That's Entertainment! Dining with Domitian in Statius' Silvae

Dining with Domitian could be a trying experience. Dio describes one memorable meal with the emperor:He prepared a room that was pitch black on every side—ceiling, walls and floor—and had made ready uncovered couches of the same colour resting on the bare floor. He then invited in his guests alone at night without their servants. First he set a slab shaped like a gravestone engraved with each guest's name next to them, together with a small lamp like the ones that hang in tombs. Next […] naked boys, also painted black, entered like ghosts…and all the things that are commonly offered at sacrifices to the souls of the dead were placed in front of the guests; all of the offerings were black and all in dishes of the same colour. And so every single one of the guests was terrified and trembling, in constant expectation of having his throat cut the next moment: all the more so because everyone except for Domitian was dead silent, as if they were already in the land of the dead. The emperor himself held forth only on topics relating to death and slaughter.(Dio 67.9)