After these triumphs were over, and after the affairs of the Romans were settled on the surest foundations, Vespasian resolved to build a temple to Peace, which he finished in so short a time, and in so glorious a manner, as was beyond all human expectation and opinion. For he having now by providence a vast quantity of wealth, besides what he had formerly gained in his other exploits, he had this temple adorned with pictures and statues; for in this temple were collected and deposited all such rarities as men aforetime used to wander all over the habitable world to see, when they had a desire to see them one after another. He also laid up therein, as ensigns of his glory, those golden vessels and instruments that were taken out of the Jewish temple. But still he gave order that they should lay up their law, and the purple veils of the holy place, in the royal palace itself, and keep them there.[l]
THE EMPIRE IN PEACE
[69-79 A.D.]
Vespasian, having thus given security and peace to the empire, resolved to correct numberless abuses which had grown up under the tyranny of his predecessors. To effect this with greater ease, he joined Titus with him in the consulship and tribunitial power; and, in some measure admitted him a partner in all the highest offices of the state. He began with restraining the licentiousness of the army, and forcing them back to their pristine discipline. Some military messengers desiring money to buy shoes, he ordered them for the future to perform their journeys barefoot. He was not less strict with regard to the senators and the knights. He turned out such as were a disgrace to their station, and supplied their places with the most worthy men he could find. He abridged the processes that had been carried to an unreasonable length in the courts of justice. He took care to rebuild such parts of the city as had suffered in the late commotions; particularly the Capitol, which had been lately burned, and which he now restored to more than former magnificence.
The other ruinous cities in the empire also shared his paternal care; he improved such as were declining, adorned others, and built many anew. In such acts as these he passed a long reign of clemency and moderation; so that it is said no man suffered by an unjust or a severe decree during his administration.[b]
The care of rebuilding the Capitol [says Tacitus] he committed to Lucius Vestinus, a man of equestrian rank, but in credit and dignity among the first men in Rome. The soothsayers, who were convened by him, advised that the ruins of the former shrine should be removed to the marshes, and a temple raised on the old foundation; for the gods would not permit a change of the ancient form. On the eleventh day before the calends of July, the sky being remarkably serene, the whole space devoted to the sacred structure was encompassed with chaplets and garlands. Such of the soldiers as had names of auspicious import entered within the enclosure, with branches from trees emblematical of good fortune. Then the vestal virgins in procession, with a band of boys and girls whose parents, male and female, were still living, sprinkled the whole place with water drawn from living fountains and rivers. Helvidius Priscus, the prætor, preceded by Plautius Ælianus, the pontiff, after purifying the area by sacrificing a swine, a sheep, and a bull, and replacing the entrails upon the turf, invoked Jupiter, Juno, and Minerva, and the tutelar deities of the empire, praying that they would prosper the undertaking, and, with divine power, carry to perfection a work begun by the piety of man; and then Helvidius laid his hand upon the wreaths that bound the foundation stone and were twined about the cords. At the same time, the magistrates, the priests, the senators, the knights, and a number of citizens, with simultaneous efforts, prompted by zeal and exultation, haled the ponderous stone along. Contributions of gold and silver, and pieces of other metals, the first that were taken from the mines, that had never been melted in the furnace, but in their native state, were thrown upon the foundations on all hands. The soothsayers enjoined that neither stone nor gold which had been applied to other uses should profane the building. Additional height was given to the edifice; this was the only variation conceded by religion; and in point of magnificence it was considered to be inferior to the former temple.[i]
Vespasian also began the construction of the great amphitheatre which, under the name of the Colosseum, became the wonder of subsequent generations, and which is still sufficiently preserved to excite the admiration of every tourist. But this gigantic structure—seating about eighty-five thousand people—was not completed until the reign of Vespasian’s successor, Titus.
BANISHMENT AND DEATH OF HELVIDIUS
In his conduct of both private and public affairs, Vespasian appears to have acted with temperate judgment.[a] There are, however, two transactions which, it must be acknowledged, have left a stain upon his memory. The first was the death of Helvidius Priscus; the other, the heartless treatment of Epponina, wife of Sabinus. Helvidius, excellent man, fell a sacrifice to his enemies, and, perhaps, to his own intemperate conduct. Initiated early in the doctrines of the stoic school, and confirmed in the pride of virtue by the example of Pætus Thrasea, his father-in-law, he saw the arts by which Vespasian, notwithstanding the rigour of his nature, courted popularity; and did not scruple to say that liberty was more in danger from the artifices of the new family, than from the vices of former emperors. In the senate he spoke his mind with unbounded freedom.