"Once he tasted human blood, the savage lion's native cruelty would be expressed."
- Seneca, remarking on his pupil Nero
"assassins were employed by Messalina, Claudius's wife, to strangle him, as Britannicus's rival, whilst he was taking his noon-day repose. In addition to the story, it was said that they were frightened by a serpent, which crept from under his cushion, and ran away..."
- Suetonius, "The Life of Nero"
