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begging to be healed. Apparently the god Serapis had promised themin a dream that is Vespasian would consent to spit in the bliud man'seyes, and touch the lanae man's leg with his heel, both would be madeweli. Vespasian had so hille Lith in his curative powers that heshowed great reluctance in dolag as he was asked: but his friendspersuaded him to try them, in the presence of a large audience, tOO and the charm worked. At the fame time, certain soothsayers mere spired to excavate a sacred site at Tegea in Arcadia, where a hoardos Very ancient vases was discovered, ali pa ted with a strihinglikeness of VespaSian. 8. As a man os great promise and reputation - he had now been decreed a triumph over the Jews - Vespasian sotmd no difficul , on his retum to Rome, in adding eight more consulfhips to the one heliad atready earned.λ He also assumed the office of Censor, and throughout his reign made it his principes bus ess to stiore up themorat se dations of the State, which were in a state os collapse, be re proceeding to iis artistic embellistiment. The troops, whoscdiscipline had been weahened either by the exultation os victory orby the humiliation os deseat, had been indulging in ali foris of wildeXcesses; and rumbies of internat dissension could be heard in the provinces and Dee cities, as weli as in certain of the petiy klagdonas. This led Vespasian to discliarge or punish a large number of Vitellius'smen and, so far Dom showing them any speciat favo , he was stomin paying them even the victory bonus to whicli they were entilled. He missed no opportunity of tightening discipline: when a youngman, reeking of perfunae, came to thank him for a promotion in rank, Uespasian turned his head away in disgust and cancelled the order,
be constantly on the move belween Ostia or Puteoli and Rome, applied for a special shoe allowance, Vespasian not only turned down the application, but instructed them in future to march bare ot: whicli has been their practice eVer Since. He reduced the Dee states of Achaea, Lycia, Rhodes, Byzantium, and Samos, and the kingdom of Trachian Cilicia and Commagene, to provinciat status. He garrisoned Cappadocia as a precaution against
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siles of ruined or destroyed houses, and bulld on them is the originalowners fassed to come forward. He personalty inaugurated therestoration of the burned Capitol by collecting the first basketful ofrubble and carrying it away on his shoulders; and undereook to , replace the 3, o bro e tableta whicli bad been lost in the fire, hunt-ing high and low for copies of the inscriptions e graved on them. Those ancient, beautifully phrased records of senatoris decrees and popular ordinances dealt with such matters as alliances, treaties, and the privileges granted to individuals, and dated bach almost to thes undation of ROme. 9. He also started work on severat new bulldings: a temple of Peace near the Forum, a temple to Claudius the God on the Caelian
Hill, begun by Agrippina biit almost completely destroyed by Nero;
and the Colosseum, or Flavian Amphitheatre, in the centre of the City, this haring been a favourite project of Augustus's. He reformed the Senatorial and Equestrian Orders, now weahened by frequent murders and continuous neglect; replacing undestrabie members with the most eligibie Italian and provincis candidates auassable: and, to define clearly the difference belween these Ordersas One of status rather than os privilege, he pronounced the followingjudgement in a dispute betwem a senator and a linight: 'No abusemust be offered a senator; it may only be returned when given. 'Io. Vespasian found a liuge watting list os la sutis: old ones test undecided because of interruptions in regular couri proceedings, and new ones due to the recent states of emergency. So he drew lois for a board of commissioners to setile war compensation clainas and make emergen decisions in the Centumviral Court,λ thus greatly reducing the number of cases. Most of the litigants would otherwise have been dead by the time they were summoned to appear. 11. Since nothing at ali had been done to counieraci the debauchedand recHess style of hving then in fashion, Vespasian induced the Senate to decree that any woman who had taken another person's flave as a lover should lose her freedom: and that nobody lending money to a minor should be entilled to collect the debi, even is thes ather died and the minor inherited the estate.
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12. He was frona sirst to last modest and restralaed in his conductos affairs, and more inclined to parade, than to cast a veil over, his humbie origins. Indeed, when a group of antiquaries tried to connecthis incestors with the so ders of Reiti, and with one of Hercules'scomrades whose tomb is stili to be secta on the Salarian Way, Vespa
ancestors or had ever made it one of my own ambitionsi It serves merighil' Moreover, he net ther claimed the tribunicias power of vetoing the Senate's acis nor adopted the titie 'Father of the Country' untilvery late in his hse: and even be re me Civit War was over, discontinued the practice of haring everyone who attended his moriangaudiences searched sor concealed weapons. 13. Vespasian showed great patience is his friends took liberti eswith him in conversation, or lawyers made innuendoes in their speeches, or philosophers affected to despise him: and great restralatin his dealings with Licinius Mucianus, a bumptious and immors fellow who traded on his past services, in the matter of the Syrian
once about Mucianus, and then in private to a common acquaintance,
his concluding words belag: 'But personasy, Ι am content to be a male.' When Salvius Liberalis was defending a ricli client he earneda pat on the bach frona Vespasian by daring to ask: 'Does the Emperorreatly care whether Hipparchus is, or is not, worth a million in gold 'And when Demetrius the Cynic, who had been banished stom Rome,
happened to meet Vespasian's travelling party, yet made no move tori se or salute tiam, and barhed out some rude remark or other,
I. See Claudius 33. a. The Latin is Morbalia: there was no such place.
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to beg for forgiveness, and Vespasian did no more than show him die door with an equassy shori and almost identi calla framed good-bye. He felt so litile inclination to execute anyone Whom he feared orsuspected that, warned by his friends against Mettius Pompusianus, who was belleved to have in Imperis horoscope, he sadesed himwith a debl of gratitude by mahing him Consul.
during Vespasian's reign excepi belliud his bach or while he was absent stom Rome, unless by deliberate defiance of his wishes or by
sinforming him about the facta in the case. He showed great leniency towards Helvidius Priscus who, on his return Dom Syria, was Hae oesy man to greet him as 'Vespasian' instead of 'Caesar', and who, throughout his praetorshψ, omitted ali courteous mention ofhim Dom officiat orders. However, feeling himself, as it were, reducedio the ranks by Priscus's insufferable rudeness, Vespasian sared up atlast, banished him and presently gave orders for his execution. NeVer-
ineless, he meant to fave his, and wrole out a reprieve; but this was not delivered, owing to a mistahen repori that Priscus had gready been eXecuted. Vespasian never rejoiced in anyone's death, and would osten weep when convicted criminals were forced to pay the extreme penalty. 16. His one serious falling was avarice. Not content With restoring
the ducies remitted by Galba he levied new and heavier ones; increased, and somelimes doubled, the tribute due stom the provinces: indopenly engaged in business desings which would have disgraced evena private citizen - such as cornering the stochs of certain commodities
and then pulting them bach on the mainet at inflated prices. Hethought nothing of exacting sees from candidates for public office, or of selling pardons to the innocent and guilty alle; and is sald to have deliberalely raised his greedicti procurators to positions in whicli theycould fallen their purses satisfactortly be re he came down hard onthem for extortion. They were, at any rate, nictaamed his sponges he put them in to soah, oesy to squeere them dry later. Some claim that greed was in Uespasian's very bones - an accus tion once thrown at his by an old flave of his, a catileman. When
Vespasian became Emperor the flave begged to be freed but, finding that he was expected to buy the privilege, complained: 'So the sex has changed his fur, but not his naturet' Stili, the more credibi eview is that the emptiness alle of the Treasury and the Prisy P se
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rced Uespasian into hea' taxation and unethical bus ess desings: he himself had declared at his accession that 4oo,ooo,ooo gold pieces mere needed to put the comtry on iis feci again. Certainly he spent his income to the best possibie advantage, however questionable iis
II. Vespasian bellaved most generousty to ali classes: grantingsubventions to senators who did not possess the proper qualiscations of their rank; securing impoverished eX-Consuls an annus pen
awarded priges to leading poets, and to artisis as well, notably the restorers of the Venus of Cos and the Colossus.* An engineer offeredio haut some liuge columns up to the Capitol at moderate e ense by a simple mechanical contrivance, but Vespasian declined his services: 'I must always ensure,' he said, 'stat the working classes earn enough money to b themselves s Od.' Nevertheless, he paid theengineer a very handsome fee. 19. When the Theatre of Marcellus opened again aster Vespasianhad bulli iis new stage, he revived the former musical performances and presented Apelles the tragic actor With 4,ooo gold pieces: Terpnus and Diodorus the lyr players, with a, o cach: and severat otheriwith Ι,Ooo. His lowest casti mards were 4oo. But he alio distributed severat gold crowns. Moreover, he ordered a great number of formaldiners on a lavisti scale,δ to encourage the victusling trade. On23 December, the Satumstan Festivat, he gave special gilis to his male dimer guests, and did the fame for momen on I Marcii, which was Matrons' Day. But even this generosity could not rid himos his reputation sor stingi ness. Thus the people of Alexandria con
I. Consecrated in the new Temple of Peace; apparently a copy of Praxiteles's Venus of Cos. a. The colosses statue os Nero bee Nero 3I . It was aster arct moved by Hadrian to the norit, of the Colosseum Coliseum), where iis base is still shown Pliny: Natural History, XXHV. Ι 8 . 3. See Augustus 74.
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as Flaurus'. Once a Woman complained that she was desperately in love with bim, and would not leave him alone untii he consented toseduce her. 'How shali I enter that item in your expense ledger 'asked his accountant later, on learning that she had got 4,ooo goldpieces out of him. 'Oh,' said Vespasian, Just put it down to 'love for
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- a line out of the Iliad. And when, to avoid paying death duties into
lae Prio Purse, a very ricli secedman changed his name and annotinced that he had been born Dee, Vespasian quoted Menander's:
Most of his humo , however, centred on the way he did busi ness: he always tried to mahe his swindles found less offensive by passing them offas j okes. One of his favourite servants applied for a steward-ship on bellais os a man whose brother he clat med to be. ' ait,' Vespasian told him, and had the candidate brought in for a private
os the muleteer's had appeared and was now busily discussing a la fuit. Vespasian made the muleteer teli him just what his shoeing see would be: and insisted on being paid half. Titus complained of the tax whicli Vespasian had imposed on the contents of the City urinals used by the fullers to ciean woollens . Uespasian handed him a coinwhich had been part of the first day's proceeds: 'Does it smeli bad, my son ' he asked. 'No, Fatheri' 'That's odd: it comes straight Domthe urinali' When a deputation frona the Senate reported that a liuge and expensive statue had been voted him at public eXpense, Vespasianheld out his hand. with: 'The pedestat is watting. 'Nothing could stop this fiow of humour, even the fear os imminentdeath. Among the many portents of his end was a yawning crevice in Augustus's Mausoleum. 'That will be for Junia Calvina,' he said,'she is one of liis descendants.' And at the fatal si glit os a comet hecri ed: 'Look at that long hairi The Ling of Parthia must be going todie. ' His dealh-bed johe was: 'Dear mel I must be turning into a god.' a . During his ninth and last consulfhip Uespasian visited Campania , and caught undulant sever, though it was not a serious attach He hurried bach to Rome, then went on to Cutilae and his summer
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retreat near Retti, where he made things worse by bathing in coldwater and getling a stomach chili. Yet he carried on with his Imperialduties as usus, and even received deputations at his bedside: untii healmost falaled after a sudden violent bout os diarrhoea, struggled torise, multering that an Emperor ought to die at least on his feet, and collapsed in the arms of the attendants who went to his rescue. Tlus Was 23 June 79 A.D. and he had lived scitymine years, seven monilis, and seven days. 23. Ait accounts agree on Vespasian's supreme confidelice in his
horoscopes and those of his iam ly. Despite frequent plois to murderhim, he dared teli the Senate that either his sons would succeed himor there would be no more Roman Emperors. He is sald to havedreamed about a pair of scales hanging in the Hali of the Palace: Claudius and his adopted son Nero, in one pan, were exactly balancedagainst himself, Titus and Domitian in the other. And this proved an accurate prophecy, since tiae families mere destined to rese for an equalletigin os time.
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TiTUs, sumamed Vespasian liue his fallier, had suci, winning ways,
perhaps inborn, perhaps cultivaled subsequently, or conserred onhim by fortune - that he became an object of universat love and adoration. Oddly enough this happened only aster his accession: bothas a private citigen and later as his sether's colleague, Titus had been not only unpopular but venomousty loathed. He was bom on3O December 4Ι A.D., the memorabie year of Gaius Caligula's assassination, in a smali, dingy, slum bedroom close to the Seve storey Tenement. The house, whicli is stili standing, has lately beenopened to the public. a. He grew up at Court with Claudi 's son Britannicus, sharingliis teachers and following the fame curriculum. The story goes that when one day Claudius's seeedman Narcissus called in a physiogno- mist to examine Britannicus's features and prophesy his future, he wastold most emphaticalty that Britannicus Would never succeed his
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that distinction. The two boys were suci, close friends that whon Britannicus drank his fatal dose of poison, Titus, who was recliningat the sanae table, is sald to have emptied the glass in sympathy and toliave been dangerousty ill for some time. He never forgot his friend-ship for Britannicus, but had two statues of his made: a goiden oneto be instased in the Palace, and in ivory equestrian one whicli is stillcarried in the Circus procession, and which he personalty followedaround the ring at iis dedication. 3. When Titus came of age, the beauty and talenis that had distin guished his as a child grew even more remarkable. Though not tali, he was both gracessit and dignifed, both muscular and handsome,
except for a certain paunchiness. He had a phenomenal memory, and displayed a natural aptitude alle for the aris of war and peace: handi ed arms and rode a horse as weli as any man living: could compose sperches and verses in Grein or Latin with equat ease, and actualty extemporiged them on occasion. Ηe was something of a musician, too: sing pleasantly, and had mastered the harp. It ostenamused his to compete With his secretaries at shorthand dictation, or so I have heard; and he cla ed that he could imitate any hand-writing in existence and might, in different circumstances, have been the most celebrated forger os ali time. 4. Titus's reputation while an active and efficient colonet in Ge many and Britain is attested by the numerous busis and statues of him found in both countries. Asiter completing his military service hereturned to Rome where he sperit a great deal of time at the lawcouris as a barrister; but oesy because he e oyed pleading cases, notbecause he meant to mae a career of it. The Ather of his first wise, Arrecina Tertulla, commanded the Guards, the highest post avai lableto a man os equestrian rank. When site died, Titus married the very wel connected Marcia Furnilla, whom he divorced as soon as she had borne him a daughter. When his quaestorship at Rome ended, hewent to command one of his father's legions in Judaea, and there captured the fortised cities of Tarichaeae and Gamala. In the course
of the fight g he had a horse hised under him, but mounted anotherbelonging to a comrade who sep at his fide. S. Titus was presently sent to congratulate Galba on his accession, and ait whom he mei on the way were convinced that Vespasian wastrying to get his adopted as Galba's heir. Seeing, however, that a new