Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) - Volume 3.djvu/1258

Rh 1246 VESPASIANUS. writing have clearly arisen from the confusion be- tween the first stroke of an wt and the letter i. He is apparently the jurist who is cited by Maeci- anus, lib. ix. Fideicom. (Dig. 35. tit. 2. s. 32. § 4) under the name of '* Vindius noster ;" and if he be the same, Vinidius is probably the true name. He was one of the jurists who were in the consilium of Antoninus Pius, with Ulpius Mar- cellus, Volusius Maecianus, and others. He is cited twice by Ulpian, and once by Paulus. He probably wrote something, but there is no excerpt in the Digest. [G. L.] VERUS, A'NNIUS, the son of the emperor M. Aurelius and Faustina, was born a. d. 1 63, two years after Commodus and his twin brother Anto- ninus Geminus. Antoninus died in A. d. 165, and the two surviving princes, Verus and Commodus, ■were raised to the rank of Caesares, in October, A. D. 1 GQ, at th^-reguest of L. Aurelius Verus on his return from the ' East- 4s, that year. Annius Verus did not enjoy his dignity 'long? for he died at Praeneste, a. d. 1 70, in the seventil • jear of his age, in consequence of the excision of a" t^jnour under his ear, when his father was on the poir^t; of setting out on his expedition against the Marco- manni. The annexed coin has on the obverse the head of Annius Verus with annivs vervs CAES, ANTONiNi AVG. FiL., and on the reverse, the head of Commodus, with commodvs caes. anto- NiNi AVG. FIL. (Capitol. Antonin. Phil. 12, 21 ; Lamprid. Commod. 1, 11 ; Eckhel, vol. vii. p. 82, foll.) ^ COIN OF ANNIUS VERUS. VERUS, L. AURE'LIUS, the colleague of M. Aurelius in the empire, a. d. 161—169. His original fiame was L. Ceionius Commodus, under which head his life is given [Commodus, No. 4, Vol. I. p. 817, a.] ; but as a coin of him has been omitted in that place, it is inserted below. coin op l. aurelius verus. VESCULA'RIUS FLACCUS. [Flaccus.] VESPA, TERE'NTIUS, whose witticism at the expence of Titius is quoted by Cicero (de Oral. ii. 62). VESPASTA'NUS, T. FLA'VIUS SABI'- NUS, Roman emperor, a. d. 70—79, was bom in the Sabine country on the 17th of November, a. d. 9. His father was a man of mean condi- tion, of Reate, in the country of the Sabini. His VESPASIANUS. mother, Vespasia Polla, was the daughter of a Prae- fectus Castrorum, and the sister of a Roman sena- tor. She was left a widow with two sons. Flavins Sabinus and Vespasian. On laying aside the toga virilis, Vespasian, with reluctance and at the urgent solicitation of his mother, took the latus clavus. He served as tribunus militum in Thrace, and was quaestor in Crete and Cyrene. He was afterwards Aedile and Praetor. About this time he took to wife Flavia Domitilla, the daughter of a Roman eques, by whom he had two sons, both of whom succeeded him. In the reign of Claudius, and by the influence of Narcissus, he was sent into Ger- many as legatus legionis ; and in a. D. 43 he held the same command in Britain, and reduced the Isle of Wight. (Sueton. Vespas. 4.) He was consul during the last two months of A. d. 51, and Pro- consul of Africa under Nero, in which capacity Tacitus says {Hist. ii. 97) that he was much dis- liked. He was at this time very poor, and was accused of getting money by dishonourable means. Love of money indeed is said to have always been one of his faults. But he had a great military reputation, and he was liked by the soldiers. He was frugal in his habits, temperate, and an enemy to 3(11 ostentation ; of a kind disposition, without the paoS^ons of hatred or revenge. He had many great quail^i^^' ^^^^h some mean ones, — a combina- tion not at ail £^''^- ^^i^ ^^^Y ^as strong and his health good ; ant1 i* is recorded that he used to fast one dav in everj month. (Sueton. Vespas. 8.) Nero, who did not-x^i'^^ Vespasian because he was no admirer of Ner^> ^^^^^ powers, forbade him to appear in his pi'P^"*^^ '■> ^"^ ^'^^^^ ^^ wanted a general for the Je V^^ ^^^' ^^ thouglit nobody was fitter than Vespas)^"' ^"^ ^e sent him to the East at the close of a. d.-, 6^' ^^ }^^ ^^^^ ^^ a powerful army. [Vitellius.^ ^^^ conduct of the Jewish war had raised his repl^^^^^'^"' ^^^" ^"^^^ war broke out between Otho am"? Vitellius after the death of Galba. He was procj^""^^ emperor at Alexandria on the first of July Ar ^- ^^' ^^ J"' daea, where he then was, on the thin.^ "^ *^^^ ^^^^' month, and soon after all through tlif ■^^^*- ^^^ arranged that Mucianus, governor of i;?^"^' should march against Vitellius, and that P ^°^ '^'^"^ should continue the war against the J^..^^^' Titus, however, did little until the following (.y^^ ' ^"'^ Antonius Primus defeated or gained ove.^*^^*^^"P^ t the 20th when he of Vitellius, who was put to death abou of December. Vespasian was in Egypt" heard the news of the victory which his *°^P^ ^^^'^ gained at Cremona on the 25th of Octu^^^^ '■> ^.^^^ he entered Alexandria, where he saw AtP^^^^".'^' of Tyana. Dion Cassius says that he mi.^^^ ^™' self odious to the Alexandrines by increas'^"^. *^'^ taxes and imposing new ones, and the Alexali".^^'"^^' according to their fashion, retaliated by safe^^^ '""^ sarcasm. His object in going to EgA-pt wa^, *^ ^^^^ off the supplies of grain from Alexandria to R(^"^''» and so to compel Vitellius to yield; but this was>"" necessary, forDomitian, the second son of Vespas"^"' then at Rome, was proclaimed Caesar upon*J|^® death of Vitellius. (Tacit. Hist. iii. 86.) ]f ^ Senate conferred on Vespasian the imperial tiy^' with a specific enumeration of powers, and relea;— him from all the laws from which Augustus, i^^'* berius, and Claudius had been released ; and tTv'^ Senatus-consultum was confirmed by a Lex. A fragment of this Lex still remains. Titus was made consul for the following year with his father.