chapter 60

).] a senator, enraged on his wife's account, fell upon this reveler and inflicted many blows upon him, so that he had to remain several days in concealment by reason of the black eyes he had received. Montanus did not suffer for it, since Nero thought the violence had been all an accident and was for showing no anger at the occurrence, had not the other sent him a letter begging his pardon. Nero on reading the epistle remarked: "So he knew that he was striking Nero." The suicide of Montanus followed hard after.

[Sidenote: A.D. 57 (a.u. 810)] In the course of producing a spectacle at one of the theatres, he suddenly filled the place with sea-water so that the fishes and sea-monsters [Footnote: [Greek: ktaenae] of the MSS. was changed to [Greek: kaetae] on the conjecture of Sylburgius, who was followed by Bekker, Dindorf, and Boissevain. (Compare also Suetonius, Life of Nero,