Greatness of a King

¶ … King

Book II Chapter II Tacitus: The Histories

This chapter is a short paragraph highlighting some important characteristics of a great king. In this case, the king was Titus Vespasian. In this chapter, we notice that Tacitus has highlighted three important characteristics that made Vespasian a great king. These are as follows:

Courage: Hope is given preference over fear

Self-restraint

Respect for higher powers

Born in AD 39, Titus was the elder son of King Vespasian and is known in history for his great skills as a leader even though he was initially like Nero in his charm and physical strength. It took him some time to become the great king that he finally did after exercising self-restraint and becoming more responsible. It is believed that he was more in control of his sexual escapades during his own reign than during his father's reign:

"Some supposed that he retraced his steps for love of Queen Berenice, nor was his young heart averse to her charms, but this affection occasioned no hindrance to action. He passed, it is true, a youth enlivened by pleasure, and practiced more self-restraint in his own than in his father's reign."

In the chapter under study, we find that the reason Titus was successful during his reign, which was short but effective, was because he exercised self-restraint and let hope triumph. It is important for any leader to understand the importance of hope and allow it to dominate over other things including fear which can undermine the strength of one's intentions and plans.

Titus was not as great a king as some other in ancient history and we have no way to find out how great he could have been because his reign was relatively short. He had great negotiation skills and charm that played a key role during his father's reign when he worked to have his father accepted as the emperor of the eastern provinces. Vespasian was himself an effective ruler but he needed his son to work on his behalf for reconciliation between himself and the governor of Syria.

Titus demonstrated good governing skills and had the ability to understand that he couldn't allow himself to wither away because of lack of self-restraint. As we learn from the chapter, despite his physical and sexual strength, he was able to let matters of the heart rest while he was actively pursuing a career in government. He did not allow his sexual prowess or his physical charms to get in the way of his leadership and his progress as a prince.

Unlike the prince in Machiavelli who was advised to be more fearful than charming, Titus exercised friendliness and charm to advance in his negotiations. That worked well in his favor. However there were other talents he had which helped him become a much more effective king than he was expected to be.

We learn that he was not only exercising self-restraint but also had courage. Courage is the ability to feel fear but advance towards the goal anyway. Despite the fear of being challenged by opposite forces, Titus kept moving on, "So, after coasting Achaia and Asia, leaving the land on his left, he made for the islands of Rhodes and Cyprus, and then by a bolder course for Syria."

Another important characteristic was respect for the higher power. It is important to understand that in ancient times, kings had the ultimate power or so they believed. They reigned over their kingdom with iron fist and did not allow anyone to speak before them without their permission. This was how most kings behaved because of the power people had bestowed on them. And due to this not many paid homage to their gods. Titus demonstrated that he had faith in higher powers and thus decided to visit the Temple of Venus when he entered Syria.

The time which is mentioned in the chapter is during 61-63 A.D. when Vespasian had sent Titus to pay his respects to Galba and acknowledge his emperorship. Upon his arrival, he learned that Galba had already died and there had been rumors of who would succeed him. It was believed that Titus had come to replace Galba or at least challenge the potential successors like Vitellius or Otho. Those rumors were based on variety of things including:

"The advanced years and childless condition of the Emperor furnished matter for such gossip and the country never can refrain from naming many persons until one be chosen. The report gained the more credit from the genius of Titus himself, equal as it was to the most exalted fortune, from the mingled beauty and majesty of his countenance, from the prosperous fortunes of Vespasian, from the prophetic responses of oracles, and even from accidental occurrences which, in the general disposition to belief, were accepted as omens."