Nero

On June 9, 68, Claudius Nero, Roman emperor (54-68), committed suicide at the age of 31. From the article:

"The greatest threat to Nero's reign, however, was the Great Fire, which began on 19 July 64 CE and lasted for six days. Ten of the 14 districts of the city were destroyed, hundreds died, thousands were left homeless, and looters ravaged the city. Since the fire, many questions have been raised. Did Nero play his lyre (not a fiddle which had not been invented) in the safety of the palace complex while the city burned? Did he start it? Historians differ in their response to these questions. Was he even in the city or did he watch it burn? Suetonius wrote: "Nero watched the conflagration from the Tower of Maecenas enrapt by what he called 'the beauty of the flames'; then put on his tragedian's costume and sang …" Tacitus seemed to remain neutral when he wrote: "A disaster followed, whether accidental or treacherously contrived by the emperor, is uncertain, as authors have given both accounts, worse, however, and more dreadful than any which have ever happened to this city by the violence of fire." The blame fell, of course, upon the heads of the persecuted Christians who had always viewed Nero as the anti-Christ.

Although he had to raise taxes to finance the rebuilding of Rome, the city was better in some ways than before: rebuilt residential districts, wider streets, brick buildings, and colonnades at street level to shelter to residents from the sun. Of course, the new Rome also included Nero's Golden Palace (later to be buried by Emperor Trajan), containing gold plated ceilings, a lake, and exotic animals. Those who believe Nero started the fire point to his palace as the underlying reason.

Suicide
The fire, the conspiracy, the numerous insurrections, and the empty treasury led to Nero's demise. The Senate declared him an enemy of the public and named Galba as the new emperor. Realizing his days as emperor were over, Nero attempted suicide while in the villa of his freedman Phaon but he failed and needed help to take his own life. His last words were: 'What an artist dies in me.'"