Cohen suggested a dynastic interpretation of this
TVTELA AVGVSTI rev. type:
Vitellius seated with
his two children, one boy and one girl, under
Vitellius;
Domitilla, Vespasian's deceased wife, seated with her sons
Titus and
Domitian under
Vespasian.
Mattingly, in
BMC, p. xliv, modified Cohen's interpretation: "
Cohen can hardly be right in identifying the woman with
Domitilla, but the children seem to stand for
Titus and
Domitian, and
Tutela is the guardian care of the Emperor that watches over
his sons."
However, I prefer Mattingly's alternate interpretation, which he explains in a footnote:
"Or the children might represent citizens and
Tutela would then be the Emperor's
ward over
his subjects.
Cf. Suetonius, Divus
Vespasianus, 5, an omen that portended 'desertam rem p. civili aliqua perturbatione in tutelam eius ac velut in gremium deventuram' ['that the
Roman state, abandoned because of some civil agitation, would fall under
his protection (
tutela) and as it were into
his lap']....Martial (v.1.7ff.) addresses
Domitian as 'o rerum
felix tutela salusque / sospite quo gratum credimus esse Iovem' [O happy protector (
tutela) and savior of our affairs, whose continuing
good health makes us believe that
Jupiter is on our side']."
These quotes, and others that
Mattingly indicates in the same note, show that 'tutela' was commonly used in Vespasian's day to mean the emperor's solicitous care for
his subjects. Plus, the few later appearances of a
Tutela type on
Roman coins, under
Tetricus I and
Carausius, do not include children and seem to refer to governing not childrearing.
Other coin
types that DO refer to imperial offspring never show
Tutela, but rather the empress,
Juno,
Fecunditas,
Pietas,
Felicitas,
Concordia or the like. One might also wonder whether
Titus and
Domitian still needed parenting from
Vespasian in 71: both were already grown
men, aged 31 and 20, and
Titus had captured Jersualem the year before and was about to be granted imperium and the tribunician power and made virtually co-emperor with
Vespasian, with whom he then celebrated a triumph over the Jews in July 71!