§12talibus principiis magnam imperii partem non nisi consilio et arbitrio uilissimi cuiusque histrionum et aurigarum administrauit et maxime Asiatici liberti.
With such beginnings, he administered a large part of the empire solely by the advice and whim of the most worthless actors and chariot-drivers, and especially of his freedman Asiaticus.
hunc adulescentulum mutua libidine constupratum, mox taedio profugum cum Puteolis poscam uendentem reprehendisset, coiecit in compedes statimque soluit et rursus in deliciis habuit;
This youth, after having been polluted by mutual lust, soon fled out of weariness; when Vitellius found him selling sour wine at Puteoli, he threw him into chains but immediately released him and held him in favor again.
iterum deinde ob nimiam contumaciam et furacitatem grauatus circumforano lanistae uendidit dilatumque ad finem muneris repente subripuit et prouincia demum accepta manumisit ac primo imperii die aureis donauit anulis super cenam, cum mane rogantibus pro eo cunctis detestatus esset seuerissime talem equestris ordinis maculam.
Then, annoyed once more by his excessive insolence and thievishness, he sold him to a traveling gladiator-trainer, but suddenly snatched him away when he had been reserved until the end of the show; and finally, having received his province, he manumitted him. On his first day as emperor, during dinner, he presented him with gold rings, although in the morning he had most severely abominated such a stain on the equestrian order when everyone petitioned on his behalf.
§13Sed uel praecipue luxuriae saeuitiaeque deditus epulas trifariam semper, interdum quadrifariam dispertiebat, in iantacula et prandia et cenas comisationesque, facile omnibus sufficiens uomitandi consuetudine.
But being devoted above all to luxury and cruelty, he always divided his feasts into three, sometimes four parts: into breakfasts, luncheons, dinners, and revels, easily coping with all of them by his habit of vomiting.
indicebat autem aliud alii eadem die, nec cuiquam minus singuli apparatus quadringenis milibus nummum constiterunt.
Moreover, he would prescribe one feast to one person and another to another on the same day, and each preparation cost no one less than four hundred thousand sesterces.
famosissima super ceteras fuit cena data ei aduenticia a fratre, in qua duo milia lectissimorum piscium, septem auium apposita traduntur.
Most famous of all was the welcome dinner given to him by his brother, in which two thousand of the choicest fish and seven thousand birds are said to have been served.
hanc quoque exuperauit ipse dedicatione patinae, quam ob immensam magnitudinem clipeum Mineruae πολιούχου dictitabat. in hac scarorum iocinera, phasianarum et pauonum cerebella, linguas phoenicopterum, murenarum lactes a Parthia usque fretoque Hispanico per nauarchos ac triremes petitarum commiscuit.
He himself even surpassed this by the dedication of a dish, which because of its immense size he used to call the "Shield of Minerva, Protectress of the City." In this he mixed together the livers of scar-fish, the brains of pheasants and peacocks, the tongues of flamingos, and the milt of lampreys fetched by his captains and triremes from as far as Parthia and the Spanish Strait.
ut autem homo non profundae modo sed intempestiuae quoque ac sordidae gulae, ne in sacrificio quidem umquam aut itinere ullo temperauit, quin inter altaria ibidem statim uiscus et farris †paene rapta e foco manderet circaque uiarum popinas fumantia obsonia uel pridiana atque semesa.
Since he was a man of a stomach not only bottomless but also untimely and filthy, he never refrained, even during a sacrifice or on any journey, from devouring right then and there among the altars the sacrificial meats and spell-wheat cakes almost snatched from the hearth, and around the cookshops of the streets, steaming dishes or those from the day before and half-eaten.
§14Pronus uero ad cuiuscumque et quacumque de causa necem atque supplicium nobiles uiros, condiscipulos et aequales suos, omnibus blanditiis tantum non ad societatem imperii adlicefactos uario genere fraudis occidit, etiam unum ueneno manu sua porrecto in aquae frigidae potione, quam is adfectus febre poposcerat.
Prone indeed to the slaughter and punishment of anyone and for any reason, he put to death noble men, his schoolfellows and contemporaries, who had been enticed by all kinds of flattery almost to a partnership in the empire, by various kinds of treachery; he even killed one with poison mixed in a draft of cold water which the man had asked for when afflicted with a fever, handed to him by his own hand.
tum faeneratorum et stipulatorum publicanorumque, qui umquam se aut Romae debitum aut in uia portorium flagitassent, uix ulli pepercit; ex quibus quendam in ipsa salutatione supplicio traditum statimque reuocatum, cunctis clementiam laudantibus, coram interfici iussit, uelle se dicens pascere oculos; alterius poenae duos filios adiecit deprecari pro patre conatos.
Then he spared scarcely any of the money-lenders, bondsmen, and tax-gatherers who had ever demanded from him a debt at Rome or a toll on the road; from among these, when a certain man was delivered to punishment during the morning greeting itself and immediately recalled, while everyone was praising his clemency, he ordered him to be put to death in his presence, saying that he wished to feast his eyes; to the punishment of another he added his two sons who had attempted to intercede for their father.
sed et equitem R. proclamantem, cum raperetur ad poenam: 'heres meus es,' exhibere testamenti tabulas coegit, utque legit coheredem sibi libertum eius ascriptum, iugulari cum liberto imperauit.
Moreover, when a Roman knight, as he was being dragged to punishment, cried out, "You are my heir!" he compelled him to produce the tablets of his will, and when he read that the man's freedman was written down as a co-heir with himself, he ordered him to be executed along with the freedman.
quosdam et de plebe ob id ipsum, quod Venetae factioni clare male dixerant, interemit contemptu sui et noua spe id ausos opinatus.
He also put to death some of the common people for the sole reason that they had loudly spoken ill of the Blue faction, thinking that they had dared to do this out of contempt for him and in hope of a revolution.
nullis tamen infensior quam uernaculis et mathematicis, ut quisque deferretur, inauditum capite puniebat exacerbatus, quod post edictum suum, quo iubebat intra Kal. Oct. urbe Italiaque mathematici excederent, statim libellus propositus est, et Chaldaeos dicere, bonum factum, ne Vitellius Germanicus intra eundem Kalendarum diem usquam esset. suspectus et in morte matris fuit, quasi aegrae praeberi cibum prohibuisset, uaticinante Chatta muliere, cui uelut oraculo adquiescebat, ita demum firmiter ac diutissime imperaturum, si superstes parenti extitisset.
Yet he was hostile to none more than to wits and astrologers; as each was denounced, he punished them with death without a trial, enraged because immediately after his edict, by which he ordered that astrologers should leave the city and Italy before the Kalends of October, a placard was posted: "And the Chaldeans declare: an excellent decree! let Vitellius Germanicus no longer exist anywhere before the same day of the Kalends." He was also suspected in the death of his mother, as if he had forbidden food to be given to her when she was sick, because of the prophecy of a Chattan woman, whom he trusted as an oracle, that he would rule securely and for a very long time only if he should survive his parent.
alii tradunt ipsam taedio praesentium et imminentium metu uenenum a filio impetrasse, haud sane difficulter.
Others hand down that she herself, out of weariness of the present and fear of imminent dangers, obtained poison from her son, and certainly without any difficulty on his part.