Notwithstanding the lateness of the hour, Clodianus at once summoned the Senate to a sitting. The very men, who had hitherto grovelled in the dust before the despot, now vied with each other in their expressions of hatred and contempt for the dead.[173] After the election of Marcus Cocceius Nerva had been officially ratified, and proclaimed in high-sounding phrases to be the happiest event of the century, the assembly passed a resolution declaring Domitian to have been a foe and traitor to his country, and requiring the Roman people to deface and obliterate every memorial of a man accursed. The numerous statues of himself, that Domitian had erected, were to be thrown down from their pedestals, and his triumphal arches laid level with the ground.[174] Certain petty and undignified suggestions, which had for their object extended powers of denunciation[175] such as they had existed under Domitian, but with increased severity, and the impeachment of some men of the highest character--as for instance of Titus Claudius--as adherents of the late emperor, were promptly negatived at an unmistakable sign from Clodianus, who had been expressly informed by Caius Aurelius, that the new ruler would set his face most positively against all the base expedients of the old government. On the other hand, the Senate were given full powers to provide for the liberation of all prisoners of state, inclusive even of the Nazarenes,[176] since the decree relating to that Jewish sect was to be reconsidered immediately after the Emperor’s arrival. In this also Clodianus was acting under the direct guidance of Caius Aurelius, who, after returning from the house of Titus Claudius, never quitted his side. So little were social peace and order disturbed by this revolution in the history of the world, that after midday the games and combats in the Flavian amphitheatre were proceeded with, though it is true they were attended by scarcely any but the lowest class, to whom it was a matter of indifference whether a god or a demon sat on the throne, so long as they had their largess of corn and their circus games. A few of them complained even that, by releasing the Nazarenes, the new Emperor had abridged the programme. But when at the close Clodianus indemnified each by a present in money, the last dissentient voices were silenced and “Long live Nerva!” rang loudly through the Amphitheatre, where two days since Domitian had been no less loudly greeted with shouts of “Ave Caesar!” FOOTNOTES: [161] IGILIUM, now Giglio. [162] ALSIUM, south of Caere, an old Etrurian city, afterwards a Roman colony, a favorite place of resort, where there were numerous villas (see Front. “_De feriis Alsiensibus_” as well as Cic. _Mil._ 20; _Ad fam._ IX, 6), now Palo. Some ancient ruins still exist. [163] THE VIA CASSIA ran between the Via Flaminia and the Via Aurelia to central Etruria.