[Sidenote:--22--] This was the kind of life Nero led, this was the way he
ruled. I shall narrate also how he was put down and driven from his
throne.
While Nero was still in Greece, the Jews revolted openly and he sent
Vespasian against them. The inhabitants of Britain and of Gaul, likewise,
oppressed by the taxes, experienced an even keener distress, which added
fuel to the already kindled fire of their indignation.
--There was a Gaul named Gaius Julius Vindex [an Aquitanian], descended
from the native royal race and on his father's side entitled to rank as a
Roman senator. He was strong of body, had an intelligent mind, was skilled
in warfare and was full of daring for every enterprise. [He was to the
greatest degree a lover of freedom and was ambitious; and he stood at the
head of the Gauls.] Now this Vindex made an assembly of the Gauls, who had
suffered much during the numerous forced levies of money, and were still
suffering at Nero's hands. And ascending a tribunal he delivered a long
and detailed speech against Nero, saying that they ought to revolt from
the emperor and join him in an attack [upon him],--"because," said he, "he
has despoiled the whole Roman world, because he has destroyed all the
flower of their senate, because he debauched and likewise killed his
mother, and does not preserve even the semblance of sovereignty. Murders,
seizures and outrages have often been committed and by many other persons:
but how may one find words to describe the remainder of his conduct as it
deserves? I have seen, my friends and allies,--believe me,--I have seen
that man (if he is a man, who married Sporus and was given in marriage to
Pythagoras) in the arena of the theatre and in the orchestra, sometimes
with the zither, the loose tunic, the cothurnus, [Footnote: The two kinds
of footwear mentioned here appear in the Greek as _chothornos_ and
_embates_ respectively. These words are often synonymous, and both
may refer, as a rule, to _high_ boots. In the present passage,
however, some kind of contrast is evidently intended, and the most
acceptable solution of the question is that given by Sturz, in his
edition, who says that the _chothornos_ seems to have been used by
Nero only in singing, whereas he wore the _embates_ (as also the
mask) while acting.] sometimes with wooden shoes [Footnote: see previous
footnote] and mask. I have often heard him sing, I have heard him make
proclamations, I have heard him perform tragedy. I have seen him in
chains, I have seen him dragged about, pregnant, bearing children, going
through all the situations of mythology, by speech, by being addressed, by
being acted upon, by acting. Who, then, will call such a person Caesar and
emperor and Augustus? Let no one for any consideration so abuse those
sacred titles. They were held by Augustus and by Claudius. This fellow
might most properly be termed Thyestes and Oedipus, Alcmeon and Orestes.
These are the persons he represents on the stage and it is these titles
that he has assumed rather than the others. Therefore now at length rise
against him: come to the succor of yourselves and of the Romans; liberate
the entire world!"
[Sidenote:--23--] Such words falling from the lips of Vindex met with
entire approval from all. Vindex was not working to get the imperial
office for himself but chose Servius Sulpicius Galba for that position:
this man was distinguished for his upright behavior and knowledge of war,
was governor of Spain, and had a not inconsiderable force. He was also
nominated by the soldiers as emperor.
It is stated that Nero having offered by proclamation
two hundred and fifty myriads to the person who should kill Vindex, the
latter when he heard of it remarked: "The person who kills Nero and brings
his head to me may take mine in return." That was the sort of man Vindex
was.
[Sidenote:--24--] Rufus, governor of Germany, set out to make war on
Vindex; but when he reached Vesontio he sat down to besiege the city, for
the alleged reason that it had not received him. Vindex came against him
to the aid of the city and encamped not far off. They then sent messages
back and forth to each other and finally held a conference together at
which no one else was present and made a mutual agreement,--against Nero,
as it was thought. After this Vindex set his army in motion for the
apparent purpose of occupying the town: and the soldiers of Rufus,
becoming aware of their approach, and thinking the force was marching
straight against them, set out without being ordered to oppose their
progress. They fell upon the advancing troop while the men were off their
guard and in disarray, and so cut down great numbers of them. Vindex
seeing this was afflicted with so great grief that he slew himself. For he
felt, besides, at odds with Heaven itself, in that he had not been able to
attain his goal in an undertaking of so great magnitude, involving the
overthrow of Nero and the liberation of the Romans.
This is the truth of the matter. Many afterwards inflicted wounds on his
body, and so gave currency to the erroneous supposition that they had
themselves killed him.
[Sidenote:--25--] Rufus mourned deeply his demise, but refused to accept
the office of emperor, although his soldiers frequently obtained it. He
was an energetic man and had a large, wide-awake body of troops. His
soldiers tore down and shattered the image of Nero and called their
general Caesar and Augustus. When he would not heed them, one of the
soldiers thereupon quickly inscribed these words on one of his standards.
He erased the terms, however, and after a great deal of trouble brought
the men to order and persuaded them to submit the question [Footnote:
[Greek: ta pragmata] supplied by Polak.] to the senate and the people. It
is hard to say whether this was merely because he did not deem it right
for the soldiers to bestow the supreme authority upon any one (for he
declared this to be the prerogative of the senate and the people), or
because he was entirely highminded and felt no personal desire for the
imperial power, to secure which others were willing to do everything.
[Sidenote:--26--] [Nero was informed of the Vindex episode as he was in
Naples viewing the gymnastic contest just after luncheon. He was naturally
far from sorry, and leaping from his seat vied in prowess with some
athlete. He did not hurry back to Rome but merely sent a letter to the
senate, in which he asked them to regard leniently his non-arrival,
because he had a sore throat, implying that when he did come he wanted to
sing to them. And he continued to devote the same care and attention to
his voice, to his songs, and to the zither tunes, not only just then but
also subsequently: so he would not try a tone of his intended program. If
he was at any time compelled by circumstances to make some exclamation,
yet somebody, reminding him that he was to appear as citharoedist, would
straightway check and control him.
In general he still behaved in his accustomed manner and
he was pleased with the news brought him because he had been expecting in
any event to overcome Vindex and because he thought he had now secured a
justifiable ground for money-getting and murders. He enjoyed the same
degree of luxury; and upon the completion and adornment of the heroum of
Sabina he gave it a brilliant dedication, taking care to have inscribed
upon it: "The Women have built This to Sabina, the Goddess Venus." And the
writing told the truth: for the building had been constructed with money
of which a great part had been stolen from women. Also he had his numerous
little jokes, of which I shall mention only one, omitting the rest.] One
night he suddenly summoned in haste the foremost senators and knights,
apparently to make some communication to them regarding the political
situation. When they were assembled, he said: "I have discovered a way by
which the water organ"--I must write exactly what he said--"will produce a
greater and more harmonious volume of sound." Such were his jokes about
this period. And little did he reck that both sets of doors, those of the
monument and those of the bedchamber of Augustus, opened of their own
accord in one and the same night, or that at Albanum it rained so much
blood that rivers of it flowed over the land, or that the sea retreated a
good distance from Egypt and covered a large portion of Lycia.
[Sidenote:--27--] But when he heard about Galba's being proclaimed emperor
by the soldiers and about the desertion of Rufus, he fell into great fear:
he made preparations in person at Rome and he sent against the rebels
Rubrius Gallus and some others.
On learning that Petronius, [Footnote: _P. Petronius Turpilianus_.]
whom he had sent ahead against the rebels with the larger portion of the
army, also favored the cause of Galba, Nero reposed no further hope in
arms.
Being abandoned by all without exception he began forming plans to kill
the senators, burn the city to the ground, and sail to Alexandria. He
dropped this hint in regard to his future course: "Even though we be
driven from our empire, yet this little artistic gift of ours shall
support us there." To such a pitch of folly had he come as to believe that
he could live for a moment as a private citizen and would be able to
appear as a musician.
He was on the point of putting those measures into effect when the senate
first withdrew the guard that surrounded Nero, then entered the camp, and
declared Nero an enemy but chose Galba in his place as emperor.
But when he perceived that he had been deserted also by his body-guards
(he happened to be asleep in some garden), he undertook to make his
escape. Accordingly, he assumed shabby clothing and mounted a horse no
better than his attire. Closely veiled he rode while it was yet night
towards an estate of Phao, a Caesarian, in company with the owner of the
place, and Epaphroditus and Sporus. [Sidenote:--28--] While he was on the
way an extraordinary earthquake occurred, so that one might have thought
the whole world was breaking apart and all the spirits of those murdered
by him were leaping up to assail him. Being recognized, they say, in spite
of his disguise by some one who met him he was saluted as emperor;
consequently he turned aside from the road and hid himself in a kind of
reedy place. There he waited till daylight, lying flat on the ground so as
to run the least risk of being seen. Every one who passed he suspected had
come for him; he started at every voice, thinking it to be that of some
one searching for him: if a dog barked anywhere or a bird chirped, or a
bush or twig was shaken by the breeze, he was thrown into a violent
tremor. These sounds would not let him have rest, yet he dared not speak a
word to any one of those that were with him for fear some one else might
hear: but he wept and bewailed his fortune, considering among other things
how he had once stood resplendent in the midst of so vast a retinue and
was now dodging from sight in company with three freedmen. Such was the
drama that Fate had now prepared for him, to the end that he should no
longer represent all other matricides and beggars, but only himself at
last. Now he repented of his haughty insolence, as if he could make one of
his acts undone. Such was the tragedy in which Nero found himself
involved, and this verse constantly ran through his mind:
"Both spouse and father bid me pitiably die."
After a long time, as no one was seen to be searching for him, he went
over into the cave, where in his hunger he ate such bread as he had never
before tasted and in his thirst drank water such as he had never drunk
before. This gave him such a qualm that he said: "So this is my famous
frigid _decocta_." [Footnote: Reading [Greek: apepsthon] (Reimar,
Cobet et al)..]
While he was in this plight the Roman people were going wild with delight
and offering whole oxen in sacrifice. Some carried small liberty caps, and
they voted to Galba the rights pertaining to the imperial office. For Nero
himself they instituted a search in all directions and for some time were
at a loss to know whither he could have betaken himself. When they finally
learned, they sent horsemen to dispose of him. He, then, perceiving that
they were drawing near, commanded his companions to kill him. As they
refused to obey, he uttered a groan and said: "I alone have neither friend
nor foe." By this time the horsemen were close at hand, and so he killed
himself, uttering that far-famed sentence: "Jupiter, what an artist
perishes in me!" And as he lingered in his agony Epaphroditus dealt him a
finishing stroke. He had lived thirty years and nine months, out of which
he had ruled thirteen years and eight months. Of the descendants of Aeneas
and of Augustus he was the last, as was plainly indicated by the fact that
the laurels planted by Livia and the breed of white chickens perished
somewhat before his death.
There was no one who might not hope to lay hands on the sovereignty in a
time of so great confusion.
Rufus visited Galba and could obtain from him no important privileges,
unless one reckons the fact that a man who had frequently been hailed as
emperor was allowed to live. Among the rest of mankind, however, he had
acquired a great name, greater than if he had accepted the sovereignty,
for refusing to receive it.
Galba, now that Nero had been destroyed and the senate had voted him the
imperial authority and Rufus had made advances to him, plucked up courage.
However, He did not adopt the name "Caesar," until envoys of the senate
had paid him a visit. Nor had he hitherto inscribed the name "emperor" in
any document.
DIO'S ROMAN HISTORY
64
Omens announcing Galba's sovereignty: his avarice: the insolence of
freedmen, of Nymphidius, of Capito (chapters 1, 2).
His ferocious entrance into the city: punishment of the Neronians (chapter
3).
About the uprising of Vitellius against Galba (chapter 4).