Vespasian

Family: Flavian · Role: emperor · First appears: Histories I.46-49

Under Nero, Vespasian was sent to Judaea and, in a couple of campaigns, brought its country districts and towns under his victorious army, leaving only Jerusalem under siege. Earlier, Claudius had associated him with the direction of the invasion of Britain, where nations were subdued and kings taken captive. His brother Flavius Sabinus was recognized in Rome as Vespasian’s brother, while Agricola later joined his cause when Vespasian pursued sovereignty.

In 69, Vespasian first swore the Jewish army to Otho, though he and Otho and Vitellius were rivals in the struggle for power. After Nero’s death, his jealousy with Mucianus gave way to cooperation, with Titus becoming the chief bond between them; at last Mucianus publicly declared, “I myself, Vespasian, call you to the throne.” Tiberius Alexander administered the oath to troops at Alexandria, the Jewish army swore allegiance in Vespasian’s presence, Syria followed, and soldiers acclaimed him Caesar and Augustus. Sohaemus, Antiochus, Agrippa, and Berenice supported the cause, while Antonius Primus, Cornelius Fuscus, Sido, Italicus, Lucilius Bassus, and others joined its military advance. Vespasian ordered operations to wait for Mucianus, raised Plotius Grypus to senatorial rank and legionary command, and received the allegiance of forces that abandoned Vitellius; later, however, Mucianus’s criticism diminished the appreciation of Antonius Primus’s successes, and Antonius Primus gradually fell in Vespasian’s favour.

When the Senate granted him the prerogatives of the principate, Vespasian became consul with Titus as colleague. He handed Titus the army to finish the war with the Jews while he managed peace at home, sending grain ships to relieve Rome’s famine and entrusting the restoration of the Capitol to Lucius Vestinus. Civilis and others at times used allegiance to Vespasian as a declared or concealed cause, while Vologaesus offered cavalry that Vespasian declined after peace had been made. He had been a friend of Helvidius Priscus, Paetus Thrasea, Soranus, and Sentius, and later raised Agricola to patrician rank and appointed him governor of Aquitaine. In Alexandria he was associated with reports of restoring a maimed hand and a blind man’s sight, and he kept Seleucus as a soothsayer; Basilides was linked with omens and with an apparition seen by Vespasian while the priest was ill far away.