Note 37 — Chapter II · ON PEDICATION

“He went so far as to try to change a young man into a woman; his name was Sporus, and he had him castrated; having given him a dowry, he caused him to be brought to him with the flammeum on his head, and married him with all the nuptial solemnities. There has come down to us an appropriate saying on somebody’s part, namely, whether it might not have been better for human kind if Domitian, his father, had married a woman of that sort. He made Sporus dress himself in the costume of the Empresses, and had him carried in his litter; he travelled with him in that way, taking him through the meetings and markets in Greece, and soon after in Rome, about the time of the Sigillarian festivities, kissing him from time to time.” (Suetonius, Nero, ch. 28). Plate XXXIV in the repeatedly quoted French work, gives a representation of the abominable wedding.