Latest / Nero: Mad Tyrant or Misunderstood Emperor? — Fexingo History / Nero and the Praetorian Guard: The Emperor's Betrayers
Transcript
- Luna: Okay, we've talked about Nero's death before, but I want to dig into the Praetorian Guard. They basically betrayed him, right? But how did they get so powerful? Lucas: That's the perfect question. The Praetorian Guard started under Augustus as a small, elite bodyguard unit — maybe nine cohorts, each around 500 men, drawn from Italian volunteers. Their job was to protect the emperor and his family, but they were also a visible symbol of imperial authority. Lucas: By Tiberius's reign, their prefect Sejanus concentrated them into a single fortified camp in Rome — the Castra Praetoria — right on the outskirts. That made them a concentrated military force in the heart of the city, and they quickly realized they could make or break emperors. Luna: So Sejanus basically created the kingmaker problem? Lucas: Exactly. And he paid for it with his life when Tiberius finally turned on him. But the precedent was set: the Guard could be bribed, flattered, and manipulated. By Nero's time, they were a political weapon, not just a protection detail. Lucas: Nero came to power with the Guard's support, largely thanks to his mother Agrippina, who had cultivated close ties with the Praetorian prefects. But over time, Nero lost that loyalty. The key figure was Nymphidius Sabinus, one of the prefects, who, in 68 AD, decided to switch sides. Luna: What made Nymphidius turn? Lucas: Money — and ambition. When Galba rebelled in Spain, Nymphidius promised the Praetorians a huge donative, a cash bonus, if they'd abandon Nero. The standard bribe was something like 15,000 sesterces per man — but Nymphidius promised 30,000. That was an enormous sum, and the Guard took the deal. Lucas: On June 9, 68 AD, the Praetorian Guard declared for Galba, and Nero fled. He ended up at a freedman's villa, where he famously said 'Qualis artifex pereo' — 'What an artist dies in me.' But it was the Guard's betrayal that sealed his fate. Luna: But Galba didn't keep that promise, did he? Lucas: He did not. Galba was famously stingy. He refused to pay the donative, saying he chose soldiers, he didn't buy them. That was a fatal error. Within months, Otho — who had been a friend of Nero — bribed the Guard with a promise of the full amount and they murdered Galba in the Forum. Lucas: And that started a chain reaction: Otho was then defeated by Vitellius's legions, but Vitellius also failed to keep the Guard loyal, and then Vespasian's supporters finished the chaos. The Year of the Four Emperors showed just how much the Praetorians could destabilize the empire. Luna: So Nero's fall was basically triggered by a bribe that went unpaid. That's almost poetic. Lucas: It really is. And it's worth noting that the Praetorian Guard didn't just betray Nero — they also betrayed his memory. After Nero's death, they participated in the damnatio memoriae, destroying his statues and erasing his name from inscriptions. But they also knew that Nero had been popular with the common people, so they had to tread carefully. Lucas: There's also the story of Spirus and Epaphroditus — Nero's loyal freedmen who helped him flee and then, some sources say, were executed by the new regime for their loyalty. The Guard didn't protect them either. Luna: And what happened to the Guard in the end? They kept causing trouble for centuries, right? Lucas: Yes, they remained a political force, even under the so-called Five Good Emperors. But they became increasingly corrupt and mercenary. Finally, in 312 AD, Constantine the Great disbanded them after he defeated Maxentius at the Milvian Bridge. He replaced them with his own field army, the comitatenses, and the Castra Praetoria in Rome was demolished. Lucas: So the legacy of Nero's betrayal is that it exposed the fatal flaw in the Roman system: the emperor's bodyguard could become his executioner. And that lesson wasn't learned for over two hundred more years. Luna: I never realized how much of Nero's story is really about the Guard's power. Thanks for unpacking that. Lucas: My pleasure. It's a reminder that in imperial Rome, loyalty was always for sale — and the price just kept going up.