ar the city,
where, perhaps, Nero might hide. Nero immediately resolved to go
there. The better to conceal his flight he disguised himself in mean
apparel, and tied a handkerchief about his face; and then, mounting
on horseback in company with two or three attendants, he proceeded
out of the city. As he went, it thundered and lightened from time to
time, and Nero was greatly terrified. He supposed that the commotion
of the elements was occasioned by the spirits of those whom he had
murdered coming now to persecute and torment him in the hour of his
extremity.

He passed, during his ride, a station of the guard which happened to
be on his way, and heard the soldiers cursing him as he went by,
and expressing joy at his downfall. Soon after this he overheard a
passenger whom his party met on the road, say to his companion, when
he saw Nero and his attendants riding by, "These men no doubt are
going in pursuit of the emperor." Another man whom they met on the
way stopped them to ask what news there was in town about the
emperor. In these occurrences, though they of course tended to
increase the agitation and excitement of Nero's mind, there was
nothing particularly alarming; but at length an incident happened
which frightened the fugitive extremely. He was passing a place
where a carcass lay by the side of the road. Some soldiers of the
guard were standing near. The horse that Nero rode was startled at
the sight of the carcass, and springing suddenly shook down the
handkerchief from Nero's face. One of the soldiers by this means
obtained a view of his countenance, and exclaimed that that was the
emperor. Nero was so much alarmed at this that he hastened on, and
as soon as he was out of the view of the men who had seen him, he
leaped from his horse, and calling upon his attendants to dismount
too and follow him, he ran into an adjoining thicket, among bushes
and briers, and thence the whole party made their way circuitously
round to the rear of Phaon's grounds. Here they stopped and hid
themselves till they could contrive some way to get through or over
the wall.

There was a pit near by, which had been made by digging for sand.
Phaon proposed that Nero should hide in this pit until an opening
could be made in the wall. But Nero refused to do this, saying that
he would not be buried before he was dead. So he remained hid in the
thickets while Phaon went to work to make an opening in the wall.

The wall was not of a very