Henry Francis Pelham

“ On the road the news met him that Vindex had been crushed by the army of the Rhine, and for the moment he resolved to abandon his attempt. Meanwhile, Nero had reluctantly left Greece, but returned to Italy only to renew his revels. When on the 19th of March the news reached him at Naples of the rising in Gaul, he allowed a week to elapse before he could tear himself away from his pleasures, and then contented himself with proscribing Vindex, and setting a price on his head. The revolts in Spain and Germany terrified him too late into something like energy. ”

“ Galba, Piso and others were brutally murdered by the praetorian. The brief struggle over, Otho returned in triumph to the camp, and on the same day was duly invested by the senators with the name of Augustus, the tribunician power and the other dignities belonging to the principate. Otho had owed his success, not only to the resentment felt by the praetorian guards at Galba’s well-meant attempts to curtail their privileges in the interests of discipline, but also largely to the attachment felt in Rome for the memory of Nero ”

“ Fearing that worse might follow when the kingdom should be annexed, and encouraged by the absence of the legate and his legions, the Iceni, led by Prasutagus's daughter Boudicca (Boadicea) rose in revolt and were joined by the Trinobantes in Essex, who had been long subject to Rome and had their own grievances to redress. Colchester, since A.D. 50 a Roman colony, was sacked. The ninth legion which had hurried from Lincoln was cut to pieces, and the insurgents prepared to march on London. The news of the outbreak found the legate Suetonius Paulinus engaged in attacking Anglesey. ”

“ In September 59 he re-entered Rome amid universal rejoicing. A prolonged carnival followed. Chariot races, musical and dramatic exhibitions, games in the Greek fashion rapidly succeeded each other. In all the emperor was a prominent figure, but these revels at least involved no bloodshed, and were civilized compared with the gladiatorial shows.
A far more serious result of the death of Agrippina was the growing influence over Nero of Poppaea and her friends. In 62 Burrus died, it was said by poison, and Seneca retired from the unequal contest. ”

“ On the frontiers, thanks chiefly to Corbulo's energy and skill, no disaster occurred serious enough to shake the general confidence, and even the murder of Britannicus seems to have been accepted as a necessary measure of self-defence. But Seneca's fear lest Nero's sleeping passions should once be roused were fully verified, and he seems to have seen all along where the danger lay, namely in Agrippina's imperious temper and insatiable love of power. The success of Seneca's own management of Nero largely depended on his being able gradually to emancipate the emperor from his rnother's control. ”

“ Private individuals were also encouraged to follow the imperial example. In the hands of Trajan, Hadrian and the Antonines, Nerva's example bore fruit in the institution of the alimentationes, the most genuinely charitable institution of the pagan world. These measures Nerva supplemented by others which aimed at lightening the financial burdens on the declining industry of Italy. ”

“ The petitions addressed to the senate by the town of Bononia and by the communities of Rhodes and Ilium were gracefully supported by him in Latin and Greek speeches, and during Claudius's absence in S2 at the Latin festival it was Nero who, as praefect of the city, administered justice in the forum. Early in 53 his marriage with Claudius's daughter Octavia drew still closer the ties which connected him with the imperial house. Agrippina determined to hasten the death of Claudius, and the absence, through illness, of the emperor's trusted freedman Narcissus, favoured her schemes. ”

“ The alliance was of value to Claudius, for the territory of the Iceni (Norfolk, Suffolk, and Cambridgeshire) lay immediately north of the new province and its capital town Colchester, and Prasutagus had loyally kept faith with Rome. But in A.D. 61 he died. leaving no male heir. His kingdom therefore lapsed to Rome, and Prasutagus, anxious that the transfer should be effected in an orderly way, divided his accumulated wealth between his two daughters and the emperor. His plan failed, for the local Roman officials acted as though the kingdom had been conquered in war ”

“ But, though largesses and thanksgivings celebrated the suppression of the conspiracy, and the round of games and shows was renewed with even increased splendour, the effects of the shock were visible in the long list of victims who during the next few months were sacrificed to his restless fears and resentment. ”

“ Otho’s advanced guard successfully defended Placentia against Alienus Caecina, and compelled that general to fall back on Cremona. But the arrival of Fabius Valens altered the aspect of affairs. The Vitellian commanders now resolved to bring on a decisive battle, and their designs were assisted by the divided and irresolute counsels which prevailed in Otho’s camp. The more experienced officers urged the importance of avoiding a battle, until at least the legions from Dalmatia had arrived. ”

“ The verdict of history upon his reign is best expressed in his own words—“ I have done nothing which should prevent me from laying down my power, and living in safety as a private man.” The memory of Nerva is still preserved by the ruined temple in the Via Alessandrina (il Colonacce) which marks the site of the Forum begun by Domitian, but which Nerva completed and dedicated (Suet. Dom. 5; Aur. Vict. 12) . ”

“ In all his life nothing became him so well as his manner of leaving it; but the fortitude he then showed, even if it was not merely the courage of despair, cannot blind us to the fact that he was little better than a reckless and vicious spendthrift, who was not the less dangerous because his fiercer passions were concealed beneath an affectation of effeminate dandyism. ”

“ The chief ancient authorities for Nero's life and reign are Tacitus (Annals, xiii.-xvi., ed. Furneaux) , Suetonius, Dio Cassius (Epit. ixi., lxii., lxiii.) , and Zonaras (Ann. xi.) . The most important modern work is that of B. W. Henderson, The Life and Principate of the Emperor Nero (London, 1903; see an important notice in Class. Rev. vol. xviii. p. 57) , which contains complete bibliography of ancient and modern writers; see also H. Schiller's Nero, and Geschichte d. Kaiserzeit; Lehmann, Claudius und Nero; histories of Rome in general. (H. F. P.) ”

“ He was praetor (66) and twice consul, in 71 with the emperor Vespasian for colleague, and again in 90 with Domitian. Towards the close of the latter's reign (93) he is said to have excited suspicion and to have been banished to Tarentum on a charge of conspiracy (Dio Cass. lxvii. 15; Philostr. Apoll. Tyan. vii. 8) . On the murder of Domitian in September 96 Nerva was declared emperor by the people and the soldiers. He is described as a quiet, kindly, dignified man, honest of purpose, but unfitted by his advanced age and temperament, as well as by feeble health, to bear the weight of empire. ”

“ The agrarian law was probably as short-lived in its effects as preceding ones had been, but a more lasting reform was the maintenance at the public cost of the children of poor parents in the towns of Italy (Aur. Vict. Ep. 24) , the provision being presumably secured by a yearly charge on state and municipal lands. ”