He
likewise
had
from his wife Octavia at the beginning of his reign.
from his wife Octavia at the beginning of his reign.
William Smith - 1844 - Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities - b
xiv.
7).
The death of Agrippina was with putting away his wife, he was instigated by
communicated to the senate by a letter which Poppaea to charge her with adultery, for which
Seneca drew up, and this servile body, with the there was not the slightest ground, and she was
exception of Thrasea Paetus, returned their congra- banished to the little island of Pandataria, where
tulations to the emperor, who shortly after returned she was shortly after put to death. According
to Rome. But though he was well received, he to Tacitus (Ann. xiv. 64) Octavia was only in
felt the punishment of his guilty conscience, and her twentieth year; her unhappy life and her un-
said that he was haunted by his mother's spectre timely death were the subject of general com-
(Suet. Ner. 34). A great eclipse of the sun hap- miseration.
pened during the sacrifices which were made for The affairs of Armenia (A. D. 62) were still in a
the death of Agrippina, and there were other signs troubled state, and the accounts of the historians
which superstition interpreted as tokens of the of the period are not very clear. The Parthiaus
I
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1164
NERO.
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1
again invaded Armenia, and Tiridates attempted | It is probable that some proposals might have been
to recover it fron Tigranes. It seems to have been made to him by the conspirators, and it is probable
agreed between Vologeses and Corbulo that Tiri- that he declined to join them. However this may
dates should have Armenia, and that hostilities be, the time was come for Nero to get rid of bis
should cease. But the ambassadors whom Vologeses old master, and, with his counsellors Poppaea and
Bent to Rome, returned without accomplishing the Tigellinus near him, he sent Seneca orders to die.
object of their mission, and the war against the The philosopher opened his veins, and, after long
Parthians in Armenia was renewed under L. Cae- suffering, he was taken into a bath or vapour
sennius Paetus. But the incompetence of the room, which stifled him. It seems that Seneca
general caused the ruin of the enterprise, and he died about the time when the conspiracy was dis
was forced to sue for terms to Vologeses, and to covered ; Lucan and others died after him. The
consent to evacuate Armenia (Tacit. Ann. xv. 16 ; senate was assembled, as if they were going to
Dion Cass. Ixii. 21). In the following year Cor-hear the results of a successful war, and Tigellinus
bulo came to terms with Tiridates, who did homage was rewarded with the triumphal ornaments.
to the portrait of Nero in the presence of the Roman (Tacit. Ann. xv. 72. )
commander (Tacit. Ann. xv. 30), and promised The death of Poppaea came next. Her brutal
that he would go to Rome, as soon as he could pre- husband, in a fit of passion, kicked her when she
pare for his journey, to ask the throne of Arinenia was with child, and she died of the blow. Her
from the Roman emperor. The town of Pompeii body was not burnt, but embalmed and placed in
in Campania was nearly destroyed in this year by the sepulchre of the Julii. Nero now proposed to
an earthquake. Poppaea gave birth at Antium to a marry Antonia, the daughter of the emperor
daughter, who received the title of Augusta, which Claudius and his sister by adoption, but she re-
was also given to the mother. The joy of Nero fused the honour, and was consequently put to
was unbounded, but the child died before it was death. Nero, however, did marry Statilia Muis
four months old.
sallina, the widow of Vestinus, whom he put to
The origin of the dreadful conflagration at Rome death, because he had married Messallina, with
(A. D. 64) is uncertain. It is hardly credible that whom Nero had cohabited.
the city was fired by Nero's order, though Dion The catalogue of the crimes of Nero makes the
and Suetonius both attest the fact, but these writers greater part of his life, but his crimes show the
are always ready to believe a scandalous tale. character of the man and of the times, and to
Tacitus (Ann. xv. 38) leaves the matter doubtful. what a state of abject degradation the Roman
The fire originated in that part of the circus which senate was reduced, for the senate was made the
is contiguous to the Caelian and Palatine hills, and instrument of murder. The jurist C. Cassius
of the fourteen regiones of Rome three were totally Longinus was exiled to Sardinia. L. Junius Si-
destroyed, and in seven others only a few half- lanus Torquatus, a man of merit, L. Antistius
burnt houses remained. A prodigious quantity of pro- Vetus, his mother-in-law Sextia, and his daughter
perty and valuable works of art were burnt, and Pollutia, the wife of Rubellius Plautus, were all
many lives were lost. The emperor set about rebuild- sacrificed. Virtue in any form was the object of
ing the city on an improved plan, with wider streets, Nero's fear. For some reason or caprice the em-
though it is doubtful if the salubrity of Rome was peror gave a large sum, which we may assume
improved by widening the streets and making the was public money, to rebuild Lugdunum (Lyon),
houses lower, for there was less protection against which had suffered by a fire; and the town showed
the heat. Nero found money for his purposes by its gratitude, by espousing his cause when he was
acts of oppression and violence, and even the deserted by every body. The grant, however, was
temples were robbed of their wealth. With these made some years after the conflagration.
means he began to erect his sumptuous golden In the reign of Nero (A. D. 66) Apollonius of
palace, on a scale of magnitude and splendour Tyana visited Rome, and, though he was accused of
which almost surpasses belief. The vestibule con- magic, he had the good luck to escape. Nero now
tained a colossal statue of himself one hundred and became jealous of the philosophers, and Musonius
twenty feet high (Suet. Ner. c. 31 ; Martial, Spect. Rufus, a Roinan eques and a stoic philosopher,
Ep. 2). The odium of the conflagration which was banished by the emperor. The fragment of
the emperor could not remove from himself, he the sixteenth book of the Annals of Tacitus con-
tried to throw on the Christians, who were then cludes with the account of the death of Annaeus
numerous in Rome, and many of them were put to Mella, the father of Lucan, and C. Petronius, a
a cruel death (Tacit. Ann. xv. 44, and the note of man of pleasure, but probably not the author of
Lipsius).
the Satyrica. Nero, as Tacitus says (Ann. xvi.
The tyranny of Nero at last (A. D. 65) led to 21), now attacked virtue itself in the persons of
the organisation of a formidable conspiracy against Thrasea Paetus and Barea Soranus. The crime
him, which was discovered by Milichus, a freed- of Thrasea was his virtue: the charge against him
man of Flavius Scevinus, a senator and one of the was that he kept away from the senate, and by
conspirators. The discovery was followed by many his absence condemned the proceedings of that
executions. C. Calpurnius Piso was put to death, body. The senate condemned him to die, but he
and the poet Lucan, a vile flatterer of Nero (Phar. had the choice of the mode of death, and he opened
sal. i. 33, &c. *), had the favour of being allowed his veins. Soranus was rich, and that made part
to open his veins. Plautius Lateranus was hurried of his crime. He was condemned with his young
to death without having time allowed to embrace his daughter Servilia, who had without his knowledge
children. It is not certain if Seneca was privy to consulted the fortune-tellers to know what would be
the conspiracy: Dion, of course, says that he was. her father's fate. (Tacit. Ann. xvi. 30, &c. ) With
the death of Thrasea, who, as the blood flowed
The critics take the verses to be ironical. Let from his veins, declared it to be a libation to
the reader judge.
Jupiter the Liberator, the fragment of the sixteenth
## p. 1165 (#1181) ##########################################
NERO.
1165
NERO.
book of Tacitus ends, and the fate of the des finally he went to Greece to urge his departure.
picable tyrant has not been transmitted to us in Nero left Greece probably in the autumn of A. D.
the words of the indignant historian, who himself 67. He entered Rome in triumph, as befitted an
is compelled to apologise for his tedious record of Olympic victor, through a breach made in the
crimes and bloodshed. (Tacit. Ann. xvi. 164 walls, riding in the car of Augustus, with a
The time chosen for the death of Thrased and musician at his side ; and he displayed the nume-
Soranus was that when Tiridates was preparing rous crowns that he had received in his Grecian
to make his entry into Rome. The Armenian visit. Music, chariot driving, and the like amuse-
king came 'by land to Rome with his wife and ments, occupied this foolish man until, as Tille-
his children. The provinces that he passed through mont naïvely remarks, the rising in Spain and
had to support the expense of his numerous train. Gaul gnve hiin other occupation.
He entered Italy from Illyricum, and was received Silius Italicus, the poet, and Galerius Trachalus
by Nero at Naples, before whom he fell on his were consuls a. D. 68, the last year of Nero's life.
knees, and acknowledged him as his lord. Tiridates The storm that had long been preparing broke out
was conducted to Rome, where he humbled himself in Gaul, where Julius Vindex, the governor of
before Nero in the theatre, who gave him the crown Celtica, called the people together, and, pointing
of Armenia and permission to rebuild Artaxata out their grievances, and pourtraying the despi-
(Dion Cass. Ixiii. 6). Tiridates went home by way cable character of Nero, urged them to revolt.
of Brundusium. Vologeses was invited to Rome Vindex was soon at the head of a large army, and
by Nero to go through the same ceremony, but he he wrote to Galba, who was governor of Hispania
declined the honour, and suggested that if Nero | Tarraconensis, to offer his assistance in raising him
wished to see him he should come to Asia. (Dion to the imperial power. Galba at the same time
Cass. Ixiij. 7. )
learned that Nero had sent orders to put him to
Nero formed some plans for extending the em- death, on which he made a public barangue against
pire, and various expeditions were talked of, but the crimes of Nero, and was proclaimed emperor ;
Nero was not a soldier: he had not even that but he only assumed the title of legatus of the
Roman virtue. In the latter part of this year he senate and the Roman people. Nero was at
visited Achaea with a great train, to show his skill Naples when he heard of the rising in Gaul, wbich
to the Greeks as a musician and charioteer, and to gave him little concern, and he went on with his
receive the honours which were liberally bestowed ordinary amusements. At last he came to Rome,
upon him. While Nero was in Achaea, Cestius where he heard of the insurrection of Galba, which
Gallus, the governor of Syria, sent him intelligence threw him into a violent fit of passion and alarm,
of his defeat by the Jews, who were in arms; on but he had neither ability nor courge to organise
which Nero sent Vespasian, the future emperor, to any effectual means of resistance. The senate de
carry on the war against them, and Mucianus to clared Galba an enemy of the state ; and Nero, for
take the administration of Syria.
or other, deprived the two consuls of
In the year a. D. 67 Nero was present at the their office, and made bimself sole consul. This
Olympic games, which had been deferred from the was his fifth consulate. Possibly he had some
year 65 in order that so distinguished a person vague idea of putting himself more distinctly at
might be present. To commemorate his visit he the head of affairs with the title of sole consul,
declared all Achaea to be free, which was publicly which Cn. Pompeius had onee enjoyed before him
proclaimed at Corinth on the day of the celebration and C. Julius Caesar.
of the Isthmian games. But the Greeks paid dear Verginius Rufus, governor in Upper Germany,
for what they got, by the price of every thing a man of ability and integrity, was not favourable
being raised in consequence of Nero's visit; and to the pretensions of Galba. Rufus first marched
they witnessed one of his acts of cruelty, in putting against Vindex, and was supported by those parts
to death, at the Isthmian games, a singer whose of Gaul which bordered on the Rhine ; the town
voice drowned that of the imperial performer. of Lyon, with others, declared against Vindex.
(Lucian, Nero, vol. iii. p. 642, ed. Hemst. ) Nero Verginius laid siege to Vesontio (Besançon), and
also paid a visit to Delphi, and gut a kind of indirect Vindex came to relieve it. The two generals had
promise of a long life; but other matters reported a conference, and appear to have come to some
about this visit are somewhat confusedly told by agreement; but, as Vindex was going to enter the
different authorities. He also designed a canal town, the soldiers of Verginius, thinking that he
across the Isthmus, which was commenced with was about to attack them, fell on the troops of
great parade, and Nero bimself first struck the Vindex. The whole affair is very confused; but
ground with a golden spade. The works were the fact that Vindex perished, or killed himself, is
carried on vigorously for a time, but were suspended certain. The soldiers now destroyed the statues of
by his own orders. While Nero was in Greece he Nero, and proclaimed Verginius as Augustus ; but
summoned Corbulo there in an affectionate letter, he steadily refused the honour, and declared that
but, on the old soldier arriving at Cenchreae, Nero he would submit to the orders of the senate. The
sent orders to put him to death, which Corbulo death of Vindex discouraged Galba, who was be-
anticipated by stabbing himself. Thus perished a ginning to lose all hopes, when be received intelli-
man who had served the empire and the emperor gence from Rome that he was recognised as the
faithfully, and whose military talent and integrity successor of Nern.
entitled him to the name of a genuine Roman. A famine at Rome, and the exertion that Nero
(Dion. lxiii. 17. )
was making to raise money, hasteved his ruin.
Nero had left Helius a freedman in the adminis- Nymphidius Sabinus, who was now praefectus
tration of Rome, with full power to do as he praetorio with Tigellinus, taking advantage of a
pleased, which power he abused. Helius, foresee rumour that Nero was going to fly to Egypt, per-
ing the mischief that was preparing for his master, suaded the troops to proclaim Galba. Nero Wils
wrote to request him to return to Rome, and immediately deserted. He escaped from the
some reason
## p. 1166 (#1182) ##########################################
1166
NERO.
NERO.
palncc at night with a few freedmen, and made his | life are collected by Tillemont, llistoire des Ein-
way to a house about four miles from Rome, which
pereurs, vol. i. )
(G. L. ]
belonged to Phaon, one of his freedmen, where he
passed the night and part of the following day in a
state of agonising terror. His hiding-place being
known, a centurion with some soldiers was sent to
seize him. Though a coward, Nero thought a
voluntary death better than the indignities which
he knew were preparing for him ; and, after some
DLCV.
irresolution, and with the aid of his secretary Epa-
phroditus, he gave himself a mortal wound when
COIN OF THE EMPEROR NERO.
he heard the trampling of the horses on which his
pursuiers were mounted. The centurion on enter- NERO, the eldest son of Germanicus and Agrip
ing attempted to stop the flow of blood, but Nero pina, was a youth of about twelve years of age at
saying, " It is too late. Is this your fidelity ? " ihe denth of his father in A. D. 19. In the follow-
expired with a horrid stare.
ing year (A. N. 20) he was commended to the
The body of Nero received funeral honours suit- favour of the senate by the emperor Tiberius, who
able to his rank, and his ashes were placed in the went through the form of requesting that body to
sepulchre of the Domitii by two of his nurses and allow Nero to become a candidate for the quaestor-
his concubine Acte, who had won Nero's affections ship five years before the legal age.
He likewise had
from his wife Octavia at the beginning of his reign. the dignity of pontiff conferred upon him, and about
(Tac. Ann. xii. 12; Suet. Ner. 50. ) Suetonius, the same time was married to Julia, the daughter
after his manner, gives a description of Nero's per of Drusus, who was the son of the emperor Ti-
son, which is not very flattering: the "cervix berius. Nero had been betrothed in the lifetime
obesa” of Suetonius is a characteristic of Nero's of his father to the daughter of Silanus (Tac. Ann.
bust. (Lib. of Entertaining Knowledge, Townley ii. 43), but it appears that this marriage never
Gallery, vol. ii. p. 28. )
took effect. By the death of Drusus, the son of
In his youth Nero was instructed in all the libe- Tiberius, who was poisoned at the instigation of
ral knowledge of the time except philosophy ; and Sejanus in A. D. 23, Nero became the heir to the
he was turned from the study of the old Roman imperial throne ; and as Sejanus had compassed
orators by his master Seneca. Accordingly, he ap- the death of Drusus, in order that he might sic-
· plied himself to poetry, and Suetonius says that ceed Tiberins, the same motives led him to plan
his verses were not made for him, as some suppose, the death of Nero, as well as of his younger brother
for the biographer had seen and examined some of Drusus. And this he found no difficulty in ac-
Nero's writing-tablets and small books, in which complishing, as the jealous temper of Tiberius had
the writing was in his own hand, with many era- already become alarmed at the marks of public
sures and cancellings and interlineations. He had favour which were exhibited to Nero and Drusus
also skill in painting and modelling. Though pro- as the sons of Germanicus, and he had expressed
fuse and fond of pomp and splendour, Nero had his displeasure in the senate, in A. D. 24, at the
apparently some taste. "The Apollo Belvedere and public prayers which had been offered for their
the Fighting Gladiator, as it is called, by Agasias, health. Spies were placed about Nero, and every
were found in the ruins of a villa at Antium, which word and action of the unhappy young prince were
is conjectured to have belonged to Nero. (See eagerly caught up, misinterpreted and misrepre-
Thiersch, Ueber die Epochen der Bildenden Kunst, sented, and then reported to the emperor. His
&c. p. 312, 2d ed. )
wife was also entirely in the interests of Sejanus,
Nero's progress in crime is easily traced, and the since her mother was the mistress of the all-power-
lesson is worth reading. Without a good education, ful minister ; and his brother Drusus, who was of
and with no talent for his high station, he was an unamiable disposition, and who did not stand so
placed in a position of danger from the first. He was high in the favour of their mother Agrippina, was
sensual, and fond of idle display, and then he be readily induced to second the designs of Sejanus,
came greedy of money to satisfy his expenses ; he in hopes that the death of Nero would secure him
was timid, and by consequence he became cruel the succession to the throne. At length, in A. D.
when he anticipated danger ; and, like other mur- 29, Tiberius sent a letter to the senate in which he
derers, his first crime, the poisoning of Britannicus, accused Agrippina and Nero in the bitterest terms,
made him capable of another. But, contemptible but was unable to convict them of any attempt at
and cruel as he was, there are many persons who, rebellion ; the haughtiness of the former and the
in the same situation, might run the same guilty licentiousness of the latter were the chief crimes
He was only in his thirty-first year when laid to their charge. The people, who loved
he died, and he had held the supreme power for Agrippina and hallowed the memory of Germani-
thirteen years and eight months. He was the last cus, surrounded the senate-house, exclaiming that
of the descendants of Julia, the sister of the dictator the letter was a forgery. On the first day the
Caesar.
senate came to no resolution on the matter, and
There were a few writers in the time of Nero Tiberius found it necessary to repeat his charges
who have been preserved — Persius the satirist, The obsequious body dared no longer resist ; and
Lucan, the author of the Pharsalia, and Seneca, the the fate of Agrippina and Nero was sealed. Nero
preceptor of Nero. The jurists, C. Cassius Longi- was declared an enemy of the state, was removed
nus, after whom the Sabiniani were sometimes to the island of Pontia, and shortly afterwards was
called Cassiani, and Nerva, the father of the em- there starved to death. According to some accounts
peror Nerva, lived under Nero. (Tac. Ann. xiii. - he put an end to his own life, when the executioner
xvi. ; Saet. Ner. ; Dion Cass. Ixi. -lxiii. ed. Rei- appeared before him with the instruments of death.
All the authorities for the facts of Nero's (Tac. Ann. iii. 29, iv. 8, 17, 59, 60, 67, v. 3, 4 ;
career.
marus.
1
## p. 1167 (#1183) ##########################################
NERVA
1167
NERVA.
wero
Suet. lib. 24, Cal. 7; Dion Cass. Iviii. 8. ) Resoon die a natural death (Dion Cass. Ixvii. 16).
specting Drusus, the brother of Nero, see Drusus, On the assassination of Domitian, in Septeniber,
No. 16, and respecting Julia, the wife of Nero, see A. D. 96, Nerva was declared emperor at Rome by
JULIA, No. 9.
the people and the soldiers, and his administration
NERVA, ACUTIUS, one of the consules at once restored tranquillity to the state. He
suſfecti in the reign of Trajan, A. D. 100. (Fasti ; stopped proceedings against those who, under the
Plin. Ep. ii. 12. )
system of his predecessor, had been accused of
NEKVA, COCCEIUS. 1. M. Coccejus Ner- treason (majestas), and allowed many exiled per-
Va, was consul with L. Gellius Poplicoln, B. C. 36. sons to return to Rome. The class of informers
(Dion Cass. xlviii. 54. ) He is probably the Coc- were suppressed by penalties (Plin. Panegyr. c.
ceius who brought about the reconciliation between 35); some were put to death, among whom was
M. Antonius and Caesar Octavianus, B. C. 40, the philosopher Sura ; and, conforırably to the
though this Cocceius is called Lucius by Appian old law, Nerva declared that slaves and freedmen
(B. C. v. 60, &c. ); and also the Cocceius mentioned should never be examined as witnesses agninst
by Horace (Sat. 1. 5. 28, &c. ). He is sometimes their masters or patrons when accused of a crime
considered to be the grandfather of the emperor (Dion Cass. lxvii. 1). These measures
Nerva, and consequently the same person who died necessary to restore order and confidence after the
in the time of Tiberius, A. D. 33, which is not pos- suspicious and cruel administration of Domitian.
sible.
But there was weakness in the character of Nerva,
2. M. COCCEIUS NERVA, who died A. D. 33, as appears from the following anecdote. He was
was probably the son of the consul of B. C. 36: he entertaining Junius Mauricus and Fabius Veiento
was the grandfather of the emperor Nerva. This at table. Veiento had played the part of an
Nerva was consul with C. Vibius Rufinus, A. D. accuser (delator) under Domitian. The conver.
22: Tacitus (Ann. iv. 58) says that he had been sation turned on Catullus Messallinus, who was
consul. He was one of the intimate friends of then dead, but had been an infamous informer
Tiberius Caesar, who gave him the superintend- under Domitian. * What would this Catullus be
ence of the aqueducts of Rome (Frontinus, De doing," said Nerva, “ if he were alive now;" to
Aquaeduct. ii. ). Nerva accompanied Tiberius in which Mauricus bluntly replied, “ he would be
his retirement from Rome A. D. 26. In the year supping with us" (Aur. Vict. Epit. 12).
A. D. 33, he resolutely starved himself to death, The public events of his short reign were few
notwithstanding the intreaties of Tiberius, whose and unimportant; and it is chiefly his measures of
constant companion he was. Tacitus (Ann. vi. 26) internal administration of which there are any
and Dion Cassius (lviii. 21) give different reasons records. Nerva attempted to relieve the poverty
for this resolution of Nerva, but we may infer from of many of the citizens by buying land and dis-
both of them that Nerva was tired of his master. tributing it among them, one of the remedies for
Tacitus says, that he was profoundly skilled in the distress which the Romans had long tried, and
law. He is often mentioned in the Digest (43. with little advantage. The practice of occasionally
tit. 8. 8. 2 ; 16. tit. 3. & 32), and he wrote se distributing money among the poor citizens, and
veral legal works, but the title of no one of them allowances of grain, still continued under Nerva,
is mentioned.
one of the parts of Roman administration which
3. M. Cocceius Nerva, was the son of the continually kept alive the misery for which it sup-
jurist. He must have been a precocious youth, if plied temporary relief. He also diminished the
we rightly understand Ulpian (Dig. 3. tit
. i. s. 1), expences of the state by stopping many of the
when he says that he gave responsa (publice de jure public shows and festivals. Many enactments,
responsitasse) at the age of seventeen or a little more. by which we must understand Senatus consultan
He is probably the Cocceius Nerva mentioned by were passed in his time, among which the prohibi-
Tacitus (Ann. xv. 72) as Praetor Designatus. He tion against making eunuchs is worthy of notice ;
wrote a work De Usucapionibus (Dig. 41. tit. 2. but Domitian had already made the same regula-
8. 47) as Papinian states ; and he is often cited in tion in the beginning of his reign (Dion Čass.
the Digest under the name of Nerva Filius. Gaius Ixvii
. 2), whence we must conclude that the law
(Instit. ii. 195, iii. 133) cites Nerva, without saying had either been repealed or required some stricter
whether he means the father or the son. (G. L ) penalties to enforce it.
NERVA, M. COCCEIUS, Roman emperor, In the second year of his reign, Nerva was
A. D. 96–98, was born at Narnia, in Umbria (Aur.
communicated to the senate by a letter which Poppaea to charge her with adultery, for which
Seneca drew up, and this servile body, with the there was not the slightest ground, and she was
exception of Thrasea Paetus, returned their congra- banished to the little island of Pandataria, where
tulations to the emperor, who shortly after returned she was shortly after put to death. According
to Rome. But though he was well received, he to Tacitus (Ann. xiv. 64) Octavia was only in
felt the punishment of his guilty conscience, and her twentieth year; her unhappy life and her un-
said that he was haunted by his mother's spectre timely death were the subject of general com-
(Suet. Ner. 34). A great eclipse of the sun hap- miseration.
pened during the sacrifices which were made for The affairs of Armenia (A. D. 62) were still in a
the death of Agrippina, and there were other signs troubled state, and the accounts of the historians
which superstition interpreted as tokens of the of the period are not very clear. The Parthiaus
I
## p. 1164 (#1180) ##########################################
1164
NERO.
NERO.
1
again invaded Armenia, and Tiridates attempted | It is probable that some proposals might have been
to recover it fron Tigranes. It seems to have been made to him by the conspirators, and it is probable
agreed between Vologeses and Corbulo that Tiri- that he declined to join them. However this may
dates should have Armenia, and that hostilities be, the time was come for Nero to get rid of bis
should cease. But the ambassadors whom Vologeses old master, and, with his counsellors Poppaea and
Bent to Rome, returned without accomplishing the Tigellinus near him, he sent Seneca orders to die.
object of their mission, and the war against the The philosopher opened his veins, and, after long
Parthians in Armenia was renewed under L. Cae- suffering, he was taken into a bath or vapour
sennius Paetus. But the incompetence of the room, which stifled him. It seems that Seneca
general caused the ruin of the enterprise, and he died about the time when the conspiracy was dis
was forced to sue for terms to Vologeses, and to covered ; Lucan and others died after him. The
consent to evacuate Armenia (Tacit. Ann. xv. 16 ; senate was assembled, as if they were going to
Dion Cass. Ixii. 21). In the following year Cor-hear the results of a successful war, and Tigellinus
bulo came to terms with Tiridates, who did homage was rewarded with the triumphal ornaments.
to the portrait of Nero in the presence of the Roman (Tacit. Ann. xv. 72. )
commander (Tacit. Ann. xv. 30), and promised The death of Poppaea came next. Her brutal
that he would go to Rome, as soon as he could pre- husband, in a fit of passion, kicked her when she
pare for his journey, to ask the throne of Arinenia was with child, and she died of the blow. Her
from the Roman emperor. The town of Pompeii body was not burnt, but embalmed and placed in
in Campania was nearly destroyed in this year by the sepulchre of the Julii. Nero now proposed to
an earthquake. Poppaea gave birth at Antium to a marry Antonia, the daughter of the emperor
daughter, who received the title of Augusta, which Claudius and his sister by adoption, but she re-
was also given to the mother. The joy of Nero fused the honour, and was consequently put to
was unbounded, but the child died before it was death. Nero, however, did marry Statilia Muis
four months old.
sallina, the widow of Vestinus, whom he put to
The origin of the dreadful conflagration at Rome death, because he had married Messallina, with
(A. D. 64) is uncertain. It is hardly credible that whom Nero had cohabited.
the city was fired by Nero's order, though Dion The catalogue of the crimes of Nero makes the
and Suetonius both attest the fact, but these writers greater part of his life, but his crimes show the
are always ready to believe a scandalous tale. character of the man and of the times, and to
Tacitus (Ann. xv. 38) leaves the matter doubtful. what a state of abject degradation the Roman
The fire originated in that part of the circus which senate was reduced, for the senate was made the
is contiguous to the Caelian and Palatine hills, and instrument of murder. The jurist C. Cassius
of the fourteen regiones of Rome three were totally Longinus was exiled to Sardinia. L. Junius Si-
destroyed, and in seven others only a few half- lanus Torquatus, a man of merit, L. Antistius
burnt houses remained. A prodigious quantity of pro- Vetus, his mother-in-law Sextia, and his daughter
perty and valuable works of art were burnt, and Pollutia, the wife of Rubellius Plautus, were all
many lives were lost. The emperor set about rebuild- sacrificed. Virtue in any form was the object of
ing the city on an improved plan, with wider streets, Nero's fear. For some reason or caprice the em-
though it is doubtful if the salubrity of Rome was peror gave a large sum, which we may assume
improved by widening the streets and making the was public money, to rebuild Lugdunum (Lyon),
houses lower, for there was less protection against which had suffered by a fire; and the town showed
the heat. Nero found money for his purposes by its gratitude, by espousing his cause when he was
acts of oppression and violence, and even the deserted by every body. The grant, however, was
temples were robbed of their wealth. With these made some years after the conflagration.
means he began to erect his sumptuous golden In the reign of Nero (A. D. 66) Apollonius of
palace, on a scale of magnitude and splendour Tyana visited Rome, and, though he was accused of
which almost surpasses belief. The vestibule con- magic, he had the good luck to escape. Nero now
tained a colossal statue of himself one hundred and became jealous of the philosophers, and Musonius
twenty feet high (Suet. Ner. c. 31 ; Martial, Spect. Rufus, a Roinan eques and a stoic philosopher,
Ep. 2). The odium of the conflagration which was banished by the emperor. The fragment of
the emperor could not remove from himself, he the sixteenth book of the Annals of Tacitus con-
tried to throw on the Christians, who were then cludes with the account of the death of Annaeus
numerous in Rome, and many of them were put to Mella, the father of Lucan, and C. Petronius, a
a cruel death (Tacit. Ann. xv. 44, and the note of man of pleasure, but probably not the author of
Lipsius).
the Satyrica. Nero, as Tacitus says (Ann. xvi.
The tyranny of Nero at last (A. D. 65) led to 21), now attacked virtue itself in the persons of
the organisation of a formidable conspiracy against Thrasea Paetus and Barea Soranus. The crime
him, which was discovered by Milichus, a freed- of Thrasea was his virtue: the charge against him
man of Flavius Scevinus, a senator and one of the was that he kept away from the senate, and by
conspirators. The discovery was followed by many his absence condemned the proceedings of that
executions. C. Calpurnius Piso was put to death, body. The senate condemned him to die, but he
and the poet Lucan, a vile flatterer of Nero (Phar. had the choice of the mode of death, and he opened
sal. i. 33, &c. *), had the favour of being allowed his veins. Soranus was rich, and that made part
to open his veins. Plautius Lateranus was hurried of his crime. He was condemned with his young
to death without having time allowed to embrace his daughter Servilia, who had without his knowledge
children. It is not certain if Seneca was privy to consulted the fortune-tellers to know what would be
the conspiracy: Dion, of course, says that he was. her father's fate. (Tacit. Ann. xvi. 30, &c. ) With
the death of Thrasea, who, as the blood flowed
The critics take the verses to be ironical. Let from his veins, declared it to be a libation to
the reader judge.
Jupiter the Liberator, the fragment of the sixteenth
## p. 1165 (#1181) ##########################################
NERO.
1165
NERO.
book of Tacitus ends, and the fate of the des finally he went to Greece to urge his departure.
picable tyrant has not been transmitted to us in Nero left Greece probably in the autumn of A. D.
the words of the indignant historian, who himself 67. He entered Rome in triumph, as befitted an
is compelled to apologise for his tedious record of Olympic victor, through a breach made in the
crimes and bloodshed. (Tacit. Ann. xvi. 164 walls, riding in the car of Augustus, with a
The time chosen for the death of Thrased and musician at his side ; and he displayed the nume-
Soranus was that when Tiridates was preparing rous crowns that he had received in his Grecian
to make his entry into Rome. The Armenian visit. Music, chariot driving, and the like amuse-
king came 'by land to Rome with his wife and ments, occupied this foolish man until, as Tille-
his children. The provinces that he passed through mont naïvely remarks, the rising in Spain and
had to support the expense of his numerous train. Gaul gnve hiin other occupation.
He entered Italy from Illyricum, and was received Silius Italicus, the poet, and Galerius Trachalus
by Nero at Naples, before whom he fell on his were consuls a. D. 68, the last year of Nero's life.
knees, and acknowledged him as his lord. Tiridates The storm that had long been preparing broke out
was conducted to Rome, where he humbled himself in Gaul, where Julius Vindex, the governor of
before Nero in the theatre, who gave him the crown Celtica, called the people together, and, pointing
of Armenia and permission to rebuild Artaxata out their grievances, and pourtraying the despi-
(Dion Cass. Ixiii. 6). Tiridates went home by way cable character of Nero, urged them to revolt.
of Brundusium. Vologeses was invited to Rome Vindex was soon at the head of a large army, and
by Nero to go through the same ceremony, but he he wrote to Galba, who was governor of Hispania
declined the honour, and suggested that if Nero | Tarraconensis, to offer his assistance in raising him
wished to see him he should come to Asia. (Dion to the imperial power. Galba at the same time
Cass. Ixiij. 7. )
learned that Nero had sent orders to put him to
Nero formed some plans for extending the em- death, on which he made a public barangue against
pire, and various expeditions were talked of, but the crimes of Nero, and was proclaimed emperor ;
Nero was not a soldier: he had not even that but he only assumed the title of legatus of the
Roman virtue. In the latter part of this year he senate and the Roman people. Nero was at
visited Achaea with a great train, to show his skill Naples when he heard of the rising in Gaul, wbich
to the Greeks as a musician and charioteer, and to gave him little concern, and he went on with his
receive the honours which were liberally bestowed ordinary amusements. At last he came to Rome,
upon him. While Nero was in Achaea, Cestius where he heard of the insurrection of Galba, which
Gallus, the governor of Syria, sent him intelligence threw him into a violent fit of passion and alarm,
of his defeat by the Jews, who were in arms; on but he had neither ability nor courge to organise
which Nero sent Vespasian, the future emperor, to any effectual means of resistance. The senate de
carry on the war against them, and Mucianus to clared Galba an enemy of the state ; and Nero, for
take the administration of Syria.
or other, deprived the two consuls of
In the year a. D. 67 Nero was present at the their office, and made bimself sole consul. This
Olympic games, which had been deferred from the was his fifth consulate. Possibly he had some
year 65 in order that so distinguished a person vague idea of putting himself more distinctly at
might be present. To commemorate his visit he the head of affairs with the title of sole consul,
declared all Achaea to be free, which was publicly which Cn. Pompeius had onee enjoyed before him
proclaimed at Corinth on the day of the celebration and C. Julius Caesar.
of the Isthmian games. But the Greeks paid dear Verginius Rufus, governor in Upper Germany,
for what they got, by the price of every thing a man of ability and integrity, was not favourable
being raised in consequence of Nero's visit; and to the pretensions of Galba. Rufus first marched
they witnessed one of his acts of cruelty, in putting against Vindex, and was supported by those parts
to death, at the Isthmian games, a singer whose of Gaul which bordered on the Rhine ; the town
voice drowned that of the imperial performer. of Lyon, with others, declared against Vindex.
(Lucian, Nero, vol. iii. p. 642, ed. Hemst. ) Nero Verginius laid siege to Vesontio (Besançon), and
also paid a visit to Delphi, and gut a kind of indirect Vindex came to relieve it. The two generals had
promise of a long life; but other matters reported a conference, and appear to have come to some
about this visit are somewhat confusedly told by agreement; but, as Vindex was going to enter the
different authorities. He also designed a canal town, the soldiers of Verginius, thinking that he
across the Isthmus, which was commenced with was about to attack them, fell on the troops of
great parade, and Nero bimself first struck the Vindex. The whole affair is very confused; but
ground with a golden spade. The works were the fact that Vindex perished, or killed himself, is
carried on vigorously for a time, but were suspended certain. The soldiers now destroyed the statues of
by his own orders. While Nero was in Greece he Nero, and proclaimed Verginius as Augustus ; but
summoned Corbulo there in an affectionate letter, he steadily refused the honour, and declared that
but, on the old soldier arriving at Cenchreae, Nero he would submit to the orders of the senate. The
sent orders to put him to death, which Corbulo death of Vindex discouraged Galba, who was be-
anticipated by stabbing himself. Thus perished a ginning to lose all hopes, when be received intelli-
man who had served the empire and the emperor gence from Rome that he was recognised as the
faithfully, and whose military talent and integrity successor of Nern.
entitled him to the name of a genuine Roman. A famine at Rome, and the exertion that Nero
(Dion. lxiii. 17. )
was making to raise money, hasteved his ruin.
Nero had left Helius a freedman in the adminis- Nymphidius Sabinus, who was now praefectus
tration of Rome, with full power to do as he praetorio with Tigellinus, taking advantage of a
pleased, which power he abused. Helius, foresee rumour that Nero was going to fly to Egypt, per-
ing the mischief that was preparing for his master, suaded the troops to proclaim Galba. Nero Wils
wrote to request him to return to Rome, and immediately deserted. He escaped from the
some reason
## p. 1166 (#1182) ##########################################
1166
NERO.
NERO.
palncc at night with a few freedmen, and made his | life are collected by Tillemont, llistoire des Ein-
way to a house about four miles from Rome, which
pereurs, vol. i. )
(G. L. ]
belonged to Phaon, one of his freedmen, where he
passed the night and part of the following day in a
state of agonising terror. His hiding-place being
known, a centurion with some soldiers was sent to
seize him. Though a coward, Nero thought a
voluntary death better than the indignities which
he knew were preparing for him ; and, after some
DLCV.
irresolution, and with the aid of his secretary Epa-
phroditus, he gave himself a mortal wound when
COIN OF THE EMPEROR NERO.
he heard the trampling of the horses on which his
pursuiers were mounted. The centurion on enter- NERO, the eldest son of Germanicus and Agrip
ing attempted to stop the flow of blood, but Nero pina, was a youth of about twelve years of age at
saying, " It is too late. Is this your fidelity ? " ihe denth of his father in A. D. 19. In the follow-
expired with a horrid stare.
ing year (A. N. 20) he was commended to the
The body of Nero received funeral honours suit- favour of the senate by the emperor Tiberius, who
able to his rank, and his ashes were placed in the went through the form of requesting that body to
sepulchre of the Domitii by two of his nurses and allow Nero to become a candidate for the quaestor-
his concubine Acte, who had won Nero's affections ship five years before the legal age.
He likewise had
from his wife Octavia at the beginning of his reign. the dignity of pontiff conferred upon him, and about
(Tac. Ann. xii. 12; Suet. Ner. 50. ) Suetonius, the same time was married to Julia, the daughter
after his manner, gives a description of Nero's per of Drusus, who was the son of the emperor Ti-
son, which is not very flattering: the "cervix berius. Nero had been betrothed in the lifetime
obesa” of Suetonius is a characteristic of Nero's of his father to the daughter of Silanus (Tac. Ann.
bust. (Lib. of Entertaining Knowledge, Townley ii. 43), but it appears that this marriage never
Gallery, vol. ii. p. 28. )
took effect. By the death of Drusus, the son of
In his youth Nero was instructed in all the libe- Tiberius, who was poisoned at the instigation of
ral knowledge of the time except philosophy ; and Sejanus in A. D. 23, Nero became the heir to the
he was turned from the study of the old Roman imperial throne ; and as Sejanus had compassed
orators by his master Seneca. Accordingly, he ap- the death of Drusus, in order that he might sic-
· plied himself to poetry, and Suetonius says that ceed Tiberins, the same motives led him to plan
his verses were not made for him, as some suppose, the death of Nero, as well as of his younger brother
for the biographer had seen and examined some of Drusus. And this he found no difficulty in ac-
Nero's writing-tablets and small books, in which complishing, as the jealous temper of Tiberius had
the writing was in his own hand, with many era- already become alarmed at the marks of public
sures and cancellings and interlineations. He had favour which were exhibited to Nero and Drusus
also skill in painting and modelling. Though pro- as the sons of Germanicus, and he had expressed
fuse and fond of pomp and splendour, Nero had his displeasure in the senate, in A. D. 24, at the
apparently some taste. "The Apollo Belvedere and public prayers which had been offered for their
the Fighting Gladiator, as it is called, by Agasias, health. Spies were placed about Nero, and every
were found in the ruins of a villa at Antium, which word and action of the unhappy young prince were
is conjectured to have belonged to Nero. (See eagerly caught up, misinterpreted and misrepre-
Thiersch, Ueber die Epochen der Bildenden Kunst, sented, and then reported to the emperor. His
&c. p. 312, 2d ed. )
wife was also entirely in the interests of Sejanus,
Nero's progress in crime is easily traced, and the since her mother was the mistress of the all-power-
lesson is worth reading. Without a good education, ful minister ; and his brother Drusus, who was of
and with no talent for his high station, he was an unamiable disposition, and who did not stand so
placed in a position of danger from the first. He was high in the favour of their mother Agrippina, was
sensual, and fond of idle display, and then he be readily induced to second the designs of Sejanus,
came greedy of money to satisfy his expenses ; he in hopes that the death of Nero would secure him
was timid, and by consequence he became cruel the succession to the throne. At length, in A. D.
when he anticipated danger ; and, like other mur- 29, Tiberius sent a letter to the senate in which he
derers, his first crime, the poisoning of Britannicus, accused Agrippina and Nero in the bitterest terms,
made him capable of another. But, contemptible but was unable to convict them of any attempt at
and cruel as he was, there are many persons who, rebellion ; the haughtiness of the former and the
in the same situation, might run the same guilty licentiousness of the latter were the chief crimes
He was only in his thirty-first year when laid to their charge. The people, who loved
he died, and he had held the supreme power for Agrippina and hallowed the memory of Germani-
thirteen years and eight months. He was the last cus, surrounded the senate-house, exclaiming that
of the descendants of Julia, the sister of the dictator the letter was a forgery. On the first day the
Caesar.
senate came to no resolution on the matter, and
There were a few writers in the time of Nero Tiberius found it necessary to repeat his charges
who have been preserved — Persius the satirist, The obsequious body dared no longer resist ; and
Lucan, the author of the Pharsalia, and Seneca, the the fate of Agrippina and Nero was sealed. Nero
preceptor of Nero. The jurists, C. Cassius Longi- was declared an enemy of the state, was removed
nus, after whom the Sabiniani were sometimes to the island of Pontia, and shortly afterwards was
called Cassiani, and Nerva, the father of the em- there starved to death. According to some accounts
peror Nerva, lived under Nero. (Tac. Ann. xiii. - he put an end to his own life, when the executioner
xvi. ; Saet. Ner. ; Dion Cass. Ixi. -lxiii. ed. Rei- appeared before him with the instruments of death.
All the authorities for the facts of Nero's (Tac. Ann. iii. 29, iv. 8, 17, 59, 60, 67, v. 3, 4 ;
career.
marus.
1
## p. 1167 (#1183) ##########################################
NERVA
1167
NERVA.
wero
Suet. lib. 24, Cal. 7; Dion Cass. Iviii. 8. ) Resoon die a natural death (Dion Cass. Ixvii. 16).
specting Drusus, the brother of Nero, see Drusus, On the assassination of Domitian, in Septeniber,
No. 16, and respecting Julia, the wife of Nero, see A. D. 96, Nerva was declared emperor at Rome by
JULIA, No. 9.
the people and the soldiers, and his administration
NERVA, ACUTIUS, one of the consules at once restored tranquillity to the state. He
suſfecti in the reign of Trajan, A. D. 100. (Fasti ; stopped proceedings against those who, under the
Plin. Ep. ii. 12. )
system of his predecessor, had been accused of
NEKVA, COCCEIUS. 1. M. Coccejus Ner- treason (majestas), and allowed many exiled per-
Va, was consul with L. Gellius Poplicoln, B. C. 36. sons to return to Rome. The class of informers
(Dion Cass. xlviii. 54. ) He is probably the Coc- were suppressed by penalties (Plin. Panegyr. c.
ceius who brought about the reconciliation between 35); some were put to death, among whom was
M. Antonius and Caesar Octavianus, B. C. 40, the philosopher Sura ; and, conforırably to the
though this Cocceius is called Lucius by Appian old law, Nerva declared that slaves and freedmen
(B. C. v. 60, &c. ); and also the Cocceius mentioned should never be examined as witnesses agninst
by Horace (Sat. 1. 5. 28, &c. ). He is sometimes their masters or patrons when accused of a crime
considered to be the grandfather of the emperor (Dion Cass. lxvii. 1). These measures
Nerva, and consequently the same person who died necessary to restore order and confidence after the
in the time of Tiberius, A. D. 33, which is not pos- suspicious and cruel administration of Domitian.
sible.
But there was weakness in the character of Nerva,
2. M. COCCEIUS NERVA, who died A. D. 33, as appears from the following anecdote. He was
was probably the son of the consul of B. C. 36: he entertaining Junius Mauricus and Fabius Veiento
was the grandfather of the emperor Nerva. This at table. Veiento had played the part of an
Nerva was consul with C. Vibius Rufinus, A. D. accuser (delator) under Domitian. The conver.
22: Tacitus (Ann. iv. 58) says that he had been sation turned on Catullus Messallinus, who was
consul. He was one of the intimate friends of then dead, but had been an infamous informer
Tiberius Caesar, who gave him the superintend- under Domitian. * What would this Catullus be
ence of the aqueducts of Rome (Frontinus, De doing," said Nerva, “ if he were alive now;" to
Aquaeduct. ii. ). Nerva accompanied Tiberius in which Mauricus bluntly replied, “ he would be
his retirement from Rome A. D. 26. In the year supping with us" (Aur. Vict. Epit. 12).
A. D. 33, he resolutely starved himself to death, The public events of his short reign were few
notwithstanding the intreaties of Tiberius, whose and unimportant; and it is chiefly his measures of
constant companion he was. Tacitus (Ann. vi. 26) internal administration of which there are any
and Dion Cassius (lviii. 21) give different reasons records. Nerva attempted to relieve the poverty
for this resolution of Nerva, but we may infer from of many of the citizens by buying land and dis-
both of them that Nerva was tired of his master. tributing it among them, one of the remedies for
Tacitus says, that he was profoundly skilled in the distress which the Romans had long tried, and
law. He is often mentioned in the Digest (43. with little advantage. The practice of occasionally
tit. 8. 8. 2 ; 16. tit. 3. & 32), and he wrote se distributing money among the poor citizens, and
veral legal works, but the title of no one of them allowances of grain, still continued under Nerva,
is mentioned.
one of the parts of Roman administration which
3. M. Cocceius Nerva, was the son of the continually kept alive the misery for which it sup-
jurist. He must have been a precocious youth, if plied temporary relief. He also diminished the
we rightly understand Ulpian (Dig. 3. tit
. i. s. 1), expences of the state by stopping many of the
when he says that he gave responsa (publice de jure public shows and festivals. Many enactments,
responsitasse) at the age of seventeen or a little more. by which we must understand Senatus consultan
He is probably the Cocceius Nerva mentioned by were passed in his time, among which the prohibi-
Tacitus (Ann. xv. 72) as Praetor Designatus. He tion against making eunuchs is worthy of notice ;
wrote a work De Usucapionibus (Dig. 41. tit. 2. but Domitian had already made the same regula-
8. 47) as Papinian states ; and he is often cited in tion in the beginning of his reign (Dion Čass.
the Digest under the name of Nerva Filius. Gaius Ixvii
. 2), whence we must conclude that the law
(Instit. ii. 195, iii. 133) cites Nerva, without saying had either been repealed or required some stricter
whether he means the father or the son. (G. L ) penalties to enforce it.
NERVA, M. COCCEIUS, Roman emperor, In the second year of his reign, Nerva was
A. D. 96–98, was born at Narnia, in Umbria (Aur.
