The Works of Tacitus
tr. by Alfred John Church and William Jackson Brodribb
[1864-1877]
Tacitus: History Book 4 [80]
80. About the same time Mucianus ordered the son of Vitellius to be put to death,
alleging that dissension would never cease, if he did not destroy all seeds
of civil war. Nor would he suffer Antonius Primus to be taken into the number
of Domitian’s attendants, for he felt uneasy at his popularity with the troops,
and feared the proud spirit of the man, who could not endure an equal, much
less a superior. Antonius then went to Vespasian, who received him, not indeed
as he expected, but in a not unfriendly spirit. Two opposite influences acted
on the Emperor; on the one hand were the merits of Antonius, under whose conduct
the war had beyond all doubt been terminated; on the other, were the letters
of Mucianus. And everyone else inveighed against him, as an ill-affected and
conceited man, nor did they forget the scandals of his early life. Antonius
himself failed not to provoke offence by his arrogance and his excessive propensity
to dwell on his own services. He reproached other men with being cowards; Caecina
he stigmatized as a captive and a prisoner of war. Thus by degrees he came to
be thought of less weight and worth, though his friendship with the Emperor
to all appearance remained the same.
81. In the months during which Vespasian was waiting at Alexandria for the
periodical return of the summer gales and settled weather at sea, many wonders
occurred which seemed to point him out as the object of the favour of heaven
and of the partiality of the Gods. One of the common people of Alexandria, well
known for his blindness, threw himself at the Emperor’s knees, and implored
him with groans to heal his infirmity. This he did by the advice of the God
Serapis, whom this nation, devoted as it is to many superstitions, worships
more than any other divinity. He begged Vespasian that he would deign to moisten
his cheeks and eye-balls with his spittle. Another with a diseased hand, at
the counsel of the same God, prayed that the limb might feet the print of a
Caesar’s foot. At first Vespasian ridiculed and repulsed them. They persisted;
and he, though on the one hand he feared the scandal of a fruitless attempt,
yet, on the other, was induced by the entreaties of the men and by the language
of his flatterers to hope for success. At last he ordered that the opinion of
physicians should be taken, as to whether such blindness and infirmity were
within the reach of human skill. They discussed the matter from different points
of view. “In the one case,” they said, “the faculty of sight was not wholly
destroyed, and might return, if the obstacies were removed; in the other case,
the limb, which had fallen into a diseased condition, might be restored, if
a healing influence were applied; such, perhaps, might be the pleasure of the
Gods, and the Emperor might be chosen to be the minister of the divine will;
at any rate, all the glory of a successful remedy would be Caesar’s, while the
ridicule of failure would fall on the sufferers.” And so Vespasian, supposing
that all things were possible to his good fortune, and that nothing was any
longer past belief, with a joyful countenance, amid the intense expectation
of the multitude of bystanders, accomplished what was required. The hand was
instantly restored to its use, and the light of day again shone upon the blind.
Persons actually present attest both facts, even now when nothing is to be gained
by falsehood.
82. Vespasian thus came to conceive a deeper desire to visit the sanctuary
of Serapis, that he might consult the God about the interests of his throne.
He gave orders that all persons should be excluded from the temple. He had entered,
and was absorbed in worship, when he saw behind him one of the chief men of
Egypt, named Basilides, whom he knew at the time to be detained by sickness
at a considerable distance, as much as several days journey from Alexandria.
He enquired of the priests, whether Basilides had on this day entered the temple.
He enquired of others whom he met, whether he had been seen in the city. At
length, sending some horsemen, he ascertained that at that very instant the
man had been eighty miles distant. He then concluded that it was a divine apparition,
and discovered an oracular force in the name of Basilides.
83. The origin of this God Serapis has not hitherto been made generally known
by our writers. The Egyptian priests give this account. While Ptolemy, the first
Macedonian king who consolidated the power of Egypt, was setting up in the newly-built
city of Alexandria fortifications, temples, and rites of worship, there appeared
to him in his sleep a youth of singular beauty and more than human stature,
who counselled the monarch to send his most trusty friends to Pontus, and fetch
his effigy from that country. This, he said, would bring prosperity to the realm,
and great and illustrious would be the city which gave it a reception. At the
same moment he saw the youth ascend to heaven in a blaze of fire. Roused by
so significant and strange an appearance, Ptolemy disclosed the vision of the
night to the Egyptian priests, whose business it is to understand such matters.
As they knew but little of Pontus or of foreign countries, he enquired of Timotheus,
an Athenian, one of the family of the Eumolpids, whom he had invited from Eleusis
to preside over the sacred rites, what this worship was, and who was the deity.
Timotheus, questioning persons who had found their way to Pontus, learnt that
there was there a city Sinope, and near it a temple, which, according to an
old tradition of the neighbourhood, was sacred to the infernal Jupiter, for
there also stood close at hand a female figure, to which many gave the name
of Proserpine. Ptolemy, however, with the true disposition of a despot, though
prone to alarm, was, when the feeling of security returned, more intent on pleasures
than on religious matters; and he began by degrees to neglect the affair, and
to turn his thoughts to other concerns, till at length the same apparition,
but now more terrible and peremptory, denounced ruin against the king and his
realm, unless his bidding were performed. Ptolemy then gave directions that
an embassy should be despatched with presents to king Scydrothemis, who at that
time ruled the people of Sinope, and instructed them, when they were on the
point of sailing, to consult the Pythian Apollo. Their voyage was prosperous,
and the response of the oracle was clear. The God bade them go and carry back
with them the image of his father, but leave that of his sister behind.
84. On their arrival at Sinope, they delivered to Scydrothemis the presents
from their king, with his request and message. He wavered in purpose, dreading
at one moment the anger of the God, terrified at another by the threats and
opposition of the people. Often he was wrought upon by the gifts and promises
of the ambassadors. And so three years passed away, while Ptolemy did not cease
to urge his zealous solicitations. He continued to increase the dignity of his
embassies, the number of his ships, and the weight of his gold. A terrible vision
then appeared to Scydrothemis, warning him to thwart no longer the purposes
of the God. As he yet hesitated, various disasters, pestilence, and the unmistakable
anger of heaven, which grew heavier from day to day, continued to harass him.
He summoned an assembly, and explained to them the bidding of the God, the visions
of Ptolemy and himself, and the miseries that were gathering about them. The
people turned away angrily from their king, were jealous of Egypt, and, fearing
for themselves, thronged around the temple. The story becomes at this point
more marvellous, and relates that the God of his own will conveyed himself on
board the fleet, which had been brought close to shore, and, wonderful to say,
vast as was the extent of sea that they traversed, they arrived at Alexandria
on the third day. A temple, proportioned to the grandeur of the city, was erected
in a place called Rhacotis, where there had stood a chapel consecrated in old
times to Serapis and Isis. Such is the most popular account of the origin and
introduction of the God Serapis. I am aware indeed that there are some who say
that he was brought from Seleucia, a city of Syria, in the reign of Ptolemy
III., while others assert that it was the act of the same king, but that the
place from which he was brought was Memphis, once a famous city and the strength
of ancient Egypt. The God himself, because he heals the sick, many identified
with Aesculapius; others with Osiris, the deity of the highest antiquity among
these nations; not a few with Jupiter, as being supreme ruler of all things;
but most people with Pluto, arguing from the emblems which may be seen on his
statues, or from conjectures of their own.
85. Domitian and Mucianus received, before they reached the Alps, favourable
news of the operations among the Treveri. The best proof of the victory was
seen in the enemy’s general Valentinus, who with undaunted courage shewed in
his look his habitual high spirit. He was heard, but only that they might judge
of his character; and he was condemned. During his execution he replied to one
who taunted him with the subjection of his country, “That I take as my consolation
in death.” Mucianus now brought forward as a new thought a plan he had long
concealed. “Since,” he said, “by the blessing of the Gods the strength of the
enemy has been broken, it would little become Domitian, now that the war is
all but finished, to interfere with the glory of others. If the stability of
the Empire or the safety of Gaul were in danger, it would have been right for
Caesar to take his place in the field; but the Canninefates and Batavi should
be handed over to inferior generals. Let the Emperor display from the near neighbourhood
of Lugdunum the might and prestige of imperial power, not meddling with trifling
risks, though he would not be wanting on greater occasions.”
86. His artifices were understood, but it was a part of their respect not
to expose them. Thus they arrived at Lugdunum. It is believed that from this
place Domitian despatched secret emissaries to Cerialis, and tempted his loyalty
with the question whether, on his shewing himself, he would hand over to him
the command of the army. Whether in this scheme Domitian was thinking of war
with his father, or of collecting money, and men to be used against his brother,
was uncertain; for Cerialis, by a judicious temporising, eluded the request
as prompted by an idle and childish ambition. Domitian, seeing that his youth
was despised by the older officers, gave up even the less important functions
of government which he had before exercised. Under a semblance of simple and
modest tastes, he wrapped himself in a profound reserve, and affected a devotion
to literature and a love of poetry, thus seeking to throw a veil over his character,
and to withdraw himself from the jealousy of his brother, of whose milder temper,
so unlike his own, he judged most falsely. > 86. Intellegebantur artes, sed
pars obsequii in eo ne deprehenderentur: ita Lugudunum ventum. unde creditur
Domitianus occultis ad Cerialem nuntiis fidem eius temptavisse an praesenti
sibi exercitum imperiumque traditurus foret. qua cogitatione bellum adversus
patrem agitaverit an opes virisque adversus fratrem, in incerto fuit: nam Cerialis
salubri temperamento elusit ut vana pueriliter cupientem. Domitianus sperni
a senioribus iuventam suam cernens modica quoque et usurpata antea munia imperii
omittebat, simplicitatis ac modestiae imagine in altitudinem conditus studiumque
litterarum et amorem carminum simulans, quo velaret animum et fratris <se> aemulationi
subduceret, cuius disparem mitioremque naturam contra interpretabatur.
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