Robert Paterson's Weblog

Vespasian - A Good Old Boy

Pictured above, lying 30 feet below the modern street, are the partial ruins of the Imperial Villa, Horti Sallustiani. This was Vespasian's favourite place to stay as Emperor when he was in Rome. Most historians remark on this, even in Roman times, as a sign of how Vespasian wanted to be seen as a "man of the people". But, by piecing together fragments of evidence, I can now see that there is more to this than propaganda. This part of Rome had always been his home and it was also where Caenis, the love of his life lived.

This map of ancient Rome, layered on modern Rome, shows approximately where Vespasian lived as Emperor and where Caenis had her house. She was 5-10 minutes walk away. They were always discrete. The Imperial Villa was also close to the Salarian Gate - look just north of the Gardens and you will see it. This is significant because the Via Salaria was the road to Rieti. Vespasian could go to his country place often without travelling through Rome and he could do so with the least amount of publicity. We know from accounts of his death there, that he had set Rieti up as the country HQ of the Empire. His staff were used to working there.

So far we are on the same page as most accounts. But as I was looking into the early years of his children, I had an aha. Suetonius says that Titus and Domitian were born in a very poor house that just happens to be down the road from the Horti Sallustiani. 

Titus - "was born on the third day before the Kalends of January, in the year memorable for the death of Gaius, in a mean house near the Septizonium1  p323 (Cannot be the one that Severus built near the Palatine as Suetonius died long before then) and in a very small dark room besides; for it still remains and is on exhibition."

Much more likely Vespasian's Domus was here where Suetonius tells us of Domitian's birth  "Domitian was born on the ninth day before the Kalends of November of the year when his father was consul elect and was about to enter on the office in the following month, in a street of the sixth region called "the Pomegranate,"¹ in a house which he afterwards converted into a temple of the Flavian family. He is said to have passed the period of his boyhood and his early youth in great poverty and infamy." -

Here are the notes on this location - Various quarters and streets of the city were designated (p339)in this way; cf. ad Capita Bubula, Aug. v; ad Pirum, Mart. 1.117.6. Ad Malum Punicum was a street on the Quirinal hill, probably corresponding with the modern Via delle Quattro Fontane; see Platner, Topography of Rome, p485.

Look for the VI on the map above that shows the area where Domitian is born and you can see that Vespasian's old Roman house, was in the same area as later when he was Emperor. Like many of us, he was a man of habit. He liked the area and wanted to stay there. Here is the modern street - Via delle Quattro Fontane - just down the road from the Horti.

Vespasian's relative poverty was real enough. His marriage to the low status Domitilla proves that. Ironically, I think that Caenis had a lot of money after the death of her mistress, Antonia, who left her extensive property on Egypt that was looked after by the Familia Alexander.

Vespasian's poverty and lower middle class origins were politically useful assets. How could someone like him be seen as a threat to Caligula or Nero? Just as Claudius had played the gibbering idiot and so avoided being seen as a contender, Vespasian, in middle-life, played the role of the poor country yokel. This kept him off the murder roles. 

His poor origins also helped him as Emperor. Here he could play the role of man of the people. 

He made a point of not living in the Palace on the Palatine. To showcase his lowly origins, he made his old house into a museum of humility and, I bet, he kept his country Sabine accent. Titus, secure in his military achievements also played the man of the people. But, I think this rankled Domitian. Unable to share in his older brother's achievements, Domitian proved his status by building grand monuments - principally the vast palace on the Palatine that makes up most of the ruins there today. 

These humble origins came to fruition in the fateful year of 67 AD. When the Judaean Revolt broke out, who was Nero to call upon? The best General in the Empire or stodgy old Vespasian. Both men received messengers from the Praetorian Guard. In the next post, we will see why Vespasian went to Judaea and why Corbulo had to kill himself.

 

Vespasian - Caenis the power behind the man

This is the reverse side of a gold Aureus in the reign of Vespasian. We see an idealized woman holding a wreath of victory over his head. Is this the only image that we have of Caenis? Who was she? What was the attraction between her and Vespasian? - 

"Thank you Aglaus, thank you," Vespasian embraced, Caenis's steward, "An altar fit for an empress."

"My boys and I will miss her, my lord. She was like a granny to them."

"My boy Titus feels the same," Vespasian sighed , "but sadly not my other son."

"Children, my lord, both a blessing and a curse."

Vespasian smiled ruefully.

Vespasian - The Assassination of Caligula

The killing of Gaius, Caligula, was the first assassination of an Emperor. I have done my best to explain who might have organized this, Narcissus and Caenis on behalf of the Familia Alexander, but how was it done?

Like all Emperors after him, Caligula was very concerned about assassination and, knowing the power of the Praetorian Guard, surrounded himself with a German bodyguard loyal only to him. How could a killer get close? The answer was that it had to be someone that he trusted and that person had to find a place where the Germans could not intervene.

There was only one place where it may be possible to isolate the Emperor from his guard. This was in the tunnel that led back to the palace under the Palatine. Archeologists think they have found this now. In the tunnel, an insider could isolate the Emperor from his body guard. 

The insider was Cassius Chaerea, a Tribune of the Guard. He was one of a tiny number of Romans allowed in the Emperor's personal space in public. Why he kill Caligula? Who was he and why did he have the trust of the Emperor?

The story goes that Cassius Chaerea had been offended by Caligula's constant teasing about his high voice and by giving him lewd passwords. Hardly I think grounds for the risks of killing the Emperor. I like Robert Graves's idea better. 

The sources say that Chaerea had been a veteran under Augustus. Graves suggests more. For whom do Emperors trust the most? People that they had known as children. What had been the most exciting part of Caligula's childhood? Being dressed up as a legionary and pretending to be a soldier in his father's camp. Who would have looked after him? The answer has to be a soldier. Certainly not either of his parents or his nanny. Then who was Chaerea? Graves thinks that he was this soldier guardian. This makes sense. 

I think that Graves's novelist's eye sees the truth of the matter. He also picks up the prophecy. Caligula was told that he would be killed by a horse. Now what games might a boy play with a soldier? Might Chaerea be "Horsey"?

Graves goes further and suggests that Chaerea was a survivor of the Varus disaster at Teutoburg. I favour this too. For how might Germanicus choose a guardian for his boy? That man had to be special. What could be more special than a survivor of that disaster?

How Chaerea dies offers us a clue for motive. At his execution, Chaerea, asks his executioner if he can use his sword, the one that Chaerea used to kill Caligula. His executioner agrees. This suggests to me that honour is involved.  

Our best source here is Josephus - who is on the inside of the Familia Flavia - and so had the best insight. 

"Now it is reported that Chaerea bore this calamity courageously..... And as a great many men went along with them to see the sight, when Chaerea came to the place, he asked the soldier, who was to be their executioner, whether this office was what he was used to or whether this was the first time of his using his sword in that manner? and desired him to bring him that very sword, with which he himself slew Gaius. So he was happily killed at one stroke."

Chaerea's motive for killing his "boy" must have been a deep one. Deeper than being insulted. There must have been a betrayal by Caligula. Why would he go to his grave so calmly? I think that he was going home to be with his comrades who had died 32 years before.

Today we know a lot more about PTSD. My own grandfather, who spent 3 1/2 years at the front in France in the Great War, killed himself 38 years after the war ended. Many soldiers who have served in our modern wars, kill themselves today, many years after their service. Their survival guilt grows over time and so do their nightmares. Death for them is often a release. Using Chaerea's own sword would not have been a decision of only his executioner. Claudius or Narcissus would have to have agreed. 

Why then did Claudius kill Chaerea if Chaerea was part of the plot? Claudius has to kill Chaerea because an Emperor cannot condone the murder of an Emperor. Chaerea knows this and accepts that this is the price. Why? The answer can only be that for Chaerea, his life was over. All that he had left was his honour.

 

Vespasian - 37 to 41 - From Disaster to Triumph

The discovery and acclamation of Claudius by Gratus of the Praetorian Guard after the assassination of Caligula in 41 AD (By Lawrence Alma Tadema)

"Herod Agrippa, the King of Chalcis, my lord," announced Narcissus.

Agrippa prostrated himself before the new Emperor, Claudius.

"Arise, King of Judaea and Samaria," said the Emperor. As Herod stood, Claudius beckoned the new king to his side.

"Well done my old friend," he whispered, "and how is the Alarbach?"

"Well my lord, pleased to be freed from prison and happy to have been of service."

Vespasian - Natural Soldier - Part 2 - How Maiden Castle Might have been won

Here is a reconstruction of the main gates at Maiden Castle. If you have been there, it is really impressive and you might wonder how these gates might be breached. Legio II probably made the final assault in less than an hour. No army ever has been so adept at this kind of assault. How could they have done this?

When the hill fort was first excavated by Sir Mortimer Wheeler, he was certain that there had been a major siege and battle here. 40 bodies were found and one has a ballista bolt in his spine. Do you see it? It is the first body and the bolt is labeled. Since then, there has been doubt about the siege. No more bodies have been found and there are no signs of siege works as you find say at Masada.

There are no siege works, though there must be some camps, because this was not a siege but an assault. Those in the fort were contained by their own walls. The Thracian Ala, only had to make regular patrols to keep the lid on and as this was not a siege, there was no need to close off the fort completely.

The only major work would have been to build platforms in front of the gate system for the artillery. With enough height, this could then sweep the gates and the opposing walls making it impossible for the defenders to defend directly. A cache of 20,000 sling stones, from the local beach, was found suggesting that the defenders could not use them. The supporting ballista fire made standing up a suicidal action.

Then the First Cohort of Legio II formed up in Testudo formation and took the inner rings and arrived at the gates where a covered ram could break in in minutes.

Here we come to the smart part of the plan. Vespasian's brief was to secure a safe buffer in the south of Britannia. Because this was an assault and not a siege, the rules of war allowed him to show mercy. The last thing that he needed was an angry local population. By showing that none of their defences, no matter how magnificent, could hold Rome back, he did not have to make unnecessary enemies by slaughtering everyone. The fact that the south was forever quiet after that showed the brilliance of his plan.

I think Wheeler's critics assume a siege. There is no evidence of a siege.  So they assume that Maiden was not taken. But an assault is not a siege and there is evidence of an assault and its success and the mercy shown made the point that needed to be made.

Just to offer a sense of how effective the Romans were at assaults and siege work,  let's consider Masada and Alesia.

The official line in Israel is that Masada was held heroically for three years. Current research suggests that the circumvallation wall, in stone, and the camps were built in maybe a week. That the ramp, built on top of a ridge and using lumber as a binding agent took 8 weeks tops and that the entire operation might have taken 4 months from start to finish.

At Alesia, according to Caesar's Commentaries, about 18 kilometres of 4 metre high fortifications were constructed in about three weeks. This line was followed inwards by two four-and-a-half metre wide ditches, also four-and-a-half metres deep. The farthest from the fortification was filled with water from the surrounding rivers. These fortifications were supplemented with mantraps and deep holes in front of the ditches, and regularly spaced watch towers equipped with Roman artillery.

Caesar ordered the construction of a second line of fortifications, the contravallation, facing outward and encircling his army between it and the first set of walls. The second line was identical to the first in design and extended for 21 kilometres.

Even with modern earth moving equipment, these efforts would take some beating. No army could did like the Roman Army. Remember their routine at the end of every 20 mile march day would be to build an overnight camp, before they had a meal or sleep. In the field this was done in full armour after carrying 70 pounds of kit all day. 

With artillery support, assaulting Maiden's Gates was nothing to the First Cohort.

 

Vespasian - A Natural Soldier

This is "Maiden Castle" - In about 44 AD, Vespasian, while on independent campaign in the south of Britannia, took this fort and many others and so secured the south coast for Rome and a new Kingdom for Cogidubnus. 

It was just before dawn, Cogidubnus' right knee touched Teres's left, as they waited on their horses for the signal. 

"I can't believe it," the Briton said to Teres, the Ala Prefect, "An hour to take this fort?"

"Maybe less, prince, maybe less," Teres replied.

"And with only one cohort?"

"It's enough, and when they break-in, it will be our turn."

Vespasian - Great Expectations

The picture at the top of this post reflects the moment when a poor country boy, the orphan Pip, meets the lady, Miss Havisham, whom he believes, later in life, to have financed his "Great Expectations". In this scene, he has been brought to the big house for the first time to be the companion of a lonely girl, Estella. He is terrified and feels like a fish out of water. 

I think it must have been like this for Vespasian when he was summoned to the Lady Antonia's villa to be a companion for Claudius. How did this happen? I ask because, unlike Pip, the Lady Antonia and her secretary Caenis did make Vespasian's career. Vespasian's "Great Expectations" were fulfilled as a result of this first meeting.

She looked him up and down, as if she was buying a slave. He looked older than 16 and was wearing his adult toga. Officially he was a man but under her gaze, he felt like a child again.

"I think this might work," she said, "has your mother explained everything to you?"

He told her that she had. Caenis reached out and took his hand. She turned it over and looked at his calloused palm. She smiled. "Yes, you'll do."

She led him along the corridor to the east wing, towards Claudius's apartments. 

"Here's his study, he spends far too much time in here. Your job, young man, is to get him out into the real world."

She knocked on the door and, without waiting, opened it and ushered him in.

There, at a standing desk, looking at a book, stood the prince. He was a slender young man in his early thirties. Standing next to him was another red-head, a middle-aged man. It was Narcissus, Claudius's secretary. 

Years later, Caenis told him her side of the story of that day. Feeling like a prisoner in Reate, Claudius had been desperately lonely. Knowing that he could never ask his mother for anything, he  had come to Caenis for help. Her request to Antonia had nothing to do with Claudius' loneliness. Shrewdly, her observation was that Claudius was becoming too precious. What he needed, she told her mistress, was contact with a real Roman. Not an effete town Roman but the type of Roman who used to man Rome's Republican armies. In short, she meant a Sabine man. The type of man who knew what hard work was all about, who had a sense of humour, who was tough and direct. Claudius, she said, needed a Sabine tutor. Antonia bit immediately. All Caenis needed to do then was to find such a man.

Her steward provided the answer. He knew of a young man in a nearby household. He was the grandson of a Centurion. Even better, his mother's father had been a Camp Prefect, the highest post that a centurion could reach. (Equivalent to a Brigadier in a modern Army) He was going to stay at home and run a mule business while his older brother tried his hand in Rome. He seemed the perfect country model for the bookish prince.