Roman History (Historia Romana)

...and from the reasoning applied to the time of the work’s composition, and from conjecture about his death based on the chronology of the times, it is permitted to conclude.

For since he finished his work with the death of Livia, which occurred at the beginning of the year 782 A.U.C. 29 AD (see Tacitus, Annals V. 1), and since he sent his book to M. Vinicius, who was consul with C. Cassius Longinus in the year 783 A.U.C. 30 AD—to whom he frequently directs his address (see I. 18; II. 113 and 130), and to whose consulship he aligns the timing of his historical events—it appears that Velleius, after the death of Livia, completed his work, which perhaps had been undertaken when Vinicius was consul-designate, in the same year of his consulship. The probable conjecture of Dodwell is not displeasing: that our author finished the work as a gesture of congratulation to Vinicius for his honor; but fearing the consulship might expire, he hastened and was content with a constrained summary of the memory of ancient affairs, omitting volumes that would have been just and sufficiently ample for the magnitude of the events. Regarding this, and no less regarding the reasons why Velleius sent his books to the consul M. Vinicius, it would be more certain if his work had reached our age with its beginning intact and its preface not truncated. Nevertheless, it may be conjectured that either this Vinicius was the author who inspired Velleius to reduce such a history into a compendium, or that our author himself saw fit to offer and dedicate the work to him, whether due to some benefit received from him or his father, under whom he had begun to earn his wages (II. 101), or due to friendship, or due to the favor the consul enjoyed with Tiberius. For this man, whose grandfather was Marcus and whose father was Publius—both consular men (see II. 96 and 103)—had been employed by Augustus for the duties of the most serious wars and for the administration of provinces (II. 101 and 104); he must have been among those most favored by Tiberius, since three years after his consulship he was chosen as the husband of Tiberius’s granddaughter Julia, the daughter of the Emperor and Germanicus. See Tacitus, Annals VI. 15, where his mild character and eloquence are also praised. Dio (LX. 27) reports his end, after his second consulship in the year 798 A.U.C. 45 AD, as having been killed by the poisonings of Messallina.

But Velleius, his work completed, does not seem to have been alive for much longer. Such is the opinion of Dodwell, who, by probable conjecture, believes our author perished, overwhelmed by the ruin of Sejanus. Pe-