"What an Artist Dies in Me!"

That's right, kids, on this day a mere 1,938 years ago (aka AD 68), Nero Claudius Cæsar Augustus Germanicus stabbed himself in the throat. That most noble of emperors - killer of adoptive fathers, stepbrothers, birth mothers & aunts alike; abandoner of "imperial functions in favour of the equestrian and dramatic and musical arts"; wearer of flower-patterned mini-tunics with frilly muslin collars; persecutor of Christians; & player of lyres - was induced to commit suicide by the revolt of the senate & the army against his reign of theater-lovin' tyranny.

Shockingly, it seems his body was not thrown into the Tiber.

Note: One of my personal favorite Nero stories involves the Games of AD 55, in which Nero decreed that the heretofore omnipresent praetorian guard were relieved of their obligation to maintain order at said Games, so that the citizens of Rome might feel they were afforded greater freedom. The result? "[S]erious brawls broke out between the gangs favouring rival ballet-dancers..." (Michael Grant, The Twelve Caesars). But of course!