Nero’s Death

Even though many revolts were breaking out throughout the empire, Nero did not seem to care. It was only a matter of time, his trusted bodyguards deserted him and he fled for his life. When he left Rome the Senate declared him a public enemy and ordered him arrested. Nero went into hiding and soon realized that there was no hope of escape and saw death as the only answer and cried out "Alas, What an Artist Is Dying in Me." He preferred suicide rather than the usual public flogging which was the standard punishments for any enemy of the state, and Nero said "how ugly and vulgar my life has become! This certainly is no credit to Nero." The Praetorian Guard came for him and he raised a knife to his throat and, according to Suetonius said these words "Hark to the sound I hear! It is hooves of galloping horses." And suddenly, with the help of his secretary Epaphroditus, he slit his own throat. He died in 68 A.D. and the empire was on the verge of Civil War. In fact the Jews in Judea had already begun a revolt.

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