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32 - A History of the Roman Empire From Augustus to Aurelius by John Bagnell Bury · A History of the Roman Empire From Augustus to Aurelius

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  Speaker 1: Chapter seventeen, Section one of J. B. Bury's The Student's
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  Speaker 1: Roman Empire, Part one. This is a LibriVox recording. All
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  Speaker 1: LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information
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  Speaker 1: or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox dot org. The Student's
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  Speaker 1: Roman Empire, Part one by John Bagnell Bury, Chapter seventeen,
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  Speaker 1: The Principate of Nero fifty four to sixty eight a d.
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  Speaker 1: Section one, The ascendancy of Seneca and Buris. The new
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  Speaker 1: princeps belonged to the House of the Brazen Beards, one
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  Speaker 1: of the most illustrious families of the Domitian gens. His father,
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  Speaker 1: Neus Domitius Ahinobarbis, a man infamous for his vices and crimes,
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  Speaker 1: is reported to have said on his child's birth that
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  Speaker 1: the offspring of such a father as himself and such
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  Speaker 1: a mother as Agrippina must turn out ill omened and
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  Speaker 1: disastrous to the state. The child lost his father at
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  Speaker 1: the us age of three, and was despoiled of his
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  Speaker 1: inheritance by the Emperor Gaius. His mother was in banishment,
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  Speaker 1: and his training devolved for a time upon his aunt,
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  Speaker 1: Domitia Lapida. The ascension of Claudius restored to him both
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  Speaker 1: his mother and his possessions, and under the eye of
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  Speaker 1: Agrippina he was brought up with a view to future greatness.
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  Speaker 1: It has been already mentioned that she recalled the philosopher
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  Speaker 1: Seneca from exile and entrusted to him the education of
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  Speaker 1: her son. This remarkable man, who played an important part
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  Speaker 1: in the administration of the Roman world during the early
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  Speaker 1: half of Nero's reign, professed to be a stoic superior
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  Speaker 1: to the ordinary desires and ambitions of mankind. But he
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  Speaker 1: amassed an immense fortune and did not disdain the arts
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  Speaker 1: of a courtier. He was not a politician who amuses
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  Speaker 1: himself with philosophy, nor yet a pure philosopher who steps
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  Speaker 1: out of his spear to give advice in politics. On
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  Speaker 1: the contrary, his theory was that philosophy should be of
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  Speaker 1: applied to government, and that thought should be combined with action.
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  Speaker 1: He may not have adhered over strictly to all his
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  Speaker 1: precepts of morality, but there can be no doubt that,
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  Speaker 1: whatever were his faults, he rose quote far above the
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  Speaker 1: ordinary pedagogues of his day, the cringing slave or the
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  Speaker 1: flattering freedmen to whom the young patricians were for the
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  Speaker 1: most part consigned. Doubtless, it was Seneca's principle of education
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  Speaker 1: to allure, possibly to coax, rather than drive his pupil
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  Speaker 1: into virtue. He yielded on many points in order to
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  Speaker 1: borrow influence on others. He deigned to purchase the youth's
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  Speaker 1: attention to severe studies by indulging his inclination to some
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  Speaker 1: less worthy amusements end quote. The young prince was surrounded
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  Speaker 1: by the temptations which beset the patrician youth of Rome,
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  Speaker 1: and accustomed to the indulgences which tend to relax the
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  Speaker 1: vigor of mind and body. His favorite studies were artistic,
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  Speaker 1: especially music and singing. In oratory, he was not thought
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  Speaker 1: to be proficient. It was a matter of remark that
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  Speaker 1: he required the help of Seneca to compose the funeral
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  Speaker 1: oration of his uncle. The succession of Nero to the
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  Speaker 1: principate was readily acquiesced in by the people, the soldiers,
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  Speaker 1: and the Senate. Yet there was a feeling that Britannicus,
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  Speaker 1: as the real son of Claudius, had a better claim
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  Speaker 1: than the adopted Domitius. It is significant that the will
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  Speaker 1: of Claudius was not read, but was silently passed over.
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  Speaker 1: No one, however, felt called upon to undertake the cause
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  Speaker 1: of Britannicus. This may have been partly due to the
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  Speaker 1: fact that the infidelity of his mother had cast a
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  Speaker 1: slur on his birth. The senators may have even preferred
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  Speaker 1: an emperor whose claim was doubtful, in the hope that
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  Speaker 1: they might exert more influence in the administration if he
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  Speaker 1: felt dependent on their good will. It must be remembered
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  Speaker 1: that from a strictly constitutional point of view, Britannicus had
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  Speaker 1: no more claim to the principate than Nero, and Nero,
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  Speaker 1: through his mother, was descended in direct line from Augustus.
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  Speaker 1: The first speech of the new emperor in the Senate,
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  Speaker 1: dictated doubtless by Seneca, produced a favorable impression. He promised
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  Speaker 1: not to interfere with the Senate in the exercise of
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  Speaker 1: any of its functions, but to confine his activity to
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  Speaker 1: the armies. The senators lost no time in repealing a
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  Speaker 1: law of Claudius by which lawyers were allowed to accept
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  Speaker 1: rewards for pleading causes, and in exempting questers from the
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  Speaker 1: burden of exhibiting gladiatorial shows, which the same emperor had
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  Speaker 1: laid upon them. The early years of Nero's rule were
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  Speaker 1: marked by a struggle for power between his mother and
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  Speaker 1: his two chief advisers, Seneca and Buris. Agrippina had staked
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  Speaker 1: everything for power, and she did not intend to surrender
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  Speaker 1: the reins on her son's accession. It was not enough
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  Speaker 1: for her that Nero should rule. She desired to rule herself,
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  Speaker 1: and Nero was devoted to her. His first watchword was
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  Speaker 1: the best of mothers, and during the first months she
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  Speaker 1: behaved as the regent of the empire. On coins, her
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  Speaker 1: head appeared along with that of the princeps, and she
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  Speaker 1: took upon herself to receive the ambassadors of foreign states.
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  Speaker 1: She hastened to remove from her path two enemies, the
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  Speaker 1: freedmen Narcissus and m Silanus, proconsul of Asia. She feared
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  Speaker 1: the vengeance of the latter for the death of his
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  Speaker 1: brother Lucius, whom she had destroyed as a possible rival
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  Speaker 1: of her son. Nero, who cared only to enjoy the
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  Speaker 1: pleasures of his position and not to fulfill its duties,
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  Speaker 1: had himself little objection to his mother's political activity, But
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  Speaker 1: Burus and Seneca were resolved not to concede the assumption
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  Speaker 1: of such power to a woman, especially as it seemed
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  Speaker 1: likely to be cruelly and unscrupulously exercised. In order to
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  Speaker 1: counteract her influence, they encouraged Nero in an intrigue with
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  Speaker 1: a Greek freedwoman named Acte. Agrippina was incensed, and her
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  Speaker 1: violent language drove the emperor to attach himself more closely
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  Speaker 1: to the indulgence Seneca. She then changed her policy and
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  Speaker 1: attempted to bid against the philosopher by still greater indulgence,
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  Speaker 1: but the eyes of her son had been opened to
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  Speaker 1: her overbearing ambition. The first decisive triumph of the rivals
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  Speaker 1: of Agrippina was the disgrace of the Freedman palace, with
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  Speaker 1: whom she had closely leagued herself and on whose political
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  Speaker 1: experience she leaned Nero, who had never liked him and
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  Speaker 1: would not submit to his counsels, deprived him of his
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  Speaker 1: office and dismissed him from the court before February thirteen,
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  Speaker 1: eighty fifty five. This was felt as a serious blow
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  Speaker 1: by Agrippina, and she made a desperate move to recover
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  Speaker 1: her power by espousing the cause of her step son, Britannicus.
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  Speaker 1: She declared that he was the true heir of Claudius.
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  Speaker 1: She threatened to rush with him to the camp, and
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  Speaker 1: asked the soldiers to judge between the daughter of Germanicus
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  Speaker 1: and Buris and Seneca. Whatever were her own crimes, she
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  Speaker 1: said she had at least preserved the life of Britannic.
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  Speaker 1: This action on her part proved fatal to the unlucky
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  Speaker 1: son of Claudius. Nero saw that his own seat was
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  Speaker 1: not secure as long as Britannicus lived, and he determined
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  Speaker 1: to remove him. The services of Lacusta, which Agrippina had
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  Speaker 1: employed to hasten the death of Claudius, were now employed
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  Speaker 1: by her son to kill Britannicus. A warm wine cup
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  Speaker 1: was presented to the boy at table, and when he
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  Speaker 1: found it too hot, cold water was added, into which
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  Speaker 1: a drop of deadly poison had been poured. He died instantaneously,
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  Speaker 1: to the alarm of all those who were present, and
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  Speaker 1: the unaffected consternation of Agrippina. The body was burnt the
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  Speaker 1: same night in the campus in the midst of a
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  Speaker 1: great storm, which was interpreted as a sign of divine wrath.
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  Speaker 1: It is impossible to know whether Seneca was privy to
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  Speaker 1: this deed, or whether it was solely due to the
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  Speaker 1: calculation of Nero. It is clear that the death of
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  Speaker 1: Britannicus was a decisive check to the plans of Agrippina,
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  Speaker 1: and the question is whether Seneca would have been ready
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  Speaker 1: to go to the length of poisoning in order to
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  Speaker 1: foil her and preserve his own position. But there is
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  Speaker 1: no evidence to prove him guilty, and therefore we must
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  Speaker 1: suppose him innocent. The death of Britannicus was represented as natural,
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  Speaker 1: and Nero professed to lament the loss of a dear brother.
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  Speaker 1: He had no curious inquiries to fear from the Senate,
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  Speaker 1: for the Senate was content with the emperor's policy, guided
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  Speaker 1: as it was by Seneca, and as long as the
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  Speaker 1: Senate was content, fratricide and other crimes might be committed
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  Speaker 1: in the palace without interference. Popularity with the Senate was
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  Speaker 1: indeed the keynote of Seneca's policy. The emperor refused statues
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  Speaker 1: of gold and silver. He declined the honor of letting
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  Speaker 1: the year begin with his birth month December. He dismissed
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  Speaker 1: the charge of a delater against a knight and a senator.
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  Speaker 1: Such acts were counted to him for righteousness. Agrippina had
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  Speaker 1: lost her influence with Nero, and when, after the death
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  Speaker 1: of Britannicus as the protectress of Octavia, her son's wife,
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  Speaker 1: whom he treated with contemptuous neglect and attempted to form
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  Speaker 1: a party of her own, he became alarmed. He caused
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  Speaker 1: the guard which had hitherto attended her, to be removed,
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  Speaker 1: and forced her to leave the palace and take up
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  Speaker 1: her residence in the house which formerly belonged to her
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  Speaker 1: grandmother Antonia. At these signs of disfavor, her friends fell away,
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  Speaker 1: and Junia Solana, who had a private brudge against her,
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  Speaker 1: attempted to work her ruin by a false charge of conspiracy.
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  Speaker 1: Two suborned informers stated that she had plotted to overthrow
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  Speaker 1: her son and replace him by rebellious Ploutius, who was
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  Speaker 1: as nearly related to Augustus as Nero himself, But on
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  Speaker 1: examination the charges fell through and Solana was banished. During
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  Speaker 1: the next three years, Agrippina vanishes from the pages of history.
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  Speaker 1: Though her influence was gone, there seems to have been
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  Speaker 1: no open rupture while Seneca and Buris administered the affairs
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  Speaker 1: of the na Empire, and an unwonted activity was permitted
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  Speaker 1: to the Senate, the Emperor occupied his time in the
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  Speaker 1: licentious amusements of youth. Adopting a favorite pastime of profligate
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  Speaker 1: young nobles, he used to wander through the streets at night,
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  Speaker 1: disguised in the garb of a slave to conceal his
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  Speaker 1: person and visit taverns and low haunts. He and his
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  Speaker 1: comrades used to seize goods exposed for sale, and assail
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  Speaker 1: those whom they encountered in their progress. The Emperor himself
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  Speaker 1: bore on his face the marks of wounds received in
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  Speaker 1: these brawls. When it became known that Nero was in
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  Speaker 1: the habit of masquerading thus, and many men and women
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  Speaker 1: of distinction had been insulted in his nocturnal escapades, others
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  Speaker 1: assumed his name and followed his example, so that the
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  Speaker 1: city was infested by gangs like the Mohawks, who had
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  Speaker 1: in the last century used to make London dangerous at night.
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  Speaker 1: On one occasion, a man of Centaurian rank named Julius
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  Speaker 1: Montanus happened to meet Nero in the darkness. He first
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  Speaker 1: repelled his assailant vigorously, but afterwards recognized him and sent
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  Speaker 1: in a petition for pardon. Nero angry at being recognized, asked,
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  Speaker 1: has he not then already despatched himself? Seeing that he
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  Speaker 1: struck Nero, and Montanus was obliged to destroy himself. But
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  Speaker 1: after this occurrence the Emperor was more cautious, and on
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  Speaker 1: such expeditions was always attended by a guard of soldiers
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  Speaker 1: and gladiators to interfere if necessary. The two most intimate
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  Speaker 1: companions of Nero were two profligate men of fashion, Salvius
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  Speaker 1: Otho and Claudius Cinesio. In fifty eight a d his
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  Speaker 1: intimacy with Otho led to an entanglement with Otho's wife,
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  Speaker 1: Popeia Sabina. She had been divorced from a former husband
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  Speaker 1: to marry Otho, and she regarded her second husband as
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  Speaker 1: merely a stepping stone to a still higher alliance. She
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  Speaker 1: had determined to win the hand of Nero himself. The
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  Speaker 1: historian Tacitus has described with great art her coquetry, her fascinations,
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  Speaker 1: her audacity, and her wickedness. Quote she had all things
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  Speaker 1: except a high mind end quote in her Agrippina had
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  Speaker 1: indeed found a match. The emperor succumbed to her charms
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  Speaker 1: and got rid of Otho by appointing him governor of Lusitania.
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  Speaker 1: In order to marry Nero, it was necessary for Papeia
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  Speaker 1: to procure the divorce of Octavia. But she saw clearly
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  Speaker 1: that the chief obstacle to her plans was Agrippina, who
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  Speaker 1: had always driven to maintain the nominal union of her
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  Speaker 1: son and her step daughter. So Papea set herself to
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  Speaker 1: bring about a rupture between the emperor and his mother.
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  Speaker 1: She had friends and supporters in Seneca and Buris, the
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  Speaker 1: opponents of Agrippina, and she had made up her mind
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  Speaker 1: to step over the corpses of the two empresses into
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  Speaker 1: the Palace of the Caesars. The daughter of Germanicus still
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  Speaker 1: possessed considerable influence with the praetorians, and it would have
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  Speaker 1: been dangerous to resort to public measures against her. But Nero,
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  Speaker 1: led on by the persuasions of his mistres Ris, Papeia,
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  Speaker 1: did not shrink from contriving a scheme for her assassination.
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  Speaker 1: His old tutor and Nisstus, whom he had raised to
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  Speaker 1: be captain of the fleet of Missinam, undertook to construct
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  Speaker 1: a vessel which could be sunk without exciting suspicion, and
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  Speaker 1: if it could be managed that Agrippina should embark in it,
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  Speaker 1: her destruction would be imputed by the world to the
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  Speaker 1: winds and waves. At the Quincortis, a festival of Minerva
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  Speaker 1: lasting five days in the month of March, Nero invited
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  Speaker 1: his mother to his villa near Baye. She landed at Bauli,
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  Speaker 1: between Bayer and Cape Missinam, and completed her journey in
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  Speaker 1: a litter. But after the banquet, when night had fallen,
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  Speaker 1: she was induced to return to Bali in the vessel
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  Speaker 1: which had been prepared for her destruction. But the mechanism
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  Speaker 1: did not do its work with the expected success, and
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  Speaker 1: Agrippina succeeded in swimming to shore. Whence she proceeded to
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  Speaker 1: her villa on the Lucrine Lake. One of her maids, Asseronia,
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  Speaker 1: who in order to save her own life, called out
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  Speaker 1: I Am the Empress, was struck with oars and drowned.
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  Speaker 1: Agrippina saw through the treachery which she had so narrowly escaped,
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  Speaker 1: but pretended to regard it as an accident, and sent
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  Speaker 1: her freedman Acarinus, to bear to Nero the news of
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  Speaker 1: her fortunate escape. Nero, who had been waiting in agitation,
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  Speaker 1: to learn that his mother was no more was terror
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  Speaker 1: stricken at the tidings that the plan had miscarried. He
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  Speaker 1: applied for help in his difficulty to Buris and Seneca,
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  Speaker 1: who however, seemed to have had no part in the plot.
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  Speaker 1: But Anisetus undertook to finish the work. It was pretended
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  Speaker 1: that a dagger was found in the possession of Adjirinus,
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  Speaker 1: the freedman of Agrippina, and that she had conspired against
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  Speaker 1: the emperor's life. Anicetus, accompanied by a captain and a
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  Speaker 1: military tribune, hastened to the Lucrine villa. They found her
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  Speaker 1: lying on a couch with a single attendant, all the
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  Speaker 1: others having deserted her at the approach of the assassins,
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  Speaker 1: and at their appearance, the last slave fled. She was
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  Speaker 1: despatched with many wounds, crying strike the womb which bore Nero.
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  Speaker 1: She was buried by slaves and minister, a faithful freedman,
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  Speaker 1: slew himself on her pyre fifty nine a d if
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  Speaker 1: the matricide felt stings of remorse, they were speedily alleviated
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  Speaker 1: by the congratulations which poured in on him from every side.
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  Speaker 1: On having escaped the plots of his mother, he wrote
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  Speaker 1: a letter to the Senate explaining the circumstances of her death,
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  Speaker 1: and there is no reason to suppose that this false account,
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  Speaker 1: embellished by the art of Seneca and confirmed by the
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  Speaker 1: testimony of Buris, was not generally believed. This is an
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  Speaker 1: instance of the way in which the Senate served the
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  Speaker 1: princeps as a means of reaching the public ear The
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  Speaker 1: true story was probably known only to a few initiated persons,
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  Speaker 1: and there was nothing improbable in a woman who had
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  Speaker 1: killed her husband planning to kill her son. Otherwise, the
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  Speaker 1: great sympathy which was expressed for Nero is unintelligible. The
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  Speaker 1: Senate decreed that thanksgivings should be offered for the Emperor's safety,
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  Speaker 1: and that golden statues of Minerva and the Emperor should
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  Speaker 1: be erected in the Senate house. The Queen Cortress were
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  Speaker 1: henceforward to be celebrated by public games, and Agrippina's birthday
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  Speaker 1: to be regarded as a day of ill omen All
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  Speaker 1: those persons who had been sent into exile owing to
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  Speaker 1: her influence were permitted to return. Nero's entry into Rome
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  Speaker 1: was like a triumph. He ascended to the capital and
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  Speaker 1: offered thanks to the gods for his preservation. End of
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  Speaker 1: Chapter seventeen, Section one,