§10Sed neque in clementiae neque in abstinentiae tenore permansit, et tamen aliquanto celerius ad saeuitiam desciuit quam ad cupiditatem.
But he did not persist in the course of either clemency or self-restraint, and yet he lapsed into cruelty somewhat more rapidly than into avarice.
discipulum Paridis pantomimi impuberem adhuc et cum maxime aegrum, quod arte formaque non absimilis magistro uidebatur, occidit; item Hermogenem Tarsensem propter quasdam in historia figuras, libraris etiam, qui eam descripserant, cruci fixis.
He put to death a disciple of Paris the pantomime, who was still a youth and just then very ill, because in his art and appearance he seemed not unlike his master; likewise Hermogenes of Tarsus on account of certain figures of speech in his history, having also crucified the scribes who had copied it.
patrem familias, quod Thraecem murmilloni parem, munerario imparem dixerat, detractum spectaculis in harenam canibus obiecit cum hoc titulo: 'impie locutus parmularius. '
Complures senatores, in iis aliquot consulares, interemit; ex quibus Ciuicam Cerealem in ipso Asiae proconsulatu, Saluidienum Orfitum, Acilium Glabrionem in exilio, quasi molitores rerum nouarum, ceteros leuissima quemque de causa.
A householder, because he had said that a Thracian gladiator was a match for a murmillo, but not for the giver of the games, he dragged from his seat into the arena and exposed to the dogs with this placard: 'A Thracian supporter for impious speech.' He put to death many senators, among them several of consular rank; of these, Civica Cerealis in the very course of his proconsulship of Asia, Salvidienus Orfitus, and Acilius Glabrio in exile, under the pretext that they were plotting revolution, and the rest each for the most trivial reason.
Aelium Lamiam ob suspiciosos quidem, uerum et ueteres et innoxios iocos, quod post abductam uxorem laudanti uocem suam 'eutacto' dixerat quodque Tito hortanti se ad alterum matrimonium responderat: μὴ καὶ σὺ γαμῆσαι θέλεις;
He put Aelius Lamia to death on account of suspicious, yet old and harmless jokes; because after his wife had been taken from him, he had said 'I am well-behaved' to someone praising his voice, and because to Titus, who exhorted him to a second marriage, he had replied: μὴ καὶ σὺ γαμῆσαι θέλεις?
Saluium Cocceianum, quod Othonis imperatoris patrui sui diem natalem celebrauerat; Mettium Pompusianum, quod habere imperatoriam genesim uulgo ferebatur et quod depictum orbem terrae in membrana contionesque regum ac ducum ex Tito Liuio circumferret quodque seruis nomina Magonis et Hannibalis indidisset; Sallustium Lucullum Britanniae legatum, quod lanceas nouae formae appellari Luculleas passus esset; Iunium Rusticum, quod Paeti Thraseae et Heluidi Prisci laudes edidisset appellassetque eos sanctissimos uiros; cuius criminis occasione philosophos omnis urbe Italiaque summouit.
Salvius Cocceianus, because he had celebrated the birthday of the emperor Otho, his uncle; Mettius Pompusianus, because it was commonly rumored that he had an imperial horoscope, and because he carried about a map of the world drawn on parchment and speeches of kings and generals extracted from Titus Livius, and because he had given his slaves the names of Mago and Hannibal; Sallustius Lucullus, governor of Britain, because he had allowed lances of a new shape to be called Lucullean; Iunius Rusticus, because he had published panegyrics of Paetus Thrasea and Helvidius Priscus, and had called them most holy men; on the occasion of which charge he banished all philosophers from the City and from Italy.
occidit et Heluidium filium, quasi scaenico exodio sub persona Paridis et Oenones diuortium suum cum uxore taxasset; Flauium Sabinum alterum e patruelibus, quod eum comitiorum consularium die destinatum perperam praeco non consulem ad populum, sed imperatorem pronuntiasset.
He also put to death Helvidius the son, on the ground that in a theatrical afterpiece, under the characters of Paris and Oenone, he had censured his own divorce from his wife; Flavius Sabinus, the other of his cousins, because on the day of the consular elections, the herald, by mistake, had proclaimed him to the people not as consul, but as emperor.
Verum aliquanto post ciuilis belli uictoriam saeuior, plerosque partis aduersae, dum etiam latentis conscios inuestigat, nouo quaestionis genere distorsit immisso per obscaena igne; nonnullis et manus amputauit.
But he became somewhat more cruel after his victory in the civil war, and tortured most of those of the opposite party, while investigating even those accomplices who were still hiding, by a new kind of inquiry, inserting fire through their private parts; he also cut off the hands of some.
satisque constat duos solos e notioribus uenia donatos, tribunum laticlauium et centurionem, qui se, quo facilius expertes culpae ostenderent, impudicos probauerant et ob id neque apud ducem neque apud milites ullius momenti esse potuisse.
And it is well established that only two of the more prominent men were granted pardon, a tribune of the broad stripe and a centurion, who, in order to show more easily that they were free from guilt, had proved themselves to be unchaste, and on that account could have been of no importance either to the leader or to the soldiers.
§11Erat autem non solum magnae, sed etiam callidae inopinataeque saeuitiae.
Moreover, he was of a cruelty not only great, but also crafty and unexpected.
actorem summarum pridie quam cruci figeret in cubiculum uocauit, assidere in toro iuxta coegit, securum hilaremque dimisit, partibus etiam de cena dignatus est.
The day before he crucified his chief accountant, he called him into his bedchamber, forced him to sit on the couch beside him, dismissed him secure and cheerful, and even deigned to send him portions from his dinner.
Arrecinum Clementem consularem, unum e familiaribus et emissariis suis, capitis condemnaturus in eadem uel etiam maiore gratia habuit, quoad nouissime simul gestanti, conspecto delatore eius: 'uis,' inquit, 'hunc nequissimum seruum cras audiamus?'
Et quo contemptius abuteretur patientia hominum, numquam tristiorem sententiam sine praefatione clementiae pronuntiauit, ut non aliud iam certius atrocis exitus signum esset quam principii lenitas.
Arrecinus Clemens, a man of consular rank, one of his familiars and emissaries, when about to condemn him to death, he held in the same or even greater favor, until finally, as they were riding together in a carriage, on catching sight of his informer, he said: 'Do you wish that we hear this most worthless slave tomorrow?' And that he might abuse the patience of men more contemptuously, he never pronounced a severe sentence without a preface of clemency, so that there was no longer any surer sign of a dreadful end than the mildness of his introduction.
quosdam maiestatis reos in curiam induxerat, et cum praedixisset experturum se illa die quam carus senatui esset, facile perfecerat ut etiam more maiorum puniendi condemnarentur; deinde atrocitate poenae conterritus, ad leniendam inuidiam intercessit his uerbis—neque enim ab re fuerit ipsa cognoscere—: 'permittite, patres conscripti, a pietate uestra impetrari, quod scio me difficulter impetraturum, ut damnatis liberum mortis arbitrium indulgeatis; nam et parcetis oculis uestris et intellegent me omnes senatui interfuisse. '
He had brought some defendants accused of treason into the senate-house, and after he had declared beforehand that he would find out that day how dear he was to the senate, he easily brought it about that they were condemned to be punished in the ancient manner; then, terrified by the cruelty of the punishment, to soften the unpopularity, he intervened with these words—for indeed it would not be out of place to know them—: 'Allow, conscript fathers, to be obtained from your piety, what I know I shall obtain with difficulty, that you grant to the condemned free choice as to the manner of their death; for you will both spare your eyes, and everyone will understand that I was present in the senate.'