He flew his Mother at the Gods' Command,
They bid him ftrike, and did direct his Hand;
To punish Falsehood, and appease the Ghost
Of his poor Father treacherously loft,

Juft in the Minute when the flowing Bowl
With a full Tide inlarg'd his Chearful Soul.
Yet kill'd he not his 3 Sifter, or his 31 Wife,
Nor 32 aim'd at any near Relation's Life:
Oreftes, in the Heat of all his Rage,
Ne'er 33 Play'd or Sung upon a Publick Stage;

Never 34 on Verfe did his wild Thoughts employ,
To paint the horrid Scene of burning Troy,
Like Nero, who to raise his Fancy higher,
And finifh the great Work, fet Rome on Fire.
Such 35 Crimes make Treafon juft, and might compel
Virginius, Vindex, Galba, to Rebel:

Skill against the moft Famous
Artists of that Country; from
whom he bore away the Gar-
land (which was the ufual Re-
compence of the best Perfor-
mer) return'd to Rome in Fri-
umph, as if he had conquer'd
a Province; and order'd both
the Garland and Inftrument to
be hung up among the Banners
and Honours of his Family.

34 He had likewife a great Vanity towards being thought, a good Poet, and made Verfes on the Destruction of Troy, call'd Troica; and 'tis repor ted he burnt Rome, to be more, lively and natural in his Defcription: Tho' 'tis more probable he deftroy'd the OldFashion'd Buildings, out of dislike to the narrownets and crookedness of the Sereets, and to have the Honour of rebuilding the City better, and calling it by his ownName. 35 These monstrous Frolicks and Cruelties cou'd not but make his People weary of his Government. Virginius Rufus, who was his Lieutenant General in Gaul, by the Affiftance of Junius Vindex (a Nobleman

of that Country) foon perfwaded the Armies underhis Command to fall from their Allegiance; and follicited Sergius Galba, who was Lieutenant-General in Spain, to do the like, by offering him the Empire in Favour of Mankind; which he at last accepted, upon intimation that Nero had iffu'd out fecret Orders to difpatch him; and march'd with all the Forces he cou'd gather, towards Rome. Nero not being in a Condition to oppofe fuch Troops, fell into Defpair, which turn'd to an Uncertainty what Measures to take, whether to Poyson himself, or beg Pardon of the People, or endeavour to make his Efcape. The laft of thefe Methods feem'd moft Advifeable; he therefore put himself into Difguise, and crept with four Attendants only into a poor Cottage; where perceiving he was purfued, as a Sacrifibe to the Publick Vengeance, and apprehending the Rabble wou'd Treat him Barbaroufly, if he fell into their Hands; with much ado he resolv'd to Stab himself.

For what cou'd Nero's felf have acted worfe,
To aggravate the wretched Nation's Curfe?
These are the bleft Endowments, Studies, Arts,
Which exercise our mighty Emperor's Parts:
Such Frolicks with his Roving Genius fuit,
On 33 Foreign Theatres to prostitute

His Voice and Honour, for the poor Renown
Of putting all the Grecian Actors down,
And winning at a Wake their Parfley-Crown.
Let 33 this Triumphal Chaplet find fome Place
Among the other Trophies of thy Race;
By thee Domitii's Statues fhall be laid,
The Habit and the Mask in which you play'd
Antigone's, or bold Thyrftes' Part,

(While your wild Nature little wanted Art)
And on the Marble Pillar fhall be hung
The Lute to which the Royal Madman Sung.
Who, 36 Catiline, can boast a nobler Line,
Than thy lewd Friend Cethegus his, and thine?
Yet you took Arms, and did by Night confpire
To fet our Houses and our Gods on Fire:
(An Enterprise which might indeed become
Our Enemies, the Gauls, not Sons of Rome,

36 Catiline's Confpiracy is a Story too well known to be infifted on: He was of a Noble Family, but by his Extravagancies had reduced himself to great Want, which engaged him in bad Practices. The Reman Armies were then purfuing Conquefts in remote Provinces, which Catiline judg'd the moft feafonable Opportunity for un

dertaking some defperate Defign: He therefore entred into a Conspiracy with Cethegus, Len tulus, and other Senators, and Perfons confiderable by their Births and Employmenes, to make themselves abfolute Mafters of their Country by feizing the Senate, plundering the Treasury, and burning the City.

To

To recompenee whofe Barbarous Intent
Pitch'd 37 Shirts wou'd be too mild a Punishment)
But 38 Tully, our wife Conful, watch'd the Blow,
With Care discover'd, and disarm'd the Foe:
Tully, the humble Mushroom, fcarcely known:
The lowly Native of a Country Town,
(Who till of late cou'd never reach the height
Of being honour'd as a Roman Knight)
Throughout the trembling City plac'd a Guard,
Dealing an equal fhare to every Ward,

37 Incendiaries by the Roman
Law were wrap in a Pitch'd
Coat (which they call'd Tunica
Molefta) and Burnt alive: As
we fee by Tacitus Ann. Sect. 44.
Where Nero after having fet
Rome on Fire, lays the Blame
and Punishment on the Chri-
ftians, by ordering them, with |
a Cruel Jeft, to be Light up,
and serve as Torches, when it
was dark.

time) who assembled the Senate, and by a fevere Oration accused and convicted Catiline : However he, with a few of his Party, found means to make his Efcape towards Tuscany, and put himself at the Head of fome Troops which Manlius had got together in those Parts, threatning publickly that he wou'd put out the Fire of the City by the Ruins of 38 One Fulvia (whom Livy it. In the mean time Cethegus, calls a Common Whore, tho' Lentulus, and feveral other Plutarch makes her pass for a Complices, were seized and Lady of Quality) came to haveftrangled in Prison by order fome knowledge of this En- of the Senate, at Cato's Pera terprize, and discover'd it to fuafion: And Caius Antonius Cicero, (a Perfon whom Pater- Nepos, who was joint Conful culus elegantly calls. Virum No-with Tully, marched with what vitatis Nobiliffima; fince he Forces he could raise against was a Man of mean Paren- Catiline, who in a fharp Battage born at Arpinum, an in- tel was kill'd upon the Spot, confiderable Town among with most of his Followers, the Volfcians, but by his Elo- and (as Paterculus obferves) quence rais'd himself to the Quem fpiritum fupplicio debuchief Dignities of State, and erat, prælio reddidit. happened to be Conful at that

And by the peaceful Robe got more Renown
Within our Walls, than Young Octavius won
By 3 Victories at Adium, or the Plain
Of Theffaly 40 difcolour'd by the Slain :
Him therefore Rome in gratitude decrced
The Father of his Country, which he freed.
Marius 41 (another Conful we admire)

In the fame Village born, firft Plow'd for Hire;
His next Advance was to the Soldiers Trade,
Where, if he did not nimbly ply the Spade,
His Surly Officer ne'er fail'd to crack
His Knotty Cudgel on his tougher Back.
Yet he alone fecur'd the tott'ring State,
Withstood the Cimbrians, and redeem'd our Fate:
So when the Eagles to their Quarry flew
(Who never fuch a Goodly Banquet knew)
Only a fecond Laurel did adorn

His Collegue Catulus, tho' Nobly Born;
He fhar'd the Pride of the Triumphal Bay,
But Marins won the Glory of the Day.

39 A Promontory of Epirus, near the Inland Leucas, where Antony and Cleopatra were ruin'd by a Famous Sea Fight. 40 The Fields near Philippi in Theffaly, were Brutus and Caffius were defeated.

on him) the Cimbrians attemp ted to make an Excurfion into Italy: But he kill'd 1400co of of them, and made 60000 Prifoners: For which Victory a Triumph was ordain'd him by the Senate; but to decline 41 Caius Marius, was like-the Envy which might be wife born at Arpinum, and of rais'd by his good Fortune, fuch poor Parents, that he was he follicited that 2. Lutatius firft a Plowman, then a Com-Catulus, his Collegue, who was mon Soldier, yet at laft by of a Noble Family, might be his Merit arrived to the high- permitted to Triumph with eft Employments. Once while him, tho' he had no share in he was Conful (for that Ho-the Action. nour was feven times conferr'd

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