The lives of the first twelve Cæsars

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TITUS FLAVIUS DOMITIANUS. 597torian rank out of the Senate, sor the practice of mimicryand dancing. He debarred in mous women the use of the sedan ; as also the right of receiving legacies, or in-

heriling estates. He struch out of the list of judges a Roman knight for taking again his mise whom he had

divorced, and prosecuted for adultery. He Condemned severat men of the Senatorian and Equestrian Ordem, uponthe Scantinian law. The te vilia esse of the Vestat Virgins, which had bden overtooked by his fallier and brother, hepunissi ed differently and severely ; viz. offences committed be fore his rei gn, with death, and those since iis commence-ment, aCCOs ding to ancient custom. For to the sisters calledocellatae he gave liberty to choose the mode of deatlawhicli they preferred, and banis hed their paramours. But Cornelia, the et dest of the Vestals, who had formerly been acquitted ut on a Charge of incontinence, being a long time aster again prosecuted and condemned, he or-dered to he buried alive; and her gallanis to be whipped todeath with rods in the Comitium, eXCepting only a manos Praetorian rank, to whom, because he confessed the fact, Whilst his caule was dubious, and the truth of the casenot ascertained against him, though the evidences liadbeen put to the torture, he granted the favor of banissiment. And to preserve the religio tis res pedi due to the Gods pure and undefiled, he ordered the soldiers to demolim a monument, whicli a fi cedin an of his had erected for his sola, out of the stones designed for the temple of Jupiter Capitolinus, and lank the bones and relics huri edunder it in the sea.

IX. Upon the sirst advanc ement of the fami ly, he selistich an abhorrence for the 1liedding os blood, that, be- fore his father's arrival in Rome, calling to mind the verse of Virgil,

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Impia quam caesis gens est epulata juvencis, Ere implous man, restrain'd Dom blood in vain, Began to feast on flesii of btiliocks flain,

ae designed to have publis hed a proclamation, to som. bid the sacrifice of oxen.'' Besore his advancement to the empire, and during so me time aster it, he scarcely evergaue the least occasion to suspeet hi in os covetousnesi oravarice; nay, on me Contrary, he osten gave proosis, notonly of his justice, but generosi ty. To ali abo ut him, he was liberal even to profusion, and recommended nothing more earne stly to them than the avolding of sordidbellaviour. He would not accepi of the estates lefit hi in

heir to mahe a present yearly to every Senator upon their first assembling. V He discli arged ali those who had been under a prosecution isto in the trea svry for above fi ve years be re, und would not suffer the fulis to be renewed agains: them, uniess it was done Within a year after, andupon the condition, that the prosecutor mould be banista-ed, is he could not make good his cause. The secretaries attending the Quaestors trading according to custom, but contrary to the Clodian law, he pardoned sor theirpas bellavi our. Such portions os land as had been test apon any partition made amongst the veteran soldiers, he granted to the ancient posse rs, as belonging to them by prescription. He put a stop to salse prosecutions in the eXchequer, by severet y punishing the prosecutors ;and this saying of his was much taken notice os: thata prince who does not punissa suci, as mahe a praetice of insorining, encoul ages them.' X. But

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TITUS FLAVI Us DOMITIANUS. 599X. But he persevered not long in this coui se of clemency and justice, yet so oner abanduned himself to the praetice of crueity than avarice. Me piat to dea th a disciple of Paris the pantomimic, though a minor, and thera sicli, only because, both in person and the praelice of his ari, he resembled his master; as he did likcxvi se Hermogenes of Tarsus for sonae oblique reflections in his history; cruci 'ing, bes des, the scribes who h ad Copied the work. One that was macter of a fami ly happening to say, that a Thrax was a match for a Mirmillo, but not so for the exhibitor of the games,V hoordei ed hi in to he dragged out of his stat into the theatre, anileXposed to the dogs, with this labet iapon him, AParmulari an guit ty of tali ing implous y V He put todeath many Senators, and amongst them severat men ofConsular rank. In this number were, Civica Cerealis, when he was Pro-Consul in Africa, Salvidienus Orssitus, and Acilius Glabrio in exile, under pretence of their designing an insurrection against him. The rest he punished upon very trivial occasions ; as AElius Lamia for

the emperor: Metius Pomposianus, beCause he waS Cominmonly reported to have an imperiat nativi ty, and to carryabo ut v ith him a map of the world upon parchinent, withthe speeches of hings and generals extracted o ut of Titus Livius ; and sor giving his faves the narnes of Mago and Annibal: Sallustius Lucullus, lieuienant of Britain, sorsu Lsering seme lances of a neis invention to be called Lu- Qq cullea n.'

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cullean. V Junius Rusticus, for publiming a treat se

prat se of Paetus Thrasea add Helvidius Priscus, and call-ing them both mosis iapright men. V Upon this occassion, he likewise banished ali the philosophers Dom thecity and Italy. He put to dea th the yo unger Helvidius, for reflecting, in a farce prepared by him for the stage,

under the perions os Paris and coenone, upon his divorcingliis wife ; and also Flavius Sabinus, one of his Cousins, because, upon his being chos en at the Consular electionirato that ossice, the public crier had, by a btunder, declared lii in to the peopte not Consul, hut Emperor. Be coming stili more lavage, after his successe in the civit War, he employed his ut most industry to discover tho se of the adverse party that absconded: many of them he racked witha new invented torture, by introducing sire into theirboweis; and froni sonaei he cui off their hantis. It is

certain, that only two of any note mere pardoned; a Laticlavi an Tribune and a Centurion, Who, to Clearthem lues Dom the charge of being concerned in any

rebellious design, proved thenaseives to have been guillyos prostitution, and there fore lacti as could have no swayetther with the general or soldiers. XI. His cruel ty was not only excessive, but subile anilianeYpected. The day be fore he crucified a collector of bis renis, he sent sor him into his bed hamber, made him fit down upon the bed by him, and sent him away wesspleased, and, so far as could he in ferrod froni his treat-ment, in a state os persedi securi ty ; having vouchsa sed

hi in the favor os a plate os meat stom his own table. When he was upon the potnt of condem ning to death Aretinus Clemens, a man of Consular rank, and one of his friends and spies, he retained hi in abo ut his person in the sanae or greater favor than ever ; untii at last, as they

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so that, at last, there was not a more certain tollen ofa fatal conclusion, than a mild commen ement. Hebrought be re the Senate sonae persons accused of treason, and declared, that he should that day evince how dear he was to the Senate. V The result was, he so influenced the liouse, that they quichly condemned themto be punislied according to ancient usage. Thera, as is i i med at the dismal severi ty of the punishment, to quali sy the odio us esse of the proceeding, he interposed in these words ; for I think it proper to give them precisely asthey were delivered: Permit me, Conscript Fathers,so far to prevati upon your affection sor me, howeverextraordinary the request may seem, as to grant the Condemned criminals the favor of dying in the manner theylike bes . For by so doing, ye wili spare yOUr OWH Cyes, and the world will undet stand that I was present in thehouse at their condemnation.

XII. Having cYhausted the excitequer by sie expence of his bulldings and public diversions for the entertain-ment of the peo pie, With the augmentation of pay latet ygranted to the soldi ery, that he might alleviate this Charge, he made an attempt at the reduction of the arm y. Butreflecting, that he sia ould, by this meas ure, be more eX- posed to the insulis of the barbarians, and yet not sussciently enabled to extricate himself frona his embarrass-ment, he had recoui se to tiae plundering of his subjects by every mode os exaction. The es lates of the livingand

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and the dead were seiZed, upon any accusation, and by Whom ever produced. The uiasupported allegation ofany one person, relative to a word or adtion constriled toaffect the dignity of the emperor, was lassicient. Estates, belonging to such as wem no ways allied to him, werebrought into the excitequer, is there was found so muchas one person to say, he had heard froin the deceased when living, that he had ma de the emperor his heir.' Above ali others, the Jcws were miserably harassed by the confiscation of their estates ; those in particular, who, declining to give in their names to the e XChequer as Jews, yet lived after the manner of Jews ; or who, Concealing their

original, did not pay the tribute which had been imposedupon that nation. I remember, when Ι was a youth, to have been present, where a man of ninely years of age was turn ed up to vie v by a proCurator in a fuit couri, to sce whether he was circumcise l. He was froni his earliest years of a forward assum ing disposition, and extra vagant both in woriis and actions. When Caenis, hissather's concubine, ut on her return frona Istria, offered

us have no more princes than one.

XIII. Aster he came to be em peror, he had the assurance to boast in the Senate, that he had gi ven the empire to his fallier and brother, whicli they had returnedhim. And upon taking his wise again, after the divorce, he declared by proclamation, that he had recalled herto his pulvinar.V He was not a litile pleased too, tollear the peopte cry out in the amphitheatre u pon a seast

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ssient. With the like arrogance, when he dictaled the form os a letter to be used by his procurators, he beganit thus : Our Lord and God commands and sowhence it hecame a custom to style him constantiu in thesame manner, both in Writing and conversation. Hesus red no statues to be erect ed for him in the Capitol, but of gold and silver, and of a certain weight. Hebulli such large posts and arches, and many of them,

Willi chariois and four, and other triumphat ornamentsu poni them, in different quarters of the city, that one of

January. Aster his two triumplis, assum ing the na me of Germanicus, he called the monilis of September and Odiober frona himself Germanicus and Domitian, be-- cause he commenced his rei gn in one, and was born ii uite other

XIV. Becoming by these means terribie and odious toevery body, he was at last talien o F by a conspiracy of his friends and favorite Deedmen, in concert with his wise. He had for a long time a suspicion of the year

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It was stoin the fame principie of fear, that he resu da new honor, devised and offered hi in by the Senate, though he was sond of ait lach. It was this, that asosten as he held the Consulitiis , Roman knighis chosen by tot stio ut d walh before hina, amongs: his Oisceps and serjeanis, dressed in the Trabea , with lances in thcirhaniis. V As the time of t e danger which he apprehend-ed di ew near, he heca me datly more and more disturbe lin mind; in much that he linod, in vario us places, thewalis of the portico where lic used to walli, with thestone called Phengites, hy the resedi ion of whicli hecould se e every object belli nil him. He set dona gave anypri ners an audience hiat in private, and alone, holding their chains in his harad. To convice his domeflics, that the life of a patron was not to be attempted UI OD any preteXt, however plausibi e , he condemned to dea th Epa-.phroditus his Master of Reque sis, hecause it metis belle v-ed that Nero, in his fori orn condition, had been assiste 4

by his hand to kill himself.

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ΤΙΤUS FLAVIUS DΟΜΙTIAN Us. 6os XV. Finalty, Flavius Clemens his Cousim germZn, aman contemptibie for his indole iace, whose sons, then ofvery tender age, he had avowedly destined for his succes- sors, and , taking frona them their former nam , had or- desed one to be called Uespasian, and the other Domi-

own destruction. During eight monilis together there was so naucli lighining at Rome, and accounts of the phaenomes a fro in Other paris, that at lassi he cried out,

phal statue of him vias ta ken o J by a storim, and sellet on a neqghbouring monument. The time, which. he- fore the ad vancement of Vespasian, had been overthrown, and rose again, then ali ora a su iden seli do n once more. Tlic Goddest Fortune at Pi aeneste, who, upon his implo

ing on the fit si of Januaxy her favor for the ensu ing year,

had ever been uied to give hi in an acceptable auswer, atlast returned hi in orie of the opposite nature, not without mention of blooL He dreanat that Minerva, whorti hevior stipped even to a superstitio us eXCess, was Withdgawing froni her chapel, declaring stae could protei him Dolonger, hecause iste was dis armed by Iupiter: Nothinghowever much a flected hi in as an ans er given him hyAscletario the astrologer, and a subsequent disiaster. Titis person had been informed againii, and did not deuy his having spolieri os sonae future evenis, of which, smin the principies of his ari, he confessed lie had a fore-knowledge. Domitian asked him, what enit he thought hesito uid

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passe that way, he told it, amongst other occurrences Athe day, to the emperor at supPer.

XVI. The day be re his deam, he ordered somo

bath, Parthenius istio had the charge of his bell-chamber prevented him, by telling him, that there was One come tomati upon him abo ut a matter of great importa iace,