The Lives of the Twelve Caesars — Chapter 9 in Latin
By Gaius Suetonius Tranquillus
Vitelliorum originem alii aliam et quidem diversissimam tradunt, partim veterem et nobilem, partim vero novam et obscuram atque etiam sordidam; quod ego per adulatores obtrectatoresque imperatoris Vitellii evenisse opinarer, nisi aliquanto prius de familiae condicione variatum esset. Of the origin of the Vitellii different and widely varying accounts are given, some saying that the family was ancient and noble, others that it was new and obscure, if not of mean extraction. I should believe that these came respectively from the flatterers and detractors of the emperor, were it not for a difference of opinion about the standing of the family at a considerably earlier date. Exstat Q. Elogi ad Quintum Vitellium Divi Augusti quaestorem libellus, quo continetur, Vitellios Fauno Aboriginum rege et Vitellia, quae multis locis pro numine coleretur, ortos toto Latio imperasse; horum residuam stirpem ex Sabinis transisse Romam atque inter patricios adlectam; indicia stirpis mansisse diu viam Vitelliam ab Ianiculo ad mare usque, item coloniam eiusdem nominis, quam gentili copia adversus Aequiculos tutandam olim depoposcissent; tempore deinde Samnitici belli praesidio in Apuliam misso quosdam ex Vitellis subsedisse Nuceriae, eorumque progeniem longo post intervallo repetisse urbem atque ordinem senatorium. We have a book of Quintus Elgoius addressed to Quintus Vitellius, quaestor of the Deified Augustus, in which it was written that the Vitellii were sprung from Faunus, king of the Aborigines, and Vitellia, who was worshipped as a goddess in many places; and that they ruled in all Latium. Quorum residuam stirpem ex Sabinis transisse Romam atque inter patricios adlectam. That the surviving members of the family moved from the Sabine district to Rome and were enrolled among the patricians. Indicia stirpis diu in via Vitellia ab Ianiculo ad mare usque, itemque in colonia eiusdem nominis, quam gentili copia adversus Aequiculos tutandam olim depoposcissent, mansisse constat. That traces of this stock endured long afterwards in the Vitellian Road, running from the Janiculum all the way to the sea, as well as in a colony of the same name, which in ancient days the family had asked the privilege of defending against the Aequicoli with troops raised from their own line. Cum deinde in Apuliam tempore belli Samnitici manus missa esset, ex Vitellii partim Nuceriae consedisse, ac post longum tempus eorum posteri in urbem redisse et locum in senatorii ordinis recuperasse. That when afterwards a force was sent into Apulia at the time of the Samnite war, some of the Vitellii settled at Nuceria, and that after a long time their descendants returned to the city and resumed their place in the senatorial order.
Contra plures auctorem generis libertinum prodiderunt, Cassius Severus nec minus alii eundem et sutorem veteramentarium, cuius filius sectionibus et cognituris uberius compendium nanctus, ex muliere vulgari, Antiochi cuiusdam furnariam exercentis filia, equitem R. genuerit. On the other hand several have written that the founder of the family was a freedman, while Cassius Severus and others as well say further that he was a cobbler, and that his son, after making a considerable fortune from the sale of confiscated estates and the profession of informer, married a common strumpet, daughter of one Antiochus who kept a bakery, and became the father of a Roman knight. Sed haec diversitas sententiae relinqui potest incerta. But this difference of opinion may be left unsettled.
Ceterum P. Vitellius domo Nuceria, sive ille stirpis antiquae sive pudendis parentibus atque avis, eques certe R. et rerum Augusti procurator, quattuor filios amplissimae dignitatis cognomines ac tantum praenominibus distinctos reliquit, Aulum Quintum Publium Lucium. In any event Publius Vitellius of Nuceria, whether of ancient stock or of parents and forefathers in whom he could take no pride, unquestionably a Roman knight and a steward of Augustus' property, left four sons of high rank with the same name and differing only in their forenames: Aulus, Quintus, Publius and Lucius. Aulus in consulatu obiit, quem cum Domitio Neronis Caesaris patre inierat, praelautus alioqui famosusque cenarum magnificentia. Aulus, who was given to luxury and especially notorious for the magnificence of his feasts, died a consul, appointed to the office with Domitius, father of the emperor Nero. Quintus caruit ordine, cum auctore Tiberio secerni minus idoneos senatores removerique placuisset. Quintus lost his rank at the time when it was resolved, under the suggestion of Tiberius, to depose and get rid of undesirable senators. Publius, Germanici comes, Cn. Publius, a member of Germanicus' staff, arraigned Gnaeus Piso, the enemy and murderer of his commander, and secured his condemnation. Pisonem inimicum et interfectorem eius accusavit condemnavitque, ac post praeturae honorem inter Seiani conscios arreptus et in custodiam fratri datus scalpro librario venas sibi incidit, nec tam mortis paenitentia quam suorum obtestatione obligari curarique se passus in eadem custodia morbo periit. Arrested among the accomplices of Sejanus, after holding the praetorship, and handed over to his own brother to be kept in confinement, he opened his veins with a penknife, but allowed himself to be bandaged and restored, not so much from unwillingness to die, as because of the entreaties of his friends; and he met a natural death while still in confinement. Lucius ex consulatu Syriae praepositus, Artabanum Parthorum regem summis artibus non modo ad conloquium suum, sed etiam ad veneranda legionum signa pellexit. Lucius attained the consulate and then was made governor of Syria, where with supreme diplomacy having not only induced Artabanus, king of the Parthians, to hold a conference with him, but even to do obeisance to the standards of the legion. Mox cum Claudio principe duos insuper ordinarios consulatus censuramque gessit. Later he held, with the emperor Claudius, two more regular consulships and the censorship. Is etiam munus imperii administravit dum Claudius in Britanniam expeditionem faciebat. He also bore the charge of the empire while Claudius was away on his expedition to Britain. Curam quoque imperii sustinuit, absente eo expeditione Britannica; vir innocens et industrius, sed amore libertinae perinfamis, cuius etiam salivis melle commixtis, ne clam quidem aut raro sed cotidie ac palam, arterias et fauces pro remedio fovebat. He was an honest and active man, but of very ill repute because of his passion for a freedwoman, which went so far that he used her spittle mixed with honey to rub on his throat and jaws as a medicine, not secretly nor seldom, but openly and every day. Idem miri in adulando genii, prius C. Caesarem adorare ut deum instituit, cum reversus ex Syria non aliter adire ausus esset quam capite velato circumvertensque se, deinde procumbens. He had also a wonderful gift for flattery and was the first to begin to worship Gaius Caesar as a god; for on his return from Syria he did not presume to approach the emperor except with veiled head, turning himself about and then prostrating himself. Claudium uxoribus libertisque addictum ne qua non arte demereretur, pro maximo numere a Messalina petit, ut sibi pedes praeberet excalciandos; detractumque socculum dextrum inter togam tunicasque gestavit assidue, nonnumquam osculabundus. To neglect no means of gaining the favour of Claudius, who was a slave to his wives and freedmen, he begged of Messalina as the highest possible favour that she would allow him to take off her shoes; and when he had taken off her right slipper, he constantly carried it about between his toga and his tunic, and sometimes kissed it. Narcissi quoque et Pallantis imagines aureas inter Lares coluit. Narcissus also and Pallas he honoured by cherishing their golden images among his household gods. Huius et illa vox est: Saepe facias, cum Saeculares ludos edenti Claudio gratularetur. It was he who made the famous remark, "May you often do it," when he was congratulating Claudius at the celebration of the Secular games.
Decessit paralysi altero die quam correptus est, duobus filiis superstitibus, quos ex Sextilia probatissima nec ignobili femina editos consules vidit, et quidem eodem ambos totoque anno, cum maiori minor in sex menses successisset. He died of a paralytic stroke on the second day after he was seized, leaving two sons, begotten of Sestilia, a most worthy woman and of no mean family, and having lived to see them consuls both in the same year, and for the whole year, since the younger succeeded the elder for six months. Defunctum senatus publico funere honoravit, item statuam pro rostris cum hac inscriptione: PIETATIS IMMOBILIS ERGA PRINCIPEM. On his decease the senate honoured him with a public funeral and with a statue on the rostra with this inscription: "Of unwavering loyalty to his emperor."