Vespasian

Lives of the Twelve Caesars: vol
10, Vespasian, The

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Title: The Lives Of The Twelve Caesars, Volume 10. [VESPASIAN]
Author: C. Suetonius Tranquillus
Release Date: August, 2004 [EBook #6395] [Yes, we are more than

one year ahead of schedule] [This file was first posted on December 3,
2003]
Edition: 10
Language: English
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THE LIVES OF THE TWELVE CAESARS
By C. Suetonius Tranquillus;
To which are added,
HIS LIVES OF THE GRAMMARIANS, RHETORICIANS, AND
POETS.
The Translation of Alexander Thomson, M.D.
revised and corrected by T.Forester, Esq., A.M.

(441)

T. FLAVIUS VESPASIANUS AUGUSTUS.

I. The empire, which had been long thrown into a disturbed and
unsetted state, by the rebellion and violent death of its three last rulers,
was at length restored to peace and security by the Flavian family,
whose descent was indeed obscure, and which boasted no ancestral
honours; but the public had no cause to regret its elevation; though it is
acknowledged that Domitian met with the just reward of his avarice
and cruelty. Titus Flavius Petro, a townsman of Reate [721], whether a
centurion or an evocatus [722] of Pompey's party in the civil war, is
uncertain, fled out of the battle of Pharsalia and went home; where,
having at last obtained his pardon and discharge, he became a collector
of the money raised by public sales in the way of auction. His son,
surnamed Sabinus, was never engaged in the military service, though
some say he was a centurion of the first order, and others, that whilst he
held that rank, he was discharged on account of his bad state of health:
this Sabinus, I say, was a publican, and received the tax of the fortieth
penny in Asia. And there were remaining, at the time of the
advancement of the family, several statues, which had been erected to
him by the cities of that province, with this inscription: "To the honest
Tax- farmer." [723] He afterwards turned usurer amongst the Helvetii,
and there died, leaving behind him his wife, Vespasia Pella, and two
sons by her; the elder of whom, Sabinus, came to be prefect of the city,
and the younger, Vespasian, to be emperor. Polla, descended of a good
family, at Nursia [724], had for her father Vespasius Pollio, thrice
appointed (442) military tribune, and at last prefect of the camp; and
her brother was a senator of praetorian dignity. There is to this day,
about six miles from Nursia, on the road to Spoletum, a place on the
summit of a hill, called Vespasiae, where are several monuments of the
Vespasii, a sufficient proof of the splendour and antiquity of the family.
I will not deny that some have pretended to say, that Petro's father was
a native of Gallia Transpadana [725], whose employment was to hire
workpeople who used to emigrate every year from the country of the
Umbria into that of the Sabines, to assist them in their husbandry [726];
but who settled at last in the town of Reate, and there married. But of
this I have not been able to discover the least proof, upon the strictest
inquiry.
II. Vespasian was born in the country of the Sabines, beyond Reate, in

a little country-seat called Phalacrine, upon the fifth of the calends of
December [27th November], in the evening, in the consulship of
Quintus Sulpicius Camerinus and Caius Poppaeus Sabinus, five years
before the death of Augustus [727]; and was educated under the care of
Tertulla, his grandmother by the father's side, upon an estate belonging
to the family, at Cosa [728]. After his advancement to the empire, he
used frequently to visit the