Tacitus: ANNALES

[1] Gaio Vips[t]ano [C.] Fonteio consulibus diu meditatum scelus non ultra Nero distulit, vetustate imperii coalita audacia et flagrantior in dies amore Poppaeae, quae sibi matrimonium et discidium Octaviae incolumi Agrippina haud sperans crebris criminationibus, aliquando per facetias incusare principem et pupillum vocare, qui iussis alienis obnoxius non modo imperii, sed libertatis etiam indigeret. cur enim differri nuptias suas? formam scilicet displicere et triumphales avos, an fecunditatem et verum animum?

[1] With Gaius Vips[t]anus and [Gaius] Fonteius as consuls, Nero no longer deferred the long-meditated crime,
his audacity consolidated by the long tenure of his rule and more inflamed day by day by love
for Poppaea, who, not hoping for marriage for herself and the divorce of Octavia with Agrippina unhurt,
with frequent criminationes, sometimes through facetiae, would reproach the princeps and
call him a ward, who, being subject to others’ orders, was in need not only of dominion, but even of freedom.
For why, indeed, were her nuptials being deferred? Was it, forsooth, that her beauty displeased and her triumphal
ancestors, or her fecundity and true spirit?

timeri ne uxor saltem iniurias patrum, iram populi adversus superbiam avaritiamque matris aperiat. quod si nurum Agrippina non nisi filio infestam ferre posset, redde[re]tur ipsa Othonis coniugio: ituram quoque terrarum, ubi audiret potius contumelias imperatoris quam viseret periculis eius immixta. haec atque talia lacrimis et arte adulterae penetrantia nemo prohibebat, cupientibus cunctis infringi potentiam matris et credente nullo usque ad caedem eius duratura filii odia.

it was feared lest the wife at least expose the injuries to the Senators and the people’s wrath against the mother’s superbia and avarice. But if Agrippina could represent the daughter‑in‑law as hostile only to her son, she herself would be restored to Otho’s conjugal bond: she would even go to foreign parts, where she would hear rather the contumelies against the emperor than behold herself mingled with his dangers. These and the like, penetrating with tears and the art of an adulteress, no one forbade, since all desired the mother’s power to be broken, and no one believed that the son’s hatreds would last as far as her slaughter.

[2] Tradit Cluvius ardore retinendae Agrippinam potentiae eo usque provectam, ut medio diei, cum id temporis Nero per vinum et epulas incalesceret, offerret se saepius temulento comptam in incesto paratam; iamque lasciva oscula et praenuntias flagitii blanditias adnotantibus proximis, Senecam contra muliebris inlecebras subsidium a femina petivisse, immissamque Acten libertam, quae simul suo periculo et infamia Neronis anxia deferret pervulgatum esse incestum gloriante matre, nec toleraturos milites profani principis imperium. Fabius Rusticus non Agrippinae sed Neroni cupitum id memorat eiusdemque libertae astu disiectum. sed quae Cluvius, eadem ceteri quoque auctores prodidere, et fama huc inclinat, seu concepit animo tantum immanitatis Agrippina, seu credibilior novae libidinis meditatio in ea visa est, quae puellaribus annis stuprum cum [M.] Lepido spe dominationis admiserat, pari cupidine usque ad libita Pallantis provoluta et exercita ad omne flagitium patrui nuptiis.

[2] Cluvius relates that Agrippina, in the ardor of retaining her power, was carried so far that at midday, when at that time Nero grew heated with wine and feasts, she would offer herself more than once to the tipsy youth, adorned and prepared for incest; and now, as those nearest took note of her lascivious kisses and blandishments pre-announcing the outrage, Seneca, against womanly allurements, sought succor from a woman, and Acte the freedwoman was sent in, who, anxious at once for her own danger and for Nero’s infamy, would report that the incest, with the mother boasting of it, had been made common talk, and that the soldiers would not tolerate the imperial authority of a profane prince. Fabius Rusticus records that it was desired not by Agrippina but by Nero, and that by the craft of that same freedwoman it was broken off. But what Cluvius tells, the other authors also have transmitted, and rumor inclines this way, whether Agrippina only conceived in her mind so much monstrosity, or the premeditation of a new libido seemed more credible in her who, in her girlhood years, had admitted defilement with [M.] Lepidus in hope of domination, had, with equal desire, rolled herself even to the pleasures of Pallas, and had been trained for every infamy by the nuptials with her uncle.

[3] Igitur Nero vitare secretos eius congressus, abscedentem in hortos aut Tusculanum vel Antiatem in agrum laudare, quod otium capesseret. postremo, ubicumque haberetur, praegravem ratus interficere constituit, hactenus consultans, veneno an ferro vel qua alia vi. placuitque primo venenum. sed inter epulas principis si daretur, referri ad casum non poterat tali iam Britannici exitio; et ministros temptare arduum videbatur mulieris usu scelerum adversus insidias intentae; atque ipsa praesumendo remedia munierat corpus.

[3] Therefore Nero avoided her secret encounters, and would praise it when she withdrew to the gardens or to the Tusculan or Antiate estate, on the ground that she was taking up leisure. At last, wherever she was staying, judging her over-burdensome, he resolved to kill her, deliberating thus far whether by poison or steel or by some other force. And at first poison was approved. But if it were given amid the emperor’s banquets, it could not be referred to chance, such being already Britannicus’s manner of death; and to tamper with the attendants seemed arduous, the woman, by her practice in crimes, being intent against snares; and she herself, by anticipating remedies, had fortified her body.

ferrum et caedes quonam modo occultaretur, nemo reperiebat; et ne quis illi tanto facinori delectus iussa sperneret metuebat. obtulit ingenium Anicetus libertus, classi apud Misenum praefectus et pueritiae Neronis educator ac mutuis odiis Agrippinae invisus. ergo navem posse componi docet, cuius pars ipso in mari per artem soluta effunderet ignaram: nihil tam capax fortuitorum quam mare; et si naufragio intercepta sit, quem adeo iniquum, ut sceleri adsignet, quod venti et fluctus deliquerint?

As to by what way steel and slaughter might be concealed, no one could discover; and he feared that anyone chosen for so great a crime might spurn orders. Anicetus, a freedman, offered his ingenuity—the prefect of the fleet at Misenum and the educator of Nero’s boyhood, and hated by Agrippina through mutual hatreds. Therefore he shows that a ship could be composed, a part of which, loosed by art upon the sea itself, would pour out the unsuspecting woman: nothing is so capacious of fortuitous events as the sea; and if she should be intercepted by a shipwreck, who would be so iniquitous as to assign to crime what the winds and the waves have done?

additurum principem defunctae templum et aras et cetera ostentandae pietati.

that the princeps would add for the deceased a temple and altars and the rest for the ostentation of piety.

[4] Placuit sollertia, tempore etiam iuta, quando Quinquatruum festos dies apud Baias frequentabat. illuc matrem elicit, ferendas parentium iracundias et placandum animum dictitans, quo rumorem reconciliationis efficeret acciperetque Agrippina, facili feminarum credulitate ad gaudia. venientem dehinc obvius in litora (nam Antio adventabat) excepit manu et complexu ducitque Baulos.

[4] The ingenuity pleased, aided also by the timing, since he was frequenting the festal days of the Quinquatria at Baiae. Thither he lures his mother, repeatedly saying that the angers of parents must be borne and that a mind must be placated, in order that he might bring about a rumor of reconciliation and that Agrippina, with the easy credulity of women toward joys, might accept it. Then, going to meet her as she came to the shore (for she was approaching from Antium), he received her by the hand and in an embrace and leads her to Bauli.

id villae nomen est, quae promunturium Misenum inter et Baianum lacum flexo mari adluitur. stabat inter alias navis ornatior, tamquam id quoque honori matris daretur: quippe sueverat triremi et classiariorum remigio vehi. ac tum invitata ad epulas erat, ut occultando facinori nox adhiberetur.

that is the villa’s name, which is laved by the sea, bent between the promontory of Misenum and the Baian lake.
Among other vessels there stood a more ornate ship, as though this too were being given to the mother’s honor: for indeed she had been accustomed to be conveyed in a trireme and by the oarage of the men of the fleet.
And at that time she had been invited to a banquet, in order that night might be employed for concealing the crime.

satis constitit extitisse proditorem, et Agrippinam auditis insidiis, an crederet ambiguam, gestamine sellae Baias pervectam. ibi blandimentum sublevavit metum: comiter excepta superque ipsum collocata. iam pluribus sermonibus, modo familiaritate iuvenili Nero et rursus adductus, quasi seria consociaret, tracto in longum convictu, prosequitur abeuntem, artius oculis et pectori haerens, sive explenda simulatione, seu pe[ri]turae matris supremus adspectus quamvis ferum animum retinebat.

It was sufficiently established that there had been a betrayer, and that Agrippina, when the ambush had been reported and she was doubtful whether to believe it, was carried to Baiae in a litter. There blandishment lifted her fear: she was courteously received and seated above him. Now, with more conversations, Nero at one moment with youthful familiarity and again drawn to gravity, as though he were associating her with serious matters, after the conviviality had been prolonged, escorts her as she departs, clinging more tightly with his eyes and to her breast—whether to complete the simulation, or the final sight of a mother about to perish, although his spirit was savage, was restraining him.

[5] Noctem sideribus inlustrem et placido mari quietam quasi convincendum ad scelus dii praebuere. nec multum erat progressa navis, duobus e numero familiarium Agrippinam comitantibus, ex quis Crepereius Gallus haud procul gubernaculis adstabat, Acerronia super pedes cubitantis reclinis paenitentiam filii et recuperatam matris gratiam per gaudium memorabat, cum dato signo ruere tectum loci multo plumbo grave, pressusque Crepereius et statim exanimatus est: Agrippina et Acerronia eminentibus lecti parietibus ac forte validioribus, quam ut oneri cederent, protectae sunt. nec dissolutio navigii sequebatur, turbatis omnibus et quod plerique ignari etiam conscios impediebant.

[5] The gods provided a night illustrious with stars and, with the sea placid, quiet, as if
to convict the crime. Nor had the ship advanced much, with two from the number
of her household accompanying Agrippina, among whom Crepereius Gallus was standing not
far from the helm; Acerronia, reclining over the feet of the one lying down, in her joy was recounting
the son’s penitence and the mother’s recovered grace, when, the signal having been given, the
roof of the place, heavy with much lead, collapsed, and Crepereius, crushed, was immediately lifeless:
Agrippina and Acerronia were protected by the projecting side-walls of the couch, and by chance stronger than to
yield to the burden. Nor did the dissolution of the ship ensue, with all things thrown into confusion, and
because the majority, unknowing, were even hindering the accomplices.

visum dehinc remigibus unum in latus inclinare atque ita navem submergere; sed neque ipsis promptus in rem subitam consensus, et alii contra nitentes dedere facultatem lenioris in mare iactus. verum Acerronia, imprudentia dum se Agrippinam esse utque subveniretur matri principis clamitat, contis et remis et quae fors obtulerat navalibus telis conficitur. Agrippina silens eoque minus agnita (unum tamen vulnus umero excepit) nando, deinde occursu lenunculorum Lucrinum in lacum vecta villae suae infertur.

Then it seemed to the oarsmen to incline to one side
and thus submerge the ship; but among themselves there was no ready consensus for a sudden deed,
and others striving against it gave the opportunity for a gentler casting into the sea. In truth,
Acerronia, in her imprudence while she keeps shouting that she is Agrippina and that help should be brought to the mother of the princeps,
is finished off with poles and oars and with naval weapons which chance had offered. Agrippina,
silent and thereby the less recognized (she did, however, receive one wound in the shoulder), by swimming, then,
met by little skiffs, was conveyed into the Lucrine Lake and borne into her own villa.

[6] Illic reputans ideo se fallacibus litteris accitam et honore praecipuo habitam, quodque litus iuxta, non ventis acta, non saxis impulsa navis summa sui parte veluti terrestre machinamentum concidisset, observans etiam Acerroniae necem, simul suum vulnus adspiciens, solum insidiarum remedium esse [sensit], si non intellegerentur; misitque libertum Agermum, qui nuntiaret filio benignitate deum et fortuna eius evasisse gravem casum; orare ut quamvis periculo matris exterritus visendi curam differret; sibi ad praesens quiete opus. atque interim securitate simulata medicamina vulneri et fomenta corpori adhibet; testamentum Acerroniae requiri bonaque obsignari iubet, id tantum non per simulationem.

[6] There, reckoning that she had been summoned by fallacious letters and treated with a particular honor for this reason, and that, since the shore was nearby, the ship, driven neither by winds nor dashed upon rocks, had collapsed in its topmost part like a terrestrial machination, noting also the slaying of Acerronia, at the same time looking upon her own wound, she [she realized] that the sole remedy against the plots was, if they were not understood; and she sent the freedman Agermus to announce to her son that by the benignity of the gods and by his fortune she had escaped a grave mishap; to beg that, although terrified by the danger to his mother, he defer the concern of coming to see; that for herself at present there was need of quiet. And meanwhile, with security feigned, she applies medicaments to the wound and fomentations to the body; she orders that Acerronia’s testament be sought and that her goods be sealed, this alone not by simulation.

[7] At Neroni nuntios patrati facinoris opperienti adfertur evasisse ictu levi sauciam et hactenus adito discrimine, [ne] auctor dubitaret[ur]. tum pavore exanimis et iam iamque adfore obtestans vindictae properam, sive servitia armaret vel militem accenderet, sive ad senatum et populum pervaderet, naufragium et vulnus et interfectos amicos obiciendo: quod contra subsidium sibi, nisi quid Burrus et Seneca? [expurgens] quos statim acciverat, incertum an et ante ignaros. igitur longum utriusque silentium, ne inriti dissuaderent, an eo descensum credebant, [ut], nisi praeveniretur Agrippina, pereundum Neroni esset.

[7] But to Nero, as he was awaiting messengers of the deed perpetrated, it is reported that she, wounded by a light stroke, had escaped, and that the crisis had been entered thus far, [lest] the author be [doubted]. Then, lifeless with fear and protesting that swift vengeance would be presently at hand—whether she should arm the slave-bands or inflame the soldiery, or break through to the senate and the people, by casting up the shipwreck and the wound and the murdered friends: what counter-subsidy had he for himself against this, unless Burrus and Seneca [had something]? [clearing himself to] whom he had at once summoned, uncertain whether even before they were unaware. Therefore a long silence of each—whether lest they dissuade to no purpose, or they believed it had come down to this, [that], unless Agrippina were forestalled, Nero must perish.

post Seneca hactenus promptius, [ut] respiceret Burrum ac s[c]iscitaretur, an militi imperanda caedes esset. ille praetorianos toti Caesarum domui obstrictos memoresque Germanici nihil adversus progeniem eius atrox ausuros respondit: perpetraret Anicetus promissa. qui nihil cunctatus poscit summam sceleris.

Thereupon Seneca, so far the more ready, [that] he should look to Burrus and inquire whether the slaughter ought to be commanded to the soldiery. He replied that the Praetorians, bound to the whole house of the Caesars and mindful of Germanicus, would dare nothing atrocious against his progeny: let Anicetus perpetrate the promises. He, delaying not at all, demands the consummation of the crime.

ad eam vocem Nero illo sibi die dari imperium auctoremque tanti muneris libertum profitetur: iret propere duceretque promptissimos ad iussa. ipse audito venisse missu Agrippinae nuntium Agermum, scaenam ultro criminis parat, gladiumque, dum mandata perfert, abicit inter pedes eius, tum quasi deprehenso vincla inici iubet, ut exit[i]um principis molitam matrem et pudore deprehensi sceleris sponte mortem sumpsisse confingeret.

At that utterance Nero declares that on that very day imperium is being given to himself and that the author of so great a service is a freedman: let him go quickly and lead the readiest men to execute the orders. He himself, on hearing that Agermus, a messenger sent by Agrippina, had arrived, prepares a stage-scene of a charge on his own initiative, and, while he is delivering the mandates, he throws a sword between his feet; then, as though he had been caught in the act, he orders bonds to be flung upon him, so that he might fabricate the story that his mother had contrived the emperor’s destruction, and, from shame at the detected crime, had taken death of her own accord.

[8] Interim vulgato Agrippinae periculo, quasi casu evenisset, ut quisque acceperat, decurrere ad litus. hi molium obiectus, hi proximas scaphas scandere; alii, quantum corpus sinebat, vadere in mare; quidam manus protendere. questibus votis clamore diversa rogitantium aut incerta respondentium omnis ora compleri; adfluere ingens multitudo cum luminibus, atque ubi incolumem esse pernotuit, ut ad gratandum sese expedire, donec adspectu armati et minitantis agminis deiecti sunt.

[8] Meanwhile, with Agrippina’s danger published abroad, as if it had happened by chance, as each had heard it, they ran down to the shore. These mounted the projections of the piers, those climbed the nearest skiffs; others, as far as the body allowed, waded into the sea; certain men stretched forth their hands. With laments, vows, the clamor of those asking diverse questions or of those giving uncertain replies, the whole shore was filled; a huge multitude flowed in with lights, and when it became thoroughly known that she was unscathed, they made themselves ready to offer congratulations, until they were cast down at the sight of an armed and threatening column.

Anicetus villam statione circumdat refractaque ianua obvios servorum abripit, donec ad fores cubiculi veniret; cui pauci adstabant, ceteris terrore inrumpentium exterritis. cubiculo modicum lumen inerat et ancillarum una, magis ac magis anxia Agrippina, quod nemo a filio ac ne Agermus quidem: aliam fore laetae rei faciem; nunc solitudinem ac repentinos strepitus et extremi mali indicia. abeunte dehinc ancilla, "tu quoque me deseris?" prolocuta respicit Anicetum, trierarcho Herculeio et Obarito centurione classiario comitatum: ac si ad visendum venisset, refotam nuntiaret, sin facinus patraturus, nihil se de filio credere; non imperatum parricidium.

Anicetus encircles the villa with a station, and the door having been broken open he seizes the servants he meets, until he should come to the doors of the bedroom; before which a few were standing, the rest terrified by the terror of those bursting in. In the bedroom there was a slight light and one of the maidservants, Agrippina more and more anxious, because no one from her son had come, not even Agermus: a happy matter would have had a different face; now there was solitude and sudden noises and the indices of an ultimate evil. The maidservant then departing, “you too desert me?” having spoken, she catches sight of Anicetus, accompanied by the trierarch Herculeius and Obaritus a fleet-centurion: and if he had come to see her, let him report her refreshed; but if he was going to perpetrate a facinus, she believed nothing of this about her son; parricide had not been commanded.

circumsistunt lectum percussores et prior trierarchus fusti caput eius adflixit. iam [in] morte[m] centurioni ferrum destringenti protendens uterum "ventrem feri" exclamavit multisque vulneribus confecta est.

They surround the bed, the assassins, and first the trierarch with a club dashed her head. Already [to] death, to the centurion drawing the iron, stretching out her womb she cried out, "Strike the belly!" and she was finished off with many wounds.

[9] Haec consensu produntur. aspexeritne matrem exanimem Nero et formam corporis eius laudaverit, sunt qui tradiderint, sunt qui abnuant. cremata est nocte eadem convivali lecto et exequiis vilibus; neque, dum Nero rerum potiebatur, congesta est aut clausa humus.

[9] These things are put forth by consensus. Whether Nero looked upon his mother lifeless and praised the form of her body, there are those who have transmitted it, there are those who deny it. She was cremated the same night on a convivial couch and with paltry exequies; nor, while Nero held power, was the soil heaped up or closed.

mox domesticorum cura levem tumulum accepit, viam Miseni propter et villam Caesaris dictatoris, quae subiectos sinus editissima prospectat. accenso rogo libertus eius cognomento Mnester [se] ipse ferro transegit, incertum caritate in patronam an metu exitii. hunc sui finem multos ante annos crediderat Agrippina contempseratque.

soon by the care of the domestics she received a modest mound,
near the road of Misenum and the villa of Caesar the Dictator, which, being most elevated, looks out over the bays lying below.
When the pyre was kindled, her freedman by the cognomen Mnester ran himself through with steel,
uncertain whether from charity toward his patroness or from fear of ruin. Many years before Agrippina had believed this would be her end and had contemned it.

nam consulenti super Nerone responderunt Chaldaei fore ut imperaret matremque occideret; atque illa "occidat" inquit, "dum imperet."

for, upon consulting about Nero, the Chaldaeans replied that he would rule and would kill his mother; and she said, "let him kill [me], so long as he rule."

[10] Sed a Caesare perfecto demum scelere magnitudo eius intellecta est. reliquo noctis modo per silentium defixus, saepius pavore exsurgens et mentis inops lucem opperiebatur tamquam exitium adlaturam. atque eum auctore Burro prima centurionum tribunorumque adulatio ad spem firmavit, prensantium manum gratantiumque, quod discrimen improvisum et matris facinus evasisset.

[10] But only when the crime had at last been completed by the Caesar was its magnitude understood. For the rest of the night, now fixed in silence, again and again starting up in terror and bereft of mind,
he awaited the light as though it were going to bring destruction. And, with Burrus as instigator, the first flattery of the centurions and tribunes strengthened him to hope, as they grasped his hand
and offered congratulations, on the ground that he had escaped the unforeseen crisis and his mother’s crime.

amici dehinc adire templa, et coepto exemplo proxima Campaniae municipia victimis et legationibus laetitiam testari: ipse diversa simulatione maestus et quasi incolumitati suae infensus ac morti parentis inlacrimans. quia tamen non, ut hominum vultus, ita locorum facies mutantur, obversabaturque maris illius et litorum gravis adspectus (et erant qui crederent sonitum tubae collibus circum editis planctusque tumulo matris audiri), Neapolim concessit litterasque ad senatum misit, quarum summa erat repertum cum ferro percussorem Agermum, ex intimis Agrippinae libertis, et luisse eam poenam conscientia, qua[si] scelus paravisset.

his friends then to go to the temples, and, the example once begun, the nearest municipalities of Campania to attest their joy with victims and delegations: he himself, with a contrary simulation, mournful and as if hostile to his own safety, and weeping over his parent’s death. because, however, not, as men’s faces, so the aspect of places is changed, and the grim sight of that sea and those shores kept presenting itself (and there were those who believed that the sound of a trumpet on the hills raised round about and lamentations at his mother’s tomb were heard), he withdrew to Naples and sent a letter to the senate, the sum of which was that an assailant, Agermus, had been found with a blade, from the most intimate freedmen of Agrippina, and that she had paid the penalty by her conscience, as if she had prepared the crime.

[11] Adiciebat crimina longius repetita, quod consortium imperii iuraturasque in feminae verba praetorias cohortes idemque dedecus senatus et populi speravisset, ac postquam frustra [h]abita sit, infensa militi patribusque et plebi dissuasisset donativum et congiarium periculaque viris inlustribus struxisset. quanto suo labore perpetratum, ne inrumperet curiam, ne gentibus externis responsa daret! temporum quoque Claudianorum obliqua insectatione cuncta eius dominationis flagitia in matrem transtulit, publica fortuna exstinctam referens.

[11] He was adding charges carried back further, that she had hoped for a partnership in imperium and that the praetorian cohorts would swear oaths in a woman’s words, and the same disgrace for the Senate and People; and that after this had been attempted in vain, being hostile to the soldiery, to the fathers, and to the plebs, she had dissuaded the donative and the congiary and had contrived dangers for illustrious men. By how much of his own toil it had been effected that she not burst into the Curia, that she not give responses to foreign nations! With an oblique inveighing, too, against the times of Claudius, he transferred all the disgraces of that domination onto his mother, alleging that she had been extinguished for the public fortune.

namque et naufragium narrabat: quod fortuitum fuisse, quis adeo hebes inveniretur, ut crederet? aut a muliere naufraga missum cum telo unum, qui cohortes et classes imperatoris perfringeret? ergo non iam Nero, cuius immanitas omnium questus anteibat, sed Seneca adverso rumore erat, quod oratione tali confessionem scripsisset.

for he also was narrating a shipwreck: that it had been fortuitous—who would be found so dull as to believe it? or that from a shipwrecked woman there was sent a single man with a weapon to break through the emperor’s cohorts and fleets? therefore it was no longer Nero—whose immanity outstripped everyone’s complaints—but Seneca who was under hostile rumor, because by such an oration he had written a confession.

[12] Miro tamen certamine procerum decernuntur supplicationes apud omnia pulvinaria, utque Quinquatrus, quibus apertae insidiae essent, ludis annuis celebrarentur, aureum Minervae simulacrum in curia et iuxta principis imago statuerentur, dies natalis Agrippinae inter nefastos esset. Thrasea Paetus silentio vel brevi adsensu priores adulationes transmittere solitus exi[i] tum senatu, ac sibi causam periculi fecit, ceteris libertatis initium non praebuit. prodigia quoque crebra et inrita intercessere: anguem enixa mulier, et alia in concubitu mariti fulmine exanimata; iam sol repente obscuratus et tactae de caelo quattuordecim urbis regiones.

[12] With a marvellous rivalry of the nobles, however, supplications are decreed at all the pulvinars, and that the Quinquatrus, on which the ambushes had been laid open, be celebrated with yearly games, that a golden simulacrum of Minerva in the Curia and, next to it, an image of the princeps be set up, that the birthday of Agrippina be among the nefasti. Thrasea Paetus, who was accustomed to pass over earlier flatteries by silence or brief assent, went out of the senate, and made for himself a cause of peril, nor did he afford to the rest a beginning of liberty. Prodigies too, frequent and ineffectual, intervened: a woman bore a serpent, and another, in intercourse with her husband, was struck dead by lightning; already the sun was suddenly obscured, and fourteen regions of the city were struck from the sky.

quae adeo sine cura deum eveniebant, ut multos post[ea] annos Nero imperium et scelera continuaverit. ceterum quo gravaret invidiam matris eaque demota auctam lenitatem suam testificaretur, feminas inlustres Iuniam et Calpurniam, praetura functos Valerium Capitonem et Licinium Gabolum sedibus patriis reddidit, ab Agrippina olim pulsos. etiam Lolliae Paulinae cineres reportari sepulcrumque exstrui permisit; quosque ipse nuper relegaverat Iturium et Calvisium poena exsolvit.

which were indeed happening so without the care of the gods that for many years afterward Nero continued his imperium and his crimes. But, in order to aggravate the odium of his mother and, she being set aside, to testify to his augmented lenity, he restored to their ancestral seats the illustrious women Junia and Calpurnia, and Valerius Capito and Licinius Gabolus, who had discharged the praetorship, once driven out by Agrippina. He even permitted the ashes of Lollia Paulina to be brought back and a sepulcher to be constructed; and he released from punishment Iturius and Calvisius, whom he himself had recently relegated.

nam Silana fato functa erat, longinquo ab exilio Tarentum regressa labante iam Agrippina, cuius inimicitiis conciderat, vel [tamen] mitigata.

for Silana had fulfilled her fate, having returned to Tarentum from far exile, with Agrippina now tottering—by whose enmities she had fallen—or [however] mitigated.

[13] Cunctari tamen in oppidis Campaniae, quonam modo urbem ingrederetur, an obsequium senatus, an studia plebis reperiret anxius. contra deterrimus quisque, quorum non alia regia fecundior extitit, invisum Agrippinae nomen et morte eius accensum populi favorem disserunt: iret intrepidus et venerationem sui coram experiretur; simul praegredi exposcunt. et promptiora quam promiserant inveniunt, obvias tribus, festo cultu senatum, coniugum ac liberorum agmina per sexum et aetatem disposita, exstructos, qua incederet, spectaculorum gradus, quo modo triumphi visuntur.

[13] Nevertheless he lingered in the towns of Campania, anxious in what way he should enter the city, whether he would find the deference of the senate or the enthusiasms of the plebs. By contrast, each of the very worst men—of whom no other royal court has proved more fecund—argue that the name of Agrippina was hateful and that by her death the people’s favor had been inflamed: let him go intrepid and test face-to-face the veneration of himself; at the same time they demand to go on ahead. And they find things readier than they had promised: the tribes meeting him, the senate in festal attire, bands of wives and children arrayed by sex and age, viewing-tiers erected along the route by which he would advance, in the way triumphs are beheld.

hinc superbus ac publici servitii victor Capitolium adiit, grates exsolvit, seque in omnes libidines effudit, quas male coercitas qualiscumque matris reverentia tardaverat.

from here, proud and a victor over public servitude he approached the Capitol, paid thanks, and poured himself out into all lusts, which, badly restrained, whatever reverence for his mother had delayed.

[14] Vetus illi cupido erat curriculo quadrigarum insistere, nec minus foedum studium cithara ludicrum in modum canere. concertare [e]quis regium et antiquis ducibus factitatum memora[ba]t, idque vatum laudibus celebre et deorum honori datum. enimvero cantus Apollini sacros, talique ornatu adstare non modo Graecis in urbibus, sed Romana apud templa numen praecipuum et praescium.

[14] An old desire was his to take his stand on the race-course with a quadriga, and no less a disgraceful zeal to sing to the cithara in the fashion of a ludic performance. He would recount that competing with horses was a royal thing and a thing frequently done by ancient leaders, and that this was celebrated in the praises of bards and assigned to the honor of the gods. Indeed, that songs are sacred to Apollo, and that to stand with such adornment was not only in Greek cities, but that at Roman temples too the divine numen is preeminent and prescient.

nec iam sisti poterat, cum Senecae ac Burro visum, ne utraque pervinceret, alterum concedere. clausumque valle Vaticana spatium, in quo equos regeret, haud promisco spectaculo. mox ultro vocari populus Romanus laudibusque extollere, ut est vulgus cupiens voluptatum et, se eodem princeps trahat, laetum.

and now he could no longer be stayed, whereupon it seemed to Seneca and Burrus, lest he prevail in both, to concede the one: an area enclosed in the Vatican valley in which he might rein horses, not for a promiscuous spectacle. Soon, of their own accord, the Roman people called for him and exalted him with praises, as the crowd is wont—desiring voluptuous pleasures and, when the princeps draws himself to the same, elated.

ceterum evulgatus pudor non satietatum, ut rebantur, sed incitamentum attulit. ratusque dedecus moliri, si plures foedasset, nobilium familiarum posteros egestate venales in scaenam deduxit; quos fato perfunctos ne nominatim tradam, maioribus eorum tribuendum puto. [nam et eius flagitium est, qui pecuniam ob delicta potius dedit, quam ne delinquerent.] notos quoque equites Romanos operas arenae promittere subegit donis ingentibus, nisi quod merces ab eo, qui iubere potest, vim necessitatis adfert.

however the published shame
brought not satiety, as they supposed, but incitement. And thinking to manage the disgrace, if
he had defiled more, he led the descendants of noble families, made saleable by indigence, onto the stage;
those who, since they have discharged their fate, I think should be spared that I not record them by name—it is due to their ancestors. [for
it is also a scandal of the man who gave money on account of delicts rather than that they not offend.]
he also compelled well-known Roman equestrians to promise services for the arena by huge gifts,
except that pay from one who can command brings the force of necessity.

[15] Ne tamen adhuc publico theatro dehonestaretur, instituit ludos Iuvenalium vocabulo, in quos passim nomina data. non nobilitas cuiquam, non aetas aut acti honores impedimento, quo minus Graeci Latinive histrionis artem exercerent usque ad gestus modosque haud viriles. quin et feminae inlustres deformia meditari; exstructaque apud nemus, quod navali stagno circumposuit Augustus, conventicula et cauponae et posita veno inritamenta luxui.

[15] Nevertheless, lest as yet he be dishonored in a public theater, he instituted games by the appellation Juvenalia, into which names were entered everywhere. Neither nobility for anyone, nor age or honors already held were an impediment to Greeks or Latins exercising the art of the histrion, down to gestures and modes hardly virile. Nay even illustrious women rehearsed disgraceful things; and, by the grove which Augustus set around the naval basin, conventicles and taverns were erected, and incitements to luxury were set up for sale.

dabantur stipes, quas boni necessitate, intemperantes gloria consumerent. inde gliscere flagitia et infamia, nec ulla moribus olim corruptis plus libidinum circumdedit quam illa conluvies. vix artibus honestis pudor retinetur, nedum inter certamina vitiorum pudicitia aut modestia aut quicquam probi moris reservaretur.

Alms were being given, which the good consumed from necessity, the intemperate squandered for glory. Thence flagitious deeds and infamy swelled, nor did anything, for morals once corrupted, surround them with more libidinous indulgences than that filthy rabble. Scarcely is modesty restrained by honorable arts, much less, amid contests of vices, was chastity or modesty or anything of probity in conduct preserved.

postremus ipse scaenam incedit, multa cura temptans citharam et praemeditans adsistentibus ph[on]ascis. accesserat cohors militum, centuriones tribunique et maerens Burrus ac laudans. tuncque primum conscripti sunt equites Romani cognomento Augustianorum, aetate ac robore conspicui, et pars ingenio procaces, alii in spe[m] potentiae.

last of all he himself advances onto the stage, with much care
testing the cithara and rehearsing, the voice-trainers standing by. A cohort
of soldiers had come up, centurions and tribunes, and Burrus grieving yet praising.
And then for the first time Roman equestrians were enrolled by the cognomen “Augustians,” conspicuous
for age and strength; and some were forward by disposition, others in the hope of power.

ii dies ac noctes plausibus personare, formam principis vocemque deum vocabulis appellantes; quasi per virtutem clari honoratique agere.

2 days and nights they made it resound with applause calling the prince’s form and voice by the vocables of gods; as though through virtue they acted as renowned and honored men.

[16] Ne tamen ludicrae tantum imperatoris artes notescerent, carminum quoque studium adfectavit, contractis quibus aliqua pangendi facultas necdum insignis aestimatio. hi considere simul, et adlatos vel ibidem repertos versus conectere atque ipsius verba quoquo modo prolata supplere. quod species ipsa carminum docet, non impetu et instinctu nec ore uno fluens.

[16] Lest, however, only the emperor’s ludic/theatrical arts be known, he also affected a study of songs/poetry, having gathered men who had some faculty of composing, though as yet no distinguished estimation. These would sit down together, and connect verses brought along or found on the spot, and supply his words however they had been uttered. Which the very form/aspect of the poems shows, not flowing by impetus and instinct nor from a single mouth.

etiam sapientiae doctoribus tempus impertiebat post epulas, utque contraria adseverantium discordia frueretur. nec deerant qui ore vultuque tristi inter oblectamenta regia spectari cuperent.

He also imparted time to the doctors of wisdom
after the banquets, so that he might enjoy the discord of those asserting contraries. Nor
were there lacking those who wished to be seen with a sad mouth and countenance amid the regal amusements.

[17] Sub idem tempus levi initio atrox caedes orta inter colonos Nucerinos Pompeianosque gladiatorio spectaculo, quod Livineius Regulus, quem motum senatu rettuli, edebat. quippe oppidana lascivia in vicem incessente[s] probra, dein saxa, postremo ferrum sumpsere, validiore Pompeianorum plebe, apud quos spectaculum edebatur. ergo deportati sunt in urbem multi e Nucerinis trunco per vulnera corpore, ac plerique liberorum aut parentum mortes deflebant.

[17] About the same time, from a light beginning a savage slaughter arose between the colonists of Nuceria and the Pompeians at a gladiatorial spectacle, which Livineius Regulus, whom I reported as removed from the Senate, was producing. Indeed, with urban wantonness, as insults were leveled in turn, then they took up stones, and at last steel, the plebs of the Pompeians being the stronger, among whom the spectacle was being held. Therefore many of the Nucerini were carried into the city with their body maimed by wounds, and a great many were bewailing the deaths of children or parents.

cuius rei iudicium princeps senatui, senatus consulibus permisit. et rursus re ad patres relata, prohibiti publice in decem annos eius modi coetu Pompeiani collegiaque, quae contra leges instituerant, dissoluta; Livineius et qui alii seditionem conciverant exilio multati sunt.

the judgment of this matter the princeps
entrusted to the senate, and the senate to the consuls. And again, the matter having been referred to the Fathers, the Pompeians were officially prohibited for
ten years from an assembly of that kind, and the collegia which they had established contrary to the laws were
dissolved; Livineius and the others who had stirred up the sedition were punished with exile.

[18] Motus senatu et Pedius Blaesus, accusantibus Cyrenensibus violatum ab eo thesaurum Aesculapii dilectumque militarem pretio et ambitione corruptum. idem Cyrenenses reum agebant Acilium Strabonem, praetoria potestate usum et missum disceptatorem a Claudio agrorum, quos regis Apionis quondam avitos et populo Romano cum regno relictos proximus quisque possessor invaserat, diutinaque licentia et iniuria quasi iure et aequo nitebantur. igitur abiudicatis agris orta adversus iudicem invidia; et senatus ignota sibi esse mandata Claudii et consulendum principem respondit.

[18] Action was taken in the senate also against Pedius Blaesus, the Cyrenaeans accusing that the treasury of Aesculapius had been violated by him and the military levy corrupted by price and ambition. The same Cyrenaeans were prosecuting Acilius Strabo, who had exercised praetorian power and had been sent by Claudius as an arbitrator of the lands which, once ancestral to King Apion and left with the kingdom to the Roman people, each nearest possessor had encroached upon, and by long license and injury they were pressing their claim as if by right and equity. Therefore, the lands having been adjudicated away, ill-will arose against the judge; and the senate replied that the mandates of Claudius were unknown to it and that the emperor must be consulted.

Ne[ro], probata Strabonis sententia, se nihilo minus subvenire sociis et usurpata concedere [re]scripsit.

Ne[ro], with Strabo’s opinion approved, [re]wrote that nonetheless he would come to the aid of the allies and concede the usurped properties.

[19] Sequuntur virorum inlustrium mortes, Domitii Afri et M. Servilii, qui summis honoribus et multa eloquentia viguerant, ille orando causas, Servilius diu foro, mox tradendis rebus Romanis celebris et elegantia vitae, quod clariorem effecit, ut par ingenio, ita morum diversus.

[19] The deaths of illustrious men follow, Domitius Afer and Marcus Servilius, who had flourished with the highest honors and much eloquence: the former by pleading causes; Servilius, long in the forum, then celebrated for handing down Roman affairs, and for elegance of life—which made him the more renowned—in that, while equal in talent, he was yet different in character.

[20] Nerone quartum Cornelio Cosso consulibus quinquennale ludicrum Romae institutum est ad morum Graeci certaminis, varia fama, ut cunta ferme nova. quippe erant qui Cn. quoque Pompeium incusatum a senioribus ferrent, quod mansuram theatri sedem posuisset. nam antea subitariis gradibus et scaena in tempus structa ludos edi solitos, vel si vetustiora repetas, stantem populum spectavisse, [ne], si consideret theatro, dies totos ignavia continuaret.

[20] In the consulship of Nero for the 4th time and of Cornelius Cossus, a quinquennial spectacle was instituted at Rome in the manner of a Greek contest, with varying report, as with almost all novelties. For there were those who would assert that Gnaeus Pompeius too had been reproached by the elders, because he had set up a seating of the theater to be permanent. For previously, with makeshift tiers and a stage built for the occasion, shows were accustomed to be put on; or, if you recur to more ancient times, the people looked on standing, [lest], if it should take seats in a theater, it would prolong whole days in idleness.

[ne] spectaculorum quidem antiquitas servaretur, quotiens praetor sederet, nulla cuiquam civium necessitate certandi. ceterum abolitos paulatim patrios mores funditus everti per accitam lasciviam, ut, quod usquam corrumpi et corrumpere queat, in urbe visatur, degeneretque studiis externis iuventus, gymnasia et otia et turpes amores exercendo, principe et senatu auctoribus, qui non modo licentiam vitiis permiserint, sed vim adhibeant, [ut] proceres Romani specie orationum et carminum scaena polluantur. quid superesse, nisi ut corpora quoque nudent et caestus adsumant easque pugnas pro militia et armis meditentur?

[ne] nor indeed was the antiquity of spectacles preserved, whenever the praetor took his seat, with no necessity for any citizen to contend. but the ancestral mores, gradually abolished, are being utterly overthrown through imported lasciviousness, so that whatever anywhere can be corrupted and corrupt, is seen in the city, and the youth degenerates with foreign studies, exercising gymnasia and leisures and base loves, with the princeps and the senate as authorities, who not only have permitted license to vices, but apply force, [ut] that Roman nobles, under the guise of speeches and songs, be defiled by the stage. what remains, except that they also strip their bodies and take up the caestus, and practice those fights in place of military service and arms?

an iustitiam auctum iri et decurias equitum egregium iudicandi munus [melius] expleturos, si fractos sonos et dulcedinem vocum perite audissent? noctes quoque dedecori adiectas, ne quod tempus pudori relinquatur, sed coetu promisco, quod perditissimus quisque per diem concupiverit, per tenebras audeat.

Or that justice will be increased and the decuries of the equestrians will [better] fulfill the distinguished duty of judging, if they have skillfully listened to broken notes and the sweetness of voices? Nights too have been added to disgrace, so that no time is left to modesty, but, with a promiscuous gathering, that whatever each most profligate person has coveted by day, he may dare through the darkness.

[21] Pluribus ipsa licentia placebat, ac tamen honesta nomina praetendebant. maiores quoque non abhorruisse spectaculorum oblectamentis pro fortuna, quae tu[m] erat, eoque a Tuscis accitos histriones, a Thuriis equorum certamina; et possessa Achaia Asiaque ludos curatius editos, nec quemquam Romae honesto loco ortum ad theatrales artes degeneravisse, ducentis iam annis a L. Mummi triumpho, qui primus id genus spectaculi in urbe praebuerit. sed et consultum parsimoniae, quod perpetua sedes theatro locata sit potius, quam immenso sumptu singulos per annos consurgeret ac [de]strueretur.

[21] To more people license itself was pleasing, and yet they were putting forward honorable names. The ancestors too had not shuddered at the entertainments of spectacles according to the condition which then was, and for that reason actors were summoned from the Tuscans, horse contests from Thurii; and, when Achaia and Asia were possessed, games were produced more carefully; nor had anyone at Rome born in an honorable station degenerated into theatrical arts, though it was now two hundred years since the triumph of L. Mummius, who first provided that kind of spectacle in the city. But also regard was had for parsimony, in that a perpetual seat was assigned for the theater, rather than that at immense expense it should each single year rise up and be torn down.

nec perinde magistratus rem familiarem exhausturos aut populo efflagitandi Graeca certamina [a] magistratibus causam fore, cum eo sumptu res publica fungatur. oratorum ac vatum victorias incitamentum ingeniis adlaturas; nec cuiquam iudici grave aures studiis honestis et voluptatibus concessis impertire. laetitiae magis quam lasciviae dari paucas totius quinquennii noctes, quibus tanta luce ignium nihil inlicitum occultari queat.

nor in like manner would the magistrates
exhaust their private estate, nor would there be for the people a cause of demanding Greek contests from the [a] magistrates,
since the commonwealth would bear that expense. The victories of orators and poets
would bring an incitement to ingenuity; nor would it be burdensome for any judge to lend his ears to honorable studies and
permitted pleasures. Rather to joy than to wantonness are given a few nights of the whole
five-year period, on which, with such great light of fires, nothing illicit could be concealed.

sane nullo insigni dehonestamento id spectaculum transi[i]t. ac ne modica quidem studia plebis exarsere, quid redditi quamquam scaenae pantomimi certaminibus sacris prohibebantur. eloquentiae primas nemo tulit, sed victorem esse Caesarem pronuntiatum. Graeci amictus, quis per eos dies plerique incesserant, tum exoleverunt.

indeed that spectacle passed with no notable discredit. and not even moderate enthusiasms of the plebs flared up, although the pantomimes, restored to the stage, were prohibited by the sacred competitions. no one carried off the first place for eloquence, but it was proclaimed that Caesar was the victor. the Greek garments, in which during those days many had been walking about, then fell out of use.

[22] Inter quae sidus cometes effulsit, de quo vulgi opinio est, tamquam mutationem regis portendat. igitur, quasi iam depulso Nerone, quisnam deligeretur anquirebant. et omnium ore Rubellius Plautus celebra[ba]tur, cui nobilitas per matrem ex Iulia familia.

[22] Among which a comet-star flashed forth, about which the opinion of the crowd is, as though
it portends a change of king. Therefore, as if Nero had already been driven out, they were inquiring who might be chosen.
And on everyone’s lips Rubellius Plautus was being celebrated, to whom nobility came through his mother
from the Julian family.

ipse placita maiorum colebat, habitu severo, casta et secreta domo, quantoque metu occultior, tanto plus famae adeptus. auxit rumorem pari vanitate orta interpretatio fulguris. nam quia discumbentis Neronis apud Simbruina stagna [in villa], cui Sublaqueum nomen est, ictae dapes mensaque disiecta erat, idque finibus Tiburtum acciderat, unde paterna Plauto origo, hunc illum numine deum destinari credebant, fovebantque multi, quibus nova et ancipitia praecolere avida et plerumque fallax ambitio est.

he himself cultivated the ancestral precepts, with a severe habit, and a chaste and secluded household; and the more hidden he was through fear, so much the more of fame he acquired. A construction of lightning, arisen with equal vanity, increased the rumor. For because, at the Simbruine pools [in the villa] whose name is Sublaqueum, the feast of Nero as he reclined had been struck and the table scattered, and this had occurred within the borders of the Tiburtines, whence the paternal origin of Plautus, they believed that this very man was being destined by the numen of the gods; and many were fostering it, whose ambition—eager to pre-cultivate novelties and uncertainties, and for the most part fallacious—[it] is.

ergo permotus his Nero componit ad Plautum litteras, consuleret quieti urbis seque prava diffamantibus subtraheret: esse illi per Asiam avitos agros, in quibus tuta et inturbida iuventa frueretur. ita illuc cum coniuge Antistia et paucis familiarium concessit.] Isdem diebus nimia luxus cupido infamiam et periculum Neroni tulit, quia fontem aquae Marciae ad urbem deductae nando incesserat; videbaturque potus sacros et caerimoniam loci corpore loto polluisse. secutaque anceps valitudo iram deum adfirmavit.

therefore, moved by these things, Nero composes letters to Plautus, that he should consult the quiet of the city and withdraw himself from those defaming him with depraved charges: that he had ancestral fields throughout Asia, in which he might enjoy a safe and untroubled youth. thus he withdrew thither with his spouse Antistia and a few familiars.] In the same days an excessive desire for luxury brought infamy and peril to Nero, because he had trespassed by swimming upon the spring of the Aqua Marcia, led to the city; and he seemed to have polluted the sacred draughts and the ceremony of the place with his washed body. and a subsequent precarious health confirmed the wrath of the gods.

[23] At Corbulo post deleta Artaxata utendum recenti terrore ratus ad occupanda Tigranocerta, quibus excisis metum hostium intenderet vel, si pepercisset, clementiae famam adipisceretur, illuc pergit, non infenso exercitu, ne spem veniae auferret, neque tamen remissa cura, gnarus facilem mutatu gentem, ut segnem ad pericula, ita infidam ad occasiones. barbari, pro ingenio quisque, alii preces offerre, quidam deserere vicos in avia digredi; ac fuere qui se speluncis et carissima secum abderent. igitur dux Romanus diversis artibus, misericordia adversum supplices, celeritate adversus profugos, immitis iis, qui latebras insederant, ora et exitus specuum sarmentis virgultisque completos igni exurit.

[23] But Corbulo, after Artaxata had been destroyed, thinking he should make use of the recent terror for the seizing of Tigranocerta—by the razing of which he would intensify the fear of the enemies, or, if he spared it, he would acquire the fame of clemency—proceeds thither, not with a hostile army, lest he remove the hope of pardon, nor yet with vigilance relaxed, knowing the nation to be easy to change—just as it is sluggish toward dangers, so is it untrustworthy at opportunities. The barbarians, each according to his disposition, some offered prayers; certain men abandoned their villages and went off into pathless places; and there were those who hid themselves in caves, their dearest possessions with them. Therefore the Roman leader, by diverse arts—merciful toward suppliants, swift against fugitives, pitiless toward those who had occupied hiding-places—burns with fire the mouths and exits of the caverns, packed with faggots and brushwood.

atque illum fines suos praegredientem incursavere Mardi, latrociniis exerciti contraque inrumpentem montibus defensi; quos Corbulo immissis Hiberis vastavit hostilemque audaciam externo sanguine ultus est.

and as he was advancing beyond their borders, the Mardi, trained in brigandage, made raids upon him, and, when he burst in against them, they were defended by the mountains; whom Corbulo, by letting in the Iberians, ravaged, and he avenged hostile audacity with foreign blood.

[24] Ipse exercitusque ut nullis ex proelio damnis, ita per inopiam et labores fatiscebant, carne pecudum propulsare famem adacti. ad hoc penuria aquae, fervida aetas, longinqua itinera sola ducis patientia mitigabantur, eadem pluraque gregario milite toleranti[s]. ventum dehinc in locos cultos demessaeque segetes, et ex duobus castellis, in quae confugerant Armenii, alterum impetu captum; qui primam vim depulerant, obsidione coguntur. unde in regionem Tauraunitium transgressus improvisum periculum vitavit.

[24] He himself and the army, though with no losses from battle, were nevertheless growing weak through want and labors, driven to stave off hunger with the flesh of flocks. In addition, a scarcity of water, a burning season, and long journeys were mitigated only by the patience of the leader; the common soldier was enduring the same things and more. Thence they came into cultivated places and the crops had been reaped, and of the two forts into which the Armenians had fled, one was taken by assault; those who had driven off the first onrush are compelled by a siege. Whence, crossing into the region of the Tauraunitians, he avoided an unforeseen danger.

nam haud procul tentorio eius non ignobilis barbarus cum telo repertus ordinem insidiarum seque auctorem et socios per tormenta edidit, convictique et puniti sunt qui specie amicitiae dolum parabant. nec multo post legati Tigranocerta missi patere moenia adferunt, intentos populares ad iussa; simul hospitale donum, coronam auream, tradebant. accepitque cum honore, ne quicquam urbi detractum, quo promptius obsequium integri retinerent.

for not far from his tent a not ignoble barbarian,
found with a weapon, by torments disclosed the order of the ambush and that he himself was the author and his associates;
and they who under the appearance of friendship were preparing deceit were convicted and punished. Not long after, legates
sent from Tigranocerta bring word that the walls lie open, that the populace are intent upon orders; at the same time
they were handing over a hospitable gift, a golden crown. And he accepted it with honor, that nothing be detracted from the city,
whereby the intact might the more readily retain obedience.

[25] At praesidium Leger[d]a, quod ferox iuventus clauserat, non sine certamine expugnatum est; nam et proelium pro muris ausi erant et pulsi intra munimenta aggeri demum et inrumpentium armis cessere. quae facilius proveniebant, qui Parthi Hyrcano bello distinebantur. miserantque Hyrcani ad principem Romanum societatem oratum, attineri a se Vologaesen pro pignore amicitiae ostentante[s]. eos regredientes Corbulo, ne Euphraten transgressi hostium custodiis circumvenirentur, dato praesidio ad litora maris Rubri deduxit, unde vitatis Parthorum finibus patrias in sedes remeavere.

[25] But the garrison of Legerda, which a fierce youth had shut in, was not taken without contest; for they had dared a battle before the walls, and, driven within the defenses, at last at the rampart and by the weapons of the in-breakers they yielded. These things were coming about more easily, since the Parthians were occupied by the Hyrcanian war. And the Hyrcanians had sent to the Roman princeps to ask for alliance, displaying that Vologaeses was being held by them as a pledge of friendship. As they were returning, Corbulo, lest after crossing the Euphrates they be surrounded by enemy guards, with an escort given led them to the shores of the Red Sea, whence, the borders of the Parthians avoided, they returned to their ancestral seats.

[26] Quin et Tiridaten per Medos extrema Armeniae intrantem praemisso cum auxiliis Verulano legato atque ipse legionibus citis abire procul ac spem belli omittere subegit; quosque nobis aversos animis cognoverat, caedibus et incendiis perpopulatus possessionem Armeniae usurpabat, cum advenit Tigranes a Nerone ad capessendum imperium delectus, Cappadocum e nobilitate, regis Archelai nepos, sed quod diu obses apud urbem fuerat, usque ad servilem patientiam demissus. ne[c] consensu acceptus, durante apud quosdam favore Arsacidarum: at plerique superbiam Parthorum perosi datum a Romanis regem malebant. additum et praesidium, mille legionarii, tres sociorum cohortes duaeque equitum alae; et quo facilius novum regnum tueretur, pars Armeniae, ut cuique finitima, P[h]ar[a]s[ma]ni Pol[emon]ique et Aristobulo atque Antiocho parere iussae sunt.

[26] Moreover, he even forced Tiridates, entering the farthest parts of Armenia through the Medes, by sending the legate Verulanus ahead with auxiliaries and he himself with the legions in quick march, to withdraw far off and to abandon hope of war; and those whom he had recognized as averse to us in spirit, having laid waste with slaughters and burnings, he was usurping possession of Armenia, when there arrived Tigranes, chosen by Nero to take up the rule, from the nobility of the Cappadocians, grandson of King Archelaus, but, because he had long been a hostage at the City, reduced down to servile patience. Nor was he received with consensus, the favor of the Arsacids continuing among some; but the majority, detesting the superbia of the Parthians, preferred a king given by the Romans. A garrison also was added, a thousand legionaries, three cohorts of allies and two wings of horse; and that he might the more easily defend the new kingdom, a part of Armenia, as it bordered on each, was ordered to obey P[h]ar[a]s[ma]nes and Pol[emon] and Aristobulus and Antiochus.

Corbulo in Syriam abscessit, morte Ummidii legati vacuam ac sibi permissam.

Corbulo withdrew to Syria, vacant by the death of the legate Ummidius and permitted to him.

[27] Eodem anno ex inlustribus Asia urbibus Laodicea tremore terrae prolapsa nullo [a] nobis remedio propriis opibus revaluit. at in Italia vetus oppidum Puteoli ius coloniae et cognomentum a Nerone apiscuntur. veterani Tarentum et Antium adscripti non tamen infrequentiae locorum subvenere, dilapsis pluribus in provincias, in quibus stipendia expleverant; neque coniugiis suscipiendis neque alendis liberis sueti orbas sine posteris domos relinquebant.

[27] In the same year, of the illustrious cities of Asia, Laodicea, collapsed by an earthquake, with no remedy from us, by its own resources recovered its strength. but in Italy the old town of Puteoli obtains the right of a colony and a cognomen from Nero. veterans assigned to Tarentum and Antium did not, however, relieve the infrequency of the places, many having slipped away into the provinces in which they had completed their terms of service; and, unaccustomed to undertaking marriages or to rearing children, they were leaving homes bereft, without posterity.

non enim, ut olim, universae legiones deducebantur cum tribunis et centurionibus et sui cuiusque ordinis militibus, ut consensu et caritate rem publicam efficerent, sed ignoti inter se, diversis manipulis, sine rectore, sine adfectibus mutuis, quasi ex alio genere mortalium repente in unum collecti, numerus magis quam colonia.

for not, as once,
entire legions were led out with their tribunes and centurions and with soldiers of each one’s order, so that by consensus and charity they might make a commonwealth, but unknown to one another,
in different maniples, without a rector, without mutual affections, as if from another kind of
mortals suddenly collected into one, a number rather than a colony.

[28] Comitia praetorum arbitrio senatus haberi solita, quo[d] acriore ambitu exarserant, princeps composuit, tres, qui supra numerum petebant, legioni praeficiendo. auxitque patrum honorem statuendo ut, qui a privatis iudicibus ad senatum provocavissent, eiusdem pecuniae periculum facerent, cuius si qui imperatorem appellare[nt]; nam antea vacuum id solutumque poena fuerat. fine anni Vibius Secundus eques Romanus accusantibus Mauris repetundarum damnatur atque Italia exigitur, ne graviore poena adficeretur, Vibii Crispi fratris opibus enisus.

[28] The comitia of the praetors, accustomed to be held at the arbitration of the senate, which had blazed up with sharper canvassing, the princeps composed by placing in legionary command three who were seeking beyond the number. And he increased the honor of the Fathers by establishing that those who had appealed from private judges to the senate should undergo the same jeopardy as to the sum of money as would those who should appeal to the emperor; for previously that had been void and released from penalty. At the end of the year Vibius Secundus, a Roman eques, with the Moors prosecuting, was convicted of extortions and driven from Italy, lest he be affected by a heavier penalty, relying on the resources of his brother Vibius Crispus.

[29] Caesen[n]io Paeto et Petronio Turpiliano consulibus gravis clades in Britannia accepta; in qua neque A. Didius legatus, ut memoravi, nisi parta retinuerat, at successor Veranius, modicis excursibus Silu[r]as populatus, quin ultra bellum proferret, morte prohibitus est, magna, dum vixit, severitatis fama, supremis testamenti verbis ambitionis manifestus: quippe multa in Neronem adulatione addidit subiecturum ei provinciam fuisse, si biennio proximo vixisset. sed tum Paulinus Suetonius obtinebat Britannos, scientia militiae et rumore populi, qui neminem sine aemulo sinit, Corbulonis concertator, receptaeque Armeniae decus aequare domitis perduellibus cupiens. igitur Monam insulam, incolis validam et receptaculum perfugarum, adgredi parat, navesque fabricatur plano alveo adversus breve et incertum.

[29] With Caesennius Paetus and Petronius Turpilianus as consuls, a grievous calamity was sustained in Britain; in which A. Didius, the legate, as I have mentioned, had retained nothing save what had been gained, while his successor Veranius, having ravaged the Silures with moderate excursions, was prevented by death from carrying the war further, a man of great fame for severity while he lived, but in the last words of his will made manifest in ambition: for he added with much adulation toward Nero that he would have subjected the province to him, if he had lived for the next two years. But at that time Paulinus Suetonius was commanding in Britain, a man of knowledge in soldiery and, by the talk of the people—which suffers no one to be without a rival—a competitor of Corbulo, desiring to equal, by subduing traitorous enemies, the glory of Armenia recovered. Therefore he prepares to approach the island of Mona, strong in inhabitants and a refuge of fugitives, and he builds ships with a flat bottom against the shallow and uncertain waters.

sic pedes; equites vado secuti aut altiores inter undas adnantes equis tramisere.

thus the infantry; the cavalry, following by the ford, or at deeper points among the waves swimming alongside,
crossed over with their horses.

[30] Stabat pro litore diversa acies, densa armis virisque, intercursantibus feminis, [quae] in modum Furiarum veste ferali, crinibus disiectis faces praeferebant; Druidaeque circum, preces diras sublatis ad caelum manibus fundentes, novitate adspectus perculere militem, ut quasi haerentibus membris immobile corpus vulneribus praeberent. dein cohortationibus ducis et se ipsi stimulantes, ne muliebre et fanaticum agmen pavescerent, inferunt signa sternuntque obvios et igni suo involvunt. praesidium posthac impositum victis excisique luci saevis superstitionibus sacri: nam cruore captivo adolere aras et hominum fibris consulere deos fas habebant.

[30] There stood along the shore the opposing battle-line, dense with arms and men, with women running among them, [who], in the manner of the Furies, in funeral garb and with hair disheveled, were brandishing torches; and the Druids round about, pouring out dire prayers with hands raised to heaven, by the novelty of the sight struck the soldiers, so that, as if their limbs were stuck fast, they offered an immobile body to wounds. Then, by the exhortations of the leader and by urging themselves not to dread a womanly and fanatic throng, they advance the standards, cut down those who met them, and enwrap them in their own fire. Thereafter a garrison was imposed upon the conquered, and the groves, sacred to savage superstitions, were cut down: for they held it right by divine law to feed the altars with captive blood and to consult the gods by the entrails of humans.

haec agenti Suetonio repentina defectio provinciae nuntiatur.

To Suetonius, as he was doing these things, a sudden defection of the province is announced.

[31] Rex Icenorum Prasutagus, longa opulentia clarus, Caesarem heredem duasque filias scripserat, tali obsequio ratus regnumque et domum suam procul iniuria fore. quod contra vertit, adeo ut regnum per centuriones, domus per servos velut capta vastarentur. iam primum uxor eius Boudicca verberibus adfecta et filiae stupro violatae sunt; praecipui quique Icenorum, quasi cunctam regionem muneri accepissent, avitis bonis exuuntur, et propinqui regis inter mancipia habebantur.

[31] The king of the Iceni, Prasutagus, long renowned for opulence, had written Caesar as heir and his two daughters, thinking by such obsequy that his kingdom and his household would be far from injury. Which turned to the contrary, to such a degree that the kingdom was ravaged by centurions, the house by slaves, as though captured. To begin with, his wife Boudicca was afflicted with lashes, and the daughters were violated by stuprum; and each of the leading men of the Iceni, as if they had received the whole region as a gift, were stripped of their ancestral goods, and the kinsmen of the king were held among the mancipia.

qua contumelia et metu graviorum, quando in formam provinciae cesserant, rapiunt arma, commotis ad rebellationem Trinovantibus et qui alii nondum servitio fracti resumere libertatem occultis coniurationibus pepigerant, acerrimo in veteranos odio. quippe in coloniam Camulodunum recens deducti pellebant domibus, exturbabant agris, captivos, servos appellando, foventibus impotentiam veteranorum militibus similitudine vitae et spe eiusdem licentiae. ad hoc templum divo Claudio constitutum quasi arx aeternae dominationibus adspiciebatur, delectique sacerdotes specie religionis omnes fortunas effundebant.

by this contumely and fear of graver things, since they had yielded into the form of a province, they snatch up arms, the Trinovantes being stirred to rebellion and the others who, not yet broken by servitude, had by secret conspiracies bargained to resume liberty, with the bitterest hatred against the veterans. For indeed, newly planted into the colony of Camulodunum, they were driving men from their homes, expelling them from their fields, calling them captives and slaves, the soldiers, by similarity of life and hope of the same licence, fostering the insolence of the veterans. In addition, the temple to the deified Claudius, established there, was regarded as a citadel of eternal domination, and the chosen priests, under the appearance of religion, were pouring out all their fortunes.

nec arduum videbatur exscindere coloniam nullis munimentis saeptam; quod ducibus nostris parum provisum erat, dum amoenitati prius quam usui consulitur.

nor did it seem arduous to extirpate the colony, enclosed by no fortifications; a thing too little foreseen by our leaders, while regard was paid to amenity rather than to utility.

[32] Inter quae nulla palam causa delapsum Camuloduni simulacrum Victoriae ac retro conversum, quasi cederet hostibus. et feminae in furore[m] turbatae adesse exitium canebant, externosque fremitus in curia eorum auditos, consonuisse ululatibus theatrum visamque speciem in aestuario Tamesae subversae coloniae; iam Oceanus cruento adspectu, ac labente aestu humanorum corporum effigies relictae, ut Britanni[s] ad spem, ita veterani[s] ad metum trahebantur. sed qua procul Suetonius aberat, petivere a Cato Deciano procuratore auxilium.

[32] Among which portents, with no public cause, the simulacrum of Victory at Camulodunum slipped down and was turned backward, as if it were yielding to the enemies. And women, disturbed into furor, were chanting that destruction was at hand, and strange rumblings were heard in their curia; the theatre had resounded with ululations, and an apparition was seen in the aestuary of the Thames of an overthrown colony. Already the Ocean had a bloody aspect, and as the tide ebbed, effigies of human bodies were left behind; so these things drew the Britons to hope, the veterans to fear. But since Suetonius was far away, they sought aid from the procurator Catus Decianus.

ille haud amplius quam ducentos sine iustis armis misit; et inerat modica militum manus. tutela templi freti, et impedientibus qui occulti rebellionis conscii consilia turbabant, neque fossam aut vallum praeduxerunt, neque motis senibus et feminis iuventus sola restitit: quasi media pace incauti multitudine barbarorum circumveniuntur. et cetera quidem impetu direpta aut incensa sunt: templum, in quo se miles conglobaverat, biduo obsessum expugnatumque.

he sent not more than two hundred without proper arms; and there was a modest band of soldiers. Relying on the protection of the temple, and with hindrances from those who, conscious of the covert rebellion, were disturbing the counsels, they drew neither fosse nor rampart in advance, nor, with the old men and women removed, did the youth alone make a stand: as if in the midst of peace, incautious, they are surrounded by the multitude of barbarians. And the rest indeed were plundered by onslaught or burned: the temple, in which the soldiery had massed itself, was besieged for two days and stormed.

et victor Britannus, Petil[l]o Ceriali, legato legionis nonae, in subsidium adventanti obvius, fudit legionem, et quod peditum interfecit: Cerialis cum equitibus evasit in castra et munimentis defensus est. qua clade et odiis provinciae, quam avaritia e[ius] in bellum egerat, trepidus procurator Catus in Galliam transiit.

and the Briton, victorious, meeting Petilius Cerialis, legate of the Ninth legion, as he was coming for relief, routed the legion, and killed whatever infantry there was; Cerialis with the cavalry escaped into the camp and was defended by the muniments. By this disaster and by the hatreds of the province, which his avarice had driven into war, the panic-stricken procurator Catus crossed over into Gaul.

[33] At Suetonius mira constantia medios inter hostes Londinium perrexit, cognomento quidem coloniae non insigne, sed copia negotiatorum et commeatuum maxime celebre. ibi ambiguus, an illam sedem bello deligeret, circumspecta infrequentia militis, satisque magnis documentis temeritatem Petil[l]ii coercitam, unius oppidi damno servare universa statuit. neque fletu et lacrimis auxilium eius orantium flexus est, quin daret profectionis signum et comitantes in partem agminis acciperet: si quos imbellis sexus aut fessa aetas vel loci dulcedo attinuerat, ab hoste oppressi sunt.

[33] But Suetonius, with wondrous constancy, went right through the midst of the enemies to Londinium, not distinguished indeed by the cognomen of a colony, but most celebrated for the abundance of merchants and supplies. There, uncertain whether he should choose that seat for war, after surveying the scantiness of soldiery, and with the rashness of Petillius sufficiently checked by ample proofs, he decided to preserve the whole by the loss of a single town. Nor was he moved by the weeping and tears of those begging his aid, but he gave the signal for departure and accepted those accompanying into a part of the marching column: if any were held back by the unwarlike sex or by wearied age or by the sweetness of the place, they were overwhelmed by the enemy.

eadem clades municipio Verulamio fuit, quia barbari omissis castellis praesidiisque militare [horre]um, quod uberrimum spoliant[i] et defendentibus intutum, laeti praeda et laborum segnes petebant. ad septuaginta milia civium et sociorum iis, quae memoravi, locis cecidisse constitit. neque enim capere aut venundare aliudve quod belli commercium, sed caedes patibula, ignes cruces, tamquam reddituri supplicium, at praerepta interim ultione, festinabant.

The same disaster befell the municipality of Verulamium, because the barbarians, abandoning forts and garrisons, were making for the military granary, which, richest for the plunderer and unsafe for the defenders, they sought, glad of booty and slack to labors. It was established that up to seventy thousand citizens and allies fell in those places which I have mentioned. For they did not take prisoners or vend them, nor anything else which is the commerce of war, but hurried to slaughter, gibbets, fires, crosses, as though about to render punishment, yet—with vengeance snatched in advance meanwhile—they hastened.

[34] Iam Suetonio quarta decima legio cum vexillariis vicesimanis et [e] proximis auxiliares, decem ferme milia armatorum, erant, cum omittere cunctationem et congredi acie parat. deligitque locum artis faucibus et a tergo silva clausum, satis cognito nihil hostium nisi in fronte et apertam planitiem esse, sine metu insidiarum. igitur legionarius frequens ordinibus, levis circum armatura, conglobatus pro cornibus eques astitit.

[34] By now Suetonius had the Fourteenth Legion with vexillaries of the Twentieth and auxiliaries from the nearest quarters, nearly ten thousand armed men, when he resolves to drop cunctation and to engage in battle-line. And he chooses a place shut in by narrow defiles and by a wood at the rear, having well ascertained that there was nothing of the enemy except in front and an open plain, without fear of ambushes. Therefore the legionary infantry, thick in the ranks, the light-armed arrayed around, the cavalry, massed, stood for the wings.

at Britannorum copiae passim per catervas et turmas exultabant, quanta non alias multitudo, et animo adeo fero[ci], ut coniuges quoque testes victoriae secum traherent plaustrisque imponerent, quae super extremum ambitum campi posuerant.

but the forces of the Britons everywhere were exulting in bands and squadrons, a multitude such as at no other time, and with a spirit so ferocious that they even dragged their wives along as witnesses of victory and set them upon wagons, which they had placed along the outermost ambit of the field.

[35] Boudicca curru filias prae se vehens, ut quamque nationem accesserat, solitum quidem Britannis feminarum ductu bellare testabatur, sed tunc non ut tantis maioribus ortam regnum et opes, verum ut unam e vulgo libertatem amissam, confectum verberibus corpus, contrectatam filiarum pudicitiam ulcisci. eo provectas Romanorum cupidines, ut non corpora, ne senectam quidem aut virginitatem impollutam relinquant. adesse tamen deos iustae vindictae; cecidisse legionem, quae proelium ausa sit; ceteros castris occultari aut fugam circumspicere.

[35] Boudicca, conveying her daughters before her in a chariot, as she approached each nation, was attesting that it was customary for the Britons to wage war under the leadership of women; but now she had come not, as one sprung from such great ancestors, to seek a kingdom and wealth, but, as one from the common crowd, to avenge lost liberty, a body worn out by lashings, the chastity of her daughters handled. To that point had the lusts of the Romans advanced, that they leave not bodies, not even old age or virginity, undefiled. Yet the gods of just vengeance are at hand; the legion which dared battle has fallen; the rest are hiding in their camps or looking around for flight.

ne strepitum quidem clamorem tot milium, nedum impetus et manus perlaturos. si copias armatorum, si causas belli secum expenderent, vincendum illa acie vel cadendum esse. id mulieri destinatum: viverent viri et servirent.

that they would not even endure the noise and clamor of so many thousands, still less the onrush and the hands; if they weighed with themselves the forces of the armed men, if the causes of the war, it was necessary to conquer in that battle-line or to fall. That was destined for a woman: let the men live and be slaves.

[36] Ne Suetonius quidem in tanto discrimine silebat. quam[quam] confideret virtuti, tamen exhortationes et preces miscebat, ut spernerent sonores barbarorum et inanes minas: plus illic feminarum quam iuventutis adspici. imbelles inermes cessuros statim, ubi ferrum virtutemque vincentium totiens fusi agnovissent.

[36] Not even Suetonius in so great a crisis was silent. Although he trusted in valor, yet he mingled exhortations and prayers, that they should spurn the sounds of the barbarians and their inane threats: that more of women than of youth was to be seen there. Unwarlike and unarmed, they would yield at once, when, so often routed, they had recognized the steel and the virtue of the conquerors.

etiam in multis legionibus paucos, qui proelia profligarent; gloriaque eorum accessurum, quod modica manus universi exercitus famam adipiscerentur. conferti tantum et pilis emissis post umbonibus et gladiis stragem caedemque continuarent, praedae immemores: parta victoria cuncta ipsis cessura. is ardor verba ducis sequebatur, ita se ad intorquenda pila expedierat vetus miles et multa proeliorum experientia, ut certus eventu[s] Suetonius daret pugnae signum.

even in many legions there were few who would decide the battles; and their glory would be increased, because a modest band would acquire the fame of the entire army. let them only be in close order, and, the pila having been sent, thereafter with the bosses of their shields and with their swords let them continue havoc and slaughter, forgetful of booty: with victory won, all things would cede to them. such ardor followed the leader’s words, the veteran soldier, with much experience of battles, had so made himself ready to hurl the pila, that Suetonius, certain of the outcome, gave the signal for battle.

[37] Ac primum legio gradu immota et angustias loci pro munimento retinens, postquam [in] propius suggressos hostes certo iactu tela exhauserat, velut cuneo erupit. idem auxiliarium impetus; et eques protentis hastis perfringit quod obvium et validum erat. ceteri terga praebuere, difficili effugio, quia circumiecta vehicula saepserant abitus.

[37] And at first the legion, unmoved in its step and holding the narrows of the place as a muniment,
kept its ground; after it had exhausted its missiles with a sure cast at the enemies who had advanced [in] closer, it burst forth as if in a wedge. The same was the onset of the auxiliaries; and the cavalry, with lances extended, broke through whatever was in the way and stout. The rest showed their backs, with flight difficult, because the vehicles set around had fenced off the exits.

et miles ne mulierum quidem neci temperabat, confixaque telis etiam iumenta corporum cumulum auxerant. clara et antiquis victoriis par ea die laus parta: quippe sunt qui paulo minus quam octoginta milia Britannorum cecidisse tradant, militum quadringentis ferme interfectis nec multo amplius vulneratis. Boudicca vitam veneno finivit.

and the soldiers did not refrain even from the killing of women, and even the beasts of burden, transfixed with missiles, had increased the heap of bodies. illustrious, and equal to the ancient victories, was the praise earned that day: for there are those who report that a little less than eighty thousand Britons fell, with about four hundred soldiers killed and not many more wounded. Boudicca ended her life by poison.

et Poenius Postumus, praefectus castrorum secundae legionis, cognitis quartadecimanorum vicesimanorumque prosperis rebus, quia pari gloria legionem suam fraudaverat abnueratque contra ritum militiae iussa ducis, se ipse gladio transegit.

and Poenius Postumus, prefect of the camp of the second legion, having learned of the prosperous affairs of the Fourteenth and Twentieth, because he had defrauded his own legion of equal glory and had refused, contrary to the rite of military service, the orders of the commander, he ran himself through with a sword.

[38] Contractus deinde omnis exercitus sub pellibus habitus est ad reliqua belli perpetranda. auxitque copias Caesar missis ex Germania duobus legionariorum milibus, octo auxiliarium cohortibus ac mille equitibus quorum adventu nonani legionario milite suppleti sunt. cohortes alaeque novis hibernaculis locatae, quodque nationum ambiguum aut adversum fuerat, igni atque ferro vastatum.

[38] Then the whole army, drawn together, was kept under tents to accomplish the remaining tasks of the war. And Caesar augmented the forces by sending from Germany two thousand legionary soldiers, eight cohorts of auxiliaries, and a thousand horsemen; by whose arrival the Ninth were supplied with legionary soldiery. The cohorts and alae were settled in new winter-quarters, and whatever among the nations had been ambiguous or adverse was laid waste with fire and iron.

sed nihil aeque quam fames adfligebat serendis frugibus incuriosos, et omni aetate ad bellum versa, dum nostros commeatus sibi destinant. gentesque praeferoces tardius ad pacem inclina[ba]nt, quia Iulius Classicianus, successor Cato missus et Suetonio discors, bonum publicum privatis simultatibus impediebat disperseratque novum legatum opperiendum esse, sine hostili ira et superbia victoris clementer deditis consulturum. simul in urbe[m] mandabat, nullum proelio[rum] finem exspectarent, nisi succederetur Suetonio, cuius adversa pravitati ipsius, prospera ad fortunam referebat.

but nothing so much
as famine was afflicting those careless for sowing grains, and with every age turned to war, while they assign our provisions to themselves. and the over-fierce peoples were slower to incline to peace,
because Julius Classicianus, sent as the successor of Catus and at variance with Suetonius,
was impeding the public good by private enmities and had spread the word that a new legate must be waited for, who, without hostile wrath and the pride of a victor, would consult kindly for those who had surrendered. at the same time he sent word to the city that they should expect no end of battles, unless
Suetonius were succeeded, whose adverse outcomes he was attributing to the man’s own depravity, successes to fortune.

[39] Igitur ad spectandum Britanniae statum missus est e libertis Polyclitus, magna Neronis spe posse auctoritate eius non modo inter legatum porcuratoremque concordiam gigni, sed et rebelles barbarorum animos pace componi. nec defuit Polyclitus, quo minus ingenti agmine Italiae Galliaeque gravis, postquam Oceanum transmiserat, militibus quoque nostris terribilis incederet. sed hostibus inrisui fuit, apud quos flagrante etiam tum libertate nondum cognita libertinorum potentia erat; mirabanturque, quod dux et exercitus tanti belli confector servitiis oboedirent.

[39] Therefore, to inspect the condition of Britain, Polyclitus, from among the freedmen, was sent, with great hope on Nero’s part that by his authority not only might concord be begotten between the legate and the procurator, but also the rebellious spirits of the barbarians be composed by peace. Nor was Polyclitus lacking, to the extent that, with a huge train, burdensome to Italy and Gaul, after he had crossed the Ocean, he advanced, formidable even to our soldiers. But he was for mockery to the enemies, among whom, liberty still blazing even then, the potentia of freedmen was not yet known; and they marveled that a leader and an army, the finisher of so great a war, obeyed slaves.

cuncta tamen id imperatorem in mollius relata; detentusque rebus gerundis Suetonius, quod paucas naves in litore remigiumque in iis amiserat, tamquam durante bello tradere exercitu Pertronio Turpiliano, qui iam consulatu abierat, iubetur. is non inritato hoste neque lacessitus honestum pacis nomen segni otio imposuit.

everything however, that was reported to the emperor in a softer key; and Suetonius, detained from carrying on operations because he had lost a few ships on the shore and the rowers in them, is ordered, as though the war were still continuing, to hand over the army to Petronius Turpilianus, who had now retired from the consulship. he, with the enemy not provoked and not being assailed, fastened the honorable name of peace upon sluggish idleness.

[40] Eodem anno Romae insignia scelera, alterum senatoris, servili alterum audacia, admissa sunt. Domitius Balbus erat praetorius, simul longa senecta, simul orbitate et pecunia insidiis obnoxius. ei propinquus Valerius Fabianus, capessendis honoribus destinatus, subdidit testamentum ascitis Vin[i]cio Rufino et Terentio Lentino equitibus Romanis.

[40] In the same year at Rome, notable crimes were committed, the one of a senator, servile the other by audacity. Domitius Balbus was of praetorian rank, at once by long senescence, and at once, because of childlessness and pecuniary means, obnoxious to plots. To him a kinsman, Valerius Fabianus, destined for taking up honors, forged a will, with Vin[i]cius Rufinus and Terentius Lentinus, Roman equestrians, called in.

illi Antonium Primum et Asinium Marcellum sociaverant. Antonius audacia promptus, Marcellus Asinio Pollione proavo clarus neque morum spernendus habebatur, nisi quod paupertatem praecipuum malorum credebat. igitur Fabianus tabulas [adhibitis] iis quos memoravi et aliis minus inlustribus obsignat.

They had associated with themselves Antonius Primus and Asinius Marcellus. Antonius was prompt in audacity; Marcellus was renowned through his great‑grandfather Asinius Pollio, and was not to be scorned in character, except that he believed poverty to be the chief of evils. Therefore Fabianus seals the tablets, with those whom I have mentioned admitted and with

quod apud patres convictum, et Fabianus Antoniusque cum Rufino et Terentio lege Cornelia damnantur. Marcellum memoria maiorum et preces Caesaris poenae magis quam infamiae exemere.

which was proved before the Fathers, and Fabianus and Antonius, together with Rufinus and Terentius, are condemned under the Cornelian law. Marcellus, the memory of his ancestors and the prayers of Caesar exempted from punishment rather than from infamy.

[41] Perculit is dies Pompeium quoque Aelianum, iuvenem quaestorium, tamquam flagitiorum Fabiani gnarum, eique Italia et Hispania, in qua ortus erat, interdictum est. pari ignominia Valerius Ponticus adficitur, quod reos, ne apud praefectum urbis arguerentur, ad praetorem detulisset, interim specie legum, mox praevaricando ultionem elusurus. additur senatus consulto, qui talem operam emptitasset vendidissetve, perinde poena teneretur ac publico iudicio calumniae condemnatus.

[41] That day struck down Pompeius Aelianus as well, a quaestorian youth, as though cognizant of Fabianus’s shameful deeds, and upon him there was an interdict from Italy and from Spain, in which he had been born. with equal ignominy Valerius Ponticus is afflicted, because he had brought the defendants before the praetor, lest they be accused before the prefect of the city, meanwhile under the guise of the laws, soon by prevaricating about to elude vengeance. It is added by senatorial decree that whoever had bought or sold such services should be held by the same penalty as one condemned in a public trial for calumny.

[42] Haud multo post praefectum urbis Pedanium Secundum servus ipsius interfecit, seu negata libertate, cui pretium pepigerat, sive amore exoleti incensus et dominum aemulum non tolerans. ceterum cum vetere ex more familiam omnem, quae sub eodem tecto mansitaverat, ad supplicium agi oporteret, concursu plebis, quae tot innoxios protegebat, usque ad seditionem ventum est senatusque [obsessus], in quo ipso erant studia nimiam severitatem aspernantium, pluribus nihil mutandum censentibus. ex quis C. Cassius sententiae loco in hunc modum disseruit:

[42] Not long after, the prefect of the city, Pedanius Secundus, was killed by his own slave, whether because manumission was denied, for which he had bargained a price, or inflamed by love of a catamite and not tolerating his master as a rival. However, since by ancient custom the whole family, which had lodged under the same roof, ought to be led to punishment, by a concourse of the plebs, who were protecting so many innocents, it came even to sedition, and the senate was [besieged], in which very body there were parties spurning excessive severity, while more judged that nothing should be changed. Of whom Gaius Cassius, by way of his opinion, argued to this effect:

[43] "Saepe numero, patres conscripti, in hoc ordine interfui, cum contra instituta et leges maiorum nova senatus decreta postularentur; neque sum adversatus, non quia dubitarem, super omnibus negotiis melius atque rectius olim provisum et quae converterentur [in] deterius mutari, sed ne nimio amore antiqui moris studium meum extollere viderer. simul quicquid hoc in nobis auctoritatis est, crebris contradictionibus destruendum non existimabam, ut maneret integrum, si quando res publica consiliis eguisset. quod hodie venit, consulari viro domi suae interfecto per insidias serviles, quas nemo prohibuit aut prodidit quamvis nondum concusso senatus consulto, quod supplicium toti familiae minitabatur.

[43] "Often and many times, Conscript Fathers, I have been present in this order, when new senatorial decrees were being demanded contrary to the institutions and laws of the ancestors; nor did I oppose, not because I doubted that for all affairs better and more correct provision had once upon a time been made, and that things which were being converted into a worse state were being changed, but lest by an excessive love of ancient custom I should seem to exalt my own zeal. At the same time, whatever auctoritas there is in us, I did not think it should be destroyed by frequent contradictions, so that it might remain intact, if ever the commonwealth should be in need of counsels. Which day has come today, a consular man having been slain in his own home through servile plots, which no one prevented or revealed, although the senatorial decree, which was menacing punishment to the whole household, had not yet been called into question."

decernite hercule impunitatem: at quem dignitas sua defendet, cum praefecto urbis non profu[er]it? quem numerus servorum tuebitur, cum Pedanium Secundum quadringenti non protexerint? cui familia opem feret, quae ne in metu quidem pericula nostra advertit? an, ut quidam fingere non erubescunt, iniurias suas ultus est interfector, quia de paterna pecunia transegerat aut avitum mancipium detrahebatur?

Decide, by Hercules, for impunity: but whom will his own dignity defend, when it did not profit the prefect of the city? whom will the number of slaves protect, when four hundred did not protect Pedanius Secundus? to whom will the household bring aid, which not even in fear took notice of our dangers? Or, as some are not ashamed to feign, did the killer avenge his own injuries, because he had compounded about paternal money, or because an ancestral chattel-slave was being taken away?

pronuntiemus ultro dominum iure caesum videri.

shall we pronounce, unbidden, that the master seems to have been lawfully slain?

[44] Libet argumenta conquirere in eo, quod sapientioribus deliberatum est? sed et si nunc primum statuendum haberemus, creditisne servum interficiendi domini animum sumpsisse, ut non vox minax excideret, nihil per temeritatem proloqueretur? sane consilium occul[ta]vit, telum inter ignaros paravit: num excubias transire, cubiculi fores recludere, lumen inferre, caedem patrare [poterat] omnibus nesciis?

[44] Are we inclined to hunt up arguments on that which has been deliberated by wiser heads? But even if we had to determine it now for the first time, do you believe that a slave took up the intent of killing his master in such a way that not a menacing word would slip out, that he would utter nothing through rashness? Granted, he concealed his plan, he prepared the weapon among the unknowing: could he really pass the watches, open the bedroom doors, bring in a light, accomplish the slaughter with all unaware?

multa sceleri indicia praeveniunt: servi si prodant, possumus singuli inter plures, tuti inter anxios, postremo, si pereundum sit, non inulti inter nocentes agere. suspecta maioribus nostris fuerunt ingenia servorum, etiam cum in agris aut domibus i[s]dem nascerentur caritatemque dominorum statim acciperent. postquam vero nationes in familiis habemus, quibus diversi ritus, externa sacra aut nulla sunt, conluviem istam non nisi metu coercueris.

many indications of a crime precede it: if slaves should betray, we can, as single persons among many,
be safe among the anxious, and finally, if there must be perishing, conduct ourselves not unavenged among the guilty. The dispositions of slaves were suspect to our ancestors, even when in the same fields or houses
they were born and straightway received their masters’ affection. But now that we have nations within our households, for whom there are diverse rites, foreign sacred rites or none, that confluence you will coerce by nothing except fear.

at quidam insontes peribunt. nam et ex fuso exercitu cum decimus quisque fusti feritur, etiam strenui sortiuntur. habet aliquid ex iniquo omne magnum exemplum, quod contra singulos utilitate publica rependitur."

But certain innocents will perish. For even out of a routed army, when every tenth man is struck with the cudgel, even the strenuous are allotted by lot. Every great example has something of the iniquitous in it, which against individuals by the public utility is balanced."

[45] Sententiae Cassii ut nemo unus contra ire ausus est, ita dissonae voces respondebant numerum aut aetatem aut sexum ac plurimorum indubiam innocentiam miserantium: praevaluit tamen pars, quae supplicium decernebat. sed obtemperari non poterat, conglobata multitudine et saxa ac faces min[it]tante. tum Caesar populum edicto increpuit atque omne iter, quo damnati ad poenam ducebantur, militaribus praesidiis saepsit.

[45] As no single person dared to go against the opinion of Cassius, and yet dissonant voices were answering, pitying the number or the age or the sex and the unquestioned innocence of very many; nevertheless the party that decreed the punishment prevailed. But it could not be complied with, the crowd having massed and threatening with stones and torches. Then Caesar rebuked the people by an edict and fenced off every route by which the condemned were being led to the penalty with military guards.

censuerat Cingonius Varro, ut liberti quoque, qui sub eodem tecto fuissent, Italia deportarentur. id a principe prohibitum est, ne mos antiquus, quem misericordia non minuerat, per saevitiam intenderetur.

Cingonius Varro had proposed that the freedmen
also, who had been under the same roof, be deported from Italy. This was forbidden by the emperor,
lest the ancient custom, which compassion had not diminished, be intensified through cruelty.

[46] Damnatus isdem consulibus Tarquitius Priscus repetundarum Bithynis interrogantibus, magno patrum gaudio, quia accusatum ab eo Statilium Taurum pro consule ipsius meminerant. census per Gallias a Q. Volusio et Sextio Africano Trebellioque Maximo acti sunt, aemulis inter se per nobilitatem Volusio atque Africano: Trebellium dum uterque dedignatur, supra tulere.

[46] Under the same consuls, Tarquitius Priscus was condemned for extortions, the Bithynians conducting the inquiry, to the great joy of the senators, because they remembered that Statilius Taurus, while proconsul, had been accused by him. The censuses throughout the Gauls were carried out by Q. Volusius and Sextius Africanus and Trebellius Maximus, Volusius and Africanus being rivals with one another in respect to nobility: since each disdained the other, they set Trebellius above them.

[47] Eo anno mortem obiit Memmius Regulus, auctoritate constantia fama, in quantum praeumbrante imperatoris fastigio datur, clarus, adeo ut Nero aeger valetudine, et adulantibus circum, qui finem imperio adesse dicebant, si quid fato pateretur, responderit habere subsidium rem publicam. rogantibus dehinc, in quo potissimum, addiderat in Memmio Regulo. vixit tamen post haec Regulus, quiete defensus et quia nova generis claritudine neque invidiosis opibus erat.

[47] In that year Memmius Regulus met death, renowned for authority, constancy, and fame, in so far as, with the emperor’s eminence overshadowing, it is granted; so famous that Nero, sick in health, and with adulators around who said an end to the empire was at hand, if he should suffer anything by fate, replied that the Republic had a reserve. When they then asked, in whom most especially, he added: in Memmius Regulus. Yet after these things Regulus lived on, protected by quiet, and because the lustre of his lineage was new and he did not possess invidious wealth.

gymnasium eo anno dedicatum a Nerone praebitumque oleum equiti ac senatui Graeca facilitate.

the gymnasium in that year was dedicated by Nero, and oil was provided to the equestrian order and the senate with Greek liberality.

[48] P. Mario L. Afinio consulibus Antistius praetor, quem in tribunatu plebis licenter egisse memoravi probrosa adversus principem carmina factitavit vulgavitque celebri convivio, dum apud Ostorium Scapulam epulatur. exim a Cossutiano Capitone, qui nuper senatorium ordinem precibus Tigellini soceri sui receperat, maiestatis delatus est. tum primum revocata ea lex; credebaturque haud perinde exitium Antistio quam imperatori gloriam quaesit[tam], ut condemnatum a senatu intercessione tribunicia morti eximeret.

[48] In the consulship of P. Marius and L. Afinius, Antistius the praetor—whom I have recalled as having acted licentiously in the tribunate of the plebs—kept composing disgraceful songs against the princeps and published them at a celebrated banquet, while he was feasting at the house of Ostorius Scapula. Thereupon he was indicted for maiestas by Cossutianus Capito, who had lately regained the senatorial order through the entreaties of Tigellinus, his father-in-law. Then for the first time that law was revived; and it was believed that not so much the ruin of Antistius as glory for the emperor had been sought, in order that, once condemned by the senate, he might by tribunician intercession be exempted from death.

et cum Ostorius nihil audivisse pro testimonio dixisset, adversis testibus creditum; censuitque Iunius Marullus consul designatus adimendam reo praeturam necandumque more maiorum. ceteris inde adsentientibus, Paetus Thrasea, multo cum honore Caesaris et acerrime increpito Antistio, non quicquid nocens reus pati mereretur, id egregio sub principe et nulla necessitate obstricto senatui statuendum disseruit. carnificem et laqueum pridem abolita, et esse poenas legibus constitutas, quibus sine iudicum saevitia et temporum infamia supplicia decernerentur.

and although Ostorius had said, as testimony, that he had heard nothing, credence was given to the opposing witnesses; and Junius Marullus, consul designate, proposed that the praetorship be taken from the defendant and that he be put to death in the ancestral manner. with the rest then assenting, Paetus Thrasea, with much honor to Caesar and with Antistius most sharply rebuked, argued that not whatever a guilty defendant might deserve to suffer was to be decreed by a senate under an excellent emperor and constrained by no necessity. the executioner and the noose had long since been abolished, and there were penalties established by the laws, by which punishments could be decreed without the cruelty of judges and the disgrace of the times.

quin in insula publicatis bonis, quo longius sontem vitam traxisset, eo privatim miserior[em] et publicae clementiae maximum exemplum futurum.

nay indeed, on an island with his goods confiscated, the longer he prolonged his guilty life, the more wretched he would be in private, and he would be the greatest example of public clemency.

[49] Libertas Thrasea servitium aliorum rupit, et postquam discessionem consul permiserat, pedibus in sententiam eius iere, paucis, ex[c]eptis, in quibus adulatione promptissimus fuit A. Vitellius, optimum quemque iurgio lacessens et respondenti reticens, ut pavida ingenia solent. at consules, perficere decretum senatus non ausi, de consensu scripsere Caesari. ille inter pudorem et iram cunctatus, postremo rescripsit: nulla iniuria provocatum Antistium gravissimas in principem contumelias dixisse; earum ultionem a patribus postulatam, et pro magnitudine delicti poenam statui par fuisse.

[49] Thrasea’s liberty broke the servility of the others, and after the consul had permitted a division,
they voted with their feet for his proposal, a few excepted, among whom A. Vitellius was most prompt in adulation,
provoking the best men with wrangling and, when answered, keeping silent, as timorous natures are wont. But the consuls,
not daring to carry through the decree of the senate, wrote to Caesar about the consensus. He, wavering between shame and anger,
at last wrote back: that Antistius, provoked by no injustice, had spoken the gravest contumelies against the princeps;
that vengeance for them had been demanded by the Fathers, and that, in proportion to the magnitude
of the offense, it would have been proper that a penalty be fixed.

ceterum se, qui severitatem decernentium impediturus fuerit, moderationem non prohibere: statuerent ut vellent; datam et absolvendi licentiam. his atque talibus recitatis et offensione manifesta, non ideo aut consules mutavere relationem aut Thrasea decessit sententia ceterive quae probaverant deseruere, pars, ne principem obiecisse invidiae viderentur, plures numero tuti, Thrasea sueta firmitudine animi et ne gloria intercideret.

but that he, who would have been about to hinder the severity of those decreeing, did not forbid moderation: let them determine as they wished; license also of acquitting had been given. With these and suchlike recited, and with offense manifest, not for that reason either did the consuls change their report, or did Thrasea depart from his opinion, nor did the rest desert what they had approved—some, lest they should seem to have exposed the emperor to envy, more safe by their number, Thrasea by his wonted firmness of spirit and lest his glory be cut off.

[50] Haud dispari crimine Fabricius Veiento conflictatus est, quod multa et probrosa in patres et sacerdotes composuisset iis libris, quibus nomen codicillorum dederat. adiciebat Tullius Geminus accusator venditata ab eo munera principis et adipiscendorum honorum ius. quae causa Neroni fuit suscipiendi iudicii, convictumque Veientonem Italia depulit et libros exuri iussit, conquisitos lectitatosque, donec cum periculo parabantur: mox licentia habendi oblivionem attulit.

[50] By a not dissimilar charge Fabricius Veiento was assailed, because he had composed many and opprobrious things against the Fathers and the priests in those books to which he had given the name of “codicils.” Tullius Geminus, the accuser, was adding that by him the gifts of the princeps had been marketed and the right of acquiring honors sold. This was a cause for Nero to undertake the iudicium; and, Veiento having been convicted, he expelled him from Italy and ordered the books to be burned—sought out and read over and over, until they were procured with danger: soon the license of possessing them brought oblivion.

[51] Sed gravescentibus in dies publicis malis subsidia minuebantur, concessitque vita Burrus, incertum valetudine an veneno. valetudo ex eo coniectabatur, quod in se tumescentibus paulatim faucibus et impedito meatu spiritum finiebat. plures iussu Neronis, quasi remedium adhiberetur, inlitum palatum eius noxio medicamine adseverabant, et Burrum intellecto scelere, cum ad visendum eum princeps venisset, adspectum eius aversatum sciscitanti hactenus respondisse: "ego me bene habeo." civitati grande desiderium eius mansit per memoriam virtutis et successorum alterius segnem innocentiam, alterius flagrantissima flagitia [adulteria]. quippe Caesar duos praetoriis cohortibus imposuerat, Faenium Rufum ex vulgi favore, quia rem frumentariam sine quaestu tractabat, Ofonium Tigellinum, veterem impudicitiam atque infamiam in eo secutus.

[51] But as the public evils grew graver day by day, the remedies were diminished, and Burrus departed life, uncertain whether by illness or by poison. Illness was conjectured from this: that, with his throat gradually swelling and the passage impeded, he ended his breath. More asserted that, by Nero’s order, as if a remedy were being applied, his palate was smeared with a noxious medicament; and that Burrus, the crime having been understood, when the princeps had come to visit him, turned away from his look, and to his questioning responded only thus: “I am well.” To the commonwealth a great longing for him remained through the memory of his virtue, and by comparison with his successors—the one’s sluggish innocence, the other’s most flagrant disgraces [adulteries]. For indeed the Caesar had set two men over the praetorian cohorts: Fenius Rufus, by the favor of the crowd, because he handled the grain-supply without profit; Ofonius Tigellinus, selecting him for his long-standing unchastity and infamy.

atque illi pro cognitis moribus fuere, validior Tigellinus in animo principis et intimis libidinibus adsumptus, prospera populi et militum fama Rufus, quod apud Neronem adversum experiebatur.

and they were in keeping with their known characters: Tigellinus, the stronger in the mind of the prince and taken up into his inmost lusts; Rufus, with a favorable fame among the people and the soldiers—a thing which he experienced as adverse with Nero.

[52] Mors Burri infregit Senecae potentiam, quia nec bonis artibus idem virium erat altero velut duce amoto, et Nero ad deteriores inclinabat. hi variis criminationibus Senecam adoriuntur, tamquam ingentes et privatum modum evectas opes adhuc augeret, quodque studia civium in se verteret, hortorum quoque amoenitate et villarum magnificentia quasi principem supergrederetur. obiciebant etiam eloquentiae laudem uni sibi adsciscere et carmina crebrius factitare, postquam Neroni amor eorum venisset.

[52] The death of Burrus broke Seneca’s power, because he did not have the same strength in good arts, the other, as it were, leader removed, and Nero was inclining toward the worse. these men attack Seneca with various accusations, as though he were still increasing wealth raised to huge amounts and beyond a private measure, and that he was turning the citizens’ loyalties onto himself, and by the amenity of his gardens and the magnificence of his villas was, as it were, surpassing the princeps. they also threw it in his teeth that he appropriated to himself alone the praise of eloquence, and that he was more frequently practicing the making of verses, after a love of them had come to Nero.

nam oblectamentis principis palam iniquum detrectare vim eius equos regentis, inludere vocem, quotiens caneret. quem ad finem nihil in re publica clarum fore, quod non ab illo reperiri credatur? certe finitam Neronis pueritiam et robur iuventae adesse: exueret magistrum, satis amplis doctoribus instructus maioribus suis.

for in the princeps’s amusements he would openly and unjustly detract from his prowess in guiding horses, and mock his voice whenever he sang. to such an extent that nothing in the commonwealth would be illustrious which was not believed to be discovered by him? surely Nero’s boyhood is finished and the strength of youth is present: let him cast off his tutor, being furnished with sufficiently ample teachers in his ancestors.

[53] At Seneca criminantium non ignarus, prodentibus iis, quibus aliqua honesti cura, et familiaritatem eius magis aspernante Caesare, tempus sermoni orat et accepto ita incipit: "quartus decimus annus est, Caesar, ex quo spei tuae admotus sum, octavus, ut imperium obtines: medio temporis tantum honorum atque opum in me cumulasti, ut nihil felicitati meae desit nisi moderatio eius, utar magnis exemplis, ne[c] meae fortunae, sed tuae. abavus tuus Augustus Marco Agrippae Mytilenese secretum, C. Maecenati urbe in ipsa velut peregrinum otium permisit; quorum alter bellorum socius, alter Romae pluribus laboribus iactatus ampla quidem sed pro ingentibus meritis, praemia acceperant. ego quid aliud munificentiae [tuae] adhibere potui quam studia, ut sic dixerim, in umbra educata, et quibus claritudo venit, quod iuventae tuae rudimentis adfuisse videor, grande huius rei pretium.

[53] But Seneca, not unaware of the accusers, with those disclosing it who had some concern for honor, and with Caesar more and more spurning his familiarity, asks for a time for a conversation, and having obtained it thus begins: “It is the fourteenth year, Caesar, since I was brought near to your hope, the eighth since you hold the imperium: in the meantime you have accumulated upon me so much of honors and of wealth that nothing is lacking to my felicity except restraint upon it; I shall use great exempla, not of my fortune, but of yours. Your great-great-grandfather Augustus allowed to Marcus Agrippa a seclusion at Mytilene, to Gaius Maecenas, in the city itself, as it were a foreign leisure; of whom the one, a companion of wars, the other, tossed by many labors at Rome, received rewards indeed ample but proportioned to their vast merits. I—what else could I apply to your munificence than studies, so to speak, brought up in the shade, and to which renown has come from this, that I seem to have been present at the rudiments of your youth—a great price for this matter.”

at tu gratiam immensam innumeram pecuniam circumdedisti, adeo ut plerumque intra me ipse volvam: egone, equestri et provinciali loco ortus, proceribus civitatis adnumeror? inter nobiles et longa [de]cora praeferentes novitas mea enituit? ubi est animus ille modicis contentus?

but you have surrounded me with immense favor and innumerable money, to such a degree that I often revolve within myself: I—born from an equestrian and provincial rank—am I counted among the grandees of the state? among nobles and those displaying long-standing honors, has my novelty shone forth? where is that spirit once content with moderate things?

tales hortos exstruit et per haec suburbana incedit et tantis agrorum spatiis, tam lato faenore exuberat? una defensio occurrit, quod muneribus tuis obniti non debui.

does he build such gardens and walk through these suburban tracts and, with such expanses of fields, overflow with so ample a return? one defense occurs, that I ought not to have resisted your gifts.

[54] Sed uterque mensuram implevimus, et [tu], quantum princeps tribuere amico posset, et ego, quantum amicus a principe accipere: cetera invidiam a[u]gent. quae quidem, ut omnia mortalia, infra tuam magnitudinem iacet, sed mihi incumbit, mihi subveniendum est. quo modo in militia aut via fessus adminiculum orarem, ita in hoc itinere vitae senex et levissimis quoque curis impar, cum opes meas ultra sustinere non possim, praesidium peto.

[54] But each of us has filled the measure, both [you], as much as a princeps could bestow upon a friend, and I, as much as a friend could receive from a princeps: the rest augment envy. Which indeed, like all mortal things, lies beneath your magnitude, but it presses upon me; I must be succored. Just as in military service or on the road a weary man would beg for a support, so on this journey of life—an old man and unequal even to the lightest cares—since I can no longer sustain my resources any further, I seek a safeguard.

iube re[m] per procuratores tuos administrari, in tuam fortunam recipi. nec me in paupertatem ipse detrudam, sed traditis quorum fulgore praestringor, quod temporis hortorum aut villarum curae seponitur, in animum revocabo. superest tibi robur et tot per annos summi fastigii regimen: possumus seniores amici quietem reposcere.

order that the matter be administered through your procurators, to be received into your fortune; nor will I myself thrust myself down into poverty, but, with those things handed over by whose glitter I am bedazzled, the time that is set apart for the care of gardens or villas I will call back into my mind. Vigor remains to you, and the governance of the highest summit for so many years: we elder friends can demand repose.

hoc quoque in tuam gloriam cedet, eos ad summa vexisse, qui et modica tolerarent."

this too will redound to your glory that you have driven to the heights those who would also tolerate moderate things."

[55] Ad quae Nero sic ferme respondit: "quod meditatae orationi tuae statim occurram, id primum tui muneris habeo, qui me non tantum praevisa, sed subita expedire docuisti. [ab]avus meus Augustus Agrippae et Maecenati usurpare otium post labores concessit, sed in ea ipse aetate, cuius auctoritas tueretur quicquid illud et qualecumque tribuisset; ac tamen neutrum datis a se praemiis exuit bello et periculis meruerant; in iis enim iuventa Augusti versata est. nec mihi tela et manus tuae defuissent in armis agenti; sed quod praesens condicio poscebat, ratione consilio praeceptis pueritiam, dein iuventam meam fovisti.

[55] To which Nero replied somewhat as follows: "that I should at once meet your rehearsed oration, I reckon this first as your favor, you who have taught me to manage not only things foreseen, but sudden ones as well. [ab]avus of mine Augustus granted to Agrippa and Maecenas to make use of leisure after labors, but he himself was in that age whose authority would protect whatever that was and of whatever sort he had granted; and yet by the rewards given by himself he did not release either of them from war and dangers: they had merited them; for in these the youth of Augustus was engaged. Nor would your weapons and hands have failed me as I acted in arms; but, as the present condition demanded, by reason, counsel, and precepts you fostered my boyhood, then my youth.

et tua quidem erga me munera, dum vita suppetet, aeterna erunt: quae a me habes, horti et faenus et villae, casibus obnoxia sunt. ac licet multa videantur, plerique haudquaquam artibus tuis pares plura tenuerunt. pudet referre libertinos, qui ditiores spectantur: unde etiam rubori mihi est, quod praecipuus caritate nondum omnes fortuna antecellis.

and indeed your gifts toward me,
so long as life holds out, shall be eternal: the things you have from me—gardens and interest and villas—are liable to chances.
And though they may seem many, very many, by no means equal to your arts, have held more.
I am ashamed to mention freedmen, who are regarded as richer: whence it is also a shame to me that, preeminent in affection, you do not yet excel all in fortune.

[56] Verum et tibi valida aetas rebusque et fructui rerum sufficiens, et nos prima imperii spatia ingredimur, nisi forte aut te Vitellio ter consuli aut me Claudio postponis, et quantum Volusio longa parsimonia quaesivit, tantum in te mea liber[ali]tas explere non potest. quin, si qua in parte lubricum adulescentiae nostrae declinat, revocas ornatumque robur subsidio impensius regis? non tua moderatio si reddideris pecuniam, nec quies, si reliqueris principem, sed mea avaritia, meae crudelitatis metus in ore omnium versabitur.

[56] But both you have a robust age, sufficient for affairs and for the fruit of affairs, and we are entering the first spaces of rule, unless perhaps you set either yourself after Vitellius, consul three times, or me after Claudius; and as much as Volusius’s long parsimony acquired, so much my liber[al]ity cannot make up in you. Nay rather, if in any part the slipperiness of our adolescence inclines, do you call it back and, with support, more earnestly guide and sustain the adorned strength? It will not be your moderation if you give back the money, nor quiet if you leave the princeps, but my avarice, the fear of my cruelty, will be on everyone’s lips.

quod si maxime continentia tua laudetur, non tamen sapienti viro decorum fuerit, unde amico infamiam paret, inde gloriam sibi recipere." his adicit complexum et oscula, factus natura et consuetudine exercitus velare odium fallacibus blanditiis. Seneca, qui finis omnium cum dominante sermonum, grates agit; sed instituta prioris potentiae commutat, prohibet coetus salutantium, vitat comitantes, rarus per urbem, quasi valetudine infensa aut sapientiae studiis domi attineretur.

"And even if your continence be most highly praised, nevertheless it would not be decorous for a wise man, from the very source whence he brings infamy upon a friend, to take back glory for himself." To this he adds an embrace and kisses, fashioned by nature and drilled by habit to veil hatred with fallacious blandishments. Seneca, who was the finish of all conversations with the ruler, renders thanks; but he alters the institutes of his earlier power, forbids the gatherings of those offering salutations, shuns companions, is seldom seen through the city, as if he were detained at home by hostile health or by the studies of wisdom.

[57] Perculso Seneca promptum fuit Rufum Faenium imminuere Agrippinae amicitiam in eo criminantibus. validiorque in dies Tigellinus et malas artes, quibus solis pollebat, gratiores ratus, si principem societate scelerum obstringeret, metus eius rimatur; compertoque Plautum et Sullam maxime timeri, Plautum in Asiam, Sullam in Galliam Narbonensem nuper amotos, nobilitatem eorum et propinquos huic Orientis, illi Germaniae exercitus commemorat. non se, ut Burrum, diversas spes, sed solam incolumitatem Neronis spectare; cui caveri utcumque ab urbanis insidiis praesenti o[pe]ra: longinquos motus quonam modo comprimi posse?

[57] With Seneca struck down, it was easy to diminish Faenius Rufus’s friendship with Agrippina, as men were bringing charges on that score. And Tigellinus, stronger by the day, and thinking his evil arts—by which alone he was powerful—would be more gratifying if he bound the princeps by a partnership of crimes, probes his fears; and having discovered that Plautus and Sulla were most feared—Plautus having been lately removed into Asia, Sulla into Gallia Narbonensis—he reminds one of their nobility and that the armies, to this man of the East, to that man of Germany, are closely connected. That he himself, not, like Burrus, regards divergent hopes, but only the safety of Nero; against urban plots, some sort of guarding can be afforded by present o[pe]ration: but in what way can distant commotions be suppressed?

erectas Gallias ad nomen dictatorium, nec minus suspensos Asiae populos claritudine avi Drusi. Sullam inopem, unde praecipuam audaciam, et simulatione segnitiae, dum temeritati locum reperiret. Plautum magnis opibus ne fingere quidem cupidinem otii, sed veterum Romanorum imitamenta praeferre, adsumpta etiam Stoicorum adrogantia sectaque, quae turbidos et negotiorum adpetentes faciat.

the Gauls aroused at the dictatorial name, and the peoples of Asia no less in suspense
at the renown of his grandsire Drusus. Sulla, indigent—whence his particular audacity—
and with a simulation of sloth, while he might find an opening for temerity.
Plautus, with great resources, not even to feign a desire for leisure, but to prefer
imitations of the ancient Romans, having also assumed the arrogance of the Stoics
and a sect which makes men turbulent and seeking after affairs.

nec ultra mora. Sulla sexto die pervectis Massiliam percussoribus ante metum et rumorem interficitur, cum epulandi causa discumberet. relatum caput eius inlusit Nero tamquam praematura canitie deforme.

nor was there further delay.
sulla, on the sixth day, the assassins having been conveyed to Massilia, is slain before fear and rumor, as he was reclining for the purpose of feasting.
his head having been brought back, nero mocked it as deformed by premature hoariness.

[58] Plauto parari necem non perinde occultum fuit, quia pluribus salus eius curabatur, et spatium itineris ac maris tempusque interiectum moverat famam. vulgoque fingebant petitum ab eo Corbulonem, magnis tum exercitibus praesidentem et, clari atque insontes si interficerentur, praecipuum ad pericula. quin et Asiam favore iuvenis arma cepisse, nec milites ad scelus missos aut numero validos aut animo promptos, postquam iussa efficere nequiverint, ad spes novas transisse.

[58] That a slaughter was being prepared for Plautus was not so occult, because more people were caring for his safety, and the space of the journey and of the sea and the time interposed had stirred rumor. And commonly they imagined that Corbulo had been targeted by him, he then presiding over great armies, and, if the renowned and guiltless were put to death, [that he would be] the chief at risk. Nay even that Asia, in favor of the young man, had taken up arms, and that the soldiers sent to the crime, neither strong in number nor prompt in spirit, after they were unable to accomplish the orders, had passed over to new hopes.

v[a]na haec more famae credentium otio a[u]gebantur; ceterum libertus Plauti celeritate ventorum praevenit centurionem et mandata L. Antistii soceri attulit: effugeret segnem mortem, dum suffugium [ess]et: magni nominis miseratione reperturum bonos, consociaturum audaces; nullum interim subsidium aspernandum. si sexaginta milites (tot enim adveniebant) propulisset, dum refertur nuntius Neroni, dum manus alia permeat, multa secutura, quae adusque bellum evalescerent. denique aut salutem tali consilio quaeri, aut nihil gravius audenti quam ignavo patiendum esse.

These v[a]in tales were a[u]gmented, after the fashion of those who believe rumor, by idleness; but Plautus’s freedman, with the speed of the winds, outstripped the centurion and brought the instructions of L. Antistius, his father-in-law: that he should escape a sluggish death, while there was still a refuge [ess]et; that, by the commiseration for a great name, he would find good men and ally with the bold; that meanwhile no assistance was to be spurned. If he should drive off sixty soldiers (for so many were arriving), while a message was carried back to Nero, while another band made its way through, many things would follow which would grow strong even up to war. Finally, either safety was to be sought by such a counsel, or one who dared had to suffer nothing more grievous than the craven.

[59] Sed Plautum ea non movere, sive nullam opem providebat inermis et exul, seu taedio ambiguae spei, an amore coniugis et liberorum, quibus placabiliorem fore principem rebatur nulla sollicitudine turbatum. sunt qui alios a socero nuntios venisse ferant, tamquam nihil atrox immineret; doctoresque sapientiae, Coeranum Graeci, Musonium Tusci generis, constantiam opperiendae mortis pro incerta et trepida vita suassisse. repertus est certe per medium diei nudus exercitando corpori.

[59] But these things did not move Plautus, whether he foresaw no help as unarmed and an exile, or from weariness of ambiguous hope, or from love of his wife and children, for whom he thought the princeps would be more placable if disturbed by no solicitude. There are those who report that other messengers had come from his father-in-law, as though nothing atrocious were impending; and that teachers of wisdom, Coeranus a Greek, Musonius of Tuscan stock, had advised constancy in awaiting death in place of an uncertain and trembling life. He was found, to be sure, in the middle of the day, naked, exercising his body.

talem eum centurio trucidavit coram Pelagone spadone, quem Nero centurioni et manipulo, quasi satellitibus ministrum regium, praeposuerat. captum interfecti relatum; cuius adspectu (ipsa principis verba referam) "cur," inquit, "Nero * * *" et posito metu nuptias Poppaeae ob eius modi terrores dilatas maturare parat Octaviamque coniugem amoliri, quamvis modeste ageret, nomine patris et studiis populi gravem. sed ad senatum litteras misit de caede Sullae Plautique haud confessus, verum utriusque turbidum ingenium esse, et sibi incolumitatem rei publicae magna cura haberi.

Such a one the centurion butchered in the presence of Pelagone, a eunuch, whom Nero had set over the centurion and the maniple, as if over satellites, as a royal minister.
The head of the slain was brought back; at the sight of which (I will report the princeps’s very words) “why,” he said, “Nero * * *” and,
with fear laid aside, he prepares to hasten the nuptials of Poppaea, which had been deferred on account of terrors of that kind, and to remove his wife Octavia, although she conducted herself modestly, yet burdensome by the name of her father and by the sympathies of the people. But he sent letters to the senate about the slaughter of Sulla and Plautus, not confessing it, but [declaring] that the temperament of both was turbulent, and that the incolumity of the commonwealth was held by him in great care.

decretae eo nomine supplicationes, utque Sulla et Plautus senatu moverentur, gravioribus iam ludibriis quam malis.

On that account supplications were decreed, and that Sulla and Plautus be removed from the senate, with mockeries now heavier than the evils.

[60] Igitur accepto patrum consulto, postquam cuncta scelerum suorum pro egregiis accipi videt, exturbat Octaviam, sterilem dictitans; exim Poppaeae coniungitur. ea diu paelex et adulteri Neronis, mox mariti potens, quendam ex ministris Octaviae impulit servilem ei amorem obicere. destinaturque reus cognomento Eucaerus, natione Alexandrinus, canere per tibias doctus.

[60] Therefore, the decree of the Fathers having been received, after he sees that all his crimes are being accepted as distinguished deeds, he drives out Octavia, calling her sterile; next he is conjoined to Poppaea. She, long the concubine of the adulterer Nero, soon, powerful as a wife, drove a certain one of Octavia’s attendants to impute to her a servile love. And the defendant is designated, by the cognomen Eucaerus, an Alexandrian by nation, skilled to play upon the pipes.

actae ob id de ancillis quaestiones, et vi tormentorum victis quibusdam, ut falsa adnuerent, plures perstitere sanctitatem dominae tueri; ex quibus una instanti Tigellino castiora esse muliebria Octaviae respondit quam os eius. movetur tamen primo civilis discidii specie domumque Burri, praedia Plauti infausta dona accipit; mox in Campania[m] pulsa est addita militari custodia. inde crebri questus nec occulti per vulgum, cui minor sapientia [et] ex mediocritate fortunae pauciora pericula sunt.

interrogations were conducted on that account of the maidservants, and though some, overcome by the force of tortures, so as to assent to falsehoods, more persisted in guarding the chastity of their mistress; of whom one, as Tigellinus pressed, replied that Octavia’s womanly parts were chaster than his mouth. nevertheless at first she was put away under the appearance of a civil separation, and she received as ill-omened gifts the house of Burrus and the estates of Plautus; soon she was driven into Campania, with a military guard added. from that there were frequent and not concealed complaints among the common folk, to whom there is less prudence and, from the mediocrity of their fortune, fewer dangers.

his *** tamquam Nero paenitentia flagitii coniugem revocarit Octaviam.

Because of these *** as though Nero, in penitence for his flagitious crime, had recalled his consort Octavia.

[61] Exim laeti Capitolium scandunt deosque tandem venerantur. effigies Poppaeae proruunt, Octaviae imagines gestant umeris, spargunt floribus foroque ac templis statuunt. itur etiam in principis laudes, repetitum [certamen] venerantium.

[61] Then, joyful, they climb the Capitol and at last venerate the gods. They topple the effigies of Poppaea, they carry Octavia’s images on their shoulders, they strew with flowers and set them up in the forum and in the temples. They even go on to praises of the emperor, a renewed [contest] of the worshipers.

iamque et Palatium multitudine et clamoribus complebant, cum emissi militum globi verberibus et intento ferro turbatos disiecere. mutataque quae per seditionem verterant, et Poppaeae honos repositus est. quae semper odio, tum et metu atrox, ne aut vulgi acrior vis ingrueret aut Nero inclinatione populi mutaretur, provoluta genibus eius: non eo loci res suas agi, ut de matrimonio certet, quamquam id sibi vita potius, sed vitam ipsam in extremum adductam a clientelis et servitiis Octaviae, quae plebis sibi nomen indiderint, ea in pace ausi, quae vix bello evenirent.

And now they were filling even the Palatine with multitude and clamors, when released squads of soldiers with beatings and iron held at the ready scattered the disturbed and broke them up. And the things which they had overturned by sedition were reversed, and Poppaea’s honor was restored. She, always savage in hatred, then also in fear—lest either a keener force of the crowd should swoop down, or Nero be changed by the people’s inclination—prostrate at his knees declared: that her affairs were not being handled in such a position as to contend about marriage (although that was rather life itself to her), but that her very life had been brought to the brink by Octavia’s clienteles and slave-staffs, who have fastened upon themselves the name of “the plebs,” daring in peace things which would scarcely occur in war.

arma illa adversus principem sumpta; ducem tantum defuisse, qui motis rebus facile reperiretur: omitteret modo Campaniam et in urbem ipsa pergeret, ad cuius nutum absentis tumultus cierentur. quod alioquin suum delictum? quam cuiusquam offensionem?

those arms had been taken up against the prince; only a leader had been lacking, who, with affairs set in motion, would easily be found: let her only leave Campania and proceed herself into the city, at whose nod, though absent, tumults would be stirred up. what otherwise was her own crime? what offense against anyone?

an quia veram progeniem penatibus Caesarum datura sit? malle populum Romanum tibicinis Aegyptii subolem imperatorio fastigio induci? denique, si id rebus conducat, libens quam coactus acciret dominam, vel consuleret securitati.

or because she would give true progeny to the Penates of the Caesars?
Would the Roman people prefer the offspring of an Egyptian piper to be inducted to the imperial pinnacle?
Finally, if that should be conducive to affairs, let him summon a mistress willingly rather than under compulsion, or take thought for his security.

iusta ultione et modicis remediis primos motus consedisse: at si desperent uxorem Neronis fore Octaviam, illi maritum daturos.

that by just vengeance and moderate remedies the first disturbances had settled: but if they despair that the wife of Nero will be Octavia, they will give her a husband.

[62] Varius sermo et ad metum atque iram adcommodatus terruit simul audientem at accendit. sed parum valebat suspicio in servo, et quaestionibus ancillarum elusa erat. ergo confessionem alicuius quaeri placet, cui rerum quoque novarum crimen adfingeretur.

[62] A varied discourse, accommodated to fear and to anger, at once terrified the listener and inflamed him. But the suspicion in regard to a slave carried little weight, and by the examinations of the maidservants it had been eluded. Therefore it is decided to seek the confession of someone, upon whom there might also be affixed the charge of revolution.

et visus idoneus maternae necis patrator Anicetus, classi apud Misenum, ut memoravi, praefectus, levi post admissum scelus gratia, dein graviore odio, quia malorum facinorum ministri quasi exprobrantes adspiciuntur. igitur accitum eum Caesar operae prioris admonet: solum incolumitati principis adversus insidiantem matrem subvenisse; locum haud minoris gratiae instare, si coniugem infensam depelleret. nec manu aut telo opus: fateretur Octaviae adulterium.

and Anicetus seemed a suitable perpetrator of the maternal murder, commander of the fleet at Misenum, as I have mentioned, regarded after the admitted crime with slight favor, then with heavier hatred, since the ministers of evil deeds are looked upon as, as it were, reproaching. therefore Caesar, having summoned him, reminds him of his earlier service: that he alone had come to the emperor’s safety against his plotting mother; an opportunity of no lesser favor was at hand, if he would drive away the hostile wife. nor was there need of hand or weapon: he should confess to adultery with Octavia.

occulta quidem ad praesens, sed magna ei praemia et secessus amoenos promittit, vel, si negavisset, necem intentat. ille, insita vaecordia et facilitate priorum flagitiorum, plura etiam quam iussum erat fingit fateturque apud amicos, quos velut consilio adhibuerat princeps. tum in Sardiniam pellitur, ubi non inops exilium toleravit et fato obiit.

He promises him, indeed kept concealed for the present, but great rewards and pleasant retreats; or, if he should refuse, he threatens death. He, through inborn madness and the facility of prior flagitious deeds, invents even more than had been ordered and confesses it in the presence of the friends whom the prince had brought in as though for a council. Then he is banished to Sardinia, where, not destitute, he endured exile and died by natural fate.

[63] At Nero praefectum in spem sociandae classis corruptum, et incusatae paulo ante sterilitatis oblitus, abactos partus conscientia libidinum, eaque sibi comperta edicto memorat insulaque Pandateria Octaviam claudit. non alia exul visentium oculos maiore misericordia adfecit. meminerant adhuc quidam Agrippinae a Tiberio, recentior Iuliae memoria obversabatur a Claudio pulsae; sed illis robur aetatis adfuerat; laeta aliqua viderant et praesentem saevitiam melioris olim fortunae recordatione adlevabant: huic primum nuptiarum dies loco funeris fuit, deductae in domum, in qua nihil nisi luctuosum haberet, erepto per venenum patre et statim fratre; tum ancilla domina validior et Poppaea non nisi in perniciem uxoris nupta; postremo crimen omni exitio gravius.

[63] But Nero, after corrupting the prefect with the prospect of joining the fleet, and, forgetful of the sterility imputed a little before, now alleging abortions, by the consciousness of his lusts, and in an edict recounting that he had discovered these things himself, shuts up Octavia on the island Pandateria. No other exile affected the eyes of the beholders with greater mercy. Some still remembered Agrippina at the hands of Tiberius; more recent, the memory of Julia, driven out by Claudius, kept coming to mind; but to those women there had been the strength of age; they had seen some happy things, and they lightened the present savagery by the recollection of a better fortune once: for this one, the very day of her nuptials was in place of a funeral, when she was led into a house in which she would have nothing except mournful things, her father snatched away by poison and immediately her brother; then a handmaid stronger than her mistress, and Poppaea married for nothing except the ruin of the wife; finally, a charge more grievous than any destruction.

[64] Ac puella vicesimo aetatis anno inter centuriones et milites, praesagio malorum iam vita[e] exempta, nondum tamen morte adquiescebat. paucis dehinc interiectis diebus mori iubetur, cum iam viduam se et tantum sororem testaretur communesque Germanicos et postremo Agrippinae nomen cieret, qua incolumi infelix quidem matrimonium, sed sine exitio pertulisset. restringitur vinclis venaeque eius per omnes artus exsolvuntur; et quia pressus pavore sanguis tardius labebatur, praefervidi balnei vapore enecatur.

[64] And the girl, in the twentieth year of her age, among centurions and soldiers, with a presage of ills as if already taken out of life, yet did not as yet find repose in death. After a few days had then intervened, she is ordered to die, although now she was declaring herself a widow and only a sister, and was calling upon their common Germanici and, at last, the name of Agrippina—while she was unharmed, she had indeed endured an unhappy marriage, but without ruin. She is bound with bonds, and her veins are opened through all her limbs; and because the blood, pressed by fear, was flowing more slowly, she is killed by the vapor of a seething-hot bath.

additurque atrocior saevitia, quod caput amputatum latumque in urbem Poppaea vidit. dona ob haec templis decreta que[m] ad finem memorabimus? quicumque casus temporum illorum nobis vel aliis auctoribus noscent, praesumptum habeant, quotiens fugas et caedes iussit princeps, totiens grates deis actas, quaeque rerum secundarum olim, tum publicae cladis insignia fuisse.

And a more atrocious savagery is added, that Poppaea saw the head amputated and borne into the city. As for the gifts decreed to the temples on account of these things, to what end shall we make mention? Whoever will come to know the cases of those times from us or from other authors, let them have it as presumed that as often as the princeps ordered flights and slaughters, so often thanks were rendered to the gods, and that the things which were once the insignia of prosperous affairs were then the insignia of public calamity.

neque tamen silebimus, si quod senatus consultum adulatione novum aut paenitentia postremum fuit.

nor yet shall we be silent, if any senatus-consult was novel through adulation or last through repentance.

[65] Eodem anno libertorum potissimos veneno interfecisse creditus, Doryphorum quasi adversatum nuptiis Poppaeae, Pallantem, quod immensam pecuniam longa senecta detineret. Romanus secretis criminationibus incusaverat Senecam ut C. Pisonis socium, sed validius a Seneca eodem crimine perculsus est. unde Pisoni timor, et orta insidiarum in Neronem magna moles et improspera.

[65] In the same year he was believed to have killed by poison the most powerful of his freedmen,
Doryphorus, as though he had opposed the marriage with Poppaea,
and Pallas, because he was keeping back an immense sum of money in a long old age.
Romanus had, with secret accusations, charged Seneca as an associate of C. Piso, but he was more forcefully struck down by Seneca with the same charge. Whence for Piso came fear, and there arose against Nero a great mass of plots, ill-starred.