LXXXI.
Per eos mensis quibus Vespasianus Alexandriae statos aestivis flatibus dies et certa maris opperiebatur, multa miracula evenere, quis caelestis favor et quaedam in Vespasianum inclinatio numinum ostenderetur. e plebe Alexandrina quidam oculorum tabe notus genua eius advolvitur, remedium caecitatis exposcens gemitu, monitu Serapidis dei, quem dedita superstitionibus gens ante alios colit; precabaturque principem ut genas et oculorum orbis dignaretur respergere oris excremento. alius manum aeger eodem deo auctore ut pede ac vestigio Caesaris calcaretur orabat. Vespasianus primo inridere, aspernari; atque illis instantibus modo famam vanitatis metuere, modo obsecratione ipsorum et vocibus adulantium in spem induci: postremo aestimari a medicis iubet an talis caecitas ac debilitas ope humana superabiles forent. medici varie disserere: huic non exesam vim luminis et redituram si pellerentur obstantia; illi elapsos in pravum artus, si salubris vis adhibeatur, posse integrari. id fortasse cordi deis et divino ministerio principem electum; denique patrati remedii gloriam penes Caesarem, inriti ludibrium penes miseros fore. igitur Vespasianus cuncta fortunae suae patere ratus nec quicquam ultra incredibile, laeto ipse vultu, erecta quae adstabat multitudine, iussa exequitur. statim conversa ad usum manus, ac caeco reluxit dies. utrumque qui interfuere nunc quoque memorant, postquam nullum mendacio pretium.
81.
During those months in which Vespasian was waiting at Alexandria for the season of the summer winds and settled sea, many wonders supervened that manifested heaven’s favor and a definite fondness of the gods towards Vespasian. A plebeian of Alexandria, known for his blindness, threw himself at Vespasian’s knees and sobbing begged him to cure him of his affliction, prompted [as he said], by the god Serapis, whom the superstitious people [of Egypt] revere above all others. He implored the prince to deign to wet his cheeks and eyes with his spittle. Another man, whose hand was disabled, asked him, at the instigation of the same god, to press on it with the sole of his foot. Vespasian first laughed at them and waved them away, but when they insisted, [he paused]: at one moment he feared the ridicule of a futile intervention, at another the supplications of the two invalids and the flatteries of his courtiers inclined him to hope for success. In the end he required his physicians to decide whether such blindness and hand defect were curable by human ability. The physicians debated the question from different angles, then declared that in the one the power to see was not totally eroded and would return if certain obstructions were removed; that in the other the joints were distorted, but could be set right again if a healing force were used: such might perhaps be the will of the gods and the prince their choice for this divine assignment. At all events, the glory of a successful cure would go to Caesar, the ridicule for an ineffective one would fall on the unfortunate suppliants. Thus Vespasian, persuaded that all was possible to his good fortune and that nothing from then on was beyond belief, smiling pleasantly, performed indeed what he was asked to do, while the excited crowd of bystanders looked on. Instantly the hand recovered its use and sight returned to the blind. Those who witnessed both miracles affirm their truth even now, when they have nothing to gain by lying.
LXXXII.
Altior inde Vespasiano cupido adeundi sacram sedem ut super rebus imperii consuleret: arceri templo cunctos iubet. atque ingressus intentusque numini respexit pone tergum e primoribus Aegyptiorum nomine Basiliden, quem procul Alexandria plurium dierum itinere et aegro corpore detineri haud ignorabat. percontatur sacerdotes num illo die Basilides templum inisset, percontatur obvios num in urbe visus sit; denique missis equitibus explorat illo temporis momento octoginta milibus passuum afuisse: tunc divinam speciem et vim responsi ex nomine Basilidis interpretatus est.
82.
From this incident grew Vespasian’s intense desire to visit the sacred dwelling [of Serapis], that he might ask guidance from the god with respect to his imperial future. He forbade anyone access to the temple, and after he entered and became immersed in contemplation, he saw behind him one of the most influential men of Egypt, Basilides by name, whom he knew for certain to be detained by sickness in a place considerably distant from Alexandria, several days’ journey away. He enquired of the priests if Basilides had entered the temple that day; he asked people he met in the streets if Basilides had been seen in the city; finally, after sending out riders, he found out that at the moment he had seen him in the temple, Basilides had been eight hundred miles away from Alexandria. Then he understood that the vision was supernatural and the name Basilides to be the essential answer of the oracle.
LXXXIII.
Origo dei nondum nostris auctoribus celebrata: Aegyptiorum antistites sic memorant, Ptolemaeo regi, qui Macedonum primus Aegypti opes firmavit, cum Alexandriae recens conditae moenia templaque et religiones adderet, oblatum per quietem decore eximio et maiore quam humana specie iuvenem, qui moneret ut fidissimis amicorum in Pontum missis effigiem suam acciret; laetum id regno magnamque et inclutam sedem fore quae excepisset: simul visum eundem iuvenem in caelum igne plurimo attolli. Ptolemaeus omine et miraculo excitus sacerdotibus Aegyptiorum, quibus mos talia intellegere, nocturnos visus aperit. atque illis Ponti et externorum parum gnaris, Timotheum Atheniensem e gente Eumolpidarum, quem ut antistitem caerimoniarum Eleusine exciverat, quaenam illa superstitio, quod numen, interrogat. Timotheus quaesitis qui in Pontum meassent, cognoscit urbem illic Sinopen, nec procul templum vetere inter accolas fama Iovis Ditis: namque et muliebrem effigiem adsistere quam plerique Proserpinam vocent. sed Ptolemaeus, ut sunt ingenia regum, pronus ad formidinem, ubi securitas rediit, voluptatum quam religionum adpetens neglegere paulatim aliasque ad curas animum vertere, donec eadem species terribilior iam et instantior exitium ipsi regnoque denuntiaret ni iussa patrarentur. tum legatos et dona Scydrothemidi regi (is tunc Sinopensibus imperitabat) expediri iubet praecepitque navigaturis ut Pythicum Apollinem adeant. illis mare secundum, sors oraculi haud ambigua: irent simulacrumque patris sui reveherent, sororis relinquerent.
83.
The origins of this god have not yet been properly looked at by our authors. The Egyptian priests give out this story: they say that Ptolemy, the first Macedonian king who solidly established power in Egypt, at the time when he was giving walls, temples, and religious observances to the newly founded city of Alexandria, saw in his sleep a youth of sublime beauty, taller than ordinary humans, who advised him to send his most trusted friends to Pontus and to bring back his statue [to Alexandria]. This would make the kingdom prosper, [he said], and the city that accepted him would be great and famous. As these words were spoken, this same youth seemed to be lifted to heaven all encompassed by fire. Deeply affected by this wonderful omen, Ptolemy revealed the vision of the night to the Egyptian priests whose specialty was to interpret dreams, but they were unfamiliar with Pontus and such foreign countries. So he consulted Timotheus, an Athenian of the Eumolpidae family, whom he had called from Eleusis as high priest of the sacred mysteries, and asked him about the nature of the cult and who the god was. Timotheus made inquiries among travelers to Pontus and learned that in that country there was a city called Sinope and not far from it, long renowned among the local people, a temple to Jupiter of the Nether World: in fact, standing beside [the god] was a female figure , which most called Proserpina. Ptolemy, however, though given to fear, as is in the nature of kings, as soon as he recovered his equanimity, gave more thought to pleasure than to religion. He began gradually to forget the matter and turned his attention to other things, until the same vision, more daunting and imperious now, threatened the king and his kingdom with ruin, unless his commands were executed. Then Ptolemy dispatched envoys and gifts to king Scydrothemis, who at that time ruled over the city of Sinope, and instructed his men, as they were about to set out, to go and consult the Pythian Apollo. They had a favorable journey and a clear answer from the oracle: they were to go and bring back the statue of Apollo’s father, but leave that of the sister behind.
LXXXIV.
Vt Sinopen venere, munera preces mandata regis sui Scydrothemidi adlegant. qui <di>versus animi modo numen pavescere, modo minis adversantis populi terreri; saepe donis promissisque legatorum flectebatur. atque interim triennio exacto Ptolemaeus non studium, non preces omittere: dignitatem legatorum, numerum navium, auri pondus augebat. tum minax facies Scydrothemidi offertur ne destinata deo ultra moraretur: cunctantem varia pernicies morbique et manifesta caelestium ira graviorque in dies fatigabat. advocata contione iussa numinis, suos Ptolemaeique visus, ingruentia mala exponit: vulgus aversari regem, invidere Aegypto, sibi metuere templumque circumsedere. maior hinc fama tradidit deum ipsum adpulsas litori navis sponte conscendisse: mirum inde dictu, tertio die tantum maris emensi Alexandriam adpelluntur. templum pro magnitudine urbis extructum loco cui nomen Rhacotis; fuerat illic sacellum Serapidi atque Isidi antiquitus sacratum. haec de origine et advectu dei celeberrima. nec sum ignarus esse quosdam qui Seleucia urbe Syriae accitum regnante Ptolemaeo, quem tertia aetas tulit; alii auctorem eundem Ptolemaeum, sedem, ex qua transierit, Memphim perhibent, inclutam olim et veteris Aegypti columen. deum ipsum multi Aesculapium, quod medeatur aegris corporibus, quidam Osirin, antiquissimum illis gentibus numen, plerique Iovem ut rerum omnium potentem, plurimi Ditem patrem insignibus, quae in ipso manifesta, aut per ambages coniectant.
84.
When they arrived at Sinope, they laid before the king Scydrothemis Ptolemy’s gifts, his requests, and the instructions they were given. He was very much perplexed, now fearing the god, now being alarmed by the menacing attitude and the resistance of his people; often he was tempted by the gifts and the promises of the delegation. While he wavered, three years went by without diminishing Ptolemy’s determination and appeals, who kept sending more influential emissaries, more ships, and larger quantities of gold. Then, a terrifying apparition confronted Scydrothemis, which enjoined him not to oppose any further delay to the designs of the god. He still hesitated, but various calamities, contagion, and the manifest signs of the god’s anger, growing worse by the day, tormented him. He called an assembly of the people and explained the god’s commands, his own and Ptolemy’s apparitions and the ever greater miseries besetting them. The people turned against their king, begrudged the good fortune of Egypt, feared for their own welfare, and crowded around the temple to prevent entrance or exit. From here the tale grows more unearthly and has the god himself, of his own will, go on board the fleet that had been brought to the shore. The vast expanse of the sea was crossed with miraculous speed, the fleet reaching Alexandria on the third day. A temple becoming such a great city was raised in a place called Rhacotis, where a chapel had existed since antiquity consecrated to Serapis and Isis. Such is the most widely accepted tradition of the origin of the god and of its importation into Egypt. I am aware there are authors who assert the god was brought from the city of Seleucia in Syria during the rein of Ptolemy III. Still others give this same Ptolemy as also the originator of the god’s transfer, but Memphis as the place from which the god came, a city once famous as the pillar of Egypt. As to the god himself, many suppose he is Aesculapius, since he cures the sick; some see in him Osiris, the most ancient divinity of these people, a large number surmise he is Jupiter, the lord of the universe, but most believe, either from the emblems that are displayed on him or from their own conjectures, that he is Father Dis.
LXXXV.
At Domitianus Mucianusque antequam Alpibus propinquarent, prosperos rerum in Treviris gestarum nuntios accepere. praecipua victoriae fides dux hostium Valentinus nequaquam abiecto animo, quos spiritus gessisset, vultu ferebat. auditus ideo tantum ut nosceretur ingenium eius, damnatusque inter ipsum supplicium exprobranti cuidam patriam eius captam accipere se solacium mortis respondit. sed Mucianus quod diu occultaverat, ut recens exprompsit: quoniam benignitate deum fractae hostium vires forent, parum decore Domitianum confecto prope bello alienae gloriae interventurum. si status imperii aut salus Galliarum in discrimine verteretur, debuisse Caesarem in acie stare, Canninefatis Batavosque minoribus ducibus delegandos: ipse Luguduni vim fortunamque principatus e proximo ostentaret, nec parvis periculis immixtus et maioribus non defutururus par.
85.
Returning to Roman affairs, Domitian and Mucianus received news of the success over the Treveri before they reached the Alps. The most concrete proof of the victory was the enemy leader himself, Valentinus, who, not in the least abashed, still bore in his looks the same arrogance he had always shown. He was allowed to speak, but only so that his captors might know what sort of a man he was, then he was condemned. Even as he was led to execution, to someone who reproached him for his country’s subjugation, he answered that therein lay his reason for welcoming death. As for Mucianus, he put forward a suggestion that he had kept under cover for a long time, but was meant to appear as having just occurred to him: since, he said, by the favor of the gods the enemy forces were broken, it would not be proper for Domitian, with the war as good as over, to encroach on the glory of others. If the integrity of the empire and the security of Gaul were in any danger, Caesar’s place ought to be in the front line, but the Canninefates and the Batavi should be dealt with by lesser commanders. Domitian himself should stay in Lugdunum and project from its convenient proximity the power and greatness of the empire, without exposing himself to mundane risks, yet keeping ready to face greater ones.
LXXXVI.
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.
86.
Domitian saw through Mucianus’ deception, but the submissive role he was playing prevented him from exposing it. And so they reached Lugdunum. It is believed that from there Domitian secretly sent messages to Cerialis, trying to tamper with his loyalty by asking if he would turn over the command of the army to himself, were he to come to him in person. In so proceeding, did he have the intention to wage war against his father or to secure troops and resources for an eventual conflict with his brother Titus? The question has not been settled, since Cerialis, with salutary prudence, made light of the matter and treated it as the foolish dreams of a mere boy. Domitian, seeing that his youth was not taken seriously by his seniors, ceased to concern himself with the functions of government, even the unimportant ones, which he had exercised before. Under a mask of simplicity and modesty, retreating into a lofty sphere, he feigned an interest in literature and a love of poetry in order to conceal his thoughts and to subtract himself from all competition with his brother, whose milder nature, so opposed to his own, he completely misjudged.