Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) - Volume 1.djvu/1081

Rh DOMITIUS. also adopted by Niebulir. (Tac. Ili^t. iil, 59, &c., iv. 2, &c., Apric. 39, 42, 45; Suet. Dotnt/ian. ; Dion Cass. lib. Ixvi. and Ixvii. ; Juvenal, Sutir. ; Quintil. iv. 1. § 2, &c., x. 1. § 91, &c. ; Niebuhr, Lectures on Roman Hist. ii. pp. 234-250.) [L. S.] DOMITIA'NUS, L. DOMITIUS. A few coins are extant in second brass, which exhibit on the obverse a l.nurelled head, with the legend. Imp. C. L. DoMiTius. DoMiTUNUs. AuG. ; on the re- verse, the representation of a Genius, with Gbnio. PoPULi. RoMANi. ; and below, the letters Ale., in- dicating that they were struck at Alexandria. We find also a very nire Alexandrian third brass, with a rayed head, and the words AOMITIANOC. CEB. These pieces have been generally supposed to belong to the Domitianus mentioned byTrebellius Pollio, as the general who vanquished the two Macriani, who is described as a man of lofty ambi- tion, deducing his origin from the son of Vespasian, and is believed to be the same with the Domitianus put to death by Aurelian, according to Zosimus, in consequence of a suspicion that he was meditating rebellion. Eckhel, however, has demonstrated, from numismatical considerations, that the Latin medals, at least, cannot be earlier than the epoch of Diocletian, or his immediate successors, and there- fore must commemorate the usurpation of some pretender unknown to history. (Trebell. Poll. Gal- lien, duo., c. 2 ; Triqint. Tyrann. c. 12 ; Zosim. i. 49 ; Eckhel, vol. viii. p. 41.) [W. R.J DOMITILLA, FLA'VIA. 1. The first wife of Vespasian, by whom he had three children, Titus, Domitian, and a daughter Domitilla. She had originally been the mistress of a Roman eques, Statilius Capella, and a freedwoman. Subsequently however she received the Latiniias, and was at last made ingenua. She as well as her daughter died before Vespasian was proclaimed emperor. (Suet. Vesp. 3.) Her portrait is given in the coin annexed, which was struck after her death. DOMNA. 1069 2. The wife of Flavius Clemens. [Clkmens, T. Fl.wius.] Philostratus ( Vit. Apollon. viii. 25) calls her a sister of the emperor Domitian, which is impossible, as Domitilla, the sister of Domitian, had died even before Vespasian's accession. Dion Cassius (Ixvii. 14) calls her merely a (Txjy^fvi^s of Domitian, and it has been conjectured that in Philostratus we must read a^(KLhriv instead of dhi(priv. It may be that our Domitilla was a daughter of Vespasian's daughter of the same name. After the murder of her husband Clemens, Stephanus, the freedman and murderer of Domitian, was her procurator. (Suet. Domit. 17; comp. Reimarus, ad Dion Cass. I. c.) [L. S.] DOMI'TIUS AFER. [Afer.] DOMI'TIUS BALBUS. [Balbus, No. 6.] DOMITIUS CAECILIA'NUS. [Caecili- iiNUs, p. 526, b.] DOMITIUS CALLI'STRATUS. [Calli- STRATUS, p. 579, b.] DOMITIUS CELER. [Celer.] DOMITIUS CO'RBULO. [Corbulo.] DOMITIUS DEXTER. [Dbxter.] DOMITIUS FLORUS. [Flori;s.] DOMITIUS LA'BEO. [Labko.] DOMITIUS MARSUS. [Marsus.] DOMITIUS ULPIA'NUS. [Ulpianu8. ] DOMNA, .lU'LIA, daughter of Bassianus, wife of the emperor Septimius Severus, mother of Caracalla and Geta, grand-aunt of Elagabalus and Alexander. (See the stemma of Caracalla.) Born of obscure parents in Emesa,.8he attracted the attention of her future husband long before his elevation to the purple, in consequence, we are told, of an astro- logical prediction, which declared that she was destined to be the wife of a sovereign. Already cherishing ambitious hopes, and trusting implicitly to the infallibility of an art in which he possessed no mean skill, Severus, after the death of Marcia, wedded the humble Syrian damsel, with no other dowry than her horoscope. The period at which this union took place has been a matter of contro- versy among chronologers, since the statements of ancient authorities are contradictory and irrecon- cileable. Following Dion Cassius as our surest guide, we conclude that it could not have been later than a. d. 175, for he records that the marriage couch was spread in the temple of Venus, adjoining the palatium, by the empress Faustina, who in that year quitted Rome to join M. Aurelius in the east, and never returned. Julia, being gifted with a powerful intellect and with a large measure of the adroit cunning for which her countrywomen were so celebrated, exercised at all times a powerful sway over her superstitious husband, persuaded him to take up arms against Pescennius Niger and Clodius Albinus, thus pointing out the direct path to a throne, and, after the prophecy had been com- pletely fulfilled, maintained her dominion unim- paired to the last. At one period, when hard pressed by the enmity of the all-powerful Plautianus, she is said to have devoted her time almost ex- clusively to philosophy. By her commands Phi- lostratus undertook to write the life of Apollonius, of Tyana, and she was wont to pass whole days surrounded by troops of grammarians, rhetoricians, and sophists. But if she studied wisdom she certainly did not practise virtue, for her profligacy was a matter of common notoriety and reproach, and she is said even to have conspired against the life of her husband, who from gratitude, weakness, fear, or apathy, quietly tolerated her enormities. After his death, her influence became greater than ever, and Caracalla entrusted the most important affairs of state to her administration. At the same time, she certainly possessed no controul over his darker passions, for it is well known that he murdered his own brother, Geta, in her ai-ms, and when she ventured to give way to grief for her child, the fratricide was scarcely withheld from turning the dagger against his mother also. Upon learning the successful issue of the rebellion of Macrinus, Julia at first resolved not to survive the loss of her son and of her dignities, but having been kindly treated by the conqueror, she for a while indulged in bright anticipations. Her pro- ceedings, however, excited a suspicion that she was tampering with the troops : she was abruptly com- manded toquitAntioch, and, returning to herfonner resolution, she abstained from food, and perished, A. D. 217. Her body was transported to Rome, and deposited in the sepulchre of Caius and Luciu* Caesar, but afterwards removed by her sister.