Characters in Five Quotes – Nero
As June 9th is the anniv...
Characters in Five Quotes – Nero
As June 9th is the anniversary of Nero’s suicide in 68 AD, how could I fail to represent him in five quotes from Palatine http://www.karnacbooks.com/product/palatine-the-four-emperors-series-book-i/36826/
1) You could always tell when Nero was about to enter a room. The air was sucked out, there was a momentary silence, and then you were hit in the face with a full blown typhoon. It was, Epaphroditus imagined, like hearing the whistle of a ballista bolt above your head just before it obliterated you off the face off the earth.
2) “You will leave. You will all leave. I wish to spend time with my Poppaea. Rome needs an heir as everyone keeps telling me. It is my duty. Our duty.”
Good luck with that one, thought Epaphroditus as he departed to the sounds of a giggling eunuch and his amorous emperor
3) Where it had fallen down was the timing, which was his department. He wasn’t going to beat himself up about it, though. Who would have thought to check the delivery schedule for the day? And why would anyone have thought it necessary to inform him about the delivery of a water organ? And how was he supposed to know that water organs were Nero’s newest and greatest passion? Nero’s passions were so numerous it was impossible to keep track of them all. And water organs? Why water organs?
4) Nero, placated, attempted a smile. “Answer me honestly, Epaphroditus.”
“I always have, Caesar.”
“Tell me, am I a good lyre player?”
Epaphroditus affected incredulity. “Caesar, you have spent many years in a painstaking cultivation of the art.”
“I have, haven’t I?”
“How could one fail to be a good player after such a length of study?”
It was a good question and one Epaphroditus had wondered about for years.
5) “We should expel all the Gauls from Rome, don’t you think? They are going to be in on it and they’re just waiting for the signal and then they’ll kill us all in our beds. We should execute them first. Can you look into that?
“I am going to Gaul. No, don’t protest. I am going. When the troops see their emperor and see him weep before them …
We could use the elephants. The ones from that show last year, we could ride them to Gaul, across the Alps. Like Hannibal. Vindex would never expect that. Poppaea could sit on the trunk dressed up like an Indian. I can just see you in a turban, you’d look so sweet. Get Calvia to design an outfit
