The Lives of the Twelve Caesars, Complete
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