§1Scio, Constantine Auguste, et multos et Clementiam tuam quaestionem movere posse cur etiam Geta Antoninus a me tradatur, de cuius priusquam vel vita vel nece dicam, disseram cur et ipsi Antonino a Severo patre sit nomen adpositum, neque enim multa in eius vita dici possunt, qui prius rebus humanis exemptus est quam cum fratre teneret imperium.
I know, Constantine Augustus, that both many people and your Clemency can raise the question of why even Geta Antoninus is recorded by me; before I speak of either his life or his death, I shall discuss why the name Antoninus was bestowed also upon him by his father Severus, for not many things can be said in the life of him who was removed from human affairs before he could hold the empire with his brother.
Septimius Severus quodam tempore cum consuluisset ac petisset ut sibi indicaretur quo esset successore moriturus, in somniis vidit Antoninum sibi successurum.
Septimius Severus at one time, when he had consulted and requested that it be shown to him by what successor he would die, saw in his dreams that Antoninus would succeed him.
quare statim ad milites processit et Bassianum, filium maiorem natu, Marcum Aurelium Antoninum appellavit.
Therefore he immediately went out to the soldiers and named Bassianus, his elder son, Marcus Aurelius Antoninus.
quod cum fecisset, vel paterna cogitatione vel, ut quidam dicunt, a Iulia uxore commonitus, quae gnara erat somnii, quod minori filio hoc facto ipse interclusisset aditum imperandi, etiam Getam, minorem filium, Antoninum vocari iussit.
When he had done this, whether by paternal reflection or, as some say, warned by his wife Julia, who was aware of the dream, because by this deed he had shut off the path of ruling for his younger son, he ordered Geta also, his younger son, to be called Antoninus.
itaque semper ab eo in epistulis familiaribus dictus est, cum si forte abesset scriberet,
Salutate Antoninos filios et successores meos. sed nihil valuit patris cautio, nam ei solus ille successit qui primus Antonini nomen accepit.
And so he was always called by him in familiar letters, when he wrote if he happened to be away: "Greet the Antonines, my sons and successors." But the father's precaution availed nothing, for he alone succeeded him who first received the name of Antoninus.
et haec de Antonini nomine.
And this much concerning the name of Antoninus.
§2Geta autem dictus est vel a patrui nomine vel avi paterni, de cuius vita et moribus in vita Severi Marius Maximus primo septenario satis copiose rettulit, fuit autem Antoninus Geta etiam ob hoc ita dictus quod in animo habuit Severus, ut omnes deinceps principes, quemadmodum Augusti, ita etiam Antonini dicerentur, et quidem amore Marci, quem fratrem suum semper dicebat et cuius philosophiam litterarumque institutionem semper imitatus est.
Now Geta was named either after his uncle's name or after his paternal grandfather's, of whose life and character Marius Maximus reported quite copiously in the first heptad (septenario) in the life of Severus. Moreover, Antoninus Geta was so called also for this reason, that Severus had in mind that all successive emperors, just like the Augusti, should also be called Antonini, and indeed out of love for Marcus, whom he always called his brother and whose philosophy and literary education he always imitated.
dicunt aliqui non in Marci honorem tantum Antonini nomini delatum, cum id Marcus adoptivum habuerit, sed in eius qui Pius cognominatus est, Hadriani scilicet successoris, et quidem ob hoc quod Severum ille ad fisci advocationem delegerat ex formulario forensi, cum ad tantos processus ei patuisset dati ab Antonino primi gradus vel honoris auspicium, simul quod nemo ei videretur felicior imperator ad commodandum nomen eo principe cuius proprium nomen iam per quattuor principes cucurrisset.
Some say that this honor was paid to the name of Antoninus not only in honor of Marcus, since Marcus held it as an adoptive name, but in honor of him who was surnamed Pius, namely the successor of Hadrian, and indeed for this reason, that he had chosen Severus for the advocacy of the treasury (ad fisci advocationem) from being a court scribe (ex formulario forensi), since the path to such great advancements had opened to him from the auspicious beginning of the first step or honor given by Antoninus, and at the same time because no emperor seemed to him more fortunate for lending his name than that prince whose proper name had already run through four emperors.
De hoc eodem Severus, gnarus geniturae illius, cuius, ut plerique Afrorum, peritissimus fuit, dixisse fertur:
Mirum mihi videtur, Iuvenalis amantissimus, Geta noster divus futurus, cuius nihil imperiale in genitum video
, erat enim Iuvenalis praefectus eius praetorii, nec eum fefellit, nam Bassianus, cum eum occidisset ac vereretur tyrannicam ex parricidio notam audiretque posse mitigari facinus, si divum fratrem appellaret, dixisse fertur,
Sit divus, dum non sit vivus. denique eum inter divos rettulit atque ideo utcumque rediit cum fama in gratiam parricida.
Concerning this same Geta, Severus, aware of his horoscope, in which, like most of the Africans, he was highly skilled, is said to have said: "It seems strange to me, most beloved Juvenalis, that our Geta is to be divine, in whose horoscope I see nothing imperial." For Juvenalis was his praetorian prefect. Nor did it deceive him, for Bassianus, when he had killed him and feared the stigma of tyranny from parricide and heard that the deed could be mitigated if he called his brother divine, is said to have said: "Let him be divine, as long as he is not alive." Finally he enrolled him among the divi, and thus somehow the parricide returned into favor with fame.
§3Natus est Geta Severo et Vitellio consulibus Mediolani, etsi aliter alii prodiderunt, VI kal. Iunias ex Iulia, quam idcirco Severus uxorem duxerat quod eam in genitura habere compererat ut regis uxor esset, isque privatus sed iam optimi in re publica loci.
Geta was born when Severus and Vitellio were consuls at Milan, although others have recorded otherwise, on the sixth day before the Kalends of June (May 27) from Julia, whom Severus had married for the reason that he had discovered she had it in her horoscope that she would be the wife of a king, and he was then a private citizen but already of excellent standing in the state.
statim ut natus est, nuntiatum est ovum gallinam in aula peperisse purpureum, quod cum allatum Bassianus frater eius accepisset et quasi parvulus adplosum ad terram fregisset, Iulia dixisse ioco fertur,
Maledicte parricida, fratrem tuum occidisti. idque quod ioco dictum est Severus altius quam quisquam praesentium accepit, a circumstantibus autem postea velut divinitus effusum adprobatum est.
Immediately when he was born, it was announced that a hen in the courtyard had laid a purple egg; when this was brought and his brother Bassianus had received it and, like a small child, had broken it by striking it against the ground, Julia is said to have said in jest: "Accursed parricide, you have killed your brother." And Severus took this which was said in jest more deeply than any of those present, but by the bystanders it was later approved as if uttered by divine inspiration.
fuit etiam aliud omen: nam cum in villa cuiusdam Antonini, plebei hominis, agnus natus esset, qui vellus in fronte purpureum haberet, eadem die atque hora qua Geta natus est, audissetque ille ab haruspice post Severum Antoninum imperaturum, ac de se ille auguraretur sed tamen talis fati timeret indicium, ferro eum adegit, quod et ipsum signo fuit Getam ab Antonino interimendum, ut postea satis claruit.
There was also another omen: for when in the villa of a certain Antoninus, a common man, a lamb was born which had a purple fleece on its forehead on the same day and hour in which Geta was born, and he had heard from a soothsayer (haruspice) that after Severus, Antoninus would rule, and he augured concerning himself but nevertheless feared the indication of such a fate, he drove the iron into it, which itself was a sign that Geta was to be slain by Antoninus, as later became sufficiently clear.
fuit etiam aliud omen ingens, ut postea exitus docuit, huius facinoris quod evenit: nam cum infantis Getae natalem Severus commendare vellet, hostiam popa nomine Antoninus percussit.
There was also another great omen, as the outcome later taught, of this crime which happened: for when Severus wished to commend the birthday of the infant Geta, a sacrificial slaughterer (popa) named Antoninus struck the victim.
quod tunc nec quaesitum nec animadversum, post vero intellectum est.
Which at that time was neither questioned nor noticed, but later was understood.