I feel it's one of Domitian's two primary defining traits: sadism and paranoia.
He's said to have invented a new way of torturing with hot irons. How his fleet of torturers hadn't already thought of all the ways of poking people with hot irons, I don't know. And when an emperor has spare time on his hands, of course that's what he decides to work on...
So Alexander will be the subject of Domitian's experiment on pain. Both psychological and physical it seems.
Domitian really earned his Damniato Memoriae despite being popular with the people and the army. After all they weren't the main victims of his "games".
I've really, truly tried to find the good in Domitian. There's at least one "apologist" biography that tries to rehabilitate his image, but 1) it's a little thin on arguments, and 2) it's a little unconvincing. Even the worst of tyrants might have redeeming features--treated the army well, kept the poor fed, built temples for the gods. But the army and the regular folks weren't (physically) close enough to Domitian to become, as you say, the victims of his games.
Hey, most of his reign, people thought Caligula was their bright and shining golden boy too.
I wonder whether his torturers HAD thought of Domitian's "new" technique, but decided their own lives would stay more comfortable if they claimed to be awed by his brilliance? It wouldn't be the first time underlings told the boss what he wanted to hear, or the last.
It's recorded that people told him he was a brilliant poet, and also very attractive and long-legged and curly-haired. I have my suspicions about that flattery, too.
I have had an a personal downfall over not telling the boss what he wanted to hear. The truth only gets a person so far, depending on the boss!
It also depends on the truth as well. I've told some bosses that their plans were going to fall, only to be rebuked as a pessimist. But time gave me the reason and they did their best to ignore that I was right when I called them wrong. Of course I never gloated but frankly I got tired of fixing the mess their "brilliant" ideas made.
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Date: 2015-08-24 01:00 pm (UTC)Dr. Phil
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Date: 2015-08-25 06:07 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2015-08-25 05:29 pm (UTC)I like Helvius's quiet resistance.
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Date: 2015-08-25 06:06 pm (UTC)He's said to have invented a new way of torturing with hot irons. How his fleet of torturers hadn't already thought of all the ways of poking people with hot irons, I don't know. And when an emperor has spare time on his hands, of course that's what he decides to work on...
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Date: 2015-08-25 07:32 pm (UTC)Domitian really earned his Damniato Memoriae despite being popular with the people and the army. After all they weren't the main victims of his "games".
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Date: 2015-08-25 08:33 pm (UTC)Hey, most of his reign, people thought Caligula was their bright and shining golden boy too.
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Date: 2015-08-25 08:29 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2015-08-25 08:37 pm (UTC)That scene might have to happen.
It's recorded that people told him he was a brilliant poet, and also very attractive and long-legged and curly-haired. I have my suspicions about that flattery, too.
I have had an a personal downfall over not telling the boss what he wanted to hear. The truth only gets a person so far, depending on the boss!
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Date: 2015-08-25 09:28 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2015-08-25 11:35 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2015-08-26 12:13 am (UTC)Did they tell him he was as artistic as Nero? (Probably more artistic.)