5. Emperor Vespasian Shuffled Off the Mortal Coil With a Joke
Roman emperor Vespasian (9 – 79 AD) who was the founder of the Flavian Dynasty showed a keen intelligence. He never forgot where he came from, and resisted the temptation of acting like he knows everything. As emperor, he liked forthright speech, seldom stood on ceremony, and cultivated a blunt mannerism.
One of his revenue raising schemes involved a tax on public urinals, which was widely ridiculed. His son and heir took him to task for that, arguing that it was actually beneath imperial dignity to collect revenue from bodily excreta.
The emperor responded by holding a coin beneath his son’s nose and then asked him whether he could smell any urine. His son concluded by saying: “money does not smell”–which became a Latin proverb. That refusal to take himself too seriously stayed with Vespasian to his literal dying breath.
Starting with Julius Caesar, who had been declared a god after his assassination, Roman emperors who died in good repute were deified after death. When he felt the end nearing in 79 AD, Vespasian joked, just before dying: “dear me, I think I am becoming a god“.
