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NERO (37-68)
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See also:NERO (37-68) , See also:Roman See also:emperor 54-68, was See also:born at See also:Antium on the 15th of See also:December 37. He was the son of Gnaeus Domitius See also:Ahenobarbus and See also:Agrippina the younger, and his name was originally L. Domitius Ahenobarbus. His See also:father died when Nero was scarcely three years old. In the previous See also:year (39) his See also:mother had been banished by See also:order of her See also:brother Caligula (Gains) on a See also:charge of treasonable See also:conspiracy, and Nero, thus See also:early deprived of both parents, found shelter in the See also:house of his aunt Domitia, where two slaves, a See also:barber and a dancer, began his training. The emperor See also:Claudius recalled Agrippina, who spent the next thirteen years in the determined struggle to win for Nero the See also:throne which had been predicted for him. Her first decisive success was gained in 4.8 by the disgrace and See also:execution of See also:Messallina (q.v.), wife of Claudius. In 49 followed her own See also:marriage with Claudius, and her recognition as his See also:consort in the See also:government.' The Roman populace already looked with favour on Nero, as the See also:grandson of Germanicus, but in 50 his claims obtained formal recognition from Claudius himself, who adopted him under the See also:title of Nero Claudius See also:Caesar See also:Drusus Germanicus? Agrippina's next step was to provide a suitable training for her son. The See also:scholar L. Annaeus See also:Seneca was recalled from See also:exile and appointed his See also:tutor. On the 15th of December 51 Nero completed his fourteenth year, and Agrippina, in view of Claudius's failing See also:health, determined to delay no .longer his See also:adoption of the toga ?drills. The occasion was celebrated in a manner which seemed to See also:place Nero's prospects of See also:succession beyond doubt. He was introduced to the See also:senate by Claudius him-self. The proconsular imperium and the title of princeps juvenlulls were conferred upon him .3 He was specially admitted as an extraordinary member of the See also:great priestly colleges; his name was included by the Arval Brethren in their prayers for the safety of the emperor and his house; at the See also:games in the See also:circus his See also:appearance in triumphal See also:dress contrasted significantly with the See also:simple toga praetexta worn by See also:Britannicus. During the next two years Agrippina followed this up with See also:energy. Britannicus's leading partisans were banished or put to See also:death, and the all-important command of the praetorian guard was transferred to See also:Afranius Burrus, a See also:Gaul by See also:birth, who had been the trusted See also:agent first of Livia and then of Tiberius and Claudius. Nero himself was put prominently forward. The petitions addressed to the senate by the See also:town of See also:Bononia and by the communities of See also:Rhodes and Ilium were gracefully supported by him in Latin and See also:Greek speeches, and during Claudius's See also:absence in 52 at the Latin festival it was Nero who, as See also:praefect of the See also:city, administered See also:justice in the See also:forum. Early in 53 his marriage with ' Tac. See also:Ann. xii. 26, 36; see also See also:Schiller, Nero, 67. z Tac. Ann. xii. 26; See also:Zonaras xi. to. Tac. Ann. xii. 41. Claudius's daughter See also:Octavia See also:drew still closer the ties which connected him with the imperial house. Agrippina determined to hasten the death of Claudius, and the absence, through illness, of the emperor's trusted freedman See also:Narcissus, favoured her schemes. On the 13th of See also:October 54 Claudius died, poisoned, as all our authorities declare, by her orders, and Nero was presented to the soldiers on guard as their new See also:sovereign. From the steps of the See also:palace he proceeded to the praetorian See also:camp to receive the See also:salutations of the troops, and thence to the senate-house, where he was promptly invested with all the honours, titles and See also:powers of emperor.' Agrippina's bold stroke had been completely successful. Only a few voices were raised for Britannicus; nor is there any doubt that See also:Rome was prepared to welcome the new emperor with genuine See also:enthusiasm. His See also:prestige and his See also:good qualities, carefully fostered by Seneca, made him popular, while his childish vanity, ungovernable selfishness and See also:savage See also:temper were as yet unsuspected. His first acts confirmed this favourable impression. He modestly declined the title of See also:pater patriae; the memory of Claudius, and that of his own father Domitius were duly honoured. The senate listened with delight to his promises to See also:rule according to the See also:maxims of See also:Augustus, and to avoid the errors which had rendered unpopular the rule of his predecessor, while his unfailing clemency, liberality and affability were the talk of Rome. Much no doubt of the See also:credit of all this is due to Seneca and Burrus. Seneca had seen from the first that the real danger with Nero See also:lay in the savage vehemence of his passions, and he made it his See also:chief aim to stave off by every means in his See also:power the dreaded outbreak. The policy of indulging his tastes and helping him to enjoy the sweets of popularity without the actual burdens of government succeeded for the See also:time. During the first five years of his reign, the See also:golden quinquennium Neronis, little occurred to See also:damp the popular enthusiasm. Nero's promises of constitutional moderation were amply fulfilled, and the senate found itself See also:free to discuss and even to decide important administrative questions. Abuses were remedied, the provincials protected from oppression, and the burdens of See also:taxation lightened. On the frontiers, thanks chiefly to See also:Corbulo's energy and skill, no disaster occurred serious enough to shake the See also:general confidence, and even the See also:murder of Britannicus seems to have been accepted as a necessary measure of self-See also:defence. But Seneca's fear lest Nero's sleeping passions should once be roused were fully verified, and he seems to have seen all along where the danger lay, namely in Agrippina's imperious temper and insatiable love of power. The success of Seneca's own management of Nero largely depended on his being able gradually to emancipate the emperor from his mother's See also:control. During the first few months of Nero's reign the chances of such an emancipation seemed remote, for he treated his mother with elaborate respect and consulted her on all affairs of See also:state. In S5, however, Seneca found a powerful ally in Nero's See also:passion for the beautiful freedwoman Acte, a passion which he deliberately encouraged. Agrippina's angry remonstrances served only to irritate Nero, and caresses equally failed. She then rashly tried intimidation and threatened to espouse the cause of Britannicus. Nero retaliated by poisoning Britannicus. Agrippina then tried to win over Nero's neglected wife Octavia, and to See also:form a party of her own. Nero dismissed her See also:guards, and placed her in a sort of See also:honourable confinement (Tac. Ann. xiii. 12-20). During nearly three years she disappears from the See also:history, and with her retirement things again for the time went smoothly. In 58, however, fresh cause for anxiety appeared, when Nero was enslaved by Poppaea Sabina, a woman of a very different See also:stamp from her predecessor. High-born, wealthy and accomplished, she was resolved to be Nero's wife, and set herself to remove the obstacles which stood in her way. Her first See also:object was the final ruin of Agrippina, and by rousing Nero's See also:jealousy and fear she induced him to seek her death, with the aid of a freedman See also:Anicetus, praefect of the See also:fleet of See also:Misenum. Agrippina was invited to Baiae, and after an affectionate reception, was conducted on See also:board a See also:vessel so constructed as, at a given See also:signal, Tac. Ann. xii. 96; See also:Suet. Nero, 8.to fall to pieces. But Agrippina saved herself by See also:swimming, and wrote to her son, announcing her See also:escape, and affecting entire See also:ignorance of the See also:plot. A See also:body of soldiers under Anicetus then surrounded her See also:villa, and murdered her in her own chamber. Nero was horrorstruck at the enormity of the See also:crime and terrified at its possible consequences. But a six months' See also:residence in See also:Campania, and the congratulations which poured in upon him from the neighbouring towns, where the See also:report had been officially spread that Agrippina had fallen a victim to her treacherous designs upon the emperor, gradually restored his courage. In See also:September 59 he re-entered Rome amid universal rejoicing. A prolonged See also:carnival followed. See also:Chariot races, musical and dramatic exhibitions, games in the Greek See also:fashion rapidly succeeded each other. In all the emperor was a prominent figure, but these See also:revels at least involved no bloodshed, and were civilized compared with the gladiatorial shows. A far more serious result of the death of Agrippina was the growing See also:influence over Nero of Poppaea and her See also:friends. In 62 Burrus died, it was said by See also:poison, and Seneca retired from the unequal contest. Their place was filled by Poppaea, and the infamous See also:Tigellinus, whose sympathy with Nero's sensual tastes had gained him the command of the praetorian guards in succession to Burrus. The haunting fear of conspiracy was skilfully used by them to See also:direct Nero's suspicions against possible opponents. See also:Cornelius See also:Sulla, who had been banished to Massilia in 58, was put to death on the ground that his residence in Gaul was likely to arouse disaffection in that See also:province, and a similar charge proved fatal to Rubellius See also:Plautus, who had for two years been living in retirement in See also:Asia .2 Nero's See also:taste for See also:blood thus whetted, Octavia was divorced, banished to the See also:island of Pandateria and barbarously murdered. Poppaea's See also:triumph was now See also:complete. She was formally married to Nero; her See also:head appeared on the coins See also:side by side with his; and her statues were erected in the public places of Rome.
In the course of the year 61 Rome was startled by the See also:news of a disaster in See also:Britain. At the time of the Claudian invasion of Britain in A.D. 43 Prasutagus, the See also: Fearing that worse might follow when the kingdom should be annexed, and encouraged by the absence of the See also:legate and his legions, the Iceni, led by Prasutagus's. daughter Boudicca (See also:Boadicea) See also:rose in revolt and were joined by the Trinobantes in See also:Essex, who had been See also:long subject to Rome and had their own grievances to redress. See also:Colchester, since A.D. 50 a Roman See also:colony, was sacked. The ninth See also:legion which had hurried from See also:Lincoln was cut to pieces, and the insurgents prepared to See also: The engagement was severe but the Roman victory was decisive, and Roman authority was restored throughout central and See also:southern Britain. The profound impression produced in Rome by the " See also:British disaster " was confirmed two years later in A.D. 63 by the partial destruction of See also:Pompeii by an See also:earthquake, and the news of the evacuation of See also:Armenia by the Roman legions. A far deeper and more lasting impression was produced by the great See also:fire in Rome. The fire See also:broke out on the See also:night of the 18th of See also:July, 64, among the wooden booths at the' See also:south-See also:east end of the Circus See also:Maximus. Thence in one direction it rapidly spread over the See also:Palatine and z Tac. Ann. xiv. 59. See also:Velia up to the See also:low cliffs of the Esquiline, and in another it laid See also:waste the Aventine, the Forum Boarium and Velabrum till it reached the See also:Tiber and the solid barrier of the Servian See also:wall. After burning fiercely for six days it suddenly started afresh in the See also:northern See also:quarter of the city and desolated the regions of the Circus See also:Flaminius and the Via Lata, and by the time that it was finally quenched only four of the fourteen regiones remained untouched; three had been utterly destroyed and seven reduced to ruins. The conflagration is said by all authorities later than See also:Tacitus to have been deliberately caused by Nero himself.' But Tacitus, though he mentions the rumours, declares that its origin was uncertain, and in spite of such See also:works as Profumo's Le fonti ed i tempi dello incendio Neroniano (1905), there is no See also:proof of his See also:guilt.2 By Nero's orders, the open spaces in the Campus See also:Martius were utilized to give shelter to the homeless crowds, provisions were brought from See also:Ostia and the See also:price of See also:corn lowered. In rebuilding the city every precaution was taken against the recurrence of such a calamity. Broad See also:regular streets replaced the narrow winding alleys. The new houses were limited in height, built partly of hard See also: To defray the enormous cost, See also:Italy and the provinces, says Tacitus, were ransacked, and in Asia and Achaia especially the rapacity of the imperial commissioners recalled the days of See also:Mummius and of Sulla.3 It was the first occasion on which the provincials had suffered from Nero's rule, and the discontent it caused helped to weaken his hold over them at the very moment when the growing dissatisfaction in Rome was gathering to a head. Early in 65 Nero was panic-stricken by the See also:discovery of a formidable conspiracy involving such men as Faenius See also:Rufus, Tigellinus's colleague in the prefecture of the praetorian guards, Plautius Lateranus, one of the consuls elect, the poet See also:Lucan, and, lastly, not a few of the tribunes and centurions of the praetorian guard itself. Their chosen See also:leader, whom they destined to succeed Nero, was C. See also:Calpurnius See also:Piso (q.v.), a handsome, wealthy and popular See also:noble, and a boon See also:companion of Nero himself. The plan to murder Nero was frustrated by a freedman Milichus, who, in the See also:hope of a large See also:reward, disclosed the whole plot. Piso, Faenius Rufus, Lucan and many of their less prominent accomplices, and even Seneca himself (though there seems to have been no See also:evidence of his complicity) were executed. But, though largesses and thanksgivings celebrated the suppression of the conspiracy, and the See also:round of games and shows was renewed with even increased splendour, the effects of the See also:shock were visible in the long See also:list of victims who during the next few months were sacrificed to his restless fears and resentment. Conspicuous among them was Paetus Thrasea, whose unbending virtue had long made him distasteful to Nero, and who was now suspected, possibly with See also:reason, of sympathy with the conspirators. The death of Poppaea in the autumn of ' Tac. Ann. xv. 38; Suet. Nero, 38; Dio See also:Cass. lxii. 16; See also:Pliny, N.H. xvii. 5. 2 This work is a reply to C. See also:Pascal's L'Incendio di See also:Roma e i primi Cristiani (See also:Milan, 'goo), which throws the guilt on the Christians. Tac. Ann. xv. 42; Suet. Nero, 31; cf. Friedlander, Sittengeschichte, iii. 67-69.65 \-as probably not lamented by any one but her See also:husband, but the general gloom was deepened by a pestilence, caused, it seems, by the overcrowding at the time of the fire. Early, however, in the summer of 66, the See also:Parthian See also:prince See also:Tiridates visited Italy. This event was a conspicuous See also:tribute to the ability both as soldier and statesman of Cn. Domitius Corbulo. As long ago as 54 the news reached Rome that the Parthian king See also:Vologaeses had expelled the king recognized by Rome from Armenia and installed in his place his own brother Tiridates. Orders were at once issued to concentrate all available forces on the Cappadocian frontier under Corbulo, the first soldier of his See also:day. After some time spent in making his See also:army efficient, Corbulo invaded Armenia and swept victoriously through the See also:country. Armenia was rescued and Corbulo proposed that Tiridates should become king of Armenia on See also:condition of his receiving his See also:crown as a See also:gift from Nero. But the government in Rome had a plan of its own, and a certain See also:Tigranes, long See also:resident in Rome, but a stranger to the Armenians, was sent out, and Corbulo was obliged reluctantly to seat him on the Armenian throne. Tigranes's position, always insecure, soon became untenable, and it became necessary for Rome to intervene once more. A Roman force under Caesennius Paetus was sent to restore Tigranes and re-establish Roman predominance. Paetus, however, was no Corbulo. He was defeated, and Corbulo, now legate of See also:Syria, was obliged to come to his See also:rescue. The result was the final triumph of Corbulo's policy. Tiridates agreed to accept the crown of Armenia from the hands of Nero. In royal state he travelled to Italy, and the ceremony of See also:investiture was performed at Rome with the utmost splendour. Delighted with this tribute to his greatness, Nero for a moment dreamt of rivalling See also: The stories of his See also:mock marriage with Sporus, his execution of wealthy Greeks for the See also:sake of their See also:money, and his wholesale plundering of the temples were evidently See also:part of the accepted tradition about him in the time of Suetonius, and are at least credible. Far more certainly true is his ungrateful treatment of Domitius Corbulo, who, when he landed at Cenchreae, fresh from his successes in Armenia, was met by an order for his instant execution and at once put an end to his See also:life. Meanwhile the general dissatisfaction was coming to a head, as we may infer from the urgency with which the imperial freedman Helius insisted upon Nero's return to Italy. Far more serious was the disaffection which now showed itself in the See also:rich and warlike provinces of the See also:west. In northern Gaul, early in 68, the See also:standard of revolt was raised by See also:Julius Vindex, See also:governor of Gallia Lugdunensis, and himself the head of an ancient and noble See also:Celtic family. South of the See also:Pyrenees, P. Sulpicius See also:Galba, governor of Hispania Tarraeonensis, and Poppaea's former ' Suet. Nero, 19-24; Dio Cass. Epit. lxiii. 8-16. husband, See also:Marcus Salvius See also:Otho, governor of Lusitania, followed Vindex's example. At first, however, See also:fortune seemed to favour Nero. It is very probable that Vindex had other aims in view than the deposition of Nero and the substitution of a fresh emperor in his place, and that the liberation of northern Gaul from Roman rule was part of his plan.' If this was so, it is easy to understand both the enthusiasm with which the chiefs of northern Gaul rallied to the standard of a leader belonging to their own See also:race, and the opposition which Vindex encountered from the Roman colony of Lugdunum and the legions on the See also:Rhine. For it is certain that the latter at any See also:rate were not animated by See also:loyalty to Nero. Though they defeated Vindex and his Celtic levies at Vesontio (See also:Besancon), their next step was to break the statues of Nero and offer the imperial See also:purple to their own See also:commander Virginius Rufus. He declined their offer, but appealed to them to declare for the senate and people of Rome. Meanwhile in See also:Spain Galba had been saluted imperator by his legions, had accepted the title, and was already on his march towards Italy. On the road the news met him that Vindex had been crushed by the army of the Rhine, and for the moment he resolved to abandon his See also:attempt. Meanwhile, Nero had reluctantly left Greece, but returned to Italy only to renew his revels. When on the 19th of March the news reached him at Naples of the rising in Gaul, he allowed a See also:week to elapse before he could See also:tear himself away from his pleasures, and then contented himself with proscribing Vindex, and setting a price on his head. The revolts in Spain and See also:Germany terrified him too late into something like energy. The senate almost openly intrigued against him, and the populace were silent or hostile. The fidelity of the praetorian sentinels even was more than doubtful. When finally the palace guards forsook their posts, Nero despairingly See also:stole out of Rome to seek shelter in a freed-See also:man's villa some four See also:miles off. There he heard of the senate's See also:proclamation of Galba as emperor, and of the See also:sentence of death passed on himself. On the approach of the horsemen sent to See also:drag him to execution, he collected sufficient courage to See also:save himself by See also:suicide. Nero died on the 9th of See also:June 68, in the See also:thirty-first year of his See also:age and the fourteenth of his reign, and his remains were deposited by the faithful hands of Acte in the family See also:tomb of the Domitii on the Pincian See also: See also:Furneaux), Suetonius, Dio See also:Cassius (Epit. lxiii.), and Zonaras (Ann. xi.). The most important See also:modern work is that of B. W. See also:Henderson, The Life and Principate of the Emperor Nero (London, 1903; see an important See also:notice in ' Suet. Nero, 40; Dio Cass. Epit. lxiii. 22; Plut. Galba, 4; cf. also Schiller's Nero, pp. 261 seq. ; See also:Mommsen in F.Iermes, xiii. 9o. Class. Rev. vol. xviii. p. 57), which contains complete bibliography of ancient and modern writers; see also H. Schiller's Nero, and Geschichte d. Kaiserzeit; See also:Lehmann, Claudius and Nero; histories of Rome in general. (H. F. Additional information and CommentsThere are no comments yet for this article.
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