(1) Dein Vitellius imperiō potītus est, familiā honōrātā magis quam nōbilī. Nam pater eius nōn admodum clārē nātus trēs tamen ōrdināriōs gesserat cōnsulātūs.

(2) Hīc cum multō dēdecore imperāvit et gravī saevitiā nōtābilis, praecipuē ingluviē et vorācitāte, quippe cum dē diē saepe quārtō vel quīntō ferātur epulātus.

(3) Nōtissima certē cēna memoriae mandāta est, quam eī Vitellius frāter exhibuit, in quā super cēterōs sūmptūs duo mīlia piscium, septem avium adposita trāduntur.

(4) Hīc cum Nerōnī similis esse vellet atque id adeō prae sē ferret, ut etiam exequiās Nerōnis, quae humiliter sepultae fuerant, honōrāret, ā Vespasiānī ducibus occīsus est, interfectō prius in urbe Sabīnō, Vespasiānī imperātōris frātre, quem cum Capitōliō incendit.

(5) Interfectus autem est māgnō dēdecore: trāctus per urbem Rōmam pūblicē, nūdus, ērēctō comā capite et subiectō ad mentum gladiō, stercore in vultum et pectus ab omnibus obviīs adpetītus, postrēmō iugulātus et in Tiberim dēiectus, etiam commūnī caruit sepultūrā.

(6) Periit autem aetātis annō septimō et quīnquāgēsimō, imperiī mēnse octāvō et diē ūnō.

    Vitellius Emperor (69 CE)

    (1) Vitellius: Aulus Vitellius was Roman emperor from January 2 to December 22, 69 CE. When the news of Galba’s death reached Upper Germany, where Vitellius was in command, his legions proclaimed him emperor at Cologne. He immediately sent his generals, Fabius Valens and Caecina, at the head of a large force, to Italy, and, having defeated Otho’s troops, obtained the undisputed command of all the western portion of the Empire. He was moderate in his rule, disturbing no one in the enjoyment of what had been given by Nero, Galba, or Otho. He was a glutton and an epicure, spending enormous sums on his table (Hazzard).

    imperiō potītus est: "took power." potior normally takes an ablative object (LS potior I.γ).

    pater eius: Lucius Vitellius

    ōrdināriōs: "ordinary" consulates were the most prestigious kind. cōnsulēs ordināriī served at the beginning of the year and gave their names to it. cōnsulēs suffectī ("substitute") served later in the year.

    (2) dēdecore: Suetonius singles out the vices of luxuria (extravagant spending, especially on food), and cruelty (inflicting overly harsh punishments and sadistically enjoying the spectacle of death).

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    Suetonius Vitellius 13–14

    But his besetting sins were luxury and cruelty. He divided his feasts into three, sometimes into four a day, breakfast, luncheon, dinner, and a drinking bout; and he was readily able to do justice to all of them through his habit of taking emetics. Moreover, he had himself invited to each of these meals by different men on the same day, and the materials for any one of them never cost less than four hundred thousand sesterces. Most notorious of all was the dinner given by his brother to celebrate the emperor's arrival in Rome, at which two thousand of the choicest fishes and seven thousand birds are said to have been served. He himself eclipsed even this at the dedication of a platter, which on account of its enormous size he called the "Shield of Minerva, Defender of the City" . In this he mingled the livers of pike, the brains of pheasants and peacocks, the tongues of flamingoes and the milt of lampreys, brought by his captains and triremes from the whole empire, from Parthia to the Hispanic straits. Being besides a man of an appetite that was not only boundless, but also regardless of time or decency, he could never refrain, even when he was sacrificing or making a journey, from snatching bits of meat and cakes amid the altars, almost from the very fire, and devouring them on the spot; and in the cook shops along the road, viands smoking hot or even those left over from the day before and partly consumed.

    [14] He delighted in inflicting death and torture on anyone whatsoever and for any cause whatever, putting to death several men of rank, fellow students and comrades of his, whom he had solicited to come to court by every kind of deception, all but offering them a share in the rule. This he did in various treacherous ways, even giving poison to one of them with his own hand in a glass of cold water, for which the man had called when ill of a fever. Besides, he spared hardly one of the moneylenders, contractors, and tax-gatherers who had ever demanded of him the payment of a debt at Rome or of a toll on a journey. When one of these had been handed over for execution just as he was paying his morning call and at once recalled, as all were praising the emperor's mercy, Vitellius gave orders to have him killed in his presence, saying that he wished to feast his eyes. In another case he had two sons who attempted to intercede for their father put to death with him. A Roman eques also, who cried as he was being taken off to execution, "You are my heir," he compelled to show his will; and reading that one of the man's freedmen was put down as joint-heir with himself, he ordered the death both of the eques and the freedman. He even killed some of the common people, merely because they had openly spoken ill of the Blue factions, thinking that they had ventured to do this from contempt of himself and the anticipation of a change of rulers. But he was especially hostile to writers of lampoons and to astrologers, and whenever any one of them was accused he put him to death without trial, particularly incensed because after a proclamation of his in which he ordered the astrologers to leave the city and Italia before the Kalends of October, a placard was at once posted, reading: "By proclamation of the Chaldeans, God bless the State! Before the same day and date let Vitellius Germanicus have ceased to live." Moreover, when his mother died, he was suspected of having forbidden her being given food when she was ill, because a woman of the Chatti, in whom he believed as he would in an oracle, prophesied that he would rule securely and for a long time, but only if he should survive his parent. Others say that through weariness of present evils and fear of those which threatened, she asked poison of her son, and obtained it with no great difficulty.

    (3) cēna ... quam ... exhibuit: a large public banquet with free food for whoever showed up. Such banquets were not uncommonly sponsored by Roman emperors. exhibeō = "put on (a show, spectacle, or entertainment)."

    Vitellius frāter: see Lucius Vitellius the Younger

    septem avium: supply mīlia

    adposita: "served" (LS appono I.B.1)

    trāduntur: "are said," a common meaning of the verb when reporting information the writer does not necessarily vouch for completely, but finds plausible.

    (4) Nerōnī similis esse vellet: "For Vitellius greatly admired Nero, and accompanied the emperor on his singing escapades, not because he was required to (as was the case with all the elite), but because he was a slave to his own gluttonous excess." (Tacitus, Hist. 2.71.1)

    id adeō prae sē ferret: "aimed so openly at this, that..." (Hazzard). adeō introduces a result clause (AG 537).

    exequiās ... honōrāret: "honored his remains" (a later Latin meaning of exsequiae), presumably by performing a public observance or giving him a more elaborate tomb.

    interfectō prius in urbe Sabīnō ... incendit: after troops supporting Vespasian defeated those of Vitellius, Vitellius offered to entrust authority to Vespasian's brother Sabinus who, unlike Vespasian himself, was on the scene. Vitellius' German soldiers would not hear of it, and Sabinus was besieged in the Capitol, which Vitellius' forces burned.

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    Tacitus' Histories describes the death of the future emperor Vespasian's brother Sabinus with great pathos. Tacitus described him as "Thus ends a far from despicable man. He served the republic for thirty-five years, and had accomplished famous military and civic honors. You could not find one who would say anything bad about his sense of honor or character" (Hist. 3.75.1–3).

    cum Capitōliō: "In the confusion of the fight the famous temple of Jupiter caught fire. All were too busy to give time or thought to stay the flames, and in a few hours only ruins were left of the greatest of the national monuments of Rome, which, full of the associations of the past,  had served for ages as a sort of record office in which were treasured the memorials of ancient history, the laws, the treaties, and the proclamations of old times. The loss was one that could not be replaced" (Hazzard, quoting Creighton).

    (5) māgnō dēdecōre: ablative of manner (AG 412)

    ērēctō comā capite: "with his head held erect," i.e., dragged by his hair (Bird)

    adpetītus: "pelted with" + abl. 

    commūnī caruit sepultūrā: Eutropius is mistaken. His body was recovered and buried by his wife, Galeria Fundana (Hazzard).

    (6) Periit: Vitellius died in 69 CE; he was not deified (See Smith, s.v. Apotheosis).

     

    Core Vocabulary | Numbers | Dates

    Vitellius, ī, m.

    (1) (A.) Vitellius, Roman emperor, 69 A.D.; (2) (L.) Vitellius, brother of (1)

    potior, īrī, ītus sum [potis, able] to get possession, acquire
    honōrō, āre, āvī, ātus [honor]

    to honor, respect, adorn; celebrate

    admodum [ad + modus], adv.

    up to the full limit, very, exceedingly

    ōrdinārius, a, um [ōrdinō], adj. of order, usual, regular, ordinary
    cōnsulātus, ūs [cōnsul], m. consulate, consulship
    dēdecus, ōris [dē + decus, honor], n. disgrace, dishonor 2
    saevitia, ae [saevus], f. fury, cruelty
    notābilis, e [notō, to mark], adj.

    noteworthy, conspicuous, notable

    praecipuē [praecipuus], adv. chiefly, principally, especially
    ingluviēs, —, acc. em, abl. ē, f. the crop, maw; gluttony
    voracitās, ātis, f. greediness, ravenousness
    epulor, epulārī to feast, banquet
    cēna, ae, f.

    dinner, the principal meal of the Romans, taken about three o'clock 3

    mandō, āre, āvī, ātus [manus + dō]

    to commission, command, send word

    exhibeō, ēre, uī, itus

    to hold forth, show, display; furnish, procure

    sūmptus, ūs [sūmō], m. outlay, expense
    piscis, is, f. a fish
    appōnō, ere, posuī, positus

    to put before, place near; serve (at table)

    Nerō, ōnis, m.

    Nerō (Claudius Caesar Drūsus Germānicus), Roman emperor 54–68 A.D. 4

    prae, prep. with abl.

    before, in front of, in comparison with

    exsequiae, ārum [exsequor, to follow out], f. funeral procession, funeral; remains
    humiliter [humus, the ground], adv. basely, meanly, abjectly, humbly
    sepeliō, īre, īvī (iī), sepultus to bury, inter
    honōrō, āre, āvī, ātus [honor]

    to honor, respect, adorn; celebrate

    Vespasiānus, ī, m.

    (T. Flavius) Vespasiānus, Roman emperor 70–79 A.D.

    Sabīnus, ī, m.

    (1) Oppius Sabīnus, a Roman general slain by Dacians during the reign of Domitian; (2) Q. Titūrius (Sabīnus), a lieutenant of Caesar; (3) (Flavius) Sabīnus, brother of the emperor Vespasian

    Capitōlium, ī, n.

    the chief temple of Jupiter in Rome; the hill on which this stood, the Mōns Capitōlīnūs, the citadel as well as the chief sanctuary of Rome

    incendō, ere, cendī, cēnsus [in + candeō, to shine] to set on fire, burn; excite
    ērēctus, a, um [orig. part. of ērigō], adj. upright, erect 5
    subiciō, icere, iēcī, iectus

    to throw or place under; hand up; present; subdue

    mentum, ī, n. the chin
    stercus, oris, n. dung, excrement, manure
    obvius, a, um [ob + via], adj.

    in the way, meeting; with esse, fierī, or venīre, to meet

    postrēmō [posterus], adv. at last, finally
    iugulō, āre, āvī, ātus [iugulum, neck]

    to cut the throat, kill, slay, murder

    Tiberis, is, m. the river Tiber
    dēiciō, icere, iēcī, iectus

    to throw or hurl down, bring down; lay low, dislodge, destroy

    sepultūra, ae [sepeliō], f. burial, funeral

     

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