Nero
Nero Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus (37 – 68 AD) ruled from 54 to 68 and was the final emperor of the Julio-Claudian dynasty. Dominated by his mother early in his rule, he decided to murder her, resorting to elaborate means to make it look accidental, such as a roof designed to collapse and crush her, and a pleasure barge designed to sink. She survived the collapsing roof and swam from the sinking barge to shore. Exasperated, he sent his henchmen to club her to death with oars.
Once freed of his mother, and with the resources of an empire at his disposal, he gave free rein to his impulses. Fancying himself a musician, he took to giving long concerts, singing while playing a lyre. Few dared show boredom, and writers record instances of women faking labor in order to leave, and men faking heart attacks or death so they could get carried out.
One of his childhood dreams was to become an Olympics champion, so he had the games delayed for two years until he could visit Greece and participate. Competing in chariot racing, he failed to complete the course when his chariot crashed, but the judges, equal parts fearful and sycophantic, awarded him the victor’s wreath on the grounds that he would have won but for the crash. They also awarded him victor’s wreaths for every event in which he competed, for events in which he did not compete, and for events that were not part of the Olympic competition, such as singing and lyre playing.
He emptied the treasury with lavish spending while neglecting the government and entrusting its daily conduct to a corrupt entourage who drove it into the ground. By 68 AD, discontent reached the breaking point, and generals and provincial governors across the empire rebelled, while in Rome, the Senate officially declared Nero a public enemy and his Praetorian Guard abandoned him. Fleeing Rome, he toyed with throwing himself upon the mercy of the public and begging its forgiveness, playing them the lyre to “soften their hearts”. He was dissuaded when it was pointed out that he would likely be torn apart if sighted in public.
While mulling alternatives, news came that he had been declared a public enemy by the Senate, had been sentenced to be beaten to death publicly, and that soldiers were on the way to arrest him. Out of options, Nero decided to end his life. Unable to do it himself, he had a freedman stab him with a sword, sobbing his last words: “Oh, what an artist dies in me!”
