§5Post Neronem Galbamque Othone ac Vitellio de principatu certantibus in spem imperii uenit iam pridem sibi per haec ostenta conceptam.
After Nero and Galba, while Otho and Vitellius were contending for the principate, he came into the hope of the empire, which had long since been conceived within him through these portents.
In suburbano Flauiorum quercus antiqua, quae erat Marti sacra, per tres Vespasiae partus singulos repente ramos a frutice dedit, haud dubia signa futuri cuiusque fati: primum exilem et cito arefactum, ideoque puella nata non perannauit, secundum praeualidum ac prolixum et qui magnam felicitatem portenderet, tertium uero instar arboris.
In the suburban estate of the Flavii, an ancient oak, which was sacred to Mars, on the occasion of the three births of Vespasia, suddenly sent forth a branch from its trunk each time, no doubtful signs of the future destiny of each: the first was thin and quickly withered, and so the girl who was born did not live a year; the second was very strong and long, and portended great happiness; but the third was like a tree.
quare patrem Sabinum ferunt, haruspicio insuper confirmatum, renuntiasse matri, nepotem ei Caesarem genitum; nec illam quicquam aliud quam cachinnasse, mirantem quod adhuc se mentis compote deliraret iam filius suus.
Therefore, they say that his father Sabinus, further confirmed by a horoscope, announced to his mother that a grandson who would be Caesar had been born to her; but she did nothing but laugh out loud, wondering that her son should already be raving while she herself was still of sound mind.
Mox, cum aedilem eum C. Caesar, succensens curam uerrendis uiis non adhibitam, luto iussisset oppleri congesto per milites in praetextae sinum, non defuerunt qui interpretarentur, quandoque proculcatam desertamque rem p. ciuili aliqua perturbatione in tutelam eius ac uelut in gremium deuenturam.
Later, when he was aedile, Gaius Caesar, angry because care had not been taken in sweeping the streets, had ordered him to be covered with mud, heaped up by the soldiers into the bosom of his toga praetexta; there were not wanting those who interpreted that one day the state, trodden down and deserted, would, through some civil disturbance, come under his protection and, as it were, into his lap.
Prandente eo quondam canis extrarius e triuio ma num humanam intulit mensaeque subiecit.
While he was dining once at noon, a stray dog from a crossroads brought a human hand into the dining room and dropped it under the table.
cenante rursus bos arator decusso iugo triclinium irrupit ac fugatis ministris quasi repente defessus procidit ad ipsos accumbentis pedes ceruicemque summisit.
Again, while he was having dinner, a plow-ox, having shaken off its yoke, burst into the triclinium, and after putting the servants to flight, fell down as if suddenly exhausted at the very feet of him as he reclined, and lowered its neck.
arbor quoque cupressus in agro auito sine ulla ui tempestatis euulsa radicitus atque prostrata insequenti die uiridior ac firmior resurrexit.
Also a cypress tree on his grandfather's land, torn up by the roots and thrown down without any force of a storm, rose again the next day greener and stronger.
At in Achaia somniauit initium sibi suisque felicitatis futurum, simul ac dens Neroni exemptus esset; euenitque ut sequenti die progressus in atrium medicus dentem ei ostenderet tantumque quod exemptum.
But in Achaea he dreamed that the beginning of good fortune for himself and his family would be as soon as a tooth had been extracted from Nero; and it happened that on the following day, as he went out into the atrium, a doctor showed him a tooth and that just newly extracted.
Apud Iudaeam Carmeli dei oraculum consulentem ita confirmauere sortes, ut quidquid cogitaret uolueretque animo quamlibet magnum, id esse prouenturum pollicerentur; et unus ex nobilibus captiuis Iosephus, cum coiceretur in uincula, constantissime asseuerauit fore ut ab eodem breui solueretur, uerum iam imperatore.
In Judea, when he consulted the oracle of the god of Carmel, the lots so confirmed his hopes that they promised that whatever he thought of and wished in his mind, however great, it would come to pass; and Josephus, one of the noble captives, when he was being thrown into chains, most constantly declared that he would soon be released by the same man, but who would then already be emperor.
nuntiabantur et ex urbe praesagia: Neronem diebus ultimis monitum per quietem, ut tensam Iouis Optimi Maximi e sacrario in domum Vespasiani et inde in circum deduceret; ac non multo post comitia secundi consulatus ineunte Galba statuam Diui Iuli ad Orientem sponte conuersam, acieque Betriacensi, prius quam committeretur, duas aquilas in conspectu omnium conflixisse uictaque altera superuenisse tertiam ab solis exortu ac uictricem abegisse.
Omens were also reported from the city: that Nero in his last days was warned in a dream to lead the sacred chariot of Jupiter Optimus Maximus from its shrine to the house of Vespasian and from there into the circus; and not long after, when Galba was entering upon his second consulship, the statue of the Divine Julius of its own accord turned toward the East; and at the battle of Betriacum, before it was joined, two eagles fought in the sight of all, and one being defeated, a third came from the rising of the sun and drove away the victress.
§6nec tamen quicquam ante temptauit, promptissimis atque etiam instantibus suis, quam sollicitatus quorundam et ignotorum et absentium fortuito fauore.
Yet he attempted nothing, although his own men were most ready and even urging him on, until he was solicited by the fortuitous favor of certain persons, both unknown and absent.
Moesiaci exercitus bina e tribus legionibus milia missa auxilio Othoni, postquam ingressis iter nuntiatum est uictum eum ac uim uitae suae attulisse, nihilo setius Aquileiam usque perseuerauerunt, quasi rumori minus crederent.
Two thousand men from each of the three legions of the Moesian army, sent to the aid of Otho, after it was announced to them on their march that he had been defeated and had laid violent hands on himself, nevertheless continued as far as Aquileia, as if they believed the rumor less.
ibi per occasionem ac licentiam omni rapinarum genere grassati, cum timerent ne sibi reuersis reddenda ratio ac subeunda poena esset, consilium inierunt eligendi creandique imperatoris; neque enim deteriores esse aut Hispaniensi exercitu qui Galbam, aut praetoriano qui Othonem, aut Germaniciano qui Vitellium fecissent.
Having there, by opportunity and license, run riot in every kind of plunder, since they feared that on their return they would have to give an account and undergo punishment, they formed the plan of choosing and creating an emperor; for they said that they were not inferior either to the Spanish army which had made Galba, or the praetorian which had made Otho, or the German which had made Vitellius.
propositis itaque nominibus legatorum consularium, quot ubique tunc erant, cum ceteros alium alia de causa improbarent et quidam e legione tertia, quae sub exitu Neronis translata ex Syria in Moesiam fuerat, Vespasianum laudibus ferrent, assensere cuncti nomenque eius uexillis omnibus sine mora inscripserunt.
Therefore, having proposed the names of the consular legates, as many as there were everywhere at that time, since they rejected the others each for a different reason, and some from the third legion, which shortly before the death of Nero had been transferred from Syria to Moesia, extolled Vespasian with praises, all agreed and without delay inscribed his name on all their standards.
et tunc quidem compressa res est reuocatis ad officium numeris parumper.
And at that time indeed the matter was suppressed, the troops being recalled to duty for a short while.
ceterum diuulgato facto Tiberius Alexander praefectus Aegypti primus in uerba Vespasiani legiones adegit Kal. Iul. , qui principatus dies in posterum obseruatus est; Iudaicus deinde exercitus V. Idus Iul. apud ipsum iurauit.
But when the deed was rumored abroad, Tiberius Alexander, the prefect of Egypt, was the first to compel the legions to swear allegiance to Vespasian on the Kalends of July, which day was observed as the beginning of his principate in posterity; then the Judean army took the oath before him himself on the fifth day before the Ides of July.
Plurimum coeptis contulerunt iactatum exemplar epistulae uerae siue falsae defuncti Othonis ad Vespasianum extrema obtestatione ultionem mandantis et ut rei p. subueniret optantis, simul rumor dissipatus destinasse uictorem Vitellium permutare hiberna legionum et Germanicas transferre in Orientem ad securiorem mollioremque militiam, praeterea ex praesidibus prouinciarum Licinius Mucianus et e regibus Vologaesus Parthus; ille deposita simultate, quam in id tempus ex aemulatione non obscure gerebat, Syriacum promisit exercitum, hic quadraginta milia sagittariorum.
Very much was contributed to the undertaking by a circulated copy of a letter, whether true or false, of the deceased Otho to Vespasian, committing the vengeance to him with a last entreaty and wishing that he should succor the state, and at the same time by a rumor spread abroad that the victorious Vitellius had destined to change the winter quarters of the legions and to transfer the German ones to the East for a safer and easier service, and furthermore by Licinius Mucianus from the governors of the provinces and Vologaesus the Parthian from the kings; the former, having laid aside the hostility which up to that time he had openly maintained out of rivalry, promised the Syrian army, and the latter promised forty thousand archers.