Hist. 2.11.1In cīvitāte discordī et ob crēbrās prīncipum mūtātiōnēs inter lībertātem ac licentiam incertā parvae quoque rēs magnīs mōtibus agēbantur.In a city at odds with itself, and wavering between liberty and licence because of the frequent changes of emperors, even small matters were carried on with great upheavals. Hist. 2.11.1Vībius Crispus, pecūniā potentiā ingeniō inter clārōs magis quam inter bonōs, Annium Faustum equestris ōrdinis, quī temporibus Nerōnis dēlātiōnēs factitāverat, ad cognitiōnem senātūs vocābat;Vibius Crispus, ranked through his wealth, power and talent among the famous rather than among the good, was summoning Annius Faustus, of the equestrian order, who had often practised as an informer in Nero's time, to trial before the senate; Hist. 2.11.1nam recēns Galbae prīncipātū cēnsuerant patrēs, ut accūsātōrum causae nōscerentur.for recently, under Galba's principate, the senators had decreed that the cases of the accusers should be investigated. Hist. 2.11.1Id senātūs cōnsultum variē iactātum et, prōut potēns vel inops reus inciderat, īnfirmum aut validum, retinēbat adhūc aliquid terrōris.That decree of the senate, variously applied, and weak or strong according to whether the defendant who fell under it was powerful or helpless, still retained some element of terror.
Hist. 2.11.1Et propriā vī Crispus incubuerat dēlātōrem frātris suī pervertere, trāxeratque magnam senātūs partem, ut indēfēnsum et inaudītum dēdī ad exitium postulārent.And Crispus had thrown his whole weight into ruining the man who had informed against his brother, and had drawn a great part of the senate to demand that he be handed over to death undefended and unheard. Hist. 2.11.1Contrā apud aliōs nihil aequē reō prōderat quam nimia potentia accūsātōris: darī tempus, ēdī crīmina, quamvīs invīsum ac nocentem mōre tamen audiendum cēnsēbant.On the other hand, with others nothing helped the defendant so much as the excessive power of his accuser: they proposed that time should be given and the charges published, and that, however hateful and guilty, he should still be heard according to custom. Hist. 2.11.1Et valuēre prīmō dīlātaque in paucōs diēs cognitiō: mox damnātus est Faustus, nēquāquam eō adsēnsū cīvitātis quem pessimīs mōribus meruerat: quippe ipsum Crispum eāsdem accūsātiōnēs cum praemiō exercuisse meminerant, nec poena crīminis sed ultor displicēbat.And at first they prevailed, and the trial was put off for a few days: soon Faustus was condemned, but by no means with that approval from the citizens which his evil character had deserved, for they remembered that Crispus himself had brought the same kind of accusations for reward, and it was not the punishment for the crime but the avenger that displeased them.