Tacitus: ANNALES

[1] * * * nam Valerium Asiaticum, bis consulem, fuisse quondam adulterum eius credidit, pariterque hortis inhians, quos ille a Lucullo cooptos insigni magnificentia extollebat, Suillium accusandis utrisque immittit. adiungitur Sosibius Britannici educator qui per speciem benevolentiae moneret Claudium cavere vim atque opes principibus infensas: praecipoum auctorem Asiaticum interficiendi G. Caesaris non extimuisse contione in populi Romani fateri gloriamque facinoris ultro petere; clarum ex eo in urbe, didita per provincias fama parare iter ad Germanicos exercitus, quando genitus Viennae multisque et validis propinquitatibus subnixus turbare gentilis nationes promptum haberet. at Claudius nihil ultra scrutatus citis cum militibus tamquam opprimendo bello Crispinum praetorii praefectum misit, a quo repertus est apud Baias vinclisque inditis in urbem raptus.

[1] * * * for she believed that Valerius Asiaticus, twice consul, had once been her adulterer, and, likewise gaping after the gardens which he, acquired from Lucullus, was exalting with signal magnificence, she set Suillius on to prosecute both. There is added Sosibius, the tutor of Britannicus, who, under a show of benevolence, would warn Claudius to beware of force and wealth hostile to princes: that Asiaticus was the chief contriver of killing G. Caesar, had not quailed in an assembly of the Roman people to confess it, and to seek of his own accord the glory of the deed; that, famous from that in the city, and with the report spread through the provinces, he was preparing a road to the Germanic armies, since, born at Vienna and propped by many and powerful kinships, he would have readiness to disturb kindred nations. But Claudius, probing nothing further, sent with soldiers in haste, as if to crush a war, Crispinus, prefect of the praetorian guard, by whom he was found at Baiae and, chains put on, was snatched to the city.

[2] Neque data senatus copia: intra cubiculum auditur, Messalina coram et Suillio corruptionem militum, quos pecunia et stupro in omne flagitium obstrictos arguebat, exim adulterium Poppaeae, postremum mollitiam corporis obiectante. ad quod victo silentio prorupit reus et 'interroga' inquit, 'Suilli, filios tuos: virum esse me fatebuntur.' ingressusque defensionem, commoto maiorem in modum Claudio, Messalinae quoque lacrimas excivit. quibus abluendis cubiculo egrediens monet Vitellium ne elabi reum sineret: ipsa ad perniciem Poppaeae festinat, subditis qui terrore carceris ad voluntariam mortem propellerent, adeo ignaro Caesare ut paucos post dies epulantem apud se maritum eius Scipionem percontaretur cur sine uxore discubuisset, atque ille functam fato responderet.

[2] Nor was opportunity for the senate given: he is heard within the bedchamber, Messalina in person and Suilius alleging the corruption of the soldiers, whom he charged as bound to every scandal by money and debauchery; next, the adultery with Poppaea; lastly, objecting the softness of his body. At this the defendant burst forth from conquered silence and said, 'Ask, Suilius, your sons: they will confess that I am a man.' And, entering upon a defense, with Claudius moved in the highest degree, he even drew tears from Messalina. Going out of the chamber to wash away those tears, she warns Vitellius not to allow the defendant to slip away: she herself hastens to Poppaea’s destruction, with agents suborned to drive her, by the terror of prison, to a voluntary death—Caesar being so unaware that a few days later, while her husband Scipio was feasting at his place, he asked why he had reclined without his wife, and the man replied that she had met her fate.

[3] Sed consultanti super absolutione Asiatici flensVitellius, commemorata vetustate amicitiae utque Antoniam principis matrem pariter observavissent, dein percursis Asiatici in rem publicam officiis recentique adversus Britanniam militia, quaeque alia conciliandae misericordiae videbantur, liberum mortis arbitrium ei permisit; et secuta sunt Claudii verba in eandem clementiam. hortantibus dehinc quibusdam inediam et lenem exitum, remittere beneficium Asiaticus ait: et usurpatis quibus insueverat exercitationibus, lauto as corpore, hilare epulatus, cum se honestius calliditate Tiberii vel impetu G. Caesaris periturum dixisset quam quod fraude muliebri et impudico Vitellii ore caderet, venas exolvit, viso tamen ante rogo iussoque transferri partem in aliam ne opacitas arborum vapore ignis minueretur: tantum illi securitatis novissimae fuit.

[3] But as he was deliberating about the absolution of Asiaticus, Vitellius, weeping, after recalling the long-standing antiquity of their friendship and how they had together shown observance to Antonia, the prince’s mother, then running through Asiaticus’s services to the commonwealth and his recent military service against Britain, and whatever else seemed apt to conciliate mercy, granted to him a free choice of death; and words of Claudius followed to the same clemency. When certain persons then urged fasting and a gentle exit, Asiaticus said that he returned the favor: and, after resorting to the exercises to which he was accustomed, with his body washed and anointed, having feasted cheerfully, when he had said that he would have perished more honorably by the craft of Tiberius or the impetus of Gaius Caesar than by falling through womanly fraud and the shameless mouth of Vitellius, he opened his veins, yet first having looked upon the pyre and ordered a part to be transferred to another place lest the shading of the trees diminish the heat of the fire: such was his composure at the last.

[4] Vocantur post haec patres, pergitque Suillius addere reos equites Romanos inlustris, quibus Petra cognomentum. at causa necis ex eo quod domum suamMnesteris et Poppaeae congressibus praebuissent. verum nocturnae quietis species alteri obiecta, tamquam vidisset Claudium spicea corona evinctum spicis retro conversis, eaque imagine gravitatem annonae praedixisset.

[4] After these things the fathers are called, and Suillius goes on to add as defendants illustrious Roman knights, whose cognomen was Petra. But the cause of the killing was from this: that they had offered their house for the meetings of Mnester and Poppaea. Yet an apparition of nocturnal quiet was alleged against another, as though he had seen Claudius wreathed with a wheaten crown, the ears turned backward, and by that image had foretold the gravity of the annona (grain-supply).

quidam pampineam coronam albentibus foliis visam atque ita interpretatum tradidere, vergente autumno mortem principis ostendi. illud haud ambigitur, qualicumque insomnio ipsi fratrique perniciem adlatam. sestertium quindecies et insignia praeturae Crispino decreta.

Certain persons have handed down that a vine-wreath with whitish leaves was seen and thus interpreted: with autumn waning, the death of the prince was portended. This is not in doubt, that, whatever the dream, destruction was brought upon himself and upon his brother. To Crispinus were decreed 1,500,000 sesterces and the insignia of the praetorship.

adiecit Vitellius sestertium decies Sosibio, quod Britannicum praeceptis, Claudium consiliis iuvaret. rogatus sententiam et Scipio, 'cum idem' inquit 'de admissis Poppaeae sentiam quod omnes, putate me idem dicere quod omnes,' eleganti temperamento inter coniugalem amorem et senatoriam necessitatem.

Vitellius added 1,000,000 sesterces to Sosibius, because he aided Britannicus with precepts and Claudius with counsels. Asked for his opinion also Scipio said, “Since I feel the same about Poppaea’s transgressions as everyone, consider me to be saying the same as everyone,” an elegant temperamento between conjugal love and senatorial necessity.

[5] Continuus inde et saevus accusandis reis Suillius multique audaciae eius aemuli; nam cuncta legum et magistratuum munia in se trahens princeps materiam praedandi patefecerat. nec quicquam publicae mercis tam venale fuit quam advocatorum perfidia, adeo ut Samius, insignis eques Romanus, quadringentis nummorum milibus Suillio datis et cognita praevaricatione ferro in domo eius incubuerit. igitur incipiente C. Silio consule designato, cuius de potentia et exitio in tempore memorabo, consurgunt patres legemque Cinciam flagitant, qua cavetur antiquitus ne quis ob causam orandam pecuniam donumve accipiat.

[5] Thenceforth Suillius was continuous and savage in accusing defendants, and many were emulators of his audacity; for the princeps, drawing into himself all the functions of laws and magistracies, had laid open material for predation. Nor was anything in the public market so for sale as the perfidy of advocates, to such a degree that Samius, a distinguished Roman eques, after 400,000 sesterces had been given to Suillius and the prevarication detected, fell upon the blade in his house. Accordingly, with Gaius Silius, consul designate, beginning his activity—of whose power and downfall I shall relate in due time—the senators rose and demanded the Lex Cincia, by which it is provided from antiquity that no one receive money or a gift for pleading a cause.

[6] Deinde obstrepentibus iis quibus ea contumelia parabatur, discors Suillio Silius acriter incubuit, veterum oratorum exempla referens qui famam et posteros praemia eloquentiae cogitavissent. pulcherrimam alioquin et bonarum artium principem sordidis ministeriis foedari; ne fidem quidem integram manere uhi magnitudo quaestuum spectetur. quod si in nullius mercedem negotia agantur pauciora fore: nunc inimicitias accusationes, odia et iniurias foveri, ut quo modo vis morborum pretia medentibus, sic fori tabes pecuniam advocatis ferat.

[6] Then, as those against whom that contumely was being prepared were raising a din, Silius, at variance with Suillius, pressed hard, recalling examples of the old orators who had conceived fame and posterity as the rewards of eloquence. A thing most fair, and the chief of the good arts, is being defiled by sordid ministries; not even good faith remains intact where the magnitude of profits is looked to. But if business were conducted for no one’s fee, there would be fewer (cases): now enmities, accusations, hatreds and injuries are fostered, so that, just as the force of diseases brings fees to physicians, so the decay of the forum brings money to advocates.

meminissent Asinii, Messalae ac recentiorum Arruntii et Aesernini: ad summa provectos incorrupta vita et facundia. talia dicente consule designato, consentientibus aliis, parabatur sententia qua lege repetundarum tenerentur, cum Suillius et Cossutianus et ceteri qui non iudicium, quippe in manifestos, sed poenam statui videbant, circumsistunt Caesarem ante acta deprecantes.

let them remember Asinius, Messalla, and, more recently, Arruntius and Aeserninus: men advanced to the highest things by an uncorrupted life and by eloquence. as the consul-designate was saying such things, with the others agreeing, a motion was being prepared by which they would be held under the law on repetundae (extortions), when Suillius and Cossutianus and the rest, who saw that not a judgment—since the facts were manifest—but a penalty was being fixed, surround Caesar, pleading that the prior proceedings be set aside.

[7] Et postguam adnuit, agere incipiunt: quem illum tanta superbia esse ut aeternitatem famae spe praesumat? usui et rebus subsidium praeparari ne quis inopia advocatorum potentibus obnoxius sit. neque tamen eloquentiam gratuito contingere: omitti curas familiaris ut quis se alienis negotiis intendat.

[7] And after he nodded assent, they begin to press the case: who is that man, to be of such arrogance as to presume, on the hope of an eternity of fame? Let a subsidy be prepared for use and for affairs, lest anyone, through a lack of advocates, be subject to the powerful. Nor does eloquence, however, come gratuitously: household cares are set aside so that one may apply himself to other people’s business.

multos militia, quosdam exercendo agros tolerare vitam: nihil a quoquam expeti nisi cuius fructus ante providerit. facile Asinium et Messalam, inter Antonium et Augustum bellorum praemiis refertos, aut ditium familiarum heredes Aeserninos et Arruntios magnum animum induisse. prompta sibi exempla, quantis mercedibus P. Clodius aut C. Curio contionari soliti sint.

many sustain life by soldiery, some by working the fields: let nothing be sought from anyone unless the fruits have been foreseen beforehand. easily could Asinius and Messala, crammed with the prizes of the wars between Antony and Augustus, or the Aesernini and Arruntii, heirs of wealthy families, assume a great spirit. ready to hand were examples for themselves, with what fees P. Clodius or C. Curio were accustomed to harangue the assembly.

se modicos senatores qui quieta re publica nulla nisi pacis emolumenta peterent. cogitaret plebem quae toga enitesceret: sublatis studiorum pretiis etiam studia peritura. ut minus decora haec, ita haud frustra dicta princeps ratus, capiendis pecuniis posuit modum usque ad dena sestertia quem egressi repetundarum tenerentur.

that they were modest senators, who, with the republic quiet, sought nothing except the emoluments of peace. Let him consider the plebs, who would shine in the toga: with the prices/rewards of studies removed, even the studies would be about to perish. Though these things were less decorous, yet the Princeps judged them not said in vain, and in the taking of monies he set down a limit up to ten thousand sesterces, and those who went beyond it were to be held liable for extortions.

[8] Sub idem tempus Mithridates, quem imperitasse Armeniis iussuque G. Caesaris vinctum memoravi, monente Claudio in regnum remeavit, fisus Pharasmanis opibus. is rex Hiberis idemque Mithridatis frater nuntiabat discordare Parthos summaque imperii ambigua, minora sine cura haberi. nam Gotarzes inter pleraque saeva necem fratri Artabano coningique ac filio eius paraverat, unde metus [eius] in ceteros, et accivere Vardanen.

[8] At about the same time Mithridates, whom I have recorded to have ruled the Armenians and, by the order of G. Caesar, to have been bound, at Claudius’s prompting returned to his kingdom, relying on the resources of Pharasmanes. He—king of the Iberians and likewise brother of Mithridates—reported that the Parthians were in discord and that the summum of the empire was ambiguous, lesser matters being held without care. For Gotarzes, among many savage deeds, had prepared the death of his brother Artabanus and of his wife and his son; whence fear [his] among the rest, and they summoned Vardanes.

ille, ut erat magnis ausis promptus, biduo tria milia stadiorum invadit ignarumque et exterritum Gotarzen proturbat; neque cunctatur quin proximas praefecturas corripiat, solis Seleucensibus dominationem eius abnuentibus. in quos ut patris sui quoque defectores ira magis quam ex usu praesenti accensus, implicatur obsidione urbis validae et munimentis obiecti amnis muroque et commeatibus firmatae. interim Gotarzes Daharum Hyrcanorumque opibus auctus bellum renovat, coactusque Vardanes omittere Seleuciam Bactrianos apud campos castra contulit.

he, as he was prompt to great ventures, in two days overran three thousand stadia and drove the unsuspecting and terror‑struck Gotarzes into rout; nor does he hesitate to seize the nearest prefectures, the Seleucians alone refusing his domination. Against them, as deserters of his father as well, inflamed by anger rather than acting to present advantage, he becomes entangled in the siege of a strong city, fortified by the muniments of an interposed river and a wall, and by supplies. Meanwhile Gotarzes, augmented by the resources of the Dahae and Hyrcanians, renews the war, and Vardanes, compelled to abandon Seleucia, pitched camp on the Bactrian plains.

[9] Tunc distractis Orientis viribus et quonam inclinarent incertis, casus Mithridati datus est occupandi Armeniam, vi militis Romani ad excindenda castellorum ardua, simul Hibero exercitu campos persultante. nec enim restitere Armenii, fuso qui proelium ausus erat Demonacte praefecto. paululum cunctationis attulit rex minoris Armeniae Cotys, versis illuc quibusdam procerum; dein litteris Caesaris coercitus, et cuncta in Mithridaten fluxere, atrociorem quam novo regno conduceret.

[9] Then, with the forces of the East distracted and uncertain to which side they would incline, a chance was given to Mithridates of occupying Armenia, by the force of the Roman soldier for razing the steep heights of the forts, while at the same time the Iberian army was bounding over the plains. For the Armenians did not make a stand, once Demonax the prefect—who had dared a battle—was routed. A little delay was brought by Cotys, king of Lesser Armenia, with certain magnates turned thither; then, coerced by Caesar’s letters, and all things flowed toward Mithridates—more atrocious than was conducive to a new kingdom.

at Parthi imperatores cum pugnam pararent, foedus repente iaciunt cognitis popularium insidiis quas Gotarzes fratri patefecit; congressique primo cunctanter, dein complexi dextras apud altaria deum pepigere s fraudem inimicorum ulcisci atque ipsi inter se concedere. potiorque Vardanes visus retinendo regno: at Gotarzes ne quid aemulationis existeret penitus in Hyrcaniam abiit. regressoque Vardani deditur Seleucia septimo post defectionem anno, non sine dedecore Parthorum quos una civibas tam diu eluserat.

But the Parthian commanders, when they were preparing for battle, suddenly strike a treaty, the plots of their compatriots having been learned, which Gotarzes disclosed to his brother; and having come together at first hesitantly, then, having clasped right hands at the altars of the gods, they covenanted to avenge the fraud of their enemies and themselves to make concessions between one another. And Vardanes seemed the stronger for retaining the kingdom; but Gotarzes, lest anything of emulation (rivalry) should arise, withdrew deep into Hyrcania. And with Vardanes returned, Seleucia was surrendered in the seventh year after the defection, not without disgrace to the Parthians, whom a single city with its citizens had so long eluded.

[10] Exim validissimas praefecturas invisit; et reciperare Armeniam avebat, ni a Vibio Marso, Syriae legato, bellum minitante cohibitus foret. atque interim Gotarzes paenitentia concessi regni et vocante nobilitate, cui in pace durius servitium est, contrahit copias. et hinc contra itum ad amnem Erinden; in cuius transgressu multum certato pervicit Vardanes, prosperisque proeliis medias nationes subegit ad flumen Sinden, quod Dahas Ariosque disterminat.

[10] Then he visited the most powerful prefectures; and he was eager to recapture Armenia, had he not been restrained by Vibius Marsus, the legate of Syria, threatening war. And meanwhile Gotarzes, repenting of the kingdom he had conceded and with the nobility calling him— to whom in peace servitude is the harsher—concentrates forces. And thence a counter-march was made to the river Erindes; in the crossing of which, much contested, Vardanes prevailed, and with prosperous battles he subjugated the central nations up to the river Sindes, which demarcates the Dahae and the Arii.

ibi modus rebus secundis positus: nam Parthi quamquam victores longinquam militiam aspernabantur. igitur extructis monimentis, quibus opes suas testabatur nec cuiquam ante Arsacidarum tributa illis de gentibus parta, regreditur ingens gloria atque eo ferocior et subiectis intolerantior; qui dolo ante composito incautum venationique intentum interfecere, primam intra iuventam, sed claritudine paucos inter senum regum, si perinde amorem inter popularis quam metum apud hostis quaesivisset. nece Vardanis turbatae Parthorum res inter ambiguos quis in regnum acciperetur.

there a limit was set to favorable fortunes: for the Parthians, although victors, spurned a long-journeying soldiery. therefore, with monuments erected, by which he attested his wealth, and with tributes from those nations won—such as had been granted to none before of the Arsacids—he returns with huge glory, and for that very reason fiercer and more intolerant toward his subjects; who, by a plot previously contrived, slew him off his guard and intent on venation, in the first flower of youth—but in renown leaving few even among the elder kings his equals—if only he had sought love among his compatriots as much as fear among his enemies. by the slaying of Vardanes the affairs of the Parthians were thrown into turmoil, amid uncertainty as to who should be accepted into the kingship.

multi ad Gotarzen inclinabant, quidam ad Meherdaten prolem Phraatis, obsidio nobis datum: dein praevaluit Gotarzes; potitusque regiam per saevitiam ac luxum adegit Parthos re s mittere ad principem Romanum occultas preces, quis permitti Meherdaten patrium ad fastigium orabant.

many inclined toward Gotarzes, some toward Meherdates, the progeny of Phraates, a hostage given to us; then Gotarzes prevailed; and, having gained the kingdom, through cruelty and luxury he drove the Parthians to send to the Roman princeps secret petitions, in which they begged that Meherdates be permitted to the paternal eminence.

[11] Isdem consulibus ludi saeculares octingentesimo post Romam conditam, quarto et sexagesimo quam Augustus ediderat, spectati sunt. utriusque principis rationes praetermitto, satis narratas libris quibus res imperatoris Domitiani composui. nam is quoque edidit ludos saecularis iisque intentius adfui sacerdotio quindecimvirali praeditus ac tunc praetor; quod non iactantia refero sed quia collegio quindecimvirum antiquitus ea cura et magistratus potissimum exequebantur officia caerimoniarum.

[11] Under the same consuls, the Secular Games were witnessed in the eight hundredth year after Rome was founded, and in the sixty-fourth since Augustus had exhibited them. I pass over the computations of both principes, sufficiently related in the books in which I composed the affairs of the emperor Domitian. For he too exhibited the Secular Games, and I attended them the more intently, endowed with the quindecimviral priesthood and at that time praetor; which I do not report out of vaunting, but because from antiquity that care belonged to the College of the Fifteen, and magistrates most especially executed the offices of the ceremonies.

sedente Claudio circensibus ludis, cum pueri nobiles equis ludicrum Troiae inirent interque eos Britannicus imperatore genitus et L. Domitius adoptione mox in imperium et cognomentum Neronis adscitus, favor plebis acrior in Domitium loco praesagii acceptus est. vulgabaturque adfuisse infantiae eius dracones in modum custodum, fabulosa et externis miraculis adsimilata: nam ipse, haudquaquam sui detractor, unam omnino anguem in cubiculo visam narrare solitus est.

with Claudius sitting at the circus games, when noble boys on horseback were entering upon the Troy-game, and among them Britannicus, begotten of the emperor, and L. Domitius, soon by adoption to be admitted into the imperium and the cognomen of Nero, the keener favor of the plebs toward Domitius was taken as a kind of presage. And it was bruited about that dragons had been present to his infancy in the manner of guardians, a fabulous tale and assimilated to foreign miracles: for he himself, by no means a detractor of himself, was accustomed to tell that one single snake had been seen in his bedchamber.

[12] Verum inclinatio populi supererat ex memoria Germanici, cuius illa reliqua suboles virilis; et matri Agrippinae miseratio augebatur ob saevitiam Messalinae, quae semper infesta et tunc commotior quo minus strueret crimina et accusatores novo et furori proximo amore distinebatur. nam in C. Silium, iuventutis Romanae pulcherrimum, ita exarserat ut Iuniam Silanam, nobilem feminam, matrimonio eius exturbaret vacuoque adultero poteretur. neque Silius flagitii aut periculi nescius erat: sed certo si abnueret exitio et non nulla fallendi spe, simul magnis praemiis, operire futura et praesentibus frui pro solacio habebat.

[12] True, however, the inclination of the populace persisted from the memory of Germanicus, of whom that one was the remaining male offspring; and commiseration for his mother Agrippina was increased on account of the savagery of Messalina, who, ever hostile and then more agitated, was, in proportion as she was the less contriving charges and accusers, detained by a new love bordering on frenzy. For toward Gaius Silius, the most handsome of Roman youth, she had so flared up that she drove Junia Silana, a noble woman, out of his marriage and might possess the adulterer with the marriage emptied. Nor was Silius unaware of the scandal or the danger: but, with certain destruction if he refused, and with no small hope of deceiving, together with great rewards, he counted it a solace to cover the future and to enjoy the present.

illa non furtim sed multo comitatu ventitare domum, egressibus adhaerescere, largiri opes honores; postremo, velut translata iam fortuna, servi liberti paratus principis apud adulterum visebantur.

she did not furtively but with a large retinue keep frequenting the house, cling to his goings-out, and lavish wealth and honors; finally, as if Fortune were now transferred, the slaves, freedmen, and the apparatus of the princeps were to be seen at the adulterer’s.

[13] At Claudius matrimonii sui ignarus et munia censoria usurpans, theatralem populi lasciviam severis edictis increpuit, quod in Publium Pomponium consularem (is carmina scaenae dabat) inque feminas inlustris probra iecerat. et lege lata saevitiam creditorum coercuit, ne in mortem parentum pecunias filiis familiarum faenori darent. fontisque aquarum Simbruinis collibus deductos urbi intulit.

[13] But Claudius, unaware of his own marriage and usurping the censorial duties, rebuked the theatrical licentiousness of the people with severe edicts, because they had hurled insults at Publius Pomponius, a consular (he was producing stage songs), and at illustrious women. And by a law passed he restrained the savagery of creditors, so that they should not give moneys at interest to sons of households on the contingency of their parents’ death. And he brought into the city springs of water conducted from the Simbruine hills.

ac novas litterarum formas addidit vulgavitque, comperto Graecam quoque litteraturam non simul coeptam absolutamque.

and he added and published new forms of letters, having ascertained that the Greek alphabet too had not been begun and completed at the same time.

[14] Primi per figuras animalium Aegyptii sensus mentis effingebant (ea antiquissima monimenta memoriae humanae impressa saxis cernuntur), et litterarum semet inventores perhibent; inde Phoenicas, quia mari praepollebant, intulisse Graeciae gloriamque adeptos, tamquam reppererint quae acceperant. quippe fama est Cadmum classe Phoenicum vectum rudibus adhuc Graecorum populis artis eius auctorem fuisse. quidam Cecropem Atheniensem vel Linum Thebanum et temporibus Troianis Palamedem Argivum memorant sedecim litterarum formas, mox alios ac praecipuum Simoniden ceteras repperisse.

[14] The Egyptians were the first to portray the senses of the mind through figures of animals (those most ancient monuments of human memory, impressed on stones, are seen), and they assert themselves the inventors of letters; thereafter the Phoenicians, because they excelled on the sea, brought them into Greece and obtained the glory, as though they had discovered what they had received. Indeed the report is that Cadmus, borne by a fleet of Phoenicians, was the author of that art for the peoples of the Greeks, still rude. Some recount Cecrops the Athenian or Linus the Theban, and, in the times of the Trojans, Palamedes the Argive, as having discovered the forms of sixteen letters, later others, and, preeminent, Simonides discovered the rest.

at in Italia Etrusci ab Corinthio Demarato, Aborigines Arcade ab Evandro didicerunt; et forma litteris Latinis quae veterrimis Graecorum. sed nobis quoque paucae primum fuere, deinde additae sunt. quo exemplo Claudius tres litteras adiecit, quae usui imperitante eo, post oblitteratae, aspiciuntur etiam nunc in aere +publico+ dis plebiscitis per fora ac templa fixo.

but in Italy the Etruscans learned from the Corinthian Demaratus, the Aborigines, Arcadians, from Evander; and the form for Latin letters is that of the most ancient of the Greeks. But for us too at first there were few, then additions were made. Following this example, Claudius added three letters, which, being in use under his rule, afterwards obliterated, are seen even now on the +public+ bronze, on plebiscites fixed throughout the fora and temples.

[15] Rettulit deinde ad senatum super collegio haruspicum, ne vetustissima Italiae disciplina per desidiam exolesceret: saepe adversis rei publicae temporibus accitos, quorum monitu redintegratas caerimonias et in posterum rectius habitas; primoresque Etruriae sponte aut patrum Romanorum impulsu retinuisse scientiam et in familias propagasse: quod nunc segnius fieri publica circa bonas artes socordia, et quia externae superstitiones valescant. et laeta quidem in praesens omnia, sed benignitati deum gratiam referendam, ne ritus sacrorum inter ambigua culti per prospera oblitterarentur. factum ex eo senatus consultum, viderent pontifices quae retinenda firmandaque haruspicum.

[15] He then reported to the senate concerning the college of the haruspices, lest the most ancient discipline of Italy should waste away through idleness: that they had often been summoned in adverse times of the republic, at whose monition the ceremonies had been reintegrated and thereafter held more correctly; and that the leading men of Etruria, either of their own accord or at the impulse of the Roman Fathers, had retained the knowledge and propagated it within their families: that now this is being done more sluggishly through public slothfulness regarding the good arts, and because foreign superstitions are gaining strength. And indeed all things are cheerful for the present, but gratitude ought to be rendered to the benignity of the gods, lest the rites of the sacred, cultivated amid ambiguities, be obliterated by prosperities. In consequence a senatorial decree was made, that the pontifices should see to what of the haruspices’ [discipline] was to be retained and strengthened.

[16] Eodem anno Cheruscorum gens regem Roma petivit, amissis per interna bella nobilibus et uno reliquo stirpis regiae, qui apud urbem habebatur nomine Italicus. paternum huic genus e Flavo fratre Arminii, mater ex Actumero principe Chattorum erat; ipse forma decorus et armis equisque in patrium nostrumque morem exercitus. igitur Caesar auctum pecunia, additis stipatoribus, hortatur gentile decus magno animo capessere: illum primum Romae ortum nec obsidem, sed civem ire externum ad imperium.

[16] In the same year the nation of the Cherusci sought a king from Rome, their nobles lost through internal wars, with one only of the royal stock remaining, who was kept at the City, by name Italicus. His paternal lineage was from Flavus, brother of Arminius; his mother was from Actumerus, a prince of the Chatti; he himself was comely in form and trained in arms and horses according to the ancestral and our own custom. Therefore Caesar, with his resources increased by money and bodyguards added, exhorts him to take up with great spirit the honor of his race: that he, the first born at Rome, should go, not as a hostage but as a citizen, a foreigner, to sovereign power.

ac primo laetus Germanis adventus atque eo quod nullis discordiis imbutus pari in omnis studio ageret celebrari, coli, modo comitatem et temperantiam, nulli invisa, saepius vinolentiam ac libidines, grata barbaris, usurpans. iamque apud proximos, iam longius clarescere, cum potentiam eius suspectantes qui factionibus floruerant discedunt ad conterminos populos ac testificantur adimi veterem Germaniae libertatem et Romanas opes insurgere. adeo neminem isdem in terris ortum qui principem locum impleat, nisi exploratoris Flavi progenies super cunctos attollatur?

and at first his arrival was welcome to the Germans, and because, imbued with no discords, he conducted himself with equal zeal toward all, contriving to be celebrated and to be cultivated—now practicing comity and temperance, offensive to no one; more often vinolence and lusts, pleasing to barbarians. And now among the nearest, now farther afield, he began to grow illustrious, when those who had flourished by factions, suspecting his power, withdraw to the conterminous peoples and testify that the ancient liberty of Germany is being taken away and Roman might is rising. So then, is there no one born in the same lands who can fill the princely place, unless the offspring of the scout Flavus be lifted above all?

frustra Arminium praescribi: cuius si filius hostili in solo adultus in regnum venisset, posse extimesci, infectum alimonio servitio cultu, omnibus externis: at si paterna Italico mens esset, non alium infensius arma contra patriam ac deos penatis quam parentem eius exercuisse.

Arminius is cited in vain as a precedent: if his son, grown up on hostile soil, had come to the kingship, he could be dreaded, tainted by nurture, servitude, and culture—by everything external: but if a paternal mind were in Italicus, no one had more inimically wielded arms against his fatherland and the Penates (household gods) than his parent.

[17] His atque talibus magnas copias coegere, nec pauciores Italicum sequebantur. non enim inrupisse ad invitos sed accitum memorabat, quando nobilitate ceteros anteiret: virtutem experirentur, an dignum se patruo Arminio, avo Actumero praeberet. nec patrem rubori, quod fidem adversus Romanos volentibus Germanis sumptam numquam omisisset.

[17] By these and suchlike means they gathered great forces, nor were fewer following Italicus. For he was affirming that he had not burst in upon the unwilling but had been summoned, since he surpassed the rest in nobility: let them test his virtue, whether he would show himself worthy of his uncle Arminius, his grandsire Actumerus. And that his father was not a disgrace, because he had never abandoned the faith toward the Romans, assumed with the Germans consenting.

falso libertatis vocabulum obtendi ab iis qui privatim degeneres, in publicum exitiosi, ninil spei nisi per discordias habeant. adstrepebat huic alacre vulgus; et magno inter barbaros proelio victor rex, dein secunda fortuna ad superbiam prolapsus pulsusque ac rursus Langobardorum opibus refectus per laeta per adversa res Cheruscas adflictabat.

the name of liberty was falsely put forward by those who, degenerate in private, ruinous in public, have nothing of hope except through discords. To this the eager vulgus clamored; and the king, victor in a great battle among the barbarians, then by favorable fortune having slipped into superbia, driven out and again restored by the resources of the Langobards, through prosperities and adversities battered the Cheruscan state.

[18] Per idem tempus Chauci nulla dissensione domi et morte Sanquinii alacres, dum Corbulo adventat, inferiorem Germaniam incursavere duce Gannasco, qui natione Canninefas, auxiliare stipendium meritus, post transfuga, levibus navigiis praedabundus Gallorum maxime oram vastabat, non ignarus ditis et imbellis esse. at Corbulo provinciam ingressus magna cum cura et mox gloria, cui principium illa militia fuit, triremis alveo Rheni, ceteras navium, ut quaeque habiles, per aestuaria et fossas adegit; luntribusque hostium depressis et exturbato Gannasco, ubi praesentia satis composita sunt, legiones operum et laboris ignavas, populationibus laetantis, veterem ad morem reduxit, ne quis agmine decederet nec pugnam nisi iussus iniret. stationes vigiliae, diurna nocturnaque munia in armis agitabantur; feruntque militem quia vallum non accinctus, atque alium quia pugione tantum accinctus foderet, morte punitos.

[18] At the same time the Chauci, with no dissension at home and made brisk by the death of Sanquinius, while Corbulo was on the way, raided Lower Germany under the leader Gannascus, who by nation was a Canninefas, having earned pay as an auxiliary, later a transfuge, and, marauding with light vessels, was laying waste especially the shore of the Gauls, not unaware that it was wealthy and unwarlike. But Corbulo, having entered the province with great care and soon with glory— for whom that soldiery was the beginning— drove triremes into the channel of the Rhine, and the rest of the ships, as each was serviceable, through the estuaries and canals; and with the enemy’s skiffs sunk and Gannascus dislodged, when the present matters were sufficiently set in order, he brought the legions—sluggish for works and toil, exulting in depredations—back to the old custom, that no one should leave the marching column, nor enter a battle unless ordered. Outposts, watches, the duties of day and night were conducted under arms; and they relate that a soldier, because he dug the rampart not girt with his belt, and another because he dug girt only with a dagger, were punished with death.

quae nimia et incertum an falso iacta originem tamen e severitate ducis traxere; intentumque et magnis delictis inexorabilem scias cui tantum asperitatis etiam adversus levia credebatur.

which, excessive and whether falsely alleged is uncertain, nevertheless drew their origin from the severity of the commander; and you may know him as intent and inexorable toward great delicts, to whom so much harshness was credited as even against slight ones.

[19] Ceterum is terror milites hostisque in diversum adfecit: nos virtutem auximus, barbari ferociam infregere. et natio Frisiorum, post rebellionem clade L. Apronii coeptam infensa aut male fida, datis obsidibus consedit apud agros a Corbulone descriptos: idem senatum, magistratus, leges imposuit. ac ne iussa exuerent praesidium immunivit, missis qui maiores Chaucos ad deditionem pellicerent, simul Gannascum dolo adgrederentur.

[19] But that terror affected the soldiers and the enemy in opposite ways: we augmented our valor, the barbarians had their ferocity broken. And the nation of the Frisians, after the rebellion begun with the disaster of L. Apronius, hostile or ill-trusting, after hostages were given, settled upon the fields marked out by Corbulo: the same man imposed a senate, magistrates, and laws. And lest they cast off his commands, he fortified a garrison, sending men to entice the Greater Chauci to surrender, and at the same time to attack Gannascus by guile.

nec inritae aut degeneres insidiae fuere adversus transfugam et violatorem fidei. sed cacde eius motae Chaucorum mentes, et Corbulo semina rebellionis praebebat, ut laeta apud plerosque, ita apud quosdam sinistra fama. cur hostem conciret?

nor were the ambushes unavailing or degenerate against the deserter and violator of good faith. But by his slaughter the minds of the Chauci were stirred, and Corbulo was supplying the seeds of rebellion—a report joyful among most, yet among some sinister. Why was he rousing the enemy?

adversa in rem publicam casura: sin prospere egisset, formidolosum paci virum insignem et ignavo principi praegravem. igitur Claudius adeo novam in Germanias vim prohibuit ut referri praesidia cis Rhenum iuberet.

adverse consequences would befall the commonwealth: but if he had prospered, a man formidable to peace, distinguished, and oppressive to a slothful prince. therefore Claudius so far prohibited new force into the Germanies that he ordered the garrisons to be brought back on this side of the Rhine.

[20] Iam castra in hostili solo molienti Corbuloni eae litterae redduntur. ille re subita, quamquam multa simul offunderentur, metus ex imperatore, contemptio ex barbaris, ludibrium apud socios, nihil aliud prolocutus quam 'beatos quondam duces Romanos,' signum receptui dedit. ut tamen miles otium exueret, inter Mosam Rhenumque trium et viginti milium spatio fossam perduxit, qua incerta Oceani vitarentur.

[20] Already, as Corbulo was constructing a camp on hostile soil, those letters were delivered to him. He, at the sudden turn—although many things at once were being thrust upon him: fear from the emperor, contempt from the barbarians, derision among the allies—having uttered nothing other than 'happy once were the Roman generals,' gave the signal for retreat. Yet, so that the soldiery might cast off idleness, between the Meuse and the Rhine he carried a trench through a distance of twenty-three miles, whereby the uncertainties of the Ocean might be avoided.

insignia tamen triumphi indulsit Caesar, quamvis bellum negavisset.
Nec multo post Curtius Rufus eundem honorem adipiscitur, qui in agro Mattiaco recluserat specus quaerendis venis argenti; unde tenuis fructus nec in longum fuit: at legionibus cum damno labor, effodere rivos, quaeque in aperto gravia, humum infra moliri. quis subactus miles, et quia pluris per provincias similia tolerabantur, componit occultas litteras nomine exercituum, precantium imperatorem, ut, quibus permissurus esset exercitus, triumphalia ante tribueret.

yet Caesar indulged the insignia of a triumph, although he had denied it to be a war.
Nor long after, Curtius Rufus attains the same honor, who in the Mattiacian territory had opened shafts in quest of silver veins; whence the profit was slight and not for long: but for the legions the toil came with loss—digging channels, and, things that are onerous in the open, contriving them beneath the ground. By these the soldier was overdriven, and because many similar burdens were being endured through the provinces, he drafts secret letters in the name of the armies, beseeching the emperor that, to those to whom he was going to permit armies, he would grant triumphal distinctions beforehand.

[21] De origine Curtii Rufi, quem gladiatore genitum quidam prodidere, neque falsa prompserim et vera exequi pudet. postquam adolevit, sectator quaestoris, cui Africa obtigerat, dum in oppido Adrumeto vacuis per medium diei porticibus secretus agitat, oblata ei species muliebris ultra modum humanum et audita est vox 'tu es, Rufe, qui in hanc provinciam pro consule venies.' tali omine in spem sublatus degressusque in urbem largitione amicorum, simul acri ingenio quaesturam et mox nobilis inter candidatos praeturam principis suffragio adsequitur, cum hisce verbis Tiberius dedecus natalium eius velavisset: 'Curtius Rufus videtur mihi ex se natus.' longa post haec senecta, et adversus superiores tristi adulatione, adrogans minoribus, inter pares difficilis, consulare imperium, triumphi insignia ac postremo Africam obtinuit; atque ibi defunctus fatale praesagium implevit.

[21] About the origin of Curtius Rufus, whom certain men have handed down as begotten by a gladiator, I would not bring forth falsehoods, and I am ashamed to set forth the true. After he grew up, a follower of a quaestor to whom Africa had fallen by lot, while in the town of Hadrumetum, alone turning things over through the colonnades empty at the middle of the day, there appeared to him a female form beyond the human measure, and a voice was heard: 'You are, Rufus, the one who will come into this province as proconsul.' Lifted into hope by such an omen and, having gone down to the city, by the generosity of friends—together with a keen talent—he attains the quaestorship and soon, with nobles among the candidates, the praetorship by the princeps’ suffrage, when by these words Tiberius had veiled the disgrace of his birth: 'Curtius Rufus seems to me to be born from himself.' After these things, in a long old age, and with gloomy adulation toward his superiors, arrogant to his inferiors, difficult among his peers, he obtained a consular imperium, the insignia of a triumph, and at last Africa; and there, having died, he fulfilled the fated presage.

[22] Interea Romae, nullis palam neque cognitis mox causis, Cn. Nonius eques Romanus ferro accinctus reperitur in coetu salutantum principem. nam postquam tormentis dilaniabatur, de se non infitiatus conscios non edidit, in certum an occultans.
Isdem consulibus P. Dolabella censuit spectaculum gladiatorum per omnis annos celebrandum pecunia eorum qui quaesturam adipiscerentur.

[22] Meanwhile at Rome, with no causes openly alleged and none soon known, Gnaeus Nonius, a Roman eques, was found girded with steel in the crowd of those saluting the princeps. For after he was torn by tortures, not denying things about himself, he did not disclose accomplices—uncertain whether because there were none or he was concealing them.
Under the same consuls, Publius Dolabella proposed that a spectacle of gladiators be celebrated every year with the money of those who should obtain the quaestorship.

apud maiores virtutis id praemium fuerat, cunctisque civium, si bonis artibus fiderent, licitum petere magistratus; ac ne aetas quidem distinguebatur quin prima iuventa consulatum et dictaturas inirent. sed quaestores regibus etiam tum imperantibus instituti sunt, quod lex curiata ostendit ab L. Bruto repetita. mansitque consulibus potestas deligendi, donec cum quoque honorem populus mandaret.

among the ancestors, that had been the prize of virtue, and it was permitted to all the citizens, if they trusted in good arts, to seek the magistrates; nor was age even distinguished, so that in earliest youth they entered upon the consulship and dictatorships. but the quaestors were instituted even while the kings were still commanding, as the Curiate Law, renewed by Lucius Brutus, shows. and the power of choosing remained with the consuls, until the people also should entrust that honor.

creatique primum Valerius Potitus et Aemilius Mamercus sexagesimo tertio anno post Tarquinios exactos, ut rem militarem comitarentur. dein gliscentibus negotiis duo additi qui Romae curarent: mox duplicatus numerus, stipendiaria iam Italia et accedentibus provinciarum vectigalibus: post lege Sullae viginti creati supplendo senatui, cui indicia tradiderat. et quamquam equites iudicia reciperavissent, quaestura tamen ex dignitate candidatorum aut facilitate tribuentium gratuito concedebatur, donec sententia Dolabellae velut venundaretur.

and first Valerius Potitus and Aemilius Mamercus were created, in the sixty‑third year after the Tarquins were driven out, to accompany the military enterprise. then, as affairs were swelling, two were added to attend to matters at Rome: soon the number was doubled, Italy now stipendiary and with the revenues of the provinces acceding; afterward, by Sulla’s law, twenty were created for replenishing the senate, to which he had transferred the iudicia. and although the equestrian order had recovered the iudicia, yet the quaestorship, out of regard for the dignity of the candidates or the liberality of those granting it, was conceded gratis, until by Dolabella’s motion it was, as it were, put up for sale.

[23] A. Vitellio L. Vipstano consulibus cum de supplendo senatu agitaretur primoresque Galliae, quae Comata appellatur, foedera et civitatem Romanam pridem adsecuti, ius adipiscendorum in urbe honorum expeterent, multus ea super re variusque rumor. et studiis diversis apud principem certabatur adseverantium non adeo aegram Italiam ut senatum suppeditare urbi suae nequiret. suffecisse olim indigenas consanguineis populis nec paenitere veteris rei publicae.

[23] Under the consulship of Aulus Vitellius and Lucius Vipstanus, when the replenishing of the senate was being debated and the leading men of Gaul, which is called Comata, who had long since obtained treaties and Roman citizenship, were seeking the right of obtaining honors in the city, there was much and various rumor about the matter. And with opposing enthusiasms there was contention before the emperor, some asserting that Italy was not so ailing as to be unable to furnish a senate for its own city. In former times indigenous men had sufficed for consanguineous peoples, nor was there any repentance of the old commonwealth.

quin adhuc memorari exempla quae priscis moribus ad virtutem et gloriam Romana indoles prodiderit. an parum quod Veneti et Insubres curiam inruperint, nisi coetus alienigenarum velut captivitas inferatur? quem ultra honorem residuis nobilium, aut si quis pauper e Latio senator foret?

Nay rather, let even now be recalled the exempla which, under ancient mores, the Roman temperament has handed down toward virtue and glory. Or is it too little that the Veneti and Insubres should have burst into the Curia, unless assemblies of the foreign-born be brought in, as though a captivity be imposed? What honor remains beyond this for the rest of the nobility, or if some poor man from Latium were a senator?

oppleturos omnia divites illos, quorum avi proavique hostilium nationum duces exercitus nostros ferro vique ceciderint, divum Iulium apud Alesiam obsederint. recentia haec: quid si memoria eorum moreretur qui sub Capitolio et arce Romana manibus eorundem perissent satis: fruerentur sane vocabulo civitatis: insignia patrum, decora magistratuum ne vulgarent.

that those wealthy men would overwhelm everything, whose grandfathers and great-grandfathers, leaders of hostile nations, cut down our armies by iron and by force, besieged the deified Julius at Alesia. these things are recent: what if the memory of those who under the Capitol and the Roman citadel had perished by the hands of those same men were to die? enough: let them indeed enjoy the name of citizenship: let them not vulgarize the insignia of the fathers, the decora of magistracies.

[24] His atque talibus haud permotus princeps et statim contra disseruit et vocato senatu ita exorsus est: 'maiores mei, quorum antiquissimus Clausus origine Sabina simul in civitatem Romanam et in familias patriciorum adscitus est, hortantur uti paribus consiliis in re publica capessenda, transferendo huc quod usquam egregium fuerit. neque enim ignoro Iulios Alba, Coruncanios Camerio, Porcios Tusculo, et ne vetera scrutemur, Etruria Lucaniaque et omni Italia in senatum accitos, postremo ipsam ad Alpis promotam ut non modo singuli viritim, sed terrae, gentes in nomen nostrum coalescerent. tunc solida domi quies et adversos externa floruimus, cum Transpadani in civitatem recepti, cum specie deductarum per orbem terrae legionum additis provincialium validissimis fesso imperio subventum est.

[24] Not at all moved by these and suchlike things, the princeps immediately argued in reply, and, the senate having been called, began thus: 'My ancestors, the most ancient of whom, Clausus, of Sabine origin, was at the same time admitted into the Roman commonwealth and into the families of the patricians, urge me to take up the republic with like counsels, by transferring hither whatever has been excellent anywhere. For I am not unaware that the Julii were from Alba, the Coruncanii from Camerium, the Porcii from Tusculum; and, not to rummage ancient matters, that from Etruria and Lucania and all Italy men were called into the senate, and finally that the state itself was pushed forward to the Alps, so that not only individuals, man by man, but lands, peoples might coalesce into our name. Then there was solid quiet at home, and we flourished against foreign foes, when the Transpadani were received into citizenship, when, under the show of legions settled throughout the circle of the earth, with the strongest of the provincials added, help was brought to a weary empire.'

num paenitet Balbos ex Hispania nec rninus insignis viros e Gallia Narbonensi transivisse? manent posteri eorum nec amore in hanc patriam nobis concedunt. quid aliud exitio Lacedaemoniis et Atheniensibus fuit, quamquam armis pollerent, nisi quod victos pro alienigenis arcebant?

Are we to regret that the Balbi from Spain, and no less distinguished men from Gallia Narbonensis, have crossed over? Their descendants remain, nor do they yield to us in love for this fatherland. What else brought destruction upon the Lacedaemonians and Athenians, although they were powerful in arms, except that they kept the conquered at a distance as aliens?

at conditor nostri Romulus tantum sapientia valuit ut plerosque populos eodem die hostis, dein civis habuerit. advenae in nos regnaverunt: libertinorum filiis magistratus mandare non, ut plerique falluntur, repens, sed priori populo factitatum est. at cum Senonibus pugnavimus: scilicet Vulcsi et Aequi numquam adversam nobis aciem instruxere.

but Romulus, our founder, prevailed so greatly in wisdom that he had very many peoples on the same day as enemies, then as citizens. Newcomers have reigned over us: to entrust magistracies to the sons of freedmen is not, as most are mistaken, a recent thing, but was repeatedly practiced by the earlier people. But we fought with the Senones: to be sure, the Vulcsi and the Aequi never drew up an adverse battle-line against us.

capti a Gallis sumus: sed et Tuscis obsides dedimus et Samnitium iugum subiimus. ac tamen, si cuncta bella recenseas nullum breviore spatio quam adversus Gallos confectum: continua inde ac fida pax. iam moribus artibus adfinitatibus nostris mixti aurum et opes suas inferant potius quam separati habeant.

we were captured by the Gauls: but we also gave hostages to the Tuscans and submitted to the Samnite yoke. And yet, if you review all the wars, none was completed in a shorter span than that against the Gauls: from then, an unbroken and faithful peace. Now, mingled with our customs, arts, and affinities, let them bring in their gold and their wealth rather than keep them separate.

omnia, patres conscripti, quae nunc vetustissima creduntur, nova fuere: plebeii magistratus post patricios, Latini post plebeios, ceterarum Italiae gentium post Latinos. inveterascet hoc quoque, et quod hodie exemplis tuemur, inter exempla erit.'

all things, Conscript Fathers, which now are believed most ancient, were new: the plebeian magistracies after the patrician, the Latins after the plebeians, the other peoples of Italy after the Latins. this too will become inveterate, and that which today we defend by examples will be among the examples.'

[25] Orationem principis secuto patrum consulto primi Aedui senatorum in urbe ius adepti sunt. datum id foederi antiquo et quia soli Gallorum fraternitatis nomen cum populo Romano usurpant.
Isdem diebus in numerum patriciorum adscivit Caesar vetustissimum quemque e senatu aut quibus clari parentes fuerant, paucis iam reliquis familiarum, quas Romulus maiorum et L. Brutus minorum gentium appellaverant, exhaustis etiam quas dictator Caesar lege Cassia et princeps Augustus lege Saenia sublegere; laetaque haec in rem publicam munia multo gaudio censoris inibantur.

[25] Following the emperor’s speech, by a senatorial decree the Aedui were the first to obtain the right of senators in the City. This was granted in view of the ancient treaty and because they alone of the Gauls employ with the Roman people the name of brotherhood.
In the same days Caesar enrolled into the number of the patricians each man of the senate who was most of ancient standing, or those whose parents had been illustrious, with few families now remaining of those which Romulus had called the greater gentes and L. Brutus the lesser gentes, and with those also exhausted which the Dictator Caesar had co-opted by the Lex Cassia and the princeps Augustus by the Lex Saenia; and these glad duties for the commonwealth were entered upon with the censor’s great joy.

famosos probris quonam modo senatu depelleret anxius, mitem et recens repertam quam ex severitate prisca rationem adhibuit, monendo secum quisque de se consultaret peteretque ius exuendi ordinis: facilem eius rei veniam; et motos senatu excusatosque simul propositurum ut iudicium censorum ac pudor sponte cedentium permixta ignominiam mollirent. ob ea Vipstanus consul rettulit patrem senatus appellandum esse Claudium: quippe promiscum patris patriae cognomentum; nova in rem publicam merita non usitatis vocabulis honoranda: sed ipse cohibuit consulem ut nimium adsentantem. condiditque lustrum quo censa sunt civium quinquagies novies centena octoginta quattuor milia septuaginta duo.

anxious by what manner he might drive from the senate those infamous with disgraces, he applied a mild method, and one recently found, taken from ancient severity: by advising that each should consult with himself about himself and should seek the right of putting off the order; an easy pardon for that matter; and that he would at once publish them as removed from the senate and excused, so that the judgment of the censors and the pudor of those yielding of their own accord, being mingled, might soften the ignominy. On account of these things the consul Vipstanus proposed that Claudius be entitled Father of the Senate: since the cognomen Father of the Fatherland is common; new merits toward the republic ought to be honored with unwonted vocables: but he restrained the consul himself as too much a flatterer. And he closed the lustrum, at which there were registered of citizens 5,984,072.

isque illi finis inscitiae erga domum suam fuit: haud multo post flagitia uxoris noscere ac punire adactus est ut deinde ardesceret in nuptias incestas.

and this was for him the end of his ignorance toward his own household: not long after he was driven to come to know and to punish the flagitious acts of his wife, so that thereafter he blazed up into incestuous nuptials.

[26] Iam Messalina facilitate adulteriorum in fastidium versa ad incognitas libidines profluebat, cum abrumpi dissimulationem etiam Silius, sive fatali vaecordia an imminentium periculorum remedium ipsa pericula ratus, urgebat: quippe non eo ventum ut senectam principis opperirentur. insontibus innoxia consilia, flagitiis manifestis subsidium ab audacia petendum. adesse conscios paria metuentis.

[26] By now Messalina, turned by the ease of adulteries into disgust, was pouring out into unknown lusts, when Silius too was pressing that the dissimulation be broken off—whether through fatal vaecordia, or thinking the very dangers a remedy for the perils impending: indeed, it had not come to the point that they should wait for the emperor’s old age. For the innocent, harmless counsels; for manifest flagitious deeds, a resource must be sought from audacity. Accomplices were at hand, sharing the same fears.

se caelibem, orbum, nuptiis et adoptando Britannico paratum. mansuram eandem Messalinae potentiam, addita securitate, si praevenirent Claudium, ut insidiis incautum, ita irae properum. segniter eae voces acceptae, non amore in maritum, sed ne Silius summa adeptus sperneret adulteram scelusque inter ancipitia probatum veris mox pretiis aestimaret.

that he was a bachelor, bereft, prepared for marriage and for adopting Britannicus. that the same potency of Messalina would endure, with security added, if they forestalled Claudius—just as he was incautious to ambushes, so swift to ire. these utterances were received sluggishly, not from love toward her husband, but lest Silius, having attained the summit, might spurn the adulteress and soon assess, at its true price, the crime approved amid double perils.

nomen tamen matrimonii concupivit ob magnitudinem infamiae cuius apud prodigos novissima voluptas est. nec ultra expectato quam dum sacrificii gratia Claudius Ostiam proficisceretur, cuncta nuptiarum sollemnia celebrat.

Nevertheless she coveted the name of marriage on account of the magnitude of infamy, whose ultimate pleasure it is among prodigals. Nor was there any further waiting than while Claudius, for the sake of a sacrifice, was setting out to Ostia: she celebrates all the solemnities of nuptials.

[27] Haud sum ignarus fabulosum visum iri tantum ullis mortalium securitatis fuisse in civitate omnium gnara et nihil reticente, nedum consulem designatum cum uxore principis, praedicta die, adhibitis qui obsignarent, velut suscipiendorum liberorum causa convenisse, atque illam audisse auspicum verba, subisse, sacrificasse apud deos; discubitum inter convivas, oscula complexus, noctem denique actam licentia coniugali. sed nihil compositum miraculi causa, verum audita scriptaque senioribus tradam.

[27] I am not unaware that it will seem fabulous that there was so much security for any mortals in a state cognizant of everything and reticent of nothing—let alone that a consul-designate, with the princeps’s wife, on the appointed day, with those summoned to seal, came together as if for the purpose of acknowledging offspring; and that she heard the words of the auspices, underwent the rite, sacrificed before the gods; that there was reclining among the guests, kisses and embraces, and, finally, the night was passed in conjugal license. But nothing has been composed for the sake of marvel: rather, I will hand down what has been heard and written by the elders.

[28] Igitur domus principis inhorruerat, maximeque quos penes potentia et, si res verterentur, formido, non iam secretis conloquiis, sed aperte fremere, dum histrio cubiculum principis insultaverit, dedecus quidem inlatum, sed excidium procul afuisse: nunc iuvenem nobilem dignitate formae, vi mentis ac propinquo consulatu maiorem ad spem accingi; nec enim occultum quid post tale matrimonium superesset. subibat sine dubit, metus reputantis hebetem Claudium et uxori devinctum multasque mortes iussu Messalinae patratas: rursus ipsa facilitas imperatoris fiduciam dabat, si atrocitate criminis praevaluissent, posse opprimi damnatam ante quam ream; sed in eo discrimen verti, si defensio audiretur, utque clausae aures etiam confitenti forent.

[28] Therefore the house of the prince had shuddered, and most of all those in whose hands were power and, if things should be overturned, fear, no longer in secret colloquies, but openly to murmur, that while an actor had leapt upon the prince’s bedchamber, a disgrace indeed had been inflicted, but destruction had been far off: now a noble youth, by the dignity of his form, the force of mind, and a near consulship, was being girded for greater hope; for it was not hidden what would remain after such a marriage. There arose, without doubt, the fear, on reckoning Claudius dull and bound to his wife and many deaths perpetrated by Messalina’s order: conversely the emperor’s very facility gave confidence, if by the atrocity of the charge they should prevail, that she could be crushed, condemned before she was a defendant; but that the crisis turned on this, if a defense were heard, and that ears should be shut even to her if she confessed.

[29] Ac primo Callistus, iam mihi circa necem G. Caesaris narratus, et Appianae cacdis molitor Narcissus fagrantissimaque eo in tempore gratia Pallas agitavere, num Messalinam secretis minis depellerent amore Silii, cuncta alia dissimulantes. dein metu ne ad perniciem ultro traherentur, desistunt, Pallas per ignaviam, Callistus prioris quoque regiae peritus et potentiam cautis quam acribus consiliis tutius haberi: perstitit Narcissus, solum id immutans ne quo sermone praesciam criminis et accusatoris faceret. ipse ad occasiones intentus, longa apud Ostiam Caesaris mora, duas paelices, quarum is corpori maxime insueverat, largitione ac promissis et uxore deiecta plus potentiae ostentando perpulit delationem subire.

[29] And at first Callistus—already mentioned by me in connection with the killing of Gaius Caesar—and Narcissus, the contriver of the Appian slaughter, and Pallas, whose favor at that time was most conspicuous, debated whether they should with secret threats drive Messalina away from her love for Silius, dissembling all other things. Then, from fear lest they be dragged of their own accord into perdition, they desist—Pallas through sloth, Callistus as one skilled in the former court as well, and holding that power is kept more safely by cautious than by sharp counsels. Narcissus persisted, only changing this, that by no speech would he make her foreknowing of the charge and the accuser. He himself, intent on opportunities, with Caesar’s long delay at Ostia, by largess and promises and by displaying that, with the wife cast down, he would have more potency, compelled two concubines, to whose persons he had become most habituated, to undertake the delation.

[30] Exim Calpurnia (id paelici nomen), ubi datum secretum, genibus Caesaris provoluta nupsisse Messalinam Silio exclamat; simul Cleopatram, quae id opperiens adstabat, an comperisset interrogat, atque illa adnuente cieri Narcissum postulat. is veniam in praeteritum petens quod ei Vettios, Plautios dissimulavisset, nec nunc adulteria obiecturum ait, ne domum servitia et ceteros fortunae paratus reposceret. frueretur immo his set redderet uxorem rumperetque tabulas nuptialis.

[30] Then Calpurnia (that was the concubine’s name), when a private audience was granted, prostrate at Caesar’s knees cries out that Messalina has married Silius; at the same time she asks Cleopatra, who was standing by awaiting this, whether she had found it out; and when she nodded assent, she demands that Narcissus be summoned. He, seeking pardon for the past because he had dissimulated from him the Vettii and the Plautii, says that he will not now allege adulteries, lest the household, the slaves, and the other apparatus of fortune have to be reclaimed. Let him rather enjoy these, but give back his wife and tear up the nuptial tablets.

'an discidium' inquit ' tuum nosti? nam matrimonium Silii vidit populus et senatus et miles; ac ni propere agis, tenet urbem maritus.'

'or a divorce,' he says ' do you know your own? for the marriage of Silius the people and the senate and the soldiers saw; and unless you act promptly, the husband holds the city.'

[31] Tum potissimumquemque amicorum vocat, primumque rei frumentariae praefectum Turranium, post Lusium Getam praetorianis impositum percontatur. quis fatentibus certatim ceteri circumstrepunt, iret in castra, firmaret praetorias cohortis, securitati ante quam vindictae consuleret. satis constat co pavore offusum Claudium ut identidem interrogaret an ipse imperii potens, an Silius privatus esset.

[31] Then he summons each of the foremostquemque of his friends, and first he questions Turranius, prefect of the grain-supply, then Lusius Geta, set over the praetorians. As these admitted it, the rest clamored in rivalry that he should go to the camp, strengthen the praetorian cohorts, and look to security before vengeance. It is well agreed that, overcast by such fear, Claudius kept asking again and again whether he himself held the imperium, or Silius was a private citizen.

at Messalina non alias solutior luxu, adulto autumno simulacrum vindemiae per domum celebrabat. urgeri prela, fluere lacus; et feminae pellibus accinctae adsultabant ut sacrificantes vel insanientes Bacchae; ipsa crine fluxo thyrsum quatiens, iuxtaque Silius hedera vinctus, gerere cothurnos, iacere caput, strepente circum procaci choro. ferunt Vettium Valentem lascivia in praealtam arborem conisum, interrogantibus quid aspiceret, respondisse tempestatem ab Ostia atrocem, sive coeperat ea species, seu forte lapsa vox in praesagium vertit.

but Messalina, at no other time more loosened in luxury, with autumn full-grown was celebrating through the house a simulacrum of the vintage. the presses were being driven, the vats were flowing; and women girt with hides leapt about like Bacchae sacrificing or raving; she herself, hair flowing, brandishing a thyrsus, and beside her Silius wreathed with ivy, wearing the cothurni, throwing back his head, while a saucy chorus clattered around. they report that Vettius Valens, in wantonness having clambered into a very tall tree, when people asked what he was looking at, replied that there was an atrocious tempest from Ostia—whether that appearance had already begun, or by chance a word that slipped turned into a presage.

[32] Non rumor interea, sed undique nuntii incedunt, qui gnara Claudio cuncta et venire promptum ultioni adferrent. igitur Messalina Lucullianos in hortos, Silius dissimulando metu ad munia fori digrediuntur. ceteris passim dilabentibus adfuere centuriones, inditaque sunt vincla, ut quis reperiebatur in publico aut per latebras.

[32] Meanwhile, not rumor, but messengers from everywhere advance, to bring word that all things were known to Claudius and that he was coming, prompt for vengeance. Therefore Messalina to the Lucullian gardens, Silius, by dissembling his fear, goes off to the duties of the forum. As the rest slipped away everywhere, centurions appeared, and fetters were put on, as each was found in public or in hiding-places.

Messalina tamen, quamquam res adversae consilium eximerent, ire obviam et aspici a marito, quod saepe subsidium habuerat,haud segniter intendit misitque ut Britannicus et Octavia in complexam patris pergerent. et Vibidiam, virginum Vestalium vetustissimam, oravit pontificis maximi auris adire, clementiam expetere. atque interim, tribus omnino comitantibus—id repente solltudinis erat—spatium urbis pedibus emensa, vehiculo, quo purgamenta hortorum eripiuntur, Ostiensem viam intrat nulla cuiusquam misericordia quia flagitiorum deformitas praevalebat.

Messalina, however, although adverse circumstances were stripping her of counsel, set herself, not sluggishly, to go to meet and to be seen by her husband—a help that had often been a support—and she sent word that Britannicus and Octavia should proceed into their father’s embrace. And she begged Vibidia, the most aged of the Vestal virgins, to approach the ears of the pontifex maximus, to seek clemency. And meanwhile, with only three in all accompanying her—that was the sudden solitude—having traversed the span of the city on foot, in a vehicle by which the refuse of gardens is removed, she entered the Ostian Way, with no one’s compassion, because the ugliness of her disgraces prevailed.

[33] Trepidabatur nihilo minus a Caesare: quippe Getae praetorii praefecto haud satis fidebant, ad honesta seu prava iuxta levi. ergo Narcissus, adsumptis quibus idem metus, non aliam spem incolumitatis Caesaris adfirmat quam si ius militum uno illo die in aliquem libertorum transferret, seque offert suscepturum. ac ne, dum in urbem vehitur, ad paenitentiam a L. Vitellio et Largo Caecina mutaretur, in eodem gestamine sedem poscit adsumiturque.

[33] No less was there trepidation on the part of Caesar: for they did not trust Geta, prefect of the praetorian guard, enough—equally light for honorable or depraved courses alike. Therefore Narcissus, having taken along those who shared the same fear, affirms that there is no other hope of Caesar’s safety than if the right/authority of the soldiers for that one day were transferred to one of the freedmen, and he offers himself to undertake it. And lest, while he is being carried into the city, he be altered to repentance by L. Vitellius and Largus Caecina, he asks for a seat in the same litter and is taken up.

[34] Crebra post haec fama fuit, inter diversas principis voces, cum modo incusaret flagitia uxoris, aliquando ad memoriam coniugii et infantiam liberorum revolveretur, non aliud prolocutum Vitellium quam �o facinus! o scelus!' instabat quidem Narcissus aperire ambages et veri copiam facere: sed non ideo pervicit quin suspensa et quo ducerentur inclinatura responderet exemploque eius Largus Caecina uteretur. et iam erat in aspectu Messalina clamitabatque audiret Octaviae et Britannici matrem, cum obstrepere accusator, Silium et nuptias referens; simul codicillos libidinum indices tradidit, quis visus Caesaris averteret.

[34] After this there was frequent report, amid the emperor’s shifting utterances, since at one moment he would accuse the disgraces of his wife, at another he would be rolled back to the memory of the marriage and the childhood of his children, that Vitellius had uttered nothing other than “O outrage! O crime!” Narcissus, for his part, kept pressing to lay open the ambiguities and to furnish a supply of truth: but not even thus did he prevail, with the result that she returned answers hanging in suspense and likely to incline wherever they were being led, and Largus Caecina made use of his example. And already Messalina was in sight and was shouting that he should hear the mother of Octavia and Britannicus, when the accuser drowned her out, reporting Silius and the marriage; at the same time he handed over notebooks, tokens of her lusts, by which he diverted Caesar’s gaze.

nec multo post urbem ingredienti offerebantur communes liberi, nisi Narcissus amoveri eos iussisset. Vibidiam depellere nequivit quin multa cum invidia flagitaret ne indefensa coniunx exitio daretur. igitur auditurum principem et fore diluendi criminis facultatem respondit: iret interim virgo et sacra capesseret.

and not much later, as he was entering the city, their common children were being brought forward to meet him, unless Narcissus had ordered them to be removed. He could not drive away Vibidia, but that she, with much odium, demanded that an undefended spouse not be given over to destruction. Accordingly he replied that the princeps would hear, and that there would be a faculty for washing away the charge: meanwhile let the virgin go and take up the sacred rites.

[35] Mirum inter haec silentium Claudi, Vitellius ignaro propior: omnia liberto oboediebant. patefieri domum adulteri atque illuc deduci imperatorem iubet. ac primum in vestibulo effigiem patris Silii consulto senatus abolitam demonstrat, tum quidquid avitum Neronibus et Drusis in pretium probri cessisse.

[35] A strange silence of Claudius amid these things; Vitellius, nearer to the unaware man: everything obeyed the freedman. He orders the house of the adulterer to be thrown open and the emperor to be led thither. And first, in the vestibule, he points out the effigy of Silius’s father, abolished by decree of the senate; then that whatever ancestral possessions of the Nerones and the Drusi had passed as the price of disgrace.

incensumque et ad minas erumpentem castris infert, parata contione militum; apud quos praemonente Narcisso pauca verba fecit: nam etsi iustum dolorem pudor impediebat. continuus dehinc cohortium clamor nomina reorum et poenas flagitantium; admotusque Silius tribunali non defensionem, non moras temptavit, precatus ut mors acceleraretur. eadem constantia et inlustres equites Romani [cupido maturae necis fuit.] et Titium Proculum, custodem a Silio Messalinae datum et indicium offerentem, Vettium Valentem confessum et Pompeium Vrbicum ac Saufeium Trogum ex consciis tradi ad supplicium iubet.

and, when he was inflamed and bursting out into threats, he carries him into the camp, a contio of the soldiers having been prepared; among whom, with Narcissus prompting, he spoke a few words: for although modesty was impeding his just grief. Thence a continuous clamor of the cohorts, demanding the names of the guilty and their punishments; and Silius, brought to the tribunal, attempted neither a defense nor delays, praying that death be hastened. With the same constancy the distinguished Roman equestrians [there was a desire for a speedy death.] and he orders that Titius Proculus, the guard given by Silius to Messalina and offering information, Vettius Valens, who confessed, and Pompeius Urbicus and Saufeius Trogus, from among the accomplices, be handed over to punishment.

Decrius quoque Calpurnianus vigilum praefectus, Sulpicius Rufus ludi procurator, Iuncus Vergilianus senator eadem poena adfecti.

Decrius Calpurnianus also, prefect of the watch, Sulpicius Rufus, procurator of the games, and Iuncus Vergilianus, a senator, were affected with the same penalty.

[36] Solus Mnester cunctationem attulit, dilaniata veste clamitans aspiceret verberum notas, reminisceretur vocis, qua se obnoxium iussis Messalinae dedisset: aliis largitione aut spei magnitudine, sibi ex necessitate culpam; nec cuiquam ante pereundum fuisse si Silius rerum poteretur. commotum his et pronum ad misericordiam Caesarem perpulere liberti ne tot inlustribus viris interfectis histrioni consuleretur: sponte an coactus tam magna peccavisset, nihil referre. ne Trauli quidem Montani equitis Romani defensio recepta est.

[36] Only Mnester brought hesitation, with his garment torn to shreds, shouting that he should look at the marks of the lashes, that he should remember the utterance by which he had declared himself subject to Messalina’s commands: for others, guilt from largess or from the magnitude of their hope; for himself, from necessity; and that no one would have had to perish before him, if Silius should gain control of affairs. Moved by these things and with Caesar prone to mercy, the freedmen prevailed that, with so many illustrious men slain, no consideration be shown to a histrion: whether he had sinned so greatly of his own accord or under compulsion, it made no difference. Not even the defense of Traulus Montanus, a Roman eques, was accepted.

is modesta iuventa, sed corpore insigni, accitus ultro noctemque intra unam a Messalina proturbatus erat, paribus lasciviis ad cupidinem et fastidia. Suillio Caesonino et Plautio Laterano mors remittitur, huic ob patrui egregium meritum: Caesoninus vitiis protectus est, tamquam in illo foedissimo coetu passus muliebria.

He, modest in youth yet remarkable in body, was summoned unbidden, and within a single night was driven away by Messalina, with equal lasciviousness to provoke cupidity and disgust. To Suillius Caesoninus and Plautius Lateranus death was remitted— to the latter on account of his uncle’s outstanding merit; Caesoninus was protected by his vices, as though in that most loathsome conclave he had suffered the things of women.

[37] Interim Messalina Lucullianis in hortis prolatare vitam, componere preces, non nulla spe et aliquando ira: tantum inter extrema superbiae gerebat. ac ni caedem eius Narcissus properavisset, verterat pernicies in accusatorem. nam Claudius domum regressus et tempestivis epulis delenitus, ubi vino incaluit, iri iubet nuntiarique miserae (hoc enim verbo usum ferunt) dicendam ad causam postera die adesset.

[37] Meanwhile Messalina, in the Lucullian gardens, was prolonging life, composing prayers, with some hope and at times anger: so much pride she bore even amid her last extremities. And if Narcissus had not hastened her slaughter, the ruin would have turned upon the accuser. For Claudius, having returned home and beguiled by timely banquets, when he grew warm with wine, orders that someone go and that it be announced to the wretched woman (for they report that he used this very word) that, to plead her case, she should be present on the next day.

quod ubi auditum et languescere ira, redire amor ac, si cunctarentur, propinqua nox et uxorii cubiculi memoria timebantur, prorumpit Narcissus denuntiatque centurionibus et tribuno, qui aderat, exequi caedem: ita imperatorem iubere. custos et exactor e libertis Euodus datur; isque raptim in hortos praegressus repperit fusam humi, adsidente matre Lepida, quae florenti filiae haud concors supremis eius necessitatibus ad miserationem evicta erat suadebatque ne percussorem opperiretur: transisse vitam neque aliud quam morti decus quaerendum. sed animo per libidines corrupto nihil honestum inerat; lacrimaeque et questus inriti ducebantur, cum impetu venientium pulsae fores adstititque tribunus per silentium, at libertus increpans multis et servilibus probris.

When this was heard and anger was slackening, love returning, and—if they delayed—the approaching night and the memory of the wifely bedchamber were feared, Narcissus bursts forth and orders the centurions and the tribune who was present to carry out the killing: thus, that the emperor so commanded. A guard and enforcer from among the freedmen, Euodus, is assigned; and he, hastening ahead into the gardens, found her sprawled on the ground, with her mother Lepida sitting beside her, who, not in concord with her daughter in her flourishing days, had been overcome to pity by her last necessities, and was advising her not to await the striker: life had passed, and nothing other than an honor for death was to be sought. But in a spirit corrupted by lusts nothing honorable was present; and her tears and complaints were being drawn out in vain, when, with the doors beaten in by the rush of those arriving, the tribune stood by in silence, while the freedman was railing with many and servile reproaches.

[38] Tunc primum fortunam suam introspexit ferrumque accepit, quod frustra ingulo aut pectori per trepidationem admovens ictu tribuni transigitur. corpus matri concessum. nuntiatumque Claudio epulanti perisse Messalinam, non distincto sua an aliena manu.

[38] Then for the first time she looked into her fortune and took the steel, which, as she in her agitation applied in vain to her throat or breast, she was run through by the stroke of the tribune. The body was granted to her mother. And it was announced to Claudius, banqueting, that Messalina had perished, with no distinction made whether by her own hand or by another’s.

nec ille quaesivit, poposcitque poculum et solita convivio celebravit. ne secutis quidem diebus odii gaudii, irae tristitiae, ullius denique humani adfectus signa dedit, non cum laetantis accusatores aspiceret, non cum filios maerentis. iuvitque oblivionem eius senatus censendo nomen et effigies privatis ac publicis locis demovendas.

nor did he inquire; he demanded a cup and celebrated the usual things at the banquet. not even in the following days did he give signs of hatred or joy, of anger or sadness—in short, of any human emotion—neither when he looked upon the accusers rejoicing, nor when his children were mourning. and the senate aided her oblivion by decreeing that her name and effigies be removed from private and public places.

decreta Narcisso quaestoria insignia, levissimum fastidii eius, cum super Pallantem et Callistum ageret, +honesta quidem, sed ex quis deterrima orerentur [tristitiis multis].

The quaestorian insignia were decreed to Narcissus, the slightest token of his fastidiousness, when he was dealing about Pallas and Callistus, +honorable indeed, but from which the very worst things would arise [with many sadnesses].