The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-09-09


rt.tle by little, however, the intervals
Crept closer together, till condemnations
ended b. succeeding one another almost
without pause. N. Boissier sums up with
Discrimination, though with condiyn repro
baton, the. problematic character Of the
younger son. Of v~espasian.. He recognizes
that -Domitian was not a madman like
Caligula, nor a fool like CIaudius. On
certain sides he rather resembled Tiberius.
Like him he governed tho Empire. we'll.
He kept vigilant watch on the ~proconsuls
and proprptors who administered the
provinces and beneath his sway ths world
was not unhappy" Along with some
good qualities, however, he had still more
qualities that we're bad. The son Of an
~economizing Emperor who had been plain
and simple in his mode Of life, happy TO
recall his humble origin, he formed an abso-
Lutte contrast to his father. He was in
tolerably vain and i~nsolent; he took pleasure
in humiliating those about him. Not only
was he bent on the reality Of power, but
he delighted also in its outward shows,
sven the most futile: He, abolished the
prudent methods by which Augustus had
sought to dissimulate his sovereign au-
thority that it might be accepted with
the less r~epugnance." Far from being
satisfied with the equivocal title OF princeps
Domitian had himself commonly called
Our Lord, and our God" (Dominus &c Deus
Nostcr). As in all things he aimed at not
only being master but at appearing so.
all men that seemed to surpass him In any
respect would naturally give him offence.
For that eason he distrusted high minded
ness, talent and virtue. What aggravated
the detestation in which Domitian came
to be held was his pretension Of being a
reformer Of public morals. The prince
so severe on the faults Of others was him
self most vicious. He made stringent
laws against adultery, yet he lived publicly
with his niece, the daughter OF Titus, whom
he had taken from her husband and whose
death he caused by attempting to procure
her miscarriage. The contradiction was
repulsive and he was not ignorant Of the
indignation which IL caused. Everywhere,
therefore, he detected or thought he de-
tected illusions to his conduct. Whenever
the moralists attacked vice in general il
seemed to him it was Of himself they meant
to speak. He began by Furnishing individu-
ally with death or exile the most illustrious
among them. Then he o the course
Of banishing them all in a body, without
distinction" .f.
Tacitus returned to Rome at the moment
when the crisis had reached its acutest
phase, the very year in which Domitian put
to death some of the most honorable citizens
and in which the philosophers were banished.
How the Emperor received the future
historian we know not, but evidently the
latter was no longer in his masters good
graces. According to the rules regulating
promotion in the public services the pom
sulate could be obtained two years after
the pr@tOrship.- Yet although four years
had elapsed when Tacitus came back
neither then nor during the three years
following was he named consul. II he was
in truth an object of suspicion, as because
OF his talent and as being the son-in-law Of
AErioola he well might be, he must eagerly
have craved .obscurity. 1T was,' says
Piiny, what an upright man could best
desire But how could Tacitus secure
that refuge? ~As q former prRtor he
could not dispense with going to the Senate
house. Thrasea had paid with his life for
the crime Of having stayed at home OF the
day when Nero was acclaimed for having
slain his mother. .This example was a
warning to Tacitus not to absent himself
from the sittings.. He was, then, an eye
witness Of the horrible tragedies which
went on in the Senate house during the last
three years OF Domitian's principate. Nor,
indeed, could he have got of with being
simply a witness; he must also have played
an active part. He must have joined in
the absurd batteries with which the prince
was overwhelmed; have voted with 40
olamation the monuments raised in his
honor and the titles which were decreed
to him. What is sadder still. he must have
condemned without protest. all those whose
removal the. tryant desired; he himself
says SO plainly at the end Of the -Agricola.'
Tacitus could not recall those terrible scenes
without a shudder. Our ancestors" he
says, knew the extreme OF liberty; we, for
our part, have known the extreme Of servi-
tude."
With Domitian murdered by assassins
at the mitigation OF a wife whom he adored,
things resumed under the well meaning
but senile Nerva the course which they
had pursued under the first two Flavian
princes. The Senate regained activity and
some msasure Of independence, and, what
was Of more momen to Tacitus, those who
had been stopped short in their career
could now look forward. il worthy, to public
honors. In the year following Nerva's
accession. that is to say, as soon as the Office
became vacant, Tacitus became consul.
Two years later the Senate confded to him,
in conjunction with his friend, the younger
Pliny, the prosecution of a fraudulent pro-
consul, who in his province had sold Iettres
de cdchet, as was to be lone under Louis XIV.
His later yeaEs are hidden from US by an
almost impenetrable veil. All that we know
comes from an inscription recently dis
covered in Caria, which informs us that
toward the close OF Trajan's reign rTrajan
died A.. d. I'D Tacitus was proconsul
OF the Province OF Asia specifically So
called, which was regarded as one OF the
great posts OF the Empire. From that
moment we can learn nothing Of his career
and we know not even in what year he
died. Some have assumed though, as M.
Boissier points out, the assumption is
scarcely warranted-tha since he did not
fulfil his contemplated history OF Nerva
and Trajan he could not have long sur
vived the latter.
".
For readers OF Tacitus the fact'taat at