Re: Fiddling while Rome burns Posted by Teach on December 13, 1999
In Reply to: Re: Fiddling while Rome burns
posted by ESC on December 11, 1999
: : In this case, the fiddling is euphemistic, but the burning
actual. Refers to the Emperor Nero, who "fiddled around" while Rome
actually was burning.
: FIDDLING WHILE ROME BURNS - According to the "Random House Dictionary
of Popular Proverbs and Sayings" by Gregory Y. Titelman, "Nero fiddled
while Rome burned" refers to ".heedless and irresponsible behavior
in the midst of a crisis. Legend has it that in A.D. 64 the emperor
Nero (A.D. 37 - A.D. 68), last of the Caesars, set fire to Rome
to see 'how Troy would look when it was in flames' and to serve
as a suitable background for a recitation of his poetry while accompanying
himself on the lyre."
: "Morris Dictionary of Word and Phrase Origins" has some additional
information on this phrase: "The notion that Nero fiddled while
Rome burned is nonsense because the fiddle wasn't invented until
many centuries after he ruled Rome, from 54 to 68 A.D. He may have
toyed with a lute, but certainly not a fiddle. What's more, Nero
seems to have been something less than all bad. For one thing, he
was a pioneer in what we would now call 'urban renewal.' He planned
to rebuild much of Rome and ran into a lot of trouble with property
owners who resented his condemnation proceedings. When the big fire
broke out in 64 A.D. (it burned nine days and destroyed two thirds
of the city), Nero didn't do much to win the hearts and minds of
his people by ordering some other buildings burned to stop the fire's
progress. But in the end, Nero proved to be a pretty smart politician.
He blamed the fire on the Christians, who were then a much put-upon
sect and a handy scapegoat. The truth seems to be that while the
Christians didn't actually start the fire, they didn't do much about
putting it out either, because they saw it as the sign of the second
coming of Christ." As an interesting (I think) fiddling side note,
I found a phrase in "Heavens to Betsy" by Mr. Charles Earle Funk
that I'd never heard -- "'to have one's face made of a fiddle' was
to be exceptionally good-looking." Fiddles had such pleasing qualities
".as to invite complimentary comparisons to humans."
When we are made aware that a company director has 'Fiddled the
Books" we do not immediately find ourselves inundated with letters
to the press and irate phone calls to talk radio pointing out that
it's impossible to get a tune out of a book and certainly that there
are no know book section in any reputable orchestra. Rather we assume
a different meaning for the word "fiddled" with the majority of
people correctly assuming that the director had made fraudulent
entries in his company accounts.
Given this ability of humans to establish meaning based on context
why, historically, has there been this debate as to what Nero did
when Rome burned. Surely almost everybody knew that violins did
not exist at that time and those who didn't where probably in no
position to comment on it; given the levels of illiteracy in most
of the know world until the 1800's.
I'm therefore fascinated to know how the question regarding Nero's
fiddling ever arose, or was it one of those well managed myths created
as a dinner party conversation piece designed to confer a level
of erudition on the teller.
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