Read Online The Great Fire of Rome: The Fall of the Emperor Nero and His City by Stephen Dando-Collins - Free Book Online
Authors: Stephen Dando-Collins
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become a consul and, in AD 50- 51, Roman governor of Achaia. While Gallio was serving in Achaia, a Jew had been brought before him, accused of blasphemy by the leading Jews of the province. The accused man was Paulus of Tarsus—Paul the Christian apostle as he would become known in centuries to come. Paul had upset the Jewish authorities by preaching the teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. Finding that Paul had no case to answer under Roman law, Gallio had discharged him.
Younger brother Seneca had suffered from asthma while growing up in Rome and spent many years in Egypt, living with his uncle, the prefect of Egypt, where he outgrew the complaint. When Seneca was in his thirties, immediately after the execution of Praetorian Prefect Sejanus, he moved to Rome, becoming a client of the family of the late Germanicus Caesar. In AD 41, under the emperor Claudius, Seneca had been convicted of adultery with Germanicus’ daughter Julia, for which crime he had been banished to the island of Corsica for eight years.
While living in frustrated exile on Corsica and supported in part from Rome by his elder brother Gallio, whom Seneca later described as his mentor, Seneca had produced some of his best literary and philosophical work, much of which he dedicated to Gallio. By AD 49, another of Germanicus’ daughters, Agrippina the Younger, the mother of Nero, had married Claudius, her uncle. Agrippina was able to convince Claudius to recall Seneca from exile and to immediately make both Seneca and his brother Gallio praetors, placing them among the most senior of Rome’s magistrates.
It was said that Seneca also had an affair with Agrippina and this was why she favored him so. Her trust in him extended also to his appointment as Nero’s guardian and tutor. This had been the beginning of the fourteen-year relationship between man and boy, as Seneca guided Nero, first as his teacher and then, once Agrippina murdered Claudius and put Nero on the throne, as his most senior bureaucrat and adviser. Together with his partner in government, the Praetorian prefect Burrus, Seneca had kept a guiding and restraining hand on Nero’s shoulder. But when Burrus’ death brought the appointment of the detestable Tigellinus, Seneca began to see the writing on the wall.
Shortly after the death of Burrus, Seneca became aware of Tigellinus’ desire for Seneca’s neck—literally—when fellow senator Fabius Romanus brought both Seneca and his friend Gaius Piso before the Senate . The alleged crime was that Seneca and Piso were guilty of “stealthy calumnies,” a charge that had the ring of Tigellinus’ authorship about it. 2 Many years had passed since Seneca himself had last sat in the Senate, but this charge from Romanus had to be rebutted. So, Seneca had taken his seat among the former praetors and, once recognized by the presiding consul, had used his famous power of oratory to crush the charges against Piso and himself.
So expert was Seneca’s speech, he made it appear that if anyone were guilty of stealthy calumnies, it was his accuser. Romanus dropped the charges. But both Seneca and his fellow accused Piso had been shaken by the episode. Piso would devise his own strategy to counter future threats from Tigellinus, but Seneca saw only one course open to him. Rather than fall victim to Tigellinus’ continued plotting, Seneca had tendered his resignation.
“You have surrounded me with vast influence and boundless wealth,” Seneca had told the young emperor the day he voluntarily ended his long period of imperial service. “So that I often think to myself, ‘Am I, who am merely of an Equestrian and provincial family, numbered among the chief men of Rome?’” 3
Seneca had told Nero that he could no longer bear the burden of his wealth and asked the emperor to order his agents to take over the management of Seneca’s properties, and to include those properties in Nero’s own estate. Nero had thanked Seneca
Younger brother Seneca had suffered from asthma while growing up in Rome and spent many years in Egypt, living with his uncle, the prefect of Egypt, where he outgrew the complaint. When Seneca was in his thirties, immediately after the execution of Praetorian Prefect Sejanus, he moved to Rome, becoming a client of the family of the late Germanicus Caesar. In AD 41, under the emperor Claudius, Seneca had been convicted of adultery with Germanicus’ daughter Julia, for which crime he had been banished to the island of Corsica for eight years.
While living in frustrated exile on Corsica and supported in part from Rome by his elder brother Gallio, whom Seneca later described as his mentor, Seneca had produced some of his best literary and philosophical work, much of which he dedicated to Gallio. By AD 49, another of Germanicus’ daughters, Agrippina the Younger, the mother of Nero, had married Claudius, her uncle. Agrippina was able to convince Claudius to recall Seneca from exile and to immediately make both Seneca and his brother Gallio praetors, placing them among the most senior of Rome’s magistrates.
It was said that Seneca also had an affair with Agrippina and this was why she favored him so. Her trust in him extended also to his appointment as Nero’s guardian and tutor. This had been the beginning of the fourteen-year relationship between man and boy, as Seneca guided Nero, first as his teacher and then, once Agrippina murdered Claudius and put Nero on the throne, as his most senior bureaucrat and adviser. Together with his partner in government, the Praetorian prefect Burrus, Seneca had kept a guiding and restraining hand on Nero’s shoulder. But when Burrus’ death brought the appointment of the detestable Tigellinus, Seneca began to see the writing on the wall.
Shortly after the death of Burrus, Seneca became aware of Tigellinus’ desire for Seneca’s neck—literally—when fellow senator Fabius Romanus brought both Seneca and his friend Gaius Piso before the Senate . The alleged crime was that Seneca and Piso were guilty of “stealthy calumnies,” a charge that had the ring of Tigellinus’ authorship about it. 2 Many years had passed since Seneca himself had last sat in the Senate, but this charge from Romanus had to be rebutted. So, Seneca had taken his seat among the former praetors and, once recognized by the presiding consul, had used his famous power of oratory to crush the charges against Piso and himself.
So expert was Seneca’s speech, he made it appear that if anyone were guilty of stealthy calumnies, it was his accuser. Romanus dropped the charges. But both Seneca and his fellow accused Piso had been shaken by the episode. Piso would devise his own strategy to counter future threats from Tigellinus, but Seneca saw only one course open to him. Rather than fall victim to Tigellinus’ continued plotting, Seneca had tendered his resignation.
“You have surrounded me with vast influence and boundless wealth,” Seneca had told the young emperor the day he voluntarily ended his long period of imperial service. “So that I often think to myself, ‘Am I, who am merely of an Equestrian and provincial family, numbered among the chief men of Rome?’” 3
Seneca had told Nero that he could no longer bear the burden of his wealth and asked the emperor to order his agents to take over the management of Seneca’s properties, and to include those properties in Nero’s own estate. Nero had thanked Seneca
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