Nero Claudius Domitius Cæsar

, a celebrated Roman emperor, son of Caius Domitius A he no barb us and A grip pin a the daughter of Germanic us. He was adopted by the emperor Claudius, A.D. 50, and four years after he succeeded to him on the throne. The beginning of his reign was marked by acts of the greatest kindne and condescension, by affability, complaisance, and popularity. The object of his administration seemed to be the good of his people; and when he was desired to sign his name to a list of malefactors that were to be executed, he exclaimed, “I wish to heaven I could not write.” He was an enemy to flattery, and when the senate had liberally commended the wisdom of his government, Nero desired them to keep their praises till he deserved them. These promising virtues were soon discovered to be artificial, and Nero displayed the propensities of his nature. He delivered himself from the sway of his mother, and at last ordered her to be a a inated. This unnatural act of barbarity might astonish some of the Romans, but Nero had his devoted adherents; and when he declared that he had taken away his mother’s life to save himself from ruin, the senate applauded his measures, and the people signified their approbation. Many of his courtiers shared the unhappy fate of A grip pin a, and Nero sacrificed to his fury or caprice all such as obstructed his pleasure, or diverted his inclination. In the night he generally sallied out from his palace, to visit the meanest taverns and all the scenes of debauchery which Rome contained. In this nocturnal riot he was fond of insulting the people in the streets, and his attempts to offer violence to the wife of a Roman senator nearly cost him his life. He also turned actor, and publicly appeared on the Roman stage in the meanest characters. In his attempts to excel in music, and to conquer the disadvantages of a hoarse, rough voice, he moderated his meals, and often pa ed the day without eating. The celebrity of the Olympian games attracted his notice. He pa ed into Greece, and presented himself as a candidate for the public honours. He was defeated in wrestling, but the flattery of the spectators adjudged him the victory, and Nero returned to Rome with all the pomp and ♦ splendour of an eastern conqueror, drawn in the chariot of August us, and attended by a band of musicians, actors, and stage dancers, from every part of the empire. These private and public amusements of the emperor were indeed innocent; his character was injured, but not the lives of the people. But his conduct soon became more abominable; he disguised himself in the habit of a woman, and was publicly married to one of his eunuchs. This violence to nature and decency was soon exchanged for another; Nero resumed his sex, and celebrated his nuptials with one of his meanest catamites, and it was on this occasion that one of the Romans observed that the world would have been happy if Nero’s father had had such a wife. But now his cruelty was displayed in a more superlative degree, and he sacrificed to his wantonne his wife Octavia Poppæa, and the celebrated writers, Seneca, Lucan, Petronius, . The christians also did not escape his barbarity. He had heard of the burning of Troy, and as he wished to renew that dismal scene, he caused Rome to be set on fire in different places. The conflagration became soon universal, and during nine succe ive days the fire was unextinguished. All was desolation; nothing was heard but the lamentations of mothers whose children had perished in the flames, the groans of the dying, and the continual fall of palaces and buildings. Nero was the only one who enjoyed the general consternation. He placed himself on the top of a high tower, and he sang on his lyre the destruction of Troy, a dreadful scene which his barbarity had realized before his eyes. He attempted to avert the public odium from his head, by a feigned commiseration of the miseries of his subjects. He began to repair the streets and the public buildings at his own expense. He built himself a celebrated palace, which he called his golden house. It was profusely adorned with gold and precious stones, and with whatever was rare and exquisite. It contained spacious fields, artificial lakes, woods, gardens, orchards, and whatever could exhibit beauty and grandeur. The entrance of this edifice could admit a large colo us of the emperor 120 feet high; the galleries were each a mile long, and the whole was covered with gold. The roofs of the dining halls represented the firmament in motion as well as in figure, and continually turned round night and day, showering down all sorts of perfumes and sweet waters. When this grand edifice, which, according to Pliny, extended all round the city, was finished, Nero said, that now he could lodge like a man. His profusion was not le remarkable in all his other actions. When he went a-fishing, his nets were made with gold and silk. He never appeared twice in the same garment, and when he undertook a voyage, there were you sands of servants to take care of his wardrobe. This continuation of debauchery and extravagance at last roused the resentment of the people. Many conspiracies were formed against the emperor, but they were generally discovered, and such as were acce ary suffered the greatest punishments. The most dangerous conspiracy against Nero’s life was that of Piso, from which he was delivered by the confe ion of a slave. The conspiracy of Galba proved more succe ful; and the conspirator, when he was informed that his plot was known to Nero, declared himself emperor. The unpopularity of Nero favoured his cause; he was acknowledged by all the Roman empire, and the senate condemned the tyrant that sat on the throne to be dragged naked through the streets of Rome, and whipped to death, and afterwards to be thrown down from the Tarpeian rock like the meanest malefactor. This, however, was not done, and Nero, by a voluntary death, prevented the execution of the sentence. He killed himself, A.D. 68, in the 32nd year of his age, after a reign of thirteen years and eight months. Rome was filled with acclamations at the intelligence, and the citizens, more strongly to indicate their joy, wore caps such as were generally used by slaves who had received their freedom. Their vengeance was not only exercised against the statues of the deceased tyrant, but his friends were the objects of the public resentment, and many were crushed to pieces in such a violent manner, that one of the senators, amid the universal joy, said that he was afraid they should soon have cause to wish for Nero. The tyrant, as he expired, begged that his head might not be cut off from his body, and exposed to the insolence of an enraged populace, but that the whole might be burned on the funeral pile. His request was granted by one of Galba’s freedmen, and his obsequies were performed with the usual ceremonies. Though his death seemed to be the source of universal gladne , yet many of his favourites lamented his fall, and were grieved to see that their pleasures and amusements were stopped by the death of the patron of debauchery and extravagance. Even the king of Parthia sent amba adors to Rome to condole with the Romans, and to beg that they would honour and revere the memory of Nero. His statues were also crowned with garlands of flowers, and many believed that he was not dead, but that he would soon make his appearance, and take a due vengeance upon his enemies. It will be sufficient to observe, in finishing the character of this tyrannical emperor, that the name of Nero is even now used emphatically to expre a barbarous and unfeeling oppre or. Pliny calls him the common enemy and the fury of mankind, and in this he has been followed by all writers, who exhibit Nero as the pattern of the most execrable barbarity and unpardonable wantonne . Plutarch , Galba .— Suet on i us , Lives .— Pliny , bk. 7 , ch. 8 , . — Dio Ca ius , bk. 64 .— Aurelius Victor. — Tacitus , Annals .――Claudius, a Roman general sent into Spain to succeed the two Scipios. He suffered himself to be imposed upon by Asdrubal, and was soon after succeeded by young Scipio. He was afterwards made consul, and intercepted Asdrubal, who was pa ing from Spain into Italy with a large reinforcement for his brother Annibal. An engagement was fought near the river Metaurus, in which 56,000 of the Cart hag in i ans were left on the field of battle, and great numbers taken prisoners, 207 B.C. Asdrubal the Cart hag in i an general was also killed, and his head cut off and thrown into his brother’s camp by the conquerors. Appian , Hannibalic War .— Orosius , bk. 4 .— Livy , bk. 27 , . — Horace , bk. 4 , ode 4, li. 37 .— Florus , bk. 2 , ch. 6 .— Valerius Maximus , bk. 4 , ch. 1 .――Another, who opposed Cicero when he wished to punish with death such as were acce ary to Cat i line’s conspiracy.――A son of Germanic us, who was ruined by Sejanus, and banished from Rome by Tiberius. He died in the place of his exile. His death was voluntary, according to some. Suet on i us , Tiberius .――Domitian was called Nero , because his cruelties surpa ed those of his predece ors, and also Calvus , from the baldne of his head. Juvenal , satire 4.――The Neros were of the Claudian family, which, during the republican times of Rome, was honoured with 28 consulships, five dictatorships, six triumphs, seven censorships, and two ovations. They a umed the surname of Nero, which, in the language of the Sabines, signifies strong and warlike . ♦ ‘slendour’ replaced with ‘splendour’