Suetonius, The Lives of the Caesars

Suetonius, The Lives of the Caesars

[When citing Suetonius, please use the section numbers that begin each paragraph: 1.1,  2.3, 2.4, etc..  Many classical and medieval works have conventionally accepted section or line numbers, so that no matter what translation you use, you can easily find the right passage. Page numbers referring to the Loeb edition are also provided, however.]

http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Suetonius/12Caesars/Vespasian*.html

accessed Feb 5 2018

This webpage reproduces one of
The Lives of the Twelve Caesars
by    C. Suetonius Tranquillus
published in the Loeb Classical Library,
transl. J.C. Rolfe   (Harvard University Press, Cambridge Mass., 1914) 281-322.

The text is in the public domain.

[This text edited and abbreviated by T. Gross-Diaz for Hist 101 Spring 2018: my comments and edits are italicized in square brackets]

 p281  The Life of Vespasian

[Titus Flavius Vespasianus Caesar: “Flavius” is his family name, “Caesar” means he is officially a member of the dynasty of Julius Caesar – a legal fiction meant to regularize the position of inherited rule]

1 1 The empire, which for a long time had been unsettled and, as it were, drifting, through the usurpation and violent death of three emperors [refers to 69 CE, “the Year of the Four Emperors” – civil war after the overthrow of Nero], was at last taken in hand and given stability by the Flavian family. This house was, it is true, obscure […] yet it was one of which our country had no reason whatever to be ashamed, even though it is the general opinion that the penalty which Domitian paid for his avarice and cruelty was fully merited [Domitian was Vespasian’s second son to succeed him, and was a cruel and unsuccessful ruler].

2 [Section two summarizes the humble origins of the family. V’s grandfather Titus Flavius Petro fought under Pompey at the battle of Pharsalus in 48 BCE — thus an enemy of the empire’s founder, Julius Caesar — and became a banker and tax-collector. Petro’s son Sabinus followed the same career in Asia minor, where he was praised for his honesty, and later in Helvetia (Switzerland). Sabinus and his wife Vespasia Pollo had two sons; the elder (Sabinus Jr) became senator, while the younger became emperor Vespasian.]

2 1 Vespasian was born in the Sabine country, in a small village beyond Reate, called Falacrina,b on the evening of the fifteenth day before the Kalends of December, in the consulate of Quintus Sulpicius Camerinus and Gaius Poppaeus Sabinus, five years before the death of Augustus [17 Nov , 9 CE. Exact dates were important for horoscopes]. He was brought up under the care of his paternal grandmother Tertulla on her estates at Cosa. Therefore even after he became emperor he used constantly to visit the home  p285 of his infancy, where the manor house was kept in its original condition, since he did not wish to miss anything which he was wont to see there; and he was so devoted to his grandmother’s memory that on religious and festival days he always drank from a little silver cup that had belonged to her.

2 After assuming the garb of manhood he for a long time made no attempt to win the broad stripe of senator, though his brother had gained it, and only his mother could finally induce him to sue for it. She at length drove him to it, but rather by sarcasm than by entreaties or parental authority, since she constantly taunted him with being his brother’s footman.4

3 [Brief summary of V’s normal career in the military and bureaucracy, the cursus honorum, despite doing so in the reign of crazy emperor Caligula. Point: he had experience in the workings of the gov’t]

3 1 Meanwhile he married Flavia Domitilla, […], a woman originally only of Latin rank,8 but afterwards declared a freeborn  p287 citizen of Rome […]. By her he had three children, Titus, Domitian, and Domitilla. He outlived his wife and daughter; in fact lost them both before he became emperor. After the death of his wife he resumed his relations with Caenis, freedwoman […] and formerly his mistress; and even after he became emperor he treated her almost as a lawful wife.

4 1 In the reign of Claudius he was sent in command of a legion to Germany […],9 where he fought thirty battles with the enemy. He reduced to subjection two powerful nations, more than twenty towns, and the island of Vectis,10 near Britain […] 2 For this he received the triumphal regalia, and shortly after two priesthoods, besides the consulship, which he held for the last two months of the year. The rest of the time up to his proconsulate he spent in rest and retirement, through fear of Agrippina [influential wife of emperor Claudius and mother of Nero].

3 [He was then chosen as proconsul of] Africa, which he governed with great justice and high honour […]. Certain it is that he came back none the richer, for his credit was so nearly gone that he mortgaged all his estates to his brother, and had to resort to trading in mules11 to keep up his  p289 position; whence he was commonly known as “the Muleteer.” […]

4 On the tour through Greece, among the companions of Nero,12 he bitterly offended the emperor by either going out often while Nero was singing, or falling asleep, if he remained. [Nero thought himself a great artiste and won many rigged “competitions”]. Being in consequence banished, […] he withdrew to a little out‑of-the‑way town, until a province and an army were offered him…

5 There had spread over all the Orient an old and established belief, that it was fated at that time for men coming from Judaea to rule the world. This prediction, referring to the emperor of Rome, as afterwards appeared from the event, the people of Judaea took to themselves; accordingly they revolted and after killing their governor, they routed the consular ruler of Syria as well, when he came to the rescue, and took one of his eagles. Since to put down this rebellion required a considerable army with a leader of no little enterprise, yet one to whom so great power could be entrusted without risk, Vespasian was chosen for the task, both as a man of tried energy and as one in no wise to be feared because of the obscurity of his family and name.

6 Therefore there were added to the forces in Judaea two legions with eight divisions of cavalry and ten cohorts.13 He took his elder son [future emp. Titus] as one of his lieutenants, and as soon as he reached his province  p291 he attracted the attention of the neighbouring provinces also; for he at once reformed the discipline of the army and fought […] with such daring, that in the storming of a fortress he was wounded in the knee with a stone and received several arrows in his shield.

5 1 While Otho and Vitellius were fighting for the throne after the death of Nero and Galba, [69 CE] he began to cherish the hope of imperial dignity, which he had long since conceived because of the following portents.

2 On the suburban estate of the Flavii an old oak tree, which was sacred to Mars, on each of the three occasions when Vespasia was delivered suddenly put forth a branch from its trunk, obvious indications of the destiny of each child. The first was slender and quickly withered, and so too the girl that was born died within the year; the second was very strong and long and portended great success, but the third was the image of a tree. Therefore their father Sabinus […] announced to his mother that a grandson had been born to her would be a Caesar. But she only laughed[…]

3 [another portent]

p293  4 Once when he was taking breakfast, a stray dog brought in a human hand from the cross-roads c and dropped it under the table.14 Again, when he was dining, an ox that was ploughing shook off its yoke, burst into the dining-room, and after scattering the servants, fell at the very feet of Vespasian as he reclined at table, and bowed its neck as if suddenly tired out. A cypress tree, also, on his grandfather’s farm was torn up by the roots, without the agency of any violent storm, and thrown down, and on the following day rose again greener and stronger than before.

5 [another portent]

6 When he consulted the oracle of the god of Carmel in Judaea, the lots were highly encouraging, promising that whatever he planned or wished however great it might be, would come to pass; and one of his high-born prisoners, Josephus by name, as he was being put in chains, declared most confidently that he would soon be released by the same man, who would then, however, be emperor. [Josephus was later freed, taking the family name of “Flavius”, and became a courtier under Vespasian]

7 Omens were also reported from Rome: […]

6 1 Yet he made no move, although his followers were quite ready and even urgent, until he was roused to it by the […] support of men unknown to him and at a distance.

2 Two thousand soldiers of the three legions that made up the army in Moesia had been sent to help Otho. When word came to them after they had begun their march that he had been defeated and had taken his own life, they none the less kept on as far as Aquileia, because they did not believe the report. There, taking advantage of the lawless state of the times, they indulged in every kind of pillage; then, fearing that if they went back, they would have to give an account and suffer punishment, they took it into their heads to select and appoint an emperor, saying that they were just as good as the Spanish army which had appointed Galba, or the praetorian guard which had elected Otho, or the German army which had chosen Vitellius [these are the other three rivals to the throne].

3 Accordingly the names of all the [proconsuls] who were serving anywhere were taken up, and since objection was made to the rest for one reason or another, while some members of the third legion, which had been transferred from Syria to Moesia just before the death of Nero, highly commended Vespasian, they unanimously agreed on him and forthwith inscribed his name on all their banners. […] When their action became known, Tiberius Alexander, prefect of Egypt,  p297 was the first to compel his legions to take the oath for Vespasian on the Kalends of July, the day which was afterwards celebrated as that of his accession; then the army in Judaea swore allegiance to him personally on the fifth day before the Ides of July.16

4 [other reports]

7 1 Therefore beginning a civil war and sending ahead generals with troops to Italy, he crossed meanwhile to Alexandria, to take possession of the key to Egypt.18 There he dismissed all his attendants and entered the temple of Serapis alone, to consult the auspices as to the duration of his power. […an obscure ‘miracle’ happens] And immediately letters came with the news that Vitellius had been routed at Cremona and [then] slain at Rome.

2 Vespasian as yet lacked prestige and a certain divinity, so to speak, since he was an unexpected and still new-made emperor; but these also were given him. A man of the people who was blind, and another who was lame, came to him together as he sat on the tribunal, begging for the help for their disorders which Serapis [Hellenistic Egyptian god of healing] had promised in a dream; for the god declared that Vespasian would restore the eyes, if he would spit upon them, and give strength to the leg, if he would deign to touch it with his heel.

3 Though he had hardly any faith that this could possibly succeed, and therefore shrank even from making the attempt, he was at last prevailed upon by his friends and tried both things in public before a large crowd; and with success. […Another portent]

8 1 Returning to Rome under such auspices and attended by so great renown, after celebrating a triumph over the Jews, he added eight consulships to his former one; he also assumed the censorship and during the whole period of his rule he considered nothing more essential than first to strengthen the State, which was tottering and almost overthrown, and then to embellish it as well.

2 The soldiery, some emboldened by their victory and some resenting their humiliating defeat, had  p301 abandoned themselves to every form of licence and recklessness; the provinces, too, and the free cities, as well as some of the kingdoms, were in a state of internal dissension. Therefore he discharged many of the soldiers of Vitellius and punished many; but so far from showing any special indulgence to those who had shared in his victory, he was even tardy in paying them their lawful rewards.

3 [Vesp. tightens military discipline]

4 He made provinces of Achaia, Lycia, Rhodes, Byzantium and Samos, taking away their freedom, and likewise of Trachian Cilicia and Commagene, which up to that time had been ruled by kings. He sent additional legions to Cappadocia because of the constant inroads of the barbarians, and gave it a consular governor[…].

5 As the city was unsightly from former fires and fallen buildings [Nero burned Rome in 64 CE],  he allowed anyone to take possession of vacant sites and build upon them, in case the owners failed to do so. He began the restoration of the Capitol in person, was the first to lend a hand in clearing away the debris, and carried some of it off [in a basket].21  He undertook to restore the  p303 three thousand bronze tablets which were destroyed with the temple, making a thorough search for copies: priceless and most ancient records of the empire, containing the decrees of the senate and the acts of the commons almost from the foundation of the city, regarding alliances, treaties, and special privileges granted to individuals.

9 1 He also undertook new works, the temple of Peace [near] the Forum and one to the Deified Claudius on the Caelian mount, which was begun by Agrippina, but almost utterly destroyed by Nero; also an amphitheatre22 in the heart of the city, a plan which he learned that Augustus had cherished [on the former site of Nero’s Golden House].

2 He reformed the two great orders [patricians and equestrians or ‘knights’], reduced by a series of murders and sullied by long standing neglect, and added to their numbers, holding a review of the senate and the knights, expelling those who least deserved the honour and enrolling the most distinguished of the Italians and provincials.[…].”23

10 1 Lawsuit upon lawsuit had accumulated in all the courts to an excessive degree, since those of long standing were left unsettled through the interruption of court business24 and new ones had arisen through the disorder of the times. He therefore chose commissioners by lot to restore what had been seized in time of war, and to make special decisions in the court […]25 reducing the cases to the  p305 smallest number, since it was clear that the lifetime of the litigants would not suffice for the regular proceedings.

11        1 Licentiousness and extravagance had flourished without restraint; hence he induced the senate to vote that any woman who formed a connection with the slave of another person should herself be treated as a bond-woman; also that those who lend money to minors26 should never have a legal right to enforce payment […]

12 1 In other matters he was unassuming and lenient from the very beginning of his reign until its end, never trying to conceal his former lowly condition, but often even parading it. Indeed, when certain men tried to trace the origin of the Flavian family to the founders of Reate and a companion of Hercules whose tomb still stands on the Via Salaria, he laughed at them for their pains. So far was he from a desire for pomp and show, that on the day of his triumph, he did not hesitate to say: “It serves me right for being such a fool as to want a triumph in my old age, as if it were due to my ancestors or had ever been among my own ambitions.” He did not even assume the tribunician power at once nor the title of Father of his Country until late.27 As for the custom of searching those who came to pay their morning calls,28 he gave that up before the civil war was over.

13 1 He bore the frank language of his friends,  p307 the quips of pleaders, and the impudence of the philosophers with the greatest patience. Though Licinius Mucianus,29 a man of notorious unchastity, presumed upon his services to treat Vespasian with scant respect, he never had the heart to criticize him except privately and then only to the extent of adding to a complaint made to a common friend, the significant words: “I at least am a man.”30  […] When the Cynic Demetrius met him abroad after being condemned to banishment, and without deigning to rise in his presence or to salute him, even snarled out some insult, he merely called him “cur.” d

14 1 He was not inclined to remember or to avenge affronts or enmities, but made a brilliant match for the daughter of his enemy Vitellius, and even provided her with a dowry and a house-keeping outfit. When he was in terror at being forbidden Nero’s court, and asked what on earth he was to do or where he was to go, one of the ushers put him out and told him to “go to Morbovia”;31 but when the man later begged for forgiveness, Vespasian confined his resentment to words, and those of about the same number and purport. Indeed, so far was he from being led by any suspicion or fear to cause anyone’s death, that when his friends warned him that he must keep an eye on Mettius Pompusianus, since it was commonly believed that he had an imperial horoscope, he even made him consul, guaranteeing that he would one day be mindful of the favour.

15 1 It cannot be shown that any innocent  p309 person was punished [except] in Vespasian’s absence and without his knowledge, or at any rate against his will and by misleading him.[…]. Certainly he never took pleasure in the death of anyone, but even wept and sighed over those who suffered merited punishment.

16 1 The only thing for which he can fairly be censured was his love of money. For not content with reviving the imposts which had been repealed under Galba, he added new and heavy burdens, increasing the amount of tribute paid by the provinces, in some cases actually doubling it, and quite openly carrying on traffic which would be shameful even for a man in private life; for he would buy up certain commodities merely in order to distribute them at a profit.

2 He made no bones of selling offices to candidates and acquittals to men under prosecution, whether innocent or guilty. He is even believed to have had the habit of designedly advancing the most rapacious of his procurators to higher posts, that they might be the richer when he later condemned them; in fact, it was common talk that he used these men as “sponges”, because […]   p311 he soaked them when they were dry and squeezed them when they were wet.

3 Some say that he was naturally covetous […] Others on the contrary believe that he was driven by necessity to raise money by spoliation and robbery because of the desperate state of the treasury and the privy purse; to which he bore witness at the very beginning of his reign by declaring that forty thousand millions were needed to set the State upright. This latter view seems the more probable, since he made the best use of his gains, ill-gotten though they were.

17 1 He was most generous to all classes, making up the requisite estate34 for senators, giving needy ex-consuls an annual stipend of five hundred thousand sesterces, restoring to a better condition many cities throughout the empire which had suffered from earthquakes or fires, and in particular encouraging men of talent and the arts.

18 1 He was the first to establish a regular salary of a hundred thousand sesterces for Latin and Greek teachers of rhetoric, paid from the privy purse [i.e. out of Vespasian’s own pocket]. He also presented eminent poets with princely largess35 and great rewards, and artists, too, such as the restorer of the Venus of Cos36 and of the Colossus.37 To a mechanical engineer, who promised to transport some heavy columns to the  p313 Capitol at small expense, he gave no mean reward for his invention, but refused to make use of it, saying: “You must let me feed my poor commons.” [i.e they will not be put out of work by mechanization]

19 1 [generosity to actors, musicians, artists; gave sumptuous parties to encourage the economy]

2  [More on his reputation for stinginess]

He enjoyed excellent health, though he did nothing to keep it up except[…], to fast one day in every month.

21 1 This was in general his manner of life. While emperor, he always rose very early, in fact before daylight; then after reading his letters and the reports of all the officials, he admitted his friends, and while he was receiving their greetings, he put on his own shoes and dressed himself. After despatching any business that came up, he took time for a drive and then for a nap, lying with one of his concubines, of whom he had taken several after the death of Caenis. After his siesta he went to the bath and the dining-room; and it is said that at no time was he more good-natured or indulgent, so that the members of his household eagerly watched for these opportunities of making requests.

22 1 Not only at dinner but on all other occasions he was most affable, and he turned off many matters with a jest; for he was very ready with sharp sayings, albeit of a low and buffoonish kind, so that he did not even refrain from obscene expressions.43 Yet many of his remarks are still remembered which are full of fine wit, and among them the following. When an ex-consul called Mestrius Florus called his attention to the fact that the proper pronunciation was plaustra44 rather than plostra, he greeted him next day as “Flaurus.” When he was importuned by a woman, who said that she was dying for love for him, he took her to his bed and gave her four  p317 hundred thousand sesterces for her favours. Being asked by his steward how he would have the sum entered in his accounts, he replied: “To a passion for Vespasian.”

23 […Some of Vesp’s jokes recorded… ] But he particularly resorted to witticisms about his unseemly means of gain, seeking to diminish their odium by some jocose saying and to turn them into a jest.

2  […such as: ]On a journey, suspecting that his muleteer had got down to shoe the mules merely to make delay and give time for a man with a lawsuit to approach the emperor, he asked how much he was  p319 paid for shoeing the mules and insisted on a share of the money.

3 When Titus found fault with him for contriving a tax upon public conveniences, he held a piece of money from the first payment to his son’s nose, asking whether its odour was offensive to him. When Titus said “No,” he replied, “Yet it comes from urine.” On the report of a deputation that a colossal statue of great cost had been voted him at public expense, he demanded to have it set up at once, and holding out his open hand, said that the base was ready.

4 He did not cease his jokes even when in apprehension of death and in extreme danger; for when among other portents the Mausoleum47 opened on a sudden and a comet appeared in the heavens, he declared […] “Woe’s me. Methinks I’m turning into a god.”

24 1 In his ninth consulship he had a slight illness in Campania, and returning at once to the city, he left for Cutiliaeº and the country about Reate, where he spent the summer every year. There, in addition to an increase in his illness, having contracted a bowel complaint by too free use of the cold waters, he nevertheless continued to perform his duties as emperor, even receiving embassies as he lay in bed. Taken on a sudden with such an attack of diarrhoea that he all but [fainted], he said: “An emperor ought to die standing,” and while he was struggling to get on his feet, he died in the arms of those who tried  p321 to help him, on the ninth day before the Kalends of July, at the age of sixty-nine years, seven months and seven days.

[…]

The Editor’s Notes [Loeb edition]

1 See note on Galba, x.3.

2 A duty (portorium) of two and a half per cent on imports and exports; cf. Jul. xliii.1.

3 A position held by tried and skilful officers, especially centurions of the first grade (primipili; CIL III.6809, etc.) Cf. Vegetius, Epit. Rei Milit. 2.10, is post longam probatamque militiam peritissimus omnium legebatur, ut recte doceret alios quod ipse cum laude fecisset.

4 The anteambulo was the client who walked before his patron on the street and compelled people to make way for him; cf. Mart. 2.18.5, tumidique anteambulo regis, where regis means “patron,” as in Hor. Epist. 1.17.43 and elsewhere.

5 See Calig. xlviii and xlix.

6 Lepidus and Gaetulicus; see Claud. ix.1.

7 The senate.

8 See note on Aug. xlvii.

9 See Claud. xvii.

10 The Isle of Wight.

11 Mango (cf. Gk. μάγγανον, “charm”) was the term applied to a dealer in slaves, cattle, or wares, to which he tried to give an appearance of greater value than they actually possessed. The nickname applied to Vespasian implies that his trade was in mules.

Thayer’s Note: For further details and sources on the mangones, see this section of the article Servus in Smith’s Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities.

12 See Nero, xxii. ff.

13 Probably of auxiliaries.

14 The hand was typical of power, and manus is often used in the sense of potestas.

15 Of Nero’s lodging.

16 July 11; according to Tac. Hist. 2.79, it was the fifth day before the Nones, July 3.

17 Governor of the neighbouring province of Syria.

18 The strategic importance of Egypt is shown by Tac. Ann. 2.59; see Jul. xxxv.1 (at the end); Aug. xviii.2.

19 The freedman’s name, connected with Greek βασιλεύς, “king,” was an additional omen.

20 They were stationed at Ostia and Puteoli as a fire brigade (see Claud. xxv.2), and the various divisions were on duty now in one town, now in the other, and again in Rome.

21 Literally, “on his own neck”; in a basket.

22 The Colosseum, known as the Flavian amphitheatre until the Middle Ages.

23 That is, a citizen could return the abuse of another citizen, regardless of their respective ranks.

24 During the civil wars.

25 See note on Aug. xxxvi.

26 In the legal sense; filii familiarum were sons who were still under the control of their fathers, regardless of their age; cf. Tib. xv.2.

27 His tribunician power was reckoned from July 1, 69, the (p305)day when he was proclaimed emperor by the army. The meaning of the sentence is not clear.

28 See Claud. xxxv.

29 See chap. vi.4. He boasted that the rule had been at his disposal and that he had given it to Vespasian; see Tac. Hist. 4.4.

30 Implying that Mucianus was effeminate and unchaste.

31 A made-up name from morbus, “illness”; the expression is equivalent to “go to the devil.”

32 That is, in their superscriptions; see note on Tib. xxxii.2.

33 Cogere (redigere) in ordinem is used of one who resists or does not show proper respect to a magistrate; that is, attempts to reduce him to the level of an ordinary citizen. It seems to have been originally a military expression. Cf. Claud. xxxviii.1; Pliny, Epist. 1.23.1; Livy, 3.51.13.

34 This had been increased to 1,200,000 sesterces by Augustus.

35 See note on Aug. xli.2.

36 Doubtless referring to the statue of Venus consecrated by Vespasian in his temple of Peace, the sculptor of which, (p311)according to Pliny, was unknown. The Venus of Cos was the work of Praxiteles.

37 The colossal statue of Nero; see Nero, xxxi.1.

38 See Aug. lxxiv and the note.

39 See note d on Calig. lv.2.

40 The Matronalia or feast of married women; see Hor. Odes, 3.8.1.

Thayer’s Note: For further details and sources on the Matronalia, see the article Matronalia in Smith’s Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities.

41 A transliterated Greek word, κυβιοσάκτης, meaning “dealer in square pieces (κύβοι) of salt fish.”

42 According to Celsus, 2.1, quadratum is applied to a well-proportioned body, neither slender nor fat.

43 Cf. Macrobius, Saturn. 2.1.9, impudica et praetextata verba; Gell. N. A. 9.10.4, non praetextatis sed puris honestisque verbis. Various explanations of the term are given. It perhaps means words such as boys use; but see Festus, s.v. praetextum sermonem.

44 Plaustra was the urban form of the word for “wagons,” (p315)but there was also a plebeian form plostra; see Hor. Serm. 1.6.42 and cf. Claudius, Clodius. The original form was plostra.

45 Iliad 7.213.

46 Menander, Fr. 223.2, Koch.

47 Of Augustus; see Aug. c.4.

48 The connection between the stella crinita and the long hair of the Parthian king is obvious; it does not seem (p319)accidental that Calvina is connected with calvus, “bald,” though this word-play seems to have been overlooked.

49 Claudius and Nero reigned thirteen and fourteen years respectively; Vespasian, ten; Titus, two; and Domitian, fifteen.

William Thayer’s Notes [webmaster of Lacus Curtius]:

a near the sixth milestone on the road from Nursia to Spoletium, a place called Vespasiae: The estates of the Vespasii have not been firmly identified, but I believe it to be merely because no one has concentrated on the question. At about 6 miles from Norcia, in the frazione of Piandoli in the comune of Cascia, I have been to a remote hilltop, called Vespia from time immemorial, which is a solid expanse of Roman pottery the size of several football fields, with visible lines of buried buildings, and I believe it to be the place. For photographs and an account of the place, and pending a more formal page, see my diary, Sept. 21, 2000.

The Loeb translator, not unreasonably, translates “ad sextum miliarium” by “near the sixth milestone”. This gives the impression that the estate of the Vespasii was close to the road; but if you are used to Latin topographical indications or know the area — one or the other — this is not the way you would understand it, since ad is very often used to indicate a much more general proximity — often the place where you turn off the road: as indeed you have to do here, since, wherever it is, it’s on the top of a mountain, but the road is in the valley.

b In Latin, and usually in English, Falacrinae; in Italian, Falacrine. There is no consensus as to where this ancient village might have been, or whether Vespasian’s parents had property there or just happened to be passing thru; for the problems involved, see Vincenzo Di Flavio, “La Gens Flavia nella tradizione locale”, from Atti del Congresso Internazionale di Studi Vespasianei, Rieti, Sept. 1979. (Once online, but now vanished.) Mind you, since the place is located to within about 5 kilometers, this might be considered quibbling — unless Vespasian’s birthplace was not due to the vagaries of travel, but rather in a property of his family, of which some vestige might yet be discovered.

c Either from a nefarious rite to Hecate, a goddess to whom sorcerers offered nocturnal sacrifices at places where three roads met (Lat. trivium, which is the word Suetonius uses); or, maybe more probably, from a crucifixion, since condemned criminals and terrorists were often crucified at some prominent place on a major road: as bodies of the executed were left to rot until they disintegrated, the hand, pretty much severed at the wrist by the nail, must have been one of the first parts of the body to detach and get carried away by animals. At any event, loyal dogs must have retrieved such things and brought them back to their masters, so that this isn’t as unusual as it sounds to us today.

d Vespasian calling the Cynic Demetrius a cur might even be viewed as a sort of compliment, since Cynics — whence the name of the school, from the Greek word for “dog” — maintained, rather like Dr. Spock, that it was best to behave much like that animal and let it all hang out.

e Sixty-nine years, seven months and seven days is what the translation should read; the Loeb edition actually has “sixty-nine years, one month and seven days.” Now normally I’d chalk it down to a typographical error, one of the many that infest the Loeb editions, and merely flag it as I did the one earlier on in this same paragraph; but here we are dealing with a careless mistake in translation. According to 2.1, Vespasian was born on XV Kal. Dec. (A.D. 9), and his death date as given here, IX Kal. Jul. (A.D. 79) is confirmed by Suet. Titus 11, making Vespasian live 69y 7m 7d. The confusion arose in the Latin text, which reads “agens aetatis sexagensimum ac nonum superque mensem ac diem septimum,” a somewhat precious and overly concise turn of phrase. Our translator went too fast; with the flavor of the passage and all, it should be rendered: “at the age of sixty-nine years, plus seven both months and days.”

[Several layers of authorship here:

* Gaius Tranquillus SUETONIUS, born in the Roman province of North Africa at Hippo Regius around 70 CE, right after the ‘Year of the Four Emperors’. He was sent to study in Rome during the reign of Domitian, Vespasian’s younger son. He avoided a military career and ended up as the chief of Rome’s libraries, the state archivist, and the emperor Hadrian’s secretary (like being a chancellor). He travelled the Empire with his friend the natural historian Pliny, and also with Hadrian himself.

* J.C. Rolfe, translator of Suetonius’ Lives of the Caesars for the Loeb Classical Library series, Harvard University Press, Cambridge Mass., 1913.

* William Thayer, creator and maintainer of website Lacus Curtius, a site and “gazeteer” of all things classical:

http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/home.html    (Accessed Feb. 5 2018)

Thayer adds his own notes and emendations to the Rolfe translation.

*TGD – I made a few emendations and shortened the text slightly for your convenience!]