Idem apud imperatorem Neruam non minus fortiter. Cenabat Nerua cum paucis; Veiento proximus atque etiam in sinu recumbebat: dixi omnia cum hominem nominaui. Incidit sermo de Catullo Messalino, qui luminibus orbatus ingenio saeuo mala caecitatis addiderat: non uerebatur, non erubescebat, non miserebatur; quo saepius a Domitiano non secus ac tela, quae et ipsa caeca et improuida feruntur, in optimum quemque contorquebatur. De huius nequitia sanguinariisque sententiis in commune omnes super cenam loquebantur, cum ipse imperator: ‘Quid putamus passurum fuisse si uiueret?’ Et Mauricus: ‘Nobiscum cenaret.’

He [Junius Mauricus] spoke no less bravely in the presence of the emperor Nerva. Nerva was dining with a few companions. Veiento was nearest to him and virtually reclining in his lap. I said it all, really, when I named that man. Catullus Messalinus came up in our conversation. He had been deprived of his eyesight, and this handicap of blindness had intensified his savage inclination. He was unafraid, unashamed, unpitying: for that reason he was often launched by Domitian – not unlike spears which themselves are hurled blindly and with no sense of forethought – against all the best men. […]