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

1062 DOMITIANUS.
undertalkings and other occurrences of the time.
In A. D. 84 he undertook an expedition against the
Chatti, which does not seem to have been altogether unsuccessful, for we learn from Frontinus
(Strateg. 1. 3), that he constructed the frontier
wall between the free Germans and those who
were subject to Rome, so that he must at any
rate have succeeded in confining the barbarians
within their own territory. After his return to
Rome he celebrated a triumph, and assumed the
name of Germanicus. In the same year Agricola,
whose success and merits excited his jealousy, was
recalled to Rome, ostensibly for the purpose of
celebrating a triumph; but he was never sent backl
to his post, which was given to another person.
[AGRICOLA.] The most dangerous enemy of
Rome at that time was Decebalus, king of the
Dacians. Domitian himself took the field against
him, but the real management of the war was left
to his generals. Simultaneously with this war
another was carried on against the Marcomanni
and Quadi, who had refused to furnish the Romans with the assistance against Decebalus, which
they -were bound to do by a treaty. The Romans were defeated by them, and the consequence was, that Domitian was obliged to conclude
peace with Decebalus on very humiliating terms,
A. D. 87. [DECEBALUS.] Another dangerous occurrence was the revolt of L. Antonius in Upper
Germany; but this storm was luckily averted by
an unexpected overflow of the Rhine over its
banks, which prevented the German auxiliaries,
whom Antonius expected, from joining him; so
that the rebel was easily conquered by L. Appius
Norbanus, in A. D. 91. An insurrection of the
Nasamones in Africa was of less importance, and
was easily suppressed by Flaccus, the governor of
Numidia.
But it is the cruelty and tyranny of Domitian
that have given his reign an unenviable notoriety.
His natural tendencies burst forth with fresh
fury after the Dacian war. His fear and his
injured pride and vanity led him to delight
in the misfortunes and sufferings of those whom
he hated and envied; and the most distinguished men of the time, especially among the senators, had to bleed for their excellence; while,
on the other hand, he tried to win the populace
and the soldiers by large donations, and by public
games and fights in the circus and amphitheatre,
in which even women appeared among the gladiators, and in which he himself took great delight.
For the same reason he increased the pay of the
soldiers, and the sums he thus expended were obtained from the rich by violence and murder; and
when in the end he found it impossible to obtain
the means for paying his soldiers, he was obliged
to reduce their number. The provinces were less
exposed to his tyranny, and it was especially
Rome and Italy that felt his iron grasp. The expression of thought and sentiment was suppressed
or atrociously persecuted, unless men would degrade themselves to flatter the tyrant. The silent
fear and fearful silence which prevailed during the
latter years of Domitian's reign in Rome and Italy
are briefly but energetically described by Tacitus
in the introduction to his Life of Agricola, and
his vices and tyranny are exposed in the strongest
colours by the withering satire of Juvenal. All
the philosophers who lived at Rome were expelled;
from whichl, however, we cannot infer, ac some

DOMITIANUS.
writers do, that lie hated all philosophical and scientific pursuits; the cause being in all probability
no other than his vanity and ambition, which
could not bear to be obscured by others. Christian
writers attribute to him a persecution of the Christians likewise; but there is no other evidence for it,
and the belief seems to have arisen from the strictness with which he exacted the tribute from the
Jews, and which may have caused much suffering
to the Christians also.
As in all similar cases, the tyrant's own cruelty
brought about his ruin. Three officers of his court,
Parthenius, Sigerius, and Entellus, whom Domitian
intended to put to death (this secret was betrayed
to them by Domitia, the emperor's wife, who was
likewise on the list), formed a conspiracy against
his life. Stephanus, a freedman, who was employed
by the conspirators, contrived to obtain admission
to the emperor's bed-room, and gave him a letter
to read. While Domitian was perusing the letter,
in which the conspirators' plot -was revealed to
him, Stephanus plunged a dagger into his abdomen.
A violent struggle ensued between the two, until
the other conspirators arrived. Domitian fell, after
having received seven wounds, on the 18th of September, A. D. 96. Apollonius of Tyana, who was
then at Ephesus, at the momnent Domitian was
murdered at Rome, is said to have run across the
market-place, and to have exclaimed, " That is
right, Stephanus, slay the murderer!"
There are few rulers who better deserve the name
of a cruel tyrant than Domitian. The last three
years of his reign form one of the most frightful
periods that occur in the history of man; but he
cannot be called a brutal monster or a madman
like Caligula and Nero, for he possessed talent
and a cultivated mind; and although Pliny and
Quintilian, who place his poetical productions by
the side of those of the greatest masters, are obviously guilty of servile flattery, yet his poetical
works cannot have been entirely without merit.
His fondness and esteem for literature are attested
by the quinquennial contest which he instituted in
honour of the Capitoline Jupiter, and one part of
which consisted of a musical contest. Both prose
writers and poets in Greek as well as in Latin recited their productions, and the victors were rewarded with golden crowns. He further instituted
the pension for distinguished rhetoricians, which
Quintilian enjoyed; and if we look at the comparatively flourishing condition of Roman literature
during that time, we cannot Ilelp thinking that it
was, at least in great measure, the consequence of the
influence which he exercised and of the encouragement which he afforded. It is extremely probable
that we still possess one of the literary productions
of Domitian in the Latin paraphrase of Aratus's
Phaenomena, which is usually attributed to Germanicus, the grandson of Augustus. The arguuments for this opinion have been clearly set forth
by Rutgersius ( Var. Lect. iii. p. 276), and it is

CoIN OF DUOMIAN.