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. 

TITUS FLAVIUS VESPASIANUS AUGUSTUS. 

(465)

I. Titus, who had the same cognomen with his father, was the darling anddelight of mankind; so much did the natural genius, address, or goodfortune he possessed tend to conciliate the favour of all. This was, indeed, extremely difficult, after he became emperor, as before thattime, and even during the reign of his father, he lay under public odiumand censure. He was born upon the third of the calends of January, [30thDec. ] in the year remarkable for the death of Caius [776], near theSeptizonium [777], in a mean house, and a very small and dark room, whichstill exists, and is shown to the curious. 

II. He was educated in the palace with Britannicus, and instructed inthe same branches of learning, and under the same masters. During thistime, they say, that a physiognomist being introduced by Narcissus, thefreedman of Claudius, to examine the features of Britannicus [778], positively affirmed that he would never become emperor, but that Titus, who stood by, would. They were so familiar, that Titus being next him attable, is thought to have tasted of the fatal potion which put an end toBritannicus's life, and to have contracted from it a distemper which hungabout him a long time. In remembrance of all these circumstances, heafterwards erected a golden statue of him in the Palatium, and dedicatedto him an equestrian statue of ivory; attending it in the Circensianprocession, in which it is still carried to this day. 

(466) III. While yet a boy, he was remarkable for his noble endowmentsboth of body and mind; and as he advanced in years, they became stillmore conspicuous. He had a fine person, combining an equal mixture ofmajesty and grace; was very strong, though not tall, and somewhatcorpulent. Gifted with an excellent memory, and a capacity for all thearts of peace and war; he was a perfect master of the use of arms andriding; very ready in the Latin and Greek tongues, both in verse andprose; and such was the facility he possessed in both, that he wouldharangue and versify extempore. Nor was he unacquainted with music, butcould both sing and play upon the harp sweetly and scientifically. Ihave likewise been informed by many persons, that he was remarkably quickin writing short-hand, would in merriment and jest engage with hissecretaries in the imitation of any hand-writing he saw, and often say, "that he was admirably qualified for forgery. "

IV. He filled with distinction the rank of a military tribune both inGermany and Britain, in which he conducted himself with the utmostactivity, and no less modesty and reputation; as appears evident from thegreat number of statues, with honourable inscriptions, erected to him invarious parts of both those provinces. After serving in the wars, hefrequented the courts of law, but with less assiduity than applause. About the same time, he married Arricidia, the daughter of Tertullus, whowas only a knight, but had formerly been prefect of the pretorian guards. After her decease, he married Marcia Furnilla, of a very noble family, but afterwards divorced her, taking from her the daughter he had by her. Upon the expiration of his quaestorship, he was raised to the rank ofcommander of a legion [779], and took the two strong cities of Tarichaeaand Gamala, in Judaea; and having his horse killed under him in a battle, he mounted another, whose rider he had encountered and slain. 

V. Soon afterwards, when Galba came to be emperor, he was sent tocongratulate him, and turned the eyes of all people upon himself, wherever he came; it being the general opinion amongst them, that theemperor had sent for him with a design to adopt him for his son. Butfinding all things again in confusion, he turned back upon the road; andgoing to consult (467) the oracle of Venus at Paphos about his voyage, hereceived assurances of obtaining the empire for himself. These hopeswere speedily strengthened, and being left to finish the reduction ofJudaea, in the final assault of Jerusalem, he slew seven of itsdefenders, with the like number of arrows, and took it upon hisdaughter's birth-day [780]. So great was the joy and attachment of thesoldiers, that, in their congratulations, they unanimously saluted him bythe title of Emperor [781]; and, upon his quitting the province soonafterwards, would needs have detained him, earnestly begging him, andthat not without threats, "either to stay, or take them all with him. "This occurrence gave rise to the suspicion of his being engaged in adesign to rebel against his father, and claim for himself the governmentof the East; and the suspicion increased, when, on his way to Alexandria, he wore a diadem at the consecration of the ox Apis at Memphis; and, though he did it only in compliance with an ancient religious usage ofthe country, yet there was some who put a bad construction upon it. Making, therefore, what haste he could into Italy, he arrived first atRhegium, and sailing thence in a merchant ship to Puteoli, went to Romewith all possible expedition. Presenting himself unexpectedly to hisfather, he said, by way of contradicting the strange reports raisedconcerning him, "I am come, father, I am come. "

VI. From that time he constantly acted as colleague with his father, and, indeed, as regent of the empire. He triumphed [782] (468) with hisfather, bore jointly with him the office of censor [783], and was, besides, his colleague not only in the tribunitian authority [784], butin seven consulships [785]. Taking upon himself the care and inspectionof all offices, he dictated letters, wrote proclamations in his father'sname, and pronounced his speeches in the senate in place of the quaestor. He likewise assumed the command of the pretorian guards, although no onebut a Roman knight had ever before been their prefect. In this heconducted himself with great haughtiness and violence, taking off withoutscruple or delay all those he had most reason to suspect, after he hadsecretly sent his emissaries into the theatres and camp, to demand, as ifby general consent, that the suspected persons should be delivered up topunishment. Among these, he invited to supper A. Caecina, a man ofconsular rank, whom he ordered to be stabbed at his departure, immediately after he had gone out of the room. To this act, indeed, hewas provoked by an imminent danger; for he had discovered a writing underthe hand of Caecina, containing an account of a plot hatched among thesoldiers. By these acts, though he provided for his future security, yetfor the present he so much incurred the hatred of the people, thatscarcely ever any one came to the empire with a more odious character, ormore universally disliked. 

VII. Besides his cruelty, he lay under the suspicion of giving (469) wayto habits of luxury, as he often prolonged his revels till midnight withthe most riotous of his acquaintance. Nor was he unsuspected oflewdness, on account of the swarms of catamites and eunuchs about him, and his well-known attachment to queen Berenice [786], who received fromhim, as it is reported, a promise of marriage. He was supposed, besides, to be of a rapacious disposition; for it is certain, that, in causeswhich came before his father, he used to offer his interest for sale, andtake bribes. In short, people publicly expressed an unfavourable opinionof him, and said he would prove another Nero. This prejudice, however, turned out in the end to his advantage, and enhanced his praises to thehighest pitch when he was found to possess no vicious propensities, but, on the contrary, the noblest virtues. His entertainments were agreeablerather than extravagant; and he surrounded himself with such excellentfriends, that the succeeding princes adopted them as most serviceable tothemselves and the state. He immediately sent away Berenice from thecity, much against both their inclinations. Some of his old eunuchs, though such accomplished dancers, that they bore an uncontrollable swayupon the stage, he was so far from treating with any extraordinarykindness, that he would not so much as witness their performances in thecrowded theatre. He violated no private right; (470) and if ever manrefrained from injustice, he did; nay, he would not accept of theallowable and customary offerings. Yet, in munificence, he was inferiorto none of the princes before him. Having dedicated his amphitheatre[787], and built some warm baths [788] close by it with great expedition, he entertained the people with most magnificent spectacles. He likewiseexhibited a naval fight in the old Naumachia, besides a combat ofgladiators; and in one day brought into the theatre five thousand wildbeasts of all kinds. [789]

(471) VIII. He was by nature extremely benevolent; for whereas all theemperors after Tiberius, according to the example he had set them, wouldnot admit the grants made by former princes to be valid, unless theyreceived their own sanction, he confirmed them all by one general edict, without waiting for any applications respecting them. Of all whopetitioned for any favour, he sent none away without hopes. And when hisministers represented to him that he promised more than he could perform, he replied, "No one ought to go away downcast from an audience with hisprince. " Once at supper, reflecting that he had done nothing for anythat day, he broke out into that memorable and justly-admired saying, "Myfriends, I have lost a day. " [790] More particularly, he treated thepeople on all occasions with so much courtesy, that, on his presentingthem with a show of gladiators, he declared, "He should manage it, notaccording to his own fancy, but that of the spectators, " and didaccordingly. He denied them nothing, and very frankly encouraged them toask what they pleased. Espousing the cause of the Thracian party amongthe gladiators, he frequently joined in the popular demonstrations intheir favour, but without compromising his dignity or doing injustice. To omit no opportunity of acquiring popularity, he sometimes made usehimself of the baths he had erected, without excluding the common people. There happened in his reign some dreadful accidents; an eruption of MountVesuvius [791], in Campania, and a fire in Rome, which continued duringthree days and three nights [792]; besides a plague, such as was scarcelyever known before. Amidst these many great disasters, he not onlymanifested the concern (472) which might be expected from a prince buteven the affection of a father, for his people; one while comforting themby his proclamations, and another while relieving them to the utmost ofhis power. He chose by lot, from amongst the men of consular rank, commissioners for repairing the losses in Campania. The estates of thosewho had perished by the eruption of Vesuvius, and who had left no heirs, he applied to the repair of the ruined cities. With regard to the publicbuildings destroyed by fire in the City, he declared that nobody shouldbe a loser but himself. Accordingly, he applied all the ornaments of hispalaces to the decoration of the temples, and purposes of public utility, and appointed several men of the equestrian order to superintend thework. For the relief of the people during the plague, he employed, inthe way of sacrifice and medicine, all means both human and divine. Amongst the calamities of the times, were informers and their agents; atribe of miscreants who had grown up under the licence of former reigns. These he frequently ordered to be scourged or beaten with sticks in theForum, and then, after he had obliged them to pass through theamphitheatre as a public spectacle, commanded them to be sold for slaves, or else banished them to some rocky islands. And to discourage suchpractices for the future, amongst other things, he prohibited actions tobe successively brought under different laws for the same cause, or thestate of affairs of deceased persons to be inquired into after a certainnumber of years. 

IX. Having declared that he accepted the office of Pontifex Maximus forthe purpose of preserving his hands undefiled, he faithfully adhered tohis promise. For after that time he was neither directly nor indirectlyconcerned in the death of any person, though he sometimes was justlyirritated. He swore "that he would perish himself, rather than prove thedestruction of any man. " Two men of patrician rank being convicted ofaspiring to the empire, he only advised them to desist, saying, "that thesovereign power was disposed of by fate, " and promised them, that ifthere was any thing else they desired of him, he would grant it. He alsoimmediately sent messengers to the mother of one of them, who was at agreat distance, and in deep anxiety about her son, to assure her of hissafety. Nay, he not only invited them to sup with (473) him, but nextday, at a show of gladiators, purposely placed them close by him; andhanded to them the arms of the combatants for his inspection. It is saidlikewise, that having had their nativities cast, he assured them, "that agreat calamity was impending on both of them, but from another hand, andnot from his. " Though his brother was continually plotting against him, almost openly stirring up the armies to rebellion, and contriving to getaway, yet he could not endure to put him to death, or to banish him fromhis presence; nor did he treat him with less respect than before. Butfrom his first accession to the empire, he constantly declared him hispartner in it, and that he should be his successor; begging of himsometimes in private, with tears in his eyes, "to return the affection hehad for him. "

X. Amidst all these favourable circumstances, he was cut off by anuntimely death, more to the loss of mankind than himself. At the closeof the public spectacles, he wept bitterly in the presence of the people, and then retired into the Sabine country [793], rather melancholy, because a victim had made its escape while he was sacrificing, and loudthunder had been heard while the atmosphere was serene. At the firstresting-place on the road, he was seized with a fever, and being carriedforward in a litter, they say that he drew back the curtains, and lookedup to heaven, complaining heavily, "that his life was taken from him, though he had done nothing to deserve it; for there was no action of histhat he had occasion to repent of, but one. " What that was, he neitherdisclosed himself, nor is it easy for us to conjecture. Some imaginethat he alluded to the connection which he had formerly had with hisbrother's wife. But Domitia solemnly denied it on oath; which she wouldnever have done, had there been any truth in the report; nay, she wouldcertainly have gloried in it, as she was forward enough to boast of allher scandalous intrigues. 

XI. He died in the same villa where his father had died (474) beforehim, upon the Ides of September [the 13th of September]; two years, twomonths, and twenty days after he had succeeded his father; and in theone-and-fortieth year of his age [794]. As soon as the news of his deathwas published, all people mourned for him, as for the loss of some nearrelative. The senate assembled in haste, before they could be summonedby proclamation, and locking the doors of their house at first, butafterwards opening them, gave him such thanks, and heaped upon him suchpraises, now he was dead, as they never had done whilst he was alive andpresent amongst them. 

 * * * * * *

TITUS FLAVIUS VESPASIAN, the younger, was the first prince who succeededto the empire by hereditary right; and having constantly acted, after hisreturn from Judaea, as colleague with his father in the administration, he seemed to be as well qualified by experience as he was by abilities, for conducting the affairs of the empire. But with respect to hisnatural disposition, and moral behaviour, the expectations entertained bythe public were not equally flattering. He was immoderately addicted toluxury; he had betrayed a strong inclination to cruelty; and he lived inthe habitual practice of lewdness, no less unnatural than intemperate. But, with a degree of virtuous resolution unexampled in history, he hadno sooner taken into his hands the entire reins of government, than herenounced every vicious attachment. Instead of wallowing in luxury, asbefore, he became a model of temperance; instead of cruelty, he displayedthe strongest proofs of humanity and benevolence; and in the room oflewdness, he exhibited a transition to the most unblemished chastity andvirtue. In a word, so sudden and great a change was never known in thecharacter of mortal; and he had the peculiar glory to receive theappellation of "the darling and delight of mankind. "

Under a prince of such a disposition, the government of the empire couldnot but be conducted with the strictest regard to the public welfare. The reform, which was begun in the late reign, he prosecuted with themost ardent application; and, had he lived for a longer time, it isprobable that his authority and example would have produced the mostbeneficial effects upon the manners of the Romans. 

During the reign of this emperor, in the seventy-ninth year of (475) theChristian era, happened the first eruption of Mount Vesuvius, which hasever since been celebrated for its volcano. Before this time, Vesuviusis spoken of, by ancient writers, as being covered with orchards andvineyards, and of which the middle was dry and barren. The eruption wasaccompanied by an earthquake, which destroyed several cities of Campania, particularly Pompeii and Herculaneum; while the lava, pouring down themountain in torrents, overwhelmed, in various directions, the adjacentplains. The burning ashes were carried not only over the neighbouringcountry, but as far as the shores of Egypt, Libya, and even Syria. Amongst those to whom this dreadful eruption proved fatal, was Pliny, thecelebrated naturalist, whose curiosity to examine the phenomenon led himso far within the verge of danger, that he could not afterwards escape. 

PLINY, surnamed the Elder, was born at Verona, of a noble family. Hedistinguished himself early by his military achievements in the Germanwar, received the dignity of an Augur, at Rome, and was afterwardsappointed governor of Spain. In every public character, he acquittedhimself with great reputation, and enjoyed the esteem of the severalemperors under whom he lived. The assiduity with which he appliedhimself to the collection of information, either curious or useful, surpasses all example. From an early hour in the morning, until late atnight, he was almost constantly employed in discharging the duties of hispublic station, in reading or hearing books read by his amanuensis, andin extracting from them whatever seemed worthy of notice. Even duringhis meals, and while travelling in his carriage upon business, heprosecuted with unremitting zeal and diligence his taste for enquiry andcompilation. No man ever displayed so strong a persuasion of the valueof time, or availed himself so industriously of it. He considered everymoment as lost which was not employed in literary pursuits. The bookswhich he wrote, in consequence of this indefatigable exertion, were, according to the account transmitted by his nephew, Pliny the younger, numerous, and on various subjects. The catalogue of them is as follows:a book on Equestrian Archery, which discovered much skill in the art; theLife of Q. Pomponius Secundus; twenty books of the Wars of Germany; acomplete treatise on the Education of an Orator, in six volumes; eightbooks of Doubtful Discourses, written in the latter part of the reign ofNero, when every kind of moral discussion was attended with danger; witha hundred and sixty volumes of remarks on the writings of the variousauthors which he had perused. For the last-mentioned production only, and before it was brought near to its accomplishment, we are told, thathe (476) was offered by Largius Licinius four hundred thousand sesterces, amounting to upwards of three thousand two hundred pounds sterling; anenormous sum for the copyright of a book before the invention ofprinting! But the only surviving work of this voluminous author is hisNatural History, in thirty-seven books, compiled from the various writerswho had treated of that extensive and interesting subject. 

If we estimate this great work either by the authenticity of theinformation which it contains, or its utility in promoting theadvancement of arts and sciences, we should not consider it as an objectof any extraordinary encomiums; but when we view it as a literarymonument, which displays the whole knowledge of the ancients, relative toNatural History, collected during a period of about seven hundred years, from the time of Thales the Milesian, it has a just claim to theattention of every speculative enquirer. It is not surprising, that theprogress of the human mind, which, in moral science, after the first dawnof enquiry, was rapid both amongst the Greeks and Romans, should be slowin the improvement of such branches of knowledge as depended entirely onobservation and facts, which were peculiarly difficult of attainment. Natural knowledge can only be brought to perfection by the prosecution ofenquiries in different climates, and by a communication of discoveriesamongst those by whom it is cultivated. But neither could enquiries beprosecuted, nor discoveries communicated, with success, while the greaterpart of the world was involved in barbarism, while navigation was slowand limited, and the art of printing unknown. The consideration of thesecircumstances will afford sufficient apology for the imperfect state inwhich natural science existed amongst the ancients. But we proceed togive an abstract of their extent, as they appear in the compilation ofPliny. 

This work is divided into thirty-seven books; the first of which containsthe Preface, addressed to the emperor Vespasian, probably the father, towhom the author pays high compliments. The second book treats of theworld, the elements, and the stars. In respect to the world, or ratherthe universe, the author's opinion is the same with that of severalancient philosophers, that it is a Deity, uncreated, infinite, andeternal. Their notions, however, as might be expected, on a subject soincomprehensible, are vague, confused, and imperfect. In a subsequentchapter of the same book, where the nature of the Deity is moreparticularly considered, the author's conceptions of infinite power areso inadequate, that, by way of consolation for the limited powers of man, he observes that there are many things even beyond the power of theSupreme Being; such, for instance, as the annihilation of his ownexistence; to which the author adds, the power (477) of rendering mortalseternal, and of raising the dead. It deserves to be remarked, that, though a future state of rewards and punishments was maintained by themost eminent among the ancient philosophers, the resurrection of the bodywas a doctrine with which they were wholly unacquainted. 

The author next treats of the planets, and the periods of theirrespective revolutions; of the stars, comets, winds, thunder, lightning, and other natural phenomena, concerning all which he delivers thehypothetical notions maintained by the ancients, and mentions a varietyof extraordinary incidents which had occurred in different parts of theworld. The third book contains a general system of geography, which iscontinued through the fourth, fifth, and sixth books. The seventh treatsof conception, and the generation of the human species, with a number ofmiscellaneous observations, unconnected with the general subject. Theeighth treats of quadrupeds; the ninth, of aquatic animals; the tenth, ofbirds; the eleventh, of insects and reptiles; the twelfth, of trees; thethirteenth, of ointments, and of trees which grow near the sea-coast; thefourteenth, of vines; the fifteenth, of fruit-trees; the sixteenth, offorest-trees; the seventeenth, of the cultivation of trees; theeighteenth, of agriculture; the nineteenth, of the nature of lint, hemp, and similar productions; the twentieth, of the medicinal qualities ofvegetables cultivated in gardens; the twenty-first, of flowers; thetwenty-second, of the properties of herbs; the twenty-third, of themedicines yielded by cultivated trees; the twenty-fourth, of medicinesderived from forest-trees; the twenty-fifth, of the properties of wildherbs, and the origin of their use; the twenty-sixth, of other remediesfor diseases, and of some new diseases; the twenty-seventh, of differentkinds of herbs; the twenty-eighth, twenty-ninth, and thirtieth, ofmedicines procured from animals; the thirty-first and thirty-second, ofmedicines obtained from aquatic animals, with some extraordinary factsrelative to the subject; the thirty-third, of the nature of metals; thethirty-fourth, of brass, iron, lead, and tin; the thirty-fifth, ofpictures, and observations relative to painting; the thirty-sixth, of thenature of stones and marbles; the thirty-seventh, of the origin of gems. To the contents of each book, the author subjoins a list of the writersfrom whom his observations have been collected. 

Of Pliny's talents as a writer, it might be deemed presumptuous to form adecided opinion from his Natural History, which is avowedly a compilationfrom various authors, and executed with greater regard to the matter ofthe work, than to the elegance of composition. Making allowance, however, for a degree of credulity, common to the human mind in the earlystage of physical (478) researches, he is far from being deficient in theessential qualifications of a writer of Natural History. Hisdescriptions appear to be accurate, his observations precise, hisnarrative is in general perspicuous, and he often illustrates his subjectby a vivacity of thought, as well as by a happy turn of expression. Ithas been equally his endeavour to give novelty to stale disquisitions, and authority to new observations. He has both removed the rust, anddispelled the obscurity, which enveloped the doctrines of many ancientnaturalists; but, with all his care and industry, he has exploded fewererrors, and sanctioned a greater number of doubtful opinions, than wasconsistent with the exercise of unprejudiced and severe investigation. 

Pliny was fifty-six years of age at the time of his death; the manner ofwhich is accurately related by his nephew, the elegant Pliny the Younger, in a letter to Tacitus, who entertained a design of writing the life ofthe naturalist. 

FOOTNOTES:

[776] Caligula. Titus was born A. U. C. 794; about A. D. 49. 

[777] The Septizonium was a circular building of seven stories. Theremains of that of Septimus Severus, which stood on the side of thePalatine Hill, remained till the time of Pope Sixtus V. , who removed it, and employed thirty-eight of its columns in ornamenting the church of St. Peter. It does not appear whether the Septizonium here mentioned asexisting in the time of Titus, stood on the same spot. 

[778] Britannicus, the son of Claudius and Messalina. 

[779] A. U. C. 820. 

[780] Jerusalem was taken, sacked, and burnt, by Titus, after a twoyears' siege, on the 8th September, A. U. C. 821, A. D. 69; it being theSabbath. It was in the second year of the reign of Vespasian, when theemperor was sixty years old, and Titus himself, as he informs us, thirty. For particulars of the siege, see Josephus, De Bell. Jud. Vi. And vii. ;Hegesippus, Excid. Hierosol. V. ; Dio, lxvi. ; Tacitus, Hist. V. ; Orosius, vii. 9. 

[781] For the sense in which Titus was saluted with the title of Emperorby the troops, see JULIUS CAESAR, c. Lxxvi. 

[782] The joint triumph of Vespasian and Titus, which was celebratedA. U. C. 824, is fully described by Josephus, De Bell. Jud. Vii. 24. It iscommemorated by the triumphal monument called the Arch of Titus, erectedby the senate and people of Rome after his death, and still standing atthe foot of the Palatine Hill, on the road leading from the Colosseum tothe Forum, and is one of the most beautiful as well as the mostinteresting models of Roman art. It consists of four stories of thethree orders of architecture, the Corinthian being repeated in the twohighest. Some of the bas-reliefs, still in good preservation, representthe table of the shew-bread, the seven-branched golden candlestick, thevessel of incense, and the silver trumpets, which were taken by Titusfrom the Temple at Jerusalem, and, with the book of the law, the veil ofthe temple, and other spoils, were carried in the triumph. The fate ofthese sacred relics is rather interesting. Josephus says, that the veiland books of the law were deposited in the Palatium, and the rest of thespoils in the Temple of Peace. When that was burnt, in the reign ofCommodus, these treasures were saved, and they were afterwards carriedoff by Genseric to Africa. Belisarius recovered them, and brought themto Constantinople, A. D. 520. Procopius informs us, that a Jew, who sawthem, told an acquaintance of the emperor that it would not be advisableto carry them to the palace at Constantinople, as they could not remainanywhere else but where Solomon had placed them. This, he said, was thereason why Genseric had taken the Palace at Rome, and the Roman army hadin turn taken that of the Vandal kings. Upon this, the emperor was soalarmed, that he sent the whole of them to the Christian churches atJerusalem. 

[783] A. U. C. 825. 

[784] A. U. C. 824. 

[785] A. U. C. 823, 825, 827-830, 832. 

[786] Berenice, whose name is written by our author and others Beronice, was daughter of Agrippa the Great, who was by Aristobulus, grandson ofHerod the Great. Having been contracted to Mark, son of AlexanderLysimachus, he died before their union, and Agrippa married her to Herod, Mark's brother, for whom he had obtained from the emperor Claudius thekingdom of Chalcis. Herod also dying, Berenice, then a widow, lived withher brother, Agrippa, and was suspected of an incestuous intercourse withhim. It was at this time that, on their way to the imperial court atRome, they paid a visit to Festus, at Caesarea, and were present when St. Paul answered his accusers so eloquently before the tribunal of thegovernor. Her fascinations were so great, that, to shield herself fromthe charge of incest, she prevailed on Polemon, king of Cilicia, tosubmit to be circumcised, become a Jew, and marry her. That union alsoproving unfortunate, she appears to have returned to Jerusalem, andhaving attracted Vespasian by magnificent gifts, and the young Titus byher extraordinary beauty, she followed them to Rome, after thetermination of the Jewish war, and had apartments in the palace, whereshe lived with Titus, "to all appearance, as his wife, " as Xiphilinusinforms us; and there seems no doubt that be would have married her, butfor the strong prejudices of the Romans against foreign alliances. Suetonius tells us with what pain they separated. 

[787] The Colosseum: it had been four years in building. See VESPAS. C. Ix. 

[788] The Baths of Titus stood on the Esquiline Hill, on part of theground which had been the gardens of Mecaenas. Considerable remains ofthem are still found among the vineyards; vaulted chambers of vastdimensions, some of which were decorated with arabesque paintings, stillin good preservation. Titus appears to have erected a palace for himselfadjoining; for the Laocoon, which is mentioned by Pliny as standing inthis palace, was found in the neighbouring ruins. 

[789] If the statements were not well attested, we might be incredulousas to the number of wild beasts collected for the spectacles to which thepeople of Rome were so passionately devoted. The earliest account wehave of such an exhibition, was A. U. C. 502, when one hundred and forty-two elephants, taken in Sicily, were produced. Pliny, who gives thisinformation, states that lions first appeared in any number, A. U. C. 652;but these were probably not turned loose. In 661, Sylla, when he waspraetor, brought forward one hundred. In 696, besides lions, elephants, and bears, one hundred and fifty panthers were shown for the first time. At the dedication of Pompey's Theatre, there was the greatest exhibitionof beasts ever then known; including seventeen elephants, six hundredlions, which were killed in the course of five days, four hundred and tenpanthers, etc. A rhinoceros also appeared for the first time. This wasA. U. C. 701. The art of taming these beasts was carried to suchperfection, that Mark Antony actually yoked them to his carriage. JuliusCaesar, in his third dictatorship, A. U. C. 708, showed a vast number ofwild beasts, among which were four hundred lions and a cameleopard. Atiger was exhibited for the first time at the dedication of the Theatreof Marcellus, A. U. C. 743. It was kept in a cage. Claudius afterwardsexhibited four together. The exhibition of Titus, at the dedication ofthe Colosseum, here mentioned by Suetonius, seems to have been thelargest ever made; Xiphilinus even adds to the number, and says, thatincluding wild-boars, cranes, and other animals, no less than ninethousand were killed. In the reigns of succeeding emperors, a newfeature was given to these spectacles, the Circus being converted into atemporary forest, by planting large trees, in which wild animals wereturned loose, and the people were allowed to enter the wood and take whatthey pleased. In this instance, the game consisted principally of beastsof chase; and, on one occasion, one thousand stags, as many of the ibex, wild sheep (mouflions from Sardinia?), and other grazing animals, besidesone thousand wild boars, and as many ostriches, were turned loose by theemperor Gordian. 

[790] "Diem perdidi. " This memorable speech is recorded by severalother historians, and praised by Eusebius in his Chronicles. 

[791] A. U. C. 832, A. D. 79. It is hardly necessary to refer to the well-known Epistles of Pliny the younger, vi. 16 and 20, giving an account ofthe first eruption of Vesuvius, in which Pliny, the historian, perished. And see hereafter, p. 475. 

[792] The great fire at Rome happened in the second year of the reign ofTitus. It consumed a large portion of the city, and among the publicbuildings destroyed were the temples of Serapis and Isis, that ofNeptune, the baths of Agrippa, the Septa, the theatres of Balbus andPompey, the buildings and library of Augustus on the Palatine, and thetemple of Jupiter in the Capitol. 

[793] See VESPASIAN, cc. I. And xxiv. The love of this emperor and hisson Titus for the rural retirement of their paternal acres in the Sabinecountry, forms a striking contrast to the vicious attachment of suchtyrants as Tiberius and Caligula for the luxurious scenes of Baiae, orthe libidinous orgies of Capri. 

[794] A. U. C. 834, A. D. 82.