Domitian (Suetonius)

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	Domitian Author: Suetonius	Translator: Alexander Thomson
11	Erat autem non solum magnae , sed etiam callidae inopinataeque saeuitiae . actorem summarum pridie quam cruci figeret in cubiculum uocauit , assidere in toro iuxta coegit , securum hilaremque dimisit , partibus etiam de cena dignatus est . Arrecinum Clementem consularem , unum e familiaribus et emissariis suis , capitis condemnaturus in eadem uel etiam maiore gratia habuit , quoad nouissime simul gestanti , conspecto delatore eius : ' uis ,' inquit , ' hunc nequissimum seruum cras audiamus ?' Et quo contemptius abuteretur patientia hominum , numquam tristiorem sententiam sine praefatione clementiae pronuntiauit , ut non aliud iam certius atrocis exitus signum esset quam principii lenitas . quosdam maiestatis reos in curiam induxerat , et cum praedixisset experturum se illa die quam carus senatui esset , facile perfecerat ut etiam more maiorum puniendi condemnarentur ; deinde atrocitate poenae conterritus , ad leniendam inuidiam intercessit his uerbis — neque enim ab re fuerit ipsa cognoscere —: ' permittite , patres conscripti , a pietate uestra impetrari , quod scio me difficulter impetraturum , ut damnatis liberum mortis arbitrium indulgeatis ; nam et parcetis oculis uestris et intellegent me omnes senatui interfuisse .'	His cruelties were not only excessive, but subtle and unexpected. The day before he crucified a collector of his rents, he sent for him into his bed-chamber, made him sit down upon the bed by him, and sent him away well pleased, and, so far as could be inferred from his treatment, in a state of perfect security; having vouchsafed him the favour of a plate of meat from his own table. When he was on the point of condemning to death Aretinus Clemens, a man of consular rank, and one of his friends and emissaries, he retained him about his person in the same or greater favour than ever; until at last, as they were riding together in the same litter, upon seeing the man whd had informed against him, he said, " Are you willing that we should hear this base slave to morrow?" Contemptuously abusing the patience of men, he never pronounced a severe sentence without prefacing it with words which gave hopes of mercy; so that, at last, there was not a more certain token of a fatal conclusion, than a mild commencement. He brought before the senate some persons accused of treason, declaring, "that he should prove that day how dear he was to the senate;" and so influenced them, that they condemned the accused to be punished according to the ancient usage. Then. as if alarmed at the extreme severity of their punishment, to lessen the odiousness of the proceeding, he interposed in these words; for it is not foreign to the purpose to give them precisely as they were delivered: "Permit, me, Conscript Fathers, so far to prevail upon your affection for me, however extraordinary the request may seem, as to grant the condemned criminals the favour of dying in the manner they choose. For by so doing, ye will spare your own eyes, and the world will understand that I interceded with the senate on their behalf."
12	Exhaustus operum ac munerum inpensis stipendioque , quod adiecerat , temptauit quidem ad releuandos castrenses sumptus numerum militum deminuere ; sed cum et obnoxium se barbaris per hoc animaduerteret neque eo setius in explicandis oneribus haereret , nihil pensi habuit quin praedaretur omni modo . bona uiuorum ac mortuorum usquequaque quolibet et accusatore et crimine corripiebantur . satis erat obici qualecumque factum dictumue aduersus maiestatem principis . confiscabantur alienissimae hereditates uel uno existente , qui diceret audisse se ex defuncto , cum uiueret , heredem sibi Caesarem esse . praeter ceteros Iudaicus fiscus acerbissime actus est ; ad quem deferebantur , qui uel inprofessi Iudaicam uiuerent uitam uel dissimulata origine imposita genti tributa non pependissent . interfuisse me adulescentulum memini , cum a procuratore frequentissimoque consilio inspiceretur nonagenarius senex , an circumsectus esset . Ab iuuenta minime ciuilis animi , confidens etiam et cum uerbis tum rebus immodicus , Caenidi patris concubinae ex Histria reuersae osculumque , ut assuerat , offerenti manum praebuit ; generum fratris indigne ferens albatos et ipsum ministros habere , proclamauit : οὐκ ἀγαθὸν πολυκοιρανίη .	Having exhausted the exchequer by the expense of his buildings and public spectacles, with the augmentation of pay lately granted to the troops, he made an attempt at the reduction of the army, in order to lessen the military charges. But reflecting, that he should, by this measure, expose himself to the insults of the barbarians, while it would not suffice to extricate him from his embarrassments, he had recourse to plundering his subjects by every mode of exaction. The estates of the living and the dead were sequestered upon any accusation, by whomsoever preferred. The unsupported allegation of any one person, relative to a word or action construed to affect the dignity of the emperor, was sufficient. Inheritances, to which he had not the slightest pretension, were confiscated, if there was found so much as one person to say, he had heard from the deceased when living, " that he had made the emperor his heir." Besides the exactions from others, the poll-tax on the Jews was levied with extreme rigour, both on those who lived after the manner of Jews in the city, without publicly professing themselves to be such, and on those who, by concealing their origin, avoided paying the tribute imposed upon that people. I remember, when I was a youth, to have been present, when an old man, ninety years of age, had his person exposed to vitw in a very crowded court, in order that, on inspection, the procurator might satisfy himself whether he was circumcised. From his earliest years Domitian was any thing but courteous, of a forward, assuming disposition, and extravagant both in his words and actions. When Caenis, his father's concubine, upon her return from Istria, offered him a kiss, as she had been used to do, he presented her his hand to kiss. Being indignant, that his brother's son-in-law should be waited on by servants dressed in white, he exclaimed, οὺκ ἀγαθὸν πολυκοιρανίν. Too many princes are not good.
13	principatum uero adeptus neque in senatu iactare dubitauit et patri se et fratri imperium dedisse , illos sibi reddidisse , neque in reducenda post diuortium uxore edicere reuocatam eam in puluinar suum . adclamari etiam in amphitheatro epuli die libenter audiit : ' domino et dominae feliciter !' sed et Capitolino certamine cunctos ingenti consensu precantis , ut Palfurium Suram restitueret pulsum olim senatu ac tunc de oratoribus coronatum , nullo responso dignatus tacere tantum modo iussit uoce praeconis . pari arrogantia , cum procuratorum suorum nomine formalem dictaret epistulam , sic coepit : ' dominus et deus noster hoc fieri iubet .' unde institutum posthac , ut ne scripto quidem ac sermone cuiusquam appellaretur aliter . statuas sibi in Capitolio non nisi aureas et argenteas poni permisit ac ponderis certi . Ianos arcusque cum quadrigis et insignibus triumphorum per regiones urbis tantos ac tot extruxit , ut cuidam Graece inscriptum sit : ' arci .' consulatus septemdecim cepit , quot ante eum nemo ; ex quibus septem medios continuauit , omnes autem paene titulo tenus gessit nec quemquam ultra Kal . Mai ., plerosque ad Idus usque Ianuarias . post autem duos triumphos Germanici cognomine assumpto Septembrem mensem et Octobrem ex appellationibus suis Germanicum Domitianumque transnominauit , quod altero suscepisset imperium , altero natus esset .	After he became emperor, he had the assurance to boast in the senate, "that he had bestowed the empire on his father and brother, and they had restored it to him." And upon taking his wife again, after the divorce, he declared by proclamation, "that he had recalled her to his pulvinar." He was not a little pleased too, at hearing the acclamations of the people in the amphitheatre on a day of festival, "All happiness to our lord and lady." But when, during the celebration of the Capitoline trial of skill, the whole concourse of people entreated him with one voice to restore Palfurius Sura to his place in the senate, from which he had been long before expelled -he having then carried away the prize of eloquence from all the orators who had contended for it,-he did not vouchsafe to give them any answer, but only commanded silence to be proclaimed by the voice of the crier. With equal arrogance, when he dictated the form of a letter to be used by his procurators, he began it thus: " Our lord and god commands so and so;" whence it became a rule that no one should style him otherwise either in writing or speaking. He suffered no statues to be erected for him in the Capitol, unless they were of gold and silver, and of a certain weight. He erected so many magnificent gates and arches, surmounted by representations of chariots drawn by four horses, and other triumphal ornaments, in different quarters of the city, that a wag inscribed on one of the arches the Greek word ' ἄρκει, " It is enough."' He filled the office of consul seventeen times, which no one had ever done before him, and for the seven middle occasions in successive years; but in scarcely any of them had he more than the title: for he never continued in office beyond the calends of May, and for the most part only till the ides of January . After his two triumphs, when he assumed the cognomen of Germanicus, he called the months of September and October, Germanicus and Domitian, after his own names, because he commenced his reign in the one, and was born in the other.
14	Per haec terribilis cunctis et inuisus , tandem oppressus est amicorum libertorumque intimorum simul et uxoris . annum diemque ultimum uitae iam pridem suspectum habebat , horam etiam nec non et genus mortis . adulescentulo Chaldaei cuncta praedixerant ; pater quoque super cenam quondam fungis abstinentem palam irriserat ut ignarum sortis suae , quod non ferrum potius timeret . quare pauidus semper atque anxius minimis etiam suspicionibus praeter modum commouebatur . ut edicti de excidendis uineis propositi gratiam faceret , non alia magis re compulsus creditur , quam quod sparsi libelli cum his uersibus erant : κἄν με φάγῃς ἐπὶ ῤίζαν , ὅμωσ ἔτι καρποφορήσω , ὅσσον ἐπισπεῖσαι σοί , τράγε , θυομένῳ . eadem formidine oblatum a senatu nouum et excogitatum honorem , quamquam omnium talium appetentissimus , recusauit , quo decretum erat ut , quotiens gereret consulatum , eq ( uites ) R . quibus sors obtigisset , trabeati et cum hastis militaribus praecederent eum inter lictores apparitoresque . Tempore uero suspecti periculi appropinquante sollicitior in dies porticuum , in quibus spatiari consuerat , parietes phengite lapide distinxit , e cuius splendore per imagines quidquid a tergo fieret prouideret . nec nisi secreto atque solus plerasque custodias , receptis quidem in manum catenis , audiebat . utque domesticis persuaderet , ne bono quidem exemplo audendam esse patroni necem , Epaphroditum a libellis capitali poena condemnauit , quod post destitutionem Nero in adipiscenda morte manu eius adiutus existimabatur .	Becoming by these means universally feared and odious, he was at last taken off by a conspiracy of his friends and favourite freedmen, in concert with his wife. He had long entertained a suspicion of the year and day when he should die, and even of the very hour and manner of his death: all which he had learned from the Chaldaeans, when he was a very young man. His father once at supper laughed at him for refusing to eat some mushrooms, saying, that if he knew his fate, he would rather be afraid of the sword. Being, therefore, in perpetual apprehension and anxiety, he was kernly alive to the slightest suspicions, insomuch that he is thought to have withdrawn the edict ordering the destruction of the vines, chiefly because the copies of it which were dispersed had the following lines written upon them: κἤν με φάγησ ἐπί ῤίζαν ὅμωσ ἔτι ὄσσον ἐπισπεῖσαι Καίσαρι Θυομένῳ. Gnaw thou my root, yet shall my juice suffice To pour on Caesar's head in sacrifice. It was from the same principle of fear, that he refused a new honour, devised and offered him by the senate, though he was greedy of all such compliments. It was this: "that as often as he held the consulship, Roman knights, chosen by lot, should walk before him, clad in the Trabea, with lances in their hands, amongst his lictors and apparitors." As the time of the danger which he apprehended drew near, he became daily more and more disturbed in mind; insomuch that he lined the walls of the porticos in which he used to walk, with the stone called Phengites, by the reflection of which he could see every object behind him. He seldom gave an audience to persons in custody, unless in private, being alone, and he himself holding their chains in his hand. To convince his domestics that the life of a master was not to be attempted upon any pretext, however plausible, he condemned to death Epaphroditus his secretary, because it was believed that he had assisted Nero, in his extremity, to kill himself.
15	denique Flauium Clementem patruelem suum contemptissimae inertiae , cuius filios etiam tum paruulos successores palam destinauerat abolitoque priore nomine alterum Vespasianum appellari , alterum Domitianum , repente ex tenuissima suspicione tantum non in ipso eius consulatu interemit . quo maxime facto maturauit sibi exitium . Continuis octo mensibus tot fulgura facta nuntiataque sunt , ut exclamauerit : ' feriat iam , quem uolet .' tactum de caelo Capitolium templumque Flauiae gentis , item domus Palatina et cubiculum ipsius , atque etiam e basi statuae triumphalis titulus excussus ui procellae in monimentum proximum decidit . arbor , quae priuato adhuc Vespasiano euersa surrexerat , tunc rursus repente corruit . Praenestina Fortuna , toto imperii spatio annum nouum commendanti laetam eandemque semper sortem dare assueta , extremo tristissimam reddidit nec sine sanguinis mentione . Mineruam , quam superstitiose colebat , somniauit excedere sacrario negantemque ultra se tueri eum posse , quod exarmata esset a Ioue . nulla tamen re perinde commotus est quam responso casuque Ascletarionis mathematici . hunc delatum nec infitiantem iactasse se quae prouidisset ex arte , sciscitatus est , quis ipsum maneret exitus ; et affirmantem fore ut breui laceraretur a canibus , interfici quidem sine mora , sed ad coarguendam temeritatem artis sepeliri quoque accuratissime imperauit . quod cum fieret , euenit ut repentina tempestate deiecto funere semiustum cadauer discerperent canes , idque ei cenanti a mimo Latino , qui praeteriens forte animaduerterat , inter ceteras diei fabulas referretur .	His last victim was Flavius Clemens, his cousin-german, a man below contempt for his want of energy, whose sons, then of very tender age, he had avowedly destined for his successors, and, discarding their former names, had ordered one to be called Vespasian, and the other Domitian. Nevertheless, he suddenly put him to death upon some very slight suspicion, almost before he was well out of his consulship. By this violent act he very much hastened his own destruction. During eight months together there was so much lightning at Rome, and such accounts of the phenomenon were brought from other parts, that at last he cried out, "Let him now strike whom he will." The Capitol was struck by lightning, as well as the temple of the Flavian family, with the Palatine-house, and his own bed-chamber. The tablet also, inscribed upon the base of his triumphal statue was carried away by the violence of the storm, and fell upon a neighbouring monument. The tree which just before the advancement of Vespasian had been prostrated, and rose again, suddenly fell to the ground. The goddess Fortune of Praeneste, to whom it was his custom on new year's day to commend the empire for the ensuing year, and who had always given him a favourable reply, at last returned him a melancholy answer, not without mention of blood. He dreamt that Minerva, whom he worshipped even to a superstitious excess, was withdrawing from her sanctuary, declaring she could protect him no longer, because she was disarmed by Jupiter. Nothing, however, so much affected him as an answer given by Ascletario, the astrologer, and his subsequent fate. This person had been informed against, and did not deny his having predicted some future events, of which, from the principles of his art, he confessed he had a foreknowledge. Domitian asked him, what end he thought he should come to himself? To which replying, "I shall in a short time be torn to pieces by dogs," he ordered him immediately to be slain, and, in order to demonstrate the vanity of his art, to be carefully buried. But during the preparations for executing this order, it happened that the funeral-pile was blown down by a sudden storm, and the body, halfburnt, was torn to pieces by dogs; which being observed by Latinus, 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.
16	Pridie quam periret , cum oblatos tubures seruari iussisset in crastinum , adiecit : ' si modo uti licuerit ,' et conuersus ad proximos affirmauit fore ut sequenti die luna se in aquario cruentaret factumque aliquod existeret , de quo loquerentur homines per terrarum orbem . at circa mediam noctem ita est exterritus , ut e strato prosiliret . dehinc mane haruspicem ex Germania missum , qui consultus de fulgure mutationem rerum praedixerat , audiit condemnauitque . ac dum exulceratam in fronte uerrucam uehementius scalpit , profluente sanguine : ' utinam ,' inquit , ' hactenus .' tunc horas requirenti pro quinta , quam metuebat , sexta ex industria nuntiata est . his uelut transacto iam periculo laetum festinantemque ad corporis curam Parthenius cubiculo praepositus conuertit , nuntians esse qui magnum nescio quid afferret , nec differendum . itaque summotis omnibus in cubiculum se recepit atque ibi occisus est .	The day before his death, he ordered some dates, served up at the table, to be kept till the next day, adding, "If I have the luck to use them." And turning to those who were nearest him, he said, "To-morrow the moon in Aquarius will be bloody instead of watery, and an event will happen, which will be much talked of all the world over." About midnight, he was so terrified that he leaped out of bed. That morning he tried and passed sentence on a soothsayer sent from Germany, who being consulted about the lightning that had lately happened, predicted from it a change of government. The blood running down his face as he scratched an ulcerous tumour on his forehead, he said, " Would this were all 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 purposely told him it was six. Overjoyed at this information, as if all danger were now passed, and hastening to the bath, Parthenius, his chamberlain, stopped him, by saying that there was a person come to wait upon him about a matter of great importance, which would admit of no delay. Upon this, ordering all persons to withdraw, he retired into his chamber, and was there slain.
17	De insidiarum caedisque genere haec fere diuulgata sunt . cunctantibus conspiratis , quando et quo modo , id est lauantemne an cenantem adgrederentur , Stephanus , Domitillae procurator et tunc interceptarum pecuniarum reus , consilium operamque obtulit . ac sinisteriore brachio uelut aegro lanis fasciisque per aliquot dies ad auertendam suspicionem obuoluto , sub ipsam horam dolonem interiecit ; professusque conspirationis indicium et ob hoc admissus legenti traditum a se libellum et attonito suffodit inguina . saucium ac repugnantem adorti Clodianus cornicularius et Maximus Partheni libertus et Satur decurio cubiculariorum et quidam e gladiatorio ludo uulneribus septem contrucidarunt . puer , qui curae Larum cubiculi ex consuetudine assistens interfuit caedi , hoc amplius narrabat , iussum se a Domitiano ad primum statim uulnus pugionem puluino subditum porrigere ac ministros uocare , neque ad caput quidquam excepto capulo et praeterea clausa omnia repperisse ; atque illum interim arrepto deductoque ad terram Stephano conluctatum diu , dum modo ferrum extorquere , modo quanquam laniatis digitis oculos effodere conatur . Occisus est XIIII . Kal . Octb . anno aetatis quadragensimo quinto , imperii quinto decimo . cadauer eius populari sandapila per uispillones exportatum Phyllis nutrix in suburbano suo Latina uia funerauit , sed reliquias templo Flauiae gentis clam intulit cineribusque Iuliae Titi filiae , quam et ipsam educarat , conmiscuit .	Concerning the contrivance and mode of his death, the common account is this. The conspirators being in some doubt when and where they should attack him, whether while he was in the bath, or at supper, Stephanus, a steward of Domitilla's, then under prosecution for defrauding his mistress, offered them his advice and assistance; and wrapping up his left arm, as if it was hurt, in wool and bandages for some days, to prevent suspicion, at the hour appointed, he secreted a dagger in them. Pretending then to make a discovery of a conspiracy, and being for that reason admitted, he presented to the emperor a memorial, and while he was reading it in great astonishment, stabbed him in the groin. But Domitian, though wounded, making resistance, Clodianus, one of his guards, Maximus, a freedman of Parthenius's, Saturius, his principal chamberlain, with some gladiators, fell upon him, and stabbed him in seven places. A boy who had the charge of the Lares in his bed-chamber, and was then in attendance as usual, gave these further particulars: that he was ordered by Domitian, upon receiving his first wound, to reach him a dagger which lay under his pillow, and call in his domestics; but that he found nothing at the head of the bed, excepting the hilt of a poniard, and that all the doors were fastened: that the emperor in the mean time got hold of Stephanus, and throwing him upon the ground, struggled a long time with him; one while endeavouring to wrench the dagger from him, another while, though his fingers were miserably mangled, to tear out his eyes. He was slain upon the fourteenth of the calends of October [18th Sept.], in the forty-fifth year of his age, and the fifteenth of his reign. His corpse was carried out upon a common bier by the public bearers, and buried by his nurse Phyllis, at his suburban villa on the Latin Way. But she afterwards privfately conveyed his remains to the temple of the Flavian family, and mingled them with the ashes of Julia, the daughter of Titus, whom she had also nursed.
18	Statura fuit procera , uultu modesto ruborisque pleno , grandibus oculis , uerum acie hebetiore ; praeterea pulcher ac decens , maxime in iuuenta , et quidem toto corpore exceptis pedibus , quorum digitos restrictiores habebat ; postea caluitio quoque deformis et obesitate uentris et crurum gracilitate , quae tamen ei ualitudine longa remacruerant . commendari se uerecundia oris adeo sentiebat , ut apud senatum sic quondam iactauerit : ' usque adhoc certe et animum meum probastis et uultum .' caluitio ita offendebatur , ut in contumeliam suam traheret , si cui alii ioco uel iurgio obiectaretur ; quamuis libello , quem de cura capillorum ad amicum edidit , haec etiam , simul illum seque consolans , inseruerit : ' οὐχ ὁράᾳς , οἷοσ κἀγὼ καλόσ τε μέγασ τε ; eadem me tamen manent capillorum fata , et forti animo fero comam in adulescentia senescentem . scias nec gratius quicquam decore nec breuius .'	He was tall in stature, his face modest, and very ruddy; he had large eyes, but was dim-sighted; naturally graceful in his person, particularly in his youth, excepting only that his toes were bent somewhat inward, he was at last disfigured by baldness, corpulence, and the slenderness of his legs, which were reduced by a long illness. He was so sensible how much the modesty of his countenance recommended him, that he once made this boast to the senate, "Thus far you have approved both of my disposition and my countenance." His baldness so much annoyed him, that he considered it an affront to himself, if any other person was reproached with it, either in jest or in earnest; though in a small tract he published, addressed to a friend, "concerning the preservation -of the hair," he uses for their mutual consolation the words following: οὐκ ὡράασ οἷοσ κἀγὼ κάλοσ τε μέγας Seest thou my graceful mien, my stately form? "and yet the fate of my hair awaits me; however. I bear with fortitude this loss of my hair while I am still young. Remember that nothing is more fascinating than beauty, but nothing of shorter duration."
19	laboris impatiens pedibus per urbem non temere ambulauit , in expeditione et agmine equo rarius , lectica assidue uectus est armorum nullo , sagittarum uel praecipuo studio tenebatur . centenas uarii generis feras saepe in Albano secessu conficientem spectauere plerique atque etiam ex industria ita quarundam capita figentem , ut duobus ictibus quasi cornua efficeret . nonnumquam in pueri procul stantis praebentisque pro scopulo dispansam dexterae manus palmam sagittas tanta arte derexit , ut omnes per interualla digitorum innocue euaderent .	He so shrunk from undergoing fatigue, that he scarcely ever walked through the city on foot. In his expeditions and on a march, he seldom rode on horseback, but was generally carried in a litter. He had no inclination for the exercise of arms, but was very expert in the use of the bow. Many persons have seen him often kill a hundred wild animals, of various kinds, at his Alban retreat, and fix his arrows in their heads with such dexterity, that he could, in two shots, plant them, like a pair of horns, in each. He would sometimes direct his arrows against 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.
20	Liberalia studia imperii initio neglexit , quanquam bibliothecas incendio absumptas impensissime reparare curasset , exemplaribus undique petitis missisque Alexandream qui describerent emendarentque . numquam tamen aut historiae carminibusue noscendis operam ullam aut stilo uel necessario dedit . praeter commentarios et acta Tiberi Caesaris nihil lectitabat ; epistulas orationesque et edicta alieno formabat ingenio . sermonis tamen nec inelegantis , dictorum interdum etiam notabilium : ' uellem ,' inquit , ' tam formosus esse , quam Maecius sibi uidetur '; et cuiusdam caput uarietate capilli subrutilum et incanum perfusam niuem mulso dixit .	In the beginning of his reign, he gave up the study of the liberal sciences, though he took care to restore, at a vast expense, the libraries which had been burnt down; collecting manuscripts from all parts, and sending scribes to Alexandria, either to copy or correct them. Yet he never gave himself the trouble of reading history or poetry, or of employing his pen even for his private purposes. He perused nothing but the Commentaries and Acts of Tiberius Caesar. His letters, speeches, and edicts, were all drawn up for him by others; though he could converse with elegance, and sometimes expressed himself in memorable sentiments. "I could wish," said he once, "that I was but as handsome as Metius fancies himself to be." And of the head of some one whose hair was partly reddish, and partly grey, he said "that it was snow sprinkled with mead."