"Nero saw himself as an artist; his enemies thought of him as a tyrant and a buffoon. The truth is, he was all three. He certainly wasn't very good at running an empire, but then, what did Rome expect? If you put a messed-up sixteen-year-old in charge of half the known world, you're asking for trouble. Rome learned the hard way. From now on, it abandoned the Julio-Claudian line of emperors in favour of skilled administrators. But Nero did leave his mark on history. Whatever else he wasn't, he was a showman. He did everything in a big way, from building his house to killing his mother. He thought of himself as an actor, but no part he ever played on the stage could match the drama, the spectacle and the sheer theatricality of his own life."
Quote Details
Added by wikiquote-import-bot
Unverified quote
0 likes
Original Language: English
Available Languages (1)
Sources
Tony Robinson, Tony Robinson's Romans (2003)
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Nero
Revision History
No revisions have been submitted for this quote.
Categories
Nero
14 quotes on TrueQuotesView all quotes by Nero â
Related Quotes
"Thus Nero went up and down Greece and challenged the fiddlers at their trade. Ăropus, a Macedonian king, made lanternâŚ"
"God, save us from ourselves! We carry within us the elements of hell if we but choose to make them such. Ahaz, Judas,âŚ"
"The emperor who âfiddled while Rome burnedâ, Nero was the last of the Julio-Claudian dynasty that took Rome from RepuâŚ"
"The absolute ruler may be a Nero, but he is sometimes Titus or Marcus Aurelius; the people is often Nero, and never MâŚ"
"Vellem nescire literas."
"Qualis artifex pereo."
"The people love Nero. He inspires in them both affection and respect. There is a reason for this which Tacitus omits.âŚ"
"Nero wasnât worried at all when he heard the utterance of the Delphic Oracle: âBeware the age of seventy-three.â PlenâŚ"
"Nero came to power when his mother poisoned her husband, the Emperor. As Emperor himself, Nero indulged his tendencieâŚ"
"The arts of the magician are said to have been called into action by Nero upon occasion of the assassination of his mâŚ"