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 double to that of his brother, and made no
scruple of saying frequently, "that he had been left his partner in the
empire, but that his father's will had been fraudulently set aside."
From that time forward, he was constantly engaged in plots against his
brother, both publicly and privately; until, falling dangerously ill, he
ordered all his attendants to (481) leave him, under pretence of his
being dead, before he really was so; and, at his decease, paid him no
other honour than that of enrolling him amongst the gods; and he often,
both in speeches and edicts, carped at his memory by sneers and
insinuations.

III. In the beginning of his reign, he used to spend daily an hour by
himself in private, during which time he did nothing else but catch