by Mika Waltari
As far as I could make out, they discussed Lollia Poppaea’s future position. Agrippina was as hard as flint. Taken in by Nero’s humble attitude, she said that all she demantled was that Nero should send Poppaea to Lusitania, back to Otho. After that, Nero could once again rely on Agrippina’s support and mother’s love, for she wished for nothing but good for her son.
Nero managed to produce a few tears of anger but let it be known that his mother was more beloved to him than any other woman in the world, and he even read out a few poems he had written in her honor.
Agrippina was drunk with the wine and her success, for people like to believe what they hope is true. But I noticed that she was still careful not to touch her goblet if Nero had not first drunk from it, and also not to eat any food which Nero or her own friend Acerronia had not tasted from the same dish. I do not think this was suspicion at the time, but a deep-rooted habit which Agrippina had formed over the years.
Anicetus also turned out to be a talented actor, as he anxiously came in to say that the warships used in the display had accidentally collided with Agrippina’s trireme and damaged it to such an extent that it could not return to Antium until it had been repaired. Instead, there was the pleasure yacht with its crew of sailors.
We all went down to the gaily lit harbor with Agrippina. At their parting, Nero kissed her eyes and “breast and supported her as she stumbled aboard. In his well-modulated voice, he bade his mother farewell.
“Keep well, my mother,” he said. “Only through you can I rule.”
To tell the truth, I must say I thought this parting greeting a somewhat exaggerated addition to Nero’s skillful performance. The night was calm and the stars out, and when the boat was rowed out of the circle of harbor lights, Seneca and Burrus retired to their quarters and we conspirators returned to continue the feast.
Nero was silent, then suddenly turned pale and went out to be sick. For a moment we all suspected that Agrippina had succeeded in slipping some poison into his goblet, but then we realized that the long day had been a heavy burden to him. Nero’s sensitive mind could not endure the extended tension of waiting, although Anicetus kept assuring him that the plan could not possibly fail as he had arranged everything so cunningly.
Afterwards I heard what had happened from the naval centurion, Obaritus, to whom Anicetus had entrusted the command of the yacht. Agrippina had at once gone to her beautifully equipped cabin, but she had been unable to sleep. Her suspicions were aroused out on the dark water when she realized that she was exposed to the good will of alien sailors, with only Acerronia and her Procurator, Crepeius Gallus, for company.
Agrippina sent Gallus astern to demand that the boat should set course for Bauli, for she wished to spend the night there and continue on to Antium at daybreak the next morning. Anicetus, remembering that during her exile on the island of Pandataria, Agrippina had supported herself by diving for sponges, had the ship’s disintegration arranged in two different phases.
The first twist of the lever would bring down the lead-weighted deck construction, and then another lever would make the hull itself collapse. But the equipping of the cabin had been entrusted to people who knew nothing of the plan, and for safety’s sake, only a few sailors had been initiated.
Some fool had fitted the cabin with a parade couch with high gables, and when the roof collapsed, the heavy gables protected Agrippina so that she escaped with nothing but a cut on one shoulder. Acerronia was kneeling on the floor, massaging Agrippina’s feet, and was quite unharmed. Gallus was the only one who was killed instandy by the falling roof.
Complete confusion reigned on the ship when the construction on the deck collapsed. Agrippina alone understood what had happened, for the sea was calm and the ship had not collided with anything. She sent Acerronia creeping out on to the deck and ordered her to cry out: “I am Agrippina. Save the Imperial mother!”
At once the centurion ordered the initiated sailors to club her to death with their oars. Then he heaved and wrenched at the other lever, but it had jammed and would not move. Next he tried to capsize the boat. The collapsed roof with its lead weights had already given it a list, so several sailors rushed to the side that was down. But simultaneously other sailors climbed up the other side, so the ship did not capsize. In the middle of all this confusion, Agrippina slipped silently out of the cabin, slid into the water and began to swim toward land. In spite of the wine she had drunk and the wound in her shoulder, she managed to swim under water for long stretches at a time, so no one saw her head against the starlit surface of the water. After swimming out of sight, Agrippina met a fishing boat on its way out. The fishermen pulled her on board and at her request took her to Bauli.
The naval centurion was a cold-blooded man. Otherwise Anicetus would not have chosen him for the task. When he saw that the dead woman was Acerronia and that Agrippina had vanished, he had the wrecked yacht rowed back to Baiae to report his failure immediately to Anicetus. As he hurried up to Nero’s quarters, the uninitiated sailors spread the disturbing news of the accident all over the city.
The people of Baiae rushed down to the quays, waded out and set sail in their fishing boats to save Agrippina. When the confusion was at its height, Agrippina’s real rescuers, whom she had richly rewarded, returned and told everybody that the Imperial mother was safe and had only slight injuries. The crowd then decided to go to Bauli in a procession of homage to congratulate Agrippina on her miraculous escape from the perils of the sea.
Nero, tense but unsuspecting and surrounded by his faithful friends, half tearfully, half jokingly, was preparing to grieve for his mother’s death. He planned mourning feasts all over the Empire and prepared a statement to the people of Rome and the Senate.
With a twinge of conscience, he asked me if he could suggest that Agrippina should be exalted as a goddess, for she was, after all, the daughter of the great Germanicus, sister of Emperor Gaius, widow of Emperor Claudius and mother of Emperor Nero, and as such, in fact, a woman of much higher standing than Livia in the history of Rome. We all behaved horribly foolishly and had already jestingly begun to nominate one another as members of the priesthood of the new “goddess.
In the middle of all this cheerfulness, in rushed the naval centurion Obaritus with the message that the ship had only half capsized and that Agrippina had vanished without a trace. The hope that she had been drowned was at once dispelled when the fishermen arrived at the head of a jubilant crowd, to say that Agrippina had been saved. They had seen the lights in the banqueting room and hoped that Nero would reward them. But Nero panicked and sent for Seneca and Burrus, like a schoolboy who has been caught at some prank and turns weeping to his teachers.
I had the presence of mind to order Anicetus to arrest the fishermen at once and shut them up in a safe place while they awaited their reward so that they did not spread rumors which would worsen the situation. Fortunately for Nero, Agrippina obviously had not revealed her suspicions to them as they so innocently chattered on about the rescue.
Seneca and Burrus arrived at the same time, Seneca barefooted and in only a tunic. Nero behaved like a madman, rushing about the room. Anicetus swiftly gave an account of what had happened, and guilt-stricken, Nero was seriously frightened for his own life. His lively imagination made him cry out aloud of what he feared might happen; that Agrippina might be arming her slaves or rousing the soldiers at the garrison against him, or on her way to Rome to complain to the Senate about his attempt to murder her, exhibiting her injuries and telling them of her servant’s cruel death.
Seneca and Burrus were both experienced statesmen and did not need many explanations. Seneca contented himself with looking inquiringly at Burrus. Burrus shrugged his shoulders.
“I shouldn’t send the Praetorians or Germans from the Life Guards to kill the daughter of Germanicus,” he said.
With a grimace of distaste, he turned and looked at Anicetus.
“Let Anicetus complete what he has undertaken,” he suggested.
“I wash my hands of the whole affair.”
Anicetus needed no second bidding. With complete justification he feared for his own life, for Nero, in his anger, had already struck him in the face with his fist. He now promised eagerly to complete his task with the help of his sailors. Nero stared at Seneca and Burrus with restless eyes.
“Not until this night will I be rid of my guardianship,” he cried reproachfully, “and receive the right to rule. But it is to be given to me by a former barber, a freed slave, not by Seneca the Statesman or General Burrus. Go, Anicetus, hurry, and take with you everyone who is willing to do this service for his Emperor.”
Then he turned pale and backed away as one of Agrippina’s freedmen, Agerinus, was announced as seeking audience with him with a message from Agrippina.
“An assassin,” he cried, snatching up a sword and hiding it under his mantle.
In fact he had nothing to fear, for Agrippina, exhausted by her swim and loss of blood, had weighed the possibilities and realized that she would have to put a good face on it and pretend to be quite ignorant of the attempt to murder her. So Agerinus entered trembling, and, stammering slightly, gave Agrippina’s message.
“The goodness of the gods and the guardian spirit of the Emperor have saved me from accidental death. Although you will be dismayed to hear of the danger that has threatened me, do not for the time being come to see your mother. I need rest.”
When Nero saw that he had nothing to fear from Agerinus, he came to his senses, let the sword fall at Agerinus’ feet, and then started back, pointing accusingly at the sword and crying out dramatically, “I call on you all to witness that my own mother has sent her freedman to murder me.”
We hurried up and seized Agerinus, ignoring his protests. Nero ordered him imprisoned, but Anicetus considered it wisest to cut his throat as soon as they were outside the door. So Anicetus had tasted blood, but I thought I ought to go with him, to see that he fulfilled his task. Nero hurried out after us and slipped on the blood running from Agerinus’ body.
“My mother sought my life,” he said with relief. “No one will suspect anything if she herself should take her own life when her crime was exposed. Act accordingly.”.
Obaritus, the naval centurion, came with us, for he wished to atone for his failure. Anicetus had his second-in-command, Herculeius, sound the alarm in the naval barracks and we managed to get hold of some horses. A number of soldiers came with us, running barefooted, and, with shouts and swinging weapons, they managed to disperse the crowds which were on their way to Bauli to congratulate Agrippina.
When we reached Bauli, dawn was just breaking as Anicetus ordered his men to surround the house. We broke down the door and chased away the slaves, who tried to resist us. The bedroom was dimly lit, and Agrippina was lying in bed, her shoulder swathed in warm wrappings. The servant girl with her fled and Agrippina raised her hand, calling after her in vain: “Are you forsaking me too?”
Anicetus shut the door behind us so that there should not be too many spectators, and Agrippina greeted us in a weak voice. “If you have come to ask after my health,” she said, “then tell my son that I am already a little better.”
Then she saw our weapons and her voice became firmer. “If you have come to kill me, then I do not believe it is on my son’s orders. He would never agree to matricide.”
Anicetus, Herculeius and Obaritus surrounded the bed a little awkwardly, not knowing how to begin, for Agrippina looked so majestic even on her sickbed. I stood with my back against the door, keeping it shut. Finally Herculeius struck Agrippina a blow on the head, but so clumsily that she did not lose consciousness. They had intended to knock her unconscious and then open her veins, so that the suicide statement would bear some resemblance to the truth.
Agrippina now abandoned all hope, exposed the lower part of her body, spread her knees and screamed at Anicetus, “Cut up the womb that brought Nero into the world.”
The naval centurion drew his sword and took her at her word. Then they all slashed and thrust at her so that Agrippina received many wounds before she finally drew her last rattling breath.
When we were convinced that she was dead, we each took some small thing as a souvenir from her bedroom while Anicetus ordered the servants to wash the body and arrange it for the pyre. I took a little gold statuette of Fortuna which was standing by the bed, in the belief that it was the one that Emperor Gaius in his day had always carried with him. Later it turned out that it was not the same one and I was extremely disappointed.
A messenger rode swiftly off to Nero to inform him that his mother had committed suicide. Nero hurried straight to Bauli, for with Seneca’s help he had already sent a message to the Senate informing them of the attempt to murder him, and he wished to see with his own eyes that Agrippina really was dead.
Nero arrived so swiftly that the servants were still busy washing and oiling Agrippina’s naked body. Nero stepped up to his mother, felt the wounds with his finger, and said, “See how beautiful my mother is even in death.”
Wood was piled up in the garden and Agrippina’s body was unceremoniously lifted onto a couch from the dining room and placed on the pyre. When the smoke began to billow upward, I suddenly noticed what a beautiful morning it was in Bauli. The sea was a shimmering blue, the birds were singing and all the spring flowers were in bloom in a riot of color in the garden. But there was not a soul to be seen on the roads. The people were confused and had hidden themselves indoors, for no one now knew what had really happened.
While the pyre was still burning, a troop of tribunes and centurions came galloping up. When Nero heard the sound of the horses’ hoofs and saw the line of marines give way before the horses, he looked around for an escape route. But the riders flung themselves out of their saddles and hurried up to press his hand in turn with cries of thanksgiving that he had escaped his mother’s criminal intentions.
The riders had been sent by Prefect Burrus to show the people what the situation was, but he himself had not come, for he was too ashamed. When Agrippina’s remains had been hastily gathered together from the ashes and buried in the garden, the earth was smoothed over the grave. Nero gave his mother no burial mound, in order that it should not become the object of political pilgrimages.
We plucked up courage and went up to the temple in Bauli to take a thank-offering to the gods for Nero’s miraculous escape. But in the temple, Nero began to hear bugle blasts and accusing cries in his ears. He said that the day darkened before his eyes too, although the sun was shining brightly.
Agrippina’s death did not really come as a surprise to the Senate in Rome or the people, for they were prepared for some shattering event. The night Agrippina died, tremendous thunderstorms had raged over the city despite the time of year, and lightning had struck in fourteen different sections of the city, so the Senate had already decided on the customary expiatory sacrifices. When the death announcement arrived, they did not change them to offers of thanksgiving. The suppressed hatred for Agrippina was so great that the Senate decided to put her birthday on the list of days which brought misfortune.
Nero had feared disturbances quite without reason. When he finally arrived in Rome from Naples, he was welcomed as if he were celebrating a triumph. The senators were dressed as if for a feast and the women and children greeted him with songs of praise, strewing spring flowers in his path from the seats which had been hastily constructed on either side of the route.
When Nero went up to the Capitoline to discharge his own thank-offering it was as if all of Rome had rid itself of a hideous nightmare. On this lovely spring day, the people were only too glad to believe Seneca’s false account of Agrippina’s suicide. The very thought of matricide was so terrible to the older people that no one wished even to think about it.
I had hurried on ahead to Rome, straight to Claudia, trembling with pride.
“Claudia,” I cried. “I have avenged you. Agrippina is dead and I myself was involved. Her own son gave the order tha
t she was to be killed. By Hercules, I have paid my debt to you. You need no longer grieve over the degradation you have been made to suffer.”
I handed her the little Fortuna statuette which I had taken from
Agrippina’s bedside table, but Claudia stared at me as if I were a monster and raised both hands as if fending me off.
“I have never asked you to avenge me,” she said in horror. “Your hands are bloody, Minutus.”
I did in fact still have a bloodstained bandage on one hand, so I hastened to assure her that I had not sullied my own hands with Agrippina’s blood, but had only cut my thumb on my own sword in my haste. But this did not help. Claudia began to scold me, calling for the judgment of Jesus of Nazareth to fall on me, and in every way behaving foolishly, so that finally I could do nothing but shout back angrily in reply.
“If it is as you say, then I have only been a tool of your god,” I said. “You can regard Agrippina’s death as a punishment by your Christ for her crimes. And the Jews are the most vindictive people in the world. I’ve read that in their holy books. You are wasting your tears, weeping over Agrippina’s death.”
“Some people have ears and hear nothing,” she replied angrily. “Minutus, haven’t you really understood a single word of what I’ve been trying to teach you?”
“You’re the most ungrateful woman in the world, curse you, Claudia,” I said furiously. “I’ve tolerated your chatter about Christ up to now, but I owe you nothing more. Hold your tongue and leave my house.”
“Christ forgive my violent temper,” mumbled Claudia between her clenched teeth, “but I can no longer control myself.”
She slapped me across both cheeks with her hard hands so that my ears sang, then grasped me by the back of my neck and forced me to my knees, although I am taller than she is.
“Now, Minutus,” she commantled, “you’ll pray to the heavenly father for forgiveness for your terrible sin.”
My self-respect did not permit me to struggle with her and anyhow, she was unusually strong at that time. I crawled out of the room on all fours and Claudia flung the gold statuette after me. When I rose to my feet again, I shouted for the servants, my voice shaking with rage, and ordered them to collect Claudia’s possessions and put them outside the door. I picked up the Fortuna idol, the left wing of which was now bent, and went to the menagerie so that at least I could boast to Sabina of what I had done.