Nero's reign saw a considerable number of trials of ex-governors for extortion. Both extortion by provincial governors, and accusations lodged against them by their opponents after their term of office had come to an end, were constant factors in Roman political life, under the Principate as under the Republic. But concern that its subjects should be justly treated should not be denied out of hand. It is even possible that Stoic theory may have played a part: Thrasea Paetus was particularly keen to oversee provincial matters, and on one famous occasion drew the Senate's attention to the unacceptable influence of the leading man in Crete, Claudius Timarchus. In 57, Thrasea successfully prosecuted the son-in-law of Tigellinus, an associate of Seneca's who was to become Burrus' successor as praetorian prefect. But in general such trials reflect rivalry between senators, rather than a 'policy' on the part of the government.[425]
Some sources blame Nero for the death of Burrus in a.d. 62, suggesting that Nero (now aged twenty-four) wished to rid himself of the restraining influence of his advisers. Seneca retired in this year, too: but that does not mean that their 'party' lost influence, or was replaced by another supposedly centred on Tigellinus. Tigellinus owed his rise to Seneca, and the picture of him as an enemy of Seneca and Burrus is an attempt by those who loyally served Nero to draw a clear but artificial distincdon between Nero's good 'early' years and his wicked later years. The deaths of Britannicus and Agrippina, the exile of Sulla and Rubellius Plautus, and the uprising in Britain, all occurred while Seneca and Burrus were Nero's ministers. Seneca's retirement from public life at the age of sixty-five is not unexpected.
Tacitus' account makes much of the reintroduction of trials for maiestas in 62. Tacitus wants us to believe that such trials were a sign of a systematic policy on the part of an emperor to destroy opposition; that may have been the case under Domitian. But we have seen that under
Tiberius, дал/гх/лг-accusations flourished as a result of too little control of affairs by the emperor, and particularly his absence from Rome. Like charges of extortion, these accusations arose from conflicts between senators, and the opportunities they provided for able novi homines to acquire wealth, glory and the emperor's friendship. Perhaps Seneca's retirement made it easier for such men to exploit Nero's inexperience and gullibility. Earlier in his reign, he had rejected maiestas-zccub&iions on the grounds that nobody could possibly have reason to hate him. The first such trial that Tacitus reports was of Antistius Sosianus, accused of composing epigrams insulting the emperor. A senatorial debate took place, in which Thrasea Paetus objected to the consul designate's proposal that the death penalty be imposed. The consuls were unhappy to accept his milder proposal of exile, and referred the matter to Nero; Tacitus suggests that Nero was angry that the Senate had been lenient, but there is no reason to suspect that Nero was lying when he said that he would have preferred the milder punishment himself. Most of those accused of treason (when they did not commit suicide first) were exiled, not executed.
In general, those who suffered before a.d. 64 suffered because of their descent from the family of Augustus. Sulla Felix and Rubellius Plautus, exiled in 5 8 and 60, were both executed in 62; this made Nero feel secure enough to divorce Octavia (alleging barrenness) and exile her to Campania in order to marry Poppaea, which he did twelve days later. Her husband Otho had been sent to govern Lusitania shortly after Agrippina's death in 59. Public demonstrations in Octavia's favour by the urban plebs, who had perhaps not forgotten the benefits Claudius had bestowed upon it, made Nero realize that he had been wrong to discount her influence; he claimed that she was involved in a plot, and had her executed on 9 June. Although Poppaea gave birth to a daughter in January 63, the baby died after a few months. Her deification as Claudia Augusta was no consolation for the fact that Nero still had no direct heir. He was now frightened of anyone who might have a claim to be emperor. In 64, Decimus Iunius Silanus Torquatus, great-great- grandson of Augustus through the younger Iulia, had to commit suicide; the only child of the consul of a.d. 19 who had not been disgraced was now Iunia Lepida, wife of Gaius Cassius Longinus.
Nero's mistakes had hitherto affected mainly those whom he feared as rivals. But on the night of 18-19 July 64 there occurred a chance event which resulted in widespread dissatisfaction with Nero both in the city of Rome and throughout the empire. The fire of Rome and the subsequent programme of reconstruction were immensely costly, and contributed directly to Nero's loss of popularity among the wealthy throughout Italy and in certain other provinces. Later rumours ascribing responsibility for the fire to Nero himself, anecdotes about the pleasure he took in playing the lyre while Rome burnt, and the revulsion of writers normally hostile to the Christians at his attempt to mark them out as the incendiaries, illustrate the extent to which an emperor was seen as personally responsible for the disasters as well as the benefits experienced by those whom he ruled. In fact, Nero did what he could to prevent the fire from spreading by creating fire-breaks (only to be accused of pulling down buildings in areas he coveted for extensions to his own palace); and like the emperors before him, he assisted those made homeless and personally supervised the rebuilding programme.
But the reconstruction of large areas of the city was immensely expensive, and put additional strains on the finances of the domus Caesaris and of the empire as a whole. Nero's designs for a new palace were grandiose, and involved the wholesale expropriation of areas of Rome that had been the traditional habitation of the senatorial elite. Nero refused permission for the great families to rebuild their town houses on sites that he required for his domus transitorta. Here was a case of direct and unresolvable conflict of interest between an emperor and his senators.
Not only senators suffered. We are told that the free distribution of grain to the urban population had to be suspended for a time, and that some troops were not paid. Nero was now so desperate for additional sources of funding that - like a typical tyrant — he is said to have told magistrates to ensure that the maximum number of cases resulted in conviction, and confiscations. We are told that he confiscated 'half the province of Africa' (effectively the fertile Bagradas valley in northern Tunisia), executing six landowners to do so. Temple treasures were melted down; the need for precious metals resulted in considerable hostility in provinces both West and East, and contributed directly to the rebellions both of Vindex and of the Jews. In May 66, the procurator of Judaea, Gessius Florus, arrived in Jerusalem claiming that the Jews owed the imperial fiscus arrears of tax to the extent of 40 talents of gold. When the money was not forthcoming, he removed 17 talents from the Temple treasury; and it was this act which sparked off violent opposition to the Romans to an extent that the Jewish elite, including client kings, were unable to control. An attempt by Cestius Gallus, the governor of Syria, to suppress the rebellion with military might in November 66 failed (the reasons for his withdrawal were inexplicable to contemporaries as they are to us), and Nero had to embark on a regular war to restore Roman control over Judaea.
These fiscal problems were exacerbated by the great fire at Rome, but as Boudica's rebellion shows, they had already existed before. Throughout Nero's reign, the precious metal content of the coinage had been steadily declining. By a.d. 64, there had been a major reform of the currency: the number of aurei to the pound of gold was increased from 40 or 42 to 45, the number of denarii to the pound of silver from 84 to 96. The fact that Nero's new coins were beautifully designed could not disguise the fact that he was short of money.[426]