_Plutarch_, _Tacitus_, _Theophrastus_, _Quintillian_, and _Livy_, abound with such instances of _occult_ and _slow_ poisoning; most of which, however, notwithstanding the weight they may acquire from their testimony, bear internal evidence of their fallacious character. _Plutarch_ informs us that a slow poison which occasioned heat, cough, spitting of blood, a lingering consumption of the body, and a weakness of intellect, was administered to _Aratus_ of Sicyon. This same poison is also alluded to by _Quintillian_ in his declamations. _Tacitus_[112] informs us that _Sejanus_ caused a _secret_ poison to be administered by an eunuch to _Drusus_, who in consequence gradually declined, as if by a consumptive disorder, and at length died. _Theophrastus_[113] speaks of a poison, prepared from Aconite, that could be so modified as to occasion death within a certain period, such as two, three, or six months, a year, and even sometimes two years. To such an extent does the crime of poisoning appear to have been carried, about two hundred years before the Christian æra, that according to _Livy_,[114] above one hundred and fifty ladies, of the first families in Rome, were convicted and punished for preparing and distributing poison. The most notorious and expert character of this kind is handed down to us by the historians and poets under the name of _Locusta_, who was condemned to die on account of her infamous actions, but was saved in order that she might become a state engine, and be numbered, as _Tacitus_ expresses it, “_Inter instrumenta regni_.” She was accordingly employed to poison _Claudius_ by _Agrippina_, who was desirous of destroying the Emperor, and yet feared to despatch him suddenly, whence a slow poison was prepared by _Locusta_, and served to him in a dish of mushrooms, of which he was particularly fond, “_Boletorum appetentissimus_;” but it failed in its effects, as we learn from _Tacitus_, until it was assisted by one of a more powerful nature. “_Post quem nihil amplius edit._” This same _Locusta_ prepared also the poison with which _Nero_ despatched _Britannicus_, the son of _Agrippina_, whom his father _Claudius_ wished to succeed him on the throne. This poison appears to have proved too slow in its operation, and to have occasioned only a dysentery. The Emperor accordingly compelled her by blows and threats, to prepare in his presence one of a more powerful nature, and as the tale is related by _Suetonius_, it appears that it was then tried on a kid, but as the animal did not die until the lapse of five hours, she boiled it for a longer period, when it became so strong as instantaneously to kill a pig to which it was given. In this state of concentration it is said to have despatched _Britannicus_ as soon as he tasted it.[115] Vide _Tac. An._ 13. _s._ 15. 16. Now it would clearly appear from these statements that _Locusta_, avowedly the most accomplished poisoner of ancient Rome, was wholly