25. Was he magnificent in his exhibitions?
26. How did he employ himself in private?
27. Did time render him less vicious?
28. By what means did he attempt to acquire military fame?[Pg. 312]
SECTION XI.
What wretch would groan
Beneath the galling load of power, or walk
Upon the slippery pavements of the great!—Somerville.
1. The success of Agric'ola in Britain affected Domit'ian, with an extreme degree of envy. This excellent general pursued the advantages which he had already obtained; he subdued the Caledo'nians, and overcame Gal'gacus, the British chief, who commanded an army of thirty thousand men; afterwards sending out a fleet to scour the coast, he discovered Great Britain to be an island. He likewise discovered and subdued the Orkneys; and thus reduced the whole into a civilized province of the Roman empire. 2. When the account of these successes was brought to Domitian, he received it with a seeming pleasure, but real uneasiness. He thought Agric'ola's rising reputation a tacit reproach upon his own inactivity; and instead of attempting to emulate, he resolved to suppress the merits of his services. 3. He ordered him, therefore, external marks of approbation, and took care that triumphal ornaments, statues, and other honours should be decreed him; but at the same time he removed him from his command, under a pretence of appointing him to the government of Syria. 4. By these means Agric'ola surrendered up his province to Sallus'tius Lucul'lus, but soon found that Syria was otherwise disposed of. Upon his return to Rome, which was privately and by night, he was coolly received by the emperor; and dying some time after in retirement, it was generally supposed that his end was hastened by Domi'tian's direction.
5. Domi'tian soon found the want of so experienced a commander, in the many irruptions of the barbarous nations that surrounded the empire. The Sarma'tians in Europe, joined with those of Asia, made a formidable invasion, at once destroying a whole legion, and a general of the Romans. The Da'cians, under the conduct of Dece'balus, their king, made an irruption, and overthrew the Romans in several engagements. 6. At last, however, the barbarians were repelled, partly by force, and partly by the assistance of money, which only served to enable them to make future invasions with greater advantage. 7. But in whatever manner the enemy might have been repelled, Domi'tian was resolved not to lose the honours of a triumph. He returned in great splendour to Rome; and, not contented with thus triumphing twice without a victory, he resolved to take the[Pg. 313] surname of German'icus, for his conquests over a people with whom he never contended.
8. In proportion as the ridicule increased against him, his pride seemed every day to demand greater homage. He would permit his statues to be made only of gold and silver; he assumed to himself divine honours; and ordered that all men should address him by the same appellations which they gave to the Divinity. 9. His cruelty was not inferior to his arrogance; he caused numbers of the most illustrious senators and others to be put to death, upon the most trifling pretences. One Æ'lius La'ma was condemned and executed only for jesting, though there was neither novelty nor poignancy in his humour. Occea'nus was murdered only for celebrating the nativity of O'tho. Pomposia'nus shared the same fate, because it was foretold by an astrologer that he should be emperor. Sallus'tius Lucul'lus his lieutenant in Britain, was destroyed only for having given his name to a new sort of lances of his own invention. Ju'nius Rus'ticus died for publishing a book, in which he commended Thra'sea and Pris'cus, two philosophers, who opposed Vespa'sian's coming to the throne.
10. Lu'cius Anto'nius, governor of Upper Germany, knowing how much the emperor was detested at home, resolved upon striking for the throne; and accordingly assumed the ensigns of imperial dignity. 11. As he was at the head of a formidable army, his success remained a long time doubtful; but a sudden overflow of the Rhine dividing his army, he was set upon at that juncture by Norman'dus, the emperor's general, and totally routed. The news of this victory, we are told, was brought to Rome by supernatural means, on the same day that the battle was fought. 12. Domi'tian's severity was greatly increased by this short-lived success. In order to discover the accomplices of the adverse party, he invented new tortures: sometimes cutting off the hands—at other times thrusting fire into the bodies of those whom he suspected of being his enemies. 13. In the midst of these severities, he aggravated his guilt by hypocrisy—never pronouncing sentence without a preamble full of gentleness and mercy. The night before he crucified the comptroller of his household, he treated him with the most flattering marks of friendship, and ordered him a dish of meat from his own table. He carried Areti'nus Cle'mens with him in his own litter the day he resolved upon his death. 14. He was particularly terrible to the senate and[Pg. 314] nobility, the whole body of whom he frequently threatened to extirpate entirely. At one time he surrounded the senate-house with his troops, to the great consternation of the senators. At another, he resolved to amuse himself with their terrors in a different manner. 15. Having invited them to a public entertainment, he received them all very formally at the entrance of his palace, and conducted them into a spacious hall, hung round with black, and illuminated by a few melancholy lamps, that diffused no more light than was just sufficient to show the horrors of the place. All around were to be seen coffins, with the names of each of the senators written upon them, together with other objects of terror, and instruments of execution. 16. While the company beheld all these preparations with silent agony, several men having their bodies blackened, each with a drawn sword in one hand, and a flaming torch in the other, entered the hall, and danced round them. 17. After some time, when, from the knowledge of Domi'tian's capricious cruelty, the guests expected nothing less than instant death, the doors were set open, and one of the servants came to inform them, that the emperor gave all the company leave to withdraw.