Histories 2.95

Hist. 2.95.1Apud cīvitātem cūncta interpretantem fūnestī ōminis locō acceptum est quod maximum pontificātum adeptus Vitellius dē caerimōniīs pūblicīs xv kalendās Augustās ēdīxisset, antīquitus īnfaustō diē Cremerēnsī Alliēnsīque clādibus: adeō omnis hūmānī dīvīnīque iūris expers, parī lībertōrum amīcōrum sōcordiā, velut inter tēmulentōs agēbat.In a city that interprets everything, it was taken as a deadly omen that Vitellius, having obtained the office of chief pontiff, had issued an edict about public ceremonies on the eighteenth of July, a day ill-omened from ancient times for the disasters of the Cremera and the Allia: so ignorant was he of all law human and divine, and, with his freedmen and friends equally careless, he behaved as if among drunkards. Hist. 2.95.1Sed comitia cōnsulum cum candidātīs cīvīliter celebrāns omnem īnfimae plēbis rūmōrem in theātrō ut spectātor, in circō ut fautor adfectāvit: quae grāta sānē et populāria, sī ā virtūtibus proficīscerentur, memoriā vītae priōris indecōra et vīlia accipiēbantur.But in holding the consular elections together with the candidates, like an ordinary citizen, he courted every breath of favour from the lowest of the common people, in the theatre as a spectator, in the circus as a supporter: things that would certainly have been welcome and popular if they had sprung from virtues, but which, in the memory of his former life, were taken as unbecoming and cheap.

Hist. 2.95.1Ventitābat in senātum, etiam cum parvīs dē rēbus patrēs cōnsulerentur.He came frequently to the senate, even when the fathers were being consulted on small matters. Hist. 2.95.1Ac forte Prīscus Helvidius praetor dēsignātus contrā studium eius cēnsuerat.And it happened that Helvidius Priscus, praetor-elect, had voted against his wishes. Hist. 2.95.1Commōtus prīmō Vitellius, nōn tamen ultrā quam tribūnōs plēbis in auxilium sprētae potestātis advocāvit;Vitellius was disturbed at first, yet went no further than calling on the tribunes of the plebs to support his slighted authority; Hist. 2.95.1mox mītigantibus amīcīs, quī altiōrem īrācundiam eius verēbantur, nihil novī accidisse respondit quod duo senātōrēs in rē pūblicā dissentīrent;soon, when his friends, who feared his deeper anger, were soothing him, he replied that nothing new had happened in two senators disagreeing on public affairs; Hist. 2.95.1solitum sē etiam Thraseae contrā dīcere.he himself, he said, had often spoken against even Thrasea. Hist. 2.95.1Inrīsēre plērīque impudentiam aemulātiōnis;Most laughed at the impudence of the comparison; Hist. 2.95.1aliīs id ipsum placēbat quod nēminem ex praepotentibus, sed Thraseam ad exemplar vērae glōriae lēgisset.others were pleased by the very fact that he had chosen none of the all-powerful, but Thrasea, as his model of true glory.