al family--the sacred stock of the Claudii and Julii.
He was under the influence of his mother--the woman who subverted
Messalina, and murdered Claudius,--who used every art and intrigue to
secure his accession.

(M1078) When he mounted the throne of the Caesars, he gave promise of a
benignant reign. His first speech to the Senate made a good impression,
and his first acts were beneficent. But he ruled only through his mother,
who aspired to play the empress, a woman who gave answers to ambassadors,
and sent dispatches to foreign courts. Burrhus, the prefect of the
imperial guard, and Seneca, tutor and minister, through whose aid the
claims of Nero had been preferred over those of Britannicus, the son of
the late emperor, opposed her usurpations, and attempted to counteract her
influence.

(M1079) The early promises of Nero were not fulfilled. He soon gave vent
to every vice, which was disguised by his ministers. One of the first acts
was to disgrace the freedman, Pallas,--the prime minister of Claudius,--and
to destroy Britannicus by poison, which crimes were palliated, if not
suggested, by Seneca.

(M1080) The influence which Seneca and Burrhus had over the young emperor,
who screened his vices from the eyes of the people and Senate, necessarily
led to a division between Nero and Agrippina. He withdrew her guard of
honor, and paid her only formal visits, which conduct led to the desertion
of her friends, and the open hostility of her enemies. The wretched woman
defended herself against the charges they brought, with spirit, and for a
time she escaped. The influence of Seneca, at this period, was paramount,
and was exerted for the good of the empire, so that the Senate acquiesced
in the public measures of Nero, and no notice was taken of his private
irregularities. The empress mother apparently yielded to the ascendency of
the ministers, and provoked no further trial of strength.

(M1081) Thus five years passed, until Nero was twenty-two, when Poppaea
Sabina, the fairest woman of her time, appeared upon the stage. Among the
dissolute women of imperial Rome, she was pre-eminent. Introduced to the
intimacy of Nero, she aspired to still higher elevation, and this was
favored by the detestation with which Agrippina was generally viewed, and
the continued decline of her influence, since she had ruled by fear rather
than love. Poppaea was now found intriguing against her, and induced Nero
to murder his own mother, to whos