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320 DAKKNESS AND DAWN
chlamys, while with his delicate left hand he twanged the
strings, and with his right struck them with the golden
plectrum. The pains which he took to preserve his voice,
which after all was dull and harsh, were almost incredible.
Following the advice of every quack who chose to pass
himself off as an expert, he used to walk about with his
thick neck encircled in a puffy handkerchief, to sleep with
a plate of lead on his chest, and to live for a month at a time
on peas cooked in oil.
To give him more opportunities for display he instituted the
Juvenalia to celebrate his arrival at full manhood, as marked
by the shaving of his beard. His first beard was deposited
iu a box of gold, adorned with costly pearls, and he dedicated
it to the Capitoline Jupiter. But even this event in his
life was accompanied by a crime. Shortly
before he laid
aside his beard he paid a visit to his aunt Domitia, who was
ill.
Laying her hand on the soft down, she said to him in her
blandishing way, '
As soon as I have received this, I am ready
to die.'
Nero turned round to the loose comrades who usually attended
him and whispered, with a coarse jest,
'Then I will
shave it off at once.'
From that sick-bed Domitia, who was almost the last of
Nero's living relatives, never rose again. The Eoman world
suspected foul play on the part of the physicians at Nero's order.
Certain it is that he seized all her ample possessions, and
suppressed her will.