Suetonius: DE VITIS CAESARUM

I. Vitelliorum originem alii aliam et quidem diversissimam tradunt, partim veterem et nobilem, partim vero novam et obscuram atque etiam sordidam; quod ego per adulatores obtrectatoresque imperatoris Vitellii evenisse opinarer, nisi aliquanto prius de familiae condicione variatum esset. Exstat Q. Elogi ad Quintum Vitellium Divi Augusti quaestorem libellus, quo continetur, Vitellios Fauno Aboriginum rege et Vitellia, quae multis locis pro numine coleretur, ortos toto Latio imperasse; horum residuam stirpem ex Sabinis transisse Romam atque inter patricios adlectam; indicia stirpis mansisse diu viam Vitelliam ab Ianiculo ad mare usque, item coloniam eiusdem nominis, quam gentili copia adversus Aequiculos tutandam olim depoposcissent; tempore deinde Samnitici belli praesidio in Apuliam misso quosdam ex Vitellis subsedisse Nuceriae, eorumque progeniem longo post intervallo repetisse urbem atque ordinem senatorium.

1. The origin of the Vitellii others relate in various and indeed very diverse ways, partly ancient and noble, partly new and obscure and even sordid; which I would have supposed to have arisen through the flatterers and disparagers of the emperor Vitellius, if the condition of the family had not been narrated somewhat earlier. There exists a little book of Q. Elogius to Quintus Vitellius, quaestor of the Divine Augustus, in which it is stated that the Vitellii, sprung from Faunus, king of the Aborigines, and from Vitellia, who was worshipped in many places as a divinity, held sway throughout all Latium; that a residual stock of these crossed from the Sabines to Rome and was admitted among the patricians; that marks of the stock long remained — the Vitellian way from the Janiculum even to the sea, and likewise a colony of the same name, which by a plentiful kin they once demanded to be defended against the Aequiculi; and that later, in the time of the Samnite war, with a garrison sent as a defense into Apulia, certain men of the Vitellii settled at Nuceria, and their progeny after a long interval reclaimed the city and the senatorial order.

II. Contra plures auctorem generis libertinum prodiderunt, Cassius Severus nec minus alii eundem et sutorem veteramentarium, cuius filius sectionibus et cognituris uberius compendium nanctus, ex muliere vulgari, Antiochi cuiusdam furnariam exercentis filia, equitem R. genuerit. Sed quod discrepat, sit in medio. Ceterum P. Vitellius domo Nuceria, sive ille stirpis antiquae sive pudendis parentibus atque avis, eques certe R. et rerum Augusti procurator, quattuor filios amplissimae dignitatis cognomines ac tantum praenominibus distinctos reliquit, Aulum Quintum Publium Lucium.

2. Against these, several authors have revealed an origin of freedmen: Cassius Severus and no less others likewise assert him a tailor of veteran garments, whose son, by divisions and cognitions having obtained a more plentiful compendium, begotten from a common woman, the daughter of a certain Antiochus who kept a bakery, sired a Roman eques. But what differs let it remain midway. Moreover P. Vitellius of the house of Nuceria, whether of that ancient stock or of shameful parents and a grandmother, was certainly a Roman eques and procurator of the affairs of the Augustus, and left four sons of the most ample dignity, distinguished only by their cognomina and praenomina, Aulus, Quintus, Publius, Lucius.

Aulus in consulatu obiit, quem cum Domitio Neronis Caesaris patre inierat, praelautus alioqui famosusque cenarum magnificentia. Quintus caruit ordine, cum auctore Tiberio secerni minus idoneos senatores removerique placuisset. Publius, Germanici comes, Cn. Pisonem inimicum et interfectorem eius accusavit condemnavitque, ac post praeturae honorem inter Seiani conscios arreptus et in custodiam fratri datus scalpro librario venas sibi incidit, nec tam mortis paenitentia quam suorum obtestatione obligari curarique se passus in eadem custodia morbo periit.

Aulus died in the consulship, whose colleague he had been with Domitius, father of Nero Caesar, otherwise a man much vaunted and famous for the magnificence of his banquets. Quintus lost his rank, when it was resolved, at the instigation of Tiberius, that those senators less fit to be separated out should be removed. Publius, companion of Germanicus, accused and condemned Gnaeus Piso, his enemy and murderer; and after the honor of the praetorship he was seized as one privy to Sejanus and committed to custody, wherewith he galled his veins with a bookseller’s knife, not so much from remorse for death as compelled and cared for by the entreaties of his own, and he perished in the same custody of disease.

Lucius ex consulatu Syriae praepositus, Artabanum Parthorum regem summis artibus non modo ad conloquium suum, sed etiam ad veneranda legionum signa pellexit. Mox cum Claudio principe duos insuper ordinarios consulatus censuramque gessit. Curam quoque imperii sustinuit, absente eo expeditione Britannica; vir innocens et industrius, sed amore libertinae perinfamis, cuius etiam salivis melle commixtis, ne clam quidem aut raro sed cotidie ac palam, arterias et fauces pro remedio fovebat.

Lucius, after his consulship, made praepositus of Syria, by the highest arts drew Artabanus, king of the Parthians, not only to a conference with himself but even to the venerable standards of the legions. Soon, with Prince Claudius, he moreover held two ordinary consulships and the censorship. He also sustained the care of the empire during that British expedition in his absence; a man innocent and industrious, but thoroughly notorious from love of a libertine woman, whose saliva, mixed with honey, he not merely secretly or rarely but daily and openly used to soothe his arteries and throats as a remedy.

Idem miri in adulando ingenii, primus C. Caesarem adorare ut deum instituit, cum reversus ex Syria non aliter adire ausus esset quam capite velato circumvertensque se, deinde procumbens. Claudium uxoribus libertisque addictum ne qua non arte demereretur, pro maximo numere a Messalina petit, ut sibi pedes praeberet excalciandos; detractumque socculum dextrum inter togam tunicasque gestavit assidue, nonnumquam osculabundus. Narcissi quoque et Pallantis imagines aureas inter Lares coluit.

He was a man of wondrous talent in flattering; first he established the adoration of Gaius Caesar as a god, for when he returned from Syria he would dare to approach in no other fashion than with his head veiled, turning himself about and then throwing himself down. Claudius, addicted to wives and freedmen and to be outdone in no art, was sought by Messalina as the highest prize, she asking that he hold out his feet to be unshod for her; and the right slipper having been removed he constantly carried it tucked between his toga and tunics, sometimes kissing it. He also worshipped golden images of Narcissus and Pallas among the Lares.

Huius et illa vox est: Saepe facias, cum Saeculares ludos edenti Claudio gratularetur.

His and her voice was: "Saepe facias" — "Do this often," when they congratulated Claudius, the giver of the Secular Games.

III. Decessit paralysi altero die quam correptus est, duobus filiis superstitibus, quos ex Sextilia probatissima nec ignobili femina editos consules vidit, et quidem eodem ambos totoque anno, cum maiori minor in sex menses successisset. Defunctum senatus publico funere honoravit, item statua pro rostris cum hac inscriptione: PIETATIS IMMOBILIS ERGA PRINCIPEM.

3. He died of paralysis on the second day after he was seized, with two surviving sons, whom the consuls saw born of Sextilia, a most reputable and by no means ignoble woman, and indeed both in the same year, the younger succeeding the elder within six months. The senate honored the deceased with a public funeral, and likewise a statue before the rostra with this inscription: PIETATIS IMMOBILIS ERGA PRINCIPEM.

A. Vitellius L. filius imperator natus est VIII. Kal. Oct., vel ut quidam VII.

A. Vitellius L. filius, the emperor, was born on the 8th day before the Kalends of October, or, as some say, the 7th.

Id. Sept., Druso Caesare Norbano Flacco cons. Genituram eius praedictam a mathematicis ita parentes exhorruerunt, ut pater magno opere semper contenderit ne qua ei provincia vivo se committeretur, mater et missum ad legiones et appellatum imperatorem pro afflicto statim lamentata sit. Pueritiam primamque adulescentiam Capreis egit inter Tiberiana scorta, et ipse perpetuo spintriae cognomine notatus existimatusque corporis gratia initium et causa incrementorum patri fuisse.

Id. Sept., in the consulship of Drusus Caesar Norbanus Flaccus. His birth, foretold by the mathematicians, so terrified his parents that his father ever labored greatly that no province should be entrusted to him while he lived, and his mother, both that he had been sent to the legions and that he had been proclaimed emperor for the afflicted, immediately bewailed him. He passed his boyhood and early youth at Capri among Tiberian courtesans, and he himself was constantly known by the surname Spintria and was thought, for the sake of his body, to have been the beginning and cause of his father's gains.

IV. Sequenti quoque aetate omnibus probris contaminatus, praecipuum in aula locum tenuit, Gaio per aurigandi, Claudio per aleae studium familiaris, sed aliquanto Neroni acceptior, cum propter eadem haec, tum peculiari merito, quod praesidens certamini Neroneo cupientem inter citharoedos contendere nec quamvis flagitantibus cunctis promittere audentem ideoque egressum theatro revocaverat, quasi perseverantis populi legatione suspecta, exorandumque praebuerat.

IV. In the following youth, likewise stained with every reproach, he held a principal place at court, intimate with Gaius through charioteering and with Claudius through a passion for dice, but somewhat more acceptable to Nero, both on account of these same things and by a particular merit: that, presiding over a Neroan contest, he had the audacity to promise to Nero, who desired to contend among the citharoedoi, to allow him to compete even though all were clamoring, and therefore had recalled him after he had left the theatre, as if suspected by the deputation of a persevering people, and had made himself one to be entreated.

V. Trium itaque principium indulgentia non solum honoribus verum et sacerdotiis amplissimis auctus, proconsulatum Africae post haec curamque operum publicorum administravit et voluntate dispari et existimatione. In provincia singularem innocentiam praestitit biennio continuato, cum succedenti fratri legatus substitisset; at in urbano officio dona atque ornamenta templorum subripuisse et commutasse quaedam ferebatur, proque auro et argento stagnum et aurichalcum supposuisse.

5. Therefore, at the outset of the three, indulgence increased him not only in honors but also in the most ample priesthoods; after these things he administered the proconsulate of Africa and the care of public works, with a divided will and mixed reputation. In the province he exhibited singular innocence during a continued two-year term, when he had been succeeded as legate by his brother; but in the urban office he was reported to have purloined gifts and ornaments of temples and to have exchanged certain things, and for gold and silver to have put in pewter and aurichalcum.

VI. Uxorem habuit Petroniam consularis viri filiam, et ex ea filium Petronianum captum altero oculo. Hunc heredem a matre sub condicione institutum, si de potestate patris exisset, manu emisit brevique, ut creditum est, interemit, insimulatum insuper parricidii et quasi paratum ad scelus venenum ex conscientia hausisset. Duxit mox Galeriam Fundanam praetorio patre ac de hac quoque liberos utriusque sexus tulit, sed marem titubantia oris prope mutum et elinguem.

6. He had for a wife Petronia, the daughter of a consular man, and by her a son, Petronianus, taken with one eye. This heir, instituted by his mother on the condition that if he should fall from his father's power, she discharged him from her hand and, shortly, as is believed, put him to death; she was moreover accused of parricide, and as if prepared for the crime had drawn poison from her conscience. He soon took Galeria Fundana, whose father was a praetorian, and by her too she bore children of both sexes, but the male with a tottering mouth, almost mute and tongueless.

VII. A Galba in inferiorem Germaniam contra opinionem missus est. Adiutum putant T. Vinii suffragio, tunc potentissimi et cui iam pridem per communem factionis Venetae favorem conciliatus esset: nisi quod Galba prae se tulit, nullos minus metuendos quam qui de solo victu cogitarent, ac posse provincialibus copiis profundam gulam eius expleri, ut cuivis evidens sit contemptu magis quam gratia electum.

7. Galba was sent into Lower Germany against general opinion. They consider him helped by the suffrage of T. Vinius, then most powerful and whom for some time he had already won over by the common favor of the Venetian faction; except that Galba put forward that none are less to be feared than those who think only of daily sustenance, and that his deep gullet could be filled with provincial supplies, so that to anyone it is evident he was chosen more by contempt than by favor.

Satis constat exituro viaticum defuisse, tanta egestate rei familiaris, ut uxore et liberis, quos Romae relinquebat, meritorio cenaculo abditis, domum in reliquam partem anni ablocaret, utque ex aure matris detractum unionem pigneraverit ad itineris impensas. Creditorum quidem praestolantium ac detinentium turbam et in iis Sinuessanos Formianosque, quorum publica vectigalia interverterat, non nisi terrore calumniae amovit, cum libertino cuidam acerbius debitum reposcenti iniuriarum formulam, quasi calce ab eo percussus, intendisset nec aliter quam extortis quinquaginta sestertiis remisisset.

It is well established that the travelling fund was lacking for his setting out, such was the poverty of his household, that, his wife and children, whom he left at Rome, having been hidden in a hired garret, he let his house for the remaining part of the year, and that he pledged the ear‑ring taken from his mother as security for the expenses of the journey. He cleared away the throng of creditors who awaited and detained him — among them the Sinuessans and Formians, whose public vectigalia he had overturned — only by the terror of a suit, for he had pressed upon a certain freedman, more harshly demanding the debt, a writ of injuries, as if struck by him with a shoe, and returned it only after fifty sestertii were extorted.

Advenientem male animatus erga principem exercitus pronusque ad res novas libens ac supinis manibus excepit, velut dono deum oblatum, ter consulis filium, aetate integra, facili ac prodigo animo. Quam veterem de se persuasionem Vitellius recentibus etiam experimentis auxerat, tota via caligatorum quoque militum obvios exosculans, perque stabula ac deversoria mulionibus ac viatoribus praeter modum comis, ut mane singulos iamne iantassent sciscitaretur seque fecisse ructu quoque ostenderet.

He received the arriving man, ill-disposed toward the prince of the army and inclined to new ventures, gladly and with upturned hands, as if a gift of the gods offered, the son of a consul three times over, of unbroken age, of easy and prodigal spirit. Vitellius had strengthened that long-held conviction about himself even by recent trials, kissing the gaiters of the soldiers he met all along the road, and through the stables and inns being excessively courteous to muleteers and travelers, so that in the morning he would ask whether each had already gone on his way, and would show that he himself had done so even by a belch.

VIII. Castra vero ingressus nihil cuiquam poscenti negavit atque etiam ultro ignominiosis notas, reis sordes, damnatis supplicia dempsit. Quare vixdum mense transacto, neque diei neque temporis ratione habita, ac iam vespere, subito a militibus e cubiculo raptus, ita ut erat, in veste domestica, imperator est consalutatus circumlatusque per celeberrimos vicos, strictum Divi Iuli gladium tenens, detractum delubro Martis atque in prima gratulatione porrectum sibi a quodam; nec ante in praetorium rediit quam flagrante triclinio ex conceptu camini, cum quidem consternatis et quasi omine adverso anxiis omnibus, "Bono," inquit, "animo estote!

8. Having entered the camp he denied nothing to anyone who asked, and even of his own accord removed ignominious marks, the filth of the accused, and the punishments of the condemned. Therefore scarcely a month having passed, without regard to day or season, and now in the evening, suddenly snatched from his chamber by the soldiers, as he was, in his domestic dress, the emperor was hailed and borne about through the most crowded streets, holding the drawn sword of the Divine Julius, taken from the shrine of Mars and in the first congratulation proffered to him by a certain man; nor did he return to the praetorium before the dining-room was blazing from a fire kindled at the hearth, when, with all struck down and anxious as if by an adverse omen, he said, "Be of good courage!"

nobis adluxit," nullo sermone alio apud milites usus. Consentiente deinde etiam superioris provinciae exercitu, qui prius a Galba ad senatum defecerat, cognomen Germanici delatum ab universis cupide recepit, Augusti distulit, Caesaris in perpetuum recusavit.

"It occurred to us," using no other speech among the soldiers. Then, with the army of the upper province also consenting — which had previously deserted Galba to the senate — he eagerly accepted from all the cognomen Germanicus when it was offered, deferred the title Augustus, and refused to be Caesar in perpetuity.

IX. Ac subinde caede Galbae adnuntiata, compositis Germanicis rebus, partitus est copias, quas adversus Othonem praemitteret, quasque ipse perduceret. Praemisso agmine laetum evenit auspicium, siquidem a parte dextra repente aquila advolavit, lustratisque signis ingressos viam sensim antecessit. At contra ipso movente, statuae equestres, cum plurifariam ei ponerentur, fractis repente cruribus pariter corruerunt, ac laurea, quam religiosissime circumdederat, in profluentem excidit; mox Viennae pro tribunali iura reddenti gallinaceus supra umerum ac deinde in capite astitit.

9. And when news of Galba's slaughter was brought shortly thereafter, the German affairs having been settled, he divided the forces which he would send forward against Otho and those which he himself would lead on. With the column sent ahead a favorable omen happened, for suddenly an eagle flew up from the right-hand side, and, the standards having been purified, it gradually passed before those who had entered the road. But contrary to this same movement the equestrian statues, although set up for him in many places, suddenly fell down together with their legs broken, and the laurel which he had most religiously placed around fell into the flowing stream; soon at Vienna above the tribunal where justice was being rendered a cock perched upon the shoulder and then upon the head.

Quibus ostentis par respondit exitus; nam confirmatum per legatos suos imperium per se retinere non potuit.

The outcome answered those portents alike; for, although his imperium had been confirmed through his legates, he could not retain the imperial power by himself.

X. De Betriacensi victoria et Othonis exitu, cum adhuc in Gallia esset, audiit, nihilque cunctatus, quidquid praetorianarum cohortium fuit, ut pessimi exempli, uno exauctoravit edicto iussas tribunis tradere arma. Centum autem atque viginti, quorum libellos Othoni datos invenerat exposcentium praemium ob editam in caede Galbae operam, conquiri et supplicio adfici imperavit, egregie prorsus atque magnifice et ut summi principis spem ostenderet, nisi cetera magis ex natura et priore vita sua quam ex imperii maiestate gessisset. Namque itinere inchoato, per medias civitates ritu triumphantium vectus est, perque flumina delicatissimis navigiis et variarum coronarum genere redimit, inter profusissimos obsoniorum apparatus, nulla familiae aut militis disciplina, rapinas ac petulantiam omnium in iocum vertens; qui non contenti epulo ubique publice praebito, quoscumque libuisset in libertatem asserebant, verbera et plagas, saepe vulnera, nonnumquam necem repraesentantes adversantibus.

10. On the victory at Betriacum and the end of Otho, which he learned while still in Gaul, he delayed nothing, and whatever of the praetorian cohorts there were, as the worst of examples, by one edict he deprived the tribunes who had been ordered to hand over arms. He moreover ordered that one hundred and twenty, whose lists he had found given to Otho requesting a reward for services rendered in the slaughter of Galba, be sought out and punished with execution — a deed altogether splendid and magnificent and as if to show the hope placed in the supreme prince, unless he had carried out the rest more from the bent of his nature and his former life than from the majesty of the empire. For, the journey having been begun, he was borne through the middle of the cities in the manner of triumphants, and crowned along the rivers with the most delicate vessels of navigation and with garlands of diverse kinds, amid the most lavish preparations of feasts, turning into mockery all household and military discipline, and turning the plundering and insolence of all into a jest; who, not content with a banquet publicly supplied everywhere, set free whomsoever they pleased, and inflicted lashes and blows, often wounds, and sometimes death, on those who opposed them.

Vtque campos, in quibus pugnatum est, adiit, abhorrentis quosdam cadaverum tabem detestabili voce confirmare ausus est, optime olere occisum hostem et melius civem. Nec eo setius ad leniendam gravitatem odoris plurimum meri propalam hausit passimque divisit. Pari vanitate atque insolentia lapidem memoriae Othonis inscriptum intuens, dignum eo Mausoleo ait, pugionemque, quo is se occiderat, in Agrippinensem coloniam misit Marti dedicandum.

And when he visited the fields in which the fighting had been, he dared with a detestable voice to assert the putrefaction of certain corpses abhorrent, that a slain enemy smelled excellently and a citizen more so. Nor the less, to soften the severity of the smell, he drank copiously of undiluted wine openly and distributed it everywhere. With equal vanity and insolence, beholding the stone inscribed to the memory of Otho, he said it worthy of that Mausoleum, and sent the dagger with which he had killed himself to the Agrippine colony to be dedicated to Mars.

In Appennini quidem iugis etiam pervigilium egit.

In the Apennine ridges he likewise kept a vigil.

XI. Urbem denique ad classicum introiit paludatus ferroque succinctus, inter signa atque vexilla, sagulatis comitibus, ac detectis commilitonum armis. Magis deinde ac magis omni divino humanoque iure neglecto, Alliensi die pontificatum maximum cepit, comitia in decem annos ordinavit seque perpetuum consulem. Et ne cui dubium foret, quod exemplar regendae rei p. eligeret, medio Martio campo adhibita publicorum sacerdotum frequentia inferias Neroni dedit ac sollemni convivio citharoedum placentem palam admonuit, ut aliquid et de dominico diceret, inchoantique Neroniana cantica primus exultans etiam plausit.

11. Finally he entered the city to the muster, clad in mail and girt with iron, among standards and banners, with cloaked companions and the weapons of his comrades uncovered. More and more, every divine and human law neglected, on the day of the Allia he assumed the supreme pontificate, arranged the comitia for ten years, and made himself perpetual consul. And that there might be no doubt whom he had chosen as the exemplar for the governance of the res publica, on the Field of Mars in mid‑March, with a crowd of public priests present, he performed funeral rites for Nero and, by a solemn banquet delighting the cithara‑players, openly signalled that they should sing something of the lordly theme; and beginning the Neronian songs he was the first, exulting, even to applaud.

XII. Talibus principiis, magnam imperii partem non nisi consilio et arbitrio vilissimi cuiusque histrionum et aurigarum administravit, et maxime Asiatici liberti. Hunc adulescentulum mutua libidine constupratum, mox taedio profugum cum Puteolis poscam vendentem reprehendisset, coniecit in compedes statimque solvit et rursus in deliciis habuit; iterum deinde ob nimiam contumaciam et furacitatem gravatus circumforano lanistae vendidit dilatumque ad finem muneris repente subripuit, et provincia demum accepta manumisit, ac primo imperii die aureis donavit anulis super cenam, cum mane, rogantibus pro eo cunctis, detestatus esset severissime talem equestris ordinis maculam.

12. With such principles he managed a large part of the empire by nothing but the counsel and will of the most contemptible of actors and charioteers, and above all an Asiatic freedman. This young man, violated by mutual lust, soon, driven off by weariness and when caught near Puteoli selling himself as a prostitute, he cast into fetters, immediately freed, and again kept among his delights; again, afterwards, burdened on account of excessive insolence and thieving, he sold him to a gladiator-manager (lanista), and having been taken off to the end of the show he suddenly stole him back; and when he at last received a province he manumitted him, and on the first day of his imperial power he presented him with golden rings at dinner — in the morning, with all asking for him, he had most severely denounced such a stain upon the equestrian order.

XIII. Sed vel praecipue luxuriae saevitiaeque deditus, epulas trifariam semper, interdum quadrifariam dispertiebat, in ientacula et prandia et cenas comissationesque, facile omnibus sufficiens vomitandi consuetudine. Indicebat autem aliud alii eadem die, nec cuiquam minus singuli apparatus quadringenis milibus nummum constiterunt.

13. But especially given over to luxury and ferocity, he always distributed feasts in three parts, sometimes in four, at breakfasts and lunches and dinners and carousals, easily sufficient for all by the habit of vomiting. Moreover he set one thing after another on the same day, nor did any single provision cost less than four hundred thousand coins.

Famosissima super ceteras fuit cena data ei adventicia a fratre, in qua duo milia lectissimorum piscium, septem avium apposita traduntur. Hanc quoque exsuperavit ipse dedicatione patinae, quam ob immensam magnitudinem clipeum Minervae πολιούχου dictitabat. In hac scarorum iocinera, phasianarum et pavonum cerebella, linguas phoenicopterum, murenarum lactes a Parthia usque fretoque Hispanico per navarchos ac triremes petitarum, commiscuit.

The most famous above the rest was the dinner given him, brought from abroad by his brother, at which two thousand of the choicest fishes and seven birds are reported to have been set before him. He himself surpassed this also in the dedication of a dish, which because of its immense size he used to call a clipeus of Minerva πολιούχου. In this mixture of scarus-jests he mingled pheasants’ and peacocks’ brains, tongues of flamingoes, and the milks of moray-eels, sought from Parthia even to the Spanish strait by navarchs and triremes.

Ut autem homo non profundae modo sed intempestivae quoque ac sordidae gulae, ne in sacrificio quidem umquam aut itinere ullo temperavit, quin inter altaria ibidem statim viscus et farra paene rapta e foco manderet, circaque viarum popinas fumantia obsonia, vel pridiana atque semesa.

But this man, given not only to profound but also to untimely and sordid gluttony, neither at a sacrifice nor on any journey ever restrained himself, but there among the altars would immediately eat viscera and farro (grain) and bread, almost snatched from the hearth, and around the roads the taverns' steaming dishes, whether of the previous day or half‑eaten.

XIV. Pronus vero ad cuiuscumque et quacumque de causa necem atque supplicium, nobiles viros, condiscipulos et aequales suos, omnibus blanditiis tantum non ad societatem imperii adlicefactos vario genere fraudis occidit; etiam unum veneno manu sua porrecto in aquae frigidae potione, quam is adfectus febre poposcerat. Tum faeneratorum et stipulatorum publicanorumque, qui umquam se aut Romae debitum aut in via portorium flagitassent, vix ulli pepercit; ex quibus quendam in ipsa salutatione supplicio traditum statimque revocatum, cunctis clementiam laudantibus, coram interfici iussit, velle se dicens pascere oculos; alterius poenae duos filios adiecit deprecari pro patre conatos.

14. Prone indeed to killing and to torture for whatever and whichever cause, he slew noble men, his schoolfellows and his equals, men almost lured by all blandishments into partnership in his empire, by diverse kinds of fraud; even one he poisoned, having handed the poison with his own hand into a draught of cold water which the man, afflicted with fever, had requested. Then as for usurers and sureties and contractors of the public revenues, who at any time had demanded a debt at Rome or a toll on the road, he scarcely spared any; of these he ordered one, delivered over to punishment in the very salutatio and straightway recalled, with all praising his clemency, to be put to death publicly, saying that he wished to feed his eyes; to another’s punishment he added two sons, who had attempted to entreat on behalf of their father.

Sed et equitem R. proclamantem, cum raperetur ad poenam: Heres meus es, exhibere testamenti tabulas coegit, utque legit coheredem sibi libertum eius ascriptum, iugulari cum liberto imperavit. Quosdam et de plebe ob id ipsum, quod Venetae factioni clare male dixerant, interemit, contemptu sui et nova spe id ausos opinatus. Nullis tamen infensior quam vernaculis et mathematicis, ut quisque deferretur, inauditum capite puniebat exacerbatus, quod post edictum suum, quo iubebat intra Kal.

But also he compelled a Roman eques, proclaiming, when he was being dragged to punishment—“You are my heir”—to produce the tablets of the will, and when he read that his freedman had been enrolled as his co-heir, he ordered him to be strangled together with the freedman. He moreover slew some of the plebs for that very thing, because they had spoken plainly ill of the Venetae faction, thinking that they had dared this out of contempt of him and new hope. Yet more hostile to none than to vernaculars and mathematicians, whoever was brought forward, enraged, he punished with unheard-of death, because after his edict, by which he ordered within the Kalends...

Oct. urbe Italiaque mathematici excederent, statim libellus propositus est, et Chaldaeos edicere, bonum factum, ne Vitellius Germanicus intra eundem Kalendarum diem usquam esset. Suspectus et in morte matris fuit, quasi aegrae praeberi cibum prohibuisset, vaticinante Chatta muliere, cui velut oraculo adquiescebat, ita demum firmiter ac diutissime imperaturum, si superstes parenti extitisset.

When the mathematicians left the city and Italy, a little pamphlet was immediately put forward, and they published that the Chaldeans proclaimed it a good deed that Vitellius Germanicus should not be anywhere within the same day of the Kalends. He was also suspected in the death of his mother, as if he had forbidden food to be offered to the sick woman, the Chattian woman prophesying, to whom he yielded as to an oracle, and thus at last would have ruled firmly and for a long time, had he survived his parent.

Alii tradunt ipsam taedio praesentium et imminentium metu venenum a filio impetrasse, haud sane difficulter.

Others report that she herself obtained the poison from her son, through weariness of those present and fear of impending events, by no means with difficulty.

XV. Octavo imperii mense desciverunt ab eo exercitus Moesiarum atque Pannoniae, item ex transmarinis Iudaicus et Syriaticus, ac pars in absentis, pars in praesentis Vespasiani verba iurarunt. Ad retinendum ergo ceterorum hominum studium ac favorem, nihil non publice privatimque nullo adhibito modo largitus est. Delectum quoque ea condicione in urbe egit, ut voluntariis non modo missionem post victoriam, sed etiam veteranorum iustaeque militiae commoda polliceretur.

15. In the eighth month of his reign the armies of Moesia and Pannonia deserted him, likewise from overseas the Judean and the Syrian [forces], and some swore by Vespasian’s words in his absence, others in his presence. To retain therefore the zeal and favour of the remaining men he bestowed everything, publicly and privately, in every way without restraint. He also levied a draft in the city on this condition, that he promised to the volunteers not only discharge after victory, but also the advantages of veterans and of lawful military service.

Urgenti deinde terra marique hosti hinc fratrem cum classe ac tironibus et gladiatorum manu opposuit, hinc Betriacenses copias et duces; atque ubique aut superatus aut proditus, salutem sibi et milies sestertium a Flavio Sabino Vespasiani fratre pepigit; statimque pro gradibus Palati apud frequentes milites, cedere se imperio quod invitus recepisset professus, cunctis reclamantibus rem distulit ac nocte interposita primo diluculo sordidatus descendit ad rostra multisque cum lacrimis eadem illa, verum e libello testatus est. Rursus interpellante milite ac populo et ne deficeret hortante omnemque operam suam certatim pollicente, animum resumpsit Sabinumque et reliquos Flavianos nihil iam metuentis vi subita in Capitolium compulit, succensoque templo Iovis Optimi Maximi oppressit, cum et proelium et incendium e Tiberiana prospiceret domo inter epulas. Non multo post paenitens facti et in alios culpam conferens, vocata contione iuravit coegitque iurare et ceteros, nihil sibi antiquius quiete publica fore.

Pressed then by the enemy on land and sea, here he set his brother against him with a fleet and with raw recruits and a band of gladiators, there the Betriacenian troops and leaders; and everywhere either overcome or betrayed, he procured safety for himself and a hundred thousand sestertii from Flavius Sabinus, brother of Vespasian; and immediately on the steps of the Palatine, before the numerous soldiers, having declared that he would yield to the command which he had accepted unwillingly, he postponed the matter while all were clamoring, and after night intervened at first light he, disheveled, went down to the rostra and with many tears uttered the same words, but testified them from a little written note. Again, with a soldier and the people interrupting and urging that he not fail and eagerly promising to give all his effort, he recovered his spirit and forced Sabinus and the other Flavians, fearing nothing now, by sudden violence into the Capitol; and with the temple of Jupiter Optimus Maximus set on fire he beset it, while from the Tiberian house he looked out upon both battle and conflagration amid the feasts. Not long after, repentant of what he had done and shifting the blame onto others, when an assembly had been called he swore and compelled the others to swear that nothing would be dearer to him than the public peace.

Tunc solutum a latere pugionem consuli primum, deinde illo recusante magistratibus ac mox senatoribus singulis porrigens, nullo recipiente, quasi in aede Concordiae positurus abscessit. Sed quibusdam adclamantibus ipsum esse Concordiam, rediit nec solum retinere se ferrum affirmavit, verum etiam Concordiae recipere cognomen; suasitque senatui, ut legatos cum virginibus Vestalibus mitterent pacem aut certe tempus ad consultandum petituros.

Then, having drawn the dagger from his side, he first offered it to the consul, then, the consul refusing, to the magistrates and soon to the senators one by one; no one accepting, as if about to place it in the temple of Concord he withdrew. But when some cried out that he himself was Concord, he returned and not only declared that he would retain the sword, but also that he would take the surname Concordia; and he urged the senate that they send envoys with the Vestal virgins to solicit peace or at least time for deliberation.

XVI. Postridie responsa opperienti nuntiatum est per exploratorem hostes appropinquare. Continuo igitur abstrusus gestatoria sella, duobus solis comitibus, pistore et coco, Aventinum et paternam domum clam petit, ut inde in Campaniam fugeret; mox levi rumore et incerto, tamquam pax impetrata esset, referri se in Palatium passus est.

16. On the next day, while he waited for answers, it was reported by a scout that the enemies were drawing near. Immediately therefore, having concealed his litter, with only two companions, the baker and the cook, he secretly made for the Aventine and his paternal house, so that thence he might flee into Campania; soon, by a slight and uncertain rumor, as if peace had been obtained, he allowed himself to be carried back into the Palatine Palace.

Vbi cum deserta omnia repperisset, dilabentibus et qui simul erant, zona se aureorum plena circumdedit confugitque in cellulam ianitoris, religato pro foribus cane lectoque et culcita obiectis.

Where, when he had found everything deserted, and those who had been together slipping away, he girded himself with a belt full of gold and fled for refuge into the janitor's little cell, the dog having been tied at the doors and a bed and mattress placed before them.

XVII. Irruperant iam agminis antecessores ac nemine obvio rimabantur, ut fit, singula. Ab is extractus e latebra, sciscitantes quis esset (nam ignorabatur) et ubi esse Vitellium sciret, mendacio elusit; deinde agnitus rogare non destitit, quasi quaedam de salute Vespasiani dicturus, ut custodiretur interim vel in carcere, donec religatis post terga manibus, iniecto cervicibus laqueo, veste discissa seminudus in forum tractus est inter magna rerum verborumque ludibria per totum viae Sacrae spatium, reducto coma capite, ceu noxii solent, atque etiam mento mucrone gladii subrecto, ut visendam praeberet faciem neve summitteret; quibusdam stercore et caeno incessentibus, aliis incendiarium et patinarium vociferantibus, parte vulgi etiam corporis vitia exprobrante; erat enim in eo enormis proceritas, facies rubida plerumque ex vinulentia, venter obesus, alterum femur subdebile impulsu olim quadrigae, cum auriganti Gaio ministratorem exhiberet.

XVII. The vanguard of the column had already burst in and, no one meeting him, were inspecting each thing, as happens. From thence he was dragged out of his hiding-place, being asked who he was (for he was unknown) and where Vitellius was, and with a falsehood he deceived them; then, when recognized, he did not cease to beg, as if about to say certain things concerning Vespasian’s safety, that he be kept meanwhile or put in prison, until—his hands bound behind his back, a noose thrown around his neck, his garment torn and half-naked—he was hauled into the forum amid great mockeries of things and words along the whole stretch of the Sacred Way, his hair pulled back from his head, as criminals are wont, and even with the point of a sword thrust beneath his chin, so that he might present a face to be looked at and not lower it; some trodding on him with dung and mud, others shouting “arsonist” and “dish-thief,” part of the rabble moreover upbraiding bodily defects; for in him was an extraordinary tallness, a face oft ruddy from vinulence, a fat belly, one thigh once weakened by the impulse of a quadriga when he served as attendant to the charioteer Gaius.

Tandem apud Gemonias minutissimis ictibus excarnificatus atque confectus et inde unco tractus in Tiberim.

Finally at the Gemonian [Stairs] flayed with very small blows and exhausted, and thence dragged by a hook into the Tiber.

XVIII. Periit cum fratre et filio anno vitae septimo quinquagesimo; nec fefellit coniectura eorum qui augurio, quod factum ei Viennae ostendimus, non aliud portendi praedixerant, quam venturum in alicuius Gallicani hominis potestatem; siquidem ab Antonio Primo adversarum partium duce oppressus est, cui Tolosae nato cognomen in pueritia Becco fuerat; id valet gallinacei rostrum.

18. He perished with his brother and son in the fifty-seventh year of his life; nor did the conjecture of those who, by the augury that we showed had been performed for him at Vienne, predicted any other portent than that he would come into the power of some Gallican man; for he was overcome by Antonius Primus, leader of the opposing party, to whom, born at Toulouse, the nickname in boyhood had been Becco — which amounts to the gallinaceous beak (the rooster's beak).