Romans was called the toga; and it was
assumed by the Roman youth, not as the dress of a man is by young
persons now, in a private and informal manner, according as the
convenience or fancy of the individual may dictate,--but publicly
and with much ceremony, and always at the time when the party
arrived at the period of legal majority; so that assuming the toga
marked always a very important era of life. This distinction
Agrippina caused to be conferred upon Nero by a special edict when
he was only fourteen years of age, which was at a very much earlier
period than usual. On the occasion of thus advancing him to the
dress and to the legal capabilities of manhood, Agrippina brought
him out in a special manner before the people of Rome at a great
public celebration, and the more effectually to call public
attention to him as a young prince of the highest distinction in the
imperial family, she induced Claudius to bestow a largess upon the
people, and a donative upon the army, that is a public distribution
of money, to the citizens and to the soldiers, in Nero's name.

All this time Britannicus was kept shut up in the private apartments
of the palace with nurses and children. The tutors and attendants
whom Messalina his mother provided for him were one by one removed,
and their places supplied by others whom Agrippina selected for the
purpose, and whom she could rely upon to second her views. When
inquired of in respect to Britannicus by those who had known him
before, during his mother's lifetime, she replied that he was a weak
and feeble child, subject to fits, and thus necessarily kept
secluded from society.

Sometimes, indeed, on great public occasions, both Nero and
Britannicus appeared together, but even in these cases the
arrangements were so made as to impress the public mind more
forcibly than ever with an idea of the vast superiority of Nero, in
respect to rank and position. On one such occasion, while
Britannicus was carried about clothed in the dress of a child, and
with attendants characteristic of the nursery, Nero rode on
horseback, richly appareled in the triumphal robes of a general
returning from a foreign campaign.

Agrippina was one day made very angry with Britannicus, for what
might seem a very trifling cause. It seems that Britannicus, though
young, was a very intelligent boy, and that he understood perfectly
the policy which his step-mother was pursuing toward him, and was
very unwilling to sub