THE LIVES OF THE TWELVE CAESARS

 By C. Suetonius Tranquillus;

 To which are added, HIS LIVES OF THE GRAMMARIANS, RHETORICIANS, AND POETS. 

 The Translation of Alexander Thomson, M. D. 

 revised and corrected by T. Forester, Esq. , A. M. 

TITUS FLAVIUS DOMITIANUS. 

(479)

I. Domitian was born upon the ninth of the calends of November [24thOctober] [795], when his father was consul elect, (being to enter uponhis office the month following, ) in the sixth region of the city, at thePomegranate [796], in the house which he afterwards converted into atemple of the Flavian family. He is said to have spent the time of hisyouth in so much want and infamy, that he had not one piece of platebelonging to him; and it is well known, that Clodius Pollio, a man ofpretorian rank, against whom there is a poem of Nero's extant, entitledLuscio, kept a note in his hand-writing, which he sometimes produced, inwhich Domitian made an assignation with him for the foulest purposes. Some, likewise, have said, that he prostituted himself to Nerva, whosucceeded him. In the war with Vitellius, he fled into the Capitol withhis uncle Sabinus, and a part of the troops they had in the city [797]. But the enemy breaking in, and the temple being set on fire, he hidhimself all night with the sacristan; and next morning, assuming thedisguise of a worshipper of Isis, and mixing with the priests of thatidle superstition, he got over the Tiber [798], with only one attendant, to the house of a woman who was the mother of one of his school-fellows, and lurked there so close, that, though the enemy, who were at his heels, searched very strictly after him, they could not discover him. At last, after the success of his party, appearing in public, and beingunanimously saluted by the title of Caesar, he assumed the office ofpraetor of the City, with consular authority, but in fact had nothing butthe name; for the jurisdiction he transferred to his next colleague. Heused, however, his absolute (480) power so licentiously, that even thenhe plainly discovered what sort of prince he was likely to prove. Not togo into details, after he had made free with the wives of many men ofdistinction, he took Domitia Longina from her husband, Aelias Lamia, andmarried her; and in one day disposed of above twenty offices in the cityand the provinces; upon which Vespasian said several times, "he wonderedhe did not send him a successor too. "

II. He likewise designed an expedition into Gaul and Germany [799], without the least necessity for it, and contrary to the advice of all hisfather's friends; and this he did only with the view of equalling hisbrother in military achievements and glory. But for this he was severelyreprimanded, and that he might the more effectually be reminded of hisage and position, was made to live with his father, and his litter had tofollow his father's and brother's carriage, as often as they went abroad;but he attended them in their triumph for the conquest of Judaea [800], mounted on a white horse. Of the six consulships which he held, only onewas ordinary; and that he obtained by the cession and interest of hisbrother. He greatly affected a modest behaviour, and, above all, a tastefor poetry; insomuch, that he rehearsed his performances in public, though it was an art he had formerly little cultivated, and which heafterwards despised and abandoned. Devoted, however, as he was at thistime to poetical pursuits, yet when Vologesus, king of the Parthians, desired succours against the Alani, with one of Vespasian's sons tocommand them, he laboured hard to procure for himself that appointment. But the scheme proving abortive, he endeavoured by presents and promisesto engage other kings of the East to make a similar request. After hisfather's death, he was for some time in doubt, whether he should notoffer the soldiers a donative double to that of his brother, and made noscruple of saying frequently, "that he had been left his partner in theempire, but that his father's will had been fraudulently set aside. "From that time forward, he was constantly engaged in plots against hisbrother, both publicly and privately; until, falling dangerously ill, heordered all his attendants to (481) leave him, under pretence of hisbeing dead, before he really was so; and, at his decease, paid him noother honour than that of enrolling him amongst the gods; and he often, both in speeches and edicts, carped at his memory by sneers andinsinuations. 

III. In the beginning of his reign, he used to spend daily an hour byhimself in private, during which time he did nothing else but catchflies, and stick them through the body with a sharp pin. When some onetherefore inquired, "whether any one was with the emperor, " it wassignificantly answered by Vibius Crispus, "Not so much as a fly. " Soonafter his advancement, his wife Domitia, by whom he had a son in hissecond consulship, and whom the year following he complimented with thetitle of Augusta, being desperately in love with Paris, the actor, he puther away; but within a short time afterwards, being unable to bear theseparation, he took her again, under pretence of complying with thepeople's importunity. During some time, there was in his administrationa strange mixture of virtue and vice, until at last his virtuesthemselves degenerated into vices; being, as we may reasonably conjectureconcerning his character, inclined to avarice through want, and tocruelty through fear. 

IV. He frequently entertained the people with most magnificent andcostly shows, not only in the amphitheatre, but the circus; where, besides the usual races with chariots drawn by two or four horsesa-breast, he exhibited the representation of an engagement between bothhorse and foot, and a sea-fight in the amphitheatre. The people werealso entertained with the chase of wild beasts and the combat ofgladiators, even in the night-time, by torch-light. Nor did men onlyfight in these spectacles, but women also. He constantly attended at thegames given by the quaestors, which had been disused for some time, butwere revived by him; and upon those occasions, always gave the people theliberty of demanding two pair of gladiators out of his own school, whoappeared last in court uniforms. Whenever he attended the shows ofgladiators, there stood at his feet a little boy dressed in scarlet, witha prodigiously small head, with whom he used to talk very much, andsometimes seriously. We are assured, that he was (482) overheard askinghim, "if he knew for what reason he had in the late appointment, madeMetius Rufus governor of Egypt?" He presented the people with navalfights, performed by fleets almost as numerous as those usually employedin real engagements; making a vast lake near the Tiber [801], andbuilding seats round it. And he witnessed them himself during a veryheavy rain. He likewise celebrated the Secular games [802], reckoningnot from the year in which they had been exhibited by Claudius, but fromthe time of Augustus's celebration of them. In these, upon the day ofthe Circensian sports, in order to have a hundred races performed, hereduced each course from seven rounds to five. He likewise instituted, in honour of Jupiter Capitolinus, a solemn contest in music to beperformed every five years; besides horse-racing and gymnastic exercises, with more prizes than are at present allowed. There was also a publicperformance in elocution, both Greek and Latin and besides the musicianswho sung to the harp, there were others who played concerted pieces orsolos, without vocal accompaniment. Young girls also ran races in theStadium, at which he presided in his sandals, dressed in a purple robe, made after the Grecian fashion, and wearing upon his head a golden crownbearing the effigies of Jupiter, Juno, and Minerva; with the flamen ofJupiter, and the college of priests sitting by his side in the samedress; excepting only that their crowns had also his own image on them. He celebrated also upon the Alban mount every year the festival ofMinerva, for whom he had appointed a college of priests, out of whichwere chosen by lot persons to preside as governors over the college; whowere obliged to entertain the people with extraordinary chases ofwild-beasts, and stage-plays, besides contests for prizes in oratory andpoetry. He thrice bestowed upon the people a largess of three hundredsesterces each man; and, at a public show of gladiators, a very plentifulfeast. At the festival of the Seven Hills [803], he distributed largehampers of provisions (483) to the senatorian and equestrian orders, andsmall baskets to the common people, and encouraged them to eat by settingthem the example. The day after, he scattered among the people a varietyof cakes and other delicacies to be scrambled for; and on the greaterpart of them falling amidst the seats of the crowd, he ordered fivehundred tickets to be thrown into each range of benches belonging to thesenatorian and equestrian orders. 

V. He rebuilt many noble edifices which had been destroyed by fire, andamongst them the Capitol, which had been burnt down a second time [804];but all the inscriptions were in his own name, without the least mentionof the original founders. He likewise erected a new temple in theCapitol to Jupiter Custos, and a forum, which is now called Nerva's[805], as also the temple of the Flavian family [806], a stadium [807], an odeum [808], and a naumachia [809]; out of the stone dug from which, the sides of the Circus Maximus, which had been burnt down, were rebuilt. 

VI. He undertook several expeditions, some from choice, and some fromnecessity. That against the Catti [810] was unprovoked, but that againstthe Sarmatians was necessary; an entire legion, with its commander, having been cut off by them. He sent two expeditions against theDacians; the first upon the defeat of Oppius Sabinus, a man of consularrank; and (484) the other, upon that of Cornelius Fuscus, prefect of thepretorian cohorts, to whom he had entrusted the conduct of that war. After several battles with the Catti and Daci, he celebrated a doubletriumph. But for his successes against the Sarmatians, he only bore inprocession the laurel crown to Jupiter Capitolinus. The civil war, begunby Lucius Antonius, governor of Upper Germany, he quelled, without beingobliged to be personally present at it, with remarkable good fortune. For, at the very moment of joining battle, the Rhine suddenly thawing, the troops of the barbarians which were ready to join L. Antonius, wereprevented from crossing the river. Of this victory he had notice by somepresages, before the messengers who brought the news of it arrived. Forupon the very day the battle was fought, a splendid eagle spread itswings round his statue at Rome, making most joyful cries. And shortlyafter, a rumour became common, that Antonius was slain; nay, manypositively affirmed, that they saw his head brought to the city. 

VII. He made many innovations in common practices. He abolished theSportula [811], and revived the old practice of regular suppers. To thefour former parties in the Circensian games, he added two new, who weregold and scarlet. He prohibited the players from acting in the theatre, but permitted them the practice of their art in private houses. Heforbad the castration of males; and reduced the price of the eunuchs whowere still left in the hands of the dealers in slaves. On the occasionof a great abundance of wine, accompanied by a scarcity of corn, supposing that the tillage of the ground was neglected for the sake ofattending too much to the cultivation of vineyards, he published aproclamation forbidding the planting of any new vines in Italy, andordering the vines in the provinces to be cut down, nowhere permittingmore than one half of them to remain [812]. But he did not persist inthe execution of this project. Some of the greatest offices he conferredupon his freedmen and soldiers. He forbad two legions to be quartered inthe same camp, and more than a thousand sesterces to be deposited by anysoldier with the standards; because it was thought that Lucius Antoniushad been encouraged in his late project by the large sum deposited in themilitary chest by the two legions which he had in the samewinter-quarters. He made an addition to the soldiers' pay, of threegold pieces a year. 

VIII. In the administration of justice he was diligent and assiduous;and frequently sat in the Forum out of course, to cancel the judgments ofthe court of The One Hundred, which had been procured through favour, orinterest. He occasionally cautioned the judges of the court of recoveryto beware of being too ready to admit claims for freedom brought beforethem. He set a mark of infamy upon judges who were convicted of takingbribes, as well as upon their assessors. He likewise instigated thetribunes of the people to prosecute a corrupt aedile for extortion, andto desire the senate to appoint judges for his trial. He likewise tooksuch effectual care in punishing magistrates of the city, and governorsof provinces, guilty of malversation, that they never were at any timemore moderate or more just. Most of these, since his reign, we have seenprosecuted for crimes of various kinds. Having taken upon himself thereformation of the public manners, he restrained the licence of thepopulace in sitting promiscuously with the knights in the theatre. Scandalous libels, published to defame persons of rank, of either sex, hesuppressed, and inflicted upon their authors a mark of infamy. Heexpelled a man of quaestorian rank from the senate, for practisingmimicry and dancing. He debarred infamous women the use of litters; asalso the right of receiving legacies, or inheriting estates. He struckout of the list of judges a Roman knight for taking again his wife whomhe had divorced and prosecuted for adultery. He condemned several men ofthe senatorian and equestrian orders, upon the Scantinian law [813]. Thelewdness of the Vestal Virgins, which had been overlooked by his fatherand brother, he punished severely, but in different ways; viz. Offencescommitted before his reign, with death, and those since its commencement, according to ancient custom. For to the two sisters called Ocellatae, hegave liberty to choose the mode of death which they preferred, andbanished (486) their paramours. But Cornelia, the president of theVestals, who had formerly been acquitted upon a charge of incontinence, being a long time after again prosecuted and condemned, he ordered to beburied alive; and her gallants to be whipped to death with rods in theComitium; excepting only a man of praetorian rank, to whom, because heconfessed the fact, while the case was dubious, and it was notestablished against him, though the witnesses had been put to thetorture, he granted the favour of banishment. And to preserve pure andundefiled the reverence due to the gods, he ordered the soldiers todemolish a tomb, which one of his freedmen had erected for his son out ofthe stones designed for the temple of Jupiter Capitolinus, and to sink inthe sea the bones and relics buried in it. 

IX. Upon his first succeeding to power, he felt such an abhorrence forthe shedding of blood, that, before his father's arrival in Rome, callingto mind the verse of Virgil, Impia quam caesis gens est epulata juvencis, [814]

 Ere impious man, restrain'd from blood in vain, Began to feast on flesh of bullocks slain, he designed to have published a proclamation, "to forbid the sacrifice ofoxen. " Before his accession to the imperial authority, and during sometime afterwards, he scarcely ever gave the least grounds for beingsuspected of covetousness or avarice; but, on the contrary, he oftenafforded proofs, not only of his justice, but his liberality. To allabout him he was generous even to profusion, and recommended nothing moreearnestly to them than to avoid doing anything mean. He would not acceptthe property left him by those who had children. He also set aside alegacy bequeathed by the will of Ruscus Caepio, who had ordered "his heirto make a present yearly to each of the senators upon their firstassembling. " He exonerated all those who had been under prosecution fromthe treasury for above five years before; and would not suffer suits tobe renewed, unless it was done within a year, and on condition, that theprosecutor should be banished, if he could not make good his cause. Thesecretaries of the quaestors having engaged in trade, according tocustom, but contrary to (487) the Clodian law [815], he pardoned them forwhat was past. Such portions of land as had been left when it wasdivided amongst the veteran soldiers, he granted to the ancientpossessors, as belonging to then by prescription. He put a stop to falseprosecutions in the exchequer, by severely punishing the prosecutors; andthis saying of his was much taken notice of "that a prince who does notpunish informers, encourages them. "

X. But he did not long persevere in this course of clemency and justice, although he sooner fell into cruelty than into avarice. He put to deatha scholar of Paris, the pantomimic [816], though a minor, and then sick, only because, both in person and the practice of his art, he resembledhis master; as he did likewise Hermogenes of Tarsus for some obliquereflections in his History; crucifying, besides, the scribes who hadcopied the work. One who was master of a band of gladiators, happeningto say, "that a Thrax was a match for a Marmillo [817], but not so forthe exhibitor of the games", he ordered him to be dragged from thebenches into the arena, and exposed to the dogs, with this label uponhim, "A Parmularian [818] guilty of talking impiously. " He put to deathmany senators, and amongst them several men of consular rank. In thisnumber were, Civica Cerealis, when he was proconsul in Africa, Salvidienus Orfitus, and Acilius Glabrio in exile, under the pretence oftheir planning to revolt against him. The rest he punished upon verytrivial occasions; as Aelius Lamia for some jocular expressions, whichwere of old date, and perfectly harmless; because, upon his commendinghis voice after he had taken his wife from him [819], he replied, "Alas!I hold my tongue. " And when Titus advised him to take another wife, heanswered him thus: "What! have you a mind to marry?" Salvius Cocceianuswas condemned to death for keeping the birth-day of his uncle Otho, theemperor: Metius Pomposianus, because he was commonly reported to have animperial nativity [820], and to carry about with (488) him a map of theworld upon vellum, with the speeches of kings and generals extracted outof Titus Livius; and for giving his slaves the names of Mago andHannibal; Sallustius Lucullus, lieutenant in Britain, for suffering somelances of a new invention to be called "Lucullean;" and Junius Rusticus, for publishing a treatise in praise of Paetus Thrasea and HelvidiusPriscus, and calling them both "most upright men. " Upon this occasion, he likewise banished all the philosophers from the city and Italy. Heput to death the younger Helvidius, for writing a farce, in which, underthe character of Paris and Oenone, he reflected upon his having divorcedhis wife; and also Flavius Sabinus, one of his cousins, because, upon hisbeing chosen at the consular election to that office, the public crierhad, by a blunder, proclaimed him to the people not consul, but emperor. Becoming still more savage after his success in the civil war, heemployed the utmost industry to discover those of the adverse party whoabsconded: many of them he racked with a new-invented torture, insertingfire through their private parts; and from some he cut off their hands. It is certain, that only two of any note were pardoned, a tribune whowore the narrow stripe, and a centurion; who, to clear themselves fromthe charge of being concerned in any rebellious project, provedthemselves to have been guilty of prostitution, and consequentlyincapable of exercising any influence either over the general or thesoldiers. 

XI. His cruelties were not only excessive, but subtle and unexpected. The day before he crucified a collector of his rents, he sent for himinto his bed-chamber, made him sit down upon the bed by him, and sent himaway well pleased, and, so far as could be inferred from his treatment, in a state of perfect security; having vouchsafed him the favour of aplate of meat from his own table. When he was on the point of condemningto death Aretinus Clemens, a man of consular rank, and one of his friendsand emissaries, he retained him about his person in the same or greaterfavour than ever; until at last, as they were riding together in the samelitter, upon seeing the man who had informed against him, he said, "Areyou willing that we should hear this base slave tomorrow?"Contemptuously abusing the patience of men, he never pronounced a severesentence without prefacing it (489) with words which gave hopes of mercy;so that, at last, there was not a more certain token of a fatalconclusion, than a mild commencement. He brought before the senate somepersona accused of treason, declaring, "that he should prove that day howdear he was to the senate;" and so influenced them, that they condemnedthe accused to be punished according to the ancient usage [821]. Then, as if alarmed at the extreme severity of their punishment, to lessen theodiousness of the proceeding, he interposed in these words; for it is notforeign to the purpose to give them precisely as they were delivered:"Permit me, Conscript Fathers, so far to prevail upon your affection forme, however extraordinary the request may seem, as to grant the condemnedcriminals the favour of dying in the manner they choose. For by sodoing, ye will spare your own eyes, and the world will understand that Iinterceded with the senate on their behalf. "

XII. Having exhausted the exchequer by the expense of his buildings andpublic spectacles, with the augmentation of pay lately granted to thetroops, he made an attempt at the reduction of the army, in order tolessen the military charges. But reflecting, that he should, by thismeasure, expose himself to the insults of the barbarians, while it wouldnot suffice to extricate him from his embarrassments, he had recourse toplundering his subjects by every mode of exaction. The estates of theliving and the dead were sequestered upon any accusation, by whomsoeverpreferred. The unsupported allegation of any one person, relative to aword or action construed to affect the dignity of the emperor, wassufficient. Inheritances, to which he had not the slightest pretension, were confiscated, if there was found so much as one person to say, he hadheard from the deceased when living, "that he had made the emperor hisheir. " Besides the exactions from others, the poll-tax on the Jews waslevied with extreme rigour, both on those who lived after the manner ofJews in the city, without publicly professing themselves to be such[822], and on those who, by (490) concealing their origin, avoided payingthe tribute imposed upon that people. I remember, when I was a youth, tohave been present [823], when an old man, ninety years of age, had hisperson exposed to view in a very crowded court, in order that, oninspection, the procurator might satisfy himself whether he wascircumcised. [824]

From his earliest years Domitian was any thing but courteous, of aforward, assuming disposition, and extravagant both in his words andactions. When Caenis, his father's concubine, upon her return fromIstria, offered him a kiss, as she had been used to do, he presented herhis hand to kiss. Being indignant, that his brother's son-in-law shouldbe waited on by servants dressed in white [825], he exclaimed, ouk agathon polykoiraniae. [826] Too many princes are not good. 

XIII. After he became emperor, he had the assurance to boast in thesenate, "that he had bestowed the empire on his father and brother, andthey had restored it to him. " And upon taking his wife again, after thedivorce, he declared by proclamation, "that he had recalled her to hispulvinar. " [827] He was not a little pleased too, at hearing theacclamations of the people in the amphitheatre on a day of festival, "Allhappiness to our lord and lady. " But when, during the celebration of theCapitoline trial of skill, the whole concourse of people entreated himwith one voice to restore Palfurius Sura to his place in the senate, fromwhich he had been long before expelled--he having then carried away theprize of eloquence from all the orators who had contended for it, --he didnot vouchsafe to give them any answer, but only commanded silence to beproclaimed by the voice of the crier. With equal arrogance, when hedictated the form of a letter to be used by his procurators, he began itthus: "Our lord and god commands so and so;" whence it became a rule thatno one should (491) style him otherwise either in writing or speaking. He suffered no statues to be erected for him in the Capitol, unless theywere of gold and silver, and of a certain weight. He erected so manymagnificent gates and arches, surmounted by representations of chariotsdrawn by four horses, and other triumphal ornaments, in differentquarters of the city, that a wag inscribed on one of the arches the Greekword Axkei, "It is enough. " [828] He filled the office of consulseventeen times, which no one had ever done before him, and for the sevenmiddle occasions in successive years; but in scarcely any of them had hemore than the title; for he never continued in office beyond the calendsof May [the 1st May], and for the most part only till the ides of January[13th January]. After his two triumphs, when he assumed the cognomen ofGermanicus, he called the months of September and October, Germanicus andDomitian, after his own names, because he commenced his reign in the one, and was born in the other. 

XIV. Becoming by these means universally feared and odious, he was atlast taken off by a conspiracy of his friends and favourite freedmen, inconcert with his wife [829]. He had long entertained a suspicion of theyear and day when he should die, and even of the very hour and manner ofhis death; all which he had learned from the Chaldaeans, when he was avery young man. His father once at supper laughed at him for refusing toeat some mushrooms, saying, that if he knew his fate, he would rather beafraid of the sword. Being, therefore, in perpetual apprehension andanxiety, he was keenly alive to the slightest suspicions, insomuch thathe is thought to have withdrawn the edict ordering the destruction of thevines, chiefly because the copies of it which were dispersed had thefollowing lines written upon them:

 Kaen me phagaes epi rizanomos epi kartophoraeso, Osson epispeisai Kaisari thuomeno. [830]

 Gnaw thou my root, yet shall my juice suffice To pour on Caesar's head in sacrifice. 

(492) It was from the same principle of fear, that he refused a newhonour, devised and offered him by the senate, though he was greedy ofall such compliments. It was this: "that as often as he held theconsulship, Roman knights, chosen by lot, should walk before him, clad inthe Trabea, with lances in their hands, amongst his lictors andapparitors. " As the time of the danger which he apprehended drew near, he became daily more and more disturbed in mind; insomuch that he linedthe walls of the porticos in which he used to walk, with the stone calledPhengites [831], by the reflection of which he could see every objectbehind him. He seldom gave an audience to persons in custody, unless inprivate, being alone, and he himself holding their chains in his hand. To convince his domestics that the life of a master was not to beattempted upon any pretext, however plausible, he condemned to deathEpaphroditus his secretary, because it was believed that he had assistedNero, in his extremity, to kill himself. 

XV. His last victim was Flavius Clemens [832], his cousin-german, a manbelow contempt for his want of energy, whose sons, then of very tenderage, he had avowedly destined for his successors, and, discarding theirformer names, had ordered one to be called Vespasian, and the otherDomitian. Nevertheless, he suddenly put him to death upon some veryslight suspicion [833], almost before he was well out of his consulship. By this violent act he very much hastened his own destruction. Duringeight months together there was so much lightning at Rome, and suchaccounts of the phaenomenon were brought from other parts, that at lasthe cried out, "Let him now strike whom he will. " The Capitol was struckby lightning, as well as the temple of the Flavian family, with thePalatine-house, and his own bed-chamber. The tablet also, inscribed uponthe base of his triumphal statue was carried away by the violence of thestorm, and fell upon a neighbouring (493) monument. The tree which justbefore the advancement of Vespasian had been prostrated, and rose again[834], suddenly fell to the ground. The goddess Fortune of Praeneste, towhom it was his custom on new year's day to commend the empire for theensuing year, and who had always given him a favourable reply, at lastreturned him a melancholy answer, not without mention of blood. Hedreamt that Minerva, whom he worshipped even to a superstitious excess, was withdrawing from her sanctuary, declaring she could protect him nolonger, because she was disarmed by Jupiter. Nothing, however, so muchaffected him as an answer given by Ascletario, the astrologer, and hissubsequent fate. This person had been informed against, and did not denyhis having predicted some future events, of which, from the principles ofhis art, he confessed he had a foreknowledge. Domitian asked him, whatend he thought he should come to himself? To which replying, "I shall ina short time be torn to pieces by dogs, " he ordered him immediately to beslain, and, in order to demonstrate the vanity of his art, to becarefully buried. But during the preparations for executing this order, it happened that the funeral pile was blown down by a sudden storm, andthe body, half-burnt, was torn to pieces by dogs; which being observed byLatinus, the comic actor, as he chanced to pass that way, he told it, amongst the other news of the day, to the emperor at supper. 

XVI. The day before his death, he ordered some dates [835], served up attable, to be kept till the next day, adding, "If I have the luck to usethem. " And turning to those who were nearest him, he said, "To-morrowthe moon in Aquarius will be bloody instead of watery, and an event willhappen, which will be much talked of all the world over. " Aboutmidnight, he was so terrified that he leaped out of bed. That morning hetried and passed sentence on a soothsayer sent from Germany, who beingconsulted about the lightning that had lately (494) happened, predictedfrom it a change of government. The blood running down his face as hescratched an ulcerous tumour on his forehead, he said, "Would this wereall that is to befall me!" Then, upon his asking the time of the day, instead of five o'clock, which was the hour he dreaded, they purposelytold him it was six. Overjoyed at this information; as if all dangerwere now passed, and hastening to the bath, Parthenius, his chamberlain, stopped him, by saying that there was a person come to wait upon himabout a matter of great importance, which would admit of no delay. Uponthis, ordering all persons to withdraw, he retired into his chamber, andwas there slain. 

XVII. Concerning the contrivance and mode of his death, the commonaccount is this. The conspirators being in some doubt when and wherethey should attack him, whether while he was in the bath, or at supper, Stephanus, a steward of Domitilla's [836], then under prosecution fordefrauding his mistress, offered them his advice and assistance; andwrapping up his left arm, as if it was hurt, in wool and bandages forsome days, to prevent suspicion, at the hour appointed, he secreted adagger in them. Pretending then to make a discovery of a conspiracy, andbeing for that reason admitted, he presented to the emperor a memorial, and while he was reading it in great astonishment, stabbed him in thegroin. But Domitian, though wounded, making resistance, Clodianus, oneof his guards, Maximus, a freedman of Parthenius's, Saturius, hisprincipal chamberlain, with some gladiators, fell upon him, and stabbedhim in seven places. A boy who had the charge of the Lares in hisbed-chamber, and was then in attendance as usual, gave these furtherparticulars: that he was ordered by Domitian, upon receiving his firstwound, to reach him a dagger which lay under his pillow, and call in hisdomestics; but that he found nothing at the head of the bed, exceptingthe hilt of a (495) poniard, and that all the doors were fastened: thatthe emperor in the mean time got hold of Stephanus, and throwing him uponthe ground, struggled a long time with him; one while endeavouring towrench the dagger from him, another while, though his fingers weremiserably mangled, to tear out his eyes. He was slain upon thefourteenth of the calends of October [18th Sept. ], in the forty-fifthyear of his age, and the fifteenth of his reign [837]. His corpse wascarried out upon a common bier by the public bearers, and buried by hisnurse Phyllis, at his suburban villa on the Latin Way. But sheafterwards privately conveyed his remains to the temple of the Flavianfamily [838], and mingled them with the ashes of Julia, the daughter ofTitus, whom she had also nursed. 

XVIII. He was tall in stature, his face modest, and very ruddy; he hadlarge eyes, but was dim-sighted; naturally graceful in his person, particularly in his youth, excepting only that his toes were bentsomewhat inward, he was at last disfigured by baldness, corpulence, andthe slenderness of his legs, which were reduced by a long illness. Hewas so sensible how much the modesty of his countenance recommended him, that he once made this boast to the senate, "Thus far you have approvedboth of my disposition and my countenance. " His baldness so much annoyedhim, that he considered it an affront to himself, if any other person wasreproached with it, either in jest or in earnest; though in a small tracthe published, addressed to a friend, "concerning the preservation of thehair, " he uses for their mutual consolation the words following:

 Ouch oraas oios kago kalos te megas te; Seest thou my graceful mien, my stately form?

"and yet the fate of my hair awaits me; however, I bear with fortitudethis loss of my hair while I am still young. Remember that nothing ismore fascinating than beauty, but nothing of shorter duration. "

XIX. He so shrunk from undergoing fatigue, that he scarcely ever walkedthrough the city on foot. In his (496) expeditions and on a march, heseldom rode on horse-back; but was generally carried in a litter. He hadno inclination for the exercise of arms, but was very expert in the useof the bow. Many persons have seen him often kill a hundred wildanimals, of various kinds, at his Alban retreat, and fix his arrows intheir heads with such dexterity, that he could, in two shots, plant them, like a pair of horns, in each. He would sometimes direct his arrowsagainst the hand of a boy standing at a distance, and expanded as a mark, with such precision, that they all passed between the boy's fingers, without hurting him. 

XX. In the beginning of his reign, he gave up the study of the liberalsciences, though he took care to restore, at a vast expense, thelibraries which had been burnt down; collecting manuscripts from allparts, and sending scribes to Alexandria [839], either to copy or correctthem. Yet he never gave himself the trouble of reading history orpoetry, or of employing his pen even for his private purposes. Heperused nothing but the Commentaries and Acts of Tiberius Caesar. Hisletters, speeches, and edicts, were all drawn up for him by others;though he could converse with elegance, and sometimes expressed himselfin memorable sentiments. "I could wish, " said he once, "that I was butas handsome as Metius fancies himself to be. " And of the head of someone whose hair was partly reddish, and partly grey, he said, "that it wassnow sprinkled with mead. "

XXI. "The lot of princes, " he remarked, "was very miserable, for no onebelieved them when they discovered a conspiracy, until they weremurdered. " When he had leisure, he amused himself with dice, even ondays that were not festivals, and in the morning. He went to the bathearly, and made a plentiful dinner, insomuch that he seldom ate more atsupper than a Matian apple [840], to which he added a (497) draught ofwine, out of a small flask. He gave frequent and splendidentertainments, but they were soon over, for he never prolonged themafter sun-set, and indulged in no revel after. For, till bed-time, hedid nothing else but walk by himself in private. 

XXII. He was insatiable in his lusts, calling frequent commerce withwomen, as if it was a sort of exercise, klinopalaen, bed-wrestling; andit was reported that he plucked the hair from his concubines, and swamabout in company with the lowest prostitutes. His brother's daughter[841] was offered him in marriage when she was a virgin; but being atthat time enamoured of Domitia, he obstinately refused her. Yet not longafterwards, when she was given to another, he was ready enough to debauchher, and that even while Titus was living. But after she had lost bothher father and her husband, he loved her most passionately, and withoutdisguise; insomuch that he was the occasion of her death, by obliging herto procure a miscarriage when she was with child by him. 

XXIII. The people shewed little concern at his death, but the soldierswere roused by it to great indignation, and immediately endeavoured tohave him ranked among the gods. They were also ready to revenge hisloss, if there had been any to take the lead. However, they soon aftereffected it, by resolutely demanding the punishment of all those who hadbeen concerned in his assassination. On the other hand, the senate wasso overjoyed, that they met in all haste, and in a full assembly reviledhis memory in the most bitter terms; ordering ladders to be brought in, and his shields and images to be pulled down before their eyes, anddashed in pieces upon the floor of the senate-house passing at the sametime a decree to obliterate his titles every where, and abolish allmemory of him. A few months before he was slain, a raven on the Capitoluttered these words: "All will be well. " Some person gave the followinginterpretation of this prodigy:

 (498) Nuper Tarpeio quae sedit culmine cornix. "Est bene, " non potuit dicere; dixit, "Erit. "

 Late croaked a raven from Tarpeia's height, "All is not yet, but shall be, right. "

They say likewise that Domitian dreamed that a golden hump grew out ofthe back of his neck, which he considered as a certain sign of happy daysfor the empire after him. Such an auspicious change indeed shortlyafterwards took place, through the justice and moderation of thesucceeding emperors. 

 * * * * * *

If we view Domitian in the different lights in which he is represented, during his lifetime and after his decease, his character and conductdiscover a greater diversity than is commonly observed in the objects ofhistorical detail. But as posthumous character is always the most just, its decisive verdict affords the surest criterion by which thisvariegated emperor must be estimated by impartial posterity. Accordingto this rule, it is beyond a doubt that his vices were more predominantthan his virtues: and when we follow him into his closet, for some timeafter his accession, when he was thirty years of age, the frivolity ofhis daily employment, in the killing of flies, exhibits an instance ofdissipation, which surpasses all that has been recorded of his imperialpredecessors. The encouragement, however, which the first Vespasian hadshown to literature, continued to operate during the present reign; andwe behold the first fruits of its auspicious influence in the valuabletreatise of QUINTILIAN. 

Of the life of this celebrated writer, little is known upon any authoritythat has a title to much credit. We learn, however, that he was the sonof a lawyer in the service of some of the preceding emperors, and wasborn in Rome, though in what consulship, or under what emperor, it isimpossible to determine. He married a woman of a noble family, by whomhe had two sons. The mother died in the flower of her age, and the sons, at the distance of some time from each other, when their father wasadvanced in years. The precise time of Quintilian's own death isequally inauthenticated with that of his birth; nor can we rely upon anauthor of suspicious veracity, who says that he passed the latter part ofhis life in a state of indigence which was alleviated by the liberalityof his pupil, Pliny the Younger. Quintilian opened a school of rhetoricat Rome, where he not only discharged that labourious employment withgreat applause, (499) during more than twenty years, but pleaded at thebar, and was the first who obtained a salary from the state, forexecuting the office of a public teacher. He was also appointed byDomitian preceptor to the two young princes who were intended to succeedhim on the throne. 

After his retirement from the situation of a teacher, Quintilian devotedhis attention to the study of literature, and composed a treatise on theCauses of the Corruption of Eloquence. At the earnest solicitation ofhis friends, he was afterwards induced to undertake his InstitutionesOratoriae, the most elaborate system of oratory extant in any language. This work is divided into twelve books, in which the author treats withgreat precision of the qualities of a perfect orator; explaining not onlythe fundamental principles of eloquence, as connected with theconstitution of the human mind, but pointing out, both by argument andobservation, the most successful method of exercising that admirable art, for the accomplishment of its purpose. So minutely, and upon soextensive a plan, has he prosecuted the subject, that he delineates theeducation suitable to a perfect orator, from the stage of infancy in thecradle, to the consummation of rhetorical fame, in the pursuits of thebar, or those, in general, of any public assembly. It is sufficient tosay, that in the execution of this elaborate work, Quintilian has calledto the assistance of his own acute and comprehensive understanding, theprofound penetration of Aristotle, the exquisite graces of Cicero; allthe stores of observation, experience, and practice; and in a word, thewhole accumulated exertions of ancient genius on the subject of oratory. 

It may justly be regarded as an extraordinary circumstance in theprogress of scientific improvement, that the endowments of a perfectorator were never fully exhibited to the world, until it had becomedangerous to exercise them for the important purposes for which they wereoriginally cultivated. And it is no less remarkable, that, under all theviolence and caprice of imperial despotism which the Romans had nowexperienced, their sensibility to the enjoyment of poetical compositionsremained still unabated; as if it served to console the nation for theirretrievable loss of public liberty. From this source of entertainment, they reaped more pleasure during the present reign, than they had donesince the time of Augustus. The poets of this period were Juvenal, Statius, and Martial. 

JUVENAL was born at Aquinum, but in what year is uncertain; though, fromsome circumstances, it seems to have been in the reign of Augustus. Somesay that he was the son of a freedman, (500) while others, withoutspecifying the condition of his father, relate only that he was broughtup by a freedman. He came at an early age to Rome, where he declaimedfor many years, and, pleaded causes in the forum with great applause; butat last he betook himself to the writing of satires, in which he acquiredgreat fame. One of the first, and the most constant object of is satire, was the pantomime Paris, the great favourite of the emperor Nero, andafterwards of Domitian. During the reign of the former of theseemperors, no resentment was shown towards the poet; but he experiencednot the same impunity after the accession of the latter; when, to removehim from the capital, he was sent as governor to the frontiers of Egypt, but in reality, into an honourable exile. According to some authors, hedied of chagrin in that province: but this is not authenticated, andseems to be a mistake: for in some of Martial's epigrams, which appear tohave been written after the death of Domitian, Juvenal is spoken of asresiding at Rome. It is said that he lived to upwards of eighty years ofage. 

The remaining compositions of this author are sixteen satires, allwritten against the dissipation and enormous vices which prevailed atRome in his time. The various objects of animadversion are painted inthe strongest colours, and placed in the most conspicuous points of view. Giving loose reins to just and moral indignation, Juvenal is every whereanimated, vehement, petulant, and incessantly acrimonious. Disdainingthe more lenient modes of correction, or despairing of their success, heneither adopts the raillery of Horace, nor the derision of Persius, butprosecutes vice and folly with all the severity of sentiment, passion, and expression. He sometimes exhibits a mixture of humour with hisinvectives; but it is a humour which partakes more of virulent rage thanof pleasantry; broad, hostile, but coarse, and rivalling in indelicacythe profligate manners which it assails. The satires of Juvenal aboundin philosophical apophthegms; and, where they are not sullied by obscenedescription, are supported with a uniform air of virtuous elevation. Amidst all the intemperance of sarcasm, his numbers are harmonious. Hadhis zeal permitted him to direct the current of his impetuous genius intothe channel of ridicule, and endeavour to put to shame the vices andfollies of those licentious times, as much as he perhaps exasperatedconviction rather than excited contrition, he would have carried satireto the highest possible pitch, both of literary excellence and moralutility. With every abatement of attainable perfection, we hesitate notto place him at the head of this arduous department of poetry. 

Of STATIUS no farther particulars are preserved than that he (501) wasborn at Naples; that his father's name was Statius of Epirus, and hismother's Agelina, and that he died about the end of the first century ofthe Christian era. Some have conjectured that he maintained himself bywriting for the stage, but of this there is no sufficient evidence; andif ever he composed dramatic productions, they have perished. The worksof Statius now extant, are two poems, viz. The Thebais and the Achilleis, besides a collection, named Silvae. 

The Thebais consists of twelve books, and the subject of it is the Thebanwar, which happened 1236 years before the Christian era, in consequenceof a dispute between Eteocles and Polynices, the sons of Oedipus andJocasta. These brothers had entered into an agreement with each other toreign alternately for a year at a time; and Eteocles being the elder, gotfirst possession of the throne. This prince refusing to abdicate at theexpiration of the year, Polynices fled to Argos, where marrying Argia, the daughter of Adrastus, king of that country, he procured theassistance of his father-in-law, to enforce the engagement stipulatedwith his brother Eteocles. The Argives marched under the command ofseven able generals, who were to attack separately the seven gates ofThebes. After much blood had been spilt without any effect, it was atlast agreed between the two parties, that the brothers should determinethe dispute by single combat. In the desperate engagement which ensued, they both fell; and being burnt together upon the funeral pile, it issaid that their ashes separated, as if actuated by the implacableresentment which they had borne to each other. 

If we except the Aeneid, this is the only Latin production extant whichis epic in its form; and it likewise approaches nearest in merit to thatcelebrated poem, which Statius appears to have been ambitious ofemulating. In unity and greatness of action, the Thebais corresponds tothe laws of the Epopea; but the fable may be regarded as defective insome particulars, which, however, arise more from the nature of thesubject, than from any fault of the poet. The distinction of the hero isnot sufficiently prominent; and the poem possesses not thosecircumstances which are requisite towards interesting the reader'saffections in the issue of the contest. To this it may be added, thatthe unnatural complexion of the incestuous progeny diffuses a kind ofgloom which obscures the splendour of thought, and restrains thesympathetic indulgence of fancy to some of the boldest excursions of thepoet. For grandeur, however, and animation of sentiment and description, as well as for harmony of numbers, the Thebais is eminently conspicuous, and deserves to be held in a much higher degree of estimation than it has(502) generally obtained. In the contrivance of some of the episodes, and frequently in the modes of expression, Statius keeps an attentive eyeto the style of Virgil. It is said that he was twelve years employed inthe composition of this poem; and we have his own authority foraffirming, that he polished it with all the care and assiduity practisedby the poets in the Augustan age:

 Quippe, te fido monitore, nostra Thebais, multa cruciata lima, Tentat audaci fide Mantuanae Gaudia famae. --Silvae, lib. Iv. 7. 

 For, taught by you, with steadfast care I trim my "Song of Thebes, " and dare With generous rivalry to share The glories of the Mantuan bard. 

The Achilleis relates to the same hero who is celebrated by Homer in theIliad; but it is the previous history of Achilles, not his conduct in theTrojan war, which forms the subject of the poem of Statius. While theyoung hero is under the care of the Centaur Chiron, Thetis makes a visitto the preceptor's sequestered habitation, where, to save her son fromthe fate which, it was predicted, would befall him at Troy, if he shouldgo to the siege of that place, she orders him to be dressed in thedisguise of a girl, and sent to live in the family of Lycomedes, king ofScyros. But as Troy could not be taken without the aid of Achilles, Ulysses, accompanied by Diomede, is deputed by the Greeks to go toScyros, and bring him thence to the Grecian camp. The artifice by whichthe sagacious ambassador detected Achilles amongst his female companions, was by placing before them various articles of merchandise, amongst whichwas some armour. Achilles no sooner perceived the latter, than heeagerly seized a sword and shield, and manifesting the strongest emotionsof heroic enthusiasm, discovered his sex. After an affectionate partingwith Lycomedes' daughter, Deidamia, whom he left pregnant of a son, heset sail with the Grecian chiefs, and, during the voyage, gives them anaccount of the manner of his education with Chiron. 

This poem consists of two books, in heroic measure, and is written withtaste and fancy. Commentators are of opinion, that the Achilleis wasleft incomplete by the death of the author; but this is extremelyimprobable, from various circumstances, and appears to be founded onlyupon the word Hactenus, in the conclusion of the poem:

 (503) Hactenus annorum, comites, elementa meorum Et memini, et meminisse juvat: scit caetera mater. 

 Thus far, companions dear, with mindful joy I've told My youthful deeds; the rest my mother can unfold. 

That any consequential reference was intended by hactenus, seems to meplainly contradicted by the words which immediately follow, scit caeteramater. Statius could not propose the giving any further account ofAchilles's life, because a general narrative of it had been given in thefirst book. The voyage from Scyros to the Trojan coast, conducted withthe celerity which suited the purpose of the poet, admitted of noincidents which required description or recital: and after the voyagershad reached the Grecian camp, it is reasonable to suppose, that theaction of the Iliad immediately commenced. But that Statius had nodesign of extending the plan of the Achilleis beyond this period, isexpressly declared in the exordium of the poem:

 Magnanimum Aeaciden, formidatamque Tonanti Progeniem, et patrio vetitam succedere coelo, Diva, refer; quanquam acta viri multum inclyta cantu Maeonio; sed plura vacant. Nos ire per omnem (Sic amor est) heroa velis, Scyroque latentem Dulichia proferre tuba: nec in Hectore tracto Sistere, sed tota juvenem deducere Troja. 

 Aid me, O goddess! while I sing of him, Who shook the Thunderer's throne, and, for his crime, Was doomed to lose his birthright in the skies; The great Aeacides. Maeonian strains Have made his mighty deeds their glorious theme; Still much remains: be mine the pleasing task To trace the future hero's young career, Not dragging Hector at his chariot wheels, But while disguised in Scyros yet he lurked, Till trumpet-stirred, he sprung to manly arms, And sage Ulysses led him to the Trojan coast. 

The Silvae is a collection of poems almost entirely in heroic verse, divided into five books, and for the most part written extempore. Statius himself affirms, in his Dedication to Stella, that the productionof none of them employed him more than two days; yet many of them consistof between one hundred and two hundred hexameter lines. We meet with oneof two hundred and sixteen lines; one, of two hundred and thirty-four;one, of two hundred and sixty-two; and one of two hundred andseventy-seven; a rapidity of composition approaching to what Horacementions of the poet Lucilius. It is no small encomium to observe, that, considered as extemporaneous productions, (504) the meanest in thecollection is far from meriting censure, either in point of sentiment orexpression; and many of them contain passages which command our applause. 

The poet MARTIAL, surnamed likewise Coquus, was born at Bilbilis, inSpain, of obscure parents. At the age of twenty-one, he came to Rome, where he lived during five-and-thirty years under the emperors Galba, Otho, Vitellius, the two Vespasians, Domitian, Nerva, and the beginningof the reign of Trajan. He was the panegyrist of several of thoseemperors, by whom he was liberally rewarded, raised to the Equestrianorder, and promoted by Domitian to the tribuneship; but being treatedwith coldness and neglect by Trajan, he returned to his native country, and, a few years after, ended his days, at the age of seventy-five. 

He had lived at Rome in great splendour and affluence, as well as in highesteem for his poetical talents; but upon his return to Bilbilis, it issaid that he experienced a great reverse of fortune, and was chieflyindebted for his support to the gratuitous benefactions of Pliny theYounger, whom he had extolled in some epigrams. 

The poems of Martial consist of fourteen books, all written in theepigrammatic form, to which species of composition, introduced by theGreeks, he had a peculiar propensity. Amidst such a multitude of verses, on a variety of subjects, often composed extempore, and many of them, probably, in the moments of fashionable dissipation, it is not surprisingthat we find a large number unworthy the genius of the author. Delicacy, and even decency, is often violated in the productions of Martial. Grasping at every thought which afforded even the shadow of ingenuity, hegave unlimited scope to the exercise of an active and fruitfulimagination. In respect to composition, he is likewise liable tocensure. At one time he wearies, and at another tantalises the reader, with the prolixity or ambiguity of his preambles. His prelusivesentiments are sometimes far-fetched, and converge not with a naturaldeclination into the focus of epigram. In dispensing praise and censure, he often seems to be governed more by prejudice or policy, than byjustice and truth; and he is more constantly attentive to the productionof wit, than to the improvement of morality. 

But while we remark the blemishes and imperfections of this poet, we mustacknowledge his extraordinary merits. In composition he is, in general, elegant and correct; and where the subject is capable of connection withsentiment, his inventive ingenuity never fails to extract from it theessence of delight and surprise. His fancy is prolific of beautifulimages, and his (505) judgment expert in arranging them to the greatestadvantage. He bestows panegyric with inimitable grace, and satiriseswith equal dexterity. In a fund of Attic salt, he surpasses every otherwriter; and though he seems to have at command all the varied stores ofgall, he is not destitute of candour. With almost every kind ofversification he appears to be familiar; and notwithstanding a facilityof temper, too accommodating, perhaps, on many occasions, to thelicentiousness of the times, we may venture from strong indications topronounce, that, as a moralist, his principles were virtuous. It isobserved of this author, by Pliny the Younger, that, though hiscompositions might, perhaps, not obtain immortality, he wrote as if theywould. [Aeterna, quae scripsit, non erunt fortasse: ille tamen scripsittanquam futura. ] The character which Martial gives of his epigrams, isjust and comprehensive:

 Sunt bona, sunt quaedam mediocria, sunt mala plura, Quae legis: hic aliter non fit, Avite, liber. 

 Some are good, some indifferent, and some again still worse; Such, Avitus, you will find is a common case with verse. 

THE END OF THE TWELVE CAESARS

FOOTNOTES:

[795] A. U. C. 804. 

[796] A street, in the sixth region of Rome, so called, probably, from aremarkable specimen of this beautiful shrub which had made free growth onthe spot. 

[797] VITELLIUS, c. Xv. 

[798] Tacitus (Hist. Iii. ) differs from Suetonius, saying that Domitiantook refuge with a client of his father's near the Velabrum. Perhaps hefound it more safe afterwards to cross the Tiber. 

[799] One of Domitian's coins bears on the reverse a captive female andsoldier, with GERMANIA DEVICTA. 

[800] VESPASIAN, c. Xii; TITUS, c. Vi. 

[801] Such excavations had been made by Julius and by Augustus [AUG. Xliii. ], and the seats for the spectators fitted up with timber in a rudeway. That was on the other side of the Tiber. The Naumachia of Domitianoccupies the site of the present Piazza d'Espagna, and was larger andmore ornamented. 

[802] A. U. C. 841. See AUGUSTUS, c. Xxxi. 

[803] This feast was held in December. Plutarch informs us that it wasinstituted in commemoration of the seventh hill being included in thecity bounds. 

[804] The Capitol had been burnt, for the third time, in the great firementioned TITUS, c. Viii. The first fire happened in the Marian war, after which it was rebuilt by Pompey, the second in the reign ofVitellius. 

[805] This forum, commenced by Domitian and completed by Nerva, adjoinedthe Roman Forum and that of Augustus, mentioned in c. Xxix. Of his life. From its communicating with the two others, it was called Transitorium. Part of the wall which bounded it still remains, of a great height, and144 paces long. It is composed of square masses of freestone, verylarge, and without any cement; and it is not carried in a straight line, but makes three or four angles, as if some buildings had interfered withits direction. 

[806] The residence of the Flavian family was converted into a temple. See c. I. Of the present book. 

[807] The Stadium was in the shape of a circus, and used for races bothof men and horses. 

[808] The Odeum was a building intended for musical performances. Therewere four of them at Rome. 

[809] See before, c. Iv. 

[810] See VESPASIAN, c. Xiv. 

[811] See NERD, c. Xvi. 

[812] This absurd edict was speedily revoked. See afterwards c. Xiv. 

[813] This was an ancient law levelled against adultery and otherpollutions, named from its author Caius Scatinius, a tribune of thepeople. There was a Julian law, with the same object. See AUGUSTUS, c. Xxxiv. 

[814] Geor. Xi. 537. 

[815] See Livy, xxi. 63, and Cicero against Verres, v. 18. 

[816] See VESPASIAN, c. Iii. 

[817] Cant names for gladiators. 

[818] The faction which favoured the "Thrax" party. 

[819] DOMITIAN, c. I. 

[820] See VESPASIAN, c. Xiv. 

[821] This cruel punishment is described in NERO, c. Xlix. 

[822] Gentiles who were proselytes to the Jewish religion; or, perhaps, members of the Christian sect, who were confounded with them. See thenote to TIBERIUS, c. Xxxvi. The tax levied on the Jews was two drachmasper head. It was general throughout the empire. 

[823] We have had Suetonius's reminiscences, derived through hisgrandfather and father successively, CALIGULA, c. Xix. ; OTHO, c. X. Wenow come to his own, commencing from an early age. 

[824] This is what Martial calls, "Mentula tributis damnata. "

[825] The imperial liveries were white and gold. 

[826] See CALIGULA, c. Xxi. , where the rest of the line is quoted; eiskoiranos esto. 

[827] An assumption of divinity, as the pulvinar was the consecratedbed, on which the images of the gods reposed. 

[828] The pun turns on the similar sound of the Greek word for "enough, "and the Latin word for "an arch. "

[829] Domitia, who had been repudiated for an intrigue with Paris, theactor, and afterwards taken back. 

[830] The lines, with a slight accommodation, are borrowed from the poetEvenus, Anthol. I. Vi. I. , who applies them to a goat, the great enemy ofvineyards. Ovid, Fasti, i. 357, thus paraphrases them:

 Rode caper vitem, tamen hinc, cum staris ad aram, In tua quod spargi cornua possit erit. 

[831] Pliny describes this stone as being brought from Cappadocia, andsays that it was as hard as marble, white and translucent, cxxiv. C. 22. 

[832] See note to c. Xvii. 

[833] The guilt imputed to them was atheism and Jewish (Christian?)manners. Dion, lxvii. 1112. 

[834] See VESPASIAN, c. V. 

[835] Columella (R. R. Xi. 2. ) enumerates dates among the foreign fruitscultivated in Italy, cherries, dates, apricots, and almonds; and Pliny, xv. 14, informs us that Sextus Papinius was the first who introduced thedate tree, having brought it from Africa, in the latter days of Augustus. 

[836] Some suppose that Domitilla was the wife of Flavius Clemens(c. Xv. ), both of whom were condemned by Domitian for their "impiety, "by which it is probably meant that they were suspected of favouringChristianity. Eusebius makes Flavia Domitilla the niece of FlaviusClemens, and says that she was banished to Ponza, for having become aChristian. Clemens Romanus, the second bishop of Rome, is said to havebeen of this family. 

[837] A. U. C. 849. 

[838] See c. V. 

[839] The famous library of Alexandria collected by Ptolemy Philadelphushad been burnt by accident in the wars. But we find from this passage inSuetonius that part of it was saved, or fresh collections had been made. Seneca (de Tranquill. C. Ix. 7) informs us that forty thousand volumeswere burnt; and Gellius states that in his time the number of volumesamounted to nearly seventy thousand. 

[840] This favourite apple, mentioned by Columella and Pliny, took itsname from C. Matius, a Roman knight, and friend of Augustus, who firstintroduced it. Pliny tells us that Matius was also the first who broughtinto vogue the practice of clipping groves. 

[841] Julia, the daughter of Titus.