§17Consulatus quattuor gessit, primum ex Kal. Iul. per duos menses, secundum ex Kal. Ian. per XXX dies, tertium usque in Idus Ian. , quartum usque septimum Idus easdem.
He held four consulships: the first from the Kalends of July for two months, the second from the Kalends of January for thirty days, the third until the Ides of January, and the fourth until the seventh day before the same Ides.
ex omnibus duos nouissimos coniunxit.
Out of all these, he joined the last two in succession.
tertium autem Luguduni iniit solus, non ut quidam opinantur superbia neglegentiaue, sed quod defunctum sub Kalendarum diem collegam rescisse absens non potuerat.
But he entered upon the third at Lugdunum alone, not, as some think, out of pride or negligence, but because, being absent, he could not have known that his colleague had died just before the day of the Kalends.
congiarium populo bis dedit trecenos sestertios, totiens abundantissimum epulum senatui equestrique ordini, etiam coniugibus ac liberis utrorumque;
He twice gave the people a congiary of three hundred sesterces, and as many times a most bountiful banquet to the senate and the equestrian order, including also the wives and children of both.
posteriore epulo forensia insuper uiris, feminis ac pueris fascias purpurae ac conchylii distribuit.
At the latter banquet, he moreover distributed garments for the forum to the men, and purple and scarlet bands to the women and children.
et ut laetitiam publicam in perpetuum quoque augeret, adiecit diem Saturnalibus appellauitque Iuuenalem.
And so that he might also increase the public joy forever, he added a day to the Saturnalia and called it the "Juvenalis".
§18Munera gladiatoria partim in amphitheatro Tauri partim in Saeptis aliquot edidit, quibus inseruit cateruas Afrorum Campanorumque pugilum ex utraque regione electissimorum.
He exhibited several gladiatorial shows, partly in the amphitheater of Taurus and partly in the Saepta, in which he introduced bands of African and Campanian boxers, the most select from both regions.
neque spectaculis semper ipse praesedit, sed interdum aut magistratibus aut amicis praesidendi munus iniunxit.
Nor did he always preside over the spectacles himself, but sometimes imposed the duty of presiding either upon magistrates or upon friends.
scaenicos ludos et assidue et uarii generis ac multifariam fecit, quondam et nocturnos accensis tota urbe luminibus.
He exhibited theatrical plays both constantly, of various kinds, and in many places, and once even by night, with lights burning throughout the city.
sparsit et missilia uariarum rerum et panaria cum obsonio uiritim diuisit; qua epulatione equiti R. contra se hilarius auidiusque uescenti partes suas misit, sed et senatori ob eandem causam codicillos, quibus praetorem eum extra ordinem designabat.
He also scattered missiles of various things and distributed bread-baskets with provisions man by man; at which feast, to a Roman knight who was eating his portion opposite him quite merrily and greedily, he sent his own share, and likewise to a senator, for the same reason, a patent appointing him praetor out of the ordinary course.
edidit et circenses plurimos a mane ad uesperam interiecta modo Africanarum uenatione modo Troiae decursione, et quosdam praecipuos, minio et chrysocolla constrato circo nec ullis nisi ex senatorio ordine aurigantibus.
He also exhibited very many games in the circus from morning till evening, with an exhibition of African beasts at one time, and the Trojan game at another interjected; and some extraordinary ones, with the circus strewn with vermilion and chrysocolla, and none but those of the senatorial order driving the chariots.
commisit et subitos, cum e Gelotiana apparatum circi prospicientem pauci ex proximis Maenianis postulassent.
He also started sudden ones, when, as he was looking at the preparation of the circus from the Gelotiana, a few people from the nearest balconies demanded it.
§19Nouum praeterea atque inauditum genus spectaculi excogitauit.
Besides, he devised a new and unheard-of kind of spectacle.
nam Baiarum medium interuallum †Puteolanas moles, trium milium et sescentorum fere passuum spatium, ponte coniunxit contractis undique onerariis nauibus et ordine duplici ad ancoras conlocatis superiectoque terreno ac derecto in Appiae uiae formam.
For he joined the intervening space of Baiae to the moles of Puteoli, a distance of about three thousand six hundred paces, with a bridge, by gathering merchant vessels from all quarters, anchoring them in a double row, throwing a mound of earth over them, and leveling it in the fashion of the Appian Way.
per hunc pontem ultro citro commeauit biduo continenti, primo die phalerato equo insignisque quercea corona et caetra et gladio aureaque chlamyde, postridie quadrigario habitu curriculoque biiugi famosorum equorum, prae se ferens Dareum puerum ex Parthorum obsidibus, comitante praetorianorum agmine et in essedis cohorte amicorum.
On this bridge, he passed to and fro for two successive days: on the first day, mounted on a horse adorned with trappings, distinguished by an oak crown, a small shield, a sword, and a gold-woven cloak; on the next day, in the habit of a charioteer, driving a chariot drawn by a pair of famous horses, displaying before him the boy Darius from the Parthian hostages, with a train of the praetorian guard accompanying him, and a cohort of friends in British chariots.
scio plerosque existimasse talem a Gaio pontem excogitatum aemulatione Xerxis, qui non sine admiratione aliquanto angustiorem Hellespontum contabulauerit; alios, ut Germaniam et Britanniam, quibus imminebat, alicuius inmensi operis fama territaret.
I know that most people believed such a bridge was devised by Gaius in emulation of Xerxes, who, not without admiration, threw a bridge over the somewhat narrower Hellespont; others, that he might terrify Germany and Britain, which he was threatening, by the fame of some immense work.
sed auum meum narrantem puer audiebam, causam operis ab interioribus aulicis proditam, quod Thrasyllus mathematicus anxio de successore Tiberio et in uerum nepotem proniori affirmasset non magis Gaium imperaturum quam per Baianum sinum equis discursurum.
But I used to hear my grandfather, when I was a boy, telling the cause of the work as revealed by the intimate courtiers: that Thrasyllus the astrologer had declared to Tiberius, who was anxious about his successor and more inclined toward his real grandson, that Gaius would no more be emperor than he would run across the gulf of Baiae on horses.
§20Edidit et peregre spectacula, in Sicilia Syracusis asticos ludos et in Gallia Luguduni miscellos; sed hic certamen quoque Graecae Latinaeque facundiae, quo certamine ferunt uictoribus praemia uictos contulisse, eorundem et laudes componere coactos; eos autem, qui maxime displicuissent, scripta sua spongia linguaue delere iussos, nisi ferulis obiurgari aut flumine proximo mergi maluissent.
He also exhibited spectacles abroad: in Sicily, at Syracuse, the Athenian games; and in Gaul, at Lugdunum, mixed games; but here also a contest in Greek and Latin eloquence, in which contest they say that the vanquished contributed prizes to the victors and were compelled to compose praises of the same; and those who had most displeased were ordered to erase their writings with a sponge or their tongue, unless they preferred to be beaten with ferules or drowned in the neighboring river.
§21Opera sub Tiberio semiperfecta, templum Augusti theatrumque Pompei, absoluit.
The works left half-finished under Tiberius, the temple of Augustus and the theater of Pompey, he completed.
incohauit autem aquae ductum regione Tiburti et amphitheatrum iuxta Saepta, quorum operum a successore eius Claudio alterum peractum, omissum alterum est.
He also began an aqueduct in the region of Tibur, and an amphitheater next to the Saepta, of which works, the former was completed by his successor Claudius, and the latter was abandoned.
Syracusis conlapsa uetustate moenia deorumque aedes refectae.
At Syracuse, the walls and temples of the gods, which had fallen from age, were repaired.
destinauerat et Sami Polycratis regiam restituere, Mileti Didymeum peragere, in iugo Alpium urbem condere, sed ante omnia Isthmum in Achaia perfodere, miseratque iam ad dimetiendum opus primipilarem.
He had also resolved to restore the palace of Polycrates at Samos, to complete the Didymeum at Miletus, to build a city on the ridge of the Alps, but above all, to dig through the Isthmus in Achaea, and he had already sent a centurion of the first rank to measure the work.