§24Cum omnibus sororibus suis consuetudinem stupri fecit plenoque conuiuio singulas infra se uicissim conlocabat uxore supra cubante.
He committed incest with all his sisters, and at full banquets placed each of them in turn below himself, while his wife reclined above.
ex iis Drusillam uitiasse uirginem praetextatus adhuc creditur atque etiam in concubitu eius quondam deprehensus ab Antonia auia, apud quam simul educabantur; mox Lucio Cassio Longino consulari conlocatam abduxit et in modum iustae uxoris propalam habuit; heredem quoque bonorum atque imperii aeger instituit.
Of these, he is believed to have defiled Drusilla while she was still a virgin and he himself was still a youth wearing the toga praetexta, and was even once caught in bed with her by his grandmother Antonia, at whose house they were brought up together; afterwards, he took her away from her husband, the consular Lucius Cassius Longinus, to whom she had been married, and openly kept her as his lawful wife; and when he fell ill, he even appointed her heir to his property and the empire.
eadem defuncta iustitium indixit, in quo risisse lauisse cenasse cum parentibus aut coniuge liberisue capital fuit.
When she died, he proclaimed a public mourning, during which it was a capital offense to have laughed, bathed, or dined with parents, spouse, or children.
ac maeroris impatiens, cum repente noctu profugisset ab urbe transcucurrissetque Campaniam, Syracusas petit, rursusque inde propere rediit barba capilloque promisso; nec umquam postea quantiscumque de rebus, ne pro contione quidem populi aut apud milites, nisi per numen Drusillae deierauit.
And unable to bear his grief, having suddenly fled the city by night and run through Campania, he went to Syracuse, and from there returned again in haste with his beard and hair grown long; nor did he ever afterwards, on any occasion, however important, even before an assembly of the people or to the soldiers, swear except by the divinity of Drusilla.
reliquas sorores nec cupiditate tanta nec dignatione dilexit, ut quas saepe exoletis suis prostrauerit; quo facilius eas in causa Aemili Lepidi condemnauit quasi adulteras et insidiarum aduersus se conscias ei nec solum chirographa omnium requisita fraude ac stupro diuulgauit, sed et tres gladios in necem suam praeparatos Marti Vltori addito elogio consecrauit.
He did not love his remaining sisters with such great passion or respect, since he often prostituted them to his own male favorites; because of this, he more easily condemned them in the case of Aemilius Lepidus as adulteresses and accomplices in a conspiracy against him, and not only published the handwriting of all of them, obtained by fraud and violation, but also consecrated to Mars the Avenger three swords prepared for his own murder, adding an inscription.
§25Matrimonia contraxerit turpius an dimiserit an tenuerit, non est facile discernere.
Whether he contracted, dissolved, or maintained his marriages more shamefully is not easy to determine.
Liuiam Orestillam C. Pisoni nubentem, cum ad officium et ipse uenisset, ad se deduci imperauit intraque paucos dies repudiatam biennio post relegauit, quod repetisse usum prioris mariti tempore medio uidebatur.
When Livia Orestilla was marrying Gaius Piso, and he himself had come to the ceremony, he ordered her to be taken to his own house, and having divorced her within a few days, he banished her two years later, because she seemed in the intervening time to have returned to the embrace of her former husband.
alii tradunt adhibitum cenae nuptiali mandasse ad Pisonem contra accumbentem: 'noli uxorem meam premere,' statimque e conuiuio abduxisse secum ac proximo die edixisse: matrimonium sibi repertum exemplo Romuli et Augusti.
Others relate that, being invited to the wedding feast, he sent word to Piso, who was reclining opposite him: "Do not touch my wife," and immediately took her away with him from the banquet, and on the following day issued a proclamation that he had found a marriage after the example of Romulus and Augustus.
Lolliam Paulinam, C. Memmio consulari exercitus regenti nuptam, facta mentione auiae eius ut quondam pulcherrimae, subito ex prouincia euocauit ac perductam a marito coniunxit sibi breuique missam fecit interdicto cuiusquam in perpetuum coitu.
Lollia Paulina, who was married to the consular Gaius Memmius, who was commanding an army, he suddenly summoned from her province, on mention being made of her grandmother as having once been a very beautiful woman; and having taken her from her husband, he married her, and in a short time divorced her, forbidding her to have intercourse with any man forever.
Caesoniam neque facie insigni neque aetate integra matremque iam ex alio uiro trium filiarum, sed luxuriae ac lasciuiae perditae, et ardentius et constantius amauit, ut saepe chlamyde peltaque et galea ornatam ac iuxta adequitantem militibus ostenderit, amicis uero etiam nudam.
Caesonia, who was neither remarkably beautiful nor in the flower of her youth, and was already the mother of three daughters by another man, but was a woman of extreme luxury and wantonness, he loved both more ardently and more constantly, so that he often exhibited her to his soldiers riding beside him, adorned with a military cloak, a shield, and a helmet, and to his friends even naked.
uxorio nomine dignatus est †quam enixam, uno atque eodem die professus et maritum se eius et patrem infantis ex ea natae.
He honored her with the title of wife as soon as she gave birth, declaring on one and the same day that he was both her husband and the father of the child born of her.
infantem autem, Iuliam Drusillam appellatam, per omnium dearum templa circumferens Mineruae gremio imposuit alendamque et instituendam commendauit.
The infant, moreover, named Julia Drusilla, he carried around through the temples of all the goddesses and placed her in the lap of Minerva, commending her to be nourished and educated.
nec ullo firmiore indicio sui seminis esse credebat quam feritatis, quae illi quoque tanta iam tunc erat, ut infestis digitis ora et oculos simul ludentium infantium incesseret.
Nor did he believe there was any stronger proof of her being of his own seed than her wildness, which was already so great in her that she would attack with hostile fingers the faces and eyes of other infants playing with her.
§26leue ac frigidum sit his addere, quo propinquos amicosque pacto tractauerit, Ptolemaeum regis Iubae filium, consobrinum suum—erat enim et is M. Antoni ex Selene filia nepos—et in primis ipsum Macronem, ipsam Enniam. adiutores imperii: quibus omnibus pro necessitudinis iure proque meritorum gratia cruenta mors persoluta est.
It would be trivial and cold to add to these the manner in which he treated his relatives and friends: Ptolemy, the son of King Juba, his cousin—for he too was a grandson of Mark Antony by his daughter Selene—and especially Macro himself, and Ennia herself, helpers in his rise to power; to all of whom, in return for the rights of relationship and for their services, a bloody death was paid.
Nihilo reuerentior leniorue erga senatum, quosdam summis honoribus functos ad essedum sibi currere togatos per aliquot passuum milia et cenanti modo ad pluteum modo ad pedes stare succinctos linteo passus est; alios cum clam interemisset, citare nihilo minus ut uiuos perseuerauit, paucos post dies uoluntaria morte perisse mentitus.
Showing no more respect or leniency toward the senate, he permitted some who had filled the highest offices to run by his carriage in their togas for several miles, and to stand at his table, sometimes at the head and sometimes at the foot, girt with a linen towel; others, after he had secretly put them to death, he nevertheless continued to summon as if they were alive, lying a few days later that they had perished by voluntary death.
consulibus oblitis de natali suo edicere abrogauit magistratum fuitque per triduum sine summa potestate res p.
Because the consuls forgot to issue a proclamation concerning his birthday, he deprived them of their office, and for three days the state was without the supreme power.
quaestorem suum in coniuratione nominatum flagellauit ueste detracta subiectaque militum pedibus, quo firme uerberaturi insisterent.
His own quaestor, having been named in a conspiracy, he scourged, after stripping off his clothes and laying them under the feet of the soldiers, so that they might stand firmly while whipping him.
Simili superbia uiolentiaque ceteros tractauit ordines.
With similar pride and violence he treated the other orders.
inquietatus fremitu gratuita in circo loca de media nocte occupantium, omnis fustibus abegit; elisi per eum tumultum uiginti amplius equites R., totidem matronae, super innumeram turbam ceteram.
Being disturbed by the noise of those who occupied the free seats in the circus from the middle of the night, he drove them all away with clubs; in that tumult more than twenty Roman knights and as many matrons were crushed to death, besides countless other crowd.
scaenicis ludis, inter plebem et equitem causam discordiarum ferens, decimas maturius dabat, ut equestria ab infimo quoque occuparentur.
At the theatrical games, introducing a cause of discord between the plebeians and the knights, he distributed the admission tickets earlier, so that the equestrian seats might be occupied by even the lowest class.
gladiatorio munere reductis interdum flagrantissimo sole uelis emitti quemquam uetabat, remotoque ordinario apparatu tabidas feras, uilissimos senioque confectos gladiatores, †quoque paegniaris patres familiarum notos in bonam partem sed insignis debilitate aliqua corporis subiciebat.
At the gladiatorial shows, sometimes pulling back the awnings when the sun was most scorching, he forbade anyone to leave, and removing the ordinary equipment, he exposed to the beasts or to each other diseased wild beasts, the cheapest and decrepit gladiators, and even mock-fighters, as well as respectable heads of families who were well-known but distinguished by some bodily infirmity.
ac nonnumquam horreis praeclusis populo famem indixit.
And sometimes, by closing the granaries, he inflicted famine on the people.