97. Agrippina the Younger. Roman Empress.
[Born at Oppidum Ubiorum (Cologne), A.D. 14-17. Died at Rome, A.D. 60.]
The ruthless and dissolute daughter of noble parents—of Germanicus and Agrippina the elder. The unenviable mother of the madman, Nero. Upon the death of her second husband, whom she was accused of poisoning, she married her uncle Claudius, whom she induced to nominate Nero for his successor, excluding his own son. She poisoned her uncle-husband, and received her reward from her son, the matricide,—dying by hands commissioned by him to the murder. Tacitus speaks of some interesting memoirs of her time, written by Agrippina, to which he had access in writing his history. She was beautiful, but ambitious, and as wicked as she proved unfortunate.
[From the marble in the Capitoline Museum, at Rome.]
98. Valeria Messalina. Roman Empress.
[Born, uncertain. Died at Rome, A.D. 48.]
The third wife of the Emperor Claudius I. Her name has become a bye-word for profligacy. A murderess. Herself pierced through the breast by the sword of a tribune entrusted with the execution of one of her victims. The slave of lust, avarice, and ambition. Difficult to find in history a woman more blackened by crime than Valeria Messalina.
[From the marble in the Capitoline Museum, at Rome.]
99. Plotina—Pompeia. Roman Empress.
[Date, and place of birth and death unknown.]