1I am embarking on a work rich in disasters, grim with battles, torn by mutinies, savage even in peace itself. 1Four emperors were slain by the sword: there were three civil wars, more foreign ones, and often both at once: success in the East, failure in the West: Illyricum in turmoil, the Gallic provinces wavering, Britain thoroughly subdued and at once let go: the peoples of the Sarmatians and Suebi rose against us, the Dacian was made famous by defeats given and taken, and even the arms of the Parthians were almost set in motion by the trickery of a false Nero. 1Italy, moreover, was struck by disasters either new or recurring after a long succession of centuries.
1Cities were swallowed up or buried, along the most fertile coast of Campania; 1and Rome was laid waste by fires, its most ancient shrines consumed, the Capitol itself set ablaze by the hands of citizens. 1Sacred rites were defiled, there were adulteries in high places: the sea was full of exiles, its cliffs stained with killings. 1In the city the savagery was worse: noble birth, wealth, offices declined or held were grounds for accusation, and virtues brought the surest ruin. 1Nor were the rewards of the informers less hateful than their crimes, since some, having obtained priesthoods and consulships as spoils, others procuratorships and power at court, drove and overturned everything through hatred and terror.
1Slaves were bribed against their masters, freedmen against their patrons; 1and those who had no enemy were ruined by their friends.