Between him and Petronius there had long existed a rivalry touching Nero.

Tigellinus had this superiority, that Nero acted with less ceremony, or rather with none whatever in his presence; while thus far Petronius overcame Tigellinus at every encounter with wit and intellect.
So it happened now.

Tigellinus was silent, and simply recorded in his memory those senators and knights who, when Petronius withdrew to the depth of the chamber, surrounded him straightway, supposing that after this incident he would surely be Caesar's first favorite.
Petronius, on leaving the palace, betook himself to Vinicius, and described his encounter with Caesar and Tigellinus.
"Not only have I turned away danger," said he, "from Aulus Plautius, Pomponia, and us, but even from Lygia, whom they will not seek, even for this reason, that I have persuaded Bronzebeard, the monkey, to go to Antium, and thence to Naples or Baiae and he will go.

I know that he has not ventured yet to appear in the theatre publicly; I have known this long time that he intends to do so at Naples.

He is dreaming, moreover, of Greece, where he wants to sing in all the more prominent cities, and then make a triumphal entry into Rome, with all the crowns which the 'Graeculi' will bestow on him.