Those who now surrounded Nero, in particular Tigellinus, saw an opening in this temperamental divide. They whispered in Nero’s ear that the moral gravity of the Stoics was somehow a threat to his regime. In months to come, they would openly allege that mere gloomy looks, or ascetic ways of life, were treasonous in that they implied disapproval of Nero’s exuberance. To be “schoolteacherly”—to go about with a superior or censorious air—became a crime against the state. Nero would rely on such prejudices to brand the Stoics his enemies and to destroy some of the best men of his time.
