Velia up to the low cliffs of the Esquiline, and in another it laid
waste the Aventine, the Forum Boarium and Velabrum till it
reached the Tiber and the solid barrier of the Servian wall.
After burning fiercely for six days it suddenly started afresh in
the northern quarter of the city and desolated the regions of the
Circus Flaminius and the Via Lata, and by the time that it was
finally quenched only four of the fourteen regiones remained untouched;
three had been utterly destroyed and seven reduced
to ruins. The conflagration is said by all authorities later than
Tacitus to have been deliberately caused by Nero himself.[1]
But Tacitus, though he mentions the rumours, declares that its
origin was uncertain, and in spite of such works as Profumo’s
Le fonti ed i tempi dello incendio Neroniano (1905), there is no
proof of his guilt.[2] By Nero’s orders, the open spaces in the
Campus Martius were utilized to give shelter to the homeless
crowds, provisions were brought from Ostia and the price of
corn lowered. In rebuilding the city every precaution was taken
against the recurrence of such a calamity. Broad regular streets
replaced the narrow winding alleys. The new houses were
limited in height, built partly of hard stone and protected by
open spaces and colonnades. The water-supply, lastly, was
carefully regulated.
There is, however, no doubt that this great disaster told against Nero in the popular mind. It was regarded as a direct manifestation of the wrath of the gods, even by those who did not suspect the emperor. This impression no religious ceremonies, nor even the execution of a number of Christians, as convenient scapegoats, could altogether dispel. But Nero proceeded with the congenial work of repairing the damage. In addition to the rebuilding of the streets, he erected a splendid palace, the “golden house,” for himself. The wonders of his Domus aurea were remembered and talked of long after its partial demolition by Vespasian. It stretched from the Palatine across the low ground, afterwards occupied by the Colosseum, to the Esquiline. Gold, precious stones and Greek masterpieces adorned its walls. Most marvellous of all were the grounds in which it stood, with their meadows and lakes, their shady woods and their distant views. To defray the enormous cost, Italy and the provinces, says Tacitus, were ransacked, and in Asia and Achaia especially the rapacity of the imperial commissioners recalled the days of Mummius and of Sulla.[3] It was the first occasion on which the provincials had suffered from Nero’s rule, and the discontent it caused helped to weaken his hold over them at the very moment when the growing dissatisfaction in Rome was gathering to a head. Early in 65 Nero was panic-stricken by the discovery of a formidable conspiracy involving such men as Faenius Rufus, Tigellinus’s colleague in the prefecture of the praetorian guards, Plautius Lateranus, one of the consuls elect, the poet Lucan, and, lastly, not a few of the tribunes and centurions of the praetorian guard itself. Their chosen leader, whom they destined to succeed Nero, was C. Calpurnius Piso (q.v.), a handsome, wealthy and popular noble, and a boon companion of Nero himself. The plan to murder Nero was frustrated by a freedman Milichus, who, in the hope of a large reward, disclosed the whole plot. Piso, Faenius Rufus, Lucan and many of their less prominent accomplices, and even Seneca himself (though there seems to have been no evidence of his complicity) were executed.
But, though largesses and thanksgivings celebrated the suppression of the conspiracy, and the round of games and shows was renewed with even increased splendour, the effects of the shock were visible in the long list of victims who during the next few months were sacrificed to his restless fears and resentment. Conspicuous among them was Paetus Thrasea, whose unbending virtue had long made him distasteful to Nero, and who was now suspected, possibly with reason, of sympathy with the conspirators. The death of Poppaea in the autumn of 65 was probably not lamented by any one but her husband, but the general gloom was deepened by a pestilence, caused, it seems, by the overcrowding at the time of the fire.
Early, however, in the summer of 66, the Parthian prince Tiridates visited Italy. This event was a conspicuous tribute to the ability both as soldier and statesman of Cn. Domitius Corbulo. As long ago as 54 the news reached Rome that the Parthian king Vologaeses had expelled the king recognized by Rome from Armenia and installed in his place his own brother Tiridates. Orders were at once issued to concentrate all available forces on the Cappadocian frontier under Corbulo, the first soldier of his day. After some time spent in making his army efficient, Corbulo invaded Armenia and swept victoriously through the country. Armenia was rescued and Corbulo proposed that Tiridates should become king of Armenia on condition of his receiving his crown as a gift from Nero. But the government in Rome had a plan of its own, and a certain Tigranes, long resident in Rome, but a stranger to the Armenians, was sent out, and Corbulo was obliged reluctantly to seat him on the Armenian throne. Tigranes’s position, always insecure, soon became untenable, and it became necessary for Rome to intervene once more. A Roman force under Caesennius Paetus was sent to restore Tigranes and re-establish Roman predominance. Paetus, however, was no Corbulo. He was defeated, and Corbulo, now legate of Syria, was obliged to come to his rescue. The result was the final triumph of Corbulo’s policy. Tiridates agreed to accept the crown of Armenia from the hands of Nero. In royal state he travelled to Italy, and the ceremony of investiture was performed at Rome with the utmost splendour. Delighted with this tribute to his greatness, Nero for a moment dreamt of rivalling Alexander. Expeditions were talked of to the Caspian Sea and Ethiopia, but Nero was no soldier and quickly turned to a more congenial field. He had already, in 64, appeared on the stage before the half-Greek public of Naples. But his mind was now set on challenging the applause of the Greeks themselves in the ancient home of art. Towards the end of 66 he arrived in Greece with a retinue of soldiers, courtiers, musicians and dancers. The spectacle presented by Nero’s visit was unique.[4] He went professedly as an enthusiastic worshipper of Greek art and a humble candidate for the suffrages of Greek judges. At each of the great festivals, which to please him were for once crowded into a single year, he entered in regular form for the various competitions, scrupulously conformed to the tradition and rules of the arena, and awaited in nervous suspense the verdict of the umpires. The dexterous Greeks humoured him to the top of his bent. Everywhere the imperial competitor was victorious, and crowded audiences importuned him to display his talents. The emperor protested that only the Greeks were fit to hear him, and rewarded them when he left by the bestowal of immunity from the land tax on the whole province, and by the gift of the Roman franchise; he also planned and actually commenced the cutting of a canal through the Isthmus of Corinth. If we may believe report, Nero found time in the intervals of his artistic triumphs for more vicious excesses. The stories of his mock marriage with Sporus, his execution of wealthy Greeks for the sake of their money, and his wholesale plundering of the temples were evidently part of the accepted tradition about him in the time of Suetonius, and are at least credible. Far more certainly true is his ungrateful treatment of Domitius Corbulo, who, when he landed at Cenchreae, fresh from his successes in Armenia, was met by an order for his instant execution and at once put an end to his life.
Meanwhile the general dissatisfaction was coming to a head, as we may infer from the urgency with which the imperial freedman Helius insisted upon Nero’s return to Italy. Far more serious was the disaffection which now showed itself in the rich and warlike provinces of the west. In northern Gaul, early in 68, the standard of revolt was raised by Julius Vindex, governor of Gallia Lugdunensis, and himself the head of an ancient and noble Celtic family. South of the Pyrenees, P. Sulpicius Galba, governor of Hispania Tarraconensis, and Poppaea’s former
- ↑ Tac. Ann. xv. 38; Suet. Nero, 38; Dio Cass. lxii. 16; Pliny, N.H. xvii. 5.
- ↑ This work is a reply to C. Pascal’s L’Incendio di Roma e i primi Cristiani (Milan, 1900), which throws the guilt on the Christians.
- ↑ Tac. Ann. xv. 42; Suet. Nero, 31; cf. Friedländer, Sittengeschichte, iii. 67-69.
- ↑ Suet. Nero, 19-24; Dio Cass. Epit. lxiii. 8-16.
