room. The command was afterwards given successively to Trebellius Maximus and Vettius Bolanus; but the plan pursued by these generals was only to retain, by a conciliatory administration, the parts of the island which had already submitted to the Roman arms.
During these transactions in Britain, Nero himself was exhibiting, in Rome or some of the provinces, such scenes of extravagance as almost exceed credibility.
- In one place, entering the lists amongst the competitors in a chariot race;
- in another, contending for victory with the common musicians on the stage;
- revelling in open day in the company of the most abandoned prostitutes and the vilest of men;
- in the night, committing depredations on the peaceful inhabitants of the capital;
- polluting with detestable lust, or drenching with human blood, the streets, the palace, and the habitations of private families;
- and, to crown his enormities, setting fire to Rome, while he sung with delight in beholding the dreadful conflagration.
In vain would history be ransacked for a parallel to this emperor, who united the most shameful vices to the most extravagant vanity, the most abject meanness to the strongest but most preposterous ambition; and the whole of whose life was one continued scene of lewdness, sensuality, rapine, cruelty, and folly.
It is emphatically observed by Tacitus, “that Nero, after the murder of many illustrious personages, manifested a desire of extirpating virtue itself.”