Select Observations of Roman Emperors 2, Part 1 · Emperor 10
Choyce Observations OF FLAVIUS VESPASIANUS.
PRinceps obscurè quidem natus,Eutropius. sed optimis comparandus, privatâ vitâ illustris.
He was of a middle stature, well set, his limbes compact and strongly made, vultu veluti nitentis, Suetonius.he looked still as if he strained hard for a stool,That saying of Martial agreeth with this. Nam faciem duram Phaeb… cacantis habes. whereupon a Buffon brake a pretty jest on him; for when Vespasian seemed to request him to say something of him as well as of others in the company, Dicam, inquit, cum ventrem exonerare desieris. Vir multorum salium. Lodovic. Viv.I will let you alone, saith he, till you have done your businesse.
He was very pleasant and facetious himself; for being advertised by Florus to pronounce *A word in Lat. that signifies Carts or Waines.Plaustra rather than plostra, he saluted him the next morning by the name of Flaurus.
When the apparition of a Comet or blazing starre was thought to portend his death,Convitiorum plaustr…. he replyed merrily, that the bushy Stella crinita, Sueton.noted not him but the Parthian King,Aurel. Vict. Ipse enim comatus est, ego vero calvus, for, he weareth bushy lockes, but I am bald.System. Phys. l. 6. But he dyed a little while after, and by his example (saith Keckerman) warned men to forbear jesting at Gods great workes and Prodigies.
An Oxe having cast off his yoke,A presignification of his advancement. Being elected Emperour, it is reported of him, that he cured one desperately blind by spitting upon his eyes. ran furiously into the room where he sate at Supper, where affrighting his Attendants from him, he straight prostrates himself before his feet, as if he had been weary, offering his neck to his clemency, Suetonius.
When he came to the Empire, the Exchequer was so impoverished, that he protested in open Senate, that he wanted to settle the Common-wealth 40. Millions of Sestertiums; Tacit. Hist. l. 4.which protestation (saith Sueton.) seemed probable,Suetonius. Quia & male partis optimusus est.
He fought 30. Battels in Britain, took 20. Townes, and adjoyned the Isle of Wight to the obedience of the Roman Empire.
When a certain gallant youth smelling hot of sweet balmes and perfumes, came unto him to give thanks for an office obtained at his hands, after a strange countenance shewing his dislike of him, he gave him also in words a most bitter check,Maluissem allium oboluisses. saying, I would rather thou hadst stunk of Garlicke, and so revoked his Letters Patents for the grant.Suetonius.
He never carried in his mind, nor revenged displeasures done unto him. He married the daughter of Vitellius his enemy into a most noble house, gave unto her a rich Dowry withall, and furniture accordingly.
He was made Totus ex clementia (as the Historian tels us) yet for all that,Suetonius. Machinationes nefariorum assiduas expertus est, Pladicissimae bonitatis.He found daily treacheries attempted against him.Eutropius.
Iustis etiam suppliciis illachrymavit & ingemuit.Sueton.
He was so compassionate a Prince, that he was wont to sigh and weep, even for them that were condignly punished.
An innocent person was not punished but when he was absent,Eutropius. & not aware thereof, or at leastwise unwilling thereto, and deceived.
But he was severe towards Julius Sab inus, who in times past said he was Caesar; and taking up armes, was at last conquered and brought to Rome. His wife spake to Vespasian in his behalf, pleading that he had two sons of her; and supplicating to him for mercy to her husband and her self, used these words, Ego, … Caesar, hos in monument… peperi aluique, ut plures tibi supplices esse…nus: By which speech, although she drew teares from him and those that were present, yet she could not procure her Husbands pardon. Dion.
The Souldiers elected him Emperour, and requested him to preserve the Empire being in great danger to be lost. Yet he (though he had been alwaies carefull for the good of the Common-wealth) refused to be Emperour,Iosephus, l. 5. of the wars of the Jews, c. 10. deeming himself indeed to have deserved it, but rather chusing to live a private life, wherein was security, then in the height of fortune and honour with perpetuall danger. The Captains were most earnest because he refused it, and the Souldiers flocked about him with drawn swords, threatning his death except he would consent to live as he deserved; yet he strove a long time to avert their determination, being loth to be Emperour; at last seeing he could not avoid it, he accepted their offer.
He comforted his Souldiers with these and such like speeches,Iosephus, l. 4. of the wars of the Jews, c. 1. I will expose my self to all dangers with you, and go first to fight, and come last from fight.
Ipse Vespasianus milites adire,Tacitus l. 2. Hist. hortari, bo…os laude, segnes exemplo incitare saepiùs quam coercere; vitia magis amicorum quam virtutes dissimulans.
He would go in his own person, and encourage the Souldiers, inciting the good by praise, the slow by example rather then correction; he was more ready to conceal the Vices of his friends, then the vertues.
It was a worthy report which Pliny gave of him, if he flattered him not, to whom being Emperour he wrote thus; Nec quicquam in te mutavit fortunae amplitudo, nisi … prodesse tantundem posses & velles. Greatnesse and Majesty have changed nothing it you but this, that your power to do good should be answerable to your will.
Solus omnium ante se Principum,Tacit. l. 1. Hist. in meliu… mutatus est.
The onelyonly Prince before his time which changed to the better, for after him Titus his Son changed also the same way.
A vigilant Warriour, and in all respects, set avarice aside, comparable to the Commanders of ancient times, saith Tacitus.
Sola est in qua meritò culpetur,Sueton. pecuniae cupiditas.Homo turpiter avidus.
The onelyonly thing for which he might worthily be blamed was covetousnesse.Eras. Adag.
Prorsus si avaritia abesset, antiquis ducibus par. Tacitus.
He not onelyonly called for arrerages due in Galba's time, but raised new Tributes, and laid upon the Provinces more grievous impositions, doubling them in some places.
Negotiationes vel privato pudendas propalam exercuit.Suetonius.
He did negotiate and deale in certain Trades, which it was a shame for a private person to use: buying up and engrossing some Commodities at a cheap hand, that afterward he might vent them at higher rates. Neither did he spare to sell Honours to such as sued for them, or absolutions to such as were accused, whether they proved guilty or not.Suetonius. He was thought of set purpose to have made choyce of the most greedy proling Officers he could any where find out, and to have advanced them to the highest places, that being thereby grown rich, he might condemn their persons, and confiscate their goods. And it was commonly said,Not unlike to this was that speech of Diogenes, Dixit Diony. that he used these men as spunges, Quòd quasi & siccos madefaceret, & exprimeret humentes; s…um amicis uti pro vasculis, quae dum plena sunt evacuat, & abiicit vacua.because he did wet them well when they were dry, and presse them hard when they were wet.
Some write that he was by nature most covetous, and an old neatherd upbraided him once therewith, who being at his hands denied freedom without paying for it (which he humbly craved of him now invested in the Empire) cried out with a loud voyce,Suetonius. Vulpem pilum mutare non mores, Quicquid infixum & ingenitum est, leniri potest arte, non vinci.that the Foxe might change his hair but not his qualities.
He laid an imposition upon urine, and being by his Son Titus put in mind of the basenesse of it,Seneca. he took a piece of money received for the use, and putting it to his Sons nose,Sueton. demanded of him whether he was offended with the smell or no, Atqui (inquit) è lotio est, and yet (quoth he) it commeth of urine:Sat. 14. Vnde Juvenalis,
—Lucri bonus est odor è re
Qualibet.
Ad quod alludens etiam Ammianus, dixit, & lucrum ex omni odorantes occasione.…nfirmus, ut quidam pravè putant, adversus pecuniam, cùm satis constet aerarii inopia & clade urbium, neque novas cum neque postea habitas vectigalium pensiones exquisivisse,
There are some of a contrary opinion,Aurel. Vict. that he was driven to spoyl, to pill and poll of necessity, even for extreme want, both in the common Treasury, and also in his own Exchequer, whereof he gave some testimony in the beginning of his Empire, professing (as was said before) that there was need of forty Millions to set the state upright again; which opinion (saith Suetonius) seemes to sound more near unto the truth, because the mony by him ill gotten he used and bestowed very well, for he was most liberall to all sorts of men.
Restitutionem Capitolii aggressus, ruderibus purgandis manus primus admovit, ac suo collo quaedam extulit, Suetonius.
In the third building of the Capitol, Vespasian carried the first basket of earth, after him the Nobility did the like, to make the people more forward in the service; and perhaps the custome of laying the first stone in a building, hath from hence, if not beginning, yet growth.Sueton.
It was his speech,Aurel. Vict. Oportet Imperatorem stantem mori, Oportet Episcopum concionantem mori.An Emperour ought to dye standing.Iewel. And likewise he said at his death, Vt puto Deus fio, id est, morior; nam post mortem Caesares referebantur in numerum deorum. Me thinkes (quoth he) I am a deifying, and growing to be a god.Aurel. Vict.
Annum agens vitae abs que uno septuagesimum interiit.Sueton.
He lived threescore and 9. yeares, 7. moneths, and 7. daies over.
He reigned 2. yeares, saith Eusebius.