The sun., 1883-09-30
H.

II.
1t is natural that Nero's figure should domi-
nate the whole of the present narrative. seeing
that it long haunted the Christian imagination
and embodied for it at once the seductive
graces. the male!icent powers and the impaca-
bic antagonism of the pagan world. Not few
however. Of the artists touches seem to nave u
secondary aim. suggest all intention to i'm
press .hc :oader with the strange paraelism
between the first century of the Roman impe-
rial era and our time. and with the surpris-
ingly modern typo of Nero's charac-
ter. In the high Roman society Of
the epoch religion was as dead as 1t
seems to-day on the corresponding social
plane; indifIerentism and agnosticism had
superseded zeal and faith. and the attention
once given to supernatural things had been
transformed into a feverish anxiety to make
the most of earthly existence. Then. as now
there were men who believed that in high
thinking was to be found the largest and
most abiding satisfaction. even from the
skeptical point Of view-men like Nero's
tutor. Seneca. and his great successor
in the next century. Marcus Aureius
men whose spirit revolutionized the Roman
law and made of 1t matchless monu-
ment of human equity-but the philosophers OF
that period like the students Of physical
and economical science in our own time.
exercised Legislative rather than
social influence; they remoulded the principles
and purified the administration OF law for the
community at large rather than rcguatedthe
tastes, manners. and morals Of cultivated and
fashionable society. For one stole there we're
probably u score OF cpicureans in the Roman
aristocracy. or, at all events. in that conspicu-
Gus and brilliant part Of it which consented to
form tho court Of the CAESARS. Now of al tho
epicureans who gave n purely mundane and
scnsuous application to the doctrines of the
sage whose name they took In vain.
Nero was. by talent and requirement
quite as truly as by station. tacile pri,,ceps. In
the strictly modern sense of culture as distn-
guished from original philosophical specula-
ton scientific research, he was the most
widely and exluisitely cultivated man that
ever enjoyed an autocrat's opportunities Of
qualification. Himself n verso writer of
no ordinary skill in the Greek as well AS tho
Latin language. he was IN admirable critic
OF what were then. and still remain. the mas
tcrpieces Of epic, lyric. and dramatic poetry.
1t may be doubted whether even M. Renan
docs full Justice to Nero's accomplishments
In these respects. for although as he grew
older and sank lower his taste also became
vitated and he seemed sometimes. as our
author says. "inobrated with bad literature"
yet TO the last his sensitive tenn permanent would
be thrilled and shaken by the recital OF choral
passages from II Greek tragedy. and there is
melancholy rather than a derisive significance
in the fact that he died with line Of Homer
his lips. BY the sullen admission OF repub-
I,oon histo,'iians who hated him. he was con-
summate connoisstMr ~ sculpture. painting.
and architecture. at n time wnen the unai;-
proachable works OF the Hellenic masters wero
still extant. and when a1vIuare appreciation
A AT.
the most delicate intuitons. or gems and in
taglos. of pottery and glassware. and OF all tho
minor forms OF plastic. craven and decorative
art, le was reputed among experts to be tho
best Judge in the empire. Nero was in brief.
thosprince OF aesthetics, and. as he was at the
same time the daintiest of dandies. the Keen
est amateur OF the stage, and the most munla-
cent patron OF the turf he may be said to have
embodied with incompatible lustre the con-
ventional ideal OF contemporary England.
The curiously modern and familiar cast and
expression OF Neros physiognomy Is brought
out by NJ. Renan. as wo have said. with consid-
erable distinctness. although had he chosen to
divert tho mind from his main purpose. he
might have given more emphasis to this aspect
Of his theme. II was the antichrist. not the
viruoso, whom it was his main business to
portray, and we are accordingly soon recalled
TO the part which the accomplished son Of
Agrippira played in the genesis OF Chris
tnnity. What that Part was We find defined
in the following extract from q chapter which
recoants Nero's death and lis immediate con-
sequences:
Thus pershed at the age Of 81 after reign
ing thirteen yoars and eight months. not the
maidest OF the wiekedest. but the yainest and
most ridiculous sovereign that the chance play
OF events has ever placed in the full light Of
history. Nero is. II we look at the most salient
marks OF his character a literary perversity.
He was far from being destitute OF talent or OF
goodness. this moor young man. inebriated
with bad literature. drunk with histrionie
defamation. who forgot his empire when he