On that day the matter ended there. A few
days later, when Domitian addressed them, they received him with
renewed confidence, refused his offer of lands, and begged for
enlistment and their pay instead. This was only a petition, but one
that could not be refused: so they were admitted to the Guards.
Subsequently, those who had grown old and completed the regular term
of service[359] were honourably discharged. Others were dismissed for
misbehaviour, but one by one at different times, which is always the
safest method of weakening any kind of conspiracy.
To return to the senate; a bill was now passed that a loan of 47
sixty million sesterces should be raised from private individuals and
administered by Pompeius Silvanus. This may have been a financial
necessity, or they may have wanted it to seem so. At any rate the
necessity soon ceased to exist, or else they gave up the pretence.
Domitian then carried a proposal that the consulships conferred by
Vitellius should be cancelled, and that a state funeral should be held
in honour of Flavius Sabinus.[360] Both proposals are striking
evidence of the fickleness of human fortune, which so often makes the
first last and the last first.
It was about this time that Lucius Piso,[361] the pro-consul of 48
Africa, was killed. To give a true explanation of this murder we must
go back and take a brief survey of certain matters which are closely
connected with the reasons for such crimes.
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