§45ex annonae quoque caritate lucranti adcreuit inuidia; nam et forte accidit, ut in publica fame Alexandrina nauis nuntiaretur puluerem luctatoribus aulicis aduexisse. Quare omnium in se odio incitato nihil contumeliarum defuit quin subiret.
Ill-will against him was also increased by the dearness of grain; for it happened by chance that during a public famine an Alexandrian ship was reported to have brought sand for the court gladiators. Therefore, when the hatred of all was excited against him, there was no insult that he did not undergo.
statuae eius a uertice cirrus appositus est cum inscriptione Graeca:
"nunc demum agona esse, et traderet tandem. "
alterius collo ascopa deligata simulque titulus: 'ego quid potui? sed tu culleum meruisti. ' ascriptum et columnis, etiam Gallos eum cantando excitasse.
A curl was placed on the head of his statue with a Greek inscription: "Now at last the contest is on, so yield at last!" On the neck of another statue a leather sack was tied, and with it a label: 'ego quid potui? sed tu culleum meruisti.' It was also written on the columns that he had even roused the Gauls by singing.
iam noctibus iurgia cum seruis plerique simulantes crebro Vindicem poscebant. §46Terrebatur ad hoc euidentibus portentis somniorum et auspiciorum et ominum, cum ueteribus tum nouis.
And now at night, many people, pretending to have quarrels with their slaves, repeatedly called for Vindex. Besides this, he was terrified by manifest portents of dreams, auspices, and omens, both old and new.
numquam antea somniare solitus occisa demum matre uidit per quietem nauem sibi regenti extortum gubernaculum trahique se ab Octauia uxore in artissimas tenebras et modo pinnatarum formicarum multitudine oppleri, modo a simulacris gentium ad Pompei theatrum dedicatarum circumiri arcerique progressu; asturconem, quo maxime laetabatur, posteriore corporis parte in simiae speciem transfiguratum ac tantum capite integro hinnitus edere canoros. de Mausoleo, sponte foribus patefactis, exaudita uox est nomine eum cientis.
Having never been accustomed to dream before, after he had killed his mother, he saw in his sleep that the helm of a ship he was steering was wrenched from his hands, and that he was dragged by his wife Octavia into the deepest darkness; and now that he was covered by a multitude of winged ants, and now surrounded by the statues of the nations dedicated at Pompey's theatre, which blocked his progress; and that his Spanish pony, in which he took the greatest delight, was transformed in its hindquarters into the likeness of an ape, and, with only its head intact, uttered tuneful neighs. From the Mausoleum, the doors opening of their own accord, a voice was heard calling him by name.
Kal. Ian. exornati Lares in ipso sacrificii apparatu conciderunt;
On the Kalends of January, the decorated Lares fell down in the very midst of the preparations for the sacrifice.
auspicanti Sporus anulum muneri optulit, cuius gemmae scalptura erat Proserpinae raptus;
While he was taking auspices, Sporus presented him with a ring as a gift, the engraving of whose gem was the rape of Proserpine.
uotorum nuncupatione, magna iam ordinum frequentia, uix repertae Capitolii claues. cum ex oratione eius, qua in Vindicem perorabat, recitaretur in senatu daturos poenas sceleratos ac breui dignum exitum facturos, conclamatum est ab uniuersis: 'tu facies, Auguste. ' obseruatum etiam fuerat nouissimam fabulam cantasse eum publice Oedipodem exulem atque in hoc desisse uersu:
"
θανεῖν μ' ἄνωγε σύγγαμος, μήτηρ, πατήρ. " §47Nuntiata interim etiam ceterorum exercituum defectione litteras prandenti sibi redditas concerpsit, mensam subuertit, duos scyphos gratissimi usus, quos Homerios a caelatura carminum Homeri uocabat, solo inlisit ac sumpto a Lucusta ueneno et in auream pyxidem condito transiit in hortos Seruilianos, ubi praemissis libertorum fidissimis Ostiam ad classem praeparandam tribunos centurionesque praetorii de fugae societate temptauit.
At the vows-taking, when a great crowd of the orders was already present, the keys of the Capitol could scarcely be found. When, from his speech in which he declaimed against Vindex, it was read in the senate that the wicked would pay the penalty and soon meet a fitting end, it was shouted by all: 'tu facies, Auguste.' It had also been observed that the last play he sang in public was Oedipus in Exile, and that he ended with this verse: "My wife, my mother, and my father bid me die." Meanwhile, when the revolt of the remaining armies was also reported, he tore up the letters delivered to him as he was breakfasting, overturned the table, and dashed on the floor two cups of his favourite use, which he called Homeric from the engraving of Homer's poems; and having taken poison from Lucusta and put it into a golden box, he crossed over to the Servilian gardens, where, having sent ahead the most faithful of his freedmen to Ostia to prepare a fleet, he sounded the tribunes and centurions of the praetorian guard about sharing his flight. But some hesitating and others flatly refusing, and one even crying out: "Is it then so sad a thing to die?" he turned over in his mind various plans: whether he should go as a suppliant to the Parthians or to Galba, or whether he should appear in public dressed in black and on the rostra implore pardon for his past deeds with all the pity he could muster, and, if he could not soften their hearts, at least beg that the prefecture of Egypt might be granted to him.
sed partim tergiuersantibus, partim aperte detrectantibus, uno uero etiam proclamante:
"
usque adeone mori miserum est?
"
uarie agitauit, Parthosne an Galbam supplex peteret, an atratus prodiret in publicum proque rostris quanta maxima posset miseratione ueniam praeteritorum precaretur, ac ni flexisset animos, uel Aegypti praefecturam concedi sibi oraret. inuentus est postea in scrinio eius hac de re sermo formatus; sed deterritum putant, ne prius quam in forum perueniret discerperetur. Sic cogitatione in posterum diem dilata ad mediam fere noctem excitatus, ut comperit stationem militum recessisse, prosiluit e lecto misitque circum amicos, et quia nihil a quoquam renuntiabatur, ipse cum paucis hospitia singulorum adiit.
A speech composed on this subject was afterwards found in his desk; but they think he was deterred by the fear of being torn to pieces before he could reach the forum. Having thus deferred his deliberation to the next day, he was awakened about midnight, and when he found that the guard of soldiers had withdrawn, he leaped from his bed and sent round to his friends; and because no answer was brought back from anyone, he went in person with a few companions to the lodgings of each.
uerum clausis omnium foribus, respondente nullo, in cubiculum rediit, unde iam et custodes diffugerant, direptis etiam stragulis, amota et pyxide ueneni; ac statim Spiculum murmillonem uel quemlibet alium percussorem, cuius manu periret, requisiit et nemine reperto: 'ergo ego,' inquit, 'nec amicum habeo nec inimicum?' procurritque, quasi praecipitaturus se in Tiberim.
But finding all doors closed and no one answering, he returned to his bedchamber, from which even the guards had now fled, having plundered the bedclothes and removed the box of poison; and immediately he sought for the gladiator Spiculus or any other assassin by whose hand he might die, and finding no one, he cried: 'ergo ego, nec amicum habeo nec inimicum?' and ran out, as if to throw himself into the Tiber.