The Flavians were a new dynasty. And when I say new, I mean new in the sense that they lacked the old blood or money the Julio-Claudians possessed. Vespasian’s grandfather was a mere centurion among hundreds others serving under Pompey. What made it worse was that the old Patriarch fled from the field during the final Battle of Pharsalus, an act that would have seen him chopped into little mutton-chops were it not for the fact that Pompey lost that battle and war. Successive generations managed to turn things around through well-placed marriages and public service – not in the army – but as tax collectors skimming off the top…