and censure. He was born upon the third of the calends of January, [30th
Dec.] in the year remarkable for the death of Caius [776], near the
Septizonium [777], in a mean house, and a very small and dark room, which
still exists, and is shown to the curious.

II. He was educated in the palace with Britannicus, and instructed in
the same branches of learning, and under the same masters. During this
time, they say, that a physiognomist being introduced by Narcissus, the
freedman of Claudius, to examine the features of Britannicus [778],
positively affirmed that he would never become emperor, but that Titus,
who stood by, would. They were so familiar, that Titus being next him at
table, is thought to have tasted of the fatal potion which put an end to
Britannicus's life, and to have contracted from it a distemper which hung
about him a long time. In remembrance of all these circumstances, he
afterwards erected a golden statue of him in the Palatium, and dedicated
to him an equestrian statue of ivory; attending it in the Circensian
procession, in which it is still carried to this day.

(466) III. While yet a boy, he was remarkable for his noble endowments
both of body and mind; and as he advanced in years, they became still
more conspicuous. He had a fine person, combining an equal mixture of
majesty and grace; was very strong, though not tall, and somewhat
corpulent. Gifted with an excellent memory, and a capacity for all the
arts of peace and war; he was a perfect master of the use of arms and
riding; very ready in the Latin and Greek tongues, both in verse and
prose; and such was the facility he possessed in both, that he would
harangue and versify extempore. Nor was he unacquainted with music, but
could both sing and play upon the harp sweetly and scientifically. I
have likewise been informed by many persons, that he was remarkably quick
in writing short-hand, would in merriment and jest engage with his