§44Postquam castra attigit, ut se acrem ac seuerum ducem ostenderet, legatos, qui auxilia serius ex diuersis locis adduxerant, cum ignominia dimisit; at in exercitu recensendo plerisque centurionum maturis iam et nonnullis ante paucissimos quam consummaturi essent dies, primos pilos ademit, causatus senium cuiusque et imbecillitatem; ceterorum increpita cupiditate commoda emeritae militiae ad †sescentorum milium summam recidit.
After he reached the camp, to show himself an active and severe commander, he dismissed with ignominy the officers who had brought the auxiliaries late from various places; but in reviewing the army, he deprived many of the centurions of their chief centurion ranks, who were already advanced in years and some even a few days before they would have completed their service, alleging the age and infirmity of each; after upbraiding the avarice of the rest, he reduced the rewards of completed service to the sum of six hundred thousand sesterces.
nihil autem amplius quam Adminio Cynobellini Britannorum regis filio, qui pulsus a patre cum exigua manu transfugerat, in deditionem recepto, quasi uniuersa tradita insula, magnificas Romam litteras misit, monitis speculatoribus, ut uehiculo ad forum usque et curiam pertenderent nec nisi in aede Martis ac frequente senatu consulibus traderent.
Having, however, done nothing more than receive into surrender Adminius, the son of Cynobellinus, a king of the Britons, who had been banished by his father and had fled with a small band, he sent a magnificent letter to Rome as if the entire island had been surrendered, commanding the scouts to drive their vehicle straight to the forum and the senate house, and not to deliver it to the consuls except in the temple of Mars and before a full senate.
§45Mox deficiente belli materia paucos de custodia Germanos traici occulique trans Rhenum iussit ac sibi post prandium quam tumultuosissime adesse hostem nuntiari.
Soon, for want of material for war, he ordered a few Germans of the guard to be taken across the Rhine and hidden, and that it should be announced to him after luncheon with the greatest possible tumult that the enemy was at hand.
quo facto proripuit se cum amicis et parte equitum praetorianorum in proximam siluam, truncatisque arboribus et in modum tropaeorum adornatis ad lumina reuersus, eorum quidem qui secuti non essent timiditatem et ignauiam corripuit, comites autem et participes uictoriae nouo genere ac nomine coronarum donauit, quas distinctas solis ac lunae siderumque specie exploratorias appellauit. rursus obsides quosdam abductos e litterario ludo clamque praemissos, deserto repente conuiuio, cum equitatu insecutus ueluti profugos ac reprehensos in catenis reduxit; in hoc quoque mimo praeter modum intemperans.
When this was done, he rushed with his friends and a part of the praetorian cavalry into the neighboring forest, and after cutting down trees and adorning them in the manner of trophies, he returned by torchlight, upbraiding the timidity and cowardice of those who had not followed him, but presented his companions and sharers in the victory with crowns of a new kind and name, which, adorned with the representation of the sun, moon, and stars, he called "exploratory." Again, having pursued with cavalry some hostages who had been taken from school and secretly sent ahead, suddenly leaving the banquet, he brought them back in chains as if they were fugitives and recaptured; in this farce too he was immoderate beyond measure.
repetita cena renuntiantis coactum agmen sic ut erant loricatos ad discumbendum adhortatus est.
When the banquet was resumed, he encouraged those who announced that the column was assembled to recline for dinner in their coats of mail just as they were.
monuit etiam notissimo Vergili uersu 'durarent secundisque se rebus seruarent. '
Atque inter haec absentem senatum populumque grauissimo obiurgauit edicto, quod Caesare proeliante et tantis discriminibus obiecto tempestiua conuiuia, circum et theatra et amoenos secessus celebrarent.
He also admonished them with the very famous verse of Virgil: "Endure, and preserve yourselves for favorable things." Meanwhile, he reprimanded the absent senate and people in a very severe edict, because while Caesar was fighting and exposed to such great dangers, they were celebrating timely banquets and attending the circus, theatres, and pleasant retreats.
§46postremo quasi perpetraturus bellum, derecta acie in litore Oceani ac ballistis machinisque dispositis, nemine gnaro aut opinante quidnam coepturus esset, repente ut conchas legerent galeasque et sinus replerent imperauit, 'spolia Oceani' uocans 'Capitolio Palatioque debita,' et in indicium uictoriae altissimam turrem excitauit, ex qua ut Pharo noctibus ad regendos nauium cursus ignes emicarent; pronuntiatoque militi donatiuo centenis uiritim denariis, quasi omne exemplum liberalitatis supergressus: 'abite,' inquit, 'laeti, abite locupletes. ' §47Conuersus hinc ad curam triumphi praeter captiuos ac transfugas barbaros Galliarum quoque procerissimum quemque et, ut ipse dicebat, ἀξιοθριάμβευτον, ac nonnullos ex principibus legit ac seposuit ad pompam coegitque non tantum rutilare et summittere comam, sed et sermonem Germanicum addiscere et nomina barbarica ferre.
Finally, as if about to finish the war, having drawn up his line on the shore of the Ocean and disposed his ballistas and engines, with no one knowing or suspecting what he was about to do, he suddenly commanded them to gather seashells and fill their helmets and laps, calling them "spoils of the Ocean due to the Capitol and the Palace," and in token of victory he erected a very high tower, from which fires might shine at night to guide the course of ships, as from a Pharos; and having declared a donative to the soldiers of a hundred denarii each, as if he had surpassed all examples of liberality, he said: "Go your way, happy; go your way, rich." Turning from here to the preparation of a triumph, besides the captives and barbarian deserters, he selected and set aside for the procession the tallest of the Gauls, and as he himself said, "worthy of a triumph," and some of their chiefs, and forced them not only to redden and let grow their hair, but also to learn the German language and bear barbarian names.
praecepit etiam triremis, quibus introierat Oceanum, magna ex parte itinere terrestri Romam deuehi.
He also commanded that the triremes in which he had entered the Ocean should be carried to Rome for the most part by a land journey.
scripsit et procuratoribus, triumphum appararent quam minima summa, sed quantus numquam alius fuisset, quando in omnium hominum bona ius haberent.
He also wrote to his procurators to prepare a triumph at the smallest possible expense, but such as had never been before, since they had power over the property of all men.
§48Prius quam prouincia decederet, consilium iniit nefandae atrocitatis legiones, quae post excessum Augusti seditionem olim mouerant, contrucidandi, quod et patrem suum Germanicum ducem et se infantem tunc obsedissent, uixque a tam praecipiti cogitatione reuocatus, inhiberi nullo modo potuit quin decimare uelle perseueraret.
Before he departed from the province, he formed a design of unspeakable atrocity to massacre the legions which had once raised a mutiny after the death of Augustus, because they had besieged his father Germanicus, their general, and himself then an infant, and having been with difficulty recalled from such a rash design, he could in no way be prevented from persisting in his desire to decimate them.
uocatas itaque ad contionem inermes, atque etiam gladiis depositis, equitatu armato circumdedit.
Therefore, having summoned them to an assembly unarmed, and even with their swords laid aside, he surrounded them with armed cavalry.
sed cum uideret suspecta re plerosque dilabi ad resumenda si qua uis fieret arma, profugit contionem confestimque urbem †omnem petit, deflexa omni acerbitate in senatum, cui ad auertendos tantorum dedecorum rumores palam minabatur, querens inter cetera fraudatum se iusto triumpho, cum ipse paulo ante, ne quid de honoribus suis ageretur, etiam sub mortis poena denuntiasset.
But when he saw that most of them, suspecting the design, were slipping away to resume their arms if any violence should be offered, he fled from the assembly and immediately made for the city, turning all his bitterness against the senate, whom he openly threatened in order to avert the rumors of such great disgrace, complaining among other things that he was defrauded of his rightful triumph, though he himself had a little before, under penalty of death, forbidden any action to be taken concerning his honors.