s of the strongest side.

2. He had been accustomed from his youth to dissipation and applause.
Caligula was pleased with his skill in driving a chariot; Claudius
loved him because he was a great gamester; and he gained the favour of
Nero by wishing him to sing publicly in the theatre. Upon his arrival
at Rome, he entered the city, not as a place he came to govern with
justice, but as a town that was become his own by the laws of
conquest.

3. Vitel'lius soon gave himself up to all kinds of luxury and
profuseness; but gluttony was his favourite vice. His entertainments,
seldom indeed at his own cost, were prodigiously expensive. He
frequently invited himself to the tables of his subjects; in the same
day breakfasting with one, dining with another, and supping with a
third. 4. By such vices and by enormous cruelties, he became a burthen
to himself, and odious to all mankind. Having become insupportable to
the inhabitants of Rome, the legions of the east unanimously resolved
to make Vespa'sian emperor.

Vespa'sian was by no means of an illustrious family, his father being
only a collector of the tax called quadragesima. Nor was his conduct,
previous to his accession to the imperial throne, calculated to do him
honour, as he was guilty of the meanest flattery and servility to
ingratiate himself with men in power. Yet, as a general, he was
indefatigable in his duties, and of unquestionable valour; abstemious
in his diet, and plain in his dress. On attaining to the imperial
dignity he appears to have laid aside every vice except avarice. His
elevation neither induced him to assume arrogant and lofty airs, nor
to neglect those friends who had shown themselves deserving of
his favour.

[Illustration: Coliseum.]

Desirous of convincing the world that he owed his good fortune to
merit alone, he disdained to court the soldiers by largesses; in
short, he displayed a nobleness of disposition worthy of the most
illustrious birth, and befitting the exalted station to which he had
arrived. This prince was the founder of the noble amphitheatre, called
the Coliseum, which remains to this day. Twelve thousand Jewish
captives were employed in its erection, and it was capable of
containing 80,000 spectators seated, and 30,000 standing. It is now in
ruins.

5. During the preparations against him, Vitel'lius, though buried in
sloth and luxury, resolved to make an effort to defend the empire; and
his chief commanders, Va'lens and Cec