The lives of the first twelve Cæsars

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T. FLAVIUS VESΡASIANUS AUGUSTU s. 5s7ltim, promised to Join him with the Syrian army; and Volugesus hing of the Parthians offered forty thous and bowmen in support of his cause. VIL The civit war being there re begun, seniling be- fore him his generals and forces into Italy, he in themean time went over to Alexandria, to possest himselfof the barriers of Egypt. Here having entered a lone, Without any attendanis, the temple of Serapis, to tahe an auspice abo ut the future fetilement of his imperiat autho-rity, and having propitiated the deity with many sacrifices, upon turning himself abolit, appea red his freedman Basilicus to present him mitti sacred leaves, Crowns and Cahes, according to the usage of the place. . Immediatelyaster this, arrived letters with advice, that Vitellius's tro opshad been de aled at Cremona, and he himself siain in thecity. But Vespasian, as being raised unexpectedly fronta low condition, wanted the authority and majesty of an emperor. This likewise he now received. A poor manwho was blind, and another who was lame, Canae both together up to him, as he was sitiing upon the beracli in a

Court of justice, begging of him a cure, whicli they saidthey did by the admonition of the God Serapis in a di eam, who assured them, that he might restore one to his sight by spitiing upon his eyes, and give strength to the leg of theother, is he vouch sed but to touch it with his heel. Hecould scarcely belleve that lacti a method of cure mould succeed, and theres ore dui si not venture upon making the experiment. At last, by the ad vice of his friends, he open ly attempted both, and with success'. Abo ut the iam e

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time, at Tegea in Arcadia, by the direction of me propheis, sonae vesi eis of ancient workmanthip were diag out os a consecrated place, and antongst them a statue resem-bling Vespasian. VIII. Returning now to Rome in great celebrity forme miraculo us cures he had performed, after a triumphfor the reduction of the Jews, he added eight Consulita ipsto the former. He likewis e took upon him the Censor-shis, and made it his principat concerta, during the wholeos his reigia, to scille the commonwealth which had been almost ruined, and was in a totiering conditiora, ut On a firm basis, in the first place, and then to improve it. The soldiers, one part of them emboldened by their victory, and the other frona a concern at their dis grace, had aban-doned thenaseives to every species of licentiolisness and insole iace. Nay the provinces too, With so me free cities, and some hingdoms likewi se under the Roman protection, mere ali in an uproar. He theres ore dis banded many of Vitellius 's soldiers, and others of them he punis laed ; and se far was he stom granting any extraordinary favors tothe marers of his victory, that it was i te bet ore he paidinem their premiums due by law. That he might let sipuo opportuni ty of reforming the dici pline of the army, UPOH a yOUng man's Coming finely perfumed to return him thanks for a commission to command a squadron ofhorse, he turn ed away his head in disdain, and reprimand-ed him with this severe declaration, I had rather youhad sineti of garlic, V and revolied his commission. Themen belonging to the fleet, who rati by turiis from Ostia

heard Currently reported when he was in Judaea. It Was anew stratagem to pave the way to empire, and , amongit a credulous people, superior to a thousand Omens.

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- Τ. FLAVIUS VESPASIANUS AUGUSTUS. 3 Syand Puteoli to Rome, petition ing for an addition to their

have done ever since . He divest ed of their liberty Achaia, Lycia, Rhodes, Byzantium and Samos, and reduce i theminio the forin os provinces ; do ing the sanae by Thrace, Cilicia and Comagene, whicli untii that time had heen Under the govertament of hings. He placed sonae legions in Cappadocia on account of the frequent inroads of the barbarians, and, instead os a Roman knight, appotia ted asgovernor of it a man os Consular rank. The city wasmuch deformed by the rubbida of hous es which had been burni down long before: to remedy whicli, he gave leaveto any one that wOuid, to take possession of the voidground and bullii upon it, is the proprietors mouldhesitate to persorna the work for thenaseives. He resolved uponi ebuit ling the Capitol, and was tiae foremos: to put his hand to the clearing the ground of the rubbi ista, by car- ying a Way somoe of it tapon his own shoulder. Anil heundertook likewise to res fore the three thous and braZen plates, which had been buriat at the fame time, bysearching in ali places for copi es of them, and thus again furni med the go vertament Nith a collection os curious an lancient recoriis, in which were contained the decrees of

the Senate, almos: fro in the buit ling of the city ; as also

adis of the commons, relative to alli ances, treaties, and

privileges which had been granted to any Person. IX. He likewi se erected severat public buit lings, as thetemple of Peace near the Forum, that of Claudius on the

Coelian mount, which had been beguia by Agrippina, hiat almos entirely demolislied by Nero. He bulli an amphitheatre in the middie of the city, upon finding that Augustus

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natorian and Equestrian Orders, which had been mucti reduced by the havoc made amongst them at severat timeS, and disparaged by the undue admission, Mi a long time past, of sucti as were unworthy of that rank. Having eX- pelled the most unworthy, he cliose in their room thgmost honorabie persons in Italy, and the provinces . Andio Iet it he known, that those two Orders dissered not somuch in privileges as dignity, iapon occasion of me altercation that passed belween a Senator and a Romankniit, he declared publicly, that Senators ought notio be trealed with scurrilous language, unieli they were cie aggressi,rs, and then it was fair and lawful to return it.' X. Law-suits had then accumulated to a prodigio usnumber, partly from old litigations whicli, on account of the interruption that had been given to the coui se of justice, stili rema ined undecided, and partly fro in the accestasion os a neru mast, occasioned by the di sorder of the times. He cliose commisi1oners by tot to provide sor therestitution of what had been seiged by violence during the war, as also sonae extraordinary commissioners to judgoos centum vitai causes, and reduce them to as sinali an umber as possibie, for the dispalch of whicli other i , the lives of the parites concerned could scarcely allow sus-ficient time.

long Pre valled, were grown to an enorm ous height. Hetheres ore moved the Senate to decree, that a Noman who

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et. FLAVIUS VESPAsIANUS AUGUSΤUs. S6IXII. In the other paris of his administration, frona thebeginning to the end of his reign, he conducted himselfwith great moderation and clemency. iue was so farfrom dissembliug with regard to the obscuri ty of his cxti action, that he frequently made mention os it himselfWhen some would affect to trace his pedigree to theseunders of Reate, and the Companion os Hercules, wh se monument is stili to be seen in the Salarian way, he laughed at them for it. And he was se litile fond of eκternaland adventilious ornamenis, that, upon the day of his tri

dessire a triumph, as is it was either due to his ancestors; or had ever been expected by himself V Nor would hesor a long time accepi of the Tribunitian authority, orthe titie of Father of his Coiintry. Arad in regard to the custoni of searching such as came to pay their res pedis tollim , he dropi it even in the time of the civit war. XIII. He bore with great milenest th2 Deedom used by his friends, the satirical allusions of pleaders, and the petulance of philosophers. Licinius Mullianus, who hadbeen guilty of notorious adis of lewdness, but, presumingiapon his great services, trea ted him very rudely, he re- proved only in private, and so as, in complaining of his

bellavio ur to a common friend of theirs, he concluded with these words, However, I am a man.V Salvius Liberalis, in pleading the cause of a ricli man Under prosecution, presuming to say, What is it to Caesar, is Hipparchus has an estate of a hundred millions os sesterces t he commended him for it. Demetrius the Cynic philosopher meeting him upori a journey, aster he came to beemperor, and refuling to rise up to him, or salute hina,

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go to Morbonia. But when this fame person came aster-

nocent person sustered in his reign, unlest in his absence, and without his knowledge, or at least contrary to his inclination, and when he was imposed ut on. Though Helvidius Priscus was the only man that presumed tosalute him at his return froni Syria, by his private nameos Vespasian, and, when he. came to be Praetor, passsed hi in by in his edidis, without the least respect or men

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racter was his love os money. For not satisfied withrevi ving the imposts whicli hae been dropped under Galba, he imposed new taxes, burdenso me to the subjects, augmented the tribute of the provinces, and doubled that of me. He likewise openly praehised a fori os trassic, which would have been scandalous even in a person be-low the dignity of an emperor, buying great quantities of goods, sor the pui pose of retalling them again to advantage. Nay he made no striiple of selling the great ossices of state to the candidates, and pardoris likewise to persons inder prosecution, as weli the innocent as the guilly. It is helieved, that he ad vanced ali the most rapacious amongstine procurators to higher ossices, with the viein os ueeg-ing them aster they had acquired great riches. He was

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that no Iesi than forty thousand millions os sesterces mas necessary sor the support of the govertiment.' Thisis the more lihely to be true of him, because he applied tothe best pui poses what he procured by bad means. XVII. His liberality to ali ranks of people was particularly eminent. He made up to severat Senators the estate

ing likewise lach men os Consular rank aS were poΟr, with a yearly allowance of five hundred thousand seste ces ; and rebulli, in a better manner than before, severat cities in different paris of the empire, which had been much damaged by earlhquakes or fires. XVIII. He was a great encourager os learning and learned men. Ηe first appotnted the Latin and Greeli professors of rhetoric the yearly stipend of a hundred thou

brus hed up the picture of Venus at Cos, and anothervilio repatred the Colossus. A mechanic offering to convey seme huge pillars into the Capitol at a smali expence, he rewarded hina very hand mely for his invention, butwould not accepi of his service, saying, You must al-low me to talie care of the puor people. XIX. In the games celebrated at the revival of the stage in Marcellus's theatre, he restored the old musicat entertainments. He gave Apollinaris the tragedian four hundred thousand sesterces ; Terpnus and Diodorus the harpers two hundred thousand: to me a hundred thous and ; and the least he gave to any of the performers Was

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T. FLAVIUS VESPASIANUS AUGUSTU s. 56s company constantly at his table, and entertained them in a plentiful manner, on purpose to hel p the shambles. Asin the Saturnalia he made presenis to the men at his tableto carry away with them : so did he to the women uponthe Calends of Marcii : notwithstanding which he could not wipe Osf the infamy of his former covetousnest. The Alexandrians called him constantly obiosactes; a nam ewhich had been gi ven io one of their kings who was sordidi y covetous. Nay, at his funerat, Favo the aucti inimic, representing his person, and imitatin g, as usual, his be-haviour both in speech and gesture, asked aloud of the ProCUratorS, how much his funerat pom p would cost γ' Arad being answered ten millions of sesterces, V he criedout, that, give him hul a hundred thous and sesterces,

and they might throw his body into the Tiber, is they

he Came to be emperor, he υ sed to rise Very early, osteni besore day-breah. Having read over his letters, and the brevi aries of ali the ossices abolit colari, he ordei ed his

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hrought be re him, he rode out in his chaise or cha Ir iand, upon his return, laid himself down upon his couch toseep, accompanted by ine of his concubines, of whom he had tahen a great numb*r into his service upon thedeath of Caenis, Aster risiing fro in his couch, he en tered the bath, and then went to supper. They say he nevermas more easy or obliging than at that time ; and there fore those about him always seiZed that opportunity,

and jocose. For he had humor, but os a low kind, and would so metimes spea k very indecently. Yet there aro me things related of him not void os ingenious pleasant