Weekly expositor. (Brockway Centre, Mich.) 1882-1894, 1889-01-03
THE EMPEROR NERO.
A Stone Unearthed on Which Is In
scribed n Speech bv the Son OF
AOrIunina.

OF Athens and now engaged In the work OF
antiquarian exploration In Beotia for the
French government, is decidedly in luck. He
has, so the Paris correspondent of the Lon
don Telegraph SAYS, unearthed a stone from
the sanctuary OF Apollo Ptoios, on which
Is inscribed, be tells us, "a genuine speech OF
Nero's." That Is to say. II appears TO be the
record, not OF any official or state utterance,
composed for the emperor by secretary or q
professional rhetorlcian, but real ''neat 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 TO the Greeks We know that TO
ward the end of his reign this extraordinary
autocrat, satiated with his triumphs on the
domestic stage, set out on a starring tour"
through the chief cities OF Greece, aud that
he is said to have received no fewer than
1,S0O crowns for his victories In the public
Greclan games. 1t would at this distance Of
time be ungracious to assert and obviously
impossible 10 prove that the judges by whom
these honors were awarded displayed favorit-
Ism. Nevertheless, 1t is certain that Nero
must have entered the lists against other com
pettors, whether in the arts OF poetry of
music, or OF elocuton, with several points 20
the good
Let but lord once own the happy lines,
How the wit sparkles and the sense refnesi
These advantages OF The verse. making lord
are likely to manifest themselves In an en-
HANGED form when the bard, the recter or
the musician is the master Of the world. How
many Of the 1,SO0 crowns went to Nero by
desert, and how many went, as kissing is said
to- by favor posIerity has never yet had an
I .I.rf,, L. Al.
'fancied himselr' as a man of all-round ac-
complshment is certain. His passion for the
applause Of Others was of a piece with his
good opinion OF himself, and in his dying
ejaculation the sentiment Of personal vanity
almost touches that heroic point at which 1t
qua ifes ridicule with admiration. One
thinks OF the weak aud timid vouptuarY cow
erIng away ia his hiding place from the pur.
sulvants of the senate charged with the order
/ for his execution, aud craving the charity OF
an attendants dagger in his liability To drive
his own-oue thinks, we say, Of this forlOrn
aud hunted caitiH reused b. a last stir OF his
/ rul ny passion OF sclf-esteem TO the eXclama-
/ ton, "QIalis HrtileX pereoP'-"What an
artist persnes with meV'-and some feel that
at least there was some human touch about
the tyrant to remind Us OF a kinship that
there would otherwise be excuse enough for
forgetting. IL NJ IlUleaux is right in his
/ judgment upon his lucky lind, the world Will
get taste Of Nero's artistic quality at last I;
and, according To the belief OF the learned ex-
cavator. 1t viii be q favorable taste for the
fragments of oratory found on the stone are
couched, lie says, In "strong, sonotous and
emphatic Greek"
1t will be something to know that Nero's
Greek was good, whatever may be said of his
heart. That he could fiddle or rather play
on the lyre-for that was probably the real
nature of certain historic or pseudo histor-
&c performaDce-we knew, already;
aud we knew, too that with that
es the true artist he proved himself able to
'oblige" on that occasion under crcum-
stances which other musicians would have
found, to use the mdest term, distractlng.
| Yet, though IL seems a pity to throw doubt
on so picturesque a story, and thereby per-
haps TO deprive the modern orator of one OF
his best worn classical illusions, IL Is only
common fairness to the memory of a ruler
who has plenty oil better authenticated sins
10 answer for to admit that there is not a
sclntllla Of evidence worthy of the name for
/ the well-known story that Nero assembled a
tower during the great fire at Rome and
amused himself by singing to a Tyre accom-
! panment q little thing of his own compost
ton entitled "The Destruction OF Troy"
The fable was mere establishment on what
was in all proba liability the equally SANDER
Gus accusation tha the fire itself was his own
work. All that Is known Of Nero's conduct
]
charge is absolutely bascless He acted in
the emergency with the greatest liberality
and kindness, supplying the distressed city
| with provis ons at very moderate price,
throwing open the imperial gardens to the
7 sufferers and ere Getting buildings for their ac-
commOdation. Ii was whispered, of course,
by The Romans, and still more industriously
by the Christian gOssips of the day, tha
all this was only the Caesars
diabollcal cunning, that ne wish
ed to divert suspicion, and 10 fix
II upon the humble and suppressed sect
against whom lie was about to launch a ter.
rible persecution. No authority, however, OF
any real weight can be cited in support OF
this piece OF scandal. Tacitus gives the en-
peroE the benefit of a verdict of mot proven, "
and the judgment OF the great historian on
such matter is Of the utmost possible weight
Suetonius, II is true. declares that Nero was
guilty; but Suetonius would say anything. II
would be as reasonable to accept the verdict
OF French royalist phampbleteer on charges
against Robespierre as to believe the convict
ed caumniator of Tiberius when he holsters
up an accusation against one of that emper.
or's successors. On the whole, 1t 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 bis vocal
and instrumental POI ers as a musician on the
occasion. The account against him is quite
heavy enough without swelling it with fcti.
tious crimes. IL must be admitted, we fear,
that he killed his mother, who, however, was
largely II not wholly responsible for his per-
vertered education, and that he put to death
his adopted son; aud, though It is not abso.
lutelv certain III t his wife Poppea died from
the effects OF kick from her brutal husband
there Is too much reason to fear that this
charge is not without foundation. Crimes OF
this kind, though they could, Of course be
matched In the records OF many another des
pot both In the eastern and western worlds,
would be quite sufficient TO justify impartial
history in branding the memory OF their nu.
thor.
Yet 1t may fairly be doubted whether i'm
partial history has had Ia do much with fix
Ing the place to which Nero has been con.
fined by posterity. The name OF the ruler
who was by nature probably rather weak than
wicked, and who never In his worst excuses
equaled either the caprclous cruelty OF Calig
ula or the sullen ferocty of Domilian, ha:
become q by-word for barbarity and disinter
ested love Of torture. No one ever thinks oil
using the name of either of the two last-men
toned emperors as synonym for these pro-
penslties. IL is Nero alone who has become
proverbial. There can hardly be doubt thai
this ls unjust The son of AgrIppina was
from all that can be gathered, youth OF toll
erably harmless, II not positively virtuous
tendencies when he, at the early age of IL
succeeded to the imperial purple. Even a.
that time his virago OF mother herself
ha rnurdaraaa of liar huahand Ala har