Complete Works of Tacitus (Delphi Classics) (Delphi Ancient Classics Book 24)

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Complete Works of Tacitus (Delphi Classics) (Delphi Ancient Classics Book 24) Page 269

by Publius Cornelius Tacitus


  [4] Vocantur post haec patres, pergitque Suillius addere reos equites Romanos inlustris, quibus Petra cognomentum. at causa necis ex eo quod domum suamMnesteris et Poppaeae congressibus praebuissent. verum nocturnae quietis species alteri obiecta, tamquam vidisset Claudium spicea corona evinctum spicis retro conversis, eaque imagine gravitatem annonae praedixisset. quidam pampineam coronam albentibus foliis visam atque ita interpretatum tradidere, vergente autumno mortem principis ostendi. illud haud ambigitur, qualicumque insomnio ipsi fratrique perniciem adlatam. sestertium quindecies et insignia praeturae Crispino decreta. adiecit Vitellius sestertium decies Sosibio, quod Britannicum praeceptis, Claudium consiliis iuvaret. rogatus sententiam et Scipio, ‘cum idem’ inquit ‘de admissis Poppaeae sentiam quod omnes, putate me idem dicere quod omnes,’ eleganti temperamento inter coniugalem amorem et senatoriam necessitatem.

  4 The Fathers were then convened; and Suillius proceeded to add to the list of accused two Roman knights of the highest rank, surnamed Petra. The cause of death lay in the allegation that they had lent their house as a trysting-place for Mnester and Poppaea. It was, however, for a vision during his night’s sleep that one of them was indicted, the charge being that he had seen Claudius crowned with a wheaten diadem, the ears inverted, and on the strength of his vision had predicted a shortage in the cornº-supply. It has been stated by some that the thing seen was a vine-wreath with whitening leaves; which he read as an indication of the emperor’s decease at the wane of autumn. The point not disputed was that it was a dream, whatever its character, which brought ruin to himself and to his brother. A million and a half sesterces, with the decorations of the praetorship, were voted to Crispinus. Vitellius proposed a million more for Sosibius, for assisting Britannicus by his instructions and Claudius by his counsels. Scipio, who was also asked for his view, replied: “As I think what all think of Poppaea’s offences, take me as saying what all say!” — an elegant compromise between conjugal love and senatorial obligation.

  [5] Continuus inde et saevus accusandis reis Suillius multique audaciae eius aemuli; nam cuncta legum et magistratuum munia in se trahens princeps materiam praedandi patefecerat. nec quicquam publicae mercis tam venale fuit quam advocatorum perfidia, adeo ut Samius, insignis eques Romanus, quadringentis nummorum milibus Suillio datis et cognita praevaricatione ferro in domo eius incubuerit. igitur incipiente C. Silio consule designato, cuius de potentia et exitio in tempore memorabo, consurgunt patres legemque Cinciam flagitant, qua cavetur antiquitus ne quis ob causam orandam pecuniam donumve accipiat.

  5 And now Suillius, steady and pitiless, continued his prosecutions, his boldness finding a multitude of imitators: for the concentration of all legal and magisterial functions in the person of the sovereign had opened a wide field to the plunderer. Nor was any public ware so frankly on sale as the treachery of advocates: so much so that Samius, a Roman knight of distinction, after paying Suillius four hundred thousand sesterces and finding him in collusion with the opponents, fell on his sword in the house of his counsel. Hence, following the lead of the consul designate, Gaius Silius, whose power and whose ruin I shall describe in their place, the Fathers rose in a body, demanding the Cincian law, with its ancient stipulation that no person shall accept either money or gift for pleading a cause.

  [6] Deinde obstrepentibus iis quibus ea contumelia parabatur, discors Suillio Silius acriter incubuit, veterum oratorum exempla referens qui famam et posteros praemia eloquentiae cogitavissent. pulcherrimam alioquin et bonarum artium principem sordidis ministeriis foedari; ne fidem quidem integram manere uhi magnitudo quaestuum spectetur. quod si in nullius mercedem negotia agantur pauciora fore: nunc inimicitias accusationes, odia et iniurias foveri, ut quo modo vis morborum pretia medentibus, sic fori tabes pecuniam advocatis ferat. meminissent Asinii, Messalae ac recentiorum Arruntii et Aesernini: ad summa provectos incorrupta vita et facundia. talia dicente consule designato, consentientibus aliis, parabatur sententia qua lege repetundarum tenerentur, cum Suillius et Cossutianus et ceteri qui non iudicium, quippe in manifestos, sed poenam statui videbant, circumsistunt Caesarem ante acta deprecantes.

  6 Then, as the members for whom the stigma was designed began to protest, Silius, who was at variance with Suillius, delivered a bitter attack and appealed to the example of the old orators, who had regarded fame and the future as the only wages of eloquence:—”What would otherwise be the fairest and foremost of the liberal arts was degraded by mercenary service: even good faith could not remain unaffected, when the size of the fees was the point regarded. If lawsuits were so conducted that no one profited by them, lawsuits would be fewer: as matters stood, enmities and accusations, ill blood and injustice, were being fostered, in order that, as the prevalence of disease brought rewards to the physician, so the corruption of the courts should bring money to the advocate. Let them remember Asinius, Messala, and, of the moderns, Arruntius and Aeserninus: they had reached the summits of their profession without a stain upon their life or their eloquence!” With the consul designate speaking in this strain and others indicating assent, steps were taken to draft a resolution making offenders liable under the law of extortion, when Suillius, Cossutianus, and the rest, who saw that to them the vote implied not trial — their guilt was too manifest for that — but punishment, surrounded the emperor, imploring an amnesty for the past.

  [7] Et postguam adnuit, agere incipiunt: quem illum tanta superbia esse ut aeternitatem famae spe praesumat? usui et rebus subsidium praeparari ne quis inopia advocatorum potentibus obnoxius sit. neque tamen eloquentiam gratuito contingere: omitti curas familiaris ut quis se alienis negotiis intendat. multos militia, quosdam exercendo agros tolerare vitam: nihil a quoquam expeti nisi cuius fructus ante providerit. facile Asinium et Messalam, inter Antonium et Augustum bellorum praemiis refertos, aut ditium familiarum heredes Aeserninos et Arruntios magnum animum induisse. prompta sibi exempla, quantis mercedibus P. Clodius aut C. Curio contionari soliti sint. se modicos senatores qui quieta re publica nulla nisi pacis emolumenta peterent. cogitaret plebem quae toga enitesceret: sublatis studiorum pretiis etiam studia peritura. ut minus decora haec, ita haud frustra dicta princeps ratus, capiendis pecuniis posuit modum usque ad dena sestertia quem egressi repetundarum tenerentur.

  7 At his signal of consent, they began to state their case:—”Where was the man whose presumption was such that he could anticipate in hope an eternity of fame? It was a boon to defendants themselves that help should be made available, so that no one need be left at the mercy of the strong through the lack of an advocate. But eloquence was not a happy accident costing nothing: private business was neglected in proportion as a man applied himself to the affairs of others. Many supported themselves by military service; not a few by the cultivation of their estates: no man embraced any avocation, unless he had made sure that it would yield him a return. It was easy for Asinius and Messala, glutted with the prizes of the duel between Antony and Augustus, or for the heirs of wealthy houses — Aeserninus, Arruntius, and their like — to assume a pose of magnanimity: they had themselves obvious precedents in the rewards for which Publius Clodius or Gaius Curio were in the habit of delivering their harangues. Personally, they were senators of modest means, who, in a tranquil state, sought none but the emoluments of peace: Let him consider also the common people who won distinction by the gown! If the rewards of the art they studied were annulled, the art too would perish.” — The emperor, who considered that these arguments, if less high-minded, were still not pointless, fixed ten thousand sesterces as the maximum fee to be accepted; those exceeding it to be liable on the count of extortion.

  [8] Sub idem tempus Mithridates, quem imperitasse Armeniis iussuque G. Caesaris vinctum memoravi, monente Claudio in regnum remeavit, fisus Pharasmanis opibus. is rex Hiberis idemque Mithridatis frater nuntiabat discordare Parthos summaque imperii ambigua, minora sine cura haberi. nam Gotarzes inter pleraque saeva necem fratri Artabano coningique ac filio eius paraverat, unde metus [eius] in ceteros, et accivere Vardanen. ille, ut
erat magnis ausis promptus, biduo tria milia stadiorum invadit ignarumque et exterritum Gotarzen proturbat; neque cunctatur quin proximas praefecturas corripiat, solis Seleucensibus dominationem eius abnuentibus. in quos ut patris sui quoque defectores ira magis quam ex usu praesenti accensus, implicatur obsidione urbis validae et munimentis obiecti amnis muroque et commeatibus firmatae. interim Gotarzes Daharum Hyrcanorumque opibus auctus bellum renovat, coactusque Vardanes omittere Seleuciam Bactrianos apud campos castra contulit.

  8 Nearly at the same time, Mithridates, whose tenure of the Armenian crown and arrest by order of Caligula I have already mentioned, followed the advice of Claudius and returned to his kingdom, in reliance on the powers of Pharasmanes. That prince, king of Iberia and also brother of Mithridates, kept announcing that the Parthians were divided among themselves — the crown was in question, minor matters unregarded. For Gotarzes, among his numerous cruelties, had procured the murder of his brother Artabanus and his wife and son, with the result that the rest took alarm and called in Vardanes. He, with his usual alacrity for great adventures, covered three thousand stadia in two days; drove the unsuspecting and terrified Gotarzes into flight, and without hesitation seized the nearest satrapies — Seleucia alone refusing to acknowledge his supremacy. Less from considerations of his immediate interest than from anger at a community which had also deserted his father, he hampered himself with the siege of a powerful city, secured by the barrier of an intervening river, fortified, and provisioned. Meanwhile, Gotarzes, strengthened by the forces of the Dahae and Hyrcanians, renewed hostilities; and Vardanes, compelled to abandon Seleucia, pitched his court opposite to him on the plains of Bactria.

  [9] Tunc distractis Orientis viribus et quonam inclinarent incertis, casus Mithridati datus est occupandi Armeniam, vi militis Romani ad excindenda castellorum ardua, simul Hibero exercitu campos persultante. nec enim restitere Armenii, fuso qui proelium ausus erat Demonacte praefecto. paululum cunctationis attulit rex minoris Armeniae Cotys, versis illuc quibusdam procerum; dein litteris Caesaris coercitus, et cuncta in Mithridaten fluxere, atrociorem quam novo regno conduceret. at Parthi imperatores cum pugnam pararent, foedus repente iaciunt cognitis popularium insidiis quas Gotarzes fratri patefecit; congressique primo cunctanter, dein complexi dextras apud altaria deum pepigere s fraudem inimicorum ulcisci atque ipsi inter se concedere. potiorque Vardanes visus retinendo regno: at Gotarzes ne quid aemulationis existeret penitus in Hyrcaniam abiit. regressoque Vardani deditur Seleucia septimo post defectionem anno, non sine dedecore Parthorum quos una civibas tam diu eluserat.

  9 This juncture, when the powers of the East were divided and it was still uncertain which way the scales would fall, gave Mithridates his opportunity of seizing Armenia, thanks to the energy of the Roman troops in demolishing the hill fortresses, while the Iberian army overran the plains; for the natives offered no resistance after the rout of the prefect Demonax, who had risked a battle. Some little delay was occasioned by Cotys, the king of Lesser Armenia, to whom a section of the nobles had turned: then he was repressed by a despatch from the Caesar, and the current set full towards Mithridates, who showed more severity than was conducive to the stability of his new throne. — Meanwhile, as the Parthian commanders were preparing for battle, they suddenly concluded an agreement on their discovery of a national conspiracy, disclosed by Gotarzes to his brother. They met, hesitantly at first; then with right hands clasped, they pledged themselves before the altars of the gods to avenge the treachery of their enemies and each to make concessions to the other. Vardanes was considered the better fitted to retain the crown: Gotarzes, to avoid all chance of rivalry, withdrew into the depths of Hyrcania. On the return of Vardanes, Seleucia capitulated in the seventh year after its revolt; not without some dishonour to the Parthians, whom a single town had so long defied.

  [10] Exim validissimas praefecturas invisit; et reciperare Armeniam avebat, ni a Vibio Marso, Syriae legato, bellum minitante cohibitus foret. atque interim Gotarzes paenitentia concessi regni et vocante nobilitate, cui in pace durius servitium est, contrahit copias. et hinc contra itum ad amnem Erinden; in cuius transgressu multum certato pervicit Vardanes, prosperisque proeliis medias nationes subegit ad flumen Sinden, quod Dahas Ariosque disterminat. ibi modus rebus secundis positus: nam Parthi quamquam victores longinquam militiam aspernabantur. igitur extructis monimentis, quibus opes suas testabatur nec cuiquam ante Arsacidarum tributa illis de gentibus parta, regreditur ingens gloria atque eo ferocior et subiectis intolerantior; qui dolo ante composito incautum venationique intentum interfecere, primam intra iuventam, sed claritudine paucos inter senum regum, si perinde amorem inter popularis quam metum apud hostis quaesivisset. nece Vardanis turbatae Parthorum res inter ambiguos quis in regnum acciperetur. multi ad Gotarzen inclinabant, quidam ad Meherdaten prolem Phraatis, obsidio nobis datum: dein praevaluit Gotarzes; potitusque regiam per saevitiam ac luxum adegit Parthos re s mittere ad principem Romanum occultas preces, quis permitti Meherdaten patrium ad fastigium orabant.

  10 Vardanes then visited the principal satrapies, and was burning to recover Armenia, when he was checked by a threat of war from Vibius Marsus, the legate of Syria. In the meantime, Gotarzes, repenting of his cession of the throne, and invited by the grandees, whose vassalage is always more irksome in peace, gathered an army. On the other side, a counter-advance brought Vardanes to the river Erindes. A severe struggle at the crossing ended in his complete victory, and in successful actions he reduced the intervening tribes up to the Sindes, which forms the boundary-line between the Dahae and Arians. There his triumphs came to a close, as the Parthians, though victorious, were in no mood for a distant campaign. Consequently, after raising a number of monuments recording his power and the fact that no Arsacid before him had levied tribute from those nations, he returned full of glory and therefore more arrogant and more arbitrary towards his subjects; who, by a prearranged act of treachery, assassinated him while off his guard and absorbed in his hunting, — a prince still in his earliest manhood, but in renown, had he sought the love of his people as he sought the fear of his enemies, unequalled but by a few of veteran kings. By the murder of Vardanes Parthian affairs were thrown into confusion, as there was no unanimity with regard to his successor. Many leaned to Gotarzes; some to Phraates’ descendant Meherdates, who had been given in hostage to ourselves. Then Gotarzes carried the day, made himself master of the palace, and by dint of cruelty and debauchery drove the Parthians to send a secret petition to the Roman emperor, pleading that Meherdates might be set free to ascend the throne of his fathers.

  [11] Isdem consulibus ludi saeculares octingentesimo post Romam conditam, quarto et sexagesimo quam Augustus ediderat, spectati sunt. utriusque principis rationes praetermitto, satis narratas libris quibus res imperatoris Domitiani composui. nam is quoque edidit ludos saecularis iisque intentius adfui sacerdotio quindecimvirali praeditus ac tunc praetor; quod non iactantia refero sed quia collegio quindecimvirum antiquitus ea cura et magistratus potissimum exequebantur officia caerimoniarum. sedente Claudio circensibus ludis, cum pueri nobiles equis ludicrum Troiae inirent interque eos Britannicus imperatore genitus et L. Domitius adoptione mox in imperium et cognomentum Neronis adscitus, favor plebis acrior in Domitium loco praesagii acceptus est. vulgabaturque adfuisse infantiae eius dracones in modum custodum, fabulosa et externis miraculis adsimilata: nam ipse, haudquaquam sui detractor, unam omnino anguem in cubiculo visam narrare solitus est.

  11 Under the same consulate, eight hundred years from the foundation of Rome, sixty-four from their presentation by Augustus, came a performance of the Secular Games. The calculations employed by the two princes I omit, as they have been sufficiently explained in the books which I have devoted to the reign of Domitian. For he too exhibited Secular Games, and, as the holder of a quindecimviral priesthood and as praetor at the time, I followed them with more than usual care: a fact which I recall not in vanity, but because from of old this responsibility has rested with the Fifteen, and because it was to magistrate
s in especial that the task fell of discharging the duties connected with the religious ceremonies. During the presence of Claudius at the Circensian Games, when a cavalcade of boys from the great families opened the mimic battle of Troy, among them being the emperor’s son, Britannicus, and Lucius Domitius, — soon to be adopted as heir to the throne and to the designation of Nero, — the livelier applause given by the populace to Domitius was accepted as prophetic. Also there was a common tale that serpents had watched over his infancy like warders: a fable retouched to resemble foreign miracles, since Nero — certainly not given to self-depreciation — used to say that only a single snake had been noticed in his bedroom.

  [12] Verum inclinatio populi supererat ex memoria Germanici, cuius illa reliqua suboles virilis; et matri Agrippinae miseratio augebatur ob saevitiam Messalinae, quae semper infesta et tunc commotior quo minus strueret crimina et accusatores novo et furori proximo amore distinebatur. nam in C. Silium, iuventutis Romanae pulcherrimum, ita exarserat ut Iuniam Silanam, nobilem feminam, matrimonio eius exturbaret vacuoque adultero poteretur. neque Silius flagitii aut periculi nescius erat: sed certo si abnueret exitio et non nulla fallendi spe, simul magnis praemiis, operire futura et praesentibus frui pro solacio habebat. illa non furtim sed multo comitatu ventitare domum, egressibus adhaerescere, largiri opes honores; postremo, velut translata iam fortuna, servi liberti paratus principis apud adulterum visebantur.

 

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