NERO'S END.
A.D. 66.
Galba.--His history.--His province.--Revolt of Vindex.--Embassadors
sent to Galba.--Debates in the council.--Galba joins Vindex.--News of
the rebellion meets Nero at Naples.--The proclamation of Vindex.--Nero's
ire.--Nero plans new performances.--The new instruments.--Galba joins
the insurrection.--Nero appalled.--His plans for vengeance.--He is
restrained.--He attempts to raise an army.--Slaves.--Nero's hopeless
condition.--His plans for escape.--The arrival of the cargoes of sand
from Egypt.--His distraction and terror.--Nero proposes to fly to
Egypt.--He sinks into hopeless despair.--The night.--He is deserted by
his guards.--He calls for a gladiator.--Phaon proposes a place of
retreat.--Nero's flight from the city.--Incidents.--He refuses to be
buried before he is dead.--He gets through the wall.--He is
concealed.--Phaon counsels Nero to kill himself.--Nero is condemned by
the Senate.--The daggers.--Armed men come to arrest Nero at Phaon's
home.--The soldiers attempt to save Nero.--He dies.--Galba's march to
Rome.--Seventy-three.
The successor of Nero in the line of Roman emperors, was Galba.
Galba, though a son of one of the most illustrious Roman families,
was born in Spain, and he was about forty years older than Nero,
being now over seventy, while Nero was yet but thirty years of age.
During the whole course of his life, Galba had been a very
distinguished commander, and had risen from one post of influence
and honor to another, until he became one of the most considerable
personages in the state. Nero at length appointed him to the command
of a very large and important province in Spain. At this station
Galba remained some years, and he was here, attending regularly to
the duties of his government, at the time when Nero returned from
his expedition into Greece. Galba himself, and all the other
governors around him, felt the same indignation at Nero's cruelties
and crimes, and the same contempt for his low and degrading vanity
and folly, that prevailed so generally at Rome. In fact, feelings of
exasperation and hatred against the tyrant, began to extend
universally throughout the empire. The people in every quarter, in
fact, seemed ripe for insurrection.
While things were in this state, a messenger arrived one day at
Galba's court, from a certain chieftain of the Gauls, named Julius
Vindex. This messenger came to announce to Galba that Vindex had
revolted against the Roman government in Gaul. He declared, however,
that it was only _Nero's_ power that Vindex intended to resist, and
promised that if Galba would himself assume the supreme command,
Vindex would acknowledge allegiance to him, and would do all in his
power to promote his cause. He said, moreover, that such was the
detestation in which Nero was universally held, that there was no
doubt that the whole empire would sustain Galba in effecting such a
revolution, if he would once raise his standard. At the same time
that this messenger came from Vindex, another came from the Roman
governor of the province of Gaul, where Vindex resided, to inform
Galba of the revolt, and asking for a detachment of troops to
assist him in putting it down. Galba called a council, and laid the
subject before them.
After some debate one of the councillors rose and said that there
was no more danger in openly joining Vindex in his rebellion, than
there was in debating, in such a council, what they should do. "It
is just as treasonable," said he, "to doubt and hesitate whether to
send troops to put down the revolt, as it would be openly to rebel;
and Nero will so regard it. My counsel therefore is that, unless you
choose to be considered as aiding the revolution, you should
instantly send off troops to put it down."
Galba was much impressed with the wisdom of this advice. He felt
strongly inclined to favor the cause of Vindex and the rebels, and
on further reflection he secretly determined to join them, and to
take measures for raising a general insurrection. He did not,
however, make known his determination to any one, but dismissed the
council without declaring what he had concluded to do. Soon
afterward he sent out to all parts of the province, and ordered a
general mustering of the forces under his command, and of all that
could be raised throughout the province, requiring them to meet at a
certain appointed rendezvous. The army, though not openly informed
of it, suspected what the object of this movement was to be, and
came forward to the work, with the utmost alacrity and joy.
In the mean time the tidings of Vindex's revolt traveled rapidly to
Rome, and thence to Naples, where Nero was at this time performing
on the public stage. Nero seemed to be very much delighted to hear
the news. He supposed that the rebellion would of course be very
easily suppressed, and that when it was suppressed he could make it
an excuse for subjecting the province in which it had occurred to
fines and confiscations that would greatly enrich his treasury. He
was extremely pleased therefore at the tidings of the revolt, and
abandoned himself to the theatrical pursuits and pleasures in which
he was engaged, more absolutely and recklessly than ever.
In the mean time fresh messengers arrived at short intervals from
Rome, to inform Nero of the progress of the rebellion. The news was
that Vindex was gaining strength every day, and was issuing
proclamations to the people calling upon them everywhere to rise and
throw off the ignoble yoke of oppression which they were enduring.
In these proclamations the emperor was called Brazenbeard, and
designated as a "wretched fiddler." These taunts excited Nero's ire.
He wrote to the Senate at Rome calling upon them to adopt some
measures for putting down this insolent rebel, and having dispatched
this letter, he seemed to dismiss the subject from his mind, and
turned his attention anew to his dancing and acting.
His mind was, however, soon disturbed again, for fresh messengers
continued to come, each bringing reports more alarming than those of
his predecessor. The rebellion was evidently gaining ground. Nero
was convinced that something must be done. He accordingly broke
away, though with great reluctance, from his amusements at Naples,
and proceeded to Rome. On his arrival at the capital he called a
council of some of his principal ministers of state, and after a
short consultation on the subject of the rebellion--in which,
however, nothing was determined upon--he proceeded to produce some
newly-invented musical instruments which he had brought with him
from Naples, and in which he was greatly interested. After showing
and explaining these instruments to the councilors, he promised them
that he would give them the pleasure before long of hearing a
performance upon them, on the stage,--"provided," he added jocosely,
"that this Vindex will give me leave."
The councilors at length withdrew, and Nero remained in his
apartment. On retiring to rest, however, he found that he could not
sleep. His thoughts were running on the musical instruments which he
had been showing, and on the pleasure which he anticipated in a
public performance with them. At length, at a very late hour, he
sent for his councilors to come again to his apartment. They came,
full of excitement and wonder, supposing that they were thus
suddenly summoned on account of some new and very momentous tidings
which had been received from Gaul. They found, however, that Nero
only wished to give some further account of the instruments which he
had shown them, and to ask their opinions of certain improvements
which had occurred to him since they went away.
Nero did not, however, remain very long in this state of insane and
stupid unconcern; for on the evening of the following day a courier
arrived from the north with the appalling intelligence that Vindex
had made himself master of Gaul, and that Galba, the most powerful
general in the Roman army, had joined the insurrection with all the
legions under his command, and that he was now advancing toward Rome
at the head of his armies with the avowed purpose of deposing Nero,
and making himself emperor in his stead.
Nero was at first absolutely stupefied at hearing these tidings. He
remained for some time silent and motionless, as if made completely
senseless with consternation. When at length he came to himself
again, he fell into a perfect frenzy of rage and terror. He
overturned the supper table, tore his garments, threw down two
valuable cups to the floor and broke them to pieces, and then began
to dash his head against the wall, as if he were perfectly insane.
He said he was undone. No man had ever been so wretched. His
dominions were to be seized from him while he yet lived, and held
by an usurper; he was utterly ruined and undone.
After a little time had elapsed the agitation and excitement of his
mind took another direction, that of furious anger against the
generals and officers of his army,--not only those who had actually
rebelled, but all others, for he was jealous and suspicious of all,
and said that he believed that the whole army was engaged in the
conspiracy. He was going to send out orders to the various provinces
and encampments, for the assassination of great numbers of the
officers,--such as he imagined might be inclined to turn against
him,--and he would probably have done so if he had not been
restrained by the influence of his ministers of state. He also
proposed to seize and kill all the Gauls then in Rome, as a mode of
taking vengeance on their countrymen for joining Vindex in his
rebellion, and could scarcely be prevented from doing this by the
urgent remonstrances of all his friends.
After a time Nero so far recovered his self-possession that he began
to make preparations for organizing an army, with the design of
marching against the rebels. He accordingly ordered troops to be
enlisted and arms and ammunition to be provided,--assessing at the
same time heavy taxes upon the people of Rome to defray the expense.
All these arrangements, however, only increased the general
discontent. The people saw that the preparations which the emperor
was making were wholly inadequate to the crisis, and that no
efficient military operations could ever come from them. In the
first place, he could obtain no troops, for no men fit for soldiers
were willing to enlist,--and so he undertook to supply the
deficiency by requiring every master of slaves to send him a certain
number of his bondmen, and these bondmen he freed and then enrolled
them in his army, in lieu of soldiers. Moreover, in making provision
for the wants of his army, instead of devoting his chief attention
to securing a sufficiency of arms, ammunition, military stores, and
other such supplies as were required in preparing for an efficient
campaign, he seemed only interested in getting together actors,
dancers, musical instruments, and dresses for performers on the
public stage. In excuse for this course of procedure, Nero said
frankly that he did not expect that his expedition would lead to
any important military operations. As soon as he reached the rebel
armies his intention was, he said, to throw himself upon their sense
of justice and their loyalty. He would acknowledge whatever had been
wrong in his past government, and promise solemnly that his sway in
future should be more mild and beneficent; and he had no doubt that
thus the whole disturbance would be quelled. The revolted troops
would at once return to their duty, and the musical and theatrical
preparations which he was making were intended for a series of grand
festivities to celebrate the reconciliation.
Of course such insane and hopeless folly as this awakened a
sentiment of universal contempt and indignation among the people of
Rome. The greatest excitement and confusion prevailed throughout the
city; and, as is usual in times of public panic, money and
provisions were hid away by those who possessed them, in secret
hoards; and this soon occasioned a great scarcity of food. The
city, in fact, was threatened with famine. In the midst of the
alarm and anxiety which this state of things occasioned, two ships
arrived from Egypt, at Ostia, and the news produced a general
rejoicing,--it being supposed, of course, that the ships were laden
with corn. It proved, however, that there was no corn on board.
Instead of food for the metropolis, the cargo consisted of _sand_,
intended to form the _arena_ of some of the emperor's amphitheaters,
for the gladiators and wrestlers to stand upon, in contending. This
incident seemed to fill the cup of public indignation to the brim;
and, as news arrived just at this time that the rebellion had
extended into Germany, and that all the legions in the German
provinces had gone over to Galba, Nero's power began to be
considered at an end. Tumults prevailed everywhere throughout the
city, and assemblies were held, threatening open defiance to the
authority of the emperor, and declaring the readiness of the people
to acknowledge Galba so soon as he should arrive.
Nero was now more terrified than ever. He knew not what to do. He
fled from his palace, and sought a retreat in certain gardens
near--acting in this, however, under the influence of a blind and
instinctive fear, rather than from any rational hope of securing his
safety by seeking such a place of refuge.
In fact, he was now perfectly distracted with terror. He procured
some poison before he left his palace, and carried it in a small
golden box with him to the gardens; but he had not strength or
resolution to take it. He then conceived of the plan of flying from
Rome altogether. He would go at once to Ostia, he said, and there
embark on board a ship and sail for Egypt, where, it might be
supposed, he would be out of the reach of his enemies. He asked his
officers and attendants if they would accompany him in this flight.
But they refused to go.
Then he began to talk of another plan. He would go and meet Galba as
a suppliant, and, falling upon his knees before the conqueror, would
implore him to spare his life. Or he would go into the Roman Forum,
and make a humble and supplicatory address to the people there,
imploring their forgiveness for his cruelties and crimes, and
solemnly promising never to be guilty of such excesses again, if
they would pardon and protect him. The by-standers told him that
such a proceeding was wholly out of the question; for if he were to
go forth for such a purpose from his retreat, the people were in
such a frenzy of excitement against him, that they would tear him
to pieces before he could reach the Rostra. In a word, the
distracted thoughts of the wretched criminal turned this way and
that, in the wild agitation with which remorse and terror filled his
mind, vainly seeking some way of escape from the awful dangers which
were circling and narrowing so rapidly around him. There was, in
fact, no hope now left for him--no refuge, no protection, no
possibility of escape; and so, after suddenly seizing, and as
suddenly abandoning, one impracticable scheme after another, his
mind became wholly bewildered, and he sank down, at length, into a
condition of blank and hopeless despair.
Although the insurrection had become very general in the provinces,
the troops in the city, consisting chiefly of the emperor's guards,
yet remained faithful; and now as the night was coming on, they were
stationed as usual at their respective posts in various parts of the
city and at the palace gates. Nero retired to rest. He found,
however, that he could not sleep. At midnight he rose, and came
forth from his apartment. He was surprised to find that there was no
sentinel at the door. On farther examination he found to his
amazement that the palace guards had been wholly withdrawn. He was
thunderstruck at making this discovery. He returned into the palace
and aroused some of the domestics, and then went forth with them to
the residences of some of his chief ministers, who resided near, to
ask for help. He could, however, nowhere gain admission. He found
the houses all closely shut up, and by all his knocking at the doors
he could get no answer from any persons within. He then came back in
great distress and alarm to his own apartment. He found that it had
been broken into during the short time that he had been gone, and
rifled of every thing valuable that it contained. Even his golden
box of poison had been carried away. In a word the great sovereign
of half the world found that he had been abandoned by all his
adherents, and left in a condition of utter and absolute exposure.
The guards had concluded to declare for Galba, and had accordingly
gone away, leaving the fallen tyrant to his fate.
Nero called desperately to his servants to send for a gladiator to
thrust him through with a sword, but no one would go. "Alas!" he
exclaimed, "has it come to this? Am I so utterly abandoned that I
have not even enemies left who are willing to kill me?"
After a little time he began to be a little more composed, and
expressed a wish that he knew of some place in the environs of the
city where he could go and conceal himself for a little time until
he could determine what to do. One of the servants of his household
named Phaon, told him that he had a country-house near the city,
where, perhaps, Nero might hide. Nero immediately resolved to go
there. The better to conceal his flight he disguised himself in mean
apparel, and tied a handkerchief about his face; and then, mounting
on horseback in company with two or three attendants, he proceeded
out of the city. As he went, it thundered and lightened from time to
time, and Nero was greatly terrified. He supposed that the commotion
of the elements was occasioned by the spirits of those whom he had
murdered coming now to persecute and torment him in the hour of his
extremity.
He passed, during his ride, a station of the guard which happened to
be on his way, and heard the soldiers cursing him as he went by,
and expressing joy at his downfall. Soon after this he overheard a
passenger whom his party met on the road, say to his companion, when
he saw Nero and his attendants riding by, "These men no doubt are
going in pursuit of the emperor." Another man whom they met on the
way stopped them to ask what news there was in town about the
emperor. In these occurrences, though they of course tended to
increase the agitation and excitement of Nero's mind, there was
nothing particularly alarming; but at length an incident happened
which frightened the fugitive extremely. He was passing a place
where a carcass lay by the side of the road. Some soldiers of the
guard were standing near. The horse that Nero rode was startled at
the sight of the carcass, and springing suddenly shook down the
handkerchief from Nero's face. One of the soldiers by this means
obtained a view of his countenance, and exclaimed that that was the
emperor. Nero was so much alarmed at this that he hastened on, and
as soon as he was out of the view of the men who had seen him, he
leaped from his horse, and calling upon his attendants to dismount
too and follow him, he ran into an adjoining thicket, among bushes
and briers, and thence the whole party made their way circuitously
round to the rear of Phaon's grounds. Here they stopped and hid
themselves till they could contrive some way to get through or over
the wall.
There was a pit near by, which had been made by digging for sand.
Phaon proposed that Nero should hide in this pit until an opening
could be made in the wall. But Nero refused to do this, saying that
he would not be buried before he was dead. So he remained hid in the
thickets while Phaon went to work to make an opening in the wall.
The wall was not of a very substantial character; if it had been, it
would not have been possible for Phaon, with the means at his
command, to have effected a passage. As it was, he succeeded, though
with difficulty, in loosening some of the stones, so as gradually to
make an opening.
Nero was engaged, while this work was going on, in pulling the
briers out of his clothes and flesh, and being thirsty, he went down
to a ditch that was near, and drank, taking up the water in his
hands. As he drank, he groaned out, "Oh, can it be that I have come
to this!"
[Illustration: PHAON AT THE WALL.]
In the mean time, Phaon went on with his work, and soon succeeded in
making a hole in the wall sufficient for his purpose, and then the
men dragged Nero through. They brought him into the house, and shut
him up in a small and secret apartment there.
Nero now felt relieved from the extreme terror which he had suffered
during his flight; but the feelings of terror subsided in his mind,
only to give place to the still more dreadful pangs of remorse and
horror. He moaned continually in his anguish, and incessantly
repeated the words, "My father, my mother, and my wife doom me to
destruction." These were indeed the words of one of the tragedies
which he had been accustomed to act upon the stage, but they
expressed the remorse and anguish of his mind so truly, that they
recurred continually to his lips. Phaon and the men who had brought
him to the house, finding it impossible to calm him, and seeing no
hope of his final escape from death, and perhaps, moreover, wishing
to relieve themselves of what was now fast becoming a serious
burthen to them, recommended to him to kill himself,--and thus, as
they said, since he must die, die like a man. Finally, Nero seemed
to yield to their urgings. He said that he would kill himself as
they desired. They might go out and dig a grave for him, and prepare
wood and water for washing the body. While giving these orders he
moaned and groaned continually, as if in a state of delirium.
In the mean time the morning had come, and at Rome all was
excitement and commotion. The Senate came together and proclaimed
Galba emperor. They also passed a decree pronouncing Nero an enemy
to the state, and sentencing him to be punished as such in the
ancient manner. When this news transpired, a friend of Phaon wrote a
letter to him, giving an account of what the Senate had done, and
sent it off with the utmost haste by a trusty messenger. The
messenger arrived at Phaon's house, and brought the letter in. Nero
seized it from Phaon's hands, and read it. "What is the ancient
manner?" he asked, in a tone of great anxiety and terror. They told
him that it was to be stripped naked, and then to be secured by
having his head fastened in a pillory, and in that position to be
whipped to death. At hearing this, Nero broke forth in fresh groans
and lamentations. He could not endure such a death as that, he said,
and he would kill himself, therefore, at once, if they would give
him a dagger.
There were daggers at hand. Nero took them, examined the points of
them with a trembling touch, seemed undecided, and finally put them
away again, saying that his hour was not yet quite come. Presently
he took one of the daggers again, and made a new attempt to awaken
in himself sufficient resolution to strike the blow, but his courage
failed him. He moaned and raved all this time in the most incoherent
and distracted manner. He even begged that one of the attendants who
were with him would take the dagger and kill himself first, in order
to encourage Nero by letting him see that it was not after all so
dreadful a thing to die. But no one of the attendants seemed
sufficiently devoted to his master to be willing to render him such
a service as this.
In the midst of this perplexity and delay a noise was heard as of
horsemen riding up to the door. Nero was terrified anew at the
sound. They were coming, he said, to seize him. He immediately drew
one of the daggers, and putting it to his throat, attempted
desperately to nerve himself to the work of driving it home. But he
could not do it. The noise at the door in the mean time increased.
Nero then gave the dagger to one of the men standing by, and begged
that he would kill him. The man took the dagger with great
reluctance, but presently gave the fatal stab, and Nero sank down
upon the ground mortally wounded.
At this moment the door was suddenly opened, and the soldiers that
had just arrived came in. They had been sent by the Senate to search
for the fugitive and bring him back to Rome. The centurion who
commanded these men, advanced into the room, and looked at the
fallen emperor, as he lay upon the floor, weltering in his blood. He
had been commanded to bring the prisoner to the city, if possible,
alive; and he accordingly ordered the soldiers to come to the dying
man and endeavor to stanch his wounds and save him. But it was too
late. Nero stared at them as they advanced to take hold of him, with
a wild and frightful expression of countenance, which shocked all
who saw him, and in the midst of this agony of terror, he sank down
and died.
The news of the tyrant's death spread with the utmost rapidity in
all directions. A courier immediately set off for the north to carry
tidings of the event to Galba. People flocked from all quarters to
the house of Phaon to gaze on the lifeless body, and to exult in the
monster's death. The people of the city gave themselves up to the
wildest and most extravagant joy. They put on caps such as were worn
by manumitted slaves when first obtaining their freedom, and roamed
about the city expressing in every possible way the exultation they
felt at their deliverance, and breaking down and destroying the
statues of Nero wherever they could find them.
In the mean time Galba was steadily advancing on the way to Rome. In
due time he made his entry into the city, and embassadors came to
him there from all parts of the Roman world to acknowledge him as
the reigning emperor. At this time he was seventy-three years old.
So that the number seventy-three of which the oracle had warned Nero
to beware, denoted the age of his rival and enemy,--not his own.
THE END.
TRANSCRIBER'S NOTES
1. Minor changes have been made to correct typesetters errors, and to
ensure consistent spelling and punctuation in this etext; otherwise,
every effort has been made to remain true to the original book.
2. The chapter summaries in this text were originally published as
banners in the page headers, and have been moved to beginning of the
chapter for the reader's convenience.