The lives of the first twelve Cæsars

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T1TUS FLAVIUS VESPASIANUS AUG.

VIL Besides his crueity, he lay under the suspiciosi ofluXury, because he would continue his revelf untii mii Dight with the most riolous of his ac quaintance. Normas he lesse suspected of eMessive lewdness, because of thes arms of calamites and eunuchs about hina, and his Hell-known in trigue with queen Beronice, to whom hewas likewise reported to have promised mari lage. Hewas supposed, besides, to be of a rapacious disposition :for it is certain, that, in causes whicli came before his sa ther, he used to offer his interest to sale, and talie bribes. In shori, peopte openly declared an unfavorabie opinionos him, and suid he would prove another Nero. Thisprejudice however turned out in the end to his advantage, and e hanced his praises not a litile, hecause he was

und to possessi no victous propensities, bili on the Contrary the nobi est virtues. His entertain ments were Plea-sant rather than eYtravagant; and he cliose lacti a set offriends, as the follom ing princes acquiesced in as necessarysor them and the governiuent. He sent away Beronice

frona the city immedia tely, much against both their inclinations. Some of his old calamites, though lach adepta in dancing, that ther bore an uncontrolabie sway upon thestage, he was far from treating with any eXtraordinaryhindness, that he would not so much as see them in anu public assem biv of the people. He violated no private Property ; and is e ver man refra ined frona injustice, hudid ; nay he would not accepi of the allo able and cuia tomary Contributions. V et he was inferior to none of the princes bes ore him, in poliat os generos ity. Having Open-ed his amphitheatre, and bulli sotne warm ballis Close byit with great expedition, he enteria ined the peopte With amosi magnificent public diversion. He like vise exhibiteda naval-fight in the old Naumachia, besides a conabat ofgladiators ; and in one day brought into the theatre fi ve

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VIII. He was by nature extremely benevolent. Forwhereas the em perors after Tiberius, according to theexample he had set them, would not admit the granis made by former princes to be valid, unlest they received their own sanction, he confirmed them ali by one gene-

frona an audience of his prince.'' Once at supper, reflect-ing that he had done nothing for any that day, he brokeout into that memorabie and justly admired saying, leniis, I have lost a day. V He treated in particularthe whole body of the people upon ali occasions willi somuch complai lance, that, Upon promising them an enter

always v ithout the least violation either of his imperialdignitu or justice. To omit no occasion os acquiring populari ty, he would let the common people be admitte linto his bath, even when he made use of it himself. There happened in his reigia sonae di eadfui accidenis, as an eruption os mount Vesuvius in Campania, and a sare in Rome whicli continued duxing three da ys and three nighis, besides a plagiae, such as was scarcely ever known hc-

fore. Amidst these dismal calamities, he not only dissicovercd est the concern that might be expected frona

prince,

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TIT Us FLAvIUS VESPASIANUS AUG. 579 prince, but a paternat affection for his people ; one While com forting them by his proclamations, and another while assisting them as much as was in his power. He chose by

ers for the relies of Campania. The estates of those who had peris hed by the eruption of Vesuvius, and wholi ad test no heirs, he applied to the repair of such cities as had been dam aged by that accident. In res pedi of the public bulldings destroyed in the fi re of the citu, he declared that nobody mould be a loser by them but hi m-self Accordingly, he applied ali the ornaments of his

palaces to the decoration of the temples, and pui posses

of public utility, and appotnted severat men of the Equesia trian Order to superintend the work. For the relies of the peopte during the plague, he employed, in the way of

sacrifice and imedicine, ali means both human and divine. Amongst the calamities of the times, were informers, and those who emplo yed them ; a tribe of misereants who had grown up under the licence of former reigias.

These he frequently ordered to be lamed or weli cudgel-led in the Forum, and then, after he had obliged them topasi through the amphitheatre as a public spectacle, Commanded them to be sold for faves, or eis e banistaed theminio some rochy isantis. And to discourage the like praetices for the future, amongs other mings, he sorbidany one to be proceeded agains: upon severat laws forthe fame lach, and that the condition os persons decea sed

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THE LITE OF

in the dea th of any person, though he someti 1Mes was sufficiently provoked. He swore that he would peristhimself, rather than prove the destruction Os any man. V Two men os Patrician quali ty being convicted os aspiring to the empire, lae only advi sed them to desist, saying, that fovere ign power was disposed of by fate,'' and promised them, that, is they had any thing et se to destre of him, he would gratisse them. Upon this incident, heimmediately sent messengers to the mother of One of them, that was at a great distance, and Concerned about

and when the arnas of the combatanis were presented tollim , he handed them to the two associates. It is laid like-wise, that iapon being informed of their nativities, he assured them, that so me great calami ty would so me time bes ut them, but frona another hand, not his. V Tliough his brother was perpetuat ly plotting against hina, almost openlyspiriting up the armies to rebellion, and contriving to leave the court with the vie w of putting himself at their head; iyet he could not eniture to put hi in to death. So far vas he froni elateriaining such a sontiment, that he would not so much as ban illi hi in the court, nor treat him with lese respect than hefore. But frona his fi st accession to the empire, he constantly declared him his partiaer in it,

and that he mould be his successor ; begging of him

X. Mean hilo he was talicia ost' by an uiatim ely de atii, more io the lotis of man kind ita an himscis. At the clo se of the public di vel ons with which he cnteria ined theseople, he wepi bitterly bes ore them ali, and then went

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Υ1TUS FLAVIUS FESPASIANUS AUG. S8 Iaway for the country of the Sabines, Very melancholy, cause a victim, when abolit to be sacrificed, had madetis escape, and loud th der had been heard during a se rene state of the atmosphete. At the fissi stage on rheroad , he was seiZed with a sever, and being carrie ltheiace in a sedan, they say that he put by the curtains, and looked up to heaven, complaining heavily, that his life was talien frona him, though he had done no

thing to deserve it: for there was no a filon of his that he had occasion to repent os, but one. V What that was, he net ther intima ted himself, .nor is it ea sy for any to Conjecture. Some imagine that he alluded to the unlawful

TITUS

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ΥHE LIFE OFTITUS Flavius Vespasian, the Younger, Was thefrst prince who ascended the Roman throne by hereditary succession; and having constantly a fled, after his return from Judaea, as par iner With his fallier in the administration, he seemed to be weli quali fled, in potiatos abilities and experience, for conducting the assairs of the empire. But in respect of his natural dispossition, and morat bellaviour, the e pectations entertained by the public were not equalty fialtering. He was immoderatelyaddicted to luxury ; he had belrayed a strong inclinationto crueity ; and he lived in the habituat practice of lewdness, no lese Unnatural than intemperate. But, with adegree of virtuo us resolution unexam pled in history, he had no oner taken into his hands the entire retias of go-

vertament, than he renounced every victous attachment.

Instead of wallowing in luXury, as besere, he became amodet of lcmperance ; ins fead os crueity, he displayed the strongesst pro osse of humani ty and benevolence; and in the roona of lewdness, he exhibited a transsition to themos h unblemis hed chasti ty and virtve. In a word, soladden and great a change was never known in the character of mortal ; and he had the peculiar glory to receive the appellation of the dari ing and delight os man- Lind. Under a prince of such a disposition, the govern ment 'of the empire could not but be conducted with the strict- est regard to the public weltare. The reform, whichwas begun in the late rei gn, he prosecuted with me most ardent application ; and had he lived for a longer time, it is probable that his authoi ity and example must have produced the most beneficiat esse Cis iapon the manners of

During

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TITUS FLAUIUS VESPASIANUS AUG. 383. During the reigia of this emperor, in the seventy-ninthyear of the Christi an aera, happened the fit si eruption iam ount Vesuvius, whicli has ever since been celebrated for iis volcano. Besore this time, Vesuvius is spolien o by ancient writers, as being covered with orchards and vineyards, and of whicli the middie was dry and barren. The eruption was accompani ed by an earth quake, whicli destroyed severat cities of Campania, particularly ΡOmpeii and Herculaneum ; while the lava, pouring down the mountain in torrenis, o verwhelmed, in various directions, the adjacent plains. The burning asiaes were Carried not only over the neighbouring Country, but as faras the shores of Egypt, Libya, and even Syria. Amongstthos e to whom this dreadfui eruption proved fatal, was Pliny, the celebrated naturalist, whose Curiosity to eXamine the phaenomenon led hi in so far with in the vergeos danger, that he could not after ardS es Cape.PEny, sui named the Elder, was horn at Verona, os a

nobie family. He distingui laed himself early by his military atchlevemenis in the German war, received the dignity of an Augur, ut Rome, fὰ titi disj. and was afterwards appotnted go vernor of Spatia. In every public character, he acquitted himselfWith great reputation, and ei oyed the esteem of the se-Verat emperors under whom he lived. The assidui tywith which he applied himself to the collecting of information, either curious or u fui, surpasses ali eXample. From an early hour in the moria ing, untii late at night,

he was almost constantly emplo yed in dis charging theduties of his public station, in rea ling or hearing books re ad by his amanuensis, and in eκtracting from them Whatever fee med worthy of notice. Even during his mea is, and while travelling in his carri age hipon bus iness,

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he prosecuted with un remitting Zeal and diligence his lasse for enquiry and Compilation. No man e ver displayed sostrong a persuasion of the value os time, or availed himself so industrious y of it. He considered e very momentas tost which was not employed in literary pursutis, Thebooks which he wro te, in consequenCe of this indefati

initted by his nephe , Ρli ny the Younger, numeroUS, andon various sui edis . The catalogue of them is as sol lows : a book on Equestrian Archery, whicli discoveredmuch skill in the ari; tho Lise of Pomponius Secundus ; twenty books of the Wars of Germany ; a Complete treati se on the Education os an Orator, in volumes ; eight books of Doubis ut Discourses, writtentia the lalter part of the rei gn os Nero, When every hindos sentimental discussion was attended with danger ; witha hundred and siXty volumes of rem arks on the writaings of the various authors which he had perused . Forthe last mentioned producilion only, and bes ore it was brought near to iis accomplissiment, we are told, that homas offered by Largius Licinius, four hundred thous and sesterces, amounting to up wards of three thousand two, hundred potinos sterting ; an enorinous sum for the Copyright os a book before the invention os printing l Butthe only sui viving work of this voluminous author is his Natural History, in thirty-seven books, Compiled si omitte vario us writers who had treated of that extensiivo and interesting subject To estimate this great work ei ther by the authenti-city of the information whicli it contains, or iis utili tylowards the advancement of aris and sciences, we saould not now consider ii as an object of any eXtraordinarypncomtums i but when We view it a. a literary monu

ment,

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TITUS FLAVIUS VESPASIANUS AUG. 58sment, whicli displays the whole knowledge of the ancients, relative to Natural History, collected during a period of about seven hundred years, from the time OfThales the Milesian, it has a just claim to the attentionos everu speculative enquirer. It is not sui prising, that the progress of the human mind, whicli, after the frstilawn of enquiry, was rapid both amongst the Grecks and Romans, in morat science, si ould be gow in theimprovement of such branches of knowledge as depend-ed entii ely on observation and facts, which were peculiarly difficult os atta in ment. Natural knowledge Canonly be brought to perfection by the prosecution Of en. qui ries in disserent climates, and by a Communicationos discoveries amongst those by whom it is culti valed. But nei ther could enquiries be prosecuted, nor dis ove-ὶ ies communicate J, with DCCess, while the greater partos the world was involved in barbarism, uphile navigation was sow and limited, and the nrt Os printing un-known. die consideration of these circumstances v illa Tord sussicient apology for the impersedi state in whichthe science of Physios, and Natural History, existed

strae of their eX;ent, as they appear in the compilation

. This work is dixi ted into thirty-scven books ; the fit si of whicli contains the Preface, addi essed to theemperor Vespasian, probably the fallier, to whom theauthor pays high compliments. The seconil book treais

of the worid, the elemenis, and the stat s. In respost tothe worid, or rather the universe, the authoi 's Opinionis the same with that os severat ancient philosophers, thatit is a Deity, Uncreated, infinite, and eternat. Their LO; Ons, ho ever, as might be expected, on a subject so incomptehensibie,

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mcomprehensibie, ure vagiae, confused, and imperi Ct. In a subsequent chapter of the fame book, where the nature of the Dei ty is more particularly considered, the author's conceptions os infinite power are so inadequate,

that, by way of consolation for the limited powers of

man, he observes that there are many things even beyondste power of the Supreme Being; lach, for instance, as thoannihilation of his own existence ; to whicli the author adds, the power of rendering mortals eternat, and of raisitigine dead. It deserves to be remarhed, that, though a future state of rewards and punishments was maintained by sae most eminent among the ancient philosophers, theresurrection of the body was a dodtrine with whicli theymere Wholly unacquainted. The author nexi treats of the planeis, and the periodsof their respective revolutions ; of the stars, Comeis, winti, thunder, lightiaing, and other natural phoenomena ; Concerning ali Which he deli vers the hypothetical

notions maintained by the ancients, and mentions a variety of extraordinary incidents which had occurred in disserent paris of the worid. The third book containsa generat system os ancient geography, whicli is continued through the solarili, fifth, and si Xth books. Thesevenili treats of Conception, and the generation of the human species, with a number of miscellaneous obser-