], with only one attendant,
to the house of a woman who was the mother of one of his school-fellows,
and lurked there so close, that, though the enemy, who were at his heels,
searched very strictly after him, they could not discover him. At last,
after the success of his party, appearing in public, and being
unanimously saluted by the title of Caesar, he assumed the office of
praetor of the City, with consular authority, but in fact had nothing but
the name; for the jurisdiction he transferred to his next colleague. He
used, however, his absolute (480) power so licentiously, that even then
he plainly discovered what sort of prince he was likely to prove. Not to
go into details, after he had made free with the wives of many men of
distinction, he took Domitia Longina from her husband, Aelias Lamia, and
married her; and in one day disposed of above twenty offices in the city
and the provinces; upon which Vespasian said several times, "he wondered
he did not send him a successor too."

II. He likewise designed an expedition into Gaul and Germany [799],
without the least necessity for it, and contrary to the advice of all his
father's friends; and this he did only with the view of equalling his
brother in military achievements and glory. But for this he was severely
reprimanded, and that he might the more effectually be reminded of his
age and position, was made to live with his father, and his litter had to
follow his father's and brother's carriage, as often as they went abroad;
but he attended them in their triumph for the conquest of Judaea [800],
mounted on a white horse. Of the six consulships which he held, only one
was ordinary; and that he obtained by the cession and interest of his
brother. He greatly affected a modest behaviour, and, above all, a taste
for poetry; insomuch, that he rehearsed his performances in public,
though it was an art he had formerly little cultivated, and which he
afterwards despised and abandoned. Devoted, however, as he was at this
time to poetical pursuits, yet when Vologesus, king of the Parthians,
desired succours against the Alani, with one of Vespasian's sons to
command them, he laboured hard to procure for himself that appointment.
But the scheme proving abortive, he endeavoured by presents and promises
to engage other kings of the East to make a similar request. After his
father's death, he was for some time in doubt, whether he should not
offer the soldiers a donative doub