BOOK VII. Liii. 184-186 



hood died^vlien with the same ballet-dancer Mysticus, 

 the leading beauty of the day. However, the most 

 enviablc case of a peaceful end is one recorded by our 

 forefathers, that of Marcus OfiUus Hilarus : he was 

 an actor in comedy, and having had a considerable 

 success with the pubHc on his birthday and while 

 giving a partv, when dinner was served called for a hot 

 drink in a tankard, and at the same tinie picked up 

 the mask that he had worn on that day and while 

 gazing at it transferred the wreath from his own 

 head to it, and in this attitude lay quite stiff with- 

 out anybody noticing, imtil the guest on the next 

 couch warned him that his drink was getting 

 cold. 



These are happy instances, but there are countless suidde. 

 numbers of unhappv ones. Lucius Domitius, a man 

 of very distinguished family, who was defeated at 

 Marseilles and was taken prisoner, also by Caesar, 

 at Corfinium," grew tired of Ufe and drank poison, 

 but afterwards made every effort to save his Ufe. 

 It is found in the official records that at the 

 funeral of FeUx the charioteer of the Reds one 

 of his backers threw himself upon the pyre — a 

 pitiful story — and the opposing backers tried to 

 prevent this score to the record of a professional by 

 asserting that the man had Aiinted owing to the 

 quantity of scents ! Not long beforc, the corpse of 

 Marcus Lepidus, the man of distinguished family 

 whose death from anxiety about his divorce we have 

 recorded above,'' had been dislodged from the pyre 

 bv the violence of the flame, and as it was impossible 

 to put it back again because of the heat, it was burnt 

 naked with a fresh supply of faggots at the side of 

 the pyre. 



631 



