§56Nihilo lenior in conuictores Graeculos, quibus uel maxime adquiescebat, Xenonem quendam exquisitius sermocinantem cum interrogasset, quaenam illa tam molesta dialectos esset, et ille respondisset Doridem, relegauit Cinariam, existimans exprobratum sibi ueterem secessum, quod Dorice Rhodii loquantur.
He was not a bit more lenient toward his Greek companions, in whose company he found the greatest relaxation. When he had asked a certain Xenon, who was speaking in a rather affected manner, what that so troublesome dialect was, and Xenon had replied that it was Doric, Tiberius banished him to Cinaria, believing that his own former retirement had been cast in his teeth, because the Rhodians speak Doric.
item cum soleret ex lectione cotidiana quaestiones super cenam proponere comperissetque Seleucum grammaticum a ministris suis perquirere, quos quoque tempore tractaret auctores, atque ita praeparatum uenire, primum a contubernio remouit, deinde etiam ad mortem compulit.
Likewise, since he was accustomed to propose questions during dinner from his daily reading, and found out that Seleucus the grammaticus was inquiring of his servants what authors he was handling at any given time, and so came prepared, he first removed him from his company, and then even forced him to death.
§57Saeua ac lenta natura ne in puero quidem latuit; quam Theodorus Gadareus rhetoricae praeceptor et perspexisse primus sagaciter et assimilasse aptissime uisus est, subinde in obiurgando appellans eum πηλὸν αἵματι πεφυραμένον, id est lutum a sanguine maceratum.
His cruel and stubborn nature was not hidden even in his boyhood; which Theodorus of Gadara, his teacher of rhetoric, seems to have been the first to perceive sagaciously and to have characterized most appropriately, calling him from time to time in rebuking him 'mud kneaded with blood,' that is, clay soaked in blood.
sed aliquanto magis in principe eluxit, etiam inter initia cum adhuc fauorem hominum moderationis simulatione captaret.
But it shone out much more when he was emperor, even in the beginning when he was still courting the favor of men by a pretense of moderation.
scurram, qui praetereunte funere clare mortuo mandarat, ut nuntiaret Augusto nondum reddi legata quae plebei reliquisset, adtractum ad se recipere debitum ducique ad supplicium imperauit et patri suo uerum referre.
When a jester, as a funeral was passing by, had loudly charged the dead man to report to Augustus that the legacies which he had left to the common people were not yet being paid, Tiberius ordered him to be dragged to him, to receive his debt, and to be led to execution, bidding him report the truth to his father.
nec multo post in senatu Pompeio cuidam equiti R. quiddam perneganti, dum uincula minatur, affirmauit fore ut ex Pompeio Pompeianus fieret, acerba cauillatione simul hominis nomen incessens ueteremque partium fortunam.
Not long after, in the senate, when a certain Pompeius, a Roman knight, was stubbornly denying something, while threatening him with imprisonment, Tiberius declared that he would become a 'Pompeian' instead of Pompeius, by this bitter sarcasm attacking at once the man's name and the ancient fortune of his party.
§58sub idem tempus consulente praetore an iudicia maiestatis cogi iuberet, exercendas esse leges respondit et atrocissime exercuit.
About the same time, when a praetor consulted him whether he should order the courts of treason to be convened, he replied that the laws must be enforced, and he enforced them most savagely.
statuae quidam Augusti caput dempserat, ut alterius imponeret; acta res in senatu et, quia ambigebatur, per tormenta quaesita est.
Someone had removed the head from a statue of Augustus to place another upon it; the matter was discussed in the senate, and, because it was in doubt, was investigated by torture.
damnato reo paulatim genus calumniae eo processit, ut haec quoque capitalia essent: circa Augusti simulacrum seruum cecidisse, uestimenta mutasse, nummo uel anulo effigiem impressam latrinae aut lupanari intulisse, dictum ullum factumue eius existimatione aliqua laesisse.
After the accused was condemned, this kind of accusation gradually advanced to such a point that even these things became capital offenses: to have beaten a slave near the statue of Augustus; to have changed clothes there; to have carried a coin or ring bearing his effigy into a latrine or brothel; to have damaged his reputation by any word or deed.
perit denique et is, qui honorem in colonia sua eodem die decerni sibi passus est, quo decreti et Augusto olim erant.
Finally, even he perished who allowed an honor to be decreed to himself in his own colony on the same day on which decrees had formerly been made for Augustus.
§59Multa praeterea specie grauitatis ac morum corrigendorum, sed et magis naturae optemperans, ita saeue et atrociter factitauit, ut nonnulli uersiculis quoque et praesentia exprobrarent et futura denuntiarent mala:
Asper et immitis, breuiter uis omnia dicam?
dispeream, si te mater amare potest.
Many other things besides, under the appearance of severity and the correction of morals, but more in compliance with his own nature, he did so savagely and cruelly that some people reproached him for his present evils and foretold future ones in short verses: Harsh and merciless, do you want me to tell you everything briefly? May I perish, if your mother can love you.
Non es eques;
You are no knight.
quare? non sunt tibi milia centum;
Why?
omnia si quaeras, et Rhodus exilium est.
You do not have the hundred thousand sesterces; If you look into everything, even Rhodes was an exile for you.
Aurea mutasti Saturni saecula, Caesar:
incolumi nam te ferrea semper erunt.
You have changed the golden age of Saturn, Caesar; For as long as you are safe, it will always be an iron age.
Fastidit uinum, quia iam sitit iste cruorem:
tam bibit hunc auide, quam bibit ante merum.
He disdains wine, because now that fellow thirsts for blood; He drinks this as greedily as he used to drink unmixed wine.
Aspice felicem sibi, non tibi, Romule, Sullam
et Marium, si uis, aspice, sed reducem,
nec non Antoni ciuilia bella mouentis
non semel infectas aspice caede manus,
et dic: Roma perit! regnauit sanguine multo,
ad regnum quisquis uenit ab exilio.
Look, Romulus, at Sulla, fortunate for himself, not for you; And look at Marius, if you will, but when he returned; Look too at the hands of Antony, who stirred up civil wars, Stained more than once with slaughter, And say: 'Rome perishes!
quae primo, quasi ab impatientibus remediorum ac non tam ex animi sententia quam bile et stomacho fingerentur, uolebat accipi dicebatque identidem: 'oderint, dum probent. ' dein uera plane certaque esse ipse fecit fidem.
Whoever comes from exile to rule, Reigns with much blood.' These verses he wished at first to be taken as if they were composed by those who were impatient of remedies, and not so much from real conviction as from anger and resentment, and he said repeatedly: 'Let them hate, provided they approve.' Afterward he himself made people believe that they were absolutely true and certain.
§60In paucis diebus quam Capreas attigit piscatori, qui sibi secretum agenti grandem mullum inopinanter obtulerat, perfricari eodem pisce faciem iussit, territus quod is a tergo insulae per aspera et deuia erepsisset ad se;
Within a few days after he reached Capri, when a fisherman unexpectedly offered a large mullet to him while he was in retirement, he ordered the man's face to be rubbed with the same fish, being terrified because he had crawled up to him from the back of the island through rough and pathless places.
gratulanti autem inter poenam, quod non et lucustam, quam praegrandem ceperat, obtulisset, lucusta quoque lacerari os imperauit.
When the man, in the midst of his punishment, expressed gratitude that he had not also offered a very large lobster which he had caught, Tiberius ordered his face to be torn with the lobster as well.
militem praetorianum ob subreptum e uiridiario pauonem capite puniit.
He punished a praetorian soldier with death for stealing a peacock from his garden.
in quodam itinere lectica, qua uehebatur, uepribus impedita exploratorem uiae, primarum cohortium centurionem, stratum humi paene ad necem uerberauit.
On a certain journey, when the litter in which he was carried was blocked by briars, he beat the road scout, a centurion of the first cohorts, who was laid on the ground, almost to death.