§16Sola est, in qua merito culpetur, pecuniae cupiditas.
The only thing in which he could be deservedly blamed is his greed for money.
non enim contentus omissa sub Galba uectigalia reuocasse, noua et grauia addidisse, auxisse tributa prouinciis, nonnullis et duplicasse, negotiationes quoque uel priuato pudendas propalam exercuit, coemendo quaedam tantum ut pluris postea distraheret.
For, not content to have revived taxes abolished under Galba, to have added new and heavy ones, to have increased the tributes to the provinces, and even to have doubled them for some, he also openly engaged in business dealings shameful even for a private citizen, by buying up certain things only to sell them later at a higher price.
ne candidatis quidem honores reisue tam innoxiis quam nocentibus absolutiones uenditare cunctatus est.
He did not hesitate to sell offices even to candidates, or acquittals to defendants, the innocent as well as the guilty.
creditur etiam procuratorum rapacissimum quemque ad ampliora officia ex industria solitus promouere, quo locupletiores mox condemnaret; quibus quidem uolgo pro spongiis dicebatur uti, quod quasi et siccos madefaceret et exprimeret umentis.
It is also believed that he was accustomed to promote on purpose the most rapacious of his procurators to higher offices, so that he might condemn them soon when they were richer; he was commonly said to use them as sponges, because he as it were wetted them when dry and squeezed them when wet.
Quidam natura cupidissimum tradunt, idque exprobratum ei a sene bubulco, qui negata sibi gratuita libertate, quam imperium adeptum suppliciter orabat, proclamauerit, uulpem pilum mutare, non mores.
Some report that he was extremely greedy by nature, and that this was cast in his teeth by an old herdsman, who, having been denied free manumission which he humbly begged for when Vespasian attained power, cried out that the fox changes his fur, not his character.
sunt contra qui opinentur ad manubias et rapinas necessitate compulsum summa aerarii fiscique inopia, de qua testificatus sit initio statim principatus, professus quadringenties milies opus esse, ut res p. stare posset.
On the contrary, there are those who think that he was driven to spoils and plunder by necessity, owing to the extreme poverty of the treasury and the privy purse, of which he testified at the very beginning of his principate, declaring that forty billion sesterces were needed so that the state could stand.
quod et ueri similius uidetur, quando et male partis optime usus est.
And this seems more probable, since he also made the best use of his ill-gotten gains.
§17in omne hominum genus liberalissimus expleuit censum senatorium, consulares inopes quingenis sestertiis annuis sustentauit, plurimas per totum orbem ciuitates terrae motu aut incendio afflictas restituit in melius, ingenia et artes uel maxime fouit.
Most generous to every class of men, he made up the senatorial census, supported impoverished ex-consuls with five hundred thousand sesterces annually, restored to a better condition very many cities throughout the whole world afflicted by earthquake or fire, and fostered talents and arts to the greatest degree.
§18primus e fisco Latinis Graecisque rhetoribus annua centena constituit; praestantis poetas, nec non et artifices, Coae Veneris, item Colossi refectorem insigni congiario magnaque mercede donauit;
He was the first to establish from the privy purse an annual salary of one hundred thousand sesterces for Latin and Greek rhetoricians; he presented outstanding poets, and likewise artists, such as the restorer of the Venus of Cos and also of the Colossus, with a remarkable largess and great payment.
mechanico quoque grandis columnas exigua impensa perducturum in Capitolium pollicenti praemium pro commento non mediocre optulit, operam remisit praefatus sineret se plebiculam pascere.
To an engineer also, who promised to convey huge columns to the Capitol at small expense, he offered a not inconsiderable reward for his invention, but waived the execution of the work, saying beforehand that he should let him feed his poor common people.
§19ludis, per quos scaena Marcelliani theatri restituta dedicabatur, uetera quoque acroamata reuocauerat.
At the games, by which the restored stage of the Theater of Marcellus was dedicated, he had also recalled old entertainers.
†Appellari tragoedo quadringenta, Terpno Diodoroque citharoedis ducena, nonnullis centena, quibus minimum, quadragena sestertia super plurimas coronas aureas dedit.
To †Apelles† the tragic actor he gave four hundred thousand, to Terpnus and Diodorus the lyre-players two hundred thousand each, to some one hundred thousand, and to those who received the least, forty thousand sesterces, in addition to very many golden crowns.
sed et conuiuabatur assidue ac saepius recta et dapsile, ut macellarios adiuuaret.
Moreover, he entertained constantly, and quite often with formal dinners and sumptuously, so that he might help the provisions dealers.
dabat sicut Saturnalibus uiris apophoreta, ita per Kal. Mart. feminis.
He gave gifts to carry away to men, just as at the Saturnalia, so on the Kalends of March to women.
et tamen ne sic quidem pristina cupiditatis infamia caruit.
And yet, not even thus did he escape the old infamy of greed.
Alexandrini Cybiosacten eum uocare perseuerauerunt, cognomine unius e regibus suis turpissimarum sordium.
The Alexandrians persisted in calling him Cybiosactes, the nickname of one of their kings of most shameful sordidness.
sed et in funere Fauor archimimus personam eius ferens imitansque, ut est mos, facta ac dicta uiui, interrogatis palam procuratoribus, quanti funus et pompa constaret, ut audit sestertium centiens, exclamauit, centum sibi sestertia darent ac se uel in Tiberim proicerent.
Moreover, at his funeral, Favor, the chief mime, wearing his mask and imitating, as is the custom, the deeds and words of the living man, asked the procurators openly how much the funeral and the procession cost, and when he heard "ten million sesterces", he cried out that they should give him one hundred thousand sesterces and throw him even into the Tiber.
§20Statura fuit quadrata, compactis firmisque membris, uultu ueluti nitentis; de quo quidam urbanorum non infacete, siquidem petenti, ut et in se aliquid diceret: 'dicam,' inquit, 'cum uentrem exonerare desieris. ' ualitudine prosperrima usus est, quamuis ad tuendam eam nihil amplius quam fauces ceteraque membra sibimet ad numerum in sphaeristerio defricaret inediamque unius diei per singulos menses interponeret.
He was of a square build, with compact and strong limbs, and the expression of one who was straining; concerning which a certain wit made a not humorless remark, for when Vespasian asked him to say something about him too, he said: "I will say it when you have finished unloading your belly." He enjoyed excellent health, although to preserve it he did nothing more than rub his throat and other limbs himself in the ball-court a certain number of times, and interpose a fast of one day in each month.
§21Ordinem uitae hunc fere tenuit.
He generally observed this routine of life.
in principatu maturius semper ac de nocte uigilabat; dein perlectis epistulis officiorumque omnium breuiariis, amicos admittebat, ac dum salutabatur, et calciabat ipse se et amiciebat; postque decisa quaecumque obuenissent negotia gestationi et inde quieti uacabat, accubante aliqua pallacarum, quas in locum defunctae Caenidis plurimas constituerat; a secreto in balineum tricliniumque transibat.
During his principate, he always woke up earlier and while it was still night; then, after reading letters and the summaries of all the offices, he admitted his friends, and while he was being greeted, he put on his own shoes and dressed himself; and after deciding whatever business had come up, he devoted himself to a drive and then to rest, with one of his concubines lying beside him, of whom he had established very many in place of the deceased Caenis; from his private room he went to the bath and the dining room.
nec ullo tempore facilior aut indulgentior traditur, eaque momenta domestici ad aliquid petendum magno opere captabant.
Nor is he reported to have been more approachable or indulgent at any other time, and his household members eagerly seized these moments to ask for something.