Select Observations of Roman Emperors 2, Part 1 · Emperor 11
Choyce Observations OF TITUS VESPASIANUS.
FOR his Naturall goodnesse and noble disposition, he was called Amor & deliciae humani generis, Speed saith as much of Henry the fifth, whom he compareth to Titus. Edgar Etheling, Englands darling.The lovely darling, and delightfull joy of Mankind. Tantum illi ad promerendam omnium voluntatem, vel ingenii, vel artis, vel fortunae superfuit. Sueton.
So fully was he either indued with good nature and disposition, or enriched with skill and cunning, or else graced with fortunes favour.
Augustin De Civit. Dei. lib. 5. cap. 21. calls him Suavissimum Principem, a most sweet Prince.
Yet God made him a terrible scourge to the Nation of the Jewes, who forsook the Lord Jesus, and preferred Caesar; for as our Saviour prophesied concerning Jerusalem, that a stone should not be left upon a stone, Matth. 24. 2. So it was fulfilled forty yeares after his Ascention, by Vespasian the Emperour, and his Son Titus, say Eusebius and Josephus. And by that which followeth in the same Ch. 21. v. he meaneth the tribulation the Jewes were to endure at the siege,Dr. SclO…. and surprisall of Jerusalem by Vespasian and Titus. In the time of which siege the Jewes were oppressed with a grievous Famine,Mr. Perkins. in which their food was old shooes, old leather, old hay, and the dung of beasts. There dyed partly of the sword,Vespasian brake into their City at Cedron, where they took Christ, on the same feast day that Christ was taken, he whipped them where they whipped Christ, he sold twenty Jewes for a penny, as they sold Christ for thirty pence. Andr. Cat. and partly of the famine, eleven hundred thousand of the poorer sort: two thousand in one night were imbowelled: six thousand were burned in a Porch of the Temple. The whole City was sacked and burnt, and laid levell to the ground; and ninety seven thousand taken captives, and applyed to base and miserable service.
So many of the Jewes were crucifyed, that (by relation of their own Josephus de bello Iudaico lib. 6. c. 12.) there remained no more space to set crosses in, nor any more crosses to crucify bodies upon.
At the very first, even in his child-hood there shone forth in him gifts both of body and mind, and the same more and more still by degrees, as he grew in yeares.
He was therefore sickly,Lampridius. because his Nurse was so.
Ingenium quantaecunque fortunae capax,Tacitus, l. 2. Hist. decor oris cum quadam Majestate.
A person capable of any dignity,Formâ egregiâ, & cui non minus auctoritatis inesset quam gratiae. were it never so great; of a goodly presence and countenance, wherein was seated no lesse Majesty then favour and beauty.
His stature was not tall,Sueton. and his belly bare out somewhat with the most.Facundissimus, bellicosissimus, moderatissimus. He had a singular memory, and was very docible; he was most skilfull in handling his weapon, and withall a passing good Horseman.Eutropius. He was facilis ad extemporalitatem usque. Sueton.He was of a prompt and ready wit, and would have spoken well ex tempore; He was also skilfull in Musick; he could write with cyphers, and by artificial characters, both very fast and very fair, striving by way of sport and mirth with his own Clerkes, whether he or they could write fastest: He was able to expresse and imitate what hand soever he had seen,Sueton. and would often say, that he could have been a notable forger, and counterfeiter of writings.
Suo quam Patris Imperio modestior.Tacit. l. 2. Hist.
Whiles he was a private person, he behaved himself not altogether so well as when he was Emperour.
His youthful affections were setled somewhat upon Berenice the Queen of Iewry; Berenice.notwithstanding in no such degree that it was any hinderance to his honourable actions.Dion. & Josephus.
The Feasts which he made were pleasant merriments rather then lavish and sumptuous.Sueton.
No grosse vice could be found in him,Convivia instituit jucunda magis quam profusa. but many excellent vertues.Suetonius.
Neminem a se dimisit tristem.
He never dismissed any Petitioner with a tear in his eye, or a heavy heart; and when his Domesticall servants about his Person would seem to tell him, that he promised more then he was able to perform;Sueton. his saying was,Hadrianus Caesar said, It was troublesome to him if he saw any sad. Non oportet quenquam à sermone Principis tristem discedere. No man ought to depart from the speech of a Prince, sad and discontented.
Calling to mind one time as he sate at Supper,Aurel. Vict. that he had done nothing for any man that day,Sueton. he uttered this memorable and praise-worthy Apothegme,Eutropius. Amici, Or rather it must be read (saith Casaub.)diem perdidi. My Friends, I have lost a day.
If he had not bestowed some benefit upon one or other,Amici, hodie diem perdidi. he was wont to say (saith Mollerus) Hodie non imperavi quia nemini benefeci.
His rule and Government was mercifull, he received no accusation against those who were reported to have spoken evil of him, saying, Ego cum nihil faciam dignum propter quod contumeliá afficiar, mendacia nihil curo. When I shall do nothing worthy of blame, I care not for lyes.
He said,Periturum se potius quam perditurum adjurans. Sueton. he would rather dye himself then put others to death. He proceeded no further against two Noblemen convicted for affecting and aspiring to the Empire, then to admonish them to desist and give over,Suetonius. saying,Eutropius. that Sovereigne Power was the gift of Destiny and Divine Providence;Aurel. Vict. if they were Petitioners for any thing else, he promised to give it unto them.
He would not endure to kill, or sequester and confine his Brother Domitian (though he never ceased to lay wait for his life) but still made him partner with him in his Sovereigne Government,Aurel. Vict. Suetonius. and often with teares exhorted him to mutual love.
There fell out in his dayes some heavy accidents; a fire in the City of Rome, which lasted three dayes and three nights;Tacitus. Sueton. Aurel. Vict. and a grievous Pestilence, wherein there dyed ten thousand a day: and Vesuvius a mountain in Campania flamed with great horrour; Pliny the naturall Historian then Admiral of the Roman Navie, desirous to discover the reason, was suffocated with the smoke thereof, as his Nephew witnesseth in an Epistle of his to Cornelius Tacitus. Plinie. l. 6.Marcellinus observeth,Epist. 16. that the ashes thereof transported in the Aire, obscured all Europe; others say, that they darkned the Sun.
He was a valiant Souldier; going once to espy the enemy,Ioseph. l. 6. c. 2. and not to fight, notwithstanding that an infinite number of darts and arrowes were shot at him,Of the wars of the Jewes. From his wonderfull escape at the view of the walls of Jerusalem, Iosephus collects. and he had no Armour at all, yet received he not one wound, but all past him, as though upon purpose every one had strove to have mist him. And he with his sword made way and cut many upon the face that opposed themselves against him,Imperatorum pericula Deum curare; That God takes care of Princes in their danger. Ibid. and so they falling down, he with his horse past over them. The Jewes seeing Titus his valour▪ exhorted one another to set upon him, but whithersoever he turned, the Jewes fled and would not abide by it.
In the last assault of Ierusalem, he slew twelve enemies that defended the wall, with just so many arrowes shot,Suetonius. and won the City with great joy,Eutropius. and favourable applause of all his Souldiers.
He being to see that executed which Christ foretold should happen to Ierusalem,Iosephus de Bell. Iud. l. 6. c. 14. & 7. 10. stretched forth his hands, and called Heaven and Earth to witnesse in great bitternesse, that he was not to blame that the Jewes perished in such sort, but they themselves; and would not by any meanes that fire should be set on the Temple. Comparing the desolation of Jerusalem with the beauty and goodly buildings that were before it was destroyed,L. 7. of the wars of the Jewes. c. 24. he lamented and pitied the overthrow thereof, saith Iosephus.
It is likely that he would have carried a milder hand upon the Iewes his Prisoners, after his sacking the City of Ierusalem, then to cast so many thousands of them to the Lions,Illud adagium Festina lentè, arridebat duobus Imperatoribus Romanis, omnium facilè laudatissimis, Augusto & Tito; quorum utrique singularis quaedam aderat animi magnitudo, cum incredibili quadam lenitate facilitate que conjuncta. Eras. in Adag. and other beasts to be devoured, as he did on the Birth-day of his Brother Domitian, but that the heavy curse of God which boyled against that Nation, did urge his gentle and calm nature to bring them to destruction.
He did stamp in his Coin a Dolphin and an Anchor, with this Impresse, Sat cito si sat bene. A Dolphin out-strips the ship, that's soon enough; an anchor stayeth the ship, that's well enough. A Dolphin and Anchor, Soon enough if well enough.
It was said of him, Abstinuit alieno, ut si quis unquam. If ever any man abstained from that which was not his own, he was the man.
Though he was the Mirrour of men among the Heathen, yet he was loth to depart out of this world; for being carried in his Horse-litter,Suetonius. Multum conquestus, eripi sibi vitam immerenti, neque enim extare ullum suum factum poenitendum, excepto duntaxat uno. Whether his over familiar acquaintance with his Brothers wife Domitia, as Sueton. or with the Queen Berenice, as Speed, is uncertain. and knowing that he must dye, he looked upwards towards Heaven, and complained very pitiously, that his life should be taken from him who had not deserved to dye, for he knew not (he said) of any sin that ever he cōmitted but only one.
Suetonius writes as if he had dyed of a natural death, but Aurel. Vict. saith, he was poysoned by his Brother Domitian. Titus à Domitiano leporis marini vi peremptus. Cael. Rhod. Lect. Antiq. l. 6. cap. 30.
Morte praeventus est, majore hominum damno quam suo.
He was cut short and prevented by death, to the greater losse of Mankind then of himself, saith Suetonius.
The Senate gave him more thankes being dead,Senatus tantas mortuo gratias egit, laudes que congesset, quantas ne vivo quidem unquam atque praesenti. Suetonius. Aurelius. Eutropius. He lived 39 yeares, five moneths, 25. dayes, saith Carion. then ever they did living and present.
His death was much lamented, so that they call'd him generally, Delicias publicas; and wept for him as if the world had been deprived of a perpetuall Protectour. Tantus luctus eo mortuo publicus fuit, ut omnes tanquam in propria doluerint orbitate.
He dyed in the 42. year of his age, saith Suetonius. 41. say Aurel. Vict. and Eutropius.
When he had reigned two yeares, two moneths, and twenty dayes, say Suetonius, Aurel. Vict. Carion; eight moneths, saith Eutropius.