The Joyful Wisdom · Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche
36.
_Last Words._—It will be recollected that the Emperor Augustus, that terrible man, who had himself as much in his own power, and who could be silent as well as any wise Socrates, became indiscreet about himself in his last words; for the first time he let his mask fall, when he gave to understand that he had carried a mask and played a comedy,—he had played the father of his country and wisdom on the throne well, even to the point of illusion! _Plaudite amici, comoedia finita est!_—The thought of the dying Nero: _qualis artifex pereo!_ was also the thought of the dying Augustus: histrionic conceit! histrionic loquacity! And the very counterpart to the dying Socrates!—But Tiberius died silently, that most tortured of all self-torturers,—_he_ was _genuine_ and not a stage-player! What may have passed through his head in the end! Perhaps this: "Life—that is a long death. I am a fool, who shortened the lives of so many! Was _I_ created for the purpose of being a benefactor? I should have given them eternal life: and then I could have _seen them dying_ eternally. I had such good eyes _for that_: _qualis spectator pereo!_" When he seemed once more to regain his powers after a long death-struggle, it was considered advisable to smother him with pillows,—he died a double death.
Text from Project Gutenberg, public domain in the United States.