Roman biographer Suetonius’s lively The Twelve Caesars makes for entertaining and enlightening reading. There were some good emperors and there were some bad emperors. Titus, who reigned from 79 AD to 81 AD, was one of the good ones. Unfortunately, Titus came down with a fever and died at age 42. Below are quotes from the text along with my brief comments.

“The darling and delight of mankind; so much did the natural genius, address, or good fortune he possessed tend to conciliate the favor of all . . . While yet a boy, he was remarkable for his noble endowments both of body and mind; and as he advanced in years, they became still more conspicuous. He had a fine person, combining an equal mixture of majesty and grace. . . . Gifted with an excellent memory, and a capacity for all the arts of peace and war; he was a perfect master of the use of arms and riding; very ready in the Latin and Greek tongues, both in verse and prose; and such was the facility he possessed in both, that he would harangue and versify extempore.” ---------- As we have nowadays the all-American boy or the all-Indian boy, back during the time of the Roman Empire, Titus was the all-Roman boy.

“From that time he constantly acted as colleague with his father, and, indeed, as regent of the empire. He triumphed with his father, bore jointly with him the office of censor and was, besides, his colleague not only in the tribunitian authority, but in seven consulships.” ---------- Titus did his father, Emperor Vespasian, proud. What a son!

“He was by nature extremely benevolent . . . For the relief of the people during the plague, he employed, in the way of sacrifice and medicine, all means both human and divine.” ---------- Now that’s saying something about a man who has unlimited power and rules an empire – he put his energies into helping others since by his natural inclination he was a person of good will.

“Though his brother was continually plotting against him, almost openly stirring up the armies to rebellion, and contriving to get away, yet he could not endure to put him to death, or to banish him from his presence; nor did he treat him with less respect than before. But from his first accession to the empire, he constantly declared him his partner in it, and that he should be his successor; begging of him sometimes in private, with tears in his eyes, "to return the affection he had for him."” ---------- His brother Domitian was an underhanded cur, but Titus returned Domitian’s evil designs with kindness and tolerance.

“Amidst all these favorable circumstances, Titus was cut off by an untimely death, more to the loss of mankind than himself, for he was seized with a fever, and being carried forward in a litter, they say that he drew back the curtains, and looked up to heaven, complaining heavily, "that his life was taken from him, though he had done nothing to deserve it”.” ---------- Ah, the injustice – a good man becomes ill and dies young while so many cruel and sadistic people live to a ripe old age. Such is the caprice of nature’s wheel of birth and death. Too bad all round. If he had lived longer, the Roman people would have been spared the reign of his brother’s terror.


Suetonius available on-line: http://www.gutenberg.org/files/6400/6...