Daniel 8:23-25— And in the latter time of their kingdom, when the transgressors are come to the full, a king of fierce countenance, and understanding dark sentences, shall stand up. 24 And his power shall be mighty, but not by his own power: and he shall destroy wonderfully, and shall prosper, and practise, and shall destroy the mighty and the holy people. 25 And through his policy also he shall cause craft to prosper in his hand; and he shall magnify himself in his heart, and by peace shall destroy many: he shall also stand up against the Prince of princes; but he shall be broken without hand.
Just in case you did not know the time period when the prophecy was spoken, Daniel was taken into Babylonian captivity around 606 B.C. That means the prophecy was made approximately 700 years before it would be fulfilled (Isa. 46:10-11).
VESPASIAN AND TITUS – ROMAN EMPERORS 1st CENTURY CE
Vespasian’s renown came from his military success: he was Ambassador of Augustus’ Second Legion during the Roman invasion of Britain in 43 AD and brought Judaea under his control during the Jewish rebellion of 66.
In the ninth year of his reign Vespasian had a slight illness in Campania and, returning at once to Rome, he left for the country around the city of Reate, where he spent every summer; however, his illness worsened and he developed severe diarrhea.
Feeling death coming on, he reportedly called out “Dear me, I think I’m becoming a god”. Then, according to Suetonius testimony in his book The Twelve Caesars:
At last, being taken ill of a diarrhea, to such a degree that he was ready to faint, he cried out, “An emperor ought to die standing upright.” In endeavouring to rise, he died in the hands of those who were helping him up, upon the eighth of the calends of July [24 June], being sixty-nine years, one month, and seven days old.
— Suetonius, Lives of the Twelve Caesars, “Life of Vespasian”
When Vespasian was declared Emperor on 1 July 69, Titus was left in charge of ending the Jewish rebellion. In 70, he besieged and captured Jerusalem, and destroyed the city and the Second Temple.
After barely two years in office, Titus died of a fever on September 13 81. He was deified by the Roman Senate and succeeded by his younger brother Domitian.
At the closing of the games, Titus officially dedicated the amphitheater and the baths, which was to be his final recorded act as Emperor. He set out for the Sabine territories but fell ill at the first posting station where he died of a fever, reportedly in the same farmhouse as his father. Historians have long speculated on the exact nature of his death.
–Beth Johnson