The History of Rome: Rise and Fall of the Empire. John Bagnell Bury
shows, but they outraged national prejudice and are spoken of with disgust by Roman historians. Nero’s ideals were altogether Greek, and he cared little for the spectacles of the arena. Brought up by Seneca in the Stoic philosophy, he had imbibed at least the spirit of cosmopolitanism and was not influenced in the least by the political traditions of Rome.
The year 62 A.D. was a turning-point in Nero’s reign. Hitherto he had been under the constraint of Burrus and Seneca, who, while they indulged judiciously his licentious and frivolous tastes, had prevented him from exerting his imperial power to the detriment of the state. Thus the first five years of Nero’s reign became proverbial for good government—the quinquennium Neronis. The death of Burrus early in 62 A.D. was the beginning of a change for the worse. The influence of Seneca, deprived of his friend’s support, immediately began to wane. It seems to have been almost impossible to exercise an important influence in political affairs, except in concert with the praetorian prefect, and Seneca could not act with the new prefects, Sofonius Tigellinus and Faenius Rufus, as he had acted with Burrus. But his estrangement from his former pupil was chiefly due to the enmity of Poppaea, who was jealous of the old courtier’s influence over her lover. It was mainly due to Burrus and to Seneca that she had not yet succeeded in displacing Octavia, and marrying the Emperor. Burrus, when asked to consent to the divorce, had replied with characteristic bluntness, “If you put away the daughter of Claudius, at least restore the Empire which was her dowry”. Poppaea now endeavored to remove Seneca from her path, as she had before removed Agrippina. His riches were imputed to him as a crime, and he was charged with the design of corrupting the populace for treasonable purposes. It was said too, that he had boasted his own superiority to the Emperor in verse-writing and oratory. Nero’s jealousy and fears were easily aroused, and his altered manner showed the philosopher the dangerous position in which he stood. He took the precaution of giving up all the outward pomp which he had hitherto maintained, and meditated a complete abandonment of public life.
Of the two praetorian prefects who had succeeded Burrus, Rufus remained insignificant, but Tigellinus, a man of obscure birth and no principles, soon worked himself into the Emperor’s confidence, by humoring and sharing in his vices. If he had only been the companion of his debaucheries, it might have mattered little to the general welfare, but he was also the instigator of cruelty. The tyranny which marked Nero’s later years dates from the appearance of Tigellinus on the scene. The two acts which inaugurated it, were the executions of Rubellius Plautus and Cornelius Sulla. On the appearance of a comet in the year 60, which was supposed to betoken the fall of the Princeps, rumor spoke of Rubellius Plautus as the probable successor. Nero advised him, and the advice was equivalent to a command, to retire to his estates in Asia, and there he had lived quietly ever since. Tigellinus represented to the Emperor that Plautus was still dangerous, in consequence of his reputation, his wealth, and the proximity of Asia to the Syrian armies. Accordingly a centurion with sixty soldiers were sent from Rome, with a eunuch of the palace, to remove the obnoxious noble, and Plautus, although he was warned by his friends beforehand, and might have fled to Persia, calmly awaited his fate. Cornelius Sulla, the husband of Antonia, daughter of Claudius by Paetina, had been suspected of disloyalty four years before, and ordered to reside in Massilia. He was not rich, but his noble descent, his connection with the Claudian house, combined with the suspicions which he had previously aroused, decided his doom. After this specimen of tyranny no senator could consider himself safe, and the tone of the senate now changes from independence to servility. Tigellinus and Poppaea were triumphant, and Seneca left the field.
The time had now come for Poppaea to accomplish her great project, and induce Nero to divorce Octavia. Tigellinus helped her. A charge was got up of criminal intercourse with an Alexandrine flute-player, and the praetorian prefect conducted the investigation. Under torture some of the Empress’s slave-women, acknowledged the guilt of their mistress, but most of them denied it. On such evidence there was no pretext for putting the accused to death, as Poppaea wished, and Nero contented himself with divorcing her on the ground of barrenness. The palace of Burrus and the possessions of Plautus were assigned for her maintenance, and she was commanded to retire to Campania. But the universal sympathy, which the lot of this unfortunate and innocent lady aroused among all classes, proved her destruction. A rumor was suddenly spread that the Emperor had recalled his wife. It was quite groundless, for Nero had already married Poppaea, whose statues were erected in the public places in the city. But the people rushed in excitement to the Capitol, thanked the gods that the Emperor had recognized the just claim of the true daughter of the Caesars, and thrust down the images of Poppaea, while they bore those of Octavia in triumph. The soldiers of Tigellinus dispersed the masses when they gathered round the imperial palace. Poppaea saw that while her rival lived, her position was insecure, and she easily persuaded her husband to consent to the execution of Octavia. Anicetus, the prefect of the fleet at Misenum, who had proved himself so useful in compassing the death of Agrippina, again supplied his services for the destruction of a second victim. He laid a confession before the Emperor that he had committed adultery with Octavia, and was sentenced to banishment to Sardinia, where he lived in luxury and died a natural death. Octavia was banished to the island of Pandateria, where she was executed (June 9th, 62 A.D.). Her head was cut off and carried to Poppaea, who could now breathe freely. By a decree of the senate, sacrifices of thanksgiving were offered to the gods; and, says Tacitus, it may be henceforward understood without special mention, that “whenever the Princeps ordered banishments or executions, thanksgivings were paid to the gods, and the ceremonies which formerly marked prosperous events, were then the tokens of some public disaster”.
In the following year (63 A.D.) Poppaea bore a daughter to Nero. The senate decreed her the title Augusta, which had not been granted to Octavia, but, from this time forward this title no longer possessed the same political importance which it had for Livia and Agrippina. Nero was overjoyed at the birth of the child, who was named Claudia, but she died after three months, and then his grief was as extravagant as his joy. Claudia was enrolled in the rank of the divae, like Drusilla, the sister of Gaius. Poppaea herself died two years later in premature child-birth, owing, it is said, to an accidental kick from Nero. She also was consecrated, the first Empress since Livia who had received that honor.
Under the new order of things, Poppaea and Tigellinus having taken the place of Seneca and Burrus, the luxury and cruelty which prevailed in the reign if Gaius, and the gluttony of the court of Claudius, were renewed. Nero’s debauchery was practiced as publicly as his acting and chariot-driving. Banquets were spread in all the public places of the city, and the Emperor used the whole city as if it had been his private house. The luxury of these revels, devised by the genius of Tigellinus, was notorious, and the citizens were permitted to be spectators of the Emperor’s licentiousness. On one occasion a feast was laid out on a large raft, which was towed along by ships in the Basin of Agrippa. The vessels were adorned with gold and ivory, and were rowed by men of abandoned character. On the banks of the basin, stood disreputable houses, filled with women of noble birth. Nero himself is said to have crowned his infamy by going through all the rites of the marriage ceremony, the veil, the dowry, the torches, the auspices, with a man named Pythodorus. Although the stories told by the ancient historians of the debaucheries of Nero and his court may be exaggerated, yet there can be no doubt that exhibitions of wantonness took place with a shameless publicity, which seems almost incredible to a modern reader.
The extravagance and prodigality, which went hand in hand with the vices of the court, emptied the imperial coffers, and brought about a financial crisis, just as had happened in the similar case of Gaius. The earlier years of Nero had been signalized by a liberal and enlightened financial policy. Claudius had left him a well-filled treasury, such as Tiberius had left to Gaius, and he made a serious attempt to relieve the burdens of the masses, upon whom the indirect taxes fell so heavily. In the year 58 a remarkable proposal was made by the Emperor to do away with the vectigalia, and as we should say, establish “free trade”. There is no reason to suppose that this measure was intended to be confined, as some have supposed, to Roman citizens, or to the city of Rome. Its object was both to relieve the people and to set aside a mode of taxation winch was attended with much injustice and fraud. There can be no doubt that it was proposed to make up the loss to the treasury by increasing the direct taxes, which fell upon the producers and capitalists, who would have profited by the remission of the duties. But the Emperor’s project did not get a trial; his experienced