Which sounds as if LIPSIVS would haue SENECA'S honour remaine entire though it were against that wholenesse of truth which the lawes of historie doe exact no lesse against the best wits then against the greatest kings That noble DIO for hee onely reports what he found and is not found to haue fained any thing hath written how SENECA'S vsuries in BRITAIN were a cause of the terrible rebellion there by calling in his moneyes too sodeinly is a particular which wants not ground of credit by that which SVILIVS vrgeth in TACITVS against SENECA Of his hauings there is most ample testimonie of his giuings none at all Some haue reputed him a Christian but TERTVLLIAN hath all in a word HEE IS OFTEN OVRS They are in an errour as DELRIO truely thinkes who father more goodnesse vpon him then so His extant writings make TERTVLLIANS censure of him true and his last words repeated by TACITVS ending in a friuolous ceremonie to IVPITER conclude on behalfe of paganisme Saint AVGVSTINE saith no more but that SENECA was perhaps a friend to Christianitie They therefore who with LVDOVICVS Viues would haue SENECA'S labouring to NERO for leaue of withdrawing himselfe from ROME vpon the Persecution as he seriously did to be a signe of more then so goe too farre And if other arguments were wanting this one alone might serue in stead of a multitude that hee had not the right spirit who besides the doctrine of selfe-murther by him commended would meddle in the violent deposing of his soueraigne Lord. A certaine signe that he profited little in his supposed familiaritie with Saint PAVL who in these very times of NERO and to these very ROMANS taught quite the contrary as also blessed PETER As for LVCAN the other of those two famous writers whose mortall quarell to his prince was nothing else but an indignitie forsooth offred about verses he stirred not so hotly among the complices for incensing hatred as hee coldly suncke at his arrest into ignoble feeblenesse For it wrought so farre vpon him that in vnworthie hope to make amends for not disclosing the treason sooner and to winne compassion from a paricidiall prince by endeauouring to imitate his impiety the miserable man appeached apace and among all others his innocent mother ATTILLA This shrillest trumpet of popular paritie and the boldest decryër of monarckie brought to test in his own person quailes in courage as if at last hee felt in soule the horrour of vnder-valuing princely maiestie in whomsoeuer resiant and therefore toucht with the sense of sacriledge hee ceased to maintaine any stifnesse against the conscience of it Wit and manners are ouer-often diuided Most happy they when ioyned To be an excellent maister in any kinde and a worthie constant man are two Nor is this any secret or scandalous wonder at all considering how grace and nature the fountaines of those diuersities are frequently found seuerall Enough it is that NERO reapes no benefit by LVCANS immoderate praises in the addresse of his PHARSALIA For NERO'S fame is not the fairer thereby and the verses full of their makers admirable fire shall warme the vnderstanding reader while LATIN and the world endures LVCAN otherwise a blab by descent for his father before him ANNAEVS MELLA bewraid a conspiracie against CALIGVLA saith TACITVS and was therefore himselfe the lesse pittied when hee fell vnder NERO. I returne to the conspiracie CHAP. XXXIII MORE TOVCHING PISO'S CONSPIRACIE THe conspirators with PISO were many and many of prime qualitie FENNIVS RVFVS Prefect of the Praetorium ioinctly with TIGELLINVS and the vnthankefull PLAVTIVS LATERANVS NERO'S bounden beneficiarie the designed Consul two of them But SENECA alone was a mightie part of NERO'S danger who besides his priuate riches in lands and treasure and besides his Praeture had the honour also of Consulship which he bare in extraordinarie and suffectiuely together with TREBELLIVS MAXIMVS as MARTINVS DELRIO authentically prooues Adde to this the matchlesse fame of his wit and worth and the taste hee had giuen of the felicities which the common weale enioy'd during his sway in Court The meeting of the conspirators to prepare for the action was in an old Temple of the Sunne therefore when the businesse was accidentally detected the first honour in the publicke thankes was ascribed to his golden godhead After detection and condemnation SENECA the vncle of LVCAN by the fathers side died first of the two But while CORNELIVS TACITVS vnfortunately neglected to preserue the last diuine dictats of that expiring Worthie because they were in euery mans hands they are irrecouerably lost and supposititiously to reuiue them were no common insolencie LVCAN expired in the rehersall of some of his owne verses which what they were LIPSIVS better notes then VERTRANIVS The manner of death was the same to both for they opened their vaines and bled themselues drye in warme water Multitudes perished by occasion of this treason but PISO the chiefe therein nothing brauely nor did any one of the conscious speake neare to the height of such a daring as the killing of a tyrant but onely SVBRIVS FLAVIVS a tribune of Praetorian soldiers and SVLPICIVS AFER a centurion for when NERO demanded of the tribune why contrary to his oath and dutie he made one against him his answere was Because quoth hee I hated thee and yet there was not one in thine armies more loiall then my selfe all the while thou didst deserue loue but after thou hadst murthered thy mother and wife and hadst turned chariotéer stage-player and boutefeu I could no longer endure thee SVLPICIVS the second example of constancie as TACITVS calls him to the like question returnd this blunt satisfaction Because quoth hee there was no other way to helpe thee but to rid thee out of the world SVETONIVS and XIPHILINE out of DIO celebrate these rough fellowes as well as TACITVS who to show that both sexes concurred to NERO'S destruction tells vs that EPICHARIS a meane woman but a maine embroiler equald the popular glory of those words by saying nothing for tortures could worme no secrets out of her and to make sure from being conquered with further paine she found meanes by strangling her selfe to stop the passage of vocall discoueries NERO for iustification of his proceedings against the conspirators called a SENATE and in a speech to the Conscript Fathers laid open the cause To leaue the people satisfied he also published an edict annexing thereunto the testimonies of witnesses and the confessions of the condemned persons A truth of that nature was not hard to proue for the designe of his deposure and death was euident and all lawes warranted his right reuenge But his amendment which had beene the greater satisfaction and the surest way to his future safetie was so little meditated on his part that he could not thinke it needfull The attempt had pernitious effects for from hence his iealousie and hatred of the SENATE as the secret well-willers of his ruine sprung and hee himselfe
NERO CAESAR or Monarchie depraued An Historical work Dedicated wth leaue To the Duke of BVCKiNGhAM lord Admiral A.D. MDCXXiii NERO CAESAR OR MONARCHIE DEPRAVED AN HISTORICALL WORKE Dedicated with leaue to the DVKE of BVCKINGHAM LORD ADMIRALL By the Translator of LVCIVS FLORVS LONDON Printed by T. S. for Thomas Walkley at Britaines Bursse 1624. SENECA AD NERONEM Apud CORNELIVM TACITVM Annal. XIV Ego quid aliud MVNIFICENTIae adhibere potui quà m STVDIA vt sic dixerim in VMBRA educata è quibus CLARITVDO veuit TO MY LORD THE DVKE OF BVCKINGHAM LORD ADMIRALL Most noble my gracious Lôrd THe Office of an Historian is not more worthie then it is hard But the hardnesse as it riseth from the greater necessity of truth then of eloquence is recompensed with an aduantage aboue all other sorts of humane learning For each of those is but for certain natures whereas History is a common study for all The nobility of the guift for it is a guift from heauen and a great one is manifest by the excellencies of persons who haue laboured therein Saints Emperours Kings Gown-men Sword-men and whatsoeuer else is best or for the best The difficulties grow out of the abstruse condition of causes counsels facts and their circumstances And howsoeuer lights may faile yet truth is the supreame aime of euery right narrationer In this historicall work of NERO CaeSAR I haue so regarded veritie that in the same alone I haue placed my whole dignitie CHAP. XIII NERO'S munificences and liberalities CHAP. XIIII OF OCTAVIA NERO'S first wife and of some other women within his first fiue yeeres CHAP. XV. THe death of AGRIPPINA AVGVSTA § I. The causes for which NERO resolued to destroy Agrippina his owne mother Page 24. § II. Meanes thought and agreed vpon for the secret destruction of AGRIPPINA Page 26. § III. The time and place for execution of the deed with a partil description of the trap-galley Page 28. § IIII. AGRIPPINA feasted by NERO at BAIAE and put aboord the trap-galley vpon her returne Pag. 31. § V. The trap in the galley miscarrying AGRIPPINA regaines the shore her two chief attendants diuerslie slaine Pag. 34. § VI. Doubts touching AGRIPPINA'S escape not to bee cleared out of TACITVS SVETONIVS or DIO attempted to bee cleared otherwise Pag. 36. § VII NERO after the newes of Agrippina's escape giues present order for her death in hope to make it seeme her proper act Pag. 38. § VIII The manner of Agrippina's murther exactlie described Pag. 39. § IX NERO'S behauiour and words in priuate vpon the view of Agrippina's corse where the same of their incest is likewise scanned Pag. 43. § X. A short speculation touching Agrippina's pedigree and death Pag. 46. § XI The peoples inward iudgement of NERO'S heinous fact against his mother in what sort outwardly exprest Pag. 48. § XII Of Agrippina's colonie and commentaries and of her buriall Pag. 49. CHAP. XVI AN eclipse of the Sunne and the day of Agrippina's death obserued CHAP. XVII NERO'S part after his mothers end towards the cloze of his first fiue yeeres CHAP. XVIII COnsiderations touching the premisses and common-weale CHAP. XIX THe ghoste of Agrippina and other apparitions afflicting Nero. CHAP. XX. OF the fiue yearlie Playes and Prizes instituted at Rome by Nero and of his studies CHAP. XXI OF the Counsel of Historie for the worser part of Nero's reigne after his first Quinquennium CHAP. XXII AN addresse of speech to my Lord touching that which followes in Nero's reigne CHAP. XXIII THe principall wonder of Nero's time and of Princedoome THE END OF THE FIRST FIVE yeares of NERO his most commended time CHAP. XXIIII THe reuolt in BRITAINE and other troubles of warre § I. An introductorie summe of affaires in Britain from the Romans first entrance vnder Iulius Caesar till the present reuolt vnder Nero. Pag. 72. § II. The Britanns at bloudie oddes among themselues vpon Iulius Caesars inuasion Pag. 74. § III. The effects of Caesars two inuasions and of his finall returne out of Britain Pag. 75. § IIII. The Britanns and the things of Britain a part of Caesars triumph ouer the Galles Pag. 78. § V. Of the Britanns and the British chariot of Maecenas vnder Augustus Pag. 79. § VI. Of the peace of Britain and of other rarest matters there vnder Tiberius Pag. 81. § VII Britain menaced by Caligula A touch of his follies and tower Pag. 83. § VIII The conquest of Britain vnder Claudius Caesar. A rare coigne of his concerning the state thereof Pag. 85. CHAP. XXV THe intermitted narration of the reuolt of Britain vnder Nero prosecuted § I. The title of the Romans to their conquests Pag. 91. § II. The estate of the Roman-Britanns immediately before the reuolt Pag. 92. § III. The causes of the grand reuolt Boadicia's quarell the chiefe Pag. 97. § IIII. The person and qualitie of Boadicia the warlick widow curiously described Pag. 101. § V. Of Suetonius Paullinus Nero's lieutenant generall in Britaine and of his designe against Anglesey Pag. 102. § VI. Suetonius being absent vpon the conquest of Anglesey what Roman forces and friends resided behind for a stay and where Pag. 104. § VII Maine obseruations touching Cogidunus a king at this time in Britain Pag. 106. § VIII Boadicia and the Britanns meet in great secrecie and resolue to rise in armes Pag. 109. § IX The Druids of Britain parties in this grand reuolt Pag. 110. § X. Wonders fore-show the ouer-hanging euils Pag. 112. § XI Boadicia's musters and attire and of the place of the rendeuous Pag. 113. § XII Boadicia's oration to her armie affording a most forceable poinct to inflame the Britanns by opposing their manners to the Romans Pag. 115. § XIII The motions and actions of this mightie bodie of rebellion And first concerning the Roman colonie at Camalodunum and the castles on the borders Pag. 119. § XIIII The Roman colonie at Camalodunum destroid by Boadicia Pag. 122. § XV. Petilius Cerealis comming tardie to the rescue is encountred vpon the way by Boadicia and put to flight Pag. 125. § XVI Catus Decianus Nero's procurator leaues Britain without leaue Pag. 127. § XVII Suetonius Paullinus vpon the newes of Boadicia's rebellion came in hast from Mona to London Pag. 129. § XVIII Of Nero's London before Suetonius Paullinus was driuen by Boadicia to abandon it and first whither it were once a Roman colonie or no. Pag. 131. § XIX The qualitie and estate of London immediately before the burning Pag. 132. § XX. NERO'S lieutenant in Britain abandons London to the rebells Pag. 139. § XXI London entred sackt and set on fire by Boadicia Pag. 144. § XXII Verulam sackt and destroid by Boadicia An essentiall difference between the persons of a Municipium and a Colonie Pag. 148. § XXIII The most sauage behauiour of the Boadicians in the vse of their victories throughout Pag. 151. § XXIIII The course which Suetonius Paullinus held in his retreat from London and of
his predecessour These beginnings therefore thus vnderstood do seeme to haue conferred somewhat towards the weakening of pious respects in NERO who leauen'd with the scoffings of his Maister for euen LIPSIVS notes that euill spirit in SENECA did showe himselfe afterwards no vndexterous disciple breaking sundrie bitter iests remembred by SVETONIVS vpon his dead adoptiue father the creator of his vndeserued fortunes VIII A WORD OR TVVO TOVCHING THE INSTITVTION OF A MONARCK BY OCCASION OF NERO'S INSTITVTION TO vtter briefely somewhat by way of francke speech vpon this iust occasion in the most chearfull and most carefull prouince of the world the institution of a soueraigne prince whose good or euill is the common-weals there is nothing in it which can bee litle or of litle moment I do not say of that which is directly ill for that admitts no doubt but of that which leads though but indirectly towards it Because great euils may grow out of the smallest causes But it was neuer a little matter by all means and at all times to maintaine and strengthen natural pietie and ingenuous thanckfulnesse which after some sort are all in all Princes otherwise minded vndo themselues For seeing imperiall maiestie doth subsist by the veneration which is owing therevnto for the reason of fatherly and lordly power they doe make examples to their owne harmes who beeing hereditarie or beneficiarie princes minister the least suspition of irreuerent affections towards their proper parents or founders The most bottomly stone which can be laid for all future felicitie is digged out of none other quarrie then pietie and whatsoeuer superedifide is not of like nature will fall to ground and in the fall thereof will carry it selfe and with it selfe all the rest either into obliuion or infamie To constitute CLAVDIVS diuine and to deride him was absurd in it selfe as being against both their religion and the clearnesse of their reason And let the insinuations of his disgrace bee neuer so iust yet they could not iustly seeme to spring from any other fountaine of affections then that which traiterously tooke away his life And whither did not licence carry leuitie when that very fact which was absolutely worthie of all detestation and punnishment was become the heinous subiect of SENECA'S and NERO'S iests Therefore howsoeuer I hartely loue what SENECA'S writings haue good in them and doe admire what is excellent either for wisdome eloquence or conceipt yet I doe freely professe to hate that as all men certeinly doe who esteeme the conscience of moral and ciuil duties aboue the flashes of ambitious wit IX THE SENATS VSE OF SENECA'S OFFICES AT NERO'S ENTRANCE BVt the Senate discouerd no such iudgment of this course for it greatly conduced to their ends as men who affected censureship ouer their princes to remaine the arbiters of things SENECA therefore not without some suspition of vanitie on his part as TACITVS obserueth had the glory of witt and eloquence in the grace of his scholers vtterance and their lord-ships enacted that the last oration because it contained the picture of the NERONIAN commonweale as there it was described should bee cut in a columne of siluer for euerlasting remembrance and yeerely bee read in full court vpon the Kalends of IANVARIE when the new Consuls tooke their oathes And this was done saith DIO in effect that NERO who gaue them the hope should giue them the fulfilling also A prouision worthy of their wisdome the commoditie whereof beeing put into their hands by SENECA did causefully ennoble endear him to the publicke And though NERO afterwards spoild all by his incredible excesses yet the oration remained still an euidence of his engagement a touchstone of his actions and by the disparitie of premises and sequels did draw the greater foulnesse vpon his deformities NERO'S faire ouertures for winning goodwill at first remaine estreated in that most steddie author CORNELIVS TACITVS though the oration it selfe for what moniments will not massie siluer betray be quite consumed The generall notion of the speeches fabrick was to giue hope that all those things should bee auoided which had beene offensiue before Of this poinct the ITALIAN author of the famous RAGVALIAS of PARNASSVS makes vnfriendly vse in the imaginary inauguration of CORNELIVS TACITVS to the fained kingdome of LESBOS smally to the honor of TACITVS whom hee makes throwne out againe for affectation of tyranie X. THE POISNING OF BRITANNICVS BVt the eminent fame of NERO'S first fiue yeares is only to bee vnderstood as they were profitable to common-weale in the orderly correction and administration of the policie by the speciall care of SENECA and the seruice of worthy patriots For his owne manners otherwise did soone beginne to putrifie His delights some of them not honest in any man as wilde maskings and riotous wanton women and some of them though not dishonest yet being pursued as chiefe emploiments were vtterly vnseemely in a prince This conniuent permission of him to himselfe worthely reproued by DIO as it encreased SENECA'S power so it inflamed NERO'S vices Therefore almost euery yeare of the fiue was staind with some notable fowle fact or other for which notwithstanding because there might bee some defense in the reason of his imperiall rights or personall safetie they would haue beene commiserated in him as piacularie infelicities rather then vrged as criminall impieties had the world felt a continuance of common profit or hee not bewrayed his naturall immanity Within the very first twelue moneth of his gouernment hee spotted and defloured the maiden candor of his fortunes by poisning BRITANNICVS who was his cosen german his adoptiue brother and testamentarie partner in the empire one so incapable of malicious crimes that he was then but at the fourteenth yeare of his age This fact considered in it selfe though it directly violated the maine foundations of the world laid deepe by god in naturall pietie yet some other appellation would haue beene inuented for auoiding the proper of paricide as I haue said before had not the carriage of his part in it and the horrour of the circumstances made it wholy his own For hee curiously beheld the poison confected boild to a speeding height saw it experimented and causd it to bee secretly ministred in his owne presence at supper in the presence of his wife OCTAVIA sister of BRITTANNICVS and of AGRIPPINA who notwithstanding all other her nocencies was innocent of this trecherie though not innocent of the impulsiues to it for her absolutenesse being crost by SENECA and BVRRHVS shee durst threaten to set vp him as the righter heir and thereby dubbed him the obiect of feare and danger And when the poore prince fell immediately downe dead NERO slighted it off as but a fit of his falling sicknesse and after a short pause renewed the feast the carcase remoued away But neither his authoritie nor his art could hinder the discouerie of the crime for the body at the funerall fire was so throughly
and her better childrens discretions much more then NERO'S merit The purpose notwithstanding considered in it selfe which pretended common good was well worthy to haue beene the pretious stone of his first fiue yeares golden circle which by reason of his disproportionated carriage stands for nothing now but the vanishing glosse of a fucus or various flitting bubble XIII NERO'S MVNIFICENCES AND LIBERALITIES BVt this most light and most youthfull Emperour to make vp otherwise the full pompe of his popular insinuations was so manifold and so extraordinary in his publicke liberalities that his coigns stamped by decree of the Senate retaine their endlesse memorie These two figures signifie that kinde of largesse which was called a congiarie not altogether vnlike a lottery or a compendious way of deliuering the contents of a publicke dole For the things distributed of free cost not being all of them such that dispersions or musses could be made of them little balls comprehending the lot did issue and were ample warrants for the receipt of the guift The fortunate did not onely become hereby the maisters of ordinary things in NERO'S congiaries as measures of corne and of the ROMAN measure CONGIVS the whole act was denominated birds beasts all sorts of houshold prouision apparell bondslaues and the like but quantities of siluer gold and pearle at last also whole houses ships and estates in land Of these free lotteries at the most solemne games SVETONIVS tels vs there were a thousand seuerall parcels flung abroad euery day during the whole festiuitie And seeing the coynesse of breuitie will not permit that things of one kinde should be handled more then once I will plucke backe into this coÌ„mon place of his munificence that most honorable shame though declared sundry yeares after the famous fiue when SENECA offered to quit his fortunes as a secret meane to secure his life NERO therein hauing acknowledged his immortall debt for the benefit of his instructions the gardenings and waterings of the minde was so farre from coueting his maisters offerd riches or thinking them great that hee openly answerd He had cause to blush that hee who for the reason of his learned merits was of all men dearest vnto him was not by his meanes in so long time become the richest also A memorable saying though discredited by contrary effects XIIII OF OCTAVIA NERO'S FIRST WIFE AND OF SOME OTHER WOMEN WITHIN HIS FIRST FIVE YEARES HIs giuings therefore being such as if hee meant to alter the nature of his tenure and not any longer to hold of adoption for his title to the empire but of bounty he the rather presumed to neglect OCTAVIA The honest and safe delight of marriage was corrupted in him by vnworthy change for the loue of his enfranchised bondwoman ACTE vpon whom his dotage was so great that hee subornd a pedigree to deriue her from that magnificent ATTALVS who dying childlesse in ASIA where hee was a king and she was borne and bought ordaind the PEOPLE OF ROME his heire This fiction in heraldrie deuised to enworthy her could not but strengthen AGRIPPINA'S iealousie that NERO intended to marrie her OCTAVIA lesse vnhappy had shee encountred no other then this concubine who by the misery of her fortunes was iniurious to nuptiall beneuolence but not pernicious to her interest in maiestie and much lesse to the safetie of her life Hee was of another minde towards OCTAVIA when hee published her for his CYNTHIA and himsefe for her SVNNE as in this coigne he did But in respect of originall right to power his splendors proceeded from her Afterwards by superinduction of that nobly borne and beauteous Lady POPPAEA SABINA he first eclypsed her matrimoniall light and then extinguisht her vitall as will elsewhere appeare in the due place The wanton prince did at this time beginne to be so fast chained in affection to this POPPAEA and she so perilous in her workings that both OCTAVIA his imperiall wife and AGRIPPINA his imperious mother were desolated and destroyed thereby No pleasures are more agreeable to health in youth and heighth in fortune then femall society though many bee more warrantable but that fond prince who sayls by such vncertaine starres hazards his estate and doth more then hazard his glory ACTE was secure in her lowly condition and loued NERO when his fortunes and his life were ended XV. THE DEATH OF AGRIPPINA AVGVSTA THe great reason which TIBERIVS CAESAR might haue to depresse and extinguish AGRIPPINA GERMANICI may well be gatherd by the qualities of AGRIPPINA AVGVSTA her owne true daughter for ambition She was a mother as VIND EX speakes in PHILOSTRATVS whom it was no shame for a sonne to â—kill that sonne being NERO and she her selfe affirmed at her death no lesse But the reason of that speech may bee almost assigned because her selfe was rather an infernall furie then a matron who with such waste of all conscience and of all common honestie affected supreme command If one wickednes therefore might authorise another none could condemne him as impious for killing that woman who meerely for prowd ends did most alluringly offer her body to the lustfull embraces of him who scarcely twenty yeares before was bred therin This one curse was wanting to the fulnesse of her other impieties hauing formerly traded her selfe in manifold incests with CALIGVLA CAESAR her brother with her vncle CLAVDIVS Violation of naturall reuerence betweene the mother and the sonne was equall AGRIPPINA'S by prostitution of her selfe NERO'S by destroying her As for the manner of her end that busie APOLLONIVS of TIANA whom PHILOSTRATVS would faine belye into somewhat more excellent then humane misstook the storie where hee saith shee was drownd by an artificiall ship wracke For shee escaped the waues and oares and died at her sonnes commandement by the swords of immissiue souldiers §. I. The causes for which Nero resolued to destroy his Mother BVt the whole wide world from the time in which it first did rise out of nothing till this instant affording perhaps no such case as hers I should deale amisse to wrap the narration vp in the like breuitie as the rest or not to vnfold the parts that my readers may haue her last act entire as that example of celestiall iustice which euened all scores with wickednesse and left no tally vnstrucken The chiefe impulsiues therefore which moued the sonne to hate and persecute to death the author of his life and empire concubinarie loue growne farre more potent in him then filiall pietie were securely to bring about his marriage with POPPAEA SABINA whereunto shee was a constant enemy in fauour of his present wife OCTAVIA and then as the lesser care to assure to himselfe the ROMAN scepter which he feared lest AGRIPPINA in her furie and offense would seeke to wrest away A Lady not vnlikely to effect it considering her spirit friends and blood the daughter of GERMANICVS heire generall by her mother to AVGVSTVS CAESAR She had threatned it
it must not be forgottē that notwithstanding any power permitted by NERO to this instrument of ruine and his brace of inhumane butchers yet was it very farre from his intention to auow the fact but to haue it blazed and beleeued among the vulgar that his ambitious mother conspiring to vsurp the empire sent AGERINVS to murther him that vpon his apprehension she finding her drifts discouered slue her selfe to auoid the shame of a publicke conuiction for so capitall and so vnnaturall a treason Whatsoeuer therfore we reade afterwards touching ANICETVS and his carriage must all of it be interpreted by that chiefe intention So there is no greatnesse of power when it would extremely abuse it selfe which is not glad to thinke of meanes how to auoid the note of wickednesse An illustrious proofe of the hatefull deformities which are naturally seene in doing euill and of the honourable beauties and graces which do as naturally shine in the contrary §. VIII The manner of Agrippina's murther exactly described ANICETVS therefore comming to the house besets it round with part of his entrusted forces to preuent all euasions either of persons or reports which might endanger or publish the businesse till it was done Finding the gates of the palace shut he breakes them open enters layes hold on such of the house as he meets and stops not till by way of surprise he rusheth vp to the very dores of her priuate lodgings which the ROMANS for the maiestie of such a person reputed sacred and inuiolable There hee onely findes a few of her night-watch and those as it seemd not arm'd for NERO had taken away her guards of GERMANS before the rest being fled for feare In all which passages ANICETVS seemes to haue intended nothing more then only to hinder AGRIPPINA from hearing of his approach who mutually hating him was known to her now to be her mortall enemy Shee who till this instant lay deeply musing with her selfe and grew more and more solicitous that neither any messenger came from her sonne no nor that euen AGERINVS her owne messenger did returne sodainly heard all silent about abroad which hapned because ANICETVS had frighted the people home and then soone after molested her with this tumult whereof as the reasons were to her vnknowne so they were the certaine signes of some extreme calamitie at hand In her chamber there was not any light at all but a small one which thing did euen it selfe make a show of somewhat in it like a funerall gloominesse nor was any of all her people about her but one maid-seruant onely and she of whom there was no reason to looke for more fortitude then her men had discouered being beckned out did likewise forsake the roome though her mistresse had sayd vnto her And thou wilt also leaue me But the iust cause of her departure immediatly appeared for AGRIPPINA casting her eye backe sees ANICETVS enter with HERCVLEVS and OLOARITVS Their mercilesse minds euery-where transparent in the fact were not slightly foretold by their silence for it is not remēbred that any of one them spake a word This gastly dumbe show which was prouided for perdition not for parlea did not for all that make her speechlesse but like a great lady cōtinuing mindful aswel of the empresse as of the mother in her person demanded the cause of their so rude and vnseasonable entrance saying by way of preocupation If their errand was to visite her from her sonne they might returne and tell him the ioyfull newes that she was well amended if to commit the heinous deed she did beleeue nothing bad or hard of him and was sure he neuer signd their warrant for her murther But nothing moued herewith they cast themselues about her HERCVLEVS with a short club who notwithstanding the affinitie of name had nothing in him of heroick HERCVLES marshald himselfe at the beds head as I conceiue it the other two at the sides for more are not named to haue entred OLOARITVS without further preface beginning to vnsheathe his sword it is not found that she either shrickt or wept or vainely begd for fauour but in retractation of her pretended better opinion laide her bare belly open and challenged him to strike that as deseruing it for hauing brought forth monster NERO. Which while it gaue perhaps some little pause or stop to the hand of OLOARITVS troubled with the horror of such a voyce and action her selfe at the same time for what time else more agreeable stepping sodainly saith DIO out of her bed HERCVLEVS steyd her by discharging a blow vpō her head with his churlish bat and stonisht her and the sword then finisht the worke with many foines She made what vvards or fense she could for othervvise she needed not to haue endured so many vvounds as she did before she died And it sorted properly vvith the matchlesse maiesty of her bloud and the fiercenesse of her fiery spirit to die as vnvvillingly as she could being it vvas that she could not die reuenged Her deaths wound was in her brest if the authour of the tragedy of OCTAVIA doth not therein vse his professions priuiledge §. VIII Nero's behauiour and words in priuate vpon the view of Agriprina's corse where the fame of their incest is likewise scanned THe murther thus committed the body was left where the breath departed and NERO waiting vpon the euent had present word thereof Many in those times and they not vncertaine authours saith SVETONIVS who doth often couertly encounter with the iudgements inclinations of TACITVS that he came in person to the place where the corps lay and as if the rest of his doings had else been little or nothing beheld it crowner-like all ouer praising this part and dispraysing that as if he had been to censure a statue Which SEVERINVS BOETIVS in his booke of consolation worthely marshalls at the foote of NERO'S inhumanities as the greatest And that he did not onely distinctly view but both handle her limbs and also tell her wounds is testified by ZONARAS There goes a rumour also that he saw her body opened to behold the place of his conception For which notwithstanding there is no authenticke testimony that I can finde nor other ground of coniecture if that may be a ground then a meere supposition that shee was embowell'd before her burning Sure I am that no credible authour hath auouched it concerning AGRIPPINA whose funerall confusion were so neere conioignd as left small place and lesser vse for such a rituall office They say moreouer that while he was thus prophanely emploid he grew thirsty and in sight of that piteous obiect quencht his drowth with drinke who should rather haue done it with his teares at the end of this vnnaturall suruey he gaue out such an odde farewell as was viler saith DIO then the murther it selfe for thus he impenitently said that Hee did not suppose hee had had so faire a mother The sentence neuerthelesse doth in
many with faire persuasions If their fauours were vnequal that tended to nourish their partie But before this vnluckie reuolt the TRINOBANTS and some other of the BRITANS stood possessed of so rare a felicitie as to enioy the peace of ROME without any ROMAN iudges among them For the ROMANS medled not but left them ouer to be whollie ruled by their naturall magistrates and peculiar lawes TACITVS witnesseth it and the GREEK historians speaking of their condition before the rebellion doe call them their owne men and free Neither did the ROMANS enuie the immunities and honors of their citie to persons who could not enioy them by any right of birth most magnanimously forgetting what they had at any time done hurtfullie as enemies and receiuing them both into her embraces as bosome-friends and also into her lapp as children CLAVDIVS so earnestlie desirous to bestow the franchise of the souereign citie vpon the RRITANNS whom hee had conquered that SENECA in his irreligious sports vpon that emperour vpbraids it ROME imperiall a gratious common mother of mankinde and not a mistresse only Therefore the fall of ROME as Queene of the earth was the common sorrow of the earth euen in scripture it selfe To the stubborne sharp and stern against aduersaries fierce and braue And if the subiects in the prouinces were vnworthelie violated or villanously entreated it was not because the lawe allowed it For the greatest Magistrate during his whole time abroad might receiue nothing of guift but hay fower beds and wood for fireing towards his prouisions and CICERO glories that hee tooke not all them neither when hee was proconsul in CILICIA There neuer was any common weale which more diligentlie prouided against wrongs and rapines then the ROMAN or which more seuerelie punisht them The times euen of TIBERIVS rarelie happie for the prouinces herein PHILO who himselfe was an eye-witnesse and a partaker of the benefit doth excellently note it in his AVILLIVS FLACCVS But the quiet estate of the ROMAN-BRITANNS and the thriuing condition of their arts and trades vnder NERO was sodeinlie blasted by the scandalous and wretched iniquitie of some of the predominant as it almost euery where happens to the so great hazard of the whole that TRANQVILLVS speakes of BRITANN as lost for the time §. III. The causes of the grand reuolt Boadicia's quarrel the chiefe THe reasons which drewe the BRITANNS to rise and attempt the massacre of the ROMANS were great and many Profound contempt of NERO was the first For that did chieflie embolden the ROMANS to doe wrong and draue the sufferers to despaire of an orderlie redresse To gouerne with the opinion of iustice keepes officers from presuming and the rest of subiects from ruin by rysing DIO a man of a most honourable place and a like minde assignes two principal causes which prepared the BRITANNS for an open hostilitie The confiscation of goods and I blush to write it Seneca's cruel vsuries For whereas CLAVDIVS CAESAR which concernes the first point of the two had graciously forgiuen such forfeitures and seisures as belonged to him in right of his conquering sword NENNIVS the ancient BRITANN writes that they were the tributes themselues or had otherwise bestowed large summes vpon the chiefe among them and for that as for an act of celestiall bounty was honourd as a god while as yet aliue CATVS DECIANVS NERO'S Procurator in BRITANN contended that extremity ought to be pursued notwithstanding any showe of discharge or plea of pardon and notwithstanding good CLAVDIVS had caused a Decree of the SENATE to passe for strengthning the fauours hee had done thereby to inuite the more to yeeld themselues A solemne wise custome of the ROMANS to winn vpon the first with fauour and humanitie as they did of old in GALLIA where they styled the AEDVI their fellowes cosens and brothers On the other side ANNAEVS SENECA NERO'S chiefe counsellour hauing a stocke going here at vse of about two hundred and fiftie thousand pounds sterling sodeinlie calls in his moneyes the loan whereof had been thrust vpon the BRITANNS whether they would or no where a rebellion would sooner discharge debts then exhausted meanes could Yet this is hee ô strange who cryed out when hee was at ritchest How vnknowne a good is pouertie But DIO is suspected by some of the most noble clarks of our age as somewhat too vnequall to the honour and memorie of famous SENECA the sharpest witt of ROME There are other iniuries named which concerned the commons and the rest in generall which toucht by TACITVS in his AGRICOLA did principallie consist in the abusiue assignation of rates and the carriage of corne for the armies But if one onely iniurie had beene forborne the common grieuances now the blathers of rebellion and euermore vsed to bee blowne-out with words to their vttermost widenesse when the discontented meete might perhaps haue sighed-out themselues without any Champion to wage a warre on their behalfe But in the person of a Prince al the nation is strucken and wrongs done to a chiefe are interpreted by friends and followers as their owne Among all the BRITANNS there was not any of this time so eminent as the Dowager of PRASVTAGVS late king of the ICENI Her name in antiquitie is very variouslie written One and the same woman being in TACITVS BOODICIA BOVDICEA and VOADICA who is in DIO BOVNDVICA and perhaps in CAMDENS BRITISH monies BODVO Her husband while hee liued remained in amity with the ROMANS as a social king and hauing first deuised his kingdome ioinctly to NERO and his daughters he deceased The BRITANNS excluded neither sex from the crowne and it was the testators meaning that his daughters hauing CAESAR for their guardian and hee for his fauour hauing a childes part should either bee Queenes of their owne shares or in coparcenerie after their mother For both by her owne words in her oration in TACITVS it seemes that shee reputed the kingdome hers and in DIO it is expresly said that shee gouerned in chiefe as souereign at the time of her taking the field and as farre as can be gathered by all the marks of her spirit euen then also when the king her husband liued But the daughters poore sillie ladies found a sorrie partner-ship where the lion was to make the partition For NERO'S captaines and officers exercised intollerable licence the pallace of PRASVTAGVS their father as also his ritches which were great and long in gathering together with his whole realme not receiued into custodie for the good of the orphans nor NERO'S part laid out as a bequest or legacie but that which was theirs ransackt and spoild as bootie They also of the bloud roial the kinsmen of the king were no better accounted of then as prisoners taken in warre in the nature of bondmen or slaues A most grieuous poinct and yet still worler was feared Princes by the fortuné of their souereigne function doe oftentimes beare the name of the crimes which others
notice of their danger sent to him for helpe PETILIVS CEREALIS commanded ouer the ninth legion and quarterd neerest to the colonie for hee was the first who made vp towards the rescue And where else should wee think his abode was but in those very camps about BANNAVENNA which CAMDEN poincts out vnto vs at GILDSBROVGH and DAINTRIE in his ICENI PAENIVS POSTHVMVS campmaster of the second legion surnamed AVGVSTA lodged vpon the necke of the SILVRES And these two seates of legions OSTORIVS SCAPVLA ordained when hee was General vnder CLAVDIVS here TACITVS signifies it where hee mentions the riuers SABRINA and AVFONA The twentieth legion in some opinions was not transported hither till after NERO'S dayes But because I finde in TACITVS that the vexillaries or the old soldiers of that legion or as some read the place the vicesimarians themselues that is to say they of the twentieth legion it selfe were with SVETONIVS at the battle it is plaine to mee that the camp or winter-seat of the twentith was alreadie begun at DEVA to bridle the ORDOVICES As for the fourteenth legion of all other in BRITAIN the most renowned there is not the least word concerning it till the battle with BOADICIA No warrant for HOLINSHEAD to fain that it came ouer sea for the purpose of that fight For as touching the number king AGRIPPA is my witnesse in IOSEPHVS that fower legions were the proportion allotted for the custody of this iland euen in VESPASIANS dayes and the former argument satisfies that the fourteenth had residence here before the battle The countreyes themselues were very ful of ROMAN castles holds and forts full of inhabitants full of dwellings all ouer and not at CAMALODVNVM LONDON and VERVLAM onelie though onelie they are named for their singular misfortunes Thus we see that the absence of SVETONIVS entrusted it selfe for safetie till his returne to at least thirtie thousand foote of all sorts besides horse bestowed diuerslie which in a land where all things seemed quiet seemed more then needed Other stayes and affiances he also had and those not founded in armed power but in amitie For the ROMANS were too wise to repose themselues where they came vpon their owne strengths whollie and for that cause made all the friends they could Among vs therefore the TRINOBANTS and the rest of the nations within the TRINOBANTISH vnion which was as antient as from IVLIVS CAESARS dayes were louinglie theirs till BOADICIA secretlie withdrew them COGIDVNVS speciallie who could neuer be withdrawne §. VII Main obseruations touching Cogidunus a king at this time in Britain THis COGIDVNVS was a king in BRITAIN to whom vnder CLAVDIVS CAESAR the ROMANS about eighteen yeares before had giuen sundrie countreyes for enlargement of his dominions which they themselues could not handsomlie keepe vpon their first conquests In requital whereof hee continued a most constant and faithfull friend and could not but stand them in great good sted in this most perilous moment For there is no doubt but he was now aliue because TACITVS who was himselfe at this time not aboue sixe or seauen yeares old as being borne but either in the first of NERO or in the last of CLAVDIVS hath left it written that COGIDVNVS was so within his memorie as hee tooke notice of his vnshaken faithfulnesse For euen kings themselues were so among the instruments of seruitude The seat of his kingdome might bee in middle-ENGLAND and the nations which the ROMANS vnited to his crowne the DOBVNI and CATTIEVCHLANI For they lay next north from the THAMES and therefore the lesse fit for the donours who did at first prouinciate no parts of BRITAIN but such as that riuer and the BRITISH sea now of the resemblance called the Sleeue did southward bound The place when CLAVDIVS reignd where VESPASIAN in thirtie seueral battles and fights some of them also very perilous wann twentie strong townes and the I le of WIGHT by special name hauing at that time the second legion vnder his command His scholars prize for the empire whereunto hee came in conclusion By the benefit of this friendship with immutable COGIDVNVS the ROMANS while they were in action against the SILVRES and ORDOVICES had him readie for all occasions And by his authoritie these mid-land parts doe seeme to haue beene so tempered that SVETONIVS after BOADICIA was vp passed safe from ANGLESEY to LONDON though the people on euery side were enemies for so TACITVS expresly saith which otherwise then by some such meanes the BRITANNS being then victorious could not possibly haue hapned without surprize or blowes No common risings or tumults there at all The BRIGANTS and other northerlie nations carried a face of amitie but were vnsound at the kores by reason of the late bloudie strife about CARTISMANDVA their abandoned Queen whom the ROMANS relieued against them as CAESARS friend The ICENI were the top it selfe of danger and as well they as the TRINOBANTS their neerest neighbours dwelt eastward from COGIDVNVS as far off as the GERMAN OCEAN would permit These considerations are all of them such and so important that without them our knowledge of the whole must needes bee very imperfect Right historie deals in particulars and handles limb by limb Generalities are for summists The odds full out as great as between a glimmering twilight and a bright noon-day or as between a bare nomination of parts and their precise dissection My diligence vpon a ground neuer heretofore beaten by any wil in others quicken greater SVETONIVS therfore by this account might carrie with him about ten thousand to the enterprise of MONA And these prouisions for retayning possessed purchase had without all doubt been abundantlie sufficient if BOADICIA would haue rested quiet For the BRITANNS very willinglie obeid when they were not abused But here wee behold not without much horror at the giddie condition of humane affaires what a mightie bodie of men matter one womans wrath was able to stir or rather that vsuall sentence patience too much mooued turnes into rage made good to the world by a most terrible instance §. VIII Boadicia and the Britanns meet in great secrecie and resolue to rise in armes BVt all the care which PAVLLINVS tooke could not make vp the want of his personall presence In the worth of some one man alone there is sometime so much weight This absence therefore of the ROMAN Generall was interpreted by BOADICIA and the BRITANNS as a benefit sent from heauen because it remoued the difficultie of assembling the first degree alwayes of a rebellion next after the inward matter is inclinable Therefore at their meeting the prime thing which they gratulated to themselues was that they met though it were in greatest secrecie as their estate and cause required And to quicken their darings to an headlong and desperate extremitie they vpbraided to themselues in detestation as if they were men who could doe any thing rather then dye for their countrey A notion or common place of
standing consecrated to the euerlasting names of their represented Worthies were iniuriously growne for sparing cost to rase out old inscriptions to gratifie new deserts Against this bad encroaching custome DION bent his engins of reason and speech and obiected NERO'S priuiledge That College of Honour for which your Lordship in your excellently honest zeale to our countrey openly moued meetes euery where with aids and supports of authority and reason and DIOS oration alone were able to introduce that sacred noursery of braue encouragements diuturnitie of remembrance for publicke merit by statuarie plasticke fusorie and other the arts of magnificence A secret little vnderstood but neuer to be too soone enured among the noble It was for such a minde as NERO'S which enuide immortality of good renown to others and was deficient to his owne to violate the wonders of workemanship the greater wonder of deseruing such memorials Images to life and the names of Worthies in arts and armes should be aduanced in the most conspicuous ciuill places For there is no vse to be instituted of them but ciuill and for ciuill causes only If any will contend that these iniuries to the depressed GREEKS were not all of them done by NERO'S authoritie at this present I will not striue but turne about from hence with a short stop to his returning home CHAP. XLVIII NERO'S RETVRNE HELIVS being arriued where CAESAR was preuailed so far that he sodeinly returned in such tempestuous weather as it gaue iust hope that the seas would take to heart the cause of the land and deuoure him with waues whom waters could not wash white nor deserued a graue-roome on earth The train-sent of a conspiracie which HELIVS did beat vpon seems to haue beene the fatall purpose of that rebellion in GALLIA the force whereof shouldred NERO before it was long out of his imperiall seat For as the seas moue of themselues with a kinde of horror before some terrible tempest and as certaine signes doe alwayes foregoe euery great sicknesse in humane bodies so maine mutations are neuer in the world without their sensible tokens effects of heauenly prouidence It hapned so now in GALLIA before the deadly stroake of change And herein I doe not meane of those prodigies only which PLINIE commemorates as fore-runners of downefall and whereof himselfe was a witnesse Such were riuers flowing backe to their springs oliue-gardens and meadowes in the lands of VECTIVS MARCELLVS NERO'S attourney generall transported ouer the high-way betweene and setling themselues on the further side the decay of that cypresse tree which had lasted from the dayes of ROMVLVS till then the paire of hermaphrodite mares foaled in GALLIA among the TREVIRI which serued to draw NERO'S coach or the like reputed wonders But I also meane those prëambulatorie notes by which it may suspiciously appear that some mighty businesse is in hand when secret murmurs and other markes of approaching mischiefe discouer somewhat euen to an halfe open-eye and when common bodings mis-giue CHAP. XLIX NERO'S DOINGS AFTER HIS RETVRN IN the meane space as if nothing else were needfull the vnwise prince doth wholly tend to enter ROME in a fidling triumph by breaking downe her walls no contemptible omen of his owne dismantlings as hee had done before at NAPLES ANTIVM ALBANVM according to the custome of the Hieronickes or sacred victories For with that adiunct the GREEKS adorned their deserts who returned victors from their generall prizes CHAP. L. THE LAST ACT OF NERO'S PERSECVTION OF CHRISTIANS BVt whosoeuer triumpht in sport the champions of eternall verity triumpht in bloud For after NERO'S return the two principal lights of the Christian name were by his commandement led to their martyrdome both vpon one day both with one glory of profession though in a diuers kinde of suffering the one by crucifixion reuerst the other by decollation So the fire of persecution which had vnequally flamed ouer the world after about foure yeares from the first rising therof went forth in two most shining blazes as dying lamps expire with enlarged flames The summ of Christianitie being their care their deaths being the summ of iniquitie EVSEBIVS dates the Persecution not where it began but where it gaue the sorest blow Which if some had well considered they might haue spared the reproofe of EVSEBIVS as if he had mis-placed the time CHAP. LI. HOLY MEN THE INVISIBLE STAYES OF THE WORLD ANd though the Persecutor obserued it not yet did he therby cut away at once the two main anchors at which the ship of empire and the last hope of his safety did inuisibly ride Their prayers and their presences mightily preserued the estate of peace according as they also did in the opinion of PAVLVS OROSIVS vnder CLAVDIVS AVGVSTVS that indulgent father of the world The persons of Saints are like secret pledges of common quiet apparently seene in the case of the fiue cities for which ABRAM interceded and their meditations are as shields for the earth against the wrath of heauen God taught his most potent office of praier in persecution for preseruation of the ciuill estate by his prophet IEREMY to the Iewes in their captiuity at BABILON and these blessed Apostles enured it in their writings and examples during their corporall abode in ROME These cables and stayes being thus cut off NERO could not but be ouer-whelmed with the vengeance due to his crimes among which the greatest was the wilfull effusion of Christians bloud vnder iniurious calumnious titles For IOSEPH SCALIGER voucheth an old pagan scholiast affirming that they suffer'd as sorcerers or magitians and to say the truth what could it appeare to NERO who knew not things diuine but an effect of some notable enchantment that women who in his dayes were inuited and authorised to all sorts of lewdnesse should be wonne to the quite contrary The sacred annals assigne deuout chastity as a cause among the causes of that Persecution His own perswasion was firme in this saith SVETONIVS that there was no such vertue for he himself was defiled all ouer and had deflowred the Vestal virgin RVBRIA He could not therefore but be much the readier to ascribe so strange a conuersion to witchcraft Again the famous case and bloudy downfall of Simon Magus that most blasphemous impostor in the fight of ROME and of NERO as in SVETONIVS vnder the fabulous name of an ICARVS procured by the prayers and adiuration of the Apostle as in DAMASVS HIEROME AVGVSTINE EPIPHANIVS ARNOBIVS and others had the rather seald an opinion of magick arts in Christians according to the malice and ignorance of the times IANVS GRVTERVS to whose diligence the common-weale of ciuill letters is not a little indebted in his vsefull volumn of Inscriptions hath a testimony touching a place in ROME called The Simon Magus where that memorial which was whatsoeuer it was being taken away by the barbarous the same was restored by CASTALIVS INNOCENTIVS Audax at that time iudge in sacred causes The