a.d. IX Kal. Iul.
June 23 in Ancient Rome
Vespasian dies: “An emperor should die standing”
Last words: an emperor dies standing
politicsAD 79
Julian date · ≈ Jun 21 on our calendar
Suetonius says Vespasian, sick with fever and diarrhoea, tried to rise saying an emperor should die standing, and died in the arms of those helping him on 23 June 79.
imperatorem, ait, stantem mori oportere
“An emperor,” he said, “ought to die standing.”
Background
Vespasian was the soldier-emperor who ended the civil wars of 69 and founded the Flavian dynasty. Suetonius portrays him as shrewd, thrifty and fond of jokes, and he ruled for ten years, rebuilding the Capitol and beginning the Colosseum.
In his final illness, Suetonius says per Suetonius, Vespasian had gone to his family's country estate near Reate. He made his illness worse by drinking too much cold water, which upset his bowels, yet he kept working as usual and even received embassies lying in bed. Then a sudden attack of diarrhoea left him close to fainting. He declared that "an emperor ought to die standing", and while he struggled to get up he died in the hands of those holding him. Suetonius gives his age as sixty-nine years, one month and seven days.
The scene fits Vespasian's reputation as a down-to-earth emperor who took his duties seriously to the end. His son Titus succeeded him peacefully, the first time a Roman emperor was followed directly by his own son, and Romans remembered Vespasian's last words as an example of dignity in the face of a very undignified illness.
Ancient source: Suetonius, Vespasian 24 · Reference
Sources
☁ Rome today (1991–2020 avg): 29°/18°C (84°/64°F) · rain 10% of days
Rome in JuneHarvest meant long days for gangs of hired reapers, often seasonal migrant…
Fields & crops
Grain harvest began in the lowlands: wheat was reaped, threshed on the threshing floor and stored. Columella advises clearing the floor and preparing granaries per Columella 11.2.
Courts & law
Normal court business. As on every Kalends, interest on loans fell due on 1 June, also the day of Carna, goddess of the body's vital organs, honoured with bean porridge and bacon per Ovid, Fasti 6.101–82.
Senate & politics
No fixed political dates, but in the Republic elections were often held in summer, with candidates canvassing in whitened togas late Republic; often July.
Military
Campaigns continued; harvests in enemy territory were sometimes burned or seized to feed armies.
Festivals & religion
The Vestalia (9 June), when bakers and millers garlanded their donkeys and mill-stones and women walked barefoot to Vesta's temple; the temple was cleaned on 15 June per Ovid, Fasti 6. Fishermen's games were held across the Tiber on 7 June.
Daily life
Harvest meant long days for gangs of hired reapers, often seasonal migrant labourers, alongside enslaved workers per Varro, Rust. 1.17, on hiring free labourers for harvests. Summer heat in Rome brought fevers, probably malaria in low, marshy districts; the wealthy left for hill or seaside villas per Horace and Celsus; malaria identification modern. The poor stayed in hot, crowded insulae.
Sources: Ovid, Fasti 6 · Varro, Res Rusticae 1.17
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LATIN LINE OF THE DAY
Non est vivere, sed valere vita est.
“Life is not just being alive, but being well.”
Martial, Epigrams 6.70 · translation ours (literal)
