Nero even helped the Jews - a scourge of the
Roman empire - and rehabilitated disaster-stricken cities.
But then there was a marked - and mysterious - change for the worse.
Nero murdered his mother, who criticized his mistress, whom he later
married, having executed Octavia. Burrus died, probably poisoned.
Seneca retired to his estate.
Two thirds of Rome burnt to the ground in July 64. Nero was in Antium
at the time - 60 kilometers away. He did not burn the city, he did not
play the violin, or the lyre while it burnt. It is dubious whether -
as Tacitus and Suetonius claim - he blamed the few Christians in Rome
for the conflagration, let alone persecuted them.
On the contrary, he sheltered the homeless and rebuilt Rome with
strict fire precautions. His contemporaneous notoriety had to do with
the fact that he appeared as an actor, lyre player and charioteer in
religious dramas all over the empire, sometimes absent from Rome for
as long as 15 months at a time.
Following a coup and assassination attempt, he executed 18 of the 41
conspirators - including his beloved Seneca. He kicked his wife to
death, murdered Statilia Messalina's husband and wed her and finally -
faced with a rebellion of his legions - he fled Rome and committed
suicide.
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