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tichet lato the urn with the others. Guards coloneis carried his lyre as
audience's kiud attention, he made Cluvius Rufus, the eX-Consul, announce the titie of the song. It was the whole of the opera Niobe: and he sang on intit two hours besere dush. Since this allowed theremaining competitors no chance to perform, he postponed the award
opportunity to sing. But since a year was a long time to wait, hecontinued to make frequent appearances. He toyed with the idea ofplaying opposite professionat actors in public shows staged by magi trates; because one of the Praetors had offered him Io ooo gold piecesis he would consent. And he did actualty appear in operatic tragedies,taking the paris of heroes and gods, somelimes even of heroines and goddesses, wearing masks ei ther modessed on his own face, or on the face of whatever woman happened to be his current mistress. Among his performances were Canace in Childbirth, Orestes the Matricide, Oedipus Blindei and Distraught Hercules. There is a story that a Foungrecruit on guard in the wings recogniZed him in the rags and fetters demanded by the part of Hercules, and dashed boldly to his assistance. aa. Horses had been Nero's main interest since childhood: wha ever his tutors might do, they could never stop his chalter about thechariot races at the Circus. When scolded by one of them for teli inglais sello pupiis about a Leeh-Green charioteer who had the mis-
fortune to get dragged by his leam, Nero intruthialty explained that he had been discussing Hector's fate in the Iliad. At the begi ing of his rei gn he used every day to play with modet ivory chariois on a
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board, and came up from the country to attend ais the races, evenminor ones, at stist in secret and then without the least embarrass-ment; so that there mas never any doubi at Rome when he would beta residence. He frankly admitted that he wished the number of priges
increased, whicli meant that the contests now lasted untii a late hourand Hie factior managers no longer thought it worth while to bring out their teams except for a fuit day's racing. Very soon Nero set his heari on driving a chariot himself, in aregular race, and after a preliminary triat in the Palace gardens besere an audience of flaves and loungers, made a public appearance at the Circus; on this occasion one of his freedmen replaced the magistrate who dropped the naphin as the starting signat. HoweVer, these amateur incursions into the aris at Rome did notsatis' him, and he headed for Greece, as Ι mention above. His main reason was that the cities Whicli regularly sponsored musical contests
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mistook the silence of some sor severity, and the embarrassment Ofothers for diffavour, admitting that he suspected every one of them. 24. He strictly observed the rules, never daring to clear his throatand even using his arna, rather than a handherchies, to wipe the sweat
froni his bro . Once, while acting in a tragedy, he dropped his sceptre and quickly recovered ii, but was terrified of disqualification.
he ordered ali their statues and busis to be taken do , dragged awaywith hooks, and hurled into public privies. On severat occasions helook part in the chariot racing, and at Olympia drove a ten-horseteam, a novel ty sor which he had censured Ling Mithridates in oneos his own poenas. He lost his balance, seli Dom the chariot and had to be helped in again: biit, though he fassed to stay the courseand retired bes ore the finisti, the judges neverthel ess awarded him thepriete. On the eve of his departure, he presented the whole province with iis freddom and conferred Roman citigenship as weli as large casti rewards ora the judges. It was during the Isthmian Games at Corinth that he stood in the middie of the stadium and personalty announced these benefiis. 23. Returning to Italy, Nero disembarhed at Naples, where he had made his debui as a singer, and ordered part of the city wali to beraged - whicli is the Greeli custom whenever the victor in any of the
Sacred Games comes home. He repeated the fame performance at
Antium, at Alba Longa, and finalty at Rome. For his processional
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regular claque, who fhouted that they were Augustus's men celebra
ing Augustus's triumph. The procession passed through the Circus he had the entrance arch pulled do to allow more room), thenby way of the Velabrum and the Forum to the Palatine Hill and the Temple of Apollo. Victims were sacrificed in his honour ali along
the route, which was sprin Hed with perfume, and the commonsshowered him with song-blads, ribbons, and sweetmeais as compluments on his voice. He hung the wreatlis above the couches in his fleeping quarters, and set up severat statues of himself playing the lyre. He alio had a coin struch with the fame device. Aster this, it neveroccurred to him that he ought to refrain from singing, or even sing
trainer standing by, tessing him when to spare his vocat chords, and when to protect his mouth with a liandkerchies. Whether he offered
26. It might have been possibie to excuse his insolent, lustful, eXtra- vagant, greedy or cruel early practices which were, I grant more
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on the heads of the crowd. On one occasion he fractured a praetor's
bragen. His feasis now lasted frona noon tili midnighi, with an occasiones breah for diving into a warm bath or, is it were summer, into Sno cooled water. Sometimes he would drain the artificiat lake in the Campus Martius, or Hae other in the Circus, and hold publicdiner pari es there, including prostitutes and dancing-giris stomati over the City among his guests. Whenever he floated do the Tiber to Ostia, or cruised past Baiae, he had a row of temporarybrotheis erected along the shore, where a number of noblewomen, Apretending to be madams, stood watting to solicit his custom. Healso forced his friends to provide bim with dinners: one of them spent
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THE T FLVE CAESAR Ssome say that he did, in faci, commit incest with Agrippina eve time they rode in the fame litter - the state of his clothes when heemerged proved it. 29. Nero practised every land of obscenity, and at last invented a novel game: he was released from a den dressed in the stans of Midanimais, and attacked the private paris of men and women who stood bound to stahes. Asiter Working up sufficient excitement by this means, he was despalched - shall we say3 - by his freedman Doryphorus. Doryphorus now married h-- just as he himself had mar-ried Sporus - and on the wedding night he imitated the screams andinoans of a giri being deflowered. According to my informanis hewas convinced that nobody could remari sexuatly chaste, but thalmost peopte concealed their secret vices: hence, is anyone confessed toobscene practices, Nero forgave him ali his other crimes. 3o. He belleved that fortunes were made to be squa dered, and whoever could account for every penny be spent seemed to him astingy miser. 'True gentiemen he said, 'always throw Hieir moneyabout.' He professed deep admiration for his uncte Caligula, merelybecause he had run through Tiberius's vast fortune: and never Hrought twice, himself, about giving away or wasting money. Belleve it ornot, he spent 8,OOO gold pieces a day on Gng Tiridates, and made hima parting gist os more than a milhon. He presented Menecrates thelyre-player and Spiculus the gladiator with houses and estates Worthyos men who had celebrated triumplis, and showed equat generosityto his monke faced banker Paneros, whom he later buried in almost
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Nero's confidelice in the national refources was not the only cause
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ing of his adoptive fallier, he taew ali about it, as he later admitted by appreciat ely quoting a Greia proverb whicli calis mushrooms sthecause of this death and deification) 'the od of the gods'. And hedid his ulmost to insuli Claudius's memory, accusing him either of stupidity or os cruei . It was a favourite johe of his that Claudius could no longer 'play the seol on earlli', tengthening the initis syllabie of morari 'to linger on', so that it meant 'to play the seol'. Nero annulied many of Claudius's decrees and edicis, on the ground that he had been a doddering old idiot: and enclosed the place Where he had been cremaled with nothing better than a low rubble wall. He tried to polson Britannicus, being not mereb jealous of his Volce, which was far more musices than his own, but afraid that thecommon peopte might be less attached to Claudius's adopted son thanto his real one. The drug came from an e eri polsoner named Locusta, and when iis action was not so rapid as he expected - the
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had saged. Then he protracted the feast untii a late bour, and when atlast she said: 'Ι reatly must get bach to Baiae,' offered her his collapsibi e boat instead of the damaged galley. Nero was in a very happymood as he ted Agrippina down to the quay, and even Hssed her
undered, his mollier had swum to fas ely, and he need have no fearson her account. For want of a better plan, Nero ordered one of hismen to drop a dagger surreptiliously beside Agermus, whom hearrested at once ora a charge of attempted murder. Aster this he
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sent Agermus to assassinate him but committed sulcide on hea ingiliat the plot had miscarried. Other more gruesome delatis are supplied by reliable authorities: it appears that Nero rushed off to examine
the congratulations which poured in from the Army, the Senate and the people, he was never thereaster able to free his conscience frona ithe guill of this crime. Ηe osten admitted that the Furies mere pur- suing him with whips and burning torches: and set Persian mages at work to conjure up the ghost and mahe her stop haunting him. During his tour of Greece he came to Athens, where the Eleusinian Mysteries mere betag held, but dared not participate when a heraldordered ali criminals present to withdraw bes ore the ceremoni es
dead, and woided ali legat complications by tearing up the wili.
33. Aster geliing rid of Octavia, he took two more wives first Poppaea Sabina, a quaestor's daughter, at that time married to aknight, and Statilia Messalina, grea grea grand-daughter of AuguStus's generat Statilius who had twice been Consul and won a triumph. To marry Statilia he was obliged to murder her husband, a Consul.
his treaiment of her, he retorted: 'Being an emperor's wife ought surely to be enough to mine her happy3' He tried to strangle her onseVerat occasions, but finalty pronounced that she was barren, and divorced her. Tlus aci made him so unpopular and caused so great ascandes that he banished Octavia and later had her executed on acharge of adulte . Her innocence was proved by the refusal of the witnesses called by him to testi' against her even under torture; solle bribed lais old tutor Anicetusλ to confess falsely) that he had triched
I. Anicetus, the Deedman who had designed the collapsible boat, was no commanding the fleet at Misenum.