Nero played his lyre, (Bush guitar), while Rome burned (NO drowned)

[kansasblue]

On the night July 18 to July 19, 0064 the Great fire of Rome erupted. The fire started in densely populated areas like the Suburra, in which had been built the insulae, wooden dwellings, built on three or four floors.
Nero was reportedly vacationing in his native Anzio but had to return in haste. The fire burned for a week. Rumor circulated that Nero had played his lyre and sang, on top of Quirinal Hill, while the city burned. (Tacitus, Ann. xv; Suetonius, Nero xxxvii; Dio Cassius, R.H. lxii.) Over the years, this turned to a legend that Nero had fiddled as Rome burned, an impossible act as the fiddle had not yet been invented.

The same accounts depict him opening his palaces to provide shelter for the homeless and arranging for food supplies to be delivered in order to prevent starvation among the survivors. However, Nero lost his chances at redeeming his reputation when he immediately produced plans of rebuilding Rome in a monumental –and less inflammable – style.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nero#Nero-Spawn_of_Satan.3F