Task

Before you start, read Mr Clare's blog on the death of Agrippina; it will help your 'resisting reading' of this text.

Start by downloading a copy of the relevant portion of your set-text on the death of Agrippina.

You could work on a hard copy print-out, but it will be easily if you can to work on-screen at a computer.

You will find the tasks much easier if you work with one partner.

START by deleting chapters 2, 9 and 12.  (It is interesting to wonder why Tacitus incorporated these asides into his narrative, but they do not deal with the actual story of Agrippina's murder).

Then work on the following tasks in turn.  After each task, you will be able to see how I answered the question if you click the yellow pointer (I am not bound to be right, of course, but you will be able to see what I chose and why):

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  1. First, read through the account and mark in red everything that is conjecture – e.g. places where Tacitus speculates about people's motives, where he tells you what people were thinking, or where he describes secret meetings where no one could possibly have known what went on.
• Now click on the yellow pointer to compare your ideas to mine:

  • 1. In the year of the consulship of Caius Vipstanus and Caius Fonteius (AD 59), Nero no longer delayed the crime he had thought about for a long time. His daring increased with the length of his reign; he was also daily becoming more passionate in his love for Poppaea. She had no hope of Nero marrying her and divorcing Octavia while Agrippina remained alive. So she frequently complained to Nero, sometimes making fun of him, calling him a child controlled by another, with no power over the empire let alone his own freedom to act. Poppaea asked why her marriage was always being put off. Presumably her beauty and her ancestors, with their triumphs, did not please him, nor her ability to bear children nor her true feelings.

  • What he feared was that, as his wife, she would reveal plainly the injustices done to the senators, the anger of the people against his proud and greedy mother. If Agrippina could put up with only a daughter-in-law who was hostile to her son, she asked to be sent back to her marriage with Otho. She would go anywhere in the world, so that she might only hear the insults to the emperor rather than see them, and at the same time get herself mixed up in his dangers. No one prevented Poppaea making complaints of this sort, strengthened by tears and all the skills of a lover; everyone wanted the mother’s power broken and no one believed that Nero’s hatred would harden to the extent of committing murder.

  • 3.  Nero accordingly avoided secret meetings with her, and when Agrippina left Rome for her gardens or to her estates at Tusculum and Antium, he praised her for taking some leisure. At last, considering her a serious problem no matter where she was held, he decided to kill her. He had only to work out how – poison, sword or some other means. His first thought was poison. But if it was given during a meal with the emperor, it could not be put down to bad luck after Britannicus’ similar death. Also it seemed difficult to bribe her servants when her own experience of criminal acts prepared her for plots against herself. In addition she had protected her body by taking antidotes in advance. No one could suggest how they could cover up a murder by the sword.

  • Besides they feared that anyone chosen for this crime would refuse such an order. The freedman Anicetus offered an idea. He was the commander of the fleet at Misenum, and had been tutor to Nero in boyhood; he and Agrippina hated each other. He said he could construct a ship, part of which could be made to collapse at sea, and throw the surprised victim overboard. Nothing causes so many accidents as the sea, he said, and if she was killed in a shipwreck, who would be so unfair as to claim it was a crime when the wind and the waves were responsible. The emperor could build a temple and altars and other displays of a son’s concern for his dead mother.

  • 4. Nero liked the clever plan, helped by the fact that it would be the time when he used to celebrate Minerva's five days' festival at Baiae. He lured his mother there, often saying that parents’ outbursts of anger should be endured and children should try to please; his aim was to spread the rumour that he wanted reconciliation with her and also to make Agrippina welcome it because women easily believe what is enjoyable. He met her as she arrived on the shore [for she was coming from Antium]; he welcomed her with an embrace and took her to his villa at Bauli. This was the villa washed by the waves of a bay between the promontory of Misenum and the lake at Baiae. There was a ship anchored among the others but more elaborate, as if this also was given to honour his mother.

  • She normally sailed in a trireme rowed by sailors from the fleet. Then she was invited to a banquet so that night might conceal the crime. It is generally agreed that there was an informer, and, hearing of the trap, uncertain whether to believe it, Agrippinajourneyed to Baiae by litter. Her fears were lessened by his attention to her; she received a friendly welcome and was seated above Nero himself. They talked a lot together – Nero was youthfully familiar or apparently discussing some serious matter. The meal lasted quite a while; as she was going he walked with her, staring into her eyes and clinging on to her breast, either to complete his pretence or the final sight of his mother about to die affected even his cruel heart.

  • 5. The gods provided a brightly-lit, starry night, and a calm sea as if to give proof of the crime. The vessel had not gone far; Agrippina was accompanied by two companions: Crepereius Gallus stood near the helm, and Acerronia reclined at Agrippina's feet recalling happily Nero’s repentance and Agrippina’s renewed influence. Then at a signal the ceiling, made heavier by a load of lead, fell in; Crepereius was crushed and killed straightaway. Agrippina and Acerronia were protected by the projecting sides of the couch, which luckily were too strong to give way to the weight that fell on them. Furthermore the ship did not break up as intended; for everyone was panicking and the many who knew nothing of the plot got in the way of those who knew about it.

  • Then the rowers decided to throw their weight onto one side and so sink the ship; however on the spur of the moment they were not able to get everyone ready at once, so others took the opportunity to lean on the other side with the result that the ship was lowered more gently into the water. Acerronia, however, (rather unwisely as it turned out) kept shouting that she was Agrippina, and urged them to help the emperor's mother; she was beaten with poles and oars and whatever weapon was handy on the ship. Agrippina kept quiet and so was not recognised. She was, however, wounded in the shoulder. She swam away, and came upon some fishing boats by which she was taken to the Lucrine lake and then carried to her own villa.

  • 6. There she considered that she had been tricked by a lying letter and by the special honours; the ship, close to the shore, not driven by wind nor struck by rocks, had fallen apart from the top, like some mechanism on land. She thought about this, and her own wound also; she realised that the only defence against the plot was to behave as if she did not understand. She sent her freedman Agerinus to report to her son that she had escaped a serious accident by the will of the gods and good luck; she begged him, although anxious at the danger to his mother, not to bother visiting her, since she need some peace and quiet for the present. Meanwhile she gave the appearance of feeling safe, and put medicine on her wound and lotions on her body.

  • She then ordered her servants to look for the will of Acerronia, and her property to be sealed. In this act alone there was no insincerity.

  • 7. Nero was waiting for news of the success of the crime. Instead he received news that she had escaped, wounded slightly, having experienced enough to have no doubts as to who was behind it. So out of his mind with fear, he claimed she soon would be there seeking revenge; she might arm her slaves or raise troops or make her way to the senate and the people, and charge him with a shipwreck, wounding her and killing her friends; he asked what defence he had against this, if Burrus and Seneca did not have any suggestion. He had summoned both of them at once, although it is uncertain whether they knew about it beforehand.

  • Both were silent for along time to avoid dissuading him without success, or they believed that matters had reached the point that Nero was bound to die if Agrippina were not dealt with first. Seneca was quick enough to respond first and looked back at Burrus, as though asking if the soldiers ought to be ordered to murder her. Burrus replied that the praetorians were attached to the household of the Caesars, and, in memory of Germanicus, would not dare anything so terrible against his daughter; he suggested Anicetus should fulfil his promise. Anicetus, with no delay, demanded the right to finish off the crime. When he heard this, Nero declared that he had been given the empire on this day and that it was a freedman who had given him so great a gift.

  • He ordered Anicetus to go with men ready and willing to obey orders. Next he heard that Agerinus had arrived from Agrippina with a message; he himself then arranged for a little piece of play-acting for the accusation against Agrippina; while Agerinus was reporting his message, Nero threw a sword at the freedman’s feet, and then ordered him to be taken to prison as if caught in the act of assassination; this was so that he could pretend that his mother had plotted to kill the emperor, but in the shame of being caught had chosen to commit suicide.

  • 8. In the meanwhile, news had spread of Agrippina’s dangerous incident, which was being seen as an accident. Everyone who heard about it rushed down to the shore. Some climbed up the sea-walls, some clambered onto the nearest boats; others went out into the sea, as far as their height allowed; some stretched out their arms; the entire shore-line was filled with cries and prayers, people asking different questions and replying uncertainly. An enormous crowd gathered carrying lamps, and when they understood she was safe, they got ready to go and show their joy at this. That was until they scattered at the sight of an armed and threatening column of soldiers. Anicetus surrounded the house with a guard; he broke down the door and dragged off the slaves in his way, until he came to the door of her room.

  • A few servants were standing here, the others having panicked in terror when the soldiers burst in. There was a little light in the room and one of the slave girls; Agrippina had become more and more worried, because no one had come from Nero, not even Agerinus. Their appearance would have been different if things had gone well; now there was loneliness and sudden sounds and the evidence of a final evil deed. As the slave girl began to leave, Agrippina exclaimed, “So you desert me too.” She look back to see Anicetus, accompanied by the warship captain Herculeius and a centurion in the fleet, Obaritus. “If,” she said, “you have come to see me, report back that I am recovered; if you are ready to commit murder, I will not believe this comes from my son. “
    The assassins surrounded her bed, and the captain of the trireme was the first to strike her head with a club. Then, as the centurion drew his sword to kill her, she showed him her womb, “Strike this,” she exclaimed and she was finished off with many wounds.

  • 10. Only when Nero had finally committed this crime, did he realise how terrible it was. For what remained of the night, he was silent, often rising up in fear and, senselessly, waiting for daybreak as if he expected it to bring his death. But then, at the suggestion of Burrus, the centurions and tribunes arrived to flatter him and this gave his some hope. They seized Nero’s hand and congratulated him on his having escaped this unexpected danger and his mother's criminal attempt on his life. Then they went to the temples and, following their example, the nearest towns of Campania indicated their joy with sacrifices and official visits to Nero.

  • Nero himself, showing a different sort of hypocrisy, appeared sad, weeping at his mother’s death, as if he regretted being safe. However, although men’s looks change, the appearance of places do not; he still had the terrible sight of the sea and that shore; some too believed that the sound of a trumpet from the surrounding hills and groans from the mother's tomb were heard; so he left for Neapolis and sent a letter to the Senate, which, in summary, said that the would-be assassin Agerinus, one of Agrippina's closest freedmen, had been arrested with the sword, and that with her guilt of planning this act, she had paid the penalty.

  • 11. He dug up some charges from her past and added these: she had hoped to share the power of the empire; she had attempted to get the praetorian cohorts to swear allegiance to her, a woman; and she had aimed to bring disgrace on the senate and people of Rome. Nero added that, when she was unable to achieve this, she became hostile to the army, senate and people, and opposed the gifts of money and made plans to endanger leading citizens. He recalled how hard he had worked to prevent her from breaking into the senate house and giving her answers to foreign nations.

  • Also he indirectly criticised the time of Claudius, transferring many of the crimes of that reign to his mother, asserting that her removal was due to the good fortune of the state. Indeed he told the story of the shipwreck; but who was stupid enough to believe that it was accidental, or that a shipwrecked woman had sent one man with a weapon to break through an emperor's guards and fleets? So people did not criticise Nero, who had passed all criticism by this savage crime, but Seneca because he wrote such a confession in this speech.

• 
  
  
  2. Delete everything in red.  It MAY be true, but it is mere conjecture and we cannot say that it is true (and neither could Tacitus).
• Now, read through the account and mark in pink everything that looks like story 'colour' – i.e. the descriptions, dialogue etc. clearly put in by Tacitus to create dramatic effect.
  Also, at this point, if you read chapters 11-12, you will see that they include the 'official story' of what happened - where Tacitus tells the reader what the government version of events was.  This MAY be,but probably isn't, the 100% true version of the story – we can never know – but it is not Tacitus's story.  Find it and mark it in orange.
• Now click on the yellow pointer to compare your ideas to mine:

  • 1. In the year of the consulship of Caius Vipstanus and Caius Fonteius (AD 59). He was daily becoming more passionate in his love for Poppaea.

  • 3.  When she left Rome for her gardens or to her estates at Tusculum and Antium, he praised her for taking some leisure.

  • 4. He met her as she arrived on the shore [for she was coming from Antium]; he welcomed her with an embrace and took her to his villa at Bauli. This was the villa washed by the waves of a bay between the promontory of Misenum and the lake at Baiae. There was a ship anchored among the others but more elaborate. She normally sailed in a trireme rowed by sailors from the fleet. Then she was invited to a banquet. Agrippina journeyed to Baiae by litter. She received a friendly welcome and was seated above Nero himself. They talked a lot together – Nero was youthfully familiar or apparently discussing some serious matter. The meal lasted quite a while; as she was going he walked with her, staring into her eyes and clinging on to her breast.

  • 5. The gods provided a brightly-lit, starry night, and a calm sea as if to give proof of the crime. The vessel had not gone far; Agrippina was accompanied by two companions: Crepereius Gallus stood near the helm, and Acerronia reclined at Agrippina's feet recalling happily Nero’s repentance and Agrippina’s renewed influence. The ceiling fell in; Crepereius was crushed and killed straightaway. Agrippina and Acerronia were protected by the projecting sides of the couch, which luckily were too b to give way to the weight that fell on them. Furthermore the ship did not break up for everyone was panicking and the many who knew nothing of the plot got in the way of those who knew about it.

  • Then the rowers decided to throw their weight onto one side and so sink the ship; however on the spur of the moment they were not able to get everyone ready at once, so others took the opportunity to lean on the other side with the result that the ship was lowered more gently into the water. Acerronia, however, (rather unwisely as it turned out) kept shouting that she was Agrippina, and urged them to help the emperor's mother; she was beaten with poles and oars and whatever weapon was handy on the ship. Agrippina kept quiet and so was not recognised. She was, however, wounded in the shoulder. She swam away, and came upon some fishing boats by which she was taken to the Lucrine lake and then carried to her own villa..

  • 6. She sent her freedman Agerinus to report to her son that she had escaped a serious accident by the will of the gods and good luck; she begged him, although anxious at the danger to his mother, not to bother visiting her, since she need some peace and quiet for the present. Meanwhile she put medicine on her wound and lotions on her body. She then ordered her servants to look for the will of Acerronia, and her property to be sealed. In this act alone there was no insincerity.

  • 8. In the meanwhile, news had spread of Agrippina’s dangerous incident, which was being seen as an accident. Everyone who heard about it rushed down to the shore. Some climbed up the sea-walls, some clambered onto the nearest boats; others went out into the sea, as far as their height allowed; some stretched out their arms; the entire shore-line was filled with cries and prayers, people asking different questions and replying uncertainly. An enormous crowd gathered carrying lamps, and when they understood she was safe, they got ready to go and show their joy at this. That was until they scattered at the sight of an armed and threatening column of soldiers. Anicetus surrounded the house with a guard; he broke down the door and dragged off the slaves in his way, until he came to the door of her room.

  • A few servants were standing here, the others having panicked in terror when the soldiers burst in. There was a little light in the room and one of the slave girls; As the slave girl began to leave, Agrippina exclaimed, “So you desert me too.” She look back to see Anicetus, accompanied by the warship captain Herculeius and a centurion in the fleet, Obaritus. “If,” she said, “you have come to see me, report back that I am recovered; if you are ready to commit murder, I will not believe this comes from my son.“  The assassins surrounded her bed, and the captain of the trireme was the first to strike her head with a club. Then, as the centurion drew his sword to kill her, she showed him her womb, “Strike this,” she exclaimed and she was finished off with many wounds.

  • 10. The centurions and tribunes arrived. They seized Nero’s hand and congratulated him on his having escaped this unexpected danger and his mother's criminal attempt on his life. Then they went to the temples and, following their example, the nearest towns of Campania indicated their joy with sacrifices and official visits to Nero. Nero himself, showing a different sort of hypocrisy, appeared sad, weeping at his mother’s death. He left for Neapolis and sent a letter to the Senate, which, in summary, said that the would-be assassin Agerinus, one of Agrippina's closest freedmen, had been arrested with the sword, and that with her guilt of planning this act, she had paid the penalty.

  • 11. He dug up some charges from her past and added these: she had hoped to share the power of the empire; she had attempted to get the praetorian cohorts to swear allegiance to her, a woman; and she had aimed to bring disgrace on the senate and people of Rome. Nero added that, when she was unable to achieve this, she became hostile to the army, senate and people, and opposed the gifts of money and made plans to endanger leading citizens. He recalled how hard he had worked to prevent her from breaking into the senate house and giving her answers to foreign nations. Also he indirectly criticised the time of Claudius, transferring many of the crimes of that reign to his mother, asserting that her removal was due to the good fortune of the state.

  • Indeed he told the story of the shipwreck; but who was stupid enough to believe that it was accidental, or that a shipwrecked woman had sent one man with a weapon to break through an emperor's guards and fleets? So people did not criticise Nero, who had passed all criticism by this savage crime, but Seneca because he wrote such a confession in this speech.

• 
  
  
  3. Delete everything in pink or orange.  It MAY be true, but it is conjecture and colour, not fact.  You should now be left with a script which is purely factual.
• The fact that it is factual, of course, does not mean that it is true – it may be full of incorrect facts!  Normally now, therefore, we would compare Tacitus's account to other sources ... but here that is impossible, seeing as all the other sources seem to be largely based on Tacitus.
  Therefore, instead, let's consider Tacitus's sources and their reliability:
  • Mark in purple information which could have come from government records.
  • Mark in blue information which could have come from court insiders, remembering what they had noticed.
  • Mark in grey information which would have had to come from other people (e.g. sailors, Agrippina's slaves, Agrippina's freedmen, soldiers, villagers etc.)
• Now click on the yellow pointer to compare your ideas to mine

  • In the year of the consulship of Caius Vipstanus and Caius Fonteius (AD 59). He was daily becoming more passionate in his love for Poppaea

  • When she left Rome for her gardens or to her estates at Tusculum and Antium, he praised her for taking some leisure.

  • He met her as she arrived on the shore [for she was coming from Antium]; he welcomed her with an embrace and took her to his villa at Bauli. There was a ship anchored among the others but more elaborate. Then she was invited to a banquet. Agrippina journeyed to Baiae by litter. She received a friendly welcome and was seated above Nero himself. They talked a lot together – Nero was youthfully familiar or apparently discussing some serious matter. The meal lasted quite a while; as she was going he walked with her.

  • The vessel had not gone far; Agrippina was accompanied by two companions: Crepereius Gallus stood near the helm, and Acerronia at Agrippina's feet. The ceiling fell in; Crepereius was crushed and killed straightaway. Agrippina and Acerronia were protected by the projecting sides of the couch, which were too strong to give way to the weight that fell on them. Furthermore the ship did not break up. She swam away, and came upon some fishing boats by which she was taken to the Lucrine lake and then carried to her own villa.

  • She sent her freedman Agerinus to report to her son that she had escaped a serious accident. Meanwhile she put medicine on her wound and lotions on her body.

  • In the meanwhile, news had spread of Agrippina’s incident, which was being seen as an accident. Everyone who heard about it rushed down to the shore. That was until they scattered at the sight of an armed and threatening column of soldiers. Anicetus surrounded the house with a guard. A few servants were standing here. The assassins surrounded her bed, and the captain of the trireme was the first to strike her head with a club. The centurion drew his sword to kill her.

  • The centurions and tribunes arrived. They seized Nero’s hand and congratulated him on his having escaped this unexpected danger and his mother's criminal attempt on his life. Then they went to the temples and, following their example, the nearest towns of Campania indicated their joy with sacrifices and official visits to Nero. Nero himself appeared sad, weeping at his mother’s death. He left for Neapolis and sent a letter to the Senate.

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  4. Finally, look at the surviving text as you have analysed it. Discuss how reliable each of Tacitus's sources might have been. Discuss with your partner what you have done, and what you have discovered about Tacitus's methods, to make statements about Tacitus as a writer, and about his reliability as an historian. Read Mr Clare's blog, and see if you agree with his analysis.
• Then click the yellow pointer to see what my students thought:
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Now write an answer to the following question:

'Nero botched the murder of Agrippina.'  How far do the ancient sources support this opinion?

In your answer you should:

•  give a brief account of Agrippina's murder;

•  explain for and against the idea that Nero messed up the murder attempt;

•  show knowledge of the relevant sections of Tacitus and Suetonius;

•  consider how reliable you think these sources are.                                       [30]