f various
kinds, which were called the quinquennial games, from the
circumstance that the period for the celebration of them recurred
once in five years. A principal part of the performances on these
occasions consisted of contests for prizes, which were offered for
those who chose to compete for them. Some of these prizes were for
those who excelled in athletic exercises, and in feats of strength
and dexterity, while others were for singers and dancers, and other
performers on the public stage. Nero could not resist the temptation
to avail himself of this grand occasion for the display of his
powers, and he prepared to appear among the other actors and
mountebanks as a competitor for the theatrical prizes.

Performers on the public stage were regarded in ancient days much as
they are now. They were applauded, flattered, caressed, and most
extravagantly paid; but after all they formed a social class
distinct from all others, and of a very low grade. Just as now great
public singers are rewarded sometimes with the most princely
revenues,--not twice or three times, but _ten_ times perhaps the
amount ever paid to the highest ministers of state,--and receive the
most flattering attentions from the highest classes of society, and
are followed by crowds in the public streets, and enter cities
escorted by grand processions, while yet there is scarce a
respectable citizen of the better class who would not feel himself
demeaned at seeing his son or his daughter on the stage by their
side.

In the same manner public sentiment was such in the city of Rome, in
Nero's day, that to see the chief military magistrate of the
commonwealth publicly performing on the stage, and entering into an
eager competition with the singing men and women, the low comedians,
the dancers, the buffoons, and other such characters, that figured
there, was a very humiliating spectacle. In fact, when the time for
the quinquennial celebration approached, the government attempted to
prevent the necessity of the emperor's actual appearing upon the
stage, by passing in the Senate, among other decrees relating to the
celebrations, certain votes awarding honorary crowns and prizes to
Nero, by anticipation,--thus acknowledging him to be the first
without requiring the test of actual competition. But this did not
satisfy Nero. In fact, the honor of being publicly proclaimed victor
was not probably the chief allurement which attracted him. He wished
to enjoy the