--- title: "The Deified Augustus · Divus Augustus" author: "Suetonius" translator: "Alexander Thomson" languages: [la, en] shelf: "Classical Latin" section: 2 of 5 url: https://scriptura.si/works/suetonius-divus-augustus/2/ cite: "Suetonius, tr. Alexander Thomson, The Deified Augustus · Divus Augustus, section 2. Scriptura (scriptura.si), https://scriptura.si/works/suetonius-divus-augustus/2/" --- # The Deified Augustus · Divus Augustus *Suetonius, tr. Alexander Thomson* The life of Augustus, from Caesar’s heir to the first emperor. > Latin: ed. Maximilian Ihm, from the Perseus Digital Library (canonical-latinLit, phi1348.abo012, CC BY-SA 4.0). > English: Alexander Thomson, from the Perseus Digital Library (phi1348.abo012.perseus-eng2). Notes are not included. > Rows follow the references the two texts share (chapters and sections), cut where both reach the end of a sentence. ## 2. Chapters 24–41 Source: https://scriptura.si/works/suetonius-divus-augustus/2/ · cite a paragraph as https://scriptura.si/works/suetonius-divus-augustus/2/#p-N [¶0] 24. In military affairs he made many alterations, introducing some practices entirely new, and reviving others, which had become obsolete. He maintained the strictest discipline among the troops; and would not allow even his lieutenants the liberty to visit their wives, except reluctantly, and in the winter season only. A Roman knight having cut off the thumbs of his two young sons, to render them incapable of serving in the wars, he exposed both him and his estate to public sale. But upon observing the farmers of the revenue very greedy for the purchase, he assigned him to a freedman of his own, that he might send him into the country, and suffer him to retain his freedom. The tenth legion becoming mutinous, he disbanded it with ignominy; and did the same by some others which petulantly demanded their discharge; withholding from them the rewards usually bestowed on those who had served their stated time in the wars. The cohorts which yielded their ground in time of action, he decimated, and fed with barley. Centurions, as well as common sentinels, who deserted their posts when on guard, he punished with death. For other misdemeanors he inflicted upon them various kinds of disgrace; such as obliging them to stand all day before the praetorium, sometimes in their tunics only, and without their belts, sometimes to carry poles ten feet long, or sods of turf. > Latin: 24. In re militari et commutauit multa et instituit atque etiam ad antiquum morem nonnulla reuocauit. disciplinam seuerissime rexit. ne legatorum quidem cuiquam, nisi grauate hibernisque demum mensibus, permisit uxorem interuisere. equitem R. Romanum, quod duobus filiis adulescentibus causa detrectandi sacramenti pollices amputasset, ipsum bonaque subiecit hastae; quem tamen, quod inminere emptioni publicanos uidebat, liberto suo addixit, ut relegatum in agros pro libero esse sineret. decimam legionem contumacius parentem cum ignominia totam dimisit, item alias immodeste missionem postulantes citra commoda emeritorum praemiorum exauctorauit. cohortes, si quae cessissent loco, decimatas hordeo pauit. centuriones statione deserta, itidem ut manipulares, capitali animaduersione puniit, pro cetero delictorum genere uariis ignominis adfecit, ut stare per totum diem iuberet ante praetorium, interdum tunicatos discinctosque, nonnumquam cum decempedis, uel etiam caespitem portantes. [¶1] 25. After the conclusion of the civil wars, he never, in any of his military harangues, or proclamations, addressed them by the title of "Fellow-soldiers," but as "Soldiers" only. Nor would he suffer them to be otherwise called by his sons or step-sons, when they were in command; judging the former epithet to convey the idea of a degree of condescension inconsistent with military discipline, the maintenance of order, and his own majesty, and that of his house. Unless at Rome, in case of incendiary fires, or under the apprehension of public disturbances during a scarcity of provisions, he never employed in his army slaves who had been made freedmen, except upon two occasions; on one, for the security of the colonies bordering upon Illyricum, and on the other, to guard the banks of the river Rhine. Although he obliged persons of fortune, both male and female, to give up their slaves, and they received their manumission at once, yet he kept them together under their own standard, unmixed with soldiers who were better born, and armed likewise after different fashion. Military rewards, such as trappings, collars, and other decorations of gold and silver, he distributed more readily than camp or mural crowns, which were reckoned more honourable than the former. These he bestowed sparingly, without partiality, and frequently even on common soldiers. He presented M. Agrippa, after the naval engagement in the Sicilian war, with a sea-green banner. Those who shared in the honours of a triumph, although they had attended him in his expeditions, and taken part in his victories, he judged it improper to distinguish by the usual rewards for service, because they had a right themselves to grant such rewards to whom they pleased. He thought nothing more derogatory to the character of an accomplished general than precipitancy and rashness; on which account he had frequently in his mouth those proverbs: “σπεῦδε βραδέως”, hasten slowly; and “ἀσφαλὴσ γὰρ ἐστ' ἀμείνων, ἡ θράσυσ στρατηλάτησ”, The cautious captain's better than the bold.. And "That is done fast enough, which is done well enough." He was wont to say also, that "a battle or a war ought never to be undertaken, unless the prospect of gain over balanced the fear of loss. For," said he, "men who pursue small advantages with no small hazard, resemble those who fish with a golden hook, the loss of which, if the line should happen to break, could never be compensated by all the fish they might take." > Latin: 25. neque post bella ciuilia aut in contione aut per edictum ullos militum commilitones appellabat, sed milites, ac ne a filiis quidem aut priuignis suis imperio praeditis aliter appellari passus est, ambitiosius id existimans, quam aut ratio militaris aut temporum quies aut sua domusque suae maiestas postularet. libertino milite, praeterquam Romae incendiorum causa et si tumultus in grauiore annona metueretur, bis usus est: semel ad praesidium coloniarum Illyricum contingentium, iterum ad tutelam ripae Rheni fluminis; eosque, seruos adhuc uiris feminisque pecuniosioribus indictos ac sine mora manumissos, sub priore uexillo habuit, neque aut commixtos cum ingenuis aut eodem modo armatos. Dona militaria aliquanto facilius phaleras et torques, quicquid auro argentoque constaret, quam uallares ac murales coronas, quae honore praecellerent, dabat; has quam parcissime et sine ambitione ac saepe etiam caligatis tribuit. M. Agrippam in Sicilia post naualem uictoriam caeruleo uexillo donauit. solos triumphales, quamquam et socios expeditionum et participes uictoriarum suarum, numquam donis impertiendos putauit, quod ipsi quoque ius habuissent tribuendi ea quibus uellent. nihil autem minus [in]perfecto duci quam festinationem temeritatemque conuenire arbitrabatur. crebro itaque illa iactabat: σπεῦδε βραδέως· ἀσφαλὴς γάρ ἐστʼ ἀμείνων ἢ θρασὺς στρατηλάτης et: 'sat celeriter fieri quidquid fiat satis bene.' proelium quidem aut bellum suscipiendum omnino negabat, nisi cum maior emolumenti spes quam damni metus ostenderetur. nam minima commoda non minimo sectantis discrimine similes aiebat esse aureo hamo piscantibus, cuius abrupti damnum nulla captura pensari posset. [¶2] 26. He was advanced to public offices before the age at which he was legally qualified for them; and to some, also, of a new kind, and for life. He seized the consulship in the twentieth year of his age, quartering his legions in a threatening manner near the city, and sending deputies to demand it for him in the name of the army. When the senate demurred, a centurion, named Cornelius, who was at the head of the chief deputation, throwing back his cloak, and showing the hilt of his sword, had the presumption to say in the senate-house, "This will make him consul, if ye will not." His second consulship he filled nine years afterwards; his third, after the interval of only one year, and held the same office every year successively until the eleventh. From this period, although the consulship was frequently offered him, he always declined it, until, after a long interval, not less than seventeen years, he voluntarily stood for the twelfth, and two years after that for a thirteenth; that he might successively introduce into the forum, on their entering public life, his two sons, Caius and Lucius, while he was invested with the highest office in the state. In his five consulships from the sixth to the eleventh, he continued in office throughout the year; but in the rest, during only nine, six, four, or three months, and in his second no more than a few hours. For having sat for a short time in the morning, upon the calends of January [1st January], in his curule chair before the temple of Jupiter Capitolinus, he abdicated the office, and substituted another in his room. Nor did he enter upon them all at Rome, but upon the fourth in Asia, the fifth in the Isle of Samos, and the eighth and ninth at Tarragona. > Latin: 26. Magistratus atque honores et ante tempus et quosdam noui generis perpetuosque cepit. consulatum uicesimo aetatis anno inuasit admotis hostiliter ad urbem legionibus missisque qui sibi nomine exercitus deposcerent; cum quidem cunctante senatu Cornelius centurio, princeps legationis, reiecto sagulo ostendens gladii capulum non dubitasset in curia dicere: 'hic faciet, si uos non feceritis.' secundum consulatum post nouem annos, tertium anno interiecto gessit, sequentis usque ad undecimum continuauit, multisque mox, cum deferrentur, recusatis duodecimum magno, id est septemdecim annorum, interuallo et rursus tertium decimum biennio post ultro petit, ut C. et Lucium filios amplissimo praeditus magistratu suo quemque tirocinio deduceret in forum. quinque medios consulatus a sexto ad decimum annuos gessit, ceteros aut nouem aut sex aut quattuor aut tribus mensibus, secundum uero paucissimis horis. nam die Kal. Ian. cum mane pro aede Capitolini Iouis paululum curuli sella praesedisset, honore abiit suffecto alio in locum suum. nec omnes Romae, sed quartum consulatum in Asia, quintum in insula Samo, octauum et nonum Tarracone init. [¶3] 27. During ten years he acted as one of the triumvirate for settling the commonwealth, in which office he for some time opposed his colleagues in their design of a proscription; but after it was begun, he prosecuted it with more determined rigour than either of them. For whilst they were often prevailed upon, by the interest and intercession of friends, to show mercy, he alone strongly insisted that no one should be spared, and even proscribed Caius Toranius, his guardian, who had been formerly the colleague of his father Octavius in the edileship. Junius Saturnius adds this farther account of him: that when, after the proscription was over, Marcus Lepidus made an apology in the senate for their past proceedings, and gave them hopes of a more mild administration for the future, because they had now sufficiently crushed their enemies; he, on the other hand, declared that the only limit he had fixed to the proscription was, that he should be free to act as he pleased. Afterwards, however, repenting of his severity, he advanced T. Vinius Philopoemen to the equestrian rank, for having concealed his patron at the time he was proscribed. In this same office he incurred great odium upon many accounts. For as he was one day making an harangue, observing among the soldiers Pinarius, a Roman knight, admit some private citizens, and engaged in taking notes, he ordered him to be stabbed before his eyes, as a busy-body and a spy upon him. He so terrified with his menaces Tedius Afer, the consul elect, for having reflected upon some action of his, that he threw himself from a great height, and died on the spot. And when Quintus Gallius, the praetor, came to compliment him with a double tablet under his cloak, suspecting that it was a sword he had concealed, and yet not venturing to make a search, lest it should be found to be something else, he caused him to be dragged from his tribunal by centurions and soldiers, and tortured like a slave: and although he made no confession, ordered him to be put to death, after he had, with his own hands, plucked out his eyes. His own account of the matter, however, is, that Quintus Gallius sought a private conference with him, for the purpose of assassinating him; that he therefore put him in prison, but afterwards released him, and banished him the city; when he perished either in a storm at sea, or by falling into the hands of robbers. He accepted of the tribunitian power for life, but more than once chose a colleague in that office for two lustra successively. He also had the supervision of morality and observance of the laws, for life, but without the title of censor; yet he thrice took a census of the people, the first and third time with a colleague, but the second by himself. > Latin: 27. Triumuiratum rei p. constituendae per decem annos administrauit; in quo restitit quidem aliquamdiu collegis ne qua fieret proscriptio, sed inceptam utroque acerbius exercuit. namque illis in multorum saepe personam per gratiam et preces exorabilibus solus magno opere contendit ne cui parceretur, proscripsitque etiam C. Toranium tutorem suum, eundem collegam patris sui Octaui in aedilitate. Iulius Saturninus hoc amplius tradit, cum peracta proscriptione M. Lepidus in senatu excusasset praeterita et spem clementiae in posterum fecisset, quoniam satis poenarum exactum esset, hunc e diuerso professum, ita modum se proscribendi statuisse, ut omnia sibi reliquerit libera. in cuius tamen pertinaciae paenitentiam postea T. Vinium Philopoemenem, quod patronum suum proscriptum celasse olim diceretur, equestri dignitate honorauit. in eadem hac potestate multiplici flagrauit inuidia. nam et Pinarium equitem R. Romanum, cum contionante se admissa turba paganorum apud milites subscribere quaedam animaduertisset, curiosum ac speculatorem ratus coram confodi imperauit; et Tedium Afrum consulem designatum, quia factum quoddam suum maligno sermone carpsisset, tantis conterruit minis, ut is se praecipitauerit; et Quintum Gallium praetorem, in officio salutationis tabellas duplices ueste tectas tenentem, suspicatus gladium occulere, nec quicquam statim, ne aliud inueniretur, ausus inquirere, paulo post per centuriones et milites raptum e tribunali seruilem in modum torsit ac fatentem nihil iussit occidi prius oculis eius sua manu effossis; quem tamen scribit conloquio petito insidiatum sibi coniectumque a se in custodiam, deinde urbe interdicta dimissum naufragio uel latronum insidiis perisse. tribuniciam potestatem perpetuam recepit, in qua semel atque iterum per singula lustra collegam sibi cooptauit. recepit et morum legumque regimen aeque perpetuum, quo iure, quamquam sine censurae honore, censum tamen populi ter egit, primum ac tertium cum collega, medium solus. [¶4] 28. He twice entertained thoughts of restoring the republic; first, immediately after he had crushed Antony, remembering that he had often charged him with being the obstacle to its restoration. The second time was in consequence of a long illness, when he sent for the magistrates and the senate to his own house, and delivered them a particular account of the state of the empire. But reflecting at the same time that it would be both hazardous to himself to return to the condition of a private person, and might be dangerous to the public to have the government placed again under the control of the people, he resolved to keep it in his own hands, whether with the better event or intention, is hard to say. His good intentions he often affirmed in private discourse, and also published an edict, in which it was declared in the following terms: "May it be permitted me to have the happiness of establishing the commonwealth on a safe and sound basis, and thus enjoy the reward of which I am ambitious, that of being celebrated for moulding it into the form best adapted to present circumstances; so that, on my leaving the world, I may carry with me the hope that the foundations which I have laid for its future government, will stand firm and stable." > Latin: 28. De reddenda re p. bis cogitauit: primum post oppressum statim Antonium, memor obiectum sibi ab eo saepius, quasi per ipsum staret ne redderetur; ac rursus taedio diuturnae ualitudinis, cum etiam magistratibus ac senatu domum accitis rationarium imperii tradidit. sed reputans et se priuatum non sine periculo fore et illam plurium arbitrio temere committi, in retinenda perseuerauit, dubium euentu meliore an uoluntate. quam uoluntatem, cum prae se identidem ferret, quodam etiam edicto his uerbis testatus est: 'ita mihi saluam ac sospitem rem p. sistere in sua sede liceat atque eius rei fructum percipere, quem peto, ut optimi status auctor dicar et moriens ut feram mecum spem, mansura in uestigio suo fundamenta rei p. quae iecero.' fecitque ipse se compotem uoti nisus omni modo, ne quem noui status paeniteret. Vrbem neque pro maiestate imperii ornatam et inundationibus incendiisque obnoxiam excoluit adeo, ut iure sit gloriatus marmoream se relinquere, quam latericiam accepisset. tutam uero, quantum prouideri humana ratione potuit, etiam in posterum praestitit. [¶5] 29. The city, which was not built in a manner suitable to the grandeur of the empire, and was liable to inundations of the Tiber, as well as to fires, was so much improved under his administration, that he boasted, not without reason, that he "found it of brick, but left it of marble." He also rendered it secure for the time to come against such disasters, as far as could be effected by human foresight. A great number of public buildings were erected by him, the most considerable of which were a forum, containing the temple of Mars the Avenger, the temple of Apollo on the Palatine hill, and the temple of Jupiter Tonans in the capitol. The reason of his building a new forum was the vast increase in the population, and the number of causes to be tried in the courts, for which, the two already existing not affording sufficient space, it was thought necessary to have a third. It was therefore opened for public use before the temple of Mars was completely finished; and a law was passed, that causes should be tried, and judges chosen by lot, in that place. The temple of Mars was built in fulfilment of a vow made during the war of Philippi, undertaken by him to avenge his father's murder. He ordained that the senate should always assemble there when they met to deliberate respecting wars and triumphs; that thence should be despatched all those who were sent into the provinces in the command of armies; and that in it those who returned victorious from the wars, should lodge the trophies of their triumphs. He erected the temple of Apollo in that part of his house on the Palatine hill which had been struck with lightning, and which, on that account, the soothsayers declared the God to have chosen. He added porticos to it, with a library of Latin and Greek authors; and when advanced in years, used frequently there to hold the senate, and examine the rolls of the judges. He dedicated the temple to Jupiter Tonans [or. Apollo Tonans], in acknowledgment of his escape from a great danger in his Cantabrian expedition; when, as he was travelling in the night, his litter was struck by lightning, which killed the slave who carried a torch before him. He likewise constructed some public buildings in the name of others; for instance, his grandsons, his wife, and sister. Thus he built the portico and basilica of Lucius and Caius, and the porticos of Livia and Octavia. and the theatre of Marcellus. He also often exhorted other persons of rank to embellish the city by new buildings, or repairing and improving the old, according to their means. In consequence of this recommendation, many were raised; such as the temple of Hercules and the Muses, by Marcius Philippus; a temple of Diana by Lucius Cornificius; the Court of Freedom by Asinius Pollio; a temple of Saturn by Munatius Plancus; a theatre by Cornelius Balbus; an amphitheatre by Statilius Taurus, and several other noble edifices by Marcus Agrippa. > Latin: 29. publica opera plurima extruxit, e quibus uel praecipua: forum cum aede Martis Vltoris, templum Apollinis in Palatio, aedem Tonantis Iouis in Capitolio. fori extruendi causa fuit hominum et iudiciorum multitudo, quae uidebatur non sufficientibus duobus etiam tertio indigere; itaque festinatius necdum perfecta Martis aede publicatum est cautumque, ut separatim in eo publica iudicia et sortitiones iudicum fierent. aedem Martis bello Philippensi pro ultione paterna suscepto uouerat; sanxit ergo, ut de bellis triumphisque hic consuleretur senatus, prouincias cum imperio petituri hinc deducerentur, quique uictores redissent, huc insignia triumphorum conferrent. templum Apollinis in ea parte Palatinae domus excitauit, quam fulmine ictam desiderari a deo haruspices pronuntiarant; addidit porticus cum bibliotheca Latina Graecaque, quo loco iam senior saepe etiam senatum habuit decuriasque iudicum recognouit. Tonanti Ioui aedem consecrauit liberatus periculo, cum expeditione Cantabrica per nocturnum iter lecticam eius fulgur praestrinxisset seruumque praelucentem exanimasset. quaedam etiam opera sub nomine alieno, nepotum scilicet et uxoris sororisque fecit, ut porticum basilicamque Gai et Luci, item porticus Liuiae et Octauiae theatrumque Marcelli. sed et ceteros principes uiros saepe hortatus est, ut pro facultate quisque monimentis uel nouis uel refectis et excultis urbem adornarent. multaque a multis tunc extructa sunt, sicut a Marcio Philippo aedes Herculis Musarum, a L. Cornificio aedes Dianae, ab Asinio Pollione atrium Libertatis, a Munatio Planco aedes Saturni, a Cornelio Balbo theatrum, a Statilio Tauro amphitheatrum, a M. uero Agrippa complura et egregia. [¶6] 30. He divided the city into regions and districts, ordaining that the annual magistrates should take by lot the charge of the former; and that the latter should be superintended by wardens chosen out of the people of each neighbourhood. He appointed a nightly watch to be on their guard against accidents from fire; and, to prevent the frequent inundations, he widened and cleansed the bed of the Tiber, which had in the course of years been almost dammed up with rubbish, and the channel narrowed by the ruins of houses. To render the approaches to the city more commodious, he took upon himself the charge of repairing the Flaminian way as far as Ariminum, and distributed the repairs of the other roads amongst several persons who had obtained the honour of a triumph; to be defrayed out of the money arising from the spoils of war. Temples decayed by time, or destroyed by fire, he either repaired or rebuilt; and enriched them, as well as many others, with splendid offerings. On a single occasion, he deposited in the cell of the temple of Jupiter Capitolinus, sixteen thousand pounds of gold, with jewels and pearls to the amount of fifty millions of sesterces. > Latin: 30. Spatium urbis in regiones uicosque diuisit instituitque, ut illas annui magistratus sortito tuerentur, hos magistri e plebe cuiusque uiciniae lecti. aduersus incendia excubias nocturnas uigilesque commentus est; ad coercendas inundationes alueum Tiberis laxauit ac repurgauit completum olim ruderibus et aedificiorum prolationibus coartatum. quo autem facilius undique urbs adiretur, desumpta sibi Flaminia uia Arimino tenus munienda reliquas triumphalibus uiris ex manubiali pecunia sternendas distribuit. Aedes sacras uetustate conlapsas aut incendio absumptas refecit easque et ceteras opulentissimis donis adornauit, ut qui in cellam Capitolini Iouis sedecim milia pondo auri gemmasque ac margaritas quingenties sestertium una donatione contulerit. [¶7] 31. The office of Pontifex Maximus, of which he could not decently deprive Lepidus as long as he lived, he assumed as soon as he was dead. He then caused all prophetical books, both in Latin and Greek, the authors of which were either unknown, or of no great authority, to be brought in; and the whole collection, amounting to upwards of two thousand volumes, he committed to the flames, preserving only the Sibylline oracles; but not even those without a strict examination, to ascertain which were genuine. This being done, he deposited them in two gilt coffers, under the pedestal of the statue of the Palatine Apollo. He restored the calendar, which had been corrected by Julius Caesar, but through negligence was again fallen into confusion, to its former regularity; and upon that occasion, called the month Sextilis, by his own name, August, rather than September, in which he was born; because in it he had obtained his first consulship, and all his most considerable victories. He increased the number, dignity, and revenues of the priests, and especially those of the Vestal Virgins. And when, upon the death of one of them, a new one was to be taken, and many persons made interest that their daughters names might be omitted in the lists for election, he replied with an oath, "If either of my own grand-daughters were old enough, I would have proposed her." He likewise revived some old religious customs, which had become obsolete; as the augury of public health, the office of high priest of Jupiter, the religious solemnity of the Lupercalia, with the Secular, and Compitalian games. He prohibited young boys from running in the Lupercalia; and in respect of the Secular games, issued an order, that no young persons of either sex should appear at any public diversions in the night-time, unless in the company of some elderly relation. He ordered the household gods to be decked twice a year with spring and summer flowers, in the Compitalian festival. Next to the immortal gods, he paid the highest honours to the memory of those generals who had raised the Roman state from its low origin to the highest pitch of grandeur. He accordingly repaired or rebuilt the public edifices erected by them; preserving the former inscriptions, and placing statues of them all, with triumphal emblems, in both the porticos of his forum, issuing an edict on the occasion, in which he made the following declaration: "My design in so doing is, that the Roman people may require from me, and all succeeding princes, a conformity to those illustrious examples." He likewise removed the statue of Pompey from the senate-house, in which Caius Caesar had been killed, and placed it under a marble arch, fronting the palace attached to Pompey's theatre. > Latin: 31. postquam uero pontificatum maximum, quem numquam uiuo Lepido auferre sustinuerat, mortuo demum suscepit, quidquid fatidicorum librorum Graeci Latinique generis nullis uel parum idoneis auctoribus uulgo ferebatur, supra duo milia contracta undique cremauit ac solos retinuit Sibyllinos, hos quoque dilectu habito; condiditque duobus forulis auratis sub Palatini Apollinis basi. annum a Diuo Iulio ordinatum, sed postea neglegentia conturbatum atque confusum, rursus ad pristinam rationem redegit; in cuius ordinatione Sextilem mensem e suo cognomine nuncupauit magis quam Septembrem quo erat natus, quod hoc sibi et primus consulatus et insignes uictoriae optigissent. sacerdotum et numerum et dignitatem sed et commoda auxit, praecipue Vesta lium uirginum. cumque in demortuae locum aliam capi oporteret ambirentque multi ne filias in sortem darent, adiurauit, si cuiusquam neptium suarum competeret aetas, oblaturum se fuisse eam. nonnulla etiam ex antiquis caerimonis paulatim abolita restituit, ut Salutis augurium, Diale flamonium, sacrum Lupercale, ludos Saeculares et Compitalicios. Lupercalibus uetuit currere inberbes, item Saecularibus ludis iuuenes utriusque sexus prohibuit ullum nocturnum spectaculum frequentare nisi cum aliquo maiore natu propinquorum. Compitales Lares ornari bis anno instituit uernis floribus et aestiuis. Proximum a dis immortalibus honorem memoriae ducum praestitit, qui imperium p. R. ex minimo maximum reddidissent. itaque et opera cuiusque manentibus titulis restituit et statuas omnium triumphali effigie in utraque fori sui porticu dedicauit, professus e[s]t edicto: commentum id se, ut ad illorum ⟨… ⟩ uelut ad exemplar et ipse, dum uiueret, et insequentium aetatium principes exigerentur a ciuibus. Pompei quoque statuam contra theatri eius regiam marmoreo Iano superposuit translatam e curia, in qua C. Caesar fuerat occisus. [¶8] 32. He corrected many ill practices, which, to the detriment of the public, had either survived the licentious habits of the late civil wars, or else originated in the long peace. Bands of robbers shewed themselves openly, completely armed, under colour of self-defence; and in different parts of the country, travellers, freemen and slaves without distinction, were forcibly carried off, and kept to work in the houses of correction. Several associations were formed under the specious name of a new college, which banded together for the perpetration of all kinds of villany. The banditti he quelled by establishing posts of soldiers in suitable stations for the purpose; the houses of correction were subjected to a strict superintendence; all associations, those only excepted which were of ancient standing, and recognised by the laws, were dissolved. He burnt all the notes of those who had been a long time in arrear with the treasury, as being the principal source of vexatious suits and prosecutions. Places in the city claimed by the public, where the right was doubtful, he adjudged to the actual possessors. He struck out of the list of criminals the names of those over whom prosecutions had been long impending, where nothing further was intended by the informers than to gratify their own malice, by seeing their enemies humiliated; laying it down as a rule, that if any one chose to renew a prosecution, he should incur the risk of the punishment which he sought to inflict. And that crimes might not escape punishment, nor business be neglected by delay, he ordered the courts to sit during the thirty days which were spent in celebrating honorary games. To the three classes of judges then existing, he added a fourth, consisting of persons of inferior order, who were called Ducenarii, and decided all litigations about trifling sums. He chose judges from the age of thirty years and upwards; that is five years younger than had been usual before. And a great many declining the office, he was with much difficulty prevailed upon to allow each class of judges a twelve-month's vacation in turn: and the courts to be shut during the months of November and December. > Latin: 32. Pleraque pessimi exempli in perniciem publicam aut ex consuetudine licentiaque bellorum ciuilium durauerant aut per pacem etiam extiterant. nam et grassatorum plurimi palam se ferebant succincti ferro, quasi tuendi sui causa, et rapti per agros uiatores sine discrimine liberi seruique ergastulis possessorum supprimebantur, et plurimae factiones titulo collegi noui ad nullius non facinoris societatem coibant. igitur grassaturas dispositis per oportuna loca stationibus inhibuit, ergastula recognouit, collegia praeter antiqua et legitima dissoluit. tabulas ueterum aerari debitorum, uel praecipuam calumniandi materiam, ex[c]ussit; loca in urbe publica iuris ambigui possessoribus adiudicauit; diuturnorum reorum et ex quorum sordibus nihil aliud quam uoluptas inimicis quaereretur nomina aboleuit condicione proposita, ut si quem quis repetere uellet, par periculum poenae subiret. ne quod autem maleficium negotiumue inpunitate uel mora elaberetur, triginta amplius dies, qui honoraris ludis occupabantur, actui rerum accommodauit. ad tris iudicum decurias quartam addidit ex inferiore censu, quae ducenariorum uocaretur iudicaretque de leuioribus summis. iudices a tricensimo aetatis anno adlegit, id est quinquennio maturius quam solebant. ac plerisque iudicandi munus detractantibus uix concessit, ut singulis decuriis per uices annua uacatio esset et ut solitae agi Nouembri ac Decembri mense res omitterentur. [¶9] 33. He was himself assiduous in his functions as a judge, and would sometimes prolong his sittings even into the night: if he were indisposed, his litter was placed before the tribunal, or he administered justice reclining on his couch at home; displaying always not only the greatest attention, but extreme lenity. To save a culprit, who evidently appeared guilty of parricide, from the extreme penalty of being sewn up in a sack, because none were punished in that manner but such as confessed the fact, he is said to have interrogated him thus: "Surely you did not kill your father, did you?" And when, in a trial of a cause about a forged will, all those who had signed it were liable to the penalty of the Cornelian law, he ordered that his colleagues on the tribunal should not only be furnished with the two tablets by which they decided, "guilty or not guilty," but with a third likewise, ignoring the offence of those who should appear to have given their signatures through any deception or mistake. All appeals in causes between inhabitants of Rome, he assigned every year to the praetor of the city; and where provincials were concerned, to men of consular rank, to one of whom the business of each province was referred. > Latin: 33. ipse ius dixit assidue et in noctem nonnumquam, si parum corpore ualeret, lectica pro tribunali collocata uel etiam domi cubans. dixit autem ius non diligentia modo summa sed et lenitate, siquidem manifesti parricidii reum, ne culleo insueretur, quod non nisi confessi adficiuntur hac poena, ita fertur interrogasse: 'certe patrem tuum non occidisti?' et cum de falso testamento ageretur omnesque signatores lege Cornelia tenerentur, non tantum duas tabellas, damnatoriam et absolutoriam, simul cognoscentibus dedit, sed tertiam quoque, qua ignosceretur iis, quos fraude ad signandum uel errore inductos constitisset. appellationes quotannis urbanorum quidem litigatorum praetori delegabat urbano, at prouincialium consularibus uiris, quos singulos cuiusque prouinciae negotiis praeposuisset. [¶10] 34. Some laws he abrogated, and he made some new ones; such as the sumptuary law, that relating to adultery and the violation of chastity, the law against bribery in elections, and likewise that for the encouragement of marriage. Having been more severe in his reform of this law than the rest, he found the people utterly averse to submit to it, unless the penalties were abolished or mitigated, besides allowing an interval of three years after a wife's death, and increasing the premiums on marriage. The equestrian order clamoured loudly, at a spectacle in the theatre, for its total repeal; whereupon he sent for the children of Germanicus, and shewed them partly sitting upon his own lap, and partly on their father's; intimating by his looks and gestures, that they ought not to think it a grievance to follow the example of that young man. But finding that the force of the law was eluded, by marrying girls under the age of puberty, and by frequent change of wives, he limited the time for consummation after espousals, and imposed restrictions on divorce. > Latin: 34. Leges retractauit et quasdam ex integro sanxit, ut sumptuariam et de adulteriis et de pudicitia, de ambitu, de maritandis ordinibus. hanc cum aliquanto seuerius quam ceteras emendasset, prae tumultu recusantium perferre non potuit nisi adempta demum lenitaue parte poenarum et uacatione trienni data auctisque praemiis. sic quoque abolitionem eius publico spectaculo pertinaciter postulante equite, accitos Germanici liberos receptosque partim ad se partim in patris gremium ostentauit, manu uultuque significans ne grauarentur imitari iuuenis exemplum. cumque etiam inmaturitate sponsarum et matrimoniorum crebra mutatione uim legis eludi sentiret, tempus sponsas habendi coartauit, diuortiis modum imposuit. [¶11] 35. By two separate scrutinies he reduced to their former number and splendour the senate, which had been swamped by a disorderly crowd; for they were now more than a thousand, and some of them very mean persons, who, after Caesar's death, had been chosen by dint of interest and bribery, so that they had the nickname of Orcini among the people. The first of these scrutinies was left to themselves, each senator naming another; but the last was conducted by himself and Agrippa. On this occasion he is believed to have taken his seat as he presided, with a coat of mail under his tunic, and a sword by his side, and with ten of the stoutest men of senatorial rank, who were his friends, standing round his chair. Cordus Cremutius relates that no senator was suffered to approach him, except singly, and after having his bosom searched [for secreted daggers]. Some he obliged to have the grace of declining the office; these he allowed to retain the privileges of wearing the distinguishing dress, occupying the seats at the solemn spectacles, and of feasting publicly, reserved to the senatorial order. That those who were chosen and approved of, might perform their functions under more solemn obligations, and with less inconvenience, he ordered that every senator, before he took his seat in the house, should pay his devotions, with an offering of frankincense and wine, at the altar of that God in whose temple the senate then assembled, and that their stated meetings should be only twice in the month, namely, on the calends and ides; and that in the months of September and October, a certain number only, chosen by lot, such as the law required to give validity to a decree, should be required to attend. For himself, he resolved to choose every six months a new council, with whom he might consult previously upon such affairs as he judged proper at any time to lay before the full senate. He also took the votes of the senators upon any subject of importance, not according to custom, nor in regular order, but as he pleased; that every one might hold himself ready to give his opinion, rather than a mere vote of assent. > Latin: 35. Senatorum affluentem numerum deformi et incondita turba—erant enim super mille, et quidam indignissimi et post necem Caesaris per gratiam et praemium adlecti, quos orciuos uulgus uocabat—ad modum pristinum et splendorem redegit duabus lectionibus: prima ipsorum arbitratu, quo uir uirum legit, secunda suo et Agrippae; quo tempore existimatur lorica sub ueste munitus ferroque cinctus praesedisse decem ualentissimis senatorii ordinis amicis sellam suam circumstantibus. Cordus Cremutius scribit ne admissum quidem tunc quemquam senatorum nisi solum et praetemptato sinu. quosdam ad excusandi se uerecundiam compulit seruauitque etiam excusantibus insigne uestis et spectandi in orchestra epulandique publice ius. quo autem lecti probatique et religiosius et minore molestia senatoria munera fungerentur, sanxit, ut prius quam consideret quisque ture ac mero supplicaret apud aram eius dei, in cuius templo coiretur, et ne plus quam bis in mense legitimus senatus ageretur, Kalendis et Idibus, neue Septembri Octobriue mense ullos adesse alios necesse esset quam sorte ductos, per quorum numerum decreta confici possent; sibique instituit consilia sortiri semenstria, cum quibus de negotiis ad frequentem senatum referendis ante tractaret. sententias de maiore negotio non more atque ordine sed prout libuisset perrogabat, ut perinde quisque animum intenderet ac si censendum magis quam adsentiendum esset. [¶12] 36. He also made several other alterations in the management of public affairs, among which were these following: that the acts of the senate should not be published; that the magistrates should not be sent into the provinces immediately after the expiration of their office; that the proconsuls should have a certain sum assigned them out of the treasury for mules and tents, which used before to be contracted for by the government with private persons; that the management of the treasury should be transferred from the city-quaestors to the praetors, or those who had already served in the latter office; and that the decemviri should call together the court of One hundred, which had been formerly summoned by those who had filled the office of quaestor. > Latin: 36. Auctor et aliarum rerum fuit, in quis: ne acta senatus publicarentur, ne magistratus deposito honore statim in prouincias mitterentur, ut proconsulibus ad mulos et tabernacula, quae publice locari solebant, certa pecunia constitueretur, ut cura aerari a quaestoribus urbanis ad praetorios praetoresue transiret, ut centumuiralem hastam quam quaesturam functi consuerant cogere decemuiri cogerent. [¶13] 37. To augment the number of persons employed in the administration of the state, he devised several new offices: such as surveyors of the public buildings, of the roads, the aqueducts, and the bed of the Tiber; for the distribution of corn to the people; the prefecture of the city; a triumvirate for the election of the senators; and another for inspecting the several troops of the equestrian order, as often as it was necessary. He revived the office of censor, which had been long disused, and increased the number of praetors. He likewise required that whenever the consulship was conferred on him he should have two colleagues instead of one; but his proposal was rejected, all the senators declaring by acclamation that he abated his high majesty quite enough in not filling the office alone, and consenting to share it with another. > Latin: 37. quoque plures partem administrandae rei p. caperent, noua officia excogitauit: curam operum publicorum, uiarum, aquarum, aluei Tiberis, frumenti populo diuidundi, praefecturam urbis, triumuiratum legendi senatus et alterum recognoscendi turmas equitum, quotiensque opus esset. censores creari desitos longo interuallo creauit. numerum praetorum auxit. exegit etiam, ut quotiens consulatus sibi daretur, binos pro singulis collegas haberet, nec optinuit, reclamantibus cunctis satis maiestatem eius imminui, quod honorem eum non solus sed cum altero gereret. [¶14] 38. He was unsparing in the reward of military merit, having granted to above thirty generals the honour of the greater triumph; besides which, he took care to have triumphal decorations voted by the senate for more than that number. That the sons of senators might become early acquainted with the administration of affairs, he permitted them, at the age when they took the garb of manhood, to assume also the distinction of the senatorian robe, with its broad border, and to be present at the debates in the senate-house. When they entered the military service, he not only gave them the rank of military tribunes in the legions, but likewise the command of the auxiliary horse. And that all might have an opportunity of acquiring military experience, he commonly joined two sons of senators in command of each troop of horse. He frequently reviewed the troops of the equestrian order, reviving the ancient custom of a cavalcade, which had been long laid aside. But he did not suffer any one to be obliged by an accuser to dismount while he passed in review, as had formerly been the practice. As for such as were infirm with age, or any way deformed, he allowed them to send their horses before them, coming on foot to answer to their names, when the muster roll was called over soon afterwards. He permitted those who had attained the age of thirty-five years, and desired not to keep their horse any longer, to have the privilege of giving it up. > Latin: 38. nec parcior in bellica uirtute honoranda, super triginta ducibus iustos triumphos et aliquanto pluribus triumphalia ornamenta decernenda curauit. Liberis senatorum, quo celerius rei p. assuescerent, protinus uirili toga latum clauum induere et curiae interesse permisit militiamque auspicantibus non tribunatum modo legionum, sed et praefecturas alarum dedit; ac ne qui expers castrorum esset, binos plerumque laticlauios praeposuit singulis alis. Equitum turmas frequenter recognouit, post longam intercapedinem reducto more trauectionis. sed neque detrahi quemquam in trauehendo ab accusatore passus est, quod fieri solebat, et senio uel aliqua corporis labe insignibus permisit, praemisso in ordine equo, ad respondendum quotiens citarentur pedibus uenire; mox reddendi equi gratiam fecit eis, qui maiores annorum quinque et triginta retinere eum nollent; [¶15] 39. With the assistance of ten senators, he obliged each of the Roman knights to give an account of his life: in regard to those who fell under his displeasure, some were punished; others had a mark of infamy set against their names. The most part he only reprimanded, but not in the same terms. The mildest mode of reproof was by delivering them tablets, the contents of which, confined to themselves, they were to read on the spot. Some he disgraced for borrowing money at low interest, and letting it out again upon usurious profit. > Latin: 39. impetratisque a senatu decem adiutoribus unum quemque equitum rationem uitae reddere coegit atque in exprobratis alios poena, alios ignominia notauit, plures admonitione, sed uaria. lenissimum genus admonitionis fuit traditio coram pugillarium, quos taciti et ibidem statim legerent; notauitque aliquos, quod pecunias leuioribus usuris mutuati grauiore faenore collocassent. [¶16] 40. In the election of tribunes of the people, if there was not a sufficient number of senatorian candidates, he nominated others from the equestrian order; granting them the liberty, after the expiration of their office, to continue in whichsoever of the two orders they pleased. As most of the knights had been much reduced in their estates by the civil wars, and therefore durst not sit to see the public games in the theatre in the seats allotted to their order, for fear of the penalty provided by the law in that case, he enacted, that none were liable to it, who had themselves, or whose parents had ever, possessed a knight's estate. He took the census of the Roman people street by street: and that the people might not be too often taken from their business to receive the distribution of corn, it was his intention to deliver tickets three times a year for four months respectively; but at their request, he continued the former regulation, that they should receive their share monthly. He revived the former law of elections, endeavouring, by various penalties, to suppress the practice of bribery. Upon the day of election, he distributed to the freedmen of the Fabian and Scaptian tribes, in which he himself was enrolled, a thousand sesterces each, that they might look for nothing from any of the candidates. Considering it of extreme importance to preserve the Roman people pure, and untainted with a mixture of foreign or servile blood, he not only bestowed the freedom of the city with a sparing hand, but laid some restriction upon the practice of manumitting slaves. When Tiberius interceded with him for the freedom of Rome in behalf of a Greek client of his, he wrote to him for answer, "I shall not grant it, unless he comes himself, and satisfies me that he has just grounds for the application." And when Livia begged the freedom of the city for a tributary Gaul, he refused it, but offered to release him from payment of taxes, saying, " I shall sooner suffer some loss in my exchequer, than that the citizenship of Rome be rendered too common." Not content with interposing many obstacles to either the partial or complete emancipation of slaves, by quibbles respecting the number, condition and difference of those who were to be manumitted; he likewise enacted that none who had been put in chains or tortured, should ever obtain the freedom of the city in any degree. He endeavoured also to restore the old habit and dress of the Romans; and upon seeing once, in an assembly of the people, a crowd in grey cloaks, he exclaimed with indignation, "See there, Romanos rerum dominos, gentemque togatam. Rome's conquering sons, lords of the wide-spread globe, Stalk proudly in the toga's graceful robe. And he gave orders to the ediles not to permit, in future, any Romans to be present in the forum or circus unless they took off their short coats, and wore the toga. > Latin: 40. ac comitiis tribuniciis si deessent candidati senatores, ex equitibus R. creauit, ita ut potestate transacta in utro uellent ordine manerent. cum autem plerique equitum attrito bellis ciuilibus patrimonio spectare ludos e quattuordecim non auderent metu poenae theatralis, pronuntiauit non teneri ea, quibus ipsis parentibusue equester census umquam fuisset. Populi recensum uicatim egit, ac ne plebs frumentationum causa frequentius ab negotiis auocaretur, ter in annum quaternum mensium tesseras dare destinauit; sed desideranti consuetudinem ueterem concessit rursus, ut sui cuiusque mensis acciperet. comitiorum quoque pristinum ius reduxit ac multiplici poena coercito ambitu, Fabianis et Scaptiensibus tribulibus suis die comitiorum, ne quid a quoquam candidato desiderarent, singula milia nummum a se diuidebat. Magni praeterea existimans sincerum atque ab omni colluuione peregrini ac seruilis sanguinis incorruptum seruare populum, et ciuitates Romanas parcissime dedit et manumittendi modum terminauit. Tiberio pro cliente Graeco petenti rescripsit, non aliter se daturum, quam si praesens sibi persuasisset, quam iustas petendi causas haberet; et Liuiae pro quodam tributario Gallo roganti ciuitatem negauit, immunitatem optulit affirmans facilius se passurum fisco detrahi aliquid, quam ciuitatis Romanae uulgari honorem. seruos non contentus multis difficultatibus a libertate et multo pluribus a libertate iusta remouisse, cum et de numero et de condicione ac differentia eorum, qui manumitterentur, curiose cauisset, hoc quoque adiecit, ne uinctus umquam tortusue quis ullo libertatis genere ciuitatem adipisceretur. Etiam habitum uestitumque pristinum reducere studuit, ac uisa quondam pro contione pullatorum turba indignabundus et clamitans: 'en Romanos, rerum dominos, gentemque togatam!' negotium aedilibus dedit, ne quem posthac paterentur in foro circaue nisi positis lacernis togatum consistere. [¶17] 41. He displayed his munificence to all ranks of the people on various occasions. Moreover, upon his bringing the treasure belonging to the kings of Egypt into the city, in his Alexandrian triumph, he made money so plentiful, that interest fell, and the price of land rose considerably. And afterwards, as often as large sums of money came into his possession by means of confiscations, he would lend it free of interest, for a fixed term, to such as could give security for the double of what was borrowed. The estate necessary to qualify a senator, instead of eight hundred thousand sesterces, the former standard, he ordered, for the future, to be twelve hundred thousand; and to those who had not so much, he made good the deficiency. He often made donations to the people, but generally of different sums; sometimes four hundred, sometimes three hundred, or two hundred and fifty sesterces: upon which occasions, he extended his bounty even to young boys, who before were not used to receive anything, until they arrived at eleven years of age. In a scarcity of corn, he would frequently let them have it at a very low price, or none at all; and doubled the number of the money tickets. > Latin: 41. Liberalitatem omnibus ordinibus per occasiones frequenter exhibuit. nam et inuecta urbi Alexandrino triumpho regia gaza tantam copiam nummariae rei effecit, ut faenore deminuto plurimum agrorum pretiis accesserit, et postea, quotiens ex damnatorum bonis pecunia superflueret, usum eius gratuitum iis, qui cauere in duplum possent, ad certum tempus indulsit. senatorum censum ampliauit ac pro octingentorum milium summa duodecies sestertium taxauit suppleuitque non habentibus. congiaria populo frequenter dedit, sed diuersae fere summae: modo quadringenos, modo trecenos, nonnumquam ducenos quinquagenosque nummos; ac ne minores quidem pueros praeteriit, quamuis non nisi ab undecimo aetatis anno accipere consuessent. frumentum quoque in annonae difficultatibus saepe leuissimo, interdum nullo pretio uiritim admensus est tesserasque nummarias duplicauit.