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Notes Display Latin text | Translated by Alfred John Church and William Jackson Brodribb Book XIV Chapter 55: Fall of Seneca. Answer of Nero[AD 62] | Next chapter Return to index Previous chapter |
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Nero's reply was substantially this:- My being able to meet your elaborate speech with an instant rejoinder is, I consider, primarily your gift, for you [Note 1] taught me how to express myself not only after reflection but at a moment's notice. My great-grandfather Augustus allowed Agrippa and Maecenas to enjoy rest after their labours, but he did it at an age carrying with it an authority sufficient to justify any boon, of any sort, he might have bestowed. But neither of them did he strip of the rewards he had given. It was by war and its perils they had earned them; for in these the youth of Augustus was spent. And if I had passed my years in arms, your sword and right hand would not have failed me. But, as my actual condition required, you watched over my boyhood, then over my youth, with wisdom, counsel, and advice. And indeed your gifts to me will, as long as life holds out, be lasting possessions; those which you owe to me, your parks, investments your country houses, are liable to accidents. Though they seem much, many far inferior to you in merit have obtained more. I am ashamed to quote the names of freedmen who parade a greater wealth. Hence I actually blush to think that, standing as you do first in my affections, you do not as yet surpass all in fortune. Note 1: I = Seneca Event: Fall of Seneca |