Eutropius: BREVIARIVM HISTORIAE ROMANAE

[1] Anno urbis septingentesimo fere ac nono interfecto Caesare civilia bella reparata sunt.Percussoribus enim Caesaris senatus favebat. Antonius consul partium Caesaris civilibus bellis opprimere eos conabatur.

[1] In about the 709th year of the City, with Caesar slain, the civil wars were renewed.For the senate was favoring Caesar’s assassins. Antony, the consul of Caesar’s party, was attempting to crush them by civil wars.

Ergo turbata re publica multa Antonius scelera committens a senatu hostis iudicatus est. Missi ad eum persequendum duo consules, Pansa et Hirtius, et Octavianus, adulescens annos X et VIII natus, Caesaris nepos, quem ille testamento heredem reliquerat et nomen suum ferre iusserat. Hic est, qui postea Augustus est dictus et rerum potitus.

Therefore, with the commonwealth thrown into turmoil, Antony, committing many crimes, was judged an enemy by the senate. Sent to pursue him were the two consuls, Pansa and Hirtius, and Octavian, a youth 18 years old, Caesar’s grandson, whom he had left as heir in his testament and had ordered to bear his name. This is he who afterwards was called Augustus and took possession of affairs.

Qui profecti contra Antonium tres duces vicerunt eum. Evenit tamen ut victores consules ambo morerentur. Quare tres exercitus uni Caesari Augusto paruerunt.

The three leaders who set out against Antony defeated him. Nevertheless it came to pass that both consuls, though victors, died. Therefore the three armies obeyed one Caesar Augustus.

[2] Fugatus Antonius amisso exercitu confugit ad Lepidum, qui Caesaris magister equitum fuerat et tum militum copias grandes habebat, a quo susceptus est.Mox Lepido operam dante Caesar pacem cum Antonio fecit et quasi vindicaturus patris sui mortem, a quo per testamentum fuerat adoptatus, Romam cum exercitu profectus extorsit, ut sibi vicesimo anno consulatus daretur. Senatum proscripsit, cum Antonio ac Lepido rem publicam armis tenere coepit.

[2] Put to flight, Antony, with his army lost, fled for refuge to Lepidus, who had been Caesar’s Master of Horse and at that time had large forces of soldiers, by whom he was received.Soon, with Lepidus giving his effort, Caesar made peace with Antony and, as if about to avenge his father’s death, by whom he had been adopted through a testament, having set out to Rome with the army, he extorted that the consulship be given to him in his twentieth year. He proscribed the Senate, and with Antony and Lepidus began to hold the republic by arms.

Per hos etiam Cicero orator occisus est multique alii nobiles.

Through these men also, Cicero the orator was slain, and many other nobles.

[3] Interea Brutus et Cassius, interfectores Caesaris, ingens bellum moverunt.Erant enim per Macedoniam et Orientem multi exercitus, quos occupaverant. Profecti sunt igitur contra eos Caesar Octavianus Augustus et M. Antonius; remanserat enim ad defendendam Italiam Lepidus.

[3] Meanwhile Brutus and Cassius, the slayers of Caesar, set in motion a vast war.For throughout Macedonia and the Orient there were many armies, which they had seized. Therefore Caesar Octavianus Augustus and M. Antonius set out against them; for Lepidus had remained to defend Italy.

Apud Philippos, Macedoniae urbem, contra eos pugnaverunt. Primo proelio victi sunt Antonius et Caesar, periit tamen dux nobilitatis Cassius, secundo Brutum et infinitam nobilitatem, quae cum illis bellum gesserat, victam interfecerunt. Ac sic inter eos divisa est res publica, ut Augustus Hispanias, Gallias et Italiam teneret, Antonius Asiam, Pontum, Orientem.

At Philippi, a city of Macedonia, they fought against them. In the first battle Antony and Caesar were defeated; nevertheless Cassius, the leader of the nobility, perished; in the second they slew Brutus and the countless nobility which had waged war with them, once conquered. And thus the commonwealth was divided between them, so that Augustus held the Spains, the Gauls, and Italy, Antony Asia, Pontus, the East.

Sed in Italia L. Antonius consul bellum civile commovit, frater eius, qui cum Caesare contra Brutum et Cassium dimicaverat. Is apud Perusium, Tusciae civitatem, victus et captus est, neque occisus.

But in Italy L. Antonius, consul, stirred up a civil war, his brother, who had fought with Caesar against Brutus and Cassius. He, at Perusia, a city of Tuscia, was defeated and captured, and not killed.

[4] Interim a Sex. Pompeio, Cn. Pompeii Magni filio, ingens bellum in Sicilia commotum est his, qui superfuerant ex partibus Bruti Cassiique, ad eum confluentibus.Bellatum per Caesarem Augustum Octavianum et M. Antonium adversus Sex.

[4] Meanwhile by Sextus Pompeius, the son of Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus (Pompey the Great), a vast war in Sicily was stirred up, as those who had survived from the parties of Brutus and Cassius were flocking to him.War was waged by Caesar Augustus Octavianus and Marcus Antonius against Sextus.

Pompeium est. Pax postremo convenit.

Sextus Pompeius. Peace at last was agreed.

[5] Eo tempore M. Agrippa in Acquitania rem prospere gessit et L. Ventidius Bassus inrumpentes in Syriam Persas tribus proeliis vicit. Pacorum, regis Orodis filium, interfecit eo ipso die, quo olim Orodes, Persarum rex, per ducem Surenam Crassum occiderat.Hic primus de Parthis iustissimum triumphum Romae egit.

[5] At that time M. Agrippa managed the affair successfully in Aquitania, and L. Ventidius Bassus defeated the Persians breaking into Syria in three battles. He killed Pacorus, the son of King Orodes, on that very day on which once Orodes, king of the Persians, had slain Crassus through the general Surena.He was the first to celebrate at Rome a most just triumph over the Parthians.

[6] Interim Pompeius pacem rupit et navali proelio victus fugiens ad Asiam interfectus est.Antonius, qui Asiam et Orientem tenebat, repudiata sorore Caesaris Augusti Octaviani Cleopatram, reginam Aegypti, duxit uxorem. Contra Persas etiam ipse pugnavit.

[6] Meanwhile Pompey broke the peace, and, defeated in a naval battle, fleeing to Asia, was killed.Antony, who held Asia and the Orient, having repudiated the sister of Caesar Augustus Octavian, took Cleopatra, queen of Egypt, as his wife. Against the Persians he too fought.

Primis eos proeliis vicit, regrediens tamen fame et pestilentia laboravit et, cum instarent Parthi fugienti, ipse pro victo recessit.

He defeated them in the first battles; however, returning he suffered from famine and pestilence, and, when the Parthians pressed upon him as he fled, he himself withdrew as if defeated.

[7] Hic quoque ingens bellum civile commovit cogente uxore Cleopatra, regina Aegypti, dum cupiditate muliebri optat etiam in urbe regnare. Victus est ab Augusto navali pugna clara et inlustri apud Actium, qui locus in Epiro est, ex qua fugit in Aegyptum et desperatis rebus, cum omnes ad Augustum transirent, ipse se interemit.Cleopatra sibi aspidem admisit et veneno eius extincta est.

[7] He too stirred up a huge civil war, his wife Cleopatra, queen of Egypt, compelling, while with womanly cupidity she longs to rule even in the city. He was conquered by Augustus in a naval battle, famous and illustrious, at Actium, which place is in Epirus, whence he fled into Egypt; and with affairs despaired of, when all were crossing over to Augustus, he slew himself.Cleopatra admitted an asp to herself and was extinguished by its venom.

Aegyptus per Octavianum Augustum imperio Romano adiecta est praepositusque ei C. Cornelius Gallus. Hunc primum Aegyptus Romanum iudicem habuit.

Egypt was added to the Roman empire by Octavian Augustus, and C. Cornelius Gallus was set over it. Egypt had this man as its first Roman judge.

[8] Ita bellis toto orbe confectis Octavianus Augustus Romam rediit, duodecimo anno, quam consul fuerat.Ex eo rem publicam per quadraginta et quattuor annos solus obtinuit. Ante enim duodecim annis cum Antonio et Lepido tenuerat.

[8] Thus, with the wars throughout the whole world finished, Octavian Augustus returned to Rome, in the twelfth year since he had been consul.From that time he alone held the Republic for forty-four years. For before, for twelve years, he had held it with Antony and Lepidus.

Ita ab initio principatus eius usque ad finem quinquaginta et sex anni fuerunt. Obiit autem septuagesimo sexto anno morte communi in oppido Campaniae Atella. Romae in campo Martio sepultus est, vir, qui non inmerito ex maxima parte deo similis est putatus.

Thus from the beginning of his principate to the end there were fifty-six years. He died moreover in his seventy-sixth year by a common death in the town of Campania, Atella. In Rome, in the Campus Martius, he was buried—a man who not undeservedly was thought for the most part to be like a god.

Neque enim facile ullus eo aut in bellis felicior fuit aut in pace moderatior. Quadraginta et quattuor annis, quibus solus gessit imperium, civilissime vixit, in cunctos liberalissimus, in amicos fidissimus, quos tantis evexit honoribus, ut paene aequaret fastigio suo.

For not easily was anyone either more fortunate than he in wars or more moderate in peace. For forty-four years, during which he alone bore the imperium, he lived most civilly, most liberal toward all, most faithful toward his friends, whom he exalted with such great honors that he almost made them equal to his own eminence.

[9] Nullo tempore ante eum magis Romana res floruit.Nam exceptis civilibus bellis, in quibus invictus fuit, Romano adiecit imperio Aegyptum, Cantabriam, Dalmatiam saepe ante victam, sed penitus tunc subactam, Pannoniam, Aquitaniam, Illyricum, Raetiam, Vindelicos et Salassos in Alpibus, omnes Ponti maritimas civitates, in his nobilissimas Bosphorum et Panticapaeum. Vicit autem multis proeliis Dacos.

[9] At no time before him did the Roman state more flourish.For, with the civil wars excepted, in which he was unconquered, he added to the Roman imperium Egypt, Cantabria, Dalmatia—often previously conquered, but then thoroughly subdued—Pannonia, Aquitania, Illyricum, Raetia, the Vindelici and the Salassi in the Alps, all the maritime cities of the Pontus, among these the most noble, the Bosporus and Panticapaeum. However, he defeated the Dacians in many battles.

Germanorum ingentes copias cecidit, ipsos quoque trans Albim fluvium summovit, qui in Barbarico longe ultra Rhenum est. Hoc tamen bellum per Drusum, privignum suum, administravit, sicut per Tiberium, privignum alterum, Pannonicum, quo bello XL captivorum milia ex Germania transtulit et supra ripam Rheni in Gallia conlocavit. Armeniam a Parthis recepit.

He cut down the huge forces of the Germans, and even drove them across the river Elbe, which is in the barbaric land far beyond the Rhine. This war, however, he administered through Drusus, his stepson, just as he did the Pannonian [war] through Tiberius, the other stepson, in which war he transferred 40 thousand captives from Germany and settled them above the bank of the Rhine in Gaul. He recovered Armenia from the Parthians.

Obsides, quod nulli antea, Persae ei dederunt. Reddiderunt etiam signa Romana, quae Crasso victo ademerant.

The Persians gave him hostages, which they had done for no one before. They also returned the Roman standards, which they had taken away when Crassus was defeated.

[10] Scythae et Indi, quibus antea Romanorum nomen incognitum fuerat, munera et legatos ad eum miserunt.Galatia quoque sub hoc provincia facta est, cum antea regnum fuisset, primusque eam M. Lollius pro praetore administravit. Tanto autem amore etiam apud barbaros fuit, ut reges populi Romani amici in honorem eius conderent civitates, quas Caesareas nominarent, sicut in Mauritania a rege Iuba, et in Palaestina, quae nunc urbs est clarissima.

[10] The Scythians and the Indians, to whom previously the name of the Romans had been unknown, sent gifts and legates to him.Galatia also under this man was made a province, whereas before it had been a kingdom, and M. Lollius first administered it as propraetor. Moreover, he was in so great favor even among the barbarians, that kings, friends of the Roman people, in his honor founded cities which they named Caesareas, as in Mauritania by King Juba, and in Palestine, which city now is most illustrious.

Multi autem reges ex regnis suis venerunt, ut ei obsequerentur, et habitu Romano, togati scilicet, ad vehiculum vel equum ipsius cucurrerunt. Moriens Divus appellatus. Rem publicam beatissimam Tiberio successori reliquit, qui privignus ei, mox gener, postremo adoptione filius fuerat.

Many kings, moreover, came from their kingdoms to defer to him, and in Roman attire, toga‑clad to wit, they ran beside his carriage or his horse. Dying, he was called Divine. He left a most blessed republic to Tiberius his successor, who had been his stepson, soon his son‑in‑law, and finally by adoption his son.

[11] Tiberius ingenti socordia imperium gessit, gravi crudelitate, scelesta avaritia, turpi libidine.Nam nusquam ipse pugnavit, bella per legatos gessit suos. Quosdam reges ad se per blanditias evocatos numquam remisit, in quibus Archelaum Cappadocem, cuius etiam regnum in provinciae formam redegit et maximam civitatem appellari nomine suo iussit, quae nunc Caesarea dicitur, cum Mazaca antea vocaretur.

[11] Tiberius managed the empire with immense sloth, with grave cruelty, criminal avarice, and shameful libido.For he nowhere fought in person; he waged wars through his own legates. He never sent back certain kings who had been summoned to him by blandishments, among whom Archelaus the Cappadocian, whose kingdom he even reduced into the form of a province, and he ordered the greatest city to be called by his own name, which is now called Caesarea, whereas before it was called Mazaca.

Hic tertio et vicesimo imperii anno, aetatis septuagesimo octavo, ingenti omnium gaudio mortuus est in Campania.

He, in the 23rd year of his reign, at the age of 78, to the immense joy of all, died in Campania.

[12] Successit ei C. Caesar, cognomento Caligula, Drusi, privigni Augusti, et ipsius Tiberii nepos, sceleratissimus ac funestissimus et qui etiam Tiberii dedecora purgaverit.Bellum contra Germanos suscepit et ingressus Sueviam nihil strenue fecit. Stupra sororibus intulit, ex una etiam filiam cognovit.

[12] Gaius Caesar, surnamed Caligula, the son of Drusus, the step‑son of Augustus, and the grandson of Tiberius himself, succeeded him—most criminal and most baleful, and one who even purged the disgraces of Tiberius.He undertook war against the Germans, and, having entered Suevia, did nothing with vigor. He inflicted debauchery upon his sisters, and by one of them he even acknowledged a daughter.

Cum adversum cunctos ingenti avaritia, libidine, crudelitate saeviret, interfectus in Palatio est anno aetatis vicesimo nono, imperii tertio, mense decimo dieque octavo.

While he was raging against all with immense avarice, libido, and cruelty, he was slain in the Palace in the 29th year of his age, in the 3rd of his rule, in the 10th month, and on the 8th day.

[13] Post hunc Claudius fuit, patruus Caligulae, Drusi, qui apud Mogontiacum monumentum habet, filius, cuius et Caligula nepos erat. Hic medie imperavit, multa gerens tranquille atque moderate, quaedam crudeliter et insulse.Britanniae intulit bellum, quam nullus Romanorum post C. Caesarem attigerat, eaque devicta per Cn. Sentium et A. Plautium, inlustres ac nobiles viros, triumphum celebrem egit.

[13] After him there was Claudius, the uncle of Caligula, the son of Drusus, who has a monument at Mogontiacum, of whom also Caligula was a grandson. He ruled in a middling way, doing many things tranquilly and moderately, some things cruelly and insipidly.He brought war upon Britain, which none of the Romans after Gaius Caesar had reached; and, it having been subdued through Cn. Sentius and A. Plautius, illustrious and noble men, he celebrated a renowned triumph.

Quasdam insulas etiam ultra Britannias in Oceano positas imperio Romano addidit, quae appellantur Orchades, filio autem suo Britannici nomen inposuit. Tam civilis autem circa quosdam amicos extitit, ut etiam Plautium, nobilem virum, qui expeditione Britannica multa egregie fecerat, triumphantem ipse prosequeretur et conscendenti Capitolium laevus incederet. Is vixit annos IV et LX, imperavit XIV.

He also added to the Roman imperium certain islands set beyond the Britains in the Ocean, which are called the Orchades, and he imposed upon his own son the name Britannicus. Moreover, he showed himself so civil toward certain friends that he even escorted Plautius, a noble man who in the British expedition had done many things excellently, as he was triumphing, and as he mounted the Capitol he proceeded on his left. He lived 64 years, he ruled 14.

Post mortem consecratus est Divusque appellatus.

After death he was consecrated and called Divine.

[14] Successit huic Nero, Caligulae, avunculo suo, simillimus, qui Romanum imperium et deformavit et diminuit, inusitatae luxuriae sumptuumque, ut qui exemplo C. Caligulae in calidis et frigidis lavaret unguentis, retibus aureis piscaretur, quae blattinis funibus extrahebat.Infinitam senatus partem interfecit, bonis omnibus hostis fuit. Ad postremum se tanto dedecore prostituit, ut et saltaret et cantaret in scaena citharoedico habitu vel tragico.

[14] Nero succeeded him, most similar to his uncle Caligula, who both deformed and diminished the Roman empire, of unheard-of luxury and expenditures, such that, following the example of Gaius Caligula, he would bathe in hot and cold unguents, and fish with golden nets, which he drew out with purple cords.He killed an unbounded portion of the senate; he was an enemy to all good men. At the last he prostituted himself to such disgrace that he both danced and sang on the stage in citharoedic or tragic costume.

Parricidia multa commisit, fratre, uxore, sorore, matre interfectis. Urbem Romam incendit, ut spectaculi eius imaginem cerneret, quali olim Troia capta arserat. In re militari nihil omnino ausus Britanniam paene amisit.

He committed many parricides, with his brother, wife, sister, and mother slain. He set the city of Rome on fire, to behold the image of that spectacle, of what sort once Troy, having been captured, had burned. In military matters, daring nothing at all, he nearly lost Britain.

Nam duo sub eo nobilissima oppida capta illic atque eversa sunt. Armeniam Parthi sustulerunt legionesque Romanas sub iugum miserunt. Duae tamen sub eo provinciae factae sunt, Pontus Polemoniacus concedente rege Polemone et Alpes Cottiae Cottio rege defuncto.

For two most noble towns there were captured there and overthrown under him. The Parthians carried off Armenia and sent the Roman legions under the yoke. Nevertheless two provinces were made under him, Pontus Polemoniacus, with King Polemon conceding, and the Cottian Alps, King Cottius being deceased.

[15] Per haec Romano orbi execrabilis ab omnibus simul destitutus est et a senatu hostis iudicatus; cum quaereretur ad poenam, quae poena erat talis, ut nudus per publicum ductus, furca capiti eius inserta, virgis usque ad mortem caederetur atque ita praecipitaretur a saxo, e Palatio fugit et in suburbano liberti sui, quod est inter Salariam et Nomentanam viam ad quartum urbis miliarium, se interfecit.Is aedificavit Romae thermas, quae ante Neronianae dictae nunc Alexandrianae appellantur. Obiit tricesimo et altero aetatis anno, imperii quarto decimo, atque in eo omnis Augusti familia consumpta est.

[15] Through these things execrable to the Roman world, abandoned by all at once and judged an enemy by the Senate; when he was sought for punishment—such punishment was this: that, naked, led through the public, with a fork inserted upon his head, he be beaten with rods up to death and thus hurled headlong from a rock—he fled from the Palace and in the suburban estate of his freedman, which is between the Salarian and Nomentan road at the fourth milestone of the city, he killed himself.He built in Rome the thermae, which before were called the Neronian, now are called the Alexandrian. He died in the thirty-second year of his age, in the fourteenth of his rule, and with him the whole family of Augustus was consumed.

[16] Huic Ser. Galba successit, antiquissimae nobilitatis senator, cum septuagesimum et tertium annum ageret aetatis, ab Hispanis et Gallis imperator electus, mox ab universo exercitu libenter acceptus. Nam privata eius vita insignis fuerat militaribus et civilibus rebus.

[16] To him Ser. Galba succeeded, a senator of most ancient nobility, when he was in his seventy-third year of age, chosen emperor by the Spaniards and the Gauls, soon gladly received by the entire army. For his private life had been distinguished in military and civil affairs.

Saepe consul, saepe pro consule, frequenter dux in gravissimis bellis. Huius breve imperium fuit et quod bona haberet exordia, nisi ad severitatem propensior videretur. Insidiis tamen Othonis occisus est imperii mense septimo.

Often consul, often proconsul, frequently a leader in the gravest wars. His rule was brief, and it would have had good beginnings, if he did not seem more inclined toward severity. Nevertheless, he was killed by Otho’s plots in the seventh month of his reign.

Iugulatus in foro Romae sepultusque in hortis suis, qui sunt Aurelia via non longe ab urbe Roma.

Throat-cut in the Forum of Rome and buried in his own gardens, which are on the Via Aurelia not far from the city of Rome.

[17] Otho occiso Galba invasit imperium, materno genere nobilior quam paterno, neutro tamen obscuro.In privata vita mollis et Neroni familiaris, in imperio documentum sui non potuit ostendere. Nam cum isdem temporibus, quibus Otho Galbam occiderat, etiam Vitellius factus esset a Germanicianis exercitibus imperator, bello contra eum suscepto cum apud Betriacum in Italia levi proelio victus esset, ingentes tamen copias ad bellum haberet, sponte semet occidit.

[17] Otho, with Galba slain, seized the empire, more noble in his maternal lineage than in his paternal, yet neither obscure.In private life soft and a familiar of Nero, in rule he could not display a proof of his character. For at the same time at which Otho had killed Galba, Vitellius too had been made emperor by the Germanic armies; war having been undertaken against him, when near Betriacum in Italy he had been beaten in a slight battle, although he had vast forces for the war, he slew himself of his own accord.

Petentibus militibus, ne tam cito de belli desperaret eventu, cum tanti se non esse dixisset, ut propter eum bellum civile moveretur, voluntaria morte obiit tricesimo et octavo aetatis anno, nonagesimo et quinto imperii die.

As the soldiers were petitioning that he not so quickly despair of the outcome of the war, since he had said that he was not of such worth that, on account of him, a civil war be set in motion, he died by voluntary death in the thirty-eighth year of age, on the ninety-fifth day of his reign.

[18] Dein Vitellius imperio potitus est, familia honorata magis quam nobili.Nam pater eius non admodum clare natus tres tamen ordinarios gesserat consulatus. Hic cum multo dedecore imperavit et gravi saevitia notabilis, praecipue ingluvie et voracitate, quippe cum de die saepe quarto vel quinto feratur epulatus.

[18] Then Vitellius got hold of the imperium, of a family more honored than noble.For his father, though not born very illustriously, nevertheless had held three ordinary consulships. He ruled with much disgrace and was notable for grave savagery, especially for gluttony and voracity, since he is reported often in the course of the day to have feasted a fourth or even a fifth time.

Notissima certe cena memoriae mandata est, quam ei Vitellius frater exhibuit, in qua super ceteros sumptus duo milia piscium, septem milia avium adposita traduntur. Hic cum Neroni similis esse vellet atque id adeo prae se ferret, ut etiam exequias Neronis, quae humiliter sepultae fuerant, honoraret, a Vespasiani ducibus occisus est interfecto prius in urbe Sabino, Vespasiani imperatoris fratre, quem cum Capitolio incendit. Interfectus autem est magno dedecore: tractus per urbem Romam publice, nudus, erecto coma capite et subiecto ad mentum gladio, stercore in vultum et pectus ab omnibus obviis adpetitus, postremo iugulatus et in Tiberim deiectus etiam communi caruit sepultura.

Most notorious, to be sure, is the dinner committed to memory, which his brother Vitellius exhibited for him, in which, over and above the other expenses, two thousand fish and seven thousand birds are reported to have been set on the table. He, since he wished to be similar to Nero and so far paraded it that he even honored the exequies of Nero, which had been humbly interred, was killed by the commanders of Vespasian, Sabinus having first been slain in the city, the brother of Vespasian the emperor, whom he burned along with the Capitol. He was killed, moreover, with great disgrace: dragged publicly through the city of Rome, naked, with the hair on his head bristling and a sword placed beneath his chin, assaulted with filth upon his face and chest by all who met him; finally his throat was cut, and having been cast into the Tiber he even lacked common burial.

Periit autem aetatis anno septimo et quinquagesimo, imperii mense octavo et die uno.

He perished, moreover, in the 57th year of his age, in the 8th month of his reign and on the 1st day.

[19] Vespasianus huic successit, factus apud Palaestinam imperator, princeps obscure quidem natus, sed optimis conparandus, privata vita inlustris, ut qui a Claudio in Germaniam et deinde in Britanniam missus tricies et bis cum hoste conflixerit, duas validissimas gentes, viginti oppida, insulam Vectam, Britanniae proximam, imperio Romano adiecerit.Romae se in imperio moderatissime gessit. Pecuniae tantum avidior fuit, ita tamen, ut eam nulli iniuste auferret.

[19] Vespasian succeeded him, made emperor in Palestine, a princeps indeed obscurely born, but to be compared with the best, illustrious in private life, in that, having been sent by Claudius into Germany and then into Britain, he fought with the enemy thirty-two times, and added two very powerful peoples, twenty towns, and the island Vectis, lying close to Britain, to the Roman imperium.In Rome he conducted himself with the utmost moderation in his rule. He was only somewhat too avid of money, yet so that he took it unjustly from no one.

Quam cum omni diligentiae provisione colligeret, tamen studiosissime largiebatur, praecipue indigentibus. Nec facile ante eum cuiusquam principis vel maior est liberalitas comperta, vel iustior. Placidissimae lenitatis, ut qui maiestatis quoque contra se reos non facile punierit ultra exilii poenam.

Which, though he collected it with every provision of diligence, yet he most zealously dispensed, especially to the indigent. Nor, before him, has the liberality of any prince been easily found either greater or more just. Of the most placid lenity, as one who did not readily punish even those arraigned for treason against himself beyond the penalty of exile.

Sub hoc Iudaea Romano accessit imperio et Hierosolyma, quae fuit urbs nobilissima Palaestinae. Achaiam, Lyciam, Rhodum, Byzantium, Samum, quae liberae ante id tempus fuerant, item Thraciam, Ciliciam, Commagenen, quae sub regibus amicis egerant, in provinciarum formam redegit.

Under him, Judea was added to the Roman empire, and Jerusalem, which was the most noble city of Palestine. He reduced Achaea, Lycia, Rhodes, Byzantium, Samos, which had been free before that time, likewise Thrace, Cilicia, and Commagene, which had been under friendly kings, into the form of provinces.

[20] Offensarum et inimicitiarum inmemor fuit, convicia a causidicis et philosophis in se dicta leviter tulit, diligens tamen coercitor disciplinae militaris.Hic cum filio Tito de Hierosolymis triumphavit. Per haec cum senatui, populo, postremo cunctis amabilis ac iucundus esset, profluvio ventris extinctus est in villa propria circa Sabinos, annum agens aetatis sexagesimum nonum, imperii nonum et diem septimum, atque inter Divos relatus est.

[20] He was unmindful of offenses and enmities, he bore lightly the invectives spoken against himself by advocates and philosophers, yet was a diligent enforcer of military discipline.He, together with his son Titus, celebrated a triumph over Jerusalem. Through these things, since he was amiable and agreeable to the senate, the people, and finally to all, he was extinguished by a flux of the belly in his own villa near the Sabines, being in his sixty-ninth year of age, the ninth year of rule and the seventh day, and he was enrolled among the Divi.

Genituram filiorum ita cognitam habuit, ut, cum multae contra eum coniurationes fierent, quas patefactas ingenti dissimulatione contempsit, in senatu dixerit aut filios sibi successuros, aut neminem.

He had the geniture (birth‑chart) of his sons so well known that, when many conspiracies were being made against him, which, once laid open, he contemned with enormous dissimulation, he said in the senate that either his sons would succeed to him, or no one.

[21] Huic Titus filius successit, qui et ipse Vespasianus est dictus, vir omnium virtutum genere mirabilis adeo, ut amor et deliciae humani generis diceretur, facundissimus, bellicosissimus, moderatissimus. Causas Latine egit, poemata et tragoedias Graece conposuit.In oppugnatione Hierosolymorum sub patre militans duodecim propugnatores duodecim sagittarum confixit ictibus.

[21] To him his son Titus succeeded, who himself too was called Vespasian, a man marvelous in every kind of virtue to such a degree that he was called the love and delight of the human race, most eloquent, most bellicose, most moderate. He pleaded cases in Latin; he composed poems and tragedies in Greek.In the siege of Jerusalem, serving under his father, he pierced twelve defenders with twelve arrow-blows.

Romae tantae civilitatis in imperio fuit, ut nullum omnino puniret, convictos adversum se coniurationis dimiserit vel in eadem familiaritate, qua antea, habuerit. Facilitatis et liberalitatis tantae fuit, ut, cum nulli quicquam negaret et ab amicis reprehenderetur, responderit nullum tristem debere ab imperatore discedere, praeterea, cum quadam die in cena recordatus fuisset nihil se illo die cuiquam praestitisse, dixerit: "Amici, hodie diem perdidi". Hic Romae amphitheatrum aedificavit et quinque milia ferarum in dedicatione eius occidit.

At Rome he was of such great civility in his rule, that he punished none at all, and he either dismissed those convicted of conspiracy against himself or held them in the same familiarity as before. He was of such facility and liberality that, since he denied nothing to anyone and was reproved by his friends, he answered that no one ought to depart sad from the emperor; moreover, when on a certain day at dinner he remembered that he had bestowed nothing on anyone that day, he said: "Friends, today I have lost a day." He built the amphitheatre at Rome, and at its dedication five thousand wild beasts were slain.

[22] Per haec inusitato favore dilectus morbo periit in ea, qua pater, villa post biennium et menses octo, dies viginti, quam imperator erat factus, aetatis anno altero et quadragesimo.Tantus luctus eo mortuo publicus fuit, ut omnes tamquam in propria doluerint orbitate. Senatus obitu ipsius circa vesperam nuntiato nocte inrupit in curiam et tantas ei mortuo laudes gratiasque congessit, quantas nec vivo umquam egerat nec praesenti.

[22] For these things, loved with unprecedented favor, he perished of illness in the same villa as his father, after two years and eight months and twenty days from when he had been made emperor, in the forty-second year of his age.So great a public mourning was there at his death, that all grieved as though over their own bereavement. The senate, his death having been announced around evening, burst into the curia by night and heaped upon him, now dead, such praises and thanksgivings as it had never rendered to him either when alive or when present.

Inter Divos relatus est.

He was enrolled among the Divi.

[23] Domitianus mox accepit imperium, frater ipsius iunior, Neroni aut Caligulae aut Tiberio similior quam patri vel fratri suo.Primis tamen annis moderatus in imperio fuit, mox ad ingentia vitia progressus libidinis, iracundiae, crudelitatis, avaritiae tantum in se odii concitavit, ut merita et patris et fratris aboleret. Interfecit nobilissimos e senatu.

[23] Domitian soon assumed the imperium, his younger brother, more similar to Nero or Caligula or Tiberius than to his father or to his own brother.Yet in the first years he was moderate in his rule; soon, having advanced to enormous vices—of lust, irascibility, cruelty, greed—he aroused so much hatred against himself that he obliterated the merits of both his father and his brother. He killed the most noble men from the senate.

Dominum se et deum primus appellari iussit. Nullam sibi nisi auream et argenteam statuam in Capitolio passus est poni. Consobrinos suos interfecit.

He first ordered that he be called lord and god. He allowed no statue of himself to be set up on the Capitol except a golden and a silver statue. He killed his cousins.

Superbia quoque in eo execrabilis fuit. Expeditiones quattuor habuit, unam adversum Sarmatas, alteram adversum Cattos, duas adversum Dacos. De Dacis Cattisque duplicem triumphum egit, de Sarmatis solam lauream usurpavit.

His pride too was execrable. He had four expeditions, one against the Sarmatians, another against the Chatti, two against the Dacians. Over the Dacians and the Chatti he celebrated a double triumph; over the Sarmatians he usurped only the laurel.

Multas tamen calamitates isdem bellis passus est; nam in Sarmatia legio eius cum duce interfecta est et a Dacis Oppius Sabinus consularis et Cornelius Fuscus, praefectus praetorio, cum magnis exercitibus occisi sunt. Romae quoque multa opera fecit, in his Capitolium et Forum Transitorium, Divorum Porticus, Isium ac Serapium et Stadium. Verum, cum ob scelera universis exosus esse coepisset, interfectus est suorum coniuratione in Palatio anno aetatis quadragesimo quinto, imperii quinto decimo.

Nevertheless he suffered many calamities in the same wars; for in Sarmatia his legion with its leader was slain, and by the Daci the consular Oppius Sabinus and Cornelius Fuscus, Prefect of the Praetorium, were killed with great armies. At Rome also he made many works, among these the Capitol and the Forum Transitorium, the Portico of the Divi, the Isium and the Serapium, and the Stadium. But when, on account of his crimes, he had begun to be hated by all, he was killed by a conspiracy of his own men in the Palace in the 45th year of his age, the 15th of his rule.

Funus eius ingenti dedecore per vespillones exportatum et ignobiliter est sepultum.

His funeral, with immense dishonor, was borne out by undertakers and was buried ignobly.