MISCELLANEOUS ESSAYS. 



391 



idle tales, I oppose the acknow- 

 ledged behaviour of Nero, after the 

 extinction of the fire, when it stands 

 unveiled by that cloud of confusion 

 and rumour, which always attends 

 present calamity. He opened his 

 gardens for the sufferers, he pitched 

 tents for them, he laboured to pro- 

 vide them with necessaries, he 

 cheapened the price of corn ; such 

 are the testimonies of Tacitus. On 

 his previous absence, on his subse- 

 quent conduct, I might perhaps, 

 then rest his innocence j but it is 

 confirmed by some other strong ar- 

 guments, to which I now proceed. 

 The emperor is charged with set- 

 ting fire to the city, that he might 

 enjoy the beauty of the sight. It 

 iappears, from Tacitus, that so far 

 from coveting the spectacle, his 

 fault was, indolent reluctance to 

 jnove from Antium. He issued 

 from thence the most rigorous or- 

 ders for extinguishing the flames, 

 but he refused to stir till his own 

 palace was on fire. It was in this 

 situation, that he must be supposed 

 to have run up with his harp, im- 

 mediately on his arrival, to the top 

 of the tower of Maecenas; a sta- 

 tion where he stood a very reason- 

 able chance of beiog broiled for 

 his pains. The supposition is too 

 ludicrous to admit a doubt of its 

 falsehood ; and this being as confi- 

 dently asserted as any circumstance, 

 must make us doubt of the truth of 

 ail the rest. Let us combine, then, 

 the absence of the emperor from the 

 capital when the fire began, his 

 active orders before he left Anti- 

 um, his unwilhogness to leave it, 

 the situation of the city on his arri- 

 val, an4 his behaviqur ;(fter the 

 conflagration, and see where we 

 can find the least probable trace of 

 the tale of Suetonius. 



The spot, where the fire broke 

 out, affords another very strong ar- 

 gument of want of design : In prtc 

 diis Tigellinl JEmilianii prorvperat, 

 says Tacitus. He observes, indeed, 

 that plus infamix tncendium habuit, 

 for that reason, that is, because it 

 was on the estate of Tigellinus ; but 

 where were these Pnrdia ? m the 

 district called the iEmiliana. No\* 

 this district was quite without the 

 city, as any one will find upon con- 

 sulting the plan of ancient Rome. 

 Eorum adificia qui habltartt extra 

 Portam Frumerttartam, cut in jEmi- 

 /ianis, says Varro, lib. iii. De re 

 Rustica, What could have induced 

 the emperor, whose ability does 

 not seem to have been contempti- 

 ble, to have adopted such an extra- 

 ordinary method of firing the city, 

 by kindling the flame in its remo- 

 test suburbs ? " He was accused," 

 says Tacitus, " of having been ac- 

 " tuated with a desire of founding 

 " a new city, nnd calling it by his 

 " name.'* Did he do so ? And what 

 prevented him ? The con^quence 

 did not follow, and the imputed 

 means were absurdly disproportion- 

 ate to the motive. 



That the fire in the iEmiliana 

 was accidental, will become more 

 than probable, when we find, that 

 jt was % quarter where dangerous 

 and extensive conflagrations had hap- 

 pened before. It appears from Sue- 

 tonius, in jhis account o£ the reign 

 of Claudius, chap, 18. that one liad 

 obstinately raged in this region du- 

 ring the life of that prince : Ubl JE- 

 miltana pertinacius arcierent. And 

 it appears, that it was of conse- 

 quence enough to call for the pre- 

 sence and incessant labour of the 

 emperor himself and his whole • 

 court ; we may reasonably conjec- 

 ture, therefore, that it vvas a part 



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