NERO’S EXTRAVAGANCE.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 16662, 18 February 1922, Page 3

NERO’S EXTRAVAGANCE.

THE "COLDEN HOUSE" OF ROME. The wicked Roman Emperor Nero, notable for his debaucheries, his extravagances. his cruel treatment of the early Christians, and. among other things, the murder of his mother, built the costliest palace that the world has ever known or probablv ever will know. It was called the 44 Domus Aureau,” or Golden House. Remains of one end of Elis colossal dwelling have just been unearthed in the course of excavations being carried on under Governmental and scientific supervision, says the London 4 * Sunday Times.” Many extraordinary discoveries have been made, and many more still more extraordinary ones are sure to follow. The digging so far lias been done only on the Palatine Hill, and is a part of the investigations which followed the expulsion of the Germans from their diplomatic colony there at the beginning of the Great War. The site is being rapidly uncovered, and the form of the Golden House, with iUs lakes and gardens, is rapidly taking shape Modern civilisation can boast of nothing to be compared to this palace of Nero’s. It stretched from the Palatine across the low ground whereon afterwards the Colosseum was built, to the Esquiline, thus linking and crowning two of Rome’?, seven hills- From Latin authorities such ns Suetonius and Tacitus we know that its cost was fabulous. No one has ever been able to ascertain the cost exactlyNo matter wliat accusations have been brought against Nero, none has ever denied his astonishing imagination- On the Golden House he let his imagination run riot. Tt is set down that it contained one hundred thousand rooms of all kinds. Scores of these had their walls overlaid wfth sheet gold. studded with precious stones, and hung with masterpieces of art

To defray its enormous cost. not only were Italy and the Roman provinces ransacked and taxed to the utmost. but the Roman possessions in Greece and Asia were despoiled of their wealth. Just as another Roman emperor wished that the Roman people had but one head, that he might cut it off at a \blow, so Nero tided to concent rate in his Golden House the riches of his empire. He very nearly succeeded. It was not only the Golden House itself, linking the two hills, that made it one of the wonders of the ancient world. The magnificent gardens, their lake? and meadows and woods that the emperor raised to surround it. must have their share of glory. They sprang into being a few months after the conflagration which Nero it credited with having started, and which, the popular legend has it, he watched while fiddling. The idea of the Golden House seems to linyo been born in his mind through the great fire. whether Tie played the violin during its progress or not It was not long after that the foundations of the palace were laid and thousands of slaves and'workmen began to transform the burnt area into the earthly paradise of woods and lakes and gardens that it became Whole groves of trees were as carefully and scientifically uprooted and replanted as they are to-day about some neM millionaire’s estate.