The “Quinquennium Neronis.”Nero was the grandson of Germanicus and a descendant of Augustus. He was proclaimed by the praetorians and accepted by the senate. He had been educated by the great philosopher Seneca; and his interests had been looked after by Burrhus, the able captain of the praetorian guards. His accession was hailed with gladness. He assured the senate that he would not interfere with its powers. The first five years of his reign, which are known as the “Quinquennium Neronis,” were marked by a wise and beneficent administration. During this time he yielded to the advice and influence of Seneca and Burrhus, who practically controlled the affairs of the empire and restrained the young prince from exercising his power to the detriment of the state. Under their influence delation was forbidden, the taxes were reduced, and the authority of the senate was respected.
Tyranny and Crimes of Nero.But Nero’s worst foes were those of his own household, especially his unscrupulous and ambitious mother, Agrippina. The intrigues of this woman to displace Nero and to elevate Britannicus, the son of Claudius, led to Nero’s first domestic tragedythe poisoning of Britannicus. He afterward yielded himself to the influence of the infamous Poppaea Sabina, the most beautiful and the wickedest woman of Rome. At her suggestion, he murdered first his mother, and then his wife. He discarded the counsels of Seneca and Burrhus, and accepted those of Tigellinus, a man of the worst character. Then followed a career of wickedness, extortion, atrocious cruelty, which it is not necessary to describe, but which has made his name a synonym for all that is vicious in human nature, and despicable in a ruler.
Burning and Rebuilding of the City.In the tenth year of his reign occurred a great fire which destroyed a large part of the city of Rome. It is said that out of the fourteen regions, six were reduced to ashes. Many ancient temples and public buildings were consumed, such as the temple of Jupiter Stator ascribed to Romulus, and the temples of Vesta and Diana, which dated from the time of the kings. The reports which have come to us of the conduct of Nero during this great disaster are very diverse. Some represent him as gloating over the destruction of the city and repeating his own poem on the “Sack of Troy.” Other reports declare that he never showed himself in a more favorable light, exerting himself to put out the flames, opening the public buildings and the imperial palace for the shelter of the homeless, and relieving the suffering by reducing the price of grain. But it is charged that if he performed these charities, it was to relieve himself of the suspicion of having caused the conflagration. Whatever may be the truth as to his conduct, the burning of Rome resulted in rebuilding the city on a more magnificent scale. The narrow streets were widened, and more splendid buildings were erected. The vanity of the emperor was shown in the building of an enormous and meretricious palace, called the “golden house of Nero,” and also in the erection of a colossal statue of himself near the Palatine hill. To meet the expenses of these structures the provinces were obliged to contribute; and the cities and temples of Greece were plundered of their works of art to furnish the new buildings.
First Persecution of the Christians.In order to shield himself from the suspicion of firing the city, Nero accused the Christians and made them the victims of his cruelty. Nothing can give us a more vivid idea of this first persecution than the account of the Roman historian Tacitus, which is of great interest to us because it contains the first reference found in any pagan author to Christ and his followers. This passage shows not only the cruelty of Nero and the terrible sufferings of the early Christian martyrs, but also the pagan prejudice against the new religion.
Tacitus says: “In order to drown the rumor, Nero shifted the guilt on persons hated for their abominations and known as Christians, and punished them with exquisite tortures. Christ, from whom they derive their name, had been punished under Tiberius by the procurator Pontius Pilate. Checked for a time, this pernicious religion broke out again not only in Judea but in Rome. Those who confessed their creed were first arrested; and then by their information a large number were convicted, not so much on the charge of burning the city, as of hating the human race. In their deaths they were made the subjects of sport; for they were covered with the skins of wild beasts, worried to death by dogs, nailed to crosses, burned to serve for torches in the night. Nero offered his own gardens for this spectacle. The people were moved with pity for the sufferers; for it was felt that they were suffering to gratify Nero’s cruelty, not from considerations for the public welfare.” (“Annals,” Bk. XV., Ch. 44.)
General Condition of the Empire.In spite of such enormous crimes as those practiced by Nero, the larger part of the empire was beyond the circle of his immediate influence, and remained undisturbed. While the palace and the city presented scenes of intrigue and bloodshed, the world in general was tranquil and even prosperous. Except the occasional extortion by which the princes sought to defray the expenses of their debaucheries, Italy and the provinces were reaping the fruits of the reforms of Julius Caesar and Augustus. During this early period, the empire was better than the emperor. Men tolerated the excesses and vices of the palace, on the ground that a bad ruler was better than anarchy.
SELECTIONS FOR READING
Pelham, Bk. V., Ch. 4, “The Julian Line” (1).2
Capes, Early Empire, Ch. 2, “Tiberius,” Ch. 3, “Caligula,” Ch. 4, “Claudius,” Ch. 5, “Nero” (7).
Bury, Empire, Ch. 13, Sect. 1, “Civil Government of Tiberius” (7).
Merivale, Empire, Vol. IV., Ch. 39, “Unity of the Empire” (7).
Cruttwell, Bk. III., Ch. 3, “Seneca” (17).
Suetonius, “Tiberius,” “Caligula,” “Claudius,” “Nero” (11).
Tacitus, Annals, Bk. I., Chs. 11-15, Tiberius and the Senate (4).
THE LAW OF “MAIESTAS” AND DELATION.Leighton, p. 442 (1); Bury, Empire, pp. 194, 195 (7); Capes, Early Empire, pp. 57-61 (7); Merivale, Gen. Hist., pp. 446, 447 (1); Merivale, Empire, Vol. V., pp. 114-130 (7).
1 Caligula is the diminutive of caliga, the name given to a soldier’s boot, such as is shown in the appended illustration. Hence Caligula might be translated “Little Boots.”
2 The figure in parenthesis refers to the number of the topic in the Appendix, where a fuller title of the book will be found.