In the consulship of Didius
Junius and Quintus Haterius, Nero, now sixteen years of age, married
Octavia, the emperor's daughter. Anxious to distinguish himself by noble
pursuits and the reputation of an
orator, he advocated the cause of the people of
Ilium, and having eloquently recounted how
Rome was the offspring of
Troy,
and Æneas the founder of the
Julian line, with other old traditions
akin to myths, he gained for his clients exemption from all public burdens.
His pleading too procured for the colony of
Bononia,
which had been ruined by a fire, a subvention of ten million sesterces. The
Rhodians also had their freedom restored to them, which had often been taken
away, or confirmed, according to their services to us in our foreign wars,
or their seditious misdeeds at home.
Apamea, too,
which had been shaken by an earthquake, had its tribute remitted for five
years.