Claudius (Suetonius)

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	Claudius Author: Suetonius	Translator: Alexander Thomson
12	At in semet augendo parcus atque ciuilis praenomine Imperatoris abstinuit , nimios honores recusauit , sponsalia filiae natalemque geniti nepotis silentio ac tantum domestica religione transegit . neminem exulum nisi ex senatus auctoritate restituit . ut sibi in curiam praefectum praetori tribunosque militum secum inducere liceret utque rata essent quae procuratores sui in iudicando statuerent , precario exegit . ius nundinarum in priuata praedia a consulibus petit . cognitionibus magistratuum ut unus e consiliariis frequenter interfuit ; eosdem spectacula edentis surgens et ipse cum cetera turba uoce ac manu ueneratus est . tr ( ibunis ) pl ( ebis ) adeuntibus se pro tribunali excusauit , quod propter angustias non posset audire eos nisi stantes . quare in breui spatio tantum amoris fauorisque collegit , ut cum profectum eum Ostiam perisse ex insidiis nuntiatum esset , magna consternatione populus et militem quasi proditorem et senatum quasi parricidam diris execrationibus incessere non ante destiterit , quam unus atque alter et mox plures a magistratibus in rostra producti saluum et appropinquare confirmarent .	But with regard to his own aggrandisement, he was sparing and modest, declining the title of emperor, an irefusing all excessive honours. He celebrated the marriage of his daughter and the birth-day of a grandson with great privacy, at home. He recalled none of those who had been banished, without a decree of the senate: and requested of them permission for the prefect of the military tribunes and pretorian guards to attend him in the senate-house; and also that they would be pleased to bestow upon his procurators judicial authority in the provinces. He asked of the consuls likewise the privilege of holding fairs upon his private estate. He frequently assisted the magistrates in the trial of causes, as one of their assessors. And when they gave public spectacles, he would rise up with the rest of the spectators, and salute them both by words and gestures. When the tribunes of the people came to him while he was on the tribunal, he excused himself, because, on account of the crowd, he could not hear them unless they stood. In a short time, by this conduct, he wrought himself so much into the favour and affection of the public, that when, upon his going to Ostia, a report was spread in the city that he had been waylaid and slain, the people never ceased cursing the soldiers for traitors, and the senate as parricides, until one or two persons, and presently after several others, were brought by the magistrates upon the rostra, who assured them that he was alive, and not far from the city, on his way home.
13	Nec tamen expers insidiarum usque quaque permansit , sed et a singulis et per factionem et denique ciuili bello infestatus est . e plebe homo nocte media iuxta cubiculum eius cum pugione deprehensus est ; reperti et equestris ordinis duo in publico cum dolone ac uenatorio cultro praestolantes , alter ut egressum theatro , alter ut sacrificantem apud Martis aedem adoreretur . conspirauerunt autem ad res nouas Gallus Asinius et Statilius Coruinus , Pollionis ac Messalae oratorum nepotes , assumptis compluribus libertis ipsius atque seruis . bellum ciuile mouit Furius Camillus Scribonianus Delmatiae legatus ; uerum intra quintum diem oppressus est legionibus , quae sacramentum mutauerant , in paenitentiam religione conuersis , postquam denuntiato ad nouum imperatorem itinere casu quodam ac diuinitus neque aquila ornari neque signa conuelli mouerique potuerunt .	Conspiracies, however, were formed against him, not only by individuals separately, but by a faction; and at last his government was disturbed with a civil war. A low fellow was found with a poniard about him, near his chamber, at midnight. Two men of the equestrian order were discovered waiting for him in the streets, armed with a tuck and a huntsman's dagger; one of them intending to attack him as he came out of the theatre, and the other as he was sacrificing in the temple of Mars. Gallus Asinius and Statilius Corvinus, grandsons of the two orators, Pollio and Messala, formed a conspiracy against him, in which they engaged many of his freedmen and slaves. Furius Camillus Scribonianus, his lieutenant in Dalmatia, broke into rebellion, but was reduced in the space of five days; the legions which he had seduced from their oath of fidelity relinquishing their purpose, upon an alarm occasioned by ill omens. For when orders were given them to march, to meet their new emperor, the eagles could not be decorated, nor the standards pulled out of the ground, whether it was by accident, or a divine interposition.
14	Consulatus super pristinum quattuor gessit ; ex quibus duos primos iunctim , sequentis per interuallum quarto quemque anno , semenstrem nouissimum , bimenstris ceteros , tertium autem nouo circa principem exemplo in locum demortui suffectus . ius et consul et extra honorem laboriosissime dixit , etiam suis suorumque diebus sollemnibus , nonnumquam festis quoque antiquitus et religiosis . nec semper praescripta legum secutus duritiam lenitatemue multarum ex bono et aequo , perinde ut adficeretur , moderatus est ; nam et iis , qui apud priuatos iudices plus petendo formula excidissent , restituit actiones et in maiore fraude conuictos legitimam poenam supergressus ad bestias condemnauit .	Besides his former consulship, he held the office afterwards four times; the first two successively, but the following, after an interval of four years each; the last for six months, the others for two; and the third, upon his being chosen in the room of a consul who died; which had never been done by any of the emperors before him. Whether he was consul or out of office he constantly attended the courts for the administration of justice, even upon such days as were solemnly observed as days of rejoicing in his family, or by his friends; and sometimes upon the public festivals of ancient institution. Nor did he always adhere strictly to the letter of the laws, but overruled the rigour or lenity of many of their enactments, according to his sentiments of justice and equity. For where persons lost their suits by insisting upon more than appeared to be their due, before the judges of private causes, he granted them the indulgence of a second trial. And with regard to such as were convicted of any great delinquency, he even exceeded the punishment appointed by law, and condemned them to be exposed to wild beasts.
15	in cognoscendo autem ac decernendo mira uarietate animi fuit , modo circumspectus et sagax , interdum inconsultus ac praeceps , nonnumquam friuolus amentique similis . cum decurias rerum actu expungeret , eum , qui dissimulata uacatione quam beneficio liberorum habebat responderat , ut cupidum iudicandi dimisit ; alium interpellatum ab aduersariis de propria lite negantemque cognitionis rem sed ordinari iuris esse , agere causam confestim apud se coegit , proprio negotio documentum daturum , quam aequus iudex in alieno negotio futurus esset . feminam non agnoscentem filium suum dubia utrimque argumentorum fide ad confessionem compulit indicto matrimonio iuuenis . absentibus secundum praesentes facillime dabat , nullo dilectu culpane quis an aliqua necessitate cessasset . proclamante quodam praecidendas falsario manus , carnificem statim acciri cum machaera mensaque lanionia flagitauit . peregrinitatis reum orta inter aduocatos leui contentione , togatumne an palliatum dicere causam oporteret , quasi aequitatem integram ostentans , mutare habitum saepius et prout accusaretur defendereturue , iussit . de quodam etiam negotio ita ex tabella pronuntiasse creditur , secundum eos se sentire , qui uera proposuissent . propter quae usque eo euiluit , ut passim ac propalam contemptui esset . excusans quidam testem e prouincia ab eo uocatum negauit praesto esse posse dissimulata diu causa ; ac post longas demum interrogationes : ' mortuus est ,' inquit , ' puto , licuit .' alius gratias agens quod reum defendi pateretur , adiecit : ' et tamen fieri solet .' illud quoque a maioribus natu audiebam , adeo causidicos patientia eius solitos abuti , ut discedentem e tribunali non solum uoce reuocarent , sed et lacinia togae retenta , interdum pede apprehenso detinerent . ac ne cui haec mira sint , litigatori Graeculo uox in altercatione excidit : καὶ σὺ γέρων εἶ καὶ μωρόσ . equitem quidem Romanum obscaenitatis in feminas reum , sed falso et ab impotentibus inimicis conficto crimine , satis constat , cum scorta meritoria citari aduersus se et audiri pro testimonio uideret , graphium et libellos , quos tenebat in manu , ita cum magna stultitiae et saeuitiae exprobratione iecisse in faciem eius , ut genam non leuiter perstrinxerit .	But in hearing and determining causes, he exhibited a strange inconsistency of temper, being at one time circumspect and sagacious, at another inconsiderate and rash, and sometimes frivolous and like one out of his mind. In correcting the roll of judges, he struck off the name of one who, concealing the privilege his children gave him to be excused from serving, had answered to his name, as too eager for the office. Another who was summoned before him in a cause of his own, but alleged that the affair did not properly come under the emperor's cognizance, but that of the ordinary judges, he ordered to plead the cause himself immediately before him, and show in a case of his own, how equitable a judge he would prove in that of other persons. A woman refusing to acknowledge her own son, and there being no clear proof on either side, he obliged her to confess the truth, by ordering her to marry the young man. He was much inclined to determine causes in favour of the parties who appeared, against those who did not, without inquiring whether their absence was occasioned by their own fault, or by real necessity. On proclamation of a man's being convicted of forgery, and that he ought to have his hand cut off, he insisted that an executioner should be immediately sent for, with a Spanish sword and a block. A person being prosecuted for falsely assuming the freedom of Rome, and a frivolous dispute arising between the advocates in the cause, whether he ought to make his appearance in the Roman or Grecian dress, to show his impartiality, he commanded him to change his clothes several times according to the character he assumed in the accusation or defence. An anecdote is related of him, and believed to be true, that, in a particular cause, he delivered his sentence in writing thus: "I am in favour of those who have spoken the truth." By this he so much forfeited the good opinion of the world, that he was everywhere and openly despised. A person making an excuse for the non-appearance of a witness whom he had sent for from the provinces, declared it was impossible for him to appear, concealing the reason for some time: at last, after several interrogatories were put to him on the subject, he answered, "The man is dead;" to which Claudius replied, "I think that is a sufficient excuse." Another thanking him for suffering a person who was prosecuted to make his defence by counsel, added, "And yet it is no more than what is usual." I have likewise heard some old men say, that the advocates used to abuse his patience so grossly, that they would not only call him back, as he was quitting the tribunal, but would seize him by the lap of his coat, and sometimes catch him by the heels, to make him stay. That such behaviour, however strange, is not incredible, will appear from this anecdote. Some obscure Greek, who was a litigant, had an altercation with him, in which he called out, "You are an old fool." It is certain that a Roman knight, who was prosecuted by an impotent device of his enemies on a false charge of abominable obscenity with women, observing that common strumpets were summoned against him and allowed to give evidence, upbraided Claudius in very harsh and severe terms with his folly and cruelty, and threw his style, and some books which he had in his hands, in his face, with such violence as to wound him severely in the cheek.
16	Gessit et censuram intermissam diu post Plancum Paulumque censores , sed hanc quoque inaequabiliter uarioque et animo et euentu . recognitione equitum iuuenem probri plenum , sed quem pater probatissimum sibi affirmabat , sine ignominia dimisit , habere dicens censorem suum ; alium corruptelis adulteriisque famosum nihil amplius quam monuit , ut aut parcius aetatulae indulgeret aut certe cautius ; addiditque : ' quare enim ego scio , quam amicam habeas ?' et cum orantibus familiaribus dempsisset cuidam appositam notam : ' litura tamen ,' inquit , ' extet .' splendidum uirum Graeciaeque prouinciae principem , uerum Latini sermonis ignarum , non modo albo iudicum erasit , sed in peregrinitatem redegit . nec quemquam nisi sua uoce , utcumque quis posset , ac sine patrono rationem uitae passus est reddere . notauitque multos , et quosdam inopinantis et ex causa noui generis , quod se inscio ac sine commeatu Italia excessissent ; quendam uero et quod comes regis in prouincia fuisset , referens , maiorum temporibus Rabirio Postumo Ptolemaeum Alexandriam crediti seruandi causa secuto crimen maiestatis apud iudices motum . plures notare conatus , magna inquisitorum neglegentia sed suo maiore dedecore , innoxios fere repperit , quibuscumque caelibatum aut orbitatem aut egestatem obiceret , maritos , patres , opulentos se probantibus ; eo quidem , qui sibimet uim ferro intulisse arguebatur , inlaesum corpus ueste deposita ostentante . fuerunt et illa in censura eius notabilia , quod essedum argenteum sumptuose fabricatum ac uenale ad Sigillaria redimi concidique coram imperauit ; quodque uno die XX edicta proposuit , inter quae duo , quorum altero admonebat , ut uberi uinearum prouentu bene dolia picarentur ; altero , nihil aeque facere ad uiperae morsum quam taxi arboris sucum .	He likewise assumed the censorship, which had been discontinued since the time that Paulus and Plancus had jointly held it. But this also he administered very unequally, and with a strange variety of humour and conduct. In his review of the knights, he passed over, without any mark of disgrace, a profligate young man, only because his father spoke of him in the highest terms; "for," said lie, "his father is his proper censor." Another, who was infamous for debauching youths and for adultery, he only admonished " to indulge his youthful inclinations more sparingly, or at least more cautiously;" adding, "why must I know what mistress you keep?" When, at the request of his friends, he had taken off a mark of infamy which he had set upon one knight's name, he said, "Let the blot, however, remain." He not only struck out of the list of judges, but likewise deprived of the freedom of Rome, an illustrious man of the highest provincial rank in Greece, only because he was ignorant of the Latin language. Nor in this review did he suffer any one to give an account of his conduct by an advocate, but obliged each man to speak for himself in the best way he could. He disgraced many, and some that little expected it, and for a reason entirely new, namely, for going out of Italy without his license; and one likewise, for having in his province, been the familiar companion of a king; observing, that, in former times, Rabirius Posthumus had been prosecuted for treason, although he only went after Ptolemy to Alexandria for the purpose of securing payment of a debt. Having tried to brand with disgrace several others, he, to his own greater shame, found them generally innocent, through the negligence of the persons employed to inquire into their characters; those whom he charged with living in celibacy, with want of children, or estate, proving themselves to be husbands, parents, and in affluent circumstances. One of the knights who was charged with stabbing himself, laid his bosom bare, to show that there was not the least mark of violence upon his body. The following incidents were remarkable in his censorship. He ordered a car, plated with silver, and of very sumptuous workmanship, which was exposed for sale in the Sigillaria, to be purchased, and broken in pieces before his eyes. He published twenty proclamations in one day, in one of which he advised the people, "Since the vintage was very plentiful, to have their casks well secured at the bung with pitch:" and in another, he told them, " that nothing would sooner cure the bite of a viper, than the sap of the yew-tree."
17	Expeditionem unam omnino suscepit eamque modicam . cum decretis sibi a senatu ornamentis triumphalibus leuiorem maiestati principali titulum arbitraretur uelletque iusti triumphi decus , unde adquireret Britanniam potissimum elegit , neque temptatam ulli post Diuum Iulium et tunc tumultuantem ob non redditos transfugas . huc cum ab Ostia nauigaret , uehementi circio bis paene demersus est , prope Liguriam iuxtaque Stoechadas insulas . quare a Massilia Gesoriacum usque pedestri itinere confecto inde transmisit ac sine ullo proelio aut sanguine intra paucissimos dies parte insulae in deditionem recepta , sexto quam profectus erat mense Romam rediit triumphauitque maximo apparatu . ad cuius spectaculum commeare in urbem non solum praesidibus prouinciarum permisit , uerum etiam exulibus quibusdam ; atque inter hostilia spolia naualem coronam fastigio Palatinae domus iuxta ciuicam fixit , traiecti et quasi domiti Oceani insigne . currum eius Messalina uxor carpento secuta est ; secuti et triumphalia ornamenta eodem bello adepti , sed ceteri pedibus et in praetexta , M . Crassus Frugi equo phalerato et in ueste palmata , quod eum honorem iterauerat .	He undertook only one expedition, and that was of short duration. The triumphal ornaments decreed him by the senate, he considered as beneath the imperial dignity, and was therefore resolved to have the honour of a real triumph. For this purpose, he selected Britain, which had never been attempted by any one since Julius Caesar, and was then chafing with rage, because the Romans would not give up some deserters. Accordingly, he set sail from Ostia, but was twice very near being wrecked by the boisterous wind called Circius, upon the coast of Liguria, near the islands called Stoechades. Having marched by land from Marseilles to Gessoriacum, he thence passed over to Britain, and part of the island submitting to him, within a few days after his arrival, without battle or bloodshed, he returned to Rome in less than six months from the time of his departure, and triumphed in the most solemn manner; to witness which, he not only gave leave to governors of provinces to come to Rome, but even to some of the exiles. Among the spoils taken from the enemy, he fixed upon the pediment of his house in the Palatium, a naval crown, in token of his having passed, and, as it were, conquered the Ocean, and had it suspended near the civic crown which was there before. Messalina, his wife, followed his chariot in a covered litter. Those who had attained the honour of triumphal ornaments in the same war, rode behind; the rest followed on foot, wearing the robe with the broad stripes. Crassus Frugi was mounted upon a horse richly caparisoned, in a robe embroidered with palm leaves, because this was the second time of his obtaining that honour.
18	Vrbis annonaeque curam sollicitissime semper egit . cum Aemiliana pertinacius arderent , in diribitorio duabus noctibus mansit ac deficiente militum ac familiarum turba auxilio plebem per magistratus ex omnibus uicis conuocauit ac positis ante se cum pecunia fiscis ad subueniendum hortatus est , repraesentans pro opera dignam cuique mercedem . artiore autem annona ob assiduas sterilitates detentus quondam medio foro a turba conuiciisque et simul fragminibus panis ita infestatus , ut aegre nec nisi postico euadere in Palatium ualuerit , nihil non excogitauit ad inuehendos etiam tempore hiberno commeatus . nam et negotiatoribus certa lucra proposuit suscepto in se damno , si cui quid per tempestates accidisset , et naues mercaturae causa fabricantibus magna commoda constituit pro condicione cuiusque :	He paid particular attention to the care of the city, and to have it well supplied with provisions. A dreadful fire happening in the Aemiliana, which lasted some time, he passed two nights in the Diribitorium, and the soldiers and gladiators not being in sufficient numbers to extinguish it, he caused the magistrates to summon the people out of all the streets in the city, to their assistance. Placing bags of money before him, he encouraged them to do their utmost, declaring, that he would reward every one on the spot, according to their exertions. During a scarcity of provisions, occasioned by bad crops for several successive years, he was stopped in the middle of the forum by the mob, who so abused him, at the same time pelting him with fragments of bread, that he had some difficulty in escaping into the palace by a back door. He therefore used all possible means to bring provisions to the city, even in winter. He proposed to the merchants a sure profit, by indemnifying them against any loss that might befall them by storms at sea; and granted great privileges to those who built ships for that traffic.
19	ciui uacationem legis Papiae Poppaeae , Latino ius Quiritium , feminis ius IIII liberorum ; quae constituta hodieque seruantur .	To a citizen of Rome he gave an exemption from the penalty of the Papia-Poppaean law; to one who had only the privilege of Latium, the freedom of the city; and to women the rights which by law belonged to those who had four children: which enactments are in force to this day.
20	Opera magna potius † quam necessaria quam multa perfecit , sed uel praecipua : ductum aquarum a Gaio incohatum , item emissarium Fucini lacus portumque Ostiensem , quanquam sciret ex iis alterum ab Augusto precantibus assidue Marsis negatum , alterum a Diuo Iulio saepius destinatum ac propter difficultatem omissum . Claudiae aquae gelidos et uberes fontes , quorum alteri Caeruleo , alteri Curtio et Albudigno nomen est , simulque riuum Anienis noui lapideo opere in urbem perduxit diuisitque in plurimos et ornatissimos lacus . Fucinum adgressus est non minus conpendii spe quam gloriae , cum quidam priuato sumptu emissuros se repromitterent , si sibi siccati agri concederentur . per tria autem passuum milia partim effosso monte partim exciso canalem absoluit aegre et post undecim annos , quamuis continuis XXX hominum milibus sine intermissione operantibus . portum Ostiae extruxit circumducto dextra sinistraque brachio et ad introitum profundo iam solo mole obiecta ; quam quo stabilius fundaret , nauem ante demersit , qua magnus obeliscus ex Aegypto fuerat aduectus , congestisque pilis superposuit altissimam turrem in exemplum Alexandrini Phari , ut ad nocturnos ignes cursum nauigia dirigerent .	He completed some important public works, which, though, not numerous, were very useful. The principal were an aqueduct, which had been begun by Caius; an emissary for the discharge of the waters of the Fucine lake, and the harbour of Ostia; although he knew that Augustus had refused to comply with the repeated application of the Marsians for one of these; and that the other had been several times intended by Julius Caesar, but as often abandoned on account of the difficulty of its execution. He brought to the city the cool and plentiful springs of the Claudian water, one of which is called Caeruleus. and the other Curtius and Albudinus, as likewise the river of the New Anio, in a stone canal: and distributed them into many magnificent reservoirs. The canal from the Fucine lake was undertaken as much for the sake of profit, as for the honour of the enterprise; for there were parties who offered to drain it at their own expense, on condition of their having a grant of the land laid dry. With great difficulty he completed a canal three miles in length, partly by cutting through, and partly by tunnelling, a mountain; thirty thousand men being constantly employed in the work for eleven years. He formed the harbour at Ostia, by carrying out circular piers on the right and on the left, with a mole protecting, in deep water, the entrance of the port. To secure the foundation of this mole, he sunk the vessel in which the great obelisk had been brought from Egypt; and built upon piles a very lofty tower, in imitation of the Pharos at Alexandria, on which lights were burnt to direct mariners in the night.
21	Congiaria populo saepius distribuit . spectacula quoque complura et magnifica edidit , non usitata modo ac solitis locis , sed et commenticia et ex antiquitate repetita , et ubi praeterea nemo ante eum . ludos dedicationis Pompeiani theatri , quod ambustum restituerat , e tribunali posito in orchestra commisit , cum prius apud superiores aedes supplicasset perque mediam caueam sedentibus ac silentibus cunctis descendisset . fecit et saeculares , quasi anticipatos ab Augusto nec legitimo tempori reseruatos , quamuis ipse in historiis suis prodat , intermissos eos Augustum multo post diligentissime annorum ratione subducta in ordinem redegisse . quare uox praeconis irrisa est inuitantis more sollemni ad ludos , quos nec spectasset quisquam nec spectaturus esset , cum superessent adhuc qui spectauerant , et quidam histrionum producti olim tunc quoque producerentur . circenses frequenter etiam in Vaticano commisit , nonnumquam interiecta per quinos missus uenatione . circo uero maximo marmoreis carceribus auratisque metis , quae utraque et tofina ac lignea antea fuerant , exculto propria senatoribus constituit loca promiscue spectare solitis ; ac super quadrigarum certamina Troiae lusum exhibuit et Africanas , conficiente turma equitum praetorianorum , ducibus tribunis ipsoque praefecto ; praeterea Thessalos equites , qui feros tauros per spatia circi agunt insiliuntque defessos et ad terram cornibus detrahunt . Gladiatoria munera plurifariam ac multiplicia exhibuit : anniuersarium in castris praetorianis sine uenatione apparatuque , iustum atque legitimum in Saeptis ; ibidem extraordinarium et breue dierumque paucorum , quodque appellare coepit ' sportulam ,' quia primum daturus edixerat , uelut ad subitam condictamque cenulam inuitare se populum . nec ullo spectaculi genere communior aut remissior erat , adeo ut oblatos uictoribus aureos prolata sinistra pariter cum uulgo uoce digitisque numeraret ac saepe hortando rogandoque ad hilaritatem homines prouocaret , dominos identidem appellans , immixtis interdum frigidis et arcessitis iocis ; qualis est ut cum Palumbum postulantibus daturum se promisit , si captus esset . illud plane quantumuis salubriter et in tempore : cum essedario , pro quo quattuor fili deprecabantur , magno omnium fauore indulsisset rudem , tabulam ilico misit admonens populum , quanto opere liberos suscipere deberet , quos uideret et gladiatori praesidio gratiaeque esse . edidit et in Martio campo expugnationem direptionemque oppidi ad imaginem bellicam et deditionem Britanniae regum praeseditque paludatus . quin et emissurus Fucinum lacum naumachiam ante commisit . sed cum proclamantibus naumachiariis : ' haue imperator , morituri te salutant !' respondisset : ' aut non ,' neque post hanc uocem quasi uenia data quisquam dimicare uellet , diu cunctatus an omnes igni ferroque absumeret , tandem e sede sua prosiluit ac per ambitum lacus non sine foeda uacillatione discurrens partim minando partim adhortando ad pugnam compulit . hoc spectaculo classis Sicula et Rhodia concurrerunt , duodenarum triremium singulae , exciente bucina Tritone argenteo , qui e medio lacu per machinam emerserat .	He often distributed largesses of corn and money among the people, and entertained them with a great variety of public magnificent spectacles, not only such as were usual, and in the accustomed places, but some of new invention, and others revived from ancient models, and exhibited in places where nothing of the kind had been ever before attempted. In the games which he presented at the dedication of Pompey's theatre, which had been burnt down, and was rebuilt by him, he presided upon a tribunal erected for him in the orchestra; having first paid his devotions, in the temple above, and then coming down through the centre of the circle, while all the people kept their seats in profound silence. He likewise exhibited the secular games, giving out that Augustus had anticipated the regular period; though he himself says in his history, "That they had been omitted before the age of Augustus, who had calculated the years with great exactness, and again brought them to their regular period." The crier was therefore ridiculed, when he invited people in the usual form, "to games which no person had ever before seen, nor ever would again;" when many were still living who had already seen them; and some of the performers who had formerly acted in them, were now again brought upon the stage. He likewise frequently celebrated the Circensian games in the Vatican, sometimes exhibiting a hunt of wild beasts, after every five courses. He embellished the Circus Maximus with marble barriers, and gilded goals, which before were of common stone and wood, and assigned proper places for the senators, who were used to sit promiscuously with the other spectators. Besides the chariot-races, he exhibited there the Trojan game, and wild beasts from Africa, which were encountered by a troop of pretorian knights, with their tribunes, and even the prefect at the head of them; besides Thessalian horse, who drive fierce bulls round the circus, leap upon their backs when they have exhausted their fury, and drag them by the horns to the ground. He gave exhibitions of gladiators in several places, and of various kinds; one yearly on the anniversary of his accession in the pretorian camp, but without any hunting, or the usual apparatus; another in the Septa as usual; and in the same place, another out of the common way,. and of a few days' continuance only, which he called Sportula; because when he was going to present it, he informed the people by proclamation, " that he invited them to a late supper, got up in haste, and without ceremony." Nor did he lend himself to any kind of public diversion with more freedom and hilarity; insomuch that he would hold out his left hand, and joined by the common people, count upon his fingers aloud the gold pieces presented to those who came off conquerors. He would earnestly invite the company to be merry; sometimes calling them his "masters," with a mixture of insipid, far-fetched jests. Thus when the people called for Palumbus, he said, " He would give them one when he could catch it." The following was well-intended and well-timed; having, amidst great applause, spared a gladiator, on the intercession of his four sons, he sent a billet immediately round the theatre, to remind the people, " how much it behooved them to get children, since they had before them an example how useful they had been in procuring favour and security for a gladiator." He likewise represented in the Campus Martius, the assault and sacking of a town, and the surrender of the British kings, presiding in his general's cloak. Immediately before he drew off the waters from the Fucine lake, he exhibited upon it a naval fight. But the combatants on board the fleets crying out, "Health attend you, noble emperor! We, who are about to peril our lives, salute you;" and he replying, "Health attend you too," they all refused to fight, as if by that response he had meant to excuse them. Upon this, he hesitated for a time, whether he should not destroy them all with fire and sword. At last, leaping from his seat, and running along the shore of the lake with tottering steps, the result of his foul excesses, he, partly by fair words, and partly by threats, persuaded them to engage. This spectacle represented an engagement between the fleets of Sicily and Rhodes; consisting each of twelve ships of war, of three banks of oars. The signal for the encounter was given by a silver Triton, raised by machinery from the middle of the lake.
22	Quaedam circa caerimonias ciuilemque et militarem morem , item circa omnium ordinum statum domi forisque aut correxit aut exoleta reuocauit aut etiam noua instituit . in cooptandis per collegia sacerdotibus neminem nisi iuratus nominauit ; obseruauitque sedulo , ut quotiens terra in urbe mouisset , ferias aduocata contione praetor indiceret , utque dira aue in Capitolio uisa obsecratio haberetur , eamque ipse iure maximi pontificis pro rostris populo praeiret summotaque operariorum seruorumque turba .	With regard to religious ceremonies, the administration of affairs both civil and military, and the condition of all orders of the people at home and abroad, some practices he corrected, others which had been laid aside he revived; and some regulations he introduced which were entirely new. In appointing new priests for the several colleges, he made no appointments without being sworn. When an earthquake happened in the city, he never failed to summon the people together by the praetor, and appoint holidays for sacred rites. And upon the sight of any ominous bird in the City or Capitol, he issued an order for a supplication, the words of which, by virtue of his office of high-priest, after an exhortation from the rostra, he recited in the presence of the people, who repeated them after him; all workmen and slaves being first ordered to withdraw.