, as if
by general consent, that the suspected persons should be delivered up to
punishment. Among these, he invited to supper A. Caecina, a man of
consular rank, whom he ordered to be stabbed at his departure,
immediately after he had gone out of the room. To this act, indeed, he
was provoked by an imminent danger; for he had discovered a writing under
the hand of Caecina, containing an account of a plot hatched among the
soldiers. By these acts, though he provided for his future security, yet
for the present he so much incurred the hatred of the people, that
scarcely ever any one came to the empire with a more odious character, or
more universally disliked.

VII. Besides his cruelty, he lay under the suspicion of giving (469) way
to habits of luxury, as he often prolonged his revels till midnight with
the most riotous of his acquaintance. Nor was he unsuspected of
lewdness, on account of the swarms of catamites and eunuchs about him,
and his well-known attachment to queen Berenice [786], who received from
him, as it is reported, a promise of marriage. He was supposed, besides,
to be of a rapacious disposition; for it is certain, that, in causes
which came before his father, he used to offer his interest for sale, and
take bribes. In short, people publicly expressed an unfavourable opinion
of him, and said he would prove another Nero. This prejudice, however,
turned out in the end to his advantage, and enhanced his praises to the
highest pitch when he was found to possess no vicious propensities, but,
on the contrary, the noblest virtues. His entertainments were agreeable
rather than extravagant; and he surrounded himself with such excellent
friends, that the succeeding princes adopted them as most serviceable to
themselves and the state. He immediately sent away Berenice from the
city, much against both their inclinations. Some of his old eunuchs,
though such accomplished dancers, that they bore an uncontrollable sway
upon the stage, he was so far from treating with any extraordinary
kindness, that he would not so much as witness their performances in the
crowded theatre. He violated no private right; (470) and if ever man
refrained from injustice, he did; nay, he would not accept of the
allowable and customary offerings. Yet, in munificence, he was inferior
to none of the princes before him. Having dedicated his amphitheatre
[787], and built some warm baths [788] close by it with great expedition,
he en