No More Learning

The men are trained to discipline and have already won a foreign
war. [397] Besides these, you can rely on the strength of your
fleet,[398] and of your auxiliaries both horse and foot, on the
faithful allegiance of foreign princes,[399] and on your own
unparalleled experience.

'For ourselves I make but one claim. Let us not rank below Valens 77
and Caecina. Nor must you despise my help because you do not encounter
my rivalry. I prefer myself to Vitellius and you to myself. Your house
has received the insignia of a triumph. [400] You have two young sons,
one of whom is already old enough to fill the throne, and in his first
years of service made a name for himself in the German army. [401] It
would be absurd for me not to give way to one whose son I should
adopt, were I emperor myself. Apart from this, we shall stand on a
different footing in success and in failure, for if we succeed I shall
have such honour as you grant me: of the risk and the dangers we shall
share the burden equally. Or rather, do what is better still. Dispose
your armies yourself and leave me the conduct of the war, and the
uncertainties of battle.

'At this moment the defeated are far more strictly disciplined than
their conquerors. Indignation, hatred, the passion for revenge, all
serve to steel our courage. Theirs is dulled by pride and mutiny.
The
course of the war will soon bring to light the hidden weakness of
their party, and reopen all its festering sores. I rely on your
vigilance, your economy, your wisdom, and still more on the indolence,
ignorance, and cruelty of Vitellius. Above all, our cause is far safer
in war than in peace, for those who plan rebellion have rebelled
already. '

At the end of Mucianus' speech the others all pressed round with 78
new confidence, offering their encouragement and quoting the answers
of soothsayers and the movements of the stars. Nor was Vespasian
uninfluenced by superstition. In later days, when he was master of
the world, he made no secret of keeping a soothsayer called Seleucus
to help him by his advice and prophecy. Early omens began to recur to
his memory. A tall and conspicuous cypress on his estate had once
suddenly collapsed: on the next day it had risen again on the same
spot to grow taller and broader than ever. The soothsayers had agreed
that this was an omen of great success, and augured the height of fame
for the still youthful Vespasian. At first his triumphal honours, his
consulship, and the name he won by his Jewish victory seemed to have
fulfilled the promise of this omen. But having achieved all this, he
began to believe that it portended his rise to the throne.

On the frontier of Judaea and Syria[402] lies a hill called Carmel. A
god of the same name is there worshipped according to ancient ritual.
There is no image or temple: only an altar where they reverently
worship. Once when Vespasian was sacrificing on this altar, brooding
on his secret ambition, the priest, Basilides, after a minute
inspection of the omens said to him: 'Whatever it is which you have in
mind, Vespasian, whether it is to build a house or to enlarge your
estate, or to increase the number of your slaves, there is granted to
you a great habitation, vast acres, and a multitude of men. ' Rumour
had immediately seized on this riddle and now began to solve it.