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Nero's last hours, as Suetonius tells it

set in 68 CE, Italy. As Suetonius tells it, over a century later.

Where and when

set in 68 CEItaly

1,958 years ago

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Nero

, ItalyAs Suetonius tells it, over a century later

In plain words, ours

He had his own grave dug in front of him, crying at every step and saying again and again: what an artist is about to die!

…he ordered a pit to be sunk before his eyes, of the size of his body, and the bottom to be covered with pieces of marble put together, if any could be found about the house; and water and wood, to be got ready for immediate use about his corpse; weeping at every thing that was done, and frequently saying, “What an artist is now about to perish!”

Suetonius, Life of Nero 49Translated by Alexander Thomson, revised by T. Forester (1889)Read the full passage (Suetonius, Life of Nero 49, opens gutenberg.org)

What was going on, our summary

68 CE. With the armies in revolt and the Senate against him, Nero has fled Rome and crawled through a hole in the wall into a freedman's villa. The people with him urge him to save himself from the shame that awaits. Suetonius tells it over a century later.

Checked claim by claim against: Nero kills himself as the Senate declares him an enemy, the passage around the quote.

Why it matters

About the event it belongs to: Nero kills himself as the Senate declares him an enemy

Nero was the last emperor of the Julio-Claudian dynasty, and his death set off the brief civil war known as the Year of the Four Emperors.

Based on Wikipedia: Nero

was Roman emperor from AD 54 until his suicide in AD 68, as the final emperor of the Julio-Claudian dynasty.

His death sparked a brief period of civil war known as the Year of the Four Emperors.

Wikipedia, Nero (opens en.wikipedia.org), as of 2026-09-26. Text CC BY-SA 4.0. Our line is checked against these sentences only.

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Just before and after

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

Show the passageHide the passage

Staying there some little time, while preparations were made for bringing him privately into the villa, he took up some water out of a neighbouring tank in his hand, to drink, saying, “This is Nero’s distilled water.” Then his cloak having been torn by the brambles, he pulled out the thorns which stuck in it. At last, being admitted, creeping upon his hands and knees, through a hole made for him in the wall, he lay down in the first closet he came to, upon a miserable pallet, with an old coverlet thrown over it; and being both hungry and thirsty, though he refused some coarse bread that was brought him, he drank a little warm water. All who surrounded him now pressing him to save himself from the indignities which were ready to befall him,

The quote: he ordered a pit to be sunk before his eyes, of the size of his body, and the bottom to be covered with pieces of marble put together, if any could be found about the house; and water and wood, to be got ready for immediate use about his corpse; weeping at every thing that was done, and frequently saying, “What an artist is now about to perish!”

Suetonius, Life of Nero 48–49Translated by Alexander Thomson, revised by T. Forester (1889)Read the full passage (opens gutenberg.org)

When, and whose words

Date
set in 68 CE. Set on the day of his death in 68 CE. Suetonius 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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