Produced by Tapio Riikonen and David Widger
By
C. Suetonius Tranquillus;
To which are added,
The Translation of
Alexander Thomson, M.D.
revised and corrected by
T.Forester, Esq., A.M.
(479)
I. Domitian was born upon the ninth of the calends of November [24thOctober] [795], when his father was consul elect, (being to enter uponhis office the month following,) in the sixth region of the city, at thePomegranate [796], in the house which he afterwards converted into atemple of the Flavian family. He is said to have spent the time of hisyouth in so much want and infamy, that he had not one piece of platebelonging to him; and it is well known, that Clodius Pollio, a man ofpretorian rank, against whom there is a poem of Nero's extant, entitledLuscio, kept a note in his hand-writing, which he sometimes produced, inwhich Domitian made an assignation with him for the foulest purposes.Some, likewise, have said, that he prostituted himself to Nerva, whosucceeded him. In the war with Vitellius, he fled into the Capitol withhis uncle Sabinus, and a part of the troops they had in the city [797].But the enemy breaking in, and the temple being set on fire, he hidhimself all night with the sacristan; and next morning, assuming thedisguise of a worshipper of Isis, and mixing with the priests of thatidle superstition, he got over the Tiber [798], with only one attendant,to the house of a woman who was the mother of one of his school-fellows,and lurked there so close, that, though the enemy, who were at his heels,searched very strictly after him, they could not discover him. At last,after the success of his party, appearing in public, and beingunanimously saluted by the title of Caesar, he assumed the office ofpraetor of the City, with consular authority, but in fact had nothing butthe name; for the jurisdiction he transferred to his next colleague. Heused, however, his absolute (480) power so licentiously, that even thenhe plainly discovered what sort of prince he was likely to prove. Not togo into details, after he had made free with the wives of many men ofdistinction, he took Domitia Longina from her husband, Aelias Lamia, andmarried her; and in one day disposed of above twenty offices in the cityand the provinces; upon which Vespasian said several times, "he wonderedhe did not send him a successor too."
II. He likewise designed an expedition into Gaul and Germany [799],without the least necessity for it, and contrary to the advice of all hisfather's friends; and this he did only with the view of equalling hisbrother in military achievements and glory. But for this he was severelyreprimanded, and that he might the more effectually be reminded of hisage and position, was made to live with his father, and his litter had tofollow his father's and brother's carriage, as often as they went abroad;but he attended them in their triumph for the conquest of Judaea [800],mounted on a white horse. Of the six consulships which he held, only onewas ordinary; and that he obtained by the cession and interest of hisbrother. He greatly affected a modest behaviour, and, above all, a tastefor poetry; insomuch, that he rehea