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Updated: June 14, 2025
The last poison was much used at Rome, about two hundred years before the christian era. At a later period, a female named Locusta, was the agent in preparing these poisons, and she destroyed, in this way, at the instigation of Nero, Britannicus, son of Agrippina.
Asie was terrifying, but you knew her thoroughly from the first; she descended in a straight line from Locusta; while Europe filled you with uneasiness, which could not fail to increase the more you had to do with her; her corruption seemed boundless. You felt that she could set the devils by the ears. "Madame might say she had come from Valenciennes," said Europe in a precise little voice.
"I have not done it myself, but Locusta has, and she understands her business." The name of the third head of the Wild Beast was Nero. He was Agrippina's worthy son, had poisoned his half-brother Britannicus, murdered his mother, kicked his wife to death, and committed unnatural crime. He falsified the coinage and plundered the temples.
He flattered her as they flattered Louis the Great, by stinging her neighbours. "The king being ignorant," says Madame de Montchevreuil, "one is obliged to mock at the savants." To poison the sting, from time to time, is the acme of art. Nero loves to see Locusta at work.
The reign of Claudius was brought to an end by poison the notorious Locusta was employed by Agrippina for the purpose and he was succeeded by Nero, to whom his mother's artifices gave the priority over Britannicus. IV. The Infamies of Nero At the outset the young emperor was guided by Seneca and Burrus; his first speech put into his mouth by Seneca, for he was no orator was full of promise.
This Locusta she now determined to consult. She accordingly went to her, and asked her if she did not know of any poison which would immediately take effect upon the brain and mind, so as to incapacitate the patient at once from all mental action, while yet it should be gradual and slow in its operations on the vital functions of the body. Locusta answered in the affirmative.
He assured Nero that the failure of their attempt was owing entirely to some accidental cause, and that if he would give Locusta one more opportunity to make the trial, he would guarantee that she would prepare a mixture that would kill Britannicus as quick as a dagger would do it. Nero ordered that this should immediately be done.
Locusta, in a more practical spirit, sought poison in plants, one of which, probably aconite, she was wont to boil. Then, long afterwards, came the age of the Borgias, and subsequently, at Naples, La Toffana sold a famous water, doubtless some preparation of arsenic, in phials decorated with a representation of St. Nicholas of Bari.
Estimation in which Nero was held. Agrippina considers herself in danger. Reasons for her fears. Claudius and Britannicus. She forms plans for hastening her husband's death. Locusta. Agrippina determines to consult her. Locusta's poison is administered to Claudius. The poison ineffectual. A new plan. The feather. Poison administered by the physician. Claudius dies.
Locusta, in a more practical spirit, sought poison in plants, one of which, probably aconite, she was wont to boil. Then, long afterwards, came the age of the Borgias, and subsequently, at Naples, La Toffana sold a famous water, doubtless some preparation of arsenic, in phials decorated with a representation of St. Nicholas of Bari.
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