Fiddle While Rome Burned

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Did Nero really fiddle while the city of Rome burned?



Ancient tradition has it that Nero was so moved by the sight of the great fire that swept across the capital of his empire in the summer of 64 CE that he climbed to the top of the city walls and declaimed from a now-lost epic poem concerning the destruction of Troy. It is said that he wept copiously while reciting lines describing the conflagration that the Greeks put to the fallen city of Troy. Suetonius tells us that Nero wore theatrical garb to fit the occasion, while the later historian Dio Cassius added the detail that Nero dressed in “cithara player’s garb.” The cithara was a forerunner of the lute, which in turn gave rise to the modern guitar.

Source: Did Nero Really Fiddle as Rome Burned?

Every year in New York City, the nation celebrates the New Year with the ball drop at Times Square. But because of the Coronavirus, this year celebration was essentially cancelled. The New Year's Eve ball has dropped every year since 1907, except in 1942 and 1943, when the dropping was suspended because of the city black-out during World War II. A million spectators who traditionally crowd midtown Manhattan for this celibration were ordered to stay home.

So this year against the backdrop of a mostly empty Times Square, New York City mayor de Blasio and his wife, Chirlane McCray, danced on stage together at the famous landmark.

If Trump could play one, he’d be fiddling right now.

He didnt fiddle. He played golf. And claimed that the fire was a hoax, and was "fake news".

I think that Nero did fiddle. He didn't take the situation seriously. He didn't stop it from happening.

Can’t play the violin and cheats a golf.What a big a$$ loser.

Nero had actually been hundreds of miles away when the fire started. He actually had rushed back to Rome and put his own life at risk by volunteering to work in a fire brigade. Afterwards, he allowed homeless people to stay in the palace as the burned section of Rome was rebuilt. But then, a roomer started spreading that Nero had been responsible for the fire so he could clear out the slums and build new housing - and not only that, but had played the harp (not the fiddle), and reciting the burning of Troy from the Iliad. Fearing the people were turning against him, Nero claimed it had been the Christians who had started the fire, and went on a manic course of public executions by fire and wild animals to punish the Christians, earning him the status he had attained in Revelations as the Beast, 666.
In closing, while Trump is hardly a homicidal maniac like Nero, he still does fit with the myth of Nero fiddling while Rome burned. And Trump doesn't have Nero's testicular fortitude to risk his own life while the city burned.

According to Wikipedia:

The Great Fire of Rome was an urban fire that occurred in July, 64 AD. The fire began in the merchant shops around Rome's chariot stadium, Circus Maximus, on the night of July 19. After six days, the fire was brought under control, but before the damage could be assessed, the fire reignited and burned for another three days. In the aftermath of the fire, two thirds of Rome had been destroyed.

Looters and arsonists were reported to have spread the flames by throwing torches or, acting in groups, hindering measures being made to halt or slow the progress of the flames. Some groups responsible for throwing torches and stopping those from fighting the fire were reported to have claimed they were under orders to do so.

The accusations of Nero having started the fire were further exacerbated by his quickness to rebuild burned neighborhoods in the Greek style and to launch construction of his new palace. The new palace, known as Golden House, would have been massive, covering a third of Rome. Debris from the fire was used as fill for the nearby malaria-infested marshes.

The varying historical accounts of the event come from three secondary sources—Cassius Dio, Suetonius and Tacitus. The primary accounts, which possibly included histories written by Fabius Rusticus, Marcus Cluvius Rufus and Pliny the Elder, do not survive. At least six separate stories circulate regarding Nero and the fire:

* Motivated by a desire to destroy the city, Nero secretly sent out men pretending to be drunk to set fire to the city. Nero watched from his palace on the Palatine Hill singing and playing the lyre.
* Nero was motivated to destroy the city so he would be able to bypass the senate and rebuild Rome in his image.
* Nero quite openly sent out men to set fire to the city. Nero watched from the Tower of Maecenas on the Esquiline Hill singing.
* Nero sent out men to set fire to the city. There were unconfirmed rumors that Nero sang from a private stage during the fire.
* The fire was an accident that occurred while Nero was in Antium.
* Rumor had it that Nero had started the fire. Therefore, to blame someone else for it (and thus exonerate Nero from blame), the fire was said to have been caused by the already unpopular Christians.

So while de Blasio locked down New York City during the annual New Years Eve celebration. He privately celebrated the event by dancing with his wife in an empty Times Square.