 Chapter 7 of Nero by Jacob Abbott. The occasion which led to the first open outbreak between Agrippina and her son was the discovery on her part of a secret and guilty attachment which had been formed between Nero and a young girl of the palace whose name was Acta. Acta was originally a slave from Asia Minor having been purchased there and sent to Rome very probably on account of her personal beauty. She had been subsequently enfranchised but she remained still in the palace forming a part of the household of Agrippina. Nero had never felt any strong attachment for Octavia. His marriage he had always regarded as merely one of his mother's political maneuvers and he did not consider himself as really bound to his wife by any tie. He was besides still but a boy, though unusually precocious and mature, and he had always been accustomed to the most unlimited indulgence of the propensities and passions of youth. The young prince, as is usual in such cases, was led on and encouraged in the vicious course of life that he was now beginning to pursue by certain disillute companions whose society he fell into about this time. There were two young men in particular whose influence over him was of the worst character. Their names were Ortho and Senicio. Ortho was descended from a very distinguished family and his rank and social position in Roman society were very high. Senicio, on the other hand, was of a very humble extraction, his father being an emancipated slave. The three young men were, however, nearly of the same age and being equally unprincipled and disillute. They banded themselves together in the pursuit and enjoyment of vicious indulgences. Ortho made Ortho and Senicio his confidence in his connection with Akta, and it was in a great measure through their assistance and cooperation that he accomplished his ends. When Seneca and Buras were informed of Nero's attachment to Akta and of the connection which had been established between them, they were at first much perplexed to know what to do. They were men of strict moral principle themselves and as Nero had been their pupil and was still while they continued his ministers in some sense under their charge, they thought it might be their duty to remonstrate with him on the course which he was pursuing, and endeavor to separate him from his vicious companions and bring him back, if possible, to his duty to Octavia. But then, on the other hand, they said to each other that any attempt on their part really to control the ungovernable and lawless propensities of such a soul as Nero's must be utterly unavailing, and since he must necessarily, as they thought, be expected to addict himself to vicious indulgences in some form, the connection with Akta might perhaps be as little to be dreaded as any. On the whole, they concluded not to interfere. Not so, however, with Agrippina. When she came to learn of this new attachment which her son had formed, she was very much disturbed and alarmed. Her distress, however, did not arise from any of those feelings of solicitude which, as a mother, she might have been expected to feel for the moral purity of her boy, but from fears that through the influence and ascendancy which such a favorite as Akta might acquire, she should lose her own power. She knew very well how absolute and complete the domination of such a favorite sometimes became, and she trembled at the danger which threatened her of being supplanted by Akta and thus losing her control. Agrippina was very violent and imperious in her temper and had long been accustomed to rule those around her with a very high hand. And now, without properly considering that Nero had passed beyond the age in which he could be treated as a mere boy, she attacked him at once with the bitterest reproaches and invectives, and insisted that his connection with Akta should be immediately abandoned. Nero resisted her and stoutly refused to comply with her demands. Agrippina was fired with indignation and rage. She filled the palace with her complaints and criminations. She accused Nero of the basest ingratitude toward her in repaying the long-continued and faithful exertions and sacrifices which she had made to promote his interests by thus displacing her from his confidence and regard to make room for this wretched favorite. And of falseness and faithlessness to Aktavia in abandoning her, his lawful wife, for the society of an enfranchised slave, Agrippina was extremely violent in these denunciations. She scolded, she stormed, she raved, acting manifestly under the impulse of blind and uncontrollable passion. Her passion was obviously blind for the course to which it impelled her was plainly very far from tending to accomplish any object which she could be supposed to have in view. At length, when the first fury of her vexation and anger had spent itself, she began to reflect, as people generally do when recovering from a passion, that she was spending her strength in working mischief to her own cause. This reflection helped to promote the subsiding of her anger. Her loud denunciations gradually died away and were succeeded by mutterings and murmurings. At length she became silent altogether, and after an interval of reflection she concluded no longer to give way to her clamorous and useless anger, but calmly to consider what it was best to do. She soon determined that the wisest and most politic plan, after all, would be for her to acquiesce in the fancy of her son and endeavor to retain her ascendancy over him by aiding and countenancing him in his pleasures. She accordingly changed by degrees the tone which she had assumed toward him, and began to address him in words of favor and indulgence. She said that it was natural, after all, at his time of life to love, and that his superior rank and station entitled him to some degree of immunity from the restrictions imposed upon ordinary men. Anna was indeed a beautiful girl, and she was not surprised. She said that he had conceived an affection for her. The indulgence of his love was indeed attended with difficulty and danger, but if he would submit the affair to her care and management, she could take such precautions that all would be well. She apologized for the warmth with which she had at first spoken, and attributed it to the jealous and watchful interest which a mother must always feel in all that relates to the prosperity and happiness of her son. She said, moreover, that she was now ready and willing to enter into and promote his views, and she offered him the use of certain private apartments of her own in the palace to meet Akta in, saying that by such an arrangement and with the precautions that she could use he could enjoy the society of his favorite whenever he pleased, without interruption and without danger. Nero very naturally reported all this to his companions. They, of course, advised him not to believe anything that his mother said, nor to trust to her in any way. It is all said they, an artful device on her part to get you into her power, and no young man of pride and spirit will submit to the disgrace of being under his mother's management and control. The young profligate listened to the counsels of his associates and rejected the overtures which his mother had made him. He continued his attachment to Akta, but kept as much as possible aloof from Agrippina. He desired, however, if possible, to avoid an open quarrel with his mother, and so he made some effort to treat her with attention and respect in his general bearing toward her while he persisted in refusing to admit her to his confidence in respect to Akta. These general attentions were, however, by no means sufficient to satisfy Agrippina. The influence of Akta was what she feared and she well knew that her own power was in imminent danger of being undermined and overthrown, unless she could find some means of bringing her son's connection with his favorite under her own control. Thus the calm that seemed for a short time to reign between Nero and his mother was an armistice rather than a peace, and this armistice was brought at length to a sudden termination by an act of Nero's which he intended as an act of conciliation and kindness, but which proved to be, in effect, the means of awakening his mother's anger anew, and of exciting her even to a more violent exasperation than she had felt before. It seems that among the other treasures of the Imperial Palace at Rome there was an extensive wardrobe of very costly female dresses and decorations which was appropriated to the use of the wives and mothers of the emperors, Nero conceived the idea of making a present to his mother from this collection. He accordingly selected a magnificent dress and a considerable quantity of jewelry and sent them to Agrippina. Instead of being gratified with this gift, however, Agrippina received it as an affront. She had been so long accustomed to consider herself as the first personage in the Imperial household that she regarded all such things as rightfully her own, and she consequently looked upon the act of Nero informally presenting her with a small portion of these treasures as a simple impertinence and as intended to notify her that he considered all that remained of the collection as his property and, henceforth, as such subject to his exclusive control. Instead, therefore, of being appeased by Nero's offering, she was greatly enraged by it. The angry invectives which she uttered were duly reported to the Emperor, and his indignation and resentment were aroused by them anew, and thus the breach between the mother and the son became wider than ever. In fact, Nero began to perceive very clearly that if he intended to secure for himself anything more than the empty semblance of power he must at once do something effectual to curb the domineering and ambitious spirit of his mother. After revolving this subject in his mind, he finally concluded that the measure which promised to be most decisive was to dismiss a certain public officer named Pallas, who had been brought forward into public life many years before by Agrippina, and was now the chief instrument of her political power. Pallas was the public treasurer, and he had amassed such enormous wealth by his management of the public finances that at one time, when Claudius was complaining of the impoverished condition of his exchequer, someone replied that he would soon be rich enough if he could but induce his treasurer to receive him into partnership. Pallas, as has already been said, had been originally brought forward into public life by the influence of Agrippina, and he had always been Agrippina's chief reliance in all her political schemes. He had aided very effectually in promoting her marriage with Claudius and had cooperated with her in all her subsequent measures, and Nero considered him now as his mother's chief supporter and ally. Nero resolved accordingly to dismiss him from office, and in order to induce him to retire decisively, it was agreed that no inquiry or investigation should be made into the state of his accounts, but everything should be considered as balanced and settled. Pallas acceded to this proposal. During the whole course of his official career, he had lived in great magnificence and splendor, and now, in laying down his office, he withdrew from the imperial palaces at the head of a long train of attendance, with a degree of pomp and parade which attracted universal attention. The event was regarded by the public as a declaration on the part of Nero that, henceforth, he himself and not his mother was to rule, and Agrippina, of course, fell at once many degrees from the high position which she had held in the public estimation. She was, of course, greatly enraged, and, though utterly helpless in respect to resistance, she stormed about the palace, uttering the loudest and most violent expressions of resentment and anger. During the continuance of this paroxysm, Agrippina bitterly reproached her son for what she termed his cruel ingratitude. It was altogether to her, she said, that he owed his elevation. For a long course of years, she had been making ceaseless exertions, had submitted to the greatest sacrifices, and had even committed the most atrocious crimes to raise him to the high position to which he had attained, and now, so soon as he had attained it, and had made himself sure, as he fancied, of his foothold, his first act was to turn basely and ungratefully against the hand that had raised him. But notwithstanding his fancied security, she would teach him, she said, that her power was still to be feared. Britannicus was still alive, and he was, after all, the rightful heir, and since her son had proved himself so unworthy of the efforts and sacrifices that she had made for him, she would, forthwith, take measures to restore to Britannicus what she had so unjustly taken from him. She would immediately divulge all the dreadful secrets which were connected with Nero's elevation. She would make known the arts by means of which her marriage with Claudius had been affected, and the adoption of Nero as Claudius's son and heir had been secured. She would confess the murder of Claudius and the usurpation on her part of the imperial power for Nero, her son. Nero would, in consequence, be deposed, and Britannicus would succeed him, and thus the base in gratitude and treachery toward his mother, which Nero had displayed, would be avenged. This plan, she declared, she would immediately carry into effect. She would take Britannicus to the camp and appeal to the army in his name. Both Burrus and Seneca would join her, and her undutiful and treacherous son would be stripped forthwith of all his ill-gotten power. These words of Agrippina were not, however, the expressions of sober purpose really and honestly entertained. They were the wild and unthinking threats and denunciations which are prompted in such cases by the frenzy of helpless and impotent rage. It is not at all probable that she had any serious intention of attempting such desperate measures as she threatened. Or if she had really entertained such a design, she would have carefully kept it secret, while making her arrangements for carrying it into execution. Still these threats and denunciations, though they were obviously prompted by a blind and temporary rage, which it might be reasonably supposed, would soon subside, made a deep impression upon Nero's mind. In the first place he was angry with his mother for daring to utter them. Then there was at least a possibility that she might really undertake to put them in execution, as no one could foresee what her desperate frenzy might lead her to do. Then besides, even if Agrippina's resentment were to subside, and she should seem entirely to abandon all idea of ever executing her threats, Nero was extremely unwilling to remain thus in his mother's power, exposed continually to fresh outbreaks of her hostility whenever her anger or her caprice might arouse her again. The threats which his mother uttered made him therefore extremely restless and uneasy. A circumstance occurred about this time which, though very trifling in itself, had the effect greatly to increase the jealousy and fear in respect to Britannicus, which Nero was inclined to feel. It seems that among the other amusements with which the company were accustomed to entertain themselves in the social gatherings that took place from time to time in the Imperial Palace, there was a certain game which they used to play called Who Shall Be King? The game consisted of choosing one of the party by lot to be king, and then of requiring all the others to obey the commands, whatever they might be, which the king so chosen might issue. Of course the success of the game depended upon the art and ingenuity of the king in prescribing such things to be done by his various subjects as would most entertain and amuse the company. What the forfeit or penalty was that the rules of the game required in case of disobedience is not stated, but everyone was considered bound to obey the commands that were laid upon him, provided, of course, that the thing required was within his power. Nero himself, it appears, was accustomed to join in these sports, and one evening, when a party were all playing it together in his palace, it fell to his lot to be king. When it came to be the turn of Britannicus to receive orders, Nero directed him to go out into the middle of the room and sing a song to the company. This was a very severe requirement for one so young as Britannicus, and so little accustomed to take an active part in the festivities of so gay a company, and the motive of Nero in making it was supposed to be a feeling of ill will and a desire to tease his brother by placing him in an awkward and embarrassing situation, one in which he would be compelled either to interrupt the game by refusing to obey the orders of the king or to expose himself to ridicule by making a fruitless attempt to sing a song. To the surprise of all, however, Britannicus rose from his seat without any apparent hesitation or embarrassment, walked out upon the floor and took his position. The attention of the whole company was fixed upon him. All sounds were hushed. He began to sing. The song was a lament, describing in plaintive words and in mournful music the situation and the sorrows of a young prince excluded wrongfully from the throne of his ancestors. The whole company listened with profound attention, charmed at first by the artless simplicity of the music and the grace and beauty of the boy. As Britannicus proceeded in his song and the meaning of it in its application to his own case began to be perceived, a universal sympathy for him was felt by the whole assembly. And when he concluded and resumed his seat, the apartment was filled with suppressed murmurs of applause. The effect of this scene upon the mind of Nero was, of course, only to awaken feelings of vexation and anger. He looked on in moody silence, uttering mentally the fiercest threats and denunciations against the object of his jealousy, whom he was now compelled to look upon more than ever before as a dangerous and formidable rival. He determined, in fact, that Britannicus should die. In considering by what means he should undertake to affect his purpose, it seemed to Nero most prudent to employ poison. There was no pretext, whatever, for any criminal charge against the young prince, and Nero did not dare to resort to open violence. He determined, therefore, to resort to poison and to employ Locusta to prepare it. Locusta, the reader will remember, was the woman whom Agrippina had employed for the murder of her husband Claudius. She was still in custody as a convict, being under sentence of death for her crimes. She was in the charge of a certain captain named Polio, an officer of the Praetorian Guard. Nero sent for Polio and directed him to procure from his prisoner a poisonous potion suitable for the purpose intended. The potion was prepared, and soon afterward it was administered. At least it was given to certain attendants that were employed about the person of Britannicus with orders that they should administer it. The expected effect, however, was not produced, whether it was because the potion which Locusta had prepared was too weak, or because it was not really administered by those who received it in charge, no result followed, and Nero was greatly enraged. He sent for Polio and assailed him with reproaches and threats, and as for Locusta he declared that she should be immediately put to death. They were both miserable cowards, he said, who had not the firmness to do their duty. Polio, in reply, made the most earnest protestations of his readiness to do whatever his master should command. He assured Nero that the failure of their attempt was owing entirely to some accidental cause, and that if he would give Locusta one more opportunity to make the trial he would guarantee that she would prepare a mixture that would kill Britannicus as quick as a dagger would do it. Nero ordered that this should immediately be done. Locusta was sent for and was shut up with Polio in an apartment adjoining that of the emperor with directions to make the mixture there and then to administer it forthwith. Their lives were to depend upon the result. The poison was soon prepared. There was, however, a serious difficulty in the way of administering it, since a potion so sudden and violent in its character as this was intended to be might be expected to take immediate effect upon the taster and so produce an alarm which would prevent Britannicus from receiving it. To obviate this difficulty Polio and Locusta cunningly contrived the following plan. They mixed the poison when it was prepared with cold water and put it in the pitcher in which cold water was customarily kept in the apartment where Britannicus was to take his supper. When the time arrived Nero himself came in and took his place upon a couch which was standing in the room with a view of watching the proceedings. Some broth was brought in for the prince's supper. The attendant whose duty it was tasted it as usual and then passed it into the prince's hand. Britannicus tasted it and found it too hot. It had been purposely made so. He gave it back to the attendant to be cooled. The attendant took it to the pitcher and cooled it with the poisoned water and then gave it back again to Britannicus without asking the taster to taste it again. Britannicus drank the broth. In a few minutes the fatal consequences ensued. The unhappy victim sank suddenly down in a fainting fit. His eyes became fixed. His limbs were paralyzed. His breathing was short and convulsive. The attendants rushed toward him to render him assistance but his life was fast ebbing away and before they could recover from the shock which his sudden illness occasioned them they found that he had ceased to breathe. The event produced, of course, great excitement and commotion throughout the palace. Agrippina was immediately summoned and as she stood over the dying child she was overwhelmed with terror and distress. Nero, on the other hand, appeared wholly unmoved. It is only one of his epileptic fits, said he. Britannicus has been accustomed to them from infancy. He will soon recover. As soon, however, as there was no longer any room to question that Britannicus was dead, Nero began immediately to make preparations for the burial of the body. The remorse which notwithstanding his depravity he could not but feel at having perpetrated such a crime made him impatient to remove all traces and memorials of it from his sight. And besides he was afraid to wait the usual period and then to make arrangements for a public funeral lest the truth in respect to the death of Britannicus might be suspected by the Romans and a party be formed to revenge his wrongs. Any tendency of this kind which might exist would be greatly favored he knew by the excitement of a public funeral. He determined, therefore, that the body should be immediately buried. There was another reason still for this dispatch. It seems that one of the effects of the species of poison which Locusta had administered was that the body of the victim was turned black by it soon after death. This discoloration, in fact, began to appear in the face of the corpse of Britannicus before the time for the interment arrived. And Nero, in order to guard against the exposure which this phenomenon threatened, ordered the face to be painted of the natural color by means of cosmetics such as the ladies of the court were accustomed to use in those days. By doing this the countenance of the dead was restored to its proper color and afterward underwent no further change. Still the emperor was naturally impatient to have the body interred. The preparations were accordingly made that same evening and in the middle of the night the body of Britannicus was buried in the field of Mars, a vast parade ground in the precincts of the city. In addition to the darkness of the night a violent storm arose and the rain fell in torrents while the interment proceeded. Very few, therefore, of the people of the city knew what had occurred until the following day. The violence of the storm, however, which promoted in one respect the accomplishment of Nero's designs by favoring the secrecy of the interment in another respect operated strongly against him, for the face of the corpse became so wet with the fallen rain that the cosmetic was washed away and the blackened skin was brought to view. The attendants who had the body in charge learned thus that the boy had been poisoned. On the morning after the funeral the emperor issued a proclamation announcing the death and burial of his brother and calling upon the Roman senate and the Roman people for their sympathy and support in the bereavement which he had sustained. At the time of his death Britannicus was fourteen years old. Chapter 8 of Nero by Jacob Abbott. This liprivox recording is in the public domain, recording by Dion Giants, Salt Lake City, Utah. The fate of Agrippina, A.D. 55-60. However it may have been with others Agrippina herself was not deceived by the false pretenses which Nero offered in explanation of his brother's death. She understood the case too well and the event filled her mind with a tumult of conflicting emotions, notwithstanding the terrible quarrels which had disturbed her intercourse with the emperor. He was still her son, her firstborn son, and she loved him as such even in the midst of the resentment and hostility which her disappointed ambition from time to time awakened in her mind. Her ambition was now more bitterly disappointed than ever. In the death of Britannicus the last link of her power over Nero seemed to be forever sundered, the hand by which he had fallen was still that of her son, a son to whom she could not but cling with maternal affection while she felt deeply wounded at what she considered his cruel ingratitude toward her and vexed and maddened at finding herself so hopelessly circumvented in all her schemes. As for Nero himself he had no longer any hope or expectation of being on good terms with his mother again. He saw clearly that her schemes and plans were wholly incompatible with his and that in order to secure the prosperous accomplishment of his own designs he must now finish the work that he had begun and curtail and restrict his mother's influence by every means in his power. Other persons he attempted to conciliate he made splendid presence to the leading men of Rome as bribes to prevent their instituting inquiries in respect to the death of Britannicus. To some he gave landed estates, to others sums of money, and others still he advanced to high offices of civil or military command, those whom he most feared he removed from Rome by giving them honorable and lucrative appointments in distant provinces. In the meantime Agrippina herself was not idle as soon as she recovered from the first shock which the death of Britannicus had occasioned her, she began to think of revenge. Within the limits and restrictions which the suspicion and vigilance of Nero imposed upon her she formed a small circle of friends and adherents and sought out diligently, though secretly, all whom she supposed to be disaffected to the government of Nero. She attached herself particularly to Octavia who being the daughter of Claudius succeeded now on the death of Britannicus to whatever hereditary rights had been vested in him. She collected money so far as she had power to do so from all the resources which remained to her, and she availed herself of every opportunity to cultivate the acquaintance and court the favor of all such officers of the army as were accessible to her influence. In a word she seemed to be meditating some secret scheme for retrieving her fallen fortunes, and Nero who watched all her motions with a jealous and suspicious eye began to be alarmed, without knowing to what desperate extremes her resentment and ambition might urge her. Up to this time Agrippina had lived in the imperial palace with Nero, forming with her retinue a part of his household, and sharing of course in some sense the official honors paid to him. Nero now concluded, however, that he would remove her from this position and give her a separate establishment of her own, making it correspond in its appointments with the secondary and subordinate station to which he intended, henceforth, to confine her. He accordingly assigned to her a certain mansion in the city which had formerly been occupied by some branch of the imperial family, and removed her to it with all her attendance. He dismissed, however, from her service under various pretexts, such officers and adherents as he supposed were most devoted to her interests, and most disposed to join her in plots and conspiracies against him. The places of those whom he thus superseded were supplied by men on whom he could rely for subserviency to him. He diminished to the number of Agrippina's attendants and guards. He withdrew the sentinels that had been accustomed to guard the gates of her apartments, and dismissed a certain corps of German soldiers that had hitherto served under her command as a sort of lifeguard. In a word he removed her from the scenes of imperial pomp and splendor in which she had been accustomed to move, and established her instead in the position of a private Roman lady. The unhappy Agrippina soon found that this change in her position made a great change in respect to the degree of consideration and regard which was bestowed upon her by the public. The circle of her adherents and friends was gradually diminished. Her visitors were few. The emperor himself went some times to see his mother, but he came always attended with a retinue, and after a brief and formal interview he retired as ceremoniously as he came, thus giving to his visit the character simply of a duty of state etiquette. In a word Agrippina found herself forsaken and friendless, and her mind gradually sank into a condition of hopeless despondency, vexation, and chagrin. Things continued in this state for some time until at length one night when Nero had been drinking and carousing at a banquet in his palace, a well-known courtier named Paris, and of the principle of Nero's companions and favorites came into the apartment and informed the emperor with accountants expressive of great concern that he had tidings of the most serious moment to communicate to him. Nero withdrew from the scene of festivity to receive the communication and was informed by Paris that a discovery had been made of a deep-laid and dangerous plot which Agrippina and certain accomplices of hers had formed. The object of the conspirators, as Paris alleged, was to depose Nero and raise a certain descendant of Augustus Caesar named Plautus to the supreme command in his stead. This revolution being effected Agrippina was to marry the new emperor and thus be restored to her former power. The statement which Paris made was very full in all its details, the names of the chief conspirators were given, and all the plans explained. The chief witness on whose authority the charge was made was a celebrated woman of the court, an intimate acquaintance and visitor of Agrippina named Solana. Solana and Agrippina had been very warm friends, but a terrible quarrel had recently broke out between them in consequence of some interference on the part of Agrippina to prevent a marriage which had been partially arranged between Solana and a distinguished Roman citizen from being carried into effect. Solana had been exasperated by this ill office, and the revelation which she had made had been the result. Whether such a conspiracy had really been formed and Solana had been induced to betray the secret in consequence of the injury which Agrippina had inflicted upon her in preventing her marriage, or whether she wholly invented the story under the impulse of a desperate revenge was never fully known, the historians of the time inclined to the latter opinion. However this may be, Nero was greatly alarmed at the communication which Paris made to him. He immediately abandoned his festivities and carousels, dismissed his guests, and called a council of his most confidential advisers to consider what was to be done. He stated the case to this council and announced it as his determination immediately to pronounce sentence of death upon his mother and upon Plaudus, and to send officers at once to execute the decree as the first step to be taken. Burris, however, strongly dissuaded him from so rash a proceeding. These are only charges, said he at present. We have yet no proofs, and Informer has come to you at dead of night with this wild and improbable story, and if we take it for granted at once that it is true, and allow ourselves to act under the influence of excitement and alarm. We should, afterward, regret our rashness when the consequences could not be retrieved. Besides, Agrippina is your mother, and as it is the right of the humblest person in the commonwealth when accused of crime to be heard in answer to the accusation, it would be an atrocious crime to deprive the mother of the emperor of that privilege. Just pwn, therefore, pronouncing judgment in this case, until we can learn the facts more certainly. I pledge myself to execute sentence of death on Agrippina, if after a fair hearing this charge is proved against her. By such arguments and remonstrances as these, Nero was in some degree appeased, and it was determined to postpone taking any decisive action in the emergency until the morning. As soon as it was day, Burris and Seneca, accompanied by several attendants who were to act as witnesses of the interview, were dispatched to the house of Agrippina to lay the charge before her and to hear what she had to say. Agrippina was at first somewhat astonished at being summoned at so early an hour to give audience to so formidable a commission, but her proud spirit had become so fierce and desperate under the treatment which she had received from her son that she was very slightly sensible to fear. She listened, therefore, to the heavy charge which Burris brought against her undismayed, and when he paused to hear her reply, instead of excusing and defending herself and deprecating the Emperor's displeasure, she commenced the most severe and angry invectives against her son, for listening for a moment to calamities against her so wild and improbable, that Salana, who was, as she said, a dissolute and unprincipled woman, and who consequently could have no idea of the strength and the fidelity of maternal affection, should think it possible that a mother could form plots and conspiracies against an only son, was not strange, but that Nero himself, for whom she had made such exertions and incurred such dangers, and to whose interests she had surrendered and sacrificed everything that could be dear to the heart of a woman, could believe such tales, and actually conceive the design of murdering his mother on the faith of them, was not to be endured. Does not he know well, said she, in a voice almost inarticulate with excitement and indignation, that if by any means Britannicus, or Plautus, or any other man were to be raised to power, my life would be immediately forfeited in consequence of what I have already done for him? Can he imagine, after the deep and desperate crimes which I have committed for his sake, in order that I might raise him to his present power, that I could seal my own destruction by bringing forward any one of his rivals and enemies to his place? Go back and tell him this, and say, moreover, that I demand an audience of him, I am his mother, and I have a right to expect that he shall see me himself and hear what I have to say. The commissioners whom Nero had sent with the accusations were somewhat astonished at receiving these angry denunciations and invectives in reply, instead of the meek and faltering defense which they had expected. They were overawed, too, by the lofty and passionate energy with which Agrippina had spoken. They answered her with soothing and conciliatory words, and then went back to Nero and reported the result of their interview. Nero consented to see his mother. In his presence she assumed the same tone of proud and injured innocence that had characterized her interview with the messengers. She scorned to enter into any vindication of herself, but assumed that she was innocent, and demanded that her accusers should be punished as persons guilty of the most atrocious calamity. Nero was convinced of her innocence, and yielded to her demands. Solana and two others of her accusers were banished from Rome. Another still was punished with death. Thus a sort of temporary and imperfect peace was once more established between Nero and his mother. This state of things continued for about the space of three years, during this time the public affairs of the empire, as conducted by the ministers of state and the military generals to whom Nero entrusted them, went on with tolerable prosperity and success, while in everything that related to personal conduct and character the condition of the emperor was becoming every day more and more deplorable. He spent his days in sloth and sensual stupor, and his nights in the wildest riot and debauchery. He used to disguise himself as a slave, and sally forth at midnight, with a party of his companions similarly attired into the streets of the city, disturbing the night with riot and noise. Sometimes they would go out at an earlier hour, while the people were in the streets and the shops were open, and amuse themselves with seizing the goods and merchandise that they found offered for sale, and assaulting all that came in their way. In these frolics the emperor and his party were met sometimes by other parties, and in the brawls which ensued Nero was frequently handled very roughly, his opponents not knowing who he was, at one time he was knocked down and very seriously wounded, and in consequence of this adventure his face was for a long time disfigured with a scar. Although in these orgies Nero went generally in disguise, yet as he and his companions were accustomed afterward to boast of their exploits, it soon became generally known to the people of the city that their young emperor was in the habit of mingling in these midnight brawls. Of course every wild and dissolute young man in Rome was fired with an ambition to imitate the example set him by so exalted an authority. Midnight riots became the fashion. As the parties grew larger the brawls which occurred in the streets became more and more serious until at last Nero was accustomed to take with him a gang of soldiers and gladiators in disguise who were instructed to follow him within call so as to be ready to come up instantly to his aid whenever he should require their assistance. Year after year passed away in this manner Nero abandoning himself all the time to the grossest sensual pleasures and growing more and more reckless and desperate every day. His mother lived during this period in comparative seclusion. She attempted to exercise some little restraint over her son but without success. She attached herself strongly to Octavia the wife of Nero and would have defended her if she could from the injuries and wrongs which the conduct of Nero as a husband heaped upon her. At length the young emperor in following his round of vicious indulgence formed an intimacy with a certain lady of the court named Popeia the wife of Otho one of Nero's companions in pleasure. Nero sent Otho away on some distant appointment in order that he might enjoy the society of Popeia without restraint. At length Popeia gained so great an ascendancy over the mind of the emperor as to seduce him entirely away from his duty to his wife and she proposed that they should both be divorced and then marry one another. Nero was inclined to exceed to this proposal but Agrippina strongly opposed it. For a time Nero hesitated between the influence of Agrippina and the sentiment of duty on the one hand and the enticements of Popeia on the other. In addition to the influence of her blandishments and smiles she attempted to act upon Nero's boyish pride by taunting him with what she called his degrading and unmanly subjection to his mother. How long she asked was he to remain like a child under maternal tutelage. She wondered how he could endure so ignoble a bondage. He was in name and position she said a mighty monarch reigning absolutely over half the world but in actual fact he was a mere nursery boy who could do nothing without his mother's leave. She was ashamed she said to see him in so humiliating a condition and unless he would take some vigorous measures to free himself from his chains she declared that she would leave him forever and go with her husband to some distant quarter of the world where she could no longer be a witness of his disgrace. The effect of these taunts upon the mind of Nero was very much heightened by the proud and imperious spirit which his mother manifested toward him and which seemed to become more and more stern and severe through the growing desperation which the conduct of her son and her own hopeless condition seemed to awaken in her mind. The quarrel in a word between the emperor and his mother grew more and more inveterate and hopeless every day. At length he shunned her entirely and finally every remaining spark of filial duty having become extinguished he began to meditate some secret plan of removing her out of his way. He revolved various projects for accomplishing this purpose in his mind. He did not dare to employ open violence as he had no charge against his mother to justify a criminal sentence against her and he dreaded the effect upon the public mind which would be produced by the spectacle of so unnatural a deed as the execution of a mother by command of her son. He could not trust to poison. Agrippino was perfectly familiar with everything relating to the poisoning art and would doubtless be fully on her guard against any attempt of that kind that he might make. Besides he supposed that by means of certain antidotes which she was accustomed to use her system was permanently fortified against the action of every species of poison. While Nero was revolving these things in his mind the occasion occurred for a great naval celebration at Baia a beautiful bay south of Rome near what is now the bay of Naples. Baia was celebrated in ancient times as it is in fact now for the beauty of its situation and it was a place of great resort for the Roman nobility. There was a small but well built town at the head of the bay and the hills and valleys in the vicinity as well as every headland and promontory along the shore were ornamented with villas and country seats which were occupied as summer residences by the wealthy people of the city. Baia was also a great naval station and there was at this time a fleet stationed there or rather at the promontory of Missinum a few miles beyond under the command of one of Nero's confidential servants named Anikitas. The naval celebration was to take place in connection with this fleet. It was an annual festival and was to continue five days. Anikitas had been a personal attendant upon Nero in his infancy and had lived always in habits of great intimacy with him for some reason or other too. He was a great enemy to Agrippina having been always accustomed when Nero was a child to take his part in the little contests which had arisen from time to time between him and his mother. Anikitas was of course prepared to sympathize very readily with Nero in the hatred which he now cherished toward Agrippina and when he learned that Nero was desirous of devising some means of accomplishing her death he formed a plan which he said would affect the purpose very safely. He proposed to invite Agrippina to Baia and then in the course of the ceremonies and maneuvers connected with the naval spectacle to take her out upon the bay in a barge or galley. He would have the barge so constructed he said that it should go to pieces at sea making arrangements beforehand for saving the lives of the others but leaving Agrippina to be drowned. Nero was greatly pleased with this device and determined at once to adopt the plan. In order to open the way for carrying it into effect he pretended when the time for the festival drew nigh that he desired to be reconciled to his mother and that he was ready now to fall in with her wishes and plans. He begged her to forget all his past unkindness to her and assuring her that his feelings toward her were now wholly changed he lavished upon her expressions of the tenderest regard. A mother is always very easily deceived by such protestations on the part of a wayward son and Agrippina believed all that Nero said to her. In a word the reconciliation seemed to be complete. At length when the time for the naval festival drew nigh Nero who was then at Bayer sent an invitation to his mother to come and join him in witnessing the spectacle. Agrippina readily consented to accept the invitation. She was at this time at Antium the place it will be recollected where Nero was born. She accordingly set sail from this place in her own galley and proceeded to the southward. She landed at one of the villas in the neighborhood of Bayer. Nero was ready upon the shore to meet her. He received her with every demonstration of respect and affection. He had provided quarters for her at Bayer and there was a splendid barge ready to convey her thither, the plan being that she should embark on board this barge and leave her own galley that is the one by which she had come in from sea at anchor at the villa where she landed. The barge in which Agrippina was thus invited to embark was the treacherous trap that Anicetus had contrived for her destruction. It was, however, to all appearance a very splendid vessel, being very richly and beautifully decorated as if expressly intended to do honor to the distinguished passenger whom it was designed to convey. Agrippina, however, did not seem inclined to go in the barge. She preferred proceeding to Bayer by land. Perhaps notwithstanding Nero's apparent friendliness, she felt still some misgivings and was afraid to trust herself entirely to his power. Or perhaps she preferred to finish her journey by land only because in making the passage from Antium she had become tired of the sea. However, this may have been Nero acquiesced at once in her decision and provided a sort of sedan for conveying her to Bayer by land. In this sedan she was carried accordingly by bearers to Bayer and there lodged in the apartments provided for her. No favorable opportunity occurred for taking Agrippina out upon the water until the time arrived for her return to Antium. During the time of her stay at Bayer, Nero devoted himself to her with the most assiduous attention. He prepared magnificent banquets for her and entertained her with a great variety of amusements and diversions. In his conversation he sometimes addressed her with a familiar playfulness and gaiety and at other times he sought occasions to discourse with her seriously on public affairs in a private and confidential manner. Agrippina was completely deceived by these indications and her heart was filled with pride and joy at the thought that she had regained the affection and confidence of her son. Nero and Anikitas determined finally to put their plan into execution by inducing Agrippina to embark on board their barge in returning to Antium when the time should arrive instead of going back in her own vessel. Their other attempts to induce her to go out upon the water had failed and this was the only opportunity that now remained. It was desirable that this embarkation should take place in the night as the deed which they were contemplating could be more effectually accomplished under the cover of the darkness. Accordingly, on the afternoon of the day on which Agrippina was to return, Nero prepared a banquet for her and he protracted the festivities and entertainments which attended it until late in the evening so that it was wholly dark before his mother should take her leave. Anikitas then contrived to have one of the vessels of his fleet run against the galley in which Agrippina had come from Antium as it lay at anchor near the shore at the place where she had landed. The galley was broken down and disabled by the collision. Anikitas came to Agrippina to report the accident with accountants expressive of much concern but added that the barge which the emperor had prepared for her was at her service and proposed to substitute that in the place of the one which had been injured. There seemed to be no other alternative and Agrippina, after taking a very affectionate leave of her son, went galley and wholly unconscious of danger on board the beautiful but treacherous vessel. It was observed that Nero exhibited an extreme degree of tender regard for his mother in bidding her farewell on this occasion. He hung upon her neck a long time and kissed her again and again, detaining her by these endearments on the shore as if reluctant to let her go. After Agrippina's death this scene was remembered by those who witnessed it, but in reflecting upon it they could not decide whether these tokens of affection were all assumed as belonging to the part which he was so hypocritically acting or whether he really felt at the last moment some filial relentings which led him to detain his mother for a time on the brink of the pit which he had been preparing for her destruction. From all however that we now know in respect to the personal character which Nero had formed at this period it is probable that the former is the correct supposition. The plot dexterous as the contrivance of it had been was not destined to succeed. The vessel moved gently from the shore road by the mariners. It was a clear starlit night. The sea was smooth and the air was calm. Agrippina took her place upon a couch which had been arranged for her under a sort of canopy or awning, the framework of which above had been secretly loaded with lead. She was attended here by one of her ladies named Aceronia Pola who lay at her mistress's feet and entertained her with conversation as the boat glided along its way. They talked of Nero of the kind attentions which he had been paying to Agrippina and of the various advantages which were to follow from the reconciliation which had been so happily affected. In this manner the hours passed away and the barge went on until it reached the place which had been determined upon for breaking it down and casting Agrippina into the sea. The spot which had been chosen was so near the land as to allow of the escape of the mariners by swimming but yet remote enough as was supposed to make Agrippina's destruction sure. A few of the mariners were in the secret and were in some degree prepared for what was to come. Others knew nothing and were expected to save themselves as they best could when they should find themselves cast into the sea. At a given signal the fastenings of the canopy were loosened and the loaded structure came down suddenly with a heavy crash carrying away with it other parts of the vessel. One man was crushed under the weight of the falling ruins and instantly killed. Agrippina and the lady in waiting upon her were saved by the posts of the bed or couch on which Agrippina was reclining which happened to be in such a position that they held up the impending mass sufficiently to allow the ladies to creep out from beneath it. The breaking down too of the deck and bulwarks of the barge were less extensive than had been intended so that Agrippina not only escaped being crushed by the ruins but she also saved herself at first from being thrown into the sea. The men then who were in the secret of the plot immediately raised a great cry and confusion and attempted to upset the barge by climbing up upon one side of it while the others who did not understand the case did all they could to save it. In the meantime the noise of the outcries reached the shore and Fisherman's boats began to put off with a view of coming to the rescue of the distressed vessel. Before they arrived however the boat had been overturned Agrippina and Asaronia had been thrown into the sea and the men who were in the secret of the plot taking advantage of the darkness and confusion were endeavoring to seal the fate of their victims by beating them down with poles and oars as they struggled in the water. These efforts succeeded in the case of Asaronia for she uttered loud and continual outcries in her terror and thus drew upon herself the blows of the assassins. Agrippina on the other hand had the presence of mind to keep silence. She received one heavy blow upon the shoulder which inflicted a serious wound. In other respects she escaped uninjured and succeeded partly through the buoyancy of her dress and partly by the efforts that she made to swim in keeping herself afloat until she was taken up by the fisherman and conveyed to the shore. She was taken to Avila belonging to her which was situated not far from the place where the disaster had occurred. As soon as Agrippina had recovered a little from the terror and excitement of this scene and had time to reflect upon the circumstances of it she was convinced that what had occurred was no accident but the result of a deep laid design to destroy her life she however thought it most prudent to disassemble her opinion for a time. As soon therefore as she had safely reached her villa and her wound had been dressed she dispatched a messenger to Baia to inform Nero of what had occurred. The vessel in which she had embarked had been wrecked at sea she said and she had narrowly escaped destruction. She had received a severe hurt by some falling spar but had at length safely reached her home at Antium. She begged however that her son would not come to see her as what she needed most was repose. She had sent the messenger she said to inform him of what had occurred only that he might rejoice with her in the signal interposition of divine providence by which she had been rescued from so imminent a danger. In the meantime Nero was waiting impatiently and anxiously in his palace at Baia for the arrival of a messenger from Anicotus to inform him that his plot had been successful and that his mother was drowned. Instead of this a rumor of her escape reached him some time before Agrippina's messenger arrived and threw him into consternation. People came from the coast and informed him that the barge in which his mother had sailed had been wrecked and that Agrippina had narrowly escaped with her life. The particulars were not fully given to him but he presumed that Agrippina must have learned that the occurrence was the result of a deliberate attempt to destroy her and he was consequently very much alarmed. He dreaded the desperate spirit of resentment and revenge which he presumed had been aroused in his mother's mind. He forthwith sent for Burris and Seneca and revealed to them all the circumstances of the case. He made the most bitter accusations against his mother in justification of his attempt to destroy her. He had long been convinced he said that there could be no peace or safety for him as long as she lived and now at all events since he had undertaken the work of destroying her and made the attempt no alternative was left to him but to go on and finish what he had begun. She must die now said he or she will most assuredly contrive some means to destroy me. Seneca and Burris were silent. They knew not what to say. They saw very clearly that a crisis had arrived the end of which would be that one or the other must perish and consequently the only question for them to decide was whether the victim should be the mother or the son. At length after a long and solemn pause Seneca looked to Burris and inquired whether the soldiers under his command could be relied upon to execute death upon Agrippina. Burris shook his head. The soldiers he said felt such a veneration for the family of Germanicus which was the family from which Agrippina had sprung that they would perform no such bloody work upon any representative of it. Besides said he, Anictetus has undertaken this duty. It devolves on him to finish what he has begun. Anictetus readily undertook the task. He had in fact a personal interest in it. For after what had passed he knew well that there could be no safety for him while Agrippina lived. Nero seemed overjoyed at finding Anictetus so ready to meet his wishes. Be prompt said he in doing what you have to do. Take with you whom you please to assist you. If you accomplish the work I shall consider that I owe my empire to your fidelity. Anictetus having thus received his commission ordered a small detachment from the fleet to accompany him and proceeded to the villa where Agrippina had taken refuge. He found a crowd of country people assembled around the gates of the villa. They had been drawn thither by the tidings of the disaster which had happened to Agrippina curious to learn all the particulars of the occurrence or desirous perhaps to congratulate Agrippina on her escape. When these peasantry saw the armed band of Anictetus approaching they knew not what it meant but were greatly alarmed and fled in all directions. The guards at the gates of Agrippina's villa made some resistance to the entrance of the soldiers but they were soon knocked down and overpowered. The gates were burst open and Anictetus entered at the head of his party of marines. Agrippina who was upon her bed in an inner chamber at the time heard the noise and tumult and was greatly alarmed. A number of friends who were with her hearing the footsteps of the armed men on the stairs fled from the chamber in dismay by a private door leaving Agrippina alone with her maid. The maid after a moment's pause fled too. Agrippina saying to her as she disappeared, are you two going to forsake me? At the same moment Anictetus forced open the door of entrance and came in accompanied by two of his officers. The three armed men with an expression of fierce and relentless determination upon their countenances advanced to Agrippina's bedside. Agrippina was greatly terrified but she preserved some degree of outward composure and raising herself in her bed she looked steadily upon her assassins. Do you come from my son? said she. They did not answer. If you came to inquire how I am, said she, tell him that I am better and shall soon be entirely well. I cannot believe that he can possibly have sent you to do me any violence or harm. At this instant one of the assassins struck at the wretched mother with his club. The arm however of the most hardened and unrelenting monster usually falters somewhat at the beginning in doing such work as this and the blow gave Agrippina only an inconsiderable wound. She saw at once however that all was lost, that the bitter moment of death had come, but instead of yielding to the emotions of terror and despair which might have been expected to overwhelm the heart of a woman in such a scene, her fierce and indomitable spirit aroused itself to new life and vigor in the terrible emergency. As the assassins approached her with their swords brandished in the air preparing to strike her, she threw the bed clothes off so as to uncover her person and called upon her murderers to strike her in the womb. It is there, said she, that the stab should be given when a mother is to be murdered by her son. She was instantly thrust through with a multitude of wounds in every part of her body and died weltering in the blood that flowed out upon the couch on which she lay. A nicotus and his comrades, when the deed was done, gazed for a moment on the lifeless body and then gathering together again the soldiers that they had left at the gates. They went back to Bayer with the tidings. The first emotion which Nero experienced on hearing that all was over was that of relief. He soon found however that monster as he was, his conscience was not yet so stupefied that he could perpetrate such a deed as this without bringing out her scourge. As soon as he began to reflect upon what he had done, his soul was overwhelmed with remorse and horror. He passed the remainder of the night in dreadful agony, sometimes sitting silent and motionless, gazing into vacancy as if his faculties were bewildered and lost, and then suddenly starting up amazed and trembling and staring wildly about as if seized with a sudden frenzy. His wild and ghastly looks, his convulsive gesticulations and his incoherent ravings and groans indicated the horror that he endured, and were so frightful that his officers and attendants shrunk away from his presence and knew not what to do. At length they sent in one after another to attempt to calm and console him. Their efforts however were attended with little success. When the morning came it brought with it some degree of composure, but the dreadful burden of guilt which pressed upon Nero's mind made him still unutterably wretched. He said that he could not endure any longer to remain on the spot, as everything that he saw, the villas, the ships, the sea, the shore, and all the other objects around him, were so associated in his mind with the thought of his mother and with the remembrance of his dreadful crime that he could not endure them. In the meantime, as soon as the servants and attendants at Agrippina's villa found that Anicotus and his troop had gone, they returned to the chamber of their mistress and gazed upon the spectacle which awaited them there within expressible horror. Anicotus had left some of his men behind to attend to the disposal of the body, as it was important that it should be removed from sight without delay, since it might be expected that all who should look upon it would be excited to a high pitch of indignation against the perpetrators of such a crime. The countenance in the condition of repose which it assumed after death appeared extremely beautiful and seemed to address a mute but touching appeal to the commiseration of every beholder. It was necessary, therefore, to hurry it away. Besides, the soldiers themselves were impatient. They wished to get through with their horrid work and be gone. They accordingly built a funeral pile in the garden of the villa, using such materials for the purpose as came most readily to hand, and then took up the body of Agrippina on the bed upon which it lay, and placed all together upon the pile. The fires were lighted, the soldiers watched by the side of it until the pile was nearly consumed, and then went away, leaving the heartbroken domestics of Agrippina around the smoldering embers. End of Chapter 8 Chapter 9 of Nero by Jacob Abbott This liprivox recording is in the public domain, recording by Dion Giants, Salt Lake City, Utah. Extreme depravity, A.D. 62-64. There was nothing in the attendant circumstances that were connected with the act of Nero in murdering his mother, which could palliate or extenuate the deed in the slightest degree. It was not an act of self-defense. Agrippina was not doing him or intending to do him any injury. It was not an act of hasty violence prompted by sudden passion. It was not required by any political necessity as a means for accomplishing some great and desirable public end. It was a cool, deliberate, and well-considered crime performed solely for the purpose of removing from the path of the perpetrator of it an obstacle to the commission of another crime. Nero murdered his mother in cool blood simply because she was in the way of his plans for divorcing his innocent wife and marrying adulterously another woman. For some time after the commission of this great crime the mind of Nero was haunted by dreadful fears and he suffered continually by day and by night all the pangs of remorse and horror. He did not dare to return to Rome not knowing to what height the popular indignation that would be naturally excited by so atrocious a deed might rise or what might be the consequences to him if he were to appear in the city. He accordingly remained for a time on the coast of Neapolis, the town to which he had retired from Bia. From this place he sent various communications to the Roman senate explaining and justifying what he called the execution of his mother. He pretended that he had found her guilty of treasonable conspiracies against him and against the state and that her death had been imperiously demanded as the only means of securing the public safety. The senators hated Nero and abhorred his crimes but they were overawed by the terrible power which he exercised over them through the army which they knew was entirely subservient to his will and by their dread of his ruthless and desperate character they passed resolves approving of what he had done. His officers and favorites at Rome sent him word that the memory of Agrippina was abhorred at the capital and that in destroying her he was considered as having rendered a great service to the state. These representations in some measure reassured his mind and at length he returned to the city. In due time he divorced Octavia and married Papea. Octavia however still remained at Rome residing in apartments assigned her in one of the imperial palaces. Her high birth and distinguished position and more than all the sympathy that was felt for her in her misfortunes made her an object of great attention. The people put garlands upon her statues in the public places in the city and pulled down those which were placed at Nero's command upon those of Papea. These and other indications of the popular feeling inflamed Papea's hatred and jealousy to such a degree that she suborned one of Octavia's domestics to accuse her mistress of an ignominious crime. When thus accused other women in Octavia's service were put to the rack to compel them to testify against her they however persevered in the midst of their tortures in asserting her innocence. Papea nevertheless insisted that she should be condemned and at last by way of compromising the case Nero consented to banish her from the city. She was sent to a villa on the sea coast in the neighborhood of the place where Anikotas was stationed with his fleet but Papea would not allow her to live in peace even as an exile. She soon brought a charge against her of having formed a conspiracy against the government of Nero and of having corrupted Anikotas with a view of obtaining the cooperation of the fleet in the execution of treasonable designs. Anikotas himself testified to the truth of this charge. He said that Octavia had formed such a plan and that she had given herself up in person wholly to him in order to induce him to join in it. Octavia was accordingly condemned to die. Notwithstanding the testimony of Anikotas, Octavia was not at the time generally believed to be guilty of the charge on which she was condemned. It was supposed that Anikotas was induced by promises and bribes from Nero and Papea to fabricate the story in order that they might have a pretext for putting Octavia to death. However this may be, the unhappy princess was condemned and the sentence pronounced upon her was that she must die. The life of Octavia, lofty as her position was in respect to earthly grandeur, had been one of uninterrupted suffering and sorrow. She had been married to Nero when a mere child and during the whole period of her connection with her husband he had treated her with continual unkindness and neglect. She had at length been cruelly divorced from him and banished from her native city on charges of the most ignominious nature, though wholly false. And before this last accusation was made against her there seemed to be nothing before her but the prospect of spending the remainder of her days in a miserable and hopeless exile. Still she clung to life and when the messengers of Nero came to tell her that she must die she was overwhelmed with agitation and terror. She begged and implored them with tears and agony to spare her life. She would never, she said, give the emperor any trouble or interfere in any way with any of his plans. She gave up willingly all claims to being his wife and would always consider herself as only his sister. She would live in retirement and seclusion in any place where Nero might appoint her abode and would never occasion him the slightest uneasiness whatever. The executioners cut short these entreaties by seizing the unhappy princess in the midst of them, binding her limbs with thongs and opening her veins. She fainted, however, under this treatment, and when the veins were opened the wretched victim lay passive and insensible in the hands of her executioners and the blood would not flow. So they carried her to a steam bath which happened to be in readiness near at hand and shutting her up in it left her to be suffocated by the vapor. Thus the great crowning crime of Nero's life for the murder of Agrippina, the adulterous marriage with Papea, and the subsequent murder of Octavia are to be regarded as constituting one single though complicated crime, was consummate and complete. It was a crime of the highest possible atrocity to open the way to an adulterous marriage by the deliberate and cruel murder of a mother and then to seal and secure it by murdering an innocent wife, blackening her memory at the same time with an ignominy wholly undeserved constitute a crime which for unnatural and monstrous enormity must be considered as standing at the head of all that human depravity has ever achieved. Nero gradually recovered from the remorse and horror with which the commission of these atrocities at first overwhelmed him and in order to hasten his relief he plunged recklessly into every species of riot and excess and in the end hardened himself so completely in crime that during the remainder of his life he perpetrated the most abominable deeds without any apparent compunction whatever. He killed Papea herself at last with a kick which he gave her in a fit of passion at a time when circumstances were such with her that the violence brought on a premature and unnatural sickness he afterward ordered her son to be drowned in the sea by his slaves when he was a fishing because he understood that the boy in playing with the other children often acted the part of an emperor. His general Burrus he poisoned he sent him the poison under pretense that it was a medical remedy for a swelling of the throat under which Burrus was suffering. Burrus drank the draft under that impression and died. He destroyed by similar means in the course of his life great numbers of his relatives and officers of state so that there was scarcely a person who was brought into any degree of intimate connection with him that did not sooner or later come to a violent end. During his whole reign Nero neglected the public affairs of the empire almost altogether apparently regarding the vast power and the immense resources that were at his command as only means for the more complete gratification of his own personal propensities and passions the only ambition which ever appeared to animate him was a desire for fame as a singer and actor on the stage at the time when he commenced his career it was considered holy beneath the dignity of any Roman of rank to appear in any public performance of that nature but Nero having conceived in his youth a high degree of his merit as a singer devoted himself with great assiduity to the cultivation of his voice and as he was encouraged in what he did by the flatterers that of course were always around him his interest in the musical art became at length and extravagant passion he submitted with the greatest patience to the rigorous training customary in those times for the development and improvement of the voice such as lying for long periods upon his back with a weight of lead upon his breast in order to force the muscles of the chest to extraordinary exertion for the purpose of strengthening them and taking medicines of various kinds to clear the voice and reduce the system he was so much pleased with the success of these efforts that he began to feel a great desire to perform in public upon the stage he accordingly began to make arrangements for doing this he first appeared in private exhibitions in the imperial palaces and gardens where only the nobility of Rome and invited guests were present he however gradually extended his audiences and at length came out upon the public stage first however in order to prepare the public mind for what they would have otherwise considered a great degradation inducing the sons of some of the principal nobility to come forward in similar entertainments he was so pleased with the success which he imagined that he met with in this career that he devoted a large part of his time during his whole life to such performances of course his love of applause in his theatrical career increased much too fast to be satisfied with the natural and ordinary means of gratifying it and he accordingly made arrangements most absurdly to create for his performances a fictitious and counterfeit celebrity at one time he had a core of 5000 men under pay to applaud him in the immense circuses and amphitheaters where he performed these men were regularly trained to the work of applauding as if it were an art to be acquired by study and instruction it was an art in fact as they practiced it different modes of applause being designated for different species of merit and the utmost precision being required on the part of the performers in the concert of their action and in their obedience to the signals he used also to require on the days when he was to perform that the doors of the theater should be closed when the audience had assembled and no egress allowed on any pretext whatever such regulations of course excited great complaint and much ridicule especially as the sessions at these spectacles were sometimes protracted and tiresome to the last degree even sudden sickness was not a sufficient reason for allowing a spectator to depart and so it was said that the people used sometimes to feign death in order to be carried out to their burial in some cases it was said birds took place in the theaters the mothers having come in cautiously with the crowd to witness the spectacles without properly considering what might be the effect of the excitement and then afterward not being permitted to retire besides singing and acting on the stage nero took part in every other species of public amusement he entered as a competitor for the prize in races and games of every kind of course he always came off victor this end was accomplished sometimes by the secret connivance of the other competitors and sometimes by open bribery of the judges nero's ridiculous vanity and self-conceit seemed to be fully gratified by receiving the prize without any regard whatever to the question of deserving it he used to come back sometimes from journeys to foreign cities where he had been performing on the stage at great public festivals and enter Rome in triumph with the garlands and crowns and other decorations which he had won paraded before him in the procession in the manner in which distinguished commanders had been accustomed to display the trophies of their military victories when returning from foreign campaigns in fact it was only in the perpetration of such miserable follies as these that nero appeared before the public at all and in his private conduct and character he sank very rapidly after he came into power to the very lowest degree of profligacy and vice after having spent the evening in drinking and debauchery he would sally forth into the streets at midnight as has already been stated to mingle there with the vilest men and women of the town in brawls and riots on these excursions he would attack such peaceable parties as he chanced to meet in the streets and if they made resistance he and his companions would beat them down and throw them into canals or open sewers sometimes in these combats he was beaten himself and on one occasion he came very near losing his life having been almost killed by the blows dealt upon him by a certain roman senator whose wife he insulted as she was walking with her husband in the street the senator of course did not know him he used to go to the theater in disguise in company with a gang of companions of similar character to himself and watch for opportunities to excite or encourage riots or tummels there whenever he could succeed in urging these tummels on to actual violence he would mingle in the fray and throw stones and fragments of broken benches and furniture among the people after a while when he had grown more bold and desperate in his wickedness he began to lay aside all disguise and at last he actually seemed to take a pride and pleasure in exhibiting the scenes of riot and excess in which he engaged in the most impudent manner before the public gaze he used to celebrate great feasts in the public amphitheaters and on the arena of the circus and crowds there in company with the most dissolute men and women of the city a spectacle to the whole population there was a large artificial lake or reservoir in one part of the city built for the purpose of exhibiting mimic representations of the maneuvers of fleets and naval battles for the amusement of the people at great public celebrations there were of course numerous ranges of seats around the margin of this lake for the accommodation of the spectators Nero took possession of this structure for some of his carousels in order to obtain greater scope for ostentation and display the water was drawn off on such occasions and the gates shut and then the bottom of the reservoir was floored over to make space for the tables the sums of money which Nero spent in the pursuit of sensual pleasures were incalculable in fact there were no bounds to his extravagance and profusion he had command of course of all the treasure of the empire and he procured immense sums besides by fines confiscations and despotic exactions of various kinds and as he undertook no public enterprises being seldom engaged in foreign wars and seldom attempting any useful constructions in the city the vast resources at his command were wholly devoted to the purposes of ostentatious personal display and sensual gratifications the pomp and splendor of his feasts his processions his journeys of pleasure and the sums that he is said to have lavished sometimes in money and jewels and sometimes in villas gardens and equipages upon his favorites both male and female are almost incredible on some of the pleasure excursions which he took to the mouth of the tiber he would have the banks of the river lined with booths and costly tents all the way from the river to the sea these tents were provided with sumptuous entertainments and with beds and couches for repose and they were all attended by beautiful girls who stood at the doors of them inviting Nero and his party to land as they passed along the river in their barges he used to fish with a golden net which was drawn by silken cords of a rich scarlet color occasionally he made grand excursions of pleasure through Italy or into Greece in the style of royal progresses in these expeditions he sometimes had no less than a thousand carts to convey his baggage the mules that drew them being all shod with silver and their drivers dressed in scarlet clothes of the most costly character he was attended also on these excursions by a numerous train of footmen and of African servants who wore rich bracelets upon their arms and were mounted on horses splendidly comparisoned one of the most remarkable of the events which occurred during Nero's reign was what was called the burning of Rome a great conflagration by which a large part of the city was destroyed it was very generally believed at the time that this destruction was the work of Nero himself the fruit of his reckless and willful depravity there is it is true no very positive proof that the fire was set by Nero's orders though one of the historians of the time states that confidential servants belonging to Nero's household were seen when the fire commenced going from house to house with combustibles and torches spreading the flames he was himself at Antium at the time and did not come to Rome until the fire had been raging for many days if it is true that the fire was Nero's work it is not supposed that he designed to cause so extensive a conflagration he intended perhaps only to destroy a few buildings that covered ground which he wished to occupy for the enlargement of his palaces though it was said by some writers that he really designed to destroy a great part of the city with a view to immortalize his name by rebuilding it in a new and more splendid form with these motives if these indeed were his motives there was doubtless mingled of feeling of malicious gratification at anything that would terrify and torment the miserable subjects of his power when he came to Rome from Antium at the time that the conflagration was at its height he found the whole city as seen of indescribable terror and distress thousands of the people had been burned to death or crushed beneath the ruins of the fallen houses the streets were filled with piles of goods and furniture burnt and broken multitudes of men though nearly exhausted with fatigue were desperately toiling on in hopeless endeavors to extinguish the flames or to save some small remnant of their property and distracted mothers wild and haggard from terror and despair were roaming to and fro seeking their children some moaning in anguish and some piercing the air with loud and frantic outcries nero was entertained by the scene as if it had been a great dramatic spectacle he went to one of the theaters and taking his place upon the stage he amused himself there with singing and playing a celebrated composition on the subject of the burning of Troy at least it was said and generally believed in the city that he did so and the minds of the people were excited against the inhuman monster to the highest pitch of indignation in fact nero seems to have thought at last that he had gone too far and he began to make efforts in earnest to relieve the people from some portion of their distress he caused great numbers of tents to be erected in the parade ground for temporary shelter and brought fresh supplies of corn into the city to save the people from famine these measures of mercy however came too late to retrieve his character the people attributed the miseries of this dreadful calamity to his desperate maliciousness and he became the object of universal execration end of chapter nine