h and welfare, he ended by saying, "Go
on improving, my son, and grow up as fast as you can to be a man. I
shall be able to give a good account of all that I have done in
regard to you in due time. Trust to me, and you will find that all
will come out right in the end." At another time he told Britannicus
that pretty soon he should give him the _toga_, and bring him
forward before the people as a man,--"and then at last," said he,
"the Romans will have a prince that is _genuine_."

Agrippina was not present, it is true, when these things were said
and done, but every thing was minutely reported to her, and she was
filled with anxiety and alarm. She began to be afraid that unless
something should speedily occur to enable her to realize her hopes
and expectations, they would end in nothing but bitter and cruel
disappointment after all.

Such being the state of things, Agrippina was greatly pleased at the
news, when she heard that her husband was sick. She most earnestly
hoped that he would die, and immediately began to consider what she
could do to insure or to hasten such a result. She thought of
poison, and began to debate the question in her mind whether she
should dare to administer it. Then if she were to decide to give her
husband poison, it was a very serious question what kind of poison
she should employ. If she were to administer one that was sudden and
violent in its operation, the effect which it would produce might
attract attention, and her crime be discovered. On the other hand,
if she were to choose one that was more moderate and gradual in its
power, so as to produce a slow and lingering death, time would be
allowed for Claudius to carry into effect any secret designs that he
might be forming for disavowing Nero as his son, and fixing the
succession upon Britannicus; and Agrippina well knew that if
Claudius were to die, leaving things in such a state that
Britannicus should succeed him, the downfall and ruin both of
herself and her son would immediately and inevitably follow.

There was at that time in Rome a celebrated mistress of the art of
poisoning, named Locusta. She was in prison, having been condemned
to death for her crimes. Though condemned she had been kept back
from execution by the influence of Agrippina, on account of the
skill which she possessed in her art, and which Agrippina thought it
possible that she might have occasion at some time to make use of.
This Locusta she now determined to