Historia Augusta: Tyranni Triginta

I. 1 Scriptis iam pluribus libris non historico nec diserto sed pedestri adloquio, ad eam temporum venimus seriem, in qua per annos, quibus Gallienus et Valerianus rem p. tenuerunt, triginta tyranni occupato Valeriano magnis belli Persici necessitatibus extiterunt, cum Gallienum non solum viri sed etiam mulieres contemptui haberent, ut suis locis probabitur. 2 Sed quoniam tanta obscuritas eorum hominum fuit, qui ex diversis orbis partibus ad imperium convolabant, ut non multa de his vel dici possint a doctioribus vel requiri, deinde ab omnibus historicis, qui Graece ac Latine scripserunt, ita nonulli praetereantur, uti eorum nomina frequententur, postremo cum tam varie a plerisque super his nonnulla sint prodita: in unum eos libellum contuli et quidem brevem, maxime cum vel in Valeriani vel in Gallieni vita pleraque de his dicta nec repetenda tamen satis constet.

1. 1 With several books now written not in a historic nor in a disert but in a pedestrian allocution, we have come to that sequence of times in which, during the years when Gallienus and Valerian held the republic, thirty tyrants arose, Valerian being occupied by the great necessities of the Persian war, while Gallienus was held in contempt not only by men but even by women, as will be proved in its proper places. 2 But since there was such obscurity of those men who from different parts of the world were flocking to the imperium, that not many things about them can either be said by the more learned or sought out; then, by all the historians who wrote in Greek and Latin, some are so passed over that not even their names are commonly mentioned; finally, since various things concerning these have been put forth so variously by most: I have gathered them into one little book, and indeed a brief one, especially since in the life of Valerian or in that of Gallienus very many things about them have been said, and yet it is sufficiently agreed that they are not to be repeated.

CYRIADES

II. 1 Hic patrem Cyriadem fugiens, dives et nobilis, cum luxuria sua et moribus perditis sanctum senem gravaret, direpta magna parte auri, argenti etiam infinito pondere Persas petit. 2 Atque inde Sapori regi coniunctus atque sociatus, cum hortator belli Romanis inferendi fuisset, Odomastem primum, deinde Saporem ad Romanum solumtraxit; Antiochia etiam capta et Caesarea Caesareanum nomen meruit. 3 Atque inde vocatus Augustus, cum omnem orientem vel virium vel audaciae terrore quateret, patrem vero interemisset - quod alii historici negant factum - ipse per insidias suorum, cum Valerianus iam ad bellum Persicum veniret, occisus est.

2. 1 This man, fleeing his father Cyriades, rich and noble, since with his luxury and depraved morals he burdened the holy old man, after plundering a great part of gold, and even a weight of silver without measure, made for the Persians. 2 And from there, having joined and allied himself to King Sapor, since he had been an instigator of war to be brought against the Romans, he drew Odomastes first, then Sapor onto Roman soil; with Antioch captured, and at Caesarea, he earned the Caesarean name. 3 And then, hailed as Augustus, while he was shaking all the East with the terror either of his forces or his audacity, and had indeed slain his father — which other historians deny to have been done — he himself, by the treachery of his own men, when Valerian was already coming to the Persian war, was killed.

3 Neque plus de hoc historiae quicquam mandatum est, quod dignum memoratu esse videatur, quem clarum perfugium et parricidium et aspera tyrannis et summa luxuria litteris dederunt.

3 Nor has anything more about him been committed to the histories, which would seem worthy of remembrance, he whom a notorious defection and parricide and harsh tyranny and utmost luxury have given over to letters.

POSTUMUS

III. 1 His vir in bello fortissimus, in pace constantissimus, in omni vita gravis, usque adeo ut Saloninum filium suum eidem Gallienus in Gallia positum crederet quasi custodi vitae et morum et actuum imperialium institutori. 2 Sed, quantum plerique adserunt - quod eius non convenit moribus -, postea fidem fregit et occiso Salonino sumpsit imperium.

3. 1 This man, most brave in war, most constant in peace, weighty in his whole life, to such a degree that Gallienus entrusted his own son Saloninus to that same man, placed in Gaul, as if to a guardian of life and morals and a tutor of imperial acts. 2 But, as most assert — which does not accord with his character — afterwards he broke faith and, with Saloninus slain, assumed the imperium.

3 Ut autem verius plerique tradiderunt, cum Galli vehementissime Gallienum odissent, puerum autem apud se [ferre] imperare <ferre> non possent, eum, qui commissum regebat imperium, imperatorem appellarunt missisque militibus adulescentem interfecerunt. 4 Quo interfecto ab omni exercitu et ab omnibus Gallis Postumus gratanter acceptus talem se praebuit per annos septem, ut Gallias instauraverit, cum Gallienus luxuriae et popinis vacaret et amore barbarae mulieris consenesceret. 5 Gestum est tamen a Gallieno contra hunc bellum tunc, cum sagitta Gallienus est vulneratus; si quidem nimius amor erga Postumum omnium erat in Gallicanorum mente populorum, quod summotis omnibus Germanicis gentibus Romanum in pristinam securitatem revocasset imperium.

3 But, as more truly many have handed down, when the Gauls
most vehemently hated Gallienus, and could not [bear] to have a boy ruling among them,
<to bear> they called emperor the one who was ruling the entrusted imperium, and, soldiers having been sent,
they killed the youth. 4 With him slain, by the whole army and by all the Gauls Postumus,
gratefully received, showed himself such for seven years that he restored the Gauls, while
Gallienus was giving himself over to luxury and taverns and was growing decrepit with the love of a barbarian woman.
5 Nevertheless, a war was waged by Gallienus against this man at that time, when
Gallienus was wounded by an arrow; since indeed an excessive love toward Postumus was in the mind of all
the Gallican peoples, because, with all the Germanic gentes removed, he had recalled the Roman imperium into its former security.

7 Sed cum se gravissime gereret, more illo, quo Galli novarum rerum semper sunt cupidi, Lolliano agente interemptus est. 8 Si quis sane Postumi meritum requirit, iudicium de eo Valeriani ex hac epistula, quam ille ad Gallos misit, intelleget: 9 "Transcrenani limitis ducem et Galliae praesidem Postumum fecimus, virum dignissimum severitate Gallorum, praesente quo non miles in castris, non iura in foro, non in tribunalibus lites, non in curia dignitas pereat, qui unicuique proprium et suum servet, virumquem ego prae ceteris stupeo, et qui locum principis mereantur iure, de quo spero quod mihi gratias agetis. 10 Quod si me fefellerit opinio, quam de illo habeo, sciatis nusquam gentium repperiri, qui possit penitus adprobari.

7 But although he bore himself most gravely, in that manner in which the Gauls are always desirous of novelties, he was slain with Lollianus taking the lead. 8 If anyone indeed seeks the merit of Postumus, he will understand Valerian’s judgment about him from this letter which he sent to the Gauls: 9 "We have made Postumus leader of the Trans-Rhenane limes and governor of Gaul, a man most worthy for the severity of the Gauls, in whose presence neither the soldier in the camps, nor the laws in the forum, nor lawsuits in the tribunals, nor dignity in the curia shall perish, a man who preserves for each his proper and his own, and a man whom I, before the rest, marvel at, and who by right merits the place of princeps, about whom I hope you will give me thanks. 10 But if the opinion which I have about him deceives me, know that nowhere among the nations will there be found one who can be thoroughly approved."

11 Huius filio Postumo nomine tribunatum Vocontiorum dedi, adulescenti, qui se dignum patris moribus reddet."

11 To his son, named Postumus, I gave the tribunate of the Vocontii, an adolescent who will render himself worthy of his father's character."

POSTUMUS IUNIOR

POSTUMUS THE YOUNGER

IV. 1 De hoc prope nihil est quod dicatur, nisi quos a patre appellatus Caesar ac deinceps in eius honore Augustus cum patre dicitur interemptus, cum Lollianus in locum Postumi subrogatus delatum sibi a Gallis sumpsisset imperium. 2 Fuit autem - quod solum memoratu dignum est - ita in declamationibus disertus, ut eius controversiae Quintiliano dicantur insertae, quem declamatorem Romani generis acutissimum vel unius capitis lectio prima statim fronte demonstrat.

4. 1 About this man there is almost nothing that can be said, except that, having been called Caesar by his father and thereafter Augustus in his honor, he is said to have been slain with his father, when Lollianus, substituted in the place of Postumus, took up the imperium that had been offered to him by the Gauls. 2 He was, however - which alone is worthy of remembrance - so eloquent in declamations that his controversies are said to have been inserted by Quintilian, whom the first reading of a single chapter immediately shows on its very face to be the sharpest declaimer of the Roman stock.

LOLLIANUS

V. 1 Huius rebellione in Gallia Post[h]umus, vir omnium fortissimus, interemptus est, cum iam nutante Gallia Gallieni luxuria in veterem statum Romanum formasset imperium. 2 Fuit quidem etiam iste fortissimus, sed rebellionis intuiti minorem apud Gallos auctoritatem de suis viribus tenuit. 3 Interemptus autem est a Victorino, Vitruviae filio vel Victoriae, quae postea mater castrorum appellata est et Augustae nomine affecta, cum ipsa per se fugiens tanti ponderis molem primum in Marium, deinde in Tetricum atque filium contulisset imperia.

5. 1 By his rebellion in Gaul Postumus, a man bravest of all, was slain, when, with Gaul already wavering, the luxury of Gallienus had formed the empire into its former Roman condition. 2 He too indeed was most brave, but, in view of rebellion, he held lesser authority among the Gauls on the strength of his own forces. 3 He was slain, moreover, by Victorinus, the son of Vitruvia or of Victoria, who afterward was called mother of the camps and was invested with the name Augusta, since she, on her own shunning the mass of so great a burden, had conferred the imperial powers first upon Marius, then upon Tetricus and his son.

4 Et Lollianus quidem nonnihilum rei p. profuit. Nam plerasque Galliae civitates, nonnulla etiam castra, quae Postumus per septem annos in solo barbasico aedificaverat, quaeque interfecto Post[h]umo subita inruptione Germanorum et direpta fuerant et incensa, in statum veterem reformavit. Deinde a suis militibus, quod in labore nimius esset, occisus est.

4 And indeed Lollianus benefited the republic not a little. For he restored to their former state very many cities of Gaul, and even some forts, which Postumus over 7 years had built on barbarian soil, and which, after Postumus was slain, by a sudden irruption of the Germans had been both plundered and burned. Then he was killed by his own soldiers, because he was too excessive in toil.

5 Ita Gallieno perdente rem p. in Gallia primum Postumus, deinde Lollianus, Victorinus deinceps, postremo Tetricus, - nam de Mario nihil dicimus - adsertores Romani nominis extiterunt. 6 Quos omnes datos divinitus credo, ne, cum illa pestis inauditae luxuriae impediretur malis, possidendi Romanum solum Germanis daretur facultas. 7 Qui si eo genere tunc evasissent, quo Gothi et Persae, consentientibus in Romano solo gentibus venerabile hoc Romani nominis finitum esset imperium.

5 Thus, with Gallienus ruining the commonwealth, in Gaul first
Postumus, then Lollianus, Victorinus thereafter, lastly Tetricus, — for
of Marius we say nothing — arose as assertors of the Roman name. 6 Whom
I believe all to have been given by divinity, lest, while that plague of
unheard-of luxury was being checked by misfortunes, the opportunity of
possessing the Roman soil be given to the Germans. 7 Who, if they had
then broken through in the same manner as the Goths and the Persians,
with the peoples on Roman soil agreeing, this venerable empire of the
Roman name would have been brought to an end.

8 Lolliani autem vita in multis obscura est, ut et ipsius Postumi, sed privata: virtute enim clari, non nobilitatis pondere vixerunt.

8 But the life of Lollianus is in many respects obscure, as also that of Postumus himself, but in private matters: for they lived renowned for virtue, not by the weight of nobility.

VICTORINUS

VI. 1 Postumus senior cum videret multis se Gallieni viribus peti atque auxilium non solum militum verum etiam alterius principis necessarium, Victorinum, militaris industriae virum, in participatum vocavit imperii et cum eodem contra Gallienum conflixit. 2 Cumque adhibitis ingentibus Germanorum auxiliis diu bella traxissent, victi sunt. 3 Tunc interfecto etiam Lolliano solus Victorinus in imperio remansit, qui et ipse, quod matrimoniis militum et militarium corrumpendis operam daret, a quodam actuario, cuius uxorem strupraverat, composita factione Agrippinae percussus, Victorino filio Caesare a matre Vitruvia sive Victoria, quae mater castrorum dicta est, appellato, qui et ipse puerulus statim est interemptus, cum apud Agrippinam pater eius esset occisus.

6. 1 When the elder Postumus saw that he was being attacked by the many forces of Gallienus and that aid was necessary not only from the soldiers but even from another princeps, he called Victorinus, a man of military industry, into a partnership in the empire, and with him clashed against Gallienus. 2 And when, with huge German auxiliary forces brought in, they had long protracted the wars, they were defeated. 3 Then, with Lollianus also slain, Victorinus alone remained in power—who himself, because he devoted himself to corrupting the marriages of soldiers and military men, was struck down by a certain actuary, whose wife he had debauched, a conspiracy having been arranged at Agrippina; Victorinus’s son was styled Caesar by his mother Vitruvia, or Victoria, who was called the “mother of the camp,” and he too, a little boy, was immediately killed, when at Agrippina his father was slain.

4 De hoc, quod fortissimus fuerit et praeter libidinem optimus imperator, a multis multa sunt dicta. 5 Sed satis credimus Iuli Atheriani partem libri cuiusdam ponere, in quo de Victorino sic loquitur: 6 "Victorino, qui Gallias post Iulium Postumum rexit, neminem aestimo praeferendum, non in virtute Traianum, non Antoninum in clementia, non in gravitate Nervam, non in gubernando aerario Vespasianum, non in censura totius vitae ac severitate militari Pertinacem vel Severum. 7 Sed omnia haec libido et cupiditas mulierariae voluptatis sic perdidit, ut nemo audeat virtutes eius in litteras mittere, quem constat omnium iudicio meruisse puniri." 8 Ergo cum id iudicii de Victorino scriptores habuerint, satis mihi videor eius dixisse de moribus.

4 About this, that he was most brave and, except for lust, an excellent emperor, many things have been said by many. 5 But we believe it enough to set down a portion from a certain book of Julius Atherianus, in which he speaks thus about Victorinus: 6 “To Victorinus, who ruled the Gauls after Julius Postumus, I deem no one to be preferred—not Trajan in virtue, not Antoninus in clemency, not Nerva in gravity, not Vespasian in governing the aerarium (treasury), not Pertinax or Severus in the censorial oversight of one’s whole life and in military severity. 7 But lust and the cupidity for the voluptuous pleasure of women so ruined all these things that no one dares to commit his virtues to letters, he whom it is agreed by the judgment of all deserved to be punished.” 8 Therefore, since writers have held this judgment about Victorinus, I seem to myself to have said enough about his morals.

VICTORINUS IUNIOR

VICTORINUS THE YOUNGER

VII. 1 De hoc nihil amplius in litteras est relatum quam quod nepos Victoriae Victorini filius fuit et a matre vel ab avia sub eadem hora, qua Victorinus interemptus, Caesar est nuncupatus ac statim a militibus ira occisus. 2 Extant denique sepulchra circa Agrippinam brevi marmore inpressa humilia, in quibusulus est inscriptus: "Hic duo Victorini tyranni siti sunt."

7. 1 About this man nothing more has been reported into the letters than that he was the grandson of Victoria, the son of Victorinus, and by his mother or by his grandmother, at the same hour at which Victorinus was slain, he was named Caesar and immediately, by the soldiers in wrath, killed. 2 There exist, finally, sepulchers around Agrippina, low, impressed in brief marble, in whicha title is inscribed: "Here the two Victorini, tyrants, are laid."

MARIUS

VIII. 1 Victorino et Lolliano, Postumo interemptis Marius ex fabro, ut dicitur, ferrario triduo tantum imperavit. 2 De hoc quid amplius requiratur, ignoro, nisi quod eum insignorum brevissimum fecit imperium.

8. 1 Victorinus and Lollianus, the slayers of Postumus, having been slain, Marius, from a smith, as it is said, an iron-worker
ruled only for three days. 2 About him what more may be sought, I do not know, except
that his reign made him the briefest among the wearers of insignia.

Nam ut ille consul, qui sex meridianis horris consulatum seffectum tenuit, a Marco Tullio tali aspersus est ioco: "Consulem habuimus tam severum tamque censorium, ut in eius magistratu nemo pranderit, nemo cenaverit, nemo dormiverit", de hoc etiam dici posse videatur, qui una die factus est imperator, alia die visis est imperare, tertia interemptus est. 3 Et vir quidem strenuus ac militaribus usque ad imperium gradibus evectus, quem plerique Marmurium, nonnulli Veterium, opificem utpote ferrarium, nuncuparunt. 4 Sed de hoc nimis multa, de quo illud addidisse satis est nullius manus vel ad feriendum vel ad impellendum fortiores fuisse, cum in digitis nervos videretur habuisse non venas.

For as that consul who
held the suffect consulship for six midday hours was besprinkled by Marcus Tullius with such a jest:
"We had a consul so severe and so censorial, that in
his magistracy no one lunched, no one dined, no one slept," it seems that this too can be said about this man,
who on one day was made emperor, on another day was seen to be ruling, on the third was slain. 3 And indeed a strenuous man and
raised by military steps up to the imperium, whom very many called Marmurius,
some Veterius, a workman, to wit a smith, they named him. 4 But about this man
too many things; of whom it is enough to have added this, that no one’s hands were stronger either
for striking or for pushing, since in his fingers he seemed to have sinews,
not veins.

5 Nam et carra venienta digito salutari reppulisse dicitur et fortissimo quosque uno digito sic adflixisse, ut quasi ligni vel ferri obtunsioris ictu percussi dolerent. Multa duorum digitorum allisione contrivit. 6 Occisus est a quodam militer, qui, cum eius quondam in fabrili officina fuisset, contemptus est ab eodem, vel cum dux esset vel cum imperium cepisset.

5 For he is said even to have repelled carts coming on with his index finger,
and to have so afflicted each of the very strongest with a single finger that
they smarted as if struck by a blow of wood or of more blunted iron. Many things
he crushed by the collision of two fingers. 6 He was slain by a certain soldier, who, since
he had once been in his smith’s workshop, had been despised by that same man, whether
when he was a leader or when he had taken the imperial power.

Addidisse vero dicitur interemptor: 7 "Hic est gladius quem ipse fecisti." Huius contio prima talis fuisse dicitur: 8 "Scio, conmilitones, posse mihi obici artem pristinam, cuius mihi omnes testes estis. 9 Sed dicat quisque quod vult. Utinam ferrum semper exerceam, non vino, non floribus, non mulierculis, non popinis, ut facit Gallienus, indignus patre suo et sui generis nobilitate, depeream.

The slayer is indeed said to have added:
7 "This is the sword which you yourself forged." His first speech to the assembly is said to have been such:
8 "I know, fellow-soldiers, that my former art can be objected against me, of which you all are witnesses for me. 9 But let each say what he wishes. Would that I always exercise iron, not with wine, not with flowers, not with wenches, not with eating-houses, as Gallienus does—unworthy of his father and of the nobility of his stock—may I perish."

10 Ars mihi obiciatur ferraria, dum me et exterae gentes ferrum tractasse suis cladibus recognoscant. 11 Enitar denique, ut omnis Alamannia omnisque Germania cum ceteris, quae adiacent, gentibus Romanum populum ferratam putent gentem, ut specialiter in nobis ferrum timeant. 12 Vos tamen cogitetis velim fecisse vos principem, qui numquam quicquam scierit tractare nisi ferrum.

10 Let the iron-working art be objected to me, provided that even foreign nations recognize, by their own calamities, that I have handled iron.
11 I will strive, in fine, that all Alamannia and all Germania, together with the other adjoining peoples, may think the Roman people an iron-clad nation, so that especially in us they may fear iron.
12 Yet I would have you consider that you have made an emperor who has never known how to handle anything except iron.

13 Quod idcirco dico, quia scio mihi a luxuriosissima illa peste nihil opponi posse nisi hoc, quod gladiorum atque armorum artifex fuerim."

13 I say this for that reason, because I know that by that most luxurious pest nothing can be set against me except this: that I have been an artificer of swords and of arms."

INGENUUS

IX. 1 Tusco et Basso conss. cum Gallienus vino et popinis vacaret cumque se lenonibus, mimis et meretricibus dederet ac bona naturae luxuroiae continuatione deperderet, Ingenuus, qui Pannonias tunc regebat, a Moesiacis legionibus imperator est dictus, ceteris Pannoniarum volentibus, neque in quoquam melius consultum rei p. a militibus videbatur quam quod instantibus Sarmatis creatus est imperator, qui fessis rebus mederi sua virtute potuisset. 2 Causa autem ipsi arripiendi tunc imperii fuit, ne suspectus esset imperatoribus, quod erat fortissimus ac rei p. necessarius et militibus, quod imperantes vehementer movet, acceptissimus.

9. 1 Under the consuls Tuscus and Bassus, while Gallienus was idling in wine and in popinae and was giving himself to lenones, mimes, and meretrices, and was losing the goods of nature by a continuance of luxury, Ingenuus, who at that time was ruling the Pannonias, was proclaimed emperor by the Moesian legions, with the rest of the Pannonians consenting; nor did it seem that in any man the commonwealth had been better consulted by the soldiers than in that, with the Sarmatians pressing, an emperor was created who could have remedied the exhausted situation by his own virtue. 2 The reason, moreover, for his seizing imperial power at that time was, lest he should be suspected by the emperors, because he was most brave and necessary to the commonwealth, and most acceptable to the soldiers—which very strongly moves those in power.

3 Sed Gallienus, ut erat nequam perditus, ita etiam, ubi necessitas coegisset, velox, fortis, vehemens, crudelis, denique Ingenuum conflictu habito vicit eoque occiso in omnes Moesiacos tam milites <quam> cives asperrime saevit. Nec quemquam suae crudelitatis exortem reliquit, usque adeo asper et truculentus, ut plerasque civitates vacuas a virili sexu relinqueret. 4 Fertur sane idem Ingenuus civitate capta in aquam se mersisse atque ita vitam finisse, ne in tyranni crudelis potestatem veniret.

3 But Gallienus, as he was a nefarious reprobate, yet also, whenever necessity had compelled, was swift, brave, vehement, cruel; finally, after a clash having been had he conquered Ingenuus, and with him slain he raged with utmost harshness against all the Moesians, both soldiers <and> citizens. Nor did he leave anyone without a share of his cruelty, so harsh and truculent, that he left very many cities empty of the male sex. 4 It is reported indeed that this same Ingenuus, with the city captured, plunged himself into the water and thus ended his life, lest he come into the power of a cruel tyrant.

5 Extat sane epistola Gallieni, quam ad Celerem Verianum scripsit, qua eius nimietas crudelitatis ostenditur. Quam ego idcirco interposui, ut omnes intellegerent hominem luxuriosum crudelissimum esse, si necessitas postulet: 6 "Gallienus Veriano. Non mihi satisfacies, si tantum armatos occideris, quos et fors in bellis interimere potuisset.

5 There exists indeed
an epistle of Gallienus, which he wrote to Celer Verianus, wherein his excess
of cruelty is shown. Which I have therefore inserted, that all
might understand that a luxurious man is most cruel, should necessity
demand: 6 "Gallienus to Verianus. You will not satisfy me, if you kill only the armed men,
whom even Fortune might have slain in wars.

7 Perimendus est omnis sexus virilis, si et senes atque inpuberes sine reprehensione nostra occidi possent. 8 Occidendus est quicum<que> male voluit, occidendus est quicumque male dixit contra me, contra Valeriani filium, contra tot principum patrem fratrem. 9 Ingenuus factus est imperator.

7 The entire male sex must be slain,
if even the old men and the underage could be killed without reproach to us. 8 Whoever has willed ill must be killed, whoever
has spoken ill against me, against the son of Valerian, against the father and brother of so many princes, must be killed. 9 Ingenuus has been made emperor.

Lacera, occide, concide, animum meum intellege, mea mente irascere, qui haec manu mea scripsi."

Lacerate,
kill, cut to pieces, understand my mind, be irate with my mind, I who have written these things with my hand."

REGILIANUS

X. 1 Fati publici fuit, ut Gallieni tempore quicumque potuit ad imperium prosiliret. Regilianus denique in Illyrico ducatum gerens imperator est factus auctoribus iomperii Moesis, qui cum Ingenuo fuerant ante superati, in quorum parentes graviter Gallienus saevierat. 2 Hic tamen multa fortiter contra Sarmatas gessit, sed auctoribus Roxolanis consentientibusque militibus et timore provincialium, ne iterum Gallienus graviora faceret, interemptus est.

10. 1 It was of the public fate that, in the time of Gallienus, whoever could would spring forth to the imperium. Regilianus, at length, holding a ducate in Illyricum, was made emperor, the Moesians being the authors of the imperium—who, with Ingenuus, had previously been overcome, against whose parents Gallienus had raged grievously. 2 He, however, did many things bravely against the Sarmatians; but, with the Roxolani as instigators and the soldiers consenting, and through the fear of the provincials, lest Gallienus should again do graver things, he was slain.

3 Mirabile fortasse videatur, si, quae origo imperii eius fuerit, declaretur. Capitali enim ioco regna promeruit. 4 Nam cum milites cum eo quidam c[a]enarent, extitit vicarius tribuni qui diceret: "Regiliani nomen unde credimus dictum?". Alius continuo: "Credimus quod a regno". 5 Tum is qui aderat scolasticus, coepit quasi grammaticaliter declinare et dicere: "Rex regis regi Regilianus". 6 Milites, ut est hominum genus pronum ad ea, quae cogitant: "Ergo potest rex esse?" Item alius: "Deus tibi regis nomen inposuit." 7 Quid multa?

3 It may perhaps seem marvelous, if the origin of his rule be declared. For by a capital joke he earned a kingdom. 4 For when certain soldiers were dining with him, there arose a deputy of a tribune who said: "Whence do we believe the name of Regilianus to be derived?" Another immediately: "We believe that it is from 'reign'." 5 Then the scholastic who was present began, as if grammatically, to decline and say: "King, of the king, to the king—Regilianus." 6 The soldiers, as the race of men is prone to the things they are thinking: "Therefore he can be king?" Likewise another: "God has imposed on you the name of king." 7 Why many words?

His dictis cum alia die mane processisset, a principiis imperator est salutatus. Ita quod aliis vel audacia vel iudicium, huic detulit iocularis astutia. 8 Fuit, quod negari non potest, vir in <re> militari semper probatus et Gallieno iam ante suspectus, quod dignus videretur imperio, gemtis Daciae, Decibali ipsius, ut fertur, adfinis.

With these things said, when on another day in the morning he had gone forth, he was saluted as emperor at the headquarters. Thus what to others either boldness or judgment bestowed, to this man a jocular astuteness delivered. 8 He was, which cannot be denied, a man always approved in the military matter and already before suspected by Gallienus, because he seemed worthy of the imperium, of the Dacian nation, related, as it is said, to Decebalus himself.

9 Extat epistola divi Claudii tunc privati,qua Regiliano, Illyrici duci, gratias agit ob redditum Illyricum, cum omnia Gallieni segnitia deperirent. Quam ego repertam in authenticis inserendam putavit, fuit enim publica. 10 "Claudius Regiliano multam salutem.

9 There exists a letter of the deified Claudius, then a private citizen, in which
to Regilianus, duke of Illyricum, he gives thanks for Illyricum having been restored, while all things were perishing through the sluggishness of Gallienus. Which I, found in the authentic records, thought should be inserted, for it was public. 10 "Claudius to Regilianus, much health."

Felicem rem p., quae te talem virum habere in castris belloicis meruit, felicem Gallienum, etiamsi ei vera nemo nec de bonis nec de malis nuntiat. 11 Pertulerunt ad me Bonitus et Celsus, stipatores principis nostri, qualis apud Scupos in pugnando fueris, quot uno die proelia et qua celeritate confeceris. Dignus eras triumpho, si antiqua tempora exstarent.

Fortunate the republic, which has deserved to have such a man as you in the war-camps; fortunate Gallienus, even if no one reports to him the truth either about good things or about bad. 11 Bonitus and Celsus, the bodyguards of our princeps, have conveyed to me how you were at Scupos in fighting, how many battles in one day and with what celerity you finished them. You were worthy of a triumph, if ancient times were extant.

12 Sed quid multa? Memor cuiusdam hominis cautius velim vincas. Arcus Sarmaticos et duo saga ad me velim mittas, sed fiblatoria, cum ipse misi de nostris." 13 Hac epistola ostenditur, quid de Regiliano senserit Claudius, cuius gravissimum iudicium suis temporibus fuisse non dubium est.

12 But why much? Remembering a certain man, I would wish you to win more cautiously. I would like you to send to me Sarmatian bows and two sagas (military cloaks), but of the clasped kind with fibulae, since I myself sent some of ours." 13 By this letter it is shown what Claudius thought about Regilianus, whose most weighty judgment in his own times was not in doubt.

14 Nec a Gallieno quidem vir iste promotus est, sed a patre eius Valeriano, ut et Claudius et Macrianus et Ingenuus et Postumus et Aureolus, qui omnes in imperio interempti sunt, cum mererentur imperium. 15 Mirabile autem hoc fuit in Valeriano principe, quod omnes, quoscumque duces fecit, postea militum testimonio ad imperium pervenerunt, ut appareat senem imperatorem in diligendis rei p. ducibus talem fuisse, qualem Romana delicitas, si continuari fataliter potuisset sub bono principe, requirebat. 16 Et utinam vel illi, qui arripuerant imperia, regnare potuissent, vel eius filius in imperio diutius non fuisset, utlibet se in suo statu res p. nostra tenuisset.

14 Nor indeed was that man promoted by Gallienus, but by his father Valerian, as also were Claudius and Macrianus and Ingenuus and Postumus and Aureolus, who all were slain while in the imperium, though they deserved the imperium. 15 But this was marvelous in the emperor Valerian: that all whomsoever he made generals, afterward, by the testimony of the soldiers, attained to imperial power, so that it appears the old emperor, in choosing leaders of the republic, was such as the Roman fastidiousness, if it could by fate have been continued under a good princeps, required. 16 And would that either those who had seized the empires could have reigned, or his son had not been longer in the imperium; in any case our republic would have kept itself in its own condition.

17 Sed nimis sibi Fortuna indulgendum putavit, quae et cum Valeriano bonos principes tulit et Gallienum diutius quam oportebat rei p. reservavit.

17 But Fortune thought that too much indulgence should be granted to herself, who both, with Valerian, brought forth good princes
and preserved Gallienus for the commonwealth longer than was fitting.

AUREOLUS

XI. 1 Hic quoque [in] Illyricianos exercitus regns in contemptu Gallieni, ut omnes eo tempore, coactus a militibus sumpsit imperium. 2 Et cum Macrianus cum filio suo Macrino contra Gallienum veniret cum plurimis, exercitus eius cepit, aliquos corruptos fidei suae addixit. 3 Et cum factus esset hinc validus imperator cumque Gallienus expugnare virum fortem frustra temptasset, pacem cumeo {fecit} contra Post[h]umum pugnaturus.

11. 1 This man also, [in] the Illyrian armies commanding, in contempt of Gallienus—as all at that time—forced by the soldiers, assumed the imperial power. 2 And when Macrianus with his son Macrinus was coming against Gallienus with very many, he seized his army, and assigned some, corrupted, to his own allegiance. 3 And when from this he had become a strong emperor, and when Gallienus had in vain attempted to subdue the brave man, peace witheo {he made}, being about to fight against Post[h]umus.

Quorum pleraque et dicta sunt et dicenda. 4 Hunc eundem Aureolum Claudius interfecto iam Gallieno conflictu habito apud eum pontem interemit, qui nunc pons Aureoli nincupatur, atque illic ut tyrannum sepulchro humiliore donavit. Extat etiam nunc epigramma Graecum in hanc formam:

Most of which both have been said and are to be said. 4 This same Aureolus Claudius, with Gallienus already slain and a conflict having been fought, did away with at that bridge, which is now called the Bridge of Aureolus, and there, as a tyrant, he endowed him with a more lowly sepulcher. A Greek epigram still exists even now in this form:

Dono sepulchrorum victor post multa tyranni
proelia iam felix Claudius Aureolum
munere prosequitur mortali et iure superstes,
vivere quem vellet, si pateretur amor
militis egregii, vitam qui iure negavit
omnibus indignis et magis Aureolo.
Ille tamen clemens, qui corporis ultima servans
et pontem Aureoli dedicat et tumulum.

With the gift of sepulchres, the victor after many battles of the tyrant
now fortunate, Claudius escorts Aureolus with a mortal gift
and, as the rightful survivor, whom he would have wished to live,
if the love of an eminent soldier had permitted—
which by right denied life to all the unworthy and
more to Aureolus.
He, however, merciful, who, preserving the last things of the body,
both dedicates the Bridge of Aureolus and the tomb.

6 Hos ego versus a quodam grammatico translatos ita posui, ut fidem servarem, non quo <non> melius potuerint transferri, sed ut fidelitas historica servaretur, quam ego prae ceteris custodiendam putavi, qui quod ad eloquentiam pertinet nihil curo. 7 Rem enim vobis proposui deferre, non verba, maxime tanta rerum copia ut in triginta tyrannorum simul vitis.

6 These verses, translated by a certain grammarian, I have set down thus, in order that I might preserve fidelity, not because they could not be rendered better, but so that historical fidelity might be preserved—which, before other things, I have thought ought to be guarded—I who, as far as it pertains to eloquence, care nothing. 7 For I have proposed to deliver to you the matter, not the words, especially with so great a plenty of things as in the lives of the thirty tyrants together.

MACRIANUS

XII. 1 Capto Valeriano, diu clarissimo principe civitatis, fortissimo deinde imperatore, ad postremum omnium infelicissimo, vel quod senex apud Persas consenuit vel quod indignos se posteros dereliquit, cum Gallienum contemnendum Ballista praefectus Valeriani et Macrianus primus ducum intellegerent, quaerentibus etiam militibus principem unum in locum concesserunt quaerentes, quid faciendum esset. 2 Tuncque constitit Gallieno longe posito, Aureolo usurpante imperium debere aliquem principem fieri, et quidem optimum, ne quispiam tyrannus existeret.

12. 1 With Valerian captured, for a long time a most illustrious prince of the state, then a most brave emperor, at the last the most unfortunate of all, whether because as an old man among the Persians he grew old, or because he left behind a posterity unworthy of himself, when Gallienus was to be contemned, Ballista, prefect of Valerian, and Macrianus, chief of the leaders, understood this; with the soldiers also asking for a prince, they retired into one place deliberating what should be done. 2 And then it was determined with Gallienus far off, with Aureolus usurping the imperium, that some prince ought to be made, and indeed the best, lest anyone at all a tyrant should arise.

3 Verba igitur Ballistae - quantum Maeonius Astyanax, qui consilio interfuit, adserit - haec fuerunt: 4 "Mea et aetas et professio et voluntas longe ab imperio absunt, et ego, quod negare non possum, bonum principem quaero. 5 Sed quis tandem est, qui Valeriani locum possit implere, nisi talis qualis tu es, fortis, constans, integer, probatus in re p. et, quod maxime ad imperium pertinet, dives? 6 Arripe igitur locum meritis tuis debitum.

3 Therefore the words of Ballista—as much as Maeonius Astyanax, who took part in the council, asserts—were these: 4 "My age and my profession and my will are far from imperial power, and I, which I cannot deny, seek a good emperor. 5 But who, pray, is there who can fill Valerian’s place, unless such a one as you are—brave, constant, upright, approved in the republic, and, which chiefly pertains to imperial power, wealthy? 6 Therefore seize the place owed to your merits.

Me praefecto, quamdiu voles, uteris. Tu cum re p. tantum bene agas, ut te Romanus orbis factum principem gaudeat." 7 Ad haec Macrianus: "Fateor, Ballista, imperium prundenti non frustra est. Volo enim rei p. subvenire atque illam pestem a legum gubernaculis dimovare, sed non hoc in me aetatis est: senex sum, ad exemplum equitare non possum, lavandum mihi est frequentius, edendum delicatius, divitiae me iam dudum ad usu militiae retraxerunt.

Use me as prefect as long as you wish. Do you so manage the republic that the Roman world may rejoice that you have been made emperor." 7 To this Macrianus: "I confess, Ballista, imperial power is not pointless for a prudent man. For I wish to come to the aid of the republic and to remove that pest from the helm of the laws, but this is not in me by reason of age: I am old, I cannot ride in front as an example, I must bathe more frequently, eat more delicately, my riches have long since drawn me back from the use of military service.

8 Iuvenes aliqui sunt quaerendi, nec unus sed duo vel tres fortissimi, qui ex diversis partibus orbis humani rem p. restituant, quam Valerianus fa[c]to, Gallienus vitae suae genere perdiderunt." 9 Post haec intellexit eum Ballista sic agere, ut de filiis suis videretur cogitare, atque adeo sic adgressus est: 10 "Prudentiae tuae rem p. tradimus. Da igitur liberos tuos Macrianum et Quietum, fortissimos iuvenes, olim tribunos a Valeriano factos, quia Gallieno imperante, quod boni sunt, salvi esse non possunt." 11 Tunc ille ubi intellectum se esse comperit: "Do", inquit, "Manus de meo stipendium militi duplex daturus. Tu tantum praefecti mihi studium et annonam in necessariis locis praebe.

8 Some young men must be sought, not one but two or three of the bravest, who from different parts of the human world may restore the Republic, which Valerian destroyed by his deed, and Gallienus by the manner of his life." 9 After this Ballista understood that he was acting in such a way that he seemed to be thinking about his own sons, and so he addressed him thus: 10 "We entrust the Republic to your prudence. Give, then, your sons Macrianus and Quietus, most valiant young men, once made tribunes by Valerian, since, with Gallienus ruling, because they are good, they cannot be safe." 11 Then he, when he discovered that he had been understood: "I give," he said, "with my own hand, from my own means I will give the soldiers double pay. Only provide me the zeal of a prefect and the grain-supply in the necessary places.

Iam ego faxim, ut Gallienus, sordissimus feminarum omnium, duces sui parentis intellegat." 12 Factus est igitur cum Macriano et Quieto duobus filiis cunctis militibus volentibus imperator ac statim contra Gallienum venire coepit utcumque rebus in oriente derelictis. 13 Sed cum quadraginta quinque milia militum secum duceret, in Illyrico vel in Thraciarum extimis congressus cum Aureolo victus et cum filio interemptus est. 14 Triginta denique milia militum in Areoli potestatem concessere.

Now I will ensure, that Gallienus, the most sordid of all women, may understand the commanders of his parent." 12 He was therefore made emperor with Macrianus and Quietus, his two sons, all the soldiers being willing, and at once began to come against Gallienus, with the affairs in the East left behind as they were. 13 But when he was leading forty-five thousand soldiers with him, in Illyricum or in the extremities of Thrace, having engaged with Aureolus he was defeated and was slain together with his son. 14 Finally thirty thousand soldiers passed into the power of Aureolus.

Domitianus autem eundem vicit, dux Aureoli fortissimus et vehementissimus, qui se originem diceret a Domitiano trahere atque a Domitilla. 15 De Macriano autem nefas mihi videtur iudicium Valeriani praeterire, quod ille in oratione sua, quam ad senatum e Persidis finibus miserat, posuit. Inter cetera ex oratione divi Valeriani: 16 "Ego, p. c., bellum Persicum gerens Macriano totam rem p. credidi <et> quidem a parte militari.

But Domitianus defeated that same man, a most brave and most vehement commander of Aureolus, who used to say that he drew his origin from Domitian and from Domitilla. 15 As for Macrianus, it seems to me a sacrilege to pass over Valerian’s judgment, which he set down in his speech which he had sent to the senate from the borders of Persia. Among other things from the oration of the deified Valerian: 16 "I, Conscript Fathers, while waging the Persian war, entrusted to Macrianus the whole republic, <and> indeed as regards the military side.

Ille vobis fidelis, ille mihi devotus, illum et amat et timet miles, ille utcumque res exegerit, cum exercitibus agit. 17 Nec, p. c., nova vel inopina nobis sunt: pueri eius virtus in Italia, adulescentis in Gallia, iuvenis in Thracia, in Africa iam provecti, senescentis denique in Illyrico et Dalmatia conprobata est, cum in diversis proeliis ad exemplum fortiter faceret. 18 Huc accedit quod habet iuvenes filios Romano dignus collegio, nostra dignus amicitia" et reliqua.

That man is faithful to you,
that man devoted to me; him the soldier both loves and fears; that man, as circumstances shall have required, deals with the armies. 17 Nor, Conscript Fathers, are these things new or unforeseen to us: his valor as a boy in Italy, as an adolescent in Gaul, as a young man in
Thrace, in Africa when already advanced, and finally, as he was growing old, in Illyricum and
Dalmatia, has been approved, since in diverse battles he would do bravely for an example. 18 To this there is added that he has young sons, worthy of the Roman collegium, worthy of our friendship" and the rest.

MACRIANUS IUNIOR

MACRIANUS JUNIOR

XIII. 1 Multa de hoc in patris imperio praelibata sunt, qui numquam imperator factus esset, nisi prudentiae patris eius creditum videretur. 2 De hoc plane multa miranda dicuntur, quae ad fortitudinem pertineant iuvenalis aetatis.

13. 1 Many things about him were touched upon during his father's rule, who would never
have been made emperor, unless it had seemed entrusted to his father's prudence. 2
About him plainly many things to be wondered at are said, which pertain to the fortitude of youthful age.

Sed <quid> ad fata aut quantum in bellis unius valet fortitudo? 3 Hic enim vehemens cum prudentissimo patre, cuius merito imperare coeperat, a Domitiano victus triginta, <ut> dixi superius, milibus militum spoliatus est, matre nobilis, patre tantum forte et ad bellum parato atque ab ultima militia in summum perveniente ducatus splendore sublimi.

But <what> to the fates, or how much in wars does the fortitude of one avail? 3 For this man, vehement, together with his most prudent father, by whose merit he had begun to rule, was defeated by Domitian and, <as> I said above, was despoiled of thirty thousand soldiers, his mother noble, his father only brave and prepared for war, and, advancing from the lowest soldiery to the highest, with the splendor of a sublime generalship.

QUIETUS

XIV. 1 Hic, ut diximus, Macrini filius fuit. Cum patre et fratre Ballistae iudicio imperator est factus.

14. 1 He, as we have said, was the son of Macrinus. Together with his father and brother, by Ballista’s judgment, he was made emperor.

Sed ubi comperit Odenatus, qui olim iam orientem tenebat, ab Aureolo Macrianum, patrem Quieti, cum eius fratre Macriano victos, milites in eius potestatem concessisse, quasi Gallieni partes vindicaret, adulescentem cum Ballista praefecto dudum interemit. 2 Idem quoque adulescens dignissimus Romano imperio fuit, ut vere Macriani filius, Macriani etiam frater, qui duo adflictis rebus potuerunt rem p. gerere, videretur. 3 Non mihi praetereundum videtur de Macrianorum familia, quae hodieque floret, id dicere, quod speciale semper habuerunt.

But when Odaenathus, who for a long time already held the Orient, learned that by Aureolus Macrianus, the father of Quietus, together with his brother Macrianus, had been defeated, the soldiers
had gone over into his power, as if he were vindicating the party of Gallienus,
he put the youth to death along with Ballista, the prefect, some time before. 2 That same
adolescent too was most worthy of the Roman imperium, so that he truly seemed the son of Macrianus,
and also the brother of Macrianus—those two who, with affairs afflicted, were able to conduct the commonwealth—
to be. 3 It does not seem to me to be passed over, about the family of the Macriani, which even today flourishes,
to say this which they always had as something special.

4 Alexandrum Magnum Macedonem viri in anulis et argento, mulieres et in reticulis et dextrocheriis et in anulis et in omni ornamentorum genere exculptum semper habuerunt, eo usque ut tunicae et limbi et paenulae matronales in familia eius hodieque sint, quae Alexandri effigiem de liciis variantibus monstrent. 5 Vidimus proxime Cornelium Macrum ex eadem familia virum, cum caenam in templo Herculis daret, pateram electrinam, quae in medio vultum Alexandri haberet et in circuitu[m] omnem historiam contineret signis brevibus et minutulis, pontifici propinare, quam quidem circumferri ad omnes tanti illius viri cupidissimos iussit. 6 Quod idcirco posui, quia dicuntur iuvari in omni actu suo, qui Alexandrum expressum vel auro gestitant vel argento.

4 Alexander the Great the Macedonian men have always had sculpted on rings and on silver, and women too on hairnets and on right-hand bracelets and on rings and in every kind of ornament, to such an extent that tunics and borders and matronal paenula-cloaks in his household are even today such as display the effigy of Alexander by variegated warp-threads. 5 We very recently saw Cornelius Macer, a man of the same family, when he was giving a dinner in the temple of Hercules, offer to the pontiff an amber patera which had in the middle the face of Alexander and around the circumference contained the whole history with brief and very tiny figures, and he ordered it, indeed, to be carried around to all who were most desirous of that so great a man. 6 I have set this down for this reason, because they are said to be aided in every action of theirs who wear Alexander’s likeness impressed either in gold or in silver.

ODENATUS

ODENATHUS

XV. 1 Nisi Odenatus, princeps Palmyrenorum, capto Valeriano, fessis Romanae rei p. viribus sumpsisset imperium, in oriente perditae res essent. 2 Quare adsumpto nomine primum regali cum uxore Zenobia et filio maiore, cui erat nomen Herodes, minoribus Herenniano et [a] Timolao collecto exercitu contra Persas profectus est. 3 Nisibin primum et orientis pleraque cum omni Mesopotamia in postestatem recepit, deinde ipsum regem victum fugere coegit.

15. 1 Unless Odenatus, princeps of the Palmyrenes, when Valerian had been captured and the forces of the Roman commonwealth were weary, had assumed the imperium, in the East the situation would have been lost. 2 Therefore, after adopting for the first time the royal name, with his wife Zenobia and his elder son, whose name was Herodes, and the younger ones Herennianus and [a] Timolaus, with an army gathered he set out against the Persians. 3 He first recovered Nisibis and most of the East together with all Mesopotamia into his power, then he forced the king himself, conquered, to flee.

4 Postremo Ctesifonta usque Saporem et eius liberos persedutus captis consubinis, capta etiam magna praeda d orientem vertit, sperans, quod Macrianum, qui imperare contra Gallienum coeperat, posset opprimere, sed illo iam profecto contra Aureolum et contra Gallienum, eo interempto filium <eius> Quietum interfecit, Ballista, ut plerique adserunt, regnum, usurpante, ne et ipse posset occidi. 5 Composito igitur magna ex parte orientis statu a consobrino suo Maeonio, qui et ipse imperium sumpserat, interemptus est cum filio suo Herode, qui et ipse post reditum de Perside cum patre imperator est appellatus. 6 Iratos fuisse rei p. deos credo, qui interfecto Valeriano noluerint Odenatum reservare.

4 Finally, having pursued Shapur and his children as far as Ctesiphon, with the concubines captured and great booty taken as well, he turned toward the East, hoping that he could overwhelm Macrianus, who had begun to rule against Gallienus; but as that man had already set out against Aureolus and against Gallienus, after he was slain he killed his son Quietus—Ballista, as very many assert, usurping the kingship—lest he himself also might be killed. 5 Therefore, with the condition of the East for the most part set in order, he was slain by his cousin Maeonius, who had himself assumed the imperium, together with his son Herodes, who likewise, after the return from Persia, had been styled emperor with his father. 6 I believe the gods of the commonwealth were angry, who, Valerian having been killed, were unwilling to preserve Odenatus.

7 Ille plane cum uxore Zenobia non solum orientem, quem iam in pristinum reformaverat statum, sed et omnes omnino totius orbis partes reformasset, vir acer in bellis et, quantum plerique scriptores loquuntur, venatu memorabili semperinclitus, qui a prima aetate capiendis leonibus et pardis, ursis ceterisque silvestribus animalibus sudorem officii virilis inpendit quique semper in silvis ac montibus vixit, perferens calorem, pluvias et omnia mala, quae in se continent venatoriae voluptates. 8 Quibus duratus solem ac pulverem in bellis Persicis tulit, non aliter etiam coniuge adsueta, quae multorum sententia fortior marito fuisse perhibetur, mulier omnium nobilissima orientalium feminarum et, ut Cornelius Capitolinus adserit, speciosissima.

7 He, plainly, together with his wife Zenobia, would have reformed not only the Orient, which he had already restored to its former state, but even all the parts whatsoever of the whole orb; a man keen in wars and, so far as most writers say, ever-illustrious for a memorable pursuit of the chase, who from his earliest age spent the sweat of manly duty on the taking of lions and pards (leopards), bears, and the other sylvan animals, and who always lived in woods and mountains, enduring heat, rains, and all the hardships which venatorial pleasures contain in themselves. 8 Hardened by these, he bore sun and dust in the Persian wars, his consort likewise being accustomed to them—who, in the judgment of many, is reported to have been stronger than her husband—a woman most noble of all the Oriental women and, as Cornelius Capitolinus asserts, most beautiful.

HERODES

HEROD

XVI. 1 Non Zenobia matre sed priore uxore genitus Herodes cum patre accepit imperium, homo omnium delicatissimus et prorsus orientalis et Graec[i]ae luxuriae, cui erant sigillata tentoria et aurati papiliones et omnia Persica. 2 Denique ingenio eius usus Odenatus quicquid concubinarum regalium, quicquid divitiarum gemmarumque cepit, eidem tradidit paternae indulgentiae adfectione permotus.

16. 1 Herodes, born not of Zenobia as mother but of a former wife, received the imperium with his father—a man most delicate of all, downright Oriental, and of Greek luxury—who had figured tents, gilded pavilions, and all things Persian. 2 Finally, making use of his temperament, Odenatus handed over to the same, moved by an affection of paternal indulgence, whatever of royal concubines, whatever of riches and gems he captured.

3 Et erat circa illum Zenobia novercali animo,qua re commendabiliorem patri eum fecerat. Neque plura sunt quae de Herode dicantur.

3 And around him Zenobia was with a stepmotherly disposition, whereby she had made him more commendable to his father. Nor are there more things that may be said about Herod.

MAEONIUS

XVII. 1 Hic consobrinus Odenati fuit nec ulla re alia ductus nisi damnabili invidia imperatoremoptimum interemit, cum ei nihil aliud obiceret praeter filii Herodis . 2 Dicitur autem primum cum Zenobia consensisse, quae ferre non opterat, ut privignus eius Herodes priore loco quam filii eius, Herennianus et Timolaus, principes dicerentur. 3 Sed hic quoque spurcissimus fuit.

17. 1 He was a cousin of Odenathus, and, led by no other cause than damnable envy, he murdered the best emperor, since he brought nothing else against him except his son Herodes’s . 2 He is said, moreover, at first to have agreed with Zenobia, who could not bear that her stepson Herodes should be named princes in a prior place than her own sons, Herennianus and Timolaus. 3 But he too was most vile.

Quare imperator appellatus per errorem brevi a militibus pro suae luxuriae meritis interemptus est.

Wherefore, called emperor through error, he was soon slain by the soldiers for the deserts of his luxury.

BALLISTA

XVIII. 1 De hoc, utrumimperavit,scriptores inter se ambigunt. Multi enim dicunt Quieto per Odenatum occiso Ballistae veniam datam et tamen eum imperasse, quod nec [a] Gallieno nec Aureolo nec Odenato se crederet.

18. 1 About this man, whetherhe ruled,writers disagree among themselves. For many say that, with Quietus slain by Odenatus, pardon was granted to Ballista, and yet that he did rule, because he would entrust himself neither to [a] Gallienus nor to Aureolus nor to Odenatus.

Alii adserunt privatum eum in agro suo, quem apud Dafnidem sibi compararat, interemptum. 3 Multi et sumpsisse illum purpuram, ut more Romano imperaret, exercitum duxisse et de se plura promisisse dixerunt, occisum autem per eos, quos Aureolus miserat ad conprehendendum Quietum, Macriani filium, quem praedam suam esse dicebat. 4 Fuit vir insignis, eruditus ad gerendam rem p., in consiliis vehemens, in expeditionibus clarus, in provisione annonaria singularis, Valeriano sic acceptus, ut eum quibusdam litteris hoc testimonio prosecutus sit: 5 "Valerianus Ragonio Claro praefecto Illyrici et Galliarum.

Others assert that, as a private citizen, he was slain in his own field, which he had bought for himself near Daphne. 3 Many said both that he took up the purple, so that he might rule in the Roman manner, that he led an army and promised many things about himself, but that he was killed by those whom Aureolus had sent to apprehend Quietus, the son of Macrianus, whom he said was his prey. 4 He was a distinguished man, learned for conducting the republic, vehement in counsels, renowned in campaigns, singular in the provisioning of the grain-supply (annona), so accepted by Valerian that in certain letters he followed him with this testimony: 5 "Valerian to Ragonius Clarus, prefect of Illyricum and of the Gauls."

Si quid in te bonae frugis est, quam esse scio, parens Clare, dispositiones tu Ballistae persequere. 6 His rem p. informa. Videsne ut ille provinciales non gravet, ut illic equos contineat, ubi sunt pabula, illic annonas militum mandet, ubi sunt frumenta, ubi sunt frumenta, non provincialem, non possessorem cogat illic frumenta, ubi non habet, dare, illic equum, ubi non potest, pascere?

If there is any good grain in you, which I know there is, Father Clarus, pursue Ballista’s dispositions. 6 By these inform the commonwealth. Do you see how he does not burden the provincials, how there he keeps the horses where there is fodder, there he mandates the soldiers’ rations where there is grain, where there is grain; he does not compel the provincial, nor the landholder, to give grain there where he does not have it, to pasture a horse there where he cannot?

7 Nec est ulla alia provisio melior quam ut in locis suis erogentur quae nascuntur, ne aut vehiculis aut sumptibus rem p. gravent. 8 Galatia frumentis abundat, referta est Thracia, plenum est Illyricum: illic pedites conlocentur, quamquam in Thracia etiam equites sine noxa provincialium hiemare possint. Multum enim ex campis feni colligitur.

7
There is no other provision better than that, in their own places, the things which are produced be disbursed, lest either by vehicles or by expenses they burden the republic. 8 Galatia abounds in grain, Thrace is replete, Illyricum is full: there let the infantry be stationed, although in Thrace even the cavalry can winter without harm to the provincials. For much hay is gathered from the fields.

9 Iam vinum, laridum, iam ceterae species in his dandae sunt locis, in quibus adfatim redundant. 10 Quae omnia sunt Ballistae consilia, qui ex quadam provincia unam tantum speciem praeberi iussit, quod ea redundaret, atque ab ea milites submoveri. Id quod publicitus est decretum." 11 Est et alia eius epistola, qua gratias Ballistae agit, in qua docet sibi praecepta gubernandae rei p. ab eodem data, gaudens, quod eius consilio nullum adscripticium - id est vacantem - haberet et tribunum, nullum stipatorem, qui non vere aliquid ageret, nullum militem, qui non vere pugnaret.

9
Now wine, bacon, now the other species are to be given in those places in
which they abound in full measure. 10 All these are Ballista’s counsels, who from
a certain province ordered only a single species to be furnished, because that one overflowed,
and that the soldiers be removed from there. A thing which was decreed publicly." 11 There is
also another epistle of his, in which he gives thanks to Ballista, in which he shows that precepts for governing the commonwealth were given to him by the same man, rejoicing that by his counsel
he had not a single adscripticius — that is, a vacant man — even as a tribune; not a single
attendant who did not truly do something; not a single soldier who did not truly
fight.

12 Hic igitur vir in tentorio suo cubans a quodam gregario milite in Odenati et Gallieni gratiam dicitur interemptus. 13 De quo ipse vera non satis comperi, idcirco quod scriptores temporum de huius praefectura multa, de imperio pauca dixerunt.

12 This man, therefore, lying in his tent, is said to have been slain by a certain rank-and-file soldier for the favor of Odenathus and Gallienus. 13 About which I myself have not sufficiently discovered true facts, for the reason that the writers of the times have said many things about his prefecture, few about his imperial power.

VALENS

XIX. 1 Hic vir militaris, simul etiam civilium virtutumgloria pollens proconsulatum Achaiae dato a Gallieno tunc honore gubernabat. 2 Quem Macrianus vehementer reformidans, simul quod in omni genere vitae satis clarum norat, simul quod inimicum sibi esse invidia virtutum sciebat, misso Pisone, nobilissimae tunc et consularis familiae viro, interfici praecepit.

19. 1 This military man, likewise excelling in the glory of civil virtues, was governing the proconsulship of Achaia, the honor then having been given by Gallienus. 2 Macrianus, greatly dreading him—both because he knew him to be quite renowned in every kind of life, and because he knew that, through the envy aroused by his virtues, he was an enemy to himself—sent Piso, a man then of a most noble and consular family, and ordered him to be killed.

3 Valens diligentissime cavens et providens neque aliter sibi posse subveniri aestimans sumpsit imperium et brevi a militibus interemptus est.

3 Valens, most diligently taking precautions and providing, and judging that he could not be succored otherwise, assumed the imperium, and in a short time was slain by the soldiers.

VALENS SUPERIOR

VALENS THE ELDER

XX. 1 Et bene venit in mentem, ut, cum de hoc Valente loquimur, etiam de illo Valente, qui superiorum principum temporibus interemptus est, aliquid diceremus. 2 Nam huius Valentis, qui sub Gallieno imperavit, avunculus magnus fuisse perhibetur; alii tantum avunculum dicunt. 3 Sed par in ambobus fuit fortuna.

20. 1 And it came well to mind that, when we speak about this Valens, we should also say something about that Valens, who was slain in the times of the earlier princes. 2 For this Valens, who ruled under Gallienus, is held to have been his great-uncle; others say only his uncle. 3 But Fortune was equal in both.

Nam et ille, <cum> paucis diebus Illyrico imperasset, occisus est.

For that one also, when for a few days he had held imperium over Illyricum, was slain.

PISO

XXI. 1 Hic a Macriano ad interficiendum Valentem missus, ubi eum providum futurorum imperare cognovit, Thessaliam concessit atque illic paucis sibi consentientibus sumpsit imperium Thessalicusque appellatus [vi] interemptus est, vir summae sanctitatis et temporibus suis Frugi dictus et qui ex illa Pisonum familia ducere originem diceretur, cui se Cicero nobilitandi causa sociaverat. 2 Hic omnibus principibus acceptissimus fuit.

21. 1 He, sent by Macrianus to do away with Valens, when he learned that he was ruling with foresight of future things, withdrew to Thessaly and there, with a few consenting to him, he assumed the imperium, and, called “Thessalicus,” was slain [6], a man of the highest sanctity and in his times called Frugi (“Thrifty”), and one who was said to draw his origin from that family of the Pisones, with which Cicero had associated himself for the sake of nobilitating himself. 2 He was most acceptable to all emperors.

Ipse denique Valens, qui ad eum percussores misisse perhibetur, dixisse dicitur non sibi apud deos inferos constare rationem, quod quamvis hostem suum Pisonem tamen iussisset occidi, virum cuius similem Romana res p. non haberet. 3 Senatus consultum de Pisone factum ad noscendam eius maiestatem libenter inserui: die septimo kal. Iuliarum cum esset nuntiatum Pisonem a Valente interemptum, ipsum Valentem a suis occisum, Arellius Fuscus, consularis primae sententiae, qui in locum Valeriani successerat, ait: "Consul, consule." 4 Cumque consultus esset "Divinos" inquit "Honores Pisoni decerno, p. c., Gallienum et Valerianum et Saloninum imperatores nostros id probaturos esse confido.

Valens himself, at last, who is reported to have sent assassins to him,
is said to have declared that his account did not stand with the infernal gods,
because, although an enemy, he had nevertheless ordered Piso to be killed—
a man of whom the Roman commonwealth had no equal. 3 A senatorial decree
about Piso, made to make known his majesty, I have gladly inserted:
on the seventh day before the Kalends of July (June 24), when it was announced that Piso had been slain by Valens,
and that Valens himself had been killed by his own men, Arellius Fuscus, a consular of the first vote,
who had succeeded to the place of Valerian, said: "Consul, take the vote." 4 And when he was consulted, he said,
"I decree Divine Honors to Piso, Conscript Fathers; I trust that Gallienus and Valerian and Saloninus, our emperors,
will approve this."

Neque enim melior vir quisquam fuit neque constantior." 5 Post quem ceteri consulti statuam inter triumphales et currus quadriiugos Pisoni decreverunt. 6 Sed statua eius videtur, quadrigae autem, quae decretae fuerant, quasi transferendae ad alium <locum> positae sunt nec adhuc redditae. 7 Nam in his locis fuerunt, in quibus thermae Diocletianae sunt exaedificatae, tam aeterni nominis quam sacrati.

For indeed no better man was there, nor
more steadfast." 5 After whom the others, when consulted, decreed for Piso a statue among the triumphal and
four-horse chariots (quadrigae). 6 But his statue is seen; however, the quadrigae, which had been decreed, were placed as if to be transferred to another
<place> and have not yet been returned. 7 For they were in those places in
which the Baths of Diocletian have been constructed, both of eternal name and
sacred.

AEMILIANUS

AEMILIAN

XXII. 1 Est hoc familiare populi Aegyptiorum, ut velut furiosi ac dementes de levissimis quibus usque ad summa rei p. pericula perducantur: 2 saepe illi ob neglectas salutationes, locum in balneis non concessum, carnem et olera sequestrata, calciamenta servilia et cetera talia usque ad summum rei p. periculum seditiones, ita ut armarentur contra eos exercitus, pervenerunt. 3 Familiari ergo sibi furore, cum quadam die cuiusdam servus curatoris, qui Alexandriam tunc regebat, militari ob hoc caesus esset, quod crepidas suas meliore esse quam militis diceret, collecta multitudo ad domum Aemiliani ducis venit atque eum omni seditionum instrumento et furore persecuta est: ictus est lapidus, petitus est ferro, nec defuit ullum seditionis telum.

22. 1 This is familiar to the people of Egypt, that, as if raging and demented, from the very lightest matters they are led all the way to the greatest dangers of the commonwealth: 2 often they, on account of neglected salutations, a place in the baths not granted, meat and vegetables withheld, servile footwear and other such things, have come into seditions even to the utmost peril of the commonwealth, such that armies were armed against them. 3 Therefore, with madness familiar to themselves, when on a certain day the slave of a certain curator, who was then ruling Alexandria, had been beaten by a soldier for this reason, that he said his sandals were better than a soldier’s, a crowd having been gathered came to the house of the general Aemilianus and pursued him with every instrument of seditions and with fury: he was struck with stones, attacked with steel, nor was any weapon of sedition lacking.

4 Qua re coactus Aemilianus sumpsit imperium, cum sciret sibi undecumque pereundum. 5 Consenserunt ei Aegyptiacus exercitus, maxime in Gallieni odium. 6 Nec eius ad regendam rem p. vigor defuit, nam Thebaidem totamque Aegyptum peragravit et, quaternus potuit, barbarorum gentes forti auctoritate summovit.

4. For which reason, compelled, Aemilianus assumed the imperium, knowing that he would have to perish from every side. 5. The Egyptian army consented to him, chiefly in odium of Gallienus. 6. Nor did vigor for governing the commonwealth fail him, for he traversed the Thebaid and all Egypt and, insofar as he could, he removed the tribes of the barbarians with strong authority.

7 Alexander denique vel Alexandrinus - nam incertum id quoque habetur - virtutum merito vocatus est. 8 Et cum contra Indos pararet expeditionem, misso Theodoto duce Gallieno iubente dedit poenas, set quidem strangulatus in carcere captivorum veterum more perhibetur. 9 Tacendum esse non credo, quod, cum de Aegypto loquor, vetus suggessit historia, simul etiam Gallieni factum.

7 Alexander, finally, or the Alexandrian - for even that is held uncertain - was so called by the merit of his virtues. 8 And when he was preparing an expedition against the Indians, with Theodotus the general sent at Gallienus’s bidding he paid the penalty, but indeed he is reported to have been strangled in prison, after the custom of ancient captives. 9 I do not think it must be kept silent, what, since I am speaking about Egypt, an old history has suggested, and likewise a deed of Gallienus.

10 Qui cum [e] Theodoto vellet imperium proconsulare decernere, a sacerdotibus est prohibitus, qui dixerunt fasces consulares ingredi Alexandriam non licere; 11 cuius rei etiam Ciceronem, cum contra Gabinium loquitur, meminisse satis novimus. Denique nunc extat memoria rei frequentatae. 12 Quare scire oportet Herennium Celsum, vestrum parentem, consulatum cupit, hoc quod desiderat non licere.

10 When he wished to decree proconsular imperium to [e] Theodotus, he was prohibited by the priests, who said that the consular fasces were not permitted to enter Alexandria; 11 of which matter we know well that even Cicero, when he speaks against Gabinius, makes mention. Finally, there now stands the memory of a practice frequently observed. 12 Wherefore Herennius Celsus, your ancestor, he desires the consulship, ought to know that this which he desires is not permitted.

13 Fertur enim apud Memfim in aurea columna Aegyptiis esse litteris scriptum tunc demum Aegyptum liberam fore, cum in eam venissent Romani faces et praetexta Romanorum. 14 Quod apud Proculum grammaticum, doctissimum sui temporis virum, cum de peregrinis regionibus loquitur, invenitur.

13 For it is reported that at Memphis on a golden column it is written in Egyptian letters that only then at last Egypt will be free, when into it there had come the Roman fasces and the Roman praetexta. 14 Which is found in Proculus, a grammarian, the most learned man of his time, when he speaks about foreign regions.

SATURNINUS

XXIII. 1 Optimus ducum Gallieni temporis, sed Valeriano dilectus Saturninus fuit. 2 Hic quoque, cum dissolutionem Gallieni, pernoctantis in publico, ferre non posset et milites non exemplo imperatoris sui, sed suo regeret, ab exercitibus sumpsit imperium, vir prudentiae singularis, gravitatis insignis, vitae amabilis, victoriarum barbaris etiam ubique notarum.

23. 1 The best of the leaders
of the time of Gallienus, but beloved by Valerian, was Saturninus. 2 He also,
since he could not bear the dissoluteness of Gallienus, spending the night in public, and
since he governed the soldiers not by the example of his own emperor but by his own, from the armies
assumed the imperium, a man of singular prudence, remarkable gravity, of an amiable life,
with victories noted everywhere even among the barbarians.

3 Hic ea die, qua est amictus a militibus peplo imperatorio, contione adhibita dixisse fertur: "Commilitiones, bonum ducem perdidistis et malum principem fecistis." 4 Denique cum multa strenue in imperio fecisset, quod esset severior et gravior militibus, ab isdem ipsis, a quibus factus fuerat, interemptus est. 5 Huius insigne est quod convivio discumbere milites, ne inferiora nudarentur, cum sagis iussit, hieme gravibus, aestate perlucidis.

3 On the day on which he was clothed by the soldiers with the imperial robe, he is said, with an assembly convened, to have said: "Fellow-soldiers, you have lost a good leader and have made a bad princeps." 4 Finally, although he had done many things vigorously in his rule, because he was more severe and graver toward the soldiers, he was slain by those very same men by whom he had been made. 5 A distinguishing mark of his is that he ordered the soldiers, at banquet, to recline with their cloaks on, lest their lower parts be laid bare—heavy ones in winter, translucent in summer.

TETRICUS SENIOR

TETRICUS THE ELDER

XXIV. 1 Interfecto Victorino et eius filio mater eius Victoria sive Vitruvia Tetricum senatorem p. R. praesidatum in Gallia regentem ad imperium hortata, quod eius erat, ut plerique loquuntur, adfinis, Augustum appellari fecit filiumque eius Caesarem nuncupavit. 2 Et cum multa Tetricus feliciterque gessit et diuque imperasset, ab Aureliano victus, cum militum suorum inpudentiam et procacitatem ferre non posset, volens se gravissimo principi et severissimo dedit.

24. 1 With Victorinus and his son slain, his mother Victoria, or Vitruvia, having urged Tetricus, a senator of the Roman People, who was holding the governorship in Gaul and administering it, to the imperial power—who was, as many say, her affine (relative by marriage)—caused him to be called Augustus and styled his son Caesar. 2 And although Tetricus had done many things successfully and had ruled for a long time, defeated by Aurelian, since he could not bear the impudence and procacity of his own soldiers, he willingly gave himself up to a most grave and most severe emperor.

3 Versus denique illius fertur, quem statim ad Aurelianum scripserat: "Eripe me his, invicte, malis". 4 Quare cum Aurelianus nihil simplex neque mite aut tranquillium facile cogitarete, senatorem p. R. eundemque consularem, qui iure praesidali omnes Gallias rexerat, per triumphum duxit, eodem tempore quo et Zenobiam Odenati uxorem cum filiis minoribus Odenati, Herenniano et Timolao. 5 Pudore tamen victus vir nimium severus eum, quem triumphaverat, conrectorem totius Italiae fecit, id est Campaniae, Samni, Lucaniae Brittiorum, Apuliae Calabriae, Etruriae atque Umbriae, Piceni et Flaminiae omnisque annonariae regionis, ac Tetricum non solum vivere, sed etiam in summa dignitate manere passus est, cum illum saepe collegam, nonnumquam commilitionem, aliquando etiam imperatorem appellaret.

3 At last that verse of his is reported, which he had forthwith written to Aurelian: "Rescue me from these evils, unconquered one." 4 Therefore, since Aurelian was not wont easily to think anything simple, nor mild or tranquil, he led in triumph a senator of the Roman People and likewise a consular, who had ruled all the Gauls with praesidial jurisdiction, at the same time as Zenobia, wife of Odenathus, with Odenathus’s younger sons, Herennianus and Timolaus. 5 Yet, overcome by shame, the man excessively severe made him Corrector of the whole of Italy—that is, of Campania, Samnium, Lucania of the Bruttii, Apulia, Calabria, Etruria and Umbria, Picenum and Flaminia and the whole annona-bearing region—and he allowed Tetricus not only to live, but even to remain in the highest dignity, since he often called him colleague, sometimes fellow-soldier, at times even emperor.

TETRICUS IUNIOR

TETRICUS JUNIOR

XXV. 1 Hic puerulus a Victoria Caesar est appellatus, cum illa mater castrorum ab exercitu nuncupata esset. 2 Qui et ipse cum patre per triumphum ductus postea omnibus senatoriis honoribus functus est inlibato patrimonio, quod quidem ad suos posteros misit, ut Arellius Fuscus dicit, semper insignis.

25. 1 This little boy was called Caesar by Victoria, when she had been entitled mother of the camps by the army. 2 He too was led through a triumph with his father, and afterward held all the senatorial honors with his patrimony inviolate, which indeed he transmitted to his own descendants, as Arellius Fuscus, ever distinguished, says.

3 Narrabat avus meus hunc sibi familairem fuisse neque quemquam [quam] illi ab Aureliano aut postea ab aliis principibus esse praelatum. 4 Tetricorum domus hodieque extat in monte Caelio inter duos lucos contra Isium Metellinum pulcherrrima, in qua Aurelianus pictus est utrique praetextam tribuens et senatoriam dignitatem, accipiens ab his sceptrum, coronam, cycladem - pictura est de museo; - quam cum dedicassent, Aurelianum ipsum dicuntur duo Tetrici adhibuisse convivio.

3 My grandfather used to tell that this man had been familiar to him, and that no one had been preferred to him by Aurelian or later by other princes. 4 The house of the Tetrici stands even today on the Caelian Hill between two groves, opposite the Isium Metellinum, most beautiful, in which Aurelian is painted bestowing upon both the praetexta and senatorial dignity, and receiving from them the scepter, the crown, the cyclas — the painting is from the museum; — and when they had dedicated it, the two Tetrici are said to have invited Aurelian himself to the banquet.

TREBELLIANUS

XXVI. 1 Pudet iam persequi, quanti sub Gallieno fuerint tyranni vitio pestis illius, si quidem erat in eo ea luxuria, ut rebelles plurimos mereretur, et ea crudelitas, ut iure timeretur. Quare et in Trebellianum , factum in Isauria principem ipsis Isauris sibi ducem quaerentibus.

26. 1 I am now ashamed to pursue how many tyrants there were under Gallienus, by the vice of that pest, since indeed there was in him such luxury as to merit very many rebels, and such cruelty as to be rightly feared. Wherefore even against Trebellianus , made a prince in Isauria, the Isaurians themselves seeking a leader for themselves.

Quem cum alii archipiratam vocassent, ipse se imperatorem appellavit. Monetam etiam cudi iussit. 3 Palatium in arce Isauria constituit.

Although others had called him an arch‑pirate, he styled himself emperor. He even ordered coinage to be struck. 3 He established a palace on the Isaurian citadel.

Qui quidem cum se intima et tuta Isaurorum loca munitus difficultatibus locorum et montibus contulisset, aliquandiu apud Cilicas imperavit. 4 Sed per Gallieni ducem Camsisoleum, natione Aegyptium, fratrem Theodoti qui Aemilianum ceperat, ad campum deductus victus est et occisus. 5 Neque tamen postea Isauri timore, ne in eos Gallienus saeviret, ad aequalitem perduci quavis principum humanitate potuerunt.

Who indeed, when he had withdrawn into the innermost and safe places of the Isaurians, fortified by the difficulties of the places and by the mountains, ruled for some time among the Cilicians. 4 But by Gallienus’s general Camsisoleus, an Egyptian by nation, the brother of Theodotus who had captured Aemilianus, brought down to the plain he was defeated and slain. 5 Nor thereafter could the Isaurians, for fear lest Gallienus might rage against them, be brought to equal terms by any humanity of the princes.

6 Denique post Trebellianum pro barbaris habentur; etenim in medio Romani nominis solo regio eorum novo genere custodiarum quasi limes includitur, locis defensa, non hominibus; 7 nam sunt non satura decori, non virtute graves, non instructi armis, non consiliis prudentes, sed hoc solo securi, quod in editis positi adiri nequeunt. Quos quidem divus Claudius paene ad hoc perduxerat, ut a suis semotos locis in Cilicia conlocaret, daturus uni ex amicissimis omnem Isaurorum possessionem, ne quid ex ea postea rebellionis oreretur.

6 Finally, after Trebellianus they are held as barbarians; for indeed, in the very midst of the soil of the Roman name, their region is enclosed, as by a frontier, by a new kind of guards, defended by places, not by men; 7 for they are not sated with decorum, not weighty in virtue, not equipped with arms, not prudent in counsels, but safe in this alone, that, positioned on heights, they cannot be approached. Whom indeed the deified Claudius had almost brought to this point: that, removed from their own places, he would settle them in Cilicia, about to give to one of his most intimate friends the whole possession of the Isaurians, lest anything of rebellion should thereafter arise from it.

HERENNIANUS

XXVII. 1 Odenatus moriens duos parvulos reliquit, Herrenianum et fratrem eius Timolaum, quorum nomine Zenobia usurpato sibi imperio diutius quam feminam decuit rem p. obtinuit, parvulos Romani imperatoris habitu praeferens purpuratos eosdemque adhibens contionibus, quas illa viriliter frequentavit, Didonem et Samiramidem et Cleopatram sui generis principem inter cetera praedicans. Sed horum exitu incertum est; 2 multi enim dicunt eos ab Aureliano interemptos, multi morte suo esse consumptos, si quidem Zenobiae posteri etiam nunc Romae inter nobiles manent.

27. 1 Odenatus, dying, left two little boys, Herrenianus and his brother Timolaus, in whose name Zenobia, having usurped the imperium for herself, held the republic longer than befitted a woman, displaying the little boys in the garb of a Roman emperor, purple-clad, and bringing them to the assemblies, which she manfully frequented, proclaiming, among other things, Dido and Semiramis and Cleopatra, the chief of her own lineage. But about their end it is uncertain; for many say that they were slain by Aurelian, many that they were consumed by their own death, if indeed Zenobia’s descendants even now remain at Rome among the nobles.

TIMOLAUS

XXVIII. 1 De hoc ea putamus digna notione, quae de fratre sunt dicta. 2 Unum tamen est quod eum a fratre separat, quod tanti fuit ardoris ad studia Romana, ut brevi consecutus, quae insinuaverat grammaticus, esse dicatur, potuisse quin etiam summum Latinorum rhetorem facere.

28. 1 About him we consider those things worthy of notice which have been said about his brother. 2 One however is the thing that separates him from his brother: that he was of such ardor for Roman studies that, having quickly mastered what the grammarian had instilled, he is said even to have been able to become the foremost rhetorician of the Latins.

CELSUS

XXIX. 1 Occupatis partibus Gallicanis, orientalibus, quin etiam Ponti, Thraciarum et Illyrici, dum Gallienus popinatur et balneis ac leonibus deputat vitam, Afri quoque auctore Vibio Passieno, proconsule Africae, et Fabio Pomponiano, duce limitis Libycis, Celsum imperatorem appellaverunt peplo deae Caelestis ornatum. 2 Hic privatus ex tribunis in Africa positus in agris suis vivebat, sed ea iustitia et corporis magnitudine, ut dignus videretur imperio.

29. 1 With the Gallic parts occupied, the eastern ones, and indeed even
Pontus, Thrace, and Illyricum, while Gallienus is tavern-feasting and
assigns his life to baths and to lions, the Africans too, with Vibius Passienus, proconsul
of Africa, as instigator, and Fabius Pomponianus, commander of the Libyan frontier,
acclaimed Celsus emperor, adorned with the peplos of the goddess Caelestis. 2 This man, a private individual from among the tribunes, in
Africa stationed, was living on his own estates, but with such justice and greatness of body
that he seemed worthy of imperium.

3 Quare cratus per quandam mulierem, Gallienam nomine, consobrinam Gallieni, septimo imperii die interemptus est atque adeo etiam inter obscuros principes vix relatus est. 4 Corpus eius a canibus consumptum est Siccensibus, qui Gallieno fidem servaverant, perurgentibus, et novo iniuriae genere imago in crucem sublata persultante vulgo, quasi patibulo ipse Celsus videretur adfixus.

3 Wherefore, betrayed through a certain woman, named Galliena, cousin of Gallienus, on the seventh day of his reign he was slain, and to such an extent that he was scarcely even enrolled among obscure princes. 4 His body was consumed by dogs, at the instigation of the Siccenses, who had kept faith with Gallienus; and, by a new kind of injury, his image was lifted onto a cross, with the crowd capering about, as though Celsus himself seemed affixed to the gibbet.

ZENOBIA

XXX. 1 Omnis iam consumptus est pudor, si quidem fatigata re p. eo usque perventum est, ut Gallieno nequissime agente optime etiam mulieres imperarent, et quidem peregrinae. 2 enim, nomine Zenobia, de qua multa iam dicta sunt, quae se de Cleopatrarum Ptolemaeorumque gente iactaret, post Odenatum maritum imperiali sagulo perfuso per umeros, habitu Didonis ornata, diademate etiam accepto, nomine filiorum Herenniani et Timolai diutius, quam femineus sexus patiebatur, imperavit.

30. 1 All shame has now been consumed, since indeed, with the commonwealth wearied, it has come to such a point that, with Gallienus acting most wickedly, even women ruled most excellently—yes, and foreign ones at that. 2 indeed, by name Zenobia, about whom much has already been said, who boasted herself to be of the stock of the Cleopatras and the Ptolemies, after her husband Odenathus, with the imperial sagum-cloak draped over her shoulders, adorned in the garb of Dido, and with a diadem also accepted, in the name of her sons Herennianus and Timolaus, ruled longer than the female sex allowed.

3 Si quidem Gallieno adhuc regente rem p. regale mulier superba munus obtinuit et Claudio bellis Gothicis occupato vix denique ab Aureliano victa et triumphata concessit in iura Romana. 4 Extat epistola Aureliani, quae captivae mulieri testimonium fert. Nam cum a quibusdam reprehenderetur, quod mulierem veluti ducem aliquem vir fortissimus triumphasset, missis ad senatum populumque Romanum litteris hac se adtestatione defendit: 5 "Audio, p. c., mihi obici, quod non virile munus impleverim Zenobiam triumphando.

3 Since, indeed, with Gallienus still ruling the republic, a proud woman obtained the royal office, and, with Claudius occupied by the Gothic wars, at last with difficulty, conquered and led in triumph by Aurelian, she yielded to Roman laws. 4 There exists a letter of Aurelian which bears testimony to the captive woman. For when he was being reproved by some, because, being a most valiant man, he had celebrated a triumph over a woman as though she were some commander, he, letters having been sent to the Senate and the Roman People, defended himself by this attestation: 5 "I hear, Conscript Fathers, that it is alleged against me that I have not fulfilled a manly duty by triumphing over Zenobia."

Ne illi, qui me reprehendunt, satis laudarent, si scirent, quae illa sit mulier, quam prudens in consiliis, quam constans in dispositionibus, quam erga milites gravis, quam larga, cum necessitas postulet, quam tristis, cum severitas poscat. 6 Possum dicere illius esse, quiod Odenatus Persas vicit ac fugato Sapore Ctesifonta usque pervenit. 7 Possum adserere tanto apud orientales et Aegyptiorum populos timori mulierem fuisse ut se non Arabes, non Saraceni, non Armenii commoverent.

Why, those who reproach me would praise me enough, if they knew what sort of woman she is—how prudent in counsels, how constant in dispositions, how weighty toward the soldiers, how lavish when necessity calls, how grim when severity requires. 6 I can say that it is to her credit that Odenatus defeated the Persians and, with Sapor put to flight, came even to Ctesiphon. 7 I can assert that the woman was such a terror among the Easterners and the peoples of Egypt that neither the Arabs, nor the Saracens, nor the Armenians stirred themselves.

8 Nec ego illi vitam conservassem, nisi eam scissem multum Romanae rei publicae profuisse, cum sibi vel liberis suis orientis servaret imperium. 9 Sibi ergo habeant propriarum venena linguarum hi, quibus nihil placet. 10 Nam si vicisse ac triumphasse feminam non est decorum, quid de Gallieno loquuntur, in cuius contemptu haec bene rexit imperium?

8 Nor would I have preserved her life, had I not known that she had greatly profited the Roman Republic, when she was keeping the imperium of the East for herself or for her children. 9 Let those, therefore, to whom nothing pleases, keep to themselves the venoms of their own tongues. 10 For if to have conquered and to have triumphed over a woman is not decorous, what do they say about Gallienus, in whose contempt she governed the imperium well?

11 Quid de divo Claudio, sancto ac venerabili duce, qui eam, quod ipse Gothicis esset expeditionibus occupatus, passus esse dicitur imperare? Idque consulte ac prudenter, ut illa servante orientalis finis imperii ipse securius, quae instituerat, perpetraret." 12 Haec oratio indicat, quid iudicii Aurelianus habuerit de Zenobia. Cuius ea castitas fuisse dicitur, ut ne virum suum quidem scierit nisi temptandis conceptionibus.

11 What of the deified Claudius, a holy and venerable leader, who is said to have allowed her to rule because he himself was occupied with Gothic expeditions? And he did this advisedly and prudently, in order that, with her safeguarding the oriental boundary of the empire, he might more securely accomplish what he had instituted." 12 This oration indicates what judgment Aurelian had about Zenobia. Her chastity is said to have been such that she did not know even her own husband except for the testing of conceptions.

Nam cum semel concubuisset, exspectatis menstruis continebat se, si praegnans esset, sin minus, iterum potestatem quaerendis liberis dabat. 13 Vixit regali pompa. More magis Persico adorata est.

For when she had once lain, after the menses had been awaited she restrained herself, if she were pregnant; but if not, she again gave permission for the seeking of children. 13 She lived in regal pomp. In a more Persian manner she was adored.

14 Regum more Persarum convicata est. Imperatorum more Romanorum ad contiones galeata processit cum limbo purpureo gemmis dependentibus per ultimam fimbriam, media etiam coclide veluti fibula muliebri adstricta, brachio saepe nudo. 15 Fuit vultu subaquilo, fusci coloris, oculis supra modum vigentibus nigris, spiritus divini, venustatis incredibilis.

14 She was feasted in the manner of the kings of the Persians. In the manner of the Roman emperors she advanced helmeted to public assemblies, with a purple hem, gems hanging along the uttermost fringe, also cinched in the middle by a spiral, as by a woman’s brooch, with her arm often bare. 15 She was of a somewhat dusky countenance, of swarthy color, with eyes, black, exceedingly lively, of divine spirit, of unbelievable comeliness.

Tantus candor in dentibus, ut margaritas eam plerique putarent habere, nmon dentes. 16 Vox clara et virilis. Severitas, ubi necessitas postulabat, tyrannorum, bonorum principum clementia, ubi pietas requirebat.

Such was the whiteness of her teeth, that most would think her to have pearls, not teeth. 16 A clear and manly voice. Severity, when necessity demanded it, that of tyrants; the clemency of good princes, when dutifulness required it.

Larga prudenter, conservatrix thensaurorum ultra femineum modum, 17 usa vehiculo carpentario, raro pilento, aequo saepius. Fertur autem vel tria vel quattuor milia frequenter cum peditibus ambulasse. 18 Venata est Hispanorum cupiditate.

Generous with prudence, a conservatrix of treasures beyond the feminine measure, 17 using a carpentum carriage, rarely a pilentum, more often on horseback. It is reported, moreover, that she frequently walked three or even four miles with the foot-soldiers. 18 She hunted with the eagerness of the Spaniards.

Bibit saepe cum ducibus, cum esset alias sobria; bibit et cum Persis atque Armeniis, ut eos vinceret. 19 Usa est vasis aureis gemmatis ad convivia, usa Cleopatranis. In ministerio eunuchos gravioris aetatis habuit, puellas nimis raras.

She often drank with commanders, though otherwise she was sober; she drank also with Persians and Armenians, in order to vanquish them. 19 She used golden, gem-studded vessels for banquets, used Cleopatran ones. In her service she had eunuchs of more advanced age, girls exceedingly rare.

20 Filios Latine loqui iusserat, ita ut Graece vel difficile vel raro loquerentur. 21 Ipsa Latini sermoni[bu]s non usque quaque gnara, sed ut loqueretur pudore cohibita; loquebatur et Aegyptiace ad perfectum modum. 22 Historiae Alexandrinae atque orientalis ita perita, ut eam epitomasse dicatur; Latinam autem Graece legerat.

20 She had ordered her sons to speak Latin, so that they would speak Greek either with difficulty or rarely. 21 She herself was not in every respect knowing in Latin discourses, but, as for speaking it, was restrained by modesty; and she also spoke Egyptian to a perfect degree. 22 So skilled in Alexandrian and oriental history that she is said to have epitomized it; Latin, however, she had read in Greek.

23 Cum illam Aurelianus cepisset atque in conspectum suum adductam sic appellasset: "Quid est, Zenobia? Ausa es insultare Romanis imperatoribus?" Illa dixisse fertur: "Imperatorem te esse cognosco, qui vincis, Gallienum et Aureolum et ceteros principes non putavi. Victoriam mei similem credens in consortium regni venire, si facultas locorum pateretur, optavi." 24 Ducta est igitur per triumphum ea species, ut nihil pompabilius p. R. videretur iam primum ornata gemmis ingentibus, ita ut ornamentorum onere laboraret.

23 When Aurelian had captured her and, bringing her into his sight, had thus addressed her: "What is it, Zenobia? Have you dared to insult Roman emperors?" She is said to have replied: "I recognize you to be emperor, since you conquer; I did not think Gallienus and Aureolus and the other princes to be such. Believing that Victory like to mine would come into a consortium of the kingdom, if the opportunity of the places permitted, I desired it." 24 She was therefore led in triumph in such guise, so that nothing more pomp-worthy seemed to the Roman People, now at the first adorned with enormous gems, such that she labored under the weight of her ornaments.

25 Fertur enim mulier fortissima saepissime restitisse, cum diceret se gemmarum onera ferre non posse. 26 Vincti erant praetera pedes auro, manus etiam catenis aureis, nec collo aureum vinculum deerat, quod scurra Persicus praeferebat. 27 Huic ab Aureliano concessa est, ferturque vixisse cum liberis matronae iam more Romanae data sibi possessione in Tiburti, quae hodieque Zenobia dicitur, non longe ab Hadriani palatioatque ab eo loco, cui nomen est Concae.

25 It is reported, indeed, that the woman, most brave, very often resisted, when she said that she could not bear the burdens of the gems.
most brave, very often resisted, when she said that she could not bear the burdens of the gems.
to bear. 26 Besides, her feet were bound with gold, her hands also with golden chains, nor was a golden bond at her neck lacking, which a Persian jester carried before her. 27
To her was granted by Aurelian, and she is reported to have lived with her children in the manner of a Roman matron now, an estate having been given to her at Tibur, which even today
is called Zenobia, not far from Hadrian’s palace and from that place whose name is the Conca.

VICTORIA

VICTORY

XXXI. 1 Non tam digna res erat, ut etiam Vitruvia sive Victoria in litteras mitteretur, nisi Gallieni mores hoc facerent, ut memoria dignae etiam mulieres censerentur. 2 Victoria enim, ubi filium ac nepotem a militibus vidit occisos, Postumum, deinde Lollianum, Marium etiam, quem principem milites nuncupaverant, interemptos, Tetricum, de quo superius dictum est, ad imperium hortata est, ut virile semper facinus auderet.

31. 1 It was not so worthy a matter that even Vitruvia, or Victoria, should be committed to writing, were it not that the ways of Gallienus brought this about, that even women were deemed worthy of memory. 2 For Victoria, when she saw her son and grandson slain by the soldiers, and Postumus, then Lollianus, and even Marius—whom the soldiers had designated princeps—killed, she urged Tetricus, of whom it was said above, to the imperium, that he should always dare a manly exploit.

Insignita est praeterea hoc titulo, ut castrorum se diceret matrem. 3 Cusi sunt eius nummi aerei, aurei et argentei, quorum hodieque forma extat apud Treviros. 4 Quae quidem non diutius vixit.

She was, moreover, distinguished with this
title, that she called herself mother of the camps. 3 Coins of hers were struck, bronze,
gold, and silver, the form of which even today exists among the Treveri. 4 She,
indeed, did not live much longer.

Nam Tetrico imperante, ut plerique loquuntur, occisa, ut alii adserunt, fatali necessitate consumpta. 5 Haec sunt quae de triginta tyrannis dicenda videbantur. Quos ego in unum volumen idcirco contuli, ne, de singulis singula quaeque narrarem, nasceretur indigna fastidia et ea, quae ferre lector non posset.

For, with Tetricus ruling, as most say, she was slain; as others assert, she was consumed by fatal necessity. 5 These are the things which seemed to have to be said about the thirty tyrants.
Whom I therefore collected into one volume, lest, about individuals I should tell each particular things, there should arise unworthy fastidiousness and such things as the reader could not bear.

6 Nunc ad Claudium principem redeo. De quo speciale mihi volumen quamvis breve merito vitae illius videtur edendum addito fratre singuli viro, ita ut de familia tam snacta et tam nobili saltim pauca referantur. 7 Studiose in medio feminas posui ad ludibrium Gallieni, quo nihil prodigiosius passa est Romana res p., duos etiam nunc tyrannos quasi extra numerum, quod alieni essent temporis, additurus, unum qui fuit Maximini temporibus, alterum qui Claudii, ut tyrannorum triginta viri hoc volumine tenerentur.

6 Now I return to Claudius
the emperor. About whom a special volume, although brief in proportion to the merit of his life,
seems to me to be published, with his brother added, each man singly, so that about a family so
sacred and so noble at least a few things may be related. 7 Studiously I placed the women in the midst
for the mockery of Gallienus, than which the Roman commonwealth has suffered nothing more prodigious,
and I am now about to add two tyrants as if outside the number, because they belonged to another
time, one who was in the times of Maximinus, the other in those of Claudius, so that the thirty tyrants might be contained in this volume.

8 Quaeso, qui expletum iam librum acceperas, boni consultas atque hos volumini tuo volens addas, quos ergo, quem ad modum Valentem superiorem huic volumini, sic post Claudium et Aureliam his qui inter Tacitum et Diocletianum fuerunt, addere destinaveram. 9 Sed errorem meum memor historiae diligentia tuae eruditionis avertit. 10 Habeo igitur gratiam, quod titulum meum prudentiae tuae benignitas inplevit.

8 I beg, you who had received the book now completed, to take it in good part and willingly to add these to your volume—those, therefore, whom, just as I had intended to add Valens earlier to this little volume, so after Claudius and Aurelian I had destined to add, those who were between Tacitus and Diocletian. 9 But the diligence of your erudition, mindful of history, has averted my error. 10 I therefore have thanks, because the benignity of your prudence has fulfilled my title.

Nemo in templo Pacis dicturus est me feminas inter tyrannos [cum risu et ioco], tyrannas videlicet vel tyrannides, ut ipsi de me solent <cum risu et ioco> iactitare, posuisse. 11 Habent integrum numerum ex arcanis historiae in meas litteras datum. 12 Titus enim et Censorinus <inseruntur>, quorum unus, ut dixi, sub Maximino, alter sub Claudio fuit, qui ambo ab isdem militibus, a quibus purpura velati fuerant, interempti sunt.

No one in the Temple of Peace
will say that I have placed women among the tyrants [with laughter and jest], “tyrannesses”
namely, or “tyrannies,” as they themselves are accustomed
to vaunt about me, to have placed. 11 They have the entire number, given from the arcana of history into
my letters. 12 For Titus and Censorinus , of whom
one, as I said, was under Maximinus, the other under Claudius—both of whom were slain by the same
soldiers by whom they had been robed with the purple.

TITUS

XXXII. 1 Docet Dexippus nec Herodianus tacet omnesque, qui talia legenda posteris tradiderunt, Titum, tribunum Maurorum, qui a Maximino inter privatos relictus fuerat, timore violentae mortis, ut illi dicunt, invitum vero et a militibis coactum, ut plerique adserunt, imperasse atque hunc intra paucos dies post vindicatam defectionem, quam consularis vir Magnus Maximino paraverat, a suis militibus interemptum; imperasse autem dicitur mensibus sex. 2 Fuit hic vir de primis erga rem p. domi forisque laudabilis, sed in imperio parum felix.

32. 1 Dexippus teaches, nor is Herodian silent, and all who have handed down such things to be read by posterity, that Titus, tribune of the Moors, who had been left by Maximinus among private persons, from fear of a violent death, as those say, but indeed unwilling and compelled by the soldiers, as most assert, took the imperium; and that he, within a few days after the defection—which the consular man Magnus had prepared against Maximinus—had been avenged, was slain by his own soldiers; and he is said to have ruled for 6 months. 2 This man was among the foremost, praiseworthy toward the commonwealth at home and abroad, but in rule not very fortunate.

3 Alii dicunt ab Armeniis sagittariis, quos Maximinus ut Alexandrinos et oderat et offenderat, principem factum. 4 Nec mireris tantam esse varietatem de homine, cuius vix nomen agnoscitur. 5 Huius uxor Calpurnia fuit, sancta et venerabilis femina de genere Caesoninorum, id est Pisonum, quam maiores nostri univiriam sacerdotem inter sacratissimas feminas adorarunt, cuius statuam in templo Veneris adhuc vidimus acrolitham sed auratam.

3 Others say [he was] made emperor by
Armenian archers, whom Maximinus, just as the Alexandrians, both hated and
had offended. 4 Nor should you marvel that there is such great variety about
a man whose very name is scarcely recognized. 5 His wife was Calpurnia, a holy
and venerable woman from the stock of the Caesonini, that is, the Pisones, whom our
ancestors adored as a univira priestess among the most sacred women, whose
statue in the temple of Venus we have still seen, an acrolith but gilded.

6 Haec uniones Cleopatranos habuisse perhibetur, haec lancem centum librarum argenti, cuius plerique poetae meminerunt, in qua maiorum eius expressa ostenderetur historia. 7 Longius mihi videor processisse quam res postulabat. Sed quid faciam?

6 This woman
is reported to have possessed Cleopatran pearls, this woman a dish of one hundred pounds
of silver, which many poets have remembered, in which the history of her ancestors, embossed,
might be displayed. 7 I seem to myself to have proceeded further than the matter
demanded. But what am I to do?

Scientia naturae facilitate verbosa est. 8 Quare ad Censorinum revertar, hominem nobilem sed qui non tam bono quam malo rei p. septem diebus dicitur imperasse.

The science of nature is verbose by reason of its facility. 8 Wherefore I will return to Censorinus, a noble man, but who is said to have exercised command over the commonwealth for seven days, not so much to its good as to its ill.

CENSORINUS

XXXIII. 1 Vir plane militaris et antiquae in curia dignitatis, bis consul, bis praefectus praetorii, ter praefectus urbi, quarto pro consule, tertio consularis, legatus praetorius secundo, quarto aedilicius, tertio quaestorius, extra ordinem quoque legatione Persica functus, etiam Sarmatica. 2 Post omnes tamen honores cum in agro suo degeret senex atque uno pede claudicans vulnere, quod bello Persico Valeriani temporibus acceperat, factus est imperator et scurrarum ioco Claudius appellatus est.

33. 1 A man plainly military and of ancient dignity in the Curia, twice consul, twice prefect of the praetorian guard, thrice prefect of the city, for the fourth time as proconsul, for the third time consular, praetorian legate for the second time, for the fourth time aedilician, for the third time quaestorian, also outside the ordinary having performed a Persian legation, and even a Sarmatian one. 2 After all his honors, however, when as an old man he was living on his own estate and limping in one foot from a wound, which he had received in the Persian war in the times of Valerian, he was made emperor and, by the jest of buffoons, was called 'Claudius.'

3 Cumque se gravissime gereret neque a militibus ob disciplinam censoriam ferri posset, ab his ipsis, a quibus fuactus fuerat, interemptus est. 4 Extat eius selpulchrum <circa Bononiam>:, in quo grandibus litteris [circa Bononiam] incisi sunt omnes eius honores; ultimo tamen versu adscriptum est: 5 "felix omnia, infelicissimus imperator". Extat eius familia Censorinorum nomine frequantata, cuius pars Thracias odio rerum Romanarum, pars Bithyniam petit; 6 extat etiam domus pulcherrima adiuncta gentibus Flaviis, quae quondam Titi principis fuisse perhibetur. 7 Habes integrum triginta numerum tyrannorum, qui cum malevolis quidem sed bono animo causabaris.

3 And when he bore himself most gravely and could not be endured by the soldiers on account of censorial discipline, he was slain by those very men by whom he had been made. 4 His tomb exists <around Bologna>:, in which in large letters [around Bologna] all his honors have been incised; yet in the last line it is written: 5 "happy in all things, most unhappy as emperor". His family exists, numerous under the name of the Censorini, of which one part made for Thrace out of hatred of Roman affairs, another part for Bithynia; 6 there also exists a most beautiful house adjoined to the Flavian clans, which is said once to have belonged to the princeps Titus. 7 You have the full number of thirty tyrants, which you were indeed arguing for to the ill-disposed, but with good intent.

8 Da nunc cuivis libellum non tam diserte quam fideliter scriptum. Neque ego eloquentiam mihi videor pollicitus esse, sed rem, qui hos libellos, quos de vita principum edidi, non scribo sed dicto, et dicto cum ea festinatione, quam, si quid vel ipse promisero vel tu petieris, sic perurgueo, ut respirandi non habeam facultatem.

8 Now give to anyone a little book written not so eloquently as faithfully. Nor do I seem to myself to have promised eloquence, but the thing itself; for these little books, which I have issued about the life of the princes, I do not write but dictate, and I dictate with that haste which, if either I myself have promised anything or you have requested it, I press so hard that I have no opportunity to breathe.