Common phrases

[jkross]

What is the origin of the phrase 'Caesar plays his violin while Rome burns'

[Rabelais]

I believe that should read "Nero fiddled as rome burned" but I guess Nero was a ceaser. This comes from the fact that when Rome was struck by fire in 64 A.D. Nero the then emperor did nothing about it and in fact sang. The emperor, who had artistic ambitions, was apparently performing an old Greek play for his houseguests. As violins were not invented till the 16th century he would have needed a time machine to achieve this wonderous feat. However in the 17th century when the phrase first appeared fiddling was used in the sense of frivolity and procrastination. As to motivation the fire was most useful to Nero as it allowed him to rebuild Rome in his own image whilst blaming the christians for the fire.

[FredPuli]

The Roman historian Suetonius gives an account of this in his 'Lives of the Caesars', from which our version comes. He describes the Emperor going to the top of a tower to sing while the city burned. He did not mention 'fiddling' of course; this is some C17 embellishment; Nero may well have accompanied himself on the lyre. The fire raged for six days. Nero was widely suspected of starting it because the enormous rebuilding he planned and then undertook would only have been possible that way.