Suetonius: DE VITIS CAESARUM

I. Rebellione trium principum et caede incertum diu et quasi vagum imperium suscepit firmavitque tandem gens Flavia, obscura illa quidem ac sine ullis maiorum imaginibus, sed tamen rei p. nequaquam paenitenda; constet licet, Domitianum cupiditatis ac saevitiae merito poenas luisse.

I. By the rebellion of the three princes and the slaughter the empire for a long time was uncertain and as it were wandering, and at last the Flavian gens undertook and secured it, that family indeed obscure and without any ancestral images, but nevertheless by the commonwealth not at all to be regretted; let it be agreed, however, that Domitian deservedly suffered the penalties of cupidity and cruelty.

T. Flavius Petro, municeps Reatinus, bello civili Pompeianarum partium centurio an evocatus, profugit ex Pharsalica, acie domumque se contulit, ubi deinde venia et missione impetrata coactiones argentarias factitavit. Huius filius, cognomine Sabinus, expers militiae (etsi quidam eum primipilarem, nonnulli, cum adhuc ordines duceret, sacramento solutum per causam valitudinis tradunt) publicum quadragesimae in Asia egit; manebantque imagines a civitatibus ei positae sub hoc titulo: ΚΑΛΩϹ ΤΕΛΩΝΗϹΑΝΤΙ. Postea faenus apud Helvetios exercuit ibique diem obiit superstitibus uxore Vespasia Polla et duobus ex ea liberis, quorum maior Sabinus ad praefecturam urbis, minor Vespasianus ad principatum usque processit. Polla, Nursiae honesto genere orta, patrem habuit Vespasium Pollionem, ter tribunum militum praefectumque castrorum, fratrem senatorem praetoriae dignitatis.

T. Flavius Petro, a municipian of Reate, having in the civil war been a centurion of the Pompeian faction or an evocatus, fled from the Pharsalian battle line and withdrew to his home, where, having afterwards obtained pardon and discharge, he carried out monetary exactions. His son, by the cognomen Sabinus, inexperienced in military service (although some say he was primipilus, others relate that, while still leading the ranks, he was released from his oath on account of illness) held the public office of the quadragesima in Asia; and there remained portraits set up by the cities to him under this title: ΚΑΛΩϹ ΤΕΛΩΝΗϹΑΝΤΙ. Afterwards he practised usury among the Helvetii and there died, survived by his wife Vespasia Polla and two children by her, of whom the elder, Sabinus, rose to the prefecture of the city, the younger, Vespasian, to the principate. Polla, born at Nursia of an honorable family, had for her father Vespasius Pollio, thrice military tribune and camp prefect, and a brother a senator of praetorian dignity.

Locus etiam ad sextum miliarium a Nursia Spoletium euntibus in monte summo appellatur Vespasiae, ubi Vespasiorum complura monumenta exstant, magnum indicium splendoris familiae et vetustatis. Non negaverim iactatum a quibusdam Petronis patrem e regione Transpadana fuisse mancipem operarum, quae ex Vmbria in Sabinos ad culturam agrorum quotannis commeare soleant; subsedisse autem in oppido Reatino, uxore ibidem ducta. Ipse ne vestigium quidem de hoc, quamvis satis curiose inquirerem, inveni.

The place at the sixth mile for those going from Nursia to Spoletium, on the highest hill, is also called Vespasiae, where several monuments of the Vespasii stand — a great token of the family’s splendor and of its antiquity. I will not deny that Petronius’ father has been asserted by some to have been a mancipius of labourers from the Transpadane region, those who are wont to come and go yearly from Umbria into the Sabines for the cultivation of the fields; yet that he settled in the town of Reate, taking a wife there. I myself, though I inquired rather diligently, found not even a trace of this.

II. Vespasianus natus est in Sabinis ultra Reate vico modico, cui nomen est Phalacrinae, XV. kal. Dec. vesperi, Q. Sulpicio Camerino C. Poppaeo Sabino cons., quinquennio ante quam Augustus excederet; educatus sub paterna avia Tertulla in praediis Cosanis.

II. Vespasian was born among the Sabines beyond Reate in a small village called Phalacrinae, on the evening of the 15th day before the Kalends of December, in the consulship of Q. Sulpicius Camerinus and C. Poppaeus Sabinus, five years before Augustus departed; he was brought up under his paternal grandmother Tertulla on the Cosan estates.

Quare princeps quoque et locum incunabulorum assidue frequentavit, manente villa qualis fuerat olim, ne quid scilicet oculorum consuetudini deperiret; et aviae memoriam tanto opere dilexit, ut sollemnibus ac festis diebus pocillo quoque eius argenteo potare perseveraverit.

Therefore the prince also constantly frequented the place of his infancy, the villa remaining such as it once had been, so that, to be sure, nothing of the accustomed sight might be lost; and he so dearly loved the memory of his grandmother, that on solemn and festive days he persevered in drinking even from her silver cup.

Sumpta virili toga, latum clavum, quamquam fratre adepto, diu aversatus est, nec ut tandem appeteret compelli nisi a matre potuit. Ea demum extudit magis convicio quam precibus vel auctoritate, dum eum identidem per contumeliam anteambulonem fratris appellat.

Having put on the manly toga, the broad clavus, although obtained by his brother, he long refused, nor could he at last be compelled to accept it except by his mother. She at length drove him on more by reproach than by prayers or authority, while she repeatedly, by insult, called him the anteambulon (forerunner) of her son.

Tribunatum militum in Thracia meruit; quaestor Cretam et Cyrenas provinciam sorte cepit; aedilitatis ac mox praeturae candidatus, illam non sine repulsa sectoque vix adeptus est loco, hanc prima statim petitione et in primis; praetor infensum senatui Gaium ne quo non genere demereretur, ludos extraordinarios pro victoria eius Germanica depoposcit, poenaeque coniuratorum addendum censuit ut insepulti proicerentur. Egit et gratias ei apud amplissimum ordinem, quod se honore cenae dignatus esset.

He earned the military tribunate in Thrace; by lot he took the quaestorship of the province of Crete and Cyrenaica; a candidate for the aedileship and soon the praetorship, he scarce obtained the former after rejection and pursuit, but the latter at the very first petition and foremost; as praetor, hostile to the senate that Gaius might be stripped in every sort of honor, he demanded extraordinary games for his Germanic victory, and proposed that to the punishments of the conspirators should be added that they be cast away unburied. He also rendered thanks to him before the most ample order, because he had deigned himself worthy of the honor of a dinner.

III. Inter haec Flaviam Domitillam duxit uxorem, Statilii Capellae equitis R. Sabratensis ex Africa delicatam olim Latinaeque condicionis, sed mox ingenuam et civem Rom. reciperatorio iudicio pronuntiatam, patre asserente Flavio Liberale Ferenti genito nec quicquam amplius quam quaestorio scriba. Ex hac liberos tulit Titum et Domitianum et Domitillam.

III. Among these things he took to wife Flavia Domitilla, formerly the delicata of Statilius Capella, a Roman knight of Sabrata in Africa, once of delicate and Latin condition, but soon proclaimed freeborn and a Roman citizen by a restitutive judgment, her father asserting that she had been born to Flavius Liberalis of Ferentum and that he was nothing more than a quaestorian scribe. From her he bore children Titus and Domitian and Domitilla.

Vxori ac filiae superstes fuit, atque utramque adhuc privatus amisit. Post uxoris excessum Caenidem, Antoniae libertam et a manu, dilectam quondam sibi revocavit in contubernium, habuitque etiam imperator paene iustae uxoris loco.

He survived his wife and daughter, and as a private citizen still lost each of them. Post his wife's death he recalled Caenidia, a freedwoman and a manu of Antonia, once beloved by him, into contubernium, and the emperor also kept her almost in the place of a lawful wife.

IV. Claudio principe Narcissi gratia legatus legionis in Germaniam missus est; inde in Britanniam translatus tricies cum hoste conflixit. Duas validissimas gentes superque viginti oppida et insulam Vectem Britanniae proximam in dicionem redegit, partim Auli Plautii legati consularis, partim Claudi ipsius ductu. Quare triumphalia ornamenta et in brevi spatio duplex sacerdotium accepit, praeterea consulatum, quem gessit per duos novissimos anni menses.

4. Under the principate of Claudius, by the favor of Narcissus he was sent as legate of a legion into Germany; thence transferred into Britain he fought thirty times with the enemy. He brought two very powerful peoples and more than twenty towns and the island Vectis, near Britain, under his dominion, partly by the command of Aulus Plautius, a consular legate, partly by Claudius’s own leadership. Wherefore he received triumphal ornaments and in a short space a double priesthood, and moreover the consulship, which he held for the last two months of the year.

Medium tempus ad proconsulatum usque in otio secessuque egit, Agrippinam timens potentem adhuc apud filium et defuncti quoque Narcissi amici perosam.

He spent half the period up to his proconsulship in leisure and retirement, fearing Agrippina, still powerful with her son, and also detested as the friend of the late Narcissus.

Exim sortitus Africam, integerrime nec sine magna dignatione administravit, nisi quod Hadrumeti seditione quadam rapa in eum iacta sunt. Rediit certe nihilo opulentior, ut qui, prope labefactata iam fide, omnia praedia fratri obligaret necessarioque ad mangonicos quaestus sustinendae dignitatis causa descenderit; propte quod vulgo mulio vocabatur. Convictus quoque dicitur ducenta sestertia expressisse iuveni, cui latum clavum adversus patris voluntatem impetrarat, eoque nomine graviter increpitus.

Then, having drawn the lot of Africa, he administered it most uprightly and not without great dignity, except that some plundering was hurled at him at Hadrumetum by a certain sedition. He certainly returned by no means richer, so that, his fidelity now nearly shaken, he pledged all his estates to his brother and necessarily descended to mercantile gains for the sake of sustaining his dignity; because he was commonly called a mulio. He is also said to have paid 200 sesterces to a young man who had obtained the latus clavus against his father's will, and was gravely reproached by that name.

Peregrinatione Achaica inter comites Neronis, cum cantante eo aut discederet saepius aut praesens obdormisceret, gravissimam contraxit offensam, prohibitusque non contubernio modo sed etiam publica salutatione, secessit in parvam ac deviam civitatem, quoad latenti extrema metuenti provincia cum exercitu oblata est. Percrebuerat Oriente toto vetus et constans opinio, esse in fatis ut eo tempore Iudaea profecti rerum potirentur. Id de imperatore Romano, quantum postea eventu parvit, praedictum Iudaei ad se trahentes, rebellarunt, caesoque praeposito legatum insuper Syriae consularem suppetias ferentem, rapta aquila, fugaverunt.

During an Achaean peregrination among Nero’s comites, when singing with him he would either often withdraw or fall asleep in his presence, he contracted a very grave offense, and being forbidden not only companionship but also public salutation, he withdrew into a small and out-of-the-way city, until the province, offered to him with an army, was presented while he lay hidden, fearing the worst. Throughout the whole Orient there had spread an old and steadfast opinion that it was in the fates that those setting out for Judaea at that time would obtain power. The Jews, drawing this prediction about the Roman emperor to themselves — which afterward proved of little moment by its outcome — revolted, and with the praepositus slain they also killed the consular legate of Syria who was bringing reinforcements, seized the eagle, and put them to flight.

Ad hunc motum comprimendum cum exercitu ampliore et non instrenuo duce, cui tamen tuto tanta res committeretur, opus esset, ipse potissimus delectus est, ut et industriae expertae nec metuendus ullo modo ob humilitatem generis ac nominis. Additis igitur ad copias duabus legionibus, octo alis, cohortibus decem, atque inter legatos maiore filio assumpto, ut primum provinciam attigit, proximas quoque convertit in se, correcta statim castrorum disciplina, unoque et altero proelio tam constanter inito, ut in oppugnatione castelli lapidis ictum genu, scutoque sagittas aliquot exceperit.

To suppress this movement, since a larger army and a not inactive leader were needed — one to whom so great a matter could nevertheless be entrusted safely — he himself was chosen above all, both because proven in industry and not at all to be feared on account of the lowliness of his birth and name. Two legions, eight alae, ten cohorts having therefore been added to the forces, and among the legates his elder son having been taken up, as soon as he reached the province he turned the neighboring provinces to him as well; the discipline of the camp was at once corrected, and with the first and the second engagement fought so steadfastly that in the assault on the fortress he received a stone’s blow on the knee, and with his shield intercepted several arrows.

V. Post Neronem Galbamque, Othone ac Vitellio de principatu certantibus, in spem imperii venit, iam pridem sibi per haec ostenta conceptam.

V. After Nero and Galba, with Otho and Vitellius contending for the principate, he came into the hope of the empire, a hope long before conceived for himself by these omens.

In suburbano Flaviorum quercus antiqua, quae erat Marti sacra, per tres Vespasiae partus, singulos repente ramos a frutice dedit, haud dubia signa futuri cuiusque fati: primum exilem et cito arefactum (ideoque puella nata non perennavit), secundum praevalidum ac prolixum et qui magnam felicitatem portenderet, tertium vero instar arboris. Quare patrem Sabinum ferunt, haruspicio insuper confirmatum, renuntiasse matri, nepotem ei Caesarem genitum; nec illam quicquam aliud quam cachinnasse, mirantem quod adhuc se mentis compote deliraret iam filius suus. Mox cum aedilem eum C. Caesar, succensens curam verrendis viis non adhibitam, luto iussisset oppleri congesto per milites in praetextae sinum, non defuerunt qui interpretarentur, quandoque proculcatam desertamque rem p. civili aliqua perturbatione in tutelam eius ac velut in gremium deventuram.

In the suburban Flavian oak ancient, which was sacred to Mars, through three births of Vespasia each time suddenly it put forth a branch from the stump, undoubted signs of the future fate of each: the first slender and soon dried up (and therefore the girl born did not survive long), the second very strong and long and one that portended great felicity, the third indeed like a full tree. Wherefore they say that Sabinus the father, further confirmed by haruspicy, announced to the mother that a grandson had been born to her who would be Caesar; nor did she do anything else but laugh aloud, marveling that her son, still in possession of his mind, was already raving. Soon, when Gaius Caesar as aedile, enraged that the care for the swept streets had not been applied, had ordered him to be filled with mud, heaped in by soldiers into the fold of his praetexta, there were not wanting those who interpreted that this thing, once trampled and deserted, would by some civil disturbance come to his protection and as it were into his bosom.

Prandente eo quondam, canis extrarius e trivio manum humanam intulit mensaeque subiecit. Cenante rursus bos arator decusso iugo triclinio irrupit, ac fugatis ministris quasi repente defessus procidit ad ipsos accumbentis pedes cervicemque summisit. Arbor quoque cupressus in agro avito sine ulla vi tempestatis evulsa radicitus atque prostrata, insequenti die viridior ac firmior resurrexit.

Once while he was dining, a stray dog from the crossroads carried in a human hand and placed it beneath the table. While he was again at table an ox, a plough-beast, having shaken off its yoke, burst into the triclinium, and with the servants put to flight, as if suddenly exhausted, it fell prostrate at the very feet of those reclining and lowered its neck. Likewise a cypress in the ancestral field, uprooted and prostrate without any force of storm having torn it up, on the following day rose again greener and firmer.

At in Achaia somniavit initium sibi suisque felicitatis futurum, simul ac dens Neroni exemptus esset; evenitque ut sequenti die progressus in atrium medicus dentem ei ostenderet, tantumque quod exemptum.

But in Achaia he dreamed that the beginning of his and his household’s felicity would be, as soon as a tooth of Nero’s had been removed; and it happened that on the following day, having gone into the atrium, the medicus showed him the tooth, and merely said that it was extracted.

Apud Iudaeam Carmeli dei oraculum consulentem ita confirmavere sortes, ut quidquid cogitaret volveretque animo, quamlibet magnum, id esse proventurum pollicerentur; et unus ex nobilibus captivis Iosephus, cum coiceretur in vincula, constantissime asseveravit fore ut ab eodem brevi solveretur, verum iam imperatore. Nuntiabantur et ex urbe praesagia, Neronem diebus ultimis monitum per quietem, ut tensam Iovis Optimi Maximi e sacrario in domum Vespasiani et inde in circum deduceret; ac non multo post, comitia secundi consulatus ineunte Galba, statuam Divi Iulii ad Orientem sponte conversam; acieque Betriacensi, prius quam committeretur, duas aquilas in conspectu omnium conflixisse, victaque altera supervenisse tertiam ab solis exortu ac victricem abegisse.

At Judean Carmel, consulting the oracle of God, they so confirmed the lots that whatever anyone thought and revolved in his mind, however great, they promised would come to pass; and one of the noble captives, Iosephus, when he was thrown into chains, most steadfastly declared that he would shortly be loosed by that same man, now emperor in truth. Omens were also reported from the city: that Nero in his last days was warned in sleep to carry forth the statue of Jupiter Optimus Maximus from the shrine into the house of Vespasian and thence into the circus; and not long after, at the comitia at the outset of Galba’s second consulship, that the statue of the Divine Julius had of its own accord turned to the east; and in the Betriacian host, before the battle was joined, two eagles met in sight of all, one having been vanquished, another arrived at the rising of the sun and drove off the conquered one, becoming victorious.

VI. Nec tamen quicquam ante temptavit, promptissimis atque etiam instantibus suis, quam sollicitatus quorundam et ignotorum et absentium fortuito favore.

VI. Nor, however, did he attempt anything beforehand with his most ready and even pressing followers, than being solicited by the fortuitous favour of certain men both unknown and absent.

Moesiaci exercitus bina e tribus legionibus milia, missa auxilio Othoni, postquam ingressis iter nuntiatum est victum eum ac vim vitae suae attulisse, nihilo setius Aquileiam usque perseveraverunt, quasi rumori minus crederent. Ibi per occasionem ac licentiam omni rapinarum genere grassati, cum timerent ne sibi reversis reddenda ratio ac subeunda poena esset, consilium inierunt eligendi creandique imperatoris; neque enim deteriores esse aut Hispaniensi exercitu qui Galbam, aut praetoriano qui Othonem, aut Germaniciano qui Vitellium fecissent. Propositis itaque nominibus legatorum consularium, quot ubique tunc erant, cum ceteros alium alia de causa improbarent, et quidam e legione tertia, quae sub exitu Neronis translata ex Syria in Moesiam fuerat, Vespasianum laudibus ferrent, assensere cuncti nomenque eius vexillis omnibus sine mora inscripserunt.

The Moesian army — two thousand men from the three legions, sent to aid Otho — after they had set out and it was reported that he had been defeated and had put a violence upon his own life, nevertheless persevered as far as Aquileia, as if they trusted the rumor the less. There, taking advantage of opportunity and license to practice every kind of plunder, and fearing that on return they would have to render an account and undergo punishment, they formed a plan to elect and create an emperor; for they were no worse than the Spanish army that had made Galba, or the praetorian that had made Otho, or the Germanic that had made Vitellius. Having therefore proposed the names of the consular legates, as many as were then everywhere, and rejecting others each for various reasons, and some from the Third Legion — which had been transferred from Syria into Moesia at Nero’s end — bearing Vespasian in their praises, all assented and inscribed his name on all the standards without delay.

Et tunc quidem compressa res est, revocatis ad officium numeris parumper. Ceterum divulgato facto, Tiberius Alexander praefectus Aegypti primus in verba Vespasiani legiones adegit Kal. Iul., qui principatus dies in posterum observatus est.

And then indeed the affair was suppressed, the ranks for a little were recalled to duty. But when the matter was made public, Tiberius Alexander, prefect of Egypt, was first to bring the legions over to Vespasian's side on the Kal. Iul., a day ever after observed as the day of his principate.

Iudaicus deinde exercitus V. Idus Iul. apud ipsum iuravit.

The Judaean army then swore an oath on 11 July in his very presence.

Plurimum coeptis contulerunt iactatum exemplar epistulae verae sive falsae defuncti Othonis ad Vespasianum, extrema obtestatione ultionem mandantis et ut rei p. subveniret optantis; simul rumor dissipatus, destinasse victorem Vitellium permutare hiberna legionum et Germanicas transferre in Orientem ad securiorem mollioremque militiam, praeterea ex praesidibus provinciarum Licinius Mucianus et e regibus Vologaesus Parthus; ille deposita simultate, quam in id tempus ex aemulatione non obscure gerebat, Syriacum promisit exercitum, hic quadraginta milia sagittariorum.

They contributed most to the undertakings the circulated copy of a letter, true or false, of the deceased Otho to Vespasian, commanding vengeance in his last entreaty and wishing that he should succor the res publica; at the same time a dispelled rumor that the victor Vitellius had determined to change the winter-quarters of the legions and to transfer the Germanic forces into the East to a safer and milder soldiery, and furthermore that from the provincial praesides Licinius Mucianus and from the kings Vologaesus the Parthian; the one, having laid aside the rivalry which he at that time carried not obscurely from emulation, promised a Syrian army, the other forty thousand archers.

VII. Suscepto igitur civili bello ac ducibus copiisque in Italiam praemissis, interim Alexandriam transiit, ut claustra Aegypti optineret. Hic cum de firmitate imperii capturus auspicium aedem Serapidis summotis omnibus solus intrasset, ac propitiato multum deo tandem se convertisset, verbenas coronasque et panificia, ut illic assolet, Basilides libertus obtulisse ei visus est; quem neque admissum a quoquam et iam pridem propter nervorum valitudinem vix ingredi longeque abesse constabat. Ac statim advenere litterae, fusas apud Cremonam Vitelli copias, ipsum in urbe interemptum nuntiantes.

7. Having therefore undertaken a civil war and with leaders and troops sent forward into Italy, meanwhile he crossed to Alexandria in order to secure the strongholds of Egypt. Here, when about to take an auspice concerning the firmness of the empire he alone entered the temple of Serapis with all removed, and, having at length much turned himself to the propitiated god, it seemed that Basilides, a freedman, had presented to him vervain sprigs and crowns and panificia, as is customary there; whom no one had admitted and who for some time, on account of the weakness of his nerves, was scarcely able to enter and was known to be far away. And immediately letters arrived, reporting that Vitellius’s forces had been routed at Cremona, and that he himself had been slain in the city.

Auctoritas et quasi maiestas quaedam, ut scilicet inopinato et adhuc novo principi, deerat: haec quoque accessit. E plebe quidam luminibus orbatus, item alius debili crure sedentem pro tribunali pariter adierunt, orantes opem valitudini demonstratam a Serapide per quietem: restituturum oculos, si inspuisset; confirmaturum crus, si dignaretur calce contingere. Cum vix fides esset ullo modo rem successuram, ideoque ne experiri quidem auderet, extremo hortantibus amicis palam pro contione utrumque temptavit, nec eventus defuit.

Authority, and a kind of majesty, as it were, was lacking to the unexpected and still new prince: this also came. From the plebs a certain man deprived of eyes, and likewise another with a feeble leg, sitting, approached together before the tribunal, praying for aid to be shown to their malady by Serapis in private: that he would restore the eyes, if he would spit upon them; that he would strengthen the leg, if he would deign to touch it with his shoe. Since there was scarcely any faith in any way that the matter would succeed, and therefore he did not even dare to attempt it, at last, with friends urging, openly before the assembly he tried each, and the result was not wanting.

Per idem tempus Tegeae in Arcadia instinctu vaticinantium effossa sunt sacrato loco vasa operis antiqui, atque in iis assimilis Vespasiano imago.

At the same time at Tegea in Arcadia, by the prompting (instinctu) of the vaticinators, vessels of ancient workmanship were dug up in a sacred place, and among them a likeness resembling Vespasian.

VIII. Talis tantaque cum fama in urbem reversus, acto de Iudaeis triumpho, consulatus octo veteri addidit; suscepit et censuram, ac per totum imperii tempus nihil habuit antiquius quam prope afflictam nutantemque rem p. stabilire primo, deinde et ornare. Milites pars victoriae fiducia, pars ignominiae dolore ad omnem licentiam audaciamque processerant; sed et provinciae civitatesque liberae, nec non et regna quaedam tumultuosius inter se agebant. Quare Vitellianorum quidem et exauctoravit plurimos et coercuit, participibus autem victoriae adeo nihil extra ordinem indulsit ut etiam legitima praemia sero persolverit.

8. Having returned to the city with such fame and renown, and after the triumph over the Jews had been celebrated, he added eight consulships to the former one; he also undertook the censorship, and throughout the whole time of his rule he had nothing more ancient than to first stabilize and then to adorn the republic, a thing almost afflicted and wavering. The soldiers — some by the confidence of victory, others by the pain of ignominy — had advanced to every licentiousness and audacity; and the provinces and free cities, as well as certain kingdoms, were conducting themselves more tumultuously among themselves. Wherefore he indeed stripped very many of the Vitellians of rank and checked them, but to the sharers in the victory he conceded so little beyond the normal order that he even paid legitimate rewards late.

Ac ne quam occasionem corrigendi disciplinam praetermitteret, adulescentulum fragrantem unguento, cum sibi pro impetrata praefectura gratias ageret, nutu aspernatus voce etiam gravissima increpuit: "Maluissem allium oboluisses," litterasque revocavit; classiarios vero, qui ab Ostia et Puteolis Romam pedibus per vices commeant, petentes constitui aliquid sibi calciarii nomine, quasi parum esset sine responso abegisse, iussit post haec excalciatos cursitare; et ex eo ita cursitant.

And lest he should pass over any opportunity of correcting discipline, he, scorning the youth fragrant with perfume, while the youth was thanking him for the prefecture obtained, with a nod and in a very severe voice rebuked him: "I would have preferred that you had paid another obolus," and he recalled the letters; and as for the fleet-sailors, who come to Rome on foot from Ostia and Puteoli by turns, asking that something be established for them under the name of calciarius, as if it were little to have sent them away without an answer, he ordered that after this they run about unshod; and from that time they run about thus.

Achaiam, Lyciam, Rhodum, Byzantium, Samum, libertate adempta, item Thraciam, Ciliciam et Commagenen, ditionis regiae usque ad id tempus, in provinciarum formam redegit. Cappadociae propter adsiduos barbarorum incursus legiones addidit, consularemque rectorem imposuit pro eq. R.

He reduced Achaia, Lycia, Rhodes, Byzantium, Samos, their liberty having been taken away, likewise Thrace, Cilicia and Commagene, hitherto under royal dominion, into the form of provinces. To Cappadocia, on account of the continuous incursions of barbarians, he added legions, and imposed a consular governor in place of the equestrian pro eq. R.

Deformis urbs veteribus incendiis ac ruinis erat; vacuas areas occupare et aedificare, si possessores cessarent, cuicumque permisit. Ipse restitutionem Capitolii adgressus, ruderibus purgandis manus primus admovit ac suo collo quaedam extulit; aerearumque tabularum tria milia, quae simul conflagraverant, restituenda suscepit undique investigatis exemplaribus: instrumentum imperii pulcherrimum ac vetustissimum, quo continebantur paene ab exordio urbis senatus consulta, plebiscita de societate et foedere ac privilegio cuicumque concessis.

The city was disfigured by ancient fires and ruins; he permitted anyone to occupy and build on vacant lots if the possessors delayed. He himself, having undertaken the restoration of the Capitol, was the first to set his hand to clearing the rubble and bore certain things upon his own shoulders; and he undertook the restoration of three thousand bronze tablets, which had burned together, with exemplars sought from everywhere: the most beautiful and most ancient instrument of the state, in which were contained, almost from the founding of the city, the senate's decrees, plebiscites concerning citizenship and treaty and privileges granted to anyone.

IX. Fecit et nova opera templum Pacis foro proximum, Divique Claudii in Caelio monte coeptum quidem ab Agrippina, sed a Nerone prope funditus destructum; item amphitheatrum urbe media, ut destinasse compererat Augustum.

IX. He also, by new works, built the Temple of Peace near the forum, and the temple of the Divine Claudius on the Caelian Hill, the latter indeed begun by Agrippina but almost utterly destroyed by Nero; likewise an amphitheatre in the midst of the city, for which he had learned that Augustus had intended.

Amplissimos ordines et exhaustos caede varia et contaminatos veteri neglegentia, purgavit supplevitque recenso senatu et equite, summotis indignissimis et honestissimo quoque Italicorum ac provincialium allecto. Atque uti notum esset, utrumque ordinem non tam libertate inter se quam dignitate differre, de iurgio quodam senatoris equitisque R. ita pronuntiavit, non oportere maledici senatoribus, remaledici civile fasque esse.

He purified and replenished the highest orders, exhausted by diverse slaughter and defiled by old neglect, restoring the senate and equestrian order by a new roll-call, the most unworthy having been removed and even the most honourable of Italians and provincials enrolled. And, as was known, that the two orders differ not so much in liberty between them as in dignity, concerning a certain quarrel of a senator and an eques of Rome he thus pronounced: that it is not fitting to revile senators, and to revile back is both a civil wrong and a sacrilege.

X. Litium series ubique maiorem in modum excreverant, manentibus antiquis intercapedine iuris dictionis, accedentibus novis ex condicione tumultuque temporum; sorte elegit per quos rapta bello restituerentur quique iudicia centumviralia, quibus peragendis vix suffectura litigatorum videbatur aetas, extra ordinem diiudicarent redigerentque ad brevissimum numerum.

X. A succession of lawsuits had everywhere swollen to excessive proportions, the old gaps in the scope of legal jurisdiction remaining and new ones arising from the condition and turmoil of the times; by lot he chose those by whom things seized in war should be restored, and who should conduct the centumviral trials — for carrying these out the lifetimes of litigants seemed scarcely sufficient — and they would decide beyond the regular order and reduce them to the smallest possible number.

XI. Libido atque luxuria coercente nullo invaluerant; auctor senatui fuit decernendi, ut quae se alieno servo iunxisset, ancilla haberetur; neve filiorum familiarum faeneratoribus exigendi crediti ius umquam esset, ne post patrum quidem mortem.

11. With no one restraining lust and luxury, they had prevailed; he was the proposer to the senate of decreeing that anyone who had joined herself to another’s slave should be held a maidservant; and that the right of moneylenders to demand repayment from the sons of the household should never exist, not even after the fathers’ death.

XII. Ceteris in rebus statim ab initio principatus usque ad exitum civilis et clemens, mediocritatem pristinam neque dissimulavit umquam ac frequenter etiam prae se tulit. Quin et conantis quosdam originem Flavii generis ad conditores Reatinos comitemque Herculis, cuius monimentum exstat Salaria via, referre irrisit ultro. Adeoque nihil ornamentorum extrinsecus cupide appetivit, ut triumphi die fatigatus tarditate et taedio pompae non reticuerit, merito se plecti, qui triumphum, quasi aut debitum maioribus suis aut speratum umquam sibi, tam inepte senex concupisset.

XII. In other matters, straightaway from the beginning of his principate to its end he was civil and clement, never pretending his former moderation and often even holding it forth openly. Indeed he even of his own accord derided certain men who were attempting to trace the origin of the Flavian stock to the founders of Reate and to a companion of Hercules, of whom a monument stands on the Salarian way. And so he coveted no external ornaments eagerly, to the point that on the day of the triumph, weary with the slowness and tedium of the pomp, he did not fail to say that he deserved to be punished who, as an old man, had so foolishly longed for a triumph, as if it were either owed to his ancestors or ever to be hoped for himself.

Ac ne tribuniciam quidem potestatem et patris patriae appellationem nisi sero recepit. Nam consuetudinem scrutandi salutantes manente adhuc bello civili omiserat.

And he received the tribunician power and the appellation "father of the fatherland" only late. For he had abandoned the custom of scrutinizing salutations while the civil war still continued.

XIII. Amicorum libertatem, causidicorum figuras ac philosophorum contumaciam lenissime tulit. Licinium Mucianum notae impudicitiae, sed meritorum fiducia minus sui reverentem, numquam nisi clam et hactenus retaxare sustinuit, ut apud communem aliquem amicum querens adderet clausulam: Ego tamen vir sum. Salvium Liberalem in defensione divitis rei ausum dicere: Quid ad Caesarem, si Hipparchus sestertium milies habet?

13. He bore with extreme leniency the freedom of friends, the postures of advocates, and the contumacy of philosophers. He never but secretly and only so far endured to curb Licinius Mucianus, notorious for shamelessness yet trusting in his merits and less reverent of himself, so that, complaining to some common friend, he would add the clause: Ego tamen vir sum. Salvius Liberalis in defence of a rich affair dared to say: "What to Caesar, if Hipparchus has a hundred thousand sesterces?"

et ipse laudavit. Demetrium Cynicum in itinere obvium sibi post damnationem, ac neque assurgere neque salutare se dignantem, oblatrantem etiam nescio quid, satis habuit canem appellare.

and he himself praised him. He went so far as to call Demetrianus the Cynic — meeting him on the journey after his condemnation, and deigning neither to rise nor to salute him, even barking some sort of thing, I know not what — a dog.

XIV. Offensarum inimicitiarumque minime memor executorve, Vitelli hostis sui filiam splendidissime maritavit, dotavit etiam et instruxit. Trepidum eum interdicta aula sub Nerone quaerentemque, quidnam ageret aut quo abiret, quidam ex officio admissionis simul expellens, abire Morboviam iusserat. In hunc postea deprecantem haud ultra verba excanduit, et quidem totidem fere atque eadem.

14. Scarcely mindful of offenses and enmities, nor acting as executor, Vitellius, his enemy, most splendidly married off his daughter, even endowing and outfitting her. Finding him trembling in the forbidden aula under Nero and asking what he was doing or whither he was going, a certain man, both from the duty of admission and by driving him out, ordered him to depart to Morbovia. Later, when this man implored him, his anger boiled no further than words, and indeed almost the same number and the same.

Nam ut suspicione aliqua vel metu ad perniciem cuiusquam compelleretur tantum afuit, ut monentibus amicis cavendum esse Mettium Pompusianum, quod vulgo crederetur genesin habere imperatoriam, insuper consulem fecerit, spondens quandoque beneficii memorem futurum.

For it was only by some suspicion or by fear that he might be driven to the ruin of anyone; so far gone was it that, friends warning that Mettius Pompusianus must be guarded against, because it was commonly believed he had an imperial genesis, he moreover made him consul, promising that he would at some time be mindful of the benefaction.

XV. Non temere quis punitus insons reperietur, nisi absente eo et ignaro aut certe invito atque decepto. Helvidio Prisco, qui et reversum se ex Syria solus privato nomine Vespasianum salutaverat et in praetura omnibus edictis sine honore ac mentione ulla transmiserat, non ante succensuit quam altercationibus insolentissimis paene in ordinem redactus. Hunc quoque, quamvis relegatum primo, deinde et interfici iussum, magni aestimavit servare quoquo modo, missis qui percussores revocarent; et servasset, nisi iam perisse falso renuntiatum esset.

15. Not lightly will anyone punished be found innocent, unless he was absent and unaware, or at least unwilling and deceived. Concerning Helvidius Priscus, who on returning from Syria had alone greeted Vespasian by his private name and in the praetorship had transmitted all edicts without any honor or mention, he did not become angry until, almost brought into order by very insolent altercations. He likewise valued preserving this man highly by any means, although at first exiled and afterwards ordered to be killed, sending men to recall the executioners; and he would have saved him, if it had not been falsely reported that he had already perished.

Ceterum neque caede cuiusquam umquam laetatus, iustis suppliciis inlacrimavit etiam et ingemuit.

Moreover, he never rejoiced at the slaughter of anyone; at just punishments he even wept and groaned.

XVI. Sola est, in qua merito culpetur, pecuniae cupiditas. Non enim contentus omissa sub Galba vectigalia revocasse, nova et gravia addidisse, auxisse, tributa provinciis, nonnullis et duplicasse, negotiationes quoque vel privato pudendas propalam exercuit, coemendo quaedam, tantum ut pluris postea distraheret. Ne candidatis quidem honores, reisve tam innoxiis quam nocentibus absolutiones venditare cunctatus est.

16. The only thing for which he may deservedly be blamed is a lust for money. For not content with having restored the taxes omitted under Galba, he added new and burdensome ones, increased them, imposed tributes on the provinces, in some cases doubled them; he also openly engaged in commercial dealings shameful even for a private person, buying up certain things only that he might later sell them for more. He did not even hesitate to vend honours to candidates, nor to vend absolutions to defendants, whether innocent or guilty.

Creditur etiam procuratorum rapacissimum quemque ad ampliora officia ex industria solitus promovere, quo locupletiores mox condemnaret; quibus quidem vulgo pro spongiis dicebatur uti, quod quasi et siccos madefaceret et exprimeret umentis.

It is believed also that he was accustomed deliberately to promote every most rapacious of the procurators to higher offices, so that he might soon condemn the wealthier; and indeed it was commonly said that they were used as sponges, because as it were he both made the dry ones wet and squeezed out the moist ones.

Quidam natura cupidissimum tradunt, idque exprobratum ei a sene bubulco, qui negata sibi gratuita libertate, quam imperium adeptum suppliciter orabat, proclamaverit vulpem pilum mutare, non mores. Sunt contra qui opinentur ad manubias et rapinas necessitate compulsum summa aerarii fiscique inopia; de qua testificatus sit initio statim principatus, professus quadringenties milies opus esse, ut res p. stare posset. Quod et veri similius videtur, quando et male partis optime usus est.

Some report him by nature most covetous, and this was reproached to him by an old herdsman, who, being denied to him the gratis freedom which he supplicantly begged when he had obtained power, proclaimed that a fox changes its hair, not its habits. There are, on the other hand, those who think that he was driven by necessity to confiscations and rapines by the great poverty of the aerarium and the fiscus; concerning which he testified at the very beginning of his principate, declaring that four hundred thousand was needed so that the res publica might stand. Which also seems the more likely, since he made excellent use of ill-gotten means.

XVII. In omne hominum genus liberalissimus explevit censum senatorium, consulares inopes quingenis sestertiis annuis sustentavit, plurimas per totum orbem civitates terrae motu aut incendio afflictas restituit in melius, ingenia et artes vel maxime fovit.

17. Most generous to every class of men, he filled the senatorial roll, he supported needy consulars with five hundred sesterces annually, he restored very many cities throughout the whole world afflicted by earthquake or fire for the better, and he especially fostered talents and the arts.

XVIII. Primus e fisco Latinis Graecisque rhetoribus annua centena constituit; praestantis poetas, nec non et artifices, Coae Veneris, item Colossi refectorem, insigni congiario magnaque mercede donavit; mechanico quoque, grandis columnas exigua impensa perducturum in Capitolium pollicenti, praemium pro commento non mediocre optulit, operam remisit, praefatus sineret se plebiculam pascere.

XVIII. First out of the fisc he established annual hundreds for Latin and Greek rhetoricians; to outstanding poets, and likewise to artisans, the restorer of the Coan Venus, and likewise the restorer of the Colossus, he gave a notable largess and a great stipend; also to a mechanic, promising that he would convey great columns to the Capitol at little expense, he offered a not inconsiderable reward for the design, then let the work drop, saying that he would permit himself to feed the little populace.

XIX. Ludis, per quos scaena Marcelliani theatri restituta dedicabatur, vetera quoque acroamata revocaverat. Apollinari tragoedo quadringenta, Terpno Diodoroque citharoedis ducena, nonnullis centena, quibus minimum, quadragena sestertia insuper plurimas coronas aureas dedit. Sed et convivabatur assidue, ac saepius recta et dapsile, ut macellarios adiuvaret.

19. In the games by which the stage of the Marcellus theatre, restored, was dedicated, he had also recalled ancient acroamata. To Apollinaris the tragedian four hundred, to Terpnos and Diodorus the citharoedists two hundred, and to several others hundreds — to whom the smallest was forty thousand sesterces besides — he gave very many golden crowns. But he was also entertained continually, and oftentimes straightforwardly and lavishly, in order to assist the butchers.

Dabat sicut Saturnalibus viris apophoreta, ita per Kal. Mart. feminis.

He gave, just as apophoreta to the men at the Saturnalia, so on the Kalends of March to the women.

Et tamen ne sic quidem pristina cupiditatis infamia caruit.

And
yet not even thus did it lack the former infamy of cupidity.

Alexandrini Cybiosacten eum vocare perseveraverunt, cognomine unius e regibus suis turpissimarum sordium, Sed et in funere Favor archimimus personam eius ferens imitansque, ut est mos, facta ac dicta vivi, interrogatis palam procuratoribus, quanti funus et pompa constaret, ut audiit, sestertio centiens, exclamavit, centum sibi sestertia darent, ac se vel in Tiberim proicerent.

The Alexandrians persisted in calling him Cybiosactes, by the cognomen of one of their kings of the vilest filth. And even at Favor’s funeral the archimimus, bearing his person and imitating, as is the custom, the deeds and sayings of the living, having openly asked the procurators how much the funeral and pomp would cost, when he heard “a hundred sesterces,” cried aloud that they should give him a hundred sestertii, and even cast him into the Tiber.

XX. Statura fuit quadrata, compactis firmisque membris, vultu veluti nitentis: de quo quidam urbanorum non infacete, siquidem petenti, ut et in se aliquid diceret: "Dicam," inquit, "cum ventrem exonerare desieris." Valitudine prosperrima usus est, quamvis ad tuendam eam nihil amplius quam fauces ceteraque membra sibimet ad numerum in sphaeristerio defricaret inediamque unius diei per singulos menses interponeret.

20. He was square of stature, with compact and firm limbs, his countenance as if shining: about whom some of the townsfolk, not unwittily, when asked to say something of him, said, "I will speak," he replied, "when you cease to unload your belly." He enjoyed extremely prosperous health, although to preserve it he did nothing more than rub his throat and the other limbs the requisite number of times in the sphaeristerium and interpose a one‑day fast each month.

XXI. Ordinem vitae hunc fere tenuit. In principatu maturius semper ac de nocte evigilabat; dein perlectis epistolis officiorumque omnium breviariis, amicos admittebat, ac dum salutabatur, et calciabat ipse se et amiciebat; postque decisa quaecumque obvenissent negotia, gestationi et inde quieti vacabat, accubante aliqua pallacarum, quas in locum defunctae Caenidis plurimas constituerat; a secreto in balineum tricliniumque transiliebat. Nec ullo tempore facilior aut indulgentior traditur, eaque momenta domestici ad aliquid petendum magno opere captabant.

21. He kept this order of life for the most part. In the principate he always woke earlier and from the night; then, after reading through letters and the breviaries of all offices, he received friends, and while he was being greeted he both put on his own shoes and made acquaintances; and after whatever business had occurred was decided, he gave himself to walking-about and thence to rest, reclining with some of the pallacae, whom he had set up very many in place of the deceased Caenida; from his private chamber he would spring into the bath and the dining-room. At no time is he reported to have been easier or more indulgent, and those moments the household eagerly seized to ask for things.

XXII. Et super cenam autem et semper alias comissimus, multa ioco transigebat; erat enim dicacitatis plurimae, etsi scurrilis et sordidae, ut ne praetextatis quidem verbis abstineret. Et tamen nonnulla eius facetissima exstant, in quibus et haec. Mestrium Florum consularem, admonitus ab eo plaustra potius quam plostra dicenda, postero die Flaurum salutavit.

XXII. And moreover at dinner and always on other occasions most convivial, he spent much in jest; for he was of very great facetiousness, although ribald and filthy, so that he would not refrain even from words in the presence of those wearing the praetexta. And yet some very witty things of his survive, among which is this. Mestrius Florus, a man of consular rank, having been admonished by him that plaustra should be said rather than plostra, the next day he greeted Flaurum.

Expugnatus autem a quadam, quasi amore suo deperiret, cum perductae pro concubitu sestertia quadringenta donasset, admonente dispensatore, quem ad modum summam rationibus vellet inferri, "Vespasiano," inquit, "adamato".

Having been won over by a certain woman, as if he were dying of love, when he had given four hundred sesterces brought for concubinage, the steward, admonishing how he wished the sum to be entered in the accounts, said, "To Vespasian — note him as beloved."

XXIII. Vtebatur et versibus Graecis tempestive satis, et de quodam procerae staturae improbiusque nato:

XXIII. He also made use of Greek verses quite aptly, and concerning a certain son of towering stature and ill-born:

Μακρὰ βιβάς, κραδάων δολιχόσκιον ἔγχος,

Long-lived Vibas, brandishing a long-shadowed spear,

et de Cerylo liberto, qui dives admodum ob subterfugiendum quandoque ius fisci ingenuum se et Lachetem mutato nomine coeperat ferre:

and concerning Cerylus the freedman, who, being very rich, in order to evade
at times had begun to present himself to the fiscus as if freeborn, and to call himself Lachetes with a changed name:

ὦ Λάχης, Λάχης,
ἐπὰν ἀποθάνῃς, αὖθις ἐξ ἀρχῆς ἔσει
σὺ Κηρύλος.

O Laches, Laches,
when you die, again from the beginning you will be Kerylos.

Maxime tamen dicacitatem adfectabat in deformibus lucris, ut invidiam aliqua cavillatione dilueret transferretque ad sales. Quendam e caris ministris dispensationem cuidam quasi fratri petentem cum distulisset, ipsum candidatum ad se vocavit; exactaque pecunia, quantam is cum suffragatore suo pepigerat, sine mora ordinavit; interpellanti mox ministro: Alium tibi, ait, quaere fratrem; hic, quem tuum putas, meus est. Mulionem in itinere quodam suspicatus ad calciandas mulas desiluisse, ut adeunti litigatori spatium moramque praeberet, interrogavit quanti calciasset, et pactus est lucri partem.

He most sought wit in ill-gotten gains, so that he might dilute envy by some quibble and transfer it into jests. Having put off a certain one of his dear ministers who was seeking a dispensation for a certain man as if for a brother, he called the very candidate to himself; and, the money having been exacted — as much as he had pledged with his suffragator — he without delay ordered it; to the minister who soon interposed he said, "Seek another brother for yourself; this one, whom you think is yours, is mine." Suspecting a muleteer on a certain journey of having leapt down to kick the mules, in order to give the coming litigant room and delay, he asked how much he had kicked, and agreed a share of the profit.

Reprehendenti filio Tito, quod etiam urinae vectigal commentus esset, pecuniam ex prima pensione admovit ad nares, sciscitans num odore offenderetur; et illo negante: Atqui, inquit, e lotio est. Nuntiantis legatos decretam ei publice non mediocris summae statuam colosseam, iussit vel continuo ponere, cavam manum ostentans et paratam basim dicens. Ac ne in metu quidem ac periculo mortis extremo abstinuit iocis.

When reproving his son Titus, that even a levy on urine had been invented, he applied money from his first pension to Titus’s nostrils, asking whether he was offended by the odor; and when he denied it: “But indeed,” he said, “it is from the washing.” When envoys announced that it had been publicly decreed a colossal statue of no mean sum should be set up for him, he ordered it to be placed at once, displaying a hollow hand and saying the base was ready. And not even in fear and at the extreme peril of death did he refrain from jests.

Nam cum inter cetera prodigia Mausoleum derepente patuisset et stella crinita in caelo apparuisset, alterum ad Iuniam Calvinam e gente Augusti pertinere dicebat, alterum ad Parthorum regem qui capillatus esset; prima quoque morbi accessione: Vae, inquit, puto, deus fio.

For when, among other portents, the Mausoleum suddenly yawned open and a hairy-star appeared in the sky, one of these he said belonged to Junia Calvina of the gens of Augustus, the other to the Parthian king who was long-haired; and at the first accession of the disease: "Woe," he said, "I think I am becoming a god."

XXIV. Consulatu suo nono temptatus in Campania motiunculis levibus protinusque urbe repetita, Cutilias ac Reatina rura, ubi aestivare quotannis solebat, petit. Hic cum super urgentem valitudinem creberrimo frigidae aquae usu etiam intestina vitiasset, nec eo minus muneribus imperatoriis ex consuetudine fungeretur, ut etiam legationes audiret cubans, alvo repente usque ad defectionem soluta, imperatorem, ait stantem mori oportere; dumque consurgit ac nititur, inter manus sublevantium extinctus est VIIII. Kal.

24. In his ninth consulship, tried in Campania by slight disturbances and immediately returning to the city, he went to the Cutilian and Reatine farms, where he was wont to summer each year. Here, although his already pressing illness was further damaged internally by the very frequent use of cold water, yet none the less he performed the imperial functions from habit, so that he even heard legations while reclining; his belly suddenly relaxed to the point of breakdown, and he said to the emperor that one ought to die standing; and while he rose and leaned on the hands of those lifting him, he expired on the 9th day before the Kalends.

Iul. annum agens aetatis sexagensimum ac nonum, superque mensem ac diem septimum.

Julius, being in the sixty-ninth year of his age, and beyond that by a month and seven days.

XXV. Convenit inter omnis, tam certum eum de sua suorumque genitura semper fuisse, ut post assiduas in se coniurationes ausus sit adfirmare senatui, ut filios sibi successuros aut neminem. Dicitur etiam vidisse quondam per quietem stateram media parte vestibuli Palatinae domus positam examine aequo, cum in altera lance Claudius et Nero starent, in altera ipse ac filii. Nec res fefellit, quando totidem annis parique temporis spatio utrique imperaverunt.

25. It is agreed by all, so certain was he always concerning his own and his kinsmen’s geniture, that after constant conspiracies against him he dared to affirm to the senate that either sons would succeed him or no one. It is also said that he once saw, in a quiet hour, a statera placed in the middle of the vestibule of the Palatine house balanced on its beam, when on one pan Claudius and Nero stood, on the other himself and his sons. Nor did the matter deceive, since for as many years and an equal span of time each of the two reigned.