Nero's Murder Plot

Translation

Therefore, Nero began to avoid secret meetings with her and praise her when she went away to her gardens or to her estate at Tusculum or at Antium, that she was taking some leisure time. Finally, considering her a thorough nuisance, wherever she was being kept, he decided to kill her, deliberating only as far as whether it should be by poison, the sword or some other violent means. First of all, he decided on poison. But if it were to be given during the emperor's banquet, it could not be attributed to chance, since a similar destruction of Britannicus had already occurred; also, it seemed difficult to bribe the servants of a woman on her guard against treachery because of her experience in crimes; moreover, she herself had fortified her body by taking antidotes in advance. No one was able to discover how a sword and murder could be concealed; also, he feared that anyone selected for such a great crime as this might disregard instructions. An ingenious plan was offered by the freedman Anicetus, who was in charge of the fleet at Misenum, a tutor to Nero's boyhood, and one who hated Agrippina with mutual hostility. Therefore, he showed them that a boat could be constructed, part of which, skilfully loosened in the sea itself, would cast her out unawares.