Page:The Chronicle of Henry of Huntingdon.djvu/54

 faithfully given : "He conducted his government with great moderation, but was inclined to avarice: not, indeed, that he raised money by unjust methods, and what he carefully collected he spent freely, being especially bountiful to those who were in need; so that it would be diffiult to name any prince whose liberality was at once so great and so [...]. His clemency was such that he was not disposed to inflict severer punishment than exile even on those who were guilty of treason. He was conqueror of Judaea, Ac[...], Lycia, Rhodes, Byzantium, Samos, Thrace, Cilicia, Commagene. Injuries and enmities he buried in oblivion; he bore patiently the invectives of lawyers and philosophers and was courteous and affable to the senate, the people, and all the world."

Titus, his son, reigned two years and two months [...] prince endowed with every virtue, so that he was called the idol and the darling of the human race. He built the amphitheatre of Rome, at the dedication of which [...] thousand wild animals were slain. His panegyric is of the highest order : "Eloquent as well as brave, of great moderation, he transacted the business of the law courts in Latin and wrote poems and tragedies in Greek. At the siege of Jerusalem, serving under his father, he struck down twelve of the foremost of the garrison, each with a single arrow. At Rome his government was so humane, that he scarcely inflicted punishment an any, pardoning those who were convicted of conspiracy against his person, and admitted them to the same familiarity as before; so great was his kindness and liberality, that when some of his friends blamed him for never denying any request, he replied, 'no one should depart sad from the presence of the emperor.' He was so much beloved for this singular graciousness, and so sever was the public grief for his death, that all lamented him as if each had lost a private friend. He expired at a distance from Rome, and the senate receiving the intelligence late in the evening thronged into the senate-house and paid such a tribute of praise and acknowledgement to the memory of the deceased emperor, as they had never offered to him when he was alive and among them."