錢鍾書著述所引拉丁語之中英譯文采輯
Suetonius 8《外文筆記》6
王依民 景默
《外文筆記》第30冊
Suetonius. I.
The Lives of the Caesars
tr. by J. C. Rolfe
（The Loeb Classical Library）
Galba. §1. The race of the Caesars ended with Nero [(p.190) Progenies Cacsarum in Nerone defecit]. 【Nero was the last who bore the name because of connection with the family of Augustus; after him it became a designation of rank. ①】 That this would be so② was shown by many portents.
① 依民按：p.190注。
② 依民按：筆記原脫“so”。
◎張竹明等中譯，p.264：愷撒的譜系到尼祿便中止了。對此許多迹象已經顯示出來。
§4. When Galba's grandfather was busy with a sacrifice for a stroke of lightning, & an eagle snatched the intestines from his hand, the prediction was made that the highest dignity would come to the family, but late; whereupon he said with a laugh: "Very likely, when a mule has a foal" [(p.196) Sane, cum mula pepererit]. Afterwards when Galba was beginning his revolt, nothing gave him so much encouragement as the fouling of a mule.
◎張竹明等中譯，p.267：當他的祖父正在舉行禳除雷劈之灾的祭典時，一隻鷹從他手中奪走了犧牲的內臟，……這個迹象預示著他的家族將掌握最高權力，但是要在很晚的時候。他笑道：“是呀，那時騾子也會下駒的。”後來，當伽爾巴舉行暴動時，果然騾子下駒了，這件事更加堅定了他的信心。
§6. He gave a new kind of exhibition, i.e. of elephants walking the rope [(p.198) elephantos funambulos].
◎張竹明等中譯，p.268：他加進了一種新的節目：大象走繩索。
§9. He became lazy & inactive, so as to give Nero no cause for jealousy, & as he used to say that no one could be forced to render an account for doing nothing [(p.204) quod nemo rationem otii sui reddere cogeretur].
◎張竹明等中譯，p.270：他變得怠惰①和消極以免引起尼祿的嫉妒，正如他慣常所說的，因爲强迫任何人說明自己無所作爲的原因是找不到的。
① 依民按：“惰”原為“情”字，顯然是個錯別字。
§14. Thus his popularity & prestige were greater when he won, than while he ruled the empire [(p.212) Maiore adeo et favore et auctoritate adeptus est quam gessit imperium].【Cf. the inimitable sentence of Tacitus, Historia, I. 49: "maior private visus, dum privatus, et omnium consensu capax imperil, nisi imperasset."①】
① 依民按：p.212注。Tacitus. The Histories. W. Hamilton Fyfe英譯：When he was a commoner he seemed too big for his station, and had he never been emperor, no one would have doubted his ability to reign. 塔西佗《歷史》，王以鑄、崔妙因中譯：他當臣民時，看來臣民的身份對他這樣一個偉大人物來說總是不相稱，而且所有的人都會同意這樣的看法：如果說他從未取得過皇帝大權的話，那他是有資格取得這樣的大權的。
◎張竹明等中譯，p.273：所以伽爾巴在得到政權之後名聲和威望比開始奪權時降低了。
§20. He was killed & left lying, until a common soldier cut off the head. Since there was no hair by which to grasp it, he thrust his thumb into the mouth [(p.222) quoniam capillo arripere non poterat… inserto per os pollice] & so carried it to Otho.
◎張竹明等中譯，pp.277-278：（他被殺了，尸體一直丟在那裏），最後，一個普通士兵……割下他的頭。因爲他沒有頭髮可抓，士兵便……用拇指勾住他的上頜，就這樣把它送給了奧托。
§22. He was more inclined to unnatural desire, & in gratifying it preferred full-grown, strong men [(p.224) Libidinis in mares pronior et eos non nisi praeduros exoletosque].
◎張竹明等中譯，p. 278：他對男人有更大的情欲，尤其是對那些身强體壯的成年男子。
Otho. §12. Because of the thinness of his locks wore a wig so carefully fashioned & fitted to his head, that no one suspected it.
◎張竹明等中譯，p. 287：……用假髮遮掩稀疏的頭髮，假髮在頭上系得非常合適，無人會産生懷疑。
Vitellius. §2. His passion for a freedwoman went so far that he used her spittle mixed with honey to rub on his throat & jaws as a medicine [(p.250) sed amore libertinae perinfamis, cuius etiam salivis melle commixtis… (252) arterias et fauces pro remedio fovebat].
◎張竹明等中譯，p. 289：（他迷戀一名女獲釋奴）。他甚至用她的唾液拌蜜作藥醫治自己的呼吸道和喉嚨。
§3. Branded with the nickname Spintria, Vitellius was suspected of having been the cause of his father's first advancement at the expense of his own chastity [(p.245) corporis gratia initium et causa incrementorum patri fuisse].
◎張竹明等中譯，p. 290：他終生落個“斯賓特里亞”的綽號。人們認爲，他父親最初的晋升是以他失去童身的代價換來的。
§10. When some shuddered at the mouldering corpses on the battlefield, he encourage them by the abominable saying, that the odour of a dead enemy was sweet & that of a fellow-citizen sweeter still [(p.262) optime olere occisum hostem et melius civem].
◎張竹明等中譯，p. 293：當他來到交戰過的戰場時，面對腐爛的尸體，一些人感到毛骨悚然，而他却鼓起勇氣激勵大家，其語令人噁心：“敵人的尸體飄香，我們公民的尸體更芬芳。”
§11. He showed greater & greater disregard for the laws of gods & men [(p.264) divino humanoque iure neglecto].
◎張竹明等中譯，p. 294：從此以後，他越來越蔑視人神之法。
§13. He was able to do justice to his daily four feasts through habit of taking emetics [(p.266) vomitandi consuetudine]. At the dinner given by his brother to celebrate the emperor's arrival in Rome, 2000 of the choicest fishes & 7000 birds are served. In a platter called the "Shield of Minerva" [(p.266) clipeum Minervae], Vitellius mingled the livers of pike, the brains of pheasants and peacocks, the tongues of flamingoes 【鴨舌羹】& the milt of lampreys. He could never refrain, even when he was sacrificing, from snatching, from the very fire, bits of meat and cakes amid the altars.
◎張竹明等中譯，p. 295：由于服了催吐劑，所以每次飲宴他都吃得進去。……最著名的一次宴會是他的兄弟爲慶祝他進城而準備的。據說，爲這次宴會購置了2000尾精選的鮮魚和7000只飛禽。……（在被稱爲“羅馬守護神米涅爾娃的盾牌”的大盤中）他把海魚肝、野鶏和孔雀的腦髓以及紅鶴的舌頭和鱔魚的奶汁①在盤中拌在一起。他貪吃不知限量，……甚至在獻祭或旅途中也不能克制自己。他從祭壇上抓起幾乎剛離火的肉塊和大餅，就地狼吞虎咽。
① 依民按：鱔魚哪來“奶汁”？應為魚白（fish sperm or sperm-filled reproductive gland），“milt of lampreys”應譯為“七鰓鰻的魚白”。
§17. They bound his arms behind his back, put a noose about his neck, & dragged him half-naked to the Forum. They held his head back by the hair & even placed the point of a sword under his chin, so that he could not look down but must let his face be seen [(p.274) etiam mento mucrone gladii subrecto, ut visendam (276) praeberet faciem neve summitteret]. Some pelted him with dung and ordure.
◎張竹明等中譯，p. 298：最後，人們將他的雙手反綁，用繩子套住他的脖子。他的……身體半裸在外，就這樣被拖往廣場。……人們揪住他的頭髮向後拉他的腦袋……還用刀尖頂住他的下巴頦，不讓他低頭，好讓人們看清他的面孔。一些人向他身上投擲髒物和糞便。
BK VIII. The Deified Vespasian, The Deified Titus, Domitian
Deified Vespasian §8. When a young man reeking with perfumes [(p.300) adulescentulum fragrantem unguento] came to thank him for a commission, Vespasian drew back his head in disgust, saying sternly: "I would rather you had smelt of garlic" [(p.300) Maluissem alium oboluisses]; & he revoked the appointment. He began the restoration of the Capitol in person & lent a hand in clearing away the debris.
◎張竹明等中譯，p.308：一個青年人渾身散發香水氣味前來感謝皇帝對他的任命，韋伯薌嚴肅地責備道：“你最好散發大蒜味!”于是，他取消了任命。……他親自開始重建卡庇托爾，第一個動手清除瓦礫殘骸。
§16. The only thing for which he can be censured was his love of money. He designedly advancing the most rapacious of his procurators to higher posts & later condemned them; in fact, he used these men as sponges, because he, so to speak, soaked them when they were dry & squeezed them when they were wet [(p.308) quibus quidem volgo pro spongiis (310) dicebatur uti, quod quasi et siccos madefaceret et exprimeret umentis]. He was naturally covetous & an old herdsman of his taunted him: "The fox changes his fur, but not his nature" [(p.310) vulpem pilum mutare, non mores].
◎張竹明等中譯，p.312：他理應受到譴責的唯一缺點是貪財。……他總是故意地不斷提拔那些貪婪的官員升任更高的職位，先讓他們發財致富，然後再處罰他們。（事實上，有一種普遍說法：他）利用他們猶如海綿，幹的讓它潮濕，濕的擠出水來。……他是天性貪婪。他的一個老牧奴曾責駡過他的這種品質……“狐狸只換毛，不改天性。”
§17, 19①. He was most generous to all classes, but he could not be rid of his former ill-repute.
① 依民按：筆記原標17-18，後半句實出於19，故改。
◎張竹明等中譯，pp.312, 313：他對各個階層都很慷慨。……（但是）也難以消除他昔日（貪財的）惡名。
§20. He had the expression of one who was straining [(p.312) vultu veluti nitentis].【i.e. "He hath a face like one's tat is at cack" (Timon of Athens, V.v.89) ①.】Once he asked a witty fellow to make a joke on him & the man replied cleverly: "I will, when you have finished relieving yourself." [(p.312) Dicam, cum ventrem (314) exonerare desieris"].
① 依民按：在Timon of Athens中未檢得此引文。
◎張竹明等中譯，pp.313-314：（他……）有一付綳緊的面部表情。有一次，韋伯薌要求一個智者拿他開個玩笑，這位智者的回答準確地指出了這種神情：“等你放鬆了，我再說個笑話!”
§23. He also quoted Greek verses with great timeliness, saying of a man of tall stature and monstrous parts [(p.316) de quodam procerae staturae improbiusque nato]: "Striding along & waving a lance that casts a long shadow" [Iliad, VII. 213]. When Titus found fault with him for levying a tax upon public conveniences, he held a piece of money from the first payment to his son's nose, asking whether its odour was offensive to him [(p.318) sciscitans num odore offenderetur]. When Titus said "No," he replied, "Yet it comes from urine" [(p.318) Atqui e lotio est]. As death drew near, he said: "Woe's me. Methinks I'm turning into a god" [(p.318) Vae, puto deus fio"].
◎張竹明等中譯，pp.314-315：他善于恰当地引用希腊诗句，例如他这样描写一个身躯高大样子凶恶的男子：
他走上战场、……跨着大步，
挥舞着他长长的枪。
……他的儿子提图斯责备他征收厕所税，他便把首次征得的这种税钱拿到儿子的鼻前让他嗅嗅，问这钱有无臭气。提图斯回答说：“不臭。”他说：“要知道这是来自粪便的钱啊!”……当他感到死亡临近时，说道：“呜呼! 我想我正在成神。”
§24. Almost fainting with a bad attack of diarrhoea, he said: "An emperor ought to die standing" [(p.318) imperatorem ait stantem mori oportere]. 【Montaigne,Essais, II.21, la Pléiade, p.656: "Voilà un beau mot, à mon gré, et digne d’un grand prince." ①】
① 依民按：Michel de Montaigne. Complete Works: Essays, Travel Journal, Letters. Donald M. Frame英譯："Against do-nothingness": （在引用這句話後評論）That is a fine statement, in my opinion, and worthy of a great prince.
◎張竹明等中譯，p.316：由于突然腹瀉，險些暈倒，可是他却說道：“皇帝應當站著死。”
The Deified Titus §1. He was the delight and darling of the human race [(p.320) amor ac deliciae generis humani] & won the affections of all men.
◎張竹明等中譯，p.316：（他）是一個人們普遍喜歡和愛戴的人物。……贏得了大家的好感。
§3. Handsome & talented; skilled in all the arts. He could imitate any handwriting & often declared that he might have been the prince of forgers [(p.324) maximum falsarium esse potuisse].
◎張竹明等中譯，p.317：（相貌英俊，才能出衆，精通所有的學問）……他能够模仿任何筆迹。他經常宣稱，他可以成爲赫赫有名的僞造專家。
§8. Remembering at dinner that he had done nothing for anybody all that day, he said: "Friends, I have lost a day" [(p.330) Amici, diem perdidi].
◎張竹明等中譯，p.321：有一次，正在用晚餐，他回想這一整天未給任何人做件好事……（他說）：“朋友們，我失去了一天光陰!”
Domitian §3. At the beginning of his reign he used to spend hours in seclusion every day, doing nothing but catch flies and stab them with a keenly-sharpened stylus [(p.344) nee quicquam amplius quam muscas captare ac stilo praeacuto configere]. Consequently when someone once asked whether anyone was in there with Caesar, Vibius Crispus made the witty reply: "Not even a fly" [(p.344) ne muscam quidem].
◎張竹明等中譯，p.326：在其統治初期，每天他都習慣于深居簡出，除了捕捉蒼蠅，幷用鐵筆刺殺它們之外，他什麽事都不做。因此，當有人問道，是否有誰同皇帝在內宮時，維比烏斯·克里斯普斯一針見血地答道：“連蒼蠅都沒有。”
§10. He tortured many of the opposite party in the civil war by inserting fire in their privates [(p.362) immisso per obscaena igne].
◎張竹明等中譯，p.334：內戰勝利後,他變得更加殘忍。爲了追查隱藏的陰謀者，他采用一種新的審問方法拷打許多敵對分子：火燒他們的生殖器。①
① 依民按：筆記乃錢之概括，并非原書文字；中譯保持原貌且多引一些上下文，以便對照。
§11. He invited one of his stewards to his bed-chamber the day before crucifying him, made him sit beside him on his couch, & dismissed him in a secure and gay frame of mind [(p.362) securum hilaremque dimisit], even deigning to send him a share of his dinner… He never pronounced an unusually dreadful sentence without a preliminary declaration of clemency, so that there came to be no more certain indication of a cruel death than the leniency of his preamble [(p.362) numquam tristiorem sententiam sine praefatione clementiae pronuntiavit, ut non aliud iam certius atrocis exitus signum esset quam principii lenitas].
◎張竹明等中譯，p.334：他把一名管家釘死在十字架上，可是就在前一天，他還把這個人請進自己的臥室，讓其肩幷肩地坐在自己的榻上，甚至屈尊共進午餐，最後讓其懷著安全和喜悅的心情離開。……他在宣布殘酷的死刑之前總要先表白自己的仁慈，因此，他的開場白的慈悲不是別的，而是殘酷死刑的信號。
§14. His father once even openly ridiculed him at dinner for refusing mushrooms, saying that he showed himself unaware of his destiny in not rather fearing the sword [(p.368) ut ignarum sortis suae, quod non ferrum potius timeret]. He became more anxious every day, & lined the walls of the colonnades in which he used to walk with phengite stone, 【Pliny, N.H. XXXVI. 163, a hard, white, transparent① stone; in 196, Pliny also mentions similar mirrors of black obsidian】 to be able to see in its brilliant surface the reflection of all that went on behind his back.
① 依民按：p.370腳注所引為translucent。疑transparent乃錢筆誤。
◎張竹明等中譯，p.337：有一次，他的父親甚至在午宴上當衆嘲笑他戒食蘑菇，說他不瞭解自己的命運，什麽都怕，就是不怕寶劍。……他變得更加疑神疑鬼。他通常在長廊中散步，廊壁鑲上閃光照人的月長石，以便根據反射的影像看到身後發生的一切。
§16. While he was scratching a festered wart on his forehead, & had drawn blood, he said: "May this be all" [(p.374) Utinam hactenus].
◎張竹明等中譯，p.339：當他使勁地擠破自己前額上的一個膿疱時，鮮血流了出來。他喃喃地說：“但願事情不過如此而已。”
§18. He was very sensitive about his baldness & wrote a book "On the Care of the Hair" [(p.378) de cura capillorum].
◎張竹明等中譯，p.340：他对自己的秃头是那样的不悦……出版了一部有关护理头发的著作。
§22. He was excessively lustful. His constant sexual intercourse he called bed-wrestling, as if it were a kind of exercise. He depilated his concubines with his own hand [(p.382) Libidinis nimiae, assiduitatem concubitus velut exercitationis genus clinopalen vocabat; … quasi concubinas ipse develleret].
◎張竹明等中譯，p.342：圖密善過分好色。他稱自己的頻頻性交是“床上格鬥”，仿佛這是一種身體鍛煉。據說，他親手給自己的情婦拔毛。
（Bk II. THE LIVES OF ILLUSTRIOUS MEN)
De Grammaticis (On Grammarians)
§4. The term grammaticus became prevalent through Greek influence; at first such men were called litterati [(p.400) Appellatio grammaticorum Graeca consuetudine invaluit; sed initio litterati vocabantur]. Cornelius Nepos says that though commonly applied to those who can speak or write on any subject accurately, cleverly & with authority [(p.402) qui aliquid diligenter et acute scienterque possint aut dicere aut scribere], the term litteratus should be strictly used of interpreters of the poets, whom the Greeks call grammatici [(p.402) poetarum interpretes, qui a Graecis grammatici nominentur]. These were also called litteratores. Some however distinguish between litteratus & litteraior, as the Greeks do between grammaticus and grammatista, using the former of a master of his subject, the latter of one moderately proficient [(p.402) ilium quidem absolute, hunc mediocriter doctum existiment].
◎張竹明等中譯，p.346：希臘語的影響使grammaticus這個詞流行起來，起初這種人被稱作 litterati。……（科涅利烏斯·奈波斯說，litteratus）通用于能準確、巧妙、權威地演講或寫作的人，但嚴格地說，這個詞應該是指希臘人稱作grammatici的詩歌注釋者。……這類人也被稱作litteratores。……正如希臘人辨別grammaticus和grammatista一樣，有些人也區分litteratus和litterator；他們用前者指一個學科的專家，用後者指一個中等程度的一般文字工作者。
§10. Lucius Ateius Philologus. The jurist Ateius Capito called him a rhetorician among grammarians & a grammarian among rhetoricians [(p.410) inter grammaticos rhetorem, inter rhetores grammaticum fuisse ait].【i.e. a teacher of declamation & oratory of Augustine, Confessions, I.13: "adamaveram enim latinas, non quas primi magistri, sed quas docent qui gramniatici vocantur." (Loeb, I, p.38; Wm Watts translates: "Latin I loved very well: not that part which the elementary teachers enter us in, but that which the men of letters teach us"); De Quinecy, Confessions of an English Opium-Eater①, "Everyman's library", p.47 on the "Grammer school".】
① 依民按：筆記脫“Opium-”。
◎張竹明等中譯，p.350：魯基烏斯·阿泰烏斯·費洛洛古斯。……法學家阿泰烏斯·卡庇托說他是“語法家中的修辭學家，修辭學家中的語法家。”
§22①. Marcus Pomponius Marcellus. When he had criticized in one of Tiberius's speeches, & Ateius Capito declared that it was good Latin, or if not, that it would surely be so from that time on, Marcellus answered: "Capito lies; for you, Caesar, can confer citizenship upon men, but not upon a word" [(p.426) affirmante Ateio Capitone, et esse illud Latinum, et si non esset, futurum certe iam inde: "Mentitur," inquit, "Capito; tu enim, Caesar, civitatem dare potes hominibus, verbo non potes"].
① 依民按：筆記原誤標為12。
◎張竹明等中譯，p.356：馬爾庫斯·龐波尼烏斯·馬爾采魯斯。（他）曾批評提比略在一次演說中一個詞用得不當，而阿泰烏斯·卡庇托則認爲這個拉丁詞用得很恰當，如果說不是，那麽從那時起這肯定是個絕好的用法。對此，馬爾采魯斯駁斥道：“卡庇托在信口雌黃。因爲你元首雖然能給人公民權，但不能給一個詞以任意的用法。”
De Poetis (on Poets)
Vergil [Vita Vergili] He ate & drank but little. He was especially given to passions for boys [(p.466) libidinis in pueros pronioris], & his special favourites were Cebes & Alexander, whom he calls Alexis in the second poem of his "Bucolics." This boy was given him by Asinius Pollio, & both his favourites had some education, while Cebes was even a poet [(p.466) utrumque non ineruditum, Cebetem vero et poetam]… For the rest of his life he was so modest in speech and thought, that at Naples he was commonly called "The Maiden" [(p.466) Partheiiias]. In writing the "Georgics," he dictated each day a large number of verses in the morning, & then spend the rest of the day in reducing them to a very small number, wittily remarking that he fashioned his poem after the manner of a she-bear, & gradually licked it into shape [(p.472) carmen se more ursae parere dicens et lambendo demum effingere]. After writing a first draft of the "Aeneid," in prose, he proceeded to turn it into verse [(p.472) componere]. That he might not check the flow of his thought, he left some things unfinished [(p.472) Ac ne quid impetnm moraretur, quaedam inperfecta transmisit] & bolstered others up with very slight words, which, as he jocosely used to say, were put in like props, to support the structure until the solid columns should arrive [(p.472) alia levissimis verbis veluti fulsit, quae per iocum protibicinibus interponi aiebat ad sustinendum opus, donec solidae columnae advenirent]. He had arranged with Varius, before leaving Italy, that if anything befell him, his friend should burn the "Aeneid "; but Varius had emphatically declared that he would do no such thing. Therefore in his mortal illness Vergil constantly called for his book-boxes，intending to burn the poem himself [(p.478) igitur in extrema valetudine assidue scrinia desideravit，crematurus ipse]. At leaving the incomplete lines just as they were [(p.478) ut qui versus etiam inperfectos sicut erant reliquerit]. ① He never lacked detractors. Herennius made selections confined to his defects[(p.480) vitia], & Perellius Fausta to his pilferings[furta].Quintus Octavius Avitus devoted 8 volumes to his borrowings under the title "Resemblances"[(p.480)希臘文]. He himself sued to asy: "Why don't my critics also attempt the same thefts? If they do, they will realize that it is easier to filch his club from Hercules than a line from Homer." [(p.482) cur non illi quoque eadem furta temptarent? Verum intellecturos facilius esse Herculi clavam quam Homero versum subripere].
① 依民按：以上分別參見前引《管錐編》第二冊《楚辭》卷第13則、《容安館札記》第三冊第798則。
◎張竹明等中譯，pp.369-375：他飲食不多，愛男性少年，尤其鍾情于塞貝斯和亞歷山大。他在《牧歌》的第二首詩中把後者稱作“亞歷克西”。亞歷山大是阿西尼烏斯·波里奧贈給他的。塞貝斯和亞歷山大都受過一定的教育，塞貝斯還能寫詩。……在他一生的其餘時間裏，他的言語和思想都是如此貞潔，以致他在那不勒斯被大家稱爲“處女”。……在寫《農事詩》時，據說他每天一早口述已有腹稿的詩句很多行，然後在這天的其餘時間把它們删减成很少幾行，這種方式已經成爲他的習慣。有人機智地評論道：他寫詩像雌熊産仔，漸漸地把它們舔出一個模樣來。至于《埃涅阿斯紀》，他曾以散文的形式寫成初稿；……然後……把它們改寫成詩。……爲了不妨礙自己那涌現的文思，結果他留下了一些部分未能完成，另一些部分還只像一張張草圖，正如他曾風趣地說過，在堅固的棟梁竪起之前，要用這些文字來支撑整個作品。……還在離開意大利之前，維吉爾曾同瓦列烏斯約定，假如他身遭不測，瓦列烏斯就燒毀《埃涅阿斯紀》，但瓦列烏斯曾斷然拒絕這樣做。在病終前，維吉爾曾一再要取他的書箱，想親手焚毀詩稿，但……按原貌留下了不完整的詩行。……維吉爾從來不乏詆毀他的人。……赫倫尼烏斯專門搜集他的不足之處，而佩勒利烏斯·福斯圖斯專門搜集他的剽竊。……克文圖斯·屋大維烏斯·阿維圖斯所編的8卷題爲《相似》一書中收羅了維吉爾所有借用來的詩句（，幷附有它們的出處。）……（他本人曾說）：“我的批評家們爲什麽不也嘗試一下同樣的剽竊？假如他們這樣做了，他們就會懂得，從荷馬那裏偷竊一行詩不比從赫庫利斯那裏偷來大棒容易一些。”
Horace [Vita Horati] Augustus often calls him "a most immaculate libertine" & "his charming little man" [(p.486) "purissimum penem" et "homuncionem lepidissimum"]. He was immoderately lustful; in a room lined with mirrors he had harlots so arranged that whichever way he looked, he saw a reflection of venery [(p.488) Ad res Venerias intemperantior traditur; nam speculate cubiculo scorta dicitur habuisse disposita, ut quocumque respexisset ibi ei imago coitus referretur].【I. Bloch,Die Prostitutio, Bd. I, s.387, quotes this passage & propos of the "Spiegelzimmer"① & Seneca, Natural. Quaest.②I. 16, cf. Ben Jonson, The Alchemist, II. i (Sir Epicure Mammon) & the "lit de glace"③, (Mary Eden & Richard Carrington, The Philosophy of the Bed, p.22) 《迷樓記》、《野獲編》26。】
① 依民按：Mirror room.
② 依民按：Naturales quaestiones.
③ 依民按：辨識不一定準確，待得到The Philosophy of the Bed後再驗證。
◎張竹明等中譯，pp.376-377：（奧古斯都）常稱賀拉斯爲“最純潔的放蕩鬼”、“最可愛的小男人”。……他好色無度。他和他的情婦睡的房間裏裝著許多鏡子，爲的是不論往那個方向看，他都可以看見他們性交的情形。
Lucan [Vita Lucani] Once in a public privy, when he relieved his bowels with an uncommonly loud noise [(p.502) cum strepitu ventris emissi], he shouted out this half line of Neros: "You might suppose it thundered 'neath the earth" [(p.502) Sub terris tonuisse putes], & those who were there for the same purpose took to their heels.
◎張竹明等中譯，pp.381-382：有一次在公共厠所，他大聲放了個響屁，接著便朗誦了尼祿的半行詩，這引起了同上厠所的人的巨大驚慌和一陣逃跑：“你可以認爲這是平地一聲炸雷。”
The Life of Passienus Crispus [Vita Passieni Crispi] When he was asked by Nero in a private conversation whether he had commerce with his own sister, as the emperor had with his, he replied "Not yet" [(p.506) Nondum]; a very fitting and cautious answer, neither accusing the emperor by denying the allegation, nor dishonouring himself with a lie by admitting it [ne aut negando eum argueret aut adsentiendo semet mendacio dehonestaret].
◎張竹明等中譯，p.383：在一次與尼祿的私下談話中尼祿問他是否與自己的姐妹有性關係，就像這位皇帝與自己的姐妹那樣，他回答道：“還沒有。”這個答覆非常恰當而又謹慎，既不會因否認而冒犯皇帝，也不會因承認沒有的事而辱沒了自己。
