§1Ex gente Domitia duae familiae claruerunt, Caluinorum et Ahenobarborum.
From the Domitian clan two families achieved distinction, the Calvini and the Ahenobarbi.
Ahenobarbi auctorem originis itemque cognominis habent L. Domitium, cui rure quondam reuertenti iuuenes gemini augustiore forma ex occursu imperasse traduntur, nuntiaret senatui ac populo uictoriam, de qua incertum adhuc erat; atque in fidem maiestatis adeo permulsisse malas, ut e nigro rutilum aerique adsimilem capillum redderent.
The Ahenobarbi have as the founder of their line and likewise of their surname Lucius Domitius, to whom, as he was once returning from the country, twin youths of more than human majesty are said to have appeared and commanded him to report to the senate and people a victory, of which there was as yet no certain news; and, to prove their divine power, they are said to have stroked his cheeks so that they changed his hair from black to ruddy, resembling bronze.
quod insigne mansit et in posteris eius, ac magna pars rutila barba fuerunt.
This mark remained also among his descendants, and a great part of them had red beards.
functi autem consulatibus septem, triumpho censuraque duplici et inter patricios adlecti perseuerauerunt omnes in eodem cognomine.
Moreover, after holding seven consulships, a triumph, and two censorships, and being enrolled among the patricians, they all persisted in using the same surname.
ac ne praenomina quidem ulla praeterquam Gnaei et Luci usurparunt; eaque ipsa notabili uarietate, modo continuantes unum quodque per trinas personas, modo alternantes per singulas.
And they did not use any first names except Gnaeus and Lucius; and these very names they varied with remarkable alternation, sometimes continuing each one through three generations, sometimes varying them in alternate generations.
nam primum secundumque ac tertium Ahenobarborum Lucios, sequentis rursus tres ex ordine Gnaeos accepimus, reliquos non nisi uicissim tum Lucios tum Gnaeos.
For we have heard that the first, second, and third of the Ahenobarbi were Lucii, the next three in order Gnaei, and the rest only alternately now Lucii, now Gnaei.
pluris e familia cognosci referre arbitror, quo facilius appareat ita degenerasse a suorum uirtutibus Nero, ut tamen uitia cuiusque quasi tradita et ingenita rettulerit.
I think it is worthwhile to make several members of this family known, so that it may more easily appear how Nero, though degenerating from the virtues of his ancestors, yet reproduced the vices of each of them as if they were handed down and inborn.
§2ut igitur paulo altius repetam, atauus eius Cn. Domitius in tribunatu pontificibus offensior, quod alium quam se in patris sui locum cooptassent, ius sacerdotum subrogandorum a collegiis ad populum transtulit; at in consulatu Allobrogibus Aruernisque superatis elephanto per prouinciam uectus est turba militum quasi inter sollemnia triumphi prosequente.
To trace his lineage then a little further back, his great-great-grandfather Gnaeus Domitius, when tribune of the plebs, being offended with the pontiffs because they had co-opted someone else than himself into his father's place, transferred the right of electing priests from the colleges to the people; but in his consulship, having defeated the Allobroges and the Arverni, he rode through the province upon an elephant, while a crowd of soldiers followed him as if in a triumphal ceremony.
in hunc dixit Licinius Crassus orator
"non esse mirandum, quod aeneam barbam haberet, cui os ferreum, cor plumbeum esset. "
huius filius praetor C. Caesarem abeuntem consulatu, quem aduersus auspicia legesque gessisse existimabatur, ad disquisitionem senatus uocauit; mox consul imperatorem ab exercitibus Gallicis retrahere temptauit successorque ei per factionem nominatus principio ciuilis belli ad Corfinium captus est.
Against him the orator Licinius Crassus said "that it was no wonder he had a bronze beard, since he had an iron face and a leaden heart." His son, when praetor, summoned Gaius Caesar, on his retirement from the consulship (which he was thought to have held against the auspices and laws), to an investigation by the senate; later, when consul, he attempted to recall Caesar from his Gallic armies, and being named his successor by his faction at the outbreak of the civil war, he was captured at Corfinium.
unde dimissus Massiliensis obsidione laborantis cum aduentu suo confirmasset, repente destituit acieque demum Pharsalica occubuit; uir neque satis constans et ingenio truci in desperatione rerum mortem timore appetitam ita expauit, ut haustum uenenum paenitentia euomuerit medicumque manumiserit, quod sibi prudens ac sciens minus noxium temperasset.
Being released from there, although he had encouraged the people of Massilia, who were suffering under siege, by his arrival, he suddenly deserted them and finally fell in the battle of Pharsalus; he was a man of little consistency and of a cruel disposition, who in his despair was so terrified of the death he had sought out of fear, that he vomited up the poison he had drunk out of regret, and manumitted his physician because he had deliberately and knowingly prepared for him a less harmful dose.
consultante autem Cn. Pompeio de mediis ac neutram partem sequentibus solus censuit hostium numero habendos.
Furthermore, when Gnaeus Pompey consulted about those who were neutral and followed neither side, he alone voted that they should be counted among the enemy.
§3Reliquit filium omnibus gentis suae procul dubio praeferendum.
He left a son who was without doubt to be preferred to all others of his clan.
is inter conscios Caesarianae necis quamquam insons damnatus lege Pedia, cum ad Cassium Brutumque se propinqua sibi cognatione iunctos contulisset, post utriusque interitum classem olim commissam retinuit, auxit etiam, nec nisi partibus ubique profligatis M. Antonio sponte et ingentis meriti loco tradidit.
This man, although innocent, was condemned under the Pedian law among the accomplices of Caesar's murder, and having betaken himself to Cassius and Brutus, who were linked to him by close kinship, after the death of both he retained the fleet formerly entrusted to him, and even increased it, nor did he surrender it to Mark Antony until their cause was everywhere shattered, and then of his own accord and as a matter of great merit.
solusque omnium ex iis, qui pari lege damnati erant, restitutus in patriam amplissimos honores percucurrit; ac subinde redintegrata dissensione ciuili, eidem Antonio legatus, delatam sibi summam imperii ab iis, quos Cleopatrae pudebat, neque suscipere neque recusare fidenter propter subitam ualitudinem ausus, transiit ad Augustum et in diebus paucis obiit, nonnulla et ipse infamia aspersus.
And he alone of all those who had been condemned by a similar law was restored to his country and ran through the highest offices; and shortly after, when civil strife was renewed, being a lieutenant to the same Antony, when the supreme command was offered to him by those who were ashamed of Cleopatra, he did not dare either to accept it or to refuse it confidently because of a sudden illness, but went over to Augustus and died within a few days, not without being splashed with some infamy himself.
nam Antonius eum desiderio amicae Seruiliae Naidis transfugisse iactauit.
For Antony boasted that he had deserted from a desire for his mistress Servilia Nais.
§4Ex hoc Domitius nascitur, quem emptorem familiae pecuniaeque in testamento Augusti fuisse mox uulgo notatum est, non minus aurigandi arte in adulescentia clarus quam deinde ornamentis triumphalibus ex Germanico bello.
From him was born the Domitius who was later commonly noted as having been the purchaser of the family estate in the will of Augustus, no less famous in his youth for his skill in chariot-driving than afterwards for his triumphal ornaments from the German war.
uerum arrogans, profusus, immitis censorem L. Plancum uia sibi decedere aedilis coegit; praeturae consulatusque honore equites R. matronasque ad agendum mimum produxit in scaenam.
But arrogant, prodigal, and cruel, when aedile he compelled the censor Lucius Plancus to give way to him on the street; and during his praetorship and consulship, he brought Roman knights and married women onto the stage to act in mimes.
uenationes et in circo et in omnibus urbis regionibus dedit, munus etiam gladiatorium, sed tanta saeuitia, ut necesse fuerit Augusto clam frustra monitum edicto coercere.
He gave wild beast hunts both in the circus and in all the quarters of the city, and also a gladiatorial show, but with such cruelty that Augustus, having secretly warned him in vain, was forced to restrain him by an edict.