Having declared that he accepted the office of Pontifex Maximus for the purpose
					of preserving his hands undefiled, he faithfully adhered to his promise. For
					after that time he was neither directly nor indirectly concerned in the death of
					any person, though he sometimes was justly irritated. He swore "that he would
					perish himself rather than prove the destruction of any man." Two men of
					patrician rank being convicted of aspiring to the empire, he only advised them
					to desist, saying, "that the sovereign power was disposed of by fate," and
					promised them, that if there was any thing else they desired of him, he would
					grant it. He also immediately sent messengers to the mother of one of them, who
					was at a great distance, and in deep anxiety about her son, to assure her of his
					safety. Nay, he not only invited them to sup with him, but next day, at a show
					of gladiators, purposely placed them close by him; and handed to them the arms
					of the combatants for their inspection. It is said likewise, that having had
					their nativities cast, he assured them, " that a great calamity was impending on
					both of them, but from another hand, and not from his." Though his brother was
					continually plotting against him, almost openly stirring up the armies to
					rebellion, and contriving to get away, yet he could not endure to put him to
					death, or to banish him from his presence; nor did he treat him with less
					respect than before. But from his first accession to the empire, he constantly
					declared him his partner in it, and that he should be his successor; begging of
					him sometimes in private, with tears in his eyes, "to return the affection he
					had for him." Amidst all these favourable circumstances, he was cut off by an untimely death,
					more to the loss of mankind than himself. At the close of the public spectacles,
					he wept bitterly in the presence of the people, and then retired into the Sabine
					country, See VESPASIAN cc. i. and xxiv. The love of this
						emperor and his son Titus for the rural retirement of their paternal acres
						in the Sabine country, forms a striking contrast to the vicious attachment
						of such tyrants as Tiberius and Caligula for the luxurious scenes of Baiae,
						or the libidinous orgies of Capri. rather melancholy, because a
					victim had made its escape while he was sacrificing, and loud thunder had been
					heard while the atmosphere was serene. At the first resting-place on the road,
					he was seized with a fever, and being carried forward in a litter, they say that
					he drew back the curtains, and looked up to heaven, complaining heavily, " that
					his life was taken from him, though he had done nothing to deserve it; for there
					was no action of his that he had occasion to repent of, but one." What that was,
					he neither disclosed himself, nor is it easy for us to conjecture. Some imagine
					that he alluded to the connection which he had formerly had with his brothers
					wife. But Domitia solemnly denied it on oath; which she would never have done,
					had there been any truth in the report; nay, she would certainly have gloried in
					it, as she was forward enough to boast of all her scandalous intrigues.