introduced them in place of horses. When this was done, the wearers of the
white and of the red immediately entered their chariots: but, as the
Greens and the Blues would not even then participate, Nero at his own cost
gave the prizes to the horses, and the regular program of the circus was
carried out.

Agrippina showed readiness to attack the greatest undertakings, as is
evidenced by her causing the death of Marcus Julius Silanus, to whom she
sent some of the poison with which she had treacherously murdered her
husband.

Silanus was governor of Asia, and was in no respect inferior to the
general character of his family. It was for this, more than for anything
else, she said, that she killed him, not wishing to have him preferred
before Nero, by reason of the latter's manner of life. Moreover, she
turned everything into trade and gathered money from the most
insignificant and basest sources.

Laelianus, who was despatched to Armenia in place of Pollio, had been
assigned to the command of the night watch. And he was no better than
Pollio, for, while surpassing him in reputation, he was all the more
insatiable in respect to gain.

[Sidenote: A.D. 55 (a.u. 808)] [Sidenote:--7--] Agrippina found a
grievance in the fact that she was no longer supreme in affairs of the
palace. It was chiefly because of Acte. Acte had been brought as a slave
from Asia. She caught the fancy of Nero, was adopted into the family of
Attalus, and was cherished much more carefully than was Nero's wife
Octavia. Agrippina, indignant at this and at other matters, first
attempted to rebuke him, and set herself to humiliating his associates,