the survivors, standing in a place of safety, gazed upon what seemed to be many islands and cities burning.  There was no longer any grief over individual losses, for it was swallowed up in the public lamentation, as men reminded one another how once before most of their city had been similarly laid waste by the Gauls. [Sidenote:—­18—­] While the whole population was in this state of mind and many crazed by the disaster were leaping into the blaze itself, Nero mounted to the roof of the palace, where nearly the whole conflagration could be taken in by a sweeping glance, and having assumed the lyrist’s garb he sang the Taking (as he said) of Ilium, which, to the ordinary vision, however, appeared to be the Taking of Rome.

The calamity which the city at this time experienced has no parallel before or since, except in the Gallic invasion.  The whole Palatine hill, the theatre of Taurus, and nearly two-thirds of the remainder of the city were burned and countless human beings perished.  The populace invoked curses upon Nero without intermission, not uttering his name but simply cursing those who had set the city on fire:  and this was especially the case because they were disturbed by the memory of the oracle chanted in Tiberius’s day.  These were the words:—­

  “Thrice three hundred cycles of tireless years being ended, Civil strife
  shall the Romans destroy.” [Footnote:  Compare Book Fifty-seven, chapter
  18.]

And when Nero by way of encouraging them reported that these verses were nowhere to be found, they changed and went to repeating another oracle, which they averred to be a genuine Sibylline production, namely:—­

  “Last of the sons of Aeneas a matricide shall govern.”

And so it proved, whether this was actually revealed beforehand by some divination or whether the populace now for the first time gave it the form of a divine saying adapted to existing circumstances.  For Nero was indeed the last emperor of the Julian line descended from Aeneas.

He now began to collect vast sums from both individuals and nations, sometimes using compulsion, with the conflagration for his excuse, and sometimes obtaining it by “voluntary” offers; and the mass of the Romans had the food supply fund withdrawn.

[Sidenote:—­19—­] While he was so engaged, he received news from Armenia and soon after a laurel wreath in honor of victory.  The scattered bodies of soldiery in that region had been united by Corbulo, who trained them sedulously after a period of neglect, and then by the very report of his coming had terrified both Vologaesus, king of Parthia, and Tiridates, chief of Armenia.  He resembled the primitive Romans in that besides coming of a brilliant family and besides possessing much strength of body he was still further gifted with a shrewd intelligence:  and he behaved with great bravery, with great fairness, and with great good faith toward all, both friends and enemies.  For these reasons Nero had despatched him to the scene of war in his own stead and had entrusted to him a larger force than to anybody else, being equally assured that the man would subdue the barbarians and would not revolt against him.  And Corbulo proved neither of these assumptions false.