Augustus preferred to stay in the gardens of his friend whenever he became ill. When Maecenas died in 8 BC, he left the gardens to Augustus in his will, and they became imperial property. Tiberius lived there after his return to Rome in 2 AD. Nero connected them with the Palatine Hill via his Domus Transitoria, and was alleged to view the burning of that palatial house from the "turris Maecenatiana" This "turris" might be the "molem propinquam nubibus arduis" ("the pile, among the clouds") mentioned by Horace.