Complete Works of Eutropius

by Eutropius

  In military affairs he attempted nothing. Britain he almost lost; for two of its most noble towns were taken and levelled to the ground under his reign. The Parthian’s took from him Armenia, and compelled the Roman legions to pass under the yoke. Two provinces however were formed under him; Pontus Polemoniacus, by the concession of King Polemon; and the Cottian Alps, on the death of King Cottius.

  15

  Per haec Romano orbi execrabilis ab omnibus simul destitutus est et a senatu hostis iudicatus; cum quaereretur ad poenam, quae poena erat talis, ut nudus per publicum ductus, furca capiti eius inserta, virgis usque ad mortem caederetur atque ita praecipitaretur a saxo, e Palatio fugit et in suburbano liberti sui, quod est inter Salariam et Nomentanam viam ad quartum urbis miliarium, se interfecit. Is aedificavit Romae thermas, quae ante Neronianae dictae nunc Alexandrianae appellantur. Obiit tricesimo et altero aetatis anno, imperii quarto decimo, atque in eo omnis Augusti familia consumpta est.

  XV

  When, having become detestable by such conduct to the city of Rome, and being deserted at the same time by every one, and declared an enemy by the senate, he was sought for to be led to punishment (the punishment being, that he should be dragged naked through the streets, with a fork placed under his head, be beaten to death with rods, and then hurled from the Tarpeian rock), he fled from the palace, and killed himself in a suburban villa of one of his freed-men, between the Salarian and Nomentane roads, at the fourth milestone from the city. He built those hot baths at Rome, which were formerly called the Neronian, but now the Alexandrian. He died in the thirty-second year of his age, and the fourteenth year of his reign; and in him all the family of Augustus became extinct.

  16

  Huic Ser. Galba successit, antiquissimae nobilitatis senator, cum septuagesimum et tertium annum ageret aetatis, ab Hispanis et Gallis imperator electus, mox ab universo exercitu libenter acceptus. Nam privata eius vita insignis fuerat militaribus et civilibus rebus. Saepe consul, saepe pro consule, frequenter dux in gravissimis bellis. Huius breve imperium fuit et quod bona haberet exordia, nisi ad severitatem propensior videretur. Insidiis tamen Othonis occisus est imperii mense septimo. Iugulatus in foro Romae sepultusque in hortis suis, qui sunt Aurelia via non longe ab urbe Roma.

  XVI

  To Nero succeeded SERVIUS GALBA, a senator of a very ancient and noble family, elected emperor when in his seventy-third year by the Spaniards and Gauls, and soon after readily acknowledged by the whole army; for his life, though but that of a private person, had been distinguished by many military and civil exploits, having been often consul, often proconsul, and frequently general in most important wars. His reign was short, but had a promising commencement, except that he seemed to incline too much to severity. He was killed however by the treachery of Otho, in the seventh month of his reign, in the forum at Rome, and buried in his gardens, which are situated in the Aurelian way, not far from the city.

  17

  Otho occiso Galba invasit imperium, materno genere nobilior quam paterno, neutro tamen obscuro. In privata vita mollis et Neroni familiaris, in imperio documentum sui non potuit ostendere. Nam cum isdem temporibus, quibus Otho Galbam occiderat, etiam Vitellius factus esset a Germanicianis exercitibus imperator, bello contra eum suscepto cum apud Betriacum in Italia levi proelio victus esset, ingentes tamen copias ad bellum haberet, sponte semet occidit. Petentibus militibus, ne tam cito de belli desperaret eventu, cum tanti se non esse dixisset, ut propter eum bellum civile moveretur, voluntaria morte obiit tricesimo et octavo aetatis anno, nonagesimo et quinto imperii die.

  XVII

  OTHO, after Galba was killed, took possession of the government, a man of a nobler descent on the mother’s than the father’s side, but obscure on neither. In private life he was effeminate, and an intimate of Nero; in his government he could give no evidence of his disposition; for Vitellius, about the same time that Otho had slain Galba, having been also chosen emperor by the German armies, Otho, having commenced a war against him, and having sustained a defeat in a slight skirmish near Bebriacum in Italy, voluntarily, though he had still powerful forces remaining, put an end to his life, in spite of the entreaties of his soldiers that he would not so soon despair of the issue of the war; saying, “that he was not of sufficient importance that a civil war should be raised on his account.” He perished thus voluntarily in the thirty-eighth year of his age, and on the ninety-fifth day of his reign.

  18

  Dein Vitellius imperio potitus est, familia honorata magis quam nobili. Nam pater eius non admodum clare natus tres tamen ordinarios gesserat consulatus. Hic cum multo dedecore imperavit et gravi saevitia notabilis, praecipue ingluvie et voracitate, quippe cum de die saepe quarto vel quinto feratur epulatus. Notissima certe cena memoriae mandata est, quam ei Vitellius frater exhibuit, in qua super ceteros sumptus duo milia piscium, septem milia avium adposita traduntur. Hic cum Neroni similis esse vellet atque id adeo prae se ferret, ut etiam exequias Neronis, quae humiliter sepultae fuerant, honoraret, a Vespasiani ducibus occisus est interfecto prius in urbe Sabino, Vespasiani imperatoris fratre, quem cum Capitolio incendit. Interfectus autem est magno dedecore: tractus per urbem Romam publice, nudus, erecto coma capite et subiecto ad mentum gladio, stercore in vultum et pectus ab omnibus obviis adpetitus, postremo iugulatus et in Tiberim deiectus etiam communi caruit sepultura. Periit autem aetatis anno septimo et quinquagesimo, imperii mense octavo et die uno.

  XVIII

  VITELLIUS next obtained the imperial dignity, of a family rather honourable than noble, for his father was not of very high birth, though he had filled three regular consulships. He reigned most disgracefully, being distinguished by the greatest cruelty, but especially by gluttony and voraciousness, since he is reported to have often feasted four or five times a day. A most remarkable supper at least has been recorded, which his brother Vitellius set before him, and in which, besides other expensive dainties, two thousand fishes and seven thousand birds are said to have been placed on the table.

  Being anxious to resemble Nero, and aiming so openly at this that he even paid respect to his remains, which had been meanly buried, he was slain by the generals of the emperor Vespasian, Vitellius having previously put to death Sabinus, Vespasian’s brother, and burned his corpse at the same time with the Capitol. When killed, he was dragged naked, with great ignominy, through the public streets of the city, with his hair erect, and his head raised by means of a sword placed under his chin, and pelted with dung on the face and breast by all that came in the way; at last his throat was cut, and he was thrown into the Tiber, and had not even the common rites of burial. He perished in the fifty-seventh year of his age, in the eighth month and first day of his reign.

  19

  Vespasianus huic successit, factus apud Palaestinam imperator, princeps obscure quidem natus, sed optimis conparandus, privata vita inlustris, ut qui a Claudio in Germaniam et deinde in Britanniam missus tricies et bis cum hoste conflixerit, duas validissimas gentes, viginti oppida, insulam Vectam, Britanniae proximam, imperio Romano adiecerit. Romae se in imperio moderatissime gessit. Pecuniae tantum avidior fuit, ita tamen, ut eam nulli iniuste auferret. Quam cum omni diligentiae provisione colligeret, tamen studiosissime largiebatur, praecipue indigentibus. Nec facile ante eum cuiusquam principis vel maior est liberalitas comperta, vel iustior. Placidissimae lenitatis, ut qui maiestatis quoque contra se reos non facile punierit ultra exilii poenam. Sub hoc Iudaea Romano accessit imperio et Hierosolyma, quae fuit urbs nobilissima Palaestinae. Achaiam, Lyciam, Rhodum, Byzantium, Samum, quae liberae ante id tempus fuerant, item Thraciam, Ciliciam, Commagenen, quae sub regibus amicis egerant, in provinciarum formam redegit.

  XIX

  To him succeeded VESPASIAN, who had been chosen emperor in Palestine, a prince indeed of obscure birth, but worthy to be compared with the best emperors, and in private life greatly distinguished, as he had been sent by Claudius into Germany, and afterwards into Britain, and had contended two and thirty times with the enemy; he had also added t
o the Roman empire two very powerful nations, twenty towns, and the Isle of Wight on the coast of Britain. At Rome he acted with the greatest forbearance during his government; though he was rather too eager after money; not however that he deprived any one of it unjustly, and even when he had collected it with the greatest diligence and anxiety, he was in the habit of distributing it most readily, especially to the indigent; nor was the liberality of any prince before him greater or more judicious: he was also of a most mild and amiable disposition, insomuch that he never willingly inflicted a severer penalty than banishment, even on persons convicted of treason against himself.

  Under this prince Judaea was added to the Roman empire, and Jerusalem, the most celebrated city of Palestine. He also reduced to the form of provinces Achaia, Lycia, Rhodes, Byzantium, Samos, which had been free till this period; together with Thrace, Cilicia, and Comagena, which had been governed by their respective kings in alliance with the Romans.

  20

  Offensarum et inimicitiarum inmemor fuit, convicia a causidicis et philosophis in se dicta leviter tulit, diligens tamen coercitor disciplinae militaris. Hic cum filio Tito de Hierosolymis triumphavit. Per haec cum senatui, populo, postremo cunctis amabilis ac iucundus esset, profluvio ventris extinctus est in villa propria circa Sabinos, annum agens aetatis sexagesimum nonum, imperii nonum et diem septimum, atque inter Divos relatus est. Genituram filiorum ita cognitam habuit, ut, cum multae contra eum coniurationes fierent, quas patefactas ingenti dissimulatione contempsit, in senatu dixerit aut filios sibi successuros, aut neminem.

  XX

  Offences and animosities he never bore in mind; reproaches uttered against himself by lawyers and philosophers he bore with indulgence, but was a strenuous enforcer of military discipline. He triumphed, together with his son Titus, on account of the taking of Jerusalem.

  After having thus become an object of love and favour with the senate and the people, and indeed with all men, he died of a diarrhoea, in his own villa in the Sabine country, in the sixty-ninth year of his age, the ninth year and seventh day of his reign; and was enrolled among the gods.

  21

  Huic Titus filius successit, qui et ipse Vespasianus est dictus, vir omnium virtutum genere mirabilis adeo, ut amor et deliciae humani generis diceretur, facundissimus, bellicosissimus, moderatissimus. Causas Latine egit, poemata et tragoedias Graece conposuit. In oppugnatione Hierosolymorum sub patre militans duodecim propugnatores duodecim sagittarum confixit ictibus. Romae tantae civilitatis in imperio fuit, ut nullum omnino puniret, convictos adversum se coniurationis dimiserit vel in eadem familiaritate, qua antea, habuerit. Facilitatis et liberalitatis tantae fuit, ut, cum nulli quicquam negaret et ab amicis reprehenderetur, responderit nullum tristem debere ab imperatore discedere, praeterea, cum quadam die in cena recordatus fuisset nihil se illo die cuiquam praestitisse, dixerit: “Amici, hodie diem perdidi”. Hic Romae amphitheatrum aedificavit et quinque milia ferarum in dedicatione eius occidit.

  XXI

  To him succeeded his son TITUS, who was also called Vespasian, a man remarkable for every species of virtue, so that he was styled the favourite and delight of mankind. He was extremely eloquent, warlike, and temperate; he pleaded causes in Latin, and composed poems and tragedies in Greek. At the siege of Jerusalem, while serving under his father, he killed twelve of the besieged with wounds from as many arrows. During his government at Rome, such was his lenity towards the citizens, that he did not punish a single person; and even some that were convicted of a conspiracy against himself he released, and treated them on the same terms of intimacy as before. Such was his good-nature and generosity, that he never refused any thing to any one, and being blamed by his friends on this account, replied, that no one ought to leave an emperor in discontent. Hence, having recollected once at supper, that he had conferred no obligation on any one that day, he exclaimed: “O, my friends! I have lost this day!” He built an amphitheatre at Rome, and slaughtered five thousand wild beasts at the dedication of it.

  22

  Per haec inusitato favore dilectus morbo periit in ea, qua pater, villa post biennium et menses octo, dies viginti, quam imperator erat factus, aetatis anno altero et quadragesimo. Tantus luctus eo mortuo publicus fuit, ut omnes tamquam in propria doluerint orbitate. Senatus obitu ipsius circa vesperam nuntiato nocte inrupit in curiam et tantas ei mortuo laudes gratiasque congessit, quantas nec vivo umquam egerat nec praesenti. Inter Divos relatus est.

  XXII

  While beloved for such conduct, with extraordinary affection, he fell ill and died in the same villa as his father, two years, eight months, and twenty days after he became emperor, and in the forty-second year of his age. So great was the public lamentation on his death, that all mourned as for a loss in their own families. The senate, having received intelligence of his death about the evening, hurried into the senate-house in the night, and heaped upon him after his death even more expressions of good will and commendation, than they had uttered when he was alive and present among them. He was enrolled among the gods.

  23

  Domitianus mox accepit imperium, frater ipsius iunior, Neroni aut Caligulae aut Tiberio similior quam patri vel fratri suo. Primis tamen annis moderatus in imperio fuit, mox ad ingentia vitia progressus libidinis, iracundiae, crudelitatis, avaritiae tantum in se odii concitavit, ut merita et patris et fratris aboleret. Interfecit nobilissimos e senatu. Dominum se et deum primus appellari iussit. Nullam sibi nisi auream et argenteam statuam in Capitolio passus est poni. Consobrinos suos interfecit. Superbia quoque in eo execrabilis fuit. Expeditiones quattuor habuit, unam adversum Sarmatas, alteram adversum Cattos, duas adversum Dacos. De Dacis Cattisque duplicem triumphum egit, de Sarmatis solam lauream usurpavit. Multas tamen calamitates isdem bellis passus est; nam in Sarmatia legio eius cum duce interfecta est et a Dacis Oppius Sabinus consularis et Cornelius Fuscus, praefectus praetorio, cum magnis exercitibus occisi sunt. Romae quoque multa opera fecit, in his Capitolium et Forum Transitorium, Divorum Porticus, Isium ac Serapium et Stadium. Verum, cum ob scelera universis exosus esse coepisset, interfectus est suorum coniuratione in Palatio anno aetatis quadragesimo quinto, imperii quinto decimo. Funus eius ingenti dedecore per vespillones exportatum et ignobiliter est sepultum.

  XXIII

  DOMITIAN next received the imperial dignity, the younger brother of Titus, but more like Nero, or Caligula, or Tiberius, than his father or brother. In the commencement however of his reign he used his power with moderation; but, soon proceeding to the greatest excesses of licentiousness, rage, cruelty, and avarice, he provoked such universal detestation, that he effaced the remembrance of his father’s and his brother’s merits. He put to death the most distinguished of the senate. He was the first that required to be addressed as Lord and God; and he suffered no statue to be erected to him in the Capitol except of gold or silver. He put his own cousins to death. His pride also was execrable.

  He made four expeditions, one against the Sarmatians, another against the Catti, and two against the Dacians. On account of the Dacians and the Catti he celebrated a double triumph; for the Sarmatians, he assumed only the laurel. He suffered many disasters however in these wars, for in Sarmatia one of his legions was cut off together with its captain, and by the Dacians Oppius Sabinus, a person of consular dignity, and Cornelius Fuscus, the prefect of the praetorian cohort, were slain, with numerous armies. At Rome he also erected several public buildings, among which were the Capitol, the Forum Transitorium, the Odeum, the Porticus Divorum, the temples of Isis and Serapis, and the Stadium.

  But, becoming universally odious on account of his crimes, he was put to death by a conspiracy of his own servants within the palace, in the forty-fifth year of his age, and the fifteenth of his reign. His corpse was carried out with extreme insult by common bearers, and buried ignominiously.

  BOOK VIII

  Justice and mildness of Nerva, I. — Merits of Trajan; he extends the limits of the Roman empire, II.-V. — Hadrian, envying the glory of Trajan, contracts the bo
unds of the empire, and promotes the arts and occupations of peace, VI. VII. — Virtues of Antoninus Pius, VIII. — After his reign the commonwealth had two emperors with equal power, Marcus and Lucius Antoninus Verus; the studies and character of Marcus; his wars in Parthia, Germany, and with the Marcomanni, which he conducted alone or in conjunction with Lucius, IX.-XIV. — Antoninus Commodus, who resembles his father only in fighting successfully against the Germans, XV. — Helvius Pertinax, XVI. — Salvius Julianus, XVII. — Septimius Severus, an African, overthrows his rivals for the throne, and conquers the Parthians, Arabians, and Adiabeni, XVIII. — His learning; his war and death in Britain, XIX. — Antoninus Caracalla, XX. — Opilius Macrinus and Diadumenus, XXI. — Heliogabalus, XXII. — Alexander Severus; his victory over the Persians; his enforcement of military discipline; in his reign lived Ulpian, XXIII.

  1

  Anno octingentesimo et quinquagesimo ab urbe condita, Vetere et Valente consulibus res publica ad prosperrimum statum rediit bonis principibus ingenti felicitate commissa. Domitiano enim exitiabili tyranno, Nerva successit, vir in privata vita moderatus et strenuus, nobilitatis mediae. Qui senex admodum operam dante Petronio Secundo, praefecto praetorio, item Parthenio interfectore Domitiani, imperator est factus; aequissimum se et civilissimum praebuit. Rei publicae divina provisione consuluit Traianum adoptando. Mortuus est Romae post annum et quattuor menses imperii sui ac dies octo, aetatis septuagesimo et altero anno, atque inter Divos relatus est.