As the corpse is placed in a casket or container (preferably prepared from a combustible material), the container burns down. Next, the heat dries the body, burns the skin and hair, contracts and chars the muscles, vaporizes the soft tissues, and calcifies the bones so that they eventually crumble.
One such story is that of Nero merrily playing the fiddle while Rome burned in the Great Fire of the first century. It was during the night of the 18 th July 64 AD, when a fire broke out in the merchant area of the city.
Usage notes: This phrase comes from a story about the Roman emperor Nero, who fiddled (= played the violin) while the city of Rome was burning. Environmentalists claim that the government is fiddling while Rome burns. See also: burn, fiddle, Rome.