ng for the throne;
and accordingly assumed the ensigns of imperial dignity. 11. As he was
at the head of a formidable army, his success remained a long time
doubtful; but a sudden overflow of the Rhine dividing his army, he was
set upon at that juncture by Norman'dus, the emperor's general, and
totally routed. The news of this victory, we are told, was brought to
Rome by supernatural means, on the same day that the battle was
fought. 12. Domi'tian's severity was greatly increased by this
short-lived success. In order to discover the accomplices of the
adverse party, he invented new tortures: sometimes cutting off the
hands--at other times thrusting fire into the bodies of those whom he
suspected of being his enemies. 13. In the midst of these severities,
he aggravated his guilt by hypocrisy--never pronouncing sentence
without a preamble full of gentleness and mercy. The night before he
crucified the comptroller of his household, he treated him with the
most flattering marks of friendship, and ordered him a dish of meat
from his own table. He carried Areti'nus Cle'mens with him in his own
litter the day he resolved upon his death. 14. He was particularly
terrible to the senate and nobility, the whole body of whom he
frequently threatened to extirpate entirely. At one time he surrounded
the senate-house with his troops, to the great consternation of the
senators. At another, he resolved to amuse himself with their terrors
in a different manner. 15. Having invited them to a public
entertainment, he received them all very formally at the entrance of
his palace, and conducted them into a spacious hall, hung round with
black, and illuminated by a few melancholy lamps, that diffused no
more light than was just sufficient to show the horrors of the place.
All around were to be seen coffins, with the names of each of the
senators written upon them, together with other objects of terror, and
instruments of execution. 16. While the company beheld all these
preparations with silent agony, several men having their bodies
blackened, each with a drawn sword in one hand, and a flaming torch in
the other, entered the hall, and danced round them. 17. After some
time, when, from the knowledge of Domi'tian's capricious cruelty, the
guests expected nothing less than instant death, the doors were set
open, and one of the servants came to inform them, that the emperor
gave all the company leave to withdraw.

18. His cruelties were rendered s