Nero's Accession to Power

Translation

Then at midday on October 13th, with the palace doors suddenly thrown open, Nero goes out to the cohort with Burrus accompanying him, which according to military custom is present for guard duty. There, with the prefect directing, he was received with auspicious shouts and placed in a litter. They say that some hesitated, looking back and repeatedly asking where Britannicus was: soon, with no one urging differently, they followed what was offered to them. And Nero, carried into the camp and having delivered a speech fitting to the occasion, with a donative promised after the example of his father's generosity, is hailed as emperor. The decrees of the senators followed the decision of the soldiers, nor was there any doubt in the provinces. Divine honours are decreed for Claudius and the funeral ceremony was celebrated just as for the deified Augustus, with Agrippina emulating the magnificence of her great-grandmother Livia. Yet the will was not read, lest the stepson having been placed before the son should disturb the minds of the common people with its injustice and resentment.