The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1907-08-19

tude to forget the slavery to which
they We're gradually reduced.
In the siXtieth year after Christ,
Nero instituted quinquennial exercises
in poetry, oratory and music. Three
years after this he exhibited himself
at the theater of Naples as a public
singer, and in sixty-six appeared on a
stage in Greece. His next exploits
were at the Olympic games where, by
corupting his judges, he carried off
the prize of music from professional
musicians. with whom he did not
scruple to enter the lists. BY this
means he obtained eighteen hundred
prizes which he exultingly brought
with him from Greece and entered
Naples, Antium, Albanum and Rome
through a breach in the wall of each
city, as an Olympic victor.
One of the candidates whom he had
conquered Diodorus, a celebrated per-
former on the cithara was carried
through the streets of Rome in car
in which vanquished kings used to be
brought in triumph and with all the
splendor pomp and solemnity en-
ployed to signalize the conquering
prowess of the Roman generals.
In connection with this, the particu-
lar propensities of Nero have been so
linked with the history of the music
Of his time that some further facts
concerning the public display OF his
abilities as a musician will not be less
proper than amusing to those who can
smile at the self-degradation of i'm
perial dignity,
We learn from Suetonius that this
prince so valued his voice that, for
its preservation, he was in the habit Of
lying on his back with q thin plate of
lead upon his stomach; that he fire.
quently submitted to the administra-
ton Of emetics and cathartics; that
he abstained from all kinds of fruit
! and whatever food was deemed pre-
! judicial to the vocal organs; that,
from the apprehension of straining
and hurting the CLOTHS hq ceased to
harangue the soldiery and fthe senate
and issued his orders in writing. His
care and anxiety not stopping here,
when he returned from Greece he es-
tablished about his person phonas-
Gus, or officer whose sole business was
to be the guardian and preserver of
his voice. 1t was only in the pres
ence of this vocal governor that he
would speak and when in his presence
only by his permission; and then only
as loud as the officer thought proper
If. perchance, the emperor forgot him
self or was transported by some sud
den emotion and did not attend to his
keepers remonstrances he was tc
stop his mouth with a napkin
This excess of folly only rendered
the imperial son of Agrippina despica-
Bile. We cannot do else than add de-
testation to our contempt when we
read of his constant habit of sallyina
ont from his palace at night to visit
the lowest scenes of vice and ihfamy
of the pleasure he took in insulting all
he met in the streets, his practice OF
offering public violence to unprotect-
ed females, Of his Disgusting himself
as woman and being married to one
Of his eunuchs, of his afterwards cele-
brating his nuptials with one of his
meanest catamites, of his cruelties tc
mis- wife, Octavia Popoea and the cele-
brated writer's, Seneca, Lucan and Pc
tronius; Of his burning of Rome and
during the conhagration, exultingly
singing to his Tyre the destruction 81
| Troy.
Though all the care and attention
he received did not improve his voice
naturally thin and husky, the onl!
way to ensure his favor was to com
mend the fullhess and brilliancy o
its tones, to be in raptures while h,
sung and detected when he ceased
The emperor's particular vanity, uni
versally known, was of course, uni
yersally flattered: and secure of ap
plauding audiences he appeared OF
the stage almost every day, inviting
not only the senators and knights, bu
the whole populace and rabble o
Rome to hear him in the theate
which he had built in his own palace
He frequently detained the audience
j. not only the whole day but the who'll
: night, for while he was disposed, a
whatever intervals, to continue to de
| light them no one dare think of de
: parting Sometimes persons were S
tired and disguised with his perform
ance that they by stealth leaped owe
/ the walls at the hazard of their lives
{ or counterfeited death in order to ge
) relieved by being carried out a
/ corpses. Some, by continuing nigh
and day in the same posture, wer
seized with mortal distempers. These
however, they dreaded less than tn
resentment of the emperor whic
they would have inevitably INQUIRE
| by their absence.
Besides the great number of spie
, land informers employed to watch tn
] | countenances and behavior of the at
/ dience, there were many who openl
. set down the names of those who dis
e covered the least symptoms of dissat
: isfaction. The vulgar were Instant