“This Seneka, of which that I devise,
Because Nero had of him swichÉ drede,
For he fro vices wold him ay chastise
Discretely, as by word, and not by dede.
‘Sire,’ he wold say, ‘an Emperor mote nede
Be vertuous, and haten tyrannie.’
For which he made him in a bathe to blede
On both his armÈs till he mustÈ die.”

Chaucer: The Monke’s Tale: Nero.

“GiÀ tra le infamie delle regie sale
Due uomini vedevansi soltanto
A cui volera orribilmente male,
Questo amatore delle stragi, e pianto,
Uno di questi È Seneca, ch’ eguale
In Roma non aver per nobil vanto
Nelle dottrine di filosofia,
E nel fare una bella poesia. . . .
Nerone che non vuol d’ogni folliÁ,
Avere appreso un rigido censore,
Fece morir, con modi scellerati,
Tanto costui, che Seneca, svenati!”

Storia di Nerone: A Florentine Halfpenny Ballad.

“Alteri vivere oportet si vis tibi vivere.”

“Thou must live for others if thou wouldst live for thyself.”—

Seneca: EpistolÆ.

There was once in Rome a young Emperor named Nerone. As a boy, he was by no means badly inclined, and it seemed for a long time as if he would grow up into a great and good man.

He had a tutor or teacher named Seneco, [88] who was benevolent and wise beyond all the men of his time, and he had such influence on the young Nerone, that for two years the youth behaved well and did no harm to anyone.

But little by little he was led astray by courtiers who flattered and corrupted him, and who of course did all they could to injure Seneco in his esteem, saying that the sage was really an old knave, and that he was engaged in plots with the design of becoming Emperor himself. And the end of it all was that Nerone believed them.

So he sent a letter to Seneco, in which he declared that the time had come for the old man to die; but that he might choose his own manner of death by suicide.

Seneco, having read it, said: “What an evil youth is this, of what a corrupted heart! Well, infamous as the command is, I will die! But I will leave him a legacy which shall be his ruin.”

Thus he wrote to Nerone:

“I will die this very day, but I leave you a gift which is more than a fortune. It is a book of magic and necromancy. If you wish for anything, be it the love of a woman or the death of a man, or his disaster, or to destroy all Rome, you will find in the book spells by which it may be done.”

And when he knew that Nerone had the book, he went at once into a hot bath, and said to his surgeon:

“Open my veins, so that I may bleed to death. I will die, but I know that the Emperor will soon follow me.”

So he died, and all Rome wept. [89a]

Then Nerone read the book, and it seemed as if it were poisoned, for while reading it he perceived as it were an exhalation [89b] from hell.

He read in the book how to commit all crimes and sins, how to seize on fortunes, or rob whom he would, and learned from it all the secrets of licentiousness—tutte cose voluttiose—and having finished it, he became a veritable devil.

He collected many lions and tigers, and all kinds of terrible wild beasts, and then drove among them all the Christians and saints in Rome, and they were devoured by the beasts. Then he took the fortunes of all the rich men, [89c] and decreed that all the women in the city were his wives. After which he every day debauched them in the open streets before their husbands, and likewise ordained that all men and women should do the same openly. And he committed even more infamous deeds in public places, with an orchestra, saying it was best to make love to the sound or accompaniment of music.

And one day, to make a scene in an opera, he (set fire to and) burned all Rome.

Then the people made a revolution, and drove him out of his palace. It is said that this palace was all gilded. (Era tutto dorato.)

In a public square was a statue of Seneco, and it was of marble. So the people in a rage drove Nerone before them until, utterly weary and exhausted, he fell down at the foot of the statue of Seneco. And beholding the image of his tutor, Nerone cried:

“Tu mi vincesti, tu mi inperasti—Thou hast conquered, O Seneco; thou hast prevailed over me, and had thy revenge! And accursed be the day in which thou didst send me the book which gave me the power to have all which I desired!”

And all who were present were astonished when they heard the statue reply:

“I am avenged, and thou art punished.”

Then a butcher struck him heavily; he gave him a death-wound with an axe, and Nerone, dying, said:

“If thou hast no shame for having killed an Emperor, thou shouldst at least blush at having put to death the best actor in Rome!”

Then the ground opened, and there came forth the flame and thunder of hell, with many devils who howled. . . .

And so did Nero die, who was the most infamous king [90] who ever lived in this world since it was a world.

Though there are so many authentic traits of the Emperor Nero in this tradition, the reader is not to infer from them that she who wrote it has had access to a copy of Suetonius. There is a “halfpenny dreadful,” or sou shocker, entitled the “Life of Nero”—Vita di Nerone—published by Adriano Salani, the Catnach of Florence, Via Militare, No. 24 (No. 107 on his catalogue), to say nothing of other halfpenny classical works, such as the “Story of the Proud Emperor,” “The Empress Flavia,” and the “Tale of Pyramus and Thisbe,” which, as they are to be found on many open-air stands, may account for a great deal of such learning in the popular mind. One may meet daily in Italy with marvellous proof in many forms of what a strange, curious, confused mass of old Latin lore still lingers among the people, and the marvellous contrast which it presents to what the common folk read and reflect over in other lands. But Nero would be most likely to be remembered, because he is frequently mentioned or described in popular Lives of the Saints as a great maker of martyrs, and caster of them unto lions.

This does not belong to the cycle of Virgilian tales, but it was sent to me as one from Siena. To my collector it was all one, so that it referred to a magician, and had the idea occurred to the writer, the name of Virgilio would have been substituted for that of Seneca. Doubtless in their time, since they began life in India, or Egypt, or Arabia, these legends have borne many names, and been as garments to the memory of many sages—even as Buddha in his Jatakas was the first of a line which has ended in the heroes of European nurseries.

The halfpenny, or soldo, or sou ballad of Nero, to which I have referred, is too curious as illustrating the remarkable knowledge of classical antiquity still current among the Italian people, to be lightly passed by. Its title-page is as follows:

“Storia di Nerone, dove si narrano, le Stragi, i Delitti, le Persecuzioni e gli Incendi commessi da questo infame Tiranno in Roma”—“History of Nero; in which is told the Murders and Crimes committed by this Infamous Tyrant in Rome.”

This poem and others of the same stamp are quite as barbarously classic-mediÆval or Romanesque as anything in any of these stories of Virgilio, and if I cite it, it is to give a clear idea of the remarkable degree to which strange traditions, and very ancient legends or “learning,” have lingered among the people. I really cannot understand why this marvellous survival of old Latin romance, and this spirit of the Dark Ages among the people, attracts so little attention among literary people, and especially Italians. For it certainly indicates to any thinking mind the survival of a great deal of classic tradition which has never been recorded.