The Works of Tacitus
tr. by Alfred John Church and William Jackson Brodribb
[1864-1877]
Tacitus: Annals Book 15 [30]
30. To military glory Corbulo added courtesy and hospitality. When the king
continually asked the reason of whatever he noticed which was new to him, the
announcements, for example, by a centurion of the beginnings of each watch,
the dismissal of the guests by the sound of a trumpet, and the lighting by a
torch from beneath of an altar in front of the headquarters, Corbulo, by exaggerating
everything, filled him with admiration of our ancient system. Next day Tiridates
begged for time which, as he was about to enter on so long a journey, might
suffice for a previous visit to his brothers and his mother. Meanwhile he gave
up his daughter as a hostage, and prepared a suppliant letter to Nero.
31. He then departed, and found Pacorus in Media, and Vologeses at Ecbatana,
who was by no means unconcerned for his brother. In fact, Vologeses had entreated
Corbulo by special messengers, that Tiridates might not have to endure any badge
of slavery, or have to deliver up his sword, or be debarred the honour of embracing
the governors of the provinces, or have to present himself at their doors, and
that he might be treated at Rome with as much respect as the consuls. Accustomed,
forsooth, to foreign arrogance, he had no knowledge of us, who value the reality
of empire and disregard its empty show.
32. That same year the emperor put into possession of the Latin franchise
the tribes of the maritime Alps. To the Roman knights he assigned places in
the circus in front of the seats of the people, for up to that time they used
to enter in a promiscuous throng, as the Roscian law extended only to fourteen
rows in the theatre. The same year witnessed shows of gladiators as magnificent
as those of the past. Many ladies of distinction, however, and senators, disgraced
themselves by appearing in the amphitheatre.
33. In the year of the consulship of Caius Laecanius and Marcus Licinius
a yet keener impulse urged Nero to show himself frequently on the public stage.
Hitherto he had sung in private houses or gardens, during the juvenile games,
but these he now despised, as being but little frequented, and on too small
a scale for so fine a voice. As, however, he did not venture to make a beginning
at Rome, he chose Neapolis, because it was a Greek city. From this as his starting-point
he might cross into Achaia, and there, winning the well-known and sacred garlands
of antiquity, evoke, with increased fame, the enthusiasm of the citizens. Accordingly,
a rabble of the townsfolk was brought together, with those whom the excitement
of such an event had attracted from the neighbouring towns and colonies, and
such as followed in the emperor’s train to pay him honour or for various objects.
All these, with some companies of soldiers, filled the theatre at Neapolis.
34. There an incident occurred, which many thought unlucky, though to the
emperor it seemed due to the providence of auspicious deities. The people who
had been present, had quitted the theatre, and the empty building then fell
in without harm to anyone. Thereupon Nero in an elaborate ode thanked the gods,
celebrating the good luck which attended the late downfall, and as he was on
his way to cross the sea of Hadria, he rested awhile at Beneventum, where a
crowded gladiatorial show was being exhibited by Vatinius. The man was one of
the most conspicuously infamous sights in the imperial court, bred, as he had
been, in a shoemaker’s shop, of a deformed person and vulgar wit, originally
introduced as a butt. After a time he grew so powerful by accusing all the best
men, that in influence, wealth, and ability to injure, he was pre-eminent even
in that bad company.
35. While Nero was frequently visiting the show, even amid his pleasures
there was no cessation to his crimes. For during the very same period Torquatus
Silanus was forced to die, because over and above his illustrious rank as one
of the Junian family he claimed to be the great-grandson of Augustus. Accusers
were ordered to charge him with prodigality in lavishing gifts, and with having
no hope but in revolution. They said further that he had nobles about him for
his letters, books, and accounts, titles all and rehearsals of supreme power.
Then the most intimate of his freedmen were put in chains and torn from him,
till, knowing the doom which impended, Torquatus divided the arteries in his
arms. A speech from Nero followed, as usual, which stated that though he was
guilty and with good reason distrusted his defence, he would yet have lived,
had he awaited the clemency of the judge.
36. Soon afterwards, giving up Achaia for the present (his reasons were not
certainly known), he returned to Rome, there dwelling in his secret imaginations
on the provinces of the east, especially Egypt. Then having declared in a public
proclamation that his absence would not be long and that all things in the State
would remain unchanged and prosperous, he visited the temple of the Capitol
for advice about his departure. There he adored the gods; then he entered also
the temple of Vesta, and there feeling a sudden trembling throughout his limbs,
either from terror inspired by the deity or because, from the remembrance of
his crimes, he was never free from fear, he relinquished his purpose, repeatedly
saying that all his plans were of less account than his love of his country.
“He had seen the sad countenances of the citizens, he heard their secret complainings
at the prospect of his entering on so long a journey, when they could not bear
so much as his brief excursions, accustomed as they were to cheer themselves
under mischances by the sight of the emperor. Hence, as in private relationships
the closest ties were the strongest, so the people of Rome had the most powerful
claims and must be obeyed in their wish to retain him.” These and the like sentiments
suited the people, who craved amusement, and feared, always their chief anxiety,
scarcity of corn, should he be absent. The Senate and leading citizens were
in doubt whether to regard him as more terrible at a distance or among them.
After a while, as is the way with great terrors, they thought what happened
the worst alternative.
37. Nero, to win credit for himself of enjoying nothing so much as the capital,
prepared banquets in the public places, and used the whole city, so to say,
as his private house. Of these entertainments the most famous for their notorious
profligacy were those furnished by Tigellinus, which I will describe as an illustration,
that I may not have again and again to narrate similar extravagance. He had
a raft constructed on Agrippa’s lake, put the guests on board and set it in
motion by other vessels towing it. These vessels glittered with gold and ivory;
the crews were arranged according to age and experience in vice. Birds and beasts
had been procured from remote countries, and sea monsters from the ocean. On
the margin of the lake were set up brothels crowded with noble ladies, and on
the opposite bank were seen naked prostitutes with obscene gestures and movements.
As darkness approached, all the adjacent grove and surrounding buildings resounded
with song, and shone brilliantly with lights. Nero, who polluted himself by
every lawful or lawless indulgence, had not omitted a single abomination which
could heighten his depravity, till a few days afterwards he stooped to marry
himself to one of that filthy herd, by name Pythagoras, with all the forms of
regular wedlock. The bridal veil was put over the emperor; people saw the witnesses
of the ceremony, the wedding dower, the couch and the nuptial torches; everything
in a word was plainly visible, which, even when a woman weds darkness hides.
38. A disaster followed, whether accidental or treacherously contrived by
the emperor, is uncertain, as authors have given both accounts, worse, however,
and more dreadful than any which have ever happened to this city by the violence
of fire. It had its beginning in that part of the circus which adjoins the Palatine
and Caelian hills, where, amid the shops containing inflammable wares, the conflagration
both broke out and instantly became so fierce and so rapid from the wind that
it seized in its grasp the entire length of the circus. For here there were
no houses fenced in by solid masonry, or temples surrounded by walls, or any
other obstacle to interpose delay. The blaze in its fury ran first through the
level portions of the city, then rising to the hills, while it again devastated
every place below them, it outstripped all preventive measures; so rapid was
the mischief and so completely at its mercy the city, with those narrow winding
passages and irregular streets, which characterised old Rome. Added to this
were the wailings of terror-stricken women, the feebleness of age, the helpless
inexperience of childhood, the crowds who sought to save themselves or others,
dragging out the infirm or waiting for them, and by their hurry in the one case,
by their delay in the other, aggravating the confusion. Often, while they looked
behind them, they were intercepted by flames on their side or in their face.
Or if they reached a refuge close at hand, when this too was seized by the fire,
they found that, even places, which they had imagined to be remote, were involved
in the same calamity. At last, doubting what they should avoid or whither betake
themselves, they crowded the streets or flung themselves down in the fields,
while some who had lost their all, even their very daily bread, and others out
of love for their kinsfolk, whom they had been unable to rescue, perished, though
escape was open to them. And no one dared to stop the mischief, because of incessant
menaces from a number of persons who forbade the extinguishing of the flames,
because again others openly hurled brands, and kept shouting that there was
one who gave them authority, either seeking to plunder more freely, or obeying
orders.
39. Nero at this time was at Antium, and did not return to Rome until the
fire approached his house, which he had built to connect the palace with the
gardens of Maecenas. It could not, however, be stopped from devouring the palace,
the house, and everything around it. However, to relieve the people, driven
out homeless as they were, he threw open to them the Campus Martius and the
public buildings of Agrippa, and even his own gardens, and raised temporary
structures to receive the destitute multitude. Supplies of food were brought
up from Ostia and the neighbouring towns, and the price of corn was reduced
to three sesterces a peck. These acts, though popular, produced no effect, since
a rumour had gone forth everywhere that, at the very time when the city was
in flames, the emperor appeared on a private stage and sang of the destruction
of Troy, comparing present misfortunes with the calamities of antiquity.
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