Dio's Rome, Volume 5: An Historical Narrative Originally Composed in Greek During The Reigns of Septimius Severus, Geta and Caracalla, Macrinus, Elagabalus and Alexander Severus: and Now Presented in English FormCassius Dio Cocceianus
History
Dio's Rome, Volume 5: An Historical Narrative Originally Composed in Greek During The Reigns of Septimius Severus, Geta and Caracalla, Macrinus, Elagabalus and Alexander Severus: and Now Presented in English Form
Cassius Dio Cocceianus
Rome -- History
And Vespasian did immediately expel from Rome all the philosophers except
Musonius: Demetrius and Hostilianus he confined upon islands. Hostilianus
would not stop, to be sure,--he happened to be conversing with somebody
when he heard about the sentence of exile against him and merely inveighed
all the more strongly against monarchy,--yet he straightway withdrew.
Demetrius even now would not yield, and Vespasian bade it be told him:
"You are working every way to have me kill you, but I am not slaughtering
barking dogs."
[Sidenote:--13--] Before long many others who followed the so-called Stoic
system made themselves prominent, among whom was Demetrius the cynic.
These men, abusing the title of philosophy, kept teaching their disciples
publicly many pernicious doctrines, and in this way were gradually
corrupting [Footnote: Reading [Greek: hypodiephtheiron] (Dindorf).] some.
Under these circumstances Mucianus, influenced more by anger than by
fondness for speaking, uttered many charges against them and persuaded
Vespasian to expel all such persons from the city.
[Sidenote:--14--] This period saw also the demise of Vespasian's
concubine, Caenis. I have mentioned her because she was exceedingly
faithful and possessed naturally a most excellent memory. For instance,
her mistress Antonia, the mother of Claudius, had had her write secretly
to Tiberius about Sejanus and later had ordered the message erased, that
no trace of the same might be left. Thereupon she replied: "It is in vain,
mistress, that you have issued this command. All of this and whatever else
you dictate to me I always carry with me in my soul and it can never be
erased." This is one thing I have admired about her and a second is that
Vespasian should have been so much pleased with her. This fact gave her
the greatest influence, and she collected untold wealth, so that it was
even thought that she obtained money by her independent efforts. She
received vast sums from all sources and sold to some persons offices, to
others procuratorships, the command of campaigns, priesthoods, and to some
actually imperial decisions. For Vespasian killed no one to get his money
and took care to preserve large numbers of those who freely gave it. The
person who secured the funds was his concubine, but it was suspected that
Vespasian willingly allowed her to do as she did; and this belief was
strengthened by his other acts, a few of which, for the sake of
illustration, I shall relate. When certain persons voted to erect to him a
statue costing twenty-five myriads, he stretched out his hand and said:
"Give me the money; this [Footnote: i.e., the hollowed hand (compare
Suetonius Vespasian, chapter 23).] will serve as its pedestal."--And to
Titus, who was angry at the tax on urinating [Footnote: This refers to
conveniences in the public streets.], which was appointed along with the
rest, he replied, as he picked up some gold pieces that were the product
of it: "See, my child, if they smell at all."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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