Read The Great Fire of Rome: The Fall of the Emperor Nero and His City Online
Authors: Stephen Dando-Collins
Tags: #History, #Ancient, #Rome
The Great Fire of Rome: The Fall of the Emperor Nero and His City (4 page)
BOOK: The Great Fire of Rome: The Fall of the Emperor Nero and His City
4.94Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
ads
A young man of twenty-six stepped out onto the raised tribunal in front of them, wearing gold-embroidered white robes. Of average height, he was blue-eyed and blond-haired. Many here would have remembered him as a youth of sixteen, when first he stood before the Praetorians, nine years before, and won their approbation. Back then, he was handsome—pretty, even, despite the thick bull neck that he had inherited from his great-great-grandfather Mark Antony. Now, this first day of AD 64, he was pudgy, had a pot belly, and was going bald. This was Nero Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus, grandson of Germanicus Julius Caesar, son of Agrippina the Younger, and nephew and adopted son and heir of the emperor Claudius. This was the emperor Nero Caesar.
“Hail, Caesar!” The cry, bellowed by fourteen thousand voices, boomed around the thick walls of the Castra Praetoria, the castle-like barracks of the Praetorian Cohorts, or Praetorian Guard as later writers would call them, in Regio VI, the city of Rome’s Sixth Precinct. And then the soldiers broke into applause, as was the custom when a Roman commander in chief came before his men.
Nero smiled and waved a hand in thanks, looking down at the Praetorian standard-bearer proudly holding aloft his standard with its golden representation of Victoria, winged goddess of victory. Behind the standard, the tribunes of each of the fourteen cohorts stood in front of their men in parade armor, which glowed with gold and silver. These officers of upper-class Equestrian Order rank—misleadingly called “knights” by latter-day authors—were career soldiers, the best of the best, men such as Subrius Flavus, Gavius Silvanus, and Statius Proximus. Just fourteen men held the rank of tribune of the Praetorian Cohorts at any one time, and many occupied their powerful posts for decades. Nero lifted his gaze to the cohorts, each of a thousand clean-shaven, physically imposing conscripts headed by standard-bearers clad in lion-skin capes. And he saw their centurions, officers promoted from the ranks after proving their worth on active service.
Several men stood behind the young emperor on the tribunal, also attired in their best armor—among them the two Praetorian prefects, Sophonius Tigellinus and Faenius Rufus, and, in their purple-bordered white senatorial robes, the two new consuls for the year, Gaius Laecanius and Marcus Licinius. All joined the applause until it faded away. Silence returned. The white-cloaked Praetorian tribune of the duty cohort, charged today with the duty of narrator, now stepped to the front of the balcony and barked a command. He then proceeded to lead all the men in reciting an oath. Again, thousands of voices sounded around the colonnaded parade square in a unified chant:
I swear, that I will obey the emperor willingly and implicitly in all his commands, that I will never desert, and that I will always be ready to sacrifice my life for the empire of Rome.
1
It was New Year’s Day, AD 64, and the men of the Praetorian Cohorts, Roman citizens all, Italians all, were renewing the oath of allegiance that all citizen soldiers around the Roman Empire took on January 1 every year.
Nero was in good spirits as he departed the barracks after the oath-taking ceremony, carried in a litter by brawny young slaves, with a cohort of tall, blond, bearded men of his bodyguard of the
Germani corporis custodes
, the so-called German Guard, marching in close order around him. The men of the ten “German” cohorts came from along the Rhine, primarily from the old kingdom of Batavia, modern-day Holland. They wore the same armor and helmets that the Praetorians wore, but the “German” shields were flatter and carried a different emblem, and their cavalry-style swords were longer.
Germani corporis custodes
, the so-called German Guard, marching in close order around him. The men of the ten “German” cohorts came from along the Rhine, primarily from the old kingdom of Batavia, modern-day Holland. They wore the same armor and helmets that the Praetorians wore, but the “German” shields were flatter and carried a different emblem, and their cavalry-style swords were longer.
Cheering, applauding members of the public lined the street. Children looked in awe as the closed litter of their emperor passed. An entourage of imperial freedmen and slaves trailed along behind the litter. The emperor was heading back to his palace, the Palatium, on the Palatine Hill in the center of the city, to conduct his business for the day before preparing for a lavish banquet with his most intimate friends. Before the sun had risen that morning, Nero had gone to the Capitoline Mount, where a great crowd of plebeians had gathered to declare their allegiance to him and offer prayers for his health, safety, and prosperity in the coming year, as was the custom each New Year’s Day.
At dawn, in his capacity as
pontifex maximus
, chief priest of Rome, Nero had presided when the special New Year sacrifice was conducted in the Arx, the most sacred area on the Capitoline Mount, in the presence of the augurs and the priests of Rome’s various religious orders. The organs of the sacrificial bird had been unblemished, and the haruspex, the chief augur, had declared that the omens were auspicious for a good year for Rome and for the emperor. All was well in Nero’s world. All was well in the Roman world.
pontifex maximus
, chief priest of Rome, Nero had presided when the special New Year sacrifice was conducted in the Arx, the most sacred area on the Capitoline Mount, in the presence of the augurs and the priests of Rome’s various religious orders. The organs of the sacrificial bird had been unblemished, and the haruspex, the chief augur, had declared that the omens were auspicious for a good year for Rome and for the emperor. All was well in Nero’s world. All was well in the Roman world.
“Never had there been so profound a peace,” historian Tacitus said of this period.
2
A revolt in Britain that had almost seen the province overrun by the Celtic war queen Boudicca and her hundreds of thousands of rebel Britons had been brutally put down three years before, and Roman rule and Roman commerce were again flourishing in Britain. Trouble in the east, which had seen the Parthians occupy Armenia and threaten Syria and other Roman provinces, had finally and convincingly been terminated just a year back by Nero’s doughty, determined general Lucius Domitius Corbulo. Not only had the Parthians been thrown back, but Corbulo had forced the Parthian-born king of Armenia, Tiridates I, to become a Roman ally and promise to come to Rome to bow down to Nero and acknowledge him as his sovereign lord. What a boost to Nero’s prestige that would be!
2
A revolt in Britain that had almost seen the province overrun by the Celtic war queen Boudicca and her hundreds of thousands of rebel Britons had been brutally put down three years before, and Roman rule and Roman commerce were again flourishing in Britain. Trouble in the east, which had seen the Parthians occupy Armenia and threaten Syria and other Roman provinces, had finally and convincingly been terminated just a year back by Nero’s doughty, determined general Lucius Domitius Corbulo. Not only had the Parthians been thrown back, but Corbulo had forced the Parthian-born king of Armenia, Tiridates I, to become a Roman ally and promise to come to Rome to bow down to Nero and acknowledge him as his sovereign lord. What a boost to Nero’s prestige that would be!
For several years now, Nero had been expressing his artistic side, on a limited scale. “Nero from early boyhood turned his lively genius” to the arts, said Tacitus. “He carved, painted, sang.” Nero also exhibited some ability as a poet. Tacitus begrudgingly credited him with “occasionally composing verses that showed that he had the rudiments of learning.”
3
Nero’s biographer Suetonius would write that Nero “would dash off verses enthusiastically, without any effort,” and that after Nero’s death, his enemies would claim that he had stolen his best poems, which were published in Nero’s lifetime, from other authors. But, said Suetonius, Nero’s notebooks, in his own handwriting and complete with his corrections, came into the biographer’s possession, and they proved, to him, that Nero was indeed the original creator.
4
3
Nero’s biographer Suetonius would write that Nero “would dash off verses enthusiastically, without any effort,” and that after Nero’s death, his enemies would claim that he had stolen his best poems, which were published in Nero’s lifetime, from other authors. But, said Suetonius, Nero’s notebooks, in his own handwriting and complete with his corrections, came into the biographer’s possession, and they proved, to him, that Nero was indeed the original creator.
4
Nero possessed a singing voice of which he was proud, and he had become an accomplished player of the lyre, a stringed instrument like a small harp, with which he accompanied himself. “Music formed part of his childhood curriculum,” said Suetonius, “and he developed a taste for it early.”
5
Not long after he came to the throne, Nero had summoned the greatest lyre player of the day, Terpus, to sing to him after dinner at the Palatium. For several nights, Terpus had performed for the emperor, singing and playing until a late hour. Inspired by Terpus, Nero himself had taken up the study of the lyre and mastered it.
5
Not long after he came to the throne, Nero had summoned the greatest lyre player of the day, Terpus, to sing to him after dinner at the Palatium. For several nights, Terpus had performed for the emperor, singing and playing until a late hour. Inspired by Terpus, Nero himself had taken up the study of the lyre and mastered it.
Nero had made his first public appearance as a singer by competing in the Juvenile Games as an adolescent, prior to becoming emperor. Since taking the throne, he had sung in the houses of friends and in the imperial gardens, before small but appreciative audiences made up of his intimates and retainers. These performances, he decided, were “on too small a scale for so fine a voice.”
6
Now, with the coming of the new year, Nero had made a resolution—to take his talent to a much broader audience and compete in public singing contests.
6
Now, with the coming of the new year, Nero had made a resolution—to take his talent to a much broader audience and compete in public singing contests.
Yet, for all his confidence in his own singing prowess, Nero was nervous of how the ordinary people of Rome would receive their emperor’s performing on the public stage. Such a thing had never before occurred. He was not alone in this concern. When, back at the Palatium, Nero informed his senior advisers of his intention, they expressed fears that it would demean the emperor and detract from his authority. He would not give up the idea entirely, but the advisers were able to convince him to at least make his first public singing appearances away from the capital.
Public opinion was very important to Nero. He cared little for the ambitious, fickle, back-stabbing Roman nobility; his most intimate friends were almost entirely Equestrians and freedmen. The esteem of the ordinary people, on the other hand, mattered to him greatly. Suetonius said that Nero had “a thirst for popularity.”
7
It was not so much a thirst as a perceived need. At the commencement of his reign his sage adviser, Seneca, would have counseled him to heed the mood of the masses if he wanted to retain his throne.
7
It was not so much a thirst as a perceived need. At the commencement of his reign his sage adviser, Seneca, would have counseled him to heed the mood of the masses if he wanted to retain his throne.
Augustus Caesar, Rome’s first emperor, had been a master of gauging the public mood and pandering to it. Unlike Julius Caesar, who, in his determination to eclipse Pompey the Great, had ostentatiously celebrated every victory, accepted every honor, and paid the ultimate bloody price for his egotism. Augustus had known the limits of his people’s tolerance and had died in his bed after a reign of almost half a century. His successor Tiberius, conscious of public opinion, had begun his reign with caution and restraint, but eventually lost touch with the man in the street and almost lost his throne to a usurper, Sejanus, as a result.
The next emperor, Gaius, or Caligula as we know him, had at the outset of his reign been buoyed by public expectations, as the son of the wildly popular Germanicus Caesar. This had, ironically, made him oblivious to public opinion. Caligula soon perished, dispatched by his own bodyguards and unmourned by his people. Claudius, Caligula’s successor, had known how to keep the public amused and died popular because of it. To lose the goodwill of the people of Rome was a dangerous thing, and Nero was wise enough, or perhaps insecure enough, to know that an appearance by the emperor on stage at the capital before a public unprepared for such an unprecedented event could prove disastrous.
Nero now decided that once the season for competitions had begun, he would enter the annual contest held at Neapolis, modern-day Naples, on the west coast of Italy. Neapolis had been founded by Greek settlers in about 600 BC, and despite being captured by Rome in 326 BC, it had always retained a Greek flavor. The Greeks were considered by the Romans to be the great artists of their time, in all the arts, and Nero felt that an artist such as himself should appear among the Greeks and win their praise, and their prizes. Only then would he feel confident enough to appear on stage in front of the people who mattered, the public of Rome.
The idea of acclaim from the Greeks soon convinced Nero that after he made his debut at Neapolis, he would travel on to the province of Achaia, in southern Greece. There he would appear in all the major singing contests, which had been held for centuries, confident of “winning the well-known and sacred garlands of antiquity.” Having won the Greek contests, Nero was convinced, said Tacitus, he could return home and to the stages of the capital, having evoked “with increased fame, the enthusiasm of the citizens” of Rome.
8
8
II
THE RIVAL PREFECTS
T
he Praetorian prefect Tigellinus stood in the Forum, looking approvingly at the bustle of early-morning activity around the shops of the Aemilian Basilica. If business for the shopkeepers of the Aemila this winter’s day was good, then that was good for Tigellinus. For, not only was Tigellinus one of the two prefects in charge of the Praetorian Cohorts. Tigellinus was also a man of business.
he Praetorian prefect Tigellinus stood in the Forum, looking approvingly at the bustle of early-morning activity around the shops of the Aemilian Basilica. If business for the shopkeepers of the Aemila this winter’s day was good, then that was good for Tigellinus. For, not only was Tigellinus one of the two prefects in charge of the Praetorian Cohorts. Tigellinus was also a man of business.
The first emperor of Rome, Augustus, had resumed the ancient practice of putting two prefects over the Praetorian Cohorts. Rome’s oldest military unit had been created by the praetors of Rome as their personal protection force after the formation of the Roman Republic in 509 BC. Later, the two consuls elected to power each year had controlled the Praetorian Cohorts, with each appointing one senior officer to jointly command them. By the time of Julius Caesar, the Praetorian Cohorts had fallen into disuse, only to be reformed by Mark Antony in 44 BC in the wake of Caesar’s assassination, again as a personal protection force. At that time, the most senior Praetorian officers were their tribunes. This changed with the coming of the emperors. Augustus made the Praetorians more than bodyguards. Employing the hand-picked auxiliary troops of the
Germani corporis custodes
for his close personal protection, he had turned the nine Praetorian Cohorts that then existed into his political police; they had become his enforcers and executioners, and via their muscle and steel, they and their commanders wielded enormous power.
Germani corporis custodes
for his close personal protection, he had turned the nine Praetorian Cohorts that then existed into his political police; they had become his enforcers and executioners, and via their muscle and steel, they and their commanders wielded enormous power.
It had been wise Augustus’ intent that a check should be placed on the misuse of Praetorian power by emulating the old custom of putting not one but two men in overall charge of these household troops, with both men holding the equal rank of prefect. Augustus’ successor, Tiberius, had learned the wisdom of this through bitter experience when his sole appointee, Sejanus, had attempted to usurp him. Later emperors adhered to the policy of appointing a pair of Praetorian prefects, but Claudius, several years before his death, and under the influence of his last wife, Agrippina the Younger, the mother of Nero, had appointed a single Praetorian prefect, Afranius Burrus.
BOOK: The Great Fire of Rome: The Fall of the Emperor Nero and His City
4.94Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
ads
Other books
Kissing the Gunner's Daughter by Ruth Rendell
Tethered (J + P series) by D.A. Roach
Organized for Murder by Ritter Ames
No Regrets by Atkinson, Lila
BloodandPassion by Emma Abbiss
The Single Dad Finds a Wife by Felicia Mason
Flaming Zeppelins by Joe R. Lansdale
Campeones de la Fuerza by Kevin J. Anderson
Single Wired Female (Wired for Love Book 2) by Greg Dragon
Encounter at Cold Harbor by Gilbert L. Morris
