Hist. 1.15.1Igitur Galba, adprehēnsā Pīsōnis manū, in hunc modum locūtus fertur: "sī tē prīvātus lēge cūriātā apud pontificēs, ut mōris est, adoptārem, et mihi ēgregium erat Cn. Pompēī et M. Crassī subolem in penātīs meōs adscīscere, et tibi īnsigne Sulpiciae ac Lutātiae decora nōbilitātī tuae adiēcisse: nunc mē deōrum hominumque cōnsēnsū ad imperium vocātum praeclāra indolēs tua et amor patriae impulit ut prīncipātum, dē quō maiōrēs nostrī armīs certābant, bellō adeptus quiēscentī offeram, exemplō dīvī Augustī quī sorōris fīlium Mārcellum, Dein generum Agrippam, mox nepōtēs suōs, postrēmō Tiberium Nerōnem prīvignum in proximō sibi fastīgiō conlocāvit.So Galba, taking Piso by the hand, is said to have spoken in this fashion: 'If I were a private citizen adopting you by a curiate law before the pontiffs, as is customary, it would be a fine thing for me to bring into my household the offspring of Gnaeus Pompeius and Marcus Crassus, and a distinction for you to have added the honours of the Sulpician and Lutatian houses to your nobility: as it is, called to the empire by the consent of gods and men, I have been moved by your outstanding character and by love of my country to offer to you, a man at peace, the principate for which our ancestors fought with arms and which I won by war, following the example of the deified Augustus, who placed in the position next to himself his sister's son Marcellus, then his son-in-law Agrippa, then his grandsons, and finally his stepson Tiberius Nero.
Hist. 1.15.1Sed Augustus in domō successōrem quaesīvit, ego in rē pūblicā, nōn quia propinquōs aut sociōs bellī nōn habeam, sed neque ipse imperium ambitiōne accēpī, et iūdiciī meī documentum sit nōn meae tantum necessitūdinēs, quās tibi postposuī, sed et tuae.But Augustus sought a successor in his own house, I in the state, not because I have no relatives or comrades in war, but because I myself did not accept the empire out of ambition, and let it be proof of my judgement that I have passed over not only my own connections, whom I have set below you, but yours too. Hist. 1.15.1Est tibi frāter parī nōbilitāte, nātū maior, dignus hāc fortūnā nisi tū potior essēs.You have a brother of equal nobility, older than you, worthy of this fortune if you were not the better man. Hist. 1.15.1Ea aetās tua quae cupiditātēs adulēscentiae iam effūgerit, ea vīta in quā nihil praeteritum excūsandum habeās.Your age is such that it has already escaped the passions of youth, your life such that you have nothing in your past to excuse. Hist. 1.15.1Fortūnam adhūc tantum adversam tulistī: secundae rēs ācriōribus stimulīs animōs explōrant, quia miseriae tolerantur, fēlīcitāte corrumpimur.So far you have borne only adverse fortune: prosperity tests the spirit with sharper goads, because misfortunes are endured, but by good fortune we are corrupted.
Hist. 1.15.1Fidem, lībertātem, amīcitiam, praecipua hūmānī animī bona, tū quidem eādem cōnstantiā retinēbis, sed aliī per obsequium imminuent: inrumpet adūlātiō, blanditiae et pessimum vērī adfectūs venēnum, sua cuique ūtilitās.Loyalty, independence, friendship, the chief goods of the human spirit, you will indeed keep with the same steadfastness, but others will impair them by servility: flattery will burst in, and blandishments, and self-interest, the worst poison of true feeling. Hist. 1.15.1Etiam sī ego ac tū simplicissimē inter nōs hodiē loquimur, cēterī libentius cum fortūnā nostrā quam nōbīscum;Even if you and I speak quite frankly to each other today, everyone else will speak more gladly to our fortune than to us; Hist. 1.15.1nam suādēre prīncipī quod oporteat multī labōris, adsentātiō ergā quemcumque prīncipem sine adfectū peragitur."for to persuade an emperor of what is right is heavy labour, while flattery towards any emperor whatever is carried through without any feeling.'