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Caligula (Suetonius)
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Caligula

Author: Suetonius
Translator: Alexander Thomson
49
aditus
ergo
in
itinere
a
legatis
amplissimi
ordinis
ut
maturaret
orantibus
,
quam
maxima
uoce
: '
ueniam
, '
inquit
, '
ueniam
,
et
hic
mecum
, '
capulum
gladii
crebro
uerberans
,
quo
cinctus
erat
.
edixit
et
reuerti
se
,
sed
iis
tantum
qui
optarent
,
equestri
ordini
et
populo
;
nam
se
neque
ciuem
neque
principem
senatui
amplius
fore
.
uetuit
etiam
quemquam
senatorum
sibi
occurrere
.
atque
omisso
uel
dilato
triumpho
ouans
urbem
natali
suo
ingressus
est
;
intraque
quartum
mensem
periit
,
ingentia
facinora
ausus
et
aliquanto
maiora
moliens
,
siquidem
proposuerat
Antium
,
deinde
Alexandream
commigrare
interempto
prius
utriusque
ordinis
electissimo
quoque
.
quod
ne
cui
dubium
uideatur
,
in
secretis
eius
reperti
sunt
duo
libelli
diuerso
titulo
,
alteri
'
gladius
, '
alteri
'
pugio
'
index
erat
;
ambo
nomina
et
notas
continebant
morti
destinatorum
.
inuenta
et
arca
ingens
uariorum
uenenorum
plena
,
quibus
mox
a
Claudio
demersis
infecta
maria
traduntur
non
sine
piscium
exitio
,
quos
enectos
aestus
in
proxima
litora
eiecit
.
In his march he was waited upon by deputies from the senatorian order, entreating him to hasten his return. He replied to them, "I will come, I will come, and this with me," striking at the same time the hilt of his sword. He issued likewise this proclamation: "I am coming, but for those only who wish for me, the equestrian order and the people; for I shall no longer treat the senate as their fellow-citizen or prince." He forbad any of the senators to come to meet him; and either abandoning or deferring his triumph, he entered the city in ovation on his'birth-day. Within four months from this period he was slain, after he had perpetrated enormous crimes, and while he was meditating the execution, if possible, of still greater. He had entertained a design of removing to Antium, and afterwards to Alexandria, having first cut off the flower of the equestrian and senatorian orders. This is placed beyond all question by two books which were found in his cabinet under different titles, one being called the sword, and the other the dagger. They both contained private marks, and the names of those who were devoted to death. There was also found a large chest, filled with a variety of poisons, which being afterwards thrown into the sea by order of Claudius, are said to have so infected the waters that the fish were poisoned and cast dead by the tide upon the neighbouring shores.
50
Statura
fuit
eminenti
,
colore
expallido
,
corpore
enormi
,
gracilitate
maxima
ceruicis
et
crurum
,
oculis
et
temporibus
concauis
,
fronte
lata
et
torua
,
capillo
raro
at
circa
uerticem
nullo
,
hirsutus
cetera
.
quare
transeunte
eo
prospicere
ex
superiore
parte
aut
omnino
quacumque
de
causa
capram
nominare
,
criminosum
et
exitiale
habebatur
.
uultum
uero
natura
horridum
ac
taetrum
etiam
ex
industria
efferabat
componens
ad
speculum
in
omnem
terrorem
ac
formidinem
.
Valitudo
ei
neque
corporis
neque
animi
constitit
.
puer
comitiali
morbo
uexatus
,
in
adulescentia
ita
patiens
laborum
erat
,
ut
tamen
nonnumquam
subita
defectione
ingredi
,
stare
,
colligere
semet
ac
sufferre
uix
posset
.
mentis
ualitudinem
et
ipse
senserat
ac
subinde
de
secessu
deque
purgando
cerebro
cogitauit
.
creditur
potionatus
a
Caesonia
uxore
amatorio
quidem
medicamento
,
sed
quod
in
furorem
uerterit
.
incitabatur
insomnio
maxime
;
neque
enim
plus
quam
tribus
nocturnis
horis
quiescebat
ac
ne
iis
quidem
placida
quiete
,
sed
pauida
miris
rerum
imaginibus
,
ut
qui
inter
ceteras
pelagi
quondam
speciem
conloquentem
secum
uidere
uisus
sit
.
ideoque
magna
parte
noctis
uigiliae
cubandique
taedio
nunc
toro
residens
,
nunc
per
longissimas
porticus
uagus
inuocare
identidem
atque
expectare
lucem
consuerat
.
He was tall, of a pale complexion, ill-shaped, his neck and legs very slender, his eyes and temples hollow, his brows broad and knit, his hair thin, and the crown of the head bald. The other parts of his body were much covered with hair. On this account it was reckoned a capital crime for any person to look down from above as he was passing by, or so much as to name a goat. His countenance, which was naturally hideous and frightful, he purposely rendered more so, forming it before a mirror into the most horrible contortions. He was crazy both in body and mind, being subject, when a boy, to the falling sickness, When he arrived at the age of man hood he endured fatigue tolerably well; but still, occasionally, he was liable to a faintness, during which he remained incapable of any effort. He was not insensible of the disorder of his mind, and sometimes had thoughts of retiring to clear his brain. It is believed that his wife Caesonia administered to him a love potion which threw him into a frenzy. What most of all disordered him was want of sleep, for he seldom had more than three or four hours rest in a night; and even then his sleep was not sound, but disturbed by strange dreams, fancying, among other things, that a form representing the ocean spoke to him. Being, therefore, often weary with lying awake so long, sometimes he sat up in his bed, at others, walked in the longest porticos about the house, and from time to time invoked and looked out for the approach of day.
51
Non
inmerito
mentis
ualitudini
attribuerim
diuersissima
in
eodem
uitia
,
summam
confidentiam
et
contra
nimium
metum
.
nam
qui
deos
tanto
opere
contemneret
,
ad
minima
tonitrua
et
fulgura
coniuere
,
caput
obuoluere
,
at
uero
maiore
proripere
se
e
strato
sub
lectumque
condere
solebat
.
peregrinatione
quidem
Siciliensi
irrisis
multum
locorum
miraculis
repente
a
Messana
noctu
profugit
Aetnaei
uerticis
fumo
ac
murmure
pauefactus
.
aduersus
barbaros
quoque
minacissimus
,
cum
trans
Rhenum
inter
angustias
densumque
agmen
iter
essedo
faceret
,
dicente
quodam
non
mediocrem
fore
consternationem
sicunde
hostis
appareat
,
equum
ilico
conscendit
ac
propere
reuersus
ad
pontes
,
ut
eos
calonibus
et
impedimentis
stipatos
repperit
,
impatiens
morae
per
manus
ac
super
capita
hominum
translatus
est
.
mox
etiam
audita
rebellione
Germaniae
fugam
et
subsidia
fugae
classes
apparabat
,
uno
solacio
adquiescens
transmarinas
certe
sibi
superfuturas
prouincias
,
si
uictores
Alpium
iuga
,
ut
Cimbri
,
uel
etiam
urbem
,
ut
Senones
quondam
,
occuparent
;
unde
credo
percussoribus
eius
postea
consilium
natum
apud
tumultuantes
milites
ementiendi
,
ipsum
sibi
manus
intulisse
nuntio
malae
pugnae
perterritum
.
To this crazy constitution of his mind may, I think, very justly be ascribed two faults which he had of a nature directly repugnant one to the other, namely, an excessive confidence and the most abject timidity. For he, who affected so much to despise the gods, was ready to shut his eyes and wrap up his head in his cloak at the slightest storm of thunder and lightning; and if it was violent he got up and hid himself under his bed. In his visit to Sicily, after ridiculing many strange objects which that country affords, he ran away suddenly in the night from Messini, terrified by the smoke and rumbling at the summit of Mount AEtna. And though in words he was very valiant against the barbarians, yet upon passing a narrow defile in Germany in his light car, surrounded by a strong body of his troops, some one happening to say, "There would be no small consternation amongst us if an enemy were to appear," he immediately mounted his horse and rode towards the bridge in great haste; but finding them blocked up with camp-followers and baggage-wagons, he was in such a hurry that he caused himself to be carried in men's hands over the heads of the crowd. Soon afterwards, upon hearing that the Germans were again in rebellion, he prepared to quit Rome and equipped a fleet, comforting himself with this consideration, that if the enemy should prove victorious and possess themselves of the heights of the Alps as the Cimbri had done, or of the city, as the Senones formerly did, he should still have in reserve the transmarine provinces. Hence it was, I suppose, that it occurred to his assassins to invent the story intended to pacify the troops who mutinied at his death, that he had laid violent hands upon himself in a fit of terror occasioned by the news brought him of the defeat of his army.
52
Vestitu
calciatuque
et
cetero
habitu
neque
patrio
neque
ciuili
,
ac
ne
uirili
quidem
ac
denique
humano
semper
usus
est
.
saepe
depictas
gemmatasque
indutus
paenulas
,
manuleatus
et
armillatus
in
publicum
processit
;
aliquando
sericatus
et
cycladatus
;
ac
modo
in
crepidis
uel
coturnis
,
modo
in
speculatoria
caliga
,
nonnumquam
socco
muliebri
;
plerumque
uero
aurea
barba
,
fulmen
tenens
aut
fuscinam
aut
caduceum
deorum
insignia
,
atque
etiam
Veneris
cultu
conspectus
est
.
triumphalem
quidem
ornatum
etiam
ante
expeditionem
assidue
gestauit
,
interdum
et
Magni
Alexandri
thoracem
repetitum
e
conditorio
eius
.
In the fashion of his clothes, shoes, and all the rest of his dress, he did not wear what was either national, or properly civic, or peculiar to the male sex, or appropriate to mere mortals. He often appeared abroad in a short coat of stout cloth, richly embroidered and blazing with jewels, in a tunic with sleeves, and with bracelets upon his arms; sometimes all in silks and habited like a woman; at other times in the crepide or buskins; sometimes in the sort of shoes used by the lightarmed soldiers, or in the sock used by women, and commonly with a golden beard fixed to his chin, holding in his hand a thunderbolt, a trident, or a caduceus, marks of distinction belonging to the gods only. Sometimes, too, he appeared in the habit of Venus. He wore very commonly the triumphal ornaments, even before his expedition, and sometimes the breast-plate of Alexander the Great, taken out of his coffin.
53
Ex
disciplinis
liberalibus
minimum
eruditioni
,
eloquentiae
plurimum
attendit
,
quantumuis
facundus
et
promptus
,
utique
si
perorandum
in
aliquem
esset
.
irato
et
uerba
et
sententiae
suppetebant
,
pronuntiatio
quoque
et
uox
,
ut
neque
eodem
loci
prae
ardore
consisteret
et
exaudiretur
a
procul
stantibus
.
peroraturus
stricturum
se
lucubrationis
suae
telum
minabatur
,
lenius
comptiusque
scribendi
genus
adeo
contemnens
,
ut
Senecam
tum
maxime
placentem
'
commissiones
meras
'
componere
et
'
harenam
esse
sine
calce
'
diceret
.
solebat
etiam
prosperis
oratorum
actionibus
rescribere
et
magnorum
in
senatu
reorum
accusationes
defensionesque
meditari
ac
,
prout
stilus
cesserat
,
uel
onerare
sententia
sua
quemque
uel
subleuare
,
equestri
quoque
ordine
ad
audiendum
inuitato
per
edicta
.
With regard to the liberal sciences, he was little conversant in philology, but applied himself with assiduity to the study of eloquence, being indeed in point of enunciation tolerably elegant and ready; and in his perorations, when he was moved to anger, there was an abundant flow of words and periods. In speaking, his action was vehement, and his voice so strong, that he was heard at a great distance. When winding up an harangue, he threatened to draw " the sword of his lucubration," holding a loose and smooth style in such contempt, that he said Seneca, who was then much admired, "wrote only detached essays," and that "his language was nothing but sand without lime." He often wrote answers to the speeches of successful orators; and employed himself in composing accusations or vindications of eminent persons, who were impeached before the senate; and gave his vote for or against the party accused, according to his success in speaking, inviting the equestrian order, by proclamation, to hear him.
54
Sed
et
aliorum
generum
artes
studiosissime
et
diuersissimas
exercuit
.
Thraex
et
auriga
,
idem
cantor
atque
saltator
,
battuebat
pugnatoriis
armis
,
aurigabat
extructo
plurifariam
circo
;
canendi
ac
saltandi
uoluptate
ita
efferebatur
,
ut
ne
publicis
quidem
spectaculis
temperaret
quo
minus
et
tragoedo
pronuntianti
concineret
et
gestum
histrionis
quasi
laudans
uel
corrigens
palam
effingeret
.
nec
alia
de
causa
uidetur
eo
die
,
quo
periit
,
peruigilium
indixisse
quam
ut
initium
in
scaenam
prodeundi
licentia
temporis
auspicaretur
.
saltabat
autem
nonnumquam
etiam
noctu
;
et
quondam
tres
consulares
secunda
uigilia
in
Palatium
accitos
multaque
et
extrema
metuentis
super
pulpitum
conlocauit
,
deinde
repente
magno
tibiarum
et
scabellorum
crepitu
cum
palla
tunicaque
talari
prosiluit
ac
desaltato
cantico
abiit
.
atque
hic
tam
docilis
ad
cetera
natare
nesciit
.
He also zealously applied himself to the practice of several other arts of different kinds, such as fencing, charioteering, singing, and dancing. In the first of these, he practiced with the weapons used in war; and drove the chariot in circuses built in several places. He was so extremely fond of singing and dancing, that he could not refrain in the theatre from singing with the tragedians, and imitating the gestures of the actors, either by way of applause or correction. A night exhibition which he had ordered the day he was slain, was thought to be intended for no other reason, than to take the opportunity afforded by the licentiousness of the season, to make his first appearance upon the stage. Sometimes, also, he danced in the night. Summoning once to the palatium, in the second watch of the night, three men of consular rank, who feared the words of the message, he placed them on the proscenium of the stage, and then suddenly came bursting out, with a loud noise of flutes and castanets, dressed in a mantle and tunic reaching down to his heels. Having danced out a song, he retired. Yet he who had acquired such dexterity in other exercises, never learnt to swim.
55
Quorum
uero
studio
teneretur
,
omnibus
ad
insaniam
fauit
.
Mnesterem
pantomimum
etiam
inter
spectacula
osculabatur
,
ac
si
qui
saltante
eo
uel
leuiter
obstreperet
,
detrahi
iussum
manu
sua
flagellabat
.
equiti
R
.
tumultuanti
per
centurionem
denuntiauit
,
abiret
sine
mora
Ostiam
perferretque
ad
Ptolemaeum
regem
in
Mauretaniam
codicillos
suos
;
quorum
exemplum
erat
: '
ei
quem
istoc
misi
,
neque
boni
quicquam
neque
mali
feceris
. '
Thraeces
quosdam
Germanis
corporis
custodibus
praeposuit
.
murmillonum
armaturas
recidit
.
Columbo
uictori
,
leuiter
tamen
saucio
,
uenenum
in
plagam
addidit
,
quod
ex
eo
Columbinum
appellauit
;
sic
certe
inter
alia
uenena
scriptum
ab
eo
repertum
est
.
prasinae
factioni
ita
addictus
et
deditus
,
ut
cenaret
in
stabulo
assidue
et
maneret
,
agitatori
Eutycho
comisatione
quadam
in
apophoretis
uicies
sestertium
contulit
.
Incitato
equo
,
cuius
causa
pridie
circenses
,
ne
inquietaretur
,
uiciniae
silentium
per
milites
indicere
solebat
,
praeter
equile
marmoreum
et
praesaepe
eburneum
praeterque
purpurea
tegumenta
ac
monilia
e
gemmis
domum
etiam
et
familiam
et
supellectilem
dedit
,
quo
lautius
nomine
eius
inuitati
acciperentur
;
consulatum
quoque
traditur
destinasse
.
Those for whom he once conceived a regard, he favoured even to madness. He used to kiss Mnester, the pantomimic actor, publicly in the theatre; and if any person made the least noise while he was dancing, he would order him to be dragged from his seat, and scourged him with his own hand. A Roman knight once making some bustle, he sent him, by a centurion, an order to depart forthwith for Ostia, and carry a letter from him to king Ptolemy in Mauritania. The letter was comprised in these words: "Do neither good nor harm to the bearer." He made some gladiators captains of his German guards. He deprived the gladiators called Mirmillones of some of their arms. One Columbus coming off with victory in a combat, but being slightly wounded, he ordered some poison to be infused in the wound, which he thence called Columbinum. For thus it was certainly named with his own hand in a list of other poisons. He was so extravagantly fond of the party of charioteers whose colours were green, that he supped and lodged for some time constantly in the stable where their horses were kept. At a certain revel, he made a present of two millions of sesterces to one Cythicus, a driver of a chariot. The day before the Circensian games, he used to send his soldiers to enjoin silence in the neighbourhood, that the repose of his horse Incitatus, might not be disturbed. For this favourite animal, besides a marble stable, an ivory manger, purple housings, and a jewelled frontlet, he appointed a house, with a retinue of slaves, and fine furniture, for the reception of such as were invited in the horse's name to sup with him. It is even said that he intended to make him consul.
56
Ita
bacchantem
atque
grassantem
non
defuit
plerisque
animus
adoriri
.
sed
una
atque
altera
conspiratione
detecta
,
aliis
per
inopiam
occasionis
cunctantibus
,
duo
consilium
communicauerunt
perfeceruntque
,
non
sine
conscientia
potentissimorum
libertorum
praefectorumque
praetori
;
quod
ipsi
quoque
etsi
falso
in
quadam
coniuratione
quasi
participes
nominati
,
suspectos
tamen
se
et
inuisos
sentiebant
.
nam
et
statim
seductis
magnam
fecit
inuidiam
destricto
gladio
affirmans
sponte
se
periturum
,
si
et
illis
morte
dignus
uideretur
,
nec
cessauit
ex
eo
criminari
alterum
alteri
atque
inter
se
omnis
committere
.
Cum
placuisset
Palatinis
ludis
spectaculo
egressum
meridie
adgredi
,
primas
sibi
partes
Cassius
Chaerea
tribunus
cohortis
praetoriae
depoposcit
,
quem
Gaius
seniorem
iam
et
mollem
et
effeminatum
denotare
omni
probro
consuerat
et
modo
signum
petenti
'
Priapum
'
aut
'
Venerem
'
dare
,
modo
ex
aliqua
causa
agenti
gratias
osculandam
manum
offerre
formatam
commotamque
in
obscaenum
modum
.
In this frantic and savage career, numbers had formed designs for cutting him off; but one or two conspiracies being discovered, and others postponed for want of opportunity, at last two men concerted a plan together. and accomplished their purpose; not without the privity of some of the greatest favourites amongst his freedmen, and the prefects of the pretorian guards; because, having been nante, though falsely, as concerned in one conspiracy against hipi, they perceived that they were suspected and become objects of his hatred. For he had immediately endeavoured to render them obnoxious to the soldiery, drawing his sword, and declaring, "That he would kill himself if they thought him worthy of death ;" and ever after he was continually accusing them to one another, and setting them all mutually at variance. The conspirators having resolved to fall upon him as he returned at noon from the Palatine garies, Cassius Charea, tribune of the pretorian guards, claimed the part of making the onset. This Chaerea was now an elderly man, and had been often reproached by Caius for effeminacy. When he came for the watchword, the latter would give "Priapus," or " Venus;" and if on any occasion he returned thanks, would offer him his hand to kiss, making with his fingers an obscene gesture.
57
Futurae
caedis
multa
prodigia
extiterunt
.
Olympiae
simulacrum
Iouis
,
quod
dissolui
transferrique
Romam
placuerat
,
tantum
cachinnum
repente
edidit
,
ut
machinis
labefactis
opifices
diffugerint
;
superuenitque
ilico
quidam
Cassius
nomine
,
iussum
se
somnio
affirmans
immolare
taurum
Ioui
.
Capitolium
Capuae
Id
.
Mart
.
de
caelo
tactum
est
,
item
Romae
cella
Palatini
atriensis
.
nec
defuerunt
qui
coniectarent
altero
ostento
periculum
a
custodibus
domino
portendi
,
altero
caedem
rursus
insignem
,
qualis
eodem
die
facta
quondam
fuisset
.
consulenti
quoque
de
genitura
sua
Sulla
mathematicus
certissimam
necem
appropinquare
affirmauit
.
monuerunt
et
Fortunae
Antiatinae
,
ut
a
Cassio
caueret
;
qua
causa
ille
Cassium
Longinum
Asiae
tum
proconsulem
occidendum
delegauerat
,
inmemor
Chaeream
Cassium
nominari
.
pridie
quam
periret
,
somniauit
consistere
se
in
caelo
iuxta
solium
Iouis
impulsumque
ab
eo
dextri
pedis
pollice
et
in
terras
praecipitatum
.
prodigiorum
loco
habita
sunt
etiam
,
quae
forte
illo
ipso
die
paulo
prius
acciderant
.
sacrificans
respersus
est
phoenicopteri
sanguine
;
et
pantomimus
Mnester
tragoediam
saltauit
,
quam
olim
Neoptolemus
tragoedus
ludis
,
quibus
rex
Macedonum
Philippus
occisus
est
,
egerat
;
et
cum
in
Laureolo
mimo
,
in
quo
actor
proripiens
se
ruina
sanguinem
uomit
,
plures
secundarum
certatim
experimentum
artis
darent
,
cruore
scaena
abundauit
.
parabatur
et
in
noctem
spectaculum
,
quo
argumenta
inferorum
per
Aegyptios
et
Aethiopas
explicarentur
.
His approaching fate was indicated by many prodigies. The statue of Jupiter at Olympia, which he had ordered to be taken down and brought to Rome, suddenly burst out into such a violent fit of laughter, that, the machines employed in the work giving way, the workmen took to their heels. When this accident happened, there came up a man named Cassius, who said that he was commanded in a dream to sacrifice a bull to Jupiter. The Capitol at Capua was struck with lightning upon the ides of March [i th March]; as was also, at Rome, the apartment of the chief porter of the Palatiun. Some construed the latter into a presage that the master of the palace was in danger from his own guards; and the other they regarded as a sign, that an illustrious person would be cut off, as had happened before on that day. Sylla, the astrologer, being consulted by him respecting his nativity, assured him, "That death would unavoidably and speedily befall him." The oracle of Fortune at Antium likewise forewarned him of Cassius; on which account he had given orders for putting to death Cassius Longi nus, at that time proconsul of Asia, not considering that Chaerea bore also that name. The day preceding his death he dreamt that he was standing in heaven near the throne of Jupiter, who giving him a push with the great toe of his right foot, he fell headlong upon the earth. Some things which happened the very day of his death, and only a little before it, were likewise considered as ominous presages of that event. Whilst he was at sacrifice, he was bespattered with the blood of a flamingo. And Mnester, the pantomimic actor, performed in a play, which the tragedian Neoptolemus had formerly acted at the games in which Philip, the king of Macedon, was slain. And in the piece called Laureolus, in which the principal actor, running out in a hurry, and falling, vomited blood, several of the inferior actors vying with each other to give the best specimen of their art, made the whole stage flow with blood. A spectacle had been purposed to be performed that night, in which the fables of the infernal regions were to be represented by Egyptians and Ethiopians.
58
VIIII
.
Kal
. Febr.
hora
fere
septima
cunctatus
an
ad
prandium
surgeret
marcente
adhuc
stomacho
pridiani
cibi
onere
,
tandem
suadentibus
amicis
egressus
est
.
cum
in
crypta
,
per
quam
transeundum
erat
,
pueri
nobiles
ex
Asia
ad
edendas
in
scaena
operas
euocati
praepararentur
,
ut
eos
inspiceret
hortareturque
restitit
,
ac
nisi
princeps
gregis
algere
se
diceret
,
redire
ac
repraesentare
spectaculum
uoluit
.
duplex
dehinc
fama
est
:
alii
tradunt
adloquenti
pueros
a
tergo
Chaeream
ceruicem
gladio
caesim
grauiter
percussisse
praemissa
uoce
: '
hoc
age
! '
dehinc
Cornelium
Sabinum
,
alterum
e
coniuratis
,
tribunum
ex
aduerso
traiecisse
pectus
;
alii
Sabinum
summota
per
conscios
centuriones
turba
signum
more
militiae
petisse
et
Gaio
'
Iouem
'
dante
Chaeream
exclamasse
: '
accipe
ratum
! '
respicientique
maxillam
ictu
discidisse
.
iacentem
contractisque
membris
clamitantem
se
uiuere
ceteri
uulneribus
triginta
confecerunt
;
nam
signum
erat
omnium
: '
repete
! '
quidam
etiam
per
obscaena
ferrum
adegerunt
.
ad
primum
tumultum
lecticari
cum
asseribus
in
auxilium
accucurrerunt
,
mox
Germani
corporis
custodes
,
ac
nonnullos
ex
percussoribus
,
quosdam
etiam
senatores
innoxios
interemerunt
.
On the ninth of the calends of February [24th January], and about the seventh hour of the day, after hesitating whether he should rise to dinner, as his stomach was disordered by what he had eaten the day before, at last, by the advice of his friends, he came forth. In the vaulted passage through which he had to pass, were some boys of noble extraction, who had been brought from Asia to act upon the stage, waiting for him in a private corridor, and he stopped to see and speak to them; and had not the leader of the party said that he was suffering from cold, he would have gone back, and made them act immediately. Respecting what followed, two different accounts are given. Some say, that, whilst he was speaking to the boys, Chaerea came behind him, and gave him a heavy blow on the neck with his sword first crying out, "Take this:" that then a tribune, by name Cornelius Sabinus, another of the conspirators, ran him through the breast. Others say, that the crowd being kept at a distance by some centurions who were in the plot, Sabinus came, according to custom,.fr. the word, and that Caius gave him " Jupiter," upon which Chaerea cried out, "Be it so !" and then, on his looking round, clove one of his jaws with a blow. As he lay on the ground, crying out that he was still alive, the rest dispatched him with thirty wounds. For the word agreed upon among them all was, "Strike again." Some likewise ran their swords through his privy parts. Upon the first bustle, the litter bearers came running in with their poles to his assistance, and, immediately afterwards, his German body guards, who killed some of the assassins, and also some senators who had no concern in the affair.
59
Vixit
annis
uiginti
nouem
,
imperauit
triennio
et
decem
mensibus
diebusque
octo
.
cadauer
eius
clam
in
hortos
Lamianos
asportatum
et
tumultuario
rogo
semiambustum
leui
caespite
obrutum
est
,
postea
per
sorores
ab
exilio
reuersas
erutum
et
crematum
sepultumque
.
satis
constat
,
prius
quam
id
fieret
,
hortorum
custodes
umbris
inquietatos
;
in
ea
quoque
domo
,
in
qua
occubuerit
,
nullam
noctem
sine
aliquo
terrore
transactam
,
donec
ipsa
domus
incendio
consumpta
sit
.
perit
una
et
uxor
Caesonia
gladio
a
centurione
confossa
et
filia
parieti
inlisa
.
He lived twenty-nine years, and reigned three years, ten months and eight days. His body was carried privately into the Lamian Gardens, where it was half burnt upon a pile hastily raised, and then had some earth carelessly thrown over it. It was afterwards disinterred by his sisters, on their return from banishment, burnt to ashes, and buried. Before this was done, it is well-known that the keepers of the gardens were greatly disturbed by apparitions; and that not a night passed without some terrible alarm or other in the house where he was slain, until it was destroyed by fire. His wife Caesonia was killed with him, being stabbed by a centurion; and his daughter had her brains knocked out against a wall.
60
Condicionem
temporum
illorum
etiam
per
haec
aestimare
quiuis
possit
.
nam
neque
caede
uulgata
statim
creditum
est
,
fuitque
suspicio
ab
ipso
Gaio
famam
caedis
simulatam
et
emissam
,
ut
eo
pacto
hominum
erga
se
mentes
deprehenderet
;
neque
coniurati
cuiquam
imperium
destinauerunt
;
et
senatus
in
asserenda
libertate
adeo
consensit
,
ut
consules
primo
non
in
curiam
,
quia
Iulia
uocabatur
,
sed
in
Capitolium
conuocarent
,
quidam
uero
sententiae
loco
abolendam
Caesarum
memoriam
ac
diruenda
templa
censuerint
.
obseruatum
autem
notatumque
est
in
primis
Caesares
omnes
,
quibus
Gai
praenomen
fuerit
,
ferro
perisse
,
iam
inde
ab
eo
,
qui
Cinnanis
temporibus
sit
occisus
.
Of the miserable condition of those times, any person may easily form an estimate from the following circumstances. When his death was made public, it was not immediately credited. People entertained a suspicion that a report of his being killed had been contrived and spread by himself with the view of discovering how they stood affected towards him. Nor had the conspirators fixed upon any one to succeed him. The senators were so unanimous in their resolution to assert the liberty of their country, that the consuls assembled them at first not in the usual place of meeting, because it was named after Julius Caesar, but in the Capitol. Some proposed to abolish the memory of the Caesars, and level their temples with the ground. It was particularly remarked on this occasion, that all the Caesars, who had the praenomen of Caius, died by the sword, from the Caius Caesar who was slain in the times of Cinna.