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and having been brought up most wickedly, thus he fell from power, having been 30 years from his birth, but having reigned for 14 years, lacking two months. And the city was adorned with garlands and torch-processions, and they offered true prayers and celebrated festivals, and killing those who had been powerful under the tyrant, they continued as if torturing him himself. 92 Exc. Salm: Nero, seeing those who were about to kill him, begged his companions to slay him; but when no one obeyed, he did away with himself; and as he died he said: “O Zeus, what an artist (cithara-player) perishes in me.” And when he was born, the astrologers said that he would both reign and kill his mother; and there was also an oracle: The last of the Aeneadae, a matricide, shall rule.

93 GALBA.

Exc. De ins.: That Galba, who was admired after Nero, in his practices at the beginning of his reign seemed to be somewhat harsh and hasty in the correction of wrongdoings; for having completed but a short time of rule, having been plotted against by Otho, he is killed in the middle of the forum.

94 OTHO.

Exc. De virt.: That Otho, who reigned after Galba, being of an obscure and insignificant family, and of a rather dissolute former life, and most intimate with Nero on account of the similar manner of his way of life, in his reign, however, was not able to pursue his accustomed way of life, as difficult wars immediately broke out for him.

95 Exc. De ins.: That Otho, having killed Galba, when he came to power, Vitellius, having been proclaimed emperor by the Gallic and Germanic armies, marched against him. But Otho, having met him with his own forces, is defeated in the first engagement, and being disheartened by the present circumstances, although a sufficient army was at his disposal, he decided to remove himself by any means. But when his soldiers begged him not to cast down so quickly his hopes for everything, he answered that he in no way considered himself worthy of so great a civil disturbance and commotion; he voluntarily accepts death, in the 38th year of his age, and on the 95th day of his reign. And the army mourned him, being overcome by grief. And he, for his part, wonderfully overshadowed the debauchery of his former life by these actions, having decisively extinguished such a war with his own blood.

96 VITELLIUS.

Exc. Salm.: Vitellius, eight months, five days. Vitellius issued a decree that the sorcerers and astrologers depart from Italy within a specified day, and they themselves by night posted a counter-decree, ordering that he would depart from this life within the day on which he was destined to die. 97 Exc. De virt.: That Vitellius, having become emperor, ruled both harshly and very oppressively, and having embraced every disgrace in the other matters of his life, and not least in being unrestrainedly and insatiably gluttonous. For often not only by day, but also by night, he would take food, and for the preparations of his dinners he exhausted a great part of the public funds. For ten myriads of silver by weight on top of two thousand and

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καὶ τραφεὶς κάκιστα, οὕτω τῆς ἀρχῆς ἐξέπεσε, λʹ μὲν ἐξ αὐτῆς ὠδῖνος γεγονὼς ἔτη, βασιλεύσας δὲ ιδʹ δυεῖν μηνῶν ἀποδέοντα. Καὶ ἡ πόλις στεφανώμασι καὶ δᾳδουχίαις κεκόσμητο, εὐχάς τε ἀληθεῖς καὶ ἑορτὰς ἐπετέλουν, καὶ τούς τε δυνηθέντας ἐπὶ τοῦ τυράννου φονεύοντες, ὡς καὶ αὐτὸν ἐκεῖνον αἰκίζοντες διετέλουν. 92 Exc. Salm: Νέρων ἰδὼν τοὺς ἀναιρήσοντας αὐτὸν, παρακάλει τοὺς συνόντας ἀνελεῖν αὐτόν· ὡς δ' οὐδεὶς ὑπήκουεν, ἑαυτὸν διεχρήσατο· τελευτῶν δὲ ἔφη· «Ὦ Ζεῦ, οἷος (κιθαρῳδὸς) τεχνίτης ἀπόλλυμαι.» Ὅτε δὲ ἐτέχθη, εἶπον οἱ ἀστρολόγοι, ὅτι καὶ βασιλεύσει ταὶ τὴν μητέρα φονεύσει· ἦν δὲ καὶ λόγιον· Ἔσχατος Αἰνεαδῶν μητροκτόνος ἡγεμονεύσει.

93 ΓΑΛΒΑΣ.

Exc. De ins.: Ὅτι Γάλβας ὁ μετὰ Νέρωνα θαυμαζόμενος, ἐν τοῖς κατὰ τὴν ἀρχὴν ἐπιτηδεύμασιν ἔδοξέ πως εἶναι τραχύς τε καὶ πρόχειρος ἐν ταῖς τῶν ἁμαρτανομένων ἐπανορθώσεσι· βραχὺν γάρ τινα χρόνον τῆς ἡγεμονίας διατελέσας, ἐπιβουλευθεὶς ὑπὸ τοῦ Ὄθωνος, ἀναιρεῖται κατὰ μέσην ἀγοράν.

94 ΟΘΩΝ.

Exc. De virt.: Ὅτι Ὄθων ὁ μετὰ Γάλβαν βασιλεύσας γένους ἀσήμου καὶ ἀφανοῦς ὢν, καὶ τὸν ἔμπροσθεν βίον ἐξίτηλός τις, καὶ τῷ Νέρωνι κατὰ τὸ τῆς ἐκδιαιτήσεως ὁμοιότροπον οἰκειότατος ἔν γε μὴν τῇ βασιλείᾳ τὸν συνήθη τοῦ βίου μετελθεῖν τρόπον οὐχ ἱκανὸς γέγονε, πολέμων αὐτῷ χαλεπῶν εὐθὺς ἐκραγέντων.

95 Exc. De ins.: Ὅτι Ὄθων ἀνελὼν τὸν Γάλβαν, ὡς παρῆλθεν εἰς τὴν ἡγεμονίαν, Βιτέλλιος ὑπὸ τῶν Γαλατικῶν τε καὶ Γερμανικῶν στρατοπέδων αὐτοκράτωρ ἀναγορευθεὶς, ἤλασεν ἐπ' αὐτόν. Ὄθων δὲ σὺν ταῖς οἰκείαις ὑπαντήσας δυνάμεσιν, ἐλαττοῦται κατὰ τὴν πρώτην συμβολὴν, καὶ τοῖς παροῦσιν ἀθύμως διατεθεὶς, καίτοι στρατιᾶς αὐτάρκους αὐτῷ καθεστηκυίας, ὑπεξάγειν ἑαυτὸν ἐκ παντὸς ἔγνω τρόπου. ∆εομένων δὲ τῶν στρατιωτῶν, μὴ ταχέως οὕτω τὰς περὶ τοῦ παντὸς καταβαλεῖν ἐλπίδας, ἀποκρινάμενος, οὐδαμῶς ἄξιον ἑαυτὸν ἡγεῖσθαι τοσαύτης ἐμφυλίου ταραχῆς καὶ κινήσεως· ἑκουσίως ὑποδέχεται τὸν θάνατον, ὀγδόῳ καὶ λʹ τῆς ἡλικίας ἔτει, τῆς γε μὴν βασιλείας ἡμέρᾳ εʹ καὶ ʹ. Ἡ δὲ στρατιὰ ἐπένθησεν αὐτὸν, ἡττηθέντες τοῦ πάθους. Καὶ ὁ μὲν τὴν ἀσέλγειαν τοῦ ἔμπροσθεν βίου ἐν τούτοις θαυμαστῶς συνεσκιάσατο, βεβαίως τὸν τοιόνδε πόλεμον τῷ ἑαυτοῦ κατασβέσας αἵματι.

96 ΒΙΤΕΛΛΙΟΣ.

Exc. Salm.: Οὐιτέλλιος μῆνας ὀκτὼ ἡμέρας πέντε. Οὐιτέλλιος ἔθηκε πρόγραμμα τοὺς γόητας καὶ ἀστρολόγους ἐντὸς ῥητῆς ἡμέρας ἀπαλλαγῆναι τῆς Ἰταλίας, καὶ αὐτοὶ νυκτὸς ἀντιτεθείκασι πρόγραμμα παραγγέλλοντες, ἀπαλλαγήσεσθαι αὐτὸν τοῦ βίου ἐντὸς τῆς ἡμέρας, ἐν ᾗ τελευτᾶν ἔμελλεν. 97 Exc. De virt.: Ὅτι Βιτέλλιος βασιλεύσας τραχέως τε καὶ λίαν ἐπαχθῶς ἡγεῖτο, καὶ πᾶν αἶσχος ἀναδεδεγμένος ἔν τε τοῖς ἄλλοις τοῖς κατὰ τὸν βίον, καὶ οὐχ ἥκιστα τῷ γαστρὸς ἀκρατῶς τε καὶ ἀκορέστως ἔχειν. Πολλάκις γὰρ οὐ μόνον τῆς ἡμέρας, ἀλλὰ καὶ τῆς νυκτὸς σῖτον ᾑρεῖτο, καὶ παρὰ τὰς τῶν δείπνων παρασκευὰς τὸ πολὺ τῶν δημοσίων ἀπετρύετο. ∆έκα γὰρ δὴ μυριάδας σταθμοῦ ἀργυρίου ἐπὶ δισχιλίαις καὶ