罗马皇后阿格里皮娜 - 一位杰出的战略家_风闻

【来源龙腾网】

正文原创翻译：

Rome’s hardball politics were off-limits to women, yet this great-granddaughter of Augustus won power for herself and her son, Nero, who would later have her murdered.

罗马强硬的政治对妇女来说是禁区，然而这位奥古斯都的曾孙女为自己和她的儿子尼禄赢得了权力，不过后来她却是被她的亲儿子亲手了解。

BY ISABEL BARCELÓ

作者：伊莎贝尔·巴尔塞莱

Nobody could question Agrippina’s imperial credentials: great granddaughter of Augustus, great-niece of Tiberius (granddaughter of Drusus), sister to Caligula, wife of Claudius, and mother to Nero. Like her male relatives, she enjoyed great influence. Honored with the title Augusta in A.D. 50, she wielded political power like a man—and paid the price for it.

阿格里皮娜是奥古斯都的曾孙女，提比略的侄孙女(德鲁斯的孙女)，卡里古拉的妹妹，克劳迪亚斯的妻子，尼禄的母亲。和她的这些男性亲戚一样，阿格里皮娜也有很大的影响力。

Agrippina recorded her life in a series of memoirs, in which, according to first-century historian Tacitus, she “handed down to posterity the story of her life and of the misfortunes of her family.” Unfortunately, her writings—and her authentic perspective—have been lost.

阿格里皮娜用回忆录记录了自己的一生。据公元一世纪的历史学家塔西佗说，她用回忆录 “将自己的生平和家庭的不幸的故事一代代传了下来。”不幸的是，她的作品，以及她真实的观点都已经丢失了。

Most of what is known about her comes from secondhand sources written after her death. Many contemporary historians condemned her for violating Rome’s patriarchal structure with her naked ambition. Many blamed her for the actions of her son, Nero.

人们对她的了解大多来自她死后的二手资料。许多当代历史学家谴责她用她赤裸裸的野心破坏了罗马的父权社会结构。还有许多人因她儿子尼禄的所作所为而指责她。

While describing her at times as irrational, perverted, and unscrupulous, some historians, however, bestowed a grudging admiration for Agrippina, such as Tacitus when describing the moment she became empress of Rome:

在描述她的荒谬、变态和肆无忌惮时，一些历史学家却对她给予了勉强的赞美，比如塔西佗在描述她成为罗马女皇的那一刻是这样说得:

From this moment, the country was transformed. Complete obedience was accorded to a woman—and not a woman . . . who toyed with national affairs to satisfy her appetites. This was a rigorous, almost masculine despotism. In public, Agrippina was austere and often arrogant. Her private life was chaste—unless there was power to be gained. Her passion to acquire money was unbounded. She wanted it as a stepping-stone to supremacy. 

从那一刻起，这个国家发生了翻天覆地的变化。人们完全服从了一个女人，这个女人并非通过玩弄国家大事来满足她的欲望。这是一种严格的，几乎是男性专属的专制制度。在公众面前，阿格里皮纳是一个简朴而又常常很傲慢的人。她的私生活是朴素的，除非有权力可以攫取。她对赚钱的热情是无限的。她想把金钱作为通往霸权的垫脚石。

Of course Agrippina is not the only powerful woman in history to have been treated unfairly by scholars, but this bias against her has motivated today’s historians to revisit her life and accomplishments to assess their effects on the Roman Empire.

当然，阿格里皮娜并不是历史上唯一一位受到学者不公平对待的有权势的女性，但也正是这种对她的偏见促使今天的历史学家开始重新审视她的一生和成就，以此评估这些事情对罗马帝国的影响。

Famous family

有名望的家族

Around A.D. 15, Agrippina was born in a military camp on the banks of the Rhine to an influential Roman power: Germanicus, nephew and adopted son of the emperor Tiberius and a candidate to succeed him, and Agrippina the Elder, Augustus’ favorite granddaughter.

大约公元15年，阿格里皮娜出生在莱因河岸边的一个军营里，他的父亲是很有影响力的罗马势力Germanicus，他是提比略皇帝的外甥和养子，同时他也是提比略皇帝的继承人;而阿格里皮娜的母亲是奥古斯都最喜欢的孙女。

When Agrippina was just four years old, Germanicus died of poisoning in Syria, a crime that her mother always attributed to Tiberius. Agrippina the Elder claimed that the emperor Tiberius feared Germanicus’s popularity with the army, believing that military support would eventually allow Germanicus to usurp the emperor and take his place. Whether or not Tiberius was responsible for poisoning Germanicus, he did deny his adopted son the honor of a public funeral.

阿格里皮娜年仅四岁时，Germanicus就在叙利亚死于中毒，她的母亲一直认为这是提比略犯下的罪行。老阿格里皮娜声称，提比略皇帝之所以这么做是因为害怕Germanicus在军队中受欢迎，认为军事支持最终会让Germanicus篡夺他皇帝的位置。不管提比略是否对毒害Germanicus负有责任，但是他当时确实拒绝为他的养子举行公开的葬礼。

Germanicus’s widow, the indomitable Agrippina the Elder, arrived in Rome with her husband’s ashes, in what became an open challenge to the emperor. With the greatest dignity, she took the urn containing the ashes and, accompanied by her children and a huge crowd of mourning citizens, she led a silent procession through the streets of Rome to the mausoleum of Augustus, where she deposited it. Tiberius was furious at his daughter-in-law’s defiance and never forgave her.

作为Germanicus的遗孀，不屈不挠的老阿格里皮娜带着她丈夫的骨灰来到了罗马，这一举动是对罗马皇帝的公开挑战。她带着极大的尊严手持装有Germanicus骨灰的骨灰盒，在她的孩子和大批哀悼的市民的陪伴下，带领一个沉默的队伍穿过了罗马的街道，来到奥古斯都的陵墓前，将骨灰放在了那里。提比略对儿媳的这一挑衅非常愤怒，他永远也不会原谅她。

The younger Agrippina apparently received a solid education, and there is no doubt of her intelligence, nor of her determination and strength. From an early age, she certainly understood the workings of the imperial court and how a woman could maneuver within it. Her great-grandmother Livia, grandmother Antonia, and her mother taught her the mechanisms and dangers of life at court.

小阿格里皮娜显然受过良好的教育，她的智慧、决心和力量是毋庸置疑的。从很小的时候起，她就很清楚罗马朝廷的运作方式，也知道自己作为一名女性如何在其中周旋。她的曾祖母Livia，祖母Antonia和她的母亲教会了她宫廷生活的生活机制和危险。

BIRTHPLACE OF THE EMPRESS

皇后的出生地

Agrippina, in her role as Augusta, founded a Roman colony near her birthplace in what is today western Germany. Her father, Germanicus, had been stationed at a military outpost along the Rhine when Agrippina was born there in A.D. 15. After Agrippina elevated it, the colony was named Colonia Claudia Augusta Ara Agrippinensium (Colony of Claudius Near the Altar of the Agrippinians) but referred to as Colonia. The colony grew and became a major urban center, serving as the capital city of the Roman province Germania Inferior. Today it is known in English as Cologne, Germany’s fourth largest city. 

阿格里皮娜以其奥古斯都后裔的身份在她的出生地附近，也就是今天的西德，建立了一个罗马殖民地。她的父亲Germanicus在公元15年阿格里皮纳出生时，曾驻扎在莱茵河沿岸的一个军事前哨。在阿格里皮纳将其提升后，该殖民地被命名为Colonia Claudia Augusta Ara Agrippinensium，简称Colonia。

Agrippina the Elder would pay dearly for taking on Tiberius. A few years later, the emperor had her two eldest sons murdered and banished her to one of the Pontine Islands where she died. These horrors, observed by Agrippina the Younger, while still a child, scarred her deeply and left an indelible mark on her thinking. It was here that she grew up and where early trauma forged her character. She decided not to challenge power head-on, at least at first, as her mother had done, but rather to protect herself through marriage to a cousin, Gnaeus Domitius Ahenobarbus.

老阿格里皮娜因为对抗提比略皇帝而付出了高昂的代价。几年后，皇帝杀死了她的两个长子，并将她流放到Pontine群岛的一个岛上，直到她在那里死去。小阿格里皮娜在还是个孩子的时候就目睹了这些可怕的事情，并给她留下了深深的伤疤，在她的思想上留下了不可磨灭的印记。

哥哥和皇帝

A coin with three women on it

Agrippina began to make waves when her brother Caligula became emperor in A.D. 37. It is to this era that the earliest surviving image of her dates. A coin minted with Caligula’s effigy on the front features his three sisters on the back. Depicted as Securitas, the security and strength of the empire, Agrippina leans on a column alongside her sisters Drusilla and Livilla, representing Concord and Fortune.

公元37年，当她的哥哥Caligula成为皇帝时，阿格里皮娜开始掀起轩然大波。如今发现的阿格里皮娜最早幸存的形象图是在一枚硬币上，一枚正面印着Caligula，背面印着他的三个姐妹的硬币。图像上，阿格里皮娜斜靠在一根柱子上，旁边是她的姐妹德鲁西拉(Drusilla)和里维拉(Livilla)，她们分别代表着和谐和财富。

The new emperor Caligula showered his three sisters with honors, included them in official prayers, and even had consuls conclude their proposals to the Senate with the formula “Favor and good fortune attend Gaius Caesar and his sisters.”

新皇帝Caligula向他的三个姐妹表示出了极大的敬意，他不但把她们列入了正式的祈祷中，他甚至让执政官在向元老院提出的提案中总结出这样一句话:“盖乌斯·恺撒和他的姐妹们将得到恩惠和好运。”

Agrippina grew popular during this time. At age 22, she gave birth to her only biological child, Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus, who would become better known as Nero. From the very beginning, Agrippina was resolute in one aim: to see her son become emperor. It was not unreasonable, given her elite family credentials, nor was it unusual: Roman matrons were expected to promote their children’s interests.

在这段时间里，阿格里皮娜变得受欢迎起来。22岁的时候，她生下了自己唯一的孩子，Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus，也就是后来广为人知的尼禄（古罗马暴君）。从一开始，阿格里皮娜就有一个坚定的目标，即看着她的儿子成为皇帝。考虑到她的精英家庭资历，这并非不合理，也并非不寻常，毕竟罗马的主妇们往往被期望着帮助自己的孩子们获得更多的利益。

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A bust depicts Nero, who in A.D. 54 became Roman emperor, at age 16. Initially promising reform, Nero was guided in the first few years by Agrippina until he gave orders for her murder in 59.

一个半身像描绘了公元54年16岁时成为罗马皇帝的尼禄。最初尼禄承诺改革，改革的最初几年由阿格里皮娜亲自指导，直到59年尼禄下令谋杀了她。

In Agrippina’s case, she had a strong personal drive to get involved in politics. In a society that kept women out of government, it was unthinkable that she, by herself, could enter the arena. Through Nero, she had a chance to grasp power, but securing the imperial throne for him would be both difficult and dangerous.

在阿格里皮娜的处境中，她有强烈的个人动机去参政。在一个将妇女排斥在政府之外的社会里，她凭一己之力进入了政治舞台，这在当时是不可想象的。通过尼禄，她有机会掌握权力，但为他保住皇位既困难又危险。

Caligula became seriously ill and, when he regained his health, began a bloody purge to eliminate rivals, reminiscent of the worst violence of Tiberius. Agrippina, having allegedly conspired in a plot to overthrow her brother, was accused of immoral conduct and exiled to the Pontine Islands.

Caligula当时病得很重，当他恢复健康后，就开始了一场针对对手的血腥的清洗，这让人想起了提比略最恶劣的暴力手段。在这种情况下，阿格里皮娜也被指控密谋推翻她的哥哥，同时她也被指控品行不端而被流放到了Pontine群岛。

A year later, Caligula’s assassination unleashed a new wave of chaos before Agrippina’s paternal uncle, Claudius, took over as emperor in January, A.D. 41. Rome’s new ruler reversed the sentence on his niece and allowed her to return to Rome. (Caligula thought he was a god, and it got him killed.)

一年后，Caligula遭遇暗杀，这又引发了新一轮的混乱，直到阿格里皮娜的叔叔Claudius在公元41年1月接任皇帝后，这场骚乱才得以停止。这位罗马的新统治者推翻了前任皇帝对他侄女的判决，允许她返回了罗马。(Caligula认为自己是神，因此被杀。)

That same month, Agrippina became a widow after Ahenobarbus died, but she quickly remarried. Claudius arranged a unx with a wealthy, well-connected man, Crispus, who had served twice as consul. The marriage lasted until Crispus’ death in 47, which left Agrippina a very wealthy widow. Rumors spread that she had caused her husband’s demise after he named her his heir.

同月，阿格里皮娜的丈夫Ahenobarbus去世，于是阿格里皮娜成了寡妇，但她很快又再婚了。当时的皇帝Claudius安排他与一位富有、出身名门的Crispus联姻。Crispus曾两次担任执政官。这段婚姻一直持续到公元47年Crispus去世，这使阿格里皮娜成为了一个非常富有的寡妇。有谣言说，在她丈夫指定她为继承人后，阿格里皮娜谋杀了她的丈夫。

Uncle and niece

叔叔和侄女

A year later, Claudius was widowed and began looking for a new wife. Despite Agrippina being his biological niece, her imperial ancestry made her a strong marital candidate. She was beautiful, still young, and brought with her, her son, who, as Germanicus’s grandson, was, in the words of Tacitus, “thoroughly worthy of imperial rank.” Claudius hoped that in this way she “would not carry off the grandeur of the Caesars to some other house.”

一年后，Claudius丧偶，开始寻找新妻子。尽管阿格里皮娜是他的亲生侄女，但她的帝国血统使她成为一个强有力的结婚人选。她美丽，年轻，还有一个有着Germanicus孙子的身份的儿子。用塔西佗的话来说，她“完全配得上皇后这个威严的地位。” Claudius希望通过娶她，这样她就“不会把皇家的威风带到别的什么人家去”。

Roman historians attributed Claudius’s choice to manipulation. Tacitus wrote that “Agrippina’s seductiveness was a help. Visiting her uncle frequently . . . she tempted into giving her the preference.” Writing in the second century, the historian Suetonius was more condemning in his language: “[I]t was Agrippina . . . who hooked him. She had a niece’s privilege of kissing and caressing Claudius, and exercised it with a noticeable effect on his passions.”

罗马历史学家将Claudius的选择归因于他人的操纵。塔西佗写道:“阿格里皮娜的诱惑力是一种因素。”她经常去看望她的叔叔…她吸引Claudius给予她偏爱。”公元二世纪，历史学家苏埃托尼乌斯(Suetonius)用他的语言表达了更强烈的谴责:“是阿格里皮娜……使得Claudius迷上了她。她有一个侄女的特权，所以可以亲吻和爱抚Claudius，并对他的感情产生了明显的影响。”

The marriage between Claudius and Agrippina, was celebrated in A.D. 49. With skill and tact she established a close relationship with the Senate, imposed order and moderation in the courts, and worked alongside her husband in imperial matters. She earned the title of Augusta and, in an unprecedented step, would appear standing beside the emperor in public.

Claudius和阿格里皮娜的婚礼在公元49年举行。之后凭借其技巧和机智，她与元老院建立了密切的关系，在法庭上强制实行秩序和节制，并与丈夫一起处理帝国事务。她赢得了“奥古斯塔”的称号，并史无前例地在公众场合出现在皇帝身边。

MESSALINA AND AGRIPPINA

梅莎利娜和阿格里皮娜

One of Agrippina’s most fearsome political rivals was Messalina, third wife of Claudius. Writing some 70 years after her death, Roman historians described Messalina as being powerful and influential but completely immoral and lascivious; her husband was in her thrall, unwilling to see her manipulations. Shortly after Claudius became emperor, Messalina gave birth to their son Britannicus, who had the strongest position to become his heir.

阿格里皮娜最可怕的政治对手之一是Claudius的第三任妻子梅莎利娜。在梅莎利娜死后大约70年，罗马历史学家将她描述为一个强大而有影响力的人，但她也完全是一个不道德和淫荡的人;她丈夫受她支配，但极不愿就这样受她操纵。Claudius成为皇帝后不久，梅莎利娜就生下了他们的儿子Britannicus，他是最有可能成为Claudius继承人的人。

Messalina ruthlessly tried to eliminate potential rivals—including Agrippina and her son Nero—through gossip, exile, and even murder. Messalina would eventually be undone by her numerous intrigues and affairs. The Praetorian Guard would execute her after word spread of her involvement in a plot to overthrow Claudius and make Britannicus emperor. With her rival out of the way, Agrippina smartly maneuvered to become Claudius’s next wife, unseat Britannicus as heir, and secure succession for Nero. 

梅莎利娜无情地试图通过流言蜚语、流放甚至谋杀来消灭包括阿格里皮娜和她的儿子尼禄等潜在的王位竞争对手。不过梅莎利娜最终被她无数的阴谋诡计和风流韵事毁掉。禁卫军在她参与密谋推翻Claudius并立Britannicus为皇帝的消息传开后将她处死。当她的对手被赶下台后，阿格里皮娜就巧妙地成为了Claudius的下一任妻子，顺便推翻了Britannicus的王位继承权，确保了尼禄的继承权。

On one occasion, a British king, Caratacus, together with his wife and children, were paraded in chains through the streets of the city as prisoners of war. They were finally brought before Claudius to beg for mercy. Enthroned on a dais, surrounded by praetors, the emperor was moved to hear the speech of the condemned man, spared him and his family, and set them free. Caratacus thanked the emperor and then went before Agrippina, seated in a separate gallery, and thanked her too. 

有一次，作为战俘，英国国王Caratacus及其妻子儿女被铐着锁链去游街示众。最后他们被带到Claudius面前乞求宽恕。皇帝坐在由裁判官簇拥的高台上，听了那个死刑犯的讲话，深受感动，于是赦免了他和他的家人，释放了他们。Caratacus感谢了皇帝，然后走到坐在另一个走廊上的阿格里皮娜面前，也感谢了她。

“It was an innovation, certainly, and one without precedent in ancient custom, that a woman should sit in state before Roman standards: it was the advertisement of her claim to a partnership in the empire which her ancestors had created,” wrote Tacitus.

塔西佗后来写道:“女人出现在如此庄重的场合，这是走在罗马惯例的前端的，这当然是一种创新，因为在古代的习俗中是没有先例的。这是一个广告，表明她有权在她的祖先所建立的帝国中享有一种合作关系的广告。”

Agrippina’s own history, shaped by violent power struggles, prompted her to plan for her son’s ascent to the imperial throne with as little violence as possible. She knew that the road to power was not straightforward given that Claudius already had a biological son named Britannicus. The empress knew it was important to establish in people’s minds that Nero, and not Britannicus, was the obvious successor.

阿格里皮娜自己深受暴力权力斗争影响的经历，促使她为儿子登上皇位制定计划中尽量减少了暴力冲突。她知道通往权力的道路并不简单，因为Claudius当时已经有了一个名叫Britannicus亲生的儿子。皇后知道，重要的是要让人们相信尼禄才是显而易见的继承人，而不是Britannicus。

Agrippina worked behind the scenes to ensure this outcome. Agrippina made it a condition of her marriage to Claudius, that Nero would marry Octavia, Claudius’s youngest daughter. Nero appeared in public with the imperial couple and was showered with commission and honors. As a last step he became the emperor’s legally adopted son. Nero’s preeminence over Claudius’s younger son, Britannicus, was assured.

阿格里皮娜通过幕后操纵确保了这一结果。阿格里皮娜自己嫁给克劳迪斯的条件之一，就是尼禄要娶Claudius最小的女儿Octavia。后来当尼禄带着皇家女婿的身份出现在公众面前时，果然受到了大量的委任和荣誉。最终，他成为了皇帝合法的养子。尼禄与Claudius的小儿子Britannicus相比之下，其优势是毋庸置疑的。

Claudius’s health was generally poor and a death by natural causes would have been quite plausible. Even so, many blamed the emperor’s death in A.D. 54 on Agrippina and theorized that she ordered him to be poisoned to ensure he would not rescind the commitment to pass the throne to Nero. No proof of Agrippina’s involvement exists, but the story has stuck.

Claudius的健康状况很差，所以自然死亡是很有可能的。即便如此，许多人仍将公元54年Claudius皇帝的死归咎于阿格里皮娜，并推测是她下令毒死皇帝，以确保他不会取消将王位传给尼禄的承诺。虽然没有证据证明阿格里皮娜参与其中，但这个故事一直在流传。

Mother and son

母亲和儿子

Soon after Claudius’s death, Agrippina acted quickly. Within just a few hours, the teenaged Nero was being acclaimed emperor by the army and the Senate. His close relationship with his mother was well known and well scrutinized. Suetonius related how Nero announced during his funeral oration for Claudius that Agrippina would be taking over his public and private affairs.

Claudius死后不久，阿格里皮娜迅速采取行动。仅仅几个小时之内，少年尼禄就被军队和元老院拥立为皇帝。他与母亲的亲密关系是众所周知的，也受到密切关注。Suetonius讲述了尼禄在他为Claudius的葬礼致辞中宣布阿格里皮娜将接管他的公共和私人事务。

An interesting detail: “On the day of his accession the password he gave to the colonel on duty was ‘The Best of Mothers’; and she and he often rode out together through the streets in her litter.” Rumors that the two were incestuously involved were reported by historians as well.

一个有趣的细节是:“在他即位的那天，他给值班上校的口令是‘最好的母亲’;她和他经常一起坐着她的轿子穿过街道。”历史学家也曾报道过两人乱伦的传闻。

Agrippina’s influence and Nero’s gratitude would wane over time. Nero’s advisers Seneca and Burrus, who had been appointed by Agrippina, now held newfound power and used it to sideline her. Far from accepting her new role, Agrippina tried, unsuccessfully, to continue to influence her son.

阿格里皮娜的影响力和尼禄对她的感激之情会随着时间的推移而减弱。尼禄的顾问Seneca和Burrus原本都是由阿格里皮娜任命的，后来他们掌握了新的权力，并利用手中的权力排挤她。不过阿格里皮娜非但没有接受她的新角色，反而试图继续影响她的儿子，但没有成功。

He enjoyed popularity at the start of his reign, but things would start to unravel. Familial tensions would increase over politics and Nero’s choice of companions. The already unbearable tension between mother and son was compounded when Nero had Britannicus assassinated.

尼禄在执政之初广受欢迎，但事情后来开始走下坡路。由于政治活动和尼禄选择伙伴的问题上，他们家族内部的紧张关系加剧。当尼禄派人暗杀Britannicus时，母子之间本已难以忍受的紧张关系更加恶化了。

According to sources, the ship that Nero provided Agrippina was designed to sink—and it did. Nero, however, had underestimated his mother being a proficient swimmer. 19th-century oil painting by Gustav Wertheimer

据消息人士透露，尼禄提供给阿格里皮娜的那艘船就是为了沉没而设计的，而且它也确实沉没了。然而，尼禄低估了他的母亲是一个熟练的游泳好手的本事。

Within a year of Nero becoming emperor, Agrippina was ordered to leave the imperial residence and relocated to an estate in Misenum. She had been cast out from the inner circle of power, but she was not safe from her son. Nero tried to drown her by sabotaging a boat, but she survived. Undeterred, Nero sent assassins to the villa where Agrippina had taken refuge and had her murdered there in A.D. 59.

在尼禄成为皇帝的一年内，阿格里皮娜被命令离开帝国官邸，并搬迁到Misenum的一个庄园。她被逐出了核心权力集团，但在其儿子眼皮底下的她并不安全。尼禄企图破坏小船淹死她，但她活了下来。尼禄并没有被吓住，他派刺客来到阿格里皮娜藏身的别墅，并在公元59年将她杀害。

There were no funeral honors. To cover up the matricide, Nero and his advisers crafted a misogynistic cover story, attributing various crimes to her, according to Tacitus, that included, “[aiming] at a share of empire, and at inducing the praetorian cohorts to swear obedience to a woman, to the disgrace of the Senate and people.” Her reputation lay shattered, and her birthday would be classed as an inauspicious day.

阿格里皮娜死后没有葬礼上的荣誉。为了掩盖弑母之举，尼禄和他的顾问们精心制作了一个歧视女性的封面故事。根据塔西佗的说法，尼禄声称阿格里皮娜犯下了各种罪行，包括“(瞄准)帝国的一部分和引诱禁卫军成为其追随者，并说这是元老院和人民的耻辱。” 自此，阿格里皮娜的名声被毁了，她的生日也被归为不吉利的一天。

Despite the innuendos and criticisms, begrudging respect for Agrippina was expressed by some Roman historians. Tacitus wrote: “This was the end which Agrippina had anticipated for years. The prospect had not daunted her. When she asked astrologers about Nero, they had answered that he would become emperor but kill his mother. Her reply was, ‘Let him kill me—provided he becomes emperor!’”

尽管也有影射和批评，一些罗马历史学家还是表达了对阿格里皮娜的勉强尊重。塔西佗写道:“这是阿格里皮娜多年前就预料到的结局。但是这前景并没有使她气馁。当她问占星家关于尼禄的事时，他们的回答是，他会成为皇帝，但会杀死他的母亲。她的回答是:“那就让他杀了我吧，只要他能当上皇帝!”’”