Theos-Talk Archives (May 2002 Message tt00114)

--- Drpsionic@aol.com wrote:
> Unfortunately his history of the Jewish War is
> mostly lost and we are stuck 
> with Josephus, who, as you say, was seriously
> tampered with (and rather badly 
> too).

His history of the Jewish war is on line. Yes, you
are right that Tacitus did not have much use for Nero,
What I was referring to was Bart's statement that he
was a man with only one minor fault. That may be
true, but it is not the way the ancient writers
represent him.

Here is the story of the fire, if anyone is
interested. The disaster was caused partly by
improper design of the city and partly by deliberate
arson on the part of would-be looters and possibly
persons working for the emperor himself. It is an
interesting story and a chance to advance your
classical education. This comes from the ANNAlS:

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. 

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. 

At last, after five days, an end was put to the
conflagration at the foot of the Esquiline hill, by
the destruction of all buildings on a vast space, so
that the violence of the fire was met by clear ground
and an open sky. But before people had laid aside
their fears, the flames returned, with no less fury
this second time, and especially in the spacious
districts of the city. Consequently, though there was
less loss of life, the temples of the gods, and the
porticoes which were devoted to enjoyment, fell in a
yet more widespread ruin. And to this conflagration
there attached the greater infamy because it broke out
on the Aemilian property of Tigellinus, and it seemed
that Nero was aiming at the glory of founding a new
city and calling it by his name. Rome, indeed, is
divided into fourteen districts, four of which
remained uninjured, three were levelled to the ground,
while in the other seven were left only a few
shattered, half?burnt relics of houses. 

It would not be easy to enter into a computation of
the private mansions, the blocks of tenements, and of
the temples, which were lost. Those with the oldest
ceremonial, as that dedicated by Servius Tullius to
Luna, the great altar and shrine raised by the
Arcadian Evander to the visibly appearing Hercules,
the temple of Jupiter the Stayer, which was vowed by
Romulus, Numa's royal palace, and the sanctuary of
Vesta, with the tutelary deities of the Roman people,
were burnt. So too were the riches acquired by our
many victories, various beauties of Greek art, then
again the ancient and genuine historical monuments of
men of genius, and, notwithstanding the striking
splendour of the restored city, old men will remember
many things which could not be replaced. Some persons
observed that the beginning of this conflagration was
on the 19th of July, the day on which the Senones
captured and fired Rome. Others have pushed a curious
inquiry so far as to reduce the interval between these
two conflagrations into equal numbers of years,
months, and days. ...

Of Rome meanwhile, so much as was left unoccupied by
his mansion, was not built up, as it had been after
its burning by the Gauls, without any regularity or in
any fashion, but with rows of streets according to
measurement, with broad thoroughfares, with a
restriction on the height of houses, with open spaces,
and the further addition of colonnades, as a
protection to the frontage of the blocks of tenements.
These colonnades Nero promised to erect at his own
expense, and to hand over the open spaces, when
cleared of the debris, to the ground landlords. He
also offered rewards proportioned to each person's
position and property, and prescribed a period within
which they were to obtain them on the completion of so
many houses or blocks of building. He fixed on the
marshes of Ostia for the reception of the rubbish, and
arranged that the ships which had brought up corn by
the Tiber, should sail down the river with cargoes of
this rubbish. The buildings themselves, to a certain
height, were to be solidly constructed, without wooden
beams, of stone from Gabii or Alba, that material
being impervious to fire. And to provide that the
water which individual license had illegally
appropriated, might flow in greater abundance in
several places for the public use, officers were
appointed, and everyone was to have in the open court
the means of stopping a fire. Every building, too, was
to be enclosed by its own proper wall, not by one
common to others. These changes which were liked for
their utility, also added beauty to the new city.
Some, however, thought that its old arrangement had
been more conducive to health, inasmuch as the narrow
streets with the elevation of the roofs were not
equally penetrated by the sun's heat, while now the
open space, unsheltered by any shade, was scorched by
a fiercer glow. 

Such indeed were the precautions of human wisdom. The
next thing was to seek means of propitiating the gods,
and recourse was had to the Sibylline books, by the
direction of which prayers were offered to Vulcanus,
Ceres, and Proserpina. Juno, too, was entreated by the
matrons, first, in the Capitol, then on the nearest
part of the coast, whence water was procured to
sprinkle the fane and image of the goddess. And there
were sacred banquets and nightly vigils celebrated by
married women. But all human efforts, all the lavish
gifts of the emperor, and the propitiations of the
gods, did not banish the sinister belief that the
conflagration was the result of an order.
Consequently, to get rid of the report, Nero fastened
the guilt and inflicted the most exquisite tortures on
a class hated for their abominations, called
Christians by the populace. Christus, from whom the
name had its origin, suffered the extreme penalty
during the reign of Tiberius at the hands of one of
our procurators, Pontius Pilatus, and a most
mischievous superstition, thus checked for the moment,
again broke out not only in Judaea, the first source
of the evil, but even in Rome, where all things
hideous and shameful from every part of the world find
their centre and become popular. Accordingly, an
arrest was first made of all who pleaded guilty; then,
upon their information, an immense multitude was
convicted, not so much of the crime of firing the
city, as of hatred against mankind. Mockery of every
sort was added to their deaths. Covered with the skins
of beasts, they were torn by dogs and perished, or
were nailed to crosses, or were doomed to the flames
and burnt, to serve as a nightly illumination, when
daylight had expired.

Nero offered his gardens for the spectacle, and was
exhibiting a show in the circus, while he mingled with
the people in the dress of a charioteer or stood aloft
on a car. Hence, even for criminals who deserved
extreme and exemplary punishment, there arose a
feeling of compassion; for it was not, as it seemed,
for the public good, but to glut one man's cruelty,
that they were being destroyed.



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