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AMUSEMENTS OF AN EMPEROR 125
of Rome assured him of the honour of plenary divinity
among the deities of heaven in whom, nevertheless, he
scarcely even affected to believe.
He turned to Petronius and asked him to recite his poern
on the Sack of Troy. Petronius did so, and the Emperor
listened with eager interest. It was a subject which fascinated
him.
Ah ! he
'
said, to see a city in flames that would be
'
'
worth living for ! I have tried to write something on that
subject myself.'
All present, of course, pressed him to favour them with
his poem, and after a little feminine show of reluctance,
and many protestations of mock modesty, he read them,
in an affected voice, some verses which were marked in
every phrase by the falsetto of the age. It was evident
that they had been painfully elaborated. Indeed, as they
looked at the note-book from which the Emperor read they
saw that the labor limce had been by no means wanting.
The book, which afterwards fell into the hands of Suetonius,
was scratched and scrawled over in every direction, and
it showed that many a turn of expression had been altered
twenty times before it became tinkling enough and fantastic
enough to suit Nero's taste. It was clear from the tone in
which he read them that the most bizarre lines were exactly
those that pleased him best, and they were therefore the ones
which his flatterers selected for their loudest applause.
'
" " '
Filled the grim horns with Mimallonean buzz
repeated Lu can. '
How energetic
! how picturesque
!'
'He is laughing at you in his sleeve, Caesar/ whispered
Tigellinus 'and he thinks his own most ; impromptu line
far superior.'
Lucan did not overhear the remark, and he proceeded to
quote and praise the three lines on the river Tigris, which
.
'
" Deserts the Persian realms he loved to lave,
And to non-seekers shows his sought-for wave."
Now those lines I feel sure will live.'
'
Of course '
they will,' said Tigellinus, long after your poems
are forgotten.'
The young poet only shrugged his shoulders, and turned