(471) VIII. He was by nature extremely
benevolent; for whereas all the emperors after Tiberius, according to the
example he had set them, would not admit the grants made by former princes to
be valid, unless they received their own sanction, he confirmed them all by one
general edict, without waiting for any applications respecting them. Of all who
petitioned for any favour, he sent none away without hopes. And when his
ministers represented to him that he promised more than he could perform, he
replied, "No one ought to go away downcast from an audience with his
prince." Once at supper, reflecting that he had done nothing for any that
day, he broke out into that memorable and justly-admired saying, "My
friends, I have lost a day." 790 More particularly, he treated the
people on all occasions with so much courtesy, that, on his presenting them
with a show of gladiators, he declared, "He should manage it, not according
to his own fancy, but that of the spectators," and did accordingly. He
denied them nothing, and very frankly encouraged them to ask what they pleased.
Espousing the cause of the Thracian party among the gladiators, he frequently
joined in the popular demonstrations in their favour, but without compromising
his dignity or doing injustice. To omit no opportunity of acquiring popularity,
he sometimes made use himself of the baths he had erected, without excluding
the common people. There happened in his reign some dreadful accidents; an eruption of Mount Vesuvius 791, in Campania, and a fire in Rome,
which continued during three days and three nights 792; besides a plague, such as was
scarcely ever known before [emphasis added throughout.] Amidst these
many great disasters, he not only manifested the concern (472) which might be
expected from a prince but even the affection of a father, for his people; one
while comforting them by his proclamations, and another while relieving them to
the utmost of his power. He chose by lot, from amongst the men of consular
rank, commissioners for repairing the losses in Campania. The estates of those
who had perished by the eruption of Vesuvius, and who had left no heirs, he applied
to the repair of the ruined cities. With regard to the public buildings
destroyed by fire in the City, he declared that nobody should be a loser but
himself. Accordingly, he applied all the ornaments of his palaces to the
decoration of the temples, and purposes of public utility, and appointed
several men of the equestrian order to superintend the work. For the relief of
the people during the plague, he employed, in the way of sacrifice and
medicine, all means both human and divine. Amongst the calamities of the times,
were informers and their agents; a tribe of miscreants who had grown up under
the licence of former reigns. These he frequently ordered to be scourged or
beaten with sticks in the Forum, and then, after he had obliged them to pass
through the amphitheatre as a public spectacle, commanded them to be sold for
slaves, or else banished them to some rocky islands. And to discourage such
practices for the future, amongst other things, he prohibited actions to be
successively brought under different laws for the same cause, or the state of
affairs of deceased persons to be inquired into after a certain number of years.