Philip Beaufoy Barry

The Story of Nero, Infamous Roman Emperor Philip Beaufoy Barry

Nero, emperor of Rome from 54-68 AD, was infamous for his cruelty. After ordering the murder of his own mother, Agrippina, he behaved like an animal that has tasted blood. The slightest suspicion, however ungrounded, against anyone was the sure forerunner of speedy death. The emperor plunged, also, into every kind of vice and profligacy, and yet he demanded the adulation of his people for his achievements as poet, athlete, musician and philosopher. During the Great Fire of Rome (61 AD), in which two-thirds of the city was destroyed, he showed himself unmoved by the disaster, playing upon his fiddle and reciting verses about the burning of Troy while he gazed at the blazing ruins. He rebuilt the city on a far more magnificent scale than before, constructing for himself a wonderful home called the Golden House, in which his orgies took place. Originally published in 1927 in the author's larger "Twelve Monstrous Criminals," this paperback edition explores the emperor's youth, his reign, the uprisings that led to his flight from Rome, and his death.