who roasted Christians for pleasure... is also a bit of an exaggeration - he torched them as scapegoats for the fire when (pardon the expression) the heat on himself became uncomfortable. Even a despot had to be aware of public murmuring, and when he ignored it in later life it cost him his crown and his head. By all reports he really was an accomplished poet and singer who actually played by the rules in competition, not that he had to, since he'd have won them all anyway. "Oh, what a loss to the arts," he exclaimed just before having himself stuck with a sword - the new government wanted to have him scourged to death, the traditional penalty. These were not nice people by our standards...