tained: Patmos is now called Palmosa. To this place the Roman tyrants were accustomed to banish those persons who excited their re

sentment.

The Cyclades were certain Islands in the Egean sea, and those particularly which surrounded Delos, a large island so called, because it is said suddenly to have made its appearance on the surface of the sea by the power of Neptune, for the accommodation of Latona, that she might, when persecuted by all the world, give birth there to Apollo and Diana, the children of Jupiter.

During the consulship of Domitian, with his cousin F. Clemens, the persecution raged with such bitter fury, that his colleague was inhumanly martyred by him, for his exertions in favor of the true faith; and his wife, Flavia Domatilla, notwithstanding she was the near relation of Domitian, was banished, for being a christian, to Pandatoria.

In the consulship of Lucius Nonius Asprenas Torquatus and Arricinius Clemens, which happened A. D. 94, the holy prophet St. Johm wrote his divine revelation to the seven churches in Asia; he had grace given him from above, at that time, to show the followers of christianity the wonderful things which must come to pass. All men of talent excited the envy of Do

mitían; he exiled the philosopher Epictetus, of Hieropolis, in Phrygia, who had originally been the slave of Epaphroditus, the freedman of Nero. Epictetus supported the doctrine of the immortality of the soul, and declared himself strongly and vehemently against suicide, which, as we have seen, was in much repute with the Romans, and which had been adopted from an erroneous principle. The value of his compositions were so highly appreciated by the whole body of the people, that, with reason, they complained at being deprived of this bright luminary: the earthen lamp, of which this philosopher made use of, sold some time after his death for three thousand drachmas !

Domitian now affected to depreciate the valor of Cn. Julius Agricola, and therefore recalled him from Britain, notwithstanding he was distinguished for his courage and bravery, as well. as for his eminent private virtues. The pursuits and investigating talents of Agricola were of great use to the Britons, for he occupied himself in intellectualizing and polishing the natives of Britain, which he discovered to be an island, and the largest of all the European islands. Agricola was highly esteemed by the people whom he governed, as he displayed his equanimity and moderation. On his return to Rome, Domitian ordered that he should enter

the capital of Italy at night, with a view that no triumph should be granted him: Agricola, 'the governor of Britain, obeyed this ungrateful mandate without betraying the least resentment or indignation, and retired to the tranquil enjoyment of solitude and friends.

The celebrated historian, Tacitus, married the daughter of Agricola, and gratified himself by writing the history of his father-in-law, and expatiating on his great and excellent qualities.

Domitian daily exhibited magnificent and costly spectacles, not only in the spacious amphitheatre, but in the circus, where, besides the usual games and chariot races with four horses, he exhibited a combat between the cavalry and infantry, and a naval engagement in the Naumachia.

The Naumachia was a large lake formed by the river Tiber, round which seats were erected one above another to a great height, and to ascend to which, steps at equal distances were placed in the centre was fixed a cerule chair, in which the imperial Domitian sat to witness the combat between the ships of war, even in the most tempestuous weather.

Domitian commanded that the huntings of the wild beasts, as well as the gladiatory combats, should be performed by torch light, as displaying a more magnificent appearance, and

having a grander effect. To this performance, he engaged many of the Roman matrons; he revived the quæstorial games, and allowed the quæstor who exhibited them to select champions from his own company of gladiators, who appeared in the imperial livery.

At the spectacles of gladiators, he placed a dwarf boy, whom he was very fond of, at his side; he gave him the most splendid costume of scarlet and gold, and, notwithstanding his horrible ugliness, he commended him as a celebrated beauty: he affected to talk with this urchin as if engaged in the most important matters and the most serious affairs of the state, in the presence of the senators, instead of paying them the respect due to their elevated situation in the empire; and was frequently heard to inquire of him whether he had yet explained to him his reasons for elevating Metius Rufus to the honor of being prefect of Egypt at the next promotion? He revived the secular games, making his computation of the time, not from the year in which Claudius last held them, but from the one in which they had been formerly celebrated by Augustus Cæsar. At these, and upon the days of the Circensian exhibitions, that an hundred courses, instead of twenty-five, might be the more easily performed by the racers and coursers, he reduced each from seven

turns to five. He instituted Quinquennial games to Jupiter Capitolinus, with three different sorts of spectacle, music, horse-racing, and wrestling; the prizes were sumptuous crowns of different distinctions and descriptions; there was also a contention in prose, both in Greek and Latin, which was sung to the harp. The most able professors played on the harp and on other instruments of music, in the midst of which, young girls, elegantly attired, would start from their seats, and run races till they were breathless with fatigue. He presided at these spectacles in slippers, habited in a Grecian robe of purple silk, curiously adorned with gold and gem's; a crown of gold on his head, with the effigies of Jupiter, Juno, and Minerva: the priests of Jupiter, and the college of the Flavii, which consisted of the priests appointed for his own family, were seated on either side of him with the same superb costume, with this difference, intended to display his divinity, that the image of himself was added to the other effigies in their crowns. Every year, he celebrated the Quinquatria to Minerva on mount Albanus: it continued five days, and was a festival in honor of the goddess of wisdom, whom he worshipped with profound devotion; the commencement was on the 18th of March: on the first day, sacrifices and oblations were presented