[Sidenote: A.D. 68 (a.u. 821)] The city was all decked with garlands, was ablaze with lights and smoky with incense, and the whole population,--the senators themselves most of all,--kept shouting aloud: "Vah, Olympian Victor! Vah Pythian Victor! Augustus! Augustus! Hail to Nero the Hercules, hail to Nero the Apollo!! The one National Victor, the only one from the beginning of time! Augustus! Augustus! O, Divine Voice! Blessed are they that hear thee!"--Why should I employ circumlocutions instead of letting you see their very words? The actual expressions used do not disgrace my history: no, the concealment of none of them rather lends it distinction. [Sidenote:--21--] When he had finished these ceremonies, he announced a series of horse-races, and transferring to the hippodrome these crowns and all the rest that he had secured by victories in chariot racing, he put them about the Egyptian obelisk. The number of them was one thousand eight hundred and eight. After doing this he appeared as charioteer.--A certain Larcius, a Lydian, approached him with an offer of twenty-five myriads if he would play and sing for them. Nero would not take the money, disdaining to do anything for pay; and so Tigillinus collected it, as the price of not putting Larcius to death. However, the emperor did appear on the stage with an accompanied song and he also gave a tragedy. In the equestrian contests he was seldom absent, and sometimes he would voluntarily let himself be defeated in order to make it more credible that he really won at other times. Dio 62nd Book: "And he inflicted uncounted woes on many cities." [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.