While provision was thus snaking for the forlorn populace, another conflagration broke out; but it was chiefly confined to the spacious part of the town oc cupied by public buildings and ornaments, and there fore did not occasion such distress to the inhabitants. Only four out of the fourteen quarters of Rome re mained entire. Among the public buildings which perished was the temple dedicated to the Moon by Servius Tullius, the temple and altar which Evander erected in honour of Hercules; the chapel to Jupiter Stator, built by Romulus; the Court of Numa, and the Temple of Vesta. Along with these superb monu ments of antiquity, there were destroyed many of the treasures acquired in war, the finest paintings and sculptures of Greece, and the writings of many illus trious authors.
After the destruction of the city, Nero's first care was to provide for his own accommodation. Severus and Celer designed a palace of huge dimensions, which, according to Pliny, extended quite round the city. It embraced within its circle, hills, wildernesses, lakes, forests stocked with wild beasts, green and spa cious fields. The galleries consisting of three rows of lofty columns, were each a mile long, and at the entrance of the palace was a colossal statue of Nero 120 feet high. The walls of the palace were covered with gold, and it was roofed with the same metal, from which it got the name of the Golden House; and the interior was adorned with a profusion of golden ornaments, precious stones, and mother of pearl. The wood work was inlaid with gold and ivory, and the dome of one of the banqueting rooms had a diurnal motion like the heavens Having found Nero enter so warmly into she projected palace, Severus and Ccler propo3cd to him to cut a canal from the Lake Avernus to the mouth of the Tiber 160 miles long and ten broad, that two galleys of five- banks of oars might pass abreast. Nero entered keenly into the project, which had the merit of being useful, as it opened a free communication between Rome and Campania. Convicts from all parts of Italy were collected, and incredible sums expended on the work; but the labour of cutting through the hard rocks and steep moun tains which intervened rendered it necessary to aban don the undertaking. ' In rebuilding the city, a regular plan seems to have been adopted. The streets were straight and spacious, and regularly disposed; the height of the houses was fixed at about seventy feet, the courts were enlarged, and Nero, at his own cost, added large por ticos to the great houses which stood by themselves.
In order to prevent fire, the houses were raised to a certain height without wood; they were arched with props of stone; the common springs were not allowed to be diverted for private use; no mutual walls were allowed, and every citizen was compelled to have a machine for extinguishing fires.
After the city was burnt, Nero attempted to cast the blame on the Christians, who had begun to increase rapidly in Rome; and he thus excited against them a dreadful persecution, of which we have given an ac count in another part of our work.* The cruelties which Nero exercised against the Christians were soon extended to all ranks of the community. These atrocities took their rise in a conspiracy which was organized by Piso, a man of great integrity and influ ence, and which seems to have embraced some of the leading men in the state. Through the rash zeal of a woman, named Epicharis, the plot to which he was a party was allowed to transpire. Confessions were ex torted from some of the inferior agents; but Epicharis could not be brought, either by scourging or burning, to disclose a single name. In consequence, however, of the information which was obtained, Piso, Vesti nus the consul, Lateranus, Fennius Rufus, Subrius Flavius, and Sulpicius Asper, with many other per sons of distinction, suffered death. Seneca, who had retired into private life, and his nephew Lucas' the poet, were also accomplices, and fell victims to their hatred of Nero. The suspicions of Nero fell upon persons of all ranks, and in all parts of the neighbour hood of Rome; and every day groups of victims were dragged to the palace, to receive their sentence from the tyrant himself; who, accompanied by his favourite and profligate minister Tigellinus, presided personally at the torture. The provinces did not escape from these scenes of cruelty; and the governors seem to have done homage to the imperial tyrant, by an imi tation of his atrocities. The cruelties exercised in Judea by Horns, a bloody and avaricious ruler, ex cited a revolt among the Jews, which set an example that was speedily followed.
His general Corbulo, who had carried on a success ful war against the Parthians, during the greater part of Nero's reign, and who finally subjugated that peo ple, fell a sacrifice to the cruelty of Nero; and his empress Popp;ea, whom he kicked in her pregnancy, miscarried and died by the blow.