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VESPASIAN.—MUCIANUS.
Vespasian bad at this time arrived at the age of sixty. During
the frightful period of the reigns of Caligula, Claudius, and
Nero, he was fortunate enough to escape ; but he was obliged
to put up with many unpleasant things, and at the time when
the empire was reduced to a state of perfect servitude, he too
had been under the necessity of acting the part of a slave, but
had done it always with reluctance. He was a good general,
and had gradually risen without any one being able to charge
him with rapacity or cruelty,—a feature which deserves the
greater admiration, as he is said to have been naturally fond of
money. He had thus conducted himself with innocentiα, at a
time when there was neither a lack of good generals nor of
wars in which they could develop their talents. His family
belonged to the town of Nursia, the birthplace of Scrtorius,
among the high Sabine mountains. The Nursina dυ.rltia of which
Fronto5 speaks, must be applied to Sertorius and Vespasian. In
the country about Nursia, the old Italian families had preserved
their character as sturdy peasants. Vespasian was universally
known and honoured in the Roman armies, for he had all the
virtues of a general, and had not been affected by the vices of
the higher classes among the Romans. Licinius Mucianus,
the governor of Syria, on the other hand, belonged to the
Licinii, one of the noblest families: he was also connected
with the Much; but descent from an ancient family was at
that time of no importance at Rome. Mucianus felt this, as
well as that he was inferior to Vespasian (for he was effeminate).
They were in fact very different from each other, and had for-
merly not been on good terms, but Mucianus now offered to
the stern and severe Vespasian his hand in token of recon-
ciliation, and readily assisted in raising him to the throne.
LECTURE CXVI.
Mucianus was a man of rank, and, without being wicked,
had all the vices of his age. He had little ambition, and pre-
ferred being under an emperor to being empe ror himself, which
5 Principia Histcriae, p. 242, cd. Niobuhr. Compare Lectures vol. U. LecU
Ixxxviii. p. 399, foil.
murder of Vitellius.
207
dignity seems to have had no charms for him. Vespasian on
the other hand, was free from the faults of the higher orders,
and rather possessed the virtues peculiar to the lower classes.
He had recognised Galba as emperor without any hesitation ;
but after Galba’s death the thought occurred to him to seek
the imperial dignity for himself, for he must have been con-
scious that he was fit for it, and that the attention of the
Roman world was directed towards him. When, however, the
insurrection against ViteIlius broke out, Vespasian was not
under the necessity of coming forward himself; for Antonius
Frimus, who placed himself at the head of the revolted legions
of Moesia and Pannonia, marched into Italy, and conquered
the generals of Vitellius in the neighbourhood of Cremona.
At Rome too the insurrection had now broken out. T. Flavius
Sabinus, the brother of Vespasian, who was praefect of the
city, and Domitian, the younger son of Vespasian, were at
Rome, and were looked upon by the Vitellian party as hos-
tages for Vespasian. The conduct of Vitellius towards them
was vacillating. The first movement irritated him ; afterwards,
on being terrified by the report of the battle near Cremona,
he tried to capitulate, and was ready to surrender his power;
but when he observed some symptoms which seemed to
announce a change in his favour, he attempted to make
Sabinus and Domitian his prisoners. They fled to the Capitol,
which was taken and set on fire; and Sabinus was cut down
during the massacre. Domitian escaped with great difficulty.
Rome was in a state of perfect anarchy. At that time, an em-
peror resigning his throne could not save his life; because there
were no convents as in the time of the Byzantine empire. The
party of Vespasian, which was gradually formed, gained fresh
strength every day; and the victorious army, under Antonius
Primus, advanced irresistibly towards Rome, where the mad-
dest excesses were committed on both sides. The city was quite
defenceless, and fell into the hands of the conquerors. Vitellius
was murdered after a reign of about eight months.
I believe that Domitian was at this time about twenty years
old. He took the power into his own hands. His elder bro-
ther, Titus, was left by Vespasian in Judaea; and, as the latter
did not arrive in Italy for some time, Domitian exercised the
imperial power in his name. During his father’s absence, he
committed many acts of cruelty, from a desire to take vengeance