The Epigraphical Evidence for the Reigns of Vespasian and Titus (Classic Reprint)

Book excerpt: Excerpt from The Epigraphical Evidence for the Reigns of Vespasian and Titus The study of inscriptions and the evidence gathered from these monuments of past ages are greatly changing our histories of an cient Greece and Rome. By means of them disputed points are settled with certainty, dates are fixed, and innumerable facts are brought to light that could never have been learned from our ex tant literary sources. Hence it is that no historian of the present day can afford to neglect the science of epigraphy. This is true for any period from the late republic down to the fourth century of the empire, but it is especially true for the period of the Flavian emperors. Students of Roman history have suffered an irreparable loss from the fact that the Histories of Tacitus have survived only in a frag mentary form, breaking off just after the accession of Vespasian. Through this misfortune we are confined almost solely to the meagre outlines of Suetonius and Dio Cassius for the facts of the reigns of Vespasian and Titus. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.