§18Statura fuit procera, uultu modesto ruborisque pleno, grandibus oculis, uerum acie hebetiore; praeterea pulcher ac decens, maxime in iuuenta, et quidem toto corpore exceptis pedibus, quorum digitos restrictiores habebat; postea caluitio quoque deformis et obesitate uentris et crurum gracilitate, quae tamen ei ualitudine longa remacruerant.
He was of tall stature, with a modest and ruddy countenance, large eyes, but with rather weak sight; moreover, he was handsome and graceful, especially in his youth, and indeed in his whole body except for his feet, the toes of which he had somewhat cramped; later he became disfigured also by baldness, a protruding belly, and the thinness of his legs, which, however, had become further wasted from a long illness.
commendari se uerecundia oris adeo sentiebat, ut apud senatum sic quondam iactauerit: 'usque adhoc certe et animum meum probastis et uultum. ' caluitio ita offendebatur, ut in contumeliam suam traheret, si cui alii ioco uel iurgio obiectaretur; quamuis libello, quem de cura capillorum ad amicum edidit, haec etiam, simul illum seque consolans, inseruerit:
'οὐχ ὁράᾳς, οἷοσ κἀγὼ καλόσ τε μέγασ τε;
He felt so strongly that he was recommended by the modesty of his countenance, that he once boasted before the senate in this manner: 'Up to this time, at least, you have approved both my mind and my face.' He was so sensitive about his baldness that he took it as an insult to himself if it were cast as a reproach to anyone else, whether in jest or in a quarrel; although in a booklet which he published to a friend 'On the Care of Hair,' he inserted even these words, comforting at once both his friend and himself: 'Do you not see how fair and great I too am?' 'Yet the same fate of hair awaits me, and with a brave heart I bear my locks growing old in my youth.
eadem me tamen manent capillorum fata, et forti animo fero comam in adulescentia senescentem. scias nec gratius quicquam decore nec breuius. ' §19laboris impatiens pedibus per urbem non temere ambulauit, in expeditione et agmine equo rarius, lectica assidue uectus est armorum nullo, sagittarum uel praecipuo studio tenebatur.
Know that nothing is more pleasing than beauty, nor anything shorter-lived.' Impatient of labor, he rarely walked on foot through the city, and on expeditions and marches he seldom rode a horse, but was constantly carried in a litter; he had no interest in weapons, but was possessed by a particularly great passion for archery.
centenas uarii generis feras saepe in Albano secessu conficientem spectauere plerique atque etiam ex industria ita quarundam capita figentem, ut duobus ictibus quasi cornua efficeret.
Many saw him frequently killing hundreds of wild beasts of various kinds in his Alban retreat, and even deliberately shooting the heads of some in such a way that with two shots he made as it were horns.
nonnumquam in pueri procul stantis praebentisque pro scopulo dispansam dexterae manus palmam sagittas tanta arte derexit, ut omnes per interualla digitorum innocue euaderent.
Sometimes, he directed his arrows with such skill at a boy standing at a distance and offering the palm of his open right hand as a target, that they all passed harmlessly through the intervals between his fingers.
§20Liberalia studia imperii initio neglexit, quanquam bibliothecas incendio absumptas impensissime reparare curasset, exemplaribus undique petitis missisque Alexandream qui describerent emendarentque.
In the beginning of his reign he neglected liberal studies, although he took the greatest pains to restore at vast expense the libraries consumed by fire, searching for copies of books from all quarters and sending people to Alexandria to transcribe and correct them.
numquam tamen aut historiae carminibusue noscendis operam ullam aut stilo uel necessario dedit.
Yet he never gave any attention to learning history or poetry, nor to writing even when necessary.
praeter commentarios et acta Tiberi Caesaris nihil lectitabat; epistulas orationesque et edicta alieno formabat ingenio.
Except for the journals and acts of Tiberius Caesar, he used to read nothing; his letters, speeches, and edicts he composed by the talent of others.
sermonis tamen nec inelegantis, dictorum interdum etiam notabilium: 'uellem,' inquit, 'tam formosus esse, quam Maecius sibi uidetur'; et cuiusdam caput uarietate capilli subrutilum et incanum perfusam niuem mulso dixit. §21condicionem principum miserrimam aiebat, quibus de coniuratione comperta non crederetur nisi occisis.
Nevertheless, his conversation was not inelegant, and his remarks were sometimes even noteworthy. 'I wish,' he said, 'I were as handsome as Maecius thinks himself'; and the head of a certain person, which was reddish and gray with a variety of hair, he described as 'snow poured over with mead.' He used to say that the condition of princes was most miserable, since no credit was given them about a discovered conspiracy unless they were killed.
Quotiens otium esset, alea se oblectabat, etiam profestis diebus matutinisque horis, ac lauabat de die prandebatque ad satietatem, ut non temere super cenam praeter Matianum malum et modicam in ampulla potiunculam sumeret.
Whenever he had leisure, he amused himself with dice, even on business days and in the morning hours; and he bathed by day and lunched to satiety, so that he rarely took anything for supper except a Matian apple and a moderate drink in a small flask.
conuiuabatur frequenter ac large, sed paene raptim; certe non ultra solis occasum nec ut postea comisaretur.
He banqueted frequently and sumptuously, but almost in a hurry; at least not beyond sunset, nor so as to have a revel afterwards.
nam ad horam somni nihil aliud quam solus secreto deambulabat.
For until the hour of sleep, he did nothing else than walk alone in private.
§22Libidinis nimiae, assiduitatem concubitus uelut exercitationis genus clinopalen uocabat; eratque fama, quasi concubinas ipse deuelleret nataretque inter uulgatissimas meretrices.
He was of excessive lust, and called his constant sexual intercourse 'bed-wrestling,' as if it were a kind of exercise; and there was a rumor that he himself depilated his concubines and swam among the commonest prostitutes.
fratris filiam adhuc uirginem oblatam in matrimonium sibi cum deuinctus Domitiae nuptiis pertinacissime recusasset, non multo post alii conlocatam corrupit ultro et quidem uiuo etiam tum Tito;
When his brother's daughter, still a virgin, was offered to him in marriage, he most obstinately refused her because he was bound by his marriage to Domitia; but not long after, when she was married to another, he seduced her of his own accord, and indeed while Titus was still alive.
mox patre ac uiro orbatam ardentissime palamque dilexit, ut etiam causa mortis extiterit coactae conceptum a se abigere.
Afterward, when she was bereaved of her father and husband, he loved her most passionately and openly, so that he was even the cause of her death, having forced her to abort what she had conceived by him.
§23Occisum eum populus indifferenter, miles grauissime tulit statimque Diuum appellare conatus est, paratus et ulcisci, nisi duces defuissent; quod quidem paulo post fecit expostulatis ad poenam pertinacissime caedis auctoribus.
The people received his death with indifference, but the soldiers took it very deeply and immediately attempted to call him 'Divine,' being ready even to avenge him if leaders had not been wanting; which indeed they did shortly afterward, by demanding most obstinately the authors of the murder for punishment.
contra senatus adeo laetatus est, ut repleta certatim curia non temperaret, quin mortuum contumeliosissimo atque acerbissimo adclamationum genere laceraret, scalas etiam inferri clipeosque et imagines eius coram detrahi et ibidem solo affligi iuberet, nouissime eradendos ubique titulos abolendamque omnem memoriam decerneret.
On the contrary, the senate was so overjoyed that, eagerly filling the curia, they did not refrain from tearing the dead man to pieces with the most insulting and bitter kind of acclamations, ordering ladders to be brought in and his shields and images to be dragged down before their eyes and dashed against the ground on the spot, and finally decreeing that his inscriptions everywhere should be erased and all memory of him abolished.
Ante paucos quam occideretur menses cornix in Capitolio elocuta est: ἔσται πάντα καλῶσ, nec defuit qui ostentum sic interpretaretur:
nuper Tarpeio quae sedit culmine cornix
'est bene' non potuit dicere, dixit: 'erit'. ipsum etiam Domitianum ferunt somniasse gibbam sibi pone ceruicem auream enatam, pro certoque habuisse beatiorem post se laetioremque portendi rei publicae statum, sicut sane breui euenit abstinentia et moderatione insequentium principum.
A few months before he was killed, a crow spoke on the Capitol, saying: 'All will be well,' nor was there wanting someone who interpreted the portent in this way: 'The crow which recently sat on the Tarpeian height, Could not say "It is well," but said "It will be."' They say that Domitian himself also dreamed that a golden hump grew on his neck behind, and that he held it for certain that a happier and more prosperous state of the commonwealth was portended after him; as indeed came to pass shortly after, through the abstinence and moderation of the succeeding emperors.