§36Pudicitiae neque suae neque alienae pepercit.
He spared neither his own chastity nor that of others.
M. Lepidum, Mnesterem pantomimum, quosdam obsides dilexisse fertur commercio mutui stupri.
He is said to have loved Marcus Lepidus, Mnester the pantomime actor, and certain hostages in the commerce of mutual debauchery.
Valerius Catullus, consulari familia iuuenis, stupratum a se ac latera sibi contubernio eius defessa etiam uociferatus est.
Valerius Catullus, a young man of a consular family, even shouted aloud that the emperor had been violated by him and that his own sides had been worn out by his intercourse with him.
super sororum incesta et notissimum prostitutae Pyrallidis amorem non temere ulla inlustriore femina abstinuit.
In addition to incest with his sisters and his notorious love for the prostitute Pyrallis, he rarely abstained from any illustrious woman.
quas plerumque cum maritis ad cenam uocatas praeterque pedes suos transeuntis diligenter ac lente mercantium more considerabat, etiam faciem manu adleuans, si quae pudore submitterent;
These women, whom he usually invited to dinner along with their husbands, he would examine carefully and slowly as they passed before his feet, in the manner of slave-dealers, even raising their faces with his hand if any downcast them through shame.
quotiens deinde libuisset egressus triclinio, cum maxime placitam seuocasset, paulo post recentibus adhuc lasciuiae notis reuersus uel laudabat palam uel uituperabat, singula enumerans bona malaue corporis atque concubitus.
Then, as often as he pleased, leaving the dining room, he would call aside the one who pleased him most, and returning shortly after with the marks of his lust still fresh, he would either openly praise or disparage her, enumerating one by one the good or bad points of her body and of her performance.
quibusdam absentium maritorum nomine repudium ipse misit iussitque in acta ita referri.
To some he himself sent a divorce in the name of their absent husbands, and ordered it to be so entered in the public records.
§37Nepotatus sumptibus omnium prodigorum ingenia superauit, commentus nouum balnearum usum, portentosissima genera ciborum atque cenarum, ut calidis frigidisque unguentis lauaretur, pretiosissima margarita aceto liquefacta sorberet, conuiuis ex auro panes et obsonia apponeret, aut frugi hominem esse oportere dictitans aut Caesarem.
In the extravagance of his expenditures he surpassed the ingenuity of all prodigals, inventing a new use for baths and most monstrous kinds of food and feasts: washing himself with warm and cold perfumed oils, swallowing precious pearls dissolved in vinegar, and set before his guests loaves and companion dishes made of gold, repeatedly saying that a man must either be frugal or be Caesar.
quin et nummos non mediocris summae e fastigio basilicae Iuliae per aliquot dies sparsit in plebem.
Moreover, he also scattered coins of no small sum from the roof of the Basilica Julia among the common people for several days.
fabricauit et deceris Liburnicas gemmatis puppibus, uersicoloribus uelis, magna thermarum et porticuum et tricliniorum laxitate magnaque etiam uitium et pomiferarum arborum uarietate; quibus discumbens de die inter choros ac symphonias litora Campaniae peragraret.
He also built Liburnian galleys of ten banks of oars, with jeweled sterns, multicolored sails, and with ample space for baths, porticoes, and dining rooms, and even a great variety of vines and fruit trees; reclining on which from early in the day, amid choruses and musical performances, he would cruise along the shores of Campania.
in extructionibus praetoriorum atque uillarum omni ratione posthabita nihil tam efficere concupiscebat quam quod posse effici negaretur.
In the construction of villas and country houses, disregarding all reason, he desired to accomplish nothing so much as what was said to be impossible to achieve.
et iactae itaque moles infesto ac profundo mari et excisae rupes durissimi silicis et campi montibus aggere aequati et complanata fossuris montium iuga, incredibili quidem celeritate, cum morae culpa capite lueretur.
And so, moles were thrown out into a raging and deep sea, rocks of the hardest flint were cut down, plains were raised to the height of mountains by earthworks, and the ridges of mountains were leveled by digging, and all this indeed with incredible speed, since the fault of delay was punished with death.
ac ne singula enumerem, immensas opes totumque illud Ti. Caesaris uicies ac septies milies sestertium non toto uertente anno absumpsit.
And not to enumerate single instances, he squandered immense wealth and the whole of that twenty-seven hundred million sesterces of Tiberius Caesar in less than a full year.
§38Exhaustus igitur atque egens ad rapinas conuertit animum uario et exquisitissimo calumniarum et auctionum et uectigalium genere.
Being therefore exhausted and impoverished, he turned his mind to plunder through a varied and most exquisite variety of false accusations, auctions, and taxes.
negabat iure ciuitatem Romanam usurpare eos, quorum maiores sibi posterisque eam impetrassent, nisi si filii essent, neque enim intellegi debere 'posteros' ultra hunc gradum;
He denied that those whose ancestors had obtained Roman citizenship for themselves and their descendants were lawfully using it, unless they were his sons; for he said that 'descendants' ought not to be understood beyond this degree.
prolataque Diuorum Iuli et Augusti diplomata ut uetera et obsoleta deflabat.
And when the diplomas of the deified Julius and Augustus were produced, he rejected them as ancient and obsolete.
arguebat et perperam editos census, quibus postea quacumque de causa quicquam incrementi accessisset.
He also charged that the censuses had been falsely reported, if any increase of property had later accrued to them for any reason.
testamenta primipilarium, qui ab initio Tiberi principatus neque illum neque se heredem reliquissent, ut ingrata rescidit; item ceterorum ut irrita et uana, quoscumque quis diceret herede Caesare mori destinasse.
He annulled as ungrateful the wills of the chief centurions who, since the beginning of Tiberius' principate, had left neither him nor himself as heir; likewise those of all others as void and worthless, whom anyone reported to have intended to die leaving Caesar as heir.
quo metu iniecto cum iam et ab ignotis inter familiares et a parentibus inter liberos palam heres nuncuparetur, derisores uocabat, quod post nuncupationem uiuere perseuerarent, et multis uenenatas matteas misit.
When this fear was instilled, and he was now openly named as heir by strangers among their friends and by parents among their children, he called them mockers because they persisted in living after the naming, and sent poisoned delicacies to many of them.
cognoscebat autem de talibus causis, taxato prius modo summae ad quem conficiendum consideret, confecto demum excitabatur.
Moreover, he would try such cases, having beforehand fixed the amount of the sum which he sat to raise, and only when it was made up did he rise.
ac ne paululum quidem morae patiens super quadraginta reos quondam ex diuersis criminibus una sententia condemnauit gloriatusque est expergefacta e somno Caesonia quantum egisset, dum ea meridiaret.
And not enduring even the slightest delay, he once condemned over forty defendants on various charges with a single sentence, and boasted to Caesonia, when she woke up from her sleep, of how much he had accomplished while she was taking her midday nap.
Auctione proposita reliquias omnium spectaculorum subiecit ac uenditauit, exquirens per se pretia et usque eo extendens, ut quidam immenso coacti quaedam emere ac bonis exuti uenas sibi inciderent.
Having announced an auction, he put up for sale the remains of all his spectacles, driving up the prices himself and stretching them to such an extent that some, forced to buy certain items at an immense price and stripped of their property, slit their veins.
nota res est, Aponio Saturnino inter subsellia dormitante, monitum a Gaio praeconem ne praetorium uirum crebro capitis motu nutantem sibi praeteriret, nec licendi finem factum, quoad tredecim gladiatores sestertium nonagies ignoranti addicerentur.
It is a well-known story that, while Aponius Saturninus was asleep on one of the benches, Gaius warned the crier not to overlook the praetorian who was nodding with frequent movements of his head, and the bidding did not stop until thirteen gladiators were knocked down to him without his knowledge at nine million sesterces.