Vespasian (Titus Flavius Vespasianus) (69-79) was born in 9 at Reate in the Sabine country north of Rome. His father Flavius Sabinus was a tax-collector of knightly (equestrian) rank; his mother Vespasia Polla belonged to a family of the same status, but her brother became a senator. So did Vespasian himself, together with his elder brother, Sabinus.

Vespasian was praetor in 40, and then gained further preferment through the patronage of Claudius’ minister and freedman Narcissus. As a legionary commander he distinguished himself in Claudius’ invasion of Britain in 43-4, earning the insignia (ornamenta) of a Triumph and two priesthoods. In 51 he held a consulship, and later, c. 63, was proconsul of Africa, where his administration won some praise, for he did not use his tenure of the post to make money. As a result he underwent a period of impoverishment, and indeed was only saved from bankruptcy by his brother, at the price of a mortgage on his house and land.

As a member of the imperial entourage during Nero’s tour of Achaea in 66, Vespasian fell into disfavour for falling asleep while the emperor was singing. All the same, in February 67 he was appointed governor of Judaea, with the task of suppressing the First Jewish War. Perhaps Nero preferred to have a man of only mediocre reputation commanding such a potentially menacing number of troops; nevertheless, by the middle of 68 Vespasian had reduced almost the entire country to obedience, with the exception of Jerusalem and a few outlying fortresses. On hearing, though, that Nero had killed himself on 9 June, he halted his preparations to storm Jerusalem, and recognized the accession of Galba.

However, Vespasian was now beginning to be prompted by greater ambitions on his own account. A vital factor in his plans and decisions was the governor of Syria, Gaius Licinius Mucianus. Until recently the two men had not been on good terms, because Mucianus resented the elevation of the Judaean command to a higher status than his own governorship. But after Nero’s death they made up their differences, and watched the developing political situation together. Galba’s murder in the following January caused them to begin considering the possibility of active revolt. He suicide of Otho in April prompted them to form active plans to that end. While for the moment acknowledging his victor Vitellius as emperor, they secretly enlisted the support of Tiberius Julius Alexander in Egypt. Neither Alexander nor Mucianus could claim the throne for themselves, the former since he was a knight, not a senator – and a foreigner as well, a renegade Jew – and the latter because, lacking sons of his own, he could not form a dynasty. Vespasian on the other hand had two sons, Titus and Domitian (the offspring of his late wife Flavia Domitilla the elder); and the governors now agreed that he should be their candidate for the purple.

On 1 July, therefore, Alexander ordered the Egyptian legions to swear an oath of allegiance to Vespasian, and by the middle of the month the armies in Judaea and Syria had done the same. Their plan was that Mucianus, with twenty thousand troops, should set out for Italy while Vespasian would remain for the time being in the east, where he could control Egypt’s grain supply which was vital for Rome. By late August the Danubian armies, too, had declared their support for his cause. Among these troops the initiative was seized by Marcus Antonius Primus, a Gaul from Tolosa who was the commander of one of the legions in Pannonia. Primus moved speedily westwards into the Italian peninsula, apparently without waiting for instructions from the leaders of the rebellion, and on his own account defeated the Vitellians at the Second Battle of Bedriacum.

Primus then marched on Rome itself, which put up a desperate resistance. Shortly before he arrived, Vespasian’s brother, the city prefect Sabinus – who had been attempting to secure Vitellius’ capitulation – was murdered by the latter’s enraged supporters on the Capitol. However, Vitellius himself also came to a violent end, on 20 December. Primus entered the city on the following day and the senate confirmed Vespasian’s accession as emperor. Mucianus arrived not long afterwards, and criticized Primus for having acted without orders; he was accused of committing atrocities as well. Primus left for the east to complain to Vespasian, who gave him honours but allowed him to return to his native Tolosa.

Mucianus was now in charge of Rome, where he executed Vitellius’ son and other possible malcontents, and kept a suspicious eye on Vespasian’s pushing younger son Domitian, who had been with his doomed uncle Sabinus on the burning Captiol before effecting a dramatic escape. Vespasian himself, leaving his other son Titus to capture Jerusalem (an event celebrated by famous coins inscribed IVDAEA CAPTA), returned to the capital in October 70. Mucianus was loaded with distinctions and remained an important adviser of the ruler until his death some six years later, although he was not admitted to any share of imperial powers.

Quoted from: ‘The Roman Emperors – A Biographical Guide To The Rulers Of Imperial Rome 31BC – AD476’; Michael Grant; Phoenix, 1997 (First Published 1985)