Agrippina’s
loss of favor with Nero left her open to attack. Junia Silana, who had been a
close friend, brought charges that the empress was conspiring to replace her
son with Rubellius Plautus. What was so
alarming was that Plautus, through his blood relationship to Tiberius, had the
same degree of relationship to Augustus as Nero. The accusation failed when Agrippina
vigorously defended herself, turning the tables on her accusers, who were
punished instead (Ann. 13.21). Agrippina was exonerated and restored to her
former influence, and the plan to remove Agrippina, which may have had Nero’s
approval, temporarily turned the clock back.
The
reason given for Agrippina’s murder is that Poppaea wanted to be married. She refused to accept her place as Nero’s
mistress and blamed Agrippina as the impediment to a divorce from Octavia. Tacitus does not claim that Poppaea was
directly involved in Agrippina’s murder and suggests that Nero had been
contemplating this crime for some time (Ann.
14.59.5, 14.60). But even after
Agrippina was removed, it was another three years before Nero divorced his
wife. Nero was convinced that Agrippina
would be a burden to him and he feared her influence with the Praetorians. Once he had decided to kill his mother, Nero
needed a method that would not arouse suspicion. Poison was out of the question since
Agrippina had developed immunity (Suetonius nevertheless claims that three
attempts were made to poison her (Nero
34.2)). Direct attack could not be
carried out since there was no one among the Praetorians who was reliable (Ann. 14.3.1-2; Dio 61.12.2). It was his old
tutor Anicetus, the prefect of the Misenium fleet, who came to the rescue; he
was someone that Nero trusted and he hated Agrippina, a feeling that was
reciprocated (Ann. 14.3.5, 62.3).
The
first idea proposed was a mechanical device (reported only by Suetonius)
Anicetus knew about that could be placed in the ceiling of Agrippina’s bedroom
and dislodge the supports, causing the ceiling to fall in and crush her as she
slept. Presumably, this device was to be
installed in one of Agrippina’s
residences, which is why the plot could not help but be leaked and
abandoned. Another suggestion of
Anicetus concerned a mechanical boat that had appeared in a theatrical
performance. The boat opened up to let
out several animals, then closed and sailed on. This collapsing boat, however
clever the design, was an impractical device and the building of such a boat
would be difficult to keep secret to say nothing of employing such a
complicated machine just to kill one woman.
Suetonius says the plan was to either shipwreck or crush Agrippina in a
collapsing cabin, which, presumably, is his confusion with the collapsing
bedroom (Nero 31.2, 34.2; Ann. 14.3; Dio 61.12.2).
The
murder was planned for the festival of Minerva, held from March 19 – 23. Nero spent the festival at Baiae in the Bay
of Naples. Agrippina was at Antium when
she received Nero’s warm invitation to join him. She proceeded to sail down the coast and
disembarked in the bay, near her villa at Bauli, where she was met by
Nero. However, Dio says that Nero
accompanied his mother from Antium aboard the collapsible ship in order to put
any suspicions to rest (61.12.3). Since
Agrippina had traveled a lengthy distance she probably planned to spend several
days in the area, culminating with Nero’s banquet. She had been warned that Nero was planning to
kill her but nevertheless made the journey to Baiae by litter (Ann. 14.4). When Agrippina arrived she
was warmly welcomed, given many gifts and was treated like visiting royalty (Dio 61.13.1-2). Nero gave his mother the seat of honor and
the spirited conversation made her forget her fears. The banquet went on until after midnight when
everyone went down to the shore where several vessels were moored. Dio says Nero embraced his mother saying as
she sailed: “For you I live, through you I rule” (61.13.2; Ann. 14.4; Nero 34.2; Gell. 2.21.7).
Tacitus
reports that the sea was calm and there were stars shining but no moon (Ann. 14.5). One of Agrippina’s servants, Crepereius
Gallus, was standing near the tiller while another, Acerronia Polla, was bent
over Agrippina’s feet as she reclined on a couch set under a canopy on
deck. The two women were talking over
the happy events of the banquet. Then,
on a given signal, the canopy above the women, which had been weighted with
lead, collapsed, crushing Crepereius to death.
Agrippina and Acerronia were saved by the height of the couch. The mechanism that was to open and sink the
ship failed so the members of the crew who knew about the plot, tried to
capsize the boat by running to one side.
But before the conspirators could get organized, the members of the crew
who knew nothing about the plot went to the other side to balance the
boat. Somehow, Agrippina and Acerronia
slid into the water. When Acerronia called out insisting she was Agrippina, she
was dispatched by sailors wielding poles and oars. Agrippina remained silent and swam toward
shore, though wounded in the shoulder, where she was picked up by a fishing
boat. Dio’s account differs in that the
boat actually falls apart but there are not fishing boats, so Agrippina swam
the distance to shore after consuming a great amount of food and wine
(61.13.3).
There
are many concerns over the details of Tacitus’ report. Crepereius Gallus is standing by the tiller
when the canopy collapses, an area of the boat that should have been uncovered.
There is also a mix-up with the mechanisms that are to kill Agrippina: was the
boat supposed to sink and drown the empress or was Agrippina to be
crushed? It appears that the collapsing
bedroom was confused with the collapsing
boat. The conduct of the crew is
suspect. One wonders why only half the
crew was in on the plot and how so many managed to keep the secret. The attempt to capsize the boat seems almost
comic. It is also strange that the sailors are so willing to risk their lives
by sinking the boat in the inky darkness of the sea.
Tacitus
reports that Agrippina was picked up by a fishing boat that landed her at the
Lucine Lake, on the opposite shore of the bay from Bauli (Ann. 14.5). The boat may
have belonged to an oysterman since the Lucine was famous for its oysters. Agrippina was carried in a litter, presumably
supplied by the owners of a local villa, and taken to her villa at Bauli. The group bearing the litter would have
passed Baiae on the way, and it is significant that Agrippina did not stop to
seek help from her son. Back at her
villa, Agrippina was wrapped in a blanket and her wound was tended. Tacitus has
Agrippina pondering over the accident as if trying to decide whether or not it
was a deliberate act (Ann. 14.5-6; Octavia 127-131, 310-55). She could have had few doubts as to Nero’s
intentions, yet despite her strong connections with the Praetorians Agrippina
did not seek their protection. Instead, she feigned ignorance and sent her freedman
Agerinus with a message for the emperor informing him that she had survived a
dangerous accident.
Nero
spent a sleepless night waiting for news but he was unprepared to learn that
Agrippina was alive. He was terrified
that his mother would rally the Praetorians to her side and summoned Seneca and
Burrus, who must have been staying in the area.
Tacitus left it an open question that either knew anything about the
murder beforehand; Dio claims that Seneca had pressed Nero to have his mother
killed (Ann. 14.7; Dio 61.12.1). However, Seneca and Burrus had no need to
have Agrippina killed: she supported them in stressing that Nero maintain the gravitas of his position rather than
commit the indignity of going on stage. Seneca asked the Prefect if his troops
could be ordered to carry out the murder but Burrus responded that the guards,
although loyal to Nero, had sworn to protect all members of the imperial
family. Agrippina, being the daughter of
Germanicus, was revered by the guards and she had given many of the men their
positions. The resentment that many of
the Praetorians felt after the murder would haunt Nero later. Burrus was in no mood to clean up someone
else’s mess and insisted that Anicetus finish the deed. In the meantime, Agerinus had arrived with
Agrippina’s message. When the freedman
was shown into Nero’s presence, a sword was dropped at his feet and he was accused
of an attempt on Nero’s life, allowing the emperor a cover story that Agrippina
had committed suicide when a plot to kill him had unraveled (Ann.
14.7.6-7; Nero 34.4; Dio 61.13.4; Octavia 361-5).
Anicetus
cordoned off Agrippina’s villa and had his troops smashed down the
entrance. The men entered and seized the
slaves, followed by Anicetus, Herculeius, a trireme captain, and Obaritus, a
naval centurion. They found Agrippina
attended by a single servant, reclining on a couch. The former empress was told that orders had
been issued by Nero for her death.
Agrippina protested that such an order from her son was not
possible. Rather than allow her to
convince them otherwise, Herculeius struck Agrippina’s head with a club and
Obaritus drew his sword to finish the deed.
Facing her death, Agrippina bared her stomach and told the centurion to
strike the womb that had given Nero birth (Ann.
14.8; Dio 61.13.5; Octavia 368-74). That night, Agrippina, who hoped for a
funeral as grand as Claudius, received very modest funeral rites. She was
cremated on the couch she died upon, thus disposing of her body and important
evidence at a single stroke. Her ashes were buried in an unmarked grave by
Agrippina’s servants and after Nero’s death a modest tomb was built on the road
to Misenum (Ann. 14.9.2-5). Nero remained haunted by what he had done. He is said to have heard cries coming from
his mother’s grave and trumpets sounding on the hills. Nero fled to Naples but was pursued by his
mother’s vengeful spirit and the whips and flaming torches of the Furies. Eventually, he had expiatory rites performed
at Agrippina’s grave (Ann. 14.10; Nero 34.4; Dio 61.14.4).
Tacitus
says the speech was received with incredulity.
The circumstances of the accident and attempted assassination were so
unbelievable that Seneca was blamed along with Nero for Agrippina’s murder (Ann. 14.11). Despite Tacitus’ interpretation of events the
facts do not bear him out. There were
acts of gratitude performed by the Arval Brethren when they met on March 28,
and many senators celebrated a thanksgiving. [1] Annual games were decreed to mark the
Festival of Minerva and the failure of Agrippina’s conspiracy (Ann. 14.12.1). Agrippina’s birthday was classed among the dies nefasti, as had been the case with
her mother. Only one senator broke ranks
with his colleagues - as Nero’s letter was being read Thrasea Paetus protested
by leaving the chamber.
The
death of Agrippina and the exile of Otho occurred around the same time.
Possibly Agrippina and Otho were involved in a plot to replace Nero and the
banquet to which the emperor was invited may have been a ploy to allay his
suspicions. How organized this plot was and who was involved is very
speculative. Otho had always been ambitious and he used expressions like “as
surely as you will see me Caesar” (Dio
61.11.1). Ancient sources curiously
insist that Otho had no ambitions until after Nero was dead, and then the event
that sparked his sudden interest in the principate
was a prediction by the astrologer Seleucus. Ancient sources reflect Otho’s
propaganda on this subject and not his motivation. (Hist. 1.22; Suet. Otho 4;
Plut. Galba 23.4). When the
conspiracy was discovered, Agrippina, certain of her fate, probably committed
suicide. Otho received a more lenient
sentence, albeit through the intervention of Seneca. Plutach says Nero wanted
to destroy Otho but was persuaded by Seneca to adopt the diplomatic solution (Galba 19-20). Otho’s being sent to Lusitania as governor was
a punishment rather than a means to get him out of the way so Nero could marry
Poppaea (Plut. Galba 2.34). [3]
He had not held the required praetorship prior to his appointment and Otho
remained governor for the remaining ten years of Nero’s reign, never being
recalled (Nero 35.5).
It
was the aim of the writers of Nero’s reign was to equal and even surpass the
famous authors of the past. Persius was
inspired by Lucilius, Lucan aimed to surpass Virgil and Nero declared Nerva as
the new Tibullus. Nero encouraged the
writers of his day with patronage and the literature from his reign was the
most significant since the reign of Augustus (Mart. 9.26). Lucan was a
nephew of Seneca and had been recalled from Athens, where he was studying Greek
literature, to become a member of Nero’s circle (Suet. Vita Lucani). Through Lucan,
the poet Persius was admitted to Nero’s literary circle but he also cultivated
the friendship of mature men, among them Petronius. Petronius possessed the greatest refinement
of mind and became Nero’s artistic guide, supplanting Otho. Nothing had any elegance or value unless
approved by Petronius (Ann.16.18).
Nero
enjoyed getting together with young, unknown poets and invited them to dine
with him. After diner, they would
compose verses and Nero would listen to his guests declaim their finished
work. Tacitus claims that Nero used
these occasions to plagiarize the poetry of his friends, but is contradicted by
Suetonius who examined the emperor’s manuscripts and found the changes and
additions were in keeping with the usual process of writing (Ann. 14.16; Nero 52). Martial says Nero
liked to compose carmina (songs) and
Suetonius notes that there was a collection of songs for the cithara called the Liber Dominicus (The Master’s
Book). One of the songs celebrated
Poppaea’s amber hair. The Liber Dominicus
remained in circulation long after Nero’s death. Vitellius called for a song from it when he
was emperor and Martial and Pliny the Younger
indicate that the book was known to them (Vit. 11; Mart. 8.70.7; Dom. 1; Ep. 5.3.6). Nero also
composed light verses and satirical poems that made fun of many senators. Afranius Quintianus was so offended by one of
these poems, playing off his effeminate voice, that he joined the Pisonian
conspiracy (Pliny Ep. 5.35; Mart. 9.26.9; Ann. 15.49). Nero spent many
years writing his epic poem and best-known work Troica, which he recited at the second Neronia. A portion of the
poem, the Capture of Troy, gained notoriety from the performance Nero is said
to have done as Rome burned. Of the
literary genre’s that were revived during Nero’s reign, the epic continued to
flourish with works written under the Flavians: the Argonautica of Valerius Flaccus, the Thebaid and Achilleid of
Statius and the Punica of Silius
Italicus. Of these authors, Flaccus and
Silius had come of age in Nero’s Rome.
Like
gladiators, actors were regarded as despicable but glamorous figures. They were categorized as infames, without reputation, and were generally non-citizens or
slaves, rarely a Roman citizen. Because they paraded themselves onstage for
money and served the pleasure of others actors were, like prostitutes and
gladiators, lacking the dignatus
expected in a Roman citizen. They were
considered the dregs of society and classed with dishonorably discharged
soldiers, bigamists and those convicted of fraud. One of the reasons for this was that actors
stood on stage and lied for a living by pretending to be someone else, the
identity of the actor usually being
hidden by a mask. Particularly suspect were male actors portraying females on
stage. If an actor was a Roman citizen, he was not permitted to vote or stand
for election (CIL 593) and was
limited in his capacity to represent people in the praetor’s court (Dig. 3.2.1). Augustus forbade free Romans to marry
actresses as part of his marriage laws and the protection from corporal
punishment, enjoyed by all Roman citizens, was not extended to citizen-actors,
who could be flogged by magistrates with impunity (Aug. 45). The poor reputation of actors and what was seen as their
corrupting influence was the reason why a permanent theater was not built in
Rome until Pompey’s.
As
with gladiators, the glamour of acting, and because it was forbidden, drew some
aristocrats to walk the stage. Nero’s
interest in acting and singing began while he was very young, and he, at first,
only performed privately. The seriousness of Nero’s desire to perform on stage
is reflected in the many hours of training he was willing to submit to and that
he kept up this regimen for his entire life.
As a young man he spent hours watching Terpnos, the leading harpist of
the day, observing his technique (Nero
20). He regularly performed chest
strengthening exercises by having a heavy lead sheet placed on him as he lay
supine and also followed a diet and purging recommended by his instructors,
although this does not appear to have interfered with his banqueting. The more he practiced and performed, the more
Nero believed that he was he was the outstanding performer of his day (Nero 41).
Although
Nero allowed himself to be dissuaded from performing in public, after the death
of his mother the impediment to his performing career was removed. In October
59, Nero introduced a new festival called the Juvenalia on the occasion of the shaving of his beard. All members of the nobility were invited to
take part, regardless of sex or age.
Those who were accepted as participants attended a training session
while those who were incapable of performing were relegated to the chorus (Ann. 34). Dio mentions that Aelia Catella performed a
dance even though she was 80 years of age (61.19.2).
The
first part of the festival was the shaving of Nero’s beard, the cuttings being
placed in a golden ball and placed under the protection of Jupiter
Capitolinus. A concert followed,
arranged by Seneca to be by invitation only, during which Nero appeared in
public for the first time (Ann.
14.14). The setting enhanced the effect
of his entrance. First, a group of
Praetorians appeared in parade uniforms, followed by Seneca’s older brother
Gallio, who was dressed as a herald and announced the emperor. Nero then appeared dressed as a cithera player, holding his lyre, accompanied by Seneca and Burrus (Tacitus
only mentions Burrus)(Ann. 14.15; Dio 61.20.3). Nero came forward, bowed to the audience, and
asked them to “listen to him with indulgence” (Dio 61.20.1). Dio says Nero moved everyone “both to laughter and
tears by his weak and husky voice” (Dio 61.20.2). But in the dialogue Nero, attributed to Philostratus, Nero’s
voice is described as “tolerably and moderately tuneful” and when the emperor
did not place too much trust in his natural abilities he sang attractive
melodies and was adroit in playing the harp and in his movements on stage (Nero 6). Quintilian describes a weak
voice as being best adapted to conveying emotion or a dramatic situation, just
what delighted Nero (XI.3.171). He was
eventually so dominated by performing that Nero believed that the power of his
dramatic performance could win the day against Vindex’s Gallic rebels (Nero 43.2). Nero hit upon the idea of creating a special
corps of Augustian Youth or Juventus
augustiana that would be attached to his person as special guards available
for various purposes in the spectacles he was planning. Suetonius says they were selected from among
the equestrian order and had more than 5,000 members (Nero 20.3). During his
performance at the Juvenalia, teams
of the augustiani expressed their
pleasure in the performance as noisily as possible.
The First Neronia
Nero
became consul for the fourth time in 60, and having reigned for five years
decided to mark the occasion with quinquennial
games modeled upon the Pythian Games (rather than the Olympic Games, which
did not include musical competitions (Dio
61.21)). The games were called the Neronia and included events in music,
gymnastics and chariot racing. The
aristocracy was once again invited to participate but unlike the Juvenalia these were public
performances. Nero, however, did not
personally take part in the games and was content to watch from the
forestage. Lucan declaimed a eulogy of
Nero with the expectation that he was likely to take the prize for Latin
poetry, but the jury awarded the crown to Nero even though he had not
participated (Ann. 14.21). The judges also proceeded to reject all of
the candidates for lyre playing and offered the crown to Nero. In accepting it,
the emperor placed the crown at the feet of a statue of Augustus. He did accept the crowns for oratory and
Latin poetry that were offered to Nero by the winners. Lucan eventually won the crown for verse
eulogy (Ann. 14.21-22; Dio 61.21.2; Nero 9, 12.3).
In
64, Nero decided the time was right for his public debut. The event took place at Neopolis (Naples),
which was regarded as a Greek city where Romans could relax and adopt Greek
dress and customs, where they would cause less offense. The theater where Nero
performed was filled with citizens of Naples and neighboring towns (Ann. 15.33; Nero 20.2; Sen. Ep.
49-87). The emperor addressed the crowd
in Greek and reveled in the rhythmic applause of some visiting Alexandrians, whose
techniques were adopted by his augustiani. A mild earthquake occurred toward the end of
the performance that caused the theater to collapse after everyone had
left. Nero took this as a sign of divine
favor and celebrated his debut by writing a poem (Ann. 15.34; Nero 20).
©
David A Wend 2003