Select Observations of Roman Emperors 2, Part 1 · Emperor 6
Choyce Observations OF NERO CAESAR.
NERO was a proper Name (which noted Vertue and Fortitude,Alex. ab Alex. Gen. dier. l 1. c. 9. Gell. l. 11. of that Greek word foreign the sinews, being the conjunction and strength of the members) and such persons also were of the Romans called Neroes, as excelled others in the most egregious Fortitude and Noble Vertues. Afterward when this Tyrant Nero (who descended of the Claudii which were Sabines) had degenerated from all the Heroicall vertues of his Ancestors, and became so bloody and cruell, hee gave occasion to posterity to change that proper name into a name Appellative, so that they called them that were cruell Nerones, and those that were more cruell Neroniores.
When Domitius his friends by way of gratulation wished him joy of his Son new born,Suetonius. Mali corvi malum ovum. See the like of Tiberius, and of Caligula in Suetonius▪ c. 11. he said, That of himself and Agrippina there could nothing come into the world but accursed, detestable, and to the hurt of the weal Publick.
Of stature he was indifferent, within a little of 6. foot; his body full of speckles, and freckles, and foul of skin besides. The haire of his head somewhat yellow, his countenance and visage rather faire then lovely, and well-favoured. His eyes gray and dimme, his neck full and fat, his body bearing out, and his legges slender and small.
He began his reigne with a glorious shew of piety and kindnesse. Those Tributes and Taxes which were any thing heavy, he either quite abolished or abated. Whensoever he was put in mind to subscribe, and set his hand to a warrant for the execution of any person condemned to dye,Suetonius. he would say,Lib 2. de Clementis. Quàm vellem nescïre literas! O that I knew not one letter of the book! Seneca his Tutor did much extoll that speech of his, as if it had proceeded from a pitifull heart.
He was framed by Nature,Fa…tus Natura, & consuetudine exercitus velare odium fallacibus blanditiis. Tacit. Annal. 14. Sueton. Imitatur illam Augusti vocem▪ si merebuntur. and practised by custome (saith Tacitus) to cloake hatred with flattering speeches.
Many times he saluted all the degrees of the City one after another, by rote and without book. When the Senate upon a time gave him thankes, he answered, Cùm meruero, do so when I shall deserve.
His quinquennium or first five yeares were such, that Trajan himself is said to have admired,Aurel. Vict. using this speech, Procul differre cunctos Principes Neronïs quinquennio. But it is thought that it was rather the reigne of his Governours Seneca and Burrhus, then properly his.
He delighted exceedingly in Musick,Suetonius. and would shew his skill upon the open stage, often using the Greek Proverb, That hidden Musick was nought worth. All the while he was singing, it was not lawfull for any person to depart out of the Theatre, were the cause never so necessary. It is reported, that some great-bellied woman falling into travail,Suetonius. were delivered upon the very Scaffolds;He not onelyonly commā ded all the Statues and Images of the most excellent Musitians to be defaced, and his own to be erected in leiu of them; but also put many of them under hand to death. by emulation of their fame. yea, and many men besides weary of tedious hearing, and praysing him, when the Town gates were shut, either by stealth lept down from the Walles, or counterfeiting themselves dead, were carried forth as Co…ses to be buried. But how timorously, with what thought and anguish of mind, with what emulation of his concurrents, and fear of the Umpires he strove for Mastery, it is almost incredible. He never durst once spit, and reach up flegm, and he wiped away the very sweat of his forehead with his arm onelyonly.
There was a boy named Sporus, whose genitories he cut off,Sueton. & Bapt. Fulg. l. 8. and assayed thereby to transform him into the nature of a woman: then he caused him to be brought unto him,Sueton. as a Bride without a dowry, in a fine yellow vaile after the solemn manner of Marriage, not without a goodly traine attending upon him, whom he maintained as a wise; whereupon one brake this witty jest, That it would have been happy for the world, if Domitius (his Father) had wedded s…ch a wife.
He said jestingly of Claudius, That he left morari inter homines, with a long syllable, meaning that he spent his dayes foolishly.
Epulas à medio die ad mediam noctem protrahebat.
He held out his Feasts from noon-day till mid-night.Suetonius.
*Divitiarum ac pecuniae fructum non alium putabat quàm profusionem. Sueton. Nero quadragenis in punctum Sestertii… al…m lasit. Co… l. Rhod. l. 20. c 24. suetonius. Bis & vicies mille sestertium donationibus Nero effuderat. Tacit. l. 1. Hist. c. 6. He most lavishly gave away two and twenty hundred millions of Sesterces.He was very profuse and prodigall in expences, he never put on the same Garment twice; when he played at hazard, he ventered no lesse then 3125. pounds at a cast, upon every point or prick of the chance. He fished with a golden Net, drawn and knit with cords twisted of purple, and crimson silk in grain. When he made any journey, he never had under 1000▪ Caroches in his train, his Mules were shod with silver, but in no one thing was he more wastful then in building.*See Sueton. and Tacitus of this house, Annal 15. c. 10. It is reported also of Heliogubalus, that his apparell was rich, and most extreme costly, and yet he would never wear one garment twice; his shooes were embellished with Pearles and Diamonds; his seat strewed with musk and amber; his bed covered with gold and purple, and beset with most costly jewels; his way strewed with the powder of gold and silver; his vessels (even of basest use) all gold; his diet so profuse, that at every supper in his Court was usually spent 1000. l. sterling. His house was so large that it contained three Galleries of a mile a piece in length, and a standing Poole like unto a Sea, and the same inclosed round about with buildings in form of Cities. It was laid all over with gold, garnished with precious stones, and mother of pearl. He said, He now at length began to live like a man: and himself named it, Domum auream, a golden house. His Mother Agrippina being with Child with him, went to consult with the Chaldeans or South-sayers about her Son; they answered her, That he should reigne, but kill his Mother; but she being very ambitious slighted that, saying, Occidat modò imperet, Let him kill mee so he may be King.
This was accomplished afterwards,Neque tamen sceleris conscientiam, aut statim aut unquant post ferre potuit; saepe confessus exagitari se materna specie, verberibus furiarum, ac taedis ardentibus. Suetonius. for he caused his Mother to be murdered, and not onelyonly so, but (which was more horrible) he took an axact view of her dead body, and beheld it Crowner-like, saying, He did not think he had had so faire a Mother.
His Father he poisoned, he slew his Brother Germanicus, and his Sister Antonia, and both his wives Poppaea and Octavia, his Aunt Domitia, his son in law Rufinus, and his Instructers,Eutropius. Suoton. Seneca and Lucan.
There was no kind of affinity,Aurel. Vict. and consanguinity,Orosius. were it never so near, but it felt the weight of his deadly hands.
The first persecution was under him in the 13. year of his reigne. Tertullian calls him, Dedicator damnationis nostrae, i. e. the first that made a Law to condemne Christians to death.
*In Apologet. cap. 5. Nero ex Caesaribus primus in Christianos distrinxit gladium.Tertullian, *Hist Eccles. l. 2. c. 25.Eusebius, *L. 14. de vera Sap. c. 21.Lactantius, *Aret. Probl. Pet dit M…ul.and others say, that he put Peter and Paul to death.
Paulus à Nerone (saith Eusebius) Romae capite truncatus,Def. of the Cathol. Faith. Lla…bi supra. & Petrus palo assixus scribuntur; & Historiae huic fidem facit, quod illic coemiteria habentur in quibus Petri & Pauli nun cupatio ad hunc usque diem obtinet.
Chrys. and Theophyl. upon the fourth Chapter of the second to Timothy, alledge this to be the cause wherefore he put Paul to death, because Paul had converted to the Christian Faith Nero's Butler, whom he made great account of, thereupon he commanded him to be beheaded; others say, it was because he converted one of Nero his Concubines, which afterward refused to company with him; but we need assigne no other cause of Nero's rage against the Apostle,Though N…ro were so wicked, yet Paul mak…th mention of some Saints in his Court. Phil 4 22. then that which Eusebius and Jerome both do touch, the cruelty of that bloody Tyrant joyned with a wicked detestation of the Christian Faith.
His cruelty is by Paul compared to the mouth of a Lion, 2 Tim. 4. 17. but here then ariseth an objection, how Paul should suffer under him, when he saith there, that he was delivered? Therefore Paul was his prisoner twice, he was set at liberty after his first imprisonment at Rome, Phil. 1. 25. Philem. 22. Heb. 13. 23. 2 Tim. 4. 16. 17. The reason is thus alledged by Eusebius; Neronem in principio Imperii mitiorem fuisse, That Nero in the beginning of his Empire was more gentle, and mild, but afterward when Paul was taken again,Euseb. in Chron & Hieron. lib. de Script. Eccles. Nero then being become a most cruell Tyrant, caused him to be put to death. He dyed in the 14. year of Nero's reigne, and the 37. year after the Passion of Christ.
Seneca disswaded him from killing some, with this speech, licet (saith he) quàm plurimos occidas, tamen non potes successorem tuum occidere. Xiphiline. Although thou killest very many, yet thou canst not kill thy Successor.
The Tyrannous rage of this Emperour was so fierce against the Christians (as Eusebius reporteth) us que adeò ut videret repletas humanis corporibus civitates, Hist. Eccles. l. 2. c. 4. 25. 26.jacentes mortuos simul cum parvulis senes, Nero subdidit reos, & quaesitissimis p… nis affeciteo…, quos per flagitia invisos, vulgus Christianos appellabat; Auctor ejus nomini… Christus.faeminarumque absque ulla sexus reverentia in publico rejecta starent cadavera, i. e. Insomuch that a man might then see Cities lye full of mens bodies, the old lying there with the young, and the dead bodies of women cast out naked, without all reverence of that Sex,Tacit. 15. Annal. in the open streets.
In this persecution also James the greater, and the lesse, Philip, Bartholomew, Barnabas, Mark, suffered.
Christians were covered in wild beasts skins,Addita pereuntibus ludibria, ut ferarum tergoribus contecti▪ canum laniatu interirent, aut crucibus affixi, aut flammandi; & ubi dies defecisset, in usum nocturni luminis urerentur. Tacit. l. 15. Annal. Sueton. in Claud. and torn in pieces with Dogs, or fastned on crosses, or burnt in fire; and when the day failed, they were burnt in the night, to make them serve as torches to give light. They put a pitched coat upon the Christians to make them burn the better, called Tunica molesta, a troublesome coat.
Sulpitius Severus observes this of Nero (in the 3. book of his History) that it was his own bad life which made him hate Christians; for he still thought they censured him, and could not but expect what they knew he deserved.
He caused Rome to be set on fire in twelve places together, that he might the better conceive the flames of Troy, singing unto it Homer's verses, and being a pleasant Spectator thereof, as at a Feu-de-joy. Ad levandam sceleris atrocitatem (saith Polyd. *Lib. 8. de invent rerum cap. 6. Tacitus calleth them, hated for their wickednesse, guilty, and worthy of utmost punishment, and their Religion a pestilent & pernicious superstition. See 15. of his Annal. 10 c.Virgil) to avoyd the infamy thereof, he laid the fault on the innocent, and suborned some falsly to accuse the Christians, as Authors of that fire; whereupon hee put many of them to death: but Tacitus will clear them, who yet was their enemy. Non perinde (saith hee) crimine incendii, quàm odio humani generis convicti sunt.
Suetonius (being no Christian) calleth the Christians men of new and pernicious superstition: Affl…cti suppliciis Christiani, (saith he) genus hominum superstitionis novae & malesicae.Sub Nerone saeva & infesta Virtutibus tempora. Non nisi grande aliquod bonum à Neron… damnatum. Tertul. Apol. adversus Gentes. Nero virtutem ipsan… exscindere concupivit. Tacit. Annal. l. 16.
Under Nero to do ill was not alwaies safe, alwaies unsafe to do well. He was so hatefull an adversary to all righteousnesse, that Eusebius following the example and words of Tertullian, affirmeth, that if the Gospel had not been an excellent thing, it had not been condemned by Nero. He was (as Augustine *Lib. 20. c. 19. De Civit. Dei. In his time Amnes retrò …uere vis… saut. Plin. l. 2. c. 103.witnesseth) commonly reputed Antichrist. He came into the world an Agrippa, or born with his feet forward, and turn'd the world upside down before he went out of it. In him alone all the corruptions which had been ingendred in Rome, from the birth of Rome till his own daies, seemed drawn together into one impostume or boyl.
When one in common talk upon a time chanced to say,
foreign.
When vitall breath is fled from me,Sueton.
Let earth with fire mingled be.
Nay rather, quoth hee, foreign, whiles vitall spirit remaines in me.
He had a desire (though it were foolish and inconsiderate) of eternity and perpetuall fame,Erat ei aeternitatis perpetuaeque famae cupido; sed inconsulta. Suetonius. and therefore abolishing the old names of many things and places, he did put upon them new after his own.Which thing in him Commodus the Emperour imitated, calling Rome Commodians Tacit. l. 13. of Annal. He called the MonethMonth April Neroneus, he meant also to have named Rome Neropolis, Nero's City.
He pronounced an oration composed by Seneca: It was observed, that he was the first Emperour that needed another mans Eloquence; for Julius Caesar was equall with the famous Orators; and Augustus had a ready, fluent, and eloquent speech, such as well became a Prince; Tiberius had great skill in weighing his words; yea, Caligula's troubled mind hindered not his eloquence; neither wanted Claudius elegancy, when he had premeditated.
The study of Nero was Versification, which Tacitus thinks he borrowed, having no gift therein at all;Post Tacitum scripsit, eumque interdum tacitè redarguit. Famia. Strad. Prolus. Hist. l. 1. but Suetonius (who often doth disagree with Tacitus, though unnamed) both proves he had, and proves it well: It was one of his exercises to translate Greek Tragedies into Latine, who made true Tragedies in blood, such as even the Greekes never feigned.
Nothing netled him more then when he was blamed by Vindex for an unskilfull Musician:Being admonished by Astrologers that he should once be cast out of the Empire, he is reported to have used this speech to himself, Artem quaevis terra alit; nimirum intelligens citharisticam, principi gratam, privato necessariam, quam excercere eum non puduit. he said of himself a little before his death, Qualis Artifex pereo? What an excellent Artisan do I dye? meaning of his skill in playing of Tragedies; as indeed his whole life and death was all but one Tragedy.
Vespasian asked Apollonius, what was Nero's overthrow? he answered, Nero could touch and tune the Harp well, but in Government sometimes he u…ed to winde the pinnes too high, and sometimes to let them down too low; thereby intimating, that he applyed Corrosives where gentle Lenitives would have served the turn, and again he applyed Lenitives where Corrosives were needfull.
Additum nomine Neronis Donativum Militi,Deductus (Nero) in forum tyro, populo congiarium, Militi Donativum proposuit. Sueton. congiarium plebi. Tacit. 12. Annal.
The Princes liberalities to the Souldiers were called Donativa, (which they bestowed, upon some great victory, or rather extraordinary occasion;)Imperatoris munus quod popul… dabatur, congiarium dictum est, quod verò Militibus, Donativum. Alex. ab Alex. Gen. dier. l. 5. cap. 24. to the people, or otherwise to his friends, Congiaria; doubtlesse because at the first certain measures called Congii, of wine or oyl were bestowed, and afterwards other things were given, yet the ancient name remained.
Vindex first stirred the stone, which rowling tumbled Nero out of his seat.
When it was told Iulius Vindex, that Nero by publick Edict had prized his head at 10000. thousand Sesterces,Sir Henry Savil on Tacit. Nec adhuc erat damnati Principis exemplum, Neither was there ever before a President of any Prince by publick sentence deposed. Tacit. l. 1. Hist. Sueton. (that is above four-score thousand pounds in our coine,) Well, quoth he again, and he that kils Nero, and brings me his head, shall have mine in exchange. Qui Neronem interfecerit, & ad me caput ejus attulerit, is meum accipiet caput in mercedis loco. Xiphilin.
Nero consulting the Delphick (or rather divellish) Oracle, he received this answer, That he should take heed of the year 73. which he supposing to be meant of his own age,He entreated that some one of those that were with him, would kill himself first, and by his example help him to take his death. Itaque nec amicum …abe… nec inimicum; dedecorose vixi, turpiùs peream. Aurel. Vict. Defecitque extantibus rigentibus que oculis, ad horrore… …ormidinemque visentium. Sueton. rested secure, being farre short of it; but he was deluded by the ambiguous construction of those words, and so fell into the hands of Galba, a man indeed of those yeares.
At last the Senate proclaiming him a publick enemy unto Mankind, condemned him to be drawn through the City, and to be whipped to death; which sentence when he heard of, finding no man to strike him, and exclaiming against them all, What, have I neither friend nor foe? (said he) I have lived dishonourably, let me dye shamefully; and then he strake himself through with his own sword, and was a horrible spectacle to all beholders.
He dyed in the 32. year of his age, saith Suetonius; and 14. year of his reigne, say Tacitus, Clem. Alexand. Eusebius, and Eutropius, the very day of the year on which he had murdered his wife Octavia; and by his death brought so great joy unto the people generally, that the Commons wore caps to testifie their freedom recovered, and ran sporting up and down throughout the City.
Some say that Nero is yet alive (saith Baronius out of Sueton▪ and Severus) although he did thrust himself through with a sword,Vide Boxhornii Hist. Vnivers. à Christi tempore. p. 125. 126. 127. yet some think that his wounds were healed, and that he survived according to that in the Rev. 13. 3. and that he shall be Antichrist; but Bellarmine himself saith, It is a presumptuous folly to say that Nero shall be revived and received as Antichrist; and Suarez calls it, Anilem fabulam, a foolish Fable.