THE LIVES OF THE TWELVE CAESARS

 By C. Suetonius Tranquillus;

 To which are added, HIS LIVES OF THE GRAMMARIANS, RHETORICIANS, AND POETS. 

 The Translation of Alexander Thomson, M. D. 

 revised and corrected by T. Forester, Esq. , A. M. 

T. FLAVIUS VESPASIANUS AUGUSTUS. 

(441)

I. The empire, which had been long thrown into a disturbed and unsettedstate, by the rebellion and violent death of its three last rulers, wasat length restored to peace and security by the Flavian family, whosedescent was indeed obscure, and which boasted no ancestral honours; butthe public had no cause to regret its elevation; though it isacknowledged that Domitian met with the just reward of his avarice andcruelty. Titus Flavius Petro, a townsman of Reate [721], whether acenturion or an evocatus [722] of Pompey's party in the civil war, isuncertain, fled out of the battle of Pharsalia and went home; where, having at last obtained his pardon and discharge, he became a collectorof the money raised by public sales in the way of auction. His son, surnamed Sabinus, was never engaged in the military service, though somesay he was a centurion of the first order, and others, that whilst heheld that rank, he was discharged on account of his bad state of health:this Sabinus, I say, was a publican, and received the tax of the fortiethpenny in Asia. And there were remaining, at the time of the advancementof the family, several statues, which had been erected to him by thecities of that province, with this inscription: "To the honestTax-farmer. " [723] He afterwards turned usurer amongst the Helvetii, andthere died, leaving behind him his wife, Vespasia Pella, and two sons byher; the elder of whom, Sabinus, came to be prefect of the city, and theyounger, Vespasian, to be emperor. Polla, descended of a good family, atNursia [724], had for her father Vespasius Pollio, thrice appointed (442)military tribune, and at last prefect of the camp; and her brother was asenator of praetorian dignity. There is to this day, about six milesfrom Nursia, on the road to Spoletum, a place on the summit of a hill, called Vespasiae, where are several monuments of the Vespasii, asufficient proof of the splendour and antiquity of the family. I willnot deny that some have pretended to say, that Petro's father was anative of Gallia Transpadana [725], whose employment was to hireworkpeople who used to emigrate every year from the country of the Umbriainto that of the Sabines, to assist them in their husbandry [726]; butwho settled at last in the town of Reate, and there married. But of thisI have not been able to discover the least proof, upon the strictestinquiry. 

II. Vespasian was born in the country of the Sabines, beyond Reate, in alittle country-seat called Phalacrine, upon the fifth of the calends ofDecember [27th November], in the evening, in the consulship of QuintusSulpicius Camerinus and Caius Poppaeus Sabinus, five years before thedeath of Augustus [727]; and was educated under the care of Tertulla, hisgrandmother by the father's side, upon an estate belonging to the family, at Cosa [728]. After his advancement to the empire, he used frequentlyto visit the place where he had spent his infancy; and the villa wascontinued in the same condition, that he might see every thing about himjust as he had been used to do. And he had so great a regard for thememory of his grandmother, that, upon solemn occasions and festival days, he constantly drank out of a silver cup which she had been accustomed touse. After assuming the manly habit, he had a long time a distaste forthe senatorian toga, though his brother had obtained it; nor could he bepersuaded by any one but his mother to sue for that badge of honour. Sheat length drove him to it, more by taunts and reproaches, than by herentreaties (443) and authority, calling him now and then, by way ofreproach, his brother's footman. He served as military tribune inThrace. When made quaestor, the province of Crete and Cyrene fell to himby lot. He was candidate for the aedileship, and soon after for thepraetorship, but met with a repulse in the former case; though at last, with much difficulty, he came in sixth on the poll-books. But the officeof praetor he carried upon his first canvass, standing amongst thehighest at the poll. Being incensed against the senate, and desirous togain, by all possible means, the good graces of Caius [729], he obtainedleave to exhibit extraordinary [730] games for the emperor's victory inGermany, and advised them to increase the punishment of the conspiratorsagainst his life, by exposing their corpses unburied. He likewise gavehim thanks in that august assembly for the honour of being admitted tohis table. 

III. Meanwhile, he married Flavia Domitilla, who had formerly been themistress of Statilius Capella, a Roman knight of Sabrata in Africa, who[Domitilla] enjoyed Latin rights; and was soon after declared fully andfreely a citizen of Rome, on a trial before the court of Recovery, brought by her father Flavius Liberalis, a native of Ferentum, but nomore than secretary to a quaestor. By her he had the following children:Titus, Domitian, and Domitilla. He outlived his wife and daughter, andlost them both before he became emperor. After the death of his wife, herenewed his union [731] with his former concubine Caenis, the freedwomanof Antonia, and also her amanuensis, and treated her, even after he wasemperor, almost as if she had been his lawful wife. [732]

(444) IV. In the reign of Claudius, by the interest of Narcissus, he wassent to Germany, in command of a legion; whence being removed intoBritain, he engaged the enemy in thirty several battles. He reducedunder subjection to the Romans two very powerful tribes, and above twentygreat towns, with the Isle of Wight, which lies close to the coast ofBritain; partly under the command of Aulus Plautius, the consularlieutenant, and partly under Claudius himself [733]. For this success hereceived the triumphal ornaments, and in a short time after twopriesthoods, besides the consulship, which he held during the two lastmonths of the year [734]. The interval between that and hisproconsulship he spent in leisure and retirement, for fear of Agrippina, who still held great sway over her son, and hated all the friends ofNarcissus, who was then dead. Afterwards he got by lot the province ofAfrica, which he governed with great reputation, excepting that once, inan insurrection at Adrumetum, he was pelted with turnips. It is certainthat he returned thence nothing richer; for his credit was so low, thathe was obliged to mortgage his whole property to his brother, and wasreduced to the necessity of dealing in mules, for the support of hisrank; for which reason he was commonly called "the Muleteer. " He is saidlikewise to have been convicted of extorting from a young man of fashiontwo hundred thousand sesterces for procuring him the broad-stripe, contrary to the wishes of his father, and was severely reprimanded forit. While in attendance upon Nero in Achaia, he frequently withdrew fromthe theatre while Nero was singing, and went to sleep if he remained, which gave so much (445) offence, that he was not only excluded from hissociety, but debarred the liberty of saluting him in public. Upon this, he retired to a small out-of-the-way town, where he lay skulking inconstant fear of his life, until a province, with an army, was offeredhim. 

A firm persuasion had long prevailed through all the East [735], that itwas fated for the empire of the world, at that time, to devolve on somewho should go forth from Judaea. This prediction referred to a Romanemperor, as the event shewed; but the Jews, applying it to themselves, broke out into rebellion, and having defeated and slain their governor[736], routed the lieutenant of Syria [737], a man of consular rank, whowas advancing to his assistance, and took an eagle, the standard, of oneof his legions. As the suppression of this revolt appeared to require astronger force and an active general, who might be safely trusted in anaffair of so much importance, Vespasian was chosen in preference to allothers, both for his known activity, and on account of the obscurity ofhis origin and name, being a person of whom (446) there could be not theleast jealousy. Two legions, therefore, eight squadrons of horse, andten cohorts, being added to the former troops in Judaea, and, taking withhim his eldest son as lieutenant, as soon as he arrived in his province, he turned the eyes of the neighbouring provinces upon him, by reformingimmediately the discipline of the camp, and engaging the enemy once ortwice with such resolution, that, in the attack of a castle [738], he hadhis knee hurt by the stroke of a stone, and received several arrows inhis shield. 

V. After the deaths of Nero and Galba, whilst Otho and Vitellius werecontending for the sovereignty, he entertained hopes of obtaining theempire, with the prospect of which he had long before flattered himself, from the following omens. Upon an estate belonging to the Flavianfamily, in the neighbourhood of Rome, there was an old oak, sacred toMars, which, at the three several deliveries of Vespasia, put out eachtime a new branch; evident intimations of the future fortune of eachchild. The first was but a slender one, which quickly withered away; andaccordingly, the girl that was born did not live long. The second becamevigorous, which portended great good fortune; but the third grew like atree. His father, Sabinus, encouraged by these omens, which wereconfirmed by the augurs, told his mother, "that her grandson would beemperor of Rome;" at which she laughed heartily, wondering, she said, "that her son should be in his dotage whilst she continued still in fullpossession of her faculties. "

Afterwards in his aedileship, when Caius Caesar, being enraged at his nottaking care to have the streets kept clean, ordered the soldiers to fillthe bosom of his gown with dirt, some persons at that time construed itinto a sign that the government, being trampled under foot and desertedin some civil commotion, would fall under his protection, and as it wereinto his lap. Once, while he was at dinner, a strange dog, that wanderedabout the streets, brought a man's hand [739], and laid it under thetable. And another time, while he was at supper, a plough-ox throwingthe yoke off his neck, broke into the room, and after he had frightenedaway all the attendants, (447) on a sudden, as if he was tired, fell downat his feet, as he lay still upon his couch, and hung down his neck. Acypress-tree likewise, in a field belonging to the family, was torn up bythe roots, and laid flat upon the ground, when there was no violent wind;but next day it rose again fresher and stronger than before. 

He dreamt in Achaia that the good fortune of himself and his family wouldbegin when Nero had a tooth drawn; and it happened that the day after, asurgeon coming into the hall, showed him a tooth which he had justextracted from Nero. In Judaea, upon his consulting the oracle of thedivinity at Carmel [740], the answer was so encouraging as to assure himof success in anything he projected, however great or important it mightbe. And when Josephus [741], one of the noble prisoners, was put inchains, he confidently affirmed that he should be released in a veryshort time by the same Vespasian, but he would be emperor first [742]. Some omens were likewise mentioned in the news from Rome, and amongothers, that Nero, towards the close of his days, was commanded in adream to carry Jupiter's sacred chariot out of the sanctuary where itstood, to Vespasian's house, and conduct it thence into the circus. Alsonot long afterwards, as Galba was going to the election, in which he wascreated consul for the second time, a statue of the Divine Julius [743]turned towards the east. And in the field of Bedriacum [744], before thebattle began, two eagles engaged in the sight of the army; and one ofthem being beaten, a third came from the east, and drove away theconqueror. 

(448) VI. He made, however, no attempt upon the sovereignty, though hisfriends were very ready to support him, and even pressed him to theenterprise, until he was encouraged to it by the fortuitous aid ofpersons unknown to him and at a distance. Two thousand men, drawn out ofthree legions in the Moesian army, had been sent to the assistance ofOtho. While they were upon their march, news came that he had beendefeated, and had put an end to his life; notwithstanding which theycontinued their march as far as Aquileia, pretending that they gave nocredit to the report. There, tempted by the opportunity which thedisorder of the times afforded them, they ravaged and plundered thecountry at discretion; until at length, fearing to be called to anaccount on their return, and punished for it, they resolved upon choosingand creating an emperor. "For they were no ways inferior, " they said, "to the army which made Galba emperor, nor to the pretorian troops whichhad set up Otho, nor the army in Germany, to whom Vitellius owed hiselevation. " The names of all the consular lieutenants, therefore, beingtaken into consideration, and one objecting to one, and another toanother, for various reasons; at last some of the third legion, which alittle before Nero's death had been removed out of Syria into Moesia, extolled Vespasian in high terms; and all the rest assenting, his namewas immediately inscribed on their standards. The design wasnevertheless quashed for a time, the troops being brought to submit toVitellius a little longer. 

However, the fact becoming known, Tiberius Alexander, governor of Egypt, first obliged the legions under his command to swear obedience toVespasian as their emperor, on the calends [the 1st] of July, which wasobserved ever after as the day of his accession to the empire; and uponthe fifth of the ides of the same month [the 28th July], the army inJudaea, where he then was, also swore allegiance to him. Whatcontributed greatly to forward the affair, was a copy of a letter, whether real or counterfeit, which was circulated, and said to have beenwritten by Otho before his decease to Vespasian, recommending to him inthe most urgent terms to avenge his death, and entreating him to come tothe aid of the commonwealth; as well as a report which was circulated, that Vitellius, after his success against Otho, proposed to change thewinter quarters of the legions, and remove those in Germany to a less(449) hazardous station and a warmer climate. Moreover, amongst thegovernors of provinces, Licinius Mucianus dropping the grudge arisingfrom a jealousy of which he had hitherto made no secret, promised to joinhim with the Syrian army, and, among the allied kings, Volugesus, king ofthe Parthians, offered him a reinforcement of forty thousand archers. 

VII. Having, therefore, entered on a civil war, and sent forward hisgenerals and forces into Italy, he himself, in the meantime, passed overto Alexandria, to obtain possession of the key of Egypt [745]. Herehaving entered alone, without attendants, the temple of Serapis, to takethe auspices respecting the establishment of his power, and having donehis utmost to propitiate the deity, upon turning round, [his freedman]Basilides [746] appeared before him, and seemed to offer him the sacredleaves, chaplets, and cakes, according to the usage of the place, although no one had admitted him, and he had long laboured under amuscular debility, which would hardly have allowed him to walk into thetemple; besides which, it was certain that at the very time he was faraway. Immediately after this, arrived letters with intelligence thatVitellius's troops had been defeated at Cremona, and he himself slain atRome. Vespasian, the new emperor, having been raised unexpectedly from alow estate, wanted something which might clothe him with divine majestyand authority. This, likewise, was now added. A poor man who was blind, and another who was lame, came both together before him, when he wasseated on the tribunal, imploring him to heal them [747], and saying thatthey were admonished (450) in a dream by the god Serapis to seek his aid, who assured them that he would restore sight to the one by anointing hiseyes with his spittle, and give strength to the leg of the other, if hevouchsafed but to touch it with his heel. At first he could scarcelybelieve that the thing would any how succeed, and therefore hesitated toventure on making the experiment. At length, however, by the advice ofhis friends, he made the attempt publicly, in the presence of theassembled multitudes, and it was crowned with success in both cases[748]. About the same time, at Tegea in Arcadia, by the direction (451)of some soothsayers, several vessels of ancient workmanship were dug outof a consecrated place, on which there was an effigy resemblingVespasian. 

VIII. Returning now to Rome, under these auspices, and with a greatreputation, after enjoying a triumph for victories over the Jews, headded eight consulships [749] to his former one. He likewise assumed thecensorship, and made it his principal concern, during the whole of hisgovernment, first to restore order in the state, which had been almostruined, and was in a tottering condition, and then to improve it. Thesoldiers, one part of them emboldened by victory, and the other smartingwith the disgrace of their defeat, had abandoned themselves to everyspecies of licentiousness and insolence. Nay, the provinces, too, andfree cities, and some kingdoms in alliance with Rome, were all in adisturbed state. He, therefore, disbanded many of Vitellius's soldiers, and punished others; and so far was he from granting any extraordinaryfavours to the sharers of his success, that it was late before he paidthe gratuities due to them by law. That he might let slip no opportunityof reforming the discipline of the army, upon a young man's coming muchperfumed to return him thanks (452) for having appointed him to command asquadron of horse, he turned away his head in disgust, and, giving himthis sharp reprimand, "I had rather you had smelt of garlic, " revoked hiscommission. When the men belonging to the fleet, who travelled by turnsfrom Ostia and Puteoli to Rome, petitioned for an addition to their pay, under the name of shoe-money, thinking that it would answer littlepurpose to send them away without a reply, he ordered them for the futureto run barefooted; and so they have done ever since. He deprived oftheir liberties, Achaia, Lycia, Rhodes, Byzantium, and Samos; and reducedthem into the form of provinces; Thrace, also, and Cilicia, as well asComagene, which until that time had been under the government of kings. He stationed some legions in Cappadocia on account of the frequentinroads of the barbarians, and, instead of a Roman knight, appointed asgovernor of it a man of consular rank. The ruins of houses which hadbeen burnt down long before, being a great desight to the city, he gaveleave to any one who would, to take possession of the void ground andbuild upon it, if the proprietors should hesitate to perform the workthemselves. He resolved upon rebuilding the Capitol, and was theforemost to put his hand to clearing the ground of the rubbish, andremoved some of it upon his own shoulder. And he undertook, likewise, torestore the three thousand tables of brass which had been destroyed inthe fire which consumed the Capitol; searching in all quarters for copiesof those curious and ancient records, in which were contained the decreesof the senate, almost from the building of the city, as well as the actsof the people, relative to alliances, treaties, and privileges granted toany person. 

IX. He likewise erected several new public buildings, namely, the templeof Peace [750] near the Forum, that of Claudius on the (453) Coelianmount, which had been begun by Agrippina, but almost entirely demolishedby Nero [751]; and an amphitheatre [752] in the middle of the city, uponfinding that Augustus had projected such a work. He purified thesenatorian and equestrian orders, which had been much reduced by thehavoc made amongst them at several times, and was fallen into disreputeby neglect. Having expelled the most unworthy, he chose in their roomthe most honourable persons in Italy and the provinces. And to let it beknown that those two orders differed not so much in privileges as indignity, he declared publicly, when some altercation passed between asenator and a Roman knight, "that senators ought not to be treated withscurrilous language, unless they were the aggressors, and then it wasfair and lawful to return it. "

X. The business of the courts had prodigiously accumulated, partly fromold law-suits which, on account of the interruption that had been givento the course of justice, still remained undecided, and partly from theaccession of new suits arising out of the disorder of the times. He, therefore, chose commissioners by lot to provide for the restitution ofwhat had been seized by violence during the war, and others withextraordinary jurisdiction to decide causes belonging to the centumviri, and reduce them to as small a number as possible, for the dispatch ofwhich, otherwise, the lives of the litigants could scarcely allowsufficient time. 

XI. Lust and luxury, from the licence which had long prevailed, had alsogrown to an enormous height. He, therefore, obtained a decree of thesenate, that a woman who formed an union with the slave of anotherperson, should be considered (454) a bondwoman herself; and that usurersshould not be allowed to take proceedings at law for the recovery ofmoney lent to young men whilst they lived in their father's family, noteven after their fathers were dead. 

XII. In other affairs, from the beginning to the end of his government, he conducted himself with great moderation and clemency. He was so farfrom dissembling the obscurity of his extraction, that he frequently mademention of it himself. When some affected to trace his pedigree to thefounders of Reate, and a companion of Hercules [753], whose monument isstill to be seen on the Salarian road, he laughed at them for it. And hewas so little fond of external and adventitious ornaments, that, on theday of his triumph [754], being quite tired of the length and tediousnessof the procession, he could not forbear saying, "he was rightly served, for having in his old age been so silly as to desire a triumph; as if itwas either due to his ancestors, or had ever been expected by himself. "Nor would he for a long time accept of the tribunitian authority, or thetitle of Father of his Country. And in regard to the custom of searchingthose who came to salute him, he dropped it even in the time of the civilwar. 

XIII. He bore with great mildness the freedom used by his friends, thesatirical allusions of advocates, and the petulance of philosophers. Licinius Mucianus, who had been guilty of notorious acts of lewdness, but, presuming upon his great services, treated him very rudely, hereproved only in private; and when complaining of his conduct to a commonfriend of theirs, he concluded with these words, "However, I am a man. "Salvius Liberalis, in pleading the cause of a rich man under prosecution, presuming to say, "What is it to Caesar, if Hipparchus possesses ahundred millions of sesterces?" he commended him for it. Demetrius, theCynic philosopher [755], (455) who had been sentenced to banishment, meeting him on the road, and refusing to rise up or salute him, nay, snarling at him in scurrilous language, he only called him a cur. 

XIV. He was little disposed to keep up the memory of affronts orquarrels, nor did he harbour any resentment on account of them. He madea very splendid marriage for the daughter of his enemy Vitellius, andgave her, besides, a suitable fortune and equipage. Being in a greatconsternation after he was forbidden the court in the time of Nero, andasking those about him, what he should do? or, whither he should go? oneof those whose office it was to introduce people to the emperor, thrusting him out, bid him go to Morbonia [756]. But when this sameperson came afterwards to beg his pardon, he only vented his resentmentin nearly the same words. He was so far from being influenced bysuspicion or fear to seek the destruction of any one, that, when hisfriends advised him to beware of Metius Pomposianus, because it wascommonly believed, on his nativity being cast, that he was destined byfate to the empire, he made him consul, promising for him, that he wouldnot forget the benefit conferred. 

XV. It will scarcely be found, that so much as one innocent personsuffered in his reign, unless in his absence, and without his knowledge, or, at least, contrary to his inclination, and when he was imposed upon. Although Helvidius Priscus [757] was the only man who presumed to salutehim on his return from Syria by his private name of Vespasian, and, whenhe came to be praetor, omitted any mark of honour to him, or even anymention of him in his edicts, yet he was not angry, until Helvidiusproceeded to inveigh against him with the most scurrilous language. (456) Though he did indeed banish him, and afterwards ordered him to beput to death, yet he would gladly have saved him notwithstanding, andaccordingly dispatched messengers to fetch back the executioners; and hewould have saved him, had he not been deceived by a false accountbrought, that he had already perished. He never rejoiced at the death ofany man; nay he would shed tears, and sigh, at the just punishment of theguilty. 

XVI. The only thing deservedly blameable in his character was his loveof money. For not satisfied with reviving the imposts which had beenrepealed in the time of Galba, he imposed new and onerous taxes, augmented the tribute of the provinces, and doubled that of some of them. He likewise openly engaged in a traffic, which is discreditable [758]even to a private individual, buying great quantities of goods, for thepurpose of retailing them again to advantage. Nay, he made no scruple ofselling the great offices of the state to candidates, and pardons topersons under prosecution, whether they were innocent or guilty. It isbelieved, that he advanced all the most rapacious amongst the procuratorsto higher offices, with the view of squeezing them after they hadacquired great wealth. He was commonly said, "to have used them assponges, " because it was his practice, as we may say, to wet them whendry, and squeeze them when wet. It is said that he was naturallyextremely covetous, and was upbraided with it by an old herdsman of his, who, upon the emperor's refusing to enfranchise him gratis, which on hisadvancement he humbly petitioned for, cried out, "That the fox changedhis hair, but not his nature. " On the other hand, some are of opinion, that he was urged to his rapacious proceedings by necessity, and theextreme poverty of the treasury and exchequer, of which he took publicnotice in the beginning of his reign; declaring that "no less than fourhundred thousand millions of sesterces were wanting to carry on thegovernment. " This is the more likely to be true, because he applied tothe best purposes what he procured by bad means. 

XVII. His liberality, however, to all ranks of people, was excessive. He made up to several senators the estate required (457) by law toqualify them for that dignity; relieving likewise such men of consularrank as were poor, with a yearly allowance of five hundred thousandsesterces [759]; and rebuilt, in a better manner than before, severalcities in different parts of the empire, which had been damaged byearthquakes or fires. 

XVIII. He was a great encourager of learning and the liberal arts. Hefirst granted to the Latin and Greek professors of rhetoric the yearlystipend of a hundred thousand sesterces [760] each out of the exchequer. He also bought the freedom of superior poets and artists [761], and gavea noble gratuity to the restorer of the Coan of Venus [762], and toanother artist who repaired the Colossus [763]. Some one offering toconvey some immense columns into the Capitol at a small expense by amechanical contrivance, he rewarded him very handsomely for hisinvention, but would not accept his service, saying, "Suffer me to findmaintenance for the poor people. " [764]

XIX. In the games celebrated when the stage-scenery of (458) the theatreof Marcellus [765] was repaired, he restored the old musicalentertainments. He gave Apollinaris, the tragedian, four hundredthousand sesterces, and to Terpinus and Diodorus, the harpers, twohundred thousand; to some a hundred thousand; and the least he gave toany of the performers was forty thousand, besides many golden crowns. Heentertained company constantly at his table, and often in great state andvery sumptuously, in order to promote trade. As in the Saturnalia hemade presents to the men which they were to carry away with them, so didhe to the women upon the calends of March [766]; notwithstanding which, he could not wipe off the disrepute of his former stinginess. TheAlexandrians called him constantly Cybiosactes; a name which had beengiven to one of their kings who was sordidly avaricious. Nay, at hisfuneral, Favo, the principal mimic, personating him, and imitating, asactors do, both his manner of speaking and his gestures, asked aloud ofthe procurators, "how much his funeral and the procession would cost?"And being answered "ten millions of sesterces, " he cried out, "give himbut a hundred thousand sesterces, and they might throw his body into theTiber, if they would. "

XX. He was broad-set, strong-limbed, and his features gave the idea of aman in the act of straining himself. In consequence, one of the citywits, upon the emperor's desiring him "to say something droll respectinghimself, " facetiously answered, "I will, when you have done relievingyour bowels. " [767] He enjoyed a good state of health, though he used noother means to preserve it, than repeated friction, as much (459) as hecould bear, on his neck and other parts of his body, in the tennis-courtattached to the baths, besides fasting one day in every month. 

XXI. His method of life was commonly this. After he became emperor, heused to rise very early, often before daybreak. Having read over hisletters, and the briefs of all the departments of the government offices;he admitted his friends; and while they were paying him theircompliments, he would put on his own shoes, and dress himself with hisown hands. Then, after the dispatch of such business as was broughtbefore him, he rode out, and afterwards retired to repose, lying on hiscouch with one of his mistresses, of whom he kept several after the deathof Caenis [768]. Coming out of his private apartments, he passed to thebath, and then entered the supper-room. They say that he was never moregood-humoured and indulgent than at that time: and therefore hisattendants always seized that opportunity, when they had any favour toask. 

XXII. At supper, and, indeed, at other times, he was extremely free andjocose. For he had humour, but of a low kind, and he would sometimes useindecent language, such as is addressed to young girls about to bemarried. Yet there are some things related of him not void of ingeniouspleasantry; amongst which are the following. Being once reminded byMestrius Florus, that plaustra was a more proper expression than plostra, he the next day saluted him by the name of Flaurus [769]. A certain ladypretending to be desperately enamoured of him, he was prevailed upon toadmit her to his bed; and after he had gratified her desires, he gave her[770] four hundred (460) thousand sesterces. When his steward desired toknow how he would have the sum entered in his accounts, he replied, "ForVespasian's being seduced. "

XXIII. He used Greek verses very wittily; speaking of a tall man, whohad enormous parts:

 Makxi bibas, kradon dolichoskion enchos; Still shaking, as he strode, his vast long spear. 

And of Cerylus, a freedman, who being very rich, had begun to passhimself off as free-born, to elude the exchequer at his decease, andassumed the name of Laches, he said:

 ----O Lachaes, Lachaes, Epan apothanaes, authis ex archaes esae Kaerylos. 

 Ah, Laches, Laches! when thou art no more, Thou'lt Cerylus be called, just as before. 

He chiefly affected wit upon his own shameful means of raising money, inorder to wipe off the odium by some joke, and turn it into ridicule. Oneof his ministers, who was much in his favour, requesting of him astewardship for some person, under pretence of his being his brother, hedeferred granting him his petition, and in the meantime sent for thecandidate, and having squeezed out of him as much money as he had agreedto give to his friend at court, he appointed him immediately to theoffice. The minister soon after renewing his application, "You must, "said he, "find another brother; for the one you adopted is in truthmine. "

Suspecting once, during a journey, that his mule-driver had alighted toshoe his mules, only in order to have an opportunity for allowing aperson they met, who was engaged in a law-suit, to speak to him, he askedhim, "how much he got for shoeing his mules?" and insisted on having ashare of the profit. When his son Titus blamed him for even laying a taxupon urine, he applied to his nose a piece of the money he received inthe first instalment, and asked him, "if it stunk?" And he replying no, "And yet, " said he, "it is derived from urine. "

Some deputies having come to acquaint him that a large statue, whichwould cost a vast sum, was ordered to be erected for him at the publicexpense, he told them to pay it down immediately, (461) holding out thehollow of his hand, and saying, "there was a base ready for the statue. "Not even when he was under the immediate apprehension and peril of death, could he forbear jesting. For when, among other prodigies, the mausoleumof the Caesars suddenly flew open, and a blazing star appeared in theheavens; one of the prodigies, he said, concerned Julia Calvina, who wasof the family of Augustus [771]; and the other, the king of theParthians, who wore his hair long. And when his distemper first seizedhim, "I suppose, " said he, "I shall soon be a god. " [772]

XXIV. In his ninth consulship, being seized, while in Campania, with aslight indisposition, and immediately returning to the city, he soonafterwards went thence to Cutiliae [773], and his estates in the countryabout Reate, where he used constantly to spend the summer. Here, thoughhis disorder much increased, and he injured his bowels by too free use ofthe cold waters, he nevertheless attended to the dispatch of business, and even gave audience to ambassadors in bed. At last, being taken illof a diarrhoea, to such a degree that he was ready to faint, he criedout, "An emperor ought to die standing upright. " In endeavouring torise, he died in the hands of those who were helping him up, upon theeighth of the calends of July [24th June] [774], being sixty-nine years, one month, and seven days old. 

XXV. All are agreed that he had such confidence in the calculations onhis own nativity and that of his sons, that, after several conspiraciesagainst him, he told the senate, that either his sons would succeed him, or nobody. It is said likewise, that he once saw in a dream a balance inthe middle of the porch of the Palatine house exactly poised; in one(462) scale of which stood Claudius and Nero, in the other, himself andhis sons. The event corresponded to the symbol; for the reigns of thetwo parties were precisely of the same duration. [775]

 * * * * * *

Neither consanguinity nor adoption, as formerly, but great influence inthe army having now become the road to the imperial throne, no personcould claim a better title to that elevation than Titus FlaviusVespasian. He had not only served with great reputation in the wars bothin Britain and Judaea, but seemed as yet untainted with any vice whichcould pervert his conduct in the civil administration of the empire. Itappears, however, that he was prompted more by the persuasion of friends, than by his own ambition, to prosecute the attainment of the imperialdignity. To render this enterprise more successful, recourse was had toa new and peculiar artifice, which, while well accommodated to thesuperstitious credulity of the Romans, impressed them with an idea, thatVespasian's destiny to the throne was confirmed by supernaturalindications. But, after his elevation, we hear no more of his miraculousachievements. 

The prosecution of the war in Britain, which had been suspended for someyears, was resumed by Vespasian; and he sent thither Petilius Cerealis, who by his bravery extended the limits of the Roman province. UnderJulius Frontinus, successor to that general, the invaders continued tomake farther progress in the reduction of the island: but the commanderwho finally established the dominion of the Romans in Britain, was JuliusAgricola, not less distinguished for his military achievements, than forhis prudent regard to the civil administration of the country. He beganhis operations with the conquest of North Wales, whence passing over intothe island of Anglesey, which had revolted since the time of SuetoniusPaulinus, he again reduced it to subjection. Then proceeding northwardswith his victorious army, he defeated the Britons in every engagement, took possession of all the territories in the southern parts of theisland, and driving before him all who refused to submit to the Romanarms, penetrated even into the forests and mountains of Caledonia. Hedefeated the natives under Galgacus, their leader, in a decisive battle;and fixing a line of garrisons between the friths of Clyde and Forth, hesecured the Roman province from the incursions of the people who occupiedthe parts of the island (463) beyond that boundary. Wherever heestablished the Roman power, he introduced laws and civilization amongstthe inhabitants, and employed every means of conciliating theiraffection, as well as of securing their obedience. 

The war in Judaea, which had been commenced under the former reign, wascontinued in that of Vespasian; but he left the siege of Jerusalem to beconducted by his son Titus, who displayed great valour and militarytalents in the prosecution of the enterprise. After an obstinate defenceby the Jews, that city, so much celebrated in the sacred writings, wasfinally demolished, and the glorious temple itself, the admiration of theworld, reduced to ashes; contrary, however, to the will of Titus, whoexerted his utmost efforts to extinguish the flames. 

The manners of the Romans had now attained to an enormous pitch ofdepravity, through the unbounded licentiousness of the tines; and, to thehonour of Vespasian, he discovered great zeal in his endeavours to effecta national reformation. Vigilant, active, and persevering, he wasindefatigable in the management of public affairs, and rose in the winterbefore day-break, to give audience to his officers of state. But if wegive credit to the whimsical imposition of a tax upon urine, we cannotentertain any high opinion, either of his talents as a financier, or ofthe resources of the Roman empire. By his encouragement of science, hedisplayed a liberality, of which there occurs no example under all thepreceding emperors, since the time of Augustus. Pliny the elder was nowin the height of reputation, as well as in great favour with Vespasian;and it was probably owing not a little to the advice of that minister, that the emperor showed himself so much the patron of literary men. Awriter mentioned frequently by Pliny, and who lived in this reign, wasLicinius Mucianus, a Roman knight: he treated of the history andgeography of the eastern countries. Juvenal, who had begun his Satiresseveral years before, continued to inveigh against the flagrant vices ofthe times; but the only author whose writings we have to notice in thepresent reign, is a poet of a different class. 

C. VALERIUS FLACCUS wrote a poem in eight books, on the Expedition of theArgonauts; a subject which, next to the wars of Thebes and Troy, was inancient times the most celebrated. Of the life of this author, biographers have transmitted no particulars; but we may place his birthin the reign of Tiberius, before all the writers who flourished in theAugustan age were extinct. He enjoyed the rays of the setting sun whichhad illumined that glorious period, and he discovers the efforts of anambition to recall its meridian splendour. As the poem was left (464)incomplete by the death of the author, we can only judge imperfectly ofthe conduct and general consistency of the fable: but the most difficultpart having been executed, without any room for the censure of candidcriticism, we may presume that the sequel would have been finished withan equal claim to indulgence, if not to applause. The traditionalanecdotes relative to the Argonautic expedition are introduced withpropriety, and embellished with the graces of poetical fiction. Indescribing scenes of tenderness, this author is happily pathetic, and inthe heat of combat, proportionably animated. His similes present theimagination with beautiful imagery, and not only illustrate, but giveadditional force to the subject. We find in Flaccus a few expressionsnot countenanced by the authority of the most celebrated Latin writers. His language, however, in general, is pure; but his words are perhaps notalways the best that might have been chosen. The versification iselevated, though not uniformly harmonious; and there pervades the wholepoem an epic dignity, which renders it superior to the productionascribed to Orpheus, or to that of Apollonius, on the same subject. 

FOOTNOTES:

[721] Reate, the original seat of the Flavian family, was a city of theSabines. Its present name is Rieti. 

[722] It does not very clearly appear what rank in the Roman armieswas held by the evocati. They are mentioned on three occasions bySuetonius, without affording us much assistance. Caesar, like ourauthor, joins them with the centurions. See, in particular, De Bell. Civil. I. Xvii. 4. 

[723] The inscription was in Greek, kalos telothaesanti. 

[724] In the ancient Umbria, afterwards the duchy of Spoleto; its modernname being Norcia. 

[725] Gaul beyond, north of the Po, now Lombardy. 

[726] We find the annual migration of labourers in husbandry a verycommon practice in ancient as well as in modern times. At present, several thousand industrious labourers cross over every summer from theduchies of Parma and Modena, bordering on the district mentioned bySuetonius, to the island of Corsica; returning to the continent when theharvest is got in. 

[727] A. U. C. 762, A. D. 10. 

[728] Cosa was a place in the Volscian territory; of which Anagni wasprobably the chief town. It lies about forty miles to the north-east ofRome. 

[729] Caligula. 

[730] These games were extraordinary, as being out of the usual courseof those given by praetors. 

[731] "Revocavit in contubernium. " From the difference of our habits, there is no word in the English language which exactly conveys themeaning of contubernium; a word which, in a military sense, the Romansapplied to the intimate fellowship between comrades in war who messedtogether, and lived in close fellowship in the same tent. Thence theytransferred it to a union with one woman who was in a higher positionthan a concubine, but, for some reason, could not acquire the legalrights of a wife, as in the case of slaves of either sex. A man of rank, also, could not marry a slave or a freedwoman, however much he might beattached to her. 

[732] Nearly the same phrases are applied by Suetonius to Drusilla, seeCALIGULA, c. Xxiv. , and to Marcella, the concubine of Commodus, byHerodian, I. Xvi. 9. , where he says that she had all the honours of anempress, except that the incense was not offered to her. Theseconnections resembled the left-hand marriages of the German princes. 

[733] This expedition to Britain has been mentioned before, CLAUDIUS, c. Xvii. And note; and see ib. Xxiv. 

Valerius Flaccus, i. 8, and Silius Italicus, iii. 598, celebrate thetriumphs of Vespasian in Britain. In representing him, however, ascarrying his arms among the Caledonian tribes, their flattery transferredto the emperor the glory of the victories gained by his lieutenant, Agricola. Vespasian's own conquests, while he served in Britain, wereprincipally in the territories of the Brigantes, lying north of theHumber, and including the present counties of York and Durham. 

[734] A. U. C. 804. 

[735] Tacitus, Hist. V. Xiii. 3. , mentions this ancient prediction, andits currency through the East, in nearly the same terms as Suetonius. The coming power is in both instances described in the plural number, profecti; "those shall come forth;" and Tacitus applies it to Titus aswell as Vespasian. The prophecy is commonly supposed to have referenceto a passage in Micah, v. 2, "Out of thee [Bethlehem-Ephrata] shall Hecome forth, to be ruler in Israel. " Earlier prophetic intimations of asimilar character, and pointing to a more extended dominion, have beentraced in the sacred records of the Jews; and there is reason to believethat these books were at this time not unknown in the heathen world, particularly at Alexandria, and through the Septuagint version. Thesepredictions, in their literal sense, point to the establishment of auniversal monarchy, which should take its rise in Judaea. The Jewslooked for their accomplishment in the person of one of their own nation, the expected Messiah, to which character there were many pretenders inthose times. The first disciples of Christ, during the whole period ofhis ministry, supposed that they were to be fulfilled in him. The Romansthought that the conditions were answered by Vespasian, and Titus havingbeen called from Judaea to the seat of empire. The expectationsentertained by the Jews, and naturally participated in and appropriatedby the first converts to Christianity, having proved groundless, theprophecies were subsequently interpreted in a spiritual sense. 

[736] Gessius Florus was at that time governor of Judaea, with the titleand rank of prepositus, it not being a proconsular province, as thenative princes still held some parts of it, under the protection and withthe alliance of the Romans. Gessius succeeded Florus Albinus, thesuccessor of Felix. 

[737] Cestius Gallus was consular lieutenant in Syria. 

[738] See note to c. Vii. 

[739] A right hand was the sign of sovereign power, and, as every oneknows, borne upon a staff among the standards of the armies. 

[740] Tacitus says, "Carmel is the name both of a god and a mountain;but there is neither image nor temple of the god; such are the ancienttraditions; we find there only an altar and religious awe. "--Hist. Xi. 78, 4. It also appears, from his account, that Vespasian offeredsacrifice on Mount Carmel, where Basilides, mentioned hereafter, c. Vii. , predicted his success from an inspection of the entrails. 

[741] Josephus, the celebrated Jewish historian, who was engaged inthese wars, having been taken prisoner, was confined in the dungeon atJotapata, the castle referred to in the preceding chapter, before whichVespasian was wounded. --De Bell. Cxi. 14. 

[742] The prediction of Josephus was founded on the Jewish propheciesmentioned in the note to c. Iv. , which he, like others, applied toVespasian. 

[743] Julius Caesar is always called by our author after his apotheosis, Divus Julius. 

[744] The battle at Bedriacum secured the Empire for Vitellius. SeeOTHO, c. Ix; VITELLIUS, c. X. 

[745] Alexandria may well be called the key, claustra, of Egypt, whichwas the granary of Rome. It was of the first importance that Vespasianshould secure it at this juncture. 

[746] Tacitus describes Basilides as a man of rank among the Egyptians, and he appears also to have been a priest, as we find him officiating atMount Carmel, c. V. This is so incompatible with his being a Romanfreedman, that commentators concur in supposing that the word "libertus. "although found in all the copies now extant, has crept into the text bysome inadvertence of an early transcriber. Basilides appears, like PhiloJudaeus, who lived about the same period, to have been half-Greek, half-Jew, and to have belonged to the celebrated Platonic school ofAlexandria. 

[747] Tacitus informs us that Vespasian himself believed Basilides tohave been at this time not only in an infirm state of health, but at thedistance of several days' journey from Alexandria. But (for his greatersatisfaction) he strictly examined the priests whether Basilides hadentered the temple on that day: he made inquiries of all he met, whetherhe had been seen in the city; nay, further, he dispatched messengers onhorseback, who ascertained that at the time specified, Basilides was morethan eighty miles from Alexandria. Then Vespasian comprehended that theappearance of Basilides, and the answer to his prayers given through him, were by divine interposition. Tacit. Hist. Iv. 82. 2. 

[748] The account given by Tacitus of the miracles of Vespasian isfuller than that of Suetonius, but does not materially vary in thedetails, except that, in his version of the story, he describes theimpotent man to be lame in the hand, instead of the leg or the knee, andadds an important circumstance in the case of the blind man, that he was"notus tabe occulorum, " notorious for the disease in his eyes. He alsowinds up the narrative with the following statement: "They who werepresent, relate both these cures, even at this time, when there isnothing to be gained by lying. " Both the historians lived within a fewyears of the occurrence, but their works were not published untiladvanced periods of their lives. The closing remark of Tacitus seems toindicate that, at least, he did not entirely discredit the account; andas for Suetonius, his pages are as full of prodigies of all descriptions, related apparently in all good faith, as a monkish chronicle of theMiddle Ages. 

The story has the more interest, as it is one of the examples ofsuccessful imposture, selected by Hume in his Essay on Miracles; with thereply to which by Paley, in his Evidences of Christianity, most readersare familiar. The commentators on Suetonius agree with Paley inconsidering the whole affair as a juggle between the priests, thepatients, and, probably, the emperor. But what will, perhaps, strike thereader as most remarkable, is the singular coincidence of the story withthe accounts given of several of the miracles of Christ; whence it hasbeen supposed, that the scene was planned in imitation of them. It didnot fall within the scope of Dr. Paley's argument to advert to this; andour own brief illustration must be strictly confined within the limits ofhistorical disquisition. Adhering to this principle, we may point outthat if the idea of plagiarism be accepted, it receives some confirmationfrom the incident related by our author in a preceding paragraph, forming, it may be considered, another scene of the same drama, where wefind Basilides appearing to Vespasian in the temple of Serapis, undercircumstances which cannot fail to remind us of Christ's suddenlystanding in the midst of his disciples, "when the doors were shut. " Thisincident, also, has very much the appearance of a parody on theevangelical history. But if the striking similarity of the twonarratives be thus accounted for, it is remarkable that while the priestsof Alexandria, or, perhaps, Vespasian himself from his residence inJudaea, were in possession of such exact details of two of Christ'smiracles--if not of a third striking incident in his history--we shouldfind not the most distant allusion in the works of such cotemporarywriters as Tacitus and Suetonius, to any one of the still more stupendousoccurrences which had recently taken place in a part of the world withwhich the Romans had now very intimate relations. The character of theseauthors induces us to hesitate in adopting the notion, that eithercontempt or disbelief would have led them to pass over such events, asaltogether unworthy of notice; and the only other inference from theirsilence is, that they had never heard of them. But as this can scarcelybe reconciled with the plagiarism attributed to Vespasian or the Egyptianpriests, it is safer to conclude that the coincidence, however singular, was merely fortuitous. It may be added that Spartianus, who wrote thelives of Adrian and succeeding emperors, gives an account of a similarmiracle performed by that prince in healing a blind man. 

[749] A. U. C. 823-833, excepting 826 and 831. 

[750] The temple of Peace, erected A. D. 71, on the conclusion of thewars with the Germans and the Jews, was the largest temple in Rome. Vespasian and Titus deposited in it the sacred vessels and other spoilswhich were carried in their triumph after the conquest of Jerusalem. They were consumed, and the temple much damaged, if not destroyed, byfire, towards the end of the reign of Commodus, in the year 191. Itstood in the Forum, where some ruins on a prodigious scale, stillremaining, were traditionally considered to be those of the Temple ofPeace, until Piranesi contended that they are part of Nero's GoldenHouse. Others suppose that they are the remains of a Basilica. Abeautiful fluted Corinthian column, forty-seven feet high, which wasremoved from this spot, and now stands before the church of S. MariaMaggiore, gives a great idea of the splendour of the original structure. 

[751] This temple, converted into a Christian church by pope Simplicius, who flourished, A. D. 464-483, preserves much of its ancient character. It is now, called San Stefano in Rotondo, from its circular form; thethirty-four pillars, with arches springing from one to the other andintended to support the cupola, still remaining to prove its formermagnificence. 

[752] This amphitheatre is the famous Colosseum begun by Trajan, andfinished by Titus. It is needless to go into details respecting abuilding the gigantic ruins of which are so well known. 

[753] Hercules is said, after conquering Geryon in Spain, to have comeinto this part of Italy. One of his companions, the supposed founder ofReate, may have had the name of Flavus. 

[754] Vespasian and his son Titus had a joint triumph for the conquestof Judaea, which is described at length by Josephus, De Bell. Jud. Vii. 16. The coins of Vespasian exhibiting the captive Judaea (Judaea capta), are probably familiar to the reader. See Harphrey's Coin Collector'sManual, p. 328. 

[755] Demetrius, who was born at Corinth, seems to have been a closeimitator of Diogenes, the founder of the sect. Having come to Rome tostudy under Apollonius, he was banished to the islands, with otherphilosophers, by Vespasian. 

[756] There being no such place as Morbonia, and the supposed name beingderived from morbus, disease, some critics have supposed that Anticyra, the asylum of the incurables, (see CALIGULA, c. Xxix. ) is meant; but theprobability is, that the expression used by the imperial chamberlain wasonly a courtly version of a phrase not very commonly adopted in thepresent day. 

[757] Helvidius Priscus, a person of some celebrity as a philosopher andpublic man, is mentioned by Tacitus, Xiphilinus, and Arrian. 

[758] Cicero speaks in strong terms of the sordidness of retail trade--Off. I. 24. 

[759] The sesterce being worth about two-pence half-penny of Englishmoney, the salary of a Roman senator was, in round numbers, five thousandpounds a year; and that of a professor, as stated in the succeedingchapter, one thousand pounds. From this scale, similar calculations mayeasily be made of the sums occurring in Suetonius's statements from timeto time. There appears to be some mistake in the sum stated in c. Xvi. Just before, as the amount seems fabulous, whether it represented thefloating debt, or the annual revenue, of the empire. 

[760] See AUGUSTUS, c. Xliii. The proscenium of the ancient theatreswas a solid erection of an architectural design, not shifted and variedas our stage-scenes. 

[761] Many eminent writers among the Romans were originally slaves, suchas Terence and Phaedrus; and, still more, artists, physicians andartificers. Their talents procuring their manumission, they became thefreedmen of their former masters. Vespasian, it appears from Suetonius, purchased the freedom of some persons of ability belonging to theseclasses. 

[762] The Coan Venus was the chef-d'oeuvre of Apelles, a native of theisland of Cos, in the Archipelago, who flourished in the time ofAlexander the Great. If it was the original painting which was nowrestored, it must have been well preserved. 

[763] Probably the colossal statue of Nero (see his Life, c. Xxxi. ), afterwards placed in Vespasian's amphitheatre, which derived its namefrom it. 

[764] The usual argument in all times against the introduction ofmachinery. 

[765] See AUGUSTUS, c. Xxix. 

[766] At the men's Saturnalia, a feast held in December attended withmuch revelling, the masters waited upon their slaves; and at the women'sSaturnalia, held on the first of March, the women served their femaleattendants, by whom also they sent presents to their friends. 

[767] Notwithstanding the splendour, and even, in many respects, therefinement of the imperial court, the language as well as the habits ofthe highest classes in Rome seem to have been but too commonly of thegrossest description, and every scholar knows that many of their writersare not very delicate in their allusions. Apropos of the ludicrousaccount given in the text, Martial, on one occasion, uses still plainerlanguage. 

 Utere lactucis, et mollibus utere malvis: Nam faciem durum Phoebe, cacantis habes. --iii. 89. 

[768] See c. Iii. And note. 

[769] Probably the emperor had not entirely worn off, or might evenaffect the rustic dialect of his Sabine countrymen; for among thepeasantry the au was still pronounced o, as in plostrum for plaustrum, awaggon; and in orum for aurum, gold, etc. The emperor's retort was veryhappy, Flaurus being derived from a Greek word, which signifiesworthless, while the consular critic's proper name, Florus, was connectedwith much more agreeable associations. 

[770] Some of the German critics think that the passage bears the senseof the gratuity having beer given by the lady, and that so parsimonious aprince as Vespasian was not likely to have paid such a sum as is herestated for a lady's proffered favours. 

[771] The Flavian family had their own tomb. See DOMITIAN, c. V. Theprodigy, therefore, did not concern Vespasian. As to the tomb of theJulian family, see AUGUSTUS, c. Ci. 

[772] Alluding to the apotheosis of the emperors. 

[773] Cutiliae was a small lake, about three-quarters of a mile fromReate, now called Lago di Contigliano. It was very deep, and being fedfrom springs in the neighbouring hills, the water was exceedingly clearand cold, so that it was frequented by invalids, who requiredinvigorating. Vespasian's paternal estates lay in the neighbourhood ofReate. See chap i. 

[774] A. U. C. 832. 

[775] Each dynasty lasted twenty-eight years. Claudius and Nero bothreigning fourteen; and, of the Flavius family, Vespasian reigned ten, Titus three, and Domitian fifteen.