MessageToEagle.com – Nero was the notoriously brutal Roman Emperor, responsible for the Great Fire of Rome, the bloody persecution of the early Christians, and the murder of his own mother Agrippina, He also killed many other people; he killed many Roman senators and aristocrats killed, including his former tutor, Seneca, a well-known philosopher and writer.
He sometimes forced his opponents to commit suicide. In addition, Nero’s mother, Agrippina the Younger, was suspected of killing one’s spouse) for Nero’s sake.
Many historians believe that Agrippina poisoned her husband, the Emperor Claudius, so that Nero could succeed him.
At that time, military commanders in some Roman provinces had revolted against Nero, and the Roman Senate had declared him a hostis publicus (public enemy). When Servius Sulpicius Galba proclaimed himself emperor and gained new supporters, Nero feared for his life and tried to flee Rome.
One Roman offered him his villa a few kilometers outside the city. Nero hid there with his four faithful companions.
He believed that he would be found and killed by the rebels, so he decided to take his own life before he was caught.
He ordered his companions to dig a grave for him and begged one of the companions to kill himself first so as to set an example.
When he heard the approaching horsemen, he knew he must be killed immediately, but still couldn’t do it. Instead, he ordered his personal secretary Epaphroditos to do it for him.
Before he died, Nero allegedly uttered his famous last words: “Qualis artifex pereo!” (“What an artist dies in me!”).
When one of the horsemen entered, he saw Nero dying and tried to stop the bleeding, but to no avail. Epaphroditos was later executed for failing to prevent the death of Nero.
After his death, there was a struggle for the throne. The new emperor Galba ruled for no more than seven months before he was killed, and the following year three emperors were overthrown one after the other.
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