y been banished from
Rome."

The expression _molitores rerum novarum_ has a political meaning in
the case of Cerealis and Orfitus, both staunch pagans, and a religious
and political one in the case of Glabrio, a convert to the Christian
faith, called _nova superstitio_ by Suetonius and Tacitus. Other
details of Glabrio's fate are given by Dion Cassius, Juvenal, and
Fronto. We are told by these authors that during his consulship, A. D.
91, and before his banishment, he was compelled by Domitian to fight
against a lion and two bears in the amphitheatre adjoining the
emperor's villa at Albanum. The event created such an impression in
Rome, and its memory lasted so long that, half a century later, we
find it given by Fronto as a subject for a rhetorical composition to
his pupil Marcus Aurelius. The amphitheatre is still in existence, and
was excavated in 1887. Like the one at Tusculum, it is partly hollowed
out of the rocky side of the mountain, partly built of stone and
rubble work. It well deserves a visit from the student and the
tourist, on account of its historical associations, and of the
admirable view which its ruins command of the vine-clad slopes of
Albano and Castel Savello, the wooded plains of Ardea and Lavinium,
the coast of the Tyrrhenian, and the islands of Pontia and Pandataria.

Xiphilinus states that, in the year 95, some members of the imperial
family were condemned by Domitian on the charge of atheism, together
with other leading personages who had embraced "the customs and
persuasion of the Jews," that is, the Christian faith. Manius Acilius
Glabrio, the ex-consul, was implicated in the same trial, and
condemned on the same indictment with the others. Among these the
historian mentions Clemens and Domitilla, who were manifestly
Christians. One particular of the case, related by Juvenal, confirms
the account of Xiphilinus. He says that in order to mitigate the wrath
of the emperor and avoid a catastrophe, Acilius Glabrio, after
fighting the wild beasts at Albanum, assumed an air of stupidity. In
this alleged stupidity it is easy to recognize the prejudice so common
among the pagans, to whom the Christians' retirement from the joys of
the world, their contempt of public honors, and their modest behavior
appeared as _contemptissima inertia_, most despicable laziness. This
is the very phrase used by Suetonius in speaking of Flavius Clemens,
who was murdered by Domitian _ex tenuissima suspicione_, on a ve