Chapter 2 Flashcards
Tradit Cluvius ardore retinendae Agrippinam potentiae eo usque provectam, ut medio diei, cum id temporis Nero per vinum et epulas incalesceret, offerret se saepius temulento comptam in incesto paratam; iamque lasciva oscula et praenuntias flagitii blanditias adnotantibus proximis,
Cluvius reports that Agrippina in her passion to cling on to her power, went on to such a point, that in the middle of the day, when Nero, at that time was heated with feasting and wine, she offered herself so often all dressed up to her drunken son and attired for incest, when the nearest people observed lustful kisses and heralding disgrace.
Senecam contra muliebris inlecebras subsidium a femina petivisse, immissamque Acten libertam, quae simul suo periculo et infamia Neronis anxia deferret pervulgatum esse incestum gloriante matre, nec toleraturos milites profani principis imperium.
It was Seneca who sought a woman’s assistance against the allurements of a woman, and sent the freed woman, Acte, who was anxious because of her own danger and Nero’s infamy, reported that the incest had been generally known as his mother boasted of it, and the soldiers would not endure the order of an impious emperor.
Fabius Rusticus non Agrippinae sed Neroni cupitum id memorat eiusdemque libertae astu disiectum. sed quae Cluvius, eadem ceteri quoque auctores prodidere, et fama huc inclinat, seu concepit animo tantum immanitatis Agrippina, seu credibilior novae libidinis meditatio in ea visa est, quae puellaribus annis stuprum cum [M.] Lepido spe dominationis admiserat, pari cupidine usque ad libita Pallantis provoluta et exercita ad omne flagitium patrui nuptiis.
Fabius Rusticus mentions that it was not Agrippina but Nero that desired and it was disrupted by the craft of that same freed girl. However Cluvius’ record, is the same as the rest of the other authors, and tradition favours it; whether Agrippina imagined such disgusting behaviour in her mind, or the intention of this strange lust seemed more believable in a woman, who in her girlish years committed herself to be dishonoured by Lepidus in the hope of gaining domination, had descended with equal desire to the lusts of Pallas and practised all scandal through her marriage to her uncle.
