The Book of Revelations, 17; 8-11, makes reference to what some interpreters think is the Emperor Nero returning to power after his death, which many believed was faked. “The seven heads are also seven emperors. Five of them have already gone, one is here now, and one is yet to come; once here, he must stay for a short while. The beast, who once was and now is not, is at the same time the eighth and one of the seven, and he is going to his destruction.”
According to Seutonius, Nero spent so extravagantly that he ran out of money. His grandiose plan to find a mythical buried treasure came to naught, and he had no money to pay the soldiers’ salaries. So, taxes went up. “You know how much I need.” Suetonius quotes him telling his tax collectors, “So, we have to take everything from everyone.” That, in the years before his death, is exactly what he did.
The spirit of Nero has, as was predicted, come back to life. It has returned, multiplying like the Hydra, in the form of an unaccountable bureaucracy that “grows like Topsy”. Just like Nero, it knows how much it needs, and it takes everything from everyone.
It’s driving force seems to be a very vain and hate-filled personality that spends its life avoiding work, risk, and getting its hands dirty.
