---
title: "The Deified Julius · Divus Julius"
author: "Suetonius"
translator: "John C. Rolfe"
languages: [la, en]
shelf: "Classical Latin"
section: 54 of 89
url: https://scriptura.si/works/suetonius-divus-julius-rolfe-1914/54/
cite: "Suetonius, tr. John C. Rolfe, The Deified Julius · Divus Julius, section 54. Scriptura (scriptura.si), https://scriptura.si/works/suetonius-divus-julius-rolfe-1914/54/"
---

# The Deified Julius · Divus Julius

*Suetonius, tr. John C. Rolfe*

## 54. Chapter 54

Source: https://scriptura.si/works/suetonius-divus-julius-rolfe-1914/54/ · cite a paragraph as https://scriptura.si/works/suetonius-divus-julius-rolfe-1914/54/#p-N

[¶0] Neither when in command of armies nor as a magistrate at Rome did he show a scrupulous integrity; for as certain men have declared in their memoirs, when he was proconsul in Spain, he not only begged money from the allies, to help pay his debts, but also attacked and sacked some towns of the Lusitanians although they did not refuse his terms and opened their gates to him on his arrival.

> Latin: Abstinentiam neque in imperiis neque in magistratibus praestitit. Ut enim quidam monumentis suis testati sunt, in Hispania pro consule et a sociis pecunias accepit emendicatas in auxilium aeris alieni et Lusitanorum quaedam oppida, quanquam nec imperata detrectarent et advenienti portas patefacerent, diripuit hostiliter.

*Note: Caesar was in reality propraetor, but proconsul (pro consule) is sometimes used of the governor of a province, regardless of his rank.*

[¶1] In Gaul he pillaged shrines and temples of the gods filled with offerings, and oftener sacked towns for the sake of plunder than for any fault. In consequence he had more gold than he knew what to do with, and offered it for sale throughout Italy and the provinces at the rate of three thousand sesterces the pound.

> Latin: In Gallia fana templaque deum donis referta expilavit, urbes diruit saepius ob praedam quam ob delictum; unde factum, ut auro abundaret ternisque milibus nummum in libras promercale per Italiam provinciasque divenderet.

*Note: Apparently about half the usual price: see Index, s.v. sestertius.*

[¶2] In his first consulship he stole three thousand pounds of gold from the Capitol, replacing it with the same weight of gilded bronze. He made alliances and thrones a matter of barter, for he extorted from Ptolemy alone in his own nameand that of Pompey nearly six thousand talents, while later on he met the heavy expenses of the civil wars and of his triumphs and entertainments by the most bare-faced pillage and sacrilege.

> Latin: In primo consulatu tria milia pondo auri furatus e Capitolio tantundem inaurati aeris reposuit. Societates ac regna pretio dedit, ut qui uni Ptolemaeo prope sex milia talentorum suo Pompeique nomine abstulerit. Postea vero evidentissimis rapinis ac sacrilegis et onera bellorum civilium et triumphorum ac munerum sustinuit impendia.