Some who confessed their
sect were first seized, and afterwards, by their information, a vast
multitude were apprehended, who were convicted, not so much of the crime
of burning Rome, as of hatred to mankind. Their sufferings at their
execution were aggravated by insult and mockery; for some were disguised
in the skins of wild beasts, and worried to death by dogs; some were
crucified; and others were wrapped in pitched shirts,* and set on fire
when the day closed, that they might serve as lights to illuminate the
night. Nero lent his own gardens for these executions, and exhibited at
the same time a mock Circensian entertainment; being a spectator of the
whole, in the dress of a charioteer, sometimes mingling with the crowd
on foot, and sometimes viewing the spectacle from his car. This conduct
made the sufferers pitied; and though they were criminals, and deserving
the severest punishments, yet they were considered as sacrificed, not so
much out of a regard to the public good, as to gratify the cruelty of
one man."
_________
* This is rather a paraphrase, but is justified by what the Scholiast
upon Juvenal says; "Nero maleficos homines taeda et papyro et cera
supervestiebat, et sic ad ignem admoveri jubebat.
Pages:
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49