Tacitus: ANNALES

[1] C. Asinio C. Antistio consulibus nonus Tiberio annus erat compositae rei publicae, florentis domus (nam Germanici mortem inter prospera ducebat), cum repente turbare fortuna coepit, saevire ipse aut saevientibus viris praebere. initium et causa penes Aelium Seianum cohortibus praetoriis praefectum cuius de potentia supra memoravi: nunc originem, mores, et quo facinore dominationem raptum ierit expediam. genitus Vulsiniis patre Seio Strabone equite Romano, et prima iuventa Gaium Caesarem divi Augusti nepotem sectatus, non sine rumore Apicio diviti et prodigo stuprum veno dedisse, mox Tiberium variis artibus devinxit: adeo ut obscurum adversum alios sibi uni incautum intectumque efficeret, non tam sollertia (quippe isdem artibus victus est) quam deum ira in rem Romanam, cuius pari exitio viguit ceciditque.

[1] In the consulship of Gaius Asinius and Gaius Antistius it was the ninth year for Tiberius of a composed commonwealth, of a flourishing house (for he reckoned the death of Germanicus among prosperous things), when suddenly fortune began to throw things into turmoil, he himself to rage, or to offer himself to men raging. The beginning and cause were in Aelius Sejanus, prefect of the Praetorian cohorts, whose power I have mentioned above: now I will set forth his origin, character, and by what crime he went to snatch domination. Born at Volsinii, with his father Seius Strabo a Roman eques, and in earliest youth having followed Gaius Caesar, grandson of the deified Augustus, not without the rumor that he had given his chastity for sale to Apicius, rich and prodigal, soon he bound Tiberius by various arts, to such a degree that, hidden toward others, he made him to himself alone incautious and uncovered, not so much by cleverness (indeed he was overcome by the same arts) as by the wrath of the gods against the Roman commonwealth, under whom, with equal ruin, it both flourished and fell.

corpus illi laborum tolerans, animus audax; sui obtegens, in alios criminator; iuxta adulatio et superbia; palam compositus pudor, intus summa apiscendi libido, eiusque causa modo largitio et luxus, saepius industria ac vigilantia, haud minus noxiae quotiens parando regno finguntur.

a body in him tolerant of labors, a spirit audacious; self-concealing, an accuser against others; adulation and pride side by side; openly a composed modesty, inwardly a lust for obtaining the summit—and for the sake of this, at times largesse and luxury, more often industry and vigilance, no less noxious whenever, for the preparing of a kingdom, they are feigned.

[2] Vim praefecturae modicam antea intendit, dispersas per urbem cohortis una in castra conducendo, ut simul imperia acciperent numeroque et robore et visu inter se fiducia ipsis, in ceteros metus oreretur. praetendebat lascivire militem diductum; si quid subitum ingruat, maiore auxilio pariter subveniri; et severius acturos si vallum statuatur procul urbis inlecebris. ut perfecta sunt castra, inrepere paulatim militaris animos adeundo, appellando; simul centuriones ac tribunos ipse deligere.

[2] He intensified the force of the prefecture, previously moderate, by bringing the cohorts scattered through the city together into one camp, so that they might receive commands at the same time, and that by their number, strength, and by sight confidence might arise among themselves, and fear among the rest. He alleged that the soldier, when dispersed, ran riot; that, if anything sudden should threaten, succor of greater force would be supplied at once; and that they would act more severely if a rampart were set up far from the city’s allurements. When the camp was completed, he began gradually to insinuate himself into the soldiers’ minds by going to them and addressing them; and at the same time to select the centurions and tribunes himself.

neque senatorio ambitu abstinebat clientes suos honoribus aut provinciis ornandi, facili Tiberio atque ita prono ut socium laborum non modo in sermonibus, sed apud patres et populum celebraret colique per theatra et fora effigies eius interque principia legionum sineret.

nor did he refrain from senatorial canvassing, of adorning his clients with honors or provinces, Tiberius being compliant and so prone that he celebrated him as a partner in labors not only in speeches, but before the fathers and the people, and allowed his effigies to be cherished through the theaters and fora and even among the principia of the legions.

[3] Ceterum plena Caesarum domus, iuvenis filius, nepotes adulti moram cupitis adferebant; et quia vi tot simul corripere intutum dolus intervalla scelerum poscebat. placuit tamen occultior via et a Druso incipere, in quem recenti ira ferebatur. nam Drusus impatiens aemuli et animo commotior orto forte iurgio intenderat Seiano manus et contra tendentis os verberaverat.

[3] However, the house of the Caesars being full—a young son, grandsons grown to adulthood—brought delay to his desires; and because to seize so many at once by force was unsafe, guile demanded intervals of crimes. It pleased him, nevertheless, to take a more occult way and to begin with Drusus, toward whom he was borne by recent anger. For Drusus, impatient of a rival and more stirred in spirit, when a quarrel had by chance arisen, had stretched his hands against Sejanus and had struck the face of the one stretching against him.

igitur cuncta temptanti promptissimum visum ad uxorem eius Liviam convertere, quae soror Germanici, formae initio aetatis indecorae, mox pulchritudine praecellebat. hanc ut amore incensus adulterio pellexit, et postquam primi flagitii potitus est (neque femina amissa pudicitia alia abnuerit), ad coniugii spem, consortium regni et necem mariti impulit. atque illa, cui avunculus Augustus, socer Tiberius, ex Druso liberi, seque ac maiores et posteros municipali adultero foedabat ut pro honestis et praesentibus flagitiosa et incerta expectaret.

therefore, as he was trying everything, the readiest course seemed to turn to his wife Livia, who was the sister of Germanicus: of figure unbecoming in the beginning of her age, soon she excelled in beauty. this woman, inflamed with love, he seduced into adultery, and after he had gained the first crime (nor does a woman, once modesty is lost, refuse other things), he drove her to the hope of marriage, to a consortium of rule, and to the murder of her husband. and she—who had Augustus for an uncle, Tiberius for a father-in-law, and children from Drusus—was defiling herself and her ancestors and descendants with a municipal adulterer, so that instead of honorable and present advantages she might expect shameful and uncertain things.

sumitur in conscientiam Eudemus, amicus ac medicus Liviae, specie artis frequens secretis. pellit domo Seianus uxorem Apicatam, ex qua tres liberos genuerat, ne paelici suspectaretur. sed magnitudo facinoris metum, prolationes, diversa interdum consilia adferebat.

Eudemus is taken into complicity, a friend and physician of Livia, under the appearance of his art frequent in her secrets. Sejanus drives from his house his wife Apicata, by whom he had begotten three children, lest he be suspected by his paramour. But the magnitude of the crime brought fear, protractions, and at times divergent counsels.

[4] Interim anni principio Drusus ex Germanici liberis togam virilem sumpsit quaeque fratri eius Neroni decreverat senatus repetita. addidit orationem Caesar multa cum laude filii sui quod patria benevolentia in fratris liberos foret. nam Drusus, quamquam arduum sit eodem loci potentiam et concordiam esse, aequus adulescentibus aut certe non adversus habebatur.

[4] Meanwhile, at the beginning of the year Drusus, from Germanicus’s children, assumed the manly toga, and the things which the senate had decreed for his brother Nero were renewed. Caesar added an oration with much praise of his son, because he was of paternal benevolence toward his brother’s children. For Drusus—although it is arduous that power and concord be in the same place—was regarded as equitable toward the adolescents, or at least not adverse.

exim vetus et saepe simulatum proficiscendi in provincias consilium refertur. multitudinem veteranorum praetexebat imperator et dilectibus supplendos exercitus: nam voluntarium militem deesse, ac si suppeditet, non eadem virtute ac modestia agere, quia plerumque inopes ac vagi sponte militiam sumant. percensuitque cursim numerum legionum et quas provincias tutarentur.

Then the old and often-simulated plan of setting out to the provinces is brought forward. The emperor put forward as a pretext the multitude of veterans and that the armies must be replenished by levies: for volunteer soldiery is lacking, and if it be forthcoming, it does not act with the same virtue and discipline, because for the most part the needy and the vagrant take up military service of their own accord. And he ran through briefly the number of the legions and which provinces they were guarding.

quod mihi quoque exequendum reor, quae tunc Romana copia in armis, qui socii reges, quanto sit angustius imperitatum.

which I too think should be set forth: what Roman force in arms there then was, what allied kings, and by how much more narrowly rule was exercised.

[5] Italiam utroque mari duae classes, Misenum apud et Ravennam, proximumque Galliae litus rostratae naves praesidebant, quas Actiaca victoria captas Augustus in oppidum Foroiuliense miserat valido cum remige. sed praecipuum robur Rhenum iuxta, commune in Germanos Gallosque subsidium, octo legiones erant. Hispaniae recens perdomitae tribus habebantur.

[5] Two fleets on either sea guarded Italy, at Misenum and at Ravenna, and rostrate ships were guarding the shore nearest to Gaul, which, captured by the Actian victory, Augustus had sent to the oppidum of Forum Iulii with a strong oar-crew. But the principal strength, near the Rhine, a common subsidy for the Germans and the Gauls, was eight legions. The Spains, recently thoroughly subdued, were held by three legions.

Mauros Iuba rex acceperat donum populi Romani. cetera Africae per duas legiones parique numero Aegyptus, dehinc initio ab Syriae usque ad flumen Euphraten, quantum ingenti terrarum sinu ambitur, quattuor legionibus coercita, accolis Hibero Albanoque et aliis regibus qui magnitudine nostra proteguntur adversum extema imperia et Thraeciam Rhoemetalces ac liberi Cotyis, ripamque Danuvii legionum duae in Pannonia, duae in Moesia attinebant, totidem apud Delmatiam locatis, quae positu regionis a tergo illis, ac si repentinum auxilium Italia posceret, haud procul accirentur, quamquam insideret urbem proprius miles, tres urbanae, novem praetoriae cohortes, Etruria ferme Vmbriaque delectae aut vetere Latio et coloniis antiquitus Romanis. at apud idonea provinciarum sociae triremes alaeque et auxilia cohortium, neque multo secus in iis virium: sed persequi incertum fuit, cum ex usu temporis huc illuc mearent, gliscerent numero et aliquando minuerentur.

The Moors King Juba had received as a gift of the Roman people. The rest of Africa was held by two legions, and Egypt by an equal number. Then, beginning from Syria up to the river Euphrates, as far as is encompassed by a vast curve of lands, it was kept in check by four legions, with the neighboring Iberian and Albanian and other kings who are protected by our magnitude against foreign empires; and Thrace by Rhoemetalces and the children of Cotys. And the bank of the Danube was held by two legions in Pannonia, two in Moesia, with as many stationed in Dalmatia, which, by the position of the region, were to the rear of those, and, if Italy should demand sudden aid, could be summoned from not far away—although a nearer soldiery occupied the city, three urban cohorts, nine praetorian cohorts, chosen for the most part from Etruria and Umbria or from old Latium and colonies anciently Roman. But among suitable provinces there were allied triremes and wings and auxilia of cohorts, nor much less was the strength in them; yet it was uncertain to pursue an enumeration, since according to the need of the time they would move hither and thither, swell in number and sometimes be diminished.

[6] Congruens crediderim recensere ceteras quoque rei publicae partis, quibus modis ad eam diem habitae sint, quoniam Tiberio mutati in deterius principatus initium ille annus attulit. iam primum publica negotia et privatorum maxima apud patres tractabantur, dabaturque primoribus disserere et in adulationem lapsos cohibebat ipse; mandabatque honores, nobilitatem maiorum, claritudinem militiae, inlustris domi artes spectando, ut satis constaret non alios potiores fuisse. sua consulibus, sua praetoribus species; minorum quoque magistratuum exercita potestas; legesque, si maiestatis quaestio eximeretur, bono in usu.

[6] I would deem it congruent to recount also the other parts of the commonwealth, in what ways up to that day they were conducted, since under Tiberius that year brought the beginning of a principate changed for the worse. To begin with, public business and the greatest affairs of private persons were handled before the Senate, and leave was given to the foremost men to discourse, and he himself restrained those who had slipped into adulation; and he conferred honors by inspecting the nobility of their ancestors, the renown of military service, and the illustrious arts of life at home, so that it was sufficiently established that no others were more preferable. There was its own proper dignity for consuls, its own for praetors; the authority of the lesser magistracies too was exercised; and the laws, if the inquiry into treason were excepted, were in good use.

at frumenta et pecuniae vectigales, cetera publicorum fructuum societatibus equitum Romanorum agitabantur. res suas Caesar spectatissimo cuique, quibusdam ignotis ex fama mandabat, semelque adsumpti tenebantur prorsus sine modo, cum plerique isdem negotiis insenescerent. plebes acri quidem annona fatigabatur, sed nulla in eo culpa ex principe: quin infecunditati terrarum aut asperis maris obviam iit, quantum impendio diligentiaque poterat.

But the grain-supplies and the tax moneys, the rest of the fruits of the public revenues, were conducted by societies of Roman knights. Caesar entrusted his own affairs to each most conspicuous man, and to some unknowns on the strength of repute, and once taken on they were held absolutely without limit, as the majority grew old in the same businesses. The plebs was indeed wearied by a steep grain-price, but there was no blame in this from the princeps: nay, he went to meet the infecundity of the lands or the asperities of the sea, as far as he could, by expenditure and diligence.

et ne provinciae novis oneribus turbarentur utque vetera sine avaritia aut crudelitate magistratuum tolerarent providebat: corporum verbera, ademptiones bonorum aberant. rari per Italiam Caesaris agri, modesta servitia, intra paucos libertos domus; ac si quando cum privatis disceptaret, forum et ius.

and lest the provinces be disturbed by new burdens, and that the old ones be borne without the avarice or cruelty of magistrates, he provided: corporal beatings and confiscations of goods were absent. few throughout Italy were the Caesar’s estates, a modest servile staff, a household kept within a few freedmen; and if ever he disputed with private persons, there were the forum and the law.

[7] Quae cuncta non quidem comi via sed horridus ac plerumque formidatus retinebat tamen, donec morte Drusi verterentur: nam dum superfuit mansere, quia Seianus incipiente adhuc potentia bonis consiliis notescere volebat, et ultor metuebatur non occultus odii set crebro querens ro incolumi filio adiutorem imperii alium vocari. et quantum superesse ut collega dicatur? primas dominandi spes in arduo: ubi sis ingressus, adesse studia et ministros.

[7] All these things he did indeed maintain, not by an amiable way but grim and for the most part feared, nevertheless, until they were overturned by the death of Drusus: for while he survived they remained, because Sejanus, with his power as yet beginning, wanted to become notable for good counsels, and the avenger was feared—not hidden in his hatred but repeatedly complaining that, with his son uninjured, another was being called the helper of the empire. And how much is left before he is called colleague? The first hopes of domination are on the steep; once you have entered, allegiances and ministers are at hand.

extructa iam sponte praefecti castra, datos in manum milites; cerni effgiem eius in monimentis Cn. Pompei; communis is illi cum familia Drusorum fore nepotes: precandam post haec modestiam ut contentus esset. neque raro neque apud paucos talia iaciebat, et secreta quoque eius corrupta uxore prodebantur.

the camp already raised by the prefect’s own impulse, soldiers delivered into his hand; his effigy was seen in the monuments of Cn. Pompeius; that he would have grandchildren in common with the family of the Drusi: after this modesty must be prayed for, that he be content. nor did he cast out such things either rarely or among few, and his secrets too were betrayed, his wife having been corrupted.

[8] Igitur Seianus maturandum ratus deligit venenum quo paulatim inrepente fortuitus morbus adsimularetur. id Druso datum per Lygdum spadonem, ut octo post annos cognitum est. ceterum Tiberius per omnis valetudinis eius dies, nullo metu an ut firmitudinem animi ostentaret, etiam defuncto necdum sepulto, curiam ingressus est.

[8] Therefore Sejanus, thinking it must be hastened, selected a poison by which, as it crept in little by little, a fortuitous sickness might be simulated. This was given to Drusus through Lygdus the eunuch, as was learned eight years later. Moreover Tiberius, through all the days of his ill-health, whether from no fear or in order to ostentate firmness of spirit, even after Drusus had died and was not yet buried, entered the Curia.

consulesque sede vulgari per speciem maestitiae sedentis honoris locique admonuit, et effusum in lacrimas senatum victo gemitu simul oratione continua erexit: non quidem sibi ignarum posse argui quod tam recenti dolore subierit oculos senatus: vix propinquorum adloquia tolerari, vix diem aspici a plerisque lugentium. neque illos imbecillitatis damnandos: se tamen fortiora solacia e complexu rei publicae petivisse. miseratusque Augustae extremam senectam, rudem adhuc nepotum et vergentem aetatem suam, ut Germanici liberi, unica praesentium malorum levamenta, inducerentur petivit.

and he admonished the consuls, who by a show of mourning were sitting in the common seat, of their honor and place; and the senate, poured out into tears, he raised up—his own groan mastered—by a continuous oration at the same time: he was not, indeed, unaware that he could be accused for having come before the eyes of the senate with grief so recent; scarcely are the addresses of kin endured, scarcely is the daylight looked upon by most who mourn. nor should they be condemned of imbecility; he, however, had sought sturdier consolations from the embrace of the commonwealth. and pitying the extreme old age of Augusta, the still untrained state of the grandchildren, and his own declining age, he asked that the children of Germanicus, the sole alleviations of present ills, be brought in.

egressi consules firmatos adloquio adulescentulos deductosque ante Caesarem statuunt. quibus adprensis 'patres conscripti, hos' inquit 'orbatos parente tradidi patruo ipsorum precatusque sum, quamquam esset illi propria suboles, ne secus quam suum sanguinem foveret attolleret, sibique et posteris confirmaret. erepto Druso preces ad vos converto disque et patria coram obtestor: Augusti pronepotes, clarissimis maioribus genitos, suscipite regite, vestram meamque vicem explete.

the consuls, having gone out, set in place the adolescent lads, fortified by an address and led before Caesar. and, taking them by the hand, he says: 'Conscript Fathers, these, orphaned of their parent, I entrusted to their uncle, and I prayed that, although he had his own issue, he would cherish and raise them no otherwise than his own blood, and would confirm them for himself and for his posterity. with Drusus snatched away I turn my prayers to you, and I solemnly call the gods and the fatherland to witness before you: the great-grandsons of Augustus, born from the most illustrious ancestors—take them up, guide them, fulfill your office and mine.'

hi vobis, Nero et Druse, parentum loco. ita nati estis ut bona malaque vestra ad rem publicam pertineant'.

These are to you, Nero and Drusus, in the place of parents. Thus you have been born that your good and ill pertain to the commonwealth'.

[9] Magno ea fletu et mox precationibus faustis audita; ac si modum orationi posuisset, misericordia sui gloriaque animoi audientium impleverat: ad vana et totiens inrisa revolutus, de reddenda re publica utque consules seu quis alius regimen susciperent, vero quoque et honesto fidem dempsit. memoriae Drusi eadem quae in Germanicum decernuntur, plerisque additis, ut ferme amat posterior adulatio. funus imaginum pompa maxime inlustre fuit, cum origo luliae gentis Aeneas omnesque Albanorum reges et conditor urbis Romulus, post Sabina nobilitas, Attus Clausus ceteracque Claudiorum effigies longo ordine spectarentur.

[9] These things were heard with great weeping and soon with auspicious prayers; and if he had set a limit to his speech, he would have filled the audience with compassion for himself and with a glory of spirit: but, reverting to vain matters so often derided—about restoring the republic and that the consuls or someone else should assume the regimen—he took away credence even from what was true and honorable. For the memory of Drusus the same things were decreed as for Germanicus, with several added, as subsequent adulation commonly loves. The funeral was most illustrious by the parade of images, when the origin of the Julian gens, Aeneas, and all the kings of the Albans, and the founder of the city, Romulus, afterward the Sabine nobility, Attus Clausus, and the other effigies of the Claudii were seen in a long line.

[10] In tradenda morte Drusi quae plurimis maximaeque fidei auctoribus memorata sunt rettuli: set non omiserim eorundem temporum rumorem validum adeo ut noudum exolescat. corrupta ad scelus Livia Seianum Lygdi quoque spadonis animum stupro vinxisse, quod is [Lygdus] aetate atque forma carus domino interque primores ministros erat; deinde inter conscios ubi locus veneficii tempusque composita sint, eo audaciae provectum ut verteret et occulto indicio Drusum veneni in patrem arguens moneret Tiberium vitandam potionem quae prima ei apud filium epulanti offerretur. ea fraude captum senem, postquam convivium inierat, exceptum poculum Druso tradidisse; atque illo ignaro et inveniliter hauriente auctam suspicionem, tamquam metu et pudore sibimet inrogaret mortem quam patri struxerat.

[10] In handing down the death of Drusus I have reported those things which have been recorded by very many and by authors of the greatest fidelity: but I will not omit a rumor of those same times, so strong that it has not yet died away. Livia, corrupted to crime, bound Sejanus and the mind of Lygdus too, a eunuch, by debauchery, because he [Lygdus] was dear to his master for his age and beauty and was among the foremost attendants; then, among the conspirators, when the place and time for the poisoning had been arranged, he was carried forward to such audacity that he turned and, by a secret disclosure, accusing Drusus to his father of poison, warned Tiberius to avoid the draught which would be first offered to him as he was banqueting with his son. By that fraud the old man, entrapped, after he had entered the banquet, handed the intercepted cup to Drusus; and he, unaware and in youthful fashion draining it, increased the suspicion, as though from fear and shame he were inflicting upon himself the death which he had contrived for his father.

[11] Haec vulgo iactata super id quod nullo auctore certo firmantur prompte refutaveris. quis enim mediocri prudentia, nedum Tiberius tantis rebus exercitus, inaudito filio exitium offerret, idque sua manu et nullo ad pacnitendum regressu? quin potius ministrum veneni excruciaret, auctorem exquireret, insita denique etiam in extraneos cunctatione et mora adversum unicum et nullius ante flagitii compertum uteretur?

[11] These things, commonly bandied about, besides the fact that they are established by no sure author, you would promptly refute. For who of moderate prudence—much less Tiberius, exercised in such great affairs—would offer destruction to a son unheard, and that by his own hand, with no return for repenting? Why not rather excruciate the minister of the poison, inquire after the author, and, finally, employ the hesitation and delay inborn even toward outsiders against an only son, one found guilty of no previous flagitious crime?

sed quia Seianus facinorum omnium repertor habebatur, ex nimia caritate in eum Caesaris et ceterorum in utrumque odio quamvis fabulosa et immania credebantur, atrociore semper fama erga dominantium exitus. ordo alioqui sceleris per Apicatam Seiani proditus tormentis Eudemi ac Lygdi patefactus est. neque quisquam scriptor tam infensus extitit ut Tiberio obiectaret, cum omnia alia conquirerent intenderentque.

But because Sejanus was held the inventor of all crimes, on account of Caesar’s excessive affection toward him and the hatred of the rest toward them both, even things however fabulous and monstrous were believed, rumor being always more atrocious regarding the ends of those who rule. Otherwise, the order of the crime was betrayed through Apicata of Sejanus and laid open by the tortures of Eudemus and Lygdus. Nor did any writer appear so hostile as to impute it to Tiberius, while they were searching out and pressing all the other things.

mihi tradendi arguendique rumoris causa fuit ut claro sub exemplo falsas auditiones depellerem peteremque ab iis quorum in manus cura nostra venerit ne divulgata atque incredibilia avide accepta veris neque in miraculum corruptis antehabeant

My reason for transmitting and arraigning the rumor was, that under a clear example I might drive off false reports, and that I might request from those into whose hands our care shall have come not to prefer the divulged and the incredible, avidly received, to truths not corrupted into miracle.

[12] Ceterum laudante filium pro rostris Tiberio senatus populusque habitum ac voces dolentum simulatione magis quam libens induebat, domumque Germanici revirescere occulti laetabantur. quod principium favoris et mater Agrippina spem male tegens perniciem adceleravere. nam Seianus ubi videt mortem Drusi inultam interfectoribus, sine maerore publico esse, ferox scelerum et, quia prima provenerant, volutare secum quonam modo Germanici liberos perverteret, quorum non dubia successio.

[12] But while Tiberius was praising his son before the rostra, the senate and the people were putting on the garb and voices of mourners more by simulation than willingly, and they secretly rejoiced that the house of Germanicus was reviving. This beginning of favor—and the mother Agrippina, poorly veiling her hope—accelerated their destruction. For Sejanus, when he sees the death of Drusus unavenged upon the murderers, to be without public maeror, ferocious in crimes and, because the first deeds had prospered, began to revolve with himself by what method he might pervert the children of Germanicus, whose succession was not in doubt.

neque spargi venenum in tres poterat, egregia custodum fide et pudicitia Agrippinae impenetrabili. igitur contumaciam eius insectari, vetus Augustae odium, recentem Liviae conscientiam exagitare, ut superbam fecunditate, subnixam popularibus studiis inhiare dominationi apud Caesarem arguerent. atque haec callidis criminatoribus, inter quos delegerat Iulium Postumum, per adulterium Mutiliae Priscae inter intimos aviae et consiliis suis peridoneum, quia Prisca in animo Augustae valida anum suapte natura potentiae anxiam insociabilem nurui efficiebat.

nor could poison be scattered among the three, thanks to the outstanding fidelity of the guards and the impenetrable pudicity of Agrippina. therefore, to assail her contumacy, to stir up the old hatred of the Augusta and the fresh complicity of Livia, so that they might argue before Caesar that, proud in her fecundity and propped by popular partisanships, she was gaping after domination. and these things were for cunning accusers, among whom he had chosen Julius Postumus, who, through his adultery with Mutilia Prisca, was among the grandmother’s intimates and most apt for his counsels, since Prisca, strong in the mind of the Augusta, made the old woman, by her very nature anxious for power, unsociable toward her daughter-in-law.

Agrippinae quoque proximi inliciebantur pravis sermonibus tumidos spiritus perstimulare.

Agrippina’s nearest as well were enticed by perverse speeches to keep goading her swollen spirits.

[13] At Tiberius nihil intermissa rerum cura, negotia pro solaciis accipiens, ius civium, preces sociorum tractabat; factaque auctore eo senatus consulta ut civitati Cibyraticae apud Asiam, Aegiensi apud Achaiam, motu terrae labefactis, subveniretur remissione tributi in triennium. et Vibius Serenus pro consule ulterioris Hispaniae de vi publica damnatus ob atrocitatem morum in insulam Amorgum deportatur. Carsidius Sacerdos, reus tamquam frumento hostem Tacfarinatem iuvisset, absolvitur, eiusdemque criminis C. Gracchus.

[13] But Tiberius, with no intermission of care for affairs, taking business as consolations, handled the rights of citizens and the petitions of allies; and senatorial decrees were made with him as author, that aid be given to the city of Cibyra in Asia, and to Aegium in Achaia, shaken by an earthquake, by a remission of tribute for three years. And Vibius Serenus, proconsul of Further Spain, condemned for public violence on account of the atrocity of his morals, is deported to the island Amorgos. Carsidius Sacerdos, arraigned as though he had aided the enemy Tacfarinas with grain, is acquitted, and Gaius Gracchus of the same charge.

hunc comitem exilii admodum infantem pater Sempronius in insulam Cercinam tulerat. illic adultus inter extorris et liberalium artium nescios, mox per Africam ac Siciliam mutando sordidas merces sustentabatur; neque tamen effugit magnae fortunae pericula. ac ni Aelius Lamia et L. Apronius qui Africam obtinuerant insontem protexissent, claritudine infausti generis et paternis s adversis foret abstractus.

This companion of exile, when quite an infant, his father Sempronius had carried to the island Cercina. There he grew up among exiles and men unacquainted with the liberal arts, and soon across Africa and Sicily he was sustained by bartering sordid wares; nor yet did he escape the dangers of great fortune. And, had not Aelius Lamia and Lucius Apronius, who had held Africa, protected him as innocent, he would have been dragged off by the renown of an ill-fated lineage and by his father’s adversities.

[14] Is quoque annus legationes Graecarum civitatium habuit, Samiis Iunonis, Cois Aesculapii delubro vetustum asyli ius ut firmaretur petentibus. Samii decreto Amphictyonum nitebantur, quis praecipuum fuit rerum omnium iudicium, qua tempestate Graeci conditis per Asiam urbibus ora maris potiebantur. neque dispar apud Coos antiquitas, et accedebat meritum ex loco: nam civis Romanos templo Aesculapii induxerant, cum iussu regis Mithridatis apud cunctas Asiae insulas et urbes trucidarentur.

[14] That year also had embassies from Greek cities, the Samians requesting for the shrine of Juno, the Coans for that of Aesculapius, that the ancient right of asylum be confirmed. The Samians relied on a decree of the Amphictyons, who had the chief judgment of all matters, at the time when the Greeks, with cities founded throughout Asia, were gaining possession of the sea-coast. Nor was the antiquity at Cos dissimilar, and merit accrued from the place besides: for they had admitted Roman citizens into the temple of Aesculapius, when by order of King Mithridates they were being slaughtered throughout all the islands and cities of Asia.

variis dehinc et saepius inritis praetorum questibus, postremo Caesar de immodestia histrionum rettulit: multa ab iis in publicum seditiose, foeda per domos temptari; Oscum quondam ludicrum, levissimae apud vulgum oblectationis, eo flagitiorum et virium venisse ut auctoritate patrum coercendum sit. pulsi tum histriones Italia.

Thereafter, with various and more often ineffectual complaints of the praetors, at last the Caesar reported on the immodesty of the actors: many things by them were being attempted seditiously in public, and foul things through the houses; the Oscan show, once of the very lightest oblectation among the common crowd, had come to such a pitch of scandals and of power that it should be restrained by the authority of the Fathers. Then the actors were expelled from Italy.

[15] Idem annus alio quoque luctu Caesarem adficit alterum ex geminis Drusi liberis extinguendo, neque minus morte amici. is fuit Lucilius Longus, omnium illi tristium laetorumque socius unusque e senatoribus Rhodii secessus comes. ita quamquam novo homini censorium funus, effigiem apud forum Augusti publica pecunia patres decrevere, apud quos etiam tum cuncta tractabantur, adeo ut procurator Asiae Lucilius Capito accusante provincia causam dixerit, magna cum adseveratione principis non se ius nisi in servitia et pecunias familiares dedisse: quod si vim praetoris usurpasset manibusque militum usus foret, spreta in eo mandata sua: audirent socios.

[15] The same year also afflicted Caesar with another grief, through the death of one of the twin children of Drusus, and no less by the death of a friend. This was Lucilius Longus, the sharer with him in all sad and glad things, and the only one among the senators who was the companion of the Rhodian retirement. Thus, although he was a new man, the senators decreed a censorial funeral and an effigy at the Forum of Augustus at public expense—by whom even then all matters were being handled—to such a degree that Lucilius Capito, procurator of Asia, stood trial on the province’s accusation, with the princeps asserting strongly that he had granted him no jurisdiction except over the slaves and the household monies: but if he had usurped the force of a praetor and had used the hands of soldiers, then his mandates had been scorned in that matter: let the allies be heard.

ita reus cognito negotio damnatur. ob quam ultionem et quia priore anno in C. Silanum vindicatum erat, decrevere Asiae urbes templum Tiberio matrique eius ac senatui. et permissum statuere; egitque Nero grates ea causa patribus atque avo, laetas inter audientium adfectiones qui recenti memoria Germanici illum aspici, illum audiri rebantur.

thus the defendant, the matter having been examined, is condemned. For that retribution, and because in the previous year vengeance had been taken upon Gaius Silanus, the cities of Asia decreed a temple to Tiberius, to his mother, and to the senate; and permission was granted to set it up. And Nero gave thanks on that account to the Fathers and to his grandfather, amid the joyful affections of the audience, who, with the fresh memory of Germanicus, supposed that it was he whom they beheld, he whom they heard.

aderantque iuveni modestia ac forma principe viro digna, notis in eum Seiani odiis ob periculum gratiora.

and there were present to the youth a modesty and a form worthy of a princely man, and, with Sejanus’s hatreds against him being well-known, they were the more welcome on account of the peril.

[16] Sub idem tempus de flamine Diali in locum Servi Maluginensis defuncti legendo, simul roganda nova lege disseruit Caesar. nam confarreatis parentibus genitos tres simul nominari, ex quis unus legeretur, vetusto more; neque adesse, ut olim, eam copiam, omissa confarreandi adsuetudine aut inter paucos retenta (pluresque eius rei causas adferebat, potissimam penes incuriam virorum feminarumque; accedere ipsius caerimoniae difficultates quae consulto vitarentur) et quoniam exiret e iure patrio qui id flamonium apisceretur quaeque in manum flaminis conveniret. ita medendum senatus decreto aut lege, sicut Augustus quaedam ex horrida illa antiquitate ad praescentem usum flexisset.

[16] About the same time, on choosing a Dialis Flamen in the place of the deceased Servius Maluginensis, Caesar at the same time discoursed about a new law to be proposed. For by ancient custom three, born of parents united by confarreatio, were named at once, from whom one was selected; nor, as formerly, was that supply at hand, the habit of confarreatio having been dropped or retained among a few (and he adduced several causes for this state of things, the chief being the negligence of men and women; to this were added the difficulties of the ceremony itself, which were deliberately avoided), and because whoever attained that flaminate went out from paternal right, and that the woman came into the manus of the flamen. Thus there should be a remedy by senatorial decree or by law, just as Augustus had bent certain things from that rough antiquity to present use.

igitur tractatis religionibus placitum instituto flaminum nihil demutari: sed lata lex qua flaminica Dialis sacrorum causa in potestate viri, cetera promisco feminarum iure ageret. et filius Maluginensis patri suffectus. utque glisceret dignatio sacerdotum atque ipsis promptior animus foret ad capessendas caerimonias decretum Corneliae virgini, quae in locum Scantiae capiebatur, sestertium viciens, et quotiens Augusta theatrum introisset ut sedes inter Vestalium consideret.

Therefore, after the religious questions had been discussed, it was agreed that nothing be altered in the institution of the flamines; but a law was passed by which the Flaminica Dialis, for the sake of the sacred rites, would be under the power of her husband, while in other matters she would act under the common law of women. And the son of Maluginensis was substituted in his father’s place. And in order that the prestige of the priests might swell and that their own spirit be readier for taking up the ceremonies, it was decreed to the virgin Cornelia, who was being taken in the place of Scantia, two million sesterces, and that whenever the Augusta should enter the theater she should take her seat among the Vestals.

[17] Cornelio Cethego Visellio Varrone consulibus pontifices eorumque exemplo ceteri sacerdotes, cum pro incolumitate principis vota susciperent, Neronem quoque et Drusum isdem dis commendavere, non tam caritate iuvenum quam adulatione, quae moribus corruptis perinde anceps, si nulla et ubi nimia est. nam Tiberius haud umquam domui Germanici mitis, tum vero aequari adulescentes senectae suae impatienter indoluit accitosque pontifices percontatus est num id precibus Agrippinae aut minis tribuissent. et illi quidem, quamquam abnuerent, modice perstricti; etenim pars magna e propinquis ipsius aut primores civitatis erant: ceterum in senatu oratione monuit in posterum ne quis mobilis adulescentium animos praematuris honoribus ad superbiam extolleret.

[17] In the consulship of Cornelius Cethegus and Visellius Varro the pontiffs, and by their example the other priests, when they were taking up vows for the incolumity of the princeps, commended Nero and Drusus also to the same gods—not so much from love of the youths as from adulation, which, with morals corrupted, is equally two‑edged, whether there be none of it or where it is excessive. For Tiberius, never mild toward the house of Germanicus, now indeed chafed impatiently that the adolescents were being equated to his own old age, and, having summoned the pontiffs, inquired whether they had granted that to Agrippina’s prayers or threats. And they, although they denied it, were moderately reprimanded; for a great part were of his own kin or the foremost of the state. But in the senate he warned by an oration that henceforth no one should raise the mobile spirits of adolescents to arrogance by premature honors.

instabat quippe Seianus incusabatque diductam civitatem ut civili bello: esse qui se partium Agrippinae vocent, ac ni resistatur, fore pluris; neque aliud gliscentis discordiae remedium quam si unus alterve maxime prompti subverterentur.

For in fact Sejanus was pressing the point and was accusing that the commonwealth was torn asunder as in a civil war: that there were those who called themselves of Agrippina’s party, and that, unless resistance were made, they would be the majority; nor was there any other remedy for the gliscient discord than that one or two of the most forward be overthrown.

[18] Qua causa C. Silium et Titium Sabinum adgreditur. amicitia Germanici perniciosa utrique, Silio et quod ingentis exercitus septem per annos moderator partisque apud Germaniam triumphalibus Sacroviriani belli victor, quanto maiore mole procideret, plus formidinis in alios dispergebatur. credebant plerique auctam offensionem ipsius intemperantia, immodice iactantis snum militem in obsequio duravisse cum alii ad seditiones prolaberentur; neque mansurum Tiberio imperium si iis quoque legionibus cupido novandi fuisset.

[18] For this cause he assails Gaius Silius and Titius Sabinus. The friendship of Germanicus was pernicious to both; to Silius also because, as the moderator of a huge army for seven years and the victor in the Sacrovirian war, with triumphal distinctions obtained in the region of Germany, the greater the mass with which he toppled, the more fear was dispersed upon others. Many believed that the offense was augmented by his own intemperance, as he immoderately boasted that his soldiery had endured in obedience while others slid into seditions; nor would the imperium have remained to Tiberius if a desire for innovation had seized upon those legions as well.

destrui per haec fortunam suam Caesar imparemque tanto merito rebatur. nam beneficia eo usque laeta sunt dum videntur exolvi posse: ubi multum antevenere pro gratia odium redditur.

Caesar thought that by these things his fortune was being destroyed, and that he was unequal to so great a merit. For benefits are joyous only so far as they seem able to be paid off: when they have far outstripped, instead of gratitude, hatred is rendered.

[19] Erat uxor Silio Sosia Galla, caritate Agrippinae invisa principi. hos corripi dilato ad tempus Sabino placitum, immissusque Varro consul qui patennas inimicitias obtendens odiis Seiani per dedecus suum gratifcabatur. precante reo brevem moram, dum accusator consulatu abiret, adversatus est Caesar: solitum quippe magistratibus diem privatis dicere: nec infringendum consulis ius, cuius vigiliis niteretur ne quod res publica detrimentum caperet.

[19] Silius had as wife Sosia Galla, hated by the emperor for her affection toward Agrippina. It was resolved that these be seized, with Sabinus deferred for a time; and the consul Varro was let loose, who, putting forward his open enmities, was gratifying the hatreds of Sejanus through his own disgrace. When the defendant was begging a brief delay, until the accuser should go out from the consulship, Caesar opposed it: for it was customary, indeed, for magistrates to appoint a day for private persons; nor should the consul’s right be infringed, upon whose vigils it depended that the Republic take no detriment.

proprium id Tiberio fuit scelera nuper reperta priscis verbis obtegere. igitur multa adseveratione, quasi aut legibus cum Silio ageretur aut Varro consul aut illud res publica esset, coguntur patres, silente reo, vel si defensionem coeptaret, non occultante cuius ira premeretur. conscientia belli Sacrovir diu dissimulatus, victoria per avaritiam foedata et uxor socia arguebantur.

It was proper to Tiberius to cloak crimes newly discovered with old-fashioned words. Accordingly, with much asseveration—as though either the case with Silius were being handled by the laws, or Varro were consul, or that were a matter of the republic—the senators are compelled, the defendant being silent, or, if he should begin a defense, not concealing under whose wrath he was being pressed. Complicity in Sacrovir’s war, long dissembled, the victory stained by avarice, and the wife as an accomplice were being charged.

nec dubie repetundarum criminibus haerebant, sed cuncta quaestione maiestatis exercita, et Silius imminentem damnationem voluntario fine praevertit.

nor was there any doubt that they were caught on charges of extortions, but the whole proceeding was conducted under the inquest of Majesty (treason), and Silius forestalled the imminent condemnation by a voluntary end.

[20] Saevitum tamen in bona, non ut stipendiariis pecuniae redderentur, quorum nemo repetebat, sed liberalitas Augusti avulsa, computatis singillatim quae fisco petebantur. ea prima Tiberio erga pecuniam alienam diligentia fuit. Sosia in exilium pellitur Asinii Galli sententia, qui partem bonorum publicandam, pars ut liberis relinqueretur censuerat.

[20] Yet severity was exercised against the property, not so that moneys should be restored to the tribute-paying provincials, of whom no one was reclaiming, but the liberality of Augustus was torn away, the sums demanded for the fisc having been computed item by item. This was Tiberius’s first diligence toward other people’s money. Sosia is driven into exile by the motion of Asinius Gallus, who had judged that part of the goods be made public (confiscated), and part be left to the children.

contra M'. Lepidus quartam accusatoribus secundum necessitudinem legis, cetera liberis concessit. hunc ego Lepidum temporibus illis gravem et sapientem virum fuisse comperior: nam pleraque ab saevis adulationibus aliorum in melius flexit. neque tamen temperamenti egebat, cum acquabili auctoritate et gratia apud Tiberium viguerit.

by contrast M'. Lepidus granted a fourth to the accusers according to the necessity of the law; the rest he conceded to the children. This Lepidus I discover to have been in those times a grave and wise man: for he turned most things, from the savage adulations of the others, toward the better. Nor, however, did he lack moderation, since with equable authority and favor he flourished with Tiberius.

unde dubitare cogor fato et sorte nascendi, ut cetera, ita principum inclinatio in hos, offensio in illos, an sit aliquid in nostris consiliis liceatque inter abruptam contumaciam et deforme obsequium pergere iter ambitione ac periculis vacuum. at Messalinus Cotta haud minus claris maioribus sed animo diversus censuit cavendum senatus consulto, ut quamquam insontes magistratus et culpae alienae nescii provincialibus uxorum criminibus proinde quam suis plecterentur.

Whence I am compelled to doubt whether by fate and the lot of birth, as in other things, so too are the princes’ inclination toward some and offense toward others, or whether there is something in our counsels and it is permitted to proceed a path between abrupt contumacy and deformed obsequiousness, void of ambition and perils. But Messalinus Cotta, no less with illustrious ancestors but of a different spirit, proposed that provision be made by a senatorial decree, that magistrates, although innocent and unaware of another’s guilt, be punished, with respect to the provincials, for the crimes of their wives just as for their own.

[21] Actum dehinc de Calpurnio Pisone, nobili ac feroci viro. is namque, ut rettuli, cessurum se urbe ob factines accusatorum in senatu clamitaverat et spreta potentia Augustae trahere in ius Vrgulaniam domoque principis excire ausus erat. quae in praesens Tiberius civiliter habuit: sed in animo revolvente iras, etiam si impetus offensionis languerat, memoria valebat.

[21] Then action was taken concerning Calpurnius Piso, a noble and ferocious man. For he, as I have reported, had been shouting that he would withdraw from the city on account of the factions of accusers in the senate, and, the power of the Augusta scorned, had dared to drag Urgulania into court and to summon her from the house of the princeps. These things Tiberius for the present handled civilly; but as his mind kept revolving his angers, even if the first impulse of offense had grown faint, memory prevailed.

Pisonem Q. Granius secreti sermonis incusavit adversum maiestatem habiti, adiecitque in domo eius venenum esse eumque gladio accinctum introire curiam. quod ut atrocius vero tramissum; ceterorum, quae multa cumulabantur, receptus est reus neque peractus ob mortem opportunam. relatum et de Cassio Severo exule, qui sordidae originis, maleficae vitae, sed orandi validus, per immodicas inimicitias ut iudicio iurati senatus Cretam amoveretur effecerat; atque illic eadem actitando recentia veteraque odia advertit, bonisque exutus, interdicto igni atque aqua, saxo Seripho consenuit.

Q. Granius accused Piso of a secret conversation held against majesty, and added that in his house there was poison and that he entered the Curia girded with a sword. This was passed over as more atrocious than true; of the rest, which were many and heaped up, he was received as defendant, nor was the case carried through on account of an opportune death. It was also brought up concerning Cassius Severus, an exile, who, of sordid origin, of a maleficent life, but strong in oratory, had through immoderate enmities brought it about that by the judgment of the sworn senate he be removed to Crete; and there, by practicing the same things, he drew upon himself both recent and ancient hatreds, and, stripped of his goods, with fire and water interdicted, he grew old on the rock of Seriphos.

[22] Per idem tempus Plautius Silvanus praetor incertis causis Aproniam coniugem in praeceps iecit, tractusque ad Caesarem ab L. Apronio socero turbata mente respondit, tamquam ipse somno gravis atque eo ignarus, et uxor sponte mortem sumpsisset. non cunctanter Tiberius pergit in domum, visit cubiculum, in quo reluctantis et impulsae vestigia cernebantur. refert ad senatum, datisque iudicibus Vrgulania Silvani avia pugionem nepoti misit.

[22] At the same time, Plautius Silvanus, praetor, on uncertain grounds hurled his wife Apronia headlong; and, dragged before Caesar by his father-in-law L. Apronius, he replied with a disturbed mind, on the plea that he himself, weighed down by sleep and thus unaware, and that his wife had of her own accord taken death. Without hesitation Tiberius goes to the house, visits the bedchamber, in which the traces of resistance and of a woman having been thrust were evident. He reports to the Senate, and, judges having been assigned, Urgulania, Silvanus’s grandmother, sent a dagger to her grandson.

quod perinde creditum quasi principis monitu ob amicitiam Augustae cum Vrgulania. reus frustra temptato ferro venas praebuit exolvendas. mox Numantina, prior uxor eius, accusata iniecisse carminibus et veneficiis vaecordiam marito, insons iudicatur.

which was believed just as if at the emperor’s monition, on account of the Augusta’s friendship with Urgulania. The defendant, the steel having been tried in vain, offered his veins to be opened for discharge. Soon Numantina, his prior wife, accused of having cast madness upon her husband by spells and poisonings, was judged innocent.

[23] Is demum annus populum Pomanum longo adversum Numidam Tacfarinatem beilo absolvit. nam priores duces, ubi impetrando triumphalium insigni sufficere res suas crediderant, hostem omittebant; iamque tres laureatae in urbe statuae et adhuc raptabat Africam Tacfarinas, auctus Maurorum auxiliis qui, Ptolemaeo Iubae filio inventa incurioso, libertos regios et servilia imperia bello mutaverant. erat illi praedarum receptor ac socius populandi rex Garamantum, non ut cum exercitu incederet, sed missis levibus copiis quae ex longinquo in maius audiebantur; ipsaque e provincia ut quis fortunae inops, moribus turbidus, promptius ruebant, quia Caesar post res a Blaeso gestas quasi nullis iam in Africa hostibus reportari nonam legionem iusserat, nec pro consule eius anni P. Dolabella retinere ausus erat iussa principis magis quam incerta belli metuens.

[23] That year at last released the Roman people from the long war against the Numidian Tacfarinas. For the earlier commanders, whenever they believed their achievements sufficed to obtain the triumphal insignia, would drop the enemy; and already there were three laurel-wreathed statues in the city, and Tacfarinas was still snatching and plundering Africa, augmented by Moorish auxiliaries, since Ptolemy, the son of Juba—an inattentive youth—had suffered royal freedmen and slavish authorities to exchange peace for war. He had, as a receiver of booty and partner in ravaging, the king of the Garamantes, not that he advanced with an army, but by sending light troops which from a distance were reported as greater; and from the province itself, men who were needy of fortune and turbulent in character rushed in all the more readily, because Caesar, after the operations carried out by Blaesus, as though there were now no enemies in Africa, had ordered the Ninth Legion to be brought back, nor did the proconsul of that year, Publius Dolabella, dare to hold it back, fearing the orders of the princeps more than the uncertainties of the war.

[24] Igitur Tacfarinas disperso rumore rem Romanam aliis quoque ab nationibus lacerari eoque paulatim Africa decedere, ac posse reliquos circumveniri, si cuncti quibus libertas servitio potior incubuissent, auget viris positisque castris Thubuscum oppidum circumsidet. at Dolabella contracto quod erat militum, terrore nominis Romani et quia Numidae peditum aciem ferre nequeunt, primo sui incessu solvit obsidium locorumque opportuna permunivit; simul princpes Musulamiorum defectionem cooptantis securi percutit. dein quia pluribus adversum Tacfarinatem expeditionibus cognitum non gravi nec uno incursu consectandum hostem vagum, excito cum popularibus rege Ptolemaeo quattuor agmina parat, quae legatis aut tribunis data; et praedatorias manus delecti Maurorum duxere: ipse consultor aderat omnibus.

[24] Accordingly Tacfarinas, spreading the rumor that the Roman commonwealth was being torn to pieces also by other nations and was therefore little by little withdrawing from Africa, and that the rest could be surrounded if all those to whom liberty was preferable to servitude would press in, augments his forces and, his camp having been pitched, besets the town Thubuscum. But Dolabella, having drawn together what soldiers there were, by the terror of the Roman name and because the Numidians are unable to endure a line of infantry, by his first advance broke the siege and thoroughly fortified the advantageous positions; at the same time he strikes with the axe the chiefs of the Musulamii who were inviting a defection. Then, because by several campaigns against Tacfarinas it had been learned that the wandering enemy was not to be pursued by a heavy force nor by a single inrush, with King Ptolemy stirred up along with his peoples he prepares four columns, which were assigned to legates or tribunes; and chosen Moors led the predatory bands: he himself was present to all as adviser.

[25] Nec multo post adfertur Numidas apud castellum semirutum, ab ipsis quondam incensum, cui nomen Auzea, positis mapalibus consedisse, fisos loco quia vastis circum saltibus claudebatur. tum expeditae cohortes alaeque quam in partem ducerentur ignarae cito agmine rapiuntur. simulque coeptus dies et concentu tubarum ac truci clamore aderant semisomnos in barbaros, pracpeditis Numidarum equis aut diversos pastus pererrantibus.

[25] Not long after it is reported that the Numidians had taken up position near a half-ruined castellum, once set on fire by themselves, whose name was Auzea, with their mapalia huts pitched, trusting in the place because it was enclosed around by vast forest-pastures. Then the unencumbered cohorts and the wings of cavalry, unaware to what quarter they were being led, are quickly hurried along in column. And as day began, and with the concord of trumpets and a grim shout, they were upon the half-asleep barbarians, the Numidians’ horses being hampered, or wandering over scattered grazings.

ab Romanis confertus pedes, dispositae turmae, cuncta proelio provisa: hostibus contra omnium nesciis non arma, non ordo, non consilium, sed pecorum modo trahi occidi capi. infensus miles memoria laborum et adversum eludentis optatae totiens pugnae se quisque ultione et sanguine explebant. differtur per manipulos, Tacfarinatem omnes notum tot proeliis consectentur: non nisi duce interfecto requiem belli fore.

by the Romans the foot compact, the squadrons disposed, everything for battle fore-provided: the enemies, by contrast, ignorant of all—neither arms, nor order, nor counsel— but like cattle to be dragged, slaughtered, captured. The soldiery, hostile in the memory of their labors and against those who had so often eluded the desired battle, each man filled himself with vengeance and blood. The word is spread through the maniples to pursue Tacfarinas, known to all from so many battles: there would be no requiem of the war unless the leader were slain.

at ille deiectis circum stipatoribus vinctoque iam filio et effusis undique Romanis ruendo in tela captivitatem haud inulta morte effugit; isque finis armis impositus.

But he, with the bodyguards around him cast down, and his son already bound, and the Romans poured out on all sides, by rushing into the spears escaped captivity with a death not unavenged; and thus an end was imposed upon the arms.

[26] Dolabellae petenti abnuit triumphalia Tiberius, Seiano tribuens, ne Blaesi avunculi eius laus obsolesceret. sed neque Blaesus ideo inlustrior et huic negatus honor gloriam intendit: quippe minore exercitu insignis captivos, caedem ducis bellique confecti famam deportarat. sequebantur et Garamantum legati, raro in urbe visi, quos Tacfarinate caeso perculsa gens set culpae nescia ad satis faciendum populo Romano miserat.

[26] To Dolabella, when he petitioned, Tiberius refused the triumphal insignia, imputing it to Sejanus, lest the praise of Blaesus, his uncle, grow obsolete. But neither was Blaesus on that account more illustrious, and the honor denied to this man heightened his renown: for with a smaller army he had brought back notable captives, the slaughter of the leader, and the report of a war finished. There followed also ambassadors of the Garamantes, rarely seen in the city, whom the nation, shaken when Tacfarinas was cut down, yet unconscious of blame, had sent to make satisfaction to the Roman People.

cognitis dehinc Ptolemaei per id bellum studiis repetitus ex vetusto more honos missusque e senatoribus qui scipionem eburnum, togam pictam, antiqua patrum munera, daret regemque et socium atque amicum appellaret.

then, with Ptolemy’s exertions during that war known, the honor, repeated from ancient custom, was renewed, and a senator was sent to give the ivory scepter, the painted toga, the ancient gifts of the fathers, and to entitle him king and ally and friend.

[27] Eadem aestate mota per Italiam servilis belli semina fors oppressit. auctor tumultus T. Curtisius, quondam praetoriae cohortis miles, primo coetibus clandestinis apud Brundisium et circumiecta oppida, mox positis propalam libellis ad libertatem vocabat agrestia per longinquos saltus et ferocia servitia, cum velut munere deum tres biremes adpulere ad usus commeantium illo mari. et erat isdem regionibus Cutius Lupus quaestor, cui provincia vetere ex more calles evenerant: is disposita classiariomm copia coeptantem cum maxime coniurationem disiecit.

[27] In the same summer fortune crushed the seeds of a servile war stirred through Italy. The author of the tumult was T. Curtisius, once a soldier of the praetorian cohort, who at first with clandestine gatherings at Brundisium and the surrounding towns, soon, placards posted openly, was calling to liberty the rural folk through far-flung forest-pastures and the fierce slave-bands, when, as if by a gift of the gods, three biremes put in, for the uses of those plying that sea. And in the same regions there was the quaestor Cutius Lupus, to whom, by ancient custom, the byways had fallen as his province: he, with a force of marines set in order, scattered the conspiracy at the very moment it was being initiated.

missusque a Caesare propere Staius tribunus cum valida manu ducem ipsum et proximos audacia in urbem traxit, lam trepidam ob multitudinem familiarum quae gliscebat immensum, minore in dies plebe ingenua.

and Staius the tribune, sent in haste by Caesar, with a strong force dragged the leader himself and those nearest in audacity into the city, now panic-stricken on account of the multitude of families, which was swelling immensely, while the freeborn plebs was growing smaller by the day.

[28] Isdem consulibus miseriarum ac saevitiae exemplum atrox, reus pater, accusator filius (nomen utrique Vibius Serenus) in senatum inducti sunt. ab exilio retractus inluvieque ac squalore obsitus et tum catena vinctus pater oranti filio comparatur. adulescens multis munditiis, alacri vultu, structas principi insidias, missos in Galliam concitores belli index idem et testis dicebat, adnectebatque Caecilium Comutum praetorium ministravisse pecuniam; qui taedio curarum et quia periculum pro exitio habebatur mortem in se festinavit.

[28] In the same consulship, an atrocious example of miseries and savagery: the father a defendant, the son the accuser (both bore the name Vibius Serenus) were led into the senate. Dragged back from exile, covered with filth and squalor, and then bound with a chain, the father is confronted with his son as he pleads. The adolescent, with many fineries and a lively countenance, declared—being informer and likewise witness—that ambushes had been laid for the princeps, and that instigators of war had been sent into Gaul; and he added that Caecilius Comutus, of praetorian rank, had supplied money—who, out of weariness of cares and because danger was being reckoned as destruction, hastened death upon himself.

at contra reus nihil infracto animo obversus in filium quatere vincla, vocare ultores deos ut sibi quidem redderent exilium ubi procul tali more ageret, filium autem quandoque supplicia sequerentur. adseverabatque innocentem Cornutum et falso exterritum; idque facile intellectu si proderentur alii: non enim se caedem principis et res novas uno socio cogitasse.

but on the contrary the defendant, with his spirit in no way broken, turning toward his son, shook his chains, called upon avenging gods that they would indeed restore exile to himself, where, far from such a manner, he might live, but that punishments would someday overtake his son. And he asseverated that Cornutus was innocent and falsely panic‑stricken; and that this would be easily intelligible if others were produced: for he had not conceived the slaughter of the princeps and novel measures with a single associate.

[29] Tum accusator Cn. Lentulum et Seium Tuberonem nominat, magno pudore Caesaris, cum primores civitatis, intimi ipsius amici, Lentulus senectutis extremae, Tubero defecto corpore, tumultus hostilis et turbandae rei publicae accerserentur. sed hi quidem statim exempti: in patrem ex servis quaesitum et quaestio adversa accusatori fuit. qui scelere vaecors, simul vulgi rumore territus robur et saxum aut parricidarum poenas minitantium, cessit urbe.

[29] Then the accuser names Cn. Lentulus and Seius Tubero, to the great shame of Caesar, since the foremost of the state, his own most intimate friends—Lentulus in the extremity of old age, Tubero with his body depleted—were being summoned on charges of hostile tumult and of throwing the republic into disorder. But these men, indeed, were at once exempted; an inquiry was made, from the slaves, concerning the father, and the inquisition turned out adverse to the accuser. He, frenzied by wickedness and at the same time terrified by the rumor of the crowd threatening “the oak and the rock” or the penalties of parricides, withdrew from the city.

ac retractus Ravenna exequi accusationem adigitur, non occultante Tiberio vetus odium adversum exulem Serenum. nam post damnatum Libonem missis ad Caesarem litteris exprobraverat suum tantum studium sine fructu fuisse, addideratque quaedam contumacius quam tutum apud auris superbas et offensioni proniores. ea Caesar octo post annos rettulit, medium tempus varie arguens, etiam si tormenta pervicacia servorum contra evenissent.

and brought back from Ravenna, he is driven to execute the accusation, Tiberius not concealing the old hatred against the exile Serenus. For after Libo had been condemned, by letters sent to Caesar he had reproached that his own zeal had been so great yet without fruit, and had added certain things more contumaciously than was safe before proud ears and more prone to offense. Caesar brought those matters up again after 8 years, arguing variously about the interval, even though the tortures had turned out adverse through the slaves’ obstinacy.

[30] Dictis dein sententiis ut Serenus more maiorum puniretur, quo molliret invidiam, intercessit. Gallus Asinius cum Gyaro aut Donusa claudendum censeret, id quoque aspernatus est, egenam aquae utramque insulam referens dandosque vitae usus cui vita concederetur. ita Serenus Amorgum reportatur.

[30] Then, when opinions had been stated that Serenus should be punished in the manner of the ancestors, in order to mollify ill-will, he interceded. When Asinius Gallus judged that he ought to be confined on Gyara or Donusa, he spurned that too, pointing out that each island was needy of water and that the uses of life should be given to him to whom life was conceded. Thus Serenus was conveyed back to Amorgos.

et quia Cornutus sua manu ceciderat, actum de praemiis accusatorum abolendis, si quis maiestatis postulatus ante perfectum iudicium se ipse vita privavisset. ibaturque in eam sententiam ni durius contraque morem suum palam pro accusatoribus Caesar inritas leges, rem publicam in praecipiti conquestus esset: subverterent potius iura quam custodes eorum amoverent. sic delatores, genus hominum publico exitio repertum et ne, poenis quidem umquam satis coercitum, per praemia eliciebatur.

and because Cornutus had fallen by his own hand, a measure was brought forward for abolishing the rewards of accusers, if anyone arraigned on a charge of maiestas (treason) had deprived himself of life before the judgment was completed. and they were proceeding toward that resolution, had not the Caesar, more harshly and contrary to his custom, openly on behalf of the accusers, complained that the laws were being nullified and the commonwealth was on the brink: let them rather subvert the laws than remove their guardians. thus delators— a kind of men devised for the public’s destruction, and not even by punishments ever sufficiently restrained— were being enticed by rewards.

[31] His tam adsiduis tamque maestis modica laetitia intericitur, quod C. Cominium equitem Romanum, probrosi in se carminis convictum, Caesar precibus fratris qui senator erat concessit. quo magis mirum habebatur gnarum meliorum et quae fama clementiam sequeretur tristiora malle. neque enim socordia peccabat; nec occultum est, quando ex veritate, quando adumbrata laetitia facta imperatorum celebrentur.

[31] Amid such continual and so mournful matters a modest gladness is interposed, in that Gaius Cominius, a Roman knight, convicted of a disgraceful song against himself, the Caesar, at the prayers of his brother who was a senator, pardoned. Wherefore it was held the more a marvel that, though cognizant of the better course and of what fame would attend clemency, he preferred the grimmer measures. For he did not err through sloth; nor is it hidden when the deeds of emperors are celebrated out of truth, and when with joy only adumbrated.

quin ipse, compositus alias et velut eluctantium verborum, solutius promptiusque eloquebatur quotiens subveniret. at P. Suillium quaestorem quondam Germanici, cum Italia arceretur convictus pecuniam ob rem iudicandam cepisse, amovendum in insulam censuit, tanta contentione animi ut iure iurando obstringeret e re publica id esse. quod aspere acceptum ad praesens mox in laudem vertit regresso Suillio; quem vidit sequens aetas praepotentem, venalem et Claudii principis amicitia diu prospere, numquam bene usum.

Nay, he himself—ordinarily composed and as if of words struggling to force their way—spoke more loosely and more promptly whenever he came to the rescue. But as for P. Suillius, once quaestor of Germanicus, when he was being barred from Italy, having been convicted of having taken money for deciding a case, he decreed that he be removed to an island, with such intensity of spirit that he bound himself by oath that this was in the public interest. Which, though taken harshly at the moment, soon turned into praise when Suillius returned; whom the following age saw over-mighty, venal, and—his friendship with the princeps Claudius long prospering—never using it well.

eadem poena in Catum Firmium senatorem statuitur, tamquam falsis maiestatis criminibus sororem petivisset. Catus, ut rettuli, Libonem inlexerat insidiis, deinde indicio perculerat. eius operae memor Tiberius sed alia praetendens exilium de precatus est: quo minus senatu pelleretur non obstitit.

the same penalty was appointed against Catus Firmius, a senator, on the ground that he had pursued his sister with false charges of maiestas. Catus, as I have related, had enticed Libo into snares, then had struck him down by his delation. Tiberius, mindful of that service but putting forward other pretexts, warded off exile for him: he did not oppose his being expelled from the senate.

[32] Pleraque eorum quae rettuli quaeque referam parva forsitan et levia memoratu videri non nescius sum: sed nemo annalis nostros cum scriptura eorum contenderit qui veteres populi Romani res composuere. ingentia illi bella, expugnationes urbium, fusos captosque reges, aut si quando ad interna praeverterent, discordias consulum adversum tribunos, agrarias frumentariasque leges, plebis et optimatium certamina libero egressu memorabant: nobis in arto et inglorius labor; immota quippe aut modice lacessita pax, maestae urbis res et princeps proferendi imperi incuriosus erat. non tamen sine usu fuerit introspicere illa primo aspectu levia ex quis magnarum saepe rerum motus oriuntur.

[32] I am not unaware that most of those things which I have set forth and which I shall set forth may perhaps seem small and light for the record; but let no one pit our annals against the writing of those who composed the ancient affairs of the Roman people. They recounted mighty wars, stormings of cities, kings routed and captured; or, whenever they turned to internal affairs, the discords of consuls against tribunes, agrarian and grain-laws, the contests of the plebs and the optimates—told with free range. For us the toil is in a narrow compass and inglorious; for the peace was unmoved or only moderately provoked, the city’s condition was mournful, and the princeps was indifferent to extending the empire. Yet it will not be without use to look within those things that at first sight are light, from which the movements of great matters often arise.

[33] Nam cunctas nationes et urbes populus aut primores aut singuli regunt: delecta ex iis et consociata rei publicae forma laudari facilius quam evenire, vel si evenit, haud diuturna esse potest. igitur ut olim plebe valida, vel cum patres pollerent, noscenda vulgi natura et quibus modis temperanter haberetur, senatusque et optimatium ingenia qui maxime perdidicerant, callidi temporum et sapientes credebantur, sic converso statu neque alia re Romana quam si unus imperitet, haec conquiri tradique in rem fuerit, quia pauci prudentia honesta ab deterioribus, utilia ab noxiis discernunt, plures aliorum eventis docentur. ceterum ut profutura, ita minimum oblectationis adferunt.

[33] For all nations and cities are ruled either by the people or by the leading men or by single individuals: a form of commonwealth selected out of these and combined is easier to praise than to bring about, and even if it does come about, it cannot be long-lasting. Therefore, as once, when the plebs was strong, or when the fathers prevailed, the nature of the crowd had to be known and by what means it might be held temperately, and those who had most thoroughly mastered the characters of the senate and the optimates were believed shrewd for the times and wise, so, the condition being reversed, and the Roman state standing in no other way than if one man commands, it has been to the advantage that these things be sought out and handed down, because few by prudence distinguish honorable things from worse, and the useful from the harmful, while more are taught by the outcomes of others. But though they will be of profit, they bring the least delight.

nam situs gentium, varietates proeliorum, clari ducum exitus retinent ac redintegrant legentium animum: nos saeva iussa, continuas accusationes, fallaces amicitias, perniciem innocentium et easdem exitii causas coniungimus, obvia rerum similitudine et satietate. tum quod antiquis scriptoribus rarus obtrectator, neque refert cuiusquam Punicas Romanasne acies laetius extuleris: at multorum qui Tiberio regente poenam vel infamias subiere posteri manent. utque familiae ipsae iam extinctae sint, reperies qui ob similitudinem morum aliena malefacta sibi obiectari putent.

for the site of nations, the varieties of battles, the illustrious outcomes of leaders hold and reintegrate the mind of readers: we, by contrast, yoke together savage commands, continual accusations, fallacious friendships, the ruin of innocents, and the same causes of destruction, through the obvious likeness of events and surfeit. Then too, because for ancient writers a detractor is rare, nor does it matter whether you have more gladly extolled someone’s Punic or Roman battle-lines: but the descendants of many who, while Tiberius was regent, underwent penalty or infamies still remain. And though the families themselves are now extinct, you will find those who, on account of a similarity of morals, think that others’ evil deeds are being thrown at themselves.

etiam gloria ac virtus infensos habet, ut nimis ex propinquo diversa arguens. sed ad inceptum redeo.

Even glory and virtue have the hostile, as, by too close a juxtaposition, they arraign what is different. But I return to my undertaking.

[34] Cornelio Cosso Asinio Agrippa consulibus Cremutius Cordus postulatur novo ac tunc primum audito crimine, quod editis annalibus laudatoque M. Bruto C. Cassium Romanorum ultimum dixisset. accusabant Satrius Secundus et Pinarius Natta, Seiani clientes. id perniciabile reo et Caesar truci vultu defensionem accipiens, quam Cremutius relinquendae vitae certus in hunc modum exorsus est: 'verba mea, patres conscripti, arguuntur: adeo factorum innocens sum.

[34] In the consulship of Cornelius Cossus and Asinius Agrippa, Cremutius Cordus is arraigned on a charge new and then for the first time heard, because in published annals, and with M. Brutus praised, he had called C. Cassius the last of the Romans. The accusers were Satrius Secundus and Pinarius Natta, clients of Sejanus. That was ruinous for the defendant, and Caesar, with a grim countenance, was receiving the defense, which Cremutius, resolved to leave life, began in this manner: 'My words, Conscript Fathers, are indicted: to such a degree am I innocent of deeds.

sed neque haec in principem aut principis parentem, quos lex maiestatis amplectitur: Brutum et Cassium laudavisse dicor, quorum res gestas cum plurimi composuerint, nemo sine honore memoravit. Titus Livius, eloquentiae ac fidei praeclarus in primis, Cn. Pompeium tantis laudibus tulit ut Pompeianum eum Augustus appellaret; neque id amicitiae eorum offecit. Scipionem, Afranium, hunc ipsum Cassium, hunc Brutum nusquam latrones et parricidas, quae nunc vocabula imponuntur, saepe ut insignis viros nominat.

but neither are these things against the princeps or the parent of the princeps, whom the law of maiestas embraces: I am said to have praised Brutus and Cassius, whose deeds, although very many have composed them, no one has recalled without honor. Titus Livius, preeminent above all for eloquence and fidelity, bore Gn. Pompeius with such praises that Augustus called him a Pompeian; nor did that harm their friendship. He nowhere calls Scipio, Afranius, this very Cassius, this Brutus, brigands and parricides—labels which are now imposed—but often names them as eminent men.

Asinii Pollionis scripta egregiam eorundem memoriam tradunt; Messala Corvinus imperatorem suum Cassium praedicabat: et uterque opibusque atque honoribus perviguere. Marci Ciceronis libro quo Catonem caelo aequavit, quid aliud dictator Caesar quam rescripta oratione velut apud iudices respondit? Antonii epistulae Bruti contiones falsa quidem in Augustum probra set multa cum acerbitate habent; carmina Bibaculi et Catulli referta contumeliis Caesarum leguntur: sed ipse divus Iulius, ipse divus Augustus et tulere ista et reliquere, haud facile dixerim, moderatione magis an sapientia.

The writings of Asinius Pollio hand down an excellent remembrance of those same men; Messalla Corvinus was proclaiming Cassius as his own commander: and both abounded in resources and honors. In the book of Marcus Cicero in which he equated Cato with heaven, what else did Caesar the Dictator do than reply with a counter‑written oration, as though before judges? Antony’s epistles and Brutus’s public harangues contain, indeed, false reproaches against Augustus, yet many with acridity; the poems of Bibaculus and Catullus, crammed with contumelies against the Caesars, are read: but the deified Julius himself, the deified Augustus himself both bore those things and let them remain—I would not easily say, whether more by moderation or by wisdom.

namque spreta exolescunt: si irascare, adgnita videntur.

for things spurned grow obsolete: if you grow angry, they seem acknowledged.

[35] Non attingo Graecos, quorum non modo libertas, etiam libido impunita; aut si quis advertit, dictis dicta ultus est. sed maxime solutum et sine obtrectatore fuit prodere de iis quos mors odio aut gratiae exemisset. num enim armatis Cassio et Bruto ac Philippensis campos optinentibus belli civilis causa populum per contiones incendo?

[35] I do not touch upon the Greeks, among whom not only liberty but even license is unpunished; or, if anyone adverted, he avenged words with words. but it was most unrestrained and without a detractor to publish about those whom death had exempted from hatred or favor. for surely I am not, with Cassius and Brutus under arms and holding the fields of Philippi, inflaming the people through public assemblies for the cause of civil war?

an illi quidem septuagesimum ante annum perempti, quo modo imaginibus suis noscuntur, quas ne victor quidem abolevit, sic partem memoriae apud scriptores retinent? suum cuique decus posteritas rependit; nec deerunt, si damnatio ingruit, qui non modo Cassii et Bruti set etiam mei meminerint.' egressus dein senatu vitam abstinentia finivit. libros per aedilis cremandos censuere patres: set manserunt, occultati et editi.

Or do those men, indeed, slain seventy years earlier, inasmuch as they are known by their images, which not even the victor abolished, thus retain a share of memory among writers? Posterity repays to each his own honor; nor will there be lacking, if condemnation presses, those who will remember not only Cassius and Brutus but me as well.' Then, having gone out from the senate, he finished his life by abstinence. The Fathers decreed the books to be burned by the aediles: but they remained, hidden and published.

quo magis socordiam eorum inridere libet qui praesenti potentia credunt extingui posse etiam sequentis aevi memoriam. nam contra punitis ingeniis gliscit auctoritas, neque aliud externi reges aut qui eadem saevitia usi sunt nisi dedecus sibi atque illis gloriam peperere.

all the more it is pleasing to deride the dullness of those who believe that by present potency they can extinguish even the memory of a succeeding age. For on the contrary, when talents are punished, auctority waxes, and foreign kings, or those who have employed the same savagery, have engendered nothing except disgrace for themselves and glory for those men.

[36] Ceterum postulandis reis tam continuus annus fuit ut feriarum Latinarum diebus praefectum urbis Drusum, auspicandi gratia tribunal ingressum, adierit Calpumius Salvianus in Sextum Marium: quod a Caesare palam in crepitum causa exilii Salviano fuit. obiecta publice Cyzicenis incuria caerimoniarum divi Augusti, additis violentiae criminibus adversum civis Romanos. et amisere libertatem, quam bello Mithridatis meruerant, circumsessi nec minus sua constantia quam praesidio Luculli pulso rege.

[36] But the year was so unbroken in arraigning defendants that, on the days of the Latin holidays, Drusus, the prefect of the city, having entered the tribunal for the sake of taking auspices, was approached by Calpurnius Salvianus with a prosecution against Sextus Marius: which, to his open reproach from Caesar, was the cause of Salvianus’s exile. It was publicly alleged against the Cyzicenes that they had neglected the ceremonies of the deified Augustus, with charges of violence added against Roman citizens. And they lost the liberty which they had merited in the Mithridatic war, when besieged, the king being routed not less by their own constancy than by the aid of Lucullus.

at Fonteius Capito, qui pro consule Asiam curaverat, absolvitur, comperto ficta in eum crimina per Vibium Serenum. neque tamen id Sereno noxae fuit, quem odium publicum tutiorem faciebat. nam ut quis destrictior accusator, velut sacrosanctus erat: leves ignobiles poenis adficiebantur.

But Fonteius Capito, who had administered Asia as proconsul, was acquitted, it having been discovered that the charges against him were fictitious, engineered by Vibius Serenus. Nor, however, was that to Serenus a blame, whom public odium made the safer. For the more stringent an accuser, he was as it were sacrosanct; the light and ignoble were afflicted with penalties.

[37] Per idem tempus Hispania ulterior missis ad senatum legatis oravit ut exemplo Asiae delubrum Tiberio matrique eius extrueret. qua occasione Caesar, validus alioqui spernendis honoribus et respondendum ratus iis quorum rumore arguebatur in ambitionem flexisse, huiusce modi orationem coepit: 'scio, patres conscripti, constantiam meam a plerisque desideratam quod Asiae civitatibus nuper idem istud petentibus non sim adversatus. ergo et prioris silentii defensionem et quid in futurum statuerim simul aperiam.

[37] At the same time, Farther Spain, with legates sent to the senate, begged that, after the example of Asia, it might construct a shrine to Tiberius and to his mother. On this occasion Caesar—otherwise strong in spurning honors, and thinking that a reply should be made to those by whose rumor he was charged with having bent toward ambition—began a speech of this sort: 'I know, Conscript Fathers, that my constancy has been missed by many because, when the communities of Asia were lately seeking that same thing, I did not oppose it. Therefore I will at once lay open both a defense of my earlier silence and what I have determined for the future.'

cum divus Augustus sibi atque urbi Romae templum apud Pergamum sisti non prohibuisset, qui omnia facta dictaque eius vice legis observem, placitum iam exemplum promptius secutus sum quia cultui meo veneratio senatus adiungebatur. ceterum ut semel recepisse veniam habuerit, ita per omnis provincias effgie numinum sacrari ambitiosum, superbum; et vanescet Augusti honor si promiscis adulationibus vulgatur.

since the deified Augustus had not forbidden that a temple be set up at Pergamum for himself and for the city of Rome, I—who observe all his deeds and sayings in the stead of law—have more readily followed an example already approved, because veneration of the senate was being added to my cult. moreover, although it may have obtained pardon once, yet to be consecrated throughout all the provinces with the effigy of divinities is ambitious, superb; and the honor of Augustus will evanesce if it is vulgarized by promiscuous adulations.

[38] Ego me, patres conscripti, mortalem esse et hominum officia fungi satisque habere si locum principem impleam et vos testor et meminisse posteros volo; qui satis superque memoriae meae tribuent, ut maioribus meis dignum, rerum vestrarum providum, constantem in periculis, offensionum pro utilitate publica non pavidum credant. haec mihi in animis vestris templa, hae pulcherrimae effigies et mansurae. nam quae saxo struuntur, si iudicium posterorum in odium vertit, pro sepulchris spernuntur.

[38] I, Conscript Fathers, both call you to witness and wish posterity to remember that I am mortal and discharge the offices of men, and that I deem it enough if I fill the place of a princeps; they will grant enough and more than enough to my memory, so that they may believe me worthy of my ancestors, provident of your affairs, constant in dangers, not fearful of offenses for the public utility. These are for me, in your minds, the temples; these the most beautiful and enduring effigies. For those that are constructed of stone, if the judgment of posterity turns into hatred, are scorned as sepulchres.

proinde socios civis et deos ipsos precor, hos ut mihi ad finem usque vitae quietam et intellegentem humani divinique iuris mentem duint, illos ut, quandoque concessero, cum laude et bonis recordationibus facta atque famam nominis mei prosequantur.' perstititque posthac secretis etiam sermonibus aspernari talem sui cultum. quod alii modestiam, multi, quia diffideret, quidam ut degeneris animi interpretabantur. optumos quippe mortalium altissima cupere: sic Herculem et Liberum apud Graecos, Quirinum apud nos deum numero additos: melius Augustum, qui speraverit.

accordingly I pray to my allies, citizens, and to the gods themselves—these, that they may give me, to the very end of life, a tranquil mind understanding human and divine law; those, that whenever I shall have departed, they may attend my deeds and the renown of my name with praise and good remembrances.' And thereafter he persisted, even in private conversations, in spurning such a cult of himself. This some interpreted as modesty; many, because he distrusted; certain persons, as of a degenerate spirit. For the best of mortals desire the loftiest things: thus Hercules and Liber among the Greeks, Quirinus among us, were added to the number of the gods: Augustus was better, who had hoped.

cetera principibus statim adesse: unum insatiabiliter parandum, prosperam sui memoriam; nam contemptu famae contemni virtutes.

the rest are immediately present to princes: one thing must be procured insatiably, a prosperous remembrance of oneself; for by the contempt of fame, virtues are contemned.

[39] At Seianus nimia fortuna socors et muliebri insuper cupidine incensus, promissum matrimonium flagitante Livia, componit ad Caesarem codicillos: moris quippe tum erat quamquam praesentem scripto adire. eius talis forma fuit: benevolentia patris Augusti et mox plurimis Tiberii iudiciis ita insuevisse ut spes votaque sua non prius ad deos quam ad principum auris conferret. neque fulgorem honorum umquam precatum: excubias ac labores ut unum e militibus pro incolumitate imperatoris malle.

[39] But Sejanus, slack through excessive fortune and, moreover, inflamed with womanly desire, with Livia clamoring for the promised marriage, composes a memorandum to Caesar: for it was then the custom to approach, by writing, even one who was present. Its form was as follows: that by the benevolence of father Augustus and soon by the very many judgments of Tiberius he had so become accustomed that he conveyed his hopes and vows not first to the gods but to the ears of princes. Nor had he ever prayed for the brilliance of honors: he preferred watches and labors, as one of the soldiers, for the safety of the emperor.

ac tamen quod pulcherrimum adeptum, ut coninuctione Caesaris dignus crederetur: hinc initium spei. et quoniam audiverit Augustum in conlocanda filia non nihil etiam de equitibus Romanis consultavisse, ita, si maritus Liviae quaereretur, haberet in animo amicum sola necessitudinis gloria usurum. non enim exuere imposita munia: satis aestimare firmari domum adversum iniquas Agrippinae offensiones, idque liberorum causa; nam sibi multum superque vitae fore, quod tali cum principe explevisset.

And yet that he had obtained what was most excellent: to be thought worthy by a conjunction with Caesar; hence the beginning of his hope. And since he had heard that Augustus, in settling his daughter, had not been unwilling even to consult among Roman equestrians, thus, if a husband were sought for Livia, he had in mind a friend who would use only the glory of the kinship. For he would not cast off the duties imposed: he judged it enough that the house be strengthened against Agrippina’s unfair offenses—and that for the children’s sake; for himself there would be much, and more than enough, of life, in that he had fulfilled it with such a prince.

[40] Ad ea Tiberius laudata pietate Seiani suisque in eum beneficiis modice percursis, cum tempus tamquam ad integram consultationem petivisset, adiunxit: ceteris mortalibus in eo stare consilia quid sibi conducere putent; principum diversam esse sortem quibus praecipua rerum ad famam derigenda. ideo se non illuc decurrere, quod promptum rescriptu, posse ipsam Liviam statuere, nubendum post Drusum an in penatibus isdem tolerandum haberet; esse illi matrem et aviam, propiora consilia. simplicius acturum, de inimicitiis primum Agrippinae, quas longe acrius arsuras si matrimonium Liviae velut in partis domum Caesarum distraxisset.

[40] In response, Tiberius, after the pietas of Sejanus had been praised and his own benefactions toward him briefly run through, when he had asked for time as though for an integral consultation, added: for other mortals their counsels rest on what they think conducive to themselves; the lot of princes is different, for whom the chief affairs must be directed to fame. Therefore he would not run off to that which is prompt for a rescript, that Livia herself could determine whether, after Drusus, she should be given in marriage, or whether she should have to be tolerated in the same household; she has a mother and a grandmother, more proximate counsels. He would act more simply—first, concerning Agrippina’s enmities, which would blaze far more sharply if by the matrimony of Livia he had, as it were, torn the house of the Caesars into parties.

sic quoque erumpere aemulationem feminarum, eaque discordia nepotes suos convelli: quid si intendatur certamen tali coniugio? 'falleris enim, Seiane, si te mansurum in eodem ordine putas, et Liviam, quae G. Caesari, mox Druso nupta fuerit, ea mente acturam ut cum equite Romano senescat. ego ut sinam, credisne passuros qui fratrem eius, qui patrem maioresque nostros in summis imperiis videre?

thus even so the emulation of the women is bursting forth, and by that discord his grandchildren are being torn apart: what if the contest be intensified by such a marriage? ‘you are mistaken, Sejanus, if you think you will remain in the same order, and that Livia—who was married to Gaius Caesar, afterwards to Drusus—will act with such a mind as to grow old with a Roman knight. granted that I allow it, do you believe those will tolerate it who saw her brother, who saw her father and our ancestors in the highest commands?’

vis tu quidem istum intra locum sistere: sed illi magistratus et primores, qui te invitum perrumpunt omnibusque de rebus consulunt, excessisse iam pridem equestre fastigium longeque antisse patris mei amicitias non occulti ferunt perque invidiam tui me quoque incusant. at enim Augustus filiam suam equiti Romano tradere meditatus est. mirum hercule, si cum in omnis curas distraheretur immensumque attolli provideret quem coniunctione tali super alios extulisset, C. Proculeium et quosdam in sermonibus habuit insigni tranquillitate vitae, nullis rei publicae negotiis permixtos.

You indeed wish to halt within that place; but those magistrates and leading men, who, you unwilling, break through and consult you about all matters, openly assert that you have long since exceeded the equestrian eminence and have far surpassed the friendships of my father, and through envy of you they also accuse me. But indeed Augustus was considering to hand over his daughter to a Roman knight. A marvel, by Hercules, if, when he was being distracted into all cares and foresaw that the one whom he had exalted above others by such a conjunction would be raised to an immense height, he had in his conversations C. Proculeius and certain men of remarkable tranquillity of life, intermixed with no affairs of the commonwealth.

sed si dubitatione Augusti movemur, quanto validius est quod Marco Agrippae, mox mihi conlocavit? atque ego haec pro amicitia non occultavi: ceterum neque tuis neque Liviae destinatis adversabor. ipse quid intra animum volutaverim, quibus adhuc necessitudinibus immiscere te mihi parem, omittam ad praesens referre: id tantum aperiam, nihil esse tam excelsum quod non virtutes istae tuusque in me animus mereantur, datoque tempore vel in senatu s vel in contione non reticebo.'

but if we are moved by Augustus’s hesitation, how much more weighty is the fact that he settled her upon Marcus Agrippa, and soon after upon me? and I have not concealed these things for the sake of friendship: however, I will not oppose either your designs or Livia’s determinations. as for what I have revolved within my mind, by what ties I may yet judge it fitting to intermix you with me, I will omit to recount for the present: this only will I disclose, that there is nothing so exalted which those virtues of yours and your spirit toward me do not merit, and, when the time is given, either in the senate or in the assembly I will not keep silence.'

[41] Rursum Seianus non iam de matrimonio sed altius metuens tacita suspicionum, vulgi rumorem, ingruentem invidiam deprecatur. ac ne adsiduos in domum coetus arcendo infringeret potentiam aut receptando facultatem criminantibus praeberet, huc flexit ut Tiberium ad vitam procul Roma amoenis locis degendam impelleret. multa quippe providebat: sua in manu aditus litterarumque magna ex parte se arbitrum fore, cum per milites commearent; mox Caesarem vergente iam senecta secretoque loci mollitum munia imperii facilius tramissurum: et minui sibi invidiam adempta salutantum turba sublatisque inanibus veram potentiam augeri.

[41] Again Sejanus, now no longer about marriage but, fearing on a higher plane, seeks to deprecate the silent whisperings of suspicions, the rumor of the crowd, the inrushing envy. And lest, by shutting out the constant concourses into his house, he should impair his power, or by admitting them he should offer opportunity to accusers, he bent to this: to impel Tiberius to pass his life far from Rome in pleasant locales. For he foresaw many things: that access would be in his own hand, and that he himself would be, for the most part, arbiter of letters, since they would travel through the soldiers; soon that Caesar, with old age now inclining and, by the seclusion of the place, softened, would more easily transfer the duties of imperium; and that envy toward himself would be diminished with the throng of morning‑greeters removed, and, the empty show stripped away, true power would be increased.

igitur paulatim negotia urbis, populi adcursus, multitudinem adfluentium increpat, extollens laudibus quietem et solitudinem quis abesse taedia et offensiones ac praecipua rerum maxime agitari.

Therefore, little by little he rebukes the business of the city, the onrush of the people, the multitude of those flowing in, while extolling with praises quiet and solitude, in which tedium and offenses are absent, and the principal affairs are most vigorously handled.

[42] Ac forte habita per illos dies de Votieno Montano, celebris ingenii viro, cognitio cunctantem iam Tiberium perpulit ut vitandos crederet patrum coetus vocesque quae plerumque verae et graves coram ingerebantur. nam postulato Votieno ob contumelias in Caesarem dictas, testis Aemilius e militaribus viris, dum studio probandi cuncta refert et quamquam inter obstrepentis magna adseveratione nititur, audivit Tiberius probra quis per occuitum lacerabatur, adeoque perculsus est ut se vel statim vel in cognitione purgaturum clamitaret precibusque proximorum, adulatione omnium aegre componeret animum. et Votienus quidem maiestatis poenis adfectus est: Caesar obiectam sibi adversus reos inclementiam eo pervicacius amplexus, Aquiliam adulterii delatam cum Vario Ligure, quamquam Lentulus Gaetulicus consul designatus lege Iulia damnasset, exilio punivit Apidiumque Merulam quod in acta divi Augusti non iuraverat albo senatorio erasit.

[42] And by chance a hearing held in those days about Votienus Montanus, a man of celebrated talent, drove the already hesitating Tiberius to believe that the gatherings of the Fathers were to be avoided and the voices which for the most part, true and weighty, were thrust upon him face to face. For when Votienus was arraigned for contumelies spoken against Caesar, the witness Aemilius, one of the military men, while in zeal for proving he reports everything and, although amid those interrupting he strives with great asseveration, made Tiberius hear the abuses with which he was torn to pieces in secret; and he was so stricken that he kept crying out that he would clear himself either immediately or in the cognizance, and with difficulty settled his mind at the prayers of his intimates and the adulation of all. And Votienus indeed was afflicted with the penalties of treason: Caesar, embracing all the more stubbornly the inclemency objected to himself against defendants, punished Aquilia, denounced for adultery with Varius Ligus, with exile, although Lentulus Gaetulicus, consul designate, had condemned her under the Julian law, and Apidius Merula, because he had not sworn to the acts of the deified Augustus, he erased from the senatorial roll.

[43] Auditae dehinc Lacedaemoniorum et Messeniorum legationes de iure templi Dianae Limnatidis, quod suis a maioribus suaque in terra dicatum Lacedaemonii firmabant annalium memoria vatumque carminibus, sed Macedonis Philippi cum quo bellassent armis ademptum ac post C. Caesaris et M. Antonii sententia redditum. contra Messenii veterem inter Herculis posteros divisionem Peloponnesi protulere, suoque regi Denthaliatem agrum in quo id delubrum cessisse; monimentaque eius rei sculpta saxis et aere prisco manere. quod si vatum, annalium ad testimonia vocentur, pluris sibi ac locupletiores esse; neque Philippum potentia sed ex vero statuisse: idem regis Antigoni, idem imperatoris Mummii iudicium; sic Milesios permisso publice arbitrio, postremo Atidium Geminum praetorem Achaiae decrevisse.

[43] Then were heard the embassies of the Lacedaemonians and the Messenians about the right to the temple of Diana Limnatidis, which the Lacedaemonians maintained, by the memory of the annals and the songs of bards, had been dedicated by their own ancestors and on their own land, but had been taken from them by Philip of Macedon, with whom they had waged war in arms, and afterward restored by the judgment of Gaius Caesar and Marcus Antonius. The Messenians, on the contrary, produced the ancient division of the Peloponnese among the descendants of Hercules, and that to their own king the Dentheliatis district, in which that shrine stood, had fallen; and that monuments of this matter, engraved on stones and in ancient bronze, remained. And if witnesses are to be summoned from poets and annals, they said theirs were more in number and richer; nor had Philip decided by mere potency but in accordance with truth: the same was the judgment of King Antigonus, the same of the general Mummius; likewise the Milesians, a public arbitration having been permitted, and finally Atidius Geminus, praetor of Achaia, had decreed so.

ita secondum Messenios datum. et Segestani aedem Veneris montem apud Erycum, vetustate dilapsam, restaurari postulavere, nota memorantes de origine eius et laeta Tiberio. suscepit curam libens ut consanguineus.

thus it was given in favor of the Messenians. And the Segestans requested that the temple of Venus on the mount at Eryx, dilapidated by age, be restored, recalling the well-known things about her origin and matters pleasing to Tiberius. He undertook the care gladly, as a consanguineous kinsman.

tunc tractatae Massiliensium preces probatumque P. Rutilii exemplum; namque eum legibus pulsum civem sibi Zmyrnaei addiderant. quo iure Vulcacius Moschus exul in Massiliensis receptus bona sua rei publicae eorum et patriae reliquerat.

then the petitions of the Massilians were handled, and the example of P. Rutilius was approved; for the Smyrnaeans had added him, a man expelled by the laws, to themselves as a citizen. By which right, Vulcacius Moschus, an exile received among the Massilians, had bequeathed his goods to their commonwealth and to his fatherland.

[44] Obiere eo anno viri nobiles Cn. Lentulus et L. Domitius. Lentulo super consulatum et triumphalia de Getis gloriae fuerat bene tolerata paupertas, dein magnae opes innocenter partae et modeste habitae. Domitium decoravit pater civili bello maris potens, donec Antonii partibus, mox Caesaris misceretur.

[44] In that year there died men of noble rank, Gnaeus Lentulus and Lucius Domitius. For Lentulus, besides the consulship and the triumphal insignia over the Getae, there was the glory of poverty well endured; then great wealth, acquired innocently and possessed modestly. Domitius was graced by his father, powerful on the sea in the civil war, until he became embroiled first with Antony’s party, soon after with Caesar’s.

avus Pharsalica acie pro optumatibus ceciderat. ipse delectus cui minor Antonia, Octavia genita, in matrimonium daretur, post exercitu flumen Albim transcendit, longius penetrata Germania quam quisquam priorum, easque ob res insignia triumphi adeptus est. obiit et L. Antonius, multa claritudine generis sed improspera.

his grandfather had fallen in the Pharsalian battle-line for the Optimates. he himself was chosen to whom the younger Antonia, born of Octavia, should be given in matrimony; afterward, with an army he crossed the river Elbe, having penetrated into Germany farther than any of his predecessors, and for these reasons he obtained the insignia of a triumph. L. Antonius also died, with much splendor of lineage but ill-prospered.

nam patre eius Iullo Antonio ob adulterium Iuliae morte punito hunc admodum adulescentulum, sororis nepotem, seposuit Augustus in civitatem Massiliensem ubi specie studiorum nomen exilii tegeretur. habitus tamen supremis honor ossaque tumulo Octaviorum inlata per decretum senatus.

for when his father Iullus Antonius, punished with death on account of adultery with Julia, had been, Augustus removed this one, a very young adolescent, his sister’s grandson, to the city of Massilia, where under the appearance of studies the name of exile might be covered. Nevertheless the honor of funeral rites was accorded, and his bones were borne into the tomb of the Octavii by a decree of the senate.

[45] Isdem consulibus facinus atrox in citeriore Hispania admissum a quodam agresti nationis Termestinae. is praetorem provinciae L. Pisonem, pace incuriosum, ex improviso in itinere adortus uno vulnere in mortem adfecit; ac pernicitate equi profugus, postquam saltuosos locos attigerat, dimisso equo per derupta et avia sequentis frustratus est. neque diu fefellit: nam prenso ductoque per proximos pagos equo cuius foret cognitum.

[45] In the same consuls’ year, an atrocious deed was committed in Hither Spain by a certain rustic of the nation of the Termestini. He, assailing on the road unexpectedly the provincial praetor L. Piso, careless in a time of peace, with a single wound brought him to death; and, fleeing by the swiftness of his horse, after he had reached wooded uplands, dismissing the horse, through steep and trackless places he foiled his pursuers. Nor did he long escape detection: for, the horse having been seized and led through the nearest villages, it was learned whose it was.

et repertus cum tormentis edere conscios adigeretur, voce magna sermones patrio frustra se interrogari clamitavit: adsisterent socii ac spectarent; nullam vim tantam doloris fore ut veritatem eliceret. idemque cum postero ad quaestionem retraheretur, eo nisu proripuit se custodibus saxoque caput adflixit ut statim exanimaretur. sed Piso Termestinorum dolo caesus habetur; quippe pecunias e publico interceptas acrius quam ut tolerarent barbari cogebat.

and when he was found and was being driven by torments to disclose his accomplices, with a great voice he kept shouting in his native speech that he was being questioned in vain: let his comrades stand by and look on; no force of pain would be so great as to elicit the truth. And when on the next day he was dragged back to the questioning, with such a strain he tore himself from the guards and dashed his head against a rock that he was immediately lifeless. But Piso is held to have been slain by the deceit of the Termestini; for he was compelling them to restore monies intercepted from the public more sharply than the barbarians could tolerate.

[46] Lentulo Gaetulico C. Calvisio consulibus decreta triumphi insignia Poppaeo Sabino contusis Thraecum gentibus, qui montium editis incultu atque eo ferocius agitabant. causa motus super hominum ingenium, quod pati dilectus et validissimum quemque militiae nostrae dare aspernabantor, ne regibus quidem parere nisi ex libidine soliti, aut si mitterent auxilia, suos ductores praeficere nec nisi adversum accolas belligerare. ac tum rumor incesserat fore ut disiecti aliisque nationibus permixti diversas in terras traherentur.

[46] Under the consulship of Lentulus Gaetulicus and Gaius Calvisius, the insignia of a triumph were decreed to Poppaeus Sabinus, the Thracian nations having been crushed, who on the mountain heights, by lack of cultivation and all the fiercer for it, carried on their life. The cause of the uprising was beyond the ordinary temper of men: namely, that they spurned enduring levies and giving up each strongest man to our soldiery; nor were they accustomed to obey even kings except at their own pleasure; or, if they sent auxiliaries, to set their own leaders over them and to wage war only against their neighbors. And at that time a rumor had gone abroad that they would be scattered and, intermixed with other nations, be dragged into different lands.

sed antequam arma inciperent, misere legatos amicitiam obsequiumque memoraturos, et mansura haec si nullo novo onere temptarentur: sin ut victis servitium indiceretur, esse sibi ferrum et iuventutem et promptum libertati aut ad mortem animum. simul castella rupibus indita conlatosque illuc parentes et coniuges ostentabant bellumque impeditum arduum cruentum minitabantur.

But before they took up arms, they sent legates to recall their friendship and obedience, and that these would abide if they were not tested by any new burden; but if servitude were to be proclaimed as for the vanquished, they had iron and youth and a spirit prompt for liberty or for death. At the same time they displayed the forts set upon the crags and the parents and spouses gathered there, and they threatened a war impeded, arduous, and bloody.

[47] At Sabinus, donec exercitus in unum conduceret, datis mitibus responsis, postquam Pomponius Labeo e Moesia cum legione, rex Rhoemetalces cum auxiliis popularium qui fidem non mutaverant, venere, addita praesenti copia ad hostem pergit, compositum iam per angustias saltuum. quidam audentius apertis in collibus visebantur, quos dux Romanus acie suggressus haud aegre pepulit sanguine barbarorum modico ob propinqua suffugia. mox castris in loco communitis valida manu montem occupat angustum et aequali dorso continuum usque ad proximum castellum quod magna vis armata aut incondita tuebatur.

[47] But Sabinus, until he could bring the army together into one, gave mild responses; after Pomponius Labeo from Moesia with a legion, and King Rhoemetalces with auxiliaries of the countrymen who had not changed their loyalty, had come, with the present force augmented he proceeds against the enemy, already deployed along the narrows of the passes. Certain men were seen, more boldly, on the open hills; these the Roman leader, advancing in battle line, drove back without difficulty, with small bloodshed of the barbarians because of the nearby refuges. Soon, the camp having been fortified on the spot, with a strong force he seizes a narrow mountain, with a level ridge continuous all the way to the nearest fort, which a great mass, armed or incondite, was defending.

simul in ferocissimos, qui ante vallum more gentis cum carminibus et tripudiis persultabant, mittit delectos sagittariorum. ii dum eminus grassabantur crebra et inulta vulnera fecere: propius incedentes eruptione subita turbati sunt receptique subsidio Sugambrae cohortis, quam Romanus promptam ad pericula nec minus cantuum et armorum tumultu trucem haud procul instruxerat.

At the same time he sends picked archers against the most ferocious, who before the rampart, after the custom of their tribe, were leaping about with songs and war-dances. They, while they were pressing on from afar, inflicted frequent and unavenged wounds; advancing nearer, they were thrown into confusion by a sudden sally and were taken back under the support of the Sugambri cohort, which the Roman had drawn up not far off, ready for perils and no less grim amid the tumult of chants and of arms.

[48] Translata dehinc castra hostem propter, relictis apud priora munimenta Thraecibus, quos nobis adfuisse memoravi. iisque permissum vastare, urere, trahere praedas, dum populatio lucem intra sisteretur noctemque in castris tutam et vigilem capesserent. id primo servatum: mox versi in luxum et raptis opulenti omittere stationes, lascivia epularum aut somno et vino procumbere.

[48] Then the camp was moved next to the enemy, leaving at the former fortifications the Thracians, whom I have mentioned as having been with us. And to them it was permitted to devastate, burn, drag off booty, provided the ravaging was confined within daylight and that at night they should take up a safe and vigilant position in camp. This was observed at first: soon, turned to luxury and opulent with their plunder, they began to omit their stations, and to collapse in the lasciviousness of banquets, or in sleep and wine.

igitur hostes incuria eorum comperta duo agmina parant quorum altero populatores invaderentur, alii castra Romana adpugnarent, non spe capiendi sed ut clamore, telis suo quisque periculo intentus sonorem alterius proelii non acciperet. tenebrae insuper delectae augendam ad formidinem. sed qui vallum legionum temptabant facile pelluntur; Thraecum auxilia repentino incursu territa, cum pars munitionibus adiacerent, plures extra palarentur, tanto infensius caesi quanto perfugae et proditores ferre arma ad suum patriaeque servitium incusabantur.

Therefore the enemies, their neglect discovered, prepare two battle-lines, by one of which the ravagers were to be fallen upon, while others would assail the Roman camp—not with the hope of taking it, but so that, amid the clamor and missiles, each man intent on his own peril would not catch the sound of the other battle. Darkness besides was chosen to augment the dread. But those who were testing the rampart of the legions are easily repelled; the Thracian auxiliaries, terrified by the sudden incursion—since part lay near the fortifications while more were straggling outside—were cut down all the more implacably, inasmuch as, as deserters and traitors, they were reproached for bearing arms toward the enslavement of themselves and their fatherland.

[49] Postera die Sabinus exercitum aequo loco ostendit, si barbari successu noctis alacres proelium auderent. et postquam castello aut coniunctis tumulis non degrediebantur, obsidium coepit per praesidia quae opportune iam muniebat; dein fossam loricamque contexens quattuor milia passuum ambitu amplexus est; tum paulatim ut aquam pabulumque eriperet contrahere claustra artaque circumdare; et struebatur agger unde saxa hastae ignes propinquum iam in hostem iacerentur. sed nihil aeque quam sitis fatigabat, cum ingens multitudo bellatorum imbellium uno reliquo fonte uterentur; simulque armenta, ut mos barbaris, iuxta clausa egestate pabuli exanimari; adiacere corpora hominum quos vulnera, quos sitis peremerat; pollui cuncta sanie odore contactu.

[49] On the next day Sabinus displayed the army on level ground, if the barbarians, elated by the success of the night, would dare battle. And after they did not come down from the stronghold or the linked hillocks, he began a siege by means of outposts which he was already fortifying to advantage; then, interweaving a ditch and a parapet, he encompassed them with a circuit of four miles; then little by little, so as to strip them of water and fodder, he began to contract the barriers and surround them with tighter ones; and an embankment was being piled up from which stones, spears, and fires might be hurled upon the enemy now at close quarters. But nothing fatigued them so much as thirst, since a huge multitude of warriors and non-warriors were using a single remaining spring; and at the same time the herds, as is the custom among barbarians, shut in nearby, were expiring through lack of fodder; the bodies of men lay around—some whom wounds, some whom thirst had destroyed; everything was befouled with sanies, by its stench and its very contact.

[50] Rebusque turbatis malum extremum discordia accessit, his deditionem aliis mortem et mutuos inter se ictus parantibus; et erant qui non inultum exitium sed eruptionem suaderent. neque ignobiles tantum his diversi sententiis, verum e ducibus Dinis, provectus senecta et longo usu vim atque clementiam Romanam edoctus, ponenda arma, unum adflictis id remedium disserebat, primusque secum coniuge et liberis victori permisit: secuti aetate aut sexu imbecilli et quibus maior vitae quam gloriae cupido. at iuventus Tarsam inter et Turesim distrahebatur.

[50] And with affairs thrown into turmoil, the ultimate evil, discord, was added, as some were preparing surrender, others death and mutual blows among themselves; and there were those who urged not a destruction unavenged but an eruption, a breakout. Nor were men of low rank only of these divergent opinions, but among the leaders Dinis, advanced in old age and by long experience taught the Roman force and clemency, argued that arms must be laid down—this, he said, was the one remedy for the afflicted—and he was the first to submit himself, with his wife and children, to the victor. There followed those feeble by age or sex, and those in whom the desire for life was greater than for glory. But the youth was torn between Tarsa and Turesis.

utrique destinatum cum libertate occidere, sed Tarsa properum finem, abrumpendas pariter spes ac metus clamitans, dedit exemplum demisso in pectus ferro; nec defuere qui eodem modo oppeterent. Turesis sua cum manu noctem opperitur haud nescio duce nostro. igitur firmatae stationes densioribus globis; et ingruebat nox nimbo atrox, hostisque clamore turbido, modo per vastum silentium, incertos obsessores effecerat, cum Sabinus circumire, hortari, ne ad ambigua sonitus aut simulationem quietis casum insidiantibus aperirent, sed sua quisque munia servarent immoti telisque non in falsum iactis.

both had it destined to die with liberty, but Tarsa, shouting for a swift end, that hopes and fears alike must be broken off, gave an example with the steel let down into his breast; nor were lacking those who met death in the same way. Turesis with his own band awaits the night, not unknown to our leader. therefore the stations were strengthened in denser clusters; and night was rushing on, fierce with storm-cloud, and the enemy, by a turbid clamor, now through vast silence, had made the besiegers uncertain, when Sabinus went about, exhorting them not, at ambiguous sounds or at the simulation of quiet, to open a chance to those lying in ambush, but that each should keep his own duties unmoved and with missiles not cast to a false aim.

[51] Interea barbari catervis decurrentes nunc in vallum manualia saxa, praeustas sudes, decisa robora iacere, nunc virgultis et cratibus et corporibus exanimis complere fossas, quidam pontis et scalas ante fabricati inferre propugnaculis eaque prensare, detrahere et adversum resistentis comminus niti. miles contra deturbare telis, pellere umbonibus, muralia pila, congestas lapidum molis provolvere. his partae victoriae spes et si cedant insignitius flagitium, illis extrema iam salus et adsistentes plerisque matres et coniuges earumque lamenta addunt animos.

[51] Meanwhile the barbarians, charging down in bands, now were hurling at the rampart hand-held stones, fire-hardened stakes, cut timbers, now were filling the ditches with brushwood and hurdles and lifeless bodies; certain men, bridges and ladders fabricated beforehand, were bringing up to the battlements, and they would grasp these and drag them down, and at close quarters strive against those resisting. The soldiery in turn would cast them down with missiles, drive them with the bosses of their shields, use mural pikes, roll forward masses of heaped stones. For these the hope of a victory already won—and, if they give way, a more conspicuous disgrace; for those, their last safety now; and mothers and wives standing by most of them, and their laments, add spirit.

nox aliis in audaciam, aliis ad formidinem opportuna; incerti ictus, vulnera improvisa; suorum atque hostium ignoratio et montis anfractu repercussae velut a tergo voces adeo cuncta miscuerant ut quaedam munimenta Romani quasi perrupta omiserint. neque tamen pervasere hostes nisi admodum pauci: ceteros, deiecto promptissimo quoque aut saucio, adpetente iam luce trusere in summa castelli ubi tandem coacta deditio. et proxima sponte incolarum recepta: reliquis quo minus vi aut obsidio subigerentur praematura montis Haemi et saeva hiems subvenit.

night was opportune for some to audacity, for others to fear; blows uncertain, wounds unforeseen; ignorance of their own men and of the enemy, and voices, reflected by the winding of the mountain as if from the rear, had so commingled everything that the Romans abandoned certain fortifications as though broken through. nor, however, did the enemy penetrate save a very few: the rest, with the most forward and any wounded thrown down, as daylight was now approaching, they shoved back to the summit of the fortress, where at last a compelled surrender. and the nearest places were recovered by the inhabitants’ free will; for the remaining ones, so that they might not be subdued by force or by siege, the premature and savage winter of Mount Haemus came to their aid.

[52] At Romae commota principis domo, ut series futuri in Agrippinam exitii inciperet Claudia Pulchra sobrina eius postulatur accusante Domitio Afro. is recens praetura, modicus dignationis et quoquo facinore properus clarescere, crimen impudicitiae, adulterum Furnium, veneficia in principem et devotiones obiectabat. Agrippina semper atrox, tum et periculo propinquae accensa, pergit ad Tiberium ac forte sacrificantem patri repperit.

[52] But at Rome, with the princeps’ house thrown into commotion, so that the sequence of the ruin to come upon Agrippina might begin, Claudia Pulchra, her cousin, is arraigned, Domitius Afer bringing the accusation. He, fresh from the praetorship, scant in distinction and swift to become famous by whatever crime, was alleging the charge of impudicity (unchastity), the adulterer Furnius, poisonings against the princeps, and devotions (curse-rituals). Agrippina, ever fierce, then too inflamed by the peril of her kinswoman, goes to Tiberius and by chance finds him sacrificing to his father.

quo initio invidiae non eiusdem ait mactare divo Augusto victimas et posteros eius insectari. non in effigies mutas divinum spiritum transfusum: se imaginem veram, caelesti sanguine ortam, intellegere discrimen, suscipere sordis. frustra Pulchram praescribi cui sola exitii causa sit quod Agrippinam stulte prorsus ad cultum delegerit oblita Sosiae ob eadem adflictae.

with this onset of ill-will she says it is not the same thing to immolate victims to the deified Augustus and to hound his descendants. the divine spirit has not been transfused into mute effigies: that she herself is the true image, sprung from celestial blood, that she understands the distinction, that she takes upon herself the sordidness. in vain is Pulchra cited as a precedent, whose sole cause of ruin was that she had quite foolishly chosen Agrippina for devotion, Sosia being forgotten, who was afflicted for the same things.

audita haec raram occulti pectoris vocem elicuere, correptamque Graeco versu admonuit non ideo laedi quia non regnaret. Pulchra et Furnius damnantur. Afer primoribus oratorum additus, divulgato ingenio et secuta adseveratione Caesaris qua suo iure disertum eum appellavit.

On hearing this, a rare utterance of his hidden breast was drawn forth, and, rebuking her, he admonished her with a Greek verse that she was not therefore being harmed because she did not reign. Pulchra and Furnius are condemned. Afer was added to the foremost of the orators, his ingenium having been divulged, and with the subsequent asseveration of Caesar, whereby he, by his own right, styled him eloquent.

mox capessendis accusationibus aut reos tutando prosperiore eloquentiae quam morum fama fuit, nisi quod aetas extrema multum etiam eloquentiae dempsit, dum fessa mente retinet silentii impatientiam.

soon, by undertaking accusations or by defending the accused, his fame for eloquence was more prosperous than that for morals; except that his extreme age took away much even from his eloquence, while, with a weary mind, he retained an impatience of silence.

[53] At Agrippina pervicax irae et morbo corporis implicata, cum viseret eam Caesar, profusis diu ac per silentium lacrimis, mox invidiam et preces orditur: subveniret solitudini, daret maritum; habilem adhuc inventam sibi neque aliud probis quam ex matrimonio solacium; esse in civitate, * * * Germanici coniugem ac liberos eius recipere dignarentur. sed Caesar non ignarus quantum ex re publica peteretur, ne tamen offensionis aut metus manifestus foret sine responso quamquam instantem reliquit. id ego, a scriptoribus annalium non traditum, repperi in commentariis Agrippinae filiae quae Neronis principis mater vitam suam et casus suorum posteris memoravit.

[53] But Agrippina, pervicacious in wrath and entangled in a disease of the body, when Caesar visited her, after tears poured forth long and in silence, soon begins reproach and prayers: that he would succor her solitude, that he would give a husband; that she was still found fit for herself, nor was there for the upright any other solace than from marriage; that there were in the city, * * * who would deign to receive the wife of Germanicus and his children. But Caesar, not unaware how much was being asked from the commonwealth, yet lest he be manifest in offense or fear, left her, though pressing, without a response. This, not handed down by the writers of annals, I found in the Commentaries of Agrippina the daughter, who, mother of the princeps Nero, commemorated her own life and the fortunes of her kin for posterity.

[54] Ceterum Seianus maerentem et improvidam altius perculit, immissis qui per speciem amicitiae monerent paratum ei venenum, vitandas soceri epulas. atque illa simulationum nescia, cum propter discumberet, non vultu aut sermone flecti, nullos attingere cibos, donec advertit Tiberius, forte an quia audiverat; idque quo acrius experiretur, poma, ut erant adposita, laudans nurui sua manu tradidit. aucta ex eo suspicio Agrippinae et intacta ore servis tramisit.

[54] But Sejanus struck her, grieving and improvident, more deeply, sending in men who, under the appearance of friendship, would admonish that poison was prepared for her, that the father-in-law’s banquets were to be avoided. And she, unacquainted with simulations, when she was reclining near him, would not be moved in countenance or speech, and touched no foods, until Tiberius took notice—whether by chance or because he had heard; and in order to test it the more sharply, praising the fruits as they had been set out, he with his own hand handed them to his daughter-in-law. From that Agrippina’s suspicion was increased, and she passed them, untouched by her mouth, to the servants.

nec tamen Tiberii vox coram secuta, sed obversus ad matrem non mirum ait si quid severius in eam statuisset a qua veneficii insimularetur. inde rumor parari exitium neque id imperatorem palam audere, secretum ad perpetrandum quaeri.

nor, however, did Tiberius’s voice follow face-to-face; but turning to his mother he said it was no wonder if he had decided on something more severe against one by whom he was accused of poisoning. From this arose the rumor that her destruction was being prepared, and that the emperor did not dare it openly, but that secrecy was being sought to perpetrate it.

[55] Sed Caesar quo famam averteret adesse frequens senatoi legatosque Asiae ambigentis quanam in civitate templum statueretur pluris per dies audivit. undecim urbes certabant, pari ambitione, viribus diversae. neque multum distantia inter se memorabant de vetustate generis, studio in populum Romanum per bella Persi et Aristonici aliorumque regum.

[55] But Caesar, in order to divert the report, was frequently present at the senate and for several days heard the legates of Asia, disputing in which city a temple should be established. Eleven cities were contending, with equal ambition, diverse in strengths. And, not differing much among themselves, they made mention of the antiquity of their stock, and of their zeal toward the Roman people during the wars of Perseus and Aristonicus and other kings.

verum Hypaepeni Trallianique Laodicenis ac Magnetibus simul tramissi ut pamum validi; ne Ilienses quidem, cum parentem urbis Romae Troiam referrent, nisi antiquitatis gloria pollebant. paulum addubitatum quod Halicarnasii mille et ducentos per annos nullo motu terrae nutavisse sedes suas vivoque in saxo fundamenta templi adseveraverant. Pergamenos (eo ipso nitebantur) aede Augusto ibi sita satis adeptos creditum.

but the Hypaepeni and the Trallians, together with the Laodicenes and the Magnesians, were sent away at the same time as not sufficiently strong; not even the Ilians, though they alleged Troy as the parent of the city of Rome, excelled save by the glory of antiquity. There was a little hesitation because the Halicarnassians had averred that for 1,200 years their seats had not wavered by any movement of the earth, and that the foundations of the temple were on living rock. The Pergamenians (they were relying on this very point) were believed to have sufficiently obtained it already, since a temple to Augustus had been set there.

Ephesii Milesiique, hi Apollinis, illi Dianae caerimonia occupavisse civitates visi. ita Sardianos inter Zmyrnaeosque deliberatum. Sardiani decretum Etruriae recitavere ut consanguinei: nam Tyrrhenum Lydumque Atye rege genitos ob multitudinem divisisse gentem; Lydum patriis in terris resedisse, Tyrrheno datum novas ut conderet sedes; et ducum e nominibus indita vocabula illis per Asiam, his in Italia; auctamque adhuc Lydorum opulentiam missis in Graeciam populis cui mox a Pelope nomen.

The Ephesians and the Milesians, the former by the ceremony of Apollo, the latter by that of Diana, seemed to have pre-empted the cities. Thus the matter was deliberated between the Sardians and the Smyrnaeans. The Sardians, as consanguinei, recited a decree of Etruria: for that Tyrrhenus and Lydus, born under King Atys, owing to their multitude divided the nation; Lydus remained in the ancestral lands, to Tyrrhenus it was given to found new seats; and from the names of the leaders, appellations were bestowed—upon those in Asia, upon these in Italy; and the opulence of the Lydians was increased yet further by peoples sent into Greece, which soon received from Pelops its name.

simul litteras imperatorum et icta nobiscum foedera bello Macedonum ubertatemque fluminum suorum, temperiem caeli ac ditis circum terras memorabant.

at the same time they were recounting the letters of the emperors and the treaties struck with us in the war of the Macedonians, and the abundance of their own rivers, the temperateness of the sky, and the wealthy lands around.

[56] At Zmymaei repetita vetustate, seu Tantalus Iove ortus illos, sive Theseus divina et ipse stirpe, sive una Amazonum condidisset, transcendere ad ea, quis maxime fidebant, in populum Romanum officiis, missa navali copia non modo externa ad bella sed quae in Italia tolerabantur; seque primos templum urbis Romae statuisse, M. Porcio consule, magnis quidem iam populi Romani rebus, nondum tamen ad summum elatis, stante adhuc Punica urbe et validis per Asiam regibus. simul L. Sullam testem adferebant, gravissimo in discrimine exercitus ob asperitatem hiemis et penuriam vestis, cum id Zmyrnam in contionem nuntiatum foret, omnis qui adstabant detraxisse corpori tegmina nostrisque legionibus misisse. ita rogati sententiam patres Zmyrnaeos praetulere.

[56] But the Smyrnaeans, after rehearsing their antiquity—whether Tantalus, sprung from Jove, founded them, or Theseus, himself of divine stock, or one of the Amazons—went on to those points in which they most trusted: to their services toward the Roman people, in that they sent a naval force not only for wars abroad but also for those borne in Italy; and that they were the first to have set up a temple of the City of Rome, with M. Porcius as consul, when indeed the affairs of the Roman people were already great, yet not raised to the highest, the Punic city still standing and kings strong throughout Asia. At the same time they produced L. Sulla as a witness: when the army was in a most grave crisis because of the harshness of winter and a scarcity of clothing, and this had been announced at Smyrna in a public assembly, all who were standing by had stripped the coverings from their bodies and sent them to our legions. Thus, when asked for their opinion, the senators preferred the Smyrnaeans.

censuitque Vibius Marsus ut M'. Lepido, cui ea provincia obvenerat, super numerum legaretur qui templi curam susciperet. et quia Lepidus ipse deligere per modestiam abnuebat, Valerius Naso e praetoriis sorte missus est.

and Vibius Marsus moved that, to M'. Lepidus, to whom that province had fallen, there be deputed beyond the number one who would undertake the care of the temple. and because Lepidus himself, out of modesty, refused to select, Valerius Naso from the ex-praetors was sent by lot.

[57] Inter quae diu meditato prolatoque saepius consilio tandem Caesar in Campaniam, specie dedicandi templa apud Capuam Iovi, apud Nolam Augusto, sed certus procul urbe degere. causam abscessus quamquam secutus plurimos auctorum ad Seiani artes rettuli, quia tamen caede eius patrata sex postea annos pari secreto conionxit, plerumque permoveor num ad ipsum referri verius sit, saevitiam ac libidinem cum factis promeret, locis occultantem erant qui crederent in senectute corporis quoque habitum pudori fuisse: quippe illi praegracilis et incurva proceritas, nudus capillo vertex, ulcerosa facies ac plerumque medicaminibus interstincta; et Rhodi secreto vitare coetus, recondere voluptates insuerat. traditur etiam matris impotentia extrusum quam dominationis sociam aspernabatur neque depellere poterat, cum dominationem ipsam donum eius accepisset.

[57] Amid these things, with a plan long meditated and more than once put forth, at length Caesar went into Campania, under the pretext of dedicating temples—at Capua to Jove, at Nola to Augustus—but resolved to live far from the city. The cause of his withdrawal, although, following very many authors, I have referred to the arts of Sejanus; yet because, after that man’s slaughter had been accomplished, he joined the six years thereafter in an equal seclusion, I am for the most part moved to question whether it is truer to refer it to the man himself: as he was earning a reputation for savagery and lust by his deeds, concealing them by his choice of places. There were those who believed that in old age even the habitus of his body was a shame to him: indeed, in his case a too-slender and stooping tallness, a vertex bare of hair, an ulcerous face and for the most part flecked with medicaments; and at Rhodes, in privacy, he had been wont to avoid gatherings and to stash away his pleasures. It is also handed down that, by the unbridledness of his mother, he was thrust out—her, as partner of his domination, he spurned and could not put away, since the domination itself he had received as her gift.

nam dubitaverat Augustus Germanicum, sororis nepotem et cunctis laudatum, rei Romanae imponere, sed precibus usoris evictus Tiberio Germanicum, sibi Tiberium adscivit. idque Augusta exprobrabat, reposcebat.

for Augustus had hesitated to impose Germanicus, his sister’s grandson and praised by all, upon the Roman state; but, overcome by the entreaties of his wife, he adopted Germanicus to Tiberius, and Tiberius to himself. And this the Augusta kept upbraiding, kept demanding back.

[58] Profectio arto comitatu fuit: unus senator consulatu functus, Cocceius Nerva, cui legum peritia, eques Romanus praeter Seianum ex inlustribus Curtius Atticus, ceteri liberalibus studiis praediti, ferme Graeci, quorum sermonibus levaretur. ferebant periti caelestium iis motibus siderum excessisse Roma Tiberium ut reditus illi negaretur. unde exitii causa multis fuit properum finem vitae coniectantibus vulgantibusque; neque enim tam incredibilem casum providebant ut undecim per annos libens patria careret.

[58] The departure was with a tight retinue: one senator who had held the consulship, Cocceius Nerva, to whom there was expertise in laws; a Roman eques, apart from Sejanus among the illustrious, Curtius Atticus; the rest endowed with liberal studies, for the most part Greeks, by whose discourses he might be lightened. Those skilled in celestial matters were reporting that by those motions of the stars Tiberius had withdrawn from Rome so that a return was denied to him. Whence it was a cause of destruction for many who were conjecturing and spreading abroad a near end of his life; for they did not foresee so unbelievable an outcome as that for 11 years he would willingly be without his fatherland.

mox patuit breve confinium artis et falsi veraque quam obscuris tegerentur. nam in urbem non regressurum haud forte dictum: ceterorum nescii egere, cum propinquo rure aut litore et saepe moenia urbis adsidens extremam senectam compleverit.

soon it was laid open how narrow the boundary of art and of the false is, and how truths were covered with obscurities. for that he would not return into the city was not said by chance: they lacked knowledge of the rest, since in the neighboring countryside or on the shore, and often sitting close by the walls of the city, he completed his extreme old age.

[59] Ac forte illis diebus oblatum Caesari anceps periculum auxit vana rumoris praebuitque ipsi materiem cur amicitiae constantiaeque Seiani magis fideret. vescebantur in villa cui vocabulum Speluncae mare Amunclanum inter et Fundanos montis nativo in specu. eius os lapsis repente saxis obruit quosdam ministros: hinc metus in omnis et fuga eorum qui convivium celebrabant.

[59] And by chance in those days a two-edged peril offered itself to Caesar, increased empty rumor, and afforded to himself material why he should trust more to the friendship and constancy of Sejanus. They were dining in a villa whose name is Speluncae, between the Amunclanian sea and the mountains of Fundi, in a natural grotto. Its mouth, with rocks suddenly slipping, buried some attendants: hence fear fell upon all and there was a flight of those who were celebrating the banquet.

Seianus genu voltuque et manibus super Caesarem suspensus opposuit sese incidentibus atque habitu tali repertus est a militibus qui subsidio venerant. maior ex eo et quamquam exitiosa suaderet ut non sui anxius cum fide audiebatur. adsimulabatque iudicis partis adversum Germanici stirpem, subditis qui accusatorum nomina sustinerent maximeque insectarentur Neronem proximum successioni et, quamquam modesta iuventa, plerumque tamen quid in praesentiarum conduceret oblitum, dum a libertis et clientibus, apiscendae potentiae properis, extimulator ut erectum et fidentem animi ostenderet: velle id populum Romanum, cupere exercitus, neque ausurum contra Seianum qui nunc patientiam senis et segnitiam iuvenis iuxta insultet.

Sejanus, with knee, countenance, and hands, hanging over Caesar, set himself against the falling masses, and in such a posture was found by the soldiers who had come for succor. Greater from that deed, and, although he was urging exitious measures, he was listened to with confidence, as not anxious for himself. And he simulated the part of a judge against the stock of Germanicus, with suborned men to sustain the names of accusers, and they most of all harried Nero, next to the succession and, although of modest youth, yet for the most part forgetful of what in present circumstances was expedient, while by freedmen and clients—hasty for the acquisition of power—he was egged on to display himself uplifted and confident of spirit: that the Roman People willed it, the armies desired it, nor would he dare against Sejanus, who now insults alike the patience of the old man and the sloth of the young man.

[60] Haec atque talia audienti nihil quidempravae cogitationis, sed interdum voces procedebant contumaces et inconsultae, quas adpositi custodes exceptas auctasque cum deferrent neque Neroni defendere daretur, diversae insuper sollicitudinum formae oriebantur. nam alius occursum eius vitare, quidam salutatione reddita statim averti, plerique inceptum sermonem abrumpere, insistentibus contra inridentibusque qui Seiano fautores aderant. enimvero Tiberius torvus aut falsum renidens vultu: seu loqueretur seu taceret iuvenis, crimen ex silentio, ex voce.

[60] To one hearing these and such things, indeed nothing of depraved cogitation, but at times contumacious and ill‑advised voices would proceed; and when the guards set beside him, having intercepted and augmented them, would denounce them, and Nero was not given leave to defend himself, there arose, besides, diverse forms of anxieties. For one would avoid an encounter with him, some, the salutation returned, would at once turn away, the majority would break off a begun conversation, while, conversely, those who were fautors of Sejanus pressed in and mocked. And indeed Tiberius was grim, or smiling with a false countenance: whether the youth should speak or be silent, there was a charge from silence, from voice.

ne nox quidem secura, cum uxor vigilias somnos suspiria matri Liviae atque illa Seiano patefaceret; qui fratrem quoque Neronis Drusum traxit in partis, spe obiecta principis loci si priorem aetate et iam labefactum demovisset. atrox Drusi ingenium super cupidinem potentiae et solita fratribus odia accendebatur invidia quod mater Agrippina promptior Neroni erat. neque tamen Seianus ita Drusum fovabat ut non in eum quoque semina futuri exitii meditaretur, gnarus praeferocem et insidiis magis opportunum.

not even the night was secure, since his wife would lay open his vigils, sleeps, and sighs to mother Livia, and she to Sejanus; who also drew Drusus, the brother of Nero, into his party, with the hope set before him of the princeps’ place, if he should remove the elder in years and now already shaken. the savage temper of Drusus, beyond the cupidity of power and the hatreds customary among brothers, was kindled by envy because their mother Agrippina was more prompt toward Nero. nor, however, did Sejanus so foster Drusus as not to be meditating against him also the seeds of future destruction, knowing him to be over-fierce and more liable to plots.

[61] Fine anni excessere insignes viri Asinius Agrippa, claris maioribus quam vetustis vitaque non degener, et Q. Haterius, familia senatoria, eloquentiae quoad vixit celebratae: monimenta ingeni eius haud perinde retinentur. scilicet impetu magis quam cura vigebat; utque aliorum meditatio et labor in posterum valescit, sic Haterii canorum illud et profluens cum ipso simul extinctum est.

[61] At the end of the year there passed away distinguished men: Asinius Agrippa, with ancestors more illustrious than ancient and with a life not degenerate, and Q. Haterius, of a senatorial family, whose eloquence, so long as he lived, was celebrated: the monuments of his genius are not retained to the same degree. To wit, he flourished by impulse more than by care; and just as the meditation and labor of others
prevail for the future, so that tuneful and flowing style of Haterius was extinguished at once with himself.

[62]M. Licinio L. Calpurnio consulibus ingentium bellorum cladem aequavit malum improvisum: eius initium simul et finis extitit. nam coepto apud Fidenam amphitheatro Atilius quidam libertini generis, quo spectaculum gladiatorum celebraret, neque fundamenta per solidum subdidit neque firmis nexibus ligneam compagem superstruxit, ut qui non abundantia pecuniae nec municipali ambitione sed in sordidam mercedem id negotium quaesivisset. adfluxere avidi talium, imperitante Tiberio procul voluptatibus habiti, virile ac muliebre secus, omnis aetas, ob propinquitatem loci effusius; unde gravior pestis fuit, conferta mole, dein convulsa, dum ruit intus aut in exteriora effunditur immensamque vim mortalium, spectaculo intentos aut qui circum adstabant, praeceps trahit atque operit.

[62] Under the consulship of M. Licinius and L. Calpurnius, a disaster of unanticipated kind matched the carnage of mighty wars: its beginning and its end were simultaneous. For, when at Fidenae an amphitheater was being constructed by a certain Atilius, of freedman stock, in order to celebrate a spectacle of gladiators, he neither laid foundations upon solid ground nor superimposed a wooden framework with firm joints, since he had sought that enterprise not with an abundance of money nor with municipal ambition, but for sordid hire. There flocked in people eager for such things, long kept far from pleasures under the rule of Tiberius, the male and the female sex, every age, more profusely on account of the nearness of the place; whence the calamity was the heavier—the mass being packed, then wrenched apart—while it collapses inward or spills to the outer parts, and headlong it drags down and buries an immense multitude of mortals, those intent on the spectacle and those who were standing around.

et illi quidem quos principium stragis in mortem adflixerat, ut tali sorte, cruciatum effugere: miserandi magis quos abrupta parte corporis nondum vita deseruerat; qui per diem visu, per noctem ululatibus et gemitu coniuges aut liberos noscebant. iam ceteri fama exciti, hic fratrem, propinquum ille, alius parentes lamentari. etiam quorum diversa de causa amici aut necessarii aberant, pavere tamen; nequedum comperto quos illa vis perculisset, latior ex incerto metus.

and indeed those whom the beginning of the carnage had struck down into death, by such a lot escaped cruciation; more to be pitied were those whom, with a part of the body torn off, life had not yet deserted; who by day recognized their spouses or children by sight, by night by ululations and groaning. already the rest, roused by rumor, this man lamenting a brother, that one a kinsman, another his parents. even those whose friends or intimates were absent for a different cause nevertheless were in fear; and, it not yet ascertained whom that force had smitten, the fear was broader from the uncertainty.

[63] Vt coepere dimoveri obruta, concursus ad exanimos complectentium, osculantium; et saepe certamen si con fusior facies sed par forma aut aetas errorem adgnoscentibus fecerat. quinquaginta hominum milia eo casu debilitata vel obtrita sunt; cautumque in posterum senatus consulto ne quis gladiatorium munus ederet cui minor quadringentorum milium res neve amphitheatrum imponeretur nisi solo firmitatis spectatae. Atilius in exilium actus est.

[63] When they began to remove the buried, there was a rush toward the lifeless, of those embracing, kissing; and often there was a contest, if a more confused appearance but an equal form or age had caused error for those recognizing. Fifty thousand people were maimed or crushed by that mishap; and provision was made for the future by a senatorial decree that no one should put on a gladiatorial spectacle whose estate was less than 400,000, nor should an amphitheatre be set upon any site unless the soil was of proven firmness. Atilius was driven into exile.

Ceterum sub recentem cladem patuere procerum domus, fomenta et medici passim praebiti, fuitque urbs per illos dies quamquam maesta facie veterum institutis similis, qui magna post proelia saucios largitione et cura sustentabant.

However, under the fresh calamity the houses of the nobles lay open, soothing applications and physicians were provided everywhere, and the city during those days, though with a mournful aspect, was like the institutions of the ancients, who after great battles sustained the wounded by largess and care.

[64] Nondum ea clades exoleverat cum ignis violentia urbem ultra solitum adfecit, deusto monte Caelio; feralemque annum ferebant et ominibus adversis susceptum principi consilium absentiae, qui mos vulgo, fortuita ad culpam trahentes, ni Caesar obviam isset tribuendo pecunias ex modo detrimenti. actaeque ei grates apud senatum ab inlustribus famaque apud populum, quia sine ambitione aut proximorum precibus ignotos etiam et ultro accitos munificentia iuverat. adduntur sententiae ut mons Caelius in posterum Augustus appellaretur, quando cunctis circum flagrantibus sola Tiberii effigies sita in domo Iunii senatoris inviolata mansisset.

[64] Not yet had that disaster faded when the violence of fire afflicted the city beyond the usual, the Caelian Mount having been burned; and they were calling the year funereal, and the counsel of absence undertaken by the princeps as taken up under adverse omens—a habit of the crowd, dragging fortuitous events into blame—if Caesar had not met it by granting monies in proportion to the measure of the loss. And thanks were rendered to him in the senate by illustrious men, and there was repute among the people, because without ambition or the petitions of intimates he had with munificence helped even the unknown and those proactively summoned. Proposals were added that the Caelian Mount should thereafter be called AUGUSTUS, since, with everything around blazing, the effigy of Tiberius alone, set in the house of Junius, a senator, had remained inviolate.

evenisse id olim Claudiae Quintae eiusque statuam vim ignium bis elapsam maiores apud aedem matris deum consecravisse. sanctos acceptosque numinibus Claudios et augendam caerimoniam loco in quo tantum in principem honorem di ostenderint.

that this had happened once before: that our ancestors had consecrated at the temple of the Mother of the Gods the statue of Claudia Quinta, which had twice escaped the force of the fires. that the Claudii are sacred and acceptable to the numina, and that the ceremony should be augmented in the place in which the gods have displayed so great an honor toward the princeps.

[65] Haud fuerit absurdum tradere montem eum antiquitus Querquetulanum cognomento fuisse, quod talis silvae frequens fecundusque erat, mox Caelium appellitatum a Caele Vibenna, qui dux gentis Etruscae cum auxilium tulisset sedem eam acceperat a Tarquinio Prisco, seu quis alius regum dedit: nam scriptores in eo dissentiunt. cetera non ambigua sunt, magnas eas copias per plana etiam ac foro propinqua habitavisse, unde Tuscum vicum e vocabulo advenarum dictum.

[65] It would not be absurd to relate that that hill in antiquity was by cognomen called Querquetulanus, because it was abundant and fruitful in such a kind of forest, and later it was appellated Caelian from Caeles Vibenna, who, a leader of the Etruscan gens, when he had brought aid, received that seat from Tarquinius Priscus, or whichever other of the kings gave it: for the writers disagree in this. The rest are not ambiguous: that those great forces dwelt over the level areas also and those near the Forum, whence the Tuscan Vicus was named from the vocable of the newcomers.

[66] Sed ut studia procerum et largitio principis adversum casus solacium tulerant, ita accusatorum maior in dies et infestior vis sine levamento grassabatur; corripueratque Varum Quintilium, divitem et Caesari propinquum, Domitius Afer, Claudiae Pulchrae matris eius condemnator, nullo mirante quad diu egens et parto nuper praemio male usus plura ad flagitia accingeretur. Publium Dolabellam socium delationis extitisse miraculo erat, quia claris maioribus et Varo conexus suam ipse nobilitatem, suum sanguinem perditum ibat. restitit tamen senatus et opperiendum imperatorem censuit, quod unum urgentium malorum suffugium in tempus erat.

[66] But just as the partisanship of the nobles and the largess of the prince had brought a solace against misfortunes, so the greater and more hostile force of accusers advanced day by day without alleviation; and Quintilius Varus, wealthy and kin to Caesar, had been seized by Domitius Afer, the condemner of his mother Claudia Pulchra, no one marveling that, long needy and having ill-used the reward lately obtained, he was girding himself for more flagitia. That Publius Dolabella had emerged as a partner in the delation was a marvel, because, of illustrious ancestors and linked to Varus, he was himself going to ruin his own nobility, his own blood. Nevertheless the senate stood its ground and judged that the emperor must be awaited, which for the time was the sole refuge from the pressing evils.

[67] At Caesar dedicatis per Campaniam templis, quamquam edicto monuisset ne quis quietem eius inrumperet, concursusque oppidanorum disposito milite prohiberentur, perosus tamen municipia et colonias omniaque in continenti sita Capreas se in insulam abdidit trium milium freto ab extremis Surrentini promunturii diiunctam. solitudinem eius placuisse maxime crediderim, quoniam importuosum circa mare et vix modicis navigiis pauca subsidia; neque adpulerit quisquam nisi gnaro custode. caeli temperies hieme mitis obiectu montis quo saeva ventorum arcentur; aestas in favonium obversa et aperto circum pelago peramoena; prospectabatque pulcherrimum sinum, antequam Vesuvius mons ardescens faciem loci verteret.

[67] But Caesar, the temples having been dedicated throughout Campania, although by an edict he had warned that no one should break his quiet, and that the concourses of the townsfolk should be prevented by troops posted, yet, loathing the municipal towns and the colonies and everything situated on the mainland, hid himself on the island of Capreae, separated by a strait of three miles from the farthest points of the Surrentine promontory. I would most believe that its solitude pleased him, since the sea around is harborless and affords scarcely a few shelters for small craft; nor would anyone make landfall save with a knowledgeable guard. The temper of the sky is mild in winter by the mountain’s screen, by which the savage winds are kept off; the summer, facing the west wind and with the sea lying open around, is very pleasant; and it looked out upon a most beautiful bay, before Mount Vesuvius, blazing up, changed the face of the place.

Graecos ea tenuisse Capreasque Telebois habitatas fama tradit. sed tum Tiberius duodecim villarum nominibus et molibus insederat, quanto intentus olim publicas ad curas tanto occultiores in luxus et malum otium resolutus. manebat quippe suspicionum et credendi temeritas quam Seianus augere etiam in urbe suetus acrius turbabat non iam occultis adversum Agrippinam et Neronem insidiis.

Tradition reports that the Greeks held those places, and that Capreae was inhabited by the Teleboans. But at that time Tiberius had occupied it with the names and massive structures of 12 villas, the more he had once been intent on public cares, by so much the more unloosed into hidden luxuries and evil leisure. For there remained a rashness both of suspicions and of believing, which Sejanus, accustomed to amplify even in the city, was now stirring up more sharply, no longer with hidden ambushes against Agrippina and Nero.

quis additus miles nuntios, introitus, aperta secreta velut in annalis referebat, ultroque struebantur qui monerent perfugere ad Germaniae exercitus vel celeberrimo fori effigiem divi Augusti amplecti populumque ac senatum auxilio vocare. eaque spreta ab illis, velut pararent, obiciebantur.

whatever soldier was assigned would report messages, entrances, disclosed secrets, as though he were entering them in annals; and, moreover, men were suborned to advise them to take refuge with the armies of Germany, or to embrace the effigy of the deified Augustus in the most frequented Forum and to call the people and the senate to their aid. and though these proposals were spurned by them, they were thrown in their teeth as if they were preparing them.

[68] Iunio Silano et Silio Nerva consulibus foedum anni principium incessit tracto in carcerem inlustri equite Romano Titio Sabino ob amicitiam Germanici: neque enim omiserat coniugem liberosque eius percolere, sectator domi, comes in publico, post tot clientes unus eoque apud bonos laudatus et gravis iniquis. hunc Latinius Latiaris, Porcius Cato, Petilius Rufus, M. Opsius praetura functi adgrediuntur, cupidine consulatus ad quem non nisi per Seianum aditus; neque Seiani voluntas nisi scelere quaerebatur. compositum inter ipsos ut Latiaris, qui modico usu Sabinum contingebat, strueret dolum, ceteri testes adessent, deinde accusationem inciperent.

[68] Under the consuls Junius Silanus and Silius Nerva, a foul beginning of the year set in, with the distinguished Roman knight Titius Sabinus dragged into prison on account of his friendship with Germanicus: for he had not ceased to cultivate that man’s wife and children, a follower at home, a companion in public; after so many clients, he alone—and for that reason among the good he was praised, and burdensome to the unjust. Him Latinus Latiaris, Porcius Cato, Petilius Rufus, and M. Opsius, men who had performed the praetorship, assail, from desire of the consulship, to which there was no access except through Sejanus; nor was Sejanus’s goodwill sought except by crime. It was arranged among themselves that Latiaris, who touched upon Sabinus with slight acquaintance, should contrive the deceit, the others be present as witnesses, and then begin the accusation.

igitur Latiaris iacere fortuitos primum sermones, mox laudare constantiam quod non, ut ceteri, florentis domus amicus adflictam deseruisset; simul honora de Germanico, Agrippinam miserans, disserebat. et postquam Sabinus, ut sunt molles in calamitate mortalium animi, effudit lacrimas, iunxit questus, audentius iam onerat Seianum, saevitiam, superbiam, spes eius; ne in Tiberium quidem convicio abstinet; iique sermones tamquam vetita miscuissent speciem artae amicitiae fecere. ac iam ultro Sabinus quaerere Latiarem, ventitare domum, dolores suos quasi ad fidissimum deferre.

Accordingly Latiaris at first would toss out chance conversations, then soon praise his constancy, because, not as the rest, a friend of a flourishing house, he had not deserted it when stricken; at the same time he discoursed with honor about Germanicus, pitying Agrippina. And after Sabinus—as the spirits of mortals are soft in calamity—poured out tears, he added complaints, and now more boldly he loads Sejanus with charges—his savagery, his arrogance, his hopes—nor does he refrain from invective even against Tiberius; and those talks, as though they had mixed forbidden matters, created the appearance of a close friendship. And now of his own accord Sabinus seeks out Latiaris, keeps coming to his house, and delivers his dolors as if to a most faithful confidant.

[69] Consultant quos memoravi quonam modo ea plurium auditu acciperentur. nam loco in quem coibatur servanda solitudinis facies; et si pone foris adsisterent, metus visus, sonitus aut forte ortae suspicionis erat. tectum inter et laquearia tres senatores haud minus turpi latebra quam detestanda fraude sese abstrudunt, foraminibus et rimis aurem admovent.

[69] They consult, those whom I have mentioned, by what method those things might be received by the hearing of more persons. For in the place where they were gathering the appearance of solitude had to be preserved; and if they were to stand outside behind the door, there was fear of a sighting, a sound, or of suspicion arising by chance. Between the roof and the coffered ceilings three senators, in a hiding-place no less shameful than the fraud detestable, shove themselves in and hide, and to holes and cracks they apply their ear.

interea Latiaris repertum in publico Sabinum, velut recens cognita narraturus, domum et in cubiculum trahit praeteritaque et instantia, quorum adfatim copia, ac novos terrores cumulat. eadem ille et s diutius, quanto maesta, ubi semel prorupere, difficilius reticentur. properata inde accusatio missisque ad Caesarem litteris ordinem fraudis suumque ipsi dedecus narravere.

Meanwhile Latiaris, having found Sabinus in public, as if about to narrate things newly learned, drags him home and into the bedroom, and heaps up past and present matters—of which there was abundant supply—and fresh terrors. The same things he repeated both more often and for longer, since mournful matters, once they have burst forth, are the harder to keep silent. Then the accusation was hastened, and, letters sent to Caesar, they narrated the sequence of the fraud and to himself their own disgrace.

non alias magis anxia et pavens civitas, tegens adversum proximos; congressus, conloquia, notae ignotaeque aures vitari; etiam muta atque inanima, tectum et parietes circumspectabantur.

At no other time was the city more anxious and trembling, shielding itself against its closest; encounters, colloquies, familiar and unfamiliar ears were avoided; even mute and inanimate things—the roof and the walls—were looked around with suspicion.

[70] Sed Caesar sollemnia incipientis anni kalendis Ianuariis epistula precatus vertit in Sabinum, corruptos quosdam libertorum et petitum se arguens, ultionemque haud obscure poscebat. nec mora quin decerneretur; et trahebatur damnatus, quantum obducta veste et adstrictis faucibus niti poterat, clamitans sic inchoari annum, has Seiano victimas cadere. quo intendisset oculos, quo verba acciderent, fuga vastitas, deseri itinera fora.

[70] But Caesar, at the Kalends of January, the solemnities of the beginning year, by an epistle having made a supplication, turned it upon Sabinus, alleging that certain of his freedmen had been corrupted and that an attack had been made upon himself, and he demanded retribution not obscurely. Nor was there delay before it was decreed; and he, condemned, was being dragged, striving as far as he could with his garment drawn over him and his throat constricted, shouting that thus the year was being begun, that these victims were falling to Sejanus. Wherever he directed his eyes, wherever his words fell—flight, desolation; the roads and the fora were deserted.

et quidam regrediebantur ostentabantque se rursum id ipsum paventes quod timuissent. quem enim diem vacuum poena ubi inter sacra et vota, quo tempore verbis etiam profanis abstineri mos esset, vincla et laqueus inducantur? non imprudentem Tiberium tantam invidiam adisse: quaesitum meditatumque, ne quid impedire credatur quo minus novi magistratus, quo modo delubra et altaria, sic carcerem recludant.

and certain men were returning and were displaying themselves again, fearing that very thing which they had feared. For what day is free from penalty, when amid sacred rites and vows—at a time when it is the custom to abstain even from profane words—chains and the noose are introduced? that Tiberius had not without foresight incurred so great ill-will: it had been contrived and premeditated, so that nothing might be thought to hinder the new magistrates from, just as they throw open shrines and altars, so throwing open the prison.

secutae insuper litterae grates agentis quod hominem infensum rei publicae punivissent, adiecto trepidam sibi vitam, suspectas inimicorum insidias, nullo nominatim compellato; neque tamen dubitabatur in Neronem et Agrippinam intendi.

Letters followed in addition, of one giving thanks because they had punished a man hostile to the commonwealth, with the addition that his life was in trepidation, that ambushes of enemies were suspected, with no one addressed by name; nor, however, was it doubted that the aim was directed against Nero and Agrippina.

[71] Ni mihi destinatum foret suum quaeque in annum referre, avebat animus antire statimque memorare exitus quos Latinus atque Opsius ceterique flagitii eius repertores habuere, non modo postquam Gaius Caesar rerum potitus est sed incolumi Tiberio, qui scelerum ministros ut perverti ab aliis nolebat, ita plerumque satiatus et oblatis in eandem operam recentibus veteres et praegravis adflixit: verum has atque alias sontium poenas in tempore trademus. tum censuit Asinius Gallus, cuius liberorum Agrippina matertera erat, petendum a principe ut metus suos senatui fateretur amoverique sineret. nullam acque Tiberius, ut rebatur, ex virtutibus suis quam dissimulationem diligebat: eo aegrius accepit recludi quae premeret.

[71] If it were not destined for me to refer each thing to its own year, my animus was eager to anticipate and straightway to recount the ends which Latinus and Opsius and the rest, the authors of that flagitium, met with—not only after Gaius Caesar got possession of affairs, but with Tiberius still unscathed, who, just as he did not wish the ministers of crimes to be perverted by others, so for the most part, when sated and when fresh men had been offered for the same operae, struck down the old and over-burdensome: but these and other penalties of the guilty we will hand down in due time. Then Asinius Gallus proposed—of whose children Agrippina was the maternal aunt—that petition be made to the princeps that he confess his fears to the senate and allow them to be removed. No virtue, as he reckoned, did Tiberius love so much among his own as dissimulation: for that reason he took it the more ill that what he was suppressing should be reclosed.

sed mitigavit Seianus, non Galli amore verum ut cunctationes principis opperiretur, gnarus lentum in meditando, ubi prorupisset, tristibus dictis atrocia facta coniungere.

but Sejanus mitigated it, not from love of Gallus but so that he might await the prince’s hesitations, aware that, slow in meditating, whenever he burst forth he would conjoin atrocious deeds to somber words.

Per idem tempus Iulia mortem obiit, quam neptem Augustus convictam adulterii damnaverat proieceratque in insulam Trimentm, haud procul Apulis litoribus. illic viginti annis exilium toleravit Augustae ope sustentata, quae florentis privignos cum per occultum subvertisset, misericordiam erga adflictos palam ostentabat.

At the same time Julia met death, whom Augustus, his granddaughter, had convicted of adultery and had cast out onto the island Trimerus, not far from the Apulian shores. There for twenty years she endured exile, sustained by the aid of the Augusta, who, while she had undermined her flourishing step-sons in secret, was openly displaying compassion toward the afflicted.

[72] Eodem anno Frisii, transrhenanus popolus, pacem exuere, nostra magis avaritia quam obsequii impatientes. tributum iis Drusus iusserat modicum pro angustia rerum, ut in usus militaris coria boum penderent, non intenta cuiusquam cura quae firmitudo, quae mensura, donec Olennius e primipilaribus regendis Frisiis impositus terga urorum delegit quorum ad formam acciperentur. id aliis quoque nationibus arduum apud Germanos difficilius tolerabatur, quis ingentium beluarum feraces saltus, modica domi armenta sunt.

[72] In the same year the Frisians, a trans-Rhenish people, cast off the peace, more by our avarice than from impatience of obedience. Drusus had ordered a tribute for them, moderate in proportion to the narrowness of their resources, namely that for military uses they should pay ox-hides, with no one’s care directed to what thickness, what measure, until Olennius, from the primipilares, imposed for governing the Frisians, selected the hides of aurochs, by the pattern of which they were to be received. This, arduous for other nations also, was among the Germans more difficult to endure, whose woodland pastures are prolific of huge beasts, while at home their herds are modest.

ac primo boves ipsos, mox agros, postremo corpora coniugum aut liberorum servitio tradebant. hinc ira et questus et postquam non subveniebatur remedium ex bello. rapti qui tributo aderant milites et patibulo adfixi: Olennius infensos fuga praevenit receptus castello cui nomen Flevum; et haud spernenda illic civium sociorumque manus litora Oceani praesidebat.

and at first they gave over the oxen themselves, soon the fields, and at last the bodies of their wives or children into servitude. Hence anger and complaints, and, after no help was supplied, a remedy from war. The soldiers who were present for the tribute were snatched and affixed to a gibbet; Olennius forestalled the hostile by flight, being received into a fort whose name was Flevum; and there a not-to-be-despised band of citizens and allies was guarding the shores of the Ocean.

[73] Quod ubi L. Apronio inferioris Germaniae pro praetore cognitum, vexilla legionum e superiore provincia peditumque et equitum auxiliarium delectos accivit ac simul utrumque exercitum Rheno devectum Frisiis intulit, soluto iam castelli obsidio et ad sua tutanda degressis rebellibus. igitur proxima aestuaria aggeribus et pontibus traducendo graviori agmini firmat, atque interim repertis vadis alam Canninefatem et quod peditum Germanorum inter nostros merebat circumgredi terga hostium iubet, qui iam acie compositi pellunt turmas socialis equitesque legionum subsidio missos. tum tres leves cohortes ac rursum duae, dein tempore interiecto alarius eques immissus: satis validi si simul incubuissent, per intervallum adventantes neque constantiam addiderant turbatis et pavore fugientium auferebantur.

[73] When this was known to L. Apronius, propraetor of Lower Germany, he summoned the vexilla of the legions from the Upper province and selected men of the auxiliary infantry and cavalry; and at the same time, having ferried both armies over the Rhine, he brought them in against the Frisians, the siege of the fort now lifted and the rebels having withdrawn to protect their own. Therefore he secures the nearest estuaries with embankments and bridges for conveying the heavier column, and meanwhile, fords having been found, he orders the ala of the Canninefates and that body of German infantry which served among our troops to go around the enemy’s rear. They, now drawn up in battle-line, rout the squadrons of the allies and the cavalry of the legions sent as relief. Then three light cohorts, and again two, and, after an interval, the allied horse were launched—strong enough, had they pressed on together; but arriving by intervals, they did not add steadiness to the disordered, and were swept away by the panic of the fugitives.

Cethego Labeoni legato quintae legionis quod reliquum auxiliorum tradit. atque ille dubia suorum re in anceps tractus missis nuntiis vim legionum implorabat. prorumpunt quintani ante alios et acri pugna hoste pulso recipiunt cohortis alasque fessas vulneribus.

He handed over to Cethegus Labeo, legate of the Fifth Legion, what remained of the auxiliaries. And he, with the condition of his men doubtful and drawn into a perilous pass, having sent messengers was imploring the force of the legions. The men of the Fifth burst forth before the others and, the enemy driven back in a fierce fight, they recover the cohorts and the wings of cavalry, wearied with wounds.

neque dux Romanus ultum iit aut corpora humavit, quamquam multi tribunorum praefectorumque et insignes centuriones cecidissent. mox compertum a transfugis nongentos Romanorum apud lucum quem Baduhennae vocant pugna in posterum extracta confectos, et aliam quadringentorum manum occupata Cruptorigis quondam stipendiari villa, postquam proditio metuebatur, mutuis ictibus procubuisse.

nor did the Roman leader go to exact vengeance or inter the bodies, although many tribunes and prefects and distinguished centurions had fallen. Soon it was discovered from deserters that 900 Romans, at a grove which they call that of Baduhenna, with the fight drawn out into the following day, had been finished off; and that another detachment of 400, after the villa of Cruptorix, formerly a stipendiary, had been occupied—when treachery was feared—had fallen by mutual blows.

[74] Clarum inde inter Germanos Frisium nomen, dissimulante Tiberio damna ne cui bellum permitteret. neque senatus in eo cura an imperii extrema dehonestarentur: pavor internus occupaverat animos cui remedium adulatione quaerebatur. ita quamquam diversis super rebus consulerentur, aram clementiae, aram amicitiae effigiesque circum Caesaris ac Seiani censuere crebrisque precibus efflagitabant visendi sui copiam facerent.

[74] Thenceforth among the Germans the Frisian name was renowned, while Tiberius, dissembling the losses so that he might permit war to no one. Nor was there in the senate any concern whether the extremities of the empire were being dishonored: an inward terror had seized their minds, for which a remedy was sought in adulation. Thus, although they were being consulted about wholly different matters, they voted an altar of Clemency, an altar of Friendship, and images to encircle those of Caesar and Sejanus, and with frequent entreaties they demanded that they grant the opportunity of seeing them.

non illi tamen in urbem aut propinqua urbi degressi sunt: satis visum omittere insulam et in proximo Campaniae aspici. eo venire patres, eques, magna pars plebis, anxii erga Seianum cuius durior congressus atque eo per ambitum et societate consiliorum parabatur. satis constabat auctam ei adrogantiam foedum illud in propatulo servitium spectanti; quippe Romae sueti discursus et magnitudine urbis incertum quod quisque ad negotium pergat: ibi campo aut litore iacentes nullo discrimine noctem ac diem iuxta gratiam aut fastus ianitorum perpetiebantur donec id quoque vetitum: et revenere in urbem trepidi quos non sermone, non visu dignatus erat, quidam male alacres quibus infaustae amicitiae gravis exitus imminebat

they, however, did not descend into the city nor into places near the city: it seemed enough to abandon the island and be seen in the neighborhood of Campania. Thither came the senators, the equestrians, a great part of the plebs, anxious with regard to Sejanus, whose access was harsher, and for that very reason was being procured by canvassing and a partnership in counsels. It was quite agreed that, as he gazed at that foul servitude in the open, his arrogance was increased; for at Rome men are used to comings and goings, and by the magnitude of the city it is uncertain to what business each one proceeds: there, lying on the plain or the shore, with no distinction they endured night and day alike according to the favor or the disdain of the janitors, until that too was forbidden: and back they returned to the city in trepidation, those whom he had deigned neither a word nor a glance, some ill-cheerful, upon whom the grave end of an ill-omened friendship was impending.

[75] Ceterum Tiberius neptem Agrippinam Germanico ortam cum coram Cn. Domitio tradidisset, in urbe celebrari nuptias iussit. in Domitio super vetustatem generis propinquum Caesaribus sanguinem delegerat; nam is aviam Octaviam et per eam Augustum avunculum praeferebat.

[75] Moreover Tiberius, after he had, in person, handed over his granddaughter Agrippina, sprung from Germanicus, to Cn. Domitius, ordered the nuptials to be celebrated in the city. in Domitius, beyond the antiquity of his lineage, he had selected a blood-kinship near to the Caesars; for he could put forward Octavia as grandmother, and through her Augustus as uncle.