surviving to the sword. Vitellius, on the taking of the city, had escaped from the palace to a private dwelling on the Aventine; but under some restless impulse he returned and roamed through his deserted halls, dismayed at the solitude and silence, yet shrinking from every sound and the presence of a human being. At last he was discovered, half hidden behind a curtain, and ignominiously dragged forth. With his hands bound, his dress torn, he was hurried along, amid the scoffs of the multitude, and exposed to the assaults of the passing soldiery. Wounded and bleeding, he was urged on at the point of the lance; his head was kept erect by a sword held beneath to compel him to show himself, and to witness the demolition of his statues. At last, after every form of insult, he was dispatched with many wounds at the Gemoniæ, to which he had been thus brutally dragged. The death of Vitellius, on the 21st of December, finally cleared the field for Vespasian, to whom, though still far distant, the senators hastened to decree all the honors and prerogatives of empire. Primus and Mucianus adhered faithfully to him, and paid their court to his son Domitian, as his acknowledged representative. The most high-minded of the senators, Helvidius Priscus, a noted disciple of the Stoics, proposed that the national temple should be rebuilt by the nation, but that Vespasian should be invited, as the first of the citizens, to take a prominent part in the restoration. Vespasian and Titus were appointed consuls at the commencement of the new year, and to a civil strife of eighteen months soon succeeded a stable pacification.-C. MERIVALE. PASIAN THE Roman Emperor Titus bore the full name of his father, Titus Flavius Vespasianus, but is commonly known by his first name, which is rarely the practice in regard to distinguished Romans. He reigned with such clemency, justice and wisdom, that his subjects gave him the name of "The love and delight of the human race." He was born at Rome, in December, 40 A.D., while his father was still a poor man with slight prospects of advancement. His mother's name was Flavia Domitilla. Educated in the imperial court, through the favor of the freedman Narcissus, Titus learned to speak Greek fluently and showed great aptitude for learning. Being handsome, with a vigorous, well-formed body, well-trained in military exercises, he made many influential friends. In his youth he served with credit as military tribune in Germany and Britain. He afterward applied himself to the labors of the forum, and obtained the office of quæstor. In 67 A.D. Titus held a high command in the army which his father led to Palestine to subdue the revolted Jews, and he captured several important fortresses before engaging in the siege of Jerusalem. By his pleasing manner and adroitness, he gained the friendship of Mucianus, governor of Syria, and by reconciling Mucianus and Vespasian, he promoted his father's accession to the throne. In July, 69 A.D., Vespasian, withdrawing from Judea to take charge of the empire, entrusted to Titus the conduct and termination of the war in Palestine. The Jews were then in a state of extreme political effervescence. One leader had risen after another, and under the title of Christ, or the Messiah, had engaged their religious sympathies and excited their hopes, by appeal to ancient prophecies and traditions. In the spring of 70 A.D. Titus, with an army of about 75,000 men, began the siege of Jerusalem, which was strongly fortified by nature and art, and was obstinately defended. The defence was impeded by the crowd of worshipers, computed at some hundreds of thousands, who had collected in the city for the celebration of the Passover. The besieged Jews were also weakened by intestine quarrels of factions, and yet were animated by furious fanaticism. Titus offered them honorable terms, which they twice refused, although the inhabitants were perishing by famine. After the siege had lasted several months, the Romans took the city by storm in September, 70 A.D., burned the Temple, which had long been the divinely-appointed place of worship of Jehovah, and destroyed the city, which had witnessed forty years earlier the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. It is estimated that a million persons perished during this siege and cap ture. Titus, during his journey to Rome, had an interview with Apollonius, of Tyana, a noted philosopher, who gave him good advice. For the victory over the Jews, Titus and his father together received a triumph in 71 A.D., and Titus was then associated with Vespasian in the government. He had an equal share of the power and authority during the last eight years of his father's life. On the death of his father, 79 A.D., Titus became sole emperor. He had been very different from his austere and parsimonious father. He came to the sovereignty not without a character, at least among the nobles, for craft and cruelty; but he was still the darling of the soldiers and a favorite with the people. Several writers assert that a great change appeared in his conduct after his accession, and that his subjects were agreeably disappointed by his conduct. He had offended the people by bringing to Rome Berenice, a Jewish princess, whom he loved and wished to marry. She was a sister of King Agrippa, and was present when St. Paul made a memorable speech before him. (See Acts of the Apostles, chapter xxv., where she is called Bernice.) The prejudice of the Romans against foreigners induced Titus to renounce her and send her away from Rome. Titus displayed a sincere desire for the happiness of his subjects, punished informers, and assumed the office of Pontifex Maximus, with the purpose of keeping his hands free from blood. The well-filled treasury which Vespasian left enabled Titus to govern the empire without extortion or oppressive taxation. He abolished the law against treason, or at least checked all prosecutions on such charge. The senate and nobles now applauded him as a model sovereign. During his reign a large part of Rome was destroyed by a conflagation which raged about three days and three nights. The fire swept over a space occupied by important public buildings, consumed the Pantheon, and damaged the Capitol. The generous emperor expressed a determination to indemnify with his own money all the losses caused by the fire. He completed the Flavian Amphitheatre, or Colosseum, which had been commenced by Vespasian, and which is now one of the most magnificent ruins in the world. The short and pacific reign of Titus witnessed another great calamity, the destruction of the cities of Herculaneum and Pompeii by an eruption of Vesuvius in 79 A.D. The volcanic character of this mountain seems to have been unknown to the Romans before this eruption. Herculaneum was deeply buried under burning lava; and Pompeii was covered with ashes (see Vol. I., p. 396). Soon after this disaster Rome was visited by a dreadful pestilence by which several thousand persons perished. Titus made strenuous efforts to relieve the distress caused by these calamities. Once, at the end of a day in which he had performed no beneficent act, he exclaimed, "My friends, I have lost a day!" He gave no share of the imperial power to his brother Domitian, for he had reason to fear his jealousy and distrust his loyalty. He died in 81 A.D., leaving no child but a daughter, and was succeeded by Domitian, whose subsequent cruelty justified his brother's apprehensions. THE DESTRUCTION OF JERUSALEM. The government of the country of Palestine had undergone many changes since it was first conquered by the Romans under Pompeius. Julius Cæsar had cultivated the favor of the inhabitants, and M. Antonius had conferred the sovereignty of Judea upon Herodes. Augustus confirmed the independence of the Jews under this prince, whom they cherished as a native ruler. At his death, B. C. 4, his ample dominions were divided among his four children, of whom Archelaus occupied Jerusalem and Judæa. But this prince, falling into disfavor with the emperor, his kingdom was taken from him and annexed as a dependency to the Roman province of Syria. Herod Agrippa, grandson of "the Great" Herod, was allowed by the favor of Caligula, and afterwards of Claudius, to reunite the whole of his grandfather's possessions under his own sceptre; but on his death, A. D. 44, the territory was again divided, some portions being given to his brother, and afterwards to his son Agrippa, who held his government in Chalcis, on the borders of Ituræa. Judæa was resumed by the empire. Cæsarea, on the coast of the Mediterranean, was constituted the residence of the procurator of Judæa, who was content for the most part to avoid all collision with the prejudices of the Jews at the national capital of Jerusalem. The Jews were at this period in a state of political effervescence. One leader had risen after another who, under the title of Christ, had engaged their religious sympathies and excited their hopes, by an appeal to prophecies and traditions which pointed to an impending revolution, and the re-establishment of the kingdom of David. Caligula had wantonly trampled on the national prejudices, and had required the priests to place a statue of himself in the great Temple at Jerusalem. Urgent petitions against this act of desecration had been addressed to him, but without effect, and it was only by the politic delay of the procurator and the timely death of the emperor himself that a general and des |