Having thus allayed the prince's fears, they went at daybreak to Agrippina,
that she might know the charges against her, and either rebut them or suffer
the penalty. Burrus fulfilled his instructions in Seneca's presence, and
some of the freedmen were present to witness the interview. Then Burrus,
when he had fully explained the charges with the
NERO
DETERMINES AGRIPPINA'S DEATH |
authors' names, assumed an air of
menace. Instantly Agrippina, calling up all her high spirit, exclaimed, "I
wonder not that Silana, who has never borne offspring, knows nothing of a
mother's feelings. Parents do not change their children as lightly as a
shameless woman does her paramours. And if Iturius and Calvisius, after
having wasted their whole fortunes, are now, as their last resource,
repaying an old hag for their hire by undertaking to be informers, it does
not follow that I am to incur the infamy of plotting a son's murder, or that
a Cæsar is to have the consciousness of like guilt. As for Domitia's
enmity, I should be thankful for it, were she to vie with me in goodwill
towards my Nero. Now through her paramour, Atimetus, and the actor, Paris,
she is, so to say, concocting a drama for the stage. She at her
Baiae was increasing the magnificence of her fishponds,
when I was planning in my counsels his adoption with a proconsul's powers
and a consul-elect's rank and every other step to empire. Only let the man
come forward who can charge me with having tampered with the prætorian
cohorts in the capital, with having sapped the loyalty of the provinces, or,
in a word, with having bribed slaves and freedmen into any wickedness. Could
I have lived with Britannicus in the possession of power? And if Plautus or
any other were to become master of the State so as to sit in judgment on me,
accusers forsooth would not be forthcoming, to charge me not merely with a
few incautious expressions prompted by the eagerness of affection, but with
guilt from which a son alone could absolve me."
There was profound
excitement among those present, and they even tried to soothe her agitation,
but she insisted on an interview with her son. Then, instead of pleading her
innocence, as though she lacked confidence, or her claims on him by way of
reproach, she obtained vengeance on her accusers and rewards for her
friends.