Stephanus came in, pale and excited; any one might suppose he was exhausted by loss of blood. “My lord,” he began, “a discovery of the greatest consequence....” Domitian, terrified beyond measure, sent all the slaves, with the exception of Phaeton, out of the room and bid Stephanus come closer to him. With profound respect the freedman handed him a document, which he himself had concocted a few hours previously. Caesar turned pale, and hastily glanced through the craftily-composed letter. This was the instant of which Stephanus took advantage.[171] He drew out the dagger like a flash of lightning, and struck it to the hilt into Caesar’s stomach. Domitian gave a fearful scream, and threw himself on the assassin like a wild beast. “My sword!” he shouted. “Phaeton, my sword!” The boy flew into the next room to fetch it, while Domitian and Stephanus struggled desperately. The Emperor tried to wrench the dagger from his foe, but only succeeded in clutching the blade and cutting his fingers to the bone. With a roar of pain, he tried to force out his adversary’s eyes, or to set his teeth in his throat. The slaves rushed in, but dared not interfere. They thought that Stephanus might be acting under the orders of Clodianus; Phaeton alone, who had found the sword, rushed boldly at the victorious assassin, and dealt him a deadly blow, at the very instant when Stephanus stabbed the Emperor to the heart. “Phaeton!... too late[172]...!” cried Domitian as he fell. “You alone have been faithful....” A dark stream of blood gushed from his mouth, and Caesar, who for so many years had trampled the world underfoot, was dead. Stephanus did not survive him many minutes. Phaeton’s stroke had split his skull. Domitian’s death left the Praetorian guard no reason for resisting the revolution; as soon as the news was known, Clodianus sent an envoy to the Palatium, who came to an understanding with the tribunes and centurions, and they surrendered at once. The rest of the guard, outside the Palatium, then made no farther demur. Thus the victory of Marcus Cocceius Nerva was an accomplished fact, and, excepting for the two victims of the struggle within the palace, it had been a bloodless one.