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Vae Pvto Devs Fio

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 February 2009

Duncan Fishwick
Affiliation:
St. Francis Xavier University, Antigonish, Nova Scotia

Extract

Suetonius records that as Vespasian lay on his death-bed his dying words were Vae puto deus fio (Vespas. 23. 4). If we assume that Vespasian could hardly have believed that he was literally destined for divinity, it is an open question what exactly he intended by this remark. As a general rule scholars seem to have interpreted it as a sarcastic sneer at deification: one reads for example such statements as ‘Historically we do not associate the reign of Vespasian with the Emperor Cult.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © The Classical Association 1965

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References

page 155 note 1 Aspirations to divinity would have been quite out of keeping with all that we know ol Vespasian's character and mentality. Certainly Suetonius thought he was joking (cf. Vespas. 12, 23. 4).Google Scholar

page 155 note 2 Abaecherli, A. L., ‘The Dating of the Lex Narbonensis’, T.A.P.A. lxiii (1932), 262.Google Scholar

page 155 note 3 For detail and documentation see Cerfaux, L. and Tondriau, J., Le Culte des Souverains (Tournai, 1957), p. 354.Google Scholar

page 155 note 4 Scott, K., The Imperial Cult under the Flavians (Stuttgart-Berlin, 1936), pp. 2532Google Scholar; cf. Herzog-Hauser, G., R.-E. Suppl. iv (1924), 836–7.Google Scholar

page 155 note 5 See the analysis of Scott, pp. 1–2.

page 155 note 6 McCrum, M. and Woodhead, A. G., Select Documents of the Principals of the Flavian Emperors (Cambridge, 1961), pp. 1518.Google Scholar

page 155 note 7 Outside of the capital the cult of the genius seems to have been continued as before: for example at Pompeii, where a small temple and altar served as a cult centre for the worship of the genius of the living emperor: Taylor, L. R., The Divinity of the Roman Emperor (Middletown, 1931), pp. 216–17, n. 29.Google Scholar

page 156 note 1 The regulation was that the living Emperor might be worshipped outside Italy by non-Roman provincials provided that dea Roma shared in the cult: Tac., Ann. 4. 37Google Scholar, Suet, . Aug. 52Google Scholar. Even in the time of Augustus, however, there had been a wide gulf between theory and practice; cf. an African inscrip- tion from the vicinity of Bir-bu-Rekba: Augusto deo cives Romani qui Thinissut negotiantur, curatore L. Fabricio (Dessau, , I.L.S. 9495).Google Scholar

page 156 note 2 For evidence and bibliography see Scott (above, p. 155 n. 4), pp. 20–22; Cerfaux and Tondriau (above, p. 155 n. 3), p. 354 n. 2.

page 156 note 3 Scott, ibid. pp. 33–34.

page 156 note 4 I.G. ii2 4193+A. Epig. (1947) no. 69 (cf. Hesperia xi [1942], 80Google Scholar). For a complete survey of the question with detailed bibliography see Aymard, A., ‘Du nouveau sur un Toulousain et sur Toulouse à l'époque romain’, Bull. soc. archéol. du Midi de la France, 3rd ser. 5 (1947), 513–28Google Scholar; Larsen, J. A. O., C.P. xxxix (1944), 198 n. 2.Google Scholar

page 156 note 5 Hübner, , ad C.I.L. ii. 3271Google Scholar. See also the cogent discussion of Étienne, R., Le culte impériale dans la péninsule ibériqut d'Auguste à Dioclétien (Bibl. des Écoles franç. d'Athènes et de Rome, fasc. 191, Paris 1958), 127, nn. 1–8.Google Scholar

page 156 note 6 I have argued this in detail in Hermes xcii (1964), 342–63.Google Scholar

page 156 note 7 It is not impossible that the Senate itseli took the lead in suggesting the installation of a provincial cult in the three Western provinces still technically under senatorial control. That it was quite capable of this kind of flattery can be seen from the coin types it issued which occasionally portray Vespasian wearing the radiate crown (Ph. Lederer, ‘Beiträge zur römischen Münz-kunde IV’, Zeitschrift für Numismatik xl [1930]; 51Google Scholar). This form of decoration had been restricted to deified members of the Imperial House until adopted by Nero and was therefore strictly inconsistent with Vespasian's studied return to Augustan practice. See also the discussion in Hermes (above, n. 6), p. 355 n. 1.Google Scholar

page 156 note 8 This would be in keeping with his tireless interest in reforming provincial administration and in providing efficient governors even where these proved unpopular; cf. Homo, L., L'Empereurdu ban sens (Paris, 1949), pp. 297–9.Google Scholar

page 156 note 9 For the political significance of the provincial priesthood and provincial assembly see Larsen, J. A. O., Representative Government in Greek and Roman History (Berkeley, 1955), PP. 130–9.Google Scholar

page 156 note 10 Provincial coinage served a similar purpose. On the propaganda value of the Spanish issues see Étienne (above, n. 5), pp. 447–51. Cf. also Förschner, G., ‘Das Porträt Vespasians auf römischen Münzen’, Berliner numismatische Zeitschrift xxv (1959), 310; xxvi (1960), 25–32.Google Scholar

page 157 note 1 The new cults established in Narbonensis, Baetica, and Proconsularis are clearly distinct from the Flavian institution at Arae Flaviae where the central purpose was undoubtedly to strengthen loyalty to Rome in the newly won territory of Upper Germany. These Flavian altars in the Agri Decumates may thus be compared with earlier foundations in such backward and uncivilized territories as the Three Gauls or the Rhineland.

page 157 note 2 Cf. Vespasian's efforts to promote the urbanization and municipalization of the Latin West. For surveys of literature on these significant developments see Rostovtzeff, M., The Social and Economic History of the Roman Empire2 (Oxford, 1957), pp. 560 n. 10; 571Google Scholar

page 157 note 3 A central feature of this programme was the admission of small groups of Western provincials to the Roman senate, all of whom were drawn under Vespasian from the three great senatorial provinces. For statistics see Hammond, M. ‘Composition of the Senate A.D. 68–235’, J.R.S. xlvii (1957), 7481. As it was clearly impracticable to elevate all important provincials to office in Rome, the annual provincial priesthood could provide an outlet for the ambitions of local dignitaries who might otherwise have been politically dangerous.Google Scholar

page 157 note 4 It proved an accurate prediction. Soon after his death Vespasian was officially deified by the senate—only the second Emperor since Augustus to receive this signal honour.