torum venenum; nec vim medicaminis statim intellectam, socordiane Claudii, an vinolentia:' simul soluta alvus sub venisse videbatur. Igitur exterrita Agrippina, et, quando ultima timebantur, spreta præsentium invidia, provisam jam sibi Xenophontis medici conscientiam adhibet. Ille, tamquam nisus evomentis adjuvaret,* pinnam rapidoveneno inlitam faucibus ejus demisisse creditur; haud ignarus summa scelera incipi cum periculo, peragi cum præmio.

68. Vocabatur interim senatus; votaque pro incolumitate Principis consules et sacerdotes nuncupabant, cum jam exanimis vestibus et fomentis obtegeretur, dum res firmando Neronis imperio componuntur. Jam primum Agrippina, velut dolore victa et solatia conquirens, tenere amplexu Britannicum, veram paterni oris effigiem' appellare, ac variis artibus demorari, ne cubiculo egrederetur. Antoniam quoque et Octaviam," sorores ejus, attinuit, et cunctos aditus custodiis clauserat; crebroque vulgabat, ire in melius valetudinem Principis,' quo miles bona in spe ageret, tempusque prosperum ex monitis Chaldæorum adventaret.

69. Tunc medio diei, tertium ante Idus Octobris," foribus palatii repente diductis, comitante Burro, Nero egreditur ad cohortem, quæ more militiæ excubiis adest. Ibi, monente præfecto, festis vocibus exceptus, inditur lecticæ. Dubitavisse quosdam ferunt, respectantes, rogitantesque 'ubi Britannicus esset?' mox, nullo in diversum auctore, quæ offerebantur secuti sunt. Inlatusque castris Nero, et congruentia tempori præfatus, promisso donativo ad exemplum paternæ largitionis, Imperator consalutatur.

Boletorum] Plin. xxii, 22. 46. 'Inter ea, quæ temere manduntur, et boletos merito posuerim, optimi hos quidem cibi, sed immenso exemplo in crimen adductos, veneno Tiberio Claudio, Principi, per hanc occasionem a conjuge Agrippina dato: quo facto illa terris venenum alterum, sibique ante omnes, Neronem suum dedit.' Juv. Sat. v, 146. Vilibus ancipites fungi ponentur amicis, Boletus domino: sed qualem Claudius edit Ante illum uxoris, post quem nil amplius edit.'

* Adjuvaret] Here is a new crime

d

of the medical art. See on A. iv, 3.

a Antoniam-Octaviam] Antonia, daughter of Claudius and Elia Pe tina Octavia, daughter of Claudius and Messalina. See St. C. 105. 36.

Tertium-Octobris] On the 13th of October. Ms. Flor. and the old and best edds. tertium: Rhenanus and others tertio.

c Inlatusque castris] Of the pretorian troops.

d Paterna largitionis] Hence Nero, like Claudius, promised each soldier fifteen sestertia, 1251. But the amount of the whole largess, considering the

Sententiam militum secuta patrum consulta: nec dubitatum est apud provincias: coelestesque honores Claudio decernuntur, et funeris solemne perinde ac divo Augusto celebratur; æmulante Agrippina proavia Liviæ magnificentiam. Testamentum tamen haud recitatum, ne antepositus filio privignus injuria et invidia animos vulgi turbaret.

pretorian troops alone, without even reckoning the rewards of the officers, was HS MCCCL. 1,125,0001.

e Cœlestesque honores] This consecration of Augustus is attested by the coins, on which often occurs DIVVS CLAVDIVS AVGVSTVS. It was ridiculed by Nero, who called mushrooms'escam deorum.' It was ridiculed also by Juv. Sat. vi, 619. Minus ergo nocens erit Agrippinæ Boletus: siquidem unius præcordia pressit Ille senis, tremulumque caput descendere jussit

In cœlum, et longa manantia labra saliva.' It is turned into jest also by Seneca in his ἀποκολοκύντωσις, 30 called from a mushroom; a composition not indeed without wit, but too bitter for a philosopher.

f Divo Augusto] See Suet. Aug. 100. and above A. i, 8.

8 Proavie Livia] Livia was the wife of Augustus, the great-grandmother of Agrippina. St. C. 66.

h Filio privignus] Nero was put before Britannicus.

ANNALE S.

LIBER DECIMUS TERTIUS.

CHAP. 1. Silanus, proconsul of Asia, poisoned at the instigation of Agrippina ; Narcissus, the emperor's freedman, destroyed, though favored by Nero on account of his vices-2. The characters of Burrus and of Seneca; funeral of Claudius; Nero delivers the oration-4. The beginning of Nero's reign promises well; the senate acts with independence-6. The Parthians claim a right over the kingdom of Armenia; Corbulo sent to command the army against them; his message to Vologeses, king of Parthia, who delivers hostages; the senate proposes to make the year begin from the first of December, the month in which Nero was born; the prince rejects the proposal-12. Nero's passion for Acte, an enfranchised slave; Agrippina's indignation; her power diminished-14. Pallas dismissed from court, and Nero's observation on it-15. Britannicus poisoned, and his funeral in the dead of night-18. Agrippina obnoxious to Nero, who removes her from his palace to another mansion; she is accused of designs against the state; Nero is for putting her to death; Burrus goes to hear her defence; her haughty spirit; she punishes her enemies, and rewards her friends23. Pallas and Burrus accused; both acquitted, and the prosecutor banished-25. Nero's debauchery and midnight riots-26. Debates in the senate about the insolence of the freedmen; a proposal to make them subject to their original bondage-28. The jurisdiction of the tribunes and ediles restrained within narrower limits; short history of the administration of the revenue-30. Vipsanius Lenas condemned; Lucius Volusius dies at the age of ninety-three; his character-31. The magistrates chosen for the provinces not to give public spectacles; regulations for protecting the masters against their slaves; Pomponia Græcina charged with embracing a foreign superstition, and acquitted by the judgment of her husband33. Publius Celer, Cossutianus Capito, and Eprius Marcellus accused of extortion-34. Nero's bounty to Valerius Messala, and others; new broils with the Parthians about Armenia; Corbulo reforms his soldiers by the rigor of his discipline; he enters Armenia; his army suffers by the inclemency of the winter; Tiridates, brother to Vologeses, king of Parthia, makes head against him, but in vain; he flies before the Romans; Corbulo takes the city of Artaxata, and burns it to the ground-42. Publius Suillius accused at Rome; he rails bitterly against Seneca; he is tried and condemned-44. Octavius Sagitta, in a fit of love and fury, stabs Pontia because she is not willing to perform a promise of marriage; the fidelity of his freedman; Sagitta is condemned-45. Nero's passion for Sabina Pop. pæa; her history, her beauty, and her artifices; Otho seduced her from her

husband, Rufus Crispinus; Nero in love with her; he sends Otho to the government of Lusitania-17. Nero throws off the mask; he sends Cornelius Sylla into banishment; a sedition at Puteoli suppressed by military force-49. Pætus Thrasea opposes a motion in the senate; his enemies inveigh against his character; his answer to his friends-50. The exorbitant practices of the tax-gatherers restrained; Nero thinks of remitting all taxes whatever, but is dissuaded from it; the revenue laws laid open to the public-53. The tranquillity of affairs in Germany; the Frisians take the opportunity to settle on the banks of the Rhine; their two leading chiefs go to Rome to solicit the emperor; their behavior in Pompey's theatre; by Nero's order the Frisians exterminated; the Ansibarians, under Boiocalus, make the same attempt, and with no better success; the spirited answer of Boiocalus to the Roman general-57. War between the Hermundurians and the Cattians; both nations entertain superstitious notions about a river that produces salt; their quarrel on that account more fierce and violent; the Hermundurians conquer, and the Cattians almost cut to pieces-58. The Ruminal tree that gave shade to Romulus and Remus begins to decay; this was deemed an ill omen, till the branches once more displayed their leaves.

6

[A.U.C. 807. J. c. 54.] Prima novo Principatu mors Junii Silani," proconsulis Asiæ, ignaro Nerone, per dolum Agrippinæ paratur: non quia ingenii violentia exitium inritaverat, segnis et dominationibus aliis' fastiditus, adeo ut C. Cæsar pecudem auream' eum appellare solitus sit: verum Agrippina, fratri ejus L. Silano necem molita, ultorem metuebat, crebra vulgi fama, anteponendum esse vixdum pueritiam egresso Neroni, et imperium per scelus adepto, virum ætate composita, insontem, nobilem, et quod tunc spectaretur, e Cæsarum posteris.' Quippe et Silanus

d

divi Augusti abnepos erat: hæc causa necis: ministri fuere P. Celer, eques Romanus, et Helius libertus, rei familiari Principis in Asia impositi: ab his proconsuli venenum inter epulas datum est apertius, quam ut fallerent. Nec minus properato Narcissus, Claudii libertus, de cujus jurgiis adversus Agrippinam retuli," aspera custodia et necessitate extrema ad mortem agitur; invito Principe, cujus abditis adhuc vitiis per avaritiam ac prodigentiam mire congruebat.

2. Ibaturque in cædes, nisi Afranius Burrus et Annæus Seneca obviam issent. Hi rectores imperatoriæ juventæ, et, rarum in societate potentiæ, concordes, diversa arte ex æquo pollebant. Burrus militaribus curis, et severitate morum; Seneca præceptis eloquentiæ, et comitate honesta: juvantes invicem, quo facilius lubricam Principis ætatem, si virtutem aspernaretur, voluptatibus concessis retinerent. Certamen utrique unum erat contra ferociam Agrippinæ, quæ, cunctis malæ dominationis cupidinibus flagrans, habebat in partibus Pallantem ;* quo auctore, Claudius nuptiis incestis et adoptione exitiosa semet perverterat. Sed neque Neroni infra servos' ingenium; et Pallas, tristi arrogantia modum liberti egressus, tædium sui moverat. Propalam tamen omnes in eam honores cumulabantur, signumque more militiæ petenti tribuno dedit, ' optimæ matris.' m Decreti et a senatu duo lictores,

then principally regarded; for the Romans venerated the posterity of the Cæsars. Nor are those words, e Casarum posteris, to be neglected or omitted, as some commentators think; for they contain much good sense. Silanus was among the very posterity of Augustus: but Nero was only among the posterity of Octavia, sister of Augustus. See St. C. 57.35.

& Abnepos erat] True; since he was the grandson of Julia, grand-daughter of Augustus. St. C. 57.

h Retuli] A. xii, 65.

i Comitate honesta] The character of both the governors of Nero in his youth is well drawn by Racine, Préface de Britannicus: Ils étoient fameux, Burrus pour son expérience dans les armes, et pour la sévérité de

ses mœurs; Séneque pour son éloquence et le tour agréable de son esprit. But if we wish to see the greatness of Tacitus, how full of sentiment he is, how productive of genius in others, we must read the Britannicus, a tragedy of Racine, and see what advantage is derived from imitating the ancients.

In partibus Pallantem] She had in the adulterer Pallas a favorer of her cause. On the incestuous marriage of Agrippina, see A. xii, 1, &c. and on the pernicious adoption of Nero, A. xii, 25, 26.

Infra servos] The temper of Nero was too high to bend to slaves.

m Optima matris] Suet. Ner. 9. Primo imperii die siguum excubanti tribuno dedit, optimam matrem.' See H. i, 38..