The Lives of the Twelve Caesars, Complete
Publius Nigidius, upon hearing the occasion of his coming so late, and
the hour of his wife’s delivery, declared that the world had got a
master. Afterwards, when Octavius, upon marching with his army through
the deserts of Thrace, consulted the oracle in the grove of father
Bacchus, with barbarous rites, concerning his son, he received from the
priests an answer to the same purpose; because, when they poured wine
upon the altar, there burst out so prodigious a flame, that it ascended
above the roof of the temple, and reached up to the heavens; a
circumstance which had never happened to any one but Alexander the Great,
upon his sacrificing at the same altars. And next night he dreamt that
he saw his son under a more than human appearance, with thunder and a
sceptre, and the other insignia of Jupiter, Optimus, Maximus, having on
his head a radiant crown, mounted upon a chariot decked with laurel, and
drawn by six pair of milk-white horses.
Whilst he was yet an infant, as Caius Drusus relates, being laid in his
cradle by his nurse, and in a low place, the next day he was not to be
found, and after he had been sought for a long time, he was at last
discovered upon a lofty tower, lying with his face towards the rising sun
[249]. When he first began to speak, he ordered the frogs that happened
to make a troublesome noise, upon an estate belonging to the family near
the town, to be silent; and there goes a report that frogs never croaked
there since that time. As he was dining in a grove at the fourth
mile-stone on the Campanian road, an eagle suddenly snatched a piece of
bread out of his hand, and, soaring to a prodigious height, after
hovering, came down most unexpectedly, and returned it to him.
Quintus Catulus had a dream, for two nights successively after his
dedication of the Capitol. The first night he dreamt (140) that Jupiter,
out of several boys of the order of the nobility who were playing about
his altar, selected one, into whose bosom he put the public seal of the
commonwealth, which he held in his hand; but in his vision the next
night, he saw in the bosom of Jupiter Capitolinus, the same boy; whom he
ordered to be removed, but it was forbidden by the God, who declared that
it must be brought up to become the guardian of the state. The next day,
meeting Augustus, with whom till that hour he had not the least
acquaintance, and looking at him with admiration, he said he was
extremely like the boy he had seen in his dream. Some give a different
account of Catulus’s first dream, namely, that Jupiter, upon several
noble lads requesting of him that they might have a guardian, had pointed
to one amongst them, to whom they were to prefer their requests; and
putting his fingers to the boy’s mouth to kiss, he afterwards applied
them to his own.
Marcus Cicero, as he was attending Caius Caesar to the Capitol, happened
to be telling some of his friends a dream which he had the preceding
night, in which he saw a comely youth, let down from heaven by a golden
chain, who stood at the door of the Capitol, and had a whip put into his
hands by Jupiter. And immediately upon sight of Augustus, who had been
sent for by his uncle Caesar to the sacrifice, and was as yet perfectly
unknown to most of the company, he affirmed that it was the very boy he
had seen in his dream. When he assumed the manly toga, his senatorian
tunic becoming loose in the seam on each side, fell at his feet. Some
would have this to forbode, that the order, of which that was the badge
of distinction, would some time or other be subject to him.
Julius Caesar, in cutting down a wood to make room for his camp near
Munda [250], happened to light upon a palm-tree, and ordered it to be
preserved as an omen of victory. From the root of this tree there put
out immediately a sucker, which, in a few days, grew to such a height as
not only to equal, but overshadow it, and afford room for many nests of
wild pigeons which built in it, though that species of bird particularly
avoids a hard and rough leaf. It is likewise reported, that Caesar was
chiefly influenced by this prodigy, to prefer his sister’s grandson
before all others for his successor.
(141) In his retirement at Apollonia, he went with his friend Agrippa to
visit Theogenes, the astrologer, in his gallery on the roof. Agrippa,
who first consulted the fates, having great and almost incredible
fortunes predicted of him, Augustus did not choose to make known his
nativity, and persisted for some time in the refusal, from a mixture of
shame and fear, lest his fortunes should be predicted as inferior to
those of Agrippa. Being persuaded, however, after much importunity, to
declare it, Theogenes started up from his seat, and paid him adoration.
Not long afterwards, Augustus was so confident of the greatness of his
destiny, that he published his horoscope, and struck a silver coin,
bearing upon it the sign of Capricorn, under the influence of which he
was born.
XCV. After the death of Caesar, upon his return from Apollonia, as he
was entering the city, on a sudden, in a clear and bright sky, a circle
resembling the rainbow surrounded the body of the sun; and, immediately
afterwards, the tomb of Julia, Caesar’s daughter, was struck by
lightning. In his first consulship, whilst he was observing the
auguries, twelve vultures presented themselves, as they had done to
Romulus. And when he offered sacrifice, the livers of all the victims
were folded inward in the lower part; a circumstance which was regarded
by those present, who had skill in things of that nature, as an
indubitable prognostic of great and wonderful fortune.
XCVI. He certainly had a presentiment of the issue of all his wars.
When the troops of the Triumviri were collected about Bolognia, an eagle,
which sat upon his tent, and was attacked by two crows, beat them both,
and struck them to the ground, in the view of the whole army; who thence
inferred that discord would arise between the three colleagues, which
would be attended with the like event: and it accordingly happened. At
Philippi, he was assured of success by a Thessalian, upon the authority,
as he pretended, of the Divine Caesar himself, who had appeared to him
while he was travelling in a bye-road. At Perugia, the sacrifice not
presenting any favourable intimations, but the contrary, he ordered fresh
victims; the enemy, however, carrying off the sacred things in a sudden
sally, it was agreed amongst the augurs, that all the (142) dangers and
misfortunes which had threatened the sacrificer, would fall upon the
heads of those who had got possession of the entrails. And, accordingly,
so it happened. The day before the sea-fight near Sicily, as he was
walking upon the shore, a fish leaped out of the sea, and laid itself at
his feet. At Actium, while he was going down to his fleet to engage the
enemy, he was met by an ass with a fellow driving it. The name of the
man was Eutychus, and that of the animal, Nichon [251]. After the
victory, he erected a brazen statue to each, in a temple built upon the
spot where he had encamped.
XCVII. His death, of which I shall now speak, and his subsequent
deification, were intimated by divers manifest prodigies. As he was
finishing the census amidst a great crowd of people in the Campus
Martius, an eagle hovered round him several times, and then directed its
course to a neighbouring temple, where it settled upon the name of
Agrippa, and at the first letter. Upon observing this, he ordered his
colleague Tiberius to put up the vows, which it is usual to make on such
occasions, for the succeeding Lustrum. For he declared he would not
meddle with what it was probable he should never accomplish, though the
tables were ready drawn for it. About the same time, the first letter of
his name, in an inscription upon one of his statues, was struck out by
lightning; which was interpreted as a presage that he would live only a
hundred days longer, the letter C denoting that number; and that he would
be placed amongst the Gods, as Aesar, which is the remaining part of the
word Caesar, signifies, in the Tuscan language, a God [252]. Being,
therefore, about dispatching Tiberius to Illyricum, and designing to go
with him as far as Beneventum, but being detained by several persons who
applied to him respecting causes they had depending, he cried out, (and
it was afterwards regarded as an omen of his death), “Not all the
business in the world, shall detain me at home one moment longer;” and
setting out upon his journey, he went (143) as far as Astura [253];
whence, contrary to his custom, he put to sea in the night-time, as there
was a favourable wind.
XCVIII. His malady proceeded from diarrhoea; notwithstanding which, he
went round the coast of Campania, and the adjacent islands, and spent
four days in that of Capri; where he gave himself up entirely to repose
and relaxation. Happening to sail by the bay of Puteoli, the passengers
and mariners aboard a ship of Alexandria [254], just then arrived, clad
all in white, with chaplets upon their heads, and offering incense,
loaded him with praises and joyful acclamations, crying out, “By you we
live, by you we sail securely, by you enjoy our liberty and our
fortunes.” At which being greatly pleased, he distributed to each of
those who attended him, forty gold pieces, requiring from them an
assurance on oath, not to employ the sum given them in any other way,
than the purchase of Alexandrian merchandize. And during several days
afterwards, he distributed Togae [255] and Pallia, among other gifts, on
condition that the Romans should use the Greek, and the Greeks the Roman
dress and language. He likewise constantly attended to see the boys
perform their exercises, according to an ancient custom still continued
at Capri. He gave them likewise an entertainment in his presence, and
not only permitted, but required from them the utmost freedom in jesting,
and scrambling for fruit, victuals, and other things which he threw
amongst them. In a word, he indulged himself in all the ways of
amusement he could contrive.
He called an island near Capri, Apragopolis, “The City of the
Do-littles,” from the indolent life which several of his party led there.
A favourite of his, one Masgabas [256], he used (144) to call Ktistaes.
as if he had been the planter of the island. And observing from his room
a great company of people with torches, assembled at the tomb of this
Masgabas, who died the year before, he uttered very distinctly this verse,
which he made extempore.
Ktistou de tumbo, eisoro pyroumenon.
Blazing with lights I see the founder’s tomb.
Then turning to Thrasyllus, a companion of Tiberius, who reclined on the
other side of the table, he asked him, who knew nothing about the matter,
what poet he thought was the author of that verse; and on his hesitating
to reply, he added another:
Oras phaessi Masgaban timomenon.
Honor’d with torches Masgabas you see;
and put the same question to him concerning that likewise. The latter
replying, that, whoever might be the author, they were excellent verses
[257], he set up a great laugh, and fell into an extraordinary vein of
jesting upon it. Soon afterwards, passing over to Naples, although at
that time greatly disordered in his bowels by the frequent returns of his
disease, he sat out the exhibition of the gymnastic games which were
performed in his honour every five years, and proceeded with Tiberius to
the place intended. But on his return, his disorder increasing, he
stopped at Nola, sent for Tiberius back again, and had a long discourse
with him in private; after which, he gave no further attention to
business of any importance.
XCIX. Upon the day of his death, he now and then enquired, if there was