§1Rebellione trium principum et caede incertum diu et quasi uagum imperium suscepit firmauitque tandem gens Flauia, obscura illa quidem ac sine ullis maiorum imaginibus, sed tamen rei p.
After the rebellion and slaughter of three emperors, the Flavian dynasty at last undertook and stabilized the empire, which had long been uncertain and, as it were, drifting.
nequaquam paenitenda, constet licet Domitianum cupiditatis ac saeuitiae merito poenas luisse.
This family, though obscure and without any ancestral busts, was nevertheless by no means to be regretted by the state, even though it must be admitted that Domitian rightfully paid the penalty for his greed and cruelty.
T. Flauius Petro, municeps Reatinus, bello ciuili Pompeianarum partium centurio an euocatus, profugit ex Pharsalica acie domumque se contulit, ubi deinde uenia et missione impetrata coactiones argentarias factitauit.
T. Flavius Petro, a citizen of Reate, who in the civil war had been a centurion or an evocatus of Pompey's party, fled from the battle-line of Pharsalus and betook himself home, where, having later obtained a pardon and discharge, he practiced the business of a debt collector.
huius filius, cognomine Sabinus, expers militiae —etsi quidam eum primipilarem, nonnulli, cum adhuc ordines duceret, sacramento solutum per causam ualitudinis tradunt—publicum quadragesimae in Asia egit; manebantque imagines a ciuitatibus ei positae sub hoc titulo: ΚΑΛΩΣ. postea faenus apud Heluetios exercuit ibique diem obiit superstitibus uxore Vespasia Polla et duobus ex ea liberis, quorum maior Sabinus ad praefecturam urbis, minor Vespasianus ad principatum usque processit.
His son, named Sabinus, free from military service—although some report that he was a chief centurion, and others that while still leading his company he was released from his oath because of ill health—managed the public tax of the fortieth in Asia; and statues placed for him by the cities remained under this inscription: 'Honorably.' Afterwards he conducted money-lending among the Helvetii and there ended his days, leaving behind his wife Vespasia Polla and two children by her, of whom the elder, Sabinus, advanced to the prefecture of the city, and the younger, Vespasian, all the way to the principate.
Polla Nursiae honesto genere orta patrem habuit Vespasium Pollionem, ter tribunum militum praefectumque castrorum, fratrem senatorem praetoriae dignitatis.
Polla, born of an honorable family at Nursia, had as her father Vespasus Pollio, three times military tribune and prefect of the camp, and as her brother a senator of praetorian dignity.
locus etiam ad sextum miliarium a Nursia Spoletium euntibus in monte summo appellatur Vespasiae, ubi Vespasiorum complura monumenta extant, magnum indicium splendoris familiae et uetustatis.
Even a place on the very top of a mountain at the sixth milestone from Nursia as one goes to Spoletium is called Vespasiae, where many monuments of the Vespasii exist, a great proof of the splendor and antiquity of the family.
non negauerim iactatum a quibusdam Petronis patrem e regione Transpadana fuisse mancipem operarum, quae ex Vmbria in Sabinos ad culturam agrorum quotannis commeare soleant; subsedisse autem in oppido Reatino uxore ibidem ducta.
I would not deny that it has been rumored by some that Petro's father was a contractor of laborers from the Transpadane region, who were accustomed to travel annually from Umbria to the Sabine territory for the cultivation of the fields, and that he settled down in the town of Reate, having married a wife there.
ipse ne uestigium quidem de hoc, quamuis satis curiose inquirerem, inueni.
I myself have found not even a trace of this, although I searched quite carefully.
§2Vespasianus natus est in Sabinis ultra Reate uico modico, cui nomen est Falacrinae, XV. Kal. Decb. uesperi, Q. Sulpicio Camerino C. Poppaeo Sabino cons.
Vespasian was born in the Sabine territory beyond Reate in a moderate village called Falacrinae, on the evening of the fifteenth day before the Kalends of December, in the consulship of Q. Sulpicius Camerinus and C.
, quinquennio ante quam Augustus excederet; educatus sub paterna auia Tertulla in praediis Cosanis.
Poppaeus Sabinus, five years before Augustus passed away; he was brought up under his paternal grandmother Tertulla on her estates at Cosa.
quare princeps quoque et locum incunabulorum assidue frequentauit, manente uilla qualis fuerat olim, ne quid scilicet oculorum consuetudini deperiret; et auiae memoriam tanto opere dilexit, ut sollemnibus ac festis diebus pocillo quoque eius argenteo potare perseuerauerit.
Therefore, even as emperor, he constantly visited the place of his cradle, the villa remaining just as it had been of old, so that indeed nothing of the sight accustomed to his eyes should be lost; and he so loved the memory of his grandmother that on solemn and festive days he persisted in drinking even from her little silver cup.
Sumpta uirili toga latum clauum, quanquam fratre adepto, diu auersatus est, nec ut tandem appeteret compelli nisi a matre potuit.
Having assumed the toga of manhood, he long turned away from the broad stripe, although his brother had already obtained it, nor could he be compelled to seek it at last except by his mother.
ea demum extudit magis conuicio quam precibus uel auctoritate, dum eum identidem per contumeliam anteambulonem fratris appellat.
She finally drove him to it more by abuse than by entreaties or authority, while she repeatedly called him, by way of insult, his brother's usher.
Tribunatum militum in Thracia meruit; quaestor Cretam et Cyrenas prouinciam sorte cepit; aedilitatis ac mox praeturae candidatus, illam non sine repulsa sextoque uix adeptus est loco, hanc prima statim petitione et in primis.
He served his military tribuneship in Thrace; as quaestor he received by lot the province of Crete and Cyrene; standing as a candidate for the aedileship and soon for the praetorship, he obtained the former only after a rejection and with difficulty in the sixth place, but the latter on his first application and among the foremost.
praetor infensum senatui Gaium ne quo non genere demereretur, ludos extraordinarios pro uictoria eius Germanica depoposcit poenaeque coniuratorum addendum censuit, ut insepulti proicerentur.
As praetor, in order that he might not fail to win favor with Gaius, who was hostile to the senate, by every kind of means, he demanded extraordinary games for his German victory and proposed that it be added to the punishment of the conspirators that they should be cast out unburied.
egit et gratias ei apud amplissimum ordinem, quod se honore cenae dignatus esset.
He also gave thanks to him before the most distinguished order because he had deigned to honor him with an invitation to dinner.