pretended conspiracy, and exhibited a paper, in which the particulars were specified.  While Domi’tian was reading the contents with eager curiosity, Steph’anus drew his dagger and struck him with much violence; but the wound not being mortal, Domi’tian caught hold of the assassin and threw him upon the ground, calling out for assistance.  But Parthe’nius, with his freedman, a gladiator, and two subaltern officers, now coming in, they ran furiously upon the emperor and dispatched him:  Steph’anus, however, was slain by the guards, but the other conspirators escaped in the tumult.

25.  It is rather incredible, what some writers relate concerning Apollo’nius Tyane’us, who was then at Ephesus.  This person, whom some call a magician, and some a philosopher, but who more probably was only an impostor, was, just at the minute in which Domi’tian was slain, lecturing in one of the public gardens of the city; but stopping short, on a sudden he cried out, “Courage, Steph’anus, strike the tyrant!” then, after a pause, “Rejoice, my friends, the tyrant dies this day;—­this day do I say?—­the very moment in which I kept silence he suffered for his crimes!  He dies!”

26.  Many prodigies are said to have portended his death; and if the Roman historians are to be credited, more preternatural appearances and predictions announced this event, than its importance deserved.[30] The truth seems to be, that a belief in omens and prodigies was again become prevalent, as the people were evidently relapsing into pristine barbarity, ignorance being ever the proper soil for a harvest of imposture.

Questions for Examination.

1.  What advantages did Agricola gain in Britain?

2.  How did Domitian receive the account of Agricola’s success?

3.  In what way did the emperor treat him?

4.  To whom did Agricola surrender up his province?

5.  What nations afterwards made irruptions into the Roman provinces?

6.  By what means were the barbarians at length repelled?

7.  What surname did Domitian assume?

8.  To what extravagance did his pride lead him?

9.  What trifling pretexts were made use of by Domitian to put to death some of the most illustrious Romans?

10.  Who now assumed the ensigns of the imperial dignity?

11.  By what general was Lucius Antonius defeated?

12.  What new cruelties were resorted to by the emperor?

13.  By what hypocritical conduct was he distinguished?

14.  To whom was he particularly terrible?

15, 16, 17.  What terrific ceremonies did he invent on one occasion?

18.  Was the result fatal to them?

19.  Did not his cruelties become still more insupportable at the latter part of his reign?

20.  Who was among the number that he at the same time caressed and suspected?

21.  Whose name did Domitia discover among his list of victims?