away all the attendants, (447) on a sudden, as if he was tired, fell down
at his feet, as he lay still upon his couch, and hung down his neck. A
cypress-tree likewise, in a field belonging to the family, was torn up by
the roots, and laid flat upon the ground, when there was no violent wind;
but next day it rose again fresher and stronger than before.

He dreamt in Achaia that the good fortune of himself and his family would
begin when Nero had a tooth drawn; and it happened that the day after, a
surgeon coming into the hall, showed him a tooth which he had just
extracted from Nero. In Judaea, upon his consulting the oracle of the
divinity at Carmel [740], the answer was so encouraging as to assure him
of success in anything he projected, however great or important it might
be. And when Josephus [741], one of the noble prisoners, was put in
chains, he confidently affirmed that he should be released in a very
short time by the same Vespasian, but he would be emperor first [742].
Some omens were likewise mentioned in the news from Rome, and among
others, that Nero, towards the close of his days, was commanded in a
dream to carry Jupiter's sacred chariot out of the sanctuary where it
stood, to Vespasian's house, and conduct it thence into the circus. Also
not long afterwards, as Galba was going to the election, in which he was
created consul for the second time, a statue of the Divine Julius [743]
turned towards the east. And in the field of Bedriacum [744], before the
battle began, two eagles engaged in the sight of the army; and one of
them being beaten, a third came from the east, and drove away the
conqueror.

(448) VI. He made, however, no attempt upon the sovereignty, though his
friends were very ready to support him, and even pressed him to the
enterprise, until he was encouraged to it by the fortuitous aid of
persons unknown to him and at a distance. Two thousand men, drawn out of