Nero 38 - Suetonius

Sed nec populo aut moenibus patriae pepercit …(english)... Nam quasi offensus deformitate veterum aedificiorum et angustiis flexurisque vicorum, incendit urbem tam palam,

But he spared neither the people nor the walls of the fatherland…(english)… For as if he was offended by the ugliness of the old buildings and the narrow, crooked streets, he burned the city so openly

ut plerique consulares cubicularios eius cum stuppa taedaque in praediis suis deprehensos non attigerint,

that several ex consuls did not touch his chamberlains although they caught them on their estates with tar and firebrands,

et quaedam horrea circa domum Auream, quorum spatium maxime desiderabat, ut bellicis machinis labefacta atque inflammata sint, quod saxeo muro constructa erant.

and certain barns around the golden house, whose space he was greatly desiring, so that they were destroyed by machines of war and then set on fire, because their walls were made of stone.

Per sex dies septemque noctes ea clade saevitum est ad monumentorum bustorumque deversoria plebe compulsa.

For six days and seven nights this disaster raged, with the people having been pushed to the shelter of the monuments and tombs.

Tunc praeter immensum numerum insularum domus priscorum ducum arserunt hostilibus adhuc spoliis adornatae

Then, besides the immense number of apartments, the houses of leaders of old were burned, still adorned with trophies of the enemy,

deorumque aedes ab regibus ac deinde Punicis et Gallicis bellis votae dedicataeque, et quidquid visendum atque memorabile ex antiquitate duraverat.

and the temples of the gods vowed and dedicated by the kings and later in the punic and gallic wars, and whatever else interesting and noteworthy had survived from antiquity.

Hoc incendium e turre Maecenatian ā prospectans laetusque "flammae", ut aiebat, "pulchritudine" Halosin Ilii in illo suo scaenico habitu decantavit.

This burning from the Maeccentian turret, and he was happy, as he was saying, “by the beauty of the flame” and he sang The Fall of Troy in his own actor’s costume.