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Title: Dio's Rome, Volume 5
Author: Cassius Dio Cocceianus
Translator: Herbert Baldwin Foster
Release date: January 1, 2004 [eBook #10890]
Most recently updated: December 23, 2020
Language: English
Credits: Produced by Ted Garvin, Ben Courtney and the Online Distributed
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*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK DIO'S ROME, VOLUME 5 ***
DIO'S ROME
AN
HISTORICAL NARRATIVE
ORIGINALLY COMPOSED IN GREEK
DURING THE REIGNS OF
SEPTIMIUS SEVERUS, GETA
AND CARACALLA, MACRINUS,
ELAGABALUS AND ALEXANDER SEVERUS:
AND
NOW PRESENTED IN ENGLISH FORM
BY
HERBERT BALDWIN FOSTER,
A.B. (Harvard), Ph.D. (Johns Hopkins),
Acting Professor of Greek in Lehigh University
FIFTH VOLUME: Extant Books 61-76 (A.D. 54-211).
1906
VOLUME CONTENTS
| Book 61 | Book 62 | Book 63 | Book 64 | Book 65 | Book 66 | Book 67 | Book 68 |
| Book 69 | Book 70 | Book 71 | Book 73 | Book 74 | Book 75 | Book 76 | Book 77 |
DURATION OF TIME
M. Asinius Marcellus, Manius Acilius Aviola.
(A.D. 54 = a.u. 807 = First of Nero, from Oct. 13th).
Nero Caesar Aug., L. Antistius Vetus.
(A.D. 55 = a.u. 808 = Second of Nero).
Q. Volusius Saturninus, P. Cornelius Scipio.
(A.D. 56 = a.u. 809 = Third of Nero).
Nero Caesar Aug. (II), L. Calpurnius Piso.
(A.D. 57 = a.u. 810 = Fourth of Nero).
Nero Caesar Aug. (III), M. Valerius Messala.
(A.D. 58 = a.u. 811 = Fifth of Nero).
C. Vipsanius Apronianus, L. Fonteius Capito.
(A.D. 59 = a.u. 812 = Sixth of Nero).
Nero Caesar Aug. (IV), Cornelius Lentulus Cossus.
(A.D. 60 = a.u. 813 = Seventh of Nero).
(A.D. 54 = a.u. 807 = First of Nero, from Oct. 13th).
Nero Caesar Aug., L. Antistius Vetus.
(A.D. 55 = a.u. 808 = Second of Nero).
Q. Volusius Saturninus, P. Cornelius Scipio.
(A.D. 56 = a.u. 809 = Third of Nero).
Nero Caesar Aug. (II), L. Calpurnius Piso.
(A.D. 57 = a.u. 810 = Fourth of Nero).
Nero Caesar Aug. (III), M. Valerius Messala.
(A.D. 58 = a.u. 811 = Fifth of Nero).
C. Vipsanius Apronianus, L. Fonteius Capito.
(A.D. 59 = a.u. 812 = Sixth of Nero).
Nero Caesar Aug. (IV), Cornelius Lentulus Cossus.
(A.D. 60 = a.u. 813 = Seventh of Nero).
A.D. 54 (a.u. 807)
1
At the death of Claudius the leadership on most just
principles belonged to Britannicus, who had been born
a legitimate son of Claudius and in physical development
was beyond what would have been expected of
his years. Yet by law the power passed to Nero on
account of his adoption. No claim, indeed, is stronger
than that of arms. Every one who possesses superior
force has always the appearance of both saying and
doing what is more just. So Nero, having first disposed
of Claudius's will and having succeeded him as
master of the whole empire, put Britannicus and his
sisters out of the way. Why, then, should one stop to
lament the misfortunes of other victims?
2
The following signs of dominion had been observed in
his career. At his birth just before dawn rays not
cast by any beam of sunlight yet visible surrounded his
form. And a certain astrologer from this and from
the motion of the stars at that time and their relation
to one another divined two things in regard to him,--that
he would rule and that he would murder his
mother. Agrippina on hearing this became for the
moment so beside herself as actually to cry out: "Let
him kill me, if only he shall rule." Later she was
destined to repent bitterly of her prayer. Some people
become so steeped in folly that if they expect to obtain
some blessing mingled with evil, they at once through
their anxiety for the advantage pay no heed to the
detriment. When the time for the latter also comes,
they are cast down and would choose not to have secured
even the greatest good thing. Yet Domitius, the
father of Nero, had a sufficient previous intimation of
his son's coming baseness and licentiousness, not by
any oracle but through the nature of his own and
Agrippina's characters. And he declared: "It is impossible
for any good man to be born from me and
from her." As time went on, the finding of a serpent
skin around Nero's neck when he was but a boy caused
the seers to say: "He shall acquire great power
from the aged man." Serpents are thought to slough
off their old age with their old skin, and so get power.
3
Nero was seventeen years of age when he began to
rule. He first entered the camp, and, after reading to
the soldiers all that Seneca had written, he promised
them as much as Claudius had been accustomed to
give. Before the senate he read such a considerable
document,--this, too, written by Seneca,--that it was
voted the statements should be inscribed on a silver
tablet and should be read every time the new consuls
took up the duties of their office. Consequently those
who heard him made themselves ready to enjoy a good
reign according to the letter of the compilation. At
first Agrippina
[in company with Pallas, a vulgar and
tiresome man,]
managed all affairs pertaining to the
empire, and she and her son went about together, often
reclining in the same litter; usually, however, she
would be carried and he would follow alongside. It
was she who transacted business with embassies and
sent letters to peoples and governors and kings. When
this had gone on for a considerable time, it aroused the
displeasure of Seneca and Burrus, who were both the
most sensible and the most influential of the advisers
of Nero. The one was his teacher and the other was
prefect of the Pretorians. They took the following occasion
to stop this method of procedure. An embassy
of Armenians had arrived and Agrippina wished to
ascend the platform from which Nero was talking with
them. The two men, seeing her approach, persuaded
the young man to go down before she could reach there
and meet his mother, pretending some form of greeting.
After that was done they did not return again,
making some excuse to prevent the foreigners from
seeing the flaw in the empire. Subsequently they labored
to keep any public business from being again
committed to her hands.
4
When they had accomplished this, they themselves
took charge of the entire empire and gave it the very
best and fairest management that they could. Nero
was not in general fond of affairs and was glad to
live at leisure.
[The reason, indeed, that he had previously
distrusted his mother and now was fond of her
lay in the fact that now he was free to enjoy himself,
and the government was being carried on no less well.
And his advisers after consultation made many
changes in existing customs, abolishing some things
altogether and passing a number of new laws.]
They
let Nero sow his wild oats with the intention of bringing
about in him through the satisfaction of all his desires
a changed attitude of mind, while in the meantime
no great damage should be done to public interests.
Surely they must have known that a young and
self-willed spirit, when reared in unreproved license
and in absolute authority, so far from becoming satiated
by the indulgence of its passions is ruined more
and more by these very agencies. Indeed, Nero at first
gave but simple dinners; his revels, his drunkenness,
his amours were moderate. Afterward, as no one reproved
him for them and public business was carried
forward none the worse for all of it, he began to believe
that what he did was right and that he could carry
his practices to even greater lengths.
[Consequently
he began to indulge in each of these pursuits in a more
open and precipitate fashion. And in case his guardians
gave him any warning or his mother any rebuke,
he would appear abashed while they were present and
promise to reform; but as soon as they were gone, he
would again become the slave of his desire and yield
to those who were dragging him in the other direction,--a
straight course down hill.]
Next he came to despise
instruction, inasmuch as he was always hearing
from his associates, "Do
you
submit to this?" or "Do
you
fear these people?", "Don't you know that you
are Caesar?", "Have not you the authority over them
rather than they over you?" He was also animated
by obstinacy, not wishing to acknowledge his mother
as superior and himself as inferior, nor to admit the
greater good sense of Seneca and Burrus.
5
Finally he passed the possibility of being shamed,
dashed to the ground and trampled under foot all their
suggestions, and began to follow in the steps of Gaius.
When he had once felt a desire to emulate him, he quite
outdid him, for he believed that the imperial power
must manifest itself among other ways by allowing
no one to surpass it even in the vilest deeds.
[As he
was praised for this by the crowds, and received many
pleasant compliments from them, he gave himself no
rest. His doings were at first confined to his home and
associates, but were later on carried abroad. Thus he
attached a mighty disgrace to the whole Roman race
and committed many outrages upon the individuals
composing it. Innumerable acts of violence and insult,
of rape and murder, were committed both by the emperor
himself and by those who at one time or another
had influence with him. And, as certainly and inevitably
follows in all such practices]
, great sums of
money naturally were spent, great sums unjustly procured,
and great sums seized by force. For under no
circumstances was Nero niggardly. Here is an illustration.
He had ordered no less than two hundred and
fifty myriads at one time to be given to Doryphorus,
who attended to the state documents of his empire.
Agrippina had it all piled in a heap, hoping by showing
him the money all together to make him change his
mind. Instead, he asked how much the mass before
him amounted to, and when he was informed he
doubled it, saying: "I was not aware that I had allowed
him so little." It can clearly be seen, then, that
as a result of the magnitude of his expenditures he
would quickly exhaust the treasures in the royal vaults
and quickly need new revenues. Hence unusual taxes
were imposed and the property of the well-to-do was
not left intact. Some lost their possessions to spite
him and others destroyed themselves with their livelihoods.
Similarly he hated and made away with some
others who had no considerable wealth; for, if they possessed
any excellent trait or were of a good family, he
became suspicious that they disliked him.
6
Such were the general characteristics of Nero. I
shall now proceed to details.
In the matter of horse-races Nero grew so enthusiastic
that he adorned famous race-horses that had
passed their prime with the regular street costume for
men and honored them with money for their fodder.
The horsebreeders and charioteers, elated at this enthusiasm
of his, proceeded to abuse unjustifiably even
the praetors and consuls. But Aulus Fabricius, when
praetor, finding that they refused to hold contests on
fair terms, dispensed with them entirely. He trained
dogs to draw chariots and introduced them in place of
horses. When this was done, the wearers of the white
and of the red immediately entered their chariots: but,
as the Greens and the Blues would not even then participate,
Nero at his own cost gave the prizes to the
horses, and the regular program of the circus was
carried out.
Agrippina showed readiness to attack the greatest
undertakings, as is evidenced by her causing the death
of Marcus Julius Silanus, to whom she sent some of
the poison with which she had treacherously murdered
her husband.
Silanus was governor of Asia, and was in no respect
inferior to the general character of his family. It was
for this, more than for anything else, she said, that she
killed him, not wishing to have him preferred before
Nero, by reason of the latter's manner of life. Moreover,
she turned everything into trade and gathered
money from the most insignificant and basest sources.
Laelianus, who was despatched to Armenia in place
of Pollio, had been assigned to the command of the
night watch. And he was no better than Pollio, for,
while surpassing him in reputation, he was all the
more insatiable in respect to gain.
A.D. 55 (a.u. 808)
7
Agrippina found a grievance in the fact that she
was no longer supreme in affairs of the palace. It was
chiefly because of Acte. Acte had been brought as a
slave from Asia. She caught the fancy of Nero, was
adopted into the family of Attalus, and was cherished
much more carefully than was Nero's wife Octavia.
Agrippina, indignant at this and at other matters, first
attempted to rebuke him, and set herself to humiliating
his associates, some by beatings and by getting rid
of others. But when she accomplished nothing, she
took it greatly to heart and remarked to him: "It
was I who made you emperor," just as if she had the
power to take away the authority from him again. She
did not comprehend that every form of independent
power given to any one by a private citizen immediately
ceases to be the property of the giver and belongs
to the one who receives it to use against his benefactor.
Britannicus Nero murdered treacherously by poison,
and then, as the skin was turned livid by the action of
the drug, he smeared the body with gypsum. But as it
was being carried through the Forum a heavy rain
falling while the gypsum was still damp washed it all
away, so that the horror was exposed not only to comment
but to view.
[After Britannicus was dead Seneca
and Burrus ceased to give careful attention to public
interests and were satisfied if they might manage them
conservatively and still preserve their lives. Consequently
Nero now made himself conspicuous by giving
free rein to all his desires without fear of retribution.
His behavior began to be absolutely insensate, as is
shown, for instance, by his punishing a certain knight,
Antonius, as a seller of poisons and by further burning
the poisons publicly. He took great credit for this
action as well as for prosecuting some persons who
had tampered with wills; but other people only laughed
to see him punishing his own acts in the persons of
others.]
8
His secret acts of licentiousness were many, both at
home and throughout the City, by night and by day.
He used to frequent the taverns and wandered about
everywhere like a private person. Any number of
beatings and insults took place in this connection and
the evil spread to the theatres, so that those who
worked as dancers and who had charge of the horses
paid no attention either to praetors or to consuls.
They were disorderly themselves and led others to be
the same, while Nero not only did not restrain them
even by words, but stirred them up all the more. He
delighted in their actions and used to be secretly conveyed
in a litter into the theatres, where unseen by the
rest he watched the proceedings. Indeed, he forbade
the soldiers who had usually been in attendance at all
public gatherings to appear there any longer. The
reason he assigned was that they ought not to superintend
anything but strictly military affairs, but his
true purpose was to afford those who wished to raise
a disturbance the amplest scope. He made use of the
same excuse in reference to his not allowing any
soldier to attend his mother, saying that no one except
the emperor ought to be guarded by them. In this
way he displayed his enmity toward the masses, and
as for his mother he was already openly at variance
with her. Everything that they said to each other,
or that the imperial pair did each day, was reported
outside the palace, yet it did not all reach the public
and hence conjectures were made to supply missing
details and different versions arose. What was conceivable
as happening, in view of the baseness and
lewdness of the pair, was noised abroad as having
already taken place, and reports possessing some credibility
were believed as true. The populace, seeing
Agrippina now for the first time without Pretorians,
took care not to fall in with her even by accident; and
if any one did chance to meet her he would hastily get
out of the way without saying a word.
9
At one spectacle men on horseback overcame bulls
while riding along beside them, and the knights who
served as Nero's personal guard brought down with
their javelins four hundred bears and three hundred
lions. On the same occasion thirty knights belonging
to the military fought in the arena. The emperor
sanctioned such proceedings openly. Secretly, however,
he carried on nocturnal revels throughout the
length and breadth of the city, insulting the women,
practicing lewdness on boys, stripping those whom he
encountered, striking, wounding, murdering. He had
an idea that his incognito was impenetrable, for he
used all sorts of different costumes and false hair at
different times: but he would be recognized by his
retinue and by his deeds. No one else would have
dared to commit so many and such gross outrages so
recklessly.
A.D. 56 (a.u. 809)
It was becoming unsafe even for a person
to stay at home, since he would break into shops and
houses. It came about that a certain Julius Montanus,
[
]
a senator, enraged on his wife's account, fell upon this
reveler and inflicted many blows upon him, so that he
had to remain several days in concealment by reason
of the black eyes he had received. Montanus did not
suffer for it, since Nero thought the violence had been
all an accident and was for showing no anger at the
occurrence, had not the other sent him a letter begging
his pardon. Nero on reading the epistle remarked:
"So he knew that he was striking Nero." The suicide
of Montanus followed hard after.
A.D. 57 (a.u. 810)
In the course of producing a spectacle at one of the
theatres, he suddenly filled the place with sea-water so
that the fishes and sea-monsters
[
]
swam in it, and had a
naval battle between "Persians" and "Athenians."
At the close of it he suddenly withdrew the water,
dried the subsoil, and continued land contests, not only
between two men at a time but with crowds pitted
against other crowds.
A.D. 58 (a.u. 811)
10
Subsequent to this, oratorical contests took place,
and as a result even of these numbers were exiled and
put to death.--Seneca also was held to account, one of
the charges against him being that he was intimate
with Agrippina.
[It had not been enough for him to
debauch Julia, nor had he become better as a result
of exile, but he went on to make advances to such a
woman as Agrippina, with such a son.]
Not only in
this instance but in others he was convicted of doing
precisely the opposite of what he taught in his philosophical
doctrines. He brought accusations against
tyranny, yet he made himself a teacher of tyrants: he
denounced such of his associates as were powerful,
yet he did not hold aloof from the palace himself: he
had nothing good to say of flatterers, yet he had so
fawned upon Messalina and Claudius's freedmen
[that
he had sent them from the island a book containing
eulogies upon them; this latter caused him such mortification
that he erased the passage.]
While finding
fault with the rich, he himself possessed a property
of seven thousand five hundred myriads; and though
he censured the extravagances of others, he kept five
hundred three-legged tables of cedar wood, every one
of them with identical ivory feet, and he gave banquets
on them. In mentioning these details I have at least
given a hint of their inevitable adjuncts,--the licentiousness
in which he indulged at the very time that
he made a most brilliant marriage, and the delight
that he took in boys past their prime (a practice which
he also taught Nero to follow). Nevertheless, his austerity
of life had earlier been so severe that he had
asked his pupil neither to kiss him nor to eat at the
same table with him.
[For the latter request he had a
good reason, namely, that Nero's absence would enable
him to conduct his philosophical studies at leisure without
being hindered by the young man's dinners. But as
for the kiss, I can not conceive how that tradition came
about. The only explanation which one could imagine,
namely, his unwillingness to kiss that sort of mouth,
is proved to be false by the facts concerning his favorites.
For this and for his adultery some complaints
were lodged against him, but at this time he was himself
released without formal accusations and succeeded
in begging off Pallas and Burrus. Later on he did
not come out so well.]
A.D. 59 (a.u. 811)
11
There was a certain Marcus Salvius Otho, who
through similarity of character and sharing in wrongdoing
had become so intimate with Nero that he was
not even punished for saying one day to the latter:
"Then I hope you may see me Caesar." All that came
of it was the response: "I sha'n't see you even consul."
It was to him that the emperor gave Sabina, 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 enough for her story that she had attracted
her uncle Claudius into love for her by her blandishments
and uncontrolled looks and kisses, she undertook
to enslave Nero also in similar fashion. However,
I am not sure whether this actually occurred, or
whether it was invented to fit their characters: but I
state here 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 threw out hints
about it to others, he would say that he was having intercourse
with his mother.
A.D. 59 (a.u. 812)
12
Sabina on hearing about this began to persuade
Nero to get rid of his mother in order to forestall her
alleged plots against him. He was likewise incited,--
so many trustworthy men have stated,--by Seneca,
whether it was to obscure the complaint against his
own name that the latter was anxious or to lead Nero
on to a career of unholy bloodguiltiness that should
bring about most speedily his destruction by gods and
men. But they shrank from doing the deed openly and
were not able to put her out of the way secretly by
means of poison, for she took extreme precautions
against all such things. One day they saw in the
theatre a ship that automatically separated in two,
let out some beasts, and came together again so as to
be once more seaworthy; and they at once had another
one 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 dared, however, do nothing in Rome
for fear the crime should become widely known. Hence
he went some distance into Campania accompanied by
his mother, and took a sail on the fatal ship itself,
which was adorned in the most brilliant fashion to the
end that she might feel a desire to use the vessel continually.
13
When they reached Bauli, he gave for several
days most costly dinners at which he showed great
solicitude in entertaining his mother. 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 he had shaped the situation to this
extent
[
]
,
then rising from dinner about midnight he
embraced her, and straining her to his breast kissed
her eyes and hands, exclaiming: "Mother, farewell,
and happiness attend you! For you I live and because
of you I rule." He then gave her in charge of Anicetus,
a freedman, supposedly to convey her home on
the ship that he had prepared.
But the sea would not endure the tragedy about to
be enacted on it nor would it submit to assume responsibility
for the deception wrought by the monstrous
contrivance: therefore, though the ship parted
asunder and Agrippina fell into the water, she did not
perish. In spite of the fact that it was dark and she
was full of strong drink and that the sailors used their
oar blades on her, so much so that they killed Acerronia
Polla, her fellow voyager, she nevertheless saved
her life and reached home. Thereupon she affected
not to realize that it was a plot and let not a word of
it be known, but sent speedily to her son an account of
the occurrence with the implication that it had happened
by accident, and conveyed to him the good news
(as she assumed it to be) that she was safe. Nero
hearing this could not endure the unexpected outcome
but punished the messenger as savagely as if he had
come to assassinate him, and at once despatched
Anicetus with the sailors to make an end of his mother.
He would not entrust the killing of her to the Pretorians.
When she saw them, she knew for what they
had come, and leaping from her bed tore open her
clothing; exposing her abdomen, and cried out:
"Strike here, Anicetus, strike here, for this bore
Nero!"
14
Thus was Agrippina, daughter of Germanicus,
grandchild of Agrippa, 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, for the monstrousness of his bold deed plunged
him in doubts; therefore he desired to behold the victim
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
crime. What he said was: "I did not know I had so
beautiful a mother."
To the Pretorians he gave money evidently to secure
their prayers for many such occurrences, and
he sent to the senate a message in which he enumerated
the offences of which he knew she was guilty,
stating also that she had plotted against him and on
being detected had committed suicide. Yet for all this
calm explanation to the governing body he was frequently
subject to agitation at night, so that he would
even leap suddenly from his bed. And by day terror
seized him at the sound of trumpets that seemed to
blare forth some horrid din of war from the spot
where lay Agrippina's bones. Therefore he went elsewhere.
And when in his new abode he had again the
same experience, he distractedly transferred his residence
to some other place.
Nero, not having a word of truth from any one and
seeing that all approved what he had been doing,
thought that either his actions had escaped notice or
that he had conducted himself correctly. Hence he became
much worse also in other respects. He came to
think that all that it was in his power to do was right
and gave heed to those whose speech was prompted by
fear or flattery as if they told absolute truth. For a
time he was subject to fears and questionings, but,
after the ambassadors had made him a number of
pleasing speeches, he regained courage.
15
The population of Rome, on hearing the report,
though horrified were nevertheless joyful, because they
thought that now he would surely come to ruin. Nearly
all of the senators pretended to rejoice at what had
taken place, participated in Nero's pleasure, and voted
many measures of which they thought he would be
glad. Publius Thrasea Paetus had also come to the
senate-house and listened to the letter. When, however,
the reading was done, he at once rose without
making any comment and went out. Thus what he
would have said he could not, and what he could have
said he would not. He behaved in the same way under
all other conditions. For he used to say: "If it were
a matter of Nero's putting only me to death, I could
easily pardon the rest who load him with flatteries.
But since among those even who praise him so excessively
he has gotten rid of some and will yet destroy
others, why should one stoop to indecent behavior and
perish like a slave, when like a freeman one may pay
the debt to nature? There shall be talk of me hereafter,
but of these men not a word save for the single
fact that they were killed." Such was the kind of man
Thrasea showed himself, and he would always encourage
himself by saying: "Nero can kill me, but
he can not harm me."
16
When Nero after his mother's murder reentered
Rome, people paid him reverence in public, but in
private so long as any one could speak frankly with
safety they tore his character to very tatters. And
first they hung by night a piece of hide on one of his
statues to signify that he himself ought to have a hiding.
Second, they threw down in the Forum a baby
to which was fastened a board, saying: "I will not
take you up for fear you may slay your mother."
At Nero's entrance into Rome they took down the statues of Agrippina.
But there was one which they did not cut loose soon enough, and
so they threw over it a cloth which gave it the appearance of being
veiled. Thereupon somebody at once affixed to the statue the following
inscription: "I am abashed and thou art unashamed."
In many quarters at once, also, might be read the
inscription:
"Nero, Orestes, Alemeon, matricides."
Persons could actually be heard saying in so many
words: "Nero put his mother out of the way." Not
a few lodged information that certain persons had
spoken in this way, their object being not so much to
destroy those whom they accused as to bring reproach,
on Nero. Hence he would admit no suit of that kind,
either not wishing that the rumor should become more
widespread by such means, or out of utter contempt
for what was said. However, in the midst of the sacrifices
offered in memory of Agrippina according to decree,
the sun suffered a total eclipse and the stars could
be seen. Also, the elephants drawing the chariot of
Augustus entered the hippodrome and went as far as
the senators' seats, but at that point they stopped and
refused to proceed farther. And the event which one
might most readily conjecture to have taken place
through divine means was that a thunderbolt descended
upon his dinner and consumed it all as it was
being brought to him, like some tremendous harpy
snatching away his food.
17
[In spite of this he killed by poison also his aunt
Domitia, whom likewise he used to say he revered 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 possessions at Baiae and Ravenna, which included
magnificent amusement pavilions that she had erected
and]
are in fine condition even now. In honor of his
mother he celebrated a very great and costly festival,
events taking place for several days in five or six
theatres at once. It was then that an elephant was led
to the very top of the vault of the theatre and walked
down from that point on ropes, carrying a rider.
There was another exhibition at once most disgraceful
and shocking. Men and women not only of equestrian
but even of senatorial rank appeared in the orchestra,
the hippodrome, and even the hunting-theatre, like the
veriest outcasts. Some of them played the flute and
danced or acted tragedies and comedies or sang to the
lyre. They drove horses, killed beasts, fought as gladiators,
some willingly, others with a very bad grace.
Men of that day beheld the great families,--the Furii,
the Horatii, the Fabii, Poreii, Valerii, and all the rest
whose trophies, whose temples were to be seen,--standing
down below the level of the spectators and
doing some things to which no common citizen even
would stoop. So they would point them out to one another
and make remarks, Macedonians saying: "That
is the descendant of Paulus"; Greeks, "Yonder
the offspring of Mummius"; Sicilians, "Look at
Claudius"; the Epirots, "Look at Appius"; Asiatics,
"There's Lucius"; Iberians, "There's Publius";
Carthaginians, "There's Africanus"; Romans,
"There they all are". Such was the expiation that
the emperor chose to offer for his own indecency.
18
All who had sense, likewise, bewailed the multitude
of expenditures. Every costliest viand that men eat,
everything else, indeed, of the highest value,--horses,
slaves, teams, gold, silver, raiment of varied hues,--was
given away by tickets. Nero would throw tiny
balls, each one appropriately inscribed, among the
populace and that article represented by the token
received would be presented to the person who had
seized it. The sensible, I say, reflected that, when he
spent so much to prevent molestation in his disgraceful
course, he would not be restrained from any most
outrageous proceedings through mere hope of profit.
Some portents had taken place about this time,
which the seers declared imported destruction to him,
and they advised him to divert the danger upon others.
So he would have immediately put numbers of men
out of the way, had not Seneca said to him: "No
matter how many you may slay, you can not kill your
successor."