§12Exhaustus operum ac munerum inpensis stipendioque, quod adiecerat, temptauit quidem ad releuandos castrenses sumptus numerum militum deminuere; sed cum et obnoxium se barbaris per hoc animaduerteret neque eo setius in explicandis oneribus haereret, nihil pensi habuit quin praedaretur omni modo.
Exhausted by the expenses of public works and spectacles, as well as by the pay-increase which he had added, he indeed attempted to reduce the number of soldiers in order to lighten the military costs; but when he perceived through this that he was both exposed to the barbarians and was nonetheless stuck in extricating himself from his debts, he had no hesitation to plunder by every means.
bona uiuorum ac mortuorum usquequaque quolibet et accusatore et crimine corripiebantur.
The property of the living and the dead was seized everywhere under any accuser and charge whatsoever.
satis erat obici qualecumque factum dictumue aduersus maiestatem principis.
It was enough for any kind of deed or word against the majesty of the prince to be alleged.
confiscabantur alienissimae hereditates uel uno existente, qui diceret audisse se ex defuncto, cum uiueret, heredem sibi Caesarem esse.
The most unrelated inheritances were confiscated even on the existence of a single person who said he had heard from the deceased, while alive, that Caesar was his heir.
praeter ceteros Iudaicus fiscus acerbissime actus est; ad quem deferebantur, qui uel inprofessi Iudaicam uiuerent uitam uel dissimulata origine imposita genti tributa non pependissent.
Besides others, the Jewish tax was most severely enforced; to which were reported those who either lived a Jewish life without professing it, or who, having concealed their origin, had not paid the taxes imposed upon their nation.
interfuisse me adulescentulum memini, cum a procuratore frequentissimoque consilio inspiceretur nonagenarius senex, an circumsectus esset.
I remember that when I was a youth, I was present when a ninety-year-old man was inspected by the procurator and a very crowded council to see whether he was circumcised.
Ab iuuenta minime ciuilis animi, confidens etiam et cum uerbis tum rebus immodicus, Caenidi patris concubinae ex Histria reuersae osculumque, ut assuerat, offerenti manum praebuit; generum fratris indigne ferens albatos et ipsum ministros habere, proclamauit:
οὐκ ἀγαθὸν πολυκοιρανίη.
From his youth showing a mind least civil, confident also and immoderate both in words and deeds, he offered only his hand to Caenis, his father's concubine, when she returned from Istria and offered him a kiss, as she had been accustomed; and being indignant that his brother's son-in-law also had ministers clothed in white, he cried out: οὐκ ἀγαθὸν πολυκοιρανίη.
§13principatum uero adeptus neque in senatu iactare dubitauit et patri se et fratri imperium dedisse, illos sibi reddidisse, neque in reducenda post diuortium uxore edicere reuocatam eam in puluinar suum.
But having obtained the principate, he did not hesitate to boast in the senate that he himself had given the empire to both his father and his brother, and that they had returned it to him, nor, in bringing back his wife after their divorce, to proclaim that she had been recalled to his own sacred couch.
adclamari etiam in amphitheatro epuli die libenter audiit: 'domino et dominae feliciter!' sed et Capitolino certamine cunctos ingenti consensu precantis, ut Palfurium Suram restitueret pulsum olim senatu ac tunc de oratoribus coronatum, nullo responso dignatus tacere tantum modo iussit uoce praeconis.
He also gladly heard the acclamation in the amphitheater on the day of the feast: "Good fortune to our master and mistress!" But at the Capitoline contest, when all with immense consensus entreated him to restore Palfurius Sura, who had formerly been expelled from the senate and was then crowned among the orators, he did not deign them any reply, but only ordered them to be silent by the voice of the herald.
pari arrogantia, cum procuratorum suorum nomine formalem dictaret epistulam, sic coepit: 'dominus et deus noster hoc fieri iubet. ' unde institutum posthac, ut ne scripto quidem ac sermone cuiusquam appellaretur aliter.
With equal arrogance, when he dictated a formal letter in the name of his procurators, he began as follows: "Our master and god orders this to be done." Whence it was established thereafter that he should not be addressed otherwise even in the writing or speech of anyone.
statuas sibi in Capitolio non nisi aureas et argenteas poni permisit ac ponderis certi.
He allowed statues of himself to be placed on the Capitol only of gold and silver and of a certain weight.
Ianos arcusque cum quadrigis et insignibus triumphorum per regiones urbis tantos ac tot extruxit, ut cuidam Graece inscriptum sit: 'arci. ' consulatus septemdecim cepit, quot ante eum nemo; ex quibus septem medios continuauit, omnes autem paene titulo tenus gessit nec quemquam ultra Kal. Mai. , plerosque ad Idus usque Ianuarias.
He constructed so many and such great Januses and arches with four-horse chariots and insignia of triumphs throughout the regions of the City, that on one of them someone inscribed in Greek: "It is enough." He assumed seventeen consulships, more than anyone before him; of which he held seven consecutive ones in the middle, but he held almost all of them in title only, and none of them beyond the Kalends of May, and most only up to the Ides of January.
post autem duos triumphos Germanici cognomine assumpto Septembrem mensem et Octobrem ex appellationibus suis Germanicum Domitianumque transnominauit, quod altero suscepisset imperium, altero natus esset.
But after two triumphs, having assumed the surname of Germanicus, he renamed the months of September and October after his own names as Germanicus and Domitianus, because in the former he had assumed the empire, and in the latter he had been born.
§14Per haec terribilis cunctis et inuisus, tandem oppressus est amicorum libertorumque intimorum simul et uxoris.
Through these things terrible and hated to all, he was finally overthrown by a conspiracy of his intimate friends and freedmen, along with his wife.
annum diemque ultimum uitae iam pridem suspectum habebat, horam etiam nec non et genus mortis.
He had long suspected the last year and day of his life, and even the hour and the manner of his death.
adulescentulo Chaldaei cuncta praedixerant; pater quoque super cenam quondam fungis abstinentem palam irriserat ut ignarum sortis suae, quod non ferrum potius timeret.
When he was a youth, the Chaldeans had predicted everything to him; his father also once at dinner had openly mocked him when he was abstaining from mushrooms as one ignorant of his fate, because he did not rather fear iron.
quare pauidus semper atque anxius minimis etiam suspicionibus praeter modum commouebatur.
Therefore, always fearful and anxious, he was moved beyond measure even by the slightest suspicions.
ut edicti de excidendis uineis propositi gratiam faceret, non alia magis re compulsus creditur, quam quod sparsi libelli cum his uersibus erant:
"
κἄν με φάγῃς ἐπὶ ῤίζαν, ὅμωσ ἔτι καρποφορήσω,
ὅσσον ἐπισπεῖσαι σοί, τράγε, θυομένῳ.
In order to grant pardon concerning the proposed edict on cutting down vineyards, he is believed to have been compelled by no other thing more than because pamphlets had been scattered with these verses: "κἄν με φάγῃς ἐπὶ ῤίζαν, ὅμωσ ἔτι καρποφορήσω, ὅσσον ἐπισπεῖσαι σοί, τράγε, θυομένῳ.
"
eadem formidine oblatum a senatu nouum et excogitatum honorem, quamquam omnium talium appetentissimus, recusauit, quo decretum erat ut, quotiens gereret consulatum, eq(uites) R. quibus sors obtigisset, trabeati et cum hastis militaribus praecederent eum inter lictores apparitoresque.
"From the same fear, he refused a new and devised honor offered by the senate, although he was most greedy of all such things; by which it had been decreed that, as often as he held the consulship, Roman knights to whom the lot had fallen, wearing the trabea and with military spears, should precede him among his lictors and apparitors.
Tempore uero suspecti periculi appropinquante sollicitior in dies porticuum, in quibus spatiari consuerat, parietes phengite lapide distinxit, e cuius splendore per imagines quidquid a tergo fieret prouideret.
But as the time of the suspected danger drew near, becoming more anxious day by day, he lined the walls of the porticoes in which he was accustomed to walk with phengite stone, from the splendor of which he might foresee by the reflections whatever was done behind his back.
nec nisi secreto atque solus plerasque custodias, receptis quidem in manum catenis, audiebat.
Nor did he hear most of the hearings of custody except in secret and alone, having indeed received their chains into his hand.
utque domesticis persuaderet, ne bono quidem exemplo audendam esse patroni necem, Epaphroditum a libellis capitali poena condemnauit, quod post destitutionem Nero in adipiscenda morte manu eius adiutus existimabatur.
And in order to persuade his domestics that the murder of a patron must not be dared even for a good example, he condemned Epaphroditus, his secretary of petitions, to capital punishment, because after his deposition Nero was believed to have been aided by his hand in achieving death.