§9Pontificatum maximum ideo se professus accipere ut puras seruaret manus, fidem praestitit, nec auctor posthac cuiusquam necis nec conscius, quamuis interdum ulciscendi causa non deesset, sed periturum se potius quam perditurum adiurans.
Declaring that he accepted the office of chief priest for the very reason that he might keep his hands unstained, he made good his promise, being thereafter neither the author of nor accessary to any man's death, although at times there was no lack of grounds for taking revenge, but swearing that he would rather perish himself than destroy another.
duos patricii generis conuictos in adfectatione imperii nihil amplius quam ut desisterent monuit, docens principatum fato dari, si quid praeterea desiderarent promittens se tributurum.
When two men of patrician rank were convicted of aspiring to the empire, he did no more than admonish them to desist, teaching them that the principulate is given by fate, and promising that if they desired anything else, he would bestow it upon them.
et confestim quidem ad alterius matrem quae procul aberat, cursores suos misit, qui anxiae saluum filium nuntiarent, ceterum ipsos non solum familiari cenae adhibuit, sed et insequenti die gladiatorum spectaculo circa se ex industria conlocatis oblata sibi ferramenta pugnantium inspicienda porrexit.
And indeed, he immediately sent his messengers to the mother of one of them, who was far away, to announce to her in her anxiety that her son was safe; moreover, he not only invited them to an intimate dinner, but on the following day, at a gladiatorial show, having purposely seated them near himself, he handed them the weapons of the combatants, which were offered to him, to inspect.
dicitur etiam cognita utriusque genitura imminere ambobus periculum adfirmasse, uerum quandoque et ab alio, sicut euenit.
It is also said that, having learned the horoscope of both, he declared that danger threatened them both, but at some future time and from another person, just as it turned out.
Fratrem insidiari sibi non desinentem, sed paene ex professo sollicitantem exercitus, meditantem fugam, neque occidere neque seponere ac ne in minore quidem honore habere sustinuit, sed, ut a primo imperii die, consortem successoremque testari perseuerauit, nonnumquam secreto precibus et lacrimis orans, ut tandem mutuo erga se animo uellet esse.
His brother, who never ceased plotting against him, but almost openly tampered with the armies and meditated flight, he could not bear either to put to death or to banish, nor even to hold in less honor. Instead, from the first day of his reign, he continued to declare him his partner and successor, sometimes entreating him in private with prayers and tears that he would at last consent to be of a reciprocal mind toward him.
§10inter haec morte praeuentus est maiore hominum damno quam suo.
In the midst of these things, he was cut off by death, to the greater loss of mankind than of himself.
Spectaculis absolutis, in quorum fine populo coram ubertim fleuerat, Sabinos petit aliquanto tristior, quod sacrificanti hostia aufugerat quodque tempestate serena tonuerat.
When the shows were over, at the end of which he had wept abundantly in the presence of the people, he set out for the Sabine territory somewhat sadder, because a victim had escaped as he was sacrificing, and because it had thundered from a clear sky.
deinde ad primam statim mansionem febrim nanctus, cum inde lectica transferretur, suspexisse dicitur dimotis pallulis caelum, multumque conquestus eripi sibi uitam immerenti; neque enim extare ullum suum factum paenitendum excepto dum taxat uno.
Then, having caught a fever at the very first post-station, as he was being carried from there in a litter, he is said to have looked up to heaven, having drawn back the curtains, and to have complained bitterly that life was being snatched from him who did not deserve it; for indeed, there was no deed of his to be repented of, except only one.
id quale fuerit, neque ipse tunc prodidit neque cuiquam facile succurrat.
What that was, neither did he himself reveal at the time, nor would it easily occur to anyone.
quidam opinantur consuetudinem recordatum, quam cum fratris uxore habuerit; sed nullam habuisse persancte Domitia iurabat, haud negatura, si qua omnino fuisset, immo etiam gloriatura, quod illi promptissimum erat in omnibus probris.
Some think he remembered an intimacy which he had with his brother's wife; but Domitia swore solemnly that she had had none, and she would not have denied it if there had been any at all, but would rather even have boasted of it, as was her ready custom in all shameful matters.
§11Excessit in eadem qua pater uilla Id. Sept. post biennium ac menses duos diesque XX quam successerat patri, altero et quadragesimo aetatis anno.
He died in the same villa as his father, on the Ides of September, two years, two months, and twenty days after he had succeeded his father, in the forty-second year of his age.
quod ut palam factum est, non secus atque in domestico luctu maerentibus publice cunctis, senatus prius quam edicto conuocaretur ad curiam concurrit, obseratisque adhuc foribus, deinde apertis, tantas mortuo gratias egit laudesque congessit, quantas ne uiuo quidem umquam atque praesenti.
As soon as this was made public, while all lamented openly just as in a domestic grief, the senate, before being summoned by an edict, rushed to the curia, and while the doors were still locked, and then opened, they rendered such thanks and heaped such praises upon the dead emperor as they had never done even when he was alive and present.