V E S 



courtier he was defi«ient ; for he is faid to have fallen adeep 

 during one of Nero's public mufical performances, and to 

 have thus hazarded his ruin. He accompanied this emperor 

 in his tour to Greece, and A.D. 66, he was appointed im- 

 perial lieutenant in the Jewifh war. In this ftation he had 

 full fcope for exhibiting his good quahties as a military com- 

 mander. With three legions, a body of cavalry, and ten 

 auxiliary cohorts, he invaded Judaea, his fon Titus ferving 

 under him as lieutenant. His progrefs was irrefiftible ; and 

 after capturing Jotapa and Joppa, and reducing almoll the 

 whole of Galilee, he withdrew to Ctsefarea, where he wit- 

 neffed the conflift of two Jewifh parties, who were de- 

 ftroying one another. Whilft he was preparing for the fiege 

 of Jerufalem, the death of Nero, A.D. 68, prefented to 

 him new profpefts. As foon as he received intelligence of 

 the acceffion of Galba, he fent his fon Titus to pay homage 

 to the new emperor ; but on his journey Titus received an 

 account of the murder of the emperor. This event pro- 

 duced a conteft between Otho and Vitellius for the imperial 

 throne. Vefpafian declared for Vitelhus, who, by Otho's 

 death, was left in poITeffion of the throne. But the new empe- 

 ror was both hated and defpifed ; and Vefpafian's reputation 

 was fo generally acknowledged in the Eaft, that in the year 

 69 he Vas proclafmed emperor by the legions of Judea, 

 Syria, and Egvpt, and his fovereignty was every where re- 

 cognized. When Italy fubmitted to his name, Vefpafian 

 was at Alexandria ; and as the fenate and people concurred 

 in his elevation to the imperial throne, he left this city 

 A.D. 70, and haftened to Rome, where his arrival was ea- 

 gerly expefted. He was received with general congratula- 

 tion and rejoicing ; and his conduiS; confirmed the hopes 

 that were entertained at the commencement of his reign. 

 To the revival of the ancient difcipline of the army his firfl 

 attention was diredled ; and as foon as he affumed the cen- 

 forial office, he revifed the lift of fenators and knights, dif- 

 placing the unworthy, and augmenting the number by the 

 adnnrinion of feveral meritorious citizens. Whilft he re- 

 ftrained luxury by his example and authority, and admmif- 

 tered juftice with impartiahty, he manifefted in his gene- 

 ral conduft the clemency and mildnefs of his difpofition. 

 He avoided every kind of parade, nor did he ever attempt to 

 difguife the meannefs of his origin. With tl.e fenators he 

 lived upon eaPy and familiar terms, receiving and returning 

 their viiits ; and, as an hiftorian obferves, afting tlie empe- 

 ror only by his vigilance for the pubhc welfare. The prin- 

 cipal blemifli of his charafter was his avarice. Accordingly, 

 he had recourfe to various mean and opprefllve expedients 

 for raifing money. Neverthelefs, the wealth which he accu- 

 mulated by fordid methods was diftributed with munificence, 

 in improving the capital and the country, and in providing 

 for poor fenators, for literary profeftors, and for the encou- 

 ragement of the arts. 



If we advert to the public events of his reign, the firll 

 year was diftinguilhed by the termination of the rebellion of 

 the Gauls under Civilis, and the capture of Jerufalem by 

 Titus ; and in the following year he fliut the temple of 

 Janus, and erefted a magnificent temple to Peace. In the 

 year 72, Comagene was reduced to a Roman province by the 

 depofition of its king Antiochus. The liberty granted to 

 the people of Greece by Nero, in recompence of their adu- 

 lation, was reftrifted A.D. 73, on account of fome tumults 

 which occurred, and they were again fubjefted to tribute 

 and the Roman government. The iflands of the iEgean fea 

 were likewife conftituted a Roman province, and Rhodes was 

 made the metropolis. The honour of this reign was juftly 

 reproached for the death of the virtuous patriot Helvidius 

 Prifcus, who, for freedom of fpeech, and aftion fcarcely 



4 



V E S 



compatible with monarchical government, was firft banifhcd 

 and afterwards fentenced to death by the fenate, a fen- 

 tence which, it is faid, was executed by the contrivance 

 of Mucianus, contrary to the orders of Vefpafian. The 

 tragical fate of Sabinus, and his wife Eponina, was very de- 

 rogatory to the charafter for clemency by which he was 

 diftinguiftied. ( See Sabinus. ) Vefpafian has alfo been 

 blamed for the bani(hment of the Stoic and Cynic philofo- 

 phers from Rome, under an appreheniion that they were 

 enemies to abfolute power. This emperor, having enjoyed 

 the benefit of a good conftitution to advanced age, wus 

 attacked with a fever in the infalubrions cfimate of Campania, 

 and having drank too copioufly of a cold mineral water, he 

 was feized with a complaint in his bowels, which foon reduced 

 him to a ftate of perilous debility. Apprifed of his danger, 

 and jefting upon the ufual imperial apotheofis, he faid, " In 

 my opinion, I am going to become a god." Afterwards, 

 as he found himfelf fainting, he attempted to rife out of his 

 bed, obferving, that " an emperor ought to die ftanding." 

 He expired in the arms of his attendants, in June A.D. 

 79, in the feventieth year of his age, and tenth of his 

 reign ; lamented by the Roman people, who under his go- 

 vernment had enjoyed feveral years of peace. Titus, one of 

 his fons, was the great fupport of his father's throne, and 

 the other, Doraitian, was the caufe of much trouble and 

 vexation to him. Tacitus. Suetonius. Crevier. 



VESPER, in yljlrommy, called alfo Hejperus, and the 

 e-veningjlar, is the planet Venus, when ftie is eallward of the 

 fun, and confequently fets after him. See Venus. 



Vesper, in Geography, a fmall ifland in the Pacific ocean, 

 about 36 miles in circumference, difcovered by Roggewin 

 in 1722 ; about 60 miles W. of Pernicious ifland. 



VESPERIES, in Ancient Geography, a town of Hifpa- 

 nia Citerior, belonging to the Varduli ; fituated N.E. of 

 Flaviobriga. 



VESPERS, in the Romifi Church, Evening Song, that 

 part of the office which is rehearfed after noon ; anfwering 

 to our evening prayers ; except that it differs more from the 

 office of the morning, called matins. 



Vespers, Sicilian, denote a famous era in the French 

 hiftory ; or a general maffacre of all the French in Sicily, 

 in the year 1282, to which the firft toll that called to vefpers 

 was the fignal. 



Some will have it to have happened on Eafter eve ; others 

 on the day of the Annunciation ; but moft authors affign it 

 to Eafter day. It is afcribed to one Prochites, a Cordelier, 

 at the time when Charles of Anjou, count of Provence, was 

 king of Naples and Sicily. The women with child by 

 Frenchmen were not fpared. 



After the like manner we fay, the matins of Mofconu, 

 fpeaking of the Mufcovites aflaffinating their prince Deme- 

 trius, and all the Poles, his adlierents, at Mofcow, the 

 27th of May, 1600, under the conduft of their duke 

 Choutiky, at fix o'clock m the morning ; and French matins 

 to the maffacre of St. Bartholomew, in 1572. 



VESPERTILIO, Bat, in Zoology, a genus of the 

 order Primates, in the clafs of Mammalia ; which, though 

 ranked by Linnaeus in the order of Primates, differs greatly 

 from the reft." The charadlers of this genus are, that the 

 teeth are ereft, fharp-pointed, and approximated ; and that 

 the hands are palmated with a membrane furrounding the 

 body, and giving the animal the power of flight. Dr. Shaw 

 obferves, that the curious formation of thefe animals cannot 

 be contemplated without admiration ; the bones of the ex- 

 tremities being continued into long and thin procefTes, con- 

 nefted by a moft delicate membrane or (kin, capable, from 

 its thinnefs, of being contrafted at pleafure into innumerable 



wrinkles, 



