Tacitus: ANNALES

[1] Inlusit dehinc Neroni fortuna per vanitatem ipsius et promissa Caeseili Bassi, qui origine Poenus, mente turbida, nocturnae quietis imaginem ad spem haud dubiae rei traxit, vectusque Romam, principis aditum emercatus, expromit repertum in agro suo specum altitudine immensa, quo magna vis auri contineretur, non in formam pecuniae sed rudi et antiquo pondere. lateres quippe praegravis iacere, adstantibus parte alia columnis; quae per tantum aevi occulta augendis praesentibus bonis. ceterum, ut coniectura demonstrabat, Dido Phoenissam Tyro profugam condita Carthagine illas opes abdidisse, ne novus populus nimia pecunia lasciviret aut reges Numidarum, et alias infensi, cupidine auri ad bellum accenderentur.

[1] Thereafter Fortune made sport of Nero through his own vanity and the promises of Caeseilius Bassus, who by origin was Punic, with a disturbed mind, and he drew an image of nocturnal quiet to a hope of a not doubtful reality; and, conveyed to Rome, having purchased access to the princeps, he reveals that there had been discovered in his field a cavern of immense depth, in which a great mass of gold was contained, not in the form of coined money but in raw and ancient weight. For very heavy bricks lay there, with columns standing in another part; which, hidden through so great an age, were for augmenting the present goods. Moreover, as conjecture demonstrated, Dido, a Phoenician woman, a fugitive from Tyre, Carthage having been founded, had hidden those riches, lest the new people grow wanton with excessive money, or the kings of the Numidians, inimical on other grounds, be inflamed to war by cupidity for gold.

[2] Igitur Nero, non auctoris, non ipsius negotii fide satis spectata nec missis per quos nosceret an vera adferrentur, auget ultro rumorem mittitque qui velut paratam praedam adveherent. dantur triremes et delectum remigium iuvandae festinationi. nec aliud per illos dies populus credulitate, prudentes diversa fama tulere.

[2] Therefore Nero, with neither the author nor the trustworthiness of the affair itself sufficiently scrutinized, nor having sent men by whom he might ascertain whether truths were being brought, further amplifies the rumor and sends men to bring it in as though ready plunder. Triremes are furnished and a selected rowing-crew, to aid the hastening. And during those days the populace, in credulity, held to it; the prudent conveyed a contrary report.

ac forte quinquennale ludicrum secundo lustro celebrabatur, ab oratoribusque praecipua materia in laudem principis adsumpta est. non enim solitas tantum fruges nec confusum metallis aurum gigni, sed nova ubertate provenire terram et obvias opes deferre deos, quaeque alia summa facundia nec minore adulatione servilia fingebant, securi de facilitate credentis.

and by chance the quinquennial spectacle was being celebrated in its second lustrum, and the chief matter was taken up by the orators in laud of the princeps. For, they said, it was not only the accustomed crops that were being produced, nor gold mingled with metals, but that the earth was coming forth with new fertility and the gods were delivering ready riches; and whatever other servile fictions they were shaping with the highest eloquence and no less adulation, secure in the easy credulity of the believer.

[3] Gliscebat interim luxuria spe inani consumebanturque veteres opes quasi oblatis quas multos per annos prodigeret. quin et inde iam largiebatur; et divitiarum expectatio inter causas paupertatis publicae erat. nam Bassus effosso agro suo latisque circum arvis, dum hunc vel illum locum promissi specus adseverat, sequunturque non modo milites sed populus agrestium efficiendo operi adsumptus, tandem posita vaecordia, non falsa antea somnia sua seque tunc primum elusum admirans, pudorem et metum morte voluntaria effugit.

[3] Meanwhile luxury was swelling on inane hope, and the old resources were being consumed as if with windfalls which he would squander through many years. Indeed even already from that he was lavishing largesse; and the expectation of riches was among the causes of public poverty. For Bassus, with his own field dug up and the broad lands around, while he kept asserting that this or that spot was the promised cavern, not only soldiers but a populace of countryfolk followed, taken up for accomplishing the work; at last, with his mindlessness laid aside, marveling that his former dreams had not previously seemed false and that he himself was only then for the first time eluded, he escaped shame and fear by a voluntary death.

quidam vinctum ac mox dimissum tradidere ademptis bonis in locum regiae gazae.

Some have reported that he was bound and soon released, his goods taken away for the royal treasury.

[4] Interea senatus propinquo iam lustrali certamine, ut dedecus averteret, offert imperatori victoriam cantus adicitque facundiae coronam qua ludicra deformitas velaretur. sed Nero nihil ambitu nec potestate senatus opus esse . dictitans, se aequum adversum aemulos et religione indicum meritam laudem adsecuturum, primo carmen in scaena recitat; mox flagitante vulgo ut omnia studia sua publicaret (haec enim verba dixere) ingreditur theatrum, cunctis citharae legibus obtemperans, ne fessus resideret, ne sudorem nisi ea quam indutui gerebat veste detergeret, ut nulla oris aut narium excrementa viserentur. postremo flexus genu et coetum illum manu veneratus sententias indicum opperiebatur ficto pavore.

[4] Meanwhile the senate, with the lustral contest now near, in order to avert disgrace, offers to the emperor the victory of song and adds a crown of eloquence, by which the deformity of play-acting might be veiled. But Nero, repeatedly saying that there was need of nothing by canvassing nor by the power of the senate, that he, fair toward rivals and by the scrupulousness of the judges, would attain deserved praise, first recites a poem on the stage; soon, as the crowd was clamoring that he make public all his pursuits (for these were the words they said), he enters the theater, obeying all the laws of the cithara, lest, being wearied, he sit down, lest he wipe the sweat except with that garment which he wore for costume, so that no excretions of mouth or nostrils might be seen. At last, with knee bent and having revered that assembly with his hand, he was awaiting the sentences of the judges with feigned fear.

et plebs quidem urbis, histrionum quoque gestus iuvare solita, personabat certis modis plausuque composito. crederes laetari, ac fortasse laetabantur per incuriam publici flagitii

and indeed the plebs of the city, accustomed also to assist the gestures of actors, resounded in fixed modes and with concerted applause. you would have believed them to rejoice, and perhaps they were rejoicing, through heedlessness of the public disgrace.

[5] Sed qui remotis e municipiis severaque adhuc et antiqui moris retinente Italia, quique per longinquas provincias lascivia inexperti officio legationum aut privata utilitate advenerant, neque aspectum illum tolerare neque labori inhonesto sufficere, cum manibus nesciis fatiscerent, turbarent gnaros ac saepe a militibus verberarentur, qui per cuneos stabant ne quod temporis momentum impari clamore aut silentio segni praeteriret. constitit plerosque equitum, dum per angustias aditus et ingruentem multitudinem enituntur, obtritos, et alios, dum diem noctemque sedilibus continunnt, morbo exitiabili correptos. quippe gravior inerat metus, si spectaculo defuissent, multis palam et pluribus occultis, ut nomina ac vultus, alacritatem tristitiamque coeuntium scrutarentur.

[5] But those who, from outlying municipal towns, with Italy still retaining a severe and ancient custom, and those who had arrived through far‑flung provinces, inexperienced in wantonness, by the duty of embassies or for private utility, could neither tolerate that spectacle nor suffice for the dishonorable labor, as their unskilled hands gave way; they confused the experienced, and were often beaten by the soldiers, who stood in wedges so that no moment of time might pass with uneven clamor or with sluggish silence. It was established that very many of the equestrians, while they struggled through narrow approaches and the inrushing multitude, were crushed; and that others, while they held their seats day and night, were seized by a fatal disease. For indeed a graver fear was present, that, if they were absent from the spectacle, many openly and more secretly would scrutinize the names and faces, the alacrity and the sadness of those assembling.

unde tenuioribus statim inrogata supplicia, adversum inlustris dissimulatum ad praesens et mox redditum odium. ferebantque Vespasianum, tamquam somno coniveret, a Phoebo liberto increpitum aegreque meliorum precibus obtectum, mox imminentem perniciem maiore fato effugisse.

whence punishments were at once imposed upon the humbler, while against the illustrious the hatred was dissimulated for the present and soon repaid. And they reported that Vespasian, as though he were closing his eyes in sleep, was rebuked by Phoebus the freedman and, with difficulty, was covered by the prayers of better men, and that presently he escaped the imminent perdition by a greater fate.

[6] Post finem ludicri Poppaea mortem obiit, fortuita mariti iracundia, a quo gravida ictu calcis adflicta est neque enim venenum crediderim, quamvis quidam scriptores tradant, odio magis quam ex fide: quippe liberorum copiens et amori uxoris obnoxius erat. corpus non igni abolitum, ut Romanus mos, sed regum externorum consuetudine differtum odoribus conditur tumuloque Iuliormn infertur. ductae tamen publicae exequiae laudavitque ipse apud rostra formam eius et quod divinae infantis parens fuisset aliaque fortunae munera pro virtutibus.

[6] After the end of the spectacle, Poppaea met her death, through a chance outburst of her husband’s irascibility, by whom, being pregnant, she was struck down by a blow of the heel—for I would not believe poison, although certain writers hand it down, from hatred rather than from good faith: indeed he was abounding in children and was enslaved to the love of his wife. Her body was not abolished by fire, as is the Roman custom, but, in the usage of foreign kings, was stuffed with aromatics, embalmed, and borne into the tomb of the Julii. Yet public obsequies were conducted, and he himself at the rostra praised her beauty and that she had been the mother of a deified infant, and other gifts of Fortune in place of virtues.

[7] Mortem Poppaeae ut palam tristem, ita recordantibus laetam ob impudicitiam eius saevitiamque, nova insuper invidia Nero complevit prohibendo C. Cassium officio exequiarum, quod primum indicium mali. neque in longum dilatum est, sed Silanus additur, nullo crimine nisi quod Cassius opibus vetustis et gravitate morum, Silanus claritudine generis et modesta iuventa praecellebant. igitur missa ad senatum oratione removendos a re publica utrosque disseruit, obiectavitque Cassio quod inter imagines maiorum etiam C. Cassi effigiem coluisset, ita inscriptam 'duci partium': quippe semina belli civilis et defectionem a domo Caesarum quaesitam; ac ne memoria tantum infensi nominis ad discordias uteretur, adsumpsisse L. Silanum, iuvenem genere nobilem, animo praeruptum, quem novis rebus ostentaret.

[7] Poppaea’s death, though openly sad, yet to those recalling her immodesty and savagery was gladsome; Nero, moreover, completed it with fresh odium by forbidding Gaius Cassius the duty of the exequies, which was the first indication of evil. Nor was it delayed for long, but Silanus is added, with no charge except that Cassius excelled in ancient resources and gravity of morals, Silanus in the renown of his stock and in modest youth. Therefore, a speech having been sent to the senate, he argued that both should be removed from the commonwealth, and he alleged against Cassius that among the images of his ancestors he had even cherished the effigy of Gaius Cassius, inscribed thus, “leader of the party”: indeed, the seeds of civil war and a defection from the house of the Caesars had been courted; and, lest he employ the mere memory of a hostile name for discords, he had taken up L. Silanus, a young man noble in lineage, precipitate in spirit, whom he might flaunt for “new things” (i.e., revolution).

[8] Ipsum dehinc Silanum increpuit isdem quibus patruum eius Torquatum, tamquam disponeret iam imperii curas praeficeretque rationibus et libellis et epistulis libertos, inania simul et falsa: nam Silanus intentior metu et exitio patrui ad praecavendum exterritus erat. inducti posthac vocabulo indicum qui in Lepidam, Cassii uxorem, Silani amitam, incestum cum fratris fiiio et diros sacrorum ritus confingerent. trahebantur ut conscii Vulcacius Tullinus ac Marcellus Cornelius senatores et Calpurnius Fabatus eques Romanus; qui appellato principe instantem damnationem frustrati, mox Neronem circa summa scelera distentum quasi minores evasere.

[8] Then he rebuked Silanus himself with the same charges as his uncle Torquatus, as though he were already arranging the cares of the imperium and putting freedmen in command of the accounts, the libelli, and the epistles—empty and false alike: for Silanus, the more intent through fear and his uncle’s destruction, was panic‑stricken to take precautions. Thereafter there were introduced, under the label of informers, men who would fabricate against Lepida, the wife of Cassius and aunt of Silanus, an incest with her brother’s son and dire rites of the sacra. Dragged in as accomplices were the senators Vulcacius Tullinus and Marcellus Cornelius, and Calpurnius Fabatus, a Roman eques; who, having appealed to the princeps and foiled the imminent condemnation, soon, with Nero distracted over supreme crimes, escaped as if they were lesser matters.

[9] Tunc consulto senatus Cassio et Silano exilia decernuntur: de Lepida Caesar statueret deportatusque in insulam Sardiniam Cassius, et senectus eius expectabatur. Silanus tamquam Naxum deveheretur Ostiam amotus, post municipio Apuliae, cui nomen Barium est, clauditur. illic indignissimum casum sapienter tolerans a centurione ad caedem misso corripitur; suadentique venas abrumpere animum quidem morti destinatum ait, sed non remittere percussori gloriam ministerii.

[9] Then, with the senate consulted, exiles are decreed for Cassius and Silanus: concerning Lepida, Caesar should determine; and Cassius, deported to the island Sardinia, had his old age awaited. Silanus, as though he were being conveyed to Naxos, was removed to Ostia; afterward he is shut up in a municipium of Apulia, whose name is Barium. There, wisely enduring a most unworthy fate, he is seized by a centurion sent to the slaughter; and to the one urging him to sever his veins he said that his spirit indeed was destined for death, but that he would not remit to the executioner the glory of his office.

at centurio quamvis inermem, praevalidum tamen et irae quam timori propiorem cernens premi a militibus iubet. nec omisit Silanus obniti et intendere ictus, quantum manibus nudis valebat, donec a centurione vulneribus adversis tamquam in pugna caderet.

But the centurion, perceiving him—though unarmed—yet very strong and nearer to anger than to fear, orders that he be pressed down by the soldiers. Nor did Silanus cease to resist and to direct blows, as far as he could with bare hands, until, by the centurion, with wounds to the front, he fell as if in battle.

[10] Haud minus prompte L. Vetus socrusque eius Sextia et Pollitta filia necem subiere, invisi principi tamquam vivendo exprobrarent interfectum esse Rubellium Plautum, generum Luci Veteris. sed initium detegendae saevitiae praebuit interversis patroni rebus ad accusandum transgrediens Fortunatus libertus, adscito Claudio Demiano, quem ob flagitia vinctum a Vetere Asiae pro consule exolvit Nero in praemium accusationis. quod ubi cognitum reo seque et libertum pari sorte componi, Formianos in agros digreditur: illic eum milites occulta custodia circumdant.

[10] No less promptly did L. Vetus, his mother‑in‑law Sextia, and his daughter Pollitta undergo death, hateful to the princeps as though by living they reproached him that Rubellius Plautus, the son‑in‑law of Lucius Vetus, had been slain. But the opening for unmasking the savagery was supplied by Fortunatus, a freedman, who, having interverted—embezzled—his patron’s goods, crossed over to accusation, with Claudius Demianus co‑opted, whom, for his flagitious acts, Vetus, when proconsul of Asia, had put in bonds, but Nero released as the reward of the accusation. When this was known to the defendant, and that he and the freedman were being equated in the same lot, he withdrew into the Formian fields: there soldiers encircled him with secret custody.

aderat filia, super ingruens periculum longo dolore atrox, ex quo percussores Plauti mariti sui viderat; cruentamque cervicem eius amplexa servabat sanguinem et vestis respersas, vidua inpexa luctu continuo nec ullis alimentis nisi quae mortem arcerent. tum hortante patre Neapolim pergit; et quia aditu Neronis prohibebatur, egressus obsidens, audiret insontem neve consulatus sui quondam collegam dederet liberto, modo muliebri eiulatu, aliquando sexum egressa voce infensa clamitabat, donec princeps immobilem se precibus et invidiae iuxta ostendit.

The daughter was present, in addition to the impending peril rendered atrocious by long pain, ever since she had seen the assassins of Plautus, her husband; and, embracing his bloody neck, she kept his blood and the garments spattered with it, a widow uncombed in continuous mourning and taking no nourishment save such as would ward off death. Then, with her father urging, she proceeds to Naples; and because she was being forbidden access to Nero, besieging his goings-out, she kept crying out—now with a womanly wail, at times, transgressing her sex, with a hostile voice—that he should hear the innocent and not give over his one-time colleague in the consulship to a freedman, until the princeps showed himself immovable alike to prayers and to public ill-will.

[11] Ergo nuntiat patri abicere spem et uti necessitate: simul adfertur parari cognitionem senatus et trucem sententiam. nec defuere qui monerent magna ex parte heredem Caesarem nuncupare atque ita nepotibus de reliquo consulere. quod aspernatus, ne vitam proxime libertatem actam novissimo servitio foedaret, largitur in servos quantum aderat pecuniae; et si qua asportari possent, sibi quemque deducere, tres modo lectulos ad suprema retineri iubet.

[11] Therefore she notifies her father to cast away hope and to make use of necessity: at the same time it is reported that a hearing of the Senate and a truculent sentence are being prepared. Nor were lacking those who advised to name Caesar heir for the greater part, and thus to make provision for his grandchildren as to the remainder. Spurning this, lest he defile a life lived nearest to freedom by a last servitude, he makes largess to the slaves of whatever money was at hand; and, if any things could be carried off, that each should take away for himself; he orders that only three little couches be kept for the last rites.

tunc eodem in cubiculo, eodem ferro abscindunt venas, properique et singulis vestibus ad verecundiam velati balineis inferuntur, pater filiam, avia neptem, illa utrosque intuens, et certatim precantes labenti animae celerem exitum, ut relinquerent suos superstites et morituros. servavitque ordinem fortuna, ac seniores prius, tum cui prima aetas extinguuntur. accusati post sepulturam decretumque ut more maiorum punirentur, et Nero intercessit, mortem sine arbitro permittens: ea cacdibus peractis ludibria adiciebantur.

then in the same bedchamber, with the same steel they cut their veins, and, in haste and each veiled with a single garment for modesty, they are borne into the baths, the father his daughter, the grandmother her granddaughter—she looking on both—and they, vying with one another, praying for a swift exit for the soul that was slipping away, to the end that they might leave their own loved ones surviving and destined to die. And fortune kept the order, and the elders first, then she whose age was in its first flower, were extinguished. After the burial it was decreed that the accused be punished in the manner of the ancestors, and Nero interceded, permitting death without an arbiter: to the slaughters, once accomplished, these mockeries were being added.

[12] Publius Gallus eques Romanus, quod Faenio Rufo intimus et Veteri non alienus fuerat, aqua atque igni prohibitus est. liberto et accusatori praemium operae locus in theatro inter viatores tribunicios datur. et menses, qui Aprilem eundemque Neroneum sequebantur, Maius Claudii, Iunius Germanici vocabulis mutantur, testificante Cornelio Orfito, qui id censuerat, ideo Iunium mensem transmissum, quia duo iam Torquati ob scelera interfecti infaustum nomen Iunium fecissent.

[12] Publius Gallus, a Roman eques, because he had been most intimate with Faenius Rufus and not unfriendly to Vetus, was prohibited from water and fire. To the freedman and the accuser, as a reward for their effort, a place in the theater among the tribunitian viatores is given. And the months which followed April—this same one also called Neronian—are changed in appellation to “the May of Claudius” and “the June of Germanicus,” Cornelius Orfitus, who had proposed it, testifying that for this reason the month-name “Junius” was passed over, because two Torquati already, slain for crimes, had made the name Junius ill-omened.

[13] Tot facinoribus foedum annum etiam dii tempestatibus et morbis insignivere. vastata Campania turbine ventorum, qui villas arbusta fruges passim disiecit pertulitque violentiam ad vicina urbi; in qua omne mortalium genus vis pestilentiae depopulabatur, nulla caeli intemperie quae occurreret oculis. sed domus corporibus exanimis, itinera funeribus complebantur; non sexus, non aetas periculo vacua; servitia perinde et ingenua plebes raptim extingui, inter coniugum et liberorum lamenta, qui dum adsident, dum deflent, saepe eodem rogo cremabantur.

[13] So many crimes having befouled the year, even the gods marked it with tempests and diseases. Campania was devastated by a whirlwind of winds, which scattered far and wide villas, orchards, and crops, and carried its violence to the districts neighboring the city; in which the force of pestilence was depopulating every kind of mortal, with no intemperance of the sky that met the eyes. But houses were filled with lifeless bodies, the roads with funerals; neither sex nor age was free from danger; the slave-classes and likewise the freeborn commons were being swiftly extinguished, amid the laments of spouses and children, who, while they sat by, while they wept, were often cremated on the same pyre.

equitum senatorumque interitus quamvis promisci minus flebiles erant, tamquam communi mortalitate saevitiam principis praevenirent.
Eodem anno dilectus per Galliam Narbonensem Africamque et Asiam habiti sunt supplendis Illyrici legionibus, ex quibus aetate aut valetudine fessi sacramento solvebantur. cladem Lugdunensem quadragies sestertio solatus est princeps, ut amissa urbi reponerent; quam pecuniam Lugdunenses ante obtulerant urbis casibus.

The deaths of equestrians and senators, although indiscriminate, were less lamentable, as if by a common mortality they forestalled the savagery of the princeps.
In the same year levies were held through Gallia Narbonensis, Africa, and Asia to replenish the legions of Illyricum, from which those wearied by age or health were released from the oath. The emperor consoled the Lugdunensian disaster with four million sesterces, so that they might restore to the city what was lost; which money the Lugdunenses had earlier proffered for the city’s misfortunes.

[14] C. Suetonio Luccio Telesino consulibus Antistius Sosianus, factitatis in Neronem carminibus probrosis exilio, ut dixi, multatus, postquam id honoris indicibus tamque promptum ad caedes principem accepit, inquies animo et occasionum haud segnis Pammenem, eiusdem loci exulem et Chaldaeorum arte famosum eoque multorum amicitiis innexum, similitudine fortunae sibi conciliat, ventitare ad eum nuntios et consultationes non frustra ratus; simul annuam pecuniam a P. Anteio ministrari cognoscit. neque nescium habebat Anteium caritate Agrippinae invisum Neroni opesque eius praecipuas ad eliciendam cupidinem eamque causam multis exitio esse. igitur interceptis Antei litteris, furatus etiam libellos, quibus dies genitalis eius et eventura secretis Pammenis occultabantur, simul repertis quae de ortu vitaque Ostorii Scapulae composita erant, scribit ad principem magna se et quae incolumitati eius conducerent adlaturum, si brevem exilii veniam impetravisset: quippe Anteium et Ostorium imminere rebus et sua Caesarisque fata scrutari.

[14] In the consulship of Gaius Suetonius and Lucius Telesinus, Antistius Sosianus, punished with exile, as I have said, for having made abusive poems against Nero, after he perceived that this was a badge of honor for informers and that the princeps was so prompt to slaughters, restless in spirit and by no means slow for opportunities, wins over to himself Pammenes, an exile of the same place and famed for the art of the Chaldaeans and thereby ensnared in the friendships of many, by the similarity of fortune, thinking it not in vain that messengers and consultations kept coming to him; at the same time he learns that an annual sum of money was being furnished by Publius Anteius. Nor was he unaware that Anteius, through his affection for Agrippina, was hateful to Nero, and that his resources were a prime lure to elicit desire, and that this was the cause of destruction for many. Therefore, with the letters of Anteius intercepted, and having even stolen the notebooks in which his natal day and future events were concealed in Pammenes’s confidential writings, and at the same time having found what had been composed about the birth and life of Ostorius Scapula, he writes to the princeps that he would bring great matters, such as would conduce to his safety, if he might obtain a brief reprieve of his exile: for indeed Anteius and Ostorius were threatening affairs and were scrutinizing their own and the Caesar’s destinies.

exim missae liburnicae advehiturque propere Sosianus. ac vulgato eius indicio inter damnatos magis quam inter reos Anteius Ostoriusque habebantur, adeo ut testamentum Antei nemo obsignaret, nisi Tigellinus auctor extitisset monito prius Anteio ne supremas tabulas moraretur. atque ille hausto veneno, tarditatem eius perosus intercisis venis mortem adproperavit.

Then Liburnian galleys were sent, and Sosianus was quickly conveyed. And when his disclosure was made public, Anteius and Ostorius were regarded more among the condemned than among the defendants, to such a degree that no one would seal Anteius’s testament, unless Tigellinus had stood forth as sponsor, after first warning Anteius not to delay his last tablets (will). And he, having drained the poison, loathing its slowness, hastened death by cutting his veins.

[15] Ostorius longinquis in agris apud finem Ligurum id temporis erat: eo missus centurio qui caedem eius maturaret. causa festinandi ex eo oriebatur quod Ostorius multa militari fama et civicam coronam apud Britanniam meritus, ingenti corpore armorumque scientia metum Neroni fecerat ne invaderet pavidum semper et reperta nuper coniuratione magis exterritum. igitur centurio, ubi effugia villae clausit, iussa imperatoris Ostorio aperit.

[15] Ostorius at that time was in distant fields near the boundary of the Ligurians: thither a centurion was sent to hasten his slaying. The cause of hurrying arose from this, that Ostorius, with much military fame and, in Britain, having earned the civic crown, by his enormous physique and his expertise in arms had inspired fear in Nero lest he assail him—ever-timid and, with a conspiracy lately uncovered, the more thoroughly terrified. Therefore the centurion, when he had closed the escape-routes of the villa, discloses to Ostorius the commands of the emperor.

is fortitudinem saepe adversum hostis spectatam in se vertit; et quia venae quamquam interruptae parum sanguinis effundebant, hactenus manu servi usus ut immotum pugionem extolleret, adpressit dextram eius iuguloque occurrit.

He turned upon himself the fortitude often proved against enemies; and because the veins, although interrupted, were pouring out too little blood, to this extent making use of a slave’s hand, that he might raise the immobile dagger, he pressed that right hand to his jugular and ran upon it.

[16] Etiam si bella externa et obitas pro re publica mortis tanta casuum similitudine memorarem, meque ipsum satias cepisset aliorumque taedium expectarem, quamvis honestos civium exitus, tristis tamen et continuos aspernantium: at nunc patientia servilis tantumque sanguinis domi perditum fatigant animum et maestitia restringunt. neque aliam defensionem ab iis quibus ista noscentur exegerim, quam ne oderim tam segniter pereuntis. ira illa numinum in res Romanas fuit, quam non, ut in cladibus exercituum aut captivitate urbium, semel edito transire licet.

[16] Even if I were to recount foreign wars and deaths undergone for the commonwealth with so great a similarity of occurrences, and satiety had seized me myself and I were expecting the tedium of others—of those who, though the departures of citizens are honorable, yet spurn them as gloomy and continuous—yet now a servile patience, and so much blood lost at home, weary the spirit and restrain it with sadness. Nor would I exact any other defense from those by whom these things shall be known than this: that I not hate those perishing so sluggishly. That was the wrath of the divinities against Roman affairs, which, not as in disasters of armies or the captivity of cities, it is permitted, once brought forth, to pass away.

detur hoc inlustrium virorum posteritati , ut quo modo exequiis a promisca sepultura separantur, ita in traditione supremorum accipiant habeantque propriam memoriam.

Let this be granted to the posterity of illustrious men , that just as by exequies they are separated from promiscuous sepulture, so in the tradition of their final rites they may receive and hold a proper memory.

[17] Paucos quippe intra dies eodem agmine Annaeus Mela, Cerialis Anicius, Rufrius Crispinus, C. Petronius cecidere, Mela etCrispinus equites Romani dignitate senatoria. nam hic quondam praefectus praetorii et consularibus insignibus donatus ac nuper crimine coniurationis in Sardiniam exactus accepto iussae mortis nuntio semet interfecit. Mela, quibus Gallio et Seneca parentibus natus, petitione honorum abstinuerat per ambitionem praeposteram ut eques Romanus consularibus potentia aequaretur; simul adquirendae pecuniae brevius iter credebat per procurationes administrandis principis negotiis.

[17] For within a few days, in the same column, Annaeus Mela, Anicius Cerialis, Rufrius Crispinus, C. Petronius fell, Mela andCrispinus Roman knights with senatorial dignity. For the latter had once been praetorian prefect and endowed with consular insignia, and lately, on a charge of conspiracy, driven into Sardinia; upon receiving the message of a commanded death, he killed himself. Mela, born of the same parents as Gallio and Seneca, had abstained from petitioning for honors through a preposterous ambition, in order that, as a Roman eques, he might be equated in power to consulars; at the same time he believed that a shorter road to acquiring money was through procurations for the administering of the emperor’s affairs.

idem Annaeum Lucanum genuerat, grande adiumentum claritudinis. quo interfecto dum rem familiarem eius acriter requirit, accusatorem concivit Fabium Romanum, ex intimis Lucani amicis. mixta inter patrem filiumque coniurationis scientia fingitur, adsimilatis Lucani litteris: quas inspectas Nero ferri adeum iussit, opibus eius inhians.

the same had begotten Annaeus Lucanus, a great aid to his renown. With him slain, while he was sharply seeking his estate, he stirred up an accuser, Fabius Romanus, from among Lucan’s most intimate friends. A knowledge of the conspiracy shared between father and son is fabricated, with Lucan’s letters imitated; and when these had been inspected, Nero ordered them to be brought to him, coveting his resources.

at Mela, quae tum promptissima mortis via, exolvit venas, scriptis codicillis quibus grandem pecuniam in Tigellinum generumque eius Cossutianum Capitonem erogabat quo cetera manerent. additur codicillis, tamquam de iniquitate exitii querens ita scripsisset, se quidem mori nullis supplicii causis, Rufrium autem Crispinum et Anicium Cerialem vita frui infensos principi. quae composita credebantur de Crispino, quia interfectus erat, de Ceriale, ut interficeretur.

But Mela, by what was then the most prompt route to death, opened his veins, having written codicils in which he was disbursing a large sum of money to Tigellinus and to his son‑in‑law Cossutianus Capito, so that the rest might remain. There is added in the codicils, as though complaining of the iniquity of his exit, that he had written thus: that he indeed was dying with no causes of punishment, but that Rufrius Crispinus and Anicius Cerialis, hostile to the princeps, were enjoying life. These statements were believed to have been composed in the case of Crispinus, because he had been slain; in the case of Cerialis, so that he might be slain.

neque enim multo post vim sibi attulit, minore quam ceteri miseratione, quia proditam G. Caesari coniurationem ab eo meminerant.

for indeed not long after he brought violence upon himself, with less commiseration than the rest, because they remembered that the conspiracy had been betrayed to Gaius Caesar by him.

[18] De C. Petronio pauca supra repetenda sunt. nam illi dies per somnum, nox officiis et oblectamentis vitae transigebatur; utque alios industria, ita hunc ignavia ad famam protulerat, habebaturque non ganeo et profligator, ut plerique sua haurientium, sed erudito luxu. ac dicta factaque eius quanto solutiora et quandam sui neglegentiam praeferentia, tanto gratius in speciem simplicitatis accipiebantur.

[18] A few points about Gaius Petronius must be repeated from above. For with him the day was passed in sleep, the night in the duties and delectations of life; and as industry had brought others forward to fame, so indolence had advanced this man to renown, and he was considered not a gormandizer and a profligate, as most of those who drain their own means, but a man of cultivated luxury. And the more his sayings and doings were more unbound and displayed a certain negligence of himself, the more gratefully they were received under the appearance of simplicity.

proconsul tamen Bithyniae et mox consul vigentem se ac parem negotiis ostendit. dein revolutus ad vitia seu vitiorum imitatione inter paucos familiarium Neroni adsumptus est, elegantiae arbiter, dum nihil amoenum et molle adfluentia putat, nisi quod ei Petronius adprobavisset. unde invidia Tigellini quasi adversus aemulum et scientia voluptatum potiorem.

however, as proconsul of Bithynia and soon after as consul, he showed himself vigorous and equal to affairs. then, relapsing into vices—or by an imitation of vices—he was admitted to Nero among the few of his familiars, an arbiter of elegance, while in his affluence he deemed nothing pleasant and soft unless Petronius had approved it for him. whence the envy of Tigellinus, as against a rival and one superior in the science of pleasures.

ergo crudelitatem principis, cui ceterae libidines cedebant, adgreditur, amicitiam Scaevini Petronio obiectans, corrupto ad indicium servo ademptaque defensione et maiore parte familiae in vincla rapta.

Therefore he assails the emperor’s cruelty, to which the other libidinous desires yielded, charging Petronius with friendship with Scaevius, a slave suborned for testimony, his defense removed, and the greater part of his household dragged into chains.

[19] Forte illis diebus Campaniam petiverat Caesar, et Cumas usque progressus Petronius illic attinebatur; nec tulit ultra timoris aut spei moras. neque tamen praeceps vitam expulit, sed incisas venas, ut libitum, obligatas aperire rursum et adloqui amicos, non per seria aut quibus gloriam constantiae peteret. audiebatque referentis nihil de immortalitate animae et sapientium placitis, sed levia carmina et facilis versus.

[19] By chance in those days Caesar had made for Campania, and, having advanced as far as Cumae, Petronius was detained there; nor did he endure further delays of fear or of hope. Yet he did not drive out life headlong, but, with his veins incised, to open and again to bind them, as it pleased him, and to address his friends—not on serious matters or by which he might seek the glory of constancy. And he would listen to reciters, nothing about the immortality of the soul and the doctrines of the wise, but light songs and easy verses.

servorum alios largitione, quosdam verberibus adfecit. iniit epulas, somno indulsit, ut quamquam coacta mors fortuitae similis esset. ne codicillis quidem, quod plerique pereuntium, Neronem aut Tigellinum aut quem alium potentium adulatus est, sed flagitia principis sub nominibus exoletorum feminarumque et novitatem cuiusque stupri perscripsit atque obsignata misit Neroni.

He treated some of the slaves with largess, others he subjected to floggings. He entered upon a banquet, he indulged in sleep, so that, although his death was compelled, it might seem like a fortuitous one. Not even in codicils, as most of the dying do, did he flatter Nero or Tigellinus or any other of the powerful; rather, he wrote out in full the disgraces of the princeps under the names of the exoleti and of the women, and the novelty of each act of debauchery, and, sealed, he sent them to Nero.

fregitque anulum ne mox usui esset ad facienda pericula.

and he broke his signet-ring, so that it would not soon be of use for contriving dangers.

[20] Ambigenti Neroni quonam modo noctium suarum ingenia notescerent, offertur Silia, matrimonio senatoris haud ignota et ipsi ad omnem libidinem adscita ac Petronio perquam familiaris. agitur in exilium tamquam non siluisset quae viderat pertuleratque, proprio odio. at Minucium Thermum praetura functum Tigellini simultatibus dedit, quia libertus Thermi quaedam de Tigellino criminose detulerat, quae cruciatibus tormentorum ipse, patronus eius nece immerita luere.

[20] As Nero wavered as to by what method the contrivances of his nights might become known, Silia is offered—by marriage not unknown to a senator, and herself admitted to his every lust, and exceedingly intimate with Petronius. She is driven into exile, on the pretext that she had not kept silence about what she had seen and undergone, out of private hatred. But Minucius Thermus, a man who had served the praetorship, he handed over to the animosities of Tigellinus, because Thermus’s freedman had criminally reported certain charges about Tigellinus—charges for which the freedman himself paid by the torments of torture, and his patron by an undeserved death.

[21] Trucidatis tot insignibus viris ad postremum Nero virtutem ipsam excindere concupivit interfecto Thrasea � Barea Sorano, olim utrisque infensus et accedentibus causis in Thraseam, quod senatu egressus est cum de Agrippina referretur, ut memoravi, quodque Iuvenalium ludicro parum spectabilem operam praebuerat; eaque offensio altius penetrabat, quia idem Thrasea Patavi, unde ortus erat, ludis +cetastis+ a Troiano Antenore institutis habitu tragico cecinerat. die quoque quo praetor Antistius ob probra in Neronem composita ad mortem damnabatur, mitiora censuit obtinuitque; et cum deum honores Poppaeae decernuntur sponte absens, funeri non interfuerat. quae oblitterari non sinebat Capito Cossutianus, praeter animum ad flagitia praecipitem iniquus Thraseae quod auctoritate eius concidisset, iuvantis Cilicum legatos dum Capitonem repetundarum interrogant.

[21] With so many distinguished men butchered, at last Nero coveted to extirpate virtue itself by the murder of Thrasea Paetus and Barea Soranus, long hostile to both, and with additional causes accruing against Thrasea: that he had gone out of the senate when a motion was being brought about Agrippina, as I have mentioned, and that at the Juvenalia spectacle he had given a contribution little show-worthy; and this offense sank deeper, because that same Thrasea at Patavium, whence he had arisen, at +contests+ instituted by the Trojan Antenor, had chanted in tragic attire. On the very day on which the praetor Antistius was being condemned to death for insults composed against Nero, he urged milder measures and prevailed; and when divine honors were decreed to Poppaea, of his own accord he was absent, he had not taken part in the funeral. These things Cossutianus Capito did not allow to be effaced—besides a spirit headlong toward flagitia—hostile to Thrasea because by his authority he had been brought down, as he aided the envoys of the Cilicians while they questioned Capito on charges of extortion.

[22] Quin et illa obiectabat, principio anni vitare Thraseam sollemne ius iurandum; nuncupationibus votorum non adesse, quamvis quindecimvirali sacerdotio praeditum; numquam pro salute principis aut caelesti voce immolavisse; adsiduum olim et indefessum, qui vulgaribus quoque patrum consultis semet fautorem aut adversarium ostenderet, triennio non introisse curiam; nuperrimeque, cum ad coercendos Silanum et Veterem certatim concurreretur, privatis potius clientium negotiis vacavisse. secessionem iam id et partis et, si idem multi audeant, bellum esse. 'ut quondam C. Caesarem' inquit 'et M. Catonem, ita nunc te, Nero, et Thraseam avida discordiarum civitas loquitur.

[22] Moreover she too was charging this: that at the beginning of the year Thrasea avoided the solemn oath; that he was not present at the nuncupations of vows, although endowed with the quindecimviral priesthood; that he had never sacrificed for the safety of the princeps or at the celestial voice; that, once assiduous and indefatigable, who even in the commonplace senatorial decrees would show himself a supporter or an adversary, he had not entered the Curia for three years; and most recently, when people were vying and flocking together to restrain Silanus and Vetus, he had rather devoted himself to the private business of his clients. This now was secession and a faction, and, if many dare the same, war. 'As once of Gaius Caesar,' she said, 'and Marcus Cato, so now of you, Nero, and Thrasea, does a city greedy for discords speak.'

et habet sectatores vel potius satellites, qui nondum contumaciam sententiarum, sed habitum vultumque eius sectantur, rigidi et tristes, quo tibi lasciviam exprobrent. huic uni incolumitas tua sine cura, artes sine honore. prospera principis respuit: etiamne luctibus et doloribus non satiatur?

and he has followers, or rather satellites, who as yet do not imitate the contumacy of his opinions, but his attire and countenance—rigid and gloomy—by which they reproach you for your wantonness. To this one man alone your safety is without care, the arts without honor. He rejects the prosperities of the princeps: is he not yet sated even with mournings and sorrows?

eiusdem animi est Poppaeam divam non credere, cuius in acta divi Augusti et divi Iuli non iurare. spernit religiones, abrogat leges. diurna populi Romani per provincias, per exercitus curatius leguntur, ut noscatur quid Thrasea non fecerit.

It is the same cast of mind not to believe Poppaea a goddess, as not to swear upon the acts of the deified Augustus and the deified Julius. He scorns religions, he abrogates laws. The daily records of the Roman people are read more carefully throughout the provinces and the armies, so that it may be known what Thrasea has not done.

aut transeamus ad illa instituta, si potiora sunt, aut nova cupientibus auferatur dux et auctor. ista secta Tuberones et Favonios, veteri quoque rei publicae ingrata nomina, genuit. ut imperium evertant libertatem praeferunt: si perverterint, libertatem ipsam adgredientur.

either let us pass over to those institutions, if they are better, or let the leader and author be taken away from those desiring novelties. that sect has begotten the Tuberones and the Favonii, names ungrateful even to the old republic. they proffer liberty so that they may overturn the empire; if they overturn it, they will next attack liberty itself.

frustra Cassium amovisti, si gliscere et vigere Brutorum aemulos passurus es. denique nihil ipse de Thrasea scripseris: disceptatorem senatum nobis relinque.' extollit ira promptum Cossutiani animum Nero adicitque Marcellum Eprium acri eloquentia.

in vain you have removed Cassius, if you are going to allow the emulators of the Brutuses to swell and to thrive. finally, do not yourself write anything about Thrasea: leave to us the senate as the arbiter.' anger lifts up the ready spirit of Cossutianus in Nero, and he adds Eprius Marcellus, with sharp eloquence.

[23] At Baream Soranum iam sibi Ostorius Sabinus eques Romanus poposcerat reum ex proconsulatu Asiae, in quo offensiones principis auxit iustitia atque industria, et quia portui Ephesiorum aperiendo curam insumpserat vimque civitatis Pergamenae prohibentis Acratum, Caesaris libertum, statuas et picturas evehere inultam omiserat. sed crimini dabatur amicitia Plauti et ambitio conciliandae provinciae ad spes novas. tempus damnationi delectum, quo Tiridates accipiendo Armeniae regno adventabat, ut ad externa rumoribus intestinum scelus obscuraretur, an ut magnitudinem imperatoriam caede insignium virorum quasi regio facinore ostentaret.

[23] But Ostorius Sabinus, a Roman eques, had already claimed Barea Soranus for himself as a defendant from his proconsulate of Asia, in which the princeps’s displeasure was increased by his justice and industry, and because he had expended care on opening the port of the Ephesians and had left unavenged the violence of the Pergamene civitas which was preventing Acratus, Caesar’s freedman, from carrying off statues and pictures. But it was charged as a crime that he was a friend of Plautus and that he had the ambition of conciliating the province toward new hopes. A time was chosen for the condemnation, when Tiridates was arriving to receive the kingdom of Armenia, so that by rumors about foreign affairs the internal crime might be obscured, or to flaunt imperial magnitude by the slaughter of eminent men as though by a regal crime.

[24] Igitur omni civitate ad excipiendum principem spectandumque regem effusa, Thrasea occursu prohibitus non demisit animum, sed codicillos ad Neronem composuit, requirens obiecta et expurgaturum adseverans, si notitiam criminum et copiam diluendi habuisset. eos codicillos Nero properanter accepit, spe exterritum Thraseam scripsisse, per quae claritudinem principis extolleret suamque famam dehonestaret. quod ubi non evenit vultumque et spiritus et libertatem insontis ultro extimuit, vocari patres iubet.

[24] Therefore, with the whole city poured out to welcome the princeps and to behold the king, Thrasea, being prohibited from the encounter, did not let his spirit sink, but composed codicils to Nero, inquiring into the charges and asserting that he would expurgate himself, if he had had knowledge of the crimes and the opportunity for refuting them. Nero promptly received those codicils, in the hope that Thrasea, terror‑stricken, had written things by which he would extol the renown of the princeps and dishonor his own reputation. But when this did not come to pass, and he even grew afraid of the countenance and the spirit and the liberty of the innocent man, he orders the Fathers to be summoned.

[25] Tum Thrasea inter proximos consultavit, temptaretne defensionem an sperneret. diversa consilia adferebantur. quibus intrari curiam placebat, securos esse de constantia eius disserunt; nihil dicturum nisi quo gloriam augeret.

[25] Then Thrasea consulted among his closest associates whether he should attempt a defense or spurn it. Diverse counsels were being adduced. Those to whom it pleased that the Curia be entered argue that they are assured as to his constancy; that he would say nothing except what would augment his glory.

segnis et pavidos supremis suis secretum circumdare: aspiceret populus virum morti obvium, audiret senatus voces quasi ex aliquo numine supra humanas: posse ipso miraculo etiam Neronem permoveri: sin crudelitati insisteret, distingui certe apud posteros memoriam honesti exitus ab ignavia per silentium pereuntium.

the sluggish and the timorous shroud their last moments in secrecy: let the people behold a man meeting death, let the senate hear utterances as if from some numen above the human; by the very miracle even Nero could be moved: but if he should persist in cruelty, at least the memory with posterity of an honorable exit would be distinguished from the cowardice of those perishing through silence.

[26] Contra qui opperiendum domi censebant, de ipso Thrasea eadem, sed ludibria et contumelias imminere: subtraheret auris conviciis et probris. non solum Cossutianum aut Eprium ad scelus promptos: superesse qui forsitan manus ictusque per immanitatem ausuri sint; etiam bonos metu sequi. detraheret potius senatui quem perornavisset infamiam tanti flagitii et relinqueret incertum quid viso Thrasea reo decreturi patres fuerint.

[26] On the contrary, those who thought it should be waited out at home said the same about Thrasea himself, but that mockeries and contumelies were impending: let him withdraw his ears from invectives and opprobrium. Not only Cossutianus or Eprius were prompt to crime; there remained those who perhaps, in their immanity, would dare hands and blows; even the good would follow from fear. Rather let him take away from the senate, which he had adorned, the infamy of so great a flagitious act, and leave it uncertain what the fathers would have decreed upon seeing Thrasea as the accused.

ut Neronem flagitiorum pudor caperet inrita spe agitari; multoque magis timendum ne in coniugem, in filiam, in cetera pignora eius saeviret. proinde intemeratus, impollutus, quorum vestigiis et studiis vitam duxerit, eorum gloria peteret finem. aderat consilio Rusticus Arulenus, flagrans iuvenis, et cupidine laudis offerebat se intercessurum senatus consulto: nam plebei tribunus erat.

that to be agitated by a vain hope was, that shame for his flagitious deeds would seize Nero; and much more it was to be feared lest he should rage against his spouse, his daughter, and his other pledges. Accordingly, undefiled, unpolluted, he should seek an end in the glory of those in whose footsteps and studies he has led his life. Present at the counsel was Arulenus Rusticus, a blazing youth, and in a craving for praise he was offering himself to intercede against the senatorial decree: for he was tribune of the plebs.

cohibuit spiritus eius Thrasea ne vana et reo non profutura, intercessori exitiosa inciperet. sibi actam aetatem, et tot per annos continuum vitae ordinem non deserendum: illi initium magistratuum et integra quae supersint. multum ante secum expenderet quod tali in tempore capessendae rei publicae iter ingrederetur.

Thrasea restrained his spirit, lest he commence things vain and not to profit the defendant, but ruinous to the intercessor. As for himself, his age was spent, and the continuous order of life through so many years was not to be deserted; for him (Rusticus) it was the beginning of magistracies, and what remained was intact. Let him weigh much with himself beforehand that he was entering, at such a time, upon the road of undertaking the commonwealth.

ceterum ipse an venire in senatum deceret meditationi suae reliquit.

but as for himself, he left to his own deliberation whether it was fitting to come into the senate.

[27] At postera luce duae praetoriae cohortes armatae templum Genetricis Veneris insedere; aditum senatus globus togatorum obsederat non occultis gladiis, dispersique per fora ac basilicas cunei militares. inter quorum aspectus et minas ingressi curiam senatores, et oratio principis per quaestorem eius audita est: nemine nominatim compellato patres arguebat quod publica munia desererent eorumque exemplo equites Romani ad segnitiam verterentur: etenim quid mirum e longinquis provinciis haud veniri, cum plerique adepti consulatum et sacerdotia hortorum potius amoenitati inservirent. quod velut telum corripuere accusatores.

[27] But at the next light two armed praetorian cohorts occupied the Temple of Venus Genetrix; a mass of toga-clad men had blockaded the approach to the senate with swords not concealed, and military wedges were scattered through the fora and basilicas. Under whose looks and threats the senators entered the curia, and the princeps’s oration was heard through his quaestor: with no one addressed by name, he was charging the fathers with abandoning public duties, and that by their example the Roman equestrian order was being turned to sloth; for indeed, what wonder that from far-flung provinces there was no coming, when many, having obtained the consulship and priesthoods, were serving rather the pleasantness of their gardens. This the accusers seized as though a weapon.

[28] Et initium faciente Cossutiano, maiore vi Marcellus summam rem publicam agi clamitabat; contumacia inferiorum lenitatem imperitantis deminui. nimium mitis ad eam diem patres, qui Thraseam desciscentem, qui generum eius Helvidium Priscum in isdem furoribus, simul Paconium Agrippinum, paterni in principes odii heredem, et Curtium Montanum detestanda carmina factitantem eludere impune sinerent. requirere se in senatu consularem, in votis sacerdotem, in iure iurando civem, nisi contra instituta et caerimonias maiorum proditorem palam et hostem Thrasea induisset.

[28] And with Cossutianus making the beginning, Marcellus with greater force kept shouting that the whole commonwealth was at stake; that the contumacy of inferiors diminished the ruler’s lenity. Too mild up to that day were the Fathers, who allowed Thrasea seceding, who allowed his son‑in‑law Helvidius Priscus in the same frenzies, along with Paconius Agrippinus, heir of a father’s hatred against the princes, and Curtius Montanus habitually composing detestable poems, to flout with impunity. He was requiring to find in the senate a consular, in the vows a priest, in the oath a citizen—unless, contrary to the institutions and ceremonies of the ancestors, Thrasea had openly assumed the character of traitor and enemy.

denique agere senatorem et principis obtrectatores protegere solitus veniret, censeret quid corrigi aut mutari vellet: facilius perlaturos singula increpantem quam nunc silentium perferrent omnia damnantis. pacem illi per orbem terrae, an victorias sine damno exercituum displicere? ne hominem bonis publicis maestum, et qui fora theatra templa pro solintdine haberet, qui minitaretur exilium suum, ambitionis pravae compotem facerent.

Finally, let him, who was accustomed to act the senator and to come protecting the detractors of the princeps, come forward and propose what he would wish to be corrected or changed: they would more easily bear him rebuking particulars than now endure his silence, which condemns everything. Does peace for him throughout the orb of the earth, or victories without loss of the armies, displease? Let them not make a man saddened by public goods, who holds the fora, theaters, temples as in place of solitude, who threatens his own exile, a participant in depraved ambition.

non illi consulta haec, non magistratus aut Romanam urbem videri. abrumperet vitam ab ea civitate cuius caritatem olim, nunc et aspectum exuisset.

Let not these counsels, nor the magistrates or the Roman city, seem to him. Let him break off his life from that commonwealth, whose affection he had once stripped off, and now even its very sight.

[29] Cum per haec atque talia Marcellus, ut erat torvus ac minax, voce vultu oculis ardesceret, non illa nota et celebritate periculorum sueta iam senatus maestitia, sed novus et altior pavor manus et tela militum cernentibus. simul ipsius Thraseae venerabilis species obversabatur; et erant qui Helvidium quoque miserarentur, innoxiae adfinitatis poenas daturum. quid Agrippino obiectum nisi tristem patris fortunam, quando et ille perinde innocens Tiberii saevitia concidisset.

[29] While at these and such words Marcellus—being grim and menacing—was kindling in voice, countenance, and eyes, there arose, not that sadness of the senate now accustomed by the familiarity and notoriety of dangers, but a new and deeper dread for those who beheld the hands and weapons of the soldiers. At the same time the venerable aspect of Thrasea himself kept presenting itself; and there were those who pitied Helvidius too, destined to pay the penalties of an innocuous affinity (by marriage). What was imputed to Agrippinus except the sad fortune of his father, since he too, equally innocent, had fallen to the savagery of Tiberius?

enimvero Montanum probae iuventae neque famosi carminis, quia protulerit ingenium, extorrem agi.

indeed, Montanus, of upright youth and of no infamous song, because he had brought forth his genius, was being driven into exile.

[30] Atque interim Ostorius Sabinus, Sorani accusator, ingreditur orditurque de amicitia Rubelli Plauti, quodque proconsulatum Asiae Soranus pro claritate sibi potius accommodatum quam ex utilitate communi egisset, alendo seditiones civitatium. vetera haec: sed recens et quo discrimini patris filiatn conectebat, quod pecuniam magis dilargita esset. acciderat sane pietate Serviliae (id enim nomen puellae fuit), quae caritate erga parentem, simul imprudentia aetatis, non tamen aliud consultaverat quam de incolumitate domus, et an placabilis Nero, an cognitio senatus nihil atrox adferret.

[30] And meanwhile Ostorius Sabinus, the accuser of Soranus, enters and begins with the friendship of Rubellius Plautus, and that Soranus had conducted the proconsulship of Asia as accommodated to his own renown rather than from the common utility, by fostering seditions of the cities. These were old matters: but a fresh one too, by which he was linking the daughter to her father’s peril, was that she had more lavishly disbursed money. It had in fact occurred through the pietas of Servilia (for that was the girl’s name), who, out of affection toward her parent, together with the imprudence of her age, had nevertheless consulted about nothing other than the safety of the household, and whether Nero was placable, and whether an inquiry of the senate would bring nothing atrocious.

igitur accita est in senatum, steteruntque diversi ante tribunal consulum grandis aevo parens, contra filia intra vicesimum aetatis annum, nuper marito Annio Pollione in exilium pulso viduata desolataque, ac ne patrem quidem intuens cuius onerasse pericula videbatur.

therefore she was summoned into the senate, and they stood apart before the tribunal of the consuls—the parent, aged, on one side; opposite, the daughter, within her twentieth year—her husband Annius Pollio having recently been driven into exile, widowed and desolate, and not even looking upon her father, whose dangers she seemed to have burdened.

[31] Tum interrogante accusatore an cultus dotalis, an detractum cervici monile venum dedisset, quo pecuniam faciendis magicis sacris contraheret, primum strata humi longoque fletu et silentio, post altaria et aram complexa 'nullos' inquit impios deos, nullas devotiones, nec aliud infelicibus precibus invocavi quam ut hunc optimum patrem tu, Caesar, vos, patres, servaretis incolumem. sic gemmas et vestis et dignitatis insignia dedi, quo modo si sanguinems et vitam poposcissent. viderint isti, antehac mihi ignoti, quo nomine sint, quas artes exerceant: nulla mihi principis mentio nisi inter numina fuit.

[31] Then, when the accuser asked whether she had sold her dotal adornment, or a necklace taken from her neck, to raise money for performing magical rites, at first she lay prostrate on the ground with long weeping and silence; afterward, clasping the altars and the altar, she said: 'I have called upon no impious gods, no devotions, nor did I invoke by my ill-omened prayers anything other than that you, Caesar, and you, Fathers, would preserve this best of fathers unharmed. Thus I gave gems and garments and the insignia of dignity, just as if they had demanded my blood and life. Let those men—till now unknown to me—see by what name they are called, what arts they practice: there was for me no mention of the princeps except among the numina.'

nescit tamen miserrimus pater et, si crimen est, sola deliqui.'

Yet the most wretched father does not know, and, if it is a crime, I alone have been delinquent.'

[32] Loquentis adhuc verba excipit Soranus proclamatque non illam in provinciam secum profectam, non Plauto per aetatem nosci potuisse, non criminibus mariti conexam: nimiae tantum pietatis ream separarent, atque ipse quamcumque sortem subiret. simul in amplexus occurrentis filiae ruebat, nisi interiecti lictores utrisque obstitissent. mox datus testibus locus; et quantum misericordiae saevitia accusationis permoverat, tantum irae P. Egnatius testis concivit.

[32] While she was still speaking, Soranus takes up the words and cries out that she had not gone with him into the province, that she could not, by reason of her age, have been known to Plautus, that she was not connected with her husband’s charges: let them set her apart as guilty only of excessive piety, and he himself would undergo whatever lot. At the same time he was rushing into the embraces of his daughter as she ran to meet him, had not lictors thrust between opposed them both. Soon place was given to the witnesses; and as much pity as the savagery of the accusation had moved, so much anger did the witness Publius Egnatius stir up.

cliens hic Sorani et tunc emptus ad opprimendum amicum auctoritatem Stoicae sectae praeferebat, habitu et ore ad exprimendam imaginem honesti exercitus, ceterum animo perfidiosus, subdolus, avaritiam ac libidinem occultans; quae postquam pecunia reclusa sunt, dedit exemplum praecavendi, quo modo fraudibus involutos aut flagitiis commaculatos, sic specie bonarum artium falsos et amicitiae fallacis.

This client of Soranus—and then bought to crush his friend—paraded the authority of the Stoic sect, in dress and in countenance to express the image of honorable discipline; but in mind he was perfidious, underhand, hiding avarice and libido; which, after money had unlocked them, were laid bare. He furnished a pattern for taking precaution: just as men entangled in frauds or stained by flagitious crimes are to be guarded against, so too are those who are false under the appearance of good arts and of fallacious friendship.

[33] Idem tamen dies et honestum exemplum tulit Cassii Asclepiodoti, qui magnitudine opum praecipuus inter Bithynos, quo obsequio florentem Soranum celebraverat, labantem non deseruit, exutusque omnibus fortunis et in exilium actus, aequitate deum erga bona malaque documenta. Thraseae Soranoque et Serviliae datur mortis arbitrium; Helvidius et Paconius Italia depelluntur; Montanus patri concessus est, praedicto ne in re publica haberetur. accusatoribus Eprio et Cossutiano quinquagies sestertium singulis, Ostorio duodecies et quaestoria insignia tribuuntur.

[33] The same day, however, also brought an honorable example in Cassius Asclepiodotus, who, preeminent among the Bithynians for the magnitude of his wealth, with the same obsequiousness with which he had celebrated Soranus when he was flourishing did not abandon him when he was tottering; and, stripped of all his fortunes and driven into exile, he became proofs of the impartiality of the gods toward good and evil. To Thrasea, to Soranus, and to Servilia the choice of death is given; Helvidius and Paconius are driven out of Italy; Montanus was handed over to his father, with the proviso stated that he not be held in public affairs. To the accusers Eprius and Cossutianus there are granted 5,000,000 sesterces apiece, to Ostorius 1,200,000 and the quaestorian insignia.

[34] Tum ad Thraseam in hortis agentem quaestor consulis missus vesperascente iam die. inlustrium virorum feminarumque coetus frequentis egerat, maxime intentus Demetrio Cynicae institutionis doctori, cum quo, ut coniectare erat intentione vultus et auditis, si qua clarius proloquebantur, de natura animae et dissociatione spiritus corporisque inquirebat, donec advenit Domitius Caecilianus ex intimis amicis et ei quid senatus censuisset exposuit. igitur flentis queritantisque qui aderant facessere propere Thrasea neu pericula sua miscere cum sorte damnati hortatur, Arriamque temptantem mariti suprema et exemplum Arriae matris sequi monet retinere vitam filiaeque communi subsidium unicum non adimere.

[34] Then, to Thrasea, who was spending time in his gardens, the quaestor of the consul was sent with the day now drawing toward evening. He had been holding gatherings of distinguished men and women in frequent assembly, being especially intent upon Demetrius, a teacher of Cynic instruction, with whom—as could be conjectured from the fixity of his expression and from what was overheard, if they spoke anything more clearly—he was inquiring about the nature of the soul and the dissociation of spirit and body, until Domitius Caecilianus, one of his closest friends, arrived and explained to him what the senate had decreed. Therefore he urges those present, who were weeping and lamenting, to withdraw promptly, and not to mix their own dangers with the lot of the condemned; and he advises Arria, who was attempting to meet her husband’s last hour and to follow the example of her mother Arria, to keep her life and not to take away from their common daughter her sole support.

[35] Tum progressus in porticum illic a quaestore reperitur, laetitiae propior, quia Helvidium generum suum Italia tantum arceri cognoverat. accepto dehinc senatus consulto Helvidium et Demetrium in cubiculum inducit; porrectisque utriusque brachii venis, postquam cruorem effudit, humum super spargens, propius vocato quaestore 'libamus' inquit 'Iovi liberatori specta, invenis; et omen quidem dii prohibeant, ceterum in ea tempora natus es quibus firmare animum expediat constantibus exemplis.' post lentitudine exitus gravis cruciatus adferente, obversis in Demetrium * * *

[35] Then, having gone forth into the portico, there he is found by the quaestor, nearer to joy, because he had learned that Helvidius, his son-in-law, was only being banished from Italy. Then, the senatus-consultum having been received, he ushers Helvidius and Demetrius into the bedroom; and, with the veins of both arms stretched out, after he poured out the gore, sprinkling it upon the ground, with the quaestor called nearer: “Let us pour a libation,” he says, “to Jupiter the Liberator. Look on, young man; and may the gods indeed forbid the omen; but you are born into times in which it is expedient to strengthen the mind with steadfast examples.” Afterwards, as the slowness of the end was bringing grievous torments, with his gaze turned upon Demetrius * * *