A History of Rome to 565 A. D.

by Arthur E. R. Boak

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 [pg 240]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, [pg 241]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.