ched her villa, and her
wound had been dressed, she dispatched a messenger to Baiae to inform
Nero of what had occurred. The vessel in which she had embarked had
been wrecked at sea, she said, and she had narrowly escaped
destruction. She had received a severe hurt, by some falling spar,
but had at length safely reached her home at Antium. She begged,
however, that her son would not come to see her, as what she needed
most was repose. She had sent the messenger, she said, to inform him
of what had occurred only that he might rejoice with her in the
signal interposition of divine providence by which she had been
rescued from so imminent a danger.

In the mean time Nero was waiting impatiently and anxiously in his
palace at Baiae, for the arrival of a messenger from Anicetus to
inform him that his plot had been successful, and that his mother
was drowned. Instead of this a rumor of her escape reached him some
time before Agrippina's messenger arrived, and threw him into
consternation. People came from the coast and informed him that the
barge in which his mother had sailed had been wrecked, and that
Agrippina had narrowly escaped with her life. The particulars were
not fully given to him, but he presumed that Agrippina must have
learned that the occurrence was the result of a deliberate attempt
to destroy her, and he was consequently very much alarmed. He
dreaded the desperate spirit of resentment and revenge which he
presumed had been aroused in his mother's mind.

He forthwith sent for Burrus and Seneca, and revealed to them all
the circumstances of the case. He made the most bitter accusations
against his mother, in justification of his attempt to destroy her.
He had long been convinced, he said, that there could be no peace
or safety for him as long as she lived, and now, at all events,
since he had undertaken the work of destroying her and made the
attempt, no alternative was left to him but to go on and finish what
he had begun. "She must die now," said he, "or she will most
assuredly contrive some means to destroy me."

Seneca and Burrus were silent. They knew not what to say. They saw
very clearly that a crisis had arrived, the end of which would be,
that one or the other must perish, and consequently the only
question for them to decide was, whether the victim should be the
mother or the son. At length, after a long and solemn pause, Seneca
looked to Burrus, and inquired whether the soldiers under his
comman