The Weak Link (1)

When people mention the name Nero, it tends to conjure up an image of a tyrannical, cruel
monster, obsessed with luxury and bloodshed. Nero is however far more complex, than the
standard portrayal of him would allow us to think. In this post, we will be looking at the first
part of his reign, to try and get a better understanding of the many faces of Nero.
October 13th AD 54, midday. Claudius lay dead in the imperial palace, and it was time for
his successor to be brought forward. Burrus, the Prefect of the Praetorian Guard brought
Nero before the battalion on duty, and on his word the young man was cheered and placed in
a litter. According to Tacitus, some men looked around hesitantly asking
where Britannicus was; with no alternative offered however, they simply accepted Nero. He
was carried to the Guards' camp where he delivered a speech promising gifts on the same
scale as Claudius had done before him, and was declared Emperor.
The army's decision was apparently followed by senatorial decrees verifying Nero's new
position and proving now beyond doubt the point made by Claudius' accession - the decision
ultimately lay with the army. If they were satisfied, everyone else would just have to fall in
line.
Claudius was voted divine honours and given a grand funeral not seen since that of the great
Augustus. At the funeral, Nero delivered a speech, composed by Seneca, honouring his
father. This was then followed by an address to the Senate, outlining his future policy. Nero
used his youth and inexperience to his advantage- he had no feuds or civil wars to bring with
him into his reign. He also made a point of stating his intentions to get rid of all of the
negative aspects of Claudius' reign- like a typical politician trying to get elected, criticise the
predecessor.
The first 5 years of Nero's reign are known as the 'Quinquennium Neronis'- a kind of golden
age of rule, when Nero reigned under the guidance of his tutors, Seneca and Burrus. At 16
years of age, the accession of Nero proved that being a member of the Julio-Claudian clan
was qualification enough to be Emperor. The accession of Gaius had made a similar point,
but he had at least reached the required age for holding office.
Augustus had worked incredibly hard to maintain the facade of there still being a Republic,
which his successors (with the exception of Gaius) had also upheld. On his first day on the
job, Nero was already destroying this facade just by accepting the position of Emperor.
Nero's accession then was important in the way that it set the tone for his rule. He handled
the army expertly thank to Burrus, and the Senate, thanks to Seneca. There was another

element however which took centre stage right from the start- the domineering
mother. Agrippina had been the major driving force behind Nero's rise to power. Now he
had made it, the former Empress expected her hard work to be recognised and rewarded by
the new ruler of the Roman Empire- and it was.
Coinage from the time of Nero's first year in power depicts the Emperor and Agrippina faceto-face, almost suggesting she was something of a co-ruler. There is even a sculpture,
possibly commissioned on his accession, in which Nero is shown being crowned by
Agrippina- in this the message could not be clearer. Nero's position was given to him by his
mother.
With Seneca and Burrus at his side though, Nero could now begin to step out from his
mother's shadow and rule as Emperor in his own right. The first few months of his reign
were thus occupied with the practical bits of imperial rule- the Senate was handed back
control over court cases, troops were sent out to deal with a crisis in Armenia,
and Narcissus, the freedman that had played so significant a part under Claudius, was
driven to suicide.
In AD 55, it was time to address the loose thread that had been hanging since the death of
Claudius- Britannicus. Now 13, the same age Nero had been when he took on the toga
virilis, the young man was becoming more of a problem. As he grew up, people could
potentially start to question why Nero had been made Emperor instead of
Claudius' biological son. Nero had attempted to tackle this by stressing his relationship
to Augustus rather than Claudius, but Britannicus was a potential threat still.
The issue of Britannicus had been given a bit of help in being brought to the Emperor's
attention though. Agrippina had recently found herself being pushed out of Nero's close
circle and replaced with another woman, a former slave named Acte.
Not only was she being replaced by a younger, more attractive female as the main
influential woman in the imperial circle, but by an ex-slave at that. The more she protested to
the relationship, the closer Nero became to Acte, and the angrier he became with his mother,
going so far as to have Pallas, the former confidant of Claudius, and Agrippina's alleged
lover, removed from his position and forced into retirement.
But hell hath no fury like a woman scorned, as the saying goes, and Agrippina fought back.
She began to devote her attention to Britannicus, and made a point of showing her support
for him as the "true and worthy heir" of Claudius. [1]
Nero began to worry- he was not yet even a full year into his reign, and his position was far
from being completely secured. He decided to remove the threat, and with the help of his
tutors and a few other individuals, Britannicus was poisoned at a banquet attended by,

amongst others, Nero, Agrippina, and Octavia, Britannicus' sister. The women sat quietly,
horrified as they watched Britannicus convulse and die before their very eyes. After a few
moments, the banquet continued on, and Britannicus was cremated the very same night.
AD 55 also saw the removal of Agrippina's military bodyguard, and her transferral to a
separate residence, away from the imperial palace. Her former supporters and friends,
seeing the writing on the wall, deserted her. Though a charge of treason was brought against
her not long after, it was dismissed and the accusers punished. Agrippina might have been
down, but she was not completely out.
The following year, Nero began to show the kind of behaviour one might expect from an 18
year old given charge of an entire Empire and all its trappings. One night, while roaming the
seedy and less reputable parts of Rome, Nero and his gang got into a scuffle with a senator
called Julius Montanus when the latter's wife was insulted. Nero was injured in the fight
and left with several very noticeable marks on his face. Montanus recognised the Emperor
after the fight and sent his sincerest apologies to try and avoid any repercussions. By doing
so however, Montanus brought to light the fact that Nero was in a part of Rome at a time not
becoming of a nobleman, and moreover that he had knowingly struck the Emperor- he was
forced to commit suicide.
Two years later, the issue with Armenia that had been temporarily plastered over in the first
months of Nero's reign reared its ugly head. Corbulo, the general charged with securing the
territory, invaded Armenia and managed to capture the capital of Artaxata. Nero, as
Emperor, received the glory for this victory, and was voted statues, triumphal arches and a
succession of consulships to celebrate 'his' achievement.
In the same year, Nero's eye was caught by a new and more powerful female- Poppaea
Sabina. Beautiful and bright, according to Tacitus,
Poppaea had every asset except goodness. [2]
But Nero was infatuated with her, and tackled the small issue of her being the wife of his
close friend Otho, by having him sent away in a new role as Governor of Lusitania (modern
day Portugal/Spain). With Otho now out of the picture, Poppaea was a free woman. Nero
however, was still very much attached.
In AD 53, Nero had married Octavia, the daughter of Claudius (and his step-sister) in order
to solidify his position as the Emperor's son and secure his future as successor. Now
Emperor, the arrangement was no longer convenient for Nero.

With pressure growing from Poppaea, Nero was faced with the problem of trying to get out of
his marriage with the least damage possible. Agrippina, so we are told, strongly objected to
Nero's intention to divorce Octavia, as would many others. As the chaste and devoted wife of
the man who had murdered her brother, divorcing Octavia would only serve to make her the
object of pity, and Nero the object of public scorn.
Moreover, Agrippina still had some power to wield and would likely try to make things
extremely difficult for Nero if he tried to go ahead with the divorce.
Her motives for objecting so strongly most likely lie in the fact that Poppaea was a much
stronger and more dominant figure than Octavia. If she were to take Octavia' place as
Empress, there would be no chance of Agrippina having any kind of influence over Nero
again. Rumours did also abound of a supposed incestuous relationship between Nero and his
mother, so that her motives were attributed to jealousy, but even contemporary historians
raised their doubts to the reliability of these rumours. Nonetheless, the objections proved
strong enough, so Nero continued his relationship, for the time being, with Poppaea as his
mistress, rather than his wife.
The following year saw the carrying out of one of the most shocking acts in Julio-Claudian
family history, and one that marked the end of the "five good years" of Nero's rule. For
reasons not entirely clear, in AD 59, Nero decided he had had enough of his mother, and
began to make plans to have her killed. A number of theories have been suggested as to why
Nero decided this route of dealing with his mother, including increased pressurising from
Poppaea, but it is likely that it was culmination of a number of things. If he had her exiled, it
would only serve to stir up public sympathies for her- her position as the daughter of
Germanicus and great-granddaughter of Augustus was still strong in the public's mind.
Nero then decided to implement a similar strategy to the one used to deal with Britannicus:
remove the threat, quickly and quietly. Agrippina had strengthened her system against
poison by regularly taking antedotes however, so that method was out, as was any hope of
using her household to get rid of her as she was far too acute to possible plots against her.
A dramatic and ingenious method was thus devised for the job- a collapsible boat. After
attending a party held by Nero on the coast, Agrippina boarded a ship to take her back to
Rome. The ship had been rigged so that a section of it would come apart at sea, hurling
Agrippina overboard where she would be left to drown; a terrible and tragic accident.
When the signal was given however and the roof collapsed, Agrippina's friend, who had been
standing by her, was crushed while Agrippina herself remained untouched due to the raised
couch she had been resting on. Worse still, the rest of the ship held together firmly so there
was no chance of Agrippina going overboard.

Panic ensued amongst those who were in on the plot, and some tried to capsize the boat by
rocking it. It didn't work, but the ship began to descend slowly into the water. Acerronia,
another of Agrippina's friends began to call out for help, pretending to be the Emperor's
mother, presumably in the hope that she would receive help quicker that way. The plotters
however rushed to her and clubbed her to death with oars and anything else they could find.
Agrippina kept quiet and swam until she came to some sailing boats, who carried her ashore
and took her home.
Realising that she had been the intended victim of a murder plot, Agrippina decided to feign
ignorance and sent word to Nero that she had miraculously survived a terrible accident. She
added that the Emperor need not visit her as she would need her rest.
Nero panicked. What if she went to the army or the Senate and told them what he had done?
She could turn Rome against him and have him charged with attempted matricide. There
was no time to waste- Seneca and Burrus were summoned to deal with the crisis.
When Burrus was asked to have the Praetorian Guard kill her however, he replied that they
would not.
the Guard were devoted to the whole imperial house and to Germanicus' memory; they
would commit no violence against his offspring. [3]
Anicetus, the freedman who had come up with the idea of the collapsing boat, was then
given the task of finishing off the job. While Anicetus was on his way to deal with Agrippina,
her messenger arrived at the palace. Taking the initiative, Nero dropped a sword at the man's
feet and had him arrested immediately. The story would go out that Agrippina had tried to
have the Emperor killed, been foiled, and killed herself. Politics.
Anicetus and his chosen group of murderers arrived at Agrippina's house and had all her
slaves and servants removed. As they moved in to kill her, so the story goes, Agrippina asked
them to strike her in her womb first, a symbolic gesture of destroying the part of the body
that had made Nero.
Blow after blow fell, and she died. [4]
After the murder, Nero sent word to the Senate of the 'plot' against him, and informed them
of her subsequent suicide. Nero was praised by sycophantic senators, and thanks were given
to the gods for saving the Emperor. One senator, Thrasea Paetus, watching all of this take
place, walked out of the Senate in disgust.

Nero was now free of the watchful eye of his mother and could do as he pleased. The murder
of Agrippina marked a turning point for Nero and his reign. Up until this point, he had been
trying to publicly maintain the image he had created for himself (or rather that his advisors
had created for him) upon his accession.
Now that mask had fallen, and it was time for the age of Nero to take a much different shape.
In the next post, we shall see how things went from bad to worse with Nero, and tackle one
or two of the most stand out features of his reign, including the Great Fire of Rome.

Agrippina crowning Nero, AD 54

source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ner%C3%B3n_y_Agripina.jpg

[1] Tacitus, Annals XIII.14

[2] Tacitus XIII.45
[3] Tacitus XIV.7
[4] Tacitus XIV.8
Glossary:

Litter - A kind of portable bed, used to carry members of the upper class.

Toga virilis - The mark of adulthood for males.