1After Mucianus' speech the others more boldly crowded round him, urged him on, and reported the responses of seers and the movements of the stars. 1Nor was he untouched by such superstition, as one who later, as master of the world, openly kept a certain Seleucus, an astrologer, as his guide and prophet. 1Old omens came back to his mind: a cypress tree on his estate, of conspicuous height, had suddenly fallen, and on the next day, rising again on the same spot, it flourished, tall and broader than before. 1This was a great and favourable sign by the agreement of the soothsayers, and the highest distinction was promised to Vespasian while still quite young; but at first his triumphal honours, his consulship and the glory of his Judaean victory seemed to have fulfilled the promise of the omen: once he had gained these, he believed that empire was being foretold for him.
1Between Judaea and Syria lies Carmel: so they call both the mountain and the god. 1The god has no image or temple (so the ancestors have handed down): only an altar and reverence. 1There, as Vespasian was sacrificing and turning over secret hopes in his mind, the priest Basilides, after examining the entrails again and again, said, 'Whatever it is, Vespasian, that you are preparing, whether to build a house or to extend your lands or to enlarge your household of slaves, there is granted to you a great seat, vast boundaries, a multitude of men.' 1Rumour had at once taken up these riddling words and was now unfolding their meaning; 1nor was anything more on the lips of the common people.
1Conversations in his own presence were more frequent, since more is said to those who hope. 1With no doubtful purpose Mucianus departed to Antioch, Vespasian to Caesarea: the former is the capital of Syria, the latter of Judaea.