ense until nearly morning,
and then ordered the guards to be withdrawn.

The number of victims who were sacrificed to Nero's resentment in
consequence of this conspiracy, was very large; so that the streets
were filled with executions and with funeral processions for many
days. Universal grief and panic prevailed, and yet no one dared to
manifest the slightest indications of sorrow or of fear. The people
supposed that pity for the sufferers, or anxiety for themselves,
would be interpreted as proofs that they had been concerned in the
conspiracy; for multitudes of those who had been put to death, were
condemned on pretexts and pretended proofs of the most frivolous
character. Every one, therefore, even of those whose nearest and
dearest friends had been killed, was compelled to assume all the
appearances of extravagant joy that so wicked a plot against the
life of so wise and excellent a prince, had been exposed, and the
guilty devisers of it brought to punishment. Parents whose sons had
been slain, and wives and children who had lost their husbands and
fathers, were thus compelled to unite in the congratulations and
expressions of joy which were everywhere addressed to the emperor.
Processions were formed, addresses were made, sacrifices were
offered, games, spectacles, and illuminations without number were
celebrated, to testify to the general rejoicing; and thus the city
presented all the outward appearances of universal gladness and joy,
while, in truth, the hearts of men were everywhere overwhelmed with
anxiety, grief, and fear.

When at length a sufficient number of the citizens of Rome had been
destroyed, Nero assembled the army, and after making an address to
the troops on the subject of the conspiracy, and on his happy escape
from the danger, he divided an immense sum of money from the public
treasury among the soldiers, so as to give a very considerable
largess to each man. He also distributed among them a vast amount of
provisions from the public granaries. This act, and the connection
between Nero and the troops which it illustrates, explain what would
otherwise seem an inscrutable mystery, namely, how it can be
possible for one man to bring the immense population of such an
empire as that of ancient Rome so entirely under his power, that any
number of the most prominent and influential of the citizens shall
be seized and beheaded, or thrust through the heart with swords and
daggers at a word or a nod from