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546 DARKNESS AND DAWN
Besides, as his officer T. Viiiius reminded him, he had hesitated
in his allegiance, and to hesitate was to be lost. He
must either assume the purple or prepare to die.
The fresh intelligence that Galba and the two provinces
of Spain had also revolted, struck Nero with panic. He
swooned away, and remained for some time speechless and
motionless. On recovering his senses he tore his robe, and
'
beat his head, with the cry,
I am ruined !
'
His nurse tried
to console him with the remark that other Princes had suf-
'
fered similar calamities. Nay,' he answered, ' my fate is
more unheard of than that of all others, for / lose the Empire
while yet I live.' Some steps were suggested to him. He
recalled some troops from Illyria, and put Petronius Turpilianus
at the head of such forces as he could secure. He set
a price on the head of Vindex, and Vindex replied with the
'
'
sublime gasconade,' Nero promises ten million sesterces to
any one who will bring him my head. I promise my head to
any one who will bring me his.' But scarcely a single plan
occurred to Nero which was not puerile ;
not one measure
which was not monstrous. He would execute the provincial
governors, and appoint new ones. He would send round to the
islands and kill all the exiles, for they might join the revolters.
He would order a general massacre of all the Gauls in Eome,
for they might favour their countrymen. He would give up
the Gallic provinces to be plundered by the soldiers. He
would invite the whole Senate to a banquet, and poison them.
He deposed the two consuls appointed himself sole consul,
and as he left the banquet, leaning on the shoulders of his
intimates, he declared that he would present himself before
the legions unarmed and weeping
; and, when he had melted
their hearts by his tears, he would sing strains of victory to
the rejoicing soldiers which he must immediately compose.
Above this 'lugubrious buffoonery ' he could not rise !
His other preparations to meet the crisis such as they
were bore the same stamp of infructuous folly. They were
all tainted with vanity, imbecility, and corruption. In choosing
vehicles for his expedition, his chief care was about those
which were necessary for his stage properties. The women
who were to accompany him had their hair cut short to make
them look like Amazons, and were armed with axes and
targets. In raising money he was very fastidious that the