Tacitus: ANNALES

[1] Rubellio et Fufio consulibus, quorum utrique Geminus cognomentum erat, Iulia Augusta mortem obiit, aetate s extrema, nobilitatis per Claudiam familiam et adoptione Liviorum Iuliorumque clarissimae. primum ei matrimonium et liberi fuere cum Tiberio Nerone, qui bello Perusino profugus pace inter Sex. Pompeium ac triumviros pacta in urbem rediit.

[1] In the consulship of Rubellius and Fufius, both of whom had the cognomen Geminus, Julia Augusta met death, at an extreme age, most illustrious in nobility through the Claudian family and, by adoption, of the Livii and the Julii. her first marriage and children were with Tiberius Nero, who, a refugee in the Perusine war, after peace had been arranged between Sextus Pompeius and the triumvirs, returned to the city.

exim Caesar cupidine formae aufert marito, incertum an invitam, adeo properus ut ne spatio quidem ad enitendum dato penatibus suis gravidam induxerit. nullam posthac subolem edidit sed sanguini Augusti per coniunctionem Agrippinae et Germanici adnexa communis pronepotes habuit. sanctitate domus priscum ad morem, comis ultra quam antiquis feminis probatum, mater impotens, uxor facilis et cum artibus mariti, simulatione filii bene composita.

Then Caesar, by desire of her beauty, takes her from her husband, uncertain whether unwilling, so hasty that, with not even time granted for bringing forth, he led her, pregnant, into his household. Thereafter she produced no offspring, but, attached to the blood of Augustus through the conjunction of Agrippina and Germanicus, she had great-grandchildren in common. In the sanctity of her house after the ancient custom, affable beyond what was approved for women of old, an overbearing mother, an compliant wife, and well matched with the arts of her husband, with the dissimulation of her son.

funus eius modicum, testamen tum diu inritum fuit. Iaudata est pro rostris a G. Caesare pronepote qui mox rerum potitus est.

Her funeral was modest; the testament was for a long time annulled. She was lauded from the Rostra by G. Caesar, her great-grandson, who soon got possession of affairs.

[2] At Tiberius, quod supremis in matrem officiis defuisset, nihil mutata amoenitate vitae, magnitudinem negotiorum per litteras excusavit honoresque memoriae eius ab senatu large decretos quasi per modestiam imminuit, paucis admodum receptis et addito ne caelestis religio decerneretur: sic ipsam maluisse. quin et parte eiusdem epistulae increpuit amicitias muliebris, Fufium consulem oblique perstringens. is gratia Augustae floruerat, aptus adliciendis feminarum animis, dicax idem et Tiberium acerbis facetiis inridere solitus quarum apud praepotentis in longum memoria est.

[2] But Tiberius, because he had been wanting in the last offices toward his mother, with the amenity of his life not changed at all, excused by letters the magnitude of his affairs, and the honors to her memory largely decreed by the senate he curtailed, as if out of modesty, very few at all being received, and with the addition that no celestial religion be decreed: thus she herself had preferred. Nay more, in a part of that same letter he also rebuked feminine friendships, obliquely scoring Fufius the consul. He had flourished by the favor of Augusta, apt for enticing the minds of women, witty likewise and accustomed to deride Tiberius with bitter pleasantries, the memory of which among the prepotent is long.

[3] Ceterum ex eo praerupta iam et urgens dominatio: nam incolumi Augusta erat adhuc perfugium, quia Tiberio inveteratum erga matrem obsequium neque Seianus audebat auctoritati parentis antire: tunc velut frenis exoluti proruperunt missaeque in Agrippinam ac Neronem litterae quas pridem adlatas et cohibitas ab Augusta credidit vulgus: haud enim multum post mortem eius recitatae sunt. verba inerant quaesita asperitate: sed non arma, non rerum novarum studium, amores iuvenum et impudicitiam nepoti obiectabat. in nurum ne id quidem confingere ausus, adrogantiam oris et contumacem animum incusavit, magno senatus pavore ac silentio, donec pauci quis nulla ex honesto spes (et publica mala singulis in occasionem gratiae trahuntur) ut referretur postulavere, promptissimo Cotta Messalino cum atroci sententia.

[3] But from then the domination was already precipitous and pressing: for while Augusta was unharmed there was still a refuge, because for Tiberius there was an inveterate obedience toward his mother, nor did Sejanus dare to outgo the authority of the parent: then, as if loosed from the reins, they burst forth, and letters were sent against Agrippina and Nero, which the crowd believed had long before been brought and kept back by Augusta: for they were recited not long after her death. There were words within, studied for asperity: yet he alleged not arms, not a zeal for innovations; he imputed to his grandson loves of youths and unchastity. Against his daughter-in-law he did not dare even to fabricate that; he accused arrogance of visage and a contumacious spirit, with great fear and silence of the senate, until a few, for whom there was no hope from anything honorable (and public evils are drawn by individuals into an occasion of favor), demanded that it be referred, Cotta Messalinus being the most forward with a savage motion.

sed aliis a primoribus maximeque a magistratibus trepidahatur: quippe Tiberius etsi infense invectus cetera ambigua reliquerat.

but among others of the foremost men, and most of all among the magistrates, there was trepidation; for Tiberius, although he had inveighed with hostile heat, had left the rest ambiguous.

[4] Fuit in senatu Iunius Rusticus, componendis patrum actis delectus a Caesare eoque meditationes eius introspicere creditus. is fatali quodam motu (neque enim ante specimen constantiae dederat) seu prava sollertia, dum imminentium oblitus incerta pavet, inserere se dubitantibus ac monere consules ne relationem inciperent; disserebatque brevibus momentis summa verti: posse quandoque domus Germanici exitium paenitentiae esse seni. simul populus effgies Agrippinae ac Neronis gerens circumsistit curiam faustisque in Caesarem ominibus falsas litteras et principe invito exitium domui eius intendi clamitat.

[4] There was in the senate Junius Rusticus, chosen by Caesar for composing the acts of the fathers and therefore believed to look into his meditations. He, by some fatal impulse (for he had not before given a specimen of constancy), or by perverse cleverness, while, forgetful of things imminent, he fears uncertainties, thrust himself in among the wavering and warned the consuls not to begin the relation; and he argued that in brief moments the sum of things is turned: that perhaps the destruction of the house of Germanicus could someday be a matter of repentance to the old man. At the same time the populace, bearing effigies of Agrippina and Nero, surrounds the Curia and, with auspicious omens toward Caesar, shouts that the letters are false and that, the prince being unwilling, destruction is being aimed at his house.

ita nihil triste illo die patratum. ferebantur etiam sub nominibus consularium fictae in Seianum sententiae, exercentibus plerisque per occultum atque eo procacius libidinem ingeniorum. unde illi ira violentior et materies criminandi: spretum dolorem principis ab senatu, descivisse populum; audiri lam et legi novas contiones, nova patrum consulta: quid reliquum nisi ut caperent ferrum et, quorum imagines pro vexillis secuti forent, duces imperatoresque deligerent?

Thus nothing grim was perpetrated on that day. There were even being circulated under the names of consulars forged opinions against Sejanus, as most men, in secret and therefore the more impudently, were exercising the license of their wits. Whence for him a more violent wrath and material for accusation: that the grief of the prince had been scorned by the senate, that the people had defected; that now new harangues were being heard and read, new decrees of the Fathers: what remained except that they should seize the steel and choose as leaders and commanders those whose effigies they had followed as standards?

[5] Igitur Caesar repetitis adversum nepotem et nurum probris increpitaque per edictum plebe, questus apud patres quod fraude unius senatoris imperatoria maiestas elusa publice foret, integra tamen sibi cuncta postulavit. nec ultra deliberatum quo minus non quidem extrema decernerent (id enim vetitum), sed paratos ad ultionem vi principis impediri testarentur . . . . . . . . .

[5] Therefore Caesar, with reproaches renewed against his grandson and daughter-in-law and the plebs rebuked by edict, having complained before the Fathers that by the fraud of a single senator the imperatorial majesty had been publicly eluded, nevertheless demanded that everything remain intact to himself. Nor was there further deliberation, to the effect that they should not, indeed, determine extreme measures (for that was forbidden), but should attest that those ready for vengeance were being impeded by the force of the princeps . . . . . . . . .