Tacitus: ANNALES

[5.6] . . . Quattuor et quadraginta orationes super ea re habitae, ex quis ob metum paucae, plures adsuetudine . . . . . . 'mihi pudorem aut Seiano invidiam adlaturum censui. versa est fortuna et ille quidem qui collegam et generum adsciverat sibi ignoscit: ceteri quem per dedecora fovere cum scelere insectantur. miserius sit ob amicitiam accusari an amicum accusare haud discreverim.

[5.6] . . . Forty-four speeches were delivered about that matter, of which, on account of fear, a few, more by habit . . . . . . 'I judged that it would bring me shame or bring envy upon Sejanus. Fortune has turned, and he indeed who had taken him as colleague and son-in-law forgives himself: the rest inveigh against the man whom they fostered through disgraces together with his crime. I would not distinguish whether it is more wretched to be accused on account of friendship or to accuse a friend.

non crudelitatem, non clementiam cuiusquam experiar sed liber et mihi ipsi probatus antibo periculum. vos obtestor ne memoriam nostri per maerorem quam laeti retineatis, adiciendo me quoque iis qui fine egregio publica mala effugerunt.'

I will experience neither cruelty, nor
anyone’s clemency, but free and approved by myself I will go to meet the danger. I adjure you not
to retain the memory of us in grief rather than with gladness, by adding me also to those who with an excellent end escaped public evils.'

[5.7] Tunc singulos, ut cuique adsistere, adloqui animus erat, retinens aut dimittens partem diei absumpsit, multoque adhuc coetu et cunctis intrepidum vultum eius spectantibus, cum superesse tempus novissimis crederent, gladio quem sinu abdiderat incubuit. neque Caesar ullis criminibus aut probris defunctum insectatus est, cum in Blaesum multa foedaque incusavisset.

[5.7] Then, one by one—as his mind was to have each stand by and to address them—retaining or dismissing, he consumed part of the day, and with a great concourse still present and all gazing at his un-intrepid countenance, when they believed that time remained for his last words, he fell upon the sword which he had hidden in his bosom. Nor did Caesar pursue the deceased with any charges or reproaches, although he had incriminated Blaesus with many foul things.

[5.8] Relatum inde de P. Vitellio et Pomponio Secundo. illum indices arguebant claustra aerarii, cui praefectus erat, et militarem pecuniam rebus novis obtulisse; huic a Considio praetura functo obiectabatur Aelii Galli amicitia, qui punito Seiano in hortos Pomponii quasi fidissimum ad sub sidium perfugisset. neque aliud periclitantibus auxilii quam in fratrum constantia fuit qui vades extitere.

[5.8] Then a report was brought concerning P. Vitellius and Pomponius Secundus. Informers were charging the former with having unbarred the vaults of the treasury, of which he was prefect, and with having offered the military money for revolutionary designs; against the latter, Considius, who had held the praetorship, alleged the friendship of Aelius Gallus, who, Sejanus having been punished, had taken refuge in the gardens of Pomponius as to a most trustworthy succor. Nor was there any other aid for the defendants on trial than in the constancy of their brothers, who stood forth as sureties.

mox crebris prolationibus spem ac metum iuxta gravatus Vitellius petito per speciem studiorum scalpro levem ictum venis intulit vitamque aegritudine animi finivit. at Pomponius multa morum elegantia et ingenio inlustri, dum adversam fortunam aequus tolerat, Tiberio superstes fuit.

soon, burdened equally by hope and fear through frequent postponements, Vitellius, having requested under the guise of studies a scalpel, made a slight incision in his veins and finished his life through sickness of mind. but Pomponius, with much elegance of manners and illustrious talent,
while he bore adverse fortune with equanimity, survived Tiberius.

[5.9] Placitum posthac ut in reliquos Seiani liberos adverteretur, vanescente quamquam plebis ira ac plerisque per priora supplicia lenitis. igitur portantur in carcerem, filius imminentium intellegens, puella adeo nescia ut crebro interrogaret quod ob delictum et quo traheretur; neque facturam ultra et posse se puerili verbere moneri. tradunt temporis eius auctores, quia triumvirali supplicio adfici virginem inauditum habebatur, a carnifice laqueum iuxta compressam; exim oblisis faucibus id aetatis corpora in Gemonias abiecta.

[5.9] Thereafter it was resolved that the remaining children of Sejanus be proceeded against, although the populace’s wrath was vanishing and the majority had been softened by the prior punishments. Accordingly they are carried into prison, the son understanding what was impending, the girl so unaware that she kept asking on account of what offense and whither she was being dragged; and that she would do it no more and that she could be admonished with a childish whipping. They relate, the authors of that time, that because it was held unheard-of for a virgin to be afflicted with the triumviral punishment, she was by the executioner violated right beside the noose; then, their throats crushed, bodies of that age were thrown onto the Gemonian steps.

[5.10] Per idem tempus Asia atque Achaia exterritae sunt acri magis quam diuturno rumore, Drusum Germanici filium apud Cycladas insulas mox in continenti visum. et erat iuvenis haud dispari aetate, quibusdam Caesaris libertis velut adgnitus; per dolumque comitantibus adliciebantur ignari fama nominis et promptis Graecorum animis ad nova et mira: quippe elapsum custodiae pergere ad paternos exercitus, Aegyptum aut Syriam invasurum, fingebant simul credebantque. iam iuventutis concursu, iam publicis studiis frequentabatur, laetus praesentibus et inanium spe, cum auditum id Poppaeo Sabino: is Macedoniae tum intentus Achaiam quoque curabat.

[5.10] About the same time Asia and Achaia were terrified by a rumor, sharp rather than long-lived, that Drusus, son of Germanicus, had been seen among the Cyclades islands, soon on the mainland. And there was a young man of not dissimilar age, as if recognized by certain of Caesar’s freedmen; and through fraud, with these men accompanying, the uninformed were enticed by the renown of the name and by the ready spirits of the Greeks for new and marvelous things: for they were fashioning and at the same time believing that, having slipped from custody, he was proceeding to his father’s armies, about to invade Egypt or Syria. Already he was being thronged by the rush of the youth, already by public enthusiasms, happy with what was at hand and with the hope of empty things, when this was heard by Poppaeus Sabinus: he, then intent on Macedonia, was also administering Achaia.

igitur quo vera seu falsa antiret Toronaeum Thermaeumque sinum praefestinans, mox Euboeam Aegaei maris insulam et Piraeum Atticae orae, dein Corinthiense litus angustiasque Isthmi evadit; marique alio Nicopolim Romanam coloniam ingressus, ibi demum cognoscit sollertius interrogatum quisnam foret dixisse M. Silano genitum et multis sectatorum dilapsis ascendisse navem tamquam Italiam peteret. scripsitque haec Tiberio neque nos originem finemve eius rei ultra comperimus.

therefore, in order to forestall the matter whether true or false, hastening to the Toronaic and Thermaic gulf, soon to Euboea, an island of the Aegean sea, and to the Piraeus of the Attic shore, then he clears the Corinthian coast and the narrows of the Isthmus; and, entering Nicopolis, a Roman colony, upon another sea, there at last he learns that, when more cleverly interrogated as to who he was, he had said he was begotten of Marcus Silanus, and that, many of his followers having slipped away, he had boarded a ship as though he were aiming for Italy. and he wrote these things to Tiberius, nor did we discover any further either the origin or the end of that affair.

[5.11] Exitu anni diu aucta discordia consulum erupit. nam Trio, facilis capessendis inimicitiis et foro exercitus, ut segnem Regulum ad opprimendos Seiani ministros oblique perstrinxerat: ille nisi lacesseretur modestiae retinens non modo rettudit collegam sed ut noxium coniurationis ad disquisitionem trahebat. multisque patrum orantibus ponerent odia in perniciem itura, mansere infensi ac minitantes donec magistratu abirent.

[5.11] At the close of the year the discord of the consuls, long increased, erupted. For Trio, ready to take up enmities and exercised in the forum, in that he had obliquely scored Regulus as sluggish in crushing Sejanus’s ministers: he, retaining modesty unless he were provoked, not only beat back his colleague but was dragging him to a disquisition as guilty of conspiracy. And with many of the Fathers beseeching that they put down hatreds that were going to go into ruin, they remained hostile and threatening until they went out of office.

[6.1] Cn. Domitius et Camillus Scribonianus consulatum inierant, cum Caesar tramisso quod Capreas et Surrentum interluit freto Campaniam praelegebat, ambiguus an urbem intraret, seu, quia contra destinaverat, speciem venturi simulans. et saepe in propinqua degressus, aditis iuxta Tiberim hortis, saxa rursum et solitudinem maris repetiit pudore scelerum et libidinum quibus adeo indomitis exarserat ut more regio pubem ingenuam stupris pollueret. nec formam tantum et decora corpora set in his modestam pueritiam, in aliis imagines maiorum incitamen tum cupidinis habebat.

[6.1] Gnaeus Domitius and Camillus Scribonianus had entered the consulate, when Caesar, having crossed the strait which
washes between Capreae and Surrentum, was coasting along Campania, ambiguous whether he should enter the city, or, since he had determined against it, simulating the appearance of coming. and often, having gone down to places near at hand, after visiting the gardens by the Tiber, the rocks
and the solitude of the sea he sought again, from shame of his crimes and lusts, with which, so untamed, he had flared to such a pitch that, in royal
fashion, he polluted freeborn youth with debaucheries. nor did he have only beauty and comely bodies, but in some the modest
boyishness, in others the images of their ancestors, as an incitement of desire.

tuncque primum ignota antea vocabula reperta sunt sellariorum et spintriarum ex foeditate loci ac multiplici patientia; praepositique servi qui conquirerent pertraherent, dona in promptos, minas adversum abnuentis, et si retinerent propinquus aut parens, vim raptus suaque ipsi libita velut in captos exercebant.

and then for the first time, previously unknown words were discovered, of “sellarii” and “spintriae,” from the foulness of the place and the manifold passivity; and slaves were set over it
to seek out and drag men in, with gifts for the compliant, threats against those refusing, and if a relative or
a parent held them back, they exercised force, abduction, and their own pleasures upon them as upon captives.

[6.2] At Romae principio anni, quasi recens cognitis Liviae flagitiis ac non pridem etiam punitis, atroces sententiae dicebantur in effigies quoque ac memoriam eius et bona Seiani ablata aerario ut in fiscum cogerentur, tamquam referret. Scipiones haec et Silani et Cassii isdem ferme aut paulum immutatis verbis adseveratione multa censebant, cum repente Togonius Gallus, dum ignobilitatem suam magnis nominibus inserit, per deridiculum auditur. nam principem orabat deligere senatores ex quis viginti sorte ducti et ferro accincti, quoties curiam inisset, salutem eius defenderent.

[6.2] But at Rome, at the beginning of the year, as if Livia’s disgraces had been newly learned and not long before also punished, atrocious sentences were being proposed against even her effigies and memory, and that the goods of Sejanus, taken away to the aerarium, should be forced into the fisc, as though it made a difference. The Scipios and the Silani and the Cassii were voting these measures with much asseveration, in nearly the same words or with little changed, when suddenly Togonius Gallus, while inserting his ignobility among great names, is heard amid derision. For he was begging the princeps to select senators, from whom twenty, drawn by lot and girt with steel, should, whenever he entered the Curia, defend his safety.

crediderat nimirum epistulae subsidio sibi alterum ex consulibus poscentis ut tutus a Capreis urbem peteret. Tiberius tamen, ludibria seriis permiscere solitus, egit grates benevolentiae patrum: sed quos omitti posse, quos deligi? semperne eosdem an subinde alios?

He had, to be sure, believed a letter requesting as a support for himself one of the consuls, so that, safe from Capri, he might seek the city. Tiberius, however, accustomed to commingle mockeries with serious matters, gave thanks for the benevolence of the Fathers: but which could be omitted, which chosen? always the same, or from time to time others?

et honori bus perfunctos an iuvenes, privatos an e magistratibus? quam deinde speciem fore sumentium in limine curiae gladios? neque sibi vitam tanti si armis tegenda foret.

and men who had discharged public honors or young men, private individuals or from the magistracies? what appearance then would there be of men taking up swords on the threshold of the curia? nor did he hold his life worth so much, if it had to be defended by arms.

haec adversus Togonium verbis moderans neque ultra abolitionem sententiae suaderet.

these things against Togonius moderating with words, nor that he should urge beyond the abolition of the sentence.

[6.3] At Iunium Gallionem qui censuerat ut praetoriani actis stipendiis ius apiscerentur in quattuordecim ordinibus sedendi violenter increpuit, velut coram rogitans quid illi cum militibus quos neque dicta imperatoris neque praemia nisi ab imperatore accipere par esset. repperisse prorsus quod divus Augustus non providerit: an potius discordiam et seditionem a satellite quaesitam, qua rudis animos nomine honoris ad corrumpendum militiae morem propelleret? hoc pretium Gallio meditatae adulationis tulit, statim curia, deinde Italia exactus; et quia incusabatur facile tole raturus exilium delecta Lesbo, insula nobili et amoena, retrahitur in urbem custoditurque domibus magistratuum.

[6.3] But he violently rebuked Junius Gallio, who had proposed that the praetorians, once their stipends were completed, should acquire the right of sitting in the 14 rows, as if asking him face to face what he had to do with soldiers who ought to receive neither the emperor’s commands nor rewards from any but the emperor. He had, forsooth, found out exactly what the deified Augustus had not foreseen: or rather a discord and sedition sought by a bodyguard, whereby under the name of honor he would drive untutored minds to corrupt the discipline of military service? This was the price Gallio paid for his premeditated adulation—straightway driven from the Curia, then from Italy; and because he was accused of being likely to bear exile easily, Lesbos having been chosen, a noble and pleasant island, he was dragged back to the city and was kept under guard in the houses of the magistrates.

isdem litteris Caesar Sextium Paconianum praetorium perculit magno patrum gaudio, audacem maleficum, omnium secreta rimantem delectumque ab Seiano cuius ope dolus G. Caesari pararetur. quod postquam patefactum prorupere concepta pridem odia et summum supplicium decernebatur ni professus indicium foret.

By the same letters Caesar struck down Sextius
Paconianus, a man of praetorian rank, to the great joy of the senators, a bold malefactor, prying into everyone’s secrets,
and chosen by Sejanus, by whose aid a deceit was being prepared against G. Caesar. When this was disclosed, hatreds long since conceived burst forth,
and the supreme punishment was being decreed, unless he should profess evidence.

[6.4] Ut vero Latinium Latiarem ingressus est, accusator ac reus iuxta invisi gratissimum spectaculum praebebantur. Latiaris, ut rettuli, praecipuus olim circumveniendi Titii Sabini et tunc luendae poenae primus fuit. inter quae Haterius Agrippa consules anni prioris invasit, cur mutua accusatione intenta nunc silerent: metum prorsus et noxae conscientiam pro foedere haberi; at non patribus reticenda quae audivissent.

[6.4] But when he had entered the presence of Latinus Latiaris, the accuser and the defendant, alike hated, afforded a most welcome spectacle. Latiaris, as I have related, had once been a chief in the entrapment of Titius Sabinus, and now was the first for paying the penalty. Meanwhile Haterius Agrippa attacked the consuls of the previous year, as to why, with a mutual accusation undertaken, they were now silent: that sheer fear and a consciousness of guilt were being held as a pact; but that what they had heard was not to be kept back from the Fathers.

Regulus manere tempus ultionis seque coram principe executurum; Trio aemulationem inter collegas et si qua discordes iecissent melius oblitterari respon dit. Vrgente Agrippa Sanquinius Maximus e consularibus oravit senatum ne curas imperatoris conquisitis insuper acerbitatibus augerent: sufficere ipsum statuendis remediis. sic Regulo salus et Trioni dilatio exitii quaesita.

Regulus [said] to let the time of vengeance abide, and that he would execute it in the presence of the princeps;
Trio responded that emulation among colleagues, and whatever discordant things they had cast, would be better obliterated.
With Agrippa pressing, Sanquinius Maximus, of the consulars, entreated the senate not to augment the emperor’s cares by adding, moreover, acerbities hunted out: that he himself sufficed for establishing remedies. Thus safety was procured for Regulus, and for Trio a postponement of destruction was sought.

Haterius invisior fuit quia somno aut libidinosis vigiliis marcidus et ob segnitiam quamvis crudelem principem non metuens inlustribus viris perniciem inter ganeam ac stupra meditabatur.

Haterius was more odious, because, sodden by sleep or libidinous vigils and, on account of sluggishness, not fearing the emperor however cruel, he was meditating perdition for illustrious men amid gluttony and debaucheries.

[6.5] Exim Cotta Messalinus, saevissimae cuiusque sen tentiae auctor eoque inveterata invidia, ubi primum facultas data arguitur pleraque C. Caesarem quasi incestae virilitatis, et cum die natali Augustae inter sacerdotes epularetur, novendialem eam cenam dixisse; querensque de potentia M'. Lepidi ac L. Arruntii, cum quibus ob rem pecuniariam disceptabat, addidisse: 'illos quidem senatus, me autem tuebitur Tiberiolus meus.' quae cuncta a primoribus civitatis revincebatur iisque instantibus ad imperatorem provocavit. nec multo post litterae adferuntur quibus in modum defensionis, repetito inter se atque Cottam amicitiae principio crebrisque eius officiis commemoratis, ne verba prave detorta neu convivalium fabularum simplicitas in crimen duceretur postulavit.

[6.5] Then Cotta Messalinus, a promoter of each most savage sentence and therefore with inveterate ill-will, as soon as opportunity was given alleged many charges against Gaius Caesar as of incestuous virility; and that, when on Augusta’s birthday he was feasting among the priests, he called it a “novendial” dinner; and, complaining of the power of M’. Lepidus and L. Arruntius, with whom he was disputing over a pecuniary matter, he added: ‘those men indeed the senate will protect, but me my little Tiberius will protect.’ All which points were refuted by the foremost men of the state, and with them pressing he appealed to the emperor. Nor long after, letters were brought in which, in the manner of a defense—after the beginning of friendship between himself and Cotta had been recalled and his frequent services commemorated—he requested that words perversely twisted, nor the simplicity of convivial tales, be led into a charge.

[6.6] Insigne visum est earum Caesaris litterarum initium; nam his verbis exorsus est: 'quid scribam vobis, patres conscripti, aut quo modo scribam aut quid omnino non scribam hoc tempore, di me deaeque peius perdant quam perire me cotidie sentio, si scio.' adeo facinora atque flagitia sua ipsi quoque in supplicium verterant. neque frustra praestantissimus sapientiae firmare solitus est, si recludantur tyrannorum mentes, posse aspici laniatus et ictus, quando ut corpora verberibus, ita saevitia, libidine, malis consultis animus dilaceretur. quippe Tiberium non fortuna, non solitudines protegebant quin tormenta pectoris suasque ipse poenas fateretur.

[6.6] The beginning of those letters of Caesar seemed remarkable; for he began with these words: 'What am I to write to you, Conscript Fathers, or in what manner am I to write, or what am I not to write at all at this time? may the gods and goddesses destroy me worse than I feel myself perishing day by day, if I know.' To such a degree had his crimes and disgraces turned into punishment for himself as well. Nor was it in vain that the man most preeminent in wisdom was wont to affirm that, if the minds of tyrants were laid open, lacerations and blows could be seen, since, as bodies by lashings, so the mind is torn by cruelty, lust, and evil counsels. For neither fortune nor solitudes were protecting Tiberius from confessing the torments of his breast and his own penalties.

[6.7] Tum facta patribus potestate statuendi de Caeciliano senatore qui plurima adversum Cottam prompserat, placitum eandem poenam inrogari quam in Aruseium et Sanquinium, accusatores L. Arruntii: quo non aliud honorificentius Cottae evenit, qui nobilis quidem set egens ob luxum, per flagitia infamis, sanctissimis Arruntii artibus dignitate ultionis aequabatur. Q. Servaeus posthac et Minucius Thermus inducti, Servaeus praetura functus et quondam Germanici comes, Minucius equestri loco, modeste habita Seiani amicitia; unde illis maior miseratio. contra Tiberius praecipuos ad scelera increpans admonuit C. Cestium patrem dicere senatui quae sibi scripisset, suscepitque Cestius accusationem.

[6.7] Then, power having been granted to the fathers to determine concerning the senator Caecilianus, who had produced very many points against Cotta, it was resolved that the same penalty be inflicted as upon Aruseius and Sanquinius, the accusers of L. Arruntius: than which nothing more honorific befell Cotta, who, noble indeed but needy on account of luxury, infamous through disgraces, was equated, by Arruntius’s most upright qualities, in the dignity of retribution. Q. Servaeus thereafter and Minucius Thermus were brought in—Servaeus, who had held the praetorship and had once been a companion of Germanicus; Minucius, of the equestrian rank—Sejanus’s friendship having been maintained with moderation; whence for them the greater compassion. Conversely, Tiberius, rebuking those foremost in crimes, admonished C. Cestius the elder to say to the senate what he had written to himself, and Cestius undertook the accusation.

quod maxime exitiabile tulere illa tempora, cum primores senatus infimas etiam delationes exercerent, alii propalam, multi per occultum; neque discerneres alienos a coniunctis, amicos ab ignotis, quid repens aut vetustate obscurum: perinde in foro, in convivio, quaqua de re locuti incusabantur, ut quis praevenire et reum destinare properat, pars ad subsidium sui, plures infecti quasi valetudine et contactu. sed Minu cius et Servaeus damnati indicibus accessere. tractique sunt in casum eundem Iulius Africanus e Santonis Gallica civitate, Seius Quadratus: originem non repperi.

what those times bore as most deadly was this, when the first men of the senate exercised even the basest delations, some openly,
many in secret; nor could you discern outsiders from connections, friends from unknowns, what was sudden or obscured by antiquity:
equally in the forum, at a banquet, for whatever matter they had spoken they were accused, as each hastens to forestall and to destine a defendant,
some for the aid of themselves, more infected as if by sickness and by contact. but Minu cius and
Servaeus, condemned by informers, were added. and dragged into the same downfall were Julius Africanus from the Gallic city of the Santones,
Seius Quadratus: I have not discovered their origin.

neque sum ignarus a plerisque scriptoribus omissa multorum pericula et poenas, dum copia fatiscunt aut quae ipsis nimia et maesta fuerant ne pari taedio lecturos adficerent verentur: nobis pleraque digna cognitu obvenere, quamquam ab aliis incelebrata.

I am not ignorant that by very many writers the perils and penalties of many have been omitted,
while they, growing weary from copiousness, or fearing that the things which to themselves had been excessive and mournful might affect their readers with equal tedium,
are cautious: to us most things worthy of cognizance have occurred, although uncelebrated by others.

[6.8] Nam ea tempestate qua Seiani amicitiam ceteri falso exuerant ausus est eques Romanus M. Terentius, ob id reus, amplecti, ad hunc modum apud senatum ordiendo: 'fortunae quidem meae fortasse minus expediat adgnoscere crimen quam abnuere: sed utcumque casura res est, fatebor et fuisse me Seiano amicum et ut essem expetisse et postquam adeptus eram laetatum. videram collegam patris regendis praetoriis cohortibus, mox urbis et militiae munis simul obeuntem. illius propinqui et adfines honoribus augebantur; ut quisque Seiano intimus ita ad Caesaris amicitiam validus: contra quibus infensus esset, metu ac sordibus conflictabantur.

[6.8] For at that time when the others had falsely shed Sejanus’s friendship, a Roman eques, M. Terentius, on that account a defendant, dared to embrace it, beginning in this fashion before the senate: 'It may perhaps be less expedient for my fortune to acknowledge the charge than to deny it; but however the matter is going to fall, I will confess both that I was a friend to Sejanus, and that I sought to be, and that after I had obtained it I rejoiced. I had seen him a colleague of my father in governing the praetorian cohorts, soon discharging at once the duties of the city and of the soldiery. His kinsmen and connections by marriage were augmented with honors; in proportion as each man was more intimate with Sejanus, so was he powerful for access to Caesar’s friendship; conversely those against whom he was hostile were harassed with fear and degradation.'

nec quemquam exemplo adsumo: cunctos qui novissimi consilii expertes fuimus meo unius discrimine defendam. non enim Seianum Vulsiniensem set Claudiae et Iuliae domus partem, quas adfinitate occu paverat, tuum, Caesar, generum, tui consulatus socium, tua officia in re publica capessentem colebamus. non est nostrum aestimare quem supra ceteros et quibus de causis extollas: tibi summum rerum iudicium di dedere, nobis obsequii gloria relicta est.

nor do I take anyone as a precedent: I will defend, by the peril of me alone, all of us who were unaware of the latest counsel. For it was not Sejanus of Volsinii that we were cultivating, but a part of the House of Claudia and Julia, which he had seized by affinity—your son-in-law, Caesar, the associate of your consulship, the one undertaking your offices in the republic. It is not ours to estimate whom above the rest, and for what causes, you exalt: to you the gods have given the highest judgment of affairs; to us the glory of obedience has been left.

spectamus porro quae coram habentur, cui ex te opes honores, quis plurima iuvandi nocendive potentia, quae Seiano fuisse nemo negaverit. abditos principis sensus et si quid occultius parat exquirere inlicitum, anceps: nec ideo adsequare. ne, patres conscripti, ultimum Seiani diem sed sedecim annos cogi taveritis.

We look, moreover, at what is held openly before us—to whom from you go wealth and honors, who has the greatest power of helping or harming—things which no one has denied were Sejanus’s.
To probe the hidden feelings of the princeps, and if he is preparing anything more occult, is illicit, perilous; nor will you attain it thereby.
Do not, Conscript Fathers, consider Sejanus’s last day, but his sixteen years.

etiam Satrium atque Pomponium venerabamur; libertis quoque ac ianitoribus eius notescere pro magnifico accipiebatur. quid ergo? indistincta haec defensio et promisca dabitur?

even Satrius
and Pomponius we venerated; to become known to his freedmen and doorkeepers too was accepted as something magnificent. what then? will this defense be given indistinct and promiscuous?

immo iustis terminis dividatur. insidiae in rem publicam, consilia caedis adversum imperatorem puniantur: de amicitia et officiis idem finis et te, Caesar, et nos absolverit.'

Nay rather, let it be divided by just boundaries. Let plots against the Republic, counsels of slaughter against the emperor, be punished: as for friendship and offices, the same end shall absolve both you, Caesar, and us.'

[6.9] Constantia orationis et quia repertus erat qui efferret quae omnes animo agitabant eo usque potuere ut accusatores eius, additis quae ante deliquerant, exilio aut morte multarentur. Secutae dehinc Tiberii litterae in Sex. Vistilium praetorium, quem Druso fratri percarum in cohortem suam transtulerat.

[6.9] The constancy of the oration, and because there was found one to bring forth what all were agitating in their mind, had such force that his accusers, with what they had previously transgressed added, were punished with exile or death. Thereafter Tiberius’s letters followed against Sextus Vistilius, of praetorian rank, whom, as being most dear to his brother Drusus, he had transferred into his own cohort.

causa offensionis Vistilio fuit, seu composuerat quaedam in Gaium Caesarem ut impudicum, sive ficto habita fides. atque ob id convictu principis prohibitus cum senili manu ferrum temptavisset, obligat venas; precatus que per codicillos, immiti rescripto venas resolvit. acervatim ex eo Annius Pollio, Appius Silanus Scauro Mamerco simul ac Sabino Calvisio maiestatis postulantur, et Vinicianus Pollioni patri adiciebatur, clari genus et quidam summis honoribus.

the cause of offense for Vistilius was, either that he had composed certain things against Gaius Caesar as an impudent man, or that faith was given to a fiction. and on that account, forbidden the companionship of the princeps, when with an old man’s hand he had tried the steel, he binds up his veins; and having petitioned by codicils, when a harsh rescript came, he loosens his veins. wholesale from that point Annius Pollio, Appius Silanus, Mamercus Scaurus together with Calvisius Sabinus are prosecuted for maiestas, and Vinicianus was added to his father Pollio, men of illustrious lineage and some of the highest honors.

contremuerantque patres (nam quotus quisque adfinitatis aut amicitiae tot inlustrium virorum expers erat?), ni Celsus urbanae cohortis tribunus, tum inter indices, Appium et Calvisium discrimini exemisset. Caesar Pollionis ac Viniciani Scaurique causam ut ipse cum senatu nosceret distulit, datis quibusdam in Scaurum tristibus notis.

and the senators had quaked (for how few were devoid of kinship or friendship with so many illustrious men?), if Celsus, tribune of the urban cohort, then among the informers, had not removed Appius and Calvisius from peril. Caesar deferred the case of Pollio and Vinicianus and Scaurus, that he himself, together with the senate, might examine it, certain gloomy notes having been given against Scaurus.

[6.10] Ne feminae quidem exsortes periculi. quia occu pandae rei publicae argui non poterant, ob lacrimas incusabantur; necataque est anus Vitia, Fufii Gemini mater, quod filii necem flevisset. haec apud senatum: nec secus apud principem Vescularius Flaccus ac Iulius Marinus ad mortem aguntur, e vetustissimis familiarium, Rhodum secuti et apud Capreas individui, Vescularius insidiarum in Libonem internuntius; Marino participe Seianus Curtium Atticum oppresserat.

[6.10] Not even women were without a share of danger. because they could not be charged with the occupying of the republic, they were accused on account of tears; and the old woman Vitia, mother of Fufius Geminus, was slain because she had wept for her son’s death. these things before the senate: nor otherwise before the princeps Vescularius Flaccus and Julius Marinus are driven to death, from the most time-honored of his familiars, who had followed him to Rhodes and were inseparable at Capreae, Vescularius a go-between of the plots against Libo; with Marinus as participant Sejanus had crushed Curtius Atticus.

quo laetius acceptum sua exempla in consultores recidisse. Per idem tempus L. Piso pontifex, rarum in tanta claritudine, fato obiit, nullius servilis sententiae sponte auctor et quoties necessitas ingrueret sapienter moderans. patrem ei censorium fuisse memoravi; aetas ad octogesimum annum processit; decus triumphale in Thraecia meruerat.

wherefore the more gladly it was received that his own precedents had fallen back upon the advisers. At the same time L. Piso, pontiff, a rarity in so great renown, died a natural death, of no servile opinion the proposer of his own accord, and whenever necessity bore down, wisely moderating. I have recalled that his father was censorial; his age advanced to the eightieth year; he had earned triumphal honor in Thrace.

sed praecipua ex eo gloria quod praefectus urbi recens continuam potestatem et insolentia parendi graviorem mire temperavit.

but his chief glory was from this: that, as a newly appointed prefect of the city, he remarkably tempered a continuous power made heavier by the insolence of being obeyed.

[6.11] Namque antea profectis domo regibus ac mox magistratibus, ne urbs sine imperio foret in tempus deligebatur qui ius redderet ac subitis mederetur; feruntque ab Romulo Dentrem Romulium, post ab Tullo Hostilio Numam Marcium et ab Tarquinio Superbo Spurium Lucretium impositos. dein consules mandabant; duratque simulacrum quoties ob ferias Latinas praeficitur qui consulare munus usurpet. ceterum Augustus bellis civilibus Cilnium Maecenatem equestris ordinis cunctis apud Romam atque Italiam praeposuit: mox rerum potitus ob magnitudinem populi ac tarda legum auxilia sumpsit e consularibus qui coerceret servitia et quod civium audacia turbidum, nisi vim metuat.

[6.11] For previously, when the kings had set out from home and, soon after, the magistrates, lest the city be without imperium, there was chosen for the time one who would render justice and remedy sudden emergencies; and they report that by Romulus Denter Romulius, afterward by Tullus Hostilius Numa Marcius, and by Tarquinius Superbus Spurius Lucretius were imposed. then the consuls gave the mandate; and the simulacrum endures, whenever on account of the Latin holidays someone is put in charge to usurp the consular munus. but Augustus, in the civil wars, set over all at Rome and
Italy Cilnius Maecenas of the equestrian order: soon, having got possession of affairs, on account of the magnitude of the populace and the slow helps of the laws, he took from among the consulars someone to coerce the servitia and whatever, in the boldness of citizens, is turbulent unless it fear force.

primusque Messala Corvinus eam potestatem et paucos intra dies finem accepit quasi nescius exercendi; tum Taurus Statilius, quamquam provecta aetate, egregie toleravit; dein Piso viginti per annos pariter probatus publico funere ex decreto senatus celebratus est.

and first Messala Corvinus received that authority and within a few days its end, as though unskilled in exercising it; then Statilius Taurus, although advanced in age, endured it excellently; thereafter Piso, likewise approved for twenty years, was celebrated with a public funeral by decree of the senate.

[6.12] Relatum inde ad patres a Quintiliano tribuno plebei de libro Sibullae, quem Caninius Gallus quindecimvirum recipi inter ceteros eiusdem vatis et ea de re senatus consultum postulaverat. quo per discessionem facto misit litteras Caesar, modice tribunum increpans ignarum antiqui moris ob iuventam. Gallo exprobrabat quod scientiae caerimoniarumque vetus incerto auctore ante sententiam collegii, non, ut adsolet, lecto per magistros aestimatoque carmine, apud infrequentem senatum egisset.

[6.12] Then it was referred to the Fathers by Quintilianus, tribune of the plebs, about a book of the Sibyl, which Caninius Gallus, one of the quindecimviri, had requested to be received among the others of the same prophetess, and he had demanded a senatorial decree on that matter. upon a division being taken on this, Caesar sent letters, mildly rebuking the tribune as ignorant of ancient custom on account of his youth. He reproached Gallus for having dealt, with the author uncertain, with a matter of ancient lore and ceremonies before the opinion of the college, not, as is customary, after the verses had been read through and assessed by the masters, and for having brought it before a sparsely attended senate.

simul commonefecit, quia multa vana sub nomine celebri vulgabantur. sanxisse Augustum quem intra diem ad praetorem urbanum deferrentur neque habere privatim liceret. quod a maioribus quoque decretum erat post exustum sociali bello Capitolium, quaesitis Samo, Ilio, Erythris, per Africam etiam ac Siciliam et Italicas colonias carminibus Sibullae, una seu plures fuer datoque sacerdotibus negotio quantum humana ope potuissent vera discernere.

at the same time he reminded, because many vain things were being circulated under a celebrated name. that Augustus had sanctioned that whatever writings should, within a fixed day, be delivered to the urban praetor, and that it was not permitted to hold them privately. which had also been decreed by the ancestors after the Capitol, burned in the Social War, when search had been made at Samos, Ilium, Erythrae, and even through Africa and Sicily and the Italian colonies for the Sibyl’s songs, whether there was one or several; and the task had been given to the priests to discern, by human aid so far as they could, the true ones.

igitur tunc quoque notioni quindecimvirum is liber subicitur.

therefore then also that book is subjected to the cognizance of the Fifteen-men.

[6.13] Isdem consulibus gravitate annonae iuxta seditionem ventum multaque et pluris per dies in theatro licentius efflagitata quam solitum adversum imperatorem. quis commotus incusavit magistratus patresque quod non publica auctoritate populum coercuissent addiditque quibus ex provinciis et quanto maiorem quam Augustus rei frumentariae copiam advectaret. ita castigandae plebi compositum senatus consultum prisca severitate neque segnius consules edixere.

[6.13] Under the same consuls, because of the dearness of the grain-supply it came to the verge of sedition, and over more days many things were in the theater more licentiously demanded than was customary against the emperor. he, stirred by this, accused the magistrates and the senators because they had not by public authority restrained the people, and he added from which provinces, and how much greater than Augustus, he was conveying in a supply for the grain-service. thus a senatorial decree was composed for chastising the plebs with old-time severity, and the consuls promulgated it no less promptly.

silentium ipsius non civile, ut crediderat, sed in superbiam accipiebatur.

his silence was taken not as civil, as he had believed, but as arrogance.

[6.14] Fine anni Geminius, Celsus, Pompeius, equites Romani, cecidere coniurationis crimine; ex quis Geminius prodigentia opum ac mollitia vitae amicus Seiano, nihil ad serium. et Iulius Celsus tribunus in vinclis laxatam catenam et circumdatam in diversum tendens suam ipse cervicem perfregit. at Rubrio Fabato, tamquam desperatis rebus Romanis Parthorum ad misericordiam fugeret, custodes additi.

[6.14] At the end of the year Geminius, Celsus, Pompeius, Roman equestrians, fell on the charge of conspiracy; of whom Geminius, for prodigality of wealth and the softness of life, a friend to Sejanus, was nothing for serious matters. And Julius Celsus, a tribune, while in bonds, by taking a slackened chain and, having put it around his neck, straining the other way, broke his own neck. But as for Rubrius Fabatus, on the ground that, as though the Roman fortunes were desperate, he was fleeing to the mercy of the Parthians, guards were set over him.

sane is repertus apud fretum Siciliae retractusque per centurionem nullas probabilis causas longinquae peregrinationis adferebat: mansit tamen incolumis oblivione magis quam clementia.

indeed he was found at the Strait of Sicily and brought back by a centurion; he adduced no plausible causes for his long peregrination: yet he remained unharmed more by oblivion than by clemency.

[6.15] Ser. Galba L. Sulla consulibus diu quaesito quos neptibus suis maritos destinaret Caesar, postquam instabat virginum aetas, L. Cassium, M. Vinicium legit. Vinicio oppidanum genus: Calibus ortus, patre atque avo consularibus, cetera equestri familia erat, mitis ingenio et comptae facundiae.

[6.15] In the consulship of Ser. Galba and L. Sulla, after long searching whom he should designate as husbands for his granddaughters, when the maidens’ age was now pressing, Caesar chose L. Cassius and M. Vinicius.
For Vinicius, the stock was townsman: born at Cales, with father and grandfather consular, the rest of the family was equestrian, gentle in disposition and of polished eloquence.

Cassius plebeii Romae generis, verum antiqui honoratique, et severa patris disciplina eductus facilitate saepius quam industria commendabatur. huic Drusillam, Vinicio Iuliam Germanico genitas coniungit superque ea re senatui scribit levi cum honore iuvenum. dein redditis absentiae causis admodum vagis flexit ad graviora et offensiones ob rem publicam coeptas, utque Macro praefectus tribunorumque et centurionum pauci secum introirent quoties curiam ingrederetur petivit.

Cassius, of plebeian Roman stock, but ancient and honorate, and reared by the severe discipline of his father, was commended more often for affability than for industry. To this man he joins Drusilla, to Vinicius Julia—both begotten of Germanicus—and on this matter he writes to the senate with a slight honor for the youths. Then, after giving reasons for his absence that were exceedingly vague, he turned to graver matters and to offensiones undertaken on behalf of the commonwealth, and he requested that Macro the prefect and a few of the tribunes and centurions should go in with him whenever he entered the Curia.

factoque large et sine praescriptione generis aut numeri senatus consulto ne tecta quidem urbis, adeo publicum consilium numquam adiit, deviis plerumque itineribus ambiens patriam et declinans.

and with a senatorial decree having been made, liberal and without prescription of genus or
number, he did not even approach the city’s roofs, to such a degree did he never go to the public council, for the most part by devious
routes circling and shunning his fatherland.

[6.16] Interea magna vis accusatorum in eos inrupit qui pecunias faenore auctitabant adversum legem dictatoris Caesaris qua de modo credendi possidendique intra Italiam caventur, omissam olim, quia privato usui bonum publicum postponitur. sane vetus urbi faenebre malum et seditionum discordiarumque creberrima causa eoque cohibebatur antiquis quoque et minus corruptis moribus. nam primo duodecim tabulis sanctum ne quis unciario faenore amplius exerceret, cum antea ex libidine locupletium agitaretur; dein rogatione tribunicia ad semuncias redactum, postremo vetita versura.

[6.16] Meanwhile a great force of accusers burst in upon those who were augmenting monies by usury, contrary to the law of the dictator Caesar, by which provisions are taken concerning the measure of lending and of possessing within Italy, long since neglected, because the public good is postponed to private utility. Truly a usurious evil old to the city and a most frequent cause of seditions and discords, and for that reason it was restrained even under ancient and less corrupt morals. For at first in the Twelve Tables it was ordained that no one should practice usury beyond the unciary rate, when before it had been driven by the caprice of the wealthy; then by a tribunitian rogation it was reduced to semunciae, and finally loan-rolling (versura) was forbidden.

multisque plebi scitis obviam itum fraudibus quae toties repressae miras per artes rursum oriebantur. sed tum Gracchus praetor, cui ea quaestio evenerat, multitudine periclitantium subactus rettulit ad senatum, trepidique patres (neque enim quisquam tali culpa vacuus) veniam a principe petivere; et concedente annus in posterum sexque menses dati quis secundum iussa legis rationes familiaris quisque componerent.

and by many plebiscites measures were taken to meet the frauds which, so often repressed, were again arising through marvelous arts. but then Gracchus, praetor, to whom that inquiry had fallen, compelled by the multitude of those on trial, referred it to the senate, and the fathers, in trepidation (for indeed no one was free from such a fault), sought pardon from the princeps; and, he conceding it, a year for the future and six months were granted, in which each man might settle his household accounts according to the law’s commands.

[6.17] Hinc inopia rei nummariae, commoto simul omnium aere alieno, et quia tot damnatis bonisque eorum divenditis signatum argentum fisco vel aerario attinebatur. ad hoc senatus praescripserat, duas quisque faenoris partis in agris per Italiam conlocaret. sed creditores in solidum appellabant nec decorum appellatis minuere fidem.

[6.17] Hence a shortage of ready money, with everyone’s debt at the same time set in motion, and because, with so many condemned and their goods sold off, the stamped silver was held by the fisc or the aerarium. In addition, the senate had prescribed that each person should place two parts of his loan-capital (faenus) in lands throughout Italy. But the creditors were calling in payment in full, nor was it decorous for those appealed to to diminish credit.

ita primo concursatio et preces, dein strepere praetoris tribunal, eaque quae remedio quaesita, venditio et emptio, in contrarium mutari quia faeneratores omnem pecuniam mercandis agris condiderant. copiam vendendi secuta vilitate, quanto quis obaeratior, aegrius distrahebant, multique fortunis provolvebantur; eversio rei familiaris dignitatem ac famam praeceps dabat, donec tulit opem Caesar disposito per mensas milies sestertio factaque mutuandi copia sine usuris per triennium, si debitor populo in duplum praediis cavisset. sic refecta fides et paulatim privati quoque creditores reperti.

thus at first a running together and prayers, then the praetor’s tribunal was loud, and those things which had been sought as a remedy, sale and purchase, were being turned to the contrary because the money‑lenders had stashed all their cash in buying lands.
an abundance of things for sale was followed by cheapness; the more a man was debt‑burdened, the harder they sold him out, and many were rolled down from their fortunes; the overthrow of household property was hurling rank and reputation headlong, until Caesar brought aid, with 1,000,000,000 sesterces set out through the money‑changers’ tables and with a supply for borrowing made available without usury for three years, provided the debtor gave the people security in estates to double the amount.
thus credit was restored, and little by little private creditors too were found.

neque emptio agrorum exercita ad formam senatus consulti, acribus, ut ferme talia, initiis, incurioso fine.

nor was the purchase of lands carried on according to the form of the senatorial decree, with acute beginnings—as, for the most part, such things—and an incurious end.

[6.18] Dein redeunt priores metus postulato maiestatis Considio Proculo; qui nullo pavore diem natalem celebrans raptus in curiam pariterque damnatus interfectusque, et sorori eius Sanciae aqua atque igni interdictum accusante Q. Pomponio. is moribus inquies haec et huiusce modi a se factitari praetendebat ut parta apud principem gratia periculis Pomponii Secundi fratris mederetur. etiam in Pompeiam Macrinam exilium statuitur cuius maritum Argolicum socerum Laconem e primoribus Achaeorum Caesar adflixerat.

[6.18] Then the earlier fears return, with a charge of maiestas being demanded against Considius Proculus; who, celebrating his birthday with no fear, was snatched into the curia and alike condemned and killed, and upon his sister Sancia fire and water were interdicted, with Q. Pomponius as accuser. He, restless in character, was alleging that these things and others of this very sort were being done by himself, so that, favor having been obtained with the princeps, he might remedy the dangers of his brother Pomponius Secundus. Exile is also decreed against Pompeia Macrina, whose husband Argolicus and father-in-law Laco, from the foremost of the Achaeans, the Caesar had crushed.

pater quoque inlustris eques Romanus ac frater praetorius, cum damnatio instaret, se ipsi interfecere. datum erat crimini quod Theophanen Mytilenaeum proavum eorum Cn. Magnus inter intimos habuisset, quodque defuncto Theophani caelestis honores Graeca adulatio tribuerat.

the father too, an illustrious Roman equestrian, and the brother, of praetorian rank, when condemnation was impending, slew themselves. It had been imputed as a crime that Theophanes the Mytilenaean, their great‑grandfather, Gnaeus Magnus had counted among his intimates, and that to the deceased Theophanes Greek adulation had bestowed celestial honors.

[6.19] Post quos Sex. Marius Hispaniarum ditissimus defertur incestasse filiam et saxo Tarpeio deicitur. ac ne dubium haberetur magnitudinem pecuniae malo vertisse, aurariasque eius, quamquam publicarentur, sibimet Tiberius seposuit.

[6.19] After these, Sextus Marius, the richest man of the Spains, is denounced for having defiled his daughter and is cast down from the Tarpeian Rock. And lest it be doubted that the magnitude of his wealth had turned to his harm, his copper- and gold-mines, although they were being confiscated to the state, Tiberius set apart for himself.

inritatusque suppliciis cunctos qui carcere attinebantur accusati societatis cum Seiano necari iubet. iacuit immensa strages, omnis sexus, omnis aetas, inlustres ignobiles, dispersi aut aggerati. neque propinquis aut amicis adsistere, inlacrimare, ne visere quidem diutius dabatur, sed circumiecti custodes et in maerorem cuiusque intenti corpora putrefacta adsectabantur, dum in Tiberim traherentur ubi fluitantia aut ripis adpulsa non cremare quisquam, non contingere.

and, enraged by the punishments, he orders all who were being held in prison, accused of association with Sejanus, to be killed. an immense carnage lay there, every sex, every age, illustrious and ignoble, scattered or heaped up. nor was it granted to relatives or friends to stand by, to weep, not even to visit longer; but the guards placed around, intent upon each one’s mourning, kept close to the putrefying bodies, while they were dragged to the Tiber, where, as they floated or were driven against the banks, no one was to cremate them, no one to touch them.

interciderat sortis humanae commercium vi metus, quantumque saevitia glisceret, miseratio arcebatur.

the commerce of the human lot had been cut off by the force of fear, and the more that savagery swelled, pity was warded off.

[6.20] Sub idem tempus G. Caesar, discedenti Capreas avo comes, Claudiam, M. Silani filiam, coniugio accepit, immanem animum subdola modestia tegens, non damnatione matris, non exitio fratrum rupta voce; qualem diem Tiberius induisset, pari habitu, haud multum distantibus verbis. unde mox scitum Passieni oratoris dictum percrebuit neque meliorem umquam servum neque deteriorem dominum fuisse. Non omiserim praesagium Tiberii de Servio Galba tum consule; quem accitum et diversis sermonibus pertemptatum postremo Graecis verbis in hanc sententiam adlocutus 'et tu, Galba, quandoque degustabis imperium,' seram ac brevem potentiam significans, scientia Chaldaeorum artis, cuius apiscendae otium apud Rhodum, magistrum Thrasullum habuit, peritiam eius hoc modo expertus.

[6.20] About the same time Gaius Caesar, companion to his grandfather as he departed for Capri, took Claudia, daughter of Marcus Silanus, in marriage, covering a monstrous spirit with insidious modesty, his voice not broken either by the condemnation of his mother or by the destruction of his brothers; whatever mood Tiberius put on for the day, he matched it with equal bearing and with words not much different. Whence there soon spread the well-known dictum of the orator Passienus, that never had there been a better slave nor a worse master. I will not omit Tiberius’s presage concerning Servius Galba, then consul; having summoned him and tested him with varied conversations, at last he addressed him in Greek words to this effect: ‘you too, Galba, will someday taste of imperium,’ indicating a power late and brief, by knowledge of the Chaldean art, to the acquisition of which he had leisure at Rhodes, with Thrasyllus as his master—having tested his expertise in this way.

[6.21] Quotiens super tali negotio consultaret, edita domus parte ac liberti unius conscientia utebatur. is litterarum ignarus, corpore valido, per avia ac derupta (nam saxis domus imminet) praeibat eum cuius artem experiri Tiberius statuisset et regredientem, si vanitatis aut fraudum suspicio incesserat, in subiectum mare praecipitabat ne index arcani existeret. igitur Thrasullus isdem rupibus inductus postquam percontantem commoverat, imperium ipsi et futura sollerter patefaciens, interrogatur an suam quoque genitalem horam comperisset, quem tum annum, qualem diem haberet.

[6.21] Whenever he consulted about such a business, he used an elevated part of the house and the awareness of a single freedman. he, unlettered, with a sturdy body, through pathless and precipitous places (for the house overhangs on rocks) would go before the man whose art Tiberius had decided to test, and, as he returned, if a suspicion of vanity or of frauds had arisen, he would cast him headlong into the sea lying beneath, lest a betrayer of the secret should exist. therefore Thrasullus, led upon the same crags, after he had impressed the questioner, skillfully laying open to him the imperium and future things, is asked whether he had also discovered his own natal hour, what year then, what sort of day he was having.

ille positus siderum ac spatia dimensus haerere primo, dein pavescere, et quantum introspiceret magis ac magis trepidus admirationis et metus, postremo exclamat ambiguum sibi ac prope ultimum discrimen instare. tum complexus eum Tiberius praescium periculorum et incolumem fore gratatur, quaeque dixerat oracli vice accipiens inter intimos amicorum tenet.

he, having taken his position and measured the stars and their spaces
at first hesitates, then grows afraid; and the more he looked within, more and more trembling with admiration and
fear; at last he cries out that a doubtful and almost ultimate crisis is at hand. then, embracing him,
Tiberius congratulates him as prescient of dangers and that he will be unharmed, and, taking what he had said in the stead of an oracle, among
the most intimate of friends he holds him.

[6.22] Sed mihi haec ac talia audienti in incerto iudicium est fatone res mortalium et necessitate immutabili an forte volvantur. quippe sapientissimos veterum quique sectam eorum aemulatur diversos reperies, ac multis insitam opinionem non initia nostri, non finem, non denique homines dis curae; ideo creberrime tristia in bonos, laeta apud deteriores esse. contra alii fatum quidem congruere rebus putant, sed non e vagis stellis, verum apud principia et nexus naturalium causarum; ac tamen electionem vitae nobis relinquunt, quam ubi elegeris, certum imminentium ordinem.

[6.22] But for me, as I hear these and such things, the judgment is uncertain whether the affairs of mortals are turned by fate and an immutable necessity, or by chance are they rolled. Indeed you will find the wisest of the ancients and those who emulate their sect at variance, and in many there is an ingrained opinion that neither our beginnings, nor our end, nor, in fine, are human beings a care to the gods; therefore most frequently sad things are upon the good, joyous things among the worse. On the contrary, others think that fate does indeed befit things, but not from the wandering stars, rather in the principles and the nexus of natural causes; and yet they leave to us the choice of life, which, when you have chosen it, brings a fixed order of things imminent.

neque mala vel bona quae vulgus putet: multos qui conflictari adversis videantur beatos, at plerosque quamquam magnas per opes miserrimos, si illi gravem fortunam constanter tolerent, hi prospera inconsulte utantur. ceterum plurimis mortalium non eximitur quin primo cuiusque ortu ventura destinentur, sed quaedam secus quam dicta sint cadere fallaciis ignara dicentium: ita corrumpi fidem artis cuius clara documenta et antiqua aetas et nostra tulerit. quippe a filio eiusdem Thrasulli praedictum Neronis imperium in tempore memorabitur, ne nunc incepto longius abierim.

nor are the evils or goods such as the vulgar suppose:
many who seem to be buffeted by adverse things are blessed, but very many, although amid great opulence, most miserable, if
those should steadfastly endure a heavy fortune, while these use prosperities injudiciously. Moreover, for very many mortals it is not
taken away but that at each one’s first birth the things to come are destined; yet certain things fall out otherwise than as they were said, through the fallacies
of speakers unaware: thus the credit of the art is corrupted, of which both the ancient age and our own have borne clear proofs. Indeed, the imperium of Nero, foretold by
the son of that same Thrasyllus, will be remembered in due time, lest I now go farther from my undertaking.

[6.23] Isdem consulibus Asinii Galli mors vulgatur, quem egestate cibi peremptum haud dubium, sponte vel necessitate incertum habebatur. consultusque Caesar an sepeliri sineret, non erubuit permittere ultroque incusare casus qui reum abstulissent antequam coram convinceretur: scilicet medio triennio defuerat tempus subeundi iudicium consulari seni, tot consularium parenti. Drusus deinde extinguitur, cum se miserandis alimentis, mandendo e cubili tomento, nonum ad diem detinuisset.

[6.23] Under the same consuls the death of Asinius Gallus is made public; that he was done to death by want of food was not in doubt, whether by choice or by necessity was held uncertain. And Caesar, consulted whether he would allow him to be buried, did not blush to permit it and even to blame the chances which had removed the defendant before he was convicted in person: clearly, in the midst of a three-year period, there had been lacking time for an aged consular, the father of so many consulars, to undergo judgment. Drusus then is extinguished, when with pitiable sustenance, by chewing the stuffing from his couch, he had kept himself alive to the ninth day.

tradidere quidam praescriptum fuisse Macroni, si arma ab Seiano temptarentur, extractum custodiae iuvenem (nam in Palatio attinebatur) ducem populo imponere. mox, quia rumor incedebat fore ut nuru ac nepoti conciliaretur Caesar, saevitiam quam paenitentiam maluit.

Some have transmitted
that it had been prescribed to Macro, if arms should be attempted by Sejanus, to bring out of custody the youth (for he was kept
in the Palace) and impose him as leader upon the people. Soon, because a rumor was going about that Caesar would be reconciled to his daughter-in-law and to his grandson,
he preferred savagery rather than penitence.

[6.24] Quin et invectus in defunctum probra corporis, exitiabilem in suos, infensum rei publicae animum obiecit recitarique factorum dictorumque eius descripta per dies iussit, quo non aliud atrocius visum: adstitisse tot per annos, qui vultum, gemitus, occultum etiam murmur exciperent, et potuisse avum audire, legeret, in publicum promere vix fides, nisi quod Attii centurionis et Didymi liberti epistulae servorum nomina praeferebant, ut quis egredientem cubiculo Drusum pulsaverat, exterruerat. etiam sua verba centurio saevitiae plena, tamquam egregium, vocesque deficientis adiecerat, quis primo [alienationem mentis simulans] quasi per dementiam funesta Tiberio, mox, ubi exspes vitae fuit, meditatas compositasque diras imprecabatur, ut, quem ad modum nurum filiumque fratris et nepotes domumque omnem caedibus complevisset, ita poenas nomini generique maiorum et posteris exolveret. obturbabant quidem patres specie detestandi: sed penetrabat pavor et admiratio, callidum olim et tegendis sceleribus obscurum huc confidentiae venisse ut tamquam dimotis parietibus ostenderet nepotem sub verbere centurionis, inter servorum ictus extrema vitae alimenta frustra orantem.

[6.24] Nay, he even launched against the dead man reproaches of the body, charged his spirit as deadly to his own and hostile to the commonwealth, and ordered the descriptions of his deeds and words to be read out for days, than which nothing seemed more atrocious: that for so many years there had stood by those who caught his face, his groans, even his secret whisper, and that a grandfather could have heard, could read, could bring it forth into public—scarcely credible, save that the letters of the centurion Attius and of the freedman Didymus bore the names of slaves, to show who had struck Drusus as he came out of his bedroom, who had terrified him. The centurion had even added his own words, full of savagery, as though it were something excellent, and the utterances of the failing man, in which at first [feigning alienation of mind] as if in madness he spoke death-doom for Tiberius, then, when he was without hope of life, he imprecated premeditated and composed curses, that, in the same manner as he had filled with slaughters his daughter-in-law, his brother’s son and the grandsons, and the whole house, so he might pay penalties to the name and lineage of his ancestors and to his posterity. The senators indeed were creating an uproar under the guise of detestation; but fear and admiration pierced through, that one once crafty and obscure in covering crimes had come to such a pitch of confidence as to show, as if the walls had been removed, his grandson beneath the lash of a centurion, amid the blows of slaves begging in vain for the last aliments of life.

[6.25] Nondum is dolor exoleverat, cum de Agrippina auditum, quam interfecto Seiano spe sustentatam provixisse reor, et postquam nihil de saevitia remittebatur, voluntate extinctam, nisi si negatis alimentis adsimulatus est finis qui videretur sponte sumptus. enimvero Tiberius foedissimis criminationibus exarsit, impudicitiam arguens et Asinium Gallum adulterum, eiusque morte ad taedium vitae compulsam. sed Agrippina aequi impatiens, dominandi avida, virilibus curis feminarum vitia exuerat.

[6.25] Not yet had that sorrow worn out, when there was heard about Agrippina—whom, after Sejanus was slain, I reckon to have prolonged her life, sustained by hope—and that, after nothing of the savagery was remitted, she was extinguished by her own will, unless the end which would seem to have been taken of her own accord was simulated by aliments being denied. Indeed Tiberius blazed forth with the most foul criminations, accusing her of impudicity and Asinius Gallus as adulterer, and that by his death she was compelled to a weariness of life. But Agrippina, impatient of the equitable, avid for dominion, by virile cares had stripped off the vices of women.

eodem die defunctam, quo biennio ante Seianus poenas luisset, memoriaeque id prodendum addidit Caesar iactavitque quod non laqueo strangulata neque in Gemonias proiecta foret. actae ob id grates decretumque ut quintum decimum kal. Novembris, utriusque necis die, per omnis annos donum Iovi sacraretur.

that she had died on the same day on which two years earlier Sejanus had paid the penalty, and Caesar added that this should be handed down to memory and boasted that she had not been strangled with a noose nor cast upon the Gemonian steps. Thanks were offered on that account, and it was decreed that on the fifteenth day before the Kalends of November (October 18), the day of the death of both, through all years a gift should be consecrated to Jupiter.

[6.26] Haud multo post Cocceius Nerva, continuus principi, omnis divini humanique iuris sciens, integro statu, corpore inlaeso, moriendi consilium cepit. quod ut Tiberio cognitum, adsidere, causas requirere, addere preces, fateri postremo grave conscientiae, grave famae suae, si proximus amicorum nullis moriendi rationibus vitam fugeret. aversatus sermonem Nerva abstinentiam cibi coniunxit.

[6.26] Not long after, Cocceius Nerva, constantly attendant upon the emperor, skilled in all divine and human law, with his standing intact and his body unhurt, formed a plan of dying. When this became known to Tiberius, he sat beside him, asked the causes, added entreaties, and at last acknowledged it would be heavy for his conscience and heavy for his reputation, if the closest of his friends should flee life without any grounds for dying. Spurning the conversation, Nerva combined it with an abstinence from food.

ferebant gnari cogitationum eius, quanto propius mala rei publicae viseret, ira et metu, dum integer, dum intemptatus, honestum finem voluisse. Ceterum Agrippinae pernicies, quod vix credibile, Plancinam traxit. nupta olim Cn. Pisoni et palam laeta morte Germanici, cum Piso caderet, precibus Augustae nec minus inimicitiis Agrippinae defensa erat.

they reported—those cognizant of his cogitations—that the closer he beheld the evils of the republic, in anger and fear, while intact, while unattempted, he had wished for an honorable end.
But Agrippina’s ruin, which is scarcely credible, dragged Plancina along. once married to Cn. Piso and openly glad at the death of Germanicus, when Piso fell, she was defended by the intercessions of the Augusta and no less by the enmities of Agrippina.

ut odium et gratia desiere, ius valuit; petitaque criminibus haud ignotis sua manu sera magis quam immerita supplicia persolvit.

when hatred and favor ceased, law prevailed; and, prosecuted on charges by no means unknown, she paid the penalties with her own hand—rather late than undeserved.

[6.27] Tot luctibus funesta civitate pars maeroris fuit quod Iulia Drusi filia, quondam Neronis uxor, denupsit in domum Rubellii Blandi, cuius avum Tiburtem equitem Romanum plerique meminerant. extremo anni mors Aelii Lamiae funere censorio celebrata, qui administrandae Syriae imagine tandem exolutus urbi praefuerat. genus illi decorum, vivida senectus; et non permissa provincia dignationem addiderat.

[6.27] In a state made funereal by so many griefs, a portion of the mourning was that Julia, daughter of Drusus, once the wife of Nero, re-married into the house of Rubellius Blandus, whose grandfather, a Tiburtine Roman equestrian, many remembered. At the end of the year the death of Aelius Lamia was celebrated with a censorial funeral: released at last from the mere image of administering Syria, he had presided over the city. His lineage was decorous, his old age lively; and the province not permitted had added to his distinction.

exim Flacco Pomponio Syriae pro praetore defuncto recitantur Caesaris litterae, quis incusabat egregium quemque et regendis exercitibus idoneum abnuere id munus seque ea necessitudine ad preces cogi per quas consularium aliqui capessere provincias adigerentur, oblitus Arruntium ne in Hispaniam pergeret decimum iam annum attineri. obiit eodem anno et M'. Lepidus de cuius moderatione atque sapientia in prioribus libris satis conlocavi. neque nobilitas diutius demonstranda est: quippe Aemilium genus fecundum bonorum civium, et qui eadem familia corruptis moribus, inlustri tamen fortuna egere.

then with Flaccus Pomponius, propraetor of Syria, deceased, Caesar’s letters were recited, in which he accused that each excellent man and suitable for the governing of armies was refusing that duty, and that he himself by that necessity was driven to supplications by which some of the consulars would be compelled to take up provinces, forgetful that Arruntius, that he not proceed into Spain, was being held back now for the tenth year. In the same year there also died M'. Lepidus, about whose moderation and wisdom I have set forth enough in earlier books. Nor is his nobility to be demonstrated any longer: for the Aemilian stock was fertile of good citizens, and there were those too who, though of that same family with morals corrupted, nevertheless lived with illustrious fortune.

[6.28] Paulo Fabio L. Vitellio consulibus post longum saeculorum ambitum avis phoenix in Aegyptum venit praebuitque materiem doctissimis indigenarum et Graecorum multa super eo miraculo disserendi. de quibus congruunt et plura ambigua, sed cognitu non absurda promere libet. sacrum Soli id animal et ore ac distinctu pinnarum a ceteris avibus diversum consentiunt qui formam eius effinxere: de numero annorum varia traduntur.

[6.28] Under the consulship of Paullus Fabius and L. Vitellius, after a long circuit of ages, the bird Phoenix in Egypt came and furnished material for the most learned of the natives and of the Greeks to speak much about that miracle to discourse. Of these matters some are agreed, and more are ambiguous, yet I am pleased to set forth things not absurd to know. Those who have portrayed its form agree that that creature is sacred to the Sun and, in its visage and in the marking of its feathers, is different from the other birds: about the number of years various accounts are handed down.

maxime vulgatum quingentorum spatium: sunt qui adseverent mille quadringentos sexaginta unum interici, prioresque alites Sesoside primum, post Amaside dominantibus, dein Ptolemaeo, qui ex Macedonibus tertius regnavit, in civitatem cui Heliopolis nomen advolavisse, multo ceterarum volucrum comitatu novam faciem mirantium. sed antiquitas quidem obscura: inter Ptolemaeum ac Tiberium minus ducenti quinquaginta anni fuerunt. unde non nulli falsum hunc phoenicem neque Arabum e terris credidere, nihilque usurpavisse ex his quae vetus memoria firmavit.

most widely circulated is the span of five hundred: there are those who assert that one thousand
four hundred sixty-one are interposed, and that earlier birds, with Sesosis ruling first and afterwards Amasis,
then under Ptolemy—who from among the Macedonians reigned third—flew to the city whose name is Heliopolis, with a great
company of the other birds marveling at the new appearance. But antiquity indeed is obscure: between Ptolemy
and Tiberius there were less than two hundred fifty years. Whence some believed this phoenix to be spurious and not
from the lands of the Arabs, and that it appropriated nothing of those things which ancient record has established.

confecto quippe annorum numero, ubi mors propinquet, suis in terris struere nidum eique vim genitalem adfundere ex qua fetum oriri; et primam adulto curam sepeliendi patris, neque id temere sed sublato murrae pondere temptatoque per longum iter, ubi par oneri, par meatui sit, subire patrium corpus inque Solis aram perferre atque adolere. haec incerta et fabulosis aucta: ceterum aspici aliquando in Aegypto eam volucrem non ambigitur.

with the number of years completed, when death draws near, it builds a nest in its own lands and pours into it a generative force from which an offspring arises; and the first care of the adult is the sepulture of its father, and not rashly, but, a weight of myrrh having been taken up and tested through a long journey, when it is equal to the burden and equal to the passage, it takes up the paternal body and to the Sun’s altar bears it and burns it. these things are uncertain and embellished with fables; but that that bird is sometimes seen in Egypt is not doubted.

[6.29] At Romae caede continua Pomponius Labeo, quem praefuisse Moesiae rettuli, per abruptas venas sanguinem effudit; aemulataque est coniunx Paxaea. nam promptas eius modi mortes metus carnificis faciebat, et quia damnati publicatis bonis sepultura prohibebantur, eorum qui de se statuebant humabantur corpora, manebant testamenta, pretium festinandi. sed Caesar missis ad senatum litteris disseruit morem fuisse maioribus, quoties dirimerent amicitias, interdicere domo eumque finem gratiae ponere: id se repetivisse in Labeone, atque illum, quia male administratae provinciae aliorumque criminum urgebatur, culpam invidia velavisse, frustra conterrita uxore, quam etsi nocentem periculi tamen expertem fuisse.

[6.29] But at Rome, amid continuous slaughter, Pomponius Labeo, whom I have reported to have presided over Moesia, poured out his blood through severed veins; and his wife Paxaea emulated him. For fear of the executioner was making deaths of that sort prompt, and because the condemned, their goods having been publicized (confiscated), were prohibited from sepulture, the bodies of those who decided concerning themselves were buried, their testaments remained—the price of hastening. But Caesar, after sending letters to the Senate, argued that it had been the custom with the ancestors, whenever they severed friendships, to interdict one from the house and to set that as the end of favor: that he had repeated this in the case of Labeo, and that that man, because he was pressed by the charge of a badly administered province and of other crimes, had veiled his guilt with odium, his wife being terrified to no purpose, who, although guilty, had nevertheless been free from danger.

Mamercus dein Scaurus rursum postulatur, insignis nobilitate et orandis causis, vita probrosus. nihil hunc amicitia Seiani, sed labefecit haud minus validum ad exitia Macronis odium, qui easdem artes occultius exercebat detuleratque argumentum tragoediae a Scauro scriptae, additis versibus qui in Tiberium flecterentur: verum ab Servilio et Cornelio accusatoribus adulterium Liviae, magorum sacra obiectabantur. Scaurus, ut dignum veteribus Aemiliis, damnationem antiit, hortante Sextia uxore, quae incitamentum mortis et particeps fuit.

Mamercus then Scaurus is again prosecuted, distinguished in nobility and in pleading causes, but disgraceful in life. It was not his friendship with Sejanus that harmed him, but Macro’s hatred—no less potent toward destructions—undermined him; Macro, who was practicing the same arts more covertly, had denounced the argument of a tragedy written by Scaurus, with verses added which were bent against Tiberius. However, by the accusers Servilius and Cornelius, adultery with Livia and the sacred rites of magi were thrown at him. Scaurus, as was worthy of the ancient Aemilii, forestalled condemnation, at the urging of his wife Sextia, who was both the incitement to death and a participant in it.

[6.30] Ac tamen accusatores, si facultas incideret, poenis adficiebantur, ut Servilius Corneliusque perdito Scauro famosi, quia pecuniam a Vario Ligure omittendae delationis ceperant, in insulas interdicto igni atque aqua demoti sunt. et Abudius Ruso functus aedilitate, dum Lentulo Gaetulico, sub quo legioni praefuerat, periculum facessit quod is Seiani filium generum destinasset, ultro damnatur atque urbe exigitur. Gaetulicus ea tempestate superioris Germaniae legiones curabat mirumque amorem adsecutus erat, effusae clementiae, modicus severitate et proximo quoque exercitui per L. Apronium socerum non ingratus.

[6.30] And yet the accusers, if opportunity fell in their way, were subjected to penalties, as when Servilius and Cornelius, with Scaurus ruined, were infamous because they had taken money from Varius the Ligurian for omitting the delation, and were removed to the islands with fire and water interdicted. And Abudius Ruso, having discharged the aedileship, while he was causing danger to Lentulus Gaetulicus, under whom he had been in command of a legion, because he had destined Sejanus’s son as his son-in-law, was on the contrary condemned and driven from the city. Gaetulicus at that juncture was in charge of the legions of Upper Germany and had attained a wondrous affection, lavish in clemency, moderate in severity, and to the neighboring army also, through L. Apronius his father-in-law, not unwelcome.

unde fama constans ausum mittere ad Caesarem litteras, adfinitatem sibi cum Seiano haud sponte sed consilio Tiberii coeptam; perinde se quam Tiberium falli potuisse, neque errorem eundem illi sine fraude, aliis exitio habendum. sibi fidem integram et, si nullis insidiis peteretur, mansuram; successorem non aliter quam indicium mortis accepturum. firmarent velut foedus, quo princeps ceterarum rerum poteretur, ipse provinciam retineret.

whence the consistent report that he had dared to send letters to Caesar, that his affinity by marriage with Sejanus had been undertaken not of his own accord but by the counsel of Tiberius; that he could have been deceived just as much as Tiberius, nor should the same error be accounted guiltless for him and ruinous for others. That his fidelity was unimpaired and, if he were assailed by no intrigues, would endure; that he would accept a successor as nothing other than an indication of death. Let them ratify, as it were, a treaty, whereby the princeps might be master of the other matters, while he himself retained the province.

haec, mira quamquam, fidem ex eo trahebant quod unus omnium Seiani adfinium incolumis multaque gratia mansit, reputante Tiberio publicum sibi odium, extremam aetatem magisque fama quam vi stare res suas.

these things, although marvelous, drew credence from this: that he alone of all Sejanus’s affines remained unharmed and with much favor, Tiberius reckoning the public odium against himself, his extreme age, and that his affairs stood more by fama than by vis.

[6.31] C. Cestio M. Servilio consulibus nobiles Parthi in urbem venere, ignaro rege Artabano. is metu Germanici fidus Romanis, aequabilis in suos, mox superbiam in nos, saevitiam in popularis sumpsit, fretus bellis quae secunda adversum circumiectas nationes exercuerat, et senectutem Tiberii ut inermem despiciens avidusque Armeniae, cui defuncto rege Artaxia Arsacen liberorum suorum veterrimum imposuit, addita contumelia et missis qui gazam a Vonone relictam in Syria Ciliciaque reposcerent; simul veteres Persarum ac Macedonum terminos seque invasurum possessa Cyro et post Alexandro per vaniloquentiam ac minas iaciebat. sed Parthis mittendi secretos nuntios validissimus auctor fuit Sinnaces, insigni familia ac perinde opibus, et proximus huic Abdus ademptae virilitatis.

[6.31] In the consulship of Gaius Cestius and Marcus Servilius, noble Parthians came into the city, the king Artabanus being unaware. He, from fear of Germanicus faithful to the Romans and equitable toward his own, soon assumed arrogance toward us and savagery toward his commons, relying on wars which he had carried on with success against the nations around, and despising the old age of Tiberius as unarmed, and being greedy for Armenia, on whose king Artaxias’s death he imposed Arsaces, the eldest of his children; an insult being added as well, and men sent to demand the treasure left by Vonones in Syria and Cilicia. At the same time he was bandying about through vainglorious talk and threats that he would push to the ancient boundaries of the Persians and Macedonians and would invade the possessions held by Cyrus and afterwards by Alexander. But among the Parthians the most powerful promoter of sending secret messengers was Sinnaces, of distinguished family and likewise in resources; and next to him Abdus, deprived of virility (a eunuch).

non despectum id apud barbaros ultroque potentiam habet. ii adscitis et aliis primoribus, quia neminem gentis Arsacidarum summae rei imponere poterant, interfectis ab Artabano plerisque aut nondum adultis, Phraaten regis Phraatis filium Roma poscebant: nomine tantum et auctore opus [ut] sponte Caesaris ut genus Arsacis ripam apud Euphratis cerneretur.

that is not despised among the barbarians and moreover
has potency. They, with other chiefs (primores) also co-opted, because they could set no one of the Arsacid race over the supreme power, most having been slain by Artabanus or not yet adult, were demanding from Rome Phraates, son of King Phraates: there was need only of the name and an author (auctor), [so that] by Caesar’s own will it might be seen that the stock of Arsaces was on the bank by the Euphrates.

[6.32] Cupitum id Tiberio: ornat Phraaten accingitque paternum ad fastigium, destinata retinens, consiliis et astu res externas moliri, arma procul habere. interea cognitis insidiis Artabanus tardari metu, modo cupidine vindictae inardescere. et barbaris cunctatio servilis, statim exequi regium videtur: valuit tamen utilitas, ut Abdum specie amicitiae vocatum ad epulas lento veneno inligaret, Sinnacen dissimulatione ac donis, simul per negotia moraretur.

[6.32] This was desired by Tiberius: he adorns Phraates and girds him for his paternal eminence, holding to his settled designs—by counsels and craft to engineer foreign affairs, to keep arms at a distance. Meanwhile, with the ambushes known, Artabanus was now delayed by fear, now blazing with the desire of vengeance. And to the barbarians delay seems servile, to execute at once seems royal: yet expediency prevailed, so that, having summoned Abdus under the guise of friendship to a banquet, he ensnared him with a slow poison, while Sinnaces he detained by dissimulation and gifts, and at the same time by business.

et Phraates apud Syriam dum omisso cultu Romano, cui per tot annos insueverat, instituta Parthorum sumit, patriis moribus impar morbo absumptus est. sed non Tiberius omisit incepta: Tiridaten sanguinis eiusdem aemulum Artabano reciperandaeque Armeniae Hiberum Mithridaten deligit conciliatque fratri Pharasmani, qui gentile imperium obtinebat; et cunctis quae apud Orientem parabantur L. Vitellium praefecit. eo de homine haud sum ignarus sinistram in urbe famam, pleraque foeda memorari; ceterum regendis provinciis prisca virtute egit.

and Phraates, in Syria, while—having set aside the Roman culture,
to which for so many years he had been accustomed—he takes up the institutions of the Parthians, unequal to the native mores, was consumed by disease. But
Tiberius did not omit his undertakings: he selects Tiridates, of the same blood, a rival to Artabanus, and for the recovery of Armenia the Iberian Mithridates, and he conciliates him to his brother Pharasmanes, who held the native dominion; and over all that was being prepared in the East he set L. Vitellius. About that man I am not unaware that there is a sinister repute in the city, that many foul things are recorded; however, in governing provinces he acted with ancient virtue.

unde regressus et formidine G. Caesaris, familiaritate Claudii turpe in servitium mutatus exemplar apud posteros adulatorii dedecoris habetur, cesseruntque prima postremis, et bona iuventae senectus flagitiosa oblitteravit.

whence he returned, and through fear of G. Caesar, by the familiarity of Claudius changed into shameful servitude, he is held among posterity as an exemplar of adulatory disgrace, and the first things yielded to the last, and a flagitious old age obliterated the merits of youth.

[6.33] At ex regulis prior Mithridates Pharasmanem perpulit dolo et vi conatus suos iuvare, repertique corruptores ministros Arsacis multo auro ad scelus cogunt; simul Hiberi magnis copiis Armeniam inrumpunt et urbe Artaxata potiuntur. quae postquam Artabano cognita, filium Oroden ultorem parat; dat Parthorum copias, mittit qui auxilia mercede facerent: contra Pharasmanes adiungere Albanos, accire Sarmatas, quorum sceptuchi utrimque donis acceptis more gentico diversa induere. sed Hiberi locorum potentes Caspia via Sarmatam in Armenios raptim effundunt.

[6.33] But of the petty kings the earlier, Mithridates, drove Pharasmanes by guile and by force to aid his undertakings, and corrupters of the ministers of Arsaces once found, with much gold they compel them to crime; at the same time the Iberi with great forces burst into Armenia and get possession of the city Artaxata. After these things were known to Artabanus, he prepares his son Orodes as avenger; he gives forces of the Parthians, he sends men to procure auxiliaries for pay. In answer, Pharasmanes joins the Albani, summons the Sarmatians, whose sceptuchi, with gifts received from both sides, according to tribal custom assume opposite sides. But the Iberi, masters of the localities, by the Caspian way swiftly pour the Sarmatians upon the Armenians.

at qui Parthis adventabant, facile arcebantur, cum alios incessus hostis clausisset, unum reliquum mare inter et extremos Albanorum montis aestas impediret, quia flatibus etesiarum implentur vada: hibernus auster revolvit fluctus pulsoque introrsus freto brevia litorum nudantur.

but those who were coming to the Parthians were easily kept off, since the enemy had closed the other approaches, and the one remaining, between the sea and the farthest mountains of the Albani, summer hindered, because by the blasts of the Etesians the shallows are filled: the wintry South wind rolls back the waves, and, with the sea driven inward, the shallows of the shores are laid bare.

[6.34] Interim Oroden sociorum inopem auctus auxilio Pharasmanes vocare ad pugnam et detrectantem incessere, adequitare castris, infensare pabula; ac saepe modum obsidii stationibus cingebat, donec Parthi contumeliarum insolentes circumsisterent regem poscerent proelium. atque illis sola in equite vis: Pharasmanes et pedite valebat. nam Hiberi Albanique saltuosos locos incolentes duritiae patientiaeque magis insuevere; feruntque se Thessalis ortos, qua tempestate Iaso post avectam Medeam genitosque ex ea liberos inanem mox regiam Aeetae vacuosque Colchos repetivit.

[6.34] Meanwhile Pharasmanes, increased by reinforcement, challenged Orodes, bereft of allies, to battle, and as he declined, pressed him, riding up to his camp, harrying the foraging; and often, the manner of a siege, he ringed him with outposts, until the Parthians, made insolent by the taunts, hemmed in the king and demanded battle. And their force lay solely in the cavalry; Pharasmanes was strong also in infantry. For the Iberians and Albanians, inhabiting wooded mountain regions, had become more inured to hardness and endurance; and they claim that they are sprung from Thessalians, at that time when Jason, after Medea had been carried off and the children begotten from her, soon revisited Aeetes’ empty palace and the Colchians left destitute.

multaque de nomine eius et oraclum Phrixi celebrant; nec quisquam ariete sacrificaverit, credito vexisse Phrixum, sive id animal seu navis insigne fuit. ceterum derecta utrimque acie Parthus imperium Orientis, claritudinem Arsacidarum contraque ignobilem Hiberum mercennario milite disserebat; Pharasmanes integros semet a Parthico dominatu, quanto maiora peterent, plus decoris victores aut, si terga darent, flagitii atque periculi laturos; simul horridam suorum aciem, picta auro Medorum agmina, hinc viros, inde praedam ostendere.

and they celebrate many things about his name and the oracle of Phrixus; nor has anyone sacrificed a ram, it being believed that it bore Phrixus, whether that was the animal itself or the ship’s ensign. but with the battle-line drawn up on both sides, the Parthian was discoursing of the rule of the East, the renown of the Arsacids, and, in contrast, the ignoble Iberian with mercenary soldiery; Pharasmanes maintained that they were untouched by Parthian domination, that the greater the things they sought, the more honor they would carry as victors, or, if they turned their backs, the more disgrace and peril they would carry; at the same time he pointed out the horrid line of his own men, the ranks of the Medes painted with gold—here men, there booty.

[6.35] Enimvero apud Sarmatas non una vox ducis: se quisque stimulant ne pugnam per sagittas sinerent: impetu et comminus praeveniendum. variae hinc bellantium species, cum Parthus sequi vel fugere pari arte suetus distraheret turmas, spatium ictibus quaereret, Sarmatae omisso arcu, quo brevius valent, contis gladiisque ruerent; modo equestris proelii more frontis et tergi vices, aliquando ut conserta acies corporibus et pulsu armorum pellerent pellerentur. iamque et Albani Hiberique prensare, detrudere, ancipitem pugnam hostibus facere, quos super eques et propioribus vulneribus pedites adflictabant.

[6.35] Indeed among the Sarmatians there was not a single voice of a leader: each man urged himself not to allow the fight to be by arrows: it must be forestalled by an impetus and at close quarters. Hence varied forms of those warring, since the Parthian, accustomed with equal art to pursue or to flee, was drawing apart the squadrons, seeking space for his shots, while the Sarmatians, the bow set aside—in which they avail only briefly—were rushing with pikes and swords; now after the manner of a cavalry battle, with alternations of front and rear, at times, as though a knit battle-line, with bodies and the beating of arms they would drive and would be driven. And now too the Albanians and Iberians were grappling, shoving down, making the fight doubtful for the enemy, whom moreover the horsemen, and the foot-soldiers with closer wounds, were crushing.

inter quae Pharasmanes Orodesque, dum strenuis adsunt aut dubitantibus subveniunt, conspicui eoque gnari, clamore telis equis concurrunt, instantius Pharasmanes; nam vulnus per galeam adegit. nec iterare valuit, praelatus equo et fortissimis satellitum protegentibus saucium: fama tamen occisi falso credita exterruit Parthos victoriamque concessere.

among
which Pharasmanes and Orodes—while they are present to the strenuous or come to the aid of the hesitating—conspicuous and for that reason recognized,
with shouting, weapons, and horses charge together, Pharasmanes more pressingly; for he drove a wound through the helmet. Nor was he able to repeat it,
as [Orodes was] borne off by his horse and, being wounded, protected by the bravest of the bodyguards: nevertheless the rumor of his having been slain, falsely believed, terrified
the Parthians, and they conceded the victory.

[6.36] Mox Artabanus tota mole regni ultum iit. peritia locorum ab Hiberis melius pugnatum; nec ideo abscedebat, ni contractis legionibus Vitellius et subdito rumore tamquam Mesopotamiam invasurus metum Romani belli fecisset. tum omissa Armenia versaeque Artabani res, inliciente Vitellio desererent regem saevum in pace et adversis proeliorum exitiosum.

[6.36] Soon Artabanus went to exact vengeance with the entire mass of his kingdom. By expertise of the locales the fighting was better conducted by the Iberians; nor for that reason would he have withdrawn, had not Vitellius, the legions having been concentrated, and by planting a rumor as though he were about to invade Mesopotamia, created the fear of a Roman war. Then Armenia was abandoned and the fortunes of Artabanus were turned, Vitellius enticing them to desert a king savage in peace and ruinous in the adverse outcomes of battles.

igitur Sinnaces, quem antea infensum memoravi, patrem Abdagaesen aliosque occultos consilii et tunc continuis cladibus promptiores ad defectionem trahit, adfluentibus paulatim qui metu magis quam benevolentia subiecti repertis auctoribus sustulerant animum. nec iam aliud Artabano reliquum quam si qui externorum corpori custodes aderant, suis quisque sedibus extorres, quis neque boni intellectus neque mali cura sed mercede aluntur ministri sceleribus. his adsumptis in longinqua et contermina Scythiae fugam maturavit, spe auxilii, quia Hyrcanis Carmaniisque per adfinitatem innexus erat: atque interim posse Parthos absentium aequos, praesentibus mobilis, ad paenitentiam mutari.

Therefore Sinnaces, whom I have earlier mentioned as hostile, draws his father Abdagaeses and others privy to the secret counsel—and then, because of the continual disasters, readier for defection—into revolt, while little by little there flocked in those who, subjected more by fear than by good will, upon finding ringleaders had lifted up their spirit. Nor now was anything left for Artabanus except to take up whatever of the foreigners attending as bodyguards were at hand—each an exile from his own seat—men with neither an understanding for good nor a care for evil, but fed by pay, ministers for crimes. With these taken on, he hastened his flight into the far regions contiguous to Scythia, in hope of aid, because through affinity he was linked with the Hyrcanians and Carmanians; and meanwhile that the Parthians—equitable toward the absent, fickle toward those present—might be turned to repentance.

[6.37] At Vitellius profugo Artabano et flexis ad novum regem popularium animis, hortatus Tiridaten parata capessere, robur legionum sociorumque ripam ad Euphratis ducit. sacrificantibus, cum hic more Romano suovetaurilia daret, ille equum placando amni adornasset, nuntiavere accolae Euphraten nulla imbrium vi sponte et immensum attolli, simul albentibus spumis in modum diadematis sinuare orbis, auspicium prosperi transgressus. quidam callidius interpretabantur initia conatus secunda neque diuturna, quia eorum quae terra caelove portenderentur certior fides, fluminum instabilis natura simul ostenderet omina raperetque.

[6.37] But Vitellius, with Artabanus a fugitive and the minds of his countrymen bent to a new king, having encouraged Tiridates to take up what had been prepared, leads the strength of the legions and allies to the bank of the Euphrates. As they were sacrificing, since the one, according to Roman custom, was offering a suovetaurilia, the other had adorned a horse for appeasing the river; the inhabitants reported that the Euphrates, by no force of rains, of its own accord and to an immense height was being raised, and at the same time with whitening foams was curving circles in the likeness of a diadem—an auspice of a prosperous crossing. Certain men interpreted more shrewdly that the beginnings of the attempt would be favorable but not lasting, because in those things which are portended by earth or sky there is a surer trust, whereas the unstable nature of rivers at once displays omens and snatches them away.

sed ponte navibus effecto tramissoque exercitu primus Ornospades multis equitum milibus in castra venit, exul quondam et Tiberio, cum Delmaticum bellum conficeret, haud inglorius auxiliator eoque civitate Romana donatus, mox repetita amicitia regis multo apud eum honore, praefectus campis qui Euphrate et Tigre inclutis amnibus circumflui Mesopotamiae nomen acceperunt. neque multo post Sinnaces auget copias, et columen partium Abdagaeses gazam et paratus regios adicit. Vitellius ostentasse Romana arma satis ratus monet Tiridaten primoresque, hunc, Phraatis avi et altoris Caesaris quaeque utrubique pulchra meminerit, illos, obsequium in regem, reverentiam in nos, decus quisque suum et fidem retinerent.

But with a bridge made of ships and the army sent across, first Ornospades came into the camp with many thousands of horsemen, once an exile and, when Tiberius was finishing the Dalmatian war, a by no means inglorious auxiliary, and for that endowed with Roman citizenship; soon, friendship with the king renewed, with much honor in his regard, he was prefect over the plains which, encircled by the renowned rivers Euphrates and Tigris, have received the name Mesopotamia. And not long after, Sinnaces augments the forces, and Abdagaeses, the pillar of the faction, adds the treasure and the royal equipage. Vitellius, thinking it enough to have ostended Roman arms, admonishes Tiridates and the chiefs: the former, to remember Phraates his grandfather and Caesar his fosterer, and whatever things were fair on both sides; the latter, to maintain obedience toward their king, reverence toward us, each man to retain his own honor and good faith.

exim cum legionibus in Syriam remeavit.

Thereupon he returned into Syria with the legions.

[6.38] Quae duabus aestatibus gesta coniunxi quo requie scerete animus a domesticis malis; non enim Tiberium, quamquam triennio post caedem Seiani, quae ceteros mollire solent, tempus preces satias mitigabant, quin incerta vel abolita pro gravissimis et recentibus puniret. eo metu Fulcinius Trio ingruentis accusatores haud perpessus supremis tabulis multa et atrocia in Macronem ac praecipuos libertorum Caesaris composuit, ipsi fluxam senio mentem et continuo abscessu velut exilium obiectando. quae ab heredibus occultata recitari Tiberius iussit, patientiam libertatis alienae ostentans et contemptor suae infamiae, an scelerum Seiani diu nescius mox quoquo modo dicta vulgari malebat veritatisque, cui adulatio officit, per probra saltem gnarus fieri.

[6.38] The things done in two summers I have conjoined, so that the mind might rest from domestic evils; not
for Tiberius, although in the third year after the slaughter of Sejanus, were those things which are wont to soften others—time, prayers, satieties—softening him, but he punished uncertainties or even things abolished as if most grave and fresh. From that fear Fulcinius Trio, not enduring the accusers swooping upon him, in his last tablets composed many and atrocious charges against Macro and the chief men of Caesar’s freedmen, alleging to him himself a mind loosened by old age and, by his continual withdrawal, as it were an exile. These, hidden by the heirs, Tiberius ordered to be read out, displaying a tolerance of another’s liberty and a contempt for his own infamy; or, long ignorant of Sejanus’s crimes, he soon preferred that words be published in whatever way, and of the truth—against which adulation makes—he might at least become aware through reproaches.

isdem diebus Granius Marcianus senator, a C. Graccho maiestatis postulatus, vim vitae suae attulit, Tariusque Gratianus praetura functus lege eadem extremum ad supplicium damnatus.

In those same days, the senator Granius Marcianus, arraigned by Gaius Gracchus on a charge of majesty (treason), brought force against his own life; and Tarius Gratianus, having served the praetorship, by the same law was condemned to the ultimate punishment.

[6.39] Nec dispares Trebelleni Rufi et Sextii Paconiani exitus: nam Trebellenus sua manu cecidit, Paconianus in carcere ob carmina illic in principem factitata strangulatus est. haec Tiberius non mari, ut olim, divisus neque per longinquos nuntios accipiebat, sed urbem iuxta, eodem ut die vel noctis interiectu litteris consulum rescriberet, quasi aspiciens undantem per domos sanguinem aut manus carnificum. fine anni Poppaeus Sabinus concessit vita, modicus originis, principum amicitia consulatum ac triumphale decus adeptus maximisque provinciis per quattuor et viginti annos impositus, nullam ob eximiam artem sed quod par negotiis neque supra erat.

[6.39] Nor were the ends of Trebellenus Rufus and Sextius Paconianus dissimilar: for Trebellenus fell by his own hand, Paconianus was strangled in prison on account of verses there habitually composed against the Princeps. Tiberius was receiving these things not separated by the sea, as once, nor through far-distant messengers, but near the city, so that he would write back to the consuls’ letters on the same day, or with a night interposed, as if beholding blood surging through the houses or the hands of the executioners. At the end of the year Poppaeus Sabinus departed life, modest in origin, by the friendship of princes having obtained the consulship and a triumphal distinction, and having been set over the very great provinces for 24 years, not on account of any exceptional art but because he was equal to the tasks and not above them.

[6.40] Quintus Plautius Sex. Papinius consules sequuntur. eo anno neque quod L. Aruseius * * * morte adfecti forent, adsuetudine malorum ut atrox advertebatur, sed exterruit quod Vibulenus Agrippa eques Romanus, cum perorassent accusatores, in ipsa curia depromptum sinu venenum hausit prolapsusque ac moribundus festinatis lictorum manibus in carcerem raptus est faucesque iam exanimis laqueo vexatae.

[6.40] Quintus Plautius and Sextus Papinius follow as consuls. In that year, not even the fact that L. Aruseius * * * had been brought to death was, by habituation to evils, noticed as something atrocious; but it terrified people that Vibulenus Agrippa, a Roman equestrian, when the accusers had finished pleading, in the very Curia drained poison drawn from his bosom; and, having collapsed and at the point of death, he was hurried by the lictors’ hands into the prison, and his throat, already lifeless, was harried by the noose.

ne Tigranes quidem, Armenia quondam potitus ac tunc reus, nomine regio supplicia civium effugit. at C. Galba consularis et duo Blaesi voluntario exitu cecidere, Galba tristibus Caesaris litteris provinciam sortiri prohibitus: Blaesis sacerdotia, integra eorum domo destinata, convulsa distulerat, tunc ut vacua contulit in alios; quod signum mortis intellexere et executi sunt. et Aemilia Lepida, quam iuveni Druso nuptam rettuli, crebris criminibus maritum insectata, quamquam intestabilis, tamen impunita agebat, dum superfuit pater Lepidus: post a delatoribus corripitur ob servum adulterum, nec dubitabatur de flagitio: ergo omissa defensione finem vitae sibi posuit.

Not even Tigranes, who had once held Armenia and was then a defendant, escaped the punishments of the citizens by his royal name. But Gaius Galba, of consular rank, and the two Blaesi fell by a voluntary exit: Galba was forbidden by the gloomy letters of Caesar to draw a province by lot; as for the Blaesi, the priesthoods, destined for their whole house, he had torn away and deferred, and then, as though vacant, he conferred them upon others—an omen of death which they understood and executed. And Aemilia Lepida, whom I have reported as married to Drusus when he was a youth, having harried her husband with frequent charges, although legally intestable, nevertheless lived unpunished so long as her father Lepidus survived; afterward she was seized by delators (informers) on account of an adulterous slave, nor was there doubt about the flagitious act; therefore, abandoning her defense, she put an end to her life.

[6.41] Per idem tempus Clitarum natio Cappadoci Archelao subiecta, quia nostrum in modum deferre census, pati tributa adigebatur, in iuga Tauri montis abscessit locorumque ingenio sese contra imbellis regis copias tutabatur, donec M. Trebellius legatus, a Vitellio praeside Syriae cum quattuor milibus legionariorum et delectis auxiliis missus, duos collis quos barbari insederant (minori Cadra, alteri Davara nomen est) operibus circumdedit et erumpere ausos ferro, ceteros siti ad deditionem coegit. At Tiridates volentibus Parthis Nicephorium et Anthemusiada ceterasque urbes, quae Macedonibus sitae Graeca vocabula usurpant, Halumque et Artemitam Parthica oppida recepit, certantibus gaudio qui Artabanum Scythas inter eductum ob saevitiam execrati come Tiridatis ingenium Romanas per artes sperabant.

[6.41] About the same time the nation of the Clitae, subject to Archelaus the Cappadocian, because it was being driven to render the censuses in our fashion and to endure tributes, withdrew into the ridges of Mount Taurus and, by the character of the places, defended itself against the unwarlike king’s forces, until M. Trebellius, a legate, sent by Vitellius, governor of Syria, with four thousand legionaries and chosen auxiliaries, surrounded with siege-works the two hills which the barbarians had occupied (the lesser has the name Cadra, the other Davara), and cut down with steel those who dared to break out, but forced the rest by thirst to surrender. But Tiridates, the Parthians being willing, recovered Nicephorium and Anthemusiada and the other cities which, settled by Macedonians, employ Greek names, and Halum and Artemita, Parthian towns, joy contending among those who, having execrated Artabanus, brought up among the Scythians, for his savagery, were hoping, by Roman arts, for the affable nature of Tiridates.

[6.42] Plurimum adulationis Seleucenses induere, civitas potens, saepta muris neque in barbarum corrupta sed conditoris Seleuci retinens. trecenti opibus aut sapientia delecti ut senatus, sua populo vis. et quoties concordes agunt, spernitur Parthus: ubi dissensere, dum sibi quisque contra aemulos subsidium vocant, accitus in partem adversum omnis valescit.

[6.42] The Seleucenes assumed the utmost adulation, a powerful city, enclosed with walls and not corrupted into the barbarian, but retaining the character of its founder Seleucus. three hundred, chosen for wealth or wisdom, as a senate; the people has its own force. and whenever they act in concord, the Parthian is scorned: when they have dissented, while each calls in aid for himself against rivals, the Parthian, called into a faction, grows strong against all.

id nuper acciderat Artabano regnante, qui plebem primoribus tradidit ex suo usu: nam populi imperium iuxta libertatem, paucorum dominatio regiae libidini propior est. tum adventantem Tiridaten extollunt veterum regum honoribus et quos recens aetas largius invenit; simul probra in Artabanum fundebant, materna origine Arsaciden, cetera degenerem. Tiridates rem Seleucensem populo permittit.

This had lately happened, with Artabanus reigning, who handed over the common people to the leading men according to his own usage: for the imperium of the people is close to liberty, the dominion of a few is nearer to royal lust.
then they exalt the approaching Tiridates with the honors of the ancient kings and those which the recent age has more lavishly devised; at the same time they were pouring reproaches upon Artabanus—an Arsacid by maternal origin, degenerate in the rest.
Tiridates entrusts the Seleucid commonwealth to the people.

mox consultans quonam die sollemnia regni capesseret, litteras Phraatis et Hieronis qui validissimas praefecturas obtinebant accipit, brevem moram precantium. placitumque opperiri viros praepollentis, atque interim Ctesiphon sedes imperii petita: sed ubi diem ex die prolatabant, multis coram et adprobantibus Surena patrio more Tiridaten insigni regio evinxit.

soon consulting as to on what day he should take up the solemnities of the kingship, he receives letters from Phraates and Hiero, who held the most powerful prefectures, begging for a brief delay. And it was agreed to wait for the prepotent men, and meanwhile Ctesiphon, the seat of empire, was sought: but when they were postponing day after day, in the presence and with the approval of many, Surena, by the ancestral custom, bound Tiridates with the royal insignia.

[6.43] Ac si statim interiora ceterasque nationes petivisset, oppressa cunctantium dubitatio et omnes in unum cedebant: adsidendo castellum, in quod pecuniam et paelices Artabanus contulerat, dedit spatium exuendi pacta. nam Phraates et Hiero et si qui alii delectum capiendo diademati diem haut concelebraverant, pars metu, quidam invidia in Abdagaesen qui tum aula et novo rege potiebatur ad Artabanum vertere; isque in Hyrcanis repertus est, inluvie obsitus et alimenta arcu expediens. ac primo tamquam dolus pararetur territus, ubi data fides reddendae dominationi venisse, adlevatur animum et quae repentina mutatio exquirit.

[6.43] And if he had at once sought the interior and the other nations, the hesitation of the wavering would have been crushed and all
would have yielded into one: by sitting down before the stronghold, into which Artabanus had conveyed his money and concubines, he gave time
for casting off the pledges. For Phraates and Hiero, and if any others had scarcely joined in celebrating the day chosen for assuming the diadem,
some from fear, some out of envy against Abdagaeses, who then held the court and the new king, turned to
Artabanus; and he was found among the Hyrcanians, matted with filth and procuring sustenance with his bow. And at first,
as though a trick were being prepared, he was terrified; but when a pledge was given that they had come for the restoring of his dominion, his spirit is lifted,
and he inquires what sudden change there has been.

tum Hiero pueritiam Tiridatis increpat, neque penes Arsaciden imperium sed inane nomen apud imbellem externa mollitia, vim in Abdagaesis domo.

then Hiero reproaches Tiridates' puerility, and that sovereignty is not with the Arsacid but an inane name with an unwarlike man by external softness, the force being in the house of Abdagaeses.

[6.44] Sensit vetus regnandi falsos in amore odia non fingere. nec ultra moratus quam dum Scytharum auxilia conciret, pergit properus et praeveniens inimicorum astus, amicorum paenitentiam; neque exuerat paedorem ut vulgum miseratione adverteret. non fraus, non preces, nihil omissum quo ambiguos inliceret, prompti firmarentur.

[6.44] An old hand at ruling, he perceived that those false in love do not feign their hatreds. Nor did he delay longer than until he could muster the auxiliaries of the Scythians; he proceeds in haste and forestalls the astuteness of enemies, the repentance of friends; nor had he put off his squalor so as to draw the common crowd by compassion. No fraud, no prayers—nothing was left undone by which he might entice the ambiguous, the ready be made firm.

iamque multa manu propinqua Seleuciae adventabat, cum Tiridates simul fama atque ipso Artabano perculsus distrahi consiliis, iret contra an bellum cunctatione tractaret. quibus proelium et festinati casus placebant, disiectos et longinquitate itineris fessos ne animo quidem satis ad obsesquium coaluisse disserunt, proditores nuper hostesque eius quem rursum foveant. verum Abdagaeses regrediendum in Mesopotamiam censebat, ut amne obiecto, Armeniis interim Elymaeisque et ceteris a tergo excitis, aucti copiis socialibus et quas dux Romanus misisset fortunam temptarent.

and now with a large band he was advancing near to Seleucia, when Tiridates, smitten at once by the rumor and by Artabanus himself, was torn in counsels whether to go against him or to manage the war by delay. to those whom battle and hurried chances pleased, they argue that, scattered and wearied by the longinquity of the journey, they had not even in spirit sufficiently coalesced to obedience, traitors lately and enemies of him whom they now again would foster. but Abdagaeses judged that there must be a return into Mesopotamia, so that, with a river interposed, the Armenians meanwhile and the Elymaeans and the others roused in the rear, augmented by allied forces and by those which the Roman leader had sent, they might try their fortune.

ea sententia valuit, quia plurima auctoritas penes Abdagaesen et Tiridates ignavus ad pericula erat. sed fugae specie discessum; ac principio a gente Arabum facto ceteri domos abeunt vel in castra Artabani, donec Tiridates cum paucis in Syriam revectus pudore proditionis omnis exolvit.

That plan prevailed, because the greatest authority was in the hands of Abdagaeses, and Tiridates was cowardly in the face of dangers.
But there was a departure under the appearance of flight; and with the example set at the outset by the people of the Arabs, the rest go home or into the camp
of Artabanus, until Tiridates, borne back with a few into Syria, absolved all from the shame of treachery.

[6.45] Idem annus gravi igne urbem adficit, deusta parte circi quae Aventino contigua, ipsoque Aventino; quod damnum Caesar ad gloriam vertit exolutis domuum et insularum pretiis. milies sestertium in munificentia conlocatum, tanto acceptius in vulgum, quanto modicus privatis aedificationibus ne publice quidem nisi duo opera struxit, templum Augusto et scaenam Pompeiani theatri; eaque perfecta, contemptu ambitionis an per senectutem, haud dedicavit. sed aestimando cuiusque detrimento quattuor progeneri Caesaris, Cn. Domitius, Cassius Longinus, M. Vinicius, Rubellius Blandus delecti additusque nominatione consulum P. Petronius.

[6.45] The same year a grievous fire afflicted the city, the part of the Circus adjoining the Aventine having been burned, and the Aventine itself; which loss the Caesar turned to glory by paying out the prices of houses and apartment-blocks. A thousand million sesterces was placed in that munificence , so much the more acceptable to the common crowd, inasmuch as, being moderate in private buildings, he not even in public built except two works, a temple to Augustus and the scaena of Pompey’s theatre; and though these were finished, whether from contempt of ambition or through old age, he did not dedicate them. But, for the assessment of each person’s loss, four sons-in-law of Caesar—Cn. Domitius, Cassius Longinus, M. Vinicius, Rubellius Blandus—were chosen, and, added by nomination of the consuls, P. Petronius.

et pro ingenio cuiusque quaesiti decretique in principem honores; quos omiserit receperitve in incerto fuit ob propinquum vitae finem. neque enim multo post supremi Tiberio consules, Cn. Acerronius C. Pontius, magistratum occepere, nimia iam potentia Macronis, qui gratiam G. Caesaris numquam sibi neglectam acrius in dies fovebat impuleratque post mortem Claudiae, quam nuptam ei rettuli, uxorem suam Enniam imitando amorem iuvenem inlicere pactoque matrimonii vincire, nihil abnuentem, dum dominationis apisceretur; nam etsi commotus ingenio simulationum tamen falsa in sinu avi perdidicerat.

and according to each man’s disposition honors were sought and decreed for the princeps; which of them he omitted or accepted was uncertain because of the nearness of his life’s end. nor, in fact, much later did the last consuls under Tiberius, Cn. Acerronius and C. Pontius, enter upon office, Macro’s power now excessive, who was day by day more keenly nurturing the favor of G. Caesar, never neglected by him, and had driven, after the death of Claudia (whom I have reported as married to him), his own wife Ennia to entice the young man by imitating love and to bind him with a pact of marriage—he refusing nothing, so long as he might acquire domination; for although stirred by a temperament of dissimulations, yet he had thoroughly learned deceits in his grandfather’s bosom.

[6.46] Gnarum hoc principi, eoque dubitavit de tradenda re publica, primum inter nepotes, quorum Druso genitus sanguine et caritate propior, sed nondum pubertatem ingressus, Germanici filio robur iuventae, vulgi studia, eaque apud avum odii causa. etiam de Claudio agitanti, quod is composita aetate bonarum artium cupiens erat, imminuta mens eius obstitit. sin extra domum successor quaereretur, ne memoria Augusti, ne nomen Caesarum in ludibria et contumelias verterent metuebat: quippe illi non perinde curae gratia praesentium quam in posteros ambitio.

[6.46] This was known to the princeps, and for that reason he hesitated about handing over the Republic, first considering among his grandsons: of these, the one born of Drusus was nearer in blood and affection, but had not yet entered puberty; to the son of Germanicus belonged the vigor of youth and the enthusiasms of the crowd—and these were, with his grandfather, a cause of hatred. Even when he was pondering Claudius—because he, at a settled age, was desirous of the good arts—his diminished mind stood in the way. But if a successor were sought outside the house, he feared lest they turn the memory of Augustus and the name of the Caesars into mockery and insults: for in their case, the favor of those present is not so much a concern as ambition toward posterity.

mox incertus animi, fesso corpore consilium cui impar erat fato permisit, iactis tamen vocibus per quas intellegeretur providus futurorum; namque Macroni non abdita ambage occidentem ab eo deseri, orientem spectari exprobravit, et G. Caesari, forte orto sermone L. Sullam inridenti, omnia Sullae vitia et nullam eiusdem virtutem habiturum praedixit. simul crebris cum lacrimis minorem ex nepotibus complexus, truci alterius vultu, 'occides hunc tu' inquit 'et te alius.' sed gravescente valetudine nihil e libidinibus omittebat, in patientia firmitudinem simulans solitusque eludere medicorum artes atque eos qui post tricesimum aetatis annum ad internoscenda corpori suo utilia vel noxia alieni consilii indigerent.

soon, uncertain in mind, with body weary he surrendered the decision, to which he was unequal, to fate, yet casting out words by which it might be understood that he was provident of things to come; for to Macro, with no hidden ambage, he reproached that the Occident was by him being deserted and the Orient being looked toward, and to G. Caesar, when by chance a conversation had arisen and he was mocking L. Sulla, he foretold that he would possess all Sulla’s vices and none of the same man’s virtue. at the same time, embracing with frequent tears the younger of his grandsons, with the other’s countenance grim, “you will kill this one,” he said, “and another will kill you.” but as his health grew worse, he omitted nothing of his lusts, feigning firmness in endurance and being accustomed to elude the arts of physicians and those who, after the thirtieth year of age, for discerning what was useful or harmful to their own body needed another’s counsel.

[6.47] Interim Romae futuris etiam post Tiberium caedibus semina iaciebantur. Laelius Balbus Acutiam, P. Vitellii quondam uxorem, maiestatis postulaverat; qua damnata cum praemium accusatori decerneretur, Iunius Otho tribunus plebei intercessit, unde illis odia, mox Othoni exitium. dein multorum amoribus famosa Albucilla, cui matrimonium cum Satrio Secundo coniurationis indice fuerat, defertur impietatis in principem; conectebantur ut conscii et adulteri eius Cn. Domitius, Vibius Marsus, L. Arruntius.

[6.47] Meanwhile at Rome, seeds were being sown for slaughters even after Tiberius. Laelius Balbus had prosecuted Acutia, once the wife of P. Vitellius, on a charge of treason; when she was condemned and a reward was being decreed to the accuser, Iunius Otho, tribune of the plebs, interposed his veto—whence hatreds between them, and soon destruction for Otho. Then Albucilla, notorious for the loves of many, who had been married to Satrius Secundus, the informer of the conspiracy, was charged with impiety toward the princeps; were implicated as her accomplices and adulterers Cn. Domitius, Vibius Marsus, L. Arruntius.

de claritudine Domitii supra memoravi; Marsus quoque vetustis honoribus et inlustris studiis erat. sed testium interrogationi, tormentis servorum Macronem praesedisse commentarii ad senatum missi ferebant, nullaeque in eos imperatoris litterae suspicionem dabant, invalido ac fortasse ignaro ficta pleraque ob inimicitias Macronis notas in Arruntium.

about the renown of Domitius I have made mention above; Marsus too was with ancient honors and illustrious studies. but the commentaries sent to the senate were reporting that Macron had presided over the interrogation of the witnesses and the torments of the slaves, and no letters of the emperor against them gave ground for suspicion, he being weak and perhaps unaware; most things were fabricated on account of Macron’s enmities, well-known, against Arruntius.

[6.48] Igitur Domitius defensionem meditans, Marsus tamquam inediam destinavisset, produxere vitam: Arruntius, cunctationem et moras suadentibus amicis, non eadem omnibus decora respondit: sibi satis aetatis neque aliud paenitendum quam quod inter ludibria et pericula anxiam senectam toleravisset, diu Seiano, nunc Macroni, semper alicui potentium invisus, non culpa sed ut flagitiorum impatiens. sane paucos ad suprema principis dies posse vitari: quem ad modum evasurum imminentis iuventam? an, cum Tiberius post tantam rerum experientiam vi dominationis convulsus et mutatus sit, G. Caesarem vix finita pueritia, ignarum omnium aut pessimis innutritum, meliora capessiturum Macrone duce, qui ut deterior ad opprimendum Seianum delectus plura per scelera rem publicam conflictavisset?

[6.48] Accordingly Domitius, meditating a defense, and Marsus, as though he had determined on starvation, prolonged their lives: Arruntius, while friends urged hesitation and delays, replied that the same courses are not honorable for all: for himself, enough of age, and nothing else to repent of than that amid mockeries and dangers he had borne an anxious old age, long hateful to Sejanus, now to Macro, always to someone of the potent, not by fault but as intolerant of scandals. Truly that few could be avoided up to the emperor’s last days: how would he evade the youth impending? Or, since Tiberius, after so great an experience of affairs, has been convulsed and changed by the force of domination, will Gaius Caesar, his boyhood scarcely finished, ignorant of everything or nurtured on the worst things, take up better courses with Macro as his guide, who, chosen as the worse man to crush Sejanus, had buffeted the commonwealth through more crimes?

prospectare iam se acrius servitium eoque fugere simul acta et instantia. haec vatis in modum dictitans venas resolvit. documento sequentia erunt bene Arruntium morte usum.

that he now looked out more keenly upon servitude, and for that reason to flee at once the things done and the things pressing. Saying these things in the manner of a vates, he opened his veins. For proof the following will be: that Arruntius used death well.

Albucilla inrito ictu ab semet vulnerata iussu senatus in carcerem fertur. stuprorum eius ministri, Carsidius Sacerdos praetorius ut in insulam deportaretur, Pontius Fregellanus amitteret ordinem senatorium, et eaedem poenae in Laelium Balbum decernuntur, id quidem a laetantibus, quia Balbus truci eloquentia habebatur, promptus adversum insontis.

Albucilla, wounded by herself with an ineffectual blow, is borne to prison by order of the senate. the ministers of her debaucheries: that Carsidius Sacerdos, of praetorian rank, be deported to an island, that Pontius Fregellanus lose the senatorial order, and the same penalties are decreed against Laelius Balbus—this indeed amid rejoicing, because Balbus was held to be of truculent eloquence, prompt against the innocent.

[6.49] Isdem diebus Sex. Papinius consulari familia repentinum et informem exitum delegit, iacto in praeceps corpore. causa ad matrem referebatur, quae pridem repudiata adsentationibus atque luxu perpulisset iuvenem ad ea quorum effugium non nisi morte inveniret.

[6.49] In the same days Sextus Papinius, of a consular family, chose a sudden and formless exit, his body having been cast headlong. The cause was referred to his mother, who, long since repudiated, by adulations and luxury had driven the youth to those things whose escape he found only in death.

igitur accusata in senatu, quamquam genua patrum advolveretur luctumque communem et magis imbecillum tali super casu feminarum animum aliaque in eundem dolorem maesta et miseranda diu ferret, urbe tamen in decem annos prohibita est, donec minor filius lubricum iuventae exiret.

accordingly, accused in the senate, although
she would cling to the knees of the Fathers and plead a common mourning, and that the spirit of women is the more feeble in such a mischance,
and for a long time she brought forth other things mournful and pitiable into the same grief, nevertheless she was prohibited from the city for 10 years, until
her younger son passed out of youth’s slippery season.

[6.50] Iam Tiberium corpus, iam vires, nondum dissimulatio deserebat: idem animi rigor; sermone ac vultu intentus quaesita interdum comitate quamvis manifestam defectionem tegebat. mutatisque saepius locis tandem apud promunturium Miseni consedit in villa cui L. Lucullus quondam dominus. illic eum adpropinquare supremis tali modo compertum.

[6.50] Already Tiberius was being deserted by his body, already by his strength, not yet by his dissimulation: the same rigor of spirit; in speech
and countenance intent, he covered, by a comity at times contrived, even a manifest defection. And after changing his locations more often,
at last by the promontory of Misenum he settled in a villa whose owner once was L. Lucullus. There it was ascertained in such a manner
that he was approaching his last things.

erat medicus arte insignis, nomine Charicles, non quidem regere valetudines principis solitus, consilii tamen copiam praebere. is velut propria ad negotia digrediens et per speciem officii manum complexus pulsum venarum attigit. neque fefellit: nam Tiberius, incertum an offensus tantoque magis iram premens, instaurari epulas iubet discumbitque ultra solitum, quasi honori abeuntis amici tribueret.

There was a physician distinguished in his art, by name Charicles, not indeed accustomed to govern the princeps’s health, yet offering counsel in abundance. He, as if withdrawing to his own affairs, and under the appearance of office having clasped his hand, touched the pulse of his veins. Nor did it deceive him: for Tiberius, whether offended is uncertain, and so much the more suppressing his ire, orders the courses to be renewed and reclines beyond what was customary, as if he were attributing an honor to a friend who was departing.

Charicles tamen labi spiritum nec ultra biduum duraturum Macroni firmavit. inde cuncta conloquiis inter praesentis, nuntiis apud legatos et exercitus festinabantur. septimum decimum kal.

Charicles, however, confirmed to Macro that the breath was faltering and would not last beyond two days. inde
thence everything was being hastened by colloquies among those present, by messages to the legates and the armies. the seventeenth day before the Kalends.

Aprilis interclusa anima creditus est mortalitatem explevisse; et multo gratantum concursu ad capienda imperii primordia G. Caesar egrediebatur, cum repente adfertur redire Tiberio vocem ac visus vocarique qui recreandae defectioni cibum adferrent. pavor hinc in omnis, et ceteri passim dispergi, se quisque maestum aut nescium fingere; Caesar in silentium fixus a summa spe novissima expectabat. Macro intrepidus opprimi senem iniectu multae vestis iubet discedique ab limine.

In April, with his breath cut off, he was believed to have fulfilled mortality; and with a great concourse of congratulators to seize the primordia of the imperium G. Caesar was going out, when suddenly it is reported that voice and sight are returning to Tiberius and that those who might bring food to recreate the faintness were being summoned.
From this, panic into all, and the rest scatter everywhere, each one feigning himself sad or unknowing; Caesar, fixed in silence, from highest hope was awaiting the very latest developments.
Macro, intrepid, orders the old man to be oppressed by the throwing-on of many garments and that people withdraw from the threshold.

sic Tiberius finivit octavo et septuagesimo aetatis anno.

Thus Tiberius finished in the eight and seventieth year of his age.

[6.51] Pater ei Nero et utrimque origo gentis Claudiae, quamquam mater in Liviam et mox Iuliam familiam adoptionibus transierit. casus prima ab infantia ancipites; nam proscriptum patrem exul secutus, ubi domum Augusti privignus introiit, multis aemulis conflictatus est, dum Marcellus et Agrippa, mox Gaius Luciusque Caesares viguere; etiam frater eius Drusus prosperiore civium amore erat. sed maxime in lubrico egit accepta in matrimonium Iulia, impudicitiam uxoris tolerans aut declinans.

[6.51] His father was Nero, and on both sides his lineage was of the Claudian gens, although his mother passed by adoptions into the family of Livia and soon into the Julian family. His fortunes were precarious from earliest infancy; for, as an exile, he followed his proscribed father; when, as a stepson, he entered the house of Augustus, he was harried by many rivals, while Marcellus and Agrippa, and soon Gaius and Lucius Caesars, flourished; even his brother Drusus was in more prosperous favor with the citizens. But he moved especially on slippery ground after receiving Julia in marriage, tolerating or shunning the impudicity of his wife.

dein Rhodo regressus vacuos principis penatis duodecim annis, mox rei Romanae arbitrium tribus ferme et viginti obtinuit. morum quoque tempora illi diversa: egregium vita famaque quoad privatus vel in imperiis sub Augusto fuit; occultum ac subdolum fingendis virtutibus donec Germanicus ac Drusus superfuere; idem inter bona malaque mixtus incolumi matre; intestabilis saevitia sed obtectis libidinibus dum Seianum dilexit timuitve: postremo in scelera simul ac dedecora prorupit postquam remoto pudore et metu suo tantum ingenio utebatur.

then, returning from Rhodes,
he left the princeps’ Penates empty for twelve years; soon he obtained the arbitrament of the Roman commonwealth for almost twenty-three.
The seasons, too, of his character were diverse: outstanding in life and fame so long as he was a private man or in commands under Augustus; hidden and subdolous in the feigning of virtues until Germanicus and Drusus survived; the same, mixed among good and bad, while his mother still lived; unspeakable in savagery, but with his lusts covered, while he loved or feared Sejanus: at last he broke forth into crimes as well as disgraces, after shame and fear were removed and he relied on his own temperament alone.