Vespasian. TITUS FLAVIUS VESPASIANUS, the tenth of the twelve Cæsars, Roman emperor 70-79 A.D., was born of comparatively humble family near Reate, 9 A.D. He served as tribune in Thrace, as quæstor in Crete and Cyrene, in the reign of Claudius commanded a legion in Germany and in Britain, where he subdued the Isle of Wight, was consul in 51, and next proconsul of Africa, and in 67 was sent by Nero to reduce the Jews to subjection. An able soldier and honourable man, he is admitted by Tacitus even to have been 'but for his avarice equal to the generals of old days.' He was popular with his men, and when the struggle began between Otho and Vitellius he was proclaimed emperor by the legions in Alexandria, and soon after throughout all the East. Leaving the war in Judea to his son Titus to complete, he reached Rome in 70, and soon restored the government and the public finances to order, besides showing an admirable example to a corrupt age by the simplicity and frugality of his life. After the fall of Jerusalem and his joint triumph with Titus, the temple of Janus was closed, and for nine years the wearied world had rest. Vespasian died in the summer of 79. His alleged avarice was most likely a mere wise economy, for we find him liberal enough to his subjects in distress, and to men of letters like Quintilian, as well as spending lavishly upon public works like the Colosseum (begun under him). He had a quick eye for men of virtue and capacity like Julius Agricola, whom he sent to Britain in 78.
He was tolerant and good-natured, plain and blunt in manners, with a rich vein of humour which never left him to the last: 'Methinks I am becoming a god' he whispered to the bystanders around his bed.
See the Lives of Suetonius and the Histories of Tacitus; but especially Dean Merivale's History of the Romans under the Empire.