Tacitus: ANNALES

[1] Prima novo principatu mors Iunii Silani proconsulis Asiae ignaro Nerone per dolum Agrippinae paratur, non quia ingenii violentia exitium inritaverat, segnis et dominationibus aliis fastiditus, adeo ut C. Caesar pecudem auream eum appellare solitus sit: verum Agrippina fratri eius L. Silano necem molita ultorem metuebat, crebra vulgi fama anteponendum esse vixdum pueritiam egresso Neroni et imperium per scelus adepto virum aetate composita insontem, nobilem et, quod tunc spectaretur, e Caesarum posteris: quippe et Silanus divi Augusti abnepos erat. haec causa necis. ministri fuere P. Celer eques Romanus et Helius libertus, rei familiari principis in Asia impositi.

[1] The first act under the new principate is the death of Junius Silanus, proconsul of Asia, prepared, with Nero unaware, by Agrippina’s deceit, not because the violence of his temperament had provoked his destruction—he was sluggish and, under other dominations, held in disdain, to such a degree that Gaius Caesar was wont to call him the “golden sheep”; but in truth Agrippina, having contrived the death of his brother L. Silanus, feared an avenger, since frequent rumor among the crowd declared that, rather than Nero, who had scarcely passed boyhood and had obtained the imperium through crime, a man of settled age, innocent, noble, and—what was then regarded—of the posterity of the Caesars, ought to be preferred: for Silanus too was a great-great-grandson of the deified Augustus. This was the cause of the killing. The agents were P. Celer, a Roman eques, and Helius, a freedman, who had been set over the princeps’ private estate in Asia.

ab his proconsuli venenum inter epulas datum est, apertius quam ut fallerent. nec minus properato Narcissus Claudii libertus, de cuius iurgiis adversus Agrippinam rettuli, aspera custodia et necessitate extrema ad mortem agitur, invito principe, cuius abditis vitiis per avaritiam ac prodigentiam mire congruebat.

By these men, poison was given to the proconsul amid the banquet, too openly to deceive. And with no less precipitate haste, Narcissus, the freedman of Claudius—of whose quarrels against Agrippina I have related—was driven to death by harsh custody and extreme compulsion, the princeps unwilling; yet he marvellously matched the prince’s hidden vices through avarice and prodigality.

[2] Ibaturque in caedes, nisi Afranius Burrus et Annaeus Seneca obviam issent. hi rectores imperatoriae iuventae et, rarum in societate potentiae, concordes, diversa arte ex aequo pollebant, Burrus militaribus curis et severitate morum, Seneca praeceptis eloquentiae et comitate honesta, iuvantes in vicem, quo facilius lubricam principis aetatem, si virtutem aspernaretur, voluptatibus concessis retinerent. certamen utrique unum erat contra ferociam Agrippinae, quae cunctis malae dominationis cupidinibus flagrans habebat in partibus Pallantem, quo auctore Claudius nuptiis incestis et adoptione exitiosa semet perverterat.

[2] And bloodshed would have ensued, had not Afranius Burrus and Annaeus Seneca gone to meet it. These, the directors of the imperial youth, and—rare in a partnership of power—harmonious, with different arts were equally strong: Burrus in military cares and the severity of morals, Seneca by the precepts of eloquence and honorable affability, helping one another in turn, that the more easily they might hold fast the slippery age of the prince, if he should spurn virtue, by pleasures allowed. Their single contest was against the ferocity of Agrippina, who, blazing with all the lusts of evil domination, had Pallas in her faction—at whose instigation Claudius had overthrown himself by incestuous nuptials and a ruinous adoption.

sed neque Neroni infra servos ingenium, et Pallas tristi adrogantia modum liberti egressus taedium sui moverat. propalam tamen omnes in eam honores cumulabantur, signumque more militiae petenti tribuno dedit optimae matris. decreti et a senatu duo lictores, flamonium Claudiale, simul Claudio censorium funus et mox consecratio.

but neither had Nero a disposition beneath slaves, and Pallas, having with grim arrogance overstepped the measure of a freedman, had stirred a weariness of himself. openly, however, all honors were being heaped upon her, and, after the military custom, he gave to the tribune asking for the watchword: “Best Mother.” there were decreed also by the senate two lictors, the Claudian flaminate, and at the same time for Claudius a censorial funeral and soon a consecration.

[3] Die funeris laudationem eius princeps exorsus est, dum antiquitatem generis, consulatus ac triumphos maiorem enumerabat, intentus ipse et ceteri; liberalium quoque artium commemoratio et nihil regente eo triste rei publicae ab externis accidisse pronis animis audita: postquam ad providentiam sapientiamque flexit, nemo risui temperare, quamquam oratio a Seneca composita multum cultus praeferret, ut fuit illi viro ingenium amoenum et temporis eius auribus accommodatum. adnotabant seniores quibus otiosum est vetera et praesentia contendere, primum ex iis, qui rerum potiti essent, Neronem alienae facundiae eguisse. nam dictator Caesar summis oratoribus aemulus; et Augusto prompta ac profluens quaeque deceret principem eloquentia fuit.

[3] On the day of the funeral the emperor began his eulogy, while he was enumerating the antiquity of the lineage, the consulships and the triumphs of his ancestors, he himself and the rest attentive; the commemoration too of the liberal arts, and that under his rule nothing sad had befallen the Republic from external foes, was heard with willing minds: after he turned to providence and wisdom, no one could restrain laughter, although the oration composed by Seneca displayed much polish, as that man had a pleasant talent and one accommodated to the ears of his time. The elders noted—who have the leisure to compare the old and the present— first among those who had got hold of affairs, that Nero had needed another’s eloquence. For the dictator Caesar was a rival to the greatest orators; and Augustus had an eloquence ready and flowing, such as befitted a princeps.

Tiberius artem quoque callebat, qua verba expenderet, tum validus sensibus aut consulto ambiguus. etiam C. Caesaris turbata mens vim dicendi non corrupit; nec in Claudio, quotiens meditata dissereret, elegantiam requireres. Nero puerilibus statim annis vividum animum in alia detorsit: caelare pingere, cantus aut regimen equorum exercere; et aliquando carminibus pangendis inesse sibi elementa doctrinae ostendebat.

Tiberius also was versed in the art by which he would weigh words,
whether then sound in his senses or deliberately ambiguous. Even the disturbed mind of Gaius Caesar did not corrupt the force of speaking; nor in Claudius, whenever he discoursed matters premeditated, would you have missed elegance. Nero straightway in his boyish years diverted his vivid spirit into other things: to chase-engrave and to paint, to practice song or the management (regimen) of horses; and at times, in composing poems, he showed that there were in him the elements of learning.

[4] Ceterum peractis tristitiae imitamentis curiam ingressus et de auctoritate patrum et consensu militum praefatus, consilia sibi et exempla capessendi egregie imperii memoravit, neque iuventam armis civilibus aut domesticis discordiis imbutam; nulla odia, nullas iniurias nec cupidinem ultionis adferre. tum formam futuri principis praescripsit, ea maxime declinans, quorum recens flagrabat invidia. non enim se negotiorum omnium iudicem fore, ut clausis unam intra domum accusatoribus et reis paucorum potentia grassaretur; nihil in penatibus suis venale aut ambitioni pervium; discretam domum et rem publicam.

[4] But, the imitations of mourning having been completed, having entered the Curia and, with a preface about the authority of the Senate and the consent of the soldiers, he recalled to mind plans and precedents for taking up a distinguished imperium, and that his youth had not been imbued with civil arms or domestic discords; that he brought no hatreds, no injuries, nor a lust for vengeance. then he prescribed the form of the future princeps, chiefly avoiding those things whose odium had lately been ablaze. for he would not be the judge of all business, so that, with accusers and defendants shut up within a single house, the power of a few might run rampant; nothing in his household would be venal or accessible to ambition; the household and the commonwealth kept discrete.

teneret antiqua munia senatus, consultum tribunalibus Italia et publicae provinciae adsisterent: illi patrum aditum praeberent, se mandatis exercitibus consulturum.

let the senate retain its ancient functions, let the tribunals in Italy and the public provinces be attended: they should offer access for the Fathers; he himself would look after the armies by mandates.

[5] Nec defuit fides, multaque arbitrio senatus constituta sunt: ne quis ad causam orandam mercede aut donis emeretur, ne designatis [quidem] quaestoribus edendi gladiatores necessitas esset. quod quidem adversante Agrippina, tamquam acta Claudii subverterentur, obtinuere patres, qui in Palatium ob id vocabantur, ut adstaret additis a tergo foribus velo discreta, quod visum arceret, auditus non adimeret. quin et legatis Armeniorum causam gentis apud Neronem orantibus escendere suggestum imperatoris et praesidere simul parabat, nisi ceteris pavore defixis Seneca admonuisset, venienti matri occurrere.

[5] Nor was good faith lacking, and many measures were established by the Senate’s arbitration: that no one be bought by fee or gifts to plead a cause, that there should not be a necessity of exhibiting gladiators even for the quaestors-designate [quidem]. This, indeed, with Agrippina opposing, as though the acts of Claudius were being subverted, the fathers prevailed in, who were summoned into the Palatium for that purpose, that she might stand by, separated by a veil added to the doors at the back, which would ward off sight but not take away hearing. Nay even, while the legates of the Armenians were pleading the cause of their nation before Nero, she was preparing to mount the emperor’s platform and to preside together with him, had not Seneca, while the others were fixed with fear, admonished him to go meet his mother as she was coming.

ita specie pietatis obviam itum dedecori.

thus, under the guise of piety, the disgrace was forestalled.

[6] Fine anni turbidis rumoribus prorupisse rursum Parthos et rapi Armeniam adlatum est, pulso Radamisto, qui saepe regni eius potitus, dein profugus, tum bellum quoque deseruerat. igitur in urbe sermonum avida, quem ad modum princeps vix septem decem annos egressus suscipere eam molem aut propulsare posset, quod subsidium in eo, qui a femina regeretur, num proelia quoque et obpugnationes urbium et cetera belli per magistros administrari possent, anquirebant. contra alii melius evenisse disserunt, quam si invalidus senecta et ignavia Claudius militiae ad labores vocaretur, servilibus iussis obtemperaturus.

[6] At the end of the year it was reported with turbulent rumors that the Parthians had burst forth again and that Armenia was being seized, with Radamistus driven out—who had often gotten possession of that kingdom, then a fugitive, and then had even deserted the war. Accordingly, in the city, greedy for talk, they were inquiring how a prince hardly out of seventeen years could undertake that burden or fend it off, what support there was in one who was ruled by a woman, whether battles too and the stormings of cities and the other matters of war could be administered through tutors. On the contrary, others argue that it turned out better than if Claudius, enfeebled by old age and sloth, were called to the labors of military service, about to obey servile commands.

Burrum tamen et Senecam multa rerum experientia cognitos; et imperatori quantum ad robur deesse, cum octavo decimo aetatis anno Cn. Pompeius, nono decimo Caesar Octavianus civilia bella sustinuerint? pleraque in summa fortuna auspiciis et consiliis quam telis et manibus geri. daturum plane documentum, honestis an secus amicis uteretur, si ducem amota invidia egregium quam si pecuniosum et gratia subnixum per ambitum deligeret.

Burrus
yet and Seneca were known by much experience of affairs; and how much
as to robustness was lacking to the emperor, when in the eighteenth year of age Gnaeus Pompeius, in the nineteenth
Caesar Octavianus sustained civil wars? Most things in the highest
fortune are conducted by auspices and counsels rather than by weapons and hands. He would give
plainly a proof, whether he would employ honorable or the contrary friends, if he should choose as leader, envy
removed, an outstanding man rather than, through canvassing, one wealthy and propped by favor.

[7] Haec atque talia vulgantibus, Nero et iuventutem proximas per provincias quaesitam supplendis Orientis legionibus admovere legionesque ipsas pro[p]ius Armeniam collocari iubet, duosque veteres reges Agrippam et [Ant]iochum expedire copias, quis Parthorum fines ultro intrarent, simul pontes per amnem Euphraten iungi; et minorem Armeniam Aristobulo, regionem Sophenen Sohaemo cum insignibus regiis mandat. exortusque in tempore aemulus Vologaeso filius Vardanes; et abscessere Armenia Parthi, tamquam differrent bellum.

[7] As these things and the like were being spread about, Nero also brought up the youth sought from the nearest provinces for replenishing the legions of the East, and he orders the legions themselves to be stationed nearer to Armenia, and the two old kings Agrippa and [Ant]iochus to ready their forces, with which they might of their own accord enter the borders of the Parthians, at the same time that bridges be joined across the river Euphrates; and he commits Lesser Armenia to Aristobulus, the region of Sophene to Sohaemus, with the royal insignia. And at the right time there arose a rival to Vologaeses, son of Vardanes; and the Parthians withdrew from Armenia, as though they were deferring the war.

[8] Sed apud senatum omnia in maius celebrata sunt sententiis eorum, qui supplicationes et diebus supplicationum vestem principi triumphalem, utque ovans urbem iniret, effigiemque eius pari magnitudine ac Martis Ultoris eodem in templo censuere, praeter suetam adulationem laeti, quod Domitium Corbulonem retinendae Armeniae praeposuerat videbaturque locus virtutibus patefactus. copiae Orientis ita dividuntur, ut pars auxiliarium cum duabus legionibus apud provinciam Syriam et legatum eius Quadratum Ummidium remaneret, par civium sociorumque numerus Corbuloni esset, additis cohortibus alisque, quae [in] Cappadocia hiemabant. socii reges, prout bello conduceret, parere iussi; sed studia eorum in Corbulonem promptiora erant.

[8] But in the senate all things were magnified and celebrated by the opinions of those who decreed thanksgivings, and on the days of the thanksgivings a triumphal vesture for the princeps, and that, as an ovans, he should enter the city, and that his effigy, of equal magnitude with that of Mars Ultor, be in the same temple—beyond the usual adulation, they were glad because he had put Domitius Corbulo in charge of retaining Armenia, and it seemed that a place was opened for virtues. The forces of the East are thus divided: that part of the auxiliaries with two legions should remain at the province of Syria with its legate Quadratus Ummidius; an equal number of citizens and allies should belong to Corbulo, with cohorts and alae (cavalry wings) added, which were wintering [in] Cappadocia. The allied kings, as it should conduce to the war, were ordered to obey; but their zeal was readier toward Corbulo.

qui ut [instaret] famae, quae in novis coeptis validissima est, itinere propere confecto apud Aegeas civitatem Ciliciae obvium Quadratum habuit, illuc progressum, ne, accipiendas copias Syriam intravisset Corbulo, omnium ora in se verteret, corpore ingens, verbis magnificis et super experientiam sapientiamque etiam specie inanium validus.

who, in order to [press] his fame, which in new undertakings is most potent, having swiftly completed the journey, met Quadratus at Aegeae, a city of Cilicia—who had advanced thither, lest, should Corbulo enter Syria to receive the troops, he turn all faces toward himself—huge in body, with magnificent words, and, beyond experience and wisdom, powerful even by the mere show of empty things.

[9] Ceterum uterque ad Vologaesen regem nuntiis monebant, pacem quam bellum mallet datisque obsidibus solitam prioribus reverentiam in populum Romanum continuaret. et Vologaeses, quo bellum ex commodo pararet, an ut aemulationis suspectos per nomen obsidum amoveret, tradit nobilissimos ex familia Arsacidarum. accepitque eos centurio Insteius ab Ummidio missus forte prior e[a] de causa adito rege.

[9] But both were warning King Vologaeses by messengers to prefer peace rather than war and, with hostages given, to continue toward the Roman People the reverence customary with his predecessors. And Vologaeses—whether in order to prepare war at his convenience, or to remove, under the name of hostages, those suspected of emulation—hands over the most noble men from the Arsacid family. And the centurion Insteius, sent by Ummidius, happened by chance to be first for that purpose, the king having been approached, and received them.

quod postquam Corbuloni cognitum est, ire praefectum cohortis Arrium Varum et reciperare obsides iubet. hinc ortum inter praefectum et centurionem iurgium ne diutius externis spectaculo esset, arbitrium rei obsidibus legatisque, qui eos ducebant, permissum. atque illi recentem gloria et inclinatione quadam etiam hostium Corbulonem praetulere.

When this was known to Corbulo, he orders the prefect of a cohort, Arrius Varus, to go and recover the hostages. From this there arose a quarrel between the prefect and the centurion; lest it be for a longer time a spectacle to foreigners, the arbitration of the matter was entrusted to the hostages and to the legates who were leading them. And they, because of his recent glory and with a certain inclination even of the enemy, preferred Corbulo.

unde discordia inter duces, querente Ummidio praerepta quae suis consiliis patravisset, testante contra Corbulone non prius conversum regem ad offerendos obsides, quam ipse dux bello delectus spes eius ad metum mutaret. Nero quo componeret diversos, sic evulgari iussit: ob res a Quadrato et Corbulone prospere gestas laurum fascibus imperatoris addi. quae in alios consules egressa coniunxi.

whence discord between the leaders, with Ummidius complaining that things which he would have accomplished by his own counsels had been preempted, while Corbulo, on the other hand, testified that the king had not been turned to offering hostages before he himself, chosen as general for the war, had transformed his hopes into fear. Nero, in order to compose those at variance, ordered this to be published: on account of the matters successfully carried out by Quadratus and Corbulo, let laurel be added to the fasces of the emperor. which, having passed into other consuls, I have joined.

[10] Eodem anno Caesar effigiem Cn. Domitio patri et consularia insignia Asconio Labeoni, quo tutore usus erat, petivit a senatu; sibique statuas argento vel auro solidas adversus offerentes prohibuit. et quamquam censuissent patres, ut principium anni mense Decembri, quo ortus erat Nero, veterem religionem kalendarum Ianuariarum inchoando anno retinuit. neque recepti sunt inter reos Carrinas Celer senator servo accusante, aut Iulius Densus equester Romanus, cui favor in Britannicum crimini dabatur.

[10] In the same year Caesar sought from the senate an effigy for Cn. Domitius, his father, and consular insignia for Asconius Labeo, whose tutor he had used; and he forbade those offering to present to himself statues solid in silver or gold. and although the Fathers had voted that the beginning of the year be in the month December, in which Nero had been born, he retained the ancient observance of the Kalends of January by initiating the year. nor were received among the accused Carrinas Celer, a senator, with a slave bringing the accusation, or Julius Densus, a Roman equestrian, to whom favor toward Britannicus was being imputed as a crime.

[11] Claudio Nerone L. Antistio consulibus cum in acta principum iurarent magistratus, in sua acta collegam Antistium iurare prohibuit, magnis patrum laudibus, ut iuvenilis animus levium quoque rerum gloria sublatus maiores continuaret. secutaque lenitas in Plautium Lateranum, quem ob adulterium Messalinae ordine demotum reddidit senatui, clementiam suam obstringens crebris orationibus, quas Seneca testificando, quam honesta praeciperet, vel iactandi ingenii voce principis vulgabat.

[11] Under the consuls Claudius Nero and Lucius Antistius, when the magistrates were swearing upon the acta of the principes, he forbade his colleague Antistius to swear upon his own acta, with great praises from the fathers, so that a youthful spirit, lifted by the glory even of light matters, might continue on to greater ones. And lenity followed toward Plautius Lateranus, whom, removed from the order on account of Messalina’s adultery, he restored to the Senate, binding his clemency by frequent orations, which Seneca, by testifying how honorable were the precepts he enjoined—or, for the flaunting of his ingenium, in the voice of the princeps—was publishing.

[12] Ceterum infracta paulatim potentia matris delapso Nerone in amorem libertae, cui vocabulum Acte fuit, simul adsumptis in conscientiam [M.] Othone et Claudio Senecione, adulescentulis decoris, quorum Otho familia consulari, Senecio liberto Caesaris patre genitus. ignara matre, dein frustra obnitente, penitus inrepserat per luxum et ambigua secreta, ne senioribus quidem principis amicis adversantibus, muliercula nulla cuiusquam iniuria cupidines principis explente, quando uxore ab Octavia, nobili quidem et probitatis spectatae, fato quodam, an quia praevalent inlicita, abhorrebat, metuebaturque, ne in stupra feminarum inlustrium prorumperet, si illa libidine prohiberetur.

[12] But as the power of the mother was gradually broken, Nero slipping down into love of a freedwoman, whose appellation was Acte, and at the same time, M. Otho and Claudius Senecio—comely youths—being taken into the secret, of whom Otho was of a consular family, Senecio born of a father who was a freedman of the Caesar. with his mother unaware, then resisting in vain, it had crept deep in through luxury and equivocal secrets, nor did even the elder friends of the prince oppose, a little woman satisfying the desires of the prince with injury to no one, since he shrank away from his wife Octavia—indeed noble and of tried probity—by some fate, or because illicit things prevail; and there was fear lest he burst forth into debaucheries with illustrious women, if he were debarred from that lust.

[13] Sed Agrippina libertam aemulam, nurum ancillam aliaque eundem in modum muliebriter fremere, neque paenitentiam filii aut satietatem opperiri, quantoque foediora exprobrabat, acrius accendere, donec vi amoris subactus exueret obsequium in matrem seque [Se]necae permitteret, ex cuius familiaribus Annaeus Serenus simulatione amoris adversus eandem libertam primas adulescentis cupidines velaverat praebueratque nomen, ut quae princeps furtim mulierculae tribuebat, ille palam largiretur. tum Agrippina versis artibus per blandimenta iuvenem adgredi, suum potius cubiculum ac sinum offerre contegendis quae prima aetas et summa fortuna expeterent. quin et fatebatur intempestivam severitatem et suarum opum, quae haud procul imperatoriis aberant, copias tradebat, ut nimia nuper coercendo filio, ita rursum intemperanter demissa.

[13] But Agrippina, fretting womanishly that the freedwoman was a rival, the daughter-in-law a handmaid, and other things in the same manner, neither waited for her son’s penitence or satiety, and the fouler her reproaches, the more keenly she inflamed him, until, overborne by the force of love, he cast off obedience to his mother and committed himself to Seneca, one of whose intimates, Annaeus Serenus, by a feigning of love toward that same freedwoman, had veiled the young man’s first desires and had lent his name, so that what the prince was secretly bestowing on the girl, he might lavish openly. Then Agrippina, her arts reversed, approached the youth with blandishments, offering rather her own bedchamber and bosom to cover those things which early youth and highest fortune crave. Indeed, she even confessed her untimely severity and handed over supplies of her resources, which were not far from imperial, thus, as she had lately been excessive in restraining her son, so now again, with equal excess, she unrestrainedly let herself sink.

quae mutatio neque Neronem fefellit, et proximi amicorum metuebant orabantque cavere insidias mulieris semper atrocis, tum et falsae. forte illis diebus Caesar inspecto ornatu, quo principium coniuges ac parentes effulserant, deligit vestem et gemmas misitque donum matri, nulla parsimonia, cum praecipua et cupita aliis prior deferret. sed Agrippina non his instrui cultus suos, sed ceteris arceri proclamat et dividere filium, quae cuncta ex ipsa haberet.

which change did not escape Nero, and the nearest of his friends were afraid and begged him to beware the snares of a woman ever atrocious, now also deceitful. by chance in those days the Caesar, after inspecting the adornment with which at the outset wives and parents had shone, chose clothing and gems and sent a gift to his mother, with no parsimony, as he was conferring the special and coveted things upon her before others. but Agrippina proclaimed that her own fineries were not to be furnished by these, but that others were being kept away, and that he was separating the son from her, she who had supplied everything from herself.

[14] Nec defuere qui in deterius referrent. et Nero infensus iis, quibus superbia muliebris innitebatur, demovet Pallantem cura rerum, quis a Claudio impositus velut arbitrium regni agebat; ferebaturque, degrediente eo magna prosequentium multitudine, non absurde dixisse ire Pallantem, ut eiuraret. sane pepigerat Pallas, ne cuius facti in praeteritum interrogaretur paresque rationes cum re publica haberet.

[14] Nor were there lacking those who referred it to a worse meaning. And Nero, hostile to those on whom a womanly superbia was leaning, removes Pallas from the care of affairs, who, imposed by Claudius, was conducting himself as, as it were, the arbitrium of the realm; and it was reported that, as he was stepping down with a great multitude of escorts accompanying, someone said not inaptly that Pallas was going to abjure. Indeed Pallas had bargained that he should not be questioned about any deed in the past, and that he should have even accounts with the commonwealth.

Praeceps posthac Agrippina ruere ad terrorem et minas, neque principis auribus abstinere, quo minus testaretur adultum iam esse Britannicum, veram dignamque stirpem suscipiendo patris imperio, quod insitus et adoptivus per iniurias matris exerceret. non abnuere se, quin cuncta infelicis domus mala patefierent, suae in primis nuptiae, suum veneficium: id solum diis et sibi provisum, quod viveret privignus. ituram cum illo in castra; audiretur hinc Germanici filia, in[de] debilis Burrus et exul Seneca, trunca scilicet manu et professoria lingua generis humani regimen expostulantes.

Headlong thereafter Agrippina rushed to terror and
threats, nor did she refrain from the emperor’s ears, so as not to declare that Britannicus was now adult,
a true and worthy stock for taking up his father’s imperium,
which the ingrafted and adoptive son was exercising through his mother’s injuries. She did not
refuse that all the evils of the unlucky house be laid open, her marriage first and foremost,
her poisoning: this alone had been provided by the gods and by herself, that the
stepson was alive. She would go with him into the camp; from this side the daughter of Germanicus would be heard,
and from [there] the maimed Burrus and the exile Seneca, to wit with a maimed hand and
a professorial tongue demanding the regimen of the human race.

simul intendere manus, adgerere probra, consecratum Claudium, inferno[s] Silanorum manes invocare et tot inrita facinora.

at the same time to stretch out
their hands, to heap up opprobrium, to invoke the consecrated Claudius, the infernal Manes of the Silani,
and so many abortive crimes.

[15] Turbatus his Nero et propinquo die, quo quartum decimum aetatis annum Britannicus explebat, volutare secum modo matris violentiam, modo ipsius indolem, [le]vi quidem experimento nuper cognitam, quo tamen favorem late quaesivisset. festis Saturno diebus inter alia aequalium ludicra regnum lusu sortientium evenerat ea sors Neroni. igitur ceteris diversa nec ruborem adlatura: ubi Britannico iussit exsurgeret progressusque in medium cantum aliquem inciperet, inrisum ex eo sperans pueri sobrios quoque convictus, nedum temulentos ignorantis, ille constanter exorsus est carmen, quo evolutum eum sede patria rebusque summis significabatur.

[15] Disturbed by these things, Nero, and with the day near on which Britannicus was completing the fourteenth year of age, kept turning over with himself now his mother’s violence, now his own disposition, known indeed by a light experiment recently, by which, however, he had sought favor far and wide. On the festival days of Saturn, among the other amusements of his peers drawing lots for a kingship in play, that lot had fallen to Nero. Accordingly, things different from the others and not about to bring on a blush: when he ordered Britannicus to get up and, having advanced into the midst, to begin some song, hoping from this the ridicule of a boy ignorant even of sober convivial gatherings, much less of drunken ones, he steadfastly began a song in which it was signified that he had been unseated from his native seat and from the highest affairs.

unde orta miseratio, manifestior quia dissimulationem nox et lascivia exemerat. Nero intellecta invidia odium intendit; urgentibusque Agrippinae minis, quia nullum crimen neque iubere caedem fratris palam audebat, occulta molitur pararique venenum iubet, ministro Pollione Iulio praetoriae cohortis tribuno, cuius cura attinebatur damnata veneficii nomine Locusta, multa scelerum fama. nam ut proximus quisque Britannico neque fas neque fidem pensi haberet, olim provisum erat.

whence compassion arose, more manifest
because night and revelry had stripped away dissimulation. Nero, perceiving the envy,
intensified his hatred; and with Agrippina’s threats pressing, since he dared neither
to bring any charge nor to order openly the slaughter of his brother, he plots in secret and orders poison to be prepared,
with Pollio Julius, tribune of the praetorian cohort, as agent, under whose custody
Locusta—condemned on the charge of poisoning, of great fame for crimes—was kept. For
it had long since been provided that whoever was nearest to Britannicus would reckon neither right nor good faith of any weight.

primum venenum ab ipsis educatoribus accepit, tramisitque exsoluta alvo parum validum, sive temperamentum inerat, ne statim saeviret. sed Nero lenti sceleris impatiens minitari tribuno, iubere supplicium veneficae, quod, dum rumorem respiciunt, dum parant defensiones, securitatem morarentur. promittentibus dein tam praecipitem necem, quam si ferro urgeretur, cubiculum Caesaris iuxta decoquitur virus cognitis antea venenis rapidum.

He received the first venom from his very attendants, and, with his belly loosened, passed it through as too feeble, whether some tempering was in it so that it would not rage at once. But Nero, impatient of a slow crime, began to threaten the tribune and to order punishment for the poisoner, because, while they looked to rumor and prepared defenses, they were delaying his security. Then, with promises of a death as headlong as if he were pressed by steel, a poison—swift, from venoms previously known—was boiled down beside the Caesar’s bedchamber.

[16] Mos habebatur principum liberos cum ceteris idem aetatis nobilibus sedentes vesci in adspectu propinquorum propria et parciore mensa. illic epulante Britannico, quia cibos potusque eius delectus ex ministris gustu explorabat, ne omitteretur institutum aut utriusque morte proderetur scelus, talis dolus repertus est. innoxia adhuc ac praecalida et libata gustu potio traditur Britannico; dein, postquam fervore aspernabatur, frigida in aqua adfunditur venenum, quod ita cunctos eius artus pervasit, ut vox pariter et spiritus [eius] raperentur.

[16] It was a custom that the children of the princes, sitting with other nobles of the same age, should eat in the sight of their kin at their own and more sparing table. There, while Britannicus was feasting, because a taster chosen from the attendants was testing his food and drink by taste, lest the instituted practice be omitted or the crime be betrayed by the death of them both, such a stratagem was found. A drink as yet harmless and rather warm and already sipped by the taster is handed to Britannicus; then, after he rejected it because of the heat, poison, in cold water, is poured in, which so pervaded all his limbs that his voice and breath [his] alike were snatched away.

trepidatur a circumsedentibus, diffugiunt imprudentes: at quibus altior intellectus, resistunt defixi et Neronem intuentes. ille ut erat reclinis et nescio similis, solitum ita ait per comitialem morbum, quo prima ab infantia adflictaretur Britannicus, et redituros paulatim visus sensusque. at Agrippina[e] is pavor, ea consternatio mentis, quamvis vultu premeretur, emicuit, ut perinde ignaram fuisse [quam] Octaviam sororem Britannici constiterit: quippe sibi supremum auxilium ereptum et parricidii exemplum intellegebat.

there is trepidation among those sitting around, the unwitting scatter: but
those with a higher intellect stand fast, transfixed and gazing at Nero. He,
as he was reclining and with a look somehow like not knowing, says it was the
usual thing by reason of the comitial disease, by which from earliest infancy
Britannicus was afflicted, and that sight and senses would gradually return. But the terror of Agrippina[e], that consternation
of mind, although it was pressed down in her face, flashed forth, so that it was established that she was just as unaware as [quam] Octavia, sister of Britannicus: for she realized that her supreme aid had been snatched away and a precedent of parricide set.

Octavia quoque, quamvis rudibus annis, dolorem caritatem omnes adfectus abscondere didicerat. ita post breve silentium repetita convivii laetitia.

Octavia too, although in tender years, had learned to hide grief, charity, all affections. Thus, after a brief silence, the joy of the banquet was resumed.

[17] Nox eadem necem Britannici et rogum coniunxit, proviso ante funebri paratu, qui modicus fuit. in campo tamen Martis sepultus est, adeo turbidis imbribus, ut vulgus iram deum portendi crediderit adversus facinus, cui plerique etiam hominum ignoscebant, antiquas fratrum discordias et insociabile regnum aestimantes. tradunt plerique eorum temporum scriptores crebris ante exitium diebus inlusum isse pueritia[e] Britannici Neronem, ut iam non praematura neque saeva mors videri queat, quamvis inter sacra mensae, ne tempore quidem ad complexum sororum dato, ante oculos inimici properata sit in illum supremum Claudiorum sanguinem stupro prius quam veneno pollutum.

[17] The same night united the murder of Britannicus and his pyre, the funeral apparatus having been provided beforehand, which was modest. in the Campus of Mars, however, he was buried, with such turbulent downpours that the crowd believed the wrath of the gods to be portended against the crime, to which many even among men were granting pardon, reckoning the ancient discords of brothers and the incompatible nature of kingship. Most writers of those times report that for many days before his end Nero had been making mockery of the boyhood of Britannicus, so that now the death may not seem premature nor savage, although, amid the sacred rites of the table, with not even time granted for the embrace of his sisters, it was hurried, before the eyes of an enemy, upon that last blood of the Claudii, stained by defilement before by poison.

festinationem exsequiarum edicto Caesar defendit, id a maioribus institutum referens, subtrahere oculis acerba funera neque laudationibus aut pompa detinere. ceterum et sibi amisso fratris auxilio reliquas spes in re publica sitas, et tanto magis fovendum patribus populoque principem, qui unus superesset e familia summum ad fastigium genita.

he defended the hastening of the obsequies by an edict, alleging this to have been established by the ancestors: to withdraw bitter funerals from the eyes and not to detain them with laudations or pomp. moreover, that for himself, with a brother’s aid lost, the remaining hopes were placed in the commonwealth; and that all the more the emperor must be fostered by the Fathers and the People, he who alone survived of a family begotten for the highest eminence.

[18] Exim largitione potissimos amicorum auxit. nec defuere qui arguerent viros gravitatem adseverantes, quod domos villas id temporis quasi praedam divisissent. alii necessitatem adhibitam credebant a principe, sceleris sibi conscio et veniam sperante, si largitionibus validissimum quemque obstrinxisset.

[18] Next, by largess he augmented the most potent of his friends. nor were there wanting those who accused men asserting their gravitas, that at that time they had divided houses and villas as if booty. others believed that necessity had been applied by the emperor, conscious of his crime and hoping for pardon, if by largesses he had bound each of the most powerful.

At matris ira nulla munificentia leniri, sed amplecti Octaviam, crebra cum amicis secreta habere, super ingenitam avaritiam undique pecunias quasi in subsidium corripiens, tribunos et centuriones comiter excipere, nomina et virtutes nobilium, qui etiam tum supererant, in honore habere, quasi quaereret ducem et partes. cognitum id Neroni, excubiasque militares, quae ut coniugi imperatoris olim, tum ut matri servabantur, et Germanos nuper eundem [in] honorem custodes additos digredi iubet. ac ne coetu salutantium frequentaretur, separat domum matremque transfert in eam, quae Antoniae fuerat, quotiens ipse illuc ventitaret, saeptus turba centurionum et post breve osculum digrediens.

But the mother’s wrath could be appeased by no munificence, but she embraced Octavia, held frequent privacies with friends, over and above her inborn avarice snatching up monies on every side as if for a reserve, received tribunes and centurions courteously, kept in honor the names and virtues of the nobles who even then still survived, as if she were seeking a leader and a party. This was known to Nero, and he orders the military watches, which once, as for the emperor’s consort, then as for the mother, were maintained, and the Germans lately added as guards to the same honor, to withdraw. And lest she be thronged by the concourse of saluters, he separates the household and transfers his mother into that which had been Antonia’s, and whenever he himself kept coming thither, hedged by a crowd of centurions and, after a brief kiss, departing.

[19] Nihil rerum mortalium tam instabile ac fluxum est quam fama potentiae non sua vi nixa[e]. statim relictum Agrippinae limen: nemo solari, nemo adire praeter paucas feminas, amore an odio incertas. ex quibus erat Iunia Silana, quam matrimonio C. Sili a Messalina depulsam supra rettuli, insignis genere forma lascivia, et Agrippinae diu percara, mox occultis inter eas offensionibus, quia Sextium Africanum nobilem iuvenem a nuptiis Silanae deterruerat Agrippina, impudicam et vergentem annis dictitans, non ut Africanum sibi seponeret, sed ne opibus et orbitate Silanae maritus poteretur. illa spe ultionis oblata parat accusatores ex clientibus suis Iturium et Calvisium, non vetera et saepius iam audita deferens, quod Britannici mortem lugeret aut Octaviae iniurias evulgaret, sed destinavisse eam Rubellium Plautum, per maternam originem pari ac Nero gradu a divo Augusto, ad res novas extollere coniugioque eius et imperio rem publicam rursus invadere.

[19] Nothing in mortal affairs is so unstable and fluid as the fame of power not leaning on its own strength. At once Agrippina’s threshold was deserted: no one to console, no one to approach except a few women, uncertain whether out of love or hatred. Among these was Junia Silana, whom I have related above to have been driven from marriage with Gaius Silius by Messalina, notable for lineage, beauty, and lasciviousness, and for a long time very dear to Agrippina, soon after at hidden offenses between them, because Agrippina had deterred Sextius Africanus, a noble young man, from marrying Silana, repeatedly calling her immodest and declining in years—not to set Africanus aside for herself, but lest a husband might be able to profit by Silana’s wealth and childlessness. She, with the hope of vengeance offered, prepares accusers from her clients, Iturius and Calvisius, not bringing the old and now oft-heard allegations, that she mourned the death of Britannicus or broadcast the wrongs against Octavia, but that she had destined Rubellius Plautus—by maternal origin equal in degree with Nero from the deified Augustus—to be raised up for revolution, and by marriage with him and by his imperium to seize the commonwealth anew.

haec Iturius et Calvisius Atimeto, Domitiae Neronis amitae liberto, aperiunt. qui laetus oblatis (quippe inter Agrippinam et Domitiam infensa aemulatio exercebatur) Paridem histrionem, libertum et ipsum Domitiae, impulit ire propere crimenque atrociter deferre.

These things Iturius and Calvisius disclose to Atimetus, the freedman of Domitia, Nero’s aunt. He, glad at what was offered (for between Agrippina and Domitia a hostile emulation was being exercised), urged Paris the actor, himself also a freedman of Domitia, to go in haste and to press the charge fiercely.

[20] Provecta nox erat et Neroni per vinolentiam trahebatur, cum ingreditur Paris, solitus alioquin id temporis luxus principis intendere, sed tunc compositus ad maestitiam, expositoque indicii ordine ita audientem exterret, ut non tantum matrem Plautumque interficere, sed Burrum etiam demovere praefectura destinaret, tamquam Agrippinae gratia provectum et vicem reddentem. Fabius Rusticus auctor est scriptos esse ad Caecinam Tuscum codicillos, mandata ei praetoriarum cohortium cura, sed ope Senecae dignationem Burro retentam. Plinius et Cluvius nihil dubitatum de fide praefecti referunt.

[20] Advanced night had come, and for Nero the time was being dragged out through vinolence, when Paris enters, otherwise accustomed at that hour to intensify the emperor’s luxuries, but now composed to gloom; and, with the sequence of the evidence set forth, he so terrifies him as he listens that he resolved not only to kill his mother and Plautus, but even to remove Burrus from the prefecture, on the ground that he had been advanced by Agrippina’s favor and was repaying the favor. Fabius Rusticus is authority that written orders were sent to Caecina Tuscus, entrusting to him the care of the praetorian cohorts, but by Seneca’s aid the dignity was retained for Burrus. Pliny and Cluvius report that no doubt was entertained about the loyalty of the prefect.

sane Fabius inclinat ad laudes Senecae, cuius amicitia floruit. nos consensum auctorum secuturi, quae diversa prodiderint, sub nominibus ipsorum trademus. Nero trepidus et interficiendae matris avidus non prius differri potuit, quam Burrus necem eius promitteret, si facinoris coargueretur; sed cuicumque, nedum parenti defensionem tribuendam; nec accusatores adesse, sed vocem unius [et] ex inimica domo adferri: reputare[t] tenebras et vigilatam convivio noctem omniaque temeritati et inscitiae propiora.

Certainly Fabius inclines toward praises of Seneca, by whose friendship he flourished. We, intending to follow the consensus of the authors, will hand down, under their own names, the things which they have transmitted that are diverse. Nero, alarmed and avid for the killing of his mother, could not be delayed sooner than until Burrus would promise her death, if she were convicted of the deed; but that to anyone, much less to a parent, a defense must be granted; and that the accusers were not present, but the voice of one [and] from a hostile house was being brought; let him consider the darkness and a night kept awake by a banquet, and everything more akin to temerity and ignorance.

[21] Sic lenito principis metu et luce orta itur ad Agrippinam, ut nosceret obiecta dissolveretque vel poenas lueret. Burrus iis mandatis Seneca coram fungebatur; aderant et ex libertis arbitri sermonis. deinde a Burro, postquam crimina et auctores exposuit, minaciter actum.

[21] Thus, with the emperor’s fear soothed and with light arisen, they go to Agrippina, that she might learn the charges and either refute them or pay the penalties. Burrus was discharging those mandates, with Seneca present in person; and there were present also, from among the freedmen, arbiters of the conversation. Then by Burrus, after he had set forth the crimes and the authors, it was dealt with menacingly.

et Agrippina ferociae memor "non miror" inquit, "Silanam numquam edito partu matrum adfectus ignotos habere; neque enim proinde a parentibus liberi quam ab impudica adulteri mutantur. nec si Iturius et Calvisius adesis omnibus fortunis novissimam suscipiendae accusationis operam anui rependunt, ideo aut mihi infamia parricidii aut Caesari conscientia subeunda est. nam Domitiae inimicitiis gratias agerem, si benevolentia mecum in Neronem meum certaret: nunc per concubinum Atimetum et histrionem Paridem quasi scaenae fabulas componit.

and, mindful of her ferocity, Agrippina said: “I do not marvel that Silana, never having brought forth a child, has unknown the affections of mothers; for offspring are not altered by parents in the way adulterers are altered by an immodest woman. Nor, if Iturius and Calvisius, with all their fortunes eaten away, repay to an old woman the latest service of undertaking an accusation, on that account must either the infamy of parricide be borne by me or a conscience be incurred by Caesar. For I would give thanks for Domitia’s enmities, if she were contending with me in goodwill toward my Nero: as it is, through her concubine Atimetus and the actor Paris she composes plots as though for the stage.”

Baiarum suarum piscinas extollebat, cum meis consiliis adoptio et proconsulare ius et designatio consulatus et cetera apiscendo imperio praepararentur. aut exsistat qui cohortes in urbe temptatas, qui provinciarum fidem labefactatam, denique servos vel libertos ad scelus corruptos arguat. vivere ego Britannico potiente rerum poteram?

She was extolling the fish-ponds of her Baiae, while by my counsels adoption, the proconsular right, the designation of the consulship, and the rest were being prepared for acquiring the imperium. Or let there appear someone to prove that the cohorts in the city were tampered with, that the fidelity of the provinces was undermined, and finally that slaves or freedmen were corrupted to crime. Could I have lived with Britannicus wielding the reins of affairs?

ac si Plautus aut quis alius rem publicam iudicaturus obtinuerit, desunt scilicet mihi accusatores, qui non verba impatientia caritatis aliquando incauta, sed ea crimina obiciant, quibus nisi a filio absolvi non possim." commotis qui aderant ultroque spiritus eius mitigantibus, colloquium filii exposcit, ubi nihil pro innocentia, quasi diffideret, nec [de] beneficiis, quasi exprobraret, disseruit, sed ultionem in delatores et praemia amicis obtinuit.

"and if Plautus or someone else, about to judge the commonwealth, shall obtain control, obviously I lack accusers, who would bring against me not words sometimes incautious from an impatience of charity, but such crimes that I could not be absolved except by my son." With those present moved, and moreover soothing her spirit, she demanded an interview with her son, wherein she discoursed nothing in defense of her innocence, as if she distrusted it, nor [of] benefits, as if she reproached him, but she obtained retribution upon the informers and rewards for her friends.

[22] Praefectura annonae Faenio Rufo, cura ludorum, qui a Caesare parabantur, Arruntio Stellae, Aegyptus C[laudio] Balbillo permittuntur. Syria P. Anteio destinata; sed variis mox artibus elusus, ad postremum in urbe retentus est. at Silana in exilium acta; Calvisius quoque et Iturius relegantur; de Atimeto supplicium sumptum, validiore apud libidines principis Paride, quam ut poena adficeretur.

[22] The prefecture of the grain-supply to Fenius Rufus, the care of the games, which were being prepared by Caesar, to Arruntius Stella, and Egypt to C[laudius] Balbillus are entrusted. Syria was designated for P. Anteius; but soon, tricked by various stratagems, in the end he was kept in the city. But Silana was driven into exile; Calvisius too and Iturius are relegated; punishment was exacted upon Atimetus, Paris being too powerful in the emperor’s lusts to be afflicted with a penalty.

Plautus ad praesens silentio transmissus est.

Plautus for
the present was passed over in silence.

[23] Deferuntur dehinc consensisse Pallas ac Burrus, ut Cornelius Sulla claritudine generis et adfinitate Claudii, cui per nuptias Antoniae gener erat, ad imperium vocaretur. eius accusationis auctor extitit Paetus quidam, exercendis apud aerarium sectionibus famosus et tum vanitatis manifestus. nec tam grata Pallantis innocentia quam gravis superbia fuit: quippe nominatis libertis eius, quos conscios haberet, respondit nihil umquam se domi nisi nutu aut manu significasse, vel, si plura demonstranda essent, scripto usum, ne vocem consociaret.

[23] Then reports are submitted that Pallas and Burrus had agreed that Cornelius Sulla, by the clarity of his lineage and by his affinity with Claudius—of whom, through the marriage of Antonia, he was the son-in-law—should be called to the imperium. The author of this accusation was a certain Paetus, notorious for conducting sectiones at the aerarium and then manifest for vanity. Nor was the innocence of Pallas so welcome as his pride was grave: for, when his freedmen were named, whom he held as privy accomplices, he replied that he had never at home signified anything except by a nod or by the hand, or, if more had to be demonstrated, he used writing, that he might not associate his voice.

Burrus quamvis reus inter iudices sententiam dixit. exiliumque accusatori inrogatum et tabulae exustae sunt, quibus oblitterata aerarii nomina retrahebat.

Burrus,
although a defendant, delivered an opinion among the judges. And exile was imposed on the accuser,
and the tablets were burned, by which he had been bringing back into account the Treasury’s names that had been obliterated.

[24] Fine anni statio cohortis adsidere ludis solita demovetur, quo maior species libertatis esset, utque miles theatrali licentiae non permixtus incorruptior ageret et plebes daret experimentum, an amotis custodibus modestiam retineret. urbem princeps lustravit ex responso haruspicum, quod Iovis ac Minervae aedes de caelo tactae erant.

[24] At the end of the year the post of the cohort, accustomed to attend the games, was removed, in order that there might be a greater appearance of liberty, and that the soldier, not mingled with theatrical license, might conduct himself more incorrupt, and that the plebs might give a trial whether, with the guards removed, it would retain modesty. The princeps performed a lustration of the city according to the response of the haruspices, because the temples of Jupiter and Minerva had been struck by lightning.

[25] Q. Volusio P. Scipione consulibus otium foris, foeda domi lascivia, qua Nero itinera urbis et lupanaria et deverticula veste servili in dissimulationem sui compositus pererrabat, comitantibus qui raperent venditioni exposita et obviis vulnera inferrent, adversus ignaros adeo, ut ipse quoque exciperet ictus et ore praeferret. deinde ubi Caesarem esse, qui grassaretur, pernotuit augebanturque iniuriae adversus viros feminasque insignes, et quidam permissa semel licentia sub nomine Neronis inulti propriis cum globis eadem exercebant, in modum captivitatis nox agebatur; Iuliusque Montanus senatorii ordinis, sed qui nondum honorem capessisset, congressus forte per tenebras cum principe, quia vim temptantem acriter reppulerat, deinde adgnitum oraverat, quasi exprobrasset mori adactus est. Nero autem metuentior in posterum milites sibi et plerosque gladiatores circumdedit, qui rixarum initia modica et quasi privata sinerent; si a laesis validius ageretur, arma inferebant.

[25] In the consulship of Q. Volusius and P. Scipio there was quiet abroad, foul wantonness at home, whereby Nero would wander through the routes of the city and the brothels and byways, arrayed in servile dress for the dissimulation of himself, with attendants who would snatch goods set out for sale and inflict wounds on those who met them—against the unwary to such a degree that he too received blows and bore them on his face. Then, when it became thoroughly known that it was the Caesar who was prowling, outrages were increased against distinguished men and women; and certain persons, once license had been allowed, under the name of Nero, unpunished, with their own gangs practiced the same deeds: the night was passed in the manner of captivity. And Julius Montanus, of senatorial order, but one who had not yet undertaken office, having by chance encountered the princeps in the darkness, because he had vigorously driven back one attempting violence, then, once he had recognized him, had begged pardon, was driven to die, as if he had reproached him. Nero, however, more timorous for the future, surrounded himself with soldiers and many gladiators, who would allow the beginnings of brawls to be slight and as if private; if the injured pushed back more strongly, they brought in arms.

ludicram quoque licentiam et fautores histrionum velut in proelia convertit impunitate et praemiis atque ipse occultus et plerumque coram prospectans, donec discordi populo et gravioris motus terrore non aliud remedium repertum est quam ut histriones Italia pellerentur milesque theatro rursum adsideret.

He also turned the ludic license and the favorers of the histrions, as if into
battles, by impunity and rewards, he himself both hidden and for the most part
looking on in person, until, with the people at odds and under the terror of a
more serious commotion, no other remedy was found than that the histrions be
driven from Italy and that the soldier should again sit beside the theater.

[26] Per idem tempus actum in senatu de fraudibus libertorum, efflagitatumque ut adversus male meritos revocandae libertatis patronis daretur. nec deerant qui censerent, sed consules, relationem incipere non ausi ignaro principe, perscripsere tamen consensum senatus. ille an auctor constitutionis fieret, . . . ut inter paucos et sententiae diversos, quibusdam coalitam libertate inreverentiam eo prorupisse frementibus, [ut] vine an aequo cum patronis iure agerent [sententiam eorum] consultarent ac verberibus manus ultro intenderent, impudenter vel poenam suam ipsi suadentes.

[26] At the same time it was dealt with in the senate about the frauds of freedmen, and it was demanded that to patrons there be given the revocation of freedom against those who had deserved ill. Nor were there lacking those who so proposed; but the consuls, not daring to begin the motion with the princeps unaware, nevertheless wrote out the consensus of the senate. He, whether he should become the author of the enactment, . . . as among a few and with opinions divergent, while some were raging that an irreverence, consolidated by freedom, had burst forth to this point, [that] they were considering whether they should proceed by force or with equal right with their patrons, [their sentence] and were even of their own accord stretching out hands to blows, shamelessly, as if recommending their own punishment themselves.

quid enim aliud laeso patrono concessum, quam ut c[ent]esimum ultra lapidem in oram Campaniae libertum releget? ceteras actiones promiscas et pares esse: tribuendum aliquod telum, quod sperni nequeat. nec grave manu missis per idem obsequium retinendi libertatem, per quod adsecuti sint: at criminum manifestos merito ad servitutem retrahi, ut metu coerceantur, quos beneficia non mutavissent.

For what else is granted to an injured patron than that he relegate the freedman beyond the hundredth milestone to the coast of Campania? The other actions are promiscuous and equal: some weapon must be given which cannot be scorned. Nor is it burdensome for the manumitted, by the same obedience through which they attained it, to retain their freedom; but those manifestly guilty of crimes are deservedly drawn back into servitude, that by fear they may be restrained—those whom benefits have not transformed.

[27] Disserebatur contra: paucorum culpam ipsis exitiosam esse debere, nihil universorum iuri derogandum; quippe late fusum id corpus. hinc plerumque tribus decurias, ministeria magistratibus et sacerdotibus, cohortes etiam in urbe conscriptas; et plurimis equitum, plerisque senatoribus non aliunde originem trahi: si separarentur libertini, manifestam fore penuriam ingenuorum. non frustra maiores, cum dignitatem ordinum dividerent, libertatem in communi posuisse.

[27] It was argued on the contrary: the fault of a few ought to be ruinous to themselves, nothing should be derogated from the right of all; for that body is spread far and wide. Hence for the most part the decuries of the tribes, the ministries to magistrates and to priests, and even the cohorts enrolled in the city; and for very many of the equestrians, for most of the senators, origin is drawn from nowhere else: if freedmen were separated, there would be a manifest scarcity of freeborn. Not in vain did the ancestors, when they divided the dignity of the orders, place liberty in common.

quin et manu mittendi duas species institutas, ut relinqueretur paenitentiae aut novo beneficio locus. quos vindicta patronus non liberaverit, velut vinclo servitutis attineri. dispiceret quisque merita tardeque concederet, quod datum non adimeretur.

indeed also
two species of manumitting were established, so that a place might be left for penitence or
for a new benefaction. those whom the patron did not free by the vindicta are held, as it were,
by a bond of servitude. let each one consider the merits and grant slowly,
since what has been given is not taken away.

haec sententia valuit, scripsitque Caesar senatui, privatim expenderent causam libertorum, quotiens a patronis arguerentur; in commune nihil derog[ar]ent. nec multo post ereptus amitae libertus Paris quasi iure civili, non sine infamia principis, cuius iussu perpetratum ingenuitatis iudicium erat.

this opinion prevailed,
and Caesar wrote to the senate, that they should weigh privately the case of freedmen,
whenever they were accused by their patrons; that they should derogate nothing from the common right. nor
long after the freedman of his aunt, Paris, was snatched away as if by civil law, not without
discredit to the princeps, by whose order the judgment concerning freeborn status had been perpetrated.

[28] Manebat nihilo minus quaedam imago rei publicae. nam inter Vibullium praetorem et plebei tribunum Antistium ortum certamen, quod immodestos fautores histrionum et a praetore in vincla ductos tribunus omitti iussisset. comprobavere patres, incusata Antistii licentia.

[28] Nonetheless, a certain image of the commonwealth remained. For between Vibullius the praetor and Antistius, the tribune of the plebs, a contest arose, because the tribune had ordered that the immodest supporters of the actors—who had been led into bonds by the praetor— be let go. The Fathers approved, Antistius’s license being reproached.

simul prohibiti tribuni ius praetorum et consulum praeripere aut vocare ex Italia, cum quibus lege agi posset. addidit L. Piso designatus consul, ne quid intra domum pro potestate adverterent, neve multum ab iis dictam quaestores aerarii in publicas tabulas ante quattuor mense referrent; medio temporis contra dicere liceret, deque eo consules statuerent. cohibita artius et aedilium potestas statutumque, quantum curules, quantum plebei pignoris caperent vel poenae inrogarent.

at the same time the tribunes were forbidden to preempt the jurisdiction of the praetors and consuls, or to summon from Italy persons with whom an action at law could be brought. L. Piso, consul-designate, added that they should not exercise any authority within a private house, and that the quaestors of the treasury should not enter in the public records a fine pronounced by them before four months; in the meantime it should be permitted to speak in contradiction, and the consuls should decide on it. The power of the aediles too was more tightly confined, and it was established how much the curule and how much the plebeian might take in pledge or impose as a penalty.

et Helvidius Priscus tr[ibunus] pl[ebis] adversus Obultronium Sabinum aerarii quaestorem contentiones proprias exercuit, tamquam ius hastae adversus inopes inclementer ageret. dein princeps curam tabularum publicarum a quaestoribus ad praefectos transtulit.

and Helvidius Priscus, tribune of the plebs, prosecuted his own disputes against Obultronius Sabinus, quaestor of the treasury, as though he were enforcing the right of the spear harshly against the poor. Then the Princeps transferred the care of the public records from the quaestors to the prefects.

[29] Varie habita ac saepe mutata eius rei forma. nam Augustus senatui permisit deligere praefectos; deinde ambitu suffragiorum suspecto, sorte ducebantur ex numero praetorum qui praeessent. neque id diu mansit, quia sors deerrabat ad parum idoneos.

[29] The form of that matter was variously adopted and often changed. for Augustus permitted the senate to choose the prefects; then, the canvassing of votes being suspect, those who should preside were drawn by lot from the number of the praetors. nor did that last long, because the lot strayed to men not sufficiently fit.

tum Claudius quaestores rursum imposuit, iisque, ne metu offensionum segnius consulerent, extra ordinem honores promisit: sed deerat robur aetatis eum primum magistratum capessentibus. igitur Nero praetura perfunctos et experientia probatos delegit.

then Claudius reimposed the quaestors, and to them—lest, from fear of offenses, they should deliberate more sluggishly—he promised honors out of turn: but the vigor of age was lacking to those taking up that first magistracy. therefore Nero chose men who had completed the praetorship and were approved by experience.

[30] Damnatus isdem consulibus Vipsanius Laenas ob Sardiniam provinciam avare habitam; absolutus Cestius Proculus repetundarum Cretensibus accusantibus. Clodius Quirinalis, quod praefectus remigum, qui Ravennae haberentur, velut infimam nationum Italiam luxuria saevitiaque adflictavisset, veneno damnationem anteiit. Caninius Rebi[l]us, ex primoribus peritia legum et pecuniae magnitudine, cruciatus aegrae senectae misso per venas sanguine effugit, haud creditus sufficere ad constantiam sumendae mortis, ob libidines muliebriter infamis.

[30] Condemned under the same consuls was Vipsanius Laenas on account of Sardinia the province having been avariciously administered; acquitted was Cestius Proculus of extortion, the Cretans bringing the accusation. Clodius Quirinalis, because as prefect of the oarsmen, who were maintained at Ravenna, he had afflicted Italy with luxury and cruelty as though it were the lowest of nations, forestalled condemnation by poison. Caninius Rebi[l]us, among the foremost for expertise in the laws and for the magnitude of his wealth, tormented by ailing old age, escaped by letting blood through his veins, not believed sufficient in constancy for the taking of death, infamous for lusts in a womanish manner.

at L. Volusius egregia fama concessit, cui tres et nonaginta anni spatium vivendi praecipuaeque opes bonis artibus, inoffensa tot imperatorum [a]micitia fuit.

but L. Volusius departed with outstanding fame, for whom three and
ninety years was the span of living, and exceptional wealth by good arts,
an unoffended friendship of so many emperors.

[31] Nerone iterum L. Pisone consulibus pauca memoria digna evenere, nisi cui libeat laudandis fundamentis et trabibus, quis molem amphitheatri apud campum Martis Caesar exstruxerat, volumina implere, cum ex dignitate populi Romani repertum sit res inlustres annalibus, talia diurnis urbis actis mandare. ceterum coloniae Capua atque Nuceria additis veteranis firmatae sunt, plebeique congiarium quadrigeni nummi viritim dati, et sestertium quadringenties aerario inlatum est ad retinendam populi fidem. vectigal quoque quintae et vicesimae venalium mancipiorum remissum, specie magis quam vi, quia, cum venditor pendere iuberetur, in partem pretii emptoribus adcrescebat.

[31] Under Nero for the second time and Lucius Piso as consuls, few things worthy of memory occurred, unless it should please someone to fill volumes with praising the foundations and beams, with which Caesar had constructed the mass of an amphitheatre by the Campus Martius, whereas, in keeping with the dignity of the Roman people, it has been found proper to consign illustrious matters to the annals, such things to the city’s daily Acta. However, the colonies of Capua and Nuceria were strengthened by veterans added, and a congiary to the plebs of forty coins was given man by man, and 40,000,000 sesterces were brought into the treasury to retain the people’s loyalty. The tax also of the twenty-fifth on slaves put up for sale was remitted, more in show than in force, because, although the seller was ordered to pay, it accrued to the buyers as part of the price.

et [e]dixit Caesar, ne quis magistratus aut procurator in provincia, [quam] obtineret, spectaculum gladiatorum aut ferarum aut quod aliud ludicrum ederet. nam ante non minus tali largitione quam corripiendis pecuniis subiectos adfligebant, dum, quae libidine deliquerant, ambitu propugnant.

and Caesar also issued an edict,
that no magistrate or procurator in the province which he held
should stage a spectacle of gladiators or of wild beasts or any other entertainment. For
previously they would afflict their subjects no less by such largess than by seizing monies,
while, by canvassing, they defended the things in which they had transgressed through lust.

[32] Factum et senatus consultum ultioni iuxta et securitati, ut si quis a suis servis interfectus esset, ii quoque, qui testamento manu missi sub eodem tecto mansissent, inter servos supplicia penderent. redditur ordini Lurius Varus consularis, avaritiae criminibus olim perculsus. et Pomponia Graecina insignis femina, [A.] Plautio, quem ovasse de Britannis rettuli, nupta ac superstitionis externae rea, mariti iudicio permissa.

[32] A senatorial decree was also enacted for vengeance as well as for security: that if anyone had been killed by his own slaves, those too who, manumitted by testament, had remained under the same roof should pay penalties among the slaves. Lurius Varus, a consular, once stricken by charges of avarice, is restored to the order. And Pomponia Graecina, a distinguished woman, wedded to [A.] Plautius—whom I have reported to have celebrated an ovation over the Britons—and indicted on a charge of foreign superstition, was committed to her husband’s judgment.

isque prisco instituto propinquis coram de capite famaque coniugis cognovit et insontem nuntiavit. longa huic Pomponiae aetas et continua tristitia fuit. nam post Iuliam Drusi filiam dolo Messalinae interfectam per quadraginta annos non cultu nisi lugubri, non animo nisi maesto egit; idque illi imperitante Claudio impune, mox ad gloriam vertit.

and he, by an ancient institute, in the presence of his kin, took cognizance concerning the life and fame of his wife and declared her innocent. to this Pomponia there was a long age and a continuous sadness. for after Julia, the daughter of Drusus, had been slain by the deceit of Messalina, for forty years she lived in no attire except lugubrious, in no temper except mournful; and this she, while Claudius was ruling, did with impunity, and soon turned it into glory.

[33] Idem annus plures reos habuit. quorum P. Celerem accusante Asia, quia absolvere nequibat Caesar, traxit, senecta donec mortem obiret; nam Celer interfecto, ut memoravi, Silano pro consule magnitudine sceleris cetera flagitia obtegebat. Cossutianum Capitonem Cilices detulerant, maculosum foedumque et idem ius audaciae in provincia ratum, quod in urbe exercuerat; sed pervicaci accusatione conflictatus postremo defensionem omisit ac lege repetundarum damnatus est.

[33] The same year had more defendants. Of these, with Asia accusing Publius Celer, Caesar, because he could not absolve him, protracted the matter until he met death by old age; for Celer, Silanus the proconsul having been slain, as I have mentioned, was covering his other disgraces by the magnitude of the crime. Cossutianus Capito the Cilicians had denounced, a stained and foul man, and maintaining the same right of audacity in the province which he had exercised in the city; but, battered by a pertinacious accusation, at last he abandoned his defense and was condemned under the law of extortions.

pro Eprio Marcello, a quo Lyci[i] res repetebant, eo usque ambitus praevaluit, ut quidam accusatorum eius exilio multarentur, tamquam insonti periculum fecissent.

on behalf of Eprius Marcellus, from whom the Lycians were seeking restitution, to such an extent did bribery prevail
that some of his accusers were punished with exile, as though they had put an innocent man in peril.

[34] Nerone tertium consule simul ini[i]t consulatum Valerius Messala, cuius proavum, oratorem Corvinum, divo Augusto, abavo Neronis, collegam in eo[dem] magistratu fuisse pauci iam senum meminerant. sed nobili familiae honor auctus est oblatis in singulos annos quingenis sestertiis, quibus Messala paupertatem innoxiam sustentaret. Aurelio quoque Cottae et Haterio Antonino annuam pecuniam statuit princeps, quamvis per luxum avitas opes dissipassent.

[34] With Nero consul for the third time, Valerius Messala at the same time entered the consulship, whose great‑grandfather, the orator Corvinus, had been colleague in that same magistracy with the deified Augustus, Nero’s great‑great‑grandfather, as few now among the old men remembered.
but the honor to the noble family was augmented by five hundred thousand sesterces being offered for each year, by which Messala might sustain blameless poverty.
The emperor also fixed an annual sum for Aurelius Cotta and Haterius Antoninus, although through luxury they had dissipated their ancestral wealth.

Eius anni principio mollibus adhuc initiis prolatatum inter Parthos Romanosque de obtinenda Armenia bellum acriter sumitur, quia nec Vologaeses sinebat fratrem Tiridaten dati a se regni expertem esse aut alienae id potentiae donum habere, et Corbulo dignum magnitudine populi Romani rebatur parta olim a Lucullo Pompeioque recipere. ad hoc Armenii ambigua fide utraque arma invitabant, situ terrarum, similitudine morum Parthis propiores conubiisque permixti ac libertate ignota illuc magis [ad servitium] inclinantes.

At the beginning of that year, with the openings still gentle, the war put forward between the Parthians and the Romans for the obtaining of Armenia is taken up keenly, because neither Vologaeses allowed his brother Tiridates to be lacking the kingdom given by himself or to hold it as a gift of alien power; and Corbulo thought it worthy of the greatness of the Roman people to recover what had once been won by Lucullus and Pompey. In addition, the Armenians, with ambiguous fidelity, invited the arms of both sides, by the situation of the lands, by the similarity of customs, closer to the Parthians and intermixed by connubial ties, and, with freedom unknown, leaning more that way [to servitude].

[35] Sed Corbuloni plus molis adversus ignaviam militum quam contra perfidiam hostium erat: quippe Syria transmotae legiones, pace longa segnes, munia castrorum aegerrime tolerabant. satis constitit fuisse in eo exercitu veteranos, qui non stationem, non vigilias inissent, vallum fossamque quasi nova et mira viserent, sine galeis, sine loricis, nitidi et quaestuosi, militia per oppida expleta. igitur dimissis, quibus senectus aut valitudo adversa erat, supplementum petivit.

[35] But for Corbulo there was more toil against the soldiers’ sloth than against the enemies’ perfidy: for the legions transferred from Syria, sluggish from long peace, most unwillingly endured the duties of the camp. It was well established that in that army there were veterans who had entered neither guard-post nor watches, who viewed the rampart and the ditch as if new and wondrous, without helmets, without cuirasses, sleek and profit-seeking, their military service carried out through towns. Therefore, after dismissing those for whom old age or adverse health was a hindrance, he sought a reinforcement.

et habiti per Galatiam Cappadociamque dilectus, adiectaque ex Germania legio cum equitibus alariis et peditatu cohortium. retentusque omnis exercitus sub pellibus, quamvis hieme saeva adeo, ut obducta glacie nisi effossa humus tentoriis locum non praeberet. ambusti multorum artus vi frigoris, et quidam inter excubias exanimati sunt.

and levies were held through Galatia and Cappadocia, and a legion from Germany was added with
the ala cavalry and the infantry of the cohorts. and the whole army was kept under canvas,
though the winter was so savage that, with ice drawn over, the ground, unless dug out, did not
provide a place for the tents. the limbs of many were scorched by the force of the cold, and some
were rendered lifeless during the watches.

adnotatusque miles, qui fascem lignorum gestabat, ita praeriguisse manus, ut oneri adhaerentes truncis brachiis deciderent. ipse cultu [l]evi, capite intecto, in agmine, in laboribus frequens adesse, laudem strenuis, solacium invalidis, exemplum omnibus ostendere. dehinc, quia duritia caeli militiaeque multi abnuebant deserebantque, remedium severitate quaesitum est.

And a case was recorded of a soldier who was carrying a bundle of firewood, that his hands had so been frost-numbed that, as they clung to the load, they fell off with the arms maimed. He himself, in light attire, with head uncovered, was frequently present in the column and in the labors, showing laud to the strenuous, solace to the invalid, an example to all. Thereafter, because many were refusing and deserting under the hardness of the climate and of military service, a remedy was sought in severity.

nec enim, ut in aliis exercitibus, primum alterumque delictum venia prosequebatur, se qui signa reliquerat, statim capite poenas luebat. idque usu salubre et misericordia melius apparuit: quippe pauciores illa castra deseruere quam ea, in quibus ignoscebatur.

for indeed, as not in other armies, he did not accompany the first and second delict with pardon, but whoever had abandoned the standards immediately paid the penalty with his head. And this by experience appeared healthful and better than mercy: indeed fewer deserted that camp than those in which forgiveness was granted.

[36] Interim Corbulo legionibus intra castra habitis, donec ver adolesceret, dispositisque per idoneos locos cohortibus auxiliariis, ne pugnam priores auderent praedicit. curam praesidiorum Paccio Orfito primi pili honore perfuncto mandat. is quamquam incautos barbaros et bene gerendae rei casum offerri scripserat, tenere se munimentis et maiores copias opperiri iubetur.

[36] Meanwhile Corbulo, with the legions kept within the camp, until spring should mature, and with the auxiliary cohorts deployed through suitable places, gives advance warning that they are not to dare to be the first to fight. He entrusts the care of the garrisons to Paccius Orfitus, who had discharged the honor of the first pilus. He, although he had written that the barbarians were off their guard and that a chance for the affair to be well conducted was being offered, is ordered to hold to the fortifications and to wait for larger forces.

sed rupto imperio, postquam paucae e proximis castellis turmae advenerant pugnamque imperitia poscebant, congressus cum hoste funditur. et damno eius exterriti qui subsidium ferre debuerant, sua quisque in castra trepida fuga rediere. quod graviter Corbulo accepit increpitumque Pac[c]ium et praefectos militesque tendere extra vallum iussit; inque ea contumelia detenti nec nisi precibus universi exercitus exsoluti sunt

but with command broken, after a few
from the nearest forts squadrons had arrived and, through inexperience, were demanding battle,
an engagement with the enemy was routed. And, terrified by that loss, those who ought to have brought relief,
each returned to his own camp in panicked flight. Which
Corbulo took grievously, and, having rebuked Pac[c]ius and the prefects,
he ordered the soldiers as well to pitch outside the rampart; and, held under that contumely, they were
not released except by the prayers of the whole army.

[37] At Tiridates super proprias clientelas ope Vologaesi fratris adiutus, non furtim iam, sed palam bello infensare Armeniam, quosque fidos nobis rebatur, depopulari, et si copiae contra ducerentur, eludere hucque et illuc volitans plura fama quam pugna exterrere. igitur Corbulo, quaesito diu proelio frustra habitus et exemplo hostium circumferre bellum coactus, dispertit vires, ut legati praefectique diversos locos pariter invaderent. simul regem Antiochum monet proximas sibi praefecturas petere.

[37] But Tiridates, beyond his own clienteles aided by the help of his brother Vologaeses, now not stealthily but openly to wage war against Armenia, to devastate those whom he reckoned faithful to us, and, if forces were led against him, to elude them and, flitting here and there, to terrify more by rumor than by fight. Therefore Corbulo, a battle long sought and found in vain and forced by the enemy’s example to carry the war around, divides his forces, so that the legates and prefects might simultaneously invade diverse places. At the same time he warns King Antiochus to seek the prefectures nearest to himself.

nam Pharasmanes interfecto filio Radamisto quasi proditore, quo fidem in nos testaretur, vetus adversus Armenios odium promptius exercebat. tuncque primum inlecti Moschi, gens ante alias socia Romanis, avia Armeniae incursavit. ita consilia Tiridati in contrarium vertebant, mittebatque oratores, qui suo Parthorumque nomine expostularent, cur datis nuper obsidibus redintegrataque amicitia quae novis quoque beneficiis locum aperiret, vetere Armeniae possessione depelleretur.

for Pharasmanes, with his son Radamistus slain as if a traitor—thereby to attest his good faith toward us—was the more promptly exercising his old hatred against the Armenians. And then for the first time the Moschi, enticed, a people before others allied to the Romans, made an incursion into the trackless regions of Armenia. Thus Tiridates’s plans were being turned to the contrary, and he kept sending envoys to remonstrate in his and the Parthians’ name, asking why, with hostages lately given and amity renewed—which also opened the way for new benefits—he was being driven out of the ancient possession of Armenia.

ideo nondum ipsum Volgaesen commotum, quia causa quam vi agere mallent; sin perstaretur in bello, non defore Arsacidis virtutem fortunamque saepius iam clade Romana expertam. ad ea Corbulo, satis comperto Volgaesen defectione Hyrcaniae attineri, suadet Tiridati precibus Caesarem adgredi: posse illi regnum stabile et res incruentas contingere, si omissa spe longinqua et sera praesentem potioremque sequeretur.

therefore Vologases himself was not yet stirred, because they preferred to pursue the cause rather than by force; but if there were persistence in war, the valor and fortune of the Arsacids—already more than once proved in Roman disaster—would not be lacking. To this Corbulo, having sufficiently learned that Vologases was held fast by the defection of Hyrcania, advises Tiridates to approach Caesar with entreaties: that for him a stable kingdom and bloodless affairs could befall, if, abandoning hope that was far-off and late, he would follow the present and more preferable course.

[38] Placitum dehinc, qui commeantibus in vicem nuntiis nihil in summa[m] pacis proficiebatur, colloquio ipsorum tempus locumque destinari. mille equitum praesidium Tiridates adfore sibi dicebat; quantum Corbuloni cuiusque generis militum adsisteret, non statuere, dum positis loricis et galeis in faciem pacis veniretur. cuicumque mortalium, nedum veteri et provido duci, barbarae astutiae patuissent: ideo artum inde numerum finiri et hinc maiorem offerri, ut dolus pararetur; nam equiti sagittarum usu exercito si detecta corpora obicerentur, nihil profuturam multitudinem.

[38] It was then agreed, since by messengers commuting in turn nothing was advancing in the sum of peace, that a time and place should be designated for a conference between themselves. Tiridates said that an escort of a thousand horse would be present with him; how many and of what kinds of soldiers would attend Corbulo, he did not prescribe, provided that, with corselets and helmets laid aside, there should be a face of peace. Barbarian astuteness would have been patent to any of mortals, much less to an old and provident leader: therefore a small number on that side was to be fixed and a larger on this side to be offered, in order that a trick might be prepared; for if to horsemen trained in the use of arrows exposed bodies were presented, the multitude would be of no profit.

dissimulato tamen intellectu rectius de iis, quae in publicum consulerentur, totis exercitibus coram dissertaturos respondit. locumque delegit, cuius pars altera colles erant clementer adsurgentes accipiendis peditum ordinibus, pars in planitiem porrigebatur ad explicandas equitum turmas. dieque pacto prior Corbulo socias cohortes et auxilia regum pro cornibus, medio sextam legionem constituit, cui accita per noctem aliis ex castris tria milia tertianorum permiscuerat, una cum aquila, quasi eadem legio spectaretur.

Nevertheless, with his understanding dissembled, he replied that it would be more correct to discuss, in the presence of the entire armies, those matters which were being consulted for the public good. And he chose a place, one part of which was hills gently rising, suitable for receiving the ranks of the foot-soldiers, and one part stretched out into a plain for deploying the squadrons of horse. And on the agreed day Corbulo, being first, stationed the allied cohorts and the auxiliaries of the kings on the wings, and in the middle he posted the Sixth Legion, into which, summoned by night from other camps, he had intermixed three thousand men of the Third, together with their eagle, as though the same legion were being looked at.

Tiridates vergente iam die procul adstitit, unde videri magis quam audiri posset. ita sine congressu dux Romanus abscedere militem sua quemque in castra iubet.

Tiridates, with the day now turning, stood at a distance, whence he could be seen
rather than heard. Thus, without an engagement, the Roman leader orders the soldiery to withdraw,
each to his own camp.

[39] Rex sive fraudem suspectans, quia plura simul in loca ibatur, sive ut commeatus nostros Pontico mari et Trapezunte oppido adventantes interciperet, propere discedit. sed neque commeatibus vim facere potuit, quia per montes ducebantur praesidiis nostris insessos, et Corbulo, ne inritum bellum traheretur utque Armenios ad sua defendenda cogeret, exscindere parat castella, sibique quod validissimum in ea praefectura, cognomento Volandum, sumit; minora Cornelio Flacco legato et Insteio Capitoni castrorum praefecto mandat. tum, circumspectis munimentis et quae expugnationi idonea provisis, hortatur milites, ut hostem vagum neque paci aut proelio paratum, sed perfidiam et ignaviam fuga confitentem exuerent sedibus gloriaeque pariter et praedae consulerent.

[39] The king, either suspecting fraud, because advances were being made at the same time into several places,
or in order to intercept our convoys arriving by the Pontic Sea and at the town of Trapezus,
departs in haste. But he could not do violence to the convoys,
because they were being led through mountains occupied by our garrisons; and Corbulo, lest
the war be dragged on to no effect and to force the Armenians to defend their own,
prepares to raze the forts, and for himself he takes what was the strongest in that prefecture,
by the cognomen Volandum; the lesser he entrusts to Cornelius Flaccus, legate, and to Insteius
Capito, camp-prefect. Then, the defenses having been surveyed and what was suitable for assault provided,
he exhorts the soldiers to strip from their seats an enemy wandering and prepared neither for peace nor for battle, but confessing perfidy and ignavia by flight,
and to take thought equally for glory and for booty.

tum quadripertito exercitu hos in testudinem conglobatos subruendo vallo inducit, alios scalas moenibus admovere, multos tormentis faces et hastas incutere iubet. libritoribus funditoribusque attributus locus, unde eminus glandes torquerent, ne qua pars subsidium laborantibus ferret pari undique metu. tantus inde ardor certantis exercitus fuit, ut intra tertiam diei partem nudati propugnatoribus muri, obices portarum subversi, capta escensu munimenta omnesque puberes trucidati sint, nullo milite amisso, paucis admodum vulneratis.

then, the army divided into four parts, he leads some, massed in testudo formation, to undermine the rampart; he orders others to apply ladders to the walls, and many to hurl firebrands and spears with engines. a place was assigned to the hurlers and slingers, whence they might whirl bullets from afar, so that no quarter might bring relief to the hard-pressed, being held in equal fear on every side. such was then the ardor of the contending army, that within the third part of the day the walls, stripped of their defenders, the bars of the gates overthrown, the defenses taken by scaling, and all of military age were slaughtered, with no soldier lost, and very few wounded.

et imbelle vulgus sub corona venundatum, reliqua praeda victoribus cessit. pari fortuna legatus ac praefectus usi sunt, tribusque una die castellis expugnatis cetera terrore et alia sponte incolarum in deditionem veniebant. unde orta fiducia caput gentis Artaxata adgrediendi.

and the unwarlike crowd was vended under the garland, the remaining booty passed to the victors. With equal fortune the legate and the prefect fared; and, with three forts carried by storm in a single day, the rest came into surrender—some through terror, others by the spontaneous will of the inhabitants. Whence there arose confidence to attack Artaxata, the head of the nation.

nec tamen proximo itinere ductae legiones, qua si amnem Araxen, qui moenia adluit, ponte transgrederentur, sub ictum dabantur: procul et latioribus vadis transiere.

nor, however, were the legions led by the nearest route,
where, if they should cross the river Araxes, which laves the walls, by a bridge,
they would be exposed to the blow: at a distance and by wider shallows
they crossed.

[40] At Tiridates pudore et metu, ne, si concessisset obsidioni, nihil opis in ipso videretur, si prohiberet, impeditis locis seque et equestres copias inligaret, statuit postremo ostendere aciem et dato die proelium incipere vel simulatione fugae locum fraudi parare. igitur repente agmen Romanum circumfundit, non ignaro duce nostro, qui viae pariter et pugnae composuerat exercitum. latere dextro tertia legio, sinistro sexta incedebat, mediis decimanorum delectis; recepta inter ordines impedimenta, et tergum mille equites tuebantur, quibus iusserat, ut instantibus comminus resisterent, refugos non sequerentur.

[40] But Tiridates, from shame and fear—lest, if he had conceded to the siege, he might seem to have no resource in himself, and if he forbade it, he would entangle both himself and his equestrian forces in impeded places—resolved at last to display a battle-line and, a day being appointed, to begin the engagement, or by the pretense of flight to prepare a place for fraud. Therefore he suddenly pours around the Roman column, our leader not unaware, who had arrayed the army alike for road and for battle. On the right flank the Third Legion advanced, on the left the Sixth, with chosen men of the Tenth in the center; the baggage was received between the ranks, and a thousand horse protected the rear, to whom he had ordered that, at close quarters, they should resist those pressing on, but not pursue the men in flight.

in cornibus pedes sagittarius et cetera manus equitum ibat, productior cornu sinistro per ima collium, ut, si hostis intravisset, fronte simul et sinu exciperetur. adsultare ex diverso Tiridates, non usque ad ictum teli, sed tum minitans, tum specie trepidantis, si laxare ordines et diversos consectari posset. ubi nihil temeritate solutum, nec amplius quam decurio equitum audentius progressus et sagittis confixus ceteros ad obsequium exemplo firmaverat, propinquis tam tenebris abscessit.

on the wings the infantry archer and the rest of the band of horsemen went, more extended on the left wing along the bottoms of the hills, so that, if the enemy had entered, in front at once and in the pocket he might be received. Tiridates would leap on from the opposite side, not up to the stroke of a missile, but now threatening, now with the appearance of one in trepidation, to see whether he could loosen the ranks and pursue them when scattered. when nothing was loosened by rashness, and no more than a decurion of cavalry, having advanced too boldly and pierced with arrows, had by his example confirmed the rest to obedience, with darkness so near at hand he withdrew.

[41] Et Corbulo castra in loco metatus, an expeditis legionibus nocte Artaxata pergeret obsidioque circumdaret agitavit, concessisse illuc Tiridaten ratus. dein postquam exploratores attulere longinquum regis iter et Medi an Albani peterentur incertum, lucem opperitur, praemissaque levi[s] armatura, quae muros interim ambiret oppugnationemque eminus inciperet. sed oppidani portis sponte patefactis se suaque Romanis permisere.

[41] And Corbulo, having pitched camp on the spot, deliberated whether with the legions unencumbered he should by night proceed to Artaxata and surround it with a siege, supposing that Tiridates had retired thither. Then, after the scouts brought word that the king’s march was far off and that it was uncertain whether the Medes or the Albani were being sought, he awaits daylight, and sent forward the light-armed troops, to encircle the walls meanwhile and to begin the assault from afar. But the townsmen, the gates opened of their own accord, surrendered themselves and their belongings to the Romans.

quod salutem ipsis tulit; Artaxatis ignis immissus deletaque et solo aequata sunt, qui nec teneri [poterant] sine valido praesidio ob magnitudinem moenium, nec id nobis virium erat, quod firmando praesidio et capessendo bello divideretur, vel, si integra et incustodita relinquerentur, nulla in eo utilitas aut gloria, quod capta essent. adicitur miraculum velut numine oblatum: nam cuncta [extra tectis] hactenus sole inlustria fuere; repente quod moenibus cingebatur ita atra nube coopertum fulgoribusque discretum est, ut quasi infensantibus deis exitio tradi crederetur. Ob haec consal[ut]atus imperator Nero, et senatus consulto supplicationes habitae, statuaeque et arcus et continui consulatus principi, utque inter festos referretur dies, quo patrata victoria, quo nuntiata, quo relatum de ea esset, aliaque in eandem formam decernuntur, adeo modum egressa, ut C. Cassius de ceteris honoribus adsensus, si pro benignitate fortunae dis grates agerentur, ne totum quidem annum supplicationibus sufficere disseruerit, eoque oportere dividi sacros et negotiosos dies, quis divina colerent et humana non impedirent.

which brought safety to themselves; at Artaxata fire was let in, and it was destroyed and leveled to the ground, which neither [could be] held without a strong garrison on account of the magnitude of the walls, nor had we that strength which could be divided between strengthening a garrison and taking up the war, or, if they were left intact and unguarded, there was no utility or glory in that they had been captured. A marvel is added, as if offered by a numen: for all things [outside the roofs] had until then been made bright by the sun; suddenly what was encompassed by the walls was so covered with a black cloud and marked off by flashes, that it was believed to be delivered to destruction, as though the gods were hostile. For these things Nero was consal[ut]ated imperator, and by decree of the senate supplications were held, and statues and arches and a continuous consulship for the princeps, and that among the festal days should be entered the day on which the victory was achieved, on which it was announced, on which report about it was made, and other things in the same form are decreed, so far exceeding measure that Gaius Cassius, while assenting to the rest of the honors, argued that, if thanks were offered to the gods for the benignity of Fortune, not even the whole year would suffice for supplications, and that therefore sacred and business days ought to be divided, on which they should worship divine things and not impede human affairs.

[42] Variis deinde casibus iactatus et multorum odia meritus reus, haud tamen sine invidia Senecae damnatur. is fuit Publius Suillius, imperitante Claudio terribilis ac venalis et mutatione temporum non quantum inimici cuperent demissus quique se nocentem videri quam supplicem mallet. eius opprimendi gratia repetitum credebatur senatus consultum poenaque Cinciae legis adversum eos, qui pretio causas oravissent.

[42] Tossed thereafter by various vicissitudes and, as a defendant, having earned the hatreds of many, he is condemned, yet not without ill-will toward Seneca. That man was Publius Suillius, under Claudius’s rule terrible and venal, and, with the mutation of the times, not lowered as much as his enemies desired, and one who preferred to seem guilty rather than suppliant. For the sake of crushing him, it was believed that a senatorial decree (senatus consultum) was revived, and the penalty of the Lex Cincia, against those who had pleaded causes for a price.

nec Suillius questu aut exprobratione abstinebat, praeter ferociam animi extrema senecta liber et Senecam increpans infensum amicis Claudii, sub quo iustissimum exilium pertulisset. simul studiis inertibus et iuvenum imperitiae suetum livere iis, qui vividam et incorruptam eloquentiam tuendis civibus exercerent. se quaestorem Germanici, illum domus eius adulterum fuisse.

nor did Suillius refrain from complaint or reproach, besides
the ferocity of his spirit, in extreme old age unbridled, and reproaching Seneca as hostile
to the friends of Claudius, under whom he had borne a most just exile. At the same time, that he was accustomed,
through inert studies and the inexperience of youths, to envy those who exercised a vivid and incorrupt eloquence for the defense of citizens.
that he (Suillius) had been quaestor of Germanicus, that man (Seneca) the adulterer of his household.

an gravius aestimandum sponte litigatoris praemium honestae operae adsequi quam corrumpere cubicula principum feminarum? qua sapientia, quibus philosophorum praeceptis intra quadriennium regiae amicitiae ter milies sestertium paravisset? Romae testamenta et orbos velut indagine eius capi, Italiam et provincias immenso faenore hauriri: at sibi labore quaesitam et modicam pecuniam esse.

or is it to be judged more grave to obtain, at a litigant’s free will, the reward of honorable work than to corrupt the bedchambers of imperial women?
by what wisdom, by what precepts of the philosophers had he, within a four-year period of regal friendship, amassed 300,000,000 sesterces?
at Rome wills and orphans were being caught, as if in his toils; Italy and the provinces were being drained by immense usury:
but that his own money was modest and earned by labor.

crimen, periculum, omnia potius toleraturum, quam veterem ac domi partam dignationem subitae felicitati submittere[t].

that he would rather endure a charge, peril, everything, than to submit his ancient dignity, won at home, to sudden felicity submittere[t].

[43] Nec deerant qui haec isdem verbis aut versa in deterius Senecae deferrent. repertique accusatores direptos socios, cum Suillius provinciam Asiam regeret, ac publicae pecuniae peculatum detulerunt. mox, quia inquisitionem annuam impetraverant, brevius visum [sub] urbana crimina incipi, quorum obvii testes erant.

[43] Nor were there lacking those who would report these things to Seneca in the same words or turned to the worse. Accusers were found, who laid information that the allies had been plundered, when Suillius was governing the province of Asia, and that there had been peculation of public money. Soon, because they had obtained a year’s inquest, it seemed shorter to begin with the urban charges, for which witnesses were at hand.

ii acerbitate accusationis Q. Pomponium ad necessitatem belli civilis detrusum, Iuliam Drusi filiam Sabinamque Poppaeam ad mortem actas et Valerium Asiaticum, Lusium Saturninum, Cornelium Lupum circumventos, iam equitum Romanorum agmina damnata omnemque Claudii saevitiam Suillio obiectabant. ille nihil ex his sponte susceptum, sed principi paruisse defendebat, donec eam orationem Caesar cohibuit, compertum sibi referens ex commentariis patris sui nullam cuiusquam accusationem ab eo coactam. tum iussa Messalinae praetendi et labare defensio: cur enim neminem alium delectum, qui saevienti impudicae vocem praeberet?

they, with the bitterness of the accusation, alleged that Q. Pomponius had been thrust down to the necessity of civil war, that Julia, the daughter of Drusus, and Sabina Poppaea had been driven to death, and that Valerius Asiaticus, Lusius Saturninus, and Cornelius Lupus had been entrapped; that now the ranks of Roman knights had been condemned, and they threw all the savagery of Claudius upon Suillius. He defended that nothing of these had been undertaken of his own accord, but that he had obeyed the princeps, until Caesar checked that speech, reporting as ascertained by himself from the commentaries of his father that no one’s accusation had been compelled by him. Then the orders of Messalina were put forward and the defense wavered: for why, indeed, had no other been selected to lend a voice to the raging shameless woman?

puniendos rerum atrocium ministros, ubi pretia scelerum adepti scelera ipsa aliis delegent. igitur adempta bonorum parte (nam filio et nepti pars concedebatur eximebanturque etiam quae testamento matris aut aviae acceperant) in insulas Baleares pellitur, non in ipso discrimine, non post damnationem fractus animo; ferebaturque copiosa et molli vita secretum illud toleravisse. filium eius Nerullinum adgressis accusatoribus per invidiam patris et crimina repetundarum, intercessit princeps tamquam satis expleta ultione.

the ministers of atrocious deeds must be punished, when, having obtained the prices of crimes, they delegate the crimes themselves to others. therefore, with a part of his goods taken away (for to the son and the granddaughter a part was conceded, and the things also were exempted which they had received by the testament of the mother or the grandmother) he is banished to the Balearic islands, not in the very crisis, not after the condemnation broken in spirit; and it was reported that he bore that seclusion with a copious and soft life. when the accusers attacked his son Nerullinus through the invidia of the father and charges of extortions, the princeps interceded as though vengeance had been sufficiently fulfilled.

[44] Per idem tempus Octavius Sagitta plebei tribunus, Pontiae mulieris nuptae amore vaecors, ingentibus donis adulterium et mox, ut omitteret maritum, emercatur, suum matrimonium promittens ac nuptias eius pactus. sed ubi mulier vacua fuit, nectere moras, adversam patris voluntatem causari repertaque spe ditioris coniugis promissa exuere. Octavius contra modo conqueri, modo minitari, famam perditam, pecuniam exhaustam obtestans, denique salutem, quae sola reliqua esset, arbitrio eius permittens.

[44] About the same time Octavius Sagitta, tribune of the plebs, mad with love for Pontia, a married woman, with huge gifts purchases adultery and soon purchases that she relinquish her husband, promising his own matrimony and having bargained for her nuptials. But when the woman was free, she began to weave delays, to plead the contrary will of her father, and, a hope of a richer spouse having been found, to shed the promises. Octavius, on the other hand, now to complain, now to threaten, invoking as witness his ruined fame and his money exhausted, and finally placing his very safety, which alone was left, at her discretion.

ac postquam spernebatur, noctem unam ad solacium poscit, qua delenitus modum in posterum adhiberet. statuitur nox, et Pontia consciae ancillae custodiam cubiculi mandat. ille uno cum liberto ferrum veste occultum infert.

and after he was being spurned, he asks for one night for solace, by which, soothed, he would apply moderation thereafter. The night is appointed, and Pontia entrusts to a privy maidservant the guard of the bedchamber. He, with one freedman, brings in a blade, the iron concealed in his garment.

tum, ut adsolet in amore et ira, iurgia preces, exprobratio satisfactio, et pars tenebrarum libidini seposita; ea quasi incensus nihil metuentem ferro transverberat et adcurrentem ancillam vulnere absterret cubiculoque prorumpit. postera die manifesta caedes, haud ambiguus percussor; quippe mansitasse una convincebatur. sed libertus suum illud facinus profiteri, se patroni iniurias ultum esse.

then, as is wont in love and in anger, quarrels, prayers, reproach, satisfaction, and a portion of the darkness set apart for libido; her, as if inflamed, fearing nothing, he pierces through with steel, and he scares off the maidservant who ran up with a wound, and bursts out of the bedchamber. on the next day the slaughter was manifest, the assassin not in doubt; for it was proved that he had remained together with her. but the freedman professed that that deed was his own, that he had avenged the injuries of his patron.

commoveratque quosdam magnitudine exempli, donec ancilla ex vulnere refecta verum aperuit. postulatusque apud consules a patre interfectae, postquam tribunatu abierat, sententia patrum et lege de sicariis condemnatur.

and he had stirred certain persons by the magnitude of the example, until the maidservant, restored from her
wound, laid bare the truth. And, prosecuted before the consuls by the father of the murdered woman, after he had departed from the
tribunate, he is condemned by the sentence of the Fathers and by the law concerning assassins.

[45] Non minus insignis eo anno impudicitia magnorum rei publicae malorum initium fecit. erat in civitate Sabina Poppaea, T. Ollio patre genita, sed nomen avi materni sumpserat, inlustri memoria Poppaei Sabini consularis et triumphali decore praefulgentis; nam Ollium honoribus nondum functum amicitia Seiani pervertit. huic mulieri cuncta alia fuere praeter honestum animum.

[45] No less notable in that year did unchastity make the beginning of great evils of the Republic. There was in the community Poppaea Sabina, born of the father T. Ollius, but she had taken the name of her maternal grandfather, of illustrious memory, Poppaeus Sabinus, a consular and resplendent with triumphal decor; for Ollius, not yet having performed honors, was ruined by friendship with Sejanus. To this woman all other things were present, except an honorable mind.

quippe mater eius, aetatis suae feminas pulchritudine supergressa, gloriam pariter et formam dederat; opes claritudine generis sufficiebant. sermo comis nec absurdum ingenium. modestiam praeferre et lascivia uti; rarus in publicum egressus, idque velata parte oris, ne satiaret adspectum, vel quia sic decebat.

Indeed her mother, having surpassed the women of her age in beauty, had bestowed both glory and form; her wealth sufficed to the brilliance of her lineage. Her speech was courteous and her wit not absurd. She put on modesty and made use of lasciviousness; rare was her egress into public, and then with part of her face veiled, lest she satiate the gaze, or because thus it befitted.

famae numquam pepercit, maritos et adulteros non distinguens; neque adfectui suo aut alieno obnoxia, unde utilitas ostenderetur, illuc libidinem transferebat. igitur agentem eam in matrimonio Rufri Crispi[ni] equitis Romani, ex quo filium genuerat, Otho pellexit iuventa ac luxu et quia flagrantissimus in amicitia Neronis habebatur. nec mora quin adulterio matrimonium iungeretur.

she never spared reputation, not distinguishing husbands and adulterers; and, beholden to neither her own nor another’s affection, wherever utility was shown, thither she transferred her libido. accordingly, while she was living in wedlock with Rufri Crispi[ni], a Roman knight, by whom she had borne a son, Otho seduced her with his youth and luxury, and because he was accounted most ardent in the friendship of Nero. nor was there delay before marriage was joined to adultery.

[46] Otho sive amore incautus laudare formam elegantiamque uxoris apud principem, sive ut accenderet ac, si eadem femina potirentur, id quoque vinculum potentiam ei adiceret. saepe auditus est consurgens e convivio Caesaris seque ire ad illam, sibi concessam dictitans nobilitatem pulchritudinem, vota omnium et gaudia felicium. his atque talibus inritamentis non longa cunctatio interponitur, sed accepto aditu Poppaea primum per blandimenta et artes valescere, imparem cupidini et forma Neronis captam simulans; mox acri iam principis amore ad superbiam vertens, si ultra unam alteramque noctem attineretur, nuptam esse se dictitans, nec posse matrimonium omittere, devinctam Othoni per genus vitae, quod nemo adaequaret: illum animo et cultu magnificum; ibi se summa fortuna digna visere.

[46] Otho, whether incautious through love in praising the form and elegance of his wife before the princeps, or in order to inflame him and, if they should obtain possession of the same woman, that bond too might add power to him. He was often heard, rising from Caesar’s banquet, saying that he was going to her, repeatedly declaring that nobility and beauty—wishes of all and the joys of the fortunate—had been granted to himself. By these and such enticements no long delay is interposed; but, access having been obtained, Poppaea at first, by blandishments and arts, began to gain strength, feigning herself unequal to desire and captured by the form of Nero; soon, the love of the princeps now sharp, turning to arrogance, if she were kept beyond one night and another, repeatedly saying that she was a married woman, and could not put aside marriage, bound to Otho by a manner of life which no one could equal: that he was magnificent in spirit and in culture; there she beheld things worthy of the highest fortune.

at Neronem, paelice ancilla et adsuetudine Actes devinctum, nihil e contubernio servili nisi abiectum et sordidum traxisse. deicitur familiaritate sueta, post congressu et comitatu Otho, et ad postremum, ne in urbe aemulatus ageret, provinciae Lusitaniae praeficitur; ubi usque ad civilia arma non ex priore infamia, sed integre sancteque egit, procax otii et potestatis temperantior.

but Nero, bound by a concubine handmaid and by his habituation to Acte, drew nothing from the servile contubernium except what was abject and sordid. Otho is cast down from his wonted familiarity, afterwards from intercourse and attendance; and at last, lest he should act as a rival in the city, he is set over the province of Lusitania; where, down to the outbreak of the civil war, he conducted himself not in accordance with his former infamy, but with integrity and sanctity—procacious in leisure and more temperate in power.

[47] Hactenus Nero flagitiis et sceleribus velamenta quaesivit. suspectabat maxime Cornelium Sullam, socors ingenium eius in contrarium trahens callidumque et simulatorem interpretando. quem metum Graptus ex libertis Caesaris, usu et senecta Tiberio abusque domum principium edoctus, tali mendacio intendit.

[47] Thus far Nero sought veils for his flagitious acts and crimes. He was most suspicious of Cornelius Sulla, dragging his sluggish disposition to the contrary by interpreting him as crafty and a dissembler. This fear Graptus, one of Caesar’s freedmen, trained by use and by old age, from Tiberius onward, in the imperial household, heightened with such a lie.

pons Mulvius in eo tempore celebris nocturnis inlecebris erat; ven[ti]tabatque illuc Nero, quo solutius urbem extra lasciviret. igitur regredienti per viam Flaminiam compositas insidias fatoque evitatas, quoniam diverso itinere Sallustianos in hortos remeaverit, auctoremque eius doli Sullam ementitur, quia forte redeuntibus ministris principis quidam per iuvenilem licentiam, quae tunc passim exercebatur, inanem metum fecerant. neque servorum quisquam neque clientium Sullae adgnitus, maximeque despecta et nullius ausi capax natura eius a crimine abhorrebat: proinde tamen, quasi convictus esset, cedere patria et Massiliensium moenibus coerceri iubetur.

At that time the Mulvian Bridge was famed for nocturnal allurements; and Nero used to go there repeatedly, in order that, outside the city, he might play the libertine more unrestrainedly. Therefore, as he was returning by the Flaminian Way, ambushes laid for him—and avoided by fate, since he went back by a different route to the Sallustian Gardens—he feigns Sulla as the author of that trick, because, by chance, as the emperor’s attendants were returning, certain persons, through youthful license, which was then practiced everywhere, had caused an empty alarm. And neither any of Sulla’s slaves nor of his clients was recognized, and, especially, his nature—despised and capable of no daring—recoiled from the charge: nevertheless, as though he had been convicted, he is ordered to withdraw from his country and be confined within the walls of the Massilians.

[48] Isdem consulibus auditae Puteolanorum legationes, quas diversas ordo plebs ad senatum miserant, illi vim multitudinis, hi magistratuum et primi cuiusque avaritiam increpantes. eaque seditio ad saxa et minas ignium progressa ne c[aed]em et arma proliceret, C. Cassius adhibendo remedio delectus. quia severitatem eius non tolerabant, precante ipso ad Scribonios fratres ea cura transfertur, data cohorte praetoria, cuius terrore et paucorum supplicio rediit oppidanis concordia.

[48] Under the same consuls the legations of the Puteolans were heard, which separately the council and the plebs had sent to the senate, the former inveighing against the violence of the multitude, the latter against the avarice of the magistrates and of every leading man. And that sedition, having advanced to stones and threats of fires, lest it should draw out slaughter and arms, C. Cassius was chosen for applying a remedy. Because they did not tolerate his severity, at his own entreaty that charge is transferred to the Scribonius brothers, a praetorian cohort being given, by the terror of which and the punishment of a few concord returned to the townsmen.

[49] Non referrem vulgarissimum senatus consultum, quo civitati Syracusanorum egredi numerum edendis gladiatoribus finitum permittebatur, nisi Paetus Thrasea contra dixisset praebuissetque materiem obtrectatoribus arguendae sententiae. cur enim, si rem publicam egere libertate senatoria crederet, tam levia consectaretur? quin de bello aut pace, de vectigalibus et legibus, quibusque aliis [res] Romana continetur, suaderet dissuaderetve?

[49] I would not report the most commonplace senatorial decree, by which to the community of the Syracusans it was permitted to exceed the number fixed for giving gladiatorial shows, had not Thrasea Paetus spoken against it and furnished matter to detractors for arraigning his opinion. For why, if he believed the commonwealth to lack senatorial liberty, was he pursuing such trivialities? Why did he not advise or oppose about war or peace, about revenues and laws, and whatever other things the Roman [state] is contained by?

licere patribus, quotiens ius dicendae sententiae accepissent, quae vellent expromere relationemque in ea postulare. an solum emendatione dignum, ne Syracusis spectacula largius ederentur: cetera per omnes imperii partes perinde egregia quam si non Nero, sed Thrasea regimen eorum teneret? quod si summa dissimulatione transmitterentur, quanto magis inanibus abstinendum!

that it be permitted to the senators, whenever they had received the right
of giving an opinion, to express what they wished and to demand a relation on
that matter. Or was only this worthy of emendation, that at Syracuse spectacles
should not be given too lavishly: while the rest, throughout all the parts of the empire, just as excellent as
if not Nero, but Thrasea held their government? But if things of the highest moment
were being passed over with utmost dissimulation, how much more ought one to abstain from inanities!

Thrasea contra, rationem poscentibus amicis, non praesentium ignarum respondebat eius modi consulta corrigere, sed patrum honori dare, ut manifestum fieret magnarum rerum curam non dissimulaturos, qui animum etiam levissimis adverterent.

Thrasea, on the other hand, when his friends asked for his rationale, answered that in correcting decrees of this sort he was not ignorant of present matters, but was giving honor to the Fathers, so that it might be made manifest that those who turn their mind even to the very lightest things would not dissimulate care for great affairs.

[50] Eodem anno crebris populi flagitationibus, immodestiam publicanorum arguentis, dubitavit Nero, an cuncta vectigalia omitti iuberet idque pulcherrimum donum generi mortalium daret. sed impetum eius, multum prius laudata magnitudine animi, attinuere seniores, dissolutionem imperii docendo, si fructus, quibus res publica sustineretur, deminuerentur: quippe sublatis portoriis sequens, ut tributorum abolitio expostularetur. plerasque vectigalium societates a consulibus et tribunis plebis constitutas acri etiam tum populi Romani libertate; reliqua mox ita provisa, ut ratio quaestuum et necessitas erogationum inter se congruere[nt]. temperandas plane publicanorum cupidines, ne per tot annos sine querela tolerata novis acerbitatibus ad invidiam verterent.

[50] In the same year, amid frequent clamors of the people, arraigning the immodesty of the publicans, Nero hesitated whether to order all imposts to be remitted and to give that most beautiful gift to the race of mortals. But his impulse—his greatness of spirit having been much praised beforehand—was held back by the elders, showing that there would be a dissolution of the empire if the revenues by which the commonwealth was sustained were diminished: for, once the customs-duties were removed, it would follow that the abolition of the tributes would be demanded. Most of the tax-farming companies had been established by consuls and tribunes of the plebs, when the liberty of the Roman people was still keen; the rest were soon so provided that the rationale of gains and the necessity of disbursements might correspond with each other. The cupidities of the publicans were plainly to be tempered, lest what had been endured for so many years without complaint should, by new harshnesses, be turned into ill-will.

[51] Ergo edixit princeps, ut leges cuiusque publici, occultae ad id tempus, proscriberentur; omissas petitiones non ultra annum resumerent; Romae praetor, per provincias qui pro praetore aut consule essent iura adversus publicanos extra ordinem redderent; militibus immunitas servaretur, nisi in iis, quae veno exercerent; aliaque admodum aequa, quae brevi servata, dein frustra habita sunt. manet tamen abolitio quadragesimae quinquagesimaeque et quae alia exactionibus inlicitis nomina publicani invenerant. temperata apud transmarinas provincias frumenti subvectio, et, ne censibus negotiatorum naves adscriberentur tributumque pro illis penderent, constitutum.

[51] Therefore the princeps issued an edict, that the laws of each publicum, hidden up to that time, be posted; that petitions which had been dropped should not be resumed after more than a year; that at Rome the praetor, and through the provinces those who were in place of a praetor or consul, should render justice against the publicani out of the ordinary course; that immunity be preserved for soldiers, except in those things which they dealt in for sale; and other quite equitable measures, which were observed for a short time, then thereafter were regarded in vain. Yet the abolition of the Fortieth and Fiftieth remains, and the other names which the publicani had discovered for illicit exactions. The shipping-in of grain was regulated among the transmarine provinces; and it was established that ships not be entered on the merchants’ censuses and that they not pay a tribute on account of them.

[52] Reos ex provincia Africa, qui proconsulare imperium illic habuerant, Sulpicium Camerinum et Pompeium Silvanum absolvit Caesar, Camerinum adversus privatos et paucos, saevitiae magis quam captarum pecuniarum crimina obicientes. Silvanum magna vis accusatorum circumsteterat poscebatque tempus evocandorum testium; reus ilico defendi postulabat. valuitque pecuniosa orbitate et senecta, quam ultra vitam eorum produxit, quorum ambitu evaserat.

[52] Caesar acquitted the defendants from the province of Africa, who had held proconsular imperium there, Sulpicius Camerinus and Pompeius Silvanus, Camerinus against private persons and a few, alleging charges of cruelty rather than of seized monies. A great mass of accusers had hemmed in Silvanus and was demanding time for summoning witnesses; the defendant was demanding to be defended on the spot. And he prevailed by a moneyed childlessness and by old age, which he prolonged beyond the lives of those by whose canvassing he had escaped.

[53] Quietae ad id tempus res in Germania fuerant, ingenio ducum, qui pervulgatis triumphi insignibus maius ex eo decus sperabant, si pacem continuavissent. Paulinus Pompeius et L. Vetus ea tempestate exercitui praeerant. ne tamen segnem militem attinerent, ille inchoatum ante tres et sexaginta annos a Druso aggerem coercendo Rheno absolvit, Vetus Mosellam atque [Ararim] facta inter utrumque fossa conectere parabat, ut copiae per mare, dein Rhodano et Arare subvectae per eam fossam, mox fluvio Mosella in Rhenum, exim Oceanum decurrerent, sublatisque itineris difficultatibus navigabilia inter se Occidentis Septentrionisque litora fierent.

[53] Up to that time affairs in Germany had been quiet, by the disposition of the commanders, who, the triumphal insignia having been made common, hoped for a greater renown therefrom if they should continue peace. Paulinus Pompeius and L. Vetus at that season were in command of the army. Yet, lest they keep the soldier idle, the former completed the embankment for restraining the Rhine, begun three and sixty years earlier by Drusus; Vetus was preparing to connect the Mosella and the [Arar] by a trench dug between the two, so that forces and supplies, conveyed by sea, then up the Rhodanus and the Arar, through that trench, and soon by the river Mosella into the Rhine, then into the Ocean, might run down; and, the difficulties of the journey removed, the shores of the West and of the North might become navigable with one another.

invidit operi Aelius Gracilis Belgicae legatus, deterrendo Veterem, ne legiones alienae provinciae inferret studiaque Galliarum adfectaret, formidolosum id imperatori dictitans, quo plerumque prohibentur conatus honesti.

Aelius Gracilis, legate of Belgica, envied the work, by deterring Vetus, lest he bring in the legions of a foreign province
and court the allegiances of the Gauls, repeatedly saying that this was formidable to the emperor,
whereby for the most part honorable endeavors are prohibited.

[54] Ceterum continuo exercituum otio fama incessit ereptum ius legatis ducendi in hostem. eoque Frisii iuventutem saltibus aut paludibus, imbellem aetatem per lacus admovere ripae agrosque vacuos et militum usui sepositos insedere, auctore Verrito et Malori[g]e, qui nationem eam regebant, in quantum Germani regnantur. iamque fixerant domos, semina arvis intulerant utque patrium solum exercebant, cum Dubius Avitus, accepta a Paulino provincia, minitando vim Romanam, nisi abscederent Frisii veteres in locos aut novam sedem a Caesare impetrarent, perpulit Verritum et Malorigem preces suscipere.

[54] But with the armies in continuous idleness, rumor spread that the right had been snatched away from the legates of leading against the enemy. And so the Frisians brought up their youth through forest-glades or marshes, and the un-warlike age across lakes, to the bank; and they settled on fields empty and set aside for the soldiers’ use, at the instigation of Verritus and Malorix, who governed that nation, in so far as Germans are governed. And already they had fixed their homes, had brought seed into the fields, and were tilling the soil as if it were their fatherland, when Dubius Avitus, having received the province from Paulinus, by threatening Roman force unless the Frisians withdrew to their former places or obtained a new settlement from Caesar, compelled Verritus and Malorix to undertake petitions.

profectique Romam, dum aliis curis intentum Neronem opperiuntur, inter ea, quae barbaris ostentantur, intravere Pompei theatrum, quo magnitudinem populi viserent. illic per otium (neque enim ludicris ignari oblectabantur) dum consessum caveae, discrimina ordinum, quis eques, ubi senatus, percunctantur, advertere quosdam cultu externo in sedibus senatorum: et quinam forent rogitantes, postquam audiverant earum gentium legatis id honoris datum, quae virtute et amicitia Romana praecellerent, nullos mortalium armis aut fide ante Germanos esse exclamant degrediunturque et inter patres considunt. quod comiter a visentibus exceptum, quasi impetus antiqui et bona aemulatione.

and having set out for Rome, while they were awaiting Nero, intent on other cares, among those things which are shown to barbarians they entered the Theater of Pompey, in order that they might behold the magnitude of the people. there, in leisure (for, unacquainted with the shows, they were not entertained by them), while they inquire about the seating of the cavea, the distinctions of the orders, who is equestrian, where the senate is, they noticed certain persons in foreign attire in the seats of the senators; and asking who they might be, after they had heard that that honor was given to the legates of those nations which excelled in virtue and Roman friendship, they exclaim that none of mortals are before the Germans in arms or fidelity, and they step down and sit among the senators. which was graciously received by the onlookers, as if an impulse of antiquity and with noble emulation.

Nero civitate Romana ambos donavit, Frisios decedere agris iussit. atque illis aspernantibus auxiliaris eques repente immissus necessitatem attulit, captis caesisve qui pervicacius restiterant.

Nero bestowed Roman citizenship upon both, and ordered the Frisians to depart from the fields. And as they spurned it, auxiliary cavalry, suddenly sent in, brought necessity, with those who had resisted more stubbornly captured or slain.

[55] Eosdem agros Ampsivarii occupavere, validior gens non modo sua copia, sed adiacentium populorum miseratione, qui pulsi a Chaucis et sedis inopes tutum exilium orabant. aderatque iis clarus per illas gentes et nobis quoque fidus nomine Boiocalus, vinctum se rebellione Cherusca iussu Arminii referens, mox Tiberio et Germanico ducibus stipendia meruisse, et quinquaginta annorum obsequio id quoque adiungere, quod gentem suam dicioni nostrae subiceret. quotam partem campi iacere, in quam pecora et armenta militum aliquando transmitterentur!

[55] The same fields the Ampsivarii seized, a stronger gens not only by their own forces, but by the compassion of the adjacent peoples, who, expelled by the Chauci and destitute of seats, were begging for safe exile. And with them was present a man renowned among those gentes and to us also fidus, by name Boiocalus, declaring that he had been bound in the Cheruscan rebellion by order of Arminius, that soon under the leaders Tiberius and Germanicus he had earned stipends (i.e., served), and to add this too to the obsequy of fifty years: that he would subject his own nation to our dominion. What a portion of the plain lay idle, into which the flocks and herds of the soldiers were at times sent across!

servarent sane receptus gregibus inter hominum famem, modo ne vastitatem et solitudinem mallent quam amicos populos. Chamavorum quondam ea arva, mox Tubantum et post Usiporum fuisse. sicuti caelum deis, ita terras generi mortalium datas; quaeque vacuae, eas publicas esse.

let them indeed preserve refuges for their herds amid the hunger of men,
provided only that they not prefer desolation and solitude to friendly peoples. Those fields were once the Chamavi’s, then the Tubantes’, and afterward the Usipi’s. just as
the sky to the gods, so the lands have been given to the race of mortals; and whatever are vacant, those
are public property.

solum inde suspiciens et cetera sidera vocans quasi coram interrogabat, vellentne contueri inane solum: potius mare superfundere[nt] adversus terrarum ereptores.

then, looking up to the sun and calling upon the other stars as if face to face
he was asking whether they wished to behold an empty earth: rather let them
pour the sea over it against the despoilers of lands.

[56] Et commotus his Avitus: patienda meliorum imperia; id dis, quos implorarent, placitum, ut arbitrium penes Romanos maneret, quid darent quid adimerent, neque alios iudices quam se ipsos paterentur. haec an in publicum Ampsivariis respondit, ipsi Boiocalo ob memoriam amicitiae daturum agros. quod ille ut proditionis pretium aspernatus addidit "deesse nobis terra ubi vivamus, in qua moriamur, non potest." atque ita infensis utrimque animis discessum.

[56] And Avitus, moved by these things: the rule of the better must be endured; it was pleasing to the gods, whom they implored, that the arbitration remain with the Romans, what they should give, what they should take away, nor would they tolerate judges other than themselves. whether he answered these things publicly to the Ampsivarii, to Boiocalus himself on account of the memory of amity he would give fields. which offer he, spurning as the price of treachery, added: "that land should be lacking to us where we may live, in which we may die, cannot be." and so with minds hostile on both sides, there was a parting.

illi Bructeros, Tencteros, ulteriores etiam nationes socias bello vocabant: Avitus scripto ad Curtilium Manciam superioris exercitum legatum, ut Rhenum transgressus arma a tergo ostenderet, ipse legiones in agrum Ten[ct]erum induxit, excidium minitans, ni causam suam dissociarent. igitur absistentibus his pari metu exterriti Bructeri; et ceteris quoque aliena pericula deserentibus sola Ampsivariorum gens retro ad Usipos et Tubantes concessit. quorum terris exacti cum Chattos, dein Cheruscos petissent, errore longo hospites, egeni, hostes in ali[en]o quod iuventutis erat caeduntur, imbellis aetas in praedam divisa est.

they were calling the Bructeri, the Tencteri,
even more distant nations as allies in war: Avitus, by a written message to
Curtilius Mancia, legate of the Upper Army, that, having crossed the Rhine,
he should display arms from the rear; he himself led the legions into the land of the Tencteri,
threatening excision, unless they would dissociate their cause. Therefore, with these standing aside,
the Bructeri, terrified by an equal fear; and as the rest too were deserting dangers not their own,
the nation of the Ampsivarii alone withdrew back to the Usipi and the Tubantes.
Driven from whose lands, when they sought the Chatti, then the Cherusci,
after a long wandering—guests, destitute—treated as enemies in another’s territory,
whatever was of the youth was cut down; the un-warlike age was divided as plunder.

[57] Eadem aestate inter Hermunduros Chattosque certatum magno proelio, dum flumen gignendo sale fecundum et conterminum vi trahunt, super libidinem cuncta armis agendi religione insita, eos maxime locos propinquare caelo precesque mortalium a deis nusquam propius audiri. inde indulgentia numinum illo in amne illisque silvis [s]alem provenire, non ut alias apud gentes eluvie maris arescente, sed unda super ardentem arborum struem fusa ex contrariis inter se elementis, igne atque aquis, concretum. sed bellum hermunduris prosperum, Chattis exitiosius fuit, quia victores diversam aciem marti ac Mercurio sacravere, quo voto equi viri, cuncta viva occidioni dantur.

[57] In the same summer a great battle was fought between the Hermunduri and the Chatti, while they by force claimed a river, fruitful for generating salt and forming their boundary, beyond the lust of doing everything by arms, with an inborn religion that those places draw nearest to the sky and that the prayers of mortals are nowhere heard nearer by the gods. Thence, by the indulgence of the numina, salt comes forth in that river and those woods, not as among other peoples with the wash of the sea drying, but with water poured over a blazing heap of trees, from elements contrary among themselves, fire and waters, congealed. But the war was prosperous for the Hermunduri, more ruinous for the Chatti, because the victors consecrated the opposing battle line to Mars and Mercury, by which vow horses, men, all living things are given over to slaughter.

et minae quidem hostiles in ipsos vertebant. sed civitas Ubiorum socia nobis malo improviso adflicta est. nam ignes terra editi villas arva vicos passim corripiebant ferebanturque in ipsa conditae nuper coloniae moenia.

And indeed the hostile threats were turning back upon themselves. But the city of the Ubii, allied to us, was afflicted by an unforeseen evil. For fires brought forth from the earth were seizing villas, fields, and villages everywhere, and were borne to the very walls of the colony lately founded.

neque exstingui poterant, non si imbres caderent, non [si] fluvialibus aquis aut quo alio humore, donec inopia remedii et ira cladis agrestes quidam eminus saxa iacere, dein residentibus flammis propius suggressi ictu fustium aliisque verberibus ut feras absterrebant. postremo tegmina corpori derepta iniciunt, quanto [magis] profana et usu polluta, tanto magis oppressura ignes.

nor could they be extinguished,
not if rains should fall, not [if] by river waters or by any
other moisture, until, in want of a remedy and in wrath at the disaster, certain countryfolk from afar
began to hurl stones; then, as the flames were subsiding, having approached nearer, with the stroke of clubs
and with other beatings they were driving them off as wild beasts. at last they throw on coverings torn from the body,
the [more] profane and defiled by use, the more they would smother the fires.

[58] Eodem anno Ruminalem arborem in comitio, quae octingentos et triginta ante annos Remi Romulique infantiam texerat, mortuis ramalibus et arescente trunco deminutam prodigii loco habitum est, donec in novos fetus revivisceret.

[58] In the same year the Ruminal tree in the Comitium, which eight hundred and thirty years before had sheltered the infancy of Remus and Romulus, with its branches dead and its trunk withering, was held as a prodigy, until it revived into new shoots.