the ship which he was in came very near being lost. To
see him in this danger seems greatly to have pleased some of his
attendants, for so imperious and cruel was his temper, that he was
generally hated by all who came under his power. These men hated him
so intensely that they were willing, as it would appear, to perish
themselves, for the pleasure of witnessing his destruction; and in
the extreme moments of danger they openly manifested this feeling.
The vessel, however, was saved, and Nero, as soon as he landed,
ordered these persons all to be slain.

On landing he gathered together the scattered remnants of his
company, and organizing a new escort, he advanced toward Rome, in a
grand triumphal march, displaying his prizes and crowns in all the
great cities through which he passed, and claiming universal homage.
When he arrived at the gates of Rome, he made preparations for a
grand triumphal entry to the city, in the manner of great military
conquerors. A breach was made in the walls for the admission of the
procession. Nero rode in the triumphal chariot of Augustus, with a
distinguished Greek harpist by his side, who wore an Olympic crown
upon his head, and carried another crown in his hand. Before this
chariot marched a company of eighteen hundred men, each of them
carrying one of the crowns which Nero had won, with an inscription
for the spectators to read, signifying where the crown had been won,
the name of the emperor's competitor, the title of the song which he
had sung, and other similar particulars. In this way he traversed
the principal streets, exhibiting himself and his trophies to the
populace, and finally when he arrived at his house, he entered it
with great pomp and parade, and caused the crowns to be hung up upon
the innumerable statues of himself which had been erected in the
courts and halls of the building. Those which he valued most highly
he placed conspicuously around his bed in his bedchamber, in order
that they might be the last objects for his eyes to rest upon at
night, and the first to greet his view in the morning.

As soon as he became established in Rome again, he began to form new
plans for developing his powers and capacities as a musician, in the
hope of gaining still higher triumphs than those to which he had
already attained. Far from giving his time and attention to the
public business of the empire, he devoted himself with new zeal and
enthusiasm to the cultivation of his art.