much on the charge of burning the city, as of hating the human race.
And in their deaths they were also made the subjects of sport, for
they were covered with the hides of wild beasts, and worried to death
by dogs, or nailed to crosses, or set fire to, and when day declined,
burned to serve for nocturnal lights. Nero offered his own gardens for
that spectacle, and exhibited a Circensian game, indiscriminately
mingling with the common people in the habit of a charioteer, or else
standing in his chariot. Whence a feeling of compassion arose toward
the sufferers, tho guilty and deserving to be made examples of by
capital punishment, because they seemed not to be cut off for the
public good, but victims to the ferocity of one man.[124]

In the mean time, in order to supply money, all Italy was pillaged,
the provinces ruined: both the people in alliance with us, and the
states which are called free. Even the gods were not exempt from
plunder on this occasion, their temples in the city being despoiled,
and all their gold conveyed away, which the Roman people, in every
age, either in gratitude for triumphs, or in fulfilment of vows, had
consecrated, in times of prosperity, or in seasons of dismay. Through
Greece and Asia, indeed, the gifts and oblations, and even the statues
of the deities were carried off; Acratus and Secundus Carinas being
sent into those provinces for the purpose: the former, Nero's
freedman, a prompt instrument in any iniquity; the other, acquainted
with Greek learning, as far as relates to lip-knowledge, but unadorned
with virtuous accomplishments. Of Seneca it was reported, "that to
avert from himself the odium of this sacrilege, he prayed to retire to
a seat of his, remote from Rome, and being refused, feigned
indisposition, as tho his nerves were affected, and confined himself
to his chamber." Some authors have recorded, "that a freedman of his,
named Cleonicus, had, by the command of Nero, prepared poison for his
master, who escaped it, either from the discovery made by the
freedman, or from the caution inspired by his own apprehensions, as he
supported nature by a diet perfectly simple, satisfying the cravings
of hunger by wild fruits, and the solicitations of thirst from the
running brook."

V

THE BURNING OF THE CAPITOL AT ROME[125]

(69 A.D.)

Martialis had scarcely reentered the Capitol when the furious soldiers
appeared before it, without a general, and each man acting on his own