Vespasian
is fuller than that of Suetonius, but does not materially vary in the
details, except that, in his version of the story, he describes the
impotent man to be lame in the hand, instead of the leg or the knee, and
adds an important circumstance in the case of the blind man, that he was
"notus tabe occulorum," notorious for the disease in his eyes. He also
winds up the narrative with the following statement: "They who were
present, relate both these cures, even at this time, when there is nothing
to be gained by lying." Both the historians lived within a few years of
the occurrence, but their works were not published until advanced periods
of their lives. The closing remark of Tacitus seems to indicate that, at
least, he did not entirely discredit the account; and as for Suetonius,
his pages are as full of prodigies of all descriptions, related apparently
in all good faith, as a monkish chronicle of the Middle Ages.

The story has the more interest, as it is one of the examples of
successful imposture, selected by Hume in his Essay on Miracles; with the
reply to which by Paley, in his Evidences of Christianity, most readers
are familiar. The commentators on Suetonius agree with Paley in
considering the whole affair as a juggle between the priests, the
patients, and, probably, the emperor. But what will, perhaps, strike the
reader as most remarkable, is the singular coincidence of the story with
the accounts given of several of the miracles of Christ; whence it has
been supposed, that the scene was planned in imitation of them. It did
not fall within the scope of Dr. Paley's argument to advert to this; and
our own brief illustration must be strictly confined within the limits of
historical disquisition. Adhering to this principle, we may point out
that if the idea of plagiarism be accepted, it receives some confirmation
from the incident related by our author in a preceding paragraph, forming,
it may be considered, another scene of the same drama, where we find
Basilides appearing to Vespasian in the temple of Serapis, under
circumstances which cannot fail to remind us of Christ's suddenly standing
in the midst of his disciples, "when the doors were shut." This incident,
also, has very much the appearance of a parody on the evangelical history.
But if the striking similarity of the two narratives be thus accounted
for, it is remarkable that while the priests of Alexandria, or, perhaps,
Vespasian himself fro