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Rh mark and likelihood, who had already proved their fitness to rule by their obedience and ability in lower stations.

The characters of these very capable leaders are thus drawn in a few strokes by Tacitus:—

"Syria and its four legions were under the command of Licinius Mucianus, a man whose good and bad fortune was equally famous. In his youth, he had cultivated with many intrigues the friendship of the great. His resources soon failed, and his position became precarious, and as he also suspected that Claudius had taken some offence, he withdrew into a retired part of Asia [Minor], and was as like an exile as he was afterwards like an emperor. He was a compound of dissipation and energy, of arrogance and courtesy, of good and bad qualities. His self-indulgence was excessive when he had leisure, yet whenever he had served he had shown great qualities. In his public capacity he might be praised: his private life was in bad repute. Yet over subjects, friends, and colleagues, he exercised the influence of many fascinations. He was a man who would find it easier to transfer the imperial power to another than to hold it for himself. He was eminent for his magnificence, for his wealth, and for a greatness that transcended in all respects the condition of a subject. Readier of speech than Vespasian, he thoroughly understood the arrangement and direction of civil business."

"Vespasian was an energetic soldier: he could march at the head of his army, choose the place for his camp, and bring by night and day his skill, or, if