Select Observations of Roman Emperors, Life 6
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 cruel, he gave occasion to posterity to change that proper name into a name Appellative, so that they called them that were cruel Nerones, and those that were more cruel 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 hair of his head somewhat yellow, his countenance and visage rather fair than lovely and well-favoured. His eyes gray and dim, his neck full and fat, his body bearing out, and his legs slender and small.
He began his reign with a glorious shew of piety and kindness. Those Tributes and Taxes which were any thing heavy, he either quite, abolished or abated. Whensoever he was put in mind to subscribe, & set his hand to a warrant for the execution of any person condemned to dye,Suetonius. he would say,Lib 2. de Clementia. Quàm vellem nescire 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 pitiful heart.Factus Natura, & consuetudine exercitus velare odium fallacibus blanditiis.
He was framed by Nature, and practised by custom (saith Tacitus) to cloak hatred with flattering speeches.
Many times he saluted all the degrees of the City one after another,Tacitus by rote and without book.Annal. 14. When the Senate upon a time gave him thanks,Sueton. he answered, Cum meruero, Imitatur illam Augusti vocem, Si merebuntur.Do so when I shall deserve.
Within the first twelve moneths of his Government, he poisoned Britannicus, who was his Cozen-german, his adoptive Brother and Testamentary partner in the Empire. Boltons Nero Caesar.
His quinquennium or first five years were such, that Trajan himself is said to have admired, using this speech, Procul differre cunctos Principes Neronis quinquennio. Aurel. Vict.But it is thought that it was rather the reign of his Governors Seneca and Burrhus, than properly his.
Neronis initia, si demas parricidium, Claudii, cujus etsi non auctor, conscius tamen fuit, itemque Britannici jus inter versum, de caetero valde speciosa fuerunt: Abdetis adhuc vitiis, & praevalentibus bonarum rerum auctoribus. Boecleri Dissertatio Politica.
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 lawful 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 travel,Suetonius. were delivered upon the very Scaffolds; yea,He not only commanded all the Statues and Images of the most excellent Musitians to be defaced, and his own to be erected in lieu of them; but also put many of them under hand to death, by emulation of their fame. Sueton. & Bapt. Fulg l. 8. & many men besides weary of tedious hearing, & praysing him, when the Town gates were shut, either by stealth lept down from the Walls, or counterfeiting themselves dead, were carried forth as Corpses to be buried. But how timorously, with what thought and anguish of mind, with what emulation of his concurrents, and fear of the Umpire 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 forhead with his arm only.
There was a boy named Sporus, whose genitories he cut off, and assayed thereby to transform him into the nature of a woman:Sueton. then he caused him to be brought unto him, as a Bride without a dowry, in a fine yellow vail after the solemn manner of Marriage, not without a goodly train attending upon him, whom he maintained as a wife; whereupon one brake this witty jest, That it would have been happy for the world, if Domitius (his Father) had wedded such a wife.
He said jestingly of Claudius, That he left morari inter homines, Suetonius.with a long syllable, meaning that he spent his dayes foolishly.
Epulas à medio die ad mediam noctem protrahebat.
Sueton.He held out his Feasts from noon-day till mid-night.
*Divitiarum ac pecuniae fructum non alium putabat quàm profusionem.Nero quadragenis in punctum Sestertiis aleam lusit. Coel. Rhod. l. 20. c. 24.He was very profuse and prodigal in expences, he never put on the same Garment twice; when he played at hazard, he ventured no lesse than 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,Suetonius. but in no one thing was he more wastful than in building.Bis & vicies mille sestertium donationibus Nero effuderat. *See Sueton. and Tacitus of this house, Annal. 15. c. 10. It is reported also of Heliogabalus, that his apparel was rich, and most extream costly, and yet he would never wear one garment twice; his shooes were embellished with Pearls and Diamons; 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, & a standing Pool like unto a Sea, & the same inclosed round about with buildings in form of Cities.Tacit. l. 1. Hist. c. 6. It was laid all over with gold,He most lavishly gave away two and twenty hundred millions of Sesterces. 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 reign, but kill his Mother; but she being very ambitious, slighted that, saying, Occidat modo imperit, Let him kill me so he may be King.
Neque tamen sceleris conscientiam, aut statim aut unquam post ferre potuit; saepe confessus exagitari se materna specie, verberibus furiarum, ac taedis ardentibus.This was accomplished afterwards, for he caused his Mother to be murdered, and not only so, but (which was more horrible) he took an exact view of her dead body, and beheld it Crowner-like, saying, He did not think he had had so fair a Mother.
The sentence nevertheless doth in part acquit him from her incestuous familiaritie. For how was it strange to him that his Mother should be so handsome, if she had been his Concubine? Boltons Nero Caesar.Suetonius.
His Father he poisoned, he slew his Brother Germanicus, and his Sister Antonia, and both his wives Poppaea and Octavia, Eutropius.his Aunt Domitia, Sueton.Aurel. Vict. Orosius.his son in law Rufinus, and his Instructers, Seneca and Lucan.
There was no kind of affinity, and consanguinity, 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 reign.*In Apologet. cap. 5. Primus Nero in hanc sectam cum maximè Romae orientem Caesariano gladio ferociit. Tertullian calls him, Dedicator damnationis nostrae, i. e. the first that made a Law to condemn Christians to death.
Tertullian, |Hist. Eccles. l. 2. c. 25.Eusebius, †L. 13. de vera Sap. c. 21.Lactantius, *Aret. Probl. Pet. du Moul. Def. of the Cathol. Faith l. ubi supra.and others say, that he put Peter and Paul to death.
Paulus à Nerone (saith Eusebius) Romae capite truncatus, & Petrus palo affixus scribuntur; & Historia huic fidem facit, quod illic coemeteria habentur in quibus Petri & Pauli nuncupatio ad hunc usque diem obtinet.
Chrys. and Theophyl. upon the fourth Chapter of the second to Timonhy, 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; thereunto 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 Nero were so wicked, yet Paul maketh mention of some Saints in his Court. Phil. 4.22. than that which Eusebius and Ierom 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 cruel Tyrant, caused him to be put to death. He dyed in the 14. year of Nero's reign, and the 37. year after the Passion of Christ.
Seneca disswaded him from killing some, with this speech, Licèt (saith he) quam plurimos occidas, Yet Seneca was the Author of Agrippinas death, upon the suppossition of necessity.tamen non pates successorem tuum occidore. Xiphiline. Although thou killest very many, yet thou canst not kill thy Successor.
The Tyrannous rage of this Emperor was so fierce against the Christians (as Eusebius reporteth) usque adeo ut videret repletas humanis corporibus civitates, Hist. Eccles. l. 2. c. 24, 25, 26.jacentes mortuos simul cum parvulis senes, Nero subdidit reos, & quaesitissimis poenis affecit eos, quos per flagitia invisos, vulgus Christianos appellabat; Auctor ejus nominis Christus.foeminarumque absque ulla sexus reverentia in publico rejecta starent cadavere: 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, in the open streets.
In this persecution also Iames the greater,Tacit. 15. Annal. and the lesse, Philip, Bartholomew, Barnabas, Mark, suffered.
Addita pereuntibus ludibria, ut ferarum tergoribus contecti, canum laniatu interirent, aut crucibus affixi, aut flammandi; & ubi dies defecisset, in usum nocturni luminis urerentur.Christians were covered in wild beasts skins, and torn in pieces with Dogs, or fastned on crosses, or burn 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;Tacit. l. 1. Annal. and could not but expect, what they knew he deserved.Sueton. in Claud.
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 Feude-joy. Ad levandam sceleris atrocitatem (saith Polyd. *Lib. 8. de Invent. rerum cap. 6. Tacitus calleth them, hated for their wickedness, guilty, and worthy of utmost punishment, and their Religion a pestilent and pernicious superstition. See 15. of his Annal. c. 10.Virgil) to avoid the infamy thereof, he laid the fault on the innocent, and suborned some falsly to accuse the Christians as Authors of that fire; whereupon he put many of them to death: but Tacitus will clear them, who yet was their enemy. Non perinde (saith he) crimine incendii, quàm odio humani generis convicti sunt.
Suetonius (being no Christian) calleth the Christians men of new and pernicious superstition: Afflicti suppliciis Christiani, Sub Nerone saeva & infesta Virtutibus tempora. Non nisi grande aliquod bonum à Nerone damnatum. Tertul. Apol. adversus Gentes. Nero virtutem ipsam exscindere concupivit. Tacit. Annal. l. 16.(saith he) genus hominum superstitionis novae & maleficae.
Under Nero to do ill was not alwaies safe, alwaies unsafe to do well. He was so hateful an adversary to all righteousness, 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 retro fluere visi sunt. Plin. l. 2. c. 103witnesseth) commonly reputed Antichrist. He came into the world an Agrippa, or born with his feet forward, and turned 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 vital breath is fled from me,
Sueton.Let earth with fire mingled be.
Nay rather, quoth he, foreign, whiles vital spirit remains in me.
Erat ei aeternitatis perpetuaeque famae cupido, sed inconsulta.He had a desire (though it were foolish and inconsiderate) of eternity and perpetual fame, and therefore abolishing the old names of many things and places, he did put upon them new after his own.Suetonius. He called the Month April Neroneus, Which thing in him Commodus the Emperor imitated, calling Rome Commodiana.he meant also to have named Rome, Neropolis, Nero's City.
He pronounced an oration composed by Seneca: *Tacit. l. 13. of Annal.It was observed, that he was the first Emperor that needed another mans Eloquence; for Iulius Caesar was equal 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.
Post Tacitum scripsit, eumque interdum tacitè redarguit. Famian. Strad. Prolus. Hist. l. 1.The study of Nero was Versification, which Tacitus thinks he borrowed, having no gift therein at all; but Suetonius (who often doth disagree with Tacitus, 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,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 terrà alit; nimirum intelligens citharistiam, principi gratam, privato necessariam, quam excercere eum non puduit. Deductus (Nero) in forum tyro, populo congidrium, Militi Donativum proposuit. such as even the Greeks never feigned.
Nothing netled him more than when he was blamed by Vindex for an unskilful Musitian: 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 used to wind the pins 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 needful.
Additum nomine Neronis Donativum Militi, congiarium plebi. Tacit. 12. Annal.
The Princes liberalities to the Soldiers were called Donativa, Sueton.(which they bestowed upon some great victory,Imperatoris munus quod populo dabatu… congiarium dictum est, quod vero Militibus, Donativum. Alex. ab Alex. Gendier. l. 5. c. 24. or rather extraordinary occasions;) to the people, or otherwise to his friends, Congiaria; doubtless 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.
Mos erat principibus Romanis, ut simulatque Augusti à militibus nuncupati erant, donativum eis erogarent, quo militum benevolentiam conciliarent sibi. Valesius in Marcellini. lib. 26.
Vindex first stirred the stone, which rowling tumbled Nero out of his seat.Sir Henry Savil on Tacit. Nec adhuc erat damnati Principis exemplum.
When it was told Iulius Vindex, that Nero by publick Edict had prized his head at 10000 thousand Sesterces, (that is above fourscore thousand pounds in our coin,Neither was there ever before a President of any Prince by publick sentence deposed. Tacit. l. 1. Hist.) 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.
Sueton.Nero consulting the Delphick (or rather divellish) Oracle,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 habeo, nec inimicum; dedecorose vixi, turpius peream. he received this answer, That he should take heed of th… year 73 which he supposing to be meant of his own age, rested secure, being far 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 years.
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,Aurel. Vict. and exclaiming against them all, What, have I neither friend nor foe? (said he) I have lived dishonorably, let me dye shamefully;Defecit que extantibus rigentibusque oculis, ad horrorem formidinemque visentium. and then he strake himself throagh with his own sword, and was a hor…ible spectacle to all beholders.
Romae demum vitam reddit cum suam projecit:
Injustus aliis Iudex, justus sibi.Sueton.
Emanuelis Thesauri Caesares.
He dyed in the 32 year of his age, saith Suetonius; and 14 year of his reign, 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. & Severus) although he did thrust himself through with a sword yet some think that his wounds were healed,Vide Boxhornii Hist. Vnivers. à Christi tempore. p. 125, 126, 127. 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 persumptuous folly to say that Nero shall be revived and received as Antichrist; and Suarez calls it, Anilem fabulam, a foolish Fable.