<TEI xmlns="http://www.tei-c.org/ns/1.0" xmlns:py="http://codespeak.net/lxml/objectify/pytype" py:pytype="TREE"><text xml:lang="eng"><body><div xml:lang="eng" type="translation" n="urn:cts:latinLit:phi1348.abo018.perseus-eng2"><div type="textpart" n="10" subtype="chapter"><p>My father, Suetonius Lenis, <note anchored="true">Lenis was a name of similar
						signification with that of Tranquillus, borne by his son, the author of the
						present work. We find from Tacitus, that there was, among Otho's generals,
						in this battle, another person of the name of Suetonius, whose cognomen was
						Paulinus; with whom our author's father must not be confounded. Lenis was
						only a tribune of the thirteenth legion, the position of which in the battle
						is mentioned by Tacitus, Hist. xi 24, and was angusticlavias, wearing only
						the narrow stripe, as not being of the senatorial order; while Paulinus was
						a general, commanding a legion, at least, and a consular man; having filled
						that office A. u. c. 818. There seems no doubt that Suetonius Paulinus was
						the same general who distinguished himself by his successes and cruelties in
							<placeName key="tgn,7008653">Britain</placeName>. NERO, c. xviii., and
						note. Not to extend the present note, we may shortly refer to our author's
						having already mentioned his grandfather (CALIGULA, c. xix.); besides other
						sources from which he drew his information. He tells us that he himself was
						then a boy. We have now arrived at the times in which his father bore a
						part. Such incidental notices, dropped by historical writers, have a certain
						value in enabling us to form a judgment on the genuineness of their
						narratives as to contemporaneous, or recent, events.</note> was in this
					battle, being at that time an angusticlavian tribune in the thirteenth legion.
					He used frequently to say, that Otho, before his advancement to the empire, had
					such an abhorrence of civil war, that once, upon hearing an account given at
					table of the death of Cassius and Brutus, he fell into a trembling, and that he
					neverwould have interfered with Galba, but that he was confident of succeeding
					in his enterprise without a war. Moreover, that he was then encouraged to
					despise life by the example of a common soldier, who bringing news of the defeat
					of the army, and finding that he met with no credit, but was railed at for a
					liar and a coward, as if he had run away from the field of battle, fell upon his
					sword at the emperor's feet; upon the sight of which, my father said that Otho
					cried out, " that he would expose to no farther danger such brave men, who had
					deserved so well at his hands." Advising therefore his brother, his brother's
					son, and the rest of his friends, to provide for their security in the best
					manner they could, after he had embraced and kissed them, he sent them away; and
					them withdrawing into a private room by himself, he wrote a letter of
					consolation to his sister, containing two sheets. He likewise sent another to
					Messalina, Nero's widow, whom he had intended to marry, committing her the care
					of his relics and memory. He then burnt all the letters which he had by him, to
					prevent the danger and mischief that might otherwise befall the writers from the
					conqueror. What ready money he had, he distributed among his domestics.</p></div></div></body></text></TEI>