And now they had proceeded to further murders but for
the opposition of Afranius Burrus and Annus Seneca. These two men
guided the emperor's youth with an unity of purpose seldom found where
authority is shared, and though their accomplishments were wholly different,
they had equal
[p. 286]
influence. Burrus, with his soldier's discipline
and severe manners, Seneca, with lessons of eloquence and a dignified
courtesy, strove alike to confine the frailty of the prince's youth, should
he loathe virtue, within allowable indulgences. They had both alike to
struggle against the domineering spirit of Agrippina, who inflamed with all
the passions of an evil ascendency had Pallas on her side, at whose
suggestion Claudius had ruined himself by an incestuous marriage and a fatal
adoption of a son. Nero's temper however was not one to submit to slaves,
and Pallas, by a surly arrogance quite beyond a freedman, had provoked
disgust. Still every honour was openly heaped on Agrippina, and to a tribune
who according to military custom asked the watchword, Nero gave "the best of
mothers." The Senate also decreed her two lictors, with the office of
priestess to Claudius, and voted to the late emperor a censor's funeral,
which was soon followed by deification.
