_Said to have been dug out of the Ruins of a Palace at Rome._
Under this monument repose the ashes of DOMITIAN, the last of the
Cæsars, the fourth scourge of Rome; a tyrant, no less deliberate than
Tiberius, no less capricious than Caligula, and no less outrageous than
Nero.
When satiated with issuing edicts to spill human blood, he found an
amusement in stabbing flies with a bodkin.
His reign, though undisturbed by war, occasioned no less calamity to his
country than would have happened from the loss of twenty battles.
He was magnificent from vanity, affable from avarice, and implacable
from cowardice.
He flattered incessantly the soldiery, who governed him, and detested
the senate, who caressed him.
He insulted his country by his laws, heaven by his impiety, and nature
by his pleasures.
While living, he was deified; and the assassins alone, whom his empress
had sent to despatch him, could convince him of his mortality.
This monster governed during fifteen years; yet the administration of
Titus, the delight of humankind, was confined to two.
Ye passengers! who read this inscription, blaspheme not the Gods!
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