n an estate belonging to the Flavian
family, in the neighbourhood of Rome, there was an old oak, sacred to
Mars, which, at the three several deliveries of Vespasia, put out each
time a new branch; evident intimations of the future fortune of each
child. The first was but a slender one, which quickly withered away; and
accordingly, the girl that was born did not live long. The second became
vigorous, which portended great good fortune; but the third grew like a
tree. His father, Sabinus, encouraged by these omens, which were
confirmed by the augurs, told his mother, "that her grandson would be
emperor of Rome;" at which she laughed heartily, wondering, she said,
"that her son should be in his dotage whilst she continued still in full
possession of her faculties."

Afterwards in his aedileship, when Caius Caesar, being enraged at his not
taking care to have the streets kept clean, ordered the soldiers to fill
the bosom of his gown with dirt, some persons at that time construed it
into a sign that the government, being trampled under foot and deserted
in some civil commotion, would fall under his protection, and as it were
into his lap. Once, while he was at dinner, a strange dog, that wandered
about the streets, brought a man's hand [739], and laid it under the
table. And another time, while he was at supper, a plough-ox throwing
the yoke off his neck, broke into the room, and after he had frightened
away all the attendants, (447) on a sudden, as if he was tired, fell down
at his feet, as he lay still upon his couch, and hung down his neck. A
cypress-tree likewise, in a field belonging to the family, was torn up by
the roots, and laid flat upon the ground, when there was no violent wind;
but next day it rose again fresher and stronger than before.

He dreamt in Achaia that the good fortune of himself and his family would
begin when Nero had a tooth drawn; and it happened that the day after, a
surgeon coming into the hall, showed him a tooth which he had just
extracted from Nero. In Judaea, upon his consulting the oracle of the
divinity at Carmel [740], the answer was so encouraging as to assure him
of success in anything he projected, however great or important it might
be. And when Josephus [741], one of the noble prisoners, was put in
chains, he confidently affirmed that he should be released in a very
short time by the same Vespasian, but he would be emperor first [742].
Some omens were likewise mentioned in th