The Lives of the Twelve Caesars — Chapter 10 in Latin
By Gaius Suetonius Tranquillus
Rebellione trium principum et caede incertum diu et quasi vagum imperium suscepit firmavitque tandem gens Flavia, obscura illa quidem ac sine ullis maiorum imaginibus, sed tamen rei p. nequaquam paenitenda; constet licet, Domitianum cupiditatis ac saevitiae merito poenas luisse. The empire, which for a long time had been unsettled and, as it were, drifting, through the usurpation and violent death of three emperors, was at last taken in hand and given stability by the Flavian family. Domus illa quidem obscura erat et sine maiorum imaginibus, sed tamen rei publicae nostrae minime pudori erat, quamquam vulgaris opinio sit Domitiani cupiditatis et crudelitatis poenas merito persolutas esse. This house was, it is true, obscure and without family portraits, yet it was one of which our country had no reason whatever to be ashamed, even though it is the general opinion that the penalty which Domitian paid for his avarice and cruelty was fully merited.
T. Flavius Petro, municeps Reatinus, bello civili Pompeianarum partium centurio an evocatus, profugit ex Pharsalica acie domumque se contulit, ubi deinde venia et missione impetrata coactiones argentarias factitavit. Titus Flavius Petro, a burgher of Reate and during the civil war a centurion or a volunteer veteran on Pompey's side, fled from the field of Pharsalus and went home, where after a last obtaining pardon and an honourable discharge, he carried on the business of a collector of moneys. Huius filium, cognomine Sabinus, expers militiae (etsi quidem eum primipilarem, nonnulli, cum adhuc ordiens duceret, sacramento solutum per causam valitudinis tradunt) publicum quadragesimae in Asia egit; manebantque imagines a civitatibus ei positae sub hoc titulo: ΚΑΛΩΣ ΤΕΛΩΝΗΣΑΝΤΙ. His son, surnamed Sabinus (although some say that he was an ex-centurion of the first grade; others that while still in command of a cohort he was retired because of ill-health) took no part in military life, but farmed the public tax of a fortieth in Asia. Et manebantque imagines a civitatibus Asiae ei positae sub hoc titulo: "Honesto telonario." And there existed for some time statues erected in his honour by the cities of Asia, inscribed "To an honest tax-gatherer." Postea faenus apud Helvetios exercuit ibique diem obiit superstitibus uxore Vespasia Polla et duobus ex ea liberis, quorum maior Sabinus ad praefecturam urbis, minor Vespasianus ad principatum usque processit. Later he carried on a banking business in the Helvetian country and there he died, survived by his wife, Vespasia Polla, and by two of her children, of whom the elder, Sabinus, rose to the rank of prefect of Rome, and the younger, Vespasian, even to that of emperor. Polla, Nursiae honesto genere orta, patrem habuit Vespasium Pollionem, ter tribunum militum praefectumque castrorum, fratrem senatorem praetoriae dignitatis. Polla, who was born of an honourable family at Nursia, had for father Vespasius Pollio, thrice tribune of the soldiers and prefect of the camp, while her brother became a senator with the rank of praetor. Locus etiam ad sextum miliarium a Nursia Spoletium euntibus in monte summo appellatur Vespasiae, ubi Vespasiorum complura monumenta exstant, magnum indicium splendoris familiae et vetustatis. There is moreover on the top of a mountain, near the sixth milestone on the road from Nursia to Spoletium, a place called Vespasiae, where many monuments of the Vespasii are to be seen, affording strong proof of the renown and antiquity of the house. Non negaverim iactatum a quibusdam Petronis patrem e regione Transpadana fuisse mancipem operarum, quae ex Vmbria in Sabinos ad culturam agrorum quotannis commeare soleant; subsedisse autem in oppido Reatino, uxore ibidem ducta. I ought to add that some have bandied about the report, that Petro's father came from the region beyond the Po and was a contractor for the day-labourers who come regularly every year from Umbria to the Sabine district, to till the fields; but that he settled in the town of Reate and there married. Ipse ne vestigium quidem de hoc, quamvis satis curiose inquirerem, inveni. Personally I have found no evidence whatever of this, in spite of rather careful investigation.
Vespasianus natus est in Sabinis ultra Reate vico modico, cui nomen est Phalacrinae, XV. Vespasian was born in the Sabine country, in a small village beyond Reate, called Falacrina, on the evening of the fifteenth day before the Kalends of December, in the consulate of Quintus Sulpicius Camerinus and Gaius Poppaeus Sabinus, five years before the death of Augustus. kal. Dec. vesperi, Q. Sulpicio Camerino C. Poppaeo Sabino cons., quinquennio ante quam Augustus excederet; educatus sub paterna avia Tertulla in praediis Cosanis. He was brought up under the care of his paternal grandmother Tertulla on her estates at Cosa. Quare princeps quoque et locum incunabulorum assidue frequentavit, manente villa qualis fuerat olim, ne quid scilicet oculorum consuetudini deperiret; et aviae memoriam tanto opere dilexit, ut sollemnibus ac festis diebus pocillo quoque eius argenteo potare perseveraverit. Therefore even after he became emperor he used constantly to visit the home of his infancy, where the manor house was kept in its original condition, since he did not wish to miss anything which he was wont to see there; and he was so devoted to his grandmother's memory that on religious and festival days he always drank from a little silver cup that had belonged to her.
Sumpta virili toga, latum clavum, quamquam fratre adepto, diu aversatus est, nec ut tandem appeteret compelli nisi a matre potuit. After assuming the garb of manhood he for a long time made no attempt to win the broad stripe of senator, though his brother had gained it, and only his mother could finally induce him to sue for it. Ea demum extudit magis convicio quam precibus vel auctoritate, dum eum identidem per contumeliam anteambulonem fratris appellat. She at length drove him to it, but rather by sarcasm than by entreaties or parental authority, since she constantly taunted him with being his brother's footman.