Suetonius: DE VITIS CAESARUM

I. Maiores Othonis orti sunt oppido Ferentio, familia vetere et honorata atque ex principibus Etruriae. Avus M. Salvius Otho, patre equite R., matre humili incertum an ingenua, per gratiam Liviae Augustae, in cuius domo creverat, senator est factus nec praeturae gradum excessit.

1. The ancestors of Otho sprang from the town Ferentio, a family old and honoured and among the princes of Etruria. His grandfather, M. Salvius Otho, his father an eques of the Roman state, his mother humble — uncertain whether freeborn — by the favour of Livia Augusta, in whose house he had been reared, was made a senator, and did not rise above the rank of praetor.

Pater L. Otho, materno genere praeclaro multarumque et magnarum propinquitatum, tam carus tamque non absimilis facie Tiberio principi fuit, ut plerique procreatum ex eo crederent. Vrbanos honores, proconsulatum Africae et extraordinaria imperia severissime administravit. Ausus etiam est in Illyrico milites quosdam, quod motu Camilli ex paenitentia praepositos suos quasi defectionis adversus Claudium auctores occiderant, capite punire et quidem ante principia se coram, quamvis ob id ipsum promotos in ampliorem gradum a Claudio sciret.

Father L. Otho, of a distinguished maternal stock and of many and great kinships, was so dear and so not unlike in face to the prince Tiberius that most believed him to have been begotten by him. He administered the urban honors, the proconsulship of Africa, and extraordinary commands most severely. He even ventured in Illyricum to punish certain soldiers with death by beheading, because, in the mutiny of Camillus, they had, in remorse, slain their superiors as if authors of a defection against Claudius, and indeed he executed them before the standards in person, although he knew that for that very thing they had been promoted to a higher rank by Claudius.

Quo facto sicut gloriam auxit, ita gratiam minuit; quam tamen mature reciperavit detecta equitis R. fraude, quem prodentibus servis necem Claudio parare compererat. Namque et senatus honore rarissimo, statua in Palatio posita, prosecutus est eum et Claudius adlectum inter patricios, conlaudans amplissimis verbis, hoc quoque adiecit: Vir, quo meliores liberos habere ne opto quidem. Ex Albia Terentia splendida femina duos filios tulit, L. Titianum et minorem M. cognominem sibi; tulit et filiam, quam vixdum nubilem Druso Germanici filio despondit.

By this deed, just as he increased his glory, so he lessened his favor; which, however, he recovered promptly when the fraud of the knight R. was discovered, whom, the betraying slaves having revealed, it was found had been preparing Claudio’s death. For the senate honored him with the most distinguished of honors, setting up a statue on the Palatine, and acclaimed him and Claudius—the latter enrolled among the patricians—praising them in very ample words; it added this also: "A man by whom I do not even wish to have better children." From Albia Terentia, a splendid woman, he had two sons, L. Titianus and the younger M. (whose cognomen he took); and he had a daughter, whom, scarcely of marriageable age, he betrothed to Drusus, son of Germanicus.

II. Otho imperator IIII. Kal. Mai.

2. Otho, emperor, 4 Kal. of May.

natus est Camillo Arruntio, Domitio Ahenobarbo cons. A prima adulescentia prodigus ac procax, adeo ut saepe flagris obiurgaretur a patre, ferebatur et vagari noctibus solitus atque invalidum quemque obviorum vel potulentum corripere ac distento sago impositum in sublime iactare. Post patris deinde mortem libertinam aulicam gratiosam, quo efficacius coleret, etiam diligere simulavit quamvis anum ac paene decrepitam: per hanc insinuatus Neroni, facile summum inter amicos locum tenuit congruentia morum, ut vero quidam tradunt, et consuetudine mutui stupri.

Camillo Arruntio was born, Domitio Ahenobarbo being consul. From his earliest youth he was prodigal and impudent, so much so that he was often scourged by his father; he was reported also to be accustomed to wander by night and to seize any infirm or drunken passers-by and, having bound them in a distended sack, to hurl them aloft. After his father's death he feigned to love a courtly freedwoman, gracious that he might cultivate her the more effectively, although an old and almost decrepit woman: through her, having insinuated himself to Nero, he easily held the highest place among his friends by a congruity of manners, and, as some relate, by the intimacy of mutual debauchery.

Ac tantum potentia valuit, ut damnatum repetundis consularem virum, ingens praemium pactus, prius quam plene restitutionem ei impetrasset non dubitaret in senatum ad agendas gratias introducere.

III. Omnium autem consiliorum secretorumque particeps die, quem necandae matri Nero destinarat, ad avertendas suspiciones cenam utrique exquisitissimae comitatis dedit; item Poppaeam Sabinam tunc adhuc amicam eius, abductam marito demandatamque interim sibi, nuptiarum specie recepit, nec corrupisse contentus, adeo dilexit ut ne rivalem quidem Neronem aequo tulerit animo.

And his power availed so much that, a consular man condemned for extortion, a huge reward agreed upon, before he had fully obtained restitution for him, he did not hesitate to introduce into the senate to offer thanks.

3. Moreover, being privy to all counsels and secrets, on the day which Nero had appointed for the killing of his mother, he gave a dinner of the most exquisite company to both in order to avert suspicion; likewise he received Poppaea Sabina, then still his mistress, who had been abducted and meanwhile handed over by her husband to him, under the pretense of marriage, and not content with having corrupted her, he loved her so much that he could not endure even Nero as a rival with an equal mind.

Creditur certe non modo missos ad arcessendam non recepisse, sed ipsum etiam exclusisse quondam pro foribus astantem miscentemque frustra minas et preces ac depositum reposcentem. Quare diducto matrimonio, sepositus est per causam legationis in Lusitaniam. Id satis visum, ne poena acrior mimum omnem divulgaret, qui tamen sic quoque hoc disticho enotuit:

It is believed, certainly, that he not only did not receive those sent to summon her, but even once shut out the man himself, standing at the doors and mingling in vain threats and prayers and demanding the deposited goods. Wherefore, the marriage being dissolved, he was set aside and sent to Lusitania under the pretext of a legation. This was thought sufficient, lest a harsher punishment should divulge everything too widely; yet he also marked this in a distich:

Cur Otho mentito sit, quaeritis, exul honore?
Vxoris moechus coeperat esse suae.

Why, you ask, has Otho, by a lie, been an exile from honor?
He had begun to be his wife's adulterer.

Provinciam administravit quaestorius per decem annos, moderatione atque abstinentia singulari.

The quaestorian administered the province for 10 years, with singular moderation and abstinence.

IV. Vt tandem occasio ultionis data est, conatibus Galbae primus accessit: eodemque momento et ipse spem imperii cepit magnam quidem et ex condicione temporum, sed aliquanto maiorem ex affirmatione Seleuci mathematici. Qui cum eum olim superstitem Neroni fore spopondisset, tunc ultro inopinatus advenerat, imperaturum quoque brevi repromittens. Nullo igitur offici aut ambitionis in quemquam genere omisso, quotiens cena principem acciperet, aureos excubanti cohorti viritim dividebat, nec minus alium alia via militum demerebatur.

CHAPTER 4. When at last an opportunity of vengeance was given, Galba was the first to press forward with efforts: and at the same moment he himself took up a great hope of the empire, in part from the condition of the times, but somewhat greater from the affirmation of Seleucus the mathematician. For when that man had once promised that he would outlive Nero, he then came forward of his own accord, unexpectedly, also promising that he would be emperor shortly. Therefore no office or kind of solicitation was omitted toward anyone; whenever a dinner received the prince, he distributed gold coins to the on‑guard cohort man by man, and no less by other means he won over other soldiers.

Cuidam etiam de parte finium cum vicino litiganti, adhibitus arbiter, totum agrum redemit emancipavitque; ut iam vix ullus esset, qui non et sentiret et praedicaret solum successione imperii dignum.

Moreover, having been called in as arbiter in a dispute with a neighbour about part of his boundaries, he bought up the whole field and emancipated it; so that now there was scarcely anyone who did not both feel and proclaim that the land alone was worthy of the succession to the empire.

V. Speraverat autem fore ut adoptaretur a Galba, idque in dies exspectabat. Sed postquam Pisone praelato spe decidit, ad vim conversus est instigante super animi dolorem etiam magnitudine aeris alieni. Neque enim dissimulabat, nisi principem se stare non posse nihilque referre ab hoste in acie an in foro sub creditoribus caderet.

5. He had hoped, moreover, that he would be adopted by Galba, and he awaited it from day to day. But when his hope fell after Piso was preferred, he turned to violence, urged on besides by, over the grief of his mind, the great amount of his debt. For he did not hide that, unless he stood as princeps, he could not bear that he should bring back nothing from the enemy in the field or fall in the forum beneath his creditors.

Ante paucos dies servo Caesaris pro impetrata dispensatione decies sestertium expresserat; hoc subsidium tanti coepti fuit. Ac primo quinque speculatoribus commissa res est, deinde decem aliis, quos singuli binos produxerant; omnibus dena sestertia repraesentata et quinquagena promissa. Per hos sollicitati reliqui, nec adeo multi, haud dubia fiducia, in ipso negotio pluris adfuturos.

A few days before he had paid out to the Caesar’s servant, for the dispensation obtained, decies sestertium; this sum was the subsidy of so great an undertaking. And at first the business was entrusted to five speculators, then to ten others, whom each had produced two; to all ten sestertii were delivered and fifty promised. Urged by these, the rest, not very many, with no doubtful confidence, would be present to contribute more in the very negotiation.

VI. Tulerat animus post adoptionem statim castra occupare cenantemque in Palatio Galbam adgredi, sed obstitit respectus cohortis, quae tunc excubabat, ne oneraretur invidia, quod eiusdem statione et Gaius fuerat occisus et desertus Nero. Medium quoque tempus religio et Seleucus exemit.

VI. He had formed the mind, after the adoption, straightaway to seize the camp and to accost Galba dining on the Palatine, but the regard for the cohort, which then kept watch, prevented him, lest envy be laid on, because at the same post both Gaius had been killed and Nero had deserted. Religion and Seleucus likewise removed the intervening time.

Ergo destinata die praemonitis consciis ut se in foro sub aede Saturni ad miliarium aureum opperirentur, mane Galbam salutavit, utque consueverat osculo exceptus, etiam sacrificanti interfuit audivitque praedicta haruspicis. Deinde liberto adesse architectos nuntiante, quod signum convenerat, quasi venalem domum inspecturus abscessit, proripuitque se postica parte Palatii ad constitutum. Alii febrem simulasse aiunt eamque excusationem proximis mandasse, si quaereretur.

Therefore on the appointed day, the warned accomplices having been forewarned to wait for him in the forum beneath the temple of Saturn at the Golden Milestone, in the morning he greeted Galba, and as he was wont was received with a kiss; he even took part in the sacrifice and heard the foretold words of the haruspex. Then, the freedman announcing that the architects were present because the signal had been agreed upon, he departed as if to inspect a house for sale, and hurried by the rear part of the Palace to the appointed place of meeting. Others say that she feigned a fever and committed that excuse to her intimates, in case it should be asked.

Tunc abditus propere muliebri sella in castra contendit, ac deficientibus lecticariis cum descendisset cursumque cepisset, laxato calceo restitit, donec omissa mora succollatus et a praesente comitatu imperator consalutatus, inter faustas adclamationes strictosque gladios ad principia devenit, obvio quoque non aliter ac si conscius et particeps foret adhaerente. Ibi missis qui Galbam et Pisonem trucidarent, ad conciliandos pollicitationibus militum animos nihil magis pro contione testatus est, quam id demum se habiturum, quod sibi illi reliquissent.

Then, concealed, he hurried quickly in a muliebral sedan into the camp, and when the litter-bearers failed and he had dismounted and taken his course, with his shoe loosened he halted, until, the delay being cast aside, supported and greeted as emperor by the present comitatus, he came to the headquarters amid auspicious acclamations and drawn swords, also meeting one who clung to him no otherwise than as if he were aware and a sharer. There, those who had been sent to slay Galba and Piso being dismissed, in order to win over the soldiers’ minds by promises he declared nothing more in the assembly than that at last he would possess what they had left to him.

VII. Dein vergente iam die ingressus senatum, positaque brevi ratione quasi raptus de publico et suscipere imperium vi coactus gesturusque communi omnium arbitrio, Palatium petit. Ac super ceteras gratulantium adulantiumque blanditias ab infima plebe appellatus Nero nullum indicium recusantis dedit, immo, ut quidam tradiderunt, etiam diplomatibus primisque epistulis suis ad quosdam provinciarum praesides Neronis cognomen adiecit.

VII. Then, the day already declining, having entered the senate, and after a brief statement laid down, as if snatched from public life and compelled by force to assume the empire and to bear it by the common judgment of all, he sought the Palatine. And above the other congratulatory and flattering blandishments, called upon by the lowest populace, Nero gave no sign of refusal; indeed, as some have handed down, in his first dispatches and letters to certain provincial governors he even appended the cognomen Neronis.

Certe et imagines statuasque eius reponi passus est et procuratores atque libertos ad eadem officia revocavit, nec quicquam prius pro potestate subscripsit quam quingenties sestertium ad peragendam Auream domum.

Certainly he also allowed his images and statues to be restored, and recalled procurators and freedmen to the same offices; nor did he pledge anything beforehand in return for power except five hundred sestertii for completing the Golden House.

Dicitur ea nocte per quietem pavefactus gemitus maximos edidisse repertusque a concursantibus humi ante lectum iacens per omnia piaculorum genera Manes Galbae, a quo deturbari expellique se viderat, propitiare temptasse; postridie quoque in augurando tempestate orta graviter prolapsum identidem obmurmurasse:

It is said that on that night, in the quiet, terrified he gave forth very great groans and was found by those who had run together, lying on the ground before the bed, having tried to propitiate the Manes of Galba by all sorts of piacula, from whom he had seen himself thrust down and expelled; the next day too, in augury when a tempest arose, he repeatedly murmured that he had grievously fallen.

Τί γάρ μοι καὶ μακροῖς αὐλοῖς;

What use are long flutes to me?

VIII. Sub idem vero tempus Germaniciani exercitus in Vitellii verba iurarant. Quod ut comperit, auctor senatui fuit mittendae legationis, quae doceret electum iam principem, quietem et concordiam suaderet; et tamen per internuntios ac litteras consortem imperii generumque se Vitellio optulit.

8. At about the same time the troops of Germanicus had sworn allegiance to Vitellius’s words. When he learned this, he was the author of sending a legation to the senate to inform the already elected prince and to exhort quiet and concord; and yet by intermediaries and letters he offered himself to Vitellius as partner of the empire and as his son‑in‑law.

Verum haud dubio bello, iamque ducibus et copiis quas Vitellius praemiserat appropinquantibus, animum fidemque erga se praetorianorum paene internecione amplissimi ordinis expertus est. Placuerat per classiarios arma transferri remittique navibus; ea cum in castris sub noctem promerentur, insidias quidam suspicati tumultum excitaverunt; ac repente omnes nullo certo duce in Palatium cucurrerunt caedem senatus flagitantes, repulsisque tribunorum, qui inhibere temptabant, nonnullis et occisis, sic ut erant cruenti, ubinam imperator esset requirentes perruperunt in triclinium usque nec nisi viso destiterunt.

But without doubt, in war, and now with the commanders and the troops which Vitellius had sent ahead approaching, he tested the spirit and fidelity toward himself of the praetorians by the almost internecine slaughter of that most ample order. It had been agreed that arms be transferred by the seamen and be sent back on the ships; when these were brought out in the camp toward night, some, suspecting an ambush, raised an uproar; and suddenly all, with no certain leader, ran into the Palace, demanding the slaughter of the senate, and, the tribunes who tried to restrain them having been driven back and some even killed so that they were blood-stained, asking where the emperor was, they burst through even into the triclinium and did not desist until they had seen him.

Expeditionem autem impigre atque etiam praepropere inchoavit, nulla ne religionum quidem cura, sed et motis necdum conditis ancilibus, (quod antiquitus infaustum habetur) et die, quo cultores deum Matris lamentari et plangere incipiunt, praeterea adversissimis auspiciis. Nam et victima Diti patri caesa litavit, cum tali sacrificio contraria exta potiora sint, et primo egressu inundationibus Tiberis retardatus, ad vicensimum etiam lapidem ruina aedificiorum praeclusam viam offendit.

He began the expedition briskly and even too hastily, with no care for religious observances, and with the ancilia moved and not yet restored (which from ancient times is held ominous), and on the day when the cultists of the Mother-gods begin to lament and beat their breasts, moreover under most adverse auspices. For he even sacrificed a victim to Father Dis, although with such a sacrifice the contrary entrails are regarded the more portentous, and at his first departure was delayed by the floods of the Tiber, and even at the twentieth milestone encountered the road barred by the ruin of buildings.

IX. Simili temeritate, quamvis dubium nemini esset quin trahi bellum oporteret quando et fame et angustiis locorum urgeretur hostis, quam primum tamen decertare statuit, sive impatiens longioris sollicitudinis speransque ante Vitelli adventum profligari plurimum posse, sive impar militum ardori pugnam deposcentium. Nec ulli pugnae affuit substititque Brixelli. Et tribus quidem verum mediocribus proeliis apud Alpes circaque Placentiam et ad Castoris, quod loco nomen est, vicit; novissimo maximoque apud Betriacum fraude superatus est, cum, spe conloquii facta, quasi ad condicionem pacis militibus eductis, ex improviso atque in ipsa consalutatione dimicandum fuisset.

9. With similar rashness, although it was doubtless clear to everyone that war must be waged when the enemy was pressed by both famine and the narrowness of quarters, yet he resolved to decide the contest as soon as possible — either impatient of longer anxiety and hoping that, before Vitellius’ arrival, he could be routed utterly, or unequal to the soldiers’ ardor demanding battle. No battle presented itself and Brixellius halted. And indeed he won in three rather moderate engagements by the Alps and around Placentia and at Castoris, which is the name of the place; but he was defeated by fraud in the last and greatest at Betriacum, when, the expectation of a parley having been created, and the soldiers led out as if to the terms of peace, unexpectedly and in the very salutation a fight broke out.

Ac statim moriendi impetum cepit, ut multi nec frustra opinantur, magis pudore ne tanto rerum hominumque periculo dominationem sibi asserere perseveraret, quam desperatione ulla aut diffidentia copiarum; quippe residuis integrisque etiam nunc quas secum ad secundos casus detinuerat, et supervenientibus aliis e Dalmatia Pannoniaque et Moesia, ne victis quidem adeo afflictis ut non in ultionem ignominiae quidvis discriminis ultro et vel solae subirent.

And immediately he undertook an attempt at dying, as many not without reason suppose, more from shame that he should persist in claiming domination for himself in the face of so great a danger of things and men, than from any despair or mistrust of his forces; for with the remaining and intact forces which even now he had retained with him for second contingencies, and with others coming in from Dalmatia and Pannonia and Moesia, not even the vanquished were so crushed that they would not of their own accord and even alone undergo any peril in vengeance for their ignominy.

X. Interfuit huic bello pater meus Suetonius Laetus, tertiae decimae legionis tribunus angusticlavius. Is mox referre crebro solebat, Othonem etiam privatum usque adeo detestatum civilia arma, ut memorante quodam inter epulas de Cassii Brutique exitu cohorruerit; nec concursurum cum Galba fuisse, nisi confideret sine bello rem transigi posse; tunc ad despiciendam vitam exemplo manipularis militis concitatum, qui cum cladem exercitus nuntiaret nec cuiquam fidem faceret ac nunc mendaci nunc timoris, quasi fugisset, ex acie argueretur, gladio ante pedes eius incubuerit. Hoc viso proclamasse eum aiebat, non amplius se in periculum talis tamque bene meritos coniecturum.

10. My father Suetonius Laetus took part in this war, a tribunus angusticlavius of the thirteenth legion. He was soon wont frequently to report that Otho, even as a private man, so detested civil arms that, when recalling at a banquet the fall of Cassius and Brutus, he had shuddered; and that he would not have joined in a rising with Galba unless he had trusted that the matter could be settled without war; then, roused by the example of a common soldier to despise life — who, when he announced the army’s overthrow and made no one credit him, now by lies now by fear, as if he had fled, was accused of quitting the line — had thrown himself with a sword at Otho’s feet. Having seen this, he used to proclaim that he would no longer cast such and so well-deserving men into danger.

Fratrem igitur fratrisque filium et singulos amicorum cohortatus, ut sibi quisque pro facultate consuleret, ab amplexu et osculo suo dimisit omnis, secretoque capto binos codicillos exaravit, ad sororem consolatorios, et ad Messalinam Neronis, quam matrimonio destinarat, commendans reliquias suas et memoriam. Quicquid deinde epistularum erat, ne cui periculo aut noxae apud victorem forent, concremavit. Divisit et pecunias domesticis ex copia praesenti.

Having exhorted his brother and his brother’s son and each of his friends to see to themselves according to their means, he dismissed every one from his embrace and kiss, and, having taken secrecy, indited two little letters: one consolatory to his sister, and one to Messalina of Nero, whom he had destined in marriage, commending his relics and his memory. Whatever other letters there were, lest they be a danger or harm to anyone before the victor, he burned. He also distributed sums of money to his household out of the present store.

XI. Atque ita paratus intentusque iam morti, tumultu inter moras exorto ut eos, qui discedere et abire coeptabant, corripi quasi desertores detinerique sensit, "Adiciamus," inquit, "vitae et hanc noctem!" (his ipsis totidemque verbis) vetuitque vim cuiquam fieri; et in serum usque patente cubiculo, si quis adire vellet, potestatem sui praebuit. Post hoc sedata siti gelidae aquae potione, arripuit duos pugiones et explorata utriusque acie, cum alterum pulvino subdidisset, foribus adopertis artissimo somno quievit. Et circa lucem demum expergefactus, uno se traiecit ictu infra laevam papillam irrumpentibusque ad primum gemitum modo celans modo detegens plagam, exanimatus est et celeriter (nam ita praeceperat) funeratus, tricensimo et octavo aetatis anno et nonagesimo quinto imperii die.

11. And thus prepared and intent now on death, when a tumult arose among the delays and he perceived that those who were beginning to depart and go away were being seized as deserters and detained, "Let us add," he said, "this night also to life!" (with these very same words) and he forbade that force be used on anyone; and with the chamber left open late into the night, if anyone wished to approach, he afforded the opportunity of doing so. After this, his thirst having been calmed by a draught of cold water, he seized two daggers and, after testing the edge of each, having placed one beneath his pillow, with the doors closed he slept a very deep sleep. And about dawn at last, roused, he pierced himself with one stroke below the left nipple, sometimes hiding the wound, sometimes revealing it as those burst in at the first groan; he was deprived of life and was quickly (for thus he had ordered) buried, in the thirty-eighth year of his age and on the ninety-fifth day of his reign.

XII. Tanto Othonis animo nequaquam corpus aut habitus competit. Fuisse enim et modicae staturae et male pedatus scambusque traditur, munditiarum vero paene muliebrium, vulso corpore, galericulo capiti propter raritatem capillorum adaptato et adnexo, ut nemo dinosceret; quin et faciem cotidie rasitare ac pane madido linere consuetum, idque instituisse a prima lanugine, ne barbatus umquam esset; sacra etiam Isidis saepe in lintea religiosaque veste propalam celebrasse.

12. So at variance were Otho’s spirit and his body or bearing. For he is said to have been of short stature and ill-footed, and to have had a shuffle, and of cleanliness almost womanly, his body rumpled, with a little cap fitted and fastened to his head on account of the sparseness of his hair, so that no one would recognize him; moreover he was wont to shave his face daily and to smear it with moistened bread, and he had begun this from his first down, so that he would never be bearded; and that he often openly celebrated the rites of Isis in linen and in a religious garment.

Per quae factum putem, ut mors eius minime congruens vitae maiore miraculo fuerit. Multi praesentium militum cum plurimo fletu manus ac pedes iacentis exosculati, fortissimum virum, unicum imperatorem praedicantes, ibidem statim nec procul a rogo vim suae vitae attulerunt; multi et absentium accepto nuntio prae dolore armis inter se ad internecionem concurrerunt. Denique magna pars hominum incolumem gravissime detestata mortuum laudibus tulit, ut vulgo iactatum sit etiam, Galbam ab eo non tam dominandi quam rei p. ac libertatis restituendae causa interemptum.

By which things I think it happened that his death was by no means fitting to his life, but rather a greater miracle. Many of the soldiers present, with very much weeping, kissed the hands and feet of the man lying there, proclaiming him the bravest man, the sole emperor; thereupon immediately, and not far from the pyre, they put an end to their own lives; many of those absent, having received the news, in their grief rushed at one another with arms to mutual slaughter. Finally a great part of the people, who had most grievously loathed him while he was alive, bore him in praises when dead, so that it was commonly said also that Galba had been killed by him not so much for the sake of dominion as for the restoration of the res publica and of liberty.