their affection and the benefit of their influence beyond the ordinary he regarded as hostile to him.] Therefore, although he himself had a passion for a eunuch named Earinus, nevertheless, because Titus had also shown great liking for castrated persons, he carried his desire to cast reflections on his brother’s character to the extent of forbidding any one thereafter in the Roman empire to be castrated.  In general, he was accustomed to say that those emperors who failed to punish large numbers of men were not good, but merely fortunate. [Personally, he paid no attention to those who praised Titus for not causing a single senator’s death, nor did he care that the senate frequently saw fit to pass decrees that the emperor should not be permitted to put to death any of his peers.  The emperor, as he believed, was far and away superior to them and might put any one of them out of the way either on his own responsibility or with the consent of the rest; it was ridiculous to suppose that they could offer any opposition or refuse to condemn a man.  Some would praise Titus, only not in Domitian’s hearing; for such effrontery would be deemed as grave an offence as if they were to revile the emperor in his presence and within hearing:  but [Lacuna] [Footnote:  A gap must probably be construed here.  Bekker (followed by Dindorf) regarded it as coming after “secretly” and consisting of but a word or two (e.g. “he hated them”) but Boissevain locates it as indicated above and believes that considerably more is missing.] because he understood that they were doing this secretly [Lacuna] Then there was another thing] that resembled play-acting.  Domitian pretended that he too loved his brother and mourned him.  He read, with tears, the eulogies upon him [and hastened to have him enrolled among the heroes], pretending just the opposite of what he really wished.  (Indeed, he abolished the horse-race on Titus’s birthday).  People in general were not safe whether they sympathized with his indignation or with his joy.  In one case they [Footnote:  Reading [Greek:  emellon] (Dindorf, Boissevain).] were sure to offend his feelings and in the other to let their lack of genuineness appear.

[Sidenote:  A.D. 83 (a.u. 836)] [Sidenote:—­3—­] His wife, Domitia, he planned to put to death on the ground of adultery, but, having been dissuaded by Ursus, he sent her away and midway on the road murdered Paris, the dancer, because of her.  And many people paid honor to that spot with flowers [Sidenote:  A.D. 83 (a.u. 836)] and perfumes, he gave orders that they, too, should be slain.  After this he took into his house, quite undisguisedly, his own niece,—­Julia, that is to say. [Then on petition of the people he became reconciled, to be sure, with Domitia, but continued none the less his relations with Julia.]