No More Learning

For, in the first place, she was adorned with gems so huge that she laboured under the weight of her ornaments; 25 for it is said that this woman, courageous though she was, halted very frequently, saying that she could not endure the load of her gems. 26 Furthermore, her feet were bound with shackles of gold and her hands with golden fetters, and even on her neck she wore a chain of gold, the weight of which was borne by a Persian buffoon. 108 27 Her life was granted her by Aurelian, and they say that thereafter she lived with her children in the manner of a Roman matron on an estate that had been presented to her at Tibur, which even to p143 this day is still called Zenobia, not far from the palace of Hadrian109 or from that place which bears the name of Concha.

Victoria

31Legamen ad paginam Latinam It would, indeed, be an unworthy thing that Vitruvia also, or rather Victoria,110 should be given a place in letters, had not the ways of Gallienus brought it about that women, too, should be deemed worthy of mention. 2 For Victoria, after seeing her son and grandson slain by the soldiers, and also Postumus, then Lollianus, and Marius111 too (whom the soldiers had named emperor) all put to death, urged Tetricus, of whom I have spoken above,112 to seize the power, solely that she might always be daring the deeds of a man. She was distinguished, furthermore, by her title, for she called herself Mother of the Camp. 113 3 Coins, too, were struck in her name,114 of bronze and gold and silver, and even to‑day the type is still in existence among the Treviri. 115 4 She did not, indeed, live long; for during Tetricus' rule she was slain, some say, while others assert that she succumbed to the destiny of fate.

5 This is all that I have deemed worthy of being related concerning the thirty pretenders, all of whom I have gathered into one book, lest the telling of each single detail about each one singly might bring about an aversion that is undeserved and not to be p145 borne by my readers. 6 Now I will return to the Emperor Claudius. Concerning him I think I should publish a special book, short though it be, for his manner of life deserves it, and I must say something, besides, about that peerless man, his brother,116 in order that at least a few facts may be told of so righteous and noble a family.

7 It was with deliberate purpose that I included the women, namely that I might make a mock of Gallienus, a greater monster than whom the Roman state has never endured; now I will add two pretenders besides, supernumeraries, so to speak, for they lived each at a different period, since one was of the time of Maximinus, the other of the time of Claudius, my purpose being to include in this book the lives of thirty pretenders. 8 I ask you, accordingly, you who have received this book now completed, to look on my plan with favour and to consent to add to your volume these two, whom I had purposed to include after Claudius and Aurelian among those who lived between Tacitus and Diocletian, just as I included the elder Valens117 in this present book. 9 This error on my part, however, your accurate learning, mindful of history, prevented. 10 And so I am grateful that the kindliness of your wisdom has filled out my title. Now no one in the Temple of Peace118 will say that among the pretenders I included women, female pretenders, forsooth, or, rather, pretendresses — for this they are wont to bandy about concerning me with merriment and jests. 11 They have now the number complete, gathered into my writings from the secret stores of history. For 12 I will add to my work Titus and Censorinus, the former of whom, as p147 I have said, lived under Maximinus and the latter under Claudius, but both were slain by the very soldiers who clothed them with the purple.

Titus119

32Legamen ad paginam Latinam It is related by Dexippus120 and not left unmentioned by Herodian121 or any of those who have recorded such things for posterity to read, that Titus, once a tribune of the Moors but reduced by Maximinus to the position of a civilian, fearing a violent death, as they narrate, but reluctantly, so most assert, and compelled by the soldiers, seized the imperial power. But within a few days, after the revolt was put down which Magnus,122 a man of consular rank, led against Maximinus, he was slain by his own troops. He reigned, however, for the space of six months. 2 He was one who especially deserved the praise of the commonwealth both at home and abroad, but in his ruling he had ill-fortune. 3 Some say, on the other hand, that he was made emperor by the Armenian123 bowmen, whom Maximinus hated as devoted to Alexander and to whom he had given offence. 4 You will not, indeed, wonder that there is such diversity of statement about this man, for even his name is scarcely known. 5 His wife was Calpurnia, a revered and venerated woman of the stock of the Caesonini (that is, of the Pisos),124 to whom our fathers did reverence as a priestess married but once and among the most holy of women, and whose statue p149 we have seen still standing in the Temple of Venus, its head, hands and feet made of marble but the rest of it gilded. 6 She is said to have owned the pearls that once belonged to Cleopatra and a silver platter weighing •a hundred pounds, of which many poets have made mention and on which was shown wrought in relief the history of her forefathers.

7 I seem to have gone on further than the matter demanded. But what am I to do? For knowledge is ever wordy through a natural inclination. 8 Wherefore I shall now return to Censorinus, a man of noble birth, but said to have ruled for seven days not so much to the welfare as to the hurt of the state.

Censorinus125

33Legamen ad paginam Latinam He was a soldier, indeed, and a man of old-time dignity in the senate-house, having been twice consul, twice prefect of the guard, three times prefect of the city, four times proconsul, three times legate of consular rank, twice of praetorian, four times of aedilician, three times of quaestorian, and having held the post of envoy extraordinary to the Persians and also to the Sarmatians.

2 Nevertheless, after all these offices, while living on his own estates, now an old man and lame in one foot from a wound received in the Persian War under Valerian, he was created emperor and by a jester's witticism given the name of Claudius. 126 3 But when he proceeded to act with the greatest severity and became intolerable to the soldiers because of his rigid discipline, he was put to death by the very men who had made him emperor. 4 His tomb is still in p151 existence near Bologna, and on it are inscribed in large letters all the honours he had held, but in the last line there is added: "Happy in all things, as emperor most hapless. " 5 His family is still in existence,127 well known by the name of Censorini, some of whom, in their hatred of all things Roman, have departed to Thrace, and some to Bithynia. 6 His house, too, is still in existence, and a most beautiful one it is, adjacent to the Flavian House,128 which is said to have once belonged to the Emperor Titus.

7 You have now the complete number of the thirty tyrants, you who used to dispute with those ill disposed to me, though always in a kindly spirit. 8 Now bestow on any one you wish this little book, written not with elegance but with fidelity to truth. Nor, in fact, do I seem to myself to have made any promise of literary style, but only of facts, for these little works which I have composed on the lives of the emperors I do not write down but only dictate, and I dictate them, indeed, with that speed, which, whether I promise aught of my own accord or you request it, you urge with such insistence that I have not even the opportunity of drawing breath.

The Life of Claudius

1 1 [Legamen ad paginam Latinam] I have now come to the Emperor Claudius,1 whose life I must set forth in writing with all due care, out of respect for Constantius Caesar. I could not, indeed, refuse to write of him, inasmuch as I had already written of others, emperors created in tumult, I mean, and princes of no importance, all in that book which I composed about the thirty pretenders and which now includes even a descendant of Cleopatra2 and a Victoria;3 2 for things had come to such a pass that, for the sake of comparison with Gallienus, I was forced to write even the lives of women. 4 3 And, in fact, it would not be right to leave unmentioned an emperor who left us such a scion of his race,5 who ended the war against the Goths by his own valour, p155 who as victor laid a healing hand upon the public miseries, who, though not the contriver of the plan,6 nevertheless thrust Gallienus, that monstrous emperor, from the helm of the state, himself destined to rule for the good of the human race, who, finally, had he but tarried longer in this commonwealth, would by his strength, his counsel, and his foresight have restored to us the Scipios, the Camilli, and all those men of old.

Legamen ad paginam Latinam 2 1 Short, indeed, was the time of his rule — I cannot deny it — but too short would it have been, could such a man as he have ruled even as long as human life may last. 2 For what was there in him that was not admirable? that was not pre-eminent? that was not superior to the triumphant generals of remote antiquity? 3 The valour of Trajan, the righteousness of Antoninus, the self-restraint of Augustus, and the good qualities of all the great emperors, all these were his to such a degree that he did not merely take others as examples, but, even if these others had never existed, he himself would have left an example to all who came after. 4 Now the most learned of the astrologers hold that one hundred and twenty years have been allotted to man for living and assert that no one has ever been granted a longer span; they even tell us that Moses alone, the friend of God,7 as he is called in the books of the Jews, lived for one hundred and twenty-five years,8 and that when he complained that he was dying in his prime, he received from an unknown god, so they say, the reply that no one should ever live longer. 5 But even if Claudius had lived for one hundred and twenty-five years — as his life, so marvellous and admirable, shows us — we need not, as Tullius says of Scipio,9 have p157 expected for him even a natural death. 6 For what great quality did not that man exhibit both at home and abroad? He loved his parents; what wonder in that? He loved also his brothers; that, indeed, may seem worthy of wonder. He envied none, but he punished evil-doers. 7 Judges guilty of theft he condemned openly and in public; but to the stupid he extended a sort of careless indulgence. He enacted most excellent laws. 8 Indeed, so great a man did he show himself in public affairs, that the greatest princes chose a descendant of his to hold the imperial power, and a bettered senate desired him.

Legamen ad paginam Latinam 3 1 Some one perhaps may believe that I am speaking thus to win the favour of Constantius Caesar, but your sense of justice and my own past life will bear me witness that never have I thought or said or done anything to curry favour. 10 2 I am speaking of the Emperor Claudius, whose manner of life, whose uprightness, and whose whole career in the state have brought him such fame among later generations that after his death the senate and people of Rome bestowed on him unprecedented rewards: 3 in his honour there was set up in the Senate-house at Rome, by desire of the entire senate, a golden clipeus11 — or clipeum, as the grammarians say12 — and even at the present time his likeness may be seen in the bust that stands out in relief; 4 in his honour — and to none before him — the Roman people at their own expense erected a golden statue •ten feet high on the Capitol in front of the Temple of Jupiter, Best and Greatest; 5 in his honour by action of the entire world there was placed on the Rostra a column bearing a silver statue p159 arrayed in the palm-embroidered tunic13 and weighing •fifteen hundred pounds. 6 It was he who, as though mindful of the future, enlarged the Flavian House,14 which had also belonged to Vespasian and Titus, and — I say it reluctantly — toº Domitian as well. It was he who, in a brief space of time, put an end to the war against the Goths. 15 7 Therefore the senate and people of Rome, foreign nations and provinces, too, must all be his flatterers, for indeed all ranks, all ages, and all communities have honoured this noble emperor with statues, banners, and crowns, shrines and arches, altars and temples.

Legamen ad paginam Latinam 4 1 It will be of interest, both to those who imitate righteous princes and to the whole world of mankind as well, to learn the decrees of the senate that were passed about this man, in order that all may know the official opinion concerning him. 2 For when it was announced in the shrine of the Great Mother on the ninth day before the Kalends of April,16 the day of the shedding of blood,17 that Claudius had been created emperor, the senators could not be held together for performing the sacred rites, but donning their togas they set forth to the Temple of Apollo,18 and there, when the letter of the Emperor Claudius was read, the following acclamations were shouted in his honour:19 3 "Claudius Augustus, may the gods preserve you! " said sixty times. "Claudius Augustus, you or such as you we have ever desired for our emperor," said forty times. "Claudius Augustus, the p161 state was in need of you," said forty times. "Claudius Augustus, you are brother, father, friend, righteous senator, and truly prince," said eighty times. 4 "Claudius Augustus, deliver us from Aureolus," said five times. "Claudius Augustus, deliver us from the men of Palmyra," said five times. "Claudius Augustus, set us free from Zenobia and from Vitruvia," said seven times. "Claudius Augustus, nothing has Tetricus accomplished," said seven times.

Legamen ad paginam Latinam 5 1 As soon as he was made emperor, entering into battle against Aureolus,20 who was the more dangerous to the commonwealth because he had found great favour with Gallienus, he thrust him from the helm of the state; then he pronounced him a pretender, sending proclamations to the people and also despatching messages to the senate. 2 It must be told in addition that when Aureolus pleaded with him and sought to make terms, this stern and unbending emperor refused to hearken, but rejected him with a reply as follows: "This should have been sought from Gallienus; for his character was like your own, he, too, could feel fear. " 3 Finally, near Milan, by the judgement of his own soldiers Aureolus met with an end worthy of his life and character. And yet certain historians have tried to praise him, though indeed most absurdly. 4 For Gallus Antipater,21 the handmaiden of honours and the dishonour of historians,22 composed a preface about Aureolus, beginning as follows: "We have now come to an emperor who resembled his own name. " Great virtue, forsooth, to get one's name from gold! 5 I, however, know well that among gladiators this name has often been given to courageous fighters. Indeed, only recently your p163 own announcement of games contained in the list of the combatants this very name.

Legamen ad paginam Latinam 6 1 But let us return to Claudius. For, as we have said before, those Goths who had escaped when Marcianus chastised them23 and those whom Claudius, hoping to prevent what actually came to pass, had not allowed to break forth,24 fired all the tribes of their fellow-countrymen with the hope of Roman booty. 25 2 Finally, the various tribes of the Scythians, the Peucini, Greuthungi, Austrogothi, Tervingi, Visi, and Gepedes, and also the Celts and the Eruli, in their desire for plunder burst into Roman territory and there proceeded to ravage many districts; for meanwhile Claudius was busied with other things and was making preparation, like a true commander, for that war which he finally brought to an end; 3 and so it may seem that the destiny of Rome was retarded by the diligence of an excellent prince, but I, for my part, believe that it so came to pass in order that the glory of Claudius might be enhanced and his victory have a greater renown throughout the whole world. 4 There were then, in fact, three hundred and twenty thousand men of these tribes under arms. 5 Now let him who accuses us of flattery26 say that Claudius was not worthy of being beloved! Three hundred and p165 twenty thousand armed men! What Xerxes,27 pray, had so many? What tale has ever imagined, what poet ever conceived such a number? There were three hundred and twenty thousand armed men! 6 Add to these their slaves, add also their families, their waggon-trains, too, consider the streams they drank dry and the forests they burned, and, finally, the labour of the earth itself which carried such a swollen mass of barbarians!

Legamen ad paginam Latinam 7 1 There is still in existence a letter of his, sent to the senate to be read before the people, in which he tells the number of the barbarians. It is as follows: 2 "From the Emperor Claudius to the senate and people of Rome. " (This letter, it is said, he dictated himself, and I will not demand the version of the secretary of memoranda. )28 3 "Conscript Fathers, you will hear with wonder what is only the truth. Three hundred and twenty thousand barbarians have come in arms into Roman territory. If I defeat them, do you requite my services; if I fail to defeat them, reflect that I am striving to fight after Gallienus' reign. 4 The whole commonwealth is exhausted. We are fighting now after Valerian, after Ingenuus, after Regalianus, after Lollianus, after Postumus, after Celsus, and after a thousand others, who, in their contempt for an evil prince, revolted against the commonwealth. 5 No shields, no swords, no spears are left to us now. The provinces of Gaul and Spain, the sources of strength for the state, are held by Tetricus, and all the bowmen — I blush to say it — Zenobia now possesses. Anything we accomplish will be achievement enough. "

6 These barbarians, then, Claudius overcame by his own inborn valour and crushed in a brief space of time, suffering scarcely any to return to their native p167 soil. What reward for such a victory, I ask you, is a shield29 in the Senate-house? What reward is one golden statue? 7 Of Scipio Ennius wrote:30 "What manner of statue, what manner of column shall the Roman people make, to tell of your deeds? " 8 We can say with truth that Flavius31 Claudius, an emperor without peer upon earth, is raised to eminence not by any columns or statues but by the power of fame.

Legamen ad paginam Latinam 8 1 They had, furthermore, two thousand ships, twice as many, that is, as the number with which all Greece and all Thessaly together once sought to conquer the cities of Asia. 32 This number, however, was devised by the pen of a poet, while ours is found in truthful history. 2 And so do we writers flatter Claudius! 33 the man by whom two thousand barbarian ships and three hundred and twenty thousand armed men were crushed, destroyed and blotted out, and by whom a waggon-train, as great as this host of armed men could fit out and make ready, was in part consigned to the flames and in part delivered over, along with the families of all, to Roman servitude. 3 This is shown by the following letter of his, written to Junius Brocchus,34 then in command of Illyricum:

4 "From Claudius to Brocchus. We have destroyed three hundred and twenty thousand Goths, we have sunk two thousand ships. 5 The rivers are covered over with their shields, all the banks are buried under their swords and their spears. The fields are hidden beneath their bones, no road is clear, their mighty waggon-train has been abandoned. 6 We have captured so many women that the victorious soldiers can take for themselves two or three apiece. Legamen ad paginam Latinam 9 1 And would that the commonwealth had not had to endure Gallienus! Would that it had not had to bear six p169 hundred pretenders! Had but those soldiers been saved who fell in divers battles, those legions saved which Gallienus destroyed, disastrously victorious,35 how much strength would the state have gained! 2 Now, indeed, my diligence has but gathered together for the preservation of the Roman commonwealth the scattered remains of the shipwrecked state. "

3 For there was fighting in Moesia and there were many battles near Marcianopolis. 36 4 Many perished by shipwreck, many kings were captured, noble women of divers tribes taken prisoner, and the Roman provinces filled with barbarian slaves and Scythian husbandmen. 37 The Goth was made the tiller of the barbarian frontier, 5 nor was there a single district which did not have Gothic slaves in triumphant servitude. 6 How many cattle takenº from the barbarians did our forefathers see? How many ships? How many Celtic mares, which fame has rendered renowned? All these redound to the glory of Claudius. For Claudius gave the state both security and an abundance of riches. 7 There was fighting, besides, at Byzantium,38 for those Byzantines who survived acted with courage. 8 There was fighting at Thessalonica, to which the barbarians had laid siege while Claudius was far away. 9 There was fighting in divers places, and in all of them, under the auspices of Claudius, the Goths were defeated, so that even then he seemed to be making the commonwealth safe in days to come for his nephew Constantius Caesar. 39

p171 10 1 Legamen ad paginam Latinam It has fortunately come into my mind, and so I must relate the oracle given to Claudius in Comagena,40 so it is said, in order that all may know that the family of Claudius was divinely appointed to bring happiness to the state. 2 For when he inquired, after being made emperor, how long he was destined to rule, there came forth the following oracle:41

3 "Thou, who dost now direct thy fathers' empire,
Who dost govern the world, the gods' viceregent,
Shalt surpass men of old in thy descendants;
For those children of thine shall rule as monarchs,
And make their children into monarchs also. "
4 Similarly, when once in the Apennines he asked about his future, he received the following reply:

"Three times only shall summer behold him a ruler in Latium. "42
5 Likewise, when he asked about his descendants:

"Neither a goal nor a limit of time will I set for their power. "43
6 Likewise, when he asked about his brother Quintillus,44 whom he was planning to make his associate in the imperial power, the reply was:

"Him shall Fate but display to the earth. "45
7 These oracles I have included, in order that it may be clear to all that Constantius, scion of a family divinely appointed, our most venerated Caesar, himself springs from a house of Augusti and will give us, likewise, many Augusti of his own — with all safety to the Augusti Diocletian and Maximian and his brother Galerius.

p173 Legamen ad paginam Latinam 11 1 While these things were being done by the Deified Claudius, the Palmyrenes, under the generals Saba and Timagenes, made war against the Egyptians,46 who defeated them with true Egyptian pertinacity and unwearied continuance in fighting. 2 Probatus, nevertheless, the leader of the Egyptians, was killed by a trick of Timagenes'. All the Egyptians, however, submitted to the Roman emperor, swearing allegiance to Claudius although he was absent.

3 In the consulship of Antiochianus and Orfitus the favour of heaven furthered Claudius' success. For a great multitude, the survivors of the barbarian tribes, who had gathered in Haemimontum,47 were so stricken with famine and pestilence that Claudius now scorned to conquer them further. 4 And so at length that most cruel of wars was brought to an end, and the Roman nation was freed from its terrors. 48

5 Now good faith forces me to speak the truth, and also the desire of showing to those who wish me to appear as a flatterer49 that I am not concealing what history demands should be told: 6 namely, that at the time when the victory was won in full, a number of Claudius' soldiers, puffed up with success — which "weakens the mind of even the wise"50 — turned to plundering; for they did not reflect that, while busied p175 in mind and in body, they gave themselves up to seizing their prey, a very few could put them to flight. 7 And so, at the very moment of victory, about two thousand soldiers were slain by a few barbarians, who had already been routed. 8 When Claudius learned this, however, he assembled his army and seized all those who had shown a rebellious spirit, and he even sent them to Rome in chains to be used in the public spectacles. So, whatever damage either fortune or the soldiers had caused was made good through the courage of the excellent prince, and not only was victory won from the enemy, but revenge was taken as well. 9 In this war, throughout its whole length, the valour of the Dalmatian horsemen stood out as especially great, because it was thought that Claudius claimed that province as his original home;51 others, however, declared that he was a Dardanian and derived his descent from Ilus, a king of the Trojans and, in fact, even from Dardanus himself.

Legamen ad paginam Latinam 12 1 During this same period the Scythians attempted to plunder in Crete and Cyprus as well, but everywhere their armies were likewise stricken with pestilence and so were defeated. 52

2 Now when the war with the Goths was finished, there spread abroad a most grievous pestilence, and then Claudius himself was stricken by the disease, and, leaving mankind, he departed to heaven, an abode befitting his virtues. 53 3 He, then, moved away p177 to the gods and the stars, and his brother Quintillus,54 a righteous man and the brother indeed, as I might truly say, of his brother, assumed the imperial power, which was offered him by the judgement of all, not as an inherited possession, but because his virtues deserved it; for all would have made him emperor, even if he had not been the brother of theº Claudius their prince. 4 In his time those barbarians who still survived endeavoured to lay waste Anchialus55 and even to seize Nicopolis,56 but they were crushed by the valour of the provincials. 5 Quintillus, however, could do naught that was worthy of the imperial power because his rule was so short, for on the seventeenth day of his reign57 he was killed, as Galba58 had been and Pertinax59 also, because he had shown himself stern and unbending toward the soldiers and promised to be a prince in very truth. 6 Dexippus,60 to be sure, does not say that Quintillus was killed, but merely that he died. He does not, however, relate that he died of an illness, and so he seems to feel doubt.

Legamen ad paginam Latinam 13 1 Since we have now described his achievements in war, we must tell a few things, at least, concerning the kindred and the family of Claudius, lest we seem to omit what all should know: 2 now Claudius, Quintillus, and Crispus were brothers, and Crispus had a daughter Claudia; of her and Eutropius, the noblest man of the Dardanian folk, was born Constantius p179 Caesar. 61 3 There were also some sisters, of whom one, Constantina by name, was married to a tribune of the Assyrians, but died at an early age. 4 Concerning his grandparents we know all too little, for varying statements have been handed down by most of the writers.

5 Now Claudius himself was noted for the gravity of his character, and noted, too, for his matchless life and a singular purity; he was sparing in his use of wine, but was not averse to food; he was tall of stature, with flashing eyes and a broad, full face, and so strong were his fingers that often by a blow of his fist he would dash out the teeth of a horse or a mule. 6 He even performed a feat of this kind as a youth in military service, while taking part in a wrestling-match between some of the strongest champions at a spectacle in the Campus Martius held in honour of Mars. 7 For, becoming angry at one fellow who grasped at his private parts instead of his belt, he dashed out all the man's teeth with one blow of his fist. This action won him favour for thus protecting decency; 8 for the Emperor Decius, who was present when this was done, publicly praised his courage and modesty and presented him with arm-rings and collars,62 but bade him withdraw from the soldiers' contests for fear he might do some more violent deed than the wrestling required.

p181 9 Claudius himself had no children, but Quintillus left two sons, and Crispus, as I have said, a daughter.

Legamen ad paginam Latinam 14 1 Let us now proceed to the opinions that many emperors expressed about him, and in such wise, indeed, that it became apparent that he would some day be emperor.

2 A letter from Valerian to Zosimio, the procurator of Syria:63 "We have named Claudius, a man of Illyrian birth, as tribune of our most valiant and loyal Fifth Legion, the Martian,64 for he is superior to all the most loyal and most valiant men of old. 3 By way of supplies you will give him each year out of our private treasury three thousand pecks of wheat, six thousand pecks of barley, two thousand pounds of bacon, three thousand five hundred pints of well-aged wine, one hundred and fifty pints of the best oil, six hundred pints of oil of the second grade, twenty pecks of salt, one hundred and fifty pounds of wax, and as much hay and straw, cheap wine, greens and herbs as shall be sufficient, thirty half-score of hides for the tents; also six mules each year, three horses each year, fifty pounds of silverware each year, one hundred and fifty Philips,65 bearing our likeness, each year, and as a New-year's gift forty-seven Philips and one hundred and sixty third-Philips. 4 Likewise in cups and tankards and pots eleven pounds. 5 Also p183 two red military tunics each year, two military cloaks each year, two silver clasps gilded, one golden clasp with a Cyprian pin, one sword-belt of silver gilded, one ring with two gems to weigh an ounce, one armlet to weigh seven ounces, one collar to weigh a pound, one gilded helmet, two shields inlaid with gold, one cuirasse, to be returned. 6 Also two Herculian66 lances, two javelins, two reaping-hooks, and four reaping-hooks for cutting hay. 7 Also one cook, to be returned, one muleteer, to be returned, two beautiful women taken from the captives. 8 One white part-silk67 garment ornamented with purple from Girba,68 and one under-tunic with Moorish purple. 9 One secretary, to be returned, and one server at table, to be returned. 10 Two pairs of Cyprian couch-covers, two white under-garments, a pair of men's leg-bands,69 one toga, to be returned, one broad-striped tunic, to be returned. 11 Two huntsmen to serve as attendants, one waggon-maker, one headquarters-steward,70 one waterer, one fisherman, one confectioner. 12 One thousand pounds of fire-wood each day, if there is an abundant supply, but if not, as much as there is and wherever it is, and four braziers of charcoal each day. 13 One bath-man and firewood for the bath, but if there is none, he shall bathe in the public bath. 14 All else, which cannot be enumerated p185 here because of its insignificance you will supply in due amount, but in no case shall the equivalent in money be given, and if there should be a lack of anything in any place, it shall not be supplied, nor shall the equivalent be exacted in money. 15 All these things I have allowed him as a special case, as though he were not a mere tribune but rather a general, because to such a man as he an even larger allowance should be made. "

Legamen ad paginam Latinam 15 1 Likewise in another letter of Valerian's, addressed to Ablavius Murena, the prefect of the guard, among other statements the following: "Cease now your complaints that Claudius is still only a tribune and has not been appointed the leader of our armies, about which, you were wont to declare, the senate and people also complain. 2 He has been made a general, and, in fact, the general in command of all Illyricum. He has under his rule the armies of Thrace, Moesia, Dalmatia, Pannonia, and Dacia. 3 Indeed, this man, eminent in my estimation as well, may hope for the consulship, and, if it accords with his wishes, he may receive the prefecture of the guard whenever he desires. 4 I would have you know, moreover, that we have allotted to him the same amount of supplies that the prefect of Egypt receives, the same amount of clothing that we have allowed to the proconsulate of Africa, the same amount of silver that the procurator of the mines in Illyricum71 receives, and the same number of servants that we allot to ourselves in each and every community; for I wish all to know my opinion of such a man. "

Legamen ad paginam Latinam 16 1 Likewise a letter of Decius' concerning this same Claudius:
"From Decius to Messalla, the governor of Achaea, p187 greetings. " Among other orders the following: "But to our tribune Claudius, an excellent young man, a most courageous soldier, a most loyal citizen, necessary alike to the camp, the senate, and the commonwealth, we are giving instructions to proceed to Thermopylae, entrusting to his care the Peloponnesians also, for we know that no one will carry out more carefully all our injunctions. 2 You will assign him from the district of Dardania72 two hundred foot-soldiers, one hundred cuirassiers,73 sixty horsemen, sixty Cretan archers, and one thousand new recruits, all well armed. 3 For it is well to entrust new troops to him, inasmuch as none can be found more loyal, more valiant, or more earnest than he. "
Legamen ad paginam Latinam 17 1 Likewise a letter of Gallienus', written when he was informed by his private agents74 that Claudius was angered by his loose mode of life: 2 "Nothing has grieved me more than what you have stated in your report, namely, that Claudius, my kinsman and friend, has been made very angry by certain false statements that have reached his ears. 3 I request you, therefore, my dear Venustus, if you are faithful to me, to have him appeased by Gratus and Herennianus,75 while the Dacian troops, even now in a state of anger, are still in ignorance, for I fear there may be some serious outbreak. 4 I myself am sending him gifts, and you will see to it that he accepts them willingly. You will take care, furthermore, that he shall not become aware that I know all this and so suppose that I am incensed against him, and, accordingly, out of necessity adopt some desperate plan. 5 I am sending to him, moreover, two sacrificial saucers studded with gems three pounds in weight, two golden tankards studded with gems three pounds in weight, a silver disk-shaped p189 platter with an ivy-cluster pattern twenty pounds in weight, a silver dish with a vine-leaf pattern thirty pounds in weight, a silver bowl with an ivy-leaf pattern twenty-three pounds in weight, a silver vessel for fish twenty pounds in weight, two silver pitchers embossed with gold six pounds in weight and smaller vessels of silver amounting to twenty-five pounds in weight, ten cups of Egyptian and other workmanship, 6 two cloaks with purple borders of the true brilliance, sixteen garments of various kinds, a white one of part-silk, one tunic with bands of embroidery76 three ounces in weight, three pairs of Parthian shoes from our own supply, ten Dalmatian77 striped tunics, one Dardanian great-coat, one Illyrian mantle, 7 one hooded-cloak,78 two shaggy hoods, four handkerchiefs from Sarepta;79 also one hundred and fifty aurei with the likeness of Valerian and three hundred third-aurei with that of Saloninus. "80

Legamen ad paginam Latinam 18 1 He had also the approval of the senate before he became emperor, and weighty, indeed, it was. For when the announcement was made that he, together with Marcianus,81 had fought valiantly against the barbarian tribes in Illyricum, the senate acclaimed him thus:82 2 "Claudius, our most valiant leader, hail! Hail to your courage, hail to your loyalty! Let us all decree a statue to Claudius. We all desire Claudius as consul. 3 So acts he who loves the commonwealth, so acts he who loves the emperors, so acted the soldiers of old. Happy are you, Claudius, in the approval of princes, happy are you in your own valour, you our consul, you our p191 prefect! Long may you live, Valerius,83 and enjoy the love of your prince! "

4 It would be too long to set forth all the many honours that this man earned; one thing, however, I must not omit, namely, that both the senate and people held him in such affection both before his rule and during his rule and after his rule that it is generally agreed among all that neither Trajan nor any of the Antonines nor any other emperor was so beloved.

The Life of Aurelian
Part 1

1 1 [Legamen ad paginam Latinam] At the festival of the Hilaria1 — when, as we know, everything that is said and done should be of a joyous nature — when the ceremonies had been completed, Junius Tiberianus,2 the prefect of the city, an illustrious man and one to be named only with a prefix of deep respect, took me up into his carriage, that is to say, his official coach.
2 There his mind being now at leisure, relaxed and freed from law-pleas and public business, he engaged in much conversation all the way from the Palatine Hill to the Gardens of Varius,3 his theme being chiefly the lives of the emperors. 3 And when we had reached the Temple of the Sun,4 consecrated by the Emperor Aurelian, he asked me — for he derived his descent in some degree from him — who had written down the record of the life of that prince. 4 When I replied that I had read none in Latin, though several in p195 Greek, that revered man poured forth in the following words the sorrow that his groan implied: 5 "And so Thersites5 and Sinon6 and other such monsters of antiquity are well known to us and will be spoken of by our descendants; but shall the Deified Aurelian, that most famous of princes, that most firm of rulers, who restored the whole world to the sway of Rome, be unknown to posterity? God prevent such madness! 6 And yet, if I am not mistaken, we possess the written journal of that great man and also his wars recorded in detail in the manner of a history, and these I should like you to procure and set forth in order, adding thereto all that pertains to his life. 7 All these things you may learn in your zeal for research from the linen books,7 for he gave instructions that in these all that he did each day should be written down. I will arrange, moreover, that the Ulpian Library8 shall provide you with the linen books themselves. 8 It would be my wish that you write a work on Aurelian, representing him, to the best of your ability, just as he really was. " 9 I have carried out these instructions, my dear Ulpianus,9 I have procured the Greek books and laid my hands on all that I needed, and from these sources I have gathered together into one little book all that was worthy of mention. 10 You I should wish to think kindly of my work, and, if you are not content therewith, to study the Greeks and even to demand the linen books themselves, which the Ulpian Library will furnish you whenever you desire.

p197 2 1 Legamen ad paginam Latinam Now, when in the same carriage our talk had fallen on Trebellius Pollio,a who has handed down to memory all the emperors, both illustrious and obscure, from the two Philips10 to the Deified Claudius and his brother Quintillus, Tiberianus asserted that much of Pollio's work was too careless and much was too brief; but when I said in reply that there was no writer, at least in the realm of history, who had not made some false statement, and even pointed out the places in which Livy and Sallust, Cornelius Tacitus, and, finally, Trogus11 could be refuted by manifest proofs, he came over wholly to my opinion, and, throwing up his hands, he jestingly said besides: 2 "Well then, write as you will. You will be safe in saying whatever you wish, since you will have as comrades in falsehood those authors whom we admire for the style of their histories. "

Legamen ad paginam Latinam 3 1 So then — lest I become tiresome by weaving too many trifles into my preface — the Deified Aurelian12 was born of a humble family,13 at Sirmium14 according to most writers, but in Dacia Ripensis15 according to some. 2 I remember, moreover, having read one author who declared that he was born in Moesia; and, indeed, it often comes to pass that we are ignorant of the birthplaces of those who, born in a humble position, frequently invent a birthplace for themselves, that they may give their descendants a glamour derived from the lustre of the locality. 3 However, in writing of the deeds of a great emperor, the p199 chief thing to be known is not in what place he was born, but how great he was in the State. 4 Do we value Plato more highly because he was born at Athens than because he stands out illumined as the peerless gift of philosophy? 5 Or do we hold Aristotle of Stagira or Zeno of Elea16 or Anacharsis17 of Scythia in less esteem because they were born in the tiniest villages, when the virtue of philosophy has exalted them all to the skies?

Legamen ad paginam Latinam 4 1 And so — to return to the course of events — Aurelian, born of humble parents and from his earliest years very quick of mind and famous for his strength, never let a day go by, even though a feast-day or a day of leisure, on which he did not practise with the spear, the bow and arrow, and other exercises in arms. 2 As to his mother, Callicrates of Tyre,18 by far the most learned writer of the Greeks, says that she was a priestess of the temple of his own Sun-god19 in the village in which his parents lived; 3 she even had the gift of prophecy to a certain extent, for once, when she was quarrelling with her husband and reviling him for his stupidity and low estate, she shouted at him, "Behold the father of an emperor! " From which it is clear that the woman knew something of fate. 4 The same writer says also that there were the following omens of the rule of Aurelian: First of all, when he was a child, a serpent wound itself many times around his wash-basin, and no one was able to kill it; finally, his mother, who had seen the occurrence, refused to have the serpent killed, saying that it was a member p201 of the household. 20 5 Furthermore, it is said, the priestess made swaddling-clothes for her son from a purple cloak,21 which the emperor of the time had dedicated to the Sun-god. 6 This, too, is related, that Aurelian, while wrapped in his swaddling-clothes, was lifted out of his cradle by an eagle, but without suffering harm, and was laid on an altar in a neighbouring shrine which happened to have no fire upon it. 7 The same writer asserts that on his mother's land a calf was born of marvellous size, white but with purple spots, which formed on one side the word "hail," on the other a crown. Legamen ad paginam Latinam 5 1 I remember also reading in this same author much that has no importance; he even asserts that where Aurelian was born there sprang up in this same woman's courtyard roses of a purple colour, having the fragrance of the rose but a golden centre. 2 Later, when he was in military service, there were also many omens predicting, as events showed, his future rule. 3 For instance, when he entered Antioch in a carriage, for the reason that because of a wound he could not ride his horse, a purple cloak, which had been spread out in his honour, fell down on him in such a way as to cover his shoulders. 4 Then, when he desired to change to a horse, because at that time the use of a carriage in a city was attended with odium,22 a horse belonging to the emperor was led up to him, and in Thracia he mounted it. But when he discovered to whom it belonged, he changed to one of his own. 5 Furthermore, when he had gone as envoy to the Persians, he was presented with a sacrificial saucer, of the kind that the king of the Persians is wont to present to the emperor, on which was engraved the Sun-god in the same attire in which he was worshipped in the very temple where the mother p203 of Aurelian had been a priestess. 6 He was also presented with an elephant of unusual size, which he then gave to the emperor, and Aurelian was the only commoner of them all who ever owned an elephant. 23

Legamen ad paginam Latinam 6 1 But, to omit these and similar details, he was a comely man, good to look upon because of his manly grace, rather tall in stature, and very strong in his muscles; he was a little too fond of wine and food, but he indulged his passions rarely; he exercised the greatest severity and a discipline that had no equal, being extremely ready to draw his sword. 2 And, in fact, since there were in the army two tribunes, both named Aurelian, this man and another, who later was captured with Valerian, the soldiers gave him the nickname of "Sword-in‑hand,"24 so that, if anyone chanced to ask which Aurelian had done anything or performed any exploit, the reply would be made "Aurelian Sword-in‑hand," and so he would be identified.

3 Many of the remarkable deeds which he did as a commoner are still well known: For instance, he and three hundred men of his garrison alone destroyed the Sarmatians when they burst into Illyricum. 4 Theoclius,25 who wrote of the reigns of the Caesars, relate that in the war against the Sarmatians Aurelian with his own hand slew forty-eight men in a single day and that in the course of several days he slew over nine hundred and fifty, so that the boys even composed in his honour the following jingles and dance-ditties, to which they would dance on holidays in soldier fashion:

5 "Thousand, thousand, thousand we've beheaded now.
One alone, a thousand we've beheaded now.
He shall drink a thousand who a thousand slew.
So much wine is owned by no one as the blood which he has shed. "
p205 6 I perceive, indeed, that these verses are very trivial, but since the author mentioned before has included them in his writings, in Latin just as they are here, I have thought they ought not to be omitted. Legamen ad paginam Latinam 7 1 Likewise, when at Mainz as tribune of the Sixth Legion, the Gallican,26 he completely crushed the Franks, who had burst into Gaul and were roving about through the whole country, killing seven hundred of them and capturing three hundred, whom he then sold as slaves. 2 And so a song was again composed about him:

"Franks, Sarmatians by the thousand, once and once again we've slain.
Now we seek a thousand Persians. "
3 He was, moreover, so feared by the soldiers, as I have said before, that, after he had once punished offences in the camp with the utmost severity, no one offended again. 4 In fact, he alone among all commanders inflicted the following punishment on a soldier who had committed adultery with the wife of the man at whose house he was lodged: bending down the tops of two trees, he fastened them to the soldier's feet and then let them fly upward so suddenly that the man hung there torn in two27 — a penalty which inspired great terror in all.

5 There is a letter of his, truly that of a soldier, written to his deputy, as follows: "If you wish to be tribune, or rather, if you wish to remain alive, restrain the hands of your soldiers. None shall steal another's fowl or touch his sheep. None shall carry off grapes, or thresh out grain, or exact oil, salt, or firewood, and each shall be content with his own allowance. Let p207 them get their living from the booty taken for the enemy and not from the tears of the provincials. 6 Their arms shall be kept burnished, their implements bright, and their boots stout. Let old uniforms be replaced by new. Let them keep their pay in their belts and not spend it in public-houses. 7 Let them wear their collars, arm-rings,28 and finger-rings. Let each man curry his own horse and baggage-animal, let no one sell the fodder allowed him for his beast, and let them take care in common of the mule belonging to the century. 8 Let one yield obedience to another as a soldier and no one as a slave, let them be attended by the physicians without charge, let them give no fees to soothsayers, let them conduct themselves in their lodgings with propriety, and let anyone who begins a brawl be thrashed. "

Legamen ad paginam Latinam 8 1 I have recently found among the linen books in the Ulpian Library29 a letter, written by the Deified Valerian concerning the Emperor Aurelian, which I have inserted word for word, as seemed right:

2 From Valerian Augustus to Antoninus Gallus,30 the consul. You find fault with me in a personal letter for confiding my son Gallienus31 to Postumus rather than to Aurelian, on the ground, of course, that both the boy and the army should be entrusted to the sterner man. Of a truth you will continue to hold this opinion when once you have learned how stern Aurelian is; 3 for he is too stern, much too stern, he is harsh and his actions are not suited to those of our time. 4 Moreover, I call all to witness that I have even feared that he will act too sternly toward my son also, in case he does aught in behaving with too great frivolity — for he is naturally p209 prone to merry-making. " 5 This letter shows how great was his sternness, so that even Valerian said that he feared him.

Legamen ad paginam Latinam 9 1 There is another letter by the same Valerian, sounding his praises, which I have brought out from the files of the city-prefecture. For when he came to Rome the allowance usually made to his rank was assigned to him. A copy of the letter:

2 'From Valerian Augustus to Ceionius Albinus,32 the prefect of the city. It had, indeed, been our wish to bestow on each and every man who has been loyal to the commonwealth a much larger recompense than his rank demands, but especially when his manner of life recommends him for honours — for there should be some other reward for merit than rank —, but the public discipline requires that none shall receive for the income of the provinces a greater sum than the grade of his position permits. 3 Wherefore we have now chosen Aurelian, a very brave man, to inspect and set in order all our camps, for, by the general admission of the entire army, both we ourselves and the whole commonwealth as well are so in his debt that a scarcely any rewards that are worthy of him, or, indeed, too great. 4 For what quality has he that is not illustrious? that cannot be compared with the Corvini33 and the Scipios? He is a liberator of Illyricum, saviour of the provinces of Gaul, and as a general a great and perfect example. 5 And yet there is nothing but this that I can bestow on such a man by way of reward for his services; 6 for a wise and careful administration of the commonwealth will not permit it. Wherefore your p211 Integrity, my dearest kinsman, will supply the aforesaid man, as long as he shall be in Rome, with sixteen loaves of soldiers' read of the finest quality, forty loaves of soldiers' bread of the quality used in camp, forty pints of table-wine, the half of a swine, two fowl, thirty pounds of pork, forty pounds of beef, one pint of oil and likewise one pint of fish-pickle, one pint of salt, and greens and vegetables as much as shall be sufficient. 7 And indeed, since something out of the ordinary must be allowed him, as long as he shall be in Rome, you will allow him fodder beyond the usual amount and for his own expenses, moreover, a daily grant of two aurei of Antoninus,34 fifty silver minutuli of Philip, and one hundred denarii of bronze. 35 All else will be furnished by the prefects of the treasury. "36

Legamen ad paginam Latinam 10 1 These details may perhaps seem to someone to be paltry and over trivial, but research stops at nothing. 2 He held, then, very many commands as general and very many as tribune, and acted as deputy for generals or tribunes on about forty different occasions. p213 Indeed, he even acted as deputy for Ulpius Crinitus,37 who used to assert that he was of the house of Trajan — he was, in actual fact, a most brave man and very similar to Trajan —, who was painted together with Aurelian in the Temple of the Sun, and whom Valerian had planned to appoint to the place of a Caesar. He also commanded troops, restored the frontiers, distributed booty among the soldiers, enriched the provinces of Thrace with captured cattle, horses, and slaves, dedicated spoils in the Palace, and brought together to a private estate of Valerian's five hundred slaves, two thousand cows, one thousand mares, ten thousand sheep, and fifteen thousand goats. 3 At this time, then, Ulpius Crinitus gave thanks formally to Valerian as he sat in the public baths at Byzantium, saying that he had done him great honour in giving him Aurelian as deputy. And for this reason he determined to adopt Aurelian.

Legamen ad paginam Latinam 11 1 It is of interest to know the letters that were written concerning Aurelian and also the account of his adoption itself. Valerian's letter to Aurelian: "If there were anyone else, my dearest Aurelian, who could fill the place of Ulpius Crinitus, I should be consulting with you in regard to his courage and industry. But now do you — since I could not have found any other — take upon yourself the war around Nicopolis,38 in order that the illness of Crinitus may cause us no damage. 2 Do whatever you can. I will be brief. The command of the troops will be vested in you. 3 You will have three hundred Ituraean bowmen, six hundred Armenians, one hundred and fifty p215 Arabs, two hundred Saracens, and four hundred irregulars from Mesopotamia; 4 you will have the Third Legion, the Fortunata,39 and eight hundred mounted cuirassiers. 40 You will also have with you Hariomundus, Haldagates, Hildomundus and Charioviscus. 41 5 The prefects have arranged for the needful supplies in all the camps. 6 Your duty it is, with the aid of your wisdom and skill, to place your winter and summer camps where you will lack nothing, and, furthermore, to ascertain where the enemy's train is, and to find out exactly how great his forces are and of what kind, in order that no supplies may be used in vain or weapons wasted, for on these depends all success in war. 7 I, for my part, expect as much from you, if the gods but grant their favour, as the commonwealth could expect from Trajan, were he still alive. And indeed, he, in whose place I have made you deputy, is no less great a man. 8 It is, therefore, proper that you should expect the consulship,42 with this same Ulpius Crinitus as colleague, for the following year, beginning on the eleventh day before the Kalends of June, to fill out the term of Gallienus and Valerian, and your expenses shall be paid from the public funds. 9 For we should aid the poverty of those men — and of none more than those — who after a long life in public affairs are nevertheless poor. " 10 This letter also shows how great a man Aurelian was — and truly great, indeed, for no one ever reached the highest place who did not from his earliest years climb up by the ladder of noble character.

Legamen ad paginam Latinam 12 1 The letter about the consulship: "From Valerian Augustus to Aelius Xiphidius,43 the prefect p217 of the treasury. To Aurelian, whom we have named for the consulship, because of his poverty — in which he is great and greater than all others — you will supply for the performance of the races in the Circus three hundred aurei of Antoninus,44 three thousand silver minutuli of Philip, five million bronze sesterces, ten finely-woven tunics of the kind used by men, twenty tunics of Egyptian linen, two pairs of Cyprian table-covers, ten African carpets, ten Moorish couch-covers, one hundred swine, and one hundred sheep. 2 You will order, moreover, that a banquet shall be given at the state's expense to the senators and Roman knights, and that there shall be two sacrificial victims of major and four of minor size. "

3 And now, inasmuch as I have said in reference to his adoption that I would include certain things which concern so great a prince, 4 I ask you not to consider me too tedious or too wordy in the following statement, which I have thought I should introduce, for the sake of accuracy, from the work of Acholius,45 the master of admissions46 under the Emperor Valerian, in the ninth book of his records:

Legamen ad paginam Latinam 13 1 When Valerian Augustus had taken his seat in the public baths at Byzantium, in the presence of the army and in the presence of the officials of the Palace, there being seated with him Nummius Tuscus, the consul-regular,47 Baebius Macer,48 prefect of the guard, and Quintus Ancharius, governor of the East, and seated on his left hand Avulnius Saturninus, general in command of the Scythian frontier, Murrentius Mauricius, just appointed to Egypt, p219 Julius Trypho, general in command of the frontier of the East, Maecius Brundisinus, prefect of the grain-supply for the East, Ulpius Crinitus, general in command of the Illyrian and Thracian frontier, and Fulvius Boius, general in command of the Raetian frontier, Valerian Augustus spoke as follows: 2 "The commonwealth thanks you, Aurelian, for having set it free from the power of the Goths. Through your efforts we are rich in booty, we are rich in glory and in all that causes the felicity of Rome to increase. 3 Now, therefore, in return for your great achievements receive for yourself four mural crowns,49 five rampart crowns,50 two naval crowns,51 two civic crowns,52 ten spears without points,53 four bi-coloured banners, four red general's tunics, two proconsul's cloaks, a bordered toga, a tunic embroidered with palms,54 a gold-embroidered toga, a long under-tunic, and an ivory chair. 4 For on this day I appoint you consul, and I will write to the senate that it may vote you the sceptre of office55 and vote you also the fasces; for these insignia the emperor is not wont to give, but, on the contrary, to receive from the senate when he is created consul. " Legamen ad paginam Latinam 14 1 After this speech of Valerian's Aurelian arose and bending over the Emperor's hand, he expressed his thanks in words befitting a soldier, and these I have considered suitable and worthy of being quoted here. He spoke as follows: 2 "As for myself, my lord Valerian, Emperor and Augustus, it was with this end in view that I have done all that I did, have suffered wounds with patience, and have exhausted my horses and my p221 sworn comrades, namely, that I might win the approval of the commonwealth and of my own conscience. 3 You, however, have done more. Therefore, I am grateful for your kindness and I will accept the consulship which you offer me. May a god, and a god in whom we can put our trust, now grant that the senate shall form a like judgement concerning me. " 4 And so, when all who stood about expressed their thanks, Ulpius Crinitus arose and delivered the following speech: 5 "According to the custom of our ancestors, Valerian Augustus, — a custom which my own family has held particularly dear, — men of the highest birth have always chosen the most courageous to be their sons, in order that those families which either were dying out or had lost their offspring by marriage might gain lustre from the fertility of a borrowed stock. 6 This custom, then, which was followed by Nerva in adopting Trajan, by Trajan in adopting Hadrian, by Hadrian in adopting Antoninus, and by the others after them according to the precedent thus established, I have thought I should now bring back by adopting Aurelian, whom you, by the authority of your approval, have given to me as my deputy. 7 Do you, therefore, give the order that it may be sanctioned by law and that Aurelian may become the heir to the sacred duties, the name, the goods, and the legal rights of Ulpius Crinitus, already a man of consular rank, even as through your decision he is straightway to become a consular. " Legamen ad paginam Latinam 15 1 It would be too long to include every detail in full. For Valerian expressed his gratitude to Crinitus, and the adoption was carried out in the wonted form. 2 I remember having read in some Greek book what I have thought I ought not to omit, namely, that Valerian commanded p223 Crinitus to adopt Aurelian, chiefly for the reason that he was poor; but this question I think should be left undiscussed.

3 Now, inasmuch as I have previously inserted the letter in accordance with which Aurelian was furnished with the money needed for his consulship, I have thought I should tell why I inserted a detail apparently trivial. 4 We have recently beheld the consulship of Furius Placidus56 celebrated in the Circus with so much display that the chariot-drivers seemed to receive not prizes but patrimonies, for they were presented with tunics of part-silk, with embroidered tunics57 made of fine linen, and even with horses, while right-thinking men groaned aloud. 5 For it has come to pass that the consulship is now a matter of wealth, not of men, because, of course, if it is offered to merit, it ought not to impoverish the holder. 6 Gone are those former days of integrity, destined to disappear still further through the currying of popular favour. But this question, too, as is our wont, we shall leave undiscussed.

The Life of Tacitus

1 1 [Legamen ad paginam Latinam] A certain measure adopted after the departure of Romulus,1 during the infancy of Rome's power, and recorded by the pontiffs, the duly authorized writers of history, — namely, the proclamation of a regency for the interval in which one good prince was being sought for to succeed another2 — was also adopted after the death of Aurelian for the space of six whole months,3 while the senate and the army of Rome were engaged in a contest, one that was marked not by envy and unhappiness but rather by good feeling and sense of duty. 2 This occasion, however, differed in many ways from that former undertaking. For originally, when the regency p297 was proclaimed after the reign of Romulus, regents were actually created, and that whole year was divided up among the hundred senators for periods of three, or four, or five days apiece,4 in such a way that there was only one single regent who held the power. 3 From this it resulted that the regency remained in force for even more than a year, in order that there might be no one of those equal in rank who had not held the rule at Rome. 4 To this must be added that also in the time of the consuls and the military tribunes vested with consular power,5 whenever a regency was proclaimed there were always regents, and never did the Roman commonwealth so entirely lack this office that there was not some regent created, though it might be for only two or three days. 6 5 I perceive, indeed, that the argument can be brought up against me that for the space of four years7 during the time of our ancestors there were no curule magistrates in the commonwealth. There were, however, tribunes of the plebs vested with the tribunician power, which is the most important element of the power of a king. 8 6 Even so, it is nowhere stated that there were no regents in that time; and indeed it has been declared on the authority of more reliable historians that consuls9 were later created by regents for the purpose of conducting the election of the other magistrates.

Legamen ad paginam Latinam 2 1 And so the senate and people of Rome passed through an unusual and a difficult situation, namely, p299 that for six months, while a good man was being sought, the commonwealth had no emperor. 2 What harmony there was then among the soldiers! What peace for the people! How full of weight the authority of the senate! Nowhere did any pretender arise, and the judgement of the senate, the soldiers and the people of Rome guided the entire world; it was not because they feared any emperor or the power of a tribune that they did righteously, but — what is the noblest thing in life — because they feared themselves.

3 I must, however, describe the cause of a delay so fortunate and an instance of unselfishness which should both receive special mention in the public records and be admired by future generations of the human race, in order that those who covet kingdoms may learn not to seize power but to merit it. 4 After Aurelian had been treacherously slain, as I have described in the previous book,10 by the trick of a most base slave and the folly of the officers (for with these any falsehood gains credence, provided only they hear it when angry, being often drunken and at best almost always devoid of counsel), when all returned again to sanity and the troops had sternly put down those persons, the question was at once raised whether any one of them all should be chosen as emperor. 5 Then the army, which was wont to create emperors hastily, in their anger at those who were present, sent to the senate the letter of which I have already written in the previous book,11 asking it to choose an emperor from its own numbers. 6 The senate, however, knowing that the emperors it had chosen were not acceptable to the soldiers, referred the matter back to them. And while this was being done a number of times the space of six months elapsed. 12

p301 3 1 Legamen ad paginam Latinam It is important, however, that it should be known how Tacitus13 was created emperor. 2 On the seventh day before the Kalends of October, when the most noble body had assembled in the Senate-house of Pompilius,14 Velius Cornificius Gordianus the consul spoke as follows: 3 "We shall now bring before you, Conscript Fathers, what we have often brought before you previously; you must choose an emperor, because it is not right for the army to remain longer without a prince, and at the same time because necessity compels. 4 For it is said that the Germans have broken through the frontier beyond the Rhine15 and have seized cities that are strong and famous and rich and powerful. 5 And even if we hear nothing now of any movement among the Persians, reflect that the Syrians are so light-minded that rather than submit to our righteous rule they desire even a woman to reign over them. 6 What of Africa? What of Illyricum? º What of Egypt and the armies of all these regions? How long, do we suppose, can they stand firm without a prince? 7 Wherefore up, Conscript Fathers, and name a prince. For the army will either accept the one you name or, if it reject him, will choose another. "

Legamen ad paginam Latinam 4 1 Thereupon when Tacitus, the consular whose right it was to speak his opinion first, began to express some sentiment, it is uncertain what, the whole senate acclaimed him:16 2 "Tacitus Augustus, may God keep you! We choose you, we name you prince, to your care we commit the commonwealth and the world. 3 Now take the imperial power by authority of the senate, for by reason of your rank, your life and your mind you deserve it. Rightfully is the prince of the senate created Augustus, rightfully is the man whose privilege it is to speak his opinion first created our p303 emperor. 4 Who can rule more ably than a man of authority? Who can rule more ably than a man of letters? May it prove happy, auspicious, and to the general welfare! Long haveº you been a commoner. You know how you should rule, for you have been subject to other princes. You know how you should rule, for on other princes you have rendered judgement. "

5 Tacitus, however, replied: "I marvel, Conscript Fathers, that in the place of Aurelian, a most valiant emperor, you should wish to make an aged man your prince. 6 Behold these members, which should be able to cast a dart, to hurl a spear, to clash a shield, and, as an example for instructing the soldiery, to ride without ceasing. Scarce can I fulfill the duties of a senator, scarce can I speak the opinions to which my position constrains me. 7 Observe with greater care my advanced age, which you are now sending out from the shade of the chamber into the cold and the heat. And think you that the soldiers will welcome an old man as their emperor? 8 Look you lest you give the commonwealth a prince whom you do not really desire and lest men begin to raise this as the sole objection against me, namely, that you have chosen me unanimously. "

Legamen ad paginam Latinam 5 1 Thereupon there were the following acclamations from the senate: "Trajan also came to power when an old man. " This they said ten times. "Hadrian also came to power when an old man. " This they said ten times. "Antoninus also came to power when an old man. " This they said ten times. "You yourself have read, 'And the hoary beard of a Roman king. ' "17 This they said ten times. "Can any one rule more ably than an old man? " This they said ten times. "We are choosing you as an emperor, p305 not as a soldier. This they said twenty times. 2 "Do you but give commands, and let the soldiers fight. " This they said thirty times. "You have both wisdom and an excellent brother. " This they said ten times. "Severus said that it is the head that does the ruling and not the feet. "18 This they said thirty times. "It is your mind and not your body that we are choosing. " This they said twenty times. "Tacitus Augustus, may the gods keep you! "

3 Then all were asked their opinions. In addition, Maecius Faltonius Nicomachus,19 a senator of consular rank, whose place was next to Tacitus', addressed them as follows: Legamen ad paginam Latinam 6 1 "Always indeed, Conscript Fathers, has this noble body taken wise and prudent measures for the commonwealth, and from no nation in the whole world has sounder wisdom ever been awaited. At no time, however, has a more wise or more weighty opinion been voiced in this sacred place. 2 We have chosen as prince a man advanced in years, one who will watch over all like a father. From him we need fear nothing ill-considered, nothing over hasty, nothing cruel. All his actions, we may predict, will be earnest, all dignified, and, in fact, what the commonwealth herself would command. 3 For he knows what manner of prince he has ever hoped for, and he cannot show himself to us as other than what he himself has sought and desired. 4 Indeed, if you should wish to consider those monsters of old, a Nero, I mean, an Elagabalus, a Commodus — or rather, always, an Incommodious — you would assuredly find that their vices were due as much to their youth as to the men themselves. 5 May the gods forfend that we should give the title of prince to a child or of Father of his Country to an immature boy, whose hand a schoolmaster must p307 guide for the signing of his name and who is induced to confer a consulship by sweetmeats or toys or other such childish delights. 6 What wisdom is there — a plague upon it! — in having as emperor one who has not learned to care for fame, who knows not what the commonwealth is, who stands in dread of a guardian, who looks to a nurse, who is in subjection to the blows or the fear of a schoolmaster's rod, who appoints as consuls or generals or judges men whose lives, whose merits, whose years, whose families, whose achievements he knows not at all? 7 But why, Conscript Fathers, do I proceed farther. Let us rejoice that we have an elder as our prince, rather than recall again those times which appear more than tearful to those who endured them. 8 And so I bring and offer thanks to the gods in heaven in behalf, indeed, of the entire commonwealth, and I appeal to you, Tacitus Augustus, asking and entreating and openly demanding in the name of our common fatherland and our laws that, if Fate should overtake you too speedily, you will not name your young sons as heirs to the Roman Empire, or bequeath to them the commonwealth, the Conscript Fathers, and the Roman people as you would your farm, your tenants, and your slaves. 9 Wherefore look about you and follow the example of a Nerva, a Trajan, and a Hadrian. 20 It is a great glory to a dying prince to love the commonwealth more than his own sons. "

Legamen ad paginam Latinam 7 1 By this speech Tacitus himself was greatly moved and the whole senatorial order was deeply affected, and at once they shouted, "So say we all of us, all of us. "

2 Thereupon they proceeded to the Campus Martius, where Tacitus mounted the assembly-platform. There Aelius Cesettianus,21 the prefect of the city, spoke as p309 follows: 3 "You have now, most venerated soldiers, and you, most revered fellow-citizens, an emperor chosen by the senate at the request of all the armies, Tacitus, I mean, the most august of men, who, as he has in the past benefited the commonwealth by his counsels, will now benefit it by his commands and decrees. " 4 The people then shouted, "Tacitus Augustus, most blessed, may the gods keep you! " and all else that it is customary to say.