DOMITIA'NUS, TITUS FLAVIUS, younger son of the Emperor Vespasianus, succeeded his brother Titus as emperor A.D. Si. Tacitus (' Ilist.,' iv. 51, 68), gives an unfavourable account of his previous youth. The beginning of his reign was marked by moderation and a display of justice bordering upon He affected great zeal for tho reformation of public morals, and punished with death several persons guilty of adultery, as well as some vestals who had broken their vows. He completed several splendid buildings begun by Titus ;'among others an Odeum, or theatre for musical performances. The most important event of his reign was the conquest of Britain by Agricola; but Domitian grew jealous of that great commander's reputation, and recalled him to Rome. His suspicious temper and his pusillanimity made him afraid of every man who was distinguished either by birth and connexions or by merit and popularity, and be mercilessly sacri ficed many to hie fears, while his avarice led him to put to death a number of wealthy persons for the sake of their property. The usual pretext for these murders was the charge of conspiracy or treason ; and thus a numerous race of informers was created and maintained by this system of spoliation. His cruelty was united to a deep dissimu lation, and in this particular he resembled Tiberius rather than Caligula or Nero. He either put to death or drove away from Rome the philo sophers and men of letters; Epictetus was one of the exiled. He found however some flatterers among the poets, such as Martial, saws Italicus, and Statius. The latter dedicated to him his Thebais' and Achilleis; and commemorated the events of his reign in his But in reality the reign of Domitian was anything but favourable to the Roman arms, except in Britain. In Meesia aud Dacia, in Germauy and Pannonia, the armies were defeated, and whole provinces lost. (Tacitus, 'Agricola,' 41.) Domitian himself went twice into Mcesia to oppose the Dacians, but after several defeats he concluded a disgraceful peace with their chief Decebalus, whom he acknowledged as king, and agreed to pay a tribute, which was afterwards discontinued by Trajan ; and yet Domitian made a pompous report of his victories to the esnate, and assumed the honour of a triumph. In the same manner he triumphed over the Catti and the Sarmatians, which made Pliny tho Younger say that the triumphs of Domitian were always evidence of some advantages gained by the enemies of Rome. In a.n. 95
Domitian assumed the consulship for the seventeenth time, together with Flavius Clemens, who had married Domitilla, a relative of the emperor. In that year a persecution of tho Christians is recorded in the history of the Church, but it appears to have been directed par ticularly against the Jews, with whom the Christians were then con founded by the Romans. Suetonius ascribes the proscriptions of tho Jews, or those who lived after the manner of the Jews, and whom he styles as improfessi,' to the rapacity of Domitian. Flavius Clemens and his wife were among the victims. [CLEMENS Rommeus.] In the following year (96), under the consulship of Fabius Valens and C. Antistius Vetus, a conspiracy was formed against Domitian among the officers of his guards and several of his intimate friends, and his wife herself is said to have participated in it. The immediate cause of it was his increasing suspicions, which threatened the life of every one around him, and which are said to have been stimulated by the pre dicticas of astrologers and soothsayers, whom he was very ready to consult. He was killed in his apartments by several of tho conspira tors, after struggling with them for some time ; he was io his forty fifth year, and had reigned fifteen years. On the news of his death the senate assembled and elected N. Cocceius Nerve emperor.
The character of Domitian is represented by all ancient historians in the darkest colours, as being a compound of timidity and cruelty, of dissimulation and arrogance, of self indulgence and stern severity towards others. He punished satirists, but encouraged secret informers. He took a delight in inspiring others with terror, and Dion relates a singular banquet, to which he invited the senators, with all the appa ratus of a funeral and an execution. He is also said to have spent whole hours in hunting after and killing flies. At one time, before his becoming emperor, he had applied himself to literature and poetry, aud he is said to have composed several poems and other works.
(Tacitus, Suetonius, Dion, and Pliny the Younger.)