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[[Harmony of the Gospel (Conservative Version)|Introduction]]
According to tradition, Antipas of Pergamum, a personal disciple of the Apostle John, was made Episcopos of the Christian Assembly of Pergamum by John during the reign of Nero. His witness to the Lord Jesus Christ by word and deed and miracles of healing began turning the people of Pergamum from offering sacrificial worship to idols that can neither see, nor hear, nor move, nor breathe. The pagan priests complained vehemently that he was misleading the people by causing them to commit apostasy from their faith in their ancestral gods by his personal example of moral and spiritual virtue, the firmness of his faith in his God, and his constant preaching about Jesus the Anointed One. When they demanded that he stop, he refused. He would not submit to their demand to stop preaching Christ and offer sacrifice to the idols.
While attending Nero in [http://bibleatlas.org/full/achaia.htm Achaia], Vespasian was indiscreet enough to fall asleep at the emperor’s artistic performance, but this did not prevent his appointment by Nero in February of A.D. '''67''' to the command against the Jewish rebellion in Judea, the cause of two disastrous Roman defeats in the previous year. When Nero learned what had happened to his forces in Judea, he sent Vespasian to assume command in Syria and subdue the Jewish rebels. For such an appointment Vespasian was regarded as a safe man; a highly competent general, but of the obscure Flavii family; one whose humble origins made it almost inconceivable, as long as Nero was alive, that he would challenge Nero’s government if he should win victories. This appointment was most exceptional, because Judea had never before been garrisoned by even one legionary army, and Vespasian was now given three legions with a large force of auxiliary troops. Vespasian immediately sent his son Titus to bring up the legion ''Legio quinta decima Apollinaris'', Apollo’s Fifteenth Legion, from Alexandria, while he proceeded to Syria and collected from neighboring rulers the Roman forces and auxiliary troops stationed there. Seeking to be thought superior to his station, the young man himself constantly displayed his grace and energy in war, inspiring willing '''obedience ''' by his courtesy and affability, often mixing with the common soldiers while working or marching without compromising his dignity as general. Thus, Titus, after service in Britain and Germany, himself commanded a legion under his father, Vespasian, in Judea in 67.
Vespasian then conducted two successful campaigns, in 67 and '''68''', winning almost all of Judea except Jerusalem. A distinguished Jewish prisoner of Vespasian’s, Josephus by name, a general in Judea and governor before his capture, insisted that he would soon be released by the very man who had now put him in fetters, who would then be emperor.
The tumultuous period began in March of A.D. 68 with a revolt against the unpopular taxation policies of the already unpopular Nero. The first move was by the Gauls under the legate who first rebelled against him, Julius Vindex, the governor of Lugdunensis in Gaul. Nero heard of the Gallic revolt on the anniversary of his mother’s murder. At the news of revolts brewing throughout the empire Nero only laughed and indulged in further [[megalomaniac]]al displays instead of taking action. He is reported to have said, “I have only to appear and sing to have peace once more in Gaul.”
Roman Governor [[Galba|Servius Sulpicius Galba]] joined in the revolt. Galba, who had been appointed in A.D. 60 as governor of Nearer Spain in the neighboring province of Tarraconensis and had served in that post for eight years, was holding assizes at ''Carthago Nova'', New Carthage, when news reached him of the revolt in the Gallic provinces. It came in the form of an appeal for help sent by the governor of Aquitania in Gaul, which was followed by another invitation from Julius Vindex, the governor of Lugdunensis (perhaps prompted by Galba), asking whether he would take the lead in rescuing humanity from Nero and head a rebellion against him. Believing that the emperor Nero was planning his assassination, Galba accepted the suggested invitation without much delay, but with some measure of both hope confident expectation and fear.
General Galba, taking his place on the tribunal, in a most [[Rhetoric|stirring and impassioned speech]] deplored the present state of the empire. He was at once hailed as ''imperator'', and he accepted the honor, announcing that he represented the Senate and People of Rome.
He ordered the courts closed and began raising legions and auxiliary troops from the native population to increase his existing command, which was one legion, two squadrons of cavalry, and three infantry cohorts. Next he '''chose ''' the most distinguished and intelligent provincials to serve in a kind of senate, to which matters of importance could be referred whenever necessary. He also picked certain young ''equites'', Roman [[knight]]s instead of ordinary troops, to guard his sleeping quarters, and although these ranked as volunteer infantrymen they still wore the gold rings proper to their condition as knights. He then recruited an additional new legion in Spain, the ''Legio septima Gemina'', the Twins' Seventh Legion, and built up a large following in many other regions of the empire; even though in May of 68 Vindex himself was defeated in a battle with the Rhine armies of Upper Germany engaging in operations under Lucius Verginius Rufus against Vindex and the Gauls, and the war in Gaul ended.
Then Vindex called upon everyone in the provinces to unite energetically in the common cause of rebellion, and [[Otho|Marcus Salvius Otho]] joined the rebellion against Nero. Otho, formerly the husband of Poppaea, had been sent from Rome in A.D. 58 to govern the province of Lusitania, and for ten years he had ruled this province with integrity. Then, in 68, Otho also joined the rebellion against Nero led by Galba, governor of the neighboring province of Tarraconensis, and he promised the [[Praetorian Guard|Praetorians]] a bribe from Galba for supporting his claim to the throne.
At about this time a ring of ancient design was discovered in the fortifications of the city that Galba had '''chosen ''' as his headquarters, the engraved gem representing ''Nike'', Victory, raising a trophy. Soon afterward an Alexandrian ship drifted into [http://encyclopedia2.thefreedictionary.com/Dertosa Dertosa, now Tortosa], loaded with arms, but neither helmsman, crew nor passengers were found aboard her; and this left no doubt in any of their minds that this must be a just and righteous war, favored by the gods. A more prudent man would have asked why a ship so heavily armed had no surviving helmsman, crew or passengers aboard to guide her. Recall the words of the Lord Jesus, how he said to Peter,
:“All who take the sword shall perish by the sword.”
No living soul was aboard.
When a dispatch brought news that other armies had also revolted, Nero hesitated, and then, shocked at finding that his bodyguard had deserted him, he fled Rome. Faced with the disloyalty of his army, the Praetorian Guard, and the Senate, he was obliged to flee the city, and ran away with four of his most trusty freedmen. Finally, he was declared a public enemy by the Senate. The Senate condemned Nero to die a slave’s death''':''' on a cross and under the whip.
Meanwhile, on the advice of Phaon, an imperial freedman, he fled to Phaon’s own suburban villa. There, a letter arrived from the Senate declaring Nero a public enemy, and saying that he would be punished in ancient style. He then learned that “ancient style” meant that the executioners would strip their victim naked, push or wedge his head into a forked wooden restraint, and then flog him to death with heavy sticks, '''rods'''. He made his companions promise, whatever happened, to not let his head be cut off, but have him buried in one piece. When horses approached, Nero’s last words were said to be, “What an artist dies in me'''!'''”
Then, with the help of an eager slave, his secretary Epaphroditus, he stabbed himself in the throat, and committed [[suicide]], and slew himself in the suburbs of Rome. He died with his eyes bulging from their sockets.
Later they confessed under torture.
Galba’s political embarrassments were increased by the death of Vindex, a blow so heavy that it almost turned him to despair and suicide. But messengers arrived from Rome with the news that Nero too was dead, and that the citizens had all sworn '''obedience ''' to himself.
Nero had been Emperor of Rome from A.D. 54 to eight June of 68. His request to be buried in one piece was granted. His body was laid on his funeral pyre dressed in gold-embroidered white robes. The funeral cost two hundred thousand sesterces. His old nurses Ecloge and Alexandria, helped Acte, his mistress, carry the remains to the [https://www.italyguides.it/en/lazio/rome/parks-and-gardens/villa-borghese/pincian-hill Pincian Hill], which is visible from the Campus Martius. His coffin was of white porphyry and stood in the Domitian family tomb, overshadowed by an altar of Luna marble.
'''<big><big><big><span style="color:red">S</span></big></big></big>'''tories of Galba’s cruelty and greed preceded him, and he confirmed this reputation on his entry into Rome. He now wore a commander’s cloak, with a dagger hanging from his neck, and did not put on a toga again before he had accounted first for the men who were plotting further trouble''':''' the Praetorian prefect Nymphidius Sabinus in Rome; Fonteius Capito, who commanded in Germany; and Lucius Clodius Macer, who commanded in Africa. He [[Decimation|decimated]] soldiers who protested his reassigning them to demeaning duty below their privileged rank, he disbanded and dismissed the cohort of Germans who had served as bodyguards for the Caesars with consistent loyalty, and in 68 he appointed [[Vitellius|Aulus Vitellius]] imperial governor of Lower Germany. However, Galba’s position was never stable, as other men also claimed the throne almost immediately and the legions did not all swear their allegiance, and he quickly lost the support of the Senate and the armed forces.
He outraged all classes at Rome. Galba had a tablet set up in the forecourt of his house tracing his ancestry back to Jupiter on the male side, and to Pasiphae, Minos’s wife, on the female side. In every way he disappointed and insulted those who labored to please him, usually by expressions of burdened disgust in response to their efforts, and he rewarded outstanding performers who delighted him by handing them gratuities of only a few coins of minor value. It was rumored that when presented with an especially lavish dinner prepared at great expense after hours of labor with utmost care in his honor, he rewarded the efforts of his imperial chef and his staff of attendants with a groan. To the treasurer who had scrupulously labored over an exacting professional abstract of detailed treasury accounts he presented to him as his reward a bowl of beans. When the renowned flautist Canus delighted him with a virtuoso performance on the flute, Galba pressed on him the sum of five denarii. To his subjects in general, Nero had been a tyrant, but now the Roman populace and the Praetorian Guard came to regret that they had lost such a liberal patron. He sentenced men of all ranks to death without trial on the scantiest evidence, and annulled all of Nero’s lavish awards for excellence or favor, letting the beneficiaries keep no more than a tenth part, enlisting the help of fifty ''equites'' to ensure that his order was '''obeyed'''. When the people demanded punishment for the vilest of all Nero’s assistants, Tigellinus and the [[eunuch]] Halotus, Galba gave Halotus a lucrative procuratorship, and published an imperial edict charging the people with unjust hostility toward Tigellinus.
In the eyes of some historians he brought about his own downfall by taking [[Ethics|ethical]] principle over political expediency. Although his advisers were allegedly corrupt, his administration has been characterized by some historians as priggishly upright. Galba’s attempt to cut back Nero’s extravagant spending was unpopular, as was his execution of troops recruited by Nero as well as those of several opponents, including Lucius Clodius Macer, commander in Africa, whose revolt against Nero from Africa had cut off Rome’s grain supply. Though the officers of the army had promised a larger bonus than usual to the soldiers who had pledged their swords to Galba before his arrival in the city, he would not honor this commitment. When he arrived in Rome and found out about the agreement, he refused on principle to pay the soldiers who had helped him attain the throne, believing that soldiers should serve because they are soldiers. He announced, “It is my custom to levy troops, not to buy them.”
Galba rewarded the parts of Gaul that had supported Vindex, and thus outraged the legions of Upper Germany, ''Germania Superior'', who had defeated Vindex. The troops in Germany were not friendly to Galba, and [[Vitellius|Aulus Vitellius]], whom Galba had appointed as governor of Lower Germany, ''Germania Inferior'', won them over with generosity. It was also at this time that the Batavian general Julius Civilis in the Rhineland began to sow the seeds of the Batavian Rebellion, for independence from Roman domination. Camps in Upper Germany claimed they had not been rewarded with a bounty for their share in the operations under Verginius Rufus in May of A.D. 68 against Vindex and the Gauls, which put an end to the rebellion. These were the first troops bold enough to withhold their allegiance, taking their oath only in the name of the Senate. They sent a messenger to the Praetorians, requesting them to choose someone who deserved the approval of the whole army.
On one January A.D. '''69''', the legions of Upper Germany refused the customary vote of allegiance to Galba. On the same day, the legions of Lower Germany refused to swear allegiance and '''obedience ''' to Galba, and on the next day, two January 69, Vitellius’s men proclaimed him emperor. The armies of Upper Germany, the legions, then joined with the legions of Lower Germany in proclaiming Aulus Vitellius emperor, as well as most of the governors of Spain, Gaul, and Britain, who soon gave him their support as well, and they acclaimed Vitellius as emperor. He then led his troops into Italy.
Historians refer to A.D. 69 as a politically unstable period in the Roman Empire during which four different emperors came to power in the space of a single year, [[Year of the four Emperors|the year of the four emperors]]. Eight legions of the Rhine on three January had already hailed Aulus Vitellius as emperor and Vitellius was marching to Rome. However, before Vitellius could seize power, a young noble named [[Otho|Marcus Salvius Otho]] bribed the Praetorian Guard to kill Galba.
On ten January, Galba, not grasping the situation but thinking that the unrest of the Praetorians was due to uncertainty over the succession, responded by bringing into the Praetorian camp a handsome young man whom he highly esteemed, and had singled out from a group of his courtiers, Piso Frugi Licinianus, and appointed him perpetual heir to his name and property, calling him “my son”. It was to win Senatorial support that Galba had '''chosen ''' as his heir this ''Lucius Calpurnius Piso Frugi Licinianus'', a scion of a noble Roman family, instead of Otho, who had been his loyal ally. However, in announcing Piso to the Praetorians as his heir, he never said the word “bounty” or “bonus”, thus giving General Marcus Salvius Otho an excellent opportunity to mount his ''[[coup d'etat]]'' five days later.
Galba’s adoption of Piso came as a shock to Otho, who had hoped expected to secure this good fortune himself. He had hoped expected to be designated Galba’s successor, but when Galba disappointed him by adopting Lucius Piso Licinianus in January of 69, Otho turned on the emperor. After Galba failed to name him his heir, disappointment, resentment and a massive accumulation of debts now prompted him to revolt, and he prepared to seize power, with the help of the Praetorian Guard. He organized a conspiracy among the Praetorian Guard, and won over the Praetorians with the promise of a donative. The one million sesterces just paid him for a stewardship by one of the emperor’s slaves served to finance the undertaking.
He first confided in five of his personal guards, and each of these obtained the cooperation of two others as fellow conspirators. Each of them was paid ten thousand sesterces with the promised addition of fifty thousand more. But while these fifteen recruited a number of assistants, Otho also counted on mass support as soon as he raised the standard of revolt. The Praetorian Guard then shifted their support to Otho.
And now they were both in suspense about the public affairs, the Roman empire being then in a fluctuating condition, and did not go on with their expedition against the Jews, but thought that to make any attack upon foreigners was now unreasonable, on the account of the anxiety they were in for their own country.
A civil war in Italy was now inevitable; but the main contenders, Otho and Vitellius, were both men whom Vespasian could reasonably hope expect to challenge. Following the emperor Nero’s death in June of 68, Titus was energetic in promoting his father’s candidacy for the imperial crown. The emperor Galba had been murdered, and Otho had succeeded, but Vitellius was '''chosen ''' emperor by the legions of Germany.
Before Galba’s death the legions in Germany had already declared for Aulus Vitellius, and he was already marching on Rome to take power. As soon as news reached Germany of Galba’s murder, eight legions of the Rhine on three January had already hailed him as emperor. Vitellius, whose troops were already moving toward Italy, put his affairs in order and split the army into two divisions, one of whom stayed with him. He sent the other against Otho.
But as soon as they saw him busy with his meal their fury abated, and for the moment they stopped their killing.
Acting with speed and determination, Otho, having sent a naval expedition to Narbonensis, a region in southern Gaul, summoned the Danube legions, and himself marched out on fourteen March with his expedition against the commanders of Vitellius. He set out on his campaign very energetically, but according to the Roman Suetonius, haste prevented him from paying sufficient attention to the omens. He says the sacred shields used by the ''Salii'' in their procession had not yet been returned to the Temple temple of Mars, traditionally a bad sign, and this was the very day in March when the worshippers of Cybele the so-called mother of the gods began their annual lamentation over the death of her consort Attis, a dying and rising vegetation god. And besides, the auspices were most unfavorable''':''' at a sacrifice offered to Father Dis, the Roman god of the underworld, the victim’s intestines had a healthy look, which according to tradition was exactly what they should not have had. Otho’s departure was, moreover, delayed by a flooding of the Tiber, and at the twentieth milestone he found the road blocked by the ruins of a collapsed building.
But such circumstances cannot indicate what will follow, nor do they reveal what to do or what to avoid, neither do they offer options to choose from, for they appear significant only afterward, when superstitious persons assign interpretations to them. They are not the oracles of the gods. Remember the abandoned ship full of weapons.
And about this time, in Judea, while Vespasian waited, there arose another war at Jerusalem. '''Simon, son of Giora''', came to the robbers who had seized [[Masada]], the ''sicarii'', and persuaded them to trust him. He went out with them, and together they ravaged and destroyed the country about Masada. But he could not persuade them to do even more, and go farther from their hiding-place in that citadel. So seeking to be great, and a tyrant, he went into the mountain region and gathered a set of wicked men from all quarters, proclaimed liberty to slaves, and rewards for all those already free.
With a strong body of men, he overran the villages of the mountains, gained more followers, went into the lower regions of the countryside, and became more formidable; and he [[Corruption|corrupted]] many powerful men, so that, having an army of more than robbers and slaves, much of the populace '''obeyed ''' him as their king. He built a wall at [http://bibleatlas.org/full/nain.htm Nain], making it a fortress, and enlarged the caves in the valley of [http://bibleatlas.org/full/paran.htm Paran] to store all of their stolen treasures; and many of his partisans dwelt in them.
The [[Zealots]], dreading his growing power to oppose them, came out against him with weapons. Simon met them and killed a considerable number, driving the rest before him into a city. He chose not to assault the wall of the city, but to subdue [http://bibleatlas.org/full/idumea.htm Idumea] instead with twenty thousand men. The rulers gathered about twenty-five thousand warlike men, leaving the rest to guard their country because of the incursions of ''sicarii'' out of Masada, and they met Simon at their border. But it was an inconclusive engagement. He went back to Nain, and they withdrew.
And thus did Simon son of Giora get possession of Jerusalem in the third year of the war, A.D. 69, in the month Xanthicus, which is the first Jewish lunar month Nisan, in March and April. With that, John, and the multitude of Zealots, being prohibited from coming out of the Temple, and having lost power in the city, despaired of deliverance, for Simon and his party had plundered them of what they had. Simon also made an assault on the Temple, with the assistance of the people, while the others stood on the porticoes and the battlements, and defended themselves from their assaults. However, a considerable number of Simon’s party fell, and many were carried off wounded; for the Zealots easily shot arrows from a higher position and seldom failed to hit their enemies. For they had the advantage of situation, having erected the four very large towers beforehand, that their arrows might come from higher places, one at the northeast corner of the court, one above the Xystus, the third at another corner over against the lower city, and the last was erected above the top of the Pastophoria, where one of the priests normally stood to give a signal beforehand with a trumpet, as at the beginning of every seventh day in the evening twilight, and at evening when the day was finished, alerting the people when they were to leave off work on Friday evening just before sunset and when they were to go to work again on Saturday evening just after sunset; for many Jews impiously regarded the imposition of the Sabbath as a disruption of their work, impatiently resuming their labors the moment the sun was gone. These men also set their engines to shoot arrows, and to sling stones also, onto those towers, with their archers and slingers. But now Simon made a weaker assault on the Temple, because the majority of his men grew weary of that work. Yet he did not cease his opposition, because his army was superior to the others, although the arrows which were powered by the engines traveled a great distance, and slew many of those who fought for him.
But now sedition and civil war prevailed, not only over Judea, but in Italy also. Galba had been slain in the midst of the Roman marketplace, then Otho was made emperor, and he fought against Vitellius, who was also set up as emperor; for the legions in Germany had '''chosen ''' him.
When Nero and Galba were both dead and Vitellius was disputing the rule with Otho, Vespasian began to remember his imperial ambitions, which had been prompted by omens.
'''<big><big><big><span style="color:red">T</span></big></big></big>'''he news of the victory at Bedriacum and of Otho’s suicide reached Vitellius before he had left Gaul. Thus he deposed Otho only by default, through suicide, after a three-month reign, on nineteen April A.D. 69. Vitellius assumed power that same day, the third man to be emperor that year.
At once Vitellius disbanded and dismissed all Praetorian cohorts in Rome by a comprehensive decree, accusing them of a disgraceful lapse in discipline''':''' they must surrender their arms to the tribunes. He gave further orders for the arrest and punishment of one hundred and twenty Praetorians known to have demanded a bounty from Otho for services rendered him in regard to Galba’s assassination. In the eyes of the Romans these irreproachably correct acts raised the hope expectation that Vitellius would make an admirable emperor, but the rest of his behavior instead was in keeping with the character he had shown in the past, and fell far short of the dignity of the imperial office, for he proved incapable of supporting the weight of power won for him by his legates.
It is beyond dispute that all authority comes from God. And those authorities that exist are instituted by God, and those who have been entrusted with authority over the people he will judge with greater strictness. And every one to whom much is given, of him will much be required; and of him to whom men commit much they will demand the more. Do not seek to be a judge over men, if you have not the strength to uproot wickedness and [[corruption]] and the moral integrity to resist it. Vitellius proved incapable of supporting the weight of power won for him by his legates.
Now, it was about this very time that heavy calamities came on Rome from all sides. News came to Vespasian in Judea that Otho’s forces were defeated, conquered by the troops of Vitellius, and soon after the battle, on sixteen April, Otho had committed suicide; and after defeating Otho, Vitellius had been acclaimed Roman Emperor in April 822 A.U.C., on sixteen April in A.D. 69.
The chronology of Vespasian’s actions cannot be precisely determined from the sources at hand. What is certain is that at the latest after Otho’s defeat and suicide on sixteen April 69, Vespasian had begun to collect support. But Vespasian made no move, although his adherents were impatient to press his claims, before he was suddenly stirred to action by the unexpected and fortunate support of a distant group of soldiers whom he did not even know''':''' two thousand men belonging to the three legions of Moesia that had been sent to reinforce Otho. They had marched forward as far as Aquileia, despite the news of Otho’s defeat and suicide which reached them on the way, and had there taken advantage of the unsettled times to plunder at pleasure. And pausing at last to consider what the reckoning might be on their return, they hit on the idea of setting up their own emperor. The troops in Spain had appointed Galba; the Praetorians, Otho; the troops in Germany, Vitellius. So they went through the whole list of provincial governors, rejecting each name in turn for one reason or another before finally choosing Vespasian, on the strong recommendation of some men of the ''Legio tertia Augusta'', Third Augustus Legion men, who had been sent to Moesia from Syria just prior to Nero’s death, and, having '''chosen ''' him, marking all their standards with his name. Though they were temporarily recalled to duty at this point and did no more in the matter, the news of their decision soon became known.
Tiberius Alexander, the prefect in Egypt, consequently made his legions take the oath to Vespasian, on the Kalends of July, the first day of the month, later celebrated as Vespasian’s accession day. On one July 69, probably as a result of a contrived plot, the two Egyptian legions proclaimed him emperor, followed a few days later by the legions of Syria and Judea.
But now Vespasian’s commanders and soldiers met in several companies, and discussed openly about changing the public affairs. With indignation, they cried out how soldiers living in ease at Rome who have never tasted battle ordain whomever they please as governors of the army, and in hope expectation of gain for themselves make them emperors, while those who have served long in armor in the field are leaving to them this power. They said that there is more good reason for Vespasian to be emperor than for Vitellius; and those troops who have undergone wars and labors as great as those troops from Germany are not inferior to those who brought that tyrant to Rome and are far more deserving. They reasoned that since the Senate and people of Rome would not bear such a barbarous, lascivious and childless tyrant emperor as Vitellius to preside over them when compared with the good governorship of Vespasian who is both [[Chastity|chaste]] and a father, and that the greatest security kings have for themselves is the advancement of their own children to great dignities; and estimating Vespasian’s ability from years of governing, and the strength of a young man in his own son Titus, both of them able to support with strength anyone made emperor, each having three legions besides auxiliaries from neighboring kings, together with the support of all the armies in the East and those in Europe far from the dread of Vitellius, as well as those in Italy under Vespasian’s older brother, Flavius Sabinus, and his son Domitian entrusted with government of the city; and the fact that delay may allow the Senate to choose an emperor whom the soldiers, who are saviors of the empire, would hold in contempt—having gathered together in a great body, and mutually encouraging each other, they declared Vespasian emperor, and exhorted him to save the government which was now in danger.
His men thought that Vespasian, a great and popular leader, was the very antithesis of the childless wretch Vitellius, for Vespasian had two sons to succeed him, Titus and Domitian, and an older brother, Titus Flavius Sabinus who was the prefect of the city, in charge of the city of Rome. Accordingly, his troops proclaimed Vespasian emperor, and urged him to save the endangered empire. Vespasian, however, declined, but his officers pressed him. When he was reluctant to accept the danger of being emperor compared to the safety of a private life, his troops gathered around him, threatening him with death if he refused. The soldiers drew their swords, and threatened to kill him if he would not live as emperor. And failing to convince them with additional arguments, Vespasian finally yielded; unable to persuade them, he yielded to their salute. Vespasian, who had distinguished himself and become illustrious in the campaigns against the Jews, was then proclaimed sovereign while still in Judea, receiving the title of emperor from the armies there. Then, having been hailed as ''imperator'' by the armies on one July 69, 822 A.U.C., Vespasian was proclaimed emperor, and on eleven July the army in Judea swore allegiance to Vespasian in person. He was fifty-eight years old.
In the meantime, besides what troubles there were under Vitellius, after Nero’s suicide in 68 there was also a widespread belief, especially in the eastern provinces, that he was not dead and somehow would return. According to Suetonius, Nero had stabbed himself in the throat with a dagger the previous year. But according to another version recounted by Tacitus, and regarded by most historians as almost certainly fiction, after fleeing Rome he had reached the Greek islands. At least three Nero imposters emerged after his death leading rebellions.
The first imposter, who sang and played the cithara or lyre and whose face was similar to that of the dead emperor, appeared in 69 during the reign of Vitellius. After persuading some to recognize him, he was captured and executed. The governor of Cythnos recognized him in the guise of a red-haired prophet and leader of the poor, had him arrested, and executed the sentence that had been passed by the Senate, death according to the ancient form, scourging with '''rods ''' and crucifixion.
But there were disturbing rumors that Nero was still alive, his deadly wound was healed, and that he would return to Rome to claim his throne. For about the same time Greece and Asia were greatly alarmed by a false report that Nero was about to reappear, so that many pretended that he was alive and even believed it; and this rumor persisted for centuries. This belief that the beast Nero has revived came to be known as the ''Nero Redivivus Legend''.
Now Domitian had remained all night in the temple caretaker’s quarters, and at sunrise he disguised himself as a devotee of Isis and took refuge among the priests of that somewhat disreputable and rather questionable order. Soon he managed to escape with a friend across the Tiber river, to the house of the mother of one of his fellow students. She hid him so cleverly that she outwitted the men of Vitellius who had tracked him there, and searched the place from the foundation to the roof.
Primus had arrived one day too late to save Sabinus. The fighting now moved to Rome. Vespasian’s army, under Primus’s leadership, attacked and entered Rome on twenty December with street to street battles and [[Burning of Rome|a fire that engulfed the city. Rome burned]]. On twenty-one December, while the fighting continued, Vespasian’s position was officially confirmed by the Senate, but he remained quite frank about the military origin of his rule. He dated his powers to one July, when the troops had acclaimed him, thus flouting constitutional precedent and contradicting even the behavior of his rival Vitellius, who had awaited confirmation by the Senate. And two days later, after two days of street fighting in Rome, and the fight that was about the Capitol, Vespasian’s troops easily defeated the Vitellian legions who had treated the whole city as their [[bivouac|camp]] and a brothel for their lust. The others that were slain numbered above fifty thousand. This battle was fought on the third day of the month Apelleus, which is the ninth Jewish lunar month Casleu, in November and December. The advance guard entered Rome without opposition and at once began searching. Vitellius furtively hurried to his father’s house on the [[Seven hills of Rome|Aventine Hill]], having planned an escape into Campania. But a rumor of peace enticed him back to the palace, which he found deserted. He hid with a money belt full of gold in the doorkeeper’s quarters.
On the next day Mucianus came into the city with his army, and ordered Antonius and his men to leave off killing; for they were still searching the houses, and had killed many of Vitellius’s soldiers and many of the populace, supposing them to be of his party, their rage preventing them from making any accurate distinction between them and others; they were drunk with blood.
It was also alleged that but for Antonius’s invasion and its destructive progress Vespasian’s victory could have been bloodless, a very doubtful claim. Vespasian gave no thanks to Antonius Primus, whose final misfortune was that Mucianus was able to cross quickly to Rome and take over the reins of power.
At Rome the Senate, delighted and full of confident hopeexpectations, decreed to Vespasian ''cuncta principibus solita'', “all the honors customarily”, that is, all the honors customarily bestowed on the emperors, known to us as the ''lex de imperio Vespasiani'', literally, “Vespasian rule of law”, the Rule of Law under Vespasian. And indeed the civil war, which, beginning in Gaul and Spain, and afterward, drawing into the struggle first Germany and then Illyricum, had traversed Egypt, Judea, and Syria, every province, and every army, this war, now that the whole earth was as if it had been purged from guilt, seemed to have reached its close. A letter from Vespasian written during the continuance of the war increased their eagerness, such indeed was its character at first sight. The writer, however, speaking modestly about himself, expressed himself as an Emperor, in admirable language about the State. There was no lack of deference on the part of the Senate. On the Emperor and his son Titus the [[consul]]ship was bestowed by decree; and on Domitian the office of [[praetor]] with consular authority.
On the day, however, that the Senate was voting about the imperial dignities of Vespasian, it had been resolved that envoys should be sent to the new Emperor. From this arose a sharp altercation. That party prevailed which preferred that the envoys should be '''chosen ''' by lot.
While there was [[Schism|division ]] in the Senate, and resentment among the conquered, and no real authority in the conquerors, and in the country at large no laws and no emperor, General Gaius Licinius Mucianus entered the capital, and at once drew all power into his own hands. He alone was canvassed and courted, and he, surrounding himself with armed men, and bargaining for palaces and gardens, ceased not, with his personal magnificence, his proud bearing, and his guards, to grasp at the power, while he waived the titles of empire. Before Vespasian’s return Mucianus reduced the Praetorian Guard, which had been greatly enlarged by Vitellius, to approximately its former size.
On twenty-one December Vespasian’s position was officially confirmed by the Senate, but he remained quite frank about the military origin of his rule. He dated his powers to one July, when the troops had acclaimed him, thus flouting constitutional precedent and contradicting even the behavior of his rival Vitellius, who had awaited confirmation by the Senate.
Now [http://www.israelvideonetwork.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/NormalJerusalem-062.jpg these towers], so very tall, appeared much taller because of the place where they stood; for that very old wall was built on a high hill, itself an elevation of still forty-two and a half feet higher; on it the towers were situated, and were thus made much higher in appearance. The largeness also of the stones was wonderful, not common small stones nor only large ones men could carry, but white marble cut out of the rock; each stone twenty-eight feet in length, fourteen in breadth, and seven in thickness or depth. They were so exactly fitted together, that each tower looked like one entire rock of natural stone cut by the hands of the craftsmen into their present shape and corners, so imperceptible were their joints or connection. Now since the towers themselves were on the north side of the wall, the king built an adjoining palace inside, which Josephus says he was not able to describe; for it was so very elaborate that no cost or skill was spared in its construction, but was entirely walled around to a height of forty-two and a half feet, and adorned with towers at equal distances, with large bed chambers, each of them able to contain beds for a hundred guests; the variety of the stones could not be expressed; for a large quantity of the rare kind was collected together. Their roofs were also wonderful, both for the length of the beams and the splendor of their ornaments. The number of rooms was also immense, and the variety of statues in them was prodigious; they were completely furnished, and the majority of the vessels in them was silver and gold. Besides this there were many porticoes, many colonnades throughout, one after another, and in each of these porticoes elaborately carved pillars; yet all the courts open everywhere to the air were green. There were moreover several groves of trees, and long walks through them, with deep canals, and cisterns, which in several parts were filled with brazen statues, through which the water ran out. There were in addition many dove-courts of tame pigeons about the canal; but, indeed, it is not possible to give a complete description of these palaces, what vastly rich buildings they were.
Now, the war in Judea, which had started under Nero, was continued in the reign of Vespasian; with his accession to the Roman throne he left the war against the Jews and the siege of Jerusalem to be conducted by his son Titus, who remained in the East to undertake the siege of Jerusalem, the exploit for which he is most remembered. While he was not a very experienced general, Titus’s own quality was that the new emperor, his father, could trust him. While he was still assisting his father at Alexandria in settling the government newly conferred on them by God, the rebellion at Jerusalem, beset by violent factional strife and internal discord, had revived and divided into three factions, each fighting against the other. It would be no mistake to call it a rebellion begotten by another rebellion, like a wild beast grown mad with hunger, and without food, which began to '''devour its own flesh'''. This terrible situation may be said to be the result of divine justice, and therefore a good thing from God. Vespasian’s strategy, to allow the Jews in Jerusalem to destroy themselves, had been successful.
Since these matters have been thought worthy of mention by the historian Josephus, we cannot do better than review them as a summary introduction for the benefit of the reader, before going into more detail.
"'''When he proposed restoring the imperial honors to Galba...'''" <small>
:The imperial cult.<br> See [httphttps://www.bbc.co.uk/history/ancient/romans/roman_religion_gallery_06.shtml Imperial cult: Roman religion (bbc.co.uk)]. <br>Compare [https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Wisdom+14%3A12-21&version=RSVCE Wisdom 14:12-21]
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<small>Ad Gloriam Dei, 31 December 2018—developed January 2019—developed by Michael Paul Heart and the editors of Conservapedia.</small>