[21,9] τούτῳ δὴ μάλιστα περιῆν ὁ Νέρων, καὶ οὐδεὶς ἀντέλεγεν αὐτῷ περὶ οὐδενὸς ὅ,τι εἴποι οὐδ´ ἀδύνατον ἔφη εἶναι ὃ κελεύσειεν, {ὥστε} οὐδ´ εἰ πέτεσθαι κελεύοι τινά, ἀλλὰ καὶ τοῦτο ὑπέσχετο αὐτῷ, καὶ συχνὸν χρόνον ἐτρέφετο ἔνδον παρ´ αὐτῷ ἐν τοῖς βασιλείοις, ὡς πτησόμενος. μόνος γὰρ δὴ οὐδένα τρόπον ἐφείδετο χρημάτων, οὔτε διδοὺς οὔτε λαμβάνων. διὰ μόνην μέντοι ταύτην τὴν ὕβριν καὶ ἀπέθανε τὴν εἰς τὸν εὐνοῦχον. ὀργισθεὶς γὰρ ἐξήνεγκεν αὐτοῦ τὰ βουλεύματα τοῖς περὶ αὐτόν· καὶ οὕτως ἀπέστησαν ἀπ´ αὐτοῦ καὶ ἠνάγκασαν ὅτῳ ποτὲ τρόπῳ ἀπολέσθαι αὐτόν· οὐδέπω γὰρ καὶ νῦν τοῦτό γε δῆλόν ἐστιν·

[21,9] This, indeed, was especially true of Nero, and no one contradicted him in anything, whatever he said, or affirmed that anything he commanded was impossible to perform, so that even if he ordered anyone to fly, the man promised that too and for a considerable time he would be maintained in the imperial household in the belief that he would fly. For Nero was the only man who was utterly regardless of money both in giving and in taking. It was solely on account of this wantonness of his, however, that he lost his life—I mean the way he treated the eunuch. For the latter in anger disclosed the Emperor's designs to his retinue ; and so they revolted from him and compelled him to make away with himself as best he could. Indeed the truth about this has not come out even yet;

[21,10] ἐπεὶ τῶν γε ἄλλων ἕνεκεν οὐδὲν ἐκώλυεν αὐτὸν βασιλεύειν τὸν ἅπαντα χρόνον, ὅν γε καὶ νῦν ἔτι πάντες ἐπιθυμοῦσι ζῆν. οἱ δὲ πλεῖστοι καὶ οἴονται, καίπερ τρόπον τινὰ οὐχ ἅπαξ αὐτοῦ τεθνηκότος, ἀλλὰ πολλάκις μετὰ τῶν σφόδρα οἰηθέντων αὐτὸν ζῆν. (Autre) Σὺ μὲν ἀεὶ λόγους ἀνευρίσκεις, ὥστε διασύρειν τὰ τῶν ἀνθρώπων, καὶ νῦν ἐξ οὐδενός, ὡς εἰπεῖν, ἐπὶ ταῦτα ἦλθες. ὃ δὲ ἐβουλόμην ἐρέσθαι, οὐκ εἴασας.

[21,10] for so far as the rest of his subjects were concerned, there was nothing to prevent his continuing to be Emperor for all time, seeing that even now everybody wishes he were still alive. And the great majority do believe that he is, although in a certain sense he has died not once but often along with those who had been firmly convinced that he was still alive. (Autre) You are everlastingly hunting up reasons for ridiculing what your fellow-men do and think, and now with scarcely a shadow of a pretext you have got round to this topic. Consequently you have given me no chance to ask a question I wanted to ask.