c. 74.]

REPORT OF HIDDEN TREASURE.

443

races; that the month of April should bear the name of Nero; and to the goddess Salus a temple erected in the place whence Scævinus had brought out the dagger." The dagger Nero himself dedicated in the Capitol, and inscribed it to Jupiter Vindex, a circumstance which at that time did not attract particular notice. But, after the revolt of Julius Vindex, it was construed as an omen and presage of future vengeance. In the journals of the senate, I find that Cerialis Anicius, consul elect, instead of voting on the question, moved, "that a temple should, with all possible speed, be erected, at the charge of the state, to the deified Nero:" a motion by which he meant to intimate that he had out-topped the pinnacle of mortal greatness, and deserved the worship given to the gods; but which was interpreted as an omen of his approaching decease, for divine worship is not paid to a prince before he has ceased to sojourn among men.

BOOK XVI.

1. AFTER this, Nero was made the object of fortune's sport, through his own credulity and the representations of Cesellius Bassus, a Carthaginian by birth, and of a wild and irregular cast of mind; who perverted a vision of the still night into a foundation for the most confident hopes: making a voyage to Rome, he procured access to the prince by money, and laid before him the intelligence that "there had been discovered on his estate a cavern of immense depth, containing a vast quantity of gold, not reduced to the form of coin, but in shapeless masses, as it used to be in ancient times. In fact, ingots of surprising weight were lying in one part, and in another were standing bars of the same metal: treasures which had lain concealed for so long a period to augment the happiness of the present times. For the rest, to show the probability of the thing, he suggested that Dido the Phoeni

1 The month of April was called Neronius; May, Claudius; and June, Germanicus. Annals, xvi. 12.

cian, when she fled from Tyre,' and founded the city of Carthage, had secreted those treasures, lest the newly established people should run riot from superabundance of wealth; or the kings of the Numidians, otherwise inimically disposed, should be incited to make war upon her by a desire to get possession of the gold."

2

2. In consequence of this, Nero, without sufficient evidence of the veracity of the man, or the credibility of his story, and without having sent persons to ascertain whether the facts were as reported, even heightened the popular expectation himself, and despatched persons to convey away the wealth as though it had been spoil already acquired. Three-oared galleys and chosen mariners were employed, to facilitate despatch; nor during those days did any other topic engage the credulity of the people or the discussions of the wise. It happened also that the quinquennial games3 were then celebrating, on closing the second lustrum; and the poets and orators drew their principal materials from this source for praising the prince: for they said, that not only were the customary fruits produced, and gold mixed with other metals, but the earth gave forth her treasures with unheard-of exuberance, and the gods brought riches and laid them at his feet; with such other degrading flatteries as men of the highest eloquence and the most abject servility could invent, well assured of the credulous facility of the prince.

3. Meanwhile, his extravagance, encouraged by these chimerical anticipations, grew still more excessive; and his existing treasures were wasted under the idea that fresh ones had fallen in which would supply his lavish expenditure for many years. Nay, he even now made largesses from this source, and the expectation of riches was one of the causes of the impoverishment of the state: for Bassus having made excava

4

For the account of Dido's flight from Tyre, with the treasures of her husband Sichæus, to avoid the fury of Pygmalion, see Virgil, Æneid, i. 347.

2 The kings of Numidia, and the African princes in the neighbourhood of Carthage, were enemies to the infant state founded by Dido:"Hinc Getulæ urbes, genus insuperabile bello,

Et Numidæ infræni cingunt."-Virgil, Æn. iv. 40.

3 The quinquennial festival was established by Nero, A.U.c. 813 Annals, xiv. 20.

* Compare the account of Suetonius, in Neron. 31.

c. 5.]

NERO PERFORMS ON THE STAGE.

445

tions on his own estate, and on the surrounding lands, to a wide extent, affirming now this and then another place as the site of the promised mine, and attended not only by the soldiers but a throng of rustics engaged to do the work, at length came to his senses, and, wondering that his dreams should never have proved false before, and that this was the first time he had been mocked by one, he escaped from the anguish of shame and the dangers that threatened him, by a voluntary death. Some authors have stated that he was thrown into chains, and soon after released, his goods being taken from him in lieu of the royal treasure.

4. Meanwhile, as the quinquennial games were now approaching, the senate, to avert the disgrace of the emperor's appearing, offered to him "the victory in song;" and added "the crown of eloquence," to veil the indecorum of his theatrical exhibition. But Nero insisting, "that he needed not the favour and protection of the senate, and declaring that he was a match for his competitors, and would obtain the honours due to his talents by the conscientious decision of the judges," first recited a poem upon the stage; but afterwards, the people importuning him, "to give them the benefit of all his accomplishments," (their very words,) he mounted the orchestra, and complied with all the laws of the harp: not to sit down from fatigue; not to wipe off the perspiration with anything but the garment he wore; and that no secretions from the mouth or nostrils should be visible. Lastly, going down upon his knee, and stretching out his hand in a supplicatory form to the persons assembled there, he awaited the voices of the judges with pretended agitation; and the populace of the city, for their part, accustomed to encourage the gesticulations of the stage-players, applauded him from one end of the theatre to the other, in measured time, and according to a set form of clapping: you would have supposed that they were delighted, and possibly they were, from insensibility to the public disgrace.

5. But those who had come from remote municipal towns, and occupied that part of Italy where strictness of manners and primitive simplicity were still preserved; those, too, who had come from the various distant provinces in the capacity of ambassadors, or on private business, could neither endure this sight, nor were able to perform the degrading task; for

their inexperienced hands soon tired, and they embarrassed those who understood it, in consequence of which they were often struck by the soldiers, who were stationed in different parts of the benches, that not a moment of time should be misapplied in discordant applause or sluggish silence. It is certain that many knights were trampled to death in making their way through the crowded avenues and the pressing multitude; and that others, from being on the seats for a day and a night, without intermission, were seized with dangerous disease; for, in truth, they had more serious apprehensions if they failed in attending the exhibition, there being many employed openly, and more secretly, to note the names and countenances, the alacrity or reluctance of the company. The consequence was, that punishment was at once inflicted on the meaner sort, while his resentment against persons of rank was stifled for the present, and paid off afterwards: and it was said that "Vespasian was severely rebuked by Phoebus, his freedman, for closing his eyes as if in sleep; and having been with difficulty shielded by the entreaties of men of influence, escaped the destruction that threatened him afterwards, by the fatality which reserved him for greater things."

6. The diversions of the theatre were followed by the death of Poppæa; occasioned by a fit of passion in her husband, who gave her a violent blow with his foot when she was pregnant; for I cannot believe he poisoned her; as some have stated, rather from spite than conviction; as he desired to have children, and was devoted to his wife. Her body was not consumed by fire, according to the rites of the Romans; but, after the manner of foreign monarchs, embalmed by being filled with spices, and laid in the tomb of the Julian family. Her obsequies, however, were publicly celebrated, and from the rostrum the emperor magnified "her beauty and her lot, in having been the mother of an infant enrolled amongst the gods," with many other gifts of fortune, which he treated as so many virtues.

2

1 See Suetonius, in Neron. 23.

2 Beside the spices with which the body of Poppea was embalmed, a prodigious quantity was burnt on the occasion, insomuch that Pliny says, all Arabia did not produce in an entire year as much as was consumed at the funeral of Poppaa. Lib. xii. 18.

3 For the apotheosis of Nero's daughter by Poppæa, see Annals,

XV. 23.

c. 8.]

FATE OF CASSIUS AND SILANUS.

447

7. The death of Poppea was mourned, in appearance, but rejoiced at by those who recollected her character, on account of her lewdness and cruelty; and, besides the reproach of this murder, Nero earned fresh detestation by forbidding Caius Cassius' to assist at her funeral; the first signal this of impending doom; nor was it long postponed; and Silanus was involved in the same fate; without guilt in either, except that Cassius was preeminent for hereditary opulence and sedate manners; Silanus for the splendour of his ancestry, and the modesty of his youth. Nero therefore sent a letter to the senate, and argued for "the necessity of removing both from any share in the administration of the state;" to Cassius, objecting "that amongst the images of his ancestors, he preserved with veneration that of Caius Cassius, thus inscribed, 'The leader of the party;' and that because he meditated a civil war and defection from the house of the Cæsars: and as if it were not enough to employ the memory of a name implacably hostile to it for purposes of rebellion, he had attached to his cause Lucius Silanus, a young man of noble family and impetuous spirit, as a fit example to point to in drawing others into his revolutionary schemes."

8. He then assailed Silanus himself, with the same imputations as he had objected to his uncle Torquatus; "that he made arrangements for performing the various duties of empire; and appointed his freedmen treasurers, auditors, and secretaries" imputations false in fact and principle, for Silanus was particularly on his guard in consequence of his fears; and had been frightened into precautionary measures by the destruction of his uncle. Nero next prompted persons to assume the name of informers, and falsely accuse Lepida, the wife of Cassius and aunt of Silanus, " of incest with her nephew, and of practising horrible magic rites." Vulcatius Tullinus and Marcellus Cornelius, senators, and Calpurnius batus, a Roman knight, were implicated as accomplices, who, by appealing to Cæsar, eluded immediate condemnation; d afterwards, Nero being occupied with atrocities of surssing magnitude, they escaped, as too insignificant to engage

attention.

The name of this person was Cassius Longinus, a lawyer far adaced in years, and blind. Suet. in Neron. 37.

Marcellus Cornelius was afterwards put to death by Galba. Hist.