There was a certain Marcus Salvius Otho, who had become so intimate
with Nero through the similarity of their character and their
companionship in crime that he was not even punished for saying to him
one day, "As truly as you may expect to see me Caesar!" All that he got
for it was the response: "I shall not see you even consul." It was to
him that the emperor gave Sabina, a woman of patrician family, after
separating her from her husband, and they both enjoyed her together.
Agrippina, therefore, fearing that Nero would marry the woman (for he
was now beginning to entertain a mad passion for her), ventured upon a
most unholy course. As if it were not notoriety enough for her that she
had used her blandishments and immodest looks and kisses to enslave
even Nero in similar fashion. Whether this actually occurred, now, or
whether it was invented to fit their character, I am not sure; but I
state as a fact what is admitted by all, that Nero had a mistress
resembling Agrippina of whom he was especially fond because of this
very resemblance, and when he toyed with the girl herself or displayed
her charms to others, he would say that he was wont to have intercourse
with his mother.
Sabina on learning of this persuaded Nero to get rid of his mother,
alleging that she was plotting against him. He was incited likewise by
Seneca (or so many trustworthy men have stated), whether from a desire
to hush the complaint against his own name, or from his willingness to
lead Nero on to a career of unholy bloodguiltiness that should bring
about most speedily his destruction by gods and men alike. But they
shrank from doing the deed openly and, on the other hand, were unable
to put her out of the way secretly by means of poison, since she took
extreme precautions against any such possibility. One day they saw in
the theatre a ship that automatically parted asunder, let out some
beasts, and then came together again so as to be once more seaworthy;
and they at once caused another to be built like it. By the time the
ship was finished Agrippina had been quite won over by Nero's
attentions, for he exhibited devotion to her in every way, to make sure
that she should suspect nothing and be off her guard. He did not dare
to do anything in Rome, however, for fear the crime should become
generally known. Hence he went off to a distance, even to Campania,
accompanied by his mother, making the voyage on this very ship, which
was adorned in most brilliant fashion, in the hope of inspiring in her
a desire to use the vessel constantly.
When they reached Bauli, he gave for several days most costly dinners,
at which he entertained his mother with every show of friendliness. If
she were absent he feigned to miss her sorely, and if she were present
he was lavish of caresses. He bade her ask whatever she desired and
bestowed many gifts without her asking. When matters had reached this
stage, he embraced her at the close of dinner about midnight, and
straining her to his breast, kissed her eyes and hands, exclaiming:
"Strength and good health to you, mother. For you I live and because of
you I rule." He then gave her in charge of Anicetus, a freedman,
ostensibly to convey her home on the ship that he had prepared. But the
sea would not endure the tragedy that was to be enacted on it, nor
would it submit to be liable to the false charge of having committed
the abominable deed; and so, though the ship parted asunder and
Agrippina fell into the water, she did not perish. Notwithstanding that
it was dark and that she was glutted with strong drink and that the
sailors used their oars against her with such force that they killed
Acerronia Pollia, her companion on the trip, she nevertheless got
safely to shore. When she reached home, she affected not to realize
that it was a plot and kept it quiet, but speedily sent to her son a
report of the occurrence, calling it an accident, and conveyed to him
the good news (as she assumed it to be) that she was safe. Upon hearing
this Nero could not restrain himself, but punished the messenger as if
he had come to assassinate him and at once despatched Anicetus with the
sailors against his mother; for he would not trust the Praetorians to
slay her. When she saw them, she knew for what they had come, and
leaping up from her bed she tore open her clothing, exposing her
abdomen, and cried out; "Strike here, Anicetus, strike here, for this
bore Nero."
Thus was Agrippina, daughter of Germanicus, grand-daughter of Agrippa,
and descendant of Augustus, slain by the very son to whom she had given
the sovereignty and for whose sake she had killed her uncle and others.
Nero, when informed that she was dead, would not believe it, since the
deed was so monstrous that he was overwhelmed by incredulity; he
therefore desired to behold the victim of his crime with his own eyes.
So he laid bare her body, looked her all over and inspected her wounds,
finally uttering a remark far more abominable even than the murder. His
words were: "I did not know I had so beautiful a mother." To the
Praetorians he gave money, evidently to inspire in them the hope that
many such crimes would be committed; and to the senate he sent a letter
in which he enumerated the offences of which he knew she was guilty,
and charged also that she had plotted against him and on being detected
had committed suicide. Yet in spite of what he told the senate his own
conscience was so disturbed at night that he would leap suddenly from
his bed, and by day, when he merely heard the blare of trumpets
sounding forth some stirring martial strain from the region where lay
Agrippina's bones, he would be terror-stricken. He therefore kept
changing his residence; and when he had the same experience in the new
place also, he would move in utter fright elsewhere.
And in fact Nero did not hear a word of truth from anybody and saw none
but those who approved of his actions, he thought that his past deeds
had not been found out, or even, perhaps, that there was nothing wrong
in them. Hence he became much worse in other respects also. He came to
believe that anything that it was in his power to do was right, and
gave heed to those whose words were inspired by fear or flattery, as if
they were utterly sincere in what they said. So, although for a time he
was subject to fears and disturbances, yet after the envoys had made to
him a number of pleasing speeches he regained his courage.
The people of Rome, on hearing of these occurrences, rejoiced in spite
of their disapproval of them, thinking that now at last his destruction
was assured. As for the senators, all but Publius Thrasea Paetus
pretended to rejoice at what had taken place and ostensibly shared in
Nero's satisfaction therein, voting many measures by which they thought
to win his favour. Thrasea, like the rest, attended the meeting of the
senate and listened to the letter, but when the reading was ended, he
at once rose from his seat and without a word left the chamber,
inasmuch as he could not say what he would and would not say what he
could. And indeed this was always his way of acting on other occasions.
He used to say, for example: "If I were the only one that Nero was
going to put to death, I could easily pardon the rest who load him with
flatteries. But since even among those who praise him to excess there
are many whom he has either already disposed of or will yet destroy,
why should one degrade oneself to no purpose and then perish like a
slave, when one may pay the debt to nature like a freeman? As for me,
men will talk of me hereafter, but of them never, except only to record
the fact that they were put to death." Such was the man that Thrasea
showed himself to be; and he was always saying to himself: "Nero can
kill me, but he cannot harm me."
When Nero entered Rome after the murder of his mother, people paid him
reverence in public, but in private, so long at least as any could
speak their minds with safety, they tore his character to shreds. For
one thing, they hung a leathern bag by night on one of his statues to
signify that he himself ought to be thrown into one. Again, they cast
into the Forum a baby to which was fastened a tag bearing the words: "I
will not rear you up, lest you slay your mother."
At Nero's entrance into Rome they pulled down the statues of Agrippina.
But there was one that they did not cut loose soon enough, and so they
threw over it a garment which gave it the appearance of being veiled.
Thereupon somebody at once composed and affixed to the statue this is:
"I am abashed and thou art unashamed."
In many places alike one could read the inscription:
"Orestes, Nero, Alcmeon, all matricides."
And people could even be heard saying in so many words that Nero had
put his mother out of the way; for information that certain persons had
talked to this effect was lodged by many men whose purpose was not so
much to destroy the others as to bring reproach upon Nero. Hence he
would admit no suit brought on such a charge, either because he did not
wish that the rumour should thereby gain greater currency, or because
he by this time felt contempt for anything people said. Nevertheless,
in the midst of the sacrifices that were offered in Agrippina's honour
in pursuance of a decree, the sun suffered a total eclipse and the
stars could be seen. Also the elephants which drew the chariot of
Augustus, when they had entered the Circus and proceeded as far as the
senators' seats, stopped at that point and refused to go any farther.
And there was another incident in which one might surely have
recognized the hand of Heaven. I refer to the thunderbolt that
descended upon Nero's dinner and consumed it all as it was being
brought to him, like some harpy snatching away his food.
He also poisoned his aunt Domitia, whom he likewise claimed to revere
like a mother. He would not even wait a few days for her to die a
natural death of old age, but was eager to destroy her also. His haste
to do this was inspired by her estates at Baiae and in the
neighbourhood of Ravenna, on which he promptly erected magnificent
gymnasia that are flourishing still.
In honour of his mother he celebrated a most magnificent and costly
festival, the events taking place for several days in five or six
theatres at once. It was on this occasion that an elephant was led up
to the highest gallery of the theatre and walked down from that point
on ropes, carrying a rider. There was another exhibition that was at
once most disgraceful and most shocking, when men and women not only of
the equestrian but even of the senatorial order appeared as performers
in the orchestra, in the Circus, and in the hunting-theatre, like those
who are held in lowest esteem. Some of them played the flute and danced
in pantomimes or acted in tragedies and comedies or sang to the lyre;
they drove horses, killed wild beasts and fought as gladiators, some
willingly and some sore against their will. So the men of that day
beheld the great families — the Furii, the Horatii, the Fabii, the
Porcii, the Valerii, and all the rest whose trophies and whose temples
were to be seen — standing down there below them and doing things some
of which they formerly would not even watch when performed by others.
So they would point them out to one another and make their comments,
Macedonians saying: "There is the descendant of Paulus"; Greeks, "There
is Mummius' descendant"; Sicilians, "Look at Claudius"; Epirots, "Look
at Appius"; Asiatics naming Lucius, Iberians Publius, Carthaginians
Africanus, and Romans naming them all. For such, apparently, were the
introductory rites by which Nero desired to usher in his own career of
disgrace.
All who had any sense lamented like the huge outlays of money. For all
the costliest viands that men eat and everything else of the highest
value — horses, slaves, teams, gold, silver, and raiment of divers hues
— was given away by means of tokens, as follows. Nero would throw among
the crowd tiny balls, each one appropriately inscribed, and the
articles called for by the balls would be presented to those who had
seized them. Sensible people, I say, were grieved, reflecting that when
he was spending so much in order that he might disgrace himself, he
would not be likely to abstain from any of the most terrible crimes, in
order that he might gain money. When some portents took place at this
time, the seers declared that they meant destruction for him and they
advised him to divert the evil upon others. He would accordingly have
put numerous persons out of the way immediately, had not Seneca said to
him: "No matter how many you may slay, you cannot kill your successor."
It was at this time that he celebrated so many sacrifices for his
preservation, as he expressed it, and dedicated the provision market
called the Macellum. Later he instituted a new kind of festival called
Juvenalia, or Games of Youth. It was celebrated in honour of his beard,
which he now shaved for the first time; the hairs he placed in a small
golden globe and offered to Jupiter Capitolinus. For this festival
members of the noblest families as well as all others were bound to
give exhibitions of some sort. For example, Aelia Catella, a woman not
only prominent by reason of her family and her wealth but also advanced
in years (she was an octogenarian), danced in a pantomime. Others, who
on account of old age or illness could not do anything by themselves,
sang in choruses. All devoted themselves to practising any talent that
they possessed as best they could, and all the most distinguished
people, men and women, girls and lads, old women and old men, attended
schools designated for the purpose. And in case anyone was unable to
furnish entertainment in any other fashion, he would be assigned to the
choruses. And when some of them out of shame put on masks, to avoid
being recognized, Nero caused the masks to be taken off, pretending
that this was demanded by the populace, and exhibited the performers to
a rabble whose magistrates they had been but a short time before. Now,
more than ever, not only these performers but the rest as well regarded
the dead as fortunate. For many of the foremost men had perished in the
course of that year; some of them, in fact, charged with conspiring
against Nero, had been surrounded by the soldiers and stoned to death.
As a fitting climax to these performances, Nero himself made his
appearance in the theatre, being announced under his own name by
Gallio. So there stood this Caesar on the stage wearing the garb of
lyre-player. This emperor uttered the words: "My lords, of your
kindness give me ear," and this Augustus sang to the lyre some piece
called "Attis" or "The Bacchantes," while many soldiers stood by and
all the people that the seats would hold sat watching. Yet he had,
according to report, but a slight and indistinct voice, so that he
moved his whole audience to laughter and tears at once. Beside him
stood Burrus and Seneca, like teachers, prompting him; and they would
wave their arms and togas at every utterance of his and lead others to
do the same. Indeed, Nero had got ready a special corps of about five
thousand soldiers, called Augustans; these would lead the applause, and
all the rest, however loath, were obliged to shout with them. Thrasea
was the single exception, since he would never help Nero in these
matters; but all the rest, and especially the prominent men, assembled
with alacrity, grieved though they were, and joined in all the shouts
of the Augustans, as if they were delighted. And one might have heard
them exclaiming: "Glorious Caesar! Our Apollo, our Augustus, another
Pythian! By thyself we sear, O Caesar, none surpasses thee." After this
performance he entertained the people at a feast on boats on the site
of the naval battle given by Augustus; thence at midnight he sailed
through a canal into the Tiber.
These things, then, he did to celebrate the shaving of his beard; and
in behalf of his preservation and the continuance of his power, he
instituted some quadriennial games, which he called Neronia. In honour
of this event he also erected the gymnasium, and at its dedication made
a free distribution of olive oil to the senators and knights. The crown
for lyre-playing he took without a contest; for all others were
debarred, on the assumption that they were unworthy of being victors.
And immediately, wearing the garb of this guild, he entered the
gymnasium itself to be enrolled as victor. Thereafter all other crowns
awarded as prizes for lyre-playing in all the contests were sent to him
as the only artist worthy of victory.
LXII
While this sort of child's play was going on in Rome, a terrible
disaster occurred in Britain. Two cities were sacked, eighty thousand
of the Romans and of their allies perished, and the island was lost to
Rome. Moreover, all this ruin was brought upon the Romans by a woman, a
fact which in itself caused them the greatest shame. Indeed, Heaven
gave them indications of the catastrophe beforehand. For at night there
was heard to issue from the senate-house foreign jargon mingled with
laughter, and from the theatre outcries and lamentations, though no
mortal man had uttered the words or the groans; houses were seen under
the water in the river Thames, and the ocean between the island and
Gaul once grew blood-red at flood tide.
An excuse for the war was found in the confiscation of the sums of
money that Claudius had given to the foremost Britons; for these sums,
as Decianus Catus, the procurator of the island, maintained, were to be
paid back. This was one reason for the uprising; another was found in
the fact that Seneca, in the hope of receiving a good rate of interest,
had lent to the islanders 40,000,000 sesterces that they did not want,
and had afterwards called in this loan all at once and had resorted to
severe measures in exacting it. But the person who was chiefly
instrumental in rousing the natives and persuading them to fight the
Romans, the person who was thought worthy to be their leader and who
directed the conduct of the entire war, was Buduica, a Briton woman of
the royal family and possessed of greater intelligence than often
belongs to women. This woman assembled her army, to the number of some
120,000, and then ascended a tribunal which had been constructed of
earth in the Roman fashion. In stature she was very tall, in appearance
most terrifying, in the glance of her eye most fierce, and her voice
was harsh; a great mass of the tawniest hair fell to her hips; around
her neck was a large golden necklace; and she wore a tunic of divers
colours over which a thick mantle was fastened with a brooch. This was
her invariable attire. She now grasped a spear to aid her in terrifying
all beholders and spoke as follows:
"You have learned by actual experience how different freedom is from
slavery. Hence, although some among you may previously, through
ignorance of which was better, have been deceived by the alluring
promises of the Romans, yet now that you have tried both, you have
learned how great a mistake you made in preferring an imported
despotism to your ancestral mode of life, and you have come to realize
how much better is poverty with no master than wealth with slavery. For
what treatment is there of the most shameful or grievous sort that we
have not suffered ever since these men made their appearance in
Britain? Have we not been robbed entirely of most of our possessions,
and those the greatest, while for those that remain we pay taxes?
Besides pasturing and tilling for them all our other possessions, do we
not pay a yearly tribute for our very bodies? How much better it would
be to have been sold to masters once for all than, possessing empty
titles of freedom, to have to ransom ourselves every year! How much
better to have been slain and to have perished than to go about with a
tax on our heads! Yet why do I mention death? For even dying is not
free of cost with them; nay, you know what fees we deposit even for our
dead. Among the rest of mankind death frees even those who are in
slavery to others; only in the case of the Romans do the very dead
remain alive for their profit. Why is it that, though none of us has
any money (how, indeed, could we, or where would we get it?), we are
stripped and despoiled like a murderer's victims? And why should the
Romans be expected to display moderation as time goes on, when they
have behaved toward us in this fashion at the very outset, when all men
show consideration even for the beasts they have newly captured?
"But, to speak the plain truth, it is we who have made ourselves
responsible for all these evils, in that we allowed them to set foot on
the island in the first place instead of expelling them at once as we
did their famous Julius Caesar,— yes, and in that we did not deal with
them while they were still far away as we dealt with Augustus and with
Gaius Caligula and make even the attempt to sail hither a formidable
thing. As a consequence, although we inhabit so large an island, or
rather a continent, one might say, that is encircled by the sea, and
although we possess a veritable world of our own and are so separated
by the ocean from all the rest of mankind that we have been believed to
dwell on a different earth and under a different sky, and that some of
the outside world, aye, even their wisest men, have not hitherto known
for a certainty even by what name we are called, we have,
notwithstanding all this, been despised and trampled underfoot by men
who nothing else than how to secure gain. However, even at this late
day, though we have not done so before, let us, my countrymen and
friends and kinsmen,— for I consider you all kinsmen, seeing that you
inhabit a single island and are called by one common name,— let us, I
say, do our duty while we still remember what freedom is, that we may
leave to our children not only its appellation but also its reality.
For, if we utterly forget the happy state in which we were born and
bred, what, pray, will they do, reared in bondage?
"All this I say, not with the purpose of inspiring you with a hatred of
present conditions,— that hatred you already have,— nor with fear for
the future,— that fear you already have,— but of commending you because
you now of our own accord choose the requisite course of action, and of
thanking you for so readily co-operating with me and with each other.
Have no fear whatever of the Romans; for they are superior to us
neither in numbers nor in bravery. And here is the proof: they have
protected themselves with helmets and breastplates and greaves and yet
further provided themselves with palisades and walls and trenches to
make sure of suffering no harm by an incursion of their enemies. For
they are influenced by their fears when they adopt this kind of
fighting in preference to the plan we follow of rough and ready action.
Indeed, we enjoy such a surplus of bravery, that we regard our tents as
safer than their walls and our shields as affording greater protection
than their whole suits of mail. As a consequence, we when victorious
capture them, and when overpowered elude them; and if we ever choose to
retreat anywhere, we conceal ourselves in swamps and mountains so
inaccessible that we can be neither discovered or taken. Our opponents,
however, can neither pursue anybody, by reason of their heavy armour,
nor yet flee; and if they ever do slip away from us, they take refuge
in certain appointed spots, where they shut themselves up as in a trap.
But these are not the only respects in which they are vastly inferior
to us: there is also the fact that they cannot bear up under hunger,
thirst, cold, or heat, as we can. They require shade and covering, they
require kneaded bread and wine and oil, and if any of these things
fails them, they perish; for us, on the other hand, any grass or root
serves as bread, the juice of any plant as oil, any water as wine, any
tree as a house. Furthermore, this region is familiar to us and is our
ally, but to them it is unknown and hostile. As for the rivers, we swim
them naked, whereas they do not across them easily even with boats. Let
us, therefore, go against them trusting boldly to good fortune. Let us
show them that they are hares and foxes trying to rule over dogs and
wolves."
When she had finished speaking, she employed a species of divination,
letting a hare escape from the fold of her dress; and since it ran on
what they considered the auspicious side, the whole multitude shouted
with pleasure, and Buduica, raising her hand toward heaven, said: "I
thank thee, Andraste, and call upon thee as woman speaking to woman;
for I rule over no burden-bearing Egyptians as did Nitocris, nor over
trafficking Assyrians as did Semiramis (for we have by now gained thus
much learning from the Romans!), much less over the Romans themselves
as did Messalina once and afterwards Agrippina and now Nero (who,
though in name a man, is in fact a woman, as is proved by his singing,
lyre-playing and beautification of his person); nay, those over whom I
rule are Britons, men that know not how to till the soil or ply a
trade, but are thoroughly versed in the art of war and hold all things
in common, even children and wives, so that the latter possess the same
valour as the men. As the queen, then, of such men and of such women, I
supplicate and pray thee for victory, preservation of life, and liberty
against men insolent, unjust, insatiable, impious,— if, indeed, we
ought to term those people men who bathe in warm water, eat artificial
dainties, drink unmixed wine, anoint themselves with myrrh, sleep on
soft couches with boys for bedfellows,— boys past their prime at that,—
and are slaves to a lyre-player and a poor one too. Wherefore may this
Mistress Domitia-Nero reign no longer over me or over you men; let the
wench sing and lord it over Romans, for they surely deserve to be the
slaves of such a woman after having submitted to her so long. But for
us, Mistress, be thou alone ever our leader."
Having finished an appeal to her people of this general tenor, Buduica
led her army against the Romans; for these chanced to be without a
leader, inasmuch as Paulinus, their commander, had gone on an
expedition to Mona, an island near Britain. This enabled her to sack
and plunder two Roman cities, and, as I have said, to wreak
indescribable slaughter. Those who were taken captive by the Britons
were subjected to every known form of outrage. The worst and most
bestial atrocity committed by their captors was the following. They
hung up naked the noblest and most distinguished women and then cut off
their breasts and sewed them to their mouths, in order to make the
victims appear to be eating them; afterwards they impaled the women on
sharp skewers run lengthwise through the entire body. All this they did
to the accompaniment of sacrifices, banquets, and wanton behaviour, not
only in all their other sacred places, but particularly in the grove of
Andate. This was their name for Victory, and they regarded her with
most exceptional reverence.
Now it chanced that Paulinus had already brought Mona to terms, and so
on learning of the disaster in Britain he at once set sail thither from
Mona. However, he was not willing to risk a conflict with the
barbarians immediately, as he feared their numbers and their
desperation, but was inclined to postpone battle to a more convenient
season. But as he grew short of food and the barbarians pressed
relentlessly upon him, he was compelled, contrary to his judgment, to
engage them. Buduica, at the head of an army of about 230,000 men, rode
in a chariot herself and assigned the others to their several stations.
Paulinus could not extend his line the whole length of hers, for, even
if the men had been drawn up only one deep, they would not have reached
far enough, so inferior were they in numbers; nor, on the other hand,
did he dare join battle in a single compact force, for fear of being
surrounded and cut to pieces. He therefore separated his army into
three divisions, in order to fight at several points at one and the
same time, and he made each of the divisions so strong that it could
not easily be broken through.
While ordering and arranging his men he also exhorted them, saying:
"Up, fellow-soldiers! Up, Romans! Show these accursed wretches how far
we surpass them even in the midst of evil fortune. It would be
shameful, indeed, for you to lose ingloriously now what but a short
time ago you won by your valour. Many a time, assuredly, have both we
ourselves and our fathers, with far fewer numbers than we have at
present, conquered far more numerous antagonists. Fear not, then, their
numbers or their spirit of rebellion; for their boldness rests on
nothing more than headlong rashness unaided by arms or training.
Neither fear them because they have burned a couple of cities; for they
did not capture them by force nor after a battle, but one was betrayed
and the other abandoned to them. Exact from them now, therefore, the
proper penalty for these deeds, and let them learn by actual experience
the difference between us, whom they have wronged, and themselves."
After addressing these words to one division he came to another and
said: "Now is the time, fellow-soldiers, for zeal, now is the time for
daring. For if you show yourselves brave men to-day, you will recover
all that you have lost; if you overcome these foes, no one else will
any longer withstand us. By one such battle you will both make your
present possessions secure and subdue whatever remains; for everywhere
our soldiers, even though they are in other lands, will emulate you and
foes will be terror-stricken. Therefore, since you have it within your
power either to rule all mankind without a fear, both the nations that
your fathers left to you and those that you yourselves have gained in
addition, or else to be deprived of them altogether, choose to be free,
to rule, to live in wealth, and to enjoy prosperity, rather than, by
avoiding the effort, to suffer the opposite of all this."
After making an address of this sort to these men, he went on to the
third division, and to them he said: "You have heard what outrages
these damnable men have committed against us, nay more, you have even
witnessed some of them. Choose, then, whether you wish to suffer the
same treatment yourselves as our comrades have suffered and to be
driven out of Britain entirely, besides, or else by conquering to
avenge those that have perished and at the same time furnish to the
rest of mankind an example, not only of benevolent clemency toward the
obedient, but also of inevitable severity toward the rebellious. For my
part, I hope, above all, that victory will be ours; first, because the
gods are our allies (for they almost always side with those who have
been wronged); second, because of the courage that is our heritage,
since we are Romans and have triumphed over all mankind by our valour;
next, because of our experience (for we have defeated and subdued these
very men who are now arrayed against us); and lastly, because of our
prestige (for those with whom we are about to engage are not
antagonists, but our slaves, whom we conquered even when they were free
and independent). Yet if the outcome should prove contrary to our
hope,— for I will not shrink from mentioning even this possibility,— it
would be better for us to fall fighting bravely than to be captured and
impaled, to look upon our own entrails cut from our bodies, to be
spitted on red-hot skewers, to perish by being melted in boiling water
— in a word, to suffer as though we had been thrown to lawless and
impious wild beasts. Let us, therefore, either conquer them or die on
the spot. Britain will be a noble monument for us, even though all the
other Romans here should be driven out; for in any case our bodies
shall for ever possess this land."
After addressing these and like words to them he raised the signal for
battle. Thereupon the armies approached each other, the barbarians with
much shouting mingled with menacing battle-songs, but the Romans
silently and in order until they came within a javelin's throw of the
enemy. Then, while their foes were still advancing against them at a
walk, the Romans rushed forward at a signal and charged them at full
speed, and when the clash came, easily broke through the opposing
ranks; but, as they were surrounded by the great numbers of the enemy,
they had to be fighting everywhere at once. Their struggle took many
forms. Light-armed troops exchanged missiles with light-armed,
heavy-armed were opposed to heavy-armed, cavalry clashed with cavalry,
and against the chariots of the barbarians the Roman archers contended.
The barbarians would assail the Romans with a rush of their chariots,
knocking them helter-skelter, but, since they fought with breastplates,
would themselves be repulsed by the arrows. Horseman would overthrow
foot-soldiers and foot-soldiers strike down horseman; a group of
Romans, forming in close order, would advance to meet the chariots, and
others would be scattered by them; a band of Britons would come to
close quarters with the archers and rout them, while others were
content to dodge their shafts at a distance; and all this was going on
not at one spot only, but in all three divisions at once. They
contended for a long time, both parties being animated by the same zeal
and daring. But finally, late in the day, the Romans prevailed; and
they slew many in battle beside the wagons and the forest, and captured
many alike. Nevertheless, not a few made their escape and were
preparing to fight again. In the meantime, however, Buduica fell sick
and died. The Britons mourned her deeply and gave her a costly burial;
but, feeling that now at last they were really defeated, they scattered
to their homes. So much for affair in Britain.
In Rome Nero first divorced Octavia Augusta, on account of his
concubine Sabina, and later he put her to death. He did this in spite
of the opposition out of Burrus, who endeavoured to prevent him from
divorcing her, and once said to him, "Well, then, give her back her
dowry," by which he meant the sovereignty. Indeed, frankness of speech
was characteristic of Burrus and he employed it with such boldness that
once, for example, when he was asked by the emperor a second time for
his opinion on matters regarding which he had already declared himself,
he answered bluntly: "When I have once spoken about anything, don't ask
me again."
So Nero disposed of him [Burrus] by poison; and he appointed as one of
two men to command the Praetorians a certain Sophronius Tigellinus, who
had outstripped all his contemporaries in licentiousness and
bloodthirstiness.
Tigellinus, who had outstripped all his contemporaries in
licentiousness and bloodthirstiness, succeeded Burrus. He won Nero away
from the others and made light of his colleague Rufus.
It was to him that the famous retort is said to have been made by
Pythias. When all the other attendants of Octavia, with the exception
of Pythias, had taken sides with Sabina in her attack upon the empress,
despising Octavia because she was in misfortune and toadying to Sabina
because she had great influence, Pythias alone had refused, though
cruelly tortured, to utter lies against her mistress, and finally, as
Tigellinus continued to urge her, she spat in his face, saying: "My
mistress's privy parts are cleaner, Tigellinus, than your mouth."
Nero made the misfortunes of his relatives a subject for laughter and
jests. For example, after killing Plautus he took a look at his head
when it was brought to him and remarked: "I didn't know he had such a
big nose" — as much as to say that he would have spared him, had he
been aware of this fact beforehand! And though he spent practically his
whole existence amid tavern life, he forbade others to sell in taverns
anything boiled save vegetables and pea-soup. He put Pallas out of the
way because he had amassed a great fortune that was estimated at
400,000,000 sesterces. He would often give way to peevishness; for
instance, he would refuse to talk with his servants of freedmen, but
instead would jot down all his wishes and commands on tablets.
When many of those who had assembled at Antium perished, Nero made this an occasion for a festival.
A certain Thrasea expressed the opinion that for a senator the extreme penalty should be exile.
To such lengths did Nero's licence go that he actually drove chariots
in public. And on one occasion after exhibiting a wild-beast hunt he
immediately piped water into the theatre and produced a sea-fight; then
he let the water out again and arranged a gladiatorial combat. Last of
all, he flooded the place once more and gave a costly public banquet.
Tigellinus had been appointed director of the banquet and everything
had been provided on a lavish scale. The arrangements were made as
follows. In the centre of the lake there had first been lowered the
great wooden casks used for holding wine, and on top of these, planks
had been fastened, while round about this platform taverns and booths
had been erected. Thus Nero and Tigellinus and their fellow-banqueters
occupied the centre, where they held their feast on purple rugs and
soft cushions, while all the rest made merry in the taverns. They would
also enter the brothels and without let or hindrance have intercourse
with any of the women who were seated there, among whom were the most
beautiful and distinguished in the city, both slaves and free,
courtesans and virgins and married women; and these were not merely of
the common people but also of the very noblest families, both girls and
grown women. Every man had the privilege of enjoying whichever one he
wished, as the women were not allowed to refuse anyone. Consequently,
indiscriminate rabble as the throng was, they not only drank greedily
but also wantoned riotously; and now a slave would debauch his mistress
in the presence of his master, and now a gladiator would debauch a girl
of noble family before the eyes of her father. The pushing and fighting
and general uproar that took place, both on the part of those who were
actually going in and on the part of those who were standing around
outside, were disgraceful. Many men met their death in these
encounters, and many women, too, some of the latter being suffocated
and some being seized and carried off.
After this Nero set his heart on accomplishing what had doubtless
always been his desire, namely to make an end of the whole city and
realm during his lifetime. At all events, he, like others before him,
used to call Priam wonderfully fortunate in that he had seen his
country and his throne destroyed together. Accordingly he secretly sent
out men who pretended to be drunk or engaged in other kinds of
mischief, and caused them at first to set fire to one or two or even
several buildings in different parts of the city, so that people were
at their wits' end, not being able to find any beginning of the trouble
nor to put an end to it, though they constantly were aware of many
strange sights and sounds. For there was naught to be seen but many
fires, as in a camp, and naught to be heard from the talk of the people
except such exclamations as "This or that is afire," "Where?" "How did
it happen?" "Who kindled it?" "Help?" Extraordinary excitement laid
hold on all the citizens in all parts of the city, and they ran about,
some in one direction and some in another, as if distracted. Here men
while assisting their neighbours would learn that their own premises
were afire; there others, before 20 reached them that their own houses
had caught fire, would be told that they were destroyed. Those who were
inside their houses would run out into the narrow streets thinking that
they could save them from the outside, while people in the streets
would rush into the dwellings in the hope of accomplishing something
inside. There was shouting and wailing without end, of children, women,
men, and the aged all together, so that no one could see thing or
understand what was said by reason of the smoke and the shouting; and
for this reason some might be seen standing speechless, as if they were
dumb. Meanwhile many who were carrying out their goods and many, too,
who were stealing the property of others, kept running into one another
and falling over their burdens. It was not possible to go forward nor
yet to stand still, but people pushed and were pushed in turn, upset
others and were themselves upset. Many were suffocated, many were
trampled underfoot; in a word, no evil that can possibly happen to
people in such a crisis failed to befall to them. They could not even
escape anywhere easily; and if anybody did save himself from the
immediate danger, he would fall into another and perish.
Now this did not all take place on a single day, but it lasted for
several days and nights alike. Many houses were destroyed for want of
anyone to help save them, and many others were set on fire by the same
men who came to lend assistance; for the soldiers, including the night
watch, having an eye to plunder, instead of putting out fires, kindled
new ones. While such scenes were occurring at various points, a wind
caught up the flames and carried them indiscriminately against all the
buildings that were left. Consequently no one concerned himself any
longer about goods or houses, but all the survivors, standing where
they thought they were safe, gazed upon what appeared to be a number of
scattered islands on fire or many cities all burning at the same time.
There was no longer any grieving over personal losses, but they
lamented the public calamity, recalling how once before most of the
city had been thus laid waste by the Gauls. While the whole population
was in this state of mind and many, crazed by the disaster, were
leaping into the very flames, Nero ascended to the roof of the palace,
from which there was the best general view of the greater part of the
conflagration, and assuming the lyre-player's garb, he sang the
"Capture of Troy," as he styled the song himself, though to the enemies
of the spectators it was the Capture of Rome.
The calamity which the city then experienced has no parallel before or
since, except in the Gallic invasion. The whole Palatine hill, the
theatre of Taurus, and nearly two-thirds of the remainder of the city
were burned, and countless persons perished. There was no curse that
the populace did not invoke upon Nero, though they did not mention his
name, but simply cursed in general terms those who had set the city on
fire. And they were disturbed above all by recalling the oracle which
once in the time of Tiberius had been on everybody's lips. It ran thus:
"Thrice three hundred years having run their course of fulfilment,
Rome by the strife of her people shall perish."
And when Nero, by way of encouraging them, reported that these verses
could not be found anywhere, they dropped them and proceeded to repeat
another oracle, which they averred to be a genuine Sibylline prophecy,
namely:
"Last of the sons of Aeneas, a mother-slayer shall govern."
And so it proved, whether this verse was actually spoken beforehand by
some divine prophecy, or the populace was now for the first time
inspired, in view of the present situation, to utter it. For Nero was
indeed the last emperor of the Julian line, the line descended from
Aeneas. He now began to collect vast sums from private citizens as well
as from whole communities, sometimes using compulsion, taking the
conflagration as his pretext, and sometimes obtaining it by voluntary
contributions, as they were made to appear. As for the Romans
themselves, he deprived them of the free dole of grain.
While he was thus engaged he received tidings from Armenia accompanied
by a laurel crown in honour of another victory there. For Corbulo,
after uniting the bodies of soldiers that had been scattered and
training them after a period of neglect, had then by the very report of
his approach terrified both Vologaesus, the king of Parthia, and
Tiridates, the Armenian leader. He resembled the early Romans in that,
besides coming of a brilliant family possessing great strength of body,
he was still further gifted with a shrewd intelligence; and he
displayed great bravery and great fairness and good faith towards all,
both friends and enemies. For these reasons Nero had sent him to the
war in his own stead and had entrusted to him a larger force than to
anybody else, feeling equal confidence that this leader would subdue
the barbarians and would not revolt against him. And Corbulo belied
neither of these expectations, though he grieved everybody else in this
one particular, that he kept faith with Nero; for people were so
anxious to secure him as emperor in place of Nero that his conduct in
this respect seemed to them his only defect.
Corbulo, accordingly, had taken Artaxata without a struggle and had
razed the city to the ground. This exploit finished, he marched in the
direction of Tigranocerta, sparing all the districts that yielded but
devastating the lands of all such as resisted him. Tigranocerta
submitted to him voluntarily. He also performed other brilliant and
glorious deeds, crowning them all by inducing the formidable Vologaesus
to accept terms that accorded with the dignity of the Romans.
Vologaesus, on hearing that Nero had assigned Armenia to others and
that Adiabene was being ravaged by Tigranes, made preparations to take
the field himself against Corbulo, in Syria, and sent into Armenia
Monobazus, king of Adiabene, and Monaeses, a Parthian. These two shut
up Tigranes in Tigranocerta. But since they found that they could not
harm at all by their siege, but, on the contrary, as often as they
tried conclusions with him, were repulsed by both the native troops and
the Romans that were in his army, and since Corbulo guarded Syria with
extreme care, Vologaesus swallowed his pride and abandoned the
expedition. Then he sent to Corbulo and obtained a truce on condition
that he should send a new embassy to Nero, raise the siege, and
withdraw his soldiers from Armenia. Nero did not give him even then
either a speedy or a definite reply, but despatched Lucius Caesennius
Paetus to Cappadocia to see to it that there should be no uprising in
the region of Armenia.
Vologaesus attacked Tigranocerta and drove back Paetus, who had come to
his aid. When the latter fled, he pursued him, cut down the garrison
left by Paetus at the Taurus, and shut him up in Rhandea, near the
river Arsanias. Then he was on the point of retiring without
accomplishing anything; for, destitute as he was of heavy-armed
soldiers, he could not approach close to the wall, and he had no large
stock of provisions, particularly as he had come at the head of a vast
host without making arrangements for his food supply. But Paetus stood
in fear of his archery, which took et in the very camp itself, as well
as of his cavalry, which kept appearing at all points, and accordingly
sent to him proposals for a truce, accepted his terms, and took an oath
that he would himself abandon the whole of Armenia and that Nero should
give it to Tiridates. The Parthian was glad enough to make this
agreement, seeing that he was to obtain control of the country without
a contest and would be making the Romans his debtors for a very
considerable kindness. And, as he also learned that Corbulo (whom
Paetus had repeatedly sent for before he was surrounded) was drawing
near, he dismissed the beleaguered Romans, having first made them agree
to build a bridge over the river Arsanias for him. He did not really
need a bridge, for he had crossed on foot, but he wished to show them
that he was their superior. At any rate, he did not retire by way of
the bridge even on this occasion, but rode across on an elephant, while
the rest got over as before.
The capitulation had scarcely been made when Corbulo with inconceivable
swiftness reached the Euphrates and there waited for the retreating
force. When the two forces met, the vast difference between the troops
and their generals would have struck the attention of anybody: the
former were rejoicing and exulting in their speed, the latter were
grieved and ashamed of the compact that had been made. Vologaesus sent
Monaeses to Corbulo with the demand that he abandon the fort in
Mesopotamia. So these two held a prolonged conference together on the
very bridge over the eu, after first destroying the centre of the
structure. Corbulo agreed to quit the country if the Parthian would
also abandon Armenia, and both of these stipulations were carried out
provisionally, until Nero could learn of the engagements made and
receive the second embassy that Vologaesus sent. The answer given them
by the emperor was that he would bestow Armenia upon Tiridates if that
prince would come to Rome. Paetus was deposed from his command and the
soldiers that had been with him were sent elsewhere, but Corbulo was
again assigned to the war against the same foes. Nero had intended to
accompany the expedition in person, but he fell while performing a
sacrifice, so that he did not venture to set out, but remained at home.
Corbulo, therefore, was officially preparing for war upon Vologaesus
and sent a centurion bidding him depart from the country; but privately
he was advising the king to send his brother to Rome, a suggestion that
the other followed, since Corbulo seemed to have the stronger force.
Accordingly, Corbulo and Tiridates held a conference at Rhandea, a
place satisfactory to both — to the king because his troops had there
cut off the Romans and had sent them away under a capitulation, a
visible proof of the favour that had been done them, and to Corbulo
because he expected his men to wipe out the ill repute that had
attached to them there before. Indeed, the proceedings of the
conference were not limited to mere conversations, but a lofty platform
had been erected on which were set images of Nero, and in the presence
of crowds of Armenians, Parthians, and Romans Tiridates approached and
paid them reverence; then, after sacrificing to them and calling them
by laudatory names, he took off the diadem from his head and set it
upon them. Monobazus and Vologaesus also came to Corbulo and gave him
hostages. In honour of this event Nero was saluted as imperator a
number of times and held a triumph, contrary to precedent.
Corbulo, then, though he had a large force under him and enjoyed no
small reputation, so that he might easily have been made emperor (since
men thoroughly detested Nero, but all admired him in every way),
neither headed any rebellion nor was accused of doing so. In fact, he
now conducted himself more prudently than ever. For example, he
voluntarily sent to Rome his son-in-law Annius, who was acting as his
lieutenant; this was done with the ostensible purpose that Annius might
escort Tiridates thither, but actually in order to put a hostage in
Nero's hands. To be sure, the emperor had been so firmly persuaded that
his general would not revolt, that Corbulo had obtained his son-in-law,
even before he had been praetor, as lieutenant.
Junius Torquatus, a descendant of Augustus, was handed over for
punishment on a remarkable charge. He had squandered his property
rather prodigally, whether following his native bent or with the
deliberate intention of not being very rich. Nero therefore declared
that, as he lacked many things, he must be covetous of the goods of
others, and consequently caused a fictitious charge to be brought
against him of aspiring to the imperial power.
Seneca, however, and Rufus, the prefect, and some other prominent men
formed a plot against Nero; for they could no longer endure his
disgraceful behaviour, his licentiousness, and his cruelty. They
desired, therefore, to rid themselves of these evils and at the same
time to free Nero from them — as indeed, Sulpicius Asper, a centurion,
and Subrius Flavius, a military tribune, both belonging to the
body-guards, admitted outright to Nero himself. Asper, when asked by
the emperor the reason for his attempt, replied: "I could help you I no
other way." And the response of Flavius was: "I have both loved and
hated you above all men. I loved you, hoping that you would prove a
good emperor; I have hated you because you do so-and-so. I can not be a
slave to a charioteer or lyre-player." Information was lodged against
these men, then, and they were punished, and many others likewise on
their account. For everything in the nature of a complaint that could
be entertained against anyone for excessive joy or grief, for words or
gestures, was brought forward and was believed; and not one of these
complaints, even if fictitious, could be refused credence in view of
Nero's actual deeds. Hence faithless friends and house servants of some
men flourished exceedingly; for, whereas persons were naturally on
their guard against strangers and foes, by reason of their suspicions,
they were bound to lay bare their thoughts to their associates whether
they would or not.
It would be no small task to speak of all the others that perished, but
the fate of Seneca calls for a few words. It was his wish to end the
life of his wife Paulina at the same time with his own, for he declared
that he had taught her both to despise death and to desire to leave the
world in company with him. So he opened her veins as well as his own.
But as he died hard, his end was hastened by the soldiers; and she was
still alive when he passed away, and thus survived. He did not lay
hands upon himself, however, until he had revised the book which he was
writing and had deposited his other books with some friends, fearing
that they would otherwise fall into Nero's hands and be destroyed. Thus
died Seneca, notwithstanding that he had on the pretext of illness
abandoned the society of the emperor and had bestowed upon him his
entire property, ostensibly to help to pay for the buildings he was
constructing. His brothers, too, perished after him.
Like Thrasea and Soranus, who were among the foremost in family,
wealth, and every virtue, met their death, not because they were
accused of conspiracy, but because they were what they were. Against
Soranus, Publius Egnatius Celer, a philosopher, gave false evidence.
The accused had had two associates, Cassius Asclepiodotus of Nicaea and
this Egnatius of Berytus. Now Asclepiodotus, so far from speaking
against Soranus, actually bore witness to his noble qualities; and for
this he was exiled at the time, though later restored under Galba.
Publius, in return for his false charges, received money and honours,
as did others of the same profession; but subsequently he was banished.
Soranus, then, was slain on the charge of having practised a kind of
magic through the agency of his daughter, the foundation for this story
being that when Soranus fell sick they had offered a certain sacrifice.
Thrasea was executed because he failed to appear regularly in the
senate,— thus showing that he did not like the measures passed,— and
because he never would listen to the emperor's singing and
lyre-playing, nor sacrifice to Nero's Divine Voice as did the rest, nor
give any public exhibitions; yet it was remarked that at Patavium, his
native place, he had acted in a tragedy held in pursuance of some old
custom at a festival held every thirty years. As he made the incision
in his artery, he raised his hand, exclaiming: "To thee, Jupiter,
Patron of Freedom, I pour this libation of blood."
And why should one be surprised that such complaints were brought
against them, seeing that one man was brought to trial and slain for
live near the Forum, and letting of the some shops for receiving a few
friends in them; and another because he possessed an image of Cassius,
the slayer of Caesar?
The conduct of a woman named Epicharis also deserves mention. She had
been included in the conspiracy and all its details had been entrusted
to her without reserve; yet she revealed none of them, though often
tortured in all the ways that the skill of Tigellinus could devise. And
why should one enumerate the sums given to the Praetorians on the
occasion of this conspiracy or the excessive honours voted to Nero and
his friends? Suffice it to say that Rufus Musonius, the philosopher,
was banished for his connexion with these events.
Sabina also perished at this time through an act of Nero's; either
accidentally or intentionally he had leaped upon her with his feet
while she was pregnant. The extremes of luxury indulged in by this
Sabina I will indicate in the briefest terms. She cause gilded shoes to
be put on the mules that drew her and caused five hundred asses that
had recently foaled to be milked daily that she might bathe in their
milk. For she bestowed the greatest pains on the beauty and brilliancy
of her person, and this is why, when she noticed in a mirror one day
that her appearance was not comely, she prayed that she might die
before she passed her prime. Nero missed her so greatly after her death
that on learning of a woman who resembled her he at first sent for her
and kept her; but later he caused a boy of the freedmen, whom he used
to call Sporus, to be castrated, since he, too, resembled Sabina, and
he used him in every way like a wife. In due time, though already
"married" to Pythagoras, a freedman, he formally "married" Sporus, and
assigned the boy a regular dowry according to contract; and the Romans
as well as others publicly celebrated their wedding.
While Nero had Sporus, the eunuch, as a wife, one of his associates in
Rome, who had made a study of philosophy, on being asked whether the
marriage and cohabitation in question met with his approval, replied:
"You do well, Caesar, to seek the company of such wives. Would that
your father had had the same ambition and had lived with a similar
consort!" — indicating that if this had been the case, Nero would not
have been born, and the state would now be free of great evils.
This, however, was later. At the time with which we are concerned many,
as I have stated, were put to death, and many others, purchasing their
lives from Tigellinus for a great price, were released.
Nero continued to do many ridiculous things. Thus, on the occasion of a
certain popular festival, he descended to the orchestra of the theatre,
where he read some Trojan lays of himself; and in honour of these,
numerous sacrifices were offered, as was the case with everything else
that he did. He was now making preparations to write an epic narrating
all the achievements of the Romans; and even before composing a line of
it he began to consider the proper number of books, consulting among
others Annaeus Cornutus, who at this time was famed for his learning.
This man he came very near putting to death and did deport to an
island, because, while some were urging him to write four hundred
books, Cornutus said that this was too many and nobody would read them.
And when someone objected, "Yet Chrysippus, whom you praise and
imitate, composed many more," the other retorted: "But they are a help
to the conduct of men's lives." So Cornutus incurred banishment for
this. Lucan, on the other hand, was debarred from writing poetry
because he was receiving high praise for his work.
LXIII
In the consulship of Gaius Telesinus and Suetonius Paulinus one event
of great glory and another of deep disgrace took place. For one thing,
Nero contended among the lyre-players, and after Menecrates, the
teacher of this art, had celebrated a triumph for him in the Circus, he
appeared as a charioteer. On the other hand, Tiridates presented
himself in Rome, bringing with him not only his own sons but also those
of Vologaesus, of Pacorus, and of Monobazus. Their progress all the way
from the Euphrates was like a triumphal procession. Tiridates himself
was at the height of his reputation by reason of his age, beauty,
family, and intelligence; and his whole retinue of servants together
with all his royal paraphernalia accompanied him. Three thousand
Parthian horsemen and numerous Romans besides followed in his train.
They were received by gaily decorated cities and by peoples who shouted
many compliments. Provisions were furnished them free of cost, a daily
expenditure of 800,000 sesterces for their support being thus charged
to the public treasury. This went on without change for the nine months
occupied in their journey. The prince covered the whole distance to the
confines of Italy on horseback, and bs him rode his wife, wearing a
golden helmet in place of a veil, so as not to defy the traditions of
her country by letting her face be seen. In Italy he was conveyed in a
two-horse carriage sent by Nero, and met the emperor at Neapolis, which
he reached by way of Picenum. He refused, however, to obey the order to
lay aside his dagger when he approached the emperor, but fastened it to
the scabbard with nails. Yet he knelt upon the ground, and with arms
crossed called him master and did obeisance. Nero admired him for this
action and entertained him in many ways, especially by giving a
gladiatorial exhibition at Puteoli. It was under the direction of
Patrobius, one of his freedmen, who managed to make it a most brilliant
and costly affair, as may be seen from the fact that on one of the days
not a person but Ethiopians — men, women, and children — appeared in
the theatre. By way of showing Patrobius some fitting honour Tiridates
shot at wild beasts from his elevated seat, and — if one can believe it
— transfixed and killed two bulls with a single arrow.
After this event Nero took him up to Rome and set the diadem upon his
head. The entire city had been decorated with lights and garlands, and
great crowds of people were to be seen everywhere, the Forum, however,
being especially full. The centre was occupied by civilians, arranged
according to rank, clad in white and carrying laurel branches;
everywhere else were the soldiers, arrayed in shining armour, their
weapons and standards flashing like the lightning. The very roof-tiles
of all the buildings in the vicinity were completely hidden from view
by the spectators who had climbed to the roofs. Everything had been
thus got ready during the night; and at daybreak Nero, wearing the
triumphal garb and accompanied by the senate and the Praetorians,
entered the Forum. He ascended the rostra and seated himself upon a
chair of state. Next Tiridates and his suite passed between lines of
heavy-armed troops drawn up on either side, took their stand close to
the rostra, and did obeisance to the emperor as they had done before.
At this a great roar went up, which so alarmed Tiridates that for some
moments he stood speechless, in terror of his life. Then, silence
having been proclaimed, he recovered courage and quelling his pride
made himself subservient to the occasion and to his need, caring little
how humbly he spoke, in view of the prize he hoped to obtain. These
were his words: "Master, I am the descendant of Arsaces, brother of the
kings Vologaesus and Pacorus, and thy slave. And I have come to thee,
my god, to worship thee as I do Mithras. The destiny thou spinnest for
me shall be mine; for thou art my Fortune and my Fate." Nero replied to
him as follows: "Well hast thou done to come hither in person, that
meeting me face to face thou mightest enjoy my grace. For what neither
thy father left thee nor thy brothers gave and preserved for thee, this
do I grant thee. King of Armenia I now declare thee, that both thou and
they may understand that I have power to take away kingdoms and to
bestow them." At the close of these words he bade him ascend by the
approach which had been built in front of the rostra expressly for this
occasion, and when Tiridates had been made to sit beneath his feet, he
placed the diadem upon his head. At this, too, there were many shouts
of all sorts. By special decree there was also a celebration in the
theatre. Not merely the stage but the whole interior of the theatre
round about had been gilded, and all the properties that were brought
in had been adorned with gold, so that people gave to the day itself
the epithet of "golden." The curtains stretched overhead to keep off
the sun were of purple and in the centre of them was an embroidered
figure of Nero driving a chariot, with golden stars gleaming all about
him.
Such, then, was this occasion; and of course they had a costly banquet.
Afterwards Nero publicly sang to the lyre, and also drove a chariot,
clad in the costume of the Greens and wearing a charioteer's helmet.
This made Tiridates disgusted with him; but he praised Corbulo, in whom
he found only this one fault, that he would put up with such a master.
Indeed, he made no concealment of his views even to Nero himself, but
said to him one day: "Master, you have in Corbulo a good slave." But
this remark fell on uncomprehending ears. In all other matters he
flattered the emperor and ingratiated himself most skilfully, with the
result that he received all kinds of gifts, said to have been worth
200,000,000 sesterces, and obtained permission to rebuild Artaxata.
Moreover, he took with him from Rome many artisans, some of whom he got
from Nero, and some of whom he persuaded by offers of high wages.
Corbulo, however, would not let them all cross into Armenia, but only
those whom Nero had given him. This caused Tiridates both to admire him
and to despise the emperor more than ever. The king did not return by
the route that he had followed in coming,— through Illyricum and north
of the Ionian Sea,— but instead he sailed from Brundisium to
Dyrrachium. He viewed also the cities of Asia, which served to increase
his amazement at the strength and beauty of the Roman empire.
Tiridates one day viewed an exhibit of the pancratium, at which one of
the contestants after falling to the ground was being struck by his
opponent. When the king saw this, he exclaimed: "The fight is unfair.
It is not fair that a man who has fallen should be struck."
Tiridates rebuilt Artaxata and named it Neronia. But Vologaesus, though
often summoned, refused to come to Nero, and finally, when the latter's
invitations became burdensome to him, sent back a despatch to this
effect: "It is far easier for you than for me to traverse so great a
body of water. Therefore, if you will come to Asia, we can then arrange
where we shall be able to meet each other." Such was the message which
the Parthian wrote at last.
Nero, though angry at him, did not sail against him, nor yet against
the Ethiopians or the Caspian Gates, as he had intended. He did,
indeed, among other things, send spies to both places, but seeing that
the subjugation of these regions demanded time and labour, he hoped
that they would submit to him of their own accord. But he crossed over
into Greece, not at all as Flaminius or Mummius or as Agrippa and
Augustus, his ancestors, had done, but for the purpose of driving
chariots, playing the lyre, making proclamations, and acting in
tragedies. Rome, it seems, was not enough for him, nor Pompey's
theatre, nor the great Circus, but he desired also a foreign campaign,
in order to become, as he said, victor in the Grand Tour. And a
multitude not only of the Augustans but of other persons as well were
taken with him, large enough, if it had been a hostile host, to have
subdued both Parthians and all other nations. But they were the kind
you would have expected Nero's soldiers to be, and the arms they
carried were lyres and plectra, masks and buskins. The victories Nero
won were such as befitted that sort of army, and he overcame Terpnus
and Diodorus and Pammenes, instead of Philip or Perseus or Antiochus.
It is probable that his purpose in forcing this Pammenes to compete
also, in spite of his age (he had been in his prime in the reign of
Gaius), was that he might overcome him and vent his dislike by
mutilating the statues that had been erected to him.
Had he merely done this, he would have been the subject of ridicule.
Yet how could one endure even to hear about, let alone behold, a Roman,
a senator, a patrician, a high priest, a Caesar, and emperor, an
Augustus, named on the programme among the contestants, training his
voice, practising various songs, wearing long hair on his head the
while his chin was smooth-shaven, throwing his toga over his shoulder
in the races, walking about with one or two attendants, looking askance
at his opponents, and constantly uttering taunting remarks to them,
standing in the dread of the directors of the games and the wielders of
the whip and lavishing money on them all secretly to avoid being
brought to book and scourged? And all this he did, though by winning
the contests of the lyre-payers and tragedians and heralds he would
make certain his defeat in the contest of the Caesars. What harsher
proscription could there ever be than this, in which it was not Sulla
that posted the names of others, but Nero that posted his own name?
What stranger victory than one for which he received the crown of wild
olive, bay, parsley or pine and lots the political crown? Yet why
should one lament these acts of his alone, seeing that he also elevated
himself on the high-soled buskins only to fall from the throne, and in
putting on the mask threw off the dignity of his sovereignty to beg in
the guise of a runaway slave, to be led about as a blind man, to be
heavy with child, to be in labour, to be a madman, or to wander an
outcast, his favourite rôles being those of Oedipus, Thyestes,
Heracles, Alcmeon and Orestes? The masks that he wore were sometimes
made to resemble the characters he was portraying and sometimes bore
his own likeness; but the women's masks were all fashioned after the
features of Sabina, in order that, though dead, she might still take
part in the spectacle. All the situations that ordinary actors simulate
in their acting he, too, would portray in speech or action or in
submitting to the action of others — save only that golden chains were
used to bind him; for apparently it was not thought proper for a Roman
emperor to be bound in iron shackles.
All this behaviour, nevertheless, was witnessed, endured, and approved,
not only by the crown in general, but also by the soldiers. They
acclaimed him Pythian Victor, Olympian Victor, Victor in the Grand
Tour, Universal Victor, besides all the usual expressions, and of
course joined to these names the titles belonging to his imperial
office, so that every one of them had "Caesar" and "Augustus" as a tag.
He conceived a dislike for a certain man because while he was speaking
the man frowned and was not over-lavish of his praises; and so he drove
him away and would not let him come into his presence. He persisted in
his refusal to grant him audience, and when the man asked, "Where shall
I go, then?" Phoebus, Nero's freedman, replied, "To the deuce!"
None of them ventured either to pity or to hate the wretched man. One
of the soldiers, to be sure, on seeing him in chains, grew indignant,
ran up, and set him free. Another in reply to a question, "What is the
emperor doing?" replied, "He is in labour"; for Nero was then acting
the part of Canace. Not one of them conducted himself in a way at all
worthy of a Roman. Instead, because so much money fell to their share,
they offered prayers that he might give many such performances, so that
they might receive still more.
Now if this had been all that he did, the affair, while being a source
of shame and of ridicule, would still have been thought harmless. But,
as it was, he devastated the whole of Greece precisely as if he had
been sent out to wage war, notwithstanding that he had left the country
free; and he slew great numbers of men, women and children. At first he
commanded the children and freedmen of those who were executed to leave
him half their property at their death, be allowed the victims
themselves to make wills, in order that he might not appear to be
killing them for their money. He invariably took all that was
bequeathed to him, or at least the greater part, and in case anyone
left to him or to Tigellinus less than they were expecting, his will
was of no avail. Later he took away the entire property of those who
were executed, and banished all their children at one time by a single
decree. Nor was he content with even this, but he also destroyed not a
few of those who were living in exile. As for the possessions that he
confiscated from people while they were living and the votive offerings
that he stole from the very temples in Rome, no one could ever
enumerate them all. Indeed, despatch-bearers hurried back and forth
bearing no other communications than "Put this man to da!" or
"So-and-So is dead"; for no private messages, only royal
communications, were carried to and fro. Nero, it seems, had taken away
many of the foremost men in Greece, under the pretence of needing some
assistance from them, merely in order that they might perish there. As
for the people in Rome and Italy, he had handed them all over to the
tender mercies of a certain Helius, an imperial freedman. This man had
been given a complete authority, so that he could confiscate, banish or
put to death ordinary citizens, knights, and senators alike, even
before notifying Nero.
Thus the Roman empire was at that time a slave to two emperors at once,
Nero and Helius; and I am unable to say which of them was the worse. In
most respects they behaved entirely alike, and the one point of
difference was that the descendant of Augustus was emulating
lyre-players and tragedians, whereas the freedman of Claudius was
emulating Caesars. As regards Tigellinus, I consider him a mere
appendage of Nero, because he was constantly with him; but Polycleitus
and Calvia Crispinilla, apart from Nero, plundered, sacked and
despoiled everything that it was possible to pillage. The former was
associated with Helius at Rome, and the latter with the "Sabina" who
was known as Sporus. Calvia had been entrusted with the care of the boy
and with the oversight of the wardrobe, though a woman and of high
rank; and through her all were stripped of their possessions.
Now Nero called Sporus "Sabina" not merely because, owing to his
resemblance to are he had been made a eunuch, but because the boy, like
the mistress, had been solemnly married to him in Greece, Tigellinus
giving the bride away, as the law ordained. All the Greeks held a
celebration in honour of their marriage, uttering all the customary
good wishes, even to the extent of praying that legitimate children
might be born to them. After that Nero had two bedfellows at once,
Pythagoras to play the rôle of husband to him, and Sporus that of
wife. The latter, in addition to other forms of address, was termed
"lady," "queen," and "mistress." Yet why should one wonder at this,
seeing that Nero would fasten naked boys and girls to stakes, and then
putting on the hide of a wild beast would attack them and satisfy his
brutal lust under the appearance of devouring parts of their bodies?
Such were the indecencies of Nero.
When he received the senators, he wore a short flowered tunic and a
muslin neck-cloth; for in matters of dress, also, he was already
transgressing custom, even going so far as to wear ungirded tunics in
public. It is reported also that the members of the equestrian order
used saddle-cloths in his reign for the first time at their annual
review.
At the Olympic games he fell from the chariot he was driving and came
very near being crushed to death; yet he was crowned victor. In
acknowledgement of this favour he gave to the Hellanodikai the million
sesterces which Galba later demanded back from them.
this same emperor gave 400,000 sesterces to the Pythia for uttering
some oracles that suited him; this money Galba recovered. But from
Apollo, on the other hand, whether from vexation at the god for making
some unpleasant predictions to him or because he was merely crazy, he
took away the territory of Cirrha and gave it to the soldiers. He also
abolished the oracle, after slaying some people and throwing them into
the fissure from which the sacred vapour arose. He contended in every
city alike that held any contest, always employing Cluvius Rufus, an
ex-consul, as herald whenever the services of a herald were required.
Athens and Sparta were two exceptions, being the only places that he
did not visit at all. He avoided the latter city because of the laws of
Lycurgus, which stood in the way of his designs, and the former because
of the story about the Furies. The proclamation always ran: "Nero
Caesar wins this contest and crowns the Roman people and the inhabited
world that is his own." Thus, though possessing a world, according to
his own statement, he nevertheless went on playing the lyre, making
proclamations, and acting tragedies.
His hatred for the senate was so fierce that he took particular
pleasure in Vatinius, who was always saying to him: "I hate you,
Caesar, for being of senatorial rank." (I give his very words.) Both
the senators and all others were constantly subjected to the closest
scrutiny in their entrances, their exits, their attitudes, their
gestures, and their shouts. The men that were always in Nero's company,
listened attentively and loudly cheered him, were commended and
honoured; the rest were both dishonoured and punished. Some, therefore,
being unable to hold out until the end of his performances (for often
the spectators would be kept on a strain from early morning until
evening), would pretend to swoon and would be carried out of the
theatres as if dead.
As a secondary achievement connected with his sojourn in Greece he
conceived a desire to dig a canal across the isthmus of the
Peloponnesus, and actually began the task. Men shrank from it, however,
be, when the first workers touched the earth, blood spouted from it,
groans and bellowings were heard, and many phantoms appeared. Nero
himself thereupon grasped a mattock and by throwing up some of the soil
fairly compelled the rest to imitate him. For this work he sent for a
great multitude of men from other nations as well.
For this and other purposes he needed great sums of money; and as he
was at once a promoter of great enterprises and a giver of great gifts,
and at the same time feared an attack from the persons of most
influence while he was thus engaged, he made away with many excellent
men. Of most of these I shall omit any account, inasmuch as the stock
complaint under which all of them were brought before him was
excellence, wealth, or family; and all of them either killed themselves
or were slain by others. I shall, however, mention Corbulo and the two
Sulpicii Scribonii, Rufus and Proculus. The latter two were brothers of
about the same age, and had never done anything separately but had
remained united in purpose and in property as they were in family; they
had for a long time administered the two Germanies together, and now
came to Greece at the summons of Nero, who pretended to want them for
something. Complaints of the kind in which that period abounded were
lodged against them, but they could neither obtain a hearing nor get
within sight of Nero; and as this caused them to be slighted by
everybody alike, they began to long for death and so met their end by
opening their veins. I mention Corbulo, because the emperor, after
sending him also a most courteous summons and invariably calling him,
among other names, "father" and "benefactor," then, when this general
landed at Cenchreae, commanded that he should be slain before he had
even entered his presence. Some explain this by saying that Nero was
about to appear as a lyre-player and could not endure the idea of being
seen by Corbulo while he wore the long ungirded tunic. The condemned
man, as soon as heunderstood the order, seized a sword, and dealing
himself a lusty blow exclaimed: "Your due!" Then, indeed, for the first
time he was convinced that he had done wrong both in sparing the
lyre-player and in going to him unarmed. This was what was going on in
Greece. Is it worth while adding that Nero ordered Paris, the
pantomimic dancer, to be slain because the emperor had wished to learn
dancing from him but had not the capacity? Or that he banished Caecina
Tuscus, the governor of Egypt, for bathing in the bath that had been
specially constructed for the emperor's intended visit to Alexandria?
In Rome during this same period Helius committed many terrible deeds.
Among other things he put to death one of the foremost men, Sulpicius
Camerinus, together with his son, the complaint against them being that
they would not give up their title of Pythicus, received from some of
their ancestors, but showed irreverence toward Nero's Pythian victories
by their use of this same title. And when the Augustans proposed to
make a statue of the emperor weighing a thousand pounds, the whole
equestrian order was compelled to help to defray the expense they had
undertaken. As for the doings of the senate, it would be a task to
describe them all in detail; for so many sacrifices and days of
thanksgiving were announced that the whole year would not hold them all.
Helius had for some time been sending to Nero many messages urging him
to return as quickly as possible, but when he found that no attention
was paid to them, he went himself to Greece in seven days and
frightened him by reporting that a great conspiracy against him was on
foot in Rome. This report caused Nero to embark for Italy at once.
There was, indeed, some hope of his perishing in a storm and many
rejoiced, but to no purpose, as he came safely to land; and for certain
men the very fact that they had prayed and hoped that he might perish
furnished a motive for their destruction. When he entered Rome, a
portion of the wall was torn down and a section of the gates broken in,
because some asserted that each of these ceremonies was customary upon
the return of crowned victors from the games. First entered men bearing
the crowns wc he had won, and after them others with wooden panels
borne aloft on spears, upon which were inscribed the name of the games,
the kind of contest, and a statement that Nero Caesar first of all the
Romans from the beginning of the world had won it. Next came the victor
himself on a triumphal car, the one in which Augustus had once
celebrated his many victories; he was clad in a vestment of purple
covered with spangles of gold, was crowned with a garland of wild
olive, and held in his hand the Pythian laurel. By his side rode
Diodorus the lyre-player. After passing in this manner through the
Circus and through the Forum in company with the soldiers and the
knights and the senate he ascended the Capitol and proceeded thence to
the palace. The city was all decked with garlands, was ablaze with
lights and reeking with incense, and the whole population, the senators
themselves most of all, kept shouting in chorus: "Hail, Olympian
Victor! Hail, Pythian Victor! Augustus! Augustus! Hail to Nero, our
Hercules! Hail to Nero, our Apollo! The only Victor of the Grand Tour,
the only one from the beginning of time! Augustus! Augustus! O, Divine
Voice! Blessed are they that hear thee." I might, to be sure, have used
circumlocutions, but why not declare their very words? The expressions
that they used do not disgrace my history; rather, the fact that I have
not concealed any of them lends it distinction.
When he had finished these ceremonies, he announced a series of
horse-races, and carrying into the Circus these crowns as well as all
the others that he had secured by his victories in chariot-racing, he
placed them around the Egyptian obelisk. The number of them was one
thousand eight hundred and eight. And after doing this he appeared as a
charioteer. Now a certain Larcius, a Lydian, approached him with an
offer of a million sesterces if he would play the lyre for the. Nero,
however, would not take the money, disdaining to do anything for pay
(albeit Tigellinus collected it, as the price of not putting Larcius to
death), but he did appear in the theatre, nevertheless, and not only
played the lyre but also acted in a tragedy. (As for the equestrian
contests, he never failed to take part in them.) Sometimes he would
voluntarily let himself be defeated, in order to make it more credible
that he really won on most occasions.
Dio, Book LXII: "And he inflicted countless woes upon many cities."
End of Etext Cassius Dio Roman History Epitome of Book LXII
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