The emperor Nero has gone and, throughout the Empire, the backlash has been considerable. Townspeople are keen to vent their feelings against the harsh tyrant. To celebrate, they have attacked the golden statue of Nero that stood in the north-western quarter of the town. Our roving reporter asked the crowd what they thought:
Saturninus, a local craftsman supports the actions…
To be praised! That life-size statue has just come tumbling down – a fitting end for the symbol of that cruel despot. I helped pull it down - it’s a great day! We toppled it using ropes and then the crowd swarmed over it, hitting and hacking at it, almost like it was a real person. The lads are just ripping up the plinth.
We feel good, purged of his rule! Some are now trying to chip pieces off to take away as mementoes – those fools think that it’s gold, but it isn’t! It’s bronze with a coating of gold which just about sums up Nero himself – all show but debased underneath!
Antiola, daughter of Domitius, a local housewife, worries about the future…
That statue was put up after the town was burnt down – a symbol of the peace that followed that awful time. I liked it – so large and golden! It’s coming down now at a time we don’t know what the future holds – we hear there’s a civil war waging in Rome. My money’s on Vespasian – he served in Britain at the time of the invasion.
I hope those people busy with their axes remember to make an offering to the gods - we don’t want to make the gods angry – the gods want their share and we don’t want to offend the statue’s spirits. I’m just off to the temple now….
