The absurd vanities of Caligula form a sort of relief to the details of his cruelties. He took to himself the title of ruler. He ordered divine honours to be paid to him, and he assumed the names of such of the gods as were at the time most agreeable to him. He deca pitated the statues of Jupiter and sonic of the other deities and ordered his own head to be put upon their trunks. He seated himself between Castor and Pollux, and commanded their worshippers to pay their adora tion to him; and he finally added their temple to his palace in the form of a portico, in order that the gods might become his porters.
These depravities, together with his licentiousness and prodigality, of which we have given a detailed account in his life, (See at last roused the patriotism of the Romans. Cassius Cherea, a tribune of the Praetorian bands, conceived and executed the plan of terminating the frightful reign of Caligula.— This monster of iniquity was despatched with thirty wounds, and died in the 29th year of his age, and the 4th of his reign. His wife and infant daughter perish ed along with him; a centurion stabbed the one, and the brains of the other were clashed out against a wall.
Although the conspirators had destroyed the tyrant, they neglected to provide a successor to the throne. An attempt was made by Saturninus, who was then consul, to impress upon his countrymen the value of a free government. The senate listened with eagerness to the proposal, and having brought over some cohorts of the city to their views, they boldly seized upon the capitol. Such an attempt, however, was vain. The army and the mob, dazzled with the public spectacles with which the emperors had indulged them, and re collecting the donations which they had received, saw no advantages but in a monarchical government. Be tween these contending opinions, chance at last decid ed. Claudius, the uncle of Caligula and the nephew of Tiberius, was found accidentally by the soldiers, and he was immediately carried to the camp upon their shoulders, and proclaimed emperor. The senate passed a decree confirming this choice, and with some reluctance they went to pay him homage. Cherea was the first victim whose life Claudius demanded.— With the fortitude of an ancient Roman he begged that he might perish by the same sword with which he slew Caligula. His friend Lupus suffered death along with him, and Sabinus, who had been a partner in the conspiracy, fell by his own hand.
Claudius, whose history has been detailed at suffi dent length in our account of his life, was poisoned by his wife Agrippina in the 64th year of his age, and the 14th of his reign.
in order to secure the succession of her son Nero to the throne, Agrippina concealed the death of Claudius.
Alarmed lest Britannicus, the son of Claudius, by his first wife Nlessalina, should be chosen by the army, she kept him and his sisters Octavia and Antonia out of the way, and when her schemes were all arranged, she threw open the gates of the palace, and Nero, at tended by the prefect of the Preetorian guards, pre sented himself to secure the gratulations of the army and the people. Afier being proclaimed emperor with shouts of joy, he was carried in a chariot to the rest of the army, and having made a speech and promised donations, he was declared emperor by the united voices of the army, the senate, and the people.
At the age of seventeen, Nero began his reign in a manner which held out the prospect of better times. At the funeral obsequies of Claudius he pronounced an oration which was drawn up by his tutor Seneca. His mother, Agrippina, to whom he submitted with implicit obedience, already began to gratify her private animosities. Without Nero's knowledge she procured the assassination of Silanus, the proconsul of Asia, and contrary to Nero's wishes, she compelled Narcis sus to put an end to his own life. These cruelties, however, did not last long. Burrhus, the prefect of the Praatorian guard, and Seneca openly opposed the continuance of these cruelties. With the consent of Nero they laid down a plan of government both mer ciful and wise; and while Nero followed their counsels his conduct was considered as a model to succeeding princes. Ile was not only just and liberal and humane, but condescending and affable; and the Romans fondly hoped that the tyranny of former sovereigns would be balanced by the clemency and wisdom of Nero.
These expectations, however just and reasonable, were soon disappointed. Nero had concealed the depravity which nature had implanted in his heart, and, as circumstances arose to call it forth, it began to develop itself in all its hideousness. Having fallen in love with a freedwoman of the name of Acte, he ex cited the rage of his mother, who dreaded that her own influence would he transferred to a concubine.— He exerted every nerve, therefore, to thwart her wishes, and showed his displeasure by displacing Pallas, her principal favourite. Enraged at the slight which was thus put upon her, Agrippina pronounced Nero an usurper, and declared that Britannicus, the heir of his father's throne, was still alive. The de pravity of the emperor's heart was now called forth. He contrived to have Britannicus poisoned at a public banquet, and he abridged the privileges of Agrippina, and prohibited her from being visited by persons of whom he was suspicious.