[61,0] LXI.
 
[61,1]  1 At the death of Claudius the rule in strict justice belonged to Britannicus, who was 
a legitimate son of Claudius and in physical development was in advance of his years; 
yet by law the power fell also to Nero because of his adoption. But no claim is 
stronger than that of arms; 2 for everyone who possesses superior force always 
appears to have the greater right on his side, whatever he says or does. And thus 
Nero, having first destroyed the will of Claudius and having succeeded him as master 
of the whole empire, put Britannicus and his sisters out of the way. Why, then, should 
one lament the misfortunes of the other victims? 

[61,2]  The following signs had occurred indicating that Nero should one day be sovereign. 
At his birth just before dawn rays not cast by any visible beam enveloped him. And a 
certain astrologer, from this fact and from the motion of the stars at that time and 
their relation to one another, prophesied two things at once concerning him — that he 
should rule and that he should murder his mother. 2 Agrippina, on hearing this, 
became so bereft of sense as actually to cry out: "Let him kill me, only let him rule!" 
but later she was destined to repent bitterly of her prayer. For some people carry their 
folly to such a length that, if they expect to obtain some good thing mingled with evil, 
they are heedless for the moment of the drawback, in their eagerness for the 
advantage; but when the time for the evil comes, they are vexed and would prefer 
never to have secured even p37the greatest good on such terms. 3 Yet Domitius, the 
father of Nero, foresaw clearly enough his son's future depravity and licentiousness, 
and this not as the result of any oracle but by his knowledge of his own and 
Agrippina's character; for he declared: "It is impossible for any good man to be 
sprung from me and this woman." 4 As time went one, the finding of a serpent's skin 
around Nero's neck while he was still a child caused the seers to declare that he 
should receive great power from an old man; for serpents are supposed to slough off 
their old age by discarding their old skin. 

[61,3]  He was seventeen years of age when he began to rule. He first entered the camp, 
and after reading to the soldiers the speech that Seneca had written for him he 
promised them all that Claudius had given them. Before the senate, too, he read a 
similar speech,— this one also written by Seneca,— with the result that it was voted 
that his address should be inscribed on a silver tablet and should be read every time 
the new consuls entered upon their office. The senators, accordingly, were getting 
ready to enjoy a good reign as much as if they had a written guarantee of it. 2 At first 
Agrippina managed for him all the business of the empire; and she and her son went 
forth together, often reclining in the same litter, though more commonly she will be 
carried and he would walk besides her. She also p39received the various embassies 
and sent letters to peoples and governors and kings. 
Pallas in his association with Agrippina was altogether vulgar and objectionable. 
3  When this had been going on for a consider time, it aroused the displeasure of 
Seneca and Burrus, who were at once the most sensible and the most influential of 
the men at Nero's court (the former was his teacher and the latter was prefect of 
Praetorian Guard), and they seized the following occasion to put a stop to it. An 
embassy of the Armenians had arrived and Agrippina wished to mount the tribunal 
from which Nero was talking with them. 4 The two men, seeing her approach, 
persuaded the young man to descend and meet his mother before she could get there, 
as if to extend some special greeting to her. Then, having brought this about, they did 
not re-ascend the tribunal, but made some excuse, so that the weakness in the empire 
should not become apparent to the foreigners; and thereafter they laboured to 
prevent any public business from being again committed to her hands. 

[61,4] When they had accomplished this, they took the rule entirely into their own hands 
and administered affairs in the very best and fairest manner they could, with the 
result that they won the approval of everybody alike. As for Nero, he was not fond of 
business in any case, and was glad to live in idleness; indeed, it was for this reason 
that he had previously yielded the upper hand to his mother, and was now quite 
content to be indulging in (p41) pleasures while the government was carried on as well 
as before. 2 His two advisers, then, after coming to a common understanding, made 
many changes in existing regulations, abolished some altogether, and enacted many 
new laws, meanwhile allowing Nero to indulge himself, in the expectation that when 
he had sated his desires without any great injury to the public interests at large, as 
though they did not realize that a young and self-willed spirit, when reared in 
unrebuked licence and absolute authority, so far from becoming sated by the 
indulgence of its passions, is ruined more and more by these very agencies. 3 At all 
events, whereas at first Nero was comparatively moderate in the dinners he gave, in 
the revels he conducted, and in his drinking and his amours, yet later, as no one 
reproved him for this conduct and the public business was handled none the worse 
for it, he came to believe that such conduct was really not bad and that he could carry 
it even farther. 4 Consequently he began to indulge in each of these pursuits in a more 
open and precipitate fashion. And in case his guardians ever said anything to him by 
way of advice or his mother by way of admonition, he would appear abashed while 
they were present, and would promise to reform; but as soon as they were gone, he 
would again become the slave of his desire and yield to those who were leading him in 
the other direction, since they were dragging him downhill. 5 Next, he came to despise 
the good advice, since he was always hearing from his associates: "And do you submit 
to them?" "Do you fear them?" "Do you not know that you are Caesar, and that you 
have (p43) authority over them rather than they over you?" and he was resolved not to 
acknowledge that his mother was superior to him or to submit to Seneca and Burrus 
as wiser. 

[61,5]  Finally he lost all shame, dashed to the ground and trampled underfoot all 
their precepts, and began to follow in the footsteps of Gaius. And when he had once 
concerned a desire to emulate him, he quite surpassed him; for he held it to be one of 
the obligations of the imperial power not to fall behind anybody else even in the 
basest deeds. 2 And as he was applauded for this by the crowd and received many 
pleasant compliments from them, he devoted himself to this course unsparingly. At 
first he practised his vices at home and among his associates, but afterwards even 
indulged them publicly. Thus he brought great disgrace upon the whole Roman race 
and committed many outrages against the Romans themselves. 3 Innumerable acts of 
violence and outrage, of robbery and murder, were committed by the emperor 
himself and by those who at one time or another had influence with him. And, as 
certainly and inevitably follows in all such cases, great sums of money natural were 
spent, great sums unjustly procured, and great sums seized by force. For Nero never 
was niggardly, as the following incident will show. 4 He once ordered 
10,000,000 sesterces to be given at one time to Doryphorus, who was in charge of 
Petitions during his reign, and when Agrippina caused the money to be piled in a 
heap, hoping that when he should see it all together he would change his mind, he 
asked how much the mass before him (p45) amounted to, and upon being informed, 
doubled it, saying: "I did not realize that I had given him so little." 5 It can clearly be 
seen, then, that as a result of the magnitude of his expenditures he soon exhausted 
the funds in the imperial treasury, and soon found himself in need of new revenues. 
Hence unusual taxes were imposed, and the estates of those who possessed property 
were pried into; some of the owners lost their possessions by violence and others lost 
their lives as well. 6 In like manner he hated and brought about the ruin of others who 
had no great wealth but possessed some special distinction or were of good family; for 
he suspected them of disliking him. 

[61,6]  Such was Nero's general character. I shall now proceed to details. He had such 
enthusiasm for the horse-races that he actually decorated the famous race-horses that 
had passed their prime with the regular street costume for men and honoured them 
with gifts of money for their feed. 2 Thereupon the horsebreeders and charioteers, 
encouraged by this enthusiasm on his part, proceeded to treat both the praetors and 
the consuls with great insolence; and Aulus Fabricius, with praetor, finding them 
unwilling to take part in the contests on reasonable terms, dispensed with their 
services, and training dogs to draw chariots, introduced them in place of horses. 3 At 
this, the wearers of the White and of the Red immediately entered their chariots for 
the races; but as the Greens and the Blues would not participate (p47) even then, Nero 
himself furnished the prizes for the horses and the horse-race took place. 
4  Agrippina was ever ready to attempt the most daring undertakings; for example, 
she caused the death of Marcus Junius Silanus, sending him some of the poison with 
which she had treacherously murdered her husband. 
5  Silanus was governor of Asia, and was in no respect inferior in character to the rest 
of his family. It was for this reason more than any other, she said, that she killed him, 
as she did not wish him to be preferred to Nero because of her son's manner of life. 
Moreover, she made traffic of everything and raised money from the most trivial and 
the bases sources. 
6  Laelianus, who was sent to Armenia in place of Pollio, had formerly been in 
command of the night-watch. And he was no better than Pollio, for although 
surpassing him in rank, he was all the more insatiate of gain. 

[61,7]  Agrippina was distressed because she was no longer the mistress of affairs in the 
palace, chiefly because of Acte. This Acte had been bought as a slave in Asia, but 
winning the affections of Nero, was adopted into the family of Attalus and was loved 
by the emperor much more than was his wife Octavia. 2 Agrippina, indignant at this 
and other things, first attempted to admonish him, and administered a beating to 
some of his associates and got rid of others. 3 But when she found herself 
accomplishing nothing, she took it (p49) greatly to heart and said to him, "It was I who 
made you emperor" — just as if she had the power to take away the sovereignty from 
him again. She did not realize that any absolute power given to anybody by a private 
citizen immediately ceases to be the property of the giver and becomes an additional 
weapon in the hands of the recipient for war against the giver. 
4  Nero now treacherously murdered Britannicus by means of poison and then, as the 
skin became livid through the action of the poison, he smeared the body with 
gypsum. But as it was being carried through the Forum, a heavy rain that fell while 
the gypsum was still moist washed it all off, so that the crime was known not only by 
what people heard but also by what they saw. 
5  After the death of Britannicus, Seneca and Burrus no longer gave any careful 
attention to the public business, but were satisfied if they might managed it with 
moderation and still preserve their lives. Consequently Nero now openly and without 
fear of (p51) punishment proceeded to gratify all his desires. 6 His behaviour began to be 
absolutely insensate, as was shown by his punishing immediately a certain knight, 
Antonius, as a dealer in poisons, and furthermore by his burning the poisons publicly. 
He took great credit to himself for this action as well as for prosecuting some persons 
who had tampered with wills; but people in general were vastly amused to see him 
punishing his own deeds in the persons of others. 

[61,8]  He indulged in many licentious deeds both at home and throughout the city, by 
night and by day alike, though he made some attempt at concealment. He used to 
frequent the taverns and wandered about everywhere like a private citizen. In 
consequence, frequent blows and violence occurred, and the evil even spread to the 
theatres, 2 so that the people connected with the stage and the horse-races paid no 
heed either to the praetors or to the consuls, but were both disorderly themselves and 
led others to act likewise. And Nero not only failed to restrain, even by words, but 
actually incited them the more; for he delighted in their behaviour and used to be 
secretly conveyed in a litter into the theatre, where, unseen by the rest, he could 
watch what was going on. 3 Indeed he forbade the soldiers who hitherto had always 
been present at all public gathering to attend them any longer. The reason he 
assigned was that they ought not to perform any but military duties; but his real 
purpose was to afford those who (p53) wished to create a disturbance the fullest scope. 
4 He also used the same excuse in the case of his mother; for he would not allow any 
soldier to attend her, declaring that no one except the emperor ought to be guarded 
by them. This revealed even to the masses his hatred of her. 5 Nearly everything, to be 
sure, that he and his mother said to each other or that they did each day was reported 
outside the palace, yet it did not all reach the public, and hence various conjectures 
were made and various stories circulated. For, in view of the depravity and lewdness 
of the pair, everything that could conceivably happen was noised abroad as having 
actually taken place, and reports possessing any credibility were believed as true. 
6 But when the people now saw Agrippina unaccompanied for the first time by the 
Praetorians, most of them took care not to fall in with her even by accident; and if any 
one did chance to meet her, he would hastily get out of the way without saying a 
word. 

[61,9] At one spectacle men on horseback overcame bulls while riding along beside them, 
and the knights who served as Nero's bodyguard brought down with their javelins 
four hundred bears and three hundred lions. On the same occasion thirty members of 
the equestrian order fought as gladiators. Such were the proceedings which the 
emperor sanctioned openly; 2 secretly, however, he carried on nocturnal revels 
throughout the entire city, insulting women, practising lewdness on boys, stripping 
the people whom he encountered, beating, wounding, and murdering. He had an idea 
that his identity (p55) was not known, for he used various costumes and different wigs at 
different times; but he would be recognized both by his retinue and by his deeds, 
since no one else would have dared commit so many and so serious outrages in such a 
reckless manner. 3 Indeed, it was becoming unsafe even for a person to remain at 
home, since Nero would break into shops and houses. Now a certain Julius 
Montanus, a senator, enraged on his wife's account, fell upon him and inflicted many 
blows upon him, so that he had to remain in concealment several days by reason of 
the black eyes he had received. 4 And yet Montanus would have suffered no harm for 
this, since Nero thought the violence had been all an accident and so was not 
disposed to be angry at the occurrence, had not the other sent him a note begging his 
pardon. Nero on reading the letter remarked: "So he knew that he was striking Nero." 
Thereupon Montanus committed suicide. 
5  In the course of producing a spectacle at one of the theatres he suddenly filled the 
place with sea water so that fished and sea monsters swam about in it, and he 
exhibited a naval battle between men representing Persians and Athenians. After this 
he immediately drew off the water, dried the ground, and once more exhibited 
contests between land forces, who fought not only in single combat but also in large 
groups equally matched. 

[61,10] On a later occasion some judicial contests were held, and 
even these brought exile or death to many. 
Seneca now found himself under accusation, one of the charges against him being 
that he was intimate with Agrippina. It had not been enough for him, (p57) it seems, to 
commit adultery with Julia, nor had he become wiser as a result of his banishment, 
but he must establish improper relations with Agrippina, in spite of the kind of 
woman she was and the kind of son she had. 2 Nor was this the only instance in which 
his conduct was seen to be diametrically opposed to the teachings of his philosophy. 
For while denouncing tyranny, he was making himself the teacher of a tyrant; while 
inveighing against the associates of the powerful, he did not hold aloof from the 
palace itself; and though he had nothing good to say of flatterers, he himself had 
constantly fawned upon Messalina and the freedmen of Claudius, to such an extent, 
in fact, as actually to send them from the island of his exile a book containing their 
praises — a book that he afterwards suppressed out of shame. 3 Though finding fault 
with the rich, he himself acquired a fortune of 300,000,000 sesterces; and though he 
censured the extravagances of others, he had five hundred tables of citrus wood with 
legs of ivory, all identically alike, and he served banquets on them. In stating thus 
much I have also made clear what naturally went with it — the licentiousness in 
which he indulged at the very time that he contracted a most brilliant marriage, and 
the delight that he took in boys past their prime, 4 a practice which he also taught 
Nero to follow. And yet earlier he had been of such austere habits that he had asked 
his pupil to excuse him from kissing (p59) him or eating at the same table with him. 
5 For the latter request he had a fairly good excuse, namely, that he wished to carry on 
his philosophical studies at leisure without being interrupted by the young man's 
dinners. As for the kiss, however, I cannot conceive how he came to decline it; for the 
only explanation that one could think of, namely, his unwillingness to kiss that sort of 
lips, is shown to be false by the facts concerning his favourites. 6 Because of this and 
because of his adultery some complaints were lodged against him; but at the time in 
question he not only got off himself without even being formally accused, but 
succeeded in begging off Pallas and Burrus besides. Later on however, he did not fare 
so well.