A listener note, this episode contains references to suicide that may not be suitable for all audiences.

It's June 9th, 68 CE, in ancient Rome.

In a villa just outside the city, Emperor Nero, ruler of the Roman Empire,

paces through a courtyard, rereading a letter that came to him this morning.

It's from the Senate, the body of officials that govern Rome alongside him.

After years of being at odds with the cruel and tyrannical Nero,

the Senators have declared him a public enemy and sentenced him to death.

Upon receiving word of his condemnation, Nero fled his palace and headed to the villa of one of his few remaining loyal subjects.

And it's here that he has decided to take his own life.

Nero crumples the Senate's letter.

Then with trembling hands, he draws a pair of matching daggers from their sheets.

But before he can punch them into his body, Nero loses his nerve.

He throws the blades onto the ground and resumes pacing.

He is a dead man walking, whether he takes matters into his own hands or surrenders.

But he wants to hang on to whatever control he still has over his fate.

In a fit of desperation, he implores one of his servants to kill themselves first

to help bolster his own resolve, but the servant refuses.

Distraught, Nero picks back up one of the daggers.

He runs his finger across the blade, uncertain what to do with it.

The metal's glint instills a terror in him.

He can't bear to use it.

But then he hears a sound that makes up his mind for him,

...