reath, the chorus of
singers repeated the last verse; then Nero cast the tragic _syrma_ from
his shoulder with a gesture learned from Aliturus, struck the lute, and
sang on. When he had finished the lines composed, he improvised, using
grandiose comparisons in the spectacle unfolded before him. His face
began to change. He was not moved, it is true, by the destruction of his
country's capital; but he was delighted and moved with the pathos of his
own words to such a degree that his eyes filled with tears on a sudden.

At last he dropped the lute to his feet with a clatter, and, wrapping
himself in the syrma, stood as if petrified, like one of those statues
of Niobe which ornamented the courtyard of the Palatine. Soon a storm of
applause broke the silence. But in the distance this was answered by the
howling of multitudes. No one doubted then that Caesar had given command
to burn the city, so as to afford himself a spectacle and sing a song at
it.

TACITUS

There followed a dreadful disaster, whether fortuitously or by the
wicked contrivance of the prince is not determined, for both are
asserted by historians; but of all the calamities which ever befell this
city from the rage of fire, this was the most terrible and severe. It
broke out in that part of the Circus which is contiguous to mounts
Palatine and Caelius, where, by reason of shops in which were kept such
goods as minister aliment to fire, the moment it commenced it acquired
strength, and, being accelerated by the wind, it spread at once through
the whole extent of the Circus: for neither were the houses secured by
enclosures nor the temples environed with walls, nor was there any other
obstacle to intercept its progress; but the flame, spreading every way
impetuously, invaded first the lower regions of the city, then mounted
to the higher; then again ravaging the lower, it baffled every effort to
extinguish it, by the rapidity of its destructive course, and from the
liability of the city to conflagration, in consequence of the narrow and
intricate alleys, and the irregularity of the streets in ancient Rome.

Add to this the wailings of terrified women, the infirm condition of the
aged, and the helplessness of childhood; such as strove to provide for
themselves and those who labored to assist others; these dragging the
feeble, those waiting for them; some hurrying, others lingering;
altogether created a scene of universal confusion and embarrassment: and
wh