The Life of Vespasian

The lives of truly great men in history are very often filled with challenges, setbacks, and embarrassments. The Roman Emperor Vespasian, reigning from 69 to 79 CE, was no exception to this rule. A crusty old soldier with a rude sense of humor, Vespasian's background was unexceptional, and his career bordered on mediocre. Yet his fortunes changed during the Civil War of 69 CE, when he unified the Roman world and created the Empire's second dynasty.

Ancestry and Family

Titus Flavius Vespasianus was born on November 17th, 9 CE - just two months after the shocking Roman defeat in the Teutoberg Wald. His place of birth was Falacrine, a tiny Sabine village to the north of Rome. His parents were Titus Flavius Sabinus, and Vespasia Polla. He seems to have been the youngest of three siblings - including a sister who did not survive childhood, and an older brother who was also named Titus Flavius Sabinus.

Vespasian's father, Sabinus the elder, was an Equestrian by social status, and a tax-collector by profession. It is possible that the gossip about Vespasian's alleged stinginess may have been inspired in part by his father's line of work. Vespasian's paternal grandfather was one Titus Flavius Petro. A Sabine, Petro pursued a military career in the middle of the 1st Century BCE - he had fought as a centurion in one of Pompey's legions at Pharsalus. Vespasian was named to honor his mother, Vespasia Polla, whose father Vespasius Pollio was a decorated military veteran also of Equestrian status.

The future emperor married in or around 38 CE - he was nearly thirty, making him old for a Roman newlywed. His bride was Flavia Domitilla, whose father Flavius Liberalis was undistinguished. Within a year of their marriage, the couple had produced a daughter, Domitilla; Vespasian's sister, however, she died in infancy. Vespasian and Domitilla subsequently had two sons, Titus Flavius Vespasianus, born in 41, and Titus Flavius Domitianus, born in 51. Both lived to adulthood, and both would reign as emperor after their father.

Domitilla had died by the time of Vespasian's ascension, and he never remarried. A constant presence in his life, however, was his mistress, an Imperial freedwoman named Antonia Caenis. Vespasian's relationship with Caenis spanned most of his public career, overlapping with and possibly even predating his marriage to Domitilla. She was an extremely intelligent woman and seems to have enjoyed an intimate relationship with Vespasian; her status as a former slave, however, seems to have reduced the attention she got from ancient historians.

Vespasian himself was a powerfully-built man, physically bearing a close resemblance to the sturdy, warrior-farmers he could claim as ancestors. He could hardly be considered handsome; by the time he became emperor he suffered from hair loss and constantly wore a strained expression on his face. Contemporary busts depict Vespasian wearing either a pained grimace, or toothless, faintly sardonic smile that hints at his well-developed, if crude, tactless sense of humor. Vespasian strikes us as a optimistic yet realistic man, a hard worker with a gregarious, patriarchal aura.

Career under Caligula and Claudius

Vespasian seems to have had some early experience of military service in Thrace at the end of the 20s CE, but much of his early career is shrouded in mystery. Unlike his elder brother Sabinus, Vespasian did not appear to be much of a politician in his youth. He passed his thirtieth birthday midway through the reign of Gaius 'Caligula', and at that time he was apparently responsible for keeping the streets of Rome clean. He proved to be either lazy or simply incompetent with this task, and Caligula punished him by publically splattering his toga with mud.

The assassination of Caligula in January of 41 would prove to be a turning point in Vespasian's career. Thanks to the patronage of Claudius' freedman Narcissus, Vespasian became legate of the II Augusta Legion. He still held this command in 43 when this Legion formed the vanguard of Claudius' British invasion force.

The conquest of Britannia in the 40s secured Vespasian's reputation as a successful legionary officer, and one of the greatest generals serving during the reign of Claudius. He was credited with overseeing the Roman occupation of no less than twenty British hill-forts, and may have been wounded during one of these assaults. Judging by the ten-year gap between the births of the younger Vespasian (generally known as Titus) and Domitian, we can assume that Domitilla remained in Italy during the long years Vespasian spent on campaign in Britain.

Upon his return to Italy, Vespasian was awarded Triumphal honors to acknowledge his crucial role in the conquest of Britain; he also became a consul in 51. Late in the reign of Claudius, however, he seems to have fallen out of favor with the regime, and we hear little of him again until the reign of Nero.

African Governor and Judean General

In 54 Claudius died, leaving the Roman Empire to the last and the most infamous of the Julio-Claudians, Nero. Again, the demise of a Caesar had revitalized Vespasian's political fortunes. By the early 60s, he was serving as the proconsul of Africa. He was unique amongst the Neronian governors for his fiscal integrity, refusing to line his pockets at the expense of the provincials. In fact, during his tenure in Africa Vespasian was only rescued from bankruptcy by the support of his elder brother Sabinus.

The mid-60s saw Vespasian accompanying Nero as a member of the Imperial retinue. In 66, Vespasian fell asleep during a performance the musically-inclined Nero gave during his tour of Achaea. Though it offended Nero, this episode did not prevent another advancement in Vespasian's career; in February of 67 he was appointed governor of Judea, which was now in open revolt. Vespasian sailed for the province with his elder son Titus, where he was to spend the next year crushing the Jewish Rebellion slowly but thoroughly.

Thanks to his British victories, Vespasian was probably one of the best-known military men during the reign of Nero; this likely influenced his selection as the Roman commander in Judea. Vespasian failed to let the Emperor down, but it was little matter - in June of 68, Nero was dethroned and committed suicide. Vespasian, now invested in a siege of Jerusalem, declared his support for Nero's successor, Galba.

Vespasian's command in Judea gives us several interesting anecdotes. At some time in 68, the general engaged in an unusual experiment at the expense of some Jewish prisoners. He rowed a vessel out onto the Dead Sea and tossed some bound captives into the water - and much to his amusement, they floated. Vespasian also made an unlikely friend during this war, when he spared the life of a Jewish captive named Yosef, who predicted that he would one day be emperor. This prisoner, later known as Flavius Josephus, would repay Vespasian's clemency by depicting him in a flattering light in his famous histories.

Year of Four Emperors

In January of 69, Emperor Galba was murdered by his young supporter Otho, who succeeded him only briefly before being defeated by Vitellius in April. By that point, Vespasian seems to have cast covetous eyes onto the purple. He had two powerful supporters in the form of the governors of Syria and Egypt. The governor of Syria, Gaius Licinius Mucianus, had initially been Vespasian's rival, but they had made peace with one another not long after the death of Nero. The governor of Egypt, Tiberius Julius Alexander, was a Roman by culture but a Jew by heritage. His province, a major producer of the Empire's grain supply, was essential to anyone seeking to control Rome.

No later than July of 69, Vespasian, Mucianus, and Alexander had entered into a three-way conspiracy to remove Vitellius and place Vespasian on the throne. The legions of all of their provinces declared Vespasian emperor. Vespasian himself stayed in the East, to continue to prosecute the Jewish war and to watch over events in Egypt; Mucianus departed west at the head of an army of 20,000 men.

Vitellius, a gluttonous and weak-willed Caesar, had failed to win the hearts of his legions. The troops of the Danube frontier quickly declared for the Flavian cause, and under the leadership of Marcus Antonius Primus they invaded Italy. Primus failed to coordinate his assault with Mucianus, but it made no difference - Vitellius' army was defeated. By December, Primus had occupied Rome in the name of Vespasian, and Vitellius had been put to death.

Thanks to the loyalty and military skills of Primus and Mucianus, Vespasian was now master of the Roman world. But his triumph did not come without personal loss. During an outbreak of pro-Vitellian rioting in Rome, his brother Sabinus, serving as city prefect, had been torn to pieces. His younger son Domitian, also present in Rome, barely escaped with his life. Mucianus arrived in the city shortly after Primus' victory, and governed it with a heavy hand until Vespasian arrived in October of 70; by that time, Jerusalem had fallen to Titus.

Vespasian the Emperor

Though sporadic resistance continued until 73 - most famously at Masada - the Jewish Revolt had effectively failed by the time Vespasian reached Rome. Other wars took place during the decade Vespasian wore the purple - a revolt amongst the Gaulish and Germanic provincials, headed by one Julius Civilis, was put down only after heavy fighting. Fighting continued in Britain, with the Imperial governor Petilius Cerealis inflicting heavy defeated on the Brigantes. It was also during Vespasian's reign that the Agri Decumantes - the reentrant point between the Rhine and Danube - was first occupied by the Romans.

Vespasian already enjoyed the support of the Eastern and Balkans provinces, and no further challengers arose in the West. After a year of anarchy and bitter fighting, he had restored peace to the Empire. The new Emperor, a shrewd and accomplished fighting man himself, reorganized the army. He ended the custom of garrisoning more than one legion in the same camp, and he also made a conscious policy of shipping auxiliary units off to fight far away from the territory in which they had been recruited - both of these policies decreased the chances of dangerous military rebellions.

The new Emperor was in many respects a refreshing alternative to his immediate predecessors. He was extremely slow to order executions, and was probably the most humble and self-depreciating man to rule the Empire. He projected an image of rustic provincialism, and was not unknown to engage in less than dignified banter with those around him. But these traits did not veil the fact that he was an emperor who owed his authority to the legions - and indeed, he was one of the most authoritarian emperors to yet appear in Roman history. In 73, he revived the position of 'censor', which had last been used during the Claudian period.

Vespasian tried to create a 'cult of personality', not unlike that which would be fostered by his younger son Domitian in the following decades. He built a temple of peace and a new forum in Rome, and celebrated his victories in the coinage. Freedom of speech would also be curtailed in Flavian Rome; writers who spoke favorably of the Emperor received monetary rewards. Stoic philosophers, who had already made a habit of mocking the emperors, incurred the wrath of Vespasian - one Helvidius Priscus was sufficiently virulent in his criticism of the Emperor to get himself banished, and then executed.

Another trend that was visible in Vespasian's reign was the presence of powerful figures behind the throne. Though he was never invited to share Imperial power, Mucianus remained a forceful personality under Vespasian until his death in 76. Likewise, the Emperor's mistress Caenis was also one of his closest advisors until her death in 75; Suetonius claims that she was his wife in all but name. Titus seems to have been Vespasian's informal co-ruler for the last several years of his father's life.

Vespasian gained infamy for being a cheapskate, though this reputation is in part unfair. The Civil War of 69 had devastated the Empire, not only physically but also financially. The Emperor raised taxes considerably, and while this did not seem to spark any serious unrest, it did make him the butt of many jokes. Legend has it that Titus once told his father that it was ridiculous to put a tax on the usage of public latrines. Vespasian replied by holding up a coin in Titus' face, and askng if it stunk - when Titus answered that it did not, Vespasian said 'yet it comes from urine'.

Some of the proceeds from these increased taxes went to several ambitious building projects. The forum and peace temple that Vespasian constructed have already been mentioned, but one of Rome's most famous and enduring architectural masterpieces dates to the reign of Vespasian. It was during his reign that construction was began on the Flavian Amphitheater - known modernly as the Colusseum. It would not be completed until the short reign of Titus.

Early in 79, a conspiracy against Vespasian was uncovered. Its ringleaders, Eprius Marcellus and Caecina Alienus, were both senators and intimate friends of Vespasian, but this was not enough to save them from execution. Vespasian himself died shortly thereafter, on June 24th, just five months shy of his seventieth birthday. The place of his death was a spa resort close to Falacrine, called Aqua Cutiliae.

Legend has it that Vespasian, known throughout his life for his irreverent sense of humor, made jokes even as he died. His last words consisted of a sarcastic reference to the alleged divinity of deceased Roman emperors - 'oh dear, I think I am becoming a god'. Vespasian may not have died as a god, but he did die safe in the knowledge that he had rescued the Roman Empire from civil war, had quieted several revolts, had founded a dynasty, and had begun construction on one of the most legendary structures of the ancient world.

Primary Sources:

Grant, Michael, The Roman Emperors
Suetonius, The Twelve Caesars
Tacitus, The Histories