CHAPTER XVII

THE JULIO-CLAUDIAN LINE AND THE FLAVIANS: 14–96 A. D.

I. TIBERIUS, 14–37 A. D.

*Tiberius princeps.* At the death of Augustus, Tiberius by right of his _imperium_ assumed command of the army and through his tribunician authority convoked the Senate to pay the last honors to Augustus and decide upon his successor. Like Julius Caesar, Augustus was deified, and a priestly college of Augustales, chosen from the senatorial order was founded to maintain his worship in Rome. In accordance with a wish expressed in his will, his widow Livia was honored with the name Augusta. Tiberius received the title of Augustus and the other honors and powers which his predecessor had made the prerogatives of the princeps. His _imperium_, however, was conferred for life, and not for a limited period. The ease of his succession shows how solidly the principate was established at the death of its founder.

*Character and policy.* Tiberius was now fifty-six years of age. He had spent the greater part of his life in the public service, and consequently had a full appreciation of the burden of responsibility which the princeps must assume. He was the incarnation of the old Roman sense of duty to the state, and at the same time exhibited the proud reserve of the Roman patricians. Stern in his maintenance of law and order, he made an excellent subordinate, but when called upon to guide the policy of state, he displayed hesitation and lack of decision. The incidents of his marriage with Julia and his exile had rendered him bitter and suspicious, and he utterly lacked the personal charm and adaptability of his predecessor. Thus he was temperamentally unsuited to the position he was called upon to fill and this was responsible for his frequent misunderstandings with the Senate. Such an incident occurred in the meetings of the Senate after the death of Augustus. Tiberius, conscious of his unpopularity, sought to have the Senate press upon him the appointment as the successor of Augustus, and so feigned reluctance to accept, a course which made the senators suspect that he was laying a trap for possible rivals. Yet there was no princeps who tried more conscientiously to govern in the spirit of Augustus, or upheld more rigidly the rights and dignity of the Senate. At the beginning of his principate he transferred from the Assembly to the Senate the right of the election to the magistracies, thus relieving the senators from the expense and annoyance of canvassing the populace.

*Mutinies in Illyricum and on the Rhine.* Two serious mutinies followed the accession of Tiberius, one in the army stationed in Illyricum, the other among the legions on the Rhine. Failure to discharge those who had completed their terms of service and the severity of the service itself were the grounds of dissatisfaction. The Illyrian mutiny was quelled by the praetorian prefect Lucius Aelius Seianus; the army of the Rhine was brought back to its allegiance by Germanicus, the son of Drusus, whom Tiberius had adopted at the command of Augustus in 4 A. D. He had married Agrippina, daughter of Agrippa and Julia, and was looked upon as the heir of Tiberius in preference to the latter’s younger and less able son, Drusus.

*The campaigns of Germanicus, 14–17 A. D.* To restore discipline among his troops and relieve them from the monotony of camp life, as well as to emulate the achievements of his father, Germanicus, without the authorization of Tiberius, led his army across the Rhine. The German tribes were still united in the coalition formed in the time of Varus, and, under their leaders Arminius and Inguiomerus, offered vigorous opposition to the Roman invasion. Nevertheless, in three successive campaigns (14–16 A. D.), Germanicus ravaged the territory between the Rhine and the Weser and inflicted several defeats upon the Germans. Still Arminius and his allies were by no means subdued, and the Romans had sustained heavy losses. One army had narrowly escaped the fate of the legions of Varus, and twice had the transports of Germanicus suffered through storms in the North Sea. For these reasons Tiberius forbade the prolongation of the war and recalled Germanicus. With his departure, each of the three Gauls was made an independent province, and two new administrative districts called Upper and Lower Germany, under legates of consular rank, were created on the left bank of the Rhine. Freed from the danger of Roman interference, the Germanic tribes led by Arminius now engaged in a bitter struggle with Marbod, king of the Marcomanni, which ultimately led to the overthrow of the latter’s kingdom. Not long afterwards Arminius himself fell a victim to the jealousy of his fellow tribesmen (19 A. D.).

*Eastern mission and death of Germanicus, 17–19 A. D.* After his return from Gaul, Germanicus was sent by Tiberius to settle affairs in the East, where the Armenian question had again become acute. While he was in Syria, a bitter quarrel developed between himself and Piso, the legate of the province. Accordingly, when Germanicus fell ill and died there, many accused Piso of having poisoned him. Although the accusation was false Piso was called to Rome to stand his trial on that charge, and, finding that the popularity of Germanicus had biased popular opinion against him, and that Tiberius refused him his protection because of his attempt to assert his rights by armed force, he committed suicide. Agrippina, the ambitious wife of Germanicus, believed that Tiberius from motives of jealousy had been responsible for her husband’s death. She openly displayed her hostility to the princeps, and by plotting to secure the succession for her own children, helped to bring about their ruin and her own.

*The withdrawal of Tiberius from Rome, 26 A. D.* The decision of Tiberius to leave Rome in 26 A. D. and take up his residence on the island of Capri had important consequences. One was that the office of city prefect, who was the representative of the princeps, became permanent. It was filled by a senator of consular rank who commanded the urban cohorts and had wide judicial functions.

*The plot of Seianus.* In the second place the absence of Tiberius gave his able and ambitious praetorian prefect Aelius Seianus encouragement and opportunity to perfect the plot he had formed to seize the principate for himself. He it was who concentrated the praetorian guard, now 10,000 strong, in their camp on the edge of the city, and paved the way for their baneful influence upon the future history of the principate. Having caused the death of Drusus, the son of Tiberius, by poison, in 23 A. D., he intrigued to remove from his path the sons of Germanicus, Drusus and Nero. They and their mother Agrippina were condemned to imprisonment or exile on charges of treason. In 31 A. D. Seianus attained the consulate and received proconsular _imperium_ in the provinces. He allied himself with the Julian house by his betrothal to Julia, the grand-daughter of Tiberius. But in the same year the princeps became aware of his plans. Tiberius acted with energy. Seianus and many of his supporters were arrested and executed.

*The last years of Tiberius.* The discovery of Seianus’ treachery seems to have affected the reason of the aging princeps. His fear of treachery became an obsession. The law of treason (_lex de maiestate_) was rigorously enforced and many persons were condemned to death, among them Agrippina and her sons. The senators lived in terror of being accused by informers (_delatores_), and in their anxiety to conciliate the princeps they were only too ready to condemn any of their own number.

The memory of his later years caused Tiberius to pass down in the traditions of the senatorial order, represented by Tacitus and Suetonius, as a ruthless tyrant, and to obscure his real services as a conscientious and economical administrator. His parsimony in expenditures of the public money won him unpopularity with the city mob, but was a blessing to the provincials to whose welfare Tiberius directed particular attention, while he vigorously protected them against the oppression of imperial officials. During his rule the peace of the empire was disturbed only by a brief rising in Gaul (21 A. D.) and a rather prolonged struggle with Tacfarinas, a rebellious Berber chieftain, in Numidia (17–24 A. D.).

II. CAIUS CALIGULA, 37–41 A. D.

*Accession.* Tiberius left as his heirs his adoptive grandson Caius, the sole surviving son of Germanicus, better known by his childhood name of Caligula, acquired in the camps on the Rhine, and his grandson by birth, Tiberius Gemellus. Upon Caius, the elder of the two, then twenty-five years of age, the Senate immediately conferred the powers of the principate. The resentment of the senators towards his predecessor found vent in refusing him the posthumous honor of deification. Caius adopted his cousin, but within a year had him put to death.

*Early months of his rule.* The early months of his rule seemed the dawn of a new era. The pardoning of political offenders, the banishment of informers, the reduction of taxes, coupled with lavishness in public entertainments and donations, all made Gaius popular with the Senate, the army and the city plebs. However, he was a weakling in body and in mind, and a serious illness, brought on by his excesses, seems to have left him mentally deranged.

*Absolutism his ideal.* Reared in the house of Antonia, daughter of Antony and Octavia, in company with eastern princes of the stamp of Herod Agrippa, he naturally came to look upon the principate as an autocracy of the Hellenistic type. In his attempt to carry this conception into effect, the vein of madness in his character led him to ridiculous extremes. Not content with claiming deification for himself and his sisters, he built a lofty bridge connecting the Palatine Hill with the Capitoline, so that he might communicate with Jupiter, his brother god. He prescribed the sacrifices to be offered to himself, and was accused of seeking to imitate the Ptolemaic custom of sister marriage. Thoroughly consistent with absolutism was his scorn of republican magistracies and disregard of the rights of the Senate; likewise his attempt to have himself saluted as _dominus_ or “lord.”

*The conflict with the Jews.* His demand for the acknowledgment of his deification by all inhabitants of the empire brought Caius into conflict with the Jews, who had been exempted from this formal expression of loyalty. In Alexandria there was a large Jewish colony, which enjoyed exceptional privileges and was consequently hated by the other Alexandrians. Their refusal to worship the images of Caius furnished the mob with a pretext for sacking the Jewish quarters and forcibly installing statues of the princeps in some of their synagogues. The Jews sent a delegation to plead their case before Caius but could obtain no redress. In the meantime Caius had ordered Petronius, the legate of Syria, to set up his statue in the temple at Jerusalem, by force, if need be. However, the prudent Petronius, seeing that this would bring about a national revolt among the Jews delayed obeying the order, and the death of Caius relieved him of the necessity of executing it at all.

*Tyranny.* In less than a year the reckless extravagance of Caius had exhausted the immense surplus Tiberius had left in the treasury. To secure new funds he resorted to openly tyrannical measures, extraordinary taxes, judicial murders, confiscations, and forced legacies. By these means money was extorted not only from Romans of all classes but provincials also. Ptolemy, king of Mauretania, was executed for the sake of his treasure and his kingdom made a province.

*Assassination.* Caius contemplated invasions of Germany and of Britain, but the former ended with a military parade across the Rhine and the latter with a march to the shores of the Straits of Dover. The fear awakened by his rule of capricious violence soon resulted in conspiracies against his life. In January, 41 A. D., he was assassinated by a tribune of the imperial guards.

III. CLAUDIUS, 41–54 A. D.

*Nominated by the Praetorians.* In the choice of a successor to Caius the power of the praetorian guard was first clearly demonstrated. Caius was the last male representative of the Julian _gens_, and at his death the Senate debated the question of restoring the republic. However, the decision was made for them by the praetorians, who dragged from his hiding place and saluted as Imperator the surviving brother of Germanicus, Tiberius Claudius Germanicus. The Senate had to acquiesce in his nomination and grant him the powers of the princeps.

*Character.* Claudius was already fifty-one years old, but because of his ungainly figure and limited mentality had never been seriously considered for the principate. He was learned and pedantic, but lacking in energy and resolution. His greatest weakness was that he was completely under the influence of his wives, of whom he had in succession four, and his favorite freedmen.

*Policy.* In general the policy of Claudius followed that of Augustus and Tiberius. But in 47 A. D. he assumed the censorship for five years, an office which Augustus had avoided because it set its holder directly above the Senate.

In the capacity of censor, Claudius extended to the Gallic Aedui the _jus honorum_ and consequently the right of admission to the Senate. This was in accord with his policy of generously granting citizenship to the provincials. The census taken in 47 and 48 A. D. showed approximately six million Romans, nearly a million more than in the time of Augustus. Claudius also renewed the attempt of Julius Caesar to occupy the island of Britain. In 43 A. D. his legates Aulus Plautius, Vespasian and Ostorius Scapula subdued the island as far as the Thames, and in the following years extended their conquests farther northward. The southern part of the island became the province of Britain. In 46 A. D., Thrace was incorporated as a province at the death of its client prince.

*Influence of freedmen.* During the rule of Claudius the real heads of the administration were a group of able freedmen, Narcissus, Pallas, Polybius and, later, Callistus. While it is true that they abused their power to amass riches for themselves, they contributed a great deal to the organization of the imperial bureaucracy. Their influence caused the widespread employment of imperial freedmen in procuratorial positions.

*Agrippina the younger.* In 49 A. D. the plot of Messalina, the third wife of Claudius, and her lover Gaius Silius, to depose the princeps in favor of Silius, endangered the power of the trio Pallas, Narcissus and Callistus. It was Narcissus who revealed the conspiracy to Claudius, secured his order for the execution of Messalina, and saw that it was carried into effect. But it was Pallas who induced the princeps to take as his fourth wife his own niece Agrippina, whose ambitions were to prove his ruin.

*Death of Claudius.* By Messalina Claudius had a son Britannicus and a daughter Octavia, but Agrippina determined to secure the succession for Domitius, her son by her previous husband Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus. In 50 A. D., Domitius was adopted by Claudius as Nero Claudius Caesar. The following year he received the _imperium_, and was thus openly designated as the future princeps. In 53 A. D. Nero was married to Octavia and a year later Claudius died, poisoned, as all believed, by Agrippina, who feared that further delay would endanger her plans.

IV. NERO, 54–68 A. D.

*The quinquennium Neronis.* Agrippina had previously made sure of the support of the praetorians, and so the appointment of Nero to the principate transpired without opposition. The first five years of his rule were noted as a period of excellent administration. During that time his counsels were guided by the praetorian prefect, Afranius Burrus from Narbonese Gaul, and by Lucius Annaeus Seneca, the famous writer and orator from Spain, whom Agrippina had appointed as his tutor in 49 A. D.

*Fall of Agrippina.* This epoch is also characterized by the attempt of Agrippina to act as regent for her son and retain the influence she had acquired during the later years of the life of Claudius. But in this she was opposed both by Nero himself and his able advisors. In 55 A. D. Nero caused his adoptive brother Britannicus to be poisoned, through fear that he might prove a rival. Finally, under the influence of his mistress, Poppaea Sabina, the wife of Titus Salvius Otho, he had Agrippina murdered (59 A. D.). Thereupon he divorced Octavia, who was later banished and put to death, and married Poppaea.

*The government of Nero.* Freed from the fear of any rival influence, Nero, now twenty-two years of age, took the reins of government into his own hands. After the death of Burrus in 62, Seneca lost his influence over the princeps, who took as his chief advisor the worthless praetorian prefect, Tigellinus. The Senate, whose support he had courted in his opposition to Agrippina, now found itself without any influence; and, since his wanton extravagances emptied the treasury, Nero was forced to resort to oppressive measures to satisfy his needs. The sole object of his policy was the gratification of his capricious whims. In the conviction that he was an artist of extraordinary genius, he hungered for the applause of the successful performer, and in 65 A. D. publicly appeared in the theatre as a singer and musician. Nothing could have more deeply alienated the respect of the upper classes of Roman society. Eager to duplicate his theatrical successes in the home of the Muses, in 66 A. D. Nero visited Greece and exhibited his talent at the Olympian and Delphic games.

*The fire in Rome and the first persecution of the Christians, 64 A. D.* In 64 A. D. a tremendous fire, which lasted for six continuous days and broke out a second time, devastated the greater part of the city of Rome. Subsequently, Nero was accused of having caused the fire, but there is absolutely no proof of his guilt. However, he did seize the opportunity to rebuild the damaged quarter on a new plan which did away with the offensive slum districts, and to erect his famous “Golden House,” a magnificent palace and park on the Esquiline. Popular opinion demanded some scapegoat for the disaster, and Nero laid the blame upon the Christians in Rome, possibly at the instigation of the Jews whose community was divided by the spread of Christian doctrines. Many Christians were condemned as incendiaries, and suffered painful and ignominious deaths. This was the first persecution of the Christians.

*The Armenian problem, 51–67 A. D.* In 51 A. D. an able and ambitious ruler, Vologases, came to the Parthian throne. He soon found a chance to set his brother Tiridates on the throne of Armenia and was able to maintain him there until the death of Claudius. However, at the accession of Nero, Caius Domitius Corbulo was sent to Cappadocia to reassert the Roman suzerainty over Armenia. At first Vologases abandoned Armenia, owing to a revolt in Parthia, but in 58 A. D. Tiridates reappeared on the scene and war broke out. In two campaigns Corbulo was able to occupy the country and set up a Roman nominee as the Armenian king (60 A. D.). It was not long before the latter was driven out by Vologases, who succeeded in surrounding a Roman force under Caesennius Paetus, the new commander in Cappadocia, and forcing him to purchase his safety by concluding an agreement favorable to the Parthian (62 A. D.). The situation was saved by Corbulo, then legate of Syria, who was finally entrusted with the sole command of operations and forced Vologases to meet the Roman terms (63 A. D.). Tiridates retained the Armenian throne, but acknowledged the Roman overlordship by coming to Rome to receive his crown from Nero’s hands.

*The revolt in Britain, 60 A. D.* Under Claudius the Romans had extended their dominion in Britain as far north as the Humber, and westwards to Cornwall and Wales. In 59 A. D. Suetonius Paulinus occupied the island of Mona (Anglesea), the chief seat of the religion of the Druids. While he was engaged in this undertaking a serious revolt broke out among the Iceni and Trinovantes, who lived between the Wash and the Thames. It was caused by the severity of the Roman administration and in particular the ill-treatment of Boudicca, the queen of the Iceni, who headed the insurrection, by Roman procurators. The Roman towns of Camulodunum (Colchester), Verulamium (St. Alban’s), and Londinium (London) were destroyed, and 70,000 Romans were said to have been massacred. A Roman legion was defeated in battle and it was not until Paulinus returned and united the scattered Roman forces that the insurgents were checked. The Britons were decisively defeated and Boudicca committed suicide.

*The conspiracy of Piso, 65 A. D.* About 62 A. D. there began a long series of treason trials in Rome occasioned partly by the desire to confiscate the property of the accused and partly by the suspicion which is the inevitable concomitant of tyranny. The resulting insecurity of the senatorial order naturally produced a real attempt to overthrow the princeps. A wide-reaching conspiracy, in which one of the praetorian prefects was involved and which was headed by the senator Gaius Calpurnius Piso, was discovered in 65 A. D. Among those who were executed for complicity therein were the poet Lucan and his uncle Seneca. Other notable victims of Nero’s vengeance were Thrasea Paetus and Borea Sonarus, the Stoic senators, whose guilt was their silent but unmistakable disapproval of his tyrannical acts. No man of prominence was safe; even the famous general Corbulo was forced to commit suicide in 67 A. D.

*The rebellion of Vindex, 68 A. D.* Upon Nero’s return from Greece, a more serious movement began in Gaul where Caius Julius Vindex, the legate of the province of Lugdunensis, raised the standard of revolt and was supported by the provincials who were suffering under the pressure of taxation. Vindex was joined by Sulpicius Galba, governor of Hither Spain, and other legates. The commander of Upper Germany, Verginius Rufus, who remained true to Nero, defeated Vindex, but, the revolt spread to the troops of Verginius himself and these hailed their commander as imperator. He, however, refused the honor and gave the Senate the opportunity to name the princeps. Nero’s fate was sealed by his own cowardice and the treachery of the prefect Sabinus, who bought the support of the praetorian guards for Galba. The Senate followed their lead, and Nero, who had fled from Rome, had himself killed by a faithful freedman. With him ends the Julio-Claudian dynasty.

V. THE FIRST WAR OF THE LEGIONS OR THE YEAR OF THE FOUR EMPERORS, 68–69 A. D.

*The power of the army.* The year 68–69 witnessed the accession of four emperors, each the nominee of the soldiery. And, while up to this time the praetorians had exercised the right of acclamation in the name of the army as a whole, now the legions stationed on the various frontiers asserted for themselves the same privilege. As Tacitus expresses it, the fatal secret of the empire was discovered, namely, that the princeps could be nominated elsewhere than in Rome. Although the principate may be said to have been founded by the universal consent of the Roman world, nevertheless, from its inception the power of the princeps had rested directly upon his military command, and the civil war of 68–69 showed how completely the professional army was master of the situation.

*Galba, 68 A. D.* Galba, who succeeded Nero, was a man of good family but moderate attainments and soon showed himself unable to maintain his authority. That he would have been held “fit to rule, had he not ruled,” is the judgment of Tacitus. He had never been enthusiastically supported by the Rhine legions nor the praetorians, and his severity in maintaining discipline, added to his failure to pay the promised donative, completely alienated the loyalty of the guards. At the news that the troops in Upper and Lower Germany had declared for Aulus Vitellius, legate of the latter province (1 Jan., 69), Galba sought to strengthen his position by adopting as his son and destined successor, Lucius Calpurnius Piso, a young man of high birth but no experience. By this step he offended Marcus Salvius Otho, the onetime husband of Nero’s wife Poppaea Sabina, who had been one of Galba’s staunch adherents and hoped to succeed him. Otho now won over the disgruntled praetorian guards who slew Galba and Piso, and proclaimed Otho Imperator.

*Otho, Jan.–April, 69.* The Senate acquiesced in their decision but not so the legions of Vitellius which were already on the march to Italy. They crossed the Alps without opposition but were checked by the forces of Otho at Bedriacum, north of the Po. Without waiting for the arrival of reinforcements from the Danubian army, Otho ordered an attack upon the Vitellians at Cremona. His army was defeated and he took his own life.

*Vitellius, April–December, 69 A. D.* Thereupon Vitellius was recognized as princeps by the Senate and his forces occupied Rome. Vitellius owed his nomination to the energy of the legates Valens and Caecina, and, although well-meaning and by no means tyrannical, showed himself lacking in energy and force of character. He was unable to control the license of his soldiery who plundered the Italian towns or his officers who enriched themselves at the public expense, while he devoted himself to the pleasures of the table.

Meanwhile the army of the East, which had recognized Galba, Otho and, at first, Vitellius also, set up its own Imperator, Titus Flavius Vespasianus, who as legate of Judaea was conducting a war against the Jews. Vespasian himself proceeded to occupy Egypt and thus cut off the grain supply of Rome while his ablest lieutenant, Mucianus, set out for Italy. The Danubian legions, who had supported Otho, now declared themselves for Vespasian and, led by Antonius Primus, marched at once upon Italy. The fleet at Ravenna espoused Vespasian’s cause, and Caecina, who led the Vitellians against Primus, contemplated treachery. His troops, however, were loyal, but were defeated in a bloody night battle at Cremona and the way lay open to Rome. Vitellius then opened negotiations and offered to abdicate, but his soldiers would not let him and suppressed a rising in Rome led by the brother of Vespasian. Thereupon the city was stormed and sacked by the army of Primus. Vitellius himself was slain.

*Vespasian, December, 69 A. D.* Vespasian obtained his recognition as princeps from the Senate and the troops in the West. He entered Rome early in 70 A. D.

VI. VESPASIAN AND TITUS, 69–81 A. D.

*Caesar an imperial title.* Following the example of Galba, Vespasian on his accession took the name of Caesar, which became from this time a prerogative of the family of the princeps. The new princeps inherited from his predecessors two serious wars, both national revolts against Roman rule, the one in Gaul and Lower Germany, the other in Judaea.

*The revolt of the Batavi, 69 A. D.* The movement in Lower Germany was headed by Julius Civilis, a Batavian chieftain, formerly an officer in the Roman service, who won over the eight Batavian cohorts attached to the Rhine army. At first he posed as a supporter of Vespasian against Vitellius, but at the news of the former’s victory he renounced his allegiance to Rome and called to his aid Germanic tribes from across the Rhine. At the same time the Gallic Treveri and Lingones, the former led by Julius Classicus and Julius Tutor, the latter by Julius Sabinus, rose in rebellion and sought to establish an empire of the Gauls with its capital at Trèves (Augusta Treverorum). They were joined by the Roman legions stationed on the Rhine. However, the remaining peoples of Gaul refused to join the revolt, preferring the Roman peace to a renewal of the old intertribal struggles.

Upon the arrival of an adequate Roman force despatched by Vespasian the mutinous legions returned to their duty, the Treveri and Lingones were subdued, and Civilis forced to flee into Germany. The Batavi returned to their former status of Roman allies under the obligation of furnishing troops to the Roman armies (70 A. D.). But Rome had seen the danger of stationing national corps under their native officers in their home countries. Henceforth the auxiliaries were no longer organized on a national basis and served in provinces other than those in which they were recruited.

*The Jewish War, 66–70 A. D.* From the year 6 A. D. Judaea had formed a Roman procuratorial province except for its brief incorporation in the principality of Agrippa I (41–44 A. D.). During this time the Jews had occupied a privileged position among the Roman subjects, being exempted from military service and the obligation of the imperial cult, notwithstanding the design of Caligula to set up his image in the temple at Jerusalem. These privileges were the source of constant friction between the Jews and the Greco-Syrian inhabitants of the cities of Palestine, which frequently necessitated the interference of Roman officials. Another cause of unrest was the pressure of the Roman taxation, which rendered agriculture unprofitable and drove many persons from the plains to the mountains to find a livelihood through brigandage. But a more deeply-seated cause of animosity to Roman rule lay in the fact that the Jewish people were a religious community and that for them national loyalty was identical with religious fanaticism. The chief Jewish sects were those of the Sadducees and the Pharisees, of whom the former composed the aristocracy and the latter the democracy. The Sadducees were supported by the Romans and monopolized the offices of the religious community, whereas the Pharisees courted the support of the masses by a policy of hostility to Rome and religious intolerance. It is improbable that the Pharisees actually sought to bring about a revolt but they kindled a fire which they could not control and strengthened the development of a party of direct action, the Zealots, who aimed to liberate Judaea from the Roman force, trusting in the support of Jehovah. By 66 A. D. all Judaea was in a ferment and it required but little incitement to produce a national revolt.

*Massacres in Caesarea and Jerusalem, 66 A. D.* Such a provocation was afforded by the decision of the Roman government that Jews were not entitled to citizenship in Caesarea, the Roman capital of Judaea, and by a massacre of the Jews by the Greeks in a riot which followed. However, at the same time in Jerusalem the Zealots had overpowered the Roman garrison of one cohort, and massacred both the Romans and their Jewish supporters. At the news, further massacres took place in the towns of Syria and Egypt, the Jews suffering wherever they were in a minority but avenging their countrymen where they got the upper hand. The Romans awoke to the seriousness of the situation when the legate of Syria, Cestius Gallus, who had marched on Jerusalem, was forced to beat an ignominious retreat.

*Vespasian in command, 67 A. D.* In 67 A. D. Vespasian was appointed to the command of an army of 50,000 assembled for the reconquest of Judaea. In this and the following year he reduced the open country and isolated fortresses, and was ready to begin the blockade of Jerusalem, where the majority of the Jews had fled for refuge. However, Vespasian’s elevation to the principate caused a suspension of hostilities for ten months, during which factional strife raged fiercely within the city.

*Siege of Jerusalem, 70 A. D.* The conclusion of the war Vespasian entrusted to his eldest son Titus, who at once began the siege of Jerusalem (70 A. D.). The city had a double line of fortifications, and within the inner wall were two natural citadels, the temple and the old city of Mount Zion. The population, augmented by great numbers of refugees, suffered terribly from hunger but resisted with the fury of despair. The outer and inner walls were stormed, and then the Romans forced their way into the temple which was destroyed by fire. Mount Zion defied assault but was starved into submission. Jerusalem was destroyed, and Judaea became a province under an imperial legate. The political community of the Jews was dissolved and they were subjugated to a yearly head-tax of two denarii (40 cents) each, payable to the temple of Jupiter Capitolinus, in consideration of which they enjoyed their previous immunities. The victory of Titus was commemorated by the arch which still stands near the Roman forum.

*The frontiers.* The disorders of the recent wars rendered it necessary for Vespasian to reorganize many branches of the administration, a task which won for him the name of the second founder of the principate. The security of the frontiers received his particular attention. In Germany he annexed the territory between the Rhine above its junction with the Main and the upper Danube, henceforth known as the Agri Decumates from the tithe (_decuma_) paid as rental by colonists who settled there. Further east on the Danube two strong legionary camps were constructed at Carnuntum and Vindobona (Vienna). The Euphrates frontier was strengthened by the establishment of Roman garrisons at Melitene and Satala on the Upper Euphrates, and by annexing to the Syrian province the kingdom of Commagene, which Gaius had restored to its native dynasty. Other client principalities met a like fate. Among the soldiery discipline was restored by disbanding four of the mutinous Rhine legions and replacing them with new units. The praetorian guard, dissolved by Vitellius, was reconstituted out of Italian cohorts following the precedent set by Augustus.

*The finances.* The most serious problem was that of the finances, for the extravagance of the preceding emperors had left the government in a state of bankruptcy and the provinces financially exhausted. Vespasian estimated that the sum of $2,000,000,000 was required to make the necessary outlays. To obtain this amount it was necessary to impose new taxes and avoid all needless expenditures. Yet he not only succeeded in making the state solvent but was able to carry out extensive building operations in Italy and in the provinces. In Rome the Capitoline Temple which had been burned in the fighting with the Vitellians was rebuilt, a temple of Peace was erected on the forum, and the huge Colosseum arose on the site of one of the lakes of Nero’s Golden House. Vespasian also granted state support to the teachers of Greek and Roman oratory in Rome.

In 74 A. D. Vespasian assumed the censorship and took a census of the empire in addition to filling the ranks of the Senate which had been depleted by the late civil wars. He was generous in his grants of citizenship to provincials, and bestowed the Latin right on all the non-Roman communities of Spain, as a preliminary step to their complete romanization.

*Vespasian and the senate.* Vespasian was the first princeps who was not of the Roman nobility. He was a native of the Italian municipality of Reate and his family was only of equestrian rank. He was furthermore an eminently practical man who made no attempt to disguise the fact that he was the real master in the state. Significant in this respect was his revival of the _praenomen_ imperator, which had been neglected by the successors of Augustus. He treated the Senate with respect, and recognized its judicial authority, but excluded it from all effective share in the government. A senatorial decree and a law of the _comitia_ conferred upon Vespasian the powers of the principate, yet he dated the beginning of his reign from the day of his salutation as Imperator by his army. All these things, combined with his refusal to punish the informers of Nero’s reign, earned him the ill-will of the senators. Some of them proceeded to open criticism of the princeps and a futile advocacy of republicanism in the form of a cult of Brutus and Cato the Younger. The leader of this group was Helvidius Priscus, son-in-law of Paetus Thrasea, whom Nero had put to death, and like him a Stoic. Although not very dangerous, such opposition could not be ignored and Priscus was banished. He was later executed, probably for conspiracy. In all probability it was the antimonarchical tendency of contemporary Stoic teachings that induced Vespasian to banish philosophers from Rome.

*The praetorian prefecture.* To forestall any disloyalty in the praetorian guard, Vespasian made his son Titus praetorian prefect. Titus also received the _imperium_ and _tribunicia potestas_, and when Vespasian died in 79 A. D. succeeded to the principate.

*Titus, 79–81 A. D.* His rule lasted little over two years, and is chiefly remarkable for two great disasters. In 79 A. D. an eruption of the volcano of Vesuvius buried the cities of Pompeii, Herculaneum, and Stabii in Campania. Beneath the heavy deposit of volcanic ashes the buildings of these towns have been preserved from disintegration, and the excavation of the site of Pompeii has revealed with wonderful freshness the life of an Italian municipality under the principate. The following year Rome was devastated by a fire which raged for three days and destroyed Vespasian’s new temple of Capitoline Jupiter. In September, 81 A. D., Titus died, deeply mourned by the whole Roman world.

VII. DOMITIAN, 81–96 A. D.

*Character and policy.* Titus was followed by his younger brother Domitian, whom, on account of his ambition, neither Vespasian nor Titus had permitted to share in the government. Domitian was a thorough autocrat and his administration was characterized by great vigor and capacity. Far from being a mere tyrant, he paid great attention to the welfare of the provinces and exercised a strict supervision over his officers. He also displayed a real interest in literature and replaced the libraries destroyed in the fire of 80 A. D.

His autocratic policy is clearly seen in his assumption of the censorship as perpetual censor in 84 A. D., whereby he acquired complete control over the composition of the Senate, a power which, without the title, was henceforth one of the prerogatives of the princeps. Even more emphatically does his absolutism come to light in the title _dominus__ et deus_ (Lord and God), which he required from the officers of his household, and by which he was generally designated, although he did not employ it himself in official documents. For the cult of the deified emperors Domitian erected a special temple in Rome, and he also established a priestly college of Flaviales, modelled on the Augustales of Rome, to perpetuate the worship of his deified father and brother.

*Frontier policy: Britain.* The desire for military successes as a support for his absolutism led Domitian to adopt an aggressive frontier policy. In Britain, Julius Agricola, legate from 77 to 84 A. D., led the Roman legions north of the Clyde and Firth of Forth and defeated the united Caledonians under their chief Galgacus (84 A. D.). He also sent his fleet around the north of Scotland and proved that Great Britain was an island. But his projects, which included an invasion of Ireland, seemed too costly to Domitian who recalled him, possibly in view of the military situation on the continent. The conquest of Scotland was not completed and the Roman authority was confined to the territory south of the Tyne.

*Germany.* In 83 A. D. Domitian led an army across the Rhine from Mainz and annexed the district of Wetterau, where the lowlands were already in Roman hands although the hills were still occupied by the hostile Chatti. A chain of forts was built to protect the conquered region. In the winter of 88–89 A. D. the legate of Upper Germany, Antonius Saturninus, was hailed as Imperator by the two legions stationed at Mainz. Aid was expected by the mutineers from the German tribes, but this failed to materialize and the movement was suppressed by loyal troops, possibly from the lower province. In consequence of this mutiny Domitian adopted the policy of not quartering more than one legion in any permanent camp. At the same time he separated the financial administration of the German provinces from that of Gallia Belgica.

*The lower Danube.* More powerful neighbors faced the Romans along the middle and lower Danube, and in dealing with these the policy of Domitian was less successful. These people were the Germanic tribes of the Marcomanni and Quadi in Bohemia, the Sarmatian Iazyges between the Danube and the Theiss, and the Dacians, who occupied the greater portion of modern Hungary and Roumania. The most powerful of all were the Dacians, among whom a king named Decebalus had built up a strong state. In 85 A. D. they crossed the Danube into Moesia, where they defeated and killed the Roman governor. Thereupon Domitian himself took command and drove the Dacians back across the river. But the pretorian prefect Cornelius Fuscus in attempting to invade Dacia suffered a disastrous defeat in which he and most of his army perished. His successor Tettius Julianus was more successful. However, a complete victory was prevented by Domitian, who rashly invaded the territory of the Marcomanni and Iazyges, and was defeated by them. He thereupon made peace with Decebalus, who gave up his prisoners of war and acknowledged the formal overlordship of Rome, but received an annual subsidy from Domitian in addition to the services of Roman military engineers (89 A. D.). Although Domitian celebrated a triumph for his exploits, his victory was by no means certain and his settlement was only temporary. In the course of the Dacian war Moesia was divided into two provinces.

*Conflict with the Senate.* Feeling that the army was the surest support of his power, Domitian sought to secure its fidelity by increasing the pay of the soldiers by one third. This new expense, added to the outlays necessitated by his wars, the construction of public works, like the restoration of the Capitoline Temple, and the celebration of public festivals, forced him to augment the taxes and this produced discontent in the provinces. In Rome, particularly after the revolt of Saturninus, his relations with the Senate became more and more strained. Many prominent senators were executed on charges of treason; the teachers of philosophy were again banished from Italy; and notable converts to Judaism or Christianity were prosecuted, the latter on the ground of atheism. The general feeling of insecurity produced the inevitable result; a plot in which the praetorian prefects and his wife Domitia were concerned was formed against his life; he was assassinated, 18 September, 96 A. D. His memory was cursed by the Senate and his name erased from public monuments. It was the oppression of the last years of Domitian’s rule that so strongly biased the attitude of Tacitus towards the principate and its founder.