At length the time arrived for the celebration of the Olympic games, and Nero repaired to the spot, following the vast throngs that were proceeding thither from every part of Greece, and there entered into competition with all the common singers and players of the time. The prize for excellence in music was awarded to him. It was, however, generally understood that the judges were bribed to decide in his favor. Nero entered as a competitor, too, in the chariot race; and here he was successful in winning the prize; though in this case it was decreed to him in plain and open violation of all rule. He undertook to drive ten horses in this race; but he found the team too much for him to control. The horses became unmanageable; Nero was thrown out of his carriage and was so much hurt that he could not finish the race at all. He, however, insisted that accidents and casualties were not to be taken into the account, and that inasmuch as he should certainly have outran his competitors if he had not been prevented by misfortune, he claimed that the judges should award him the prize. Greatly to his delight the judges did so. It is true they were bound by the most solemn oaths to make just and true decisions; but it has been seldom found in the history of the world that official oaths constitute any serious barrier against the demands or encroachments of emperors or kings.
When the games were ended Nero conferred very rich rewards upon all the judges.
These successes at the Olympic games, nominal and empty as they really were, seemed to have inflamed the emperor's vanity and ambition more than ever. Instead of returning to Rome he commenced another tour through the heart of Greece, singing and playing in all the cities where he went, and challenging all the most distinguished actors and performers to meet him and contend with him for prizes.
Of course the prizes were always awarded to Nero on this tour, as they had been at the Olympic games. Nero sent home regular despatches after each of his performances, to inform the Roman Senate of his victories, just as former emperors had been accustomed to send military bulletins to announce the progress of their armies, and the conquests which they had gained in battle; and with a degree of vanity and folly which seems almost incredible, he called upon the Senate to institute religious celebrations and sacrifices in Rome, and great public processions, in order to signalize and commemorate these great successes, and to express the gratitude of the people to the gods for having vouchsafed them. Not satisfied with expecting this parade of public rejoicing in Rome, he called upon the Senate to ordain that similar services should be held in all the cities and towns throughout the empire.
During the visit of Nero to Greece, he engaged in one undertaking which might be denominated a useful enterprise, though he managed it with such characteristic imbecility and folly, that it ended, as might have been foreseen, in a miserable failure. The plan which he conceived, was to cut through the Isthmus of Corinth, so as to open a ship communication between the Ionian and the Ægean seas. Such a canal, he thought, would save for many vessels the long and dangerous voyage around the Peloponnesus, and thus prevent many of the wrecks which then annually took place on the shores of the Peninsula, and which were often attended with the destruction of much property and of many lives.
The plan might thus have been a very good one, had any proper and efficient means been adopted for carrying it into execution; but in all that he did in this respect, Nero seems to have looked no farther than to the performance of pompous and empty ceremonies in commencing the work. He convened a great public assembly on the ground. He entertained this assembly with spectacles and shows. He then placed himself at the head of his life-guards, and, after a speech of great promise and pretension, he advanced at the head of a procession, singing and dancing by the way, to the place where the first ground was to be broken. Here he made three strokes with a golden pick-axe, which had been provided for the occasion, and putting the earth which he had loosened into a basket, he carried it away to a short distance, and threw it out upon the ground. This ceremony was meant for the commencement of the canal; and when it was over, the company dispersed, and Nero was escorted by his guards back to the city of Corinth, which lay at a few miles' distance from the scene.
Nothing more was ever done. Nero issued orders, it is true, that all the criminals, convicts, and prisoners in Greece, should be transported to the Isthmus, and set to work upon this canal; and some Jewish captives were actually employed there for a time; but, for some reason or other, nothing was done. The actual work was never seriously undertaken.
In the mean time, Nero had left the government at Rome in the hands of a certain ignoble favorite, named Helius, who, being placed in command of the army during his master's absence, held the lives and fortunes of all the inhabitants at his supreme disposal, and, as might have been expected, he pursued such a career of cruelty and oppression, in his attempts to overawe and subject those who were under his power, that a universal feeling of hostility and hatred was awakened against him. Things at last assumed so alarming an attitude, that Helius was terrified in his turn, and at length he began to send for Nero to come home. Nero at first paid no attention to these requests. The danger, however, increased; the crisis became extremely imminent, so that a general insurrection was anticipated. Helius sent messengers after messengers to Nero, imploring him to return, if he wished to save himself from ruin;-but all the answer that he could obtain from Nero was, that, if Helius truly loved him, he would not envy him the glory that he was acquiring in Greece; but, instead of hastening his return, would rather wish that he should come back worthy of himself, after having fully accomplished his victories. At last Helius, growing desperate in view of the impending danger, left Rome, and, traveling with all possible dispatch, night and day, came to Nero in Greece, and there made such statements and disclosures in respect to the condition of things at Rome, that Nero at length reluctantly concluded to return.