 The situation at court provokes resentment and conspiracy; the freedman Stephanos offers to assassinate the emperor for Julia and Domitilla.Parthenius earns Domitian's ire by suggesting caution in the treatment of two senators and friends of Lamia, Junius Rusticus and Palphurius Sura.Domitian has had them arrested; the two men are tortured onstage, but their Stoic philosophy empowers them to resist the torture with equanimity.