A Dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology. By various writers. Ed. by William Smith. Illustrated by numerous engravings on wood.

DOMITIANUS.
danger, she urged the conspirators on, and Domitian
was murdered in A. D. 96. (Dion Cass. 1xvii. 3,
1xvi. 3, 15; Suet. Domit. 3, 22.) The coin
annexed contains on the obverse the head of Domitia, with the legend DOMITIA AVGVSTA IMP.
Domir. [L. S.]
DOMI'TIA GENS, plebeian, the members of
which towards the end of the republic were looked
upon as belonging to one of the most illustrious
gentes, (Cic. Phil. ii. 29; Plin. H. N. vii. 57;
Val. Max. vi. 2. ~ 8.) During the time of the
republic, we meet with only two branches of this
gens, the AHENOBARBI and CALVINI, and, with
the exception of a few unknown personages mentioned in isolated passages of Cicero, there is none
without a cognomen. [L. S.]
DOMITIA'N US, or with his full name T. FLAvius DOMITIANus AUGUSTUS, was the younger of
Vespasian's sons by his first wife Domitilla. He
succeeded his elder brother Titus as emperor, and
reigned from A. D. 81 to 96. He was born at
Rome, on the 24th of October, A. D. 52, the year
in which his father was consul designatus. Suetonius relates that Domitian in his youth led such
a wretched life, that he never used a silver vessel,
and that he prostituted himself for money. The
position which his father then occupied precludes
the possibility of ascribing this mode of life to
poverty, and if the account be true, we must
attribute this conduct to his bad natural disposition. When Vespasian was proclaimed emperor,
Domitian, who was then eighteen years old, hap-'
pened to be at Rome, where he and his friends
were persecuted by Vitellius; Sabinus, Vespasian's
brother, was murdered, and it was only with the
greatest difficulty that Domitian escaped from the
burning temple of the capitol, and concealed himself until the victory of his father's party was decided. After the fall of Vitellius, Domitian was
proclaimed Caesar, and obtained the city praetorship with consular power. As his father was still
absent in the east, Domitian and Mucianus undertook the administration of Italy until Vespasian
returned. The power which was thus put into his
hands was abused by the dissolute young man in
a manner which shewed to the world, but too
plainly, what was to be expected, if he should
ever succeed to the imperial throne: he put several
persons to death, merely to gratify his desire of
taking vengeance on his personal enemies; he seduced many wives, and lived surrounded by a sort
of harem, and arbitrarily deposed and appointed
so many magistrates, both in the city and Italy,
that his father with a bitter sarcasm wrote to him,
" I wonder that you do not send some one to succeed me." Being jealous of the military glory of
his father and brother, he resolved upon marching
against Civilis in Gaul, in spite of the advice of all
his friends to remain at Rome; but he did not advance further than Lugdunum, for on his arrival
there he received intelligence of Cerealis having
already conquered the rebel.

DOMITIANUS. 1061
When his father at length arrived at Rome,
Domitian, who was conscious of his evil conduct,
is said not to have ventured to meet him, and to
have pretended not to be in the perfect possession
of his mind. Vespasian, however, knew his disposition, and throughout his reign kept him as
much as possible away from public affairs; but in
order to display his rank and station, Domitian
always accompanied his father and brother when
they appeared in public, and when they celebrated
their triumph after the Jewish war, he followed
them in the procession riding on a white warsteed. He lived partly in the same house with
his father, and partly on an estate near the Mons
Albanus, where he was surrounded by a number
of courtezans. While he thus led a private life,
he devoted a great part of his time to the composition of poetry and the recitation of his productions.
Vespasian, who died in A.D. 79, was succeeded by
his elder son Titus, and Domitian used publicly to
say, that he was deprived of his share in the government by a forgery in his father's will, for that
it had been the wish of the latter that the two
brothers should reign in common. But this was
mere calumny: Domitian hated his brother,
and made several attempts upon his life. Titus
behaved with the utmost forbearance towards him,
but followed the exanple of his father in not
allowing Domitian to take any part in the administration of public affairs, although he was invested with the consulship seven times during the
reigns of his father and brother. The early death
of Titus, in A. D. 81, was in all probability the
work of Domitian. Suetonius states that Domitian ordered the sick Titus to be left entirely
alone, before he was quite dead; Dion Cassius
says that he accelerated his death by ordering him
while in a fever to be put into a vessel filled with
snow; and other writers plainly assert, that Titus
was poisoned or murdered by Domitian.
On the ides of September, A. D. 81, the day on
which Titus died, Domitian was proclaimed emperor by the soldiers. During the first years of
his reign he continued, indeed, to indulge in
strange passions, but Suetonius remarks that he
manifested a pretty equal mixture of vices and
virtues. Among the latter we must mention, that
he kept a very strict superintendence over the governors of provinces, so that in his reign they are
said to have been juster than they ever were afterwards. He also enacted several useful laws:
he forbade, for example, the castration of male
children, and restricted the increasing cultivation of the vine, whereby the growth of corn was
neglected. He endeavoured to correct the frivolous and licentious conduct of the higher classes,
and shewed great liberality and moderation on
many occasions. He further took an active part in
the administration of justice; which conduct, praiseworthy as it then was, became disgusting afterwards, when, assisted by a large class of delatores,
he openly made justice the slave of his cruelty
and tyranny; for, during the latter years of his
reign he acted as one of the most cruel tyrants
that ever disgraced a throne, and as Suetonius remarks, his very virtues were turned into vices.
The cause of this change in his conduct appears,
independent of his natural bias for what was bad,
to have been his boundless ambition, injured
vanity, jealousy of others, and cowardice, which
were awakened and roused by the failure of his