Augustan Histories [Historia Augusta]
Scriptores Historiae Augustae
117-284 AD
Trans RMBullard
Latin (Imperial Era)
ANTONINUS GETA AELI SPARTIANI
I. 1 Scio, Constantine Auguste, et multos et clementiam tuam quaestionem movere posse,
[I know, Constantinus Augustus, that your sense of mercy can manage to stir an inquiry, among many men,]
cur etiam Geta Antoninus a me tradatur.
[why Geta Antoninus' story will be told by me.]
De cuius priusquam vel vita vel nece dicam,
[Before I speak either about his life, or murder,]
disseram, cur et ipsi Antonino a Severo patre sit nomen adpositum.
[let me tell you why his name was given to Antoninus himself, by his father Severus.]
2 Neque enim multa in eius vita dici possunt,
[You see, not many things can be can be said about his life,]
qui prius rebus humani sex emptus est,
[given that before a young boy could gain enough experience in human affairs,]
quam cum fratre teneret imperium.
[than he took control of the state alongside his brother.]
3 Septimius Severus quodam tempore cum consuluisset ac petisset,
[at which time Septimius Severus had given his counsel, and requested]
ut sibi indicaretur, quo esset successore moriturus,
[that it should be informed to him that in the case he should die, with a successor,]
in somnis vidit Antoninum sibi successurum.
[he had once seen, in his dreams, that Antoninus would succeed him.]
4 Quare statim ad milites processit
[Wherefore, he immediately approached the soldiers,]
et Bassianum, filium maiorem natu, Marcum Aurelium Antoninum appellavit.
[and he had his older son, Bassianus, receive the name Marcus Aurelius Antoninus,]
5 Quod cum fecisset ex paterna cogitatione
[something which he had done out of fatherly instinct,]
vel, ut quidam dicunt, a Iulia uxore commonitus,
[or, as certain people say, once he was advised by his wife Julia,]
quae gnara erat somnii,
[who was known to be an expert in dreams,]
quod minori filio hoc facto ipse interclusisset aditum imperandi,
[that he himself should have reserved the right to rule the state, from this account, to their younger son,]
etiam Getam, minorem filium, Antoninum vocari iussit.
[and she even ordered that Geta, the younger son, be called Antoninus.]
I N F I N I T A
