Suetonius: DE VITIS CAESARUM

I. Progenies Caesarum in Nerone defecit; quod futurum, compluribus quidem signis, sed vel evidentissimis duobus apparuit. Liviae, olim post Augusti statim nuptias Veientanum suum revisenti, praetervolans aquila gallinam albam ramulum lauri rostro tenentem, ita ut rapuerat, demisit in gremium; cumque nutriri alitem, pangi ramulum placuisset, tanta pullorum suboles provenit, ut hodieque ea uilla ad Gallinas vocetur, tale vero lauretum, ut triumphaturi Caesares inde laureas decerperent; fuitque mos triumphantibus, illas confestim eodem loco pangere; et observatum est, sub cuiusque obitum arborem ab ipso institutam elanguisse. Ergo novissimo Neronis anno et silva omnis exaruit radicitus, et quidquid ibi gallinarum erat interiit; ac subinde tacta de caelo Caesarum aede, capita omnibus simul statuis deciderunt, Augusti etiam sceptrum e manibus excussum est.

1. The line of the Caesars failed in Nero; which would happen was shown by several signs indeed, but by two very plain ones. To Livia, once returning to her Veientine villa soon after Augustus’ marriage, an eagle flying over let fall into her lap a white hen holding a laurel sprig in its beak, as it had snatched it up; and since it pleased that the bird be raised and the sprig planted, so great an offspring of chicks sprang forth that even today that villa is called “ad Gallinas,” and the laurel-grove was such that triumphant Caesars would pluck laurel-wreaths from it; and it was the custom of those celebrating triumphs to plant them immediately in the same spot; and it was observed that at each man’s death the tree established by him withered. Therefore in Nero’s last year the whole wood dried up from the root, and whatever of the hens was there perished; and soon after, when the temple of the Caesars was struck from the sky, the heads fell from all the statues together, and even Augustus’ sceptre was shaken from his hands.

II. Neroni Galba successit nullo gradu contingens Caesarum domum, sed haud dubie nobilissimus magnaque et vetere prosapia, ut qui statuarum titulis pronepotem se Quinti Catuli Capitolini semper ascripserit, imperator vero etiam stemma in atrio proposuerit, quo paternam originem ad Iovem, maternam ad Pasiphaen Minois uxorem referret.

2. Galba succeeded Nero, coming into the house of the Caesars without any gradation, but without doubt most noble and of great and ancient lineage, so that by the inscriptions of statues he always ascribed himself as the great‑great‑grandson of Quintus Catulus of the Capitol; and the emperor even set up a stemma in the atrium, by which he traced his paternal origin to Jupiter and his maternal to Pasiphae, wife of Minos.

III. Imagines et elogia universi generis exsequi longum est: familiae breviter attingam. Qui prius Sulpiciorum cognomen Galbae tulit, cur aut unde traxerit, ambigitur.

3. Images and elogia of every kind to pursue is a long task: I will touch the family briefly. Who first among the Sulpicii bore the cognomen Galba, and why or whence he drew it, is disputed.

Quidam putant, quod oppidum Hispaniae frustra diu oppugnatum inlitis demum galbano facibus succenderit; alii, quod in diuturna valitudine galbeo, id est remediis lana involutis, assidue uteretur: nonnulli, quod praepinguis fuerit visus, quem galbam Galli vocent; vel contra, quod tam exilis, quam sunt animalia quae in aesculis nascuntur appellanturque galbae. Familiam illustravit Seruius Galba consularis, temporum suorum et eloquentissimus, quem tradunt Hispaniam ex praetura optinentem, triginta Lusitanorum milibus perfidia trucidatis, Viriatini belli causam exstitisse. Eius nepos ob repulsam consulatus infensus Iulio Caesari, cuius legatus in Gallia fuerat, conspiravit cum Cassio et Bruto, propter quod Pedia lege damnatus est.

Some think that because a town of Spain, long besieged in vain, at last kindled by Galban torches took fire; others, because in long illness he used a galbeo, that is remedies wrapped in wool, continually; some, because he seemed exceedingly fat, which the Gauls call galba; or on the contrary, because so small — as are the animals that are born in oak-trees — and are called galbae. The family was illustrious in Seruius Galba, a consular, most of his times and most eloquent, whom they relate, holding Spain from the praetorship, to have been the cause of Viriatinus’s war, with thirty thousand Lusitanians slaughtered by treachery. His grandson, enraged at the refusal of the consulship and hostile to Iulius Caesar, whose legate he had been in Gaul, conspired with Cassius and Brutus, for which he was condemned by the Lex Pedia.

Ab hoc sunt imperatoris Galbae avus ac pater: avus clarior studiis quam dignitate (non enim egressus praeturae gradum) multiplicem nec incuriosam historiam edidit; pater consulatu functus, quamquam brevi corpore, atque etiam gibber, modicaeque in dicendo facultatis, causas industrie actitavit. Vxores habuit Mummiam Achaicam, neptem Catuli proneptemque L. Mummi, qui Corinthum excidit; item Liviam Ocellinam ditem admodum et pulchram, a qua tamen nobilitatis causa appetitus ultro existimatur, et aliquando enixius postquam subinde instanti vitium corporis secreto posita veste detexit, ne quasi ignaram fallere videretur. Ex Achaica liberos Gaium et Servium procreavit, quorum maior Gaius attritis facultatibus urbe cessit, prohibitusque a Tiberio sortiri anno suo proconsulatum voluntaria morte obiit.

From this man are the grandfather and father of the emperor Galba: the grandfather, more famous for his studies than for his dignity (for he had not advanced beyond the grade of praetor), published a varied and not careless history; the father, having held the consulship, though of short body and even humpbacked, and of moderate facility in speaking, managed causes with industry. He had wives Mummia Achaica, granddaughter of Catulus and great‑granddaughter of L. Mummi, who destroyed Corinth; and likewise Livia Ocellina, very wealthy and handsome, from whom, however, solicitation is thought to have arisen purely for the sake of nobility, and at one time more insistently, after, on repeated occasions, the pressing defect of her body was discovered when she laid aside her garment in private, lest she seem to deceive as if ignorant. From Achaica he begot children Gaius and Servius, of whom the elder, Gaius, with his resources worn away, withdrew from the city, and, being prevented by Tiberius from drawing in his year the proconsulate, died by his own hand.

IV. Ser. Galba imperator M. Valerio Messala Cn. Lentulo cons. natus est VIIII.

IV. Servius Galba, emperor, was born in the consulship of M. Valerius Messalla and Cn. Lentulus, in the year 9.

Kal. Ian. in villa colli superposita prope Tarracinam, sinistrorsus Fundos petentibus, adoptatusque a noverca sua Livia nomen et Ocellae cognomen assumptis, mutato praenomine; nam Lucium mox pro Servio usque ad tempus imperii usurpavit.

On the Kalends of January, in a villa set upon a hill near Tarracina, as they were making for Fundi on the left, and having been adopted by his stepmother Livia, he assumed her name and the cognomen Ocella, his praenomen being changed; for he soon used Lucius in place of Servius up to the time of his imperial rule.

Constat Augustum puero adhuc, salutanti se inter aequales, apprehensa buccula dixisse: καὶ σὺ τέκνον τῆς ἀρχῆς ἡμῶν παρατρώξῃ. Sed et Tiberius, cum comperisset imperaturum eum, verum in senecta, "Vivat sane," ait, "quando id ad nos nihil pertinet." Avo quoque eius fulgur procuranti, cum exta de manibus aquila rapuisset et in frugiferam quercum contulisset, responsum est, summum sed serum imperium portendi familiae; et ille irridens, "Sane," inquit, "cum mula pepererit." Nihil aeque postea Galbam temptantem res novas confirmavit quam mulae partus, ceterisque ut obscaenum ostentum abhorrentibus, solus pro laetissimo accepit memor sacrificii dictique avi. Sumpta virili toga, somniavit Fortunam dicentem, stare se ante fores defessam, et nisi ocius reciperetur, cuicumque obvio praedae futuram. Vtque evigilavit, aperto atrio simulacrum aeneum deae cubitali maius iuxta limen invenit, idque gremio suo Tusculum, ubi aestivare consuerat, avexit et in parte aedium consecratum menstruis deinceps supplicationibus et pervigilio anniversario coluit.

It is agreed that Augustus, still a boy, to one greeting him among his equals, having seized his cheek, said: καὶ σὺ τέκνον τῆς ἀρχῆς ἡμῶν παρατρώξῃ — "and you too, child of our rule, will nibble at our authority." But Tiberius also, when he had learned that he would be emperor, yet in his old age, said, "Let him live indeed, since that concerns us not at all." To his grandfather also, a lightning omen in his favor — when an eagle had snatched the entrails from his hands and had carried them to a fruit-bearing oak — the response was that a supreme but late empire was being foretold for the family; and he, laughing, said, "Indeed, when the mule shall have brought forth." Nothing so much afterward confirmed Galba in attempting new things as the mule’s birth; and, others recoiling from so obscene an omen, he alone, as most joyful, received it as a memorial of the sacrifice and of the aforesaid grandfather. Having put on the man’s toga, he dreamed that Fortune said she stood, exhausted, before the doors, and that unless she were speedily received she would be booty to any passerby. And when he awoke, with the atrium open he found a bronze image of the goddess, larger than life, near the threshold; he carried it in his lap to Tusculum, where he used to summer, and, having consecrated it in a part of his house, thereafter honored it with monthly supplications and an annual vigil.

Quamquam autem nondum aetate constanti veterem civitatis exoletumque morem ac tantum in domo sua haerentem obstinatissime retinuit, ut liberti servique bis die frequentes adessent ac mane salvere, vesperi valere sibi singuli dicerent.

Although not yet of a steady age, he most obstinately retained the ancient and worn-out custom of the state, and clinging to it so much in his own house that freedmen and slaves were frequently present twice a day, and in the morning each would say "salve" to him, and in the evening "vale."

V. Inter liberales disciplinas attendit et iuri. Dedit et matrimonio operam; verum, amissa uxore Lepida duobusque ex ea filiis, remansit in caelibatu, neque sollicitari ulla condicione amplius potuit, ne Agrippinae quidem, viduatae morte Domitii, quae maritum quoque adhuc necdum caelibem Galbam adeo omnibus sollicitaverat modis, ut conventu matronarum correpta iurgio atque etiam manu pulsata sit a matre Lepidae. Observavit ante omnis Liviam Augustam, cuius et vivae gratia plurimum valuit et mortuae testamento paene ditatus est; sestertium namque quingenties cum praecipuum inter legatarios habuisset, quia notata non perscripta erat summa, herede Tiberio legatum ad quingenta revocante, ne haec quidem accepit.

5. He attended the liberal disciplines and law. He also applied himself to marriage; but, his wife Lepida having died and with two children by her, he remained in celibacy, nor could he be solicited in any condition thereafter — not even by Agrippina, widowed by the death of Domitius, who in every way had pressed even Galba, not yet fully single, so much that, seized at a gathering of matrons in a quarrel, she was struck and even beaten with the hand by Lepida’s mother. Above all he honored Livia Augusta, whose favor in life availed greatly and whose will almost enriched him; for although he had had five hundred sestertii as principal among the legatees, because the sum had been noted rather than written, when Tiberius as heir reduced the bequest to five hundred, he did not receive even these.

VI. Honoribus ante legitimum tempus initis praetor commissione ludorum Floralium novum spectaculi genus elephantos funambulos edidit; exim provinciae Aquitaniae anno fere praefuit; mox consulatum per sex menses ordinarium gessit, evenitque ut in eo ipse L. Domitio patri Neronis, ipsi Salvius Otho pater Othonis succederet, velut praesagium insequentis casus, quo medius inter utriusque filios extitit imperator. A Gaio Caesare in locum Gaetulici substitutus, postridie quam ad legionis venit, sollemni forte spectaculo plaudentes inhibuit, data tessera, ut manus paenula continerent; statimque per castra iactatum est:

6. Having entered his honors before the lawful time, as praetor by charge of the Floralian games he produced a new kind of spectacle—elephants as tight-rope walkers; then he almost for a year presided over the province of Aquitania; soon he held the ordinary consulship for six months, and it happened that in that office L. Domitius succeeded the father of Nero, and Salvius Otho succeeded the father of Otho himself, as if a presage of the following event whereby the emperor stood as middle between the sons of both. Appointed by Gaius Caesar in the place of Gaetulicus, on the day after he came to the legion he checked those clapping at a solemn show—when the tessera had been given, so that hands would be kept within their cloaks; and immediately he was hurled through the camp:

Disce miles militare. Galban est, non Gaetulicus!

Learn, soldier, to serve as a soldier. It is Galba, not Gaetulicus!

Pari severitate interdixit commeatus peti. Veteranum ac tironem militem opere assiduo corroboravit, matureque barbaris, qui iam in Galliam usque proruperant, coercitis, praesenti quoque Gaio talem et se et exercitum approbavit, ut inter innumeras contractasque ex omnibus provinciis copias neque testimonium neque praemia ampliora ulli perciperent; ipse maxime insignis, quod campestrem decursionem scuto moderatus, etiam ad essedum imperatoris per viginti passuum milia cucurrit.

He forbade the seeking of leave with equal severity. He strengthened both veteran and recruit soldiers by constant toil, and having promptly checked the barbarians who had already broken through as far as Gaul, he proved both himself and his army such in the presence of Gaius that among the innumerable and mustered troops from all the provinces neither testimony nor greater rewards were received by any man; he himself especially outstanding, because having checked the field charge with his shield, he even ran to the emperor’s chariot for twenty miles.

VII. Caede Gaii nuntiata multis ad occasionem stimulantibus quietem praetulit. Per hoc gratissimus Claudio receptusque in cohortem amicorum, tantae dignationis est habitus, ut cum subita ei valitudo nec adeo gravis incidisset, dilatus sit expeditionis Britannicae dies.

VII. With the slaughter of Gaius having been announced and many urging him to seize the occasion, he preferred quiet. By this he was most acceptable to Claudius and received into the cohort of friends, and was held with such dignity that, when a sudden illness befell him not so grievous, the day of the British expedition was postponed.

Africam pro consule biennio optinuit extra sortem electus ad ordinandam provinciam et intestina dissensione et barbarorum tumultu inquietam; ordinavitque magna severitatis ac iustitiae cura, etiam in parvulis rebus. Militi, qui per expeditionem artissima annona residuum cibariorum tritici modium centum denariis vendidisse arguebatur, vetuit, simul atque indigere cibo coepisset, a quoquam opem ferri; et is fame extabuit. At in iure dicendo cum de proprietate iumenti quaereretur, levibus utrimque argumentis et testibus ideoque difficili coniectura veritatis, ita decrevit ut ad lacum, ubi adaquari solebat, duceretur capite involuto atque ibidem revelato, eius esset, ad quem sponte se a potu recepisset.

He held Africa as proconsul for two years, chosen outside the lot to put in order a province disturbed by internal dissension and the tumult of the barbarians; and he organized it with great care of severity and justice, even in small matters. He forbade that any aid be brought to a soldier who was accused of having, during the campaign, sold the remainder of the food-supply — a modius of wheat — for 100 denarii, and as soon as he began to need food; and he wasted away with famine. But in giving judgment, when the ownership of an iumentum was questioned, with slight arguments and witnesses on both sides and therefore a conjecture of the truth difficult, he decreed that it should be led to the lake where it used to be watered, its head covered and there uncovered, and that it belonged to the man to whom it had of its own accord returned from the watering.

VIII. Ob res et tunc in Africa et olim in Germania gestas ornamenta triumphalia accepit et sacerdotium triplex, inter quindecimviros sodalesque Titios item Augustales cooptatus; atque ex eo tempore prope ad medium Neronis principatum in secessum plurimum vixit (ne ad gestandum quidem umquam iter ingressus quam ut secum vehiculo proximo decies sestertium in auro efferret), donec in oppido Fundis moranti Hispania Tarraconensis oblata est. Acciditque ut, cum provinciam ingressus sacrificaret, intra aedem publicam puero e ministris acerram tenenti capillus repente toto capite canesceret, nec defuerunt qui interpretarentur significari rerum mutationem successurumque iuveni senem, hoc est ipsum Neroni.

8. Because of deeds then in Africa and formerly in Germany he received triumphal ornaments and a threefold priesthood, being co-opted among the quindecimviri and likewise among the Titian sodales and the Augustales; and from that time nearly to the middle of Nero’s principate he lived for the most part in retirement (never even setting out to perform business except so that he might carry off with him in the nearest vehicle ten times a hundred thousand sesterces in gold), until the province of Hispania Tarraconensis was offered to him while he was staying in the town of Fundi. And it happened that, when he had entered the province and was sacrificing, within the public temple the hair of the boy holding the sacred implements suddenly grew white over his whole head, and there were not wanting those who interpreted it to signify a change of affairs and that the young man would succeed an old man, that is, Nero himself.

Non multo post in Cantabriae lacum fulmen decidit, repertaeque sunt duodecim secures, haud ambiguum summae imperii signum.

Not long after, lightning fell into a Cantabrian lake, and twelve axes were found, a by no means ambiguous sign of the supreme power.

IX. Per octo annos varie et inaequabiliter provinciam rexit, primo acer et vehemens et in coercendis quidem delictis vel immodicus. Nam et nummulario non ex fide versanti pecunias manus amputavit mensaeque eius adfixit, et tutorem, quod pupillum, cui substitutus heres erat, veneno necasset, cruce adfecit; implorantique leges et civem Romanum se testificanti, quasi solacio et honore aliquo poenam levaturus, mutari multoque praeter ceteras altiorem et dealbatam statui crucem iussit. Paulatim in desidiam segnitiemque conversus est, ne quid materiae praeberet Neroni, et ut dicere solebat, quod nemo rationem otii sui reddere cogeretur.

9. For eight years he governed the province variously and unequally, at first fierce and vehement and indeed excessive in restraining crimes. For he cut off the hands of a money-dealer who had not acted in good faith and fastened them to his table, and he crucified a guardian who had poisoned a ward for whom a substitute heir had been appointed; and when the laws were invoked and a Roman citizen bore witness, as if about to be relieved of the punishment by some consolation and honour, he ordered the cross to be changed to a stake much higher and more whitewashed than the others. Gradually he was turned into idleness and sloth, so as not to furnish Nero with any material, and, as he used to say, because no one could be compelled to render an account of his leisure.

Carthagine nova conventum agens tumultuari Gallias comperit legato Aquitaniae auxilia implorante; supervenerunt et Vindicis litterae hortantis, ut humano generi assertorem ducemque se accommodaret. Nec diu cunctatus, condicionem partim metu, partim spe recepit; nam et mandata Neronis de nece sua ad procuratores clam missa deprenderat, et confirmabatur cum secundissimis auspiciis et ominibus virginis honestae vaticinatione, tanto magis quod eadem illa carmina sacerdos Iovis Cluniae ex penetrali somnio monitus eruerat ante ducentos annos similiter a fatidica puella pronuntiata. Quorum carminum sententia erat, oriturum quandoque ex Hispania principem dominumque rerum.

In New Carthage, holding an assembly, he learned that the tumultuous Gauls were soliciting auxiliaries from the legate of Aquitaine; and letters from Vindicis also arrived exhorting him to fit himself as protector and leader of the human race. He did not hesitate long, and accepted the terms partly from fear, partly from hope; for he had discovered that Nero’s commands for his death had been secretly sent to the procurators, and it was confirmed by most favorable auspices and by the omens of a chaste virgin’s vaticination, all the more because the same verses the priest of Jupiter at Clunia had drawn up from an inward dream had been proclaimed two hundred years earlier likewise by a prophetic girl. The sense of those verses was that at some time out of Spain a prince and master of things would arise.

X. Igitur cum quasi manumissioni vacaturus conscendisset tribunal, propositis ante se damnatorum occisorumque a Nerone quam plurimis imaginibus et astante nobili puero, quem exulantem e proxima Baliari insula ob id ipsum acciverat, deploravit temporum statum, consalutatusque imperator legatum se senatus ac populi R. professus est. Dein iustitio indicto, e plebe quidem provinciae legiones et auxilia conscripsit super exercitum veterem unius legionis duarumque alarum et cohortium trium; at e primoribus prudentia atque aetate praestantibus velut instar senatus, ad quos de maiore re quotiens opus esset referretur, instituit. Delegit et equestris ordinis iuvenes, qui manente anulorum aureorum usu evocati appellarentur, excubiasque circa cubiculum suum vice militum agerent.

X. Therefore, when he had ascended the tribunal as if about to preside over a manumission, having set before him as many images as possible of those condemned and slain by Nero and with a noble boy standing by — whom he had summoned from the nearest Balearic island because he was exiled — he bewailed the state of the times, and, being greeted, the emperor acknowledged himself the legate of the senate and people of Rome. Then, a iustitio having been proclaimed, he enrolled from the populace of the province legions and auxiliaries to supplement the old force of one legion, two alae, and three cohorts; and he established from the foremost men, outstanding in prudence and age like a senate, to whom matters of greater concern were referred whenever need arose. He also chose young men of the equestrian order, who, the custom of wearing golden rings remaining, would be called evocati, and who kept watch about his bedchamber in place of soldiers.

Etiam per provincias edicta dimisit, auctor singulis universisque conspirandi simul, et ut qua posset quisque opera communem causam iuvarent.

He also issued edicts throughout the provinces, authorizing each and all to conspire together, and that each, by whatever work he could, should aid the common cause.

Per idem fere tempus in munitione oppidi, quod sedem bello delegerat, repertus est anulus opere antiquo, scalptura gemmae Victoriam cum tropaeo exprimente; ac subinde Alexandrina navis Dertosam appulit armis onusta, sine gubernatore, sine nauta ac vectore ullo, ut nemini dubium esset, iustum piumque et faventibus diis bellum suscipi; cum repente ex inopinato prope cuncta turbata sunt. Alarum altera castris appropinquantem paenitentia mutati sacramenti destituere conata est aegreque retenta in officio, et servi, quos a liberto Neronis ad fraudem praeparatos muneri acceperat, per angiportum in balneas transeuntem paene interemerunt, nisi cohortantibus in vicem ne occasionem omitterent, interrogatisque de qua occasione loquerentur, expressa cruciatu confessio esset.

About nearly the same time, in the fortification of the town which had chosen that seat in war, a ring of ancient workmanship was found, the carving of the gem representing Victory with a trophy; and shortly afterwards the Alexandrian ship Dertosam landed laden with arms, without a helmsman, without any sailor or passenger, so that to no one was there doubt that the war was just and pious and favored by the gods; when suddenly, from the unexpected, almost everything was thrown into confusion. One of the alae, approaching the camp, changed by repentance, strove to abandon the oath and was hardly held back in his duty, and the slaves, whom he had received from Nero’s freedman prepared for fraud as a gift, almost killed him while passing through the alley to the baths, had not others been exhorting one another not to miss the opportunity; and, being questioned about on what occasion they should speak, a confession was extorted by torture.

XI. Accessit ad tanta discrimina mors Vindicis, qua maxime consternatus destitutoque similis non multo afuit quin vitae renuntiaret. Sed supervenientibus ab urbe nuntiis ut occisum Neronem cunctosque in verba sua iurasse cognovit, deposita legati suscepit Caesaris appellationem, iterque ingressus est paludatus ac dependente a cervicibus pugione ante pectus; nec prius usum togae reciperavit quam oppressis qui novas res moliebantur, praefecto praetorii Nymphidio Sabino Romae, in Germania Fonteio Capitone, in Africa Clodio Macro legatis.

11. Death came upon Vindicius in so great a crisis, by which he, most astonished and abandoned, was not far from renouncing life. But when messages arrived from the city that Nero had been slain and that all had sworn to his words, he, having laid aside the legateship, assumed the title of Caesar, and, having entered upon the journey, went forth cloaked and with a dagger hanging from his neck before his breast; nor did he resume the wearing of the toga until those who were plotting new things were crushed — the praetorian prefect Nymphidius Sabinus at Rome, Fonteius Capito in Germany, and Clodius Macer in Africa being the legates.

XII. Praecesserat de eo fama saevitiae simul atque avaritiae, quod civitates Hispaniarum Galliarumque, quae cunctantius sibi accesserant, gravioribus tributis, quasdam etiam murorum destructione punisset et praepositos procuratoresque supplicio capitis adfecisset cum coniugibus ac liberis; quodque oblatam Tarraconensibus e vetere templo Iovis coronam auream librarum quindecim conflasset ac tres uncias, quae ponderi deerant, iussisset exigi. Ea fama et confirmata et aucta est, ut primum urbem introiit.

12. There had gone before about him a report of cruelty and of avarice together, that the communities of Spain and Gaul, which had approached him more hesitatingly, he had punished with heavier tributes, some even by the destruction of their walls, and had afflicted the appointed magistrates and procurators with the punishment of death along with their wives and children; and that he had melted down for the Tarraconenses, from the old temple of Jupiter, a golden crown of fifteen pounds, and had ordered the three ounces that were lacking to the weight to be exacted. That report was both confirmed and increased when he first entered the city.

Nam cum classiarios, quos Nero ex remigibus iustos milites fecerat, redire ad pristinum statum cogeret, recusantis atque insuper aquilam et signa pertinacius flagitantis non modo immisso equite disiecit, sed decimavit etiam. Item Germanorum cohortem a Caesaribus olim ad custodiam corporis institutam multisque experimentis fidelissimam dissolvit ac sine commodo ullo remisit in patriam, quasi Cn. Dolabellae, iuxta cuius hortos tendebat, proniorem. Illa quoque verene an falso per ludibrium iactabantur, adposita lautiore cena ingemuisse eum, et ordinario quidem dispensatori breviarium rationum offerenti paropsidem leguminis pro sedulitate ac diligentia porrexisse, Cano autem choraulae mire placenti denarios quinque donasse prolatos manu sua e peculiaribus loculis suis.

For when he compelled the sailors — whom Nero had made into regular soldiers from rowers — to return to their former status, he, at their refusal and moreover at one who more stubbornly demanded the eagle and the standards, not only scattered them by sending in a horseman, but even decimated them. Likewise he broke up the cohort of Germans once established by the Caesars for the guard of the person, and most faithful by many trials, and sent them home without any advantage, as if more compliant to Cn. Dolabella, beside whose gardens he was encamped. They also, whether truly or falsely as a mockery, were vaunting that after a more sumptuous dinner he had groaned, and that when the ordinary steward presented the little account-book of accounts they had handed over a small dish of vegetables for industry and diligence, and that Cano, greatly pleasing to the chorus-leader, had given five denarii, brought forward by his own hand from his private little boxes.

XIII. Quare adventus eius non perinde gratus fuit, inde proximo spectaculo apparuit, siquidem Atellanis notissimum canticum exorsis:

13. Wherefore his arrival was not equally welcome, that appeared at the next spectacle, since an Atellan song very well known had been begun:

venit Onesimus a villa

Onesimus came from the villa

cuncti simul spectatores consentiente voce reliquam partem rettulerunt ac saepius versu repetito egerunt.

All the spectators together, with one consenting voice, related the remaining part and, the verse having been oft-repeated, enacted it.

XIV. Maiore adeo et favore et auctoritate adeptus est quam gessit imperium, quamquam multa documenta egregii principis daret; sed nequaquam tam grata erant, quam invisa quae secus fierent. Regebatur trium arbitrio, quos una et intra palatium habitantis nec umquam non adhaerentis paedagogos vulgo vocabant.

14. He gained far more favour and authority than the power he wielded, although he gave many proofs of an outstanding prince; yet these were by no means as pleasing as the contrary deeds were hateful. He was governed by the whim of three, whom they commonly called the paedagogues, who lived together within the palace and were always at his side.

Ii erant T. Vinius legatus eius in Hispania, cupiditatis immensae; Cornelius Laco ex assessore praefectus praetorii, arrogantia socordiaque intolerabilis; libertus Icelus, paulo ante anulis aureis et Marciani cognomine ornatus ac iam summae equestris gradus candidatus. His diverso vitiorum genere grassantibus adeo se abutendum permisit et tradidit, ut vix sibi ipse constaret, modo acerbior parciorque, modo remissior ac neglegentior quam conveniret principi electo atque illud aetatis.

There were T. Vinius, his legate in Hispania, of immense cupidity; Cornelius Laco, from assessor to praetorian prefect, intolerable in arrogance and sloth; the freedman Icelus, a little while before adorned with golden rings and the cognomen Marcianus, and already a candidate for the highest equestrian grade. With these men ranging about in diverse kinds of vice he allowed and delivered himself so far to abuse that he scarcely was consistent with himself, now harsher and more sparing, now more lax and more negligent than suited the prince elect, and that of his age.

Quosdam claros ex utroque ordine viros suspicione minima inauditos condemnavit. Civitatem R. raro dedit, iura trium liberorum vix uni atque alteri, ac ne his quidem nisi ad certum praefinitumque tempus. Iudicibus sextam decuriam adici precantibus non modo negavit, sed et concessum a Claudio beneficium, ne hieme initioque anni ad iudicandum evocarentur, eripuit.

He condemned certain prominent men from both orders unheard on the slightest suspicion. He seldom bestowed Roman citizenship, granted the ius trium liberorum scarcely to one or another, and not even to these except for a certain preappointed time. To judges petitioning that a sixth decuria be added he not only refused, but he also took away the benefit granted by Claudius — that they should not be summoned to judge in winter and at the beginning of the year.

XV. Existimabatur etiam senatoria et equestria officia biennii spatio determinaturus, nec daturus nisi invitis ac recusantibus. Liberalitates Neronis, non plus decimis concessis, per quinquaginta equites R. ea condicione revocandas curavit exigendasque, ut et si quid scaenici aut xystici donatum olim vendidissent, auferretur emptoribus, quando illi pretio absumpto solvere nequirent. At contra nihil non per comites atque libertos pretio addici aut donari gratia passus est, vectigalia immunitates, poenas innocentium impunitates noxiorum.

15. He was also thought to be about to limit senatorial and equestrian offices to a two-year term, and to give them only to the unwilling and the objectors. He provided that Nero’s liberalities, granted in sums not exceeding tenths, should be recalled and exacted by means of fifty Roman knights on that condition, so that even if at any time they had sold anything bestowed for the stage or the xystus, it might be taken from the buyers when they could not pay because the price had been removed. But on the other hand he permitted nothing not to be added or given for a price through his comites and freedmen for favour: revenues, immunities; punishments of the innocent, impunity of the guilty.

Quin etiam, populo R. deposcente supplicium Haloti et Tigellini solos ex omnibus Neronis emissariis vel maleficentissimos incolumes praestitit atque insuper Halotum procuratione amplissima ornavit, pro Tigellino etiam saevitiae populum edicto increpuit.

Moreover, with the Roman people demanding punishment, he alone spared Halotus and Tigellinus, out of all of Nero’s emissaries even the most wicked, and furthermore he appointed Halotus to a very ample procuratorship; for Tigellinus he likewise reproved the people by edict on account of his cruelty.

XVI. Per haec prope universis ordinibus offensis vel praecipua flagrabat invidia apud milites. Nam cum in verba eius absentis iurantibus donativum grandius solito praepositi pronuntiassent, neque ratam rem habuit et subinde iactavit legere se militem, non emere consuesse; atque eo quidem nomine omnis, qui ubique erant, exacerbavit.

16. By these things, with almost all the orders offended or especially, hatred flamed among the soldiers toward him. For when the commanders, swearing to the words of the absent man, had proclaimed a donative larger than usual, it was not held valid, and he at once vaunted that he was wont to enroll a soldier, not to buy him; and by that very claim he exasperated every man who was present.

Ceterum praetorianos etiam metu et indignitate commovit, removens subinde plerosque ut suspectos et Nymphidi socios. Sed maxime fremebat superioris Germaniae exercitus, fraudari se praemiis navatae adversus Gallos et Vindicem operae. Ergo primi obsequium rumpere ausi Kal.

Moreover he also stirred up the praetorians by fear and indignity, repeatedly removing many as suspected and as associates of Nymphidius. But above all the army of Upper Germany was raging, feeling themselves defrauded of the rewards promised for labor undertaken against the Gauls and Vindicem. Therefore the first men, daring to break their obedience, made their move at the Kalends.

Ian. adigi sacramento nisi in nomen senatus recusarunt statimque legationem ad praetorianos cum mandatis destinaverunt: displicere imperatorem in Hispania factum; eligerent ipsi quem cuncti exercitus comprobarent.

Ian. refused to be compelled to the oath unless in the name of the senate, and immediately they appointed a delegation to the praetorians with orders: that the emperor was displeased that it had been done in Spain; that they themselves should elect whom the whole army would approve.

XVII. Quod ut nuntiatum est, despectui esse non tam senectam suam quam orbitatem ratus, Pisonem Frugi Licinianum, nobilem egregiumque iuvenem ac sibi olim probatissimum testamentoque semper in bona et nomen adscitum repente e media salutantium turba adprehendit filiumque appellans perduxit in castra ac pro contione adoptavit, ne tunc quidem donativi ulla mentione facta. Quo faciliorem occasionem M. Salvio Othoni praebuit perficiendi conata intra sextum adoptionis diem.

17. When this was announced, thinking that it was not so much his old age as his loss of heirs that should be despised, he seized Piso Frugi Licinianus, a noble and preeminent young man and once most highly approved by him, and—by testament always added to his property and name—suddenly from the midst of the crowd of those greeting him; calling him son he led him into the camp and adopted him before the assembly, nor even then was any mention made of a donative. This gave M. Salvius Otho an easier occasion to bring his attempts to completion within the sixth day after the adoption.

XVIII. Magna et assidua monstra iam inde a principio exitum ei, qualis evenit, portenderant. Cum per omne iter dextra sinistraque oppidatim victimae caederentur, taurus securis ictu consternatus rupto vinculo essedum eius invasit elatisque pedibus totum cruore perfudit; ac descendentem speculator impulsu turbae lancea prope vulneravit.

18. Great and continuous prodigies from that time already, from the beginning, had portended to him the outcome that occurred. When along every road, to right and left, victims were being slaughtered town by town, a bull, stunned by the blow of an axe and having broken its tether, attacked his chariot and with raised feet drenched everything in blood; and, as a scout was dismounting, the crowd’s shove nearly wounded him with a lance.

Vrbem quoque et deinde Palatium ingressum excepit terrae tremor et assimilis quidam mugitui sonus. Secuta sunt aliquando manifestiora. Monile, margaritis gemmisque consertum, ad ornandam Fortunam suam Tusculanam ex omni gaza secreverat; id repente quasi augustiore dignius loco Capitolinae Veneri dedicavit ac proxima nocte somniavit speciem Fortunae querentis fraudatam se dono destinato, minantisque erepturam et ipsam quae dedisset.

The city likewise and then the Palace entered were met by an earthquake of the ground and a certain sound like a low bellowing. More manifest signs followed at times. A necklace, set with pearls and gems, which she had sequestered from all her treasure to adorn her Tusculan Fortune; she suddenly, as if to a more august place, dedicated it to Capitolian Venus, and on the next night dreamed that the semblance of Fortune, seeking, was cheated of the gift destined, and that the very thing she had given would be snatched away by one who threatened.

Cumque exterritus luce prima ad expiandum somnium, praemissis qui rem divinam appararent, Tusculum excucurrisset, nihil invenit praeter tepidam in ara favillam atratumque iuxta senem in catino vitreo tus tenentem et in calice fictili merum. Observatum etiam est kal. Ian.

And when, terrified at first light, to expiate the dream, having sent forward those who might prepare the divine matter, he ran out to Tusculum, he found nothing except warm ash on the altar and incense blackened in a glass basin held by an old man and unmixed wine in an earthen cup. It was also observed on the Kalends of January.

sacrificanti coronam de capite excidisse, auspicanti pullos avolasse; adoptionis die neque milites adlocuturo castrensem sellam de more positam pro tribunali oblitis ministris, et in senatu curulem perverse collocatam.

that, while sacrificing, the crown fell from his head, and, while taking the auspices, the chickens flew away; on the day of adoption, when about to address the soldiers he neither set the castrensem seat, placed according to custom before the tribunal, the attendants having been forgotten, nor in the senate placed the curule seat rightly, but perversely.

XIX.. Prius vero quam occideretur sacrificantem mane haruspex identidem monuit, caveret periculum, non longe percussores abesse. Haud multo post cognoscit teneri castra ab Othone, ac plerisque ut eodem quam primum pergeret suadentibus (posse enim auctoritate et praesentia praevalere) nihil amplius quam continere se statuit et legionariorum firmare praesidiis, qui multifariam diverseque tendebant. Loricam tamen induit linteam, quamquam haud dissimulans parum adversum tot mucrones profuturam.

19.. Before, however, he might be slain, the haruspex repeatedly warned him in the morning to beware of danger, that the assailants were not far off. Not long after he learns that the camp is held by Otho, and with many urging that he should proceed thither as soon as possible (for he could prevail by authority and presence), he resolved to do nothing more than keep himself contained and to strengthen the legionaries with garrisons, who were drawn out in manifold and diverse directions. He nevertheless donned a linen lorica, although not concealing that it would be of little avail against so many mucrones.

Sed extractus rumoribus falsis, quos conspirati, ut eum in publicum elicerent, de industria dissiparant, paucis temere affirmantibus transactum negotium, oppressos, qui tumultuarentur, advenire frequentis ceteros gratulabundos et in omne obsequium paratos; iis ut occurreret prodiit, tanta fiducia ut militi cuidam occisum a se Othonem glorianti, Quo auctore? responderit; atque in forum usque processit. Ibi equites, quibus mandata caedes erat, cum per publicum dimota paganorum turba equos adegissent, viso procul eo parumper restiterunt; dein rursum incitati desertum a suis contrucidarunt.

But, led forth by false rumors which the conspirators had deliberately scattered to draw him into the public, with a few rashly asserting the business to be finished, that the oppressed who made a tumult had been crushed, that many had arrived and the rest were ready to congratulate and in all obedience, he went out to meet them, with such confidence that to a certain soldier boasting that he had killed Otho he replied, "By whose authority?" and even advanced as far as the forum. There the horsemen, to whom the slaughter had been ordered, when they had driven their horses through the crowd of pagans moved into the public place, seeing him from afar paused for a short while; then, again urged on, they fell upon and cut him down as though deserted by his own.

XX. Sunt qui tradant, ad primum tumultum proclamasse eum: Quid agitis, commilitones? ego vester sum, et vos mei! donativum etiam pollicitum.

20. There are those who report that, at the first tumult, he proclaimed: "What are you doing, fellow-soldiers? I am yours, and you are mine! A donative has also been promised."

Plures autem prodiderunt, optulisse ultro iugulum et ut hoc agerent ac ferirent, quando ita videretur, hortatum. Illud mirum admodum fuerit, neque praesentium quemquam opem imperatori ferre conatum et omnes qui arcesserentur sprevisse nuntium, excepta Germanicianorum vexillatione. Ii ob recens meritum, quod se aegros et invalidos magnopere fovisset, in auxilium advolaverunt, sed serius, itinere devio per ignorantiam locorum retardati.

Moreover several reported that he had voluntarily offered his throat and had urged that they do this and strike, whenever it should seem fit. That was very strange, that not one of those present attempted to bring aid to the emperor and that all who were summoned spurned the message, except a vexillation of the Germanicians. They, because of recent service — since he had greatly cherished the sick and infirm — flew to help, but too late, delayed by a devious route through ignorance of the places.

Iugulatus est ad lacum Curti ac relictus ita uti erat, donec gregarius miles a frumentatione rediens abiecto onere caput ei amputavit; et quoniam capillo arripere non poterat, in gremium abdidit, mox inserto per os pollice ad Othonem detulit. Ille lixis calonibusque donavit, qui hasta suffixum non sine ludibrio circum castra portarunt adclamantes identidem: "Galba Cupido, fruaris aetate tua," maxime irritati ad talem iocorum petulantiam, quod ante paucos dies exierat in vulgus, laudanti cuidam formam suam ut adhuc floridam et vegetam respondisse eum:

He was throat‑cut by the lake Curti and left as he was, until a common soldier returning from foraging, his burden cast off, cut off his head; and since he could not seize it by the hair, he hid it in his bosom, soon having thrust it through the mouth with his thumb he carried it to Otho. He presented it to the lixae and calones, who, with it fixed on a spear and not without derision, carried it about the camp, repeatedly shouting: "Galba Cupido, fruaris aetate tua," greatly irritated at such petulance of jests, because a few days before he had gone out into the crowd, and, to a certain man praising him, had answered that his appearance was still florid and vigorous:

Ἔτι μοι μένος ἔμπεδόν ἐστιν.

Still for me a steadfast spirit remains.

Ab is Patrobii Neroniani libertus centum aureis redemptum eo loco, ubi iussu Galbae animadversum in patronum suum fuerat, abiecit. Sero tandem dispensator Argivus et hoc et ceterum truncum in privatis eius hortis Aurelia via sepulturae dedit.

From him the freedman of Patrobius Neronianus, having bought it back for one hundred aurei, threw it down at that place where, by Galba’s order, it had been inflicted upon his patron. Late at last the steward Argivus consigned both this and the remainder of the trunk to burial in his private gardens by the Via Aurelia.

XXI. Statura fuit iusta, capite praecalvo, oculis caeruleis, adunco naso, manibus pedibusque articulari morbo distortissimis, ut neque calceum perpeti nec libellos evolvere aut tenere omnino valeret. Excreverat etiam in dexteriore latere eius caro praependebatque adeo ut aegre fascia substringeretur.

21. His stature was moderate, his head very bald, his eyes blue, his nose hooked, his hands and feet most distorted by an articular disease, so that he could neither bear a shoe nor unroll or hold little books at all. Flesh had also grown out on his right side and hung down so much that a bandage was scarcely able to be drawn beneath it.

XXII. Cibi plurimi traditur, quem tempore hiberno etiam ante lucem capere consuerat, inter cenam vero usque eo abundantis, ut congestas super manus reliquias circumferri iuberet spargique ad pedes stantibus. Libidinis in mares pronior et eos non nisi praeduros exoletosque: ferebant in Hispania Icelum e veteribus concubinis de Neronis exitu nuntiantem non modo artissimis osculis palam exceptum ab eo, sed ut sine mora velleretur oratum atque seductum.

22. He is said to have eaten very much, which in the winter season he was wont even to take before dawn, and at supper so abundant that he ordered the piled-up remnants to be carried about on men’s hands and to be scattered at the feet of those standing. Prone in lust toward men, and taking none except the very tough and exoletos. They carried to Spain Icelus, from the old concubines, the one who announced Nero’s death, who was received openly by him not only with the closest of kisses, but so that without delay he might be plucked, entreated, and led away.

XXIII. Periit tertio et septuagesimo aetatis anno, imperii mense septimo. Senatus, ut primum licitum est, statuam ei decreverat rostratae columnae superstantem in parte fori, qua trucidatus est; sed decretum Vespasianus abolevit, percussores sibi ex Hispania in Iudaeam submisisse opinatus.

XXIII. He died in the seventieth-third year of his age, in the seventh month of his reign. The Senate, as soon as it was permitted, had decreed a statue to him standing upon a rostrated column in the part of the forum where he was slaughtered; but Vespasian abrogated the decree, supposing that the murderers had been sent from Hispania into Judaea against him.