Suetonius: DE VITIS CAESARUM

patre consule designato inituroque mense insequenti honorem, regione urbis sexta ad Malum Punicum, domo quam postea in templum gentis Flaviae convertit. Pubertatis ac primae adulescentiae tempus tanta inopia tantaque infamia gessisse fertur, ut nullum argenteum vas in usu haberet; satique constat Clodium Pollionem praetorium virum, in quem est poema Neronis quod inscribitur Luscio, chirographum eius conversasse et nonnumquam protulisse noctem sibi pollicentis; nec defuerunt qui affirmarent, corruptum Domitianum et a Nerva successore mox suo. Bello Vitelliano confugit in Capitolium cum patruo Sabino ac parte praesentium copiarum, sed irrumpentibus adversariis et ardente templo apud aedituum clam pernoctavit, ac mane Isiaci celatus habitu interque sacrificulos variae superstitionis, cum se trans Tiberim ad condiscipuli sui matrem comite uno contulisset, ita latuit, ut scrutantibus qui vestigia subsecuti erant, deprehendi non potuerit.

with his father consul-designate and the honor about to begin in the following month, in the sixth region of the city at the Malum Punicum, in the house which he afterwards converted into the temple of the Flavian gens. He is said to have passed the years of puberty and early youth in such poverty and such disrepute that he had no silver vessel in use; and it is sufficiently certain that Clodius Pollio, a praetorian man in whom is the poem of Nero entitled Luscio, handled his chirograph and sometimes prolonged the night for one promising it to him; nor were there wanting those who affirmed that Domitian had been corrupted and that Nerva shortly afterwards became his successor. In the Vitellian war he fled to the Capitol with his uncle Sabinus and part of the forces present, but with the enemies breaking in and the temple burning he spent the night secretly at the priests’ house, and in the morning, disguised in the habit of an Isiac and among the minor priests of various superstition, when he had crossed the Tiber to the mother of a schoolfellow with one companion, he so lay hidden that those who tracked his footsteps could not apprehend him.

Post victoriam demum progressus et Caesar consalutatus, honorem praeturae urbanae consulari potestate suscepit titulo tenus (nam iuris dictionem ad collegam proximum transtulit); ceterum omnem vim dominationis tam licenter exercuit, ut iam tum qualis esset ostenderet. Ne exsequar singula, contrectatis multorum uxoribus, Domitiam Longinam Aelio Lamiae nuptam etiam in matrimonium abduxit, atque uno die super XX. officia urbana aut peregrina distribuit, mirari se Vespasiano dictitante, quod successorem non et sibi mitteret.

Finally, after advancing following the victory and being hailed as Caesar, he assumed the honor of the urban praetorship with consular power only in title (for he transferred the iurisdictio to his colleague next); moreover he exercised the whole force of domination so licentiously that even then he showed what sort of man he was. Not to pursue particulars: after laying hands on the wives of many, he even carried off Domitia Longina, married to Aelius Lamia, into marriage, and in one day distributed over 20 urban or provincial offices, repeatedly telling Vespasian that he marveled that he had not sent a successor to himself as well.

II. Expeditionem quoque in Galliam Germaniasque neque necessariam et dissuadentibus paternis amicis inchoavit, tantum ut fratri se et opibus et dignatione adaequaret.

2. He also began an expedition into Gaul and the Germanies, not from necessity and with his paternal friends dissuading him, but merely so that he might equal his brother in both resources and dignity.

Ob haec correptum, quo magis et aetatis et condicionis admoneretur, habitabat cum patre una, sellamque eius ac fratris, quotiens prodirent, lectica sequebatur ac triumphum utriusque Iudaicum equo albo comitatus est. In sex consulatibus non nisi unum ordinarium gessit, eumque cedente ac suffragante fratre. Simulavit et ipse mire modestiam, in primisque poeticae studium, tam insuentum antea sibi quam postea spretum et abiectum, recitavitque etiam publice.

Rebuked for these things, and thereby the more admonished both by his age and by his condition, he lived together with his father, and whenever his and his brother’s chair went forth he followed their seat and the litter, and accompanied each Jewish triumph on a white horse. In six consulships he held only one ordinary consulship, that one with his brother yielding and supporting. He himself also feigned a marvelous modesty, and above all a devotion to poetry, as much habitual to him before as afterward despised and cast off, and he even recited publicly.

Nec tamen eo setius, cum Vologaesus Parthorum rex auxilia adversus Alanos ducemque alterum ex Vespasiani liberis depoposcisset, omni ope contendit ut ipse potissimus mitteretur; et quia discussa res est, alios Orientes reges ut idem postularent donis ac pollicitationibus sollicitare temptavit. Patre defuncto, diu cunctatus an duplum donativum militi offerret, numquam iactare dubitavit relictum se participem imperii, sed fraudem testamento adhibitam; neque cessavit ex eo insidias struere fratri clam palamque, quoad correptum gravi valitudine, prius quam plane efflaret animam, pro mortuo deseri iussit; defunctumque nullo praeterquam consecrationis honore dignatus, saepe etiam carpsit obliquis orationibus et edictis.

Yet none the less, when Vologaesus, king of the Parthians, had demanded auxiliaries against the Alans and another leader from the children of Vespasian, he strove with all might that he himself should be sent as the principal commander; and, the matter being unsettled, he tried to solicit other eastern kings by gifts and promises that they should make the same demand. After his father’s death, long wavering whether to offer the soldiers a double donative, he never doubted to vaunt that he had been left a partner of the empire, but robbed of it by a will; nor did he cease from that time to set ambushes for his brother, secretly and openly, until, seized by a severe sickness, before his life quite expired, he ordered him to be left for dead; and having deigned no honour for the dead except the consecration, he often also attacked him with oblique speeches and edicts.

III. Inter initia principatus cotidie secretum sibi horarum sumere solebat, nec quicquam amplius quam muscas captare ac stilo praeacuto configere; ut cuidam interroganti, essetne quis intus cum Caesare, non absurde responsum sit a Vibio Crispo, ne muscam quidem. Deinde uxorem Domitiam, ex qua in secundo suo consulatus filium tulerat duxit, alteroque anno consalutavit Augustam; eandem, Paridis histrionis amore deperditam, repudiavit, intraque breve tempus impatiens discidii, quasi efflagitante populo, reduxit.

3. At the outset of his principate he was wont daily to take for himself a private hour, and nothing more than to catch flies and to pierce them with a sharpened stylus; so that when someone asked whether anyone was within with the Caesar, Vibius Crispus not unaptly answered, "not even a fly." Then he took as wife Domitia, by whom in his second consulship he had fathered a son, and in the following year he saluted her Augusta; he repudiated the same woman, ruined by the love of the actor Paris, and within a short time, impatient of separation and as if the people were clamoring, he took her back.

Circa administrationem autem imperii aliquamdiu se varium praestitit, mixtura quoque aequabili vitiorum atque virtutum; donec virtutes quoque in vitia deflexit: quantum coniectare licet, super ingenii naturam inopia rapax, metu saevus.

Concerning the administration of the empire he for some while displayed himself variable, with an even mixture also of vices and virtues; until his virtues likewise bent into vices: as much as one may conjecture, rapacious from a poverty of native genius, fierce from fear.

IV. Spectacula assidue magnifica et sumptuosa edidit non in amphitheatro modo, verum et in circo; ubi praeter sollemnes bigarum quadrigarumque cursus proelium etiam duplex, equestre ac pedestre, commisit; at in amphitheatro navale quoque. Nam venationes gladiatoresque et noctibus ad lychnuchos; nec virorum modo pugnas, sed et feminarum. Praeterea quaestoriis muneribus, quae olim omissa revocaverat, ita semper interfuit, ut populo potestatem faceret bina paria e suo ludo postulandi, eaque novissima aulico apparatu induceret.

4. He constantly gave spectacles magnificent and sumptuous, not only in the amphitheatre but also in the circus; where, besides the customary races of bigae and quadrigae, he likewise joined a double battle, cavalry and infantry, and even a naval show in the amphitheatre. For venationes and gladiators, and at nights by lamplight; and not only combats of men, but also of women. Moreover he always presided at the quaestorial munera, which he had recalled after they were once omitted, so that he made it possible for the people to have the power to demand two pairs from his own games, and he introduced those latest with courtly pomp.

Ac per omne gladiatorum spectaculum ante pedes ei stabat puerulus coccinatus parvo portentosoque capite, cum quo plurimum fabulabatur, nonnumquam serio. Auditus est certe, dum ex eo quaerit, ecquid sciret, cur sibi virum esset ordinatione proxima Aegypto praeficere Maecium Rufum. Edidit navales pugnas paene iustarum classium, effosso et circumstructo iuxta Tiberim lacu, atque inter maximos imbres perspectavit.

And through every gladiators' spectacle before his feet stood a little scarlet-stained boy, with a small and portentous head, with whom he talked very much, sometimes seriously. He was certainly overheard, while he asked him whether he knew anything why, by the nearest ordination, Maecius Rufus was to be set over the man to govern Egypt for him. He produced naval fights of fleets almost of equal squadrons, with a lake dug out and built up beside the Tiber, and he witnessed them even amid the heaviest rains.

Fecit et ludos Saeculares, computata ratione temporum at annum non quo Claudius proxime, sed quo olim Augustus ediderat; in iis circensium die, quo facilius centum missus peragerentur, singulos a septenis spatiis ad quina corripuit.

He also held the Secular Games, the year computed by the reckoning of times not in which Claudius most recently [had], but in which Augustus had formerly proclaimed; in those circus days, on which the hundred missus could more easily be performed, he shortened each from sevenfold intervals to five.

Instituit et quinquennale certamen Capitolino Iovi triplex, musicum, equestre, gymnicum, et aliquanto plurium quam nunc est coronatorum. Certabant enim et prosa oratione Graece Latineque, ac praeter citharoedos chorocitharistae quoque et psilocitharistae; in stadio vero cursu etiam virgines. Certamini praesedit crepidatus purpureaque amictus toga Graecanica capite gestans coronam auream cum effigie Iovis ac Iunonis Minervaeque; adsidentibus Diali sacerdote et collegio Flavialium pari habitu, nisi quod illorum coronis inerat et ipsius imago.

He established also a five-yearly Capitolian contest, triple to Jupiter — musical, equestrian, gymnic — and somewhat of more crown-bearers than now. For they contended also in prose oratory in Greek and Latin, and besides citharoedoi, chorocitharists also and psilocitharists; and in the stadium in the race even maidens. Presiding over the contest was one crepidatus and clad in purple, wearing the Greek toga on his head and bearing a golden crown with the effigy of Jupiter and of Juno and Minerva; the Flamen Dialis priest and the college of the Flaviales sitting beside him in equal garb, except that in their crowns was the image of those gods and of him.

Celebrabat et in Albano quotannis Quinquatria Minervae, cui collegium instituerat, ex quo sorte ducti magisterio fungerentur ederentque eximias venationes et scaenicos ludos, superque oratorum ac poetarum certamina. Congiarium populo nummorum trecentorum ter dedit, atque inter spectacula muneris largissimum epulum. Septimontiali sacro quidem, senatui equitique panariis, plebei sportellis cum obsonio distributis, initium vescendi primus fecit; dieque proximo omne genus rerum missilia sparsit, et quia pars maior intra popularia decidebat, quinquagenas tesseras in singulos cuneos equestris ac senatorii ordinis pronuntiavit.

He also celebrated at the Alban [site] annually the Quinquatria of Minerva, for which he had established a collegium, from which, chosen by lot, they should discharge magisterial duties and produce distinguished venations and stage-plays, and moreover contests of orators and poets. He gave the people a congiarium of three hundred coins three times, and among the spectacles the most lavish feast of the munus. At the Septimontial sacred rite indeed, to the senate and equestrian order he gave bread-baskets, and to the plebs little sportellae with relishes distributed, and he was the first to make the beginning of eating; and on the next day he scattered every kind of thing as missilia, and because the greater part fell within the popular quarters, he proclaimed fifty tesserae for each cuneus of the equestrian and senatorial order.

V. Plurima et amplissima opera incendio absumpta restituit, in quis et Capitolium, quod rursus arserat; sed omnia sub titulo tantum suo ac sine ulla pristini auctoris memoria. Novam autem excitavit aedem in Capitolio Custodi Iovi, et forum quod nunc Nervae vocatur, item Flaviae templum gentis et stadium et Odeum et naumachiam, e cuius postea lapide maximus circus, deustis utrimque lateribus, exstructus est.

5. He restored very many and very great works consumed by fire, among which even the Capitol, which had burned again; but he placed them all only under his own title and without any memory of the former author. Moreover he raised a new temple on the Capitol to Jupiter the Guardian, and the forum which is now called Nerva’s, likewise the Flavian temple of the gens, and a stadium and an Odeum and a naumachia, out of which afterwards a very large circus, with its sides hollowed out on both sides, was built.

VI. Expeditiones partim sponte suscepit, partim necessario: sponte in Chattos, necessario unam in Sarmatas, legione cum legato simul caesa, in Dacos duas, primam Oppio Sabino consulari oppresso, secundam Cornelio Fusco, praefecto cohortium praetorianarum, cui belli summam commiserat. De Chattis Dacisque post varia proelia duplicem triumphum egit. De Sarmatis lauream modo Capitolino Iovi rettulit.

6. He undertook expeditions partly of his own will, partly of necessity: willingly against the Chatti, of necessity one against the Sarmatians — with a legion together with its legate cut down — and two against the Daci, the first after Oppius Sabinus, the consular, was overthrown, the second under Cornelius Fuscus, prefect of the praetorian cohorts, to whom he had entrusted the supreme command of the war. From the Chatti and the Daci, after various battles, he celebrated a double triumph. From the Sarmatians he brought back the laurel, the Capitoline one, to Jupiter.

Bellum civile motum a L. Antonio, superioris Germaniae praeside, confecit absens felicitate mira, cum ipsa dimicationis hora resolutus repente Rhenum transituras ad Antonium copias barbarorum inhibuisset. De qua victoria praesagiis prius quam nuntiis comperit, siquidem ipso quo dimicatum erat die statuam eius Romae insignis aquila circumplexa pinnis clangores laetissimos edidit; pauloque post accisum Antonium adeo vulgatum est, ut caput quoque adportatum eius vidisse se plerique contenderet.

He completed the civil war set in motion by L. Antonius, governor of Upper Germany, while absent, with remarkable good fortune, when at the very hour of the conflict he, being irresolute, suddenly prevented the barbarian forces about to cross the Rhine to join Antonius. He learned of that victory by omens before by messages, for on the very day on which the fighting had taken place a notable eagle clasping a statue of him at Rome with its wings gave forth the most joyful cries; and shortly afterwards the killing of Antonius was so widely reported that many asserted they had even seen his head carried in.

VII. Multa etiam in communi rerum usu novavit: sportulas publicas sustulit, revocata rectarum cenarum consuetudine; duas circensibus gregum factiones aurati purpuereique panni ad quattuor pristinas addidit; interdixit histrionibus scaenam, intra domum quidem exercendi artem iure concesso; castrari mares vetuit; spadonum, qui residui apud mangones erant, pretia moderatus est. Ad summam quondam ubertatem vini, frumenti vero inopiam, existimans nimio vinearum studio neglegi arva, edixit, ne quis in Italia novellaret, utque in provinciis vineta succiderentur, relicta ubi plurimum dimidia parte; nec exsequi rem perseveravit.

7. He also innovated many things in common use: he abolished the public sportulae, reviving the custom of plain dinners; he added two circus factions, of golden and of purple cloth, to the original four; he forbade actors the stage, though within the house the art of performing was permitted by law; he forbade the castration of males; he regulated the prices of eunuchs (spadones) who remained with pimps. Regarding the once great abundance of wine and the scarcity of grain, considering that by excessive zeal for vineyards the fields were being neglected, he decreed that no one in Italy should plant new vines, and that in the provinces vineyards should be cut down, leaving where they were most common only half; nor did he persist in carrying the measure out.

Quaedam ex maximis officiis inter libertinos equitesque R. communicavit. Geminari legionum castra prohibuit, nec plus quam mille nummos a quoquam ad signa deponi; quod L. Antonium apud duarum legionum hiberna res novas moliens fiduciam cepisse etiam ex depositorum summa videbatur. Addidit et quartum stipendium militi, aureos ternos.

He assigned certain of the greatest offices among the freedmen and the knights of R. He forbade the doubling of legionary camps, and that more than one thousand coins be deposited by anyone at the standards; which seemed to show that L. Antoninus, at the winter-quarters of two legions, plotting new things, had even won confidence from the total of deposits. He also added a fourth stipend to the soldier — three aurei.

VIII. Ius diligenter et industrie dixit, plerumque et in foro pro tribunali extra ordinem; ambitiosas centumvirorum sententias rescidit; reciperatores, ne se perfusoriis assertionibus accommodarent, identidem admonuit; nummarios iudices cum suo quemque consilio notavit. Auctor et tr. pl. fuit aedilem sordium repetundarum accusandi iudicesque in eu a senatu petendi.

VIII. He stated the law diligently and industriously, mostly both in the forum and, for the tribunal, out of order; he rescinded the ambitious sentences of the centumviri; he repeatedly admonished the reciperatores so that they would not accommodate themselves to fraudulent assertions; he marked the nummarii judges, each with his own counsel. He was also sponsor and tribune of the plebs in proposing that the aedile should accuse of sordid extortions and that the judges be summoned from the senate.

Magistratibus quoque urbicis provinciarumque praesidibus coercendis tantum curae adhibuit, ut neque modestiores umquam neque iustiore extiterint; e quibus plerosque post illum reos omnium criminum vidimus. Suscepta correctione morum, licentiam theatralem promiscue in equitem spectandi inhibuit; scripta famosa vulgoque edita, quibus primores viri ac feminae notabantur, abolevit, non sine auctorum ignominia; quaestorium virum, quod gesticulandi saltandique studio teneretur, movit senatu: probrosis feminis lecticae usum ademit iusque capiendi legata hereditatesque; equitem R. ob reductam in matrimonium uxorem, cui dimissae adulterii crimen intenderat, erasit iudicum albo; quosdam ex utroque ordine lege Scantinia condemnavit; incesta Vestalium virginum, a patre quoque suo et fratre neglecta, varie ac severe coercuit, priora capitali supplicio, posteriora more veteri.

He applied so much care to restraining the urban magistrates and the governors of the provinces that none ever proved more modest nor more just; of whom we saw many afterwards accused of every crime. Having undertaken the correction of manners, he checked theatrical licentiousness — the promiscuous practice of viewing even an eques —; he abolished notorious writings and those published to the public by which leading men and women were marked, not without disgrace to their authors; he had a quaestorian man, who was possessed by a passion for gesturing and dancing, removed by the senate; as a disgrace to women he took away the use of the litter and the right to receive legacies and inheritances; he erased from the roll of judges a Roman eques for restoring to marriage a wife whom he had charged with adultery; he condemned some from both orders under the Scantinian law; he variously and severely checked the unchastity of the Vestal virgins, neglected even by their father and brother — the earlier punished with capital execution, the later according to the older custom.

Nam cum Oculatis sororibus, item Varronillae liberum mortis permisisset arbitrium corruptoresque earum relegasset, mox Corneliam maximam virginem, absolutam olim, dein longo intervallo repetitam atque convictam defodi imperavit, stupratoresque virgis in comitio ad necem caedi, excepto praetorio viro; cui, dubia etiam tum causa et incertis quaestionibus atque tormentis de semet professo, exilium indulsit. Ac ne qua religio deum impune contaminaretur, monimentum, quod libertus eius e lapidibus templo Capitolini Iovis destinatis filio exstruxerat, diruit per milites, ossaque et reliquias quae inerant mari mersit.

For when with the Oculata sisters likewise he had allowed Varronilla the free arbitrium of death and had relegated their corrupters, soon he ordered Cornelia Maxima, a maiden once acquitted, then after a long interval re‑tried and convicted, to be buried, and the seducers to be beaten with rods in the comitium to death, a praetorian man excepted; to whom, the cause even then doubtful and the inquiries and torments uncertain concerning his own confession, he granted exile. And lest any religious observance of the gods be defiled with impunity, he razed the monument which his freedman had erected for his son from stones destined for the temple of Capitolian Jupiter by soldiers, and he plunged into the sea the bones and relics that were there.

IX. Inter initia usque adeo ab omni caede abhorrebat, ut absente adhuc patre recordatus Virgilii versum:

IX. Among the beginnings he was even so averse to all slaughter, that, his father still absent, he recalled a verse of Virgil:

Impia quam caesis gens est epulata iuvencis.

How impious a people is that which has feasted on the slain bullocks.

edicere destinarit, ne boves immolarentur. Cupiditatis quoque atque avaritiae vix suspicionem ullam aut privatus umquam aut princeps aliquamdiu dedit, immo e diverso magna saepe non abstinentiae modo sed etiam liberalitatis experimenta. Omnis circa se largissime prosecutus, nihil prius aut acrius monuit quam ne quid sordide faceret.

he had determined to issue a proclamation that the oxen should not be sacrificed. He scarcely ever, either as a private man or for any long time as prince, gave the least suspicion of cupidity or avarice; nay rather he often furnished great proofs not only of abstinence but even of liberality. Having bestowed all about him most lavishly, he admonished nothing sooner or more sharply than that he should do nothing sordidly.

Relictas sibi hereditates ab iis, quibus liberi erant, non recepit. Legatum etiam ex testamento Rusci Caepionis, qui caverat ut quotannis ingredientibus curiam senatoribus certam summam viritim praestate heres suus, irritum fecit. Reos, qui ante quinquennium proximum apud aerarium pependissent, universos discrimine liberavit, nec repeti nisi intra annum eaque condicione permisit, ut accusatori qui causam non teneret exilium poena esset.

He did not accept the inheritances left to him by those to whom he was free. He also made void the legacy in the will of Ruscius Caepio, who had stipulated that, on entering the curia each year, the senators should render to his heir a certain sum per capita; he discharged altogether those defendants who had paid into the aerarium within the preceding five years from liability, and permitted recovery only within a year and on the condition that, if the accuser did not maintain the cause, exile should be the punishment.

Scribas quaestorios negotiantes, ex consuetudine sed contra Clodiam legem, venia in praeteritum donavit. Subsiciva, quae divisis per veteranos agris carptim superfuerunt, veteribus possessoribus ut usu capta concessit. Fiscales calumnias magna calumniantium poena repressit, ferebaturque vox eius: "princeps qui delatores non castigat, irritat."

He granted clemency in retrospect to quaestorian scribes engaging in business, by custom though contrary to the Clodian law. Subsicivae, which remained here and there in small parcels in lands divided among the veterans, he conceded to the former possessors as having been acquired by use. He repressed fiscal calumnies with severe punishment for the calumniators, and it was said of him: "the prince who does not chastise delators, emboldens them."

X. Sed neque in clementiae neque in abstinentiae tenore permansit, et tamen aliquanto celerius ad saevitiam descivit quam ad cupiditatem. Discipulum Paridis pantomimi impuberem adhuc et cum maxime aegrum, quod arte formaque non absimilis magistro videbatur, occidit; item Hermogenem Tarsensem propter quasdam in historia figuras, librariis etiam, qui eam descripserat, cruci fixis. Patrem familias, quod Thraecem myrmilloni parem, munerario imparem dixerat, detractum e spectaculis in harenam, canibus obiecit, cum hoc titulo: Impie locutus parmularius.

10. But he did not remain in the tenor of clemency nor of abstinence, and yet he fell into savagery somewhat more swiftly than into cupidity. He killed the pupil of Paris, a pantomimist still unripe and exceedingly ill, because by art and beauty he seemed not unlike his master; likewise he crucified Hermogenes of Tarsus on account of certain figures in a history, and also the booksellers who had transcribed it. A paterfamilias, because he had called a Thracian equal to a myrmillo and unequal to a munerarius, was dragged from the spectacles into the arena and thrown to the dogs, with this title: "The shield-bearer who spoke impiously."

Complures senatores, in iis aliquot consulares, interemit; ex quibus Civicam Cerealem in ipso Asiae proconsulatu, Salvidienum Orfitum, Acilium Glabrionem in exilio, quasi molitores rerum novarum; ceteros levissima quemque de causa; Aelium Lamiam ob suspiciosos quidem, verum et veteres et innoxios iocos, quod post abductam uxorem laudanti vocem suam "eutacto" dixerat, quodque Tito hortanti se de alterum matrimonium responderat: μὴ καὶ σὺ γαμὴσαι θέλεις; Salvium Cocceianum, quod Othonis imperatoris patrui sui diem natalem celebraverat; Mettium Pompusianum, quod habere imperatoriam genesim vulgo ferebatur, et quod depictum orbem terrae in membrana contionesque regum ac ducum ex Tito Livio circumferret, quodque servis nomina Magonis et Hannibalis indidisset; Sallustium Lucullum Britanniae legatum, quod lanceas novae formae appellari Luculleas passus esset; Iunium Rusticum, quod Paeti Thraseae et Helvidii Prisci laudes edidisset appellassetque eos sanctissimos viros; cuius criminis occasione philosophos omnis urbe Italiaque summovit. Occidit et Helvidium filium, quasi scaenico exodio sub persona Paridis et Oenones divortium suum cum uxore taxasset; Flavium Sabinum alterum e patruelibus, quod eum comitiorum consularium die destinatum perperam praeco non consulem ad populum, sed imperatorem pronuntiasset. Verum aliquando post civilis belli victoriam saevior, plerosque paris adversae, dum etiam latentes conscios investigat, novo questionis genere distortis, immisso per obscaena igne; nonnullis et manus amputavit.

He put to death several senators, among them some ex-consuls; of these Civicus Cerialis in the very proconsulship of Asia, Salvidienus Orfitus, Acilius Glabrio in exile, as if millers/plotters of revolutionary matters; the rest each for the most trivial pretext; Aelius Lamia for jokes indeed suspicious, but old and harmless, because after his wife had been abducted, praising his own voice he had said "eutacto," and because, when Titus urged him to a second marriage, he had answered: "Do you too wish to marry?"; Salvius Cocceianus, because he had celebrated the birthday of Otho, the emperor’s uncle; Mettius Pompusianus, because he was commonly reported to have imperial origin, and because he carried about a painted globe of the earth on parchment and parades of kings and leaders from Titus Livius, and because he had given his slaves the names Mago and Hannibal; Sallustius Lucullus, legate of Britain, because he had allowed spears of a new form to be called Lucullan; Iunius Rusticus, because he had published praises of Paetus Thrasea and Helvidius Priscus and had called them most holy men; on that charge he expelled philosophers from the whole city and Italy. He also killed Helvidius the son, as if in a stage-exercise under the personae of Paris and Oenone he had censured his divorce from his wife; he put to death another cousin, Flavius Sabinus, because on the day fixed for the consular elections the herald wrongly proclaimed him not consul to the people but emperor. But sometimes, after the victory of the civil war, more savage, he slew many of the opposite party of equal rank, while even hunting out hidden accomplices, with a new kind of inquiry torturing them, setting them on obscene fire; he also amputated the hands of some.

Satisque constat, duos dolos e notioribus venia donatos, tribunum laticlavium et centurionem, qui se, quo facilius expertes culpae ostenderet, impudicos probaverant et ob id neque apud ducem neque apud milites ullius momenti esse potuisse.

And it is sufficiently certain that two plots, granted by pardon from the more prominent men — a tribune of the broad stripe and a centurion — who had proved themselves shameless so that they might more readily appear free of blame, and for that reason could have been of no consequence either to the commander or to the soldiers.

XI. Erat autem non solum magnae, sed etiam callidae inopinataeque saevitiae. Auctorem summarum pridie quam cruci figeret in cubiculum vocavit, assidere in toro iuxta coegit, securum hilaremque dimisit, partibus etiam de cena dignatus est. Arrecinum Clementem consularem, unum e familiaribus et emissariis suis, capitis condemnaturus, in eadem vel etiam maiore gratia habuit, quoad novissime simul gestanti, conspecto delatore eius, "Vis, inquit, nequissimum servum cras audiamus?"

11. He was not only of great cruelty, but also cunning and unexpected in it. He summoned the author of the summaries the day before he would fix him to the cross into his bedroom, forced him to sit beside him on the couch, dismissed him calm and merry, and even deigned to share portions of his dinner. He held Arrecinus Clemens, a man of consular rank, one of his household and emissaries, whom he was about to condemn to death, in the same or even greater favour, until at last, when his informer was seen while he himself was wearing the same, he said, "Shall we, he said, hear the most wicked slave tomorrow?"

Et quo contemptius abuteretur patentia hominum, numquam tristiorem sententiam sine praefatione clementiae pronuntiavit, ut non aliud iam certius atrocis exitus signum esset quam principii lenitas. Quosdam maiestatis reos in curiam induxerat, et cum praedixisset, experturum se illa die quam carus senatui esset, facile perfecerat ut etiam more maiorum puniendi condemnarentur; deinde atrocitate poenae conterritus, ad leniendam invidiam, intercessit his verbis (neque enim ab re fuit ipsa cognoscere): "Permittite, patres conscripti, a pietate vestra impetrari, quod scio me difficulter impetraturum, ut damnatis liberum mortis arbitrium indulgentis; nam et parcetis oculis vestris et intellegent me omnes senatui interfuisse."

And so that he might more contemptuously abuse the patience of men, he never pronounced a sadder sentence without a preface of clemency, so that now the ruler's leniency was nothing less than a certain sign of an atrocious outcome. He had led certain accused of majesty into the curia, and when he had foretold that they would that day learn how dear he was to the senate, he easily effected that they should be condemned to punishment even according to the custom of the ancestors; then, terrified by the atrociousness of the penalty, to soften the ill-will he interposed with these words (for indeed it was not unknown to her herself): "Permit, conscript fathers, that by your piety be obtained, which I know I shall obtain with difficulty, that to the condemned be granted the free choice of death; for you will spare with your eyes and all will understand that I had been present for the senate."

XII. Exhaustus operum ac munerum impensis stipendioque, quod adiecerat, temptavit quidem ad relevandos castrenses sumptus, numerum militum deminuere; sed cum et obnoxium se barbaris per hoc animadverteret neque eo setius in explicandis oneribus haereret, nihil pensi habuit quin praedaretur omni modo. Bona vivorum ac mortuorum usquequaque quolibet et accusatore et crimine corripiebantur.

CHAPTER 12. Exhausted by works and duties and by the expenses and stipend which he had added, he did indeed attempt, to relieve the camp outlays, to diminish the number of soldiers; but since thereby he perceived himself made liable to the barbarians and yet no less remained entangled in discharging the burdens, he had no scruple that he should plunder in every way. The goods of the living and of the dead were everywhere seized on any pretext both of accuser and of charge.

Satis erat obici qualecumque factum dictumve adversus maiestatem principis. Confiscabantur alienissimae hereditates vel uno existente, qui diceret audisse se ex defuncto, cum viveret, heredem sibi Caesarem esse. Praeter ceteros Iudaicus fiscus acerbissime actus est; ad quem deferebantur, qui vel improfessi Iudaicam viverent vitam, vel dissimulata origine imposita genti tributa non pependissent.

It was enough to allege any kind of deed or saying against the majesty of the prince. The most alien inheritances were confiscated even if there was a single person who would say he had heard from the deceased, while he lived, that Caesar was his heir. Above all others the Judaic fisc was treated most harshly; to it were brought those who either, unprofessed, lived the Judaic life, or, with origin concealed, had not paid the tributes imposed on the people.

Interfuisse me adulescentulum memini, cum a procuratore frequentissimoque consilio inspiceretur nonagenarius senex an circumsectus esset. Ab iuventa minime civilis animi, confidens etiam, et cum verbis tum rebus immodicum, Caenidi patris concubinae, ex Histria reversae osculumque ut assuerat offerenti, manum praebuit; generum fratris indigne ferens albatos et ipsum ministros habere, proclamavit:

I remember being present as a youth, when the nonagenarian old man was being inspected by the procurator and the very frequent council to see whether he had been circumcised. Of a youth in no wise of civil spirit, indeed confident, and immoderate alike in words and deeds, the concubine of Caenidius’s father, having returned from Histria and, as she had been wont, offering a kiss, put forth her hand; indignantly bearing that her brother’s son‑in‑law was made up (albatos) and that he himself had attendants, she proclaimed:

Οὐκ ἀγαθὸν πολυκοιρανίη.

Too many rulers is not good.

XIII. Principatum vero adeptus, neque in senatu iactare dubitavit, et patri se et fratri imperium dedisse, illo sibi reddidisse; neque in reducenda post divortium uxore edicere revocatam eam in pulvinar suum. Adclamari etiam in amphitheatro epuli die libenter audiit: Domino et dominae feliciter!

XIII. Having indeed acquired the principate, he did not hesitate to vaunt in the senate that he had given rule to his father and to his brother, and that the latter had restored it to him; nor did he proclaim that, in bringing back a wife after divorce, she had been recalled to his pulvinar. He gladly heard also, in the amphitheatre on the day of the games, the acclamation shouted: "Good fortune to the lord and lady!"

Sed et Capitolino certamine cunctos ingenti consensus precantes, ut Palfurium Suram restitueret, pulsum olim senatu ac tunc de oratoribus coronatum, nullo responso dignatus, tacere tantum modo iussit voce praeconis. Pari arrogantia, cum procuratorum suorum nomine formalem dictaret epistulam, sic coepit: "Dominus et deus noster hoc fieri iubet." Vnde institutum posthac, ut ne scripto quidem ac sermone cuiusquam appellaretur aliter. Status sibi in Capitolino non nisi aureas et argenteas poni permisit ac ponderi certi.

But even in the Capitol contest, beseeching all by a mighty consensus that he restore Palfurius Sura — once expelled from the senate and then crowned among the orators — he deigned no reply, and ordered only silence with the herald’s voice. With like arrogance, when he dictated a formal letter in the name of his procurators, thus he began: "The lord and our god commands this to be done." Whence it was established thereafter that he should not be called otherwise, neither in writing nor in any one’s speech. He allowed for himself in the Capitol statues to be set only of gold and silver and of a fixed weight.

Ianos arcusque cum quadrigis et insignibus triumphorum per regiones urbis tantos ac tot exstruxit, ut cuidam Graece inscriptum sit: arkei.

He erected Janus's arches, with quadrigae and the insignia of triumphs, through the districts of the city so many and so great,
that on one of them there was inscribed in Greek: arkei.

Consulatus septemdecim cepit, quot ante eum nemo; ex quibus septem medios continuavit, omnes autem paene titulo tenus gessit, nec quemquam ultra Kal. Mai., plerosque ad Idus usque Ianuarias. Post autem duos triumphos Germanici cognomine assumpto Septembrem mensem et Octobrem ex appellationibus suis Germanico Domitianumque transnominavit, quod altero suscepisset imperium, altero natus esset.

He took the consulship 17 times, as many as no one before him; of these he continued seven in the middle, but carried almost all merely in title, and permitted no one beyond the Kalends of May, most only up to the Ides, even into the Januaries. Afterwards, however, having assumed two triumphs with the surname Germanicus, he re‑named the month September and October from his own appellations to Germanicus and Domitian, because in the one he had received the imperium, in the other he had been born.

XIV. Per haec terribilis cunctis et invisus, tandem oppressus est amicorum libertorumque intimorum conspiratione, simul et uxoris. Annum diemque ultimum vitae iam pridem suspectum habebat, horam etiam, nec non et genus mortis.

14. Because of these things he became terrible to all and hateful, and at last was overwhelmed by a conspiracy of intimate friends and freedmen, together with his wife. For some time he had long suspected the final year and day of his life, even the hour, and also the kind of his death.

Adulescentulo Chaldaei cuncta praedixerant; pater quoque super cenam quondam fungis abstinentem palam irriserat ut ignarum sortis suae, quod non ferrum potius timeret. Quare pavidus semper atque anxius, minimis etiam suspicionibus praeter modum commovebatur; ut edicti de excidendis vineis propositi gratiam faceret, non alia magis re compulsus creditur, quam quod sparsi libelli cum his versibus erant:

To the young man the Chaldeans had foretold all things; his father also once, at a supper while abstaining from mushrooms, had openly mocked him as unaware of his own lot, because he did not rather fear the iron. Wherefore always fearful and anxious, he was stirred beyond measure even by the smallest suspicions; that he should show favor to the edicts proposed about uprooting the vineyards is believed to have been prompted by nothing more than that scattered little pamphlets bore these verses:

Κἄν με φάγῃς ἐπὶ ῥίζαν, ὅμως ἔτι καρποφορήσω,
ὅσσον ἐπισπεῖσαι σοί, τράγε, θυομένῳ.

Even if you eat me down to the root, yet I shall still bear fruit,
as much as you hasten, O goat, toward the one being sacrificed.

Eadem formidine oblatum a senatum novum et excogitatum honorem, quamquam omnium talium appetentissimus, recusavit, quo decretum erat ut, quotiens gereret consulatum, equites R. quibus sors obtigisset, trabeati et cum hastis militaribus praecederent eum inter lictores apparitoresque.

He refused the same honor offered and devised by the senate out of the same fear, although most eager of all for such favors, by which it had been decreed that, whenever he should hold the consulship, the equites R. to whom the lot had fallen, clothed in trabeae and bearing military spears, should precede him among the lictors and attendants.

Tempore vero suspecti periculi appropinquante sollicitior in dies porticuum, in quibus spatiari consuerat, parietes phengite lapide distinxit, e cuius splendore per imagines quidquid a tergo fieret provideret. Nec nisi secreto atque solus plerasque custodias, receptis quidem in manum catenis, audiebat. Vtque domesticis persuaderet, ne bono quidem exemplo audendam esse patroni necem, Epaphroditum a libellis capitali poena condemnavit, quod post destitutionem Nero in adipiscenda morte manu eius adiutus existimabatur.

With the time of suspected danger drawing near, more anxious day by day, he marked the walls of the porticoes in which he had been wont to walk with phengite stone, from whose brightness through images he might foresee whatever was done behind him. And he heard most of the watches only secretly and alone, the chains having been taken into his hand. And in order to persuade his household that even by a good example the patron’s murder was not to be ventured, he condemned Epaphroditus on the libelli to capital punishment, because after Nero’s abandonment he was thought to have been aided by his hand in procuring death.

XV. Denique Flavium Clementem patruelem suum, contemptissimae inertiae, cuius filios etiam tum parvulos successores palam destinaverat abolitoque priore nomine alterum Vespasianum appellari iusserat, alterum Domitianum, repente ex tenuissima suspicione tantum non in ipso eius consulatu interemit. Quo maxime facto maturavit sibi exitium.

15. Finally he nearly put to death Flavius Clemens, his paternal cousin, of the most contemptible sloth, whose sons, then still little, he had openly destined as successors, and, the former name having been abolished, had ordered one to be called Vespasian and the other Domitian; suddenly, from the most slender suspicion, he almost slew him in the very year of his consulship. By that act above all he hastened his own ruin.

Continuis octo mensibus tot fulgura facta nuntiataque sunt, ut exclamaverit: "Feriat iam, quem volet." Tactum de caelo Capitolium templumque Flaviae gentis, item domus Palatina et cubiculum ipsius, atque etiam e basi statuae triumphalis titulus excussus vi procellae in monimentum proximum decidit. Arbor, quae privato adhuc Vespasiano eversa surrexerat, tunc rursus repente corruit. Praenestina Fortuna, toto imperii spatio annum novum commendanti laetam eandemque semper sortem dare assueta, extremo tristissimam reddidit nec sine sanguinis mentione.

For eight continuous months so many lightning-strikes were made and reported that he cried out: "Let him strike now whom he will." From the sky the Capitol and the temple of the Flavian gens were struck, likewise the Palatine house and his own bedchamber, and even from the base of the triumphal statue the inscription, shaken off by the force of the storm, fell into the nearest monument. A tree, which had risen again after being overturned when Vespasian was still a private man, then suddenly collapsed once more. The Praenestine Fortune, throughout the whole span of the empire accustomed to give a joyful and always the same lot to him entrusting the new year, rendered it most sad at the end, and not without a mention of blood.

Minervam, quam superstitiose colebat, somniavit excedere sacrario negantemque ultra se tueri eum posse, quod exarmata esset a Iove. Nulla tamen re perinde commotus est, quam responso casuque Ascletarionis mathematici. Hunc delatum nec infitiantem, iactasse se quae providisset ex arte, sciscitatus est, quis ipsum maneret exitus; et affirmantem fore ut brevi laceraretur a canibus, interfici quidem sine mora, sed ad coarguendam temeritatem artis sepeliri quoque accuratissime imperavit.

He dreamed Minerva, whom he worshipped superstitiously, departing the shrine and saying that she could no longer protect him, because she had been disarmed by Jove. Yet he was not moved by anything so much as by the response and the fate of Ascletarion the mathematician. This man, brought in and not denying that he had vaunted that he had foreseen things by his art, was asked what his own end would be; and, affirming that he would shortly be torn apart by dogs, he was put to death without delay, but—so as to confute the temerity of the art—he also ordered him to be buried with the greatest care.

Quod cum fieret, evenit ut, repentina tempestate deiecto funere, semiustum cadaver discerperent canes, idque ei cenanti a mimo Latino, qui praeteriens forte animadverterat, inter ceteras diei fabulas referretur.

When this happened, it came about that, with the funeral-pyre cast down by a sudden tempest, dogs tore apart the half-burnt corpse, and this was reported to him while he was dining by a Latin mime, who, passing by by chance, had observed it, and it was recounted among the other tales of the day.

XVI. Pridie quam periret, cum oblatos tubures servari iussisset crastinum, adiecit: "Si modo uti licuerit," et conversus ad proximos affirmavit, fore ut sequenti die luna se in aquario cruentaret factumque aliquod existeret, de quo loquerentur homines per terrarum orbem. At circa mediam noctem ita est exterritus ut et strato prosiliret.

16. On the day before he died, when he had ordered the offered trumpets to be kept for the morrow, he added, "If only it may be allowed to use them," and, turning to those near him, declared that on the next day at the moon he would blood himself in the aquarium and that some deed would come to pass about which men throughout the orb of lands would speak. But about midnight he was so terrified that he sprang up from his bed.

Dehinc mane haruspicem ex Germania missum, qui consultus de fulgure mutationem rerum praedixerat, audiit condemnavitque. Ac dum exulceratam in fronte verrucam vehementius scalpit, profluente sanguine, "Vtinam," inquit, "hactenus." Tunc horas requirenti pro quinta, quam metuebat, sexta ex industria nuntiata est. His velut transacto iam periculo laetum festinantemque ad corporis curam Parthenius cubiculo praepositus convertit, nuntians esse qui magnum nescio quid afferret, nec differendum.

Then in the morning he heard and condemned a haruspex sent from Germany, who, consulted about the lightning, had foretold a change of affairs. And while he more violently scraped a blistered wart on his forehead, blood flowing, he said, "Would that only thus far." Then, to one asking the hours for the fifth, which he feared, the sixth was announced deliberately. After these things, as if the danger were passed, he now cheerful and hastening to attend the body's care was turned by Parthenius, appointed to the chamber, who announced that there was one coming who would bring some great—I know not what—and that no delay was permitted.

Itaque summotis omnibus, in cubiculum se recepit atque ibi occisus est.

Therefore, with all having been removed, he withdrew into his chamber and there was slain.

XVII. De insidiarum caedisque genere haec fere divulgata sunt. Cunctantibus conspiratis, quanto et quo modo, id est lavantemne an cenantem, adgrederentur, Stephanus, Domitillae procurator, et tunc interceptarum pecuniarum reus, consilium operamque optulit.

17. Concerning the kind of ambushes and of slaughter, these things were generally spread abroad. With the conspirators hesitating about how and in what manner — that is, whether they should attack her while bathing or while dining — Stephanus, Domitilla's procurator, and then accused in the matter of the intercepted monies, offered counsel and active effort.

Ac sinisteriore brachio, velut aegro, lanis fasciisque per aliquot dies ad avertendam suspicionem obvoluto, ad ipsam horam dolorem interiecit; professusque conspirationis indicium et ob hos admissus, legenti traditum a se libellum et attonito suffodit inguina. Saucium ac repugnantem adorti Clodianus cornicularius et Maximus Partheni libertus et Satur decurio cubiculariorum et quidam e gladiatorio ludo vulneribus septem contrucidarunt.

And with his left arm, as if sick, wrapped for several days in wool and bandages to avert suspicion, he feigned pain at that very hour; and having declared the token of the conspiracy and, on account of these things admitted, having handed to the reader a little book from himself, he stabbed the stunned man in the groin. The wounded and resisting man was set upon by Clodianus the cornicularius and Maximus, freedman of Parthenius, and Satur, decurion of the chamberlains, and a certain man from the gladiatorial school, and they hewed him down with seven wounds.

Puer, qui arae Larum cubiculi ex consuetudine assistens interfuit caedi, hoc amplius narrabat, iussum se a Domitiano ad primum statim vulnus pugionem pulvino subditum porrigere ac ministros vocare, neque ad caput quidquam excepto capulo, et praeterea clausa omnia repperisse; atque illum interim arrepto deductoque ad terram Stephano colluctatum diu, dum modo ferrum extorquere, modo quamquam laniatis digitis oculos effodere conatur. Occisus est XIIII. Kal.

The boy, who, by custom, was present at the altar of the Lares of the bedchamber assisting, and was witness to the beating, related this further: that he had been ordered by Domitian to hand at once to the first wound a dagger placed beneath a pillow and to call the attendants, and that he found nothing at the head except the hilt, and moreover that everything was closed; and that meanwhile the man, having been seized and dragged to the ground, struggled with Stephanus for a long time, now trying to wrench out the blade, now, although with his fingers torn, attempting to gouge out the eyes. Occisus est 14. Kal.

Octob. anno aetatis quadragensimo quinto, imperii quinto decimo. Cadaver eius populari sandapila per vespillones exportatum Phyllis nutrix in suburbano suo Latina via funeravit, sed reliquias templo Flaviae gentis clam intulit cineribusque Iuliae Titi filiae, quam et ipsam educarat, conmiscuit.

October, in the 45th year of his age, and the 15th of his reign. His corpse, having been carried off on the popular sandapila by the vespillones, Phyllis the nurse buried in her suburban house on the Latin Way, but she secretly brought the relics into the temple of the Flavian gens and mingled them with the ashes of Julia, daughter of Titus, whom she had herself also reared.

XVIII. Statura fuit procera, vultu modesto ruborisque pleno, grandibus oculis, verum acie hebetiore; praeterea pulcher ac decens, maxime in iuventa, et quidem toto corpore, exceptis pedibus, quorum digitos restrictiores habebat; postea calvitio quoque deformis et obesitate ventris et crurum gracilitate, quae tamen ei valitudine longa remacruerant. Commendari se verecundia oris adeo sentiebat, ut apud senatum sic quondam iactaverit: "Vsque adhuc certe et animum meum probastis et vultum." Calvitio ita offendebatur, ut in contumeliam suam traheret, si cui alii ioco vel iurgio obiectaretur; quamvis libello, quem de cura capillorum ad amicum edidit, haec etiam, simul illum seque consolans, inserverit:

18. He was tall of stature, with a modest visage and full of a blush, with large eyes, but with a somewhat duller glance; moreover handsome and becoming, especially in youth, and indeed in his whole body, except the feet, whose toes were rather narrow; later disfigured also by baldness and by obesity of the belly and thinness of the legs, which nevertheless through long vigour had become attenuated. He felt himself so commended by the modesty of his face that he once vaunted before the senate thus: "Up to now certainly you have approved both my mind and my face." He took his baldness so to heart that he would turn it into an affront to himself if another were taunted in jest or in anger; yet in a little pamphlet, which he published to a friend on the care of the hair, he also wrote these things, consoling that man and himself at once:

"Οὐχ ὁράᾳς, οἷος κἀγὼ καλός τε μέγας τε;

"Do you not see of what sort I too am, both handsome and great?"

Eadem me tamen manent capillorum fata, et forti animo fero comam in adulescentia senescentem. Scias nec gratius quicquam decore nec brevius.

Yet the same fates of my hair remain for me, and with a stout spirit I bear my hair aging in youth. Know that nothing is more pleasing for adornment, nor more brief.

XIX. Laboris impatiens, pedibus per urbem non temere ambulavit, in expeditione et agmine equo rarius, lectica assidue vectus est. Armorum nullo, sagittarum vel praecipuo studio tenebatur.

19. impatient of labour, he walked on foot through the city, not rashly; on expedition and in the marching column he was more seldom on horseback, and was continually borne in a lectica. He was held by no particular zeal for arms or for arrows.

Centenas variis generis feras saepe in Albano secessu conficientem spectavere plerisque, atque etiam ex industria ita quarundam capita figentem, ut duobus ictibus quasi cornus efficeret. Nonnumquam in pueri procul in stantis praebentisque pro scopulo dispansam dexterae manus palmam, sagittas tanta arte derexit, ut omnes per intervalla digitorum innocue evaderent.

Many have often seen him in the Alban retreat fashioning hundreds of beasts of various kinds, and even deliberately fixing some heads so that with two strokes he would make them as it were horns. Sometimes, as a boy standing at a distance and offering the spread palm of his right hand against a rock, he aimed arrows with such art that they all passed harmlessly through the intervals of the fingers.

XX. Liberalia studia imperii initio neglexit, quamquam bibliothecas incendio absumptas impensissime reparare curasset, exemplaribus undique petitis, missisque Alexandream qui describerent emendarentque. Numquam tamen aut historiae carminibusque noscendis operam ullam aut stilo vel necessario dedit. Praeter commentarios et acta Tiberii Caesaris nihil lectitabat; epistolas orationesque et edicta alieno formabat ingenio.

20. He neglected liberal pursuits at the beginning of his reign, although he had taken the greatest pains to restore libraries consumed by fire, copies sought from all quarters and men sent to Alexandria to transcribe and emend them. Yet never did he give any effort to learning histories or poems, nor to the stylus or requisite practice. Beyond commentaries and the acts of Tiberius Caesar he read nothing; he fashioned letters, orations, and edicts from another’s genius.

Sermonis tamen nec inelegantis, dictorum interdum etiam notabilium, "Vellem," inquit, "tam formosus esse, quam Maetius sibi videtur"; et cuiusdam caput varietate capilli subrutilum et incanum, perfusas nivem mulso dixit; condicionem principum miserrimam aiebat, quibus de coniuratione comperta non crederetur nisi occisis.

Yet of a conversation not inelegant, and of sayings at times even notable, "I wish," he said, "to be as handsome as Maetius seems to himself"; and of a certain man's head, the hair variegated—reddish beneath and gray above—he said that the snow had been stained with mulsum; he declared the condition of princes most miserable, to whom, when a conspiracy was discovered, no credence would be given unless they were killed.

XXI. Quotiens otium esset, alea se oblectabat, etiam profestis diebus matutinisque horis, ac lavabat de die, prandebatque ad satietatem, ut non temere super cenam praeter Matianum malum et modicam in ampulla potiunculam sumeret. Convivabatur frequenter ac large, sed paene raptim; certe non ultra solis occasum, nec ut postea comisaretur.

XXI. Whenever he had leisure he amused himself with alea (dice), even on public feast-days and in the morning hours, and bathed off the day, and dined to satiety, so that he would not rashly, after supper, take anything except the Matian apple and a modest little potion in a flask. He was entertained frequently and lavishly, but almost hurriedly; certainly not beyond the sun’s setting, nor so as to carouse afterwards.

Nam ad horam somni nihil aliud quam solus secreto deambulabat.

For until the hour of sleep he did nothing else than walk alone in secret.

XXII. Libidinis nimiae, assiduitatem concubitus velut exercitationis genus clinopalen vocabat; eratque fama, quasi concubinas ipse develleret nataretque inter vulgatissimas meretrices. Fratris filiam, adhuc virginem oblatam in matrimonium sibi cum devictus Domitiae nuptiis pertinacissime recusasset, non multo post alii conlocatam, corrupit ultro et quidem vivo etiam tum Tito, mox patre ac viro orbatam ardentissime palamque dilexit, ut etiam causa mortis extiterit coactae conceptum a se abigere.

22. He called excessive lust, the continual practice of intercourse, by the name clinopalen; and there was a rumor that he himself plucked up concubines and swam among the most common meretrices. The daughter of his brother, still a virgin and offered in marriage to him — whom, having been overcome by Domitia’s nuptials, he had most stubbornly refused — was not long after placed with another; he seduced her of his own accord, and indeed while Titus was yet alive; soon, bereft of father and husband, he loved her most ardently and openly, so that even the cause of her death proved to be the compulsion to expel from herself the conception begotten by him.

XXIII. Occisum eum populus indifferenter, miles gravissime tulit statimque Divum appellare conatus est, paratus et ulcisci, nisi duces defuissent; quod quidem paulo post fecit, expostulatis ad poenam pertinacissime caedis auctoribus. Contra senatus adeo laetatus est, ut repleta certatim curia non temperaret, quin mortuum contumeliosissimo atque acerbissimo adclamationum genere laceraret, scalas etiam inferri clipeosque et imagines eius coram detrahi et ibidem solo affligi iuberet, novissime eradendos ubique titulos abolendamque omnes memoriam decerneret. Ante paucos quam occideretur menses cornix in Capitolino elocuta est: Estai panta kalos, nec defuit qui ostentum sic interpretaretur:

XXIII. The people took his killing indifferently; the soldier bore it most grievously and immediately sought to call him Divine, even prepared to avenge him, had not the commanders been absent; which indeed he did a little later, the authors of the massacre being most persistently demanded to punishment. Against this the senate was so rejoiced that, the curia being eagerly filled, it did not moderate itself from tearing the dead man with the most insulting and bitter acclamations, and even ordered his ladders, shields, and images to be brought in and stripped from him before them and there fastened to the ground, finally decreeing that his inscriptions be erased everywhere and that all memory of him be abolished. A few months before he was killed a crow spoke on the Capitol: Estai panta kalos, nor was there wanting one who would interpret the omen thus:

Nuper Tarpeio quae sedit culmine cornix,
"est bene" non potuit dicere, dixit: "erit".

The crow which lately sat on the Tarpeian summit,
could not say "it is well"; she said: "it will be."

Ipsum etiam Domitianum ferunt somniasse gibbam sibi pone cervicem auream enatam, pro certoque habuisse beatiorem post se laetioremque portendi rei publicae statum, sicut sane brevi evenit abstinentia et moderatione insequentium principum.

They also report that Domitian himself dreamed that a golden hump had grown behind his neck, and that he held it for certain a sign that the state after him would be more blessed and more joyful, as indeed shortly came to pass by the abstinence and moderation of the princes who followed.