§15denique Flauium Clementem patruelem suum contemptissimae inertiae, cuius filios etiam tum paruulos successores palam destinauerat abolitoque priore nomine alterum Vespasianum appellari, alterum Domitianum, repente ex tenuissima suspicione tantum non in ipso eius consulatu interemit.
Finally, Flavius Clemens his cousin, a man of most contemptible inactivity, whose sons (even then quite small) he had openly destined as his successors and, having abolished their former names, had ordered one to be called Vespasian and the other Domitian, he suddenly put to death on the slightest suspicion, almost in the very midst of his consulship.
quo maxime facto maturauit sibi exitium.
By which deed especially he hastened his own destruction.
Continuis octo mensibus tot fulgura facta nuntiataque sunt, ut exclamauerit: 'feriat iam, quem uolet. ' tactum de caelo Capitolium templumque Flauiae gentis, item domus Palatina et cubiculum ipsius, atque etiam e basi statuae triumphalis titulus excussus ui procellae in monimentum proximum decidit.
For eight consecutive months so many lightnings occurred and were reported, that he cried out: 'Let him strike now, whomsoever he will.' The Capitol was struck from heaven, as well as the temple of the Flavian family, likewise the Palatine house and his own bedchamber, and even the inscription, shaken off by the force of a storm from the base of his triumphal statue, fell into a neighboring monument.
arbor, quae priuato adhuc Vespasiano euersa surrexerat, tunc rursus repente corruit.
A tree, which while Vespasian was still a private citizen had risen after being overturned, then suddenly fell down again.
Praenestina Fortuna, toto imperii spatio annum nouum commendanti laetam eandemque semper sortem dare assueta, extremo tristissimam reddidit nec sine sanguinis mentione.
Praenestine Fortune, accustomed throughout the whole span of his reign to give a joyful and always the same lot to him commending the new year, returned at the very end a most dismal one, and not without mention of blood.
Mineruam, quam superstitiose colebat, somniauit excedere sacrario negantemque ultra se tueri eum posse, quod exarmata esset a Ioue.
He dreamed that Minerva, whom he worshiped superstitiously, departed from her shrine and said that she could no longer protect him, because she had been disarmed by Jupiter.
nulla tamen re perinde commotus est quam responso casuque Ascletarionis mathematici.
Yet by nothing was he so much disturbed as by the answer and fate of Ascletarion the astrologer.
hunc delatum nec infitiantem iactasse se quae prouidisset ex arte, sciscitatus est, quis ipsum maneret exitus; et affirmantem fore ut breui laceraretur a canibus, interfici quidem sine mora, sed ad coarguendam temeritatem artis sepeliri quoque accuratissime imperauit.
This man, having been reported and not denying that he had boasted of what he had foreseen by his art, he asked what end awaited himself; and when he affirmed that it would be that he would shortly be torn to pieces by dogs, Domitian ordered him indeed to be put to death without delay, but, in order to disprove the rashness of his art, also to be buried with the utmost care.
quod cum fieret, euenit ut repentina tempestate deiecto funere semiustum cadauer discerperent canes, idque ei cenanti a mimo Latino, qui praeteriens forte animaduerterat, inter ceteras diei fabulas referretur.
While this was being done, it happened that the funeral pile was thrown down by a sudden storm, and dogs tore the half-burnt corpse, and this was reported to him while dining by Latinus the mime, who happened to have noticed it while passing by, among the other stories of the day.
§16Pridie quam periret, cum oblatos tubures seruari iussisset in crastinum, adiecit: 'si modo uti licuerit,' et conuersus ad proximos affirmauit fore ut sequenti die luna se in aquario cruentaret factumque aliquod existeret, de quo loquerentur homines per terrarum orbem.
On the day before he died, when he had ordered some offered plums to be kept for the morrow, he added: 'If only it shall be permitted to use them,' and turning to those next to him, he affirmed that on the following day the moon would bloody itself in Aquarius and some deed would occur, of which men would speak throughout the world.
at circa mediam noctem ita est exterritus, ut e strato prosiliret.
But about midnight he was so terrified that he leapt from his bed.
dehinc mane haruspicem ex Germania missum, qui consultus de fulgure mutationem rerum praedixerat, audiit condemnauitque.
Then in the morning he heard and condemned a soothsayer sent from Germany, who, having been consulted about lightning, had predicted a change of affairs.
ac dum exulceratam in fronte uerrucam uehementius scalpit, profluente sanguine: 'utinam,' inquit, 'hactenus. ' tunc horas requirenti pro quinta, quam metuebat, sexta ex industria nuntiata est.
And while he was scratching rather violently a chafed wart on his forehead, with blood flowing: 'Would that,' he said, 'only thus far.' Then, to him inquiring the hour, instead of the fifth, which he feared, the sixth was reported on purpose.
his uelut transacto iam periculo laetum festinantemque ad corporis curam Parthenius cubiculo praepositus conuertit, nuntians esse qui magnum nescio quid afferret, nec differendum.
Glad at this, as if the danger were already passed, and hastening to the care of his body, Parthenius, the chamberlain, turned him aside, announcing that there was someone who brought some great matter, and that it must not be delayed.
itaque summotis omnibus in cubiculum se recepit atque ibi occisus est.
Therefore, having dismissed everyone, he withdrew into his bedchamber and was killed there.
§17De insidiarum caedisque genere haec fere diuulgata sunt.
Concerning the nature of the plot and the murder, these things are generally made known.
cunctantibus conspiratis, quando et quo modo, id est lauantemne an cenantem adgrederentur, Stephanus, Domitillae procurator et tunc interceptarum pecuniarum reus, consilium operamque obtulit.
While the conspirators were hesitating when and how, that is, whether they should attack him while bathing or dining, Stephanus, the procurator of Domitilla and then accused of intercepted monies, offered his counsel and help.
ac sinisteriore brachio uelut aegro lanis fasciisque per aliquot dies ad auertendam suspicionem obuoluto, sub ipsam horam dolonem interiecit; professusque conspirationis indicium et ob hoc admissus legenti traditum a se libellum et attonito suffodit inguina.
And having wrapped his left arm in wool and bandages for several days as if it were sick to avert suspicion, at the very hour he concealed a dagger in it; and having professed information of a conspiracy and for this reason being admitted, while Domitian was reading a paper handed to him, he stabbed him in the groin as he was astonished.
saucium ac repugnantem adorti Clodianus cornicularius et Maximus Partheni libertus et Satur decurio cubiculariorum et quidam e gladiatorio ludo uulneribus septem contrucidarunt.
As he was wounded and resisting, Clodianus the subaltern, Maximus a freedman of Parthenius, Satur a decurion of the chamberlains, and a certain man from the gladiatorial school rushed upon him and dispatched him with seven wounds.
puer, qui curae Larum cubiculi ex consuetudine assistens interfuit caedi, hoc amplius narrabat, iussum se a Domitiano ad primum statim uulnus pugionem puluino subditum porrigere ac ministros uocare, neque ad caput quidquam excepto capulo et praeterea clausa omnia repperisse; atque illum interim arrepto deductoque ad terram Stephano conluctatum diu, dum modo ferrum extorquere, modo quanquam laniatis digitis oculos effodere conatur.
A boy, who was present at the murder while standing by in attendance according to custom for the care of the household gods of the bedchamber, related this further: that he was ordered by Domitian, immediately at the first wound, to reach for a dagger placed under the pillow and to call the servants, but he found nothing at the head except the hilt, and moreover everything locked; and that Domitian in the meantime, having seized and brought Stephanus to the ground, struggled with him for a long time, now attempting to wrest away the blade, now to gouge out his eyes although with mangled fingers.
Occisus est XIIII. Kal. Octb. anno aetatis quadragensimo quinto, imperii quinto decimo.
He was killed on the fourteenth day before the Kalends of October, in the forty-fifth year of his age, and the fifteenth of his reign.
cadauer eius populari sandapila per uispillones exportatum Phyllis nutrix in suburbano suo Latina uia funerauit, sed reliquias templo Flauiae gentis clam intulit cineribusque Iuliae Titi filiae, quam et ipsam educarat, conmiscuit.
His body, carried out on a common bier by the undertakers, Phyllis his nurse buried in her suburban estate on the Latin Way, but she secretly brought his remains into the temple of the Flavian family and mixed them with the ashes of Julia, the daughter of Titus, whom she herself had also reared.