Today In History, June 9, 68 AD--Emperor Nero Commits Suicide

 


Today In History--June 9th, 68 AD

Emperor Nero of Rome commits suicide, begging his Secretary to slit his throat to evade his sentence of death by flogging decreed by the Roman Senate.

In an act of pure cowardice and sadism, Nero ended his catastrophic reign of terror, having burned Rome and blamed it on the Jews and Christians, ruling over a dying empire of slavery, debauchery, mass persecution, and purges. Thus came to an end his promising musical career, and ambitions for the Theater. 

One could easily throw out a bit of snark on the subject, and try to weave an argument of historical parallelism for today, but I won't go there. 

Adolf Hitler, like Nero, took his own life rather than face trial for his crimes against humanity. Like Nero also, he tried to destroy as much of his own society in the process of self destruction, not content to go out alone, or leave things as they were. Their exit statement was, in effect, "if I cannot rule over it, I'll leave nothing standing worth ruling over." Literally, scorched Earth.

Such is the way of narcissistic cowards, whose own vanity makes them fear humiliation more than death itself. History doesn't exist to teach us lessons.  History tells us the truths which we either choose to recognize or ignore.

PS. Don't say it. It's ok to think it but don't post it. TY.

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