§14ingressoque urbem, statim consensu senatus et irrumpentis in curiam turbae, inrita Tiberi uoluntate, qui testamento alterum nepotem suum praetextatum adhuc coheredem ei dederat, ius arbitriumque omnium rerum illi permissum est tanta publica laetitia, ut tribus proximis mensibus ac ne totis quidem supra centum sexaginta milia uictimarum caesa tradantur.
Upon his entry into the city, by the immediate consensus of the senate and the crowd that burst into the senate-house, the will of Tiberius was declared void—who by his testament had given him his other grandson, still wearing the toga of boyhood, as his co-heir—and the power and decision over all affairs were committed to him, amid such great public joy that within the next three months, and indeed not even full ones, more than one hundred and sixty thousand victims are reported to have been slaughtered.
Cum deinde paucos post dies in proximas Campaniae insulas traiecisset, uota pro reditu suscepta sunt, ne minimam quidem occasionem quoquam omittente in testificanda sollicitudine et cura de incolumitate eius.
When, a few days after this, he crossed over to the nearest islands of Campania, vows were undertaken for his return, with no one omitting even the slightest opportunity to testify to their solicitude and care for his safety.
ut uero in aduersam ualitudinem incidit, pernoctantibus cunctis circa Palatium, non defuerunt qui depugnaturos se armis pro salute aegri quique capita sua titulo proposito uouerent.
But when he fell into ill health, as everyone kept watch through the night around the Palatium, there were those who vowed to fight as gladiators for the recovery of the sick man, and some who pledged their own lives by displaying placards.
accessit ad immensum ciuium amorem notabilis etiam externorum fauor.
To this immense love of the citizens was added the remarkable favor of foreigners as well.
namque Artabanus Parthorum rex, odium semper contemptumque Tiberi prae se ferens, amicitiam huius ultro petiit uenitque ad colloquium legati consularis et transgressus Euphraten aquilas et signa Romana Caesarumque imagines adorauit.
For Artabanus, the king of the Parthians, always showing his hatred and contempt for Tiberius, of his own accord sought friendship with Gaius and came to a conference with the consular legate, and having crossed the Euphrates, adored the Roman eagles, standards, and the images of the Caesars.
§15Incendebat et ipse studia hominum omni genere popularitatis.
He himself also inflamed the enthusiasm of men by every kind of popularity.
Tiberio cum plurimis lacrimis pro contione laudato funeratoque amplissime, confestim Pandateriam et Pontias ad transferendos matris fratrisque cineres festinauit, tempestate turbida, quo magis pietas emineret, adiitque uenerabundus ac per semet in urnas condidit;
Having praised Tiberius with many tears before the assembly and having buried him most sumptuously, he immediately hastened to Pandateria and Pontiae to transfer the ashes of his mother and brother, during a stormy tempest, so that his piety might shine forth the more; he approached them with reverence and with his own hands placed them into urns.
nec minore scaena Ostiam praefixo in biremis puppe uexillo et inde Romam Tiberi subuectos per splendidissimum quemque equestris ordinis medio ac frequenti die duobus ferculis Mausoleo intulit, inferiasque is annua religione publice instituit, et eo amplius matri circenses carpentumque quo in pompa traduceretur.
With no less theatrical display, he brought them to Ostia with a flag fixed to the stern of a bireme, and thence up the Tiber to Rome, carried by the most distinguished men of the equestrian order in the middle of the day, when the streets were crowded, on two biers into the Mausoleum. He established funeral sacrifices for them to be performed publicly with annual devotion, and moreover, in honor of his mother, games in the circus and a carriage in which her image should be carried in the procession.
at in memoriam patris Septembrem mensem Germanicum appellauit. post haec Antoniae auiae, quidquid umquam Liuia Augusta honorum cepisset, uno senatus consulto congessit; patruum Claudium, equitem R. ad id tempus, collegam sibi in consulatu assumpsit; fratrem Tiberium die uirilis togae adoptauit appellauitque principem iuuentutis. de sororibus auctor fuit, ut omnibus sacramentis adicerentur: 'neque me liberosque meos cariores habebo quam Gaium habeo et sorores eius'; item relationibus consulum: 'quod bonum felixque sit C. Caesari sororibusque eius. '
Pari popularitate damnatos relegatosque restituit; criminum, si quae residua ex priore tempore manebant, omnium gratiam fecit; commentarios ad matris fratrumque suorum causas pertinentis, ne cui postmodum delatori aut testi maneret ullus metus, conuectos in forum, et ante clare obtestatus deos neque legisse neque attigisse quicquam, concremauit; libellum de salute sua oblatum non recepit, contendens nihil sibi admissum cur cuiquam inuisus esset, negauitque se delatoribus aures habere.
But in memory of his father, he called the month of September "Germanicus." After this, upon his grandmother Antonia, by a single decree of the senate, he heaped whatever honors Livia Augusta had ever received; his uncle Claudius, who up to that time had been only a Roman knight, he took as his colleague in the consulship; his brother Tiberius, on the day he assumed the toga of manhood, he adopted and styled "Prince of the Youth." Concerning his sisters, he was the sponsor of a proposal that they should be added to all oaths of allegiance: "And I will not hold myself and my children dearer than I hold Gaius and his sisters"; likewise in the proposals of the consuls: "May it be good and fortunate for Gaius Caesar and his sisters." With equal popularity, he restored those who had been condemned and banished; he granted a general pardon for all charges, if any remained from the former time; the records pertaining to the trials of his mother and brothers, so that no informer or witness might thereafter retain any fear, were collected into the forum and burned, after he had first solemnly called the gods to witness that he had neither read nor touched any part of them; a pamphlet offered to him concerning his safety he did not receive, contending that he had done nothing to make himself hated by anyone, and he declared that he had no ears for informers.
§16spintrias monstrosarum libidinum aegre ne profundo mergeret exoratus, urbe submouit.
The "spintriae" of monstrous lusts, having been with difficulty prevailed upon not to drown them in the deep, he banished from the city.
Titi Labieni, Cordi Cremuti, Cassi Seueri scripta senatus consultis abolita requiri et esse in manibus lectitarique permisit, quando maxime sua interesset ut facta quaeque posteris tradantur.
The writings of Titus Labienus, Cremutius Cordus, and Cassius Severus, which had been suppressed by decrees of the senate, he permitted to be sought out, kept in hand, and read constantly, since it was of the greatest concern to him that all deeds should be handed down to posterity.
rationes imperii ab Augusto proponi solitas sed a Tiberio intermissas publicauit magistratibus liberam iuris dictionem et sine sui appellatione concessit.
The accounts of the empire, which used to be published by Augustus but had been discontinued by Tiberius, he made public; to the magistrates, he granted free jurisdiction and without appeal to himself.
equites R. seuere curioseque nec sine moderatione recognouit, palam adempto equo quibus aut probri aliquid aut ignominiae inesset, eorum qui minore culpa tenerentur nominibus modo in recitatione praeteritis ut leuior labor iudicantibus foret, ad quattuor prioris quintam decuriam addidit.
He reviewed the Roman knights strictly and carefully, yet not without moderation, publicly taking away their horses from those who had any stain of disgrace or ignominy; in the case of those who were held by a lesser fault, their names were merely passed over in the reading of the roll, so that the trial might be lighter for those undergoing judgment; to the four previous panels of jurors, he added a fifth.
temptauit et comitiorum more reuocato suffragia populo reddere.
He also attempted, by restoring the custom of the elections, to return the right of voting to the people.
legata ex testamento Tiberi quamquam abolito, sed et Iuliae Augustae, quod Tiberius suppresserat, cum fide ac sine calumnia repraesentata persoluit.
The legacies bequeathed under the will of Tiberius, although it had been declared void, and also those of Julia Augusta, which Tiberius had suppressed, he paid out faithfully and without any chicane.
ducentesimam auctionum Italiae remisit; multis incendiorum damna suppleuit; ac si quibus regna restituit, adiecit et fructum omnem uectigaliorum et reditum medii temporis, ut Antiocho Commageno sestertium milies confiscatum.
He remitted the two-hundredth tax on auctions in Italy; he made good the losses from fires to many; and if he restored kingdoms to any, he added also all the fruit of the taxes and the revenues of the intervening time, such as to Antiochus of Commagene, to whom he restored one hundred million sesterces that had been confiscated.
quoque magis nullius non boni exempli fautor uideretur, mulieri libertinae octingenta donauit, quod excruciata grauissimis tormentis de scelere patroni reticuisset.
And so that he might the more appear as a patron of every good example, he presented an eight-hundred-thousand sesterces gift to a freedwoman because, though tortured with the most severe torments, she had remained silent about the crime of her patron.
quas ob res inter reliquos honores decretus est ei clipeus aureus, quem quotannis certo die collegia sacerdotum in Capitolium ferrent, senatu prosequente nobilibusque pueris ac puellis carmine modulato laudes uirtutum eius canentibus.
For these reasons, among other honors, a golden shield was decreed to him, which every year on a certain day the colleges of priests should carry to the Capitol, with the senate attending and noble boys and girls singing his praises in a modulated song.
decretum autem ut dies, quo cepisset imperium, Parilia uocaretur, uelut argumentum rursus conditae urbis.
It was also decreed that the day on which he had assumed power should be called the "Parilia", as a proof of the city being founded anew.