6. Vergil, Aeneis, 5.292-5.344, 9.176-9.449 (1st cent. BCE - 1st cent. BCE)
| 5.292. where her safe house and pretty nestlings lie 5.293. oars from her nest, with whirring wings—but soon 5.294. through the still sky she takes her path of air 5.295. on pinions motionless. So Pristis sped 5.296. with Mnestheus, cleaving her last stretch of sea 5.297. by her own impulse wafted. She outstripped 5.298. Sergestus first; for he upon the reef 5.299. fought with the breakers, desperately shouting 5.300. for help, for help in vain, with broken oars 5.301. contriving to move on. Then Mnestheus ran 5.302. past Gyas, in Chimaera's ponderous hulk 5.303. of pilot now bereft; at last remains 5.304. Cloanthus his sole peer, whom he pursues 5.305. with a supreme endeavor. From the shore 5.306. burst echoing cheers that spur him to the chase 5.307. and wild applause makes all the welkin ring. 5.308. The leaders now with eager souls would scorn 5.309. to Iose their glory, and faint-hearted fail 5.310. to grasp a prize half-won, but fain would buy 5.311. honor with life itself; the followers too 5.312. are flushed with proud success, and feel them strong 5.313. because their strength is proven. Both ships now 5.314. with indistinguishable prows had sped 5.315. to share one prize,—but with uplifted hands 5.316. pread o'er the sea, Cloanthus, suppliant 5.317. called on the gods to bless his votive prayer: 5.318. “Ye gods who rule the waves, whose waters be 5.319. my pathway now; for you on yonder strand 5.320. a white bull at the altar shall be slain 5.321. in grateful tribute for a granted vow; 5.322. and o'er the salt waves I will scatter far 5.323. the entrails, and outpour the flowing wine.” 5.324. He spoke; and from the caverns under sea 5.325. Phorcus and virgin Panopea heard 5.326. and all the sea-nymphs' choir; while with strong hand 5.327. the kindly God of Havens rose and thrust 5.328. the gliding ship along, that swifter flew 5.329. than south wind, or an arrow from the string 5.331. Aeneas then, assembling all to hear 5.332. by a far-sounding herald's voice proclaimed 5.333. Cloanthus victor, and arrayed his brows 5.334. with the green laurel-garland; to the crews 5.335. three bulls, at choice, were given, and plenteous wine 5.336. and talent-weight of silver; to the chiefs 5.337. illustrious gifts beside; the victor had 5.338. a gold-embroidered mantle with wide band 5.339. of undulant Meliboean purple rare 5.340. where, pictured in the woof, young Ganymede 5.341. through Ida's forest chased the light-foot deer 5.342. with javelin; all flushed and panting he. 5.343. But lo! Jove's thunder-bearing eagle fell 5.344. and his strong talons snatched from Ida far 9.176. is ours already; thousands of sharp swords 9.177. Italia 's nations bring. Small fear have I 9.178. of Phrygia 's boasted omens. What to me 9.179. their oracles from heaven? The will of Fate 9.180. and Venus have achieved their uttermost 9.181. in casting on Ausonia's fruitful shore 9.182. yon sons of Troy . I too have destinies: 9.183. and mine, good match for theirs, with this true blade 9.184. will spill the blood of all the baneful brood 9.185. in vengeance for my stolen wife. Such wrongs 9.186. move not on Atreus' sons alone, nor rouse 9.187. only Mycenae to a righteous war. 9.188. Say you, ‘ Troy falls but once?’ One crime, say I 9.189. hould have contented them; and now their souls 9.190. hould little less than loathe all womankind. 9.191. These are the sort of soldiers that be brave 9.192. behind entrenchment, where the moated walls 9.193. may stem the foe and make a little room 9.194. betwixt themselves and death. Did they not see 9.195. how Troy 's vast bulwark built by Neptune's hand 9.196. crumbled in flame? Forward, my chosen brave! 9.197. Who follows me to cleave his deadly way 9.198. through yonder battlement, and leap like storm 9.199. upon its craven guard? I have no need 9.200. of arms from Vulcan's smithy; nor of ships 9.201. a thousand strong against our Teucrian foes 9.202. though all Etruria's league enlarge their power. 9.203. Let them not fear dark nights, nor coward theft 9.204. of Pallas' shrine, nor murdered sentinels 9.205. on their acropolis. We shall not hide 9.206. in blinding belly of a horse. But I 9.207. in public eye and open day intend 9.208. to compass their weak wall with siege and fire. 9.209. I'll prove them we be no Pelasgic band 9.210. no Danaan warriors, such as Hector's arm 9.211. ten years withstood. But look! this day hath spent 9.212. its better part. In what remains, rejoice 9.213. in noble deeds well done; let weary flesh 9.214. have rest and food. My warriors, husband well 9.215. your strength against to-morrow's hopeful war.” 9.216. Meanwhile to block their gates with wakeful guard 9.217. is made Messapus' work, and to gird round 9.218. their camp with watchfires. Then a chosen band 9.219. twice seven Rutulian chieftains, man the walls 9.220. with soldiery; each leads a hundred men 9.221. crested with crimson, armed with glittering gold. 9.222. Some post to separate sentries, and prepare 9.223. alternate vigil; others, couched on grass 9.224. laugh round the wine and lift the brazen bowls. 9.225. The camp-fires cheerly burn; the jovial guard 9.227. The Trojans peering from the lofty walls 9.228. urvey the foe, and arm for sure defence 9.229. of every point exposed. They prove the gates 9.230. with fearful care, bind bridge with tower, and bring 9.231. good store of javelins. Serestus bold 9.232. and Mnestheus to their labors promptly fly 9.233. whom Sire Aeneas bade in time of stress 9.234. to have authority and free command 9.235. over his warriars. Along the walls 9.236. the legions, by the cast of lots, divide 9.237. the pain and peril, giving each his due 9.239. Nisus kept sentry at the gate: a youth 9.240. of eager heart for noble deeds, the son 9.241. of Hyrtacus, whom in Aeneas' train 9.242. Ida the huntress sent; swift could he speed 9.243. the spear or light-winged arrow to its aim. 9.244. Beside him was Euryalus, his friend: 9.245. of all th' Aeneadae no youth more fair 9.246. wore Trojan arms; upon his cheek unshorn 9.247. the tender bloom of boyhood lingered still. 9.248. Their loving hearts were one, and oft in war 9.249. they battled side by side, as in that hour 9.250. a common sentry at the gate they shared. 9.251. Said Nisus: “Is it gods above that breathe 9.252. this fever in my soul, Euryalus? 9.253. or is the tyrant passion of each breast 9.254. the god it serves? Me now my urgent mind 9.255. to battles or some mighty deed impels 9.256. and will not give me rest. Look yonder, where 9.257. the Rutuli in dull security 9.258. the siege maintain. Yet are their lights but few. 9.259. They are asleep or drunk, and in their line 9.260. is many a silent space. O, hear my thought 9.261. and what my heart is pondering. To recall 9.262. Aeneas is the dearest wish to-night 9.263. of all, both high and low. They need true men 9.264. to find him and bring tidings. If our chiefs 9.265. but grant me leave to do the thing I ask 9.266. (Claiming no reward save what honor gives) 9.267. methinks I could search out by yonder hill 9.268. a path to Pallanteum.” The amazed 9.269. Euryalus, flushed warm with eager love 9.270. for deeds of glory, instantly replied 9.271. to his high-hearted friend: “Dost thou refuse 9.272. my Nisus, to go with me hand in hand 9.273. when mighty deeds are done? Could I behold 9.274. thee venturing alone on danger? Nay! 9.275. Not thus my sire Opheltes, schooled in war 9.276. taught me his true child, 'mid the woes of Troy 9.277. and Argive terrors reared; not thus with thee 9.278. have I proved craven, since we twain were leal 9.279. to great Aeneas, sharing all his doom. 9.280. In this breast also is a heart which knows 9.281. contempt of life, and deems such deeds, such praise 9.282. well worth a glorious death.” Nisus to him: 9.283. “I have not doubted thee, nor e'er could have 9.284. one thought disloyal. May almighty Jove 9.285. or whatsoe'er good power my purpose sees 9.286. bring me triumphant to thy arms once more! 9.287. But if, as oft in doubtful deeds befalls 9.288. ome stroke of chance, or will divine, should turn 9.289. to adverse, 't is my fondest prayer that thou 9.290. houldst live the longer of us twain. Thy years 9.291. uit better with more life. Oh! let there be 9.292. one mourner true to carry to its grave 9.293. my corpse, recaptured in the desperate fray 9.294. or ransomed for a price. Or if this boon 9.295. hould be—'t is Fortune's common way—refused 9.296. then pay the debt of grief and loyal woe 9.297. unto my far-off dust, and garlands leave 9.298. upon an empty tomb. No grief I give 9.299. to any sorrowing mother; one alone 9.300. of many Trojan mothers, had the heart 9.301. to follow thee, her child, and would not stay 9.302. in great Acestes' land.” His friend replied: 9.303. “Thou weavest but a web of empty words 9.304. and reasons vain, nor dost thou shake at all 9.305. my heart's resolve. Come, let us haste away!” 9.306. He answered so, and summoned to the gate 9.307. a neighboring watch, who, bringing prompt relief 9.308. the sentry-station took; then quitted he 9.309. his post assigned; at Nisus' side he strode 9.311. Now in all lands all creatures that have breath 9.312. lulled care in slumber, and each heart forgot 9.313. its load of toil and pain. But they who led 9.314. the Teucrian cause, with all their chosen brave 9.315. took counsel in the kingdom's hour of need 9.316. what action to command or whom dispatch 9.317. with tidings to Aeneas. In mid-camp 9.318. on long spears leaning and with ready shield 9.319. to leftward slung, th' assembled warriors stood. 9.320. Thither in haste arrived the noble pair 9.321. brave Nisus with Euryalus his friend 9.322. and craved a hearing, for their suit, they said 9.323. was urgent and well-worth a patient ear. 9.324. Iulus to the anxious striplings gave 9.325. a friendly welcome, bidding Nisus speak. 9.326. The son of Hyrtacus obeyed: “O, hear 9.327. Princes of Teucria, with impartial mind 9.328. nor judge by our unseasoned youth the worth 9.329. of what we bring. Yon Rutule watch is now 9.330. in drunken sleep, and all is silent there. 9.331. With our own eyes we picked out a good place 9.332. to steal a march, that cross-road by the gate 9.333. close-fronting on the bridge. Their lines of fire 9.334. are broken, and a murky, rolling smoke 9.335. fills all the region. If ye grant us leave 9.336. by this good luck to profit, we will find 9.337. Aeneas and the walls of Palatine 9.338. and after mighty slaughter and huge spoil 9.339. ye soon shall see us back. Nor need ye fear 9.340. we wander from the way. oft have we seen 9.341. that city's crest loom o'er the shadowy vales 9.342. where we have hunted all day long and know 9.343. each winding of yon river.” Then uprose 9.344. aged Aletes, crowned with wisdom's years: 9.345. “Gods of our fathers, who forevermore 9.346. watch over Troy, ye surely had no mind 9.347. to blot out Teucria's name, when ye bestowed 9.348. uch courage on young hearts, and bade them be 9.349. o steadfast and so leal.” Joyful he clasped 9.350. their hands in his, and on their shoulders leaned 9.351. his aged cheek and visage wet with tears. 9.352. “What reward worthy of such actions fair 9.353. dear heroes, could be given? Your brightest prize 9.354. will come from Heaven and your own hearts. The rest 9.355. Aeneas will right soon bestow; nor will 9.356. Ascanius, now in youth's unblemished prime 9.357. ever forget your praise.” Forthwith replied 9.358. Aeneas' son, “By all our household gods 9.359. by great Assaracus, and every shrine 9.360. of venerable Vesta, I confide 9.361. my hopes, my fortunes, and all future weal 9.362. to your heroic hearts. O, bring me back 9.363. my father! Set him in these eyes once more! 9.364. That day will tears be dry; and I will give 9.365. two silver wine-cups graven and o'erlaid 9.366. with clear-cut figures, which my father chose 9.367. out of despoiled Arisbe; also two 9.368. full talents of pure gold, and tripods twain 9.369. and ancient wine-bowl, Tyrian Dido's token. 9.370. But if indeed our destiny shall be 9.371. to vanquish Italy in prosperous war 9.372. to seize the sceptre and divide the spoil, — 9.373. aw you that steed of Turnus and the arms 9.374. in which he rode, all golden? That same steed 9.375. that glittering shield and haughty crimson crest 9.376. I will reserve thee, e'er the lots are cast 9.377. and, Nisus, they are thine. Hereto my sire 9.378. will add twelve captive maids of beauty rare 9.379. and slaves in armor; last, thou hast the fields 9.380. which now Latinus holds. But as for thee 9.381. to whom my youth but binds me closer still 9.382. thee, kingly boy, my whole heart makes my own 9.383. and through all changeful fortune we shall be 9.384. inseparable peers: nor will I seek 9.385. renown and glory, or in peace or war 9.386. forgetting thee: but trust thee from this day 9.387. in deed and word.” To him in answer spoke 9.388. euryalus, “O, may no future show 9.389. this heart unworthy thy heroic call! 9.390. And may our fortune ever prosperous prove 9.391. not adverse. But I now implore of thee 9.392. a single boon worth all beside. I have 9.393. a mother, from the venerated line 9.394. of Priam sprung, whom not the Trojan shore 9.395. nor King Acestes' city could detain 9.396. alas! from following me. I leave her now 9.397. without farewell; nor is her love aware 9.398. of my supposed peril. For I swear 9.399. by darkness of this night and thy right hand 9.400. that all my courage fails me if I see 9.401. a mother's tears. O, therefore, I implore 9.402. be thou her sorrow's comfort and sustain 9.403. her solitary day. Such grace from thee 9.404. equip me for my war, and I shall face 9.405. with braver heart whatever fortune brings.” 9.406. With sudden sorrow thrilled, the veteran lords 9.407. of Teucria showed their tears. But most of all 9.408. uch likeness of his own heart's filial love 9.409. on fair Iulus moved, and thus he spoke: 9.410. “Promise thyself what fits thy generous deeds. 9.411. Thy mother shall be mine, Creusa's name 9.412. alone not hers; nor is the womb unblest 9.413. that bore a child like thee. Whate'er success 9.414. may follow, I make oath immutable 9.415. by my own head, on which my father swore 9.416. that all I promise thee of gift or praise 9.417. if home thou comest triumphing, shall be 9.418. the glory of thy mother and thy kin.” 9.419. Weeping he spoke, and from his shoulder drew 9.420. the golden sword, well-wrought and wonderful 9.421. which once in Crete Lycaon's cunning made 9.422. and sheathed in ivory. On Nisus then 9.423. Mnestheus bestowed a shaggy mantle torn 9.424. from a slain lion; good Aletes gave 9.425. exchange of crested helms. In such array 9.426. they hastened forth; and all the princely throng 9.427. young men and old, ran with them to the gates 9.428. praying all gods to bless. Iulus then 9.429. a fair youth, but of grave, heroic soul 9.430. beyond his years, gave them in solemn charge 9.431. full many a message for his sire, but these 9.432. the hazard of wild winds soon scattered far 9.434. Forth through the moat they climb, and steal away 9.435. through midnight shades, to where their foemen lie 9.436. encamped in arms; of whom, before these fall 9.437. a host shall die. Along the turf were seen 9.438. laid low in heavy slumber and much wine 9.439. a prostrate troop; the horseless chariots 9.440. tood tilted on the shore, 'twixt rein and wheel 9.441. the drivers dozed, wine-cups and idle swords 9.442. trewn round them without heed. The first to speak 9.443. was Nisus. “Look, Euryalus,” he cried 9.444. “Now boldly strike. The hour to do the deed 9.445. is here, the path this way. Keep wide-eyed watch 9.446. that no man smite behind us. I myself 9.447. will mow the mighty fieid, and lead thee on 9.448. in a wide swath of slaughter.” With this word 9.449. he shut his lips; and hurled him with his sword |
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15. Tacitus, Annals, 13.21, 14.1-14.18, 14.1.1, 14.4.1, 14.12.1, 14.21 (1st cent. CE - 2nd cent. CE)
| 13.21. When the emperor's fears had been thus calmed, at break of day a visit was paid to Agrippina; who was to listen to the charges, and rebut them or pay the penalty. The commission was carried out by Burrus under the eye of Seneca: a number of freedmen also were present as witnesses to the conversation. Then, after recapitulating the charges and their authors, Burrus adopted a threatening attitude. Agrippina summoned up her pride:â "I am not astonished," she said, "that Silana, who has never known maternity, should have no knowledge of a mother's heart: for parents do not change their children as a wanton changes her adulterers. Nor, if Iturius and Calvisius, after consuming the last morsel of their estates, pay their aged mistress the last abject service of undertaking a delation, is that a reason why my own fair fame should be darkened by the blood of my son or the emperor's conscience by that of his mother? For as to Domitia â I should thank her for her enmity, if she were competing with me in benevolence to my Nero, instead of staging this comedy with the help of her bedfellow Atimetus and her mummer Paris. In the days when my counsels were preparing his adoption, his proconsular power, his consulate in prospect, and the other steps to his sovereignty, she was embellishing the fish-ponds of her beloved Baiae. â Or let a man stand forth to convict me of tampering with the guards in the capital â of shaking the allegiance of the provinces â or, finally, of seducing either slave or freedman into crime! Could I have lived with Britannicus on the throne? And if Plautus or another shall acquire the empire and sit in judgement, am I to assume there is a dearth of accusers prepared to indict me, no longer for the occasional hasty utterances of an ill-regulated love, but for guilt from which only a son can absolve?" The listeners were moved, but she demanded an interview with her son. There she neither spoke in support of her innocence, as though she could entertain misgivings, nor on the theme of her services, as though she would cast them in his teeth, but procured vengeance upon her accusers and recognition for her friends. 14.1. In the consular year of Gaius Vipstanius and Gaius Fonteius, Nero postponed no further the long-contemplated crime: for a protracted term of empire had consolidated his boldness, and day by day he burned more hotly with love for Poppaea; who, hopeless of wedlock for herself and divorce for Octavia so long as Agrippina lived, plied the sovereign with frequent reproaches and occasional raillery, styling him "the ward, dependent on alien orders, who was neither the empire's master nor his own. For why was her wedding deferred? Her face, presumably, and her grandsires with their triumphs, did not give satisfaction â or was the trouble her fecundity and truth of heart? No, it was feared that, as a wife at all events, she might disclose the wrongs of the Fathers, the anger of the nation against the pride and greed of his mother! But, if Agrippina could tolerate no daughter-inâlaw but one inimical to her son, then let her be restored to her married life with Otho: she would go to any corner of earth where she could hear the emperor's ignominy rather than view it and be entangled in his perils." To these and similar attacks, pressed home by tears and adulterous art, no opposition was offered: all men yearned for the breaking of the mother's power; none credited that the hatred of the son would go the full way to murder. 14.1.1. In the consular year of Gaius Vipstanius and Gaius Fonteius, Nero postponed no further the long-contemplated crime: for a protracted term of empire had consolidated his boldness, and day by day he burned more hotly with love for Poppaea; who, hopeless of wedlock for herself and divorce for Octavia so long as Agrippina lived, plied the sovereign with frequent reproaches and occasional raillery, styling him "the ward, dependent on alien orders, who was neither the empire's master nor his own. For why was her wedding deferred? Her face, presumably, and her grandsires with their triumphs, did not give satisfaction â or was the trouble her fecundity and truth of heart? No, it was feared that, as a wife at all events, she might disclose the wrongs of the Fathers, the anger of the nation against the pride and greed of his mother! But, if Agrippina could tolerate no daughter-inâlaw but one inimical to her son, then let her be restored to her married life with Otho: she would go to any corner of earth where she could hear the emperor's ignominy rather than view it and be entangled in his perils." To these and similar attacks, pressed home by tears and adulterous art, no opposition was offered: all men yearned for the breaking of the mother's power; none credited that the hatred of the son would go the full way to murder. 14.2. It is stated by Cluvius that Agrippina's ardour to keep her influence was carried so far that at midday, an hour at which Nero was beginning to experience the warmth of wine and good cheer, she presented herself on several occasions to her half-tipsy son, coquettishly dressed and prepared for incest. Already lascivious kisses, and endearments that were the harbingers of guilt, had been observed by their intimates, when Seneca sought in a woman the antidote to female blandishments, and brought in the freedwoman Acte, who, alarmed as she was both at her own danger and at Nero's infamy, was to report that the incest was common knowledge, since his mother boasted of it, and that the troops would not submit to the supremacy of a sacrilegious emperor. According to Fabius Rusticus, not Agrippina, but Nero, desired the union, the scheme being wrecked by the astuteness of the same freedwoman. The other authorities, however, give the same version as Cluvius, and to their side tradition leans; whether the enormity was actually conceived in the brain of Agrippina, or whether the contemplation of such a refinement in lust was merely taken as comparatively credible in a woman who, for the prospect of power, had in her girlish years yielded to the embraces of Marcus Lepidus; who, for a similar ambition had prostituted herself to the desires of Pallas; and who had been inured to every turpitude by her marriage with her uncle. 14.3. Nero, therefore, began to avoid private meetings with her; when she left for her gardens or the estates at Tusculum and Antium, he commended her intention of resting; finally, convinced that, wherever she might be kept, she was still an incubus, he decided to kill her, debating only whether by poison, the dagger, or some other form of violence. The first choice fell on poison. But, if it was to be given at the imperial table, then the death could not be referred to chance, since Britannicus had already met a similar fate. At the same time, it seemed an arduous task to tamper with the domestics of a woman whose experience of crime had made her vigilant for foul play; and, besides, she had herself fortified her system by taking antidotes in advance. Cold steel and bloodshed no one could devise a method of concealing: moreover, there was the risk that the agent chosen for such an atrocity might spurn his orders. Mother wit came to the rescue in the person of Anicetus the freedman, preceptor of Nero's boyish years, and detested by Agrippina with a vigour which was reciprocated. Accordingly, he pointed out that it was possible to construct a ship, part of which could be artificially detached, well out at sea, and throw the unsuspecting passenger overboard:â "Nowhere had accident such scope as on salt water; and, if the lady should be cut off by shipwreck, who so captious as to read murder into the delinquency of wind and wave? The sovereign, naturally, would assign the deceased a temple and the other displays of filial piety. 14.4. This ingenuity commended itself: the date, too, was in its favour, as Nero was in the habit of celebrating the festival of Minerva at Baiae. Thither he proceeded to lure his mother, observing from time to time that outbreaks of parental anger had to be tolerated, and that he must show a forgiving spirit; his aim being to create a rumour of reconciliation, which Agrippina, with the easy faith of her sex in the agreeable, would probably accept. â In due course, she came. He went down to the beach to meet her (she was arriving from Antium), took her hand, embraced her, and escorted her to Bauli, the name of a villa washed by the waters of a cove between the promontory of Misenum and the lake of Baiae. Here, among others, stood a more handsomely appointed vessel; apparently one attention the more to his mother, as she had been accustomed to use a trireme with a crew of marines. Also, she had been invited to dinner for the occasion, so that night should be available for the concealment of the crime. It is well established that someone had played the informer, and that Agrippina, warned of the plot, hesitated whether to believe or not, but made the journey to Baiae in a litter. There her fears were relieved by the blandishments of a cordial welcome and a seat above the prince himself. At last, conversing freely, â one moment boyishly familiar, the next grave-browed as though making some serious communication, â Nero, after the banquet had been long protracted, escorted her on her way, clinging more closely than usual to her breast and kissing her eyes; possibly as a final touch of hypocrisy, or possibly the last look upon his doomed mother gave pause even to that brutal spirit. 14.4.1. This ingenuity commended itself: the date, too, was in its favour, as Nero was in the habit of celebrating the festival of Minerva at Baiae. Thither he proceeded to lure his mother, observing from time to time that outbreaks of parental anger had to be tolerated, and that he must show a forgiving spirit; his aim being to create a rumour of reconciliation, which Agrippina, with the easy faith of her sex in the agreeable, would probably accept. â In due course, she came. He went down to the beach to meet her (she was arriving from Antium), took her hand, embraced her, and escorted her to Bauli, the name of a villa washed by the waters of a cove between the promontory of Misenum and the lake of Baiae. Here, among others, stood a more handsomely appointed vessel; apparently one attention the more to his mother, as she had been accustomed to use a trireme with a crew of marines. Also, she had been invited to dinner for the occasion, so that night should be available for the concealment of the crime. It is well established that someone had played the informer, and that Agrippina, warned of the plot, hesitated whether to believe or not, but made the journey to Baiae in a litter. There her fears were relieved by the blandishments of a cordial welcome and a seat above the prince himself. At last, conversing freely, â one moment boyishly familiar, the next grave-browed as though making some serious communication, â Nero, after the banquet had been long protracted, escorted her on her way, clinging more closely than usual to her breast and kissing her eyes; possibly as a final touch of hypocrisy, or possibly the last look upon his doomed mother gave pause even to that brutal spirit. 14.5. A starlit night and the calm of an unruffled sea appeared to have been sent by Heaven to afford proof of guilt. The ship had made no great way, and two of Agrippina's household were in attendance, Crepereius Gallus standing not far from the tiller, while Acerronia, bending over the feet of the recumbent princess, recalled exultantly the penitence of the son and the re-entry of the mother into favour. Suddenly the signal was given: the canopy above them, which had been heavily weighted with lead, dropped, and Crepereius was crushed and killed on the spot. Agrippina and Acerronia were saved by the height of the couch-sides, which, as it happened, were too solid to give way under the impact. Nor did the break-up of the vessel follow: for confusion was universal, and even the men accessory to the plot were impeded by the large numbers of the ignorant. The crew then decided to throw their weight on one side and so capsize the ship; but, even on their own part, agreement came too slowly for a sudden emergency, and a counter-effort by others allowed the victims a gentler fall into the waves. Acerronia, however, incautious enough to raise the cry that she was Agrippina, and to demand aid for the emperor's mother, was despatched with poles, oars, and every nautical weapon that came to hand. Agrippina, silent and so not generally recognised, though she received one wound in the shoulder, swam until she was met by a few fishing-smacks, and so reached the Lucrine lake, whence she was carried into her own villa. 14.6. There she reflected on the evident purpose of the treacherous letter of invitation and the exceptional honour with which she had been treated, and on the fact that, hard by the shore, a vessel, driven by no gale and striking no reef, had collapsed at the top like an artificial structure on land. She reviewed as well the killing of Acerronia, glanced simultaneously at her own wound, and realized that the one defence against treachery was to leave it undetected. Accordingly she sent the freedman Agermus to carry word to her son that, thanks to divine kindness and to his fortunate star, she had survived a grave accident; but that, however great his alarm at his mother's danger, she begged him to defer the attention of a visit: for the moment, what she needed was rest. Meanwhile, with affected unconcern, she applied remedies to her wound and fomentations to her body: Acerronia's will, she gave instructions was to be sought, and her effects sealed up, â the sole measure not referable to dissimulation. 14.7. Meanwhile, as Nero was waiting for the messengers who should announce the doing of the deed, there came the news that she had escaped with a wound from a light blow, after running just sufficient risk to leave no doubt as to its author. Half-dead with terror, he protested that any moment she would be here, hot for vengeance. And whether she armed her slaves or inflamed the troops, or made her way to the senate and the people, and charged him with the wreck, her wound, and the slaying of her friends, what counter-resource was at his own disposal? Unless there was hope in Seneca and Burrus! He had summoned them immediately: whether to test their feeling, or as cognizant already of the secret, is questionable. â There followed, then, a long silence on the part of both: either they were reluctant to dissuade in vain, or they believed matters to have reached a point at which Agrippina must be forestalled or Nero perish. After a time, Seneca so far took the lead as to glance at Burrus and inquire if the fatal order should be given to the military. His answer was that the guards, pledged as they were to the Caesarian house as a whole, and attached to the memory of Germanicus, would flinch from drastic measures against his issue: Anicetus must redeem his promise. He, without any hesitation, asked to be given full charge of the crime. The words brought from Nero a declaration that that day presented him with an empire, and that he had a freedman to thank for so great a boon: Anicetus must go with speed and take an escort of men distinguished for implicit obedience to orders. He himself, on hearing that Agermus had come with a message from Agrippina, anticipated it by setting the stage for a charge of treason, threw a sword at his feet while he was doing his errand, then ordered his arrest as an assassin caught in the act; his intention being to concoct a tale that his mother had practised against the imperial life and taken refuge in suicide from the shame of detection. 14.8. In the interval, Agrippina's jeopardy, which was attributed to accident, had become generally known; and there was a rush to the beach, as man after man learned the news. Some swarmed up the sea-wall, some into the nearest fishing-boats: others were wading middle-deep into the surf, a few standing with outstretched arms. The whole shore rang with lamentations and vows and the din of conflicting questions and vague replies. A huge multitude streamed up with lights, and, when the knowledge of her safety spread, set out to offer congratulations; until, at the sight of an armed and threatening column, they were forced to scatter. Anicetus drew a cordon around the villa, and, breaking down the entrance, dragged off the slaves as they appeared, until he reached the bedroom-door. A few servants were standing by: the rest had fled in terror at the inrush of men. In the chamber was a dim light and a single waiting-maid; and Agrippina's anxiety deepened every instant. Why no one from her son â nor even Agermus? Had matters prospered, they would have worn another aspect. Now, nothing but solitude, hoarse alarms, and the symptoms of irremediable ill! Then the maid rose to go. "Dost thou too forsake me?" she began, and saw Anicetus behind her, accompanied by Herculeius, the trierarch, and Obaritus, a centurion of marines. "If he had come to visit the sick, he might take back word that she felt refreshed. If to do murder, she would believe nothing of her son: matricide was no article of their instructions." The executioners surrounded the couch, and the trierarch began by striking her on the head with a club. The centurion was drawing his sword to make an end, when she proffered her womb to the blow. "Strike here," she exclaimed, and was despatched with repeated wounds. 14.9. So far the accounts concur. Whether Nero inspected the corpse of his mother and expressed approval of her figure is a statement which some affirm and some deny. She was cremated the same night, on a dinner-couch, and with the humblest rites; nor, so long as Nero reigned, was the earth piled over the grave or enclosed. Later, by the care of her servants, she received a modest tomb, hard by the road to Misenum and that villa of the dictator Caesar which looks from its dizzy height to the bay outspread beneath. As the pyre was kindled, one of her freedmen, by the name of Mnester, ran a sword through his body, whether from love of his mistress or from fear of his own destruction remains unknown. This was that ending to which, years before, Agrippina had given her credence, and her contempt. For to her inquiries as to the destiny of Nero the astrologers answered that he should reign, and slay his mother; and "Let him slay," she had said, "so that he reign. 14.10. But only with the completion of the crime was its magnitude realized by the Caesar. For the rest of the night, sometimes dumb and motionless, but not rarely starting in terror to his feet with a sort of delirium, he waited for the daylight which he believed would bring his end. Indeed, his first encouragement to hope came from the adulation of the centurions and tribunes, as, at the suggestion of Burrus, they grasped his hand and wished him joy of escaping his unexpected danger and the criminal enterprise of his mother. His friends in turn visited the temples; and, once the example had been given, the Campanian towns in the neighbourhood attested their joy by victims and deputations. By a contrast in hypocrisy, he himself was mournful, repining apparently at his own preservation and full of tears for the death of a parent. But because the features of a landscape change less obligingly than the looks of men, and because there was always obtruded upon his gaze the grim prospect of that sea and those shores, â and there were some who believed that he could hear a trumpet, calling in the hills that rose around, and lamentations at his mother's grave, â he withdrew to Naples and forwarded to the senate a letter, the sum of which was that an assassin with his weapon upon him had been discovered in Agermus, one of the confidential freedmen of Agrippina, and that his mistress, conscious of her guilt, had paid the penalty of meditated murder. 14.11. He appended a list of charges drawn from the remoter past:â "She had hoped for a partnership in the empire; for the praetorian cohorts to swear allegiance to a woman; for the senate and people to submit to a like ignominy. Then, her ambition foiled, she had turned against the soldiers, the Fathers and the commons; had opposed the donative and the largess, and had worked for the ruin of eminent citizens. At what cost of labour had he succeeded in preventing her from forcing the door of the senate and delivering her answers to foreign nations!" He made an indirect attack on the Claudian period also, transferring every scandal of the reign to the account of his mother, whose removal he ascribed to the fortunate star of the nation. For even the wreck was narrated: though where was the folly which could believe it accidental, or that a ship-wrecked woman had despatched a solitary man with a weapon to cut his way through the guards and navies of the emperor? The object, therefore, of popular censure was no longer Nero â whose barbarity transcended all protest â but Seneca, who in composing such a plea had penned a confession. 14.12. However, with a notable spirit of emulation among the magnates, decrees were drawn up: thanksgivings were to be held at all appropriate shrines; the festival of Minerva, on which the conspiracy had been brought to light, was to be celebrated with annual games; a golden statue of the goddess, with an effigy of the emperor by her side, was to be erected in the curia, and Agrippina's birthday included among the inauspicious dates. Earlier sycophancies Thrasea Paetus had usually allowed to pass, either in silence or with a curt assent: this time he walked out of the senate, creating a source of danger for himself, but implanting no germ of independence in his colleagues. Portents, also, frequent and futile made their appearance: a woman gave birth to a serpent, another was killed by a thunderbolt in the embraces of her husband; the sun, again, was suddenly obscured, and the fourteen regions of the capital were struck by lightning â events which so little marked the concern of the gods that Nero continued for years to come his empire and his crimes. However, to aggravate the feeling against his mother, and to furnish evidence that his own mildness had increased with her removal, he restored to their native soil two women of high rank, Junia and Calpurnia, along with the ex-praetors Valerius Capito and Licinius Gabolus â all of them formerly banished by Agrippina. He sanctioned the return, even, of the ashes of Lollia Paulina, and the erection of a tomb: Iturius and Calvisius, whom he had himself relegated some little while before, he now released from the penalty. As to Silana, she had died a natural death at Tarentum, to which she had retraced her way, when Agrippina, by whose enmity she had fallen, was beginning to totter or to relent. 14.12.1. However, with a notable spirit of emulation among the magnates, decrees were drawn up: thanksgivings were to be held at all appropriate shrines; the festival of Minerva, on which the conspiracy had been brought to light, was to be celebrated with annual games; a golden statue of the goddess, with an effigy of the emperor by her side, was to be erected in the curia, and Agrippina's birthday included among the inauspicious dates. Earlier sycophancies Thrasea Paetus had usually allowed to pass, either in silence or with a curt assent: this time he walked out of the senate, creating a source of danger for himself, but implanting no germ of independence in his colleagues. Portents, also, frequent and futile made their appearance: a woman gave birth to a serpent, another was killed by a thunderbolt in the embraces of her husband; the sun, again, was suddenly obscured, and the fourteen regions of the capital were struck by lightning â events which so little marked the concern of the gods that Nero continued for years to come his empire and his crimes. However, to aggravate the feeling against his mother, and to furnish evidence that his own mildness had increased with her removal, he restored to their native soil two women of high rank, Junia and Calpurnia, along with the ex-praetors Valerius Capito and Licinius Gabolus â all of them formerly banished by Agrippina. He sanctioned the return, even, of the ashes of Lollia Paulina, and the erection of a tomb: Iturius and Calvisius, whom he had himself relegated some little while before, he now released from the penalty. As to Silana, she had died a natural death at Tarentum, to which she had retraced her way, when Agrippina, by whose enmity she had fallen, was beginning to totter or to relent. 14.13. And yet he dallied in the towns of Campania, anxious and doubtful how to make his entry into Rome. Would he find obedience in the senate? enthusiasm in the crowd? Against his timidity it was urged by every reprobate â and a court more prolific of reprobates the world has not seen â that the name of Agrippina was abhorred and that her death had won him the applause of the nation. Let him go without a qualm and experience on the spot the veneration felt for his position! At the same time, they demanded leave to precede him. They found, indeed, an alacrity which surpassed their promises: the tribes on the way to meet him; the senate in festal dress; troops of wives and of children disposed according to their sex and years, while along his route rose tiers of seats of the type used for viewing a triumph. Then, flushed with pride, victor over the national servility, he made his way to the Capitol, paid his grateful vows, and abandoned himself to all the vices, till now retarded, though scarcely repressed, by some sort of deference to his mother. 14.14. It was an old desire of his to drive a chariot and team of four, and an equally repulsive ambition to sing to the lyre in the stage manner. "Racing with horses," he used to observe, "was a royal accomplishment, and had been practised by the commanders of antiquity: the sport had been celebrated in the praises of poets and devoted to the worship of Heaven. As to song, it was sacred to Apollo; and it was in the garb appropriate to it that, both in Greek cities and in Roman temples, that great and prescient deity was seen standing." He could no longer be checked, when Seneca and Burrus decided to concede one of his points rather than allow him to carry both; and an enclosure was made in the Vatican valley, where he could manoeuvre his horses without the spectacle being public. Before long, the Roman people received an invitation in form, and began to hymn his praises, as is the way of the crowd, hungry for amusements, and delighted if the sovereign draws in the same direction. However, the publication of his shame brought with it, not the satiety expected, but a stimulus; and, in the belief that he was attenuating his disgrace by polluting others, he brought on the stage those scions of the great houses whom poverty had rendered venal. They have passed away, and I regard it as a debt due to their ancestors not to record them by name. For the disgrace, in part, is his who gave money for the reward of infamy and not for its prevention. Even well-known Roman knights he induced to promise their services in the arena by what might be called enormous bounties, were it not that gratuities from him who is able to command carry with them the compelling quality of necessity. 14.15. Reluctant, however, as yet to expose his dishonour on a public stage, he instituted the soâcalled Juvenile Games, for which a crowd of volunteers enrolled themselves. Neither rank, nor age, nor an official career debarred a man from practising the art of a Greek or a Latin mummer, down to attitudes and melodies never meant for the male sex. Even women of distinction studied indecent parts; and in the grove with which Augustus fringed his Naval Lagoon, little trysting-places and drinking-dens sprang up, and every incentive to voluptuousness was exposed for sale. Distributions of coin, too, were made, for the respectable man to expend under compulsion and the prodigal from vainglory. Hence debauchery and scandal throve; nor to our morals, corrupted long before, has anything contributed more of uncleanness than that herd of reprobates. Even in the decent walks of life, purity is hard to keep: far less could chastity or modesty or any vestige of integrity survive in that competition of the vices. â Last of all to tread the stage was the sovereign himself, scrupulously testing his lyre and striking a few preliminary notes to the trainers at his side. A cohort of the guards had been added to the audience â centurions and tribunes; Burrus, also, with his sigh and his word of praise. Now, too, for the first time was enrolled the company of Roman knights known as the Augustiani; conspicuously youthful and robust; wanton in some cases by nature; in others, through dreams of power. Days and nights they thundered applause, bestowed the epithets reserved for deity upon the imperial form and voice, and lived in a repute and honour, which might have been earned by virtue. 14.16. And yet, lest it should be only the histrionic skill of the emperor which won publicity, he affected also a zeal for poetry and gathered a group of associates with some faculty for versification but not such as to have yet attracted remark. These, after dining, sat with him, devising a connection for the lines they had brought from home or invented on the spot, and eking out the phrases suggested, for better or worse, by their master; the method being obvious even from the general cast of the poems, which run without energy or inspiration and lack unity of style. Even to the teachers of philosophy he accorded a little time â but after dinner, and in order to amuse himself by the wrangling which attended the exposition of their conflicting dogmas. Nor was there any dearth of gloomy-browed and sad-eyed sages eager to figure among the diversions of majesty. 14.17. About the same date, a trivial incident led to a serious affray between the inhabitants of the colonies of Nuceria and Pompeii, at a gladiatorial show presented by Livineius Regulus, whose removal from the senate has been noticed. During an exchange of raillery, typical of the petulance of country towns, they resorted to abuse, then to stones, and finally to steel; the superiority lying with the populace of Pompeii, where the show was being exhibited. As a result, many of the Nucerians were carried maimed and wounded to the capital, while a very large number mourned the deaths of children or of parents. The trial of the affair was delegated by the emperor to the senate; by the senate to the consuls. On the case being again laid before the members, the Pompeians as a community were debarred from holding any similar assembly for ten years, and the associations which they had formed illegally were dissolved. Livineius and the other fomenters of the outbreak were punished with exile. 14.18. Pedius Blaesus also was removed from the senate: he was charged by the Cyrenaeans with profaning the treasury of Aesculapius and falsifying the military levy by venality and favouritism. An indictment was brought, again by Cyrene, against Acilius Strabo, who had held praetorian office and been sent by Claudius to adjudicate on the estates, once the patrimony of King Apion, which he had bequeathed along with his kingdom to the Roman nation. They had been annexed by the neighbouring proprietors, who relied on their long-licensed usurpation as a legal and fair title. Hence, when the adjudication went against them, there was an outbreak of ill-will against the adjudicator; and the senate could only answer that it was ignorant of Claudius' instructions and the emperor would have to be consulted. Nero, while upholding Strabo's verdict, wrote that none the less he supported the provincials and made over to them the property occupied. 14.21. It was this very prospect of licence which attracted the majority; and yet their pretexts were decently phrased:â "Even our ancestors had not been averse from amusing themselves with spectacles in keeping with the standard of wealth in their day; and that was the reason why actors had been imported from Etruria and horse-races from Thurii. Since the annexation of Achaia and Asia, games had been exhibited in a more ambitious style; and yet, at Rome, no one born in a respectable rank of life had condescended to the stage as a profession, though it was now two hundred years since the triumph of Lucius Mummius, who first gave an exhibition of the kind in the capital. But, more than this, it had been a measure of economy when the theatre was housed in a permanent building instead of being reared and razed, year after year, at enormous expense. Again, the magistrates would not have the same drain upon their private resources, nor the populace the same excuse for demanding contests in the Greek style from the magistrates, when the cost was defrayed by the state. The victories of orators and poets would apply a spur to genius; nor need it lie heavy on the conscience of any judge, if he had not turned a deaf ear to reputable arts and to legitimate pleasures. It was to gaiety, rather than to wantonness, that a few nights were being given out of five whole years â nights in which, owing to the blaze of illuminations, nothing illicit could be concealed." The display in question, it must be granted, passed over without any glaring scandal; and there was no outbreak, even slight, of popular partisanship, since the pantomimic actors, though restored to the stage, were debarred from the sacred contests. The first prize for eloquence was not awarded, but an announcement was made that the Caesar had proved victorious. The Greek dress, in which a great number of spectators had figured during the festival, immediately went out of vogue. |
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