United States or Cabo Verde ? Vote for the TOP Country of the Week !
Nero resolves to resort to poison. Pollio and Locusta. The plan at first fails. A second attempt. A second preparation. Mode of administering the poison. Britannicus dies. Agrippina's agitation and distress. Effect produced by the poison. Remedy. The interment of Britannicus. The storm. Nero's proclamation.
Pallas, as has already been said, had been originally brought forward into public life by the influence of Agrippina, and he had always been Agrippina's chief reliance in all her political schemes. He had aided very effectually in promoting her marriage with Claudius; and had co-operated with her in all her subsequent measures; and Nero considered him now as his mother's chief supporter and ally.
It would, therefore, have redounded to the advantage of the Emperor, who had dared to break loose from a superannuated tradition, had not Agrippina's spectre still haunted Rome. To their honour be it said, the people of Rome and Italy had not yet become so corrupted by Oriental civilisation as to forget parricide in a few festivals. The party of tradition, though weakened, existed.
I am certainly not Agrippina's mistress, and the assumption of authority on my part would be a mere empty dignity, like those swelling titles which afford such innocent delight to the Freemasons of our severe republic.
Agrippina conceals her husband's death. Agrippina's measures. Her disimulation. Agrippina's plans for proclaiming Nero. Seneca and Burrus. History of Seneca. Account of Burrus. His military rank. The Prætorian cohorts. Agrippina's plans. Nero brought forward. His promises to the army. He is proclaimed. General acquiescence in his elevation. Agrippina's real designs in the elevation of her son.
This relationship was in one respect a bar to her success, since the laws prohibited marriage within that degree of consanguinity. In another respect, however, the relationship was greatly in Agrippina's favor, for under the plea of it she had constant access to the emperor, and was extremely assiduous in her attentions to him.
Her plan was to secure her own ascendency, by so arranging and directing the course of affairs that the young emperor himself should have as little as possible to do with the duties of his office; and that instead of direct action on his part, all the functions of the government should be fulfilled by officers of various grades, whom she was herself to appoint and to sustain, and who, since they would know that they were dependent on Agrippina's influence for their elevation, would naturally be subservient to her will.
So, too, disappeared a Calpurina, a Lepida; women young, rich, handsome, impure, and as such dangerous to Agrippina's peace of mind. The legality of her crimes was so absolute that the mere ownership of an enviable object was a cause for death. A senator had a villa which pleased her; he was invited to die.
Word Of The Day