272 The Empire. R 0 M E. The Empire. 
Vespasian extended his fostering arm to the arts and sciences, 
and to the restoration of the public buildings, and the im¬ 
provement of the city. He settled 100,000 sesterces on the 
teachers of rhetoric. He patronised Josephus, the Jewish 
historian, and Quintilian the orator; and Pliny, the natural 
historian, was held by him in the highest regard. He patro¬ 
nised both the fine and the useful arts; and he invited to his 
capital, and took under his patronage, the most celebrated 
masters and artificers from every part of the world. He 
restored the capitol to its original splendour; he built the 
celebrated amphitheatre, whose ruins still attest its former 
grandeur; and he founded several new cities, and re¬ 
paired others that had suffered from the devastations 
of his predecessors. The clemency of Vespasian was not 
less than his wisdom. He provided a match in a noble 
family for the daughter of Vitellius his enemy, and he 
himself gave her a handsome dowry; and when plots 
were organised against him, he refused to punish the 
conspirators. The only exceptions to this mild and for¬ 
giving temper occurred in the case of Julius Sabinus, 
who had proclaimed himself emperor at Vitellius’s death. 
This rash commander, after being defeated by Vespasian’s 
army, concealed himself for nine years in a cave, where he 
was attended by his faithful wife Empona, who provided for 
all his necessities. Sabinus was at last discovered, and 
carried prisoner to Rome, and Vespasian caused him to be 
executed. With all his virtues, Vespasian had the fault of 
avarice, and this was of course attended with extortion and 
rapacity. He revived taxes that had fallen into disuse ; he 
is said to have drawn profit from the purchase and sale of 
commodities; and he has been loaded with the more serious 
charge of sharing in the plunder of the governors, whom 
he had set over the provinces. Nevertheless, he took 
great precautions to provide for the safety of his remotest 
dominions, and only two insurrections took place in his 
reign. These were confined principally to the Alani, a 
rude tribe, who, quitting their deserts, passed into Media 
and Armenia, and defeated Tiridates with great slaughter. 
Titus, however, having been sent to punish them, they re¬ 
tired to the river Tanais, from which they came. During 
the reign of Vespasian, Petilius Cerealis and Julius Frontinus 
subjugated a considerable part of Britain; and Agricola, 
who went out towards the end of Vespasian’s reign, com¬ 
pleted the conquest of that island. 
After a reign of ten years, Vespasian was seized with an 
illness at Campania, which soon carried him off. A. D. 79. 
After some slight opposition from his brother Domitian, 
who alleged that his father’s will had been altered, Titus 
was declared emperor. Though in his youth he was fond 
of pleasure and dissipation, yet no sooner did he ascend the 
throne than he became a pattern of regularity and moderation. 
His generosity and love of justice, his hatred of informers, his 
anxiety to prevent dissensions, his obliging disposition, and 
his readiness, on all occasions, to do good, procured for 
him the enviable appellation of the Delight of Mankind. 
His courtesy and readiness to do good have been celebrated 
even by Christian writers; his principal rule being never to 
send any petitioner dissatisfied away. One night, recollect¬ 
ing that he had done nothing beneficial to mankind the day 
preceding, he cried out among his friends, “ I have lost a 
day.” A sentence universally known. 
In this reign, an eruption of Mount Vesuvius did consider¬ 
able damage, overwhelming many towns, and sending its 
ashes into countries more than 100 miles distant. Cpon this 
memorable occasion, Pliny, the naturalist, lost his life; for 
bein 0 " impelled by too eager a curiosity to observe the eruption, 
he was suffocated in the flames. There happened also about 
this time a fire at Rome, which continued three days and 
nights successively, which was followed by a plague, in 
which 10,000 men were buried in a day. The emperor, 
however, did all that lay in his power to repair the damage 
sustained by the public ; and, with respect to the city, de¬ 
clared that he would take the whole loss of it upon himself. 
For the success of his generals in Britain, Titus was saluted 
emperor the 15th time; but he did not long survive hi3 
honours, being seized with a violent fever at a little distance 
from Rome. Perceiving his death to approach, he declared, 
that during the w’hole course of his life he knew but of one 
action which he repented of; but that action he did not 
think proper to express. Shortly after, he died (not without 
suspicion of treachery from his brother Domitian, who had 
long wished to govern) in the 41st year of his age, having 
reigned two years two months and twenty days. A. D. 81. 
The love which all ranks of people bore to Titus, facili¬ 
tated the election of his brother Domitian, notwithstanding 
the ill opinion many had already conceived of him. 
In the beginning of his reign he appeared equally remarka¬ 
ble for his clemency, liberality, and justice. He carried his 
abhorrence of cruelty so far, as at one time to forbid the 
sacrificing of oxen. His liberality was such, that he would 
not accept of the legacies that were left him by such as had 
children of their own. His justice was so great, that he 
would sit whole days and reverse the partial sentences of the 
ordinary judges. He appeared very careful and liberal in 
repairing the libraries which had been burnt, and recovering 
copies of such books as had been lost, sending on purpose 
to Alexandria to transcribe them. These fair promises, 
however, were soon blighted, IBs mind became engrossed 
with the pursuits of archery and gaming, and his principal 
ambition was in entertaining the public with exten¬ 
sive exhibitions; and presiding in ostentatious pomp, for 
the purpose of distributing rewards. His solitary hours 
were spent in killing flies, and stabbing them with a bodkin ; 
and when one of his servants, Vibius, was asked if the em¬ 
peror was disengaged, he is said to have replied, that he was 
not even occupied with a fly. His next passion seems to 
have been for military reputation, which led him to envy the 
glory of his generals. The success of Agricola in Britain, 
in overcoming Galgacus, and determining the insular nature 
of the country, and in discovering and subjugating the 
Orkneys, particularly called forth his envy. He recalled him 
to Italy, under the pretence of appointing him to the govern¬ 
ment of Syria ; but upon his return, he was received with 
coolness, and having sometime afterwards been taken ill in 
retirement, where he died, Domitian was suspected of 
having hastened his death. In order to make himself a 
great general, the emperor marched into Gaul on a pre¬ 
tended expedition against the Catti, but though he never 
saw an enemy, he took to himself the honour of a triumph, 
and entered the capital at the head of a number of slaves, 
whom he had decked in the habiliments of Germans. 
In this condition of the empire, the Sannatians, aided 
by several Asiatic tribes, made a formidable irruption into it, 
and cut off a Roman legion with its general. The Dacians, 
under the guidance of their king Decebalus, were even more 
successful, and defeated the Romans in many engagements. 
The energies of the state were at last roused, and the barba¬ 
rians driven back. Domitian, elated with the result, entered 
Rome in triumph a second time, and assumed the name of 
Gennanicus. He was particularly terrible to the senate and 
nobility, the whole body of whom he frequently threatened 
entirely to extirpate. At one time he surrounded the senate 
house with his troops to the great consternation of the sena¬ 
tors. At another, he resolved to amuse himself with their 
terrors in a different manner. Having invited them to a 
public entertainment, he received them all very formally at 
the entrance of his palace, and conducted them into a spa¬ 
cious hall, hung round with black, and illuminated by a 
few melancholy lamps, that diffused light only sufficient to 
show the horrors of the place. All around were to be seen 
nothing but coffins, with the names of each of the senators 
written upon them, together with other objects of terror, and 
instruments of execution. While the company beheld all 
the preparations with silent agony, several men, having their 
bodies blackened, each with a drawn sword in one hand and 
a flaming torch in the other, entered the hall, and danced 
round them. After some time, when the guests expected noi 
thing less than instant death, well knowing Domitian’s ca¬ 
pricious 
