Gaius Suetonius Tranquillus
Posts in The Copybook credited to ‘Gaius Suetonius Tranquillus’
In The Copybook
Posts in The Copybook credited to ‘Gaius Suetonius Tranquillus’
In The Copybook
When Julius Caesar defied the Senate’s explicit order to resign his military command, he knew there could be no turning back.
Success in the Gallic Wars (58-51 BC) made Julius Caesar, the great Roman general, a popular hero to the Republic. His bitter rival in the Senate, Pompey, found him increasingly difficult to handle, but on January 1st, 49 BC, Pompey managed to get the Senate to overrule the tribune Gaius Scribonius Curio, who had been blocking him at every turn, and require that Caesar lay down his military command.
In 64, Nero watched on with fascination as Rome was consumed by fire — the Emperor’s idea of performance art.
The expression ‘fiddling while Rome burns’ is used today of those who are idle in a crisis. It derives from the Great Fire of Rome in 64, during the reign of Emperor Nero, though the Emperor did not ‘fiddle’ (play the violin) while a week-long fire consumed two-thirds of the imperial capital, nor was he exactly idle. No indeed: he dressed up and sang a musical melodrama he had composed himself.