The Sun.
London, England, 1863-07-06 00:00:00

WAS NERO A MONSTER ?

The poisoning of Britannicus is doubly interesting. It
is one of the most notorious of murders ; and has, I believe
never until this day found any one to question it since Ta-
citus and Suetonius first circumstantially related the details.
Yet a verdict more flagrantly in defiance of common sense
and science has seldom been given. Nero, we are told, hated
Britannicus because of his sweet voice, and feared him as a
possible pretender to the throne. Here are the motives ima-
gined ; let us now see them in operation. The tyrant, we
are told, unable to bring any accusation against him (which
in those days of conspiracy was surely strange) secretly
resolved to murder him ; and this secret resolve be-
comes known to the narrators, but how they gained the
knowledge is not mentioned. It was confided to Julius
Pollio, tribune of a prsatorian cohort, who at that
moment held in prison, under sentence of death,
Locusts, notorious for her crimes-4110a seelerurn fame.
She was ordered to prepare a poison—this position was ad-
ministered to Britannicus—but it was too slow in its opera-
tion—and Nero, sending for her, beat her, and vowed that
she had supplied an antidote, 'Whereupon she prepared
before his own eyes, and in his own room, a deadly poison,
the strength of which was essayed on a pig, whose instant
death satisfied Nero that now he had got what he desired.
The banquet was prepared. Britannicus was seated at a
separate table magnificently served, in presence of his re-
latives and several young nobles. A slave stood at his
side to taste of every dish and every beverage, as a pre-
caution against poison ; and this slave it was necessary to
spare, otherwise his death, occurring at the same time,
would betray the murder. To avoid this betrayal, the follow-
ing expedient was imagined. A beverage was presented to
Britannicus, after having been tasted, too hot to be drunk ;
to cool it, a little cold water was poured in, and this cold
water contained the poison. No sooner had the prince tasted
it than he fell lifeless. The guests were alarmed ; some rose
to fly ; but those who clearly understood it all sat still, their
eyes fixed on Nero, who quietly assured them that it was
only an attack of the epileptic fits to which Britannicus
was sul ject, and that it would soon be over. " After a
while the gaiety of the banquet was resumed ; post breve
eilentiumrepetita conviviiktitia." Britannicus was hastily
buried the next day. According to Dion Cassius the face
of the corpse had become quite black from the poison; to
conceal this Nero whitened it with chalk, but the falling
rain washed away the chalk and disclosed the crime which
had been thus clumsily concealed. As for Locusts she wasnot
only rewarded with a free pardon and a grant of land, but
" Nero placed some disciples with her to be instructed in
her art 1" This is the story. The first remark which
Science Suggests is that the sudden death of Britannicus may
very probably have been due to epilepsy, but cannot have
been due to poison, since there was no poison knows to the
ancients capable of such instantaneous effects. In our own
days the only poisons known to take effect in a few seconds
are pru-sic acid, oxalic acid, strychnine, woorara, and the
venom of certain snakes; and these were n t known in
Rome. Aconite, which on good grounds is believed to have
been a common poison employed in Rome, requires from one
to three hours to produce fatal effects; and the majority t
mineral poisons require several hours. Secondly, Selene,
knows of no poison which instantaneously blackens the taco
of the victim. There are certain mineral poisons which,
taken slowly, will slowly discolour the skin, but not one
which, acting rapidly on the organism, rapidly betrays its
presence by such discoloration. Having dismissed Science,
we now request Common Sense to step into the witness-box,
and she plainly tells us that, as Nero, Locusts, and Pollio
were too deeply interested in these transactions to have
volunteered a confession of their acts, and as no such con-
fession was publicly extorted from them, there is some diffi-
culty in ascertaining from whom such circumstantialfnoarrtrba;
tives were obtained, and what guarantee they offerbe
fact
truth of their narratives. Moreover, supposing it tod_.:
thatwhie
which
Locusts
requires was pardoned,proof—the
fictionan and had
w be
oghr son() to
mythical addi-
mtryucted in her
tion of the disciples placed with her to be
tneds,
Nero's criminal purposes is betrayed in thei enfeciatsnher with
have hesitated to destroy such collea art. Nad Nero been the monster ho is painw
gumesi ht be dangerous.
was done, and when their testimonyr
d ggto any evidence
It is thus perfectly clear that, according
,oisoned,
or, if he were
hen hetheir would okt
now access.ible, NV
wished for the young man's
sup-
those narrated ; and it is no e
s
nothing but the general
poisoned, it was under very dalifieneereoniletereirtchuornt sNtaentcee,se fro
suspicion that iv„ of the Cornhill Magazine,
posed share in
btheererneyurdrevreeswtstso
death.—From th e July 2Vo.

ijousaioLD CATALRY.-IkVe are glad teospeleing up. It is now just.
4l•
complement
nt
since thore was a change of
2d Life Guards doe idedly 100
ii7l
four months
commanding oft'l
cos, and om
already the regiment has got its full -
of subalterns. instead. of one cornet—,, the
od," as he was usually called— six now belonging
there are cornet of the
to the regiment ; two more gentlemen are only waiting to
be gazetted, and this will make the
regimental establish-
ment of officers complete'. it
is a
striking, indication of the
beneficial effects producod by a
thought the essential prelitoina change
which we long r
corps to its old footing —.dr "Iy to a restoration of the
Y and IV avY Cruzette,