ense supplies of wheat
and clothing to be brought to the Emporium and distributed gratis. It
was said, too, that provinces in Asia and Africa would be stripped of
their wealth at Caesar's command, and the treasures thus gained be given
to the inhabitants of Rome, so that each man might build his own
dwelling.

But it was noised about also that water in the aqueducts had been
poisoned; that Nero intended to annihilate the city, destroy the
inhabitants to the last person, then move to Greece or to Egypt, and
rule the world from a new place. Each report ran with lightning speed,
and each found belief among the rabble, causing outbursts of hope,
anger, terror, or rage. Finally a kind of fever mastered those nomadic
thousands. The belief of Christians that the end of the world by fire
was at hand spread even among adherents of the gods and extended daily.
People fell into torpor or madness. In clouds lighted by the burning,
gods were seen gazing down on the ruin; hands were stretched toward
those gods then to implore pity or send them curses.

Meanwhile soldiers, aided by a certain number of inhabitants, continued
to tear down houses on the Esquiline and the Caelian, as also in the
Trans-Tiber; these divisions were saved therefore in considerable part.
But in the city itself were destroyed incalculable treasures accumulated
through centuries of conquest--priceless works of art, splendid temples,
the most precious monuments of Rome's past and Rome's glory. They
foresaw that of all Rome there would remain barely a few parts on the
edges, and that hundreds of thousands of people would be without a roof.
Some spread reports that the soldiers were tearing down houses, not to
stop the fire, but to prevent any part of the city from being saved.
Tigellinus sent courier after courier to Antium, imploring Caesar in each
letter to come and calm the despairing people with his presence. But
Nero moved only when fire had seized the _domus transitoria_ and he
hurried so as not to miss the moment in which the conflagration should
be at its highest.

Meanwhile fire had reached the Via Nomentana, but turned from it at once
with a change of wind toward the Via Lata and the Tiber. It surrounded
the Capitol, spread along the Forum Boarium, destroyed everything which
it had spared before, and approached the Palatine a second time.

Tigellinus, assembling all the praetorian forces, despatched courier
after courier to Caesar with an announcemen