Meantime, Agrippina's peril being universally
known and taken to be an accidental occurrence, everybody, the moment he
heard of it, hurried down to the beach. Some climbed projecting piers; some
the nearest vessels; others, as far as their stature allowed, went into the
sea; some, again, stood with outstretched arms, while the whole shore rung
with wailings, with prayers and cries, as different questions were asked and
uncertain answers given. A vast multi-
tude streamed to the spot with torches, and as soon as all
knew that she was safe, they at once prepared to wish her joy, till the
sight of an armed and threatening force scared them away. Anicetus then
surrounded the house with a guard, and having burst open the gates, dragged
off the slaves who met him, till he came to the door of her chamber, where a
few still stood, after the rest had fled in terror at the attack. A small
lamp was in the room, and one slave-girl with Agrippina, who grew more and
more anxious, as no messenger came from her son, not even Agerinus, while
the appearance of the shore was changed, a solitude one moment, then sudden
bustle and tokens of the worst catastrophe. As the girl rose to depart, she
exclaimed, "Do you too forsake me?" and looking round saw Anicetus, who had
with him the captain of the trireme, Herculeius, and Obaritus, a centurion
of marines. "If," said she, "you have come to see me, take back word that I
have recovered, but if you are here to do a crime, I believe nothing about
my son; he has not ordered his mother's murder."
The assassins closed in
round her couch, and the captain of the trireme first struck her head
violently with a club. Then, as the centurion bared his sword for the fatal
deed presenting her person, she exclaimed, "Smite my womb," and with many
wounds she was slain.
