234 HEREDITY. 



of the emperors at Rome, and studying the face of 

 Agrippina, mother of Nero, and the organization of 

 Nero himself at different ages, and finding in the pre- 

 decessors of Nero just the traits which re-appeared 

 in himself. You know what a sensual thickening of 

 the lower face, and of the space between the neck 

 and chin, existed in Agrippina, Nero's mother, in 

 spite of the general symmetry of her face and the 

 fineness of fibre of her Italian temperament. She 

 had ability, perfidy, ambition, capacity for intrigue, 

 and cruelty also, in the service of her predominant 

 traits. You cannot look into her face in marble, 

 even, without noticing that she was one of the fools 

 who are caught by the pleasures which Cicero has 

 justly said are by no means the greatest, — the 

 sensual class of indulgences. Her organization was 

 not coarse, and yet it was low. From such a 

 mother, whom he finally caused to be murdered, 

 this Nero inherited just the same neck, the same 

 perfidious expression, the same tendency to cruelty, 

 the same forehead. There is in Nero, I think, 

 much more of the mother than of the father, for the 

 bust of the latter looks like that of a weakling. He 

 amounted to almost nothing, except that what little 

 force he had was evil. Ahenobarbus, the father of 

 Nero, was stained with crimes of every kind. He 

 was accused of murder, adultery, and incest, and 

 escaped execution only by the death of Tiberius. 

 You remember that, when congratulated on the birth 

 of his son, afterward Nero, he replied that whatever 

 was sprung from him and Agrippina could only bring 



