DIO'S ROME
AN
HISTORICAL NARRATIVE
ORIGINALLY COMPOSED IN GREEK
DURING THE REIGNS OF
SEPTIMIUS SEVERUS, GETA
AND CARACALLA, MACRINUS,
ELAGABALUS AND ALEXANDER SEVERUS:
AND
NOW PRESENTED IN ENGLISH FORM
BY
HERBERT BALDWIN FOSTER,
A.B. (Harvard), Ph.D. (Johns Hopkins),
Acting Professor of Greek in Lehigh University
FIFTH VOLUME: Extant Books 61-76 (A.D. 54-211).
1906
DURATION OF TIME
M. Asinius Marcellus, Manius Acilius Aviola.
(A.D. 54 =
a.u. 807 = First of Nero, from Oct. 13th).
Nero Caesar Aug., L. Antistius Vetus.
(A.D. 55 = a.u.
808 = Second of Nero).
Q. Volusius Saturninus, P. Cornelius Scipio.
(A.D. 56 =
a.u. 809 = Third of Nero).
Nero Caesar Aug. (II), L. Calpurnius Piso.
(A.D. 57 =
a.u. 810 = Fourth of Nero).
Nero Caesar Aug. (III), M. Valerius Messala.
(A.D. 58 =
a.u. 811 = Fifth of Nero).
C. Vipsanius Apronianus, L. Fonteius Capito.
(A.D. 59 =
a.u. 812 = Sixth of Nero).
Nero Caesar Aug. (IV), Cornelius Lentulus Cossus.
(A.D.
60 = a.u. 813 = Seventh of Nero).
A.D. 54 (a.u. 807)
1
At the death of Claudius the leadership on most just
principles belonged to Britannicus, who had been born
a legitimate son of Claudius and in physical development
was beyond what would have been expected of
his years. Yet by law the power passed to Nero on
account of his adoption. No claim, indeed, is stronger
than that of arms. Every one who possesses superior
force has always the appearance of both saying and
doing what is more just. So Nero, having first disposed
of Claudius's will and having succeeded him as
master of the whole empire, put Britannicus and his
sisters out of the way. Why, then, should one stop to
lament the misfortunes of other victims?
2
The following signs of dominion had been observed in
his career. At his birth just before dawn rays not
cast by any beam of sunlight yet visible surrounded his
form. And a certain astrologer from this and from
the motion of the stars at that time and their relation
to one another divined two things in regard to him,--that
he would rule and that he would murder his
mother. Agrippina on hearing this became for the
moment so beside herself as actually to cry out: "Let
him kill me, if only he shall rule." Later she was
destined to repent bitterly of her prayer. Some people
become so steeped in folly that if they expect to obtain
some blessing mingled with evil, they at once through
their anxiety for the advantage pay no heed to the
detriment. When the time for the latter also comes,
they are cast down and would choose not to have secured
even the greatest good thing. Yet Domitius, the
father of Nero, had a sufficient previous intimation of
his son's coming baseness and licentiousness, not by
any oracle but through the nature of his own and
Agrippina's characters. And he declared: "It is impossible
for any good man to be born from me and
from her." As time went on, the finding of a serpent
skin around Nero's neck when he was but a boy caused
the seers to say: "He shall acquire great power
from the aged man." Serpents are thought to slough
off their old age with their old skin, and so get power.
3
Nero was seventeen years of age when he began to
rule. He first entered the camp, and, after reading to
the soldiers all that Seneca had written, he promised
them as much as Claudius had been accustomed to
give. Before the senate he read such a considerable
document,--this, too, written by Seneca,--that it was
voted the statements should be inscribed on a silver
tablet and should be read every time the new consuls
took up the duties of their office. Consequently those
who heard him made themselves ready to enjoy a good
reign according to the letter of the compilation. At
first Agrippina
[in company with Pallas, a vulgar and
tiresome man,]
managed all affairs pertaining to the
empire, and she and her son went about together, often
reclining in the same litter; usually, however, she
would be carried and he would follow alongside. It
was she who transacted business with embassies and
sent letters to peoples and governors and kings. When
this had gone on for a considerable time, it aroused the
displeasure of Seneca and Burrus, who were both the
most sensible and the most influential of the advisers
of Nero. The one was his teacher and the other was
prefect of the Pretorians. They took the following occasion
to stop this method of procedure. An embassy
of Armenians had arrived and Agrippina wished to
ascend the platform from which Nero was talking with
them. The two men, seeing her approach, persuaded
the young man to go down before she could reach there
and meet his mother, pretending some form of greeting.
After that was done they did not return again,
making some excuse to prevent the foreigners from
seeing the flaw in the empire. Subsequently they labored
to keep any public business from being again
committed to her hands.
4
When they had accomplished this, they themselves
took charge of the entire empire and gave it the very
best and fairest management that they could. Nero
was not in general fond of affairs and was glad to
live at leisure.
[The reason, indeed, that he had previously
distrusted his mother and now was fond of her
lay in the fact that now he was free to enjoy himself,
and the government was being carried on no less well.
And his advisers after consultation made many
changes in existing customs, abolishing some things
altogether and passing a number of new laws.]
They
let Nero sow his wild oats with the intention of bringing
about in him through the satisfaction of all his desires
a changed attitude of mind, while in the meantime
no great damage should be done to public interests.
Surely they must have known that a young and
self-willed spirit, when reared in unreproved license
and in absolute authority, so far from becoming satiated
by the indulgence of its passions is ruined more
and more by these very agencies. Indeed, Nero at first
gave but simple dinners; his revels, his drunkenness,
his amours were moderate. Afterward, as no one reproved
him for them and public business was carried
forward none the worse for all of it, he began to believe
that what he did was right and that he could carry
his practices to even greater lengths.
[Consequently
he began to indulge in each of these pursuits in a more
open and precipitate fashion. And in case his guardians
gave him any warning or his mother any rebuke,
he would appear abashed while they were present and
promise to reform; but as soon as they were gone, he
would again become the slave of his desire and yield
to those who were dragging him in the other direction,--a
straight course down hill.]
Next he came to despise
instruction, inasmuch as he was always hearing
from his associates, "Do
you
submit to this?" or "Do
you
fear these people?", "Don't you know that you
are Caesar?", "Have not you the authority over them
rather than they over you?" He was also animated
by obstinacy, not wishing to acknowledge his mother
as superior and himself as inferior, nor to admit the
greater good sense of Seneca and Burrus.
5
Finally he passed the possibility of being shamed,
dashed to the ground and trampled under foot all their
suggestions, and began to follow in the steps of Gaius.
When he had once felt a desire to emulate him, he quite
outdid him, for he believed that the imperial power
must manifest itself among other ways by allowing
no one to surpass it even in the vilest deeds.
[As he
was praised for this by the crowds, and received many
pleasant compliments from them, he gave himself no
rest. His doings were at first confined to his home and
associates, but were later on carried abroad. Thus he
attached a mighty disgrace to the whole Roman race
and committed many outrages upon the individuals
composing it. Innumerable acts of violence and insult,
of rape and murder, were committed both by the emperor
himself and by those who at one time or another
had influence with him. And, as certainly and inevitably
follows in all such practices]
, great sums of
money naturally were spent, great sums unjustly procured,
and great sums seized by force. For under no
circumstances was Nero niggardly. Here is an illustration.
He had ordered no less than two hundred and
fifty myriads at one time to be given to Doryphorus,
who attended to the state documents of his empire.
Agrippina had it all piled in a heap, hoping by showing
him the money all together to make him change his
mind. Instead, he asked how much the mass before
him amounted to, and when he was informed he
doubled it, saying: "I was not aware that I had allowed
him so little." It can clearly be seen, then, that
as a result of the magnitude of his expenditures he
would quickly exhaust the treasures in the royal vaults
and quickly need new revenues. Hence unusual taxes
were imposed and the property of the well-to-do was
not left intact. Some lost their possessions to spite
him and others destroyed themselves with their livelihoods.
Similarly he hated and made away with some
others who had no considerable wealth; for, if they possessed
any excellent trait or were of a good family, he
became suspicious that they disliked him.
6
Such were the general characteristics of Nero. I
shall now proceed to details.
In the matter of horse-races Nero grew so enthusiastic
that he adorned famous race-horses that had
passed their prime with the regular street costume for
men and honored them with money for their fodder.
The horsebreeders and charioteers, elated at this enthusiasm
of his, proceeded to abuse unjustifiably even
the praetors and consuls. But Aulus Fabricius, when
praetor, finding that they refused to hold contests on
fair terms, dispensed with them entirely. He trained
dogs to draw chariots and introduced them in place of
horses. When this was done, the wearers of the white
and of the red immediately entered their chariots: but,
as the Greens and the Blues would not even then participate,
Nero at his own cost gave the prizes to the
horses, and the regular program of the circus was
carried out.
Agrippina showed readiness to attack the greatest
undertakings, as is evidenced by her causing the death
of Marcus Julius Silanus, to whom she sent some of
the poison with which she had treacherously murdered
her husband.
Silanus was governor of Asia, and was in no respect
inferior to the general character of his family. It was
for this, more than for anything else, she said, that she
killed him, not wishing to have him preferred before
Nero, by reason of the latter's manner of life. Moreover,
she turned everything into trade and gathered
money from the most insignificant and basest sources.
Laelianus, who was despatched to Armenia in place
of Pollio, had been assigned to the command of the
night watch. And he was no better than Pollio, for,
while surpassing him in reputation, he was all the
more insatiable in respect to gain.
A.D. 55 (a.u. 808)
7
Agrippina found a grievance in the fact that she
was no longer supreme in affairs of the palace. It was
chiefly because of Acte. Acte had been brought as a
slave from Asia. She caught the fancy of Nero, was
adopted into the family of Attalus, and was cherished
much more carefully than was Nero's wife Octavia.
Agrippina, indignant at this and at other matters, first
attempted to rebuke him, and set herself to humiliating
his associates, some by beatings and by getting rid
of others. But when she accomplished nothing, she
took it greatly to heart and remarked to him: "It
was I who made you emperor," just as if she had the
power to take away the authority from him again. She
did not comprehend that every form of independent
power given to any one by a private citizen immediately
ceases to be the property of the giver and belongs
to the one who receives it to use against his benefactor.
Britannicus Nero murdered treacherously by poison,
and then, as the skin was turned livid by the action of
the drug, he smeared the body with gypsum. But as it
was being carried through the Forum a heavy rain
falling while the gypsum was still damp washed it all
away, so that the horror was exposed not only to comment
but to view.
[After Britannicus was dead Seneca
and Burrus ceased to give careful attention to public
interests and were satisfied if they might manage them
conservatively and still preserve their lives. Consequently
Nero now made himself conspicuous by giving
free rein to all his desires without fear of retribution.
His behavior began to be absolutely insensate, as is
shown, for instance, by his punishing a certain knight,
Antonius, as a seller of poisons and by further burning
the poisons publicly. He took great credit for this
action as well as for prosecuting some persons who
had tampered with wills; but other people only laughed
to see him punishing his own acts in the persons of
others.]
8
His secret acts of licentiousness were many, both at
home and throughout the City, by night and by day.
He used to frequent the taverns and wandered about
everywhere like a private person. Any number of
beatings and insults took place in this connection and
the evil spread to the theatres, so that those who
worked as dancers and who had charge of the horses
paid no attention either to praetors or to consuls.
They were disorderly themselves and led others to be
the same, while Nero not only did not restrain them
even by words, but stirred them up all the more. He
delighted in their actions and used to be secretly conveyed
in a litter into the theatres, where unseen by the
rest he watched the proceedings. Indeed, he forbade
the soldiers who had usually been in attendance at all
public gatherings to appear there any longer. The
reason he assigned was that they ought not to superintend
anything but strictly military affairs, but his
true purpose was to afford those who wished to raise
a disturbance the amplest scope. He made use of the
same excuse in reference to his not allowing any
soldier to attend his mother, saying that no one except
the emperor ought to be guarded by them. In this
way he displayed his enmity toward the masses, and
as for his mother he was already openly at variance
with her. Everything that they said to each other,
or that the imperial pair did each day, was reported
outside the palace, yet it did not all reach the public
and hence conjectures were made to supply missing
details and different versions arose. What was conceivable
as happening, in view of the baseness and
lewdness of the pair, was noised abroad as having
already taken place, and reports possessing some credibility
were believed as true. The populace, seeing
Agrippina now for the first time without Pretorians,
took care not to fall in with her even by accident; and
if any one did chance to meet her he would hastily get
out of the way without saying a word.
9
At one spectacle men on horseback overcame bulls
while riding along beside them, and the knights who
served as Nero's personal guard brought down with
their javelins four hundred bears and three hundred
lions. On the same occasion thirty knights belonging
to the military fought in the arena. The emperor
sanctioned such proceedings openly. Secretly, however,
he carried on nocturnal revels throughout the
length and breadth of the city, insulting the women,
practicing lewdness on boys, stripping those whom he
encountered, striking, wounding, murdering. He had
an idea that his incognito was impenetrable, for he
used all sorts of different costumes and false hair at
different times: but he would be recognized by his
retinue and by his deeds. No one else would have
dared to commit so many and such gross outrages so
recklessly.
A.D. 56 (a.u. 809)
It was becoming unsafe even for a person
to stay at home, since he would break into shops and
houses. It came about that a certain Julius Montanus,
[
]
a senator, enraged on his wife's account, fell upon this
reveler and inflicted many blows upon him, so that he
had to remain several days in concealment by reason
of the black eyes he had received. Montanus did not
suffer for it, since Nero thought the violence had been
all an accident and was for showing no anger at the
occurrence, had not the other sent him a letter begging
his pardon. Nero on reading the epistle remarked:
"So he knew that he was striking Nero." The suicide
of Montanus followed hard after.
A.D. 57 (a.u. 810)
In the course of producing a spectacle at one of the
theatres, he suddenly filled the place with sea-water so
that the fishes and sea-monsters
[
]
swam in it, and had a
naval battle between "Persians" and "Athenians."
At the close of it he suddenly withdrew the water,
dried the subsoil, and continued land contests, not only
between two men at a time but with crowds pitted
against other crowds.
A.D. 58 (a.u. 811)
10
Subsequent to this, oratorical contests took place,
and as a result even of these numbers were exiled and
put to death.--Seneca also was held to account, one of
the charges against him being that he was intimate
with Agrippina.
[It had not been enough for him to
debauch Julia, nor had he become better as a result
of exile, but he went on to make advances to such a
woman as Agrippina, with such a son.]
Not only in
this instance but in others he was convicted of doing
precisely the opposite of what he taught in his philosophical
doctrines. He brought accusations against
tyranny, yet he made himself a teacher of tyrants: he
denounced such of his associates as were powerful,
yet he did not hold aloof from the palace himself: he
had nothing good to say of flatterers, yet he had so
fawned upon Messalina and Claudius's freedmen
[that
he had sent them from the island a book containing
eulogies upon them; this latter caused him such mortification
that he erased the passage.]
While finding
fault with the rich, he himself possessed a property
of seven thousand five hundred myriads; and though
he censured the extravagances of others, he kept five
hundred three-legged tables of cedar wood, every one
of them with identical ivory feet, and he gave banquets
on them. In mentioning these details I have at least
given a hint of their inevitable adjuncts,--the licentiousness
in which he indulged at the very time that
he made a most brilliant marriage, and the delight
that he took in boys past their prime (a practice which
he also taught Nero to follow). Nevertheless, his austerity
of life had earlier been so severe that he had
asked his pupil neither to kiss him nor to eat at the
same table with him.
[For the latter request he had a
good reason, namely, that Nero's absence would enable
him to conduct his philosophical studies at leisure without
being hindered by the young man's dinners. But as
for the kiss, I can not conceive how that tradition came
about. The only explanation which one could imagine,
namely, his unwillingness to kiss that sort of mouth,
is proved to be false by the facts concerning his favorites.
For this and for his adultery some complaints
were lodged against him, but at this time he was himself
released without formal accusations and succeeded
in begging off Pallas and Burrus. Later on he did
not come out so well.]
A.D. 59 (a.u. 811)
11
There was a certain Marcus Salvius Otho, who
through similarity of character and sharing in wrongdoing
had become so intimate with Nero that he was
not even punished for saying one day to the latter:
"Then I hope you may see me Caesar." All that came
of it was the response: "I sha'n't see you even consul."
It was to him that the emperor gave Sabina, of
patrician family, after separating her from her husband,
and they both enjoyed her together. Agrippina,
therefore, fearing that Nero would marry the woman
(for he was now beginning to entertain a mad passion
for her), ventured upon a most unholy course. As if
it were not enough for her story that she had attracted
her uncle Claudius into love for her by her blandishments
and uncontrolled looks and kisses, she undertook
to enslave Nero also in similar fashion. However,
I am not sure whether this actually occurred, or
whether it was invented to fit their characters: but I
state here what is admitted by all, that Nero had a
mistress resembling Agrippina of whom he was especially
fond because of this very resemblance. And
when he toyed with the girl herself or threw out hints
about it to others, he would say that he was having intercourse
with his mother.
A.D. 59 (a.u. 812)
12
Sabina on hearing about this began to persuade
Nero to get rid of his mother in order to forestall her
alleged plots against him. He was likewise incited,--
so many trustworthy men have stated,--by Seneca,
whether it was to obscure the complaint against his
own name that the latter was anxious or to lead Nero
on to a career of unholy bloodguiltiness that should
bring about most speedily his destruction by gods and
men. But they shrank from doing the deed openly and
were not able to put her out of the way secretly by
means of poison, for she took extreme precautions
against all such things. One day they saw in the
theatre a ship that automatically separated in two,
let out some beasts, and came together again so as to
be once more seaworthy; and they at once had another
one built like it. By the time the ship was finished
Agrippina had been quite won over by Nero's attentions,
for he exhibited devotion to her in every way
to make sure that she should suspect nothing and be
off her guard. He dared, however, do nothing in Rome
for fear the crime should become widely known. Hence
he went some distance into Campania accompanied by
his mother, and took a sail on the fatal ship itself,
which was adorned in the most brilliant fashion to the
end that she might feel a desire to use the vessel continually.
13
When they reached Bauli, he gave for several
days most costly dinners at which he showed great
solicitude in entertaining his mother. If she were absent
he feigned to miss her sorely, and if she were
present he was lavish of caresses. He bade her ask
whatever she desired and bestowed many gifts without
her asking. When he had shaped the situation to this
extent
[
]
,
then rising from dinner about midnight he
embraced her, and straining her to his breast kissed
her eyes and hands, exclaiming: "Mother, farewell,
and happiness attend you! For you I live and because
of you I rule." He then gave her in charge of Anicetus,
a freedman, supposedly to convey her home on
the ship that he had prepared.
But the sea would not endure the tragedy about to
be enacted on it nor would it submit to assume responsibility
for the deception wrought by the monstrous
contrivance: therefore, though the ship parted
asunder and Agrippina fell into the water, she did not
perish. In spite of the fact that it was dark and she
was full of strong drink and that the sailors used their
oar blades on her, so much so that they killed Acerronia
Polla, her fellow voyager, she nevertheless saved
her life and reached home. Thereupon she affected
not to realize that it was a plot and let not a word of
it be known, but sent speedily to her son an account of
the occurrence with the implication that it had happened
by accident, and conveyed to him the good news
(as she assumed it to be) that she was safe. Nero
hearing this could not endure the unexpected outcome
but punished the messenger as savagely as if he had
come to assassinate him, and at once despatched
Anicetus with the sailors to make an end of his mother.
He would not entrust the killing of her to the Pretorians.
When she saw them, she knew for what they
had come, and leaping from her bed tore open her
clothing; exposing her abdomen, and cried out:
"Strike here, Anicetus, strike here, for this bore
Nero!"
14
Thus was Agrippina, daughter of Germanicus,
grandchild of Agrippa, descendant of Augustus, slain
by the very son to whom she had given the sovereignty
and for whose sake she had killed her uncle and others.
Nero when informed that she was dead would not believe
it, for the monstrousness of his bold deed plunged
him in doubts; therefore he desired to behold the victim
with his own eyes. So he laid bare her body,
looked her all over and inspected her wounds, finally
uttering a remark far more abominable even than the
crime. What he said was: "I did not know I had so
beautiful a mother."
To the Pretorians he gave money evidently to secure
their prayers for many such occurrences, and
he sent to the senate a message in which he enumerated
the offences of which he knew she was guilty,
stating also that she had plotted against him and on
being detected had committed suicide. Yet for all this
calm explanation to the governing body he was frequently
subject to agitation at night, so that he would
even leap suddenly from his bed. And by day terror
seized him at the sound of trumpets that seemed to
blare forth some horrid din of war from the spot
where lay Agrippina's bones. Therefore he went elsewhere.
And when in his new abode he had again the
same experience, he distractedly transferred his residence
to some other place.
Nero, not having a word of truth from any one and
seeing that all approved what he had been doing,
thought that either his actions had escaped notice or
that he had conducted himself correctly. Hence he became
much worse also in other respects. He came to
think that all that it was in his power to do was right
and gave heed to those whose speech was prompted by
fear or flattery as if they told absolute truth. For a
time he was subject to fears and questionings, but,
after the ambassadors had made him a number of
pleasing speeches, he regained courage.
15
The population of Rome, on hearing the report,
though horrified were nevertheless joyful, because they
thought that now he would surely come to ruin. Nearly
all of the senators pretended to rejoice at what had
taken place, participated in Nero's pleasure, and voted
many measures of which they thought he would be
glad. Publius Thrasea Paetus had also come to the
senate-house and listened to the letter. When, however,
the reading was done, he at once rose without
making any comment and went out. Thus what he
would have said he could not, and what he could have
said he would not. He behaved in the same way under
all other conditions. For he used to say: "If it were
a matter of Nero's putting only me to death, I could
easily pardon the rest who load him with flatteries.
But since among those even who praise him so excessively
he has gotten rid of some and will yet destroy
others, why should one stoop to indecent behavior and
perish like a slave, when like a freeman one may pay
the debt to nature? There shall be talk of me hereafter,
but of these men not a word save for the single
fact that they were killed." Such was the kind of man
Thrasea showed himself, and he would always encourage
himself by saying: "Nero can kill me, but
he can not harm me."
16
When Nero after his mother's murder reentered
Rome, people paid him reverence in public, but in
private so long as any one could speak frankly with
safety they tore his character to very tatters. And
first they hung by night a piece of hide on one of his
statues to signify that he himself ought to have a hiding.
Second, they threw down in the Forum a baby
to which was fastened a board, saying: "I will not
take you up for fear you may slay your mother."
At Nero's entrance into Rome they took down the statues of Agrippina.
But there was one which they did not cut loose soon enough, and
so they threw over it a cloth which gave it the appearance of being
veiled. Thereupon somebody at once affixed to the statue the following
inscription: "I am abashed and thou art unashamed."
In many quarters at once, also, might be read the
inscription:
"Nero, Orestes, Alemeon, matricides."
Persons could actually be heard saying in so many
words: "Nero put his mother out of the way." Not
a few lodged information that certain persons had
spoken in this way, their object being not so much to
destroy those whom they accused as to bring reproach,
on Nero. Hence he would admit no suit of that kind,
either not wishing that the rumor should become more
widespread by such means, or out of utter contempt
for what was said. However, in the midst of the sacrifices
offered in memory of Agrippina according to decree,
the sun suffered a total eclipse and the stars could
be seen. Also, the elephants drawing the chariot of
Augustus entered the hippodrome and went as far as
the senators' seats, but at that point they stopped and
refused to proceed farther. And the event which one
might most readily conjecture to have taken place
through divine means was that a thunderbolt descended
upon his dinner and consumed it all as it was
being brought to him, like some tremendous harpy
snatching away his food.
17
[In spite of this he killed by poison also his aunt
Domitia, whom likewise he used to say he revered like
a mother. He would not even wait a few days for her
to die a natural death of old age, but was eager to destroy
her also. His haste to do this was inspired by
her possessions at Baiae and Ravenna, which included
magnificent amusement pavilions that she had erected
and]
are in fine condition even now. In honor of his
mother he celebrated a very great and costly festival,
events taking place for several days in five or six
theatres at once. It was then that an elephant was led
to the very top of the vault of the theatre and walked
down from that point on ropes, carrying a rider.
There was another exhibition at once most disgraceful
and shocking. Men and women not only of equestrian
but even of senatorial rank appeared in the orchestra,
the hippodrome, and even the hunting-theatre, like the
veriest outcasts. Some of them played the flute and
danced or acted tragedies and comedies or sang to the
lyre. They drove horses, killed beasts, fought as gladiators,
some willingly, others with a very bad grace.
Men of that day beheld the great families,--the Furii,
the Horatii, the Fabii, Poreii, Valerii, and all the rest
whose trophies, whose temples were to be seen,--standing
down below the level of the spectators and
doing some things to which no common citizen even
would stoop. So they would point them out to one another
and make remarks, Macedonians saying: "That
is the descendant of Paulus"; Greeks, "Yonder
the offspring of Mummius"; Sicilians, "Look at
Claudius"; the Epirots, "Look at Appius"; Asiatics,
"There's Lucius"; Iberians, "There's Publius";
Carthaginians, "There's Africanus"; Romans,
"There they all are". Such was the expiation that
the emperor chose to offer for his own indecency.
18
All who had sense, likewise, bewailed the multitude
of expenditures. Every costliest viand that men eat,
everything else, indeed, of the highest value,--horses,
slaves, teams, gold, silver, raiment of varied hues,--was
given away by tickets. Nero would throw tiny
balls, each one appropriately inscribed, among the
populace and that article represented by the token
received would be presented to the person who had
seized it. The sensible, I say, reflected that, when he
spent so much to prevent molestation in his disgraceful
course, he would not be restrained from any most
outrageous proceedings through mere hope of profit.
Some portents had taken place about this time,
which the seers declared imported destruction to him,
and they advised him to divert the danger upon others.
So he would have immediately put numbers of men
out of the way, had not Seneca said to him: "No
matter how many you may slay, you can not kill your
successor."
It was now that he celebrated a corresponding number
of "Preservation Sacrifices," as he called them,
and dedicated the forum for the sale of dainties,
called
Macellum
.
19
Somewhat later he instituted a different
kind of feast (called Juvenalia, a word that
showed it belonged in some way to "youth"). The
occasion was the shaving of his beard for the first
time. The hairs he cast into a small golden globe and
offered to Jupiter Capitolinus. To furnish amusement
members of the noblest families as well as others
did not fail to give exhibitions. For instance, Aelia
Catella danced: he was first of all a man prominent
for family and wealth and also advanced in years,--he
was eighty years of age. Others who on account of
old age or disease could not do anything on their own
account sang as chorus. All devoted themselves to
practicing as much as and by whatever way they were
able. Regularly appointed "schools" were frequented
by the most distinguished men, women, girls,
lads, old women, old men. In case any one was unable
to appear in any other fashion, he would enter the
choruses. And whereas some of them out of shame
had put on masks to avoid being recognized, Nero at
the request of the populace had them taken off and
showed these people to those by whom they had once
been ruled. Now most of all it was that these amateur
performers and others deemed the dead happy; for
many of the foremost men this year had been slain.
Some of them, charged with conspiracy against Nero,
were surrounded by the soldiers and stoned to death.
20
And, as there needed to be a fitting climax to these
deeds, Nero himself appeared as an actor and Gallio
[
]
proclaimed him by name. There stood Caesar on
the stage wearing the garb of a singing zither-player.
Spoke the emperor: "My lords, of your kindness
give me ear." Then did the Augustus sing to the
zither a thing called "Attis or the Bacchantes,"
[
]
whilst many soldiers stood by and all the people that
the seats would hold sat watching. Yet had he (according
to the tradition) but a slight voice and an indistinct,
so that he moved all present to laughter and
tears at once. Beside him stood Burrus and Seneca
like teachers prompting a pupil: they would wave their
hands and togas at every utterance and draw others
on to do the same. Indeed, Nero had ready a peculiar
corps of about five thousand soldiers, called Augustans;
these would begin the applause, and all the rest,
however loath, were obliged to shout aloud with them,--except
Thrasea. He would never stoop to such conduct.
But the rest, and especially the prominent men,
gathered with alacrity even when in grief and joined
as if glad in all the shouts of the Augustans. One
could hear them saying: "Excellent Caesar! Apollo!
Augustus! One like unto the Pythian! By thine own
self, O Caesar, no one can surpass thee!" After this
performance he entertained the people at a feast on
boats on the site of the naval battle given by Augustus:
thence at midnight he sailed through a canal into
the Tiber.
A.D. 60 (a.u. 813)
21
This, then, he did to celebrate the shaving of his
chin. In behalf of his preservation and the continuance
of his authority,--thus he gave notice,--he instituted
quinquennial games, naming them Neronia.
In honor of the event he also constructed the gymnasium
at the dedication of which he made a free distribution
of olive oil to the senators and knights. The
crown for singing to the zither, moreover, he took
without a contest, for all others were debarred on the
assumption that they were unworthy of victory.
[And
immediately in their garb he was enrolled on the very
lists of the gymnasium.]
Thenceforward all other
crowns for zither playing at all the contests were sent
to him as the only person competent to win victories
of that sort.
DURATION OF TIME
Nero Aug. (IV), Cornelius Cossus Cossi F. Lentulus.
(A.D. 60 = a.u. 813 = Seventh of Nero, from Oct. 13th).
Caesonius Paetus, P. Petronius Turpilianus.
(A.D. 61 = a.u 814 = Eighth of Nero).
P. Marius Celsus, L. Asinius Gallus.
(A.D. 62 = a.u. 815
= Ninth of Nero).
C. Memmius Regulus, L. Verginius Rufus.
(A.D. 63 = a.u.
816 = Tenth of Nero).
C. Lecanius Bassus, M. Licinius Crassus Frugi.
(A.D. 64 =
a.u. 817 = Eleventh of Nero).
A. Licinius Nerva Silanus, M. Vestinus Atticus.
(A.D. 65 =
a.u. 818 = Twelfth of Nero).
A.D. 61 (a.u. 814)
1
While this sport was going on at Rome, a terrible
disaster had taken place in Britain. Two cities had
been sacked, eight myriads of Romans and of their
allies had perished, and the island had been lost.
Moreover, all this ruin was brought upon them by a
woman, a fact which in itself caused them the greatest
shame. Heaven evidently gave them in advance an
indication of the catastrophe. At night there was
heard to issue from the senate-house foreign jargon
mingled with laughter and from the theatre outcries
with wailing: yet no mortal man had uttered the
speeches or the groans. Houses under water came to
view in the river Thames,
[
]
and the ocean between the
island and Gaul sometimes grew bloody at flood-tide.
2
The
casus belli
lay in the confiscation of the money
which Claudius had given to the foremost Britons,--Decianus
Catus, governor of the island, announcing
that this must now be sent back. This was one reason [Lacuna]
[
]
and another was that Seneca had lent
them on excellent terms as regards interest a thousand
myriads that they did not want,
[
]
and had afterward
called in this loan all at once and levied on them for
it with severity. But the person who most stirred their
spirits and persuaded them to fight the Romans, who
was deemed worthy to stand at their head and to have
the conduct of the entire war, was a British woman,
Buduica,
[
]
of the royal family and possessed of greater
judgment than often belongs to women. It was she
who gathered the army to the number of nearly twelve
myriads and ascended a tribunal of marshy soil made
after the Roman fashion. In person she was very
tall, with a most sturdy figure and a piercing glance;
her voice was harsh; a great mass of yellow hair fell
below her waist and a large golden necklace clasped
her throat; wound about her was a tunic of every conceivable
color and over it a thick chlamys had been
fastened with a brooch. This was her constant attire.
She now grasped a spear to aid her in terrifying all
beholders and spoke as follows:--
3
"You have had actual experience of the difference
between freedom and slavery. Hence, though some of
you previously through ignorance of which was better
may have been deceived by the alluring announcements
of the Romans, yet now that you have tried both
you have learned how great a mistake you made by
preferring a self-imposed despotism to your ancestral
mode of life. You have come to recognize how far
superior is the poverty of independence to wealth in
servitude. What treatment have we met with that is
not most outrageous, that is not most grievous, ever
since these men insinuated themselves into Britain?
Have we not been deprived of our most numerous and
our greatest possessions entire, while for what remains
we must pay taxes? Besides pasturing and
tilling all the various regions for them do we not contribute
a yearly sum for our very bodies? How much
better it would have been to be sold to masters once
and for all than to ransom ourselves annually and possess
empty names of freedom! How much better to
have been slain and perish rather than go about with
subservient heads! Yet what have I said? Even
dying is not free from expense among them, and you
know what fees we deposit on behalf of the dead.
Throughout the rest of mankind death frees even those
who are in slavery; only in the case of the Romans do
the very dead live for their profit. Why is it that
though none of us has any money,--and how or whence
should we get it?,--we are stripped and despoiled like
a murderer's victims? How should the Romans grow
milder in process of time, when they have conducted
themselves so toward us at the very start,--a period
when all men show consideration for even newly captured
beasts?
4
"But, to tell the truth, it is we who have made ourselves
responsible for all these evils in allowing them
so much as to set foot on the island in the first place
instead of expelling them at once as we did their famous
Julius Caesar,--yes, in not making the idea of attempting
the voyage formidable to them, while they
were as yet far off, as it was to Augustus and to Gaius
Caligula. So great an island, or rather in one sense
a continent encircled by water, do we inhabit, a veritable
world of our own, and so far are we separated by
the ocean from all the rest of mankind that we have
been believed to dwell on a different earth and under
a different sky and some of their wisest men were not
previously sure of even our exact name. Yet for all
this we have been scorned and trampled under foot by
men who know naught else than how to secure gain.
Still, let us even at this late day, if not before,
fellow-citizens, friends and relatives,--for I deem you all
relatives, in that you inhabit a single island and are
called by
[
]
one common name,--let us do our duty while
the memory of freedom still abides within us, that we
may leave both the name and the fact of it to our children.
For if we utterly lose sight of the happy conditions
amid which we were born and bred, what pray
will they do, reared in bondage?
5
"This I say not to inspire you with a hatred of
present circumstances,--that hatred is already apparent,--nor
with a fear of the future,--that fear
you already have,--but to commend you because of
your own accord you choose to do just what you ought,
and to thank you for cooperating so readily with me
and your own selves at once. Be nowise afraid of the
Romans. They are not more numerous than are we
nor yet braver. And the proof is that they have
protected themselves with helmets and breastplates and
greaves and furthermore have equipped their camps
with palisades and walls and ditches to make sure that
they shall suffer no harm by any hostile assault.
[
]
Their fears impel them to choose this method rather
than engage in any active work like us. We enjoy such
a superabundance of bravery that we regard tents as
safer than walls and our shields as affording greater
protection than their whole suits of mail. As a
consequence, we when victorious can capture them and
when overcome by force can elude them. And should
we ever choose to retreat, we can conceal ourselves in
swamps and mountains so inaccessible that we can be
neither found nor taken. The enemy, however, can
neither pursue any one by reason of their heavy armor
nor yet flee. And if they ever should slip away from
us, taking refuge in certain designated spots, there, too,
they are sure to be enclosed as in a trap. These are
some of the respects in which they are vastly inferior to
us, and others are their inability to bear up under
hunger, thirst, cold, or heat, as we can; for they
require shade and protection, they require kneaded bread
and wine and oil, and if the supply of any of these
things fails them they simply perish. For us, on the
other hand, any root or grass serves as bread, any
plant juice as olive oil, any water as wine, any tree
as a house. Indeed, this very region is to us an
acquaintance and ally, but to them unknown and hostile.
As for the rivers, we swim them naked, but they even
with boats can not cross easily. Let us therefore go
against them trusting boldly to good fortune. Let us
show them that they are hares and foxes trying to rule
dogs and wolves."
6
At these words, employing a species of divination,
she let a hare escape from her bosom, and as it ran in
what they considered a lucky direction, the whole multitude
shouted with pleasure, and Buduica raising her
hand to heaven, spoke: "I thank thee, Andraste,
[
]
and call upon thee, who are a woman, being myself also
a woman that rules not burden-bearing Egyptians like
Nitocris, nor merchant Assyrians like Semiramis (of
these things we have heard from the Romans), nor
even the Romans themselves, as did Messalina first
and later Agrippina;--at present their chief is Nero,
in name a man, in fact a woman, as is shown by his
singing, his playing the cithara, his adorning himself:--but
ruling as I do men of Britain that know not how
to till the soil or ply a trade yet are thoroughly versed
in the arts of war and hold all things common, even
children and wives; wherefore the latter possess the
same valor as the males: being therefore queen of such
men and such women I supplicate and pray thee for
victory and salvation and liberty against men insolent,
unjust, insatiable, impious,--if, indeed we ought to
term those creatures men who wash in warm water, eat
artificial dainties, drink unmixed wine, anoint themselves
with myrrh, sleep on soft couches with boys for
bedfellows (and past their prime at that), are slaves
to a zither-player, yes, an inferior zither-player.
Wherefore may this Domitia-Nero
woman
reign no
more over you or over me: let the wench sing and play
the despot over the Romans. They surely deserve to
be in slavery to such a being whose tyranny they have
patiently borne already this long time. But may we,
mistress, ever look to thee alone as our head."
7
After an harangue of this general nature Buduica
led her army against the Romans. The latter chanced
to be without a leader for the reason that Paulinus
their commander had gone on an expedition to Mona,
an island near Britain. This enabled her to sack and
plunder two Roman cities, and, as I said, she wrought
indescribable slaughter. Persons captured by the Britons
underwent every form of most frightful treatment.
The conquerors committed the most atrocious
and bestial outrages. For instance, they hung up
naked the noblest and most distinguished women, cut
off their breasts and sewed them to their mouths, to
make the victims appear to be eating them. After
that they impaled them on sharp skewers run perpendicularly
the whole length of the body. All this they
did to the accompaniment of sacrifices, banquets, and
exhibitions of insolence in all of their sacred places,
but chiefly in the grove of Andate,--that being the
name of their personification of Victory, to whom they
paid the most excessive reverence.
8
It happened that Paulinus had already brought
Mona to terms; hence on learning of the disaster in
Britain he at once set sail thither from Mona. He was
unwilling to risk a conflict with the barbarians immediately,
for he feared their numbers and their frenzy;
therefore he was for postponing the battle to a more
convenient season. But as he grew short of food and
the barbarians did not desist from pressing him hard,
he was compelled, though contrary to his plan, to enter
into an engagement with them. Buduica herself,
heading an army of about twenty-three myriads of
men, rode on a chariot and assigned the rest to their
several stations. Now Paulinus could not extend his
phalanx the width of her whole line, for, even if the
men had been drawn up only one deep, they would not
have stretched far enough, so inferior were they in
numbers: nor did he dare to join battle with one compact
force, for fear he should be surrounded and cut
down. Accordingly, he separated his army into three
divisions in order to fight at several points at once,
and he made each of the divisions so strong that it
could not easily be broken through. While ordering
and arranging his men he likewise exhorted them, saying:
9
"Up, fellow-soldiers! Up, men of Rome! Show
these pests how much even in misfortune we surpass
them. It is a shame for you now to lose ingloriously
what but a short while ago you gained by your valor.
Often have we ourselves and also our fathers with far
fewer numbers than we have at the present conquered
far more numerous antagonists. Fear not the host of
them or their rebellion: their boldness rests on nothing
better than headlong rashness unaided by arms
and exercise. Fear not because they have set on fire a
few cities: they took these not by force nor after a battle,
but one was betrayed and the other abandoned.
Do you now exact from them the proper penalty for
these deeds, that so they may learn by actual experience
what they undertook when they wronged such
men as us."
10
After speaking these words to some he came to a
second group and said: "Now is the occasion, now,
fellow-soldiers, for zeal, for daring. If to-day you
prove yourselves brave men, you will recover what
has slipped from your grasp. If you overcome this
enemy, no one else will any longer withstand us. By
one such battle you will both make sure of your present
possessions and subdue whatever is left. All
soldiers stationed anywhere else will emulate you and
foes will be terror-stricken. Therefore, since it is in
your own hands either to rule fearlessly all mankind,
both the nations that your fathers left under your control
and those which you yourselves have gained in addition,
or else to be bereft of them utterly, choose rather
to be free, to rule, to live in wealth, to enjoy prosperity,
than through indolence to suffer the reverse
of these conditions."
11
After making an address of this sort to the group
in question, he came up to the third division and said
also to them: "You have heard what sort of acts
these wretches have committed against us, nay more,
you have even seen some of them. Therefore choose
either yourselves to suffer the same treatment as previous
victims and furthermore to be driven entirely
out of Britain, or else through victory to avenge those
that perished and also to give to the rest of mankind
an example of mild clemency toward the obedient, of
necessary severity toward the rebellious. I entertain
the highest hopes of victory for our side, counting on
the following factors: first, the assistance of the gods;
they usually cooperate with the party that has been
wronged: second, our inherited bravery; we are Romans
and have shown ourselves superior to all mankind
in various instances of valor: next, our experience;
we have defeated and subdued these very men
that are now arrayed against us: last, our good name;
it is not worthy opponents but our slaves with whom
we are coming in conflict, persons who enjoyed freedom
and self-government only so far as we allowed it.
Yet even should the outcome prove contrary to our
hope,--and I will not shrink from mentioning even
this contingency,--it is better for us to fall fighting
bravely than to be captured and impaled, to see our
own entrails cut out, to be spitted on red hot skewers,
to perish dissolved in boiling water, when we have fallen
into the power of creatures that are very beasts,
savage, lawless, godless. Let us therefore either beat
them or die on the spot. Britain shall be a noble memorial
to us, even though all subsequent Romans
should be driven from it; for in any case our bodies
shall forever possess the land."
12
At the conclusion of exhortations of this sort and
others like them he raised the signal for battle. Thereupon
they approached each other, the barbarians making
a great outcry intermingled with menacing incantations,
but the Romans silently and in order until
they came within a javelin's throw of the enemy.
Then, while the foe were advancing against them at
a walk, the Romans started at a given word and
charged them at full speed, and when the clash came
easily broke through the opposing ranks; but, as they
were surrounded by the great numbers, they had to be
fighting everywhere at once. Their struggle took many
forms. In the first place, light-armed troops might be
in conflict with light-armed, heavy-armed be arrayed
against heavy-armed, cavalry join issue with cavalry;
and against the chariots of the barbarians the Roman
archers would be contending. Again, the barbarians
would assail the Romans with a rush of their chariots,
knocking them helter-skelter, but, since they fought
without breastplates, would be themselves repulsed by
the arrows. Horseman would upset foot-soldier, and
foot-soldier strike down horseman; some, forming in
close order, would go to meet the chariots, and others
would be scattered by them; some would come to close
quarters with the archers and rout them, whereas others
were content to dodge their shafts at a distance:
and all these things went on not at one spot, but in
the three divisions at once. They contended for a long
time, both parties being animated by the same zeal and
daring. Finally, though late in the day, the Romans
prevailed, having slain numbers in the battle, beside
the wagons, or in the wood: they also captured many
alive. Still, not a few made their escape and went on
to prepare to fight a second time. Meanwhile, however,
Buduica fell sick and died. The Britons mourned
her deeply and gave her a costly burial; but, as they
themselves were this time really defeated, they scattered
to their homes.--So far the history of affairs in
Britain.
A.D. 62 (a.u. 815)
13
In Rome Nero had before this sent away Octavia
Augusta, on account of his concubine Sabina, and subsequently
he put her to death. This he did in spite
of the opposition of Burrus, who tried to prevent his
sending her away, and once said to him: "Well, then,
give her back her dowry" (by which he meant the
sovereignty). Indeed, Burrus used such unmitigated
frankness that on one occasion, when he was asked by
the emperor a second time for an opinion on matters
regarding which he had already made clear his attitude,
he answered bluntly: "When I have once had
my say about anything, don't ask me again." So
Nero disposed of him by poison. He also appointed
to command the Pretorians a certain Ofonius Tigillinus,
who outstripped all his contemporaries in licentiousness
and bloodiness.
[It was he who won Nero
away from them and made light of his colleague
Rufus.
[
]
]
To him
the famous sentence of Pythias is
said to have been directed. She had proved the only
exception when all the other attendants of Octavia
had joined Sabina in attacking their mistress, despising
the one because she was in misfortune and toadying
to the other because her influence was strong.
Pythias alone had refused though cruelly tortured to
utter lies against Octavia, and finally, as Tigillinus
continued to urge her, she spat in his face, saying:
"My mistress's privy parts are cleaner, Tigillinus,
than your mouth."
14
The troubles of his relatives Nero turned into
laughter and jest. For instance, after killing Plautus
[
]
he took a look at his head when it was brought to him
and remarked: "I didn't know he had such a big
nose," as much as to say that he would have spared
him, had he been aware of this fact beforehand. And
though he spent practically his whole existence in
tavern life, he forbade others to sell in taverns anything
boiled save vegetables and pea-soup. He put
Pallas out of the way because the latter had accumulated
great wealth that could be counted by the ten
thousand myriads. Likewise he was very liable to
peevishness that showed in his behavior, and at such
times he would not speak a word to his servants or
freedmen but write on tablets whatever he wanted as
well as any orders that he had to give them.
A.D. 63 (a.u. 816)
15
Indeed, when many of those who had gathered at Antium perished,
Nero made that, too, an occasion for a festival.
A certain Thrasea gave his opinion to the effect that for a senator the
extreme penalty should be exile.
A.D. 64 (a.u. 817)
To such lengths did Nero's self-indulgence go that
he actually drove chariots in public. Again, one time
after the slaughter of beasts he straightway brought
water into the theatre by means of pipes and produced
a sea-fight: then he let the water out again
and arranged a gladiatorial combat. Last of all he
flooded the place once more and gave a costly public
banquet. The person who had been appointed director
of the banquet was Tigillinus, and a large and complete
equipment had been furnished. The arrangements
made were as follows. In the center and resting
on the water were placed the great wooden wine
vessels, over which boards had been fastened. Round
about it had been built taverns and booths. Thus
Nero and Tigillinus and their fellow-banqueters,
being in the center, held their feast on purple carpets
and soft mattresses, while all the other people
caroused in the taverns. These also entered the
brothels, where unrestrictedly they might enjoy absolutely
any woman to be found there. Now the latter
were some of the most beautiful and distinguished in
the city, both slaves and free, some hetaerae, some virgins,
some wives,--not merely, that is to say, public
wenches, but both girls and women of the very noblest
families. Every man was given authority to have
whichever one he wished, for the women were not
allowed to refuse any one. Consequently, the multitude
being a regular rabble, they drank greedily and
reveled in wanton conduct. So a slave debauched
his mistress in the presence of his master and a
gladiator ravished a girl of noble family while her
father looked on. The shoving and striking and
uproar that went on, first on the part of those who
were going in and second on the part of those who
stood around outside, was disgraceful. Many men
met their death in these encounters, and of the women
some were strangled and some were seized and
carried off.
16
After this Nero had the wish (or rather it had
always been a fixed purpose of his) to make an end
of the whole city and sovereignty during his lifetime.
Priam he deemed wonderfully happy in that he had
seen his country perish at the same moment as his
authority. Accordingly he sent in different directions
men feigning to be drunk or engaged in some indifferent
species of rascality and at first had one or two
or more blazes quietly kindled in different quarters:
people, of course, fell into the utmost confusion, not
being able to find any beginning of the trouble nor to
put any end to it, and meanwhile they became aware
of many strange sights and sounds. For soon there
was nothing to be observed but many fires as in a
camp, and no other phrases fell from men's lips but
"This or that is burning "; "Where?"; "How?";
"Who set it?"; "To the rescue!" An extraordinary
perturbation laid hold on all wherever they
might be, and they ran about as if distracted, some
in one direction and some in another. Some men in
the midst of assisting their neighbors would learn
that their own premises were on fire. Others received
the first intimation of their own possessions being
aflame when informed that they were destroyed. Persons
would run from their houses into the lanes with
some idea of being of assistance from the outside, or
again they would dash into the dwellings from the
streets, appearing to think they could accomplish
something inside. The shouting and screaming of
children, women, men, and graybeards all together
were incessant, so that one could have no consciousness
nor comprehension of anything by reason of the
smoke and shouting combined. On this account some
might be seen standing speechless, as if dumb. All
this time many who were carrying out their goods
and many more who were stealing what belonged to
others kept encountering one another and falling over
the merchandise. It was not possible to get anywhere,
nor yet to stand still; but people pushed and were
pushed back, they upset others and were themselves
upset, many were suffocated, many were crushed: in
fine, no evil that can possibly happen to men at such
a crisis failed to befall them. They could not with
ease find even any avenue of escape, and, if any one
did save himself from some immediate danger, he
usually fell into another one and was lost.
17
This did
not all take place on one day, but lasted for several
days and nights together. Many houses were destroyed
through lack of some one to defend them and
many were set on fire in still more places by persons
who presumably came to the rescue. For the soldiers
(including the night watch), having an eye upon plunder,
instead of extinguishing any blaze kindled greater
conflagrations. While similar scenes were being enacted
at various points a sudden wind caught the fire
and swept it over whatever remained. Consequently
no one concerned himself any longer about goods or
houses, but all the survivors, standing in a place of
safety, gazed upon what seemed to be many islands
and cities burning. There was no longer any grief
over individual losses, for it was swallowed up in the
public lamentation, as men reminded one another how
once before most of their city had been similarly laid
waste by the Gauls.
18
While the whole population was
in this state of mind and many crazed by the disaster
were leaping into the blaze itself, Nero mounted to
the roof of the palace, where nearly the whole conflagration
could be taken in by a sweeping glance, and
having assumed the lyrist's garb he sang the Taking
(as he said) of Ilium, which, to the ordinary vision,
however, appeared to be the Taking of Rome.
The calamity which the city at this time experienced
has no parallel before or since, except in the Gallic
invasion. The whole Palatine hill, the theatre of
Taurus, and nearly two-thirds of the remainder of the
city were burned and countless human beings perished.
The populace invoked curses upon Nero without
intermission, not uttering his name but simply cursing
those who had set the city on fire: and this was
especially the case because they were disturbed by
the memory of the oracle chanted in Tiberius's day.
These were the words:--
"Thrice three hundred cycles of tireless years being ended,
Civil strife shall the Romans destroy."
[
15]
And when Nero by way of encouraging them reported
that these verses were nowhere to be found,
they changed and went to repeating another oracle,
which they averred to be a genuine Sibylline production,
namely:--
"Last of the sons of Aeneas a matricide shall govern."
And so it proved, whether this was actually revealed
beforehand by some divination or whether the
populace now for the first time gave it the form of a
divine saying adapted to existing circumstances. For
Nero was indeed the last emperor of the Julian line
descended from Aeneas.
He now began to collect vast sums from both individuals
and nations, sometimes using compulsion, with
the conflagration for his excuse, and sometimes obtaining
it by "voluntary" offers; and the mass of the
Romans had the food supply fund withdrawn.
19
While he was so engaged, he received news from
Armenia and soon after a laurel wreath in honor of
victory. The scattered bodies of soldiery in that
region had been united by Corbulo, who trained them
sedulously after a period of neglect, and then by the
very report of his coming had terrified both Vologaesus,
king of Parthia, and Tiridates, chief of Armenia.
He resembled the primitive Romans in that
besides coming of a brilliant family and besides possessing
much strength of body he was still further
gifted with a shrewd intelligence: and he behaved
with great bravery, with great fairness, and with
great good faith toward all, both friends and enemies.
For these reasons Nero had despatched him
to the scene of war in his own stead and had entrusted
to him a larger force than to anybody else,
being equally assured that the man would subdue the
barbarians and would not revolt against him. And
Corbulo proved neither of these assumptions false.
All other men, however, had it as a particular grievance
against him that he kept faith with Nero. They
were very anxious to get him as emperor in place of
the actual despot, and this conduct of his seemed to
them his only defect.
20
Corbulo, accordingly, had taken Artaxata without a
struggle and had razed the city to the ground. This
exploit finished, he marched in the direction of Tigranocerta,
sparing all the districts that yielded themselves
but devastating the lands of all such as resisted
him. Tigranocerta submitted to him voluntarily,
and he performed other brilliant and glorious
deeds, as a result of which he induced the formidable
Vologaesus to accept terms that accorded with the Roman
reputation.
[For Vologaesus, on hearing that
Nero had assigned Armenia to others and that Adiabene
was being ravaged by Tigranes, made preparations
himself to go on a campaign into Syria against
Corbulo, but sent into Armenia Monobazus, king of
Adiabene, and Monaeses, a Parthian. These two had
shut up Tigranes in Tigranocerta. But since they did
not succeed in harming him at all by their siege and as
often as they tried conclusions with him were repulsed
by both the native troops and the Romans that were
in his army, and since Corbulo guarded Syria with
extreme care, Vologaesus recognized the hopelessness
of his attempt and disbanded his forces. Then he sent
to Corbulo and obtained peace on condition that he
send a new embassy to Nero, raise the siege,
and withdraw his soldiers from Armenia. Nero made
him no immediate nor speedy nor definite reply, but
despatched Lucius Caesennius Paetus to Cappadocia to
see to it that there should be no Armenian uprising.]
21
[So Vologaesus attacked Tigranocerta and drove
back Paetus, who had come to its aid. When the latter
fled he pursued him, beat back the garrison left by
Paetus at the Taurus, and shut him up in Rhandea, near
the river Arsanias. Then he was on the point of retiring
without accomplishing anything; for destitute
as he was of heavy-armed soldiers he could not approach
close to the wall, and he had no large stock of
provender, particularly as he had come at the head of
a vast host without making arrangements for food
supplies. Paetus, however, stood in terror of his archery,
which took effect in the very camp itself, as well
as of the cavalry, which kept appearing at all points.
Hence he made peace proposals to his antagonist, accepted
his terms, and took an oath that he would himself
abandon all of Armenia and that Nero should give
it to Tiridates. The Parthian was satisfied enough
with this agreement, seeing that he was to obtain control
of the country without a contest and would be making
the Romans his debtors for a very considerable
kindness. And, as he learned that Corbulo (whom
Paetus several times sent for before he was surrounded)
was drawing near, he dismissed the beleaguered soldiers,
having first made them agree to build a
bridge over the river Arsanias for him. He was not
really in need of a bridge, for he had crossed on foot,
but he wished to give them a practical example of the
fact that he was stronger than they. Indeed, he did not
retire by way of the bridge even on this occasion, but
rode across on an elephant, while the rest got over as
before.
22
The capitulation had scarcely been made when Corbulo
with inconceivable swiftness reached the Euphrates
and there waited for the retreating force. When
the two armies approached each other you would have
been struck with the difference between them and between
their generals: one set were fairly aglow with
delight at their rapidity; the others were grieved and
ashamed of their compact. Vologaesus sent Monaeses to
Corbulo with the demand that the newcomer should
give up the fort in Mesopotamia. So they held a prolonged
conference together right at the bridge crossing
the Euphrates, after first destroying the center of
the structure. Corbulo having promised to leave the
country if the Parthian would also abandon Armenia,
both of these things were done temporarily until Nero
could learn the outcome of the engagements and begin
negotiations with the envoys of Vologaesus, whom
the latter had sent a second time. The answer given
them by the emperor was that he would bestow Armenia
upon Tiridates if this aspirant would come to
Rome. Paetus was deposed from his command and the
soldiers that had been with him were sent somewhere
else. Corbulo was again assigned to the war against
the same foes. Nero had intended to accompany the
expedition in person, but after falling down during
the ceremony of sacrificing he would not venture to go
abroad but remained where he was.]
23
[Corbulo therefore officially prepared for war upon
Vologaesus and sent a centurion bidding him depart
from the country. Privately, however, he suggested
to the king that he send his brother to Rome, and this
advice met with acceptance, since Corbulo seemed to
have the stronger force. Thus it came about that they
both, Corbulo and Tiridates, met at no other place than
Rhandea, which suited them both. It appealed to the
Parthian because there his people had cut off the Romans
and had sent them away under a capitulation, a
visible proof of the favor that had been done them. To
the Roman it appealed because his men were going to
wipe out the ill repute that had attached to them there
before. For the meeting of the two was not limited
merely to conversation; a lofty platform had been
erected on which were set images of Nero, and in the
presence of crowds of Armenians, Parthians, and Romans
Tiridates approached and did them reverence;
after sacrificing to them and calling them by laudatory
names he took off the diadem from his head and set it
upon them. Monobazus and Vologaesus also came to
Corbulo and gave him hostages. In honor of this event
Nero was a number of times saluted as imperator and
held a triumph, contrary to precedent.]
But Corbulo
in spite of the large force that he had and the very considerable
reputation that he enjoyed did not rebel and
was never accused of rebellion. He might easily have
been made emperor, since men thoroughly detested
Nero but all admired him in every way.
[In addition
to the more striking features of his submissive behavior
he voluntarily sent to Rome his son-in-law
Annius, who served as his lieutenant; this was done
professedly that Annius might escort Tiridates back,
but in fact this relative stood in the position of a
hostage to Nero. The latter was so firmly persuaded
that his general would not revolt that Corbulo obtained
his son-in-law as lieutenant
[
]
before he had been
praetor.]
[And Junius Torquatus, a descendant of Augustus,
made himself liable to a most strange indictment. He
had squandered his property in a rather lavish way,
whether following his native bent or with the intention
of not being very rich. Nero therefore declared that,
as he lacked many things, he must be covetous of the
goods of others, and consequently caused a fictitious
charge to be brought against him of aspiring to imperial
power.]
A.D. 65 (a.u. 818)
24
Seneca, however, and Rufus the prefect and some
other prominent men formed a plot against Nero.
They could no longer endure his ignoble behavior, his
licentiousness, and his cruelty. They desired at one
and the same time to be rid of these evils and to give
Nero his release from them. Indeed, Sulpicius Asper,
a centurion, and Subrius Flavius, a military tribune,
both belonging to the body-guards, admitted this to
him point blank. Asper, when interrogated by the emperor
as to the reason for his attempt, replied: "I
could help you in no other way." And the response of
Flavins was: "I both loved you and hated you above
all men. I loved you, hoping that you would prove a
good emperor: I have hated you because you do so-and-so.
I can not be slave to charioteer or lyre-player."--Information
was lodged and these men were punished,
besides many others indirectly associated with them.
Everything in the nature of a complaint that could be
entertained against any one for excessive joy or grief,
for words or gestures, was brought forward and was
believed. Not one of these complaints, even if fictitious,
could be refused credence in view of Nero's actual
deeds. Hence conscienceless friends and house
servants of some men flourished greatly. Persons
guarded against strangers and foes,--for of these
they were suspicious,--but were bound to expose
themselves whether they would or no to their associates.
25
It would be no small task to record details about
most of those that perished, but the fate of Seneca
needs a few words by itself. It was his wish to end
the life of his wife Paulina at the same time with his
own, for he declared that he had taught her to despise
death and that she desired to leave the world in company
with him. So he opened her veins as well as
his own. As he failed, however, to yield readily to
death, his end was hastened by the soldiers; and his
dying so speedily enabled Paulina to survive. He did
not lay hands upon himself, however, until he had revised
the book which he had composed and had deposited
with various persons certain other valued possessions
which he feared might come into Nero's hands
and be destroyed. Thus was Seneca forced to part
with life in spite of the fact that he had on the pretext
of illness abandoned the society of the emperor
and had bestowed upon him his entire property, supposedly
to help defray the expense of necessary building
operations. His brothers, too, perished after him.
26
Likewise Thrasea and Soranus, who had no superiors
in family, wealth, and every excellence, met their
death not because they were accused of conspiracy but
because they were what they were. Against Soranus
Publius Egnatius Celer, a philosopher, gave false evidence.
The victim had had two associates,--Cassius
Asclepiodotus of Nicaea and this Publius of Berytus.
Now Asclepiodotus so far from speaking against Soranus
bore witness to his noble qualities; he was at
the time exiled for his pains, but later, under Galba,
was restored. Publius in return for his services as
blackmailer received money and honors (as did others
of the same profession), but subsequently he was banished.
Soranus was slain on the charge of having
caused his daughter to employ a species of magic, the
foundation for this story being that when he was sick
his family had offered some sacrifices. Thrasea was
executed for not appearing regularly at the senate-house,
thus showing that he did not like the measures
passed, for not listening to the emperor's singing and
zither-playing, for not sacrificing to Nero's Divine
Voice as did the rest, and for not giving any public
exhibitions: for it was remarked that at Patavium, his
native place, he had acted in a tragedy given in pursuance
of some old custom at a festival held every
thirty years. As he made the incision in his artery, he
raised his hand, exclaiming: "To thee, Jupiter, patron
of freedom, I pour this libation of blood."
27
And why should one be surprised that such complaints
were fastened upon them,
[
]
seeing that one man
[
]
was
brought to trial and slain for living near the Forum,
for letting out some shops, or for receiving a few
friends in them; and another
[
]
because he possessed a
likeness of Cassius, the murderer of Caesar?
The conduct of a woman named Epicharis also deserves
mention. She had been included in the conspiracy
and all its details had been trusted to her without
reserve; yet she revealed none of these though
often tortured in all the ways that the skill of Tigillinus
could devise. And why should one enumerate
the sums given to the Pretorians on the occasion of
this conspiracy or the excessive honors voted to Nero
and his friends? Let me say only that it led to the
banishment of Rufus Musonius, the philosopher. Sabina
also perished at this time through an act of
Nero's. Either accidentally or intentionally he had
given her a violent kick while she was pregnant.
28
The extremes of luxury indulged in by this Sabina I
will indicate in the briefest possible terms. She had
gilded girths put upon the mules that carried her and
caused five hundred asses that had recently foaled to
be milked each day that she might bathe in their milk.
She devoted great thought to making her person appear
youthful and lustrously beautiful,--and with
brilliant results; and this is why, not fancying her appearance
in a mirror one day, she prayed that she
might die before she passed her prime. Nero missed
her so that
[after her death, at first, on learning that
there was a woman resembling her he sent for and
kept this female: later]
because a boy of the
liberti
class, named Sporus, resembled Sabina, he had him
castrated and used him in every way like a woman;
and in due time he formally married him though he
[Nero]
was already married to a freedman Pythagoras.
He assigned the boy a regular dowry according
to contract, and Romans as well as others held a public
celebration of their wedding.
While Nero had Sporus the eunuch as a wife, one of his associates
in Rome, who had made a specialty of philosophy, on being asked whether
the marriage and cohabitation in question met with his approval replied:
"You do well, Caesar, to seek the company of such wives. If
only your father had had the same ambition and had dwelt with a
similar consort!"--indicating that if this had been the case, Nero
would not have been born, and the government would have been relieved
of great evils.
This was, however, later. At the time with which
we are immediately concerned many, as I stated, were
put to death and many who purchased their preservation
with Tigillinus with a great price were released.
29
Nero continued to commit many ridiculous acts,
among which may be cited his descending at a kind of
popular festival to the orchestra of the theatre, where
he read some Trojan lays of his own: and in honor of
these there were offered numerous sacrifices, as there
were over everything else that he did. He was now
making preparations to compile in verse a narration of
all the achievements of the Romans: before composing
any of it, however, he began to consider the proper
number of books, and took as his adviser Annaeus
Cornutus, who at this time was famed for his learning.
This man he came very near putting to death and did
deport to an island, because, while some were urging
him to write four hundred books, Cornutus said that
was too many and nobody would read them. And
when some one objected: "Yet Chrysippus, whom
you praise and imitate, has composed many more," the
savant retorted: "But they are a help to the conduct
of men's lives." So Cornutus was punished with
exile for this. And Lucanus was enjoined from writing
poetry because he was securing great praise for his
work.
DURATION OF TIME
C. Lucius Telesinus, C. Suetonius Paulinus.
(A.D. 66 = a.u.
819 = Thirteenth of Nero, from Oct. 13th).
Fonteius Capito, Iunius Rufus.
(A.D. 67 = a.u. 820 =
Fourteenth of Nero).
C. Silius Italicus, Galerius Trachalus Turpilianus.
(A.D.
68 = a.u. 821, to June 9th).
A.D. 66 (a.u. 819)
1
In the consulship of Gaius Telesinus and Suetonius
Paulinus one event of great glory and another of deep
disgrace took place. For one thing Nero contended
among the zither-players, and after Menecrates,
[
]
the
teacher of this art, had celebrated a triumph for him
in the hippodrome, he appeared as a charioteer. For
the other, Tiridates presented himself in Rome, bringing
with him not only his own children but those of
Vologaesus, of Pacorus, and of Monobazus. They were
the objects of interest in a quasi-triumphal procession
through the whole country west from the Euphrates.
2
Tiridates himself was in the prime of life, a notable
figure by reason of his youth, beauty, family, and intelligence:
and his whole train of servants together
with the entourage of a royal court accompanied the
advance. Three thousand Parthian horsemen and besides
them numerous Romans followed his train. They
were received by gaily decorated cities and by peoples
who shouted their compliments aloud. Provisions were
furnished them free of cost, an expenditure of twenty
myriads for their daily support being thus charged to
the public treasury. This went on without change for
the nine months occupied in their journey. The prince
covered the whole distance to the confines of Italy on
horseback and beside him rode his wife, wearing a
golden helmet in place of a veil, so as not to defy the
traditions of her country by letting her face be seen.
In Italy he was conveyed in a two-horse carriage sent
by Nero and met the emperor at Naples, which he
reached by way of the Picentes. He refused, however,
to obey the order to put down his dagger when
he approached the Roman monarch, and he nailed it
firmly to the scabbard. Yet he knelt upon the ground,
and with arms crossed called him master and did obeisance.
3
Nero manifested his approbation of this act
and entertained him in many ways, one of which was
a gladiatorial show at Puteoli. The person who directed
the contests was Patrobius, one of his freedmen.
He managed to make it a brilliant and costly affair, as
is shown by the fact that on one of the days not a person
but Ethiopians, men, women, and children, appeared
in the theatre. By way of showing Patrobius
some proper honor Tiridates shot at beasts from his
elevated seat. And, if we may trust the report, he
transfixed and killed two bulls together with one
arrow.
4
After this affair Nero took him up to Rome and set
the diadem upon his head. The entire city had been
decorated with lights and garlands, and great crowds
of people were to be seen everywhere, the Forum,
however, being especially full. The center was occupied
by the populace, arranged according to rank, clad in
white and carrying laurel branches: everywhere else
were the soldiers, arrayed in shining armor, their
weapons and standards reflecting back the sunbeams.
The very roof tiles of the buildings in this vicinity
were completely hidden from view by the spectators
who had ascended to these points of vantage. Everything
was in readiness by the time night drew to a
close and at daybreak Nero, wearing the triumphal
garb and accompanied by the senate and the Pretorians,
entered the Forum. He ascended the rostra and
seated himself upon the chair of state. Next Tiridates
and his suite passed through rows of heavy-armed
men drawn up on each side, took their stand
close to the rostra, and did obeisance to the emperor
as they had done before.
5
At this a great roar went
up which so alarmed Tiridates that for some moments
he stood speechless, in terror of his life. Then, silence
having been proclaimed, he recovered courage and
quelling his pride made himself subservient to the
occasion and to his need, caring little how humbly he
spoke, in view of the prize he hoped to obtain. These
were his words: "Master, I am the descendant of
Arsaces, brother of the princes Vologaesus and Pacorus,
and thy slave. And I have come to thee, my
deity, to worship thee as I do Mithra. The destiny
thou spinnest for me shall be mine: for thou art my
Fortune and my Fate."
Nero replied to him as follows: "Well hast thou
done to come hither in person, that present in my
presence thou mayest enjoy my benefits. For what
neither thy father left thee nor thy brothers gave and
preserved for thee, this do I grant thee. King of
Armenia I now declare thee, that both thou and they
may understand that I have power to take away kingdoms
and to bestow them." At the end of these words
he bade him come up the inclined plane built for this
very purpose in front of the rostra, and Tiridates
having been made to sit beneath his feet he placed the
diadem upon his head. At this there was no end of
shouts of all sorts.
6
According to decree there also
took place a celebration in the theatre. Not merely
the stage but the whole interior of the theatre round
about had been gilded, and all properties brought in
had been adorned with gold, so that people came to
refer to the very day as "golden." The curtains
stretched across the sky-opening to keep off the sun
were of purple and in the centre of them was an embroidered
figure of Nero driving a chariot, with golden
stars gleaming all about him. So much for the setting:
and of course they had a costly banquet.
Afterward Nero sang publicly with zither accompaniment
and drove a chariot, clad in the costume of the
Greens and wearing a charioteer's helmet. This
made Tiridates disgusted with him; but for Corbulo
the visitor had only praise and deemed the one thing
against him to be that he would put up with such a
master. Indeed, he made no concealment of his views
to Nero's face, but one day said to him: "Master, you
have in Corbulo a good slave." The person addressed,
however, did not comprehend his speech.--In all other
matters he flattered the emperor and ingratiated himself
most skillfully, with the result that he received
all kinds of gifts, said to have possessed in the aggregate
a value of five thousand myriads, and obtained
permission to rebuild Artaxata. Moreover, he took
with him from Rome many artisans, some of whom he
got from Nero, and some whom he persuaded by offers
of high wages. Corbulo, however, would not let
them all cross into Armenia, but only the ones whom
Nero had given him. That caused Tiridates to admire
him all the more and to despise his chief.
7
The return was made not by the same route as he
followed in coming,--through Illyricum and north of
the Ionian Gulf,--but instead he sailed from Brundusium
to Dyrrachium. He viewed also the cities of
Asia, which helped to increase his amazement at the
strength and beauty of the Roman empire.
Tiridates one day viewed an exhibition of pancratium. One of the
contestants fell to the ground and was being pummeled by his opponent.
When the prince saw it, he exclaimed: "That's an unfair contest.
It isn't fair that a man who has fallen should be beaten."
On rebuilding Artaxata Tiridates named it Neronia.
But Vologaesus though often summoned refused to
come to Nero, and finally, when the latter's invitations
became burdensome to him, sent back a despatch to
this effect: "It is far easier for you than for me to
traverse so great a body of water. Therefore, if you
will come to Asia, we can then arrange
[where we
shall be able]
to meet each other."
[Such was the
message which the Parthian wrote at last.]
8
Nero though angry at him did not sail against him,
nor yet against the Ethiopians or the Caspian Pylae,
as he had intended.
[He saw that the subjugation of
these regions demanded time and labor and hoped
that they would submit to him of their own accord:]
and he sent spies to both places. But he did cross
over into Greece, not at all as Flamininus or Mummius
or as Agrippa and Augustus his ancestors had
done, but for the purpose of chariot racing, of playing
and singing, of making proclamations, and of acting in
tragedies. Rome was not enough for him, nor Pompey's
theatre, nor the great hippodrome, but he desired
also a foreign tour, in order to become, as he
said, victor in all the four contests.
[
]
And a multitude
not only of Augustans but of other persons were taken
with him, large enough, if it had been a hostile host,
to have subdued both Parthians and all other nations.
But they were the kind you would have expected Nero's
soldiers to be, and the arms they carried were zithers
and plectra, masks and buskins. The victories Nero
won were such as befitted that sort of army, and
he overcame Terpnus and Diodorus and Pammenes,
instead of Philip or Perseus or Antiochus. It is
probable that his purpose in forcing the Pammenes
referred to, who had been in his prime in the reign of
Gaius, to compete in spite of his age, was that he
might overcome him and vent his dislike in abuse of
his statues.
A.D. 67 (?)
9
Had he done only this, he would have been the subject
of ridicule. So how could one endure to hear
about, let alone seeing, an emperor, an Augustus, listed
on the program among the contestants, training his
voice, practicing certain songs, wearing long hair on
his head but with his chin shaven, throwing his toga
over his shoulder in the races, walking about with one
or two attendants, eyeing his adversaries suspiciously
and ever and anon throwing out a word to them in the
midst of a boxing match; how he dreaded the directors
of the games and the wielders of the whip and spent
money on all of them secretly to avoid being shown up
in his true colors and whipped; and how all that he
did to make himself victor in the citharoedic contest
only contributed to his defeat in the Contest of the
Caesars? How find words to denounce the wickedness
of this proscription in which it was not
[
]
Sulla that
bulletined the names of others, but Nero bulletined his
own name? What victory less deserves the name than
that by which one receives the olive, the laurel, the
parsley, or the fir-tree garland, and loses the political
crown? And why should one bewail these acts of his
alone, seeing that he also by treading on the high-soled
buskins lowered himself from his eminence of power,
and by hiding behind the mask lost the dignity of his
sovereignty to beg in the guise of a runaway slave,
to be led like a blind man, to conceive, to bear children,
to go mad
[to drive a chariot]
, as he acted out
time after time the story of Oedipus, and of Thyestes,
of Heracles and Alemeon, and of Orestes? The masks
he wore were sometimes made to resemble the characters
and sometimes had his own likeness. The women's
masks were all fashioned to conform to the
features of Sabina
[in order that though dead she
might still move in stately procession. All the situations
that common actors simulate in their acting he,
too, would undertake to present, by speech, by action,
by being acted upon,--save only that]
golden chains
were used to bind him: apparently it was not thought
proper for a Roman emperor to be bound in iron
shackles.
10
All this behavior, nevertheless, the soldiers and all
the rest saw, endured, and approved. They entitled
him Pythian Victor, Olympian Victor, National Victor,
Absolute Victor, besides all the usual expressions, and
of course added to these names the honorific designations
belonging to his imperial office, so that every
one of them had "Caesar" and "Augustus" as a tag.
He conceived a dislike for a certain man because while he was
speaking the man frowned and was not overlavish of his praises; and
so he drove him away and would not let him come into his presence.
He persisted in his refusal to grant him audience, and when the person
asked: "Where shall I go, then?" Phoebus, Nero's freedman, replied:
"To the deuce!"
No one of the people ventured either to pity or to
hate the wretched creature. One of the soldiers, to be
sure, on seeing him bound, grew indignant, ran up,
and set him free. Another in reply to a question:
"What is the emperor doing?" had to answer: "He
is in labor pains," for Nero was then acting the part of
Canace. Not one of them conducted himself in a way
at all worthy of a Roman. Instead, because so much
money fell to their share, they offered prayers that he
might give many such performances and they in this
way get still more.
11
And if things had merely gone on like this, the affair,
while being a source of shame and of ridicule alike,
would still have been deemed free from danger. But
as a fact he devastated the whole of Greece precisely
as if he had been despatched to some war and without
regard to the fact that he had declared the country
free, also slaying great numbers
[of men, women and
children. At first he commanded the children and
freedmen of those who were executed to leave him
half their property at their death, and allowed the original
victims to make wills in order to make it seem less
likely that he had killed them for their money; and he
invariably took all that was bequeathed to him, if not
more. In case any one left to him or to Tigillinus less
than they were expecting, the wills were of no avail.--Later
he deprived persons of their
entire
property and
banished all their children at once by one decree. Not
even this satisfied him, but he destroyed not a few of
the exiles.]
For no one could begin to enumerate all
the confiscated possessions of men allowed to live and
all the votive offerings that he stole from the very
temples in Rome.
[The despatch-bearers hurried
hither and thither with no piece of news other than
"kill this man!" or that that man was dead. No
private messages, only state documents, were delivered;
for Nero had taken many of the foremost men to
Greece under pretence of needing some assistance
from them merely in order that they might perish
there.
12
The whole population of Rome and Italy he
surrendered like captives to a certain Helius, a Caesarian.
The latter had been given absolutely complete
authority, so that he might confiscate, banish, and put
to death (even before notifying Nero) ordinary persons,
knights, and senators alike.]
Thus the Roman domain was at that time a slave to
two emperors at once,--Nero and Helius; and I do
not feel able to say which was the worse. In most respects
they behaved entirely alike, and the one point
of difference was that the descendant of Augustus was
emulating zither-players, whereas the freedman of
Claudius was emulating Caesars. I consider the acts
of Tigillinus as a part of Nero's career because he was
constantly with him: but Polyclitus and Calvia Crispinilla
by themselves plundered, sacked, despoiled all
the places they could get at. The former was associated
with Helius at Rome, and the latter with Sabina,
born Sporus. Calvia had been entrusted with the care
of the boy and with the oversight of the wardrobe,
though a woman and of high rank; and she saw to it
that all were stripped of their possessions.
13
Now Nero called Sporus Sabina not merely on account
of the fact that by reason of resemblance to her
he had been made a eunuch, but because the boy like
the mistress had been solemnly contracted to him in
Greece, with Tigillinus to give the bride away, as the
law ordained. All the Greeks held a festal celebration
of their marriage, uttering all the customary good
wishes (as they could not well help) even to the extent
of praying that legitimate children might be born to
them. After that Nero took to himself two bedfellows,
Pythagoras to treat as a man and Sporus as a woman.
The latter, in addition to other forms of address, was
termed lady, queen, and mistress.
Yet why should one wonder at this, seeing that this
monarch would fasten naked boys and girls to poles,
and then putting on the hide of a wild beast would approach
them and satisfy his brutal lust under the appearance
of devouring parts of their bodies? Such
were the indecencies of Nero.
When he received the senators he wore a short
flowered tunic with muslin collar, for he had already
begun to transgress precedent in wearing ungirt tunics
in public. It is stated also that knights belonging to
the army used in his reign for the first time saddle-cloths
during their public review.
14
At the Olympic games he fell from the chariot he
was driving and came very near being crushed to
death: yet he was crowned victor. In acknowledgment
of this favor he gave to the Hellanodikai the twenty-five
myriads which Galba later demanded back from
them.
[And to the Pythia he gave ten myriads for
giving some responses to suit him: this money Galba
recovered.]
Again, whether from vexation at Apollo
for making some unpleasant predictions to him or because
he was merely crazy, he took away from the god
the territory of Cirrha and gave it to the soldiers. In
fact, he abolished the oracle, slaying men and throwing
them into the rock fissure from which the divine
afflatus
arose. He contended in every single city that
boasted any contest, and in all cases requiring the services
of a herald he employed for that purpose Cluvius
Rufus, an ex-consul. Athens and the Lacedaemonians
were exceptions to this rule, being the only places that
he did not visit at all. He avoided the second because
of the laws of Lycurgus, which stood in the way of his
designs, and the former because of the story about the
Furies.--The proclamation ran: "Nero Caesar wins
this contest and crowns the Roman people and his
world." Possessing according to his own statement
a world, he went on singing and playing, making proclamations,
and acting tragedies.
15
His hatred for the senate was so fierce that he took
particular pleasure in Vatinius, who kept always saying
to him: "I hate you, Caesar, for being of senatorial
rank."--I have used the exact expression that
he uttered.--Both the senators and all others were
constantly subjected to the closest scrutiny in their
entrances, their exits, their attitudes, their gestures,
their outcries. The men that stuck constantly by Nero,
listened attentively, made their applause distinct, were
commended and honored: the rest were both degraded
and punished, so that some, when they could endure it
no longer (for they were frequently expected to be on
the
qui vive
from early morning until evening), would
feign to swoon and would be carried out of the theatres
as if dead.
16
As an incidental labor connected with his sojourn in
Greece he conceived a desire to dig a canal across the
isthmus of the Peloponnesus, and he did begin the
task. Men shrank from it, however, because, when the
first workers touched the earth, blood spouted from it,
groans and bellowings were heard, and many phantoms
appeared. Nero himself thereupon grasped a
mattock and by throwing up some of the soil fairly
compelled the rest to imitate him. For this work he
sent for a large number of men from other nations as
well.
17
For this and other purposes he needed great sums of
money; and as he was a promoter of great enterprises
and a liberal giver and at the same time feared an attack
from the persons of most influence while he was
thus engaged, he destroyed many excellent men. Of
most of these I shall omit any mention, merely saying
that the stock complaint under which all of them were
brought before him was uprightness, wealth, and
family: all of them either killed themselves or were
slaughtered by others. I shall pause to consider only
Corbulo and (of the Sulpicii Scribonii) Rufus and
Proculus. These two deserve attention because they
were in a way brothers and contemporaries, never doing
anything separately but united in purpose and in
property as they were in family: they had for a long
time administered the affairs of the Germanies and
had come to Greece at the summons of Nero, who affected
to want something from them. A complaint of
the kind which that period so prodigally afforded was
lodged against them. They could obtain no hearing on
the matter nor even get within sight of Nero; and as
this caused them to be slighted by all persons without
exception, they began to long for death and so met
their end by slitting open their veins.--And I notice
Corbulo, because the emperor, after giving him also a
most courteous summons and invariably calling him
(among other names) "father" and "benefactor,"
then, as this general approached Cenchrea, commanded
that he be slain before he had even entered his presence.
Some explain this by saying that Nero was about to
sing with zither accompaniment and could not endure
the idea of being seen by Corbulo while he wore the
long ungirded tunic. The condemned man, as soon as
he understood the import of the order, seized a sword,
and dealing himself a lusty blow exclaimed: "Your
due!" Now for the first time in his career was he
ready to believe that he had done ill both in sparing the
zither-player and in going to him unarmed.
18
This is the substance of what took place in Greece.
Does it add much to mention that Nero ordered Paris
the dancer killed because he wished to learn dancing
from him and was disappointed? Or that he banished
Caecina Tuscus, governor of Egypt, for bathing in the
tub that had been specially constructed for his coming
visit to Alexandria?
In Rome about this same time Helius committed
many acts of outrage. One of these was his killing of
a distinguished man, Sulpicius Camerinus, together
with his son; the complaint against them was that
whereas they were called
Pythici
after some of their
ancestors they would not abandon possession of this
name, thus blaspheming Nero's Pythian victories by
the use of a similar title.--And when the Augustans
offered to build a shrine to the emperor worth a thousand
librae, the whole equestrian order was compelled
to help defray the expense they had undertaken.--As
for the doings of the senate, it would be a task to describe
them all in detail. For so many sacrifices and
days of thanksgiving were announced that the whole
year would not hold them all.
19
Helius having for some time sent Nero repeated
messages urging him to return as quickly as possible,
when he found that no attention was paid to them,
went himself to Greece on the seventh day and frightened
him by saying that a great conspiracy against him
was on foot in Rome. This news made him embark at
double quick rate. There was some hope of his perishing
in a storm and many rejoiced, but to no purpose:
he came safely to land. And cause for destroying some
few persons was found in the very fact that they had
prayed and hoped that he might perish.
A.D. 68 (a.u. 821)
20
So, when he marched into Rome, a portion of the wall was torn
down and a section of the gates broken in, because
some asserted that each of these ceremonies was customary
upon the return of garlanded victors from the
games. First entered men wearing the garlands which,
had been won, and after them others with boards
borne aloft on spears, upon which were inscribed the
name of the set of games, the kind of contest, and a
statement that "Nero Caesar first of all the Romans
from the beginning of the world has conquered in it."
Next came the victor himself on a triumphal car in
which Augustus once had celebrated his many victories:
he wore a vesture of purple sprinkled with gold
and a garland of wild olive; he held in his hand the
Pythian laurel. By his side in the vehicle sat Diodorus
the Citharoedist. After passing in this manner through
the hippodrome and through the Forum in company
with the soldiers and the knights and the senate he ascended
the Capitol and proceeded thence to the palace.
A.D. 68 (a.u. 821)
The city was all decked with garlands, was ablaze with
lights and smoky with incense, and the whole population,--the
senators themselves most of all,--kept
shouting aloud: "Vah, Olympian Victor! Vah
Pythian Victor! Augustus! Augustus! Hail to Nero
the Hercules, hail to Nero the Apollo!! The one National
Victor, the only one from the beginning of time!
Augustus! Augustus! O, Divine Voice! Blessed are
they that hear thee!"--Why should I employ circumlocutions instead of
letting you see their very words? The actual expressions
used do not disgrace my history: no, the concealment
of none of them rather lends it distinction.
21
When he had finished these ceremonies, he announced
a series of horse-races, and transferring to the
hippodrome these crowns and all the rest that he had
secured by victories in chariot racing, he put them
about the Egyptian obelisk. The number of them was
one thousand eight hundred and eight. After doing
this he appeared as charioteer.--A certain Larcius, a
Lydian, approached him with an offer of twenty-five
myriads if he would play and sing for them. Nero
would not take the money, disdaining to do anything
for pay; and so Tigillinus collected it, as the price of
not putting Larcius to death. However, the emperor
did appear on the stage with an accompanied song and
he also gave a tragedy. In the equestrian contests he
was seldom absent, and sometimes he would voluntarily
let himself be defeated in order to make it more
credible that he really won at other times.
Dio 62nd Book: "And he inflicted uncounted woes on many cities."
22
This was the kind of life Nero led, this was the way
he ruled. I shall narrate also how he was put down
and driven from his throne.
While Nero was still in Greece, the Jews revolted openly and he sent
Vespasian against them. The inhabitants of Britain and of Gaul,
likewise, oppressed by the taxes, experienced an even keener distress, which
added fuel to the already kindled fire of their indignation.
--There was a Gaul named Gaius Julius Vindex
[an Aquitanian]
, descended from the native royal race
and on his father's side entitled to rank as a Roman
senator. He was strong of body, had an intelligent
mind, was skilled in warfare and was full of daring
for every enterprise.
[He was to the greatest degree
a lover of freedom and was ambitious; and he stood at
the head of the Gauls.]
Now this Vindex made an assembly
of the Gauls, who had suffered much during the
numerous forced levies of money, and were still suffering
at Nero's hands. And ascending a tribunal
he delivered a long and detailed speech against Nero,
saying that they ought to revolt from the emperor and
join him in an attack
[upon him]
,--"because," said
he, "he has despoiled the whole Roman world, because
he has destroyed all the flower of their senate, because
he debauched and likewise killed his mother, and does
not preserve even the semblance of sovereignty. Murders,
seizures and outrages have often been committed
and by many other persons: but how may one find
words to describe the remainder of his conduct as it
deserves? I have seen, my friends and allies,--believe
me,--I have seen that man (if he is a man, who
married Sporus and was given in marriage to Pythagoras)
in the arena of the theatre and in the orchestra,
sometimes with the zither, the loose tunic, the
cothurnus,
[
]
sometimes with wooden shoes
[
]
and mask. I have
often heard him sing, I have heard him make proclamations,
I have heard him perform tragedy. I have seen
him in chains, I have seen him dragged about, pregnant,
bearing children, going through all the situations
of mythology, by speech, by being addressed, by being
acted upon, by acting. Who, then, will call such a person
Caesar and emperor and Augustus? Let no one for
any consideration so abuse those sacred titles. They
were held by Augustus and by Claudius. This fellow
might most properly be termed Thyestes and Oedipus,
Alcmeon and Orestes. These are the persons he represents
on the stage and it is these titles that he has
assumed rather than the others. Therefore now at
length rise against him: come to the succor of yourselves
and of the Romans; liberate the entire world!"
23
Such words falling from the lips of Vindex met with
entire approval from all. Vindex was not working to
get the imperial office for himself but chose Servius
Sulpicius Galba for that position: this man was distinguished
for his upright behavior and knowledge of
war, was governor of Spain, and had a not inconsiderable
force. He was also nominated by the soldiers as
emperor.
24
Rufus, governor of Germany, set out to make war on
Vindex; but when he reached Vesontio he sat down to
besiege the city, for the alleged reason that it had not
received him. Vindex came against him to the aid of
the city and encamped not far off. They then sent
messages back and forth to each other and finally held
a conference together at which no one else was present
and made a mutual agreement,--against Nero, as it
was thought. After this Vindex set his army in motion
for the apparent purpose of occupying the town: and
the soldiers of Rufus, becoming aware of their approach,
and thinking the force was marching straight
against them, set out without being ordered to oppose
their progress. They fell upon the advancing troop
while the men were off their guard and in disarray,
and so cut down great numbers of them. Vindex seeing
this was afflicted with so great grief that he slew
himself. For he felt, besides, at odds with Heaven itself, in that
he had not been able to attain his goal in an undertaking of so great
magnitude, involving the overthrow of Nero and the liberation of the
Romans.
This is the truth of the matter. Many afterwards
inflicted wounds on his body, and so gave currency to
the erroneous supposition that they had themselves
killed him.
25
Rufus mourned deeply his demise, but refused to
accept the office of emperor, although his soldiers frequently
obtained it. He was an energetic man and had a large,
wide-awake body of troops. His soldiers tore down
and shattered the image of Nero and called their general
Caesar and Augustus. When he would not heed
them, one of the soldiers thereupon quickly inscribed
these words on one of his standards. He erased the
terms, however, and after a great deal of trouble
brought the men to order and persuaded them to submit
the question
[
]
to the senate and the people. It is
hard to say whether this was merely because he did not
deem it right for the soldiers to bestow the supreme
authority upon any one (for he declared this to be the
prerogative of the senate and the people), or because
he was entirely highminded and felt no personal desire
for the imperial power, to secure which others were
willing to do everything.
26
[Nero was informed of the Vindex episode as he was
in Naples viewing the gymnastic contest just after
luncheon. He was naturally far from sorry, and leaping
from his seat vied in prowess with some athlete.
He did not hurry back to Rome but merely sent a letter
to the senate, in which he asked them to regard
leniently his non-arrival, because he had a sore throat,
implying that when he did come he wanted to sing to
them. And he continued to devote the same care and
attention to his voice, to his songs, and to the zither
tunes, not only just then but also subsequently: so he
would not try a tone of his intended program. If he
was at any time compelled by circumstances to make
some exclamation, yet somebody, reminding him that
he was to appear as citharoedist, would straightway
check and control him.
It is stated that Nero having offered by proclamation
two hundred and fifty myriads to the person who
should kill Vindex, the latter when he heard of it
remarked: "The person who kills Nero and brings his
head to me may take mine in return." That was the
sort of man Vindex was.
In general he still behaved in his accustomed manner
and he was pleased with the news brought him because
he had been expecting in any event to overcome Vindex
and because he thought he had now secured a justifiable
ground for money-getting and murders. He enjoyed
the same degree of luxury; and upon the completion
and adornment of the heroum of Sabina he gave it a
brilliant dedication, taking care to have inscribed upon
it: "The Women have built This to Sabina, the
Goddess Venus." And the writing told the truth:
for the building had been constructed with money of
which a great part had been stolen from women. Also
he had his numerous little jokes, of which I shall mention
only one, omitting the rest.]
One night he suddenly
summoned in haste the foremost senators and
knights, apparently to make some communication to
them regarding the political situation. When they
were assembled, he said: "I have discovered a way by
which the water organ"--I must write exactly what
he said--"will produce a greater and more harmonious
volume of sound." Such were his jokes about
this period. And little did he reck that both sets of
doors, those of the monument and those of the bedchamber
of Augustus, opened of their own accord in
one and the same night, or that at Albanum it rained
so much blood that rivers of it flowed over the land,
or that the sea retreated a good distance from Egypt
and covered a large portion of Lycia.
27
But when he
heard about Galba's being proclaimed emperor by the
soldiers and about the desertion of Rufus, he fell into
great fear: he made preparations in person at Rome
and he sent against the rebels Rubrius Gallus and some
others.
On learning that Petronius,
[
26]
whom he had sent ahead against the
rebels with the larger portion of the army, also favored the cause of
Galba, Nero reposed no further hope in arms.
Being abandoned by all without exception he began
forming plans to kill the senators, burn the city to the
ground, and sail to Alexandria. He dropped this hint
in regard to his future course: "Even though we be
driven from our empire, yet this little artistic gift of
ours shall support us there." To such a pitch of folly
had he come as to believe that he could live for a
moment as a private citizen and would be able to appear
as a musician.
He was on the point of putting those measures into effect when the
senate first withdrew the guard that surrounded Nero, then entered the
camp, and declared Nero an enemy but chose Galba in his place as
emperor.
But when he perceived that he had been deserted
also by his body-guards (he happened to be asleep in
some garden), he undertook to make his escape. Accordingly,
he assumed shabby clothing and mounted a
horse no better than his attire. Closely veiled he rode
while it was yet night towards an estate of Phao, a
Caesarian, in company with the owner of the place, and
Epaphroditus and Sporus.
28
While he was on the
way an extraordinary earthquake occurred, so that
one might have thought the whole world was breaking
apart and all the spirits of those murdered by
him were leaping up to assail him. Being recognized,
they say, in spite of his disguise by some one
who met him he was saluted as emperor; consequently
he turned aside from the road and hid himself
in a kind of reedy place. There he waited till
daylight, lying flat on the ground so as to run the least
risk of being seen. Every one who passed he suspected
had come for him; he started at every voice,
thinking it to be that of some one searching for him:
if a dog barked anywhere or a bird chirped, or a bush
or twig was shaken by the breeze, he was thrown into a
violent tremor. These sounds would not let him have
rest, yet he dared not speak a word to any one of those
that were with him for fear some one else might hear:
but he wept and bewailed his fortune, considering
among other things how he had once stood resplendent
in the midst of so vast a retinue and was now dodging
from sight in company with three freedmen. Such
was the drama that Fate had now prepared for him, to
the end that he should no longer represent all other
matricides and beggars, but only himself at last. Now
he repented of his haughty insolence, as if he could
make one of his acts undone. Such was the tragedy
in which Nero found himself involved, and this verse
constantly ran through his mind:
"Both spouse and father bid me pitiably die."
After a long time, as no one was seen to be searching
for him, he went over into the cave, where in his hunger
he ate such bread as he had never before tasted
and in his thirst drank water such as he had never
drunk before. This gave him such a qualm that he
said:
"So this is my famous frigid
decocta." [
27]
29
While he was in this plight the Roman people were
going wild with delight and offering whole oxen in
sacrifice. Some carried small liberty caps, and they
voted to Galba the rights pertaining to the imperial
office. For Nero himself they instituted a search in all
directions and for some time were at a loss to know
whither he could have betaken himself. When they
finally learned, they sent horsemen to dispose of him.
He, then, perceiving that they were drawing near, commanded
his companions to kill him. As they refused
to obey, he uttered a groan and said:
"I alone have
neither friend nor foe."
By this time the horsemen
were close at hand, and so he killed himself, uttering
that far-famed sentence:
"Jupiter, what an artist
perishes in me!"
And as he lingered in his agony
Epaphroditus dealt him a finishing stroke.
He had
lived thirty years and nine months, out of which he had
ruled thirteen years and eight months. Of the descendants
of Aeneas and of Augustus he was the last, as was plainly
indicated by the fact that the laurels planted by Livia
and the breed of white chickens perished somewhat before his death.
There was no one who might not hope to lay hands on the
sovereignty in a time of so great confusion.
Rufus visited Galba and could obtain from him no important
privileges, unless one reckons the fact that a man who had
frequently been hailed as emperor was allowed to live. Among
the rest of mankind, however, he had acquired a great name,
greater than if he had accepted the sovereignty,
for refusing to receive it.
Galba, now that Nero had been destroyed and the senate had
voted him the imperial authority and Rufus had made advances
to him, plucked
up courage. However, He did not adopt the name "Caesar," until
envoys of the senate had paid him a visit. Nor had he
hitherto inscribed the name "emperor" in any document.
DURATION OF TIME
C. Silius Italicus, Galerius Trachalus Turpilianus.
(A.D.
68 = a.u. 821, from the 9th of June).
Galba Caes. Aug. (II), T. Vinius.
(A.D. 69 = a.u. 822, to
January 15th).
A.D. 68 (a.u. 821)
1
Thus was Galba declared emperor just as Tiberius
had foretold when he said to him: "You also shall
have a little taste of sovereignty." The event was
likewise foretold by unmistakable omens. He beheld
in visions the Goddess of Fortune telling him that she
had now stuck by him for a long time yet no one appeared
ready to take her into his house; and if she
should be barred out much longer she should take up
her abode with some one else. During those very days
also boats full of weapons and under the guidance of
no human being came to anchor off the coast of Spain.
And a mule brought forth young, an occurrence which
had been previously interpreted as destined to portend
the possession of authority by him. Again, a boy that
was bringing him incense in the course of a sacrifice
suddenly had his hair turn gray; whereupon the seers
declared that dominion over the younger generation
should be given to his old age.
2
These, then, were the signs given beforehand that
had a bearing on his sovereignty. Personally his conduct
was in most ways moderate and he avoided giving
offence since he bore in mind that he had not taken the
emperor's seat but it had been given him;--indeed, he
said so frequently:--unfortunately, he collected money
greedily since his wants were numerous, though he
spent comparatively little after all, bestowing upon
some persons not even denarii but merely asses. His
freedmen, however, committed a great number of
wrongs, the responsibility for which was laid upon
him. Ordinary individuals need only keep themselves
from crime, but those who hold sovereign power must
see to it that no dependent of theirs practices villany
either. For it makes little difference to the ones who
suffer wrong at whose hands they happen to be ill
treated. Consequently, even though Galba abstained
from inflicting injury, yet he was ill spoken of because
he allowed these others to commit crimes, or at least
was ignorant of what was taking place. Nymphidius
and Capito, in particular, were allowed by him to run
riot. For instance, Capito, when one day some one
appealed a case from his jurisdiction, changed his seat
hastily to a high chair near by and then cried out:
"Now plead your case before Caesar!" He went
through the form of deciding it and had the man put to
death. Galba felt obliged to proceed against them for
this.
3
As he drew near the City, the guards of Nero met
him and asked that their organization be preserved intact.
At first he was for postponing his decision and
averred that he wanted to think the matter over.
Since, however, they would not obey but kept up a
clamor, the army submitted to them. As a consequence
about seven thousand of his soldiers lost their lives and
the guardsmen were decimated. This shows that even
if Galba was bowed down with age and disease, yet his
spirit was keen and he did not believe in an emperor's
being compelled to do anything unwillingly. A further
proof is that when the Pretorians asked him for
the money which Nymphidius had promised them, he
would not give it, but replied: "I am accustomed to
levy soldiers, not to buy them." And when the populace
brought urgent pressure to bear on him to kill
Tigillinus and some others who had before been
wantonly insolent, he would not yield, though he would
probably have disposed of them had not their enemies
made this demand. Helius, however, as well as Narcissus,
Patrobius, Lucusta the poison merchant, and
some others who had been active in Nero's day, he
ordered to be carried in chains all over the city and
afterwards to receive punishment. The slaves, likewise, who
had been guilty of any act or speech detrimental to their masters were
handed over to the latter for punishment.
Some disdained receiving their own slaves, wishing to be rid of
rascally slaves.
Galba demanded the return of all moneys and objects of value which
any persons had received from Nero. However, if anybody had been
exiled by the latter on the charge of impiety towards the emperor, he
restored him to citizenship; and he also transferred to the tomb of
Augustus the bones of members of the imperial family who had been
murdered, and he set up their images anew.
For this he was praised. On the other hand he was
the victim of uproarious laughter for wearing a sword
whenever he walked on the street, since he was so old
and weak of sinew.
A.D. 69 (a.u. 822)
4
I shall relate also the circumstances of his death.
The soldiers in Germany under control of Rufus became
more and more excited because they could not
obtain any favors from Galba; and, having failed to
secure the object of their desire through the medium
of Rufus, they sought to obtain it through somebody
else. This they did. With Aulus Vitellius, governor
of Lower Germany, at their head they revolted. All
that they had in mind regarding him was the nobility
of his birth, and they paid no attention to the fact that
he had been a favorite of Tiberius and was a slave to
the licentious habits of his former master; or perhaps
they thought that on this very account he would suit
their purpose all the better. Indeed, Vitellius himself
deemed himself of so little account that he made fun of
the astrologers and used their prediction as evidence
against them, saying: "Certainly they know nothing
who declare that I shall become emperor." Nero when
he heard it also laughed, and felt such contempt for the
fellow that he did not try to injure him.
5
Galba on being informed of his defection adopted
Lucius Piso, a youth of good family, affable and prudent,
and appointed him Caesar. At the same time
Marcus Salvius Otho, angry because
he
had not been
adopted by Galba, brought about once more a beginning
of countless evils for the Romans. He was always
held in honor by Galba, so much so that on the
day of the latter's death he was the only one of the
senators to attend him at the sacrifice. And to him
most of all was the catastrophe due. For when the
diviner declared that Galba would be the victim of conspiracy
and therefore urged him by no means to go
abroad anywhere, Otho heard it, and hastening down
immediately as if on some other errand was admitted
within the wall by some few soldiers who were in the
conspiracy with him. The next step was the winning
over or rather the buying up of the rest, who were displeased
at Galba, by means of many promises. From
them he received the imperial office at once and later
his claim was acknowledged by the others.
6
Galba
on learning what was taking place thought he could
bring the men into a better frame of mind and
sent some emissaries to the camp for this purpose.
Meanwhile a soldier holding aloft a bare blade covered
with blood had approached him and said: "Be of good
cheer, emperor: I have killed Otho, and no further
danger awaits you." Galba, believing this, said to
him: "And who ordered you to do that?" He himself
started for the Capitol to offer sacrifice. As he
reached the middle of the Roman Forum, horsemen
and footsoldiers met him and then and there cut down
in the presence of many senators and crowds of plebeians
the old man, their consul, high priest, Caesar,
emperor. After abusing his body in many ways they
cut off his head and stuck it on a pole.--So he was
struck by a javelin hurled into the very chair in which
he was being carried, was wounded at the very moment
he was bending forward from it, and only said:
"Why, what harm have I done?" Sempronius Densus,
a centurion, defended him as long as he was able,
and finally, when he could accomplish nothing, let himself
be slain with his sovereign. This is why I have
included his name, for he richly deserves to be mentioned.
Piso also was killed and numerous others, but
not in aiding the emperor.
When the soldiers had done this, they cut off their heads, which they
then carried to Otho (who was in the camp) and also into the senate-house;
and the senators, though terror-stricken, affected to be glad.
Moreover, the senate voted him all the privileges
pertaining to his office. He said that he had been
forced to do as he did, had been brought within the
walls against his will, and had actually risked his life
after that by opposing the scheme. He regularly
talked in a considerate manner and assumed a kindly
expression and attitude; he threw kisses on his fingers
to everybody and made many promises. But the fact
did not escape men that his rule was sure to be more
licentious and oppressive than Nero's. (Indeed, he
had immediately applied to himself the latter's name).
Galba had lived seventy-two years and twenty-three
days, out of which he ruled nine months and thirteen
days. Piso perished after him, making this atonement
for having been appointed Caesar.
7
This was the end that befell Galba. But retribution
was destined full soon enough to seek out Otho in his
turn, as he at once learned. As he was offering his
first sacrifice, the omens were seen to be unfavorable,
so that he repented of what had been done and said:
"What need was there of my playing on the long
flutes?" This is a colloquial and proverbial expression
that has reference to those who do anything out of
their usual line. Later he was so disturbed in his sleep
at night that he fell out of the bed and alarmed the
guards who slept at the door. They rushed in and
found him lying on the ground. Yet once he had entered
upon the imperial office he could not put it off;
and he remained in it and paid the penalty, in spite of
many temperate acts intended to conciliate people. It
was not particularly his nature to behave that way, but
since on account of Vitellius his prospects were in a
somewhat precarious state, he did not wish to alienate
the bulk of the population.
8
Just at this time, to be sure, he annulled the sentences
against some senators and granted various
slight favors to others. By way of gaining the public
approval he constantly frequented the theatres: he
bestowed citizenship upon foreigners and made many
other attractive announcements. Yet he did not succeed
in winning the attachment of any one save a certain
few, like himself.
[For his restoration of the
images of those under accusation and]
his life and
habits, his keeping Sporus as a companion and employing
the rest of the Neronians, alarmed everybody.
9
They hated him most of all, however, because he had
demonstrated the fact that the imperial office was for
sale and had put the city in the power of the boldest
spirits; likewise because he held the senate and the
people in slight esteem and had impressed upon the
soldiers also this idea,--that they could kill or again
create a Caesar. Moreover, he had brought the soldiers
into such a daring and lawless condition by his gifts
and his immoderate attentions that one day they forced
an entrance just as they were into the palace while a
number of the senators were dining there with Otho.
before departing they rushed into the banquet-room
itself, killing those that strove to bar their progress.
And they would have slaughtered everybody found
there had not the guests jumped up and hid themselves
prior to their irruption. For this behavior the men
received money, it being assumed that their act was
due to their liking for Otho.
About this time also a man was caught pretending
to be Nero. His name was unknown to Dio. And at
last he paid the penalty.
10
Otho, not succeeding by frequent invitations in persuading
Vitellius to come and share the imperial office,
eventually plunged into open war against him. And
he sent soldiers whom he put in charge of several different
leaders; this fact was largely responsible for
his reverses.
Otho declined battle, saying that he could not see a
battle fought between kindred, just as if he had become
emperor in some legitimate fashion and had not killed
the consuls and the Caesar
[
]
and the emperor
[
]
in Rome
itself. There fell in the battles which took place near
Cremona four myriads of men on both sides. Here,
they say, various omens appeared before the battle,
most noteworthy being an unusual bird, such as men
had never before beheld, that was seen for a number
of days.
11
After the forces of Otho had been worsted, a certain
horseman brought word of the disaster to Otho. When
the bystanders refused to credit his report--it chanced
that there were many gathered there--and some set
to calling him "renegade" and others "enemy," he
exclaimed: "Would that this news were false, Caesar:
for most gladly would I have died to secure thy victory.
As it is, my demise is determined, that no one may
think I fled hither to secure my own safety. But do
thou be assured that the enemy will ere long arrive,
and debate what must be done." Having finished
these words, he despatched himself.
12
This act caused
all to believe him, and they were ready to renew
the conflict. Those present formed a numerous body
and there were not a few others at hand from Pannonia.
But the most important consideration, as
usual in such cases, was that they loved Otho and
were quite devoted to him, not in word but in their
hearts. When, however, they besought him not to
abandon either himself or them, he waited until the
rest, at report of the news, had come running together,
and then, after some muttered words to himself, he
delivered to the soldiers a speech, from which the following
is a brief excerpt:
13
"Enough, quite enough, has already been done. I
hate a civil war, even though I conquer: and I love all
Romans, even though they do not side with me. Let
Vitellius be victor, since this has pleased the gods; and
let the lives of his soldiers also be spared, since this
pleases me. It is far better and more just that one
should perish for all, rather than many for one, and
that I should refuse on account of one single man to
embroil the Roman people and cause so great a mass
of human beings to perish. I certainly should prefer
to be a Mucius, a Decius, a Curtius, a Regulus, rather
than a Marius, a Cinna, or a Sulla,--not to mention
other names. Therefore do not force me to become
one of these men I hate, nor grudge me the privilege of
imitating one of those whom I commend. Do you depart
to meet the conqueror and do him reverence. As
for me, I shall find means to free myself, that all men
may be taught by the event that you have chosen such
an emperor as has not given you up to save himself
but himself to save you."
14
Of this nature were the words of Otho. Falling upon
the ears of the soldiers they aroused both admiration
of the man and pity for what might befall him: his
troops shed tears of lamentation and mourning, calling
him father and terming him dearer than children and
parents.
["Upon thee our lives depend," they said,
"and for thee we will all die."]
This argument
continued so for most of the day, Otho begging to be
allowed to die and the soldiers refusing to permit him
to carry out his wish. Finally, he reduced them to
silence and said: "It can not be that I should show
myself inferior to this soldier, whom you have seen kill
himself for the single reason that he had borne news of
defeat to his own emperor. I shall certainly follow in
his footsteps, that I may cease to see or hear aught any
longer. And you, if you love me in reality, let me die
as I desire and do not compel me to live against my
will, but take your way to the victor and gain his good
graces."
15
At the close of this speech he retired into his apartments
and after sending some messages to his intimate
friends and some to Vitellius in their behalf he burned
all the letters which anybody had written to him containing
hostile statements about Vitellius, not wanting
them to serve as damaging evidence against anybody.
Then he called each one of the persons that were at
hand, greeted them, and gave them money. Meantime
there was a disturbance made by the soldiers, so that
he was obliged to go out and quiet them, and he did
not come back until he had sent them to a place of
safety, some here, some there. So then, when quiet
had been permanently restored, taking a short sword
he killed himself. The grief-stricken soldiery took up
his body and buried it, and some slew themselves upon
his grave. This was the end that befell Otho, after he
had lived thirty-seven years lacking eleven days and
had reigned ninety days, and it overshadowed the impiety
and wickedness of his active career. In life the
basest of men he died most nobly. He had seized the
empire by the most villainous trick, but took leave of it
most creditably.
A series of brawls among the soldiers immediately ensued, and a
number of them were slain by one another; afterwards they reached an
agreement and set out to meet the victorious party.
16
Valens was so eager for money and gathered it so
assiduously from every source that he put to death the
decurion, who had concealed him and had saved his life,
on account of a thousand denarii which he thought had
been purloined from his possessions.
DURATION OF TIME
(Galba (II) and T. Vinius Coss).:
A.D. 69 = a.u. 822, from January 15th.
The following Consules Suffecti took office:
On the Calends of March--T. Virginius Rufus, Vopiscus
Pompeius.
On the Calends of May--Caelius Sabinus, T. Flavins Sabinus.
On the Calends of July--T. Arrius Antoninus, P. Marius
Celsus (II).
On the Calends of September--C. Fabius Valens, A. Alienus
Caecinna (also Roscius Regulus, as Caecinna was condemned on
the last day of October).
On the Calends of November--Cn. Caecilius Simplex, C.
Quintius Atticus.
A.D. 69 (a.u. 822)
1
The population of Rome when it heard of the downfall
of Otho naturally transferred its allegiance immediately.
Otho, whom people previously praised and for
whose victory they prayed, they now abused as an
enemy, and Vitellius, upon whom they had been invoking
curses, they praised and declared emperor. So
truly there is nothing constant in human affairs. Those
who flourish most and those who are lowliest alike
choose unstable standards, and construct their praises
and their censures, their honors and their degradations
to conform to the accidents of their situation.
News of the death of Otho was brought to him
[Vitellius]
while in
Gaul. There he was joined by his wife and child, whom he placed on
a platform and saluted as Germanicus and imperator, though the boy
was only six years old.
[Vitellius witnessed gladiatorial combats at Lugdunum
and again at Cremona, as if the crowds of men
who had perished in the battles and were even then
exposed unburied to the elements did not suffice. He
beheld the slain with his own eyes, for he traversed all
the ground where they lay and gloated over the spectacle
as if he were still in the moment of victory; and
not even after that did he order them to be buried.]
Upon reaching Rome and adjusting affairs to suit him,
he issued a bulletin banishing the astrologers and commanding
them by this particular day (mentioning a
given date) to leave the whole country of Italy. They
by night put up in turn another document, in which
they announced that he should lose his life by the day
on which he actually died. So accurate was their
previous knowledge of what should come to pass.
2
Vitellius was fond of luxury and licentiousness and
cared for nothing else human or divine. He had always
been the kind of man that would spend his time
in taverns and gaming houses, over dancers and charioteers. Incalculable were the sums he spent on such
pursuits, and the consequence was that he had many
creditors. Now, when he attained to so great authority,
his wantonness only increased, and his expenditures
went on most of the day and night alike. He was
insatiate in filling himself, yet kept constantly vomiting
what he ate, apparently living on the mere passage of
food. Yet that was what enabled him to hold out; for
his fellow banqueters fared very badly.
[He was always
inviting numbers of the foremost men to his table
and he was frequently entertained at their houses.]
3
On this point one of them, Vibius Crispus,
[
]
was the
author of a most witty remark. Having been compelled
for some days by sickness to absent himself from
the convivial board, he said: "If I had not fallen ill,
I should certainly have died." The entire period of
his reign consisted in nothing but carousals and revels.
All the most valuable food products were brought together
from the ocean itself (not to go farther) from
the earth and from the Mediterranean, and were prepared
in so costly a fashion that even now some cakes
and other dishes are named Vitellian, after him. Why
should one go into the details of these affairs? It is
admitted by quite everybody that during the period
of his reign he expended on dinners two hundred million
two thousand five hundred denarii. There came
very near being a famine in all costly articles of food,
yet it was imperative that they should be provided.
Once he had a dish made that cost twenty-five myriads,
into which he put a mixture of tongues and brains and
livers of fish and certain kinds of birds. As it was impossible
to make so large a vessel of pottery, it was
made of silver and remained extant for some time, regarded
somewhat in the light of a votive offering, until
Hadrian finally set eyes on it and had it melted down.
4
Since I have mentioned this fact, I will also add
another, namely that not even Nero's Golden House
would satisfy Vitellius. He delighted in and commended
the name and the life and all the practices of
its former owner, yet he found fault with the structure
itself, saying that it had been badly built and was
scantily and meanly equipped. When he fell ill one
time he looked about for a room to afford him an
abode; so little did even Nero's surroundings satisfy
him. His wife Galeria ridiculed the small amount of
decoration found in the royal apartments. This pair,
as they spent other people's money, never stopped to
count the cost of anything; but those who invited them
to meals found themselves in great trouble
[save a few
whom he compensated for it]
. Yet the same persons
would not regularly entertain him the entire day, but
one set of men furnished breakfast, another lunch,
another dinner, and still another certain viands for
dessert calculated to stimulate a jaded appetite.
[
]
[For all who were able were eager to entertain him.]
It is
said that after the elapse of a few days he spent a hundred
myriads upon a dinner.
[His birthday celebration
lasted over two days and numbers of beasts and
of men were slain.]
[The character of Vitellius, being such as I have
described, did not serve to promote temperance on the
part of the soldiers, but numerous instances of their
wantonness and licentiousness were everywhere at
hand.]
Vitellius ascended the Capitol and greeted his mother. She was a
sensible woman, and when she first heard that her son had been given
the name Germanicus, she said: "My child was Vitellius and not
Germanicus."
5
Vitellius, however, furnished many with material
for amusement. They could not restrain their laughter
when they beheld wearing a solemn face in the public
processions a man whom they knew to have played the
strumpet--or saw mounted on a royal steed and clad
in a purple riding-habit him who wore, as they were
well aware, the Blue costume and curried the race-horses--or
viewed ascending the Capitol with so great
a crowd of soldiers him whom previously no one could
catch a glimpse of even in the Forum because of his
throngs of creditors--or gazed at him receiving the
adoration of all, whom once nobody liked very well
even to kiss. Indeed, those who had lent him anything
had laid hold of him when he started out for Germany
and would scarcely release him after he had given
security. Now, however, so far from laughing at him
the same men mourned and hid themselves. But he
sought them out, telling them he spared their lives as
an equivalent of the debt he owed, and he demanded
back his contracts.
6
[Though his life was of this kind he was not entirely
without good deeds. For example, he retained the
coinage minted under Nero and Galba and Otho, evincing
no displeasure at their images; and whatever gifts
had been bestowed upon any persons he held to be
valid and deprived no one of any such possession. He
did not collect any sums still owing of former public
contributions, and he confiscated no one's property. A
very few of those who sided with Otho he put to death
but did not withhold even the property of these from
their relatives. Upon the kinsmen of those previously
executed he bestowed all the funds that were found in
the public treasury. He did not obstruct the execution
of the wills of such as had fought against him and had
fallen in the battles. Furthermore he forbade the senators
and the knights to fight as gladiators or to appear
in any spectacle in the orchestra. And for these measures
he was commended.]
7
He was a constant attendant of the theatres, and this
won the attachment of the populace. He ate with the
most influential men on free and easy terms, and this
gained their favor to an even greater degree. His old
companions he never failed to remember and honored
them greatly, not (like some others) disdaining to
appear to recognize any of them. Many persons
have unexpectedly attained to great power feel hate
for those who are acquainted with their former humble
state.
[Vitellius, when Priscus opposed him in the
senate and denounced one of the soldiers, called the
tribunes to his side as if he had some need of their
assistance. He did not himself do Priscus any harm
and did not allow the officials to hurt him, but merely
said: "Be not indignant, Conscript Fathers, that we
two out of your number have had a little dispute with
each other." This act seemed to have been due to a
kindly disposition. The fact, however, that he wished
to imitate Nero and offered sacrifices to his Manes,
and that he spent so great sums on dinners, though it
caused joy to some, made the sensible grieve, since they
were fully aware that not all the money in the whole
world would be sufficient for him.]
8
While he was behaving in this way, evil omens occurred.
A comet star was seen, and the moon contrary
to precedent appeared to have had two eclipses, being
obscured by shadows on the fourth and on the seventh
day. Also people saw two suns at once, one in the
west weak and pale, and one in the east brilliant and
powerful. On the Capitol many huge footprints were
seen, presumably of some spirits that had descended
that hill. The soldiers who had slept there the night
in question said that the temple of Jupiter had opened
of itself with great clangor and some of the guards
were so terrified that they expired. At the same time
that this happened Vespasian, engaged in warfare with
the Jews,
[sent his son Titus to the emperor Galba to
give him a message. But when Titus returned, having
learned on the way]
of the rebellion of Vitellius and of
Otho, he deliberated what ought to be done.
[For
Vespasian was in general not rashly inclined and he
hesitated very much about involving himself in such
troublous affairs.]
9
But people favored him greatly: his reputation won
in Britain, his fame derived from the war under way,
his kindheartedness and prudence, all led them to desire
to have him at their head. Likewise Mucianus
urged him strongly, hoping that Vespasian should get
the name of emperor and that he as a result of the
other's good nature should enjoy an equal share of
power. Vespasian's soldiers on ascertaining all these
facts surrounded his tent and hailed him as emperor.
Portents and dreams pointing him out as sovereign
long before had also fallen to the lot of Vespasian, and
these will be recited in the story of his life. For the
time being he sent Mucianus to Italy against Vitellius,
while he himself, after taking a look at affairs in Syria
and entrusting to others the conduct of the war against
the Jews, proceeded to Egypt. There he collected
money, of which of course he needed a great deal, and
grin, which he desired to send in as large quantities as
possible to Rome. The soldiers in Moesia, hearing
how matters stood with him, would not wait for
Mucianus,--they had learned that he was
en route
,--and
chose as their general Antonius Primus,
[
]
who had
suffered sentence of exile in Nero's reign but had been
restored by Galba and was commander of the legion
in Pannonia. This man held supreme authority, although
not chosen by the emperor nor by the senate.
So great was the soldiers' anger at Vitellius and their
zest for plunder. They were doing this for no other
purpose except to pillage Italy. And their intention
was realized.
10
Vitellius when he heard about it remained where
he was and went on with his luxurious living even to
the extent of arranging gladiatorial combats. In the
course of these it was proposed that Sporus portray
the role of a maiden being ravished, but he would not
endure the shame and committed suicide. Vitellius
gave the charge of the war to Alienus
[
]
and certain
others. Alienus reached Cremona and occupied the
town, but seeing that his own soldiers were out of
training as a result of their luxurious life in Rome
and impaired by lack of practice, whereas the others
were physically well exercised and stout of heart, he
was afraid. Subsequently, when friendly proposals
came to him from Primus, he called the soldiers together
and by indicating the weakness of Vitellius and
the strength of Vespasian together with the character
of the two men he persuaded them to revolt. Then
they removed the images of Vitellius from their standards
and took an oath that they would be governed by
Vespasian. But, after the meeting had broken up and
they had retired to their tents, they changed their
minds and suddenly gathering excitedly in force with
great outcry they again saluted Vitellius as emperor
and imprisoned Alienus for having betrayed them, and
they paid no heed to his consular office. Such are the
regular practices of civil wars.
11
The great confusion which under these conditions
prevailed in the camp of Vitellius was increased that
night by an eclipse of the moon. It was not so much
its being obscured (though even such phenomena cause
fear to men in excitement) as the fact that the luminary
appeared both blood-colored and black and reflected
still other terrifying shades. Not for this, however,
would the men change their attitude or yield: but when
they encountered each other they contended most vigorously, although, as I said, the Vitellians were leaderless;
for Alienus had been imprisoned at Cremona.
On the following day, when Primus through messengers
tried to induce them to come to terms, the
soldiers of Vitellius sent a return message to him urging
that he espouse the cause of Vitellius. When, moreover,
they joined battle with his soldiers they contended
most vigorously. The battle was not the result of any
concerted plan. Some few horsemen, as often happens
when two forces are encamped opposite each other,
were out foraging in front of the others and suddenly
made an attack. After that reinforcements came from
both armies to each of the two parties in whatever order
the troops happened to become aware of the situation,--first
to one side, then to the other, now of one
kind of fighting force, now of another, infantry or
cavalry: and the conflict was marked by vicissitudes
until all had hastened to the front. Then they got into
some kind of regular formation and carried on the
struggle with some order even though leaderless.
Alienus, as you remember, had been imprisoned.
12
From this point on the battle between them was a
well matched and evenly balanced affair, not only during
the day but at night as well. For the coming of
night did not separate them. They were thoroughly
angry and determined, although they were acquainted
with each other and talked back and forth. Hence not
hunger nor fatigue nor cold nor darkness nor wounds
nor deaths nor the remains of men that fell on this field
before
[nor the memory of the disaster nor the number
of those that perished to no purpose]
mitigated
their fierceness. Such was the madness that possessed
both sides alike
[and so eager were they, incited by the
very memories of the spot, which made one party resolved
to conquer this time also, and the other not to
be conquered this time either. So they fought as
against foreigners instead of kindred, and as if all on
both sides were absolutely obliged either to perish at
once or thereafter to be slaves. Therefore, not even
when night came on, as I stated, would they yield; but
though tired out and for that reason often resting and
indulging in conversation together, they nevertheless
continued to struggle]
. As often as the moon shone out
(it was constantly being concealed by
[numerous]
clouds
[of all shapes that kept passing in front of it]
),
one might see them sometimes fighting, sometimes
13
standing and leaning on their spears, sometimes sitting
down. Now and then they would shout in unison on
one side the name of Vespasian and on the other that
of Vitellius, and again they would challenge each other
with abuse and praise of the two men. At intervals
one soldier would have a private chat with an
opponent:--"Comrade, fellow-citizen, what are we doing?
Why are we fighting? Come over to my side." "Oh,
no, you come to my side." But what is there surprising
about this, considering that when the women of the
city in the course of the night brought food and drink
to give to the soldiers of Vitellius, the latter after eating
and drinking themselves passed the supplies on to
their antagonists? One of them would call out the name
of his adversary (for they practically all knew one
another and were well acquainted) and would say:
"Comrade, take and eat this. I give you not a sword,
but bread. Take and drink: I hold toward you not a
shield but a cup. For whether you kill me or I you,
this will afford us a more comfortable leave-taking, and
will save from feebleness and weakness the hand with
which either you cut me down or I you. These are the
consecrated offerings that Vitellius and Vespasian give
us while we are yet alive, that they may sacrifice us to
the corpses of the past." That would be the style of
their conversation, after which they would rest a while,
eat a bit, and then renew the battle. Soon they would
stop again, and then once more join in conflict.
14
It went on this way the whole night through till
dawn broke. At that time two men of the Vespasian
party wrought a notable achievement. Their side was
being severely damaged by an engine of some sort, and
these two, seizing shields from among the spoils of the
Vitellian faction, mingled with the opposing ranks, and
made their way to the engine without its being noticed
that they did not belong to that side. Thus they managed
to cut the ropes of the affair, so that not another
missile could be discharged from it. As the sun was
rising the soldiers of the third legion, called the Gallic,
that wintered in Syria but was now by chance in the
party of Vespasian, suddenly according to custom
saluted the Sun God. The followers of Vitellius, suspecting
that Mucianus had arrived, underwent a revulsion
of feeling, and panic-stricken at the shout took to
flight. (Another instance of how the smallest things
can produce great alarm in men who are completely
tired out). They retired within the wall, from which
they stretched forth their hands and made supplications.
As no one listened to them, they released the
consul, and, having arrayed him in his robe of office
with the fasces, then sent him as an intercessor. Thus
they obtained a truce, for Alienus because of his rank
and the way he had been treated easily persuaded
Primus to accept their submission.
15
When, however, the gates were opened and an
amnesty had been declared for all, suddenly soldiers
came rushing in from all directions and began plundering
and setting fire to everything. This catastrophe
proved to be one of the greatest recorded. The city
was distinguished for the size and beauty of its buildings,
and great sums of money belonging to natives and
to strangers had been accumulated there. The larger
portion of the harm was done by the Vitellians, since
they knew exactly which were the houses of the richest
men and all about the entrances on the alleys. They
showed no scruples about destroying the persons in
whose behalf they had fought, but dealt blows, committed
murder, and acted as if it were they who had
been wronged and had conquered. Thus, counting
those that fell in battle, five myriads perished altogether.
16
Vitellius, on learning of the defeat, was for a time
quite disturbed. Omens had contributed to make him
uneasy. He had been offering a certain sacrifice, and
after it was addressing the soldiers, when a lot of vultures
swooped down, scattered the sacred meats, and
nearly knocked him from the platform. Accordingly,
the news of the defeat troubled him still more, and he
quietly sent his brother to Tarracina, a strong city,
which the latter occupied. But when the generals of
Vespasian approached Rome he became alarmed and
took his departure. He did nothing and formed no plan,
but in a state of terror was carried back and forth on
the billows of chance. One moment he was for clinging
to the sovereignty and he was making definite preparations
for warfare: the next he was quite willing to give
it up and was definitely getting ready to live as a private
person. At times he wore the purple chlamys and
girded on a sword: again he assumed dark colored clothing.
His public addresses both in the palace and in the
Forum were now of one tenor, now of another, first
urging battle and next terms of peace. At times he
was inclined to surrender himself for the public welfare,
and later he would clasp his child in his arms, kiss
him, and hold him out to the people as if to arouse their
pity. Similarly he would dismiss the Pretorians and
then send for them again, would leave the palace to
retire to his brother's house and then return: in this
way he dulled the enthusiasm of almost everybody interested
in him. Seeing him dashing hither and thither
so frenziedly they ceased to carry out commands with
their usual diligence, and began to consider their own
interests as well as his. They ridiculed him a great
deal, especially when in the assemblies he proffered his
sword to the consuls and to the senators present as if
to show that by this act he had divested himself of the
imperial office. No one of the above persons dared to
take it, and the bystanders jeered.
17
In view of these conditions, when Primus at last drew
near, the consuls, Gaius Quintius Atticus and Gnaeus
Caecilius Simplex, together with Sabinus (a relative of
Vespasian) and the other foremost men held a consultation,
the result of which was that they set out for the
palace in company with the soldiers that favored their
cause, intending to either persuade or force Vitellius to
resign his position as emperor. They encountered,
however, the Celtae who were guarding him, and getting
decidedly the worst of the encounter they fled to the
Capitol. Arrived there they sent for Domitian, son of
Vespasian, and his relatives, and put themselves in a
state of defence. The following day, when their adversaries
assailed them, they managed for a time to
repulse them; but when the environs of the Capitol
were set on fire, its defenders were beaten back by the
flame. In this way the soldiers of Vitellius forced
their way up, slaughtered many of the resisting party,
and after plundering the whole stock of votive offerings
burned down with other structures the great temple.
Sabinus and Atticus they arrested and sent them to
Vitellius. Domitian and the junior Sabinus had made
their escape from the Capitol at the first noise of conflict
and by concealing themselves in houses had succeeded
in eluding observation.
18
Those soldiers of Vespasian that were led by Quintus
Petilius Cerialis
[
]
(one of the foremost senators and a
relative of Vespasian by marriage) and by Antonius
Primus--for Mucianus had not yet overtaken them--were
by this time close at hand, and Vitellius fell into
the depths of terror. The oncoming leaders through
the medium of certain messengers and by placing their
letters in coffins with dead bodies, in baskets full of
fruit, or the reed traps of bird-catchers, learned all that
was being done in the city and formed their plans accordingly.
Now, when they saw the blaze rising from
the Capitol as from a beacon, they made haste. The
first of the two to approach the city with his cavalry
was Cerialis,
[and he was defeated at the very entrance
by being cut off with horsemen in a narrow spot. However,
he prevented any harm being done by his opponents.
For Vitellius, hoping that his proved superiority
would afford him an opportunity to make terms,
restrained his soldiers]
. And having convened the
senate he sent envoys chosen from that body together
with the vestal virgins to Cerialis as envoys.
19
Since no one would listen to them and they came very
near losing their lives, the emissaries visited Primus,
who was also at last approaching; from him they secured
an audience, but accomplished nothing. For at
this juncture his soldiers came angrily toward him and
overcame with ease the guard at the Tiber bridge.
(When the latter took their stand upon it and disputed
their passage, the horsemen forded the stream and
fell upon them from the rear). After this various
bodies of men made assaults at various points and committed
some of the most atrocious deeds. All the behavior
for which they censured Vitellius and his followers,
behavior which they pretended was the cause
of the war between them, they themselves repeated,
slaying great numbers. Many of those killed were
struck with pieces of tiling from the roof or cut down
in alleyways while jostled about by a throng of adversaries.
Thus as many as fifty thousand human beings
were destroyed during those days of carnage.
20
So the city was being pillaged, and the men were
some fighting, some fleeing, some actually plundering
and murdering by themselves in order that they might
be taken for the invaders and so preserve their lives.
Vitellius in dread put on a ragged, dirty, little tunic and
concealed himself in an obscure alcove where dogs were
kept, intending to run off during the night to Tarracina
and join his brother. But the soldiers found him after
a short search, for he could not long be sure of remaining
hid, seeing that he had been emperor. They seized
him, a mass of shavings and blood--for the dogs had
done him some harm already--and stripping off his
clothes they bound his hands behind his back, put a
rope around his neck and dragged from the palace the
Caesar who had reveled there. Down the Sacred Way
they hauled the emperor who had frequently paraded
past in his chair of state. Then they conducted the
Augustus to the Forum, where he had often addressed
the people. Some buffeted him, some plucked at his
beard, all ridiculed him, all insulted him, laying especial
stress in their remarks on his intemperance,
since he had an expansive paunch.
21
When in shame at
this treatment he kept his eyes lowered, the soldiers
would prick him under the chin with their daggers,
to make him look up even against his will. A certain
Celt who saw this would not endure it, but taking pity
on him cried: "I will help you, as well as I can
alone." Then he wounded Vitellius and killed himself.
However, Vitellius did not die of the wound but was
haled to the prison, as were also his statues, while many
amusing and many disgraceful remarks were made
about them. Finally, grieved to the heart at the way
he had been treated and what he was compelled to hear,
he was heard to exclaim: "Yet I was once your emperor!"
At that the soldiers flew into a rage and took
him to the top of the Scalae Gemoniae, where they struck
him down. His head was cut off and carried about all
over the city.
22
Subsequently his wife saw to his burial. He had
lived fifty-four years
[and eighty-nine days]
and had
reigned for a year lacking ten days. His brother had
started from Tarracina to come to his assistance, but
learned while
en route
that he was dead. He also encountered a detachment of men sent against him and
made terms with them on condition that his life should
be spared. In spite of this he was murdered not long
afterward. The son of Vitellius, too, perished soon
after his father, notwithstanding that Vitellius had
killed no relative either of Otho or of Vespasian. After
all these various events had taken place, Mucianus
came up and administered necessary details in conjunction
with Domitian, whom he also presented to the
soldiers and had him make a speech, boy though he
was. Each of the soldiers received twenty-five denarii.
DURATION OF TIME
Fl. Vespasianus Aug. (II), Titus Caesar.
(A.D. 70 = a.u.
823 = Second of Vespasian, from July 1st).
Fl. Vespasianus Aug. (III), M. Cocceius Nerva.
(A.D. 71 =
a.u. 824 = Second of Vespasian).
Fl. Vespasianus Aug. (IV), Titus Caesar (II).
(A.D. 72 =
a.u. 825 = Third of Vespasian).
Domitianus Caesar (II), M. Valerius Messalinus.
(A.D. 73 =
a.u. 826 = Fourth of Vespasian).
Fl. Vespasianus Aug. (V), Titus Caesar (III).
(A.D. 74 =
a.u. 827 = Fifth of Vespasian).
Fl. Vespasianus Aug. (VI), Titus Caesar (IV).
(A.D. 75 =
a.u. 828 = Sixth of Vespasian).
Fl. Vespasianus (VII), Titus Caesar (V).
(A.D. 76 = a.u.
829 = Seventh of Vespasian).
Fl. Vespasianus (VIII), Titus Caesar (VI).
(A.D. 77 =
a.u. 830 = Eighth of Vespasian).
L. Ceionius Commodus, D. Novius Priscus.
(A.D. 78 = a.u.
831 = Ninth of Vespasian).
Fl. Vespasianus (IX), Titus Caesar (VII).
(A.D. 79 = a.u.
832 = First of Titus, from June 23rd).
T. Vespasianus (VIII), Domitianus (VII).
(A.D. 80 = a.u.
833 = Second of Titus).
L. Fl. Silva Nonius Bassus, Asinius Pollio Verrucosus.
(A.D.
81 = a.u. 834 = Third of Titus, to September 13th).
A.D. 70 (a.u. 823)
1
Such was the course of events on the heels of which
Vespasian was declared emperor by the senate and
Titus and Domitian were given the title of Caesars.
The consular office was assumed by Vespasian and
Titus while the former was in Egypt and the latter in
Palestine. Vespasian had seen portents and dreams
that long beforehand indicated that he was destined to
rule. As he was eating dinner in the country, where
most of his time was spent, a cow approached him,
knelt down, and put her head beneath his feet. Another
time, when he was taking food, a dog threw a
human hand under the table. And a conspicuous
cypress tree, which had been uprooted and overthrown
by a violent wind, on the next day stood upright again
by its own power and continued to flourish. From a
dream he learned that when Nero Caesar should lose
a tooth, he should be emperor: and this matter of the
tooth became a reality on the following day. Nero
himself in his slumbers thought he was bringing the
chariot of Jupiter to Vespasian's house. These occurrences,
of course, needed interpretation. But in addition
a Jew named Josephus, who had previously been
disliked by him and imprisoned, gave a laugh and said:
"You may imprison me now, but a year later when
you become emperor you will release me."
2
Thus had Vespasian, like some others, been born for
the position. While he was as yet absent in Egypt
Mucianus administered all the details of government
with the help of Domitian. Mucianus feeling that he
had himself given the sovereignty to Vespasian exulted
greatly at these facts above all,--that he was called
"brother" by him, and that he had authority to decide
every question that he liked without the emperor's
express approval and could issue written orders by
merely adding his superior's name. For this purpose,
too, he wore a finger ring that had been sent him, which
was intended to impress the imperial seal upon documents
requiring authorization.
[Indeed, Domitian
himself gave offices and procuratorships to many persons,
appointing prefect after prefect and even consuls.]
In fine, they behaved in every way so much like
absolute rulers that Vespasian once sent the following
message to Domitian: "I thank you, my child, for letting
me hold office and that you have not yet dethroned
me."
Now Mucianus gathered into the public treasury
from every possible quarter vast sums of money, showing
an entire readiness to relieve Vespasian of the
censure which such a proceeding caused. He was forever
declaring that money was the sinews of sovereignty;
and in accordance with this belief he was constantly
urging Vespasian to obtain funds from every
quarter, and for his own part he continued from the
outset to collect revenue, thus providing a large amount
of money for the empire and acquiring a large amount
himself.
3
In Germany various uprisings against the Romans
took place which are not worth mentioning for my
purposes, but there was one incident that must cause
us surprise. A certain Julius Sabinus, one of the
foremost of the Lingones, collected by his own efforts
a separate force and took the name of Caesar, declaring
that he was a descendant of Julius Caesar. He was
defeated in several engagements, whereupon he fled
to a field and plunged into a subterranean vault beneath
a monument, which he first burned to the ground.
His pursuers thought he had perished in the conflagration,
but as a matter of fact he hid himself there with
his wife for nine years and had two male children by
her. The troubles in Germany were settled by Cerialis
in the course of a number of battles, in one of which
so great a multitude of Romans and barbarians both
were slain that the river flowing near by was held back
by the bodies of the fallen. Domitian stood in fear of
his father because of what he did and still more because
of what he intended, for his plans were on no small
scale. He happened to be spending most of his time
near the Alban Mount, devoting himself to his passion
for Domitia, the daughter of Corbulo. Her he took
away from her husband, Lucius Lamia Aelianus, and
at this time he had her for one of his mistresses, but
later he actually married her.
4
Titus, who was assigned to take charge of the war
with the Jews,
[undertook to win them over by certain
conferences and offers; as they would not yield, he
proceeded to direct hostilities. The first battles he
fought were rather close; finally he prevailed and took
up the siege of Jerusalem. This town had three walls
including that surrounding the temple. The Romans
accordingly heaped up mounds against the fortifications
and brought their engines to bear: then collecting
in a dense force they repulsed all sallying parties and
with their slings and arrows kept back all the defenders
of the wall. Many persons that had been sent by
some of the barbarian kings they kept prisoners. The
Jews who came to the assistance of their countrymen
were many of them from the immediate region and
many from kindred districts, not only in this same
Roman empire but from beyond the Euphrates, and
they, too, kept directing missiles and stones with considerable
force on account of the higher ground, some
being flung from the hand and some hurled by means
of engines. They likewise made night and day sallies
as often as occasion offered, set fire to the engines,
slew numerous combatants, and by digging out under
the wall took away earth from beneath the mound. As
for the rams, they lassoed some of them and broke the
ends off, others they seized and pulled up with hooks,
while by means of thick boards well fastened together
and strengthened with iron, which they let down
against the face of the wall, they turned aside the assaults
of the remainder. The Romans' chief cause of
discomfort was the lack of water; their supply was of
poor quality and had to be brought from a distance.
The Jews found their underground passages a source
of strength. They had these affairs dug from within
the city out under the walls to distant points in the
country, and going out through them they would attack
parties in search of water and harass scattered detachments.
Consequently Titus stopped them all up.]
5
In the course of these operations many on both sides
were wounded and killed. Titus himself was struck
on the left shoulder by a stone, and as a result of this
accident the arm was always weaker. After a time
the Romans managed to scale the outside circle, and,
pitching their camps between the two encompassing
lines of fortification, assaulted the second wall. Here,
however, they found the conditions confronting them to
be different. When all the inhabitants had retired
behind the second wall, its defence proved an easier
matter because the circuit to be guarded was so much
less. Titus, accordingly, made anew a proclamation
offering them immunity. They, however, even under
these circumstances held out. And the captives and
deserters from the enemy so far as they could do so
unobserved spoiled the Roman water supply and slew
many men that they could cut off from the main force,
so that Titus refused to receive any of them. Meantime
some of the Romans, too, growing disheartened,
as often happens in a prolonged siege, and furthermore
suspecting that the city was really, even as report declared,
impregnable, went over to the other side. The
Jews although they were short of food treated them
kindly, in order to be able to exhibit deserters to their
own ranks.
6
Though a breach in the wall was effected by engines,
still the capture did not immediately follow; the defenders
killed great numbers that tried to crowd
through the opening. Next they set fire to some of the
buildings near by, expecting in this way to check the
onward progress of the Romans, even should the latter
make themselves masters of the entire circuit. In this
way they damaged the wall and unintentionally burned
down the barrier encompassing their sacred precinct.
The entrance to the temple was now laid open to the
Romans. The soldiers on account of their superstition
would not immediately rush in, but at last, as Titus
forced them, they made their way inside. Then the
Jews carried on a defence much more vigorous than
before, as if they had discovered a rare and unexpected
privilege in falling near the temple, while fighting to
save it. The populace was stationed in the outer court,
the senators on the steps, and the priests in the hall of
worship itself. And though they were but a handful
fighting against a far superior force they were not subdued
until a section of the temple was fired. Then
they went to meet death willingly, some letting themselves
be pierced by the swords of the Romans, some
slaughtering one another, others committing suicide,
and others leaping into the blaze. It looked to everybody,
and most of all to them, apparently,
[that so far
from being ruin, it was victory and salvation and happiness
to perish along with the temple]
.
7
Even under
these conditions many captives were taken, among
them Bargiora,
[
]
the commander of the enemy: he was
the only one punished in the course of the triumphal
celebration.
Thus was Jerusalem destroyed on the very day of
Saturn, which even now the Jews reverence most. To
commemorate the event it was ordered that the conquered,
while still preserving their own ancestral customs
should annually pay a tribute of two denarii to
Capitoline Jupiter. As a reward for this success both
generals received the title of imperator, but neither
had that of
Iudaicus
, although all the other privileges
(including arches bearing trophies) that were proper
after so great a victory were voted to them.
8
Hard upon Vespasian's entrance into Alexandria
the Nile overflowed, and rose in one day a palm higher
than usual; indeed, such an occurrence, it was said,
had taken place only once before. Vespasian himself
healed two persons who had come to him because of a
vision seen in dreams. One of them, who had a weak
hand, he cured by treading upon that member, and the
other one, who was blind, by spitting upon his eyes.
His divine power herein shown gave him great repute,
yet the Alexandrians, far from enjoying his society, detested
him heartily; not only in private but in public
they were forever making fun of and abusing him.
They had expected to receive some great reward from
him because they had taken the first steps in making
him emperor, but instead of securing anything they
had additional contributions levied upon them. Large
were the sums he gathered from them, for he omitted
not a single source of revenue, no, not even the first
that might offer itself, though its character were reprehensible,
but he sought money from everybody alike,
of secular or religious profession. As for taxes, he
renewed many that had been abolished and increased
those that were usual
[and introduced still other new
ones]
. And he adopted this same course later in the
rest of the subject territory,
[in Italy]
and in Rome
itself. Hence the Alexandrians
[both for the reasons
mentioned and because most of the royal possessions
had been sold were vexed and]
threw out various derogatory
remarks about him, one of them being: "You
want six obols more." Vespasian, consequently, although
the most affable of men, became indignant and
gave orders that the six obols per man should be levied,
and thought seriously about taking vengeance upon
them.
[The words themselves contained an insult, and
of their many undignified and anapaestic rhythms there
was not a single one but aroused his anger.]
Titus,
however, begged them off and Vespasian accordingly
spared them. Yet they would not let him alone, and
in some assembly they all together shouted at Titus
these very words: "We forgive him. He doesn't understand
being Caesar."
So they continued to be foolhardy, took their thorough
fill of that license which is always working to
their detriment, and abused the good nature of the
emperor.
9
[Vespasian soon ceased to notice them. He
sent a despatch to Rome rescinding the disfranchisement
of such persons as had been condemned for so-called
acts of maiestas by Nero and succeeding rulers.
His action included living and dead alike, and he moreover
stopped the indictments made upon such complaints.--The
astrologers he banished from Rome, yet
he consulted all of them who were distinguished, and
through the influence of Barbillus, a man of that profession,
allowed the Ephesians to celebrate some sacred
games. This was a privilege he granted to no other
city.
He soon had Egypt subdued and sent from there a large supply of
grain to Rome. He had left his son Titus at Jerusalem to sack the
town, and awaited its capture that he might return to Rome in his son's
company. But, as time dragged in the conduct of the siege, he left Titus
in Palestine and took passage himself on a merchantman; he sailed in
this manner as far as Lycia, and from that country partly by overland
journeys and partly by seafaring he came to Brundusium.
After this he came to Rome, meeting Mucianus and
other prominent men at Brundusium and Domitian at
Beneventum. In consequence of the consciousness of
his own designs and of what he had already done, Domitian
was ill at ease, and moreover he occasionally
feigned madness. He spent most of his time on the
Alban estate and did many ridiculous things, one of
them being to impale flies on pencils. Even though
this incident be unworthy of the dignity of history, yet
because it shows his character so well and particularly
in view of the fact that he continued the same practice
after he became emperor, I have been obliged to record
it. Hence that answer was not without wit which some
one made to a person who enquired what Domitian was
doing. "He is living in retirement," he said, "without
so much as a fly to keep him company."
10
Vespasian
though he humbled this upstart's pride greeted all the
rest not like an emperor but like a private person, for
he remembered his previous experience.
On reaching Rome he bestowed gifts upon both soldiers and populace;
he made repairs in the sacred precincts and upon those public works
which showed signs of wear and tear; such as had already crumbled to
decay he restored; and when they were completed he inscribed upon
them not his own name but the names of the persons who had originally
reared them.
He immediately began to construct the temple on
the Capitoline, being himself the first to carry away
some of the soil; and, as a matter of course, he urged
the other most prominent men to do this same thing in
order that the rest of the populace might have no
excuse for shirking this service.
The property of his opponents who had fallen in one conflict or another
he delivered to their children or to other kin of theirs; furthermore,
he destroyed contracts of long standing representing sums due
and owing to the public treasury.
Though he invariably expended in munificent fashion
all that was requisite for the public welfare and arranged
the festivals on a most sumptuous scale, his
own living was very far from costly, and he sanctioned
no greater outlay than was absolutely necessary.
Therefore even in the taverns he allowed nothing
cooked to be sold except pulse. Thus he made it quite
plainly evident that he was amassing riches not for his
own enjoyment but for the needs of the people.
Vespasian got laughed at every time that he would say, when spending
money: "I am making this outlay from my own purse."
He was neither of noble family nor rich.
The general routine of life that he followed was this.
He lived but little in the palace, spending most of his
time in the so-called Sallustian Gardens. There he received
anybody who desired to see him, not only senators
but people in general. With his intimate friends
he would converse also before dawn while lying in bed;
others could greet him on the streets. The doors of
the royal residence were open all day long and no
guard was stationed at them. He was a regular visitor
in the senate, whose members he consulted in regard to
all projects, and he frequently tried cases in the
Forum. Whatever measures he was prevented by old
age from reading aloud, as well as any communications
that he sent to the senate when absent, he usually
caused to be read by his sons, showing honor by this
course to the legislative body. Every day he had many
of the senators and others join him at table, and he
himself often dined at the houses of his intimate
friends.
11
In general, his forethought for public interests
caused him to be regarded as a real emperor. In
his ordinary existence he was sociable and lived on a
footing of equality with his subjects. He joked in unconventional
manner and rather liked jokes upon himself.
In case any anonymous documents were posted,--as
happens to every emperor,--containing statements
insulting to himself, he showed no signs of disturbance
but posted in turn a suitable reply.
One day Phoebus approached him to make an apology.
It seemed that once, during Nero's reign, Vespasian
when in the theatre in Greece had frowned at
the misconduct of the emperor (of which he was a witness),
whereupon Phoebus had angrily bidden him
"Go!" And upon Vespasian's enquiring "Where
to?" the other had responded "to the devil."
[
]
Now when Phoebus apologized for this speech the monarch
did him no harm, in fact vouchsafed him no answer at
all, save a curt "Go to the devil yourself!"--Again,
when Vologaesus forwarded a letter to the emperor addressed
as follows: "Arsaces, King of Kings, to
Flavius Vespasian, Greeting," the recipient did not
rebuke him but wrote a reply couched in the same terms
and added none of his imperial titles.
12
Helvidius Priscus, the son-in-law of Thrasea, had
been brought up in the doctrines of the Stoics and
imitated Thrasea's bluntness, though there was no occasion
for it. He was at this time praetor and instead
of doing aught to increase the honor due to the emperor
he would not cease reviling him. Therefore the
tribunes once arrested him and gave him in charge of
their assistants, at which procedure Vespasian was
overcome by emotion and went out of the senate-house
in tears, uttering this single exclamation only: "A
son shall be my successor or no one at all."
A.D. 71 (a.u. 824)
After Jerusalem had been captured Titus returned to Italy and celebrated
a triumph, both he and his father riding in a chariot. Domitian,
now in his consulship, also took part in the festivities, mounted upon
a charger. Vespasian next established in Rome teachers of both Latin
and Greek learning, who drew their pay from the public treasury.
13
Before long many others who followed the so-called
Stoic system made themselves prominent, among whom
was Demetrius the cynic. These men, abusing the title
of philosophy, kept teaching their disciples publicly
many pernicious doctrines, and in this way were gradually
corrupting
[
]
some. Under these circumstances
Mucianus, influenced more by anger than by fondness
for speaking, uttered many charges against them and
persuaded Vespasian to expel all such persons from
the city.
Mucianus desired to be honored by all and beyond
all, so that he was displeased not merely if a man insulted
him but even if any one failed to extol him
greatly. Hence, just as he was never tired of honoring
those who assisted him to even the slightest extent,
so his hatred was most cruel for all who did not
so conduct themselves.
Mucianus made a great number of remarkable statements to Vespasian
against the Stoics, as, for instance, that they are full of empty
boasting, and if one of them lets his beard grow long, elevates his eyebrows,
wears his fustian cape thrown carelessly back and goes barefoot,
he straightway postulates wisdom, bravery, righteousness as his own.
He gives himself great airs, even though he may not understand (as
the proverb says) either letters or swimming. They view everybody
with contempt and call the man of good family a mollycoddle, the ill-born
a dwarfed intellect, a handsome person licentious, an ugly person
comely, the rich man an apostle of greed, and the poor man a servile
groveler.]
And Vespasian did immediately expel from Rome
all the philosophers except Musonius: Demetrius and
Hostilianus he confined upon islands. Hostilianus
would not stop, to be sure,--he happened to be conversing
with somebody when he heard about the sentence of
exile against him and merely inveighed all the more
strongly against monarchy,--yet he straightway withdrew.
Demetrius even now would not yield, and Vespasian
bade it be told him: "You are working every
way to have me kill you, but I am not slaughtering
barking dogs."
It became strikingly clear that Vespasian hated
Helvidius Priscus not so much for personal affronts
or on account of the friends that the man had abused
as because he was a turbulent fellow that cultivated
the favor of the rabble, was forever denouncing royalty
and praising democracy. Helvidius's behavior, moreover,
was consistent with his principles; he banded
various men together, as if it were the function of
philosophy to insult those in power, to stir up the multitudes,
to overthrow the established order of things,
and to incite people to revolution. He was a son-in-law
of Thrasea and affected to emulate the latter's
conduct: his failure to do so was striking. Thrasea
lived in Nero's time and disliked the tyrant. Even so,
however, he never spoke or behaved toward him in any
insulting way: he merely refused to share in his practices.
But Helvidius had a grudge against Vespasian
and would not let him alone either in private or in
public. By what he did he invited death and for his
meddlesome interference he was destined ultimately to
pay the penalty.
14
This period saw also the demise of Vespasian's concubine,
Caenis. I have mentioned her because she was
exceedingly faithful and possessed naturally a most
excellent memory. For instance, her mistress Antonia,
the mother of Claudius, had had her write secretly
to Tiberius about Sejanus and later had ordered
the message erased, that no trace of the same might be
left. Thereupon she replied: "It is in vain, mistress,
that you have issued this command. All of this and
whatever else you dictate to me I always carry with me
in my soul and it can never be erased." This is one
thing I have admired about her and a second is that
Vespasian should have been so much pleased with her.
This fact gave her the greatest influence, and she collected
untold wealth, so that it was even thought that
she obtained money by her independent efforts. She
received vast sums from all sources and sold to some
persons offices, to others procuratorships, the command
of campaigns, priesthoods, and to some actually imperial
decisions. For Vespasian killed no one to get
his money and took care to preserve large numbers of
those who freely gave it. The person who secured the
funds was his concubine, but it was suspected that Vespasian
willingly allowed her to do as she did; and this
belief was strengthened by his other acts, a few of
which, for the sake of illustration, I shall relate. When
certain persons voted to erect to him a statue costing
twenty-five myriads, he stretched out his hand and
said: "Give me the money; this
[
]
will serve as its
pedestal."--And to Titus, who was angry at the tax
on urinating
[
]
,
which was appointed along with the rest,
he replied, as he picked up some gold pieces that were
the product of it: "See, my child, if they smell at all."
A.D. 75 (a.u. 828)
15
In the sixth year of Vespasian as magistrate and
the fourth of Titus the precinct of Peace was dedicated
and the so-called Colossus was set up on the Sacred
Way. It is said to have been one hundred feet high,
and to have had--according to one account--the
figure of Nero, according to others that of Titus. Vespasian
would often have beasts slain in the theatres.
He did not particularly enjoy gladiatorial combats of
men, although Titus during the youthful sports which
were celebrated in his own land had once had a sham
fight in heavy armor with Alienus. The Parthians, who
fell into a war with some peoples, asked for an alliance
with him, but he did not go to their aid, saying that it
was not proper for him to interfere in other persons'
business.
Berenice was at the height of her power and consequently
came to Rome along with her brother
Agrippa.
[
]
The latter was accorded pretorial honors,
while she dwelt in the Palace and cohabited with Titus.
She expected to be married to him and behaved in all
respects as if his wife. But when he perceived that the
Romans were displeased at the situation he sent her
away; for various reports were in circulation. At this
time, too, certain sophists of the cynic school managed
somehow to slip into the city: first, Diogenes entered
the theatre when it was full of men and denounced
them in a long, abusive speech, for which he was
flogged; after him Heras, who showed no greater disposition
to be obedient, gave vent to many senseless
bawlings in the true cynic (dog-like) manner,--and
for this behavior was beheaded.
A.D. 79 (a.u. 832)
16
About the same period that these events took place
it happened that at a certain inn such a quantity of
overflowed the vessels that it ran out into the
street. Moreover, Sabinus the Gaul, already mentioned,
the person who had once named himself Caesar, had
later taken up arms, had been defeated and had hidden
himself in the monument, was discovered
[
]
and brought
to Rome. With him perished also his wife Peponila,
who had previously saved his life. She had presented
her children before Vespasian and had delivered a most
pitiful speech in their behalf: "These little ones,
Caesar, I both brought forth and reared in the monument,
that we might be a greater number to supplicate
you." She caused both him and the rest to weep; no
mercy, however, was shown to the family.
Meantime the emperor was also the object of a conspiracy
on the part of Alienus and Marcellus, although
he considered them among his best friends and bestowed
honors upon them quite unstintedly. They did
not succeed in killing him, though. Upon their being detected,
Alienus was slain at once, in the imperial residence
itself, as he rose from a meal with his intended
victim. Titus issued this order to prevent his carrying
his rebellion any further during the night; Alienus
had already made arrangements with not a few of the
soldiers. Marcellus was brought to trial before the
senate and was condemned, whereupon he cut his own
throat with a razor. Not even benefits, it may be remarked,
can subdue those who are naturally vicious, as
is shown by the plotting of these men against him who
had done them so many kindnesses.
17
It was after the episode just narrated that Vespasian
fell sick, not, if the truth be known, of his ordinary
gout but of fever and passed away at Aquae Cutiliae,
[
]
so-called, in Sabine territory. Some, who endeavor
falsely to incriminate Titus (among them the emperor
Hadrian) have spread a report that he was poisoned at
a banquet. Portents had occurred in his career indicating
his approaching end, such as the comet star
which was seen for a considerable period and the opening
of the monument of Augustus of its own accord.
When the sick man's physician chided him for continuing
his usual course of living and attending to all
the duties that belonged to his office, he answered:
"The emperor ought to die on his feet." To those who
said anything to him about the comet he responded:
"This is an omen not for me but for the Parthian king.
He has flowing hair like the comet, whereas I am baldheaded."
When he at length came to the belief that
he was to die, he said only: "Now I shall become a
god." He had lived to the age of sixty-nine years and
eight months. His reign lasted ten years lacking six
days. Accordingly, it results that from the death of
Nero to Vespasian's becoming emperor a year and
twenty-two days elapsed. I have recorded this fact to
prevent a misapprehension on the part of any persons
who might reckon the time with reference to the men
who were in power. They, however, did not legitimately
succeed one another, but each of them while his
rival was alive and still ruling believed himself to be
emperor from the moment that the thought first entered
his head. One must not enumerate all the days
of their reigns as if those days had followed one after
another in orderly succession, but make a single sweeping
calculation with the exact time, as I have stated it,
in mind.
18
At his death Titus succeeded to the imperial power.
Titus as a ruler committed no act of murder or passion,
but showed himself upright, though the victim
of plots, and self-controlled, though Berenice came to
Rome again. Perhaps this was because he had undergone
a change. (To share a reign with somebody else
is a very different thing from being one's self an independent
ruler. In the former case persons are heedless
of the good name of the sovereignty and enjoy
greedily the authority it gives them, thus doing many
things that make their position the object of envy and
slander. Actual monarchs, on the other hand, knowing
that everything depends on their decision, have some
eye to good repute as well as to other matters. So
Titus said to somebody whose society he had previously
affected: "It is not the same thing to desire something
from another as to decide a case yourself, nor
to ask something from another as it is to give it to some
one yourself.") Perhaps his satisfactory conduct was
also due to his surviving so short a time compared with
most rulers, for he was thus given little opportunity
for wrongdoing. For he lived after this only two
years, two months and twenty days in addition to his
thirty-nine years, five months and twenty-five days.
People compare this feature of Titus's career with the
fullness of years of Augustus, and say that the latter
would never have won affection if he had lived a
shorter time, nor the former, if he had lived longer.
Augustus, though at the outset he had shown himself
rather harsh because of the wars and the political factions,
was able later in the course of time to become
distinguished for his kindnesses: Titus ruled with
forbearance and died at the summit of his glory,
whereas if he had enjoyed a longer life, it might have
been proved that he owes his present fame more to
good fortune than to virtue.
19
It is worth noting that Titus during his reign put no
senator to death, nor was any one else slain by him all
the time that he was emperor. Cases involving maiestas
he would never entertain himself nor allow
others to entertain, for he said: "It is impossible for
me to be insulted or outraged in any way. I do naught
that deserves censure and I care not for what is falsely
reported. As for the emperors that are dead and
gone, they will avenge themselves in case any one does
them wrong, if in very truth they be heroes and possess
some power."--He also made various arrangements
to render men more secure and free from
trouble. One of these was the posting of a notice confirming
all gifts bestowed upon any person by the former
emperors. This also enabled him to avoid the
nuisance of having people petition him individually
about the matter.--Informers he banished from the
city.
In money matters he was frugal and sanctioned no unnecessary expenditure,
yet he did not punish any one for opposite tendencies.
In his reign also the False Nero appeared, who was an Asiatic and
called himself Terentius Maximus. He resembled Nero in form and
voice: he even sang to the zither's accompaniment. He gained a few
followers in Asia and in his onward progress to the Euphrates he
secured a far greater number and at length sought a retreat with
Artabanus, the Parthian chief, who, out of the anger that he felt toward
Titus, both received the pretender and set about preparations for
restoring him to Rome. (Compare John of Antioch, frag. 104 Mueller).
20
Meantime war had again broken out in Britain, and
Gnaeus Julius Agricola overran the whole of the hostile
region. He was the first of the Romans whom we
know to discover that Britain was surrounded by water.
Some soldiers had rebelled and after killing centurions
and a military tribune had taken refuge in boats. In
these they put out to sea and sailed around to the western
portion of the country just as the billows and the
wind bore them. And without knowing it they came
around from the opposite side and stopped at the
camps on this side again. At that Agricola sent others
to try the voyage around Britain and learned from
them, too, that it was an island.
As a result of these events in Britain Titus received
the title of imperator for the fifteenth time. Agricola
for the rest of his life lived in dishonor and even in
want because he had accomplished greater things than
a mere general should. Finally he was murdered on
this account by Domitian, in spite of having received
triumphal honors from Titus.
21
In Campania remarkable and frightful occurrences
took place. A great fire was suddenly created just at
the end of autumn. It was this way. The mountain
Vesuvius stands over against Naples near the sea and
has unquenchable springs of fire. Once it was equally
high at all points and the fire rose from the center of
it. This is the only portion of it that is in a blaze, for
the outside parts of the mountain remain even now
unkindled. Consequently, as the latter are never
burned, while the interior is constantly growing brittle
and being reduced to ashes, the surrounding peaks retain
their original height to this day, but the whole section
that is on fire, as it is consumed in the course of
time, has grown hollow from continual collapse. Thus
the entire mountain, if we may compare great things
to small, resembles a hunting-theatre. The outlying
heights of it support both trees and vines,--many of
them,--but the crater is given over to fire and sends
up smoke by day, flame by night. It looks as if quantities
of incense of all sorts were being burned in it.
This goes on all the time, sometimes more, sometimes
less. Often it throws up ashes, when there is a general
settling in the interior, or again it sends up stones
when the air forces them out. It echoes and bellows,
too, because its vents are not all together but are narrow
and hidden.
22
Such is Vesuvius, and these phenomena regularly
occur there at least once a year. But all the other
happenings that took place in former time, though they
may have seemed great and unusual to those who on
each occasion observed them, nevertheless would be
reckoned as but slight in comparison with what now
occurred even though they should all be rolled into one.
This was what befell. Numbers of huge men quite surpassing
any human stature,--such creatures as giants
are depicted to be,--appeared now on the mountain,
now in the country surrounding it, and again in the
cities, wandering over the earth day and night and also
traversing the air. After this fearful droughts and
earthquakes sudden and violent occurred, so that all
the level ground in that region undulated and the
heights gave a great leap. Reverberations were frequent,
some subterranean resembling thunder and some
on the surface like bellowings. The sea joined the roar
and the sky resounded with it. Then suddenly a portentous
crash was heard, as if the mountains were
tumbling in ruins. And first there were belched forth
stones of huge size that rose to the very summits before
they fell; after them came a deal of fire and smoke in
inexhaustible quantities so that the whole atmosphere
was obscured and the whole sun was screened from
view as if in an eclipse.
23
Thus night succeeded day
and darkness light. Some thought the giants were
rising in revolt (for even at this time many of their
forms could be discerned in the smoke and moreover
a kind of sound of trumpets was heard), while others
believed that the whole world was disappearing in
chaos or fire. Therefore they fled, some from the
houses into the streets, others from without into the
house; in their confusion, indeed, they hastened from
the sea to the land or from the land to the sea, deeming
any place at a distance from where they were safer
than what was near by. While this was going on an
inconceivable amount of ashes was blown out and covered
the land and the sea everywhere and filled all the
air. It did harm of all sorts, as chance dictated, to
men and places and cattle, and the fish and the birds
it utterly destroyed. Moreover, it buried two whole
cities, Herculaneum and Pompeii, while the populace
was seated in the theatre. The entire amount of dust
was so great that some of it reached Africa and Syria
and Egypt, and it also entered Rome, where it occupied
all the air over the city and cast the sun into shadow.
There, too, no little fear was felt for several days, since
the people did not know and could not conjecture what
had happened. They like the rest thought that everything
was being turned upside down, that the sun was
disappearing in the earth and the earth was bounding
up to the sky. This ashes for the time being did
them no great harm: later it bred among them a terrible
pestilence.
A.D. 80 (a.u. 833)
24
Another fire, above ground, in the following year
spread over a very large portion of Rome while Titus
was absent on business connected with the catastrophe
that had befallen in Campania. It consumed the
temple of Serapis, the temple of Isis, the Saepta, the
temple of Neptune, the Baths of Agrippa, the Pantheon,
the Diribitorium, the theatre of Balbus, the
stage-building of Pompey's theatre, the Octavian
buildings together with their books, and the temple
of Capitoline Jupiter with its surrounding temples.
Hence the disaster seemed to be not of human but of
divine contrivance. Any one can estimate from the
list of buildings that I have given, how many more must
have been destroyed. Titus, accordingly, sent two exconsuls
to the Campanians to supervise the founding
of settlements and bestowed upon the inhabitants
money that came (besides various other sources) from
those citizens that had died without heirs. As for himself,
he took nothing from individual or city or king,
although many kept offering and promising him large
sums. In spite of this, he restored everything from
funds already at hand.
25
Most of his deeds had no unusual
quality to mark them, but in dedicating the hunting-theatre
and the baths that bear his name he produced
many remarkable spectacles. Cranes fought with
one another, and four elephants, as well as other grazing
animals and wild beasts, to the number of nine
thousand, were slaughtered, and women (not of any
prominence, however,) took part in despatching them.
Of men several fought in single combat and several
groups contended together in infantry and naval
battles. For Titus filled the above mentioned theatre
suddenly with water and introduced horses and bulls
and some other tractable creatures that had been
taught to behave in the liquid element precisely as upon
land. He introduced also human beings on boats.
These persons had a sea-fight there, impersonating
two parties, Corcyreans and Corinthians: others gave
the same performance outside in the grove of Gaius
and Lucius, a spot which Augustus had formerly excavated
for this very purpose. There, on the first day,
a gladiatorial combat and slaughter of beasts took
place; this was done by building a structure of planks
over the lake that faced the images and placing benches
round about it. On the second day there was a horse-race,
and on the third a naval battle involving three
thousand men. Afterwards there was also an infantry
battle. The Athenians conquered the Syracusans
(these were the names that were used in the naval
battle), made a landing on the islet, and having assaulted
a wall constructed around the monument took
it. These were the sights offered to spectators, and
they lasted for a hundred days.
Titus also contributed some things that were of
practical use to the people. He would throw down into
the theatre from aloft little wooden balls that had a
mark, one signifying something to eat, another clothing,
another a silver vessel, or perhaps a gold one, or
again horses, pack-animals, cattle, slaves. Those who
snatched them had to carry them back to the dispensers
of the bounty to secure the article of which the name
was inscribed.
A.D. 81 (a.u. 834)
26
When he had finished this exhibition, he wept so
bitterly on the last day that all the people saw him,
and after this time he performed no other great deed;
but the following year, in the consulship of Flavius
[
]
and Pollio,
[
]
subsequent to the dedication of the buildings
mentioned, he passed away at the same Aquae that
was the scene of his father's demise. The common
report had it that he was done to death by his brother,
for he had previously been the object of that person's
plot: but some writers state that a disease carried him
off. The tradition is that, while he was still breathing
and had a possible chance of recovery, Domitian, to
hasten his end, put him in a box packed with a quantity
of snow, pretending that the disease required a chill to be administered;
and, before his victim was dead, he rode off
to Rome, entered the camp, and received the title and
authority of emperor, having given the soldiers all that
his brother had been wont to give them. Titus, as he
expired, said: "I have made but one error." What
this was he did not reveal, and no one else feels quite
sure about it. Some have conjectured one thing and
some another. The prevailing impression, according
to one set of historians, is that he referred to keeping
his brother's wife, Domitia. Others (whom I am for
following) say what he meant was that, after finding
Domitian openly plotting against him, he had not killed
him, but had chosen rather himself to suffer that fate
at his rival's hands and to surrender the government
of Rome to a man whose nature will be portrayed in the
continuation of my narrative. Titus had ruled for two
years, two months, and twenty days, as has been previously
stated.
DURATION OF TIME
L. Fl. Silva Nonius Bassus, Asinius Pollio Verrucosus Cosa.
(A.D. 81 = a.u. 834 = First of Domitian, from Sept. 13th).
Domitianus Aug. (VIII), T. Flavius Sabinus.
(A.D. 82 =
a.u. 835 = Second of Domitian).
Domitianus Aug. (IX), Q. Petilius Rufus (II).
(A.D. 83 =
a.u. 836 = Third of Domitian).
Domitianus Aug. (X), T. Aurelius Sabinus.
(A.D. 84 =
a.u. 837 = Fourth of Domitian).
Domitianus Aug. (XI), T. Aurelius Fulvus.
(A.D. 85 =
a.u. 838 = Fifth of Domitian).
Domitianus Aug. (XII), Ser. Cornelius Dolabella.
(A.D. 88
= a.u. 839 = Sixth of Domitian).
Domitianus Aug. (XIII), A. Volusius Saturninus.
(A.D. 87
= a.u. 840 = Seventh of Domitian).
Domitianus Aug. (XIV), L. Minucius Rufus.
(A.D. 88 =
a.u. 841 = Eighth of Domitian).
T. Aurelius Fulvus (II), A. Sempronius Atratinus.
(A.D.
89 = a.u. 842 = Ninth of Domitian).
Domitianus Aug. (XV), M. Cocceius Nerva (II).
(A.D. 90
= a.u. 843 = Tenth of Domitian).
M. Ulpius Traianus, Manius Acilius Glabrio.
(A.D. 91 =
a.u. 844 = Eleventh of Domitian).
Domitianus Aug. (XVI), Q. Volusius Saturninus.
(A.D. 92 =
a.u. 845 = Twelfth of Domitian).
Sex. Pompeius Collega, Cornelius Priscus.
(A.D. 93 = a.u.
846 = Thirteenth of Domitian).
L. Nonius Asprenas, M. Arricinius Clemens.
(A.D. 94 = a.u.
847 = Fourteenth of Domitian).
Domitianus Aug. (XVII), T. Flavius Clemens.
(A.D. 95 =
a.u. 848 = Fifteenth of Domitian).
Manlius Valens, Antistius Vetus.
(A.D. 96 = a.u. 849 =
Sixteenth of Domitian, to Sept. 18th).
A.D. 81 (a.u. 834)
1
Domitian was both, bold and passionate, both treacherous
and given to dissembling. Hence, from these two
characteristics, rashness on the one hand and craftiness
on the other, he did much harm, falling upon some
persons with the swiftness of a thunderbolt and
damaging others by carefully prepared plots. The
divinity that he chiefly revered was Minerva, so that
he was wont to celebrate the Panathenaea on a magnificent
scale: on this occasion he had contests of poets
and chroniclers and gladiators almost every year at
Albanum. This district, situated below the Alban
Mount, from which it was named, he had set apart as a
kind of acropolis. He had no genuine affection for any
human being save a few women, but he always pretended
to love the person whom at any time he was
most determined to slay. He could not be relied upon
even by those who did him some favor or helped him
in his most revolting crimes, for whenever any persons
furnished him with large sums of money or lodged information
against numbers of men, he was sure to destroy
these benefactors, being especially careful to do
so in the case of slaves who had given information
against their masters.
[Accordingly, such individuals,
though, they received money and honors and offices all
at once from him, lived in no greater honor and security
than other men. The very offences to which they had
A.D. 82 (a.u. 835)
been urged by Domitian commonly were made pretexts
for their destruction, the emperor's object being to
have the actual perpetrators appear solely responsible
for their wrongdoing. It was the same intention
which led him once to issue a public notice to the effect
that, when an emperor does not punish informers he
is the cause of the existence of such a class.]
2
Though this was his behavior to all throughout the
course of his reign, still he quite outdid himself in dealing
dishonor and ruin to his father's and brother's
friends.
[To be sure, he himself posted a notice that
he would ratify all the gifts made to any persons by
them and by other emperors. But this was mere
show.]
He hated them because they did not supply all
his demands, many of which were unreasonable, as also
because they had been held in some honor.
[Whatever
had enjoyed their affection and the benefit of their
influence beyond the ordinary he regarded as hostile
to him.]
Therefore, although he himself had a passion
for a eunuch named Earinus, nevertheless, because
Titus had also shown great liking for castrated persons,
he carried his desire to cast reflections on his brother's
character to the extent of forbidding any one thereafter
in the Roman empire to be castrated. In general, he
was accustomed to say that those emperors who failed
to punish large numbers of men were not good, but
merely fortunate.
[Personally, he paid no attention to
those who praised Titus for not causing a single senator's
death, nor did he care that the senate frequently
saw fit to pass decrees that the emperor should not be
permitted to put to death any of his peers. The emperor,
as he believed, was far and away superior to
them and might put any one of them out of the way
either on his own responsibility or with the consent of
the rest; it was ridiculous to suppose that they could
offer any opposition or refuse to condemn a man. Some
would praise Titus, only not in Domitian's hearing;
for such effrontery would be deemed as grave an
offence as if they were to revile the emperor in his
presence and within hearing: but
[Lacuna]
[
]
because he understood that they were doing this secretly
[Lacuna]
Then there was another thing]
that resembled
play-acting. Domitian pretended that he too
loved his brother and mourned him. He read, with
tears, the eulogies upon him
[and hastened to have him
enrolled among the heroes]
, pretending just the opposite
of what he really wished. (Indeed, he abolished the
horse-race on Titus's birthday). People in general
were not safe whether they sympathized with his indignation
or with his joy. In one case they
[
]
were sure to
offend his feelings and in the other to let their lack of
genuineness appear.
A.D. 83 (a.u. 836)
3
His wife, Domitia, he planned to put to death on the
ground of adultery, but, having been dissuaded by
Ursus, he sent her away and midway on the road
murdered Paris, the dancer, because of her. And
many people paid honor to that spot with flowers
A.D. 83 (a.u. 836)
and perfumes, he gave orders that they, too, should
be slain. After this he took into his house, quite undisguisedly,
his own niece,--Julia, that is to say.
[Then on petition of the people he became reconciled,
to be sure, with Domitia, but continued none the less
his relations with Julia.]
He was removing many of the foremost men on
many pretexts and by means of murders and banishments.
[He also conveyed many to some out-of-the-way
place, where he got rid of them; and not a few he caused
to die in some way or other by their own acts that they
might seem to have suffered death by their own wish
and not through outside force.]
He did not spare even
the vestal virgins, but punished them on charges of
their having had intercourse with men. It is further
reported that since their examination was conducted in
a harsh and unfeeling manner, and many of them were
accused and constantly being punished, one of the pontifices,
Helvius Agrippa, could not endure it, but,
horror-stricken, expired there in the senate where he
sat.
[Domitian also took pride in the fact that he did
not bury alive, as was the custom, the virgins he found
guilty of debauchery, but ordered them to be killed by
some different way.]
After this he set out for Gaul and plundered some of the tribes
across the Rhine enjoying treaty rights,--a performance which filled
him with conceit as if he had achieved some great success. Presumably
on account of the victory he increased the soldiers' wages, so that
whereas each had been receiving seventy-five denarii he commanded that
a hundred be given them. Later he thought better of it, but instead of
diminishing the amount he curtailed the number of men-at-arms. Both
of these steps entailed great injury to the public weal: he had made
the defenders of the State too few, while rendering their support an item
of great expense.
A.D. 84 (a.u. 837)
4
Next he made a campaign into Germany and returned
without having seen a trace of war anywhere.
And what need is there of mentioning the honors bestowed
upon him at this juncture for his exploit or
from time to time upon the other emperors who were
like him? For the object in any case was simply not to
arouse the rage of those despots by letting them suspect,
in consequence of the small number and insignificance
of the rewards, that the people saw through
them. Yet Domitian had this worst quality of all,
that he desired to be flattered, and was equally displeased
with both sorts of men, those who paid court to
him and those who did not. He disliked the former
because their attitude seemed one of cajolery and the
latter because it seemed one of contempt. Notwithstanding
[he affected to take pleasure in the honorary
decrees voted him by the senate. Ursus he came near
killing because he was not pleased with his sovereign's
exploits, and then, at the request of Julia, he appointed
him consul.]
Subsequently, being still more puffed up
by his folly, he was elected consul for ten years in succession,
and first and only censor for life of all private
citizens and emperors: and he obtained the right to
employ twenty-four lictors and the triumphal garb
whenever he entered the senate-house. He gave
October a new name, Domitianum, because he had been
born in that month. Among the charioteers he instituted
two more parties, calling one the Golden and the
other the Purple. To the spectators he gave many objects
by means of balls thrown among them; and once
he gave them a banquet while they remained in their
seats and at night provided for them wine that flowed
out in several different places. All this caused pleasure
seemingly to the populace, but was a source of ruin to
the powerful. For, as he had no resources for his expenditures,
he murdered numbers of men, bringing
some of them before the senate and accusing others in
their absence. Lastly, he put some out of the way by
concocting a plot and administering to them secret
drugs.
5
Many of the peoples tributary to the Romans revolted when contributions
of money were forcibly extorted from them. The Nasamones are
an instance in point. They massacred all the collectors of the money
and so thoroughly defeated Flaccus,
[
]
governor of Numidia, who attacked
them, that they were able to plunder his camp. Having gorged themselves
on the provisions and the wine that they found there they fell
into a slumber, and Flaccus becoming aware of this fact assailed and
annihilated them all and destroyed the non-combatants. Domitian experienced
a thrill of delight at the news and remarked to the senate:
"Well, I have put a ban on the existence of the Nasamones."
Even as early as this he was insisting upon being regarded as a god
and took a huge pleasure in being called "master" and "god." These
titles were used not merely orally but also in documents.
A.D. 86 (a.u. 839)
6
The greatest war that the Romans had on their
hands at this time was one against the Dacians. Decebalus
was now king of the latter
[since Douras, to
whom the sovereignty belonged, had voluntarily withdrawn
from it in favor of Decebalus, because]
. He
had a good comprehension of the rules of warfare and
was good at putting them in practice, displayed sagacity
in advancing, took the right moment for retreating,
was an expert in ambuscades, a professional warrior,
knew how to make good use of a victory and
to turn a defeat to advantage. Hence he showed himself
for a long time a worthy antagonist of the Romans.
I call the people Dacians, just as they name themselves
and as the Romans do; but I am not ignorant
that some of the Greeks refer to them as Getae, whether
that is the right term or not. I myself know Getae that
live along the Ister, beyond the Haemus range.
Domitian made an expedition against them, to be
sure but did not enter into real conflict.
[Instead, he
remained in a city of Moesia, rioting, as was his wont.]
(Not only was he averse to physical labor and timorous
in spirit, but also most profligate and lewd toward
women and boys alike). But he sent others to officer
the war and for the most part he got the worst of it.
A.D. 87(?)
Decebalus, king of the Dacians, carried on negotiations with Domitian,
promising him peace. Domitian sent against him Fuscus
[
]
with a large
force. On learning of it Decebalus sent an embassy to him anew, sarcastically
proposing to make peace with the emperor in case each of
the Romans should choose to pay two asses as tribute to Decebalus each
year; if they should not choose to do so, he affirmed that he should
make war and afflict them with great ills.
A.D. 90 (a.u. 843)
7
Meantime he conceived a wish to take measures
against the Quadi and the Marcomani because they had
not assisted him against the Dacians. So he entered
Pannonia to make war upon them, and the second set
of envoys that they sent in regard to peace he killed.
8
The same man laid the blame for his defeat, however,
upon his commanders. All the superior plans he
claimed for himself, though he executed none of them,
but for the inferior management he blamed others, even
though it was through his orders that some accident
had taken place. Those who succeeded incurred his
hatred and those who failed his censure.
Domitian, being defeated by the Marcomani, took
to flight and by hastily sending messages to Decebalus,
king of the Dacians, induced him to make a truce with
him. The monarch's frequent previous requests had
always met with refusal. Decebalus now accepted the
arrangement, for he was indeed hard pressed, yet he
did not wish personally to hold a conference with Domitian,
but sent Diegis with other men to give him the
arms and a few captives, whom he pretended were the
only ones he had. When this had been accomplished,
Domitian set a diadem on the head of Diegis, just as if
he had in very truth conquered and could make some
one king over the Dacians. To the soldiers he granted
honors and money. Like a victor, again, he sent on
ahead to Rome, besides many other things, envoys from
Decebalus, and something which he affirmed was a
letter of his, though rumor declared it had been forged.
He graced the festival that followed with many articles
pertaining to a triumph, though they did not belong to
any booty he had taken;--quite the reverse: and besides
allowing the truce he made an outlay of a great
deal of money immediately and also presented to Decebalus
artisans of every imaginable profession, peaceful
and warlike, and promised that he would give him
a great deal more. These exhibits came from the
imperial furniture which he at all times treated as
captive goods, because he had enslaved the empire
itself.
A.D. 91 (a.u. 844)
So many rewards were voted him that almost the
whole world (so far as under his dominion) was filled
with his images and statues of both silver and gold.
He also gave an extremely costly spectacle in regard
to which we have noted nothing that was striking for
historical record, save that virgins contended in the
foot-race. After this, in the course of holding what
seem to have been triumphal celebrations, he arranged
numerous contests. First of all, in the hippodrome he
had battles of infantry against infantry, and again
battles of cavalry, and next he gave a naval battle in
a new place. And there perished in it practically all
the naval combatants and numbers of the spectators.
A great rain and violent storm had suddenly come up,
yet he allowed no one to leave the spectacle; indeed,
though he himself changed his clothing to a thick
woolen cloak, he would not permit the people to alter
their attire. As a result, not a few fell sick and died.
By way of consoling them for this, he provided them
at public expense a dinner lasting all night. Often,
too, he would conduct games at night, and sometimes he
would pit dwarfs
[
]
and women against each other.
9
So at this time he feasted the populace as described,
but on another occasion he entertained the foremost
men of the senate and the knights in the following
fashion. He prepared a room that was pitch black on
every side, ceiling, walls and floor, and had ready bare
couches, all alike, resting on the uncovered ground;
then he invited in his guests alone, at night, without
their attendants. And first he set beside each of them a
slab shaped like a gravestone, bearing a person's name
and also a small lamp, such as hangs in tombs. Next
well-shaped, naked boys, likewise painted black, entered
after the manner of phantoms, and, after passing
around the guests in a kind of terrifying dance, took
up their stations at their feet. After that, whatever is
commonly dedicated in the course of offerings to departed
spirits was set before them also, all black, and
in dishes of a similar hue. Consequently, every single
one of the guests feared and trembled and every moment
felt certain that he was to be slain, especially
as on the part of everybody save Domitian there was
dead silence, as if they were already in the realms of
the dead, and the emperor himself limited his conversation
to matters pertaining to death and slaughter.
Finally he dismissed them. But he had previously removed
their servants, who stood at the doorway, and
gave them in charge of other, unknown slaves, to convey
either to carriages or litters, and by this act he
filled them with far greater fear. Scarcely had each
one reached home and was beginning to a certain extent
to recover his spirits, when a message was brought
him that some one was there from the Augustus.
While they were expecting, as a result of this, that now
at last they should surely perish, one person brought
in the slab, which was of silver, then another something
else, and another one of the dishes set before
them at the dinner, which proved to be made of some
costly material. Finally came
[
]
that particular boy who
had been each one's familiar spirit, now washed and
decked out. Thus, while in terror all night long, they
received their gifts.
Such was the triumph or, as the crowd said, such was
the expiatory service that Domitian celebrated for
those who had died in Dacia and in Rome. Even at
this time, too, he killed off some of the foremost men.
And he took away the property of whoever buried
the body of any one of them, because the victim had
died on ground belonging to the sovereign.
10
Here are some more events worth recording, that
took place in the Dacian War. Julianus, assigned by
the emperor to take charge of the war, made many excellent
regulations, one being his command that the
soldiers should inscribe their own names and those of
the centurions upon their shields, in order that those
of them who committed any particular good or bad
action might be more readily observed by him. Encountering
the enemy at Tapai,
[
]
he killed a very great
number of them. Among them Vezinas, who ranked
next to Decebalus, since he could not get away alive,
fell down purposely as if dead. In this way he escaped
notice and fled during the night. Decebalus, fearing
that the Romans now they had conquered would proceed
against his residence, cut down the trees that
were on the site and attached weapons to the trunks,
to the end that his foes might think them soldiers, and
so be frightened and withdraw. This actually took
place.
Chariomerus, king of the Cherusci, had been driven
out of his kingdom by the Chatti on account of his
friendship for the Romans. At first he gathered some
companions and was successful in his attempt to return.
Later he was deserted by these men for having sent
hostages to the Romans and so became the suppliant of
Domitian. He was not accorded an alliance but received
money.
11
Antonius, a certain commander of this period in
Germany, revolted against Domitian: him Lucius Maximus
overcame and overthrew. For his victory he
does not deserve any remarkable praise;
[for many
others have unexpectedly won victories, and his soldiers
contributed largely to his success:]
but for his
burning all the documents that were found in the chests
of Antonius, thus esteeming his own safety as of slight
importance in comparison with having no blackmail
result from them, I do not see how I may celebrate his
memory as it deserves. But Domitian, as he had got a
pretext from that source, proceeded to a series of
slaughters even without the documents, and no one
could well say how many he killed.
[Indeed, he condemned
himself so for this act that, to prevent any
remembrance of the dead surviving, he prohibited the
inscribing of their names in the records. Furthermore,
he did not even make any communication to the senate
regarding those put out of the way, although he sent
their heads as well as that of Antonius to Rome and exposed
them in the Forum.]
But one young man, Julius
Calvaster, who had served as military tribune in the
hope of getting into the senate, was saved in a most unexpected
fashion. Inasmuch as it was being proved
that he had frequent meetings with Antonius alone and
he had no other way to free himself from the charge
of conspiracy, he declared that he had met him for
amorous intercourse. The fact that he was of an appearance
to inspire passion lent color to his statement.
In this way he was acquitted.
After just one more remark about the events of that
time, I will cease. Lusianus Proculus, an aged senator,
who spent most of his time in the country, had come
out with Domitian from Borne under compulsion so as
to avoid the appearance of deserting him when in
danger and the death that might very likely be the result
of such conduct. When the news came, he said:
"You have conquered, emperor, as I ever prayed.
Therefore, restore me to the country." Thereupon he
left him without more ado and retired to his farm.
And after this, although he survived for a long time,
he never came near him.
During this period some had become accustomed to
smear needles with poison and then to prick with them
whomsoever they would. Many persons thus attacked
died without even knowing the cause, and many of the
murderers were informed against and punished. And
this went on not only in Rome but over practically the
entire civilized world.
12
To Ulpius Trajan and to Acilius Glabrio, who were
consuls then, the same signs are said to have appeared.
They foretold to Glabrio destruction, but to Trajan the
imperial office.
[Numerous wealthy men and women
both were punished for adultery, and some of the women
had been debauched by
him
. Many more were
fined or executed on other charges.]
A woman was
tried and lost her life because she had stripped in
front of an image of Domitian
[and another for having
had dealings with astrologers]
. Among the many who
perished at this time was also Mettius Pompusianus,
whom Vespasian had refused to harm in any way after
learning from some report that he would one day be
sole ruler, but
[
]
rather honored, saying: "You will
certainly remember me and will certainly honor me in
return." But Domitian first exiled him to Corsica and
later put him to death, one of the complaints being that
he had the inhabited world painted on the walls of his
bedchamber and another that he had excerpted and was
wont to read the speeches of kings and other eminent
men that are written in Livy. Also Maternus, a sophist,
met his death because in a practice speech
[
]
he had said something against tyrants. The emperor himself
used to visit both those who were to accuse and those
who were to give evidence for condemnation, and he
would frame and compose everything that required to
be said. Often, too, he would talk to the prisoners
alone, keeping tight hold of their chains with his hands.
In the former case he would not entrust to others what
was to be said, and in the latter he feared the men even
in their bonds.
In Moesia,
[
]
the Lygians, who had been at war with
some of the Suebi, sent envoys, asking Domitian for
an alliance. They obtained one that was strong, not
in numbers, but in dignity: in other words, they were
granted only a hundred knights. The Suebi, indignant
at this, added to their contingent the Iazygae and began
to prepare well in advance to cross the Ister.
Masyus, king of the Semnones, and Ganna, a virgin
(she was priestess in Celtica after Veleda), came to
Domitian and having been honored by him returned.
A.D. 93 (a.u. 846)
13
As censor, likewise, his behavior was noteworthy. He
expelled Caecilius Rufinus from the senate because he
danced, and restored Claudius Pacatus, though an ex-centurion,
to his master because he was proved to be
a slave. What came after, to be sure, can not be described
in similar terms,--his deeds, that is to say, as
emperor.
Then
he killed Arulenus Rusticus for being
a philosopher and for calling Thrasea sacred, and Herennius
Senecio because in his long career he had stood
for no office after the quaestorship and because he had
compiled the life of Helvidius Priscus. Many others
also perished as a result of this same charge of philosophizing,
and all remaining members of that profession
were again driven from Rome. One Juventius
Celsus, however, who had been conspicuous in conspiring
with certain persons against Domitian and had
been accused of it, saved his life in a remarkable way.
When he was on the point of being condemned, he
begged that he might speak a few words with the emperor
in private. Having gained the opportunity he
did obeisance before him and after repeatedly calling
him "master," and "god" (terms that were already
being applied to him by others), he said: "I have done
nothing of the sort. And if I obtain a respite, I will
pry into everything and both inform against and convict
many persons for you." He was released on these
conditions, but did not report any one; instead, by advancing
different excuses at different times, he lived
until Domitian was killed.
A.D. 95 (a.u. 848)
14
During this period the road leading from Sinuessa
to Puteoli was paved with stones. And the same year
Domitian slew among many others Flavius Clemens
the consul, though he was a cousin and had to wife
Flavia Domitilla, who was also a relative of the emperor's.
[
]
The complaint brought against them both
was that of atheism, under which many others who
drifted into Jewish ways were condemned. Some of
these were killed and the remainder were at least deprived
of their property. Domitilla was merely banished
to Pandateria; but Glabrio, colleague of Trajan
in the consulship, after being accused on various regular
stock charges, and also of fighting with wild beasts,
suffered death. This ability in the arena was the chief
cause of the emperor's anger against him,--an anger
prompted by jealousy. In the victim's consulship
Domitian had summoned him to Albanum to attend the
so-called Juvenalia and had imposed on him the task
of killing a large lion. Glabrio not only had escaped all
injury but had despatched the creature with most
accurate aim.
As a consequence of his cruelty the emperor was
suspicious of all mankind and ceased now to put hopes
of safety in either the freedmen or the prefects, whom
he usually caused to be tried during their very term
of office. Moreover, Epaphroditus, who belonged to
Nero, he first drove out and then slew, censuring him
for not having defended Nero; his object was by the
vengeance that he took in this person's case to terrify
his own freedmen long enough in advance to prevent
their ever attempting a similar deed.
A.D. 96 (a.u. 849)
It did him no good, however, for he became the object of a conspiracy
in the following year and perished in the consulship of
Gaius
[
]
Valens (who died after holding the consular
office in his ninetieth year) and of Gaius Antistius.
15
Those who attacked him and prepared the undertaking
were Parthenius his cubicularius (though he was the
recipient of such marks of imperial favor as to be
allowed to wear a sword) and Sigerus,
[
]
who was also
a member of the excubiae, as well as Entellus, the person
entrusted with the care of the state documents, and
Stephanus, a freedman. The plot was not unknown to
Domitia, the emperor's wife, nor to the prefect Norbanus,
nor to the latter's partner in office, Petronius
Secundus: at least, this is the tradition. Domitia was
ever an object of the imperial hatred and consequently
stood in terror of her life; the rest no longer loved their
sovereign, some of them because complaints had been
lodged against them and others because they were expecting
them to be lodged. For my part, I have heard
also the following account,--that Domitian, having
become suspicious of all these persons, conceived a
desire to kill them, and wrote their names on a two-leaved
tablet of linden wood, and put it under his
pillow on the couch where he was wont to repose; and
one of the naked prattling
[
]
boys, while the emperor was
asleep in the daytime, filched it away and kept it without
knowing what it contained. Domitia then chanced
upon it and reading what was written gave information
of the matter to those involved. As a result,
they changed their plans somewhat and hastened the
plot; yet they did not proceed to action until they had
determined who was to succeed to the office. Having
conversed with various persons, when they found that
no one would accept it (everybody was afraid of them,
thinking that they were simply testing people's loyalty)
they betook themselves to Nerva. He was of
most noble birth and most suitable character and had,
besides, encountered danger through being slandered
by astrologers
[who declared that he should be sovereign.]
Thus they the more easily persuaded him to
be the next to receive the power. In truth, Domitian,
who conducted an investigation of the days and the
hours when the foremost men had been born, had consequently
ere this despatched not a few even of those
who entertained no hopes of gaining any power.
[
]
And
he would have slain Nerva, had not one of the astrologers
who favored the latter declared that he would die
within a few days.
[Believing that this would really
prove true, he did not desire to be guilty of this additional
murder, inasmuch as Nerva in any event was
to meet death so very soon.]
16
Since no occurrence of such magnitude is without
previous indications, various unfavorable tokens appeared
in his case, too. In a vision he himself beheld
Rusticus approaching him with a sword; and he
thought that Minerva, whose statue he kept in his bedchamber,
had thrown away her weapons and, mounted
upon a chariot drawn by black horses, was being swallowed
up in an abyss. But the feature which of all
claims our wonder is connected with the name of Larginus
Proculus. He had publicly foretold in Germany
that the emperor should die on the day when he actually
did die, and was, therefore, sent on to Rome by the
governor. Brought before Domitian he declared once
more that this should be so. A death sentence was
postponed in order that he might be put to death after
the emperor had escaped the danger. Meanwhile
Domitian was slain, his life was saved, and he received
a hundred thousand denarii from Nerva. Some one
else had on a previous occasion told the ruler both
when and how he should perish, and then being asked
what manner of death he, the prophet, should meet, he
answered that he would be despatched by dogs. Thereupon
command was given that the fellow should be
burned alive, and the fire was applied to him. But
just then there was a great downpour of rain, the pyre
was extinguished, and later dogs found him lying upon
it with his hands bound behind him and tore him to
pieces.
17
I have one more astonishing fact to record, which I
shall touch on after I have given the account of Domitian's
end. As soon as he rose to leave the courthouse
and was ready to take his afternoon nap, as was
his custom, first Parthenius took the blade out of the
sword, which always lay under his pillow, so that he
should not have the use of that. Next he sent in
Stephanus, who was stronger then the rest. The latter
smote Domitian, and though it was not an opportune
blow the emperor was knocked to the ground, where
he lay. Then, fearing an escape, Parthenius leaped in,
or, as some believe, he sent in Maximus, a freedman.
Thus both Domitian was murdered, and Stephanus
perished likewise in a rush that those who had not
shared in the conspiracy made upon him.
18
The matter of which I spoke, saying that it surprises
me more than anything else, is this. A certain Apollonius
of Tyana on the very day and at that very hour
when Domitian was being murdered (this was later
confirmed by other events that happened in both
places) climbed a lofty stone at Ephesus (or possibly
some other town) and having gathered the populace,
uttered these words: "Bravo, Stephanus! Good,
Stephanus! Smite the wretch! You have struck, you
have wounded, you have killed him!!" This is what
really took place, though there should be ten thousand
doubters. Domitian had lived forty-four years, ten
months, and twenty-six days. His reign had lasted
fifteen years and five days. His body was stolen away
and buried by his nurse, Phyllis.
DURATION OF TIME
C. Manlius Valens, C. Antistius Vetus.
(A.D. 96 = a.u.
849 = First of Nerva, from Sept. 18th).
Nerva Caes. Aug. (III), L. Verginius Rufus (III).
(A.D.
97 = a.u. 850 = Second of Nerva).
Nerva Caes. Aug. (IV), Nerva Traianus Caes. (II).
(A.D.
98 = a.u. 851 = Third of Nerva, to January 27th).
C. Sosius Senecio (II), A. Cornelius Palma.
(A.D. 99 = a.u.
852 = Second of Trajan).
Nerva Traianus Aug. (III), Sex. Iul. Frontinus (III).
(A.D.
100 = a.u. 853 = Third of Trajan).
Nerva Traianus Aug. (IV), Sex. Articuleius Paetus.
(A.D.
101 = a.u. 854 = Fourth of Trajan).
C. Sosius Senecio (III), L. Licinius Sura (II).
(A.D. 102 =
a.u. 855 = Fifth of Trajan).
Nerva Traianus Aug. (V), Q. Messius Maximus (II).
(A.D.
103 = a.u. 856 = Sixth of Trajan).
Suburanus (II), P. Neratius Marcellus.
(A.D. 104 = a.u.
857 = Seventh of Trajan).
Ti. Iulius Candidus (II), A. Iulius Quadratus (II).
(A.D.
105 = a.u. 858 = Eighth of Trajan).
L. Ceionius Commodus Verus, L. Cerealis.
(A.D. 106 = a.u.
859 = Ninth of Trajan).
C. Sosius Senecio (IV), L. Licinius Sura (III).
(A.D. 107 =
a.u. 860 = Tenth of Trajan).
Ap. Trebonius Gallus, M. Atilius Bradua.
(A.D. 108 = a.u.
861 = Eleventh of Trajan).
A. Cornelius Palma (II), C. Calvisius Tullus (II).
(A.D.
109 = a.u. 862 = Twelfth of Trajan).
Clodius Priscinus, Solenus Orfitus.
(A.D. 110 = a.u. 863 =
Thirteenth of Trajan).
C. Calpurnius Piso, M. Vettius Bolanus.
(A.D. 111 = a.u.
864 = Fourteenth of Trajan).
Nerva Traianus Aug. (VI), C. Iulius Africanus.
(A.D. 112 = a.u. 865=Fifteenth of Trajan).
L. Celsus (II), Clodius Crispinus.
(A.D. 113 = a.u. 866=Sixteenth
of Trajan).
Q. Ninnius Hasta, P. Manilius Vopiscus.
(A.D. 114 = a.u. 867=Seventeenth of Trajan).
L. Vipsanius Messala, M. Pedo Virgilianus.
(A.D. 115 = a.u. 868=Eighteenth of Trajan).
L. Aelius Lamia, Aelianus Vetus.
(A.D. 116 = a.u. 869=Nineteenth
of Trajan).
Quinctius Niger, C. Vipsanius Apronianus.
(A.D. 117 = a.u. 870=Twentieth of Trajan, to Aug. 11th).
A.D. 96 (a.u. 849)
1
After Domitian, the Romans appointed Nerva Cocceius
emperor. The hatred felt for Domitian caused
his images, many of which were of silver and many of
gold to be melted down; and from this source large
amounts of money were obtained. The arches, too,
of which more had been erected to the late emperor
than previously to any one man, were torn down.
Nerva also released such as were on trial for maiestas
and restored the exiles. All the slaves and freedmen
that had conspired against their masters he put to
death, and allowed that class of persons to lodge no
complaint whatever against their masters. Others
were not permitted to accuse anybody for maiestas or
for "Jewish living." Many who had been sycophants
were condemned to death, among whom was Seras
[Lacuna]
[
]
the philosopher. Now, as a quite extraordinary
disturbance arose from the fact that everybody
was accusing everybody else, Fronto, the consul, is said
to have remarked that it was bad to have an emperor
under whom no one could do anything, but worse to
have one under whom any one could do everything.
Nerva, on hearing this, prohibited the future recurrence
of such scenes. But Nerva, as a result of old
age and sickness (which was always making him vomit
his food), was rather weak.
2
He also forbade gold statues being made in his
honor. He paid back to such as under Domitian had
been causelessly deprived of their property all that
was still found in the imperial treasury. To the very
poor Romans he granted allotments of land worth in
the aggregate fifteen hundred myriads, and put certain
senators in charge of their purchase and distribution.
When he ran short of funds he sold many robes and
plate, both silver and gold, besides furniture, both his
own and what belonged to the imperial residence, many
fields and houses,--in fact, everything save what was
quite necessary. He did not, however, haggle over the
prices of them, and in this very point benefited many
persons. He abolished many sacrifices, many horse-races,
and some other spectacles, in an attempt to reduce
expenses as far as possible. In the senate he
took oath that he would not cause the death of any of
the senators and he kept his pledge in spite of plots.
And he did nothing without the advice of prominent
men. Among his various laws were those prohibiting
any one from being made a eunuch and from marrying
one's niece. When consul he did not hesitate to take as
his colleague Verginius Rufus, though the latter had
been frequently saluted as emperor.
[
]
A.D. 97 (a.u. 850)
Upon his monument
was inscribed when he died: "Having conquered
Vindex he ascribed the credit of victory not to himself
but to his country."
[
]
3
Nerva ruled so well that he once remarked: "I have
done nothing that could prevent me from laying down
the imperial office and returning to private life in
safety." When Crassus Calpurnius, a grandson of
the famous Crassi, formed a plot with some others
against him, he made them sit beside him at a spectacle--they
were still ignorant of the fact that they had
been informed upon--and gave them some swords,
nominally to look at and see if they were sharp (as was
often done), but really by way of showing that he did
not care if he died that moment where he was.
Aelianus Casperius, who was governor under him as
he had been under Domitian, and had become one of
the Pretorians, incited the soldiers to mutiny against
him; his plan was to have them demand some persons
for execution. Nerva resisted them stoutly, even to
the point of baring his collar-bone and offering them
his throat: but he accomplished nothing and those
whom Aelianus wished were put out of the way.
Wherefore Nerva, subjected to such profound humiliation
because of his old age, ascended the Capitol and
cried aloud: "To the good fortune of the Roman
people and senate and myself I adopt Marcus Ulpius
Nerva Trajan."
Subsequently in the senate he designated him Caesar
and sent a message to him, written with his own hand
(Trajan was governor of Germany):
"The Danaans by thy weapons shall requite my tears."
[
63]
4
Thus did Trajan become Caesar and afterwards emperor, although there were relatives of Nerva. But
the man did not esteem family relationship above
the safety of the State, nor was he less inclined to
adopt Trajan because the latter was a Spaniard instead
of an Italian or Italiot,
[
]
or because no foreigner had
previously held the Roman sovereignty. It was a person's
virtue and not his country that he thought needed
examination.
A.D. 98 (a.u. 851)
Soon after this act he passed away, having ruled
during the period of one year, four months and nine
days. His life prior to that time
[
]
had comprised
sixty-five years, ten months, and ten days.
5
Trajan, before he became emperor, had had a dream
of the following nature. He thought that an old man
in purple robe and vesture, moreover adorned with a
crown, as the senate is represented in pictures, impressed
a seal upon him with a finger ring, first on the
left side of his throat and then on the right. When he
had been made emperor, he sent a despatch to the
senate written with his own hand, which stated, among
other things, that he would not slay nor dishonor any
man of worth. This he confirmed by oaths not merely
at that time but also later.
He sent for Aelianus and the Pretorians who had
mutinied against Nerva, pretending that he was going
to employ them in some way, and relieved the world of
their presence.
A.D. 99 (a.u. 852)
When he had entered Rome he did
much toward the administration of state affairs and to
please the excellent. To the former business he gave
unusual attention, making many grants even to Italian
cities for the support of their children, and to good citizens
he did continual favors. Plotina, his wife, on first
going into the palace turned around so as to face the
Scalae and the populace, and said: "My wish is to issue
hence the same sort of person as I am now when I
enter." And she so conducted herself during the
entire sovereignty as to incur no censure.
[The ambassadors who came from the kings were
given seats by Trajan in the senatorial row at
spectacles.]
A.D. 100 (a.u. 853)
6
After spending some time in Rome he instituted a
campaign against the Dacians; for he made their deeds
the object of thought and was irritated at the amount
of money they were annually getting. He likewise
saw that their power and their pride were increasing.
Decebalus, learning of his advance, was frightened,
since he well knew that formerly he had conquered
not the Romans but Domitian, whereas now
he would be fighting against both Romans and Trajan
as emperor.
And Trajan had a great reputation for justice, for
bravery, and for simple living. He was strong in body
(being in his forty-second year when he began to rule)
[so that in every enterprise he toiled almost as much
as the rest;]
and his intellectual powers were at their
highest, so that he had neither the recklessness of
youth nor the sluggishness of old age. He did not
envy nor kill any one, but honored and exalted all without
exception that were men of worth, and hence he
neither feared nor hated one of them. To slanders
he paid very little heed and was no slave of anger. He
refrained equally from the money of others and from
unjust murders.
7
He expended vast sums on wars and
vast sums on works of peace; and while making very
many most necessary repairs on roads and harbors and
public buildings, he drained no one's blood for these
undertakings. His nature was so noble and magnanimous
that even upon the hippodrome he merely inscribed
the statement that he had made it suitable for
the Roman people when it had crumbled away in spots,
and had rendered it larger and more beautiful. For
these deeds he was better satisfied to be loved than
honored. His meetings with the people were marked
by affability and his intercourse with the senate by
dignity. He was loved by all and dreaded by none save
the enemy. He joined people in hunting and banquets,
and in work and plans and jokes. Often he would
make a fourth in somebody's litter, and sometimes he
would enter persons' houses even without a guard and
make himself at home. He lacked education in the
exact sense,--book-learning, at least,--but he both
understood and carried out its spirit, and there was
no quality of his that was not
excellent
. I know well
enough that he was given to wine and boys, but if he
had ever committed or endured any base or wicked
deed as a result of this, he would have incurred censure.
As the case stood, he drank all the wine he
wanted, yet remained sober, and his pursuit of pederasty
harmed no one. And even if he did delight in
war, still he was satisfied with success in it,--with
overthrowing a most hostile element and bettering his
own side. Nor did the usual thing under such circumstances,--conceit
and arrogance on the part of the
soldiers,--ever manifest itself during his reign; with
such a firm hand did he rule them. For these reasons
Decebalus was somewhat justified in fearing him.
8
When Trajan, in the course of his campaign against
the Dacians had come near Tapai, where the barbarians
were encamping, a large mushroom was brought
to him, on which it said in Latin characters that the
Buri and other allies advised Trajan to turn back and
make peace. At Trajan's first encounter with the foe
he visited many of the wounded on his own side and
killed many of the enemy. And when the bandages
gave out, he is said not to have spared even his own
clothing, but to have cut it up into strips. In honor
of the soldiers that had died in battle he ordered an
altar erected and the performance of funeral rites
annually.
9
[Decebalus had sent envoys also before the defeat,
and no longer the long-haired men, as before, but the
chief among the cap-wearers.
[
]
These threw down their
arms and casting themselves upon the earth begged
Trajan that if possible Decebalus himself be allowed to
meet and confer with him, promising that he would do
everything that might be commanded; or, if not, that at
least some one should be despatched to agree upon
terms with him. Those sent were Sura and Claudius
Livianus, the prefect; but nothing was accomplished,
for Decebalus did not dare even to come near them.
He sent representatives also on this occasion.
Trajan had now seized some fortified mountains and
on them found the arms and the captured engines, as
well as the standard which had been taken in the time
Fuscus.
A.D. 101 (a.u. 854)
Undertaking to ascend the heights themselves,
he secured one crest after another amid dangers
and approached the capital of the Dacians. Lusius,
attacking in another quarter, slaughtered numbers
and captured still more alive. Then Decebalus sent
envoys.
Decebalus, for this reason, and particularly because
Maximus at the same time had possession of his sister
and a strong position, was ready to agree without exception
to every demand made. It was not that he
intended to abide by his agreement, but he wanted to
secure a respite from his temporary reverses.]
So,
though against his will, he made a compact to surrender
his arms, engines, and manufacturers of engines,
to give back the deserters, to demolish his
forts, to withdraw from captured territory, and furthermore
to consider the same persons enemies and friends
as the Romans did
[besides neither giving shelter to
any of the deserters,
[
]
nor employing any soldiers from
the Roman empire, for he had acquired the largest and
best part of his force by persuading them to come from
that quarter]
. When he came into Trajan's presence,
he fell upon the earth and did obeisance
[and cast away
his arms. He also sent envoys to the senate to secure
these terms, in order that he might have the further
ratification of the peace by that body. At the conclusion
of this compact the emperor left a camp in Sarmizegethusa,
and, having placed garrisons at intervals
through the remainder of the territory, returned to
Italy.]
A.D. 103 (a.u. 856)
10
The envoys from Decebalus were introduced in the
senate. They laid down their arms, clasped their hands
in the posture of captives, and spoke some words of
supplication; thus they obtained peace and received
back their arms. Trajan celebrated a triumph and was
given the title of Dacicus; in the theatre he had contests
of gladiators, in whom he delighted, and he brought
back dancers once more to the theatre, being in love
with one of them, Pylades. However, he did not pay
less attention to general administration, as might have
been expected of a warlike personage, nor did he hold
court the less: on the contrary, he conducted trials now
in the forum of Augustus, now in the porch named the
Porch of Livia, and often elsewhere on a platform.
And since Decebalus was reported to him to be acting
in many ways contrary to the treaty, since he was
gathering arms, receiving such as deserted, repairing
the forts, sending ambassadors to the neighbors, and
injuring those who had previously differed with him,
since also he was devastating some land of the Iazygae
(which Trajan later would not give back to them when
they asked for it), therefore, the senate voted that he
was again an enemy. And Trajan again conducted the
war against him, commanding in person and not represented
by others.
A.D. 104 (a.u. 857)
11
[As numerous Dacians kept transferring their allegiance
to Trajan, and for certain other reasons, Decebalus
again requested peace. But since he could not
be persuaded to surrender both his arms and himself,
he proceeded openly to collect troops and called the
surrounding nations to his aid, saying that if they
deserted him they themselves would come into danger
and that it was safer and easier by fighting on his side
to preserve their freedom, before suffering any harm,
than if they should allow his people to be destroyed
and then later be subjugated when bereft of allies.]
And Decebalus in the open field came off poorly, but by
craft and deceit he almost compassed the death of
Trajan. He sent into Moesia some deserters to see
whether they could make away with him, inasmuch as
the emperor was generally accessible, and now, on account
of the needs of warfare, admitted to conference
absolutely every one who desired it. But this plan they
were unable to carry out, since one of them was arrested
on suspicion and, under torture, revealed the
entire plot.
12
Longinus was the commandant of the Roman camp
who had made himself a terror to the Dacian leader
in warfare. The latter, therefore, sent him an invitation
and persuaded him to meet him, on the pretext
that he would perform whatever should be enjoined.
He then arrested him and questioned him publicly
about Trajan's plans. As the Roman would not yield
at all, he took him about with him under guard, though
not in bonds. And
[Decebalus sending an envoy to
Trajan, asked that he might get back the territory as
far as the Ister and receive indemnity for all the money
he had spent on the war,]
in recompense for restoring
Longinus to him. An ambiguous answer was returned,
of a kind that would not make Decebalus think that the
emperor regarded Longinus as of either great value or
small, the object being to prevent his being destroyed
on the one hand, or being preserved on excessive
terms, on the other. So Decebalus delayed, still considering
what he should do.
Meanwhile Longinus, having
[through his freedman]
secured a poison
[--he had promised Decebalus that he
would reconcile Trajan to the proposition, in order that
the Dacian should be as far as possible from suspecting
what was to happen, and so not keep an especially
careful watch over him. Also, to enable his servant to
attain safety, he wrote a letter containing a supplication,
and gave it to the freedman to carry to Trajan.
Then, when he had gone, at night he took the poison,]
drank it and died.
[After this event Decebalus asked
Trajan to give him back his freedman, promising to
give him in return the body of Longinus and ten captives.
He sent at once the centurion who had been captured
with the dead general, assuming that this man
would arrange the matter for him; and it was from the
centurion that the whole story of Longinus was learned.
However, Trajan neither sent him back, nor surrendered
the freedman, deeming his safety more valuable
for establishing the dignity of the empire than the
of Longinus.]
13
Now, Trajan constructed over the Ister a stone
bridge, for which I cannot sufficiently admire him. His
other works are most brilliant, but this surpasses them.
There are twenty square pieces of stone, the height of
which is one hundred and fifty feet above the foundations
and the breadth sixty, and these, standing at a
distance of one hundred and seventy feet from one to
another, are connected by arches. How then could one
fail to be astonished at the expenditure made upon
them? Or the manner in which each of them was
placed in a river so deep, in water so full of eddies, on
ground so slimy? It was impossible, you note, to divert
the course of the river in any direction. I have spoken
of the breadth of the river; but the stream is not uniformly
so limited, since it covers in some places twice
and elsewhere thrice as much ground, but the narrowest
point, and the one in that region most adapted to
bridge-building, has just those dimensions. Yet the
very fact that the river here shrinks from a great flood
to such a narrow channel and is here confined, though
it again expands into a greater flood, makes it all the
more violent and deep; and this feature must be considered
in estimating the difficulty of preparing a
bridge. This achievement, then, shows the greatness
of Trajan's designs, though the bridge is of no
particular use to us. Merely the piers are standing,
affording no means of crossing, as if they were erected
for the sole purpose of demonstrating that there is
nothing which human energy can not accomplish. Trajan's
reason for constructing the bridge was his fear
that, some time when the Ister was frozen, war might
be made on the Romans across the water, and his desire
to enjoy the easy access to them that this work
would permit. Hadrian, on the contrary, was afraid
that the barbarians might overpower the guard at the
bridge and cross into Moesia, and so he removed the
surface work.
A.D. 105 (a.u. 858)
14
Trajan, having crossed the Ister on this bridge, conducted
the war with prudence, rather than with haste,
and eventually, after a hard struggle, vanquished the
Dacians. In the course of these encounters he personally
performed many deeds of good generalship and
bravery, and his soldiers ran many risks and displayed
great prowess on his behalf. It was here that a certain
horseman, dangerously wounded, was carried from the
battle on the supposition that he could be healed; but,
when he found that he could not recover, he rushed
from his quarters (since his hurt had not incapacitated
him) and stationing himself in the line again he perished,
after having displayed great valor.
A.D. 106 (a.u. 859)
Decebalus,
when his capital and all his territory had been occupied
and he was himself in danger of being captured, committed
suicide, and his head was brought to Rome.
In this way Dacia became subject to Rome and Trajan
founded cities there. The treasures of Decebalus
were also discovered, though hidden beneath the Sargetia
river, which ran past his palace. He had made
some captives divert the course of the river and had
then excavated its bed. There he had placed a large
amount of silver and of gold and other objects of great
value, that could endure some moisture, had heaped
stones over them and piled on earth. After that he had
let the river flow over them. The same captives were
compelled to deposit his robes and other similar objects
in neighboring caves; and when he had effected this,
he made away with them to prevent their talking. But
Bicilis, a comrade of his, who knew what had been
done, was seized and gave this information.--About
this same time, Palma, who was governor of Syria,
subdued the portion of Arabia, near Petra, and made it
subservient to the Romans.
A.D. 107 (a.u. 860)
15
Upon Trajan's return to Rome the greatest imaginable
number of embassies came to him from the barbarians,
even the Indi being represented. And he gave
spectacles on one hundred and twenty-three days.
At these affairs thousands, yes, possibly tens of thousands
of animals, both wild and tame, were slaughtered,
and fully ten thousand gladiators fought in
combat.
About the same period he made the Pontine
marshes traversable by means of a stone foundation,
and built roads alongside, which he furnished with
most magnificent bridges.--All the obsolete money he
had melted down.
[He had sworn not to commit bloodshed and he confirmed
his promise by his actions in spite of plots. He
was by nature not at all given to duplicity or guile or
harshness. He loved and greeted and honored the good,
and the rest he neglected. His age made him still more
inclined to mildness.]
When Licinius Sura died, he bestowed
upon him a public funeral and a statue. This
man had attained such a degree of wealth and pride
that he built a gymnasium for the Romans. So great
was the friendship and confidence
[which Sura showed
toward Trajan and Trajan toward him that although
the man was often slandered,--as naturally happens in
the case of all those who possess any influence with the
emperors,--Trajan never felt a moment's suspicion or
hatred. On the contrary, when those who envied him
became insistent, Trajan]
went
[uninvited to his house]
to dinner. And having dismissed his whole body-guard
he first called Sura's physician and had him anoint his
eyes and then his barber shave his chin. Anciently the
emperors themselves as well as all other people used
to do this. It was Hadrian who first set the fashion of
wearing a beard. When he had done this, he next took
a bath and had dinner. So the next day he said to his
friends who were always in the habit of making statements
detrimental to Sura: "If Sura had wanted to
kill me, he would have killed me yesterday."
16
Now he
did a great thing in running this risk in the case of a
man who had been calumniated, but a still greater thing
in believing that he would never be harmed by him.
So it was that the confidence of his mind was strengthened by his own
knowledge of his dealings with Sura instead of being influenced by the
fancies of others.
Indeed, when he first handed to him
[
]
who was to be
prefect of the Pretorians the sword which the latter
required to wear by his side, he bared the blade,
holding it up said: "Take this sword, to the end
that if I rule well, you may use it for me, but if ill,
against me."
He also set up images of Sosia and Palma and Celsus,
[
]
--so
greatly did he esteem them above others.
Those, however, who conspired against him (among
whom was Crassus) he brought before the senate and
caused to be punished.
A.D. 114 (a.u. 867)
Again he gathered collections of books. And he set
up in the Forum an enormous column, to serve at once
as a sepulchral monument to himself and as a reminder
of his work in the Forum. The whole region there was
hilly and he dug it down for a distance equaling the
height of the column, thus making the Forum level.
17
Next he made a campaign against the Armenians
and Parthians on the pretext that the Armenian king
[
]
had obtained his diadem not at his hands but from the
Parthian king.
[
]
His real reason, however, was a desire
to win fame.
[On his campaign against the Parthians,
when he had reached Athens, an embassy from Osrhoes
met him asking for peace and proffering gifts. This
king had learned of his advance and was terrified because
Trajan was wont to make good his threats by
deeds. Therefore he humbled his pride and sent a
supplication that war be not made against him: he
asked Armenia for Parthomasiris, who was likewise a
son of Pacorus, and requested that the diadem be sent
to him. He had put a stop, he said, to the reign of
Exedares, who was beneficial neither to the Romans
nor to the Parthians.
The emperor neither received the gifts, nor sent any
answer or command, save that friendship is determined
by deeds and not by words; and that accordingly when
he should reach Syria he would do what was proper.
And being of this mind he proceeded through Asia,
Syria, and adjoining provinces to Seleucia. Upon his
coming to Antioch, Abgarus the Osrhoenian did not
appear in person, but sent gifts and a friendly communication.
For, as he dreaded both him and the Parthians,
he was trying to play a double game and for
that reason would not come to confer with him.]
[Lusius Quietus was a Moor, himself a leader of the
Moors, and had belonged to
[
]
a troop in the cavalry.
Condemned for base conduct he was temporarily relieved
of his command and dishonored.
[
]
But later, when
the Dacian war came on and the army stood in need of
the Moorish alliance, he came to it of his own accord
and gave great exhibitions of prowess. For this he
was honored, and in the second war performed far
greater and more numerous exploits. Finally, he advanced
so far in bravery and good fortune during this
war which we are considering that he was enrolled
among the ex-praetors, became consul, and governed
Palestine. To this chiefly was due the jealousy and
hatred felt for him, and his destruction.]
18
Now when
Trajan had invaded the hostile territory, the satraps
and kings of that region approached him with gifts.
One of these gifts was a horse taught to do obeisance.
It would kneel with its front legs and place its head
beneath the feet of whoever stood near.
19
Parthomasiris behaved in rather violent fashion. In
his first letter to Trajan he had signed himself as king,
but when no answer came to his epistle, he wrote again,
omitting this title, and asked that Marcus Junius, the
governor of Cappadocia, be sent to him, implying that
he wanted to prefer some request through him. Trajan,
accordingly, sent him the son of Junius, and himself
went ahead to Arsamosata, of which he took possession
without a struggle. Then he came to Satala and rewarded
with gifts Anchialus, the king of the Heniochi
and Machelones. At Elegeia in Armenia he awaited
Parthomasiris. He was seated upon a platform in the
trenches. The prince greeted him, took off his diadem
from his head, and laid it at his feet. Then he stood
there in silence, expecting to receive it back. At this
the soldiers shouted aloud, and hailed Trajan imperator
as if on account of some victory. (They termed
it an uncrowned,
[
]
bloodless victory to see the king, a
descendant of Arsaces, a son of Pacorus, and a nephew
of Osrhoes, standing beside Trajan without a diadem,
like a captive). The shout terrified the prince, who
thought that it heralded insult and destruction for him.
He turned about as if to flee, but, seeing that he was
hemmed in on all sides, begged as a favor not to be
obliged to speak before the crowd. Accordingly, he
was escorted into the tent, where he had none of his
wishes granted.
20
So out he rushed in a rage, and from
there out of the camp, but Trajan sent for him, and
again ascending the platform bade him speak in the
hearing of all everything that he desired. This was
to prevent any person from spreading a false report
through ignorance of what had been said in private
conference. On hearing this exhortation Parthomasiris
no longer kept silence, but with great frankness
made many statements, some of them being to the
effect that he had not been defeated or captured, but
had come there voluntarily, believing that he should
not be wronged and should receive back the kingdom,
as Tiridates had received it from Nero. Trajan made
appropriate replies to all his remarks and said that
he should abandon Armenia to no one. It belonged
to the Romans and should have a Roman governor.
He would, however, allow Parthomasiris to depart to
any place he pleased. So he sent the prince away together
with his Parthian companions and gave them
an escort of cavalry to ensure their meeting no one
and adopting no rebellious tactics. All the Armenians
who had come with him he commanded to remain where
they were, on the ground that they were already his
subjects.
21
[Leaving garrisons at opportune points Trajan
came to Edessa, and there for the first time he set eyes
upon Abgarus. Previously this person had sent envoys
and gifts to the prince frequently, but he himself
for different reasons at different times failed to put
in an appearance. The same was true also of Mannus,
the phylarch of adjoining Arabia, and Sporaces, phylarch
of Anthemusia. On this occasion, however, he
was persuaded partly by his son Arvandes, who was
beautiful and in the prime of youth and therefore on
good terms with Trajan, and partly by the fear of the
latter's presence near by; consequently he met him
on the road, made his apologies, and obtained pardon.
He had a powerful intercessor in the boy. Accordingly,
he became a friend of Trajan's and entertained
him with a banquet. At the dinner in question he presented
his boy in some kind of barbaric dance.]
22
[When Trajan came into Mesopotamia, Mannus
sent a herald to him, and Manisarus despatched envoys
in regard to peace, because, he said, Osrhoes was making
a campaign against him, and he was ready to withdraw
from Armenia and Mesopotamia so far as captured.
Thereupon the emperor replied that he would
not believe him until he should come to him and confirm
his offers by deeds, as he was promising. He was
also suspicious of Mannus, especially because the latter
had sent an auxiliary force to Mebarsapes, king
of Adiabene, and then had lost it all at the hands of
the Romans. Therefore Mannus never waited for the
Romans to draw near but took his course to Adiabene
to find shelter with the other two princes. Thus were
Singara and some other points occupied by Lusius,
without a battle.]
23
When he had captured the whole country of Armenia
and had won over also many of the kings, some of
whom, since they submitted, he treated as his friends,
and others, though disobedient, he subdued without
resort to arms, the senate voted to him many honors
of various descriptions, and they bestowed upon him
the title of Optimus, i.e., Excellent.--He was always
accustomed to trudge on foot with his entire army and
he had the ordering and arrangement of the troops
throughout the entire expedition, leading them sometimes
in one order and sometimes in another; and he
forded as many rivers as they did. Sometimes he even
had his scouts circulate false reports, in order that
the soldiers might at the same time practice military
manoeuvres and be so impervious to alarm as to be
ready for anything. After he had captured Nisibis
and Batnae he was given the title of Parthicus. But
he took greater pride in the name of Optimus than in
all the rest, inasmuch as it belonged rather to his
character than to his arms.
A.D. 115 (a.u. 868)
24
While he was staying in Antioch, a dreadful earthquake
occurred. Many cities were damaged, but Antioch
was most of all unfortunate. Since Trajan was
wintering there and many soldiers and many private
persons had flocked thither from all directions for lawsuits,
embassies, business, or sightseeing, there was no
nation nor people that went unscathed. Thus in Antioch
the whole world under Roman sway suffered disaster.
There were many thunderstorms to start with and
portentous winds, but no one could have expected that
so many evils would result from them. First came,
on a sudden, a great bellowing roar, and there followed
it a tremendous shock. The whole earth was up-heaved
and buildings leaped into the air. Those that
were lifted up collapsed and were smashed to pieces,
A.D. 115 (a.u. 868)
while others were beaten this way and that as if by the
surges and were turned about. The wrecks were
strewn a long distance over the countryside. The
crash of grinding and breaking timbers, tiles, and
stones together became most frightful, and an inconceivable
mass of dust arose, so that no one could see
any person nor say or hear anything. Many persons
were hurt even outside the houses, being picked up and
tossed violently about, and then with a momentum as
in a fall from a cliff dashed to the earth. Some were
maimed, others killed. Not a few trees leaped into
the air, roots and all.
The number of those found in the houses who perished
was beyond discovery. Multitudes were destroyed
by the very force of the collapse and crowds
were suffocated in the debris. Those who lay with a
part of their bodies buried under the stones or timbers
suffered fearful agony, being able neither to live
nor to find an immediate death.
25
Nevertheless many even of these were saved, as was
natural in such overwhelming numbers of people.
And those outside did not all get off safe and sound.
Numbers lost their legs or their shoulders and some
[Lacuna]
their
[Lacuna]
heads. Others vomited blood.
One of these was Pedo the consul, and he died at once.
In brief, there was no form of violent experience that
those people did not undergo at that time. And as
Heaven continued the earthquake for several days and
nights, the people were dismayed and helpless, some
crushed and perishing under the weight of the buildings
pressing upon them, and others dying of hunger
in case it chanced that by the inclination of the timbers
they were left alive in a clear space, it might be in a
kind of arch-shaped colonnade. When at last the
trouble had subsided, some one who ventured to mount
the ruins caught sight of a live woman. She was not
alone but had also an infant, and had endured by feeding
both herself and her child with her milk. They
dug her out and resuscitated her together with her
offspring, and after that they searched the other heaps
but were no longer able to find in them any living
creature save a child sucking at the breasts of its
mother, who was dead. As they drew out the corpses
they no longer felt any pleasure at their own escape.
So great were the disasters that had overwhelmed
Antioch at this time. Trajan made his way out
through a window of the room where he was. Some
being of more than human stature had approached him
and led him forth, so that he survived with only a few
small bruises. As the shocks extended over a number
of days, he lived out of doors in the hippodrome.
Casium itself, too, was so shaken that its peaks seemed
to bend and break and to be falling upon the city. Other
hills settled, and quantities of water not previously
in existence came to light, while quantities more escaped
by flowing away.
26
Trajan about spring time proceeded into the enemy's
country. Now since the region near the Tigris is barren
of timbers fit for shipbuilding, he brought the boats
which had been constructed in the forests surrounding
Nisibis on wagons to the river. The vessels had been
arranged in such a way that they could be taken apart
and put together. He had very hard work in bridging
the stream opposite Mount Carduenum, for the
opposing barbarians tried to hinder him. Trajan,
however, had a great abundance of both ships and
soldiers, and so some boats were fastened together
with great speed while others lay motionless in front
of them, carrying heavy infantry and archers. Still
others kept making dashes this way and that, as if they
intended to cross. As a result of these tactics and
from their very astonishment at seeing so many ships
at once appear
en masse
from a land devoid of trees
the barbarians gave way and the Romans crossed over.
They won possession of the whole of Adiabene. (This
is a portion of Assyria in the vicinity of Ninus; and
Arbela and Gaugamela, close to which Alexander conquered
Darius, are also in this same territory. The
country has also been called Atyria in the language of
the barbarians, the double S being changed to T).
[Adenystrae was a strong post to which one Sentius,
a centurion, had been sent as an envoy to Mebarsapes.
He was imprisoned by the latter in that place,
and later, at the approach of the Romans, he made an
arrangement with some of his fellow-prisoners, and
with their aid escaped from his shackles, killed the
commander of the garrison, and opened the gates to his
countrymen.]
Hereupon they advanced as far as
Babylon itself, being quite free from molestation, since
the Parthian power had been ruined by civil conflicts
and was still at this time involved in dissensions.
27
Cassius Dio Cocceianus in writings concerning the Latins has written
that this city
[i.e. Babylon]
comprised a circuit of four hundred stades.
(Compare also Tzetzes, Exegesis of Homer's Iliad, p. 141, 15 ff).
Here, moreover, Trajan saw the asphalt out of which
the walls of Babylon had been built. When mixed with
baked bricks or smooth stones this material affords so
great strength as to render them stronger than rock
or any kind of iron. He also looked at the opening
from which issues a deadly vapor that destroys any
creature living upon the earth and any winged thing
that so much as inhales a breath of it. If it extended
far above ground or had several vents, the place
would not be inhabitable; but, as it is, this gas circles
round within itself and remains stationary. Hence creatures
that fly high enough above it and such as remain to one side
are safe. I saw another opening like it at Hierapolis in
Asia, and tested it by means of birds; I bent over it myself
and myself gazed down upon the vapor. It is enclosed
in a sort of a cistern and a theatre had been built
over it. It destroys all living things save human beings
that have been emasculated. The reason for that I
can not comprehend. I relate what I have seen as I
have seen it and what I have heard as I have heard it.
A.D. 116 (a.u. 869)
28
Trajan had planned to conduct the Euphrates
through a channel into the Tigris, in order that boats
might be floated down by this route, affording him an
opportunity to make a bridge. But on learning that it
had a much higher elevation than the Tigris, he did not
do it, fearing that the water might rush pell-mell down
hill and render the Euphrates unnavigable. So he
conveyed the boats across by means of hauling engines
at the point where the space between the rivers is the
least--the whole stream of the Euphrates empties into
a swamp and from there somehow joins the Tigris--then
crossed the Tigris and entered Ctesiphon. Having
taken possession of this town he was saluted as
imperator and established his right to the title of Parthicus.
Various honors were voted him by the senate,
among others the privilege of celebrating as many triumphs
as he might desire.
After his capture of Ctesiphon he felt a wish to sail
down into the Red Sea. This is a part of the ocean and
has been so named
[
]
from some person formerly ruler
there. Mesene, the island in the Tigris of which Athambelus
was king, he acquired without difficulty.
[And
it remained loyal to Trajan, although ordered to pay
tribute.]
But through a storm, and the violence of the
Tigris, and the backward flow from the ocean, he fell
into danger. The inhabitants of the so-called palisade
of Spasinus
[they were subject to the dominion of Athambelus]
received him kindly.
29
Thence he came to the ocean itself, and when he had
learned its nature and seen a boat sailing to India, he
said: "I should certainly have crossed over to the
Indi, if I were still young." He gave much thought to
the Indi, and was curious about their affairs. Alexander
he counted a happy man and at the same time
declared that he himself had advanced farther. This
was the tenor of the despatch that he forwarded to the
senate, although he was unable to preserve even what
territory had been subdued. On its receipt he obtained
among other honors the privilege of celebrating a triumph
for as many nations as he pleased. For, on account
of the number of those peoples regarding which
communications in writing were being constantly forwarded
to them, they were unable to understand them
or even to name some of them correctly. So the citizens
of the capital prepared a trophy-bearing arch, besides
many other decorations in his own forum, and
were getting themselves in readiness to meet him some
distance out when he should return. But he was destined
never to reach Rome again nor to accomplish
anything deserving comparison with his previous exploits,
and furthermore to lose even those earlier acquisitions.
For, during the time that he was sailing
down the ocean and returning from there again, all his
conquests were thrown into tumult and revolted. And
the garrisons placed among the various peoples were
in some cases driven out and in others killed.
30
Trajan ascertained this in Babylon.
[
]
He had taken
the side-trip there on the basis of reports, unmerited
by aught that he saw (which were merely mounds and
stones and ruins), and for the sake of Alexander, to
whose spirit he offered sacrifice in the room where he
had died. When, therefore, he ascertained it, he sent
Lusius and Maximus against the rebels. The latter
perished after a defeat in the field; but Lusius was generally
successful, recovering Nisibis, besieging Edessa,
plundering and burning. Seleucia was also captured
by Erucius Clarus and Julius Alexander, lieutenants,
and was burned. Trajan, in fear that the
Parthians, too, might begin some revolt, decided to give
them a king of their own. And when he came to Ctesiphon
he called together in a great plain all the Romans
and likewise all the Parthians that were there at the
time. He mounted a lofty platform, and, after describing
in lofty language what he had accomplished, he appointed
Parthamaspates king of the Parthians and set
the diadem upon his head.
LXXV, 9, 6
When Volgaesus, the son of Sanatruces, confronted
in battle array the followers of Severus and before
coming to an actual test of strength asked and
secured an armistice, Trajan sent envoys to him and
granted him a portion of Armenia in return for peace.
31
Next he came into Arabia and commenced operations
against the people of Hatra, since they, too, had revolted.
This city is neither large nor prosperous.
The surrounding country is mostly desert and holds
no water (save a small amount, poor in quality),
nor timber, nor herb. It is protected by these very
features, which make a siege in any form impossible,
and by the Sun, to whom it is, in a way, consecrated.
It was neither at this time taken by Trajan
nor later by Severus, although they knocked down some
parts of its wall. Trajan sent the cavalry ahead against
the wall but failed in his attempt, and the attacking
force was hurled back into the camp. As he was riding
by, he barely missed being wounded himself, in spite
of the fact that he had laid aside his imperial attire to
avoid being recognized. Seeing the majestic gray
head and his august countenance they suspected him
to be the man he was, shot at him, and killed a cavalryman
in his escort. There were peals of thunder and
rainbow tints glimmered indistinctly. Flashes of lightning
and spray-like storms, hail and thunderbolts fell
upon the Romans as often as they made assaults. And
whenever they ate a meal, flies settled on the food and
drink causing universal discomfort. Thus Trajan left
the place and not long after began to fail in health.
32
Meanwhile the Jews in the region of Cyrene had put
one Andreas at their head and were destroying both
the Romans and the Greeks. They would cook their
flesh, make belts for themselves of their entrails,
anoint themselves with their blood, and wear their skins
for clothing. Many they sawed in two, from the head
downwards. Others they would give to wild beasts
and force still others to fight as gladiators. In all,
consequently, two hundred and twenty thousand perished.
In Egypt, also, they performed many similar
deeds, and in Cyprus under the leadership of Artemio.
There, likewise, two hundred and forty thousand perished.
For this reason no Jew may set foot in that
land, but even if one of them is driven upon the island
by force of the wind, he is put to death. Various persons
took part in subduing these Jews, one being
Lusius, who was sent by Trajan.
A.D. 117 (a.u. 870)
33
Now Trajan was preparing to make a new expedition
into Mesopotamia. Finding himself, however, held
fast by the clutches of the disease, he started to sail to
Italy himself and left behind Publius Aelius Hadrian
with the army in Syria. So the Romans, who had conquered
Armenia, most of Mesopotamia, and the Parthians,
had labored in vain and had vainly undergone
danger. The Parthians disdained Parthamaspates
and began to have kings according to their original
custom. Trajan suspected that his falling sick was
due to the administration of poison. Some declare it
was because his blood, which annually descended into
the lower part of his body, was kept from flowing.
He had also become paralyzed, so that part of his body
was disabled, and his general diathesis was dropsical.
And on coming to Selinus in Cilicia, which we also call
Traianoupolis, he suddenly expired after a reign of
nineteen years, six months, and fifteen days.
DURATION OF TIME
Quinctius Niger, Vipsanius Apronianus.
(A.D. 117 = a.u.
870 = First of Hadrian, from Aug. 11th).
Hadrianus Aug. (II), Claudius Fuseus Salinator.
(A.D. 118
= a.u. 871 = Second of Hadrian).
Hadrianus Aug. (III), Q. Iunius Rusticus.
(A.D. 119 =
a.u. 872 = Third of Hadrian).
L. Catilius Severus, T. Aurelius Fulvus.
(A.D. 120 = a.u.
873 = Fourth of Hadrian).
L. Annius Verus, Aur. Augurinus.
(A.D. 121 = a.u. 874 =
Fifth of Hadrian).
Acilius Aviola, Corellius Pansa.
(A.D. 122 = a.u. 875 =
Sixth of Hadrian).
Q. Arrius Paetinus, C. Ventidius Apronianus.
(A.D. 123 =
a.u. 876 = Seventh of Hadrian).
Manius Acilius Glabrio, C. Bellicius Torquatus.
(A.D. 124
= a.u. 877 = Eighth of Hadrian).
P. Corn. Scipio Asiaticus (II), Q. Vettius Aquilinus.
(A.D.
125 = a.u. 878 = Ninth of Hadrian).
Annius Verus (III), L. Varius Ambibulus.
(A.D. 126 =
a.u. 879 = Tenth of Hadrian).
Gallicianus, Caelius Titianus.
(A.D. 127 = a.u. 880 =
Eleventh of Hadrian).
L. Nonius Asprenas Torquatus (II), M. Annius Libo.
(A.D.
128 = a.u. 881 = Twelfth of Hadrian).
Iuventius Celsus (II), Marcellus.
(A.D. 129 = a.u. 882 =
Thirteenth of Hadrian).
Q. Fabius Catullinus, M. Flavius Aper.
(A.D. 130 = a.u.
883 = Fourteenth of Hadrian).
Ser. Octav. Laenas Pontianus, M. Antonius Rufinus.
(A.D.
131 = a.u. 884 = Fifteenth of Hadrian).
Augurinus, Severianus (or, according to others, Sergianus).
(A.D. 132 = a.u. 885 = Sixteenth of Hadrian).
Hiberus, Iunius Silanus Sisenna.
(A.D. 133 = a.u. 886 =
Seventeenth of Hadrian).
Servianus (III), Vibius Varus.
(A.D. 134 = a.u. 887 =
Eighteenth of Hadrian).
Pontianus, Atilianus.
(A.D. 135 = a.u. 888 = Nineteenth
of Hadrian).
L. Ceionius Commodus Verus, Sex. Vetulenus Civica Pompeianus.
(A.D. 136 = a.u. 889 = Twentieth of Hadrian).
L. Aelius Verus Caesar, P. Caelius Balbinus Vibullius.
(A.D.
137 = a.u. 890 = Twenty-first of Hadrian).
Camerinus, Niger.
(A.D. 138 = a.u. 891 = Twenty-second
of Hadrian, to July 10th).
A.D. 117 (a.u. 870)
1
Hadrian had not been adopted by Trajan. He was
merely a fellow-citizen of the latter, had enjoyed Trajan's
services as guardian, was of near kin to him,
and had married his niece. In fine, he was a companion
of his, sharing his daily life, and had been assigned to
Syria for the Parthian War. However, he had received
no distinguishing mark of favor from Trajan
and had not been one of the first to be appointed consul.
His position as Caesar and emperor was due to the fact
that, when Trajan died without an heir, Attianus, a
fellow-citizen and former guardian, together with Plotina,
who was in love with him, secured him the appointment,--their
efforts being facilitated by his proximity
and his having a large force under his command. My
father Apronianus, who was governor of Cilicia, had
ascertained accurately the whole story about him. He
used to relate the different incidents, and said in particular
that the death of Trajan was concealed for several
days to the end that the adoption might be announced.
This was shown also by his letters to the
senate, the signature upon which was not his, but Plotina's.
She had not done this in any previous instance.
2
At the time that he was declared emperor, Hadrian
was in Antioch, the metropolis of Syria, of which he
was governor. In a dream just before that day he
seemed to see fire descend from heaven in the midst
of clear sky and wholly fair weather and fall first upon
the left of his throat and then upon the right also,
though it neither frightened nor injured him. And
Hadrian wrote to the senate, asking that his sovereignty
be confirmed also by that body, and forbidding
any measure to be voted (as was so often done) either
then or thereafter that contained any special honor
for him, unless he should first himself approve it.
The bones of Trajan were deposited in his column,
and the so-called Parthian games continued for a number
of years. At a later date even this observance,
like many others, was abolished.
Hadrian's rule was in general most humane.
[In a
letter he expresses himself with the greatest degree of
consideration for others and swears that he will neither
do anything contrary to the public advantage nor put to
death any senator, calling down destruction upon himself,
if he shall transgress these principles in any way.
But]
Still he was spoken against on account of some
murders of excellent men that he had sanctioned in the
beginning of his reign and near the end of his life.
And for this reason he came near not being enrolled
among the heroes. Those murdered at the beginning
were Palma and Celsus, Nigrinus and Lusius, the first
two for the alleged reason that they had conspired
against him during a hunt, and the others on certain
other complaints, because they had great influence, or
were in a strong position as regards wealth and fame.
Hadrian felt so keenly the talk that was made about
them that he defended himself and declared upon oath
that he had not ordered their deaths. Those that perished
at the end of the reign were Servianus and his
grandson Fuscus.
Hadrian was a pleasant man to meet and his presence shed a kind
of grace.
3
As for Hadrian's family, he was a son of
[a man of
senatorial rank, an ex-praetor]
Hadrianus,
[for thus
he was named]
. In regard to his disposition, he was
fond of literature in both languages and has left behind
all kinds of prose pieces as well as compositions in
verse. His ambition was insatiable, and as a result
he practiced all conceivable pursuits, even the most
trivial. He modeled and painted and declared that
there was nothing in peace or in war, in imperial or in
private life, of which he was not cognizant.
[And this,
of course, did people no harm; but his jealousy of those
who excelled in any branch was terrible and]
ruined
many besides utterly destroying quite a few.
[For,]
since he desired to surpass everybody in everything,
[he hated those who attained eminence in any direction.]
This feeling it was which led him to undertake the overthrow
of two sophists, Favorinus the Gaul and Dionysius
the Milesian,
[by various methods, chiefly]
by
stirring up their antagonists
[who were of little or no
worth at all]
. Dionysius is said to have remarked at
this time to Avidius
[
]
Heliodorus, who managed his correspondence:
"Caesar can give you money and honor,
but he can't make you an orator." Favorinus was
about to bring a case before the emperor in regard
to exemption from taxes, a privilege which he desired
to secure in his native city. Suspecting, however, that
he should be unsuccessful and be insulted in addition
he entered the courtroom, to be sure, but made no other
statement save: "My teacher stood this night in a
dream by my side and bade me do service for my
country, since I have been born in it."
4
Now Hadrian spared these men, although he was displeased
with them, for he could find no satisfactory
pretext to use against them that might compass their
destruction. But he first banished and later actually
put to death Apollodorus the architect, who had
planned the various creations of Trajan in Rome,--the
forum, the odeum, and the gymnasium. The excuse
given was that he had been guilty of some misdemeanor,
but the true reason was that, when Trajan was
consulting him on some point about the works, he had
said to Hadrian, who broke in with some remark: "Be
off and draw gourds. You don't understand any of
these matters." It happened that Hadrian at the
time was pluming himself upon some such drawing.
When he became emperor, therefore, he remembered
the slight and would not endure the man's freedom of
speech. He sent him his own plan of the temple of
Venus and Roma by way of showing him that a great
work could be accomplished without his aid, and he
asked Apollodorus whether the structure was a good
one. The latter in his reply said about the temple that
it ought to have been made to tower aloft in the air
and have been scooped out beneath. Then, as a result
of being higher, it would have stood out more conspicuously
on the Sacred Way, and might have received
A.D. 117 (a.u. 870)
within its expanse the engines, so that they could be
built unobserved and could be brought into the theatre
without any one's being aware of it beforehand. In
regard to the statues, he said that they had been made
too tall for the height adopted in the principal room.
"If the goddesses," he said, "wish to get up and go
out, they will be unable to do so." When he wrote this
so bluntly to Hadrian, the latter was both vexed and
exceedingly pained because he had fallen into a mistake
that could not be set right. He restrained neither his
anger nor his grief, but murdered the man.
[By nature]
the emperor was such a person
[that he was jealous
not only of the living, but also of the dead. For
instance,]
he abolished Homer and introduced in his
stead Antimachus, whose name many persons had not
previously known.
5
These acts were charged against him as offences,
and so were also his great exactness, his superfluous
labors, and his divided interests. But he healed the
wounds made and recovered favor by his general care,
his foresight, his grandeur and his skill. Again, he
did not stir up any war and ended those already in
progress. He deprived no one of money unjustly, and
upon many peoples and private citizens and senators
and knights he bestowed large sums. He did not wait
to be asked, but was certain to act each time according
to each man's needs. The military he trained with
great precision, so that its strength rendered it neither
disobedient nor insolent. Allied and subject cities he
aided most munificently. He had seen many that no
other emperor had even set eyes upon, and he assisted
practically all of them, giving to some water, to others
harbors, or food, or public works, or money, and to
still others various honors.
6
As a leader of the Roman people he was distinguished
for force rather than for flattery. Once, at a
gladiatorial contest, when the crowd was urging its
petition strongly, he not only would not grant
its wish, but further ordered this command of Domitian's
to be proclaimed: "Be silent." The words
were not uttered, though. The herald raised his hand
and by that very gesture quieted the people as he had
been accustomed to do. (They are never silenced by
proclamation). Then, when they had become quiet, he
said: "This is what he wishes." Hadrian was not
in the least angry with the herald; on the contrary, he
honored him for not publishing the rudeness of the
order. He could endure such things and was not displeased
if he was aided in any unexpected way and by
chance comers. It must be admitted that once, when a
woman passed him on some road and preferred a request,
he at first said to her: "I haven't time."
Afterwards, when she cried out loudly, saying:
"Don't be emperor, then", he turned about and
granted her a hearing.
7
He transacted through the senate all serious and
most urgent business and he held court with the assistance
of prominent men now in the palace or again in
the Forum, the Pantheon, and in many other places,
always on a platform, so that what was done was open
to public inspection. Sometimes he would join the consuls
when
they
were trying cases, and he showed them
honor at the horse-races. When he returned home he
was accustomed to be carried in a litter, in order not
to trouble any one to accompany him. On days
neither sacred nor public he remained at home, and admitted
no one even long enough to greet him, unless
it were some urgent matter; this was to relieve the
courtiers of needless annoyance. Both in Rome and
abroad he always kept the noblest men about him;
and he used to join them at banquets, which led to his
being often carried in their litters as one of a party of
four. As frequently as possible he went hunting, and
he breakfasted without wine; in fact, most of his food was
served without any accompanying beverage; and often in the midst
of a meal he would turn his attention to a case at law: later he
would drive in the company of all the foremost and
best men, and their eating together was the occasion
for all kind of discussions. When his friends were
very ill, he would go to see them, and he used to attend
their festivals, besides evincing pleasure at visiting
their country seats and houses. As might have been
expected, then, he set up in his forum images for
many who were dead and many still alive. No one of
his associates, moreover, displayed insolence nor sold
aught that he should pronounce or perform, as the
Caesarians and other attendants in the suite of emperors
have made it their custom to do.
8
This is a kind of preface, of a summary nature,
I have been giving in regard to his character.
I shall also touch upon all the details that require
mention.
The Alexandrians had been rioting and nothing would make them
stop until they received a letter from Hadrian rebuking them. So true
it is that an emperor's word has more power than force of arms.
A.D. 118 (a.u. 871)
On coming to Rome he canceled debts owing to the
imperial treasury and to the public treasury of the
Romans, setting a limit of sixteen years, from which
and as far back as which this provision was to be observed.
On his own birthday he gave a spectacle to
the people free of charge, and slaughtered numbers
of wild beasts,--one hundred lions and a like number
of lionesses biting the dust on this one occasion. Gifts,
likewise, he brought about by means of balls both in
the theatres and in the hippodrome, one lot for the men
and one lot for the women. Indeed, he had also commanded
them to battle separately.
9
This, then, was what happened that year. Euphrates
the philosopher also died a death of his own choosing;
and Hadrian assented to his drinking hemlock
in consideration of his extreme age and sickliness.
Hadrian went from one province to another, visiting
the districts and cities and observing all the garrisons
and fortifications. Some of these he removed to more
desirable locations, some he abolished, and he founded
some new ones. He personally oversaw and investigated
absolutely everything, not merely the usual appurtenances
of camps,--I mean weapons and engines
and ditches and enclosures and palisades,--but also
the private affairs of each one, and the lives, the dwellings
and the characters both of the men serving in the
organization, and of the commanders themselves.
Many cases of too delicate living and equipment he
harmonized with military needs and reformed in various
ways. He exercised the men in every variety of
battle, honoring some and reproving others. He
taught all of them what they ought to do. And to
make sure that they should obtain benefit from observing
him
, he led everywhere a severe existence and
walked or rode horseback on all occasions. Never at
this period did he enter either a chariot or a four-wheeled
vehicle. He covered his head neither in heat
nor in cold, but alike in Celtic snows and under scorching
Egyptian suns he went about with it bare.
A.D. 119 (a.u. 872)
In
fine, so thoroughly by action and exhortations did he
train and discipline the whole military force throughout
the whole empire that even now the methods then
introduced by him are the soldiers' law of campaigning.
This best explains why he lived for the most
part at peace with foreign nations. As they saw what
support he had and were victims of no injustice, but
instead received money, they made no uprising. So
excellently had his soldiery been trained, that the cavalry
of the so-called Batavians swam the Ister with
their heavy armor on. Seeing this the barbarians
stood in terror of the Romans, and turning their attention
to their own affairs
[
]
they employed Hadrian
as an arbitrator of their differences.
10
He also constructed theatres and held games as he
traveled about from city to city, dispensing, however,
with the imperial paraphernalia. This he never used
outside of Rome. His own country, though he did her
great honor and bestowed many proud possessions on
her, he nevertheless did not set eyes upon.
He is said to have been enthusiastic over hunting.
Indeed, he broke his collar-bone in this pursuit and
came near losing a leg. And to a city that he founded
in Mysia he gave the name of Adrianotherae.
A.D. 121 (a.u. 874)
However,
he did not, while so occupied, leave undone any of
the duties pertaining to his office. Of his enthusiasm
for hunting his horse Borysthenes, which was his favorite
steed for the chase, gives us an indication.
When the animal died, he prepared a tomb for him,
set up a slab, and placed an inscription upon it. Hence
it is scarcely surprising that when Plotina died, the
woman through whom he had secured the imperial
office, and who was passionately in love with him, he
honored her to the extent of wearing mourning garments
for nine days, building a temple to her, and composing
several hymns to her memory.
When Plotina was dead, Hadrian praised her and said: "Though
she asked much of me, she was never refused aught." By this he surely
meant to say: "Her requests were of such a character that they neither
burdened me nor afforded me any justification for saying no."
He was so skillful in hunting that once he brought
down a huge boar with a single blow.
11
On reaching Greece he became a spectator at the
Mysteries.
A.D. 122 (a.u. 875)
After this he passed through Judaea into Egypt and
offered sacrifice to Pompey, about whom, he is said to
have uttered this verse:
Strange lack of tomb for one with shrines o'erwhelmed!
[
79]
And he restored his monument, which had fallen to
ruin. In Egypt also he restored the so-called City of
Antinous. Antinous was from Bithynium, a city of
Bithynia which we also call Claudioupolis; he had been
a favorite of the emperor and had died in Egypt,
either by falling into the Nile, as Hadrian writes, or,
as is more probably the truth, by being offered in sacrifice.
For Hadrian, as I have stated, was in general
a great dabbler in superstitions and employed divinations
and incantations of all kinds. Accordingly, he
honored Antinous either because of his love for him
or because he had voluntarily submitted to death (it
being necessary that a life be surrendered voluntarily
for the accomplishment of the ends he had in view),
by building a city on the spot where he had suffered
this fate and naming it after him: and he further set
up likenesses, or rather sacred statues of him, practically
all over the world. Finally, he declared that he
had seen a star which he assumed to belong to Antinous,
and gladly lent an ear to the fictitious tales
woven by his associates to the effect that the star had
really come into being from the spirit of Antinous and
had then appeared for the first time.
A.D. 133 (a.u. 886)
On this account
he became the object of some ridicule
[as also because
the death of his sister Paulina he had not immediately
paid her any honor[Lacuna]]
A.D. 133 (a.u. 886)
12
In Jerusalem he founded a city in place of the one
razed to the ground, naming it Aelia Capitolina, and on
the site of the temple of the god he raised a new temple
to Jupiter. This brought on a war that was not slight
nor of brief duration, for the Jews deemed it intolerable
that foreign races should be settled in their city
and foreign religious rites be planted there. While
Hadrian was close by in Egypt and again in Syria, they
remained quiet, save in so far as they purposely made
the weapons they were called upon to furnish of poorer
quality, to the end that the Romans might reject them
and they have the use of them. But when he went
farther away, they openly revolted. To be sure, they
did not dare try conclusions with the Romans in the
open field, but they occupied advantageous positions
in the country and strengthened them with mines and
walls, in order that they might have places of refuge
whenever they should be hard pressed, and meet together
unobserved under ground; and in these subterranean
passages they sunk shafts from above to let in
air and light.
13
At first the Romans made no account
of them. Soon, however, all Judaea had been up-heaved,
and the Jews all over the world were showing
signs of disturbance, were gathering together, and
giving evidence of great hostility to the Romans,
partly by secret and partly by open acts; many other
outside nations, too, were joining them through eagerness
for gain, and the whole earth, almost, was becoming
convulsed over the matter. Then, indeed, did
Hadrian send against them his best generals, of who
Julius Severus was the first to be despatched, from
Britain, of which he was governor, against the Jews.
He did not venture to attack his opponents at any one
point, seeing their numbers and their desperation, but
by taking them in separate groups by means of the
number of his soldiers and his under-officers and by
depriving them of food and shutting them up he was
able, rather slowly, to be sure, but with comparatively
little danger, to crush and exhaust and exterminate
them. Very few of them survived.
14
Fifty of their
most important garrisons and nine hundred and eighty-five
of their most renowned towns were blotted out.
Fifty-eight myriads of men were slaughtered in the
course of the invasions and battles, and the number of
those that perished by famine and disease and fire
was past all investigating. Thus nearly the whole of
Judaea was made desolate, an event of which the people
had had indications even before the war. The tomb
of Solomon, which these men regarded as one of their
sacred objects, fell to pieces of itself and collapsed
and many wolves and hyenas rushed howling into their
cities.
Many Romans, moreover, perished in the war.
Wherefore Hadrian in writing to the senate did not
employ the opening phrase commonly affected by the
emperors: "If you and your children are in health,
it shall be well: I and the armies are in health."
A.D. 134(?)
Severus
[
]
he sent into Bithynia, which needed no force
of arms but a governor and presiding officer who was
just and prudent and had a reputation. All these
qualifications Severus possessed. And he managed
and administered both their private and their public
affairs in such a way that we
[
]
are still, even to-day
wont to remember him.
[Pamphylia in place of
Bithynia was given into the jurisdiction of the senate
and the lot.]
15
This, then, was the ending that the war with the Jews
took. A second war was started among the Alani
(they are Massagetae) by Pharasmanes. On Albanis
and Media he inflicted severe injury and then laid hold
on Armenia and Cappadocia, after which, as the Alani
were on the one hand persuaded by gifts from Vologaesus
and on the other stood in dread of Flavius Arrianus,
the governor of Cappadocia, he stopped.
[Envoys were sent from Vologaesus and from the
Iazygae; the former made some charges against
Pharasmanes and the latter wanted to confirm the
peace.
[?]
[
]
introduced them to the senate and was
empowered by that body to return appropriate
answers; and accordingly he prepared and read to
them his responses.]
16
Hadrian completed the Olympieum in Athens, in
which his own statue also stands, and consecrated
there a serpent, which was brought from India. He
also presided at the Dionysia, the greatest office within
the gift of the people, and arrayed in the local costume
carried it through brilliantly. He allowed the Greeks,
too, to build his sepulchre (called the Panellenium),
and instituted a series of games to be connected with
it; and he granted to the Athenians large sums of
money, annual corn distribution, and the whole of
Cephallenia.--Among various laws that he enacted
was one to the effect that no senator, either personally
or through the medium of another, should have any tax
farmed out to him.
A.D. 135 (a.u. 888)
After he had come to Rome, the
crowd at a spectacle shouted their request for the
emancipation of a certain charioteer: but he replied
by means of a writing on a board: "It is not right for
you either to ask me to free another's slave or to force
his master to do so."
17
He now began to be sick, having suffered even before
this from blood gushing from his nostrils: this flow
now grew very much more copious, so that he despaired
of his life. Consequently, he appointed as Caesar for
the Romans Lucius Commodus, although this man frequently
vomited blood.
A.D. 136 (a.u. 889)
Servianus and his grandson
Fuscus, the former a nonagenarian and the latter
eighteen years of age, were put to death on the ground
that they were displeased at this action. Servianus
before being executed asked for fire, and as he offered
incense he exclaimed: "That I am guilty of no wrong,
ye; O Gods, are well aware: and as for Hadrian I
pray only this, that he may desire to die and not be
able." And, indeed, Hadrian did come to his end only
after often praying that he might expire and often feeling
a desire to kill himself. There is in existence also
a letter of his which lays stress on this very matter,
showing what a dreadful thing it is for a man to desire
to die and not be able. This Servianus had been by
Hadrian deemed capable of filling the imperial office.
He had once at a banquet told his friends to name for
him ten men who were competent to be sole rulers, and
then after a moment's pause, had added: "I want to
know
nine
: I have one already, Servianus."
18
Other excellent men, also, had come to light during
that period, of whom the most distinguished were
Turbo and Similis, who, indeed, were honored with
statues.
Turbo was a man of great qualities as a general,
who had become prefect (or commander of the Pretorians).
He committed no act of luxury or haughtiness,
but lived like one of the multitude: the entire day
he spent in proximity to the palace and often he would
go there even shortly before midnight, when some of
the others were beginning to sleep. A characteristic
anecdote is that which brings in the name of Cornelius
Fronto, at this time reputed to be the foremost Roman
advocate in lawsuits. One evening very late he was
returning home from dinner and ascertained from a
man whose counsel he had promised to be that Turbo
was holding court. Accordingly, just as he was, in his
dress for dinner, he went into his courtroom and
greeted him not with the morning salutation,
I wish
you joy
, but with that belonging to the evening,
I trust
your health continues good
.
Turbo was never seen at home in the daytime even
when he was sick; and to Hadrian, who advised him to
remain quiet, he replied: "The prefect ought to die
on his feet."
19
Similis, who was of greater age and more advanced
rank, in character was second to none of the great men,
I think. Very slight things may serve us as evidence.
When he was centurion, Trajan had summoned him to
enter his presence before the prefects, whereupon he
said: "It is a shame for you, Caesar, to be talking with
a centurion, while the prefects stand outside." And
he took unwillingly at that time the command of the
Pretorians, and after taking it resigned it. Having
with difficulty secured his release he spent the rest of
his life, seven years, quietly in the country, and upon
his tomb he had this inscription placed: "Similis lies
here, who existed so-and-so many years, but lived for
seven."
Julius (?) Fabius (?), not being able to endure his
son's effeminacy, desired to throw himself into the
river.
A.D. 138 (a.u. 891)
20
Hadrian became consumptive as a result of the
great loss of blood, and that led to dropsy. And as it
happened that Lucius Commodus was suddenly removed
from the scene by the outgushing of a large
quantity of blood all at once, he convened at his house
the foremost and most renowned of the senators; and
lying on a couch he spoke to them as follows: "I, my
friends, was not permitted by nature to secure offspring,
but you have made it possible by legal enactment.
There is this difference between the two ways,--that
a begotten son turns out to be whatever sort of
person Heaven pleases, whereas one that is adopted a
man takes to himself because he chooses just that sort
of being. Thus in process of nature a maimed and
A.D. 138 (a.u. 891)
senseless creature is often given to a parent, but by
process of voluntary decision one of sound body and
sound mind is certain to be selected. For this cause
I formerly chose out Lucius from among all, a person
of such attainments as I could never have prayed to
find in a child. But since the Heavenly Power has
taken him from among us, I have found an emperor in
his place whom I now give you, one who is noble, mild,
tractable, prudent, neither young enough to do anything
reckless nor old enough to neglect aught,--one
brought up according to the laws, who has held possession
of authority according to his country's traditions,
so that he is not ignorant of any matters pertaining to
his office, but can handle them all effectively. I refer
to Aurelius Antoninus here. Although I know him to
be the most retiring of men and to be far from desiring
any such thing, still I do not think that he will deliberately
disregard either me or you but will accept
the office even against his will."
21
So it was that Antoninus became emperor. Since he
was destitute of male children, Hadrian adopted for
him Commodus's son Commodus and, moreover, besides
the latter, Marcus Annius Verus; for he wished to
appoint those who were afterwards to be emperors for
as long a time ahead as possible. (This Marcus Annius,
earlier named Catilius, was a grandson of Annius
Verus who had thrice been consul and prefect of the
city). And though Hadrian urged Antoninus to adopt
them both, he preferred Verus on account of his kinship
and his age and because he already exhibited an
extremely strong cast of mind. This led him to apply
to the young man the name Verissimus, with a play
upon the meaning of the Latin word.
22
By certain charms and species of magic Hadrian was
relieved of the water, but shortly was full of it again.
Since, therefore, he was constantly growing worse and
might be said to be slowly perishing day by day, he
began to long for death. Often he would ask for poison
and a sword, but no one would give them to him. As
no one would obey him, although he promised money
and immunity, he sent for Mastor, an Iazygian barbarian
that had become a captive, whom he had employed
in hunts on account of his strength and daring.
Then, partly by threatening him and partly by making
promises, he compelled the man to undertake the duty
of killing him. He drew a colored line around a spot
beneath the nipple that had been shown him by Hermogenes
the physician, in order that he might there be
struck a finishing blow and perish painlessly. But
even this plan did not succeed, for Mastor became
afraid of the project and in terror withdrew. The emperor
lamented bitterly the plight in which the disease
had placed him and bitterly his powerlessness, in that
he was not able to make away with himself, though he
might still, even when so near death, destroy anybody
else. Finally he abandoned his careful regimen and
through using unsuitable foods and drinks met his
death, saying and shouting aloud the popular saying:
"Many physicians have ruined a king."
23
He had lived sixty-two years, five months and nineteen
[
]
days, and had been emperor twenty years and
eleven months. He was buried near the river itself,
close to the Aelian bridge; that was where he had prepared
his tomb, for the one belonging to Augustus was
full and no other body was deposited there.
This emperor was hated
[by the people, in spite of
his excellent reign]
on account of the early and the late
murders, since they had been unjustly and impiously
brought about. Yet he had so little of a bloodthirsty
disposition that even in the case of some who took
pains to thwart him he deemed it sufficient to write to
their native lands the bare statement that they did not
please him. And if any man who had children was absolutely
obliged to receive punishment, still, in proportion
to the number of his children he would also lighten
the penalty imposed.
[Notwithstanding, the senate
persisted for a long time in its refusal to vote him divine
honors, and in its strictures upon some of those
who had committed excesses during his reign and had
been honored therefor, when they ought to have been
chastised.]
After Hadrian's death there was erected to him a huge equestrian
statue representing him with a four-horse team. It was so large that
the bulkiest man could walk through the eye of each horse, yet because
of the extreme height of the monument persons passing along on the
ground below are wont to think that the horses themselves as well as
Hadrian are very small.
DURATION OF TIME
Camerinus, Niger.
(A.D. 138 = a.u. 891 = First of Antoninus,
from July 10th).
Antoninus Pius Aug. (II), Bruttius Praesens.
(A.D. 139 =
a.u. 892 = Second of Antoninus).
Antoninus Pius Aug. (III), Aurelius Caesar (II).
(A.D.
140 = a.u. 893 = Third of Antoninus).
M. Peducaeus Sylloga Priscinus, T. Hoenius Severus.
(A.D.
141 = a.u. 894 = Fourth of Antoninus).
L. Cuspius Rufinus, L. Statius Quadratus.
(A.D. 142 = a.u.
895 = Fifth of Antoninus).
C. Bellicius Torquatus, Tib. Claudius Atticus Herodes.
(A.D.
143 = a.u. 896 = Sixth of Antoninus).
Avitus, Maximus.
(A.D. 144 = a.u. 897 = Seventh of Antoninus).
Antoninus Pius Aug. (IV), M. Aurelius Caesar (II).
(A.D.
145 = a.u. 898 = Eighth of Antoninus).
Sex. Erucius Clarus (II), Cn. Claudius Severus.
(A.D. 146
= a.u. 899 = Ninth of Antoninus).
Largus, Messalinus.
(A.D. 147 = a.u. 900 = Tenth of Antoninus).
L. Torquatus (III), C. Iulianus Vetus.
(A.D. 148 = a.u.
901 = Eleventh of Antoninus).
Sergius Scipio Orfitus, Q. Nonius Priscus.
(A.D. 149 = a.u.
902 = Twelfth of Antoninus).
Gallicanus, Vetus.
(A.D. 150 = a.u. 903 = Thirteenth of
Antoninus).
Quintilius Condianus, Quintilius Maximus.
(A.D. 151 =
a.u. 904 = Fourteenth of Antoninus).
M. Acilius Glabrio, M. Valerius Homullus.
(A.D. 152 =
a.u. 905 = Fifteenth of Antoninus).
C. Bruttius Praesens, A. Iunius Rufinus.
(A.D. 153 = a.u.
906 = Sixteenth of Antoninus).
L. Ael. Aurelius Commodus, T. Sextius Lateranus.
(A.D. 154
= a.u. 907 = Seventeenth of Antoninus).
C. Iulius Severus, M. Rufinius Sabinianus.
(A.D. 155 = a.u.
908 = Eighteenth of Antoninus).
M. Ceionius Silvanus, C. Serius Augurinus.
(A.D. 158 =
a.u. 909 = Nineteenth of Antoninus).
Barbaras, Regulus.
(A.D. 157 = a.u. 910 = Twentieth of
Antoninus).
Tertullus, Sacerdos.
(A.D. 158 = a.u. 911 = Twenty-first
of Antoninus).
Plautius Quintilius, Statius Priscus.
(A.D. 159 = a.u. 912
= Twenty-second of Antoninus).
T. Clodius Vibius Varus, App. Annius Atilius Bradua.
(A.D.
160 = a.u. 913 = Twenty-third of Antoninus).
M. Ael. Aurelius Verus Caesar (III), I. Ael. Aurelius Commodus
(II).
(A.D. 161 = a.u. 914 = Twenty-fourth of Antoninus,
to March 7th).
I. From Dio:
A.D. 138 (a.u. 891)
1
It should be noted that information about Antoninus
Pius is not found in the copies of Dio, probably because
the books have met with some accident, so that the history
of his reign is almost wholly unknown, save that
when Lucius Commodus, whom Hadrian had adopted,
died before Hadrian, Antoninus was also adopted by
him and became emperor, and that when the senate demurred
to giving heroic honors to Hadrian after his
demise on account of certain murders of eminent men,
Antoninus addressed many words to them with tears
and laments, and finally said: "I will not govern you
either, if he has become base and inimical and a national
foe in your eyes. For you will of course be
annulling all his acts, of which my adoption was one."
On hearing this the senate both through respect for the
man and through a certain fear of the soldiers bestowed
the honors upon Hadrian.
2
Only this in regard to Antoninus is preserved in Dio.
Yes, one thing more--that the senate gave him the
titles both of Augustus and of Pius for some such reason
as the following. When in the beginning of his imperial
reign many men were accused and some of them
had been interceded for by name, he nevertheless
punished no one, saying: "I must not begin my career
of supervision with such deeds."
LXIX, 15, 3
[When Pharasmanes the Iberian came to Rome with
his wife, he increased his domain, allowed him to offer
sacrifice on the Capitoline, set up a statue of him on
horseback in the temple of Bellona, and viewed an exercise
in arms of the chieftain, his son, and the other
prominent Iberians.]
A.D. 139 (a.u. 892)
We do not find preserved, either, the first part of the
account of Marcus Verus, who ruled after Antoninus
and all that the latter himself did in the case of Lucius,
son of Commodus, whom Marcus made his son-in-law,
and all that Lucius accomplished when sent by his
father to the war against Vologaesus. I shall speak
briefly about these matters, gathering my material
from other books, and then I shall go back to the continuation
of Dio's narrative.
II. From Xiphilinus:
3
A.D. 153 (a.u. 906)
Antoninus is admitted by all to have been noble and
good, not oppressive to the Christians nor severe to
any of his other subjects; instead, he showed the
Christians great respect and added to the honor in
which Hadrian had been wont to hold them. For
Eusebius, son of Pamphilus, cites in his Church History
[
]
some letters of Hadrian in which the latter is
shown to threaten terrible vengeance upon those who
harm in any way or accuse the Christians, and to swear
by Hercules that they shall receive punishment.
Antoninus is said also to have been of an enquiring
turn of mind and not to have held aloof from careful
investigation of even small and commonplace matters;
for this those disposed to scoff called him Cumminsplitter.
A.D. 161 (a.u. 914)
Quadratus states that he died at an advanced
age, and that the happiest death befell him, like
unto gentlest slumber.
A.D. 177(?)
4
In the days of Antoninus also a most frightful earthquake
is said to have occurred in the region of Bithynia
and the Hellespont. Various cities were severely
damaged or fell without a building left standing, and
in particular Cyzicus; and the temple there that was
the greatest and most beautiful of all temples was
thrown down. Its columns were four cubits in thickness
and fifty cubits in height, each of a single block of
stone; and each of the other features of the edifice was
more to be wondered at than to be praised. Somewhere
in the interior of the country the peak of a
mountain rose upwards and surges of the sea are said
to have gushed out, while the spray from pure, transparent
sea-water was driven to a great distance over
the land.
[
]
--So much is the account of Antoninus at
present extant. He reigned twenty-four years.
III. Of Dio
[or rather of Eutropius, or John of
Antioch]
. Taken from the Writings of Suidas.
5
This prince Antoninus was an excellent man and deserves
to be compared especially with Numa on account
of the similarity of his reign to that king's, just as
Trajan was seen to resemble Romulus. The private
life that Antoninus lived was thoroughly excellent and
honorable,
and in his position as ruler he seemed to be
even more excellent and more prudent. To no one was
he harsh or oppressive, but he was gracious and gentle
toward all.
6
In warfare he sought glory rather from an impulse of
duty than from one of gain, and was determined to preserve
the borders of the empire intact rather than to
extend them to greater distances. In the matter of
men he appointed to the administration of public
affairs, so far as possible, those who were particularly
scrupulous about right conduct, and he rewarded good
officials with the honors that were in his power to grant,
whereas he banished the worthless (though without
any harshness) from the conduct of public affairs.
7
He was admired not alone by those of his own race,
but even by foreigners, as was shown by some of the
neighboring barbarians laying down their arms and
permitting the prince to decide their quarrels by his
vote. And whereas he had in the course of his life as
a private citizen amassed a vast amount of money,
when he entered upon office he expended his own
abundance upon gifts for the soldiers and for his
friends. To the public treasury he left a great deal of
property of all kinds.
DURATION OF TIME
M. Ael. Aurel. Verus Caes. (III), L. Ael. Aurel. Commodus
(II).
(A.D. 161 = a.u. 914 = First of Marcus, from March
7th).
Iunius Rusticus, Vettius Aquilinus.
(A.D. 162 = a.u. 915
= Second of Marcus).
I. Aelianus, Pastor.
(A.D. 163 = a.u. 916 = Third of
Marcus).
M. Pompeius Macrinus, P. Iuventius Celsus.
(A.D. 164 =
a.u. 917 = Fourth of Marcus).
L. Arrius Pudens, M. Gavius Orfitus.
(A.D. 165 = a.u. 918
= Fifth of Marcus).
Q. Servilius Pudens, L. Fufidius Pollio.
(A.D. 166 = a.u.
919 = Sixth of Marcus).
L. Aurelius Verus Aug. (III), Quadratus.
(A.D. 167 = a.u.
920 = Seventh of Marcus).
T. Iunius Montanus, L. Vettius Paulus.
(A.D. 168 = a.u.
921 = Eighth of Marcus).
Q. Sosius Priscus, P. Caelius Apollinaris.
(A.D. 169 = a.u.
922 = Ninth of Marcus).
M. Cornelius Cethegus, C. Erucius Clarus.
(A.D. 170 = a.u.
923 = Tenth of Marcus).
L. Septimius Severus (II), L. Alfidius Herennianus.
(A.D.
171 = a.u. 924 = Eleventh of Marcus).
Maximus, Orfitus.
(A.D. 172 = a.u. 925 = Twelfth of
Marcus).
M. Aurelius Severus (II), T. Claudius Pompeianus.
(A.D.
173 = a.u. 926 = Thirteenth of Marcus).
Gallus, Flaccus.
(A.D. 174 = a.u. 927 = Fourteenth of
Marcus).
Piso, Iulianus.
(A.D. 175 = a.u. 928 = Fifteenth of
Marcus).
Pollio (II), Aper (II).
(A.D. 176 = a.u. 929 = Sixteenth
of Marcus).
L. Aurel. Commodus Aug., Quintilius.
(A.D. 177 = a.u.
930 = Seventeenth of Marcus).
Rufus, Orfitus. (A.D. 178 = a.u. 931 = Eighteenth of
Marcus).
Commodus Aug. (II), T. Annius Aurel. Verus (II).
(A.D.
179 = a.u. 932 = Nineteenth of Marcus).
L. Fulvius Bruttius Praesens (II), Sextus Quintilius Condianus.
(A.D. 180 = a.u. 933 = Twentieth of Marcus, to March
17th).
A.D. 161 (a.u. 914)
1
Marcus Antoninus, the philosopher, upon obtaining
the sovereignty at the death of Antoninus, who adopted
him, had immediately taken to share the authority with
him the son of Lucius Commodus, Lucius Verus. He
was personally weak in body and he devoted the
greater part of his time to letters. It is told that even
when he was emperor he showed no shame (or hesitation)
at going to a teacher for instruction, but became
a pupil of Sextus, the Boeotian philosopher,
[
]
and did
not hesitate to go to hear the lectures of Hermogenes
on rhetoric. He was most inclined to the Stoic school.
Lucius, on the other hand, was strong and rather
young, and better suited for military enterprises.
Therefore, Marcus made him his son-in-law by marrying
him to his daughter Lucilla, and sent him to the
Parthian war.
2
For Vologaesus had begun war by assailing on all
sides the Roman camp under Severianus, situated in
Elegeia, a place in Armenia; and he had shot down and
destroyed the whole force, leaders and all. He was
now proceeding with numbers that inspired terror
against the cities of Syria.
A.D. 162 (a.u. 915)
Lucius, accordingly, on
coming to Antioch collected a great many soldiers, and
with the best commanders under his supervision took
up a position in the city, spending his time in ordering
all arrangements and in gathering the contingent for
the war. He entrusted the armies themselves to Cassius.
The latter made a noble stand against the attack
A.D. 165 (a.u. 918)
of Vologaesus, and finally the chieftain was deserted
by his allies and began to retire; then Cassius pursued
him as far as Seleucia and destroyed it and razed to
the ground the palace of Vologaesus at Ctesiphon. In
the course of his return he lost a great many soldiers
through famine and disease, yet he started off to Syria
with the men that were left. Lucius attained glory by
these exploits and felt a just pride in them, yet his extreme
good fortune did him no good.
A.D. 169 (a.u. 922)
For he is said
to have subsequently plotted against his father-in-law
Marcus and to have perished by poison before he could
accomplish anything.
* * * * *
Fragments of Dio from Suidas (thought by de Valois
to belong to Book LXXI).
[Martius Verus sends out Thucydides to conduct
Sohaemus into Armenia; and he, in spite of lack of
arms, applied himself sturdily to this distant task with
the inherent good sense that he showed in all business
falling to his lot. Marcus had the gift not only of
overpowering his antagonists or anticipating them by
swiftness or outwitting them by deceit (on which qualities
generals most rely), but also of persuading them
by trustworthy promises and conciliating them by generous
gifts and luring them on by tempting hopes. He
was suave in all that he did or said, and soothed the
vexed and angry feelings of each adversary while
greatly raising his hopes. He knew well the right time
for flattery and presents and entertainment at table.
And since in addition to these talents he showed persistency
in endeavor and activity together with speed
against his foes, he made it plain to the barbarians that
his friendship was better worth gaining than his
enmity. So when he arrived at the New city, which a
garrison of Romans placed there by Priscus was occupying,
and found them attempting mutiny, he took care,
both by word and by deed, to bring them to a better
temper, and he made the city the foremost of Armenia.]
[* *
Bridging
.--By the Romans the streams and
rivers are bridged with the greatest ease, since the soldiers
are always practicing at it, and it is carried on
like any other warlike exercise on the Ister and the
Rhine and the Euphrates. The manner of doing it
(which I think not everybody knows) is as follows. The
boats, by means of which the river is bridged, are flat.
They are anchored up stream a little above the spot
where the bridge is to be constructed. When the signal
is given, they first let one ship drift down stream close
to the bank that they are holding. When it has come
opposite the spot to be bridged, they throw into the
water a basket filled with stones and fastened with a
cord, which serves as an anchor. Made fast in this
way the ship is joined to the bank by planks and
bridgework, which the vessel carries in large quantities,
and immediately a floor is laid to the farther edge.
Then they release another ship at a little distance from
this one and another one after that until they run the
bridge to the opposite bank. The boat which is near
the hostile side carries also towers upon it and a gate
and archers and catapults.
As many weapons were hurled at the men engaged in
bridging, Cassius ordered weapons and catapults to be
discharged. And when the front rank of the barbarians
fell, the rest gave way.]
A.D. 172 (a.u. 925)
3
Cassius, however, was bidden by Marcus to have the
superintendence of all Asia. The emperor himself
fought for a long time, in fact almost his whole life, one
might say, with the barbarians in the Ister region, the
Iazyges and the Marcomani, first one and then the
other, and he used Pannonia as his starting point.
The Langobardi and the Obii
[
]
to the number of six thousand
crossed the Ister, but the cavalry under Vindex
[
]
marched out and
the infantry commanded by Candidus got the start of them, so that
an utter rout of the barbarians was instituted. The barbarians, thrown
into consternation by such an outcome of their very first undertaking,
despatched as envoys to the headquarters of Iallius Bassus
[
]
(administrator
of Pannonia) Bellomarius
[
]
, king of the Marcomani, and ten
more, for they selected one man per nation. The envoys took oaths to
cement the peace and departed homewards.
Many of the Celtae, too, across the Rhine, advanced
to the confines of Italy and inflicted much serious harm
upon the Romans. They, in turn, were followed up by
Marcus, who opposed to them the lieutenants Pompeianus
and Pertinax. Pertinax, who later became
emperor, greatly distinguished himself. Among the
corpses of the barbarians were found also the bodies
of women in armor.
A.D. 168(?)
Yet, when a most violent struggle and brilliant victory
had taken place, the emperor nevertheless refused
the petition of the soldiers for money, making this
statement: "Whatever excess they obtain above the
customary amount will be wrung from the blood of their
parents and their kinsmen. For respecting the fate of
the empire Heaven alone can decide."--And he ruled
them so temperately and firmly that even in the course
of so many and great wars he was impelled neither by
flattery nor by fear to do aught that was unfitting.
A.D. 171 (a.u. 924)
When in one battle the Marcomani were successful
and killed Marcus Vindex, the prefect, he erected three
statues in his memory.
A.D. 172 (a.u. 925)
After conquering them Marcus
received the title of Germanicus. We give the
name "Germans" to those who dwell in the northern
regions.
4
The so-called Bucoli began a disturbance in Egypt,
and under the leadership of Isidorus, a priest,
[
]
caused
the rest of the Egyptians to revolt. They had first,
arrayed in women's garments, deceived the Roman
centurion, making him think that they were Bucoli
women and wanted to give him gold pieces in exchange
for their husbands, and then striking him down when
he approached them. His companion they sacrificed,
and after taking a common oath over his entrails they
devoured them. Isidorus surpassed in bribery all his
contemporaries. Next, having conquered the Romans
in Egypt in regular battle they came very near capturing
Alexandria, and would have done so, had not
Cassius been sent against them from Syria as directing
general. He succeeded in spoiling the concord that
existed among them and sundering them one from
another, for on account of their numbers and desperation
he had not ventured to attack them united. So
when they fell into factional disputes he easily subdued
them.
5
Now it was in Marcus's war against the Germans (if
mention ought to be made of these matters), that a captive
lad on being asked some questions by him rejoined:
"I can not answer you because of the cold. So
if you want to find out anything, command that a coat
be given me, if you have one."--And a soldier one
night, who was doing guard duty on the Ister, hearing
a shout of his fellow-soldiers in captivity on the other
side, at once swam the stream just as he was, released
them, and brought them back.
One prefect of Marcus's was Bassaeus Rufus, a good
man on the whole, but uneducated and boorish, having
been brought up in poverty in his early youth.
[Wherefore he had been disinclined to go on the campaign,
and what Marcus said was incomprehensible to
him.]
Once some one had interrupted him in the midst
of trimming a vine that wound about a tree, and when
he did not come down at the first bidding, the person
rebuked him, and said: "Come down there, prefect."
This he said thinking to humiliate him for his previous
haughtiness; yet later Fortune gave him this title to
wear.
6
The emperor, as often as he had leisure from war,
held court and used to order that a most liberal supply
of water be measured out for the speakers.
[
]
He made
inquiries and answers of greater length, so that exact
justice was ensured by every possible expedient.
When thus engaged he would often hold court to try
the same case for eleven or even twelve days and sometimes
A.D. 172 (a.u. 926)
at night. He was industrious and applied himself
diligently to all the duties of his office; and there
was nothing which he said or wrote or did that he regarded
a minor matter, but sometimes he would consume
whole days on the finest point, putting into practice
his belief that the emperor should do nothing hurriedly.
For he thought that if he should slight even
the smallest detail, it would bring him reproach that
would overshadow all his other achievements. Yet he
was so frail in body that at first he could not endure
the cold, but when the soldiers had already come together
in obedience to orders he would retire before
speaking a word to them; and he took but very little
food always, and that at night. It was never his custom
to eat during the daytime unless it were some of the
drug called theriac.
[
]
This drug he took not so much
because he feared anything as because his stomach
and chest were in bad condition. And it is related that
this practice enabled him to endure the disease as well
as other hardships.
A.D. 172(?) 173(?)
7
The Iazyges were conquered by the Romans on land
at this time and subsequently on the river. By this I
mean not that any naval battle took place, but that the
Romans followed them as they fled over the frozen
Ister and fought there as on dry land. The Iazyges,
perceiving that they were being pursued, awaited the
foe's onset, expecting easily to overcome them, since
their opponents were not accustomed to ice. Accordingly,
some of the barbarians dashed straight at them,
while others rode around to attack the flanks, for their
horses were trained to run safely even over a surface
of this kind. The Romans, seeing this, were not
alarmed, but made a close formation, placing themselves
so as to face all of them at once. The majority
laid down their shields and resting one foot upon them,
so that they might slip less, received the enemy's assault.
Some seized bridles, others shields and spear-shafts,
and drew them towards them. Then, becoming
involved in close conflict, they knocked down both men
and horses, for on account of their momentum the
enemy could not help slipping. The Romans also
slipped down: but in case one of them fell on his back
he dragged his adversary down on top of him and then
by winding his legs about him as in a wrestling match
would get him underneath; and if one fell on his face,
he made his opponent fall before he did, also on his
face. The barbarians, being unused to a contest of
this sort, and having lighter equipment, were unable to
resist, so that but few escaped out of a large force.
A.D. 174 (a.u. 927)
8
So Marcus made the Marcomani and Iazyges subservient
by a series of great struggles and dangers. A
great war against the so-called Quadi also fell to his lot
and it was his good fortune to win an unexpected victory,
or rather it was given him from Heaven. At a
time when the Romans had run into danger in the battle
the Heavenly Power most unexpectedly saved them.
The Quadi had surrounded them at an opportune spot
and the Romans were fighting valiantly with their
shields locked together: and the barbarians ceased
fighting, expecting to capture their enemies easily by
heat and thirst. So they posted guards all about and
hemmed them in to prevent their getting water anywhere,
for the barbarians were far superior in numbers.
The Romans fell into dire distress from their
fatigue and wounds and the sun's heat and their thirst,
and for these reasons could neither fight nor march in
any direction but were standing and being scorched in
line of battle and at their several posts, when suddenly
numbers of clouds rushed together and a great rain,
certainly of divine origin, came pouring down. Indeed,
there is a story that Arnouphis, an Egyptian wizard,
who was a companion of Marcus, invoked by means of
enchantments various deities and in particular Mercury,
god of the air, and by this means attracted the
rain.
9
This is what Dio says about it, but he seems to be
telling an untruth, whether voluntarily or involuntarily;
I am more inclined to think it is voluntarily. It
surely must be so, for he was not ignorant of the fact
that one company of the soldiers had the special name
of "The Thunderbolt" (he mentions it in the list along
with the rest),
[
]
and this was due to no other cause (nor
is any other reported) save that event which gave rise
to the title in this very war,--an event which enabled
the Romans to survive on this occasion and brought destruction
upon the barbarians. It was not Arnouphis,
the wizard, for Marcus is not accounted to have taken
pleasure in the company of wizards and charms. But
what I have reference to is as follows: Marcus had a
company (and the Roman name for company is "legion")
of soldiers from Melitene. They were all worshipers
of Christ. Now it is stated that in that battle,
when Marcus was in a quandary over having been surrounded
and feared the loss of his whole army, the
prefect approached him and said that those called
Christians can accomplish anything whatever by their
prayers, and that among them there chanced to be a
whole company of this sect. Marcus, on hearing this,
made an appeal to them to pray to their God. And
when they had prayed, the God immediately gave
ear, hurling a thunderbolt upon the enemy and encouraging
the Romans with rain. Marcus was astounded
at what happened and honored the Christians by an
official decree, while the legion he named "The Thunderbolt."
It is said also that there is a letter of Marcus
extant on this matter. But the Greeks, though they
know that the company was called "Thunderbolt"
and bear witness to the fact themselves, make no statement
whatever about the reason for the appellation.
10
Dio goes on to say that when the rain poured down
at first all bent their faces upwards and received it in
their mouths. Then some held their shields and
their helmets as pails, and they themselves took fullmouthed
draughts of it and gave their horses to drink.
The barbarians making a charge upon them, they drank
and fought at the same time; and some who were
wounded gulped down together the water and the blood
that flowed into their helmets. The most of them had
given so much attention to drinking that they would
have suffered some great damage from the enemy's
onset had not a violent hail and numbers of thunderbolts
fallen upon the latter's ranks. In the same spot
one might see water and fire descending from Heaven
at the same time: the one side was being drenched and
drinking, the other was being burned with fire and
dying. The fire did not touch the Romans, but if it fell
anywhere among them it was straightway extinguished.
On the other hand, the shower did the barbarians no
good, but like oil served rather to feed the flames that
fed on them, and they searched for water while in the
midst of rain. Some wounded themselves in the attempt
to put out the fire with blood, and others ran
over to the side of the Romans, convinced that they
alone had the saving water. Marcus finally took pity
on them. He was for the seventh time saluted as
imperator by the soldiers. And although he was not
wont to accept any such honor before the senate voted
it,
[
]
nevertheless this time he took it under the assumption
that it was bestowed from Heaven, and he sent a
despatch to that effect to the senate.--Moreover Faustina
was named "Mother of the Legions."
11
[Marcus
[Antoninus]
remained in Pannonia in order
to transact business with the embassies of the barbarians.
Many came to him also at this time. Some
promised an alliance: they were led by Battarius, a
child twelve years old, and they received money and
succeeded in restraining Tarbus, a neighboring potentate,
who had come into Dacia, was demanding money,
and threatening to make war if he should not get it.
Others, like the Quadi, were asking for peace, and they
obtained it, the emperor's purpose being to have them
detached from the Marcomani. Another reason was
that they gave horses and cattle, surrendered all the
deserters and the captives at first to the number of
thirteen thousand, though later they promised to restore
the remainder as well. However, the right of
free intercourse even at markets was not granted them,
the intention being to prevent the Iazyges and the Marcomani,
whom they had sworn not to receive nor let
pass through their country, from either mingling with
them or presenting themselves also in the guise of
Quadi,--a plan which would enable them to reconnoitre
the Roman position and to purchase provisions. Besides
these who came to Marcus, many others despatched
envoys, some by tribes and some by nations,
offering to surrender themselves. Some of them were
sent on campaigns to other parts of the world, and the
captives and deserters who were fit for it were similarly
treated. Others received land, in Dacia or in
Pannonia or in Moesia and Germany or in Italy itself.
A few of them who settled at Ravenna made an uprising
and even dared to take possession of the city:
and for this reason he did not again bring any barbarian
into Italy, but made even those who had previously
come there find homes outside.]
Detachments of both Astingi and Lacringi had come to lend assistance
to Marcus.
12
[The Astingi, whose leaders were Raus and Raptus,
came into Dacia to settle, in the hope of receiving both
money and land in return for terms of alliance. As
they did not obtain this, they put their wives and children
in the keeping of Clemens,
[
]
with the apparent intention
of acquiring the land of the Costobocci by force
of arms; and upon conquering them they injured Dacia
no less. The Lacringi, fearing that Clemens out of
dread might lead these newcomers into the land which
they were inhabiting, attacked them off their guard and
won a decisive victory. As a result, the Astingi committed
no further deeds displaying hostility to the
Romans, but by making urgent supplication to Marcus
received money from him and asked that land might be
given them if they should harm in some way his temporary
enemies. Now these performed some of their
promises. The Cotini made similar propositions, but
upon getting control of Tarrutenius Paternus, secretary
of the emperor's Latin letters, under the pretext
of requiring his aid for a campaign against the Marcomani,
they not only failed to take this course but did
him frightful injury and thereby ensured their own
destruction later.]
13
[Envoys were also sent to Marcus by the Iazyges,
requesting peace, but they did not obtain any. For
Marcus, knowing their race to be untrustworthy, and,
furthermore, because he had been deceived by the
Quadi, wished to annihilate them absolutely.
[
]
The
Quadi had not only made alliances at this time with
the Iazyges, but previously, too, were wont to receive
in their own land Marcomanian fugitives who might be
hard pressed, while that tribe was at war with the
Romans. Nor did they do aught else that they had
agreed, for they did not restore all the captives, but
only a few, and these were such as they could not sell
nor use for any work as helpers. And whenever they
did give back any of those in good condition, they
would keep their relatives at home in order that the
men given up might desert again to join their friends.
They also expelled their king, Furtius, and on their
own responsibility made Ariogaesus king instead.
Consequently the emperor did not confirm him, since
he had not been legally installed, nor renew the treaty
of peace, though they promised to return fifty thousand
captives if he would.]
14
[Against Ariogaesus Marcus was so bitter that he
issued a proclamation to the effect that any one who
would bring him alive should receive a thousand gold
pieces, and any one who killed him and exhibited his
head, five hundred. Yet in other cases this emperor
was always accustomed to treat even his most stubborn
foes humanely; for instance, he did not kill, but merely
sent to Britain Tiridates, a satrap who roused a tumult
in Armenia and the person who slew the king of the
Heniochi and then held the sword in Verus's
[
]
face,
when the latter rebuked him for it. This, then, shows
the extent of his irritation against Ariogaesus at the
time. However, when the man was later captured he
did him no harm, but sent him away to Alexandria.]
A.D. 174(?) 175(?)
When Pertinax in consideration of his brave exploits
obtained the consulship, there were nevertheless some
who showed displeasure at the fact that he was of
obscure family, and quoted the line from tragedy:
"Such things the wretched war brings in its train."
[
99]
They did not know that he should yet be sovereign.
A.D. 176(?)
15
[At the request of the Marcomani, as expressed by
their envoys and in view of the fact that they had
followed all the injunctions laid upon them, even if
sullenly and hesitatingly, he released to them one half of
the adjoining territory, so that they could settle for a
distance of about thirty-eight stades
[
]
from the Ister,
and established the places and the days for their
meeting together (these had not been previously
determined), and he exchanged hostages with them.]
A.D. 175 (a.u. 928)
16
[The Iazyges, also, when they had experienced
reverses, came to an agreement, Zanticus himself appearing
as suppliant before Antoninus. Previously they
had imprisoned Banadaspus, their second king, for
making proposals to him. Now, however, all the foremost
men came in company with Zanticus and made the
same compact as that accepted by the Quadi and the
Marcomani, except in so far as they were required
[
]
to
dwell twice as far away from the Ister as those tribes.
It was his wish to root them out utterly. That they
were still strong at this time and could have done the
Romans great harm is evident from the fact that they
gave back one hundred thousand captives out of a body
in which many had been sold, many were dead, and
many had run away and been recaptured. They supplied
Antoninus at once with a cavalry force of eight
thousand allies, fifty-five hundred of whom he sent to
Britain.]
17
[The revolt of Cassius and Syria forced Marcus
Antoninus, even contrary to his wishes, to come to
terms with the Iazyges. He was so upset at the news
that he did not even communicate to the senate the
basis of the reconciliation made with them, as he was
wont to do in all other cases.]
18
[The Iazyges sent an embassy and asked to be released
from some of the agreements they had made,
and a certain leniency was shown them, to prevent
their being entirely alienated. Yet neither they nor
the Buri were willing to join the Roman alliance until
they received pledges from Marcus that he would without
fail prosecute the war to the uttermost. They
were afraid that he might make a treaty with the
Quadi, as before, and leave enemies dwelling at their
doors.]
19
[Marcus gave audience to such persons as came in the
capacity of envoys from outside nations, but all were
not received on the same footing. This varied according
as the individual states were worthy to receive citizenship,
or freedom from taxes, or perpetual or temporary
exemption from tribute, or to enjoy permanent support.
And when the Iazyges proved themselves most
useful to him, he released them from many of the restrictions
imposed upon them,--indeed, from all, save
from the arrangements made in regard to their gatherings
and mutual intercourse, and the provisions that
they should
not
use boats of their own and
should
keep
away from the islands in the Ister. And he permitted
them to go through Dacia and have dealings with the
Rhoxolani as often as the governor of Dacia would give
them permission.]
20
[The Quadi and the Marcomani sent envoys to Marcus,
saying that the two myriads of soldiers that were
in the forts would not allow
[
]
]
them to pasture or till the
soil or do anything else with freedom, but kept receiving
many deserters from them and captives of theirs;
yet the soldiers themselves were enduring no great
hardships, inasmuch as they had bath-houses and all
necessary provisions in abundance. The Quadi, consequently,
would not endure the watch kept on them from
fortifications and undertook to withdraw
en masse
to
the territory of the Semnones. But Antoninus learned
beforehand of their intention and by barring the roads
thither prevented them. This showed that he desired
not to acquire their territory, but to punish the members
of the tribe.]
21
[And the Naristi, having encountered hardships, deserted
to the number of three thousand at once and
received land in our territory.]
22
Upon the rebellion of Cassius in Syria, Marcus, in
great alarm, summoned his son Commodus from Rome,
since he was now able to enter the ranks of the iuvenes.
Now Cassius, who was a Syrian from Cyrrhus, had
shown himself an excellent man and the sort of person
one would desire to have as emperor: only he was
a son of one Heliodorus,
[
]
who had been delighted to
secure the governorship of Egypt as a result of his
oratorical skill. But in this uprising he made a terrible
mistake, and it was all due to his having been deceived
by Faustina. The latter, who was a daughter
of Antoninus Pius, seeing that her husband had fallen
ill, and expecting that he might die at any moment, was
afraid that the imperial office might revert to some outsider
and she be left in private life; for Commodus was
both young and rather callow, besides. So she secretly
induced Cassius to make preparations to the end that
if anything should happen to Antoninus he might take
both her and the sovereignty.
23
Now while he was in
this frame of mind, a message came that Marcus was
dead (in such circumstances reports always make matters
worse than they really are) and immediately, without
waiting to confirm the rumor, he laid claim to the
empire on the ground that it had been bestowed upon
him by the soldiers at this time quartered in Pannonia.
And in spite of the fact that before long he learned the
truth, nevertheless, since he had once made a move, he
would not change his attitude but speedily won over
the whole district bounded by the Taurus, and was
making preparations to maintain his ascendancy by
war. Marcus, on being informed of his uprising by
Verus, the governor of Cappadocia, for a time concealed
it; but, as the soldiers were being mightily disturbed
by the reports and were doing a deal of talking,
he called them together and read an address of the
following nature:
24
"Fellow-soldiers, I have not come before you to express
indignation, nor yet in a spirit of lamentation.
Why rage against Fate, that is all-powerful? But
perchance it is needful to bewail the lot of those who
are undeservedly unfortunate, a lot which is now mine.
Is it not afflicting for us to meet war after war? Is it
not absurd to be involved in civil conflict? Are not
both these conditions surpassed in affliction and in
absurdity by the proof before us that there is naught
to be trusted among mankind, since I have been plotted
against by my dearest friend and have been thrust into
a conflict against my will, though I have committed no
crime nor even error? What virtue, what friendship
shall henceforth be deemed secure after this experience
of mine? Has not faith, has not hope perished?
If the danger were mine alone, I should give the matter
no heed,--I was not born to be immortal,--but since
there has been a public secession (or rather obsession)
and war is fastening its clutches upon all of us alike, I
should desire, were it possible, to invite Cassius here
and argue the case with him in your presence or in the
presence of the senate; and I would gladly, without a
contest, withdraw from my office in his favor, if this
seemed to be for the public advantage. For it is on
behalf of the public that I continue to toil and undergo
dangers and have spent so much time yonder outside
of Italy, during mature manhood and now in old age
and weakness, though I can not take food without pain
nor get sleep free from anxiety.
25
"But since Cassius would never be willing to agree
to this (for how could he trust me after having shown
himself so untrustworthy towards me?), you, at least,
fellow-soldiers, ought to be of good cheer. Cilicians,
Syrians, Jews and Egyptians have never proved your
superiors nor shall so prove, even if they assemble in
numbers ten times your own, whereas they are now by
the same proportion inferior. Nor yet would Cassius
himself now appear worthy of any particular consideration,
however much he may seem to possess the
qualities of generalship, however many successes he
may seem to have gained. An eagle is not formidable
at the head of an army of daws, nor a lion commanding
fawns; and it was not Cassius, but you, that
brought to an end the Arabian or the famous Parthian
War. Again, even though he is renowned as a result
of his achievements against the Parthians, yet you
have Verus, who has won more victories than he and
has acquired more territory in a not less, but more
distinguished manner.--But probably he has already
changed his mind, on hearing that I am alive, for
surely he has done this on no other assumption than
that I was dead. And if he resists still further, yet
when he learns that we are approaching, he will surely
hesitate both out of fear of you and out of respect for
me.
26
"There is only one thing I fear, fellow-soldiers (you
shall be told the whole truth), and that is that he may
either kill himself because ashamed to come into our
presence, or some one else upon learning that I shall
come and am setting out against him may do it. Then
should I be deprived of a great prize both of war and
of victory, and of a magnitude such as no human being
ever yet obtained. What is this? Why, to forgive a
man that has done you an injury, to remain a friend
to one who has transgressed friendship, to continue
faithful to one who has broken faith. Perhaps this
seems strange to you, but you ought not to disbelieve
it. For all goodness has not yet perished from among
mankind, but there is still in us a remnant of the
ancient virtue. And if any one does disbelieve it, that
renders the more ardent my desire that men may see
accomplished what no one would believe could come to
pass. That would be one profit I could derive from
present ills, if I could settle the affair well and show
to all mankind that there is a right way to handle
even civil wars."
27
This is what Marcus both said to the soldiers and
wrote to the senate, in no place abusing Cassius, save
he constantly termed him ungrateful. Nor, indeed,
did Cassius ever utter or write anything of a nature
insulting to Marcus.
Marcus at the time he was preparing for the war against Cassius
would accept no barbarian alliance although he found a concourse of
foreign nations offering their services; for he said that the barbarians
ought not to know about troubles arising between Romans.
While Marcus was making preparations for the civil
war, many victories over various barbarians were reported
at one and the same time with the death of
Cassius. The latter while walking had encountered
Antonius, a centurion, who gave him a sudden wound in
the neck, though the blow was not entirely effective.
And Antonius, borne away by the impetus of his horse,
left the deed incomplete, so that his victim nearly escaped;
but meantime the decurion had finished what
was left to do. They cut off his head and set out to
meet the emperor.
Marcus Antoninus
[was so much grieved at the destruction
of Cassius that he would not even endure to
see the severed head, but before the murderers drew
near gave orders that it should be buried.]
Thus was this pretender slain after a dream of
sovereignty lasting three months and six days, and
his son was murdered somewhere else. And Marcus
upon reaching the provinces that had joined in Cassius's
uprising treated them all very kindly and put no
one, either obscure or prominent, to death.
28
[The same man would not slay nor imprison nor did
he put under any guard any one of the senators associated
with Cassius. He did not so much as bring them
before his own court, but merely sent them before the
senate, nominally under some other complaint, and appointed
them a fixed day on which to have their case
heard. Of the rest he brought to justice a very few,
who had not only cooperated with Cassius to the extent
of some overt action but were personally guilty of some
crime. A proof of this is that he did not murder nor
deprive of his property Flavius Calvisius, the governor
of Egypt, but merely confined him on an island. The
records made about his case Marcus caused to be
burned, in order that no reproach might attach to him
from them. Furthermore he released all his relatives.]
A.D. 176 (a.u. 929)
29
About this same time Faustina died, either of the
gout from which she had suffered or from less natural
causes and to avoid being convicted of her compact
with Cassius.--Moreover, Marcus destroyed the documents
[found in the chests of Pudens],
[
]
not even reading
them, in order that he might not learn even a name
of any of the conspirators who had written something
against him and that he might not
[therefore]
be reluctantly
forced to hate any one. Another account is
that Verus, who was sent ahead into Syria, of which he
had secured the governorship, found them among the
effects of Cassius and put them out of the way, saying
that this course would most probably be agreeable to
the emperor, but even if he should be angry, it would
be better that he
[Verus]
himself should perish than
many others. Marcus was so averse to slaughter
that he saw to it that the gladiators in Rome contended
without danger, like athletes; for he never permitted
any of them to have any sharp iron, but they fought
with blunt weapons, rounded off at the ends.
[And so
far was he from countenancing any slaughter that
though at the request of the populace he ordered to be
brought in a lion trained to eat men, he would not look
at the beast nor emancipate its teacher, in spite of the
long-continued and urgent demands of the people. Instead,
he commanded proclamation to be made that the
man had done nothing to deserve freedom.]
30
In his great grief over the death of Faustina he
wrote to the senate that no one of those who had
cooperated with Cassius was dead, as if in this fact
alone he could find some consolation for Faustina's
loss. "May it never happen," he continued, "that
any one of you is slain during
[
]
my lifetime either by
my vote or by your own." Finally he said: "If I do
not obtain this request, I shall hasten on to death." So
pure and excellent and godfearing did he show himself
throughout his career.
[Nothing could force him to
do anything inconsistent with his character, neither the
wickedness of daring attempts nor the expectation of
similar events to follow as the result of pardon. To
such an extent did he refrain from inventing any
imaginary conspiracy and concocting any tragedy that
had not taken place, that he released even those who
most openly rose against him and took arms against
him and against his son, whether they were generals
or heads of tribes or kings, and he put none of them to
death either by his own action or by that of the senate
or by any other arrangement whatever. Wherefore I
actually believe that if he had captured Cassius himself
alive, he would certainly have saved him from injury.]
For he conferred benefits upon many who had been
murderers,--so far as lay in their power,--of himself
and his son.
31
A law was at this time passed that no one should be
governor in the province from which he had originally
come, because the revolt of Cassius had occurred during
his administration of Syria, which included his
native district. It was voted by the senate that silver
images of Marcus and Faustina should be set up in the
temple of Venus and Roma, and that an altar should
be erected whereon all the maidens married in the city
and their bridegrooms should offer sacrifice; also that
a golden image of Faustina should be carried in a chair
to the theatre on each occasion that the emperor should
be a spectator, and that it should be placed in the seat
well forward, where she herself was wont to take her
place when alive, and that the women of chief influence
should all sit round about it.
32
Marcus went to Athens, where after being initiated
into the mysteries he bestowed honors upon the Athenians
and gave teachers to all men in Athens, for every
species of knowledge, these teachers to receive an
annual salary. On his return to Rome he made an
address to the people; and while he was saying, among
other things, that he had been absent many years, they
cried out: "Eight!" and indicated this also with their
hands, in order that they might receive an equal number
of gold pieces for a banquet. He smiled and himself
uttered the word "Eight." After that he distributed
to them two hundred denarii apiece, more than
they had ever received before.--In addition to doing
this, he forgave all persons all their debts to the imperial
and to the public treasury for a space of forty-six
years, outside of the sixteen granted by Hadrian.
And all the documents relating to these debts he ordered
burned in the Forum.
A.D. 177 (a.u. 930)
--He gave money to many
cities, one of them being Smyrna, that had suffered
terribly by an earthquake; he also assigned the duty of
building up this place to an ex-praetor of senatorial
rank. Therefore I am surprised at the censures even
now passed upon him to the effect that he was not a
man of large calibre. For, whereas in ordinary matters
he was really quite frugal, he never demurred at a
single necessary expenditure (though, as I have said,
] he hurt no one by levies), and he necessarily laid out
very large sums beyond the ordinary requirements.
33
The Scythian imbroglio, which needed his attention,
caused him to give his son a wife, Crispina, sooner than
he actually wished. The Quintilii could not end the
war, although there were two of them and they possessed
prudence, courage, and considerable experience.
Consequently the rulers themselves were forced to take
the field.
A.D. 178 (a.u. 931)
Marcus also asked the senate for money
from the public treasury, not because it had not been
placed in the sovereign's authority, but because Marcus
was wont to declare that this and everything else
belonged to the senate and the people. "We," said
he (speaking to the senate), "are so far from having
anything of our own that we even live in a house of
yours." He set out, therefore, after these remarks,
and after hurling the bloody spear, that lay in the
temple of Bellona, into hostile territory. (I heard this
from men who accompanied him).
A.D. 179
Paternus was
given a large detachment and sent to the scene of fighting.
The barbarians held out the entire day, but were
all cut down by the Romans. And Marcus was for the
tenth time saluted as imperator.
A.D. 180 (a.u. 933)
Had he lived longer, he would have subdued the
whole region: as it was, he passed away on the seventeenth
of March, not from the effects of the sickness
that he had at the time, but by the connivance of his
physicians, as I have heard on good evidence, who
wanted to do a favor to Commodus.
34
When at the
point of death he commended his son to the protection
of the soldiers (for he did not wish his death to appear
to be his fault); and to the military tribunes, who asked
him for the watchword, he said: "Go to the rising sun:
I am already setting." After he was dead he obtained
many marks of honor and was set up in gold within
the senate-house itself.
So this was the manner of Marcus's demise,
[who
besides all other virtues was so godfearing that even
on the dies nefasti he sacrificed at home; and he ruled
better than any that had ever been in power. To be
sure, he could not display many feats of physical prowess;
yet in his own person he made a very strong body
out of a very weak one.]
Most of his life he passed in
the service of beneficence, and therefore he erected on
the Capitol a temple to that goddess and called her by
a most peculiar name, which had never before been current.
[
]
He himself refrained from all offences,
[and
committed no faults voluntarily:]
but the offences of
others, particularly those of his wife, he endured, and
neither investigated them nor punished them. In case
any person did anything good, he would praise him and
use him for the service in which he excelled, but about
others he did not trouble himself,
[saying: "It is impossible
for one to create such men as one wishes to
have, but it is proper to employ those in existence for
that in which each of them may be useful to the commonwealth."]
35
That all his actions were prompted not
by pretence but by real virtue is strikingly clear. He
lived fifty-eight years, ten months, and twenty-two
days, and of this time he had spent considerable as
assistant to the previous Antoninus and had himself
been emperor nineteen years and eleven days, yet from
first to last he remained the same and changed not a
particle. So truly was he a good man, without any pretence
about him. He was vastly helped by his education
being an expert in rhetoric and in philosophical
argument. In the one he had Cornelius Fronto and
Claudius Herodes for teachers, and in the other, Junius
Rusticus and Apollonius of Nicomedea,
[
]
both of whom
followed Zeno's school. As a result, great numbers
pretended to engage in philosophy, in order that they
might be enriched by the emperor.
After all, however, he owed his great attainments
chiefly to his natural disposition; for even before he
enjoyed the society of those men he was unflinchingly
set upon virtue. While still a boy he delighted all his
relations, who were numerous and influential and
wealthy, and was loved by all of them. This, most of
all, led Hadrian to adopt him into his family, and Marcus,
for his part, did not grow haughty
[but, though
young and a Caesar he dutifully played the part of
servant to Antoninus through all the latter's reign and
ungrudgingly did honor to the other men of eminence.
Before going to see his father he used to greet the most
worthy men in the house near the Tiber where he lived,
and in the very apartment where he slept; and all this
time, instead of wearing the attire allowed by his rank,
he went dressed as a private citizen. He visited many
who were sick and invariably met his teachers at the
proper time. Dark garments were what he wore on
going out when not in his father's company, and he
never used the attendant for himself alone. Upon
being appointed leader of the knights he entered the
Forum with the rest, although he was Caesar. This
shows how excellent was his own natural disposition,
though it was aided to the greatest degree by education.]
He was always steeped in Greek and Latin
rhetorical and philosophical learning
[though he had
reached man's estate and had hopes of becoming
emperor]
.
36
Before he was made Caesar he had a dream in which
he seemed to have shoulders and hands of ivory and to
use them in all respects as he did his real limbs.
As a result of his great labors and studies he was
extremely frail in body, yet from the very start he enjoyed
such good health that he used to fight in armor
and on a hunt struck down wild boars while on horseback.
[And not only in his early youth but even later
he wrote most of his letters to his intimate friends with
his own hand.]
However, he did not meet the good
fortune that he deserved, for he was not strong
[in
body]
and was involved in the greatest variety of
troubles throughout practically the whole period that
he was ruler. But I am sure I admire him all the more
for this very reason, that amid unusual and extraordinary
happenings he both himself survived and preserved
the empire. One thing in particular contributed
to his lack of happiness,--the fact that after rearing
and educating his son in the best possible way he was
monstrously disappointed in him. This matter must
now form the subject of our discourse, for our history
now descends from a kingdom of gold to one of iron
and rust,
[
]
as affairs did for the Romans of that day.
DURATION OF TIME
L. Fulvius Bruttius Praesens (II), Sextus Quintilius Condianus.
(A.D. 180 = a.u. 933 = First of Commodus, from
March 17th).
Commodus Aug. (III), Antistius Burrus.
(A.D. 181 = a.u.
934 = Second of Commodus).
C. Petronius Mamertinus, Cornelius Rufus.
(A.D. 182 =
a.u. 935 = Third of Commodus).
Commodus Aug. (IV), Aufidius Victorinus (II).
(A.D. 183
= a.u. 936 = Fourth of Commodus).
L. Eggius Marullus, Cn. Papirius Aelianus.
(A.D. 184 =
a.u. 937 = Fifth of Commodus).
Maternus, Bradua.
(A.D. 185 = a.u. 938 = Sixth of Commodus).
Commodus Aug. (V), Acilius Glabrio (II).
(A.D. 186 =
a.u. 939 = Seventh of Commodus).
Crispinus, Aelianus.
(A.D. 187 = a.u. 940 = Eighth of
Commodus).
C. Allius Fuscianus (II), Duillius Silanus (II).
(A.D. 188
= a.u. 941 = Ninth of Commodus).
Iunius Silanus, Servilius Silanus.
(A.D. 189 = a.u. 942 =
Tenth of Commodus).
Commodus Aug. (VI), M. Petronius Septimianus.
(A.D.
190 = a.u. 943 = Eleventh of Commodus).
Apronianus, Bradua.
(A.D. 191 = a.u. 944 = Twelfth of
Commodus).
Commodus Aug. (VII), P. Helvius Pertinax (II).
(A.D. 192
= a.u. 945 = Thirteenth of Commodus, to Dec. 31st).
A.D. 180 (a.u. 933)
1
This
[Commodus]
was not naturally wicked, but was
originally as free from taint as any man ever was.
His great simplicity, however, and likewise his cowardice
made him a slave of his companions and it was
through them that he first, out of ignorance, missed
the better life and then was attracted into licentiousness
and bloodthirsty habits, which soon became second
nature.
[And this, I think, Marcus clearly perceived
beforehand.]
He was nineteen years old when his
father died, leaving him many guardians, among whom
were numbered the best men of the senate. But to
their suggestions and counsels Commodus bade farewell,
and, after making a truce with the barbarians, he
hastened to Rome.
2
[For the Marcomani by reason of the number of
their people that were perishing and the damage constantly
being done to their farms no longer had either
food or men in any numbers. Thus they sent only two
of their foremost representatives and two others that
were of inferior rank as envoys in regard to peace.
And whereas he might easily have put an end to their
resistance, he so detested exertion and was so eager
for the comforts of city life that he made terms with
them. Besides the conditions which his father had
settled upon with them new ones were now imposed requiring
them to restore to him the deserters and the
captives that they took after this time and to contribute
annually a stipulated amount of grain,--a demand
from which he subsequently released them. He obtained
some weapons from them and also soldiers, thirteen thousand
from the Quadi and a smaller number
from the Marcomani. In return for this contingent
he relieved them of the requirement of an annual
levy. However, he issued further orders that they
should not assemble often nor in many parts of the
country, but once each month, in one place, in the presence
of a Roman centurion; and again, that they should
not make war upon the Iazyges, the Buri, or the Vandili.
On these terms a reconciliation was effected and
all the garrisons in their country beyond the detached
border territory were abandoned
[Lacuna]
]
A.D. 181(?)
3
[Commodus also granted peace to an embassy from
the Buri. Previously he would not have it, though
often asked, because they were strong and because
it was not peace they wanted, but the securing of a
respite for further preparations. Now, however, since
they were exhausted, he made terms with them and
accepted hostages. From the Buri he received back
many captives and from the others
[
]
fifteen thousand,
and he compelled the others
[
]
to take oath that they
would never dwell in nor use as pasture forty stadia
of their territory, nearest to Dacia. The same (?) Sabinianus
also reduced twelve thousand of the neighboring
Dacians who had been driven out of their own
country and were on the point of aiding the rest.
[
]
He
promised these that some land in our Dacia should be
given them.]
4
Frequent plots were formed by various persons
against Commodus
[for he did many reprehensible
deeds]
and he murdered great numbers both of men
and of women, some openly and some by secret poison,--in
a word, practically all those who had attained eminence
during his father's lifetime and his own.
Exceptions were Pompeianus and Pertinax and Victorinus:
these for some reason unknown to me he did not
kill. THIS AND WHAT FOLLOWS I STATE NOT
ON THE AUTHORITY OF ANOTHER'S TRADITION, BUT FROM
MY OWN OBSERVATION. On
coming to Rome he had a conference with the senate,
at which he talked a great deal of nonsense, one thing
that he said in praise of himself being that he had once
on horseback saved the life of his father, who had
fallen into a deep mire. Of such a nature were his
lofty pratings.
A.D. 182 (a.u. 935)
As he was entering the hunting
theatre, Claudius Pompeianus laid a snare for him.
He held up a sword in the narrow passage which
served as an entrance and said: "See, this is what the
senate has sent you."
This man had taken as his spouse the daughter of
Lucilla, but had intimate relations both with the
daughter herself and with the girl's mother; in this
way he had become friendly with Commodus, so that
he was his companion at banquets and in the diversions
of youth. Lucilla, who was neither more respectable
nor more continent than her brother Commodus, detested
the girl's husband, Pompeianus. It was for this
reason that she persuaded the aforementioned to
undertake the attack upon Commodus, and she not only
caused his destruction, but was herself detected and
put out of the way. Commodus killed also Crispina,
because he was angry with her for some act of adultery.
Previous to their execution both women had
keen banished to the island of Capreae.
5
There was a certain Marcia, mistress of Quadratus
(one of the men murdered at this time) and Eclectus,
his cubicularius: the latter became also the cubicularius
of Commodus, and the former, first, the emperor's mistress
and later the wife of Eclectus; and she
beheld them also perish by violence. The tradition is
that she very much favored the Christians and did
them many kindnesses, as she was enabled to do
through possessing all influence with Commodus.
Commodus killed also Julianus
[Salvius,
[
]
and Tarrutenius
Paternus, who was numbered among the exconsuls,
and others with them; he furthermore put to
death some woman of the nobility.
[
]
Yet Julianus
after the death of Marcus could at once have done
anything at all that he pleased against him, since he
possessed great renown, was in charge of a large army,
and enjoyed the devotion of his soldiers: and he
refused to make any rebellious move, both because of his
own uprightness and because of the good will that he
bore to Marcus, though dead. And Paternus, if he had
plotted against Commodus, as he was accused of doing,
could easily have murdered him while he himself still
commanded the Pretorians; but he had not done it.]
The emperor murdered likewise Condianus and Maximus
Quintilius; for they had a great reputation on
account of education and military ability and fraternal
harmony and wealth. Their notable talents led to the
suspicion that, even if they were not planning any hostile
movement, still they were not pleased with the
state of affairs. Thus, even as they had lived together,
so they died together, and one child as well. They had
exhibited the most striking example ever seen of affection
for each other, and at no time had they been
divided, even in their political offices. They had grown
prosperous and exceedingly wealthy and were wont to
govern together and to assist each other in trying cases
at law.
6
Sextus Condianus, son of Maximus, who surpassed
the generality of men in character and education, when
be heard that sentence of death had been passed upon
him, too, drank hare's blood (he was at that time located
in Syria); and after this he mounted a horse and
purposely fell from it. Then, as he vomited the blood
(which was supposed to be his own), he was taken up
in the expectation of his immediate demise and
conveyed into a dwelling. The man himself now disappeared
from view, but a ram's body was placed in a
coffin, in his place and burned. Thereafter, by
constantly changing his appearance and clothing, he
wandered about, now here, now there. And when this
story was reported (for it is impossible to conceal for
a long time so weighty a matter), there was hue and
cry after him in every place, bar none. Many were
punished in his stead on account of their resemblance,
and many, too, who were alleged to have shared his
confidences or to have received and hidden him. Several,
moreover, who had perhaps never even seen him,
were deprived of their property. But no one knows
whether he was really killed (though a great number
of heads purporting to be his were carried to Rome)
or whether he made good his escape.
Some other person, after the death of Commodus,
dared to assert that
he
was Sextus and to undertake
the recovery of his wealth and dignities. And he
played the part well while many persons asked him
numbers of questions: when, however, Pertinax enquired
of him something about Grecian affairs, with
which the real Sextus had been well acquainted, he
suffered the greatest embarrassment, not being able even
to understand what was said.
[So it was that nature
had made him like Condianus in form and practice like
him in other ways, but he did not share in his education.]
7
This matter came to my own ears, and another thing
that I saw I shall now describe. There is in the city of
Mallus, in Cilicia, an oracle of Amphilochus, that gives
responses by means of dreams. It had given warning
also to Sextus, in a way that he indicated by a drawing.
The picture that he put on a board represented a boy
strangling two serpents and a lion pursuing a fawn. I
was with my father, then governor of Cilicia, and could
not comprehend what they meant until I learned that
Sextus's brothers had been, as it were, strangled by
Commodus (who later emulated Hercules), just as
Hercules, when an infant, is related to have strangled
the serpents sent against him by Juno: similarly, the
Quintilii were hanged; I learned also that Sextus was
a fugitive and was being pursued by a more powerful
adversary.
I should render my narrative unduly irksome, were
I to set down carefully every single man put to death
by this ruler,--all that he despatched because of false
information, because of unjustified suspicions, because
of notable wealth, because of distinguished family, because
of unusual education, or for any other excellence.
[Commodus displayed in Rome itself many marks of
wealth and very many more, even, of love for the
beautiful. Indeed, he performed one or two acts of
public benefit. Manilius, a kinsman of Cassius, who
had been secretary of his Latin letters and had possessed
the greatest influence with him, was caught after
a flight, but the emperor would not listen to a word of
his, though he promised to lay a great deal of information,
and burned all the conspirator's documents without
reading them.]
A.D. 184 (a.u. 937)
8
He had also some wars with the barbarians beyond
Dacia, in which Albinus and Niger, who later fought
the emperor Severus, won fame, but the greatest conflict
was the one in Britain. When the tribes in the
island, passing beyond the wall that separated them
from the Roman legions, proceeded to commit many
outrages and cut down a general, together with the
soldiers that he had, Commodus was seized with fear
and sent Marcellus Ulpius against them. This man,
who was temperate and frugal and always followed
strict military rules in regard to food and all other
details when he was at war, became in course of time
haughty and arrogant. He was conspicuously incorruptible
in the matter of bribes, but was not of a pleasant
or kindly nature. He showed himself more wakeful
than any other general, and, as he desired his associates
also to be alert, he wrote orders on twelve tablets
(such as are made out of linden wood)
[almost]
every
evening, and bade a man carry them to various persons
at various hours, that they, believing the general
to be always awake, might not themselves take their fill
of sleep. Nature had made him able in the first place
to go without sleep and he had developed this faculty a
great deal more by abstinence from food.
[Of scarcely
anything did he eat his fill and]
in order to avoid satisfying
his hunger even with bread he sent to Rome for
the loaves:
[this was not because he could not eat what
was prepared in that region, but]
it was done with the
purpose that the age of the article might prevent him
eating ever so little more than what was absolutely
necessary.
[His gums, which were sore, were easily
made to bleed by the dryness of the bread. And he
made it his practice to affect sleeplessness even more
than was the case, that he might have a reputation for
being always awake.]
This was the kind of man Marcellus
was, who inflicted great damage upon the barbarians
in Britain. Later he narrowly escaped being
destroyed by Commodus on account of his peculiar
excellence, but was, nevertheless, released.
A.D. 185 (a.u. 938)
9
Perennis, commander of the Pretorians after Paternus,
met destruction on account of a rebellion of the
soldiers. For, since Commodus had devoted himself
to chariot-racing and licentiousness and paid scarcely
any attention to matters pertaining to the empire,
Perennis was compelled to manage not only military
affairs, but everything else, and to preside over the
government. The soldiers, accordingly, when anything
did not go to suit them, laid the blame upon Perennis
and cherished anger against him.
The soldiers in Britain chose Priscus, a lieutenant, emperor. But
he deprecated their action, saying "I am as little suited for emperor
as you are for soldiers."
The lieutenants in Britain had been rebuked for their
turbulence (indeed, they had not become quiet until
Pertinax put a stop to their discord), and now they
chose of their number fifteen hundred javelin-slingers,
whom they sent into Italy. They had approached
Rome without meeting any hindrance, when Commodus
met them and enquired: "Why is this, fellow-soldiers?
What does your presence signify?" Their
answer was: "We are here because Perennis is plotting
against you, and intends to make his son emperor."
Commodus believed them, especially since
Cleander dwelt at length upon the point. (The latter
was often prevented by Perennis from doing all that
he desired, and consequently entertained a bitter
hatred for him). Therefore he delivered the prefect
to the soldiers of whom he was commander, and did not
venture to despise fifteen hundred men, though he had
many times that number of Pretorians. So Perennis
was abused and struck down, and his wife and sister
and two sons were also killed.
10
Thus was he slain though he deserved a far different
fate both on his own account and for the interest of the
entire Roman domain. Only, it may be remarked that
his fondness for office had been the chief cause of the
ruin of his colleague Paternus. Privately he was
never remotely concerned about either fame or wealth,
but lived a most incorruptible and temperate life, and
for Commodus he preserved his empire in entire
safety.
[For the emperor wholly followed his amusements
and gave himself over to chariot-driving and
cared not a whit for any political interests; nor,
indeed, had he given his mind to the matter ever so
zealously, could he have accomplished aught by reason of
his luxurious living and inexperience.]
And the Caesarians, having got rid of this man, with
Cleander at their head entered upon every form of outrage,
selling all privileges, doing violence, plunging
into licentiousness.
Commodus during most of his life was given to idleness
and horses and battles of beasts and of men.
Aside from his performances at home he despatched
many beasts in public and many men on many occasions.
With his own hands and without assistance he
gave the finishing stroke to five hippopotami at one time
and to two elephants on separate days. Moreover, he
killed rhinoceroses and a camelopard. This is what
I have to say in general with reference to his whole career.
11
To Victorinus, prefect of the city, a statue was
granted.
[He died not as the victim of a plot. At
one time what might be called a loud rumor and many
reports were circulating in regard to his destruction]
and, though Commodus frequently wished to get him
out of the way, he still kept putting it off and shrinking
from the deed until the man grew very bold, and one
day approaching Perennis said: "I hear that you wish
to kill me. Why then do you delay? Why do you put
it off, when you might do it this very day?"
[But not
even this caused him to suffer any harm at the hands
of any one else; it was a self-sought death that he
suffered, and the fact seems strange, inasmuch as he
had been honored among the foremost men by Marcus
and in mental excellence and forensic eloquence stood
second to none of his contemporaries. Indeed, by
mentioning two incidents in his history I shall reveal
his whole character.]
Once, when he was governor of Germany, he at first
attempted by private persuasion indoors to induce
his lieutenant not to accept bribes. As the latter
would not listen to him, he mounted the tribunal and
[after bidding the herald proclaim him]
took oath that
he had never received bribes and never would receive
any. Next he bade his under-officer also take oath;
and when this person refused to perjure himself, he
ordered him to be dismissed from office.
[And later
as commandant of Africa he had an associate of similar
character to the man just mentioned. He did not,
to be sure, treat him in the same way, but put him
aboard a boat and sent him back to Rome.]
This is
the kind of man Victorinus was.
12
As for Cleander, who after Perennis possessed
greatest influence, he had been sold along with his
fellow-slaves and had been brought to Rome along
with them for the purpose of carrying burdens. As
time went on he attained such prominence that he slept
before the chamber of Commodus, married the
emperor's concubine Damostratia, and put to death
Saoterus of Nicomedea (who had held the position before
him) besides many others. Yet this victim had
possessed very great influence, so that the Nicomedeans
obtained from the senate the right of holding
a series of games and of building a temple to Commodus.
At any rate, Cleander, raised to greatness by
the power of Fortune, granted and sold senatorships.
praetorships, procuratorships, leaderships,--in a word
everything. Some by expending all that they possessed
had finally become senators. It came to be said of
Julius Solon (an exceedingly obscure man) that he had
been deprived of his property and banished to the
senate.
A.D. 189 (a.u. 942)
Not only did Cleander do this, but he appointed
twenty-five consuls for one year,--something
which never occurred before or after. One of those
consuls was Severus, who later became emperor. The
man obtained money, therefore, from every quarter
and amassed more wealth than had ever yet belonged
to those nominated cubicularii. A great deal of it he
gave to Commodus and his concubines and a great deal
of it he spent on houses, baths, and other works useful
to individuals and to cities.
13
This Cleander, who had soared to so exalted a
height, himself fell suddenly and perished in dishonor.
It was not the soldiers that killed him, as they had
Perennis, but the populace. There occurred a real
and pressing famine, which was increased to the utmost
severity by Papirius Dionysius, the grain commissioner,
in order that Cleander, whose thefts would
seem as much responsible for it as any cause, might
both incur hatred and suffer destruction at the hands
of the Romans. So it fell out. There was a horse-race
on, and as the horses were about to contend for the
seventh time a crowd of children ran into the race
course, at their head a tall and sturdy maiden. As a
result of what subsequently happened she was deemed
by people to have been a divinity. The children shouted
many wild words of complaint, which the people took
up again and began to bawl anything that came into
their heads. Finally, the throng jumped down and
started to find Commodus (who was then in the Quintilian
suburb), invoking many blessings on his head
but many curses upon Cleander. The latter sent
some soldiers against them, who wounded and killed a
few, but encouraged by their numbers and the strength
of the Pretorians they became still more urgent. They
drew near to Commodus before information reached
him from any source of what was going on. Then the
famous Marcia, wife of Quadratus, brought him the
news. And Commodus was so terrified,--he was
always the veriest coward,--that he at once ordered
Cleander to be slain and also his child, who was in
Commodus's hands to be reared. The child was dashed
to the earth and perished, and the Romans, taking the
body of Cleander, dragged it away and abused it and
carried his head all about the city on a pole. They also
wounded some other men who had possessed great
power during his ascendancy.
14
Commodus, taking a respite from his lusts and
sports, developed a taste for blood and proceeded to
compass the death of distinguished men. Among these
was Julianus the prefect, whom he used to embrace and
caress in public and saluted as "father." Another
was Julius Alexander, who was executed for having
brought down a lion by a lucky cast of his javelin while
on horseback.
[
]
This victim, on becoming aware of the
presence of his assassins, murdered them by night and
likewise put out of the way all his own enemies at
Emesa, his native town. After doing this he mounted
a horse and started toward the barbarians; and he
would have escaped, had he not carried a favorite
along with him. He was himself a most excellent
horseman, but he would not think of abandoning the
lad, who was tired out, and so when he was being
overtaken he killed both the boy and himself. Dionysius,
too, the grain commissioner, met his death by the
orders of Commodus.
Moreover, a pestilence, as great as any I know, took
place, for it should be noted that two thousand persons
several times died in Rome on a single day. Many
more, not merely in the capital but throughout almost
the entire empire, perished by the hands of scoundrels,
who smeared some deadly drugs on tiny needles, and,
for pay, infected men with the poison by means of these
instruments. The same thing had happened before in
the reign of Domitian.
[
]
But the death of these
unfortunates was not regarded as of any importance.
A.D. 190 (a.u. 943)
15
Still, the effect of Commodus upon the Romans was
worse than that of all pestilences and all villanies.
One feature was that whatever honors they were wont
to vote to his father out of pure regard they were compelled
by fear and by strict injunction to assign also
to the son. He gave orders that Rome itself be called
Commodiana, the legions "Commodian," and the day
on which this measure was voted "Commodiana."
Upon himself he bestowed, in addition to very many
other titles, that of Hercules. Rome he termed "the
Immortal," "the Fortunate," "the Universal Colony
of the Earth" (for he wished it to seem a settlement
of his own). In his honor a gold statue was erected
of a thousand pounds' weight, together with a bull and
a cow. Finally, all the months were likewise called
after him, so that they were enumerated as follows:
Amazonian, Invincible, Fortunate, Pious, Lucius,
Aelius, Aurelius, Commodus, August, Herculean,
Roman, Transcendent. For he had assumed these
different names at different times. "Amazonian"
and "Transcendent," however, he applied exclusively
to himself, to indicate that in absolutely every respect
he unapproachably surpassed all mankind. So
extravagantly did the wretch rave. And to the senate he
would send a despatch couched in these terms:
"Caesar Imperator, Lucius Aelius Aurelius Commodus,
Augustus, Pius, Beatus, Sarmaticus, Germanicus,
Maximus, Britannicus, Peacemaker of the World,
Invincible, Roman Hercules, High Priest, Holder of
Tribunician Authority for the eighteenth term, Imperator
for the eighth time, Consul for the seventh time,
Father of the Fatherland, to consuls, praetors,
tribunes and the Commodian Fortunate Senate, Greeting."
Great numbers of statues were erected displaying
him in the garb of Hercules. And it was voted
that his age should be called the "Golden Age" and
that entries to correspond with this should in every
case be made in the records.
16
Now this Golden One, this Hercules, this God (such
was another designation of his) one day in the afternoon
rode suddenly from the suburbs with haste into
Rome and conducted thirty horse-races in two hours.
These proceedings had much to do with his running
short of money. He was also fond of bestowing gifts
and frequently presented the populace with one hundred
and forty denarii apiece. But most of his expenditures
were for the objects that I have mentioned.
[So it
was that neither his general income nor what was
provided by Cleander (though incalculable in amount)
sufficed him, and he was compelled to bring charges
against both women and men,--charges not serious
enough for capital punishment but prolific in threats
and terror.]
Some of these persons he murdered, to
others he sold preservation in return for their property
[and got something from them by constraint under
the pretence that it was a voluntary offering]
. And
finally on his birthday he ordered us, our wives, and
our children each to contribute two aurei
[a year as]
a kind of first-fruits, and the senators in all the other
cities five denarii per head.
[Of this, too, he saved not
the smallest part, but spent it all disgracefully on
beasts and gladiators.]
A.D. 192 (a.u. 945)
17
In public he nowhere drove
chariots except sometimes on a moonless night. He
became very desirous to play the character also in public,
but, being ashamed to be seen doing this, he kept it
up constantly at home, wearing the Green uniform.
Beasts, moreover, in large numbers were slaughtered
at his house and many also in public. Again, he would
contend as gladiator: (at home he killed a man in this
way, and, in pretending to shave others, instead of
taking off the hairs he sliced off one man's nose,
another's ears, and some other feature of a third;) but
in public his contests were
[
]
minus the steel and human
blood. Before entering the theatre he would put on
a cleeved tonic of silk, white interwoven with gold, and
we greeted him standing there in this attire. When he
actually went in he donned a pure purple dress
sprinkled with gold, assuming also a similar chlamys
of Greek pattern and a crown made of Indic gems and
gold, and carried such a herald's staff as Mercury does.
The lion skin and club were carried before him along
the streets, and at the theatres were invariably placed
on a gilded chair, whether he was present or absent.
He himself would enter the theatre in the garb of
Mercury, and casting off everything else begin his
performance in simple tunic and unshod.
18
On the first day
he individually killed a hundred bears by shooting
down at them from the top of the elevated circle. The
whole theatre had been divided up by some diameters
built in, which supported a circular roof and intersected
each other, the object being that the beasts, divided
into four herds, might be more easily speared at short
range from any point. In the midst of the struggle he
grew weary, and taking from a woman some sweet
wine cooled in a club-shaped cup drank it down at a
gulp. At this both the populace and we on the instant
all shouted this phrase, common at drinking bouts:
"Long life to you!"
Let no one think that I sully the dignity of history
in noting down such happenings. In general I should
have preferred not to mention it, but since it was one
of the emperor's acts and I was myself present, taking
part in everything seen and heard and spoken, I have
judged it proper to suppress none of the details, but
to hand them down to the attention of those who shall
live hereafter, just as I should do in the case of anything
else especially great and important. And, indeed,
all the remaining events that took place in my
lifetime I shall polish and elaborate more than earlier
occurrences for the reason that my evidence is that of
a contemporary and I know no one else who has my
ability at reducing notable things to writing that has
studied them so exhaustively as I.
19
It was on the first day, then, that this took place. On
the others he frequently went down from the raised
section to the bottom of the circle and slaughtered all
the tame animals that he approached, some of them
also being led to him or brought before him in nets.
He also killed a tiger, a hippopotamus, and an elephant.
After accomplishing this, he retired, but at the
conclusion of breakfast fought again as a gladiator.
The form of fighting which he practiced and the armor
which he used was that pertaining to the so-called
secutor:
in his right hand he held the shield and in his
left the wooden sword. He prided himself very
greatly upon being left-handed. His antagonist would
be some professional athlete, or, perhaps, gladiator,
with a cane; this was sometimes a man that the emperor
himself challenged and sometimes one that the
people chose. In this and other matters he acted the
same way as the other gladiators, except that they go
in for a very small sum, whereas Commodus had
twenty-five myriads from the gladiatorial fund given
him each day. There stood beside him during the contest
Aemilius Laetus, the prefect, and Eclectus, his
cubicularius. He went through a skirmish, and, of
course, conquered, and then, just as he was, he kissed
them
[
]
with his helmet on. After this the rest did some
fighting.--The first day he personally paired all the
combatants, either down below, where he wore all the
attire of Mercury, including a gilded wand, or else
from his place on the elevated platform; and we took
his proceeding as an omen. Later he ascended his customary
seat and from that point viewed the remainder
of the spectacle with us. Nothing more was done that
resembled child's play, but great numbers of men were
killed. At one place somebody delayed about slaying
and he fastened the various opponents together and
bade them all fight at once. At that the men so bound
struggled one against another and some killed those
who did not belong to their group, since the numbers
and the limited space had brought them into proximity.
20
That spectacle as here described lasted fourteen
days. While the contests were going on we senators
invariably attended, along with the knights, save that
Claudius Pompeianus the elder never appeared, but
sent his sons, remaining away himself. He chose
rather to be put to death for this than to behold the
child of Marcus as emperor conducting himself so.--Besides
all the rest that we did, we shouted whatever
we were bidden and this sentence continuously: "Thou
art lord, and thou art foremost, of all most fortunate:
thou dost conquer, thou shalt conquer; from everlasting,
Amazonian, thou dost conquer!"
Of the rest of the people many did not even enter the
theatre and some managed to steal out quietly, for they
were partly ashamed of what was being done and
partly afraid. A story was current that he would like
to shoot a few of them as Hercules had the Stymphalian
birds. This story was believed, too, because once
he had gathered all the men in the city who by disease
or some other calamity had lost their feet, had fastened
some dragon's extremities about their knees, and after
giving them sponges to throw instead of stones had
killed them with blows of a club, on the pretence that
they were giants.
21
This fear was shared by all, both us and the rest.
Here is another way in which he menaced us senators,--an
act which he certainly expected would be
the death of us. He had killed an ostrich, and cutting
off its head he came toward where we were sitting. In
his left hand he held the spoils and in the right
stretched aloft his bloody sword. He spoke not a
word, but with a grin wagged his head to and fro, intimating
that he would subject us to this same treatment.
And many on the spot would have perished by
the sword for laughing at him (for it was laughter and
not grief that overcame us), had I not myself chewed
a laurel leaf, which I got from my garland, and brought
the rest who were sitting near me to munch similar
sprigs, so that in the constant motion of our jaws we
might conceal the fact that we were laughing. After
this occurrence he raised our spirits, since before fighting
again as a gladiator he bade us enter the theatre
in the equestrian garb and with woolen cloaks. (This
was something we never do when going into the theatre
unless some emperor has passed away). And on the
last day his helmet was carried out by the gates
through which the dead are taken out. That made us
all without exception think that he was surely about to
meet his end in some way.
22
And he did die (or rather was despatched) before a
great while. Laetus and Eclectus, displeased at the
way he acted, and moreover filled with fear at the
threats he uttered against them when he was checked
in any of his whims, formed a plot against him.
Commodus was anxious to slay both the consuls (Erucius
Clarus and Sosius Falco) and on the first of the month
to issue as consul and secutor at once from the place
where the gladiators are kept. He had the first cell in
their quarters, as if he were one of them. Let no one
be incredulous about this, for he even cut off the head
of the Colossus and put one of his own there instead;
and then, having given it a club and placed a bronze
lion at its feet so as to make it look like Hercules, he
inscribed, besides the titles that belonged to him, also
this sentence: "First of secutors to engage; the only
left-handed fighter that has conquered twelve times"--I
think it is--"a thousand."
[Lacuna]
was written by Lucius Commodus Hercules, and upon it was inscribed the well known couplet, viz.:
"Hercules I, Jove's son, Lord of Fair Fame,
Not Lucius, howsoe'er constrained thereto."
For these reasons Laetus and Eclectus, making Marcia
their confidante, attacked him. At night on the last
of the year, when people were busy with merry-making,
they had Marcia administer poison to him in
cooked beef. The wine he had consumed and his
always immoderate use of the baths kept him from
succumbing at once, and instead he vomited; this
caused him to suspect the attempt and he uttered some
threats. Then they sent Narcissus, an athlete, to him
and had this man strangle him in the midst of a bath.
This was the end that Commodus met after ruling
twelve years, nine months, and fourteen days. He had
lived thirty-one years and four months, and with him
the imperial house of the true Aurelii ceased.
23
After this there occurred most violent wars and factional
disturbances. The compilation of facts in this
work of mine has been due to the following chance. I
had written and published a book about the dreams and
signs which caused Severus to expect the imperial
power; and he, happening to look at a copy that was
sent him by me, wrote me a long and complimentary
acknowledgment. This letter I received about nightfall
and soon after went to sleep. And in my slumbers
Heaven commanded me that a history be written. So
it came about that I wrote the narrative with which I
am at this moment concerned. And because it pleased
Severus himself and other people very much, I then
conceived a desire to compile a record of all other matters
of Roman interest. Therefore I decided no longer
to leave that treatise as a separate composition, but to
incorporate it in this present history, in order that in
one undertaking I might write positively everything
from the beginning as far as Fortune sees fit to permit.
I have obtained this goddess, it appears, as the guide
of the conduct of my life, and therefore I am dependent
on her entirely: she gives me strength for my
historical research when I am respectful and subdued
before her, and wins me back to work by means of
dreams when I am discouraged and give up the task:
she grants me delightful hopes in regard to the future,
that time will allow this history to survive and never
let its brightness be dimmed. To gather an account of
everything done by the Romans from the beginning
until the death of Severus has taken me ten years, and
to arrange it in literary form twelve years more. The
rest will be written as opportunity offers.
24
Prior to the death of Commodus there were the following
signs. Many ill-boding eagles wandered about
the Capitol uttering cries that portended naught of
peace, and an owl hooted there.
A.D. 191 (a.u. 944)
A fire, starting by
night in some dwelling, laid hold of the temple of
Peace and spread to the stores of Egyptian and
Arabian wares: then, leaping to a great height, it
entered the palace and burned a very large portion of it,
so that the documents belonging to the empire almost
all perished. This as much as anything made it clear
that the injury would not stop in the City but extend
over the entire civilized world. The conflagration
could not be extinguished by human hands, although
great numbers of civilians and great numbers of soldiers
were carrying water and Commodus himself came
from the suburbs to cheer them on. Only after it had
destroyed everything on which it had fastened did it
spend its force and reach a limit.
DURATION OF TIME,
five months
(from the Calends of January
to the Calends of June), in which the following were consuls:
1. Quintus Sosius Falco, C. Erucius Clarus.
2. Flavius Sulpicianus, Fabius Cilo Septiminus
(from the
Calends of March).
3. Silius Messala
(from the Calends of May).
(A.D. 193 = a.u. 946).
A.D. 193 (a.u. 946)
1
Pertinax was one of those men to whom no exception
can be taken, but he ruled only for an exceedingly brief
space of time and was then put out of the way by the
soldiers. While the fate of Commodus was still a
secret the party of Eclectus and Laetus came to him and
acknowledged
[
]
what had been done. On account of his
excellence and reputation they were glad to select him.
He, after seeing them and hearing their story, sent his
most trustworthy comrade to view the body of Commodus.
When the man confirmed the report of the
act, he was then conveyed secretly into the camp and
caused the soldiers consternation; but through the
presence of the adherents of Laetus and by means of
promises
[
]
to give them three thousand denarii per man,
he won them over. They would certainly have remained
content, had he not phrased the conclusion of
his speech somewhat as follows: "There are many unpleasant
features, fellow-soldiers, in the present situation,
but the rest with your help shall be set right
again." On hearing this they took occasion to suspect
that all the irregular privileges granted them by Commodus
would be abolished. Though irritated, they
nevertheless remained quiet, concealing their anger.
On leaving the fortifications he came to the senate-house
while it was still night, and after greeting us (so
far as a man might approach him in the midst of such
a jostling throng) he said in an impromptu way: "I
have been named emperor by the soldiers; however, I
don't desire the office and am going to resign it this
very day because of my age and health and the unpleasant
condition of affairs." This was no sooner said
than we gave the selection our genuine approbation
and chose him in very truth; for he was noble in spirit
and strong in body, except that he walked a little lame.
2
In this way was Pertinax declared emperor and
Commodus an enemy, while both senate and people denounced
the latter long and savagely. They desired to
hale away his body and tear it limb from limb, as they
did his images; but, when Pertinax told them that the
corpse had already been interred, they spared his remains
but glutted their rage on his representations,
calling him all sorts of names. But "Commodus" or
"emperor" were two that no one applied to him. In
stead, they termed him "wretch" and "tyrant," adding
in jest titles like "the gladiator," "the charioteer,"
"the left-handed," "the ruptured man." To
the senators, who had been excited most by fear of
Commodus, the crowd called out: "Huzza, huzza, you
are saved, you have conquered!" All the shouts that
they had been accustomed to raise with a kind of
rhythmic swing to pay court to Commodus in the
theatres they now chanted metamorphosed into the
most ridiculous nonsense. Since they had got rid of one
ruler, and as yet had nothing to fear from his successor,
they made the most of their freedom in the
intervening time and secured a reputation for frankness
by their fearlessness. They were not satisfied
merely to be relieved of further terror, but desired to
show their courage by wanton insolence.
[Public opinion regarding Pertinax was so different
from that in the case of Commodus that those who
heard what had happened, suspecting that this story
had been spread by Commodus to test them, in several
instances (governors of provinces being particularly
involved) imprisoned the men who brought the news.
It was not that they did not wish it to be true, but they
were more afraid of seeming to have helped destroy
Commodus than of not attaching themselves to Pertinax.
For under the latter one who even committed an
error of this kind might still breathe freely, but under
the former not even a faultless person could feel safe.]
3
Pertinax was a Ligurian from Alba Pompeia; his
father was not of noble birth and he himself had just
enough literary training for ordinary needs. Under
these conditions he had become an associate of Claudius
Pompeianus, through whose influence he had become a
commander in the cavalry, and had reached such a
height that he now came to be emperor over his former
friend. And I at that time, during the reign of Pertinax,
saw Pompeianus for the first and last occasion.
He was wont to live mostly in the country on account
of Commodus
[and very seldom came down to the
city]
, making his age and a disease of the eyes his
excuse
[and he had never before, when I was present,
entered the senate]
. Moreover, after Pertinax he was
always ill.
[During his reign he saw and was well
[
]
and advised.]
Pertinax honored him mightily in every
way and in the senate made him take the seat beside
him.
[The same privilege he accorded also to Acilius
Glabrio. This man, too, at that period both heard and
saw. It was to these, then, that he granted such surpassing
honor.]
Toward us also he behaved in a very
sociable way. He was easy of access, listened readily
to any one's request, and cordially answered as he
thought right. Again, he gave us banquets marked by
moderation. Whenever he failed to invite us, he would
send to various persons various foods, even the least
costly. For this the wealthy and vainglorious made
great sport of him, but the rest of us, who valued excellence
above debauchery, approved his course.
4
While he was still in Britain, after that great revolt
which he quelled, and was being accorded praise on all
sides, a horse named Pertinax won a race at Rome. It
belonged to the Greens and was picked as a winner by
Commodus. So, when its partisans raised a great
shout, proclaiming "It is Pertinax," the others, their
opponents, in disgust at Commodus likewise prayed
(speaking with reference to the man, not the horse):
"Would that it might be so!" Later, when this same
horse by reason of age had given up racing and was
in the country, it was sent for by Commodus, who
brought it into the hippodrome, gilded its hoofs, and
adorned its back with a gilded skin. And people
suddenly seeing it cried out again: "It is Pertinax!"
The very expression was itself ominous, since it occurred
at the last horse-race that year, and immediately
after it the sovereignty passed to Pertinax. A
similar import was attached to the club, for Commodus
when about to fight on the final day had given it to
Pertinax.
5
It was in this way that Pertinax came into power.
He obtained all the proper titles and a new one for
wishing to be democratic. That is, he was named
Princeps Senatus, according to ancient custom. He at
once reduced to order everything that was previously
irregular and lacking in discipline. He showed
in his capacity of emperor kindliness and uprightness,
unimpeachable management, and a most careful consideration
for the public welfare. Pertinax did everything,
in fact, that a good emperor should do, and he
removed the stigma of disgrace from the memories of
those who had been unjustly put to death; moreover, he
took oath that he would never sanction such a penalty.
Immediately some recalled their relatives and some
their friends with tears and joy at once; formerly not
even these exhibitions of emotion were allowed.
After this they exhumed the bodies, some of which
were found entire and some in fragments, according as
decay and time had caused each of them to fare, and
they gave them decent treatment and deposited them
in their ancestral tombs.
At this time the treasury was suffering from such
lack of funds that only twenty-five myriad denarii
could be found. Pertinax therefore had difficulty in
raising money from the images and the arms, the
horses and the trappings, and the favorites of
Commodus, but gave to the Pretorians all that he had
promised and to the people one hundred denarii apiece.
All the articles that Commodus had gathered by way
of luxury and for armed combats and for chariot driving
were exposed in the auction-room, the principal
object sought being their sale, though there was a
further intention to show what were the late emperor's
deeds and practices and to ascertain who would purchase
such articles.
6
Laetus consistently spoke well of Pertinax and abused
Commodus
[relating all the latter's evil deeds]
.
He
[
]
summoned some barbarians that had received a
large sum of gold coin from Commodus in return for
preservation of peace (the party was already on the
road) and demanded its return, saying: "Tell your
people that Pertinax is ruler." The foreigners knew
his name very well as a result of the reverses they had
suffered when he made a campaign against them with
Marcus.--Let me tell you another similar act of his
intended to cast reflections upon Commodus. He found
that some filthy clowns and buffoons, disgusting in
appearance, with still more disgusting names and habits,
had been made extremely wealthy by Commodus on
account of their wantonness and licentiousness;
accordingly, he made public their titles and the amounts
they had acquired. The former caused laughter and
the latter wrath and grief, for there were some of
them that possessed just the sums for which the
emperor had slain numbers of senators. However,
Laetus did not remain permanently loyal to Pertinax, or
perhaps we might even say not for a moment. Since
he did not get what he wanted, he proceeded to incite
the soldiers against him (as will be related).
7
Pertinax appointed as prefect of the city his
father-in-law, Flavius Sulpicianus, a man who in any case deserved
the position. Yet he was unwilling to make his
wife Augusta or his son Caesar, though we voted him
permission. He rejected emphatically each proposition,
whether because he had not yet firmly rooted his
own power, or because he did not choose to let his unchaste
consort sully the name of Augusta. As for his
son, who was still a child, he did not care to have him
spoiled by the dignity
[
]
and the hope implied in the
name before he should be educated. Indeed, he would
not even bring him up in the palace, but on the very
first day of his sovereignty he put aside everything
that had belonged to him previously and divided it
between his children--he had also a daughter--and
gave orders that they should live at their grandfather's
house; there he visited them occasionally in the capacity
of father and not of emperor.
8
Now, since the soldiers were no longer allowed to
plunder nor the Caesarians to indulge their licentiousness,
they hated him bitterly. The Caesarians attempted
no revolt, because they were unarmed, but the
Pretorian soldiers and Laetus formed a plot against
him. In the first place they selected Falco the consul
for emperor, because he was prominent for both wealth
and family, and purposed to bring him to the camp
while Pertinax was at the coast investigating the corn
supply. The latter, learning of the plan, returned in
haste to the City, and coming before the senate said:
"You should not be ignorant, Conscript Fathers, that
though I found but twenty-five myriad denarii, I have
distributed as much to the soldiers as did Marcus and
Lucius, to whom were left sixty-seven thousand five
hundred myriads. It is the surprising Caesarians who
have been responsible for this deficiency of funds."
Pertinax told a lie when he said that he had bestowed
upon the soldiers an equal amount with Lucius and
Marcus; for the one had given them about five thousand
and the other about three thousand denarii apiece.
The soldiers and the Caesarians, who were present in
the senate in great numbers, became mightily indignant
and muttered dangerously. But as we were about to
condemn Falco
[and were already declaring him an
enemy]
Pertinax rose and cried out: "Heaven forbid
that any senator, while I am ruler, be put to death even
for a just cause!"
[And in this way Falco's life was
saved, and thenceforth he lived in the country,
preserving a cautious and respectful demeanor.]
9
But Laetus, using Falco as a starting point,
destroyed many of the soldiers on the pretence that the
emperor ordered it. The rest, when they became
aware of it, were afraid that they should perish, too,
and raised a tumult. Two hundred bolder than their
mates invaded the palace with drawn swords. Pertinax
had no warning of their approach until they had
got upstairs. Then his wife rushed in and informed
him what had happened. On learning this he behaved
in a way which one may call noble or senseless or
however one pleases. For, whereas he might probably
have killed his assailants (since he had the night-guard
and the cavalry by to protect him and there were also
many other people in the palace at the time), or might
at any rate have concealed himself and made his escape
to some place or other, and might have closed
the doors of the palace and the other intervening
doors, he, nevertheless, adopted neither alternative.
Instead, hoping to awe them by his presence and thus
gain a hearing and persuade them to their duty, he
confronted the approaching band, which was already
indoors. No one of their fellow soldiers had barred the
way, and the porters and other Caesarians so far from
making any door fast had opened absolutely all the
entrances. The soldiers, seeing him, at first were
10
abashed, save one, and rested their eyes on the floor
and began thrusting their swords back into their
scabbards. But the one exception leaped forward,
exclaiming: "This sword the soldiers have sent you," and
forthwith made a dash at him, striking him a blow.
Then his comrades did not restrain themselves and
felled their emperor together with Eclectus. The
latter alone had not deserted him and defended him as
far as he was able, even to the extent of wounding
several. Wherefore I, who still earlier believed that he
had shown himself a man of worth, now thoroughly
admired him. The soldiers cut off the head of Pertinax
and stuck it on a spear, glorying in the deed. Thus
did Pertinax, who undertook to restore everything in
a brief interval, meet his end. He did not comprehend,
though a well trained man of affairs, that it is impossible
with safety to reform everything at once, but that
the constitution of a government requires, if anything
does, both time and wisdom. He had lived sixty-seven
years lacking four months and three days. He had
reigned eighty-seven days.
11
When the fate of Pertinax was reported, some ran to
their homes and some to those of the soldiers, and paid
heed to their own safety. It happened that Sulpicianus
had been despatched by Pertinax to the camp
to set in order matters there, and he consequently
stayed there and took action looking to the appointment
of an emperor. But there was a certain Didius
Julianus
[of senatorial rank but eccentric character]
,
an insatiate money-getter and reckless spender, always
anxious for a change in the government, who on account
of the last named proclivity had been driven out
by Commodus to his own city, Mediolanum. He, accordingly,
on hearing of the death of Pertinax, hastily made
his way to the camp, and standing near the gates of the
fort made offers to the soldiers in regard to the Roman
throne. Then ensued a most disgraceful affair and one
unworthy of Rome. For just as is done in some market
and auction-room, both the city and her whole empire
were bid off. The sellers were the people who had
killed their emperor, and the would-be buyers were
Sulpicianus and Julianus, who vied to outbid each
other, one from within, the other from without. By
their increases they speedily reached the sum of five
thousand denarii per man. Some of the guard kept reporting
and saying to Julianus: "Sulpicianus is willing
to give so much; now what will you add?" And
again to Sulpicianus: "Julianus offers so much; how
much more do you make it?" Sulpicianus would have
won the day, since he was inside and was prefect of
the city and was the first to say five thousand, had not
Julianus raised his bid, and no longer by small degrees
but by twelve hundred and fifty denarii at once, which
he offered with a great shout, indicating the amount
likewise on his fingers. Captivated by the difference
and at the same time through fear that Sulpicianus
might avenge Pertinax (an idea that Julianus put into
their heads) they received the highest bidder inside
and designated him emperor.
12
So toward evening the new ruler turned his steps
with speed toward the Forum and senate-house. He
was escorted by a vast number of Pretorians with
numerous standards as if prepared for action, his
object being to scare both us and the populace and
thereby secure our allegiance. The soldiers called him
"Commodus," and exalted him in various other ways.
As the news was brought to us each individually, and
we ascertained the truth, we were possessed with fear
of Julianus and the soldiers, especially all of us who
had
[Lacuna]
any favors for Pertinax.
[
]
[Lacuna]
I was
one of them, for I had been honored by Pertinax in
various ways, owing to him my appointment as
praetor, and when acting as advocate for others at
trials I had frequently proved Julianus in the
wrong on many points. Nevertheless, we put in
an appearance, and partly for this very reason,
since it did not seem to us to be safe to hide at
home, for fear that act in itself might arouse suspicion.
So when bath
[
]
and dinner were both over, we
pushed our way through the soldiers, entered the senate-house,
and heard the potentate deliver a characteristic
speech, in the course of which he said: "I see
that you need a ruler, and I myself am better fitted
than any one else to direct you. And I should mention
all the advantages I can offer, if you did not know
them perfectly and had not already had experience
with me. Consequently, I felt no need of being attended
by many soldiers, but have come to you alone,
that you may ratify what has been given me by them."
"I am here alone" is what he said, when he had
surrounded the entire exterior of the senate-house
with heavily armed men and had a number of soldiers
in the senate-house itself. Moreover, he mentioned
our being aware what kind of person he was, and made
us both hate and fear him.
13
In this way he got his imperial power confirmed also
by decrees of the senate and returned to the palace.
Finding the dinner that had been prepared for Pertinax
he made great fun of it, and sending out to every
place from which by any means whatever something
expensive could be procured at that time of day he
satisfied his hunger (the corpse was still lying in the
building) and then proceeded to amuse himself by
dicing. Among his companions was Pylades the dancer.
The next day we went up to visit him, feigning
in looks and behavior much that we did not feel, so
as not to let our grief be detected. The populace,
however, openly frowned upon the affair, spoke its
mind as much at it pleased, and was ready to do what
it could. Finally, when he came to the senate-house
and was about to sacrifice to Janus before the entrance,
all bawled out as if by preconcerted arrangement,
terming him empire-plunderer and parricide.
He affected not to be angry and promised them some
money, whereupon they grew indignant at the implication
that they could be bribed and all cried out together:
"We don't want it, we won't take it!" The
surrounding buildings echoed back the shout in a way
to make one shudder. When Julianus had heard their
response, he could endure it no longer, but ordered
that those who stood nearest should be slain. That
excited the populace a great deal more, and it did not
cease expressing its longing for Pertinax or its abuse
of Julianus, its invocations of the gods or its curses
upon the soldiers. Though many were wounded and
killed in many parts of the city, they continued to resist
and finally seized weapons and made a rush into
the hippodrome. There they spent the night and the ensuing
day without food or drink, calling upon the remainder
of the soldiery (especially Pescennius Niger
and his followers in Syria) with prayers for assistance.
Later, feeling the effects of their outcries and
fasting and loss of sleep, they separated and kept
quiet, awaiting the hoped for deliverance from abroad.
"I do not assist the populace: for it has not called upon me."
14
Julianus after seizing the power in this way managed
affairs in a servile fashion, paying court to the
senate as well as to men of any influence. Sometimes
he made offers, again he bestowed gifts, and he
laughed and sported with anybody and everybody. He
was constantly going to the theatre and kept getting
up banquets: in fine, he left nothing undone to win
our favor. However, he was not trusted; his servility
was so abject that it made him an object of suspicion.
Everything out of the common, even if it seems to be
a kindness to somebody, is regarded by men of sense
as a trap.
The senate had at one time voted him a golden statue and he
refused to accept it, saying: "Give me a bronze one so that it may
last; for I perceive that the gold and silver statues of the emperors
that ruled before me have been torn down, whereas the bronze ones
remain." In this he was not right: since 'tis excellence that safeguards
the memory of potentates. And the bronze statue that was
bestowed upon him was torn down after he was overthrown.
This was what went on in Rome. Now I shall speak
about what happened outside and the various revolutions.
There were three men at this time who were
commanding each three legions of citizens and many
foreigners besides, and they all asserted their claims,--Severus,
Niger, and Albinus. The last-named governed
Britain, Severus Pannonia, and Niger Syria.
These were the three persons darkly indicated by the
three stars that suddenly came to view surrounding
the sun, when Julianus in our presence was offering
the Sacrifices of Entrance in front of the senate-house.
These heavenly bodies were so very brilliant that the
soldiers kept continually looking at them and pointing
them out to one another, declaring moreover that some
dreadful fate would befall the usurper. As for us,
however much we hoped and prayed that it might so
prove, yet the fear of the moment would not permit us
to gaze at them, save by occasional glances. Such are
the facts that I know about the matter.
15
Of the three leaders that I have mentioned Severus
[was]
the shrewdest
[in being able to foresee the future
with accuracy, to manage present affairs successfully,
to ascertain everything concealed as well as if it had
been laid bare and to work out every complicated situation
with the greatest ease.]
He understood in advance
that after deposing Julianus the three would
fall to blows with one another and offer combat for the
possession of the empire, and therefore determined to
win over the rival who was nearest him. So he sent a
letter by one of his trusted managers to Albinus, creating
him Caesar. Of Niger, who was proud of having
been invoked by the people, he had no hopes. Albinus
on the supposition that he was going to share the empire
with Severus remained where he was: Severus
made all strategic points in Europe, save Byzantium,
his own and hastened toward Rome. He did not venture
outside a protecting circle of weapons, having selected
his six hundred most valiant men in whose midst
he passed his time day and night; these did not once
put off their breastplates until they reached Rome.
[This Fulvius
[
]
(?) too, who when governor of Africa
had been tried and condemned by Pertinax for rascality,
avarice, and licentiousness, was later elevated
to the highest position by the same man, now become
emperor, as a favor to Severus.]
16
Julianus on learning the condition of affairs had the
senate make Severus an enemy and proceeded to prepare
against him.
[In the suburbs he constructed a
rampart, wherein he set gates, that he might take up a
position there outside and fight from that base.]
The
City during these days became nothing more nor less
than a camp, pitched, as it were, in hostile territory.
There was great turmoil from the various bodies of
those bivouacked and exercising,--men, horses, elephants.
The mass of the population stood in great
fear of the armed men
[because the latter hated them.]
Occasionally laughter would overcome us. The Pretorians
did nothing that was expected of their name
and reputation, for they had learned to live delicately.
The men summoned from the fleet that lay at anchor
in Misenum did not even know how to exercise. The
elephants found the towers oppressive and so would
not even carry their drivers any longer
[but threw
them off also]
. What caused us most amusement was
his strengthening the palace with latticed gates and
strong doors. For, as it seemed likely that the soldiers
would never have slain Pertinax so easily if the building
had been securely fastened, Julianus harbored the
belief that in case of defeat he would be able to shut
himself up there and survive.
Moreover, he put to death both Laetus and Marcia,
so that all the conspirators against Commodus had
now perished. Later Severus gave Narcissus also to
the beasts, making the proclamation (verbatim):
"This is the man that strangled Commodus." The
emperor likewise killed many boys for purposes of enchantments,
thinking that he could avert some future
calamities, if he should ascertain them in advance.
And he kept sending man after man to find Severus
and assassinate him.
[Vespronius Candidus, a man of
very distinguished rank but still more remarkable for
his sullenness and boorishness, came near meeting his
end at the hands of the soldiers.]
17
The avenger had now reached Italy and without
striking a blow took possession of Ravenna. The men
whom his opponent kept sending to him to either persuade
him to turn back or else block his approaches
were won over. The Pretorians, in whom Julianus reposed
most confidence, were becoming worn out by constant
toil and were getting terribly alarmed at the
report of Severus's proximity. At this juncture Julianus
called us together and bade us vote for Severus
to be his colleague in office.
The soldiers were led to believe by communications
from Severus that, if they would surrender the assassins
of Pertinax and themselves offer no hostile demonstration,
they should receive no harm; therefore
they arrested the men who had killed Pertinax and
announced this very fact to Silius Messala, the consul.
The latter assembled us in the Athenaeum,
[
]
so called
from the fact that it was a seat of educational activity,
and informed us of the news from the soldiers. We
then sentenced Julianus to death, named Severus emperor,
and bestowed heroic honors upon Pertinax. So
it was that Julianus came to be slain as he was reclining
in the palace itself; he had only time to say:
"Why, what harm have I done? Whom have I
killed?" He had lived sixty years, four months, and
the same number of days, out of which he had reigned
sixty-six days.
Dio, 74th Book: "Men of intelligence should neither begin a war
nor seek to evade it when it is thrust upon them. They should rather
grant pardon to him who voluntarily conducts himself properly, in spite
Of any previous transgression,
[Lacuna]
DURATION OF TIME
Q. Sosius Falco, C. Erucius Clarus.
(A.D. 193 = a.u. 946 =
First of Severus, from the Calends of June).
I. Septimius Severus Aug. (II), D. Clodius Septimius Albinus
Caes.
(A.D. 194 = a.u. 947 = Second of Severus).
Scapula Tertullus, Tineius Clemens.
(A.D. 195 = a.u. 948
= Third of Severus).
C. Domitius Dexter (II), L. Valerius Messala Priscus.
(A.D.
196 = a.u. 949 = Fourth of Severus).
1
Severus upon becoming emperor in the manner
described punished with death the | Pretorians | who
had contrived the fate of Pertinax. Before reaching
Rome he summoned those remaining
[Pretorians]
, surrounded
them in a plain while they still did not know
what was going to happen to them, and having reproached
them long and bitterly for their transgression
against their emperor he relieved them of their arms,
took away their horses, and expelled them from Rome.
The majority reluctantly proceeded to throw away
their arms and let their horses go, and scattered uninjured,
in their tunics. One man, as his horse refused
to leave him, but kept following him and neighing, slew
both the beast and himself. To the spectators it
seemed that the horse also was glad to die.
When he had attended to this matter Severus entered
Rome; he went as far as the gates on horseback and in
cavalry costume, but from that point on changed to
citizen's garb and walked. The entire army, both,
infantry and cavalry, in full armor accompanied him.
The spectacle proved the most brilliant of all that I
have witnessed, for the whole city had been decked with
wreaths of blossoms and laurel and besides being
adorned with richly colored stuffs blazed with lights
and burning incense. The population, clad in white
and jubilant, gave utterance to many hopeful expressions.
The soldiers were present, conspicuous by their
arms, as if participating
[
]
in some festival procession,
and we, too, were walking about in our best attire.
The crowd chafed in their eagerness to see him and to
hear him say something, as if his voice had been somehow
changed by his good fortune, and some of them
held one another up aloft to get a look at him from a
higher position.
2
Having entered in this style he began to make us rash
promises, such as the good emperors of old had given,
to the effect that he would not put any senator to death.
He not only took oath concerning this matter, but what
was of greater import he also ordered it ratified by
public decree, and passed an ordinance that both the
emperor and the person who helped him in any such
deed should be considered an enemy,--themselves and
also their children. Yet he was himself the first to
break the law and instead of keeping it caused the
death of many persons. Even Julius Solon himself,
who framed this decree according to imperial mandate,
was a little later murdered. The emperor did
many things that were not to our liking.
[He was
blamed for making the city turbulent by the multitude
of soldiers and he oppressed the commonwealth by excessive
expenditure of funds: he was blamed most of
all for placing his hope of safety in the strength of his
army and not in the good-will of his companions.]
But
some found fault with him especially because, whereas
it had been the custom for the body-guard to be drawn
from Italy, Spain, Macedonia and Noricum only,--a
plan which furnished men more distinguished in appearance
and of simpler habits,--he had abolished this
method,
[He ruled that any vacancies should be filled
from all the legions alike; this he did with the idea that
he should find them as a result more conversant with
military practices and should be setting up warfare as
a kind of prize for the excellent. As a matter of fact
he incidentally ruined all the most reliable men of military
age in Italy, who turned their attention to robbery
and gladiatorial fighting in place of the service that
had previously claimed it.]
and filled the city with a
throng of motley soldiers, most savage in appearance,
most terrifying in their talk, and most uncultured to
associate with.
3
The signs which led him to expect the sovereignty
were these. When he had been registered in the
senate-house, it seemed to him in a vision that a she-wolf
suckled him, as was the case with Romulus. On
the occasion of his marrying Julia, Faustina, the wife
of Marcus, prepared their bedchamber in the temple
of Venus opposite the palace; and once, when he was
asleep, water gushed from his hand as from a spring;
and when he was governor of Lugdunum, the whole
Roman domain approached and greeted him,--all this
in dreams, I mean. At another time he was taken by
some one to a point affording a wide view; and as he
gazed from it over all the earth and all the sea he laid
his fingers on them as one might on some instrument
[
]
capable of all harmonies, and they answered to his
touch. Again, he thought that in the Roman Forum
a horse threw Pertinax, who was already mounted, but
readily took him on its back. These things he had
already learned from dreams, but in his waking hours
he had, while a youth, ignorantly seated himself upon
the imperial chair. This accident, taken with the rest,
indicated rulership to him in advance.
4
Upon attaining that condition he erected a heroum to
Pertinax and commanded that his name should be repeated
in the course of all prayers and of all oaths. A
gold image of him was ordered brought into the hippodrome
on a car drawn by elephants and three gilded
thrones for him conveyed into the remaining theatres.
His funeral, in spite of the time elapsed since his death,
took place as follows:
In the Forum Romanum a wooden platform was constructed
hard by the stone one, upon which was set a
building without walls but encompassed by columns,
with elaborate ivory and gold decoration. In it a couch
of similar material was placed, surrounded by heads
of land and sea creatures, and adorned with purple
coverlets interwoven with gold. Upon it had been laid
a kind of wax image of Pertinax, arrayed in triumphal
attire. A well-formed boy was scaring the flies away
from it with peacock feathers, as though it were really
a person sleeping. While it was lying there in state,
Severus, we senators, and our wives approached, clad
in mourning garb.
[
]
The ladies sat in the porticos,
and we under the open sky. After this there came forward,
first, statues of all the famous ancient Romans,
then choruses of boys and men, intoning a kind of
mournful hymn to Pertinax. Next were all the subject
nations, represented by bronze images, attired in
native garb. And the guilds in the City itself,--those
of the lictors and the scribes and the heralds, and all
others of the sort,--followed on. Then came images
of other men who were famous for some deed or invention
or brilliant trait. Behind them were the
cavalry and infantry in armor, the race-horses, and
all the funeral offerings that the emperor and we and
our wives, together with distinguished knights and
peoples and the collegia of the city, had sent. They were
accompanied by an altar, entirely gilded, the beauty
of which was enhanced by ivory and Indic jewels.
5
When these had gone by, Severus mounted the Platform
of the Beaks and read a eulogy of Pertinax. We
shouted our approval many times in the midst of his
discourse, partly praising and partly bewailing Pertinax,
but our cries were loudest when he had ceased.
Finally, as the couch was about to be moved, we all
together uttered our lamentations and all shed tears.
Those who carried the bier from the platform were the
high priests and the officials who were completing their
term of office, as well as any that had been appointed
for the ensuing year. These gave it to certain knights
to carry. The rank and file of us went ahead of the
bier, some beating our breasts and others playing on
the flute some dirge-like air; the emperor followed behind
all, and in this order we arrived at the Campus
Martius. Here there had been built a pyre, tower-shaped
and triple pointed, adorned with ivory and gold
together with certain statues. On its very summit
was lodged a gilded chariot that Pertinax had been
wont to drive. Into this the funeral offerings were
cast and the bier was placed in it, and next Severus and
the relatives of Pertinax kissed the image. Our
monarch ascended a tribunal, while we the senate, except
officials, took our places on the benches, that with
safety and convenience alike we might view what went
on. The magistrates and the equestrian order, arrayed
in a manner becoming their station, besides the cavalry
of the army and the infantry, passed in and out performing
intricate evolutions, both traditional and
newly invented. Then at length the consuls applied fire
to the mound, which being done an eagle flew up from
it. In this way was immortality secured for Pertinax
[who (although bodies of men engaged in warfare
usually turn out savage and those given to peace cowardly)
excelled equally in both departments, being an
enemy to dread, yet shrewd in the arts of peace. His
boldness, wherein bravery appears, he displayed towards
foreigners and rebels, but his clemency, wherewith
is mingled justice, towards friends and the
orderly elements of society. When advanced to preside
over the destinies of the world, he was never
ensnared by the increase of greatness so as to show
himself in some things more subservient and in others
more haughty than was fitting. He underwent no
change from the beginning to the very end, but was
august without sullenness, gentle without humiliating
lowliness, prudent, yet did no injury, just without inquisitorial
qualities, a close administrator without
stinginess, highminded, but devoid of boasts.]
Now Severus made a campaign against Niger. The
latter was an Italian, one of the knights, remarkable
for nothing either very good or very bad, so that one
could either greatly praise or greatly censure him.
[Wherefore he had been assigned to Syria by Commodus.]
He had as a lieutenant, together with others,
Aemilianus, who
[by remaining neutral and watching
the course of events]
was thought to surpass all the
senators of that day in understanding and in experience
of affairs; for he had been tested in many provinces.
[These conditions and the fact that he was a
relative of Albinus had made him conceited.]
[Niger was not in general a well-balanced man and
though he had very great abilities still fell into error.
But at this time he was more than usually elated, so
that he showed how much he liked those who called
him "the new Alexander"; and when one man asked,
"Who gave you permission to do this?" he pointed
to his sword and rejoined, "This did." When the
6
war broke out Niger had gone to Byzantium and from
that point conducted a campaign against Perinthus.
He was disturbed, however, by unfavorable omens that
came to his notice. An eagle perched upon a military
shrine and remained there till captured, in spite of attempts
to scare it away. Bees made wax around the
military standards and about his images most of all.
For these reasons he retired to Byzantium.]
A.D. 194 (a.u. 947)
Now Aemilianus while engaged in conflict with some
of the generals of Severus near Cyzicus was defeated
by them and slain. After this, between the narrows
of Nicaea and Cius, they had a great war of various
forms. Some battled in close formation on the plains;
others occupied the hill-crests and hurled stones and
javelins at their opponents from the higher ground;
still others got into boats and discharged their bows at
the enemy from the lake. At first the adherents of
Severus, under the direction of Candidus, were victorious;
for they found their advantage in the higher
ground from which they fought. But the moment
Niger himself appeared a pursuit in turn was instituted
by Niger's men and victory was on their side.
Then Candidus caught hold of the standard bearers
and turned them to face the enemy, upbraiding the
soldiers for their flight; at this his followers were
ashamed, turned back, and once more conquered those
opposed to them. Indeed, they would have destroyed
them utterly, had not the city been near and the night
a dark one.
7
The next event was a tremendous battle at Issus,
near the so-called Gates. In this contest Valerianus
and Anullinus
[
]
commanded the army of Severus,
whereas Niger was with his own ranks and marshaled
them for war. This pass, the Cilician "Gates",
[
]
is so
named on account of its narrowness. On the one side
rise precipitous mountains, and on the other sheer
cliffs descend to the sea. So Niger had here made a
camp on a strong hill, and he put in front heavy-armed
soldiers, next the javelin slingers and stone throwers,
and behind all the archers. His purpose was that the
foremost might thrust back such as assailed them in
hand-to-hand conflict, while the others from a distance
might be able to bring their force into play over the
heads of the others. The detachment on the left and
that on the right were defended by the sea-crags and
by the forest, which had no issue. This is the way in
which he arranged his army, and he stationed the
beasts of burden close to it, in order that none of them
should be able to flee in case they should wish it.
Anullinus after making all this out placed in advance
the heavier part of his force and behind it his entire
light-armed contingent, to the end that the latter,
though discharging their weapons from a distance
might still retard the progress of the enemy, while the
solidity of the advance guard rendered the upward
passage safe for them. The cavalry he sent with
Valerianus, bidding him, so far as he could, go around
the forest and unexpectedly fall upon the troops of
Niger from the rear. When they came to close quarters,
the soldiers of Sevents placed some of their
shields in front of them and held some above their
heads, making a testudo, and in this formation they
approached the enemy. So the battle was a drawn one
for a long while, but eventually Niger's men got decidedly
the advantage both by their numbers and by
the topography of the country. They would have been
entirely victorious, had not clouds gathered out of a
clear sky and a wind arisen from a perfect calm, while
there were crashes of thunder and sharp flashes of
lightning and a violent rain beat in their faces. This
did not trouble Severus's troops because it was behind
them, but threw Niger's men into great confusion since
it came right against them. Most important of all, the
opportune character of this occurrence infused courage
in the one side, which believed it was aided by Heaven,
and fear in the other, which felt that the supernatural
was warring against them; thus it made the former
strong even beyond its own strength and terrified the
latter in spite of real power. Just as they were fleeing
Valerianus came in sight. Seeing him, they turned
about, and after that, as Anullinus beat them back, retreated
once more. Then they wandered about, running
this way and that way, to see where they could
break through.
8
It turned out that this was the greatest slaughter to
take place during the war in question. Two myriads
of Niger's followers perished utterly. The fact was
indicated also by the priest's vision. While Severus
was in Pannonia, the priest of Jupiter saw in a vision
a black man force his way into the emperor's camps
and meet his death by superior numbers. And by
turning the name of Niger into Greek people recognized
that he was the one meant by the "black" person
mentioned. Directly Antioch had been captured
(not long after) Niger fled from it, making the Euphrates
his objective point, for he intended to seek
refuge among the barbarians. His pursuers, however,
overtook him; he was taken and had his head struck
off. This head Severus sent to Byzantium and caused
to be reared on a cross, that the sight of it might
incline the Byzantines to his cause. The next move of
Severus was to mete out justice to those who had
belonged to Niger's party.
[Of the cities and individuals
he chastised some and rewarded others. He
executed no Roman senator, but deprived most of them
of their property and confined them on islands. He
was merciless in his search for money. Among other
measures he exacted four times the amount that any
individuals or peoples had given to Niger, whether
they had done so voluntarily or under compulsion.
He himself doubtless perceived the injustice of it,]
[
]
but
as he required great sums, he paid no attention to the
common talk.
9
Cassius Clemens, a senator, while on trial before
Severus himself, did not hide the truth but spoke with
such frankness as the following report will show:
"I," he said, "was acquainted with neither you
nor Niger, but as I found myself in his part of the
world, I accepted the situation heartily, not with the
idea of being hostile to you but with the purpose of
deposing Julianus. I have, then, committed no wrong
in this, since I labored originally for the same ends as
you, nor should I be censured for failing to desert the
master whom I had once secured by the will of Heaven
and for not transferring my allegiance to you. You
would not yourself have liked to have your intimate
circle and fellow judges here betray your cause and
go over to him. Examine therefore not our bodies nor
our names but the events themselves. For in every
point in which you condemn us you will be passing sentence
upon yourself and your associates. However
secure you may be from conviction in any suit or by
any court finding, still, in the report of men, of which
an eternal memory shall survive, you will be represented
as making against yourself the same charges as
have led to punishment
[
]
in the case of others."--Severus
admired this man for his frankness and allowed
him to keep half his property.
[Many who had never even seen Niger and had not
cooperated with him were victims of abuse on the
charge that they had been members of his party.]
A.D. 195 (a.u. 948)
10
The Byzantines performed many remarkable deeds
both during the life and after the death of Niger.
This city is favorably located with reference both to
the continents and to the sea that lies between them,
and is strongly intrenched by the nature of its position
as well as by that of the Bosporus. The town sits on
high ground extending into the sea. The latter, rushing
down from the Pontus with the speed of a mountain
torrent assails the headland and in part is diverted
to the right, forming there the bay and harbors.
But the greater part of the water passes on with great
energy past the city itself toward the Propontis.
Moreover, the place had walls that were very strong.
Their face was constructed of thick squared stones,
fastened together by bronze plates, and the inner side
of it had been strengthened with mounds and buildings
so that the whole seemed to be one thick wall and the
top of it formed a circuit betraying no flaws and easy
to guard. Many large towers occupied an exposed
position outside it, with windows set close together on
every side so that those assaulting the fortification in
a circle would be cut off between them. Being built at
a short distance from the wall and not in a regular
line, but one here and another there over a rather
crooked route, they were sure to command both sides
of any attacking party. Of the entire circuit the part
on the land side reached a great height so as to repel
any who came that way: the portion next to the sea
was lower. There, the rocks on which it had been
reared and the dangerous character of the Bosporus
were effective allies. The harbors within the wall had
both been closed with chains and their breakwaters
carried towers projecting far out on each side, making
approach impossible for the enemy. And, in fine, the
Bosporus was of the greatest aid to the citizens. It
was quite inevitable that once any person became entangled
in its current he should willy-nilly be cast up
on the land. This was a feature quite satisfactory to
friends, but impossible for foes to deal with.
11
It was thus that Byzantium had been fortified. The
engines, besides, the whole length of the wall, were of
the most varied description. In one place they threw
rocks and wooden beams upon parties approaching
and in another they discharged stones and missiles
and spears against such as stood at a distance. Hence
over a considerable extent of territory no one could
draw near them without danger. Still others had
hooks, which they would let down suddenly and shortly
after draw up boats and machines. Priscus, a fellow-citizen
of mine, had designed most of them, and this
fact both caused him to incur the death penalty and
saved his life. For Severus, on learning his proficiency,
prevented his being executed. Subsequently
he employed him on various missions, among others at
the siege of Hatra, and his contrivances were the only
ones not burned by the barbarians. He also furnished
the Byzantines with five hundred boats, mostly of one
bank, but some of two banks, and equipped with beaks.
A few of them were provided with rudders at both
ends, stern and prow, and had a double quota of pilots
and sailors in order that they might both attack and
retire without turning around and damage their opponents
while sailing back as well as while sailing
forward.
12
Many, therefore, were the exploits and sufferings of
the Byzantines, since for the entire space of three
years they were besieged by the armaments of practically
the whole world. A few of their experiences will
be mentioned that seem almost marvelous. They captured,
by making an opportune attack, some boats that
sailed by and captured also some of the triremes that
were in their opponents' roadstead. This they did by
having divers cut their anchors under water, after
which they drove nails into the ship's bottom and with
cords attached thereto and running from friendly territory
they would draw the vessel towards them.
Hence one might see the ships approaching shore by
themselves, with no oarsman nor wind to urge them
forward. There were cases in which merchants purposely
allowed themselves to be captured by the
Byzantines, though pretending unwillingness, and
after selling their wares for a huge price made their
escape by sea.
A.D. 196 (a.u. 949)
When all the supplies in the town had been exhausted
and the people had been set fairly in a strait with regard
to both their situation and the expectations that
might be founded upon it, at first, although beset by
great difficulties (because they were cut off from all
outside resources), they nevertheless continued to resist;
and to make ships they used lumber taken from
the houses and braided ropes of the hair of their
women. Whenever any troops assaulted the wall, they
would hurl upon them stones from the theatres, bronze
horses, and whole statues of bronze. When even their
normal food supply began to fail them, they proceeded
to soak and eat hides. Then these, too, were used up,
and the majority, having waited for rough water and a
squall so that no one might man a ship to oppose them,
sailed out with the determination either to perish or to
secure provender. They assailed the countryside without
warning and plundered every quarter indiscriminately.
Those left behind committed a monstrous
deed; for when they grew very faint, they turned
against and devoured one another.
13
This was the condition of the men in the city. The
rest, when they had laden their boats with more than
the latter could bear, set sail after waiting this time
also for a great storm. They did not succeed, however,
in making any use of it. The Romans, noticing
A.D. 196 (a.u. 949)
that their vessels were overheavy and depressed almost
to the water's edge, put out against them. They
assailed the company, which was scattered about as
wind and flood chose to dispose them, and really engaged
in nothing like a naval contest but crushed the
enemy's boats mercilessly, striking many with their
boat-hooks, ripping up many with their beaks, and
actually capsizing some by their mere onset. The
victims were unable to do anything, however much they
might have wished it: and when they attempted to flee
in any direction either they would be sunk by force of
the wind, which encountered them with the utmost violence,
or else they would be overtaken by the enemy
and destroyed. The inhabitants of Byzantium, as they
watched this, for a time called unceasingly upon the
gods and kept uttering now one shout and now another
at the various events, according as each one was affected
by the spectacle or the disaster enacted before
his eyes. But when they saw their friends perishing
all together, the united throng sent up a chorus of
groans and wailings, and thereafter they mourned for
the rest of the day and the whole night. The entire
number of wrecks proved so great that some drifted
upon the islands and the Asiatic coast, and the defeat
became known by these relics before it was reported.
The next day the Byzantines had the horror increased
even above what it had been. For, when the surf had
subsided, the whole sea in the vicinity of Byzantium
was covered with corpses and wrecks with blood, and
many of the remains were cast up on shore, with the
result that the catastrophe, now seen in its details, appeared
even worse than when in process of consummation.
14
The Byzantines straightway, though against their
will, surrendered their city. The Romans executed all
the soldiers and magistrates except the pugilist who
had greatly aided the Byzantines and injured the
Romans. He perished also, for in order to make the
soldiers angry enough to destroy him he immediately
hit one with his fist and with a leap gave another a
violent kick.
Severus was so pleased at the capture of Byzantium
that to his soldiers in Mesopotamia (where he was at
this time) he said unreservedly: "We have taken
Byzantium, too!" He deprived the city of its independence
and of its civil rank, and made it tributary,
confiscating the property of the citizens. He granted
the town and its territory to the Perinthians, and the
latter, treating it after the manner of a village, committed
innumerable outrages. So far he seemed in a
way to be justified in what he did. His demolition of
the walls of the city grieved the inhabitants no more
than did the loss of that reputation which the appearance
of the walls had caused them to enjoy; and incidentally
he had abolished a strong Roman outpost and
base of operations against the barbarians from the
Pontus and Asia. I was one that viewed the walls
after they had fallen, and a person would have judged
that they had been taken by some other people than
the Romans. I had also seen them standing and had
heard them "speak." There were seven towers extending
from the Thracian gates to the sea. If a man
approached any of these but the first, it was silent; but
if he shouted a few words at that one or threw a stone
at it, it not only echoed and spoke itself but caused
the second to do the same thing. In this way the sound
passed through them all alike, and they did not interrupt
one another, but all in their proper turn, one receiving
the impulse from the one before it, took up the
echo and the voice and sent it on.
DURATION OF TIME
Scapula Tertullus, Tineius Clemens,
(A.D. 195 = a.u. 948
= Third of Severus, from the Calends of June).
C. Domitius Dexter (II), L. Valerius Messala Priscus.
(A.D.
196 = a.u. 949 = Fourth of Severus).
Ap. Claudius Lateranus, Rufinus.
(A.D. 197 = a.u. 950 =
Fifth of Severus).
Ti. Saturninus, C. Gallus.
(A.D. 198 = a.u. 951 = Sixth of
Severus).
P. Cornelius Anullinus, M. Aufidius Fronto.
(A.D. 199 =
a.u. 952 = Seventh of Severus).
Ti. Claudius Severus, C. Aufidius Victorinus.
(A.D. 200 =
a.u. 953 = Eighth of Severus).
L. Annius Fabianus, M. Nonius Mucianus.
(A.D. 201 =
a.u. 954 = Ninth of Severus).
L. Septimius Severus Aug. (III), M. Aurel. Antoninus Aug.
(A.D. 202 = a.u. 955 = Tenth of Severus).
A.D. 195 (a.u. 948)
1
Of such a nature were the walls of Byzantium. During
the progress of this siege Severus out of a desire
for fame had made a campaign against the barbarians,--the
Osrhoeni, the Adiabeni, and the Arabians.
[The Osrhoeni and Adiabeni having revolted were besieging
Nisibis: defeated by Severus they sent an
embassy to him after the death of Niger, not to beg
his clemency as wrongdoers but to demand reciprocal
favors, pretending to have brought about the outcome
for his benefit. It was for his sake, they said, that
they had destroyed the soldiers who belonged to
Niger's party. Indeed, they sent a few gifts to him
and promised to restore the captives and whatever
spoils were left. However, they were not willing
either to abandon the walled towns they had captured
or to accept the imposition of tributes, but they desired
those in existence to be lifted from the country.
It was this that led to the war just mentioned.]
2
When he had crossed the Euphrates and invaded
hostile territory, where the country was destitute of
water and at this summer season had become especially
parched, he came dangerously near losing great
numbers of soldiers. Wearied as they were by their
tramping and the hot sun, clouds of dust that they
encountered harrassed them greatly, so that they could
no longer walk nor yet speak, but only utter the word
"Water, water!" When
[moisture]
appeared, on
account of
[its]
strangeness it attracted no more attention
than if it had not been found, till Severus called
for a cup, and having filled it with water drank it
down in full view of all. Upon this some others likewise
drank and were invigorated. Soon after Severus
entered Nisibis and himself waited there, but
despatched Lateranus and Candidus and Laetus severally
among the aforementioned barbarians. These
upon attaining their goals proceeded to lay waste the
land of the barbarians and to capture their cities.
While Severus was greatly priding himself upon this
achievement and feeling that he surpassed all mankind
in both understanding and bravery, a most unexpected
event took place. One Claudius, a robber, who
overran Judaea and Syria and was sought for in consequence
with great hue and cry, came to him one day
with horsemen, like some military tribune, and saluted
and kissed him. The visitor was not discovered at the
time nor was he later arrested.
[And the Arabians,
because none of their neighbors was willing to aid
them, sent an embassy a second time to Severus making
quite reasonable propositions. Still, they did not
obtain what they wanted, inasmuch as they had not
come in person.]
A.D. 196 (a.u. 949)
3
The Scythians, too, were in fighting humor, when at
this juncture during a deliberation of theirs thunder
and lightning-flashes with rain suddenly broke over
them, and thunderbolts began to fall, killing their
three foremost men. This caused them to hesitate.
Severus again made three divisions of his army, and
giving one to Laetus, one to Anullinus, and one to
Probus, sent them out against ARCHE
[Lacuna]
;
[
]
and they, invading it in three divisions, subdued it
not without trouble. Severus bestowed some dignity
upon Nisibis and entrusted the city to the care of a
knight. He declared he had won a mighty territory
and had rendered it a bulwark of Syria. It is shown,
on the contrary, by the facts themselves that the place
is responsible for our constant wars as well as for
great expenditures. It yields very little and uses up
vast sums. And having extended our borders to include
men who are neighbors of the Medes and Parthians
rather than of ourselves, we are always, one
might say, fighting over those peoples.
4
Before Severus had had time to recover breath
from his conflicts with the barbarians he found a civil
war on his hands with Albinus, his Caesar. Severus
after getting Niger out of the way was still not giving
him the rank of Caesar and had ordered other details
in that quarter as he pleased; and Albinus aspired to
the preeminence of emperor.
[
]
While the whole world
was moved by this state of affairs we senators kept
quiet, at least so many of us as inclining openly
neither to one man nor the other yet shared their dangers
and hopes. But the populace could not restrain
itself and showed its grief in the most violent fashion.
It was at the last horse-race before the Saturnalia,
and a countless throng of people flocked to it. I too
was present at the spectacle because the consul was a
friend of mine and I heard distinctly everything that
was said,--a fact which renders me able to write a
little about it.
It came about in this way. There had gathered (as
I said) more people than could be computed and they
had watched the chariots contesting in six divisions
(which had been the way also in Oleander's time),
applauding no one in any manner, as was the custom.
When these races had ceased and the charioteers were
about to begin another event, then they suddenly enjoined
silence upon one another and all clapped their
hands simultaneously, shouting, besides, and entreating
good fortune for the public welfare. They first
said this, and afterward, applying the terms "Queen"
and "Immortal" to Rome, they roared: "How long
are we to suffer such experiences?" and "Until when
must we be at war?" And after making a few other
remarks of this kind they finally cried out: "That's
all there is to it!" and turned their attention to the
equestrian contest. In all of this they were surely
inspired by some divine afflation. For not otherwise
could so many myriads of men have started to utter
the same shouts at the same time like some carefully
trained chorus or have spoken the words without mistake
just as if they had practiced them.
This manifestation caused us still greater disturbance
as did also the fact that so great a fire was of a
sudden seen by night in the air toward the north that
some thought that the whole city and others that the
sky itself was burning. But the most remarkable fact
I have to chronicle is that in clear weather a fine silvery
rain descended upon the forum of Augustus, I
did not see it in the air, but noticed it after it had fallen,
and with it I silverplated some small bronze coins.
These retained the same appearance for three days:
on the fourth all the substance rubbed upon them had
disappeared.
5
A certain Numerianus, who taught children their
letters, started from Rome for Galatia with I know
not what object, and by pretending to be a Roman
senator sent by Severus to gather an army he collected
at first just a small force by means of which he
destroyed a few of Albinus's cavalry, whereupon he
unblushingly made some further promises in behalf
of Severus. Severus heard of this and thinking that
he was really one of the senators sent him a message
of praise and bade him acquire still greater power.
The man did acquire greater power and gave many
remarkable exhibitions of ability besides obtaining
seventeen hundred and fifty myriads of denarii, which
he forwarded to Severus. After the latter's victory
Numerianus came to him, making no concealment, and
did not ask to become in very truth a senator. Indeed,
though he might have been exalted by great honors
and wealth, he did not choose to accept them, but
passed the remainder of his life in some country place,
receiving from the emperor some small allowance for
his daily subsistence.
A.D. 197 (a.u. 950)
6
The struggle between Severus and Albinus near
Lugdunum is now to be described. At the outset there
were a hundred and fifty thousand soldiers on each
side. Both leaders took part in the war, since it was
a race for life and death, though Severus had previously
not been present at any important battle.
Albinus excelled in rank and in education, but his adversary
was superior in warfare and was a skillful
commander. It happened that in a former battle Albinus
had conquered Lupus, one of the generals of
Severus, and had destroyed many of the soldiers attending
him. The present conflict took many shapes
and turns. The left wing of Albinus was beaten and
sought refuge behind the rampart, whereupon Severus
's soldiers in their pursuit burst into the enclosure
with them, slaughtered their opponents and plundered
their tents. Meantime the soldiers of Albinus arrayed
on the right wing, who had trenches hidden in front
of them and pits in the earth covered over only on the
surface, approached as far as these snares and hurled
javelins from a distance. They did not go very far
but turned back as if frightened, with the purpose of
drawing their foes into pursuit. This actually took
place. Severus's men, nettled by their brief charge
and despising them for their retreat after so short an
advance, rushed upon them without a thought that the
whole intervening space could not be easily traversed.
When they reached the trenches they were involved in
a fearful catastrophe. The men in the front ranks as
soon as the surface covering broke through fell into
the excavations and those immediately behind stumbled
over them, slipped, and likewise fell. The rest
crowded back in terror, their retreat being so sudden
that they themselves lost their footing, upset those in
the rear, and pushed them into a deep ravine. Of
course there was a terrible slaughter of these soldiers
as well as of those who had fallen into the trenches,
horses and men perishing in one wild mass. In the
midst of this tumult the warriors between the ravine
and the trenches were annihilated by showers of stones
and arrows.
Severus seeing this came to their assistance with
the Pretorians, but this step proved of so little benefit
that he came near causing the ruin of the Pretorians
and himself ran some risk through the loss of a horse.
When he saw all his men in flight, he tore off his riding
cloak and drawing his sword rushed among the
fugitives, hoping either that they would be ashamed
and turn back or that he might himself perish with
them. Some did stop when they saw him in such an
attitude, and turned back. Brought in this way face
to face with the men close behind them they cut down
not a few of them, thinking them to be followers of
Albinus, and routed all their pursuers. At this moment
the cavalry under Laetus came up from the side
and decided the rest of the issue for them. Laetus, so
long as the struggle was close, remained inactive, hoping
that both parties would be destroyed and that
whatever soldiers were left on both sides would give
him supreme authority. When, however, he saw Severus's
party getting the upper hand, he contributed to
the result. So it was that Severus conquered.
7
Roman power had suffered a severe blow, since the
numbers that fell on each side were beyond reckoning.
Many even of the victors deplored the disaster, for
the entire plain was seen to be covered with the bodies
of men and horses. Some of them lay there exhausted
by many wounds, others thoroughly mangled, and still
others unwounded but buried under heaps. Weapons
had been tossed about and blood flowed in streams,
even swelling the rivers. Albinus took refuge in a
house located near the Rhone, but when he saw all its
environs guarded, he slew himself. I am not telling
what Severus wrote about it, but what actually took
place. The emperor after inspecting his body and
feasting his eyes upon it to the full while he let his
tongue indulge in appropriate utterances, ordered it,--all
but the head,--to be cast out, and that he sent
to Rome to be exposed on a cross. As he showed
clearly by this action that he was very far from being
an excellent ruler, he alarmed even more than before
the populace and us by the commands which he issued.
Now that he had vanquished all forces under arms he
poured out upon the unarmed all the wrath he had
nourished against them during the previous period.
He terrified us most of all by declaring himself the
son of Marcus and brother of Commodus; and to Commodus,
whom but recently he was wont to abuse, he
gave heroic honors.
8
While reading before the senate
a speech in which he praised the severity and cruelty
of Sulla and Marius and Augustus as rather the safer
course, and deprecated the clemency of Pompey and
Caesar because it had proved their ruin, he introduced
a defence of Commodus, and inveighed against the senate
for dishonoring him unjustly though the majority
of their own body lived even worse lives. "For if",
said he, "this is abominable, that he with his own
hands should have killed beasts, yet at Ostia yesterday
or the day before one of your number, an old man
that had been consul, indulged publicly in play with a
prostitute who imitated a leopard. 'He fought as a
gladiator,' do you say? By Jupiter, does none of you
fight as gladiator? If not, how is it and for what purpose
that some persons have bought his shields and
the famous golden helmets?" At the conclusion of
this reading he released thirty-five prisoners charged
with having taken Albinus's side and behaved toward
them as if they had incurred no charge at all. They
were among the foremost members of the senate. He
condemned to death twenty-nine men, as one of whom
was reckoned Sulpicianus, the father-in-law of Pertinax.
All pretended to sympathize with Severus but were confuted as
often as a sudden piece of news arrived, not being able to conceal
the sentiments hidden in their hearts. When off their guard they
started at reports which happened to assail their ears without warning.
In such ways, as well as through facial expression and habits of behavior,
the feelings of every one of them became manifest. Some also by an
excess of affectation only betrayed their attitude the more.
LXXIV, 9, 5
Severus endeavored in the case of those who were
receiving vengeance at his hands
[Lacuna]
[
]
to employ Erucius Clarus
[
]
as informer against them,
that he might both put the man in an unpleasant position
and be thought to have more fully justified conviction
in view of his witness's family and reputation.
He promised Clarus to grant him safety and immunity.
But when the latter chose rather to die than to make
any such revelations, he turned to Julianus and persuaded
him to play the part. For this willingness he
released him in so far as not to kill nor disenfranchise
him; but he carefully verified all his statements by
tortures and regarded as of no value his existing
reputation.
LXXV, 5
[In Britain at this period, because the Caledonians
did not abide by their promises but made preparations
to aid the Maeatians, and because Severus at the time
was attending to the war abroad, Lupus was compelled
to purchase peace for the Maeatians at a high figure,
and recovered some few captives.]
A.D. 198 (a.u. 951)
9
The next thing Severus did was to make a campaign
against the Parthians. While he was busied with civil
wars, they had been free from molestation and had
thus been able by an expedition in full force to capture
Mesopotamia. They also came very near reducing
Nisbis, and would have done so, had not Laetus, who
was besieged there, preserved the place. Though previously
noted for other political and private and public
excellences, in peace as well as in wars, he derived
even greater glory from this exploit. Severus on
reaching the aforesaid Nisibis encountered an enormous
boar. With its charge it killed a horseman who,
trusting to his own strength, attempted to run it down,
and it was with difficulty stopped and killed by many
soldiers,--thirty being the number required to stop
it; the beast was then conveyed to Severus.
The Parthians did not wait for him but retired
homeward. (Their leader was Vologaesus, whose
brother was accompanying Severus). Hence Severus
equipped boats on the Euphrates and reached him
partly by marching, partly by sailing. The newly constructed
vessels were exceedingly manageable and well
appointed, for the forest along the Euphrates and
those regions in general afforded the emperor an abundant
supply of timber. Thus he soon had seized
Seleucia and Babylon, both of which had been abandoned.
Subsequently he captured Ctesiphon and permitted
his soldiers to plunder the whole town, causing
a great slaughter of men and taking nearly ten myriads
alive. However, he did not pursue Vologaesus nor yet
occupy Ctesiphon, but as if the sole purpose of his
campaign had been to plunder it, he thereupon departed.
This action was due partly to lack of acquaintance
with the country and partly to dearth of
provisions. His return was made by a different route,
because the wood and fodder found on the previous
route had been exhausted. Some of his soldiers made
their retreat by land along the Tigris, following the
stream toward its source, and some on boats.
A.D. 199(?)
10
Next, Severus crossed Mesopotamia and made an
attempt on Hatra, which was not far off, but accomplished
nothing. In fact, even the engines were
burned, many soldiers perished, and vast numbers
were wounded. Therefore Severus retired from the
place and shifted his quarters. While he was at war,
he also put to death two distinguished men. The first
was Julius Crispus, a tribune of the Pretorians. The
cause of his execution was that indignant at the damage
done by the war he had casually uttered a verse
of the poet Maro, in which one of the soldiers fighting
on the side of Turnus against Aeneas bewails his lot
and says: "To enable Turnus to marry Lavinia we
are meanwhile perishing, without heed being paid to
us."
[
]
Severus made Valerius, the soldier who had
accused him, tribune in his place. The other whom he
killed was Laetus, and the reason was that Laetus was
proud and was beloved by the soldiers. They often
said they would not march, unless Laetus would lead
them. The responsibility for this murder, for which
he had no clear reason save jealousy, he fastened upon
the soldiers, making it appear that they had ventured
upon the act contrary to his will.
A.D. 200(?)
11
After laying in a large store of food and preparing
many engines he in person again led an attack upon
Hatra. He deemed it a disgrace, now that other
points had been subdued, that this one alone, occupying
a central position, should continue to resist. And
he lost a large amount of money and all his engines
except those of Priscus, as I stated earlier,
[
]
besides
many soldiers. Numbers were annihilated in foraging
expeditions, as the barbarian cavalry (I mean that of
the Arabians) kept everywhere assailing them with
precision and violence. The archery of the Atreni,
too, was effective over a very long range. Some missiles
they hurled from engines, striking many of Severus's
men-at-arms, for they discharged two missiles
in one and the same shot and there were also many
hands and many arrows to inflict injury. They did
their assailants the utmost damage, however, when
the latter approached the wall, and in an even greater
degree after they had broken down a little of it. Then
they threw at them among other things the bituminous
naphtha of which I wrote above
[
]
and set fire to the
engines and all the soldiers that were struck with it.
Severus observed proceedings from a lofty tribunal.
12
A portion of the outer circuit had fallen in one place
and all the soldiers were eager to force their way inside
the remainder, when Severus checked them from
doing so by giving orders that the signal for retreat
be sounded clearly on all sides. The fame of the place
was great, since it contained enormous offerings to
the Sun God and vast stores of valuables; and he expected
that the Arabians would voluntarily come to
terms in order to avoid being forcibly captured and
enslaved. When, after letting one day elapse, no one
made any formal proposition to him, he commanded
the soldiers again to assault the wall, though it had
been built up in the night. The Europeans who had
the power to accomplish something were so angry that
not one of them would any longer obey him, and some
others, Syrians, compelled to go to the assault in their
stead, were miserably destroyed. Thus Heaven, that
rescued the city, caused Severus to recall the soldiers
that could have entered it, and in turn when he later
wished to take it caused the soldiers to prevent him
from doing so. The situation placed Severus in such
a dilemma that when some one of his followers promised
him that, if he would give him only five hundred
and fifty of the Europeans, he would get possession of
the city without any risk to the rest, the emperor said
within hearing of all: "And where can I get so many
soldiers?" (referring to the disobedience of the soldiers).
A.D. 200 (a.u. 953)
13
Having prosecuted the siege for twenty days he
next came to Palestine and sacrificed to the spirit of
Pompey: and into
[upper]
Egypt
[he sailed along the
Nile and viewed the whole country, with some small
exceptions. For instance, he was unable to pass the
frontier of Ethiopia on account of pestilence.]
And
he made a search of everything, including what was
very carefully hidden, for he was the sort of man to
leave nothing, human or divine, uninvestigated. Following
this tendency he drew from practically all their
hiding places all the books that he could find containing
anything secret, and he closed the monument of
Alexander, to the end that no one should either behold
his body any more or read what was written in these
books.
This was what he did. For myself, there is no need
that I should write in general about Egypt, but what
I know about the Nile through verifying statements
from many sources I am bound to mention. It
clearly rises in Mount Atlas. This lies in Macennitis,
close to the Western ocean itself, and towers far
above all mountains, wherefore the poets have called
it "Pillar of the Sky." No one ever ascended its
summits nor saw its topmost peaks. Hence it is always
covered with snow, which in summer time sends
down great quantities of water. The whole country
about its base is in general marshy, but at this season
becomes even more so, with the result that it swells
the size of the Nile at harvest time. This is the river's
source, as is evidenced by the crocodiles and other
beasts that are born alike on both sides of it. Let no
one be surprised that we have made pronouncements
unknown to the ancient Greeks. The Macennitae live
near lower Mauretania and many of the people who
go on campaigns there also visit Atlas. It is thus that
the matter stands.
14
Plautianus, who enjoyed the special favor of Severus
and had the authority of prefect, besides possessing
the fullest and greatest influence on earth,
had put to death many men of renown and his own
peers
[Lacuna]
[After killing Aemilius Saturninus
he took away all the most important prerogatives belonging
to the minor officers of the Pretorians, his
subordinates, in order that none of them might be
so elated by his position of eminence as to lie in wait
for the captaincy of the body-guards. Already it was
his wish to be not simply the only but a perpetual prefect.]
He wanted everything, asked everything from
everybody, and got everything. He left no province
and no city unplundered, but sacked and gathered
everything from all sides. All sent a great deal more
to him than they did to Severus. Finally he sent centurions
and stole tiger-striped horses sacred
[
]
to the
Sun God from the island in the Red Sea. This mere
statement, I think, must instantly make plain all his
officiousness and greediness. Yet, on second thought,
I will add one thing more. At home he castrated one
hundred nobly born Roman citizens, though none of
us knew of it until after he was dead. From this fact
one may comprehend the extent alike of his lawlessness
and of his authority. He castrated not merely
boys or youths, but grown men, some of whom had
wives; his object was that Plautilla his daughter
(whom Antoninus afterward married) should be
waited upon entirely by eunuchs
[and also have them
to give her instruction in music and other branches of
art. So we beheld the same persons eunuchs and men,
fathers and impotent, gelded and bearded. In view
of this one might not improperly declare that Plautianus
had power beyond all men, over even the emperors
themselves. For one thing, his portrait statues
were not only far more numerous but also larger than
theirs, and this not simply in outside cities but in
Rome itself, and they were at this time reared not
merely by individuals but by no less a body than the
senate itself. All the soldiers and the senators took
oaths by his Fortune and all publicly offered prayer
for his preservation.
15
The person principally responsible for this state of
affairs was Severus himself. He yielded to Plautianus
in all matters to such a degree that the latter occupied
the position of emperor and he himself that of prefect.
In short, the man knew absolutely everything that Severus
said and did, but not a person was acquainted
with any of Plautianus's secrets. The emperor made
advances to his daughter on behalf of his own son,
passing by many other maidens of high rank. He appointed
him consul and virtually showed an anxiety to
have him for successor in the imperial office. Indeed,
once he did say in a letter: "I love the man so much
that I pray to die before he does."]
[Lacuna]
so that
[Lacuna]
some one actually dared to write
to him as to a fourth Caesar.
Though many decrees in his honor were passed by the senate he
accepted only a few of them, saying to the senators: "It is through
your hearts that you show your love for me, not through your decrees."
At temporary stopping-places he endured seeing
him located in superior quarters and enjoying better
and more abundant food than he. Hence in Nicaea
(my native country) when he once wanted a hammer-fish,
large specimens of which are found in the lake,
he sent to Plautianus to get it. So if he thought at all
of doing aught to diminish this minister's leadership,
yet the opposite party, which contained far greater
and more brilliant members, saw to it that any such
plan was frustrated. On one occasion Severus went
to visit him, when he had fallen sick at Tyana, and the
soldiers attached to Plautianus would not allow the
visitor's escort to enter with him. Moreover, the person
who arranged cases to be pled before Severus was
once ordered by the latter in a moment of leisure to
bring forward some case or other, whereupon the fellow
refused, saying: "I can not do this, unless Plautianus
bid me." So greatly did Plautianus have the
mastery in every way over the emperor that he
[frequently
treated]
Julia Augusta
[in an outrageous
way,--for he detested her cordially,--and]
was always
abusing
[her violently]
to Severus, and conducted
investigations against her as well as tortures
of noble women. For this reason she began to study
philosophy and passed her days in the company of
learned men.--As for Plautianus, he proved himself
the most licentious of men, for he would go to banquets
and vomit meantime, inasmuch as the mass of
foods and wine that he swallowed made it impossible
for him to digest anything. And whereas he made use
of lads and girls in perfectly notorious fashion, he
would not permit his own wife to see or be seen by any
person whomsoever, not even by Severus or Julia
[to
say nothing of others]
.
16
At this period there took place also a gymnastic
[
]
contest, at which so great a multitude assembled under
compulsion that we wondered how the race-course
could hold them all. And in this contest Alamanni
[
]
women fought most ferociously, with the result that
jokes were made about other ladies, who were very
distinguished. Therefore, from this time on every
woman, no matter what her origin, was prohibited
from fighting in the arena.
On one occasion a good many images of Plautianus
were made (what happened is worth relating) and
Severus, being displeased at their number, melted
down some of them. As a consequence a rumor penetrated
the cities to the effect that the prefect had been
overthrown and had perished. So some of them demolished
his images,--an act for which they were
afterward punished. Among these was the governor
of Sardinia, Racius Constans, a very famous man,
whom I have mentioned, however, for a particular
reason. The orator who accused Constans had made
this statement in addition to others: "Sooner may
the sky collapse than Plautianus suffer any harm at the
hands of Severus, and with greater cause might any
one believe even that report, were any story of the
sort circulated." Now, though the orator made this
declaration, and though moreover Severus himself
volubly affirmed it to us, who were helping him try the
case, and stated "it is impossible for Plautianus to
come to any harm at my hands," still, this very Plautianus
did not live the year out, but was slain and all
his images destroyed.--Previous to this a vast sea-monster
had come ashore in the harbor named for
Augustus, and had been captured. A representation
of him, taken into the hunting-theatre, admitted fifty
bears in its interior. Again, for many days a comet
star had been seen in Rome and was said to portend
nothing favorable.
DURATION OF TIME
L. Septimius Severus Aug. (III), M. Aur. Antoninus Aug.
(A.D. 202 = a.u. 955 = Tenth of Severus, from the Calends of
June).
P. Septimius Geta, Fulvius Plautianus (II).
(A.D. 203 =
a.u. 956 = Eleventh of Severus).
L. Fabius Septimius Cilo (II), L. Flavius Libo.
(A.D. 204 =
a.u. 957 = Twelfth of Severus).
M. Aur. Antoninus Aug. (II), P. Septimius Geta Caesar.
(A.D.
205 = a.u. 958 = Thirteenth of Severus).
Nummius Albinus, Fulv. Aemilianus.
(A.D. 206 = a.u. 959
= Fourteenth of Severus).
Aper, Maximus.
(A.D. 207 = a.u. 960 = Fifteenth of Severus).
M. Aur. Antoninus Aug. (III), P. Septim. Geta Caesar (II).
(A.D. 208 = a.u. 961 = Sixteenth of Severus).
Civica Pompeianus, Lollianus Avitus.
(A.D. 209 = a.u. 962
= Seventeenth of Severus).
M. Acilius Faustinus, Triarius Rufinus.
(A.D. 210 = a.u.
963 = Eighteenth of Severus).
Q. Epid. Ruf. Lollianus Gentianus, Pomponius Bassus.
(A.D.
211 = a.u. 964 = Nineteenth of Severus, to Feb. 4th).
A.D. 202 (a.u. 955)
1
Severus to celebrate the first decade of his reign presented
to the entire populace accustomed to receive
dole and to the soldiers of the pretorian guard gold
pieces equal in number to the years of his sovereignty.
He took the greatest delight in this achievement, and, as
a matter of fact, no one had ever before given so much
to whole masses of people. Upon this gift five hundred
myriads of denarii were expended. Another event was
the marriage between Antoninus, son of Severus, and
Plautilla, the daughter of Plautianus. The latter gave
as much for his daughter's dowry as would have sufficed
for fifty women of royal rank. We saw the gifts
as they were being carried through the Forum into the
palace. We were banqueted, likewise, in the meantime,
partly in royal and partly in barbarian fashion on
whatever is regularly eaten cooked or raw, and we
received other animal food also alive. At this time,
too, there occurred all sorts of spectacles in honor of
Severus's return, the completion of his first decade,
and his victories. At these spectacles sixty wild boars
of Plautianus upon a given signal began a combat with
one another, and there were slain (besides many other
beasts) an elephant and a crocotta.
[
]
The last named
animal is of Indian origin, and was then for the first
time, so far as I am aware, introduced into Rome. It
has the skin of lion and tiger mingled and the appearance
of those animals, as also of the wolf and fox, curiously
blended. The entire cage in the theatre had
been so constructed as to resemble a boat in form, so
that it would both receive and discharge four hundred
beasts at once,
[
]
and then, as it suddenly fell apart,
there came rushing up bears, lionesses, panthers, lions,
ostriches, wild asses, bisons (this is a kind of cattle of
foreign species and appearance),--the result being
that altogether seven hundred wild and tame beasts
at once were seen running about and were slaughtered.
For, to correspond with the duration of the festival,
seven days, the number of animals was also seven
times one hundred.
2
On Mount Vesuvius a great gush of fire burst out
and there were bellowings mighty enough to be heard in
Capua, where I live whenever I am in Italy. This place
I have selected for various reasons, chief of which is
its quiet, that enables me to get leisure from city affairs
and to write on this compilation. As a result of the
Vesuvian phenomena it was believed that there would
be a change in the political status of Plautianus. In
very truth Plautianus had grown great and more than
great, so that even the populace at the hippodrome exclaimed:
"Why do you tremble? Why are you pale?
You possess more than the three." They did not say
this to his face, of course, but differently. And by
"three" they indicated Severus and his sons, Antoninus
and Geta. Plautianus's pallor and his trembling
were in fact due to the life that he lived, the hopes that
he hoped, and the fears that he feared. Still, for a time
most of this eluded Severus's individual notice, or else
he knew it but pretended the opposite. When, however,
his brother Geta on his deathbed revealed to him
the whole attitude of Plautianus,--for Geta hated the
prefect and now no longer feared him,--the emperor
set up a bronze statue of his brother in the Forum and
no longer held his minister in equal honor; indeed, the
latter was stripped of most of his power. Hence
A.D. 203 (a.u. 956)
Plautianus became violently enraged, and whereas he
had formerly hated Antoninus for slighting his daughter,
he was now especially indignant, feeling that his
son-in-law was responsible for his present disgrace,
and began to behave more harshly toward him.
3
For
these reasons Antoninus became both disgusted with
his wife (who was a most shameless creature), and
offended at her father himself, because the latter kept
meddling in all his undertakings and rebuking him for
everything that he did. Conceiving a desire to be rid
of the man in some way or other he accordingly had
Euodus, his nurse, persuade a certain centurion,
Saturninus, and two others of similar rank to bring
him word that Plautianus had ordered some ten centurions,
to whose number they also belonged, to kill
both Severus and Antoninus; and they read a certain
writing which they pretended to have received bearing
upon this very matter. This was done as a surprise at
the observances held in the palace in honor of the
heroes, at a time when the spectacle had ceased and
dinner was about to be served. That fact was largely
instrumental in showing the story to be a fabrication.
Plautianus would never have dared to impose such a
bidding upon ten centurions at once, certainly not in
Rome, certainly not in the palace, nor on that day, nor
at that hour; much less would he have written it.
Nevertheless, Severus believed the information trustworthy
because he had the night before seen in a dream
Albinus alive and plotting against him.
4
In haste,
therefore, he summoned Plautianus, as if upon some
other business. The latter hurried so (or rather,
Heaven so indicated to him approaching disaster) that
the mules that were carrying him fell in the palace
yard. And when he sought to enter, the porters in
charge of the bolts admitted him alone inside and
would permit no one to enter with him, just as he himself
had done in the case of Severus at Tyana. He
grew a little suspicious at this and became terrified;
as he had, however, no pretext for withdrawing, he
went in. Severus conversed with him very mildly:
"Why have you seen fit to do this! For what reason
have you wished to kill us?" He gave him opportunity
to speak and prepared to listen to his defence.
In the midst of the accused's denial and surprise at
what was said, Antoninus rushed up, took away his
sword, and struck him with his fist. He was ready to
put an end to Plautianus with his own hand after the
latter said: "You wanted to get the start of me in any
killing!" Being prevented, however, by his father,
Antoninus ordered one of his attendants to slay
Plautianus. Somebody plucked out a few hairs from
his chin and carried them to Julia and Plautilla (who
were together) before they had heard a word of the
affair, and said: "Behold your Plautianus!" This
speech aroused grief in one and joy in the other.
Thus the man who had possessed the greatest influence
of all my contemporaries, so that everybody both
feared and trembled before him more than before the
very emperors,
[
]
the man who had hung poised upon
greater hopes than they, was slain by his son-in-law
and thrown from the top of the palace into some street.
Later, at the order of Severus, he was taken up and
buried.
5
Severus next called a meeting of the senate in the
senate-house. He uttered no accusation against
Plautianus, but himself deplored the weakness of
human nature, which was not able to endure excessive
honors, and blamed himself that he had so honored and
loved the man. Those, however, who had informed him
of the victim's plot he bade tell us everything; but first
he expelled from the senate-chamber some whose presence
was not necessary, and by revealing nothing to
them intimated that he did not altogether trust them.
Many were brought into danger by the Plautianus
episode and some actually lost their lives. But Coeranus
was accustomed to declare (what most people are
given to pretending with reference to the fortunate)
that he was his associate. As often as these friends of
the prefect were wont to be called in before the others
desiring to greet the great man, it was his custom to
accompany them as far as the bars. So he did not
share his secrets, but remained in the space midway,
giving Plautianus the impression that he was outside
and those outside the idea that he was within. This
caused him to be the object of greater suspicion,--a
feeling which was strengthened by the fact that Plautianus
once in a dream saw fishes issue from the Tiber
and fall at his feet, whereupon he declared that Coeranus
should rule the land and water. This man, after
being confined to an island for seven years, was later
recalled, was the first Egyptian to be enrolled in the
senate, and became consul, like Pompey, without holding
any previous office. Caecilius Agricola, however,
numbered among the deceased's foremost flatterers and
second to no man on earth in rascality and licentiousness,
was sentenced to death. He went home, and after
drinking his fill of chilled wine, shattered the cup which
had cost him five myriads, and cutting his veins fell dead
upon the fragments.
6
As for Saturninus and Euodus,
they were honored at the time but were later executed
by Antoninus. While we were engaged in voting eulogies
to Euodus, Severus restrained us by saying: "It
is disgraceful that in one of your decrees there should
be inscribed such a statement respecting a man that is
a Caesarian." It was not the only instance of such an attitude,
but he also refused to allow all the other imperial
freedmen either to be insolent or to swagger; for
this he was commended. The senate once, while chanting
his praises, uttered without reserve no less a sentiment
than this: "All do all things well since you rule
well!"
Plautilla and Plautius, the children of Plautianus,
were temporarily allowed to live, being banished to
Lipara; but in the reign of Antoninus they were destroyed,
though they had been existing in great fear
and wretchedness and though their life was not even
blessed by a goodly store of necessities.
7
The sons of Severus, Antoninus and Greta, felt as if
they had got rid of a pedagogue in Plautianus, and
their conduct was from this time on irresponsible.
They outraged women and abused boys, they embezzled
moneys and made friends of the gladiators and charioteers,
emulating each other in the similarity of their
deeds and full of strife in their respective rivalries.
If one attached himself to any cause, the other would
be sure to choose the opposite side. Finally, they were
pitted against each other in some kind of exercise with
teams of ponies and drove with such fierce opposition
that Antoninus fell out of the two-wheeled car and
broke his leg.
[During his son's sickness that followed
this accident Severus neglected not one of his
duties, but held court and managed all affairs pertaining
to his office. For this he was praised. But
he was blamed for murdering Plautianus Quintillus.
[
]
He executed also many of the senators, some of whom
had been accused before him, and made their defence
and had been convicted. But Quintillus,]
a man of
noblest birth, for a long term of years counted among
the foremost members of the senate, standing at the
gates of old age, one who lived in the country, interfered
in no one's business and did naught amiss, nevertheless
became the prey of sycophants and was put out
of the way. As he was near death he called for his
funeral garments, which he had long since kept in readiness.
On seeing that they had fallen to pieces through
lapse of time, he said: "Why did we delay this!"
And as he perfumed the place with burning incense,
he remarked: "I offer the same prayer as Servianus
offered over Hadrian."
[
]
--Besides his death there were
also gladiatorial contests, in which among other features
ten tigers were slaughtered at once.
8
After this came the
dénouement
of the Apronianus
affair,--a startling story even in the hearing. He incurred
censure because his nurse is said to have seen
once in a vision that he should enjoy sovereignty, and
because he was believed to employ some magic to this
end. He was condemned while absent in his governorship
of Asia. When the evidence taken in his case was
read to us, there was found written there this statement,--that
one person in charge of the investigation
had enquired who had told the dream and who had
heard it, and that the man interrogated had said among
other things: "I saw a certain baldheaded senator
taking a peep there." On hearing this we all became
terror-stricken, for neither had the man spoken nor
Severus written any one's name. In their state of
panic even those who had never visited the house of
Apronianus, and not only the baldheaded but those
whose foreheads were indifferently bare grew afraid.
No one felt easy save those who had unusually thick
hair. We all looked around at such men, and a whisper
ran about: "It's so-and-so. No, it's so-and-so." I
will not conceal how I was then affected, however
absurd it may be. I felt with my hand to see whether
I had any hair on my head; and a number of others
behaved in the very same way. We were very careful
to direct our gaze upon baldish persons as if we could
thereby divert our own danger upon them. This we
did until it was further read that the particular baldhead
in question wore a purple toga. When this statement
came out, we turned our eyes upon Baebius Marcellinus.
He had been aedile at the time and was
extremely bald. So he stood up and coming forward
said: "He will certainly be able to point me out, if he
has seen me." We commended this speech, the informer
was brought in while the senator stood by, and
for a long time was silent, looking about for the man
to point out. Finally, following the direction of an
almost imperceptible nod that somebody gave, he said
that this was he.
9
Thus was Marcellinus convicted of a baldhead's
peeping,
[
]
and bewailing his fate he was conducted out
of the senate-house. When he had passed through the
Forum, he refused to advance farther, but right where
he was took leave of his children, four in number, and
uttered this most affecting speech: "There is only
one thing that I am sorry for, children; it is that I must
leave you behind alive." Then he had his head cut off
before Severus learned even that he had been condemned.
Just vengeance, however, befell Pollenius Sebennus,
who had preferred the charge that caused his death.
He was delivered by Sabinus to the Norici, for whom
he had shown scant consideration during his governorship
of them, and went through a most disgraceful
experience. We saw him stretched on the ground,
pleading piteously, and had he not obtained mercy,
thanks to his uncle Auspex,
[
]
he would have perished
pitiably. This Auspex was the cleverest imaginable
man for jokes and chit-chat, for despising all mankind,
gratifying his friends, and making reprisals upon his
enemy. Many bitter and witty epigrams of his spoken
to various people are reported, and many to Severus
himself. Here is one of the latter. When the emperor
was enrolled in the family of Marcus, Auspex said:
"I congratulate you, Caesar, upon having found a
father." This implied that up to this time his obscure
origin had made him as good as fatherless.
A.D. 206-7(?)
10
It was at this period that one Bulla, an Italian, established
a robber band of about six hundred men and for
two years continued to plunder Italy under the very
noses of the emperors and of so great bodies of soldiers.
Pursuit was instituted by numerous persons, and Severus
emulously followed his trail, but the fellow was
never really seen when seen, never found when found,
never apprehended when caught. This was due to
his great bribes and his cleverness. He got wind of
everybody that was setting out from Rome and everybody
that was putting into port at Brundusium, learning
who and how many they were, and what and how
much they had with them. His general method was to
take a part of what they had and then let them go at
once. Artisans, however, he detained for a time and
after making use of their skill dismissed them with
something extra as a present. Once two of his robbers
had been captured and were to be given to beasts,
whereupon the chief paid a visit to the keeper of the
prison, pretending that he was the governor of his
native place (?) and needed some such men, and in this
way he secured and saved them. Again, he approached
the centurion who was charged with abolishing brigandage
and in disguise accused his own self; he further
promised, if the centurion would accompany him, to
deliver the robber to him. So, pretending that he was
leading him to Felix (this was another name of the
chief), he brought him to a hill-encompassed spot, suitable
for ambuscade, and easily seized him. Later he
assumed the garb of a magistrate, ascended the tribunal,
and having called the centurion caused his head
to be shaved, and said: "Take this message to your
masters: 'Feed your slaves, if you want to make an
end of brigandage.'" Bulla had, indeed, a very great
number of Caesarians, some who had been poorly paid
and some who had gone absolutely without pay.
Severus, informed of these events one at a time, was
moved to anger to think that while having other men
win victory in warfare in Britain, he himself in Italy
had proved no match for a robber. At last he despatched
a tribune from his body-guard with many
horsemen and threatened him with terrible punishments
if he should not bring the culprit alive. Then this commander
ascertained that the chief was maintaining relations
of intimacy with the wife of another, and
through the agency of her husband persuaded her on
promise of immunity to cooperate with them. As a
result the elusive leader was arrested while asleep in a
cave. Papinianus the prefect asked him: "For what
reason did you become a robber?" The other rejoined:
"For what reason are you a prefect?" And
thereafter by solemn proclamation he was given to
beasts. His robber band broke up, for the entire
strength of the six hundred lay in him.
A.D. 208 (a.u. 961)
11
Severus, seeing that his children were departing
from their accustomed modes of life and that his legions
were becoming enervated by idleness, set out on
a campaign against Britain, though he knew that he
should not return. He knew this chiefly from the stars
under which he had been born, for he had them painted
upon the ceilings of the two halls in the palace where
he was wont to hold court. Thus they were visible to
all, save the portion which "regarded-the-hour" when
he first saw the light (i.e., his horo-scope). This he
had not engraved in the same way in both the rooms.--He
knew it also by the report of the seers. And a
thunderbolt struck a statue of his standing near the
gates through which he intended to march out and looking
off along the road leading to his destination, and it
had erased three letters from his name. For this
reason,
[
]
as the seers indicated, he did not come back
again but departed from life two years after this. He
took with him very great sums of money.
12
There are two principal races of the Britons,--the
Caledonians and the Maeatians. The titles of the rest
have all been reduced to these two. The Maeatians live
near the cross wall which cuts the island in two, and
the Caledonians are behind them. Both inhabit wild
and waterless mountains, desolate and swampy plains,
holding no walls, nor cities, nor tilled fields, but living
by pasturage and hunting and a few fruit trees. The
fish, which are inexhaustible and past computing for
multitude, they do not taste. They dwell coatless and
shoeless in tents, possess their women in common, and
rear all the offspring as a community. Their form of
government is mostly democratic and they are very
fond of plundering.
Consequently they choose their boldest spirits as leaders.
They go into battle on chariots with small, swift
horses. There are also infantry, very quick at running
and very firm in standing their ground. Their weapons
are shield and short spear, with a bronze apple attached
to the end of the ground-spike, so that when
the instrument is shaken it may clash and inspire the
enemy with terror. They also have daggers. They can
endure hunger and cold and any kind of wretchedness.
They plunge into the swamps and exist there for many
days with only their heads above water, and in the
forests they support themselves upon bark and roots
and in all
[
]
cases they have ready a kind of food of which
a piece the size of a bean when eaten prevents them
from being either hungry or thirsty. Of such a nature
is the island of Britain, and such are the inhabitants
that the enemy's country has. For it is an island, and
the fact (as I have stated)
[
]
was clearly proved at this
time. The length of it is seven thousand one hundred
and thirty-two stades. Its greatest breadth is two
thousand three hundred and ten, and its least is three
hundred.
13
Of all this we hold a little less than a half.
So Severus, desiring to subjugate the whole of it, invaded
Caledonia. While traversing the territory he
had untold trouble in cutting down the forests, reducing
the levels of heights, filling up the swamps, and bridging
the rivers. He fought no battle and beheld no adversary
in battle array. The enemy purposely put
sheep and cattle in front of them for the soldiers to
seize, in order that the latter might be deceived for a
longer time and wear themselves out. The Romans received
great damage from the streams and were made
objects of attack when they were scattered. Afterward,
being unable to walk, they were slain by their
own friends to avoid capture, so that nearly as many
as fifty thousand died.
But the emperor did not desist till he had approached
the extremity of the island. Here he observed very
accurately to how slight a degree the sun declined below
the horizon
[
]
and the length of days and nights both
summer and winter. Thus having been conveyed
through practically the whole of the hostile region,--for
he was really conveyed in a covered chair most of
the way on account of his weakness,--he returned to
A.D. 210 (a.u. 963)
friendly territory, first forcing the Britons to come to
terms on condition that he should abandon a good part
of their territory.
14
Antoninus also disturbed him and involved him in
vain worry by his intemperate life, by his evident intention
to murder his brother if the chance should present
itself, and finally by plotting against his own
father. Once he leaped suddenly out of his quarters,
shouting and bawling and feigning to have been
wronged by Castor. This man was the best of the
Caesarians attending upon Severus, had been trusted
with his opinions, and had been assigned the duties of
chamberlain. Certain soldiers with whom previous arrangements
had been made hereupon gathered and
joined the outcry; but they were checked in short order,
as Severus himself appeared on the scene and punished
the more unruly among them.
On another occasion both were riding to meet the
Caledonians for the purpose of receiving them and
holding a conference about a truce, and Antoninus undertook
to kill his father outright with his own hand.
They were going along on their horses, for Severus, although
his feet were rather shrunken
[
]
by an ailment,
nevertheless was on horseback himself and the rest of
the army was following: the enemy's force, too, was
likewise a spectator. At this juncture, in the midst of
the silence and order, Antoninus reined up his horse
and drew his sword, apparently intending to strike his
father in the back. Seeing this, the other horsemen in
the detachment raised a cry of alarm, which scared the
son, so that he did nothing further. Severus turned at
their shout and saw the sword; however, he uttered not
a syllable but ascended the tribunal, finished what he
had to do, and returned to the general's tent. Then he
called his son and Papinianus and Castor, ordered a
sword to be placed within easy reach, and upbraided the
youth for having dared to do such a thing at all and
especially for having been on the point of committing
so great a crime in the presence of all the allies and the
enemy. Finally he said: "Now if you desire to slay
me and have done, put an end to me here. You are
strong: I am an old man and prostrate. If you have
no objection to this, but shrink from becoming my actual
murderer, there stands by your side Papinianus
the prefect, whom you may order to put me out of the
way. He will certainly do anything that you command,
since you are emperor." Though he spoke in this
fashion, he still did the plotter no harm, in spite of the
fact that he had often blamed Marcus for not ending
the life of Commodus and that he had himself often
threatened his son with this treatment. Such words,
however, were invariably spoken in a fit of anger: on
this occasion he allowed his love of offspring to get the
better of his love of country; yet in doing so he simply
betrayed his other child, for he well knew what would
happen.
15
Upon another revolt of the inhabitants of the island
he summoned the soldiers and bade them invade the
rebels' country, killing whomsoever they should encounter.
He added these verses:
"Let none escape utter destruction
At our hands. Yea, whatso is found in the womb of the mother,
Child unborn though it be, let it not escape utter destruction!"
[
157]
When this had been done and the Caledonians as well
as the Maeatians revolted, he proceeded with preparations
to make war upon them in person. While he was
thus engaged his sickness carried him off on the fourth
of February.
A.D. 211 (a.u. 964)
Antoninus, it is said, contributed something
to the result. Before he closed his eyes he is reputed
to have spoken these words to his children (I shall
use the exact phraseology without embellishment):
"Be harmonious, enrich the soldiers, scorn everybody
else." After this his body arrayed in military garb
was placed upon a pyre, and as a mark of honor the
soldiers and his children ran about it. Those present
who had any military gifts threw them upon it and the
sons applied the fire. Later his bones were put in a jar
of purple stone, conveyed to Rome, and deposited in the
tomb of the Antonines. It is said that Severus sent
for the jar a little before his death and after feeling it
over remarked: "Thou shalt hold a man that the
world could not hold."
16
He was slow-moulded but strong, though he eventually
grew very weak from gout: mentally he was very
keen and very firm. He wished for more education than
he got and for this reason he was sagacious rather than
a good talker. Toward friends not forgetful, to
enemies most oppressive, he was capable of everything
that he desired to accomplish but careless of everything
said about him. Hence he gathered money from every
source (save that he killed no one to get it)
[and met
all necessary expenditures quite ungrudgingly. He restored
very many of the ancient buildings and inscribed
upon them his own name to signify that he had
repaired them so as to be new structures, and from his
private funds. Also he spent a great deal uselessly
upon renovating and repairing other places]
, erecting,
for instance, to Bacchus and Hercules a temple of huge
size. Yet, though his expenses were enormous, he left
behind not merely a few myriad denarii, easily reckoned,
but a great many. Again, he rebuked such persons
as were not chaste, even going to the extent of enacting
certain laws in regard to adultery, with the result
that there were any number of prosecutions for
that offence. When consul I once found three thousand
entered on the docket. But inasmuch as very few persons
appeared to conduct their cases, he too ceased to
trouble his head about it. Apropos of this, a quite
witty remark is reported of the wife of Argentocoxus,
a Caledonian, to Julia Augusta, when the latter after
the treaty was joking her about the free intercourse of
her sex in Britain with men. Thereupon the foreigner
asserted: "We fulfill the necessities of nature in a
much better way than you Roman women. We have
dealings openly with the best men, whereas you let
yourselves be debauched in secret by the vilest." This
is what the British woman said.
17
The following is the style of life that Severus led in
time of peace. He was sure to be doing something before
dawn, while it was still night, and after this he
would go to walk, telling and hearing of the interests
of the empire. Then he held court, and separately (unless
there were some great festival); and indeed, he
did this very well. Those on trial were allowed plenty
of water
[
]
and he granted us, his coadjutors, full liberty
to speak.--He continued to preside till noonday. After
that he went riding as much as he could. Next he
took some kind of exercise and a bath. He then consumed
a not meagre lunch, either by himself or with his
children. Next, as a rule, he enjoyed a nap. Later he
rose, attended to his remaining duties of administration,
and while walking about occupied himself with
discussions of both Greek and Latin lore. Then, toward
evening, he would bathe again and dine with his attendants.
Very seldom did he have any outsider to
dinner and only on days when it was quite unavoidable
did he arrange expensive banquets.--He lived sixty-five
years, nine months, and twenty-five days, for he
was born on the eleventh of April. Of this he had ruled
seventeen years, eight months and three days. In fine,
he showed himself so active that even expiring he
gasped: "Come, give it to us, if we have anything to
do!"
FOOTNOTES