Aurelius Victor: LIBER ET INCERTORVM LIBRI

1 Proca, rex Albanorum, Amulium et Numitorem filios habuit, quibus regnum annuis vicibus habendum reliquit [ut alternia imperarent]. Sed Amulius fratri imperium non dedit et ut eum subole privaret, filiam eius, Rheam Silviam, Vestae sacerdotem praefecit, ut virginitate perpetua teneretur, quae a Marte compressa Remum et Romulum edidit.

1 Proca, king of the Albans, had sons Amulius and Numitor, to whom he left the kingdom to be held by yearly turns [so that they might rule alternately]. But Amulius did not give power to his brother and, in order to deprive him of issue, appointed his daughter, Rhea Silvia, priestess of Vesta, so that she might be held by perpetual virginity, who, having been embraced by Mars, bore Remus and Romulus.

2 Amulius ipsam in vincula compegit, parvulos in Tiberim abiecit, quos aqua in sicco reliquit.

2 Amulius bound her in fetters, cast the little boys into the Tiber, whom the water left on dry ground.

3 Ad vagitum lupa accurrit eosque uberibus suis aluit. Mox Fauatulus pastor collectos Accae Laurentiae coniugi educandos dedit.

3 At the wailing a she-wolf ran up and nourished them with her teats. Soon the shepherd Fauatulus, having gathered them, gave them to his spouse Acca Laurentia to be reared.

4 Qui postea Amulio interfecto Numitori avo regnum restituerunt; ipsi pastoribus adunatis civitatem condiderunt, quam Romulus augurio victor, quod ipse XII, Remus VI vultures viderat, Romam vocavit; et ut eam prius legibus muniret quam moenibus, edixit, ne quis vallum transiliret; quod Remus irridena transilivit et a Celere centurione rastro fertur occisus.

4 They, after Amulius was slain, restored the kingdom to their grandfather Numitor; they themselves, the shepherds having been assembled, founded a city, which Romulus, victor by augury—because he himself had seen 12, Remus 6 vultures—called Rome; and that he might fortify it first with laws rather than with walls, he proclaimed by edict that no one should leap over the rampart; which Remus, mocking, leaped over, and is said to have been slain by Celer the centurion with a mattock.

1 Romulus asylum convenis patefecit et magno exercitu facto, cum videret coniugia deesse, per legatos a finitimis civitatibus petiit.

1 Romulus opened an asylum for newcomers, and, after a great army had been formed, when he saw that marriages were lacking, he petitioned, through legates, from the neighboring cities.

2 Quibus negatis ludos Consualia simulavit, ad quos cum utriusque sexus multitudo venisset, dato suis signo virgines raptae sunt. Ex quibus cum una pulcherrima cum magna omnium admiratione duceretur, Talassio eam duci responsum est.

2 When these were denied, he feigned the games of the Consualia; to which, when a multitude of both sexes had come, a signal having been given to his own, the virgins were seized. Of these, when one most beautiful was being led with the great admiration of all, it was answered that she was being led for Talassius.

3 Quae nuptiae quia feliciter cesserant, institutum est, ut in omnibus nuptiis Talassii nomen iteretur. Cum feminas finitimorum Romani vi rapuissent, primi Caeninenses contra eos bellum sumpserunt. Adversus quos Romulus processit et exercitum eorum ac ducem Acronem singulari proelio devicit.

3 Because those nuptials had turned out felicitously, it was instituted that at all nuptials the name of Talassius be repeated. When the Romans had seized by force the women of the neighboring peoples, the Caeninenses were the first to take up war against them. Against whom Romulus proceeded and defeated their army and their leader Acron in single combat.

4 Spolia opima Iovi Feretrio in Capitolio consecravit. Sabini ob raptas bellum adversus Romanos sumpserunt.

4 He consecrated the opulent spoils to Jupiter Feretrius on the Capitoline. The Sabines, on account of the carried-off women, took up war against the Romans.

5 Et cum Romae appropinquarent, Tarpeiam virginem nacti, quae aquae causa sacrorum hauriendae descenderat, ei T. Tatius optionem muneris dedit, si exercitum suum in arcem perduxisset.

5 And when they were approaching Rome, having found the virgin Tarpeia, who had descended for the sake of drawing water for the sacred rites, to her Titus Tatius gave the option of a gift, if she should lead his army into the citadel.

6 Illa petiit, quod illi in sinistris manibus gerebant, videlicet anulos et armillas; quibus dolose repromissis Sabinos in arcem perduxit, ubi Tatius scutis eam obrui praecepit; nam et ea in laevis habuerant.

6 She requested what they were bearing on their left hands, namely rings and armlets; with these deceitfully promised, she led the Sabines into the citadel, where Tatius ordered her to be overwhelmed with shields; for they had those too on their left arms.

7 Romulus adversus Tatium qui montem Tarpeium tenebat, processit et in eo loco, ubi nunc forum Romanum est, pugnam conseruit: ibi Hostus Hostilius fortissime dimicans cecidit, cuius interitu consternati Romani fugere coeperunt.

7 Romulus advanced against Tatius, who was holding the Tarpeian Mount, and in that place where now the Roman Forum is he engaged in battle: there Hostus Hostilius, fighting most bravely, fell, at whose death the Romans, dismayed, began to flee.

8 Tunc Romulus Iovi Statori aedem vovit, et exercitus seu forte seu divinitus restitit.

8 Then Romulus vowed a temple to Jupiter Stator, and the army, whether by chance or by divine power, stood fast.

9 Tunc raptae in medium processerunt et hinc patres inde coniuges deprecatae pacem conciliarunt.

9 Then the seized women advanced into the midst, and, beseeching—on this side their fathers, on that their husbands—conciliated peace.

10 Romulus foedus percussit et Sabinos in urbem recepit, populum a Curibus, oppido Sabinorum, Quirites vocavit. Centum senatores a pietate patres appellavit.

10 Romulus struck a treaty and received the Sabines into the city, he called the people Quirites from Cures, a town of the Sabines. A hundred senators he called fathers from their piety.

11 Tres equitum centurias instituit, quas suo nomine Ramnes, a Tito Tatio Tatienses, a luci communione Luceres appellavit.

11 He instituted three centuries of horsemen, which he named Ramnes from his own name, Tatienses from Titus Tatius, and Luceres from the communion of the grove.

12 Plebem in triginta curias distribuit easque raptarum nominibus appellavit.

12 He distributed the plebs into thirty curiae and called them by the names of the abducted women.

13 Cum ad Caprae paludem exercitum lustraret, nusquam comparuit; unde inter patres et populum seditione orta Iulius Proculus, vir nobilis, in contionem processit et iureiurando firmavit Romulum a se in colle Quirinali visum augustiore forma, cum ad deos abiret; eundemque praecipere, ut seditionibus abstinerent, virtutem colerent; futurum, ut omnium gentium domini exsisterent.

13 When he was reviewing the army at the Caprae Marsh, he was nowhere to be seen; whence, a sedition having arisen between the senators and the people, Julius Proculus, a noble man, came forward into the assembly and affirmed on oath that Romulus had been seen by him on the Quirinal hill in a more august form, as he was going to the gods; and that this same one enjoined them to abstain from seditions, to cultivate virtue; that it would come to pass that they would become lords of all nations.

14 Huius auctoritati creditum est. Aedes in colle Quirinali Romulo constituta, ipse pro deo cultus et Quirinus est appellatus.

14 His authority was believed. A temple on the Quirinal hill was established for Romulus; he himself was worshiped as a god and was called Quirinus.

1 Post consecrationem Romuli, cum diu interregnum esset et seditiones orirentur, Numa Pompilius, Pomponii filius, Curibus, oppido Sabinorum, accitus, cum addicentibus avibus Romam venisset, ut populum ferum religione molliret, sacra plurima instituit. Aedem Vestae fecit, virgines Vestales legit, flamines tres, Dialem Martialem Quirinalem, Salios, Martia sacerdotes, quorum primus praesul vocatur, XII instituit, pontificem maximum creavit, portas Iano gemino aedificavit. Annum in XII menses distribuit additis Ianuario et Februario.

1 After the consecration of Romulus, when for a long time there was an interregnum and seditions were arising, Numa Pompilius, son of Pomponius, summoned from Cures, a town of the Sabines, when he had come to Rome with the birds assenting, in order to soften the savage people by religion, instituted very many sacred rites. He made a temple of Vesta, chose the Vestal virgins, three flamens—the Dialis, the Martialis, and the Quirinalis—, the Salii, priests of Mars, of whom the first is called the praesul—12 in number—; he created the pontifex maximus, he built the gates for Janus Geminus. He distributed the year into 12 months, with January and February added.

2 Leges quoque plures et utiles tulit, omnia, quae gerebat, iussu Egeriae nymphae, uxoris suae, se facere simulans. Ob hanc tantam iustitiam bellum ei nemo intulit. Morbo solutus in Ianiculo sepultus est, ubi post annos arcula cum libris a Terentio quodam exarata; qui libri, quia leves quasdam sacrorum causas continebant, ex auctoritate patrum cremati sunt.

2 He also brought forward many and useful laws, pretending that he did everything he carried on by the command of the nymph Egeria, his wife. On account of this so great justice, no one brought war upon him. Having died of illness, he was buried on the Janiculum, where, years later, a small coffer with books was unearthed by a certain Terentius; which books, because they contained certain trifling reasons of sacred rites, were burned by the authority of the Fathers.

1 Tullus Hostilius, quia bonam operam adversum Sabinos navaverat, rex creatus bellum Albanis indixit, quod trigeminorum certatione finivit.

1 Tullus Hostilius, because he had rendered good service against the Sabines, having been created king, declared war on the Albans, which he ended by the contest of the triplets.

2 Albam propter perfidiam ducis Mettii Fufetii diruit, Albanos Romam transire iussit.

2 He razed Alba on account of the perfidy of the leader Mettius Fufetius, and ordered the Albans to cross over to Rome.

3 Curiam Hostiliam constituit. Montem Coelium urbi addidit.

3 He established the Curia Hostilia. He added the Caelian Hill to the city.

4 Et dum Numam Pompilium sacrificiis imitatur, Iovi Elicio litare non potuit, fulmine ictus cum regia conflagiavit.

4 And while he was imitating Numa Pompilius in sacrifices, he could not propitiate Jupiter Elicius; struck by a thunderbolt, he burned up together with the royal palace.

5 Cum inter Romanos et Albanos bellum fuisset exortum, ducibus Hostilio et Fufetio placuit rem paucorum certamine finire.

5 When a war had arisen between the Romans and the Albans, it pleased the leaders Hostilius and Fufetius to settle the matter by the contest of a few.

6 Erant apud Romanos trigemini Horatii, tres apud Albanos Curiatii; quibus foedere icto concurrentibus statim duo Romanorum ceciderunt, tres Albanorum vulnerati.

6 There were among the Romans the Horatian triplets, and among the Albans three the Curiatii; with a foedus struck, as they charged together, immediately two of the Romans fell, and three of the Albans were wounded.

7 Unus Horatius quamvis integer, quia tribus impar erat, fugam simulavit et singulos per intervalla, ut vulnerum dolor patiebatur, inaequentes interfecit.

7 One Horatius, although intact, since he was unequal to three, feigned flight and, the opponents being unequal, killed them one by one at intervals, as the pain of their wounds allowed.

8 Et cum spoliis onustus rediret, sororem obviam habuit, quae viso paludamento sponsi sui, qui unus ex Curiatiis erat, flere coepit. Frater eam occidit.

8 And as he was returning laden with spoils, he met his sister, who, at the sight of the military cloak of her betrothed, who was one of the Curiatii, began to weep. Her brother killed her.

9 Qua re apud duumviros condemnatus ad populum provocavit; ubi patris lacrimis condonatus ab eo expiandi gratia sub tigillum missus; quod nunc quoque viae superpositum Sororium appellatur.

9 For which reason, condemned before the duumvirs, he appealed to the people; where, by his father’s tears, he was pardoned, and by him, for the sake of expiation, was sent beneath a little beam; which even now, set over the road, is called the Sororium.

10 Mettius Fufetius, dux Albanorum, cum se invidiosum apud cives videret, quod bellum sola trigeminorum certatione finisset, ut rem corrigeret, Veientes et Fidenates adversum Romanos incitavit.

10 Mettius Fufetius, leader of the Albans, when he saw himself invidious among his fellow citizens, because he had ended the war by the contest of the triplets alone, in order to correct the matter, incited the Veientes and the Fidenates against the Romans.

11 Ipse ab Tullo in auxilium arcessitus aciem in collem subduxit, ut fortunam sequeretur. Qua re Tullus intellecta magna voce ait suo illud iussu Mettium facere.

11 He himself, summoned by Tullus for aid, led his battle-line up onto a hill, so that he might follow Fortune. When Tullus understood this, he said in a loud voice that Mettius was doing that by his own command.

12 Qua re hostes territi et victi sunt.

12 Therefore the enemies were terrified and defeated.

13 Postera die Mettius cum ad gratulandum Tullo venisset, iussu ipsius quadrigis religatus et in diversa distractus est.

13 On the next day, when Mettius had come to congratulate Tullus, by his order he was bound to four-horse chariots and torn apart in different directions.

1 Ancus Marcius, Numae Pompilii ex filia nepos, aequitate et religione avo similis, Latinos bello domuit.

1 Ancus Marcius, grandson of Numa Pompilius through his daughter, similar to his grandfather in equity and religion, subdued the Latins in war.

2 Murcium et Ianiculum montes urbi addidit, nova moenia oppido circumdedit. Silvas ad usum navium publicavit. Salinarum vectigal instituit.

2 He added the Murcian and Janiculan hills to the city, and he surrounded the town with new walls. He made the forests public for the use of ships. He instituted a tax on the saltworks.

3 Carcerem primus aedificavit. Ostiam coloniam maritimis commeatibus opportunam in ostio Tiberis deduxit.

3 He was the first to construct a prison. He established Ostia as a colony, opportune for maritime traffic, at the mouth of the Tiber.

4 Ius fetiale, quo legati ad res repetundas uterentur, ab Aequiculis transtulit, quod primus fertur Rhesus excogitasse.

4 He transferred the fetial law, which the envoys used for demanding restitution, from the Aequiculi, which Rhesus is said to have first contrived.

5 His rebus confectis intra paucos dies immatura morte praereptus non potuit praestare qualem promiserat regem.

5 With these things completed, within a few days, snatched away by an untimely death, he could not make good the kind of king he had promised.

1 Lucius Tarquinius Priscus, Demarati Corinthii filius, eius, qui Cypseli tyrannidem fugiens in Etruriam commigravit.

1 Lucius Tarquinius Priscus, son of Demaratus the Corinthian, the one who, fleeing the tyranny of Cypselus, commigrated into Etruria.

2 Ipse Lucumo dictus, urbe Tarquiniis profectus Romam petiit.

2 He himself, called Lucumo, having set out from the city of Tarquinii, made for Rome.

3 Advenienti aquila pilleum sustulit et, cum alte subvolasset, reposuit.

3 As he was arriving, an eagle lifted his cap and, when it had flown up high, put it back.

4 Tanaquil coniux, auguriorum perita, regnum ei portendi intellexit.

4 Tanaquil, his wife, skilled in auguries, understood that kingship was being portended to him.

5 Tarquinius pecunia et industria dignitatem atque etiam Anci regis familiaritatem consecutus est; a quo tutor liberis relictus regnam intercepit et ita administravit, quasi iure adeptus fuisset.

5 Tarquinius, by money and industry, obtained dignity and even the familiarity of King Ancus; by whom, having been left as tutor to the children, he intercepted the kingdom and thus administered it, as if he had obtained it by right.

6 Centum patres in curiam legit, qui minorum gentium sunt appellati.

6 He chose a hundred fathers into the Curia, who were called of the lesser gentes.

7 Equitum centurias numero duplicavit, nomina mutare non potuit Atti Nevii auguris auctoritate deterritus, qui fidem artis suae novacula et cote firmavit.

7 He doubled the centuries of horsemen in number; he could not change the names, deterred by the authority of the augur Attus Navius, who confirmed the credibility of his art with a razor and a whetstone.

8 Latinos bello domuit. Circum maximum aedificavit. Ludos magnos instituit.

8 He subdued the Latins by war. He built the Circus Maximus. He instituted great games.

De Sabinis et priacis Latinis triumphavit. Murum lapideum urbi circumdedit.

He triumphed over the Sabines and the ancient Latins. He surrounded the city with a stone wall.

9 Filium XIII annorum, quod in proelio hostem percussisset, praetexta bullaque donavit, unde haec puerorum ingenuorum insignia esse coeperunt.

9 He gave his 13-year-old son, because he had struck an enemy in battle, the praetexta and the bulla, whence these began to be the insignia of freeborn boys.

10 Post ab Anci liberis immissis percussoribus per dolum regia excitus et interfectus est.

10 Afterwards, by the sons of Ancus, with assassins sent in, he was lured out of the palace by deceit and slain.

1 Servius Tullius, Tullii Corniculani et Ocresiae captivae filius, cum in domo Tarquinii Prisci educaretur, flammae apecies caput eius amplexa est.

1 Servius Tullius, son of Tullius Corniculanus and of Ocrisia, a captive, while he was being brought up in the house of Tarquinius Priscus, an appearance of flame embraced his head.

2 Hoc visu Tanaquil summam dignitatem portendi intellexit.

2 By this vision Tanaquil understood that the highest dignity was being portended.

3 Coniugi suasit, ut eum ita ut liberos suos educaret.

3 She persuaded her consort to educate him just as his own children.

4 Qui cum adolevisset, gener a Tarquinio assumptus est, et cum rex occisus esset, Tanaquil ex altiore loco ad populum despiciens ait Priscum gravi quidem, sed non letali vulnere accepto petere, ut interim, dum convalescit, Servio Tullio dicto audientes essent.

4 When he had grown up, he was assumed as a son-in-law by Tarquin, and when the king had been slain, Tanaquil, looking down at the people from a higher place, said that Priscus, having indeed received a grave but not lethal wound, requested that, in the meantime, while he recovers, they be obedient to Servius Tullius.

5 Servius Tullius quasi precario regnare coepit, sed recte imperium administravit.

5 Servius Tullius began to reign, as it were, precariously, but he administered the imperium rightly.

6 Etruscos saepe domuit, collem Quirinalem et Viminalem et Esquilias urbi addidit, aggerem fossasque fecit.

6 He often subdued the Etruscans, added the Quirinal Hill and the Viminal and the Esquiline to the city, and made a rampart and fosses.

7 Populum in quattuor tribus diatribuit ac post plebi distribuit annonam.

7 He divided the people into four tribes and afterward distributed the annona (grain-supply) to the plebs.

8 Mensuras pondera classes centuriasque constituit.

8 He established measures, weights, classes, and centuries.

9 Latinorum populis persuasit, uti exemplo eorum, qui Dianae Ephesiae aedem fecissent, et ipsi aedem Dianae in Aventino aedificarent.

9 He persuaded the peoples of the Latins, that, following the example of those who had made a temple of Diana at Ephesus, they too should build a temple of Diana on the Aventine.

10 Quo facto bos cuidam Latino mirae magnitudinis nata, et responsum somnio datum eum populum summam imperii habiturum, cuius civis bovem illam Dianae immolasset.

10 This having been done, a cow of wondrous magnitude was born to a certain Latin, and a response was given in a dream that the people would hold the supreme imperium, whose citizen should have immolated that cow to Diana.

11 Latinus bovem in Aventinum egit et causam sacerdoti Romano exposuit.

11 Latinus drove the ox into the Aventine and explained the cause to the Roman priest.

12 Ille callide dixit prius eum vivo flumine manus abluere debere.

12 He craftily said that he must first wash his hands in a living stream.

13 Latinus dum ad Tiberim descendit, sacerdos bovem immolavit.

13 While Latinus was descending to the Tiber, the priest immolated the ox.

14 Ita imperium civibus, aibi gloriam facto consilioque quaesivit.

14 Thus he sought power for the citizens, for himself glory, by deed and by counsel.

15 Servius Tullius filiam alteram ferocem, mitem alteram habens, cum Tarquinii filios pari animo videret, ut omnium mentes morum diversitate leniret, ferocem miti, mitem feroci in matrimonium dedit.

15 Servius Tullius, having one daughter ferocious and the other mild, when he saw that the sons of Tarquinius were of equal spirit, in order to soothe the minds of all by a diversity of manners, gave the ferocious one in marriage to the mild one, and the mild one to the ferocious.

16 Sed mites seu forte seu fraude perierunt: feroces morum similitudo coniunxit.

16 But the mild ones, whether by chance or by fraud, perished: the fierce ones were united by a similitude of morals.

17 Statim Tarquinius Superbus a Tullia incitatus advocato senatu regnum patrium repetere coepit.

17 Immediately Tarquinius Superbus, incited by Tullia, with the senate called together, began to reclaim the paternal kingship.

18 Qua re audita Servius, dum ad curiam properat, iussu Tarquinii gradibus deiectus et domum refugiens interfectus est.

18 On hearing this, Servius, while he hastens to the Curia, by the order of Tarquinius was cast down the steps, and, fleeing home, was killed.

19 Tullia statim in forum properavit et prima coniugem regem salutavit, a quo iussa turba decedere, cum domum rediret, viso patris corpore mulionem evitantem super ipsum corpus carpentum agere praecepit: unde vicus ille Sceleratus dictus. Postea Tullia cum coniuge in exilium acta est.

19 Tullia immediately hastened into the forum and was the first to salute her husband as king; and, the crowd having by him been ordered to withdraw, as she was returning home, upon seeing her father’s body she commanded the muleteer, who was trying to avoid it, to drive the carriage over the very body: whence that street was called the Scelerate (Accursed) Street. Afterwards Tullia, together with her consort, was driven into exile.

1 Tarquinius Superbus cognomen moribus meruit. Occiso Servio Tullio regnum sceleste occupavit.

1 Tarquin the Proud merited the cognomen by his morals. With Servius Tullius slain, he wickedly occupied the kingdom.

2 Tamen bello strenuus Latinos Sabinosque domuit; Suessam Pometiam Etruscis eripuit; Gabios per Sextum filium simulato transfugio in potestatem redegit et ferias Latinas primas instituit. †Ludos in circo et cloacam maximam fecit, ubi totius populi viribus usus est, unde illae fossae Quiritium sunt dictae.

2 Nevertheless, vigorous in war, he subdued the Latins and the Sabines; he snatched Suessa Pometia from the Etruscans; he brought Gabii into his power through his son Sextus by a simulated defection and instituted the first Latin Feriae. †He established games in the Circus and built the Cloaca Maxima, employing the forces of the whole people, whence those ditches have been called the Quirites' ditches.

4 Cum Capitolium inciperet, caput hominis invenit, unde cognitum eam urbem caput gentium futuram.

4 When he began the Capitol, he found a human head, whence it was known that that city would be the head of the nations.

5 Et cum in obsidione Ardeae filius eius Lucretiae stuprum intulisset, cum eo in exilium actus ad Porsennam, Etruriae regem, confugit, cuius ope regnum retinere tentavit.

5 And when during the siege of Ardea his son had inflicted rape upon Lucretia, he, driven into exile with him, fled for refuge to Porsenna, king of Etruria, by whose help he attempted to retain the kingdom.

6 Pulsus Cumas concessit, ubi per summam ignominiam reliquum vitae tempus exegit.

6 Driven out, he retired to Cumae, where, in the utmost ignominy, he spent the remaining time of his life.

1 Tarquinius Collatinus, sorore Tarquinii Superbi genitus, in contubermo iuvenum regiorum Ardeae erat; ubi cum forte in liberiore convivio coniugem suam unusquisque laudaret, placuit experiri. Itaque equis Romam petunt. Regias nurus in convivio et luxu deprehendunt.

1 Tarquinius Collatinus, begotten from the sister of Tarquinius Superbus, was in the companionship of the royal youths at Ardea; where, when by chance at a freer banquet each was praising his own spouse, it pleased them to make a trial. And so on horseback they make for Rome. They catch the royal daughters-in-law in banquet and luxury.

2 Inde Collatiam petunt. Lucretiam inter ancillas in lanificio offendunt: itaque ea pudicissima iudicatur.

2 Thence they make for Collatia. They come upon Lucretia among the maidservants at wool-working; and so she is judged most chaste.

3 Ad quam corrumpendam Tarquinius Sextus nocte Collatiam rediit et iure propinquitatis in domum Collatini venit et cubiculum Lucretiae irrupit, pudicitiam expugnavit.

3 To corrupt her, Sextus Tarquinius returned to Collatia by night, and by the right of propinquity came into the house of Collatinus, and he burst into Lucretia’s bedchamber, and took her chastity by storm.

4 Illa postero die advocatis patre et coniuge rem exposuit et se cultro, quem veste texerat, occidit.

4 She, on the following day, having summoned her father and husband, set forth the matter and killed herself with a knife, which she had concealed in her garment.

5 Illi in exitium regum coniurarunt eorumque exilio necem Lucretiae vindicaverunt.

5 They conspired for the destruction of the kings and by their exile avenged the death of Lucretia.

1 Iunius Brutus sorore Tarquinii Superbi genitus cum eandem fortunam timeret, in quam frater inciderat, qui ob divitias et prudentiam ab avunculo fuerat occisus, stultitiam finxit, unde Brutus dictus.

1 Junius Brutus, born of the sister of Tarquin the Proud, when he feared the same fortune into which his brother had fallen, who, on account of his riches and prudence, had been slain by his uncle, feigned stupidity—whence he was called Brutus.

2 Iuvenibus regiis Delphos euntibus deridiculi gratia comes adscitus baculo sambuceo aurum infusum deo donum tulit.

2 As the royal youths were going to Delphi, having been admitted as a companion for the sake of derision, he brought to the god as a gift gold poured into an elder-wood staff.

3 Ubi responsum est eum Romae summam potestatem habiturum, qui primus matrem oscularetur, ipse terram osculatus est.

3 When the response was that he would have supreme power in Rome who first should kiss his mother, he himself kissed the earth.

4 Deinde propter Lucretiae stuprum cum Tricipitino et Collatino in exitium regum coniuravit.

4 Then, on account of the rape of Lucretia, he conspired with Tricipitinus and Collatinus for the overthrow of the kings.

5 Quibus in exilium actis primus consul creatus filios suos, quod cum Aquiliis et Vitelliis ad recipiendos in urbem Tarquinios coniurarunt, virgis caesos securi percussit.

5 After they had been driven into exile, when he had been created the first consul, he, his own sons—because they had conspired with the Aquilii and the Vitellii to receive the Tarquins back into the city—struck with the axe after they had been beaten with rods.

6 Deinde in proelio, quod adversus eos gerebat, singulari certamine cum Arunte filio Tarquinii congressus est, ubi ambo mutuis vulneribus ceciderunt.

6 Then in the battle which he was waging against them, he engaged in single combat with Aruns, son of Tarquinius, where both fell by mutual wounds.

7 Cuius corpus in foro positum a collega laudatum matronae anno luxerunt.

7 His body, placed in the Forum and lauded by his colleague, the matrons mourned for a year.

1 Porsenna rex Etruscorum cum Tarquinios in urbem restituere temptaret et primo impetu Ianiculum cepisset, Horatius Cocles (illo cognomine, quod in alio proelio oculum amiserat) pro ponte sublicio stetit et aciem hostium solus sustinuit, donec pons a tergo interrumperetur, cum quo in Tiberim decidit et armatus ad suos transnavit.

1 King Porsenna of the Etruscans, when he was attempting to restore the Tarquins to the city and had seized the Janiculum at the first assault, then Horatius Cocles (with that cognomen, because in another battle he had lost an eye) stood before the Sublician Bridge and alone withstood the battle-line of the enemy, until the bridge was broken behind him; with it he fell into the Tiber and, armored, swam across to his own men.

2 Ob hoc ei tantum agri publice datum, quantum uno die ambire <vomere> potuisset. Statua quoque ei in Vulcanali posita.

2 On account of this, there was given to him by the state as much land as he could encircle in one day with a plowshare. A statue was also set up for him in the Vulcanal.

1 Cum Porsenna rex urbem obsideret, Mucius Cordus, vir Romanae constantiae, senatum adiit et veniam transfugiendi petiit necem regis repromittens.

1 When King Porsenna was besieging the city, Mucius Cordus, a man of Roman constancy, approached the senate and sought leave to defect, promising the killing of the king.

2 Accepta potestate in castra Porsemiae venit ibique purpuratum pro rege deceptus occidit.

2 Having received the permission, he came into Porsenna’s camp, and there, being mistaken, he killed a purpurate in place of the king.

3 Apprehensus et ad regem pertractus dextram aris imposuit, hoc supplicii a rea exigens, quod in caede peccasset.

3 Having been apprehended and dragged to the king, he imposed his right hand upon the altars, exacting this as punishment from the guilty party, because he had erred in the killing.

4 Unde cum misericordia regis abstraheretur, quasi beneficium referens ait trecentos adversus eum similes coniurasse.

4 Whereupon, as he was being drawn away by the king’s mercy, as if returning a benefit, he said that three hundred like himself had conspired against him.

5 Qua re ille territus bellum acceptis obsidibus deposuit.

5 For which reason, he, terrified, laid down the war after receiving hostages.

6 Mucio prata trans Tiberim data, ab eo Mucia appellata.

6 To Mucius, meadows across the Tiber were given, from him called the Mucian Meadows.

7 Statua quoque ei honoris gratia constituta est.

7 A statue also was set up for him as a mark of honor.

1 Porsenna Cloeliam nobilem virginem inter obsides accepit, quae deceptis custodibus noctu castris eius egressa equum, quem fors dederat, arripuit et Tiberim traiecit.

1 Porsenna received Cloelia, a noble virgin, among the hostages; she, with the guards deceived, having gone out of his camp by night, seized a horse which chance had given and crossed the Tiber.

2 A Porsenna per legatos repetit reddita est.

2 By Porsenna, through legates, she was demanded back and was returned.

3 Cuius ille virtutem admiratus cum quibus optasset in patriam redire permisit.

3 He, admiring her virtue, permitted her to return to her fatherland with those whom she had desired.

4 Illa virgines puerosque elegit, quorum aetatem iniuriae obnoxiam sciebat. Huic statua equestris in foro posita.

4 She chose maidens and boys, whose age she knew was obnoxious to injury. For her an equestrian statue was placed in the forum.

1 Romani cum adversus Veientes bellarent, eos sibi hostes familia Fabiorum privato nomine depoposcit; et profecti trecenti sex duce Fabio consule.

1 When the Romans were warring against the Veientines, the family of the Fabii, under a private title, demanded them as enemies for themselves; and 306 set out, with Fabius the consul as leader.

2 Cum saepe victores exstitissent, apud Cremeram fluvium castra posuere.

2 When they had often proved victors, they pitched camp by the River Cremera.

3 Veientes ad dolos conversi pecora ex diverso in conspectu illorum protulerunt, ad quae progressi Fabii in insidias delapsi usque ad unum occisione perierunt.

3 The Veientes, turned to stratagems, brought forth cattle from different sides into their sight, and the Fabii, having advanced toward them, slipping into an ambush, perished to a man by slaughter.

4 Dies, quo id factum est, inter nefastos relatus.

4 The day on which that was done was entered among the inauspicious days.

5 Porta, qua profecti erant, Scelerata est appellata.

5 The gate by which they had set out was called Scelerata.

6 Unus ex ea gente propter impuberem aetatem domi relictus genus propagavit ad Q. Fabium Maximum, qui Hannibalem mora fregit, Cunctator ab obtrectatoribus dictus.

6 One of that clan, left at home because of his underage years, propagated the line down to Q. Fabius Maximus, who broke Hannibal by delay, called the Cunctator by his detractors.

1 Lucius Valerius, Volesi filius, primo de Veientibus, iterum de Sabinis, tertio de utrisque gentibus triumphavit.

1 Lucius Valerius, son of Volesus, triumphed first over the Veientes, a second time over the Sabines, a third time over both peoples.

2 Hic, quia in locum Tricipitini collegae consulem non subrogaverat et domum in Velia tutissimo loco habebat, in suspicionem regni affectati venit.

2 This man, because he had not subrogated a consul in the place of his colleague Tricipitinus, and had a house on the Velia in a most secure location, came under suspicion of having aimed at kingship.

3 Quo cognito apud populum questus est, quod de se tale aliquid timuissent, et immisit, qui domum suam diruerent.

3 When this was learned, he complained before the people that they had feared something of such a kind about him, and he sent in men to tear down his own house.

4 Secures etiam fascibus dempsit eosque in populi contione submisit.

4 He also removed the axes from the fasces and had them lowered in the people's assembly.

5 Legem de provocatione a magistratibus ad populum tulit.

5 He carried a law on appeal (provocatio) from the magistrates to the people.

6 Hinc Publicola dictus. Cum diem obisset, publice sepultus et annuo matronarum luctu honoratus est.

6 From this he was called Publicola. When he had met his day, he was buried at public expense and was honored with the annual mourning of the matrons.

1 Tarquiuius eiectus ad Mamilium Tusculanum generum suum confugit; qui cum Latio concitato Romanos graviter urgeret, A. Postumius dictator dictus apud Regilli lacum cum hostibus conflixit.

1 Tarquinius, driven out, fled for refuge to Mamilius of Tusculum, his son-in-law; and when, with Latium stirred up, he was pressing the Romans heavily, A. Postumius, declared dictator, clashed with the enemies at Lake Regillus.

2 Ubi cum victoria nutaret, magister equitum equis frenos detrahi iussit, ut irrevocabili impetu ferrentur, ubi et aciem Latinorum fuderunt et castra ceperunt.

2 When the victory was wavering, the master of horse ordered the bits to be taken off the horses, so that they might be borne with an irrevocable impetus, where they both routed the battle line of the Latins and seized the camp.

3 Sed inter eos duo iuvenes candidis equis insigni virtute apparuerunt, quos dictator quaesitos, ut dignis muneribus honoraret, non reperit: Castorem et Pollucem ratus communi titulo dedicavit.

3 But among them two youths on white horses appeared with distinguished virtue, whom the dictator, having sought in order to honor with worthy gifts, did not find: thinking them to be Castor and Pollux, he dedicated under a common title.

1 Lucius Quinctius Cincinnatus filium Caesonem petulantissimum abdicavit, qui et a censoribus notatus ad Volacos et Sabinos confugit, qui duce Cloelio Graccho bellum adversus Romanos gerebant et Q. Minucium consulem in Algido monte cum exercitu ob sidebaut. Quinctius dictator dictus, ad quem missi legati nudum eum arantem trans Tiberim offenderunt; qui insignibus sumptis consulem obsidio liberavit.

1 Lucius Quinctius Cincinnatus disowned his most insolent son Caeso, who, also having been marked by the censors, fled to the Volsci and the Sabines, who under the leader Cloelius Gracchus were waging war against the Romans and were besieging the consul Quintus Minucius on Mount Algidus with his army. Quinctius, having been named dictator, to whom envoys sent encountered him naked, plowing across the Tiber; who, having taken up the insignia, freed the consul from the siege.

2 Quare a Minucio et eius exercitu corona aurea [et] obsidionali donatus eat.

2 Wherefore he was presented by Minucius and his army with a golden crown [and] an obsidional (siege) crown.

3 Vicit hostes, ducem eorum in deditionem accepit et triumphi die ante currum egit.

3 He defeated the enemies, received their leader into surrender, and on the day of his triumph he led him before the chariot.

4 Sextodecimo die dictaturam, quam acceperat, deposuit et ad agricultum reversus est.

4 On the sixteenth day he laid down the dictatorship which he had accepted and returned to agriculture.

5 Iterum post viginti annos dictator dictus Spurium Maelium regnum affectautem a Servilio Ahala magistro equitum occidi iussit; domum eius solo aequavit: unde locus [ille] Aequimelium dicitur.

5 Again, after twenty years, having been called dictator, he ordered Spurius Maelius, affecting the kingdom, to be killed by Servilius Ahala, Master of the Horse; he leveled his house to the ground: whence [that] place is called the Aequimelium.

1 Menenius Agrippa cognomento Lanatus dux electus adversus Sabinos de his triumphavit.

1 Menenius Agrippa, by cognomen Lanatus, chosen as leader against the Sabines, triumphed over them.

2 Et cum populus a patribus secessisset, quod tributum et militiam toleraret, nec revocari posset, Agrippa apud eum: Olim, inquit, humani artus, cum ventrem otiosum cernerent, ab eo discordarunt et suum illi ministerium negaverunt. 3 Cum eo pacto et ipsi deficerent, intellexerunt ventrem acceptas cibos per omnia membra disserere et cum eo in gratiam redierunt. 4 Sic senatus et populus quasi unum corpus discordia pereunt, concordia valent.

2 And when the people had seceded from the patricians, because they were enduring tribute and military service, and could not be called back, Agrippa among them said: Once, he said, the human limbs, when they saw the belly idle, fell into discord with it and denied it their service. 3 When on those terms they themselves also began to fail, they understood that the belly distributes the food received through all the members, and with it they were reconciled. 4 Thus the senate and the people, as if one body, perish by discord; by concord they are strong.

5 Hac fabula populus regressus est.

5 By this fable the people returned.

6 Creavit tamen tribunos plebis, qui libertatem suam adversum nobilitatis superbiam defenderent.

6 He nevertheless created tribunes of the plebs, who would defend their own liberty against the arrogance of the nobility.

7 Menenius autem tanta paupertate decessit, ut eum populus collatis quadrantibus sepeliret, locum sepulcro senatus publice daret.

7 Menenius, however, died in such poverty that the people, with quadrantes pooled, buried him, and the senate publicly granted a place for a sepulcher.

1 Gnaeus Marcius, captis Coriolis urbe Volscorum Coriolanus dictus, ob egregia militiae facinora a Postumio optionem munerum accipiens equum tantum et hospitem sumpsit, virtutis et pietatis exemplum.

1 Gnaeus Marcius, when Corioli, the city of the Volsci, had been captured, was called Coriolanus, and for outstanding deeds of military service, receiving from Postumius the option of gifts, he took only a horse and a host, an example of virtue and piety.

2 Hic consul gravi annona advectum e Sicilia frumentum magno pretio populo dandum curavit, ut hac iniuria plebs agros, non seditiones coleret.

2 This consul, with the annona being severe, took care that the grain conveyed from Sicily be given to the people at a great price, so that by this injury the plebs would cultivate fields, not seditions.

3 Ergo a tribuno plebis Decio die dicta ad Volscos concessit eosque duce Tito Tatio adversus Romanos concitavit et ad quartum ab urbe lapidem castra posuit.

3 Therefore, with a day appointed by the tribune of the plebs Decius, he withdrew to the Volsci and incited them, with Titus Tatius as leader, against the Romans, and he pitched camp at the fourth milestone from the city.

4 Cumque nullis civium legationibus flecteretur, a Veturia matre et Volumnia uxore matronarum numero comitatis motus omisso bello ut proditor occisns.

4 And since he was not swayed by any embassies of the citizens, moved by his mother Veturia and his wife Volumnia, accompanied by a number of matrons, with the war laid aside he was slain as a traitor.

5 Ibi templum Fortunae muliebri constitutum eat.

5 There a temple of Fortuna Muliebris was established.

1 Fabius Ambustus ex duabus filiabus alteram Licinio Stoloni plebeio, alteram Aulo Sulpicio patricio coniugem dedit. Quarum plebeia cum sororem salutaret, cuius vir tribunus militaris consulari potestate erat, fasces lictorios foribus appositos indecenter expavit. A sorore irrisa marito questa est; qui adiuvante socero, ut primum tribunatum plebis aggressus est, legem tulit, ut alter consul ex plebe crearetur. Lex resistente Appio Claudio tamen lata;

1 Fabius Ambustus gave, from his two daughters, one as wife to Licinius Stolo, a plebeian, the other to Aulus Sulpicius, a patrician. Of these, the plebeian, when she went to greet her sister, whose husband was a military tribune with consular power, unbecomingly took fright at the lictorial fasces set at the doors. Mocked by her sister, she complained to her husband; who, with his father-in-law’s aid, as soon as he undertook the tribunate of the plebs, carried a law that one of the consuls be created from the plebs. The law, though Appius Claudius resisted, was nevertheless passed;

2 et primus Licinias Stolo consul factus.

2 and first Licinius Stolo was made consul.

3 Idem lege cavit, ne cui plus quingenta iugera agri habere liceret.

3 The same man by a law provided that no one be permitted to have more than five hundred iugera of land.

4 Et ipse cum iugera quingenta haberet, altera emancipati filii nomine possideret, in iudicium vocatus et primus omnium sua lege punitus est.

4 And he himself, while he had five hundred iugera and possessed another [five hundred] in the name of an emancipated son, having been called into judgment, was the first of all to be punished by his own law.

1 Populus Romanus cum seditiosos magistratus ferre non posset, decemviros legibus scribendia creavit, qui eas ex libris Solonis translatas duodecim tabulis exposuerunt.

1 When the Roman People could not endure seditious magistrates, it created decemvirs for writing laws, who set them forth on twelve tables, translated from the books of Solon.

2 Sed cum pacto dominationia magistratum sibi prorogarent, unus ex his Appius Claudius Virginiam, Virginii centurionis filiam in Algido militantis, adamavit. Quam cum corrumpere non posset, clientem subornavit, qui eam in servitium deposceret, facile victurus, cum ipse esset et accusator et index.

2 But when, by a pact for domination, they were prolonging the magistracy for themselves, one of these, Appius Claudius, fell in love with Virginia, the daughter of Virginius, a centurion serving on Algidus. Since he could not corrupt her, he suborned a client to demand her into servitude, sure to win easily, since he himself was both accuser and judge.

3 Pater re cognita cum ipso die iudicii supervenisset et filiam iam addictam videret, ultimo eius colloquio impetrato eam in secretum abduxit et occidit; et corpus eius humeris gerens ad exercitum profugit et milites ad vindicandum facinus accendit; qui creatis decem tribunis Aventinum occuparunt, decemviros abdicare se magistratu coegerunt eosque omnes aut morte aut exilio punierunt. Appius Claudius in carcere necatus est.

3 The father, the matter having been learned, when he had arrived on the very day of the judgment and saw his daughter already adjudged, having obtained a final colloquy with her, led her into a private place and slew her; and carrying her body on his shoulders he fled to the army and inflamed the soldiers to avenge the crime; who, with ten tribunes created, occupied the Aventine, forced the decemvirs to abdicate from their magistracy, and punished them all either with death or with exile. Appius Claudius was slain in prison.

1 Romani ob pestilentiam responso monente ad Aesculapium Epidauro arcessendum decem legatos principe Q. Ogulnio miserunt.

1 The Romans, on account of a pestilence, with an oracle’s response advising that Aesculapius be summoned from Epidaurus, sent ten legates, with Quintus Ogulnius as leader.

2 Qui cum eo venissent et simulacrum ingens mirarentur, anguis e sedibus eius elapsus venerabilis, non horribilis, per mediam urbem cum admiratione omnium ad navem Romanam perrexit et se in Ogulnii tabernaculo conspiravit.

2 When they had come there and were marveling at the immense simulacrum, a serpent, having slipped from his abode—venerable, not horrible—went through the middle of the city with the admiration of all to the Roman ship and coiled himself in Ogulnius’s tent/cabin.

3 Legati deum vehentes Antium pervecti, ubi per mollitiem maris anguis proximum Aesculapii fanum petiit et post paucos dies ad navem rediit; et cum adverso Tiberi subveheretur, in proximam insulam desilivit, ubi templum ei constitutum et pestilentia mira celeritate sedata est.

3 The envoys, conveying the god, were conveyed to Antium, where, by the calmness of the sea, the serpent sought the nearest fane of Aesculapius and, after a few days, returned to the ship; and when the vessel was being borne upstream against the Tiber’s current, it leapt onto the nearest island, where a temple was established for him and the pestilence was allayed with marvelous celerity.

1 Furius Camillus cum Faliscos obsideret ac ludi litterarii magister principum filios ad eum adduxisset, vinctum eum iisdem pueris in urbem redigendum et verberandum tradidit.

1 Furius Camillus, when he was besieging the Faliscans and the master of the school of letters had led the princes’ sons to him, handed him over, bound, to the same boys to be brought back into the city and to be beaten.

2 Statim Falisci se ei ob tantam iustitiam dediderunt.

2 Immediately the Falisci surrendered themselves to him on account of such great justice.

3 Veios hieme obsidio domuit deque his triumphavit.

3 He subdued Veii by a winter siege and triumphed over them.

4 Postmodum crimini datum, quod albis equis triumphasset et praedam inique divisisset: die dicta ab Apuleio Saturnino tribune plebis damnatus Ardeam concessit.

4 Afterwards it was laid to his charge that he had triumphed with white horses and had divided the booty inequitably: when a day was named by Apuleius Saturninus, tribune of the plebs, he was condemned and withdrew to Ardea.

5 Mox cum Galli Senones relictis ob sterilitatem agris suis Clusium Italiae oppidum obsiderent, missi sunt Roma tres Fabii, qui Gallos menerent, ut ab oppugnatione desisterent.

5 Soon, when the Gallic Senones, their own fields having been abandoned on account of sterility, were besieging Clusium, a town of Italy, three Fabii were sent from Rome to admonish the Gauls to desist from the assault.

6 Ex his unus contra ius gentium in aciem processit et ducem Senonum interfecit.

6 Of these, one, contrary to the law of nations, proceeded into the battle line and killed the leader of the Senones.

7 Quo commoti Galli petitis in deditionem legatis nec impetratis Romam petierunt et exercitam Romanum apud Alliam fluvium ceciderunt, die XVI Kal. Auguste qui dies inter nefastos relatus, Alliensis dictus.

7 Stirred by this, the Gauls, after the envoys had been demanded for surrender and not obtained, made for Rome and cut down the Roman army at the river Allia, on the 16th day before the Kalends of August, which day, entered among the ill-omened days, was called the Allian Day.

8 Victores Galli urbem intraverunt, ubi nobilissimos senum in curulibus et honorum insignibus primo ut deos venerati, deinde ut homines despicati interfecere.

8 The victorious Gauls entered the city, where the most noble of the old men, on curule chairs and with the insignia of their honors, at first they venerated as gods, then, despising them as men, they killed them.

9 Reliqua inventus cum Manlio in Capitolium fugit, ubi obsessa Camilli virtute est servata. Qui absens dictator dictus collectis reliquiis Gallos improvisos internecione occidit.

9 The remaining youth fled with Manlius to the Capitol, where, though besieged, it was preserved by the valor of Camillus. He, though absent, was named dictator; with the remnants collected, he slew the Gauls, taken unawares, with internecine destruction.

10 Populum Romanum migrare Veios volentem retinuit. Sic et oppidum civibus et cives oppido reddidit.

10 He retained the Roman people, willing to migrate to Veii. Thus he restored both the town to the citizens and the citizens to the town.

1 Manlius ob defensum Capitolium Capitolinus dictus sedecim annorum voluntarium militem se obtulit.

1 Manlius, called Capitolinus on account of the defended Capitol, at sixteen years of age offered himself as a volunteer soldier.

2 Triginta septem militaribus donis a suis ducibus ornatus viginti tres cicatrices in corpore habuit.

2 Adorned with thirty-seven military decorations by his commanders, he had twenty-three scars on his body.

3 Capta urbe auctor in Capitolium confugiendi fuit.

3 With the city captured, he was the author of fleeing for refuge to the Capitol.

4 Quadam nocte clangore anseris excitatus Gallos ascendentes deiecit. Patronus a civibus appellatus et farre donatus.

4 On a certain night, roused by the clangor of a goose, he cast down the Gauls as they were ascending. He was called patron by the citizens and was given spelt.

5 Domum etiam in Capitolio publice accepit. Qua superbia elatus cum a senatu suppressisse Gallicos thesauros argueretur et addictos propria pecunia liberaret, regni affectati <suspectus> in carcerem coniectus populi consensu liberatus est.

5 He also received a house on the Capitol by public grant. Elated by this arrogance, when he was accused by the Senate of having suppressed the Gallic treasures and was freeing those adjudged (debt-bondsmen) with his own money, as <suspected> of aiming at kingship he was cast into prison, but by the people’s consent he was released.

6 Rursus cum in eadem culpa et gravius perseveraret, reus factus et ob conspectum Capitolii ampliatus est. Alio deinde loco damnatus et de saxo Tarpeio praecipitatus, domus diruta, bona publicata.

6 Again, when he persisted in the same offense, and more gravely, having been made a defendant, his case was adjourned on account of the sight of the Capitol. Then, in another place, he was condemned and hurled from the Tarpeian rock, his house razed, his goods made public.

7 Gentilitas eius Manlii cognomen eiuravit.

7 His gens abjured the cognomen Manlius.

1 Fidenates, veteres Romanorum hostes, ut sine spe veniae fortius dimicarent, legatos ad se missos interfecerunt; ad quos Quinctius Cincinnatus dictator missus magistrum equitum habuit Cornelium Cossum, qui Lartem Tolumnium ducem sua manu interfecit.

1 The Fidenates, ancient enemies of the Romans, in order that, without hope of venia, they might fight more bravely, killed the legates sent to them; against whom Quinctius Cincinnatus, as dictator, was sent, and he had Cornelius Cossus as master of horse, who by his own hand slew Lars Tolumnius, their leader.

2 De eo spolia opima Iovi Feretrio secundus a Romulo consecravit.

2 Concerning him, he consecrated the spolia opima to Jupiter Feretrius, second after Romulus.

1 Publius Decius Mus bello Samnitico sub Valerio Maximo et Cornelio Cosso consulibus tribunus militum exercitu in angustiis Gauri montis insidiis hostium clauso, accepto quod postulaverat praesidio in superiorem locum evasit, hostes terruit.

1 Publius Decius Mus, in the Samnite War, under Valerius Maximus and Cornelius Cossus as consuls, a military tribune, when the army had been shut in the narrows of Mount Gaurus by the ambushes of the enemy, having received the succor he had requested, made his way to higher ground and terrified the enemy.

2 Ipse intempesta nocte per medias custodias somno oppressas incolumis evasit.

2 He himself, in the dead of night, escaped unharmed through the midst of the guards, overpowered by sleep.

3 Ob hoc ab exercitu civica corona donatus est.

3 For this he was presented by the army with the civic crown.

4 Consul bello Latino collega Manlio Torquato positia apud Veserim fluvium castris, cum utrique consuli somnio obvenisset eos victores futuros, quorum dnx in proelio cecidisset,

4 Consul in the Latin War, with his colleague Manlius Torquatus, the camps having been pitched near the river Veseris, when by a dream it had occurred to each consul that those would be victors whose leader had fallen in battle,

5 tum collato cum collega somnio cum convenisset, ut, cuius cornu in acie laboraret, diis se manibus voveret, inclinante sua parte se et hostes per Valerium pontificem diis manibus devovit. Impetu in hostes facto victoriam suis reliquit.

5 then, the dream having been compared with his colleague and it having been agreed that whichever wing in the battle-line was laboring should vow himself to the Di Manes, as his own side was inclining he devoted both himself and the enemies to the Di Manes through Valerius the pontiff. An assault having been made upon the enemies, he left the victory to his men.

1 Publius Decius Decii filius primo consul de Samnitibus triumphans spolia ex his Cereri consecravit.

1 Publius Decius, son of Decius, as consul for the first time, triumphing over the Samnites, consecrated the spoils from them to Ceres.

2 Iterum et tertio consul multa domi militiaeque gessit.

2 Again and for a third time as consul, he did many things at home and in military service.

3 Quarto consulatu cum Fabio Maximo, cum Galli, Samnites, Umbri, Tusci contra Romanos conspirassent, ibi exercitu in aciem ducto et cornu inclinante exemplum patris imitatus advocato Marco Livio pontifice hastae insistens et solemnia verba respondens se et hostes diis manibus devovit.

3 In his fourth consulship, together with Fabius Maximus, when the Gauls, Samnites, Umbrians, and Tuscans had conspired against the Romans, there, with the army led into battle line and the wing inclining, imitating the example of his father, with Marcus Livius the pontiff summoned, standing upon a spear and reciting the solemn words, he devoted himself and the enemies to the Di Manes.

4 Impetu in hostes facto victoriam suis reliquit.

4 Having made an onset against the enemies, he left the victory to his men.

5 Corpus a collega laudatum magnifice sepultum est.

5 The body, praised by his colleague, was magnificently buried.

1 Titus Manlius Torquatus ob ingenii et linguae tarditatem a patre rus relegatus, cum audisset ei diem dictam a Pomponio tribunoplebis, nocte urbem petiit.

1 Titus Manlius Torquatus, on account of slowness of wit and tongue, having been relegated to the countryside by his father, when he had heard that a day had been named for him by Pomponius, tribune of the plebs, by night made for the city.

2 Secretum colloquium a tribuno impetravit et gladio stricto omittere eum accusationem terrore multo compulit.

2 He obtained a secret colloquy from the tribune, and with his sword drawn he compelled him, with much terror, to omit the accusation.

3 Sulpicio dictatore tribunus militum Gallum provocatorem occidit. Torquem ei detractum cervici suae indidit.

3 With Sulpicius as dictator, a tribune of soldiers killed a Gaul challenger. He put upon his own neck the torque stripped from his neck.

4 Consul bello Latino filium suum, quod contra imperium pugnasset, securi percussit. Latinos apud Veserim fluvium Decii collegae devotione superavit.

4 The consul, in the Latin war, struck his own son with the axe because he had fought against command. He overcame the Latins by the self-devotion (devotio) of his colleague Decius at the river Veseris.

5 Consulatum recusavit, quod diceret neque se populi vitia neque illum severitatem suam posse sufferre.

5 He refused the consulship, because he said that neither could he endure the people’s vices nor could the people endure his own severity.

1 Reliquias Senonum Camillus persequebatur. Adversum ingentem Gallum provocatorem solus Valerius tribunus militum omnibus territis processit.

1 Camillus was pursuing the remnants of the Senones. Against a huge Gaul, a challenger, Valerius, a military tribune, alone advanced, with all terrified.

2 Corvus ab ortu solis galeae eius insedit et inter pugnandum ora oculosque Galli everberavit. Hoste victo Valerius Corvinus dictus.

2 A raven from the sun’s rising perched upon his helmet and, during the fighting, battered the face and eyes of the Gaul. With the enemy conquered, Valerius was called Corvinus.

3 Hinc cum ingens multitudo aere alieno oppressa Capuam occupare tentasset et ducem sibi Quinctium necessitate compulsum fecisset, sublato aere alieno seditionem compressit.

3 Thence, when a huge multitude, oppressed by debt, had attempted to occupy Capua and had made Quinctius, compelled by necessity, their leader, with the debt lifted he suppressed the sedition.

1 Titus Veturius et Spurius Postumius consules bellum adversum Samnitas gerentes a Pontio Telesino duce hostium in insidias inducti sunt.

1 Titus Veturius and Spurius Postumius, consuls, conducting war adversus the Samnites, were led into an ambush by Pontius Telesinus, the leader of the enemy.

2 Nam ille simulatos transfugas misit, qui Romanis dicerent Luceriam Apulam a Samnitibus obsideri, quo duo itinera ducebant, aliud longius et tutius, aliud brevius et periculosius.

2 For he sent simulated deserters, who were to say to the Romans that Luceria in Apulia was being besieged by the Samnites, to which two routes led, one longer and safer, the other shorter and more perilous.

3 Festinatio brevius eligit; itaque cum insidias statuisset (qui locus Furculae Caudinae vocatur), Pontius accitum patrem Herennium rogavit, quid fieri placeret.

3 Haste chooses the shorter way; and so, when he had established the ambush (which place is called the Caudine Forks), Pontius, having called in his father Herennius, asked what should be done.

4 Ille ait aut omnes occidendos, ut vires frangerentur, aut omnes dimittendos, ut beneficie obligarentur. Utroque improbato consilio omnes sub iugum misit icto foedere, quod a Romanis postea improbatum est. Postumius Samnitibus deditus nec receptus est.

4 He said that either all should be slain, so that their forces might be broken, or all should be dismissed, so that by a benefaction they might be obligated. With both counsels disapproved, he sent them all under the yoke, a treaty having been struck, which was afterwards disapproved by the Romans. Postumius, having been surrendered to the Samnites, was not received.

1 Lucius Papirius, a velocitate Cursor, cum consulem se adversis ominibus adversum Samnites progressum esse sensisset, ad auspicia repetenda Romam regressus edixit Fabio Rullo, quem exercitui praeponebat, ne manum cum hoste consereret.

1 Lucius Papirius, “Cursor” from his velocity, when he perceived that as consul he had advanced against the Samnites under adverse omens, returned to Rome to repeat the auspices and proclaimed to Fabius Rullus, whom he was putting in charge of the army, not to join battle with the enemy.

2 Sed ille opportunitate ductus pugnavit. Reversus Papirius securi eum ferire voluit; ille in urbem confugit nec supplicem tribuni tuebantur.

2 But he, led by opportunity, fought. On his return, Papirius wished to strike him with the axe; he fled into the city, nor did the tribunes protect him as a suppliant.

3 Deinde pater lacrimis, populus precibus veniam impetrarunt.

3 Then the father by tears, the people by prayers, obtained pardon.

4 Papirius de Samnitibus triumphavit. Idem cum Praenestinum praetorem gravissime increpuisset: Expedi, inquit, lictor, secures. Et cim eum metu mortis attonitum vidisset, incommodam ambulantibus radicem excidi iussit.

4 Papirius triumphed over the Samnites. The same man, when he had most severely rebuked the Praenestine praetor: "Bring out, said he, lictor, the axes." And when he saw him thunderstruck with fear of death, he ordered the root incommodious to walkers to be cut out.

1 Quintus Fabius Rullus, primus ex ea familia ob virtutem Maximus, magister equitum a Papirio ob Samnitem victoriam securi paene percussus, primum de Apulis et Nucerinis, iterum de Samnitibus, tertio de Gallis Umbris Marsis atque Tuscis triumphavit.

1 Quintus Fabius Rullus, the first from that family, on account of his virtue, to be called Maximus, the master of the horse, was nearly struck with the axe by Papirius because of the Samnite victory; he triumphed first over the Apulians and Nucerini, a second time over the Samnites, and a third time over the Gauls, Umbrians, Marsi, and Tuscans.

2 Censor libertinos tribubus amovit. Iterum censor fieri noluit dicens non esse ex usu reipublicae eosdem censores saepius fieri.

2 As censor, he removed the freedmen from the tribes. He was unwilling to be censor a second time, saying it was not to the use of the republic for the same censors to be made too often.

3 Hic primus instituit, uti equites Romani Idibus Quinctilibus ab aede Honoris equis insidentes in Capitolium transirent.

3 He first instituted that the Roman equites on the Ides of Quintilis (July), mounted on their horses, should proceed from the Temple of Honor to the Capitol.

4 Mortuo huic tantum aeria populi liberalitate congestum est, ut inde filius viscerationem et epulam publiee daret.

4 Upon his death, so much money was heaped up by the liberality of the people that from it his son gave a visceration and a public banquet.

1 Marcus Curius Dentatus primo de Samnitibus triumphavit, quos usque ad mare superum perpacavit.

1 Marcus Curius Dentatus first triumphed over the Samnites, whom he thoroughly pacified all the way to the Upper Sea.

2 Regressus in contione ait: Tantum agri cepi, ut solitudo futura fuerit, nisi tantum hominum cepissem; tantum porro hominum cepi, ut fame perituri fuerint, nisi tantum agri cepissem.

2 Having returned, in the assembly he said: I captured so much land that there would have been a solitude, unless I had captured so many men; furthermore, I captured so many men that they would have perished by famine, unless I had captured so much land.

3 Iterum de Sabinis triumphavit. Tertio de Lucanis ovans urbem introiit.

3 Again he triumphed over the Sabines. For the third time, over the Lucanians, he entered the city in an ovation.

4 Pyrrhum Epirotam Italia expulit.

4 He expelled Pyrrhus the Epirote from Italy.

5 Quaterna dena agri iugera viritim populo divisit.

5 He distributed fourteen iugera of land apiece to the people.

6 Sibi deinde totidem constituit dicens neminem esse debere, cui non tantum sufficeret.

6 He then allotted to himself just as many, saying that there ought to be no one for whom so much would not suffice.

7 Legatis Samnitum aurum offerentibus, cum ipse in foco rapas torreret: Malo, inquit, haec in fictilibus meis esse et aurum habentibus imperare.

7 When the envoys of the Samnites were offering gold, while he himself was roasting turnips on the hearth: “I prefer,” he said, “that these be in my earthenware, and to command those who have gold.”

8 Cum interversae pecuniae argueretur, gutum ligneum, quo uti ad sacrificia consueverat, in medium protulit iuravitque se nihil amplius de praeda hostili domum suam convertisse.

8 When he was accused of embezzled funds, he brought forth into the midst a wooden flagon, which he was accustomed to use for sacrifices, and he swore that he had converted nothing more of hostile booty to his own house.

9 Aquam Anienem de manubus hostium in urbem induxit.

9 He led the Anio water into the city from the spoils of the enemies.

10 Tribunus plebis patres auctores fieri coegit comitiis, quibus plebei magistratus creabantur. Ob haec merita domus ei apud Tiphatam et agri iugera quingenta publice data.

10 As tribune of the plebs he compelled the Fathers to become auctores in the comitia at which the plebeian magistrates were elected. For these merits, a house for him at Tiphatum and 500 iugera of land were publicly granted.

1 Appius Claudius Caecus in censura libertinos quoque in senatum legit. Epulandi cantandique ius tibicinibus in publico ademit.

1 Appius Claudius the Blind, in his censorship, even enrolled freedmen (libertini) into the senate. He removed from the pipers (tibicines) the right of feasting and of singing in public.

2 [Duae familiae ad Herculis sacra sunt destinatae, Potitiorum et Pinariorum.] Potitios Herculis sacerdotes pretio corrupit, ut sacra Herculea servos publicos edocerent: unde caecatus est, gens Potitiorum funditus periit.

2 [Two families were designated for the sacra of Hercules, the Potitii and the Pinarii.] He bribed the Potitii, priests of Hercules, for a price, so that they might thoroughly instruct public slaves in the Herculean rites: whence he was blinded, the gens of the Potitii perished utterly.

3 Ne consulatus cum plebeiis communicaretur, acerrime restitit.

3 He resisted most fiercely, in order that the consulship not be shared with the plebeians.

4 Ne Fabius solus ad bellum mitteretur, contradixit.

4 He opposed, that Fabius might not be sent to the war alone.

5 Sabinos, Samnitas, Etruscos bello domuit.

5 He subdued the Sabines, the Samnites, the Etruscans in war.

6 Viam usque Brundisium lapide stravit, unde illa Appia dicitur.

6 He paved the road with stone all the way to Brundisium, whence that is called the Appian Way.

7 Aquam Anienem in urbem induxit.

7 He introduced the Anio water into the city.

8 Censuram solus omnium quinquennio obtinuit.

8 He alone of all held the censorship for five years.

9 Cum de pace Pyrrhi ageretur et gratia potentum per legatum Cineam pretio quaereretur, senex et caecus lectica in senatum latus turpissimas condiciones magnifica oratione discussit.

9 When peace with Pyrrhus was under negotiation and the favor of the powerful was being sought for a price through the legate Cineas, an old man and blind, borne in a litter into the senate, shattered the most disgraceful conditions with a magnificent oration.

1 Pyrrhus rex Epirotarum, materno genere ab Achille, paterno ab Hercule oriundus, cum imperium orbis agitaret et Romanos potentes videret, Apollinem de bello consuluit.

1 Pyrrhus, king of the Epirotes, sprung on the maternal line from Achilles and on the paternal from Hercules, when he was pondering the imperium of the world and saw the Romans powerful, consulted Apollo about war.

2 Ille ambigue respondit:

2 He answered ambiguously:

Aio te, Aeacida, Romanos vincere posse.

I say that you, Aeacid, the Romans can conquer.

3 Hoc dicto in voluntatem tracto auxilio Tarentinorum bellum Romanis intulit. Laevinum consulem apud Heracleam elephantorum novitate turbavit.

3 With this said, having drawn the aid of the Tarentines to his will, he brought war upon the Romans. He threw Consul Laevinus into disorder at Heraclea by the novelty of the elephants.

4 Cumque Romanos adversis vulneribus occisos videret: Ego, inquit, talibus militibus brevi orbem terrarum subigere potuissem.

4 And when he saw the Romans slain with wounds in front: “I,” he said, “with such soldiers could in a short time subdue the orb of the lands.”

5 Amicis gratulantibus: Quid mihi cum tali victoria, inquit, ubi exercitus robur amittam?

5 With friends congratulating: What have I to do with such a victory, he said, if I am to lose the army’s strength?

6 Ad vicesimum ab urbe lapidem castra posuit; captivos Fabricio gratis reddidit.

6 He pitched camp at the 20th milestone from the city; he returned the captives to Fabricius free of charge.

7 Viso Laevini exercitu eandem sibi ait adversum Romanos, quam Herculi adversus hydram, fuisse fortunam.

7 On seeing Laevinus’s army, he said that for himself the same fortune against the Romans had been as Hercules’ against the Hydra.

8 A Curio et Fabricio superatus Tarentum refugit, in Siciliam traiecit.

8 Defeated by Curius and Fabricius, he fled back to Tarentum, and crossed over into Sicily.

9 Mox in Italiam Locros regressus pecuniam Proserpinae avehere tentavit, sed ea naufragio relata est.

9 Soon, having returned to Locri in Italy, he attempted to carry off Proserpina’s money, but it was brought back by a shipwreck.

10 Tum in Graeciam regressus, dum Argos oppugnaret, ictu tegulae prostratus est.

10 Then, having returned into Greece, while he was oppugning Argos, he was laid low by the blow of a tile.

11 Corpus ad Antigonum regem Macedoniae relatum magnifice sepultum.

11 The body, brought to Antigonus, king of Macedonia, was magnificently buried.

1 Vulsinii, Etruriae nobile oppidum, luxuria paene perierunt. Nam cum temere servos manumitterent, dein in curiam legerent, consensu eorum oppressi.

1 Volsinii, a noble town of Etruria, nearly perished through luxury. For when they were recklessly manumitting slaves, and then enrolling them into the curia, they were oppressed by their consensus.

2 Cum multa indigna paterentur, clam a Roma auxilium petierunt, missusque Decius Mus libertines omnes aut in carcere necavit aut dominis in servitutem restituit.

2 While they were enduring many indignities, they clandestinely petitioned aid from Rome, and Decius Mus, having been sent, either killed all the freedmen in prison or restored them to their masters in servitude.

1 Appius Claudius victis Vulsiniensibus cognomento Caudex dictus frater Caeci fuit.

1 Appius Claudius, with the Vulsinians conquered, called by the cognomen Caudex, was the brother of the Blind.

2 Consul ad Mamertinos liberandos missus, quorum arcem Carthaginienses et Hiero rex Syracusanus obsidebant.

2 The consul was sent to free the Mamertines, whose citadel the Carthaginians and Hiero, the Syracusan king, were besieging.

3 Primo ad explorandos hostes fretum piscatoria nave traiecit et cum duce Carthaginiensium egit, ut praesidium arce deduceret.

3 First, to reconnoiter the enemy, he crossed the strait in a fishing boat and negotiated with the leader of the Carthaginians, that he might lead the garrison down from the citadel.

4 Regium regressus quinqueremem hostium copiis pedestribus cepit; ea legionem in Siciliam traduxit. Carthaginienses Messana expulit.

4 Returning to Rhegium, he captured a quinquereme of the enemy with infantry forces; with it he led a legion across into Sicily. He expelled the Carthaginians from Messana.

5 Hieronem proelio apud Syracusas in deditionem accepit, qui eo periculo territus Romanorum amicitiam petiit iisque postea fidelissimus fuit.

5 He received Hiero into surrender in battle at Syracuse, who, terrified by that peril, sought the amity of the Romans and afterward was most faithful to them.

1 Gnaeus Duellius primo Punico bello dux contra Carthaginienses missus, cum videret eos multum mari posse, classem validam fabrefecit et manus ferreas cum irrisu hostium primus instituit; sic inter pugnandum hostium naves apprehendit, qui victi et capti sunt.

1 Gnaeus Duellius, in the First Punic War, a commander sent against the Carthaginians, when he saw that they were very powerful at sea, fabricated a strong fleet and was the first to institute iron hands amid the derision of the enemy; thus, while fighting, he seized the ships of the enemy, who were defeated and captured.

2 Himilco dux classis Carthaginem fugit et a senatu quaesivit, quid faciendum censerent.

2 Himilco, commander of the fleet, fled to Carthage and asked the senate what they deemed should be done.

3 Omnibus, ut pugnaret, acclamantibus: Feci, inquit, et victus sum. Sic poenam crucis effngit; nam apud Poenos dux male re gesta puniebatur.

3 With everyone acclaiming that he should fight: “I have done so,” he says, “and I was vanquished.” Thus he eluded the penalty of the cross; for among the Carthaginians a commander, the affair having been badly managed, was punished.

4 Duellio concessum est, ut praelucente funali et praecinente tibicine a cena publice rediret.

4 It was conceded to Duellius that, with a torch giving light before and a piper playing before, he might publicly return from dinner.

1 Atilius Calatinus, dux adversum Carthaginienses missus, ex maximis et munitissimis civitatibus Enna Drepano Lilybaeo hostilia praesidia deiecit.

1 Atilius Calatinus, a leader sent against the Carthaginians, drove out the hostile garrisons from the greatest and most fortified cities—Enna, Drepanum, Lilybaeum.

2 Panormum cepit. Totamque Siciliam pervagatus patris navibus magnam hostiam classem duce Hamilcare superavit.

2 He captured Panormus. And, having traversed the whole of Sicily, with his father's ships he defeated a great enemy fleet under the command of Hamilcar.

3 Sed cum ad Catinam ab hostibus obsessam festinaret, a Poenis in angustiis clausus est, ubi tribunus militum Calpurnius Flamma acceptis trecentis sociis in superiorem locum evasit, consulem liberavit; ipse cum trecentis pugnans cecidit.

3 But when he was hastening to Catina, besieged by the enemy, he was shut in by the Carthaginians in the defiles, where the tribune of soldiers Calpurnius Flamma, after taking 300 comrades, gained the superior position, freed the consul; he himself, fighting with the 300, fell.

4 Postea ab Atilio semianimis inventus et sanatus magno postea terrori hostibus fuit. Atilius gloriose triumphavit.

4 Afterwards he was found half-alive by Atilius and, having been healed, was thereafter a great terror to the enemies. Atilius triumphed gloriously.

1 Marcus Atilius Regulus consul fusis Sallentinis triumphavit primusque Romanorum ducum in Africam classem traiecit. Ea quassata de Hamilcare naves longas tres et sexaginta cepit.

1 Marcus Atilius Regulus, consul, having routed the Sallentines, triumphed, and, the first of the Roman commanders, transported a fleet into Africa. It having been shattered, he captured from Hamilcar sixty-three long ships.

2 Oppida ducenta et hominum ducenta milia cepit. Absente eo coniugi eius et liberis ob paupertatem sumptus publice dati.

2 He captured two hundred towns and two hundred thousand people. In his absence, expenses were granted from the public funds to his wife and children on account of poverty.

3 Mox arte Xanthippi Lacedaemonii mercenarii militis captus in carcerem missus.

3 Soon, by the art of Xanthippus the Lacedaemonian, a mercenary soldier, he was captured and sent into prison.

4 Legatus de permutandis captivis Romam missus dato iureiurando, ut, si impetrasset, ita demum non rediret, in senatu condicionem dissuasit reiectisque ab amplexu coniuge et liberis Carthaginem regressus, ubi in arcam ligneam coniectus clavis introrsum adactis vigiliis ac dolore punitus est.

4 Sent as a legate to Rome about exchanging captives, after an oath had been given that, if he had obtained it, only then would he not return, he dissuaded the condition in the senate; and, having rejected from his embrace his wife and children, he went back to Carthage, where, thrown into a wooden chest, with the nails driven inward, he was punished by sleeplessness and pain.

1 Quintus Lutatius Catulus primo Punico bello trecentis navibus adversum Poenos profectus sexcentas eorum naves commeatibus et allia oneribus impeditas duce Hannone apud Aegatas insulas inter Siciliam et Africam depressit aut cepit finemque bello imposuit.

1 Quintus Lutatius Catulus, in the First Punic War, having set out against the Carthaginians with 300 ships, near the Aegates Islands between Sicily and Africa, with Hanno as commander, sank or seized 600 of their ships, encumbered with provisions and other cargo, and imposed an end on the war.

2 Pacem petentibus hac condicione concessit, ut Sicilia, Sardinia et ceteris insulis inter Italiam Africamque decederent, Hispania citra Hiberum abstinerent.

2 He granted peace to those seeking it on this condition: that they withdraw from Sicily, Sardinia, and the other islands between Italy and Africa, and that they abstain from Hispania on this side of the Hiberus (Ebro).

1 Hannibal, Hamilcaris filius, novem annos natus, a patre aris admotus odium in Romanos perenne iuravit.

1 Hannibal, son of Hamilcar, nine years old, having been brought by his father to the altars, swore a perennial hatred against the Romans.

2 Exinde socius et miles in castris patri fuit. Mortuo eo causam belli quaerens Saguntum Romanis foederatam intra sex menaes evertit. Tum Alpibus patefactis in Italiam traiecit.

2 Thereafter he was a companion and soldier in his father’s camps. When he had died, seeking a cause of war, he overthrew Saguntum, allied to the Romans, within six months. Then, the Alps laid open, he crossed over into Italy.

3 P. Scipionem apud Ticinum, Sempronium Longum apud Trebiam, Flaminium apud Trasimenum, Paullum et Varronem apud Cannas superavit.

3 He defeated P. Scipio at the Ticinus, Sempronius Longus at the Trebia, Flaminius at Trasimene, and Paullus and Varro at Cannae.

5 Cumque urbem capere posset, in Campaniam devertit, cuius deliciis elanguit.

5 And when he could take the city, he diverted into Campania, by whose delights he grew enervated.

6 Et cum ad tertium ab urbe lapidem castra posuisset, tempestatibus repulsus, primum a Fabio Maximo frustratus, deinde a Valerio Flacco repulsus, a Graccho et Marcello fugatus, in Africam revocatus, a Scipione superatus, ad Antiochum regem Syriae confugit eumque hostem Romanis fecit; quo victo ad Prusiam regem Bithyniae concessit; unde Romana legatione repetitus hausto, quod sub gemma anuli habebat, veneno absumptus est, positus apud Libyssam in arca lapidea, in qua hodieque inscriptum eat: Hannibal hic situs est.

6 And when he had pitched camp at the third milestone from the city, driven back by tempests, first frustrated by Fabius Maximus, then repulsed by Valerius Flaccus, put to flight by Gracchus and Marcellus, recalled into Africa, overcome by Scipio, he fled for refuge to Antiochus, king of Syria, and made him an enemy to the Romans; when he was conquered, he withdrew to Prusias, king of Bithynia; whence, demanded back by a Roman legation, having drunk the poison which he kept beneath the gem of his ring, he was consumed; he was laid at Libyssa in a stone chest, on which even to this day there is inscribed: Hannibal lies here.

1 Quintus Fabius Maximus Cunctator, Verrucosus a verruca in labris sita, Ovicula a clementia morum dictus, consul de Liguribus triumphavit.

1 Quintus Fabius Maximus the Delayer, “Warty” from a wart situated on his lips, “Little Sheep” from the clemency of his manners, as consul, triumphed over the Ligurians.

2 Hannibalem mora fregit.

2 Delay broke Hannibal.

3 Minucium magistrum equitum imperio sibi aequari passus est; nihilo minus periclitanti subvenit.

3 He allowed Minucius, the master of horse, to be made equal to himself in command; nonetheless he came to the aid of him when he was in peril.

4 Hannibalem in agro Falerno inclusit.

4 He enclosed Hannibal in the Falernian field.

5 Marium Statilium transfugere ad hostes volentem equo et armis donatis retinuit, et Lucano cuidam fortissimo ob amorem mulieris infrequenti eandem emptam dono dedit.

5 He retained Marius Statilius, who wished to defect to the enemies, by gifts of a horse and arms; and to a certain most brave Lucanian, infrequent in attendance on account of love for a woman, he gave that same woman, purchased, as a gift.

6 Tarentum ab hostibus recepit, Herculis signum inde translatum in Capitolio dedicavit. De redemptione captivorum cum hostibus pepigit;

6 He recovered Tarentum from the enemies, and he dedicated on the Capitol the statue of Hercules transferred from there. About the redemption of captives he made a pact with the enemies;

7 quod pactum cum a senatu improbaretur, fundum suum ducentis milibus vendidit et fidei satisfecit.

7 which pact, when it was disapproved by the Senate, he sold his estate for 200,000 and satisfied his pledge of good faith.

1 Publius Scipio Nasica, a senatu vir optimus iudicatus, Matrem deum hospitio recepit.

1 Publius Scipio Nasica, judged by the senate the best man, received the Mother of the Gods as a guest.

2 Is cum adversum auspicia consulem se a Graccho nominatum comperisset, magistratu se abdicavit.

2 He, when he had learned that he had been nominated consul by Gracchus against the auspices, abdicated the magistracy.

3 Censor statuas, quas sibi quisque in foro per ambitionem ponebat, sustulit.

3 As censor, he removed the statues which each person was setting up for himself in the forum out of ambition.

4 Consul Delminium urbem Dalmatarum expugnavit.

4 The consul took by storm Delminium, the city of the Dalmatians.

5 Imperatoris nomen a militibus et a senatu triumphum oblatum recusavit. Eloquentia primus, iuris scientia consultissimus, ingenio sapientissimus, unde vulgo Corculum dictus.

5 He refused the title Imperator proffered by the soldiers and the triumph offered by the senate. Foremost in eloquence, most expert in the science of law, most sapient in intellect, whence he was commonly called Corculum.

1 Marcus Marcellus Viridomarum, Gallorum ducem, singulari proelio fudit.

1 Marcus Marcellus defeated Viridomarus, leader of the Gauls, in single combat.

2 Spolia opima Iovi Feretrio tertius a Romulo consecravit.

2 He consecrated the Spolia Opima to Jupiter Feretrius, the third after Romulus.

3 Primus docuit, quomodo milites cederent nec terga praeberent.

3 He was the first to teach how soldiers should cede and not present their backs.

4 Hannibalem apud Nolam locorum angustia adiutus vinci docuit.

4 He taught Hannibal at Nola to be conquered, aided by the narrowness of the places.

5 Syracusas per tres annos expugnavit.

5 He captured Syracuse over the course of three years.

6 Et cum per calumniam triumphus a senatu negaretur, de sua aententia in Albano monte triumphavit.

6 And when a triumph was being denied by the senate through calumny, by his own decision he triumphed on the Alban Mount.

7 Quinquies consul insidiis Hannibalis deceptus et magnifice sepultus.

7 Five times consul, outwitted by Hannibal’s stratagems, and magnificently buried.

8 Ossa Romam remissa a praedonibus intercepta perierunt.

8 The bones, sent back to Rome, were intercepted by robbers and perished.

1 Hannibale Italiam devastante ex responso librorum Sibyllinorum Mater deum a Pessinunte arcessita cum adverso Tiberi veheretur, repente in alto stetit. Et cum moveri nullis viribus posset, ex libris cognitum castissimae demum feminae manu moveri posse.

1 While Hannibal was devastating Italy, by the response of the Sibylline books the Mother of the gods was summoned from Pessinus; as she was being conveyed with the Tiber adverse, she suddenly stood still in deep water. And since she could not be moved by any forces, it was learned from the books that she could be moved by the hand of a most chaste woman.

2 Tum Claudia virgo Vestalis falso incesti suspecta deam oravit, ut, si pudicam sciret, sequeretur, et zona imposita navem movit.

2 Then Claudia, a Vestal virgin, falsely suspected of incest, prayed to the goddess that, if she knew her to be chaste, she would follow; and, a girdle having been put on, she moved the ship.

3 Simulacrum Matris deum, dum templum aedificatur, Nasicae, qui vir optimus iudicabatur, quasi hospiti datum.

3 The simulacrum of the Mother of the gods, while the temple was being built, was given to Nasica, who was judged the best man, as to a host.

1 Marcus Porcius Cato, genere Tusculanus, a Valerio Flacco Romam sollicitatus, tribunus militum in Sicilia, quaestor sub Scipione fortissimus, praetor iustissimus fuit: in praetura Sardiniam subegit, ubi ab Ennio Graecis litteris institutus.

1 Marcus Porcius Cato, by lineage a Tusculan, having been summoned to Rome by Valerius Flaccus, was a military tribune in Sicily, a most brave quaestor under Scipio, and a most just praetor: in his praetorship he subdued Sardinia, where by Ennius he was instructed in Greek letters.

2 Consul Celtiberos domuit et, ne rebellare possent, litteras ad singulas civitates misit, ut muros diruerent.

2 The consul subdued the Celtiberians and, so that they might not be able to rebel, he sent letters to each of the cities that they should raze their walls.

3 Cum unaquaeque sibi soli imperari putaret, fecerunt. Syriaco bello tribunus militum sub M. Acilio Glabrione occupatis Thermopylarum iugis praesidium hostium depulit.

3 Since each thought that the order was being given to itself alone, they did it. In the Syrian war, a tribune of soldiers under M. Acilius Glabrio, with the ridges of Thermopylae occupied, he drove off the enemy garrison.

4 Censor L. Flaminium consularem senatu movit, quod ille in Gallia ad cuiusdam scorti spectaculum eiectum quendam e carcere in convivio iugulari iussisset.

4 The censor removed L. Flamininus, a man of consular rank, from the senate, because he, in Gaul, for the spectacle of a certain harlot, had ordered a certain man, cast out of prison, to have his throat cut at a banquet.

5 Basilicam suo nomine primus fecit.

5 He was the first to build a basilica in his own name.

6 Matronis ornamenta erepta Oppia lege repetentibus restitit.

6 He resisted the matrons as they were seeking to recover the ornaments seized by the Oppian law.

7 Accusator assiduus malorum Galbam octogenarius accusavit, ipse quadragies quater accusatus gloriose absolutus.

7 An assiduous accuser of the wicked, he, an octogenarian, accused Galba; he himself, accused forty-four times, was gloriously acquitted.

8 Carthaginem delendam censuit.

8 He judged that Carthage should be destroyed.

9 Post octoginta annos filium genuit. Imago huius funeris gratia produci solet.

9 After eighty years he begot a son. His image is usually brought out for the sake of funerals.

1 Hasdrubal, frater Hannibalis, ingentibus copiis in Italiam traiecit, actumque erat de Romano imperio, si iungere se Haimibali potuisset.

1 Hasdrubal, brother of Hannibal, crossed over into Italy with enormous forces, and it was all over with the Roman imperium, if he had been able to join himself to Hannibal.

2 Sed Claudius Nero, qui in Apulia cum Hannibale castra coniunxerat, relicta in castris parte cum delectis ad Hasdrubalem properavit et se Livio collegae apud Senam oppidum et Metaurum flumen coniunxit amboque Hasdrubalem vicerunt.

2 But Claudius Nero, who had conjoined his camp with Hannibal in Apulia, with a part left in the camp, with chosen men hastened to Hasdrubal and joined himself to his colleague Livius near the town of Sena and the river Metaurus, and the two of them defeated Hasdrubal.

3 Nero regressus pari celeritate, qua venerat, caput Hasdrubalis ante vallum Hannibalis proiecit.

3 Nero, having returned with the same celerity with which he had come, threw Hasdrubal’s head before Hannibal’s rampart.

4 Quo ille viso vinci se fortuna Carthaginis confessus.

4 On seeing this, he confessed himself to be overcome by the fortune of Carthage.

5 Ob haec Livius triumphans, Nero ovans urbem introierunt.

5 On account of these things, Livius entered the city in triumph, Nero in an ovation.

1 Publius Scipio ex virtute Africanus dictus, Iovis filius creditus: nam antequam conciperetur, serpens in lecto matris eius apparuit, et ipsi parvulo draco circumfusus nihil nocuit.

1 Publius Scipio, called Africanus from his virtue, was believed to be a son of Jove: for before he was conceived, a serpent appeared in his mother’s bed, and to him, a very small child, a dragon coiled around did no harm.

2 In Capitolium intempesta nocte euntem nunquam canes latraverunt.

2 As he was going into the Capitol in the dead of night, the dogs never barked.

3 Nec hic quicquam prius coepit, quam in cella Iovis diutissime sedisset, quasi divinam mentem acciperet.

3 Nor did he commence anything before he had sat for a very long time in the cella of Jupiter, as if he were receiving a divine mind.

4 Decem et octo annorum patrem apud Ticinum singulari virtute servavit.

4 At the age of eighteen, he saved his father at Ticinum by singular valor.

5 Clade Cannensi nobilissimos iuvenes Italiam deserere cupientes sua auctoritate compescuit.

5 After the calamity of Cannae, he restrained by his own authority the most noble youths who were eager to desert Italy.

6 Reliquias incolumes per media hostium castra Canusium perduxit.

6 He led the survivors unharmed through the very midst of the enemy’s camp to Canusium.

7 Viginti quattuor annorum praetor in Hispaniam missus Carthaginem, qua die venit, cepit.

7 At twenty-four years of age, a praetor, sent into Spain, he took Carthage on the day he arrived.

8 Virginem pulcherrimam, ad cuius adspectum concurrebatur, ad se vetuit adduci patrique eius sponsor astitit.

8 He forbade that the most beautiful virgin, at whose aspect people were converging, be brought to himself, and he stood as sponsor to her father.

9 Hasdrubalem Magonemque, fratres Hannibalis, Hispania expulit.

9 He expelled Hasdrubal and Mago, the brothers of Hannibal, from Spain.

10 Amicitiam cum Syphace, Maurorum rege, coniunxit. Massinissam in societatem recepit.

10 He joined friendship with Syphax, king of the Mauri; he received Massinissa into alliance.

11 Victor domum regressus consul ante annos factus concedente collega in Africam classem traiecit.

11 Having returned home as victor, made consul before his years, with his colleague conceding, he transported a fleet into Africa.

12 Hasdrabalis et Syphacis castra una nocte perrupit.

12 He broke through the camps of Hasdrubal and Syphax in a single night.

14 Revocatum ex Italia Hannibalem superavit.

14 He defeated Hannibal, recalled from Italy.

15 Victis Carthaginiensibus leges imposuit.

15 He imposed laws upon the conquered Carthaginians.

16 Bello Antiochi legatus fratri fuit; captum filium gratis recepit.

16 He was legate to his brother in the war of Antiochus; he received back his captured son gratis.

17 A Petillio Actaeo tribuno plebis repetundarum accusatus librum rationum in conspectu populi scidit: Hac die, inquit, Carthaginem vici; quare, bonum factum, in Capitolium eamus et diis supplicemus!

17 Accused by Petillius Actaeus, tribune of the plebs, on a charge of extortion, he tore up the book of accounts in the sight of the people: “On this day,” he said, “I have conquered Carthage; wherefore, good deed done, let us go to the Capitol and supplicate the gods!”

18 Inde in voluntarium exilium concessit, ubi reliquam egit aetatem.

18 Thence he withdrew into voluntary exile, where he spent the remaining span of his life.

19 Moriens ab uxore petiit, ne corpus suum Romam referretur.

19 Dying, he asked his wife that his body not be carried back to Rome.

1 Livius Salinator primo consul de Illyriis triumphavit, deinde ex invidia peculatus reus ab omnibus tribubus excepta Metia condemnatus.

1 Livius Salinator, first, as consul, triumphed over the Illyrians; then, out of envy, as a defendant on a charge of peculation, he was condemned by all the tribes, except the Metia.

2 Iterum cum Claudio Nerone inimico suo consul, ne respublica discordia male administraretur, amicitiam cum eo iunxit et de Hasdrubale triumphavit.

2 Again, consul with Claudius Nero, his enemy, lest the republic be ill administered by discord, he joined friendship with him and triumphed over Hasdrubal.

3 Censor cum eodem collega omnes tribus excepta Metia aerarias fecit, stipendio privavit eo crimine, quod aut prius se iniuste condemnassent aut postea tantos honores non recte tribuissent.

3 As censor, with the same colleague, he made all the tribes, Metia excepted, aerarii, and deprived them of the stipend, on the charge that either earlier they had condemned him unjustly or afterwards had not rightly conferred such great honors.

1 Quintus Flaminius, Flaminii, qui apud Trasumenum periit, filius, consul Macedoniam sortitus, ducibus Charopae principis pastoribus provinciam ingressus regem Philippum proelio fudit, castris exuit.

1 Quintus Flaminius, the son of Flaminius, who perished at Trasimene, as consul having drawn Macedonia by lot, having entered the province with the shepherds of the prince Charops as guides, routed King Philip in battle, stripped him of his camp.

2 Filium eius Demetrium obsidem accepit, quem pecunia mulctatum in regnum restituit.

2 He took his son Demetrius as a hostage, and, mulcted in money, restored him to the kingdom.

3 A Nabide quoque Lacedaemonio filium obsidem accepit.

3 From Nabis the Lacedaemonian he also received his son as a hostage.

4 †Ludos Iunonis Samiae per praeconem pronuntiavit.

4 †He proclaimed through a herald the games of Samian Juno.

5 Legatus etiam ad Prusiam, ut Hannibalem repeteret, missus.

5 A legate also was sent to Prusias, to demand Hannibal back.

1 Quintus Fulvius Nobilior consul Vettonas Oretanosque superavit, unde ovans urbem introiit.

1 Quintus Fulvius Nobilior, consul, overcame the Vettones and the Oretani, whence he entered the city in an ovation.

2 Consul Aetolos, qui bello Macedonico Romanis affuerant, post ad Antiochum defecerant, proeliis frequentibus victos et in Ambraciam oppidum coactos in deditionem accepit, tamen signis tabulisque pictis spoliavit; de quibus triumphavit.

2 The consul received the Aetolians—who in the Macedonian war had been present with aid for the Romans, but afterwards had defected to Antiochus—beaten in frequent battles and driven into the town of Ambracia, into surrender; nevertheless he despoiled them of statues and painted panels; for which he celebrated a triumph.

3 Quam victoriam per se magnificam Ennius amicus eius insigni laude celebravit.

3 Which victory, magnificent by itself, Ennius, his friend, celebrated with signal praise.

1 Scipio Asiaticus, frater Africani, infirme corpore, tamen in Africa virtutis nomine a fratre laudatus, consul Antiochum regem Syriae legato fratre apud Sipylum montem, cum arcus hostium pluvia hebetati fuissent, vicit et regni parte privavit: hinc Asiaticus dictus.

1 Scipio Asiaticus, brother of Africanus, infirm in body, yet in Africa praised by his brother for valor, as consul defeated King Antiochus of Syria near Mount Sipylus, his brother serving as legate, when the enemies’ bows had been dulled by rain, and he deprived him of part of his kingdom: hence he was called Asiaticus.

2 Post reus pecuniae interceptae, ne in carcerem duceretur Gracchus pater tribunus plebis, inimicus eius, intercessit. M. Cato censor equum et ignominiae causa ademit.

2 Afterwards, on a charge of embezzled funds, to keep him from being led into prison, Gracchus the Father, tribune of the plebs, his enemy, interceded. M. Cato, censor, took away his horse as a mark of ignominy.

1 Antiochus, rex Syriae, nimia opum fiducia bellum Romanis intulit, specie Lysimachiae repetundae, quam a maioribus suis in Thracia conditam Romani possidebant, statimque Graeciam insulasque eius occupavit. In Euboea luxuria elanguit.

1 Antiochus, king of Syria, with excessive confidence in his wealth, brought war upon the Romans under the pretext of recovering Lysimachia, which, founded by his forefathers in Thrace, the Romans possessed, and immediately he occupied Greece and its islands. In Euboea he languished in luxury.

2 Adventu M. Acilii Glabrionis excitatus Thermopylas occupavit, unde industria Marci Catonis eiectus in Asiam refugit.

2 Roused at the advent of Marcus Acilius Glabrio, he occupied Thermopylae, whence, ejected by the industry of Marcus Cato, he fled back into Asia.

3 Navali proelio, cui Hannibalem praefecerat, a L. Aemilio Regillo superatus filium Scipionis Africani, quem inter navigandum ceperat, patri remisit, qui ei quasi pro reddenda gratia suasit, ut amicitiam Romanam peteret.

3 In a naval battle, over which he had put Hannibal in command, he was overcome by L. Aemilius Regillus; he sent back to the father the son of Scipio Africanus, whom he had seized while sailing, and the father, as if for the returning of a favor, advised him to seek Roman friendship.

4 Antiochus spreto consilio apud Sipylum montem cum L. Scipione conflixit. Victus et ultra Taurum montem relegatus a sodalibus, quos temulentus in convivio pulsarat, occisus est.

4 Antiochus, spurning counsel, engaged with L. Scipio at Mount Sipylus. Defeated and relegated beyond Mount Taurus, he was slain by his companions, whom, drunken at a banquet, he had struck.

1 Gaius Manlius Vulso missus ad ordinandam Scipionis Asiatici provinciam cupidine triumphi bellum Pisidis et Gallograecis, qui Antiocho affuerant, intulit.

1 Gaius Manlius Vulso, sent to organize the province of Scipio Asiaticus, out of a desire for a triumph brought war upon the Pisidians and the Gallo-Greeks, who had been present with Antiochus.

2 His facile victis inter captivos uxor regis Orgiagontis centurioni cuidam in custodiam data; a quo vi stuprata de iniuria tacuit et post impetrata redemptione marito adulterum interficienduni tradidit.

2 With these easily conquered, among the captives the wife of King Orgiagontes was given into custody to a certain centurion; by whom, violated by force, she kept silent about the injury, and after redemption (ransom) was obtained, she handed over the adulterer to her husband to be killed.

1 Lucius Aemilius Paullus, filius eius, qui apud Cannas cecidit, primo consulatu, quem post tres repulsas adeptus erat, de Liguribus triumphavit.

1 Lucius Aemilius Paullus, the son of him who fell at Cannae, in his first consulship, which he had obtained after three repulses, triumphed over the Ligurians.

2 Rerum gestarum ordinem in tabula pictum publice posuit.

2 He publicly set up the order of his deeds painted on a tablet.

3 Iterum consul Persen Philippi filium regem Macedonum apud Samothracas deos cepit; quem victum flevit et assidere sibi iussit, tamen in triumphum duxit.

3 Consul a second time, he captured Perseus, son of Philip, king of the Macedonians, at the gods of Samothrace; whom, vanquished, he wept over and ordered to sit beside him, nevertheless he led in triumph.

4 In hac laetitia duos filios amisit et progressus ad populum gratias fortunae egit, quod, si quid adversi reipublicae imminebat, sua esset calamitate decisum.

4 In this rejoicing he lost two sons, and, going forth to the people, he gave thanks to Fortune, because, if anything adverse to the republic was looming, it had been decided by his own calamity.

5 Ob haec omnia ei a populo et a senatu concessum est, ut ludis Circensibus triumphali veste uteretur.

5 On account of all these things, it was granted to him by the people and by the Senate that, at the Circensian Games, he might wear the triumphal garment.

6 Ob huius continentiam et paupertatem post mortem eius dos uxori nisi venditis possessionibus non potuit exsolvi.

6 On account of his continence and poverty, after his death the dowry to his wife could not be discharged except by selling the possessions.

1 Tiberius Sempronius Gracchus nobilissima familia ortus Scipionem Asiaticum quamvis inimicum duci in carcerem non est passus.

1 Tiberius Sempronius Gracchus, sprung from a most noble family, did not allow Scipio Asiaticus, although an enemy, to be led into prison.

2 Praetor Galliam domuit, consul Hispaniam, altero consulatu Sardiniam; tantumque captivorum adduxit, ut longa venditione res in proverbium veniret "Sardi venales".

2 As praetor he subdued Gaul, as consul Spain, and in his second consulship Sardinia; and he brought in so many captives that, by a long sale, the affair came into a proverb, "Sardinians for sale."

3 Censor libertinos, qui rusticas tribus occuparant, in quattuor urbanas divisit; ob quod a populo collega eius Claudius (nam ipsum auctoritas tuebatur) reus factus; et cum eum duae classes condemnassent, Tiberius iuravit se cum illo in exilium iturum: ita reus absolutus est.

3 As censor he divided the freedmen, who had occupied the rural tribes, into four urban ones; on account of which his colleague Claudius was made a defendant by the people (for his authority was protecting him); and when two classes had condemned him, Tiberius swore that he would go into exile with him: thus the defendant was acquitted.

4 Cum in domo Tiberii duo angues e geniali toro erepsissent, responso dato eum de dominis periturum, cuius sexus anguis fuisset occisus, amore Corneliae coniugis marem iussit interfici.

4 When in Tiberius’s house two snakes had crawled out from the nuptial couch, with an oracle having been given that, among the masters of the house, he would perish whose sex the snake was that had been slain, out of love for his wife Cornelia he ordered the male to be killed.

1 Publius Scipio Aemilianus, Paulli Macedonici filius, a Scipione Africano adoptatus, in Macedonia cum patre agens victum Persen tam pertinaciter persecutus est, ut media nocte in castra redierit.

1 Publius Scipio Aemilianus, the son of Paulus Macedonicus, adopted by Scipio Africanus, while campaigning in Macedonia with his father, so pertinaciously pursued the defeated Perseus that he returned to the camp in the middle of the night.

2 Lucullo in Hispania legatus apud Intercatiam oppidum provocatorem singulari proelio vicit.

2 Lucullus, as legate in Spain, near the town of Intercatia, defeated a provocator in single combat.

3 Muros hostilis civitatis primus ascendit.

3 He first ascended the walls of a hostile city.

4 Tribunus in Africa sub T. Manilio imperatore octo cohortes obsidione vallatas consilio et virtute servavit, a quibus corona obsidionali aurea donatus.

4 As tribune in Africa, under the commander T. Manilius, he saved eight cohorts, enclosed by a siege, by counsel and valor; by them he was presented with a golden obsidional crown.

5 Cum aedilitatem peteret, consul ante annos ultro factus Carthaginem intra sex menses delevit.

5 While he was seeking the aedileship, made consul, unasked and before the legal years, he destroyed Carthage within six months.

6 Numantiam in Hispania correcta prius militum disciplina fame vicit; hinc Numantinus.

6 Numantia in Spain, after the discipline of the soldiers had first been corrected, he conquered by famine; hence “Numantine.”

7 Gaio Laelio plurimum usus; ad reges adeundos missus duos secum praeter eum servos duxit.

7 He made very great use of Gaius Laelius; sent to approach the kings, he took with him, besides Laelius, two slaves.

8 Ob res gestas superbus Gracchum iure caesum videri respondit; obstrepente populo: Taceant, inquit, quibus Italia noverca, non mater est; et addidit: Quos ego sub corona vendidi.

8 On account of his exploits, proud, he responded that Gracchus seemed to have been slain by right; with the people clamoring: “Let them be silent,” he said, “for whom Italy is a stepmother, not a mother”; and he added: “Those whom I sold under the crown (i.e., at auction).”

9 Censor Mummio collega segniore in senatu ait: Utinam mihi collegam aut dedissetis aut non dedissetis.

9 The censor Mummius, his colleague being more sluggish, said in the senate: Would that you had either given me a colleague or not given me one.

10 Suscepta agrariorum causa domi repente exanimis inventus obvoluto capite elatus, ne livor in ore appareret.

10 With the agrarian cause taken up, he was found at home suddenly lifeless, carried out with his head wrapped, lest lividity appear on his face.

11 Huius patrimonium tam exiguum <fuit>, ut XXXII libras argenti, duas et semilibram auri reliquerit.

11 His patrimony was so exiguous that he left 32 pounds of silver, two and a half pounds of gold.

1 Aulus Hostilius Mancinus praetor adversum Numantinos vetantibus avibus et nescio qua voce revocante profectus, cum ad Numantiam venisset, exercitum Pompei acceptum prius corrigere decrevit et solitudinem petiit.

1 Aulus Hostilius Mancinus, praetor, having set out against the Numantines, with the birds forbidding and I know not what voice recalling him, when he had come to Numantia, resolved first to correct the army of Pompey which he had received and sought solitude.

2 Eo die Numantinis forte sollemni nuptum filias locabant; et unam speciosam duobus competentibus pater puellae conditionem tulit, ut ei illa nuberet, qui hostis dexteram attulisset.

2 On that day, by chance, among the Numantines there was a solemn festival; and they were settling their daughters in marriage; and one beautiful girl, having two competitors (suitors), the father of the maiden proposed a condition, that she should marry him who had brought the right hand of an enemy.

3 Profecti iuvenes abscessum Romanorum in modam fugae properantium cognoscunt, rem ad suos referant. Illi statim quattuor milibus suorum viginti milia Romanorum ceciderunt.

3 The young men, having set out, learn of the withdrawal of the Romans, hastening in the manner of a flight; they report the matter to their own. They, immediately, with four thousand of their own, cut down twenty thousand Romans.

4 Mancinus auctore Tiberio Graccho quaestore suo in leges hostium foedus percussit; quo per senatum improbato Mancinus Numantinis deditus nec receptus, augurio in castra deductus, praeturam postea consecutus est.

4 Mancinus, with Tiberius Gracchus his quaestor as author, struck a treaty on the enemy’s terms; this, being disapproved by the senate, Mancinus, surrendered to the Numantines and not received, was conducted into the camp under augury, and afterwards attained the praetorship.

1 Lucius Mummius, devicta Achaia Achaicus dictus, consul adversum Corinthios iuissus victoriam alieno labore quaesitam intercepit.

1 Lucius Mummius, Achaia vanquished, called Achaicus, as consul, having been ordered against the Corinthians, intercepted a victory sought by another's labor.

2 Nam cum illos Metellus Macedonicus apud Heracleam fudisset et duce Critolao privasset, cum lictoribus et paucis equitibus in Metelli castra properavit et Corinthios apud Leucopetram vicit duce Diaeo, qui domum refugit eamque incendit, coniugem interfecit et in ignem praecipitavit, ipse veneno interiit.

2 For when Metellus Macedonicus had routed them near Heraclea and had deprived them of their leader Critolaus, he hastened with the lictors and a few horsemen into the camp of Metellus and defeated the Corinthians at Leucopetra, with Diaeus as leader, who fled home and set it on fire, slew his wife and hurled her into the flames; he himself perished by poison.

3 Mummius Corinthum signis tabulisque spoliavit; quibus cum totam replesset Italiam, in domum suam nihil contulit.

3 Mummius spoliated Corinth of statues and paintings; with which, when he had filled all Italy, he brought nothing into his own house.

1 Quintus Caecilius Metellus, domita Macedonia Macedonicus dictus, praetor Pseudophilippum, qui idem Andriscus dictus est, vicit.

1 Quintus Caecilius Metellus, with Macedonia subdued, called Macedonicus, as praetor defeated Pseudophilippus, who is also called Andriscus.

2 Achaeos bis proelio fudit triumphandos Mummio tradidit.

2 He routed the Achaeans twice in battle and handed them over to Mummius to be led in triumph.

3 Invisus plebi ob nimiam severitatem et ideo post duas repulsus consul aegre factus Arbacos in Hispania domuit.

3 Hated by the plebs on account of excessive severity, and therefore, after two repulses, scarcely made consul, he subdued the Arbacos in Spain.

4 Apud Contrebiam oppidum cohortes loco pulsas redire et locam recipere iussit.

4 At the town of Contrebia he ordered the cohorts, driven from their position, to return and to reoccupy their position.

5 Cum omnia proprio et subito consilio ageret, amico cuidam, quid acturus esset, roganti:

5 Since he was doing everything by his own and sudden counsel, to a certain friend who was asking what he was about to do:

6 Tunicam, inquit, meam exurerem, si eam consilium meum scire existimarem. Hic quattuor filiorum pater supremo tempore humeris eorum ad sepulcrum latus est; ex quibus tres consulares, unum etiam triumphantem vidit.

6 I would burn my tunic, he said, if I thought that it knew my counsel. This man, the father of four sons, at his last hour was borne on their shoulders to his sepulcher; among whom he saw three consulars, one even triumphing.

1 Quintus Caecilius Metellus Numidicus, qui de Iugurtha rege triumphavit, censor Quintium, qui se Tiberii Gracchi filium mentiebatur, in censum non recepit.

1 Quintus Caecilius Metellus Numidicus, who celebrated a triumph over King Jugurtha, as censor did not receive Quintius—who was falsely claiming himself to be the son of Tiberius Gracchus—into the census.

2 Idem in legem Apuleiam per vim latam iurare noluit, quare in exilium actus Smyrnae exulavit.

2 The same man was unwilling to swear to the Apuleian law carried by force; wherefore, driven into exile, he lived in exile at Smyrna.

3 Calidia deinde rogatione revocatus cum ludis forte litteras in theatro accepisset, non prius eas legere dignatus est, quam spectaculum finiretur. Metellae sororis auae virum laudare noluit, quod is olim iudicium contra leges detrectarat.

3 Then, having been recalled by the Calidian rogation, when during the games he had by chance received letters in the theater, he did not deign to read them before the spectacle was finished. He was unwilling to praise the husband of Metella, the sister of his grandmother, because he had once evaded a iudicium contrary to the laws.

1 Quintus Metellus Pius, Numidici filius, Pius, quia patrem lacrimis et precibus assidue revocavit, praetor bello sociali Q. Popedium Marsorum ducem interfecit.

1 Quintus Metellus Pius, son of Numidicus, “Pius” because he assiduously recalled his father by tears and prayers, as praetor in the Social War killed Quintus Popedius, leader of the Marsi.

2 Consul in Hispania Herculeios fratres oppressit, Sertorium Hispania expulit.

2 As consul in Spain, he crushed the Herculeian brothers, and drove Sertorius out of Spain.

3 Adolescens in petitione praeturae et pontificatus consularibus viris praelatus est.

3 As a youth, in his candidacy for the praetorship and the pontificate, he was preferred over men of consular rank.

1 Tiberius Gracchus, Africani ex filia nepos, quaestor Mancino in Hispania foedus eius flagitiosum probavit.

1 Tiberius Gracchus, the grandson of Africanus through his daughter, as quaestor to Mancinus in Spain approved his flagitious treaty.

2 Periculum deditionis eloquentiae gratia effugit.

2 He escaped the peril of being surrendered thanks to eloquence.

3 Tribunus plebis legem tulit, ne quis plus mille agri iugera haberet.

3 The tribune of the plebs proposed a law that no one should hold more than 1,000 iugera of land.

4 Octavio collegae intercedenti novo exemplo magistratum abrogavit.

4 By a new example, he abrogated the magistracy of his colleague Octavius, who was interceding.

5 Dein tulit, ut de ea pecunia, quae ex Attali hereditate erat, ageretur et populo divideretur.

5 Then he proposed that that money which was from the inheritance of Attalus be dealt with and be divided to the people.

6 Deinde cum prorogare sibi potestatem vellet, adversis auspiciis in publicum processit statimque Capitolium petiit manum ad caput referens, quo salutem suam populo commendabat.

6 Then, when he wished to prorogue his own power, he proceeded into public under adverse auspices and immediately made for the Capitol, bringing his hand to his head, whereby he was commending his safety to the people.

7 Hoc nobilitas ita accepit, quasi diadema posceretur; segniterque cessante Mucio consule Scipio Nasica sequi se iussit, qui salvam rempublicam vellent, Gracchum in Capitolium persecutus oppressit.

7 The nobility took this thus, as if a diadem were being demanded; and with the consul Mucius sluggishly holding back, Scipio Nasica ordered those who wished the Republic safe to follow him, and, having pursued Gracchus into the Capitol, he overpowered him.

8 Cuius corpus Lucretii aedilis manu in Tiberim missum; unde ille Vispillo dictus.

8 Whose body was sent into the Tiber by the hand of Lucretius the aedile; whence he was called “Vispillo.”

9 Nasica ut invidiae subtraheretur, per speciem legationis in Asiam ablegatus est.

9 Nasica, so that he might be withdrawn from envy, was dispatched to Asia under the appearance of a legation.

1 Gaius Gracchus pestilentem Sardiniam quaestor sortitus non veniente successore sua sponte discessit.

1 Gaius Gracchus, having as quaestor drawn by lot pestilent Sardinia, with no successor arriving, departed of his own accord.

2 Asculanae et Fregellanae defectionis invidiam sustinuit.

2 He endured the odium of the defection of Asculum and Fregellae.

3 Tribunus plebis agrarias et frumentarias leges tulit, colonos etiam Capuam et Tarentum mittendos censuit.

3 As tribune of the plebs he carried agrarian and frumentary laws, and he also decreed that colonists be sent to Capua and Tarentum.

4 Triumviros agris dividendis se et Fulvium Flaccum et C. Crassum constituit.

4 He constituted as triumvirs for dividing lands himself, and Fulvius Flaccus, and Gaius Crassus.

5 Minucio Rufo tribuno plebis legibus suis obrogante in Capitolium venit; ubi cum Antyllius praeco Opimii consulis in turba fuisset occisus, in forum descendit et imprudens contionem a tribune plebis avocavit; qua re arcessitus cum in senatum non venisset, armata familia Aventinum occupavit; ubi ab Opimio victus, dum a templo Lunae desilit, talum intorsit et Pomponio amico apud portam Trigeminam, P. Laetorio in ponte sublicio persequentibus resistente in lucum Furinae pervenit.

5 He came onto the Capitol, while Minucius Rufus, tribune of the plebs, was counter-legislating against his laws; where, when Antyllius, the crier of the consul Opimius, had been killed in the crowd, he descended into the forum and, unwittingly, drew the assembly away from the tribune of the plebs; for which matter, when summoned and he had not come into the senate, he seized the Aventine with an armed household; where, defeated by Opimius, while he was leaping down from the Temple of Luna, he twisted his ankle, and—his friend Pomponius at the Trigeminian Gate, and P. Laetorius on the Sublician Bridge resisting those pursuing—he reached the grove of Furina.

6 Ibi vel sua vel servi Euphori manu interfectus; caput a Septimuleio amico Gracchi ad Opimium relatum auro expensum fertur, propter avaritiam infuso plumbo gravius effectum.

6 There he was killed either by his own hand or by the hand of the slave Euphorus; his head is said to have been carried by Septimuleius, a friend of Gracchus, to Opimius, weighed in gold, made heavier by lead poured in on account of greed.

1 Marcus Livius Drusus, genere et eloquentia magnus, sed ambitiosus et superbus, aedilis munus magnificentissimum dedit.

1 Marcus Livius Drusus, great in lineage and eloquence, but ambitious and proud, gave a most magnificent spectacle as aedile.

2 Ubi Remmio collegae quaedam de utilitate reipublicae suggerenti: Quid tibi, inquit, cum republica nostra?

2 When to his colleague Remmius, suggesting certain things about the utility of the republic: “What have you,” said he, “to do with our republic?”

3 Quaestor in Asia nullis insignibus uti voluit, ne quid ipso esset insignius.

3 As quaestor in Asia he wished to use no insignia, lest anything be more distinguished than himself.

4 Tribunus plebis Latinis civitatem, plebi agros, equitibus curiam, senatui iudicia permisit.

4 As tribune of the plebs, he granted citizenship to the Latins, fields to the plebs, a curia to the equestrians, and the courts to the senate.

5 Nimiae liberalitatis fuit: ipse etiam professus nemini se ad largiendum praeter caelum et caenum reliquisse; ideoque cum pecunia egeret, multa contra dignitatem fecit.

5 He was of excessive liberality: he himself even professed that he had left to no one, for largesse, anything except the sky and the mire; and therefore, when he lacked money, he did many things contrary to his dignity.

6 Magudulsam Mauritaniae principem ob regis simultatem profugum accepta pecunia Boccho prodidit, quem ille elephanto obiecit.

6 He betrayed Magudulsa, a prince of Mauretania, a fugitive on account of the king’s enmity, to Bocchus after receiving money; and that man cast him to an elephant.

7 Adherbalem filium regis Numidarum obsidem domi suae suppressit redemptionem eius occultam a patre sperans.

7 He kept Adherbal, the son of the king of the Numidians, as a hostage in his own house, hoping for a secret ransom for him from his father.

8 Caepionem inimicum actionibus suis resistentem ait se de saxo Tarpeio praecipitaturum.

8 He said that he would hurl Caepio, his enemy who was resisting his proceedings, from the Tarpeian Rock.

9 Philippo consuli legibus agrariis resistenti ita collum in comitio obtorsit, ut multus sanguis efflueret e naribus; quam ille luxuriam opprobrans muriam de turdis esse dicebat.

9 He twisted the neck of Philippus the consul, who was resisting the agrarian laws, in the Comitium, in such a way that much blood flowed from his nostrils; which luxury, reproaching it, he used to say was brine from thrushes.

10 Deinde ex gratia nimia in invidiam venit. Nam plebs acceptis agris gaudebat, expuisi dolebant, equites in senatum lecti laetabantur, sed praeteriti querebantur; senatus permissis iudiciis exaltabat, sed societatem cum equitibus aegre ferebat.

10 Then from excessive favor he came into envy. For the plebs rejoiced at the lands received, the expelled were grieving, the equestrians chosen into the senate were glad, but those passed over were complaining; the senate, the judicial courts having been permitted, was exalting him, but it was bearing with difficulty the partnership with the equestrians.

11 Unde Livius anxius, ut Latinorum postulata differret, qui promissam civitatem flagitabant, repente in publico concidit sive morbo comitiali seu hausto caprino sanguine, semianimis domum relatus.

11 Whence Livius, anxious to defer the demands of the Latins, who were clamoring for the promised citizenship, suddenly collapsed in public, either from the comitial disease or from having drunk goat’s blood, and, half-alive, was carried home.

12 Vota pro illo per Italiam publice suscepta sunt. Et cum Latini consulem in Albano monte interfecturi essent, Philippum admonuit, ut caveret: unde in senatu accusatus, cum domum se reciperet, immisso inter turbam percussore corruit.

12 Vows for him were publicly undertaken throughout Italy. And when the Latins were about to slay the consul on the Alban Mount, he warned Philip to beware: whereupon, accused in the senate, as he was making his way home, with an assassin sent into the crowd, he fell.

13 Invidia caedis apud Philippum et Caepionem fuit.

13 The odium for the killing was upon Philippus and Caepio.

1 Gaius Marius septies consul, Arpinas, humili luco natus, primis honoribus per ordinem functus, legatus Metello in Numidia criminando eum consulatum adeptus Iugurtham captum ante currum egit.

1 Gaius Marius, seven times consul, an Arpinate, born of humble station, having held the first honors in due order, as legate to Metellus in Numidia—by accusing him—obtained the consulship, and led Jugurtha, captured, before his chariot.

2 In proximum annum consul ultro factus Cimbros in Gallia apud Aquas Sextias, Teutonas in Italia in campo Raudio vicit deque his triumphavit.

2 For the next year, having been made consul unbidden, he defeated the Cimbri in Gaul near Aquae Sextiae, the Teutones in Italy on the Raudian Plain, and he triumphed over them.

3 Usque sextum consulatum per ordinem factus Apuleium tribunum plebis et Glauciam praetorem seditiosos ex senatusconsulto interemit.

3 Made in order through to the sixth consulship, he put to death Apuleius, tribune of the plebs, and Glaucia, praetor, as seditious men, by decree of the senate.

4 Et cum Sulpicia rogatione provinciam Syllae eriperet, armis ab eo victus Minturnis in palude delituit.

4 And when, by the Sulpician rogation, he was wresting the province from Sulla, defeated by him in arms, he hid in a marsh at Minturnae.

5 Inventus et in carcerem coniectus immissum percussorem Gallum vultus auctoritate deterruit acceptaque navicula in Africam traiecit, ubi diu exulavit.

5 Found and thrown into prison, he deterred the Gaul assassin who had been sent in by the authority of his countenance, and, a little boat having been obtained, he crossed over into Africa, where he was long in exile.

6 Mox Cinnana dominatione revocatus ruptis ergastulis exercitum fecit caesisque inimicis iniuriam ultus septimo consulatu, ut quidam ferunt, voluntaria morte decessit.

6 Soon, recalled under Cinna’s domination, with the prisons broken open he raised an army, and, his enemies cut down and the injury avenged, in his 7th consulship, as some report, he departed by voluntary death.

1 Gaius Marius filius viginti septem annorum consulatum invasit, quem honorem tam immaturum mater flevit.

1 Gaius Marius the son, twenty-seven years of age, seized the consulship, which honor, so premature, his mother wept.

2 Hic patri saevitia similis curiam armatus obsedit, inimicos trucidavit, quorum corpora in Tiberim praecipitavit.

2 He, like his father in savagery, armed, besieged the Curia, trucidated his enemies, and hurled their bodies headlong into the Tiber.

3 In apparatu belli, quod contra Syllam parabatur, apud Sacriportum vigiliis et labore defessus sub divo requievit et absens victus fugae, non pugnae interfuit.

3 In the apparatus of war, which was being prepared against Sulla, at Sacriportus, worn out by vigils and labor, he rested under the open sky; and, being absent, with his side vanquished, he took part in flight, not in battle.

4 Praeneste confugit, ubi per Lucretium Afellam obsessus temptata per cuniculum fuga, cum omnia saepta intelligeret, iugulandum se Pontio Telesino praebuit.

4 He fled to Praeneste, where, besieged by Lucretius Afella, after an escape through a mine‑tunnel had been attempted, when he understood that all avenues were enclosed, he offered himself to Pontius Telesinus to be jugulated.

1 Lucius Cornelius Cinna flagitiosissimus rempublicam summa crudelitate vastavit.

1 Lucius Cornelius Cinna, most flagitious, devastated the republic with the utmost cruelty.

2 Primo consulatu legem de exulibus revocandis ferens ab Octavio collega prohibitus et honore privatus urbe profugit vocatisque ad pilleum servis adversarios vicit, Octavium interfecit, Ianiculum occupavit.

2 In his first consulship, carrying a law for recalling exiles, he was prohibited by his colleague Octavius and deprived of his honor (office), fled the city, and, having called the slaves to the cap of liberty, defeated his adversaries, killed Octavius, and occupied the Janiculum.

3 Iterum et tertio consulem se ipse fecit.

3 A second and a third time he made himself consul.

4 Quarto consulatu cum bellum contra Syllam pararet, Anconae ob nimiam crudelitatem ab exercitu lapidibus occisus est.

4 In his fourth consulship, when he was preparing war against Sulla, at Ancona, on account of excessive cruelty, he was stoned to death by the army.

1 Flavius Fimbria saevissimus, quippe Cinnae satelles, Valerio Flacco consuli legatus in Asiam profectus, per simultatem dimissus corrupto exercitu ducem interficiendum curavit.

1 Flavius Fimbria, most savage, indeed a henchman of Cinna, having set out into Asia as legate to the consul Valerius Flaccus, dismissed through rivalry, after corrupting the army, saw to it that the commander was killed.

2 Ipse correptis imperii insignibus provinciam ingressus Mithridatem Pergamo expulit.

2 He himself, having seized the insignia of command, entered the province and expelled Mithridates from Pergamum.

3 Ilium, ubi tardius portae patuerant, incendi iussit; ubi Minervae templum inviolatum stetit, quod divina maiestate servatum nemo dubitavit.

3 He ordered Ilium, where the gates had opened too late, to be burned; where the temple of Minerva stood inviolate, which no one doubted had been preserved by divine majesty.

4 Ibidem Fimbria militiae principes securi percussit; mox a Sylla Pergami obsessus corrupto exercitu desertas semet occidit.

4 There Fimbria struck with the axe the leaders of the soldiery; soon, besieged at Pergamum by Sulla, with his army corrupted and having been deserted, he killed himself.

1 Viriathus genere Lusitanus, ob paupertatem primo mercennarius, deinde alacritate venator, audacia latro, ad postremum dux, bellum adversum Romanos sumpsit eorumque imperatorem Claudium Unimanum, dein C. Nigidium oppressit.

1 Viriathus, by race a Lusitanian, because of poverty at first a mercenary, then by alacrity a hunter, by audacity a brigand, and at the last a leader, undertook war against the Romans and overwhelmed their commanders Claudius Unimanus, then Gaius Nigidius.

2 Pacem a Popilio maluit integer petere quam victus† et cum alia dedisset et arma retinerentur, bellum renovavit.

2 He preferred to seek peace from Popilius while still intact rather than defeated†; and when the other terms had been granted and the weapons were being withheld, he renewed the war.

3 Caepio cum vincere aliter non posset, duos satellites pecunia corrupit, qui Viriathum vino depositum peremerunt.

3 Caepio, since he could not conquer otherwise, corrupted two bodyguards with money, who slew Viriathus, laid low by wine.

4 Quae victoria, quia empta erat, a senatu non probata.

4 Which victory, because it had been bought, was not approved by the senate.

1 Marcus Aemilius Scaurus nobilis, pauper: nam pater eius quamvis patricius ob paupertatem carbonarium negotium exercuit.

1 Marcus Aemilius Scaurus, noble, poor: for his father, although a patrician, on account of poverty carried on the charcoal business.

2 Ipse primo dubitavit, honores peteret an argentariam faceret; sed eloquentiae consultus ex ea gloriam peperit.

2 He himself at first doubted whether he should seek honors or engage in banking; but, versed in eloquence, he brought forth glory from it.

3 Primo in Hispania corniculum meruit sub Oreste in Sardinia stipendia fecit.

3 At first in Spain he merited the corniculum; under Orestes in Sardinia he did his military service.

4 Aedilis iuri reddendo magis quam muneri edendo studuit. Praetor adversus Iugurtham, tamen eius pecunia victus.

4 As Aedile, he strove more for rendering justice than for staging the munus. As Praetor against Jugurtha, nevertheless he was overcome by that man’s money.

5 Consul legem de sumptibus et libertinorum suffragiis tulit.

5 As consul he carried a law on sumptuary expenditure and on the suffrages of freedmen.

6 P. Decium praetorem transeunte ipso sedentem iussit assurgere eique vestem scidit, sellam concidit; ne quis ad eum in ius iret edixit.

6 He ordered Publius Decius, the praetor, as he himself was passing by, to rise from his seat; and he tore his garment and cut his chair to pieces; he issued an edict that no one should go to him into court.

7 Consul Liguras Tauriscos domuit atque de his triumphavit.

7 The consul subdued the Ligurians, the Taurisci, and triumphed over them.

8 Censor viam Aemiliam stravit, pontem Mulvium fecit.

8 The Censor paved the Aemilian Way, he made the Mulvian Bridge.

9 Tantumque auctoritate potuit, ut Opimium contra Gracchum, Marium contra Glauciam et Saturninum privato consilio armaret.

9 And such was his authority, that he armed Opimius against Gracchus, and Marius against Glaucia and Saturninus, by private counsel.

10 Idem filium suum, quia praesidium deseruerat, in conspectum suum vetuit accedere; ille ob hoc dedecus mortem sibi conscivit.

10 The same man forbade his son, because he had deserted the guard-post, to approach into his presence; he, on account of this disgrace, killed himself.

11 Scaurus senex cum a Vario tribune plebis argueretur, quasi socios et Latium ad arma coegisset, apud populum ait: Varius Sucronensis Aemilium Scaurum ait socios ad arma coegisse, Scaurus negat: utri potius credendum putatis?

11 Scaurus, an old man, when he was being accused by Varius, tribune of the plebs, as though he had compelled the allies and Latium to arms, said before the people: Varius of Sucro says that Aemilius Scaurus compelled the allies to arms; Scaurus denies it: which of the two do you think ought rather to be believed?

1 Lucius Apuleius Saturninus, tribunus plebis seditiosus, ut gratiam Marianorum militum pararet, legem tulit, ut veteranis centena agri iugera in Africa dividerentur; intercedentem Baebium collegam facta per populum lapidatione submovit.

1 Lucius Apuleius Saturninus, a seditious tribune of the plebs, in order to prepare the favor of the Marian soldiers, brought a law that a hundred iugera of land in Africa be allotted to the veterans; he drove off his colleague Baebius, who was interceding, by a stoning carried out by the people.

2 Glauciae praetori, quod is eo die, quo ipse contionem habebat, ius dicendo partem populi avocasset, sellam concidit, ut magis popularis videretur.

2 He cut down the praetor Glaucia’s chair, because that man, on the day on which he himself was holding an assembly, by administering justice had drawn away a part of the people, in order that he might seem more popular.

3 Quendam libertini ordinis subornavit, qui se Tiberii Gracchi filium fingeret.

3 He suborned a certain man of the freedman order, to feign himself to be the son of Tiberius Gracchus.

4 Ad hoc testimonium Sempronia soror Gracchorum producta nec precibus nec minis adduci potuit, ut dedecus familiae agnosceret.

4 For this testimony Sempronia, sister of the Gracchi, was produced, and could be induced neither by prayers nor by threats to acknowledge the disgrace of the family.

5 Saturninus Aulo Nunnio competitore interfecto tribunus plebis refectus Siciliam, Achaiam, Macedoniam novis colonis destinavit; et aurum dolo an scelere Caepionis partum ad emptionem agrorum convertit.

5 Saturninus, with his rival Aulus Nunnius slain, having been reinstated as tribune of the plebs, destined Sicily, Achaia, and Macedonia for new colonists; and he converted the gold, obtained by the fraud or crime of Caepio, to the purchase of lands.

6 Aqua et igni interdixit ei, qui in leges suas non iurasset.

6 He interdicted him from water and fire, who had not sworn to his laws.

7 Huic legi multi nobiles obrogantes, cum tonuisset, clamarunt: Iam, inquit, nisi quiescetis, grandinabit.

7 Many nobles, obrogating this law, when it had thundered, shouted: “Now,” he said, “unless you quiet down, it will hail.”

8 Metellus Numidicus exulare quam iurare maluit.

8 Metellus Numidicus preferred to go into exile rather than to swear the oath.

9 Saturninus tertio tribunus plebis refectus, ut satellitem suum Glauciam praetorem faceret, Mummium competitorem eius in campo Martio necandum curavit.

9 Saturninus, re-elected tribune of the plebs for the third time, in order to make his satellite Glaucia praetor, took care to have Mummius, his competitor, killed in the Campus Martius.

10 Marius senatusconsulto armatus, quo censeretur, darent operam consules, ne quid respublica detrimenti caperet, Saturninum et Glauciam in Capitolium persecutus obsedit maximoque aestu incisis fistulis in deditionem accepit. Nec deditis fides servata:

10 Marius, armed with a senatorial decree, by which it was resolved that the consuls should see to it that the Republic take no detriment, having pursued Saturninus and Glaucia into the Capitol, besieged them, and, with the greatest heat and the water-pipes cut, received them upon surrender. Nor was faith kept with the surrendered:

11 Glauciae fracta cervix, Apuleius cum in curiam fugisset, lapidibus et tegulis desuper interfectus est.

11 Glaucia’s neck was broken, and Apuleius, when he had fled into the Curia, was killed from above by stones and roof-tiles.

12 Caput eius Rabirius quidam senator per convivia in ludibrium circumtulit.

12 A certain senator, Rabirius, carried his head around through banquets for mockery.

1 Lucius Licinius Lucullus nobilis, disertus et dives, munus quaestorium amplissimum dedit.

1 Lucius Licinius Lucullus, noble, eloquent, and rich, gave a most ample quaestorian spectacle.

2 Mox per Murenam in Asia classem Mithridatis et Ptolomaeum regem Alexandriae consuli Syllae conciliavit.

2 Soon, through Murena in Asia, he conciliated to the consul Sulla the fleet of Mithridates and Ptolemy, king of Alexandria.

3 Praetor Africam iustissime rexit.

3 As praetor, he governed Africa most justly.

4 Adversus Mithridatem missus collegam suum Cottam Chalcedone obsessum liberavit. Cyzicum obsidione solvit.

4 Sent against Mithridates, he liberated his colleague Cotta, besieged at Chalcedon. He relieved the siege of Cyzicus.

5 Mithridatis copias ferro et fame afflixit eumque regno suo id est Ponto expulit.

5 He afflicted the forces of Mithridates by iron and famine and expelled him from his own kingdom, that is, Pontus.

6 Quem rursum cum Tigrane rege Armeniae subveniente magna felicitate superavit.

6 whom again, with Tigranes, king of Armenia, coming to his aid, he overcame with great felicity.

7 Nimius in habitu, maxime signorum et tabularum amore flagravit.

7 Excessive in attire, he burned especially with a love of statuary and paintings.

8 Post cum alienata mente desipere coepisset, tutela eius M. Lucullo fratri permissa est.

8 Afterwards, when he had begun to be foolish with an alienated mind, his guardianship was entrusted to his brother M. Lucullus.

1 Cornelius Sylla, a fortuna Felix dictus, cum parvulus a nutrice ferretur, mulier obvia: Salve, inquit, puer tibi et reipublicae tuae felix; et stafim quaesita, quae haec dixisset, non potuit inveniri.

1 Cornelius Sulla, called Felix by Fortune, when as a very small child he was being carried by his nurse, a woman meeting them said: Hail, boy, fortunate to yourself and to your republic; and immediately, though she was sought, she who had said this could not be found.

2 Hic quaestor Marii Iugurtham a Boccho in deditionem accepit.

2 He, Marius’s quaestor, accepted Jugurtha in surrender from Bocchus.

3 Bello Cimbrico et Teutonico legatus bonam operam navavit. Praetor inter cives ius dixit.

3 In the Cimbrian and Teutonic war, as legate, he rendered good service. As praetor he administered justice among the citizens.

4 Praetor Ciliciam provinciam habuit.

4 As praetor, he had Cilicia as his province.

5 Bello sociali Samnites Hirpinosque superavit.

5 In the Social War he overcame the Samnites and the Hirpini.

6 Ne monumenta Bocchi tollerentur, Mario restitit.

6 Lest the monuments of Bocchus be taken away, he resisted Marius.

7 Consul Asiam sortitus Mithridatem apud Orchomenum et Chaeroniam proelio fudit, Archelaum praefectum eius Athenis vicit, portum Piraeum recepit, Maedos et Dardanos in itinere superavit.

7 The Consul, having drawn Asia by lot, routed Mithridates in battle at Orchomenus and Chaeronea, defeated Archelaus, his prefect, at Athens, recovered the port of Piraeus, and overcame the Maedi and the Dardanians on the march.

8 Mox cum rogatione Sulpicia imperium eius transferretur ad Marium, in Italiam regressus corruptis adversariorum exercitibus Carbonem Italia expulit, Marium apud Sacriportum, Telesinum apud portam Collinam vicit.

8 Soon, when by the Sulpician rogation his command was transferred to Marius, having returned to Italy with the armies of his adversaries corrupted, he expelled Carbo from Italy, defeated Marius at Sacriportus, and Telesinus at the Colline Gate.

9 Mario Praeneste interfecto Felicem se edicto appellavit. Proscriptionis tabulas primus proposuit.

9 With Marius slain at Praeneste, he called himself Felix by edict. He was the first to post the proscription lists.

10 Novem milia dediticiorum in villa publica cecidit.

10 He slew nine thousand of the surrenderers in the Villa Publica.

11 Numerum sacerdotum auxit, tribuniciam potestatem minuit.

11 He increased the number of priests, he diminished the tribunician power.

12 Republica ordinata dictataram deposuit; unde sperni coeptus Puteolos concessit et morbo, qui phthiriasis vocatur, interiit.

12 With the republic set in order, he laid down the dictatorship; whence, having begun to be scorned, he withdrew to Puteoli and perished of a disease which is called phthiriasis.

1 Mithridates rex Ponti oriundus a septem Persis, magna vi animi et corporis, ut sexiuges equos regeret quinquaginta gentiam ore loqueretur.

1 Mithridates, king of Pontus, sprung from the seven Persians, with great force of mind and body, such that he could guide six-yoked horses and speak, with his mouth, the tongues of fifty nations.

2 Bello sociali dissidentibus Romanis Nicomedem Bithynia Ariobarzanen Cappadocia espulit.

2 During the Social War, with the Romans in dissension, he expelled Nicomedes from Bithynia and Ariobarzanes from Cappadocia.

3 Litteras per totam Asiam misit, ut, quicunque Romanus esset, certa die interficeretur; et factum est.

3 He sent letters throughout all Asia, that whoever was a Roman be killed on a fixed day; and it was done.

4 Graeciam insulasque omnes excepta Rhodo occupavit.

4 He occupied Greece and all the islands, Rhodes excepted.

5 Sylla eum proelio vicit, classem eius proditione Archelai intercepit, ipsum apud Dardanum oppidum fudit et oppressit, et potuit capere, nisi adversum Marium festinans qualemcumque pacem componere maluisset.

5 Sulla defeated him in battle, intercepted his fleet through the treachery of Archelaus, routed and overwhelmed him at the town of Dardanus, and could have captured him, had he not, hastening against Marius, preferred to compose some sort of peace.

6 Deinde eum acrius resistentem Lucullus fudit.

6 Then Lucullus routed him as he was resisting more fiercely.

7 Mithridates post a Pompeio nocturno proelio victus in regnum confugit ubi per seditionem popularium a Pharnace filio in turre obsessus venenum sumpsit.

7 Mithridates, after being defeated by Pompey in a nocturnal battle, fled into his kingdom, where, through a sedition of his partisans, besieged in a tower by his son Pharnaces, he took poison.

8 Quod cum tardius combiberet, quia adversum venena multis antea medicaminibus corpus firmarat, immissum percussorem Gallum Bithocum auctoritate vultus territum revocavit et in caedem suam manum trepidantis adiuvit.

8 When he drank it down rather slowly, because he had previously strengthened his body against poisons with many medicaments, he called back the assassin sent in, the Gaul Bithocus, who had been terrified by the authority of his countenance, and he aided the hand of the trembling man in his own slaughter.

1 Cn. Pompeius Magnus, civili bello Syllae partes secutus ita egit, ut ab eo maxime diligeretur. Siciliam sine bello a proscriptis recepit.

1 Gnaeus Pompeius the Great, having followed Sulla’s party in the civil war, conducted himself in such a way that he was most highly esteemed by him. He recovered Sicily from the proscribed without war.

2 Numidiam Hiarbae ereptam Massinissae restituit. Viginti sex annos natus triumphavit.

2 He restored Numidia, snatched from Hiarbas, to Massinissa. He triumphed at twenty-six years of age.

3 Lepidum acta Syllae rescindere volentem privatus Italia fugavit.

3 As a private citizen, he drove Lepidus, wishing to rescind Sulla’s acts, out of Italy.

4 Praetor in Hispaniam pro consulibus missus Sertorium vicit.

4 As praetor, sent to Spain in place of the consuls, he defeated Sertorius.

5 Mox piratas intra quadragesimum diem subegit. Tigranem ad deditionem, Mithridatem ad venenum compulit.

5 Soon he subdued the pirates within the fortieth day. He compelled Tigranes to surrender, Mithridates to poison himself.

6 Deinde mira felicitate nunc in septemtrionem Albanos, Colchos, Heniochos, Caspios, Iberos, nunc in orientem Parthos, Arabas atque Iudaeos cum magno sui terrore penetravit.

6 Then, with marvelous felicity, now toward the north the Albanians, Colchians, Heniochi, Caspians, Iberians, now toward the east the Parthians, Arabs, and Jews, he penetrated, with great terror of himself.

7 Primus in Hyrcanum, Rubrum et Arabicum mare usque pervenit.

7 He was the first to reach all the way to the Hyrcanian, the Red, and the Arabian sea.

8 Moxque diviso orbis imperio, cum Crassus Syriam, Caesar Galliam, Pompeius urbem obtineret, post caedem Crassi Caesarem dimittere exercitum iussit.

8 And soon, with the empire of the world divided, when Crassus was holding Syria, Caesar Gaul, and Pompey the city, after the slaughter of Crassus he ordered Caesar to dismiss the army.

9 Cuius infesto adventu urbe pulsus, in Pharsalia victus ad Ptolomaeum Alexandriae regem confugit. Eius imperio ab Achilla et Potino satellitibus occisus est.

9 Driven from the city by his hostile approach, and defeated at Pharsalia, he fled to Ptolemy, king of Alexandria. By his command he was slain by the satellites Achillas and Potinus.

(Huius latus sub oculis uxoris et liberorum a Septimio, Ptolomaei praefecto, mucrone confossum est. Iamque defuncti caput gladio praecisum, quod usque ad ea tempora fuerat ignoratum. Truncus Nilo iactatus a Servio Codro rogo inustus humatusque est inscribente sepulcro: Hic positus est Magnus.

(His side, under the eyes of his wife and children, was pierced through by the point by Septimius, the prefect of Ptolemy. And now the head of the deceased was cut off with a sword, which up to that time had been unknown. The trunk, thrown into the Nile, was burned on a pyre and buried by Servius Codrus, the sepulcher inscribing: Here is placed Magnus.

Caput ab Achilla, Ptolomaei satellite, Aegyptio velamine involutum cum anulo Caesari pracaentatum est; qui non continens lacrimas illud plurimis et pretiosissimis odoribus cremandum curavit.)

The head, by Achillas, Ptolemy’s satellite, wrapped in an Egyptian veil, together with the ring, was presented to Caesar; who, not containing his tears, took care that it be burned with very many and most precious perfumes.)

1 Gaius Iulius Caesar, veneratione rerum gestarum Divus dictus, contubernalis Thermo in Asiam profectus, cum saepe ad Nicomedem, regem Bithyniae, commearet, impudicitiae infamatus est.

1 Gaius Julius Caesar, called Divus by veneration of his exploits, having set out into Asia as the contubernal of Thermus, since he often made journeys to Nicomedes, king of Bithynia, was branded with infamy for unchastity.

2 Mox Dolabellam iudicio oppressit.

2 Soon after, he crushed Dolabella by a judgment in court.

3 Dum studiorum causa Rhodum petit, a piratis captus et redemptus, eosdem et postea captos punivit.

3 While he was making for Rhodes for the sake of his studies, he was captured by pirates and ransomed, and he punished those same men after they were later captured.

4 Praetor Lusitaniam et post Galliam ab Alpibus usque et Oceanum bis classe transgressus Britanniam subegit.

4 As praetor he subdued Lusitania, and afterward Gaul from the Alps all the way to the Ocean, and, having crossed over with a fleet twice, he subdued Britain.

5 Cum ei triumphus a Pompeio negaretur, armis eum urbe pulsum in Pharsalia vicit.

5 When a triumph was denied him by Pompey, he defeated him at Pharsalia, after he had been driven from the city by arms.

6 Capite eius oblato flevit, et honorifice sepeliri fecit; mox a satellitibus Ptolomaei obsessus eorum et regis nece Pompeio parentavit.

6 At the offering of his head he wept, and he had it buried with honor; soon, beset by Ptolemy’s henchmen, by their death and that of the king he performed rites for Pompey.

7 Pharnacem Mithridatis filium fama nominis fugavit.

7 The fame of his name put to flight Pharnaces, the son of Mithridates.

8 Iubam et Scipionem in Africa, Pompeios iuvenes in Hispania apud Mundam oppidum ingenti proelio vicit.

8 He defeated Juba and Scipio in Africa, and the young Pompeys in Hispania at the town of Munda, in a vast battle.

9 Deinde ignoscendo amicis odia cum armis deposuit: nam Lentulum tantum et Afranium et Faustum Syllae filium iussit occidi.

9 Then, by forgiving his friends, he laid down hatreds together with arms: for he ordered only Lentulus and Afranius and Faustus, the son of Sulla, to be killed.

10 Dictator in perpetuum factus a senatu, in curia Cassio et Bruto caedis auctoribus tribus et viginti vulneribus occisus est; cuius corpore pro rostris posito sol orbem suum celasse dicitur.

10 Made dictator in perpetuity by the senate, he was slain in the curia by Cassius and Brutus, authors of the slaughter, with twenty-three wounds; and when his body was placed before the rostra, the sun is said to have concealed its own orb.

1 Caesar Octavianus ex Octavia familia in Iuliam translatus in ultionem Iulii Caesaris, a quo heres fuerat institutus, Brutum et Cassium caedis auctores in Macedonia vicit.

1 Caesar Octavianus, transferred from the Octavian family into the Julian for the vengeance of Julius Caesar, by whom he had been instituted as heir, conquered Brutus and Cassius, the authors of the slaying, in Macedonia.

2 Sextum Pompeium Gnaei Pompei filium bona paterna repetentem in freto Siculo superavit.

2 He overcame Sextus Pompeius, the son of Gnaeus Pompeius, who was seeking to recover his paternal goods, in the Sicilian Strait.

3 Marcum Antonium consulem Syriam obtinentem amore Cleopatrae devinctum in Actiaco Ambraciae litore debellavit.

3 He vanquished Marcus Antonius, the consul, holding Syria, bound by love of Cleopatra, on the Actian shore of Ambracia.

4 Reliquam orbis partem per legatos domuit. Huic Parthi signa, quae Crasso sustulerant, ultro reddiderunt.

4 He subdued the remaining part of the world through legates. To him the Parthians, of their own accord, returned the standards which they had taken from Crassus.

5 Indi, Scythae, Sarmatae, Daci, quos non domuerat, dona miserunt.

5 Indians, Scythians, Sarmatians, Dacians, whom he had not subdued, sent gifts.

6 Iani gemini portas bis ante se clausas, primo sub Numa, iterum post primum Punicum bellum, sua manu clausit.

6 He closed with his own hand the twin gates of Janus, which had been closed twice before his time, first under Numa, again after the First Punic War.

7 Dictator in perpetuum factus a senatu ob res gestas Divus Augustus est appellatus.

7 Having been made Dictator in perpetuity by the Senate on account of his achievements, he was called the Divine Augustus.

1 Cato praetorius Catonis censorii pronepos cum in domo avunculi Drusi educaretur, nec pretio nec minis potuit adduci a Q. Popedio Silone Marsorum principe, ut favere se causae sociorum diceret.

1 Cato, of praetorian rank, the great-grandson of Cato the Censor, while he was being brought up in the house of his uncle Drusus, could be induced neither by price nor by menaces by Q. Popedius Silo, chieftain of the Marsi, to say that he favored the cause of the allies.

2 Quaestor Cyprum missus ad vehendam ex Ptolomaei hereditate pecuniam cum summa eam fide perduxit; praeterea coniuratos puniendos censuit.

2 As quaestor, sent to Cyprus to convey the money from Ptolemy’s inheritance, he delivered it with the utmost fidelity; moreover, he judged that the conspirators were to be punished.

3 Bello civili Pompei partes secutus est; quo victo exercitum per deserta Africae duxit, ubi Scipioni consulari delatum ad se imperium concessit.

3 In the civil war he followed Pompey’s party; when he was defeated, he led the army through the deserts of Africa, where he conceded the command, which had been conferred upon him, to Scipio the consular.

4 Victis partibus Uticam concessit, ubi filium hortatus, ut clementiam Caesaris experiretur, ipse lecto Platonis libro, qui de bono mortis est, semet occidit.

4 With his party defeated, he withdrew to Utica, where, having encouraged his son to try Caesar's clemency, he himself, after reading Plato's book, which is on the good of death, killed himself.

1 Marcus Tullius Cicero, genere Arpinas, patre equite Romano natus, genus a Tito Tatio rege duxit.

1 Marcus Tullius Cicero, by stock an Arpinate, born of a father a Roman knight, traced his lineage from King Titus Tatius.

2 Adolescens Rosciano iudicio eloquentiam et libertatem suam adversus Sullanos ostendit; ex quo veritus invidiam Athenas studiorum gratia petivit, ubi Antiochum Academicum philosophum studiose audivit. Inde eloquentiae gratia Asiam, post Rhodum petiit, ubi Molonem Graecum rhetorem tum disertissimum magristrum habuit, qui flesse dicitur, quod per hunc Graecia eloquentiae laude privaretur.

2 As a youth, in the Roscian trial he displayed his eloquence and his liberty against the Sullans; and, fearing envy in consequence, he sought Athens for the sake of studies, where he diligently listened to Antiochus, an Academic philosopher. Thence for the sake of eloquence he sought Asia, afterward Rhodes, where he had Molon, a Greek rhetor, then most eloquent, as his teacher, who is said to have wept, because through this man Greece would be deprived of the praise of eloquence.

3 Quaestor Siciliam habuit. Aedilis Gaium Verrem repetundarum damnavit. Praetor Ciliciam latrociniis liberavit.

3 As Quaestor he had Sicily. As Aedile he condemned Gaius Verres for extortions. As Praetor he freed Cilicia from brigandage.

4 Consul coniuratos capite punivit. Mox invidia P. Clodii instinctuque Caesaris et Pompei, quos dominationis suspectos eadem, qua quondam Sullanos, libertate perstrinxerat, sollicitatis Pisone et Gabinio consulibus, qui Macedoniam Asiamque provincias in stipendium opera huius acceperant, in exilium actus; mox ipso referente Pompeio rediit eumque civili bello secutus est.

4 As consul he punished the conspirators with death. Soon, through the ill-will of P. Clodius and the instigation of Caesar and Pompey—whom, suspected of domination, he had branded with the same liberty with which once he had branded the Sullans—Piso and Gabinius, the consuls, having been won over, who had received Macedonia and Asia as provinces in stipend thanks to his efforts, he was driven into exile; soon, with Pompey himself bringing it forward, he returned and followed him in the civil war.

5 Quo victo veniam a Caesare ultro accepit; quo interfecto Augustum fovit, Antonium hostem iudicavit;

5 With him defeated, he received pardon from Caesar unsolicited; with him slain, he favored Augustus, he judged Antony an enemy;

6 Et cum triumviros se fecissent Caesar, Lepidus Antoniusque, concordia non aliter visa est inter eos iungi posse, nisi Tullius necaretur; qui immissis ab Antonio percussoribus cum forte Formiis quiesceret, imminens exitium corvi auspicio didicit et fugiens occisus est. Caput ad Antonium relatum.

6 And when Caesar, Lepidus, and Antony had made themselves triumvirs, it seemed that concord could be joined between them in no other way, unless Tullius were slain; who, assassins having been sent in by Antony, as he chanced to be resting at Formiae, learned of the impending doom by the auspice of a crow, and, fleeing, was killed. The head was brought back to Antony.

1 Marcus Brutus, avunculi Catonis imitator, Athenis philosophiam, Rhodi eloquentiam didicit.

1 Marcus Brutus, an imitator of his maternal uncle Cato, learned philosophy at Athens and eloquence at Rhodes.

2 Cytheridem mimam cum Antonio et Gallo arnavit.

2 He loved the mime-actress Cytheris, along with Antony and Gallus.

3 Quaestor <Caesari> in Galliam proficisci noluit, quod is bonis omnibus displicebat.

3 The quaestor was unwilling to set out into Gaul to <Caesar>, because he was displeasing to all good men.

4 Cum Appio socero in Cilicia fuit, et cum ille repetundarum accusaretur, ipse ne verbo quidem infamatus est.

4 He was with his father-in-law Appius in Cilicia, and when that man was being accused of extortions, he himself was not defamed even by a word.

5 Civili bello a Catone ex Cilicia retractus Pompeium secutus est, quo victo veniam a Caesare accepit et proconsul Galliam rexit; tamen cum aliis coniuratis in curia Caesarem occidit.

5 In the civil war, recalled from Cilicia by Cato, he followed Pompey; when he was defeated, he received pardon from Caesar and, as proconsul, ruled Gaul; nevertheless, together with other conspirators in the curia, he killed Caesar.

6 Et ob invidiam veteranorum in Macedoniam missus, ab Augusto in campis Philippiis victus Stratoni cervicem praebuit.

6 And, on account of the envy of the veterans, sent into Macedonia, having been defeated by Augustus on the fields of Philippi, he offered his neck to Strato.

1 Gaius Cassius Longinus quaestor Crassi in Syria fuit, post cuius caedem collectis reliquiis in Syriam rediit.

1 Gaius Cassius Longinus was Crassus’s quaestor in Syria; after whose killing, with the remnants gathered, he returned to Syria.

2 Osacem, praefectum regium, apud Orontem fluvium superavit.

2 He defeated Osaces, the royal prefect, at the river Orontes.

3 Dein eo quod coemptis Syriacis mercibus foedissime negotiaretur, Caryota cognominatus est.

3 Then, because he was doing business most disgracefully after buying up Syrian merchandise, he was surnamed Caryota.

4 Tribunus plebis Caesarem oppugnavit.

4 A tribune of the plebs attacked Caesar.

5 Bello civili Pompeium secutus classi praefuit.

5 In the civil war, following Pompey, he was in command of the fleet.

6 A Caesare veniam accepit; tamen adversus eum coniurationis auctor cum Bruto fuit et in caede dubitanti cuidam: Vel per me, inquit, feri; magnoque exercitu comparato in Macedonia Bruto coniunctus in campis Philippiis ab Antonio victus, cum eandem fortunam Bruti putaret, qui Caesarem vicerat, Pindaro liberto iugulum praebuit. Cuius morte audita Antonius exclamasse dicitur: Vici.

6 He received pardon from Caesar; nevertheless he was an author of the conspiracy against him together with Brutus; and, to a certain man hesitating in the slaughter: “Even through me,” he said, “strike”; and, a great army having been assembled, in Macedonia, joined with Brutus, on the Philippian plains he was defeated by Antony, and, thinking it the same fortune of Brutus, who had conquered Caesar, he offered his throat to Pindarus the freedman. On hearing of his death, Antony is said to have exclaimed: “I have won.”

1 Sextus Pompeius, in Hispania apud Mundam victus, amisso fratre, reliquiis exercitus collectis Siciliam petiit, ubi ruptis ergastulis mare obsedit.

1 Sextus Pompeius, defeated in Spain at Munda, with his brother lost, after the remnants of the army had been collected, made for Sicily, where, the slave-prisons having been broken open, he blockaded the sea.

2 Interceptis commeatibus Italiam vexavit; et cum mari feliciter uteretur, Neptuni se filium professus est eumque bobus auratis et equo placavit.

2 Having intercepted the supply-lines, he vexed Italy; and as he used the sea successfully, he professed himself the son of Neptune and appeased him with gilded oxen and a horse.

3 Pace facta epulatus in navi cum Antonio et Caesare non invenuste ait: Hae sunt meae carinae; quia Romae in Carinis domum eius Antonius tenebat.

3 With peace made, banqueting on a ship with Antony and Caesar, he said not without wit: “These are my keels”; because at Rome, in the Carinae, Antony was holding his house.

4 Rupto per eundem Antonium foedere Sextus ab Augusto per Agrippam navali proelio victus in Asiam fugit, ubi ab Antonianis militibus occisus est.

4 With the treaty broken by that same Antony, Sextus was defeated by Augustus through Agrippa in a naval battle, fled into Asia, where he was killed by Antonian soldiers.

1 Marcus Antonius, in omnibus expeditionibus Iulio Caesari comes, Lupercalibus diadema ei imponere tentavit, mortuo divinos honores decrevit.

1 Marcus Antonius, in all expeditions a companion to Julius Caesar, at the Lupercalia tried to place a diadem upon him, and when he was dead decreed divine honors.

2 Augustum perfidiose tractavit, a quo apud Mutinam victus, Perusii fame domitus in Galliam fugit. Ibi Lepidum sibi collegam adiunxit; Brutum exercitu eius corrupto occidit; reparatis viribus in Italiam regressus cum Caesare in gratiam rediit.

2 He dealt with Augustus perfidiously; by whom, near Mutina, he was defeated, and, subdued by famine at Perusia, he fled into Gaul. There he added Lepidus as his colleague; he slew Brutus, having corrupted his army; with his forces repaired, returning to Italy, he returned into favor with Caesar.

3 Triumvir factus proscriptionem a Lucio Caesare avunculo suo coepit.

3 Made Triumvir, he began the proscription at the instigation of Lucius Caesar, his maternal uncle.

4 In Syriam missus bellum Parthis intulit, a quibus victus vix tertiam partem de quindecim legionibus in Aegyptum perduxit; ibi Cleopatrae amore devinctus in Actiaco litore ab Augusto victus est.

4 Sent into Syria, he brought war against the Parthians; defeated by them, he scarcely led into Egypt a third part of fifteen legions; there, bound by love of Cleopatra, he was defeated by Augustus on the Actian shore.

5 In Alexandriam regressus, cum habitu regio in solio regali sedisset, necem sibi ipse conscivit.

5 Having returned to Alexandria, when he had sat, in royal habit, upon the regal throne, he brought death upon himself.

1 Cleopatra Ptolomaei regis Aegyptiorum filia, a fratre suo Ptolomaeo eodemque marito, quem fraudare regno voluerat, pulsa ad Caesarem bello civili in Alexandriam venit; ab eo specie sua et concubitu regnum Ptolomaei et necem impetravit.

1 Cleopatra, daughter of Ptolemy, king of the Egyptians, having been driven out by her brother Ptolemy and likewise husband, whom she had wished to defraud of the kingdom, came to Caesar during the civil war into Alexandria; from him, by her appearance and by intercourse, she obtained the kingdom of Ptolemy and his death.

2 Haec tantae libidinis fuit, ut saepe prostiterit, tantae pulchritudinis, ut multi noctem illius morte emerint.

2 She was of such libido that she often prostituted herself, of such pulchritude that many bought a night with her at the price of death.

3 Postea Antonio iuncta, cum eo victa, cum se illi inferias ferre simularet, in Mausoleo eius admotis aspidibus periit.

3 Afterwards joined to Antony, defeated with him, when she pretended to bring funeral offerings to him, in his Mausoleum, with asps applied, she perished.