21
[So Vologaesus attacked Tigranocerta and drove
back Paetus, who had come to its aid. When the latter
fled he pursued him, beat back the garrison left by
Paetus at the Taurus, and shut him up in Rhandea, near
the river Arsanias. Then he was on the point of retiring
without accomplishing anything; for destitute
as he was of heavy-armed soldiers he could not approach
close to the wall, and he had no large stock of
provender, particularly as he had come at the head of
a vast host without making arrangements for food
supplies. Paetus, however, stood in terror of his archery,
which took effect in the very camp itself, as well
as of the cavalry, which kept appearing at all points.
Hence he made peace proposals to his antagonist, accepted
his terms, and took an oath that he would himself
abandon all of Armenia and that Nero should give
it to Tiridates. The Parthian was satisfied enough
with this agreement, seeing that he was to obtain control
of the country without a contest and would be making
the Romans his debtors for a very considerable
kindness. And, as he learned that Corbulo (whom
Paetus several times sent for before he was surrounded)
was drawing near, he dismissed the beleaguered soldiers,
having first made them agree to build a
bridge over the river Arsanias for him. He was not
really in need of a bridge, for he had crossed on foot,
but he wished to give them a practical example of the
fact that he was stronger than they. Indeed, he did not
retire by way of the bridge even on this occasion, but
rode across on an elephant, while the rest got over as
before.
22
The capitulation had scarcely been made when Corbulo
with inconceivable swiftness reached the Euphrates
and there waited for the retreating force. When
the two armies approached each other you would have
been struck with the difference between them and between
their generals: one set were fairly aglow with
delight at their rapidity; the others were grieved and
ashamed of their compact. Vologaesus sent Monaeses to
Corbulo with the demand that the newcomer should
give up the fort in Mesopotamia. So they held a prolonged
conference together right at the bridge crossing
the Euphrates, after first destroying the center of
the structure. Corbulo having promised to leave the
country if the Parthian would also abandon Armenia,
both of these things were done temporarily until Nero
could learn the outcome of the engagements and begin
negotiations with the envoys of Vologaesus, whom
the latter had sent a second time. The answer given
them by the emperor was that he would bestow Armenia
upon Tiridates if this aspirant would come to
Rome. Paetus was deposed from his command and the
soldiers that had been with him were sent somewhere
else. Corbulo was again assigned to the war against
the same foes. Nero had intended to accompany the
expedition in person, but after falling down during
the ceremony of sacrificing he would not venture to go
abroad but remained where he was.]
23
[Corbulo therefore officially prepared for war upon
Vologaesus and sent a centurion bidding him depart
from the country. Privately, however, he suggested
to the king that he send his brother to Rome, and this
advice met with acceptance, since Corbulo seemed to
have the stronger force. Thus it came about that they
both, Corbulo and Tiridates, met at no other place than
Rhandea, which suited them both. It appealed to the
Parthian because there his people had cut off the Romans
and had sent them away under a capitulation, a
visible proof of the favor that had been done them. To
the Roman it appealed because his men were going to
wipe out the ill repute that had attached to them there
before. For the meeting of the two was not limited
merely to conversation; a lofty platform had been
erected on which were set images of Nero, and in the
presence of crowds of Armenians, Parthians, and Romans
Tiridates approached and did them reverence;
after sacrificing to them and calling them by laudatory
names he took off the diadem from his head and set it
upon them. Monobazus and Vologaesus also came to
Corbulo and gave him hostages. In honor of this event
Nero was a number of times saluted as imperator and
held a triumph, contrary to precedent.]
But Corbulo
in spite of the large force that he had and the very considerable
reputation that he enjoyed did not rebel and
was never accused of rebellion. He might easily have
been made emperor, since men thoroughly detested
Nero but all admired him in every way.
[In addition
to the more striking features of his submissive behavior
he voluntarily sent to Rome his son-in-law
Annius, who served as his lieutenant; this was done
professedly that Annius might escort Tiridates back,
but in fact this relative stood in the position of a
hostage to Nero. The latter was so firmly persuaded
that his general would not revolt that Corbulo obtained
his son-in-law as lieutenant
[
]
before he had been
praetor.]
[And Junius Torquatus, a descendant of Augustus,
made himself liable to a most strange indictment. He
had squandered his property in a rather lavish way,
whether following his native bent or with the intention
of not being very rich. Nero therefore declared that,
as he lacked many things, he must be covetous of the
goods of others, and consequently caused a fictitious
charge to be brought against him of aspiring to imperial
power.]
A.D. 65 (a.u. 818)
24
Seneca, however, and Rufus the prefect and some
other prominent men formed a plot against Nero.
They could no longer endure his ignoble behavior, his
licentiousness, and his cruelty. They desired at one
and the same time to be rid of these evils and to give
Nero his release from them. Indeed, Sulpicius Asper,
a centurion, and Subrius Flavius, a military tribune,
both belonging to the body-guards, admitted this to
him point blank. Asper, when interrogated by the emperor
as to the reason for his attempt, replied: "I
could help you in no other way." And the response of
Flavins was: "I both loved you and hated you above
all men. I loved you, hoping that you would prove a
good emperor: I have hated you because you do so-and-so.
I can not be slave to charioteer or lyre-player."--Information
was lodged and these men were punished,
besides many others indirectly associated with them.
Everything in the nature of a complaint that could be
entertained against any one for excessive joy or grief,
for words or gestures, was brought forward and was
believed. Not one of these complaints, even if fictitious,
could be refused credence in view of Nero's actual
deeds. Hence conscienceless friends and house
servants of some men flourished greatly. Persons
guarded against strangers and foes,--for of these
they were suspicious,--but were bound to expose
themselves whether they would or no to their associates.
25
It would be no small task to record details about
most of those that perished, but the fate of Seneca
needs a few words by itself. It was his wish to end
the life of his wife Paulina at the same time with his
own, for he declared that he had taught her to despise
death and that she desired to leave the world in company
with him. So he opened her veins as well as
his own. As he failed, however, to yield readily to
death, his end was hastened by the soldiers; and his
dying so speedily enabled Paulina to survive. He did
not lay hands upon himself, however, until he had revised
the book which he had composed and had deposited
with various persons certain other valued possessions
which he feared might come into Nero's hands
and be destroyed. Thus was Seneca forced to part
with life in spite of the fact that he had on the pretext
of illness abandoned the society of the emperor
and had bestowed upon him his entire property, supposedly
to help defray the expense of necessary building
operations. His brothers, too, perished after him.
26
Likewise Thrasea and Soranus, who had no superiors
in family, wealth, and every excellence, met their
death not because they were accused of conspiracy but
because they were what they were. Against Soranus
Publius Egnatius Celer, a philosopher, gave false evidence.
The victim had had two associates,--Cassius
Asclepiodotus of Nicaea and this Publius of Berytus.
Now Asclepiodotus so far from speaking against Soranus
bore witness to his noble qualities; he was at
the time exiled for his pains, but later, under Galba,
was restored. Publius in return for his services as
blackmailer received money and honors (as did others
of the same profession), but subsequently he was banished.
Soranus was slain on the charge of having
caused his daughter to employ a species of magic, the
foundation for this story being that when he was sick
his family had offered some sacrifices. Thrasea was
executed for not appearing regularly at the senate-house,
thus showing that he did not like the measures
passed, for not listening to the emperor's singing and
zither-playing, for not sacrificing to Nero's Divine
Voice as did the rest, and for not giving any public
exhibitions: for it was remarked that at Patavium, his
native place, he had acted in a tragedy given in pursuance
of some old custom at a festival held every
thirty years. As he made the incision in his artery, he
raised his hand, exclaiming: "To thee, Jupiter, patron
of freedom, I pour this libation of blood."
27
And why should one be surprised that such complaints
were fastened upon them,
[
]
seeing that one man
[
]
was
brought to trial and slain for living near the Forum,
for letting out some shops, or for receiving a few
friends in them; and another
[
]
because he possessed a
likeness of Cassius, the murderer of Caesar?
The conduct of a woman named Epicharis also deserves
mention. She had been included in the conspiracy
and all its details had been trusted to her without
reserve; yet she revealed none of these though
often tortured in all the ways that the skill of Tigillinus
could devise. And why should one enumerate
the sums given to the Pretorians on the occasion of
this conspiracy or the excessive honors voted to Nero
and his friends? Let me say only that it led to the
banishment of Rufus Musonius, the philosopher. Sabina
also perished at this time through an act of
Nero's. Either accidentally or intentionally he had
given her a violent kick while she was pregnant.
28
The extremes of luxury indulged in by this Sabina I
will indicate in the briefest possible terms. She had
gilded girths put upon the mules that carried her and
caused five hundred asses that had recently foaled to
be milked each day that she might bathe in their milk.
She devoted great thought to making her person appear
youthful and lustrously beautiful,--and with
brilliant results; and this is why, not fancying her appearance
in a mirror one day, she prayed that she
might die before she passed her prime. Nero missed
her so that
[after her death, at first, on learning that
there was a woman resembling her he sent for and
kept this female: later]
because a boy of the
liberti
class, named Sporus, resembled Sabina, he had him
castrated and used him in every way like a woman;
and in due time he formally married him though he
[Nero]
was already married to a freedman Pythagoras.
He assigned the boy a regular dowry according
to contract, and Romans as well as others held a public
celebration of their wedding.
While Nero had Sporus the eunuch as a wife, one of his associates
in Rome, who had made a specialty of philosophy, on being asked whether
the marriage and cohabitation in question met with his approval replied:
"You do well, Caesar, to seek the company of such wives. If
only your father had had the same ambition and had dwelt with a
similar consort!"--indicating that if this had been the case, Nero
would not have been born, and the government would have been relieved
of great evils.
This was, however, later. At the time with which
we are immediately concerned many, as I stated, were
put to death and many who purchased their preservation
with Tigillinus with a great price were released.
29
Nero continued to commit many ridiculous acts,
among which may be cited his descending at a kind of
popular festival to the orchestra of the theatre, where
he read some Trojan lays of his own: and in honor of
these there were offered numerous sacrifices, as there
were over everything else that he did. He was now
making preparations to compile in verse a narration of
all the achievements of the Romans: before composing
any of it, however, he began to consider the proper
number of books, and took as his adviser Annaeus
Cornutus, who at this time was famed for his learning.
This man he came very near putting to death and did
deport to an island, because, while some were urging
him to write four hundred books, Cornutus said that
was too many and nobody would read them. And
when some one objected: "Yet Chrysippus, whom
you praise and imitate, has composed many more," the
savant retorted: "But they are a help to the conduct
of men's lives." So Cornutus was punished with
exile for this. And Lucanus was enjoined from writing
poetry because he was securing great praise for his
work.
DURATION OF TIME
C. Lucius Telesinus, C. Suetonius Paulinus.
(A.D. 66 = a.u. 819 = Thirteenth of Nero, from Oct. 13th).
Fonteius Capito, Iunius Rufus.
(A.D. 67 = a.u. 820 = Fourteenth of Nero).
C. Silius Italicus, Galerius Trachalus Turpilianus.
(A.D. 68 = a.u. 821, to June 9th).
(A.D. 66 = a.u. 819 = Thirteenth of Nero, from Oct. 13th).
Fonteius Capito, Iunius Rufus.
(A.D. 67 = a.u. 820 = Fourteenth of Nero).
C. Silius Italicus, Galerius Trachalus Turpilianus.
(A.D. 68 = a.u. 821, to June 9th).
A.D. 66 (a.u. 819)
1
In the consulship of Gaius Telesinus and Suetonius
Paulinus one event of great glory and another of deep
disgrace took place. For one thing Nero contended
among the zither-players, and after Menecrates,
[
]
the
teacher of this art, had celebrated a triumph for him
in the hippodrome, he appeared as a charioteer. For
the other, Tiridates presented himself in Rome, bringing
with him not only his own children but those of
Vologaesus, of Pacorus, and of Monobazus. They were
the objects of interest in a quasi-triumphal procession
through the whole country west from the Euphrates.
2
Tiridates himself was in the prime of life, a notable
figure by reason of his youth, beauty, family, and intelligence:
and his whole train of servants together
with the entourage of a royal court accompanied the
advance. Three thousand Parthian horsemen and besides
them numerous Romans followed his train. They
were received by gaily decorated cities and by peoples
who shouted their compliments aloud. Provisions were
furnished them free of cost, an expenditure of twenty
myriads for their daily support being thus charged to
the public treasury. This went on without change for
the nine months occupied in their journey. The prince
covered the whole distance to the confines of Italy on
horseback and beside him rode his wife, wearing a
golden helmet in place of a veil, so as not to defy the
traditions of her country by letting her face be seen.
In Italy he was conveyed in a two-horse carriage sent
by Nero and met the emperor at Naples, which he
reached by way of the Picentes. He refused, however,
to obey the order to put down his dagger when
he approached the Roman monarch, and he nailed it
firmly to the scabbard. Yet he knelt upon the ground,
and with arms crossed called him master and did obeisance.
3
Nero manifested his approbation of this act
and entertained him in many ways, one of which was
a gladiatorial show at Puteoli. The person who directed
the contests was Patrobius, one of his freedmen.
He managed to make it a brilliant and costly affair, as
is shown by the fact that on one of the days not a person
but Ethiopians, men, women, and children, appeared
in the theatre. By way of showing Patrobius
some proper honor Tiridates shot at beasts from his
elevated seat. And, if we may trust the report, he
transfixed and killed two bulls together with one
arrow.
4
After this affair Nero took him up to Rome and set
the diadem upon his head. The entire city had been
decorated with lights and garlands, and great crowds
of people were to be seen everywhere, the Forum,
however, being especially full. The center was occupied
by the populace, arranged according to rank, clad in
white and carrying laurel branches: everywhere else
were the soldiers, arrayed in shining armor, their
weapons and standards reflecting back the sunbeams.
The very roof tiles of the buildings in this vicinity
were completely hidden from view by the spectators
who had ascended to these points of vantage. Everything
was in readiness by the time night drew to a
close and at daybreak Nero, wearing the triumphal
garb and accompanied by the senate and the Pretorians,
entered the Forum. He ascended the rostra and
seated himself upon the chair of state. Next Tiridates
and his suite passed through rows of heavy-armed
men drawn up on each side, took their stand
close to the rostra, and did obeisance to the emperor
as they had done before.
5
At this a great roar went
up which so alarmed Tiridates that for some moments
he stood speechless, in terror of his life. Then, silence
having been proclaimed, he recovered courage and
quelling his pride made himself subservient to the
occasion and to his need, caring little how humbly he
spoke, in view of the prize he hoped to obtain. These
were his words: "Master, I am the descendant of
Arsaces, brother of the princes Vologaesus and Pacorus,
and thy slave. And I have come to thee, my
deity, to worship thee as I do Mithra. The destiny
thou spinnest for me shall be mine: for thou art my
Fortune and my Fate."
Nero replied to him as follows: "Well hast thou
done to come hither in person, that present in my
presence thou mayest enjoy my benefits. For what
neither thy father left thee nor thy brothers gave and
preserved for thee, this do I grant thee. King of
Armenia I now declare thee, that both thou and they
may understand that I have power to take away kingdoms
and to bestow them." At the end of these words
he bade him come up the inclined plane built for this
very purpose in front of the rostra, and Tiridates
having been made to sit beneath his feet he placed the
diadem upon his head. At this there was no end of
shouts of all sorts.
6
According to decree there also
took place a celebration in the theatre. Not merely
the stage but the whole interior of the theatre round
about had been gilded, and all properties brought in
had been adorned with gold, so that people came to
refer to the very day as "golden." The curtains
stretched across the sky-opening to keep off the sun
were of purple and in the centre of them was an embroidered
figure of Nero driving a chariot, with golden
stars gleaming all about him. So much for the setting:
and of course they had a costly banquet.
Afterward Nero sang publicly with zither accompaniment
and drove a chariot, clad in the costume of the
Greens and wearing a charioteer's helmet. This
made Tiridates disgusted with him; but for Corbulo
the visitor had only praise and deemed the one thing
against him to be that he would put up with such a
master. Indeed, he made no concealment of his views
to Nero's face, but one day said to him: "Master, you
have in Corbulo a good slave." The person addressed,
however, did not comprehend his speech.--In all other
matters he flattered the emperor and ingratiated himself
most skillfully, with the result that he received
all kinds of gifts, said to have possessed in the aggregate
a value of five thousand myriads, and obtained
permission to rebuild Artaxata. Moreover, he took
with him from Rome many artisans, some of whom he
got from Nero, and some whom he persuaded by offers
of high wages. Corbulo, however, would not let
them all cross into Armenia, but only the ones whom
Nero had given him. That caused Tiridates to admire
him all the more and to despise his chief.
7
The return was made not by the same route as he
followed in coming,--through Illyricum and north of
the Ionian Gulf,--but instead he sailed from Brundusium
to Dyrrachium. He viewed also the cities of
Asia, which helped to increase his amazement at the
strength and beauty of the Roman empire.
Tiridates one day viewed an exhibition of pancratium. One of the
contestants fell to the ground and was being pummeled by his opponent.
When the prince saw it, he exclaimed: "That's an unfair contest.
It isn't fair that a man who has fallen should be beaten."
On rebuilding Artaxata Tiridates named it Neronia.
But Vologaesus though often summoned refused to
come to Nero, and finally, when the latter's invitations
became burdensome to him, sent back a despatch to
this effect: "It is far easier for you than for me to
traverse so great a body of water. Therefore, if you
will come to Asia, we can then arrange
[where we
shall be able]
to meet each other."
[Such was the
message which the Parthian wrote at last.]
8
Nero though angry at him did not sail against him,
nor yet against the Ethiopians or the Caspian Pylae,
as he had intended.
[He saw that the subjugation of
these regions demanded time and labor and hoped
that they would submit to him of their own accord:]
and he sent spies to both places. But he did cross
over into Greece, not at all as Flamininus or Mummius
or as Agrippa and Augustus his ancestors had
done, but for the purpose of chariot racing, of playing
and singing, of making proclamations, and of acting in
tragedies. Rome was not enough for him, nor Pompey's
theatre, nor the great hippodrome, but he desired
also a foreign tour, in order to become, as he
said, victor in all the four contests.
[
]
And a multitude
not only of Augustans but of other persons were taken
with him, large enough, if it had been a hostile host,
to have subdued both Parthians and all other nations.
But they were the kind you would have expected Nero's
soldiers to be, and the arms they carried were zithers
and plectra, masks and buskins. The victories Nero
won were such as befitted that sort of army, and
he overcame Terpnus and Diodorus and Pammenes,
instead of Philip or Perseus or Antiochus. It is
probable that his purpose in forcing the Pammenes
referred to, who had been in his prime in the reign of
Gaius, to compete in spite of his age, was that he
might overcome him and vent his dislike in abuse of
his statues.
A.D. 67 (?)
9
Had he done only this, he would have been the subject
of ridicule. So how could one endure to hear
about, let alone seeing, an emperor, an Augustus, listed
on the program among the contestants, training his
voice, practicing certain songs, wearing long hair on
his head but with his chin shaven, throwing his toga
over his shoulder in the races, walking about with one
or two attendants, eyeing his adversaries suspiciously
and ever and anon throwing out a word to them in the
midst of a boxing match; how he dreaded the directors
of the games and the wielders of the whip and spent
money on all of them secretly to avoid being shown up
in his true colors and whipped; and how all that he
did to make himself victor in the citharoedic contest
only contributed to his defeat in the Contest of the
Caesars? How find words to denounce the wickedness
of this proscription in which it was not
[
]
Sulla that
bulletined the names of others, but Nero bulletined his
own name? What victory less deserves the name than
that by which one receives the olive, the laurel, the
parsley, or the fir-tree garland, and loses the political
crown? And why should one bewail these acts of his
alone, seeing that he also by treading on the high-soled
buskins lowered himself from his eminence of power,
and by hiding behind the mask lost the dignity of his
sovereignty to beg in the guise of a runaway slave,
to be led like a blind man, to conceive, to bear children,
to go mad
[to drive a chariot]
, as he acted out
time after time the story of Oedipus, and of Thyestes,
of Heracles and Alemeon, and of Orestes? The masks
he wore were sometimes made to resemble the characters
and sometimes had his own likeness. The women's
masks were all fashioned to conform to the
features of Sabina
[in order that though dead she
might still move in stately procession. All the situations
that common actors simulate in their acting he,
too, would undertake to present, by speech, by action,
by being acted upon,--save only that]
golden chains
were used to bind him: apparently it was not thought
proper for a Roman emperor to be bound in iron
shackles.
10
All this behavior, nevertheless, the soldiers and all
the rest saw, endured, and approved. They entitled
him Pythian Victor, Olympian Victor, National Victor,
Absolute Victor, besides all the usual expressions, and
of course added to these names the honorific designations
belonging to his imperial office, so that every
one of them had "Caesar" and "Augustus" as a tag.
He conceived a dislike for a certain man because while he was
speaking the man frowned and was not overlavish of his praises; and
so he drove him away and would not let him come into his presence.
He persisted in his refusal to grant him audience, and when the person
asked: "Where shall I go, then?" Phoebus, Nero's freedman, replied:
"To the deuce!"
No one of the people ventured either to pity or to
hate the wretched creature. One of the soldiers, to be
sure, on seeing him bound, grew indignant, ran up,
and set him free. Another in reply to a question:
"What is the emperor doing?" had to answer: "He
is in labor pains," for Nero was then acting the part of
Canace. Not one of them conducted himself in a way
at all worthy of a Roman. Instead, because so much
money fell to their share, they offered prayers that he
might give many such performances and they in this
way get still more.
11
And if things had merely gone on like this, the affair,
while being a source of shame and of ridicule alike,
would still have been deemed free from danger. But
as a fact he devastated the whole of Greece precisely
as if he had been despatched to some war and without
regard to the fact that he had declared the country
free, also slaying great numbers
[of men, women and
children. At first he commanded the children and
freedmen of those who were executed to leave him
half their property at their death, and allowed the original
victims to make wills in order to make it seem less
likely that he had killed them for their money; and he
invariably took all that was bequeathed to him, if not
more. In case any one left to him or to Tigillinus less
than they were expecting, the wills were of no avail.--Later
he deprived persons of their
entire
property and
banished all their children at once by one decree. Not
even this satisfied him, but he destroyed not a few of
the exiles.]
For no one could begin to enumerate all
the confiscated possessions of men allowed to live and
all the votive offerings that he stole from the very
temples in Rome.
[The despatch-bearers hurried
hither and thither with no piece of news other than
"kill this man!" or that that man was dead. No
private messages, only state documents, were delivered;
for Nero had taken many of the foremost men to
Greece under pretence of needing some assistance
from them merely in order that they might perish
there.
12
The whole population of Rome and Italy he
surrendered like captives to a certain Helius, a Caesarian.
The latter had been given absolutely complete
authority, so that he might confiscate, banish, and put
to death (even before notifying Nero) ordinary persons,
knights, and senators alike.]
Thus the Roman domain was at that time a slave to
two emperors at once,--Nero and Helius; and I do
not feel able to say which was the worse. In most respects
they behaved entirely alike, and the one point
of difference was that the descendant of Augustus was
emulating zither-players, whereas the freedman of
Claudius was emulating Caesars. I consider the acts
of Tigillinus as a part of Nero's career because he was
constantly with him: but Polyclitus and Calvia Crispinilla
by themselves plundered, sacked, despoiled all
the places they could get at. The former was associated
with Helius at Rome, and the latter with Sabina,
born Sporus. Calvia had been entrusted with the care
of the boy and with the oversight of the wardrobe,
though a woman and of high rank; and she saw to it
that all were stripped of their possessions.
13
Now Nero called Sporus Sabina not merely on account
of the fact that by reason of resemblance to her
he had been made a eunuch, but because the boy like
the mistress had been solemnly contracted to him in
Greece, with Tigillinus to give the bride away, as the
law ordained. All the Greeks held a festal celebration
of their marriage, uttering all the customary good
wishes (as they could not well help) even to the extent
of praying that legitimate children might be born to
them. After that Nero took to himself two bedfellows,
Pythagoras to treat as a man and Sporus as a woman.
The latter, in addition to other forms of address, was
termed lady, queen, and mistress.
Yet why should one wonder at this, seeing that this
monarch would fasten naked boys and girls to poles,
and then putting on the hide of a wild beast would approach
them and satisfy his brutal lust under the appearance
of devouring parts of their bodies? Such
were the indecencies of Nero.
When he received the senators he wore a short
flowered tunic with muslin collar, for he had already
begun to transgress precedent in wearing ungirt tunics
in public. It is stated also that knights belonging to
the army used in his reign for the first time saddle-cloths
during their public review.
14
At the Olympic games he fell from the chariot he
was driving and came very near being crushed to
death: yet he was crowned victor. In acknowledgment
of this favor he gave to the Hellanodikai the twenty-five
myriads which Galba later demanded back from
them.
[And to the Pythia he gave ten myriads for
giving some responses to suit him: this money Galba
recovered.]
Again, whether from vexation at Apollo
for making some unpleasant predictions to him or because
he was merely crazy, he took away from the god
the territory of Cirrha and gave it to the soldiers. In
fact, he abolished the oracle, slaying men and throwing
them into the rock fissure from which the divine
afflatus
arose. He contended in every single city that
boasted any contest, and in all cases requiring the services
of a herald he employed for that purpose Cluvius
Rufus, an ex-consul. Athens and the Lacedaemonians
were exceptions to this rule, being the only places that
he did not visit at all. He avoided the second because
of the laws of Lycurgus, which stood in the way of his
designs, and the former because of the story about the
Furies.--The proclamation ran: "Nero Caesar wins
this contest and crowns the Roman people and his
world." Possessing according to his own statement
a world, he went on singing and playing, making proclamations,
and acting tragedies.
15
His hatred for the senate was so fierce that he took
particular pleasure in Vatinius, who kept always saying
to him: "I hate you, Caesar, for being of senatorial
rank."--I have used the exact expression that
he uttered.--Both the senators and all others were
constantly subjected to the closest scrutiny in their
entrances, their exits, their attitudes, their gestures,
their outcries. The men that stuck constantly by Nero,
listened attentively, made their applause distinct, were
commended and honored: the rest were both degraded
and punished, so that some, when they could endure it
no longer (for they were frequently expected to be on
the
qui vive
from early morning until evening), would
feign to swoon and would be carried out of the theatres
as if dead.
16
As an incidental labor connected with his sojourn in
Greece he conceived a desire to dig a canal across the
isthmus of the Peloponnesus, and he did begin the
task. Men shrank from it, however, because, when the
first workers touched the earth, blood spouted from it,
groans and bellowings were heard, and many phantoms
appeared. Nero himself thereupon grasped a
mattock and by throwing up some of the soil fairly
compelled the rest to imitate him. For this work he
sent for a large number of men from other nations as
well.