Downfall
Nero was Emperor and Agrippina wanted to maintain control over him, however Nero wouldn't listen to his mother for political advice. So she had Lucius Annaeus Seneca, a noted rhetorician and philosopher, along with Sextus Afranius Burrus, commander of the Praetorian guard, tutor Nero and help him in political matters. Agrippina thought this would help to maintain her control over Nero, as he would listen to Seneca and Burrus, whilst Agrippina was telling them what to say. However, Seneca and Burrus thought their duty was to act for the good of the Emperor, and they believed that one way to do this was to weaken Agrippina’s grip on Nero. To do this, they encouraged Nero to participate in anything that reduced his mother's influence over him, such as having an affair with a woman of low birth, who Agrippina did not approve of. When Agrippina attempted to join Nero on his throne to receive ambassadors from Armenia, something even Claudius didn’t allow, they convinced him to make her move to a lower seat. They also convinced Nero to dismiss Pallas, one of Agrippina’s most influential political alliances, from his powerful administrative seat. As Griffin stated however, "It was not the intention of Seneca and Burrus that Agrippina be removed from the scene. Their influence over Nero depended largely on the fact that they provided a refuge from her tactless and arrogant demands.” (G.M, Nero: The End of a Dynasty, 1985). These small tactics employed by Seneca and Burrus would eventually lead Nero away from the controlling grasp of his mother and she would lose power over him, leading to her downfall. Knowing this and getting desperate, Agrippina was rumoured to have tried to seduce Nero to maintain his loyalty. She knew she was losing her grip over him, and even began taking preemptive doses of antidotes against common poisons. Nero knew of and feared his mother’s power and influence and so he began to plan her death. Burrus agreed that he would carry out Nero’s plan as long as there was evidence of Agrippina plotting against him. Whilst no evidence arose, Nero grew restless, so he attempted to kill her by preplanning the collapse of the boat she would be on. However, this plan backfired on him when she survived the collapse and managed to swim back to shore. Terrified of his mother’s anger, Nero consulted Seneca and Burrus, who advised him not to have the Praetorian guard kill her, as many of them owed their position to Agrippina. Nero eventually called in a member of the navy, who killed her as she slept. Tacitus described the rest of Nero’s reign without her "Then he plunged into the wildest improprieties, which vestiges of respect for his mother had hitherto not indeed repressed, but at least impeded.” (Tacitus, The Annals of Imperial Rome, 1971). This quote goes to show that Nero was lost without his mother controlling him, suggesting that many of the things he accomplished during his reign whilst she was there, he owed to her.