After the natural death of his father Vespasian and his brother Titus, Domitian became emperor in 81 AD at age 30 and ruled until he was assassinated 15 years later. Of all Suetonius’s biographies of the 12 Caesars, his life of Domitian is one of the liveliest. Below are my comments coupled with quotes from the text.

“From that time forward, he was constantly engaged in plots against his brother, both publicly and privately; until, falling dangerously ill, he ordered all his attendants to leave him, under pretense of his being dead, before he really was so; and, at his decease, paid him no other honor than that of enrolling him amongst the gods; and he often, both in speeches and edicts, carped at his memory by sneers and insinuations. -------- This speaks oodles about Domitian’s character. I couldn’t imagine a more mean-spirited and small-minded view of life. Incidentally, I’ve had the misfortune of being around a couple of people with similar character traits – a most disagreeable experience.

“In the beginning of his reign, he used to spend daily an hour by himself in private, during which time he did nothing else but catch flies, and stick them through the body with a sharp pin. . . . During some time, there was in his administration a strange mixture of virtue and vice, until at last his virtues themselves degenerated into vices; being, as we may reasonably conjecture concerning his character, inclined to avarice through want, and to cruelty through fear.” ---------- There you have it – the soul of a sadist. Becoming Roman Emperor and spending your quiet hours torturing flies.

“He frequently entertained the people with most magnificent and costly shows, not only in the amphitheater, but the circus; where, besides the usual races with chariots drawn by two or four horses a-breast, he exhibited the representation of an engagement between both horse and foot, and a sea-fight in the amphitheater. The people were also entertained with the chase of wild beasts and the combat of gladiators, even in the night-time, by torch-light. Nor did men only fight in these spectacles, but women also.” ----------- The key word here is ‘entertainment’. Suetonius recognizes these pubic death-shows and war-circuses are primarily to entertain. Of course, the Romans loves to see displays of how they ruled the known world extending to the world of animals and nature but ultimately all displays were assessed in terms of their entertainment value. A kid of flesh-and-blood TV culture. How much has modern culture transcended such hankering after garish entertainments?

“But he did not long persevere in this course of clemency and justice, although he sooner fell into cruelty than into avarice. He put to death a scholar of Paris, the pantomimic though a minor, and then sick, only because, both in person and the practice of his art, he resembled his master; as he did likewise Hermogenes of Tarsus for some oblique reflections in his History; crucifying, besides, the scribes who had copied the work.” ---------- Goodness. Domitian tortured and put to death many men and women for flimsy, nonsensical reasons. Come on, Domitian, these people are humans not flies.

“He suffered no statues to be erected for him in the Capitol, unless they were of gold and silver, and of a certain weight.” ---------- Domitian was Roman Emperor from age 30 to 45, yet his emotional maturity remained that of a spoiled 15-year-old.

“As the time of the danger which he apprehended drew near, he became daily more and more disturbed in mind; insomuch that he lined the walls of the porticos in which he used to walk, with the stone called Phengites by the reflection of which he could see every object behind him.” ---------- Now this is a ugly combination: a man who is not only heartless and sadistic but also paranoid.

And, predictably in these days of the , Domitian was assassinated by conspirators. Which goes to show, if you are cruel and sadistic, even paranoids have enemies. In conclusion, here are Suetonius on the character of Domitian: “He was insatiable in his lusts, calling frequent commerce with women, as if it was a sort of exercise, bed-wrestling; and it was reported that he plucked the hair from his concubines, and swam about in company with the lowest prostitutes.” --------- Modern historians reject Suetonius’s representing Domitian as a cruel, paranoid tyrant; rather, those moderns see him as an efficient autocrat. My own sense is if half of what Suetonius relays about the emperor’s treatment of people is accurate, I’m with Suetonius.