pened the fields of Mars and the
monumental edifices erected by Agrippa,[121] and even his own gardens.
He likewise reared temporary houses for the reception of the forlorn
multitude: and from Ostia and the neighboring cities were brought, up
the river, household necessaries; and the price of grain was reduced
to three sesterces the measure. All which proceedings, tho of a
popular character, were thrown away, because a rumor had become
universally current, "that the very time when the city was in flames,
Nero, going on the stage of his private theater, sang 'The Destruction
of Troy,' assimilating the present disaster to that catastrophe of
ancient times."

At length, on the sixth day, the conflagration was stayed at the foot
of Esquilliae, by pulling down an immense quantity of buildings, so
that an open space, and, as it were, void air, might check the raging
element by breaking the continuity. But ere the consternation had
subsided the fire broke out afresh, with no little violence, but in
regions more spacious, and therefore with less destruction of human
life: but more extensive havoc was made of the temples, and the
porticoes dedicated to amusement. This conflagration, too was the
subject of more censorious remark, as it arose in the AEmilian
possessions of Tigellinus: and Nero seemed to aim at the glory of
building a new city, and calling it by his own name: for, of the
fourteen sections into which Rome is divided, four were still standing
entire, three were leveled with the ground, and in the seven others
there remained only here and there a few remnants of houses, shattered
and half-consumed.

It were no easy task to recount the number of tenements and temples
which were lost: but the following, most venerable for antiquity and
sanctity, were consumed: that dedicated by Servius Tullius to the
Moon; the temple and great altar consecrated by Evander the Arcadian
to Hercules while present; the chapel vowed by Romulus to Jupiter
Stator; the palace of Numa,[122] with the temple of Vesta, and in it
the tutelar gods of Rome. Moreover, the treasures accumulated by so
many victories, the beautiful productions of Greek artists, ancient
writings of authors celebrated for genius, and till then preserved
entire, were consumed: and tho great was the beauty of the city, in
its renovated form, the older inhabitants remembered many decorations
of the ancient which could not be replaced in the modern city. There
were some who