Before Jerusalem Fell

The Nero Redivivus Myth 305
the Nero Rediuivus argument for a late date. Granting for the moment
the validity of the Johannine employment of the Nero Rediuiuu.s myth,21
we must understand that there were well-known harbingers of the
dread that Nero would cause, of his untimely demise, and, it was
believed, of the fortunes he would later regain. The Nero Rediuivus
myth did not come from nowhere. Its seed was firmly planted early
in his reign and well-watered by the deluge of tyranny that he
unleashed in the later years of his reign. In fact, “this popular belief
in regard to Nero was founded on a prediction of the soothsayers in
the early part of his reign.”2 2
Stuart argues quite ably that it had
ample time to disseminate from this early prediction. 23
An important
passage from Suetonius reads: “Astrologers had predicted to Nero
that he would one day be repudiated, which was the occasion of that
well known saying of his: CA humble art affords us daily bread,’
doubtless uttered to justifi him in practicing the art of lyre-playing,
as an amusement while emperor, but a necessity for a private citizen.
Some of them, however, had promised him the rule of the East, when
he was cast off, a few expressly naming the sovereignty ofJerusalem,
and several the restitution of all his former fortunes. “2 4
Judging from
Suetonius, a number of astrological predictions were made regarding
Nero well before his death. For such predictions to be made among
a credulous and superstitious population regarding an emperor later
shown to be a mad man, they must have had their influence on the
Nero Redioiwts myth.
21. The alleged use of such a popular myth by a writer of Scripture is not necessarily
inimical to the revelational quality of Scripture. If it is indeed employed, such would be
an argumentwn ex coruessu. The very use of it by such conservative scholars as cited
previously should indicate such. After all, did not Paul pick up on popular thought to
illustrate a point when he wrote: “One of themselves, a prophet of their own, said,
‘Cretans are always liars, evil beasts, lazy gluttons.’ This testimony is true” (Tit, 1:12,
13) ? Stuart illustrates the matter further by reference to Christ’s sayings about the
Pharisees casting out demons and about demons wandering through dry places (Stuart,
Apoca@pse 1 :325). He wrote in addition that “We cannot rationally suppose John to have
believed the heathen predictions, that Nero would rise from the dead and actually
reappear as emperor. The most that we can reasonably suppose, is an allusion to the
common report, and in this way to give a hint as to the individual who is meant to be
designated by the beast. In short the more I reflect on these circumstances, the more I
am compelled to believe, that John wrote his bcmk pending the Neronian persecution”
(ibid. 1:277-278).
22. Macdonald, L$e and Writsngs, p. 165.
23. Stuart, Apoca@fue 2:435.
24. Suetonius, Nero 40:2.