Vespasian, Titus Flavius, a Roman emperor, was born A.D. 9, of humble parents, near Reate, a Sa- bine village, where his father was tax-gatherer. He became a successful soldier, and, after serving in Britain and elsewhere, was sent by Nero to Palestine in 66. He began the conquest; of that country by the storm- ing of Sepphoris and Jotapata in 67; and in 68, after hearing of the revolt of Vindex against the emperor, he hastened the operations of his army until he had taken and destroj'ed all the towns in his way before he reached the neighborhood of Jerusalem itself. At this juncture he was chosen emperor by the army in Moesia, and subsequently b}' the entire East. In 71 he cele- brated, in company with his son Titus, the triumph which marked the complete destruction of the Jewish polity and nation. He afterwards sent Bassns to put down the last remnant of the revolt, and to take meas- ures that no towns of Palestine should be rebuilt; but he discountenanced cruelty and the abuse of power in dealing with the subjugated people. The restless agi- tations of the zealots compelled him, nevertheless, to put down their rebellious spirit by force in P^gypt and CjTcne, and led to his order that the Temple of Onias, near Leontopolis, should be destroyed. He furthermore compelled the entire nation of the Jews to render into the Temple of Capitoline Jupiter a tribute equal to the tax they had been accustomed to paj' to the Temple
Cohi of Vespasian.
at Jerusalem. He is, however, to be credited with hav- ing disjJayed, from his point of view, a spirit of fair- ness and mildness towards that unhappy people of which numerous illustrations may be found.
Christianity was made to suffer persecution in the reign of Vespasian onlj' because, and only so far as, it was identified with Judaism, and its troubles cannot be laid to the "charge of the emperor, though Sulpicius Severus, in his Chronicle (beginning of the 5th cen- tury), decides otherwise. Vespasian died in the tenth year of his reign, A.D. 79, being the second emperor of Rome to die a natural death and the first to transmit the empire to his son. See the histories, and Herzog, Eeal-Encijklop. s. v.; also Smith, Diet, of (Jr. and Rom. Biog. s. V. ; and the monographs cited by Volbeding, In- dex Progranimatum, p. 95.
Vesperal is a division of the antiphonarium con- taining the chants for vespers (q. v.).
Vespers {eren-song ; hat. vespera, ojficium vesperti- num, lucernnrium ; VjT. \v\viKav) is the worship ca- nonically assigned to the hour of sunset or of lamplight- ing, being the last but one of the seven canonical hours (q. v.). In significance the vesper service corresponds with the daily evening sacrifice of the Old-Test, cultus, but also with the descent of Christ from the cross, and it is supposed to coincide in time with the hour when the Lord's supper was instituted. From the fact that it is mentioned by the most ancient fathers, it is prob- able that the custom of holding an assembly for public worship at this time of the day is of very high antiqui-
VESPERS
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VESTALS
ty. In the 4lh centun- — perhaps in the 3d — there was public evening service in the Eastern ciiurches, as we Uarn from the A posto/iail ('oiiali/iition.f. C'assian, in (lie beginning of the 5th century, refers the evening anil nocturnal assemblies of the Egyptians to the time of St. iMark the Evangelist. Vespers is the lirst aikli- tion to the original three hours of prayer known to Cyprian — teiiius, sextitg, and no7ius (see C\'prian, 7>e (h-(it, Dominica, s. tin.; Chrysostom, //om. 59 ad Pop. Antioch, ; and Jerome, A)). '22 ad Euxtoch. c. o7 ; comp. Dan. vi, 11; Acts ii, 15; iii, 1; x, 9). The monastic rules of the Gth and 7th centuries had already in- creased the number of canonical hours of prayer to eight. The original form of the vesper service consist- ed of the singing of twelve psalms. This number was afterwards reduced to seven, four of which were assign- ed to the vesper service proper, to be sung antiphonal- ly, and three to the Completorium. Benedict of Nursia (i(. V.) adds to these psalms the reading of a chapter of Scripture, a responsorium, the Ambrosian hymn and connected versicle, the Magriijicat, and the Litany, the l^ord's Prayer, and the closing prayer as constant ele- ments of the vesper service. The non-monastic liturgy of the Western Church has a similar service, five psalms being prescribed instead of four — the number having reference to the live senses in man, and denoting also the inferior degree of perfection possessed by the secu- lar clergy and the laity. The Koman Breviary makes vespers the exact counterpart of the Lauds (([. v.) : five psalms with antiphones, a chapter from the Bible, a hymn, a versicle with responsorium, the Magnijicat with antiphone, the daily prayers, with occasional com- memorations, suffrages, and proeces. Vespers is the only portion of the canonically prescribed worship for each day which is constantly celebrated in the public ser- vices of the liomish Church. In the evangelical churches voices have been heard asking for a liturgi- cal vesper service, particularly on great occasions, and especially in the Lutheran Church, and the demand has not been altogether unheeded in many quarters. See FA'angel. Kirchenzeitung, 18G1, p. 349 sq., 487 sq.; Ilengstenberg, Vespergottesdienste (Berlin, 1861) ; Die- drich, Breriarium (ibid. s. a.); Herzog. Heal- Ency- kiop. s. V.