[Sidenote:—­26—­] [Nero was informed of the Vindex episode as he was in Naples viewing the gymnastic contest just after luncheon.  He was naturally far from sorry, and leaping from his seat vied in prowess with some athlete.  He did not hurry back to Rome but merely sent a letter to the senate, in which he asked them to regard leniently his non-arrival, because he had a sore throat, implying that when he did come he wanted to sing to them.  And he continued to devote the same care and attention to his voice, to his songs, and to the zither tunes, not only just then but also subsequently:  so he would not try a tone of his intended program.  If he was at any time compelled by circumstances to make some exclamation, yet somebody, reminding him that he was to appear as citharoedist, would straightway check and control him.

In general he still behaved in his accustomed manner and he was pleased with the news brought him because he had been expecting in any event to overcome Vindex and because he thought he had now secured a justifiable ground for money-getting and murders.  He enjoyed the same degree of luxury; and upon the completion and adornment of the heroum of Sabina he gave it a brilliant dedication, taking care to have inscribed upon it:  “The Women have built This to Sabina, the Goddess Venus.”  And the writing told the truth:  for the building had been constructed with money of which a great part had been stolen from women.  Also he had his numerous little jokes, of which I shall mention only one, omitting the rest.] One night he suddenly summoned in haste the foremost senators and knights, apparently to make some communication to them regarding the political situation.  When they were assembled, he said:  “I have discovered a way by which the water organ”—­I must write exactly what he said—­“will produce a greater and more harmonious volume of sound.”  Such were his jokes about this period.  And little did he reck that both sets of doors, those of the monument and those of the bedchamber of Augustus, opened of their own accord in one and the same night, or that at Albanum it rained so much blood that rivers of it flowed over the land, or that the sea retreated a good distance from Egypt and covered a large portion of Lycia. [Sidenote:—­27—­] But when he heard about Galba’s being proclaimed emperor by the soldiers and about the desertion of Rufus, he fell into great fear:  he made preparations in person at Rome and he sent against the rebels Rubrius Gallus and some others.

On learning that Petronius, [Footnote:  P.  Petronius Turpilianus.] whom he had sent ahead against the rebels with the larger portion of the army, also favored the cause of Galba, Nero reposed no further hope in arms.

Being abandoned by all without exception he began forming plans to kill the senators, burn the city to the ground, and sail to Alexandria.  He dropped this hint in regard to his future course:  “Even though we be driven from our empire, yet this little artistic gift of ours shall support us there.”  To such a pitch of folly had he come as to believe that he could live for a moment as a private citizen and would be able to appear as a musician.