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HUI216 Italian Civilization Andrea Fedi HUI216 (Spring 2008) 1 Marble Portrait of Agrippina (ca. 50 CE, National Museum, Naples) Aureus of Agrippina and Nero, from Lyon (France, ca. 54 CE) HUI216 2 11.6 The life of Nero: chronology of the main events • 49 Agrippina marries Emperor Claudius, who adopts Nero (Agrippina's son from a previous marriage) • 53 Nero marries his stepsister Octavia • 54 Claudius dies (poison?) • Nero becomes Emperor, before his 17th birthday • Seneca and Burrus are his tutors: the first a great philosopher, originally from Spain, the second a former military officer • 55 Britannicus (Claudius's son) dies (poison?) HUI216 3 11.6 The murder of Agrippina and the life of Nero: chronology of the main events • 59-62 Agrippina is killed, Burrus dies, Seneca retires • Nero is on his own, free to do whatever he likes • 64 The Great Fire destroys more than half of Rome • Nero builds his new palace on prime land that was expropriated after the fire • 68 Nero kills himself before he is captured by the soldiers of an opposing faction • 68-69: the year of the 4 Emperors • in a short period, these 4 Emperors succeed one another by defeating the previous Emperor in battle, or by gaining larger support within the army • the events of this year shows the weakness resulting from the lack of a clear mechanism of succession in the Roman Empire HUI216 4 11.6 Emperor Claudius HUI216 5 11.7 Tacitus: how Roman Emperors are chosen (54 CE) • At noon on the 13th of October, the gates of the palace were suddenly thrown open, and Nero, accompanied by Burrus, went forth to the cohort which was on guard • There, at the suggestion of the commanding officer, he was hailed with joyful shouts, and set on a litter • Some, it is said, hesitated, and looked around and asked where Britannicus was • then, when there was no one to lead a resistance, they yielded to what was offered them HUI216 6 11.7 How Nero becomes Emperor at the age of 17 • Nero is hailed Emperor by a small military unit, that was guarding the palace • A gift is promised to the soldiers in Rome, to encourage them to welcome and support the new Emperor • The Senate follows "the voice of the soldiers" • There is "…no hesitation in the provinces" • "Divine honors" are decreed to Claudius • Claudius's will is not "publicly read," for fear that it might mention his son Britannicus, who was the legitimate heir to the throne (even though younger than Nero himself) HUI216 7 11.7 The mechanism of accession to the throne • The mechanism of accession to the throne was not clearly regulated in ancient Rome • The practice of Kings in other regions dictated that the firstborn son would succeed his father, but in Rome that did not always happened, not even during the monarchy (753-509 BCE) • This lack of fixed rules allowed Nero and his mother to act quickly and seize the throne • Nero, after all, was Claudius's stepson, and although he was barely 16 (all of this happened before his 17th birthday), he was a few years older than Britannicus • This course of events makes Claudius's death suspicious HUI216 8 11.8 The murder of Agrippina: a "long meditated crime" • Power and ambition • Nero, justifiably, suspects that his mother wants a share of the power that she has procured for her son • It is not by chance that on the Roman coins produced during the first years of his empire, one can see not just the face of the Emperor Nero, as customary, but also the profile of his mother • The passion for Poppaea • Nero wants to be free to divorce Octavia and marry his lover • Tacitus's narration is framed like a tragedy, rather than an accurate and objective historical narration HUI216 9 11.8 The murder of Agrippina: political bias inside the narration • Tacitus, as a conservative Republican historian, was biased, and his narration betrays his political agenda • he lobbied for a more powerful Senate, capable of keeping Emperors from abusing their position of power • he thought it possible to revert to even a limited form of democracy • Tacitus and other historians, like Suetonius, are largely responsible for the creation of the stereotypical image of the decadent Roman empire • The issue is not whether Nero or Caligula were not as immoral or violent as these historians described them, but how much their personality quirks really affected the Empire, which survived for another 400 years HUI216 10 11.8 Elements of a literary tragedy inside the narration of the murder of Agrippina • The sins and the impious behavior of the main characters justify and prepare the story's developments • greed, murder, incest, perversion, simulation and hypocrisy • Growing anxiety results from the various successful crimes, rather than elation and tranquility (cf. Shakespeare's Macbeth) • The theme of the fight of good vs. evil • Seneca and some of the senators fight on the side of democracy, justice and honesty against Agrippina, Nero and their lackeys or accomplices HUI216 11 11.8 Literary devices used inside the narration of the murder of Agrippina • Another typical literary device employed in this episode is the historian's insistence on the description of the frame of mind of the main characters • Traditional historians were expected not to speculate on the thoughts and feelings of historical figures while dramatic events were happening • Unless they could rely on the report of an eyewitness, real or legendary, they would either be silent or they would convey those feelings and thoughts by embellishing and re-creating public speeches given by those historical figures, under the pretense that eyewitness existed who heard the speech and could confirm its contents HUI216 12 11.8 Tacitus: the sin of incest, the art of innuendo • Consider how Tacitus treats the alleged incest of Agrippina and Nero, introducing a variety of sources and eyewitnesses, never fully supporting or denying the allegations of incest, all the while giving the impression that he wants to keep an objective stand • Cluvius relates that Agrippina in her eagerness to retain her influence went so far that more than once at midday, when Nero, even at that hour, was flushed with wine and feasting, she presented herself attractively attired to her half intoxicated son and offered him her person HUI216 13 11.8 Tacitus: incest, superstition, verisimilitude • Acte, the freed-girl, told him [=Seneca] that the incest was notorious, as his mother boasted of it, and that the soldiers would never endure the rule of an impious sovereign • Cluvius's account is also that of all other authors, and popular belief inclines to it, whether it was that Agrippina really conceived such a monstrous wickedness in her heart, or perhaps because the thought of a strange passion seemed comparatively credible HUI216 14 11.8 Agrippina's theatrical death: a tragic fate • Agrippina's death, in this episode, is associated with the idea of fate, typical of classical tragedies • First you find the description of the shipwreck, at night (darkness and evil acts go hand in hand, in tragedies and literary fiction) • Then, after Agrippina's messenger is accused of being a murderer and is killed, she dies in the most theatrical way • "as the centurion bared his sword for the fatal deed, presenting her person, she exclaimed, 'Smite my womb!'" HUI216 15 11.8 Agrippina's death: prelude (greed, ambition) and consequences (guilt, fear) • Her death apparently had even been anticipated, as it was written in the stars • "when she consulted the astrologers about Nero, they replied that he would be emperor and kill his mother. 'Let him kill her,' she said, 'provided he is emperor'" • After the crime, only guilt and fear follow • Where are the political considerations? • In reality Agrippina and Nero had probably become estranged, as it happens often to members of a royal family, and they were fighting for power and supremacy like political rivals do HUI216 16 11.8 After the crime: guilt, panic, hypocrisy, cowardice • [Nero], when the crime was accomplished, realized its portentous guilt • The rest of the night, now silent and stupefied, now and still oftener starting up in terror, bereft of reason, he awaited dawn as if it would bring with it his doom • He himself, with an opposite phase of hypocrisy, seemed sad, and almost angry at his own deliverance, and shed tears over his mother's death • he retired to Naples and sent a letter to the Senate HUI216 17 11.8 The responsibility and incompetence of the Senate: the opposition has high moral values, lacks a political plan • He told the story of the shipwreck • but who could be so stupid as to believe that it was accidental, or that a shipwrecked woman had sent one man with a weapon to break through an Emperor's guards and fleets? • Thrasea Paetus then walked out of the Senate, thereby imperiling himself, without communicating to the other senators any impulse towards freedom • Paetus will later will commit suicide, following a 'noble' tradition in the Roman upper classes HUI216 18 11.8 Tacitus highlights the consequences of Nero's sinful behavior • Nero had not omitted a single abomination which could heighten his depravity, till a few days afterwards he stooped to marry himself to one of that filthy herd • A disaster followed, whether accidental or treacherously contrived by the emperor, is uncertain, as authors have given both accounts, worse, however, and more dreadful than any which have ever happened to this city by the violence of fire HUI216 19 11.9 Suetonius (circa 110 CE), Life of Nero (transl. by J.C. Rolfe): the Golden House • Its vestibule was large enough to contain a colossal statue of the Emperor 120 feet high; and it was so extensive that it had a triple colonnade a mile long • There was a pond too, like a sea, surrounded with buildings to represent cities, besides tracts of country, fields, vineyards, pastures and woods, with great numbers of wild and domestic animals • There were dining-rooms with fretted ceilings of ivory, whose panels could turn and shower down flowers and were fitted with pipes for sprinkling the guests with perfumes • The main banquet hall was circular and constantly revolved day and night, like the heavens HUI216 20 11.9 The first Roman Emperors: chronology • Augustus 27 BCE-14 CE • Tiberius 14-37 • Caligula 37-41 • Claudius 41-54 • Nero 54-68 • Galba 68-69 • Otho 69 • Vitellius 69 • • • • • • Vespasian 69-79 Titus 79-81 Domitian 81-96 Nerva 96-98 Trajan 98-117 Hadrian 117-138 HUI216 21 11.9 Optional readings on Nero and the events narrated by Tacitus • Nero's Golden House (Domus aurea) • Pictures of the archeological site of the palace • read more about Nero • Nero, his family, the court • http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/historic_figures/nero.sh tml • http://www.pbs.org/empires/romans/empire/nero.ht ml • The great fire of Rome • http://www.pbs.org/wnet/secrets/case_rome/index.ht ml HUI216 22 11.10 Claudio Monteverdi's opera on Nero • The coronation of Poppea was staged in Venice in 1642 or '43 • Venice, as a Republic, "prided itself on its direct lineage from the Roman republic, retaining the values that had been so distorted as classical Rome moved from republican strength to imperial decadence, a decadence still apparent, it was felt, in the Rome of the early 17th-century" (Tim Carter, "Towards the creation of genre: Monteverdi's Poppea," p. 18) • There is a thesis clearly at work throughout this opera: when the state is in the hands of a tyrant, immorality thrives, especially near the source of power, at the court, while the fate of the whole state must also be affected HUI216 23 11.10 Monteverdi's Poppea: Nero the immoral tyrant • It is not surprising that, even before Nero appears on the scene, at the beginning of the 1st act he is introduced (during the conversation that takes place between two Roman soldiers) as a most hateful character, who has no regard for the sanctity of marriage, neglects the care of the empire at a critical juncture, and favors those like him who lack moral values and self-control • Second soldier: Our Empress consumes herself with weeping, and Nero neglects her for Poppaea. Armenia's in revolt, yet he ignores it. Pannonia's up in arms and he makes light of it. As far as I can see, the empire's going from back to worse HUI216 24 11.10 Monteverdi's Poppea: the tyrant affects the moral stability of single individuals • First soldier: One might add that our Prince robs everyone to line the pockets of a few. The innocents suffer while criminals are doing very nicely • The introduction of historical details on the decadence of Imperial Rome gives the author of the libretto, Giovanni Francesco Busenello, an opportunity, in the first act, to discuss more generic moral and political issues, when Arnalta, Poppaea's old nurse and confidant, tries to warn her about the dangers of dealing with immoral, evil princes • To have dealings with princes is perilous. Love and hate count for nothing with them: their emotions are governed by pure self-interest. Nero's love for you is a but a fancy; if he abandons you, you can't complain: HUI216 it would only make matters worse 25 11.10 Monteverdi's Poppea: tyranny may corrupt the souls of the subjects • POPPAEA No, no, I fear no setback at all. • ARNALTA A great man honors you with his mere presence, and, having filled your house with wind, pays in nothing but reflected glory. Your good name's gone if you admit: Nero beds me. The vice of self-aggrandizement gets you nowhere: I prefer the sins that yield returns. You can never deal with him on equal terms, and if your goal is marriage you're asking for disaster. • POPPAEA No, no, I fear no setback at all. HUI216 26 11.10 Monteverdi's Poppea: power and personal whims • Following the historical sources, the opera presents the suicide of Seneca as the simple result of Nero's almost childish desire to free himself of his tutors, his only reasonable counselors • Power has all to do with personal whims and the satisfaction of one's ego, rather than with politics or the care of the well-being of the community • NERO: Hey! One of you make haste to Seneca; tell him he must kill himself this evening. I insist that my power to act depends on me, not on the whims and sophistry of others! I could almost be tempted to disown my spirit if I believed it base enough to be ever subject to another's promptings HUI216 27 11.10 Monteverdi's Poppea: Nero, the monster • Even those who act as accomplices to Nero, and execute his orders, feel a very natural and human repulsion for the behavior and the devilish decisions of such a wicked man • A freedman, sent by the Emperor to inform Seneca that he should take his life, confesses that he cannot bear to be the messenger of such cruel and irrational orders • (The tyrant's commands are quite irrational and always involve violence or death. I must convey them, and although I am only the innocent mouthpiece, I feel tainted by the evil I am required to communicate.) Seneca, I am sorry to have found you, even though I sought you. HUI216 28 11.10 Monteverdi's Poppea: an immoral conclusion? • The conclusion of the opera appears to be unusual, in that Nero and his lover, Poppaea, sing together on stage celebrating their success against all enemies and the realization of their dream of love • The extraordinary thing is that two characters who have committed so many sins are allowed to close the story on the sensuous notes of their (albeit temporary) triumph: does crime pay? • It is obvious, rather, given the standards and the restrictions of the genre, that this conclusion implied the widespread knowledge, in the audience, of the actual historical conclusion of the events in the story, with Poppea murdered and Nero killing himself right before he was 29 captured by his opponents HUI216 11.10 Monteverdi's Poppea: the final duet • POPPAEA, NERO • I gaze at you, possess you, press you to me, clasp you; no more pain, no deathly grief, O my life, my treasure. I'm yours, yours am I, my dearest, say you love me too. You are the idol of my heart, oh yes, my love, my heart, my life, oh yes. HUI216 30 11.10 Petrolini's Nero: a parody of Mussolini? • In 1930, Italian actor/comedian Ettore Petrolini (1886-1936) played the part of Nero in a surreal theatrical parody, that famous director Alessandro Blasetti shot directly on the stage to produce a movie • Some suggested that Mussolini might have been the target of this satirical representation of the Roman tyrant, especially in the scene in which Nero speaks to the people of Rome • However, the first version of this play was staged in 1917, before Fascism • see http://www.burcardo.org/mostre/petrolini/ HUI216 31 Emperor Nero HUI216 32