JERUSALEM; ROME; REVELATION - The Preterist Archive

of themselves and could not be brought even by disasters to believe the truth.... Men and
women showed equal resolution, and life seemed more terrible than death.... Such was this
city and nation!”
240. Also the Pagan Roman Historian Suetonius, writing probably around 135 A.D.,
wrote in his Twelve Caesars (10:5-8): “An ancient ‘superstition’ was current in the East - that
out of Judaea would come the rulers of the World [cf. Micah 5:1f & Matthew 2:1-6]. This
prediction, as it later proved, referred to two Roman Emperors[!] - Vespasian and his son
Titus. But the rebellious Jews - who read it as referring to themselves - murdered their
Procurator [alias their Roman Governor]; routed the Governor-General of Syria, when he
came down to restore order; and captured an eagle [alias a Roman standard].
241. “To crush this uprising, the Romans needed a strong army under an energetic
Commander who could be trusted not to abuse his plenary powers. The choice fell on
Vespasian.... And Vespasian took his elder son, Titus, to serve on his staff.
242. “In Judaea, Vespasian consulted the God of Carmel - and was given a promise
that he would never be disappointed in what he planned or desired, however lofty his
ambitions. Also, a distinguished Jewish prisoner of Vespasian’s - Josephus by name -
insisted that he [Josephus] would soon be released by the very man [Vespasian] who had now
put him in fetters and who would then be[come] Emperor...
243. “Some Third Legion men...had been sent to Moesia from Syria just prior to
Nero’s death.... Tiberius Alexander, the Prefect in Egypt, thereupon made his legions take the
oath to Vespasian. This was on July 1st, A.D. 69 - later celebrated as Accession Day....
244. “On July 11th, the [Roman] Army in Judaea swore allegiance to Vespasian in
person.... The support of Lucius Mucianus, then commanding in Syria..., promised to lend
him the whole Syrian Army.... So Vespasian began a new Civil War.... As a man of great
promise and reputation, he had now been decreed a triumph over the Jews [cf. Matthew
chapter 24]. Vespasian found no difficulty, on his return to Rome, in adding eight more
Consulships [every year from A.D. 70 to 79] - to the one he had already earned.”
245. Suetonius continues [op. cit. 11:1-6]: “ Titus, surnamed Vespasian like his father,
had such winning ways.... When his Quaestorship at Rome ended, he went to command one
of his father's legions in Judaea.... His father had been acclaimed Emperor, and left him to
complete the conquest of Judaea [in A.D. 70].
246. “In the final assault on Jerusalem, Titus managed to kill twelve of the garrison
with successive arrows.... He now [from A.D. 70 onward] became his father's colleague,
almost his guardian - sharing in the Judaean triumph; in the Censorship; in the exercise of
Tribunicial power; and in seven Consulships....
247. “He owned a troop of perverts and eunuchs, and nursed a guilty passion for Queen
Berenice to whom he had allegedly promised marriage.” Berenice had been born in A.D. 28.
She was the eldest daughter of Herod Agrippa, King of the Jews. She had two sons by a
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