Dio’s Roman History
ἀστρολόγων, ὅτι μοναρχήσει φησάντων·1 ἐξ οὗπερ ῥᾷον ἔπεισαν αὐτὸν ἀναδέξασθαι τὴν 6ἡγεμονίαν. πάντως2γὰρ καὶ ὁ Δομιτιανὸς τῶν πρώτων τάς τε ἡμέρας καὶ τὰς ὥρας ἐν αἷς ἐγεγέννηντο3 διασκοπῶν, οὐκ ὀλίγους ἐκ τούτου τῶν οὐδὲ ἐλπιζόντων4 ἐν δυνάμει τινὶ ἔσεσθαι προανήλισκε· καὶ τόν γε Νέρουαν ἀπέσφαξεν ἄν, εἰ μή τις τῶν ἀστρολόγων εὔνοιαν αὐτῷ ἔχων ἔφη ὅτι ἐντὸς ὀλίγων ἡμερῶν τελευτήσει. πιστεύσας γὰρ ὄντως τοῦτ᾿ ἔσεσθαι, οὐκ ἠθέλησε κἀκεῖνον πεφονευκέναι ὡς πάντως μετὰ μικρὸν τεθνηξόμενον.5—Xiph. 222, 31–225, 4 R. St., Zon. 11, 20, p. 63, 1–9 D.
16Καὶ οὐ γάρ ἐστιν οὐδὲν τῶν τηλικούτων ἀπρόοπτον, ἄλλα τε6 αὐτῷ σημεῖα ἐγένετο οὐκ αἴσια,7 καὶ αὐτὸς ἐν τῷ ὕπνῳ τόν τε Ῥούστικον ξίφει προσιέναι οἱ, καὶ τὴν Ἀθηνᾶν, ἣν ἐν τῷ κοιτῶνι ἱδρυμένην εἶχε, τὰ ὅπλα ἀποβεβληκέναι καὶ ἐπὶ ἅρματος ἵππων μελάνων ἐς χάσμα ἐσπίπτειν ἔδοξεν. ὃ δὲ δὴ μάλιστα διὰ πάντων 2ἄξιον θαυμάσαι ἐστί, Λαργῖνός τις Πρόκλος δημοσίᾳ προειπὼν ἐν Γερμανίᾳ ὅτι τῇ ἡμέρᾳ ἐκείνῃ ἐν ᾗ ἀπέθανε τελευτήσει, ἀνεπέμφθη τε ἐς τὴν Ῥώμην ὑπὸ τοῦ ἄρχοντος, καὶ ἐσαχθεὶς πρὸς τὸν Δομιτιανὸν ἔφη καὶ τότε τοῦθ᾿ οὕτως ἕξειν, καὶ καταδικασθεὶς τὴν ἐπὶ θανάτῳ8 ἀνεβλήθη τε ὅπως διαφυγόντος αὐτοῦ τὸν κίνδυνον
Epitome of Book LXVII
by astrologers who declared that he should be a.d. 95 sovereign. It was this last circumstance that made it easier for them to persuade him to accept the imperial power. Domitian, of course, had not failed to take careful note of the days and the hours when the foremost men had been born, and in consequence was destroying in advance not a few of those who were not even hoping for the attainment of power; and he would have slain Nerva, had not one of the astrologers who was friendly to the latter declared that the man would die within a few days. And so Domitian, believing that this would really come to pass, did not wish to be guilty of this additional murder, since Nerva was to die so soon in any case.
Since no event of such magnitude happens unforeseen, various unfavourable omens occurred in the case of Domitian. Among other things he himself dreamed that Rusticus approached him with a sword, and that Minerva, whose statue he kept in his bed-chamber, had thrown away her weapons, and, mounted upon a chariot drawn by black horses, was plunging into an abyss. But the most remarkable circumstance of all was the following. Larginus Proculus, having publicly announced in the province of Germany that the emperor would die on the day when he actually did die, had been sent on to Rome by the governor, and when brought before Domitian had again declared that it should so come to pass. He was accordingly condemned to death, but his execution was postponed in order that he might die