Latest / A History of the Roman Empire From Augustus to Aurelius / 29 - A History of the Roman Empire From Augustus to Aurelius by John Bagnell Bury

Transcript

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

0:00
Speaker 1: Chapter fifteen, Section five of J. B. Bury's The Students
0:05
Speaker 1: a Roman Empire, Part one. This is a librifox according
0:09
Speaker 1: all librifox according to aurunder public domain. For more information
0:12
Speaker 1: UDO volunteer, please visit LibriVox dot org. Recording by Julivamuningham.
0:19
Speaker 1: The Student a Roman Empire, Part one by John Macknellbury,
0:23
Speaker 1: Chapter fifteen, The Principate of Claudius forty one two fifty
0:28
Speaker 1: four a d. Section five. Agrippina death of Claudius. Masslina
0:36
Speaker 1: had fallen, and the question was who was to be
0:40
Speaker 1: her successor. On this the Freedomen were not unanimous. Narcissus
0:46
Speaker 1: urged that Claudius should take back his second wife, Alia Paterna,
0:50
Speaker 1: whom he had divorced. Callistus worked in behalf of Lollia Paulina,
0:56
Speaker 1: the divorced wife of the Emperor Gaius. Pallas espoused the
1:00
Speaker 1: cause of Agrippina, the Emperor's niece. This remarkable woman, who
1:05
Speaker 1: inherited the ambition without a morality of her mother, had
1:10
Speaker 1: long been scheming to establish an influence of the Claudius,
1:13
Speaker 1: who was very subsceptible to female fascinations. She aimed at
1:18
Speaker 1: securing the empire for her son Lucia's Demysius, and winning
1:22
Speaker 1: for herself such a position as had been held by Livia.
1:26
Speaker 1: It is impossible to know how far she may have
1:29
Speaker 1: been involved in the intrigues connected with the fall of Massalina,
1:33
Speaker 1: but it is probable that she has influenced the verdict
1:36
Speaker 1: of history on the career of her rival. For Agrippina
1:42
Speaker 1: published personal memoirs in which she revealed the secret history
1:46
Speaker 1: of the palace, and it was almost certainly from these
1:49
Speaker 1: memoirs that the historian Tacitus drew his account of Massalina's wickedness.
1:55
Speaker 1: It may easily be believed that Agrippina highly colored the
1:59
Speaker 1: story and distorted the truth. The death of her husband,
2:04
Speaker 1: Passianus had left her free and wealthy, and she determined
2:08
Speaker 1: to marry her uncle in spite of the Roman prejudice
2:11
Speaker 1: against such a union. Her charms, supported by the persuasions
2:17
Speaker 1: of Pallas, subdued the weak emperor, and in a few
2:21
Speaker 1: weeks after the death of Massalina, Agrippina exerted over Claudius
2:26
Speaker 1: all the influence of her wife. Before the end of
2:30
Speaker 1: the year forty eight a d. She took the first
2:33
Speaker 1: step in the direction of elevating her son to the throne.
2:37
Speaker 1: He was at then eleven years old, but she resolved
2:41
Speaker 1: sad when he came of h he should marry Octavia,
2:44
Speaker 1: the daughter of Claudius. For this purpose, it was necessary
2:48
Speaker 1: to break off the betrothal which existed between Octavia and
2:52
Speaker 1: Lucius Selinus, a great great grandson of Augustus. In accomplishing this,
2:58
Speaker 1: Agrippina was a cissisted by Vitalius, the empress colleague and
3:02
Speaker 1: the Censorship, who bore a grudge against Selinus and was
3:06
Speaker 1: ready to ruin him. He informed Claudius that Selanus had
3:11
Speaker 1: committed incest was his sister, and the horrified emperor immediately
3:15
Speaker 1: broke off the engagement of his daughter. Selanus, who was
3:19
Speaker 1: a bratert that year, was ordered to lay down his
3:22
Speaker 1: office and Totalius, although no longer censor, presumed on his
3:27
Speaker 1: recent tenure of that office, to remove the name of
3:30
Speaker 1: Selinus from the list of senators. When this obstacle to
3:35
Speaker 1: the future marriage of Demetius and Octavia was removed, it
3:38
Speaker 1: remained for Recrupina to smooth the way for her own
3:41
Speaker 1: union with Claudius. No precedent in Roman history could be
3:46
Speaker 1: found for marrying a brother's daughter. Such an alliance was
3:50
Speaker 1: regarded as incestures, and in all matters of religion, Claudius
3:54
Speaker 1: was punctiliously scrupulous. The censor, who had just expressed his
3:59
Speaker 1: horror at the alleged incest of Selinus, shrank from incuring
4:04
Speaker 1: the charge of a similar offense. But here again Vidallius
4:09
Speaker 1: came to the aid of Agrouppina. He appeared in the
4:12
Speaker 1: Senate and delivered a specious harangue in favor of the
4:16
Speaker 1: proposed marriage. The senators tumultuously applauded, and Claudius, then appearing
4:22
Speaker 1: in the Curia, caused a decree to be passed. But
4:25
Speaker 1: henceforward marriages with the daughters of brothers should be valid.
4:31
Speaker 1: The fourth marriage of Claudius took place in the early
4:34
Speaker 1: days of forty nine a d and on the wedding day,
4:37
Speaker 1: as it were to bring, occurs on the event Selanus,
4:41
Speaker 1: the Betoses of Octavia, killed himself. Another victim who had
4:46
Speaker 1: come across the path of Agrouppina was Lolliopolina, who had
4:51
Speaker 1: aspired to his the hand of Claudius. She was accused
4:54
Speaker 1: of having consulted Chaldean astrologers concerning the imperial marriage and
4:59
Speaker 1: the Emperor himsel I spoke against her in the Senate.
5:02
Speaker 1: She was banished from Italy, but Agrippina is said to
5:06
Speaker 1: have dispatched a tribune after her to put her to death.
5:10
Speaker 1: While Masslina cared only for sexuality, Agrippina was enamored of power.
5:16
Speaker 1: She was not content with being the emperor's wife, but
5:19
Speaker 1: wished to be his colleague. This position was designated by
5:23
Speaker 1: the title Augusta, which was conferred upon her in fifty
5:27
Speaker 1: a d. She was a third woman who bore this title,
5:32
Speaker 1: but it meant for her, as it had meant for Livia,
5:35
Speaker 1: a share of political power, and was not merely, as
5:39
Speaker 1: it had been flor Antonia, an honorable title. But Agrippina
5:44
Speaker 1: enjoyed a mark of distinction which had not been granted
5:46
Speaker 1: even to the concert of Augustus. She was the first
5:50
Speaker 1: Roman empress whose image was permitted to appear on coins
5:54
Speaker 1: during her lifetime by degree of the Senate. When Claudius
5:58
Speaker 1: gave audiences to his friends or to foreign envoys, his
6:03
Speaker 1: wife sat on a throne beside him. We have seen
6:07
Speaker 1: that she gave her name to the new colony of
6:09
Speaker 1: veterans established in the town of the Ubii, as Colonia Auglybinancis,
6:16
Speaker 1: in order to secure her inflience with the freedom and palace.
6:19
Speaker 1: She is said to have engaged in an intrigue with him,
6:22
Speaker 1: but the court under her rules seems to have been
6:25
Speaker 1: distinguished by outward propriety and certainly by stricter etiquette. The
6:33
Speaker 1: schemes for his son's advancement rendered her a cruel stepmother
6:37
Speaker 1: to Britannigius. On the twenty fifth of February fifty a
6:42
Speaker 1: d Lucius de Mitius was adopted into the Claudian gens,
6:46
Speaker 1: and is the name of nearer Claudius Caesar Drusus Germanicus.
6:51
Speaker 1: This was the first instance of an adoption of a
6:53
Speaker 1: son by a petition Claudius, and the Emperor was disinclined
6:57
Speaker 1: to take this step, not only on this account, but
7:00
Speaker 1: lest the prospect of Britannicus should be injured. He was overcome, however,
7:05
Speaker 1: by the example of Augustus. The advancement of neer progressed rapidly,
7:11
Speaker 1: and the following year it was permitted to assume the
7:14
Speaker 1: toke of manhood, and by a degree of the Senate,
7:18
Speaker 1: he was made Princepsieu van duties, designated to hold the
7:22
Speaker 1: consulship at the age of twenty, and he received pro
7:25
Speaker 1: consular power. These honors were sufficient to mark him out
7:30
Speaker 1: as the success of Claudius to the principate. But Agrippina
7:35
Speaker 1: went even further and caused the son to be elected
7:38
Speaker 1: supra nomroum into the four chief Bereesley colleges, the Pontiffs,
7:43
Speaker 1: the august the Quindicumviri, and the Septumbiri. This was a
7:49
Speaker 1: distinction which of the youthful grandsons of Augustus, Gayze and
7:53
Speaker 1: Lucius had not received. Nero had already been betrayed to
7:58
Speaker 1: his cousin Octavia at his adoption, whereby he became legally
8:02
Speaker 1: her brother. Was not allowed to hinder the celebration of
8:05
Speaker 1: the marriage, which he took place in fifty three a d.
8:10
Speaker 1: In the meantime, Britannicus, who was only little younger than Nero,
8:14
Speaker 1: was regarded and treated as a child. Misunderstandings and estrangements
8:20
Speaker 1: were treacherously brought about between him and his father. On
8:25
Speaker 1: one occasion, when the two young princes met and nearer
8:29
Speaker 1: saluted Britannicus by name, Britannicus saluted him as Domitius. Agrippina
8:35
Speaker 1: complained of this to the Emperor as implying contempt of
8:38
Speaker 1: Nearer's adoption and the degree of the Senate. Claudius was
8:44
Speaker 1: moved by her representations to punish one of the instructors
8:47
Speaker 1: of his son by death and others by banishment, and
8:51
Speaker 1: placed him under the charge of the creatures of her
8:53
Speaker 1: stepmother by her machinations. Also, the two prefects of a
8:58
Speaker 1: depretorian guard had been adherents of Massalina and were anxious
9:03
Speaker 1: to secure the succession of her son, where deposed and
9:06
Speaker 1: replaced by Euphranius Boris, who was devoted to the interests
9:10
Speaker 1: of his patroness. All the officers who were attached to
9:15
Speaker 1: the cause of Britannicus was then removed. But the son
9:19
Speaker 1: of Massleina had not only a strong party in the Senate,
9:22
Speaker 1: but a power for supporter in the imperial household. This
9:26
Speaker 1: was a freedom when Narcissus, who exerted all his energy
9:29
Speaker 1: and influence to weaken the power of Agrippina and keep
9:33
Speaker 1: Nearer from the throne. After the marriage of Octavia, the
9:38
Speaker 1: struggle between the two parties became keener. Vitellius, who had
9:43
Speaker 1: shown his devotion to the Augusta, was a threatened with
9:46
Speaker 1: a criminal prosecution the condemnation of Tarkisius. Priscus also showed
9:52
Speaker 1: the uncertainty of her position. She covered at the house
9:57
Speaker 1: and gardens of Setilius Torus, a man of no ancestry
10:00
Speaker 1: and great wealths, who had been governor of Africa. Briscus
10:05
Speaker 1: wrought against him charges of extortion in his administration of
10:09
Speaker 1: that province and of practice in magic. Torres's disdainer reply
10:14
Speaker 1: and chose to die by a voluntary death, but her
10:17
Speaker 1: senate expelled the accuser from their body. Although Agrippina exerted
10:22
Speaker 1: all her power to protect him, there were other signs too,
10:27
Speaker 1: which might alarm the Empress. Claudius showed himself inclined to
10:32
Speaker 1: reinstate his son Britannicus in his proper position, and spoke
10:36
Speaker 1: of allowing him to assume the toga virilis. An ominous
10:41
Speaker 1: remark is said to have dropped from his lips, that
10:44
Speaker 1: it was his fate first endure the offenses of his wives,
10:47
Speaker 1: and afterwards to punish him. It looked as if the
10:51
Speaker 1: influence of Narcissus were likely once more to get the
10:53
Speaker 1: upper hand. Agrippina made an attempt to ruin Narcissus by
10:59
Speaker 1: inscribing to his mismanagement the failure of the tunnel of
11:02
Speaker 1: Lake Fucines. She failed, but she soon enjoyed a triumph
11:07
Speaker 1: in the ruin of a most formidable female rival, do
11:10
Speaker 1: Mitya Lapida. This lady, as a daughter of the elder
11:14
Speaker 1: Antonia and Lucius Demtius, was a grand niece of Augustus,
11:19
Speaker 1: as a mother of Massalina, was a grand mother of Britannigis,
11:23
Speaker 1: and as a sister of Neus Demitius, was a sister
11:25
Speaker 1: in law of Regroupina. In beauty, age, and wealth, there
11:30
Speaker 1: was not much difference between them. Both were immodest, infamous,
11:34
Speaker 1: and violent. They were rivals, and their vices no less
11:38
Speaker 1: than in the gifts which fortune had given them. During
11:43
Speaker 1: the exile of Regruppina, Lepida had given home to the
11:46
Speaker 1: child Nero, and ever since had endeavored to secure his
11:50
Speaker 1: affections by flattery and liberality, which contrasted with his mother's
11:55
Speaker 1: sterness and the patience. Lepiter was charged with making attempts
11:59
Speaker 1: against life of the Empress by means of magical incantations,
12:04
Speaker 1: and was being a disturber of the public peace by
12:07
Speaker 1: maintaining gangs of turbulent slaves on a calabor and estates.
12:11
Speaker 1: The indictment seems to have been brought before the emperor,
12:15
Speaker 1: and it was a trial of strength between Agrippina and Narcissus,
12:18
Speaker 1: who did all he could to save letter. But Agrippina
12:22
Speaker 1: triumphed Lepida was sentenced to death. Yet, notwithstanding this victory,
12:28
Speaker 1: and notwithstanding the fact that Claudius had been induced to
12:31
Speaker 1: make a well fabrile to her son, the empress did
12:35
Speaker 1: not feel sure of her ground and dreaded a reaction.
12:40
Speaker 1: Under these circumstances, the greatest luck that could befall her
12:44
Speaker 1: was the death of Claudius, and Claudius died October thirteenth,
12:50
Speaker 1: fifty four a d. It is generally believed that he
12:55
Speaker 1: was poisoned by his wife, and though we cannot say
12:58
Speaker 1: that her kild is proof, it seems highly probable. Claudius
13:03
Speaker 1: was in a sixty fourth year and in declining health.
13:07
Speaker 1: His death took place when Narcissus was absent at Sinuessa
13:12
Speaker 1: for the sake of the medicine of waters, and this
13:15
Speaker 1: coincidence supports the traditional count that there was foul play
13:20
Speaker 1: when Arcissus suspected the designs of Agrouppina. According to the
13:25
Speaker 1: received story. She employed the services of a woman named
13:28
Speaker 1: beau Custa, notorious for the preparation of subtle poisons, who,
13:33
Speaker 1: according to the historian Tests, was long regarded as one
13:37
Speaker 1: of the instruments of monarchy. She compounded a curious dirk
13:42
Speaker 1: which had the property of disturbing the mind without causing
13:45
Speaker 1: instant deaths, and it was administered to Claudius in a
13:49
Speaker 1: dish of mushrooms. But for some reason the poison failed
13:54
Speaker 1: to work, and Agrippina, fearful lest the crime should be discovered,
13:59
Speaker 1: called in aidential physician Xenophon, who did not hesitate, to
14:03
Speaker 1: pass a poisoned feather into the empress throat on the
14:07
Speaker 1: plea of helping him to vomit. The position of Nero
14:12
Speaker 1: at the death of Claudius was far stronger than that
14:16
Speaker 1: of Gaeus at the death of Tiberius. Nero had a
14:19
Speaker 1: fear a declaration of favor of Britannigus, as Gaeus had
14:23
Speaker 1: a fear the rivalry of the son of Joseh. But
14:26
Speaker 1: Nero possessed a broke counsular power, as well as other
14:30
Speaker 1: dignities which had not been conferred on Gaius. He had
14:35
Speaker 1: also the support of his mother's influence, and above all, Burros,
14:40
Speaker 1: the briefect of the Pretorian guard was devoted to his interest.
14:46
Speaker 1: Seeing that the accession of Gaius had proceeded so smoothly,
14:50
Speaker 1: there seemed no reason for doubt in the case of Nero.
14:53
Speaker 1: But Agroppina took every precaution for securing success. She concealed
14:59
Speaker 1: the emperor's desk for some hours and made pretexts to
15:03
Speaker 1: detain his children and the palace until her own son
15:06
Speaker 1: had been proclaimed emperor by the guards. About midday, the
15:11
Speaker 1: doors of the palace were suddenly thrown open, and Nero
15:15
Speaker 1: issued force, accompanied by Buris, into the presence of the Gohrde,
15:20
Speaker 1: which was then on duty. The prefect gave a sign,
15:25
Speaker 1: and the soldiers received him with acclamations. It was said
15:30
Speaker 1: that some hesitated and asked for a Brutennigus was This
15:33
Speaker 1: demuring was only for a moment. Nero was then carried
15:37
Speaker 1: in a letter to his Epertorian camp, where he spoke
15:41
Speaker 1: a few suitable words and was saluted Iberator. This was
15:46
Speaker 1: the second occasion on which the Praetorians created an emperor, and,
15:50
Speaker 1: following the example of his father Claudius, Nero promised them
15:55
Speaker 1: a donative. The Senate did not hesitate to accept the
15:58
Speaker 1: will of the guards, and on the same day, October thirteenth,
16:03
Speaker 1: the deis Impirie of Nero decreed to him the pro
16:07
Speaker 1: consul of power in its higher unlimited form, and the
16:11
Speaker 1: prerogatives embodied him the lexty imperial and the name Augustus.
16:17
Speaker 1: The tribunition power, which was necessary to complete the prerogatives
16:21
Speaker 1: of the princeps, was conferred upon him by committee on
16:25
Speaker 1: the fourth of December. The legions in the provinces received
16:30
Speaker 1: the news of the new principate without a murmur of descent.
16:35
Speaker 1: According to custom, the Senate met to consider the acts
16:39
Speaker 1: of Claudius. He was fortunate enough to receive the honors
16:43
Speaker 1: which had fallen to his lot of his model Augustus,
16:46
Speaker 1: at which his two predecessors had missed. He was judged
16:51
Speaker 1: worthy to enter into his number of the gods and
16:54
Speaker 1: flaments were appointed for his worship. All his acts were
16:58
Speaker 1: degreed to be valid. His funeral was ordered after the
17:02
Speaker 1: precedent of that of Augustus, and Agrippina emulated the magnificence
17:07
Speaker 1: of her great grandmother Livier. But the will of the
17:10
Speaker 1: deceased sovereign was not read in public. It was feared
17:14
Speaker 1: that the preference shown to the stubson over Britannicus would
17:18
Speaker 1: cause unpleasant remarks nearer pronounced the funeral oration composed by
17:25
Speaker 1: Lucius Ennaeus Seneca over the dead emperor. One of Agrippina's
17:30
Speaker 1: first acts after her marriage with Claudius had been to
17:34
Speaker 1: recall Seneca from his exile in Corsica and addrust to
17:37
Speaker 1: him the completion of her son's education during his banishment.
17:42
Speaker 1: He had attempted, by the hours of flattery, to get
17:45
Speaker 1: this sentence repealed, and had addressed the treaties to the
17:49
Speaker 1: Freedom and Polybius, into which he wrought an extravagant panegyric
17:53
Speaker 1: of the Emperor. But Claudius had paid no heed, and
17:57
Speaker 1: Seneca was resolved to have his revenge. He assaled as
18:01
Speaker 1: the memory of the Emperor soon after his death in
18:04
Speaker 1: an unsparing and remarkably clever satire entitled the Apogligantosis Pumpkinification
18:12
Speaker 1: a play on apathiosis, or otherwise the Ludus de morte
18:17
Speaker 1: Gloria Caisares The arrival of Claudius in Heaven, the surprise
18:23
Speaker 1: of the gods at seeing his strange shaking figure and
18:26
Speaker 1: hearing his indistinct babbyl are described with many jests. The
18:32
Speaker 1: gods deliberate where the they should admit him, and are
18:35
Speaker 1: inclined to vote in his favor. When the divine Augustus
18:39
Speaker 1: arises and tells all the crimes and iniquities which have
18:43
Speaker 1: stained as the reign of his grand nephew, the guards
18:46
Speaker 1: agree that he deserves to be ejected from Olympus. Mercury
18:51
Speaker 1: immediately seizes him by his neck and drags him to
18:55
Speaker 1: the place. Whence none return, he look on de nigand
18:59
Speaker 1: Ridiri quenquam. On the way to this shades, he passes
19:04
Speaker 1: a through the Via Sacra, where he witnesses his own
19:08
Speaker 1: funeral and sees the Roman people walking about as if
19:11
Speaker 1: they were free from a tyrant. When he reaches in
19:15
Speaker 1: the lower regions, he is greeted with a shout, Claudius
19:19
Speaker 1: will come. He is surrounded by large company consisting of
19:24
Speaker 1: the victims who had perished during his reign, senators, knights, freedomen, kinsfolk.
19:31
Speaker 1: I meet friends everywhere, said Claudius. How came yea his
19:35
Speaker 1: e do you ask? Most cruel man? Was the reply?
19:39
Speaker 1: Who else Bezou senters his a murderer of all thy friends.
19:45
Speaker 1: He was then led before the tribunal of Aachus and
19:49
Speaker 1: prosecuted on the basis of the Lex Cornelia de Sigaris
19:53
Speaker 1: is condemned to play forever with the bottomless dice box.
19:59
Speaker 1: This sat of Seneca reflected in the general derision which
20:03
Speaker 1: was cast upon the deification of Claudius. The addition of
20:08
Speaker 1: this empress ridiculous figure to his number of the celestials
20:12
Speaker 1: effectually dispelled that halo of divinity with which Augustus had
20:17
Speaker 1: sought to invested. The Principate end of Chapter fifteen, Section
20:21
Speaker 1: five