TITUS, FLAVIUS VESPASIANUS. 



TITUS. 



100 



Vespasianus was at the bead of three legions and a strong body of 

 auxiliaries. This obstacle was a serious misunderstanding which 

 existed between Vespasianus and Muscianus, the proconsul of Syria. 

 Titus succeeded in reconciling them. Their difference had chiefly a 

 political character, yet Titus, by the mildness of his wanner and by the 

 modesty of his persuasion, brought together two highly-gifted men 

 who were divided by tho most intractable of passions. Supported by 

 Mucianus, by Tiberius Alexander, and by Titus, Vespasianus was pro- 

 claimed emperor by tho army in the East, while his brother Flavius 

 Sabinus occupied for him the Capitol iu Home, and compelled Yitel- 

 lius to lay down the imperial diadem. [VESPASIANUS; TJBEUIUS 

 ALEXANDEB ; VITELLIUS.] Vespasianus left Judaea for Rome, and tue 

 command of the army of Judaea and the continuation of the war 

 devolved upon Titus. Domitianus, tho younger brother of Titus, 

 having incurred the displeasure of his lather, Titus interceded for 

 him with brotherly affection. (Tacitus, 'Hist.,' iv. 51, 52.) 



The army in Judaea, of which Titus was now tho commander, con- 

 sisted of six legions, twenty cohorts of allies, eight corps of cavalry, 

 the troops of the Kings Agrippa and Sohemus, the auxiliaries of King 

 Antiochus of Commagene, and a small body of Arabs. After a long 

 siege, Jerusalem was taken by storm ; the whole population, more 

 than 600,000 men, was massacred; and the remainder of the Jews 

 were dispersed over the world (2nd of September, A.D. 70). In this 

 memorable siege Titus distinguished himself both as a general and as 

 a soldier, and it is said that he killed twelve men of the garrison with 

 his own hand. In the same year Titus was created Caesar by Ves- 

 pasianus, whose colleague he was in his first consulship ; and he was 

 again consul in the years 72, 74, 75, 76, 77, and 79. Vespasianus 

 however recalled his son from Judaea. A rumour was spread that 

 Titus secretly aimed at making himself master of the East, and this 

 rumour had reached Vespasianus. 



So universally was Titus beloved, that the army implored him 

 either to stay with them, or at least not to go without them ; but he 

 obeyed the command of his father, and by his speedy return proved 

 that those rumours were entirely unfounded. He celebrated a triumph 

 together with Vespaaianus, for their victories over the Jews, in com- 

 memoration of which a triumphal arch was erect- d, which is still one 

 of the finest monuments of that kind existing in Rome. Titus was 

 likewise tribune with his father, who esteemed him so much, that he 

 allowed him not only to write letters in his name, but also to draw up 

 the imperial edicts. (Suetouius 'Titus,' 6.) During the reign of 

 Vespasianus, various high functions were successively conferred upon 

 Titus, whose character however seems to have been somewhat altered 

 by the influence of the general corruption of the capital. He was 

 charged with acting rashly : he subjected himself to the reproach of 

 having ordered the murder of Caecina, which was an act of cruelty, for 

 though Caecina was guilty of treason, he had not been legally sentenced 

 (Suetonius, 'Titus,' 6); and he was generally reproached for taking 

 money from those who solicited his intercession with the emperor. 

 On the other side however he remonstrated with his father on those 

 measures which this very economical prince adopted for the purpose 

 of improving the finances, which were exhausted by the dissipation of 

 Vitellius. He was also charged with love of women. But he ordered 

 Berenice, who had followed him to Rome, to go back to Judaea, and he 

 thus proved once more that his passion for her did not prevent him 

 from doing bis duty. The consequence of this was, that the Romans, 

 who, by the example of Tiberius, Caligula, and Nero, knew that the 

 virtue of exalted men is exposed to great temptations and strange 

 changes, feared that Titus would become a new proof of the truth of 

 their experience. 



But no sooner did Titus become emperor by the death of Ves- 

 pasianus in A,D. 79, than he showed that all these fears were unfounded. 

 His virtuous conduct was the subject of general admiration. During 

 his short reign the empire was visited by great calamities. An erup- 

 tion of Vesuvius destroyed the towns of Herculaneum, Stabiae, and 

 Pompeii, and carried ruin over the fertile coast of Campania (August, 

 79) [PLINY] : in the year 80 a conflagration broke out in Rome, which 

 lasted three days, and destroyed a great part of this city ; the build- 

 ings on the Campus Martins, the Capitol, the library of Octavianus, 

 were laid in ruins, and the Pantheon was damaged; and no sooner 

 had the people recovered from their consternation than the plague 

 broke out, of which 10,000 persons died every day. Titus supported 

 his unhappy subjects with the greatest liberality; he exhausted his 

 treasures, and he ordered the property and estates of those who had 

 perished without leaving heirs, to be distributed among the sufferers, 

 although the property of such persons belonged to the fiscus, or the 

 emperor's private purse. His liberality was so great that bis friends 

 reproached him for it; he answered, that it was not just that any- 

 body should leave the emperor with a sorrowful eye. He punished 

 severely and exiled to the small barren islands in the Mediterranean 

 those who followed the profession of false accusers [TIBERIUS CLAUDIUS 

 NERO] ; and he dislike^ the punishment of death so much, that he 

 used to say that he would rather die than cause the death of others. 

 Two patricians conspired against him, but be did not punish them : he 

 only said, " Do not do it again ; Providence alone distributes crowns" 

 (Suetonius, 'Titus,' 9); and he then invited them to accompany him 

 to the amphitheatre. He acted with the same generosity towards his 

 brother Domitianus, who was guilty of more than one conspiracy 



against his brother. He gained all hearts by bis extreme affability, 

 which however was always accompanied by dignity ; and he delighted 

 the Roman people with splendid entertainments, giving them amongst 

 others the spectacle of five thousand wild beasts fighting with each 

 other in tho Colosseum, or Flavian amphitheatre, which was finished 

 by his order, tha construction of it having been commenced under 

 VeHpasianus. 



During the reign of Titus, Agricola restored tranquillity to Britain, 

 and penetrated as far as the Frith of Tay. (A.D. 80.) In the following 

 year he constructed the wall between the rivers Glota and Bodotria 

 (the Frith of Clyde and the Frith of Forth), in order to protect 

 Britain against the invasions of the Caledonians. 



In order to recover his broken health Titus retired, in A.D. 81, to a 

 villa in the neighbourhood of Reate, which belonged to his family, 

 and where Vespasianus had died. Here he was attacked by acute 

 fever, and died pn the 13th of September 81. It was said that bis 

 brother Domitiauus, who had accompanied him to Reate, had been the 

 cause of his death by advising the use of improper remedies. On his 

 death-bed Titus exclaimed that he died without regret, exc pt for one 

 act, which however he did not specify. The news of his death reached 

 Rome in the evening, and the senators assembled in the same night, 

 anxious to know each other's hopes and fears with regard to tho 

 unworthy successor of Titus, Domitianus. The consternation of the 

 people was general, for they had lost him to whom they had given the 

 name of " the delight of the human race." 



(Josephus, Jewish War, vi. 6, &c. ; Dion Cassius, Ixvi. 18, &c. ; 

 Aurelius Victor, De Ciesaribus, 10; Eutropius, vii. 14.) 



Coin of Titus. 

 British Museum. Actual size. Copper. Weight 398-7 grains. 



TITUS. Little is known of the personal history of Titus, to whom 

 the epistle of St. Paul is addressed. His name is not even mentioned 

 in the Acts of the Apostles, and all authentic information about him 

 is derived from the Epistles of St. Paul. From these it appears that 

 Titus was converted by St. Paul, by whom he is called " his own son 

 after the common faith" (i. 4), but when and where is not recorded. 

 Accordingly there are various conjectures on this subject. This we 

 know for certain, that Titus was (Acts, xv. ; Gal, ii.) with St. Paul in 

 Antioch before the first Council was holden at Jerusalem, and that he 

 was one of the party sent by the Church at Antioch to consult the 

 Apostles at Jerusalem, op the question whether it was necessary for 

 the Gentile converts to submit to circumcision " after the manner of 

 Moses." To this rite the Judaising Christians at Jerusalem were 

 anxious that Titus should submit ; but St. Paul (Gal., ii.) informs us 

 that he firmly refused to do so. After the Council it would seem that 

 Titus returned with St. Paul to Antioch, and subsequently accom- 

 panied him on some of his travels. 



At any rate, from the expression in 2 Cor., viii. 23, it appears almost 

 certain that Titus assisted St. Paul in preaching the Gospel at Corinth. 

 From 1 Cor., xvi. 8, compared with 2 Cor., vii., it is not improbable 

 that Titus was also with St. Paul during his long residence at Ephesus 

 (Acts, xix. 10), and that he was selected to be the bearer of the first 

 Epistle to the Corinthians, which was written by St. Paul at Ephesus. 

 On his return from Corinth, whatever might be the occasion of the 

 visit alluded to in 2 Cor. vii., Titus met St. Paul in Macedonia, and 

 gave him such an account of the Corinthian Church, and of the effect 

 produced by his first letter to it, as gave him tho highest satisfaction. 

 (2 Cor., viL 6-13.) Titus also appears to have been the bearer of the 

 apostle's second letter to the Corinthians, when he was charged to 

 excite them to finish their collections for the poor converts in Judaea, 

 which they had begun during his former visit. From 58, when we 

 suppose him to have been the bearer of St. Paul's second epistle to 

 the Corinthians, to 62, we hear nothing of him ; in the latter year, in 

 all probability, he was left by St. Paul in Crete, "to set in order the 

 things that were wanting, and to ordain elders in every city." (Titus, 

 i. 4.) This year was the date of St. Paul's release from his first con- 

 finement at Rome, when he is supposed to have touched at Crete, and 

 made some converts there, on his way from Italy to Judjoa. Subse- 

 quently to this, Titus was requested by St. Paul (iii. 12) to visit him 

 at Nicopolis in Epirus, and it seems that he was also with him during 

 bis second residence at Rome. (2 Timothy, iv. 10.) We have no 

 certain information as to the time and place of Titus's death ; but 

 according to an ancient tradition, he lived to the age of ninety-four 

 years, and died and was buried in Crete. The date of the epistle has 



