Both authors carry the theatrical machine — Tacitus' leaded vessel on a starlit sea, Suetonius' collapsible boat devised after poison thrice failed. Tacitus stages the night as tragedy watched by heaven; Suetonius files it in a career of attempts. The agreement on the absurd device is as telling as the difference in register.
murder of Agrippina
kind: assassination · 59 CE — the editor’s frame · 3 mentions across 3 episodes of the record — counted by the house’s first pass receipt — the deed shelf, first pass receipt — the witness index
Nero's matricide: the collapsible ship, the swim, the executioners sent after.
Anchored at 59 CE on the editor’s table of years .
· 59 CE — date secure ·
March 59 CE at Baiae, in the Annals' consular year.
Suetonius · one account
34 the principal narrative The attempts catalogued: poison thrice, the rigged ceiling, the collapsible boat. Nero · J. C. Rolfe, 1913
he devised a collapsible boat,* to destroy her by shipwreck or by the falling in of its cabin.Suet. Nero 34
Tacitus · one account
14.3–14.8 the principal narrative The plot, the shipwreck, the final order — the Annals' most theatrical night. The Annals · Alfred John Church & William Jackson Brodribb, 1876
At last, convinced that she woulTac. Ann. 14.3
A night of brilliant starlight with the calm of a tranquil sea was granted by heaven, seemingly, to convict the crime.Tac. Ann. 14.5
Agrippina — a candidate entry Britannicus — a candidate entry Gallus — a candidate entry Lucius — a candidate entry Nero — 1 episode shared
logoi — the words
No door is cut to the word-house from this room yet. logoi.health keeps the words meanwhile.
mythoi — the stories
No door is cut to the story-house from this room yet. mythoi.health keeps the stories meanwhile.
The record here: The Histories, Herodotus — Godley, 1920–25 · Parallel Lives, Plutarch — Perrin, 1914–26 · 166 works · 12,119 episodes served