“Last of all he saw the souls who were returning to birth, being forcibly turned into all sorts of
beasts, having their shapes changed by the shapers of animals, with blows of curious instruments. In
some cases they hammered the whole of their parts together; in others they twisted them back, and
some parts they planed off smooth, and got rid of them entirely, so that they might be fitted to other
habits and modes of life. Among them he saw the soul of Nero in a bad state generally and pierced
with red-hot nails. The smiths had in hand for it the form of Pindar's viper, in which it would be
conceived and come to life by gnawing itself through its mother. Hereupon, he said, a great light
suddenly shone forth, and a voice from the light was heard giving orders to change it into a milder
type, and devise a creature that croaks round marshes and lakes; he had been already punished for
his crimes, and now some favour was due to him from the Gods for having freed Greece, the most
excellent nation of his subjects and the one dearest to the Gods.” (Plutarch, God's Slowness to
Punish 567e–68a, translated by G. R. S. Mead)Timeline 9 The Roman Empire.
Now, under the control of Latin-speaking Roman administrators, the Greeks once again needed to redefine
themselves in an awareness of their lack of political power, but confident of their cultural superiority to
their Roman masters. The Romans, too, were well aware of the merits of Greek civilization, and a number
of educated Romans either went to Greece to study oratory and philosophy or imported Greek experts to