Tacitus, a Roman senator writing a generation later, composed the Annals, his history of the emperors from Tiberius through Nero. This is Book 15. In the previous book Nero had his mother Agrippina killed, discarded and murdered Octavia so he could marry Poppaea, and crushed Boudica’s revolt in Britain.

In 64 fire runs through Rome’s crowded apartment blocks. Rumor puts a lyre in Nero’s hand and a rebuilding plan in his head. His Golden House eats the city’s heart. Christians, whom Tacitus calls a detested superstition, are blamed and killed; he notes that Christus suffered under Pontius Pilate. Wider streets and stone are both civic repair and vanity. A plot to put Gaius Calpurnius Piso on the throne dies in torture, betrayal, and forced suicide. Seneca opens his veins. The poet Lucan follows. Petronius, the court’s judge of elegance, dies with a list of Nero’s vices. Friends denounce friends. A plot without soldiers cannot kill an emperor who owns the Guard.