Teaching Ancient Biography
by Dr. Margaret Cotter-Lynch, Southeastern Oklahoma State University
Original text © 2005. Margaret Cotter-Lynch.
Suetonius: Vespasian
How do we tell good emperors from bad?
What does Suetonius tell us about (1) the nature of people and (2) the nature of power?
I. What happened after Nero?
a. 68 CE: Nero commits suicide under threat of execution: end of Julian dynasty (i.e. last family member of Julius Caesar to rule Rome)
b. History Review:
i. up to 100 BCE: Rome is a “democratic” republic
ii. ~100-27 BCE: civil wars
1. Pompey, Caesar, Antony
2. we saw the interplay of (A) money, (B) military, and (C) political power to undermine democracy
iii. this all ends in 27 BCE, when Octavian becomes Emperor Augustus
iv. then 95 years of hereditary rule:
1. Emperors, some good, some bad
2. What we don’t see in this time: money, military, and power. These are still important and intertwined, but less obvious in a stable government
3. The emperor is still officially head of the army
a. Some take an active role in the army, e.g. Octavian/Augustus and Claudius
b. Some avoid the military and leave it to others, e.g. Caligula, Nero
c. For Nero, avoiding the military has disasterous consequences
v. Nero’s reign ends with the rebellion of Galba and his troops in Spain
1. Compare Galba with Julius Caesar: both become leaders by military force, thanks to the extreme loyalty of their troops
2. By this point, the empire is HUGE
a. Much of the empire is under martial law
b. Rome is still dependent upon money from the outlying provinces, which is controlled and supplied by the generals
3. Not that much has changed since the days of Caesar and Pompey
vi. Galba takes over from Nero, then Otho from Galba, then Vitellius from Otho
1. All are generals
2. All are declared emperor by their troops
3. All are killed by the next guy to come along and claim power
4.Each rules less than three months!
vii. Vespasian emerges out of this, coming after Vitellius
1. Vespasian was a general in Judea (modern day Israel), appointed by his troops, just like Galba, Otho, and Vitellius
2. Vespasian is different: he keeps his power, and founds a new dynasty
viii. Flavian dynasty:
1. Starts 69 CE with Vespasian
2. Ends 138 CE when Hadrian dies
3. Lasts 69 years, through 6 emperors
II. Suetonius’ “Vespasian”: here we see a new level of Suetonius’ quest to tell history as objectively as possible, utilizing multiple perspectives
a. Chronologically, “Vespasian” overlaps stuff we’ve already read:
i. Vespasian’s life story includes several previous emperors
1. p. 282: Caligula
2. p. 283: Claudius
3. p. 283: Nero
ii. What we learn about Suetonius from this:
1. He usually tries to tell all sides of one person, but
2. He only tells what’s relevant to that one person
3. There’s lots going on during these reigns that we don’t hear about
iii. Suetonius’ “Vespasian” (like his biographies of Galba, Otho, and Vitellius, which we didn’t read) lets us see some of what happened “behind the scenes” with previous emperors
b. Because of who Vespasian is and how he came to power, we see a different emphasis in his biography, even as Suetonius keeps to his outline
i. Family origins and early life
1. Because Vespasian is from a “new” family, we hear about more obscure people
a. Suetonius may be trying to legitimize this family, since Hadrian is also part of the Flavian dynasty
2. Vespasian’s “early life” goes on a long time, since he’s 60 years old when he becomes emperor
ii. The whole thing is relatively short, compared with the previous Lives of Caesars we’ve read
1. Compare Caligula, who ruled for less than four years, died at age 29. His Life is 32 pages long
2. Vespasian ruled for 10 years and lived to be 70. His Life is 14 pages long, i.e. less than half as long as Caligula’s
3. It seems that describing a good emperor takes less time than desribing a bad one: salacious stories are longer in the telling than laws passed and buildings erected.
c. Overall, was Vespasian a good emperor?
i. Suetonius and subsequent history would say yes:
1. He's certainly better than his immedieate predecessors
2. He was very effective at taking and keeping control, getting the empire back on track
3. He seems to have been mostly fair and reasonable
ii. Vespasian, however, was clearly not perfect
1. He was greedy
2. He lived with a freedwoman whom he never married (Caenis)
III. What we can learn from Suetonius as a whole:
a. There are many available views and perspectives on people and on history
b. Rarely is someone all good or all bad
c. Real power, perhaps, is not lodged in one person or one system, but endemic in money and military
d. Even authors who strive for objectivity still reflect a particular value system and point of view
