§1Progenies Caesarum in Nerone defecit: quod futurum compluribus quidem signis, sed uel euidentissimis duobus apparuit.
The lineage of the Caesars ended with Nero; that this would happen was manifested by many portents, but especially by two most evident ones.
Liuiae olim post Augusti statim nuptias Veientanum suum reuisenti praeteruolans aquila gallinam albam ramulum lauri rostro tenentem, ita ut rapuerat, demisit in gremium;
Once, immediately after Livia's marriage to Augustus, as she was revisiting her villa at Veii, a flying eagle dropped into her lap a white hen holding in its beak a small branch of laurel, just as it had snatched it.
cumque nutriri alitem, pangi ramulum placuisset, tanta pullorum suboles prouenit, ut hodieque ea uilla 'ad Gallinas' uocetur, tale uero lauretum, ut triumphaturi Caesares inde laureas decerperent; fuitque mos triumphantibus, alias confestim eodem loco pangere; et obseruatum est sub cuiusque obitum arborem ab ipso institutam elanguisse.
And when it was decided that the bird should be reared and the twig planted, such a great brood of chickens sprang up that even today the villa is called "at the Hens," and such a grove of laurel developed that the Caesars who were about to celebrate a triumph gathered their laurels from it; and it was the custom for those triumphing to plant other twigs immediately in the same place; and it was observed that on the death of each emperor, the tree planted by him withered.
ergo nouissimo Neronis anno et silua omnis exaruit radicitus, et quidquid ibi gallinarum erat interiit.
Therefore, in the last year of Nero, not only did the entire grove wither to the roots, but also all the hens that were there died.
ac subinde tacta de caelo Caesarum aede capita omnibus simul statuis deciderunt, Augusti etiam sceptrum e manibus excussum est.
And immediately afterwards, the temple of the Caesars being struck by lightning, the heads fell from all the statues at the same time, and even the sceptre was shaken from the hands of Augustus.
§2Neroni Galba successit nullo gradu contingens Caesarum domum, sed haud dubie nobilissimus magnaque et uetere prosapia, ut qui statuarum titulis pronepotem se Quinti Catuli Capitolini semper ascripserit, imperator uero etiam stemma in atrio proposuerit, quo paternam originem ad Iouem, maternam ad Pasiphaam Minonis uxorem referret.
Galba succeeded Nero, being in no way related to the house of the Caesars, but undoubtedly of the highest nobility and of a great and ancient lineage, as one who always described himself in the inscriptions of his statues as the great-grandson of Quintus Catulus Capitolinus, and indeed as emperor even displayed a family tree in his atrium, in which he traced his paternal origin to Jupiter and his maternal origin to Pasiphae, the wife of Minos.
§3Imagines et elogia uniuersi generis exequi longum est, familiae breuiter attingam.
It would be long to trace the portraits and honorary inscriptions of his entire race; I shall touch briefly upon his immediate family.
qui primus Sulpiciorum cognomen Galbae tulit cur aut unde traxerit, ambigitur.
There is doubt as to who first of the Sulpicii bore the surname of Galba, and why or from what source he derived it.
quidam putant, quod oppidum Hispaniae frustra diu oppugnatum inlitis demum galbano facibus succenderit; alii, quod in diuturna ualitudine galbeo, id est remediis lana inuolutis, assidue uteretur; nonnulli, quod praepinguis fuerit uisus, quem galbam Galli uocent; uel contra, quod tam exilis, quam sunt animalia quae in aesculis nascuntur appellanturque galbae.
Some think that it was because, after a town in Spain had been besieged for a long time in vain, he finally set fire to it with torches smeared with galbanum; others because during a lingering illness he constantly used galbeum, that is, remedies wrapped in wool; some because he seemed very fat, whom the Gauls call galba; or on the contrary, because he was as slender as the insects that are bred in oak trees and are called galbae.
familiam illustrauit Seruius Galba consularis, temporum suorum †et eloquentissimus, quem tradunt Hispaniam ex praetura optinentem, triginta Lusitanorum milibus perfidia trucidatis, Viriatini belli causam extitisse.
The family was made illustrious by Servius Galba, a man of consular rank, who was the most eloquent of his time; they say that while governing Spain after his praetorship, he treacherously massacred thirty thousand Lusitanians, and thus became the cause of the Viriathic war.
eius nepos ob repulsam consulatus infensus Iulio Caesari, cuius legatus in Gallia fuerat, conspirauit cum Cassio et Bruto, propter quod Pedia lege damnatus est.
His grandson, hostile to Julius Caesar (whose legate he had been in Gaul) because of his rejection for the consulship, conspired with Cassius and Brutus, for which reason he was condemned under the Pedian law.
ab hoc sunt imperatoris Galbae auus ac pater: auus clarior studiis quam dignitate—non enim egressus praeturae gradum—multiplicem nec incuriosam historiam edidit; pater consulatu functus, quanquam breui corpore atque etiam gibber modicaeque in dicendo facultatis, causas industrie actitauit.
From him descended the grandfather and father of the emperor Galba: the grandfather, more distinguished for his studies than for his rank—for he did not rise above the grade of praetor—published a varied and painstaking history; the father, who held the consulship, although of short stature and even hunchbacked, and of moderate ability in speaking, pleaded cases industriously.
uxores habuit Mummiam Achaicam, neptem Catuli proneptemque L. Mummi, qui Corinthum excidit; item Liuiam Ocellinam ditem admodum et pulchram, a qua tamen nobilitatis causa appetitus ultro existimatur et aliquanto enixius, postquam subinde instanti uitium corporis secreto posita ueste detexit, ne quasi ignaram fallere uideretur.
He had as wives Mummia Achaica, the granddaughter of Catulus and great-granddaughter of Lucius Mummius, who destroyed Corinth; and also Livia Ocellina, a very rich and beautiful woman, by whom however he is believed to have been courted of her own accord because of his high birth, and even more eagerly after he had privately stripped off his clothes and disclosed his bodily defect to her when she was pressing him, so that he might not seem to deceive her as if she were ignorant of it.
ex Achaica liberos Gaium et Seruium procreauit, quorum maior Gaius attritis facultatibus urbe cessit prohibitusque a Tiberio sortiri anno suo proconsulatum uoluntaria morte obiit.
By Achaica he had children, Gaius and Servius, of whom the elder, Gaius, having wasted his fortune, left the city, and being forbidden by Tiberius to draw lots for a proconsulship in his proper year, met his death by voluntary suicide.
§4Ser. Galba imperator M. Valerio Messala Cn. Lentulo cons. natus est VIIII. Kal. Ian. in uilla colli superposita prope Tarracinam sinistrorsus Fundos petentibus, adoptatusque a nouerca sua Liuia nomen et Ocellare cognomen assumpsit mutato praenomine;
The emperor Servius Galba was born in the consulship of Marcus Valerius Messala and Gnaeus Lentulus, on the ninth day before the Kalends of January, in a villa built upon a hill near Tarracina, on the left hand as you travel towards Fundi.
nam Lucium mox pro Seruio usque ad tempus imperii usurpauit.
Having been adopted by his stepmother Livia, he took her name and the surname of Ocellatus, after changing his forename; for he subsequently used Lucius instead of Servius until the time of his reign.
constat Augustum puero adhuc, salutanti se inter aequales, apprehensa buccula dixisse: καὶ σὺ τέκνον ἡμῶν παρατρώξῃ. sed et Tiberius, cum comperisset imperaturum eum uerum in senecta: 'uiuat sane,' ait, 'quando id ad nos nihil pertinet. ' auo quoque eius fulgur procuranti, cum exta de manibus aquila rapuisset et in frugiferam quercum contulisset, responsum est summum sed serum imperium portendi familiae; et ille irridens: 'sane,' inquit, 'cum mula pepererit. ' nihil aeque postea Galbam temptantem res nouas confirmauit quam mulae partus, ceterisque ut obscaenum ostentum abhorrentibus, solus pro laetissimo accepit memor sacrificii dictique aui.
It is well known that Augustus, when Galba was still a boy, on his saluting him among his companions, pinched his cheek and said: "And you too, my child, will nibble at our power." But Tiberius also, when he had found out that Galba would reign, but only in his old age, said: "Let him live, then, since that is nothing to us." Also to his grandfather, when he was performing an expiatory sacrifice for a thunderbolt, an eagle snatched the entrails from his hands and carried them to a fruit-bearing oak, whereupon the response was given that the supreme but late empire was portended for his family; and he, laughing, said: "Indeed, when a mule brings forth." Afterwards, when Galba was attempting a revolution, nothing encouraged him so much as the birth of a mule's foal; and while others shrank from it as a sinister portent, he alone accepted it as a most joyful sign, remembering his grandfather's sacrifice and saying.
Sumpta uirili toga somniauit Fortunam dicentem, stare se ante fores defessam et nisi ocius reciperetur, cuicumque obuio praedae futuram.
After assuming the toga of manhood, he dreamed that Fortune said she was standing weary before his door, and that unless she were admitted quickly, she would become the prey of whoever first met her.
utque euigilauit, aperto atrio simulacrum aeneum deae cubitali maius iuxta limen inuenit idque gremio suo Tusculum, ubi aestiuare consueuerat, auexit et in parte aedium consecratum menstruis deinceps supplicationibus et peruigilio anniuersario coluit.
And when he awoke, upon opening the atrium, he found near the threshold a bronze image of the goddess, more than a cubit high; he carried it in his arms to Tusculum, where he was accustomed to spend the summer, and having consecrated it in a part of his house, he worshipped it henceforth with monthly supplications and an annual vigil.
Quanquam autem nondum aetate constanti ueterem ciuitatis exoletumque morem ac tantum in domo sua haerentem obstinatissime retinuit, ut liberti seruique bis die frequentes adessent ac mane saluere, uesperi ualere sibi singuli dicerent.
Moreover, although not yet of a mature age, he most obstatately retained an ancient and obsolete custom of the city, which survived only in his own household: namely, that his freedmen and slaves should assemble in crowds twice a day, and each of them wish him good morning in the morning and bid him farewell in the evening.