“ Some of the philosophers who talked idly of the good old times of the republic, and thus indirectly encouraged conspiracy, provoked him into reviving the obsolete penal laws against this class, but only one, Helvidius Priscus, was put to death, and he had affronted the emperor by studied insults. “I will not kill a dog that barks at me,” were words honestly expressing the temper of Vespasian. Much money was spent on public works and the restoration and beautifying of Rome—a new forum, the splendid temple of Peace, the public baths and the vast Colosseum being begun under Vespasian. ”

“ The avarice with which both Tacitus and Suetonius stigmatize Vespasian seems really to have been an enlightened economy, which, in the disordered state of the Roman finances, was an absolute necessity. Vespasian could be liberal to impoverished senators and knights, to cities and towns desolated by natural calamity, and especially to men of letters and of the professor class, several of whom he pensioned with salaries of as much as £800 a year. ”

“ He at once devoted his energies to repairing the evils caused by civil war. He restored discipline in the army, which under Vitellius had become utterly demoralized, and, with the co-operation of the senate, put the government and the finances on a sound footing. ”