substantial character; if it had been, it
would not have been possible for Phaon, with the means at his
command, to have effected a passage. As it was, he succeeded, though
with difficulty, in loosening some of the stones, so as gradually to
make an opening.

Nero was engaged, while this work was going on, in pulling the
briers out of his clothes and flesh, and being thirsty, he went down
to a ditch that was near, and drank, taking up the water in his
hands. As he drank, he groaned out, "Oh, can it be that I have come
to this!"

[Illustration: PHAON AT THE WALL.]

In the mean time, Phaon went on with his work, and soon succeeded in
making a hole in the wall sufficient for his purpose, and then the
men dragged Nero through. They brought him into the house, and shut
him up in a small and secret apartment there.

Nero now felt relieved from the extreme terror which he had suffered
during his flight; but the feelings of terror subsided in his mind,
only to give place to the still more dreadful pangs of remorse and
horror. He moaned continually in his anguish, and incessantly
repeated the words, "My father, my mother, and my wife doom me to
destruction." These were indeed the words of one of the tragedies
which he had been accustomed to act upon the stage, but they
expressed the remorse and anguish of his mind so truly, that they
recurred continually to his lips. Phaon and the men who had brought
him to the house, finding it impossible to calm him, and seeing no
hope of his final escape from death, and perhaps, moreover, wishing
to relieve themselves of what was now fast becoming a serious
burthen to them, recommended to him to kill himself,--and thus, as
they said, since he must die, die like a man. Finally, Nero seemed
to yield to their urgings. He said that he would kill himself as
they desired. They might go out and dig a grave for him, and prepare
wood and water for washing the body. While giving these orders he
moaned and groaned continually, as if in a state of delirium.

In the mean time the morning had come, and at Rome all was
excitement and commotion. The Senate came together and proclaimed
Galba emperor. They also passed a decree pronouncing Nero an enemy
to the state, and sentencing him to be punished as such in the
ancient manner. When this news transpired, a friend of Phaon wrote a
letter to him, giving an account of what the Senate had done, and
sent it off with the utmost haste by a trusty messenger.