Darkness and Dawn; Or, Scenes in the Days of Nero. An Historic Tale Read online

  CHAPTER IV

  _THE CRIME_

  ‘Une grande reine, fille, femme, mère de rois si puissants.’ --BOSSUET, _Oraison Funèbre d’Henriette de France_.

  ‘Boletos ... optimi quidem hos cibi, sed immenso exemplo in crimen adductos.’--PLINY, _N. H._ xxii. 46.

  A fortnight had elapsed since the evening which we have described.Claudius, worn out with the heavy cares of state, to which healways devoted a conscientious, if somewhat bewildered, attention,had fallen into ill health, which was increased by his unhappyintemperance. Unwilling at all times to allow himself a holiday,even in his advancing years, he had at last been persuaded to visitSinuessa, near the mouth of the River Vulturnus, in the hope that itscharming climate and healing waters might restore him to his usualstrength. He had there enjoyed a few days of quiet, during which hissuspicions had been lulled to sleep by the incessant assiduities ofAgrippina. His children had accompanied him, and Agrippina had beenforced to conceal the furious jealousy with which she witnessed thesigns of affection which he began to lavish upon them. She did notdare to delay any longer the terrible crime which she had for sometime meditated. She stood on the edge of a precipice. There wasperil in every day’s procrastination. What if Pallas, whose scruplesshe had witnessed, should feel an impulse of repentance--shouldfling himself at his master’s feet, confess all, and hurry her toexecution, as Narcissus had hurried Messalina? The weak mind ofClaudius was easily stirred to suspicions. He had already shownmarked signs of uneasiness. Halotus, Xenophon, Locusta--they knewall. Could so frightful a secret be kept? Might not any whisper orany accident reveal it? If she would end this harassing uncertaintyand reap the glittering reward of crime, there must be no delay.

  She had intended to carry out the fatal deed at Sinuessa, butClaudius felt restless; and as a few days of country air hadrefreshed his health and spirits, he hurried back to Rome on October13, A.D. 54. She felt that, if she was not prompt, Narcissus, thevigilant guardian of his master, might return, and the opportunitymight slip away for ever.

  They had scarcely reached the Palace when she bade Acerronia tosummon Halotus to her presence as secretly as possible.

  The eunuch entered--a wrinkled and evil specimen of humanity, who hadgrown grey in the household of Claudius.

  ‘The Emperor,’ she said, ‘is far from well. His appetite needs tobe enticed by the most delicate kinds of food. You will see that histastes are consulted in the supper of this evening.’

  ‘Madam,’ said the slave, ‘there is nothing of which the nobleClaudius is fonder than boletus mushrooms. They are scarce, but asmall dish of them has been procured.’

  ‘Let them be brought here, that I may see them.’

  Halotus returned in a few moments, followed by a slave, who set themushrooms before her on a silver dish, and retired. They were few innumber, but one was peculiarly fine.

  ‘I will consult the physician Xenophon, whether they will suit theEmperor’s health,’ said Agrippina. ‘He is in attendance.’

  Passing into an adjoining room, which was empty, she hastily drewfrom her bosom the little box which Locusta had given her, andsprinkled the yellow flakes and powder among the sporules on thepink inner surface of the mushroom. Then returning she said,

  ‘Halotus, this dainty must be reserved for the table of the Emperoralone, and I design this mushroom particularly for him. He will bepleased at the care which I have taken to stimulate his appetite. Andif I have reason to be satisfied with you, your freedom is secured--your fortune made.’

  The eunuch bowed; but as he left the room he thrust his tongue intohis cheek, and his wrinkled face bore an ugly smile.

  The evening came. The supper party was small, for Claudius stilllonged for quiet, and had been glad, in the retirement of Sinuessa,to lay aside the superb state of the imperial household. Usuallywhen he was at Rome the hall was crowded with guests; but on thisday he had desired that only a few friends should be present. At the_sigma_, or semicircular table at which he reclined, there were noothers except Agrippina, who was next to him, Pallas, Octavia, andNero. Burrus, the commander of the Prætorian camp, was in attendance,and Seneca, Nero’s tutor; but they were at another sigma, with one ortwo distinguished senators who had been asked to meet them.

  Except Halotus and Pallas, there was not one person in the room whohad the least suspicion of the tragedy which was about to be enacted.Yet there fell on all the guests one of those unaccountable spellsof silence and depression which are so often the prelude to greatcalamities. At the lower table, indeed, Burrus tried to enliven theguests with the narrative of scenes which he had witnessed in Germanyand Britain in days of active service, and told once more how he hadreceived the wound which disabled his left hand. But to these storiesthey listened with polite apathy, nor could they be roused from theirlanguor by the studied impromptus of Seneca. At the upper table Nero,startled by a few vague words which his mother had dropped early inthe day, was timid and restless. The young Octavia--she was butfourteen years old--was habitually taciturn in the presence ofher husband, Nero, who even in these early days had conceived anaversion, which he was not always able to conceal, for the bride whohad been forced upon him by his mother’s ambition. Claudius talkedbut little, for he was intent, as usual, on the pleasures of thetable, and all conversation with him soon became impossible, as hedrained goblet after goblet of Massic wine. Agrippina alone affectedcheerfulness as she congratulated the Emperor on his improvinghealth, and praised the wisdom which had at last induced him toyield to her loving entreaties, and to take a much-needed holiday.

  ‘And now, Cæsar,’ she said, ‘I have a little surprise for you. Thereis, I know, nothing which you like better than these rare boleti.They are entirely for ourselves. I shall take some; the rest are foryou, especially this--the finest I could procure.’

  With her own white and jewelled hand she took from the dish the fatalmushroom, and handed it to her husband. He greedily ate the dainty,and thanked her. Not long after he looked wildly round him, tried invain to speak, rose from the table, and, staggering, fell back intothe arms of the treacherous Halotus.

  The unfortunate Emperor was carried out of the triclinium by hisattendants. Such an end of the banquet was common enough after hehad sat long over the wine, but that he should be removed so suddenlybefore the supper was half over was an unwonted circumstance.

  The slaves had carried him into the adjoining Nymphæum, a roomadorned with rare plants, and were splashing his face with the waterof the fountain. Xenophon was summoned, and gave orders that heshould be at once conveyed to his chamber. The guests caught onelast glimpse of his senseless form as the slaves hurriedly carriedit back through the dining-hall.

  Seneca and Burrus exchanged terrified glances, but no word was spokenuntil Agrippina whispered to Pallas to dismiss the guests. He rose,and told them that the Emperor had suddenly been taken ill, butthat the illness did not seem to be serious. A night’s rest woulddoubtless set him right. Meanwhile the Empress was naturally anxious,and as she desired to tend her suffering husband, it was better thatall strangers should take their farewell.

  As they departed, they heard her ordering the preparation of heatedcloths and fomentations, as she hurried to the sick room. The Emperorlay gasping and convulsed, sometimes unconscious, sometimes in adelirium of agony; and it was clear that the quantities of winewhich he had drunk might tend to dilute the poison, possibly evento counteract its working. Hour after hour passed by, and Claudiusstill breathed. Xenophon, the treacherous physician, saw the danger.Assuring those present in the chamber of the dying man that quiet wasessential to his recovery, he urged the Empress to have the roomcleared, and to take upon herself the duties of nurse. His commandswere obeyed, and under pretence that he might produce some naturalrelief by irritating the throat, Xenophon sent for a large feather.The feather of a flamingo was brought, and when the slaves hadretired, he smeared it with a rapid and deadly poison. The effectwas instant. The swollen form of the Emperor heaved with the s
pasmof a last struggle, and he lay dead before them.

  Not a tear did Agrippina shed, not one sigh broke from the murderess,as her uncle and husband breathed his last.

  ‘It must not be known that he is dead,’ she whispered. ‘Watch here.I will give out that he has fallen into a refreshing sleep, and willprobably awake in his accustomed health. Fear not for your reward; itshall be immense when my Nero reigns. But much has first to be done.’

  She hurried to her room, and despatched messengers in all directions,though it was now near midnight. She sent to the Priests, biddingthem to offer vows to all the gods for the Emperor’s safety; sheordered the Consuls to convoke the Senate, and gave them secretdirections that, while they prayed for Claudius, they should beprepared for all emergencies. Special despatches were sent to Senecaand Burrus. The former was to prepare an address which Nero might, ifnecessary, pronounce before the Senate; the latter was to repair tothe Palace at earliest dawn and await the issue of events.

  Meanwhile she gave the strictest orders that the Palace gates shouldbe guarded, and that none should be allowed to enter or to leaveunless they could produce written permission. All this was easy forher. The Palace was full of her creatures. Britannicus and Octaviahad been gradually deprived of nearly all who were known to befaithful to their interests. They were kept in profound ignorancethat death had robbed them of the one natural protector, who lovedthem with a tenderness which had often been obscured by the bedazedcharacter of his intellect, but which had never been for one momentquenched. All that they learnt from the spies and traitors whowere placed about their persons was that the Emperor had been takensuddenly ill, but was already recovering, and was now in a peacefulslumber.

  Having taken all these precautions, and secured that no one exceptPallas or herself should be admitted during the night into the roomwhere Xenophon kept watch beside the corpse, Agrippina retired toher chamber. One thing alone troubled her. Before she retired she hadlooked for a moment on the nightly sky, and saw on the far horizon agleam unknown to her. She called her Greek astrologer and asked himwhat it was. He paused, and for a moment looked alarmed. ‘It is acomet,’ he said.

  ‘Is that an omen of disaster?’

  The learned slave was too politic to give it that interpretation. ‘Itmay,’ he said, ‘portend the brilliant inauguration of a new reign.’

  She was reassured by the answer, and laid herself down to rest.Though greatly excited by the events of the day, and the immensecares which fell upon her, she slept as sweetly as a child. No palefaces looked in upon her slumber; no shriek rang through her dreams;no fancy troubled her of gibbering spectre or Fury from the abyss.She had given orders that she should be awakened in a few hours,and by the time that the first grey light shuddered in the east shehad dressed herself in rich array, and, with a sense of positiveexultation, stepped out of her room, calm and perfumed, to achievethat which had been for years the main ambition of her life.