270 The Empire. R O 
chapel vowed by Romulus to Jupiter Stator; the court of 
Numa, with the temple of Vesta, and in it the tutelar gods 
peculiar to the Romans. 
Upon the ruins of the demolished city, Nero founded a 
palace, which he called his golden house; though it was not 
so much admired on account of an immense profusion of 
gold, precious stones, and other ornaments, as for its vast 
extent, containing fields, wildernesses, artificial lakes, or¬ 
chards, vineyards, &c. The entrance of this stately edifice 
was wide enough to receive a colossus, representing Nero, 
120 feet high: the galleries, which consisted of three rows 
of tall pillars, were each a full mile in length. The house, 
itself, historians say, was tiled with gold, and the walls were 
covered with the same metal, (by which they probably 
mean that it was gilt.) Pliny tells us, that this palace ex¬ 
tended quite round the city. Nero, it seems, did not finish 
it; for the first order Otho signed was, as we read in Sueto¬ 
nius, for fifty millions of sesterces to be employed in per¬ 
fecting the golden palace which Nero had begun. 
The projectors of the plan were Severus and Celer, two 
bold and enterprising men, who soon after put the emperor 
upon a still more expensive and arduous undertaking, namely, 
that of cutting a canal through hard rocks and steep moun¬ 
tains, from the lake Avernus to the mouth of the Tiber, 160 
miles in length, and of such breadth that two galleys of five 
ranks of oars might pass abreast. His object in this was 
to open a communication between Rome and Campania, 
free from the troubles and dangers of the sea, but his great 
undertaking failed. 
After the city was burnt, Nero attempted to cast the blame 
on the Christians, who had begun to increase rapidly in 
Rome; and he thus excited against them a dreadful persecu¬ 
tion. The cruelties which Nero exercised against the Chris¬ 
tians were soon extended to all ranks of the community. 
These atrocities took their rise in a conspiracy which was 
organised by Piso, a man of great integrity and influence, 
and which seems to have embraced some of the leading men 
in the state. Through the rash zeal of a woman, named 
Epicharis, the plot to which he was a party was allowed to 
transpire. Confessions were extorted from some of the 
inferior agents; but Epicharis could not be brought, either 
by scourging or burning, to disclose a single name. In con¬ 
sequence, however, of the information which was obtained, 
Piso, Vestinus the consul, Lateranus, Fennius Rufus, Subrius 
Flavius, and Sulpicius Asper, w-ith many other persons of 
distinction, suffered death. Seneca, who had retired into 
private life, and his nephew Lucan the poet, were also ac¬ 
complices, and fell victims to their hatred of Nero. The 
suspicions of Nero fell upon persons of all ranks, and in all 
parts of the neighbourhood of Rome ; and every day groupes 
of victims were dragged to the palace, to receive their sen¬ 
tence from the tyrant himself; who, accompanied by his 
favourite and profligate minister Tigellinus, presided per¬ 
sonally at the torture. The provinces did not escape from 
these scenes of cruelty ; and the governors seem to have 
done homage to the imperial tyrant, by an imitation of his 
atrocities. The cruelties exercised in Judea, by Floras, a 
bloody and avaricious ruler, excited a revolt among the 
Jews, which set an example that was speedily followed. 
His general, Corbulo, who had carried on a successful war 
against the Parthians, during the greater part of Nero’s reign, 
and who finally subjugated that people, fell a sacrifice to 
the cruelty of Nero ; and his empress Poppaea, whom he 
kicked in her pregnancy, miscarried, and died by the blow. 
The detestation which these actions excited, prepared the 
public mind for the overthrow of Nero’s power. Julius 
Vindex, who commanded the Roman legions in Gaul, im¬ 
pelled only by his hatred of tyranny, openly raised the 
standard of revolt; and when he heard that Nero had of¬ 
fered a reward of ten millions of sesterces for his head, he 
boldly replied, “ Whoever brings me Nero’s head, shall 
have the possession of mine.” This daring and disinterested 
leader proclaimed Sergius Galba emperor. Galba, venerable 
by his age, and pre-eminent for wisdom and courage, was 
M E. The Empire. 
then governor of Spain ; and though he was at first unwil¬ 
ling to occupy such a dangerous elevation, yet he was in¬ 
duced to join his forces with those of Vindex. 
No sooner did Nero hear of Galba’s resolution, than lie 
rent his garments, and swore that he was undone. He 
threatened to massacre all the governors of provinces, to 
murder every Gaul, to poison the senate, burn the city, and 
turn adrift the lions among the people. The absurdity of 
these threats was equalled only by the folly which w T as ex¬ 
hibited in his preparations to execute them. Instead of 
raising armies, and providing for their equipment, he con¬ 
structed waggons for the easy conveyance of his musical in¬ 
struments, and he equipped his concubines in the drapery 
of Amazons. The spirit of insurrection in the mean time 
was quickly propagated among the legions in Germany, 
Africa, and Lusitania. Virginius Rufus, who commanded 
on the Upper Rhine, hesitated for a while to take any active 
part, and during that time, his legions, without his know¬ 
ledge, attacked and defeated the Gauls with great slaughter. 
Mortified at this circumstance, Vindex put himself to death; 
but distressing as this event was to the insurgents, it was 
attended with no general consequences. Nero had so com¬ 
pletely abandoned his cause, that he provided himself with 
poison, and prepared to make his escape into Egypt. 
His confidential servants were sent off to equip a fleet at 
Ostia; but when Nero requested the tribunes and centurions 
to accompany him, he could not find a single person to 
follow his fortunes. Agitated and perplexed, he retired to 
his couch; but waking in the middle of the night, and 
finding that his guards had deserted him, he sent for his 
friends to obtain their advice. No friend, however, was to 
be found. He went from house to house; but every door 
was shut against him. He besought one of his gladiators to 
take away his life; but no hand would raise itself to dis¬ 
patch the tyrant. He was now on the eve of plunging him¬ 
self into the Tiber, when Phaon, one of his freedmen, offered 
him his country house as a place of refuge. Nero gratefully 
accepted the offer, and, attended by four of his domestics on 
horseback, he made many escapes, and at last reached the 
back of Phaon’s house, which he entered by a small hole in 
the wall. When Nero was here reposing upon a wretched 
pallet, and sustaining himself with brown bread and a cup 
of water, the senate were declaring Galba emperor, and con¬ 
demning their oppressor to suffer the rigour of the ancient 
laws. When he learned from one of Phaon's slaves that he 
was thus to die, and that he was to be scourged to death with 
his body naked, and his head fixed to a pillory; and when 
he heard the soldiers actually approaching to the house, he 
planted a dagger at his throat, and contrived, with the aid 
of his secretary, Epaphroditus, to inflict a mortal wound- 
Thus he expired in the 32d year of his age, and the 14th of 
his reign. A. D. 68. 
Although Galba obtained the imperial power under cir¬ 
cumstances most favourable, yet being in the 72d year of 
his age, he wanted that strength of frame which the arduous 
duties of his situation so imperiously demanded. An attempt 
to assassinate him, and a partial revolt in his own army, 
conspired with the death of Vindex, to make him repent of 
his elevation; and it is said that he seriously thought of 
putting an end to his existence. When he heard, however, 
of the death of Nero, he assumed the title and badges of 
power. 
During Galba’s journey towards Rome, an event occurred 
which displayed the severity more than the justice of the 
emperor. A body of sailors, to whom Nero had promised 
certain advantages, assembled round Galba about three miles 
from Rome, to request a fulfilment of that promise, and 
urging it in a disrespectful manner, and even taking up arms, 
Galba dispersed them with a body of horse, and killed no 
fewer than 7000. When Galba was settled in Rome, he 
began by dismissing the German cohort, by replenishing the 
exhausted exchequer, and by putting down those vices 
which had polluted the preceding reign. Under the system 
of economy which was now pursued, many acts of meanness 
