§15Octauo imperii mense desciuerunt ab eo exercitus Moesiarum atque Pannoniae, item ex transmarinis Iudaicus et Syriaticus, ac pars in absentis pars in praesentis Vespasiani uerba iurarunt.
In the eighth month of his reign, the armies of Moesia and Pannonia defected from him, as did those of Judaea and Syria from across the sea, and some swore allegiance to the absent, others to the present Vespasian.
ad retinendum ergo ceterorum hominum studium ac fauorem nihil non publice priuatimque nullo adhibito modo largitus est.
Therefore, to retain the support and favor of the rest of the people, there was nothing he did not lavishly bestow both publicly and privately, without any limit.
dilectum quoque ea condicione in urbe egit, ut uoluntariis non modo missionem post uictoriam, sed etiam ueteranorum iustaeque militiae commoda polliceretur.
He also conducted a levy in the city under such a condition that he promised volunteers not only discharge after victory, but even the rewards due to veterans after a regular term of service.
urgenti deinde terra marique hosti hinc fratrem cum classe ac tironibus et gladiatorum manu opposuit, hinc Betriacenses copias et duces; atque ubique aut superatus aut proditus salutem sibi et milies sestertium a Flauio Sabino Vespasiani fratre pepigit; statimque pro gradibus Palati apud frequentes milites cedere se imperio quod inuitus recepisset professus, cunctis reclamantibus rem distulit ac nocte interposita primo diluculo sordidatus descendit ad rostra multisque cum lacrimis eadem illa, uerum e libello testatus est.
Then, against the enemy pressing by land and sea, he opposed on one side his brother with a fleet, recruits, and a band of gladiators, and on the other the Bedriacum troops and generals; and having been either defeated or betrayed everywhere, he bargained with Flavius Sabinus, the brother of Vespasian, for his own safety and a hundred million sesterces; and immediately on the steps of the Palace, before a crowded assembly of soldiers, having declared that he was resigning the empire which he had accepted against his will, he postponed the matter as everyone cried out against it; and after the night had passed, at the first dawn, he went down to the Rostra in mourning attire, and with many tears testified to those very same things, but reading from a written speech.
rursus interpellante milite ac populo et ne deficeret hortante omnemque operam suam certatim pollicente, animum resumpsit Sabinumque et reliquos Flauianos nihil iam metuentis ui subita in Capitolium compulit succensoque templo Iouis Optimi Maximi oppressit, cum et proelium et incendium e Tiberiana prospiceret domo inter epulas.
When the soldiers and the people again interrupted him, urging him not to falter and eagerly promising their full support, he recovered his spirit and, by a sudden attack forced Sabinus and the rest of the Flavian party, who were by now fearing nothing, into the Capitol, and crushed them by setting fire to the Temple of Jupiter Optimus Maximus, while he himself watched both the battle and the fire from the House of Tiberius during his banquet.
non multo post paenitens facti et in alios culpam conferens uocata contione iurauit coegitque iurare et ceteros nihil sibi antiquius quiete publica fore.
Not long after, repenting of the deed and shifting the blame onto others, he called an assembly, took an oath, and compelled the rest to swear that nothing would be dearer to him than the public peace.
tunc solutum a latere pugionem consuli primum, deinde illo recusante magistratibus ac mox senatoribus singulis porrigens, nullo recipiente, quasi in aede Concordiae positurus abscessit.
Then, drawing the dagger from his side, he offered it first to the consul, and upon his refusal, to the magistrates, and soon to each of the senators; when no one received it, he departed as if to deposit it in the Temple of Concord.
sed quibusdam adclamantibus ipsum esse Concordiam, rediit nec solum retinere se ferrum affirmauit, uerum etiam Concordiae recipere cognomen; §16suasitque senatui, ut legatos cum uirginibus Vestalibus mitterent pacem aut certe tempus ad consultandum petituros.
But with some crying out that he himself was Concord, he returned and declared that he would not only retain the weapon, but would also accept the cognomen of Concord. He also persuaded the senate to send envoys with the Vestal Virgins to ask for peace, or at least for time to deliberate.
Postridie responsa opperienti nuntiatum est per exploratorem hostes appropinquare.
On the following day, as he was waiting for the replies, it was reported to him by a scout that the enemy was approaching.
continuo igitur abstrusus gestatoria sella duobus solis comitibus, pistore et coco, Auentinum et paternam domum clam petit, ut inde in Campaniam fugeret; mox leui rumore et incerto, tamquam pax impetrata esset, referri se in Palatium passus est.
Immediately, therefore, concealed in a litter with only two companions, a baker and a cook, he secretly went to the Aventine and his father's house, so that he might flee from there into Campania; soon, owing to a light and uncertain rumor, as if peace had been obtained, he allowed himself to be carried back to the Palace.
ubi cum deserta omnia repperisset, dilabentibus et qui simul erant, zona se aureorum plena circumdedit confugitque in cellulam ianitoris, religato pro foribus cane lectoque et culcita obiectis. §17Irruperant iam agminis antecessores ac nemine obuio rimabantur, ut fit, singula.
When he found everything deserted there, and even those who had been with him were slipping away, he girded himself with a belt full of gold pieces and fled into the gatekeeper's lodge, tying up a dog before the door and barricading it with a bed and a mattress. Already the advance guard of the army had broken in, and since they met no one, they were searching everything, as is usually the case.
ab his extractus e latebra. sciscitantes, quis esset—nam ignorabatur—et ubi esse Vitellium sciret, mendacio elusit; deinde agnitus rogare non destitit, quasi quaedam de salute Vespasiani dicturus, ut custodiretur interim uel in carcere, donec religatis post terga manibus, iniecto ceruicibus laqueo, ueste discissa seminudus in forum tractus est inter magna rerum uerborumque ludibria per totum uiae Sacrae spatium, reducto coma capite, ceu noxii solent, atque etiam mento mucrone gladii subrecto, ut uisendam praeberet faciem neue summitteret; quibusdam stercore et caeno incessentibus, aliis incendiarium et patinarium uociferantibus, parte uulgi etiam corporis uitia exprobrante; erat enim in eo enormis proceritas, facies rubida plerumque ex uinulentia, uenter obesus, alterum femur subdebile impulsu olim quadrigae, cum auriganti Gaio ministratorem exhiberet.
Dragged out of his hiding place by them, when they asked who he was—for he was not recognized—and if he knew where Vitellius was, he eluded them with a lie; then, having been recognized, he did not cease to beg, as if he were going to say something regarding the safety of Vespasian, that he should be kept in custody in the meantime, even in prison, until, with his hands bound behind his back and a halter thrown over his neck, his clothes torn, he was dragged half-naked into the forum, amid great mockery in deeds and words, through the whole length of the Sacred Way, with his head pulled back by his hair, as criminals are wont to be, and even with the point of a sword held under his chin so that he might present his face to be looked at and not bow it; while some pelted him with dung and mud, others shouted "incendiary" and "glutton," and part of the crowd even reproached his physical defects; for there was in him an extraordinary tallness, a face usually flushed from wine-drinking, a fat belly, and one thigh somewhat weak from the impact of a chariot long ago, when he was attending Gaius as he drove a chariot.
tandem apud Gemonias minutissimis ictibus excarnificatus atque confectus est et inde unco tractus in Tiberim. §18Periit cum fratre et filio anno uitae septimo quinquagesimo; nec fefellit coiectura eorum qui augurio, quod factum ei Viennae ostendimus, non aliud portendi praedixerant quam uenturum in alicuius Gallicani hominis potestatem, siquidem ab Antonio Primo aduersarum partium duce oppressus est, cui Tolosae nato cognomen in pueritia Becco fuerat: id ualet gallinacei rostrum.
At last, at the Gemonian steps, he was tortured and finished off by tiny blows, and from there dragged with a hook into the Tiber. He perished with his brother and son in the fifty-seventh year of his age; nor did the conjecture of those fail who had predicted, from the omen which we showed had happened to him at Vienna, that nothing else was portended than that he would come into the power of some Gallic man; since he was overthrown by Antonius Primus, the leader of the opposing party, who had been born at Toulouse and whose cognomen in his boyhood had been Becco, which means a cock's beak.