61 At once exulting crowds scaled the Capitol, and Heaven at last found itself blessed. They hurled down the effigies of Poppaea, they carried the statues of Octavia shoulder-high, strewed them with flowers, upraised them in the forum and the temples. Even the emperor’s praises were essayed with vociferous loyalty. Already they were filling the Palace itself with their numbers and their cheers, when bands of soldiers emerged and scattered them in disorder with whipcuts and levelled weapons. All the changes effected by the outbreak were rectified, and the honours of Poppaea were reinstated. She herself, always cruel in her hatreds, and now rendered more so by her fear that either the violence of the multitude might break out in a fiercer storm or Nero follow the trend of popular feeling, threw herself at his knees:—”Her affairs,” she said, “were not in a position in which she could fight for her marriage, though it was dearer to her than life: that life itself had been brought to the verge of destruction by those retainers and slaves of Octavia who had conferred on themselves the name of the people and dared in peace what would scarcely happen in war. Those arms had been lifted against the sovereign; only a leader had been lacking, and, once the movement had begun, a leader was easily come by, — the one thing necessary was an excursion from Campania, a personal visit to the capital by her whose distant nod evoked the storm! And apart from this, what was Poppaea’s transgression? in what had she offended anyone? Or was the reason that she was on the point of giving an authentic heir to the hearth of the Caesars? Did the Roman nation prefer the progeny of an Egyptian flute-player to be introduced to the imperial throne? — In brief, if policy so demanded, then as an act of grace, but not of compulsion, let him send for the lady who owned him — or else take thought for his security! A deserved castigation and lenient remedies had allayed the first commotion; but let the mob once lose hope of seeing Octavia Nero’s wife and they would soon provide her with a husband!”
[62] Varius sermo et ad metum atque iram adcommodatus terruit simul audientem at accendit. sed parum valebat suspicio in servo, et quaestionibus ancillarum elusa erat. ergo confessionem alicuius quaeri placet, cui rerum quoque novarum crimen adfingeretur. et visus idoneus maternae necis patrator Anicetus, classi apud Misenum, ut memoravi, praefectus, levi post admissum scelus gratia, dein graviore odio, quia malorum facinorum ministri quasi exprobrantes adspiciuntur. igitur accitum eum Caesar operae prioris admonet: solum incolumitati principis adversus insidiantem matrem subvenisse; locum haud minoris gratiae instare, si coniugem infensam depelleret. nec manu aut telo opus: fateretur Octaviae adulterium. occulta quidem ad praesens, sed magna ei praemia et secessus amoenos promittit, vel, si negavisset, necem intentat. ille, insita vaecordia et facilitate priorum flagitiorum, plura etiam quam iussum erat fingit fateturque apud amicos, quos velut consilio adhibuerat princeps. tum in Sardiniam pellitur, ubi non inops exilium toleravit et fato obiit.
62 Her varied arguments, with their calculated appeal to fear and to anger, at once terrified and incensed the listener. But suspicion resting on a slave had little force; and it had been nullified by the examinations of the waiting-women. It was therefore decided to procure a confession from some person to whom there could also be imputed a false charge of contemplated revolution. Anicetus, perpetrator of the matricide, was thought suitable. Prefect, as I have mentioned, of the squadron at Misenum, he had, after the commission of his murder, experienced some trivial favour, afterwards replaced by a more serious dislike, since the instruments of crime are counted a visible reproach. He was summoned accordingly, and the Caesar reminded him of his earlier service:—”Singly he had ensured the emperor’s safety in opposition to a treacherous mother. The opportunity for a not less grateful action was at hand, if he could remove a malignant wife. Not even force or cold steel was necessary: he had simply to commit adultery with Octavia.” He promised him a reward, secret, it might be, at the outset, but large; also, a pleasant place of retirement: should he refuse he held out the threat of death. Anicetus, with inbred perversity and an ease communicated by former crimes, invented and confessed more than had been ordered, in the presence of friends convened by the emperor to play the part of a privy council. He was then banished to Sardinia, where he supported a not impecunious exile, and died by a natural death.
[63] At Nero praefectum in spem sociandae classis corruptum, et incusatae paulo ante sterilitatis oblitus, abactos partus conscientia libidinum, eaque sibi comperta edicto memorat insulaque Pandateria Octaviam claudit. non alia exul visentium oculos maiore misericordia adfecit. meminerant adhuc quidam Agrippinae a Tiberio, recentior Iuliae memoria obversabatur a Claudio pulsae; sed illis robur aetatis adfuerat; laeta aliqua viderant et praesentem saevitiam melioris olim fortunae recordatione adlevabant: huic primum nuptiarum dies loco funeris fuit, deductae in domum, in qua nihil nisi luctuosum haberet, erepto per venenum patre et statim fratre; tum ancilla domina validior et Poppaea non nisi in perniciem uxoris nupta; postremo crimen omni exitio gravius.
63 Nero, for his part, announced by edict that Octavia had seduced the prefect in the hope of gaining the co-operation of his squadron; that, conscious of her infidelities, she had procured abortion, — he failed to remember his recent charge of sterility! — and that these were facts ascertained by himself. He then confined her in the island of Pandateria. No woman in exile ever presented a more pitiful spectacle to the eye of the beholder. There were yet some who recollected the banishment of Agrippina by Tiberius; the more recent memory of Julia’s expulsion by Claudius still dwelt in the minds of men. But to these the maturity of life had come; they had seen some little happiness, and could soften the cruelty of the present by recalling the brighter fortunes of the past. To Octavia, first of all, her day of marriage had been tantamount to a day of burial, entering as she did a house where mourning alone awaited her — where her father was snatched away by poison, to be followed at once by her brother. Then had come the maid, more potent than her mistress, and Poppaea turning bride only to destroy a wife; last of all, an accusation more bitter than any doom.
[64] Ac puella vicesimo aetatis anno inter centuriones et milites, praesagio malorum iam vita[e] exempta, nondum tamen morte adquiescebat. paucis dehinc interiectis diebus mori iubetur, cum iam viduam se et tantum sororem testaretur communesque Germanicos et postremo Agrippinae nomen cieret, qua incolumi infelix quidem matrimonium, sed sine exitio pertulisset. restringitur vinclis venaeque eius per omnes artus exsolvuntur; et quia pressus pavore sanguis tardius labebatur, praefervidi balnei vapore enecatur. additurque atrocior saevitia, quod caput amputatum latumque in urbem Poppaea vidit. dona ob haec templis decreta que[m] ad finem memorabimus? quicumque casus temporum illorum nobis vel aliis auctoribus noscent, praesumptum habeant, quotiens fugas et caedes iussit princeps, totiens grates deis actas, quaeque rerum secundarum olim, tum publicae cladis insignia fuisse. neque tamen silebimus, si quod senatus consultum adulatione novum aut paenitentia postremum fuit.
64 And so this girl, in the twentieth year of her age, surrounded by centurions and soldiers, cut off already from life by foreknowledge of her fate, still lacked the peace of death. There followed an interval of a few days; then she was ordered to die — though she protested she was husbandless now, a sister and nothing more, evoking the Germanici whose blood they shared, and, in the last resort, the name of Agrippina, in whose lifetime she had supported a wifehood, unhappy enough but still not fatal. She was tied fast with cords, and the veins were opened in each limb: then, as the blood, arrested by terror, ebbed too slowly, she was suffocated in the bath heated to an extreme temperature. As a further and more hideous cruelty, the head was amputated and carried to Rome, where it was viewed by Poppaea. For all these things offerings were decreed to the temples — how often must those words be said? Let all who make their acquaintance with the history of that period in my narrative or that of others take so much for granted: as often as the emperor ordered an exile or a murder, so often was a thanksgiving addressed to Heaven; and what formerly betokened prosperity was now a symbol of public cala
mity. Nevertheless, where a senatorial decree achieved a novelty in adulation or a last word in self-abasement, I shall not pass it by in silence.
[65] Eodem anno libertorum potissimos veneno interfecisse creditus, Doryphorum quasi adversatum nuptiis Poppaeae, Pallantem, quod immensam pecuniam longa senecta detineret. Romanus secretis criminationibus incusaverat Senecam ut C. Pisonis socium, sed validius a Seneca eodem crimine perculsus est. unde Pisoni timor, et orta insidiarum in Neronem magna moles et improspera.
65 In the same year, he was credited with the poisoning of two of his principal freedmen: Doryphorus, as an opponent of the marriage with Poppaea; Pallas, because he kept his vast riches to himself by a too protracted old age. — Romanus had attacked Seneca, in private informations, as the associate of Gnaeus Piso, but was himself more surely struck down by Seneca on the same charge. The result was the alarm of Piso and the birth of an elaborate and luckless conspiracy against Nero.
LIBER QVINTVS DECIMVS — BOOK XV
[1] Interea rex Parthorum Vologaeses, cognitis Corbulonis rebus regemque alienigenam Tigranen Armeniae impositum, simul fratre Tiridate pulso spretum Arsacidarum fastigium ire ultum volens, magnitudine rursum Romana et continui foederis reverentia diversas ad curas trahebatur, cunctator ingenio et defectione Hyrcanorum, gentis validae, multisque ex eo bellis inligatus. atque illum ambiguum novus insuper nuntius contumeliae exstimulat: quippe egressus Armenia Tigranes Adiabenos, conterminam nationem, latius ac diutius quam per latrocinia vastaverat, idque primores gentium aegre tolerabant: eo contemptionis descensum, ut ne duce quidem Romano incursarentur, sed temeritate obsidis tot per annos inter mancipia habiti. accendebat dolorem eorum Monobazus, quem penes Adiabenum regimen, quod praesidium aut unde peteret rogitans: iam de Armenia concessum, proxima trahi; et nisi defendant Parthi, levius servitium apud Romanos deditis quam captis esse. Tiridates quoque, regni profugus, per silentium aut modice querendo gravior erat: non enim ignavia magna imperia contineri; virorum armorumque faciendum certamen; id in summa fortuna aequius quod validus, et sua retinere privatae domus, de alienis certare regiam laudem esse.
1 Meanwhile, the Parthian king Vologeses — apprized of Corbulo’s feats and the elevation of the alien Tigranes to the throne of Armenia, and anxious furthermore to take steps to avenge the slur cast upon the majesty of the Arsacian line by the expulsion of his brother Tiridates — was drawn, on the other hand, to different lines of thought by considerations of Roman power and by respect for a long-standing treaty. For he was by nature prone to temporize, and he was hampered by a revolt of the powerful Hyrcanian tribe and by the numerous campaigns which it involved. He was still in doubt, when news of a fresh indignity stung him into action: for Tigranes, emerging from Armenia, had ravaged the bordering country of Adiabene too widely and too long for a plundering foray, and the grandees of the nations were becoming restive; complaining that they had sunk to a point of humiliation where they could be harried, not even by a Roman general, but by the temerity of a hostage whom for years the enemy had counted among his chattels. Their resentment was inflamed by Monobazus, the ruling prince of Adiabene:—”What protection,” he kept demanding, “was he to seek? or from what quarter? Armenia had already been ceded; the adjacent country was following; and, if Parthia refused protection, then the Roman yoke pressed more lightly upon a surrendered than upon a conquered nation!” Tiridates too, dethroned and exiled, carried a weight increased by his silence or his restrained protests:—”Great empires were not conserved by inaction — they needed the conflict of men and arms. With princes might was the only right. To retain its own possessions was the virtue of a private family: in contending for those of others lay the glory of a king.”
[2] Igitur commotus his Vologaeses concilium vocat et proximum sibi Tiridaten constituit atque ita orditur: “hunc ego eodem mecum patre genitum, cum mihi per aetatem summo nomine concessisset, in possessionem Armeniae deduxi, qui tertius potentiae gradus habetur (nam Medos Pacorus ante ceperat), videbarque contra vetera fratrum odia et certamin[a] familiae nostrae penates rite composuisse. prohibent Romani et pacem numquam ipsis prospere lacessitam nunc quoque in exitium suum abrumpunt. non ibo infitias: aequitate quam sanguine, causa quam armis retinere parta maioribus malueram. si cunctatione deliqui, virtute corrigam. vestra quidem vis et gloria [in] integro est, addita modestiae fama, quae neque summis mortalium spernenda est et a dis aestimatur.” simul diademate caput Tiridatis evinxit, promptam equitum manum, quae regem ex more sectatur, Monaesi nobili viro tradidit, adiectis Adiabenorum auxiliis, mandavitque Tigranen Armenia exturba[re], dum ipse positis adversus Hyrcanos discordiis vires intimas molemque belli ciet, provinciis Romanis minitans.
2 Vologeses, accordingly, moved by all this, convened a council, installed Tiridates next to himself, and opened thus:—”This prince, the issue of the same father as myself, having renounced to me the supreme title upon grounds of age, I placed him in possession of Armenia, the recognized third degree of power; for Media had already fallen to Pacorus. And it seemed to me that, in contrast with the old brotherly hatreds and jealousies, I had by fair means brought order to our domestic hearth. The Romans forbid; and the peace, which they have never themselves challenged with success, they are now again breaking to their destruction. I shall not deny it: equity and not bloodshed, reason and not arms, were the means by which I should have preferred to retain the acquisitions of my fathers. If I have erred by hesitancy, I shall make amends by valour. In any event, your power and fame are intact; and you have added to them that character for moderation which is not to be scorned by the most exalted of mankind and is taken into account by Heaven.” — Therewith he bound the diadem on the brows of Tiridates. A body of cavalry, regularly in attendance on the king, was at hand: he transferred it to a noble named Monaeses, adding a number of Adiabenian auxiliaries, and commissioned him to eject Tigranes from Armenia; while he himself laid aside his quarrel with Hyrcania and called up his internal forces, with the full machinery of war, as a threat to the Roman provinces.
[3] Quae ubi Corbuloni certis nuntiis audita sunt, legiones duas cum Verulano Severo et Vettio Bolano subsidium Tigrani mittit, occulto praecepto, compositius cuncta quam festinantius agerent. quippe bellum habere quam gerere malebat, scripseratque Caesari proprio duce opus esse, qui Armeniam defenderet: Syriam ingruente Vologaese acriore in discrimine esse. atque interim reliquas legiones pro ripa Euphratis locat, tumultuariam provincialium manum armat, hostiles ingressus praesidiis intercipit. et quia egena aquarum regio est, castella fontibus imposita; quosdam rivos congestu harenae abdidit.
3 So soon as Corbulo had the news by sure messengers, he sent two legions under Verulanus Severus and Vettius Bolanus to reinforce Tigranes; with private instructions, however, that all their actions were to be circumspect rather than rapid; for in truth, he was more desirous to have war upon his hands than to wage it. Also he had written to Nero that a separate commander was required for the defence of Armenia: Syria, he observed, stood in the graver danger, if Vologeses attacked. In the interval, he stationed his remaining legion on the Euphrates bank, armed an improvised force of provincials, and closed the hostile avenues of approach by garrison-posts. Further, as the region is deficient in water, forts were thrown up to command the springs: a few brooks he buried under piles of sand.
[4] Ea dum a Corbulone tuendae Syriae parantur, acto raptim agmine Mon[a]eses, ut famam sui praeiret, non ideo nescium aut incautum Tigranen offendit. occupaverat Tigranocertam, urbem copia defensorum et magnitudine moenium validam. ad hoc Nicephorius amnis haud spernenda latitudine partem murorum ambit, et ducta ingens fossa, qua fluvio diffidebatur. inerantque milites et provisi ante commeatus, quorum subvectu pauci avidius progressi et repentinis hostibus circumventi ira magis quam metu ceteros accenderant. sed Partho ad exsequendas obsidiones nulla comminus audacia: raris sagittis neque clausos exterret et semet frustratur. Adiabeni cum promovere scalas et machinamenta inciperent, facile detrusi, mox erumpentibus nostris caeduntur.
4 While Corbulo was thus prepar
ing for the defence of Syria, Monaeses, who had marched at full speed in order to outstrip the rumour of his coming, failed none the less to catch Tigranes unawares or off his guard. He had occupied Tigranocerta, a town formidable by the number of its defenders and the scale of its fortifications. In addition, a part of the walls is encircled by the Nicephorius, a river of respectable width; and a huge fosse had been drawn at points where the stream was not to be relied upon. Within lay Roman troops, and supplies to which attention had been given beforehand: that, in bringing them up, a few men had advanced too eagerly and been cut off by the sudden appearance of the enemy, had excited more anger than alarm in the remainder. But the Parthian lacks the boldness at close quarters demanded for the prosecution of a siege: he resorts to occasional flights of arrows, which both fail to terrify the garrison and delude himself. The Adiabeni,º on beginning to push forward their ladders and machines, were easily thrown back, then cut to pieces by a sally of our men.
[5] Corbulo tamen, quamvis secundis rebus suis, moderandum fortunae ratus misit ad Vologaesen, qui expostularent vim provinciae inlatam: socium amicumque regem, cohortes Romanas circumsederi. omitteret potius obsidionem, aut se quoque in agro hostili castra positurum. Casperius centurio in eam leg[at]ionem delectus apud oppidum Nisibin, septem et triginta milibus passuum a Tigranocerta distantem, adit regem et mandata ferociter edidit. Vologaesi vetus et penitus infixum erat arma romana vitandi, nec praesentia prospere fluebant. inritum obsidium, tutus manu et copiis Tigranes, fugati qui expugnationem sumpserant, missae in Armeniam legiones, et alia pro Syria paratae ultro inrumpere; sibi imbecillum equitem pabuli inopia; nam exorta vi locustarum aberat quicquid herbidum aut frondosum. igitur metu abstruso mitiora obtendens, missurum ad imperatorem Romanum legatos super petenda Armenia et firmanda pace respondet; Mon[a]esen omittere Tigranocertam iubet, ipse retro concedit.
Complete Works of Tacitus (Delphi Classics) (Delphi Ancient Classics Book 24) Page 294