Velleius Paterculus: HISTORIAE ROMANAE

[1] Potentiae Romanorum prior Scipio viam aperuerat, luxuriae posterior aperuit: quippe remoto Carthaginis metu sublataque imperii aemula non gradu, sed praecipiti cursu a virtute descitum, ad vitia transcursum; vetus disciplina deserta, nova inducta; in somnum a vigiliis, ab armis ad voluptates, a negotiis in otium conversa civitas.

[1] The earlier Scipio had opened a way for the potency of the Romans; the later opened one for luxury: for, with the fear of Carthage removed and the rival of the empire taken away, not by a step, but by a headlong course there was a falling-away from virtue, a rush across to vices; the old discipline was deserted, a new one introduced; the commonwealth was turned from vigils into sleep, from arms to pleasures, from business into leisure.

2 Tum Scipio Nasica in Capitolio porticus, tum, quas praediximus, Metellus, tum in circo Cn. Octavius multo amoenissimam moliti sunt, publicamque magnificentiam secuta privata luxuria est.

2 Then Scipio Nasica on the Capitol built porticoes, then Metellus those which we have previously mentioned, then in the Circus Cn. Octavius constructed by far the most delightful, and private luxury followed public magnificence.

3 Triste deinde et contumeliosum bellum in Hispania duce latronum Viriatho secutum est: quod ita varia fortuna gestum est, ut saepius Romanorum gereretur adversa. Sed interempto Viriatho fraude magis quam virtute Servilii Caeponius Numantinum gravius exarsit.

3 Then a sad and contumelious war in Spain followed, with the leader of bandits,
Viriathus, followed: which was carried on with such varied fortune that more often
it was conducted to the disadvantage of the Romans. But, with Viriathus slain by fraud rather than
by the valor of Servilius Caepio, the Numantine war flared up more grievously.

4 Haec urbs numquam plura quam decem milia propriae iuventutis armavit, sed vel ferocia ingenii vel inscitia nostrorum ducum vel fortunae indulgentia cum alios duces, tum Pompeium magni nominis virum ad turpissima deduxit foedera (hic primus e Pompeis consul fuit), nec minus turpia ac detestabilia Mancinum Hostilium consulem.

4 This city never armed more than ten thousand of its own youth, but either by the ferocity of its disposition or by the ignorance of our leaders or by fortune’s indulgence it led, both other commanders and Pompey, a man of great name, down to the most disgraceful treaties (he was the first of the Pompeii to be consul), and likewise the consul Hostilius Mancinus to no less shameful and detestable ones.

5 Sed Pompeium gratia impunitum habuit, Mancinum verecundia poenam non recusando perduxit huc, ut per fetialis nudus ac post tergum religatis manibus dederetur hostibus. Quem illi recipere se negaverunt, sicut quondam Caudini fecerant, dicentes publicam violationem fidei non debere unius lui sanguine.

5 But favor kept Pompey unpunished; shame, by not refusing the penalty, brought Mancinus to this point, that through the fetial priests, naked and with his hands bound behind his back, he be handed over to the enemies. Whom they refused to receive, just as once the Caudinians had done, saying that a public violation of faith ought not to be paid for by the blood of a single man.

[2] Inmanem deditio Mancini civitatis movit dissensionem. Quippe Tiberius Gracchus, Tiberii Gracchi clarissimi atque eminentissimi viri filius, P. Africani ex filia nepos, quo quaestore et auctore id foedus ictum erat, nunc graviter ferens aliquid a se pactum infirmari, nunc similis vel iudicii vel poenae metuens discrimen, tribunus plebis creatus, vir alioqui vita innocentissimus, ingenio florentissimus,

[2] The surrender of Mancinus moved an immense dissension of the commonwealth. For Tiberius Gracchus, son of Tiberius Gracchus, a most illustrious and most eminent man, grandson of P. Africanus through his daughter—under whom as quaestor and author that foedus had been struck—now grievously resenting that something agreed by himself should be invalidated, now, as one similarly fearing the peril either of judgment or of punishment, having been elected tribune of the plebs, a man otherwise most innocent in life, most flourishing in talent,

2 proposito sanctissimus, tantis denique adornatus virtutibus, quantas perfecta et natura et industria mortalis condicio recipit, P. Mucio Scaevola L. Calpurnio consulibus abhinc annos centum sexaginta duos descivit a bonis, pollicitusque toti Italiae civitatem,

2 in purpose most sacred, finally adorned with such great virtues as the perfected and by nature and by industry the mortal condition admits, with Publius Mucius Scaevola and Lucius Calpurnius as consuls, one hundred sixty-two years ago he defected from the good, and promised to all Italy citizenship,

3 simul etiam promulgatis agrariis legibus, omnibus statim concupiscentibus, summa imis miscuit et in praeruptum atque anceps periculum adduxit rem publicam. Octavioque collegae pro bono publico stanti imperium abrogavit, triumviros agris dividendis colonisque deducendis creavit se socerumque suum, consularem Appium, et Gaium fratrem admodum iuvenem.

3 and at the same time, agrarian laws having been promulgated, with everyone
immediately concupiscent, he mixed the highest with the lowest and brought the commonwealth into a precipitous and double‑edged peril. And to Octavius, his colleague, standing for the public good,
he abrogated imperium, and he appointed as triumvirs for dividing lands and leading out colonists
himself and his father‑in‑law, the consular Appius, and his brother Gaius, a very young man.

[3] Tum P. Scipio Nasica, eius qui optimus vir a senatu iudicatus erat, nepos, eius qui censor porticus in Capitolio fecerat, filius, pronepos autem Cn. Scipionis, celeberrimi viri P. Africani patrui, privatusque et togatus, cum esset consobrinus Ti. Gracchi, patriam cognationi praeferens et quidquid publice salutare non esset, privatim alienum existimans (ob eas virtutes primus omnium absens pontifex maximus factus est), circumdata laevo brachio togae lacinia ex superiore parte Capitolii summis gradibus insistens hortatus est, qui salvam vellent rem publicam, se sequerentur.

[3] Then P. Scipio Nasica, grandson of him who had been judged by the senate the “best man,” son of him who, as censor, had made the portico on the Capitol, and great‑grandson moreover of Cn. Scipio, paternal uncle of P. Africanus, a most celebrated man, a private citizen and wearing the toga, although he was a first cousin of Ti. Gracchus, preferring the fatherland to kinship and deeming that whatever was not salutary publicly was alien privately (on account of these virtues he, first of all, was made pontifex maximus while absent), with the border of his toga wrapped around his left arm, standing on the top steps from the upper part of the Capitol, exhorted those who wished the Republic safe to follow him.

2 Tum optimates, senatus atque equestris ordinis pars melior et maior, et intacta perniciosis consiliis plebs inruere in Gracchum stantem in area cum catervis suis et concientem paene totius Italiae frequentiam. Is fugiens decurrensque clivo Capitolino, fragmine subsellii ictus vitam, quam gloriosissime degere potuerat, immatura morte finivit.

2 Then the Optimates, the better and greater part of the senate and of the equestrian order, and the plebs untouched by pernicious counsels, rushed upon Gracchus as he stood in the area with his companies and was assembling almost the throng of all Italy. He, fleeing and running down the Capitoline slope, struck by a fragment of a bench, ended his life—which he might have spent most gloriously—with an untimely death.

3 Hoc initium in urbe Roma civilis sanguinis gladiorumque impunitatis fuit. Inde ius vi obrutum potentiorque habitus prior, discordiaeque civium antea condicionibus sanan solitae ferro diiudicatae bellaque non causis inita, sed prout eorum merces fuit. Quod haut mirum est:

3 This was the beginning in the city of Rome of civil bloodshed and of the impunity of the sword. Thence the law was overwhelmed by force, and the one who acted first was deemed the more potent; and the discords of citizens, formerly accustomed to be healed by conditions (settlements), were decided by iron, and wars were undertaken not on causes, but according as their wages were. Which is not at all surprising:

4 non enim ibi consistunt exempla, unde coeperunt, sed quamlibet in tenuem recepta tramitem latissime evagandi sibi viam faciunt, et ubi semel recto deerratum est, in praeceps pervenitur, nec quisquam sibi putat turpe, quod alii fuit fructuosum.

4 for precedents do not halt there where they began, but once admitted upon however slender a track they make for themselves a way to wander most widely, and when once there has been a straying from the straight, one arrives headlong at a precipice, nor does anyone think shameful for himself what was fruitful for another.

[4] Interim, dum haec in Italia geruntur, Aristonicus, qui mortuo rege Attalo a quo Asia populo Romano hereditate relicta erat, sicut relicta postea est a Nicomede Bithynia mentitus regiae stirpis originem armis eam occupaverat, is victus a M. Perpenna ductusque in triumpho, sed a M. Aquilio, capite poenas dedit, cum initio belli Crassum Mucianum, virum iuris scientissimum, decedentem ex Asia proconsulem interemisset.

[4] Meanwhile, while these things are being conducted in Italy, Aristonicus, who, with the king Attalus dead—by whom Asia had been left by inheritance to the Roman people, just as later Bithynia was left by Nicomedes—having feigned the origin of a royal stock, had by arms seized it; he was defeated by M. Perperna and led in triumph, but by M. Aquilius, he paid the penalty with his head, since at the beginning of the war he had slain Crassus Mucianus, a man most skilled in law, the proconsul departing from Asia.

2 At P. Scipio Africanus Aemilianus, qui Carthaginem deleverat, post tot acceptas circa Numantiam clades creatus iterum consul missusque in Hispaniam fortunae virtutique expertae in Africa respondit in Hispania, et intra annum ac tres menses, quam eo venerat, circumdatam operibus Numantiam excisamque aequavit solo.

2 But P. Scipio Africanus Aemilianus, who had destroyed Carthage, after so many defeats received around Numantia, having been created consul again and sent into Spain, answered in Spain with the fortune and virtue proven in Africa, and within a year and three months from when he had come there, Numantia, surrounded with works, and razed, he made equal to the ground.

3 Nec quisquam ullius gentis hominum ante eum clariore urbium excidio nomen suum perpetuae commendavit memoriae: quippe excisa Carthagine ac Numantia ab alterius nos metu, alterius vindicavit contumeliis.

3 Nor did anyone of any race of men before him commend his name to perpetual memory by a more illustrious destruction of cities: indeed, with Carthage and Numantia razed, he freed us from the fear of the one and vindicated the insults of the other.

4 Hic, eum interrogante tribuno Carbone, quid de Ti. Gracchi caede sentiret, respondit, si is occupandae rei publicae animum habuisset, iure caesum. Et cum omnis contio adclamasset, hostium. inquit, armatorum totiens clamore non territus, qui possum vestro moveri, quorum noverca est Italia?

4 He, when Tribune Carbo was asking him what he felt about the slaughter of Tiberius Gracchus, replied that, if he had had a mind for seizing the republic, he was justly slain. And when the whole assembly had acclaimed, “Of enemies,” he said, “not terrified so often by the clamor of armed men, how can I be moved by yours, you for whom Italy is a stepmother?”

5 Reversus in urbem intra breve tempus, M.Aquilio C. Sempronio consulibus abhinc annos centum et sexaginta, post duos consulatus duosque triumphos et bis excisos terrores rei publicae mane in lectulo repertus est mortuus, ita ut quaedam elisarum faucium in cervice reperirentur notae.

5 Having returned to the city within a short time, in the consulship of M. Aquilius and C. Sempronius, one hundred and sixty years ago, after two consulships and two triumphs and the terrors of the commonwealth twice excised, he was found dead in the morning in his little bed, such that certain marks of a crushed throat were found on his neck.

6 De tanti viri morte nulla habita est quaestio eiusque corpus velato capite elatum est, cuius opera super totum terrarum orbem Roma extulerat caput. Seu fatalem, ut plures, seu conflatam insidiis, ut aliqui prodidere memoriae, mortem obiit, vitam certe dignissimam egit, quae nullius ad id temporis praeterquam avit fulgore vinceretur. Decessit anno ferme sexto et quinquagesimo:

6 Concerning the death of so great a man no inquiry was held, and his body, with head veiled,
was carried out, by whose efforts Rome had raised its head over the whole orb of the lands.
Whether a fatal one, as many [say], or concocted by plots, as some have transmitted to memory,
he met death; a life certainly most worthy he lived, which up to that time would be surpassed by no one
save by his grandfather’s brilliance. He departed in about the fifty-sixth year:

7 de quo si quis ambiget, recurrat ad priorem consulatum eius, in quem creatus est anno octavo et tricesimo: ita dubitare desinet.

7 concerning which, if anyone should be in doubt, let him recur to his earlier consulship, to which he was created in the thirty-eighth year: thus he will cease to doubt.

[5] Ante tempus excisae Numantiae praeclara in Hispania militia D. Bruti fuit, qui penetratis omnibus Hispaniae gentibus ingenti vi hominum urbiumque potitus numero, aditis quae vix audita erant, Gallaeci cognomen meruit.

[5] Before the time of the razing of Numantia, the illustrious military service in Spain was that of D. Brutus, who, after penetrating all the nations of Spain, having gained possession of men and cities in vast number, and having reached places that had scarcely been heard of, earned the cognomen Gallaecus.

2 Et ante eum paucis annis tam severum illius Q. Macedonici in his gentibus imperium fuit, ut, cum. Urbem Contrebiam nomine in Hispania oppugnaret, pulsas praecipiti loco quinque cohortes legionarias eodem protinus subiré iuberet,

2 And a few years before him, so severe was the command of that Quintus Macedonicus among these peoples, that, when he was assaulting the City named Contrebia in Spain, he ordered five legionary cohorts, driven back from a precipitous place, to re-ascend straightway to the same spot,

3 facientibusque omnibus in procinctu testamenta, velut ad certam mortem eundum foret, non deterritus proposito, quem moriturum miserat militem victorem recepit: tantum effecit mixtus timori pudor spesque desperatione quaesita. Hic virtute ac severitate facti, at Fabius Aemilianus Pauli exemplo disciplina in Hispania fuit clarissimus.

3 and as all were making their testaments in battle array, as though they had to go to a certain death, he, not deterred from his plan, received back as victor the soldier whom he had sent forth to die: so much did shame, mingled with fear, and a hope sought from desperation, accomplish. This man was most illustrious in Spain for the virtue and severity of the deed, but Fabius Aemilianus, after the example of Paulus, was most illustrious for discipline.

[6] Decem deinde interpositis annis, qui Ti. Graccum idem Gaium fratrem eius occupavit furor, tam virtutibus eius omnibus quam huic errori similem, ingenio etiam eloquentiaque longe praestantiorem.

[6] Then, with 10 years interposed, the same fury that had occupied Tiberius Gracchus likewise occupied Gaius, his brother—similar to him in all his virtues as well as in this error, and by far more outstanding in genius and eloquence.

2 Qui cum summa quiete animi civitatis princeps esse posset, vel vindicandae fraternae mortis gratia vel praemuniendae regalis potentiae eiusdem exempli tribunatum ingressus, longe maiora et acriora petens dabat civitatem omnibus Italicis, extendebat eam paene usque Alpis,

2 Who, although he could be the chief of the state with the highest calm of mind, either for the sake of avenging his brother’s death or to preempt a regal power of the same example, having entered the tribunate, seeking far greater and sharper measures, was granting citizenship to all the Italians, was extending it almost up to the Alps,

3 dividebat agros, vetabat quemquam civem plus quingentis iugeribus habere, quod aliquando lege Licinia cautum erat, nova constituebat portoria, novis coloniis replebat provincias, iudicia a senatu trasferebat ad equites, frumentum plebi dari instituerat; nihil immotum, nihil tranquillum, nihil quietum, nihil denique in eodem statu relinquebat; quin alterum etiam continuavit tribunatum.

3 he was dividing the fields, he forbade any citizen to have more than 500 iugera, which had at some time been provided by the Licinian law; he was establishing new port-duties, he was filling the provinces with new colonies, he was transferring the courts from the senate to the equestrian order, he had instituted that grain be given to the plebs; he was leaving nothing unmoved, nothing tranquil, nothing quiet, nothing, in fine, in the same state; indeed he even continued the tribunate for a second term in succession.

4 Hunc L. Opimius consul, qui praetor Fregellas exciderat, persecutus armis unaque Fulvium Flaccum, consularem ac triumphalem virum, aeque prava cupientem, quem C. Gracchus in locum Tiberii fratris triumvirum nominaverat, eumque socium regalis adsumpserat potentiae, morte adfecit.

4 Him the consul Lucius Opimius, who as praetor had razed Fregellae, pursued with arms and put to death, and along with him Fulvius Flaccus—a consular and triumphal man—equally desiring depraved things, whom Gaius Gracchus had appointed a triumvir in place of his brother Tiberius and had assumed as a partner of regal power.

5 Id unum nefarie ab Opimio proditum, quod capitis non dicam Gracchi, sed civis Romani pretium se daturum idque auro repensurum proposuit.

5 This one thing was nefariously betrayed by Opimius: that he proposed he would give a price for the head—not, I will not say, of Gracchus, but of a Roman citizen—and would repay it in gold.

6 Flaccus in Aventino annatos ac pugnam ciens cum filio maiore iugulatus est; Gracchus profugiens, cum iam comprehenderetur ab iis, quos Opimius miserat, cervicem Euporo servo praebuit, qui non segnius se ipse interemit, quam domino succurrerat. Quo die singularis Pomponii equitis Romani in Gracchum fides fuit. Qui more Coclitis sustentatis in ponte hostibus eius, gladio se tranfixit.

6 Flaccus, on the Aventine, gathering his kinsmen and summoning a fight, was throat-cut together with his elder son; Gracchus, fleeing, when he was now being seized by those whom Opimius had sent, offered his neck to his slave Euporus, who no less briskly slew himself than he had succored his master. On that day the singular fidelity of Pomponius, a Roman knight, toward Gracchus was shown. He, in the manner of Cocles, his enemies being held off on the bridge, ran himself through with his sword.

7 Ut Ti. Gracchi antea corpus, ita Gai mira crudelitate victorum in Tiberim deiectum est.

7 Just as the body of Tiberius Gracchus earlier, so that of Gaius, by the victors’ astonishing cruelty, was cast down into the Tiber.

[7] Hunc Ti. Gracchi liberi, P. Scipionis Africani nepotes, viva adhuc matre Cornelia, Africani filia, viri optimis ingeniis male usi, vitae mortisque habuere exitum: qui si civilem dignitatis concupissent modum, quidquid tumultuando adipisci gestierunt, quietis obtulisset res publica.

[7] The children of Tiberius Gracchus, grandsons of Publius Scipio Africanus, with their mother Cornelia, the daughter of Africanus, still living—men who used the best talents badly—had this outcome of life and death: if they had desired a civil measure of dignity, whatever they yearned to obtain by raising tumult, the republic would have offered in quiet.

2 Huic atrocitati adiectum scelus unicum. Quippe iuvenis specie excellens necdum duodevicesimum transgressus annum immunisque delictorum paternorum, Fulvii Flacci filius, quem pater legatum de condicionibus miserat, ab Opimio interemptus est. Quem cum haruspex Tuscus amicus flentem in vincula duci vidisset, "quin tu hoc potius", inquit, "facis"! Protinusque inliso capite in postem lapideum ianuae carceris effusoque cerebro expiravit.

2 To this atrocity a unique crime was added. For a young man excelling in appearance, not yet having passed his eighteenth year and immune from his paternal delicts, the son of Fulvius Flaccus, whom his father had sent as a legate concerning the terms, was slain by Opimius. When a Tuscan haruspex, a friend, saw him weeping as he was being led into chains, he said, "why don’t you rather do this!" And immediately, with his head dashed against the stone doorpost of the prison’s doorway and his brain poured out, he expired.

3 Crudelesque mox quaestiones in amicos clientesque Gracchorum habitae sunt. Sed Opimium, virum alioqui sanctum et gravem, damnatum postea iudicio publico memoria istius saevitiae nulla civilis prosecuta est misericordia.

3 And soon cruel inquisitions were held against the friends and clients of the Gracchi. But Opimius, a man otherwise upright and grave, though later condemned by public judgment, was attended by no civil compassion, in memory of that savagery.

4 Eadem Rupilium Popiliumque, qui consules asperrime in Tiberii Gracchi amicos saevierant, postea iudiciorum publicorum merito oppressit invidia. Rei tantae parum ad notitiam pertinens interponetur.

4 The same envy later, deservedly, overwhelmed Rupilius and Popilius, who as consuls had raged most harshly against the friends of Tiberius Gracchus, by public judgments. A notice too slight for so great a matter will be interposed.

5 Hic est Opimius, a quo consule celeberrimum Opimiani vini nomen; quod iam nullum esse spatio annorum colligi potest, cum ab eo sint ad te, M. Vinici, consulem anni centum et quinquaginta.

5 This is Opimius, from whose consulship the most celebrated name of Opimian wine comes; which now can be gathered, from the span of years, to be none, since from him to you, M. Vinicius, consul, there are 150 years.

6 Factum Opimii, quod inimicitiarum quaesita erat ultio, minor secuta auctoritas, et visa ultio privato odio magis quam publicae vindictae data.

6 The act of Opimius, because vengeance had been sought for enmities, was followed by lesser authority, and the vengeance seemed to have been given to private hatred rather than to public retribution.

7 In legibus Gracchi inter perniciosissima numerarim, quod extra Italiam colonias posuit. Id maiores, cum viderent tanto potentiorem Tyro Carthaginem, Massiliam Phocaea, Syracusas Corintho, Cyzicum ac Byzantium Mileto, genitali solo, diligenter vitaverant et civis Romanos ad censendum ex provinciis in Italiam revocaverant.

7 In the laws of Gracchus I would number among the most pernicious, that he established colonies outside Italy. This our ancestors, when they saw Carthage so much more powerful than Tyre, Massilia than Phocaea, Syracuse than Corinth, Cyzicus and Byzantium than Miletus, on their native soil, carefully avoided, and they had Roman citizens recalled to Italy for the census from the provinces.

8 Prima autem extra Italiam colonia Carthago condita est. Subinde Porcio Marcioque consulibus deducta colonia Narbo Martius.

8 But the first colony outside Italy
was founded at Carthage. Thereafter, in the consulship of Porcius and Marcius, there was settled
the colony Narbo Martius.

[8] Mandetur deinde memoriae severitas iudiciorum. Quippe C. Cato consularis, M. Catonis nepos, Africani sororis filius, repetundarum ex Macedonia damnatus est, cum lis eius HS. quattuor milibus aestimaretur: adeo illi viri magis Voluntatem peccandi intuebantur quam modum, factaque ad consilium dirigebant et quid, non in quantum admissum foret, aestimabant.

[8] Let the severity of judgments then be consigned to memory. For Gaius Cato, of consular rank, grandson of Marcus Cato, the son of Africanus’s sister,
was condemned for extortion from Macedonia, although his case was valued at 4,000 sesterces: to such a degree did those men look more to the Will to sin than to the measure,
and they directed deeds to counsel and assessed the what, not to what extent it would have been perpetrated.

2 Circa eadem tempora M. C. Metelli fratres uno die triumphaverunt. Non minus clarum exemplum et adhuc unicum Fulvii Flacci, eius qui Capuam ceperat, filiorum, sed alterius in adoptionem dati, in collegio consulatus fuit; adoptivus in Acidini Manlii familiam datus. Nam censura Metellorum patruelium, non germanorum fratrum fuit, quod solis contigerat Scipionibus.

2 Around the same time the brothers M. and C. Metelli triumphed on one day. No less famous, and to this day unique, was the example of the sons of Fulvius Flaccus, the one who had taken Capua, but with one of them given in adoption, serving together as colleagues in the consulship; the adopted one was given into the family of Manlius Acidinus. For the censorship was of Metelli who were paternal cousins, not brothers-german, a thing that had befallen the Scipios alone.

3 Tum Cimbri et Teutoni transcendere Rhenum, multis mox nostris suisque cladibus nobiles. Per eadem tempora clarus eius Minucii, qui porticus, quae hodieque celebres sunt, molitus est, ex Scordiscis triumphus fuit.

3 Then the Cimbri and the Teutones crossed the Rhine, soon to be famous for many disasters, ours and theirs. About the same time there was the illustrious triumph of that Minucius—who built the porticoes which are even today celebrated—over the Scordisci.

[9] Eodem tractu temporum nituerunt oratores Scipio Aemilianus Laeliusque, Ser. Galba, duo Gracchi, C. Fannius, Carbo Papinus; nec praetereundus Metellus Numidicus et Scaurus, et ante omnes L. Crassus et M. Antonius:

[9] In the same stretch of times shone the orators Scipio Aemilianus and Laelius, Ser. Galba, the two Gracchi, C. Fannius, Carbo Papinus; nor must Metellus Numidicus and Scaurus be passed over, and before all L. Crassus and M. Antonius:

2 quorum aetati ingeniisque successere C. Caesar Strabo, P. Sulpicius; nam Q. Mucius iuris scientia quam prorie eloquentiae nomine celebrior fuit.

2 to whose age and talents there succeeded C. Caesar Strabo, P. Sulpicius; for Q. Mucius was more celebrated for knowledge of law than properly under the name of eloquence.

3 Clara etiam per idem aevi spatium fuere ingenia in togatis Afranii, in tragoediis Pacuvii atque Accii usque in Graecorum ingeniorum comparationem evecti, magnumque inter hos ipsos facientis operi suo locum, adeo quidem, ut in illis limae, in hoc paene plus videatur fuisse sanguinis,

3 Illustrious also during the same span of age were the talents in the togatae of Afranius; in tragedies, Pacuvius and Accius were carried up even to a comparison with the talents of the Greeks, and the latter made for his own work a great place among those very men—indeed, to such a degree that in them there seems to have been more of the file, in him almost more of blood,

4 celebre et Lucilii nomen fuit, qui sub P. Africano Numantino bello eques militaverat. Quo quidem tempore iuvenes adhuc Iugurtha ac Marius sub eodem Africano militantes in iisdem castris didicere, quae postea in contrariis facerent.

4 renowned and the name of Lucilius as well, who had served as a cavalryman under P. Africanus in the Numantine War. At which time indeed Jugurtha and Marius, still young, serving under the same Africanus, in the same camps learned what they would later do on opposing sides.

5 Historiarum auctor iam tum Sisenna erat iuvenis, sed opus belli civilis Sullanique post aliquot annos ab eo seniore editum est.

5 Already at that time the author of histories was Sisenna, a young man, but the work on the civil war and on Sulla was published after several years by him as an older man.

6 Vetustior Sisenna fuit Caelius aequalis Sisennae Rutilius Claudiusque Quadrigarius et Valerius Antias. Sane non ignoremus eadem aetate fuisse Pomponium sensibus celebrem, verbis rudem et novitate inventi a se operis commendabilem.

6 Older than Sisenna was Caelius; of Sisenna’s age were Rutilius, Claudius
Quadrigarius, and Valerius Antias. Surely let us not be unaware that in the same
period there was Pomponius, celebrated for sense, rough in words, and
commendable for the novelty of the work invented by himself.

[10] Prosequamur nota severitatem censorum Cassii Longini Caepionisque, qui abhinc annos centum quinquaginta tris Lepidum Aemilium augurem, quod sex milibus HS. aedes conduxisset, adesse iusserunt. At nunc si quis tanti habitet, vix ut senator agnoscitur: adeo natura a rectis in prava a pravis in vitia, a vitiis in praecipitia pervenitur.

[10] Let us continue with a well-known example of the severity of the censors Cassius Longinus and Caepio, who 153 years ago ordered Lepidus Aemilius, an augur, to be present, because he had leased a house for 6,000 sesterces. But now, if anyone lives for so much, he is scarcely recognized as a senator: to such a degree has the nature of things come—from what is straight into what is crooked, from crooked into vices, from vices into precipices.

2 Eodem tractu temporum et Domitii ex Arvernis et Fabii ex Allobrogibus victoria fuit nobilis; Fabio Pauli nepoti ex victoria cognomen Allobrogico inditum. Notetur Domitiae familiae peculiaris quaedam et ut clarissima, ita artata numero felicitas. Septem ante hunc nobilissimae simplicitatis iuvenem, Cn. Domitium, fuere, singuli omnes parentibus geniti, sed omnes ad consulatum sacerdotiaque, ad triumphi autem paene omnes pervenerunt insignia.

2 In the same tract of times both the victory of Domitius over the Arverni and that of Fabius over the Allobroges was noble; to Fabius, the grandson of Paulus, from the victory the cognomen Allobrogicus was bestowed. Let it be noted that to the Domitian family there was a certain felicity, peculiar and, though most illustrious, yet restricted in number. Seven before this young man of most noble simplicity, Cn. Domitius, there were, all singly born to their parents; but all attained the consulship and priesthoods, and nearly all reached the insignia of a triumph.

[11] Bellum deinde Iugurthinum gestum est per Q. Metellum, nulli secundum saeculi sui. Huius legatus fuit C. Marius, quem praediximus, natus agresti loco, hirtus atque horridus vitaque sanctus, quantum bello optimus, tantum pace pessimus, immodicus gloriae, insatiabilis, impotens semperque inquietus.

[11] Then the Jugurthine war was waged under Q. Metellus, second to none of his age. His legate was C. Marius, whom we have said before, born in a rustic place, rough and shaggy and rugged, and in life saintly; as much as he was best in war, so much in peace he was worst, immoderate for glory, insatiable, uncontrolled, and ever restless.

2 Hic per publicanos aliosque in Africa negotiantis criminatus Metelli lentitudinem, trahentis iam in tertium annum bellum, et naturalem nobilitatis superbiam morandique in imperiis cupiditatem effecit, ut, cum commeatu petito Romam venisset, consul crearetur bellique paene patrati a Metello, qui bis Iugurtham acie fuderat, summa committeretur sibi. Metelli tamen et triumphus fuit clarissimus et meritum ex virtute ei cognomen Numidicì inditum.

2 This man, by accusing through the publicans and others conducting business in Africa
the slowness of Metellus, who was dragging the war now into a third
year, and the natural pride of the nobility and the desire of lingering in commands, brought it about that, when, having requested leave of absence, he had come to Rome, he was created consul and that the supreme command of the war—almost finished by Metellus, who had routed Jugurtha twice in pitched battle—was committed to himself. Nevertheless, Metellus both had a most illustrious triumph, and to him, deserved from his virtue, the cognomen Numidicus was conferred.

3 Ut paulo ante Domitiae familiae, ita Caeciliae notanda claritudo est. Quippe intra duodecim ferme annos huius temporis consules fuere Metelli aut censores aut triumpharunt amplius duodecies, ut appareat, quemadmodum urbium imperiorumque, ita gentium nunc florere fortunam, nunc senescere, nunc interire.

3 As a little earlier with the Domitian family, so the renown of the Caecilian is to be noted. Indeed within almost twelve years of this time the Metelli were consuls or censors, or triumphed more than twelve times, so that it may appear, just as the fortunes of cities and empires, so too those of gentes, now to flourish, now to grow old, now to perish.

[12] At C. Marius L. Sullam, iam tunc ut praecaventibus fatis, copulatum sibi quaestorem habuit et per eum missum ad regem Bocchum Iugurtha rege abhinc annos ferme centum triginta quattuor potitus est; designatusque iterum consul in urbem reversus secundi consulatus initio Kal. Ianuariis eum in triumpho duxit.

[12] But C. Marius had L. Sulla, already then, as though the fates were taking precautions, attached to himself as quaestor, and through him—sent to King Bocchus—he gained possession of Jugurtha the king about 134 years ago; and, designated consul again, having returned to the city, at the beginning of his second consulship, on the Kalends of January, he led him in triumph.

2 Effusa, ut praediximus, immanis vis Germanarum gentium, quibus nomen Cimbris ac Teutonis erat, cum Caepionem Manliumque consules et ante Carbonem Silanumque fudissent fugassentque in Galliis et exuissent exercitu, Scaurumque Aurelium consularem et alios celeberrimi nominis viros trucidassent, populus Romanus non aiium repellendis tantis hostibus magis idoneum imperatorem quam Marium est ratus.

2 Poured forth, as we foretold,
the immense force of the Germanic nations, whose name was the Cimbri and the Teutoni,
after they had routed Caepio and Manlius, the consuls, and earlier Carbo and Silanus,
and had put them to flight in Gaul and stripped them of their army, and had slaughtered Scaurus Aurelius,
a consular, and other men of most celebrated name, the Roman people judged no other commander
more suitable for repelling such great enemies than Marius.

3 Tum multiplicati consulatus eius. Tertius in apparatu belli consumptus; quo anno Cn. Domitius tribunus plebis legem tulit, ut sacerdotes, quos antea conlegae sufficiebant, populus crearet.

3 Then his consulships were multiplied. The third was consumed in the preparation for war; in which year Cn. Domitius, tribune of the plebs, carried a law that the priests, whom previously their colleagues used to co-opt, should be elected by the people.

4 Quarto trans Alpis circa Aquas Sextiass cum Teutonis conflixit, amplius centum quinquaginta milia hostium priore ac postero die ab eo trucidata gensque excisa Teutonum.

4 In his fourth [consulship], beyond the Alps near Aquae Sextiae he clashed with the Teutons, more than one hundred fifty thousand of the enemy, on the previous and on the following day, having been slaughtered by him, and the nation of the Teutons was extirpated.

5 Quinto citra Alpis in campis, quibus nomen erat Raudiis, ipse consul et proconsul Q. Lutatius Catulus fortunatissimo decertavere proelio; caesa aut capta amplius centum milia hominum. Hac victoria videtur meruisse Marius: ne eius nati rem publicam paeniteret, ac mala bonis repensasse.

5 Fifth on this side of the Alps in the plains, which had the name Raudii, the consul himself and the proconsul Q. Lutatius Catulus fought it out in a most fortunate battle; more than one hundred thousand men were slain or captured. By this victory Marius seems to have earned that the republic should not regret his having been born, and to have recompensed evils with goods.

6 Sextus consulatus veluti praemium et mentorum datus. Non tamen huius consulatus fraudetur gloria, quo Servilii Glauciae Saturninique Apulei furorem continuatis honoribus rem publicam lacerantium ei gladiis quoque et caede comitia discutientium, consul armis compescuit hominesque exitiabibis in Hostilia curia morte multavit.

6 The sixth consulship was, as it were, given as a reward for his merits. Yet let not the glory of this consulship be defrauded, in which the consul, with arms, suppressed the frenzy of Servilius Glaucia and Saturninus Apuleius—men rending the commonwealth by continuous honors and even with swords, and breaking up the comitia by slaughter—and he punished the pernicious men with death in the Curia Hostilia.

[13] Deinde interiectis paucis annis tribunatum iniit M. Livius Drusus, vir nobilissimus, eloquentissimus, sanctissimus, meliore in omnia ingenio animoque quam fortuna usus.

[13] Then, after a few years had intervened, M. Livius Drusus entered upon the tribunate, a man most noble, most eloquent, most virtuous, having enjoyed in all things a better genius and spirit than fortune.

2 Qui cum senatui priscum restituere cuperet decus et iudicia ab equitibus ad eum transferre ordinem (quippe eam potestatem nacti equites Gracchanis legibus cum in multos clarissimos atque innocentissimos viros saevissent, tum P. Rutilium, virum non saeculi sui, sed omnis aevi optimum, interrogatum lege repetundarum maximo cum gemitu civitatis damnaverant), in iis ipsis, quae pro senatu moliebatur, senatum habuit adversarium non intellegentem, sì qua de plebis commodis ab eo agerentur, veluti inescandae inliciendaeque multitudinis causa fieri, ut minoribus perceptis maiora permitteret.

2 Who, when he wished to restore to the senate its ancient honor and to transfer the courts from the equestrians to that order (indeed, the equestrians, having obtained that power by the Gracchan laws, after they had raged against many most illustrious and most innocent men, then had condemned Publius Rutilius—a man not of his own age, but of every age the best—when he was arraigned under the law of extortions, with the greatest groan of the citizenry), in those very things which he was endeavoring on behalf of the senate, he had the senate as an adversary, not understanding that, if anything were being transacted by him concerning the advantages of the plebs, it was being done, as it were, for the sake of baiting and enticing the multitude, so that, the lesser having been received, they might permit the greater.

3 Denique ea fortuna Drusi fuit, ut malefacta collegarum quam quaevis optime ab ipso cogitata senatus probaret magis, et honorem, qui ab eo deferebatur, sperneret, iniunas, quae ab illis intendebantur, aequo animo reciperet, et huius summae gloriae invideret, illorum modicam ferret.

3 Finally, such was Drusus’s fortune, that the senate would approve the malefactions of his colleagues rather than whatever things most excellently devised by himself, and would spurn the honor that was being proffered by him, would with an even mind receive the injuries that were being leveled by them, and would envy this man’s highest glory, while it bore theirs, being moderate.

[14] Tum conversus Drusi animus, quando bene incepta male cedebant, ad dandam civitatem Italiae. Quod cum moliens revertisset e foro, immensa illa et incondita, quae eum semper comitabatur, cinctus multitudine in area domus suae cultello percussus. qui adfixus lateri eius relictus est, intra paucas horas decessit.

[14] Then Drusus’s mind, since well-begun undertakings were turning out badly, turned to granting citizenship to Italy. When, while attempting this, he had returned from the forum, surrounded by that immense and incondite multitude which always accompanied him, he was struck with a little knife in the forecourt of his house. Which, affixed to his side, was left; within a few hours he died.

2 Sed cum ultimum redderet spiritum, intuens circumstantium maerentiumque frequentiam, effudit vocem convenientissimam conscientiae suae: "Ecquandone", inquit, "propinqui amicique, similem mei civem habebit res publica?". Hunc finem clarissimus iuvenis vitae habuit: cuius morum minime omittatur argumentum.

2 But when he was rendering his last breath, gazing at the multitude of those standing around and mourning, he poured forth a voice most fitting to his conscience: "When ever," he said, "kinsmen and friends, will the commonwealth have a citizen like me?" This was the end of the life of a most illustrious young man: let the evidence of his character by no means be omitted.

3 Cum aedificaret domum in Palatio in eo loco, ubi est quae quondam Ciceronis, mox Censorini fuit, nunc Statilii Sisennae est, promitteretque ei architectus, ita se eam aedificaturum, ut liber a conspectu immunisque ab omnibus arbitris esset neque quisquam in eam despicere posset, "Tu vero" inquit, "si quid in te artis est, ita compone domum meam, ut, quidquid agam, ab omnibus perspici possit".

3 When he was building a house on the Palatine in that place where there is the one which once was Cicero’s, soon Censorinus’s, now Statilius Sisenna’s, and the architect was promising him that he would build it so that it would be free from view and immune from all observers and that no one could look down into it, "You indeed," he said, "if there is any art in you, so arrange my house that whatever I do may be perceived by all".

[15] Mors Drusi iam pridem tumescens bellum excitavit Italicum; quippe L. Caesare et P. Rutilio consulibus abhinc annos centum viginti, universa Italia, cum id malum ab Asculanis ortum esset (quippe Servilium praetorem Fonteiumque legatum occiderant) ac deinde a Marsis exceptum in omnis penetrasset regiones, arma adversus Romanos cepit.

[15] The death of Drusus aroused the Italic war, long swelling already; indeed, in the consulship of L. Caesar and P. Rutilius, one hundred and twenty years ago, the whole of Italy—since that evil had arisen from the Asculani (indeed they had killed Servilius the praetor and Fonteius the legate) and then, taken up by the Marsi, had penetrated into all regions—took up arms against the Romans.

2 Quorum ut fortuna atrox, ita causa fuit iustissima: petebant enim eam civitatem, cuius imperium armis tuebantur: per omnis annos atque omnia bella duplici numero se militum equitumque fungi neque in eius civitatis ius recipi, quae per eos in id ipsum pervenisset fastigium, per quod homines eiusdem et gentis et sanguinis ut externos alienosque fastidire posset.

2 And as their fortune was harsh, so their cause was most just: for they were seeking that citizenship whose imperium they were defending with arms: through all years and all wars to do duty in double number as soldiers and as horsemen, and yet not be received into the right of that citizenship which through them had arrived at that very summit, by which it could disdain as though foreigners and aliens men of the same nation and blood.

3 Id bellum amplius trecenta milia iuventutis Italicae abstulit. Clarissimi autem imperatores fuerunt Romani eo bello Cn. Pompeius, Cn. Pompei Magni pater, C. Marius, de quo praediximus, L. Sulla anno ante praetura functus, Q. Metellus, Numidici filius, qui meritum cognomen Pii consecutus erat:

3 That war took away more than 300,000 of Italian youth. But the most illustrious Roman commanders in that war were Cn. Pompeius, Cn. Pompeius Magnus’s father, Gaius Marius, about whom we have foretold, Lucius Sulla, who had performed the praetorship a year before, Quintus Metellus, the son of Numidicus, who had obtained the merited cognomen “Pius”:

4 Quippe expulsum civitate a L. Saturnino tribuno plebis, quod solus in leges eius iurare noluerat, pietate sua, auctoritate senatus, consensu rei publicae restituit patrem. Nec triumphis honoribusque quam aut causa exilii aut exilio aut reditu clarior fuit Nurnidicus.

4 Indeed, though expelled from the citizenship by L. Saturninus, tribune
of the plebs, because he alone had been unwilling to swear to his laws, by his piety,
by the authority of the senate, by the consensus of the Republic, he restored his father. Nor
was Numidicus more renowned for triumphs and honors than for either the cause of his exile, or for his exile, or for his return.

[16] Italicorum autem fuerunt celeberrimi duces Silo Popaedius, Herius Asinius, Insteius Cato, C. Pontidius, Telesinus Pontius, Marius Egnatius, Papius Mutilus.

[16] But among the Italians the most celebrated leaders were Silo Popaedius, Herius Asinius, Insteius Cato, C. Pontidius, Telesinus Pontius, Marius Egnatius, Papius Mutilus.

2 Neque ego verecundia omestici sanguinis gloriae quidquam, dum verum refero, subtraham: quippe multum Minatii Magii, atavi mei, Aeculanensis, tribuendum est memonae, qui nepos Decii Magii, Campanorum principis, celeberrimi et fidelissimi viri, tantam hoc bello Romanis fidem praestitit, ut cum legione, quam ipse in Hirpinis conscripserat, Herculaneum simul curn T. Didio caperet, Pompeios cum L. Sulla oppugnaret Compsamque occuparet:

2 Nor will I, out of reverence for the glory of domestic blood, subtract anything, while I report the truth: indeed much must be attributed to the memory of Minatius Magius, my great-great-grandfather, an Aeculanian, who, the grandson of Decius Magius, leader of the Campanians, a most celebrated and most faithful man, rendered such loyalty to the Romans in this war that, with the legion which he himself had levied among the Hirpini, he took Herculaneum together with T. Didius, besieged Pompeii with L. Sulla, and occupied Compsa:

3 cuius de virtutibus cum alii, tum maxime dilucide Q. Hortensius in annalibus suis rettulit . Cuius illi pietati plenam populus Romanus gratiam rettulit ipsum viritim civitate donando, duos filios eius creando praetores, cum seni adhuc crearentur.

3 of whose virtues, although others did, yet most lucidly Q. Hortensius in his annals related . To whose pietas the Roman People returned full gratitude by bestowing citizenship upon him individually, by electing his two sons praetors, when as yet six were being elected.

4 Tam varia atque atrox fortuna Italici belli fuit, ut per biennium continuum duo Rcmani consules, Rutilius ac deinde Cato Porcius, ab hostibus occiderentur, exercitus populi Romani multis in locis funderentur, utque ad saga iretur diuque in eo habitu maneretur. Caput imperii sui Corfinium legerant atque appellarant Italicam. Paulatim deinde recipiendo in civitatem, qui arma aut non ceperant aut deposuerant maturius, vires refectae sunt, Pompeio Sullaque et Mano fluentem procumbentemque rem populi Romani restituentibus.

4 So varied and atrocious was the fortune of the Italic war, that for a continuous biennium two Roman consuls, Rutilius and then Porcius Cato, were slain by the enemies, the armies of the Roman people were routed in many places, and there was a resort to the war-cloaks (saga) and men remained long in that attire. They had chosen Corfinium as the head of their imperium and had called it Italica. Little by little thereafter, by receiving back into citizenship those who either had not taken up arms or had laid them down earlier, the forces were restored, with Pompey, Sulla, and Mano restoring the ebbing and prostrate commonwealth of the Roman people.

[17] Finito ex maxrima parte, nisi quae Nolani belli manebant reliquiae, Italico bello, quo quidem Romani victis adflictisque ipsi exarmati quam integri universis civitatem dare maluerunt, consulatum inierunt Q. Pompeius et L. Cornelius Sulla, vir qui neque ad finem victoriae satis laudari neque post victoriam abunde vituperan potest.

[17] With the Italic war finished for the greatest part, except for the remnants that remained of the Nolan war, in which indeed the Romans—with the enemy conquered and shattered—preferred, themselves disarmed rather than intact, to give citizenship to all, the consulship was entered by Quintus Pompeius and Lucius Cornelius Sulla, a man who can neither be sufficiently praised up to the end of victory nor, after the victory, be abundantly blamed.

2 Hic natus familia nobili, sextus a Cornelio Rufino, qui bello Pyrrhi inter celeberrimos fuerat duces, cum familiae eius ciaritudo intermissa esset, diu ita se gessit, ut nullam petendi consulatum cogitationem habere videretur:

2 This man, born of a noble family, sixth from Cornelius Rufinus, who in the Pyrrhic war had been among the most celebrated leaders, since the renown of his family had been interrupted, for a long time conducted himself in such a way that he seemed to have no thought of seeking the consulship:

3 deinde post praeturam inlustratus bello Italico et ante in Gallia legatione sub Mario, qua eminentissimos duces hostium fuderat, ex successu animum sumpsit petensque consulatum paene omnium civium suffragiis factus est; sed eum honorem undequinquagesimo aetatis suae anno adsecutus est.

3 then, after the praetorship, made illustrious by the Italian War, and earlier in Gaul by a legateship under Marius, in which he had routed the most eminent leaders of the enemy, from his success he took heart; and, seeking the consulship, he was elected by the suffrages of almost all the citizens; but he attained that honor in the 49th year of his age.

[18] Per ea tempora Mithridates, Ponticus rex. Vir neque silendus neque dicendus sine cura, bello acerrimus, virtute eximius, aliquando fortuna, semper animo maximus, consiliis dux, miles manu, odio in Romanos Hannibal, occupata Asia necatisque in ea omnibus civibus Romanis, quos quidem eadem die

[18] During those times Mithridates, the Pontic king. A man neither to be passed over in silence nor to be spoken of without care, keenest in war, eximious in virtue, at times greatest in fortune, always greatest in spirit, by counsels a leader, by hand a soldier, a Hannibal in hatred toward the Romans, with Asia occupied and with all the Roman citizens in it slain—whom indeed on the same day

2 atque hora redditis civitatibus litteris ingenti cum pollicitatione praemiorum interimi iusserat, quo tempore neque fortitudine

2 and at the hour, the letters delivered to the civic communities, with an immense promise (pollicitation) of rewards, he had ordered them to be put to death, at which time neither by courage

3 adversus Mithridatem neque fide in Romanos quisquam Rhodiis par fuit (horum fidem Mytilenaeorum perfidia inluminavit, qui M. Aquilium aliosque Mithridati vinctos tradiderunt, quibus libertas in unius Theophanis gratiam postea a Pompeio restituta est), cum terribilis Italiae quoque videretur imminere, sorte obvenit Sullae Asia provincia.

3 against Mithridates, and in faith toward the Romans, no one was equal to the Rhodians (their faith was illuminated by the perfidy of the Mytileneans, who handed over Marcus Aquilius and others, bound, to Mithridates—liberty was afterward restored to them by Pompey in favor of one Theophanes), when he, terrible, seemed to be threatening Italy as well, by lot the province of Asia fell to Sulla.

4 Is egressus urbe cum circa Nolam moraretur (quippe ea urbs pertinacissime arma retinebat exercituque Romano obsidebatur, velut paeniteret eius fidei, quam omnium sanctissimam bello praestiterat Punico),

4 He, having departed the city, when he was lingering around Nola (for indeed that city was most pertinaciously retaining arms and was being besieged by the Roman army, as if it repented of that faith which it had displayed as most sacrosanct of all in the Punic War),

5 Sulpicius tribunus plebis, disertus, acer, opibus gratia amicitiis vigore ingenii atque animi celeberrimus, cum antea rectissima voluntate apud populum maximam quaesisset dignitatem quasi pigeret eum virtutum suarum et bene consulta ei male cederent,

5 Sulpicius, tribune of the plebs—eloquent, keen, most renowned by means of wealth, favor, friendships, and the vigor of talent and spirit—although previously with a most upright will he had sought the greatest dignity among the people, as if he were growing weary of his own virtues and his well-considered measures were turning out ill for him,

6 subito pravus et praeceps se C. Mano post septuagesimum annum omnia imperia et omnis provincias concupiscenti addixit legemque ad populum tulit, qua Sullae imperium abrogaretur, C. Mario bellum decerneretur Mithridaticums aliasque leges perniciosas et exitiabiles neque tolerandas liberae civitati tulit. Quin etiam Q. Pompei consulis filium eundemque Sullae generum per emissarios factionis suae interfecit.

6 suddenly, depraved and headlong, he bound himself to Gaius Marius, who after the 70th year was concupiscent of all commands and all provinces, and he brought a bill to the people by which Sulla’s imperium would be abrogated, the Mithridatic war would be decreed to Gaius Marius, and he carried other laws pernicious and ruin-bringing, not to be tolerated by a free commonwealth. Nay even, he killed Quintus Pompeius, the consul’s son and likewise Sulla’s son-in-law, through the emissaries of his faction.

[19] Tum Sulla contracto exercitu ad urbem rediit eamque armis occupavit, duodecim auctores novarum pessimarumque rerum, inter quos Marium cum filio et P. Sulpicio, urbe exturbavit ac lege lata exules fecit. Sulpicium etiam adsecuti equites in Laurentinis paludibus iugulavere, caputque eius erectum et ostentatum pro rostris velut omen imminentis proscriptionis fuit.

[19] Then Sulla, having assembled his army, returned to the city and by arms occupied it, and the twelve authors of new and most pernicious measures, among whom Marius with his son and P. Sulpicius, he drove out from the city and, a law having been passed, made them exiles. Sulpicius too, overtaken by the knights, they slit his throat in the Laurentian marshes, and his head, set up and displayed before the Rostra, as it were an omen of the imminent proscription, was.

2 Marius post sextum consulatum annumque septuagesimum nudus ac limo obrutus, oculis tantummodo ac naribus eminentibus, extractus arundineto circa paludem Maricae, in quam se fugiens consectantis Sullae equites abdiderat, iniecto in collum loro in carcerem Minturnensium iussu duumviri perductus est.

2 Marius, after his sixth consulship and in his seventieth year, naked and caked with mud, with only his eyes and nostrils protruding, dragged out of a reed-bed around the marsh of Marica, into which, fleeing, he had hidden himself from Sulla’s pursuing horsemen, with a strap cast upon his neck, was led into the prison of the Minturnians by order of the duumvir.

3 Ad quem interficiendum missus cum gladio servus publicus natione Germanus, qui forte ab imperatore eo bello Cimbrico captus erat, ut agnovit Marium, magno eiulatu expromens indignationem casus tanti viri abiecto gladio profugit e carcere.

3 To kill him, a public slave, a German by nation, who by chance had been captured by the emperor in that Cimbrian war, was sent; and when he recognized Marius, with a great wail, expressing indignation at the fate of so great a man, he threw down the sword and fled from the prison.

4 Tum cives, ab hoste misereri paulo ante principis viri docti, instructum eum viatico conlataque veste in navem imposuerunt. At ille adsecutus circa insulam Aenariam filium cursum in Africam direxit inopemque vitam in tugurio ruinarum Carthaginiensium toleravit, cum Marius aspiciens Carthaginem, illa intuens Marium, alter alten possent esse solacio.

4 Then the citizens, taught by an enemy shortly before to pity a man of princely rank,
furnished him with travel-provision (viaticum) and with clothing contributed, and placed him on a ship.
But he, having overtaken his son near the island Aenaria,
set his course to Africa and endured an indigent life in a hut amid the ruins
of the Carthaginians, while Marius, looking upon Carthage, and she looking upon Marius,
the one could be a solace to the other.

[20] Hoc anno primum sanguine consulis Romani militis imbutae manus sunt; quippe Q. Pompeius, collega Sullae, ab exercitu Cn. Pompei proconsulis seditione, sed quam dux creaverat, interfectus est.

[20] In this year for the first time hands were imbued with the blood of a Roman consul, a soldier; for Q. Pompeius, colleague of Sulla, was slain by the army of Cn. Pompeius the proconsul in a sedition—but one which the leader had created.

2 Non erat Mario Sulpicioque Cinna temperatior. Itaque cum ita civitas Italiae data esset, ut in octo tribus contribuerentur novi cives ne potentia eorum et multitudo veterum civium dignitatem frangeret plusque possent recepti in beneficium quam auctores benefici, Cinna in omnibus tribubus eos se distributurum pollicitus est: quo nomine ingentem totius Italiae frequentiam in urbem acciverat.

2 Cinna was no more temperate than Marius and Sulpicius. And so, when the citizenship of Italy had been granted on this condition, that the new citizens be assigned into eight tribes, lest their power and their multitude break the dignity of the old citizens, and the recipients of the benefit be able more than the authors of the benefit, Cinna promised that he would distribute them into all the tribes: under this pretext he had summoned into the city an enormous concourse from all Italy.

3 E qua pulsus collegae optimatiumque viribus cum in Campaniam tenderet, ex auctoritate senatus consulatus ei abrogatus est suffectusque in eius locum L. Cornelius Merula flamen dialis. Haec iniuri homine quam exemplo dignior fuit.

3 From this he, driven out by the forces of his colleague and of the Optimates, as he was heading toward Campania, by authority of the senate had his consulship abrogated, and in his place was appointed as suffect Lucius Cornelius Merula, the Flamen Dialis. This injustice was more deserving of the man than of being a precedent.

4 Tum Cinna corruptis primo centurionibus ac tribunis, mox etiam spe largitionis militibus, ab eo exercitu, qui circa Nolam erat, recepius est. Is cum universus in verba eius iurasset, retinens insignia consulatus patriae bellum intulit. fretus ingenti numero novorum civiuum, e quorum delectu trecentas amplius cohortes conscripserat ac triginta legionum instar impleverat.

4 Then Cinna, the centurions first having been corrupted, and the tribunes, soon also the soldiers by the hope of largess, was received by that army which was around Nola. That force, when in its entirety it had sworn allegiance to his words, retaining the insignia of the consulship, brought war upon his fatherland. relying on the vast number of the new citizens, from whose levy he had enrolled more than three hundred cohorts and had filled up to the strength of 30 legions.

5 Opus erat partibus auctoritate, cuius augendae gratia C. Marium cum filio de exilio revocavit quique cum iis pulsi erant.

5 There was need of authority for the party, for the sake of increasing which he recalled Gaius Marius with his son from
exile, and those who had been driven out along with them.

[21] Dum bellum autem infert patriae Cinna, Cn. Pompeius, Magni pater, cuius praeclara opera bello Marsico praecipue circa Picenum agrum. ut praescripsimus, usa erat res publica quique Asculum ceperat, circa quam urbem, cum in multis aliis regionibus exercitus dispersi forent, quinque et septuaginta milia civium Romanorum. Amplius sexaginta Italicorum una die conflixerant,

[21] But while Cinna was bringing war upon the fatherland, Gnaeus Pompeius, father of Magnus, whose preeminent services in the Marsic War especially around the Picene territory, as we have written above, the commonwealth had employed, and who had taken Asculum, around which city, when in many other regions the armies had been scattered, seventy-five thousand Roman citizens and more than sixty thousand Italics in a single day had fought,

2 frustratus spe continuandi consulatus ita se dubium mediumque partibus praestitit, ut omnia ex proprio usu ageret temporibusque insidiari videretur, et huc atque illuc, unde spes maior adfulsisset potentiae, sese exercitumque deflecteret.

2 frustrated in the hope of continuing the consulship, he presented himself so doubtful and in the middle to the parties, that he did everything according to his own advantage and seemed to lie in wait for the times, and hither and thither, toward whatever side a greater hope of power had shone, he deflected himself and the army.

3 Sed ad ultimum magno atrocique proelia cum Cinna conflixit: cuius commissi patratique sub ipsis moenibus focisque urbis Romanae pugnantibus spectantibusque quam fuerit eventus exitiabilis, vix verbis exprimi potest.

3 But at the last he fought great and atrocious battles with Cinna: of which, committed and consummated beneath the very walls and hearths of the city of Rome, with men both fighting and looking on, how ruinous the outcome was can scarcely be expressed in words.

4 Post hoc cum utrumque exercitum velut parum beIlo exhaustum laceraret pestilentia. Cn. Pompeius decessit. Cuius interitus voluptas amissorum aut gladio aut morba civium paene damna repensata est.

4 After this
as a pestilence was lacerating both armies, as though not enough exhausted by war.
Cn. Pompeius died. The pleasure at his demise almost recompensed the losses of citizens, whether lost by the sword or by disease.

populusque Romanus quam vivo iracundiam debuerat, in corpus mortui contulit.

and the Roman people transferred onto the body of the dead man the anger which they had owed to him while he was alive.

5 Seu duae seu tres Pompeiorum fuere familiae, primus eius nominis ante annos fere centum sexaginta septem Q. Pompeius cum Cn. Servilio consul fuit.

5 Whether there were two or three families of the Pompeii, the first of that name, about one hundred sixty-seven years earlier, Quintus Pompeius was consul with Gnaeus Servilius.

6 Cinna et Marius haud incruentis utrimque certaminibus editis urbem occupaverunt, sed prior ingressus Cinna de recipiendo Mario legem tulit.

6 Cinna and Marius, after contests on both sides by no means bloodless had been fought, occupied the city, but Cinna, having entered first, carried a law for the recall of Marius.

[22] Mox C. Marius pestifero civibus suis reditu intravit moenia. Nihil illa victoria fuisset crudelius, nisi mox Sullana esset secuta: neque licentia gladiorum in mediocris saevitum. sed excelsissimi quoque atque eminentissimi civitatis viri variis suppliciorum generibus adfecti.

[22] Soon Gaius Marius entered the walls, his return pestiferous to his fellow citizens. Nothing would have been more cruel than that victory, had not the Sullan one soon followed: nor was the license of the swords vented upon men of moderate station only. but the very highest and most eminent men of the state were afflicted with various kinds of punishments.

2 In iis consul Octavius, vir lenissimi animi, iussu Cinnae interfectus est. Merula autem, qui se sub adventum Cinnae consulatu abdicaverat, incisis venis superfusoque altaribus sanguine, quos saepe pro salute rei publicae flamen dialis precatus erat deos, eos in execrationem Cinnae partiumque eius tum precatus optime de re publica meritum spiritum reddidit.

2 Among these the consul Octavius, a man of the gentlest disposition, was killed by Cinna’s order. Merula, however, who had abdicated the consulship upon Cinna’s approach, with his veins incised and his blood poured over the altars—the gods whom, as Flamen Dialis, he had often besought for the safety of the republic, those he then invoked into execration upon Cinna and his party—and, having deserved most excellently of the republic, he rendered back his spirit.

3M. Antonius, princeps civitatis atque eloquentiae, gladiis militum, quos ipsos facundia sua moratus erat, iussu Marii Cinnaeque confossus est. Q. Catulus, et aliarum virtutum et belli Cunbrici gloria,

3M. Antonius, the foremost man of the state and of eloquence, by the swords of the soldiers, whom he had himself delayed by his own facundity, was run through by order of Marius and Cinna. Q. Catulus, both the glory of other virtues and of the Cimbrian war,

4 quae illi eum Mario communis fuerat. celeberrimus, cum ad mortem conquireretur, conclusit se loco nuper calce harenaque perpolito inlatoque igni, qui vim odoris excitaret, simul exitiali hausto spiritu, simul incluso suo mortem magis voto quam arbitria inimicorum obiit.

4 which had been common to him with Marius. most celebrated, when he was being sought out for death, he shut himself up in a place recently polished with lime and sand, and with fire brought in, which would excite the force of the odor, at once with the exitial breath drawn in, at once with himself shut in, he met death more by his vow than by the arbitrament of his enemies.

5 Omnia erant praecipitia in re publica. nec tamen adhuc quisquam inveniebatur, qui bona civis Romani aut donare auderet aut petere sustineret. Postea id quoque accessit, ut saevitiae causam avaritia praeberet et modus culpae ex pecuniae modo constitueretur et qui fuisset locuples, fieret is nocens, suique quisque periculi merces foret, nec quidquam videretur turpe, quod esset quaestuosum.

5 Everything was precipitous in the commonwealth; and yet up to this point no one was found who would either dare to donate the goods of a Roman citizen or sustain demanding them. Afterwards this too was added: that avarice furnished a cause for savagery, and the measure of guilt was constituted from the measure of money, and he who had been wealthy was made guilty, and each man’s own peril was a bounty upon himself, nor did anything seem shameful that was lucrative.

[23] Secundum deinde consulatum Cinna et septimum Marius in priorum dedecus iniit, cuius initio morbo oppressus decessit, vir in bello hostibus, in otio civibus infestissimus quietisque impatientissimus.

[23] Then Cinna entered upon his second consulship and Marius upon his seventh, to the disgrace of the earlier ones; at the outset of which, overwhelmed by sickness, he died—a man in war most grievous to enemies, in leisure most grievous to citizens, and most impatient of quiet.

2 In huius locum suffectus Valerius Flaccus, turpissimae legis auctor, qua creditoribus quadrantem solvi iusserat, cuius facti merita eum poena intra biennium consecuta est.

2 In his place Valerius Flaccus was appointed, the author of a most disgraceful law, by which he had ordered that only a quarter be paid to creditors, and a punishment merited by that deed overtook him within two years.

3 Dominante in Italia Cinna maior pars nobilitatis ad Sullam in Achaiam ac deinde post in Asiam perfugit. Sulla interim cum Mithridatis praefectis circa Athenas Boeotiamque et Macedoniam ita dimicavit, ut et Athenas reciperet et plurimo circa multiplicis Piraei portus munitiones labore expleto amplius ducenta milia hostium interficeret nec minus multa caperet.

3 With Cinna dominant in Italy, the greater part of the nobility fled for refuge to Sulla in Achaia and then afterwards into Asia. Sulla, meanwhile, fought with Mithridates’ prefects around Athens, Boeotia, and Macedonia in such a way that he both recovered Athens and, with very great labor expended around the fortifications of the multiple harbors of the Piraeus, slew more than 200,000 of the enemy and took no fewer captive.

4 Si quis hoc rebellandi tempus, quo Athenae oppugnatae a Sulla sunt, imputat Atheniensibus, nimirum veri vetustatisque ignarus est: adeo enim certa Atheniensium in Romanos fides fuit, ut semper et in omni re, quidquid sincera fide gereretur, id Romani Attica fieri praedicarent.

4 If anyone imputes to the Athenians this time of rebelling, in which Athens was besieged by Sulla, he is surely ignorant of truth and of antiquity: for so certain was the Athenians’ fidelity toward the Romans, that always and in every matter, whatever was carried on with sincere good faith, the Romans proclaimed that it was being done in Attic fashion.

5 Ceterum tum oppressi Mithridatis armis homines miserrimae conditionis cum ab inimicis tenereatur, oppugnabantur ab amicis et animos extra moenia, corpora necessitati servientes intra muros habebant.

5 However, then, men oppressed by the arms of Mithridates, in a most wretched condition, while they were held by enemies, were besieged by friends, and they had their spirits outside the walls, their bodies, serving necessity, within the walls.

6 Transgressus deinde in Asiam Sulla parentem ad omnia supplicemque Mithridatem invenit, quem multatum pecunia ac parte navium Asia omnibusque allis provinciis, quas armis occupaverat, decedere coegit, captivos recepit, in perfugas noxiosque animadvertit, paternis, id est Pontici finibus contentum esse iussit.

6 Then, crossing over into Asia, Sulla found Mithridates compliant in all things and a suppliant, whom, mulcted in money and in a part of the ships, he compelled to depart from Asia and all the other provinces which he had occupied by arms; he received back the captives, animadverted upon the deserters and the guilty, and ordered him to be content with his paternal, that is, Pontic, boundaries.

[24] C. Flavius Fimbria, qui praefectus equitum ante adventum Sullae Valerium Flaccum consularem virum interfecerat exercituque occupato imperator appellatus forti Mithridatem pepulerat proelio, sub adventu Sullae se ipse interemit, adulescens, quae pessime ausus erat, fortiter executus.

[24] C. Flavius Fimbria, who, prefect of cavalry, before the advent of Sulla had killed Valerius Flaccus, a consular man, and, the army having been seized, having been hailed imperator, had driven Mithridates in a stout battle, at the advent of Sulla slew himself, a youth who bravely executed what he had most wickedly dared.

2 Eodem anno P. Laenas tribunus plebis Sex. Lucilium, qui priore anno tribunus plebis fuerat, saxo Tarpeio deiecit, et cum collegae eius, quibus diem dixerat, metu ad Sullam profugissent, aqua ignique iis interdixit.

2 In the same year P. Laenas, tribune of the plebs, threw down Sextus Lucilius, who had been tribune of the plebs in the prior year, from the Tarpeian Rock, and when his colleagues, to whom he had named a day, had fled in fear to Sulla, he interdicted them from water and fire.

3 Tum Sulla compositis transmarinis rebus, cum ad eum primum omnium Romanorum legati Parthonun venissent, et in iis quidam magi ex notis corporis respondissent caelestem eius vitam et memoriam futuram, revectus in Italiam haud plura quam triginta armatorum milia adversum ducenta amplius hostium exposuit Brundusii.

3 Then Sulla, the transmarine affairs composed, when to him—first of all Romans—legates of the Parthians had come, and among them certain magi, from the signs of the body, had declared that his life and memory would be celestial, having been carried back into Italy, at Brundisium he set ashore not more than thirty thousand armed men against more than two hundred thousand of the enemy.

4 Vix quidquam in Sullae operibus clarius duxerim, quam quod cum per triennium Cinnanae Marianaeque partes Italiam obsiderent, neque inlaturum se bellum iis dissimulavit nec quod erat in manibus omisit, existimavitque ante frangendum hostem quam ulciscendum civem, repulsoque externo metu, ubi quod alienum esset vicisset, superaret quod erat domesticum.

4 I would scarcely reckon anything in Sulla’s works more illustrious than this: that, when for three years the Cinnan and Marian parties were besieging Italy, he neither concealed that he would bring war upon them nor neglected what was in hand, and he judged that an enemy must be broken before a citizen avenged; and, the external fear driven back, when he had conquered what was alien, he would overcome what was domestic.

5 Ante adventum L. Sullae Cinna seditione orta ab exercitu interemptus est, vir dignior, qui arbitrio victorum moreretur quam iracundia militum. De quo vere dici potest, ausum esse eum quae nemo auderet bonus, perfecisse quae a nullo nisi fortissimo perfici possent, et fuisse eum in consultando temerarium, in exequendo virum. Carbo nullo suffecto collega solus toto anno consul fuit.

5 Before the arrival of L. Sulla, Cinna, a sedition having arisen, was slain by the army, a man more worthy to die by the judgment of the victors than by the anger of the soldiers. Of whom it can truly be said that he dared things which no good man would dare, that he accomplished things which could be accomplished by none except the bravest, and that he was rash in deliberating, a man in executing. Carbo, with no colleague appointed in his stead, was sole consul for the whole year.

[25] Putares Sullam venisse in Italiam non belli vindicem, sed pacis auctorem; anta cum quiete exercitum per Calabriam Apuliamque cum singulari cura frugum, agrorum, hominum, urbium perduxit in Campaniam temptavitque iustis legibus et aequis conditionibus bellum componere; sed iis, quibus et res pessima et immodica cupiditas erat, non poterat pax placere.

[25] You would have thought Sulla had come into Italy not as the avenger of war, but as the author of peace; for with such quiet he led his army through Calabria and Apulia with singular care for the crops, the fields, the men, the cities, and brought it into Campania, and he tried to compose the war by just laws and equitable conditions; but for those to whom both the cause was worst and the cupidity immoderate, peace could not be pleasing.

2 Crescebat interim in dies Sullae exercitus confluentibus ad eum optimo quoque et sanissimo. Felici deinde circa Capuam eventu Scipionem Norbanumque consules superat, quorum Norbanus acie victus, Scipio ab exercitu suo desertus ac proditus inviolatus a Sulla dimissus est.

2 Meanwhile Sulla’s army was growing day by day, as every best and soundest were flocking to him. Then, with a felicitous outcome around Capua, he overcame the consuls Scipio and Norbanus, of whom Norbanus was defeated in pitched battle, and Scipio, deserted and betrayed by his own army, was dismissed inviolate by Sulla.

3 Adeo enim Sulla dissimilis fuit bellator ac victor, ut dum vincit, mitis ac iustissimo lenior, post victoriam audito fuerit crudelior. Nam et consulem, ut praediximus, exarmatum Quintumque Sertorium, pro quanti mox belli facem, et multos alios, potitus eorum, dimisit incolumes, credo ut in eodem homine duplicis ac diversissimi animi conspiceretur exemplum.

3 For Sulla was so unlike as warrior and victor, that while he was conquering, he was mild and gentler than the most just, but after victory he was reported to have been more cruel. For he even sent away unharmed the consul, as we have said, disarmed, and Quintus Sertorius—the torch of how great a war soon after—and many others, having gotten possession of them, I suppose in order that in the same man there might be observed an example of a twofold and most diverse spirit.

4 Post victoriam namque ascendens montem Tifata cum C. Norbano concurrerat Sulla gratis Dianae, cuius numini regio illa sacrata est, solvit; aquas salubritate medendisque corporibus nobiles agrosque omnis addixit deae. Huius gratae religionis memoriam et inscriptio templi adfixa posti hodieque et tabula testatur aerea intra aedem.

4 After the victory for as he was ascending Mount Tifata he had clashed with C. Norbanus Sulla paid his vows to Diana, to whose numen that region is consecrated; he assigned to the goddess the waters, renowned for their healthfulness and for healing bodies, and all the fields. The memory of this welcome religious observance both the inscription of the temple affixed to the doorpost even today and a bronze tablet within the shrine attest.

[26] Deinde consules Carbo tertium et C. Marius, septiens consulis filius, annos natus sex et viginti, vir animi magis quam aevi paterni, multa fortiterque molitus neque usquam inferior nomine suo. Is apud Sacriportum pulsus a Sulla acie Praeneste, quod ante natura munitum praesidiis firmaverat, se exercitumque contulit.

[26] Then the consuls, Carbo for the 3rd time, and Gaius Marius, son of the 7-times consul, aged 26 years, a man of spirit rather than of his father’s age, having undertaken many things bravely and nowhere inferior to his own name. He, having been routed by Sulla at Sacriportus in pitched battle, betook himself and his army to Praeneste, which, already fortified by nature, he had previously strengthened with garrisons.

2 Ne quid usquam malis publicis deesset, in qua civitate semper virtutibus certatum erat, certabatur sceleribus, optimusque sibi videbatur, qui fuerat pessimus. Quippe dum ad Sacriportum dimicatur, Damasippus praetor Domitium consularem, Scaevolam Mucium, pontificem maximum et divini humanique iuris auctorem celeberrimum, et C. Carbonem praetorium, consulis fratrem, et Antistium aedilicium velut faventis Sullae partibus in curia Hostilia trucidavit.

2 So that nothing might be lacking anywhere to the public evils, in that commonwealth where there had always been rivalry in virtues, there was rivalry in crimes, and he seemed best to himself who had been worst. Indeed, while fighting was going on at Sacriportum, Damasippus the praetor slaughtered in the Curia Hostilia Domitius of consular rank, Scaevola Mucius, pontifex maximus and the most celebrated author of divine and human law, and Gaius Carbo of praetorian rank, the consul’s brother, and Antistius of aedilician rank, as though favoring Sulla’s party.

3 Non perdat nobilissimi facti gloriam Calpurnia, Bestiae filia, uxor Antistii quae iugulato, ut praediximus, viro gladio se ipsa transfixit. Quantum huius gloriae famaeque accessit nunc virtute feminae! nec propria latet.

3 Let Calpurnia, daughter of Bestia, wife of Antistius, not lose the glory of a most noble deed, who, her husband, as we have foretold, having been slain, pierced herself through with a sword. How much has now been added to this glory and fame by the virtue of a woman! nor does her own virtue lie hidden.

[27] At Pontius Telesinus, dux Samnitium, vir domi bellique fortissimus penitusque Romano nomini infestissimus, contractis circiter quadraginta milibus fortissimae pertinacissimaeque in retinendis armis iuventutis, Carbone ac Mario consulibus abhinc annos centum et novem Kal. Novembribus ita ad portam Collinam cum Sulla dimicavit, ut ad summum discrimen et eum et rem publicam perduceret,

[27] But Pontius Telesinus, leader of the Samnites, a man most brave at home and in war and utterly most hostile to the Roman name, having gathered about forty thousand of youth most brave and most pertinacious in retaining arms, with Carbo and Marius as consuls, 109 years ago,
on the Kalends of November, fought with Sulla at the Colline Gate in such a way as to bring both him and the commonwealth to the utmost crisis,

2 quae non maius periculum adiit Hannibalis intra tertium miliarium castra conspicata, quam eo die, quo circumvolans ordines exercitus sui Telesinus dictitansque adesse Romanis ultimum diem vociferabatur eruendam delendamque urbem, adiiciens numquam defuturos raptores Italicae libertatis lupos, nisi silva, in quam refugere solerent, esset excisa.

2 which did not undergo a greater peril when, having caught sight of Hannibal’s camp within the third milestone, than on that day, when Telesinus, flying around the ranks of his army and repeatedly asserting that the last day was at hand for the Romans, was vociferating that the city must be uprooted and destroyed, adding that the wolves, ravagers of Italian liberty, would never be lacking unless the forest, into which they were wont to take refuge, were cut down.

3 Post primam demum horam noctis et Romana acies respiravit et hostium cessit. Telesinus postera die semianimis repertus est, victoris magis quam morientis vultum praeferens, cuius abscisum caput ferro figi gestarigue circa Praeneste Sulla iussit.

3 After the first hour of night at last, both the Roman battle-line took breath and that of the enemy yielded. Telesinus on the following day was found half-alive, bearing the countenance of a victor rather than of a dying man, whose severed head Sulla ordered to be fixed upon a spear and to be carried around Praeneste.

4 Tum demum desperatis rebus suis C. Marius adulescens per cuniculos, qui miro opere fabricati in diversas agrorum partis ferebant, conatus erumpere, cum foramine e terra emersisset, a dispositis in id ipsum interemptus est.

4 Then at last, with his affairs despaired of, the young Gaius Marius, through tunnels which, fabricated with wondrous workmanship, led into diverse parts of the fields, having tried to burst out, when he had emerged from the earth through an opening, was slain by those posted for that very purpose.

5 Sunt qui sua manu, sunt qui concurrentem mutuis ictibus cum minore fratre Telesini una, obsesso et erumpente occubuisse prodiderint. Utcumque cecidit, hodieque tanta patris imagine non obscuratur eius memoria. De quo iuvene quid existimaverit Sulla, in promptu est; occiso enim demum eo Felicis nomen adsumpsit, quod quidem usurpasset iustissime, si eundem et vincendi et vivendi finem habuisset.

5 There are those who have related that he fell by his own hand; there are those who that, charging with mutual blows together with Telesinus’s younger brother, while besieged and breaking out, he fell. However he fell, even today his memory is not obscured by so great an image of his father. What Sulla judged about that youth is evident; for only when he at last had been slain did he assume the name Felix, which indeed he would have usurped most justly, if he had had the same end both of conquering and of living.

6 Oppugnationi autem Praenestis ac Marii praefuerat Ofella Lucretius, qui cum ante Marianarum fuisset partium praetor, ad Sullam transfugerat. Felicitatem diei, quo Samnitiurn Telesinique pulsus est exercitus, Sulla perpetua ludorum circensium honoravit memoria, qui sub eius nomine Sullanae Victoriae celebrantur.

6 Over the siege of Praeneste and of Marius there presided Ofella Lucretius,
who, although he had formerly been praetor of the Marian party, had defected to Sulla.
The felicity of the day on which the army of the Samnites and of Telesinus was driven back Sulla honored with a perpetual memory of circus games, which under his name are celebrated as the Sullan Victory.

[28] Paulo ante quam Sulla ad Sacriportum dimicaret, magnificis proeliis partiurn eius viri hostium exercitum fuderant, duo Serviii apud Clusium, Metellus Pius apud Faventiam, N. Lucullus circa Fidentiam.

[28] A little before Sulla fought at Sacriportus, by magnificent battles the men of his party had routed the enemy’s army, the two Servii near Clusium, Metellus Pius near Faventia, N. Lucullus around Fidentia.

2 Videbantur finita belli civilis mala, cum Sullae crudelitate aucta sunt. Quippe dictator creatus (cuius honoris usurpatio per annos centum et viginti intermissa; nam proximus post annum quam Hannibal Italia excesserat, uti adpareat populum Romanum usum dictatoris haud metu desiderasse tali quo timuisset potestatem) imperio, quo priores ad vindicandam maximis periculis rem publicam olim usi erant, eo in inmodicae crudelitatis licentiam usus est.

2 The ills of civil war seemed to have been finished, when by Sulla’s cruelty they were increased. Indeed, a dictator having been created (the usurpation of which honor had been intermitted for 120 years; for the latest was after the year when Hannibal had departed from Italy, so that it may appear that the Roman people had not desired the use of a dictator from fear of such a power as they had dreaded) with the imperium which men of earlier times had once used to vindicate the commonwealth in the greatest dangers, he used that for a license of immoderate cruelty.

3 Primus ille, et utinam ultimus, exemplum proscriptionis invenit, ut in qua civitate petularitis convicii iudicium histrioni ex albo redditur, in ea iugulati civis Romani publice constitueretur auctoramentum, plurimumque haberet, qui plurimos interemisset, neque occisi hostis quam civis uberius foret praemium Geretque quisque merces mortis suae.

3 He was the first, and would that he were the last, to devise the example of proscription, so that in that city-state where the judgment for a petulant insult is rendered to an actor from the roll, in that same place a bounty might be publicly established for a throat-cut Roman citizen, and he would have the most credit who had slain the most, nor would the reward for a slain enemy be more bountiful than for a citizen, and each would bear the price of his own death.

4 Nec tantum in eos, qui contra arma tulerant, sed in multos insontis saevitum. Adiectum etiam, ut bona proscriptorum venirent exclusique paternis opibus liberi etiam petendorum honorum iure prohiberentur simulque, quod indignissimum est, senatorum filii et onera ordinis sustinerent et iura perderent.

4 Nor was savagery wreaked only upon those who had borne arms in opposition, but upon many innocents as well. It was added also, that the goods of the proscribed should be put up for sale, and that their children, excluded from their paternal resources, should likewise be prohibited from the right of seeking honors; and at the same time—most unworthy thing—that the sons of senators should both sustain the burdens of the order and lose its rights.

[29] Sub adventum in Italiam L. Sullae Cn. Pompeius, eius Cn. Pompei filius, quem magnificentissimas res in consulatu gessisse bello Marsico praediximus, tris et viginti annos natus, abhinc annos centum et tredecim privatis ut opibus, ita consiliis magna ausus magnificeque conata executus, ad vindicandam restituendamque dignitatem patriae firmum ex agro Piceno, qui totus paternis eius clientelis refertus erat, contraxit exercitum:

[29] Upon the arrival in Italy of L. Sulla, Cn. Pompeius, the son of that Cn. Pompeius whom we have said performed the most magnificent exploits in his consulship in the Marsic War, twenty-three years old, one hundred and thirteen years ago, as a private person, both in resources and in counsels daring great things and splendidly carrying into effect what he had undertaken, in order to vindicate and restore the dignity of the fatherland, mustered a strong army from the Picene countryside, which was entirely filled with his father’s clientele:

2 cuius viri magnitudo multorum voluminum instar exigit, sed operis modus paucis eum narrari iubet. Fuit hic genitus matre Lucilia stirpis senatoriae, forma excellens, non ea, qua flos commendatur aetatis, sed ea dignitate constantiaque, quae in illam conveniens arnplitudinem fortunamque eum ad ultimum vitae comitata est diem; innocentia eximius, sanctitate praecipuus,

2 the magnitude of this man demands the equivalent of many volumes, but the mode of the work bids that he be narrated in few. He was begotten of a mother, Lucilia, of senatorial stock, excellent in form—not that by which the flower of age is commended, but that dignity and constancy which, fitting to that amplitude and fortune, accompanied him to the ultimate day of life; outstanding in innocence, preeminent in sanctity,

3 eloquentia medius, potentiae, quae honoris causa ad eum deferretur, non vi ab eo occuparetur, cupidissimus, dux bello peritissimus, civis in toga, nisi ubi vereretur ne quem haberet paxem, modestissimus, amicitiarum tenax, in offensis exorabilis, in reconcilianda gratia fidelissimus, in accipienda satisfactione facillimus, potentia sua numquam aut raro ad impotentiam usus,

3 middling in eloquence,
most desirous of a power which might be conferred upon him for the sake of honor, not seized by him by force, a leader most experienced in war, a citizen in the toga, unless
where he feared lest he might have any peace, most modest, tenacious of friendships,
exorable in offenses, most faithful in reconciling favor, most easy in
accepting satisfaction, having never, or rarely, used his power to overbearing unrestrainedness,

4 paene omnium vitiorum expers, nisi numeraretur inter maxima. in civitate libera dominaque gentium indignari, cum omnes cives iure haberet pares, quemquam aequalem dignitate conspicere.

4 free from almost all vices, unless it were to be numbered among the greatest. in a free city and mistress of the nations, to be indignant, since it had all citizens equal by right, at beholding anyone equal in dignity.

5 Hic a toga virili adsuetus commilitio prudentissimi ducis, parentis sui, bonum et capax recta discendi ingenium singulari rerum militarium prudentia excoluerat, ut a Sertorio Metellus laudaretur magis, Pompeius timeretur validius.

5 He, from the manly toga onward, accustomed to campaign-service with a most prudent leader, his parent, had cultivated a good nature and one capable of learning what is right by a singular prudence in military matters, so that by Sertorius Metellus was praised more, Pompey was more strongly feared.

[30] Tum M. Perpenna praetorius, e proscriptis, gentis clarioris quam animi, Sertorium inter cenam Oscae interemit Romanisque certam victoriam, partibus suis excidium, sibi turpissimam mortem pessimo auctoravit facinore. Metellus et Pompeius ex Hispaniis triumphaverunt;

[30] Then M. Perpenna, a praetorian, from among the proscribed, of a lineage more illustrious than spirit, assassinated Sertorius during dinner at Osca, and by a most wicked deed authored for the Romans a sure victory, for his own party destruction, for himself a most disgraceful death. Metellus and Pompey triumphed from the Spains;

2 sed Pompeius, hoc quoque triumpho adhuc eques Rornanus, ante diem quam consulatum iniret, curru urbem invectus est.

2 but Pompeius, still a Roman knight even with this triumph as well, before the day on which he would enter the consulship, was borne in a chariot into the city.

3 Quem virum quis non miretur per tot extraordinaria imperia in summum fastigium evectum iniquo tulisse animo, C. Caesaris absentis in altero consulatu petendo senatum populumque Romanum rationem habere: adeo familiare est hominibus omnia sibi ignoscere, nihil aliis remittere, et invidiam rerum non ad causam, sed ad voluntatern personasque dirigere.

3 What man would not marvel at a man, carried through so many extraordinary commands to the highest pinnacle,
that he should have taken it ill in spirit that, with G. Caesar being absent, in seeking a second consulship,
the Senate and the Roman People should have consideration for him: so familiar is it for human beings
to forgive everything to themselves, to remit nothing to others, and to direct the envy of affairs not to
the cause, but to the will and to persons.

4 Hoc consulatu Pompeius tribuniciam potestatem restituit, cuius Sulla imaginem sine re reliquerat.

4 In this consulship Pompey restored the tribunician power, of which Sulla had left the image without the substance.

5 Dum Sertorianum bellum in Hispania geritur, quattuor et sexaginta fugitivi e ludo gladiatorio Capua profugientes duce Spartaco, raptis ex ea urbe gladiis, primo Vesuvium montem petiere, mox crescente in dies multitudine gravibus variisque casibus adfecere Italiam.

5 While the Sertorian war was being waged in Spain, sixty-four fugitives from the gladiatorial school at Capua, fleeing under the leadership of Spartacus and having snatched swords from that city, at first made for Mount Vesuvius; soon, as the multitude grew by the day, they afflicted Italy with grave and various disasters.

6 Quorum numerus in tantum adulevit, ut qua, ultima dimica.vere acie, nonaginta milia hominum se Romano exercitui opposuerint. Huius patrati gloria penes M. Crassum fuit, mox rei publicae omnium consensu principem.

6 Of whom
the number grew to such an extent that, in the last decisive battle, ninety thousand men set themselves against the Roman army. The glory of this achievement was in the hands of M. Crassus, soon the chief of the commonwealth by the consent of all.

[31] Converterat Cn. Pompei persona totum in se terrarum orbem et per omnia maior civi habebatur. Qui cum consul perquam laudabiliter iurasset se in nullam provinciam ex eo magistratu iturum idque servasset,

[31] The persona of Cn. Pompey had drawn the whole orb of the lands toward himself, and in all respects he was held as greater than a citizen. Who, when consul, had most laudably sworn that he would go into no province from that magistracy and had kept it,

2 post biennium A. Gabinius tribunus legem tulit, ut cum belli more, non latrociniorum, orbem classibus iam, non furtivis expeditionibus piratae terrerent quasdamque etiam Italiae urbes diripuissent, Cn. Pompeius ad eos opprimendos mitteretur essetque ei imperiurn aequum in omnibus provinciis cum proconsulibus usque ad quinquagesimum miliarium a mari. Quo scito paene totius terrarum orbis imperium uni viro deferebatur;

2 after two years Aulus Gabinius, tribune, proposed a law, that, since, in the manner of war, not of brigandage, the pirates were now terrifying the orb with fleets, not with furtive expeditions, and had even sacked certain cities of Italy, Gnaeus Pompeius should be sent to crush them, and that there should be to him a command coequal in all the provinces with the proconsuls, up to the fiftieth milestone from the sea. By this enactment the dominion of nearly the whole orb of lands was being conferred upon one man;

3 sed tamen idem hoc ante septennium in M. Antonii praetura decretum erat.

3 but nevertheless this same thing had been decreed seven years earlier, in the praetorship of M. Antonius.

4 Sed interdum persona ut exemplo nocet, ita invidiam auget aut levat: in Antonio homines aequo animo passi erant; raro enim invidetur eorum honoribus, quorum vis non timetur: contra in iis homines extraordinaria reformidant, qui ea suo arbitrio aut deposituri aut retenturi videntur et modum in voluntate habent. Dissuadebant optimates, sed consilia impetu victa sunt.

4 But sometimes the person, as he harms by precedent, so he augments or alleviates envy: in the case of Antonius men had borne it with an even mind; for the honors of those whose force is not feared are rarely envied: conversely, men dread extraordinary things in those who seem, at their own discretion, either about to deposit them or to retain them, and who have the measure in their will. The Optimates were dissuading, but the counsels were overcome by impetus.

[32] Digna est memoria Q. Catuli cum auctoritas tum verecundia. Qui cum dissuadens legem in contione dixisset esse quidem praeclarum virum Cn. Pompeium, sed nimium iam liberae rei publicae neque omnia in uno reponenda adiecissetque: "si quid huic acciderit, quem in eius locum substituetis?" subclamavit universa contio: "te, Q. Catule". Tum ille victus consensu omnium et tam honorifico civitatis testimonio e contione discessit '.

[32] Worthy of memory are both the authority and the modest reserve of Q. Catulus. When, dissuading the law, he had said in the assembly that Gnaeus Pompeius was indeed a splendid man, but already too much for a free commonwealth, nor should all things be placed in one, and had added: "if anything should befall this man, whom will you substitute in his place?" the whole assembly shouted: "you, Q. Catulus." Then he, overcome by the consensus of all and by so honorific a testimonial of the state, departed from the assembly '.

2 Hic hominis verecundiam, populi iustitiam mirari libet, huius, quod non ultra contendit, plebis, quod dissuadentem et adversarium voluntatis suae vero testimonio fraudare noluit.

2 Here one may admire the man’s modesty and the people’s justice: the former, because he did not contend further; the plebs’, because it did not wish to defraud the dissuader and adversary of its will of a true testimony.

3 Per idem tempus Cotta iudicandi munus, quod C. Gracchus ereptum senatui ad. equites, Sulla ab illis ad senatum transtulerant, aequaliter in utrumque ordinem partitus est; Oto Roscius lege sua equitibus in theatro loca restituit.

3 At the same time Cotta apportioned the function of judging, which Gaius Gracchus had snatched from the Senate to the equites, and which Sulla had transferred from them to the Senate, equally into both orders; Oto Roscius, by his own law, restored the seats in the theater to the equites.

4 At Cn. Pompeius multis et praeclaris viris in id bellum adsumptis discriptoque paene in omnis recessus maris praesidio navium, brevi inexsuperabili manu terrarum orbem liberavit praedonesque saepe multis iam aliis locis victos circa Ciliciam classe adgressus fudit ac fugavit; et quo maturius bellum tam late diffusum conficeret,

4 But Gnaeus Pompeius, with many and illustrious men taken up for that war, and with a guard of ships distributed almost into all the recesses of the sea, in a short time with an irresistible force freed the orb of lands and, attacking the pirates—already often conquered in many other places—near Cilicia with a fleet, routed and put them to flight; and in order that he might more speedily bring to an end a war so widely diffused,

5 reliquias eorum contractas in urbibus remotoque mari loco in certa sede constituit.

5 he settled the remnants of them, collected into cities and in a place removed from the sea, in a fixed seat.

6 Sunt qui hoc carpant, sed quamquam in auctore satis rationis est, tamen ratio quemlibet magnum auctorem faceret; data enim facultate sine rapto vivendi rapinis arcuit.

6 There are those who carp at this, but although in the author there is sufficient reason, nevertheless the reason would make anyone a great author; for, the faculty having been given of living without plunder, he restrained them from rapine.

[33] Cum esset in fine bellum piraticum et L. Lucullus, qui ante septem annos ex consulatu sortitus Asiam Mithridati oppositus erat magnasque et memorabiles res ibi gesserat, Mithridatem saepe multis locis fuderat, egregia Cyzicum liberarat victoria, Tigranem, regum maximum, in Armenia vicerat ultimamque bello manum paene magis noluerat imponere quam non potuerat, quia alioqui per omnia laudabilis et bello paene invictus pecuniae pellebatur cupidine, idem bellum adhuc administraret, Manilius tribunus plebis, semper venalis et alienae minister potentiae, legem tulit, ut bellum Mithridaticum per Cn. Pompeium administraretur.

[33] When the piratical war was at its end, and L. Lucullus, who seven years earlier, after his consulship, having drawn Asia by lot had been opposed to Mithridates and had there done great and memorable deeds, had often routed Mithridates in many places, had freed Cyzicus by an excellent victory, had defeated Tigranes, greatest of kings, in Armenia, and had almost rather been unwilling than unable to put the final hand to the war, because, otherwise praiseworthy in all respects and in war almost unconquered, he was driven by cupidity for money, the same man still administered the war, Manilius, tribune of the plebs, always for sale and a minister of another’s power, brought in a law that the Mithridatic war be administered by Gnaeus Pompey.

2 Accepta ea magnisque certatum inter imperatores iurgiis, cum Pompeius Lucullo infamiam pecuniae, Lucullus Pompeio interminatam cupiditatem obiiceret imperii neuterque ab altero quod arguebat mentitus argui posset.

2 This having been accepted, and great quarrels being fought among the generals, since Pompey was casting at Lucullus the infamy for money, and Lucullus at Pompey an interminable cupidity for command, neither could by the other be convicted of having lied in what he alleged.

3 Nam neque Pompeius, ut primum ad rem publicam adgressus est, quemquam omnino parem tulit, et in quibus rebus primus esse debebat, solus esse cupiebat (neque eo viro quisquam aut alia omnia minus aut gloriam magis concupiit, in adpetendis honoribus inmodicus, in gerendis verecundissimus, ut qui eos ut libentissime iniret, ita finiret aequo animo, et quod cupisset, arbitrio suo sumeret, alieno deponeret)

3 For neither did Pompeius, as soon as he addressed himself to the republic, suffer anyone at all as his peer, and in the matters in which he ought to be first, he desired to be sole (nor did anyone, in comparison with that man, covet either all other things less or glory more; in seeking honors immoderate, in administering them most modest, such that, as he most gladly entered upon them, so he would finish them with an even mind; and what he had desired, he would assume at his own discretion, he would lay down at another’s).

4 et Lucullus, summus alioqui vir, profusae huius in aedificiis convictibusque et apparatibus luxuriae primus auctor fuit, quem ob iniectas moles mari et receptum suffossis montibus in terras mare haud infacete Magnus Pompeius Xerxen togatum vocare adsueverat.

4 and Lucullus, otherwise a most eminent man, was the first author of this profuse luxury in buildings, convivial gatherings, and apparatus, whom, on account of moles cast into the sea and the sea received into the land with mountains tunneled through, Magnus Pompeius was accustomed, not without wit, to call a toga-clad Xerxes.

[34] Per id tempus a Q. Metello Creta insula, in populi Romani potestatem redacta est, quae ducibus Panare et Lasthene quattuor et viginti milibus iuvenum coactis, velocitate pernicibus, armorum laborumque patientissimis, sagittarum usu celeberrimis, per triennium Romanos exercitus fatigaverat.

[34] At that time the island Crete was brought into the power of the Roman people by Q. Metellus, which, under leaders Panare and Lasthene, with 24,000 youths gathered—swift in speed, most enduring of arms and labors, and most renowned for the use of arrows—had wearied the Roman armies for 3 years.

2 Ne ab huius quidem usura gloriae temperavit animum Cn. Pompeius, quin victoriae partem conaretur vindicare. Sed et Luculli et Metelli triumphum cum ipsorum singularis virtus, tum etiam invidia Pompei apud optimum quemque fecit favorabilem.

2 Not even the usury of this glory restrained the spirit of Cn. Pompeius from attempting to vindicate a share of the victory. But both the triumph of Lucullus and that of Metellus, as much by their singular virtue as also by the ill-will toward Pompeius among all the best men, was made the more favorable.

3 Per haec tempora M. Cicero, qui omnia incrementa sua sibi debuit, vir novitatis nobilissimae et ut vita clarus, ita ingenio maximus, quique effecit, ne quorum arma viceramus, eorum ingenio vinceremur, consul Sergii Catilinae Lentulique et Cethegi et aliorum utriusque ordinis virorum coniurationem singulari virtute, constantia, vigilia curaque aperuit.

3 During these times M. Cicero, who owed all his advancements to himself, a man of the noblest novelty and, as he was renowned in life, so greatest in genius, and who brought it about that we should not be conquered by the ingenuity of those whose arms we had conquered, as consul uncovered the conspiracy of Sergius Catiline, and of Lentulus and Cethegus, and of other men of both orders, by singular virtue, constancy, vigilance, and care.

4 Catilina metu consularis imperi urbe pulsus est; Lentulus consularis et praetor iterum Cethegusque et alii clari nominis viri auctore senatu, iussu consulis in carcere necati sunt.

4 Catiline, driven from the city by fear of the consular authority; Lentulus, a consular and praetor for a second time, and Cethegus, and other men of distinguished name, by the senate’s authority and by the consul’s order, were put to death in prison.

[35] Ille senatus dies, quo haec acta sunt, virtutem M. Catonis iam multis in rebus conspicuarn atque praenitentem in altissimo culmine locavit.

[35] That day of the senate, on which these things were done, placed the virtue of M. Cato, already conspicuous and shining-forth in many matters, on the highest summit.

2 Hic genitus proavo M. Catone, principe illo familiae Porciae, homo Virtuti simillimus et per omnia ingenio diis quam hominibus propior, qui numquam recte fecit, ut facere videretur, sed quia aliter facere non potuerat, cuique id solum visum est rationem habere, quod haberet iustitiam, omnibus humanis vitiis immunis semper fortunam in sua potestate habuit .

2 He, born from his great-grandfather Marcus Cato, that chief of the Porcian family, a man most like Virtue and in all respects by his nature nearer to the gods than to men, who never did what was right in order to seem to do it, but because he could not do otherwise, and to whom that alone seemed to have reason which had justice, free from all human vices, always held Fortune in his own power .

3 Hic tribunus plebis designatus et adhuc admodum adulescens, cum alii suaderent, ut per municipia Lentulus coniuratique custodirentur, paene inter ultimos interrogatus sententiam, tanta vi animi atque ingenii invectus est in coniurationem, eo ardore oris orationem omnium lenitatem suadentium societate consilii suspectam fecit,

3 This man, tribune of the plebs designate and still quite a youth, when others were advising that Lentulus and the conspirators be kept under guard through the municipalities, asked for his opinion almost among the last, with such force of mind and of talent he inveighed against the conspiracy, with such ardor of speech he made the oration of all who were recommending lenity suspect by an association in the counsel,

4 sic irnpendentia ex ruinis incendiisque urbis et commutatione status publici pericula exposuit, ita consulis virtutem amplificavit, ut universus senatus in eius sententiam transiret animadvertendumque in eos, quos praediximus, censeret maiorque pars ordinis eius Ciceronern prosequerentur domum.

4 thus he exposed the imminent dangers from the ruins and the fires of the city and from the change of the public status, and so amplified the consul’s virtue, that the whole senate went over to his opinion and judged that animadversion should be made upon those whom we have afore‑mentioned, and the greater part of that order escorted Cicero home.

5 At Catilina non segnius conata obiit, quarn sceleris conandi consilia inierat: quippe fortissime dimicans quem spiritum supplicio debuerat, proelio reddidit.

5 But Catiline accomplished his attempts no less briskly than he had entered upon counsels of attempting crime: indeed, fighting most bravely, the breath which he had owed to punishment he rendered to battle.

[36] Consulatui Ciceronis non mediocre adiecit decus natus eo anno divus Augustus abhinc annos LXXXII, omnibus omnium gentium viris magnitudine sua inducturus caliginem.

[36] To Cicero’s consulate no mediocre honor was added: in that year the deified Augustus was born, 82 years ago, destined by his magnitude to cast a shadow upon all men of all nations.

2 Iam paene supervacaneum videri potest eminentium ingeniorum notare tempora. Quis enim ignorat diremptos gradibus aetatis floruisse hoc tempore Ciceronern, Hortensium, anteque Crassum, Cottam, Sulpicium, moxque Brutum, Calidium, Caelium, Calvurn et proximum Ciceroni Caesarern eorumque velut alumnos Corvinum ac Pollionem Asinium, aemulumque Thucydidis Sallustium, auctoresque carminum Varronem ac Lucretium neque ullo in suscepto carminis sui opere minorem Catullum.

2 Now it can seem almost superfluous to note the times of eminent talents. Who, indeed, does not know that, separated by the steps of age, there flourished at this time Cicero, Hortensius, and before them Crassus, Cotta, Sulpicius, and soon after Brutus, Calidius, Caelius, Calvus, and, nearest to Cicero, Caesar; and, as it were, their alumni, Corvinus and Asinius Pollio; and Sallust, the rival of Thucydides; and the authors of poems, Varro and Lucretius; and Catullus, in no work of his own undertaken poetry, the lesser.

3 Paene stulta est inhaerentium oculis ingeniorurn enumeratio, inter quae maxime nostri aevi eminent princeps carminum Vergilius Rabiriusque et consecutus Sallustium Livius Tibullusque et Naso, perfectissimi in forrna operis sui; nam vivorum ut magna admiratio, ita censura diffcilis est.

3 The enumeration of geniuses that cling to the eyes is almost foolish, among
which of our age there most of all stand out the princeps of song, Vergilius and Rabirius, and Livius, succeeding Sallust, and Tibullus and Naso, most perfect in the form of their work; for as to the living, just as admiration is great, so censure is difficult.

[37] Dum haec in urbe Italiaque geruntur, Cn. Pompeius memorabile adversus Mithridaten, qui post Luculli profectionem magnas novi exercitus viris reparaverat, bellum gessit.

[37] While these things were being carried on in the city and in Italy, Cn. Pompeius waged a memorable war against Mithridates, who, after Lucullus’s departure, had restored the great strength of a new army with men.

2 At rex fusus fugatusque et omnibus exutus copiis Armeniam Tigranemque socer generum petiit, regem eius temporis, nisi qua Luculli armis erat infractus, potentissimum.

2 But the king, routed and put to flight and stripped of all his forces, sought Armenia and Tigranes, his son-in-law, the king of that time, most powerful, save in whatever respect he was broken by Lucullus’s arms.

3 Simul itaque duos persecutus Pompeius intravit Armeniam. Prior filius Tigranis, sed discors patri, pervenit ad Pompeium;

3 And so, having pursued the two at once, Pompey entered Armenia. First the son of Tigranes, but at odds with his father, came to Pompey;

4 mox ipse supplex et praesens se regnumque dicioni eius perrnisit, praefatus neminem alium neque Romanum neque ullius gentis virum futurum fuisse, cuius se societati commissurus foret, quam Cn. Pompeium; proin omnem sibi vel adversam vel secundam, cuius auctor ille esset, fortunam tolerabilem futuram: non esse turpe ab eo vinci, quem vincere esset nefas, neque inhoneste aliquem summitti huic, quem fortuna super omnis extulisset.

4 soon he himself, a suppliant and present in person, submitted himself and his kingdom to his dominion, declaring that there would have been no other man, neither Roman nor of any nation, to whose association he would have committed himself, than Cn. Pompeius; therefore every fortune for himself, whether adverse or favorable, of which that man should be the author, would be tolerable: that it is not shameful to be conquered by him whom it would be nefarious to conquer, nor dishonorable for anyone to be submitted to him whom Fortune has raised above all.

5 Servatus regi honos imperii, sed multato ingenti pecunia, quae omnis, sicuti Pompeio moris erat, redacta in quaestoris potestatern ac publicis descripta litteris. Syria aliaeque, quas occupaverat, provinciae ereptae, et aliae restitutae populo Romano, aliae tum primum in eius potestatem redactae, ut Syria, quae tum primum facta est stipendiaria. Finis imperii regii terminatus Armenia .

5 The honor of his rule was preserved to the king, but he was fined a huge sum of money, all of which, as was Pompey’s custom, was brought under the quaestor’s authority and inscribed in the public records. Syria and the other provinces which he had occupied were snatched away, and some were restored to the Roman people, others then for the first time were reduced into its power, as Syria, which then for the first time was made stipendiary. The limit of the royal dominion was bounded at Armenia .

[38] Haud absurdum videtur propositi operis regulae paucis percurrere, quae cuiusque ductu gens ac natio redacta in formulam provinciae stipendiaria facta sit, ut quae partibus notavimus, facilius simul universa conspici possint .

[38] It does not seem inappropriate to run through in a few words the rules of the proposed work—under whose leadership each people and nation was reduced into the form of a stipendiary province—so that the things which we have noted in parts may more easily be seen all together at once .

2 Primus in Siciliam traiecit exercitum consul Claudius, sed provinciam eam post annos ferme duos et quinquaginta captis Syracusis fecit Marcellus Claudius. Primus Africam Regulus nono ferme anno primi Punici belli aggressus est; sed post centum et novem annos P. Scipio Aemilianus eruta Carthagine abhinc annos centum septuaginta tris Africam in formulam redegit provinciae. Sardinia inter primum et secundum bellum Punicum ductu T. Manlii consulis certum recepit imperi iugum.

2 The consul Claudius was the first to transport an army across to Sicily,
but after nearly 52 years, with Syracuse captured, Marcellus Claudius made that a province. The first to attack Africa
was Regulus in about the 9th year of the First Punic War; but after
109 years, P. Scipio Aemilianus, Carthage having been razed, 173 years ago from now,
reduced Africa into the formula of a province. Sardinia
between the First and the Second Punic War, under the leadership of the consul T. Manlius,
received the firm yoke of empire.

3 Immane bellicae civitatis argumentum, quod semel sub regibus, iterum hoc T. Manlio consule, tertio Augusto principe certae pacis argumentum Ianus geminus clausus dedit.

3 An immense proof of a bellicose commonwealth, that Janus Geminus, when closed, gave an argument of certain peace once under the kings, a second time under this consul T. Manlius, and a third under Augustus the princeps.

4 In Hispaniam primi omnium duxere exercitus Cn. et P. Scipiones initio secundi belli Punici abhinc annos ducentos quinquaginta; inde varie possessa et saepe amissa partibus, universa ductu Augusti facta stipendiaria est.

4 Into Spain the first of all to lead armies were Gnaeus and Publius Scipio at the beginning of the Second Punic War two hundred and fifty years ago; thereafter, variously held and often lost in parts, the whole under the leadership of Augustus was made stipendiary (tributary).

5 Macedoniam Paulus, Mummius Achaiam, Fulvius Nobilior subegit Aetoliam, Asiam L. Scipio, Africani frater, eripuit Antiocho, sed beneficio senatus populique Romani mox ab Attalis possessam regibus M. Perpenna capto Aristonico fecit tributariam. Cyprus devicta nullius adsignanda gloriae est;

5 Paulus subdued Macedonia, Mummius Achaea, Fulvius Nobilior Aetolia; Lucius Scipio (L. Scipio), brother of Africanus, snatched Asia from Antiochus, but by the beneficence of the Senate and People of Rome, soon possessed by the Attalid kings, with Aristonicus captured, M. Perpenna made it tributary. Cyprus, conquered, is assignable to the glory of no one;

6 quippe senatus consulto, ministerio Catonis, regis morte, quam ille conscientia acciverat, facta provincia est. Creta Metelli ductu longissimae libertatis fine multata est. Syria Pontusque Cn. Pompei virtutis monumenta sunt.

6 indeed, by decree of the senate, through the ministry of Cato, upon the king’s death—which he had summoned by the pangs of his conscience—it was made a province. Crete, under Metellus’ leadership, was punished with the end of a very long freedom. Syria and Pontus are monuments of the virtue of Cn. Pompey.

[39] Gallias primum a Domitio Fabioque, nepote Pauli, qui Allobrogicus vocatus est, intratas cum exercitu, magna mox clade nostra, saepe et adfectavimus et omisimus. Sed fulgentissimum C. Caesaris opus in his conspicitur; quippe eius ductu auspiciisque infractae paene idem, quod totus terrarum orbis, in aerarium conferunt stipendium.

[39] The Gauls were first invaded with an army by Domitius and by Fabius, the grandson of Paulus, who was called Allobrogicus; soon, with a great disaster for us, we often both aimed at them and then abandoned them. But the most resplendent work of C. Caesar is seen in these; for under his leadership and auspices they, almost broken, contribute into the treasury the same tribute as the whole orb of lands.

2 Ab eodem facta +++++++++++++ Numidicus. Ciliciam perdomuit Isauricus et post bellum Antiochinum Vulso Manlius Gallograeciam. Bithynia, ut praediximus, testarnento Nicomedis relicta hereditaria.

2 By the same was done +++++++++++++ Numidicus. Isauricus thoroughly subdued Cilicia, and after the Antiochene war Manlius Vulso subdued Gallo-Graecia. Bithynia, as we have foretold, was left hereditary by the testament of Nicomedes.

Divus Augustus praeter Hispanias aliasque gentis, quarum titulis forum eius praenitet, paene idem facta Aegypto stipendiaria, quantum pater eius Galliis, in aerarium reditus contulit.

The Divine Augustus
besides the Spains and other nations, by whose titles his Forum shines,
Egypt having been made tributary almost likewise, contributed in revenues to the aerarium as much as his father did from the Gauls.

3 At Ti. Caesar quam certam Hispanis parendi confessionem extorserat parens, Illyriis Delmatisque extorsit. Raetiam autem et Vindelicos ac Noricos Pannoniamque et Scordiscos novas imperio nostro subiunxit provincias. Ut has armis, ita auctorita.te Cappadociam populo Romano fecit stipendairiam.

3 But Tiberius Caesar extorted from the Illyrians and Dalmatians that same sure confession of obeying which his father had extorted from the Spaniards. Moreover, Raetia and the Vindelici and the Norici and Pannonia and the Scordisci he subjoined as new provinces to our imperium. As he made these by arms, so by authority he made Cappadocia stipendiary to the Roman people.

Sed revertamur ad ordinem.

But let us return to the order.

[40] Secuta deinde Cn. Pompei militia, gloriae laborisne maioris incertum est. Penetratae cum victoria Media, Albania, Hiberia; deinde flexum agmen ad eas nationes, quae dextra atque intima Ponti incolunt, Colchos Heniochosque et Achaeos, et oppressus auspiciis Pompei, insidiis filii Pharnacis Mithridates, ultimus omnium iuris sui regum praeter Parthicos.

[40] Then followed the military service of Gnaeus Pompey; whether of greater glory or of greater labor is uncertain. Media, Albania, and Hiberia were penetrated with victory; then the line of march was bent toward those nations who inhabit the right-hand and inmost parts of the Pontus, the Colchi, the Heniochi, and the Achaeans; and Mithridates, crushed under Pompey’s auspices, by the ambushes of his son Pharnaces, was the last of all kings by their own right, except the Parthians.

2 Tum victor omnium quas adierat gentium Pompeius suoque et civium voto maior et per omnia fortunam hominis egressus revertit in Italiam. Cuius reditum favorabilem opinio fecerat; quippe plerique non sine exercitu venturum in urbem adfirmarunt et libertati publicae statuturum arbitrio suo modum.

2 Then Pompey, victor over all the nations he had approached, and greater by his own and the citizens’ vote, and in all respects having surpassed the fortune of a man, returned into Italy. Whose return opinion had made favorable; for indeed many asserted not without an army he would come into the city and that he would set a limit to the public liberty by his own arbitrament.

3 Quo magis hoc homines timuerant, eo gratior civilis tanti imperatoris reditus fuit: omni quippe Brundusii dimisso exercitu nihil praeter nomen imperatoris retinens cum privato comitatu, quem semper illi astare moris fuit, in urbem rediit magnificentissimumque de tot regibus per biduum egit triumphum longeque maiorem omni ante se inlata pecunia in aerarium, praeterquam a Paulo, ex manubiis intulit.

3 The more men had feared this, by so much the more welcome was the civil return of so great an imperator: for, with all the army dismissed at Brundisium, retaining nothing besides the name of imperator, with a private retinue—which it was always his custom to have standing by him—he returned into the city and held a most magnificent triumph over so many kings for two days, and he brought into the treasury from the spoils an amount far greater than all the money paid in before him, except by Paullus.

4 Absente Cn. Pompeio T. Ampius et T. Labienus tribuni plebis legem tulerant, ut is ludis circensibus corona aurea et omni cultu triumphantium uteretur, scaenicis autem praetexta coronaque aurea. Id ille non plus quam semel, et hoc sane nimium fuit, usurpare sustinuit. Huius viri fastigium tantis auctibus fortuna extulit, ut primum ex Africa, iterum ex Europa, tertio ex Asia triumpharet et, quot partes terrarum orbis sunt, totidem faceret monumenta victoriae suae.

4 With Cn. Pompey absent, T. Ampius and T. Labienus tribunes of the plebs had carried a law, that he at the Circensian games should use a golden crown and all the attire of the triumphers, but at the scenic shows a praetexta and a golden crown. This he endured to usurp no more than once—and this indeed was too much. Fortune exalted the pinnacle of this man with such augmentations that he first from Africa, again from Europe, a third time from Asia, triumphed, and, as many parts of the circle of lands as there are, just so many did he make monuments of his victory.

Numquam eminentia invidia carent.

Eminence never lacks envy.

5 Itaque et Lucullus et Metellus Creticus memor tamen acceptae iniuriae, non iniuste querens (quippe ornamentum triumphi eius captivos duces Pompeius subduxerat) et cum iis pars optimatium refragabatur, ne aut promissa civitatibus a Pompeio aut bene meritis praemia ad arbitrium eius persolverentur.

5 And so both Lucullus and Metellus Creticus, nevertheless mindful of the injury received, complaining not unjustly (since Pompey had withdrawn from the ornament of his triumph the captive leaders), and along with them a faction of the Optimates was voting against it, lest either the promises to the cities by Pompey or the rewards to the well-deserving should be paid out at his discretion.

[41] Secutus deinde est consulatus C. Caesaris, qui scribenti manum iniicit et quamlibet festinantem in se morari cogit. Hic nobilissima Iuliorum genitus familia et, quod inter omnis antiquitatis studiosos constabat, ab Anchise ac Venere deducens genus, forma omnium civium excellentissimus, vigore animi acerrimus, munificentia effusissimus, animo super humanam et naturam et fidem evectus, magnitudine cogitationum, celeritate bellandi, patientia periculorum Magno illi Alexandro, sed sobrio neque iracundo simillimus,

[41] Then followed the consulship of Gaius Caesar, who lays a hand upon the writer and compels even one who is in all haste to linger on him. He, born of the most noble family of the Julii and, as was agreed among all devotees of antiquity, tracing his line from Anchises and Venus, was most outstanding of all citizens in form, keenest in vigor of spirit, most lavish in munificence, in soul borne above human nature and credence; in the greatness of his conceptions, in the swiftness of warring, in endurance of dangers, most like that Alexander the Great—yet sober and not irascible.

2 qui denique semper et cibo et sommo in vitam, non in voluptatem uteretur, cum fuisset C. Mario sanguine coniunctissimus atque idem Cinnae gener, cuius filiam ut repudiaret nullo metu compelli potuit, cum M. Piso consularis Anniam, quae Cinnae uxor fuerat, in Sullae dimisisset gratiam, habuissetque fere duodeviginti annos eo tempore, quo Sulla rerum potitus est, magis ministris Sullae adiutoribusque partium quam ipso conquirentibus eum ad necem mutata veste dissimilemque fortunae suae indutus habitum nocte urbe elapsus est.

2 who, finally, would always use both food and sleep for life, not for pleasure, since he had been most closely connected by blood to Gaius Marius and likewise the son-in-law of Cinna, whose daughter he could by no fear be compelled to repudiate, whereas Marcus Piso, a consular, had dismissed Annia, who had been Cinna’s wife, to gain favor with Sulla, and he had been almost 18 years old at that time when Sulla gained control of affairs, with the ministers of Sulla and the helpers of the party rather than he himself hunting him down for execution, having changed his clothing and, clad in a garb dissimilar to his fortune, by night slipped out of the city.

3 Idem postea admodum iuvenis, cum a piratis captus esset, ita se per omne spatium, quo ab iis retentus est, apud eos gessit, ut pariter iis terrori venerationique esset, neque umquam aut nocte aut die (cur enim quod vel maximum est, si narrari verbis speciosis non potest, omittatur?) aut excalcearetur aut discingeretur, in hoc scilicet, ne si quando aliquid ex solito variaret, suspectus iis, qui oculis tantummodo eum custodiebant, foret.

3 The same man later, while very young, when he had been captured by pirates, so conducted himself among them through the whole span during which he was detained by them, that he was alike to them a terror and an object of veneration, and never either by night or by day (for why should that which is the very greatest, if it cannot be narrated with ornate words, be omitted?) either unshod himself or ungirded himself, namely with this in mind, lest if ever he varied anything from the accustomed, he might be suspected by those who were guarding him only with their eyes.

[42] Longum est narrare, quid et quotiens ausus sit, quanto opere conata eius qui obtinebat Asiam magistratus populi Romani metu suo destituerit. Illud referatur documentum tanti mox evasuri viri:

[42] It is long to narrate what and how often he dared, how greatly he, by the fear he inspired, frustrated the attempts of the magistrate of the Roman People who was holding Asia. Let this be related as a proof of a man who was soon to turn out so great:

2 quae nox eam diem secuta est, qua publica civitatium pecunia redemptus est, ita tamen, ut cogeret ante obsides a piratis civitatibus dari, et privatus et contracta classe tumultuaria invectus in eum locum, in quo ipsi praedones erant, partem classis fugavit, partem mersit, aliquot navis multosque mortalis cepit; laetusque nocturnae expeditionis triumpho ad suos revectus est,

2 the night which followed that day on which he was redeemed with the public money of the civic communities, yet on this condition, that he compelled hostages to be given beforehand by the cities to the pirates; and, a private citizen and with a hastily-assembled tumultuary fleet collected, borne into that place in which the pirates themselves were, he put part of the fleet to flight, sank part, captured several ships and many mortals; and, glad with the triumph of the nocturnal expedition, he was borne back to his own,

3 mandatisque custodiae quos ceperat, in Bithyniam perrexit ad proconsulem Iuncum (idem enim Asiam eamque obtinebat) petens, ut auctor fieret sumendi de captivis supplicii: quod (cum) ille se facturum negasset venditurumque captivos dixisset (quippe sequebatur invidia inertiam), incredibili celeritate revectus ad mare, priusquam de ea re ulli proconsulis redderentur epistulae, omnes, quos ceperat, suffixit cruci.

3 and, those whom he had captured having been consigned to custody with orders, he proceeded into Bithynia to the proconsul
Iuncus (for the same man held Asia and that province as well), seeking that he be an authorizer of exacting
punishment from the captives: but (when) that man said he would not do it and that he would sell
the captives (for invidia attended inertia), with incredible
celerity he was carried back to the sea; before any letters of the proconsul
were delivered about that matter, he crucified all whom he had taken.

[43] Idem mox ad sacerdotium ineundum (quippe absens pontifex factus erat in Cottae consularis locum, cum paene puer a Mario Cinnaque flamen dialis creatus victoria Sullae, qui omnia ab iis acta fecerat irrita, amisisset id sacerdotium) festinans in Italiam, ne conspiceretur a praedonibus omnia tunc obtinentibus maria et merito iam infestis sibi, quattuor scalmorum navem una cum duobus amicis decemque servis ingressus effusissimum Adriatici maris traiecit sinum.

[43] The same man soon, to enter upon the priesthood (since, while absent, he had been made pontifex in the place of Cotta, of consular rank; although, when almost a boy, created flamen Dialis by Marius and Cinna, by Sulla’s victory—who had made all things done by them void—he had lost that priesthood), hurrying into Italy, lest he be sighted by the pirates who at that time were holding all the seas and were now with good reason hostile to him, having boarded a four-oared ship together with two friends and ten slaves, crossed the widest gulf of the Adriatic Sea.

2 Quo quidem in cursu conspectis, ut putabat, piratarum navibus cum exuisset vestem alligas setque pugionem ad femur alterutri se fortunae parans, mox intellexit frustratum esse visum suum arborumque ex longinquo ordinem antemnarum praebuisse imaginem.

2 On that very course, when, pirate ships having been sighted—as he thought—, he had doffed his garment and had bound a dagger to his thigh, preparing himself for either fortune, he soon realized that his vision had been deceived, and that the rank of trees from afar had supplied the image of yardarms.

3 Reliqua eius acta in urbe, nobilissima Cn. Dola bellae accusatio et maior civitatis in ea favor, quam reis praestari solet, contentionesque civiles cum Q. Catulo atque aliis eminentissimis viris celeberrimae, et ante praeturam victus in maximi pontificatus petitione Q. Catulus, omnium confessione senatus princeps,

3 The rest of his deeds in the city, the most famous prosecution of Gnaeus Dolabella and greater favor of the citizenry in it than is usually shown to defendants, and the civil contentions with Quintus Catulus and other most eminent men, most celebrated, and before the praetorship, in the canvassing for the supreme pontificate Quintus Catulus, by the confession of all, the leader of the Senate, was defeated,

4 et restituta in aedilitate 4 adversante quidem nobilitate monumenta C. Marii, simulque revocati ad ius dignitatis proscriptorum liberi, et praetura quaesturaque mirabili virtute atque industria obita in Hispania (cum esset quaestor sub Vetere Antistio, avo huius Veteris consularis atque pontificis, duorum consularium et sacerdotum patris, viri in tantum boni, in quantum humana simplicitas intellegi potest) quo notiora sunt, minus egent stilo.

4 and, with the nobility indeed opposing, the monuments of Gaius Marius were restored in the aedileship 4, and at the same time the children of the proscribed were recalled to the right of dignity, and the praetorship and quaestorship, discharged with marvelous virtue and industry in Spain (when he was quaestor under Antistius Vetus, the grandfather of this Vetus a consular and pontiff, the father of two consulars and priests, a man so good as far as human simplicity can be understood), the more well known these are, the less they need the pen.

[44] Hoc igitur consule inter eum et Cn. Pompeium et M. Crassum inita potentiae societas, quae urbi orbique terrarum nec minus diverso cuique tempore ipsis exitiabilis fuit. Hoc consilium sequendi Pompeius causam habuerat,

[44] Therefore, with this man as consul, a partnership of power was entered into between him and Gnaeus Pompeius and Marcus Crassus, which was ruinous to the city and to the whole world, and no less, at a different time for each, to themselves. For adopting this plan of following, Pompeius had had a reason,

2 ut tandem acta in transmarinis provinciis, quibus, ut praediximus, multi obtrectabant, per Caesarem confirma rentur consulem, Caesar autem, quod animadvertebat se cedendo Pompei gloriae aucturum suam et invidia communis potentiae in illum relegata confirmaturum vires suas, Crassus, ut quem principatum solus adsequi non poterat, auctoritate Pompei, viribus teneret Caesaris,

2 that at length the acts in the transmarine provinces, which, as we foretold, many were detracting from, might be confirmed through Caesar as consul, but Caesar, because he observed that by yielding to Pompey’s glory he would augment his own and, with the ill-will of the common power relegated onto that man, would strengthen his own forces, Crassus, so that the principate which he could not attain alone, by the authority of Pompey, he might hold by the forces of Caesar,

3 adfinitas etiam inter Caesarem Pompeiumque contracta nupt¸s, quippe Iuliam, filiam C. Caesaris, Cn. Magnus duxit uxorem.

3 an affinity also between Caesar and Pompey was contracted by nuptials, for Gnaeus Magnus took Julia, the daughter of Gaius Caesar, as wife.

4 In hoc consulatu Caesar legem tulit, ut ager Campanus plebei divideretur, suasore legis Pompeio. Ita circiter viginti milia civium eo deducta et ius urbis restitutum post annos circiter centum quinquaginta duos quam bello Punico ab Romanis Capua in formam praefecturae redacta erat.

4 In this consulship Caesar carried a law, that the Campanian land be divided to the plebs, with Pompey as persuader of the law. Thus about twenty thousand citizens were settled there, and the right of the city was restored, after about 152 years since, in the Punic War, Capua had been reduced by the Romans into the form of a prefecture.

5 Bibulus, collega Caesaris, cum actiones eius magis vellet impedire quam posset, maiore parte anni domi se tenuit. Quo facto dum augere vult invidiam collegae, auxit potentiam. Tum Caesari decretae in quinquennium Galliae.

5 Bibulus, the colleague of Caesar, since he wished more to hinder his measures than he was able, kept himself at home for the greater part of the year. By this deed, while he wished to increase the ill-will toward his colleague, he increased his power. Then the Gallic provinces were decreed to Caesar for five years.

[45] Per idem tempus P. Clodius, homo nobilis, disertus, audax, quique neque dicendi neque faciendi ullum nisi quem vellet nosset modum, malorum propositorum executor acerrimus, infamis etiam sororis stupro et actus incesti reus ob initum inter religiosissima populi Romani sacra adulterium, cum graves inimicitias cum M. Cicerone exerceret (quid enim inter tam dissimiles amicum esse poterat?) et a patribus ad plebem transisset, legem in tribunatu tulit, qui civem Romanum indemnatum interemisset, ei aqua et igni interdiceretur: cuius verbis etsi non nominabatur Cicero, tamen solus petebatur.

[45] At the same time P. Clodius, a noble man, eloquent, audacious, and one who knew no measure either of speaking or of doing except what he himself wished, a most keen executor of evil designs, disgraced also by the violation of his sister and arraigned as a defendant for the act of incest on account of adultery undertaken amid the most sacrosanct rites of the Roman people, while he was pursuing grave enmities with M. Cicero (for what friend could there be between such dissimilar men?), and had crossed over from the patricians to the plebs, carried in his tribunate a law that whoever had put to death a Roman citizen uncondemned should be interdicted from water and fire: by the words of which, although Cicero was not named, nevertheless he alone was aimed at.

2 Ita vir optime meritus de re publica conservatae patriae pretiurn calamitatem exil¸ tulit. Non caruerunt suspicione oppressi Ciceronis Caesar et Pompeius. Hoc sibi contraxisse videbatur Cicero, quod inter viginti viros dividendo agro Campano esse noluisset.

2 Thus a man most well-deserving of the republic bore as the price, the calamity of exile, for a fatherland preserved. Caesar and Pompeius did not lack the suspicion of having oppressed Cicero. Cicero seemed to have drawn this upon himself, because he had been unwilling to be among the twenty men for the dividing of the Campanian land.

3 Idem intra biennium sera Cn. Pompei cura, verum ut coepit intenta, votisque Italiae ac decretis senatus, virtute atque actione Annii Milonis tribuni plebis dignitati patriaeque restitutus est. Neque post Numidici exilium aut rediturn quisquam aut expulsus invidiosius aut receptus est laetius. Cuius domus quam infeste a Clodio disiecta erat, tam speciose a senatu restituta est.

3 The same man, within two years, by the belated care of Gnaeus Pompey—yet, once it began to be intent—by the vows of Italy and the decrees of the senate, and by the virtue and action of Annius Milo, tribune of the plebs, was restored to his dignity and to his fatherland. Nor, after the exile or the return of Numidicus, was anyone either expelled with more odium or received back more joyfully. Whose house, as hostilely as it had been demolished by Clodius, so splendidly was it restored by the senate.

4 Idem P. Clodius in tribunatu sub honorificentissimo ministerii titulo M. Catonem a re publica relegavit: quippe legem tulit, ut is quaestor cum iure praetorio, adiecto etiam quaestore, mitteretur in insulam Cyprum ad spoliandum regno Ptolemaeum, omnibus morum vitiis eam contumeliam meritu.

4 The same Publius Clodius in his tribunate, under the most honorific title of a ministry, relegated Marcus Cato from the commonwealth: indeed he carried a law, that he as quaestor with praetorian right, with a quaestor also added, be sent to the island Cyprus to despoil Ptolemy of his kingdom, he having merited that affront by every vice of character.

5 Sed ille sub adventum Catonis vitae suae vim intulit. Unde pecuniam longe sperata maiorem Cato Romam retulit. Cuius integritatem laudari nefas est, insolentia paene argui potest, quod una cum consulibus ac senatu effusa civitate obviam, cum per Tiberim subiret navibus, non ante iis egressus est, quam ad eum locum pervenit, ubi erat exponenda pecunia.

5 But he, at Cato’s approach, brought violence upon his own life. Whence Cato carried back to Rome money far greater than had long been hoped. His integrity it is almost a sacrilege to praise; it can nearly be arraigned as insolence, because, when the consuls and the senate, with the city poured out to meet him, as he was going up the Tiber by ships, he did not disembark to them before he reached that place where the money was to be put ashore.

[46] Cum deinde inmanis res vix multis voluminibus explicandas C. Caesar in Gallia gereret nec contentus plurimis ac felicissimis victoriis innumerabilibusque caesis et captis hostium milibus etiam in Britanniam traiecisset exercitum, alterum paene imperio nostro ac suo quaerens orbem, vetus par consulum, Cn. Pompeius et M. Crassus, alterum iniere consulatum, qui neque petitus honeste ab iis neque probabiliter gestus est.

[46] When thereafter Gaius Caesar in Gaul was conducting immense affairs scarcely to be unfolded in many volumes, and, not content with very many and most felicitous victories and with innumerable thousands of the enemy slain and captured, had even transported the army into Britain, seeking almost another world for our empire and his own, the old pair of consuls, Gnaeus Pompeius and Marcus Crassus, entered a second consulship, which was neither sought honorably by them nor carried on credibly.

2 Caesari lege, quam Pompeius ad populum tulit, prorogatae in idem spatium temporis provinciae, Crasso bellum Parthicum iam animo molienti Syria decreta. Qui vir cetera sanctissimus immunisque voluptatibus neque in pecunia neque in gloria concupiscenda aut modum norat aut capiebat terminum. Hunc proficiscentem

2 To Caesar, by the law which Pompey carried to the people, the provinces were prorogued for the same span of time; to Crassus, already in mind contriving a Parthian war, Syria was decreed. A man in other respects most holy and immune to pleasures, neither in money nor in the craving for glory did he know a measure or accept a terminus. Him, as he was setting out

3 in Syriam diris cum ominibus tribuni plebis frustra retinere conati. Quorum execrationes si in ipsum tantummodo valuissent, utile imperatoris damnum salvo exercitu fuisset rei publicae.

3 into Syria the tribunes of the plebs, with dire omens, tried in vain to hold him back. Whose execrations, if they had had force only against him himself, the loss of the commander, with the army safe, would have been useful to the commonwealth.

4 Transgressum Euphraten Crassum petentemque Seleuciam circumfusus inmanibus copiis equitum rex Orodes una cum parte maiore Romani exercitus interemit. Reliquias legionum C. Cassius, atrocissimi mox auctor facinoris, tum quaestor, conservavit Syriamque adeo in populi Romani potestate retinuit, ut transgressos in eam Parthos felici rerum eventu fugaret ac funderet.

4 Having crossed the Euphrates and making for Seleucia, Crassus was, by King Orodes, surrounding him with immense forces of cavalry, annihilated together with the greater part of the Roman army. The remnants of the legions Gaius Cassius, soon the author of a most atrocious deed, then quaestor, preserved, and he so retained Syria in the power of the Roman People that, with a fortunate outcome of affairs, he put to flight and routed the Parthians who had crossed into it.

[47] Per haec insequentiaque et quae praedixirnus tempora amplius quadringenta milia hostium a C. Caesare caesa sunt, plura capta; pugnatum saepe derecta acie, saepe in agminibus, saepe eruptionibus, bis penetrata Britannia, novem denique aestatibus vix ulla non iustissimus triumphus emeritus. Circa Alesiam vero tantae res gestae, quantas audere vix hominis, perficere paene nullius nisi dei fuerit.

[47] Through these and the subsequent times, and those which we have predicted, more than 400,000 of the enemy were slain by Gaius Caesar, more captured; it was fought often in pitched battle, often on the march, often by eruptions (sorties), Britain was penetrated twice, and, finally, over nine summers scarcely any was not a most justly earned triumph. Around Alesia indeed such great deeds were accomplished as to dare them would scarcely be a man’s, to complete them almost no one’s save a god’s.

2 Quarto ferme anno Caesar morabatur in Gall¸s, cum medium iam ex invidia potentiae (et viva illa) male cohaerentis inter Cn. Pompeium et C. Caesarem concordiae pignus Iulia, uxor Magni, decessit: atque omnia inter destinatos tanto discrimini duces dirimente fortuna filius quoque parvus Pompei, Iulia natus, intra breve spatium obiit. Tum in gladios

2 In about the fourth year Caesar was lingering in Gaul, when Julia, the pledge of the concord—already, from envy of power, ill-cohering between Cn. Pompey and C. Caesar (and while she was still alive)—the wife of the Great, died; and as fortune, sundering all things between leaders destined for so great a crisis, intervened, the little son of Pompey too, born of Julia, within a short span died. Then to swords—

3 caedesque civium furente ambitu, cuius neque finis reperiebatur nec modus, tertius consulatus soli Cn. Pompeio etiam adversantium antea dignitati eius iudicio delatus est, cuius ille honoris gloria veluti reconciliatis sibi optimatibus maxime a C. Caesare alienatus est; sed eius consulatus omnem vim in coercitionem ambitus exercuit.

3 and slaughters of citizens, with ambitus raging, of which neither end was found nor limit, the third consulship was, by the judgment even of those who had previously opposed his dignity, conferred upon Cn. Pompeius alone; by the glory of which honor, as if the Optimates had been reconciled to him, he was most alienated from C. Caesar; but he exerted all the force of that consulship in the coercion of ambitus.

4 Quo tempore P. Clodius a Milone candid.ato consula,tus exemplo inutili, facto salutari rei publicae circa Bovillas contracta ex occursu rixa iugulatus est. Milonem reum non magis invidia facti quam Pompei damnavit voluntas.

4 At that time P. Clodius, by Milo, a candidate for the consulship, in a useless precedent, though by a deed salutary to the Republic, near Bovillae, with a brawl having arisen from a chance encounter, was throat-slit. Milo, as defendant, was condemned not so much by hatred of the deed as by the will of Pompey.

5 Quem quidem M. Cato palam lata absolvit sententia. Qui si rnaturius tulisset, non defuissent qui sequerentur esemplum probarentque eum civem occisum, quo nemo perniciosior rei publicae neque bonis inimicior vixerat.

5 Whom indeed M. Cato openly acquitted by a sentence delivered. Who, if he had brought it earlier, there would not have been lacking those who would follow the example and would approve that that citizen had been slain, than whom no one more pernicious to the republic nor more inimical to the good had lived.

[48] Intra breve deinde spatium belli civilis exarserunt initia, cum iustissimus quisque et a Caesare et a Pompeio vellet dimitti exercitus; quippe Pompeius in secundo consulatu Hispanias sibi decerni voluerat easque per triennium absens ipse ac praesidens urbi per Afranium et Petreium, consularem ac praetorium, legatos suos, administrabat et iis, qui a Caesare dimittendos exercitus contendebant, adsentabatur, iis, qui ab ipso quoque, adversabatur.

[48] Then within a brief span the beginnings of the civil war flared up, when every most upright man wished the armies to be dismissed both by Caesar and by Pompey; indeed Pompey, in his second consulship, had wished the Spains to be decreed to himself, and for three years, being himself absent and presiding over the city, he administered them through Afranius and Petreius, his legates, a consular and a praetorian, and he assented to those who contended that the armies ought to be dismissed by Caesar, but he opposed those who said they ought to be dismissed by himself as well.

2 Qui si ante biennium, quam ad arrna itum est, perfectis muneribus theatri et aliorum operum, quae ei circumdedit, gravissima temptatus valetudine decessisset in Campania (quo quidem tempore universa Italia vota pto salute eius primi omnium civiurn suscepit) defuisset fortunae destruendi eius locus, et quam apud superos habuerat magnitutudinem, inlibatam detulisset ad inferos.

2 Who, if two years before the resort to arms, with the spectacles of the theater and the other works which he set around it completed, had departed in Campania, having been assailed by a most grievous illness (at which time indeed all Italy undertook vows for the safety of the foremost of all citizens), Fortune would have lacked the occasion of destroying him, and the magnitude which he had had among those above he would have borne down inviolate to those below.

3 Bello autem civili et tot, quae deinde per continuos viginti annos consecuta sunt, malis non alius maiorem flagrantioremque quam C. Curio tribunus plebis subiecit facem, vir nobilis, elo quens, audax, suae alienaeque et fortunae et pudicitiae prodigus, homo ingeniosissime nequam et facundus malo publico cuius animo [voluptatibus vel libidinibus]

3 But to the civil war and to all the evils which then, through a continuous twenty years, followed, no other applied a greater and more flaming torch than Gaius Curio, tribune of the plebs, a noble man, eloquent, audacious, a prodigal of both his own and others’ fortune and chastity, a man most ingeniously nefarious and fluent to the public ill, whose mind [to pleasures or to lusts]

4 neque opes ullae neque cupiditates suAicere possent. Hic primo pro Pompei partibus, id est, ut tunc habebatur, pro re publica, mox simulatione contra Pompeiurn et Caesarem, sed animo pro Caesare stetit. Id gratis an accepto centies sestertio fecerit, ut accepimus, in medio relinquemus.

4 neither any wealth nor cupidity could suffice. He at first stood for Pompey’s party, that is, as it was then considered, for the Republic; soon with a pretense against Pompey and Caesar, but in spirit for Caesar, he stood. Whether he did this gratis or, as we have received, upon receiving ten million sesterces, we will leave undecided.

5 Ad ultimum saluberrimas coalescentis condiciones pacis, quas et Caesar iustissimo animo postulabat et Pompeius aequo recipiebat, discussit ac rupit, unice cavente Cicerone concordiae publicae. Harum praeteritarumque rerum ordo cum iustis aliorum voluminibus promatur, tum, uti spero, nostris explicabitur.

5 In the end, he shattered and broke the most healthful conditions of a coalescing peace, which both Caesar, with a most just mind, was demanding and Pompeius, with an even mind, was receiving, while Cicero alone was safeguarding public concord. The order of these matters and of those past both may be brought forth in the proper volumes of others and, as I hope, will be explicated in our own.

6 Nunc proposito operi sua forma reddatur, si prius gratulatus ero Q. Catulo, duobus Lucullis Metelloque et Hortensio, qui, cum sine invidia in re publica Qoruissent eminuissentque sine periculo, quieta aut certe non praecipitata fatali ante initium bellorum civilium morte functi sunt.

6 Now let the proposed work be given its own form, after I have first offered congratulations to Q. Catulus, to the two Luculli, and to Metellus and Hortensius, who, since they had flourished in the republic without envy and had stood out without danger, were carried off by a quiet—or at any rate not precipitate—fated death before the beginning of the civil wars.

[49] Lentulo et Marcello consulibus post urbem conditam annis septingentis et tribus, et annos octo et septuaginta ante quam tu, M. Vinici, consulatum inires, bellum civile exarsit. Alterius ducis causa melior videbatur, alterius erat firmior;

[49] With Lentulus and Marcellus as consuls, in the 703rd year after the City was founded, and 78 years before you, M. Vinicius, would enter the consulship, the civil war blazed forth. The cause of one leader seemed better, that of the other was firmer;

2 hic omnia speciosa, illic valentia; Pompeium senatus auctoritas, Caesarem militum armavit fiducia. Consules senatusque causae non Pompeio summam imperii detulerunt.

2 here everything was specious, there valiance; Pompey was armed by the authority of the Senate, Caesar by the confidence of the soldiers. The consuls and the Senate conferred the supreme command upon the cause, not upon Pompey.

3 Nihil relictum a Caesare, quod servandae pacis causa temptari posset, nihil receptum a Pompeianis, cum alter consul iusto esset ferocior, Lentulus vero salva re publica salvus esse non posset, M. autem Cato moriendum ante, quam ullam condicionem civis accipiendam rei publicae contenderet. Vir antiquus et gravis Pompei partes laudaret magis, prudens sequeretur Caesaris, et illa gloriosiora, haec terribiliora duceret.

3 Nothing was left by Caesar that could be tried for the sake of preserving peace, nothing was accepted by the Pompeians, since one consul was fiercer than was just, while Lentulus indeed could not be safe with the commonwealth safe, and M. Cato maintained that he must die before any terms of a citizen should be accepted by the commonwealth. An old-fashioned and grave man would praise Pompey’s party more, a prudent man would follow Caesar’s, and would reckon those more glorious, these more terrifying.

4 Ut deinde spretis omnibus quae Caesar postulaverat, tantummodo contentus cum una legione titulum retinere provinciae, privatus in urbem veniret et se in petitione consulatus suffragiis populi Rornani committeret decrevere, ratus bellandum Caesar cum exercitu Rubiconem transiit. Cn. Pompeius consulesque et maior pars senatus relicta urbe ac deinde Italia transmisere Dyrrachium.

4 When then, with all that Caesar had demanded spurned, they decreed that he, content only to retain the title of the province with one legion, should come into the city as a private citizen and commit himself in the petition for the consulship to the suffrages of the Roman people; thinking that war must be waged, Caesar crossed the Rubicon with his army. Gnaeus Pompeius, the consuls, and the greater part of the senate, the city abandoned and then Italy, crossed over to Dyrrhachium.

[50] At Caesar Domitio legionibusque, Corfini quae una cum eo fuerant, potitus, duce aliisque, qui voluerant abire ad Pompeium, sine dilatione dimissis, persecutus Brundusium, ita ut appareret ma1le integris rebus et conditionibus finire bellum quam opprimere fugientis, cum transgressos reperisset consules, in urbem revertit

[50] But Caesar, having gotten possession of Domitius and of the legions which had been at Corfinium together with him, the leader and others who had wished to depart to Pompey having been dismissed without delay, pursued to Brundisium, in such a way that it was apparent he preferred to finish the war with matters and conditions intact rather than to oppress those fleeing; when he found that the consuls had crossed over, he returned to the city

2 redditaque ratione consiliorum suorum in senatu et in contione ac miserrimae necessitudinis, cum alienis armis ad arma compulsus esset, Hispanias petere decrevit.

2 and, an account having been rendered of his counsels in the senate and in the assembly, and of the most wretched necessity, since he had been compelled to arms by others’ arms, he resolved to seek the Spains.

3 Festinationem itineris eius aliquamdiu morata Massilia est, fide melior quam consilio prudentior, intempestive principalium armorum arbitria captans, quibus hi se debent interponere, qui non parentem coercere possunt.

3 The hastening of his march was delayed for some time by Massilia, better in faith than more prudent in counsel, untimely grasping at the arbitrations of principal arms, into which those ought to interpose themselves who cannot coerce their parent.

4 Exercitus deinde, qui sub Afranio consulari ac Petreio praetorio fuerat, ipsius adventus vigore ac fulgore occupatus se Caesari tradidit; uterque legatorum et quisquis cuiusque ordinis sequi eos voluerat, remissi ad Pompeium.

4 Then the army which had been under Afranius, a consular, and Petreius, a praetorian, seized by the vigor and brilliance of his arrival, surrendered itself to Caesar; both of the legates and whoever of whatever order had wished to follow them were sent back to Pompey.

[51] Proximo anno cum Dyrrachium ac vicina ei urbi regio castris Pompei obtineretur, qui accitis ex ornnibus transmarinis provinciis legionibus, equitum ac peditum auxilüs, regumque et tetrarcharum simulque dynastarum copiis inmanem exercitum confecerat et mare praesidiis classium, ut rebatur, saepserat, quo minus Caesar legiones posset transmittere,

[51] In the next year, when Dyrrachium and the region neighboring that city were being held by Pompey’s camps, he who, having summoned from all the transmarine provinces legions, with auxiliaries of cavalry and infantry, and with the forces of kings and tetrarchs and likewise dynasts, had assembled an immense army and, as he thought, had fenced the sea with the garrisons of the fleets, to prevent Caesar from being able to transport his legions,

2 sua et celeritate et fortuna C. Caesar usus nihil in mora habuit, quo minus eo quo vellet ipse exercitusque classibus perveniret, et primo paene castris Pompei sua iungeret, mox etiam obsidione munimentisque eum complecteretur. Sed inopia obsidentibus quam obsessis erat gravior.

2 availing himself of his own celerity and fortune, Gaius Caesar had nothing to delay him, from reaching, he himself and the army by the fleets, whither he wished, and at first he almost joined his own camp to Pompey’s, soon even encompassed him with a siege and fortifications. But want was heavier for the besiegers than for the besieged.

3 Tum Balbus Cornelius excedente humanam fidem temeritate ingressus castra hostium saepiusgue cum Lentulo conlocutus consule, dubitante quanti se venderet, illis incrementis fecit viam, quibus non in Hispania ex cive natus, sed Hispanus, ia triumphum et pontificatum adsurgeret fieretque ex privato consularis. Variatum deinde proeliis, sed uno longe magis Pompeianis prospero, quo graviter impulsi sunt Caesaris milites.

3 Then Cornelius Balbus with a temerity exceeding human credence, having entered the enemy camp and more than once having conferred with the consul Lentulus, while he hesitated as to for how much he should sell himself, he made a way to those increments (advancements), whereby, not in Spain as one born from a citizen, but as a Spaniard, he might rise even to a triumph and the pontificate and become from a private man a consular. The fighting then varied, but one engagement was by far more prosperous for the Pompeians, by which Caesar’s soldiers were grievously driven back.

[52] Tum Caesar cum exercitu fatalem victoriae suae Thessaliam petiit. Pompeius, longe diversa aliis suadentibus,

[52] Then Caesar with his army sought Thessaly fated for his victory. Pompey, with others advising things far different,

2 quorum plerique hortabantur, ut in Italiam transmitteret (neque hercules quidquam partibus illis salubrius fuit), alii, ut bellum traheret, quod dignatione partium in dies ipsis magis prosperum fieret, usus impetu suo hostem secutus est.

2 of whom the majority were urging that he cross into Italy (and, by Hercules, nothing was more salubrious for that side), others, that he protract the war, because by the dignity of the party it would become from day to day more prosperous for themselves, availing himself of his own impulse he followed the enemy.

3 Aciem Pharsa1icam et illum cruentissimum Romano nomini diem tantumque utriusque exercitus profusum sanguinis et conlisa inter se duo rei publicae capita effossumque alterum Romani imperii lumen et tot ta1esque Pompeianarum partium caesos viros non recipit enarranda hic scripturae modus.

3 The Pharsalian battle-line and that most blood-stained day for the Roman name, and so great a quantity of the blood of both armies poured out, and the two heads of the Republic dashed together, and one light of the Roman imperium gouged out, and so many and such men of the Pompeian party slain—the mode of writing to be narrated here does not admit of being recounted.

4 lllud notandum est: ut primum C.Caesar inc1inatam vidit Pompeianorurn aciem, neque prius neque antiquius quidquam habuit, quam ut indemnes partes, ut militari verbo ex consuetudine utar, dimitteret. Pro dii immortales,

4 That must be noted: as soon as Gaius Caesar saw the Pompeian battle line waver, he had nothing earlier nor more important than to let the party go unharmed— to use, according to custom, the military term. O immortal gods,

5 quod huius voluntatis erga Brutum suae postea vir tam mitis pretiurn tulit! Nihil in illa victoria mirabilius, magnificentius, clarius fuit,

5 what price for this goodwill of his toward Brutus a man so mild later paid! Nothing in that victory was more marvelous, more magnificent, more illustrious,

6 quam quod neminen nisi acie consumptum civem patria, desideravit: sed munus misericordiae corrupit pertinacia, cum libentius vitam victor iam daret, quam victi acciperent.

6 than that he desired no citizen of the fatherland, except one consumed in the battle-line: but the gift of mercy was corrupted by pertinacity, since the victor now more willingly gave life than the vanquished accepted.

[53] Pompeius profugiens cum duobus Lentulis consularibus Sextoque filio et Favonio praetorio, quos comites ei fortuna adgregaverat, aliis, ut Parthos, aliis, ut Africam peteret, in qua fidelissimum partium suarum haberet regem Iubam, suadentibus, Aegyptum petere proposuit memor beneficiorum, quae in patrem eius Ptolemaei, qui tum puero quam iuveni propior regnabat Alexandriae, contulerat.

[53] Pompey, fleeing, with the two Lentuli of consular rank and his son Sextus
and Favonius of praetorian rank, whom fortune had added to him as companions, some advising that he seek the Parthians, others that he seek Africa, in which he had King Juba as the most faithful of his party, proposed to make for Egypt, mindful of the benefactions which he had conferred upon the father of that Ptolemy, who at that time, closer to a boy than to a young man, was reigning at Alexandria.

2 Sed quis in adversis beneficiorum servat memoriam? Aut quis ullam calamitosis deberi putat gratiam? Aut quando fortuna non mutat fidem?

2 But who in adversities preserves the memory of benefactions? Or who thinks any gratitude is owed to the calamitous? Or when does fortune not change fidelity?

Missi itaque ab rege, qui venientem Cn. Pompeium (is iam a Mytilenis Corneliam uxorem receptam in navem fugae comitem habere coeperat) consilio Theodoti et Achillae exciperent hortarenturque, ut ex oneraria in eam navem, quae obviam processerat, transcenderet; quod cum fecisset, princeps Romani nominis imperio arbitrioque Aegyptii mancipii, C. Caesare et P. Servilio consulibus, iugulatus est.

Accordingly, men were sent by the king, to receive the arriving Cn. Pompey (he had already begun, from Mytilene, to have Cornelia his wife, taken aboard into the ship, as a companion of his flight) and to exhort him to pass from the cargo-ship onto that ship which had come forward to meet him; and when he had done this, the princeps of the Roman name, by the command and discretion of an Egyptian slave, with Gaius Caesar and Publius Servilius as consuls, was slaughtered.

3 Hic post tres consulatus et totidem triumphos domitumque terrarum orbem sanctissimi atque praestantissimi viri in id evecti, super quod ascendi non potest, duodesexagesimum annum agentis pridie natalem ipsius vitae fuit exitus, in tantum in illo viro a se discordante fortuna, ut cui modo ad victoriam terra defuerat, deesset ad sepulturam.

3 Here, after three consulships and just as many triumphs, and the orb of the lands subdued, of a most sanctified and most preeminent man elevated to that beyond which one cannot ascend, the exit of his life was on the day before his own birthday, as he was passing the fifty-eighth year; Fortune in that man being so discordant with herself, that for him to whom just now earth had been lacking for victory, it was lacking for burial.

4 Quid aliud quam nimium occupatos dixerim, quos in aetate et tanti et paene nostri saeculi viri fefellit quinquennium, cum a C. Atilio et Q. Servilio consulibus tam facilis esset annorum digestio? Quod adieci, non ut arguerem, sed ne arguerer.

4 What else than over-occupied should I call those whom, in the reckoning of the age of a man both so great and almost of our own age, a five-year period misled, when from the consulships of C. Atilius and Q. Servilius the digest of the years was so easy? What I have added, not to accuse, but lest I be accused.

[54] Non fuit maior in Caesarem, quam in Pompeium fuerat, regis eorumque, quorum is auctoritaie regebatur, fides. Quippe cum venientem eum temptassent insidüs ac deinde bello lacessere auderent, utrique summorum imperatorum, alteri mortuo, alteri superstiti meritas poenas luere supplicüs.

[54] The fidelity of the king, and of those by whose authority he was ruled, was not greater toward Caesar than it had been toward Pompey. For indeed, when they had tried ambushes against him as he was coming, and then dared to provoke him to war, they paid merited penalties with punishments to both of the supreme commanders, to the one dead, to the other surviving.

2 Nusquam erat Pompeius corpore, adhuc ubique vivebat nomine. Quippe ingens partium eius favor bellum excitaverat Africum, quod ciebat rex Iuba et Scipio, vir consularis, ante biennium quam extingueretur Pompeius, lectus ab eo socer,

2 Pompey was nowhere in body, yet he still lived everywhere in name. Indeed, the vast favor of his party had aroused the African war, which King Juba and Scipio, a consular man, were stirring, two years before Pompey was extinguished, chosen by him as a father-in-law,

3 eorumque copias auxerat M. Cato, ingenti cum difficultate itinerum locorumque inopia perductis ad eos legionibus. Qui vir cum summum ei a militibus deferretur imperium, honoratiori parere maluit.

3 and their forces had been augmented by Marcus Cato, with immense difficulty of the marches and scarcity of the region, the legions having been conducted to them. This man, when the highest command was being conferred upon him by the soldiers, preferred to obey one more honored.

[55] Admonet promissae brevitatis fides, quanto omnia transcursu dicenda sint. Sequens fortunam suam Caesar pervectus in Africam est, quam occiso C. Curione, Iulianarum duce partium, Pompeiani obtinebant exercitus. Ibi primo varia fortuna, mox pugnavit sua, inclinataeque hostiorn copiae:

[55] The faith of the promised brevity admonishes how much all things must be said in passing. Following his fortune, Caesar was borne across into Africa, which, with Gaius Curio, leader of the Julian party, slain, the Pompeian armies were holding. There at first with varying fortune; soon his own [fortune] fought, and the enemy forces inclined:

2 nec dissimilis ibi adversus victos quam in priores clementia Caesaris fuit. Victorem Africani belli Caesarem gravius excepit Hispaniense (nam victus ab eo Pharnaces vix quidquam gloriae eius adstruxit), quod Cn. Pompeius, Magni filius, adulescens impetus ad bella maximi, ingens ac terribile conflaverat, undique ad eum adhuc paterni nominis magnitudinem sequentium ex toto orbe terrarurn auxiliis confluentibus.

2 nor was Caesar’s clemency there toward the vanquished different than toward the former. The Spanish war received Caesar, victor of the African war, more grievously (for Pharnaces, defeated by him, scarcely added anything to his glory), because Gnaeus Pompeius, son of Magnus, a youth of the greatest impetus for wars, had kindled something huge and terrible, with reinforcements flowing together to him from every side from the whole orb of lands, of those still following the magnitude of his father’s name.

3 Sua Caesarem in Hispaniam cornitata fortuna est, sed nullum umquam atrocius periculosiusque ab eo initum proelium, adeo ut plus quam dubio Marte descenderet equo consistensque ante recedentem suorum aciem, increpata prius fortuna, quod se in eum servasset exitum, denuntiaret militibus vestigio se non recessurum: proinde viderent, quem et quo loco imperatorem deserturi forent.

3 Caesar’s fortune accompanied him into Spain, but never was any more atrocious and more perilous battle undertaken by him, to such a degree that, with Mars more than doubtful, he dismounted from his horse and, taking his stand before the line of his men as they were drawing back, after first chiding Fortune, because she had reserved for him such an outcome, he gave notice to the soldiers that he would not retreat by a single step: accordingly, let them see whom, and in what place, they were about to desert their commander.

4 Verecundia magis quam virtute acies restituita, et a duce quam a milite fortius. Cn. Pompeius gravis vulnere inventus inter solitudines avias interemptus est; Labienum Varumque acies abstulit.

4 The battle-line was restored more by shame than by virtue, and more stoutly by the leader than by the soldier. Cn. Pompeius, found grievously wounded among solitudes untrodden, was slain; the battle-line carried off Labienus and Varus.

[56] Caesar omnium victor regressus in urbem, quod humanam excedat fidem, omnibus, qui contra se arma tulerant, ignovit, magnificentissimisque gladiatorii muneris, naumachiae et equitum peditumque, simul elephantorum certaminis spectaculis epulique per multos dies dati celebratione replevit eam.

[56] Caesar, victor over all, having returned into the city, forgave all who had borne arms against him—a thing which exceeds human credence—and he filled it with the celebration of the most magnificent spectacles of a gladiatorial munus, of a naumachia (naval combat), and of horsemen and footmen, together with contests of elephants, and with a banquet given over many days.

2 Quinque egit triumphos: Gallici apparatus ex citro, Pontici ex acantho, Alexandrini testudine, Africi ebore, Hispaniensis argento rasili constitit. Pecunia ex manubiis lata paulo amplius sexiens miliens sestertium.

2 He held five triumphs: the apparatus of the Gallic was of citrus-wood, of the Pontic, of acanthus, of the Alexandrine, of tortoiseshell, of the African, of ivory, of the Spanish, of chased silver. The money brought in from the spoils (manubiae) amounted to a little more than 600,000,000 sesterces.

3 Neque illi tanto viro et tam clementer omnibus victorüs suis uso plus quinque mensium principalis quies contigit. Quippe cum mense Octobri in urbem revertisset, idibus Martiis, coniurationis auctoribus Bruto et Cassio, quorum alterum promittendo consulatum non obligaverat, contra differendo Cassium offenderat, adiectis etiam consiliarüs caedis familiarissimis omnium et fortuna partium eius in summum evectis fastigium, D. Bruto et C. Trebonio aliisque clari nominis viris, interemptus est.

3 Nor did there befall to that so great a man, who had used his victories toward all with such clemency, more
than five months of princely repose. For when he had returned to the city in October, on the Ides of March, the
authors of the conspiracy being Brutus and Cassius, of whom the one he had not bound by promising the consularship,
whereas, on the contrary, by deferring it he had offended Cassius, with counselors of the slaughter added too—men most
intimate of all and by the fortune of his party raised to the highest pinnacle—D. Brutus and C. Trebonius and other men
of illustrious name—he was slain.

4 Cui magnam invidiam conciliarat M. Antonius, omnibus audendis paratissimus, consulatus collega, inponendo capiti eius Lupercalibus sedentis pro rostris insigne regium, quod ad eo ita repulsum erat, ut non offensus videretur.

4 To whom great envy had been procured by Mark Antony, most ready for all things to be dared, his colleague in the consulship, by placing upon his head at the Lupercalia, as he sat before the rostra, the royal insignia, which by him had been so refused that he did not seem offended.

[57] Laudandum experientia consilium est Pansae atque Hirtii, qui semper praedixerant Caesari ut principatum armis quaesitum armis teneret. Ille dictitans mori se quam timere malle dum clementiam, quam praestiterat, expectat, incautus ab ingratis occupatus est, cum quidem plurima ei praesagia atque indicia dii immortales futuri obtulissent periculi.

[57] The counsel of Pansa and Hirtius, grounded in experience, is to be praised, who had always foretold to Caesar that he should hold by arms the principate sought by arms. He, repeatedly saying that he preferred to die rather than to be afraid, while he awaits the clemency which he had shown, was seized, incautious, by the ungrateful, although indeed the immortal gods had offered to him very many presages and indications of the danger to come.

2 Nam et haruspices praemonuerant, ut diligentissime iduum Martiarum caveret diem, et uxor Calpurnia territa nocturno visu, ut ea die domi subsisteret, orabat, et libelli coniurationem nuntiantes dati neque protinus ab eo lecti erant. Sed profecto ineluctabilis fatorum vis,

2 For both the haruspices had forewarned him to beware most diligently the day of the Ides of March, and his wife Calpurnia, terrified by a nocturnal vision, was begging that he remain at home on that day, and little notes announcing the conjuration had been handed to him and were not immediately read by him. But assuredly the ineluctable force of the fates,

3 cuiuscumque fortunam mutare constituit, consilia corrumpit.

3 whosoever’s fortune
it has determined to change, it corrupts the counsels.

[58] Quo anno id patravere facinus Brutus et Cassius praetores erant, D. Brutus consul designatus.

[58] In the year in which they perpetrated that crime, Brutus and Cassius were praetors, D. Brutus was consul-designate.

2 Hi una cum coniurationis globo, stipati gladiatorum D. Bruti manu, Capitolium occupavere. Tum consul Antonius (quem cum simul interimendum censuisset Cassius testamentumque Caesaris abolendum, Brutus repugnaverat dictitans nihil amplius civibus praeter tyranni - ita enim appellari Caesarem facto eius expediebat - petendum esse sanguinem)

2 These men, together with the mass of the conspiracy, escorted by D. Brutus’s band of gladiators, seized the Capitol. Then the consul Antonius (whom since Cassius had proposed to be slain at the same time and Caesar’s testament to be abolished, Brutus had opposed, insisting that nothing further by the citizens beyond the tyrant’s - for thus it was expedient that Caesar be called by reason of his deed - blood ought to be sought)

3 convocato senatu, cum iam Dolabella, quem substituturus sibi Caesar designaverat consulem, fasces atque insignia corripuisset consulis, velut pacis auctor liberos suos obsides in Capitolium misit fidemque descendendi tuto interfectoribus Caesaris dedit.

3 the senate having been convoked, since already Dolabella, whom Caesar, intending to substitute for himself, had designated consul, had snatched up the fasces and the insignia of the consul, as if an author of peace he sent his children as hostages into the Capitol and gave his pledge to Caesar’s slayers for a safe descent.

4 Et illud decreti Atheniensium celeberrimi exemplum, relatum a Cicerone, oblivionis praeteritarum rerum decreto patrum comprobatum est.

4 And that most celebrated example of the decree of the Athenians, related by Cicero—an oblivion of past things—was approved by a decree of the Fathers.

[59] Caesaris deinde testamentum apertum est, quo C. Octavium, nepotem sororis suae Iuliae, adoptabat. De cuius origine, etiam si premit iter, pauca dicenda sunt. Fuit C. Octavius ut non patricia,

[59] Then Caesar’s testament was opened, by which he adopted C. Octavius, the grandson of his sister Julia. About whose origin, even if the journey presses on, a few things must be said. C. Octavius was, though not patrician,

2 ita admodum speciosa equestri genitus familia, gravis, sanctus, innocens, dives. Hic praetor inter nobilissimos viros creatus primo loco, cum ei dignatio Iulia genitam Atiam conciliasset uxorem, ex eo honore sortitus Macedoniam appellatusque in ea imperator, decedens ad petitionem consulatus obiit praetextato relicto filio. Quem C. Caesar, maior eius avunculus,

2 thus altogether born of a very splendid equestrian family, grave, upright, innocent, wealthy. This man a praetor, elected in first place among the most noble men, when the Julian prestige had secured for him as wife Atia, born of it, from that honor he drew by lot Macedonia and in it was acclaimed imperator; departing to seek the consulship, he died leaving a son in the praetexta. Whom C. Caesar, his elder maternal uncle,

3 educatum apud Philippum vitricum dilexit ut suum, natumque annos duodeviginti Hispaniensis militiae adsecutum se postea comitem habuit, numquam aut alio usum hospitio quam suo aut alio vectum vehiculo, pontificatusque sacerdotio puerum honoravit.

3 reared with his stepfather Philippus, he cherished him as his own; and, at the age of eighteen, having entered service in Hispania, he thereafter had him as his companion, never allowing him to use any lodging other than his own or to be conveyed in any vehicle other than his, and he honored the boy with the priesthood of the pontificate.

4 Et patratis bellis civilibus ad erudiendam liberalibus disciplinis singularis indolem iuvenis Apolloniam eum in studia miserat, mox belli Getici ac deinde Parthici habiturus commilitonem.

4 And, the civil wars having been completed, for the purpose of educating the young man’s singular indole in the liberal disciplines, he had sent him to Apollonia for studies, soon to have him as a comrade-in-arms in the Getic war and then the Parthian.

5 Cui ut est nuntiatum de caede avunculi, cum protinus ex vicinis legionibus centuriones suam suorumque militum operam ei pollicerentur neque eam spernendam Salvidienus et Agrippa dicerent, ille festinans pervenire in urbem omnem ordinem ac rationem et necis et testamenti Brundusii comperit.

5 As soon as the slaughter of his uncle was announced to him, while straightway from the neighboring legions the centurions were pledging to him their own service and that of their soldiers, and Salvidienus and Agrippa were saying that this ought not to be spurned, he, hastening to arrive in the city, at Brundisium learned the whole order and rationale both of the slaying and of the testament.

6 Cui adventanti Romam inmanis amicorum occurrit frequentia, et cum intraret urbem, solis orbis super caput eius curvatus aequaliter rotundatusque in colorem arcus velut coronam tanti mox viri capiti imponens conspectus est.

6 To him, as he was arriving at Rome, an enormous concourse of friends met him, and when he was entering the city, the orb of the sun above his head, curved and evenly rounded into the color of the rainbow, was seen as if placing a crown upon the head of a man soon to be so great.

[60] Non placebat Atiae matri Philippoque vitrico adiri nomen invidiosae fortunae Caesaris, sed adserebant salutaria rei publicae terrarumque orbis fata conditorem conservatoremque Romani nominis.

[60] It did not please his mother Atia and his stepfather Philippus that the name of Caesar’s envy-provoking fortune be approached; but the fates of the Republic and of the orb of lands were asserting him as the founder and preserver of the Roman name.

2 Sprevit itaque caelestis animus humana consilia et cum periculo potius summa quam tuto humilia proposuit sequi maluitque avunculo et Caesari de se quam vitrico credere, dictitans nefas esse, quo nomine Caesari dignus esset visus, semet ipsum sibi videri indignum.

2 Thus the celestial spirit spurned human counsels and chose to propose to follow the highest with peril rather than the low with safety, and he preferred to trust his uncle and Caesar concerning himself rather than his stepfather, repeatedly saying that it was impious that, by the very name under which he had seemed worthy to Caesar, he should seem to himself unworthy.

3 Hunc protinus Antonius consul superbe excepit (neque is erat contemptus, sed metus) vixque admisso in Pompeianos hortos loquendi secum tempus dedit, mox etiam velut insidiis eius petitus sceleste insimulare coepit, in quo turpiter deprehensa eius vanitas est.

3 Him immediately Antony the consul received arrogantly (and he was not despised, but feared), and scarcely, once admitted into the Pompeian Gardens, did he grant time to speak with him; soon even, as if assailed by his plots, he began wickedly to accuse him, wherein his vanity was shamefully exposed.

4 Aperte deinde Antonii ac Dolabellae consulum ad nefandam dominationem erupit furor. Sestertium septiens miliens, depositum a C. Caesare ad aedem Opis, occupatum ad Antonio, actorum eiusdem insertis falsis civitatibus inmunitatibusque corrupti commentarii atque omnia pretio temperata, vendente rem publicam consule.

4 Openly then the fury of the consuls Antony and Dolabella burst forth toward nefarious domination. Seven hundred million sesterces, a deposit placed by Gaius Caesar at the temple of Ops, were seized by Antony; the commentarii of that same man’s acts were corrupted by the insertion of false citizenships and immunities, and everything was tempered for a price, with the consul selling the commonwealth.

5 Idem provinciam D. Bruto designato consuli decretam Galliam occupare statuit, Dolabella transmarinas decrevit sibi; interque naturaliter dissimillimos ac diversa volentis crescebat odium eoque C. Caesar iuvenis cotidianis Antonii petebatur insidiis.

5 The same man decided to occupy Gaul, the province decreed to D. Brutus, the designated consul; Dolabella assigned to himself the transmarine provinces; and between men naturally most dissimilar and wishing different things hatred was growing, and for that reason the young C. Caesar was being targeted by Antony’s daily ambushes.

[61] Torpebat oppressa dominatione Antonii civitas. Indignatio et dolor omnibus, vis ad resistendum nulli aderat, cum C. Caesar undevicesimum annum ingressus, mira ausus ac summa consecutus privato consilio maiorem senatu pro re publica animum habuit

[61] The commonwealth, oppressed by the domination of Antony, was torpid. Indignation and dolor for all, the force for resisting was at hand for no one, when C. Caesar, having entered his nineteenth year, having dared marvelous things and achieved the utmost by private counsel, had a spirit greater than the senate for the republic

2 primumque a Calatia, mox a Casilino veteranos excivit paternos; quorum exemplum secuti alii brevi in formam iusti coiere exercitus. Mox cum Antonius occurrisset exercitui, quem ex transmarinis provinciis Brundusiuni venire iusserat, legio Martia et quarta cognita et senatus voluntate et tanti iuvenis indole sublatis signis ad Caesarem se contulerunt.

2 first from Calatia, soon after from Casilinum, he summoned his father’s veterans; following whose example others shortly came together into the form of a regular army. Soon, when Antony had gone to meet the army which he had ordered to come to Brundisium from the transmarine provinces, the Martial Legion and the Fourth, recognizing both the will of the senate and the nature of so great a youth, with their standards raised, made their way to Caesar.

3 Eum senatus honoratum equestri statua, quae hodieque in rostris posita aetatem eius scriptura indicat (qui honor non alii per trecentos annos quam L. Sullae et Cn. Pompeio et C. Caesari contigerat), pro praetore una cum consulibus designatis Hirtio et Pansa bellum cum Antonio gerere iussit.

3 Him the senate, honored with an equestrian statue, which even today, placed on the rostra, by an inscription indicates his age (which honor had fallen to no other through three hundred years than to L. Sulla and Cn. Pompeius and C. Caesar), as propraetor together with the consuls-designate Hirtius and Pansa,
ordered to wage war with Antony.

4 Id ab eo annum agente vicesimum fortissime circa Mutinam administratum est et D. Brutus obsidione liberatus. Antonius turpi ac nuda fuga coactus deserere Italiam, consulum autem alter in acie, alter post paucos dies ex volnere mortem obiit.

4 That was most bravely administered by him, as he was in his twentieth year, around Mutina, and D. Brutus was freed from the siege. Antony, compelled by a shameful and naked flight, deserted Italy; and of the consuls, however, the one met death in the battle-line, the other after a few days from a wound.

[62] Omnia ante quam fugaretur Antonius honorifice a senatu in Caesarem exercitumque eius decreta sunt maxime auctore Cicerone; sed ut recessit metus, erupit voluntas protinusque Pompeianis partibus rediit animus.

[62] Before Antony was put to flight, all things were decreed honorably by the senate for Caesar and his army, with Cicero as the chief author; but when fear receded, the will erupted, and forthwith their spirit returned to the Pompeian party.

2 Bruto Cassioque provinciae, quam iam ipsi sine ullo senatus consulto occupaverant, decretae, laudati quicumque se iis exercitus tradidissent, omnia transmarina imperia eorum commissa arbitrio.

2 Provinces were decreed to Brutus and Cassius, which they had already occupied without any senatorial decree, lauded were whoever had handed themselves and their armies over to them, all overseas commands were committed to their discretion.

3 Quippe M. Brutus et C. Cassius, nunc metuentes arma Antonii, nunc ad augendam eius invidiam simulantes se metuere, testati edictis libenter se vel in perpetuo exilio victuros, dum rei publicae constaret concordia, nec uliam belli civilis praebituros materiam, plurimum sibi honoris esse in conscientia facti sui, profecti urbe atque Italia, intento ac pari animo sine auctoritate publica provincias exercitusque occupaverant et, ubicumque ipsi essent, praetexentes esse rem pubblicam, pecunias etiam, quae ex transmarinis provinciis Romam ab quaestoribus deportabantur, a volentibus acceperant.

3 Indeed M. Brutus and
C. Cassius, now fearing the arms of Antony, now feigning fear in order to augment his odium,
having attested by edicts that they would gladly live even in perpetual exile, so long as the concord of the Republic should stand firm, and that they would provide no material for civil war, that the greatest honor for themselves was in the conscience of their deed,
having departed from the city and from Italy, with fixed and equal resolve, without public authority had seized provinces and armies, and, wherever they themselves were, pretexting that there was the Republic, they had even accepted monies, which were being carried to Rome from the transmarine provinces by quaestors, from those willing.

4 Quae omnia senatus decretis comprensa et comprobata sunt et D. Bruto, quod alieno beneficio viveret, decretus triumphus, Pansae atque Hirtii corpora publica sepultura honorata,

4 All which things were comprehended and approved by decrees of the senate, and to D. Brutus, because he lived by another’s benefaction, a triumph was decreed, the bodies of Pansa and Hirtius were honored with public sepulture,

5 Caesaris adeo nulla habita mentio, ut legati, qui ad exercitum eius missi erant, iuberentur summoto eo milites adloqui. Non fuit tam ingratus exercitus, quam fuerat senatus; nam cum eam iniuriam dissimulando Caesar ipse ferret, negavere milites sine imperatore suo ulla se audituros mandata.

5 So little mention was made of Caesar, that the legates, who had been sent to his army, were ordered, with him removed, to address the soldiers. The army was not so ungrateful as the senate had been; for, although Caesar himself bore that injury by dissembling, the soldiers refused to listen to any orders without their own commander.

6 Hoc est illud tempus, quo Cicero insito amore Pompeianarum partium Caesarem laudandum et tollendum censebat, cum aliud diceret, aliud intellegi vellet.

6 This is that time when Cicero, with an inbred love of the Pompeian party, judged that Caesar was to be praised and removed, while he said one thing and wanted another to be understood.

[63] Interim Antonius fuga transgressus Alpes, primo per conloquia repulsus a M. Lepido, qui pontifex maximus in C. Caesaris locum furto creatus decreta sibi Hispania adhuc in Gallia morabatur, mox saepius in conspectum veniens militum (cum et Lepido omnes imperatores forent meliores et multis Antonius, dum erat sobrius), per aversa castrorum proruto vallo a militibus receptus est. Qui titulo imperii cedebat Lepido, cum summa virium penes eum foret.

[63] Meanwhile Antony, having crossed the Alps in flight, was at first through colloquies repulsed by M. Lepidus, who, pontifex maximus, surreptitiously created in the place of Gaius Caesar, though Hispania had been decreed to him, was still lingering in Gaul; soon, coming more often into the sight of the soldiers (since both all commanders would be better than Lepidus, and Antony than many, while he was sober), through the rear of the camp, the rampart having been broken down, he was received by the soldiers. He yielded the title of imperium to Lepidus, since the sum of the forces was in his hands.

2 Sub Antonii ingressum in castra Iuventius Laterensis, vir vita ac morte consentaneus, cum acerrime suasisset Lepido, ne se cum Antonio hoste iudicato iungeret, inritus consilii gladio se ipse transifixit.

2 At Antony’s entry into the camp, Iuventius Laterensis, a man consistent in life and in death, when he had most vehemently advised Lepidus not to join himself with Antony, adjudged an enemy, his counsel proving in vain, transfixed himself with a sword.

3 Plancus deinde dubia, id est sua, fide, diu quarum esset partium secum luctatus ac sibi difficile consentiens, et nunc adiutor D. Bruti designati consulis, collegae sui, senatuique se litteris venditans, mox eiusdem proditor, Asinius autem Pollio firmus proposito et Iulianis partibus fidus, Pompeianis adversus, uterque exercitus tradidere Antonio.

3 Then Plancus, with dubious—that is, his own—fidelity, long wrestling with himself as to of which party he was and with difficulty consenting with himself, and now a helper of D. Brutus, consul designate, his colleague, and peddling himself to the senate by letters, soon a betrayer of that same man; but Asinius Pollio, firm in his purpose and faithful to the Julian party, adverse to the Pompeians, and both armies delivered themselves to Antony.

[64] D. Brutus desertus primo a Planco, postea etiam insidiis eiusdem petitus, paulatim relinquente eum exercitu fugiens in hospitis cuiusdam nobilis viri, nomine Cameli, domo ab iis, quos miserat Antonius, iugulatus est iustissimasque optime de se merito viro C. Caesari poenas dedit, cuius cum primus omnium amicorum fuisset,

[64] D. Brutus, deserted at first by Plancus, afterwards even assailed by that same man’s ambushes, as his army gradually left him, fleeing, in the house of a certain host, a noble man by the name of Camelus, was slaughtered by those whom Antony had sent, and he paid the most just penalties to Gaius Caesar, a man who had most deserved well of him, although he had been the first of all his friends,

2 interfector fuit et fortunae, ex qua fructum tulerat, invidiam in auctorem relegabat censebatque aequum, quae acceperat a Caesare retinere, Caesarem, qui illa dederat, perire.

2 he was the killer, and he relegated the envy of the fortune, from which he had borne fruit, onto its author, and he judged it equitable to retain the things which he had received from Caesar, and for Caesar, who had given those things, to perish.

3 Haec sunt tempora, quibus M. Tullius continuis, actionibus aeternas Antonii memoriae inussit notas, sed hic fulgentissimo et caelesti ore, at tribunus Cannutius canina rabie lacerabat Antonium. Utrique vindicta ]ibertatis morte stetit;

3 These are the times, in which M. Tullius, by continuous actions, branded eternal marks upon Antony’s memory, but he with a most fulgent and celestial mouth, while the tribune Cannutius was mangling Antony with canine rabies. For both, the vindication of liberty stood at death;

4 sed tribuni sanguine commissa proscriptio, Ciceronis velut satiato Antonio paene finita. Lepidus deinde a senatu hostis iudicatus est, ut ante fuerat Antonius.

4 but the proscription, commenced with the blood of the tribunes, was almost finished with Cicero, as though Antony were sated. Lepidus then was judged an enemy by the senate, as before had been Antony.

[65] Tum inter eum Caesaremque et Antonium commercia epistularum et condicionum facta mentio, cum Antonius subinde Caesarem admoneret, quam inimicae ipsi Pompeianae partes forent et in quod iam emersissent fastigium et quanto Ciceronis studio Brutus Cassiusque attollerentur, denuntiaretque se cum Bruto Cassioque, qui iam decem et septem legionum potentes erant, iuncturum vires suas, si Caesar eius aspernaretur concordiam, diceretque plus Caesarem patris quam se amici ultioni debere.

[65] Then mention was made of the exchanges of letters and of terms between him and Caesar and Antony, since Antony kept reminding Caesar how hostile to himself the Pompeian party was and to what peak it had now risen, and with how great zeal of Cicero Brutus and Cassius were being lifted up, and he gave warning that he would join his forces with Brutus and Cassius, who already were masters of seventeen legions, if Caesar should spurn his concord, and he said that Caesar owed more to the avenging of his father than to that of a friend, himself.

2 Tum inita potentiae societas et hortantibus orantibusque exercitibus inter Antonium etiam et Caesarem facta adfinitas, cum esset privigna Antonii desponsata Caesari. Consulatumque iniit Caesar pridie quam viginti annos impleret decimo Kal. Octobres cum collega Q. Pedio post urbem conditam annis septingentis et novem, ante duos et septuaginta, quam tu, M. Vinici, consulatum inires.

2 Then a partnership of power was entered upon, and at the urging and entreating of the armies a marriage alliance was made even between Antony and Caesar, since Antony’s stepdaughter had been betrothed to Caesar. And Caesar entered upon the consulship the day before he completed twenty years, on the tenth day before the Kalends of October (September 22), with his colleague Q. Pedius, in the seven hundred and ninth year after the city was founded, seventy-two years before you, M. Vinicius, would enter upon the consulship.

3 Vidit hic annus Ventidium, per quam urbem inter captivos Picentium in triumpho ductus erat, in ea consularem praetextam iungentem praetoria. Idem hic postea triumphavit.

3 This year saw Ventidius, through that city in which he had been led among the captives of the Picentes in a triumph, in that same city yoking the praetorian teams while wearing the consular praetexta. The same man afterwards triumphed.

[66] Furente deinde Antonio simulque Lepido, quorum uterque, ut praediximus, hostes iudicati erant, cum ambo mallent sibi nuntiari, quid passi essent, quam quid meruissent, repugnante Caesare, sed frustra adversus duos, instauratum Sullani exempli malum, proscriptio.

[66] Then, with Antony raging and Lepidus likewise, each of whom, as we have foretold, had been judged enemies, since both preferred to have it announced to themselves what they had suffered rather than what they had merited, Caesar resisting, but in vain against two, the evil of the Sullan example was renewed, the proscription.

2 Nihil tam indignum illo tempore fuit, quam quod aut Caesar aliquem proscribere coactus est aut ab ullo Cicero proscriptus est. Abscisaque scelere Antonii vox publica est, cum eius salutem nemo defendisset, qui per tot annos et publicam civitatis et privatam civium defenderat.

2 Nothing was so unworthy at that time as that either Caesar was compelled to proscribe someone, or that Cicero was proscribed by anyone. And the public voice was cut off by the crime of Antony, since no one had defended his safety, he who for so many years had defended both the public [interest] of the state and the private [interest] of the citizens.

3 Nihil tamen egisti, M. Antoni (cogit enim excedere propositi formam operis erumpens animo ac pectore indignatio) nihil, inquam, egisti mercedem caelestissimi oris et clarissimi capitis abscisi numerando auctoramentoque funebri ad conservatoris quondam rei pubIicae tantique consulis inritando necem.

3 Nevertheless you have accomplished nothing, M. Antony (for indignation, bursting forth from my mind and breast, compels me to exceed the planned form of the work), nothing, I say, you have accomplished by counting out the price for the most celestial mouth and the most illustrious head cut off, and by a funeral bounty provoking the murder of the former preserver of the commonwealth and so great a consul.

4 Rapuisti tu M. Ciceroni lucem sollicitam et aetatem senilem et vitam miseriorem te principe quam sub te triumviro mortem, famam vero gloriamque factorum atque dictorum adeo non abstulisti, ut auxeris.

4 You snatched from M. Cicero his anxious light and his old age, and a life more wretched with you as princeps than death under you as triumvir; but his fame and the glory of his deeds and sayings you so far from taking away, that you increased them.

5 Vivit vivetque per omnem saeculorum memoriam, dumque hoc vel forte vel providentia vel utcumque constitutum rerum naturae corpus, quod ille paene solus Romanorum animo vidit, ingenio complexus est, eloquentia inluminavit, manebit incolume, comitem aevi sui laudem Ciceronis trahet omnisque posteritas illius in te scripta mirabitur, tuum in eum factum execrabitur citiusque e mundo genus hominum quam Ciceronis nomen cedet.

5 He lives and will live through all the memory of the ages, and so long as this corpus of the nature of things, constituted either by chance or by providence or however, which he almost alone of the Romans saw with his mind, encompassed with his genius, illuminated with his eloquence, shall remain unharmed, it will draw as the companion of its age the praise of Cicero, and all posterity will marvel at his writings against you, will execrate your deed against him, and sooner will the race of men depart from the world than the name of Cicero will yield.

[67] Huius totius temporis fortunam ne deflere quidem quisquam satis digne potuit, adeo nemo exprimere verbis potest. Id tamen notandum est,

[67] The fortune of this whole period no one could even sufficiently
worthily lament, so much so that no one can express it in words. This, however, must be noted,

2 fuisse in proscriptos uxorum fidem summam, libertorum mediam, servorum aliquam, filiorum nullam, adeo difficilis est hominibus utcumque conceptae spei mora.

2 there was toward the proscribed the highest faith of wives, a middling of freedmen, some of slaves, none of sons; so difficult for men is the delay of hope, however conceived.

3 Ne quid ulli sanctum relinqueretur, velut ia dotem invitamentumque sceleris Antonius L. Caesarem avunculum, Lepidus Paulum fratrem proscripserant; nec Planco gratia defuit ad impetrandum, ut frater eius Plancus Plotius proscriberetur.

3 So that nothing might be left sacred to anyone, as if now a dowry and an invitement to crime, Antony proscribed Lucius Caesar, his maternal uncle, and Lepidus Paulus, his brother; nor was favor lacking to Plancus to obtain that his brother, Plancus Plotius, be proscribed.

4 Eoque inter iocos militaris, qui currum Lepidi Plancique secuti erant, inter execrationem civium usurpabant hunc versum: De germanis, non de Gallis duo triumphant consules.

4 And so, among the soldiers’ jests, those who had followed the chariot of Lepidus and Plancus, amid the execration of the citizens, kept using this line: “Over brothers, not over Gauls, the two consuls triumph.”

[68] Suo praeteritum loco referatur; neque enim persona umbram actae rei capit. Dum in acie Pharsalica acriter de summa rerum Caesar dimicat, M. Caelius, vir eloquio animoque Curioni simillimus, sed in utroque perfectior nec minus ingeniose nequam, cum ne modica quidem solvere ac servari posset (quippe peior illi res familiaris quam mens erat),

[68] Let what is past be referred to its own place; for the persona does not seize the shadow of a deed done
in the past. While on the Pharsalian battle-line Caesar was fighting keenly for the mastery of affairs, M.
Caelius, a man most similar to Curio in eloquence and spirit, but in both more perfect and no less ingeniously
wicked, since he could not even discharge moderate sums and be kept safe (indeed his domestic fortune was worse
than his mind),

2 in praetura novarum tabularum auctor extitit nequiitque senatus et consulis auctoritate deterreri; accito etiam Milone Annio, qui non impetrato reditu Iulianis partibus infestus erat, in urbe seditionem, in agris haud occulte bellicum tumultum movens, primo summotus a re publica, mox consularibus armis auctore senatu circa Thurios oppressus est.

2 in his praetorship he stood forth as the author of new tablets (debt-cancellation) and could not be deterred by the authority of the senate and the consul; with Annius Milo also summoned, who, his recall not having been obtained, was hostile to the Julian party, raising sedition in the city and, in the fields, not covertly a bellicose tumult, he was first removed from public affairs, soon, by consular arms with the senate as author, near Thurii he was suppressed.

3 In incepto pari similis fortuna Milonis fuit, qui Compsam in Hirpinis oppugnans ictusque lapide cum P. Clodio, tum patriae, quam armis petebat, poenas dedit, vir inquies et ultra fortem temerarius.

3 In an equal inception a similar fortune was Milo’s, who, assaulting Compsa among the Hirpini and struck by a stone, paid the penalties both to P. Clodius and to the fatherland, which he was seeking with arms, a restless man and, beyond brave, rash.

4 Quatenus autem aliquid ex omissis peto, notetur immodica et intempestiva, libertate usos adversus C. Caesarem Marullum Epidium Flavumque Caesetium tribunos plebis, dum arguunt in eo regni voluntatem, paene vim dominationis expertos. In hoc tamen saepe lacessiti principis ira excessit,

4 Insofar, however, as I seek something from the omitted, let it be noted that immoderate and untimely liberty was used against Gaius Caesar by Marullus Epidius and Caesetius Flavus, tribunes of the plebs, while they were accusing in him a will to kingship, they almost experienced the force of domination. In this matter, however, the often-provoked prince’s anger transgressed,

5 ut censoria potius contentus nota quam animadversione dictatoria summoveret eos a re publica testareturque esse sibi miserrimum, quod aut natura sua ei excedendum foret aut minuenda dignitas. Sed ad ordinem revertendum est.

5 that, content rather with a censorial note than with a dictatorial animadversion, he should remove them from the commonwealth and should declare it most pitiable for him that either he must exceed his own nature or his dignity must be diminished. But we must return to the order.

[69] Iam et Dolabella in Asia C. Trebonium consularem, cui succedebat, fraude deceptum Zmyrnae occiderat, virum adversus merita Caesaris ingratissimum participemque caedis eius, a quo ipse in consulare provectus fastigium fuerat;

[69] Already too Dolabella in Asia had killed at Smyrna Gaius Trebonius, a consular, whom he was succeeding, deceived by fraud—a man most ungrateful against the merits of Caesar and a participant in his slaughter, by whom he himself had been advanced to the consular pinnacle;

2 et C. Cassius acceptis a Statio Murco et Crispo Marcio, praetoriis viris imperatoribusque, praevalidis in Syria legionibus, inclusum Dolabellam, qui praeoccupata Asia in Syriam pervenerat, Laodiciae expugnata ea urbe interfecerat (ita tamen, ut ad ictum servi sui Dolabella non segniter cervicem daret) et decem legiones in eo tractu sui iuris fecerat; et M. Brutus C. Antonio,

2 and C. Cassius, after receiving from Statius Murcus and Crispus Marcius, men of praetorian rank and commanders, the very powerful legions in Syria,
had killed Dolabella, who, Asia having been preoccupied, had made his way into Syria, when Laodicea was taken by storm (yet in such a way that Dolabella did not sluggishly offer his neck to the blow of his own slave), and had brought ten legions in that tract under his own authority; and M. Brutus to C. Antonius,

3 fratri M. Antonii, in Macedonia Vatinioque circa Dyrrachium volentis legiones extorserat (sed Antonium bello lacessierat, Vatinium 4 di~matione obruerat, cum et Brutus cuilibet ducum praeferendus videretur et Vatinius nulli non esset postferendus,

3 from the brother of M. Antony, in Macedonia, and from Vatinius around Dyrrachium, he had wrested the legions (but he had provoked Antony to war, he had overwhelmed Vatinius in combat, since both Brutus seemed to be to be preferred to any of the leaders, and Vatinius to be postponed to everyone,

4 in quo deformitas corporis cum turpitudine certabat ingenii, adeo ut animus eius dignissimo domicilio inclusus videretur) eratque septem legionibus validus.

4 in whom the deformity of the body contended with the turpitude of the mind, to such a degree that his spirit seemed enclosed in a most worthy domicile) and he was strong with seven legions.

5 At lege Pedia, quam consul Pedius collega Caesaris tulerat, omnibus, qui Caesarem patrem interfecerant, aqua ignique interdictum erat. Quo tempore Capito, patruus meus, vir ordinis senatorii, Agrippae subscripsit in C. Cassium.

5 But by the Pedia law, which the consul Pedius, Caesar’s colleague, had carried, all who had slain Caesar the father were interdicted from water and fire. At which time Capito, my paternal uncle, a man of the senatorial order, subscribed for Agrippa against Gaius Cassius.

6 Dumque ea in Italia geruntur, acri atque prosperrimo bello Cassius Rhodum, rem inmanis operis, ceperat, Brutus Lycios devicerat, et inde in Macedoniam exercitus traiecerant, cum per omnia repugnans naturae suae Cassius etiam Bruti clementiam vinceret. Neque reperias, quos aut pronior fortuna comitata sit aut veluti fatigata maturius destituerit quam Brutum et Cassium.

6 And while these things were being carried on in Italy, in a sharp and most prosperous war Cassius had taken Rhodes, a matter of immense enterprise, Brutus had subdued the Lycians, and from there they had transported the armies into Macedonia, although in all things Cassius, acting against his own nature, even surpassed the clemency of Brutus. Nor would you find any whom Fortune, more favoring, accompanied, or, as if wearied, deserted earlier than Brutus and Cassius.

[70] Tum Caesar et Antonius traiecerunt exercitus in Macedoniam et apud urbem Philippos cum Bruto Cassioque acie concurrerunt. Cornu, cui Brutus praeerat, impulsis hostibus castra Caesaris cepit (nam ipse Caesar, etiamsi infirmissimus valetudine erat, obibat munia ducis, oratus etiam ab Artorio medico, ne in castris remaneret, manifesta denuntiatione quietis territo), id autem, in quo Cassius fuerat, fugatum ac male mulcatum in altiora se receperat loca.

[70] Then Caesar and Antony ferried their armies across into Macedonia, and near
the city of Philippi they clashed in battle line with Brutus and Cassius. The wing, which Brutus
commanded, with the enemy driven back, seized Caesar’s camp (for Caesar himself, although
very feeble in health, was performing the duties of a leader, having even been entreated by the physician Artorius
not to remain in the camp, being alarmed by a manifest denunciation of quiet),
but the one in which Cassius had been, routed and badly mauled, had withdrawn itself into higher places.

2 Tum Cassius ex sua fortuna eventum collegae aestimans, cum dimisisset evocatum iussissetque nuatiare sibi, quae esset multitudo ac vis hominum, quae ad se tenderet, tardius eo nuntiante, cum in vicino esset agmen cursu ad eum tendentiurn neque pulvere facies aut signa denotari possent, existimans hostes esse, qui irruerent, lacerna caput circumdedit extentamque cervicem interritus liberto praebuit.

2 Then Cassius, estimating his colleague’s outcome from his own fortune, when he had sent away an evocatus and had ordered him to report to him what the multitude and force of men was that was tending toward him, with him reporting this too slowly, when a column was near at hand, making at a run toward him, and neither faces nor standards could be made out for the dust, supposing that it was enemies who were charging in, he wrapped his head with his lacerna and, undaunted, offered his outstretched neck to a freedman.

3 Deciderat Cassii caput, cum evocatus advenit nuntians Brutum esse victorem. Qui cum imperatorem prostratum videret: "sequar", inquit, "eum, quem mea occidit tarditas, et ita in gladium incubuit".

3 Cassius’s head had fallen, when the evocatus arrived, announcing that Brutus was the victor. He, when he saw the commander laid low, said: "I will follow him whom my slowness has killed," and so he fell upon his sword.

4 Post paucos deinde dies Brutus conflixit cum hostibus et victus acie cum in tumulum nocte ex fuga se recepisset, impetravit a Stratone Aegeate, familiari suo, ut manum morituro commodaret sibi;

4 After a few days then Brutus clashed with the enemies, and, defeated in the battle-line, when by night he had withdrawn onto a mound from the flight, he obtained from Strato of Aegae, his familiar friend, that he would lend a hand to him, about to die;

5 reiectoque laevo super caput brachio, cum mucronem gladii eius dextera tenens sinistrae admovisset mammillae ad eum ipsum locum, qua cor emicat, impellens se in vulnus uno ictu transfixus expiravit protinus.

5 with his left arm flung back over his head, when, holding the point of his sword in his right hand, he had brought it to the left breast at that very spot where the heart leaps, driving himself into the wound, with one stroke, transfixed, he expired forthwith.

[71] Messalla, fulgentissimus iuvenis, proximus in illis castris Bruti Cassiique auctoritati, cum essent qui eum ducem poscerent, servari beneficio Caesaris maluit quam dubiam spem armorum temptare amplius; nec aut Caesari quidquam ex victoriis suis fuit laetius quam servasse Corvinum aut maius exemplum hominis grati ac pii, quam Corvinus in Caesarem fuit. Non aliud bellum cruentius caede clarissimorum virorum fuit. Tum Catonis filius cecidit;

[71] Messalla, a most resplendent young man, next to Brutus and Cassius in authority in those camps, when there were those who demanded him as leader, preferred to be preserved by the benefit of Caesar rather than to attempt further the dubious hope of arms; nor was anything from his victories more joyful to Caesar than to have saved Corvinus, nor a greater example of a grateful and dutiful man than Corvinus was toward Caesar. No other war was more blood-stained with the slaughter of the most illustrious men. Then the son of Cato fell;

2 eadem Lucullum Hortensiumque, eminentissimorum civium filios, fortuna abstulit; nam Varro ad ludibrium moriturus Antonii digna illo ac vera de exitu eius magna cum libertate ominatus est. Drusus Livius, Iuliae Augustae pater, et Varus Quintilius ne temptata quidem hostis misericordia alter se ipse in tabernaculo interemit, Varus autem liberti, quem id facere coegerat, manu, cum se insignibus honorum velasset, iugulatus est.

2 the same Fortune carried off Lucullus and Hortensius, sons of the most eminent citizens; for Varro, about to die as Antony’s laughing‑stock, foretold with great liberty things worthy of that man and true about his exit. Drusus Livius, father of Julia Augusta, and Quintilius Varus, without even having tried the enemy’s mercy, the one slew himself in his tent; but Varus, by the hand of a freedman whom he had compelled to do it, after he had veiled himself with the insignia of his honors, was slain.

[72] Hunc exitum M. Bruti partium septimum et tricesimum annum agentis fortuna esse voluit, incorrupto animo eius in diem, quae illi omnes virtutes unius temeritate facti abstulit.

[72] Fortune willed that this be the end of the party of M. Brutus, who was passing his thirty-seventh year, his spirit uncorrupted to the day; she took from him all his virtues by the temerity of a single deed.

2 Fuit autem dux Cassius melior, quanto vir Brutus: e quibus Brutum amicum habere malles, inimicum magis timeres Cassium; in altero maior vis, in altero virtus: qui si vicissent, quantum rei publicae interfuit Caesarem potius habere quam Antonium principem, tantum retulisset habere Brutum quam Cassium.

2 But as a leader Cassius was better, by as much as Brutus was the better man: of the two you would prefer to have Brutus as a friend, as an enemy you would fear Cassius more; in the one greater force, in the other virtue: and if they had conquered, inasmuch as it was to the republic’s interest to have Caesar rather than Antony as princeps, by so much would it have been to have Brutus rather than Cassius.

3 Cn. Domitius, pater L. Domitii nuper a nobis visi, eminentissimae ac nobilissimae simplicitatis viri, avus huius Cn. Domitii, clarissimi iuvenis, occupatis navibus cum magno sequentium consilia sua comitatu fugae fortunaeque se commisit, semet ipso contentus duce partium.

3 Cn. Domitius, the father of L. Domitius, a man recently seen by us, of most eminent and most noble simplicity, the grandfather of this Cn. Domitius, a most illustrious young man, after occupying the ships, committed himself to flight and to fortune with a great retinue of those following his counsels, content with himself as leader of the party.

4 Statius Murcus, qui classi et custodiae maris praefuerat, cum omni commissa sibi parte exercitus naviumque Sex. Pompeium, Cn. Magni filium, qui ex Hispania revertens Siciliam armis occupaverat, petiit.

4 Statius Murcus, who had been in command of the fleet and the guardianship of the sea, with all the portion of the army and of the ships entrusted to him, made for Sextus Pompeius, the son of Gnaeus Magnus, who, returning from Spain, had occupied Sicily by arms.

5 Ad quem et e Brutianis castris et ex Italia aliisque terrarum partibus, quos praesenti periculo fortuna subduxerat, proscripti confluebant: quippe nullum habentibus statum quilibet dux erat idoneus, cum fortuna non electionem daret, sed perfugium ostenderet exitialemque tempestatem fugientibus statio pro portu foret.

5 To him, both from the Bruttian camps and from Italy and from other parts of the earth, the proscribed, whom Fortune had withdrawn from present peril, were converging: indeed, for those having no settled status any leader was suitable, since Fortune gave not election, but pointed out a refuge, and for those fleeing the deadly tempest a station was in place of a port.

[73] Hic adulescens erat studiis rudis, sermone barbarus, impetu strenuus, manu promptus, cogitatu celer, fide patri dissimillimus, libertorum suorum libertus servorumque servus, speciosis invidens, ut pareret humillimis.

[73] This young man was raw in studies, barbarous in speech, strenuous in impulse, prompt in hand, swift in thought, in fidelity most dissimilar to his father, a freedman of his own freedmen and a servant of his servants, begrudging the illustrious, so that he might obey the most humble.

2 Quem senatus paene totus adhuc e Pompeianis constans partibus post Antonii a Mutina fugam eodem illo tempore, quo Bruto Cassioque transmarinas provincias decreverat, revocatum ex Hispania, ubi adversus eum clarissimum bellum Pollio Asinius praetorius gesserat, in paterna bona, restituerat et orae maritimae praefecerat.

2 Him the senate, almost entire, still consisting of the Pompeian faction, after Antony’s flight from Mutina, at that very same time at which it had decreed the transmarine provinces to Brutus and Cassius, had recalled from Spain—where against him Pollio Asinius, a praetorian, had waged a most illustrious war—had restored to his paternal goods, and had set over the maritime coasts.

3 Is tum, ut praediximus, occupata Sicilia servitia fugitivosque in numerum exercitus sui recipiens magnum modum legionum effecerat perque Menam et Menecraten paternos libertos, praefectos classium, latrociniis ac praedationibus infestato mari ad se exercitumque tuendum rapto utebatur, cum eum non depucleret vindicatum armis ac ductu patris sui mare infestare piraticis sceleribus.

3 He then, as we have foretold, with Sicily occupied and receiving slave-bands and fugitives into the number of his army, had made up a great number of legions; and through Mena and Menecrates, his father’s freedmen, prefects of the fleets, with the sea infested by brigandage and predation, he was using plunder to maintain himself and his army, when it did not shame him, though the sea had been vindicated by the arms and leadership of his father, to infest it with piratic crimes.

[74] Fractis Brutianis Cassianisque partibus Antonius transmarinas obiturus provincias substitit. Caesar in Italiam se recepit eamque longe quam speraverat tumultuosiorem repperit. Quippe L. Antonius consul,

[74] With the Brutan and Cassian parties shattered, Antony halted, intending to visit the overseas provinces. Caesar withdrew into Italy and found it far more tumultuous than he had hoped. For indeed L. Antonius, consul,

2 vitiorum fratris sui consors, sed virtutum, quae interdum in illo erant, expers, modo apud veteranos criminatus Caesarem, modo eos, qui iussa divisione praediorum nominatisque coloniis agros amiserant, ad arma conciens magnum exercitum conflaverat. Ex altera parte uxor Antonii Fulvia, nihil muliebre praeter corpus gerens, ornnia armis tumultuque miscebat.

2 a partner in his brother’s vices, but devoid of the virtues which were at times in him, now accusing Caesar among the veterans, now stirring to arms those who, by the ordered division of estates and the naming of colonies, had lost their fields, had raised a great army. On the other side, Antony’s wife Fulvia, bearing nothing womanly except her body, was mixing everything with arms and tumult.

3 Haec belli sedem Praeneste ceperat; Antonius pulsus undique viribus Caesaris Perusiam se contulerat: Plancus, Antonianarum adiutor partium, spem magis ostenderat auxilii, quam opem ferebat Antonio.

3 She had taken Praeneste as the seat of the war; Antony, driven on all sides by the forces of Caesar, had betaken himself to Perusia: Plancus, adjutant of the Antonian faction, had shown more a hope of assistance than he was affording aid to Antony.

4 Usus Caesar virtute et fortuna sua Perusiam expugnavit. Antonium inviolatum dimisit, in Perusinos magis ira militum quam voluntate saevitum ducis: urbs incensa, cuius initium incendii princeps eius loci fecit Macedonicus, qui subiecto rebus ac penatibus suis igni transfixum se gladio flammae intulit.

4 Making use of his valor and his fortune, Caesar took Perusia by storm. He let Antony go unharmed, against the Perusians there was cruelty more by the soldiers’ wrath than by the will of the leader: the city was set ablaze, the beginning of whose conflagration was made by the chief of that place, Macedonicus, who, after setting fire beneath his goods and household gods, plunged himself, pierced with a sword, into the flame.

[75] Per eadem tempora exarserat in Campania be1lum, quod professus eorum, qui perdiderant agros, patrocinium ciebat Ti. Claudius Nero praetorius et pontiiex, Ti. Caesaris pater, magni vir animi doctissimique et ingenii. Id quoque adventu Caesaris sepultum atque discussum est.

[75] At the same time war had flared up in Campania, which, having declared himself the patronage of those who had lost their fields, Tiberius Claudius Nero, a praetor and pontiff, the father of Tiberius Caesar, a man of great spirit and of a most learned and gifted mind, was stirring up. That too, at Caesar’s arrival, was buried and broken up.

2 Quis fortunae mutationes, quis dubios rerum humanarum casus satis mirari queat? Quis non diversa praesentibus contrariaque expectaitis aut speret aut timeat?

2 Who can sufficiently marvel at the mutations of Fortune, who at the doubtful chances of human affairs? Who would not either hope for things diverse from the present and contrary to what is expected, or fear them?

3 Livia, nobilissimi et fortissimi viri Drusi Claudiani filia, genere, probitate, forma Romanarum eminentissima, quam postea coniugem Augusti vidimus, quam transgressi ad deos sacerdotem ac filiam, tum fugiens mox futuri sui Caesaris arma ac manus bimum hunc Tiberium Caesarem, vindicem Romani imperii futurumque eiusdem Caesaris filium, gestans sinu, per avia itinerum vitatis militum gladiis uno comitante, quo facilius occultaretur fuga, pervenit ad mare et cum viro Nerone pervecta in Siciliam est.

3 Livia, daughter of the most noble and most stout-hearted man Drusus Claudianus, most eminent among Roman women in lineage, probity, and form, whom afterward we saw as the consort of Augustus, whom, after he had crossed over to the gods, we saw as his priestess and daughter, then, fleeing the arms and forces of her soon-to-be Caesar and carrying in her bosom this two-year-old Tiberius Caesar, destined to be the vindicator of the Roman imperium and the son of that same Caesar, through pathless byways, the soldiers’ swords avoided, accompanied by a single attendant, in order that the flight might be more easily concealed, reached the sea and, conveyed with her husband Nero, was borne to Sicily.

[76] Quod alieno testimonium redderem, eo non fraudabo avum meum. Quippe C. Velleius, honoratissimo inter illos trecentos et sexaginta iudices loco a Cn. Pompeio lectus, eiusdem Marcique Bruti ac Ti. Neronis praefectus fabrum, vir nulli secundus, in Campania digressu Neronis a Neapoli, cuius ob singularem cum eo amicitiam partium adiutor fuerat, gravis iam aetate et corpore cum comes esse non posset, gladio se ipse transfixit.

[76] Because I would render testimony for another, by that I will not defraud my grandfather of it. For Gaius Velleius, chosen by Gnaeus Pompeius to a most honored place among those 360 judges, prefect of engineers of that same man and of Marcus Brutus and of Tiberius Nero, a man second to none, in Campania, at Nero’s departure from Naples—of whom, on account of his singular friendship with him, he had been an ally of the party—being now burdened in age and body, since he could not be a companion, pierced himself through with a sword.

2 Inviolatam excedere Italia Caesar passus est Fulviam Plancumque, muliebris fugae comitem. Nam Pollio Asinius cum septem legionibus, diu retenta in potestate Antonii Venetia, magnis speciosisqoe rebus circa Altinum aliasque eius regionis urbes editis, Antonium petens, vagum adhuc Domitium, quem digressum e Brutianis castris post caedem eius praediximus et propriae classis factum ducem, consiliis suis inlectum ac fide data iunxit Antonio:

2 Caesar allowed Fulvia to depart Italy inviolate, and Plancus, the companion of a woman’s flight. For Asinius Pollio, with 7 legions, Venetia long retained in Antony’s power, great and specious deeds having been carried out around Altinum and other cities of that region, while making for Antony, found Domitius still wandering—whom we have already said withdrew from Brutus’s camps after his killing and was made commander of his own fleet—and, lured by his counsels and with good faith pledged, he joined him to Antony.

3 quo facto, quisquis aequum se praestiterit, sciat non minus a Pollione in Antonium quam ab Antonio in Pollionem esse conlatum. Adventus deinde in Italiam Antonii apparatusque contra eum Caesaris habuit belli metum, sed pax circa Brundusium composita.

3 with this done, whoever shall have shown himself fair, let him know that no less has been apportioned by Pollio against Antony than by Antony against Pollio. Then Antony’s arrival into Italy and Caesar’s preparations against him held the fear of war, but peace was composed around Brundusium.

4 Per quae tempora Rufi Salvidieni scelesta consilia patefacta sunt. Qui natus obscurissimis initiis parum habebat summa accepisse et proximus a Cn. Pompeio ipsoque Caesare equestris ordinis consul creatus esse, nisi in id ascendisset, e quo infra se et Caesarem videret et rem publicam.

4 During which time the nefarious counsels of Salvidienus Rufus were laid open. He, born from most obscure beginnings, held it too little to have received the summits and, next after Gnaeus Pompeius and Caesar themselves, to have been created consul from the equestrian order, unless he had ascended to that point from which he might see beneath him both Caesar and the commonwealth.

[77] Tum expostulante consensu populi, quem gravis urebat infesto mari annona, cum Pompeio quoque circa Misenum pax inita, qui haud absurde, cum in navi Caesaremque et Antonium cena exciperet, dixit in carinis suis se cenam dare, referens hoc dictum ad loci nomen, in quo paterna domus ab Antonio possidebatur.

[77] Then, at the demand of the consensus of the people—whom a grievous dearth of the grain-supply, with the sea hostile, was scorching—a peace too was entered with Pompey near Misenum, who not inaptly, when on a ship he was entertaining at dinner both Caesar and Antony, said that he was giving dinner in his carinae (keels/Carinae), referring this remark to the name of the place, in which a paternal house was owned by Antony.

2 In hoc pacis foedere placuit Siciliam Achaiamque Pompeio concedere, in quo tamen animus inquies manere non potuit. Id unum tantummodo salutare adventu suo patriae attulit, quod omnibus proscriptis aliisque, qui ad eum ex diversis causis fugerant, reditum salutemque pactus est:

2 In this peace compact it was decided to concede Sicily and Achaia to Pompey, in which, however, his restless spirit could not remain. This one thing only salutary he brought to his fatherland by his arrival, that for all the proscribed,
and for others who had fled to him for diverse causes, he stipulated a return and safety:

3 quae res et alios clarissimos viros et Neronem Claudium et M. Silanum Sentiumque Saturninum et Arruntium ac Titium restituit rei publicae. Statium autem Murcum, qui adventu suo classisque celeberrimae vires eius dup1icaverat, insimulatum falsis criminationibus, quia talem virum collegam officii Mena et Menecrates fastidierant, Pompeius in Sicilia interfecerat.

3 which matter restored to the commonwealth both other most illustrious men and Nero Claudius and M. Silanus and Sentius Saturninus and Arruntius and Titius. But Statius Murcus, who by his arrival and by the forces of a most celebrated fleet had doubled his strength, having been accused with false criminations—because Mena and Menecrates had disdained such a man as a colleague in office—Pompeius had slain in Sicily.

[78] Hoc tractu temporum Octaviam, sororem Caesaris, M. Antonius duxit uxorem. Redierat Pompeius in Siciliam, Antonius in transmarinas provincias, quas magnis momentis Labienus, ex Brutianis castris profectus ad Parthos, perducto eorum exercitu in Syriam interfectoque legato Antonii concusserat; qui virtute et ductu Ventidii una cum Parthorum copiis celeberrimoque iuvenum Pacoro, regis filio, extinctus est.

[78] In this tract of time Octavia, the sister of Caesar, M. Antonius took to wife. Pompeius had returned into Sicily, Antonius into the transmarine provinces, which by great moments Labienus, setting out from the camps of Brutus to the Parthians, having led their army into Syria and slain Antony’s legate, had shaken; he, by the valor and leadership of Ventidius, together with the forces of the Parthians and with Pacorus, the most celebrated of youths, the king’s son, was extinguished.

2 Caesar per haec tempora, ne res discip1inae inimicissima, otium, corrumperet militem, crebris in Illyrico Delmatiaque expeditionibus patientia periculorum be11ique experientia durabat exercitum.

2 Caesar during these times, lest leisure, a thing most inimical to discipline, should corrupt the soldier, by frequent expeditions in Illyricum and Dalmatia was hardening the army in endurance of dangers and in experience of war.

3 Eadem tempestate Calvinus Domitius, cum ex consulatu obtineret Hispaniam, gravissimi comparandiaue antiquis exempli auctor fuit: quippe primi pili centurionem nomine Vibillium ob turpem ex acie fugam fusti percussit.

3 At the same time Calvinus Domitius, when after his consulship he held Spain, was the author of a most severe example, comparable to those of the ancients: indeed, he struck with a cudgel the centurion of the first spear, named Vibillius, for a shameful flight from the battle-line.

[79] Crescente in dies et classe et fama Pompei Caesar molem belli eius suscipere statuit. Aedificandis navibus contrahendoque militi ac remigi navalibusque adsuescendo certaminibus atque exercitationibus praefectus est M. Agrippa, virtutis nobilissimae, labore, vigilia, periculo invictus parendique, sed uni, scientissimus, aliis sane imperandi cupidus et per omnia extra dilationes positus consultisque facta coniungens.

[79] As both Pompey’s fleet and fame grew by the day, Caesar decided to undertake the mass of that war. For the building of ships, for assembling soldier and oarsman, and for accustoming them to naval contests and exercises, M. Agrippa was put in charge—a man of most noble virtue, unconquered by toil, by wakefulness, by danger, and most skilled in obeying—but to one alone—indeed eager to command others, and in all things set beyond delays, joining deeds to counsels.

2 Hic in Averno ac Lucrino lacu speciosissima classe fabricata cotidianis exercitationibus militem remigemque ad summam et militaris et maritimae rei perduxit scientiam. Hac classi Caesar, cum prius despondente ei Nerone, cui ante nupta fuerat Liviam, auspicatis rei publicae ominibus duxisset eam uxorem, Pompeio Siciliaeque bellum intulit.

2 He, on Lake Avernus and Lake Lucrinus, after a most specious fleet had been constructed, by daily exercises brought both the soldier and the oarsman to the highest knowledge of both the military and the maritime art. With this fleet Caesar—after Nero, to whom Livia had previously been married, had first betrothed her to him, and he had taken her as wife with auspicious omens for the commonwealth—brought war upon Pompey and upon Sicily.

3 Sed virum humana ope invictum graviter eo tempore fortuna concussit: quippe longe maiorem partem classis circa Veliam Palinurique promontorium adorta vis Africi laceravit ac distulit. Ea patrando bello mora fuit, quod postea dubia et interdum ancipiti fortuna gestum est.

3 But Fortune gravely shook at that time the man unconquered by human aid: for indeed, near Velia and the promontory of Palinurus, the force of the Africus wind, having assailed, tore and scattered by far the greater part of the fleet. That was a delay to the accomplishing of the war, which thereafter was conducted with doubtful, and at times precarious, Fortune.

4 Nam et classis eodem loco vexata est tempestate, et ut navali primo proelio apud Mylas ductu Agrippae pugnatum prospere, ita inopinato Pompeianae classis adventu gravis sub ipsius Caesaris oculis circa Tauromenium accepta clades; neque ab ipso periculum abfuit. Legiones, quae cum Cornificio erant, legato Caesaris, expositae in terram paene a Pompeio oppressae sunt.

4 For the fleet too in the same place was vexed by a tempest, and as in the first naval battle near Mylas, under the conduct of Agrippa, it was fought prosperously, so by the unlooked-for advent of Pompey’s fleet a grave calamity was received under Caesar’s very eyes around Tauromenium; nor was peril absent from himself. The legions which were with Cornificius, Caesar’s legate, having been put ashore, were almost crushed by Pompey.

5 Sed ancipitis fortuna temporis mature virtute correcta: explicatis quippe utriusque partis classibus paene omnibus exutus navibus Pompeius Asiam fuga petivit iussuque M. Antonii, cuius opem petierat, dum inter ducem et supplicem tumultuatur et nunc dignitatem retinet, nunc vitam precatur, a Titio iugulatus est.

5 But the two-edged fortune of the time was timely corrected by valor: for, the fleets of both parties drawn out, Pompeius, stripped of nearly all his ships, sought Asia in flight, and, by the order of M. Antonius, whose aid he had sought, while he was tumultuating between leader and suppliant and now retains dignity, now begs for life, he was slain by Titius.

6 Cui in tantum duravit hoc facinore contractum odium, ut mox ludos in theatro Pompei faciens execratione populi spectaculo, quod praebebat, pelleretur.

6 Against him the odium contracted by this deed endured to such a degree that soon, putting on games in the Theater of Pompey, by the execration of the people he was driven from the spectacle which he was presenting.

[80] Acciverat gerens contra Pompeium bellum ex Africa Caesar Lepidum cum duodecim semiplenis legionibus. Hic vir omnium vanissimus neque ulla virtute tam longam fortunae indugentiarn meritus exercitum Pompei, quia propior fuerat, sequentem non ipsius, sed Caesaris auctoritatem ac fidem, sibi iunxerat

[80] Caesar, while waging war against Pompey, had summoned from Africa Lepidus with 12 half-full legions. This man, the vainest of all, and by no virtue deserving so long an indulgence of fortune, had joined to himself Pompey’s army, because he had been nearer, which was following not his own authority and faith, but Caesar’s, to himself he had attached it

2 inflatusque amplius viginti legionum numero in id furoris processerat, ut inutilis alienae victoriae comes, quam diu moratus erat, dissidendo in consiliis Caesari et semper diversa üs, quae aliis placebant, dicendo, totam victoriam ut suam interpretabatur audebatque denuntiare Caesari, excederet Sicilia.

2 and, inflated by the number of more than twenty legions, he had advanced into such a pitch of frenzy that, a useless companion of another’s victory, for as long as he had lingered, by dissenting in councils from Caesar and always saying things different from those which pleased others, he interpreted the whole victory as his own and even dared to serve notice upon Caesar to depart from Sicily.

3 Non ab Scipionibus aliisque veteribus Romanorum ducum quidquam ausum patratumque fortius quam tunc a Caesare. Quippe cum inermis et lacernatus esset, praeter nomen nihil trahens, ingressus castra Lepidi, evitatis telis, quae iussu hominis pravissimi in eum iacta erant, cum lacerna eius perforata esset lancea, aquilam legionis rapere ausus est.

3 Nothing was attempted and accomplished more bravely by the Scipios and other ancient commanders of the Romans than then by Caesar. For since he was unarmed and cloaked in a lacerna, bearing nothing besides his name, having entered Lepidus’s camp, with the missiles avoided, which at the order of a most depraved man had been hurled at him, when his lacerna had been pierced by a lance, he dared to snatch the eagle of the legion.

4 Scires, quid interesset inter duces: armati inermem secuti sunt decimoque anno quam ad indignissimam vita sua potentiarn pervenerat, Lepidus et a militibus et a fortuna desertus pulloque velatus amiculo inter ultimam confluentium ad Caesarem turbam latens genibus eius advolutus est. Vita rerumque suarum dominium concessa ei sunt, spoliata, quam tueri non poterat, dignitas.

4 You would know what difference there was between the leaders: the armed followed the unarmed; and in the 10th year since he had reached a power most unworthy of his life, Lepidus, deserted both by the soldiers and by fortune and veiled in a dark little cloak, hiding within the outermost throng of those flowing together to Caesar, fell rolled at his knees. His life and the dominion of his affairs were granted to him, his dignity— which he could not protect— stripped away.

[81] Subita deinde exercitus seditio, qui plexumque contemplatus frequentiam suam a disciplina desciscit et, quod cogere se putat posse, rogare non sustinet, partim severitate, partim liberalitate discussa principis,

[81] Then a sudden sedition of the army, which, having contemplated both the knot and its own multitude, secedes from discipline and, what it thinks it can compel, does not endure to ask, was dispelled partly by the severity, partly by the liberality of the princeps,

2 speciosumque per idem tempus adiectum supplementum Campanae coloniae (veteranis in agros deductis qui coloniae veteranis in agros deductis qui coloniae eius relicti erant publici: pro his longe uberiores reditus duodecies sestertium in Creta insula redditi et aqua promissa, quae hodieque singulare et salubritaiis instrumentum et amoenitatis ornarnentum est.

2 and during the same time a splendid supplement was added to the Campanian colony (with veterans settled onto lands, while those who had been the public slaves of that colony were left as such: in place of these, far more abundant revenues—1,200,000 sesterces—were rendered on the island of Crete), and a water-supply was promised, which even today is both a singular instrument of salubrity and an ornament of amenity.

3 Insigne coronae classicae, quo nemo umquam Romanorum donatus erat, hoc bello Agrippa singulari virtute meruit. Vicior deinde Caesar reversus in urbem contractas emptionibus complures domos per procuratores, quo laxior fieret ipsius, publicis se usibus destinare professus est, templumque Apollinis et circa porticus facturum promisit, quod ab eo singulari extructum munificentia est.

3 The insignia of the naval crown, with which no Roman had ever been endowed, Agrippa by singular valor earned in this war. Victorious then, Caesar, having returned to the city, declared that the several houses, acquired by purchases through procurators so that his own might be more spacious, he would assign to public uses, and he promised he would make a temple of Apollo and porticoes around it, which was constructed by him with singular munificence.

[82] Qua aestate Caesar tam prospere sepelivit in Sicilia bellum, fortuna, in Caesare et in re publica mitis, saeviit ad Orientem. Quippe Antonius cum tredecim legionibus ingressus Armeniam ac deinde Mediam et per eas regiones Parthos petens habuit regem eorum obvium.

[82] In that summer Caesar so prosperously buried the war in Sicily, fortune, gentle toward Caesar and the republic, raged in the Orient. Indeed Antony, with thirteen legions, having entered Armenia and then Media and through those regions seeking the Parthians, encountered their king.

2 Primoque duas legiones cum omnibus impedimentis tormentisque et Statiano legato amisit, mox saepius ipse cum summo totius exercitus discrimine ea adiit pericula, a quibus servari se posse desperaret, amissaque non minus quarta parte militum captivi cuiusdam, sed Romani, consilio ac fide servatus est, qui clade Crassiani exercitus captus, cum fortuna non animum mutasset, accessit nocte ad stationem Romanam praedixitque, ne destinatum iter peterent, sed diverso silvestrique pervaderent.

2 And at first he lost two legions with all the baggage and siege-engines, and the legate Statianus; soon after, he himself, more than once, with the utmost peril of the whole army, approached those dangers, from
which he despaired that he could be saved; and, with not less than a fourth part
of the soldiers lost, he was preserved by the counsel and fidelity of a certain captive—but a Roman—who,
having been taken in the disaster of the army of Crassus, although he had not changed his spirit with his fortune, approached
by night a Roman station and forewarned them not to seek the intended route, but
to force their way by a different and forest path.

3 Hoc M. Antonio ac tot illis legionibus saluti fuit; de quibus tamen totoque exercitu haud minus pars quarta, ut praediximus, militum, calonum servitiique desiderata tertia est; impedimentorum vix ulla superfuit. Hanc tamen Antonius fugam suam, quia vivus exierat, victoriam voeabat. Qui tertia aesta.te reversus in Armeniam regem eius Artavasden fraude deceptum catenis, sed, ne quid honori deesset, aureis vinxit.

3 This proved a salvation for M. Antony and for all those legions; yet of them, and of the whole army, not less than a fourth part, as we have said before, of the soldiers was lost, and a third of the camp-servants and slaves; of the baggage scarcely any survived. Nevertheless Antony called this flight of his, because he had come out alive, a victory. He, having returned in the third summer into Armenia, bound its king, Artavasdes, deceived by fraud, with chains—but, lest anything be lacking to honor, with golden ones.

Crescente deinde et amoris in Cleopatram incendio et vitiorum,

Then, with the conflagration both of his love for Cleopatra and of his vices increasing,

4 quae semper facultatibus licentiaque et adsentationibus aluntur, magnitudine, bellum patriae inferre constituit, cum ante novum se Liberum Patrem appellari iussisset, cum redimitus hederis crocotaque velatus aurea et thyrsum tenens cothurnisque succinctus curru velut Liber Pater vectus esset Alexandriae.

4 which are always nourished by resources and license and adulations, as their magnitude grew, he resolved to bring war upon the fatherland, after earlier he had ordered himself to be called the new Liber Pater, when, wreathed with ivy and clothed with a golden saffron-robe and holding a thyrsus and girt with buskins, he had been carried in a chariot as though he were Liber Pater at Alexandria.

[83] Inter hunc apparatum belli Plancus, non iudicio recta legendi neque amore rei publicae aut Caesaris, quippe haec semper impugnabat, sed morbo proditor, cum fuisset humillimus adsentator reginae et infra servos cliens, cum Antonii librarius, cum obscenissimarum rerum et auctor et minister, cum in omnia et omnibus venalis,

[83] Amid this apparatus of war, Plancus, not by judgment of choosing the right nor by love of the republic or of Caesar—for indeed he always impugned these—but, through sickness, a traitor, though he had been the most abject adulator of the queen and a client beneath the slaves,
while Antony’s secretary, while both author and minister of the most obscene things,
while venal in everything and to everyone,

2 cum caeruleatus et nudus caputque redimitus arundine et caudam trahens, genihus innixus Glaucum saltasset in convivio, refrigeratus ab Antonio ob manifestarum rapinarum indicia transfugit ad Caesarem. Et idem postea clementiam victoris pro sua virtute interpretabatur, dictitans id probatum a Caesare, cui ille ignoverat; mox autem hunc avunculum Titius imitatus est.

2 when, blue-painted and naked and with his head wreathed with reed and dragging a tail, propped on his knees, he had danced Glaucus at a banquet, being cooled in favor by Antony on account of evidence of manifest rapine, he defected to Caesar. And the same man afterwards interpreted the victor’s clemency as his own virtue, saying repeatedly that that had been approved by Caesar, who had forgiven him; soon however, Titius imitated this uncle.

3 Haud absurde Coponius, vir e praetoriis gravissimus, P. Silii socer, cum recens transfuga multa ac nefanda Plancus absenti Antonio in senatu obiceret, "multa,", inquit, "mehercules fecit Antonius pridie quam tu illum relinqueres ".

3 Not inaptly did Coponius, a most weighty man of the praetorian rank, the father-in-law of P. Silius, when Plancus, a recent turncoat, was in the senate bringing many and unspeakable charges against Antony in his absence, say: "many," he said, "by Hercules, Antony did the day before you left him ".

[84] Caesare deinde et Messala Corvino consulibus debellatum apud Actium, ubi longe ante quam dimicaretur exploratissima Iulianarum partium fuit victoria. Vigebat in hac parte mi1es atque imperator, in illa marcebant omnia; hinc remiges firmissimi, illinc inopia adfectissimi; navium haec magnitudo modica nec celeritati adversa, illa specie terribilior; hinc ad Antonium nemo, illinc ad Caesarem cotidie aliquis transfugiebat;

[84] Then, with Caesar and Messalla Corvinus as consuls, the war was brought to an end at Actium, where long before the fighting the victory of the Julian party had been most fully ascertained. victory. On this side the soldiery and the commander were vigorous; on that, everything was languishing; here the oarsmen were most stalwart, there most afflicted by want; on this side the size of the ships was moderate and not adverse to celerity, on that more terrible in appearance; from this side to Antony no one, from that to Caesar every day someone was deserting;

2 rex Amyntas meliora et utiliora secutus; nam Dellius exempli sui tenax ut a Dolabella ad Cassium, a Cassio ad Antonium, ita ab Antonio transiit ad Caesarem; virque clarissimus Cn. Domitius, qui solus Antonianarum partium numquam reginam nisi nomine salutavit, maximo et praecipiti periculo transmisit ad Caesarem. Denique in ore atque oculis Antonianae classis per M. Agrippam Leucas expugnata, Patrae captae, Corinthus occupata, bis ante ultimum discrimen classis hostium superata.

2 King Amyntas, pursuing better and more expedient courses; for Dellius, tenacious of his own example, as from Dolabella to Cassius, from Cassius to Antony, so from Antony passed over to Caesar; and a most distinguished man, Cn. Domitius, who alone of Antony’s party never greeted the queen except by name, crossed over to Caesar with the greatest and headlong peril. Finally, before the very face and eyes of Antony’s fleet, Leucas was stormed through M. Agrippa, Patrae were captured, Corinth was occupied, and twice before the ultimate crisis the enemy’s fleet was overcome.

[85] Advenit deinde maximi discriminis dies, quo Caesar Antoniusque productis classibus pro salute alter, in ruinam alter terrarum orbis dimicavere.

[85] Then there came the day of the greatest crisis, when Caesar and Antony, with their fleets drawn out, fought—one for salvation, the other for the ruin of the world.

2 Dextrum navium Iulianarum cornu M. Lurio commissum, laevum Arruntio, Agrippae omne classici certaminis arbitrium; Caesar ei parti destinatus, in quam a fortuna vocaretur, ubique aderat. Classis Antonii regimen Publicolae Sosioque commissum. At in terra locatum exercitum Taurus Caesaris, Antonii regebat Canidius.

2 The right wing of the Julian ships was entrusted to M. Lurio, the left to Arruntius; to Agrippa the entire arbitration of the naval contest; Caesar, destined for that part to which he might be called by Fortune, was present everywhere. Antony’s fleet’s command was entrusted to Publicola and Sosius. But on land the army that had been posted was commanded by Taurus for Caesar, by Canidius for Antony.

3 Ubi initum certamen est, omnia in altera parte fuere, dux, remiges, milites, in altera nihil praeter milites. Prima occupat fugam Cleopatra. Antonius fugientis reginae quam pugnantis militis sui comes esse maluit, et imperator, qui in desertores saevire debuerat, desertor exercitus sui factus est. Illis etiam detracto capite in longum fortissime pugnandi duravit constantia

3 When the battle was begun, everything was on the one side—the commander, the oarsmen, the soldiers; on the other, nothing except the soldiers. Cleopatra is the first to seize flight. Antony preferred to be the companion of the fleeing queen rather than of his own fighting soldiers, and the commander, who should have raged against deserters, became a deserter of his own army. Even with their head removed, their constancy in fighting most bravely endured for a long time.

4 et desperata victoria in mortem dimicabatur. Caesar, quos ferro poterat interimere, verbis mulcere cupiens clamitansque et ostendens fugisse Antonium, quaerebat, pro quo et cum quo pugnarent.

4 and with victory despaired of, it was fought to the death. Caesar, wishing to soothe with words those whom he could slay with steel, shouting and showing that Antony had fled, kept asking for whom and with whom they were fighting.

5 At illi cum diu pro absente dimicassent duce, aegre summissis armis cessere victoriam, citiusque vitam veniamque Caesar promisit, quam illis ut eam precarentur persuasum est; fuitque in confesso milites optimi imperatoris, imperatorem fugacissimi militis functum officio,

5 But they, after they had long fought with their leader absent, reluctantly, their arms laid down, yielded the victory; and Caesar promised life and pardon more quickly than they were persuaded to beg for it; and it was acknowledged that the soldiers had performed the duty of the best general, and the general had performed the duty of the most flighty soldier,

6 ut dubites, suone an Cleopatrae arbitrio victoriam temperaturus fuerit, qui ad eius arbitrium direxerit fugam. Idem locatus in terra fecit exercitus, cum se Canidius praecipti fuga rapuisset ad Antonium.

6 so that you might doubt whether he would have tempered the victory by his own arbitrement or by Cleopatra’s, he who had directed the flight by her arbitrement. The same did the army posted on land, when Canidius, in precipitate flight, had snatched himself away to Antony.

[86] Quid ille dies terrarum orbi praestiterit, ex quo in quem statum pervenerit fortuna publica, quis in hoc transcursu tam artati operis exprimere audeat?

[86] What that day has bestowed upon the orb of lands, and into what state the public fortune has come since it, who would dare to express in this cursory run-through of so straitened a work?

2 Victoria vero fuit clementissima, nec quisquam interemptus est, paucissimi summoti, qui ne deprecari quidem pro se sustinerent. Ex qua lenitate ducis colligi potuit, quem aut initio triumviratus sui aut in campis Philippiis, si ei licuisset, victoriae suae facturus fuerit modum. At Sosium L. Arruntii prisca gravitate celeberrimi fides, mox, diu cum clementia luctatus sua, Caesar servavit incolumem.

2 The victory indeed was most clement, and no one was slain; very few were removed, who did not even endure to deprecate on behalf of themselves. From which lenity of the leader it could be gathered what limit he would have set to his victory either at the beginning of his triumvirate or on the Philippian fields, if it had been permitted to him, to his own victory he would have fixed a measure. But Sosius the fidelity of L. Arruntius, most renowned for ancient gravity, saved; soon after, Caesar, long wrestling with his own clemency, preserved him unharmed.

3 Non praetereatur Asinii Pollionis factum et dictum memorabile: namque cum se post Brundusinam pacem continuisset in Italia neque aut vidisset umquam reginam aut post enervatum amore eius Antonii animum partibus eius se miscuisset, rogante Caesare, ut secum ad bellum profisceretur Actiacum: " mea ", inquit, "in Antonium maiora merita sunt, illius in me beneficia notiora; itaque discrimini vestro me subtraham et ero praeda victoris".

3 Let not the deed and memorable saying of Asinius Pollio be passed over: for when, after the Brundusine peace, he had kept himself in Italy and had neither ever seen the queen nor, after Antony’s spirit had been enervated by love of her, had he mixed himself with his party, Caesar asking that he set out with him to the Actian war: " mea ", he said, "in Antony my merits are greater, his benefits toward me are more notorious; and so I will withdraw myself from your peril and I shall be the victor’s prey".

[87] Proximo deinde anno persecutus reginam Antoniumque Alexandream, ultimam bellis civilibus imposuit manum. Antonius se ipse non segniter interemit, adeo ut multa desidiae crimina morte redimeret. At Cleopatra frustratis custodibus inlata aspide in morsu et sanie eius expers muliebris metus spiritum reddidit.

[87] Then in the next year, having pursued the queen and Antony to Alexandria, he set the finishing touch to the civil wars. Antony killed himself not sluggishly, to such a degree that he redeemed many charges of sloth by his death. But Cleopatra, with her guards thwarted, having smuggled in an asp, in its bite and gore, free from womanly fear, gave up the ghost.

2 Fuitque et fortuna et clementia Caesaris dignum, quod nemo ex iis, qui contra eum arma tulerant, ab eo iussuve eius interemptus est. D. Brutum Antonii interemit crudelitas. Sextum Pompeium ab eo devictum idem Antonius, cum dignitatis quoque servandae dedisset fidem, etiam spiritu privavit.

2 And it was worthy both of the fortune and the clemency of Caesar, that none of those who had borne arms against him was slain by him or by his order. Decimus Brutus was slain by the cruelty of Antony. Sextus Pompeius, defeated by him, the same Antony, although he had given his pledge also for the preserving of his dignity, deprived even of life.

3 Brutus et Cassius ante, quam victorum experirentur animum, voluntaria morte obierunt. Antonii Cleopatraeque quis fuisset exitus narravimus. Canidius timidius decessit, quam professioni ei, qua semper usus erat, congruebat.

3 Brutus and Cassius, before they might experience the spirit of the victors, met death by a voluntary death. We have narrated what the outcome of Antony and Cleopatra was. Canidius departed more timidly than was congruent with the profession which he had always practiced.

Ultimus autem ex interfectoribus Caesaris Parmensis Cassius morte poenas dedit, ut dederat Trebonius primus.

The last, however, of Caesar’s assassins, Cassius of Parma, paid the penalty with death, as Trebonius had done first.

[88] Dum bello Actiaco Alexandrinoque Caesar imponit ultimam manum, M. Lepidus, iuvenis forma quam mente melior, Lepidi eius, qui triumvir fuerat rei publicae constituendae, filius, Iunia Bruti sorore natus, interficiendi, simul in urbem revertisset, Caesaris consilia inierat.

[88] While Caesar was putting the final hand to the Actian and Alexandrian war, M. Lepidus, a youth better in form than in mind, the son of that Lepidus who had been triumvir for constituting the republic, born of Junia, the sister of Brutus, had entered upon plans for killing Caesar, as soon as he returned to the city.

2 Erat tunc urbis custodiis praepositus C. Maecenas equestri, sed splendido genere natus, vir, ubi res vigiliam exigeret, sane ex omnis, providens atque agendi sciens, simul vero aliquid ex negotio remitti posset, otio ac mollitiis paene ultra, feminam fluens, non minus Agrippa Caesari carus, sed minus honoratus (quippe vixit angusti clavi plene contentus), nec minora consequi potuit, sed non tam concupivit.

2 At that time C. Maecenas, of equestrian but splendid lineage, was set over the city's watch, a man who, when the situation demanded vigilance, truly in every way provident and knowing how to act; but whenever something could be relaxed from business, he flowed into leisure and softness almost beyond a woman, no less dear to Caesar than Agrippa, but less honored (indeed he lived fully content with the narrow stripe), and he could have attained nothing less, but he did not desire it so much.

3 Hic speculatus est per summam quietem ac dissimulationem praecipitis consilia iuvenis et mira celeritate nullaque cum perturbatione aut rerum aut hominum oppresso Lepido inmane novi ac resurrecturi belli civilis restinxit initium. Et ille quidem male consultorum poenas exsolvit. Aequetur praedictae iam Antistü Servilia Lepidi uxor, quae vivo igni devorato praematura morte immortalem nominis sui pensavit memoriam.

3 He, having kept watch through the utmost quietude and dissimulation, spied out the headlong counsels of the youth, and with wondrous celerity, and with no perturbation either of affairs or of persons, Lepidus having been overpowered, he quenched the monstrous beginning of a new and about-to-be-resurrected civil war. And he indeed paid the penalties of ill counsels. Let Servilia, the wife of Lepidus, be matched with the already aforementioned Antistia, who, having devoured living fire, by a premature death balanced an immortal memory of her name.

[89] Caesar autem reversus in Italiam atque urbem quo occursu, quo favore hominum omnium generum, aetatum, ordinum exceptus sit, quae magnificentia triumphorum eius, quae fuerit munerum, ne in operis quidem iusti materia, nedum huius tam recisi digne exprimi potest.

[89] But Caesar, having returned into Italy and the city—by what a meeting, by what favor of men of every kind, age, and order he was received; what the magnificence of his triumphs was, what the scale of his munera—cannot be expressed worthily even within the material of a proper work, much less in one so abridged as this.

2 Nihil deinde optare a dis homines, nihil dii hominibus praestare possunt, nihil voto concipi, nihil felicitate consummari, quod non Augustus post reditum in urbem rei publicae populoque Romano terrarumque orbi repraesentaverit.

2 Nothing then can men wish from the gods, nothing can the gods bestow upon men, nothing be conceived by vow, nothing be consummated by felicity, which Augustus, after his return into the city, did not present to the commonwealth, to the Roman people, and to the orb of lands.

3 Finita vicesimo anno bella civilia, sepulta externa, revocata pax, sopitus ubique armorum furor, restituta vis legibus, iudiciis auctoritas, senatui maiestas, imperium magistratuum ad pristinum redactum modum, tantummodo octo praetoribus adlecti duo. Prisca illa et antiqua rei publicae forma revocata.

3 The civil wars finished in the 20th year, the foreign wars buried, peace recalled, the fury of arms everywhere lulled, the force restored to the laws, authority to the courts, majesty to the Senate, the imperium of the magistrates reduced to its pristine measure, only two adlected to the eight praetors. That pristine and ancient form of the republic was recalled.

4 Rediit cultus agris, sacris honos, securitas hominibus, certa cuique rerum suarum possessio; leges emendatae utiiiter, latae salubriter; senatus sine asperitate nec sine severitate lectus. Principes viri triumphisque et amplissimis honoribus functi adhortatu principis ad ornandam urbem inlecti sunt. Consulatus tantummodo usque ad undecimum quin continuaret Caesar,

4 Cultivation returned to the fields, honor to the sacred rites, security to men, to each person the certain possession of his own goods; the laws were emended usefully, enacted wholesomely; the senate was chosen without asperity and not without severity. Leading men, and men who had enjoyed triumphs and the most ample honors, were, at the exhortation of the princeps, enticed to adorn the city. The consulship only up to the eleventh did Caesar continue,

5 cum saepe obnitens repugnasset, impetrare non potuit: nam dictaturam quam pertinaciter ei deferebat populus, tam constanter repulit. Bella sub imperatore gesta pacatusque

5 when, though often opposing and resisting, he could not obtain it: for the dictatorship which the people were pertinaciously conferring upon him, he just as steadfastly repelled. The wars waged under the emperor and pacified

6 victoriis terrarum orbis et tot extra Italiam domique opera omne aevi sui spatium impensurum in id solum opus scriptorem fatigarent: nos memores professionis universam imaginem principatus eius oculis animisque subiecimus.

6 the victories of the orb of lands and so many works both outside Italy and at home would wear out a writer who should expend the whole span of his lifetime on that single task: we, mindful of our profession, have set before eyes and minds the entire image of his principate.

[90] Sepultis, ut praediximus, bellis civilibus coalescentibusque rei publicae membris, et coaluere quae tam longa armorum series laceraverat. Dalmatia, annos viginti et ducentos rebellis, ad certam confessionem pacata est imperii. Alpes feris incultisque nationibus celebres perdomitae.

[90] With the civil wars, as we have foretold, buried, and with the members of the commonwealth coalescing, there also coalesced the things which so long a series of arms had lacerated. Dalmatia, rebellious for two hundred and twenty years, was pacified to a definite confession of the Empire. The Alps, celebrated for wild and uncultivated nations, were thoroughly subdued.

Hispaniae nunc ipsius praesentia, nunc Agrippae, quem usque in tertium consulatum et mox collegium tribuniciae potestatis amicitia principis evexerat, multo varioque Marte pacatae.

The Spains were pacified, now by his own presence, now by Agrippa—whom the friendship of the prince had raised even to a third consulship and soon to the college of tribunician power—through much and varied warfare.

2 In quas provincias cum initio Scipione et Sempronio Longo consulibus primo anno secundi belli Punici abhinc annos quinquaginta et ducentos Romani exercitus missi essent duce Cn. Scipione, Africani patruo, per annos ducentos in iis multo mutuoque ita certatum est sanguine, ut amissis populi Romani imperatoribus exercitibusque saepe contumelia, nonnumquam etiam periculum Romano inferretur imperio.

2 Into which provinces, when at the beginning Scipio and Sempronius Longus were consuls, in the first year of the Second Punic War, two hundred and fifty years ago, Roman armies were sent under the leader Cn. Scipio, the uncle of Africanus; for two hundred years in them it was so contested with much and mutual blood, that, with the commanders of the Roman people and their armies lost, insult was often, and sometimes even danger, brought upon the Roman imperium.

3 Illae enim provinciae Scipiones consumpserunt; illae contumelioso decem annorum bello sub duce Viriatho maiores nostros exercuerunt; illae terrore Numantini belli populum Romanum concusserunt; in illis turpe Q. Pompei foedus turpiusque Mancini senatus cum ignominia dediti imperatoris rescidit; illa tot consulares, tot praetorios absumpsit duces, patrumque aetate in tantum Sertorium armis extulit, ut per quinquennium diiudicari non potuerit, Hispanis Romanisne in armis plus esset roboris et uter populus alteri pariturus foret.

3 For those provinces consumed the Scipios; those exercised our ancestors with a contumelious ten-year war under the leader Viriathus; those shook the Roman people with the terror of the Numantine war; in those the Senate rescinded the shameful treaty of Q. Pompeius and the more shameful one of Mancinus, with the ignominy of the surrendered commander; that one consumed so many consular, so many praetorian leaders, and in our fathers’ age so advanced Sertorius by arms that for 5 years it could not be adjudged whether there was more strength in arms among the Spaniards or the Romans, and which people would be destined to obey the other.

4 Has igitur provincias tam diffusas, tam frequentis, tam feras ad eam pacem abhinc annos ferme quinquaginta perduxit Caesar Augustus, ut quae maximis bellis numquam vacaverant, eae sub C. Antistio ac deinde P. Silio legato ceterisque postea etiam latrociniis vacarent.

4 Therefore these provinces, so widespread, so populous, so fierce, Caesar Augustus brought to such a peace about fifty years ago, that those which had never been free from the greatest wars were, under C. Antistius and then P. Silius as legate, and afterward under others as well, even free from banditry.

[91] Dum pacatur occidens, ab oriente ac rege Parthorum signa Romana, quae Crasso oppresso Orodes, quae Antonio pulso filius eius Phraates ceperant, Augusto remissa sunt. Quod cognomen illi iure Planci sententia consensus universi senatus populique Romani indidit.

[91] While the West was being pacified, from the East and the king of the Parthians the Roman standards,
which Orodes had taken when Crassus was overthrown, and which his son Phraates had taken when Antony was driven back,
were sent back to Augustus. That cognomen, with right, on the motion of Plancus,
the consensus of the entire Senate and Roman People bestowed upon him.

2 Erant tamen qui hunc felicissimum statum odissent: quippe L. Murena et Fannius Caepio diversis moribus (nam Murena sine hoc facinore potuit videri bonus, Caepio et ante hoc erat pessimus) cum iniissent occidendi Caesaris consi1ia, oppressi auctoritate publica, quod vi facere voluerant, iure passi sunt.

2 There were, however, those who hated this most felicitous state: indeed, L. Murena and Fannius Caepio of different characters (for Murena, without this crime, could have seemed good, Caepio even before this was very wicked), when they had entered upon plans for killing Caesar, overpowered by public authority, by right suffered what they had wished to do by force.

3 Neque multo post Rufus Egnatius, per omnia gladiatori quam senatori propior, collecto in aedilitate favore populi, quem extinguendis privata familia incendiis in dies auxerat, in tantum quidem, ut ei praeturam continuaret, mox etiam consulatum petere ausus, cum esset omni flagitiorum scelerumque conscientia mersus nec melior illi res familiaris quam mens foret, adgregatis simillimis sibi interimere Caesarem statuit, ut quo salvo salvus esse non poterat, eo sublato moreretur.

3 And not long after, Rufus Egnatius, in every respect nearer to a gladiator than to a senator, having collected in his aedileship the favor of the people—which he had day by day increased by extinguishing fires in private households—to such a degree indeed that it prolonged for him the praetorship, soon even daring to seek the consulship, since he was sunk in the conscience of every disgrace and crime, and his family estate was no better than his mind, having aggregated to himself men most like himself, resolved to do away with Caesar, in order that, since he could not be safe while that man was safe, with him removed he might die.

4 Quippe ita se mores habent, ut publica quisque ruina malit occidere quam sua proteri et idem passurus minus conspici. Neque hic prioribus in occultando felicior fuit, abditusque carceri cum consciis facinoris mortem dignissimam vita sua obiit.

4 For thus do the mores stand, that each prefers to perish in a public ruin rather than to have his own things trampled and, destined to suffer the same, to be less conspicuous. Nor was this man more felicitous than the former in occulting it, and, consigned to prison with the accomplices of the crime, he met a death most worthy of his life.

[92] Praeclarum excellentis viri factum C. Sentii Saturnini circa ea tempora consulis ne fraudetur memoria. Aberat ordinandis Asiae Orientisque rebus Caesar,

[92] Let the illustrious deed of the excellent man Gaius Sentius Saturninus, consul around that time, not be defrauded of remembrance. Caesar was absent for the ordering of the affairs of Asia and the Orient,

2 circumferens terrarum orbi praesentia sua pacis suae bona. Tum Sentius, forte et solus et absente Caesare consul, cum alia prisca severitate, summaque constantia, vetere consulum more ac severitate, gessisset, protraxisset publicanorum fraudes, punisset avaritiam, regessisset in aerarium pecunias publicas, tum in comitiis habendis praecipuum egit consulem:

2 carrying about to the world, by his presence, the goods of his peace. Then Sentius, by chance the sole consul with Caesar absent, since he had carried on other matters with old-time severity and with utmost constancy, in the ancient custom and severity of the consuls, had drawn into the open the frauds of the tax-farmers, punished avarice, restored the public monies to the aerarium, then, in holding the comitia, played the preeminent consul:

3 nam et quaesturam petentes, quos indignos iudicavit, profiteri vetuit, et, cum id facturos se perseverarent, consularem, si in campum descendissent, vindictam minatus est,

3 for he both forbade those seeking the quaestorship, whom he judged unworthy, to profess, and, when they persisted that they would do this, he threatened consular vengeance, if they should descend into the field,

4 et Egnatium florentem favore publico sperantemque ut praeturam aedilitati, ita consulatum praeturae se iuncturum, profiteri vetuit, et cum id non obtinuisset, iuravit, etiam si factus esset consul suffragiis populi, tamen se eum non renuntiaturum.

4 and Egnatius, flourishing with public favor and hoping that, as he would join the praetorship to the aedileship, so the consulship to the praetorship, he forbade to register as a candidate; and when he had not obtained this, he swore that, even if he were made consul by the suffrages of the people, nevertheless he would not proclaim him.

5 Quod ego factum cuilibet veterum consulum gloriae comparandum reor, nisi quod naturaliter audita visis laudamus libentius et praesentia invidia, praeterita veneratione prosequimur et his nos obrui, illis instrui credimus.

5 Which deed I judge comparable to the glory of any of the consuls of old, except that by nature we more willingly praise things heard than things seen, and we pursue present things with envy, past things with veneration, and we believe ourselves to be overwhelmed by the former, instructed by the latter.

[93] Ante triennium fere, quam Egnatianum scelus erumperet, circa Murenae Caepionisque coniurationis tempus ,abhinc annos quinquaginta, M. Marcellus, sororis Augusti Octaviae filius, quem homines ita, si quid accidisset Caesari, successorem potentiae eius arbitrabantur futurum, ut tamen id per M. Agrippam securo ei posse contingere non existimarent, magnificentissimo munere aedilitatis edito decessit admodum iuvenis, sane, ut aiunt, ingenuarum virtutum laetusque animi et ingenii fortunaeque, in quam alebatur, capax.

[93] Almost three years before the crime of Egnatianus burst forth, around the time ,fifty years ago, of the conspiracy of Murena and Caepio, M. Marcellus, the son of Augustus’ sister Octavia—whom men thus thought would be the successor to his power, if anything should happen to Caesar, yet in such a way that they did not think that this could safely befall him except through M. Agrippa—after a most magnificent aedilician munus had been exhibited, departed this life a very young man, truly, as they say, abounding in ingenuous virtues and capable of the spirit and talent and of the fortune for which he was being reared.

2 Post cuius obitum Agrippa, qui sub specie ministeriorum principalium profectus in Asiam, ut fama loquitur, ob tacitas cum Marcello offensiones praesenti se subduxerat tempori, reversus inde filiam Caesaris Iuliam, quam in matrimonio Marcellus habuerat, duxit uxorem, feminam neque sibi neque rei publicae felicis uteri.

2 After whose death, Agrippa—who, under the guise of imperial ministries, had set out into Asia and, as rumor speaks, had withdrawn himself from the present juncture because of silent offenses with Marcellus—returned from there and married Julia, Caesar’s daughter, whom Marcellus had had in matrimony, a woman of a womb not fortunate for either himself or the commonwealth.

[94] Hoc tractu temporum Ti. Claudius Nero, quo trimo, ut praediximus, Livia, Drusi Claudiani filia, despondente Ti. Nerone, cui ante nupta fuerat, Caesari nupserat,

[94] In this stretch of time—when Tiberius Claudius Nero, three years old, as we have said—Livia, daughter of Drusus Claudianus, with Tiberius Nero, to whom she had previously been wed, betrothing her, had married Caesar,

2 innutritus caelestium praeceptorum disciplinis, iuvenis genere, forma, celsitudine corporis, optimis studiis maximoque ingenio instructissimus, qui protinus quantus est, sperari potuerat visuque praetulerat principern,

2 nurtured in the disciplines of celestial precepts, a youth in birth, form, and celsitude of body, most thoroughly furnished with the best studies and the greatest genius, who forthwith, such as he is, could have been hoped for, and by his appearance displayed a prince.

3 quaestor undevicesimum annum agens capessere coepit rem publicam maximamque difficultatem annonae ac rei frumentariae inopiam ita Ostiae atque in urbe mandatu vitrici moderatus est, ut per id, quod agebat, quantus evasurus esset, eluceret.

3 as quaestor, in his nineteenth year,
he began to take up the republic, and he so managed at Ostia and in the city, by his stepfather’s mandate, the very great difficulty of the annona and the scarcity of the grain-supply,
that through what he was doing it became clear how great he would prove to be.

4 Nec multo post missus ab eodem vitrico cum exercitu ad visendas ordinandasque, quae sub Oriente sunt, provincias, praecipuis omnium virtutum experimentis in eo tractu editis, cum legionibus ingressus Armeniam, redacta ea in potestatem populi Romani regnum eius Artavasdi dedit. Quin rex quaque Parthorum tanti nominis fama territus liberos suos ad Caesarem misit obsides.

4 Nor long after, sent by that same stepfather with an army to view and to order the provinces which are under the Orient, with the preeminent proofs of all the virtues exhibited in that tract, having entered Armenia with the legions, with it reduced into the power of the Roman People, he gave its kingdom to Artavasdes. Nay indeed, the king also of the Parthians, terrified by the fame of so great a name, sent his children to Caesar as hostages.

[95] Reversum inde Neronem Caesar haud mediocris belli mole experiri statuit, adiutore operis dato fratre ipsius Druso Claudio, quem intra Caesaris penates enixa erat Livia. Quippe uterque e diversis partibus Raetos Vindelicosqueadgressi,

[95] From there, Caesar decided that Nero, on his return, should attempt a war of no mean mass, with Drusus Claudius, his brother, given as helper in the enterprise—whom Livia had brought forth within Caesar’s household. For indeed each, from different quarters, attacked the Raeti and the Vindelici,

2 multis urbium et castellorum oppugnantibus nec non derecta quoque acie feliciter functi gentes locis tutissimas, aditu difficillimas, numero frequentes, feritate truces maiore cum periculo quam damno Romani exercitus plurimo cum earum sanguine perdomuerunt.

2 with many cities and forts being besieged, and likewise, in a drawn-up battle line as well, having performed successfully, they thoroughly subdued peoples most secure in their positions, very difficult of access, numerous in number, savage in ferocity, with greater peril than loss to the Roman army, and with very much of their blood.

3 Ante quae tempora censura Planci et Pauli acta inter discordiam neque ipsis honori neque rei publicae usui fuerat, cum alteri vis censoria, alteri vita deesset, Paulus vix posset implere censorem, Plancus timere deberet, nec quidquam obiicere posset adulescentibus aut obiicientes audire, quod non agnosceret senex.

3 Before these times the censorship of Plancus and Paulus, conducted amid discord, had been neither an honor to themselves nor a utility to the Republic, since to the one the censorial force was lacking, to the other life was lacking—Paulus could scarcely fulfill the censorate, Plancus ought to be afraid—and he could object nothing to the young men or listen to those bringing objections which the old man did not acknowledge in himself.

[96] Mors deinde Agrippae, qui novitatem suam multis rebus nobilitaverat atque in hoc perduxerat, ut et Neronis esset socer, cuiusque liberos nepotes suos divus Augustus praepositis Gai ac Lucii nominibus adoptaverat, admovit propius Neronem Caesari: quippe filia Iulia eius, quae fuerat Agrippae nupta, Neroni nupsit.

[96] Then the death of Agrippa, who had made his novelty noble by many things and had brought it to this point—that he was even Nero’s father-in-law, and whose children the deified Augustus had adopted as his own grandsons with the names of Gaius and Lucius prefixed—brought Nero nearer to Caesar: for his daughter Julia, who had been Agrippa’s wife, married Nero.

2 Subinde bellum Pannonicum, quod inchoatum ab Agrippa, Marco Vinicio, avo tuo consule, magnum atroxque et perquam vicinum imminebat Italiae, per Neronem gestum est. Gentes Pannoniorum Delmatarumque nationes situmque regionum ac fluminum

2 Soon after, the Pannonian war, which had been commenced by Agrippa, with Marcus Vinicius, your grandfather, as consul—a great and fierce war and exceedingly near, looming over Italy—was prosecuted through Nero. The tribes of the Pannonians, the nations of the Dalmatians, and the situation of the regions and of the rivers

3 numerumque et modum virium excelsissimasque et multiplices eo bello victorias tanti mperatoris alio loco explicabimus: hoc opus servet formam suam. Huius victoriae compos Nero ovans triumphavit.

3 and the number and the mode of the forces, and the most exalted and manifold victories in that war of so great a commander, we will explicate elsewhere: let this work preserve its own form. Master of this victory, Nero, ovating, triumphed.

[97] Sed dum in hac parte imperii omnia geruntur prosperrime, accepta in Germania clades sub legato M. Lollio, homine in omnia pecuniae quam recte faciendi cupidiore et inter summam vitiorum dissimulationem vitiosissimo, amissaque legionis quintae aquila vocavit ab urbe in Gallias Caesarem.

[97] But while in this part of the empire all things were being conducted most prosperously, a disaster in
Germany was sustained under the legate M. Lollius, a man in all things more desirous of money than of doing rightly,
and, amid the utmost dissimulation of vices, most vicious;
and the loss of the eagle of the fifth legion summoned Caesar from the city into Gaul.

2 Cura deinde atque onus Germanici belli delegata Druso Claudio, fratri Neronis, adulescenti tot tantarumque virtutum, quot et quantas natura mortalis recipit vel industria perficit. Cuius ingenium utrum bellicis magis operibus an civilibus suffecerit artibus, in incerto est:

2 Then the care and the burden of the Germanic war were delegated to Drusus Claudius, brother of Nero, a youth of as many and such great virtues as mortal nature admits or industry accomplishes. As to whose genius, whether it sufficed more for warlike works or for civil arts, it is in uncertainty:

3 morum certe dulcedo ac suavitas et adversus amicos aequa ac par sui aestimatio inimitabilis fuisse diciiur; nam pulchritudo corporis proxima fraternae fuit. Sed illum magna ex parte domitorem Germaniae, plurimo eius gentis variis in locis profuso sanguine, fatorum iniquitas consulem, agentem annum tricesimum, rapui.

3 of character certainly sweetness and suavity, and toward friends an equitable and equal estimation of himself, is said to have been inimitable; for the beauty of his body was next to his brother’s. But him, in great part the subduer of Germany, with very much blood of that nation poured out in various places, the iniquity of the fates snatched away as consul, as he was passing his thirtieth year.

4 Moles deinde eius belli translata in Neronem est: quod is sua et virtute et fortuna administravit peragratusque victor omnis partis Germaniae sine ullo detrimento commissi exercitus, quod praecipue huic duci semper curae fuit, sic perdomuit eam, ut in formam paene stipendiariae redigeret provinciae. Tum alter triumphus cum altero consulatu ei oblatus est.

4 The mass of that war was then transferred onto Nero: who administered it by his own virtue and fortune, and, having traversed as victor all parts of Germania, without any detriment to the entrusted army—which was especially a care to this leader always—thus he thoroughly subdued it, so that he reduced it into the form of an almost stipendiary province. Then another triumph together with another consulship was offered to him.

[98] Dum ea, quae diximus, in Pannonia Germaniaque geruntur, atrox in Thracia bellum ortum, omnibus eius gentis nationibus in arma accensis, L. Pisonis, quem hodieque diligentissimum atque eundem lenissimum securitatis urbanae custodem habemus,

[98] While those things which we have said are being carried on in Pannonia and Germania, a fierce war arose in Thrace, with all the nations of that race kindled to arms, L. Piso, whom even today we have as the most diligent and likewise the gentlest guardian of urban security,

2 virtus compressit (quippe legatus Caesaris triennio cum iis bellavit gentesque ferocissimas plurimo cum earum excidio nunc acie, nunc expugnationibus in pristinum pacis redegit modum) eiusque patratione Asiae securitatem, Macedoniae pacem reddidit. De quo viro hoc omnibus sentiendum ac praedicandum est, esse mores eius vigore ac lenitate mixtissimos

2 his valor compressed it (for, as Caesar’s legate, he campaigned with them for three years and, with very great destruction of them, now by the battle line, now by stormings, brought the most ferocious nations back to their former condition of peace) and by its accomplishment he restored security to Asia, peace to Macedonia. Concerning this man, this is to be felt and proclaimed by all: that his character is most perfectly mingled of vigor and lenity.

3 et vix quemquam reperiri posse, qui aut otium validius diligat aut facilius sufficiat negotio et magis quae agenda sunt curet sine ulla ostentatione agendi.

3 and that scarcely anyone can be found who either loves leisure more strongly or more easily is sufficient for business, and who more cares for the things that are to be done without any ostentation of doing.

[99] Brevi interiecto spatio Ti. Nero duobus consulatibus totidemque triumphis actis tribuniciae potestatis consortione aequatus Augusto, civium post unum, et hoc, quia volebat, eminentissimus, ducum maximus, fama fortunaque celeberrimus et vere alterum rei publicae lumen et caput,

[99] After a short interval interposed, Tiberius Nero, with two consulships and as many triumphs accomplished, made equal to Augustus by a partnership of tribunician power, the most eminent of citizens after one—and that one, because he wished it—the greatest of leaders, most celebrated in fame and fortune, and truly the second light and head of the republic,

2 mira quadam et incredibili atque inenarrabili pietate, cuius causae mox detectae sunt, cum Gaius Caesar sumpisset iam virilem togam, Lucius item maturus esset viribus, ne fulgor suus orientium iuvenum obstaret initiis, dissimulata causa consilii sui, commeatum ab socero atque eodem vitrico adquiescendi a continuatione laborum petiit.

2 with a certain wondrous and incredible and inenarrable piety, the causes of which were soon
discovered, when Gaius Caesar had already assumed the manly toga, and Lucius likewise
was mature in strength, lest his own brilliance should obstruct the beginnings of the rising youths,
with the cause of his plan dissembled, he sought leave from his father-in-law and this same man his stepfather
to rest from the continuation of labors.

3 Quis fuerit eo tempore civitatis habitus, qui singulorum animi, quae digredientium a tanto viro omnium lacrimae, quam paene ei patria manum iniecerit, iusto servemus operi:

3 What the condition of the state was at that time, what the minds of individuals, what the tears of all who were departing from so great a man, how nearly the fatherland laid a hand upon him, let us reserve for a fitting work:

4 illud etiam in hoc transcursu dicendum est, ita septem annos Rhodi moratum, ut omnes, qui pro consulibus legatique in transmarinas sunt profecti provincias, visendi eius gratia Rhodum deverterint atque eum convenientes semper privato, si illa maiestas privata umquam fuit, fasces suos summiserint fassique sint otium eius honoratius imperio suo.

4 it must also be said in this rapid run-through, that he stayed at Rhodes for seven years in such a way that all who, as proconsuls and legates, set out into transmarine provinces turned aside to Rhodes for the sake of seeing him, and, when meeting him, always, as a private man—if that majesty was ever private—lowered their fasces and confessed that his otium was more honorable than their imperium.

[100] Sensit terrarum orbis digressum a custodia Neronem urbis: nam et Parthus desciscens a societate Romana adiecit Armeniae manum et Germania, aversis domitoris sui oculis, rebellavit.

[100] The orb of lands felt Nero’s withdrawal from the guardianship of the city: for both the Parthian, seceding from Roman alliance, laid his hand upon Armenia, and Germany, with the eyes of its tamer turned away, rebelled.

2 At in urbe eo ipso anno, quo magnificentissimis gladiatorii muneris naumachiaeque spectaculis divus Augustus abhinc annos triginta se et Gallo Caninio consulibus, dedicato Martis templo animos oculosque populi Romani repleverat, foeda dictu memoriaque horrenda in ipsius domo tempestas erupit.

2 But in the city, in that very year in which, by the most magnificent spectacles of a gladiatorial munus and a naumachy, the deified Augustus—thirty years ago, with himself and Caninius Gallus as consuls, the temple of Mars having been dedicated—had filled the minds and eyes of the Roman people, a storm, foul to speak and horrendous to remember, burst forth in his own house.

3 Quippe filia eius Iulia, per omnia tanti parentis ac viri immemor, nihil, quod facere aut pati turpiter posset femina, luxuria libidineve infectum reliquit magnitudinemque fortunae suae peccandi licentia metiebatur, quidquid liberet pro licito vindicans.

3 For indeed his daughter Julia, in all things unmindful of so great a parent and husband, left nothing that a woman could do or suffer shamefully untouched by luxury or by libido, and she measured the greatness of her fortune by a license for sinning, claiming as licit whatever might please her.

4 Tum Iulus Antonius, singulare exemplum clementiae Caesaris, violator eius domus, ipse sceleris a se commissi ultor fuit (quem victo eius patre non tantum incolumitate donaverat, sed sacerdotio, praetura, consulatu, provinciis honoratum, etiam matrimonio sororis suae filiae in artissimam adfinitatem receperat),

4 Then Iulus Antonius, a singular example of Caesar’s clemency, the violator of his household, was himself the avenger of the crime committed by himself (whom, with his father defeated, he had not only endowed with safety, but, honored with a priesthood, a praetorship, a consulship, and provinces, had even received into the closest affinity by the marriage of his sister’s daughter),

5 Quintiusque Crispinus, singularem nequitiam supercilio truci protegens, et Appius Claudius et Sempronius Gracchus ac Scipio aliique minoris nominis utriusque ordinis viri, quas cuiuslibet uxore violata poenas pependissent, pependere, cum Caesaris filiam et Neronis violassent coniugem. Iulia relegata in insulam patriaeque et parentum subducta oculis, quam tamen comitata mater Scribonia voluntaria exilii permansit comes.

5 And Quintius Crispinus, shielding his singular wickedness with a grim brow, and Appius Claudius and Sempronius Gracchus and Scipio and other men of lesser name of both orders, paid the penalties which they would have paid had anyone’s wife been violated, though they had violated Caesar’s daughter and Nero’s spouse. Julia was relegated to an island and withdrawn from the eyes of her fatherland and her parents; whom, however, her mother Scribonia, having accompanied, remained as a voluntary companion of exile.

[101] Breve ab hoc intercesserat spatium, cum C. Caesar ante aliis provinciis ad visendum obitis in Syriam missus, convento prius Ti. Nerone, cui omnem honorem ut superiori habuit, tam varie se ibi gessit, ut nec laudaturum magna nec vituperaturum mediocris materia deficiat. Cum rege Parthorum, iuvene excelsissimo, in insula quam amnis Euphrates ambiebat, aequato utriusque partis numero coiit.

[101] A brief interval had intervened from this, when Gaius Caesar—after other provinces had first been visited for inspection—was sent into Syria; having first met Tiberius Nero, to whom he showed every honor as to a superior, he conducted himself there so variously that material would not be lacking either for one who would praise great things or for one who would blame middling things. With the king of the Parthians, a most exalted youth, he met on an island which the river Euphrates encircled, the number of each party being made equal.

2 Quod spectaculum stantis ex diverso hinc Romani, illinc Parthorum exercitus, cum duo inter se eminentissima imperiorum et hominum coirent capita, perquam clarum et memorabile sub initia stipendiorum meorum

2 What a spectacle, the armies standing on opposite sides, here the Romans, there the Parthians, when the two most eminent heads of empires and of men came together, exceedingly illustrious and memorable at the beginnings of my military service

3 tribuno militum mihi visere contigit: quem militiae gradum ante sub patre tuo, M. Vinici, et P. Silio auspicatus in Thracia Macedoniaque, mox Achaia Asiaque et omnibus ad Orientem visis provinciis et ore atque utroque maris Pontici latere, haud iniucunda tot rerum, locorum, gentium, urbium recordatione perfruor. Prior Parthus apud Gaium in nostra ripa, posterior hic apud regem in hostili epulatus est.

3 as a military tribune it befell me to see it: which grade of military service, earlier auspicated under your father, M. Vinicius, and under P. Silius
in Thrace and Macedonia, soon in Achaia and Asia, and, with all the provinces toward
the East seen, and the mouth and both sides of the Pontic Sea,
I enjoy the not-unpleasant recollection of so many things, places, nations, cities. Earlier the Parthian
feasted with Gaius on our bank; later, here, the latter feasted with the king on hostile
ground.

[102] Quo tempore M. Lollii, quem veluti moderatorem iuventae filii sui Augustus esse voluerat, perfida et plena subdoli ac versuti animi consilia, per Parthum indicata Caesari, fama vulgavit. Cuius mors intra paucos dies fortuita an voluntaria fuerit ignoro. Sed quam hunc decessisse laetati homines, tam paulo post obiisse Censorinum in iisdem provinciis graviter tulit civitas, virum demerendis hominibus genitum.

[102] At that time rumor broadcast the perfidious counsels, full of a sly and wily mind, of M. Lollius—whom Augustus had wished to be, as it were, the moderator of his son’s youth—disclosed to Caesar through a Parthian. Whose death, within a few days, whether fortuitous or voluntary, I do not know. But as men rejoiced that this man had departed, so, a little later, the state took grievously that Censorinus had died in the same provinces, a man born for winning men over.

2 Armeniam deinde Gaius ingressus prima parte introitus prospere rem gessit; mox in conloquio, cui se temere crediderat, circa Artageram graviter a quodam, nomine Adduo, vulneratus, ex eo ut corpus minus habile, ita animum minus utilem rei publicae habere coepit.

2 Then Gaius, having entered Armenia, managed the matter prosperously in the first part of his entrance; soon, in a colloquy to which he had rashly entrusted himself, around Artagera he was grievously wounded by a certain man, by name Adduo; thereafter, as he began to have a body less able, so too he began to have a mind less useful to the commonwealth.

3 Nec defuit conversatio hominum vitia eius adsentatione alentium (etenim semper magnae fortunae comes adest adulatio), per quae eo ductus erat, ut in ultimo ac remotissimo terrarum orbis angulo consenescere quam Romam regredi mallet. Diu deinde reluctatus invitusque revertens in Italiam in urbe Lyciae (Limyra nominant) morbo obiit, cum ante annum ferme L. Caesar frater eius Hispanias petens Massiliae decessisset.

3 Nor was there lacking the conversation of men who were nourishing his vices by assentation (for indeed adulation is always present as a companion of great fortune), by which he had been led to prefer to grow old in the furthest and most remote angle of the orb of lands rather than to return to Rome. Then, after long resisting and returning to Italy against his will, he died of illness in a city of Lycia (they name it Limyra), when nearly a year earlier his brother Lucius Caesar, making for the Spains, had died at Massilia.

[103] Sed fortuna, quae subduxerat spem magni nominis, iam tum rei publicae sua praesidia reddiderat: quippe ante utriusque horum obitum patre tuo P. Vinicio consule Ti. Nero reversus Rhodo incredibili laetitia patriam repleverat. Non est diu cunctatus Caesar Augustus;

[103] But Fortune, which had withdrawn the hope of a great name, had already then to the Republic restored her own safeguards: for before the death of each of these men, with your father P. Vinicius as consul, Tiberius Nero, returning from Rhodes, had filled the fatherland with incredible rejoicing. Caesar Augustus did not delay long;

2 neque enim quaerendus erat quem legeret, sed legendus qui eminebat.

2 for there was no need to look for whom he should select, but the one who was eminent had to be selected.

3 Itaque quod post Lucii mortem adhuc Gaio vivo facere voluerat atque vehementer repugnante Nerone erat inhibitus, post utriusque adulescentium obitum facere perseveravit, ut et tribuniciae potestatis consortionem Neroni constitueret, multum quidem eo cum domi tum in senatu recusante, et eum Aelio Cato C. Sentio consulibus V. Kal. Iulias, post urbem conditam annis septingentis quinquaginta quattuor, abhinc annos septem et viginti adoptaret. Laetitiam illius diei concursumque civitatis

3 Therefore what after the death of Lucius, while Gaius was still alive, he had wished to do and had been prevented by Nero’s vehement resistance, after the death of both youths he persisted in doing: namely, that he also establish for Nero a partnership in tribunician power, though he for his part refused much, both at home and in the senate; and that he adopt him, when Aelius Cato and Gaius Sentius were consuls, on the 5th day before the Kalends of July, in the 754th year after the founding of the City, 27 years ago. The joy of that day and the thronging of the citizenry

4 et vota paene inserentium caelo manus spemque conceptam perpetuae securitatis aeternitatisque Romani imperii vix in illo iusto opere abunde persequi poterimus, nedum hic implere temptemus,

4 and the vows of those almost thrusting their hands to heaven, and the hope conceived of perpetual security and of the eternity of the Roman empire, we shall scarcely be able to pursue abundantly even in that proper work, much less attempt to fulfill here,

5 contenti id unum dixisse quam ille omnibus faustns fuerit. Tum refulsit certa spes liberorum parentibus, viris matrimoniorum, dominis patrimonii, omnibus hominibus salutis, quietis, pacis, tranquillitatis, adeo ut nec plus sperari potuerit nec spei responderi felicius.

5 content to have said this one thing: how auspicious he was for all. Then there shone forth a certain hope of children for parents, of marriage for men, of patrimony for masters, for all human beings of safety, quiet, peace, tranquillity, to such a degree that neither could more have been hoped for nor could hope have been answered more felicitously.

[104] Adoptatus eadem die etiam M. Agrippa, quem post mortem Agrippae Iulia enixa erat, sed in Neronis adoptione illud adiectum his ipsis Caesaris verbis:

[104] On the same day M. Agrippa too was adopted, whom Julia had brought forth after the death of Agrippa, but in Nero’s adoption this was added in these very words of Caesar:

2 "hoc", inquit, "rei publicae causa facio". Non diu vindicem custodemque imperii sui morata in urbe patria protinus in Germaniam misit, ubi ante triennium sub M. Vinicio, avo tuo, clarissimo viro, immensum exarserat bellum. Erat id ab eo quibusdam in locis gestum, quibusdam sustentatum feliciter, eoque nomine decreta ei cum speciosissima inscriptione operum ornamenta triumphalia.

2 “This,” she said, “I do for the sake of the commonwealth.” Not delaying long in her native city, she straightway sent the avenger and custodian of her imperium into Germany, where three years earlier, under M. Vinicius, your grandfather, a most illustrious man, an immense war had flared up. This had by him in some places been waged, in others successfully sustained, and for that reason there were decreed to him triumphal ornaments with the most splendid inscription of his deeds.

3 Hoc tempus me, functum ante tribunatu, castrorum Ti. Caesaris militem fecit: quippe protinus ab adoptione missus cum eo praefectus equitum in Germaniam, successor offici patris mei, caelestissimorum eius operum per annos continuos novem praefectus aut legatus spectator, tum pro captu mediocritatis meae adiutor fui. Neque illi spectaculo, quo fructus sum, simile condicio mortalis recipere videtur mihi, cum per celeberrimam Italiae partem tractumque omnem Galliae provinciarum veterem imperatorem et ante meritis ac virtutibus quam nomine Caesarem revisentes sibi quisque quam illi gratularentur plenius.

3 This period, I, having previously performed the tribunate, made me a soldier of the camp of Tiberius Caesar: indeed, sent forth immediately after the adoption, I went with him as prefect of cavalry into Germany, successor to my father’s office, for nine continuous years as prefect or legate a spectator of his most celestial works, then, in proportion to the grasp of my mediocrity, I was a helper. Nor does the condition of mortals seem to me capable of receiving anything like that spectacle of which I had the enjoyment, when, through the most renowned part of Italy and the whole extent of the provinces of Gaul, those revisiting their old general—and a Caesar by merits and virtues before by name—each congratulated themselves more fully than him.

4 At vero militum conspectu eius elicitae gaudio lacrimae alacritasque et salutationis nova quaedam exultatio et contingendi manum cupiditas non continentium protinus quin adiicerent, "videmus te, imperator? Salvum recepimus?" Ac deinde "ego tecum, imperator, in Armenia, ego in Raetia fui, ego a te in Vindelicis, ego in Pannonia, ego in Germania donatus sum" neque verbis exprimi et fortasse vix mereri fidem potest.

4 But indeed, at the soldiers’ sight of him, tears drawn forth by joy and alacrity, and a certain new exultation of salutation, and a desire of touching his hand—men not restraining themselves from immediately adding, “Do we see you, emperor? Have we received you safe?” And then, “I was with you, emperor, in Armenia; I was in Raetia; I by you among the Vindelici; I in Pannonia; I in Germania was decorated”—nor can it be expressed in words, and perhaps can scarcely obtain belief.

[105] Intrata protinus Germania, subacti Canninefates, Attuarii, Bructeri, recepti Cherusci (gentis eius Arminius mox nostra clade nobilis), transitus Visurgis, penetrata ulteriora, cum omnem partem asperrimi et periculosissinu belli Caesar vindicaret sibi, iis, quae minoris erant discriminis, Sentium Saturninum, qui iam legatus patris eius in Germania fuerat, praefecisset,

[105] Germany having been entered forthwith, the Canninefates, the Attuarii, the Bructeri were subdued, the Cherusci were received back (of which nation Arminius was soon to be notable by our disaster), the Visurgis was crossed, the farther regions were penetrated, and since Caesar claimed to himself every part of the very roughest and most perilous war, he put in charge of those matters which were of lesser hazard Sentius Saturninus, who had already been the legate of his father in Germany,

2 virum mu1tiplicem virtutibus, gnavum, agilem, providum militariumque officiorum patientem ac peritum pariter, sed eundem, ubi negotia fecissent locum otio, liberaliter lauteque eo abutentem, ita tamen, ut eum splendidum atque hilarem potius quam luxuriosum aut desidem diceres. De cuius viri claro ingenio celebrique consulatu praediximus.

2 a man manifold in virtues, diligent, agile,
provident and, in military duties, equally patient and expert, but the same,
when affairs had made room for leisure, making use of it liberally and sumptuously, so
however, that you would call him splendid and cheerful rather than luxurious or idle.
Of this man’s illustrious talent and celebrated consulship we have said before.

3 Anni eius aestiva usque in mensem Decembrem producta inmanis emolumentum fecere victoriae. Pietas sua Caesarem paene obstructis hieme Alpibus in urbem traxit, at tutela imperii eum veris initio reduxit in Germaniam, in cuius mediis finibus ad caput Lupiae fluminis hiberna digrediens princeps locaverat.

3 The summer operations of that year, prolonged even into the month of December, made an enormous emolument of victory. His pietas drew Caesar into the city, with the Alps almost obstructed by winter, but the tutelage of the empire brought him back at the beginning of spring into Germany, in the middle of whose borders, at the head of the Lupia river, the princeps, withdrawing to the winter-quarters, had located them.

[106] Pro dii boni, quanti voluminis opera insequenti aestate sub duce Tiberio Caesare gessimus! Perlustrata armis tota Germania est, victae gentes paene nominibus incognitae, receptae Cauchorum nationes: omnis eorum iuventus infinita numero, immensa corporibus, situ locorum tutissima, traditis armis una cum ducibus suis saepta fulgenti armatoque militum nostrorum agmine ante imperatoris procubuit tribunal.

[106] O good gods, what a volume of operations we carried out the following summer under the leader Tiberius Caesar! All Germania was traversed by arms, peoples conquered almost unknown even by their names, the nations of the Chauci received: all their youth, infinite in number, immense in bodies, by the situation of the places most secure, with arms handed over, together with their own leaders, hemmed in by the gleaming and armored column of our soldiers, prostrated themselves before the emperor’s tribunal.

2 Fracti Langobardi, gens etiam Germana feritate ferocior; denique quod numquam antea spe conceptum, nedum opere temptatum erat, ad quadringentesimum miliarium a Rheno usque ad flumen Albim, qui Semnonum Hermundurorumque fines praeterfluit, Romanus cum signis perductus exercitus.

2 The Langobards were broken, a nation German too, fiercer in ferocity; finally, that which had never before been conceived in hope, still less attempted in deed, up to the 400th milestone from the Rhine as far as the river Elbe, which flows past the borders of the Semnones and Hermunduri, the Roman army, with its standards, was led through.

3 Et eadem mira felicitate et cura ducis, temporum quoque observantia, classis, quae Oceani circumnavigaverat sinus, ab inaudito atque incognito ante mari Qumine Albi subvecta, cum plurimarum gentium victoria parta cum abundantissima rerum omnium copia exercitui Caesarique se iunxit.

3 And with the same marvelous felicity and the care of the leader, with an observance also of the times, the fleet which had circumnavigated the inlets of the Ocean, borne up by the river of the Elbe from a sea unheard and unknown before, with the victory of very many nations achieved, together with a most abundant supply of all things, united itself to the army and to Caesar.

[107] Non tempero mihi quin tantae rerum magnitudini hoc, qualecumque est, inseram. Cum citeriorem ripam praedicti fluminis castris occupassemus et ulterior armata hostium virtute fulgeret, sub omnem motum conatumque nostrarum navium protinus refugientium, unus e barbaris aetate senior, corpore excellens, dignitate, quantum ostendebat cultus, eminens, cavatum, ut illis mos est, ex materia conscendit alveum solusque id navigii genus temperans ad medium processit fluminis et petiit, liceret

[107] I do not restrain myself from inserting this, whatever it is, to the greatness of these affairs. When we had occupied with camps the nearer bank of the aforesaid river,
and the farther (bank), armed with the enemies’ virtue, was gleaming, at every movement and attempt of our ships, which were straightway drawing back,
one of the barbarians, senior in age, excellent in body, eminent in dignity, so far as his dress showed,
mounted a hollowed, as is their custom, trough from timber, and alone governing that kind of vessel
he proceeded to the middle of the river and petitioned that it be permitted

2 sibi sine periculo in eam, quam armis tenebamus, egredi ripam ac videre Caesarem. Data petenti facultas. Tum adpulso lintre et diu tacitus contemplatus Caesarem, "nostra quidem", inquit, "furit iuventus, quae cum vestrum numen absentium colat, praesentium potius arma metuit quam sequitur fidem.

2 for himself, without peril, to step out onto the bank which we held by arms and to see Caesar. Leave was given to the one requesting. Then, with the skiff brought alongside and, after long silently contemplating Caesar, he said, "our youth indeed raves, which, while it worships your numen when you are absent, of those present rather fears the arms than follows faith.

Sed ego beneficio ac permissu tuo, Caesar, quos ante audiebam, hodie vidi deos, nec feliciorem ullum vitae meae aut optavi aut sensi diem". Impetratoque ut manum contingeret, reversus in naviculam, sine fine respectans Caesarem ripae suorum adpulsus est. Victor omnium gentium locorumque, quos adierat Caesar,

But I, by your beneficence and permission, Caesar, the gods whom before I used to hear of, today I have seen, nor have I either desired or felt any day of my life happier." And having obtained leave to touch his hand, he returned into the little skiff, endlessly looking back at Caesar, and was brought to the bank of his own people. Victorious over all the nations and places which he had visited, Caesar,

3 incolumi inviolatoque et semel tantummodo magna cum clade hostium fraude eorum temptato exercitu in hiberna legiones reduxit, eadem qua priore anno festinatione urbem petens.

3 with the army safe and inviolate, and only once tested by their treachery, with great slaughter of the enemy, he led the legions back into winter quarters, seeking the city with the same haste as in the previous year.

[108] Nihil erat iam in Germania, quod vinci posset, praeter gentem Marcomannorum, quae Maroboduo duce excita sedibus suis atque in interiora refugiens incinctos Hercynia silva campos incolebat.

[108] There was now nothing in Germany that could be conquered, except the nation of the Marcomanni, which, with Maroboduus as duke, roused from their seats and fleeing into the interior, was inhabiting the plains girded by the Hercynian forest.

2 Nulla festinatio huius viri mentionem transgredi debet. Maroboduus, genere nobilis, corpore praevalens, animo ferox, natione magis quam ratione barbarus, non tumultuarium neque fortuitum neque mobilem et ex voluntate parentium constantem inter suos occupavit principatum, sed certum imperium vimque regiam complexus animo statuit avocata procul a Romanis gente sua eo progredi, ubi cum propter potentiora arma refugisset, sua faceret potentissima. Occupatis igitur, quos praediximus, locis finitimos omnis aut bello domuit aut condicionibus iuris sui fecit.

2 No haste ought to overstep the mention of this man. Maroboduus, noble by birth, preeminent in body, fierce in spirit, a barbarian more by nation than by reason, did not seize among his own a principate that was tumultuary nor fortuitous nor mobile and fixed by the will of the elders, but, embracing a sure imperium and royal force, he resolved, with his people drawn far away from the Romans, to advance to that place where, although it had taken refuge because of mightier arms, he might make his own the most powerful. Therefore, the places which we have mentioned being occupied, he either subdued all the neighbors by war or by conditions made them subject to his own law.

[109] Corpus suum custodientium imperium, perpetuis exercitiis paene adRomanae disciplinae formam redactum, brevi in eminens et nostro quoque imperio timendum perduxit fastigium gerebatque se ita adversus Romanos, ut neque bello nos lacesseret, et si lacesseretur, superesse sibi vim ac voluntatem resistendi ostenderet.

[109] The command of those guarding his person, reduced by perpetual exercises almost to the form of Roman discipline, he in a short time brought to a pinnacle eminent and to be feared even by our empire; and he conducted himself thus toward the Romans, that he neither provoked us by war, and, if he were provoked, he showed that he had both the force and the will to resist.

2 Legati, quos mittebat ad Caesares, interdum ut supplicem commendabant, interdum ut pro pari loquebantur. Gentibus hominibusque a nobis desciscentibus erat apud eum perfugium, in totumque ex male dissimulato agebat aemulum; exercitunlque, quem septuaginta milium peditum, quattuor equitum fecerat, adsiduis adversus finitimos bellis exercendo maiori quam, quod habebat, operi praeparabat:

2 The envoys whom he was sending to the Caesars sometimes commended him as a suppliant, sometimes spoke as for an equal. For peoples and individuals revolting from us there was a refuge with him, and, on the whole, with rivalry ill-disguised, he acted the rival; and the army, which he had made of seventy thousand infantry and four thousand cavalry, by exercising it with continual wars against his neighbors, he was preparing for a greater undertaking than that which he had in hand:

3 eratque etiam eo timendus, quod cum Germaniam ad laevam et in fronte, Pannoniam ad dextram, a tergo sedium suarum haberet Noricos, tamquam in omnes semper venturus ab omnibus timebatur.

3 and he was also for this reason to be feared, that, since he had Germany to the left and in front, Pannonia to the right, and at the back of his seats the Norici, he was feared by all as though he would always be coming against all.

4 Nec securam incrementi sui patiebatur esse Italiam, quippe cum a summis Alpium iugis, quae finem Italiae terminant, initium eius finium haud multo plus ducentis milibus passuum abesset.

4 Nor did he allow Italy to be secure in its increment, indeed since from the highest ridges of the Alps, which terminate the boundary of Italy, the beginning of his confines was not much more than 200 miles distant.

5 Hunc virum et hanc regionem proximo anno diversis e partibus Ti. Caesar adgredi statuit. Sentio Saturnino mandatum, ut per Cattos excisis continentibus Hercyniae silvis legiones Boiohaemum (id regioni, quam incolebat Maroboduus, nomen est) duceret, ipse a Carnunto, qui locus Norici regni proximus ab hac parte erat, exercitum, qui in Illyrico merebat, ducere in Marcomannos orsus est.

5 Tiberius Caesar decided in the next year to attack this man and this region from diverse parts. A mandate was given to Sentius Saturninus, that through the Chatti, with the continuous forests of the Hercynian cut through, he should lead the legions into Boiohaemum (that is the name of the region which Maroboduus inhabited), he himself from Carnuntum, which place of the kingdom of Noricum was nearest on this side, began to lead against the Marcomanni the army which was serving in Illyricum.

[110] Rumpit interdum, interdum moratur proposita hominum fortuna. Praeparaverat iam hiberna Caesar ad Danubium admotoque exercitu non plus quam quinque dierum iter a primis hostium aberat,

[110] Fortune sometimes breaks, sometimes delays the purposes of men. Caesar had already prepared winter-quarters by the Danube, and, with the army brought up, he was no more than a five days’ march from the enemy’s foremost ranks,

2 legionesque quas Saturninum admovere placuerat, paene aequali divisae intervallo ab hoste intra paucos dies in praedicto loco cum Caesare se iuncturae erant, cum universa Pannonia, insolens longae pacis bonis, adulta viribus, Delmatia omnibusque tractus eius gentibus in societatem adductis consilii, arma corripuit.

2 and the legions which it had pleased that Saturninus should bring up, divided by a nearly equal interval from the enemy, within a few days were about to join themselves with Caesar in the aforesaid place, when all Pannonia, unaccustomed to the goods of long peace, adult in strength, Dalmatia, and all the peoples of that tract, drawn into the society of the counsel, seized arms.

3 Tum necessaria gloriosis praeposita neque tutum visum abdito in interiora exercitu vacuam tam vicino hosti relinquere Italiam. Gentium nationumque, quae rebel1averant, omnis numerus amplius octingentis milibus explebat; ducenta fere peditum colligebantur armis habilia, equitum novem.Cuius immensae multitudinis,

3 Then, necessities being set before glories, it did not seem safe, with the army concealed into the interior, to leave Italy vacant with an enemy so near. The whole number of the peoples and nations that had rebelled amounted to more than 800,000; nearly 200,000 infantry, fit for arms, were being gathered, 9,000 cavalry.Of which immense multitude,

4 parentis acerrimis ac peritissimis ducibus, pars petere Italiam decreverat iunctam sibi Nauporti ac Tergestis confinio, pars in Macedoniam se effuderat, pars suis sedibus praesidium esse destinaverat. Maxima duobus Batonibus ac Pinneti duribus auctoritas erat.

4 under the most fierce and most expert leaders, a part had decided to make for Italy, contiguous to them at the confine of Nauportus and Tergeste; a part had poured itself into Macedonia; a part had destined a presidium to be for their own seats. The greatest authority was held by the two Batones and by Pinnetes, men of hard endurance.

5 Omnibus autem Pannoniis non disciplinae tantummodo, sed linguae quoque notitia Romanae, plerisque etiam litterarum usus et familiaris animorum erat exercitatio. Etaque hercules nulla umquam natio tam mature consilio belli bellum iunxit ac decreta patravit.

5 Among all the Pannonians, moreover, there was knowledge not only of Roman discipline but also of the language, and for very many even the use of letters, and a familiar exercise of their minds. And so, by Hercules, no nation ever so early joined war to the counsel of war and accomplished the decrees.

6 Oppressi cives Romani, trucidati negotiatores, magnus vexillariorum numerus ad internecionem ea in regione, quae plurimum ab imperatore aberat, caesus, occupata armis Macedonia, omnia et in omnibus 1ocis igni ferroque vastata. Quin etiam tantus huius belli metus fuit, ut stabilem illum et firmatum tantorum bellorum experientia Caesaris Augusti animum quateret atque terreret.

6 Roman citizens oppressed, merchants butchered, a great number of vexillarii cut down to extermination in that region which was at the greatest remove from the emperor, Macedonia seized by arms, everything and in all places laid waste with fire and sword. Nay even so great was the fear of this war, that it shook and terrified the mind of Caesar Augustus, that stable one and strengthened by the experience of so many wars.

[111] Habiti itaque dilectus, revocati undique et omnes veterani, viri feminaeque ex censu 1ibertinum coactae dare militem. Audita in senatu vox principis, decimo die, ni caveretur, posse hostem in urbis Romae venire conspectum. Senatorum equitumque Romanorum exactae ad id bellum operae, pollicitati.

[111] Therefore levies were held, and from everywhere all the veterans were recalled, and men and women of the census were compelled to give a freedman as a soldier. The voice of the princeps was heard in the senate: that on the tenth day, unless precaution were taken, the enemy could come into the sight of the city of Rome. The services of the senators and of the Roman equestrians were exacted for that war; they made pledges.

2 Omnia haec frustra praeparassemus, nisi qui illa regeret fuisset. Itaque ut praesidium ultimum res publica ab Augusto ducem in bellum poposcit Tiberium.

2 We would have prepared all these things in vain, unless there had been someone to govern them. And so, as a last safeguard, the commonwealth demanded from Augustus a leader for the war, Tiberius.

3 Habuit in hoc quoque bello mediocritas nostra speciosi ministerii locum. Finita equestri mi1itia designatus quaesior necdum senator aequatus senatoribus, etiam designatis tribunis plebei, partem exercitus ab urbe traditi ab Augusto perduxi ad filium eius.

3 Our modest station too had a place for a splendid ministry in this war. With my equestrian militia finished, a quaestor-designate, not yet a senator—having been made equal to senators, even to the designated tribunes of the plebs—I led a part of the army, entrusted by Augustus, from the City to his son.

4 In quaestura deinde remissa sorte provinciae legatus eiusdem ad eundem missus sum. Quas nos primo anno acies hostium vidimus! Quantis prudentia ducis opportunitatibus furentes eorum vires universas elusimus, fudimus partibus!

4 In my quaestorship then, the province assigned by lot having been remitted, I was sent as legate of the same man to the same. What battle-lines of the enemy we saw in the first year! By how many opportunities afforded by the prudence of the leader we eluded their raging forces entire, and routed them in parts!

Quanto cum temperamento simul civilitatis res auctoritate imperatoria agi vidimus! Qua prudentia hiberna disposita sunt! Quanto opere inclusus custodiis exercitus nostri, ne qua posset erumpere inopsque copiarum et intra se furens viribus hostis elanguesceret!

With what tempering of civility did we see affairs being carried on by imperial authority at the same time! With what prudence the winter-quarters were disposed! With how great effort the enemy, enclosed by the guards of our army, lest he could erupt anywhere, and, destitute of supplies and raging within himself, might languish in strength!

[112] Felix eventu, forte conatu prima aestate belli Messalini opus mandandum est memoriae.

[112] Fortunate in outcome, brave in the attempt, the exploit of Messalinus in the first summer of the war is to be committed to memory.

2 Qui vir animo etiam quam gente nobilior dignissimusque, qui et patrem Corvinum habuisset et cognomen suum Cottae fratri relinqueret, praepositus Illyrico subita rebellione cum semiplena legione vicesima circumdatus hostili exercitu amplius viginti milia fudit fugavitque et ob id ornamentis triumphalibus honoratus est.

2 He, a man more noble in spirit even than by lineage, and most worthy—who had had Corvinus for a father and would leave his cognomen to his brother Cotta—appointed over Illyricum, when a sudden rebellion broke out, with the Twentieth Legion at half strength and surrounded by a hostile army, routed and put to flight more than 20,000; and on account of this he was honored with triumphal ornaments.

3 ita placebat barbaris numerus suus, ita fiducia virium, ut ubicumque Caesar esset, nihil in se reponerent. Pars exercitus eorum, proposita ipsi duci et ad arbitrium utilitatemque nostram macerata perductaque ad exitiabilem famem, neque instantem sustinere neque cum facientibus copiam pugnandi derigentibusque aciem ausa congredi occupato monte Claudio munitione se defendit.

3 so pleasing to the barbarians was their own number, so great their confidence in their forces, that wherever Caesar was, they placed no reliance on themselves. A part of their army, with their very leader put forward, and, worn down at our discretion and for our utility and brought to deadly famine, neither could withstand the assailant pressing in nor dared to come to grips with those offering an opportunity of fighting and drawing up their battle line; with Mount Claudius occupied, it defended itself by a fortification.

4 At ea pars, quae obviam se effuderat exercitui, quem A. Caecina et Silvanus Plautius consulares ex transmarinis adducebant provinciis, circumfusa quinque legionibus nostris auxiliaribusque ei equitatui regio (quippe magnam Thracum manum iunctus praedictis ducibus Rhoemetalces, Thraciae rex, in adiutorium eius belli secum trahebat) paene exitiabilem omnibus cladem intulit:

4 But that part which had poured itself out to meet the army, which A. Caecina and Silvanus Plautius, consulars, were leading in from transmarine provinces, having surrounded our five legions and the auxiliaries and the royal cavalry (for Rhoemetalces, king of Thrace, joined to the aforesaid commanders, was drawing with him a great band of Thracians to the aid of that war), brought upon all an almost ruinous disaster:

5 fusa regiorum equestris acies, fugatae alae, conversae cohortes sunt, apud signa quoque legionum trepidatum. Sed Romani virtus militis plus eo tempore vindicavit gloriae quam ducibus reliquit, qui multum a more imperatoris sui discrepantes ante in hostem inciderunt, quam per explora,tores, ubi hostis esset, cognoscerent. Iam igitur in dubiis rebus semet ipsae legiones adhortatae,

5 the equestrian battle-line of the royal troops was routed, the wings put to flight, the cohorts turned about; there was panic even at the standards of the legions. But the Roman valor of the soldier at that time vindicated more glory than it left to the commanders, who, differing greatly from their commander’s own custom, fell upon the enemy before they learned through scouts where the enemy was. Therefore now, in doubtful circumstances, the legions themselves exhorted themselves,

6 iugulatis ab hoste quibusdam tribunis militum, interempto praefecto castrorum praefectisque cohortium, non incruentis centurionibus, e quibus etiam primi ordinis cecidere, invasere hostes nec sustinuisse contenti perrupta eorum acie ex insperato victoriam vindicaverunt.

6 with certain military tribunes cut down by the enemy, the camp prefect slain and the prefects of the cohorts as well, the centurions not unbloodied, of whom even men of the first order fell, they rushed upon the enemies; nor content to have merely withstood, with their line broken through they, beyond expectation, vindicated victory.

7 Hoc fere tempore Agrippa, qui eodem die quo Tiberius adoptatus ab avo suo naturali erat et iam ante biennium, qualis esset, apparere coeperat, mira pravitate animi atque ingenii in praecipitia conversus patris atque eiusdem avi sui animum alienavit sibi, moxque crescentibus in dies vitiis dignum furore suo habuit exitum.

7 At about this time Agrippa, who on the same day on which Tiberius was adopted by his natural grandfather, and already two years earlier had begun to make apparent of what sort he was, by a wondrous depravity of mind and temperament turned headlong into precipices, and alienated from himself the disposition of his father and of that same grandfather of his; and soon, with his vices increasing day by day, he had an end worthy of his own fury.

[113] Accipe nunc, M. Vinici, tantum in bello ducem, quantum in pacevides principem. Iunctis exercitibus, quique sub Caesare fuerant quique ad eum venerant, contractisque in una castra decem legionibus, septuaginta amplius cohortibus, decem alis et pluribus quam decem veteranorum milibus, ad hoc magno voluntariorum numero frequentique equite regio, tanto denique exercitu, quantus nullo umquam loco post bella fuerat civilia, omnes eo ipso laeti erant maximamque fiduciam victoriae in numero reponebant.

[113] Take now, M. Vinicius, a leader in war as great as the prince you see in peace. With the armies joined—both those who had been under Caesar and those who had come to him—and with ten legions gathered into one camp, with more than seventy cohorts, ten alae, and more than ten thousand veterans; in addition, with a great number of volunteers and a numerous royal cavalry; in fine, with an army as great as at no place ever since the civil wars had there been, all for that very reason were joyful and placed their greatest confidence of victory in the numbers.

2 At imperator, optimus eorum quae agebat iudex et utilia speciosis praeferens quodque semper eum facientem vidi in omnibus bellis, quae probanda essent, non quae utique probarentur sequens, paucis diebus exercitum, qui venerat, ad refovendas ex itinere eius vires moratus, cum eum maiorem, quam ut temperari posset, neque habi1em gubernaculo cerneret, dimittere statuit;

2 But the Emperor, the best judge of the things he was doing and preferring the useful to the specious, and—what I always saw him doing in all wars—following what ought to be approved, not what would of course be approved, after delaying for a few days the army that had come, to rewarm its strength from the march, when he perceived it to be larger than could be kept in hand and not fit for the helm, decided to dismiss it;

3 prosecutusque longo et perquam laborioso itinere, cuius difficultas narrari vix potest, ut neque universos quisquam auderet adgredi et partem digredientium, suorum quisque metu finium, universi temptare non possent, remisit eo, unde venerant, et ipse asperrimae hiemis initio regressus Sisciam legatos, inter quos ipsi fuimus, partitis praefecit hibernis.

3 and, having pursued a long and very laborious journey, the difficulty of which can scarcely be narrated, so that no one dared to aggress them as a whole, and, each through fear for his own frontiers, all together were not able to attempt a part of those diverging, he remitted them to the place whence they had come; and he himself, at the beginning of a most harsh winter, having returned to Siscia, appointed the legates—among whom we ourselves were—over the apportioned winter-quarters.

[114] O rem dictu non eminentem, sed solida veraque virtute atque utilitate maximam, experientia suavissimam, humanitate singularem! Per omne belli Germanici Pannonicique tempus nemo e nobis gradumve nostrum aut praecedentibus aut sequentibus imbecillus fuit, cuius salus ac valetudo non ita sustentaretur Caesaris cura, tamquam distractissimus ille tantorum onerum mole huic uni negotio vacaret animus.

[114] O a thing not eminent to speak of, but in solid and true virtue and utility the greatest, in experience most delightful, in humanity singular! Through the whole time of the Germanic and Pannonian war, there was no one of us, in our march whether preceding or following, who, if feeble, had his safety and health not thus sustained by Caesar’s care, as though that mind, most distracted by the mass of so great burdens, were free for this one business.

2 Erat desiderantibus paratum iunctum vehiculum, lectica eius publicata, cuius usum cum alii tum ego sensi; iam medici, iam apparatus cibi, iam in hoc solum uni portatum instrumentum balinei nullius non succurrit valetudini; domus tantum ac domestici deerant, ceterum nihil, quod ab illis aut praestari aut desiderari posset.

2 For those desiring it there was a harnessed vehicle prepared, his litter made public, the use of which both others and I experienced; already physicians, already a provision of food, already the very instrument of the bath carried for this single purpose to an individual, failed to succor no one’s health; only a home and household attendants were lacking, but otherwise nothing that either could be furnished by them or could be desired.

3 Adiciam illud, quod, quisquis illis temporibus interfuit, ut alia, quae retuli, agnoscet protinus: solus semper equo vectus est, solus cum iis, quos invitaverat, maiore parte aestivarum expeditionum cenavit sedens; non sequentibus disciplinam, quatenus exemplonon nocebatur, ignovit; admonitio frequens, interdum et castigatio, vindicta tamen rarissima, agebatque medium plurima dissimulantis, aliqua inhibentis.

3 I will add this, which whoever was present in those times will at once recognize, as also the other things that I have related: he alone was always borne on horseback; he alone, with those whom he had invited, for the greater part of the estival expeditions, dined sitting; he forgave those not following discipline, insofar as the example was not harmed; admonition frequent, sometimes even castigation, yet retribution most rare; and he steered the mean, dissembling very many things, restraining some.

4 Hiems emolumentum patrati belli contulit, sed insequenti aestate omnis Pannonia reliquiis totius belli in Delmatia manentibus pacem petiit. Ferocem illam tot milium iuventutem, paulo ante servitutem minatam Italiae, conferentem arma, quibus usa erat, apud flumen nomine Bathinum prosternentemque se universam genibus imperatoris, Batonemque et Pinnetem excelsissimos duces, captum alterum, alterum a se deditum iustis voluminibus ordine narrabimus, ut spero.

4 Winter contributed the advantage of a war brought to completion, but in the subsequent summer all Pannonia sought peace, the remnants of the entire war remaining in Dalmatia. That fierce youth of so many thousands, a little before threatening servitude to Italy, laying down the arms which it had used, at the river by the name Bathinus, and prostrating itself all together at the knees of the emperor,—and Bato and Pinnes, most exalted leaders, the one captured, the other having surrendered himself to him,—we shall recount in due volumes in order, as I hope.

5 Autumno victor in hiberna reducitur exercitus, cuius omnibus copiis a Caesare M. Lepidus praefectus est, vir nomini ac fortunae Caesarum proximus, quem in quantum quisque aut cognoscere aut intellegere potuit, in tantum miratur ac diligit tantorumque nominum, quibus ortus est, ornamentum iudicat.

5 In autumn the army, victorious, is led back into winter-quarters; over all its forces Marcus Lepidus was appointed prefect by Caesar, a man next to the name and fortune of the Caesars; and each person, in so far as he was able either to know or to understand him, so far admires and loves him, and judges him an ornament of those so great names from which he is sprung.

[115] Caesar ad alteram belli Delmatici molem animum atque arma contulit. In qua regione quali adiutore legatoque fratre meo Magio Celere Velleiano' usus sit, ipsius patrisque eius praedicatione testatum est et amplissimorum donorum, quibus triumphans eum Caesar donavit, signat memoria. Initio aestatis

[115] Caesar turned his mind and arms to the second enterprise of the Dalmatian war. In that region, what sort of helper and legate my brother, Magius Celer Velleianus, he employed, is attested by the commendation of himself and his father, and memory marks it by the most ample gifts with which Caesar, triumphing, endowed him. At the beginning of summer

2 Lepidus educto hibernis exercitu per gentis integras immunesque adhuc clade belli et eo feroces ac truces tendens ad Tiberium imperatorem et cum difficultate locorum et cum vi hostium luctatus, magna cum clade obsistentium excisis agris, exustis aedihciis, caesis viris, laetus victoria praedaque onustus pervenit ad Caesarem,

2 Lepidus, with the army led out from the winter quarters, making his way through tribes intact and as yet immune from the calamity of war and therefore fierce and savage, tending toward Tiberius the emperor and, having wrestled both with the difficulty of the places and with the force of the enemies, with great slaughter of those opposing—fields cut down, buildings burned, men slain—glad with victory and laden with booty, came to Caesar,

3 et ob ea, quae si propriis gessisset auspiciis, triumphare debuerat, ornamentis triumphalibus consentiente cum iudicio principum voluntate senatus donatus est.

3 and on account of these things, which, if he had carried them out under his own auspices, he ought to have celebrated a triumph, he was endowed with triumphal ornaments, with the will of the senate consenting together with the judgment of the leading men.

4 Illa aestas maximi belli consummavit effectus: quippe Perustae et Desidiates Delmatae, situ locorum ac montium, ingeniorum ferocia, mira etiam pugnandi scientia et praecipue angustiis saltuum paene inexpugnabiles, non iam ductu, sed manibus atque armis ipsius Caesaris tum demum pacati sunt, cum paene funditus eversi forent.

4 That summer consummated the effects of the greatest war: for the Perustae and the Desidiates, Dalmatians, by the situation of the terrain and mountains, by the ferocity of their dispositions, by a marvelous science of fighting, and especially by the narrowness of the passes, almost impregnable, were then at last pacified not now by generalship, but by the hands and arms of Caesar himself, when they had been almost utterly overthrown.

5 Nihil in hoctanto bello, nihil in Germania aut videre maius aut mirari magis potui, quam quod imperatori numquam adeo ulla opportuna visa. est victoriae occasio, quam damno amissi pensaret militis semperque visum est gloriosissimum, quod esset tutissimum, et ante conscientiae quam famae consultum nec umquam consilia ducis iudicio exercitus, sed exercitus providentia ducis rectus est.

5 In this so great war, in Germany I could see nothing greater nor admire more than that to the emperor no opportunity of victory ever seemed so opportune that he would weigh it against the loss of a soldier; and it always seemed the most glorious, which was the safest, and counsel was taken for conscience before for fame, nor were the plans of the leader ever set right by the judgment of the army, but the army by the providence of the leader.

[116] Magna in bello Delmatico experimenta virtutis in incultos ac difficilis locos praemissus Germanicus dedit; celebri etiam opera diligentique

[116] In the Dalmatian war Germanicus, sent ahead into uncultivated and difficult places, gave great proofs of valor; and also by celebrated and diligent work

2 Vibius Postumus vir consularis, praepositus Delmatiae, ornamenta meruit triumphalia: quem honorem ante paucos annos Passienus et Cossus, viri quamquam diversis virtutibus celebres, in Africa meruerant. Sed Cossus victoriae testimonium etiam in cognomen filii contulit, adulescentis in omnium virtutum exempla geniti.

2 Vibius Postumus, a man of consular rank, placed in charge of Dalmatia, earned the triumphal ornaments: which honor a few years before Passienus and Cossus, men renowned, although for diverse virtues, had earned in Africa. But Cossus also conveyed a testimony of victory into the cognomen of his son, a youth born as an exemplar of all virtues.

3 At Postumi operum L. Apronius particeps illa quoque militia eos, quos mox consecutus est, honores excellenti virtute meruit. Utinam non maioribus experimentis testatum esset, quantum in omni re fortuna posset! Sed in hoc quoque genere abunde agnosci vis eius potest.

3 But L. Apronius, a participant in the works of Postumus, in that campaign also by excellent virtue merited those honors which he soon afterward attained. Would that it had not been attested by greater experiments—how much fortune can do in every matter! But even in this kind, too, the force of it can be abundantly recognized.

Nam et Aelius Lamia, vir antiquissimi moris et priscam gravitatem semper humanitate temperans, in Germania Illyricoque et mox in Africa splendidissimis functus ministeriis, non merito, sed materia adipiscendi triumphalia defectus est,

For also Aelius Lamia, a man of most ancient mores and always tempering pristine gravitas with humanity, having discharged most splendid ministries in Germany and Illyricum and soon in Africa, fell short of obtaining triumphal ornaments not by merit, but by the material for acquiring them,

4 et A. Licinius Nerva Silianus, P. Silii fihus, quem virum ne qui intellexit quidem abunde miratus est, in eo nihil non optimo civi simplicissimo duci superesse praeferens, inmatura morte et fructu amplissimae principis amicitiae et consummatione evectae in altissimum paternumque fastigium imaginis defectus est.

4 and A. Licinius Nerva Silianus, son of P. Silius, a man whom no one who understood him admired sufficiently, showing that in him nothing was lacking that belongs to the best citizen and the most guileless leader, was cut off by untimely death and was deprived both of the fruition of the most ample friendship of the princeps and of the consummation of an imago carried up to the loftiest and paternal pinnacle.

5 Horum virorum mentioni si quis quaesisse me dicet locum, fatentem arguet; neque enim iustus sine mendacio candor apud bonos crimini est.

5 If anyone says that I have sought a place for the mention of these men, he will convict me as confessing; for just candor without mendacity is not a crime among good men.

[117] Tantum quod ultimam imposuerat Pannonico ac Delmatico bello Caesar manum, cum intra quinque consummati tanti operis dies funesta ex Germaniae epistulae nuntium attulere caesi Vari trucidatarumque legionum trium todidemque alarum et sex cohortium, velut in hoc slatem tantummodo indulgente nobis fortuna, ne occupato duce tanta clades inferretur. Sed etcausa et persona moram exigit.

[117] Caesar had only just set the final hand upon the Pannonian and Dalmatian war, when, within five days of the completion of so great a work, funereal letters from Germany brought the news of Varus slain and of three legions butchered, and just as many wings and six cohorts—as though in this at least Fortune were indulging us only so far, that so great a disaster not be inflicted while the leader was occupied. But both the cause and the person demand delay.

2 Varus Quintilius inlustri magis quam nobili ortus familia, vir ingenio mitis, moribus quietus et corpore et animo immobilior, otio magis castrorum quam bellicae adsuetus militiae, pecuniae vero quam non contemptor, Syria, cui praefuerat, declaravit, quam pauper divitem ingressus dives pauperem reliquit;

2 Varus Quintilius, sprung from a family more illustrious than noble, a man mild in disposition, quiet in morals, and more immobile in body and in mind, accustomed more to the leisure of the camp than to warlike military service, indeed no despiser of money, Syria, which he had presided over, made clear: poor he entered it rich, rich he left it poor;

3 is cum exercitui, qui erat in Germania, praeesset, concepit esse homines, qui nihil praeter vocem membraque haberent hominum, quique gladiis domari non poterant, posse iure mulceri.

3 he, when he was in command of the army which was in Germany, conceived that there were men who had nothing except the voice and the limbs of men, and who could not be tamed by swords, but could be soothed by law.

4 Quo proposito mediam ingressus Germaniam velut inter viros pacis gaudentes dulcedine iurisdictionibus agendoque pro tribunali ordine trahebat aestiva.

4 With this purpose, having entered central Germany, as if among men rejoicing in peace, by the sweetness of jurisdictions and by conducting order from the tribunal, he was dragging out the summer quarters.

[118] At illi, quod nisi expertus vix credat, in summa feritate versutissimi natumque mendacio genus, simulantes fictas litium series et nunc provocantes alter alterum in iurgia, nunc agentes gratias, quod ea Romana iustitia finiret feritasque sua novitate incognitae disciplinae mitesceret et solita armis discerni iure terminarentur, in summam socordiam perduxere Quintilium, usque eo, ut se praetorem urbanum in foro ius dicere, non in mediis Germaniae finibus exercitui praeesse crederet.

[118] But they—what a thing which, unless one has experienced it, one would scarcely believe—amidst utmost ferity most wily, a race born for mendacity, feigning fictitious sequences of lawsuits and now provoking one another into quarrels, now giving thanks that Roman justice would bring matters to an end, and that their ferity would be softened by the novelty of a discipline unknown, and that things wont to be decided by arms would be terminated by law—led Quintilius into the highest torpor, to such a point that he believed himself an urban praetor declaring law in the forum, not to be in the midst of Germany’s borders commanding an army.

2 Tum iuvenis genere nobilis, manu fortis, sensu celer, ultra barbarum promptus ingenio, nomine Arminius, Sigimeri principis gentis eius filius, ardorem animi vultu oculis praeferens, adsiduus militiae nostrae prioris comes, iure etiam civitatis Romanae decus equestris consecutus gradis, segnitia ducis in occasionem sceleris opprimi, quam qui nihil timeret, et frequentissimum initium esse calamitatis securitatem.

2 Then a young man, noble by lineage, strong in hand, swift in sense, in talent ready beyond a barbarian, by name Arminius, son of Sigimer, prince of that nation, displaying the ardor of his spirit in his countenance and eyes, an assiduous companion of our earlier soldiery, and by the right of Roman citizenship having attained the distinction of the equestrian order, [held] that the sluggishness of the leader should be pressed into an opportunity for crime by one who feared nothing, and that security is the most frequent beginning of calamity.

3 Primo igitur paucos, mox pluris in societatem consilii recepit: opprimi posse Romanos et dicit et persuadet, decretis facta iungit, tempus insidiarum constituit.

3 Therefore at first he received a few, soon more, into the partnership of the plan: he both says and persuades that the Romans can be overpowered, he joins deeds to decrees, he fixes a time for the ambush.

4 Id Varo per virum eius gentis fidelum clarique nominis, Segesten, indicatur. Postulabat etiam vinciri socios. Sed praevalebant iam fata consiliis omnemque animi eius aciem praestrinxerant: quippe ita se res habet, ut plerumque cuius fortunam mutaturus deus, consilia corrumpat efficiatque, quod miserrimum est, ut, quod accidit, etiam meritoaccidisse videatur et casus in culpam transeat.

4 This is made known to Varus through a man of that nation, faithful and of illustrious name, Segestes. He also was demanding that the associates be bound. But the fates were already prevailing over counsels, and they had blunted the whole edge of his mind: indeed, the matter stands thus, that most often the god who is about to change a man’s fortune corrupts his counsels and brings it about—and this is most miserable—that what happens even seems to have happened deservedly, and chance passes over into blame.

Negat itaque se credere speciemque in se benevolentiae ex merito aestimare profitetur. Nec diutius post primum indicem secundo relictus locus.

He therefore denies that he believes, and professes to appraise the appearance of benevolence toward himself by merit. Nor any longer was there a place left, after the first informer, for a second.

[119] Ordinem atrocissimae calamitatis, qua nulla post Crassi in Parthum damnum in externis gentibus gravior Romanis fuit, iustis voluminibus ut alii, ita nos conabimur exponere: nunc summa deflenda est.

[119] The sequence of the most atrocious calamity—than which, among foreign nations, none was more grave for the Romans after Crassus’s loss against the Parthian—we, as others, will attempt to expound in proper volumes: for now the sum must be bewailed.

2 Exercitus omnium fortissimus, disciplina, manu experentiaque bellorum inter Romanos milites princeps, marcore ducis, refidia hostis,iniquitate fortunae circumventus, cum ne pugnandi quidem aut egrediendi occasio iis, in quantum voluerant, data esset immunis, castigatis etiam quibusdam gravi poena, quia Romanis et armis et animis usi fuissent, inclusus silvis, paludibus, insisiis ab eo hoste ad internecionem trucidatus est, quem ita semper more pecudum trucidaverat, ut vitam aut mortem eius nunc ira nunc venia temperraret.

2 The army, bravest of all, foremost among Roman soldiers in discipline, in hand-to-hand fighting, and in the experience of wars, having been hemmed in by the torpor of the leader, by the perfidy of the enemy, by the iniquity of Fortune, when not even an opportunity for fighting or for going out had been granted to them to the extent that they had wished, with certain persons even chastised with a grave penalty, because they had used both arms and spirit together with the Romans, enclosed by woods, marshes, and ambushes, was butchered to extermination by that enemy whom it had always slaughtered in the manner of cattle, such that now anger, now pardon tempered his life or his death.

3 Duci plus ad moriendum quam ad pugnandum animi fuit: quippe paterni avitique successor exempli se ipse transfixit.

3 The leader had more spirit for dying than for fighting: for indeed, as the successor of a paternal and ancestral example, he himself transfixed himself.

4 At e praefectis castrorum duobus quam clarum exemplum L. Eggius, tam turpe Ceionius prodidit, qui, cum longe maximam partem absumpsisset acies, auctor deditionis supplicio quam proelio mori maluit. At Vala Numonius, lagatus Vari, cetera quietus ac probus, diri auctor exempli, spoliatum equite peditem relinquens fuga cum alis Rhenum petere ingressus est. Quod factum eius fortuna ulta est; non enim desertis superfuit, sed desertor

4 But of the two camp-prefects, as bright an example did L. Eggius display, so shameful a one did Ceionius, who, when the battle-line had consumed by far the greatest part of their strength, as the author of surrender chose to die by punishment rather than by battle. But Vala Numonius, legate of Varus, otherwise quiet and upright, the author of a dire example, leaving the infantry stripped of cavalry, set out in flight with the wings to make for the Rhine. This deed fortune avenged; for he did not outlive the deserted, but as a deserter—

5 Vari corpus semiustum hostilis laceraverat feritas; caput eius abscisum latumque ad Marboduum et ab eo missum ad Caesarem gentilicii tamen tumuli sepultura honoratum est.

5 The hostile ferocity had lacerated Varus’s half-burned body; his head, cut off and borne to Maroboduus and by him sent to Caesar, was nevertheless honored with burial in a family tomb.

[120] His auditis revolat ad patrem Caesar; perpetuus patronus Romani imperii adsuetam sibi causam suscipit. Mittitur ad Germaniam, Gallias confirmat, disponit exercitus, praesidia munit et se magnitudine sua, non fiducia hostis metiens, qui Cimbricam Teutonicamque militiam Italiae minabatur, ultro Rhenum cum exercitu transgreditur.

[120] Hearing these things, Caesar flies back to his father; the perpetual patron of the Roman imperium takes up the cause accustomed to him. He is sent to Germania, he strengthens the Gauls, he arrays the armies, he fortifies the garrisons, and, measuring himself by his own magnitude, not by the enemy’s confidence—who was threatening Italy with Cimbrian and Teutonic soldiery—of his own accord he crosses the Rhine with his army.

2 Arma infert hosti quem arcuisse pater et patria contenti erant; penetrat interius, aperit limites, vastat agros, urit domos, fundit obvios maximaque cum gloria, incolumi omnium, quos transduxerat, numero in hiberna revertitur.

2 He brings arms against the enemy whom his father and fatherland had been content to have kept off; he penetrates further within, opens the frontiers, devastates the fields, burns the houses, routs those who meet him, and, with very great glory, with the entire number of all whom he had led across unharmed, returns into winter-quarters.

3 Reddatur verum L. Asprenati testimonium, qui legatus sub avunculo suo Varo militans gnava virilique opera duarum legionum, quibus praeerat, exercitum immunem tanta calamitate servavit matureque ad inferiora hiberna descendendo vacillantium etiam cis Rhenum sitarum gentium animos confirmavit. Sunt tamen, qui ut vivos ab eo vindicatos, ita iugulatorum sub Varo occupata crediderint patrimonia hereditatemque occisi exercitus, in quantum voluerit, ab eo aditam.

3 Let a true testimony be rendered to L. Asprenas, who, as legate serving under his uncle Varus, by diligent and virile effort saved the army of the two legions which he commanded, immune from so great a calamity, and, by descending promptly to the lower winter-quarters, also confirmed the spirits of the tribes wavering, even of those situated on this side of the Rhine. There are, however, those who have believed that, just as the living were vindicated by him, so the patrimonies of those slaughtered under Varus were seized, and that the inheritance of the slain army, to the extent that he wished, was entered upon by him.

4 L. etiam Caedicii praefecti castrorum eorumque, qui una circumdati A1isone immensis Germanorum copiis obsidebaniur, laudanda virtus est, qui omnibus difficultatibus superatis, quas inopia rerum intolerabilis, vis hostium faciebat inexsuperabi1is, nec temerario consilio nec segni providentia usi speculatique opportunitatem ferro sibi ad suos peperere reditum.

4 The courage of L. Caedicius, prefect of the camp, and of those who, together surrounded at Alisone by the immense forces of the Germans, were being besieged, is also to be praised: who, having overcome all the difficulties that an intolerable shortage of supplies and the enemy’s insuperable force were creating, employing neither rash counsel nor sluggish providence, and having watched for an opportunity, by the sword won themselves a return to their own.

5 Ex quo apparet Varum, sane gravem et bonae voluntatis virum, magis imperatoris defectum consilio quam virtute destitutum militum se magnificentissimumque perdidisse exercitum.

5 From which it appears that Varus, a truly grave and well-intentioned man, lost himself and the most magnificent army more through a commander’s defect in counsel than through the soldiers’ being destitute of valor.

6 Cum in captivos saexiretur a Germanis, praeclari facinoris auctor fuit Caldus Caelius, adulescens vetustate familiae suae dignissimus, qui complexus catenarum, quibus vinctus erat, seriem, ita illas inlisit capiti suo, ut protinus pariter sanguinis cerebrique eRuvio expiraret.

6 When the Germans were raging against the captives, the author of a most illustrious deed was Caldus Caelius, a youth most worthy of the antiquity of his family, who, having clasped the series of chains with which he was bound, so dashed them against his own head that immediately, by a joint effusion of blood and brain, he expired.

[121] Eadem virtus et fortuna subsequenti tempore ingressi Germaniam imperatoris Tiberii fuit, quae initio iuerat. Qui concussis hostium viribus classicis peditumque expeditionibus, cum res Galliarum maximae molis accensasque plebis Viennensium dissensiones coercitione magis quam poena mollisset, senatus populusque Romanus postulante patre eius, ut aequum ei ius in omnibus provinciis exercitibusque esset, quam erat ipsi, decreto complexus est. Etenim absurdum erat non esse sub illo, quae ab illo vindicabantur,

[121] The same valor and fortune attended the emperor Tiberius, when at a subsequent time he entered Germany, as had gone with him at the beginning. He, with the enemy’s forces shaken by fleet-operations and expeditions of the foot-soldiers, since he had softened the affairs of Gaul of the greatest burden and the inflamed dissensions of the plebs of the Viennenses more by coercion than by punishment, the Senate and People of Rome, at his father’s request, embraced by decree that his right in all provinces and armies should be equal to that which he himself had. For indeed it was absurd that the things which were claimed by him were not under him,

2 et qui ad opem ferendam primus erat, ad vindicandum honorem non iudicari parem. In urbem reversus iam pridem debitum, sedcontinuatione bellorum dilatum ex Pannoniis Delmatisque egit triumphum. Cuius magnificentiam quis miretur in Caesare?

2 and that he who was first for bringing aid was not judged equal for vindicating honor. Having returned to the city, he held a triumph long since owed, but delayed by the continuation of wars, over the Pannonians and the Dalmatians. Who would marvel at the magnificence of it in Caesar?

Fortunae vero quis non miretur indulgentiam?

But who would not marvel at the indulgence of Fortune?

3 Quippe omnis eminentissimos hostium duces non occisos fama narravit, sed vinctos triumphus ostendit; quem mihi fratrique meo inter praecipuos praecipuisque donis adornatos viros comitari contigit.

3 Indeed, report narrated that all the most eminent leaders of the enemy were not slain, but the triumph displayed them bound; which it befell me and my brother to accompany among the foremost men adorned with exceptional gifts.

[122] Quis non inter reliqua, quibus singularis moderatio Ti. Caesaris elucet atque eminet, hoc quoque miretur, quod, cum sine ulla dubitatione septem triumphos meruerit, tribus contentus fuit. Quis enim dubitare potest, quin ex Armenia recepta et ex rege praeposito ei, cuius capiti insigne regium sua manu imposuerat, ordinatisque rebus Orientis ovans triumphare debuerit, et Vindelicorum Raetorumque victor curru urbem ingredi?

[122] Who would not, among the rest by which the singular moderation of Tiberius Caesar shines out and stands eminent, marvel at this as well: that, although without any doubt he had merited 7 triumphs, he was content with 3? For who can doubt that, after Armenia was recovered and, a king having been set over it—upon whose head he had with his own hand placed the royal insignia—and the affairs of the East were set in order, he ought to have triumphed with an ovation, and, as victor over the Vindelici and the Raeti, to enter the city in a chariot?

2 Fractis deinde post adoptionem continua triennii militia Germaniae viribus idem illi honor et deferendus et recipiendus fuerit? Et post cladem sub Varo acceptam, expectato ocius prosperrimo rerum eventu eadem excisa Germania triumphus summi ducis adornari debuerit? Sed in hoc viro nescias utrum magis mireris quod laborum periculorumque semper excessit modum an quod honorum temperavit.

2 After the adoption, with the forces of Germania broken by a continuous military service of 3 years, should that same honor both have been offered to him and accepted by him? And after the disaster suffered under Varus, with the most prosperous outcome of affairs coming sooner than expected, with that same Germania razed, ought the triumph of the supreme leader to have been prepared? But in this man you would not know whether to marvel more that he always exceeded the measure of labors and dangers, or that he moderated honors.

[123] Venitur ad tempus, in quo fuit plurimum metus. Quippe Caesar Augustus cum Germanicum nepotem suum reliqua belli patraturum misisset in Germaniam. Tiberium autem filium missurus esset in Illyricum ad firmanda pace quae bello subegerat, prosequens eum simulque interfuturus athletarum certaminis ludicro, quod eius honori sacratum a Neapolitanis est, processit in Campaniam.

[123] We come to the time in which there was the most fear. For Caesar Augustus, when he had sent his grandson Germanicus into Germany to accomplish the remaining parts of the war, and was about to send his son Tiberius into Illyricum to firm up the peace which he had subjugated by war, escorting him and at the same time intending to be present at the athletic contest’s spectacle, which has been consecrated to his honor by the Neapolitans, proceeded into Campania.

Quamquam iam motus imbecillitatis inclinataeque in deterius principia valetudinis senserat, tamen obnitente vi animi prosecutus filium digressusque ab eo Beneventi ipse Nolam petiit: et ingravescente in dies valetudine, cum sciret, quis volenti omnia post se salva remanere accersendus foret, festinanter revocavit filium; ille ad patrem patriae expectato revolavit maturius.

Although he had already perceived the stirrings of infirmity and the beginnings of a health inclined for the worse, nevertheless, with the force of his spirit resisting, he accompanied his son and, having taken leave of him at Beneventum, he himself made for Nola: and as his health was aggravating day by day, since he knew who ought to be summoned by one wishing everything to remain safe after himself, he hastily recalled his son; he flew back to the father of the fatherland sooner than expected.

2 Tum securum se Augustus praedicans circumfususque amplexibus Tiberii sui, commendans illi sua atque ipsius opera nec quidquam iam de fine, si fata poscerent, recusans, subrefectus primo conspectu alloquioque carissimi sibi spiritus, mox, cum omnem curam fata vincerent, in sua resolutus initia Pompeio Apuleioque consulibus septuagesimo et sexto anno animam caelestem caelo reddidit.

2 Then Augustus, proclaiming himself secure and surrounded by the embraces of his Tiberius, commending to him his own undertakings and those of Tiberius himself, and now refusing nothing concerning the end, if the fates should demand it, somewhat restored in spirit at the first sight and address of the one most dear to him, soon, when the fates overcame all care, dissolved back into his own beginnings, under Pompeius and Apuleius as consuls, and in the 76th year returned his celestial soul to heaven.

[124] Quid tunc homines timuerint, quae senatus trepidatio, quae populi confusio, quis urbis metus, in quam arto salutis exitiique fuerimus confinio, neque mihi tam festinanti exprimere vacat neque cui vacat potest. Id solum voce publica dixisse satis habeo: cuius orbis ruinam timueramus, eum ne commotum quidem sensimus, tantaque unius viri maiestas fuit, ut nec pro bonis neque contra malos opus armis foret.

[124] What then men feared, what the senate’s trepidation, what the people’s confusion, what fear of the city, upon how narrow a confine of safety and destruction we had stood, neither is it free for me, being in such haste, to express, nor can he who has leisure do so. This alone I hold enough to have said with the public voice: he on whose account we had feared the ruin of the world, we did not even sense him stirred; and so great was the majesty of one man, that there was no need of arms either on behalf of the good or against the wicked.

2 Una tamen veluti luctatio civitatis fuit, pugnantis cum Caesare senatus populique Romani, ut stationi paternae succederet, illius, ut potius aequalem civem quam eminentem liceret agere principem. Tandem magis ratione quam honore victus est, cum quidquid tuendum non suscepisset, periturum videret, solique huic contigit paene diutius recusare principatum, quam, ut occuparent eum, alii armis pugnaverant.

2 There was, however, as it were, one single luctation of the commonwealth, of the senate and Roman people fighting with Caesar, that he should succeed to his paternal station; of him, that it might rather be permitted to act the princeps as an equal citizen than as an eminent one. At length he was overcome more by reason than by honor, since he saw that whatever he did not undertake to defend would perish; and to this man alone it befell to refuse the principate almost longer than others had fought with arms to seize it.

3 Post redditum caelo patrem et corpus eius humanis honoribus, numen divinis honoratum, primum principalium eius operum fuit ordinatio comitiorum, quam manu sua scriptam divus Augustus reliquerat.

3 After his father had been returned to heaven, and his body with human honors, his divinity honored with divine honors, the first of his principal works was the ordering of the comitia, which the deified Augustus had left written by his own hand.

4 Quo tempore mihi fratrique meo, candidatis Caesaris, proxime a nobilissimis ac sacerdotalibus viris destinari praetoribus contigit, consecutis quidem, ut neque post nos quemquam divus Augustus neque ante nos Caesar commendaret Tiberius.

4 At that time it befell to me and to my brother, Caesar’s candidates, to be designated praetors next after the noblest and sacerdotal men, having indeed achieved this, that neither after us did the deified Augustus, nor before us did Tiberius Caesar, recommend anyone.

[125] Tulit protinus et voti et consilii sui pretium res publica, neque diu latuit aut quid non impetrando passuri fuissemus aut quid impetrando profecissemus. Quippe exercitus, qui in Germania militabat praesentisque Germanici imperio regebatur, simulque legiones, quae in Illyrico erant, rabie quadam et profunda confudendi omnia cupiditate novum ducem, novum statum, novam quaerebant rem publicam; quin etiam ausi sunt minaridaturos se senatui, daturos principi leges;

[125] The Republic straightway reaped the reward of both its vow and its plan, nor did it long lie hidden either what we would have suffered by not obtaining, or what we accomplished by obtaining. For the army which was serving in Germany and was ruled by the present authority of Germanicus, and likewise the legions which were in Illyricum, with a certain frenzy and a deep desire of confounding everything, were seeking a new leader, a new state, a new Republic; nay more, they even dared to threaten the senate, to give laws to the princeps;

2 modum stipendii, finem militiae sibi ipsi constituere conati sunt. Processum etiam in arma ferrumque strictum est et paene in ultima gladiorum erupit impunitas, defuitque, qui contra rem publicam duceret, non qui sequerentur.

2 they tried to set for themselves the measure of the stipend and the end of military service. They even proceeded to arms and the iron was drawn, and impunity nearly burst out into the last extremes of the sword; and there was lacking one to lead against the republic, not those who would follow.

3 Sed haec omnia veteris imperatoris maturitas, multa inhibentis, aliqua cum gravitate pollicentis, et inter severam praecipue noxiorum ultionem mitis aliorum castigatio brevi sopiit ac sustulit.

3 But all these things the old emperor’s maturity, restraining many things, promising some with gravity, and, amid the especially severe vengeance of the guilty, the gentle chastisement of the others, soon lulled and removed.

4 Quo quidem tempore ut pleraque non ignave Germanicus, ita Drusus, qui a patre in id ipsum plurimo quidem igne emicans incendium militaris tumultus missus erat, prisca antiquaque severitate usus ancipitia sibi maluit tenere quam exemplo perniciosa, et his ipsis militum gladiis, quibus obsessus erat,

4 At which very time, just as in most things Germanicus acted not faint-heartedly, so too Drusus—who had been sent by his father into that very conflagration of military tumult, indeed flashing with very great ardor—using ancient and antique severity, preferred to hold two‑edged perils to himself rather than things pernicious by example, and with these very swords of the soldiers, by which he was besieged,

5 obsidentes coercuit, singulari adiutore in eo negotio usus Iunio Blaeso, viro nescias utiliore in castris an meliore in toga: qui post paucos annos proconsu1 in Africa ornamenta triumphalia cum appellatione imperatoria meruit. At Hispanias exercitumque in iis cum M. Lepidus, de cuius virtutibus celeberrimaque in Illyrico militia praediximus, cum imperio obtineret, in summa pace et quiete continuit, cum ei pietas rectissima sentiendi et auctoritas quae sentiebat obtinendi superesset. Cuius curam ac fidem Dolabella quoque, vir simplicitatis generosissimae, in maritima parte Illyrici per omnia imitatus est.

5 he checked the besiegers, employing in that business a singular helper, Junius Blaesus, a man you would not know whether more useful in the camps or better in the toga: who after a few years, as proconsul in Africa, earned triumphal ornaments along with the appellation of imperator. But the Spains and the army in them, when M. Lepidus—of whose virtues and most celebrated service in Illyricum we have spoken beforehand—was holding them with imperium, he kept in the highest peace and quiet, since there remained to him a dutifulness of the straightest judging and an authority to obtain what he judged. The care and good faith of this man Dolabella also, a man of most well-born simplicity, in the maritime part of Illyricum imitated in all respects.

[126] Horum sedecim annorum opera quis cum ingerantur oculis animisque omnium, partibus eloquatur? Sacravit parentem suum Caesar non imperio, sed religione, non appellavit eum, sed fecit deum.

[126] The works of these sixteen years—who, when they are thrust upon the eyes and minds of all, could set them forth in parts? Caesar consecrated his parent not by imperium, but by religion; he did not merely entitle him, but made him a god.

2 Revocata in forum fides, summota e foro seditio, ambitio campo, discordia curia, sepultaeque ac situ obsitae iustitia, aequitas, industria civitati redditae; accessit magistratibus auctoritas, senatui maiestas, iudiciis gravitas; compressa theatralis seditio, recte faciendi omnibus aut incussa voluntas aut imposita necessitas:

2 Faith was recalled into the forum, sedition removed from the forum, ambition from the field, discord from the curia, and justice, equity, and industry—buried and overgrown with neglect—were restored to the commonwealth; there was added to the magistrates authority, to the senate majesty, to the courts gravity; theatrical sedition was suppressed, and for all there was either an instilled will of doing rightly or an imposed necessity.

3 honorantur recta, prava puniuntur, suspicit potentem humilis, non timet, antecedit, non contemnit humiliorem potens. Quando annona moderatior, quando pax laetior? Diffusa in orientis occidentisque tractus et quidquid meridiano aut septentrione finitur, paxaugusta omnis terrarum orbis angulos a latrociniorum metu servat immunes.

3 right things are honored, wrong things are punished; the humble looks up to the powerful, does not fear; the powerful goes before, does not despise the more humble. When has the grain-supply been more moderate, when the peace more joyful? Spread through the tracts of east and west, and whatever is bounded by south or north, the Augustan peace keeps all the corners of the whole orb of lands free from the fear of brigandage.

4 Fortuita non civium tantummodo, sed urbium damna principis rnunificentia vindicat. Restitutae urbes Asiae, vindicatae ab iniuriis magistratuum provinciae: honor dignis paratissimus, poena in malos sera, sed aliqua: superatur aequitate gratia, ambitio virtute; nam facere recte civis suos princeps optimus faciendo docet, cumque sit imperio maximus, exemplo maior est.

4 Fortuitous damages not only of citizens but of cities the prince’s munificence vindicates. The cities of Asia have been restored, the provinces vindicated from the injuries of magistrates: honor is most ready for the worthy, punishment upon the wicked is late, but at least some: favor is overcome by equity, ambition by virtue; for the best prince teaches his citizens to do rightly by doing, and though he is greatest in command, he is greater in example.

[127] Raro eminentes viri non magnis adiutoribus ad gubernandam fortunam suam usi sunt, ut duo Scipiones duobus Laeliis, quos per omnia aequaverunt sibi, ut divus Augustus M. Agrippa et proxime ab eo Statilio Tauro, quibus novitas familiae haut obstitit quominus ad multiplicis consulatus triumphosque et complura eveherentur sacerdotia.

[127] Rarely have eminent men not used great helpers for steering their own fortune, as the two Scipios (did) with two Laelii, whom they equaled to themselves in all things; as the deified Augustus with M. Agrippa and, next after him, with Statilius Taurus, for whom the newness of their family did not hinder their being raised to multiple consulships and triumphs and to many priesthoods.

2 Etenim magna negotia magnis adiutoribus egent interestque rei publicae quod usu necessariurn est, dignitate eminere utilitatemque auctoritate muniri.

2 For indeed great affairs need great helpers, and it is in the interest of the commonwealth that what is necessary in use be eminent in dignity, and that utility be fortified by authority.

3 Sub his exemplis Ti. Caesar Seianum Aelium, principe equestris ordinis patre natum, materno vero genere clarissimas veteresque et insignes honoribus complexum familias, habentem consularis fratres, consobrinos, avunculum, ipsum vero laboris ac fidei capacissimum, sufficiente etiam vigori animi compage corporis, singularem principalium onerum adiutorem in omnia habuit atque habet,

3 Under these examples Tiberius Caesar had and has Aelius Sejanus—born of a father who was princeps of the equestrian order, but in his maternal lineage encompassing families most illustrious, ancient, and distinguished with honors; having brothers, cousins, and a maternal uncle of consular rank; himself most capable of labor and fidelity, with the framework of body sufficient to the vigor of his spirit—as in all things a singular helper of the imperial burdens,

4 virum severitatis laetissimae, hilaritatis priscae, actu otiosis simillimum, nihil sibi vindicantem eoque adsequentem omnia, semperque infra aliorum aestimationes se metientem, vultu vitaque tranquillum, animo exsomnem.

4 a man of most joyous severity, of pristine hilarity, in action most similar to the otiose, claiming nothing for himself and thereby attaining all things, and always measuring himself beneath the estimations of others, tranquil in countenance and life, sleepless in mind.

[128] In huius virtutum aestimatione iam pridem iudicia civitatis cum iudiciis principis certant; neque novus hic mos senatus populique Romani est putandi, quod optimum sit, esse nobilissimum. Nam et illi qui ante bellum Punicum abhinc annos trecentos Ti. Coruncanium, hominem novum, cum aliis omnibus honoribus ium pontificatu etiam maximo ad principale extulere fastigium, et qui equestri loco natum Sp. Carvilium et mox M. Catonem,

[128] In the estimation of this man’s virtues, long since the judgments of the civitas vie with the judgments of the princeps; nor is this a new custom of the Senate and the Roman People, to think that what is best is the most noble. For both those who, before the Punic War, 300 years ago, raised Tiberius Coruncanius, a new man, together with all the other honors and even with the highest pontificate, to the principal pinnacle, and those who, born from the equestrian order, Spurius Carvilius, and soon Marcus Cato,

2 novum etiam Tusculo urbis inquilinum, Mummiumque Achaicum in consulatus, censuras et triumphos provexere, et qui C. Marium

2 even a new man, a lodger of the city from Tusculum, and they promoted Mummius Achaicus to consulships, censorships and triumphs, and those who Gaius Marius

3 ignotae originis usque ad sextum consulatum sine dubitatione Romani nominis habuere principem, et qui M. Tullio tantum tribuere, ut paene adsentatione sua quibus vellet principatus conciliaret, quique nihil Asinio Pollioni negaverunt, quod nobilissimis summo cum sudore consequendum foret, profecto hoc senserunt, in cuiuscumque animo virtus inesset, ei plurimum esse tribuendum.

3 of unknown origin they held him, without doubt, as the chief of the Roman name up to his sixth consulship, and those who attributed so much to M. Tullius that almost by their own adulation he could procure the primacy for whom he wished, and who denied nothing to Asinius Pollio which would have to be attained by the most noble with utmost sweat, surely felt this: that in whosoever’s spirit virtue was present, to him the greatest share ought to be attributed.

4 Haec naturalis exempli imitatio ad experiendum Seianum Caesarem, ad iuvanda vero onera principis Seianum propulit senatumque et populum Romanum eo perduxit, ut, quod usu optimum intellegit, id in tutelam securitatis suae libenter advocet.

4 This imitation of a natural example drove Caesar to make trial of Sejanus, and in truth drove Sejanus to aid the burdens of the princeps, and it led the Senate and the Roman People to this, that what it understands by use/experience to be the optimum, that it gladly calls into the tutelage of its own security.

[129] Sed proposita quasi universa principatus Ti. Caesaris forma singula recenseamus. Qua ille prudentia Rhascupolim, interemptorem fratris sui filii Cotyis consortisque eiusdem imperii, Romam evocavit. Singulari in eo negotio usus opera Flacci Pomponii consularis viri, nati ad omnia, quae recte facienda sunt, simplicique virtute merentis semper, numquam captantis gloriam.

[129] But with the, as it were, whole form of the principate of Tiberius Caesar set forth, let us review the particulars. With what prudence did he summon to Rome Rhascupolis, the slayer of his brother’s son Cotys and sharer of the same empire. In that business he employed the singular service of Flaccus Pomponius, a consular man, born for all things that are to be done rightly, and by simple virtue ever deserving, never grasping at glory.

2 Cum quanta gravitate ut senator et iudex, non ut princeps, causam Drusi Libonis audivit! Quam celeriter ingratum et nova molientem oppressit! Quibus praeceptis instructum Germanicum suum imbuiumque rudimentis militiae secum actae domitorem recepit Germaniae!

2 With how great gravity, as a senator and judge, not as emperor, he heard the case of Libo Drusus! How swiftly he crushed the ingrate, the one plotting novelties! With what precepts he received his Germanicus—equipped by them and imbued with the rudiments of military service carried on in his company—as the subduer of Germany!

Quibus iuventam eius exaggeravit honoribus, respondente cultu triumphi rerum, quas gesserat, magnitudini!

By what honors he aggrandized his youth, with the array of a triumph responding to the magnitude of the deeds which he had carried out!

3 Quotiens populum congiariis honoravit senatorumque censum, cum id senatu auctore facere potuit, quam libenter explevit, ut neque luxuriam invitaret neque honestam paupertatem pateretur dignitate destitui! Ouanto cum honore Germanicum suum in transmarinas misit provincias! Qua vi, consiliorum suorum ministro et adiutore usus Druso filio suo, Maroboduum inhaerentem occupati regni finibus, pace maiestatis eius dixerim, velut serpentem abstrusam terrae salubribus medicamentis coegit egredi!

3 How often he honored the people with congiaries, and how readily he made up the senators’ census, when he was able to do it with the senate as author, so that he neither invited luxury nor allowed honest poverty to be abandoned by dignity! With how great honor he sent his own Germanicus into the overseas provinces! With what force—using his son Drusus as the minister and adjutant of his counsels—he compelled Maroboduus, clinging to the borders of his seized kingdom (with his Majesty’s pardon, let me say), like a serpent concealed, to come forth by the healthful medicaments of the earth!

Quam illum ut honorate, sic secure continet! Quantae molis bellum principe Galliarum ciente Sacroviro Floroque Iulio mira celeritate ac virtute compressit, ut ante populus Romanus vicisse se quam bellare cognosceret nuntiosque periculi victoriae praecederet nuntius!

How it keeps him, as honorably so securely! Of how great a burden a war, with the principal men of the Gauls—Sacrovir and Julius Florus—stirring it up, he suppressed with wondrous celerity and virtue, so that the Roman People learned that they had conquered before they knew they were at war, and the message of victory outstripped the messengers of danger!

4 Magni etiam terroris bellum Africum et cotidiano auctu maius auspiciis consiliisque eius brevi sepultum est.

4 The African war also, of great terror and greater with its daily increase, was soon buried by his auspices and counsels.

[130] Quanta suo suorumque nomine extruxit opera! Quam pia munificentia superque humanam evecta fidem templum patri molitur! Quam magnifico animi temperamento Cn. quoque Pompei munera absumpta igni restituit!

[130] How great works he erected in his own name and in the name of his kinsmen! With what pious munificence, lifted beyond human credence, he undertakes a temple for his father! With what magnificent tempering of spirit he even restored the benefactions of Gnaeus Pompeius that had been consumed by fire!

Quidquid enim umquam claritudine eminuit, id veluti cognatum censet tuendum. Qua liberalitate cum alias, tum proxime incenso monte Caelio

For whatever has ever stood out by its celebrity, he judges that, as if kindred, it must be safeguarded. With this liberality both at other times, and most recently when the Caelian Mount was burned,

2 omnis ordinis hominum iacturae patrimonio succurrit suo! Quanta cum quiete hominum rem perpetui praecipuique timoris, supplementum, sine trepidatione dilectus providet!

2 he makes up, with his own patrimony, for the losses of men of every order! With what great calm for the people he provides for the affair of their perpetual and principal fear—the supplement, the levy—without trepidation!

3 Si aut natura patitur aut mediocritas recipit hominum, audeo cum deis queri: quid hic meruit, primurn ut scelerata Drusus Libo iniret consilia? Deinde ut Silium Pisonemque tam infestos haberet, quorum alterius dignitatem constituit, auxit alterius? Ut ad maiora transcendam, quamquam et haec ille duxit maxima, quid, ut iuvenes amitteret filios?

3 If either nature allows it or the mediocrity of human beings admits it, I dare to complain with the gods: what did this man deserve—first, that Drusus Libo should enter upon criminal counsels? Next, that he should have Silius and Piso so hostile, of whom he established the dignity of the one and augmented that of the other? To transcend to greater things—although he too considered even these as very great—what of this, that he should lose his sons while young?

Quid, ut nepotem ex Druso suo? Dolenda adhuc retulimus:

What, of his grandson by his own Drusus? We have thus far recounted things to be mourned:

4 veniendum ad erubescenda est. Quantis hoc triennium, M. Vinici, doloribus laceravit animum eius! Quam diu abstruso, quod miserrimum est, pectus eius flagravit incendio, quod ex nuru, quod ex nepote dolere, indignari, erubescere coactus est.

4 we must come to things to blush at. With how great pains this three-year period, M. Vinicius, has lacerated his spirit! How long, his breast concealed—which is most miserable—did his heart blaze with a conflagration, because from his daughter-in-law, because from his grandson, he was compelled to grieve, to be indignant, to blush.

Cuius temporis aegritudinem auxit amissa mater,

The grief of that time was increased by the loss of his mother,

5 eminentissima et per omnia deis quam hominibus similior foemina, cuius potentiam nemo sensit nisi aut levatione periculi aut accessione dignitatis.

5 the most eminent woman, and in all respects more similar to the gods than to men, whose power no one sensed except either by an alleviation of peril or by an accession of dignity.

[131] Voto finiendum volumen est. Iuppiter Capitoline, et auctor ac stator Romani nominis Gradive Mars perpetuorumque custos Vesta ignium et quidquid numinun hanc Romani imperii molem in amplissimum terrarum orbis fastigium extulit, vos publica voce obtestor atque precor custodite, servate, protegite hunc statum, hanc pacem, hunc principem,

[131] The volume must be ended with a vow. Jupiter Capitoline, and Mars Gradivus, author and establisher of the Roman name, and Vesta, guardian of the everlasting fires, and whatever divinity has lifted this mass of the Roman empire to the most ample pinnacle of the world, I adjure and beseech you with a public voice: guard, preserve, protect this estate, this peace, this prince.

2 eique functo longissima statione mortali destinate suceessores quam serissimos, sed eos, quorum cervice tam fortiter sustinendo terrarum orbis imperio sufficiant quam huius suffecisse sensimus, consiliaque omnium civiun aut pia fovete aut impia opprimite.

2 and, he having performed the very long mortal station, destine for him successors as most serene as possible, but those whose neck may suffice to sustain so stoutly the imperium of the orb of the lands as we have perceived this one’s to have sufficed; and the counsels of all citizens, if pious, cherish, but if impious, suppress.