Domitianus Aug. (XV), M. Cocceius Nerva (II). (A.D. 90 = a.u. 843 = Tenth of Domitian).

M. Ulpius Traianus, Manius Acilius Glabrio. (A.D. 91 = a.u. 844 = Eleventh of Domitian).  Domitianus Aug. (XVI), Q. Volusius Saturninus. (A.D. 92 = a.u. 845 = Twelfth of Domitian).

Sex.  Pompeius Collega, Cornelius Priscus. (A.D. 93 = a.u. 846 = Thirteenth of Domitian).

L. Nonius Asprenas, M. Arricinius Clemens. (A.D. 94 = a.u. 847 = Fourteenth of Domitian).

Domitianus Aug. (XVII), T. Flavius Clemens. (A.D. 95 = a.u. 848 = Fifteenth of Domitian).

Manlius Valens, Antistius Vetus. (A.D. 96 = a.u. 849 = Sixteenth of Domitian, to Sept. 18th).

[Sidenote:  A.D. 81 (a.u. 834)] [Sidenote:—­1—­] Domitian was both, bold and passionate, both treacherous and given to dissembling.  Hence, from these two characteristics, rashness on the one hand and craftiness on the other, he did much harm, falling upon some persons with the swiftness of a thunderbolt and damaging others by carefully prepared plots.  The divinity that he chiefly revered was Minerva, so that he was wont to celebrate the Panathenaea on a magnificent scale:  on this occasion he had contests of poets and chroniclers and gladiators almost every year at Albanum.  This district, situated below the Alban Mount, from which it was named, he had set apart as a kind of acropolis.  He had no genuine affection for any human being save a few women, but he always pretended to love the person whom at any time he was most determined to slay.  He could not be relied upon even by those who did him some favor or helped him in his most revolting crimes, for whenever any persons furnished him with large sums of money or lodged information against numbers of men, he was sure to destroy these benefactors, being especially careful to do so in the case of slaves who had given information against their masters. [Accordingly, such individuals, though, they received money and honors and offices all at once from him, lived in no greater honor and security than other men.  The very offences to which they had [Sidenote:  A.D. 82 (a.u. 835)] been urged by Domitian commonly were made pretexts for their destruction, the emperor’s object being to have the actual perpetrators appear solely responsible for their wrongdoing.  It was the same intention which led him once to issue a public notice to the effect that, when an emperor does not punish informers he is the cause of the existence of such a class.]

[Sidenote:—­2—­] Though this was his behavior to all throughout the course of his reign, still he quite outdid himself in dealing dishonor and ruin to his father’s and brother’s friends. [To be sure, he himself posted a notice that he would ratify all the gifts made to any persons by them and by other emperors.  But this was mere show.] He hated them because they did not supply all his demands, many of which were unreasonable, as also because they had been held in some honor. [Whatever had enjoyed