I put out his fire

The suicide of Nero's favorite bodyguard has become an explosive topic in the market.Rome's literary and artistic fields received new inspiration, and many tragic stories emerged in drama and music for a while.

People are generally more tolerant of the dead, let alone such a tragic death as suicide.The liberated Romans admired death and love, and Rhodes' death fits both.As a result, public opinion suddenly reversed, from satire to beautification of their relationship.

However, the incident was soon overshadowed by another piece of news: the emperor was dying.

This means that Rome will change hands.

Agrippina sat in front of the bronze mirror to do her makeup, and her hair was pulled into a simple bun with a black veil.She looks calm.

The slave girl took the fat of the female cochineal with a damp wooden stick and tried to apply it to her tight lips.

"I don't wear lipstick." Agrippina glared at her, and picked up a wooden comb to comb the broken hair at her temples.

The house slave who had just paid the doctor came over.Among all kinds of slaves, domestic slaves have the highest status, equivalent to housekeepers.

He said in a cautious tone: "But...the master is critically ill, and plain lips will be regarded as an ominous sign at such a time."

Agrippina turned her head.Behind her is Claudius lying on the sickbed.

Claudius's eye sockets were black and purple, his face was sallow, and his chin was so thin that there were ravines.The smoke of the surrounding medicinal herbs swirled into his nostrils and mouth like insects on the seabed.

After the last dinner party, he started vomiting and diarrhea frequently.His symptoms were severe food poisoning, but Octavia and the young nobleman who ate with him were all unharmed.In the past few days, he even started to urinate blood and weakened rapidly.

Agrippina glanced at him, turned her head, and continued to dress up in a leisurely manner, "Didn't you see that I have put on the black veil? The doctor told me that my uncle is dying."

She glanced at the slaves and said plainly: "Go and deliver a message to the Senate. The emperor is dead. From now on, all slaves in Rome must wear black mourning clothes, and all women are not allowed to wear makeup, let alone bright colors." Lipstick, all festive weddings must be called off."

The servant was startled for a moment, and said, "The master hasn't passed his last breath yet...do you want to report now?"

"Yes." She put down the wooden comb, and gave him a meaningful look, "Instead of pointing fingers at your mistress, why don't you change your husband's funeral attire into the cremation clothes now. Wait until his body gets colder." Hard, but very inconvenient to wear."

The house slave was drenched with cold sweat.

Agrippina stood up, put a whole piece of black silk on her body, and fastened the lead gray buckle.

She stepped on a colorful mosaic floor, came to the bed, stretched out a finger, and gently scratched the dark circles of Claudius' eyes with her fingernail.Suddenly, two fingers opened his eyelids.

Agrippina examined his pupils carefully, and said to the slave, "Bring in the coffin."

The slaves froze.According to the rules, the body of a person after death should be left quietly overnight to determine whether the death is suspended or not.

"What? Did I order you not to move?" Agrippina said in a stern tone, "I am the queen of Rome, your mistress, and the only one who has the ability to support you."

The slaves started to move around one after another, each with secretive expressions.

The slave brought the black funeral clothes for the cremation, and said worriedly: "Do you need to send someone to Naples to recall the princess? The master kept calling her name when he was unconscious. She is the person the master cares about the most..."

After the dinner that day, in order for Octavia and Aspen to quickly establish a relationship, Agrippina specially allocated a sum of money for them to travel to Naples in other provinces.

"No." Agrippina said, "Let her get along with that little judge. Uncle wants his daughter to marry, and I will fulfill this wish for him."

The mortician came with a cosmetic box, knelt down to salute the queen, and walked to the smoke-filled bedside.

He dug out a little honey, added oil and a little white lead, made a foundation for the dead, and applied it to Claudius's face.

When the fingertips touched the emperor's face, the undertaker felt the warmth of the human body.He realized that the emperor was not dead yet, and turned his head in surprise.

Agrippina's dark and cold brown eyes looked over, and through the ghostly swirling smoke, her vision was like a snake crawling in the moisture.

The mortician was frightened by this sight, and forcibly suppressed the words that came to his lips.

"After putting on makeup, put the coffin directly." Agrippina washed her feet in warm water and put on a pair of shoes inlaid with black gemstones. "I will guard the coffin from tonight until the cremation tomorrow."

The house slave fastened the buckle of the funeral clothes to Claudius, thought for a while, and asked, "Do I need to notify Lord Domitius to come over?"

Agrippina paused, put on her shoes slowly, and asked, "Did Nero still not go out?"

"He locked himself in the house, and he didn't want to see anyone." The house slave said, "His house slave was afraid that something would happen to the master, so he cut a small hole in the window frame, and peeked into the house every once in a while. "

Agrippina kicked on her shoes and asked, "Did the salvage team get anything? The flood reached halfway up the mountain. I heard that Nero ordered the salvage team to search for three days and three nights after he woke up."

"Nothing was found. The current is very fast, and the salvage team members all think that there is little hope of survival." The house slave sighed, "Although there is water so that you can't fall to pieces, but jumping from such a high mountain top, you will definitely be shocked by the water .Plus it is cold winter..."

Agrippina listened silently, and asked, "Where's Nero? How is he doing now?"

"The situation is not very good..." said the servant. "It is said that the lord always stares at a black glove, putting it on and taking it off again. These days he does not eat or drink, does nothing, just Repeat this action."

Agrippina's brown eyes gleamed hard.She said solemnly: "Don't let him come, I allow him to enjoy the world of two people for another day through grief and dead lover. After the cremation tomorrow, I will personally drag him out of the house."

The house slave nodded, and put the funeral shoes made of black iron on Claudius' feet.

……

At night, the emperor, who had put on makeup, was put in the center of the banquet hall.

Slaves in black mourning poured water on the ground and then swept it clean.The slave girl inserted white candles all over the candlesticks, and changed the tablecloth and door curtains to black.The house slave commanded a group of young and strong male slaves to erect plaster statues and shrines in the courtyard.The chefs built a firewood and filled the stomach of the roast suckling pig with saffron and fruit as an offering to the god of the underworld.

They are preparing for tomorrow's grand funeral.

Agrippina stands before a plaster cast of Claudius' face.She stared at the plaster cast with a thoughtful expression.Suddenly, she raised her hand and wiped off the dust on the plaster with a silk handkerchief.

"There must not be a speck of dust on the plaster statue and the coffin." She reprimanded the slaves aloud, "Tomorrow there will be countless nobles mourning in front of the plaster statue, and his coffin will be bowed all the way to the square for cremation. If even Both are dirty and people will laugh at the royal family."

An obedient female slave took the silk cloth and went to the palace to wipe the coffin.Two slaves sanded the plaster and wiped it with a damp rag.

Agrippina called her slave: "Have all the funeral arrangements been made?"

"It has been arranged, including actors and musicians, all of them are proficient in singing and lyre." The slave said, "After the cremation, there will be a gladiatorial competition in the theater. The winning gladiator will be treated as an ex-slavery. But... "

Agrippina rolled her eyes. "But what?"

"The tear bottle for burial is not ready yet." The servant said cautiously, "But now...the princess still doesn't know the fact of the master's death."

The tear bottle is a narrow-necked glass bottle, which is a funerary object.The tear bottle should hold the tears of the deceased lover or relatives, and put them into the coffin together with the deceased.The Romans believed that with the tear bottle, even if the deceased went to the underworld, he would be accompanied by his dear ones; after a hundred years, the dear one would return to the deceased with the tear bottle.

The house slave lowered his head, not daring to look into Agrippina's eyes, and asked softly, "Besides the princess, the master also needs you to shed a few tears for him..."

Agrippina said categorically: "My tears have been shed long ago. They are all in the tear bottle of my first husband. After I die, I will go to his side..."

Before the words were finished, a female slave rushed over in a panic.She was running too fast, and the shoe that had escaped was pulled behind, and the shoelace was still tied around her ankle.

This is the female slave who just went to the banquet hall to wipe the coffin.

Before Agrippina could speak, the house slave took the lead in reprimanding: "How can the slaves of the royal family become so embarrassed?"

"Master... master..." she cried, "the coffin... there is movement in the coffin..."

Agrippina's complexion suddenly darkened, and there was blackness in the sunken eye sockets.

"It must be an apparition of the god of the underworld. I'll go and see what's going on." She walked towards the palace in an orderly manner, and at the same time told the slave, "Close the doors and windows for me, and no one is allowed to approach. The humble slave must not offend the gods .”

All the doors and windows of the palace were closed.Agrippina walked to the coffin, surrounded by still white candlelight, as dense as coral fluff on the bottom of the sea, looking very holy.

There was a thumping sound from inside the coffin, and the coffin lid shook accordingly, and dust fell from the cracks.The sound was like a bouncing ball, bouncing back and forth between the walls and pillars of the palace, lingering endlessly.

Agrippina stared at the coffin, her white fingers resting on the shaking coffin lid, caressing the little angel in relief.

"Why aren't you dead? Uncle." She said so, pushing open the wooden coffin lid.

Claudius' eyes were wide open, his black lips muttered and hissed, and his feet in iron mourning shoes were still kicking the coffin.Because of suffocation, his body twisted, and his face showed purple branches like branches.

"Age...A..." Claudius squeezed out the name of his niece from his throat, scratching the coffin frantically with his nails.

Agrippina was afraid that his cry would attract the slaves, so she quickly covered his mouth and nose with her hands.

"For my husband, I have to do this..." She blushed because of the force, "There will be no more pain...Uncle, there will be no more pain. After suffering for so many days, you should be relieved It's..."

Claudius shook his head from side to side, staring at his niece with his dark purple eyes, and sprayed herbal-flavored heat between her fingers.He clasped the side of the coffin with both hands and almost sat up.

He kept whimpering, it was hard to hear.

Agrippina almost couldn't hold him down, so she pinched his neck fiercely with both hands, "Stop resisting death... You have lived to be 64 years old and have been emperor for 14 years, so you should be content."

"House... I..." Claudius was suffocated by her.

"Don't make a sound!" Agrippina reprimanded her uncle like a slave, pinching his throat with all her strength, and the veins in her temples bulged, "I'll give you a good time At the funeral, the historian will only remember your achievements, and the descendants of Rome will remember you..."

Claudius struggled harder.The iron shoes made the coffin thump.

His two purple-black lips form a small circle, vaguely, "House...house..."

He made such a commotion that even Agrippina panicked.

She became hysterical, her nails dug into his flesh, and she closed her eyes and growled: "I will arrange a good home for Octavia! She will get married soon. I will protect her and protect her for the rest of my life." Future children, let her and her descendants enjoy a superior royal life!"

Hearing this, Claudius suddenly stopped a lot, like a wraith who finally fulfilled his wish, and chose to give up resistance.

Agrippina was overjoyed, and said as if bewitched: "Your daughter will be happy. Please just die obediently, my uncle..."

Claudius seemed to be cursed, and he gradually fell silent.

After a long time, Agrippina let go, trembling all over.She killed the emperor of Rome, her uncle, and her second husband with her bare hands. Drenched in sweat, she slowly slumped on the ground.Her face was flushed, her limbs were sore and limp, and she gasped for a while on the ground.

After a long time, after adjusting her breathing, she turned to laughing. The laughter passed through the dense white candlelight, and the wick vibrated slightly.

Her uncle was half-closed in the coffin, completely out of breath.