What Actually Happens
Agrippina gets back to her villa and immediately connects the dots. She's not stupid - she knows this wasn't an accident:
- The ship didn't hit rocks or get blown off course
- It collapsed from the TOP down - veluti terrestre machinamentum (like some kind of land-based machine/contraption)
- Ships don't just fall apart from the roof unless someone's rigged them to
- Plus Acerronia's dead and she's got a stab wound to the shoulder
So what does she do? She plays it cool. She knows that solum insidiarum remedium esse, si non intellegerentur - "the only way to survive a plot is to pretend you don't know about it." Classic spy move: don't let them know you know.
Her message to Nero (via Agerinus the freedman):
"Thanks to the gods (benignitate deum) and YOUR good fortune (fortuna eius) - flattering him, making it about him - I've survived this terrible accident. Don't worry about rushing to see me even though you must be SO worried about your poor mum - I just need to rest."
Why is this message brilliant?
- She's pretending she thinks it was an accident (so Nero doesn't panic and finish the job immediately)
- She's flattering him (gods + HIS fortune saved her - nice touch)
- She tells him NOT to visit (removes awkwardness, buys time, seems natural)
- She's acting like a trusting mother who believes her son cares
Meanwhile, back at the villa: She's getting medical treatment for her shoulder wound and doing something VERY Agrippina - she orders Acerronia's will to be found and her property sealed up. id tantum non per simulationem - "that alone not part of the act." Even when she's nearly been murdered, she's thinking about money and inheritance. Very Roman. Very practical. Very her.
⚠️ The problem: We (the readers) know this message is going to make things WORSE. Nero's waiting for news that she's dead. When Agerinus shows up saying she's alive and okay, Nero's going to lose it. But Agrippina doesn't know that yet. She thinks she's playing it smart. She IS playing it smart - but it's too late.
Key Themes
Agrippina's Intelligence
solum insidiarum remedium esse, si non intellegerentur — "the only remedy for plots is if they're not understood"
The Performance
Flattery, fake trust, strategic message. Three moves ahead.
The Cracks
Still thinking about Acerronia's property even in crisis.
Dramatic Irony
We know Agerinus is walking into a trap. She doesn't.
Appearance vs Reality
| What Agrippina Shows | What's Actually Happening |
|---|---|
| Grateful survivor | Knows it was attempted murder |
| Trusting mother | Knows Nero's behind it |
| Needs rest | Wounded and frightened |
| Everything's fine | Planning her next move |
Classic Tacitus - we see both the public performance and the private reality.
Visual/Cinematic Quality
This chapter is all about stillness after chaos:
- Previous chapter: violent, chaotic, swimming
- This chapter: quiet villa, woman alone thinking
- Camera on Agrippina's face as she works it through
- Close-up on wound being dressed
- We watch Agerinus leave, knowing what's coming
- Calm before the final storm
Key visual: simul suum vulnus aspiciens - she's literally looking at the evidence while making her decision.
Structural Importance
This is the HINGE of the whole narrative:
- Before (Ch. 1-5): Nero planning and executing
- Chapter 6: The pause - she might survive
- After (Ch. 7-8): Nero's panic and final murder
The moment of uncertainty. She's alive, she knows, she's trying to outsmart him. But Agerinus is about to trigger Nero's final decision.
Connections
⬅️ Ch. 4: She fell for facili feminarum credulitate. Now she's learned - but too late.
➡️ Ch. 7: Her clever message will make Nero panic. It seals her fate.
Style 1: Indirect Speech
ideo se fallacibus litteris accitam et honore praecipuo habitam, quodque litus iuxta non ventis acta, non saxis impulsa navis summa sui parte veluti terrestre machinamentum concidisset"that she had been summoned by deceitful letters and treated with special honour, and that near the shore, not driven by winds, not struck by rocks, the ship had collapsed at its highest part like some kind of land-based contraption"
Effect:We hear her thought process. ideo shows her logic. Details pile up building her case. We watch her brain working. The terrestre machinamentum comparison is her realization - engineered, not natural.
Style 2: Participles
observans etiam Acerroniae necem, simul suum vulnus aspiciens"observing also Acerronia's death, at the same time looking at her own wound"
Effect:She's taking everything in at once - Acerronia's death, her wound. Participles pile up simultaneous observations. This is how people think in crisis - processing multiple pieces of information at the same time.
Style 3: Epigram
solum insidiarum remedium esse, si non intellegerentur"the only remedy for plots is if they are not understood"
Effect:Sounds like a proverb - quotable, memorable, universal. Agrippina's survival philosophy in one sentence. Could apply to any political situation ever. The kind of line quoted in Renaissance treatises.
Style 4: The Revealing tantum
id tantum non per simulationem"that alone not through pretence"
Effect:"That alone not part of the pretence" - everything else is fake, but this one thing (Acerronia's property) is real. Characterisation through exception - the one genuine thing tells us who she is.
Style 5: Chiasmus
medicamina vulneri et fomenta corpori adhibet"she applies medicines to the wound and compresses to the body"
Effect:Medicine to-wound / compresses to-body. Balanced, neat structure - she's systematic, methodical, organized. Even in crisis, everything's under control (on the surface). Ordered syntax mirrors ordered response.
Style 6: Deception Vocabulary
fallacibus litteris (deceitful letters), simulatione (pretence), securitate simulata (feigned security), per simulationem (through pretence)
Effect:Language of performance and fakery dominates. Everyone's acting. Nothing is what it seems. The world of Neronian politics - all surface, no truth.
Exam-Style Questions
- How does Tacitus present Agrippina's response to the assassination attempt?
- What does this passage reveal about appearance and reality in Neronian politics?
- Analyse Tacitus's use of indirect speech in this chapter.
- How does Tacitus create sympathy for Agrippina?