the emperor himself and by those who at one time or another had influence with him.  And, as certainly and inevitably follows in all such practices], great sums of money naturally were spent, great sums unjustly procured, and great sums seized by force.  For under no circumstances was Nero niggardly.  Here is an illustration.  He had ordered no less than two hundred and fifty myriads at one time to be given to Doryphorus, who attended to the state documents of his empire.  Agrippina had it all piled in a heap, hoping by showing him the money all together to make him change his mind.  Instead, he asked how much the mass before him amounted to, and when he was informed he doubled it, saying:  “I was not aware that I had allowed him so little.”  It can clearly be seen, then, that as a result of the magnitude of his expenditures he would quickly exhaust the treasures in the royal vaults and quickly need new revenues.  Hence unusual taxes were imposed and the property of the well-to-do was not left intact.  Some lost their possessions to spite him and others destroyed themselves with their livelihoods.  Similarly he hated and made away with some others who had no considerable wealth; for, if they possessed any excellent trait or were of a good family, he became suspicious that they disliked him.

[Sidenote:—­6—­] Such were the general characteristics of Nero.  I shall now proceed to details.

In the matter of horse-races Nero grew so enthusiastic that he adorned famous race-horses that had passed their prime with the regular street costume for men and honored them with money for their fodder.  The horsebreeders and charioteers, elated at this enthusiasm of his, proceeded to abuse unjustifiably even the praetors and consuls.  But Aulus Fabricius, when praetor, finding that they refused to hold contests on fair terms, dispensed with them entirely.  He trained dogs to draw chariots and introduced them in place of horses.  When this was done, the wearers of the white and of the red immediately entered their chariots:  but, as the Greens and the Blues would not even then participate, Nero at his own cost gave the prizes to the horses, and the regular program of the circus was carried out.

Agrippina showed readiness to attack the greatest undertakings, as is evidenced by her causing the death of Marcus Julius Silanus, to whom she sent some of the poison with which she had treacherously murdered her husband.

Silanus was governor of Asia, and was in no respect inferior to the general character of his family.  It was for this, more than for anything else, she said, that she killed him, not wishing to have him preferred before Nero, by reason of the latter’s manner of life.  Moreover, she turned everything into trade and gathered money from the most insignificant and basest sources.

Laelianus, who was despatched to Armenia in place of Pollio, had been assigned to the command of the night watch.  And he was no better than Pollio, for, while surpassing him in reputation, he was all the more insatiable in respect to gain.