[69-70 A.D.]

from the splendid reputation of his father. The men who conferred the imperial dignity upon him did not so much as know him. By impotence and sloth he gained the affections of the army, to a degree in which few have attained them by worthy means. Frankness and generosity, however, he possessed; qualities which, unless duly regulated, become the occasions of ruin. He imagined that friendships could be cemented, not by a uniform course of virtue, but by profuse liberality, and therefore earned them rather than cultivated them. Doubtless the interest of the commonwealth required the fall of Vitellius; but those who betrayed Vitellius to Vespasian can claim no merit for their perfidy, since they had broken faith with Galba.

The day now verged rapidly towards sunset, and on account of the consternation of the magistrates and senators who secreted themselves by withdrawing from the city or in the several houses of their clients, the senate could not be convened. When all apprehension of hostile violence had subsided Domitian came forth to the generals of his party, was unanimously saluted with the title of Cæsar, and escorted by a numerous body of soldiers, armed as they were, to his father's house."

Mucianus, who arrived in Rome the day after the murder of Vitellius, took over the government in the name of Vespasian.d Mucianus has been styled (by Duruyn) "the Mæcenas and the Agrippa of the new Augustus. In subsequent years he was treated almost as an equal by the emperor. He at once took active measures to restore order, and he succeeded so well that everything was peaceful when Vespasian himself finally entered Rome.a In Vespasian, for the first time since the death of Augustus, the Roman Empire again received a worthy and able ruler. He was a man who not only, like Galba, hated flattery and joined integrity with experience in warfare, but whose understanding and force of character were equal to the circumstances of the hour.d

VESPASIAN (T. FLAVIUS SABINUS VESPASIANUs), 69–70 a.d.

Vespasian was declared emperor, by the unanimous consent both of the senate and the army, and dignified with all those titles which now followed rather the power than the merit of those who were appointed to govern. Messengers were despatched to him in Egypt, desiring his return, and testifying the utmost desire for his government. But the winter being dangerous for sailing, he deferred his voyage to a more convenient season. Perhaps, also, the dissensions in other parts of the empire retarded his return to Rome; for Claudius Civilis, in Lower Germany, excited his countrymen to revolt, and destroyed the Roman garrisons which were placed in different parts of that province. Yet, to give his rebellion an air of justice, he caused his army to swear allegiance to Vespasian, until he found himself in a condition to throw off the mask. When he thought himself sufficiently powerful, he disclaimed all submission to the Roman government, and having overcome one or two of the lieutenants of the empire, and being joined by such of the Romans as refused obedience to the new emperor, he boldly advanced to give Cerealis, Vespasian's general, battle. In the beginning of this engagement he seemed successful, breaking the Roman legions, and putting their cavalry to flight. But at length Cerealis, by his conduct, turned the fate of the day, and not only routed the enemy, but took and destroyed their camp. This engagement, however, was not decisive; several others ensued with doubtful success. An accommodation, at length, determined what arms could not effect. Civilis obtained peace for his countrymen, and pardon for

[70 A.D.]

himself; for the Roman Empire was, at this time, so torn by its own divisions, that the barbarous nations around made incursions with impunity, and were sure of obtaining peace, whenever they thought proper to demand it.

During the time of these commotions in Germany, the Sarmatians, a barbarous nation to the northeast of the empire, suddenly passed the river Ister, and marching into the Roman dominions with celerity and fury, destroyed several garrisons, and an army under the command of Fonteius Agrippa. However, they were driven back with some slaughter by Rubrius Gallus, Vespasian's lieutenant, into their native forests; where several attempts were made to confine them, by garrisons and forts placed along the confines of their country. But these hardy nations, having once found their way into the empire, never after desisted from invading it at every opportunity, till at length they overran and destroyed the glory of Rome.

Vespasian continued some months at Alexandria in Egypt. The soberminded Tacitus, most accurate and most trustworthy of Roman historians, relates some incidents of this story of Vespasian in Egypt which are worth repeating, if for nothing else, to illustrate the gap between the writing of sober history in that day and in our own.ɑ

VESPASIAN PERFORMS MIRACLES AND SEES A VISION, ACCORDING TO

TACITUS

During the months when Vespasian was waiting at Alexandria for the periodical season of the summer winds, and a safe navigation [says Tacitus], many miracles occurred, by which the favour of heaven and a sort of bias in the powers above towards Vespasian were manifested. One of the common people of Alexandria, known to have a disease in his eyes, embraced the knees of the emperor, importuning with groans a remedy for his blindness. In this he acted in compliance with the admonition of the god Serapis, whom that nation, devoted to superstition, honours above all other gods; and he prayed the emperor that he would deign to sprinkle his cheeks and the balls of his eyes with the secretion of his mouth. Another, who was diseased in the hand, at the instance of the same god, entreated that he might be pressed by the foot and sole of Cæsar. Vespasian at first ridiculed the request, and treated it with contempt; but when they persisted, at one time he dreaded the imputation of weakness, at another he was led to hope for success, by the supplications of the men themselves, and the encouragements of his flatterers. Lastly, he ordered that the opinion of physicians should be taken, as to whether a blindness and lameness of these kinds could be got the better of by human power. The physicians stated various points-that in the one the power of vision was not wholly destroyed, and that it would be restored if the obstacle was removed; in the other, that the joints which had become diseased might be renovated, if a healing power were applied; such peradventure was the pleasure of the gods, and the emperor was chosen to perform their will. To sum up all, that the glory of accomplishing the cure would be Cæsar's, the ridicule of its failure would rest upon the sufferers. Accordingly, under an impression that everything was within the power of his fortune, and that after what had occurred nothing was incredible, with a cheerful countenance himself, and while the multitude that stood by waited the event in all the confidence of anticipated success, Vespasian executed what was required of him. Immediately the hand was restored to its functions, and the light of day shone again to the blind. Persons who were

[70 A.D.]

present even now attest the truth of both these transactions, when there is nothing to be gained by falsehood.

After this, Vespasian conceived a deeper desire to visit the sanctuary of Serapis, in order to consult the god about affairs of the empire. He ordered all persons to be excluded from the temple; and lo, when he entered, and his thoughts were fixed on the deity, he perceived behind him a man of principal note among the Egyptians, named Basilides, whom, at that moment, he knew to be detained by illness at a distance of several days' journey from Alexandria. Vespasian inquired of the priests whether Basilides that day had entered the temple. He asked of others whom he met whether he was seen in the city. At length, from messengers whom he despatched on horseback, he received certain intelligence, that Basilides was at that instant of time eighty miles distant from Alexandria. He then concluded that it was a divine vision, and deduced the import of the response from the name of Basilides.i

VESPASIAN RETURNS TO ROME

VESPASIAN

Leaving Titus to prosecute the Jewish War, Vespasian set out for Rome. His enthusiastic reception there is described by Josephus, who says: "All men that were in Italy showed their respects to him in their minds, before he came thither, as if he were already come, as esteeming the very expectation they had of him to be his real presence on account of the great desires they had to see him, and because the good will they bore him was entirely free and unconstrained; for it was a desirable thing to the senate, who well remembered the calamities they had undergone in the late changes of their governors, to receive a governor who was adorned with the gravity of old age, and with the highest skill in the actions of war, whose advancement would be, as they knew, for nothing else but the preservation of those that were to be governed.

"Moreover, the people had been so harassed by their civil miseries that they were still more earnest for his coming immediately, as supposing they should then be firmly delivered from their calamities, and believed they should then recover their secure tranquillity and prosperity. And for the soldiery, they had the principal regard to him, for they were chiefly apprised of his great exploits in war; and since they had experienced the want of skill