Before Jerusalem Fell

74 BEFORE JERUSALEM FELL
The Fear of Nero% Return
Second, Nero was so dreaded by many that after his death there
began circulating haunting rumors of his destructive return. In fact,
“very soon after Nero’s death, there grew up a curious legend which
remains well-nigh unique in history, the legend that Nero would
return to earth again to reign. “3 7
The rumors can be found in the
writings of Tacitus, Suetonius, Dio Cassius, Zonara, Dion Chrysostom,
Augustine, and other ancient writers. 38
In the corpus of the Sibylline Oracles Nero appears as a constant
threat to the world. Sibylline scholar J. J. Collins notes in this regard
that “there is the prominence of Nero as an eschatological adversary
throughout the Sibylline corpus.”3 9
Let us take a few pages to demonstrate
the pervasiveness of Nero in these alleged prophecies of folklore
quality. In the Jewish Sibylline Oracles (written “sometime after
A.D. 70”)W there is a veiled reference to Nero4] that equates him
with the dreaded Beliar:
Then Beliar will come from the Sehm%noi [i.e., the
line of Augustus]
and he will raise up the height of mountains, he
will raise up the sea,
the great fiery sun and shining moon,
and he will raise up the dead. . . .
But he will, indeed, also lead men astray, and he
will lead astray
many ftithful, chosen Hebrews, and also other
lawless
men who have not yet listened to the word of
God. 42
whitewash the tyrant” is not exactly true. Arthur Weigall in his classic study, Nero:
Emperor of Rome (London: Butten.vorth, 1933) portrays Nero as a victim of bad publicity.
37. Henderson, Nero, p. 419.
38. Tacitus, Histories 1:78; 2:6 Suetonius, Nero 57; DIO Cassius Xiphilinu.s 65:9; Zonara,
Anrusls 11:15-18; Dio Chrysostom, Orations 21:9,10; Augustine, 2% City of Goa’ 20:19-3.
See also Sibylline Oracles, 4:119-124, 137-139; 5:331Z, 104-107, 139-154, 214-220, 361-
370; Asamsion of Isaiah 42-4.
39. J. J. Collins, “Sibylline Oracles,” in James H. Charlesworth, cd., 010! Teskvrumt
Psewr!spigrapha, 2 vols (Garden City, ~ Doubleday, 1983) 1:360.
40. Ibid., p. 360.
41. Ibid., p. 363, note j.
42. Siby[lint Oracles 3:63-70; OTP 1:363.