---
title: "Nero"
author: "Suetonius"
translator: "Alexander Thomson"
languages: [la, en]
shelf: "Classical Latin"
url: https://scriptura.si/works/suetonius-nero/
cite: "Suetonius, tr. Alexander Thomson, Nero. Scriptura (scriptura.si), https://scriptura.si/works/suetonius-nero/"
---

# Nero

*Suetonius, tr. Alexander Thomson*

Artist, matricide and the last of the Julio-Claudians.

> Latin: ed. Maximilian Ihm, from the Perseus Digital Library (canonical-latinLit, phi1348.abo016, CC BY-SA 4.0).

> English: Alexander Thomson, from the Perseus Digital Library (phi1348.abo016.perseus-eng2). Notes are not included.

> Rows follow the references the two texts share (chapters and sections), cut where both reach the end of a sentence.

## Contents

1. [Chapters 1–22](https://scriptura.si/works/suetonius-nero/1.md)
2. [Chapters 23–37](https://scriptura.si/works/suetonius-nero/2.md)
3. [Chapters 38–57](https://scriptura.si/works/suetonius-nero/3.md)

## 1. Chapters 1–22

Source: https://scriptura.si/works/suetonius-nero/1/ · cite a paragraph as https://scriptura.si/works/suetonius-nero/1/#p-N

[¶0] 1. Two celebrated families, the Calvini and Aenobarbi, sprung from the race of the Domitii. The AEnobarbi derive both their extraction and their cognomen from one Lucius Domitius, of whom we have this tradition:-As he was returning out of the country to Rome, he was met by two young men of a most august appearance, who desired him to announce to the senate and people a victory, of which no certain intelligence had yet reached the city. To prove that they were more than mortals, they stroked his cheeks, and thus changed his hair, which was black, to a bright colour, resembling that of brass; which mark of distinction descended to his posterity, for they had generally red beards. This family had the honour of seven consulships, one triumph, and two censorships; and being admitted into the patrician order, they continued the use of the same cognomen, with no other praenomina, than those of Cneius and Lucius. These, however, they assumed with singular irregularity; three persons in succession sometimes adhering to one of them, and then they were changed alternately. For the first, second, and third of the AEnobarbi had the praenomen of Lucius, and again the three following, successively, that of Cneius, while those who came after were called, by turns, one, Lucius, and the other, Cneius. It appears to me proper to give a short account of several of the family, to show that Nero so far degenerated from the noble qualities of his ancestors, that he retained only their vices; as if those alone had been transmitted to him by his descent.

> Latin: 1. Ex gente Domitia duae familiae claruerunt, Caluinorum et Ahenobarborum. Ahenobarbi auctorem originis itemque cognominis habent L.Lucium Domitium, cui rure quondam reuertenti iuuenes gemini augustiore forma ex occursu imperasse traduntur, nuntiaret senatui ac populo uictoriam, de qua incertum adhuc erat; atque in fidem maiestatis adeo permulsisse malas, ut e nigro rutilum aerique adsimilem capillum redderent. quod insigne mansit et in posteris eius, ac magna pars rutila barba fuerunt. functi autem consulatibus septem, triumpho censuraque duplici et inter patricios adlecti perseuerauerunt omnes in eodem cognomine. ac ne praenomina quidem ulla praeterquam Gnaei et Luci usurparunt; eaque ipsa notabili uarietate, modo continuantes unum quodque per trinas personas, modo alternantes per singulas. nam primum secundumque ac tertium Ahenobarborum Lucios, sequentis rursus tres ex ordine Gnaeos accepimus, reliquos non nisi uicissim tum Lucios tum Gnaeos. pluris e familia cognosci referre arbitror, quo facilius appareat ita degenerasse a suorum uirtutibus Nero, ut tamen uitia cuiusque quasi tradita et ingenita rettulerit.

[¶1] 2. To begin, therefore, at a remote period, his greatgrandfather's grandfather, Cneius Domitius, when he was tribune of the people, being offended with the high priests for electing another than himself in the room of his father, obtained the transfer of the right of election from the colleges of the priests to the people. In his consulship, having conquered the Allobroges and the Arverni, he made a progress through the province, mounted upon an elephant, with a body of soldiers attending him, in a sort of triumphal pomp. Of this person the orator Licinius Crassus said, "It was no wonder he had a brazen beard, who had a face of iron, and a heart of lead." His son, during his praetorship, proposed that Cneius Caesar, upon the expiration of his consulship, should be called to account before the senate for his administration of that office, which was supposed to be contrary both to the omens and the laws. Afterwards, when he was consul himself, he tried to deprive Cneius of the command of the army, and having been, by intrigue and cabal, appointed his successor, he was made prisoner at Corsinium, in the beginning of the civil war. Being set at liberty, he went to Marseilles, which was then besieged; where having by his presence, animated the people to hold out, he suddenly deserted them, and at last was slain in the battle of Pharsalia. He was a man of little constancy, and of a sullen temper. In despair of his fortunes, he had recourse to poison, but was so terrified at the thoughts of death, that, immediately repenting, he took a vomit to throw it up again, and gave freedom to his physician for having, with great prudence and wisdom, given him only a gentle dose of the poison. When Cneius Pompey was consulting with his friends in what manner he should conduct himself towards those who were neuter and took no part in the contest, he was the only one who proposed that they should be treated as enemies.

> Latin: 2. ut igitur paulo altius repetam, atauus eius Cn. Domitius in tribunatu pontificibus offensior, quod alium quam se in patris sui locum cooptassent, ius sacerdotum subrogandorum a collegiis ad populum transtulit; at in consulatu Allobrogibus Aruernisque superatis elephanto per prouinciam uectus est turba militum quasi inter sollemnia triumphi prosequente. in hunc dixit Licinius Crassus orator non esse mirandum, quod aeneam barbam haberet, cui os ferreum, cor plumbeum esset. huius filius praetor C. Caesarem abeuntem consulatu, quem aduersus auspicia legesque gessisse existimabatur, ad disquisitionem senatus uocauit; mox consul imperatorem ab exercitibus Gallicis retrahere temptauit successorque ei per factionem nominatus principio ciuilis belli ad Corfinium captus est. unde dimissus Massiliensis obsidione laborantis cum aduentu suo confirmasset, repente destituit acieque demum Pharsalica occubuit; uir neque satis constans et ingenio truci in desperatione rerum mortem timore appetitam ita expauit, ut haustum uenenum paenitentia euomuerit medicumque manumiserit, quod sibi prudens ac sciens minus noxium temperasset. consultante autem Cn. Pompeio de mediis ac neutram partem sequentibus solus censuit hostium numero habendos.

[¶2] 3. He left a son, who was, without doubt, the best of the family. By the Pedian law, he was condemned, although innocent, amongst others who were concerned in the death of Caesar. Upon this, he went over to Brutus and Cassius, his near relations; and, after their death, not only kept together the fleet, the command of which had been given him some time before, but even increased it. At last, when the party had everywhere been defeated, he voluntarily surrendered it to Mark Antony; considering it as a piece of service for which the latter owed him no small obligations. Of all those who were condemned by the law above-mentioned, he was the only man who was restored to his country, and filled the highest offices. When the civil war again broke out, he was appointed lieutenant under the.same Antony, and offered the chief command by those who were ashamed of Cleopatra; but not daring, on account of a sudden indisposition with which he was seized, either to accept or refuse it, he went over to Augustus, and died a few days after, not without an aspersion cast upon his memory. For Antony gave out, that he was induced to change sides by his impatience to be with his mistress, Servilia Nais.

> Latin: 3. Reliquit filium omnibus gentis suae procul dubio praeferendum. is inter conscios Caesarianae necis quamquam insons damnatus lege Pedia, cum ad Cassium Brutumque se propinqua sibi cognatione iunctos contulisset, post utriusque interitum classem olim commissam retinuit, auxit etiam, nec nisi partibus ubique profligatis M. Antonio sponte et ingentis meriti loco tradidit. solusque omnium ex iis, qui pari lege damnati erant, restitutus in patriam amplissimos honores percucurrit; ac subinde redintegrata dissensione ciuili, eidem Antonio legatus, delatam sibi summam imperii ab iis, quos Cleopatrae pudebat, neque suscipere neque recusare fidenter propter subitam ualitudinem ausus, transiit ad Augustum et in diebus paucis obiit, nonnulla et ipse infamia aspersus. nam Antonius eum desiderio amicae Seruiliae Naidis transfugisse iactauit.

[¶3] 4. This Cneius had a son, named Domitius, who was afterwards well known as the nominal purchaser of the family property left by Augustus's will; and no less famous in his youth for his dexterity in chariot-driving, than he was afterwards for the triumphal ornaments which he obtained in the German war. But he was a man of great arrogance, prodigality, and cruelty. When he was aedile, he obliged Lucius Plancus, the censor, to give him the way; and in his praetorship, and consulship, he made Roman knights and married women act on the stage. He gave hunts of wild beasts, both in the Circus and in all the wards of the city; as also a show of gladiators; but with such barbarity, that Augustus, after privately reprimanding him, to no purpose, was obliged to restrain him by a public edict.

> Latin: 4. Ex hoc Domitius nascitur, quem emptorem familiae pecuniaeque in testamento Augusti fuisse mox uulgo notatum est, non minus aurigandi arte in adulescentia clarus quam deinde ornamentis triumphalibus ex Germanico bello. uerum arrogans, profusus, immitis censorem L. Plancum uia sibi decedere aedilis coegit; praeturae consulatusque honore equites R.Romanos matronasque ad agendum mimum produxit in scaenam. uenationes et in circo et in omnibus urbis regionibus dedit, munus etiam gladiatorium, sed tanta saeuitia, ut necesse fuerit Augusto clam frustra monitum edicto coercere.

[¶4] 5. By the elder Antonia he had Nero's father, a man of execrable character in every part of his life. During his attendance upon Caius Caesar in the East, he killed a freedman of his own, for refusing to drink as much as he ordered him. Being dismissed for this from Caesar's society, he did not mend his habits, for, in a village upon the Appian road, he suddenly whipped his horses, and drove his chariot, on purpose, over a poor boy, crushing him to pieces. At Rome, he struck out the eye of a Roman knight in the Forum, only for some free language in a dispute between them. He was likewise so fraudulent, that he not only cheated some silversmiths of the price of goods he had bought of them, but, during his praetorship, defrauded the owners of chariots in the Circensian games of the prizes due to them for their victory. His sister, jeering him for the complaints made by the leaders of the several parties, he agreed to sanction a law, "That, for the future, the prizes should be immediately paid." A little before the death of Tiberius, he was prosecuted for treason, adulteries, and incest with his sister Lepida, but escaped in the timely change of affairs, and died of a dropsy, at Pyrgi; leaving behind him his son, Nero, whom he had by Agrippina, the daughter of Germanicus.

> Latin: 5. ex Antonia maiore patrem Neronis procreauit omni parte uitae detestabilem, siquidem comes ad Orientem C. Caesaris iuuenis, occiso liberto suo, quod potare quantum iubebatur recusarat, dimissus e cohorte amicorum nihilo modestius uixit; sed et in uiae Appiae uico repente puerum citatis iumentis haud ignarus obtriuit et Romae medio foro cuidam equiti R. liberius iurganti oculum eruit; perfidiae uero tantae, ut non modo argentarios pretiis rerum coemptarum, sed et in praetura mercede palmarum aurigarios fraudauerit, notatus ob haec et sororis ioco … querentibus dominis factionum repraesentanda praemia in posterum sanxit. maiestatis quoque et adulteriorum incestique cum sorore Lepida sub excessu Tiberi reus, mutatione temporum euasit decessitque Pyrgis morbo aquae intercutis, sublato filio Nerone ex Agrippina Germanico genita.

[¶5] 6. Nero was born at Antium, nine months after the death of Tiberius, upon the eighteenth of the calends of January [15th December], just as the sun rose, so that its beams touched him before they could well reach the earth. While many fearful conjectures, in respect to his future fortune, were formed by different persons, from the circumstances of his nativity, a saying of his father, Domitius, was regarded as an ill presage, who told his friends who were congratulating him upon the occasion, "That nothing but what was detestable and pernicious to the public, could ever be produced of him and Agrippina." Another manifest prognostic of his future infelicity occurred upon his lustration day. For Caius Caesar being requested by his sister to give the child what name he thought proper—looking at his uncle, Claudius, who afterwards, when emperor, adopted Nero, he gave his: and this not seriously, but only in jest; Agrippina treating it with contempt, because Claudius at that time was a mere laughing-stock at the palace. He lost his father when he was three years old, being left heir to a third part of his estate; of which he never got possession, the whole being seized by his co-heir, Caius. His mother being soon after banished, he lived with his aunt Lepida, in a very necessitous condition, under the care of two tutors, a dancing-master and a barber. After Claudius came to the empire, he not only recovered his father's estate, but was enriched with the additional inheritance of that of his step-father, Crispus Passienus. Upon his mother's recall from banishment, he was advanced to such favour, through Nero's powerful interest with the emperor, that it was reported, assassins were employed by Messalina, Claudius's wife, to strangle him, as Britannicus's rival, whilst he was taking his noon-day repose. In addition to the story, it was said that they were frightened by a serpent, which crept from under his cushion, and ran away. The tale was occasioned by finding on his couch, near the pillow, the skin of a snake, which, by his mother's order, he wore for some time upon his right arm, inclosed in a bracelet of gold. This amulet, at last, he laid aside, from aversion to her memory; but he sought for it again in vain, in the time of his extremity.

> Latin: 6. Nero natus est Anti post VIIII. mensem quam Tiberius excessit, XVIII. Kal. Ian. tantum quod exoriente sole, paene ut radiis prius quam terra contingeretur. de genitura eius statim multa et formidulosa multis coiectantibus praesagio fuit etiam Domiti[i] patris uox, inter gratulationes amicorum negantis quicquam ex se et Agrippina nisi detestabile et malo publico nasci potuisse. eiusdem futurae infelicitatis signum euidens die lustrico extitit; nam C. Caesar, rogante sorore ut infanti quod uellet nomen daret, intuens Claudium patruum suum, a quo mox principe Nero adoptatus est, eius se dixit dare, neque ipse serio sed per iocum et aspernante Agrippina, quod tum Claudius inter ludibria aulae erat. Trimulus patrem amisit; cuius ex parte tertia heres, ne hanc quidem integram cepit correptis per coheredem Gaium uniuersis bonis. et subinde matre etiam relegata paene inops atque egens apud amitam Lepidam nutritus est sub duobus paedagogis saltatore atque tonsore. uerum Claudio imperium adepto non solum paternas opes reciperauit, sed et Crispi Passieni uitrici sui hereditate ditatus est. gratia quidem et potentia reuocatae restitutaeque matris usque eo floruit, ut emanaret in uulgus missos a Messalina uxore Claudi[i], qui eum meridiantem, quasi Britannici aemulum, strangularent. additum fabulae †ad eosdem dracone e puluino se proferente conterritos refugisse. quae fabula exorta est deprensis in lecto eius circum ceruicalia serpentis exuuiis; quas tamen aureae armillae ex uoluntate matris inclusas dextro brachio gestauit aliquamdiu ac taedio tandem maternae memoriae abiecit rursusque extremis suis rebus frustra requisiit.

[¶6] 7. When he was yet a mere boy, before he arrived at the age of puberty, during the celebration of the Circensian Games, he performed his part in the Trojan play with a degree of firmness which gained him great applause. In the eleventh year of his age, he was adopted by Claudius, and placed under the tuition of Anneus Seneca, who had been made a senator. It is said, that Seneca dreamt the night after, that he was giving a lesson to Caius Caesar. Nero soon verified his dream, betraying the cruelty of his disposition in every way he could. For he attempted to persuade his father that his brother, Britannicus, was nothing but a changeling, because the latter had saluted him, notwithstanding his adoption, by the name of, Enobarbus, as usual. When his aunt, Lepida, was brought to trial, he appeared in court as a witness against her, to gratify his mother, who persecuted the accused. On his introduction into the Forum, at the age of manhood, he gave a largess to the people and a donative to the soldiers; for the pretorian cohorts, he appointed a solemn procession under arms, and marched at the head of them with a shield in his hand; after which he went to return thanks to his father in the senate. Before Claudius, likewise, at the time he was consul, he made a speech for the Bolognese, in Latin, and for the Rhodians and people of Ilium, in Greek. He had the jurisdiction of praefect of the city, for the first time, during the Latin festival; during which the most celebrated advocates brought before him, not short and trifling causes, as is usual in that case, but trials of importance, notwithstanding they had instructions from Claudius himself to the contrary. Soon afterwards, he married Octavia, and exhibited the Circensian games, and hunting of wild beasts, in honour of Claudius.

> Latin: 7. Tener adhuc necdum matura pueritia circensibus ludis Troiam constantissime fauorabiliterque lusit. undecimo aetatis anno a Claudio adoptatus est Annaeoque Senecae iam tunc senatori in disciplinam traditus. ferunt Senecam proxima nocte uisum sibi per quietem C. Caesari praecipere, et fidem somnio Nero breui fecit prodita immanitate naturae quibus primum potuit experimentis. namque Britannicum fratrem, quod se post adoptionem Ahenobarbum ex consuetudine salutasset, ut subditiuum apud patrem arguere conatus est. amitam autem Lepidam ream testimonio coram afflixit gratificans matri, a qua rea premebatur. Deductus in forum tiro populo congiarium, militi donatiuum proposuit indictaque decursione praetorianis scutum sua manu praetulit; exin patri gratias in senatu egit. apud eundem consulem pro Bononiensibus Latine, pro Rhodis atque Iliensibus Graece uerba fecit. auspicatus est et iuris dictionem praefectus urbi sacro Latinarum, celeberrimis patronis non tralaticias, ut assolet, et breuis, sed maximas plurimasque postulationes certatim ingerentibus, quamuis interdictum a Claudio esset. nec multo post duxit uxorem Octauiam edidit que pro Claudi salute circenses et uenationem.

[¶7] 8. He was seventeen years of age at the death of that prince, and as soon as that event was made public, he went out to the cohort on guard between the hours of six and seven; for the omens were so disastrous, that no earlier time of the day was judged proper. On the steps before the palace gate, he was unanimously saluted by the soldiers as their emperor, and then carried in a litter to the camp; thence, after making a short speech to the troops, into the senate-house, where he continued until the evening; of all the immense honours which were heaped upon him, refusing but the title of FATHER OF HIS COUNTRY, on account of his youth.

> Latin: 8. Septemdecim natus annos, ut de Claudio palam factum est, inter horam sextam septimamque processit ad excubitores, cum ob totius diei diritatem non aliud auspicandi tempus accommodatius uideretur; proque Palati gradibus imperator consalutatus lectica in castra et inde raptim appellatis militibus in curiam delatus est discessitque iam uesperi, ex immensis, quibus cumulabatur, honoribus tantum patris patriae nomine recusato propter aetatem.

[¶8] 9. He began his reign with an ostentation of dutiful regard to the memory of Claudius, whom he buried with the utmost pomp and magnificence, pronouncing the funeral oration himself, and then had him enrolled amongst the gods. He paid likewise the highest honours to the memory of his father Domitius. He left the management of affairs, both public and private, to his mother. The word which he gave the first day of his reign to the tribune on guard, was, "The Best of Mothers," and afterwards he frequently appeared with her in the streets of Rome in her litter. He settled a colony at Antium, in which he placed the veteran soldiers belonging to the guards; and obliged several of the richest centurions of the first rank to transfer their residence to that place; where he likewise made a noble harbour at a prodigious expense.

> Latin: 9. Orsus hinc a pietatis ostentatione Claudium apparatissimo funere elatum laudauit et consecrauit. memoriae Domiti[i] patris honores maximos habuit. matri summam omnium rerum priuatarum publicarumque permisit. primo etiam imperii die signum excubanti tribuno dedit 'optimam matrem' ac deinceps eiusdem saepe lectica per publicum simul uectus est. Antium coloniam deduxit ascriptis ueteranis e praetorio additisque per domicilii translationem ditissimis primipilarium; ubi et portum operis sumptuosissimi fecit.

[¶9] 10. To establish still further his character, he declared, "that he designed to govern according to the model of Augustus;" and omitted no opportunity of showing his generosity, clemency, and complaisance. The more burthensome taxes he either entirely took off, or diminished. The rewards appointed for informers by the Papian law, he reduced to a fourth part, and distributed to the people four hundred sesterces a man. To the noblest of the senators who were much reduced in their circumstances, he granted annual allowances, in some cases as much as five hundred thousand sesterces; and to the pretorian cohorts a monthly allowance of corn gratis. When called upon to subscribe the sentence, according to custom, of a criminal condemned to die, "I wish," said he, "I had never learnt to read and write." He continually saluted people of the several orders by name, without a prompter. When the senate returned him their thanks for his good government, he replied to them, "It will be time enough to do so when I shall have deserved it." He admitted the common people to see him perform his exercises in the Campus Martius. He frequently declaimed in public, and recited verses of his own composing, not only at home, but in the theatre; so much to the joy of all the people,'that public prayers were appointed to be put to the gods upon that account; and the verses which had been publicly read, were, after being written in gold letters, consecrated to Jupiter Capitolinus.

> Latin: 10. Atque ut certiorem adhuc indolem ostenderet, ex Augusti praescripto imperaturum se professus, neque liberalitatis neque clementiae, ne comitatis quidem exhibendae ullam occasionem omisit. grauiora uectigalia aut aboleuit aut minuit. praemia delatorum Papiae legis ad quartas redegit. diuisis populo uiritim quadringenis nummis senatorum nobilissimo cuique, sed a re familiari destituto annua salaria et quibusdam quingena constituit, item praetorianis cohortibus frumentum menstruum gratuitum. et cum de supplicio cuiusdam capite damnati ut ex more subscriberet admoneretur: 'quam uellem,' inquit, 'nescire litteras.' omnis ordines subinde ac memoriter salutauit. agenti senatui gratias respondit: 'cum meruero.' ad campestres exercitationes suas admisit et plebem declamauitque saepius publice; recitauit et carmina, non modo domi sed et in theatro, tanta uniuersorum laetitia, ut ob recitationem supplicatio decreta sit eaque pars carminum aureis litteris Ioui Capitolino dicata.

[¶10] 11. He presented the people with a great number and variety of spectacles, as the Juvenal and Circensian games, stage-plays, and an exhibition of gladiators. In the Juvenal, he even admitted senators and aged matrons to perform parts. In the Circensian games, he assigned the equestrian order seats apart from the rest of the people, and had races performed by chariots drawn each by four camels. In the games which he instituted for the eternal duration of the empire, and therefore ordered to be called Maximi, many of the senatorian and equestrian order, of both sexes performed. A distinguished Roman knight descended on the stage by a rope, mounted on an elephant. A Roman play, likewise, composed by Afranius, was brought upon the stage. It was entitled, "The Fire;" and in it the performers were allowed to carry off, and to keep to themselves, the furniture of the house, which, as the plot of the play required, was burnt down in the theatre. Every day during the solemnity, many thousand articles of all descriptions were thrown amongst the people to scramble f6r; such as fowls of different kinds, tickets for corn, clothes, gold. silver, gems. pearls, pictures, slaves, beasts of burden, wild beasts that had been tamed; at last, ships, lots of houses, and lands, were offered as prizes in a lottery.

> Latin: 11. Spectaculorum plurima et uaria genera edidit: iuuenales, circenses, scaenicos ludos, gladiatorium munus. iuuenalibus senes quoque consulares anusque matronas recepit ad lusum. circensibus loca equiti secreta a ceteris tribuit commisitque etiam camelorum quadrigas. ludis, quos pro aeternitate imperii susceptos appellari 'maximos' uoluit, ex utroque ordine et sexu plerique ludicras partes sustinuerunt; notissimus eques R. elephanto supersidens per catadromum decucurrit; inducta Afrani togata, quae Incendium inscribitur, concessumque ut scaenici ardentis domus supellectilem diriperent ac sibi haberent; sparsa et populo missilia omnium rerum per omnes dies: singula cotidie milia auium cuiusque generis, multiplex penus, tesserae frumentariae, uestis, aurum, argentum, gemmae, margaritae, tabulae pictae, mancipia, iumenta atque etiam mansuetae ferae, nouissime naues, insulae, agri.

[¶11] 12. These games he beheld from the front of the proscenium. In the show of gladiators, which he exhibited in a wooden amphitheatre, built within a year in the district of the Campus Martius, he ordered that none should be slain, not even the condemned criminals employed in the combats. He secured four hundred senators, and six hundred Roman knights, amongst whom were some of unbroken fortunes and unblemished reputation, to act as gladiators. From the same orders, he engaged persons to encounter wild beasts, and for various other services in the theatre. He presented the public with the representation of a naval fight, upon sea-water, with huge fishes swimming in it; as also with the Pyrrhic dance, performed by certain youths, to each of whom, after the performance was over, he granted the freedom of Rome. During this diversion, a bull covered Pasiphae, concealed within a wooden statue of a cow, as many of the spectators believed. Icarus, upon his first attempt to fly, fell on the stage close to the emperor's pavilion, and bespattered him with blood. For he very seldom presided in the games, but used to view them reclining on a couch, at first through some narrow apertures, but afterwards with the Podium quite open. He was the first who instituted, in imitation of the Greeks, a trial of skill in the three several exercises of music, wrestling, and horse-racing, to be performed at Rome every five years, and which he called Neronia. Upon the dedication of his bath and gymnasium, he furnished the senate and the equestrian order with oil. He appointed as judges of the trial men of consular rank, chosen by lot, who sat with the praetors. At this time he went down into the orchestra among the senators, and received the crown for the best performance in Latin prose and verse, for which several persons of the greatest merit contended, but they unanimously yielded to him. The crown for the best performer on the harp, being likewise awarded to him by the judges, he devoutly saluted it, and ordered it to be carried to the statue of Augustus. In the gymnastic exercises, which he presented in the Septa, while they were preparing the great sacrifice of an ox, he shaved his beard for the first time, and putting it up in a casket of gold studded with pearls of great price, consecrated it to Jupiter Capitolinus. He invited the Vestal Virgins to see the wrestlers perform, because, at Olympia, the priestesses of Ceres are allowed the privilege of witnessing that exhibition.

> Latin: 12. hos ludos spectauit e proscaeni fastigio. munere, quod in amphitheatro ligneo regione Martii campi intra anni spatium fabricato dedit, neminem occidit, ne noxiorum quidem. exhibuit autem ad ferrum etiam quadringentos senatores sescentosque equites Romanos et quosdam fortunae atque existimationis integrae, ex isdem ordinibus confectores quoque ferarum et uaria harenae ministeria. exhibuit et naumachiam marina aqua innantibus beluis; item pyrrichas quasdam e numero epheborum, quibus post editam operam diplomata ciuitatis Romanae singulis optulit. inter pyrricharum argumenta taurus Pasiphaam ligneo iuuencae simulacro abditam iniit, ut multi spectantium crediderunt; Icarus primo statim conatu iuxta cubiculum eius decidit ipsumque cruore respersit. nam perraro praesidere, ceterum accubans, paruis primum foraminibus, deinde toto podio adaperto spectare consueuerat. Instituit et quinquennale certamen primus omnium Romae more Graeco triplex, musicum gymnicum equestre, quod appellauit Neronia; dedicatisque thermis atque gymnasio senatui quoque et equiti oleum praebuit. magistros toto certamini praeposuit consulares sorte, sede praetorum. deinde in orchestram senatumque descendit et orationis quidem carminisque Latini coronam, de qua honestissimus quisque contenderat, ipsorum consensu concessam sibi recepit, citharae autem a iudicibus ad se delatam adorauit ferrique ad Augusti statuam iussit. gymnico, quod in Saeptis edebat, inter buthysiae apparatum barbam primam posuit conditamque in auream pyxidem et pretiosissimis margaritis adornatam Capitolio consecrauit. ad athletarum spectaculum inuitauit et uirgines Vestales, quia Olympiae quoque Cereris sacerdotibus spectare conceditur.

[¶12] 13. Amongst the spectacles presented by him, the solemn entrance of Tiridates into the city deserves to be mentioned. This personage, who was king of Armenia, he invited to Rome by very liberal promises. But being prevented by very unfavourable weather from showing him to the people upon the day fixed by proclamation, he took the first opportunity which occurred; several cohorts being drawn up under arms, about the temples and in the forum, while he was seated on a curule chair on the rostra, in a triumphal dress, amidst the military standards and ensigns. Upon Tiridates advancing towards him, on a stage made shelving for the purpose, he permitted him to throw himself at his feet, but quickly raised him with his right hand, and kissed him. The emperor then, at the king's request, took the turban from his head, and replaced it by a crown, whilst a person of pretorian rank proclaimed in Latin the words in which the prince addressed the emperor as a suppliant. After this ceremony, the king was conducted to the theatre, where, after renewing his obeisance, Nero seated him on his right hand. Being then greeted by universal acclamation with the title of Emperor, and sending his laurel crown to the Capitol, Nero shut the temple of the two-faced Janus, as though there now existed no war throughout the Roman empire.

> Latin: 13. Non immerito inter spectacula ab eo edita et Tiridatis in urbem introitum rettulerim. quem Armeniae regem magnis pollicitationibus sollicitatum, cum destinato per edictum die ostensurus populo propter nubilum distulisset, produxit quo oportunissime potuit, dispositis circa fori templa armatis cohortibus, curuli residens apud rostra triumphantis habitu inter signa militaria atque uexilla. et primo per deuexum pulpitum subeuntem admisit ad genua adleuatumque dextra exosculatus est, dein precanti tiara[m] deducta[m] diadema inposuit, uerba supplicis interpretata praetorio uiro multitudini pronuntiante; perductum inde in theatrum ac rursus supplicantem iuxta se latere dextro conlocauit. ob quae imperator consalutatus, laurea in Capitolium lata, Ianum geminum clausit, tamquam nullo residuo bello.

[¶13] 14. He filled the consulship four times: the first for two months. the second and last for six, and the third for four; the two intermediate ones he held successively, but the others after an interval of some years between them.

> Latin: 14. Consulatus quattuor gessit: primum bimenstrem, secundum et nouissimum semenstres, tertium quadrimenstrem; medios duos continuauit, reliquos inter annua spatia uariauit.

[¶14] 15. In the administration of justice, he scarcely ever gave his decision on the pleadings before the next day, and then in writing. His manner of hearing causes was not to allow any adjournment, but to dispatch them in order as they stood. When he withdrew to consult his assessors, he did not debate the matter openly with them; but silently and privately reading over their opinions, which they gave separately in writing, he pronounced sentence from the tribunal according to his own view of the case, as if it was the opinion of the majority. -'For a long time he would not admit the sons of freedmen into the senate; and those who had been admitted by former princes, he excluded from all public offices. To supernumerary candidates he gave command in the legions, to comfort them under the delay of their hopes. The consulship he commonly conferred for six months; and one of the two consuls dying a little before the first of January, he substituted no one in his place; disliking what had been formerly done for Caninius Rebilus on such an occasion, who was consul for one day only. He allowed the triumphal honours only to those who were of quaestorian"' rank, and to some of the equestrian order; and bestowed them without regard to military service. And instead of the quaestors, whose office it properly was, he frequently ordered that the addresses, which he sent to the senate on certain occasions, should be read by the consuls.

> Latin: 15. in iuris dictione postulatoribus nisi sequenti die ac per libellos non temere respondit. cognoscendi morem eum tenuit, ut continuis actionibus omissis singillatim quaeque per uices ageret. quotiens autem ad consultandum secederet, neque in commune quicquam neque propalam deliberabat, sed et conscriptas ab uno quoque sententias tacitus ac secreto legens, quod ipsi libuisset perinde atque pluribus idem uideretur pronuntiabat. In curiam libertinorum filios diu non admisit; admissis a prioribus principibus honores denegauit. candidatos, qui supra numerum essent, in solacium dilationis ac morae legionibus praeposuit. consulatum in senos plerumque menses dedit. defunctoque circa Kal. Ian. altero e consulibus neminem substituit improbans exemplum uetus Canini Rebili uno die consulis. triumphalia ornamenta etiam quaestoriae dignitatis et nonnullis ex equestri ordine tribuit nec utique de causa militari. de quibusdam rebus orationes ad senatum missas praeterito quaestoris officio per consulem plerumque recitabat.

[¶15] 16. He devised a new style of building in the city, ordering piazzas to be erected before all houses both in the streets and detached, to give facilities from their terraces, in case of fire, for preventing it from spreading; and these he built at his own expense. He likewise designed to extend the city walls as far as Ostia, and bring the sea from thence by a canal into the old city. Many severe regulations and new orders were made in his time. A sumptuary law was enacted. Public suppers were limited to the Sportulae; and victualling-houses restrained from selling any dressed victuals, except pulse and herbs, whereas before they sold all kinds of meat. He likewise inflicted punishments on the Christians, a sort of people who held a new and impious superstition. He forbad the revels of the charioteers, who had long assumed a licence to stroll about, and established for themselves a kind of prescriptive right to cheat and thieve, making a jest of it. The partisans of the rival theatrical performers were banished, as well as the actors themselves.

> Latin: 16. formam aedificiorum urbis nouam excogitauit et ut ante insulas ac domos porticus essent, de quarum solariis incendia arcerentur; easque sumptu suo extruxit. destinarat etiam Ostia tenus moenia promouere atque inde fossa mare ueteri urbi inducere. Multa sub eo et animaduersa seuere et coercita nec minus instituta: adhibitus sumptibus modus; publicae cenae ad sportulas redactae; interdictum ne quid in popinis cocti praeter legumina aut holera ueniret, cum antea nullum non obsonii genus proponeretur; afflicti suppliciis Christiani, genus hominum superstitionis nouae ac maleficae; uetiti quadrigariorum lusus, quibus inueterata licentia passim uagantibus fallere ac furari per iocum ius erat; pantomimorum factiones cum ipsis simul relegatae;

[¶16] 17. To prevent forgery, a method was then first invented, of having writings bored, run through three times with a thread, and then sealed. It was likewise provided that in wills, the two first pages, with only the testator's name upon them, should be presented blank to those who were to sign them as witnesses; and that no one who wrote a will for another, should insert any legacy for himself. It was likewise ordained that clients should pay their advocates a certain reasonable fee, but nothing for the court, which was to be gratuitous, the charges for it being paid out of the public treasury; that causes, the cognizance of which before belonged to the judges of the exchequer, should be transferred to the forum, and the ordinary tribunals; and that all appeals from the judges should be made to the senate.

> Latin: 17. aduersus falsarios tunc primum repertum, ne tabulae nisi pertusae ac ter lino per foramina traiecto obsignarentur; cautum ut testamentis primae duae cerae testatorum modo nomine inscripto uacuae signaturis ostenderentur, ac ne qui alieni testamenti scriptor legatum sibi ascriberet; item ut litigatores pro patrociniis certam iustamque mercedem, pro subsellis nullam omnino darent praebente aerario gratuita; utque rerum actu ab aerario causae ad forum ac reciperatores transferrentur et ut omnes appellationes a iudicibus ad senatum fierent.

[¶17] 18. He never entertained the least ambition or hope of augmenting and extending the frontiers of the empire. On the contrary, he had thoughts of withdrawing the troops from Britain, and was only restrained from so doing by the fear of appearing to detract from the glory of his father. All that he did was to reduce the kingdom of Pontus, which was ceded to him by Polemon, and also the Alps, upon the death of Cottius, into the form of a province.

> Latin: 18. Augendi propagandique imperii neque uoluntate ulla neque spe motus umquam, etiam ex Britannia deducere exercitum cogitauit, nec nisi uerecundia, ne obtrectare parentis gloriae uideretur, destitit. Ponti modo regnum concedente Polemone, item Alpium defuncto Cottio in prouinciae formam redegit.

[¶18] 19. Twice only he undertook any foreign expeditions, one to Alexandria, and the other to Achaia; but he abandoned the prosecution of the former on the very day fixed for his departure, by being deterred both by ill omens, and the hazard of the voyage. For while he was making the circuit of the temples, having seated himself in that of Vesta, when he attempted to rise, the skirt of his robe stuck fast; and he was instantly seized with such a dimness in his eyes, that he could not see a yard before him. In Achaia, he attempted to make a cut through the Isthmus; and, having made a speech encouraging his pretorians to set about the work, on a signal given by sound of trumpet, he first broke ground with a spade, and carried off a basket full of earth upon his shoulders. He made preparations for an expedition to the Pass of the Caspian mountains; forming a new legion out of his late levies in Italy, of men all six feet high, which he called the phalanx of Alexander the Great. These transactions, in part unexceptionable, and in part highly commendable, I have brought into one view, in order to separate them from the scandalous and criminal part of his conduct, of which I shall now give an account.

> Latin: 19. Peregrinationes duas omnino suscepit, Alexandrinam et Achaicam; sed Alexandrina ipso profectionis die destitit turbatus religione simul ac periculo. nam cum circumitis templis in aede Vestae resedisset, consurgenti ei primum lacinia obhaesit, dein tanta oborta caligo est, ut dispicere non posset. in Achaia Isthmum perfodere adgressus praetorianos pro contione ad incohandum opus cohortatus est tubaque signo dato primus rastello humum effodit et corbulae congestam umeris extulit. parabat et ad Caspias portas expeditionem conscripta ex Italicis senum pedum tironibus noua legione, quam Magni Alexandri phalanga appellabat. Haec partim nulla reprehensione, partim etiam non mediocri laude digna in unum contuli, ut secernerem a probris ac sceleribus eius, de quibus dehinc dicam.

[¶19] 20. Among the other liberal arts which he was taught in his youth, he was instructed in music; and immediately after his advancement to the empire, he sent for Terpnus, a performer upon the harp, who flourished at that time with the highest reputation. Sitting with him for several days following, as he sang and played after supper, until late at night, he began by degrees to practise upon the instrument himself. Nor did he omit any of those expedients which artists in music adopt, for the preservation and improvement of their voices. He would lie upon his back with a sheet of lead upon his breast, clear his stomach and bowels by vomits and clysters, and forbear the eating of fruits, or food prejudicial to the voice. Encouraged by his proficiency, though his voice was neither loud nor clear, he was desirous of appearing upon the stage, frequently repeating amongst his friends a Greek proverb to this effect: " that no one had any regard for music which they never heard." Accordingly, he made his first public appearance at Naples; and although the theatre quivered with the sudden shock of an earthquake, he did not desist, until he had finished the piece of music he had begun. He played and sung in the same place several times, and for several days together; taking only now and then a little respite to refresh his voice. Impatient of retirement, it was his custom to go from the bath to the theatre; and after dining in the orchestra, amidst a crowded assembly of the people, he promised them in Greek, "that after he had drank a little, he would give them a tune which would make their ears tingle." Being highly pleased with the songs that were sung in his praise by some Alexandrians belonging to the fleet just arrived at Naples, he sent for more of the like singers from Alexandria. At the same time, he chose young men of the equestrian order, and above five thousand robust young fellows from the common people, on purpose to learn various kinds of applause, called bombi, imbrices, and testae, which they were to practice in his favour, whenever he performed. They were divided into several parties, and were remarkable for their fine heads of hair, and were extremely well dressed, with rings upon their left hands. The leaders of these bands had salaries of forty thousand sesterces allowed them.

> Latin: 20. Inter ceteras disciplinas pueritiae tempore imbutus et musica, statim ut imperium adeptus est, Terpnum citharoedum uigentem tunc praeter alios arcessiit diebusque continuis post cenam canenti in multam noctem assidens paulatim et ipse meditari exercerique coepit neque eorum quicquam omittere, quae generis eius artifices uel conseruandae uocis causa uel augendae factitarent; sed et plumbeam chartam supinus pectore sustinere et clystere uomituque purgari et abstinere pomis cibisque officientibus; donec blandiente profectu, quamquam exiguae uocis et fuscae, prodire in scaenam concupiit, subinde inter familiares Graecum prouerbium iactans occultae musicae nullum esse respectum. et prodit Neapoli primum ac ne concusso quidem repente motu terrae theatro ante cantare destitit, quam incohatum absolueret nomon. ibidem saepius et per complures cantauit dies; sumpto etiam ad reficiendam uocem breui tempore, impatiens secreti a balineis in theatrum transiit mediaque in orchestra frequente populo epulatus, si paulum subbibisset, aliquid se sufferi tinniturum Graeco sermone promisit. captus autem modulatis Alexandrinorum laudationibus, qui de nouo commeatu Neapolim confluxerant, plures Alexandria euocauit. neque eo segnius adulescentulos equestris ordinis et quinque amplius milia e plebe robustissimae iuuentutis undique elegit, qui diuisi in factiones plausuum genera condiscerent — bombos et imbrices et testas uocabant — operamque nauarent cantanti sibi, insignes pinguissima coma et excellentissimo cultu, pu[e]ris ac sine anulo laeuis, quorum duces quadringena milia sestertia merebant.

[¶20] 21. At Rome also, being extremely proud of his singing, he ordered the games called Neronia to be celebrated before the time fixed for their return. All now becoming importunate to hear "his heavenly voice," he informed them, "that he would gratify those who desired it at the gardens." But the soldiers then on guard seconding the voice of the people, he promised to comply with their request immediately, and with all his heart. He instantly ordered his name to be entered upon the list of musicians who proposed to contend, and having thrown his lot into the urn among the rest, took his turn, and entered, attended by the prefects of the pretorian cohorts bearing his harp, and followed by the military tribunes, and several of his intimate friends. After he had taken his station, and made the usual prelude, he commanded Cluvius Rufus, a man of consular rank, to proclaim in the theatre, that he intended to sing the story of Niobe. This he accordingly did, and continued it until nearly ten o'clock, but deferred the disposal of the crown, and the remaining part of the solemnity, until the next year; that he might have more frequent opportunities of performing. But that being too long, he could not refrain from often appearing as a public performer during the interval. He made no scruple of exhibiting on the stage, even in the spectacles presented to the people by private persons, and was offered by one of the praetors, no less than a million of sesterces for his services. He likewise sang tragedies in a mask; the visors of the heroes and gods, as also of the heroines and goddesses, being formed into a resemblance of his own face, and that of any woman he was in love with. Amongst the rest, he sung "Canace in Labour," "Orestes the Murderer of his Mother," "Oedipus Blinded," and "Hercules Mad." In the last tragedy, it is said that a young sentinel, posted at the entrance of the stage, seeing him in a prison dress and bound with fetters, as the fable of the play required, ran to his assistance.

> Latin: 21. Cum magni aestimaret cantare etiam Romae, Neroneum agona ante praestitutam diem reuocauit flagitantibusque cunctis caelestem uocem respondit quidem in hortis se copiam uolentibus facturum, sed adiuuante uulgi preces etiam statione militum, quae tunc excubabat, repraesentaturum se pollicitus est libens; ac sine mora nomen suum in albo profitentium citharoedorum iussit ascribi sorticulaque in urnam cum ceteris demissa intrauit ordine suo, simul praefecti praetorii citharam sustinentes, post tribuni militum iuxtaque amicorum intimi. utque constitit, peracto principio, Niobam se cantaturum per Cluuium Rufum consularem pronuntiauit et in horam fere decimam perseuerauit coronamque eam et reliquam certaminis partem in annum sequentem distulit, ut saepius canendi occasio esset. quod cum tardum uideretur, non cessauit identidem se publicare. dubitauit etiam an priuatis spectaculis operam inter scaenicos daret quodam praetorum sestertium decies offerente. tragoedias quoque cantauit personatus heroum deorumque, item heroidum ac dearum, personis effectis ad similitudinem oris sui et feminae, prout quamque diligeret. inter cetera cantauit Canac[h]en parturientem, Oresten matricidam, Oedipodem excaecatum, Herculem insanum. in qua fabula fama est tirunculum militem positum ad custodiam aditus, cum eum ornari ac uinciri catenis, sicut argumentum postulabat, uideret, accurrisse ferendae opis gratia.

[¶21] 22. He had from his childhood an extravagant passion for horses; and his constant talk was of the Circensian races, notwithstanding it was prohibited him. Lamenting once, among his fellow-pupils, the case of a charioteer of the green party, who was dragged round the circus at the tail of his chariot, and being reprimanded by his tutor for it, he pretended that he was talking of Hector. In the beginning of his reign, he used to amuse himself daily with chariots drawn by four horses, made of ivory, upon a table. He attended at all the lesser exhibitions in the circus, at first privately, but at last openly; so that nobody ever doubted of his presence on any particular day. Nor did he conceal his desire to have the number of the prizes doubled; so that the races being increased accordingly, the diversion continued until a late hour; the leaders of parties refusing now to bring out their companies for any time less than the whole day. Upon this, he took a fancy for driving the chariot himself, and that even publicly. Having made his first experiment in the gardens, amidst crowds of slaves and other rabble, he at length performed in the view of all the people, in the Circus Maximus, whilst one of his freedmen dropped the napkin in the place where the magistrates used to give the signal. Not satisfied with exhibiting various specimens of his skill in those arts at Rome, he went over to Achaia, as has been already said, principally for this purpose. The several cities, in which solemn trials of musical skill used to be publicly held, had resolved to send him the crowns belonging to those who bore away the prize. These he accepted so graciously, that he not only gave the deputies who brought them an immediate audience, but even invited them to his table. Being requested by some of them to sing at supper, and prodigiously applauded, he said, "the Greeks were the only people who had an ear for music, and were the only good judges of him and his attainments." Without delay he commenced his journey, and on his arrival at Cassiope, exhibited his first musical performance before the altar of Jupiter Cassius.

> Latin: 22. Equorum studio uel praecipue ab ineunte aetate flagrauit plurimusque illi sermo, quanquam uetaretur, de circensibus erat; et quondam tractum prasini agitatorem inter condiscipulos querens, obiurgante paedagogo, de Hectore se loqui ementitus est. sed cum inter initia imperii eburneis quadrigis cotidie in abaco luderet, ad omnis etiam minimos circenses e secessu commeabat, primo clam, deinde propalam, ut nemini dubium esset eo die utique affuturum. neque dissimulabat uelle se palmarum numerum ampliari; quare spectaculum multiplicatis missibus in serum protrahebatur, ne dominis quidem iam factionum dignantibus nisi ad totius diei cursum greges ducere. mox et ipse aurigare atque etiam spectari saepius uoluit positoque in hortis inter seruitia et sordidam plebem rudimento uniuersorum se oculis in circo maximo praebuit, aliquo liberto mittente mappam unde magistratus solent. nec contentus harum artium experimenta Romae dedisse, Achaiam, ut diximus, petit hinc maxime motus. instituerant ciuitates, apud quas musici agones edi solent, omnes citharoedorum coronas ad ipsum mittere. eas adeo grate recipiebat, ut legatos, qui pertulissent, non modo primos admitteret, sed etiam familiaribus epulis interponeret. a quibusdam ex his rogatus ut cantaret super cenam, exceptusque effusius, solos scire audire Graecos solosque se et studiis suis dignos ait. nec profectione dilata, ut primum Cassiopen traiecit, statim ad aram Iouis Cassii cantare auspicatus certamina deinceps obiit omnia.

## 2. Chapters 23–37

Source: https://scriptura.si/works/suetonius-nero/2/ · cite a paragraph as https://scriptura.si/works/suetonius-nero/2/#p-N

[¶0] 23. He afterwards appeared at the celebrarion of all public games in Greece: for such as fell in different years, he brought within the compass of one, and some he ordered to be celebrated a second time in the same year. At Olympia, likewise, contrary to custom, he appointed a public performance of music: and that he might meet with no interruption in this employment, when he was informed by his freedman Helius, that affairs at Rome required his presence, he wrote to him in these words: "Though now all your hopes and wishes are for my speedy return, yet you ought rather to advise and hope that I may come back with a character worthy of Nero. During the time of his musical performance, nobody was allowed to stir out of the theatre upon any account, hoever necessary; insomuch, that it is said some women with child were delivered there. Many of the spectators being quite wearied with hearing and applauding him, because the town gates were shut, slipped privately over the walls; or counterfeiting themselves dead, were carried out for their funeral. With what extreme anxiety he engaged in these contests, with what keen desire to bear away the prize, and with how much awe of the judges, as scarcely to be believed. As if his adversaries had been on a level with himself he would watch them narrowly, defame them privately, and sometimes, upon meeting them, rail at them in very scurrilous language; or bribe them, if they were better performers than himself, He always addressed the judges with the most profound reverence before he began, telling them, "he had done all things that were necessary, by way of preparation, but that the issue of the approaching trial was in the hand of fortune; and that they, as wise and skilful men, ought to exclude from their judgment things merely accidental." Upon their encouraging him to have a good heart, he went off with more assurance, but not entirely free from anxiety; interpreting the silence and modesty of some of them into sourness and ill-nature, and saying that he was suspicious of them.

> Latin: 23. nam et quae diuersissimorum temporum sunt, cogi in unum annum, quibusdam etiam iteratis, iussit et Olympiae quoque praeter consuetudinem musicum agona commisit. ac ne quid circa haec occupatum auocaret detineretue, cum praesentia eius urbicas res egere a liberto Helio admoneretur, rescripsit his uerbis: quamuis nunc tuum consilium sit et uotum celeriter reuerti me, tamen suadere et optare potius debes, ut Nerone dignus reuertar. Cantante eo ne necessaria quidem causa excedere theatro licitum est. itaque et enixae quaedam in spectaculis dicuntur et multi taedio audiendi laudandique clausis oppidorum portis aut furtim desiluisse de muro aut morte simulata funere elati. quam autem trepide anxieque certauerit, quanta aduersariorum aemulatione, quo metu iudicum, uix credi potest. aduersarios, quasi plane condicionis eiusdem, obseruare, captare, infamare secreto, nonnumquam ex occursu maledictis incessere ac, si qui arte praecellerent, conrumpere etiam solebat. iudices autem prius quam inciperet reuerentissime adloquebatur, omnia se facienda fecisse, sed euentum in manu esse Fortunae; illos ut sapientis et doctos uiros fortuita debere excludere; atque, ut auderet hortantibus, aequiore animo recedebat, ac ne sic quidem sine sollicitudine, taciturnitatem pudoremque quorundam pro tristitia et malignitate arguens suspectosque sibi dicens in certando uero ita legi oboediebat, ut numquam excreare ausus sudorem quoque frontis brachio detergeret;

[¶1] 24. In these contests, he adhered so strictly to the rules, that he never durst spit, nor wipe the sweat from his forehead in any other way than with his sleeve. Having, in the performance of a tragedy, dropped his sceptre, and not quickly recovering it, he was in a great fright, lest he should be set aside for the miscarriage, and could not regain his assurance, until an actor who stood by swore he was certain it had not been observed in the midst of the acclamations and exultations of the people. When the prize was adjudged to him, he always proclaimed it himself; and even entered the list with the heralds. That no memory or the least monument might remain of any other victor in the sacred Grecian games, he ordered all their statues and pictures to be pulled down, dragged away with hooks, and thrown into the common sewers. He drove the chariot with various numbers of horses, and at the Olympic games with no fewer than ten; though, in a poem of his, he had reflected upon Mithridates for that innovation. Being thrown out of his chariot, he was again replaced, but could not retain his seat, and was obliged to give it up, before he reached the goal, but was crowned notwithstanding. On his departure he declared the whole province a free country, and conferred upon the judges in the several games the freedom of Rome, with large sums of money. All these favours he proclaimed himself with his own voice, from the middle of the Stadium, during the solemnity of the Isthmian games.

> Latin: 24. atque etiam in tragico quodam actu, cum elapsum baculum cito resumpsisset, pauidus et metuens ne ob delictum certamine summoueretur, non aliter confirmatus est quam adiurante hypocrita non animaduersum id inter exultationes succlamationesque populi. uictorem autem se ipse pronuntiabat; qua de causa et praeconio ubique contendit. ac ne cuius alterius hieronicarum memoria aut uestigium extaret usquam, subuerti et unco trahi abicique in latrinas omnium statuas et imagines imperauit. aurigauit quoque plurifariam, Olympiis uero etiam decemiugem, quamuis id ipsum in rege Mithradate carmine quodam suo reprehendisset; sed excussus curru ac rursus repositus, cum perdurare non posset, destitit ante decursum; neque eo setius coronatus est. decedens deinde prouinciam uniuersam libertate donauit simulque iudices ciuitate Romana et pecunia grandi. quae beneficia e medio stadio Isthmiorum die sua ipse uoce pronuntiauit.

[¶2] 25. On his return from Greece, arriving at Naples, because he had commenced his career as a public performer in that city, he made his entrance in a chariot drawn by white horses through a breach in the city-wall, according to the practice of those who were victorious in the sacred Grecian games. In the same manner he entered Antium, Alba, and Rome. He made his entry into the city riding in the same chariot in which Augustus had triumphed, in a purple tunic, and a cloak embroidered with golden stars, having on his head the crown won at Olympia, and in his right hand that which was given him at the Parthian games: the rest being carried in a procession before him, with inscriptions denoting the places where they had been won, from whom, and in what plays or musical performances; whilst a train followed him with loud acclamations, crying out, that "they were the emperor's attendants, and the soldiers of his triumph." Having then caused an arch of the Circus Maximus to be taken down, he passed through the breach, as also through the Velabrum and the forum, to the Palatine hill and the temple of Apollo. Every where as he marched along, victims were slain, whilst the streets were strewed with saffron, and birds, chaplets, and sweetmeats scattered abroad. He suspended the sacred crowns in his chamber, about his beds, and caused statues of himself to be erected in the attire of a harper, and had his likeness stamped upon the coin in the same dress. After this period, he was so far from abating any thing of his application to music, that, for the preservation of his voice, he never addressed the soldiers but by messages, or with some person to deliver his speeches for him, when he thought fit to make his appearance amongst them. Nor did he ever do any thing either in jest or earnest, without a voice-master standing by him to caution him against overstraining his vocal organs, and to apply a handkerchief to his mouth when he did. He offered his friendship, or avowed open enmity to many, according as they were lavish or sparing in giving him their applause.

> Latin: 25. Reuersus e Graecia Neapolim, quod in ea primum artem protulerat, albis equis introiit disiecta parte muri, ut mos hieronicarum est; simili modo Antium, inde Albanum, inde Romam; sed et Romam eo curru, quo Augustus olim triumphauerat, et in ueste purpurea distinctaque stellis aureis chlamyde coronamque capite gerens Olympiacam, dextra manu Pythiam, praeeunte pompa ceterarum cum titulis, ubi et quos quo cantionum quoue fabularum argumento uicisset; sequentibus currum ouantium ritu plausoribus, Augustianos militesque se triumphi eius clamitantibus. dehinc diruto circi maximi arcu per Velabrum forumque Palatium et Apollinem petit. incedenti passim uictimae caesae sparso per uias identidem croco ingestaeque aues ac lemnisci et bellaria. sacras coronas in cubiculis circum lectos posuit, item statuas suas citharoedico habitu, qua nota etiam nummum percussit ac post haec tantum afuit a remittendo laxandoque studio, ut conseruandae uocis gratia neque milites umquam, nisi absens aut alio uerba pronuntiante, appellaret neque quicquam serio iocoue egerit, nisi astante phonasco, qui moneret parceret arteriis ac sudarium ad os applicaret; multisque uel amicitiam suam optulerit uel simultatem indixerit, prout quisque se magis parciusue laudasset.

[¶3] 26. Petulancy, lewdness, luxury, avarice, and cruelty, he practised at first with reserve and in private, as if prompted to them only by the folly of youth, but, even then, the world was of opinion that they were the faults of his nature, and not of his age. After it was dark, he used to enter the taverns disguised in a cap or a wig, and ramble about the streets in sport, which was not void of mischief. He used to beat those he met coming home from supper; and, if they made any resistance, would wound them, and throw them into the common-sewer. He broke open and robbed shops; establishing an auction at home for selling his booty. In the scuffles which took place on those occasions, he often ran the hazard of losing his eyes, and even his life; being beaten almost to death by a senator, for handling his wife indecently. After this adventure, he never again ventured abroad at that time of night, without some tribunes following him at a little distance. In the day-time he would be carried to the theatre incognito in a litter, placing himself upon the upper part of the proscenium, where he not only witnessed the quarrels which arose on account of the performances, but also encouraged them. When they came to blows, and stones and pieces of broken benches began to fly about, he threw them plentifully amongst the people, and once even broke a praetor's head.

> Latin: 26. Petulantiam, libidinem, luxuriam, auaritiam, crudelitatem sensim quidem primo et occulte et uelut iuuenili errore exercuit, sed ut tunc quoque dubium nemini foret naturae illa uitia, non aetatis esse. post crepusculum statim adrepto pilleo uel galero popinas inibat circumque uicos uagabatur ludibundus nec sine pernicie tamen, siquidem redeuntis a cena uerberare ac repugnantes uulnerare cloacisque demergere assuerat, tabernas etiam effringere et expilare; quintana domi constituta, ubi partae et ad licitationem diuidendae praedae pretium absumeretur. ac saepe in eius modi rixis oculorum et uitae periculum adiit, a quodam laticlauio, cuius uxorem adtrectauerat, prope ad necem caesus. quare numquam postea publico se illud horae sine tribunis commisit procul et occulte subsequentibus. interdiu quoque clam gestatoria sella delatus in theatrum seditionibus pantomimorum e parte proscaeni superiore signifer simul ac spectator aderat; et cum ad manus uentum esset lapidibusque et subselliorum fragminibus decerneretur, multa et ipse iecit in populum atque etiam praetoris caput consauciauit.

[¶4] 27. His vices gaining strength by degrees, he laid aside his jocular amusements, and all disguise; breaking out into enormous crimes, without the least attempt to conceal them. His revels were prolonged from mid-day to midnight, while he was frequently refreshed by warm baths, and, in the summer time, by such as were cooled with snow. He often supped in public, in the Naumachia, with the sluices shut, or in the Campus Martius, or the Circus Maximus, being waited upon at table by common prostitutes of the town, and Syrian strumpets and gleegirls. As often as he went down the Tiber to Ostia, or coasted through the gulf of Baiae, booths furnished as brothels and eating-houses, were erected along the shore and river banks; before which stood matrons, who, like bawds and hostesses, allured him to land. It was also his custom to invite himself to supper with his friends: at one of which was expended no less than four millions of sesterces in chaplets, and at another something more in roses.

> Latin: 27. paulatim uero inualescentibus uitiis iocularia et latebras omisit nullaque dissimulandi cura ad maiora palam erupit. Epulas a medio die ad mediam noctem protrahebat, refotus saepius calidis piscinis ac tempore aestiuo niuatis; cenitabatque nonnumquam et in publico, naumachia praeclusa uel Martio campo uel circo maximo, inter scortorum totius urbis et ambubaiarum ministeria. quotiens Ostiam Tiberi deflueret aut Baianum sinum praeternauigaret, dispositae per litora et ripas deuersoriae tabernae parabantur insignes ganea[e] et matronarum institorio copas imitantium atque hinc inde hortantium ut appelleret. indicebat et familiaribus cenas, quorum uni mitellita quadragies sestertium constitit, alteri pluris aliquanto rosaria.

[¶5] 28. Besides the debauch of married women, he comnmitted rape upon Rubria, a Vestal Virgin. He was upon the point of marrying Acte, his freedwoman, having suborned some men of consular rank to swear that she was of royal descent. That he entertained an incestuous passion for his mother, but was deterred by her enemies, for fear that this haughty and overbearing woman should, by her compliance, get him entirely into her power, and govern in every thing, was universally believed; especially after he had introduced amongst his concubines a strumpet, who was reported to have a strong resemblance to Agrippina. He thought there was no other use of riches and money than to squander them away profusely; regarding all those as sordid wretches who kept their expenses within due bounds, and extolling those as truly noble and generous souls, who lavished away and wasted all they possessed. He praised and admired his uncle Caius upon no account more, than for squandering in a short time the vast treasure left him by Tiberius. Accordingly, he was himself extravagant and profuse, beyond all bounds. He spent upon Tiridates eight hundred thousand sesterces a day, a sum almost incredible; and at his departure, presented him with upwards of a million. He likewise bestowed upon Menecrates the harper, and Spicillus a gladiator, the estates and houses of men who had received the honour of a triumph. He enriched the usurer Cercopithecus Panerotes with estates both in town and country; and gave him a funeral, in pomp and magnificence little inferior to that of princes. He never wore the same garment twice. He has been known to stake four hundred thousand sesterces on a throw of the dice. It was his custom to fish with a golden net, drawn by silken cords of purple and scarlet. It is said, that he never travelled with less than a thousand baggage-carts; the mules being all shod with silver, and the drivers dressed in scarlet jackets of the finest Canusian cloth, with a numerous train of footmen, and troops of Mazacans, with bracelets on their arms, and mounted upon horses in splendid trappings.

> Latin: 28. Super ingenuorum paedagogia et nuptarum concubinatus Vestali uirgini Rubriae uim intulit. Acten libertam paulum afuit quin iusto sibi matrimonio coniungeret, summissis consularibus uiris qui regio genere ortam peierarent. puerum Sporum exectis testibus etiam in muliebrem naturam transfigurare conatus cum dote et flammeo per sollemnia nuptiarum celeberrimo officio deductum ad se pro uxore habuit; extatque cuiusdam non inscitus iocus bene agi potuisse cum rebus humanis, si Domitius pater talem habuisset uxorem. hunc Sporum, Augustarum ornamentis excultum lecticaque uectum, et circa conuentus mercatusque Graeciae ac mox Romae circa Sigillaria comitatus est identidem exosculans. nam matris concubitum appetisse et ab obtrectatoribus eius, ne ferox atque impotens mulier et hoc genere gratiae praeualeret, deterritum nemo dubitauit, utique postquam meretricem, quam fama erat Agrippinae simillimam, inter concubinas recepit. olim etiam quotiens lectica cum matre ueheretur, libidinatum inceste ac maculis uestis proditum affirmant. Suam quidem pudicitiam usque adeo prostituit, ut contaminatis paene omnibus membris nouissime quasi genus lusus excogitaret, quo ferae pelle contectus emitteretur e cauea uirorumque ac feminarum ad stipitem deligatorum inguina inuaderet et, cum affatim desaeuisset, conficeretur a Doryphoro liberto; cui etiam, sicut ipsi Sporus, ita ipse denupsit, uoces quoque et heiulatus uim patientium uirginum imitatus. ex nonnullis comperi persuasissimum habuisse eum neminem hominem pudicum aut ulla corporis parte purum esse, uerum plerosque dissimulare uitium et callide optegere; ideoque professis apud se obscaenitatem cetera quoque concessisse delicta. Diuitiarum et pecuniae fructum non alium putabat quam profusionem, sordidos ac deparcos esse quibus impensarum ratio constaret, praelautos uereque magnificos qui abuterentur ac perderent. laudabat mirabaturque auunculum Gaium nullo magis nomine, quam quod ingentis a Tiberio relictas opes in breui spatio prodegisset. quare nec largiendi nec absumendi modum tenuit. in Tiridatem, quod uix credibile uideatur, octingena nummum milia diurna erogauit abeuntique super sestertium milies contulit. Menecraten citharoedum et Spiculum murmillonem triumphalium uirorum patrimoniis aedibusque donauit. cercopithecum Panerotem faeneratorem et urbanis rusticisque praediis locupletatum prope regio extulit funere. nullam uestem bis induit. quadringenis in punctum sestertiis aleam lusit. piscatus est rete aurato et purpura coccoque funibus nexis. numquam minus mille carrucis fecisse iter traditur, soleis mularum argenteis, canusinatis mulionibus, armillata phalerataque Mazacum turba atque cursorum.

[¶6] 31. In nothing was he more prodigal than in his buildings. He completed his palace by continuing it from the Palatine to the Esquiline hill, calling the building at first only "The Passage," but after it was burnt down and rebuilt, "The Golden House. Of its dimensions and furniture, it may be sufficient to say thus much: the porch was so high that there stood in it a colossal statue of himself a hundred and twenty feet in height; and the space included in it was so ample, that it had triple porticos a mile in length, and a lake like a sea, surrounded with buildings which had the appearance of a city. Within its area were corn fields, vineyards, pastures, and woods, containing a vast number of animals of various kinds, both wild and tame. In other parts it was entirely over-laid with gold, and adorned with jewels and mother of pearl. The supper rooms were vaulted, and compartments of the ceilings, inlaid with ivory, were made to revolve, and scatter flowers; while they contained pipes which shed unguents upon the guests. The chief banqueting room was circular, and revolved perpetually, night and day, in imitation of the motion of the celestial bodies. The baths were supplied with water from the sea and the Albula. Upon the dedication of this magnificent house after it was finished, all he said in approval of it was, "that he had now a dwelling fit for a man." He commenced making a pond for the reception of all the hot springs from Baiae, which he designed to have continued from Misenum to the Avernian lake, in a conduit, enclosed in galleries: and also a canal from Avernum to Ostia, that ships might pass from one to the other, without a sea voyage. The length of the proposed canal was one hundred and sixty miles; and it was intended to be of breadth sufficient to permit ships with five banks of oars to pass each other. For the execution of these designs, he ordered all prisoners, in every part of the empire, to be brought to Italy; and that even those who were convicted of the most heinous crimes, in lieu of any other sentence, should be condemned to work at them. He was encouraged to all this wild and enormous profu sion, not only by the great revenue of the empire, but by the sudden hopes given him of an immense hidden treasure, which queen Dido, upon her flight from Tyre, had brought with her to Africa. This, a Roman knight pretended to assure him, upon good grounds, was still hid there in some deep caverns, and might with a little labour be recovered.

> Latin: 31. Non in alia re tamen damnosior quam in aedificando domum a Palatio Esquilias usque fecit, quam primo transitoriam, mox incendio absumptam restitutamque auream nominauit. de cuius spatio atque cultu suffecerit haec rettulisse. uestibulum eius fuit, in quo colossus CXX pedum staret ipsius effigie; tanta laxitas, ut porticus triplices miliarias haberet; item stagnum maris instar, circumsaeptum aedificiis ad urbium speciem; rura insuper aruis atque uinetis et pascuis siluisque uaria, cum multitudine omnis generis pecudum ac ferarum. in ceteris partibus cuncta auro lita, distincta gemmis unionumque conchis erant; cenationes laqueatae tabulis eburneis uersatilibus, ut flores, fistulatis, ut unguenta desuper spargerentur; praecipua cenationum rotunda, quae perpetuo diebus ac noctibus uice mundi circumageretur; balineae marinis et albulis fluentes aquis. eius modi domum cum absolutam dedicaret, hactenus comprobauit, ut se diceret quasi hominem tandem habitare coepisse. Praeterea incohabat piscinam a Miseno ad Auernum lacum contectam porticibusque conclusam, quo quidquid totis Bais calidarum aquarum esset conuerteretur; fossam ab Auerno Ostiam usque, ut nauibus nec tamen mari iretur, longitudinis per centum sexaginta milia, latitudinis, qua contrariae quinqueremes commearent. quorum operum perficiendorum gratia quod ubique esset custodiae in Italiam deportari, etiam scelere conuictos non nisi ad opus damnari praeceperat. Ad hunc impendiorum furorem, super fiduciam imperii, etiam spe quadam repentina immensarum et reconditarum opum impulsus est ex indicio equitis R.Romani pro comperto pollicentis thesauros antiquissimae gazae, quos Dido regina fugiens Tyro secum extulisset, esse in Africa uastissimis specubus abditos ac posse erui paruula molientium opera.

[¶7] 32. But being disappointed in his expectations of this resource, and reduced to such difficulties, for want of money, that he was obliged to defer paying his troops, and the rewards due to the veterans: he resolved upon supplying his necessities by means of false accusations and plunder. In the first place, he ordered, that if any freedman, without sufficient reason, bore the name of the family to which he belonged; the half instead of three fourths, of his estate should be brought into the exchequer at his decease: also that the estates of all such persons as had not in their wills been mindful of their prince, should be confiscated; and that the lawyers who had drawn or dictated such wills, should be liable to a fine. He ordained likewise, that all words and actions, upon which any informer could ground a prosecution, should be deemed treason. He demanded an equivalent for the crowns which the cities of Greece had at any time offered him in the solemn games. Having forbad any one to use the colours of amethyst and Tyrian purple, he privately sent a person to sell a few ounces of them upon the day of the Nundinae, and then shut up all the merchants' shops, on the pretext that his edict had been violated. It is said, that, as he was playing and singing in the theatre, observing a married lady dressed in the purple which he had prohibited, he pointed her out to his procurators; upon which she was immediately dragged out of her seat, and not only stripped of her clothes, but her property. He never nominated a person to any office without saying to him, "You know what I want: and let us take care that nobody has anything he can call his own." At last he rifled many temples of the rich offerings with which they were stored, and melted down all the gold and silver statues, and amongst them those of the penates, which Galba afterwards restored.

> Latin: 32. uerum ut spes fefellit, destitutus atque ita iam exhaustus et egens ut stipendia quoque militum et commoda ueteranorum protrahi ac differri necesse esset, calumniis rapinisque intendit animum. Ante omnia instituit, ut e libertorum defunctorum bonis pro semisse dextans ei cogeretur, qui sine probabili causa eo nomine essent, quo fuissent ullae fa miliae quas ipse contingeret; deinde, ut ingratorum in principem testamenta ad fiscum pertinerent, ac ne impune esset studiosis iuris, qui scripsissent uel dictassent ea; tunc ut lege maiestatis facta dictaque omnia, quibus modo delator non deesset, tenerentur. reuocauit et praemia coronarum, quae umquam sibi ciuitates in certaminibus detulissent. et cum interdixisset usum amethystini ac Tyrii coloris summisissetque qui nundinarum die pauculas uncias uenderet, praeclusit cunctos negotiatores. quin etiam inter canendum animaduersam matronam in spectaculis uetita purpura cultam demonstrasse procuratoribus suis dicitur detractamque ilico non ueste modo sed et bonis exuit. nulli delegauit officium ut non adiceret: 'scis quid mihi opus sit,' et: 'hoc agamus, ne quis quicquam habeat.' ultimo templis compluribus dona detraxit simulacraque ex auro uel argento fabricata conflauit, in iis Penatium deorum, quae mox Galba restituit.

[¶8] 33. He began the practice of parricide and murder with Claudius himself; for although he was not the contriver of his death, he was privy to the plot. Nor did he make any secret of it; but used afterwards to commend, in a Greek proverb, mushrooms as food fit for the gods, because Claudius had been poisoned with them. He traduced his memory, both by word and deed in the grossest manner; one while charging him with folly, another while with cruelty. For he used to say by way of jest, that he had ceased morari amongst men, pronouncing the first syllable long; and treated as null many of his decrees and ordinances, as made by a doting old blockhead. He enclosed the place where his body was burnt with only a low wall of rough masonry. He attempted to poison Britannicus, as much out of envy because he had a sweeter voice, as from apprehension of what might ensue from the respect which the people entertained for his father's memory. He employed for this purpose a woman named Locusta who had been a witness against some persons guilty of like practices. But the poison she gave him, working more slowly than he expected, and only causing a purge, he sent for the woman, and beat her with his own hand, charging her with administering an antidote instead of poison; and upon her alleging in excuse, that she had given Britannicus but a gentle mixture in order to prevent suspicion, "Think you," said he, "that I am afraid of the Julian law;" and obliged her to prepare, in his own chamber and before his eyes, as quick and strong a dose as possible. This he tried upon a kid: but the animal lingering for five hours before it expired, he ordered her to go to work again; and when she had done, he gave the poison to a slave, who dying immediately, he commanded the poison to be brought into the eating-room and given to Britannicus, while he was at supper with him. The prince had no sooner tasted it than he sunk on the floor, Nero meanwhile pretending to the guests, that it was only a fit of the falling sickness, to which, he said, he was subject. He buried him the following day, in a mean and hurried way, during violent storms of rain. He gave Locusta a pardon, and rewarded her with a great estate in land, placing some disciples with her, to be instructed in her trade.

> Latin: 33. Parricidia et caedes a Claudio exorsus est; cuius necis etsi non auctor, at conscius fuit, neque dissimulanter, ut qui boletos, in quo cibi genere uenenum is acceperat, quasi deorum cibum posthac prouerbio Graeco conlaudare sit solitus. certe omnibus rerum uerborumque contumeliis mortuum insectatus est, modo stultitiae modo saeuitiae arguens; nam et morari eum desisse inter homines producta prima syllaba iocabatur multaque decreta et constituta, ut insipientis atque deliri, pro irritis habuit; denique bustum eius consaepiri nisi humili leuique maceria neglexit. Britannicum non minus aemulatione uocis, quae illi iucundior suppetebat, quam metu ne quandoque apud hominum gratiam paterna memoria praeualeret, ueneno adgressus est. quod acceptum a quadam Lucusta, uenenariorum indice, cum opinione tardius cederet uentre modo Britannici moto, accersitam mulierem sua manu uerberauit arguens pro ueneno remedium dedisse; excusantique minus datum ad occultandam facinoris inuidiam: 'sane,' inquit, 'legem Iuliam timeo,' coegitque se coram in cubiculo quam posset uelocissimum ac praesentaneum coquere. deinde in haedo expertus, postquam is quinque horas protraxit, iterum ac saepius recoctum porcello obiecit; quo statim exanimato inferri in triclinium darique cenanti secum Britannico imperauit. et cum ille ad primum gustum concidisset, comitiali morbo ex consuetudine correptum apud conuiuas ementitus postero die raptim inter maximos imbres tralaticio extulit funere. Lucustae pro nauata opera impunitatem praediaque ampla, sed et discipulos dedit.

[¶9] 34. His mother being used to make strict inquiry into what he said or did, and to reprimand him with the freedom of a parent, he was so much offended, that he endeavoured to expose her to public resentment, by frequently pretending a resolution to quit the government, and retire to Rhodes. Soon afterwards, he deprived her of all honour and power, took from her the guard of Roman and German soldiers, banished her from the palace and from his society, and persecuted her in every way he could contrive; employing persons to harass her when at Rome with law-suits, and to disturb her in her retirement from town with the most scurrilous and abusive language, following her about by land and sea. But being terrified with her menaces and violent spirit, he resolved upon her destruction, and thrice attempted it by poison. Finding, however, that she had previously secured herself by antidotes, he contrived machinery, by which the floor over her bed-chamber might be made to fall upon her while she was asleep in the night. This design miscarrying likewise, through the little caution used by those who were in the secret, his next stratagem was to construct a ship which could be easily shivered, in hopes of destroying her either by drowning, or by the deck above her cabin crushing her in its fall. Accordingly, under colour of a pretended reconciliation, he wrote her an extremely affectionate letter, inviting her to Baiae, to celebrate with him the festival of Minerva. He had given private orders to the captains of the galleys which were to attend her, to shatter to pieces the ship in which she had come, by falling foul of it, but in such manner that it might appear to be done accidentally. He prolonged the entertainment, for the more convenient opportunity of executing the plot in the night; and at her return for Bauli, instead of the old ship which had conveyed her to Baiae, he offered that which he had contrived for her destruction. He attended her to the vessel in a very cheerful mood, and, at parting with her, kissed her breasts; after which he sat up very late in the night, waiting with great anxiety to learn the issue of his project. But receiving information that everything had fallen out contrary to his wish, and that she had saved herself by swimming, not knowing what course to take, upon her freedman, Lucius Agerinus, bringing word, with great joy, that she was safe and well, he privately dropped a poniard by him. He then commanded the freedman to be seized and put in chains, under pretence of his having been employed by his mother to assassinate him; at the same time ordering her to be put to death, and giving out, that, to avoid punishment for her intended crime, she had laid violent hands upon herself. Other circumstances, still more horrible, are related on good authority; as that he went to view her corpse, and handling her limbs, pointed out some blemishes, and commended other points; and that, growing thirsty during the survey, he called for drink. Yet he was never afterwards able to bear the stings of his own conscience for this atrocious act, although encouraged by the congratulatory addresses of the army, the senate, and people. He frequently affirmed that he was haunted by his mother's ghost, and persecuted with the whips and burning torches of the Furies. Nay, he attempted by magical rites to bring up her ghost from below, and soften her rage against him. When he was in Greece, he durst not attend the celebration of the Eleusinian mysteries, at the initiation of which, impious and wicked persons are warned by the voice of the herald from approaching the rites. Besides the murder of his mother, he had been guilty of that of his aunt; for, being obliged to keep her bed in consequence of a complaint in her bowels, he paid her a visit, and she, being then advanced in years, stroking his downy chin, in the tenderness of affection, said to him: "May I but live to see the day when this is shaved for the first time, and I shall then die contented." He turned, however, to those about him, made a jest of it, saying, that he would have his beard immediately taken off; and ordered the physicians to give her more violent purgatives. He seized upon her estate before she had expired; suppressing her will, that he might enjoy the whole himself.

> Latin: 34. Matrem facta dictaque sua exquirentem acerbius et corrigentem hactenus primo grauabatur, ut inuidia identidem oneraret quasi cessurus imperio Rhodumque abiturus, mox et honore omni et potestate priuauit abductaque militum et Germanorum statione contubernio quoque ac Palatio expulit; neque in diuexanda quicquam pensi habuit, summissis qui et Romae morantem litibus et in secessu quiescentem per conuicia et iocos terra marique praeteruehentes inquietarent. uerum minis eius ac uiolentia territus perdere statuit; et cum ter ueneno temptasset sentiretque antidotis praemunitam, lacunaria, quae noctu super dormientem laxata machina deciderent, parauit. hoc consilio per conscios parum celato solutilem nauem, cuius uel naufragio uel camarae ruina periret, commentus est atque ita reconciliatione simulata iucundissimis litteris Baias euocauit ad sollemnia Quinquatruum simul celebranda; datoque negotio trierarchis, qui liburnicam qua aduecta erat uelut fortuito concursu confringerent, protraxit conuiuium repetentique Baulos in locum corrupti nauigii machinosum illud optulit, hilare prosecutus atque in digressu papillas quoque exosculatus. reliquum temporis cum magna trepidatione uigilauit opperiens coeptorum exitum. sed ut diuersa omnia nandoque euasisse eam comperit, inops consilii L. Agermum libertum eius saluam et incolumem cum gaudio nuntiantem, abiecto clam iuxta pugione ut percussorem sibi subornatum arripi constringique iussit, matrem occidi, quasi deprehensum crimen uoluntaria morte uitasset. adduntur his atrociora nec incertis auctoribus: ad uisendum interfectae cadauer accurrisse, contrectasse membra, alia uituperasse, alia laudasse, sitique interim oborta bibisse. neque tamen conscientiam sceleris, quanquam et militum et senatus populique gratulationibus confirmaretur, aut statim aut umquam postea ferre potuit, saepe confessus exagitari se materna specie uerberibusque Furiarum ac taedis ardentibus. quin et facto per Magos sacro euocare Manes et exorare temptauit. peregrinatione quidem Graeciae et Eleusinis sacris, quorum initiatione impii et scelerati uoce praeconis summouentur, interesse non ausus est. Iunxit parricidio matris amitae necem. quam cum ex duritie alui cubantem uisitaret, et illa tractans lanuginem eius, ut assolet, iam grandis natu per blanditias forte dixisset: 'simul hanc excepero, mori uolo,' conuersus ad proximos confestim se positurum uelut irridens ait, praecepitque medicis ut largius purgarent aegram; necdum defunctae bona inuasit suppresso testamento, ne quid abscederet.

[¶10] 35. He had, besides Octavia, two other wives: Poppaea Sabina, whose father had borne the office of quaestor, and who had been married before to a Roman knight: and, after her, Statilia Messalina, great-granddaughter of Taurus, who was twice consul, and received the honour of a triumph. To obtain possession of her, he put to death her husband, Atticus Vestinus, who was then consul. He soon became disgusted with Octavia, and ceased from having any intercourse with her; and being censured by his friends for it, he replied, "She ought to be satisfied with having the rank and appendages of his wife." Soon afterwards, he made several attempts, but in vain, to strangle her, and then divorced her for barrenness. But the people, disapproving of the divorce, and making severe comments upon it, he also banished her. At last he put her to death, upon a charge of adultery, so impudent and false, that, when all those who were put to the torture positively denied their knowledge of it, he suborned his pedagogue, Anicetus, to affirm, that he had secretly intrigued with and debauched her. He married Poppaea twelve days after the divorce of Octavia, and entertained a great affection for her; but, nevertheless, killed her with a kick which he gave her when she was big with child, and in bad health, only because she found fault with him for returning late from driving his chariot He had by her a daughter, Claudia Augusta, who died an infant. There was no person at all connected with him who escaped his deadly and unjust cruelty. Under pretence of her being engaged in a plot against him, he put to death Antonia, Claudius's daughter, who refused to marry him after the death of Poppaea. In the same way, he destroyed all who were allied to him either by blood or marriage; amongst whom was young Aulus Plautinus. His step-son, Rufinus Crispinus, Poppaea's son, though a minor, he ordered to be drowned in the sea, while he was fishing, by his own slaves, because he was reported to act frequently amongst his play-fellows the part of a general or an emperor. He banished Tuscus, his nurse's son, for presuming, when he was procurator of Egypt, to wash in the baths which had been constructed in expectation of his own coming. Seneca, his preceptor, he forced to kill himself though upon his desiring leave to retire, and offering to surrender his estate, he solemnly swore, "that there was no foundation for his suspicions, and that he would perish himself sooner than hurt him." Having promised Burrhus, the pretorian prefect, a remedy for a swelling in his throat, he sent him poison. Some old rich freedmen of Claudius, who had formerly not only promoted his adoption, but were also instrumental to his advancement to the empire, and had been his governors, he took off by poison given them in their meat or drink.

> Latin: 35. Vxores praeter Octauiam duas postea duxit, Poppaeam Sabinam quaestorio patre natam et equiti R.Romano antea nuptam, deinde Statiliam Messalinam Tauri bis consulis ac triumphalis abneptem. qua ut poteretur, uirum eius Atticum Vestinum consulem in honore ipso trucidauit. Octauiae consuetudinem cito aspernatus, corripientibus amicis sufficere illi debere respondit uxoria ornamenta. eandem mox saepe frustra strangulare meditatus dimisit ut sterilem, sed improbante diuortium populo nec parcente conuiciis, etiam relegauit, denique occidit sub crimine adulteriorum adeo inpudenti falsoque, ut in quaestione pernegantibus cunctis Anicetum paedagogum suum indicem subiecerit, qui fingeret† dolo stupratam a se fateretur. Poppaeam duodecimo die post diuortium Octauiae in matrimonium acceptam dilexit unice; et tamen ipsam quoque ictu calcis occidit, quod se ex aurigatione sero reuersum grauida et aegra conuiciis incesserat. ex hac filiam tulit Claudiam Augustam amisitque admodum infantem. Nullum adeo necessitudinis genus est, quod non scelere perculerit. Antoniam Claudi filiam, recusantem post Poppaeae mortem nuptias suas, quasi molitricem nouarum rerum interemit; similiter [inter] ceteros aut affinitate aliqua sibi aut propinquitate coniunctos; in quibus Aulum Plautium iuuenem, quem cum ante mortem per uim conspurcasset: 'eat nunc,' inquit, 'mater mea et successorem meum osculetur,' iactans dilectum ab ea et ad spem imperii impulsum. priuignum Rufrium Crispinum Poppaea natum, impuberem adhuc, quia ferebatur ducatus et imperia ludere, mergendum mari, dum piscaretur, seruis ipsius demandauit. Tuscum nutricis filium relegauit, quod in procuratione Aegypti balineis in aduentum suum extructis lauisset. Senecam praeceptorem ad necem compulit, quamuis saepe commeatum petenti bonisque cedenti persancte iurasset suspectum se frustra periturumque potius quam nociturum ei. Burro praefecto remedium ad fauces pollicitus toxicum misit. libertos diuites et senes, olim adoptionis mox dominationis suae fautores atque rectores, ueneno partim cibis partim potionibus indito intercepit.

[¶11] 36. Nor did he proceed with less cruelty against those who were not of his family. A blazing star, which is vulgarly supposed to portend destruction to kings and princes, appeared above the horizon several nights successively. He felt great anxiety on account of this phenomenon, as being informed by one Babilus, an astrologer, that princes were used to expiate such omens by the sacrifice of illustrious persons, and so avert the danger foreboded to their own persons, by bringing it on the heads of their chief men, he resolved on the destruction of the principal nobility in Rome. He was the more encouraged to this, because he had some plausible pretence for carrying it into execution, from the discovery of two conspiracies against him; the former and more dangerous of which was that formed by Piso and discovered at Rome; the other was that of Vinicius, at Beneventum. The conspirators were brought to their trials loaded with triple fetters. Some ingenuously confessed the charge; others avowed that they thought the design against his life an act of favour for which he was obliged to them, as it was impossible in any other way than by death to relieve a person rendered infamous by crimes of the greatest enormity. The children of those who had been condemned, were banished the city, and afterwards either poisoned or starved to death. It is asserted that some of them, with their tutors, and the slaves who carried their satchels, were all poisoned together at one dinner; and others not suffered to seek their daily bread.

> Latin: 36. Nec minore saeuitia foris et in exteros grassatus est. stella crinita, quae summis potestatibus exitium portendere uulgo putatur, per continuas noctes oriri coeperat. anxius ea re, ut ex Balbillo astrologo didicit, solere reges talia ostenta caede aliqua illustri expiare atque a semet in capita procerum depellere, nobilissimo cuique exitium destinauit; enimuero multo magis et quasi per iustam causam duabus coniurationibus prouulgatis, quarum prior maiorque Pisoniana Romae, posterior Viniciana Beneuenti conflata atque detecta est. coniurati e uinculis triplicium catenarum dixere causam, cum quidam ultro crimen faterentur, nonnulli etiam imputarent, tamquam aliter illi non possent nisi morte succurrere dedecorato flagitiis omnibus. damnatorum liberi urbe pulsi enecti que ueneno aut fame; constat quosdam cum paedagogis et capsaris uno prandio pariter necatos, alios diurnum uictum prohibitos quaerere.

[¶12] 37. From this period he butchered, without distinction or quarter, all whom his caprice suggested as objects for his cruelty; and upon the most frivolous pretences. To mention only a few: Salvidienus Orfitus was accused of letting out three taverns attached to his house in the forum to some cities for the use of their deputies at Rome. The charge against Cassius Longinus, a lawyer who had lost his sight, was, that he kept amongst the busts of his ancestors that of Caius Cassius, who was concerned in the death of Julius Caesar. The only charge objected against Paetus Thrasea was, that he had a melancholy cast of features, and looked like a school-master. He allowed but one hour to those whom he obliged to kill themselves; and, to prevent delay, he sent them physicians "to cure them immediately, if they lingered beyond that time;" for so he called bleeding them to death. There was at that time an Egyptian of a most voracious appetite, who would digest raw flesh, or any thing else that was given him. It was credibly reported, that the emperor was extremely desirous of furnishing him with living men to tear and devour. Being elated with his great success in the perpetration of crimes, he declared, "that no prince before himself ever knew the extent of his power." He threw out strong intimations that he would not even spare the senators who survived, but would entirely extirpate that order, and put the provinces and armies into the hands of the Roman knights and his own freedmen. It is certain that he never gave or vouchsafed to allow any one the customary kiss, either on entering or departing, or even returned a salute. And at the inauguration of a work, the cut through the Isthmus, he, with a loud voice, amidst the assembled multitude, uttered a prayer, that "the undertaking might prove fortunate for himself and the Roman people," without taking the smallest notice of the senate.

> Latin: 37. Nullus posthac adhibitus dilectus aut modus interimendi quoscumque libuisset quacumque de causa. sed ne de pluribus referam, Saluidieno Orfito obiectum est quod tabernas tres de domo sua circa forum ciuitatibus ad stationem locasset, Cassio Longino iuris consulto ac luminibus orbato, quod in uetere gentili[s] stemmate C.Cai Cassi percussoris Caesaris imagines retinuisset, Paeto Thraseae tristior et paedagogi uultus. mori iussis non amplius quam horarum spatium dabat; ac ne quid morae interueniret, medicos admouebat qui cunctantes continuo curarent: ita enim uocabatur uenas mortis gratia incidere. creditur etiam polyphago cuidam Aegypti generis crudam carnem et quidquid daretur mandere assueto, concupisse uiuos homines laniandos absumendosque obicere. elatus inflatusque tantis uelut successibus negauit quemquam principum scisse quid sibi liceret, multasque nec dubias significationes saepe iecit, ne reliquis quidem se parsurum senatoribus, eumque ordinem sublaturum quandoque e re p.publica ac prouincias et exercitus equiti R.Romano ac libertis permissurum. certe neque adueniens neque proficiscens quemquam osculo impertiit ac ne resalutatione quidem; et in auspicando opere Isthmi magna frequentia clare ut sibi ac populo R.Romano bene res uerteret optauit dissimulata senatus mentione.

## 3. Chapters 38–57

Source: https://scriptura.si/works/suetonius-nero/3/ · cite a paragraph as https://scriptura.si/works/suetonius-nero/3/#p-N

[¶0] 38. He spared, moreover, neither the people of Rome, nor the capital of the country. Somebody in conversation saying
ἐμοῦ θανόντοσ γαῖα μιχθήτω
When I am dead let fire devour the world.
"Nay," said he, "let it be while I am living" [ἐμοῦ] And he acted accordingly; for, pretending to be disgusted with the old buildings, and the streets, he set the city on fire so openly, that many of consular rank caught his own household servants on their property with tow, and torches in their hands, but durst not meddle with them. There being near his Golden House some granaries, the site of which he exceedingly coveted, they were battered as if with machines of war, and set on fire, the walls being built of stone. During six days and seven nights this terrible devastation continued, the people being obliged to fly to the tombs and monuments for lodging and shelter. Meanwhile, a vast number of stately buildings, the houses of generals celebrated in former times, and even then still decorated with the spoils of war, were laid in ashes; as well as the temples of the gods, which had been vowed and dedicated by the kings of Rome, and afterwards in the Punic and Gallic wars: in short, everything that was remarkable and worthy to be seen which time had spared. This fire he beheld from a tower in the house of Maecenas, and, "being greatly delighted," as he said, "with the beautiful effects of the conflagration," he sung a poem on the ruin of Troy, in the tragic dress he used on the stage. To turn this calamity to his own advantage by plunder and rapine, he promised to remove the bodies of those who had perished in the fire, and clear the rubbish at his own expense: suffering no one to meddle with the remains of their property. But he not only received, but exacted contributions on account of the loss, until he had exhausted the means both of the provinces and private persons.

> Latin: 38. Sed nec populo aut moenibus patriae pepercit. dicente quodam in sermone communi:
ἐμοῦ θανόντοσ γαῖα μειχθήτω πυρί, 'immo,' inquit, 'ἐμοῦ ζῶντοσ,' planeque ita fecit. nam quasi offensus deformitate ueterum aedificiorum et angustiis flexurisque uicorum, incendit urbem tam palam, ut plerique consulares cubicularios eius cum stuppa taedaque in praediis suis deprehensos non attigerint, et quaedam horrea circa domum Auream, quorum spatium maxime desiderabat, ut bellicis machinis labefacta atque inflammata sint, quod saxeo muro constructa erant. per sex dies septemque noctes ea clade saeuitum est ad monumentorum bustorumque deuersoria plebe compulsa. tunc praeter immensum numerum insularum domus priscorum ducum arserunt hostilibus adhuc spoliis adornatae deorumque aedes ab regibus ac deinde Punicis et Gallicis bellis uotae dedicataeque, et quidquid uisendum atque memorabile ex antiquitate durauerat. hoc incendium e turre Maecenatiana prospectans laetusque 'flammae,' ut aiebat, 'pulchritudine' Halosin Ilii in illo suo scaenico habitu decantauit. ac ne non hinc quoque quantum posset praedae et manubiarum inuaderet, pollicitus cadauerum et ruderum gratuitam egestionem nemini ad reliquias rerum suarum adire permisit; conlationibusque non receptis modo uerum et efflagitatis prouincias priuatorumque census prope exhausit.

[¶1] 39. To these terrible and shameful calamities brought upon the people by their prince, were added some proceeding from misfortune. Such were a pestilence, by which, within the space of one autumn, there died no less than thirty thousand persons, as appeared from the registers in the temple of Libitina: a great disaster in Britain, where two of the principal towns belonging to the Romans were plundered; and a dreadful havoc made both amongst our troops and allies; a shameful discomfiture of the army of the East; where, in Armenia, the legions were obliged to pass under the yoke, and it was with great difficulty that Syria was retained. Amidst all these disasters, it was strange, and, indeed, particularly remarkable, that he bore nothing more patiently than the scurrilous language and railing abuse which was in every one's mouth; treating no class of persons with more gentleness, than those who assailed him with invective and lampoons. Many things of that kind were posted up about the city, or otherwise published, both in Greek and Latin: such as these,
Νέρων Ὀρέστης,
Νεόνυμφον, Νέρων, ἰδίαν μήτερ' ἀπέκτεινεν.
Orestes and Alcmaon—Nero too,
The lustful Nero, worst of all the crew,
Fresh from his bridal—their own mothers slew.
Quis neget Aeneae magna de stirpe Neronem?
Sustulit hic matrem: sustulit ille patrem.
Sprung from Aeneas, pious, wise and great,
Who says that Nero is degenerate?
Safe through the flames, one bore his sire; the other,
To save himself, took off his loving mother.
Dum tendit citharam noster, dum cornua Parthus,
Noster erit Peean, ille ἑκατηβελέτησ
His lyre to harmony our Nero strings;
His arrows o'er the plain the Parthiah wings:
Ours call the tuneful Paean, famed in war,
The other Phoebus name, the god who shoots afar.
Roma domus fiet: Vejos migrate, Quirites,
Si non et Vejos occupat ista domus.
All Rome will be one house: to Veii fly,
Should it not stretch to Veii, by and by.
But he neither made any inquiry after the authors, nor when information was laid before the senate against some of them, would he allow a severe sentence to be passed. Isidorus, the Cynic philosopher, said to him aloud, as he was passing along the streets, "You sing the misfortunes of Nauplius well, but behave badly yourself." And Datus, a comic actor, when repeating these words in the piece. "Farewell, father! Farewell mother!" mimicked the gestures of persons drinking and swimming, significantly alluding to the deaths of Claudius and Agrippina: and on uttering the last clause, Orcus vobus ducit pedes; You st md this moment on the brink of Orcus; he plainly intimated his application of it to the precarious position of the senate. Yet Nero only banished the player and philosopher from the city and Italy; either because he was insensible to shame, or from apprehension that if he discovered his vexation, still keener things might be said of him.

> Latin: 39. accesserunt tantis ex principe malis probrisque quaedam et fortuita: pestilentia unius autumni, quo triginta funerum milia in rationem Libitinae uenerunt; clades Britannica, qua duo praecipua oppida magna ciuium sociorumque caede direpta sunt; ignominia ad Orientem legionibus in Armenia sub iugum missis aegreque Syria retenta. mirum et uel praecipue notabile inter haec fuerit nihil eum patientius quam maledicta et conuicia hominum tulisse, neque in ullos leniorem quam qui se dictis aut carminibus lacessissent extitisse. multa Graece Latineque proscripta aut uulgata sunt, sicut illa:
Νέρων Ὀρέστησ Ἀλκμέων μητροκτόνος.
νεόψηφον: Νέρων ἰδίαν μητέρα ἀπέκτεινε.
Quis negat Aeneae magna de stirpe Neronem?
sustulit hic matrem, sustulit ille patrem.
Dum tendit citharam noster, dum cornua Parthus,
noster erit Paean, ille Hecatebeletes.
Roma domus fiet: Veios migrate, Quirites,
si non et Veios occupat ista domus.
sed neque auctores requisiit et quosdam per indicem delatos ad senatum adfici grauiore poena prohibuit. transeuntem eum Isidorus Cynicus in publico clara uoce corripuerat, quod Naupli mala bene cantitaret, sua bona male disponeret; et Datus Atellanarum histrio in cantico quodam
ὑγίαινε πάτερ, ὑγίαινε μῆτερ
ita demonstrauerat, ut bibentem natantemque faceret, exitum scilicet Claudi Agrippinaeque significans, et in nouissima clausula
Orcus uobis ducit pedes
senatum gestu notarat. histrionem et philosophum Nero nihil amplius quam urbe Italiaque summouit, uel contemptu omnis infamiae uel ne fatendo dolorem irritaret ingenia.

[¶2] 40. The world, after tolerating such an emperor for little less than fourteen years, at length forsook him; the Gauls, headed by Julius Vindex, who at that time governed the province as pro-praetor, being the first to revolt. Nero had been formerly told by astrologers, that it would be his fortune to be at last deserted by all the world; and this occasioned that celebrated saying of his, "An artist can live in any country;" by which he meant to offer as an excuse for his practice of music, that it was not only his amusement as a prince, but might be his support when reduced to a private station. Yet some of the astrologers promised him, in his forlorn state, the rule of the East, and in express words the kingdom of Jerusalem. But the greater part of them flattered him with assurances o fhis being restored to his former fortune. And being most incluined to believe the latter prediction, upon losing Britain and Armenia, he imagined he had run through all his misfortunes which the fates had decreed him. But when, upon consulting the oracle of Apollo at Delphi, he was advised to beware of the seventy-third year, as if he were not to die till then, never thinking of Galba's age, he conceived such hopes, not only of living to advanced years, but of constant and singular good fortune, that having lost some things of great value by shipwreck, he scrupled not to say amongst his friends, that "the fishes would bring them back to him." At Naples he heard of the insurrection in Gaul, on the anniversary of the day on which he killed his mother, and bore it with so much unconcern, as to excite a suspicion that he was really glad of it, since he had now a fair opportunity of plundering those wealthy provinces by the right of war. Immediately going to the gymnasium, he witnessed the exercise of the wrestlers, with the greatest delight. Being interrupted at supper with letters which brought yet worse news, he expressed no greater resentment, than only to threaten the rebels. For eight days together, he never attempted to answer any letters, nor give any orders, but buried the whole affair in profound silence.

> Latin: 40. Talem principem paulo minus quattuordecim annos perpessus terrarum orbis tandem destituit, initium facientibus Gallis duce Iulio Vindice, qui tum eam prouinciam pro praetore optinebat. Praedictum a mathematicis Neroni olim erat fore ut quandoque destitueretur; unde illa uox eius celeberrima: τὸ τέχνιον ἡμᾶσ διατρέφει, quo maiore scilicet uenia meditaretur citharoedicam artem, principi sibi gratam, priuato necessariam. spoponderant tamen quidam destituto Orientis dominationem, nonnulli nominatim regnum Hierosolymorum, plures omnis pristinae fortunae restitutionem. cui spei pronior, Britannia Armeniaque amissa ac rursus utraque recepta, defunctum se fatalibus malis existimabat. ut uero consulto Delphis Apolline septuagensimum ac tertium annum cauendum sibi audiuit, quasi eo demum obiturus, ac nihil coniectans de aetate Galbae, tanta fiducia non modo senectam sed etiam perpetuam singularemque concepit felicitatem, ut amissis naufragio pretiosissimis rebus non dubitauerit inter suos dicere pisces eas sibi relaturos. Neapoli de motu Galliarum cognouit die ipso quo matrem occiderat, adeoque lente ac secure tulit ut gaudentis etiam suspicionem praeberet tamquam occasione nata spoliandarum iure belli opulentissimarum prouinciarum; statimque in gymnasium progressus certantis athletas effusissimo studio spectauit. cenae quoque tempore interpellatus tumultuosioribus litteris hactenus excanduit, ut malum iis qui descissent minaretur. denique per octo continuos dies non rescribere cuiquam, non mandare quid aut praecipere conatus rem silentio obliterauit.

[¶3] 41. Being roused at last by numerous proclamations of Vindex, treating him with reproaches and contempt, he in a letter to the senate exhorted them to avenge his wrongs and those of the republic; desiring them to excuse his not appearing in the senate house, because he had got cold. But nothing so much galled him, as to find himself railed at as a pitiful harper, and, instead of Nero, styled Aenobarbus: which being his family name, since he was upbraided with it, he declared he would resume it, and lay aside the name he had taken by adoption. Passing by the other accusations as wholly groundless, he earnestly refuted that of his want of skill in an art upon which he had bestowed so much pains, and in which he had arrived at such perfection; asking frequently those about him, "if they knew any one who was a more accomplished musician?" But being alarmed by messengers after messengers of ill news from Gaul, he returned in great consternation to Rome. On the road, his mind was somewhat relieved, by observing the frivolous omen of a Gaulish soldier defeated and dragged by the hair by a Roman knight, which was sculptured on a monument; so that he leaped for joy, and adored the heavens. Even then he made no appeal either to the senate or people, but calling together some of the leading men at his own house, he held a hasty consultation upon the present state of affairs, and then, during the remainder of the day, carried them about with him to view some musical instruments, of a new invention, which were played by water; exhibiting all the parts, and discoursing upon the principles and difficulties of the contrivance; which, he told them, he intended to produce in the theatre, if Vindex would give him leave.

> Latin: 41. edictis tandem Vindicis contumeliosis et frequentibus permotus senatum epistula in ultionem sui reique publicae adhortatus est, excusato languore faucium, propter quem non adesset. nihil autem aeque doluit, quam ut malum se citharoedum increpitum ac pro Nerone Ahenobarbum appellatum; et nomen quidem gentile, quod sibi per contumeliam exprobraretur, resumpturum se professus est deposito adoptiuo, cetera conuicia, ut falsa, non alio argumento refellebat, quam quod etiam inscitia sibi tanto opere elaboratae perfectaeque a se artis obiceretur, singulos subinde rogitans, nossentne quemquam praestantiorem. sed urgentibus aliis super alios nuntiis Romam praetrepidus rediit; leuiterque modo in itinere friuolo auspicio mente recreata, cum adnotasset insculptum monumento militem Gallum ab equite R.Romano oppressum trahi crinibus, ad eam speciem exiluit gaudio caelumque adorauit. ac ne tunc quidem aut senatu aut populo coram appellato quosdam e primoribus uiris domum euocauit transactaque raptim consultatione reliquam diei partem per organa hydraulica noui et ignoti generis circumduxit, ostendensque singula, de ratione ac difficultate cuiusque disserens, iam se etiam prolaturum omnia in theatrum affirmauit, si per Vindicem liceat.

[¶4] 42. Soon afterwards, he received intelligence that Galba and the Spaniards had declared against him; upon which, he faiited, and losing his reason, lay a long time speechless, and apparently dead. As soon as he recovered from this state of stupefaction, he tore his clothes, and beat his head, crying, "It is all over with me!" His nurse endeavoring to comfort him, and telling him that the like things had happened to other princes before him, he replied, "I am beyond all example wretched, for I have lost an empire whilst I am still living." He, nevertheless, abated nothing of his usual luxury and inattention to business. Nay, on the arrival of good news from the provinces, he, at a sumptuous entertainment, sung with an air of merriment some jovial verses upon the leaders of the revolt, which were made public; and accompanied them with suitable gestures. Being carried privately to the theatre, he sent word to an actor who was applauded by the spectators, "that he had it all his own way, now that he himself did not appear on the stage."

> Latin: 42. Postquam deinde etiam Galbam et Hispanias desciuisse cognouit, conlapsus animoque male facto diu sine uoce et prope intermortuus iacuit, utque resipiit, ueste discissa, capite conuerberato, actum de se pronuntiauit consolantique nutriculae et aliis quoque iam principibus similia accidisse memoranti, se uero praeter ceteros inaudita et incognita pati respondit, qui summum imperium uiuus amitteret. nec eo setius quicquam ex consuetudine luxus atque desidiae omisit uel inminuit; quin immo, cum prosperi quiddam ex prouinciis nuntiatum esset, super abundantissimam cenam iocularia in defectionis duces carmina lasciueque modulata, quae uulgo notuerunt, etiam gesticulatus est; ac spectaculis theatri clam inlatus cuidam scaenico placenti nuntium misit abuti eum occupationibus suis.

[¶5] 43. At the first breaking out of these troubles, it is believed that he had formed many designs of a monstrous nature, although conformable enough to his natural disposition. These were to send new governors and commanders to the provinces and the armies, and employ assassins to butcher all the former governors and commanders, as men unanimously engaged in a conspiracy against him; to massacre the exiles in every quarter, and all the Gaulish population in Rome; the former lest they should join the insurrection; the latter as privy to the designs of their countrymen, and ready to support them; to abandon Gaul itself, to be wasted and plundered by his armies; to poison the whole senate at a feast; to fire the city, and then let loose the wild beasts upon the people, in order to impede their stopping the progress of the flames. But being deterred from the execution of these designs, not so much by remorse of conscience, as by despair of being able to effect them; and judging an expedition into Gaul necessary, he removed the consuls from their office, before the time of its expiration was arrived; and in their room assumed the consulship himself without a colleague, as if the fates had decreed that Gaul should not be conquered, but by a consul. Upon assuming the fasces, after an entertainment at the palace, as he walked out of the room leaning on the arms of some of his friends, he declared, that as soon as he arrived in the province, he would make his appearance amongst the troops, unarmed, and do nothing but weep: and that, after he had brought the mutineers to repentance, he would, the next day, in the public rejoicings, sing songs of triumph, which he must now, without loss of time, apply himself to compose.

> Latin: 43. Initio statim tumultus multa et inmania, uerum non abhorrentia a natura sua creditur destinasse: successores percussoresque summittere exercitus et prouincias regentibus, quasi conspiratis idemque et unum sentientibus; quidquid ubique exulum, quidquid in urbe hominum Gallicanorum esset contrucidare, illos ne desciscentibus adgregarentur, hos ut conscios popularium suorum atque fautores; Gallias exercitibus diripiendas permittere; senatum uniuersum ueneno per conuiuia necare; urbem incendere feris in populum immissis, quo difficilius defenderentur. sed absterritus non tam paenitentia quam perficiendi desperatione credensque expeditionem necessariam, consules ante tempus priuauit honore atque in utriusque locum solus iniit consulatum, quasi fatale esset non posse Gallias debellari nisi a consule. ac susceptis fascibus cum post epulas triclinio digrederetur, innixus umeris familiarium affirmauit, simul ac primum prouinciam attigisset, inermem se in conspectum exercituum proditurum nec quicquam aliud quam fleturum, reuocatisque ad paenitentiam defectoribus insequenti die laetum inter laetos cantaturum epinicia, quae iam nunc sibi componi oporteret.

[¶6] 44. In preparing for this expedition, his first care was to provide carriages for his musical instruments and machinery to be used upon the stage; to have the hair of the concubines he carried with him dressed in the fashion of men; and to supply them with battle-axes, and Amazonian bucklers. He summoned the city-tribes to enlist; but no qualified persons appearing, he ordered all masters to send a certain number of slaves, the best they had, not excepting their stewards and secretaries. He commanded the several orders of the people to bring in a fixed proportion of their estates, as they stood in the censor's books; all tenants of houses and mansions to pay one year's rent forthwith into the exchequer; and with unheard-of strictness, would receive only new coin of the purest silver and the finest gold; insomuch that most people refused to pay, crying out unanimously that he ought to squeeze the informers, and oblige them to surrender their gains.

> Latin: 44. In praeparanda expeditione primam curam habuit deligendi uehicula portandis scaenicis organis concubinasque, quas secum educeret, tondendi ad uirilem modum et securibus peltisque Amazonicis instruendi. mox tribus urbanas ad sacramentum citauit ac nullo idoneo respondente certum dominis seruorum numerum indixit; nec nisi ex tota cuiusque familia probatissimos, ne dispensatoribus quidem aut amanuensibus exceptis, recepit. partem etiam census omnes ordines conferre iussit et insuper inquilinos priuatarum aedium atque insularum pensionem annuam repraesentare fisco; exegitque ingenti fastidio et acerbitate nummum asperum, argentum pustulatum, aurum ad obrussam, ut plerique omnem collationem palam recusarent, consensu flagitantes a delatoribus potius reuocanda praemia quaecumque cepissent.

[¶7] 45. The general odium in which he was held received an increase by the great scarcity of corn, and an occurrence connected with it. For, as it happened just at that time, there arrived from Alexandria a ship, which was said to be freighted with dust for the wrestlers belonging to the emperor. This so much inflamed the public rage, that he was treated with the utmost abuse and scurrility. Upon the top of one of his statues was placed the figure of a chariot with a Greek inscription, that "Now indeed he had a race to run; let him begone." A little bag was tied about another, with a ticket containing these words: "What could I do?"—"Truly thou hast merited the sack." Some person likewise wrote on the pillars in the forum, "that he had even woke the cocks with his singing." And many, in the night-time, pretending to find fault with their servants, frequently called for a Vindex.

> Latin: 45. ex annonae quoque caritate lucranti[a] adcreuit inuidia; nam et forte accidit, ut in publica fame Alexandrina nauis nuntiaretur puluerem luctatoribus aulicis aduexisse. Quare omnium in se odio incitato nihil contumeliarum defuit quin subiret. statuae eius a uertice cirrus appositus est cum inscriptione Graeca: nunc demum agona esse, et traderet tandem. alterius collo ascopa deligata simulque titulus: 'ego quid potui? sed tu culleum meruisti.' ascriptum et columnis, etiam Gallos eum cantando excitasse. iam noctibus iurgia cum seruis plerique simulantes crebro Vindicem poscebant.

[¶8] 46. He was also terrified with manifest warnings, both old and new, arising from dreams, auspices, and omens. He had never been used to dream before the murder of his mother. After that event, he fancied in his sleep that he was steering a ship, and that the rudder was forced from him: that he was dragged by his wife Octavia into a prodigiously dark place; and was at one time covered over with a vast swarm of winged ants, and at another, surrounded by the national images which were set up near Pompey's theatre, and hindered from advancing farther; that a Spanish jennet he was fond of, had his hinder parts so changed, as to resemble those of an ape; and having his head only left unaltered, neighed very harmoniously. The doors of the mausoleum of Augustus flying open of themselves, there issued from it a voice, calling on him by name. The Lares being adorned with fresh garlands on the calends (the first) of January, fell down during the preparations for sacrificing to them. While he was taking the omens, Sporus presented him with a ring, the stone of which had carved upon it the Rape of Proserpine. When a great multitude of the several orders was assembled, to attend at the solemnity of making vows to the gods, it was a long time before the keys of the Capitol could be found. And when, in a speech of his to the senate against Vindex, these words were read, "that the miscreants should be punished and soon make the end they merited," they all cried out, "You will do it, Augustus." It was likewise remarked, that the last tragic piece which he sung, was Oedipus in Exile, and that he fell as he was repeating this verse:
θανεῖν μ' ἄνῳγε σύγγαμος, μήτηρ,
Wife, mother, father, force me to my end.

> Latin: 46. Terrebatur ad hoc euidentibus portentis somniorum et auspiciorum et ominum, cum ueteribus tum nouis. numquam antea somniare solitus occisa demum matre uidit per quietem nauem sibi regenti extortum gubernaculum trahique se ab Octauia uxore in artissimas tenebras et modo pinnatarum formicarum multitudine oppleri, modo a simulacris gentium ad Pompei theatrum dedicatarum circumiri arcerique progressu; asturconem, quo maxime laetabatur, posteriore corporis parte in simiae speciem transfiguratum ac tantum capite integro hinnitus edere canoros. de Mausoleo, sponte foribus patefactis, exaudita uox est nomine eum cientis. Kal. Ian. exornati Lares in ipso sacrificii apparatu conciderunt; auspicanti Sporus anulum muneri optulit, cuius gemmae scalptura erat Proserpinae raptus; uotorum nuncupatione, magna iam ordinum frequentia, uix repertae Capitolii claues. cum ex oratione eius, qua in Vindicem perorabat, recitaretur in senatu daturos poenas sceleratos ac breui dignum exitum facturos, conclamatum est ab uniuersis: 'tu facies, Auguste.' obseruatum etiam fuerat nouissimam fabulam cantasse eum publice Oedipodem exulem atque in hoc desisse uersu:
θανεῖν μ' ἄνωγε σύγγαμος, μήτηρ, πατήρ.

[¶9] 47. Meanwhile, on the arrival of the news, that the rest of the armies had declared against him, he tore to pieces the letters which were delivered to him at dinner, overthrew the table, and dashed with violence against the ground two favourite cups, which he called Homer's, because some of that poet's verses were cut upon them. Then taking from Locusta a dose of poison, which he put up in a golden box, he went into the Servilian gardens, and thence dispatching a trusty freedman to Ostia, with orders to make ready a fleet, he endeavoured to prevail with some tribunes and centurions of the pretorian guards to attend him in his flight; but part of them showing no great inclination to comply, others absolutely refusing; and one of them crying out aloud, “Usque adeone mori miserum est?” Say, is it then so sad a thing to die? he was in great perplexity whether he should submit himself to Galba, or apply to the Parthians for protection, or else appear before the people dressed in mourning, and, upon the rostra, in the most piteous manner, beg pardon for his past misdemeanors, and, if he could not prevail, request of them to grant him at least the government of Egypt. A speech to this purpose was afterwards found in his writing-case. But it is conjectured that he durst not venture upon this project, for fear of being torn to pieces, before he could get to the forum. Deferring, therefore, his resolution until the next day, he awoke about midnight, and finding the guards withdrawn, he leaped out of bed, and sent round for his friends. But none of them vouchsafing any message in reply, he went with a few attendants to their houses. The doors being every where shut, and no one giving him any answer, he returned to his bed-chamber; whence those who had the charge of it had all now eloped; some having gone one way, and some another, carrying off with them his bedding and box of poison. He then endeavoured to find Spicillus, the gladiator, or some one to kill him; but not being able to procure any one, "What!" said he, "have I then neither friend nor foe?" and immediately ran out, as if he would throw himself into the Tiber.

> Latin: 47. Nuntiata interim etiam ceterorum exercituum defectione litteras prandenti sibi redditas concerpsit, mensam subuertit, duos scyphos gratissimi usus, quos Homerios a caelatura carminum Homeri uocabat, solo inlisit ac sumpto a Lucusta ueneno et in auream pyxidem condito transiit in hortos Seruilianos, ubi praemissis libertorum fidissimis Ostiam ad classem praeparandam tribunos centurionesque praetorii de fugae societate temptauit. sed partim tergiuersantibus, partim aperte detrectantibus, uno uero etiam proclamante:
usque adeone mori miserum est?
uarie agitauit, Parthosne an Galbam supplex peteret, an atratus prodiret in publicum proque rostris quanta maxima posset miseratione ueniam praeteritorum precaretur, ac ni flexisset animos, uel Aegypti praefecturam concedi sibi oraret. inuentus est postea in scrinio eius hac de re sermo formatus; sed deterritum putant, ne prius quam in forum perueniret discerperetur. Sic cogitatione in posterum diem dilata ad mediam fere noctem excitatus, ut comperit stationem militum recessisse, prosiluit e lecto misitque circum amicos, et quia nihil a quoquam renuntiabatur, ipse cum paucis hospitia singulorum adiit. uerum clausis omnium foribus, respondente nullo, in cubiculum rediit, unde iam et custodes diffugerant, direptis etiam stragulis, amota et pyxide ueneni; ac statim Spiculum murmillonem uel quemlibet alium percussorem, cuius manu periret, requisiit et nemine reperto: 'ergo ego,' inquit, 'nec amicum habeo nec inimicum?' procurritque, quasi praecipitaturus se in Tiberim.

[¶10] 48. But this furious impulse subsiding, he wished for some place of privacy, where he might collect his thoughts; and his freedman Phaon offering him his country-house, between the Salarian and Nomentan roads, about four miles from the city, he mounted a horse, barefoot as he was, and, in his tunic, only slipping over it an old soiled cloak; with his head muffled up, and an handkerchief before his face, and four persons only to attend him, of whom Sporus was one. He was suddenly struck with horror at an earthquake, and by a flash of lightning which darted full in his face, and heard from the neighbouring camp the shouts of the soldiers, wishing his destruction, and prosperity to Galba. He also heard a traveller they met on the road say, "They are in pursuit of Nero:" and another ask, "Is there any news in the city about Nero?" Uncovering his face when his horse was started by the scent of a carcase which lay in the road, he was recognized and saluted by an old soldier who had been discharged from the guards. When they came to the lane which turned up to the house, they quitted their horses, and with much difficulty he wound among bushes and briars, and along a track through a bed of rushes, over which they spread their cloaks for him to walk on. Having reached a wall at the back of the villa, Phaon advised him to hide himself awhile in a sand-pit; when he replied, "I will not go under-ground alive." Staying there some little time, while preparations were made for bringing him privately into the villa, he took some water out of a neighbouring tank in his hand, to drink, saying, "This is Nero's distilled water." Then his cloak having been torn by the brambles, he pulled out the thorns which stuck in it. At last, being admitted, creeping upon his hands and knees, through a hole made for him in the wall, he lay down in the first closet he came to, upon a miserable pallet, with an old coverlet thrown over it; and being both hungry and thirsty, though he refused some coarse bread that was brought him, he drank a little warm water.

> Latin: 48. sed reuocato rursus impetu aliquid secretioris latebrae ad colligendum animum desiderauit, et offerente Phaonte liberto suburbanum suum inter Salariam et Nomentanam uiam circa quartum miliarium, ut erat nudo pede atque tunicatus, paenulam obsoleti coloris superinduit adopertoque capite et ante faciem optento sudario equum inscendit, quattuor solis comitantibus, inter quos et Sporus erat. statimque tremore terrae et fulgure aduerso pauefactus audiit e proximis castris clamorem militum et sibi aduersa et Galbae prospera ominantium, etiam ex obuiis uiatoribus quendam dicentem: 'hi Neronem persequuntur,' alium sciscitantem: 'ecquid in urbe noui de Nerone?' equo autem ex odore abiecti in uia cadaueris consternato, detecta facie agnitus est a quodam missicio praetoriano et salutatus. ut ad deuerticulum uentum est, dimissis equis inter fruticeta ac uepres per harundineti semitam aegre nec nisi strata sub pedibus ueste ad auersum uillae parietem euasit. ibi hortante eodem Phaonte, ut interim in specum egestae harenae concederet, negauit se uiuum sub terram iturum, ac parumper commoratus, dum clandestinus ad uillam introitus pararetur, aquam ex subiecta lacuna poturus manu hausit et: 'haec est,' inquit, 'Neronis decocta.' dein diuolsa sentibus paenula traiectos surculos rasit, atque ita quadripes per angustias effossae cauernae receptus in proximam cellam decubuit super lectum modica culcita, uetere pallio strato, instructum; fameque et iterum siti interpellante panem quidem sordidum oblatum aspernatus est, aquae autem tepidae aliquantum bibit.

[¶11] 49. All who surrounded him now pressing him to save himself from the indignities which were 'ready to befall him, he ordered a pit to be sunk before his eyes, of the size of his body, and the bottom to be covered with pieces of marble put together, if any could be found about the house; and water and wood, to be got ready for immediate use about his corpse; weeping at every thing that was done, and frequently saying, "What an artist is now about to perish!" Meanwhile, letters being brought in by a servant belonging to Phaon, he snatched them out of his hand, and there read, "That he had been declared an enemy by the senate, and that search was making for him, that he might be punished according to the ancient custom of the Romans." He then inquired what kind of punishment that was; and being told, that the practice was to strip the criminal naked, and scourge him to death, while his neck was fastened within a forked stake, he was so terrified that he took up two daggers which he had brought with him, and after feeling the points of both, put them up again, saying, " The fatal hour is not yet come." One while, he begged of Sporus to begin to wail and lament; another while, he entreated that one of them would, set him an example by killing himself; and then again, he condemned his own want of resolution in these words: "I yet live to my shame and disgrace: this is not becoming for Nero: it is not becoming. Thou oughtest in such circumstances to have a good heart: Come, then: courage, man!" The horsemen who had received orders to bring him away alive, were now approaching the house. As soon as he heard them coming, he uttered with a trembling voice the following verse,
ἵππων μ' ὠκυπόδων ἀμφὶ κτύποσ οὔατα
The noise of swift-heel'd steeds assails my ears;
he drove a dagger into his throat, being assisted in the act by Epaphroditus, his secretary. A centurion bursting in just as he was half-dead, and applying his cloak to the wound, pretending that he was come to his assistance, he made no other reply but this, "'Tis too late; and "Is this your loyalty?" Immediately after pronouncing these words, he expired, with his eyes fixed and starting out of his head, to the terror of all who beheld him. He had requested of his attendants, as the most essential favour, that they would let no one have his head, but that by all means his body might be burnt entire. And this, Icelus, Galba's freedman, granted. He had but a little before been discharged from the prison into which he had been thrown, when the disturbances first broke out.

> Latin: 49. tunc uno quoque hinc inde instante ut quam primum se impendentibus contumeliis eriperet, scrobem coram fieri imperauit dimensus ad corporis sui modulum, componique simul, si qua inuenirentur, frusta marmoris et aquam simul ac ligna conferri curando mox cadaueri, flens ad singula atque identidem dictitans: 'qualis artifex pereo!' Inter moras perlatos a cursore Phaonti codicillos praeripuit legitque se hostem a senatu iudicatum et quaeri, ut puniatur more maiorum, interrogauitque quale id genus esset poenae; et cum comperisset nudi hominis ceruicem inseri furcae, corpus uirgis ad necem caedi, conterritus duos pugiones, quos secum extulerat, arripuit temptataque utriusque acie rursus condidit, causatus nondum adesse fatalem horam. ac modo Sporum hortabatur ut lamentari ac plangere inciperet, modo orabat ut se aliquis ad mortem capessendam exemplo iuuaret; interdum segnitiem suam his uerbis increpabat: 'uiuo deformiter, turpiter—οὐ πρέπει Νέρωνι, οὐ πρέπει—νήφειν δεῖ ἐν τοῖσ τοιούτοισ— ἄγε ἔγειρε σεαυτόν.' iamque equites appropinquabant, quibus praeceptum erat ut uiuum eum adtraherent. quod ut sensit, trepidanter effatus:
ἵππων μ' ὠκυπόδων ἀμφὶ κτύποσ οὔατα βάλλει
ferrum iugulo adegit iuuante Epaphrodito a libellis. semianimisque adhuc irrumpenti centurioni et paenula ad uulnus adposita in auxilium se uenisse simulanti non aliud respondit quam: 'sero' et: 'haec est fides.' atque in ea uoce defecit, extantibus rigentibusque oculis usque ad horrorem formidinemque uisentium. nihil prius aut magis a comitibus exegerat quam ne potestas cuiquam capitis sui fieret, sed ut quoquo modo totus cremaretur. permisit hoc Icelus, Galbae libertus, non multo ante uinculis exolutus, in quae primo tumultu coniectus fuerat.

[¶12] 50. The expenses of his funeral amounted to two hundred thousand sesterces; the bed upon which his body was carried to the pile and burnt, being covered with the white robes, interwoven with gold, which he had worn upon the calends of January preceding. His nurses, Ecloge and Alexandra, with his concubine Acte, deposited his remains in the tomb belonging to the family of the Domitii, which stands upon the top of the Hill of the Gardens, and is to be seen from the Campus Martius. In that monument, a coffin of porphyry, with an altar of marble of Luna over it, is enclosed by a wall built of stone brought from Thasos.

> Latin: 50. Funeratus est impensa ducentorum milium, stragulis albis auro intextis, quibus usus Kal. Ian. fuerat. reliquias Egloge et Alexandria nutrices cum Acte concubina gentili Domitiorum monimento condiderunt, quod prospicitur e campo Martio impositum colli Hortulorum. in eo monimento solium porphyretici marmoris, superstante Lunensi ara, circumsaeptum est lapide Thasio.

[¶13] 51. In stature he was a little below the common height; his skin was foul and spotted; his hair inclined to yellow; his features were agreeable rather than handsome; his eyes grey and dull, his neck was thick, his belly prominent, his legs very slender, his constitution sound. For, though excessively luxurious in his mode of living, he had, in the course of fourteen years, only three fits of sickness; which were so slight, that he neither forbore the use of wine, nor made any alteration in his usual diet. In his dress, and the care of his person he was so careless, that he had his hair cut in rings, one above another; and when in Achaia, he let it grow long behind; and he generally appeared in public in the loose dress which he used at table, with a handkerchief about his neck, and without either a girdle or shoes.

> Latin: 51. Statura fuit prope iusta, corpore maculoso et fetido, subflauo capillo, uultu pulchro magis quam uenusto, oculis caesis et hebetioribus, ceruice obesa, uentre proiecto, gracillimis cruribus, ualitudine prospera: nam qui luxuriae immoderatissimae esset, ter omnino per quattuordecim annos languit, atque ita ut neque uino neque consuetudine reliqua abstineret; circa cultum habitumque adeo pudendus, ut comam semper in gradus formatam peregrinatione Achaica etiam pone uerticem summiserit ac plerumque synthesinam indutus ligato circum collum sudario prodierit in publicum sine cinctu et discalciatus.

[¶14] 52. He was instructed, when a boy, in the rudiments of almost all the liberal sciences; but his mother diverted him from the study of philosophy, as unsuited to one destined to be an emperor; and his preceptor, Seneca, discouraged him from reading the ancient orators, that he might longer secure his devotion to himself. Therefore, having a turn for poetry, he composed verses both with pleasure and ease; nor did he, as some think, publish those of other writers as his own. Several little pocketbooks and loose sheets have come into my possession, which contain some well-known verses in his own hand, and written in such a manner, that it was very evident, from the blotting and interlining, that they had not been transcribed from a copy, nor dictated by another, but were written by the composer of them.

> Latin: 52. Liberalis disciplinas omnis fere puer attigit. sed a philosophia eum mater auertit monens imperaturo contrariam esse; a cognitione ueterum oratorum Seneca praeceptor, quo diutius in admiratione sui detineret. itaque ad poeticam pronus carmina libenter ac sine labore composuit nec, ut quidam putant, aliena pro suis edidit. uenere in manus meas pugillares libellique cum quibusdam notissimis uersibus ipsius chirographo scriptis, ut facile appareret non tralatos aut dictante aliquo exceptos, sed plane quasi a cogitante atque generante exaratos; ita multa et deleta et inducta et superscripta inerant. habuit et pingendi fingendique [maxime] non mediocre studium.

[¶15] 53. He had likewise great taste for drawing and painting, as well as for moulding statues in plaster. But, ab've all things, he most eagerly 'oveted popularity, beinighe rival of every man who obtained the applause of the people for anything he did. It was the general belief, that, after the crowns he won by his performances on the stage, he would the next lustrum have taken his place among the wrestlers at the Olympic games. For he was continually practising that art; nor did he witness the gymnastic games in any part of Greece otherwise than sitting upon the ground in the stadium, as the umpires do. And if a pair of wrestlers happened to break the bounds, he would with his own hands drag them back into the centre of the circle. Because he was thought to equal Apollo in music, and the sun in chariot-driving, he resolved also to imitate the achievements of Hercules. And they say that a lion was got ready for him to kill, either with a club, or with a close hug, in view of the people in the amphitheatre; which he was to perform naked.

> Latin: 53. Maxime autem popularitate efferebatur, omnium aemulus, qui quoquo modo animum uulgi mouerent. exiit opinio post scaenicas coronas proximo lustro descensurum eum ad Olympia[m] inter athletas; nam et luctabatur assidue nec aliter certamina gymnica tota Graecia spectauerat quam brabeutarum more in stadie humi assidens ac, si qua paria longius recessissent, in medium manibus suis protrahens. destinauerat etiam, quia Apollinem cantu, Solem aurigando aequiperare existimaretur, imitari et Herculis facta; praeparatumque leonem aiunt, quem uel claua uel brachiorum nexibus in amphitheatri harena spectante populo nudus elideret.

[¶16] 54. Towards the end of his life, he publicly vowed, that if his power in the state was securely re-established, he would, in the spectacles which he intended to exhibit in honour of his success, include a performance upon organs, as well as upon flutes and bagpipes, and, on the last day of the games, would act in the play, and take the part of Turnus, as we find it in Virgil. And there are some who say, that he put to death the player Paris as a dangerous rival.

> Latin: 54. sub exitu quidem uitae palam uouerat, si sibi incolumis status permansisset, proditurum se partae uictoriae ludis etiam hydraulam et choraulam et utricularium ac nouissimo die histrionem saltaturumque Vergili Turnum. et sunt qui tradant Paridem histrionem occisum ab eo quasi grauem aduersarium.

[¶17] 55. He had an insatiable desire to immortalize his name, and acquire a reputation which should last through all succeeding ages; but it was capriciously directed. He therefore took from several things and places their former appellations, and gave them new names derived from his own. He called the month of April, Neroneus, and designed changing the name of Rome into that of Neropolis.

> Latin: 55. erat illi aeternitatis perpetuaeque famae cupido, sed inconsulta. ideoque multis rebus ac locis uetere appellatione detracta nouam indixit ex suo nomine, mensem quoque Aprilem Neroneum appellauit; destinauerat et Romam Neropolim nuncupare.

[¶18] 56. He held all religious rites in contempt, except those of the Syrian Goddess; but at last he paid her so little reverence, that he made water upon her; being now engaged in another superstition, in which only he obstinately persisted. For having received from some obscure plebeian a little image of a girl, as a preservative against plots, and discovering a conspiracy immediately after, he constantly worshipped his imaginary protectress as the greatest amongst the gods, offering to her three sacrifices daily. He was also desirous to have it supposed that he had, by revelations from this deity, a knowledge of future events. A few months before he died, he attended a sacrifice, according to the Etruscan rites, but the omens were not favourable.

> Latin: 56. Religionum usque quaque contemptor, praeter unius Deae Syriae, hanc mox ita spreuit ut urina contaminaret, alia superstitione captus, in qua sola pertinacissime haesit, siquidem imagunculam puellarem, cum quasi remedium insidiarum a plebeio quodam et ignoto muneri accepisset, detecta confestim coniuratione pro summo numine trinisque in die sacrificiis colere perseuerauit uolebatque credi monitione eius futura praenoscere. ante paucos quam periret menses attendit et extispicio nec umquam litauit.

[¶19] 57. He died in the thirty-second year of his age, upon the same day on which he had formerly put Octavia to death; and the public joy was so great upon the occasion, that the common people ran about the city with caps upon their heads. Some, however, were not wanting, who for a long time decked his tomb with spring and summer flowers. Sometimes they placed his image upon the rostra, dressed in robes of state; at another, they published proclamations in his name, as if he were still alive, and would shortly return to Rome, and take vengeance on all his enemies. Vologesus, king of the Parthians, when he sent ambassadors to the senate to renew his alliance with the Roman people, earnestly requested that due honour should be paid to the memory of Nero; and, to conclude, when, twenty years afterwards, at which time I was a young man, some person of obscure birth gave himself out for Nero, that name secured for him so favourable a reception from the Parthians, that he was very zealously supported, and it was with much difficulty that they were prevailed upon to give him up. THOUGH no law had ever passed for regulating the transmission of the imperial power, yet the design of conveying it by lineal descent was implied in the practice of adoption. By the rule of hereditary succession, Britannicus, the son of Claudius, was the natural heir to the throne; but he was supplanted by the artifices of his stepmother, who had the address to procure it for her own son, Nero. From the time of Augustus it had been the custom of each of the new sovereigns to commence his reign in such a manner as tended to acquire popularity, however much they all afterwards degenerated from those specious beginnings. Whether this proceeded entirely from policy, or that nature was not yet vitiated by the intoxication of uncontrolled power, is uncertain; but such were the excesses into which they afterwards plunged, that we can scarcely exempt any of them, except, perhaps, Claudius, from the imputation of great original depravity. The vicious temper of Tiberius was known to his own mother, Livia; that of Caligula had been obvious to those about him from his infancy; Claudius seems to have had naturally a stronger tendency to weakness than to vice; but the inherent wickedness of Nero was discovered at an early period by his preceptor Seneca. Yet even this emperor commenced his reign in a manner which procured him approbation. Of all the Roman emperors who had hitherto reigned, he seems to have been most corrupted by profligate favourites, who flattered his follies and vices, to promote their own aggrandisement. In the number of these was Tigellinus, who met at last with the fate which he had so amply merited. The several reigns from the death of Augustus present us with uncommon scenes of cruelty and horror; but it was reserved for that of Nero to exhibit to the world the atrocious act of an emperor deliberately procuring the death of his mother. Julia Agrippina was the daughter of Germanicus, and married Domitius Enobarbus, by whom she had Nero. At the death of Messalina she was a widow; and Claudius, her uncle, entertaining a design of entering again into the married state, she aspired to an incestuous alliance with him, in competition with Lollia Paulina, a woman of beauty and intrigue, who had been married to C. Caesar. The two rivals were strongly supported by their respective parties; but Agrip pina, by her superior interest with the emperor's favourites, and the familiarity to which her near relations gave her a claim, obtained the preference; and the portentous nuptials of the emperor and his niece were publicly solemnized in the palace. Whether she was prompted to this flagrant indecency by personal ambition alone, or by the desire of procuring the succession to the empire for her son, is uncertain; but there remains no doubt of her having removed Claudius by poison, with a view to the object now mentioned. Besides Claudius, she projected the death of L. Silanus, and she accomplished that of his brother Junius Silanus, by means likewise of poison. She appears to have been richly endowed with the gifts of nature, but in her disposition intriguing, violent, imperious, and ready to sacrifice every principle of virtue, in the pursuit of supreme power or sensual gratification As she resembled Livia in the ambition of a mother, and the means by which she indulged it, so she more than equalled her in the ingratitude of an unnatural son and a parricide. She is said to have left behind her some memoirs, of which Tacitus availed.himself in the composition of his Annals. In this reign, the conquest of the Britons still continued to be the principal object of military enterprise, and Suetonius Paulinus was invested with the command of the Roman army employed in the reduction of that people. The island of Mona, now Anglesey, being the chief seat of the Druids, he resolved to commence his operations with attacking a place which was the centre of superstition, and to which the vanquished Britons retreated as the last asylum of liberty. The inhabitants, endeavoured, both by force of arms and the terrors of religion, to obstruct his landing on this sacred island. The women and Druids assembled promiscuously with the soldiers upon the shore, where running about in wild disorder, with flaming torches in their hands, and pouring forth the most hideous exclamations, they struck the Romans with consternation. But Suetoniusanimating his troops, they boldly attacked the inhabitants, routed them in the field, and burned the Druids in the same fires which had been prepared by those priests for the catastrophe of thle invaders, destroying at the same time all the consecrated groves and altars in the island. Suetonius having thus triumphed over the religion of the Britons, flattered himself with the hopes of soon effecting the reduction of the people. But they, encouraged by his absence, had taken arms, and under the conduct of Boadicea, queen of the Iceni, who had been treated in the most ignominious manner by the Roman tribunes, had already driven the haughty invaders from their several settlements, Suetonius hastened to the protection of London, which was by this time a flourishing Roman colony; but he found upon his arrival, that any attempt to preserve it would be attended with the utmost danger to the army. London therefore was reduced to ashes; and the Romans, and all strangers, to the number of seventy thousand, were put to the sword without distinction, the Britons seeming determined to convince the enemy that they would acquiesce in no other terms than a total evacuation of the island. This massacre, however, was revenged by Suetonius in a decisive engagement, where eighty thousand of the Britons are said to have been killed; after which, Boadicea, to avoid falling into the hands of the insolent conquerors, put a period to her own life by means of poison. It being judged unadvisable that Suetonius should any longer conduct the war against a people whom he had exasperated by his severity, he was recalled, and Petronius Turpilianus appointed in his room. The command was afterwards given successively to Trebellius Maximus and Vettius Bolanus; but the plan pursued by these generals was only to retain, by a conciliatory administration, the parts of the island which had already submitted to the Roman arms. During these transactions in Britain, Nero himself was exhibiting, in Rome or some of the provinces, such scenes of extravagance as almost exceed credibility. In one place, entering the lists amongst the competitors in a chariot race; in another contending for victory with the common musicians on the stage; revelling in open day in the company of the most abandoned prostitutes and the vilest of men; in the night, committing depredations on the peaceful inhabitants of the capital; polluting with detestable lust, or drenching with human blood, the streets, the palaces, and the habitations of private families; and, to crown his enormities, setting fire to Rome, while he sung with delight in beholding the dreadful conflagration. In vain would history be ransacked for a parallel to this emperor, who united the most shameful vices to the most extravagant vanity, the most abject meanness to the strongest but most preposterous ambition; and the whole of whose life was one continued scene of lewdness, sensuality, rapine, cruelty, and folly. It is emphatically observed by Tacitus, "that Nero, after the murder of many illustrious personages, manifested a desire of extirpating virtue itself." Among other excesses of Nero's reign, are to be mentioned the horrible cruelties exercised against the Christians in various parts of the empire, in which inhuman transactions the natural barbarity of the emperor was inflamed by the prejudices and interested policy of the pagan priesthood. The tyrant scrupled not to charge them with the act of burning Rome; and he satiated his fury against them by such outrages as are unexampled in history. They were covered with the skins of wild beasts, and torn by dogs; were crucified, and set on fire, that they might serve for lights in the night-time. Nero offered his garden for this spectacle, and exhibited the games of the Circus by this dreadful illumination. Sometimes they were covered with wax and other combustible materials, after which a sharp stake was put under their chin, to make them stand upright, and they were burnt alive, to give light to the spectators. In the person of Nero, it is observed by Suetonius, the race of the Casars became extinct; a race rendered illustrious by the first and second emperors, but which their successors no less disgraced. The despotism of Julius Caesar, though haughty and imperious, was liberal and humane: that of Augustus, if we exclude a few instances of vindictive severity towards individuals, was mild and conciliating; but the reigns of Tiberius, Caligula, and Nero (for we except Claudius from part of the censure), while discriminated from each other by some peculiar circumstances, exhibited the most flagrant acts of licentiousness and perverted authority. The most abominable lust, the most extravagant luxury, the most shameful rapaciousness, and the most inhuman cruelty, constitute the general characteristics of those capricious and detestable tyrants. Repeated experience now clearly refuted the opinion of Augustus, that he had introduced amongst the Romans the best form of government: but while we make this observation, it is proper to remark, that, had he even restored the republic, there is reason to believe that the nation would again have been soon distracted with internal divisions, and a perpetual succession of civil wars. The manners of the people were become too dissolute to be restrained by the authority of elective and temporary magistrates; and the Romans were hastening to that fatal period when general and great corruption, with its attendant debility, would render them an easy prey to any foreign invaders.

> Latin: 57. Obiit tricensimo et secundo aetatis anno, die quo quondam Octauiam interemerat, tantumque gaudium publice praebuit, ut plebs pilleata tota urbe discurreret. et tamen non defuerunt qui per longum tempus uernis aestiuisque floribus tumulum eius ornarent ac modo imagines praetextatas in rostris proferrent, modo edicta quasi uiuentis et breui magno inimicorum malo reuersuri. quin etiam Vologaesus Parthorum rex missis ad senatum legatis de instauranda societate hoc etiam magno opere orauit, ut Neronis memoria coleretur. denique cum post uiginti annos adulescente me extitisset condicionis incertae qui se Neronem esse iactaret, tam fauorabile nomen eius apud Parthos fuit, ut uehementer adiutus et uix redditus sit.