Domĭtiānus Titus Flavius

, son of Vespas i an and Flavia Domatilla, made himself emperor of Rome at the death of his brother Titus, whom, according to some accounts, he destroyed by poison. The beginning of his reign promised tranquillity to the people, but their expectations were soon frustrated. Domitian became cruel, and gave way to incestuous and unnatural indulgencies. He commanded himself to be called God and Lord in all the papers which were presented to him. He pa ed the greatest part of the day in catching flies and killing them with a bodkin, so that it was wittily answered by Vibius to a person who asked him who was with the emperor, “Nobody, not even a fly.” In the latter part of his reign Domitian became suspicious, and his anxieties were increased by the predictions of astrologers, but still more poignantly by the stings of remorse. He was so distrustful even when alone, that round the terrace, where he usually walked, he built a wall with shining stones, that from them he might perceive as in a looking-gla whether anybody followed him. All these precautions were unavailing; he perished by the hand of an a a in the 18th of September, A.D. 96, in the 45th year of his age and the 15th of his reign. He was the last of the 12 Cæsars. He distinguished himself for his love of learning, and in a little treatise which he wrote upon the great care which ought to be taken of the hair to prevent baldne , he displayed much taste and elegance, according to the observations of his biographers. After his death he was publicly deprived by the senate of all the honours which had been profusely heaped upon him, and even his body was left in the open air without the honours of a funeral. This disgrace might proceed from the resentment of the senators, whom he had exposed to terror as well as to ridicule. He once a embled that august body, to know in what ve el a turbot might be most conveniently dre ed. At another time they received a formal invitation to a feast, and when they arrived at the palace, they were introduced into a large gloomy hall hung with black, and lighted with a few glimmering tapers. In the middle were placed a number of coffins, on each of which was inscribed the name of some one of the invited senators. On a sudden a number of men burst into the room, clothed in black, with drawn swords and flaming torches, and after they had for some time terrified the guests, they permitted them to retire. Such were the amusements and cruelties of a man who, in the first part of his reign, was looked upon as the father of his people, and the restorer of learning and liberty. Suet on i us , The Twelve Caesars .— Eutropius , bk. 7 .