Nero | Page 5

every five years,
and which he called Neronia. Upon the dedication of his bath [572] and

gymnasium, he furnished the senate and the equestrian order with oil.
He appointed as judges of the trial men of consular rank, chosen by lot,
who sat with the praetors. At this time he went down into the orchestra
amongst the senators, and received the crown for the best performance
in Latin prose and verse, for which several persons of the greatest merit
contended, but they unanimously yielded to him. The crown for the
best performer on the harp, being likewise awarded to him by the
judges, he devoutly saluted it, and ordered it to be carried to the statue
of Augustus. In the gymnastic exercises, which he presented in the
Septa, while they were preparing the great sacrifice of an ox, he shaved
his beard for the first time [573], and putting it up in a casket of gold
studded with pearls of great price, consecrated it to Jupiter Capitolinus.
He invited the Vestal Virgins to see the (346) wrestlers perform,
because, at Olympia, the priestesses of Ceres are allowed the privilege
of witnessing that exhibition.
XIII. Amongst the spectacles presented by him, the solemn entrance of
Tiridates [574] into the city deserves to be mentioned. This personage,
who was king of Armenia, he invited to Rome by very liberal promises.
But being prevented by unfavourable weather from showing him to the
people upon the day fixed by proclamation, he took the first
opportunity which occurred; several cohorts being drawn up under
arms, about the temples in the forum, while he was seated on a curule
chair on the rostra, in a triumphal dress, amidst the military standards
and ensigns. Upon Tiridates advancing towards him, on a stage made
shelving for the purpose, he permitted him to throw himself at his feet,
but quickly raised him with his right hand, and kissed him. The
emperor then, at the king's request, took the turban from his head, and
replaced it by a crown, whilst a person of pretorian rank proclaimed in
Latin the words in which the prince addressed the emperor as a
suppliant. After this ceremony, the king was conducted to the theatre,
where, after renewing his obeisance, Nero seated him on his right hand.
Being then greeted by universal acclamation with the title of Emperor,
and sending his laurel crown to the Capitol, Nero shut the temple of the
two-faced Janus, as though there now existed no war throughout the
Roman empire.

XIV. He filled the consulship four times [575]: the first for two months,
the second and last for six, and the third for four; the two intermediate
ones he held successively, but the others after an interval of some years
between them.
XV. In the administration of justice, he scarcely ever gave his decision
on the pleadings before the next day, and then in writing. His manner
of hearing causes was not to allow any adjournment, but to dispatch
them in order as they stood. When he withdrew to consult his assessors,
he did not debate the matter openly with them; but silently and
privately reading over their opinions, which they gave separately in
writing, (347) he pronounced sentence from the tribunal according to
his own view of the case, as if it was the opinion of the majority. For a
long time he would not admit the sons of freedmen into the senate; and
those who had been admitted by former princes, he excluded from all
public offices. To supernumerary candidates he gave command in the
legions, to comfort them under the delay of their hopes. The consulship
he commonly conferred for six months; and one of the two consuls
dying a little before the first of January, he substituted no one in his
place; disliking what had been formerly done for Caninius Rebilus on
such an occasion, who was consul for one day only. He allowed the
triumphal honours only to those who were of quaestorian rank, and to
some of the equestrian order; and bestowed them without regard to
military service. And instead of the quaestors, whose office it properly
was, he frequently ordered that the addresses, which he sent to the
senate on certain occasions, should be read by the consuls.
XVI. He devised a new style of building in the city, ordering piazzas to
be erected before all houses, both in the streets and detached, to give
facilities from their terraces, in case of fire, for preventing it from
spreading; and these he built at his own expense. He likewise designed
to extend the city walls as far as Ostia, and bring the sea from thence by
a canal into the old city. Many severe regulations and new orders were
made in his time. A sumptuary law