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XCI. He was not indifferent to his own dreams or to those which others dreamed about
him. At the Battle of Philippi, though he had made up his mind not to leave his tent
because of illness, he did so after all when warned by a friend's dream; fortunately, as
it turned out, for his camp was taken and when the enemy rushed in, his litter was stabbed
through and through and torn to pieces, in the belief that he was still lying there ill.
All through the spring his own dreams were very numerous and fearful, but idle and
unfulfilled; during the rest of the year they were less frequent and more reliable. Being
in the habit of making constant visits to the temple of Jupiter the Thunderer, which he
had founded on the Capitol, he dreamed that Jupiter Capitolinus complained that his
worshippers were being taken from him, and that he answered that he had placed the
Thunderer hard by to be his doorkeeper; and accordingly he presently festooned the gable
of the temple with bells, because these commonly hung at house-doors. It was likewise
because of a dream that every year on an appointed day he begged alms of the people,
holding out his open hand to have pennies dropped in it. XCII. Certain auspices and
omens he regarded as infallible. If his shoes were put on in the wrong way in the morning,
the left instead of the right, he considered it a bad sign. If there chanced to be a
drizzle of rain when he was starting on a long journey by land or sea, he thought it a
good omen, betokening a speedy and prosperous return. But he was especially affected by
prodigies. When a palm tree sprang up between the crevices of the pavement before his
house, he transplanted it to the inner court beside his household gods and took great
pains to make it grow. He was so pleased that the branches of an old oak, which had
already drooped to the ground and were withering, became vigorous again on his arrival in
the island of Capreae, that he arranged with the city of Naples to give him the island in
exchange for Aenaria. He also had regard to certain days, refusing ever to begin a journey
on the day after a market day, or to take up any important business on the Nones; though
in the latter case, as he writes Tiberius, he merely dreaded the unlucky sound of the
name.
XCIII. He treated with great respect such foreign rites as were ancient and well
established, but held the rest in contempt. For example, having been initiated at Athens
and afterwards sitting in judgment of a case at Rome involving the privileges of the
priests of Attic Ceres, in which certain matters of secrecy were brought up, he dismissed
his councillors and the throng of bystanders and heard the disputants in private. But on
the other hand he not only omitted to make a slight detour to visit Apis, when he was
travelling through Egypt, but highly commended his grandson Gaius for not offering prayers
at Jerusalem as he passed by Judaea.
XCIV. Having reached this point, it will not be out of place to add an account of the
omens which occurred before he was born, on the very day of his birth, and afterwards,
from which it was possible to anticipate and perceive his future greatness and
uninterrupted good fortune. In ancient days, when a part of the wall of Velitrae had been
struck by lightning, the prediction was made that a citizen of that town would one day
rule the world. Through their confidence in this the people of Velitrae had at once made
war on the Roman people and fought with them many times after that almost to their utter
destruction; but at last long afterward the event proved that the omen had foretold the
rule of Augustus. According to Julius Marathus, a few months before Augustus was born a
portent was generally observed at Rome, which gave warning that nature was pregnant with a
king for the Roman people; thereupon the Senate in consternation decreed that no male
child born that year should be reared; but those whose wives were with child saw to it
that the decree was not filed in the treasury, since each one appropriated the prediction
to his own family. I have read the following story in the books of Asclepias of Mendes
entitled Theologamena. When Atia had come in the middle of the night to the solemn
service of Apollo, she had her litter set down in the temple and fell asleep, while the
rest of the matrons also slept. On a sudden a serpent glided up to her and shortly went
away. When she awoke, she purified herself, as if after the embraces of her husband, and
at once there appeared on her body a mark in colours like a serpent, and she could never
get rid of it; so that presently she ceased ever to go to the public baths. In the tenth
month after that Augustus was born and was therefore regarded as the son of Apollo. Atia
too, before she gave him birth, dreamed that her vitals were borne up to the stars and
spread over the whole extent of land and sea, while Octavius dreamed that the sun rose
from Atia's womb. The day he was born the conspiracy of Catiline was before the House, and
Octavius came late because of his wife's confinement; then Publius Nigidius, as everyone
knows, learning the reason for his tardiness and being informed also of the hour of the
birth, declared that the ruler of the world had been born. Later, when Octavius was
leading an army through remote parts of Thrace, and in the grove of Father Liber consulted
the priests about his son with barbarian rites, they made the same prediction; since such
a pillar of flame sprang forth from the wine that was poured over the altar, that it rose
above the temple roof and mounted to the very sky, and such an omen had befallen no one
save Alexander the Great when he offered sacrifice at the same altar. Moreover, the very
next night he dreamt that his son appeared to him in a guise more majestic than that of
mortal man, with the thunderbolt, sceptre, and insignia of Jupiter Optimus Maximus,
wearing a crown begirt with rays and mounted upon a laurel-wreathed chariot drawn by
twelve horses of surpassing whiteness. When Augustus was still an infant, as is recorded
by the hand of Gaius Drusus, he was placed by his nurse at evening in his cradle on the
ground floor and the next morning had disappeared; but after long search he was at last
found lying on a lofty tower with his face towards the rising sun. As soon as he began to
talk, it chanced that the frogs were making a great noise at his grandfather's country
place; he bade them be silent, and they say that since then no frog has ever croaked
there. As he was lunching in a grove at the fourth milestone on the Campanian road, an
eagle surprised him by snatching his bread from his hand, and after flying to a great
height, equally to his surprise dropped gently down again and gave it back to him. After
Quintus Catulus had dedicated the Capitol, he had dreams on two nights in succession:
first, that Jupiter Optimus Maximus called aside one of a number of boys of good family,
who were playing around his altar, and put in the fold of his toga an image of Roma, which
he was carrying in his hand; the next night he dreamt that he saw this same boy in the lap
of Jupiter of the Capitol, and that when he had ordered that he be removed, the god warned
him to desist, declaring that the boy was being reared to be the saviour of his country.
When Catulus next day met Augustus, whom he had never seen before, he looked at him in
great surprise and said that he was very like the boy of whom he had dreamed. Some give a
different account of Catulus' first dream: when a large group of well-born children asked
Jupiter for a guardian, he pointed out one of their number, to whom they were to refer all
their wishes, and then, after lightly touching the boy's mouth with his fingers, laid them
on his own lips. As Marcus Cicero was attending Gaius Caesar to the Capitol, he happened
to tell his friends a dream of the night before---that a boy of noble countenance was let
down from heaven on a golden chain and, standing at the door of the temple, was given a
whip by Jupiter. Just then suddenly catching sight of Augustus, who was still unknown to
the greater number of those present and had been brought to the ceremony by his uncle
Caesar, he declared that he was the very one whose form had appeared to him in his dream.
When Augustus was assuming the gown of manhood, his senatorial tunic was ripped apart on
both sides and fell at his feet, which some interpreted as a sure sign that the order of
which the tunic was the badge would one day be brought to his feet. As the Deified Julius
was cutting down a wood at Munda and preparing a place for his camp, coming across a palm
tree, he caused it to be spared as an omen of victory. From this a shoot at once sprang
forth and in a few days grew so great that it not only equalled the parent tree, but even
overshadowed it; moreover many doves built their nests there, although that kind of bird
especially avoids hard and rough foliage. Indeed, it was that omen in particular, they
say, that led Caesar to wish that none other than his sister's grandson should be his
successor. While in retirement at Apollonia, Augustus mounted with Agrippa to the studio
of the astrologer Theogenes. Agrippa was the first to try his fortune, and when a great
and almnst incredible career was predicted for him, Augustus persisted in concealing the
time of his birth and in refusing to disclose it, through diffidence and fear that he
might be found to be less eminent. When he at last gave it unwillingly and hesitatingly,
and only after many urgent requests, Theogenes sprang up and threw himself at his feet.
From that time on Augustus had such faith in his destiny, that he made his horoscope
public and issued a silver coin stamped with the sign of the constellation Capricornus,
under which he was born.
XCV. As he was entering the city on his return from Apollonia after Caesar's death,
though the heaven was clear and cloudless, a circle like a rainbow suddenly formed around
the sun's disc, and straightway the tomb of Caesar's daughter Julia was struck by
lightning. Again, as he was taking the auspices in his first consulship, twelve vultures
appeared to him, as to Romulus, and when he slew the victims; the livers within all of
them were found to be doubled inward at the lower end, which all those who were skilled in
such matters unanimously declared to be an omen of a great and happy future.
XCVI. He even divined beforehand the outcome of all his wars. When the forces of the
triumvirs were assembled at Bononia, an eagle that had perched upon his tent made a dash
at two ravens, which attacked it on either side, and struck them to the ground. From this
the whole army inferred that there would one day be discord among the colleagues, as
actually came to pass, and divined its result. As he was on his way to Philippi, a
Thessalian gave him notice of his coming victory on the authority of the deified Caesar,
whose shade had met him on a lonely road. When he was sacrificing at Perusia without
getting a favourable omen, and so had ordered more victims to be brought, the enemy made a
sudden sally and carried off all the equipment of the sacrifice; whereupon the soothsayers
agreed that all the dangers and disasters with which the sacrificer had been threatened
would recoil on the heads of those who were in possession of the entrails; and so it
turned out. As he was walking on the shore the day before the sea-fight off Sicily, a fish
sprang from the sea and fell at his feet. At Actium, as he was going down to begin the
battle, he met an ass with his driver, the man having the name Eutychus and the beast that
of Nicon; and after the victory he set up bronze images of the two in the sacred enclosure
into which he converted the site of his camp.
XCVII. His death, too, of which I shall speak next, and his deification after death,
were known in advance by unmistakable signs. As he was bringing the lustrum to an end in
the Campus Martius before a great throng of people, an eagle flew several times about him
and then going across to the temple hard by, perched above the first letter of Agrippa's
name. On noticing this, Augustus bade his colleague Tiberius recite the vows which it is
usual to offer for the next five years; for although he had them prepared and written out
on a tablet, he declared that he would not be responsible for vows which he should never
pay. At about the same time the first letter of his name was melted from the inscription
on one of his statues by a flash of lightning; this was interpreted to mean that he would
live only a hundred days from that time, the number indicated by the letter C, and that he
would be numbered with the gods, since aesar (that is, the part of the name Caesar
which was left) is the word for god in the Etruscan tongue. Then, too, when he was on the
point of sending Tiberius to Illyricum and was proposing to escort him as far as
Beneventum, and litigants detained him on the judgment seat by bringing forward case after
case, he cried out that he would stay no longer in Rome, even if everything conspired to
delay him---and this too was afterwards looked upon as one of the omens of his death. When
he had begun the journey, he went on as far as Astura and from there, contrary to his
custom, took ship by night since it chanced that there was a favourable breeze, and thus
contracted an illness beginning with a diarrhea.
XCVIII. Then after skirting the coast of Campania and the neighbouring islands, he
spent four more days at his villa in Capreae, where he gave himself up wholly to rest and
social diversions. As he sailed by the gulf of Puteoli it happened that from an
Alexandrian ship which had just arrived there, the passengers and crew, clad in white,
crowned with garlands, and burning incense, lavished upon him good wishes and the highest
praise, saying that it was through him they lived, through him that they sailed the seas,
and through him that they enjoyed their liberty and their fortunes. Exceedingly pleased at
this, he gave forty gold pieces to each of his companions, exacting from every one of them
a pledge under oath not to spend the sum that had been given them in any other way than in
buying wares from Alexandria. More than that, for the several remaining days of his stay,
among little presents of various kinds, he distributed togas and cloaks as well,
stipulating that the Romans should use the Greek dress and language and the Greeks the
Roman. He continually watched the exercises of the ephebi [Greek youths between the ages
of eighteen and that of full manhood, who had regular gymnastic training as a part of
their education], of whom there was still a goodly number at Capreae according to the
ancient usage. He also gave these youths a banquet at which he himself was present, and
not only allowed, but even required perfect freedom in jesting and in scrambling for
tickets for fruit, dainties and all kinds of things, which he threw to them. In short,
there was no form of gaiety in which he did not indulge. He called the neighbouring part
of the island of Capreae Apragopolis [the "land of the do-nothings"] from
the laziness of some of his company who sojourned there. Besides he used to call one of
his favourites, Masgaba by name, Ktistes [the Greek name for a founder of a city or
colony], as if he were the founder of the island. Noticing from his dining-room that the
tomb of this Masgaba, who had died the year before, was visited by a large crowd with many
torches, he uttered aloud this verse, composed offhand: "I see the founder's tomb
alight with fire"; and turning to Thrasyllus, one of the suite of Tiberius who was
reclining opposite him and knew nothing about the matter, he asked of what poet he thought
it was the work. When Thrasyllus hesitated, he added another verse: "See you with
lights Masgaba honoured now?" and asked his opinion of this one also. When Thrasyllus
could say nothing except that they were very good, whoever made them, he burst into a
laugh and fell a joking about it. Presently he crossed over to Naples, although his bowels
were still weak from intermittent attacks. In spite of this he witnessed and then started
with Tiberius for his destination [Beneventum]. But as he was returning his illness
increased and he at last took to his bed at Nola, calling back Tiberius, who was on his
way to Illyricum, and keeping him for a long time in private conversation, after which he
gave attention to no business of importance.
XCIX. On the last day of his life he asked every now and then whether there was any
disturbance without on his account; then calling for a mirror, he had his hair combed and
his falling jaws set straight. After that, calling in his friends and asking whether it
seemed to them that he had played the comedy of life fitly, he added the tag: "Since
well I've played my part, all clap your hands And from the stage dismiss me with
applause." Then he sent them all off, and while he was asking some newcomers from the
city about the daughter of Drusus, who was ill, he suddenly passed away as he was kissing
Livia, uttering these last words: "Live mindful of our wedlock, Livia, and
farewell," thus blessed with an easy death and such a one as he had always longed
for. For almost always on hearing that anyone had died swiftly and painlessly, he prayed
that he and his might have a like euthanasia, for that was the term he was wont to
use. He gave but one single sign of wandering before he breathed his last, calling out in
sudden terror that forty young men were carrying him off. And even this was rather a
premonition than a delusion, since it was that very number of soldiers of the pretorian
guard that carried him forth to lie in state.
C. He died in the same room as his father Octavius, in the consulship of two Sextuses,
Pompeius and Appuleius, on the fourteenth day before the Kalends of September [August 19,
14 A.D.] at the ninth hour, just thirty-five days before his seventy-sixth birthday. His
body was carried by the Senators of the municipalities and colonies from Nola all the way
to Bovillae, in the night time because of the season of the year, being placed by day in
the basilica of the town at which they arrived or in its principal temple. At Bovillae the
members of the equestrian order met it and bore it to the city, where they placed it in
the vestibule of his house. In their desire to give him a splendid funeral and honour his
memory the Senators so vied with one another that among many other suggestions some
proposed that his cortege pass through the triumphal gate, preceded by the statue of
Victory which stands in the House, while a dirge was sung by children of both sexes
belonging to the leading families; others, that on the day of the obsequies golden rings
be laid aside and iron ones worn; and some, that his ashes be collected by the priests of
the highest colleges. One man proposed that the name of the month of August be transferred
to September, because Augustus was born in the latter, but died in the former; another,
that all the period from the day of his birth until his demise be called the Augustan Age,
and so entered in the Calendar. But though a limit was set to the honours paid him, his
eulogy was twice delivered: before the temple of the Deified Julius by Tiberius, and from
the old rostra by Drusus, son of Tiberius; and he was carried on the shoulders of Senators
to the Campus Martius and there cremated. There was even an ex-praetor who took oath that
he had seen the form of the Emperor, after he had been reduced to ashes, on its way to
heaven. His remains were gathered up by the leading men of the equestrian order,
bare-footed and in ungirt tunics, and placed in the Mausoleum. This structure he had built
in his sixth consulship [28 B.C.] between the Via Flaminia and the bank of the Tiber, and
at the same time opened to the public the groves and walks by which it was surrounded.
CI. He had made a will in the consulship of Lucius Plancus and Gaius Silius on the
third day before the Nones of April [April 3, 13 A.D.], a year and four months before he
died, in two note-books,written in part in his own hand and in part in that of his
freedmen Polybius and Hilarion. These the Vestal virgins, with whom they had been
deposited, now produced, together with three rolls, which were sealed in the same way. All
these were opened and read in the Senate. He appointed as his chief heirs Tiberius, to
receive two-thirds of the estate, and Livia, one-third; these he also bade assume his
name. His heirs in the second degree were Drusus, son of Tiberius, for one-third, and for
the rest Germanicus and his three male children. In the third grade he mentioned many of
his relatives and friends. He left to the Roman people forty million sesterces; to the
tribes three million five hundred thousand; to the soldiers of the pretorian guard a
thousand each; to the city cohorts five hundred; and to the legionaries three hundred.
This sum he ordered to be paid at once, for he had always kept the amount at hand and
ready for the purpose. He gave other legacies to various individuals, some amounting to as
much as twenty thousand sesterces, and provided for the payment of these a year later,
giving as his excuse for the delay the small amount of his property, and declaring that
not more than a hundred and fifty millions would come to his heirs; for though he had
received fourteen hundred millions during the last twenty years from the wills of his
friends, he said that he had spent nearly all of it, as well as his two paternal estates
and his other inheritances, for the benefit of the State. He gave orders that his daughter
and his granddaughter Julia should not be put in his Mausoleum, if anything befell them.
In one of the three rolls he included directions for his funeral; in the second, an
account of what he had accomplished, which he desired to have cut upon bronze tablets and
set up at the entrance to the Mausoleum; in the third, a summary of the condition of the
whole empire; how many soldiers there were in active service in all parts of it, how much
money there was in the public treasury and in the privy-purse, and what revenues were in
arrears. He added, besides, the names of the freedmen and slaves from whom the details
could be demanded.
Source:
The Lives of the Twelve Caesars, C. Tranquillus Suetonius
From: Suetonius, 2 vols., trans. J. C. Rolfe, (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard
University Press, and London: William Henemann, 1920), Vol. I, pp. 3-119
Scanned by: J. S. Arkenberg, Dept. of History, Cal. State Fullerton. Prof. Arkenberg
has modernized the text.
This text a mirror copy from the Internet Ancient History
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© Paul Halsall, March 1999
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