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Nero on fire devouring the world, in Suetonius

by 64 CE. As Suetonius tells it, over a century later.

Where and when

by 64 CERome and its world

about 1,962 years ago

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Nero

As Suetonius tells it, over a century later

In plain words, ours

Someone quoted a line: when I am dead, let fire swallow the world. He answered: no, let it happen while I am alive.

Somebody in conversation saying-- Emou thanontos gaia michthaeto pyri When I am dead let fire devour the world-- “Nay,” said he, “let it be while I am living” [emou xontos].

Suetonius, Life of Nero 38Translated by Alexander Thomson, revised by T. Forester (1889)Read the full passage (Suetonius, Life of Nero 38, opens gutenberg.org)

What was going on, our summary

Suetonius, writing over a century later, tells this just before the great fire of Rome in 64 CE, in a list of Nero's boasts and scorn for the Senate. Right after, he claims Nero set the city alight; Tacitus says no one knew if the fire was an accident or set.

Checked claim by claim against: The Great Fire burns much of Rome, the passage around the quote.

Why it matters

About the event it belongs to: The Great Fire burns much of Rome

The fire destroyed nearly three quarters of Rome, and by Tacitus' account Nero's blaming of the Christians began the empire's first persecution of them.

Based on Wikipedia: Great Fire of Rome

In the aftermath of the fire, nearly three quarters of Rome had been destroyed (10 out of 14 districts).

According to Tacitus, Emperor Nero blamed the devastation on the Christian community in the city, initiating the empire's first persecution against the Christians.

Wikipedia, Great Fire of Rome (opens en.wikipedia.org), as of 2026-10-03. Text CC BY-SA 4.0. Our line is checked against these sentences only.

Related moments

In time order, with this one in its place. Each says why it is here.

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  2. c. 62–65 CEDuring it Seneca on time, the only thing we own Same years
  3. 64 CEBy this year The Great Fire burns much of Rome The event behind it
  4. by 64 CEThis momentNero on fire devouring the world, in Suetonius
  5. set in 64 CEBy this year Nero watches the fire, as Suetonius tells it Same passageMore from Nero
  6. set in 64 CEBy this year Tacitus on the Great Fire of Rome Same years
  7. 65 CE1 year later Nero orders his old tutor Seneca to die Same years
  8. 66 CEabout 2 years later Judaea rises against Rome Same years
  9. c. 64–68 CEBegins this year Nero on his new house, as Suetonius tells it More from Nero

Just before and after

The text around the quote, word for word from the same translation.

Show the passageHide the passage

Being elated with his great success in the perpetration of crimes, he declared, “that no prince before himself ever knew the extent of his power.” He threw out strong intimations that he would not even spare the senators who survived, but would entirely extirpate that order, and put the provinces and armies into the hands of the Roman knights and his own freedmen. It is certain that he never gave or vouchsafed to allow any one the customary kiss, either on entering or departing, or even returned a salute. And at the inauguration of a work, the cut through the Isthmus, he, with a loud voice, amidst the assembled multitude, uttered a prayer, that “the undertaking might prove fortunate for himself and the Roman people,” without taking the smallest notice of the senate. He spared, moreover, neither the people of Rome, nor the capital of his country.

The quote: Somebody in conversation saying-- Emou thanontos gaia michthaeto pyri When I am dead let fire devour the world-- “Nay,” said he, “let it be while I am living” [emou xontos].

And he acted accordingly: for, pretending to be disgusted with the old buildings, and the narrow and winding streets, he set the city on fire so openly, that many of consular rank caught his own household servants on their property with tow, and torches in their hands, but durst not meddle with them. There being near his Golden House some granaries, the site of which he exceedingly coveted, they were battered as if with machines of war, and set on fire, the walls being built of stone.

Suetonius, Life of Nero 37–38Translated by Alexander Thomson, revised by T. Forester (1889)Read the full passage (opens gutenberg.org)

When, and whose words

Date
by 64 CE. Suetonius gives no date but tells it as the lead-in to the great fire of 64 CE. He wrote c. 120 CE.
Whose words
As Suetonius tells it, over a century later.
How this post was checked
  • The plain-words line was read against the quote alone by a second, independent pass, which found it adds no claim the quote does not make (2026-10-03).
  • Each claim in the summary was checked by an independent pass against only the material it cites.
  • The quote itself is checked by the build: word for word, once, at the cited section of the stored translation.

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