The implications of auspices, of omens old and new, and of his own dreams, began to terrify Nero. In the past he had never known what it was to dream, but after killing his mother he dreamed that he was steering a ship and that someone tore the tiller from his hands. Next, his wife Octavia pulled him down into thick darkness, where hordes of winged ants swarmed over him. Then, the statues of the nations, which had been dedicated in the Theatre of Pompey, began to hem him in and prevent him from getting away; while his favourite Asturian horse turned into an ape, or all except the head, which whinnied a tune. Finally the doors of the Mausoleum opened by themselves and a voice from inside called: 'Enter, Nero!'

--Suetonius--

NOTES

This is from Suetonius, The Twelve Caesars, quoted in The Oxford Book of Dreams (ed. Stephen Brook, 1983)

Suetonius, who loathes Nero, is perhaps not the most reliable of narrator of second-hand dreams. But one should never underestimate the power of palace gossip to focus on juicy, pointless details like that song-whinnying horse-headed ape. It's certainly Nero's style...

--Chris Wayan

More statues come alive:

David B. encounters Giacometti's Cat

Emily the Strange wakes the Fox Mother

A westerner in Delhi overlooks a living Caryatid

Edwin Muir wakes the Goddess of Wyre

Wayan flees the Shadow of Liberty, meets a Vase of Fur, and falls for the Norasingh

and Robert Southey, trapped in a diorama of the damned, tries Creating Wings