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THE ACCESSION OF NERO 33
CHAPTER VI
THE ACCESSION OF NERO
'
Le Roi est mort. Vive le Roi !
'Agrippina terris alterum vonenum, sibique ante omnes, Neronem suum
dedit.' PLINY, N. H. xxii. 46.
'
AGRIPPINA did not attend any longer to the children of
Claudius ;
she threw off the mask. For by this time the
sundial on the wall marked the hour of noon, and the
Chaldaeaus were satisfied with the auspices. Her quickened
sense of hearing caught the sounds for which she had long
been listening. She heard the Palace doors thrown open. She
heard the voice of Burrus commanding the soldiers to salute
their Emperor.
'
She heard shout on shout, Nero !
Emperor
Nero !
Emperor Long live Nero ! Long live the grandson of
'
Germanicus !
She sprang out into the balcony, and there caught one
glimpse of her son. His fair face was flushed with pride and
excitement ;
the sun shone upon his golden hair which flowed
down his neck ;
his slight but well-knit limbs were clothed
in the purple of an Emperor. She saw him lean on the arm
of the Prsetorian Prsefect as, surrounded by some of the chief
military tribunes, he walked to the guard-house of the cohort
which protected the imperial residence.
'Praetorians,' said Burrus, in a loud voice, 'behold your
Emperor, Nero Claudius Caesar.'
Nero ? ' asked one or two voices. But where is Britannicus
'
'
?
'
They looked round. No one was visible but Nero, and
their question was drowned in the cheers of their comrades.
'Bring out the richest lectica/ they cried; and it was
ready in an instant. Nero was placed in it, and Burrus,
springing on his war-horse, and followed by the select cohort
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