Leisure And Entertainment Nero

Front 1

Suet Nero 20

Back 1

• "began to long to appear on stage"

• Had 5000 commoners placed around theatres and taught the Alexandrian methods of applause so they could applaud him when he sang

• The leaders of these groups "were paid four hundred thousand sesterces each"

Front 2

Suet Nero 21

Back 2

• Sang with the commoners

• "he did not cease to appear in public from time to time"

• "he even thought of taking part in private performances among the professional actors"

Front 3

Suet Nero 22

Back 3

• "special passion for horses" • "more races were added"

• "managers of the troupes no longer thought it worthwhile to produce their drivers at all except for a full day's racing"

• Went to Greece saying "the Greeks were the only ones who had an ear for music and that they alone were worthy of his efforts"

Front 4

Suet Nero 23

Back 4

• Refused to return to Rome soon as he was focussed on contests

• No one was allowed to leave when he was singing

Front 5

Suet Nero 24

Back 5

• Observed the rules "most scrupulously"

• He made sure to "obliterate the memory of all other victors in games and leave no trace of them"

Front 6

Suet Nero 25

Back 6

• Returned from Greece and, when he arrived in Rome, entered in the chariot that Augustus had used for triumphs

• Had a coin struck with him as a lyre player

• "never addressed the soldiers except by letter or in a speech delivered by another, to save his voice"

Front 7

Seneca On the Happy Life 7.3 (58 AD when Nero was 21)

Back 7

• Compares virtue ("lofty, exulted and regal") to pleasure ("weak and perishable")

• Virtue is found in the senate house and temple with "callused hands", pleasure around the "public paths and the sweating-rooms", "painted and made up with cosmetics like a corpse"

Front 8

Seneca epistles 65AD, Letters 37.1

Back 8

• Says how the oaths taken by gladiators are both "Noble" and "dishonourable"

• "a binding condition" is placed on those who offer themselves to the arena

• "they should suffer such things even if they do not wish to", there is no sense of freedom, many writers condemn the barbarous nature of the killings

Front 9

Petronias Satyricon 117.5

Back 9

• The characters "just like real gladiators" swore oaths that "assigned our bodies and our souls to our master in the most formal way"

• States how binding the agreement is

• Again portrayed as cruel

Front 10

Seneca letters 7.3 (65AD), Seneca epistles

Back 10

• "nothing is so damaging to good character than the habit of wasting time at the games"

• Implies the moral degradation that comes with decadence