§61mox in omne genus crudelitatis erupit numquam deficiente materia, cum primo matris, deinde nepotum et nurus, postremo Seiani familiares atque etiam notos persequeretur;
Soon he broke out into every kind of cruelty, for which material was never lacking, prosecuting first his mother's friends, then those of his grandsons and his daughter-in-law, and finally those of Sejanus and even his mere acquaintances; after whose death he became truly most savage.
post cuius interitum uel saeuissimus extitit. quo maxime apparuit, non tam ipsum ab Seiano concitari solitum, quam Seianum quaerenti occasiones sumministrasse;
By this it became extremely clear that he himself had not been so much accustomed to be instigated by Sejanus, as that Sejanus had supplied opportunities to him when he was seeking them.
etsi commentario, quem de uita sua summatim breuiterque composuit, ausus est scribere Seianum se punisse, quod comperisset furere aduersus liberos Germanici filii sui; quorum ipse alterum suspecto iam, alterum oppresso demum Seiano interemit.
Although, in the memoirs which he composed summarily and briefly about his own life, he dared to write that he had punished Sejanus because he had discovered that the latter was raging against the children of his son Germanicus; of these children, Tiberius himself put one to death when Sejanus was already suspected, and the other only after Sejanus had been crushed.
Singillatim crudeliter facta eius exequi longum est; genera, uelut exemplaria saeuitiae, enumerare sat erit.
It would be tedious to follow up his cruel deeds individually; it will be sufficient to enumerate the kinds of cruelty, as it were examples of his savagery.
nullus a poena hominum cessauit dies, ne religiosus quidem ac sacer; animaduersum in quosdam ineunte anno nouo.
No day passed without the punishment of someone, not even a religious or sacred holiday; execution was carried out on certain individuals at the very beginning of the new year.
accusati damnatique multi cum liberis atque etiam a liberis suis.
Many were accused and condemned with their children, and even by their own children.
interdictum ne capite damnatos propinqui lugerent.
It was forbidden for relatives to mourn those condemned to death.
decreta accusatoribus praecipua praemia, nonnumquam et testibus.
Special rewards were decreed to prosecutors, and sometimes also to witnesses.
nemini delatorum fides abrogata.
No informant was ever denied credibility.
omne crimen pro capitali receptum, etiam paucorum simpliciumque uerborum.
Every charge was accepted as capital, even one consisting of a few simple words.
obiectum est poetae, quod in tragoedia Agamemnonem probris lacessisset; obiectum et historico, quod Brutum Cassiumque ultimos Romanorum dixisset;
It was charged against a poet that in a tragedy he had attacked Agamemnon with insults; it was also charged against a historian that he had called Brutus and Cassius the last of the Romans.
animaduersum statim in auctores scriptaque abolita, quamuis probarentur ante aliquot annos etiam Augusto audiente recitata.
Punishment was immediately meted out to the authors, and their writings were destroyed, although they had been approved some years before when read even in the hearing of Augustus.
quibusdam custodiae traditis non modo studendi solacium ademptum, sed etiam sermonis et conloqui usus.
To some who were committed to custody, not only was the solace of studying taken away, but even the use of speech and conversation.
citati ad causam dicendam partim se domi uulnerauerunt certi damnationis et ad uexationem ignominiamque uitandam, partim in media curia uenenum hauserunt; et tamen conligatis uulneribus ac semianimes palpitantesque adhuc in carcerem rapti.
Some of those summoned to plead their cause, certain of condemnation and to avoid harassment and ignominy, wounded themselves at home, while others drank poison in the midst of the Senate house; and yet, with their wounds bound up and while still half-dead and gasping, they were hurried off to prison.
nemo punitorum non in Gemonias abiectus uncoque tractus, uiginti uno die abiecti tractique, inter eos feminae et pueri.
Not one of those punished was not thrown onto the Gemonian stairs and dragged by a hook; twenty were thrown and dragged in a single day, among them women and children.
immaturae puellae, quia more tradito nefas esset uirgines strangulari, uitiatae prius a carnifice, dein strangulatae.
Since by traditional custom it was a religious crime for virgins to be strangled, young girls were first violated by the executioner and then strangled.
mori uolentibus uis adhibita uiuendi.
Force to live was applied to those who wished to die.
nam mortem adeo leue supplicium putabat, ut cum audisset unum e reis, Carnulum nomine, anticipasse eam, exclamauerit: 'Carnulus me euasit. ' et in recognoscendis custodiis precanti cuidam poenae maturitatem respondit: 'nondum tecum in gratiam redii. ' annalibus suis uir consularis inseruit, frequenti quodam conuiuio, cui et ipse affuerit, interrogatum eum subito et clare a quodam nano astante mensae inter copreas, cur Paconius maiestatis reus tam diu uiueret, statim quidem petulantiam linguae obiurgasse, ceterum post paucos dies scripsisse senatui, ut de poena Paconi quam primum statueret.
For he thought death so light a punishment that when he heard that one of the accused, Carnulus by name, had anticipated it, he exclaimed: "Carnulus has escaped me." And when inspecting the prisoners, to a certain man pleading for the quickening of his punishment, he replied: "I have not yet returned to favor with you." A man of consular rank has recorded in his annals that, at a crowded banquet at which he himself was present, a certain dwarf standing near the table among the jesters suddenly and loudly asked Tiberius why Paconius, who was accused of treason, lived so long. Tiberius immediately rebuked the insolence of his tongue, but a few days later wrote to the Senate to decide on the punishment of Paconius as soon as possible.
§62Auxit intenditque saeuitiam exacerbatus indicio de morte filii sui Drusi.
He increased and intensified his savagery, being exasperated by the disclosure concerning the death of his son Drusus.
quem cum morbo et intemperantia perisse existimaret, ut tandem ueneno interemptum fraude Liuillae uxoris atque Seiani cognouit, neque tormentis neque supplicio cuiusquam pepercit, soli huic cognitioni adeo per totos dies deditus et intentus, ut Rhodiensem hospitem, quem familiaribus litteris Romam euocarat, aduenisse sibi nuntiatum torqueri sine mora iusserit, quasi aliquis ex necessariis quaestioni adesset, deinde errore detecto et occidi, ne uulgaret iniuriam.
Although he had believed that Drusus had perished from disease and intemperance, as soon as he learned that he had been destroyed by poison through the treachery of his wife Livilla and Sejanus, he spared no one from torture or execution. He was so devoted and intent on this single investigation for whole days that when it was reported to him that his Rhodian host, whom he had invited to Rome by a friendly letter, had arrived, he ordered him to be tortured without delay, as if someone essential to the inquiry had arrived. Then, when the mistake was discovered, he ordered him to be killed as well, so that he might not make the outrage public.
carnificinae eius ostenditur locus Capreis, unde damnatos post longa et exquisita tormenta praecipitari coram se in mare iubebat, excipiente classiariorum manu et contis atque remis elidente cadauera, ne cui residui spiritus quicquam inesset.
The place of his butchery is shown at Capri, from where he used to order those condemned, after long and exquisite tortures, to be cast headlong into the sea before his eyes, a band of sailors receiving them and shattering their bodies with poles and oars, so that no breath of life might remain in anyone.
excogitauerat autem inter genera cruciatus etiam, ut larga meri potione per fallaciam oneratos, repente ueretris deligatis, fidicularum simul urinaeque tormento distenderet.
He had also devised among his kinds of torture that, having deceived them into loading themselves with a large amount of unmixed wine, their private parts were suddenly tied up, and he would distend them with the torment of the cords and of urine at the same time.
quod nisi eum et mors praeuenisset et Thrasyllus consulto, ut aiunt, differre quaedam spe longioris uitae compulisset, plures aliquanto necaturus ac ne reliquis quidem nepotibus parsurus creditur, cum et Gaium suspectum haberet et Tiberium ut ex adulterio conceptum aspernaretur.
And if death had not anticipated him, and if Thrasyllus had not, as they say, deliberately compelled him to postpone certain matters by the hope of a longer life, it is believed that he would have killed considerably more, and would not have spared even his remaining grandsons, since he both held Gaius in suspicion and despised Tiberius as conceived from adultery.
nec abhorret a uero; namque identidem felicem Priamum uocabat, quod superstes omnium suorum extitisset.
And this is not far from the truth; for he repeatedly called Priam fortunate, because he had survived all his own family.