Nero to Tacitus, the source of conflict between Nero and his mother was Nero's affair with Poppaea Sabina. In "Histories" Tacitus writes that the affair began while Poppaea was still married to Rufrius Crispinus, but in his later work "Annals" Tacitus says Poppaea was married to Otho when the affair began. In "Annals" Tacitus writes that Agrippina opposed Nero's affair with Poppaea because of her affection for his wife Octavia. Anthony Barrett writes that Tacitus' account in "Annals" "suggests that Poppaea's challenge drove [Nero] over the brink." A number of modern historians have noted that Agrippina's death would not have offered
Poppaea Sabina name of her maternal grandfather. After Titus Ollius's death, Poppaea's mother married Publius Cornelius Lentulus Scipio the Elder, suffect consul, in 24. Her siblings included step-brother Publius Cornelius Lentulus Scipio the Younger, consul in 56, and half-brother Publius Cornelius Scipio Asiaticus, suffect consul in 68. Poppaea's first marriage was to Rufrius Crispinus, a man of equestrian rank. They married in 44, when Poppaea was 14 years old. He was the leader of the Praetorian Guard during the first 10 years of the reign of the Emperor Claudius until 51 when Claudius' new wife Agrippina the Younger removed him from this