REIGN OF DOMITIAN, A.D. 81-96
Domitian, who was proclaimed emperor by the soldiers upon his brother's death, possessed the mental ability of the Flavian family, joined to the vices and cruelty of the Claudian. In him Nero or Caligula seemed revived. His first political acts, however, were often useful, and for several years he concealed his true disposition. But he soon surrounded himself with spies and informers, and put to death the noblest men of his time. To preserve the fidelity of the soldiers he doubled their pay, while he won the populace by games and donations. But, to maintain his expenditure, he confiscated the property of the richer citizens, and no man of wealth was safe from an accusation of treason.
Agricola, who had gained a great victory over the Caledonians at the foot of the Grampion Hills, and who was about to subdue all Scotland, Domitian recalled, being jealous of his military fame; and that brave leader passed the last eight years of his life in retirement at Rome, in order to avoid the suspicions of the tyrant. Meanwhile, the Dacians, led by their king Decebalus, having crossed the Danube, Domitian took the field against them, and, in A.D. 90, was defeated, and forced to conclude a humiliating peace. Yet, on his return to Rome, he celebrated a triumph, assuming the name of Dacicus. The next year an insurrection broke out among the German legions, which was, however, suppressed.
Domitian now ordered himself to be styled the "Lord and God," and was worshiped with divine honors. A ferocious jealousy of all excellence in others seemed to possess him with rage against the wise and good. The most eminent of the nobility were put to death. All philosophers, and among them the virtuous Epictetus, were banished from Rome. The Christians, which name now included many persons of high station, were murdered in great numbers. At last the tyrant resolved to put to death his wife Domitia, but she discovered his design, and had him assassinated, 18th September, A.D. 96. The Senate passed a decree that his name should be erased from all public monuments, and refused to yield to the wishes of the soldiers, who would have proclaimed him a god.
