Loss of an evil genius

Dear Anupa,

When Claudius adopted Nero he was 11. His tutor was the philosopher Seneca. He was also influenced by Afranius Burrus, the Chief of the Praetorian Guard Nero was scared of mother Agrippina, and he gradually began to resent her interference.

In the year 58, when he was 21, Nero was infatuated by Poppea Sabina, another man's wife. Poppea was good looking, and her husband, Marcus Otho,was a close companion of Nero. When Otho was sent off to Lusitania as governor, Poppea remained in Rome with Nero.

Nero asked his mother's consent to marry Poppea. When Agrippina refused he tried to poison her, she took an antidote; he tried to drown her, she swam ashore; finally when his henchmen surrounded her, she asked them to strike at the womb. It had been predicted that Nero would kill her. With his mother out of the way, Nero married Poppea who got Octavia (Nero's first wife) exiled and executed.

Nero was 27 when the Great Fire (64 AD) broke out near the Circus Maximus, and spread rapidly destroying a major portion of the city. Nero who was away when the fire began, got back to Rome and supervised the arrangements for relief. But many people believed that Nero had started the fire in order to build a new palace. The story that he sang, while the fire was raging, the 'Sack of Ilium' (his own work) while playing the lyre is probably true. Few believed Nero when he blamed Christians for starting the fire and started a persecution in which Saint Peter was killed. Nero's relationship with the Senate worsened and some Senators too conspired to assassinate Nero.

With all the money he expropriated Nero built his Golden House, over an area of 125 acres of the most expensive real estate in Rome. There was a 120-foot statue of Nero himself. It was built like a country house with vast open spaces and even an artificial lake where the Colosseum now stands. Little remains of Nero's Golden House which was destroyed by yet another fire in 104.

Nero, a great admirer of Greece, went to Greece, competed in a horse race, fell off and came in last. But the Greeks proclaimed him the winner and he exempted them from payment of tribute to Rome. When he performed, one was not permitted to leave the auditorium. On his return to Rome, Nero learnt that in Gaul Julius Vindex had started a rebellion. Then came the news that Servius Suplicius Galba, governor of Spain, had been proclaimed emperor by his troops. Nero tried to flee as he could not find support anywhere, even from the Praetorian Guard. "What an artist the world was losing," Nero said before he stabbed himself. His private secretary Epahroditus had to help him kill himself.

Nero was 30 when he died. He had a certain popularity with the common people and for years his tomb was decorated with flowers. Was he all evil?

FABIAN

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