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Eusebius. And Claudius departed from men in the way that has been described, but Nero usurped the rule by the zeal of Agrippina, being her son and having become an adopted son to Claudius, with the wills of Claudius having disappeared and Britannicus having been pushed aside, who was the legitimate son of the deceased, being still of a boyish age. When Nero was proclaimed emperor and Augustus by 3.38 both the senate and the army, Agrippina managed all the affairs pertaining to the rule, trafficking in everything in his name. But as time went on, Seneca, who was prefect of the guard, and Burrus, Nero’s teacher, stopped her, and they themselves administered the government excellently as far as they were able. For Nero, being very young when he became sole ruler—for he was then in his seventeenth year of age—and being no man of business, lived luxuriously and was in love and reveled and was drunk and busied himself with gladiatorial contests and chariot races. He was extravagant and not small-minded, but rather profligate. As proof, having ordered two hundred and fifty myriads of silver to be given to one of his associates, when Agrippina, having collected the silver, had it placed before him, so that seeing it all at once he might change his mind, he, understanding, asked how much was lying there, and having learned, he said, "I did not know I had bestowed so little," and ordered it to be doubled. Thus he quickly exhausted the imperial treasuries, and quickly he needed new revenues and he collected unaccustomed taxes from all quarters. And when Agrippina, being exceedingly avaricious, became violently angry because she was not able to collect money, and threatened to make Britannicus emperor, Nero, becoming afraid, killed him with poison. And he expired immediately and was carried out on a stretcher as if an epileptic; but at the funeral, since he had become livid from the poison, he was led through the forum having been coated with plaster; but a heavy rain, falling while the plaster was still wet, washed it all off, so that the terrible deed not only was heard of, but also seen. 3.39 Later he also dispatched his mother Agrippina, sending the freedman Anicetus. She, seeing the one who was sent, and knowing for what he had come, tore her robe, and baring her womb said, "Strike this, Anicetus, strike, because it bore Nero." And so she was slain, and Nero became an eyewitness of the audacious deed and, having stripped her completely, saw and counted the wounds. And at night he was so disturbed that he would even leap up from his bed and be terrified. And in Rome it was written in many places by some persons secretly: Nero, Orestes, Alcmaeon—matricides. And he divorced the Augusta Octavia, the daughter of Claudius, his own wife. For being in love with Sabina, he wished to be with her as his wife. But Sabina, fearing that Octavia might someday be recalled, prepared accusers against her for both adultery and false sorcery. And she caused her first to be exiled, and then to be slain. Then Sabina herself was also killed by Nero; for he kicked her while she was pregnant. And he mourned her for a long time after her death. And he longed for her so much that first he sent for and had a certain woman who resembled her, then a freedman boy, whom he named Sporus, he castrated and married, since he too resembled Sabina, although he himself had been married to a certain freedman, Pythagoras. And Pythagoras had relations with Nero as a man, and Sporus as a woman. And he also played the cithara in public, although he had a faint 3.40 and dark voice, and he drove a chariot in the hippodrome. And he also crossed over to Greece, not indeed like his forefathers, but for dancing and for playing the cithara and for being a herald and for acting in tragedy. For Rome was not enough for him, but he also needed a campaign abroad, so that he might also become a circuit-victor, as he said. But why should one recount each of the things done by him? For simply all the things that common actors impersonate, he also both said and did and suffered, except inasmuch as with golden

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ὁ Εὐσέβιος. Καὶ Κλαύδιος μὲν ον ειρηται τρόπον ἐξ ἀνθρώπων ἐγένετο, τὴν δ' ἡγεμονίαν ὁ Νέρων ἐσφετερίσατο τῆς ̓Αγριππίνης σπουδῇ, υἱὸς αὐτῆς ων καὶ εἰσποιητὸς παῖς τῷ Κλαυδίῳ γενόμενος, τῶν τε διαθηκῶν τοῦ Κλαυδίου ἀφανισθεισῶν καὶ τοῦ Βρεττανικοῦ παρηγκωνισμένου, ος γνήσιος ην τοῦ τεθνεῶτος υἱός, ἐν παιδικῇ ετι τυγχάνων τῇ ἡλικίᾳ. τοῦ Νέρωνος δὲ αὐτοκράτορος καὶ Αὐγούστου ὑπό 3.38 τε τῆς βουλῆς καὶ τῆς στρατιᾶς ἀναγορευθέντος ἡ ̓Αγριππῖνα πάντα τὰ τῇ ἀρχῇ προσήκοντα διῴκει τῷ ἐκείνου ὀνόματι καπηλεύουσα πάντα. προϊόντος δὲ τοῦ χρόνου ὁ Σενέκας επαρχος ων τοῦ δορυφορικοῦ καὶ ὁ Βοῦρρος διδάσκαλος τοῦ Νέρωνος τὴν μὲν επαυσαν, αὐτοὶ δὲ τὴν ἀρχὴν ηνυσαν αριστα ἐφ' οσονπερ ἠδυνήθησαν. ὁ γὰρ Νέρων νεώτατος τυγχάνων οτ' ἐμονάρχησεν, ἑπτακαιδέκατον γὰρ ετος ηγε τότε τῆς ἡλικίας αὐτοῦ, καὶ μήτε φιλοπραγματίας ων, ἐτρύφα καὶ ηρα καὶ ἐκώμαζε καὶ ἐμέθυε καὶ μονομαχίαις καὶ ἱπποδρομίαις ἐσχόλαζε. πολυδάπανος δὲ καὶ οὐ μικρόφρων ην, ἀλλὰ μᾶλλον ἀσωτευόμενος. τεκμήριον δέ, τινὶ τῶν περὶ αὐτὸν πεντήκοντα αμα καὶ διακοσίας μυριάδας ἀργυρίου δοθῆναι κελεύσας, ἐπειδὴ ἡ ̓Αγριππῖνα ἀθροίσασα τὸ ἀργύριον ἐνώπιον αὐτοῦ τεθῆναι πεποίηκεν, ιν' ἀθρόον ἰδὼν αὐτὸ μεταβάληται, συνεὶς ἐκεῖνος ηρετο πόσον ειη τὸ κείμενον, καὶ μαθών "ἠγνόησα" ειπεν "ὀλίγον ουτω κεχαρισμένος," καὶ διπλασιασθῆναι ἐκέλευσεν. ουτω δὲ ταχὺ τοὺς βασιλικοὺς ἐξήντλησε θησαυρούς, ταχὺ δὲ πόρων ἐδεήθη καινῶν καὶ τέλη οὐκ εἰθισμένα πάντοθεν ἐξελέγετο. Τῆς δ' ̓Αγριππίνης, οτι μὴ ἀργυρολογεῖν ἠδύνατο φιλαργυρωτάτη ουσα, περιθύμως ὀργισθείσης, καὶ ἀπειλησαμένης τὸν Βρεττανικὸν αὐτοκράτορα καταστήσειν, φοβηθεὶς ὁ Νέρων ἀπέκτεινε φαρμάκῳ αὐτόν. καὶ ὁ μὲν παραχρῆμα ἀπέψυξε καὶ φοράδην ὡς ἐπίληπτος ἐκκεκόμιστο· ἐν δέ γε τῇ ἐκφορᾷ, ἐπεὶ πελιδνὸς ὑπὸ τοῦ φαρμάκου γέγονε, γύψῳ χρισθεὶς διὰ τῆς ἀγορᾶς ηγετο· ὑετὸς δὲ πολὺς ὑγρᾶς ετι τῆς γύψου ουσης ἐπιπεσὼν απασαν αὐτὴν ἀπέκλυσεν, ωστε τὸ δεινὸν μὴ μόνον ἀκούεσθαι, ἀλλὰ καὶ ὁρᾶσθαι. 3.39 Υστερον δὲ καὶ τὴν μητέρα τὴν ̓Αγριππῖναν, τὸν ἀπελεύθερον ̓Ανίκητον πέμψας, διεχειρίσατο. η τὸν πεμφθέντα ἰδοῦσα, καὶ γνοῦσα ἐφ' οτῳ ηκει, τὴν ἐσθῆτα περιερρήξατο, καὶ τὴν γαστέρα ἀπογυμνώσασα "παῖε ταύτην" εφη " ̓Ανίκητε, παῖε, οτι Νέρωνα ετεκε." καὶ ἡ μὲν ἐσφάγη, ὁ δὲ Νέρων καὶ αὐτόπτης τοῦ τολμήματος γέγονε καὶ πᾶσαν ειδε γυμνώσας καὶ τὰ τραύματα ἐξηρίθμησε. ταῖς δὲ νυξὶν ἐξεταράττετο ωστε καὶ ἐκ τῆς εὐνῆς ἀναπηδᾶν καὶ ἐκδειματοῦσθαι. ἐν δὲ τῇ ̔Ρώμῃ πολλαχόθι ἐγράφετο παρά τινων ἀφανῶς Νέρων, ̓Ορέστης, ̓Αλκμαίων μητροκτόνοι. Καὶ τὴν Αὐγούσταν ̓Οκταουίαν τὴν τοῦ Κλαυδίου θυγατέρα, τὴν ἑαυτοῦ γυναῖκα, ἀπεπέμψατο. τῆς γὰρ Σαβίνης ἐρῶν, ηθελεν αὐτῇ συνεῖναι ὡς γαμετῇ. δείσασα δὲ ἡ Σαβῖνα μήποτε ἡ ̓Οκταουία μετακληθῇ, κατηγόρους ἐπ' αὐτῇ καὶ μοιχείας καὶ γοητείας ψευδοῦς παρεσκευάσατο. καὶ τὸ μὲν πρῶτον φυγαδευθῆναι αὐτήν, επειτα καὶ σφαγῆναι ἐποίησεν. ειτα καὶ αὐτὴ ἡ Σαβῖνα ἐκτάνθη ὑπὸ τοῦ Νέρωνος· κυούσῃ γὰρ αὐτῇ λὰξ ἐνέθορεν. ἐπὶ πολὺ δὲ θανοῦσαν ἐπένθησεν. ουτως δ' αὐτὴν ἐπόθησεν ωστε τὰ μὲν πρῶτα γυναῖκά τινα προσφερῆ ἐκείνῃ μετεπέμψατο καὶ εσχεν, επειτα παῖδα ἀπελεύθερον, ον Σπόρον ὠνόμαζεν, ἐκτεμὼν εγημεν, ἐπειδὴ καὶ αὐτὸς τῇ Σαβίνῃ ἐῴκει, καίπερ Πυθαγόρᾳ τινὶ ἐξελευθέρῳ γεγαμημένος. καὶ συνεγίνοντο αμα τῷ Νέρωνι Πυθαγόρας μὲν ὡς ἀνήρ, Σπόρος δὲ ὡς γυνή. καὶ ἐκιθαρῴδησε δὲ δημοσίᾳ, καίτοι βραχὺ 3.40 καὶ μέλαν φώνημα εχων, καὶ ἐν τῷ ἱπποδρομίῳ ἡρματηλάτησεν. ἐπεραιώθη δὲ καὶ πρὸς τὴν ̔Ελλάδα, ουτοι γε ὡς οἱ πρόγονοι αὐτοῦ, ἀλλ' ἐπὶ ὀρχήσει καὶ ἐπὶ κιθαρῳδήσει κηρύξει τε καὶ τραγῳδίας ὑποκρίσει. οὐ γὰρ ηρκει αὐτῷ ἡ ̔Ρώμη, ἀλλ' ἐδεήθη καὶ ἐκστρατείας, ινα καὶ περιοδονίκης, ὡς ελεγε, γένηται. ̓Αλλὰ τί αν τις καθ' εκαστον λέγοι τῶν παρ' ἐκείνου πραττομένων; πάντα γὰρ ἁπλῶς οσα οἱ τυχόντες ὑποκρίνονται, κἀκεῖνος ελεγέ τε καὶ επραττε καὶ επασχε, πλὴν καθ' οσον χρυσαῖς