§1Vitelliorum originem alii aliam et quidem diuersissimam tradunt, partim ueterem et nobilem, partim uero nouam et obscuram atque etiam sordidam;
Some hand down one origin of the Vitellii and others another, and indeed very different ones; partly ancient and noble, but partly new, obscure, and even low.
quod ego per adulatores obtrectatoresque imperatoris Vitelli euenisse opinarer, nisi aliquanto prius de familiae condicione uariatum esset.
I should have supposed that this happened through the flatterers and detractors of the Emperor Vitellius, were it not that the condition of the family had been disputed some time before.
extat Q. †Elogi ad Quintum Vitellium Diui Augusti quaestorem libellus, quo continetur, Vitellios Fauno Aboriginum rege et Vitellia, quae multis locis pro numine coleretur, ortos toto Latio imperasse; horum residuam stirpem ex Sabinis transisse Romam atque inter patricios adlectam; indicia stirpis mansisse diu uiam Vitelliam ab Ianiculo ad mare usque, item coloniam eiusdem nominis, quam gentili copia aduersus Aequiculos tutandam olim depoposcissent; tempore deinde Samnitici belli praesidio in Apuliam misso quosdam ex Vitellis subsedisse Nuceriae eorumque progeniem longo post interuallo repetisse urbem atque ordinem senatorium.
There is extant a booklet by Q. †Elogius to Quintus Vitellius, a quaestor of the Divine Augustus, in which it is contained that the Vitellii, sprung from Faunus, king of the Aborigines, and Vitellia, who was worshipped as a deity in many places, ruled over all Latium; and that the remaining stock of these crossed from the Sabines to Rome and was co-opted among the patricians; and that evidence of this stock remained for a long time in the Vitellian Way from the Janiculum to the sea, likewise a colony of the same name, which they had once requested to defend with their clan forces against the Aequiculi; and that later, at the time of the Samnite war, when a garrison was sent into Apulia, some of the Vitellii settled at Nuceria, and their progeny returned to the city and the senatorial order after a long interval.
§2contra plures auctorem generis libertinum prodiderunt, Cassius Seuerus nec minus alii eundem et sutorem ueteramentarium, cuius filius sectionibus et cognituris uberius compendium nanctus, ex muliere uulgari, Antiochi cuiusdam furnariam exercentis filia, equitem R. genuerit.
On the other hand, the majority have handed down that the founder of the family was a freedman; Cassius Severus and no less others deliver that the same man was a cobbler, whose son, having gained a richer profit from auctions and procuratorships, begot a Roman knight from a common woman, the daughter of a certain Antiochus who kept a bakery.
sed quod discrepat, sit in medio.
But let what is disputed remain undecided.
ceterum P. Vitellius domo Nuceria, siue ille stirpis antiquae siue pudendis parentibus atque auis, eques certe R. et rerum Augusti procurator, quattuor filios amplissimae dignitatis cognomines ac tantum praenominibus distinctos reliquit Aul(um), Q(uintum), P(ublium), L(ucium).
However, P. Vitellius of Nuceria, whether of that ancient stock or of shameful parents and grandparents, was certainly a Roman knight and procurator of the affairs of Augustus; he left four sons of the highest dignity, sharing the same cognomen and distinguished only by their praenomina: Aulus, Quintus, Publius, Lucius.
Aulus in consulatu obiit, quem cum Domitio Neronis Caesaris patre inierat, praelautus alioqui famosusque cenarum magnificentia.
Aulus died in his consulship, which he had entered upon with Domitius, the father of Nero Caesar, a man otherwise extremely luxurious and famous for the magnificence of his dinners.
Quintus caruit ordine, cum auctore Tiberio secerni minus idoneos senatores remouerique placuisset.
Quintus lost his rank when, on the recommendation of Tiberius, it had been decided to set aside and remove unfit senators.
P(ublius), Germanici comes, Cn.
Publius, a companion of Germanicus, prosecuted and convicted Cn.
Pisonem inimicum et interfectorem eius accusauit condemnauitque, ac post praeturae honorem inter Seiani conscios arreptus et in custodiam fratri datus scalpro librario uenas sibi incidit, nec tam mortis paenitentia quam suorum obtestatione obligari curarique se passus in eadem custodia morbo periit.
Piso, his enemy and murderer; and after the honor of the praetorship, having been arrested among the accomplices of Sejanus and given to his brother to be kept in custody, he cut his veins with a penknife, and allowed himself to be bound up and cured, not so much from repentance of death as at the entreaty of his family, but died of disease in the same custody.
L(ucius) ex consulatu Syriae praepositus, Artabanum Parthorum regem summis artibus non modo ad conloquium suum, sed etiam ad ueneranda legionum signa pellexit.
Lucius, after his consulship, was put in charge of Syria, and by the greatest skills enticed Artabanus, king of the Parthians, not only to an interview with him, but even to venerate the standards of the legions.
mox cum Claudio principe duos insuper ordinarios consulatus censuramque gessit.
Soon after, he held two ordinary consulships and the censorship with the Emperor Claudius.
curam quoque imperi sustinuit absente eo expeditione Britannica; uir innocens et industrius, sed amore libertinae perinfamis, cuius etiam saliuis melle commixtis, ne clam quidem aut raro sed cotidie ac palam, arterias et fauces pro remedio fouebat.
He also sustained the care of the empire during the Emperor's absence on the British expedition; a man innocent and industrious, but infamous for his love of a freedwoman, whose saliva mixed with honey he used to rub on his arteries and throat as a remedy, not secretly or rarely, but daily and openly.
idem miri in adulando ingenii primus C. Caesarem adorare ut deum instituit, cum reuersus ex Syria non aliter adire ausus esset quam capite uelato circumuertensque se, deinde procumbens.
The same man, of wonderful talent in flattering, was the first to begin worshipping C. Caesar as a god, since, returning from Syria, he did not dare to approach him otherwise than with his head veiled, turning himself around, and then falling prostrate.
Claudium uxoribus libertisque addictum ne qua non arte demereretur, proximo munere a Messalina petit ut sibi pedes praeberet excalciandos; detractumque socculum dextrum inter togam tunicasque gestauit assidue, nonnumquam osculabundus.
In order not to fail in any art of winning over Claudius, who was devoted to his wives and freedmen, he petitioned Messalina at the next entertainment to offer him her feet to be unshod; and he constantly carried her right slipper between his toga and tunics, sometimes kissing it.
Narcissi quoque et Pallantis imagines aureas inter Lares coluit.
He also worshipped golden images of Narcissus and Pallas among his Lares.
huius et illa uox est: 'saepe facias,' cum saeculares ludos edenti Claudio gratularetur.
To him belongs also that saying: 'May you do it often,' when he congratulated Claudius on his celebrating the Secular Games.