[Sidenote:--22--] This was the kind of life Nero led, this was the way he
ruled. I shall narrate also how he was put down and driven from his
throne.

While Nero was still in Greece, the Jews revolted openly and he sent
Vespasian against them. The inhabitants of Britain and of Gaul, likewise,
oppressed by the taxes, experienced an even keener distress, which added
fuel to the already kindled fire of their indignation.

--There was a Gaul named Gaius Julius Vindex [an Aquitanian], descended
from the native royal race and on his father's side entitled to rank as a
Roman senator. He was strong of body, had an intelligent mind, was skilled
in warfare and was full of daring for every enterprise. [He was to the
greatest degree a lover of freedom and was ambitious; and he stood at the
head of the Gauls.] Now this Vindex made an assembly of the Gauls, who had
suffered much during the numerous forced levies of money, and were still
suffering at Nero's hands. And ascending a tribunal he delivered a long
and detailed speech against Nero, saying that they ought to revolt from
the emperor and join him in an attack [upon him],--"because," said he, "he
has despoiled the whole Roman world, because he has destroyed all the
flower of their senate, because he debauched and likewise killed his
mother, and does not preserve even the semblance of sovereignty. Murders,
seizures and outrages have often been committed and by many other persons:
but how may one find words to describe the remainder of his conduct as it
deserves? I have seen, my friends and allies,--believe me,--I have seen
that man (if he is a man, who married Sporus and was given in marriage to
Pythagoras) in the arena of the theatre and in the orchestra, sometimes
with the zither, the loose tunic, the cothurnus, [Footnote: The two kinds
of footwear mentioned here appear in the Greek as _chothornos_ and
_embates_ respectively. These words are often synonymous, and both