CXXIX
Having exhibited a general view of the administration of Tiberius Cæsar, let us now enumerate a few particulars respecting it. With what wisdom did he bring to Rome Rhascuporis, the murderer of Cotys, his own brother’s son, and partner in the kingdom, employing in that affair the services of Pomponius Flaccus, a man of consular rank, naturally inclined to all that is honourable, and by pure virtue always meriting fame, but never eagerly pursuing it! With what solemnity as a senator and a judge, not as a prince, does he * * * hear100 causes in person! How speedily did he crush * * *101 when he became ungrateful, and attempted innovations! With what precepts did he form the mind of his Germanicus, and train him in the rudiments of war in his own camp, so that he afterwards hailed him the conqueror of Germany! What honours did he heap on him in his youth, the magnificence of his triumph corresponding to the grandeur of his exploits! How often has he honoured the people with donations! How readily has he, when he could do it with the sanction of the senate, supplied senators with property suitable to their rank, neither encouraging extravagance, nor suffering honourable poverty to be stripped of its dignity! In what an honourable style did he send his Germanicus to the transmarine provinces! With what energy, employing Drusus as a minister and coadjutor in his plans, did he force Maroboduus, who was clinging to the soil of the kingdom which he had possessed, to come forth, like a serpent concealed in the earth, (let me speak without offence to his majesty,) by the salutary charms of his counsels! How honourably, yet how far from negligently, does he keep watch over him! How formidable a war, excited by the Gallic chief Sacrovir and Julius Florus, did he suppress, and with such amazing expedition and energy, that the Roman people learned that they were conquerors, before they knew that they were at war, and the news of the victory outstripped the news of the danger! The African war too, perilous as it was, and daily increasing in strength, was quickly terminated under his auspices and direction.
CXXX
What structures has he erected in his own name, and those of his family! With what dutiful munificence, even exceeding belief, is he building a temple to his father! With how laudable a generosity of disposition is he repairing even the buildings of Cnæus Pompey, that were consumed by fire! Whatever has been at any time conspicuously great, he regards as his own, and under his protection. With what liberality has he at all times, and particularly at the recent fire on the Cælian Mount, repaired the losses of people of all conditions out of his own property! With what perfect ease to the public does he manage the raising of troops, a business of constant and extreme apprehension, without the consternation attendant on a levy! If either nature allows us, or the humility of man may take upon itself, to make a modest complaint of such things to the gods, what has he deserved that, in the first place, Drusus Libo should form his execrable plots; and, in the next, that Silius and Piso should follow his example, one of whom he raised to dignity, the other he promoted? That I may pass to greater matters, (though he accounted even these very great,) what has he deserved, that he should lose his sons in their youth, or his grandson by Drusus? But we have only spoken of causes for sorrow, we must now come to occasions of shame. With what violent griefs, Marcus Vinicius, has he felt his mind tortured in the last three years! How long has heart been consumed with affliction, and, what is most unhappy, such as he was obliged to conceal, while he was compelled to grieve, and to feel indignation and shame, at the conduct of his daughter-in-law102 and his grandson103! And the sorrows of this period have been aggravated by the loss of his most excellent mother, a woman who resembled the gods more than human beings; and whose power no man ever felt but in the relief of distress or the conferring of honour.
CXXXI
Let our book be concluded with a prayer. O Jupiter Capitolinus, O Jupiter Stator! O Mars Gradivus, author of the Roman name! O Vesta, guardian of the eternal fire! O all ye deities who have exalted the present magnitude of the Roman empire to a position of supremacy over the world, guard, preserve, and protect, I entreat and conjure you, in the name of the Commonwealth, our present state, our present peace, [our present prince104!] And when he shall have completed a long course on earth, grant him successors to the remotest ages, and such as shall have abilities to support the empire of the world as powerfully as we have seen him support it! All the just designs of our countrymen * * * *
ENDNOTES.
1 The former Scipio — the latter] The former was Scipio Africanus Major, the conqueror of Hannibal; the latter Scipio Africanus Minor, who destroyed Carthage and Numantia, and who is mentioned above, i., 15.
2 Before mentioned] See i., 2.
3 Shrinking from no penalty, &c.] Non recusando perduxit huc, &c. The text is here so obscure that Ruhnken says, “Ego nihil hic intelligo,” and supposes that some words are lost. On Caudium, see Florus, i., 16.
4 II. All men were eager to secure a footing in the state] Omnibus statum concupiscentibus. Such is the way in which Krause and Orellius understand this phrase. Lipsius said that there was no sense in it, and conjectured omnibus (sc. legibus istis agrariis) statum concutientibus, which Gruter and Heinsius approved, and Ruhnken admitted into his text. But concupiscentibus seems to have been too hastily condemned by these critics. “Statum habere,” says Krause, “est vel civitatem, vel bona certa, agros scilicet, habere, et sic esse aliquid in republicâ.” So, he adds, the proscribed are said, c. 72, nullum statum habere.
5 IV. To whom Italy is but a stepmother] Quorum noverca est Italia. The idle and dissolute crowd that wandered the city, many of whom were not natives of the country, were not considered or valued by Italy as her children, but regarded by her with the disdain of a stepmother. The origin of the expression, as Wesseling has pointed out, is in Plato’s Menexenus. Comp. Val. Max., vi., 2, 3.
6 With the head veiled] Velato capite. “Obvoluto capite elatus est, ne livor in ore appareret.” Aurel. Vict., 58. This seems to have been customary.
7 VI. To transfer the privilege of being judges, &c.] See Pseudo-Sallust, first Epistle to Cæsar, c. 3, 8.
8 VIII. The sentence inclosed in brackets is evidently out of place, as Burman and Krause remark.
9 Eighteen sestertia] About 159l. 7s. 6d.
10 The Scipios] The office in which the Scipios were united was the ædileship, as Krause says, who supposes that some words to that effect have been lost out of the text.
11 IX. Of Ennius] The name of Ennius has been supplied in the texts of Ruhnken and Krause from a conjecture of Heinsius.
12 What he invented] He was an eminent writer of the Fabulæ Atellanæ, but not the inventor of that kind of composition. But perhaps he was the first that gave them any regularity of form.
13 X. Six sestertia] About 53l. 2s. 6d.
14 XI. Of strict temperance] Vitâ sanctus. This is, as Krause observes, evidently the sense. So Crassus, in c. 46, is said to be sanctissimus immunisque voluptatibus. Marius is called by Sallust, Jug., c. 63, lubidinis atque divitiarum victor.
15 XII. From some precaution of the fates] Ut præcaventibus fatis. As if the fates, by uniting them together at this time, had been anxious to prevent the discord that afterwards raged between them. Krause.
16 Curiæ were houses of assembly for the wards (curiæ) of the city.
17 XV. The words inclosed in brackets are entirely out of place, like those at the beginning of c. 8.
18 XVI. Assumption of the military dress] Ad saga iretur. “Livy, Epit. lxxii., says, with reference to these times, saga populus sumpsit. This military garment, the sagum, the Romans assumed, by a decree of the senate, in the most alarming wars, and retained it till better fortune appeared, when they returned to the toga. Compare Livy, Epit. lxxiv.; Cic., Phil., xiv., 1.” Krause.
19 XVIII. Theophanes] A native of Mitylene, and friend of Pompey, of whose acts he wrote a history.
20 XIX. By a barbarian] Ab hoste. “A barbaro.” Krause. Hostis, as opposed to civis.
21 XXI. To — the spectators] From the loss of their relatives.
22 XXII. With mortar] Calce arenâque. With lime and sand. Florus, iii., 21, says that Catulus died ignis haustu, by swallowing fire.
23 A reward — for his own destruction] Sui — periculi merces. “His property being divided among those who procured his death.” Ruhnken.
24 XXIV. Procured a sentence of banishment] Aquâ ignique iis interdixit. See Florus, iii., 16.
25 XXV. Merciful to excess] Justissimo lenior. The text is here defective.
26 XXVI. A man of his father’s spirit, though not of his father’s length of life] Vir animi magis quam ævi paterni. “Ævum is here for ætas. Marius did not live as many years as his father, being killed young, as is related in c. 27.” Krause.
27 The words at the end of this chapter are so defective, that it is useless to attempt a translation of them.
28 XXVII. Subterraneous passages] Cuniculos. “Made either for the conveyance of water, or for secret ways of exit from the city. See Strabo, v., p. 365.” Krause.
29 XXVIII. A prize for depriving him of life] Quisque merces mortis suæ. Comp., c. 22.
30 XXX. Krause thinks there is a considerable hiatus between these two chapters.
31 Shameful death for himself] His treachery led to his desertion by his troops, and his defeat and death at the hands of Pompey. See Appian, B. C., i., 115; Plutarch, Sert., c. 27; Pomp., c. 20.
32 Rode through the city in his chariot] There was a law which forbade any one, who was not of consular or prætorian dignity, to have a triumph. But this was Pompey’s second triumph. Hence Velleius says hoc quoque triumpho, “in this triumph also.” See Plutarch, Pomp., c. 14, 22.
33 XXXII. Privilege of being judges] Judicandi munus. See the Pseudo-Sallust’s First Epistle to Cæsar, c. 7.
34 Roscius Otho now restored] Otho Roscius — restituit. “The same word is twice used, in speaking of this law, by Cicero, pro Muræn., c. 19, so that it is probable, as Puteanus has suggested, that the equites had seats separate from the plebs before this well-known law was passed.” Ruhnken.
35 Defeated the pirates * * * in various places] Prædonesque per multa * * * a multis locis, &c. A defective passage. The Bipont editor reads per multa maria multis, &c.
36 XXXIV. Noblest of new men] Novitatis nobilissimæ. The translation is Baker’s.
37 Excelled in genius by those, &c.] Viz., by the Greeks.
38 XXXVI. A little before them, * * * Crassus, &c.] Anteaque * * * Crassum. Anteaque is a conjecture of Heinsius for saneque, the previous reading. Puteanus thinks that the name of Antonius is wanting in the text.
39 Rabirius] For Rabirius, Markland, Ep. Crit., p. 14, would read Varius. Perizonius thinks that Horatius should be inserted; and Burman supposes that the name of Propertius has dropped out of the text. But Velleius, says Krause, might have reasons for omitting both Horace and Propertius.
40 XL. Excepting the Parthian] “He means in the East. All other kings, except those of Parthia, owed their kingdoms to the indulgence of the Romans, and were subservient to their will, chiefly by the instrumentality of Pompey.” Krause.
41 Excepting that of Paulus] Præterquam à Paullo. Vossius, Burman, Gruter, Ruhnken, and Krause concur in thinking these words spurious; for Pompey, according to Plutarch, Pomp., c. 45, brought into the treasury twenty thousand talents of gold and silver, a sum twice as great as that which was brought by Paulus Æmilius.
42 XLI. Watched him only with their eyes] They watched him only with their eyes, says Krause, having no mental communication with him. Had he made any alteration in his dress, they might have supposed that he was preparing for flight, and have laid hands upon him.
43 XLII. Envy — baseness of spirit] Sequebatur invidia inertiam. Oudendorp conjectured avaritia for invidia. Ruhnken justifies invidia by a sentence of Seneca, De Tranq. Anim., p. 345, ed. Gronov.: Alit enim livorem infelix inertia; et omnes destrui cupiunt, quia se non poterunt provehere; and by another from Cicero, Phil., x., 1: Verum esse id quod ego semper sensi, neminem alterius, qui suæ consularet, virtuti invidere.
44 XLV. Sent into banishment] Aquâ et igni interdiceretur. See c. 24.
45 XLVI. A remarkable pair of consuls] Invictum par consulum. Invictum not being satisfactory, Lipsius and Heinsius conjectured inclitum par; Ruhnken unicum par. I have adopted the former.
46 Most atrocious crime] The assassination of Julius Caesar.
47 XLVIII. Ten thousand sestertia] Something more than 80,000l.
48 XLIX. Lentulus saw that his own security, &c.] “He was deeply in debt, from which he could not emerge as long as the state was undisturbed.” Krause.
49 Kings, tetrarchs, and petty princes] Regumque et tetrarchum et dynastarum. See Sall., Cat., c. 20.
50 LII. Use a military expression — disband, &c.] The text is here corrupt and defective. Ruhnken ridicules the notion of dimitteret being the verbum militare, as most critics have supposed, and thinks that Velleius wrote something like this: Neque prius neque antiquius quicquam habuit quàm ut in omnes partes præcones clamantes, parce civibus, ut militari et verbo et consuetudine utar, dimitteret. For a confirmation of this conjecture he refers to Appian, B. C., ii., p. 783; Suet. Cæs., c. 75; Flor., iv., 2. The translation which I have given is borrowed from Baker.
51 LVI. Acanthus wood] Acantho. The acanthus was a tree of the acacia kind, now generally supposed to be the same as the Mimosa Nilotica of Linnæus, or “Egyptian thorn.” See Plin., H. N., xxiv., 12; Miller’s Gardener’s Dict., Art. Acacia; Martyn on Virg. Georg., ii., 119.
52 Tortoise-shell] “We must suppose that the fercula, or frames on which the articles were carried in the procession, were inlaid with tortoise-shell, as is now the case with many articles of furniture.” Krause.
53 Six hundred thousand sestertia] Something more than 4,800,000l.
54 LIX. He himself has anticipated me] Prævenit, et * * * * &c. “Vossius and Bœcler rightly refer prævenit to Augustus himself, and his commentaries on his life mentioned by Suetonius, Aug., c. 2.” Krause. Some words, which introduce the account of Octavius’s father, have been lost.
55 The orb of the sun — regularly curved, &c.] Solis orbis — curvatus æqualiter rotundatusque, in colorem arcûs. It is not possible to explain these words at all satisfactorily. Suetonius, in speaking of the same occurrence, Aug., c. 95, says, circulus ad speciem cælestis arcûs orbem solis ambiit; and Seneca, Q. N., i., 2; Dion Cassius, xlv., 4; and Plin., H. N., ii., 28, allude to the matter in a similar way. Hence Hottinger, a friend of Herelius, conjectured that we should read curvatunt æqualiter rotundatumque versicolorem arcum, &c.
56 LX. Seven hundred thousand sestertia] Something more than 5,650,000l.
57 False insertions — in Cæsar’s registers] Actorum ejusdem insertis falsis, civitatibusque * * * corrupti commentarii. I have omitted the last three words. Various emendations of the passage have been suggested, but to little purpose.
58 LXII. Laudandus et tollendus] The play on the word tollendus cannot be rendered. Tollo means not only to raise or extol, but to take out of the way. It is as if we should say of a man that merits hanging, that he deserves to be exalted.
59 LXV. To revenge a father, &c.] It was more incumbent on Octavius to revenge the death of Julius Cæsar than on Antony; Cæsar being his adopted son, Antony only his friend.
60 LXVII. Germans, (that is, brothers,) &c.] De Germanis. A play on the Latin word Germanus.
61 LXXII. Whom we lately saw] Nuper à nobis visi. He had died a little before.
62 No position in the state] Nullum habentibus statum. See note on ii., 2.
63 LXXIII. A freedman among his own freedmen] Libertorum suorum libertus. He lowered himself, and laid himself under obligations to them.
64 LXXV. Daughter] By adoption into the Julian family according to the will of Augustus. Tacit. Ann., i., 8; Suet. Aug., 101.
65 LXXVII. In his own Carinæ] In Carinis suis. A pun on carinæ, ships, which was also the name of an open place, or street, in Rome. Romanoque foro et lautis mugire Carinis. Virg. Æn., viii
., 361.
66 LXXXI. Twelve hundred sestertia] About 10,000l.
67 LXXXII. The commencement of this chapter, in which Krause retains the old, unintelligible reading, is translated according to the emendation of Ruhnken: Quâ æstate Cæsar tam prospere sepelivit in Siciliâ bellum, fortuna in Cæsare et republicâ mutavit ad Orientem. This is the best of all the corrections that have been proposed; though the words in Cæsare et republicâ, as a Gottingen reviewer observes, (Ephem. Lit., 1799, p. 120,) will hardly satisfy every reader.
68 LXXXIV. Amyntas] The successor of Deiotarus in the kingdom of Galatia.
Complete Works of Velleius Paterculus Page 15