Seneca - College of Stoic Philosophers

72 SENECACampus Martius— all preparations having beenmade beforehand. In a subsequent edict Nerodefended these hasty obsequies and the omissionof the usual funeral speeches and ceremonies bya reference to ancient usage ; and, bewailing theloss of his brother's support, expressed his reliance,as the last of a family born to Empire, on theenhanced devotion of Senate and people. Theestate of Britannicus, his houses, and villas, weredivided by the emperor among the gravest andmost honoured of his own friends, with the object,itwas thought, of binding them to acquiescence.It would not have been safe to refuse the imperialgifts,but the conduct of such men as Seneca andBurrhus in accepting them did not escapeanimadversion }No presents, however, could soften the angerof Agrippina. Her friends were admitted tosecret interviews ;she raised money from everyquarter ; she caressed Octavia ;she made courtto the soldiers ;and extolled the qualities ofcertain of the chief among the nobility as thoughshe were seeking a leader for her party. Whenthe news of these proceedings reached Nero heand re-retaliated by discharging her bodyguardmoving her from the palace to another house,where, always accompanied by a large body ofcenturions, he made her a few brief and formalvisits.Agrippina's enemies now thoughtthat their^Tac. Ann. xiii. i8 : 'Nee defuere, qui arguerent virosgravitatem asseverantes, quod domos, villas, id temporis, quasipraedam divisissent.'