Deed — 2 authors face each other below

the great fire of Rome

kind: fire · 64 CE — the editor’s frame · 5 mentions across 5 episodes of the record — counted by the house’s first pass receipt — the deed shelf, first pass receipt — the witness index

The nine-day conflagration under Nero, the rebuilding, and the scapegoating of the Christians.

Where the accounts part — the record’s own argument; the witnesses below carry the receipts

Tacitus opens with the fork itself: 'whether accidental or treacherously contrived by the emperor, is uncertain, as authors have given both accounts' — and reports the emperor-on-stage story explicitly as rumor. Suetonius asserts the arson outright: Nero 'set fire to the city so openly' and sang the Sack of Ilium from the tower of Maecenas 'in his regular stage costume.' Tacitus ties the persecution of the Christians to the fire as Nero's diversion; Suetonius lists their punishment among unrelated police measures. Uncertainty against assertion, connection against list — the flagship divergence of the served record.

The regnal line — the editor’s table of years, never the record’s voice

Anchored at 64 CE on the editor’s table of years .

· 64 CE — date secure ·

July 64 CE; the Annals' year opens 'In the year of the consulship of Caius Laecanius and Marcus Licinius' (Tac. Ann. 15.33) — the record dating itself.

The accounts, side by side — each witness in its own words; every quote is the served record’s, linked to its episode

Suetonius · 2 accounts

38 the principal narrative The arson asserted, with the singing emperor as fact and the ruins monetized.

he set fire to the city* so openly that several ex-consuls did not venture to lay hands on his chamberlains Suet. Nero 38

No uncertainty survives: the emperor sets the fire 'so openly' and enjoys 'the beauty of the flames.' Nero · J. C. Rolfe, 1913

16 in passing The Christians punished — listed among ordinances, unconnected to the fire.

Punishment was inflicted on the Christians, a class of men given to a new and mischievous superstition. Suet. Nero 16

Nero · J. C. Rolfe, 1913

Tacitus · one account

15.38–15.44 the principal narrative The fire, the relief measures, the rumor, the rebuilding, the scapegoats.

A disaster followed, whether accidental or treacherously contrived by the emperor, is uncertain, as authors have given both accounts Tac. Ann. 15.38

a rumour had gone forth everywhere that, at the very time when the city was in flames, the emperor appeared on a private stage Tac. Ann. 15.39

Nero fastened the guilt and inflicted the most exquisite tortures on a class hated for their abominations, called Christians by the populace. Tac. Ann. 15.44

The witness preserves its own uncertainty in the first sentence and labels the singing a rumor. The Annals · Alfred John Church & William Jackson Brodribb, 1876

Who stands in this deed — standing in the same episodes; counted by the house’s first pass

Agrippa — a candidate entry Maecenas — a candidate entry Nero — 1 episode shared Tiberius — 1 episode shared

Doors to the sister houses

logoi — the words

No door is cut to the word-house from this room yet. logoi.health keeps the words meanwhile.

mythoi — the stories

No door is cut to the story-house from this room yet. mythoi.health keeps the stories meanwhile.

The record here: The Histories, Herodotus — Godley, 1920–25 · Parallel Lives, Plutarch — Perrin, 1914–26 · 166 works · 12,119 episodes served

lives · deeds · times · the shelf