times, when the city of Rome was at the height of its
power and splendor, it was the custom, as it is in fact now with the
inhabitants of wealthy capitals, for the principal families to
possess, in addition to their city residences, rural villas for
summer retreats, which they built in picturesque situations, at a
little distance from the city, sometimes in the interior of the
country, and sometimes upon the sea-shore. There were many
attractive places of resort of this nature in the neighborhood of
Rome. Among them was Antium.

Antium was situated on the sea-coast about thirty miles south of the
Tiber. A bold promontory here projects into the sea, affording from
its declivities the most extended and magnificent views on every
side. On the north, looking from the promontory of Antium, the eye
follows the line of the coast away to the mouth of the Tiber; while,
on the south, the view is terminated, at about the same distance, by
the promontory of Circe, which is the second cape, or promontory,
that marks the shore of Italy in going southward from Rome. Toward
the interior, from Antium, there extends a broad and beautiful
plain, bounded by wooded hills toward the shore, and by ranges of
mountains in the distance beyond. On the southern side of the cape,
and sheltered by it, was a small harbor where vessels from all the
neighboring seas had been accustomed to bring in their cargoes, or
to seek shelter in storms, from time immemorial. In fact, Antium, in
point of antiquity, takes precedence, probably, even of Rome.

The beauty and the salubrity of Antium made it a very attractive
place of summer resort for the people of Rome; and in process of
time, when the city attained to an advanced stage of opulence and
luxury, the Roman noblemen built villas there, choosing situations,
in some instances, upon the natural terraces and esplanades of the
promontory, which looked off over the sea, and in others cool and
secluded retreats in the valleys, on the land. It was in one of
these villas that Nero was born.

Nero's father belonged to a family which had enjoyed for several
generations a considerable degree of distinction among the Roman
nobility, though known by a somewhat whimsical name. The family name
was Brazenbeard, or, to speak more exactly, it was Ahenobarbus,
which is the Latin equivalent for that word. It is a question
somewhat difficult to decide, whether in speaking of Nero's father
at the present time, and in the E