At this time Agrippina, as the just consequence of her many crimes, was regarded by all classes with a fanaticism of hatred which in Poppaea Sabina was intensified by manifest self-interest.

Nero, always weak, had long regarded his mother with real terror and disgust, and he scarcely needed the urgency of constant application to make him long to get rid of her.
But the daughter of Germanicus could not be openly destroyed, while her own precautions helped to secure her against secret assassination.

It only remained to compass her death by treachery.

Nero had long compelled her to live in suburban retirement, and had made no attempt to conceal the open rapture which existed between them.

Anicetus, admiral of the fleet at Misenum, and a former instructor of Nero, suggested the expedient of a pretended public reconciliation, in virtue of which Agrippina should be invited to Baiae, and on her return should be placed on board a vessel so constructed as to come to pieces by the removal of bolts.