Day 2 of 6(66) Days of Nero. The California thrash metal band Hirax close out their 2014 album Immortal Legacy by duly extending the immortality of the infamous emperor’s legacy. Once more, we see the Great Fire of 64 CE and the original anti-Christian persecution taken up as a lyrical theme (see yesterday’s post on Bewitcher for full historical context). Hirax perpetuate the rumor that the emperor had set the fire himself. But they go further by suggesting that not only was there no further objective than simply delighting in destruction, but also that Nero’s nihilistic rage was on a global scale. As the “caput mundi” (capital of the world), Rome and its world-empire have been traditionally seen as coextensive. When the city was sacked by the Goths in 410, many equated the city’s fall with that of the world itself. Some men just want to watch the world burn…

The six days of fire, the Roman empire,
burned July A.D.
The torches of Nero, the villain, the hero
The fire spread quick through the land

The world will burn, suffer the world
The world will burn, suffer the world

Set the blaze, Paris in flames
Inferno, Christians sentenced to death
The great fire of Rome, lambent flame
He’ll breath damnation released

The world will burn, suffer the world
The world will burn, suffer the world