command of the armies to the Roman knights and to his freedmen. Certain it is that neither on beginning a journey nor on returning did he kiss any member a or even return his greeting; and at the formal opening of the work at the Isthmus the prayer which he uttered in a loud voice before a great throng was, that the event might result favourably "for himself and the people of Rome," thus suppressing any mention of the senate. When XXXVIII. But he showed no greater mercy to the people or the walls of his capital. someone in a general conversation said: action "b "When I am dead, be earth consumed by fire," he rejoined "Nay, rather while I live," and his was wholly in accord. For under cover of displeasure at the ugliness of the old buildings and the narrow, crooked streets, he set fire to the city so openly that several ex-consuls did not venture to lay hands on his chamberlains although they caught them on their estates with tow and firebrands, while some granaries near the Golden House, whose room he particularly desired, were demolished by engines of war and then set on fire, because their walls were of stone. For six days and seven nights destruction raged, while the people were driven for shelter to monuments and tom At that time, besides an immense number 01 dwellings, the houses of leaders of old were burned, still adorned with trophies of victory, and the temples of the gods vowed and dedicated by the kings and later in the Punic and Gallic wars, and which rooms were rented to the poorer classes; domus to detached houses or mansions. quidquid visendum atque memorabile ex antiquitate duraverat. Hoc incendium e turre Maecenatiana prospectans laetusque "flammae," ut aiebat, "pulchritudine" Halosin Ilii in illo suo scaenico habitu 3 decantavit. Ac ne non hinc quoque quantum posset praedae et manubiarum invaderet, pollicitus cadaverum et ruderum gratuitam egestionem nemini ad reliquias rerum suarum adire permisit; conlationibusque non receptis modo verum et efflagitatis provincias privatorumque census prope exhausit. XXXIX. Accesserunt tantis ex principe malis probrisque quaedam et fortuita: pestilentia unius autumni, quo triginta funerum milia in rationem Libitinae venerunt; clades Britannica, qua duo praecipua oppida magna civium sociorumque caede direpta sunt; ignominia ad Orientem legionibus in Armenia sub iugum missis aegreque Syria retenta. Mirum et vel praecipue notabile inter haec fuerit nihil eum patientius quam maledicta et convicia hominum tulisse, neque in ullos leniorem quam qui 2 se dictis aut carminibus lacessissent exstitisse. Multa Graece Latineque proscripta aut vulgata sunt, sicut illa : 66 “ Νέρων Ορέστης ̓Αλκμέων μητροκτόνος.” a A tower connected with the house and gardens of Maecenas on the Esquiline; see Hor. Odes, 3. 29. 10, molem propinquam nubibus arduis. It was probably connected with the Palatine by the domus transitoria; see chap. xxi. 2 and Tac. Ann. 15. 39, whose account, as well as that of Dio, 62. 18, differs from that of Suetonius. Probably a composition of his own; cf. Juv. 8. 221 and Vitell. xi. 2. whatever else interesting and noteworthy had survived from antiquity. Viewing the conflagration from the tower of Maecenas and exulting, as he said, in "the beauty of the flames," he sang the whole of the "Sack of Ilium," in his regular stage costume. Furthermore, to gain from this calamity too all the spoil and booty possible, while promising the removal of the debris and dead bodies free of cost he allowed no one to approach the ruins of his own property; and from the contributions which he not only received, but even demanded, he nearly bankrupted the provinces and exhausted the resources of individuals. XXXIX. To all the disasters and abuses thus caused by the prince there were added certain accidents of fortune; a plague which in a single autumn entered thirty thousand deaths in the accounts of Libitina ; © a disaster in Britain, where two important towns were sacked and great numbers of citizens and allies were butchered; a shameful defeat in the Orient, in consequence of which the legions in Armenia were sent under the yoke and Syria was all but lost. It is surprising and of special note that all this time. he bore nothing with more patience than the curses and abuse of the people, and was particularly lenient towards those who assailed him with gibes and lampoons. Of these many were posted or circulated both in Greek and Latin, for example the following: "Nero, Orestes, Alcmeon their mothers slew." e Venus Libitina, in whose temple funeral outfits and a register of deaths were kept; cf. Hor. Serm. ii. 6, 19. a Camulodunum (Meldon) and Verulanium (St. Albans); according to Xiphilinus (61. 1) 80,000 perished. “ Νεόψηφον Νέρων ἰδίαν μητέρα ἀπέκτεινε.” Dum tendit citharam noster, dum cornua Noster erit Paean, ille Hecatebeletes. Roma domus fiet; Veios migrate, Quirites, Sed neque auctores requisiit et quosdam per indicem delatos ad senatum adfici graviore poena prohibuit. 3 Transeuntem eum Isidorus Cynicus in publico clara voce corripuerat, quod Naupli mala bene cantitaret, sua bona male disponeret; et Datus Atellanarum histrio in cantico quodam ὑγίαινε πάτερ, ὑγίαινε μῆτερ ita demonstraverat, ut bibentem natantemque faceret, exitum scilicet Claudi Agrippinaeque significans, et in novissima clausula Orcus vobis ducit pedes senatum gestu notarat.2 Histrionem et philosophum Nero nihil amplius quam urbe Italiaque summovit, 1 veóynpov, n; see Bücheler, Rh. Mus. 61, 308 f.; veóvvμφον, 5. 2 notarat, Oudendorp; notaret, 2. a See the reference to the Rh. Mus. in the textual note. The numerical value of the Greek letters in Nero's name (1005) is the same as that of the rest of the sentence; hence we have an equation, Nero= the slayer of one's own mother. Referring to Nero's design mentioned in chap. xxxvii. 3. "A calculation new. Nero his mother slew." a "Who can deny the descent from Aeneas' great line of our Nero? One his mother took off, the other one took off his sire." "While our ruler his lyre doth twang and the Parthian his bowstring, Paean-singer our prince shall be, and Far-darter our foe." "Rome is becoming one house; off with you to Veii, Quirites! If that house does not soon seize upon Veii as well." He made no effort, however, to find the authors; in fact, when some of them were reported to the senate by an informer, he forbade their being very severely punished, As he was passing along a public street, the Cynic Isidorus loudly taunted him, "because he was a good singer of the ills of Nauplius, but made ill use of his own goods." Datus also, an actor of Atellan farces, in a song beginning: "Farewell to thee, father; farewell to thee, mother," represented drinking and swimming in pantomime, referring of course to the death of Claudius and Agrippina; and in the final tag, "Orcus guides your steps,” he indicated the senate by a gesture. Nero contented himself with banishing the actor and the philosopher from the city, either because he was im |