +I. Two celebrated families, the Calvini and Aenobarbi, sprung from the +race of the Domitii. The Aenobarbi derive both their extraction and +their cognomen from one Lucius Domitius, of whom we have this tradition: +--As he was returning out of the country to Rome, he was met by two young +men of a most august appearance, who desired him to announce to the +senate and people a victory, of which no certain intelligence had yet +reached the city. To prove that they were more than mortals, they +stroked his cheeks, and thus changed his hair, which was black, to a +bright colour, resembling that of brass; which mark of distinction +descended to his posterity, for they had generally red beards. This +family had the honour of seven consulships [548], one triumph [549], and +two censorships [550]; and being admitted into the patrician order, they +continued the use of the same cognomen, with no other praenomina [551] +than those of Cneius and Lucius. These, however, they assumed with +singular irregularity; three persons in succession sometimes adhering to +one of them, and then they were changed alternately. For the first, +second, and third of the Aenobarbi had the praenomen of Lucius, and again +the three following, successively, that of Cneius, while those who came +after were called, by turns, one, Lucius, and the other, Cneius. It +appears to me proper to give a short account of several of the family, to +show that Nero so far degenerated from the noble qualities of his +ancestors, that he retained only their vices; as if those alone had been +transmitted to him by his descent. + +II. To begin, therefore, at a remote period, his great-grandfather's +grandfather, Cneius Domitius, when he was tribune of the people, being +offended with the high priests for electing another than himself in the +room of his father, obtained the (338) transfer of the right of election +from the colleges of the priests to the people. In his consulship [552], +having conquered the Allobroges and the Arverni [553], he made a progress +through the province, mounted upon an elephant, with a body of soldiers +attending him, in a sort of triumphal pomp. Of this person the orator +Licinius Crassus said, "It was no wonder he had a brazen beard, who had a +face of iron, and a heart of lead." His son, during his praetorship +[554], proposed that Cneius Caesar, upon the expiration of his +consulship, should be called to account before the senate for his +administration of that office, which was supposed to be contrary both to +the omens and the laws. Afterwards, when he was consul himself [555], he +tried to deprive Cneius of the command of the army, and having been, by +intrigue and cabal, appointed his successor, he was made prisoner at +Corsinium, in the beginning of the civil war. Being set at liberty, he +went to Marseilles, which was then besieged; where having, by his +presence, animated the people to hold out, he suddenly deserted them, and +at last was slain in the battle of Pharsalia. He was a man of little +constancy, and of a sullen temper. In despair of his fortunes, he had +recourse to poison, but was so terrified at the thoughts of death, that, +immediately repenting, he took a vomit to throw it up again, and gave +freedom to his physician for having, with great prudence and wisdom, +given him only a gentle dose of the poison. When Cneius Pompey was +consulting with his friends in what manner he should conduct himself +towards those who were neuter and took no part in the contest, he was the +only one who proposed that they should be treated as enemies. + +III. He left a son, who was, without doubt, the best of the family. By +the Pedian law, he was condemned, although innocent, amongst others who +were concerned in the death of Caesar [556]. Upon this, he went over to +Brutus and Cassius, his near relations; and, after their death, not only +kept together the fleet, the command of which had been given him some +time before, but even increased it. At last, when the party had +everywhere been defeated, he voluntarily surrendered it to (339) Mark +Antony; considering it as a piece of service for which the latter owed +him no small obligations. Of all those who were condemned by the law +above-mentioned, he was the only man who was restored to his country, and +filled the highest offices. When the civil war again broke out, he was +appointed lieutenant under the same Antony, and offered the chief command +by those who were ashamed of Cleopatra; but not daring, on account of a +sudden indisposition with which he was seized, either to accept or refuse +it, he went over to Augustus [557], and died a few days after, not +without an aspersion cast upon his memory. For Antony gave out, that he +was induced to change sides by his impatience to be with his mistress, +Servilia Nais. [558] + +IV. This Cneius had a son, named Domitius, who was afterwards well known +as the nominal purchaser of the family property left by Augustus's will +[559]; and no less famous in his youth for his dexterity in +chariot-driving, than he was afterwards for the triumphal ornaments which +he obtained in the German war. But he was a man of great arrogance, +prodigality, and cruelty. When he was aedile, he obliged Lucius Plancus, +the censor, to give him the way; and in his praetorship, and consulship, +he made Roman knights and married women act on the stage. He gave hunts +of wild beasts, both in the Circus and in all the wards of the city; as +also a show of gladiators; but with such barbarity, that Augustus, after +privately reprimanding him, to no purpose, was obliged to restrain him by +a public edict. + +V. By the elder Antonia he had Nero's father, a man of execrable +character in every part of his life. During his attendance upon Caius +Caesar in the East, he killed a freedman of his own, for refusing to +drink as much as he ordered him. Being dismissed for this from Caesar's +society, he did not mend his habits; for, in a village upon the Appian +road, he suddenly whipped his horses, and drove his chariot, on purpose, +(340) over a poor boy, crushing him to pieces. At Rome, he struck out +the eye of a Roman knight in the Forum, only for some free language in a +dispute between them. He was likewise so fraudulent, that he not only +cheated some silversmiths [560] of the price of goods he had bought of +them, but, during his praetorship, defrauded the owners of chariots in +the Circensian games of the prizes due to them for their victory. His +sister, jeering him for the complaints made by the leaders of the several +parties, he agreed to sanction a law, "That, for the future, the prizes +should be immediately paid." A little before the death of Tiberius, he +was prosecuted for treason, adulteries, and incest with his sister +Lepida, but escaped in the timely change of affairs, and died of a +dropsy, at Pyrgi [561]; leaving behind him his son, Nero, whom he had by +Agrippina, the daughter of Germanicus. + +VI. Nero was born at Antium, nine months after the death of Tiberius +[562], upon the eighteenth of the calends of January [15th December], +just as the sun rose, so that its beams touched him before they could +well reach the earth. While many fearful conjectures, in respect to his +future fortune, were formed by different persons, from the circumstances +of his nativity, a saying of his father, Domitius, was regarded as an ill +presage, who told his friends who were congratulating him upon the +occasion, "That nothing but what was detestable, and pernicious to the +public, could ever be produced of him and Agrippina." Another manifest +prognostic of his future infelicity occurred upon his lustration day +[563]. For Caius Caesar being requested by his sister to give the child +what name he thought proper--looking at his uncle, Claudius, who (341) +afterwards, when emperor, adopted Nero, he gave his: and this not +seriously, but only in jest; Agrippina treating it with contempt, because +Claudius at that time was a mere laughing-stock at the palace. He lost +his father when he was three years old, being left heir to a third part +of his estate; of which he never got possession, the whole being seized +by his co-heir, Caius. His mother being soon after banished, he lived +with his aunt Lepida, in a very necessitous condition, under the care of +two tutors, a dancing-master and a barber. After Claudius came to the +empire, he not only recovered his father's estate, but was enriched with +the additional inheritance of that of his step-father, Crispus Passienus. +Upon his mother's recall from banishment, he was advanced to such favour, +through Nero's powerful interest with the emperor, that it was reported, +assassins were employed by Messalina, Claudius's wife, to strangle him, +as Britannicus's rival, whilst he was taking his noon-day repose. In +addition to the story, it was said that they were frightened by a +serpent, which crept from under his cushion, and ran away. The tale was +occasioned by finding on his couch, near the pillow, the skin of a snake, +which, by his mother's order, he wore for some time upon his right arm, +inclosed in a bracelet of gold. This amulet, at last, he laid aside, +from aversion to her memory; but he sought for it again, in vain, in the +time of his extremity. + +VII. When he was yet a mere boy, before he arrived at the age of +puberty, during the celebration of the Circensian games [564], he +performed his part in the Trojan play with a degree of firmness which +gained him great applause. In the eleventh year of his age, he was +adopted by Claudius, and placed under the tuition of Annaeus Seneca +[565], who had been made a senator. It is said, that Seneca dreamt the +night after, that he was giving a lesson to Caius Caesar [566]. Nero +soon verified his dream, betraying the cruelty of his disposition in +every way he could. For he attempted to persuade his father that his +brother, Britannicus, was nothing but a changeling, because the latter +had (342) saluted him, notwithstanding his adoption, by the name of +Aenobarbus, as usual. When his aunt, Lepida, was brought to trial, he +appeared in court as a witness against her, to gratify his mother, who +persecuted the accused. On his introduction into the Forum, at the age +of manhood, he gave a largess to the people and a donative to the +soldiers: for the pretorian cohorts, he appointed a solemn procession +under arms, and marched at the head of them with a shield in his hand; +after which he went to return thanks to his father in the senate. Before +Claudius, likewise, at the time he was consul, he made a speech for the +Bolognese, in Latin, and for the Rhodians and people of Ilium, in Greek. +He had the jurisdiction of praefect of the city, for the first time, +during the Latin festival; during which the most celebrated advocates +brought before him, not short and trifling causes, as is usual in that +case, but trials of importance, notwithstanding they had instructions +from Claudius himself to the contrary. Soon afterwards, he married +Octavia, and exhibited the Circensian games, and hunting of wild beasts, +in honour of Claudius. + +VIII. He was seventeen years of age at the death of that prince [567], +and as soon as that event was made public, he went out to the cohort on +guard between the hours of six and seven; for the omens were so +disastrous, that no earlier time of the day was judged proper. On the +steps before the palace gate, he was unanimously saluted by the soldiers +as their emperor, and then carried in a litter to the camp; thence, after +making a short speech to the troops, into the senate-house, where he +continued until the evening; of all the immense honours which were heaped +upon him, refusing none but the title of FATHER OF HIS COUNTRY, on +account of his youth, + +IX. He began his reign with an ostentation of dutiful regard to the +memory of Claudius, whom he buried with the utmost pomp and magnificence, +pronouncing the funeral oration himself, and then had him enrolled +amongst the gods. He paid likewise the highest honours to the memory of +his father Domitius. He left the management of affairs, both public and +private, to his mother. The word which he gave the first day of his +reign to the tribune on guard, was, "The (343) Best of Mothers," and +afterwards he frequently appeared with her in the streets of Rome in her +litter. He settled a colony at Antium, in which he placed the veteran +soldiers belonging to the guards; and obliged several of the richest +centurions of the first rank to transfer their residence to that place; +where he likewise made a noble harbour at a prodigious expense. [568] + +X. To establish still further his character, he declared, "that he +designed to govern according to the model of Augustus;" and omitted no +opportunity of showing his generosity, clemency, and complaisance. The +more burthensome taxes he either entirely took off, or diminished. The +rewards appointed for informers by the Papian law, he reduced to a fourth +part, and distributed to the people four hundred sesterces a man. To the +noblest of the senators who were much reduced in their circumstances, he +granted annual allowances, in some cases as much as five hundred thousand +sesterces; and to the pretorian cohorts a monthly allowance of corn +gratis. When called upon to subscribe the sentence, according to custom, +of a criminal condemned to die, "I wish," said he, "I had never learnt to +read and write." He continually saluted people of the several orders by +name, without a prompter. When the senate returned him their thanks for +his good government, he replied to them, "It will be time enough to do so +when I shall have deserved it." He admitted the common people to see him +perform his exercises in the Campus Martius. He frequently declaimed in +public, and recited verses of his own composing, not only at home, but in +the theatre; so much to the joy of all the people, that public prayers +were appointed to be put up to the gods upon that account; and the verses +which had been publicly read, were, after being written in gold letters, +consecrated to Jupiter Capitolinus. + +(344) XI. He presented the people with a great number and variety of +spectacles, as the Juvenal and Circensian games, stage-plays, and an +exhibition of gladiators. In the Juvenal, he even admitted senators and +aged matrons to perform parts. In the Circensian games, he assigned the +equestrian order seats apart from the rest of the people, and had races +performed by chariots drawn each by four camels. In the games which he +instituted for the eternal duration of the empire, and therefore ordered +to be called Maximi, many of the senatorian and equestrian order, of both +sexes, performed. A distinguished Roman knight descended on the stage by +a rope, mounted on an elephant. A Roman play, likewise, composed by +Afranius, was brought upon the stage. It was entitled, "The Fire;" and +in it the performers were allowed to carry off, and to keep to +themselves, the furniture of the house, which, as the plot of the play +required, was burnt down in the theatre. Every day during the solemnity, +many thousand articles of all descriptions were thrown amongst the people +to scramble for; such as fowls of different kinds, tickets for corn, +clothes, gold, silver, gems, pearls, pictures, slaves, beasts of burden, +wild beasts that had been tamed; at last, ships, lots of houses, and +lands, were offered as prizes in a lottery. + +XII. These games he beheld from the front of the proscenium. In the +show of gladiators, which he exhibited in a wooden amphitheatre, built +within a year in the district of the Campus Martius [569], he ordered +that none should be slain, not even the condemned criminals employed in +the combats. He secured four hundred senators, and six hundred Roman +knights, amongst whom were some of unbroken fortunes and unblemished +reputation, to act as gladiators. From the same orders, he engaged +persons to encounter wild beasts, and for various other services in the +theatre. He presented the public with the representation of a naval +fight, upon sea-water, with huge fishes swimming in it; as also with the +Pyrrhic dance, performed by certain youths, to each of whom, after the +performance was over, he granted the freedom of Rome. During this +diversion, a bull covered Pasiphae, concealed within a wooden statue of a +cow, as many of the spectators believed. Icarus, upon his first attempt +to fly, fell on the stage close to (345) the emperor's pavilion, and +bespattered him with blood. For he very seldom presided in the games, +but used to view them reclining on a couch, at first through some narrow +apertures, but afterwards with the Podium [570] quite open. He was the +first who instituted [571], in imitation of the Greeks, a trial of skill +in the three several exercises of music, wrestling, and horse-racing, to +be performed at Rome every five years, and which he called Neronia. Upon +the dedication of his bath [572] and gymnasium, he furnished the senate +and the equestrian order with oil. He appointed as judges of the trial +men of consular rank, chosen by lot, who sat with the praetors. At this +time he went down into the orchestra amongst the senators, and received +the crown for the best performance in Latin prose and verse, for which +several persons of the greatest merit contended, but they unanimously +yielded to him. The crown for the best performer on the harp, being +likewise awarded to him by the judges, he devoutly saluted it, and +ordered it to be carried to the statue of Augustus. In the gymnastic +exercises, which he presented in the Septa, while they were preparing the +great sacrifice of an ox, he shaved his beard for the first time [573], +and putting it up in a casket of gold studded with pearls of great price, +consecrated it to Jupiter Capitolinus. He invited the Vestal Virgins to +see the (346) wrestlers perform, because, at Olympia, the priestesses of +Ceres are allowed the privilege of witnessing that exhibition. + +XIII. Amongst the spectacles presented by him, the solemn entrance of +Tiridates [574] into the city deserves to be mentioned. This personage, +who was king of Armenia, he invited to Rome by very liberal promises. +But being prevented by unfavourable weather from showing him to the +people upon the day fixed by proclamation, he took the first opportunity +which occurred; several cohorts being drawn up under arms, about the +temples in the forum, while he was seated on a curule chair on the +rostra, in a triumphal dress, amidst the military standards and ensigns. +Upon Tiridates advancing towards him, on a stage made shelving for the +purpose, he permitted him to throw himself at his feet, but quickly +raised him with his right hand, and kissed him. The emperor then, at the +king's request, took the turban from his head, and replaced it by a +crown, whilst a person of pretorian rank proclaimed in Latin the words in +which the prince addressed the emperor as a suppliant. After this +ceremony, the king was conducted to the theatre, where, after renewing +his obeisance, Nero seated him on his right hand. Being then greeted by +universal acclamation with the title of Emperor, and sending his laurel +crown to the Capitol, Nero shut the temple of the two-faced Janus, as +though there now existed no war throughout the Roman empire. + +XIV. He filled the consulship four times [575]: the first for two +months, the second and last for six, and the third for four; the two +intermediate ones he held successively, but the others after an interval +of some years between them. + +XV. In the administration of justice, he scarcely ever gave his decision +on the pleadings before the next day, and then in writing. His manner of +hearing causes was not to allow any adjournment, but to dispatch them in +order as they stood. When he withdrew to consult his assessors, he did +not debate the matter openly with them; but silently and privately +reading over their opinions, which they gave separately in writing, (347) +he pronounced sentence from the tribunal according to his own view of the +case, as if it was the opinion of the majority. For a long time he would +not admit the sons of freedmen into the senate; and those who had been +admitted by former princes, he excluded from all public offices. To +supernumerary candidates he gave command in the legions, to comfort them +under the delay of their hopes. The consulship he commonly conferred for +six months; and one of the two consuls dying a little before the first of +January, he substituted no one in his place; disliking what had been +formerly done for Caninius Rebilus on such an occasion, who was consul +for one day only. He allowed the triumphal honours only to those who +were of quaestorian rank, and to some of the equestrian order; and +bestowed them without regard to military service. And instead of the +quaestors, whose office it properly was, he frequently ordered that the +addresses, which he sent to the senate on certain occasions, should be +read by the consuls. + +XVI. He devised a new style of building in the city, ordering piazzas to +be erected before all houses, both in the streets and detached, to give +facilities from their terraces, in case of fire, for preventing it from +spreading; and these he built at his own expense. He likewise designed +to extend the city walls as far as Ostia, and bring the sea from thence +by a canal into the old city. Many severe regulations and new orders +were made in his time. A sumptuary law was enacted. Public suppers were +limited to the Sportulae [576]; and victualling-houses restrained from +selling any dressed victuals, except pulse and herbs, whereas before they +sold all kinds of meat. He likewise inflicted punishments on the +Christians, a sort of people who held a new and impious [577] +superstition. + +(348) He forbad the revels of the charioteers, who had long assumed a +licence to stroll about, and established for themselves a kind of +prescriptive right to cheat and thieve, making a jest of it. The +partisans of the rival theatrical performers were banished, as well as +the actors themselves. + +XVII. To prevent forgery, a method was then first invented, of having +writings bored, run through three times with a thread, and then sealed. +It was likewise provided that in wills, the two first pages, with only +the testator's name upon them, should be presented blank to those who +were to sign them as witnesses; and that no one who wrote a will for +another, should insert any legacy for himself. It was likewise ordained +that clients should pay their advocates a certain reasonable fee, but +nothing for the court, which was to be gratuitous, the charges for it +being paid out of the public treasury; that causes, the cognizance of +which before belonged to the judges of the exchequer, should be +transferred to the forum, and the ordinary tribunals; and that all +appeals from the judges should be made to the senate. + +XVIII. He never entertained the least ambition or hope of augmenting and +extending the frontiers of the empire. On the contrary, he had thoughts +of withdrawing the troops from Britain, and was only restrained from so +doing by the fear of appearing to detract from the glory of his father +[578]. All (349) that he did was to reduce the kingdom of Pontus, which +was ceded to him by Polemon, and also the Alps [579], upon the death of +Cottius, into the form of a province. + +XIX. Twice only he undertook any foreign expeditions, one to Alexandria, +and the other to Achaia; but he abandoned the prosecution of the former +on the very day fixed for his departure, by being deterred both by ill +omens, and the hazard of the voyage. For while he was making the circuit +of the temples, having seated himself in that of Vesta, when he attempted +to rise, the skirt of his robe stuck fast; and he was instantly seized +with such a dimness in his eyes, that he could not see a yard before him. +In Achaia, he attempted to make a cut through the Isthmus [580]; and, +having made a speech encouraging his pretorians to set about the work, on +a signal given by sound of trumpet, he first broke ground with a spade, +and carried off a basket full of earth upon his shoulders. He made +preparations for an expedition to the Pass of the Caspian mountains +[581]; forming a new legion out of his late levies in Italy, of men all +six feet high, which he called the phalanx of Alexander the Great. These +transactions, in part unexceptionable, and in part highly commendable, I +have brought into one view, in order to separate them from the scandalous +and criminal part of his conduct, of which I shall now give an account. + +XX. Among the other liberal arts which he was taught in his youth, he +was instructed in music; and immediately after (350) his advancement to +the empire, he sent for Terpnus, a performer upon the harp [582], who +flourished at that time with the highest reputation. Sitting with him +for several days following, as he sang and played after supper, until +late at night, he began by degrees to practise upon the instrument +himself. Nor did he omit any of those expedients which artists in music +adopt, for the preservation and improvement of their voices. He would +lie upon his back with a sheet of lead upon his breast, clear his stomach +and bowels by vomits and clysters, and forbear the eating of fruits, or +food prejudicial to the voice. Encouraged by his proficiency, though his +voice was naturally neither loud nor clear, he was desirous of appearing +upon the stage, frequently repeating amongst his friends a Greek proverb +to this effect: "that no one had any regard for music which they never +heard." Accordingly, he made his first public appearance at Naples; and +although the theatre quivered with the sudden shock of an earthquake, he +did not desist, until he had finished the piece of music he had begun. +He played and sung in the same place several times, and for several days +together; taking only now and then a little respite to refresh his voice. +Impatient of retirement, it was his custom to go from the bath to the +theatre; and after dining in the orchestra, amidst a crowded assembly of +the people, he promised them in Greek [583], "that after he had drank a +little, he would give them a tune which would make their ears tingle." +Being highly pleased with the songs that were sung in his praise by some +Alexandrians belonging to the fleet just arrived at Naples [584], he sent +for more of the like singers from Alexandria. At the same time, he chose +young men of the equestrian order, and above five thousand robust young +fellows from the common people, on purpose to learn various kinds of +applause, called bombi, imbrices, and testae [585], which they were to +practise in his favour, whenever he performed. They were (351) divided +into several parties, and were remarkable for their fine heads of hair, +and were extremely well dressed, with rings upon their left hands. The +leaders of these bands had salaries of forty thousand sesterces allowed +them. + +XXI. At Rome also, being extremely proud of his singing, he ordered the +games called Neronia to be celebrated before the time fixed for their +return. All now becoming importunate to hear "his heavenly voice," he +informed them, "that he would gratify those who desired it at the +gardens." But the soldiers then on guard seconding the voice of the +people, he promised to comply with their request immediately, and with +all his heart. He instantly ordered his name to be entered upon the list +of musicians who proposed to contend, and having thrown his lot into the +urn among the rest, took his turn, and entered, attended by the prefects +of the pretorian cohorts bearing his harp, and followed by the military +tribunes, and several of his intimate friends. After he had taken his +station, and made the usual prelude, he commanded Cluvius Rufus, a man of +consular rank, to proclaim in the theatre, that he intended to sing the +story of Niobe. This he accordingly did, and continued it until nearly +ten o'clock, but deferred the disposal of the crown, and the remaining +part of the solemnity, until the next year; that he might have more +frequent opportunities of performing. But that being too long, he could +not refrain from often appearing as a public performer during the +interval. He made no scruple of exhibiting on the stage, even in the +spectacles presented to the people by private persons, and was offered by +one of the praetors, no less than a million of sesterces for his +services. He likewise sang tragedies in a mask; the visors of the heroes +and gods, as also of the heroines and goddesses, being formed into a +resemblance of his own face, and that of any woman he was in love with. +Amongst the rest, he sung "Canace in Labour," [586] "Orestes the Murderer +of his Mother," "Oedipus (352) Blinded," and "Hercules Mad." In the last +tragedy, it is said that a young sentinel, posted at the entrance of the +stage, seeing him in a prison dress and bound with fetters, as the fable +of the play required, ran to his assistance. + +XXII. He had from his childhood an extravagant passion for horses; and +his constant talk was of the Circensian races, notwithstanding it was +prohibited him. Lamenting once, among his fellow-pupils, the case of a +charioteer of the green party, who was dragged round the circus at the +tail of his chariot, and being reprimanded by his tutor for it, he +pretended that he was talking of Hector. In the beginning of his reign, +he used to amuse himself daily with chariots drawn by four horses, made +of ivory, upon a table. He attended at all the lesser exhibitions in the +circus, at first privately, but at last openly; so that nobody ever +doubted of his presence on any particular day. Nor did he conceal his +desire to have the number of the prizes doubled; so that the races being +increased accordingly, the diversion continued until a late hour; the +leaders of parties refusing now to bring out their companies for any time +less than the whole day. Upon this, he took a fancy for driving the +chariot himself, and that even publicly. Having made his first +experiment in the gardens, amidst crowds of slaves and other rabble, he +at length performed in the view of all the people, in the Circus Maximus, +whilst one of his freedmen dropped the napkin in the place where the +magistrates used to give the signal. Not satisfied with exhibiting +various specimens of his skill in those arts at Rome, he went over to +Achaia, as has been already said, principally for this purpose. The +several cities, in which solemn trials of musical skill used to be +publicly held, had resolved to send him the crowns belonging to those who +bore away the prize. These he accepted so graciously, that he not only +gave the deputies who brought them an immediate audience, but even +invited them to his table. Being requested by some of them to sing at +supper, and prodigiously applauded, he said, "the Greeks were the only +people who has an ear for music, and were the only good judges of him and +his attainments." Without delay he commenced his journey, and on his +arrival at Cassiope [587], (352) exhibited his first musical performance +before the altar of Jupiter Cassius. + +XXIII. He afterwards appeared at the celebration of all public games in +Greece: for such as fell in different years, he brought within the +compass of one, and some he ordered to be celebrated a second time in the +same year. At Olympia, likewise, contrary to custom, he appointed a +public performance in music: and that he might meet with no interruption +in this employment, when he was informed by his freedman Helius, that +affairs at Rome required his presence, he wrote to him in these words: +"Though now all your hopes and wishes are for my speedy return, yet you +ought rather to advise and hope that I may come back with a character +worthy of Nero." During the time of his musical performance, nobody was +allowed to stir out of the theatre upon any account, however necessary; +insomuch, that it is said some women with child were delivered there. +Many of the spectators being quite wearied with hearing and applauding +him, because the town gates were shut, slipped privately over the walls; +or counterfeiting themselves dead, were carried out for their funeral. +With what extreme anxiety he engaged in these contests, with what keen +desire to bear away the prize, and with how much awe of the judges, is +scarcely to be believed. As if his adversaries had been on a level with +himself, he would watch them narrowly, defame them privately, and +sometimes, upon meeting them, rail at them in very scurrilous language; +or bribe them, if they were better performers than himself. He always +addressed the judges with the most profound reverence before he began, +telling them, "he had done all things that were necessary, by way of +preparation, but that the issue of the approaching trial was in the hand +of fortune; and that they, as wise and skilful men, ought to exclude from +their judgment things merely accidental." Upon their encouraging him to +have a good heart, he went off with more assurance, but not entirely free +from anxiety; interpreting the silence and modesty of some of them into +sourness and ill-nature, and saying that he was suspicious of them. + +XXIV. In these contests, he adhered so strictly to the rules, (354) that +he never durst spit, nor wipe the sweat from his forehead in any other +way than with his sleeve. Having, in the performance of a tragedy, +dropped his sceptre, and not quickly recovering it, he was in a great +fright, lest he should be set aside for the miscarriage, and could not +regain his assurance, until an actor who stood by swore he was certain it +had not been observed in the midst of the acclamations and exultations of +the people. When the prize was adjudged to him, he always proclaimed it +himself; and even entered the lists with the heralds. That no memory or +the least monument might remain of any other victor in the sacred Grecian +games, he ordered all their statues and pictures to be pulled down, +dragged away with hooks, and thrown into the common sewers. He drove the +chariot with various numbers of horses, and at the Olympic games with no +fewer than ten; though, in a poem of his, he had reflected upon +Mithridates for that innovation. Being thrown out of his chariot, he was +again replaced, but could not retain his seat, and was obliged to give +up, before he reached the goal, but was crowned notwithstanding. On his +departure, he declared the whole province a free country, and conferred +upon the judges in the several games the freedom of Rome, with large sums +of money. All these favours he proclaimed himself with his own voice, +from the middle of the Stadium, during the solemnity of the Isthmian +games. + +XXV. On his return from Greece, arriving at Naples, because he had +commenced his career as a public performer in that city, he made his +entrance in a chariot drawn by white horses through a breach in the +city-wall, according to the practice of those who were victorious in the +sacred Grecian games. In the same manner he entered Antium, Alba, and +Rome. He made his entry into the city riding in the same chariot in +which Augustus had triumphed, in a purple tunic, and a cloak embroidered +with golden stars, having on his head the crown won at Olympia, and in +his right hand that which was given him at the Parthian games: the rest +being carried in a procession before him, with inscriptions denoting the +places where they had been won, from whom, and in what plays or musical +performances; whilst a train followed him with loud acclamations, crying +out, that "they (355) were the emperor's attendants, and the soldiers of +his triumph." Having then caused an arch of the Circus Maximus [588] to +be taken down, he passed through the breach, as also through the Velabrum +[589] and the forum, to the Palatine hill and the temple of Apollo. +Everywhere as he marched along, victims were slain, whilst the streets +were strewed with saffron, and birds, chaplets, and sweetmeats scattered +abroad. He suspended the sacred crowns in his chamber, about his beds, +and caused statues of himself to be erected in the attire of a harper, +and had his likeness stamped upon the coin in the same dress. After this +period, he was so far from abating any thing of his application to music, +that, for the preservation of his voice, he never addressed the soldiers +but by messages, or with some person to deliver his speeches for him, +when he thought fit to make his appearance amongst them. Nor did he ever +do any thing either in jest or earnest, without a voice-master standing +by him to caution him against overstraining his vocal organs, and to +apply a handkerchief to his mouth when he did. He offered his +friendship, or avowed (356) open enmity to many, according as they were +lavish or sparing in giving him their applause. + +XXVI. Petulancy, lewdness, luxury, avarice, and cruelty, he practised at +first with reserve and in private, as if prompted to them only by the +folly of youth; but, even then, the world was of opinion that they were +the faults of his nature, and not of his age. After it was dark, he used +to enter the taverns disguised in a cap or a wig, and ramble about the +streets in sport, which was not void of mischief. He used to beat those +he met coming home from supper; and, if they made any resistance, would +wound them, and throw them into the common sewer. He broke open and +robbed shops; establishing an auction at home for selling his booty. In +the scuffles which took place on those occasions, he often ran the hazard +of losing his eyes, and even his life; being beaten almost to death by a +senator, for handling his wife indecently. After this adventure, he +never again ventured abroad at that time of night, without some tribunes +following him at a little distance. In the day-time he would be carried +to the theatre incognito in a litter, placing himself upon the upper part +of the proscenium, where he not only witnessed the quarrels which arose +on account of the performances, but also encouraged them. When they came +to blows, and stones and pieces of broken benches began to fly about, he +threw them plentifully amongst the people, and once even broke a +praetor's head. + +XXVII. His vices gaining strength by degrees, he laid aside his jocular +amusements, and all disguise; breaking out into enormous crimes, without +the least attempt to conceal them. His revels were prolonged from +mid-day to midnight, while he was frequently refreshed by warm baths, and, +in the summer time, by such as were cooled with snow. He often supped in +public, in the Naumachia, with the sluices shut, or in the Campus Martius, +or the Circus Maximus, being waited upon at table by common prostitutes of +the town, and Syrian strumpets and glee-girls. As often as he went down +the Tiber to Ostia, or coasted through the gulf of Baiae, booths furnished +as brothels and eating-houses, were erected along the shore and river +banks; before which stood matrons, who, like bawds and hostesses, allured +him to land. It was also his custom to invite (357) himself to supper +with his friends; at one of which was expended no less than four millions +of sesterces in chaplets, and at another something more in roses. + +XXVIII. Besides the abuse of free-born lads, and the debauch of married +women, he committed a rape upon Rubria, a Vestal Virgin. He was upon the +point of marrying Acte [590], his freedwoman, having suborned some men of +consular rank to swear that she was of royal descent. He gelded the boy +Sporus, and endeavoured to transform him into a woman. He even went so +far as to marry him, with all the usual formalities of a marriage +settlement, the rose-coloured nuptial veil, and a numerous company at the +wedding. When the ceremony was over, he had him conducted like a bride +to his own house, and treated him as his wife [591]. It was jocularly +observed by some person, "that it would have been well for mankind, had +such a wife fallen to the lot of his father Domitius." This Sporus he +carried about with him in a litter round the solemn assemblies and fairs +of Greece, and afterwards at Rome through the Sigillaria [592], dressed +in the rich attire of an empress; kissing him from time to time as they +rode together. That he entertained an incestuous passion for his mother +[593], but was deterred by her enemies, for fear that this haughty and +overbearing woman should, by her compliance, get him entirely into her +power, and govern in every thing, was universally believed; especially +after he had introduced amongst his concubines a strumpet, who was +reported to have a strong resemblance to Agrippina [594].-------- + +XXIX. He prostituted his own chastity to such a degree, that (358) after +he had defiled every part of his person with some unnatural pollution, he +at last invented an extraordinary kind of diversion; which was, to be let +out of a den in the arena, covered with the skin of a wild beast, and +then assail with violence the private parts both of men and women, while +they were bound to stakes. After he had vented his furious passion upon +them, he finished the play in the embraces of his freedman Doryphorus +[595], to whom he was married in the same way that Sporus had been +married to himself; imitating the cries and shrieks of young virgins, +when they are ravished. I have been informed from numerous sources, that +he firmly believed, no man in the world to be chaste, or any part of his +person undefiled; but that most men concealed that vice, and were cunning +enough to keep it secret. To those, therefore, who frankly owned their +unnatural lewdness, he forgave all other crimes. + +XXX. He thought there was no other use of riches and money than to +squander them away profusely; regarding all those as sordid wretches who +kept their expenses within due bounds; and extolling those as truly noble +and generous souls, who lavished away and wasted all they possessed. He +praised and admired his uncle Caius [596], upon no account more, than for +squandering in a short time the vast treasure left him by Tiberius. +Accordingly, he was himself extravagant and profuse, beyond all bounds. +He spent upon Tiridates eight hundred thousand sesterces a day, a sum +almost incredible; and at his departure, presented him with upwards of a +million [597]. He likewise bestowed upon Menecrates the harper, and +Spicillus a gladiator, the estates and houses of men who had received the +honour of a triumph. He enriched the usurer Cercopithecus Panerotes with +estates both in town and country; and gave him a funeral, in pomp and +magnificence little inferior to that of princes. He never wore the same +garment twice. He (359) has been known to stake four hundred thousand +sesterces on a throw of the dice. It was his custom to fish with a +golden net, drawn by silken cords of purple and scarlet. It is said, +that he never travelled with less than a thousand baggage-carts; the +mules being all shod with silver, and the drivers dressed in scarlet +jackets of the finest Canusian cloth [598], with a numerous train of +footmen, and troops of Mazacans [599], with bracelets on their arms, and +mounted upon horses in splendid trappings. + +XXXI. In nothing was he more prodigal than in his buildings. He +completed his palace by continuing it from the Palatine to the Esquiline +hill, calling the building at first only "The Passage," but, after it was +burnt down and rebuilt, "The Golden House." [600] Of its dimensions and +furniture, it may be sufficient to say thus much: the porch was so high +that there stood in it a colossal statue of himself a hundred and twenty +feet in height; and the space included in it was so ample, that it had +triple porticos a mile in length, and a lake like a sea, surrounded with +buildings which had the appearance of a city. Within its area were corn +fields, vineyards, pastures, and woods, containing a vast number of +animals of various kinds, both wild and tame. In other parts it was +entirely over-laid with gold, and adorned with jewels and mother of +pearl. The supper rooms were vaulted, and compartments of the ceilings, +inlaid with ivory, were made to revolve, and scatter flowers; while they +contained pipes which (360) shed unguents upon the guests. The chief +banqueting room was circular, and revolved perpetually, night and day, in +imitation of the motion of the celestial bodies. The baths were supplied +with water from the sea and the Albula. Upon the dedication of this +magnificent house after it was finished, all he said in approval of it +was, "that he had now a dwelling fit for a man." He commenced making a +pond for the reception of all the hot streams from Baiae, which he +designed to have continued from Misenum to the Avernian lake, in a +conduit, enclosed in galleries; and also a canal from Avernum to Ostia, +that ships might pass from one to the other, without a sea voyage. The +length of the proposed canal was one hundred and sixty miles; and it was +intended to be of breadth sufficient to permit ships with five banks of +oars to pass each other. For the execution of these designs, he ordered +all prisoners, in every part of the empire, to be brought to Italy; and +that even those who were convicted of the most heinous crimes, in lieu of +any other sentence, should be condemned to work at them. He was +encouraged to all this wild and enormous profusion, not only by the great +revenue of the empire, but by the sudden hopes given him of an immense +hidden treasure, which queen Dido, upon her flight from Tyre, had brought +with her to Africa. This, a Roman knight pretended to assure him, upon +good grounds, was still hid there in some deep caverns, and might with a +little labour be recovered. + +XXXII. But being disappointed in his expectations of this resource, and +reduced to such difficulties, for want of money, that he was obliged to +defer paying his troops, and the rewards due to the veterans; he resolved +upon supplying his necessities by means of false accusations and plunder. +In the first place, he ordered, that if any freedman, without sufficient +reason, bore the name of the family to which he belonged; the half, +instead of three fourths, of his estate should be brought into the +exchequer at his decease: also that the estates of all such persons as +had not in their wills been mindful of their prince, should be +confiscated; and that the lawyers who had drawn or dictated such wills, +should be liable to a fine. He ordained likewise, that all words and +actions, upon which any informer could ground a prosecution, should be +deemed treason. He demanded an equivalent for the crowns which the +cities of (361) Greece had at any time offered him in the solemn games. +Having forbad any one to use the colours of amethyst and Tyrian purple, +he privately sent a person to sell a few ounces of them upon the day of +the Nundinae, and then shut up all the merchants' shops, on the pretext +that his edict had been violated. It is said, that, as he was playing +and singing in the theatre, observing a married lady dressed in the +purple which he had prohibited, he pointed her out to his procurators; +upon which she was immediately dragged out of her seat, and not only +stripped of her clothes, but her property. He never nominated a person +to any office without saying to him, "You know what I want; and let us +take care that nobody has any thing he can call his own." At last he +rifled many temples of the rich offerings with which they were stored, +and melted down all the gold and silver statues, and amongst them those +of the penates [601], which Galba afterwards restored. + +XXXIII. He began the practice of parricide and murder with Claudius +himself; for although he was not the contriver of his death, he was privy +to the plot. Nor did he make any secret of it; but used afterwards to +commend, in a Greek proverb, mushrooms as food fit for the gods, because +Claudius had been poisoned with them. He traduced his memory both by +word and deed in the grossest manner; one while charging him with folly, +another while with cruelty. For he used to say by way of jest, that he +had ceased morari [602] amongst men, pronouncing the first syllable long; +and treated as null many of his decrees and ordinances, as made by a +doting old blockhead. He enclosed the place where his body was burnt +with only a low wall of rough masonry. He attempted to poison (362) +Britannicus, as much out of envy because he had a sweeter voice, as from +apprehension of what might ensue from the respect which the people +entertained for his father's memory. He employed for this purpose a +woman named Locusta, who had been a witness against some persons guilty +of like practices. But the poison she gave him, working more slowly than +he expected, and only causing a purge, he sent for the woman, and beat +her with his own hand, charging her with administering an antidote +instead of poison; and upon her alleging in excuse, that she had given +Britannicus but a gentle mixture in order to prevent suspicion, "Think +you," said he, "that I am afraid of the Julian law;" and obliged her to +prepare, in his own chamber and before his eyes, as quick and strong a +dose as possible. This he tried upon a kid: but the animal lingering for +five hours before it expired, he ordered her to go to work again; and +when she had done, he gave the poison to a pig, which dying immediately, +he commanded the potion to be brought into the eating-room and given to +Britannicus, while he was at supper with him. The prince had no sooner +tasted it than he sunk on the floor, Nero meanwhile, pretending to the +guests, that it was only a fit of the falling sickness, to which, he +said, he was subject. He buried him the following day, in a mean and +hurried way, during violent storms of rain. He gave Locusta a pardon, +and rewarded her with a great estate in land, placing some disciples with +her, to be instructed in her trade. + +XXXIV. His mother being used to make strict inquiry into what he said or +did, and to reprimand him with the freedom of a parent, he was so much +offended, that he endeavoured to expose her to public resentment, by +frequently pretending a resolution to quit the government, and retire to +Rhodes. Soon afterwards, he deprived her of all honour and power, took +from her the guard of Roman and German soldiers, banished her from the +palace and from his society, and persecuted her in every way he could +contrive; employing persons to harass her when at Rome with law-suits, +and to disturb her in her retirement from town with the most scurrilous +and abusive language, following her about by land and sea. But being +terrified with her menaces and violent spirit, he resolved upon her +destruction, and thrice attempted it by poison. Finding, however, (363) +that she had previously secured herself by antidotes, he contrived +machinery, by which the floor over her bed-chamber might be made to fall +upon her while she was asleep in the night. This design miscarrying +likewise, through the little caution used by those who were in the +secret, his next stratagem was to construct a ship which could be easily +shivered, in hopes of destroying her either by drowning, or by the deck +above her cabin crushing her in its fall. Accordingly, under colour of a +pretended reconciliation, he wrote her an extremely affectionate letter, +inviting her to Baiae, to celebrate with him the festival of Minerva. He +had given private orders to the captains of the galleys which were to +attend her, to shatter to pieces the ship in which she had come, by +falling foul of it, but in such manner that it might appear to be done +accidentally. He prolonged the entertainment, for the more convenient +opportunity of executing the plot in the night; and at her return for +Bauli [603], instead of the old ship which had conveyed her to Baiae, he +offered that which he had contrived for her destruction. He attended her +to the vessel in a very cheerful mood, and, at parting with her, kissed +her breasts; after which he sat up very late in the night, waiting with +great anxiety to learn the issue of his project. But receiving +information that every thing had fallen out contrary to his wish, and +that she had saved herself by swimming,--not knowing what course to take, +upon her freedman, Lucius Agerinus bringing word, with great joy, that +she was safe and well, he privately dropped a poniard by him. He then +commanded the freedman to be seized and put in chains, under pretence of +his having been employed by his mother to assassinate him; at the same +time ordering her to be put to death, and giving out, that, to avoid +punishment for her intended crime, she had laid violent hands upon +herself. Other circumstances, still more horrible, are related on good +authority; as that he went to view her corpse, and handling her limbs, +pointed out some blemishes, and commended other points; and that, growing +thirsty during the survey, he called for drink. Yet he was never +afterwards able to bear the stings of his own conscience for this +atrocious act, although encouraged by the congratulatory addresses of the +army, the senate, and people. He frequently affirmed that he was haunted +by his mother's ghost, and persecuted with the whips (364) and burning +torches of the Furies. Nay, he attempted by magical rites to bring up +her ghost from below, and soften her rage against him. When he was in +Greece, he durst not attend the celebration of the Eleusinian mysteries, +at the initiation of which, impious and wicked persons are warned by the +voice of the herald from approaching the rites [604]. Besides the murder +of his mother, he had been guilty of that of his aunt; for, being obliged +to keep her bed in consequence of a complaint in her bowels, he paid her +a visit, and she, being then advanced in years, stroking his downy chin, +in the tenderness of affection, said to him: "May I but live to see the +day when this is shaved for the first time [605], and I shall then die +contented." He turned, however, to those about him, made a jest of it, +saying, that he would have his beard immediately taken off, and ordered +the physicians to give her more violent purgatives. He seized upon her +estate before she had expired; suppressing her will, that he might enjoy +the whole himself. + +XXXV. He had, besides Octavia, two other wives: Poppaea Sabina, whose +father had borne the office of quaestor, and who had been married +before to a Roman knight: and, after her, Statilia Messalina, +great-grand-daughter of Taurus [606] who was twice consul, and received +the honour of a triumph. To obtain possession of her, he put to death her +husband, Atticus Vestinus, who was then consul. He soon became disgusted +with Octavia, and ceased from having any intercourse with her; and being +censured by his friends for it, he replied, "She ought to be satisfied +with having the rank and appendages of his wife." Soon afterwards, he +made several attempts, but in vain, to strangle her, and then divorced her +for barrenness. But the people, disapproving of the divorce, and making +severe comments upon it, he also banished her [607]. At last he (365) put +her to death, upon a charge of adultery, so impudent and false, that, when +all those who were put to the torture positively denied their knowledge of +it, he suborned his pedagogue, Anicetus, to affirm, that he had secretly +intrigued with and debauched her. He married Poppaea twelve days after +the divorce of Octavia [608], and entertained a great affection for her; +but, nevertheless, killed her with a kick which he gave her when she was +big with child, and in bad health, only because she found fault with him +for returning late from driving his chariot. He had by her a daughter, +Claudia Augusta, who died an infant. There was no person at all connected +with him who escaped his deadly and unjust cruelty. Under pretence of her +being engaged in a plot against him, he put to death Antonia, Claudius's +daughter, who refused to marry him after the death of Poppaea. In the +same way, he destroyed all who were allied to him either by blood or +marriage; amongst whom was young Aulus Plautinus. He first compelled him +to submit to his unnatural lust, and then ordered him to be executed, +crying out, "Let my mother bestow her kisses on my successor thus +defiled;" pretending that he had been his mothers paramour, and by her +encouraged to aspire to the empire. His step-son, Rufinus Crispinus, +Poppaea's son, though a minor, he ordered to be drowned in the sea, while +he was fishing, by his own slaves, because he was reported to act +frequently amongst his play-fellows the part of a general or an emperor. +He banished Tuscus, his nurse's son, for presuming, when he was procurator +of Egypt, to wash in the baths which had been constructed in expectation +of his own coming. Seneca, his preceptor, he forced to kill himself +[609], though, upon his desiring leave to retire, and offering to +surrender his estate, he solemnly swore, "that there was no foundation for +his suspicions, and that he would perish himself sooner than hurt him." +Having promised Burrhus, the pretorian prefect, a remedy for a swelling in +his throat, he sent him poison. Some old rich freedmen of Claudius, who +had formerly not only promoted (366) his adoption, but were also +instrumental to his advancement to the empire, and had been his governors, +he took off by poison given them in their meat or drink. + +XXXVI. Nor did he proceed with less cruelty against those who were not +of his family. A blazing star, which is vulgarly supposed to portend +destruction to kings and princes, appeared above the horizon several +nights successively [610]. He felt great anxiety on account of this +phenomenon, and being informed by one Babilus, an astrologer, that +princes were used to expiate such omens by the sacrifice of illustrious +persons, and so avert the danger foreboded to their own persons, by +bringing it on the heads of their chief men, he resolved on the +destruction of the principal nobility in Rome. He was the more +encouraged to this, because he had some plausible pretence for carrying +it into execution, from the discovery of two conspiracies against him; +the former and more dangerous of which was that formed by Piso [611], and +discovered at Rome; the other was that of Vinicius [612], at Beneventum. +The conspirators were brought to their trials loaded with triple fetters. +Some ingenuously confessed the charge; others avowed that they thought +the design against his life an act of favour for which he was obliged to +them, as it was impossible in any other way than by death to relieve a +person rendered infamous by crimes of the greatest enormity. The +children of those who had been condemned, were banished the city, and +afterwards either poisoned or starved to death. It is asserted that some +of them, with their tutors, and the slaves who carried their satchels, +were all poisoned together at one dinner; and others not suffered to seek +their daily bread. + +XXXVII. From this period he butchered, without distinction or quarter, +all whom his caprice suggested as objects for his cruelty; and upon the +most frivolous pretences. To mention only a few: Salvidienus Orfitus was +accused of letting (367) out three taverns attached to his house in the +Forum to some cities for the use of their deputies at Rome. The charge +against Cassius Longinus, a lawyer who had lost his sight, was, that he +kept amongst the busts of his ancestors that of Caius Cassius, who was +concerned in the death of Julius Caesar. The only charge objected +against Paetus Thrasea was, that he had a melancholy cast of features, +and looked like a schoolmaster. He allowed but one hour to those whom he +obliged to kill themselves; and, to prevent delay, he sent them +physicians "to cure them immediately, if they lingered beyond that time;" +for so he called bleeding them to death. There was at that time an +Egyptian of a most voracious appetite, who would digest raw flesh, or any +thing else that was given him. It was credibly reported, that the +emperor was extremely desirous of furnishing him with living men to tear +and devour. Being elated with his great success in the perpetration of +crimes, he declared, "that no prince before himself ever knew the extent +of his power." He threw out strong intimations that he would not even +spare the senators who survived, but would entirely extirpate that order, +and put the provinces and armies into the hands of the Roman knights and +his own freedmen. It is certain that he never gave or vouchsafed to +allow any one the customary kiss, either on entering or departing, or +even returned a salute. And at the inauguration of a work, the cut +through the Isthmus [613], he, with a loud voice, amidst the assembled +multitude, uttered a prayer, that "the undertaking might prove fortunate +for himself and the Roman people," without taking the smallest notice of +the senate. + +XXXVIII. He spared, moreover, neither the people of Rome, nor the +capital of his country. Somebody in conversation saying-- + + Emou thanontos gaia michthaeto pyri + When I am dead let fire devour the world-- + +"Nay," said he, "let it be while I am living" [emou xontos]. And he +acted accordingly: for, pretending to be disgusted with the old +buildings, and the narrow and winding streets, he set the city on fire so +openly, that many of consular rank caught his own household servants on +their property with tow, and (368) torches in their hands, but durst not +meddle with them. There being near his Golden House some granaries, the +site of which he exceedingly coveted, they were battered as if with +machines of war, and set on fire, the walls being built of stone. During +six days and seven nights this terrible devastation continued, the people +being obliged to fly to the tombs and monuments for lodging and shelter. +Meanwhile, a vast number of stately buildings, the houses of generals +celebrated in former times, and even then still decorated with the spoils +of war, were laid in ashes; as well as the temples of the gods, which had +been vowed and dedicated by the kings of Rome, and afterwards in the +Punic and Gallic wars: in short, everything that was remarkable and +worthy to be seen which time had spared [614]. This fire he beheld from +a tower in the house of Mecaenas, and "being greatly delighted," as he +said, "with the beautiful effects of the conflagration," he sung a poem +on the ruin of Troy, in the tragic dress he used on the stage. To turn +this calamity to his own advantage by plunder and rapine, he promised to +remove the bodies of those who had perished in the fire, and clear the +rubbish at his own expense; suffering no one to meddle with the remains +of their property. But he not only received, but exacted contributions +on account of the loss, until he had exhausted the means both of the +provinces and private persons. + +XXXIX. To these terrible and shameful calamities brought upon the people +by their prince, were added some proceeding from misfortune. Such were a +pestilence, by which, within the space of one autumn, there died no less +than thirty thousand persons, as appeared from the registers in the +temple of Libitina; a great disaster in Britain [615], where two of the +principal towns belonging to the Romans were plundered; and a (369) +dreadful havoc made both amongst our troops and allies; a shameful +discomfiture of the army of the East; where, in Armenia, the legions were +obliged to pass under the yoke, and it was with great difficulty that +Syria was retained. Amidst all these disasters, it was strange, and, +indeed, particularly remarkable, that he bore nothing more patiently than +the scurrilous language and railing abuse which was in every one's mouth; +treating no class of persons with more gentleness, than those who +assailed him with invective and lampoons. Many things of that kind were +posted up about the city, or otherwise published, both in Greek and +Latin: such as these, + + Neron, Orestaes, Alkmaion, maetroktonai. + Neonymphon [616] Neron, idian maeter apekteinen. + + Orestes and Alcaeon--Nero too, + The lustful Nero, worst of all the crew, + Fresh from his bridal--their own mothers slew. + + Quis neget Aeneae magna de stirpe Neronem? + Sustulit hic matrem: sustulit [617] ille patrem. + + Sprung from Aeneas, pious, wise and great, + Who says that Nero is degenerate? + Safe through the flames, one bore his sire; the other, + To save himself, took off his loving mother. + + Dum tendit citharam noster, dum cornua Parthus, + Noster erit Paean, ille Ekataebeletaes. + + His lyre to harmony our Nero strings; + His arrows o'er the plain the Parthian wings: + Ours call the tuneful Paean,--famed in war, + The other Phoebus name, the god who shoots afar. [618] + + Roma domus fiet: Vejos migrate, Quirites, + Si non et Vejos occupat ista domus. + + All Rome will be one house: to Veii fly, + Should it not stretch to Veii, by and by. [619] + +(370) But he neither made any inquiry after the authors, nor when +information was laid before the senate against some of them, would he +allow a severe sentence to be passed. Isidorus, the Cynic philosopher, +said to him aloud, as he was passing along the streets, "You sing the +misfortunes of Nauplius well, but behave badly yourself." And Datus, a +comic actor, when repeating these words in the piece, "Farewell, father! +Farewell mother!" mimicked the gestures of persons drinking and swimming, +significantly alluding to the deaths of Claudius and Agrippina: and on +uttering the last clause, + + Orcus vobis ducit pedes; + You stand this moment on the brink of Orcus; + +he plainly intimated his application of it to the precarious position of +the senate. Yet Nero only banished the player and philosopher from the +city and Italy; either because he was insensible to shame, or from +apprehension that if he discovered his vexation, still keener things +might be said of him. + +XL. The world, after tolerating such an emperor for little less than +fourteen years, at length forsook him; the Gauls, headed by Julius +Vindex, who at that time governed the province as pro-praetor, being the +first to revolt. Nero had been formerly told by astrologers, that it +would be his fortune to be at last deserted by all the world; and this +occasioned that celebrated saying of his, "An artist can live in any +country;" by which he meant to offer as an excuse for his practice of +music, that it was not only his amusement as a prince, but might be his +support when reduced to a private station. Yet some of the astrologers +promised him, in his forlorn state, the rule of the East, and some in +express words the kingdom of Jerusalem. But the greater part of them +flattered him with assurances of his being restored to his former +fortune. And being most inclined to believe the latter prediction, upon +losing Britain and Armenia, he imagined he had run through all the +misfortunes which the fates had decreed him. But when, upon consulting +the oracle of Apollo at Delphi, he was advised to beware of the +seventy-third year, as if he were not to die till then, never thinking of +Galba's age, he conceived such hopes, not only of living to advanced +years, but of constant and singular good fortune, that having lost some +things of great value by shipwreck, he scrupled not to say amongst his +friends, that (371) "the fishes would bring them back to him." At Naples +he heard of the insurrection in Gaul, on the anniversary of the day on +which he killed his mother, and bore it with so much unconcern, as to +excite a suspicion that he was really glad of it, since he had now a fair +opportunity of plundering those wealthy provinces by the right of war. +Immediately going to the gymnasium, he witnessed the exercise of the +wrestlers with the greatest delight. Being interrupted at supper with +letters which brought yet worse news, he expressed no greater resentment, +than only to threaten the rebels. For eight days together, he never +attempted to answer any letters, nor give any orders, but buried the +whole affair in profound silence. + +XLI. Being roused at last by numerous proclamations of Vindex, treating +him with reproaches and contempt, he in a letter to the senate exhorted +them to avenge his wrongs and those of the republic; desiring them to +excuse his not appearing in the senate-house, because he had got cold. +But nothing so much galled him, as to find himself railed at as a pitiful +harper, and, instead of Nero, styled Aenobarbus: which being his family +name, since he was upbraided with it, he declared that he would resume +it, and lay aside the name he had taken by adoption. Passing by the +other accusations as wholly groundless, he earnestly refuted that of his +want of skill in an art upon which he had bestowed so much pains, and in +which he had arrived at such perfection; asking frequently those about +him, "if they knew any one who was a more accomplished musician?" But +being alarmed by messengers after messengers of ill news from Gaul, he +returned in great consternation to Rome. On the road, his mind was +somewhat relieved, by observing the frivolous omen of a Gaulish soldier +defeated and dragged by the hair by a Roman knight, which was sculptured +on a monument; so that he leaped for joy, and adored the heavens. Even +then he made no appeal either to the senate or people, but calling +together some of the leading men at his own house, he held a hasty +consultation upon the present state of affairs, and then, during the +remainder of the day, carried them about with him to view some musical +instruments, of a new invention, which were played by water [620] (372) +exhibiting all the parts, and discoursing upon the principles and +difficulties of the contrivance; which, he told them, he intended to +produce in the theatre, if Vindex would give him leave. + +XLII. Soon afterwards, he received intelligence that Galba and the +Spaniards had declared against him; upon which, he fainted, and losing +his reason, lay a long time speechless, apparently dead. As soon as +recovered from this state stupefaction he tore his clothes, and beat his +head, crying out, "It is all over with me!" His nurse endeavouring to +comfort him, and telling him that the like things had happened to other +princes before him, he replied, "I am beyond all example wretched, for I +have lost an empire whilst I am still living." He, nevertheless, abated +nothing of his luxury and inattention to business. Nay, on the arrival +of good news from the provinces, he, at a sumptuous entertainment, sung +with an air of merriment, some jovial verses upon the leaders of the +revolt, which were made public; and accompanied them with suitable +gestures. Being carried privately to the theatre, he sent word to an +actor who was applauded by the spectators, "that he had it all his own +way, now that he himself did not appear on the stage." + +XLIII. At the first breaking out of these troubles, it is believed that +he had formed many designs of a monstrous nature, although conformable +enough to his natural disposition. These were to send new governors and +commanders to the provinces and the armies, and employ assassins to +butcher all the former governors and commanders, as men unanimously +engaged in a conspiracy against him; to massacre the exiles in every +quarter, and all the Gaulish population in Rome; the former lest they +should join the insurrection; the latter as privy to the designs of their +countrymen, and ready to support (373) them; to abandon Gaul itself, to +be wasted and plundered by his armies; to poison the whole senate at a +feast; to fire the city, and then let loose the wild beasts upon the +people, in order to impede their stopping the progress of the flames. +But being deterred from the execution of these designs not so much by +remorse of conscience, as by despair of being able to effect them, and +judging an expedition into Gaul necessary, he removed the consuls from +their office, before the time of its expiration was arrived; and in their +room assumed the consulship himself without a colleague, as if the fates +had decreed that Gaul should not be conquered, but by a consul. Upon +assuming the fasces, after an entertainment at the palace, as he walked +out of the room leaning on the arms of some of his friends, he declared, +that as soon as he arrived in the province, he would make his appearance +amongst the troops, unarmed, and do nothing but weep: and that, after he +had brought the mutineers to repentance, he would, the next day, in the +public rejoicings, sing songs of triumph, which he must now, without loss +of time, apply himself to compose. + +XLIV. In preparing for this expedition, his first care was to provide +carriages for his musical instruments and machinery to be used upon the +stage; to have the hair of the concubines he carried with him dressed in +the fashion of men; and to supply them with battle-axes, and Amazonian +bucklers. He summoned the city-tribes to enlist; but no qualified +persons appearing, he ordered all masters to send a certain number of +slaves, the best they had, not excepting their stewards and secretaries. +He commanded the several orders of the people to bring in a fixed +proportion of their estates, as they stood in the censor's books; all +tenants of houses and mansions to pay one year's rent forthwith into the +exchequer; and, with unheard-of strictness, would receive only new coin +of the purest silver and the finest gold; insomuch that most people +refused to pay, crying out unanimously that he ought to squeeze the +informers, and oblige them to surrender their gains. + +XLV. The general odium in which he was held received an increase by the +great scarcity of corn, and an occurrence connected with it. For, as it +happened just at that time, there arrived from Alexandria a ship, which +was said to be freighted (374) with dust for the wrestlers belonging to +the emperor [621]. This so much inflamed the public rage, that he was +treated with the utmost abuse and scurrility. Upon the top of one of his +statues was placed the figure of a chariot with a Greek inscription, that +"Now indeed he had a race to run; let him be gone." A little bag was +tied about another, with a ticket containing these words; "What could I +do?"--"Truly thou hast merited the sack." [622] Some person likewise +wrote on the pillars in the forum, "that he had even woke the cocks [623] +with his singing." And many, in the night-time, pretending to find fault +with their servants, frequently called for a Vindex. [624] + +XLVI. He was also terrified with manifest warnings, both old and new, +arising from dreams, auspices, and omens. He had never been used to +dream before the murder of his mother. After that event, he fancied in +his sleep that he was steering a ship, and that the rudder was forced +from him: that he was dragged by his wife Octavia into a prodigiously +dark place; and was at one time covered over with a vast swarm of winged +ants, and at another, surrounded by the national images which were set up +near Pompey's theatre, and hindered from advancing farther; that a +Spanish jennet he was fond of, had his hinder parts so changed, as to +resemble those of an ape; and having his head only left unaltered, +neighed very harmoniously. The doors of the mausoleum of Augustus flying +open of themselves, there issued from it a voice, calling on him by name. +The Lares being adorned with fresh garlands on the calends (the first) of +January, fell down during the preparations for sacrificing to them. +While he was taking (375) the omens, Sporus presented him with a ring, +the stone of which had carved upon it the Rape of Proserpine. When a +great multitude of the several orders was assembled, to attend at the +solemnity of making vows to the gods, it was a long time before the keys +of the Capitol could be found. And when, in a speech of his to the +senate against Vindex, these words were read, "that the miscreants should +be punished and soon make the end they merited," they all cried out, "You +will do it, Augustus." It was likewise remarked, that the last tragic +piece which he sung, was Oedipus in Exile, and that he fell as he was +repeating this verse: + + Thanein m' anoge syngamos, maetaer, pataer. + Wife, mother, father, force me to my end. + +XLVII. Meanwhile, on the arrival of the news, that the rest of the +armies had declared against him, he tore to pieces the letters which were +delivered to him at dinner, overthrew the table, and dashed with violence +against the ground two favourite cups, which he called Homer's, because +some of that poet's verses were cut upon them. Then taking from Locusta +a dose of poison, which he put up in a golden box, he went into the +Servilian gardens, and thence dispatching a trusty freedman to Ostia, +with orders to make ready a fleet, he endeavoured to prevail with some +tribunes and centurions of the pretorian guards to attend him in his +flight; but part of them showing no great inclination to comply, others +absolutely refusing, and one of them crying out aloud, + + Usque adeone mori miserum est? + Say, is it then so sad a thing to die? [625] + +he was in great perplexity whether he should submit himself to Galba, or +apply to the Parthians for protection, or else appear before the people +dressed in mourning, and, upon the rostra, in the most piteous manner, +beg pardon for his past misdemeanors, and, if he could not prevail, +request of them to grant him at least the government of Egypt. A speech +to this purpose was afterwards found in his writing-case. But it is +conjectured that he durst not venture upon this project, for fear of +being torn to pieces, before he could get to the Forum. Deferring, +therefore, his resolution until the next (376) day, he awoke about +midnight, and finding the guards withdrawn, he leaped out of bed, and +sent round for his friends. But none of them vouchsafing any message in +reply, he went with a few attendants to their houses. The doors being +every where shut, and no one giving him any answer, he returned to his +bed-chamber; whence those who had the charge of it had all now eloped; +some having gone one way, and some another, carrying off with them his +bedding and box of poison. He then endeavoured to find Spicillus, the +gladiator, or some one to kill him; but not being able to procure any +one, "What!" said he, "have I then neither friend nor foe?" and +immediately ran out, as if he would throw himself into the Tiber. + +XLVIII. But this furious impulse subsiding, he wished for some place of +privacy, where he might collect his thoughts; and his freedman Phaon +offering him his country-house, between the Salarian [626] and Nomentan +[627] roads, about four miles from the city, he mounted a horse, barefoot +as he was, and in his tunic, only slipping over it an old soiled cloak; +with his head muffled up, and an handkerchief before his face, and four +persons only to attend him, of whom Sporus was one. He was suddenly +struck with horror by an earthquake, and by a flash of lightning which +darted full in his face, and heard from the neighbouring camp [628] the +shouts of the soldiers, wishing his destruction, and prosperity to Galba. +He also heard a traveller they met on the road, say, "They are (377) in +pursuit of Nero:" and another ask, "Is there any news in the city about +Nero?" Uncovering his face when his horse was started by the scent of a +carcase which lay in the road, he was recognized and saluted by an old +soldier who had been discharged from the guards. When they came to the +lane which turned up to the house, they quitted their horses, and with +much difficulty he wound among bushes, and briars, and along a track +through a bed of rushes, over which they spread their cloaks for him to +walk on. Having reached a wall at the back of the villa, Phaon advised +him to hide himself awhile in a sand-pit; when he replied, "I will not go +under-ground alive." Staying there some little time, while preparations +were made for bringing him privately into the villa, he took up some +water out of a neighbouring tank in his hand, to drink, saying, "This is +Nero's distilled water." [629] Then his cloak having been torn by the +brambles, he pulled out the thorns which stuck in it. At last, being +admitted, creeping upon his hands and knees, through a hole made for him +in the wall, he lay down in the first closet he came to, upon a miserable +pallet, with an old coverlet thrown over it; and being both hungry and +thirsty, though he refused some coarse bread that was brought him, he +drank a little warm water. + +XLIX. All who surrounded him now pressing him to save himself from the +indignities which were ready to befall him, he ordered a pit to be sunk +before his eyes, of the size of his body, and the bottom to be covered +with pieces of marble put together, if any could be found about the +house; and water and wood [630], to be got ready for immediate use about +his corpse; weeping at every thing that was done, and frequently saying, +"What an artist is now about to perish!" Meanwhile, letters being +brought in by a servant belonging to Phaon, he snatched them out of his +hand, and there read, "That he had been declared an enemy by the senate, +and that search was making for him, that he might be punished according +to the ancient custom of the Romans." He then inquired what kind of +punishment that was; and being told, that the (378) practice was to strip +the criminal naked, and scourge him to death, while his neck was fastened +within a forked stake, he was so terrified that he took up two daggers +which he had brought with him, and after feeling the points of both, put +them up again, saying, "The fatal hour is not yet come." One while, he +begged of Sporus to begin to wail and lament; another while, he entreated +that one of them would set him an example by killing himself; and then +again, he condemned his own want of resolution in these words: "I yet +live to my shame and disgrace: this is not becoming for Nero: it is not +becoming. Thou oughtest in such circumstances to have a good heart: +Come, then: courage, man!" [631] The horsemen who had received orders to +bring him away alive, were now approaching the house. As soon as he +heard them coming, he uttered with a trembling voice the following verse, + + Hippon m' okupodon amphi ktupos ouata ballei; [632] + The noise of swift-heel'd steeds assails my ears; + +he drove a dagger into his throat, being assisted in the act by +Epaphroditus, his secretary. A centurion bursting in just as he was +half-dead, and applying his cloak to the wound, pretending that he was +come to his assistance, he made no other reply but this, "'Tis too late;" +and "Is this your loyalty?" Immediately after pronouncing these words, +he expired, with his eyes fixed and starting out of his head, to the +terror of all who beheld him. He had requested of his attendants, as the +most essential favour, that they would let no one have his head, but that +by all means his body might be burnt entire. And this, Icelus, Galba's +freedman, granted. He had but a little before been discharged from the +prison into which he had been thrown, when the disturbances first broke +out. + +L. The expenses of his funeral amounted to two hundred thousand +sesterces; the bed upon which his body was carried to the pile and burnt, +being covered with the white robes, interwoven with gold, which he had +worn upon the calends of January preceding. His nurses, Ecloge and +Alexandra, with his concubine Acte, deposited his remains in the tomb +belonging (379) to the family of the Domitii, which stands upon the top +of the Hill of the Gardens [633], and is to be seen from the Campus +Martius. In that monument, a coffin of porphyry, with an altar of marble +of Luna over it, is enclosed by a wall built of stone brought from +Thasos. [634] + +LI. In stature he was a little below the common height; his skin was +foul and spotted; his hair inclined to yellow; his features were +agreeable, rather than handsome; his eyes grey and dull, his neck was +thick, his belly prominent, his legs very slender, his constitution +sound. For, though excessively luxurious in his mode of living, he had, +in the course of fourteen years, only three fits of sickness; which were +so slight, that he neither forbore the use of wine, nor made any +alteration in his usual diet. In his dress, and the care of his person, +he was so careless, that he had his hair cut in rings, one above another; +and when in Achaia, he let it grow long behind; and he generally appeared +in public in the loose dress which he used at table, with a handkerchief +about his neck, and without either a girdle or shoes. + +LII. He was instructed, when a boy, in the rudiments of almost all the +liberal sciences; but his mother diverted him from the study of +philosophy, as unsuited to one destined to be an emperor; and his +preceptor, Seneca, discouraged him from reading the ancient orators, that +he might longer secure his devotion to himself. Therefore, having a turn +for poetry, (380) he composed verses both with pleasure and ease; nor did +he, as some think, publish those of other writers as his own. Several +little pocket-books and loose sheets have cone into my possession, which +contain some well-known verses in his own hand, and written in such a +manner, that it was very evident, from the blotting and interlining, that +they had not been transcribed from a copy, nor dictated by another, but +were written by the composer of them. + +LIII. He had likewise great taste for drawing and painting, as well as +for moulding statues in plaster. But, above all things, he most eagerly +coveted popularity, being the rival of every man who obtained the +applause of the people for any thing he did. It was the general belief, +that, after the crowns he won by his performances on the stage, he would +the next lustrum have taken his place among the wrestlers at the Olympic +games. For he was continually practising that art; nor did he witness +the gymnastic games in any part of Greece otherwise than sitting upon the +ground in the stadium, as the umpires do. And if a pair of wrestlers +happened to break the bounds, he would with his own hands drag them back +into the centre of the circle. Because he was thought to equal Apollo in +music, and the sun in chariot-driving, he resolved also to imitate the +achievements of Hercules. And they say that a lion was got ready for him +to kill, either with a club, or with a close hug, in view of the people +in the amphitheatre; which he was to perform naked. + +LIV. Towards the end of his life, he publicly vowed, that if his power +in the state was securely re-established, he would, in the spectacles +which he intended to exhibit in honour of his success, include a +performance upon organs [635], as well as upon flutes and bagpipes, and, +on the last day of the games, would act in the play, and take the part of +Turnus, as we find it in Virgil. And there are some who say, that he put +to death the player Paris as a dangerous rival. + +LV. He had an insatiable desire to immortalize his name, and acquire a +reputation which should last through all succeeding ages; but it was +capriciously directed. He therefore (381) took from several things and +places their former appellations, and gave them new names derived from +his own. He called the month of April, Neroneus, and designed changing +the name of Rome into that of Neropolis. + +LVI. He held all religious rites in contempt, except those of the Syrian +Goddess [636]; but at last he paid her so little reverence, that he made +water upon her; being now engaged in another superstition, in which only +he obstinately persisted. For having received from some obscure plebeian +a little image of a girl, as a preservative against plots, and +discovering a conspiracy immediately after, he constantly worshipped his +imaginary protectress as the greatest amongst the gods, offering to her +three sacrifices daily. He was also desirous to have it supposed that he +had, by revelations from this deity, a knowledge of future events. A few +months before he died, he attended a sacrifice, according to the Etruscan +rites, but the omens were not favourable. + +LVII. He died in the thirty-second year of his age [637], upon the same +day on which he had formerly put Octavia to death; and the public joy was +so great upon the occasion, that the common people ran about the city +with caps upon their heads. Some, however, were not wanting, who for a +long time decked his tomb with spring and summer flowers. Sometimes they +placed his image upon the rostra, dressed in robes of state; at another, +they published proclamations in his name, as if he were still alive, and +would shortly return to Rome, and take vengeance on all his enemies. +Vologesus, king of the Parthians, when he sent ambassadors to the senate +to renew his alliance with the Roman people, earnestly requested that due +honour should be paid to the memory of Nero; and, to conclude, when, +twenty years afterwards, at which time I was a young man [638], some +person of obscure birth gave himself out for Nero, that name secured him +so favourable a reception (382) from the Parthians, that he was very +zealously supported, and it was with much difficulty that they were +prevailed upon to give him up. + + * * * * * * * + +Though no law had ever passed for regulating the transmission of the +imperial power, yet the design of conveying it by lineal descent was +implied in the practice of adoption. By the rule of hereditary +succession, Britannicus, the son of Claudius, was the natural heir to the +throne; but he was supplanted by the artifices of his stepmother, who had +the address to procure it for her own son, Nero. From the time of +Augustus it had been the custom of each of the new sovereigns to commence +his reign in such a manner as tended to acquire popularity, however much +they all afterwards degenerated from those specious beginnings. Whether +this proceeded entirely from policy, or that nature was not yet vitiated +by the intoxication of uncontrolled power, is uncertain; but such were +the excesses into which they afterwards plunged, that we can scarcely +exempt any of them, except, perhaps, Claudius, from the imputation of +great original depravity. The vicious temper of Tiberius was known to +his own mother, Livia; that of Caligula had been obvious to those about +him from his infancy; Claudius seems to have had naturally a stronger +tendency to weakness than to vice; but the inherent wickedness of Nero +was discovered at an early period by his preceptor, Seneca. Yet even +this emperor commenced his reign in a manner which procured him +approbation. Of all the Roman emperors who had hitherto reigned, he +seems to have been most corrupted by profligate favourites, who flattered +his follies and vices, to promote their own aggrandisement. In the +number of these was Tigellinus, who met at last with the fate which he +had so amply merited. + +The several reigns from the death of Augustus present us with uncommon +scenes of cruelty and horror; but it was reserved for that of Nero to +exhibit to the world the atrocious act of an emperor deliberately +procuring the death of his mother. + +Julia Agrippina was the daughter of Germanicus, and married Domitius +Aenobarbus, by whom she had Nero. At the death of Messalina she was a +widow; and Claudius, her uncle, entertaining a design of entering again +into the married state, she aspired to an incestuous alliance with him, +in competition with Lollia Paulina, a woman of beauty and intrigue, who +had been married to C. Caesar. The two rivals were strongly supported by +their (383) respective parties; but Agrippina, by her superior interest +with the emperor's favourites, and the familiarity to which her near +relation gave her a claim, obtained the preference; and the portentous +nuptials of the emperor and his niece were publicly solemnized in the +palace. Whether she was prompted to this flagrant indecency by personal +ambition alone, or by the desire of procuring the succession to the +empire for her son, is uncertain; but there remains no doubt of her +having removed Claudius by poison, with a view to the object now +mentioned. Besides Claudius, she projected the death of L. Silanus, and +she accomplished that of his brother, Junius Silanus, by means likewise +of poison. She appears to have been richly endowed with the gifts of +nature, but in her disposition intriguing, violent, imperious, and ready +to sacrifice every principle of virtue, in the pursuit of supreme power +or sensual gratification. As she resembled Livia in the ambition of a +mother, and the means by which she indulged it, so she more than equalled +her in the ingratitude of an unnatural son and a parricide. She is said +to have left behind her some memoirs, of which Tacitus availed himself in +the composition of his Annals. + +In this reign, the conquest of the Britons still continued to be the +principal object of military enterprise, and Suetonius Paulinus was +invested with the command of the Roman army employed in the reduction of +that people. The island of Mona, now Anglesey, being the chief seat of +the Druids, he resolved to commence his operations with attacking a place +which was the centre of superstition, and to which the vanquished Britons +retreated as the last asylum of liberty. The inhabitants endeavoured, +both by force of arms and the terrors of religion, to obstruct his +landing on this sacred island. The women and Druids assembled +promiscuously with the soldiers upon the shore, where running about in +wild disorder, with flaming torches in their hands, and pouring forth the +most hideous exclamations, they struck the Romans with consternation. +But Suetonius animating his troops, they boldly attacked the inhabitants, +routed them in the field, and burned the Druids in the same fires which +had been prepared by those priests for the catastrophe of the invaders, +destroying at the same time all the consecrated groves and altars in the +island. Suetonius having thus triumphed over the religion of the +Britons, flattered himself with the hopes of soon effecting the reduction +of the people. But they, encouraged by his absence, had taken arms, and +under the conduct of Boadicea, queen of the Iceni, who had been treated +in the most ignominious manner by the Roman tribunes, had already driven +the hateful invaders from their several settlements. Suetonius hastened +to (384) the protection of London, which was by this time a flourishing +Roman colony; but he found upon his arrival, that any attempt to preserve +it would be attended with the utmost danger to the army. London +therefore was reduced to ashes; and the Romans, and all strangers, to the +number of seventy thousand, were put to the sword without distinction, +the Britons seeming determined to convince the enemy that they would +acquiesce in no other terms than a total evacuation of the island. This +massacre, however, was revenged by Suetonius in a decisive engagement, +where eighty thousand of the Britons are said to have been killed; after +which, Boadicea, to avoid falling into the hands of the insolent +conquerors, put a period to her own life by means of poison. It being +judged unadvisable that Suetonius should any longer conduct the war +against a people whom he had exasperated by his severity, he was +recalled, and Petronius Turpilianus appointed in his room. The command +was afterwards given successively to Trebellius Maximus and Vettius +Bolanus; but the plan pursued by these generals was only to retain, by a +conciliatory administration, the parts of the island which had already +submitted to the Roman arms. + +During these transactions in Britain, Nero himself was exhibiting, in +Rome or some of the provinces, such scenes of extravagance as almost +exceed credibility. In one place, entering the lists amongst the +competitors in a chariot race; in another, contending for victory with +the common musicians on the stage; revelling in open day in the company +of the most abandoned prostitutes and the vilest of men; in the night, +committing depredations on the peaceful inhabitants of the capital; +polluting with detestable lust, or drenching with human blood, the +streets, the palace, and the habitations of private families; and, to +crown his enormities, setting fire to Rome, while he sung with delight in +beholding the dreadful conflagration. In vain would history be ransacked +for a parallel to this emperor, who united the most shameful vices to the +most extravagant vanity, the most abject meanness to the strongest but +most preposterous ambition; and the whole of whose life was one continued +scene of lewdness, sensuality, rapine, cruelty, and folly. It is +emphatically observed by Tacitus, "that Nero, after the murder of many +illustrious personages, manifested a desire of extirpating virtue +itself." + +Among the excesses of Nero's reign, are to be mentioned the horrible +cruelties exercised against the Christians in various parts of the +empire, in which inhuman transactions the natural barbarity of the +emperor was inflamed by the prejudices and interested policy of the pagan +priesthood. + +(385) The tyrant scrupled not to charge them with the act of burning +Rome; and he satiated his fury against them by such outrages as are +unexampled in history. They were covered with the skins of wild beasts, +and torn by dogs; were crucified, and set on fire, that they might serve +for lights in the night-time. Nero offered his gardens for this +spectacle, and exhibited the games of the Circus by this dreadful +illumination. Sometimes they were covered with wax and other combustible +materials, after which a sharp stake was put under their chin, to make +them stand upright, and they were burnt alive, to give light to the +spectators. + +In the person of Nero, it is observed by Suetonius, the race of the +Caesars became extinct; a race rendered illustrious by the first and +second emperors, but which their successors no less disgraced. The +despotism of Julius Caesar, though haughty and imperious, was liberal and +humane: that of Augustus, if we exclude a few instances of vindictive +severity towards individuals, was mild and conciliating; but the reigns +of Tiberius, Caligula, and Nero (for we except Claudius from part of the +censure), while discriminated from each other by some peculiar +circumstances, exhibited the most flagrant acts of licentiousness and +perverted authority. The most abominable lust, the most extravagant +luxury, the most shameful rapaciousness, and the most inhuman cruelty, +constitute the general characteristics of those capricious and detestable +tyrants. Repeated experience now clearly refuted the opinion of +Augustus, that he had introduced amongst the Romans the best form of +government: but while we make this observation, it is proper to remark, +that, had he even restored the republic, there is reason to believe that +the nation would again have been soon distracted with internal divisions, +and a perpetual succession of civil wars. The manners of the people were +become too dissolute to be restrained by the authority of elective and +temporary magistrates; and the Romans were hastening to that fatal period +when general and great corruption, with its attendant debility, would +render them an easy prey to any foreign invaders. + +But the odious government of the emperors was not the only grievance +under which the people laboured in those disastrous times: patrician +avarice concurred with imperial rapacity to increase the sufferings of +the nation. The senators, even during the commonwealth, had become +openly corrupt in the dispensation of public justice; and under the +government of the emperors pernicious abuse was practised to a yet +greater extent. That class being now, equally with other Roman citizens, +dependent on the sovereign power, their sentiments of duty and (386) +honour were degraded by the loss of their former dignity; and being +likewise deprived of the lucrative governments of provinces, to which +they had annually succeeded by an elective rotation in the times of the +republic, they endeavoured to compensate the reduction of their +emoluments by an unbounded venality in the judicial decisions of the +forum. Every source of national happiness and prosperity was by this +means destroyed. The possession of property became precarious; industry, +in all its branches, was effectually discouraged, and the amor patriae, +which had formerly been the animating principle of the nation, was almost +universally extinguished. + +It is a circumstance corresponding to the general singularity of the +present reign, that, of the few writers who flourished in it, and whose +works have been transmitted to posterity, two ended their days by the +order of the emperor, and the third, from indignation at his conduct. +These unfortunate victims were Seneca, Petronius Arbiter, and Lucan. + +SENECA was born about six years before the Christian aera, and gave early +indication of uncommon talents. His father, who had come from Corduba to +Rome, was a man of letters, particularly fond of declamation, in which he +instructed his son, and placed him, for the acquisition of philosophy, +under the most celebrated stoics of that age. Young Seneca, imbibing the +precepts of the Pythagorean doctrine, religiously abstained from eating +the flesh of animals, until Tiberius having threatened to punish some +Jews and Egyptians, who abstained from certain meats, he was persuaded by +his father to renounce the Pythagorean practice. Seneca displayed the +talents of an eloquent speaker; but dreading the jealousy of Caligula, +who aspired to the same excellence, he thought proper to abandon that +pursuit, and apply himself towards suing for the honours and offices of +the state. He accordingly obtained the place of quaestor, in which +office incurring the imputation of a scandalous amour with Julia Livia, +he removed from Rome, and was banished by the emperor Claudius to +Corsica. + +Upon the marriage of Claudius with Agrippina, Seneca was recalled from +his exile, in which he had remained near eight years, and was appointed +to superintend the education of Nero, now destined to become the +successor to the throne. In the character of preceptor he appears to +have acquitted himself with ability and credit; though he has been +charged by his enemies with having initiated his pupil in those +detestable vices which disgraced the reign of Nero. Could he have indeed +been guilty of such immoral conduct, it is probable that he would not so +easily have (387) forfeited the favour of that emperor; and it is more +reasonable to suppose, that his disapprobation of Nero's conduct was the +real cause of that odium which soon after proved fatal to him. By the +enemies whom distinguished merit and virtue never fail to excite at a +profligate court, Seneca was accused of having maintained a criminal +correspondence with Agrippina in the life-time of Claudius; but the chief +author of this calumny was Suilius, who had been banished from Rome at +the instance of Seneca. He was likewise charged with having amassed +exorbitant riches, with having built magnificent houses, and formed +beautiful gardens, during the four years in which he had acted as +preceptor to Nero. This charge he considered as a prelude to his +destruction; which to avoid, if possible, he requested of the emperor to +accept of the riches and possessions which he had acquired in his +situation at court, and to permit him to withdraw himself into a life of +studious retirement. Nero, dissembling his secret intentions, refused +this request; and Seneca, that he might obviate all cause of suspicion or +offence, kept himself at home for some time, under the pretext of +indisposition. + +Upon the breaking out of the conspiracy of Piso, in which some of the +principal senators were concerned, Natalis, the discoverer of the plot, +mentioned Seneca's name, as an accessory. There is, however, no +satisfactory evidence that Seneca had any knowledge of the plot. Piso, +according to the declaration of Natalis, had complained that he never saw +Seneca; and the latter had observed, in answer, that it was not conducive +to their common interest to see each other often. Seneca likewise +pleaded indisposition, and said that his own life depended upon the +safety of Piso's person. Nero, however, glad of such an occasion of +sacrificing the philosopher to his secret jealousy, sent him an order to +destroy himself. When the messenger arrived with this mandate, Seneca +was sitting at table, with his wife Paulina and two of his friends. He +heard the message not only with philosophical firmness, but even with +symptoms of joy, and observed, that such an honour might long have been +expected from a man who had assassinated all his friends, and even +murdered his own mother. The only request which he made, was, that he +might be permitted to dispose of his possessions as he pleased; but this +was refused him. Immediately turning himself to his friends, who were +weeping at his melancholy fate, he said to them, that, since he could not +leave them what he considered as his own property, he should leave at +least his own life for an example; an innocence of conduct which they +might imitate, and by which they might acquire immortal fame. He +remonstrated with composure against their unavailing tears and (388) +lamentations, and asked them, whether they had not learnt better to +sustain the shocks of fortune, and the violence of tyranny? + +The emotions of his wife he endeavoured to allay with philosophical +consolation; and when she expressed a resolution to die with him, he +said, that he was glad to find his example imitated with so much +fortitude. The veins of both were opened at the same time; but Nero's +command extending only to Seneca, the life of Paulina was preserved; and, +according to some authors, she was not displeased at being prevented from +carrying her precipitate resolution into effect. Seneca's veins bleeding +but slowly, an opportunity was offered him of displaying in his last +moments a philosophical magnanimity similar to that of Socrates; and it +appears that his conversation during this solemn period was maintained +with dignified composure. To accelerate his lingering fate, he drank a +dose of poison; but this producing no effect, he ordered his attendants +to carry him into a warm bath, for the purpose of rendering the +haemorrhage from his veins more copious. This expedient proving likewise +ineffectual, and the soldiers who witnessed the execution of the +emperor's order being clamorous for its accomplishment, he was removed +into a stove, and suffocated by the steam. He underwent his fate on the +12th of April, in the sixty-fifth year of the Christian aera, and the +fifty-third year of his age. His body was burnt, and his ashes deposited +in a private manner, according to his will, which had been made during +the period when he was in the highest degree of favour with Nero. + +The writings of Seneca are numerous, and on various subjects. His first +composition, addressed to Novacus, is on Anger, and continued through +three books. After giving a lively description of this passion, the +author discusses a variety of questions concerning it: he argues strongly +against its utility, in contradiction to the peripatetics, and recommends +its restraint, by many just and excellent considerations. This treatise +may be regarded, in its general outlines, as a philosophical +amplification of the passage in Horace:-- + + Ira furor brevis est: animum rege; qui, nisi paret, + Imperat: hunc fraenis, hunc tu compesce catena. + Epist. I. ii. + + Anger's a fitful madness: rein thy mind, + Subdue the tyrant, and in fetters bind, + Or be thyself the slave. + +The next treatise is on Consolation, addressed to his mother, Helvia, and +was written during his exile. He there informs his mother that he bears +his banishment with fortitude, and advises her to do the same. He +observes, that, in respect to himself, (389) change of place, poverty, +ignominy, and contempt, are not real evils; that there may be two reasons +for her anxiety on his account; first, that, by his absence, she is +deprived of his protection; and in the next place, of the satisfaction +arising from his company; on both which heads he suggests a variety of +pertinent observations. Prefixed to this treatise, are some epigrams +written on the banishment of Seneca, but whether or not by himself, is +uncertain. + +Immediately subsequent to the preceding, is another treatise on +Consolation, addressed to one of Claudius's freedmen, named Polybius, +perhaps after the learned historian. In this tract, which is in several +parts mutilated, the author endeavours to console Polybius for the loss +of a brother who had lately died. The sentiments and admonitions are +well suggested for the purpose; but they are intermixed with such fulsome +encomiums on the imperial domestic, as degrade the dignity of the author, +and can be ascribed to no other motive than that of endeavouring to +procure a recall from his exile, through the interest of Polybius. + +A fourth treatise on Consolation is addressed to Marcia, a respectable +and opulent lady, the daughter of Cremutius Cordus, by whose death she +was deeply affected. The author, besides many consolatory arguments, +proposes for her imitation a number of examples, by attending to which +she may be enabled to overcome a passion that is founded only in too +great sensibility of mind. The subject is ingeniously prosecuted, not +without the occasional mixture of some delicate flattery, suitable to the +character of the correspondent. + +These consolatory addresses are followed by a treatise on Providence, +which evinces the author to have entertained the most just and +philosophical sentiments on that subject. He infers the necessary +existence of a Providence from the regularity and constancy observed in +the government of the universe but his chief object is to show, why, upon +the principle that a Providence exists, good men should be liable to +evils. The enquiry is conducted with a variety of just observations, and +great force of argument; by which the author vindicates the goodness and +wisdom of the Almighty, in a strain of sentiment corresponding to the +most approved suggestions of natural religion. + +The next treatise, which is on Tranquillity of Mind, appears to have been +written soon after his return from exile. There is a confusion in the +arrangement of this tract; but it contains a variety of just +observations, and may be regarded as a valuable production. + +(390) Then follows a discourse on the Constancy of a Wise Man. This has +by some been considered as a part of the preceding treatise; but they are +evidently distinct. It is one of the author's best productions, in +regard both of sentiment and composition, and contains a fund of moral +observations, suited to fortify the mind under the oppression of +accidental calamities. + +We next meet with a tract on Clemency, in two books, addressed to Nero. +This appears to have been written in the beginning of the reign of Nero, +on whom the author bestows some high encomiums, which, at that time, seem +not to have been destitute of foundation. The discourse abounds with +just observation, applicable to all ranks of men; and, if properly +attended to by that infatuated emperor, might have prevented the +perpetration of those acts of cruelty, which, with his other +extravagancies, have rendered his name odious to posterity. + +The discourse which succeeds is on the Shortness of Life, addressed to +Paulinus. In this excellent treatise the author endeavours to show, that +the complaint of the shortness of life is not founded in truth: that it +is men who make life short, either by passing it in indolence, or +otherwise improperly. He inveighs against indolence, luxury, and every +unprofitable avocation; observing, that the best use of time is to apply +it to the study of wisdom, by which life may be rendered sufficiently +long. + +Next follows a discourse on a Happy Life, addressed to Gallio. Seneca +seems to have intended this as a vindication of himself, against those +who calumniated him on account of his riches and manner of living. He +maintained that a life can only be rendered happy by its conformity to +the dictates of virtue, but that such a life is perfectly compatible with +the possession of riches, where they happen to accrue. The author pleads +his own cause with great ability, as well as justness of argument. His +vindication is in many parts highly beautiful, and accompanied with +admirable sentiments respecting the moral obligations to a virtuous life. +The conclusion of this discourse bears no similarity, in point of +composition, to the preceding parts, and is evidently spurious. + +The preceding discourse is followed by one upon the Retirement of a Wise +Man. The beginning of this tract is wanting; but in the sequel the +author discusses a question which was much agitated amongst the Stoics +and Epicureans, viz., whether a wise man ought to concern himself with +the affairs of the public. Both these sects of philosophers maintained +that a life of retirement was most suitable to a wise man, but they +differed with respect to the circumstances in which it might be proper to +deviate from this conduct; one party considering the deviation (391) as +prudent, when there existed a just motive for such conduct, and the +other, when there was no forcible reason against it. Seneca regards both +these opinions as founded upon principles inadequate to the advancement +both of public and private happiness, which ought ever to be the ultimate +object of moral speculation. + +The last of the author's discourses, addressed to Aebucius, is on +Benefits, and continued through seven books. He begins with lamenting +the frequency of ingratitude amongst mankind, a vice which he severely +censures. After some preliminary considerations respecting the nature of +benefits, he proceeds to show in what manner, and on whom, they ought to +be conferred. The greater part of these books is employed on the +solution of abstract questions relative to benefits, in the manner of +Chrysippus; where the author states explicitly the arguments on both +sides, and from the full consideration of them, deduces rational +conclusions. + +The Epistles of Seneca consist of one hundred and twenty-four, all on +moral subjects. His Natural Questions extend through seven books, in +which he has collected the hypotheses of Aristotle and other ancient +writers. These are followed by a whimsical effusion on the death of +Caligula. The remainder of his works comprises seven Persuasive +Discourses, five books of Controversies, and ten books containing +Extracts of Declamations. + +From the multiplicity of Seneca's productions, it is evident, that, +notwithstanding the luxurious life he is said to have led, he was greatly +devoted to literature, a propensity which, it is probable, was confirmed +by his banishment during almost eight years in the island of Corsica, +where he was in a great degree secluded from every other resource of +amusement to a cultivated mind. But with whatever splendour Seneca's +domestic economy may have been supported, it seems highly improbable that +he indulged himself in luxurious enjoyment to any vicious excess. His +situation at the Roman court, being honourable and important, could not +fail of being likewise advantageous, not only from the imperial profusion +common at that time, but from many contingent emoluments which his +extensive interest and patronage would naturally afford him. He was born +of a respectable rank, lived in habits of familiar intercourse with +persons of the first distinction, and if, in the course of his attendance +upon Nero, he had acquired a large fortune, no blame could justly attach +to his conduct in maintaining an elegant hospitality. The imputation of +luxury was thrown upon him from two quarters, viz, by the dissolute +companions of Nero, to whom the mention of such an example served as an +apology for their own extreme dissipation; (392) and by those who envied +him for the affluence and dignity which he had acquired. The charge, +however, is supported only by vague assertion, and is discredited by +every consideration which ought to have weight in determining the reality +of human characters. It seems totally inconsistent with his habits of +literary industry, with the virtuous sentiments which he every where +strenuously maintains, and the esteem with which he was regarded by a +numerous acquaintance, as a philosopher and a moralist. + +The writings of Seneca have been traduced almost equally with his manner +of living, though in both he has a claim to indulgence, from the fashion +of the times. He is more studious of minute embellishments in style than +the writers of the Augustan age; and the didactic strain, in which he +mostly prosecutes his subjects, has a tendency to render him sententious; +but the expression of his thoughts is neither enfeebled by decoration, +nor involved in obscurity by conciseness. He is not more rich in +artificial ornament than in moral admonition. Seneca has been charged +with depreciating former writers, to render himself more conspicuous; a +charge which, so far as appears from his writings, is founded rather in +negative than positive testimony. He has not endeavoured to establish +his fame by any affectation of singularity in doctrine; and while he +passes over in silence the names of illustrious authors, he avails +himself with judgment of the most valuable stores with which they had +enriched philosophy. On the whole, he is an author whose principles may +be adopted not only with safety, but great advantage; and his writings +merit a degree of consideration, superior to what they have hitherto ever +enjoyed in the literary world. + +Seneca, besides his prose works, was the author of some tragedies. The +Medea, the Troas, and the Hippolytus, are ascribed to him. His father is +said to have written the Hercules Furens, Thyestes, Agamemnon, and +Hercules Oetaeus. The three remaining tragedies, the Thebais, Oedipus, +and Octavia, usually published in the same collection with the seven +preceding, are supposed to be the productions of other authors, but of +whom, is uncertain. These several pieces are written in a neat style; +the plots and characters are conducted with an attention to probability +and nature: but none of them is so forcible, in point of tragical +distress, as to excite in the reader any great degree of emotion.---- + +PETRONIUS was a Roman knight, and apparently of considerable fortune. In +his youth he seems to have given great application to polite literature, +in which he acquired a justness of taste, as well as an elegance of +composition. Early initiated in the gaieties (393) of fashionable life, +he contracted a habit of voluptuousness which rendered him an +accommodating companion to the dissipated and the luxurious. The court +of Claudius, entirely governed for some time by Messalina, was then the +residence of pleasure; and here Petronius failed not of making a +conspicuous appearance. More delicate, however, than sensual, he rather +joined in the dissipation, than indulged in the vices of the palace. To +interrupt a course of life too uniform to afford him perpetual +satisfaction, he accepted of the proconsulship of Bithynia, and went to +that province, where he discharged the duties of his office with great +credit. Upon his return to Rome, Nero, who had succeeded Claudius, made +him consul, in recompense of his services. This new dignity, by giving +him frequent and easy access to the emperor, created an intimacy between +them, which was increased to friendship and esteem on the side of Nero, +by the elegant entertainments often given him by Petronius. In a short +time, this gay voluptuary became so much a favourite at court, that +nothing was agreeable but what was approved by Petronius and the +authority which he acquired, by being umpire in whatever related to the +economy of gay dissipation, procured him the title of Arbiter +elegantiarum. Things continued in this state whilst the emperor kept +within the bounds of moderation; and Petronius acted as intendant of his +pleasures, ordering him shows, games, comedies, music, feats, and all +that could contribute to make the hours of relaxation pass agreeably; +seasoning, at the same time, the innocent delights which he procured for +the emperor with every possible charm, to prevent him from seeking after +such as might prove pernicious both to morals and the republic. Nero, +however, giving way to his own disposition, which was naturally vicious, +at length changed his conduct, not only in regard to the government of +the empire, but of himself and listening to other counsels than those of +Petronius, gave the entire reins to his passions, which afterwards +plunged him in ruin. The emperor's new favourite was Tigellinus, a man +of the most profligate morals, who omitted nothing that could gratify the +inordinate appetites of his prince, at the expense of all decency and +virtue. During this period, Petronius gave vent to his indignation, in +the satire transmitted under his name by the title of Satyricon. But his +total retirement from court did not secure him from the artifices of +Tigellinus, who laboured with all his power to destroy the man whom he +had industriously supplanted in the emperor's favour. With this view he +insinuated to Nero, that Petronius was too intimately connected with +Scevinus not to be engaged in Piso's conspiracy; and, to support his +calumny, caused the emperor to be present at the examination (394) of one +of Petronius's slaves, whom he had secretly suborned to swear against his +master. After this transaction, to deprive Petronius of all means of +justifying himself, they threw into prison the greatest part of his +domestics. Nero embraced with joy the opportunity of removing a man, to +whom he knew the present manners of the court were utterly obnoxious, and +he soon after issued orders for arresting Petronius. As it required, +however, some time to deliberate whether they should put a person of his +consideration to death, without more evident proofs of the charges +preferred against him, such was his disgust at living in the power of so +detestable and capricious a tyrant, that he resolved to die. For this +purpose, making choice of the same expedient which had been adopted by +Seneca, he caused his veins to be opened, but he closed them again, for a +little time, that he might enjoy the conversation of his friends, who +came to see him in his last moments. He desired them, it is said, to +entertain him, not with discourses on the immortality of the soul, or the +consolation of philosophy, but with agreeable tales and poetic +gallantries. Disdaining to imitate the servility of those who, dying by +the orders of Nero, yet made him their heir, and filled their wills with +encomiums on the tyrant and his favourites, he broke to pieces a goblet +of precious stones, out of which he had commonly drank, that Nero, who he +knew would seize upon it after his death, might not have the pleasure of +using it. As the only present suitable to such a prince, he sent him, +under a sealed cover, his Satyricon, written purposely against him; and +then broke his signet, that it might not, after his death, become the +means of accusation against the person in whose custody it should be +found. + +The Satyricon of Petronius is one of the most curious productions in the +Latin language. Novel in its nature, and without any parallel in the +works of antiquity, some have imagined it to be a spurious composition, +fabricated about the time of the revival of learning in Europe. This +conjecture, however, is not more destitute of support, than repugnant to +the most circumstantial evidence in favour of its authenticity. Others, +admitting the work to be a production of the age of Nero, have questioned +the design with which it was written, and have consequently imputed to +the author a most immoral intention. Some of the scenes, incidents, and +characters, are of so extraordinary a nature, that the description of +them, without a particular application, must have been regarded as +extremely whimsical, and the work, notwithstanding its ingenuity, has +been doomed to perpetual oblivion: but history justifies the belief, that +in the court of Nero, the extravagancies mentioned by Petronius were +realized (395) to a degree which authenticates the representation given +of them. The inimitable character of Trimalchio, which exhibits a person +sunk in the most debauched effeminacy, was drawn for Nero; and we are +assured, that there were formerly medals of that emperor, with these +words, C. Nero August. Imp., and on the reverse, Trimalchio. The various +characters are well discriminated, and supported with admirable +propriety. Never was such licentiousness of description united to such +delicacy of colouring. The force of the satire consists not in poignancy +of sentiment, but in the ridicule which arises from the whimsical, but +characteristic and faithful exhibition of the objects introduced. That +Nero was struck with the justness of the representation, is evident from +the displeasure which he showed, at finding Petronius so well acquainted +with his infamous excesses. After levelling his suspicion on all who +could possibly have betrayed him, he at last fixed on a senator's wife, +named Silia, who bore a part in his revels, and was an intimate friend of +Petronius upon which she was immediately sent into banishment. Amongst +the miscellaneous materials in this work, are some pieces of poetry, +written in an elegant taste. A poem on the civil war between Caesar and +Pompey, is beautiful and animated. + +Though the Muses appear to have been mostly in a quiescent state from the +time of Augustus, we find from Petronius Arbiter, who exhibits the +manners of the capital during the reign of Nero, that poetry still +continued to be a favourite pursuit amongst the Romans, and one to which, +indeed, they seem to have had a national propensity. + + --------Ecce inter pocula quaerunt + Romulidae saturi, quid dia poemata narrent.--Persius, Sat. i. 30. + + ----Nay, more! Our nobles, gorged, and swilled with wine, + Call o'er the banquet for a lay divine!--Gifford. + +It was cultivated as a kind of fashionable exercise, in short and +desultory attempts, in which the chief ambition was to produce verses +extempore. They were publicly recited by their authors with great +ostentation; and a favourable verdict from an audience, however partial, +and frequently obtained either by intrigue or bribery, was construed by +those frivolous pretenders into a real adjudication of poetical fame. + +The custom of publicly reciting poetical compositions, with the view of +obtaining the opinion of the hearers concerning them, and for which +purpose Augustus had built the Temple of Apollo, was well calculated for +the improvement of taste and judgment, as well as the excitement of +emulation; but, conducted as it now was, it led to a general degradation +of poetry. Barbarism in (396) language, and a corruption of taste, were +the natural consequences of this practice, while the judgment of the +multitude was either blind or venal, and while public approbation +sanctioned the crudities of hasty composition. There arose, however, in +this period, some candidates for the bays, who carried their efforts +beyond the narrow limits which custom and inadequate genius prescribed to +the poetical exertions of their contemporaries. Amongst these were Lucan +and Persius.---- + +LUCAN was the son of Annaeus Mela, the brother of Seneca, the +philosopher. He was born at Corduba, the original residence of the +family, but came early to Rome, where his promising talents, and the +patronage of his uncle, recommended him to the favour of Nero; by whom he +was raised to the dignity of an augur and quaestor before he had attained +the usual age. Prompted by the desire of displaying his political +abilities, he had the imprudence to engage in a competition with his +imperial patron. The subject chosen by Nero was the tragical fate of +Niobe; and that of Lucan was Orpheus. The ease with which the latter +obtained the victory in the contest, excited the jealousy of the emperor, +who resolved upon depressing his rising genius. With this view, he +exposed him daily to the mortification of fresh insults, until at last +the poet's resentment was so much provoked, that he entered into the +conspiracy of Piso for cutting off the tyrant. The plot being +discovered, there remained for the unfortunate Lucan no hope of pardon: +and choosing the same mode of death which was employed by his uncle, he +had his veins opened, while he sat in a warm bath, and expired in +pronouncing with great emphasis the following lines in his Pharsalia:-- + + Scinditur avulsus; nec sicut vulnere sanguis + Emicuit lentus: ruptis cadit undique venis; + Discursusque animae diversa in membra meantis + Interceptus aquis, nullius, vita perempti + Est tanta dimissa via.--Lib. iii. 638. + + ----Asunder flies the man. + No single wound the gaping rupture seems, + Where trickling crimson flows in tender streams; + But from an opening horrible and wide + A thousand vessels pour the bursting tide; + At once the winding channel's course was broke, + Where wandering life her mazy journey took.--Rowe. + +Some authors have said that he betrayed pusillanimity at the hour of +death; and that, to save himself from punishment, he (397) accused his +mother of being involved in the conspiracy. This circumstance, however, +is not mentioned by other writers, who relate, on the contrary, that he +died with philosophical fortitude. He was then only in the twenty-sixth +year of his age. + +Lucan had scarcely reached the age of puberty when he wrote a poem on the +contest between Hector and Achilles. He also composed in his youth a +poem on the burning of Rome; but his only surviving work is the +Pharsalia, written on the civil war between Caesar and Pompey. This +poem, consisting of ten books, is unfinished, and its character has been +more depreciated than that of any other production of antiquity. In the +plan of the poem, the author prosecutes the different events in the civil +war, beginning his narrative at the passage of the Rubicon by Caesar. He +invokes not the muses, nor engages any gods in the dispute; but +endeavours to support an epic dignity by vigour of sentiment, and +splendour of description. The horrors of civil war, and the importance +of a contest which was to determine the fate of Rome and the empire of +the world, are displayed with variety of colouring, and great energy of +expression. In the description of scenes, and the recital of heroic +actions, the author discovers a strong and lively imagination; while, in +those parts of the work which are addressed either to the understanding +or the passions, he is bold, figurative, and animated. Indulging too +much in amplification, he is apt to tire with prolixity; but in all his +excursions he is ardent, elevated, impressive, and often brilliant. His +versification has not the smoothness which we admire in the compositions +of Virgil, and his language is often involved in the intricacies of +technical construction: but with all his defects, his beauties are +numerous; and he discovers a greater degree of merit than is commonly +found in the productions of a poet of twenty-six years of age, at which +time he died.---- + +PERSIUS was born at Volaterrae, of an equestrian family, about the +beginning of the Christian aera. His father dying when he was six years +old, he was left to the care of his mother, for whom and for his sisters +he expresses the warmest affection. At the age of twelve he came to +Rome, where, after attending a course of grammar and rhetoric under the +respective masters of those branches of education, he placed himself +under the tuition of Annaeus Cornutus, a celebrated stoic philosopher of +that time. There subsisted between him and this preceptor so great a +friendship, that at his death, which happened in the twenty-ninth year of +his age, he bequeathed to Cornutus a handsome sum of money, and his +library. The latter, however, accepting only the books, left the money +to Persius's sisters. + +Priscian, Quintilian, and other ancient writers, spear of Persius's +satires as consisting of a book without any division. They have since, +however, been generally divided into six different satires, but by some +only into five. The subjects of these compositions are, the vanity of +the poets in his time; the backwardness of youth to the cultivation of +moral science; ignorance and temerity in political administration, +chiefly in allusion to the government of Nero: the fifth satire is +employed in evincing that the wise man also is free; in discussing which +point, the author adopts the observations used by Horace on the same +subject. The last satire of Persius is directed against avarice. In the +fifth, we meet with a beautiful address to Cornutus, whom the author +celebrates for his amiable virtues, and peculiar talents for teaching. +The following lines, at the same time that they show how diligently the +preceptor and his pupil were employed through the whole day in the +cultivation of moral science, afford a more agreeable picture of domestic +comfort and philosophical conviviality, than might be expected in the +family of a rigid stoic: + + Tecum etenim longos memini consumere soles, + Et tecum primas epulis decerpere noctes. + Unum opus, et requiem pariter disponimus ambo: + Atque verecunda laxamus feria mensa.--Sat. v. + + Can I forget how many a summer's day, + Spent in your converse, stole, unmarked, away? + Or how, while listening with increased delight, + I snatched from feasts the earlier hours of night?--Gifford. + +The satires of Persius are written in a free, expostulatory, and +argumentative manner; possessing the same justness of sentiment as those +of Horace, but exerted in the way of derision, and not with the admirable +raillery of that facetious author. They are regarded by many as obscure; +but this imputation arises more from unacquaintance with the characters +and manners to which the author alludes, than from any peculiarity either +in his language or composition. His versification is harmonious; and we +have only to remark, in addition to similar examples in other Latin +writers, that, though Persius is acknowledged to have been both virtuous +and modest, there are in the fourth satire a few passages which cannot +decently admit of being translated. Such was the freedom of the Romans, +in the use of some expressions, which just refinement has now exploded.-- + +Another poet, in this period, was FABRICIUS VEIENTO, who wrote a severe +satire against the priests of his time; as also one (399) against the +senators, for corruption in their judicial capacity. Nothing remains of +either of those productions; but, for the latter, the author was banished +by Nero. + +There now likewise flourished a lyric poet, CAESIUS BASSUS, to whom +Persius has addressed his sixth satire. He is said to have been, next to +Horace, the best lyric poet among the Romans; but of his various +compositions, only a few inconsiderable fragments are preserved. + +To the two poets now mentioned must be added POMPONIUS SECUNDUS, a man of +distinguished rank in the army, and who obtained the honour of a triumph +for a victory over a tribe of barbarians in Germany. He wrote several +tragedies, which in the judgment of Quintilian, were beautiful +compositions. + + + + +FOOTNOTES: + + + +[548] A.U.C. 593, 632, 658, 660, 700, 722, 785. + +[549] A.U.C. 632. + +[550] A.U.C. 639, 663. + +[551] For the distinction between the praenomen and cognomen, see note, +p. 192. + +[552] A.U.C. 632. + +[553] The Allobroges were a tribe of Gauls, inhabiting Dauphiny and +Savoy; the Arverni have left their name in Auvergne. + +[554] A.U.C. 695. + +[555] A.U.C. 700. + +[556] A.U.C. 711. + +[557] A.U.C. 723. + +[558] Nais seems to have been a freedwoman, who had been allowed to +adopt the family name of her master. + +[559] By one of those fictions of law, which have abounded in all +systems of jurisprudence, a nominal alienation of his property was made +in the testator's life-time. + +[560] The suggestion offered (note, p. 123), that the Argentarii, like +the goldsmiths of the middle ages, combined the business of bankers, or +money-changers, with dealings in gold and silver plate, is confirmed by +this passage. It does not, however, appear that they were artificers of +the precious metals, though they dealt in old and current coins, +sculptured vessels, gems, and precious stones. + +[561] Pyrgi was a town of the ancient Etruria, near Antium, on the sea- +coast, but it has long been destroyed. + +[562] A.U.C. 791; A.D. 39. + +[563] The purification, and giving the name, took place, among the +Romans, in the case of boys, on the ninth, and of girls, on the tenth +day. The customs of the Judaical law were similar. See Matt. i. 59-63; +Luke iii. 21. 22. + +[564] A.U.C. 806. + +[565] Seneca, the celebrated philosophical writer, had been released +from exile in Corsica, shortly before the death of Tiberius. He +afterwards fell a sacrifice to the jealousy and cruelty of his former +pupil, Nero. + +[566] Caligula. + +[567] A.U.C. 809--A.D. 57. + +[568] Antium, the birth-place of Nero, an ancient city of the Volscians, +stood on a rocky promontory of the coast, now called Capo d' Anzo, about +thirty-eight miles from Rome. Though always a place of some naval +importance, it was indebted to Nero for its noble harbour. The ruins of +the moles yet remain; and there are vestiges of the temples and villas of +the town, which was the resort of the wealthy Romans, it being a most +delightful winter residence. The Apollo Belvidere was discovered among +these ruins. + +[569] A.U.C. 810. + +[570] The Podium was part of the amphitheatre, near the orchestra, +allotted to the senators, and the ambassadors of foreign nations; and +where also was the seat of the emperor, of the person who exhibited the +games, and of the Vestal Virgins. It projected over the wall which +surrounded the area of the amphitheatre, and was raised between twelve +and fifteen feet above it; secured with a breast-work or parapet against +the irruption of wild beasts. + +[571] A.U.C. 813. + +[572] The baths of Nero stood to the west of the Pantheon. They were, +probably, incorporated with those afterwards constructed by Alexander +Severus; but no vestige of them remains. That the former were +magnificent, we may infer from the verses of Martial: + + --------Quid Nerone pejus? + Quid thermis melius Neronianis.--B. vii. ch. 34. + + What worse than Nero? + What better than his baths? + +[573] Among the Romans, the time at which young men first shaved the +beard was marked with particular ceremony. It was usually in their +twenty-first year, but the period varied. Caligula (c. x.) first shaved +at twenty; Augustus at twenty-five. + +[574] A.U.C. 819. See afterwards, c. xxx. + +[575] A.U.C. 808, 810, 811, 813. + +[576] The Sportulae were small wicker baskets, in which victuals or +money were carried. The word was in consequence applied to the public +entertainments at which food was distributed, or money given in lieu of +it. + +[577] "Superstitionis novae et maleficae," are the words of Suetonius; +the latter conveying the idea of witchcraft or enchantment. Suidas +relates that a certain martyr cried out from his dungeon--"Ye have loaded +me with fetters as a sorcerer and profane person." Tacitus calls the +Christian religion "a foreign and deadly [exitiabilis] superstition," +Annal. xiii. 32; Pliny, in his celebrated letter to Trajan, "a depraved, +wicked (or prava), and outrageous superstition." Epist. x. 97. + +Tacitus also describes the excruciating torments inflicted on the Roman +Christians by Nero. He says that they were subjected to the derision of +the people; dressed in the skins of wild beasts, and exposed to be torn +to pieces by dogs in the public games, that they were crucified, or +condemned to be burnt; and at night-fall served in place of lamps to +lighten the darkness, Nero's own gardens being used for the spectacle. +Annal. xv. 44. + +Traditions of the church place the martyrdoms of SS. Peter and Paul at +Rome, under the reign of Nero. The legends are given by Ordericus +Vitalis. See vol. i. of the edition in the Antiq. Lib. pp. 206, etc., +with the notes and reference to the apocryphal works on which they are +founded. + +[578] Claudius had received the submission of some of the British +tribes. See c. xvii. of his Life. In the reign of Nero, his general, +Suetonius Paulinus, attacked Mona or Anglesey, the chief seat of the +Druids, and extirpated them with great cruelty. The successes of +Boadicea, queen of the Iceni, who inhabited Derbyshire, were probably the +cause of Nero's wishing to withdraw the legions; she having reduced +London, Colchester, and Verulam, and put to death seventy thousand of the +Romans and their British allies. She was, however, at length defeated by +Suetonius Paulinus, who was recalled for his severities. See Tacit. +Agric. xv. 1, xvi. 1; and Annal. xiv. 29. + +[579] The dominions of Cottius embraced the vallies in the chain of the +Alps extending between Piedmont and Dauphiny, called by the Romans the +Cottian Alps. See TIBERIUS, c. xxxvii. + +[580] It was a favourite project of the Caesars to make a navigable +canal through the Isthmus of Corinth, to avoid the circumnavigation of +the southern extremity of the Morea, now Cape Matapan, which, even in our +days, has its perils. See JULIUS CAESAR, c. xliv. and CALIGULA, c. xxi. + +[581] Caspiae Portae; so called from the difficulties opposed by the +narrow and rocky defile to the passage of the Caucasus from the country +washed by the Euxine, now called Georgia, to that lying between the +Caspian and the sea of Azof. It commences a few miles north of Teflis, +and is frequently the scene of contests between the Russians and the +Circassian tribes. + +[582] Citharoedus: the word signifies a vocalist, who with his singing +gave an accompaniment on the harp. + +[583] It has been already observed that Naples was a Greek colony, and +consequently Greek appears to have continued the vernacular tongue. + +[584] See AUGUSTUS, c. xcviii. + +[585] Of the strange names given to the different modes of applauding in +the theatre, the first was derived from the humming of bees; the second +from the rattling of rain or hail on the roofs; and the third from the +tinkling of porcelain vessels when clashed together. + +[586] Canace was the daughter of an Etrurian king, whose incestuous +intercourse with her brother having been detected, in consequence of the +cries of the infant of which she was delivered, she killed herself. It +was a joke at Rome, that some one asking, when Nero was performing in +Canace, what the emperor was doing; a wag replied. "He is labouring in +child-birth." + +[587] A town in Corcyra, now Corfu. There was a sea-port of the same +name in Epirus. + +[588] The Circus Maximus, frequently mentioned by Suetonius, was so +called because it was the largest of all the circuses in and about Rome. +Rudely constructed of timber by Tarquinius Drusus, and enlarged and +improved with the growing fortunes of the republic, under the emperors it +became a most superb building. Julius Caesar (c. xxxix) extended it, and +surrounded it with a canal, ten feet deep and as many broad, to protect +the spectators against danger from the chariots during the races. +Claudius (c. xxi.) rebuilt the carceres with marble, and gilded the +metae. This vast centre of attraction to the Roman people, in the games +of which religion, politics, and amusement, were combined, was, according +to Pliny, three stadia (of 625 feet) long, and one broad, and held +260,000 spectators; so that Juvenal says, + + "Totam hodie Romam circus capit."--Sat. xi. 195. + +This poetical exaggeration is applied by Addison to the Colosseum. + + "That on its public shews unpeopled Rome."--Letter to Lord Halifax. + +The area of the Circus Maximus occupied the hollow between the Palatine +and Aventine hills, so that it was overlooked by the imperial palace, +from which the emperors had so full a view of it, that they could from +that height give the signals for commencing the races. Few fragments of +it remain; but from the circus of Caracalla, which is better preserved, a +tolerably good idea of the ancient circus may he formed. For details of +its parts, and the mode in which the sports were conducted, see Burton's +Antiquities, p. 309, etc. + +[589] The Velabrum was a street in Rome. See JULIUS CAESAR, c. xxxvii. + +[590] Acte was a slave who had been bought in Asia, whose beauty so +captivated Nero that he redeemed her, and became greatly attached to her. +She is supposed to be the concubine of Nero mentioned by St. Chrysostom, +as having been converted by St. Paul during his residence at Rome. The +Apostle speaks of the "Saints in Caesar's household."--Phil. iv. 22. + +[591] See Tacitus, Annal. xv. 37. + +[592] A much-frequented street in Rome. See CLAUDIUS, c. xvi. + +[593] It is said that the advances were made by Agrippina, with flagrant +indecency, to secure her power over him. See Tacitus, Annal. xiv. 2, 3. + +[594] Olim etiam, quoties lectica cum matre veheretur, libidinatum +inceste, ac maculis vestis proditum, affirmant. + +[595] Tacitus calls him Pythagoras, which was probably the freedman's +proper name; Doryphorus being a name of office somewhat equivalent to +almoner. See Annal. B. xv. + +[596] The emperor Caligula, who was the brother of Nero's mother, +Agrippina. + +[597] See before, c. xiii. Tiridates was nine months in Rome or the +neighbourhood, and was entertained the whole time at the emperor's +expense. + +[598] Canusium, now Canosa, was a town in Apulia, near the mouth of the +river Aufidus, celebrated for its fine wool. It is mentioned by Pliny, +and retained its reputation for the manufacture in the middle ages, as we +find in Ordericus Vitalis. + +[599] The Mazacans were an African tribe from the deserts in the +interior, famous for their spirited barbs, their powers of endurance, and +their skill in throwing the dart. + +[600] The Palace of the Caesars, on the Palatine hill, was enlarged by +Augustus from the dimensions of a private house (see AUGUSTUS, cc. xxix., +lvii.). Tiberius made some additions to it, and Caligula extended it to +the Forum (CALIGULA, c. xxxi.). Tacitus gives a similar account with +that of our author of the extent and splendour of the works of Nero. +Annal. xv. c. xlii. Reaching from the Palatine to the Esquiline hill, it +covered all the intermediate space, where the Colosseum now stands. We +shall find that it was still further enlarged by Domitian, c. xv. of his +life is the present work. + +[601] The penates were worshipped in the innermost part of the house, +which was called penetralia. There were likewise publici penates, +worshipped in the Capitol, and supposed to be the guardians of the city +and temples. Some have thought that the lares and penates were the same; +and they appear to be sometimes confounded. They were, however, +different. The penates were reputed to be of divine origin; the lares, +of human. Certain persons were admitted to the worship of the lares, who +were not to that of the penates. The latter, as has been already said, +were worshipped only in the innermost part of the house, but the former +also in the public roads, in the camp, and on sea. + +[602] A play upon the Greek word moros, signifying a fool, while the +Latin morari, from moror, means "to dwell," or "continue." + +[603] A small port between the gulf of Baiae and cape Misenum. + +[604] From whence the "Procul, O procul este profani!" of the poet; a +warning which was transferred to the Christian mysteries. + +[605] See before, c. xii. + +[606] Statilius Taurus; who lived in the time of Augustus, and built the +amphitheatre called after his name. AUGUSTUS, c. xxiv. He is mentioned +by Horace, Epist. i. v. 4. + +[607] Octavia was first sent away to Campania, under a guard of +soldiers, and after being recalled, in consequence of the remonstrances +of the people, by whom she was beloved, Nero banished her to the island +of Pandataria. + +[608] A.U.C. 813. + +[609] Seneca was accused of complicity in the conspiracy of Caius Piso. +Tacitus furnishes some interesting details of the circumstances under +which the philosopher calmly submitted to his fate, which was announced +to him when at supper with his friends, at his villa, near Rome.-- +Tacitus, b. xiv. xv. + +[610] This comet, as well as one which appeared the year in which +Claudius died, is described by Seneca, Natural. Quaest. VII. c. xvii. and +xix. and by Pliny, II. c. xxv. + +[611] See Tacitus, Annal. xv. 49-55. + +[612] The sixteenth book of Tacitus, which would probably have given an +account of the Vinician conspiracy, is lost. It is shortly noticed by +Plutarch. + +[613] See before, c. xix. + +[614] This destructive fire occurred in the end of July, or the +beginning of August, A.U.C. 816, A.D. 64. It was imputed to the +Christians, and drew on them the persecutions mentioned in c. xvi., and +the note. + +[615] The revolt in Britain broke out A.U.C. 813. Xiphilinus (lxii. p. +701) attributes it to the severity of the confiscations with which the +repayment of large sums of money advanced to the Britons by the emperor +Claudius, and also by Seneca, was exacted. Tacitus adds another cause, +the insupportable tyranny and avarice of the centurions and soldiers. +Prasutagus, king of the Iceni, had named the emperor his heir. His widow +Boadicea and her daughters were shamefully used, his kinsmen reduced to +slavery, and his whole territory ravaged; upon which the Britons flew to +arms. See c. xviii., and the note. + +[616] Neonymphon; alluding to Nero's unnatural nuptials with Sporus or +Pythagoras. See cc. xxviii. xxix. It should be neonymphos. + +[617] "Sustulit" has a double meaning, signifying both, to bear away, +and put out of the way. + +[618] The epithet applied to Apollo, as the god of music, was Paean; as +the god of war, Ekataebaletaes. + +[619] Pliny remarks, that the Golden House of Nero was swallowing up all +Rome. Veii, an ancient Etruscan city, about twelve miles from Rome, was +originally little inferior to it, being, as Dionysius informs us, (lib. +ii. p. 16), equal in extent to Athens. See a very accurate survey of +the ruins of Veii, in Gell's admirable TOPOGRAPHY OF ROME AND ITS +VICINITY, p. 436, of Bohn's Edition. + +[620] Suetonius calls them organa hydralica, and they seem to have been +a musical instrument on the same principle as our present organs, only +that water was the inflating power. Vitruvius (iv. ix.) mentions the +instrument as the invention of Ctesibus of Alexandria. It is also well +described by Tertullian, De Anima, c. xiv. The pneumatic organ appears +to have been a later improvement. We have before us a contorniate +medallion, of Caracalla, from the collection of Mr. W. S. Bohn, upon +which one or other of these instruments figures. On the obverse is the +bust of the emperor in armour, laureated, with the inscription as +AURELIUS ANTONINUS PIUS AUG. BRIT. (his latest title). On the reverse is +the organ; an oblong chest with the pipes above, and a draped figure on +each side. + +[621] A fine sand from the Nile, similar to puzzuclano, which was +strewed on the stadium; the wrestlers also rolled in it, when their +bodies were slippery with oil or perspiration. + +[622] The words on the ticket about the emperor's neck, are supposed, by +a prosopopea, to be spoken by him. The reply is Agrippina's, or the +people's. It alludes to the punishment due to him for his parricide. By +the Roman law, a person who had murdered a parent or any near relation, +after being severely scourged, was sewed up in a sack, with a dog, a +cock, a viper, and an ape, and then thrown into the sea, or a deep river. + +[623] Gallos, which signifies both cocks and Gauls. + +[624] Vindex, it need hardly be observed, was the name of the propraetor +who had set up the standard of rebellion in Gaul. The word also +signifies an avenger of wrongs, redresser of grievances; hence vindicate, +vindictive, etc. + +[625] Aen. xii. 646. + +[626] The Via Salaria was so called from the Sabines using it to fetch +salt from the coast. It led from Rome to the northward, near the gardens +of Sallust, by a gate of the same name, called also Quirinalis, Agonalis, +and Collina. It was here that Alaric entered. + +[627] The Via Nomentana, so named because it led to the Sabine town of +Nomentum, joined the Via Salara at Heretum on the Tiber. It was also +called Ficulnensis. It entered Rome by the Porta Viminalis, now called +Porta Pia. It was by this road that Hannibal approached the walls of +Rome. The country-house of Nero's freedman, where he ended his days, +stood near the Anio, beyond the present church of St. Agnese, where there +was a villa of the Spada family, belonging now, we believe, to Torlonia. + +[628] This description is no less exact than vivid. It was easy for +Nero to gain the nearest gate, the Nomentan, from the Esquiline quarter +of the palace, without much observation; and on issuing from it (after +midnight, it appears), the fugitives would have the pretorian camp so +close on their right hand, that they might well hear the shouts of the +soldiers. + +[629] Decocta. Pliny informs us that Nero had the water he drank, +boiled, to clear it from impurities, and then cooled with ice. + +[630] Wood, to warm the water for washing the corpse, and for the +funeral pile, + +[631] This burst of passion was uttered in Greek, the rest was spoken in +Latin. Both were in familiar use. The mixture, perhaps, betrays the +disturbed state of Nero's mind. + +[632] II. x. 535. + +[633] Collis Hortulorum; which was afterwards called the Pincian Hill, +from a family of that name, who flourished under the lower empire. In +the time of the Caesars it was occupied by the gardens and villas of the +wealthy and luxurious; among which those of Sallust are celebrated. Some +of the finest statues have been found in the ruins; among others, that of +the "Dying Gladiator." The situation was airy and healthful, commanding +fine views, and it is still the most agreeable neighbourhood in Rome. + +[634] Antiquarians suppose that some relics of the sepulchre of the +Domitian family, in which the ashes of Nero were deposited, are preserved +in the city wall which Aurelian, when he extended its circuit, carried +across the "Collis Hortulorum." Those ancient remains, declining from +the perpendicular, are called the Muro Torto.--The Lunan marble was +brought from quarries near a town of that name, in Etruria. It no longer +exists, but stood on the coast of what is now called the gulf of +Spezzia.--Thasos, an island in the Archipelago, was one of the Cyclades. +It produced a grey marble, much veined, but not in great repute. + +[635] See c. x1i. + +[636] The Syrian Goddess is supposed to have been Semiramis deified. +Her rites are mentioned by Florus, Apuleius, and Lucian. + +[637] A.U.C. 821--A.D. 69. + +[638] We have here one of the incidental notices which are so valuable +in an historian, as connecting him with the times of which he writes. +See also just before, c. lii. + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Nero Claudius Caesar (Nero), +by C. 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Suetonius Tranquillus + +Release Date: August, 2004 [EBook #6391] +[Yes, we are more than one year ahead of schedule] +[This file was first posted on December 3, 2003] + +Edition: 10 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + + + + + +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LIVES OF THE CAESARS, SUETONIUS, V6 *** + + + +This eBook was produced by Tapio Riikonen +and David Widger <widger@cecomet.net> + + + + + + THE LIVES + OF + THE TWELVE CAESARS + + By + C. Suetonius Tranquillus; + + To which are added, + + HIS LIVES OF THE GRAMMARIANS, RHETORICIANS, AND POETS. + + + The Translation of + Alexander Thomson, M.D. + + revised and corrected by + T.Forester, Esq., A.M. + + + + +(337) + + + + NERO CLAUDIUS CAESAR. + + +I. Two celebrated families, the Calvini and Aenobarbi, sprung from the +race of the Domitii. The Aenobarbi derive both their extraction and +their cognomen from one Lucius Domitius, of whom we have this tradition: +--As he was returning out of the country to Rome, he was met by two young +men of a most august appearance, who desired him to announce to the +senate and people a victory, of which no certain intelligence had yet +reached the city. To prove that they were more than mortals, they +stroked his cheeks, and thus changed his hair, which was black, to a +bright colour, resembling that of brass; which mark of distinction +descended to his posterity, for they had generally red beards. This +family had the honour of seven consulships [548], one triumph [549], and +two censorships [550]; and being admitted into the patrician order, they +continued the use of the same cognomen, with no other praenomina [551] +than those of Cneius and Lucius. These, however, they assumed with +singular irregularity; three persons in succession sometimes adhering to +one of them, and then they were changed alternately. For the first, +second, and third of the Aenobarbi had the praenomen of Lucius, and again +the three following, successively, that of Cneius, while those who came +after were called, by turns, one, Lucius, and the other, Cneius. It +appears to me proper to give a short account of several of the family, to +show that Nero so far degenerated from the noble qualities of his +ancestors, that he retained only their vices; as if those alone had been +transmitted to him by his descent. + +II. To begin, therefore, at a remote period, his great-grandfather's +grandfather, Cneius Domitius, when he was tribune of the people, being +offended with the high priests for electing another than himself in the +room of his father, obtained the (338) transfer of the right of election +from the colleges of the priests to the people. In his consulship [552], +having conquered the Allobroges and the Arverni [553], he made a progress +through the province, mounted upon an elephant, with a body of soldiers +attending him, in a sort of triumphal pomp. Of this person the orator +Licinius Crassus said, "It was no wonder he had a brazen beard, who had a +face of iron, and a heart of lead." His son, during his praetorship +[554], proposed that Cneius Caesar, upon the expiration of his +consulship, should be called to account before the senate for his +administration of that office, which was supposed to be contrary both to +the omens and the laws. Afterwards, when he was consul himself [555], he +tried to deprive Cneius of the command of the army, and having been, by +intrigue and cabal, appointed his successor, he was made prisoner at +Corsinium, in the beginning of the civil war. Being set at liberty, he +went to Marseilles, which was then besieged; where having, by his +presence, animated the people to hold out, he suddenly deserted them, and +at last was slain in the battle of Pharsalia. He was a man of little +constancy, and of a sullen temper. In despair of his fortunes, he had +recourse to poison, but was so terrified at the thoughts of death, that, +immediately repenting, he took a vomit to throw it up again, and gave +freedom to his physician for having, with great prudence and wisdom, +given him only a gentle dose of the poison. When Cneius Pompey was +consulting with his friends in what manner he should conduct himself +towards those who were neuter and took no part in the contest, he was the +only one who proposed that they should be treated as enemies. + +III. He left a son, who was, without doubt, the best of the family. By +the Pedian law, he was condemned, although innocent, amongst others who +were concerned in the death of Caesar [556]. Upon this, he went over to +Brutus and Cassius, his near relations; and, after their death, not only +kept together the fleet, the command of which had been given him some +time before, but even increased it. At last, when the party had +everywhere been defeated, he voluntarily surrendered it to (339) Mark +Antony; considering it as a piece of service for which the latter owed +him no small obligations. Of all those who were condemned by the law +above-mentioned, he was the only man who was restored to his country, and +filled the highest offices. When the civil war again broke out, he was +appointed lieutenant under the same Antony, and offered the chief command +by those who were ashamed of Cleopatra; but not daring, on account of a +sudden indisposition with which he was seized, either to accept or refuse +it, he went over to Augustus [557], and died a few days after, not +without an aspersion cast upon his memory. For Antony gave out, that he +was induced to change sides by his impatience to be with his mistress, +Servilia Nais. [558] + +IV. This Cneius had a son, named Domitius, who was afterwards well known +as the nominal purchaser of the family property left by Augustus's will +[559]; and no less famous in his youth for his dexterity in chariot- +driving, than he was afterwards for the triumphal ornaments which he +obtained in the German war. But he was a man of great arrogance, +prodigality, and cruelty. When he was aedile, he obliged Lucius Plancus, +the censor, to give him the way; and in his praetorship, and consulship, +he made Roman knights and married women act on the stage. He gave hunts +of wild beasts, both in the Circus and in all the wards of the city; as +also a show of gladiators; but with such barbarity, that Augustus, after +privately reprimanding him, to no purpose, was obliged to restrain him by +a public edict. + +V. By the elder Antonia he had Nero's father, a man of execrable +character in every part of his life. During his attendance upon Caius +Caesar in the East, he killed a freedman of his own, for refusing to +drink as much as he ordered him. Being dismissed for this from Caesar's +society, he did not mend his habits; for, in a village upon the Appian +road, he suddenly whipped his horses, and drove his chariot, on purpose, +(340) over a poor boy, crushing him to pieces. At Rome, he struck out +the eye of a Roman knight in the Forum, only for some free language in a +dispute between them. He was likewise so fraudulent, that he not only +cheated some silversmiths [560] of the price of goods he had bought of +them, but, during his praetorship, defrauded the owners of chariots in +the Circensian games of the prizes due to them for their victory. His +sister, jeering him for the complaints made by the leaders of the several +parties, he agreed to sanction a law, "That, for the future, the prizes +should be immediately paid." A little before the death of Tiberius, he +was prosecuted for treason, adulteries, and incest with his sister +Lepida, but escaped in the timely change of affairs, and died of a +dropsy, at Pyrgi [561]; leaving behind him his son, Nero, whom he had by +Agrippina, the daughter of Germanicus. + +VI. Nero was born at Antium, nine months after the death of Tiberius +[562], upon the eighteenth of the calends of January [15th December], +just as the sun rose, so that its beams touched him before they could +well reach the earth. While many fearful conjectures, in respect to his +future fortune, were formed by different persons, from the circumstances +of his nativity, a saying of his father, Domitius, was regarded as an ill +presage, who told his friends who were congratulating him upon the +occasion, "That nothing but what was detestable, and pernicious to the +public, could ever be produced of him and Agrippina." Another manifest +prognostic of his future infelicity occurred upon his lustration day +[563]. For Caius Caesar being requested by his sister to give the child +what name he thought proper--looking at his uncle, Claudius, who (341) +afterwards, when emperor, adopted Nero, he gave his: and this not +seriously, but only in jest; Agrippina treating it with contempt, because +Claudius at that time was a mere laughing-stock at the palace. He lost +his father when he was three years old, being left heir to a third part +of his estate; of which he never got possession, the whole being seized +by his co-heir, Caius. His mother being soon after banished, he lived +with his aunt Lepida, in a very necessitous condition, under the care of +two tutors, a dancing-master and a barber. After Claudius came to the +empire, he not only recovered his father's estate, but was enriched with +the additional inheritance of that of his step-father, Crispus Passienus. +Upon his mother's recall from banishment, he was advanced to such favour, +through Nero's powerful interest with the emperor, that it was reported, +assassins were employed by Messalina, Claudius's wife, to strangle him, +as Britannicus's rival, whilst he was taking his noon-day repose. In +addition to the story, it was said that they were frightened by a +serpent, which crept from under his cushion, and ran away. The tale was +occasioned by finding on his couch, near the pillow, the skin of a snake, +which, by his mother's order, he wore for some time upon his right arm, +inclosed in a bracelet of gold. This amulet, at last, he laid aside, +from aversion to her memory; but he sought for it again, in vain, in the +time of his extremity. + +VII. When he was yet a mere boy, before he arrived at the age of +puberty, during the celebration of the Circensian games [564], he +performed his part in the Trojan play with a degree of firmness which +gained him great applause. In the eleventh year of his age, he was +adopted by Claudius, and placed under the tuition of Annaeus Seneca +[565], who had been made a senator. It is said, that Seneca dreamt the +night after, that he was giving a lesson to Caius Caesar [566]. Nero +soon verified his dream, betraying the cruelty of his disposition in +every way he could. For he attempted to persuade his father that his +brother, Britannicus, was nothing but a changeling, because the latter +had (342) saluted him, notwithstanding his adoption, by the name of +Aenobarbus, as usual. When his aunt, Lepida, was brought to trial, he +appeared in court as a witness against her, to gratify his mother, who +persecuted the accused. On his introduction into the Forum, at the age +of manhood, he gave a largess to the people and a donative to the +soldiers: for the pretorian cohorts, he appointed a solemn procession +under arms, and marched at the head of them with a shield in his hand; +after which he went to return thanks to his father in the senate. Before +Claudius, likewise, at the time he was consul, he made a speech for the +Bolognese, in Latin, and for the Rhodians and people of Ilium, in Greek. +He had the jurisdiction of praefect of the city, for the first time, +during the Latin festival; during which the most celebrated advocates +brought before him, not short and trifling causes, as is usual in that +case, but trials of importance, notwithstanding they had instructions +from Claudius himself to the contrary. Soon afterwards, he married +Octavia, and exhibited the Circensian games, and hunting of wild beasts, +in honour of Claudius. + +VIII. He was seventeen years of age at the death of that prince [567], +and as soon as that event was made public, he went out to the cohort on +guard between the hours of six and seven; for the omens were so +disastrous, that no earlier time of the day was judged proper. On the +steps before the palace gate, he was unanimously saluted by the soldiers +as their emperor, and then carried in a litter to the camp; thence, after +making a short speech to the troops, into the senate-house, where he +continued until the evening; of all the immense honours which were heaped +upon him, refusing none but the title of FATHER OF HIS COUNTRY, on +account of his youth, + +IX. He began his reign with an ostentation of dutiful regard to the +memory of Claudius, whom he buried with the utmost pomp and magnificence, +pronouncing the funeral oration himself, and then had him enrolled +amongst the gods. He paid likewise the highest honours to the memory of +his father Domitius. He left the management of affairs, both public and +private, to his mother. The word which he gave the first day of his +reign to the tribune on guard, was, "The (343) Best of Mothers," and +afterwards he frequently appeared with her in the streets of Rome in her +litter. He settled a colony at Antium, in which he placed the veteran +soldiers belonging to the guards; and obliged several of the richest +centurions of the first rank to transfer their residence to that place; +where he likewise made a noble harbour at a prodigious expense. [568] + +X. To establish still further his character, he declared, "that he +designed to govern according to the model of Augustus;" and omitted no +opportunity of showing his generosity, clemency, and complaisance. The +more burthensome taxes he either entirely took off, or diminished. The +rewards appointed for informers by the Papian law, he reduced to a fourth +part, and distributed to the people four hundred sesterces a man. To the +noblest of the senators who were much reduced in their circumstances, he +granted annual allowances, in some cases as much as five hundred thousand +sesterces; and to the pretorian cohorts a monthly allowance of corn +gratis. When called upon to subscribe the sentence, according to custom, +of a criminal condemned to die, "I wish," said he, "I had never learnt to +read and write." He continually saluted people of the several orders by +name, without a prompter. When the senate returned him their thanks for +his good government, he replied to them, "It will be time enough to do so +when I shall have deserved it." He admitted the common people to see him +perform his exercises in the Campus Martius. He frequently declaimed in +public, and recited verses of his own composing, not only at home, but in +the theatre; so much to the joy of all the people, that public prayers +were appointed to be put up to the gods upon that account; and the verses +which had been publicly read, were, after being written in gold letters, +consecrated to Jupiter Capitolinus. + +(344) XI. He presented the people with a great number and variety of +spectacles, as the Juvenal and Circensian games, stage-plays, and an +exhibition of gladiators. In the Juvenal, he even admitted senators and +aged matrons to perform parts. In the Circensian games, he assigned the +equestrian order seats apart from the rest of the people, and had races +performed by chariots drawn each by four camels. In the games which he +instituted for the eternal duration of the empire, and therefore ordered +to be called Maximi, many of the senatorian and equestrian order, of both +sexes, performed. A distinguished Roman knight descended on the stage by +a rope, mounted on an elephant. A Roman play, likewise, composed by +Afranius, was brought upon the stage. It was entitled, "The Fire;" and +in it the performers were allowed to carry off, and to keep to +themselves, the furniture of the house, which, as the plot of the play +required, was burnt down in the theatre. Every day during the solemnity, +many thousand articles of all descriptions were thrown amongst the people +to scramble for; such as fowls of different kinds, tickets for corn, +clothes, gold, silver, gems, pearls, pictures, slaves, beasts of burden, +wild beasts that had been tamed; at last, ships, lots of houses, and +lands, were offered as prizes in a lottery. + +XII. These games he beheld from the front of the proscenium. In the +show of gladiators, which he exhibited in a wooden amphitheatre, built +within a year in the district of the Campus Martius [569], he ordered +that none should be slain, not even the condemned criminals employed in +the combats. He secured four hundred senators, and six hundred Roman +knights, amongst whom were some of unbroken fortunes and unblemished +reputation, to act as gladiators. From the same orders, he engaged +persons to encounter wild beasts, and for various other services in the +theatre. He presented the public with the representation of a naval +fight, upon sea-water, with huge fishes swimming in it; as also with the +Pyrrhic dance, performed by certain youths, to each of whom, after the +performance was over, he granted the freedom of Rome. During this +diversion, a bull covered Pasiphae, concealed within a wooden statue of a +cow, as many of the spectators believed. Icarus, upon his first attempt +to fly, fell on the stage close to (345) the emperor's pavilion, and +bespattered him with blood. For he very seldom presided in the games, +but used to view them reclining on a couch, at first through some narrow +apertures, but afterwards with the Podium [570] quite open. He was the +first who instituted [571], in imitation of the Greeks, a trial of skill +in the three several exercises of music, wrestling, and horse-racing, to +be performed at Rome every five years, and which he called Neronia. Upon +the dedication of his bath [572] and gymnasium, he furnished the senate +and the equestrian order with oil. He appointed as judges of the trial +men of consular rank, chosen by lot, who sat with the praetors. At this +time he went down into the orchestra amongst the senators, and received +the crown for the best performance in Latin prose and verse, for which +several persons of the greatest merit contended, but they unanimously +yielded to him. The crown for the best performer on the harp, being +likewise awarded to him by the judges, he devoutly saluted it, and +ordered it to be carried to the statue of Augustus. In the gymnastic +exercises, which he presented in the Septa, while they were preparing the +great sacrifice of an ox, he shaved his beard for the first time [573], +and putting it up in a casket of gold studded with pearls of great price, +consecrated it to Jupiter Capitolinus. He invited the Vestal Virgins to +see the (346) wrestlers perform, because, at Olympia, the priestesses of +Ceres are allowed the privilege of witnessing that exhibition. + +XIII. Amongst the spectacles presented by him, the solemn entrance of +Tiridates [574] into the city deserves to be mentioned. This personage, +who was king of Armenia, he invited to Rome by very liberal promises. +But being prevented by unfavourable weather from showing him to the +people upon the day fixed by proclamation, he took the first opportunity +which occurred; several cohorts being drawn up under arms, about the +temples in the forum, while he was seated on a curule chair on the +rostra, in a triumphal dress, amidst the military standards and ensigns. +Upon Tiridates advancing towards him, on a stage made shelving for the +purpose, he permitted him to throw himself at his feet, but quickly +raised him with his right hand, and kissed him. The emperor then, at the +king's request, took the turban from his head, and replaced it by a +crown, whilst a person of pretorian rank proclaimed in Latin the words in +which the prince addressed the emperor as a suppliant. After this +ceremony, the king was conducted to the theatre, where, after renewing +his obeisance, Nero seated him on his right hand. Being then greeted by +universal acclamation with the title of Emperor, and sending his laurel +crown to the Capitol, Nero shut the temple of the two-faced Janus, as +though there now existed no war throughout the Roman empire. + +XIV. He filled the consulship four times [575]: the first for two +months, the second and last for six, and the third for four; the two +intermediate ones he held successively, but the others after an interval +of some years between them. + +XV. In the administration of justice, he scarcely ever gave his decision +on the pleadings before the next day, and then in writing. His manner of +hearing causes was not to allow any adjournment, but to dispatch them in +order as they stood. When he withdrew to consult his assessors, he did +not debate the matter openly with them; but silently and privately +reading over their opinions, which they gave separately in writing, (347) +he pronounced sentence from the tribunal according to his own view of the +case, as if it was the opinion of the majority. For a long time he would +not admit the sons of freedmen into the senate; and those who had been +admitted by former princes, he excluded from all public offices. To +supernumerary candidates he gave command in the legions, to comfort them +under the delay of their hopes. The consulship he commonly conferred for +six months; and one of the two consuls dying a little before the first of +January, he substituted no one in his place; disliking what had been +formerly done for Caninius Rebilus on such an occasion, who was consul +for one day only. He allowed the triumphal honours only to those who +were of quaestorian rank, and to some of the equestrian order; and +bestowed them without regard to military service. And instead of the +quaestors, whose office it properly was, he frequently ordered that the +addresses, which he sent to the senate on certain occasions, should be +read by the consuls. + +XVI. He devised a new style of building in the city, ordering piazzas to +be erected before all houses, both in the streets and detached, to give +facilities from their terraces, in case of fire, for preventing it from +spreading; and these he built at his own expense. He likewise designed +to extend the city walls as far as Ostia, and bring the sea from thence +by a canal into the old city. Many severe regulations and new orders +were made in his time. A sumptuary law was enacted. Public suppers were +limited to the Sportulae [576]; and victualling-houses restrained from +selling any dressed victuals, except pulse and herbs, whereas before they +sold all kinds of meat. He likewise inflicted punishments on the +Christians, a sort of people who held a new and impious [577] +superstition. + +(348) He forbad the revels of the charioteers, who had long assumed a +licence to stroll about, and established for themselves a kind of +prescriptive right to cheat and thieve, making a jest of it. The +partisans of the rival theatrical performers were banished, as well as +the actors themselves. + +XVII. To prevent forgery, a method was then first invented, of having +writings bored, run through three times with a thread, and then sealed. +It was likewise provided that in wills, the two first pages, with only +the testator's name upon them, should be presented blank to those who +were to sign them as witnesses; and that no one who wrote a will for +another, should insert any legacy for himself. It was likewise ordained +that clients should pay their advocates a certain reasonable fee, but +nothing for the court, which was to be gratuitous, the charges for it +being paid out of the public treasury; that causes, the cognizance of +which before belonged to the judges of the exchequer, should be +transferred to the forum, and the ordinary tribunals; and that all +appeals from the judges should be made to the senate. + +XVIII. He never entertained the least ambition or hope of augmenting and +extending the frontiers of the empire. On the contrary, he had thoughts +of withdrawing the troops from Britain, and was only restrained from so +doing by the fear of appearing to detract from the glory of his father +[578]. All (349) that he did was to reduce the kingdom of Pontus, which +was ceded to him by Polemon, and also the Alps [579], upon the death of +Cottius, into the form of a province. + +XIX. Twice only he undertook any foreign expeditions, one to Alexandria, +and the other to Achaia; but he abandoned the prosecution of the former +on the very day fixed for his departure, by being deterred both by ill +omens, and the hazard of the voyage. For while he was making the circuit +of the temples, having seated himself in that of Vesta, when he attempted +to rise, the skirt of his robe stuck fast; and he was instantly seized +with such a dimness in his eyes, that he could not see a yard before him. +In Achaia, he attempted to make a cut through the Isthmus [580]; and, +having made a speech encouraging his pretorians to set about the work, on +a signal given by sound of trumpet, he first broke ground with a spade, +and carried off a basket full of earth upon his shoulders. He made +preparations for an expedition to the Pass of the Caspian mountains +[581]; forming a new legion out of his late levies in Italy, of men all +six feet high, which he called the phalanx of Alexander the Great. These +transactions, in part unexceptionable, and in part highly commendable, I +have brought into one view, in order to separate them from the scandalous +and criminal part of his conduct, of which I shall now give an account. + +XX. Among the other liberal arts which he was taught in his youth, he +was instructed in music; and immediately after (350) his advancement to +the empire, he sent for Terpnus, a performer upon the harp [582], who +flourished at that time with the highest reputation. Sitting with him +for several days following, as he sang and played after supper, until +late at night, he began by degrees to practise upon the instrument +himself. Nor did he omit any of those expedients which artists in music +adopt, for the preservation and improvement of their voices. He would +lie upon his back with a sheet of lead upon his breast, clear his stomach +and bowels by vomits and clysters, and forbear the eating of fruits, or +food prejudicial to the voice. Encouraged by his proficiency, though his +voice was naturally neither loud nor clear, he was desirous of appearing +upon the stage, frequently repeating amongst his friends a Greek proverb +to this effect: "that no one had any regard for music which they never +heard." Accordingly, he made his first public appearance at Naples; and +although the theatre quivered with the sudden shock of an earthquake, he +did not desist, until he had finished the piece of music he had begun. +He played and sung in the same place several times, and for several days +together; taking only now and then a little respite to refresh his voice. +Impatient of retirement, it was his custom to go from the bath to the +theatre; and after dining in the orchestra, amidst a crowded assembly of +the people, he promised them in Greek [583], "that after he had drank a +little, he would give them a tune which would make their ears tingle." +Being highly pleased with the songs that were sung in his praise by some +Alexandrians belonging to the fleet just arrived at Naples [584], he sent +for more of the like singers from Alexandria. At the same time, he chose +young men of the equestrian order, and above five thousand robust young +fellows from the common people, on purpose to learn various kinds of +applause, called bombi, imbrices, and testae [585], which they were to +practise in his favour, whenever he performed. They were (351) divided +into several parties, and were remarkable for their fine heads of hair, +and were extremely well dressed, with rings upon their left hands. The +leaders of these bands had salaries of forty thousand sesterces allowed +them. + +XXI. At Rome also, being extremely proud of his singing, he ordered the +games called Neronia to be celebrated before the time fixed for their +return. All now becoming importunate to hear "his heavenly voice," he +informed them, "that he would gratify those who desired it at the +gardens." But the soldiers then on guard seconding the voice of the +people, he promised to comply with their request immediately, and with +all his heart. He instantly ordered his name to be entered upon the list +of musicians who proposed to contend, and having thrown his lot into the +urn among the rest, took his turn, and entered, attended by the prefects +of the pretorian cohorts bearing his harp, and followed by the military +tribunes, and several of his intimate friends. After he had taken his +station, and made the usual prelude, he commanded Cluvius Rufus, a man of +consular rank, to proclaim in the theatre, that he intended to sing the +story of Niobe. This he accordingly did, and continued it until nearly +ten o'clock, but deferred the disposal of the crown, and the remaining +part of the solemnity, until the next year; that he might have more +frequent opportunities of performing. But that being too long, he could +not refrain from often appearing as a public performer during the +interval. He made no scruple of exhibiting on the stage, even in the +spectacles presented to the people by private persons, and was offered by +one of the praetors, no less than a million of sesterces for his +services. He likewise sang tragedies in a mask; the visors of the heroes +and gods, as also of the heroines and goddesses, being formed into a +resemblance of his own face, and that of any woman he was in love with. +Amongst the rest, he sung "Canace in Labour," [586] "Orestes the Murderer +of his Mother," "Oedipus (352) Blinded," and "Hercules Mad." In the last +tragedy, it is said that a young sentinel, posted at the entrance of the +stage, seeing him in a prison dress and bound with fetters, as the fable +of the play required, ran to his assistance. + +XXII. He had from his childhood an extravagant passion for horses; and +his constant talk was of the Circensian races, notwithstanding it was +prohibited him. Lamenting once, among his fellow-pupils, the case of a +charioteer of the green party, who was dragged round the circus at the +tail of his chariot, and being reprimanded by his tutor for it, he +pretended that he was talking of Hector. In the beginning of his reign, +he used to amuse himself daily with chariots drawn by four horses, made +of ivory, upon a table. He attended at all the lesser exhibitions in the +circus, at first privately, but at last openly; so that nobody ever +doubted of his presence on any particular day. Nor did he conceal his +desire to have the number of the prizes doubled; so that the races being +increased accordingly, the diversion continued until a late hour; the +leaders of parties refusing now to bring out their companies for any time +less than the whole day. Upon this, he took a fancy for driving the +chariot himself, and that even publicly. Having made his first +experiment in the gardens, amidst crowds of slaves and other rabble, he +at length performed in the view of all the people, in the Circus Maximus, +whilst one of his freedmen dropped the napkin in the place where the +magistrates used to give the signal. Not satisfied with exhibiting +various specimens of his skill in those arts at Rome, he went over to +Achaia, as has been already said, principally for this purpose. The +several cities, in which solemn trials of musical skill used to be +publicly held, had resolved to send him the crowns belonging to those who +bore away the prize. These he accepted so graciously, that he not only +gave the deputies who brought them an immediate audience, but even +invited them to his table. Being requested by some of them to sing at +supper, and prodigiously applauded, he said, "the Greeks were the only +people who has an ear for music, and were the only good judges of him and +his attainments." Without delay he commenced his journey, and on his +arrival at Cassiope [587], (352) exhibited his first musical performance +before the altar of Jupiter Cassius. + +XXIII. He afterwards appeared at the celebration of all public games in +Greece: for such as fell in different years, he brought within the +compass of one, and some he ordered to be celebrated a second time in the +same year. At Olympia, likewise, contrary to custom, he appointed a +public performance in music: and that he might meet with no interruption +in this employment, when he was informed by his freedman Helius, that +affairs at Rome required his presence, he wrote to him in these words: +"Though now all your hopes and wishes are for my speedy return, yet you +ought rather to advise and hope that I may come back with a character +worthy of Nero." During the time of his musical performance, nobody was +allowed to stir out of the theatre upon any account, however necessary; +insomuch, that it is said some women with child were delivered there. +Many of the spectators being quite wearied with hearing and applauding +him, because the town gates were shut, slipped privately over the walls; +or counterfeiting themselves dead, were carried out for their funeral. +With what extreme anxiety he engaged in these contests, with what keen +desire to bear away the prize, and with how much awe of the judges, is +scarcely to be believed. As if his adversaries had been on a level with +himself, he would watch them narrowly, defame them privately, and +sometimes, upon meeting them, rail at them in very scurrilous language; +or bribe them, if they were better performers than himself. He always +addressed the judges with the most profound reverence before he began, +telling them, "he had done all things that were necessary, by way of +preparation, but that the issue of the approaching trial was in the hand +of fortune; and that they, as wise and skilful men, ought to exclude from +their judgment things merely accidental." Upon their encouraging him to +have a good heart, he went off with more assurance, but not entirely free +from anxiety; interpreting the silence and modesty of some of them into +sourness and ill-nature, and saying that he was suspicious of them. + +XXIV. In these contests, he adhered so strictly to the rules, (354) that +he never durst spit, nor wipe the sweat from his forehead in any other +way than with his sleeve. Having, in the performance of a tragedy, +dropped his sceptre, and not quickly recovering it, he was in a great +fright, lest he should be set aside for the miscarriage, and could not +regain his assurance, until an actor who stood by swore he was certain it +had not been observed in the midst of the acclamations and exultations of +the people. When the prize was adjudged to him, he always proclaimed it +himself; and even entered the lists with the heralds. That no memory or +the least monument might remain of any other victor in the sacred Grecian +games, he ordered all their statues and pictures to be pulled down, +dragged away with hooks, and thrown into the common sewers. He drove the +chariot with various numbers of horses, and at the Olympic games with no +fewer than ten; though, in a poem of his, he had reflected upon +Mithridates for that innovation. Being thrown out of his chariot, he was +again replaced, but could not retain his seat, and was obliged to give +up, before he reached the goal, but was crowned notwithstanding. On his +departure, he declared the whole province a free country, and conferred +upon the judges in the several games the freedom of Rome, with large sums +of money. All these favours he proclaimed himself with his own voice, +from the middle of the Stadium, during the solemnity of the Isthmian +games. + +XXV. On his return from Greece, arriving at Naples, because he had +commenced his career as a public performer in that city, he made his +entrance in a chariot drawn by white horses through a breach in the city- +wall, according to the practice of those who were victorious in the +sacred Grecian games. In the same manner he entered Antium, Alba, and +Rome. He made his entry into the city riding in the same chariot in +which Augustus had triumphed, in a purple tunic, and a cloak embroidered +with golden stars, having on his head the crown won at Olympia, and in +his right hand that which was given him at the Parthian games: the rest +being carried in a procession before him, with inscriptions denoting the +places where they had been won, from whom, and in what plays or musical +performances; whilst a train followed him with loud acclamations, crying +out, that "they (355) were the emperor's attendants, and the soldiers of +his triumph." Having then caused an arch of the Circus Maximus [588] to +be taken down, he passed through the breach, as also through the Velabrum +[589] and the forum, to the Palatine hill and the temple of Apollo. +Everywhere as he marched along, victims were slain, whilst the streets +were strewed with saffron, and birds, chaplets, and sweetmeats scattered +abroad. He suspended the sacred crowns in his chamber, about his beds, +and caused statues of himself to be erected in the attire of a harper, +and had his likeness stamped upon the coin in the same dress. After this +period, he was so far from abating any thing of his application to music, +that, for the preservation of his voice, he never addressed the soldiers +but by messages, or with some person to deliver his speeches for him, +when he thought fit to make his appearance amongst them. Nor did he ever +do any thing either in jest or earnest, without a voice-master standing +by him to caution him against overstraining his vocal organs, and to +apply a handkerchief to his mouth when he did. He offered his +friendship, or avowed (356) open enmity to many, according as they were +lavish or sparing in giving him their applause. + +XXVI. Petulancy, lewdness, luxury, avarice, and cruelty, he practised at +first with reserve and in private, as if prompted to them only by the +folly of youth; but, even then, the world was of opinion that they were +the faults of his nature, and not of his age. After it was dark, he used +to enter the taverns disguised in a cap or a wig, and ramble about the +streets in sport, which was not void of mischief. He used to beat those +he met coming home from supper; and, if they made any resistance, would +wound them, and throw them into the common sewer. He broke open and +robbed shops; establishing an auction at home for selling his booty. In +the scuffles which took place on those occasions, he often ran the hazard +of losing his eyes, and even his life; being beaten almost to death by a +senator, for handling his wife indecently. After this adventure, he +never again ventured abroad at that time of night, without some tribunes +following him at a little distance. In the day-time he would be carried +to the theatre incognito in a litter, placing himself upon the upper part +of the proscenium, where he not only witnessed the quarrels which arose +on account of the performances, but also encouraged them. When they came +to blows, and stones and pieces of broken benches began to fly about, he +threw them plentifully amongst the people, and once even broke a +praetor's head. + +XXVII. His vices gaining strength by degrees, he laid aside his jocular +amusements, and all disguise; breaking out into enormous crimes, without +the least attempt to conceal them. His revels were prolonged from mid- +day to midnight, while he was frequently refreshed by warm baths, and, in +the summer time, by such as were cooled with snow. He often supped in +public, in the Naumachia, with the sluices shut, or in the Campus +Martius, or the Circus Maximus, being waited upon at table by common +prostitutes of the town, and Syrian strumpets and glee-girls. As often +as he went down the Tiber to Ostia, or coasted through the gulf of Baiae, +booths furnished as brothels and eating-houses, were erected along the +shore and river banks; before which stood matrons, who, like bawds and +hostesses, allured him to land. It was also his custom to invite (357) +himself to supper with his friends; at one of which was expended no less +than four millions of sesterces in chaplets, and at another something +more in roses. + +XXVIII. Besides the abuse of free-born lads, and the debauch of married +women, he committed a rape upon Rubria, a Vestal Virgin. He was upon the +point of marrying Acte [590], his freedwoman, having suborned some men of +consular rank to swear that she was of royal descent. He gelded the boy +Sporus, and endeavoured to transform him into a woman. He even went so +far as to marry him, with all the usual formalities of a marriage +settlement, the rose-coloured nuptial veil, and a numerous company at the +wedding. When the ceremony was over, he had him conducted like a bride +to his own house, and treated him as his wife [591]. It was jocularly +observed by some person, "that it would have been well for mankind, had +such a wife fallen to the lot of his father Domitius." This Sporus he +carried about with him in a litter round the solemn assemblies and fairs +of Greece, and afterwards at Rome through the Sigillaria [592], dressed +in the rich attire of an empress; kissing him from time to time as they +rode together. That he entertained an incestuous passion for his mother +[593], but was deterred by her enemies, for fear that this haughty and +overbearing woman should, by her compliance, get him entirely into her +power, and govern in every thing, was universally believed; especially +after he had introduced amongst his concubines a strumpet, who was +reported to have a strong resemblance to Agrippina [594].-------- + +XXIX. He prostituted his own chastity to such a degree, that (358) after +he had defiled every part of his person with some unnatural pollution, he +at last invented an extraordinary kind of diversion; which was, to be let +out of a den in the arena, covered with the skin of a wild beast, and +then assail with violence the private parts both of men and women, while +they were bound to stakes. After he had vented his furious passion upon +them, he finished the play in the embraces of his freedman Doryphorus +[595], to whom he was married in the same way that Sporus had been +married to himself; imitating the cries and shrieks of young virgins, +when they are ravished. I have been informed from numerous sources, that +he firmly believed, no man in the world to be chaste, or any part of his +person undefiled; but that most men concealed that vice, and were cunning +enough to keep it secret. To those, therefore, who frankly owned their +unnatural lewdness, he forgave all other crimes. + +XXX. He thought there was no other use of riches and money than to +squander them away profusely; regarding all those as sordid wretches who +kept their expenses within due bounds; and extolling those as truly noble +and generous souls, who lavished away and wasted all they possessed. He +praised and admired his uncle Caius [596], upon no account more, than for +squandering in a short time the vast treasure left him by Tiberius. +Accordingly, he was himself extravagant and profuse, beyond all bounds. +He spent upon Tiridates eight hundred thousand sesterces a day, a sum +almost incredible; and at his departure, presented him with upwards of a +million [597]. He likewise bestowed upon Menecrates the harper, and +Spicillus a gladiator, the estates and houses of men who had received the +honour of a triumph. He enriched the usurer Cercopithecus Panerotes with +estates both in town and country; and gave him a funeral, in pomp and +magnificence little inferior to that of princes. He never wore the same +garment twice. He (359) has been known to stake four hundred thousand +sesterces on a throw of the dice. It was his custom to fish with a +golden net, drawn by silken cords of purple and scarlet. It is said, +that he never travelled with less than a thousand baggage-carts; the +mules being all shod with silver, and the drivers dressed in scarlet +jackets of the finest Canusian cloth [598], with a numerous train of +footmen, and troops of Mazacans [599], with bracelets on their arms, and +mounted upon horses in splendid trappings. + +XXXI. In nothing was he more prodigal than in his buildings. He +completed his palace by continuing it from the Palatine to the Esquiline +hill, calling the building at first only "The Passage," but, after it was +burnt down and rebuilt, "The Golden House." [600] Of its dimensions and +furniture, it may be sufficient to say thus much: the porch was so high +that there stood in it a colossal statue of himself a hundred and twenty +feet in height; and the space included in it was so ample, that it had +triple porticos a mile in length, and a lake like a sea, surrounded with +buildings which had the appearance of a city. Within its area were corn +fields, vineyards, pastures, and woods, containing a vast number of +animals of various kinds, both wild and tame. In other parts it was +entirely over-laid with gold, and adorned with jewels and mother of +pearl. The supper rooms were vaulted, and compartments of the ceilings, +inlaid with ivory, were made to revolve, and scatter flowers; while they +contained pipes which (360) shed unguents upon the guests. The chief +banqueting room was circular, and revolved perpetually, night and day, in +imitation of the motion of the celestial bodies. The baths were supplied +with water from the sea and the Albula. Upon the dedication of this +magnificent house after it was finished, all he said in approval of it +was, "that he had now a dwelling fit for a man." He commenced making a +pond for the reception of all the hot streams from Baiae, which he +designed to have continued from Misenum to the Avernian lake, in a +conduit, enclosed in galleries; and also a canal from Avernum to Ostia, +that ships might pass from one to the other, without a sea voyage. The +length of the proposed canal was one hundred and sixty miles; and it was +intended to be of breadth sufficient to permit ships with five banks of +oars to pass each other. For the execution of these designs, he ordered +all prisoners, in every part of the empire, to be brought to Italy; and +that even those who were convicted of the most heinous crimes, in lieu of +any other sentence, should be condemned to work at them. He was +encouraged to all this wild and enormous profusion, not only by the great +revenue of the empire, but by the sudden hopes given him of an immense +hidden treasure, which queen Dido, upon her flight from Tyre, had brought +with her to Africa. This, a Roman knight pretended to assure him, upon +good grounds, was still hid there in some deep caverns, and might with a +little labour be recovered. + +XXXII. But being disappointed in his expectations of this resource, and +reduced to such difficulties, for want of money, that he was obliged to +defer paying his troops, and the rewards due to the veterans; he resolved +upon supplying his necessities by means of false accusations and plunder. +In the first place, he ordered, that if any freedman, without sufficient +reason, bore the name of the family to which he belonged; the half, +instead of three fourths, of his estate should be brought into the +exchequer at his decease: also that the estates of all such persons as +had not in their wills been mindful of their prince, should be +confiscated; and that the lawyers who had drawn or dictated such wills, +should be liable to a fine. He ordained likewise, that all words and +actions, upon which any informer could ground a prosecution, should be +deemed treason. He demanded an equivalent for the crowns which the +cities of (361) Greece had at any time offered him in the solemn games. +Having forbad any one to use the colours of amethyst and Tyrian purple, +he privately sent a person to sell a few ounces of them upon the day of +the Nundinae, and then shut up all the merchants' shops, on the pretext +that his edict had been violated. It is said, that, as he was playing +and singing in the theatre, observing a married lady dressed in the +purple which he had prohibited, he pointed her out to his procurators; +upon which she was immediately dragged out of her seat, and not only +stripped of her clothes, but her property. He never nominated a person +to any office without saying to him, "You know what I want; and let us +take care that nobody has any thing he can call his own." At last he +rifled many temples of the rich offerings with which they were stored, +and melted down all the gold and silver statues, and amongst them those +of the penates [601], which Galba afterwards restored. + +XXXIII. He began the practice of parricide and murder with Claudius +himself; for although he was not the contriver of his death, he was privy +to the plot. Nor did he make any secret of it; but used afterwards to +commend, in a Greek proverb, mushrooms as food fit for the gods, because +Claudius had been poisoned with them. He traduced his memory both by +word and deed in the grossest manner; one while charging him with folly, +another while with cruelty. For he used to say by way of jest, that he +had ceased morari [602] amongst men, pronouncing the first syllable long; +and treated as null many of his decrees and ordinances, as made by a +doting old blockhead. He enclosed the place where his body was burnt +with only a low wall of rough masonry. He attempted to poison (362) +Britannicus, as much out of envy because he had a sweeter voice, as from +apprehension of what might ensue from the respect which the people +entertained for his father's memory. He employed for this purpose a +woman named Locusta, who had been a witness against some persons guilty +of like practices. But the poison she gave him, working more slowly than +he expected, and only causing a purge, he sent for the woman, and beat +her with his own hand, charging her with administering an antidote +instead of poison; and upon her alleging in excuse, that she had given +Britannicus but a gentle mixture in order to prevent suspicion, "Think +you," said he, "that I am afraid of the Julian law;" and obliged her to +prepare, in his own chamber and before his eyes, as quick and strong a +dose as possible. This he tried upon a kid: but the animal lingering for +five hours before it expired, he ordered her to go to work again; and +when she had done, he gave the poison to a pig, which dying immediately, +he commanded the potion to be brought into the eating-room and given to +Britannicus, while he was at supper with him. The prince had no sooner +tasted it than he sunk on the floor, Nero meanwhile, pretending to the +guests, that it was only a fit of the falling sickness, to which, he +said, he was subject. He buried him the following day, in a mean and +hurried way, during violent storms of rain. He gave Locusta a pardon, +and rewarded her with a great estate in land, placing some disciples with +her, to be instructed in her trade. + +XXXIV. His mother being used to make strict inquiry into what he said or +did, and to reprimand him with the freedom of a parent, he was so much +offended, that he endeavoured to expose her to public resentment, by +frequently pretending a resolution to quit the government, and retire to +Rhodes. Soon afterwards, he deprived her of all honour and power, took +from her the guard of Roman and German soldiers, banished her from the +palace and from his society, and persecuted her in every way he could +contrive; employing persons to harass her when at Rome with law-suits, +and to disturb her in her retirement from town with the most scurrilous +and abusive language, following her about by land and sea. But being +terrified with her menaces and violent spirit, he resolved upon her +destruction, and thrice attempted it by poison. Finding, however, (363) +that she had previously secured herself by antidotes, he contrived +machinery, by which the floor over her bed-chamber might be made to fall +upon her while she was asleep in the night. This design miscarrying +likewise, through the little caution used by those who were in the +secret, his next stratagem was to construct a ship which could be easily +shivered, in hopes of destroying her either by drowning, or by the deck +above her cabin crushing her in its fall. Accordingly, under colour of a +pretended reconciliation, he wrote her an extremely affectionate letter, +inviting her to Baiae, to celebrate with him the festival of Minerva. He +had given private orders to the captains of the galleys which were to +attend her, to shatter to pieces the ship in which she had come, by +falling foul of it, but in such manner that it might appear to be done +accidentally. He prolonged the entertainment, for the more convenient +opportunity of executing the plot in the night; and at her return for +Bauli [603], instead of the old ship which had conveyed her to Baiae, he +offered that which he had contrived for her destruction. He attended her +to the vessel in a very cheerful mood, and, at parting with her, kissed +her breasts; after which he sat up very late in the night, waiting with +great anxiety to learn the issue of his project. But receiving +information that every thing had fallen out contrary to his wish, and +that she had saved herself by swimming,--not knowing what course to take, +upon her freedman, Lucius Agerinus bringing word, with great joy, that +she was safe and well, he privately dropped a poniard by him. He then +commanded the freedman to be seized and put in chains, under pretence of +his having been employed by his mother to assassinate him; at the same +time ordering her to be put to death, and giving out, that, to avoid +punishment for her intended crime, she had laid violent hands upon +herself. Other circumstances, still more horrible, are related on good +authority; as that he went to view her corpse, and handling her limbs, +pointed out some blemishes, and commended other points; and that, growing +thirsty during the survey, he called for drink. Yet he was never +afterwards able to bear the stings of his own conscience for this +atrocious act, although encouraged by the congratulatory addresses of the +army, the senate, and people. He frequently affirmed that he was haunted +by his mother's ghost, and persecuted with the whips (364) and burning +torches of the Furies. Nay, he attempted by magical rites to bring up +her ghost from below, and soften her rage against him. When he was in +Greece, he durst not attend the celebration of the Eleusinian mysteries, +at the initiation of which, impious and wicked persons are warned by the +voice of the herald from approaching the rites [604]. Besides the murder +of his mother, he had been guilty of that of his aunt; for, being obliged +to keep her bed in consequence of a complaint in her bowels, he paid her +a visit, and she, being then advanced in years, stroking his downy chin, +in the tenderness of affection, said to him: "May I but live to see the +day when this is shaved for the first time [605], and I shall then die +contented." He turned, however, to those about him, made a jest of it, +saying, that he would have his beard immediately taken off, and ordered +the physicians to give her more violent purgatives. He seized upon her +estate before she had expired; suppressing her will, that he might enjoy +the whole himself. + +XXXV. He had, besides Octavia, two other wives: Poppaea Sabina, whose +father had borne the office of quaestor, and who had been married before +to a Roman knight: and, after her, Statilia Messalina, great-grand- +daughter of Taurus [606] who was twice consul, and received the honour of +a triumph. To obtain possession of her, he put to death her husband, +Atticus Vestinus, who was then consul. He soon became disgusted with +Octavia, and ceased from having any intercourse with her; and being +censured by his friends for it, he replied, "She ought to be satisfied +with having the rank and appendages of his wife." Soon afterwards, he +made several attempts, but in vain, to strangle her, and then divorced +her for barrenness. But the people, disapproving of the divorce, and +making severe comments upon it, he also banished her [607]. At last he +(365) put her to death, upon a charge of adultery, so impudent and false, +that, when all those who were put to the torture positively denied their +knowledge of it, he suborned his pedagogue, Anicetus, to affirm, that he +had secretly intrigued with and debauched her. He married Poppaea twelve +days after the divorce of Octavia [608], and entertained a great +affection for her; but, nevertheless, killed her with a kick which he +gave her when she was big with child, and in bad health, only because she +found fault with him for returning late from driving his chariot. He had +by her a daughter, Claudia Augusta, who died an infant. There was no +person at all connected with him who escaped his deadly and unjust +cruelty. Under pretence of her being engaged in a plot against him, he +put to death Antonia, Claudius's daughter, who refused to marry him after +the death of Poppaea. In the same way, he destroyed all who were allied +to him either by blood or marriage; amongst whom was young Aulus +Plautinus. He first compelled him to submit to his unnatural lust, and +then ordered him to be executed, crying out, "Let my mother bestow her +kisses on my successor thus defiled;" pretending that he had been his +mothers paramour, and by her encouraged to aspire to the empire. His +step-son, Rufinus Crispinus, Poppaea's son, though a minor, he ordered to +be drowned in the sea, while he was fishing, by his own slaves, because +he was reported to act frequently amongst his play-fellows the part of a +general or an emperor. He banished Tuscus, his nurse's son, for +presuming, when he was procurator of Egypt, to wash in the baths which +had been constructed in expectation of his own coming. Seneca, his +preceptor, he forced to kill himself [609], though, upon his desiring +leave to retire, and offering to surrender his estate, he solemnly swore, +"that there was no foundation for his suspicions, and that he would +perish himself sooner than hurt him." Having promised Burrhus, the +pretorian prefect, a remedy for a swelling in his throat, he sent him +poison. Some old rich freedmen of Claudius, who had formerly not only +promoted (366) his adoption, but were also instrumental to his +advancement to the empire, and had been his governors, he took off by +poison given them in their meat or drink. + +XXXVI. Nor did he proceed with less cruelty against those who were not +of his family. A blazing star, which is vulgarly supposed to portend +destruction to kings and princes, appeared above the horizon several +nights successively [610]. He felt great anxiety on account of this +phenomenon, and being informed by one Babilus, an astrologer, that +princes were used to expiate such omens by the sacrifice of illustrious +persons, and so avert the danger foreboded to their own persons, by +bringing it on the heads of their chief men, he resolved on the +destruction of the principal nobility in Rome. He was the more +encouraged to this, because he had some plausible pretence for carrying +it into execution, from the discovery of two conspiracies against him; +the former and more dangerous of which was that formed by Piso [611], and +discovered at Rome; the other was that of Vinicius [612], at Beneventum. +The conspirators were brought to their trials loaded with triple fetters. +Some ingenuously confessed the charge; others avowed that they thought +the design against his life an act of favour for which he was obliged to +them, as it was impossible in any other way than by death to relieve a +person rendered infamous by crimes of the greatest enormity. The +children of those who had been condemned, were banished the city, and +afterwards either poisoned or starved to death. It is asserted that some +of them, with their tutors, and the slaves who carried their satchels, +were all poisoned together at one dinner; and others not suffered to seek +their daily bread. + +XXXVII. From this period he butchered, without distinction or quarter, +all whom his caprice suggested as objects for his cruelty; and upon the +most frivolous pretences. To mention only a few: Salvidienus Orfitus was +accused of letting (367) out three taverns attached to his house in the +Forum to some cities for the use of their deputies at Rome. The charge +against Cassius Longinus, a lawyer who had lost his sight, was, that he +kept amongst the busts of his ancestors that of Caius Cassius, who was +concerned in the death of Julius Caesar. The only charge objected +against Paetus Thrasea was, that he had a melancholy cast of features, +and looked like a schoolmaster. He allowed but one hour to those whom he +obliged to kill themselves; and, to prevent delay, he sent them +physicians "to cure them immediately, if they lingered beyond that time;" +for so he called bleeding them to death. There was at that time an +Egyptian of a most voracious appetite, who would digest raw flesh, or any +thing else that was given him. It was credibly reported, that the +emperor was extremely desirous of furnishing him with living men to tear +and devour. Being elated with his great success in the perpetration of +crimes, he declared, "that no prince before himself ever knew the extent +of his power." He threw out strong intimations that he would not even +spare the senators who survived, but would entirely extirpate that order, +and put the provinces and armies into the hands of the Roman knights and +his own freedmen. It is certain that he never gave or vouchsafed to +allow any one the customary kiss, either on entering or departing, or +even returned a salute. And at the inauguration of a work, the cut +through the Isthmus [613], he, with a loud voice, amidst the assembled +multitude, uttered a prayer, that "the undertaking might prove fortunate +for himself and the Roman people," without taking the smallest notice of +the senate. + +XXXVIII. He spared, moreover, neither the people of Rome, nor the +capital of his country. Somebody in conversation saying-- + + Emou thanontos gaia michthaeto pyri + When I am dead let fire devour the world-- + +"Nay," said he, "let it be while I am living" [emou xontos]. And he +acted accordingly: for, pretending to be disgusted with the old +buildings, and the narrow and winding streets, he set the city on fire so +openly, that many of consular rank caught his own household servants on +their property with tow, and (368) torches in their hands, but durst not +meddle with them. There being near his Golden House some granaries, the +site of which he exceedingly coveted, they were battered as if with +machines of war, and set on fire, the walls being built of stone. During +six days and seven nights this terrible devastation continued, the people +being obliged to fly to the tombs and monuments for lodging and shelter. +Meanwhile, a vast number of stately buildings, the houses of generals +celebrated in former times, and even then still decorated with the spoils +of war, were laid in ashes; as well as the temples of the gods, which had +been vowed and dedicated by the kings of Rome, and afterwards in the +Punic and Gallic wars: in short, everything that was remarkable and +worthy to be seen which time had spared [614]. This fire he beheld from +a tower in the house of Mecaenas, and "being greatly delighted," as he +said, "with the beautiful effects of the conflagration," he sung a poem +on the ruin of Troy, in the tragic dress he used on the stage. To turn +this calamity to his own advantage by plunder and rapine, he promised to +remove the bodies of those who had perished in the fire, and clear the +rubbish at his own expense; suffering no one to meddle with the remains +of their property. But he not only received, but exacted contributions +on account of the loss, until he had exhausted the means both of the +provinces and private persons. + +XXXIX. To these terrible and shameful calamities brought upon the people +by their prince, were added some proceeding from misfortune. Such were a +pestilence, by which, within the space of one autumn, there died no less +than thirty thousand persons, as appeared from the registers in the +temple of Libitina; a great disaster in Britain [615], where two of the +principal towns belonging to the Romans were plundered; and a (369) +dreadful havoc made both amongst our troops and allies; a shameful +discomfiture of the army of the East; where, in Armenia, the legions were +obliged to pass under the yoke, and it was with great difficulty that +Syria was retained. Amidst all these disasters, it was strange, and, +indeed, particularly remarkable, that he bore nothing more patiently than +the scurrilous language and railing abuse which was in every one's mouth; +treating no class of persons with more gentleness, than those who +assailed him with invective and lampoons. Many things of that kind were +posted up about the city, or otherwise published, both in Greek and +Latin: such as these, + + Neron, Orestaes, Alkmaion, maetroktonai. + Neonymphon [616] Neron, idian maeter apekteinen. + + Orestes and Alcaeon--Nero too, + The lustful Nero, worst of all the crew, + Fresh from his bridal--their own mothers slew. + + Quis neget Aeneae magna de stirpe Neronem? + Sustulit hic matrem: sustulit [617] ille patrem. + + Sprung from Aeneas, pious, wise and great, + Who says that Nero is degenerate? + Safe through the flames, one bore his sire; the other, + To save himself, took off his loving mother. + + Dum tendit citharam noster, dum cornua Parthus, + Noster erit Paean, ille Ekataebeletaes. + + His lyre to harmony our Nero strings; + His arrows o'er the plain the Parthian wings: + Ours call the tuneful Paean,--famed in war, + The other Phoebus name, the god who shoots afar. [618] + + Roma domus fiet: Vejos migrate, Quirites, + Si non et Vejos occupat ista domus. + + All Rome will be one house: to Veii fly, + Should it not stretch to Veii, by and by. [619] + +(370) But he neither made any inquiry after the authors, nor when +information was laid before the senate against some of them, would he +allow a severe sentence to be passed. Isidorus, the Cynic philosopher, +said to him aloud, as he was passing along the streets, "You sing the +misfortunes of Nauplius well, but behave badly yourself." And Datus, a +comic actor, when repeating these words in the piece, "Farewell, father! +Farewell mother!" mimicked the gestures of persons drinking and swimming, +significantly alluding to the deaths of Claudius and Agrippina: and on +uttering the last clause, + + Orcus vobis ducit pedes; + You stand this moment on the brink of Orcus; + +he plainly intimated his application of it to the precarious position of +the senate. Yet Nero only banished the player and philosopher from the +city and Italy; either because he was insensible to shame, or from +apprehension that if he discovered his vexation, still keener things +might be said of him. + +XL. The world, after tolerating such an emperor for little less than +fourteen years, at length forsook him; the Gauls, headed by Julius +Vindex, who at that time governed the province as pro-praetor, being the +first to revolt. Nero had been formerly told by astrologers, that it +would be his fortune to be at last deserted by all the world; and this +occasioned that celebrated saying of his, "An artist can live in any +country;" by which he meant to offer as an excuse for his practice of +music, that it was not only his amusement as a prince, but might be his +support when reduced to a private station. Yet some of the astrologers +promised him, in his forlorn state, the rule of the East, and some in +express words the kingdom of Jerusalem. But the greater part of them +flattered him with assurances of his being restored to his former +fortune. And being most inclined to believe the latter prediction, upon +losing Britain and Armenia, he imagined he had run through all the +misfortunes which the fates had decreed him. But when, upon consulting +the oracle of Apollo at Delphi, he was advised to beware of the seventy- +third year, as if he were not to die till then, never thinking of Galba's +age, he conceived such hopes, not only of living to advanced years, but +of constant and singular good fortune, that having lost some things of +great value by shipwreck, he scrupled not to say amongst his friends, +that (371) "the fishes would bring them back to him." At Naples he heard +of the insurrection in Gaul, on the anniversary of the day on which he +killed his mother, and bore it with so much unconcern, as to excite a +suspicion that he was really glad of it, since he had now a fair +opportunity of plundering those wealthy provinces by the right of war. +Immediately going to the gymnasium, he witnessed the exercise of the +wrestlers with the greatest delight. Being interrupted at supper with +letters which brought yet worse news, he expressed no greater resentment, +than only to threaten the rebels. For eight days together, he never +attempted to answer any letters, nor give any orders, but buried the +whole affair in profound silence. + +XLI. Being roused at last by numerous proclamations of Vindex, treating +him with reproaches and contempt, he in a letter to the senate exhorted +them to avenge his wrongs and those of the republic; desiring them to +excuse his not appearing in the senate-house, because he had got cold. +But nothing so much galled him, as to find himself railed at as a pitiful +harper, and, instead of Nero, styled Aenobarbus: which being his family +name, since he was upbraided with it, he declared that he would resume +it, and lay aside the name he had taken by adoption. Passing by the +other accusations as wholly groundless, he earnestly refuted that of his +want of skill in an art upon which he had bestowed so much pains, and in +which he had arrived at such perfection; asking frequently those about +him, "if they knew any one who was a more accomplished musician?" But +being alarmed by messengers after messengers of ill news from Gaul, he +returned in great consternation to Rome. On the road, his mind was +somewhat relieved, by observing the frivolous omen of a Gaulish soldier +defeated and dragged by the hair by a Roman knight, which was sculptured +on a monument; so that he leaped for joy, and adored the heavens. Even +then he made no appeal either to the senate or people, but calling +together some of the leading men at his own house, he held a hasty +consultation upon the present state of affairs, and then, during the +remainder of the day, carried them about with him to view some musical +instruments, of a new invention, which were played by water [620] (372) +exhibiting all the parts, and discoursing upon the principles and +difficulties of the contrivance; which, he told them, he intended to +produce in the theatre, if Vindex would give him leave. + +XLII. Soon afterwards, he received intelligence that Galba and the +Spaniards had declared against him; upon which, he fainted, and losing +his reason, lay a long time speechless, apparently dead. As soon as +recovered from this state stupefaction he tore his clothes, and beat his +head, crying out, "It is all over with me!" His nurse endeavouring to +comfort him, and telling him that the like things had happened to other +princes before him, he replied, "I am beyond all example wretched, for I +have lost an empire whilst I am still living." He, nevertheless, abated +nothing of his luxury and inattention to business. Nay, on the arrival +of good news from the provinces, he, at a sumptuous entertainment, sung +with an air of merriment, some jovial verses upon the leaders of the +revolt, which were made public; and accompanied them with suitable +gestures. Being carried privately to the theatre, he sent word to an +actor who was applauded by the spectators, "that he had it all his own +way, now that he himself did not appear on the stage." + +XLIII. At the first breaking out of these troubles, it is believed that +he had formed many designs of a monstrous nature, although conformable +enough to his natural disposition. These were to send new governors and +commanders to the provinces and the armies, and employ assassins to +butcher all the former governors and commanders, as men unanimously +engaged in a conspiracy against him; to massacre the exiles in every +quarter, and all the Gaulish population in Rome; the former lest they +should join the insurrection; the latter as privy to the designs of their +countrymen, and ready to support (373) them; to abandon Gaul itself, to +be wasted and plundered by his armies; to poison the whole senate at a +feast; to fire the city, and then let loose the wild beasts upon the +people, in order to impede their stopping the progress of the flames. +But being deterred from the execution of these designs not so much by +remorse of conscience, as by despair of being able to effect them, and +judging an expedition into Gaul necessary, he removed the consuls from +their office, before the time of its expiration was arrived; and in their +room assumed the consulship himself without a colleague, as if the fates +had decreed that Gaul should not be conquered, but by a consul. Upon +assuming the fasces, after an entertainment at the palace, as he walked +out of the room leaning on the arms of some of his friends, he declared, +that as soon as he arrived in the province, he would make his appearance +amongst the troops, unarmed, and do nothing but weep: and that, after he +had brought the mutineers to repentance, he would, the next day, in the +public rejoicings, sing songs of triumph, which he must now, without loss +of time, apply himself to compose. + +XLIV. In preparing for this expedition, his first care was to provide +carriages for his musical instruments and machinery to be used upon the +stage; to have the hair of the concubines he carried with him dressed in +the fashion of men; and to supply them with battle-axes, and Amazonian +bucklers. He summoned the city-tribes to enlist; but no qualified +persons appearing, he ordered all masters to send a certain number of +slaves, the best they had, not excepting their stewards and secretaries. +He commanded the several orders of the people to bring in a fixed +proportion of their estates, as they stood in the censor's books; all +tenants of houses and mansions to pay one year's rent forthwith into the +exchequer; and, with unheard-of strictness, would receive only new coin +of the purest silver and the finest gold; insomuch that most people +refused to pay, crying out unanimously that he ought to squeeze the +informers, and oblige them to surrender their gains. + +XLV. The general odium in which he was held received an increase by the +great scarcity of corn, and an occurrence connected with it. For, as it +happened just at that time, there arrived from Alexandria a ship, which +was said to be freighted (374) with dust for the wrestlers belonging to +the emperor [621]. This so much inflamed the public rage, that he was +treated with the utmost abuse and scurrility. Upon the top of one of his +statues was placed the figure of a chariot with a Greek inscription, that +"Now indeed he had a race to run; let him be gone." A little bag was +tied about another, with a ticket containing these words; "What could I +do?"--"Truly thou hast merited the sack." [622] Some person likewise +wrote on the pillars in the forum, "that he had even woke the cocks [623] +with his singing." And many, in the night-time, pretending to find fault +with their servants, frequently called for a Vindex. [624] + +XLVI. He was also terrified with manifest warnings, both old and new, +arising from dreams, auspices, and omens. He had never been used to +dream before the murder of his mother. After that event, he fancied in +his sleep that he was steering a ship, and that the rudder was forced +from him: that he was dragged by his wife Octavia into a prodigiously +dark place; and was at one time covered over with a vast swarm of winged +ants, and at another, surrounded by the national images which were set up +near Pompey's theatre, and hindered from advancing farther; that a +Spanish jennet he was fond of, had his hinder parts so changed, as to +resemble those of an ape; and having his head only left unaltered, +neighed very harmoniously. The doors of the mausoleum of Augustus flying +open of themselves, there issued from it a voice, calling on him by name. +The Lares being adorned with fresh garlands on the calends (the first) of +January, fell down during the preparations for sacrificing to them. +While he was taking (375) the omens, Sporus presented him with a ring, +the stone of which had carved upon it the Rape of Proserpine. When a +great multitude of the several orders was assembled, to attend at the +solemnity of making vows to the gods, it was a long time before the keys +of the Capitol could be found. And when, in a speech of his to the +senate against Vindex, these words were read, "that the miscreants should +be punished and soon make the end they merited," they all cried out, "You +will do it, Augustus." It was likewise remarked, that the last tragic +piece which he sung, was Oedipus in Exile, and that he fell as he was +repeating this verse: + + Thanein m' anoge syngamos, maetaer, pataer. + Wife, mother, father, force me to my end. + +XLVII. Meanwhile, on the arrival of the news, that the rest of the +armies had declared against him, he tore to pieces the letters which were +delivered to him at dinner, overthrew the table, and dashed with violence +against the ground two favourite cups, which he called Homer's, because +some of that poet's verses were cut upon them. Then taking from Locusta +a dose of poison, which he put up in a golden box, he went into the +Servilian gardens, and thence dispatching a trusty freedman to Ostia, +with orders to make ready a fleet, he endeavoured to prevail with some +tribunes and centurions of the pretorian guards to attend him in his +flight; but part of them showing no great inclination to comply, others +absolutely refusing, and one of them crying out aloud, + + Usque adeone mori miserum est? + Say, is it then so sad a thing to die? [625] + +he was in great perplexity whether he should submit himself to Galba, or +apply to the Parthians for protection, or else appear before the people +dressed in mourning, and, upon the rostra, in the most piteous manner, +beg pardon for his past misdemeanors, and, if he could not prevail, +request of them to grant him at least the government of Egypt. A speech +to this purpose was afterwards found in his writing-case. But it is +conjectured that he durst not venture upon this project, for fear of +being torn to pieces, before he could get to the Forum. Deferring, +therefore, his resolution until the next (376) day, he awoke about +midnight, and finding the guards withdrawn, he leaped out of bed, and +sent round for his friends. But none of them vouchsafing any message in +reply, he went with a few attendants to their houses. The doors being +every where shut, and no one giving him any answer, he returned to his +bed-chamber; whence those who had the charge of it had all now eloped; +some having gone one way, and some another, carrying off with them his +bedding and box of poison. He then endeavoured to find Spicillus, the +gladiator, or some one to kill him; but not being able to procure any +one, "What!" said he, "have I then neither friend nor foe?" and +immediately ran out, as if he would throw himself into the Tiber. + +XLVIII. But this furious impulse subsiding, he wished for some place of +privacy, where he might collect his thoughts; and his freedman Phaon +offering him his country-house, between the Salarian [626] and Nomentan +[627] roads, about four miles from the city, he mounted a horse, barefoot +as he was, and in his tunic, only slipping over it an old soiled cloak; +with his head muffled up, and an handkerchief before his face, and four +persons only to attend him, of whom Sporus was one. He was suddenly +struck with horror by an earthquake, and by a flash of lightning which +darted full in his face, and heard from the neighbouring camp [628] the +shouts of the soldiers, wishing his destruction, and prosperity to Galba. +He also heard a traveller they met on the road, say, "They are (377) in +pursuit of Nero:" and another ask, "Is there any news in the city about +Nero?" Uncovering his face when his horse was started by the scent of a +carcase which lay in the road, he was recognized and saluted by an old +soldier who had been discharged from the guards. When they came to the +lane which turned up to the house, they quitted their horses, and with +much difficulty he wound among bushes, and briars, and along a track +through a bed of rushes, over which they spread their cloaks for him to +walk on. Having reached a wall at the back of the villa, Phaon advised +him to hide himself awhile in a sand-pit; when he replied, "I will not go +under-ground alive." Staying there some little time, while preparations +were made for bringing him privately into the villa, he took up some +water out of a neighbouring tank in his hand, to drink, saying, "This is +Nero's distilled water." [629] Then his cloak having been torn by the +brambles, he pulled out the thorns which stuck in it. At last, being +admitted, creeping upon his hands and knees, through a hole made for him +in the wall, he lay down in the first closet he came to, upon a miserable +pallet, with an old coverlet thrown over it; and being both hungry and +thirsty, though he refused some coarse bread that was brought him, he +drank a little warm water. + +XLIX. All who surrounded him now pressing him to save himself from the +indignities which were ready to befall him, he ordered a pit to be sunk +before his eyes, of the size of his body, and the bottom to be covered +with pieces of marble put together, if any could be found about the +house; and water and wood [630], to be got ready for immediate use about +his corpse; weeping at every thing that was done, and frequently saying, +"What an artist is now about to perish!" Meanwhile, letters being +brought in by a servant belonging to Phaon, he snatched them out of his +hand, and there read, "That he had been declared an enemy by the senate, +and that search was making for him, that he might be punished according +to the ancient custom of the Romans." He then inquired what kind of +punishment that was; and being told, that the (378) practice was to strip +the criminal naked, and scourge him to death, while his neck was fastened +within a forked stake, he was so terrified that he took up two daggers +which he had brought with him, and after feeling the points of both, put +them up again, saying, "The fatal hour is not yet come." One while, he +begged of Sporus to begin to wail and lament; another while, he entreated +that one of them would set him an example by killing himself; and then +again, he condemned his own want of resolution in these words: "I yet +live to my shame and disgrace: this is not becoming for Nero: it is not +becoming. Thou oughtest in such circumstances to have a good heart: +Come, then: courage, man!" [631] The horsemen who had received orders to +bring him away alive, were now approaching the house. As soon as he +heard them coming, he uttered with a trembling voice the following verse, + + Hippon m' okupodon amphi ktupos ouata ballei; [632] + The noise of swift-heel'd steeds assails my ears; + +he drove a dagger into his throat, being assisted in the act by +Epaphroditus, his secretary. A centurion bursting in just as he was +half-dead, and applying his cloak to the wound, pretending that he was +come to his assistance, he made no other reply but this, "'Tis too late;" +and "Is this your loyalty?" Immediately after pronouncing these words, +he expired, with his eyes fixed and starting out of his head, to the +terror of all who beheld him. He had requested of his attendants, as the +most essential favour, that they would let no one have his head, but that +by all means his body might be burnt entire. And this, Icelus, Galba's +freedman, granted. He had but a little before been discharged from the +prison into which he had been thrown, when the disturbances first broke +out. + +L. The expenses of his funeral amounted to two hundred thousand +sesterces; the bed upon which his body was carried to the pile and burnt, +being covered with the white robes, interwoven with gold, which he had +worn upon the calends of January preceding. His nurses, Ecloge and +Alexandra, with his concubine Acte, deposited his remains in the tomb +belonging (379) to the family of the Domitii, which stands upon the top +of the Hill of the Gardens [633], and is to be seen from the Campus +Martius. In that monument, a coffin of porphyry, with an altar of marble +of Luna over it, is enclosed by a wall built of stone brought from +Thasos. [634] + +LI. In stature he was a little below the common height; his skin was +foul and spotted; his hair inclined to yellow; his features were +agreeable, rather than handsome; his eyes grey and dull, his neck was +thick, his belly prominent, his legs very slender, his constitution +sound. For, though excessively luxurious in his mode of living, he had, +in the course of fourteen years, only three fits of sickness; which were +so slight, that he neither forbore the use of wine, nor made any +alteration in his usual diet. In his dress, and the care of his person, +he was so careless, that he had his hair cut in rings, one above another; +and when in Achaia, he let it grow long behind; and he generally appeared +in public in the loose dress which he used at table, with a handkerchief +about his neck, and without either a girdle or shoes. + +LII. He was instructed, when a boy, in the rudiments of almost all the +liberal sciences; but his mother diverted him from the study of +philosophy, as unsuited to one destined to be an emperor; and his +preceptor, Seneca, discouraged him from reading the ancient orators, that +he might longer secure his devotion to himself. Therefore, having a turn +for poetry, (380) he composed verses both with pleasure and ease; nor did +he, as some think, publish those of other writers as his own. Several +little pocket-books and loose sheets have cone into my possession, which +contain some well-known verses in his own hand, and written in such a +manner, that it was very evident, from the blotting and interlining, that +they had not been transcribed from a copy, nor dictated by another, but +were written by the composer of them. + +LIII. He had likewise great taste for drawing and painting, as well as +for moulding statues in plaster. But, above all things, he most eagerly +coveted popularity, being the rival of every man who obtained the +applause of the people for any thing he did. It was the general belief, +that, after the crowns he won by his performances on the stage, he would +the next lustrum have taken his place among the wrestlers at the Olympic +games. For he was continually practising that art; nor did he witness +the gymnastic games in any part of Greece otherwise than sitting upon the +ground in the stadium, as the umpires do. And if a pair of wrestlers +happened to break the bounds, he would with his own hands drag them back +into the centre of the circle. Because he was thought to equal Apollo in +music, and the sun in chariot-driving, he resolved also to imitate the +achievements of Hercules. And they say that a lion was got ready for him +to kill, either with a club, or with a close hug, in view of the people +in the amphitheatre; which he was to perform naked. + +LIV. Towards the end of his life, he publicly vowed, that if his power +in the state was securely re-established, he would, in the spectacles +which he intended to exhibit in honour of his success, include a +performance upon organs [635], as well as upon flutes and bagpipes, and, +on the last day of the games, would act in the play, and take the part of +Turnus, as we find it in Virgil. And there are some who say, that he put +to death the player Paris as a dangerous rival. + +LV. He had an insatiable desire to immortalize his name, and acquire a +reputation which should last through all succeeding ages; but it was +capriciously directed. He therefore (381) took from several things and +places their former appellations, and gave them new names derived from +his own. He called the month of April, Neroneus, and designed changing +the name of Rome into that of Neropolis. + +LVI. He held all religious rites in contempt, except those of the Syrian +Goddess [636]; but at last he paid her so little reverence, that he made +water upon her; being now engaged in another superstition, in which only +he obstinately persisted. For having received from some obscure plebeian +a little image of a girl, as a preservative against plots, and +discovering a conspiracy immediately after, he constantly worshipped his +imaginary protectress as the greatest amongst the gods, offering to her +three sacrifices daily. He was also desirous to have it supposed that he +had, by revelations from this deity, a knowledge of future events. A few +months before he died, he attended a sacrifice, according to the Etruscan +rites, but the omens were not favourable. + +LVII. He died in the thirty-second year of his age [637], upon the same +day on which he had formerly put Octavia to death; and the public joy was +so great upon the occasion, that the common people ran about the city +with caps upon their heads. Some, however, were not wanting, who for a +long time decked his tomb with spring and summer flowers. Sometimes they +placed his image upon the rostra, dressed in robes of state; at another, +they published proclamations in his name, as if he were still alive, and +would shortly return to Rome, and take vengeance on all his enemies. +Vologesus, king of the Parthians, when he sent ambassadors to the senate +to renew his alliance with the Roman people, earnestly requested that due +honour should be paid to the memory of Nero; and, to conclude, when, +twenty years afterwards, at which time I was a young man [638], some +person of obscure birth gave himself out for Nero, that name secured him +so favourable a reception (382) from the Parthians, that he was very +zealously supported, and it was with much difficulty that they were +prevailed upon to give him up. + + * * * * * * * + +Though no law had ever passed for regulating the transmission of the +imperial power, yet the design of conveying it by lineal descent was +implied in the practice of adoption. By the rule of hereditary +succession, Britannicus, the son of Claudius, was the natural heir to the +throne; but he was supplanted by the artifices of his stepmother, who had +the address to procure it for her own son, Nero. From the time of +Augustus it had been the custom of each of the new sovereigns to commence +his reign in such a manner as tended to acquire popularity, however much +they all afterwards degenerated from those specious beginnings. Whether +this proceeded entirely from policy, or that nature was not yet vitiated +by the intoxication of uncontrolled power, is uncertain; but such were +the excesses into which they afterwards plunged, that we can scarcely +exempt any of them, except, perhaps, Claudius, from the imputation of +great original depravity. The vicious temper of Tiberius was known to +his own mother, Livia; that of Caligula had been obvious to those about +him from his infancy; Claudius seems to have had naturally a stronger +tendency to weakness than to vice; but the inherent wickedness of Nero +was discovered at an early period by his preceptor, Seneca. Yet even +this emperor commenced his reign in a manner which procured him +approbation. Of all the Roman emperors who had hitherto reigned, he +seems to have been most corrupted by profligate favourites, who flattered +his follies and vices, to promote their own aggrandisement. In the +number of these was Tigellinus, who met at last with the fate which he +had so amply merited. + +The several reigns from the death of Augustus present us with uncommon +scenes of cruelty and horror; but it was reserved for that of Nero to +exhibit to the world the atrocious act of an emperor deliberately +procuring the death of his mother. + +Julia Agrippina was the daughter of Germanicus, and married Domitius +Aenobarbus, by whom she had Nero. At the death of Messalina she was a +widow; and Claudius, her uncle, entertaining a design of entering again +into the married state, she aspired to an incestuous alliance with him, +in competition with Lollia Paulina, a woman of beauty and intrigue, who +had been married to C. Caesar. The two rivals were strongly supported by +their (383) respective parties; but Agrippina, by her superior interest +with the emperor's favourites, and the familiarity to which her near +relation gave her a claim, obtained the preference; and the portentous +nuptials of the emperor and his niece were publicly solemnized in the +palace. Whether she was prompted to this flagrant indecency by personal +ambition alone, or by the desire of procuring the succession to the +empire for her son, is uncertain; but there remains no doubt of her +having removed Claudius by poison, with a view to the object now +mentioned. Besides Claudius, she projected the death of L. Silanus, and +she accomplished that of his brother, Junius Silanus, by means likewise +of poison. She appears to have been richly endowed with the gifts of +nature, but in her disposition intriguing, violent, imperious, and ready +to sacrifice every principle of virtue, in the pursuit of supreme power +or sensual gratification. As she resembled Livia in the ambition of a +mother, and the means by which she indulged it, so she more than equalled +her in the ingratitude of an unnatural son and a parricide. She is said +to have left behind her some memoirs, of which Tacitus availed himself in +the composition of his Annals. + +In this reign, the conquest of the Britons still continued to be the +principal object of military enterprise, and Suetonius Paulinus was +invested with the command of the Roman army employed in the reduction of +that people. The island of Mona, now Anglesey, being the chief seat of +the Druids, he resolved to commence his operations with attacking a place +which was the centre of superstition, and to which the vanquished Britons +retreated as the last asylum of liberty. The inhabitants endeavoured, +both by force of arms and the terrors of religion, to obstruct his +landing on this sacred island. The women and Druids assembled +promiscuously with the soldiers upon the shore, where running about in +wild disorder, with flaming torches in their hands, and pouring forth the +most hideous exclamations, they struck the Romans with consternation. +But Suetonius animating his troops, they boldly attacked the inhabitants, +routed them in the field, and burned the Druids in the same fires which +had been prepared by those priests for the catastrophe of the invaders, +destroying at the same time all the consecrated groves and altars in the +island. Suetonius having thus triumphed over the religion of the +Britons, flattered himself with the hopes of soon effecting the reduction +of the people. But they, encouraged by his absence, had taken arms, and +under the conduct of Boadicea, queen of the Iceni, who had been treated +in the most ignominious manner by the Roman tribunes, had already driven +the hateful invaders from their several settlements. Suetonius hastened +to (384) the protection of London, which was by this time a flourishing +Roman colony; but he found upon his arrival, that any attempt to preserve +it would be attended with the utmost danger to the army. London +therefore was reduced to ashes; and the Romans, and all strangers, to the +number of seventy thousand, were put to the sword without distinction, +the Britons seeming determined to convince the enemy that they would +acquiesce in no other terms than a total evacuation of the island. This +massacre, however, was revenged by Suetonius in a decisive engagement, +where eighty thousand of the Britons are said to have been killed; after +which, Boadicea, to avoid falling into the hands of the insolent +conquerors, put a period to her own life by means of poison. It being +judged unadvisable that Suetonius should any longer conduct the war +against a people whom he had exasperated by his severity, he was +recalled, and Petronius Turpilianus appointed in his room. The command +was afterwards given successively to Trebellius Maximus and Vettius +Bolanus; but the plan pursued by these generals was only to retain, by a +conciliatory administration, the parts of the island which had already +submitted to the Roman arms. + +During these transactions in Britain, Nero himself was exhibiting, in +Rome or some of the provinces, such scenes of extravagance as almost +exceed credibility. In one place, entering the lists amongst the +competitors in a chariot race; in another, contending for victory with +the common musicians on the stage; revelling in open day in the company +of the most abandoned prostitutes and the vilest of men; in the night, +committing depredations on the peaceful inhabitants of the capital; +polluting with detestable lust, or drenching with human blood, the +streets, the palace, and the habitations of private families; and, to +crown his enormities, setting fire to Rome, while he sung with delight in +beholding the dreadful conflagration. In vain would history be ransacked +for a parallel to this emperor, who united the most shameful vices to the +most extravagant vanity, the most abject meanness to the strongest but +most preposterous ambition; and the whole of whose life was one continued +scene of lewdness, sensuality, rapine, cruelty, and folly. It is +emphatically observed by Tacitus, "that Nero, after the murder of many +illustrious personages, manifested a desire of extirpating virtue +itself." + +Among the excesses of Nero's reign, are to be mentioned the horrible +cruelties exercised against the Christians in various parts of the +empire, in which inhuman transactions the natural barbarity of the +emperor was inflamed by the prejudices and interested policy of the pagan +priesthood. + +(385) The tyrant scrupled not to charge them with the act of burning +Rome; and he satiated his fury against them by such outrages as are +unexampled in history. They were covered with the skins of wild beasts, +and torn by dogs; were crucified, and set on fire, that they might serve +for lights in the night-time. Nero offered his gardens for this +spectacle, and exhibited the games of the Circus by this dreadful +illumination. Sometimes they were covered with wax and other combustible +materials, after which a sharp stake was put under their chin, to make +them stand upright, and they were burnt alive, to give light to the +spectators. + +In the person of Nero, it is observed by Suetonius, the race of the +Caesars became extinct; a race rendered illustrious by the first and +second emperors, but which their successors no less disgraced. The +despotism of Julius Caesar, though haughty and imperious, was liberal and +humane: that of Augustus, if we exclude a few instances of vindictive +severity towards individuals, was mild and conciliating; but the reigns +of Tiberius, Caligula, and Nero (for we except Claudius from part of the +censure), while discriminated from each other by some peculiar +circumstances, exhibited the most flagrant acts of licentiousness and +perverted authority. The most abominable lust, the most extravagant +luxury, the most shameful rapaciousness, and the most inhuman cruelty, +constitute the general characteristics of those capricious and detestable +tyrants. Repeated experience now clearly refuted the opinion of +Augustus, that he had introduced amongst the Romans the best form of +government: but while we make this observation, it is proper to remark, +that, had he even restored the republic, there is reason to believe that +the nation would again have been soon distracted with internal divisions, +and a perpetual succession of civil wars. The manners of the people were +become too dissolute to be restrained by the authority of elective and +temporary magistrates; and the Romans were hastening to that fatal period +when general and great corruption, with its attendant debility, would +render them an easy prey to any foreign invaders. + +But the odious government of the emperors was not the only grievance +under which the people laboured in those disastrous times: patrician +avarice concurred with imperial rapacity to increase the sufferings of +the nation. The senators, even during the commonwealth, had become +openly corrupt in the dispensation of public justice; and under the +government of the emperors pernicious abuse was practised to a yet +greater extent. That class being now, equally with other Roman citizens, +dependent on the sovereign power, their sentiments of duty and (386) +honour were degraded by the loss of their former dignity; and being +likewise deprived of the lucrative governments of provinces, to which +they had annually succeeded by an elective rotation in the times of the +republic, they endeavoured to compensate the reduction of their +emoluments by an unbounded venality in the judicial decisions of the +forum. Every source of national happiness and prosperity was by this +means destroyed. The possession of property became precarious; industry, +in all its branches, was effectually discouraged, and the amor patriae, +which had formerly been the animating principle of the nation, was almost +universally extinguished. + +It is a circumstance corresponding to the general singularity of the +present reign, that, of the few writers who flourished in it, and whose +works have been transmitted to posterity, two ended their days by the +order of the emperor, and the third, from indignation at his conduct. +These unfortunate victims were Seneca, Petronius Arbiter, and Lucan. + +SENECA was born about six years before the Christian aera, and gave early +indication of uncommon talents. His father, who had come from Corduba to +Rome, was a man of letters, particularly fond of declamation, in which he +instructed his son, and placed him, for the acquisition of philosophy, +under the most celebrated stoics of that age. Young Seneca, imbibing the +precepts of the Pythagorean doctrine, religiously abstained from eating +the flesh of animals, until Tiberius having threatened to punish some +Jews and Egyptians, who abstained from certain meats, he was persuaded by +his father to renounce the Pythagorean practice. Seneca displayed the +talents of an eloquent speaker; but dreading the jealousy of Caligula, +who aspired to the same excellence, he thought proper to abandon that +pursuit, and apply himself towards suing for the honours and offices of +the state. He accordingly obtained the place of quaestor, in which +office incurring the imputation of a scandalous amour with Julia Livia, +he removed from Rome, and was banished by the emperor Claudius to +Corsica. + +Upon the marriage of Claudius with Agrippina, Seneca was recalled from +his exile, in which he had remained near eight years, and was appointed +to superintend the education of Nero, now destined to become the +successor to the throne. In the character of preceptor he appears to +have acquitted himself with ability and credit; though he has been +charged by his enemies with having initiated his pupil in those +detestable vices which disgraced the reign of Nero. Could he have indeed +been guilty of such immoral conduct, it is probable that he would not so +easily have (387) forfeited the favour of that emperor; and it is more +reasonable to suppose, that his disapprobation of Nero's conduct was the +real cause of that odium which soon after proved fatal to him. By the +enemies whom distinguished merit and virtue never fail to excite at a +profligate court, Seneca was accused of having maintained a criminal +correspondence with Agrippina in the life-time of Claudius; but the chief +author of this calumny was Suilius, who had been banished from Rome at +the instance of Seneca. He was likewise charged with having amassed +exorbitant riches, with having built magnificent houses, and formed +beautiful gardens, during the four years in which he had acted as +preceptor to Nero. This charge he considered as a prelude to his +destruction; which to avoid, if possible, he requested of the emperor to +accept of the riches and possessions which he had acquired in his +situation at court, and to permit him to withdraw himself into a life of +studious retirement. Nero, dissembling his secret intentions, refused +this request; and Seneca, that he might obviate all cause of suspicion or +offence, kept himself at home for some time, under the pretext of +indisposition. + +Upon the breaking out of the conspiracy of Piso, in which some of the +principal senators were concerned, Natalis, the discoverer of the plot, +mentioned Seneca's name, as an accessory. There is, however, no +satisfactory evidence that Seneca had any knowledge of the plot. Piso, +according to the declaration of Natalis, had complained that he never saw +Seneca; and the latter had observed, in answer, that it was not conducive +to their common interest to see each other often. Seneca likewise +pleaded indisposition, and said that his own life depended upon the +safety of Piso's person. Nero, however, glad of such an occasion of +sacrificing the philosopher to his secret jealousy, sent him an order to +destroy himself. When the messenger arrived with this mandate, Seneca +was sitting at table, with his wife Paulina and two of his friends. He +heard the message not only with philosophical firmness, but even with +symptoms of joy, and observed, that such an honour might long have been +expected from a man who had assassinated all his friends, and even +murdered his own mother. The only request which he made, was, that he +might be permitted to dispose of his possessions as he pleased; but this +was refused him. Immediately turning himself to his friends, who were +weeping at his melancholy fate, he said to them, that, since he could not +leave them what he considered as his own property, he should leave at +least his own life for an example; an innocence of conduct which they +might imitate, and by which they might acquire immortal fame. He +remonstrated with composure against their unavailing tears and (388) +lamentations, and asked them, whether they had not learnt better to +sustain the shocks of fortune, and the violence of tyranny? + +The emotions of his wife he endeavoured to allay with philosophical +consolation; and when she expressed a resolution to die with him, he +said, that he was glad to find his example imitated with so much +fortitude. The veins of both were opened at the same time; but Nero's +command extending only to Seneca, the life of Paulina was preserved; and, +according to some authors, she was not displeased at being prevented from +carrying her precipitate resolution into effect. Seneca's veins bleeding +but slowly, an opportunity was offered him of displaying in his last +moments a philosophical magnanimity similar to that of Socrates; and it +appears that his conversation during this solemn period was maintained +with dignified composure. To accelerate his lingering fate, he drank a +dose of poison; but this producing no effect, he ordered his attendants +to carry him into a warm bath, for the purpose of rendering the +haemorrhage from his veins more copious. This expedient proving likewise +ineffectual, and the soldiers who witnessed the execution of the +emperor's order being clamorous for its accomplishment, he was removed +into a stove, and suffocated by the steam. He underwent his fate on the +12th of April, in the sixty-fifth year of the Christian aera, and the +fifty-third year of his age. His body was burnt, and his ashes deposited +in a private manner, according to his will, which had been made during +the period when he was in the highest degree of favour with Nero. + +The writings of Seneca are numerous, and on various subjects. His first +composition, addressed to Novacus, is on Anger, and continued through +three books. After giving a lively description of this passion, the +author discusses a variety of questions concerning it: he argues strongly +against its utility, in contradiction to the peripatetics, and recommends +its restraint, by many just and excellent considerations. This treatise +may be regarded, in its general outlines, as a philosophical +amplification of the passage in Horace:-- + + Ira furor brevis est: animum rege; qui, nisi paret, + Imperat: hunc fraenis, hunc tu compesce catena. + Epist. I. ii. + + Anger's a fitful madness: rein thy mind, + Subdue the tyrant, and in fetters bind, + Or be thyself the slave. + +The next treatise is on Consolation, addressed to his mother, Helvia, and +was written during his exile. He there informs his mother that he bears +his banishment with fortitude, and advises her to do the same. He +observes, that, in respect to himself, (389) change of place, poverty, +ignominy, and contempt, are not real evils; that there may be two reasons +for her anxiety on his account; first, that, by his absence, she is +deprived of his protection; and in the next place, of the satisfaction +arising from his company; on both which heads he suggests a variety of +pertinent observations. Prefixed to this treatise, are some epigrams +written on the banishment of Seneca, but whether or not by himself, is +uncertain. + +Immediately subsequent to the preceding, is another treatise on +Consolation, addressed to one of Claudius's freedmen, named Polybius, +perhaps after the learned historian. In this tract, which is in several +parts mutilated, the author endeavours to console Polybius for the loss +of a brother who had lately died. The sentiments and admonitions are +well suggested for the purpose; but they are intermixed with such fulsome +encomiums on the imperial domestic, as degrade the dignity of the author, +and can be ascribed to no other motive than that of endeavouring to +procure a recall from his exile, through the interest of Polybius. + +A fourth treatise on Consolation is addressed to Marcia, a respectable +and opulent lady, the daughter of Cremutius Cordus, by whose death she +was deeply affected. The author, besides many consolatory arguments, +proposes for her imitation a number of examples, by attending to which +she may be enabled to overcome a passion that is founded only in too +great sensibility of mind. The subject is ingeniously prosecuted, not +without the occasional mixture of some delicate flattery, suitable to the +character of the correspondent. + +These consolatory addresses are followed by a treatise on Providence, +which evinces the author to have entertained the most just and +philosophical sentiments on that subject. He infers the necessary +existence of a Providence from the regularity and constancy observed in +the government of the universe but his chief object is to show, why, upon +the principle that a Providence exists, good men should be liable to +evils. The enquiry is conducted with a variety of just observations, and +great force of argument; by which the author vindicates the goodness and +wisdom of the Almighty, in a strain of sentiment corresponding to the +most approved suggestions of natural religion. + +The next treatise, which is on Tranquillity of Mind, appears to have been +written soon after his return from exile. There is a confusion in the +arrangement of this tract; but it contains a variety of just +observations, and may be regarded as a valuable production. + +(390) Then follows a discourse on the Constancy of a Wise Man. This has +by some been considered as a part of the preceding treatise; but they are +evidently distinct. It is one of the author's best productions, in +regard both of sentiment and composition, and contains a fund of moral +observations, suited to fortify the mind under the oppression of +accidental calamities. + +We next meet with a tract on Clemency, in two books, addressed to Nero. +This appears to have been written in the beginning of the reign of Nero, +on whom the author bestows some high encomiums, which, at that time, seem +not to have been destitute of foundation. The discourse abounds with +just observation, applicable to all ranks of men; and, if properly +attended to by that infatuated emperor, might have prevented the +perpetration of those acts of cruelty, which, with his other +extravagancies, have rendered his name odious to posterity. + +The discourse which succeeds is on the Shortness of Life, addressed to +Paulinus. In this excellent treatise the author endeavours to show, that +the complaint of the shortness of life is not founded in truth: that it +is men who make life short, either by passing it in indolence, or +otherwise improperly. He inveighs against indolence, luxury, and every +unprofitable avocation; observing, that the best use of time is to apply +it to the study of wisdom, by which life may be rendered sufficiently +long. + +Next follows a discourse on a Happy Life, addressed to Gallio. Seneca +seems to have intended this as a vindication of himself, against those +who calumniated him on account of his riches and manner of living. He +maintained that a life can only be rendered happy by its conformity to +the dictates of virtue, but that such a life is perfectly compatible with +the possession of riches, where they happen to accrue. The author pleads +his own cause with great ability, as well as justness of argument. His +vindication is in many parts highly beautiful, and accompanied with +admirable sentiments respecting the moral obligations to a virtuous life. +The conclusion of this discourse bears no similarity, in point of +composition, to the preceding parts, and is evidently spurious. + +The preceding discourse is followed by one upon the Retirement of a Wise +Man. The beginning of this tract is wanting; but in the sequel the +author discusses a question which was much agitated amongst the Stoics +and Epicureans, viz., whether a wise man ought to concern himself with +the affairs of the public. Both these sects of philosophers maintained +that a life of retirement was most suitable to a wise man, but they +differed with respect to the circumstances in which it might be proper to +deviate from this conduct; one party considering the deviation (391) as +prudent, when there existed a just motive for such conduct, and the +other, when there was no forcible reason against it. Seneca regards both +these opinions as founded upon principles inadequate to the advancement +both of public and private happiness, which ought ever to be the ultimate +object of moral speculation. + +The last of the author's discourses, addressed to Aebucius, is on +Benefits, and continued through seven books. He begins with lamenting +the frequency of ingratitude amongst mankind, a vice which he severely +censures. After some preliminary considerations respecting the nature of +benefits, he proceeds to show in what manner, and on whom, they ought to +be conferred. The greater part of these books is employed on the +solution of abstract questions relative to benefits, in the manner of +Chrysippus; where the author states explicitly the arguments on both +sides, and from the full consideration of them, deduces rational +conclusions. + +The Epistles of Seneca consist of one hundred and twenty-four, all on +moral subjects. His Natural Questions extend through seven books, in +which he has collected the hypotheses of Aristotle and other ancient +writers. These are followed by a whimsical effusion on the death of +Caligula. The remainder of his works comprises seven Persuasive +Discourses, five books of Controversies, and ten books containing +Extracts of Declamations. + +From the multiplicity of Seneca's productions, it is evident, that, +notwithstanding the luxurious life he is said to have led, he was greatly +devoted to literature, a propensity which, it is probable, was confirmed +by his banishment during almost eight years in the island of Corsica, +where he was in a great degree secluded from every other resource of +amusement to a cultivated mind. But with whatever splendour Seneca's +domestic economy may have been supported, it seems highly improbable that +he indulged himself in luxurious enjoyment to any vicious excess. His +situation at the Roman court, being honourable and important, could not +fail of being likewise advantageous, not only from the imperial profusion +common at that time, but from many contingent emoluments which his +extensive interest and patronage would naturally afford him. He was born +of a respectable rank, lived in habits of familiar intercourse with +persons of the first distinction, and if, in the course of his attendance +upon Nero, he had acquired a large fortune, no blame could justly attach +to his conduct in maintaining an elegant hospitality. The imputation of +luxury was thrown upon him from two quarters, viz, by the dissolute +companions of Nero, to whom the mention of such an example served as an +apology for their own extreme dissipation; (392) and by those who envied +him for the affluence and dignity which he had acquired. The charge, +however, is supported only by vague assertion, and is discredited by +every consideration which ought to have weight in determining the reality +of human characters. It seems totally inconsistent with his habits of +literary industry, with the virtuous sentiments which he every where +strenuously maintains, and the esteem with which he was regarded by a +numerous acquaintance, as a philosopher and a moralist. + +The writings of Seneca have been traduced almost equally with his manner +of living, though in both he has a claim to indulgence, from the fashion +of the times. He is more studious of minute embellishments in style than +the writers of the Augustan age; and the didactic strain, in which he +mostly prosecutes his subjects, has a tendency to render him sententious; +but the expression of his thoughts is neither enfeebled by decoration, +nor involved in obscurity by conciseness. He is not more rich in +artificial ornament than in moral admonition. Seneca has been charged +with depreciating former writers, to render himself more conspicuous; a +charge which, so far as appears from his writings, is founded rather in +negative than positive testimony. He has not endeavoured to establish +his fame by any affectation of singularity in doctrine; and while he +passes over in silence the names of illustrious authors, he avails +himself with judgment of the most valuable stores with which they had +enriched philosophy. On the whole, he is an author whose principles may +be adopted not only with safety, but great advantage; and his writings +merit a degree of consideration, superior to what they have hitherto ever +enjoyed in the literary world. + +Seneca, besides his prose works, was the author of some tragedies. The +Medea, the Troas, and the Hippolytus, are ascribed to him. His father is +said to have written the Hercules Furens, Thyestes, Agamemnon, and +Hercules Oetaeus. The three remaining tragedies, the Thebais, Oedipus, +and Octavia, usually published in the same collection with the seven +preceding, are supposed to be the productions of other authors, but of +whom, is uncertain. These several pieces are written in a neat style; +the plots and characters are conducted with an attention to probability +and nature: but none of them is so forcible, in point of tragical +distress, as to excite in the reader any great degree of emotion.---- + +PETRONIUS was a Roman knight, and apparently of considerable fortune. In +his youth he seems to have given great application to polite literature, +in which he acquired a justness of taste, as well as an elegance of +composition. Early initiated in the gaieties (393) of fashionable life, +he contracted a habit of voluptuousness which rendered him an +accommodating companion to the dissipated and the luxurious. The court +of Claudius, entirely governed for some time by Messalina, was then the +residence of pleasure; and here Petronius failed not of making a +conspicuous appearance. More delicate, however, than sensual, he rather +joined in the dissipation, than indulged in the vices of the palace. To +interrupt a course of life too uniform to afford him perpetual +satisfaction, he accepted of the proconsulship of Bithynia, and went to +that province, where he discharged the duties of his office with great +credit. Upon his return to Rome, Nero, who had succeeded Claudius, made +him consul, in recompense of his services. This new dignity, by giving +him frequent and easy access to the emperor, created an intimacy between +them, which was increased to friendship and esteem on the side of Nero, +by the elegant entertainments often given him by Petronius. In a short +time, this gay voluptuary became so much a favourite at court, that +nothing was agreeable but what was approved by Petronius and the +authority which he acquired, by being umpire in whatever related to the +economy of gay dissipation, procured him the title of Arbiter +elegantiarum. Things continued in this state whilst the emperor kept +within the bounds of moderation; and Petronius acted as intendant of his +pleasures, ordering him shows, games, comedies, music, feats, and all +that could contribute to make the hours of relaxation pass agreeably; +seasoning, at the same time, the innocent delights which he procured for +the emperor with every possible charm, to prevent him from seeking after +such as might prove pernicious both to morals and the republic. Nero, +however, giving way to his own disposition, which was naturally vicious, +at length changed his conduct, not only in regard to the government of +the empire, but of himself and listening to other counsels than those of +Petronius, gave the entire reins to his passions, which afterwards +plunged him in ruin. The emperor's new favourite was Tigellinus, a man +of the most profligate morals, who omitted nothing that could gratify the +inordinate appetites of his prince, at the expense of all decency and +virtue. During this period, Petronius gave vent to his indignation, in +the satire transmitted under his name by the title of Satyricon. But his +total retirement from court did not secure him from the artifices of +Tigellinus, who laboured with all his power to destroy the man whom he +had industriously supplanted in the emperor's favour. With this view he +insinuated to Nero, that Petronius was too intimately connected with +Scevinus not to be engaged in Piso's conspiracy; and, to support his +calumny, caused the emperor to be present at the examination (394) of one +of Petronius's slaves, whom he had secretly suborned to swear against his +master. After this transaction, to deprive Petronius of all means of +justifying himself, they threw into prison the greatest part of his +domestics. Nero embraced with joy the opportunity of removing a man, to +whom he knew the present manners of the court were utterly obnoxious, and +he soon after issued orders for arresting Petronius. As it required, +however, some time to deliberate whether they should put a person of his +consideration to death, without more evident proofs of the charges +preferred against him, such was his disgust at living in the power of so +detestable and capricious a tyrant, that he resolved to die. For this +purpose, making choice of the same expedient which had been adopted by +Seneca, he caused his veins to be opened, but he closed them again, for a +little time, that he might enjoy the conversation of his friends, who +came to see him in his last moments. He desired them, it is said, to +entertain him, not with discourses on the immortality of the soul, or the +consolation of philosophy, but with agreeable tales and poetic +gallantries. Disdaining to imitate the servility of those who, dying by +the orders of Nero, yet made him their heir, and filled their wills with +encomiums on the tyrant and his favourites, he broke to pieces a goblet +of precious stones, out of which he had commonly drank, that Nero, who he +knew would seize upon it after his death, might not have the pleasure of +using it. As the only present suitable to such a prince, he sent him, +under a sealed cover, his Satyricon, written purposely against him; and +then broke his signet, that it might not, after his death, become the +means of accusation against the person in whose custody it should be +found. + +The Satyricon of Petronius is one of the most curious productions in the +Latin language. Novel in its nature, and without any parallel in the +works of antiquity, some have imagined it to be a spurious composition, +fabricated about the time of the revival of learning in Europe. This +conjecture, however, is not more destitute of support, than repugnant to +the most circumstantial evidence in favour of its authenticity. Others, +admitting the work to be a production of the age of Nero, have questioned +the design with which it was written, and have consequently imputed to +the author a most immoral intention. Some of the scenes, incidents, and +characters, are of so extraordinary a nature, that the description of +them, without a particular application, must have been regarded as +extremely whimsical, and the work, notwithstanding its ingenuity, has +been doomed to perpetual oblivion: but history justifies the belief, that +in the court of Nero, the extravagancies mentioned by Petronius were +realized (395) to a degree which authenticates the representation given +of them. The inimitable character of Trimalchio, which exhibits a person +sunk in the most debauched effeminacy, was drawn for Nero; and we are +assured, that there were formerly medals of that emperor, with these +words, C. Nero August. Imp., and on the reverse, Trimalchio. The various +characters are well discriminated, and supported with admirable +propriety. Never was such licentiousness of description united to such +delicacy of colouring. The force of the satire consists not in poignancy +of sentiment, but in the ridicule which arises from the whimsical, but +characteristic and faithful exhibition of the objects introduced. That +Nero was struck with the justness of the representation, is evident from +the displeasure which he showed, at finding Petronius so well acquainted +with his infamous excesses. After levelling his suspicion on all who +could possibly have betrayed him, he at last fixed on a senator's wife, +named Silia, who bore a part in his revels, and was an intimate friend of +Petronius upon which she was immediately sent into banishment. Amongst +the miscellaneous materials in this work, are some pieces of poetry, +written in an elegant taste. A poem on the civil war between Caesar and +Pompey, is beautiful and animated. + +Though the Muses appear to have been mostly in a quiescent state from the +time of Augustus, we find from Petronius Arbiter, who exhibits the +manners of the capital during the reign of Nero, that poetry still +continued to be a favourite pursuit amongst the Romans, and one to which, +indeed, they seem to have had a national propensity. + + --------Ecce inter pocula quaerunt + Romulidae saturi, quid dia poemata narrent.--Persius, Sat. i. 30. + + ----Nay, more! Our nobles, gorged, and swilled with wine, + Call o'er the banquet for a lay divine!--Gifford. + +It was cultivated as a kind of fashionable exercise, in short and +desultory attempts, in which the chief ambition was to produce verses +extempore. They were publicly recited by their authors with great +ostentation; and a favourable verdict from an audience, however partial, +and frequently obtained either by intrigue or bribery, was construed by +those frivolous pretenders into a real adjudication of poetical fame. + +The custom of publicly reciting poetical compositions, with the view of +obtaining the opinion of the hearers concerning them, and for which +purpose Augustus had built the Temple of Apollo, was well calculated for +the improvement of taste and judgment, as well as the excitement of +emulation; but, conducted as it now was, it led to a general degradation +of poetry. Barbarism in (396) language, and a corruption of taste, were +the natural consequences of this practice, while the judgment of the +multitude was either blind or venal, and while public approbation +sanctioned the crudities of hasty composition. There arose, however, in +this period, some candidates for the bays, who carried their efforts +beyond the narrow limits which custom and inadequate genius prescribed to +the poetical exertions of their contemporaries. Amongst these were Lucan +and Persius.---- + +LUCAN was the son of Annaeus Mela, the brother of Seneca, the +philosopher. He was born at Corduba, the original residence of the +family, but came early to Rome, where his promising talents, and the +patronage of his uncle, recommended him to the favour of Nero; by whom he +was raised to the dignity of an augur and quaestor before he had attained +the usual age. Prompted by the desire of displaying his political +abilities, he had the imprudence to engage in a competition with his +imperial patron. The subject chosen by Nero was the tragical fate of +Niobe; and that of Lucan was Orpheus. The ease with which the latter +obtained the victory in the contest, excited the jealousy of the emperor, +who resolved upon depressing his rising genius. With this view, he +exposed him daily to the mortification of fresh insults, until at last +the poet's resentment was so much provoked, that he entered into the +conspiracy of Piso for cutting off the tyrant. The plot being +discovered, there remained for the unfortunate Lucan no hope of pardon: +and choosing the same mode of death which was employed by his uncle, he +had his veins opened, while he sat in a warm bath, and expired in +pronouncing with great emphasis the following lines in his Pharsalia:-- + + Scinditur avulsus; nec sicut vulnere sanguis + Emicuit lentus: ruptis cadit undique venis; + Discursusque animae diversa in membra meantis + Interceptus aquis, nullius, vita perempti + Est tanta dimissa via.--Lib. iii. 638. + + ----Asunder flies the man. + No single wound the gaping rupture seems, + Where trickling crimson flows in tender streams; + But from an opening horrible and wide + A thousand vessels pour the bursting tide; + At once the winding channel's course was broke, + Where wandering life her mazy journey took.--Rowe. + +Some authors have said that he betrayed pusillanimity at the hour of +death; and that, to save himself from punishment, he (397) accused his +mother of being involved in the conspiracy. This circumstance, however, +is not mentioned by other writers, who relate, on the contrary, that he +died with philosophical fortitude. He was then only in the twenty-sixth +year of his age. + +Lucan had scarcely reached the age of puberty when he wrote a poem on the +contest between Hector and Achilles. He also composed in his youth a +poem on the burning of Rome; but his only surviving work is the +Pharsalia, written on the civil war between Caesar and Pompey. This +poem, consisting of ten books, is unfinished, and its character has been +more depreciated than that of any other production of antiquity. In the +plan of the poem, the author prosecutes the different events in the civil +war, beginning his narrative at the passage of the Rubicon by Caesar. He +invokes not the muses, nor engages any gods in the dispute; but +endeavours to support an epic dignity by vigour of sentiment, and +splendour of description. The horrors of civil war, and the importance +of a contest which was to determine the fate of Rome and the empire of +the world, are displayed with variety of colouring, and great energy of +expression. In the description of scenes, and the recital of heroic +actions, the author discovers a strong and lively imagination; while, in +those parts of the work which are addressed either to the understanding +or the passions, he is bold, figurative, and animated. Indulging too +much in amplification, he is apt to tire with prolixity; but in all his +excursions he is ardent, elevated, impressive, and often brilliant. His +versification has not the smoothness which we admire in the compositions +of Virgil, and his language is often involved in the intricacies of +technical construction: but with all his defects, his beauties are +numerous; and he discovers a greater degree of merit than is commonly +found in the productions of a poet of twenty-six years of age, at which +time he died.---- + +PERSIUS was born at Volaterrae, of an equestrian family, about the +beginning of the Christian aera. His father dying when he was six years +old, he was left to the care of his mother, for whom and for his sisters +he expresses the warmest affection. At the age of twelve he came to +Rome, where, after attending a course of grammar and rhetoric under the +respective masters of those branches of education, he placed himself +under the tuition of Annaeus Cornutus, a celebrated stoic philosopher of +that time. There subsisted between him and this preceptor so great a +friendship, that at his death, which happened in the twenty-ninth year of +his age, he bequeathed to Cornutus a handsome sum of money, and his +library. The latter, however, accepting only the books, left the money +to Persius's sisters. + +Priscian, Quintilian, and other ancient writers, spear of Persius's +satires as consisting of a book without any division. They have since, +however, been generally divided into six different satires, but by some +only into five. The subjects of these compositions are, the vanity of +the poets in his time; the backwardness of youth to the cultivation of +moral science; ignorance and temerity in political administration, +chiefly in allusion to the government of Nero: the fifth satire is +employed in evincing that the wise man also is free; in discussing which +point, the author adopts the observations used by Horace on the same +subject. The last satire of Persius is directed against avarice. In the +fifth, we meet with a beautiful address to Cornutus, whom the author +celebrates for his amiable virtues, and peculiar talents for teaching. +The following lines, at the same time that they show how diligently the +preceptor and his pupil were employed through the whole day in the +cultivation of moral science, afford a more agreeable picture of domestic +comfort and philosophical conviviality, than might be expected in the +family of a rigid stoic: + + Tecum etenim longos memini consumere soles, + Et tecum primas epulis decerpere noctes. + Unum opus, et requiem pariter disponimus ambo: + Atque verecunda laxamus feria mensa.--Sat. v. + + Can I forget how many a summer's day, + Spent in your converse, stole, unmarked, away? + Or how, while listening with increased delight, + I snatched from feasts the earlier hours of night?--Gifford. + +The satires of Persius are written in a free, expostulatory, and +argumentative manner; possessing the same justness of sentiment as those +of Horace, but exerted in the way of derision, and not with the admirable +raillery of that facetious author. They are regarded by many as obscure; +but this imputation arises more from unacquaintance with the characters +and manners to which the author alludes, than from any peculiarity either +in his language or composition. His versification is harmonious; and we +have only to remark, in addition to similar examples in other Latin +writers, that, though Persius is acknowledged to have been both virtuous +and modest, there are in the fourth satire a few passages which cannot +decently admit of being translated. Such was the freedom of the Romans, +in the use of some expressions, which just refinement has now exploded.-- + +Another poet, in this period, was FABRICIUS VEIENTO, who wrote a severe +satire against the priests of his time; as also one (399) against the +senators, for corruption in their judicial capacity. Nothing remains of +either of those productions; but, for the latter, the author was banished +by Nero. + +There now likewise flourished a lyric poet, CAESIUS BASSUS, to whom +Persius has addressed his sixth satire. He is said to have been, next to +Horace, the best lyric poet among the Romans; but of his various +compositions, only a few inconsiderable fragments are preserved. + +To the two poets now mentioned must be added POMPONIUS SECUNDUS, a man of +distinguished rank in the army, and who obtained the honour of a triumph +for a victory over a tribe of barbarians in Germany. He wrote several +tragedies, which in the judgment of Quintilian, were beautiful +compositions. + +FOOTNOTES: + + + +[548] A.U.C. 593, 632, 658, 660, 700, 722, 785. + +[549] A.U.C. 632. + +[550] A.U.C. 639, 663. + +[551] For the distinction between the praenomen and cognomen, see note, +p. 192. + +[552] A.U.C. 632. + +[553] The Allobroges were a tribe of Gauls, inhabiting Dauphiny and +Savoy; the Arverni have left their name in Auvergne. + +[554] A.U.C. 695. + +[555] A.U.C. 700. + +[556] A.U.C. 711. + +[557] A.U.C. 723. + +[558] Nais seems to have been a freedwoman, who had been allowed to +adopt the family name of her master. + +[559] By one of those fictions of law, which have abounded in all +systems of jurisprudence, a nominal alienation of his property was made +in the testator's life-time. + +[560] The suggestion offered (note, p. 123), that the Argentarii, like +the goldsmiths of the middle ages, combined the business of bankers, or +money-changers, with dealings in gold and silver plate, is confirmed by +this passage. It does not, however, appear that they were artificers of +the precious metals, though they dealt in old and current coins, +sculptured vessels, gems, and precious stones. + +[561] Pyrgi was a town of the ancient Etruria, near Antium, on the sea- +coast, but it has long been destroyed. + +[562] A.U.C. 791; A.D. 39. + +[563] The purification, and giving the name, took place, among the +Romans, in the case of boys, on the ninth, and of girls, on the tenth +day. The customs of the Judaical law were similar. See Matt. i. 59-63; +Luke iii. 21. 22. + +[564] A.U.C. 806. + +[565] Seneca, the celebrated philosophical writer, had been released +from exile in Corsica, shortly before the death of Tiberius. He +afterwards fell a sacrifice to the jealousy and cruelty of his former +pupil, Nero. + +[566] Caligula. + +[567] A.U.C. 809--A.D. 57. + +[568] Antium, the birth-place of Nero, an ancient city of the Volscians, +stood on a rocky promontory of the coast, now called Capo d' Anzo, about +thirty-eight miles from Rome. Though always a place of some naval +importance, it was indebted to Nero for its noble harbour. The ruins of +the moles yet remain; and there are vestiges of the temples and villas of +the town, which was the resort of the wealthy Romans, it being a most +delightful winter residence. The Apollo Belvidere was discovered among +these ruins. + +[569] A.U.C. 810. + +[570] The Podium was part of the amphitheatre, near the orchestra, +allotted to the senators, and the ambassadors of foreign nations; and +where also was the seat of the emperor, of the person who exhibited the +games, and of the Vestal Virgins. It projected over the wall which +surrounded the area of the amphitheatre, and was raised between twelve +and fifteen feet above it; secured with a breast-work or parapet against +the irruption of wild beasts. + +[571] A.U.C. 813. + +[572] The baths of Nero stood to the west of the Pantheon. They were, +probably, incorporated with those afterwards constructed by Alexander +Severus; but no vestige of them remains. That the former were +magnificent, we may infer from the verses of Martial: + + --------Quid Nerone pejus? + Quid thermis melius Neronianis.--B. vii. ch. 34. + + What worse than Nero? + What better than his baths? + +[573] Among the Romans, the time at which young men first shaved the +beard was marked with particular ceremony. It was usually in their +twenty-first year, but the period varied. Caligula (c. x.) first shaved +at twenty; Augustus at twenty-five. + +[574] A.U.C. 819. See afterwards, c. xxx. + +[575] A.U.C. 808, 810, 811, 813. + +[576] The Sportulae were small wicker baskets, in which victuals or +money were carried. The word was in consequence applied to the public +entertainments at which food was distributed, or money given in lieu of +it. + +[577] "Superstitionis novae et maleficae," are the words of Suetonius; +the latter conveying the idea of witchcraft or enchantment. Suidas +relates that a certain martyr cried out from his dungeon--"Ye have loaded +me with fetters as a sorcerer and profane person." Tacitus calls the +Christian religion "a foreign and deadly [exitiabilis] superstition," +Annal. xiii. 32; Pliny, in his celebrated letter to Trajan, "a depraved, +wicked (or prava), and outrageous superstition." Epist. x. 97. + +Tacitus also describes the excruciating torments inflicted on the Roman +Christians by Nero. He says that they were subjected to the derision of +the people; dressed in the skins of wild beasts, and exposed to be torn +to pieces by dogs in the public games, that they were crucified, or +condemned to be burnt; and at night-fall served in place of lamps to +lighten the darkness, Nero's own gardens being used for the spectacle. +Annal. xv. 44. + +Traditions of the church place the martyrdoms of SS. Peter and Paul at +Rome, under the reign of Nero. The legends are given by Ordericus +Vitalis. See vol. i. of the edition in the Antiq. Lib. pp. 206, etc., +with the notes and reference to the apocryphal works on which they are +founded. + +[578] Claudius had received the submission of some of the British +tribes. See c. xvii. of his Life. In the reign of Nero, his general, +Suetonius Paulinus, attacked Mona or Anglesey, the chief seat of the +Druids, and extirpated them with great cruelty. The successes of +Boadicea, queen of the Iceni, who inhabited Derbyshire, were probably the +cause of Nero's wishing to withdraw the legions; she having reduced +London, Colchester, and Verulam, and put to death seventy thousand of the +Romans and their British allies. She was, however, at length defeated by +Suetonius Paulinus, who was recalled for his severities. See Tacit. +Agric. xv. 1, xvi. 1; and Annal. xiv. 29. + +[579] The dominions of Cottius embraced the vallies in the chain of the +Alps extending between Piedmont and Dauphiny, called by the Romans the +Cottian Alps. See TIBERIUS, c. xxxvii. + +[580] It was a favourite project of the Caesars to make a navigable +canal through the Isthmus of Corinth, to avoid the circumnavigation of +the southern extremity of the Morea, now Cape Matapan, which, even in our +days, has its perils. See JULIUS CAESAR, c. xliv. and CALIGULA, c. xxi. + +[581] Caspiae Portae; so called from the difficulties opposed by the +narrow and rocky defile to the passage of the Caucasus from the country +washed by the Euxine, now called Georgia, to that lying between the +Caspian and the sea of Azof. It commences a few miles north of Teflis, +and is frequently the scene of contests between the Russians and the +Circassian tribes. + +[582] Citharoedus: the word signifies a vocalist, who with his singing +gave an accompaniment on the harp. + +[583] It has been already observed that Naples was a Greek colony, and +consequently Greek appears to have continued the vernacular tongue. + +[584] See AUGUSTUS, c. xcviii. + +[585] Of the strange names given to the different modes of applauding in +the theatre, the first was derived from the humming of bees; the second +from the rattling of rain or hail on the roofs; and the third from the +tinkling of porcelain vessels when clashed together. + +[586] Canace was the daughter of an Etrurian king, whose incestuous +intercourse with her brother having been detected, in consequence of the +cries of the infant of which she was delivered, she killed herself. It +was a joke at Rome, that some one asking, when Nero was performing in +Canace, what the emperor was doing; a wag replied. "He is labouring in +child-birth." + +[587] A town in Corcyra, now Corfu. There was a sea-port of the same +name in Epirus. + +[588] The Circus Maximus, frequently mentioned by Suetonius, was so +called because it was the largest of all the circuses in and about Rome. +Rudely constructed of timber by Tarquinius Drusus, and enlarged and +improved with the growing fortunes of the republic, under the emperors it +became a most superb building. Julius Caesar (c. xxxix) extended it, and +surrounded it with a canal, ten feet deep and as many broad, to protect +the spectators against danger from the chariots during the races. +Claudius (c. xxi.) rebuilt the carceres with marble, and gilded the +metae. This vast centre of attraction to the Roman people, in the games +of which religion, politics, and amusement, were combined, was, according +to Pliny, three stadia (of 625 feet) long, and one broad, and held +260,000 spectators; so that Juvenal says, + + "Totam hodie Romam circus capit."--Sat. xi. 195. + +This poetical exaggeration is applied by Addison to the Colosseum. + + "That on its public shews unpeopled Rome."--Letter to Lord Halifax. + +The area of the Circus Maximus occupied the hollow between the Palatine +and Aventine hills, so that it was overlooked by the imperial palace, +from which the emperors had so full a view of it, that they could from +that height give the signals for commencing the races. Few fragments of +it remain; but from the circus of Caracalla, which is better preserved, a +tolerably good idea of the ancient circus may he formed. For details of +its parts, and the mode in which the sports were conducted, see Burton's +Antiquities, p. 309, etc. + +[589] The Velabrum was a street in Rome. See JULIUS CAESAR, c. xxxvii. + +[590] Acte was a slave who had been bought in Asia, whose beauty so +captivated Nero that he redeemed her, and became greatly attached to her. +She is supposed to be the concubine of Nero mentioned by St. Chrysostom, +as having been converted by St. Paul during his residence at Rome. The +Apostle speaks of the "Saints in Caesar's household."--Phil. iv. 22. + +[591] See Tacitus, Annal. xv. 37. + +[592] A much-frequented street in Rome. See CLAUDIUS, c. xvi. + +[593] It is said that the advances were made by Agrippina, with flagrant +indecency, to secure her power over him. See Tacitus, Annal. xiv. 2, 3. + +[594] Olim etiam, quoties lectica cum matre veheretur, libidinatum +inceste, ac maculis vestis proditum, affirmant. + +[595] Tacitus calls him Pythagoras, which was probably the freedman's +proper name; Doryphorus being a name of office somewhat equivalent to +almoner. See Annal. B. xv. + +[596] The emperor Caligula, who was the brother of Nero's mother, +Agrippina. + +[597] See before, c. xiii. Tiridates was nine months in Rome or the +neighbourhood, and was entertained the whole time at the emperor's +expense. + +[598] Canusium, now Canosa, was a town in Apulia, near the mouth of the +river Aufidus, celebrated for its fine wool. It is mentioned by Pliny, +and retained its reputation for the manufacture in the middle ages, as we +find in Ordericus Vitalis. + +[599] The Mazacans were an African tribe from the deserts in the +interior, famous for their spirited barbs, their powers of endurance, and +their skill in throwing the dart. + +[600] The Palace of the Caesars, on the Palatine hill, was enlarged by +Augustus from the dimensions of a private house (see AUGUSTUS, cc. xxix., +lvii.). Tiberius made some additions to it, and Caligula extended it to +the Forum (CALIGULA, c. xxxi.). Tacitus gives a similar account with +that of our author of the extent and splendour of the works of Nero. +Annal. xv. c. xlii. Reaching from the Palatine to the Esquiline hill, it +covered all the intermediate space, where the Colosseum now stands. We +shall find that it was still further enlarged by Domitian, c. xv. of his +life is the present work. + +[601] The penates were worshipped in the innermost part of the house, +which was called penetralia. There were likewise publici penates, +worshipped in the Capitol, and supposed to be the guardians of the city +and temples. Some have thought that the lares and penates were the same; +and they appear to be sometimes confounded. They were, however, +different. The penates were reputed to be of divine origin; the lares, +of human. Certain persons were admitted to the worship of the lares, who +were not to that of the penates. The latter, as has been already said, +were worshipped only in the innermost part of the house, but the former +also in the public roads, in the camp, and on sea. + +[602] A play upon the Greek word moros, signifying a fool, while the +Latin morari, from moror, means "to dwell," or "continue." + +[603] A small port between the gulf of Baiae and cape Misenum. + +[604] From whence the "Procul, O procul este profani!" of the poet; a +warning which was transferred to the Christian mysteries. + +[605] See before, c. xii. + +[606] Statilius Taurus; who lived in the time of Augustus, and built the +amphitheatre called after his name. AUGUSTUS, c. xxiv. He is mentioned +by Horace, Epist. i. v. 4. + +[607] Octavia was first sent away to Campania, under a guard of +soldiers, and after being recalled, in consequence of the remonstrances +of the people, by whom she was beloved, Nero banished her to the island +of Pandataria. + +[608] A.U.C. 813. + +[609] Seneca was accused of complicity in the conspiracy of Caius Piso. +Tacitus furnishes some interesting details of the circumstances under +which the philosopher calmly submitted to his fate, which was announced +to him when at supper with his friends, at his villa, near Rome.-- +Tacitus, b. xiv. xv. + +[610] This comet, as well as one which appeared the year in which +Claudius died, is described by Seneca, Natural. Quaest. VII. c. xvii. and +xix. and by Pliny, II. c. xxv. + +[611] See Tacitus, Annal. xv. 49-55. + +[612] The sixteenth book of Tacitus, which would probably have given an +account of the Vinician conspiracy, is lost. It is shortly noticed by +Plutarch. + +[613] See before, c. xix. + +[614] This destructive fire occurred in the end of July, or the +beginning of August, A.U.C. 816, A.D. 64. It was imputed to the +Christians, and drew on them the persecutions mentioned in c. xvi., and +the note. + +[615] The revolt in Britain broke out A.U.C. 813. Xiphilinus (lxii. p. +701) attributes it to the severity of the confiscations with which the +repayment of large sums of money advanced to the Britons by the emperor +Claudius, and also by Seneca, was exacted. Tacitus adds another cause, +the insupportable tyranny and avarice of the centurions and soldiers. +Prasutagus, king of the Iceni, had named the emperor his heir. His widow +Boadicea and her daughters were shamefully used, his kinsmen reduced to +slavery, and his whole territory ravaged; upon which the Britons flew to +arms. See c. xviii., and the note. + +[616] Neonymphon; alluding to Nero's unnatural nuptials with Sporus or +Pythagoras. See cc. xxviii. xxix. It should be neonymphos. + +[617] "Sustulit" has a double meaning, signifying both, to bear away, +and put out of the way. + +[618] The epithet applied to Apollo, as the god of music, was Paean; as +the god of war, Ekataebaletaes. + +[619] Pliny remarks, that the Golden House of Nero was swallowing up all +Rome. Veii, an ancient Etruscan city, about twelve miles from Rome, was +originally little inferior to it, being, as Dionysius informs us, (lib. +ii. p. 16), equal in extent to Athens. See a very accurate survey of +the ruins of Veii, in Gell's admirable TOPOGRAPHY OF ROME AND ITS +VICINITY, p. 436, of Bohn's Edition. + +[620] Suetonius calls them organa hydralica, and they seem to have been +a musical instrument on the same principle as our present organs, only +that water was the inflating power. Vitruvius (iv. ix.) mentions the +instrument as the invention of Ctesibus of Alexandria. It is also well +described by Tertullian, De Anima, c. xiv. The pneumatic organ appears +to have been a later improvement. We have before us a contorniate +medallion, of Caracalla, from the collection of Mr. W. S. Bohn, upon +which one or other of these instruments figures. On the obverse is the +bust of the emperor in armour, laureated, with the inscription as +AURELIUS ANTONINUS PIUS AUG. BRIT. (his latest title). On the reverse is +the organ; an oblong chest with the pipes above, and a draped figure on +each side. + +[621] A fine sand from the Nile, similar to puzzuclano, which was +strewed on the stadium; the wrestlers also rolled in it, when their +bodies were slippery with oil or perspiration. + +[622] The words on the ticket about the emperor's neck, are supposed, by +a prosopopea, to be spoken by him. The reply is Agrippina's, or the +people's. It alludes to the punishment due to him for his parricide. By +the Roman law, a person who had murdered a parent or any near relation, +after being severely scourged, was sewed up in a sack, with a dog, a +cock, a viper, and an ape, and then thrown into the sea, or a deep river. + +[623] Gallos, which signifies both cocks and Gauls. + +[624] Vindex, it need hardly be observed, was the name of the propraetor +who had set up the standard of rebellion in Gaul. The word also +signifies an avenger of wrongs, redresser of grievances; hence vindicate, +vindictive, etc. + +[625] Aen. xii. 646. + +[626] The Via Salaria was so called from the Sabines using it to fetch +salt from the coast. It led from Rome to the northward, near the gardens +of Sallust, by a gate of the same name, called also Quirinalis, Agonalis, +and Collina. It was here that Alaric entered. + +[627] The Via Nomentana, so named because it led to the Sabine town of +Nomentum, joined the Via Salara at Heretum on the Tiber. It was also +called Ficulnensis. It entered Rome by the Porta Viminalis, now called +Porta Pia. It was by this road that Hannibal approached the walls of +Rome. The country-house of Nero's freedman, where he ended his days, +stood near the Anio, beyond the present church of St. Agnese, where there +was a villa of the Spada family, belonging now, we believe, to Torlonia. + +[628] This description is no less exact than vivid. It was easy for +Nero to gain the nearest gate, the Nomentan, from the Esquiline quarter +of the palace, without much observation; and on issuing from it (after +midnight, it appears), the fugitives would have the pretorian camp so +close on their right hand, that they might well hear the shouts of the +soldiers. + +[629] Decocta. Pliny informs us that Nero had the water he drank, +boiled, to clear it from impurities, and then cooled with ice. + +[630] Wood, to warm the water for washing the corpse, and for the +funeral pile, + +[631] This burst of passion was uttered in Greek, the rest was spoken in +Latin. Both were in familiar use. The mixture, perhaps, betrays the +disturbed state of Nero's mind. + +[632] II. x. 535. + +[633] Collis Hortulorum; which was afterwards called the Pincian Hill, +from a family of that name, who flourished under the lower empire. In +the time of the Caesars it was occupied by the gardens and villas of the +wealthy and luxurious; among which those of Sallust are celebrated. Some +of the finest statues have been found in the ruins; among others, that of +the "Dying Gladiator." The situation was airy and healthful, commanding +fine views, and it is still the most agreeable neighbourhood in Rome. + +[634] Antiquarians suppose that some relics of the sepulchre of the +Domitian family, in which the ashes of Nero were deposited, are preserved +in the city wall which Aurelian, when he extended its circuit, carried +across the "Collis Hortulorum." Those ancient remains, declining from +the perpendicular, are called the Muro Torto.--The Lunan marble was +brought from quarries near a town of that name, in Etruria. It no longer +exists, but stood on the coast of what is now called the gulf of +Spezzia.--Thasos, an island in the Archipelago, was one of the Cyclades. +It produced a grey marble, much veined, but not in great repute. + +[635] See c. x1i. + +[636] The Syrian Goddess is supposed to have been Semiramis deified. +Her rites are mentioned by Florus, Apuleius, and Lucian. + +[637] A.U.C. 821--A.D. 69. + +[638] We have here one of the incidental notices which are so valuable +in an historian, as connecting him with the times of which he writes. +See also just before, c. lii. + + + + + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LIVES OF THE CAESARS, SUETONIUS, V6 *** + +************ This file should be named st06w10.txt or st06w10.zip ************ + +Corrected EDITIONS of our eBooks get a new NUMBER, st06w11.txt +VERSIONS based on separate sources get new LETTER, st06w10a.txt + +This eBook was produced by Tapio Riikonen +and David Widger <widger@cecomet.net> + +Project Gutenberg eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the US +unless a copyright notice is included. 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