IT is held to be mere legend that Nero Claudius Caesar fiddled while Rome burned; given that the fiddle was not known in the Rome of 64 BCE, it is more accurate to record that he sang.
In fact, the historian Suetonius suggests that emperor Nero himself ordered the fires set, to provide a dramatically flaming backdrop to his song about the destruction of Troy. Whatever the truth of the matter, the image of a ruler indulging his own pursuits while all around him, people suffer amid devastation, has endured in our popular culture. Less well-remembered, but equally accurate and relevant, was that four years after the fire, Nero had become so despised that he was prevailed on to commit suicide.
The well-worn analogy of Nero comes to mind when considering the continuing inadequate response by most of Bulgaria's leaders to the series of disastrous deluges that has hit the country in the past few months. Occasionally, politicians drop in to Cabinet meetings to vote mere handfuls of cash, or raise their heads from the swirling murk of the political waters to appeal to the international community to help. Well have they earned President Purvanov's rebuke in recent days for their irresponsibility in choosing to play political games while ordinary people are deluged and distressed.
The brinkmanship that is an enduring pattern of the continuing abortive attempts to form a Cabinet has raised the possibility that a final failure may mean people will be called on the return to the polls for fresh elections. If this happens, it is likely that the current mainstream parties may be heavily punished for their political follies. No one would weep for their misfortune, bar for the possibility that disillusionment may mean political gains for parties even less palatable, and which also have sought to make political gains from the floods, such as Ataka.
Some historians say that among Nero's dying words were, "what an artist the world is losing in me!" One wonders if Bulgaria's political elite would see themselves in the same way, and how, by now, the country's neglected people see them.