Augustan Histories [Historia Augusta]
Scriptores Historiae Augustae
117-284 AD
Trans RMBullard
Latin (Imperial Era)
MAXIMUS ET BALBINUS IULI CAPITOLINI
I. Interemptis in Africa Gordiano seniore cum filio, cum Maximinus ad urbem furens veniret,
[With Gordianus the Elder being put in the earth in Africa, alongside with his son, after Maximinus came raging toward the city,]
ut, quod Gordiani Augusti appellati fuerant, vindicaret,
[so that he could seek vengeance, because the Gordiani had been previously called Augusti,]
senatus praetrepidus in aedem Concordiae VII. idus Iunias concurrit,
[the Senate body ran together, terribly frightened, to the Temple of Concord, as it was the 7th Ides of June,]
ludis Apollinaribus, remedium contra furorem hominis improbissimi requirens.
[during the Apollinarian Games, he sought a remedy against the rage of the worst type of man.]
2 Cum igitur duo consulares et eminentes quidem viri, Maximus et Balbinus (quorum Maximus a plerisque in historia reticetur et loco eius Puppieni nomen infertur, cum et Dexippus et Arrianus Maximum et Balbinum dicant electos contra Maximinum post Gordianos),
[Therefore, when the two consuls, being quite eminent men, Maximus and Balbinus (from whom Maximus is excluded from the histories of most, and the name Puppienus is passed down in his place, even while both Dexippos and Arrianus say that Maximus and Balbinus were selected to succeed Maximinus, after the reign of the Gordiani)]
quorum alter bonitate, virtute alter ac severitate clari habebantur,
[the first of the two was known for his sense of goodness, the other famous for his courage and sternness,]
ingressi essent curiam
[these men entered the Senate house,]
ac praecipue timorem Maximini adventus fronte ostenderent,
[and they most of all showed their fear of Maximinus' arrival in their countenance,]
referente consule de aliis rebus,
[with the consul making reference to other matters,]
qui primam sententiam erat dicturus,
[and he was about to speak the very first sentence of his speech,]
sic exorsus est:
[when he thusly blurted out:]
3 "Minora vos sollicitant,
["Minoras make you all worry,]
et prope aniles res ferventissimo tempore tractamus in curia.
[and nearby we conduct serious matters in the Senate house, at the one of the most fervent times we can find.]
4 Quid enim opus de restitutione templorum,
[You see, what need is there to restoring our temples,]
de basilicae ornatu, de thermis Titianis, de exaedificatione amphitheatri agere,
[or to act on decoration a basilica, or the Titian baths, or the finishing of an amphitheater's construction,]
cum immineat Maximinus,
[when Maximinus looms,]
quem hostem mecum ante dixistis,
[a man whom you previously declared an enemy besides me,]
Gordiani duo, in quibus praesidium fuerat, interempti sint,
[should we let the two Gordiani, in whose protection he had been, be killed,]
neque in praesenti ullum sit auxillium,
[and there not be any support at the present,]
quo respirare possimus?
[however long we might manage to breathe?]
Agite igitur, p.c., principes dicite.
[So go on then, praetor, summon the emperors.]
Quid moramini?
[Why do you delay?]
I N F I N I T A
