Néro's wife, and become herself a partner in the empire, she urged her paramour, by every means in her power, to the murder of his mother. Néro himself was anxious to remove one whom he so greatly feared; but he dreaded the resentment of the Romans, who, in spite of her crimes, reverenced the last representative of the family of German'icus. After various attempts to destroy her secretly had failed, a body of armed men were sent to her house, and she was murdered in her bed. A labored apology for this matricide was soon after published, which, it is painful to learn, was composed by the philosopher Sen'eca.

The death of Bur'rhus, whether by poison or disease is uncertain, led to a great deterioration of Nero's character; for the influence of that able statesman had restrained the emperor from many extravagances in which he was anxious to indulge. Tigellínus, a wretch infamous for all the crimes that are engendered by cruelty and lust, became the new minister; and Néro no longer kept within the bounds of ordinary decency. Sen'eca was banished from the court; the empress Octávia was divorced, and afterward murdered; finally, Poppa'a was publicly married to the emperor. A tour through Italy gave Néro an opportunity of appearing as a singer on the stage at Naples, and he was excessively gratified by the applause with which the Neapolitans and some Alexandrians fed his vanity. Soon after his return to Rome, a dreadful conflagration, which lasted nine days, destroyed the greater part of the city; and it was generally believed that the fire had been kindled by the emperor's orders. Upon the ruins of the demolished city Néro erected his celebrated golden palace, which seems to have been more remarkable for its vast extent, and the richness of the materials used in its construction, than for the taste or beauty of the architectural design. To silence the report of his having caused the late calamity, Néro transferred the guilt of the fire to the new sect of the Christians, whose numbers were rapidly increasing in every part of the empire. A cruel persecution commenced; first, all who openly acknowledged their connexion with the sect were arrested and tortured: then from their extorted confessions, thousands of others were seized and condemned, not for the burning of the city, but on the still more ludicrous charge of hatred and enmity to mankind. Their death and torture were aggravated with cruel derision and sport; for they were either covered with the skins of wild beasts, and torn to pieces by devouring dogs, or fastened to crosses, or wrapped up in combustible garments, that when the daylight failed, they might serve, like torches, to illuminate the darkness of the night. For this tragical spectacle Néro lent his own gardens, and exhibited at the same time the public diversions of the circus; sometimes driving a chariot in person, and sometimes standing among the people as a spectator, in the habit of a charioteer.

The extravagant expenses of the golden palace, the restoration of the city, the emperor's luxuries, and the entertainments given to the people, exhausted the exchequer, and led to a system of plunder and extortion which nearly caused the dissolution of the empire. Not only Italy, but all the provinces, the several confederate nations, and all the cities that had the title of free, were pillaged and laid waste. The temples of the gods and the houses of individuals were equally stripped of their treasures; but still enough could not be obtained to support the

emperor's bounaiess prodigality. At length a conspiracy was formed for his destruction by Cneíus Píso, in which the greater part of the Roman nobility engaged. It was accidentally discovered; and Néro eagerly seized such a pretence for giving loose to his sanguinary dispositions. Among the victims were the philosopher Sen'eca, the poet Lúcan, Píso, and most of the leading nobles. In the midst of the massacres, Néro appeared on the stage as a candidate for the prize of music which of course he obtained. About the same time he killed the empress Poppa'a by kicking her while pregnant.

It may appear strange that such repeated atrocities should not have driven the Roman people to revolt; but the lower classes felt nothing of the imperial despotism, and did not sympathize with the calamities of the nobles, because the ancient oppressions of the aristocracy were still remembered. They were, besides, gratified by a monthly distribution of corn, by occasional supplies of wine and meat (conjiaria et eviscerationes), and by the magnificent shows of the circus (munera). In fact, the periods of tyranny were the golden days of the poor; and Néro was far more popular with the rabble than any statesman or general of the republic had ever been.

Not satisfied with his Italian fame, Néro resolved to display his musical skill at the Olympic games, and for this purpose passed over into Greece. The applauses he received in his tour from the spectators so gratified him, that he declared "the Greeks alone perfectly understand music." He transmitted a particular account of his victories to the senate, and ordered thanksgivings and sacrifices to be offered for them in every temple throughout the empire. That no monuments of other victors might remain, he commanded all their statues to be pulled down, dragged through the streets, and either dashed to pieces, or thrown into the common sewers. While he was thus engaged, the dreadful rebellion, which destroyed the Jewish nation, commenced in Palestine: Ces'tius Gal'lus, the governor of Syria, having been defeated in an attempt to besiege Jerusalem, the conduct of the war was intrusted to the celebrated Vespasian. Though Néro had been greatly delighted by the excessive adulations of the Achæans, he did not abstain from plundering their country; and A'chaia suffered more from his peaceful visit than from the open war of Mum'mius or Sylla.

Soon after the emperor's return to Rome, formidable insurrections burst forth in the western provinces, occasioned by the excessive taxation to which they were subjected. Július Vin'dex, descended from the ancient kings of Aquitain, was the first to raise the standard of revolt in Celtic Gaul, of which he was governor. Gal'ba soon after was proclaimed emperor in Spain by his soldiers, and was supported by O'tho, the governor of Lusitánia. Nero was not much disturbed by the rebellion of Vin'dex; but the hostility of Gal'ba filled him with conster nation. He was, however, consoled for a time by the intelligence of the defeat of the Gauls, who were so completely overthrown by Virginius, the imperial lieutenant, that Vin'dex slew himself in despair. Gal'ba would now have been ruined, had not Nymphid'ius, whom Nero had appointed the colleague of Tigellínus, seduced the prætorian guards to renounce their allegiance. The emperor was immediately abandoned by all his ministers and servants; he fled from Rome, and sought refuge

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in the house of Pháon, one of his freedmen. Here he soon learned that he had been declared an enemy to the state, and sentenced to be executed according to ancient custom (móre majórum). Inquiring the nature of this punishment he was informed that he was to be placed in a pillory, and beaten to death with rods (A. D. 68). At the prospect of such a cruel fate he was filled with horror, and declared that he would commit suicide; but his courage failed when he was about to use the dagger. At length, hearing the galloping of the horse sent to arrest him, he requested the aid of his freedman Epaphrodítus, and received a mortal wound. He was not quite dead when the centurion, sent by the senate, arrived, and endeavored to stop the blood. Néro, looking at him sternly, said, "It is too late. Is this your fidelity?" and soon after expired. His body was interred privately, but honorably; and many of the lower ranks, whose favor he had won by his extravagant liberalities, lamented his loss, honored his memory, and brought flowers to decorate his tomb.

During this reign the provinces were harassed by frequent revolts : in addition to those we have already noticed, it may be necessary to mention the revolt of the Icéni in Britain, under the command of their heroic queen Boadicéa. She took up arms to revenge the gross insults and injuries she had received; falling unexpectedly on the Roman colonies and garrisons, she destroyed a great number both of them and their allies; and could she have secured the co-operation of all the native tribes, might have liberated her country. This dangerous insurrection was quelled by Suetónius Paulínus, who added the island of Anglesey to the Roman dominions; thus taking from the Druids, the secret instigators of resistance to all foreign power, the great centre both of their religion and their influence.

The family of the Cæsars, properly speaking, ended with Calig'ula; but as both Néro and Claudius were maternally descended from Augus'tus, they are usually reckoned among the members of the Julian, or first imperial house. Its extinction, notwithstanding the vices of its later members, was a serious calamity to the empire; it led to a series of sanguinary wars, arising from disputed successions, during which the supreme authority of the state was wrested equally from the emperors and senate by a licentious soldiery.

SECTION II.-From the Extinction of the Julian to that of the first Flavian
Family.

SER'VIUS SUL'PITIUS GAL'BA, universally acknowledged seventh emperor after the death of Néro, was descended from an illustrious family that had been eminently distinguished for warlike achievements during the later ages of the republic. He was now in the seventy-third year of his age, and, on account of his infirmities, travelled very slowly toward Rome. Nymphid'ius took advantage of this delay, to make a struggle for empire by bribing the prætorian guards; but his conduct during the reign of Néro had rendered him so deservedly unpopular, that he was murdered by the very soldiers who had taken his money. This rash conspiracy induced Gal'ba to sully the commencement of his

reign by unseasonable severities, which gave the more offence to his subjects, as they had not been anticipated. It was soon discovered that the new emperor, however virtuous himself, was the tool of unworthy favorites, who, under the sanction of his name, plundered the people, and deprived the soldiers of their usual donative. A revolt of the legions in Upper Germany induced Gal'ba to nominate a successor; he chose Cneíus Píso, descended from the old triumvirs Cras'sus and Pom'pey, who was greatly esteemed for his talents, virtues, and engaging manners. But this appointment gave great offence to O'tho, who had been foremost to espouse the cause of Gal'ba: taking advantage of the discontent of the prætorian guards, he went to their camp, and easily induced these turbulent warriors to proclaim him emperor. Gal'ba prepared to make a vigorous struggle for his crown, but his soldiers refused to obey the orders of their commander; and when he was borne in a litter to enforce obedience, those who carried him, terrified by the tumult, threw down the chair, and the aged emperor, thus lying helpless, was slain by one of the veterans (A. D. 69). His body was treated with the greatest indignity by the factious troops; Píso, his appointed successor, was murdered; and the prætorian guards threatened destruction to all who did not acquiesce in their decision.

O'tho, thus raised to the empire, was, during his brief reign, a passive instrument in the hands of the licentious soldiers. Scarcely had he been fixed upon the throne, when he found that he would have to struggle for empire with a formidable rival, Vitellius, the commander of the legions in lower Germany. Válens and Cæcína joined the usurper with numerous forces, and intelligence soon arrived of their advance toward Italy through Gaul. Their arrival in Italy filled Rome with consternation, which the licentious indolence in which O'tho indulged by no means tempted to abate. But on the near approach of danger, the emperor laid aside his pleasures and debaucheries, making the most vigorous measures for resistance. Most of the provinces declared in his favor, and could he have protracted the war, he would probably have preserved his crown. But the prætorian guards, wearied of the unusual hardships of a campaign, and eager to return to the pleasures of the capital, demanded to be led instantly against the enemy. O'tho withdrew to a place of safety, but ordered his generals to give battle without delay. The decisive engagement was fought at Bedríacum, near the banks of the Po: early in the day, the prætorian guards, attacked in flank by a Batavian column, fled in disorder, and threw the rest of the army into confusion. This unexpected disaster gave Vitellius an easy victory; and following up his success, he took possession of the imperial camp. O'tho, having learned the news of the battle, convened the rest of his soldiers, thanked them for their fidelity, and intimated his resolution not to permit his life to be the cause of further bloodshed. That night he committed suicide, having only reigned three months. He was honorably interred by his soldiers, who showed sincere sorrow for his loss.

Vitellius was a slave to gluttony and debauchery: he received very coldly the congratulations of the senate on his victory and accession, and he was reluctant to expose himself to the dangers of the turbulences that the soldiers, both of his and O'tho's army, excited in Italy.

At length he made his public entrance into Rome, and endeavored to win the favor of the populace by large donatives and expensive entertainments in the circus. Intrusting all the power of the state to unworthy favorites, he devoted himself wholly to the pleasures of the table, on which he squandered nearly seven millions of money in less than four months. Nothing, however, gave greater scandal to the higher ranks of the senators, than his solemnizing, with great pomp, the obsequies of Néro, and compelling the Augustal priests, an order consecrated by Tibérius for superintending the religious rites of the Julian family, to attend at that ceremony. While he was thus insulting his subjects, and wasting the wealth of the empire, fortune, or rather Providence, was raising him up a competitor in a distant province. Vespasian was carrying on the war against the Jews with great success, when he heard of the death of Néro, and the election of Gal'ba: he sent his son Títus to present his allegiance to the new emperor: but ere he could reach Italy, Galba was no more, and O'tho. and Vitellius were contending for the empire. Títus returned to his father, whom he found ready to swear allegiance to Vitellius, though the army wished him to declare himself emperor. Vespásian's reluctance, whether real or affected, was overcome by the exhortations of Muciánus, governor of Syria, and the tributary monarchs of the east, whose friendship he had won by his justice and moderation. No sooner did he commence his march toward Europe, than the legions quartered in Illyricum and Pannónia declared in his favor; nor was there any province on which Vitellius could rely for support except Africa. Prímus and Várus, at the head of the Illyrian armies, crossed the Alps, and made themselves masters of Verona, and at the same time the fleet at Ravenna declared in favor of Vespasian. Cæcína, who had the principal share in raising Vitellius to the throne, followed the same course, but his soldiers disapproved his conduct, and put him in irons. Prímus, advancing southward, encountered the forces of Vitellius near Cremóna, and totally routed them, after a battle which lasted the entire day and a great part of the following night. The city of Cremóna, after a desperate resistance, was taken by storm, and the greater part of the inhabitants put to the sword. Válens, who went to raise an army in the western provinces to support the emperor, was taken prisoner, upon which Gaul, Spain, and Britain, declared in favor of Vespásian.

Vitellius at first refused to believe the evil tidings that reached him om every quarter; but at length on the near approach of danger, he hasted to secure the passes of the Apennines. Prímus, however, by a hazardous march through the snow, forced his way over the mountains, and sent the head of Válens to be displayed to the imperial army, as a proof of his success in other quarters. Immediately Vitellius was abandoned by his troops: he fled hastily to Rome, and receiving no encouragement from senate or people, abdicated his authority. Some of the prætorian guards, however, dreading the strict discipline of Vespásian, compelled the wretched monarch to resume the purple. The city was distracted by a horrid civil tumult, in which many of the principal nobles perished, and the Capitol was burned to the ground. Prímus, hearing of these disorders, advanced with all speed to Rome, forced an entrance into the city, and took the camp of the prætorian guards by