Richland beacon. [volume] (Rayville, La.) 1869-1890, 1888-12-08
THE EMPEROR NERO.
A Stone Cnearthed on which IN In
s"ribed speech by the son OF
AgrippIna,


AgrippIna.
VI. Ilolleaux, formerly of the French school
OF Athens and now engaged in :hc work CT
antiquarian exploration in Rpotia for Tie
French government, is decidedly in luck. lie
has, so the Paris correspondent Of the Lon
don IoegrHph SAYS, unearthel a stone from
the sanctuary of A. olo Ptolos, on which
Is inscribed, he tells Us, "a genuine speech of
Nero's." That Is to say, it appears 10 be The
record, not OF any official or state uttcrance,
composed for the emperor by secretary or o
professional rhetorician, but a real inca; and
appropriate" address, delivered, so far as can
be judged from internal evidence, ex tenn
pore, probably on the occasion of the grant
OF liberty 10 the Greeks. We know that 10
ward the end of his reign this extraordinary
autocrat. satiatel with his trumphs on the
domestic stage, set ont on n starring tour'
through The chef cities Of Greece, and that
he is said to have received no fewer 'han
l.S0J crowns for his victories in the public
Grecan games. 1t would az this distance Of
time lie ungracious to assert and obviously
impossible to prove that the judges Dy whom
these honOrs were awarded displayed favorit-
ism. Nevertheless, IL is certain that Nero
must have entered the lists against other COM
petitOrs, whether In the arts of poetry, of
music, or of elocution, with several points 20
the good.
Let but a lord once own the happy lines,
How the wit sparkles and the sense reiiues.
These adv ntages Of The verse making lord
are likely t. manifest themselves in =. eu-
harced form when the bard, the reciter or
tie musician is the master of the world. How
many of tie 1,S00 crowns went to Nero by
desert, and how many went, as kissing is said
II, by favor, posierity has never vet had an
opportunity of Judging. That he greatly
'fancied himself" as q man of ai,'round ac-
cOmpishment Is certain. His passion for tue
APPLAUSE Of others was OF piece with his
good opinion of himself, and in his dying
ejaculation the sentiment OF personal vanity
almost touches that heroic point at which II
qualities ridicule with admiration Ore
thinks of the weak and timil vouptuary cow
ering away in his hiding place from the pur-
suivan,s Of the senate charged with the order
for his execution, aud craving the charity OF
an attendants dagger in his inability to drive
his OWn-Onc thinks. We say, of this forlurn
aud hunted caitiH rOu5ei b. a last stir of his
rui ng passion of se!f-esteem 10 the excama-
ton, 'QIalis artifex pereOr r'--"Wbat an
artist pershes with me r'-and some feel that
at least there was some human touch about
TIE tyrant to remind us Of knship that
there would otherwise be excuse enough for
forgetting. If VI liolleaux is right in his
Judgment upon his lucky find. the world will
get taste OF Nero's artistic quality at last:
and. according tn the belief of the learned cX.
cavator, it will be favorable taste, for the
fragments OF OralorY found on the stone are
couchcd, lie Says, In "strong, sonorous, and
en- hattie Greek
Ii vii be something 10 know that Nero's
Greek was good, Whatever may be said Of his
heart. That h. could idlle or rather play
on the lyre-fOr that was probably the real
nature Of certain historic or pseudo histor-
ic perfcrmaDce-we knew; already:
and We knew, too that with that
power of self abstraction which distinguish.
es the true artist he proved himself able to
"obiige" on that occasion under c.rcum-
ances which other musicians w0Ild have
found, TO use the miIdest Term, distractin..
Yet, though it seems a pity to throw doubt
on so picturesque story, aud thereby per-
haps to deprive the modern orator of one OF
his best worn classical allusions, il is only
common fairness to The memory Of ruler
who has plenty oil better authenticated sins
to answer for TO admit that there is not n
sciutilla Of evidence worthy of tho name for
the well-kuown story that Nero asceuded a
tOaer during the great FIRE at Rome and
hHuecu HiiiiSCIi " jFEc afPCll-
psniment a little thing OF his own compost
ton entitled 'rhe Destruction o. Troy"
The fab c was mere Establishment on what
was in all proba bab blity the equally SANDER
ous accusation that the fire itself was his own
work. All that /; known of Nero's conduct
ON this occas on goes 70 suggest that the
charge is abso'u.el; taseless. He acted in
the emergency win the greatest liberalitv
an1 kindness, suprlyin the distressed civ
with prov;s ons att a very moderate pre-,
throwing open tie imperial gardens to the
sufferers and erecting buildings for their ac-
commclation. 1t was whispered of course
br The Romans, and still more industrou,ly
10y the Christian goss ps of the day, that
al this was only the C;2 iar's
diaDOllcal cunn:Gg, that he wish.
ell to divert suspicion, and 10 fx
II uron the humble and suppressed sect
against whom lie was about ~ launch ter
rile persecution. No authority, however Of
any real weight can b.. cited in support O.
Tbs y ccc OF scandal. Tacitus gives the en-
pcror The benefit of a verdict Of Not proycr,"
and The judgment of the great historian on
such mater Is of the utmost possible weight
Suetonus, IL is true, declares that Nero was
guilty; but Suctonius would say ANYTHING Ii
wOuId be as reasonable to accept the verdict
If a French royalist phamphleteer on charges
against Eobesrierre as 10 believe the convict
ed calumma.Or Of Tiberius when he bo.sters
up an accusation against one of that cmper-
ur's successors. Ga the whole, it seems as
reasonable as it is charitable to believe that
Nero had no hand in the firing of Rome, and
that he certainly never exhibited his vocal
and instrumental poa ers as a musician on the
occasion. The account against him is quite
heavy enough without swelling it with iicti.
tious crimes. !; must be admitted. We fear,
that lie killed his mother, who, however was
largey If not wholly responsible for his per-
vcrtered education, and that he put to death
his adopted son; aud, though il Is not abso-
In NJ in IA ia wif fa foJr
the effects OF a kick from her brutal husband.
there Is too much reason to fear that this
charge is not without foundation. Grimes of
This kind, though they could, of course, be
matched in The records OF many another dcs-
POT both in the eastern and western worlds
would be quite sufficient to justify impartial
history in branding the memory OF their au-
thor.
Yet it may faisly be doubted whether i'm
partial history has had to do much with fix
ing the place to which Nero has been con-
fined by pOsteritr. The name OF the ruler
who was by nature probably rather weak than
wicked. and who never, in his worst excesses,
equaled either the capriciOus cruelty OF Calig-
ula or the sullen ferocity Of DomitiaD. has
become by-word for barbarity and disinter-
ested love OF torture. No one ever thinks Of
using the name of either of the two last-men-
/ toned emperors ns a synonym for these pro.
! pensities. II is Nero alone who bas become
proverbial. There can hardly be doubt that
this is unjust. The son of Agrppina was.
from all that can be gathered, youth Of toll.
erably harmless, IL not positively viriuous,
tendencies when be, at the early aye of II,
succeeded to the imperial purple. Even at
that time his viragO of a mother hers
I the murdercss OF her husband, did her ut
most 10 urge the young emperor to acts Of
violence and blOodshed, and 1t Is certainly 10
the credit of his natural disposition that he
| preferred the mild and wise counse!s Of Sene-
"a TO hers during the earlier years OF his