§5sperauerat autem fore ut adoptaretur a Galba, idque in dies expectabat.
But he had hoped that he would be adopted by Galba, and was expecting it day by day.
sed postquam Pisone praelato spe decidit, ad uim conuersus est instigante super animi dolorem etiam magnitudine aeris alieni.
But after he fell from his hope, Piso having been preferred, he turned to force, instigated besides his grief of mind also by the greatness of his debt.
neque enim dissimulabat, nisi principem se stare non posse, nihilque referre ab hoste in acie an in foro sub creditoribus caderet.
For he did not conceal that he could not stand unless he became emperor, and that it made no difference whether he fell by the enemy in battle or in the forum under his creditors.
ante paucos dies seruo Caesaris pro impetrata dispensatione decies sestertium expresserat; hoc subsidium tanti coepti fuit.
A few days before, he had extorted ten hundred thousand sesterces from a slave of Caesar for having obtained a stewardship; this fund was the support of so great an enterprise.
ac primo quinque speculatoribus commissa res est, deinde decem aliis, quos singuli binos produxerant; omnibus dena sestertia repraesentata et quinquagena promissa.
And at first the matter was committed to five scouts, then to ten others, whom each of them had brought two; to all of them ten thousand sesterces were paid down, and fifty thousand promised.
per hos sollicitati reliqui, nec adeo multi, haud dubia fiducia in ipso negotio pluris adfuturos.
Through these, the rest were solicited, and not indeed very many, with no doubtful confidence that more would join them in the action itself.
§6tulerat animus post adoptionem statim castra occupare cenantemque in Palatio Galbam adgredi, sed obstitit respectus cohortis, quae tunc excubabat, ne oneraretur inuidia, quod eiusdem statione et Gaius fuerat occisus et desertus Nero.
His mind had been inclined to occupy the camp immediately after the adoption and to attack Galba as he was dining in the Palatine, but a regard for the cohort which was then on guard stood in the way, lest it should be burdened with unpopularity, because under the guard of the same cohort both Gaius had been slain and Nero deserted.
medium quoque tempus religio et Seleucus exemit.
The intervening time was also taken up by religious scruples and Seleucus.
Ergo destinata die praemonitis consciis, ut se in foro sub aede Saturni ad miliarium aureum opperirentur, mane Galbam salutauit, utque consueuerat osculo exceptus, etiam sacrificanti interfuit audiuitque praedicta haruspicis.
Therefore, on the appointed day, having forewarned his accomplices to wait for him in the forum under the temple of Saturn near the golden milestone, he saluted Galba in the morning, and being received with a kiss as was customary, he was also present at his sacrifice and heard the predictions of the haruspex.
deinde liberto adesse architectos nuntiante, quod signum conuenerat, quasi uenalem domum inspecturus abscessit proripuitque se postica parte Palati ad constitutum.
Then, a freedman announcing that the architects were ready, which was the agreed signal, he withdrew as if to inspect a house for sale, and rushed out through the back part of the Palatine to the appointed place.
alii febrem simulasse aiunt eamque excusationem proximis mandasse, si quaereretur.
Others say that he feigned a fever, and left that excuse with those nearest to him, if he should be asked for.
tunc abditus propere muliebri sella in castra contendit ac deficientibus lecticaris cum descendisset cursumque cepisset, laxato calceo restitit, donec omissa mora succollatus et a praesente comitatu imperator consalu tatus inter faustas adclamationes strictosque gladios ad principia deuenit, obuio quoque non aliter ac si conscius et particeps foret adhaerente.
Then, hastily concealed in a woman's litter, he hastened to the camp; and when the bearers failed, he got down and began to run, but stopped with his shoe loose, until without delay he was taken up on their shoulders, and saluted as emperor by the attending company. Midst favorable acclamations and drawn swords, he arrived at the headquarters, everyone who met him joining him just as if he were an accomplice and partner.
ibi missis qui Galbam et Pisonem trucidarent, ad conciliandos pollicitationibus militum animos nihil magis pro contione testatus est, quam id demum se habiturum, quod sibi illi reliquissent.
There, having sent men to murder Galba and Piso, to conciliate the minds of the soldiers with promises, he declared nothing more in his speech to the assembly than that he would have only that which they themselves should leave to him.
§7Dein uergente iam die ingressus senatum positaque breui oratione quasi raptus de publico et suscipere imperium ui coactus gesturusque communi omnium arbitrio, Palatium petit.
Then, as the day was already declining, having entered the senate and delivered a brief speech, as if hurried from the street and forced by violence to undertake the empire, and intending to govern it by the common judgment of all, he went to the Palatine.
ac super ceteras gratulantium adulantiumque blanditias ab infima plebe appellatus Nero nullum indicium recusantis dedit, immo, ut quidam tradiderunt, etiam diplomatibus primisque epistulis suis ad quosdam prouinciarum praesides Neronis cognomen adiecit.
And besides the other flatteries of those congratulating and fawning upon him, being hailed as "Nero" by the lowest populace, he gave no sign of refusing it; nay, as some have related, he even added the surname of Nero to his passports and his first letters to some governors of the provinces.
certe et imagines statuasque eius reponi passus est et procuratores atque libertos ad eadem officia reuocauit, nec quicquam prius pro potestate subscripsit quam quingenties sestertium ad peragendam Auream domum.
Certainly, he permitted his images and statues to be restored, and recalled his procurators and freedmen to their former offices; nor did he sign anything in virtue of his power prior to an order of fifty million sesterces for completing the Golden House.
Dicitur ea nocte per quietem pauefactus gemitus maximos edidisse repertusque a concursantibus humi ante lectum iacens per omnia piaculorum genera Manes Galbae, a quo deturbari expellique se uiderat, propitiare temptasse; postridie quoque in augurando tempestate orta grauiter prolapsum identidem obmurmurasse:
τί γάρ μοι καὶ μακροῖσ αὐλοῖς; §8Sub idem uero tempus Germaniciani exercitus in Vitelli uerba iurarant.
It is said that on that night, terrified in his sleep, he uttered very great groans, and being found by those who ran to him lying on the ground before his bed, he tried by all kinds of expiatory rites to propitiate the Manes of Galba, by whom he had seen himself thrown down and expelled; the next day also, a storm having arisen during the taking of the auspices, having fallen heavily, he muttered repeatedly: τί γάρ μοι καὶ μακροῖσ αὐλοῖς; But about the same time, the German armies had sworn allegiance to Vitellius.
quod ut comperit, auctor senatui fuit mittendae legationis, quae doceret electum iam principem, quietem concordiamque suaderet; et tamen per internuntios ac litteras consortem imperii generumque se Vitellio optulit.
When he learned this, he advised the senate to send an embassy to inform them that an emperor had already been chosen, and to urge peace and concord; and yet, through intermediaries and letters, he offered himself to Vitellius as a partner in the empire and his son-in-law.
uerum haud dubio bello iamque ducibus et copiis, quas Vitellius praemiserat, appropinquantibus animum fidemque erga se praetorianorum paene internecione amplissimi ordinis expertus est.
But war being now certain, and the generals and forces which Vitellius had sent ahead already approaching, he experienced the zeal and fidelity of the praetorians toward him, which almost resulted in the slaughter of the most noble order.
placuerat per classiarios arma transferri remittique nauibus; ea cum in castris sub noctem promerentur, insidias quidam suspicati tumultum excitauerunt; ac repente omnes nullo certo duce in Palatium cucurrerunt caedem senatus flagitantes, repulsisque tribunorum qui inhibere temptabant, nonnullis et occisis, sic ut erant cruenti, ubinam imperator esset requirentes perruperunt in triclinium usque nec nisi uiso destiterunt.
It had been resolved that arms should be moved by the marines and sent back in ships; when these were being brought out in the camp towards night, some suspecting treachery excited a tumult; and suddenly all, with no certain leader, ran to the Palatine demanding the slaughter of the senate, and having repulsed the tribunes who attempted to inhibit them, and killed some, just as they were, bloodstained, inquiring where the emperor was, they burst even into the dining room, nor did they desist until they had seen him.
Expeditionem autem inpigre atque etiam praepropere incohauit, nulla ne religionum quidem cura, sed et motis necdum conditis ancilibus, quod antiquitus infaustum habetur, et die, quo cultores deum Matris lamentari et plangere incipiunt, praeterea aduersissimis auspiciis.
But he began his expedition energetically and even too hastily, with no care even for religious matters, but both when the sacred shields had been moved and not yet stored away—which of old is held of ill omen—and on the day on which the worshippers of the Mother of the Gods begin to lament and wail, and besides under the most adverse auspices.
nam et uictima Diti patri caesa litauit, cum tali sacrificio contraria exta potiora sint, et primo egressu inundationibus Tiberis retardatus ad uicensimum etiam lapidem ruina aedificiorum praeclusam uiam offendit.
For also, having sacrificed a victim to Father Dis, he obtained a favorable omen, whereas in such a sacrifice contrary entrails are more preferred, and at his first departure being retarded by the inundations of the Tiber, even at the twentieth milestone he found the road blocked by the ruin of buildings.