Having shaken off the yoke of Seneca and of Burr hus, Nero gave way to rioting and licentiousness.— Disguised as a slave, he prowled about the city, fre quenting taverns and brothels, and attempting to kill every person who interfered with him. These extra vagancies, vicious as they were, found still some apo logy in the youth and circumstances of Nero; but as he advanced in years his crimes became more detesta ble. Abandoning his wife Octavia, he cohabited with Poppea, the wife of his favourite Otho. Enraged at this connexion, Agrippina became the enemy of Pop pea, who retaliated by persuading Nero to get rid of his mother. Nero yielded to this request. He tried to break her spirit by various petty but ineffectual vexa tions. lie next tried the effects of poison, but though twice administered, she resisted its effects. He at tempted to drown her by giving her a pleasure sail on the coast of Calabria, in a ship so built, as to fall to pieces in the water; but this experiment was ill ma naged, and Agrippina contrived to support herself above water till she was picked up by a trading vessel. Unable to extinguish the vitality of Agrippina, Nero consulted Seneca and Burrhus, but both of them de clined to have any concern with such a deed. In this perplexity, Anicetus, the contriver of the ship, offered his services, and Nero is said to have exclaimed on the occasion, " That he never before felt himself an emperor." Anicetus, however, having already failed in his machinery had recourse to a more direct method. Attended by a body of soldiers, he surrounded Agrip pina's house, forced open the doors, and despatched Agrippina with many wounds. Nero was sent for to see that the deed was rightly done; and after surveying the body, he remarked that he never thought his mother had been so handsome.
Having been applauded by the senate for this horrible parricide, Nero had no occasion to follow any other will than his own. Satiated for awhile with his mother's death, he now addicted himself to music and to chariot driving. He at last became a principal performer in the chariot races; and havingbeen well received in this new capacity, he soon afterwards exhibited as a singer on the stage; making his first public appearance at the juvenile games instituted by himself. His next passion was to be a poet and a philosopher. The wits about court contri buted their instalments of written and extemporaneous verses, which, when tacked together by his orders, be came a poem by Nero. In like manner, he attended the debates and sought the society of philosophers.
Flaring thus become a player of all work, Nero re solved to make the tour of his empire to display his varied accomplishments. At Naples, the imperial performer so livened the attention of his audience, that an earthquake, which happened during one of his songs, was not felt in the theatre. Like other artists of moderate ability, he ran down his brother perform ers; he intrigued with his judges, and organized clubs and factions to applaud and to support him. Soldiers were stationed every where to make the hearers applaud at the right time, and to prevent any person whatever from leaving the house. Some fell into swoons in order to be carried out: several women were delivered in the theatre; and Vespasian, an old senator, and afterwards emperor, having been overpowered by sleep, while Nero was chanting one of his choruses, narrowly escaped with his life.
The cities of Greece having sent deputies to Nero to inform him that they had made a law to transmit to him the crowns for all the games, the emperor en tertained them in the most elegant manner. Knowing the weakness of the monarch, they requested him for a song, which they honoured with bursts of applause. Finding that his musical powers were so highly ap preciated by this refined people, he spent a whole year in Greece, where his suite consisted of dancers, sin gers, tailors, and other appendages of a theatre. He displayed his prowess at all the games. At the Olympic games, he drove a chariot with ten horses, and though he was jerked from his seat, yet he was crowned as the conqueror. At all the other games he was equally successful, and he obtained no fewer than 1,800 crowns. On one occasion he was opposed by a good singer, whose voice had surpassed his prudence, for Nero ordered him to be killed on the spot. His entry into Rome was the grandest pageant which the Romans had been called to witness. Seated in the chariot of Augustus, shining in Tyrian purple, and crowned with the Olympic garland, he carried on his head the Pythian crown, and had 1,100 crowns borne before him. Beside him was a musician, and behind him a band of virgins, who celebrated his victories by their vocal powers. The city was in a blaze of joy, and every kind of incense was offered to the royal per former. The next ambition of Nero was to excel in strength, and appear as a Hercules redivivus; and after he had taken lessons in boxing and \vs estling, he had a pasteboard lion erected in the theatre, which he assailed and struck down with a single blow.
One of the most extraordinary events in the history of Rome, namely, the burning of the city, has been with some degree of plausibility ascribed to the wick edness of Nero. This great fire began in shops filled with combustible materials, and spread with unex ampled rapidity. Commencing in the lower parts of the city, it extended with astonishing rapidity to the higher parts. All attempts to stop the progress of the flames were prevented by persons that seemed stationed on purpose, and these same persons were seen to throw lighted firebrands into the houses, and did not scruple to declare that they had authority for doing so. After raging six clays, the progress of the conflagration was at last stopped at the foot of the Esquiline Mount, by pulling down a number of build ings. Nero, who was at Antium during the fire, is said to have mounted his private stage, and to have sung the destruction of Troy on account of its sup posed resemblance to the present calamity. When he heard, however, that the flames were approaching his palace, he came to Rome, but just in time to wit ness the destruction of the palace. Nero appeared to feel some compassion for the poor Romans whom this desolation had left houseless and distressed. He laid open the field of Mars, and even his own gardens to receive them. He ordered tents to be erected; he lowered the price of corn, and had all sorts of furni ture and necessaries brought from Ostea.