The History of Rome: Rise and Fall of the Empire. John Bagnell Bury

hide his fear under the appearance of business; Messalina fled to the gardens of Lucullus. They were hardly gone when the officers, sent by Narcissus, arrived; and some of the guests, who were slow in making their escape, were arrested. Messalina had no fear that all was lost; she trusted in her power over her husband. She made arrangements that her children Britannicus and Octavia should meet their father, and silently plead their mother’s cause; and she prayed Vibidia, the eldest of the Vestal virgins, to implore the Pontifex Maximus for pardon. Then, having passed through the city on foot, she set forth on the road to Ostia, and was able to find no better conveyance than a cart which was used to carry garden refuse. But all her endeavors failed. Narcissus prevented Claudius from listening to her cries, and the Vestal, when she met the carriage on its entry into Rome, was dismissed with an assurance that the Empress would have an opportunity of defending herself. Claudius visited the house of Silius, and saw in the hall the statue of the culprit’s father, which the senate had ordered to be overthrown, and other sights calculated to increase his indignation. He then proceeded to the camp of the praetorians, and ascended the tribunal. Silius would not defend himself, and merely asked for a speedy death. He was immediately executed. The same fate befell Vettius Valens and several others, who were charged with abetting Silius in his crime. The dancer Mnester was also put to death on account of his intrigue with Messalina, and likewise a young knight named Sextus Montanus, who had been her lover for only one day. In the meantime Messalina had returned to the Lucullan gardens and did not yet despair. Her mother Domitia Lepida, who had stood aloof in the days of her prosperity, came to her in the hour of her distress. She urged her daughter to anticipate the stroke of the executioner by a voluntary death. “Life is over”, she said; “nothing remains but an honorable end”. But Messalina was fond of life and she knew the nature of her husband. Claudius, exhausted by his work of retribution, had retired to the palace to dine; and after dinner he sent a message to the “poor woman”, bidding her come next day and plead her cause. But Narcissus was determined that she should have no chance of pleading. So he immediately ordered a tribune and some centurions to go and slay the criminal, saying “such are the Emperor’s orders”. Messalina, having in vain attempted to pierce herself with a sword, was killed by a blow of the tribune, and the corpse was left to her mother. Claudius meanwhile, under the influence of wine, had forgotten the events which had just passed, and began to ask why the lady tarried. When they told him that she was dead, he merely called for another cup, and never mentioned her again. The senate decreed that her name should be effaced from all monuments, and Narcissus received as a reward for his services, the insignia of the quaestorship.

      Such seems to be the least improbable version of the strange story of the crowning insolence of Messalina, and her sudden fall. But the episode of her public marriage with Silius will always remain a perplexing riddle, unless some totally new evidence be discovered.

      SECT. V. — AGRIPPINA — DEATH OF CLAUDIUS

      Messalina had fallen, and the question was, who was to be her successor. On this the freedmen were not unanimous. Narcissus urged that Claudius should take back his second wife, Aelia Paetina, whom he had divorced. Callistus worked in behalf of Lollia Paulina. the divorced wife of the Emperor Gaius. Pallas espoused the cause of Agrippina, the Emperor’s niece. This remarkable woman, who inherited the ambition, without the morality, of her mother, had long been scheming to establish an influence over Claudius, who was very susceptible to female fascinations. She aimed at securing the Empire for her son Lucius Domitius, and winning for herself such a position as had been held by Livia. It is impossible to know how far she may have been involved in the intrigues connected with the fall of Messalina. But it is probable that she has influenced the verdict of history on the career of her rival. For Agrippina published personal memoirs, in which she revealed the secret history of the palace, and it was almost certainly from these memoirs that the historian Tacitus drew his account of Messalina’s wickedness. It may easily be believed that Agrippina highly colored the story and distorted the truth. The death of her husband Passienus had left her free and wealthy; and she determined to marry her uncle, in spite of the Roman prejudice against such a union. Her charms, supported by the persuasions of Pallas, subdued the weak Emperor, and, in a few weeks after the death of Messalina, Agrippina exerted over Claudius all the influence of a wife. Before the end of the year (48 A.D.), she took the first step in the direction of elevating her son to the throne. He was then eleven years old, but she resolved that, when he came of age, he should marry Octavia, the daughter of Claudius. For this purpose it was necessary to break off the betrothal which existed between Octavia and Lucius Silanus, a great-great-grandson of Augustus. In accomplishing this, Agrippina was assisted by Vitellius, the Emperor’s colleague in the censorship, who bore a grudge against Silanus, and was ready to ruin him. He informed Claudius that Silanus had committed incest with his sister, and the horrified Emperor immediately broke off the engagement of his daughter. Silanus, who was a praetor that year, was ordered to lay down his office, and Vitellius, although no longer censor, presumed on his recent tenure of that office to remove the name of Silanus from the list of senators.

      When this obstacle to the future marriage of Domitius and Octavia was removed, it remained for Agrippina to smooth the way for her own union with Claudius. No precedent in Roman history could be found for marrying a brother’s daughter. Such an alliance was regarded as incestuous; and in all matters of religion Claudius was punctiliously scrupulous. The censor, who had just expressed his horror at the alleged incest of Silanus, shrank from incurring the charge of a similar offence. But here again Vitellius came to the aid of Agrippina. He appeared in the senate and delivered a specious harangue in favor of the proposed marriage. The senators tumultuously applauded, and Claudius then appearing in the curia caused a decree to be passed that henceforward marriages with the daughters of brothers should be valid. The fourth marriage of Claudius took place in the early days of 49 A.D., and on the wedding day, as it were to bring a curse on the event, Silanus, the betrothed of Octavia, killed himself. Another victim, who had come across the path of Agrippina, was Lollia Paulina, who had aspired to the hand of Claudius. She was accused of having consulted Chaldean astrologers concerning the imperial marriage, and the Emperor himself spoke against her in the senate. She was banished from Italy, but Agrippina is said to have dispatched a tribune after her to put her to death.

      While Messalina cared only for sensuality, Agrippina was enamored of power. She was not content with being the Emperor’s wife, but wished to be his colleague. This position was designated by the title Augusta, which was conferred upon her in 50 A.D.. She was the third woman who bore this title, but it meant for her, as it had meant for Livia, a share in political power, and was not merely, as it had been for Antonia, an honorable title. But Agrippina enjoyed a mark of distinction which had not been granted even to the consort of Augustus. She was the first Roman Empress whose image was permitted to appear on coins during her lifetime by decree of the senate. When Claudius gave audiences to his “friends”, or to foreign envoys, his wife sat on a throne beside him. We have seen that she gave her name to the new colony of veterans established in the town of the Ubii, as Colonia Agrippinensis. In order to secure her influence with the freedman Pallas, she is said to have engaged in an intrigue with him; but the court, under her rule, seems to have been distinguished by outward propriety and certainly by stricter etiquette.

      Her schemes for her son’s advancement rendered her a cruel stepmother to Britannicus. On the 25th February, 50 A.D., Lucius Domitius was adopted into the Claudian gens, under the name of Nero Claudius Caesar Drusus Germanicus. This was the first instance of an adoption of a son by a patrician Claudius, and the Emperor was disinclined to take the step, not only on this account, but lest the prospects of Britannicus should be injured. He was overcome, however, by the example of Augustus. The advancement of Nero progressed rapidly. In the following year he was permitted to assume the toga of manhood, and by a decree of the senate he was made princeps iuventutis, designated to hold the consulship at the age of twenty, and he received proconsular power. These honors were sufficient to mark him out as the successor of Claudius to the Principate. But Agrippina went even further, and caused her son to be elected supra numerum,into the four chief priestly colleges—the Pontiffs, the augurs, the quindecim viri, and the septemviri. This was a distinction which the youthful grandsons of Augustus, Gaius and Lucius, had not received. Nero had already been betrothed to his cousin Octavia; and his adoption, whereby he became legally her brother, was not allowed