St. Landry democrat., 1878-04-13
The Death of Nero.

Nero wandered out into the streets of
Rome, knocked st the doors of friends; !;
none would answer 10 let him in. He
came back to his bed room, called for
Spicillus, TIE gladiator, to kill him, but
spicillus was gone. What" said he
to Epaphroditus, his secretary, who had
now joired him, have l neither friend
nor foe? and he rushed out again to
throw himself into the Tiber; but his
courage failing him, and the reason grow
ing clear once more in the face of appall-
ing calamity, he wished for some quiet
place where he might consider his strange
and sudden position, and collect his
thoughts for death. With his head muf-
lied up, and covering his face with a
handkerchief dressed only in tunic
with an old soiled cloak thrown over his
shoulder, he trudged along barefoot in
the gloom of the early twilight, accom-
panied by Phaon, Sporus, and Epaphro'
ditus. AS these four skunk from the
Nomentane gate together like common
wayfaring men, they could hear the
soldiers in the Prntorian camp on
the right cursing Nero the beast,
and hailing Galba as father of his
country. "They are in pursuit Of Nero"
said man as he passed them. ANY
/ news in the city about Nero?'' asked
another There was no time to spare.
They found him a broken-down horse
which he mounted, and they hurried on.
At last they reached the village of
Phaon, parched with thirst; the Emperor
Tapped u = some water with his bandsfro
g running tank, with the bitter Jest,
"This is Nero distilled water" Hecrept
quietly into the house on all-fcurs,
through hole in ths wall, and threw
himself on the first mattress, PROSTATE
with hunger, misery aud fatigue. Then
he ordered grave to be dug before his
eyes, for he reused to fly He bade
them pave the pit with marble, and,
weeping theatrically, he prepared, sur
rounded by his only remaining friends
to play his last act What an
artist is now about to perish !"
he exclaimed, but ere the words
left his lips a dispatch from Rome
arrived, which he snatched out Of
Phaon's hands. He read it and shud-
dered. He had been condemned by the
senate and beaten to death and dragged
by the heels and flung into the Tibe,
Selling two daggers, he felt their points
Greek verses occurred to him and he
began to recite. He begged SpoFus to
set up a wall for him-to kill him-to
kill himself first.
At this moment the tramping of
horses and clash of armed men were
heard below. He broke out in verse
from the Iliad "The noise of swift
heeled steeds assails my ear" In
another moment he would be taken
alive. "Come then, courage man I"
he cried, and feebly pushed the point
of the dagger into his throat. But his
nerve was gone, and Epaphroditus
came to his help and pressed it home.
The guards burst in and would have
seized him. "1s this your fdelity?' he
murmured and expired, with staring
eyes, to the terror of all who beheld him.
1t was his last pose, and, as the end of
such life, it could not have been out
done. "Is this your fdelity?" "He
had never made a better comic hit,"
writes NJ. Renah. "Nero uttering. a
melancholy plant over the wickedness
of the age, and the disappearance of good
faith and virtue! Let us applaud! as
the drama is ended and the curtain falls.
Once in history, 0 Nature, with
thousand masks, thou hast had the wit
to find an actor worthy of such role"