The Lives Of The Twelve Caesars, Complete - C. Suetonius Tranquillus
Pages:
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 | 32 | 33 | 34 | 35 | 36 | 37 | 38 | 39 | 40 | 41 | 42 | 43 | 44 | 45 | 46 | 47 | 48 | 49 | 50 | 51 | 52 | 53 | 54
[Footnote 704: A.U.C. 821.]
[Footnote 705: A.U.C. 822.]
[Footnote 706: Vienne was a very ancient city of the province of
Narbonne, famous in ecclesiastical history as the early seat of a
bishopric in Gaul.]
[Footnote 707: See OTHO, c. ix.]
[Footnote 708: See OTHO, c. ix.]
[Footnote 709: Agrippina, the wife of Nero and mother of Germanicus,
founded a colony on the Rhine at the place of her birth. Tacit. Annal. b.
xii. It became a flourishing city, and its origin may be traced in its
modern name, Cologne.]
[Footnote 710: A dies non fastus, an unlucky day in the Roman calendar,
being the anniversary of their great defeat by the Gauls on the river
Allia, which joins the Tiber about five miles from Rome. This disaster
happened on the 16th of the calends of August (17th July).
[Footnote 711: Posca was sour wine or vinegar mixed with water, which was
used by the Roman soldiery as their common drink. It has been found
beneficial in the cure of putrid diseases.]
[Footnote 712: Upwards of 4000 pounds sterling. See note, p. 487.]
[Footnote 713: In imitation of the form of the public edicts, which began
with the words, BONUM FACTUM.]
[Footnote 714: Catta muliere: The Catti were a German tribe who inhabited
the present countries of Hesse or Baden. Tacitus, De Mor. Germ., informs
us that the Germans placed great confidence in the prophetical
inspirations which they attributed to their women.]
[Footnote 715: Suetonius does not supply any account of the part added by
Tiberius to the palace of the Caesars on the Palatine, although, as it
will be recollected, he has mentioned or described the works of Augustus,
Caligula, and Nero. The banquetting-room here mentioned would easily
command a view of the Capitol, across the narrow intervening valley.
Flavius Sabinus, Vespasian's brother, was prefect of the city.]
[Footnote 716: Caligula.]
[Footnote 717: Lucius and Germanicus, the brother and son of Vitellius,
were slain near Terracina; the former was marching to his brother's
relief.]
[Footnote 718: A.U.C. 822.]
[Footnote 719: c. ix.]
[Footnote 720: Becco, from whence the French bec, and English beak; with,
probably, the family names of Bec or Bek. This distinguished provincial,
under his Latin name of Antoninus Primus, commanded the seventh legion in
Gaul. His character is well drawn by Tacitus, in his usual terse style,
Hist. XI. 86. 2.]
[Footnote 721: Reate, the original seat of the Flavian family, was a city
of the Sabines. Its present name is Rieti.]
[Footnote 722: It does not very clearly appear what rank in the Roman
armies was held by the evocati. They are mentioned on three occasions by
Suetonius, without affording us much assistance. Caesar, like our author,
joins them with the centurions. See, in particular, De Bell. Civil. I.
xvii. 4.]
[Footnote 723: The inscription was in Greek, kalos telothaesanti.]
[Footnote 724: In the ancient Umbria, afterwards the duchy of Spoleto;
its modern name being Norcia.]
[Footnote 725: Gaul beyond, north of the Po, now Lombardy.]
[Footnote 726: We find the annual migration of labourers in husbandry a
very common practice in ancient as well as in modern times. At present,
several thousand industrious labourers cross over every summer from the
duchies of Parma and Modena, bordering on the district mentioned by
Suetonius, to the island of Corsica; returning to the continent when the
harvest is got in.]
[Footnote 727: A.U.C. 762, A.D. 10.]
[Footnote 728: Cosa was a place in the Volscian territory; of which
Anagni was probably the chief town. It lies about forty miles to the
north-east of Rome.]
[Footnote 729: Caligula.]
[Footnote 730: These games were extraordinary, as being out of the usual
course of those given by praetors.]
[Footnote 731: "Revocavit in contubernium." From the difference of our
habits, there is no word in the English language which exactly conveys the
meaning of contubernium; a word which, in a military sense, the Romans
applied to the intimate fellowship between comrades in war who messed
together, and lived in close fellowship in the same tent. Thence they
transferred it to a union with one woman who was in a higher position than
a concubine, but, for some reason, could not acquire the legal rights of a
wife, as in the case of slaves of either sex. A man of rank, also, could
not marry a slave or a freedwoman, however much he might be attached to
her.]
[Footnote 732: Nearly the same phrases are applied by Suetonius to
Drusilla, see CALIGULA, c. xxiv., and to Marcella, the concubine of
Commodus, by Herodian, I. xvi. 9., where he says that she had all the
honours of an empress, except that the incense was not offered to her.
These connections resembled the left-hand marriages of the German
princes.]
[Footnote 733: This expedition to Britain has been mentioned before,
CLAUDIUS, c. xvii. and note; and see ib. xxiv.]
Valerius Flaccus, i. 8, and Silius Italicus, iii. 598, celebrate the
triumphs of Vespasian in Britain. In representing him, however, as
carrying his arms among the Caledonian tribes, their flattery transferred
to the emperor the glory of the victories gained by his lieutenant,
Agricola. Vespasian's own conquests, while he served in Britain, were
principally in the territories of the Brigantes, lying north of the
Humber, and including the present counties of York and Durham.]
[Footnote 734: A.U.C. 804.]
[Footnote 735: Tacitus, Hist. V. xiii. 3., mentions this ancient
prediction, and its currency through the East, in nearly the same terms as
Suetonius. The coming power is in both instances described in the plural
number, profecti; "those shall come forth;" and Tacitus applies it to
Titus as well as Vespasian. The prophecy is commonly supposed to have
reference to a passage in Micah, v. 2, "Out of thee (Bethlehem-Ephrata)
shall He come forth, to be ruler in Israel." Earlier prophetic
intimations of a similar character, and pointing to a more extended
dominion, have been traced in the sacred records of the Jews; and there is
reason to believe that these books were at this time not unknown in the
heathen world, particularly at Alexandria, and through the Septuagint
version. These predictions, in their literal sense, point to the
establishment of a universal monarchy, which should take its rise in
Judaea. The Jews looked for their accomplishment in the person of one of
their own nation, the expected Messiah, to which character there were many
pretenders in those times. The first disciples of Christ, during the
whole period of his ministry, supposed that they were to be fulfilled in
him. The Romans thought that the conditions were answered by Vespasian,
and Titus having been called from Judaea to the seat of empire. The
expectations entertained by the Jews, and naturally participated in and
appropriated by the first converts to Christianity, having proved
groundless, the prophecies were subsequently interpreted in a spiritual
sense.]
[Footnote 736: Gessius Florus was at that time governor of Judaea, with
the title and rank of prepositus, it not being a proconsular province, as
the native princes still held some parts of it, under the protection and
with the alliance of the Romans. Gessius succeeded Florus Albinus, the
successor of Felix.]
[Footnote 737: Cestius Gallus was consular lieutenant in Syria.]
[Footnote 738: See note to c. vii.]
[Footnote 739: A right hand was the sign of sovereign power, and, as
every one knows, borne upon a staff among the standards of the armies.]
[Footnote 740: Tacitus says, "Carmel is the name both of a god and a
mountain; but there is neither image nor temple of the god; such are the
ancient traditions; we find there only an altar and religious awe."--Hist.
xi. 78, 4. It also appears, from his account, that Vespasian offered
sacrifice on Mount Carmel, where Basilides, mentioned hereafter, c. vii.,
predicted his success from an inspection of the entrails.]
[Footnote 741: Josephus, the celebrated Jewish historian, who was engaged
in these wars, having been taken prisoner, was confined in the dungeon at
Jotapata, the castle referred to in the preceding chapter, before which
Vespasian was wounded.--De Bell. cxi. 14.]
[Footnote 742: The prediction of Josephus was founded on the Jewish
prophecies mentioned in the note to c. iv., which he, like others, applied
to Vespasian.]
[Footnote 743: Julius Caesar is always called by our author after his
apotheosis, Divus Julius.]
[Footnote 744: The battle at Bedriacum secured the Empire for Vitellius.
See OTHO, c. ix; VITELLIUS, c. x.]
[Footnote 745: Alexandria may well be called the key, claustra, of Egypt,
which was the granary of Rome. It was of the first importance that
Vespasian should secure it at this juncture.]
[Footnote 746: Tacitus describes Basilides as a man of rank among the
Egyptians, and he appears also to have been a priest, as we find him
officiating at Mount Carmel, c. v. This is so incompatible with his being
a Roman freedman, that commentators concur in supposing that the word
"libertus." although found in all the copies now extant, has crept into
the text by some inadvertence of an early transcriber. Basilides appears,
like Philo Judaeus, who lived about the same period, to have been
half-Greek, half-Jew, and to have belonged to the celebrated Platonic
school of Alexandria.]
[Footnote 747: Tacitus informs us that Vespasian himself believed
Basilides to have been at this time not only in an infirm state of health,
but at the distance of several days' journey from Alexandria. But (for
his greater satisfaction) he strictly examined the priests whether
Basilides had entered the temple on that day: he made inquiries of all he
met, whether he had been seen in the city; nay, further, he dispatched
messengers on horseback, who ascertained that at the time specified,
Basilides was more than eighty miles from Alexandria. Then Vespasian
comprehended that the appearance of Basilides, and the answer to his
prayers given through him, were by divine interposition. Tacit. Hist. iv.
82. 2.]
[Footnote 748: The account given by Tacitus of the miracles of Vespasian
is fuller than that of Suetonius, but does not materially vary in the
details, except that, in his version of the story, he describes the
impotent man to be lame in the hand, instead of the leg or the knee, and
adds an important circumstance in the case of the blind man, that he was
"notus tabe occulorum," notorious for the disease in his eyes. He also
winds up the narrative with the following statement: "They who were
present, relate both these cures, even at this time, when there is nothing
to be gained by lying." Both the historians lived within a few years of
the occurrence, but their works were not published until advanced periods
of their lives. The closing remark of Tacitus seems to indicate that, at
least, he did not entirely discredit the account; and as for Suetonius,
his pages are as full of prodigies of all descriptions, related apparently
in all good faith, as a monkish chronicle of the Middle Ages.
The story has the more interest, as it is one of the examples of
successful imposture, selected by Hume in his Essay on Miracles; with the
reply to which by Paley, in his Evidences of Christianity, most readers
are familiar. The commentators on Suetonius agree with Paley in
considering the whole affair as a juggle between the priests, the
patients, and, probably, the emperor. But what will, perhaps, strike the
reader as most remarkable, is the singular coincidence of the story with
the accounts given of several of the miracles of Christ; whence it has
been supposed, that the scene was planned in imitation of them. It did
not fall within the scope of Dr. Paley's argument to advert to this; and
our own brief illustration must be strictly confined within the limits of
historical disquisition. Adhering to this principle, we may point out
that if the idea of plagiarism be accepted, it receives some confirmation
from the incident related by our author in a preceding paragraph, forming,
it may be considered, another scene of the same drama, where we find
Basilides appearing to Vespasian in the temple of Serapis, under
circumstances which cannot fail to remind us of Christ's suddenly standing
in the midst of his disciples, "when the doors were shut." This incident,
also, has very much the appearance of a parody on the evangelical history.
But if the striking similarity of the two narratives be thus accounted
for, it is remarkable that while the priests of Alexandria, or, perhaps,
Vespasian himself from his residence in Judaea, were in possession of such
exact details of two of Christ's miracles--if not of a third striking
incident in his history--we should find not the most distant allusion in
the works of such cotemporary writers as Tacitus and Suetonius, to any one
of the still more stupendous occurrences which had recently taken place in
a part of the world with which the Romans had now very intimate relations.
The character of these authors induces us to hesitate in adopting the
notion, that either contempt or disbelief would have led them to pass over
such events, as altogether unworthy of notice; and the only other
inference from their silence is, that they had never heard of them. But
as this can scarcely be reconciled with the plagiarism attributed to
Vespasian or the Egyptian priests, it is safer to conclude that the
coincidence, however singular, was merely fortuitous. It may be added
that Spartianus, who wrote the lives of Adrian and succeeding emperors,
gives an account of a similar miracle performed by that prince in healing
a blind man.]
[Footnote 749: A.U.C. 823-833, excepting 826 and 831.]
[Footnote 750: The temple of Peace, erected A.D. 71, on the conclusion of
the wars with the Germans and the Jews, was the largest temple in Rome.
Vespasian and Titus deposited in it the sacred vessels and other spoils
which were carried in their triumph after the conquest of Jerusalem. They
were consumed, and the temple much damaged, if not destroyed, by fire,
towards the end of the reign of Commodus, in the year 191. It stood in
the Forum, where some ruins on a prodigious scale, still remaining, were
traditionally considered to be those of the Temple of Peace, until
Piranesi contended that they are part of Nero's Golden House. Others
suppose that they are the remains of a Basilica. A beautiful fluted
Corinthian column, forty-seven feet high, which was removed from this
spot, and now stands before the church of S. Maria Maggiore, gives a great
idea of the splendour of the original structure.]
[Footnote 751: This temple, converted into a Christian church by pope
Simplicius, who flourished, A.D. 464-483, preserves much of its ancient
character. It is now, called San Stefano in Rotondo, from its circular
form; the thirty-four pillars, with arches springing from one to the other
and intended to support the cupola, still remaining to prove its former
magnificence.]
[Footnote 752: This amphitheatre is the famous Colosseum begun by Trajan,
and finished by Titus. It is needless to go into details respecting a
building the gigantic ruins of which are so well known.]
[Footnote 753: Hercules is said, after conquering Geryon in Spain, to
have come into this part of Italy. One of his companions, the supposed
founder of Reate, may have had the name of Flavus.]
[Footnote 754: Vespasian and his son Titus had a joint triumph for the
conquest of Judaea, which is described at length by Josephus, De Bell.
Jud. vii. 16. The coins of Vespasian exhibiting the captive Judaea
(Judaea capta), are probably familiar to the reader. See Harphrey's Coin
Collector's Manual, p. 328.]
[Footnote 755: Demetrius, who was born at Corinth, seems to have been a
close imitator of Diogenes, the founder of the sect. Having come to Rome
to study under Apollonius, he was banished to the islands, with other
philosophers, by Vespasian.]
[Footnote 756: There being no such place as Morbonia, and the supposed
name being derived from morbus, disease, some critics have supposed that
Anticyra, the asylum of the incurables, (see CALIGULA, c. xxix.) is meant;
but the probability is, that the expression used by the imperial
chamberlain was only a courtly version of a phrase not very commonly
adopted in the present day.]
[Footnote 757: Helvidius Priscus, a person of some celebrity as a
philosopher and public man, is mentioned by Tacitus, Xiphilinus, and
Arrian.]
[Footnote 758: Cicero speaks in strong terms of the sordidness of retail
trade--Off. i. 24.]
[Footnote 759: The sesterce being worth about two-pence half-penny of
English money, the salary of a Roman senator was, in round numbers, five
thousand pounds a year; and that of a professor, as stated in the
succeeding chapter, one thousand pounds. From this scale, similar
calculations may easily be made of the sums occurring in Suetonius's
statements from time to time. There appears to be some mistake in the sum
stated in c. xvi. just before, as the amount seems fabulous, whether it
represented the floating debt, or the annual revenue, of the empire.]
[Footnote 760: See AUGUSTUS, c. xliii. The proscenium of the ancient
theatres was a solid erection of an architectural design, not shifted and
varied as our stage-scenes.]
[Footnote 761: Many eminent writers among the Romans were originally
slaves, such as Terence and Phaedrus; and, still more, artists, physicians
and artificers. Their talents procuring their manumission, they became
the freedmen of their former masters. Vespasian, it appears from
Suetonius, purchased the freedom of some persons of ability belonging to
these classes.]
[Footnote 762: The Coan Venus was the chef-d'oeuvre of Apelles, a native
of the island of Cos, in the Archipelago, who flourished in the time of
Alexander the Great. If it was the original painting which was now
restored, it must have been well preserved.]
[Footnote 763: Probably the colossal statue of Nero (see his Life, c.
xxxi.), afterwards placed in Vespasian's amphitheatre, which derived its
name from it.]
[Footnote 764: The usual argument in all times against the introduction
of machinery.]
[Footnote 765: See AUGUSTUS, c. xxix.]
[Footnote 766: At the men's Saturnalia, a feast held in December attended
with much revelling, the masters waited upon their slaves; and at the
women's Saturnalia, held on the first of March, the women served their
female attendants, by whom also they sent presents to their friends.]
[Footnote 767: Notwithstanding the splendour, and even, in many respects,
the refinement of the imperial court, the language as well as the habits
of the highest classes in Rome seem to have been but too commonly of the
grossest description, and every scholar knows that many of their writers
are not very delicate in their allusions. Apropos of the ludicrous
account given in the text, Martial, on one occasion, uses still plainer
language.
Utere lactucis, et mollibus utere malvis:
Nam faciem durum Phoebe, cacantis habes.--iii. 89.]
[Footnote 768: See c. iii. and note.]
[Footnote 769: Probably the emperor had not entirely worn off, or might
even affect the rustic dialect of his Sabine countrymen; for among the
peasantry the au was still pronounced o, as in plostrum for plaustrum, a
waggon; and in orum for aurum, gold, etc. The emperor's retort was very
happy, Flaurus being derived from a Greek word, which signifies worthless,
while the consular critic's proper name, Florus, was connected with much
more agreeable associations.]
[Footnote 770: Some of the German critics think that the passage bears
the sense of the gratuity having beer given by the lady, and that so
parsimonious a prince as Vespasian was not likely to have paid such a sum
as is here stated for a lady's proffered favours.]
[Footnote 771: The Flavian family had their own tomb. See DOMITIAN, c.
v. The prodigy, therefore, did not concern Vespasian. As to the tomb of
the Julian family, see AUGUSTUS, c. ci.]
[Footnote 772: Alluding to the apotheosis of the emperors.]
[Footnote 773: Cutiliae was a small lake, about three-quarters of a mile
from Reate, now called Lago di Contigliano. It was very deep, and being
fed from springs in the neighbouring hills, the water was exceedingly
clear and cold, so that it was frequented by invalids, who required
invigorating. Vespasian's paternal estates lay in the neighbourhood of
Reate. See chap i.]
[Footnote 774: A.U.C. 832.]
[Footnote 775: Each dynasty lasted twenty-eight years. Claudius and Nero
both reigning fourteen; and, of the Flavius family, Vespasian reigned ten,
Titus three, and Domitian fifteen.]
[Footnote 776: Caligula. Titus was born A.U.C. 794; about A.D. 49.]
[Footnote 777: The Septizonium was a circular building of seven stories.
The remains of that of Septimus Severus, which stood on the side of the
Palatine Hill, remained till the time of Pope Sixtus V., who removed it,
and employed thirty-eight of its columns in ornamenting the church of St.
Peter. It does not appear whether the Septizonium here mentioned as
existing in the time of Titus, stood on the same spot.]
[Footnote 778: Britannicus, the son of Claudius and Messalina.]
[Footnote 779: A.U.C. 820.]
[Footnote 780: Jerusalem was taken, sacked, and burnt, by Titus, after a
two years' siege, on the 8th September, A.U.C. 821, A.D. 69; it being the
Sabbath. It was in the second year of the reign of Vespasian, when the
emperor was sixty years old, and Titus himself, as he informs us, thirty.
For particulars of the siege, see Josephus, De Bell. Jud. vi. and vii.;
Hegesippus, Excid. Hierosol. v.; Dio, lxvi.; Tacitus, Hist. v.; Orosius,
vii. 9.]
[Footnote 781: For the sense in which Titus was saluted with the title of
Emperor by the troops, see JULIUS CAESAR, c. lxxvi.]
[Footnote 782: The joint triumph of Vespasian and Titus, which was
celebrated A.U.C. 824, is fully described by Josephus, De Bell. Jud. vii.
24. It is commemorated by the triumphal monument called the Arch of
Titus, erected by the senate and people of Rome after his death, and still
standing at the foot of the Palatine Hill, on the road leading from the
Colosseum to the Forum, and is one of the most beautiful as well as the
most interesting models of Roman art. It consists of four stories of the
three orders of architecture, the Corinthian being repeated in the two
highest. Some of the bas-reliefs, still in good preservation, represent
the table of the shew-bread, the seven-branched golden candlestick, the
vessel of incense, and the silver trumpets, which were taken by Titus from
the Temple at Jerusalem, and, with the book of the law, the veil of the
temple, and other spoils, were carried in the triumph. The fate of these
sacred relics is rather interesting. Josephus says, that the veil and
books of the law were deposited in the Palatium, and the rest of the
spoils in the Temple of Peace. When that was burnt, in the reign of
Commodus, these treasures were saved, and they were afterwards carried off
by Genseric to Africa. Belisarius recovered them, and brought them to
Constantinople, A.D. 520. Procopius informs us, that a Jew, who saw them,
told an acquaintance of the emperor that it would not be advisable to
carry them to the palace at Constantinople, as they could not remain
anywhere else but where Solomon had placed them. This, he said, was the
reason why Genseric had taken the Palace at Rome, and the Roman army had
in turn taken that of the Vandal kings. Upon this, the emperor was so
alarmed, that he sent the whole of them to the Christian churches at
Jerusalem.]
[Footnote 783: A.U.C. 825.]
[Footnote 784: A.U.C. 824.]
[Footnote 785: A.U.C. 823, 825, 827-830, 832.]
[Footnote 786: Berenice, whose name is written by our author and others
Beronice, was daughter of Agrippa the Great, who was by Aristobulus,
grandson of Herod the Great. Having been contracted to Mark, son of
Alexander Lysimachus, he died before their union, and Agrippa married her
to Herod, Mark's brother, for whom he had obtained from the emperor
Claudius the kingdom of Chalcis. Herod also dying, Berenice, then a
widow, lived with her brother, Agrippa, and was suspected of an incestuous
intercourse with him. It was at this time that, on their way to the
imperial court at Rome, they paid a visit to Festus, at Caesarea, and were
present when St. Paul answered his accusers so eloquently before the
tribunal of the governor. Her fascinations were so great, that, to shield
herself from the charge of incest, she prevailed on Polemon, king of
Cilicia, to submit to be circumcised, become a Jew, and marry her. That
union also proving unfortunate, she appears to have returned to Jerusalem,
and having attracted Vespasian by magnificent gifts, and the young Titus
by her extraordinary beauty, she followed them to Rome, after the
termination of the Jewish war, and had apartments in the palace, where she
lived with Titus, "to all appearance, as his wife," as Xiphilinus informs
us; and there seems no doubt that he would have married her, but for the
strong prejudices of the Romans against foreign alliances. Suetonius tells
us with what pain they separated.]