her son. The Roman Senate
congratulated Nero upon this fearful deed, while the philosopher Seneca
wrote a defense of the matricide. The philosopher, the Senate, and the
emperor seem worthy of each other.

It would be impossible to enumerate all the crimes of Nero. In A.D. 64 a
fire broke out in Rome, which lasted for six days, consuming the greater
part of the city. Nero was supposed to have ordered the city to be
fired, to obtain a clear representation of the burning of Troy, and,
while Rome was in flames, amused himself by playing upon musical
instruments. He sought to throw the odium of this event upon the
Christians, and inflicted upon them fearful cruelties. The city was
rebuilt upon an improved plan, and Nero's palace, called the Golden
House, occupied a large part of the ruined capital with groves, gardens,
and buildings of unequaled magnificence.

In A.D. 65 a plot was discovered in which many eminent Romans were
engaged. The poet Lucan, Seneca, the philosopher and defender of
matricide, together with many others, were put to death. In A.D. 67
Nero traveled to Greece, and performed on the cithara at the Olympian
and Isthmian games. He also contended for the prize in singing, and put
to death a singer whose voice was louder than his own. Stained with
every crime of which human nature is capable, haunted by the shade of
the mother he had murdered, and filled with remorse, Nero was finally
dethroned by the Praetorian Guards, and died by his own hand, June 9,
A.D. 68. He was the last of the Claudian family. No one remained who had
an hereditary claim to the empire of Augustus, and the future emperors
were selected by the Praetorian Guards or the provincial legions.

During this reign, Boadicea, the British queen, A.D. 61, revolted
against the Romans and defeated several armies; but the governor,
Suetonius Paulinus, conquered the insurgents in a battle in which eighty
thousand Britons are said to have fallen. Boadicea, unwilling to survive
her liberty, put an end to her life.

On the death of Nero, Servius Sulpicius Galba, already chosen emperor by
the Praetorians and the Senate, was murdered in the Forum, January, A.D.
69. He was succeeded by Salvius Otho, the infamous friend of Nero, and
the husband of Poppaea Sabina. The legions on the Rhine, however,
proclaimed their own commander, A. Vitellius, emperor, and Otho's forces
being defeated in a battle near Bedriacum, between Verona and Cremona,
he destroyed him