little jokes, of which I shall mention only one, omitting the rest.] One
night he suddenly summoned in haste the foremost senators and knights,
apparently to make some communication to them regarding the political
situation. When they were assembled, he said: "I have discovered a way by
which the water organ"--I must write exactly what he said--"will produce a
greater and more harmonious volume of sound." Such were his jokes about
this period. And little did he reck that both sets of doors, those of the
monument and those of the bedchamber of Augustus, opened of their own
accord in one and the same night, or that at Albanum it rained so much
blood that rivers of it flowed over the land, or that the sea retreated a
good distance from Egypt and covered a large portion of Lycia.
[Sidenote:--27--] But when he heard about Galba's being proclaimed emperor
by the soldiers and about the desertion of Rufus, he fell into great fear:
he made preparations in person at Rome and he sent against the rebels
Rubrius Gallus and some others.

On learning that Petronius, [Footnote: _P. Petronius Turpilianus_.]
whom he had sent ahead against the rebels with the larger portion of the
army, also favored the cause of Galba, Nero reposed no further hope in
arms.

Being abandoned by all without exception he began forming plans to kill
the senators, burn the city to the ground, and sail to Alexandria. He
dropped this hint in regard to his future course: "Even though we be
driven from our empire, yet this little artistic gift of ours shall
support us there." To such a pitch of folly had he come as to believe that
he could live for a moment as a private citizen and would be able to
appear as a musician.

He was on the point of putting those measures into effect when the senate