Dio Cassius, Histories

§ 53.19.1 In this way the government was changed at that time for the better and in the interest of greater security; for it was no doubt quite impossible for the people to be saved under a republic. Nevertheless, the events occurring after this time can not be recorded in the same manner as those of previous times. 2 Formerly, as we know, all matters were reported to the senate and to the people, even if they happened at a distance; hence all learned of them and many recorded them, and consequently the truth regarding them, no matter to what extent fear or favour, friendship or enmity, coloured the reports of certain writers, was always to a certain extent to be found in the works of the other writers who wrote of the same events and in the public records.

§ 53.19.3 But after this time most things that happened began to be kept secret and concealed, and even though some things are perchance made public, they are distrusted just because they can not be verified; for it is suspected that everything is said and done with reference to the wishes of the men in power at the time and of their associates. 4 As a result, much that never occurs is noised abroad, and much that happens beyond a doubt is unknown, and in the case of nearly every event a version gains currency that is different from the way it really happened. Furthermore, the very magnitude of the empire and the multitude of things that occur render accuracy in regard to them most difficult.

§ 53.19.5 In Rome, for example, much is going on, and much in the subject territory, while, as regards our enemies, there is something happening all the time, in fact, every day, and concerning these things no one except the participants can easily have correct information, and most people do not even hear of them at all. 6 Hence in my own narrative of later events, so far as they need to be mentioned, everything that I shall say will be in accordance with reports that have been given out, whether it be really the truth or otherwise. In addition to these reports, however, my own opinion will be given, as far as possible, whenever I have been able, from the abundant evidence which I have gathered from my reading, from hearsay, and from what I have seen, to form a judgment that differs from the common report.

§ 53.20.1 Caesar, as I have said, received the name of Augustus, and a sign of no little moment to him occurred that very night; for the Tiber overflowed and covered all of Rome that was on low ground, so that it was navigable for boats. From this sign the soothsayers prophesied that he would rise to great heights and hold the whole city under his sway. 2 And while various persons were trying to outbid one another in different kinds of flattery toward him, one Sextus Pacuvius, or, as others say, Apudius, surpassed them all. In the open senate, namely, he dedicated himself to him after the fashion of the Spaniards and advised the others to do the same.

§ 53.20.3 And when Augustus hindered him, he rushed out to the crowd that was standing near, and, as he was tribune, compelled them first and then the rest, as he went up and down the streets and lanes, to dedicate themselves to Augustus. 4 From this episode we are wont even now to say, in appealing to the sovereign, “We have dedicated ourselves to you.” Pacuvius ordered all to offer sacrifice in view of this occurrence, and before the multitude he once declared that he was going to make Augustus his heir on equal terms with his own son, — not that he had much of anything, but because he hoped to receive still more; and so it actually turned out.

§ 53.21.1 Augustus attended to all the business of the empire with more zeal than before, as if he had received it as a free gift from all the Romans, and in particular he enacted many laws. I need not enumerate them all accurately one by one, but only those which have a bearing upon my history; 2 and I shall follow this same course also in the case of later events, in order not to become wearisome by introducing all that kind of detail that even the men who devote themselves to such studies do not know to a nicety.

§ 53.21.3 He did not, however, enact all these laws on his sole responsibility, but some of them he brought before the public assembly in advance, in order that, if any features caused displeasure, he might learn it in time and correct them; for he encouraged everybody whatsoever to give him advice, in case any one thought of any possible improvement in them, and he accorded them complete liberty of speech, and actually changed some provisions of the proposed laws. 4 Most important of all, he took as advisers for periods of six months the consuls (or the other consul, when he himself also held the office), one of each of the other kinds of officials, and fifteen men chosen by lot from the remainder of the senatorial body, with the result that all legislation proposed by the emperors is usually communicated after a fashion through this body to all the other senators;

§ 53.21.5 for although he brought certain matters before the whole senate, yet he generally followed this plan, considering it better to take under preliminary advisement most matters and the most important ones in consultation with a few; and sometimes he even sat with these men in the trial of cases. 6 The senate as a body, it is true, continued to sit in judgment as before, and in certain cases transacted business with embassies and heralds, from both peoples and kings; and the people and the plebs, moreover, continued to meet for the elections; but nothing was done that did not please Caesar.

§ 53.21.7 It was he, at any rate, who selected and placed in nomination some of the men who were to hold office, and though in the case of others he adhered to the ancient custom and left them under the control of the people and the plebs, yet he took care that none should be appointed who were unfit or as the result of partisan cliques or bribery.

§ 53.22.1 It was in this way, broadly speaking, that he administered the empire. I shall now relate in detail also such of his acts as call for mention, together with the names of the consuls under which they were performed. In the year already named, perceiving that the roads outside the walls had become difficult to travel as the result of neglect, he ordered various senators to repair the others at their own expense, and he himself looked after the Flaminian Way, since he was going to lead an army out by that route. 2 This road was finished promptly at that time, and statues of Augustus were accordingly erected on arches on the bridge over the Tiber and at Ariminum; but the other roads were repaired later, at the expense either of the public (for none of the senators liked to spend money upon them) or of Augustus, as one chooses to put it.

§ 53.22.3 For I am unable to distinguish between the two funds, no matter how extensively Augustus coined into money silver statues of himself which had been set up by certain of his friends and by certain of the subject peoples, purposing thereby to make it appear that all the expenditures which he claimed to be making were from his own means. 4 Therefore I have no opinion to record as to whether a particular emperor on a particular occasion got the money from the public funds or gave it himself. For both courses were frequently followed; and why should one enter such expenditures as loans or as gifts respectively, when both the people and the emperor are constantly resorting to both the one and the other indiscriminately?

§ 53.22.5 These were the acts of Augustus at that time. He also set out to make an expedition into Britain, but on coming to the provinces of Gaul lingered there. For the Britons seemed likely to make terms with him, and the affairs of the Gauls were still unsettled, as the civil wars had begun immediately after their subjugation. He took a census of the inhabitants and regulated their life and government. From Gaul he proceeded into Spain, and established order there also.

§ 53.23.1 After this he became consul for the eighth time, together with Statilius Taurus, and Agrippa dedicated the structure called the Saepta; 2 for instead of undertaking to repair a road, Agrippa had adorned with marble tablets and paintings this edifice in the Campus Martius, which had been constructed by Lepidus with porticos all around it for the meetings of the comitia tributa, and he named it the Saepta Iulia in honour of Augustus.

§ 53.23.3 And Agrippa not only incurred no jealousy on this account, but was greatly honoured both by Augustus himself and by all the rest of the people. 4 The reason was that he consulted and coöperated with Augustus in the most humane, the most celebrated, and the most beneficial projects, and yet did not claim in the slightest degree a share in the glory of them, but used the honours which the emperor bestowed, not for personal gain or enjoyment, but for the benefit of the donor himself and of the public.

§ 53.23.5 On the other hand, Cornelius Gallus was encouraged to insolence by the honour shown him. Thus, he indulged in a great deal of disrespectful gossip about Augustus and was guilty of many reprehensible actions besides; for he not only set up images of himself practically everywhere in Egypt, but also inscribed upon the pyramids a list of his achievements. 6 For this act he was accused by Valerius Largus, his comrade and intimate, and was disfranchised by Augustus, so that he was prevented from living in the emperor's provinces. After this had happened, many others attacked him and brought numerous indictments against him.

§ 53.23.7 The senate unanimously voted that he should be convicted in the courts, exiled, and deprived of his estate, that his estate should be given to Augustus, and that the senate itself should offer sacrifices. Overwhelmed by grief at this, Gallus committed suicide before the decrees took effect;

§ 53.24.1 and the insincerity of the majority of people was again proved by his case, in that they now treated the man whom formerly they had been wont to flatter in such a way that they forced him to die by his own hand, and then went over to Largus because he was beginning to grow powerful — though they were certain to vote the same measures against him all, if a similar situation should arise in his case. 2 Proculeius, however, conceived such contempt for Largus that once, on meeting him, he clapped his hand over his nose and mouth, thereby hinting to the bystanders that it was not safe even to breathe in the man's presence.

§ 53.24.3 Another man, although unknown to him, approached him with witnesses and asked Largus if he knew him; then, when the other replied that he did not, he recorded his denial on a tablet, as though the rascal could not blackmail even a man whom he had not previously known. 4 But we see how most men rather emulate the deeds of others, even though they be evil deeds, than guard against their fate, by what Marcus Egnatius Rufus did at this very time. He had been an aedile, and in addition to having performed his duties well in many other ways, had with his own slaves and other persons whom he hired helped to save the houses that took fire during his year of office, and

§ 53.24.5 in return for all this he had received from the people the amount of the expenditures incurred in the discharge of his office and had been elected praetor contrary to law. But he became so elated over these very honours and so contemptuous of Augustus, that he issued a bulletin that he had handed the city over unimpaired and intact to his successor. 6 All the most prominent men became indignant at this, Augustus himself most of all; and he was not long afterward to teach the fellow a lesson, not to exalt his mind above the mass of mankind. For the time being, however, he ordered the aediles to take care that no building took fire, and if anything of the sort did happen, to put the fire out.

§ 53.25.1 In this same year Polemon, the king of Pontus, was enrolled among the friends and allies of the Roman people; and the privilege was granted the senators of occupying the front seats in all the theatres of his realm. 2 Augustus was planning an expedition into Britain, since the people there would not come to terms, but he was detained by the revolt of the Salassi and by the hostility of the Cantabri and Astures. The former dwell at the foot of the Alps, as I have stated, whereas both the other tribes occupy the strongest part of the Pyrenees on the side of Spain, together with the plain which lies below.

§ 53.25.3 For these reasons Augustus, who was now consul for the ninth time, with Marcus Silanus as colleague, sent Terentius Varro against the Salassi. Varro invaded their country at many points at the same time, in order that they might not join forces and so be more difficult to subdue; and he conquered them very easily, inasmuch as they attacked his divisions only in small groups. 4 After forcing them to come to terms he demanded a stated sum of money, as if he were going to impose no other punishment; then, sending soldiers everywhere ostensibly to collect the money, he arrested those who were of military age and sold them, on the understanding that none of them should be liberated within twenty years.

§ 53.25.5 The best of their land was given to some of the Pretorians, and later on received the city called Augusta Praetoria. Augustus himself waged war upon the Astures and upon the Cantabri at one and the same time. But these peoples would neither yield to him, because they were confident on account of their strongholds, 6 nor would they come to close quarters, owing to their inferior numbers and the circumstance that most of them were javelin-throwers, and, besides, they kept causing him a great deal of annoyance, always forestalling him by seizing the higher ground whenever a manoeuvre was attempted, and lying in ambush for him in the valleys and woods.

§ 53.25.7 Accordingly Augustus found himself in very great embarrassment, and having fallen ill from over-exertion and anxiety, he retired to Tarraco and there remained in poor health. Meanwhile Gaius Antistius fought against them and accomplished a good deal, not because he was a better general than Augustus, 8 but because the barbarians felt contempt for him and so joined battle with the Romans and were defeated. In this way he captured a few places, and afterwards Titus Carisius took Lancia, the principal fortress of the Astures, after it had been abandoned, and also won over many other places.

§ 53.26.1 Upon the conclusion of this war Augustus discharged the more aged of his soldiers and allowed them to found a city in Lusitania, called Augusta Emerita. For those who were still of military age he arranged some exhibitions in the very camps, under the direction of Tiberius and Marcellus, since they were aediles. 2 To Juba he gave portions of Gaetulia in return for the prince's hereditary domain, the most of whose inhabitants had been enrolled in the Roman state, and also the possessions of Bocchus and Bogud.

§ 53.26.3 On the death of Amyntas he did not entrust his kingdom to the sons of the deceased, but made it a part of the subject territory. Thus Galatia together with Lycaonia obtained a Roman governor, and the portions of Pamphylia formerly assigned to Amyntas were restored to their own district. 4 About this same time Marcus Vinicius took vengeance upon some of the Germans because they had arrested and slain Romans who entered their country to trade with them; and thus he, too, caused the title of imperator to be bestowed upon Augustus.

§ 53.26.5 For this and his other exploits of this period a triumph, as well as the title, was voted to Augustus; but as he did not care to celebrate it, a triumphal arch was erected in the Alps in his honour and he was granted the right always to wear both the crown and the triumphal garb on the first day of the year. After these achievements in the wars Augustus closed the precinct of Janus, which had been opened because of these wars.

§ 53.27.1 Meanwhile Agrippa beautified the city at his own expense. First, in honour of the naval victories he completed the building called the Basilica of Neptune and lent it added brilliance by the painting representing the Argonauts. Next he constructed the Laconian sudatorium. He gave the name “ Laconian ” to the gymnasium because the Lacedaemonians had a greater reputation at that time than anybody else for stripping and exercising after anointing themselves with oil. 2 Also he completed the building called the Pantheon. It has this name, perhaps because it received among the images which decorated it the statues of many gods, including Mars and Venus; but my own opinion of the name is that, because of its vaulted roof, it resembles the heavens.

§ 53.27.3 Agrippa, for his part, wished to place a statue of Augustus there also and to bestow upon him the honour of having the structure named after him; but when the emperor wouldn't accept either honour, he placed in the temple itself a statue of the former Caesar and in the ante-room statues of Augustus and himself. 4 This was done, not out of any rivalry or ambition on Agrippa's part to make himself equal to Augustus, but from his hearty loyalty to him and his constant zeal for the public good; hence Augustus, so far from censuring him for it, honoured them the more.

§ 53.27.5 For example, when he himself was prevented by illness from being in Rome at that time and celebrating there the marriage of his daughter Julia and his nephew Marcellus, he commissioned Agrippa to hold the festival in his absence; and when the house on the Palatine Mount which had formerly belonged to Antony but had later been given to Agrippa and Messalla was burned down, he presented money to Messalla, but made Agrippa share his own house. 6 Agrippa not unnaturally took great pride in these honours. And one Gaius Toranius also acquired a good reputation because while tribune he brought his father, although a freedman of somebody or other, into the theatre and made him sit beside him upon the tribunes' bench. Publius Servilius, too, made a name for himself because while praetor he caused to be slain at a festival three hundred bears and other African wild beasts equal in number.

§ 53.28.1 Augustus now became consul for the tenth time, with Gaius Norbanus as colleague, and on the first day of the year the senate confirmed his acts by taking oaths. And when the word was brought that he was already drawing near the city (for his illness had delayed his return), and he promised to give the people four hundred sesterces each, 2 though he forbade the posting of the edict concerning the donatives until the senate should give its approval, they freed him from all compulsion of the laws, in order, as I have stated, that he might be in reality independent supreme both over himself and the laws and so might do everything he wished and refrain from doing anything he did not wish.

§ 53.28.3 This right was voted to him while he was yet absent; and upon his arrival in Rome various other privileges were accorded him in honour of his recovery and return. Marcellus was given the right to be a senator among the ex-praetors and to stand for the consulship ten years earlier than was customary, while Tiberius was permitted to stand for each office five years before the regular age; and he was at once elected quaestor and Marcellus aedile. 4 And when there were not enough men to serve as quaestors in the provinces, all drew lots for the places who during the ten years previous had held the quaestorship without being assigned to any province.

§ 53.29.1 These, then, were the noteworthy occurrences that took place in the city at that time. As soon as Augustus had departed from Spain, leaving behind Lucius Aemilius as its governor, the Cantabri and the Astures revolted; and sending word to Aemilius, before revealing to him the least sign whatever of their purpose, they said that they wished to make a present to his army of grain and other things. 2 Then, after securing a considerable number of soldiers, ostensibly to take back the presents, they conducted them to places for their purpose and murdered them. Their satisfaction, however, was short-lived; for their country was devastated, some of their forts burned, and, worst of all, the hands of all who were caught were cut off, and so they were quietly subdued.

§ 53.29.3 While this was going on, another and a new campaign had at once its beginning and its end. It was conducted by Aelius Gallus, the governor of Egypt, against the country called Arabia Felix, of which Sabos was king. 4 At first Aelius encountered no one, yet he did not proceed without difficulty; for the desert, the sun, and the water (which had some peculiar nature) all caused his men great distress, so that the larger part of the army perished.

§ 53.29.5 The malady proved to be unlike any of the common complaints, but attacked the head and caused it to become parched, killing forthwith most of those who were attacked, but in the case of those who survived this stage it descended to the legs, skipping all the intervening parts of the body, and caused dire injury to them. There was no remedy for it except a mixture of olive-oil and wine, both taken as a drink and used as an ointment; 6 and this remedy naturally lay within reach of only a few of them, since the country produces neither of these articles and the men had not prepared an abundant supply of them beforehand. In the midst of this trouble the barbarians also fell upon them.

§ 53.29.7 For hitherto they had been defeated whenever they joined battle, and had even been losing some places; but now, with the disease as their ally, they not only won back their own possessions, but also drove the survivors of the expedition out of the country. 8 These were the first of the Romans, and, I believe, the only ones, to traverse so much of this part of Arabia for the purpose of making war; for they advanced as far as the place called Athlula, a famous locality.

§ 53.30.1 When Augustus was consul for the eleventh time, with Calpurnius Piso, he fell so ill once more as to have no hope of recovery; at any rate, he arranged everything as if he were about to die, and gathered about him the magistrates and the foremost senators and knights. He did not, to be sure, appoint a successor, 2 although all were expecting that Marcellus would be preferred for this position, but after talking with them awhile about the public affairs, he gave Piso the list of the forces and of the public revenues written in a book, and handed his ring to Agrippa.

§ 53.30.3 And although he lost the power of attending even to the most urgent matters, yet a certain Antonius Musa restored him to health by means of cold baths and cold potions. For this, Musa received a great deal of money from both Augustus and the senate, as well as the right to wear gold rings (for he was a freedman), and he was granted exemption from taxes, both for himself and for the members of his profession, not only those living at the time but also those of future generations. 4 But it was fated that he who had taken to himself the functions of Fortune or Destiny should speedily be caught in her coils; for though Augustus had been saved in this manner, yet when Marcellus fell ill not long afterward and was treated in the same way by Musa, he died.

§ 53.30.5 Augustus gave him a public burial after the customary eulogies, placing him in the tomb he was building, and as a memorial to him finished the theatre whose foundations had already been laid by the former Caesar 6 and which was now called the Theatre of Marcellus. And he ordered also that a golden image of the deceased, a golden crown, and a curule chair should be carried into the theatre at the Ludi Romani and should be placed in the midst of the officials having charge of the games.

§ 53.31.1 This he did later; at the time, after being restored to health, he brought his will into the senate and desired to read it, by way of showing people that he had left no successor to his realm; but he did not read it, for none would permit it. 2 Absolutely everybody, however, was astonished at him because, although he loved Marcellus both as son-in-law and nephew, and in addition to other honours shown him had to such an extent helped him make a brilliant success of the festival which he gave as aedile

§ 53.31.3 that he had sheltered the Forum during the whole summer by means of curtains stretched overhead and had exhibited on the stage a dancer who was a knight, and also a woman of high birth, nevertheless he had not entrusted to him the monarchy, but actually had preferred Agrippa before him. 4 Thus it would appear that he was not yet confident of the youth's judgment, and that he either wished the people to regain their liberty or for Agrippa to receive the leadership from them. For he well understood that Agrippa was exceedingly beloved by them and he preferred not to seem to be committing the supreme power to him on his own responsibility.

§ 53.32.1 When he recovered, for, and learned that Marcellus because of this was not friendly toward Agrippa, he immediately sent the latter to Syria, so that no occasion for scoffing or for skirmishing might arise between them by their being together. And Agrippa straightway set out from the city, but did not reach Syria; instead, acting with even more than his usual moderation, he sent his lieutenants thither, and tarried himself in Lesbos. 2 Besides doing all these things in the manner related, Augustus appointed ten praetors, feeling that he no longer required a larger number; and this happened for several years. Most of them were to perform the same duties as formerly, but two were to be in charge of the financial administration each year.

§ 53.32.3 Having arranged these matters in detail, he went to the Alban Mount and resigned the consulship. For ever since conditions had become settled, both he himself and most of his colleagues had held the office for the whole year, and he now wished to end this practice, in order that as many as possible might become consuls; and he resigned outside the city, to prevent being hindered from his purpose. 4 For this act he received praise, as also because he chose in his stead Lucius Sestius, who had always been an enthusiastic follower of Brutus, had fought with him in all his wars, and even at this time kept alive his memory, had images of him, and delivered eulogies upon him. Augustus, it would appear, so far from disliking the man's devotion and loyalty, actually honoured these qualities in him.

§ 53.32.5 And because of this the senate voted that Augustus should be tribune for life and gave him the privilege of bringing before the senate at each meeting any one matter at whatever time he liked, even if he were not consul at the time; they also permitted him to hold once and for all and for life the office of proconsul, so that he had neither to lay it down upon entering the pomerium nor to have it renewed again, and they gave him in the subject territory authority superior to that of the governor in each instance. 6 As a result both he and the emperors after him gained a certain legal right to use the tribunician power as well as their other powers; for the title of tribune itself was taken neither by Augustus nor by any other emperor.

§ 53.33.1 And it seems to me that he then acquired these privileges as related, not by way of flattery, but because he was truly honoured; for in most ways he comported himself toward the Romans as if they were free citizens. Thus, when Tiridates in person and envoys from Phraates came to settle their mutual recriminations, he brought them before the senate; 2 and afterwards, when the decision of the question had been referred to him by that body, he did not surrender Tiridates to Phraates, but sent back to the latter his son whom he had once received from him and was keeping, on condition that the captives and the military standards taken in the disasters of Crassus and of Antony should be returned.

§ 53.33.3 During this same year one of the minor aediles died and Gaius Calpurnius succeeded him, in spite of having served previously as one of the major aediles. This is not recorded as having occurred in the case of any other man. During the Feriae there were two prefects of the city for each day; and one of them held the office in spite of the fact that he had not yet the standing even of a youth. 4 Livia, now, was accused of having caused the death of Marcellus, because he had been preferred before her sons; but the justice of this suspicion became a matter of controversy by reason of the character both of that year and of the year following, which proved so unhealthful that great numbers perished during them.

§ 53.33.5 And, just as it usually happens that some sign occurs before such events, so on this occasion a wolf was caught in the city, fire and storm damaged many buildings, and the Tiber, rising, carried away the wooden bridge and made the city navigable for boats during three days.

§ 54.1.1 Book 54 22-10 BC The following year, in which Marcus Marcellus and Lucius Arruntius were consuls, the city was again submerged by the overflowing of the river, and many objects were struck by thunderbolts, especially the statues in the Pantheon, so that the spear even fell from the hand of Augustus. 2 The pestilence raged throughout all Italy so that no one tilled the land, and I suppose that the same was the case in foreign parts. The Romans, therefore, reduced to dire straits by the disease and by the consequent famine, believed that these woes had come upon them for no other reason than that they did not have Augustus for consul at this time also.

§ 54.1.3 They accordingly wished to elect him dictator, and shutting the senators up in their meeting-place, they forced them to vote this measure by threatening to burn down the building over their heads. Next they took the twenty-four rods and approached Augustus, begging him to consent both to being named dictator and to becoming commissioner of the grain supply, as Pompey had once done. 4 He accepted the latter duty under compulsion, and ordered that two men should be chosen annually, from among those who had served as praetors not less than five years previously in every case, to attend to the distribution of the grain. As for the dictatorship, however, he did not accept the office, but went so far as to rend his garments when he found himself unable to restrain the people in any other way, either by argument or by entreaty;

§ 54.1.5 for, since he was superior to the dictators in the power and honour he already possessed, he properly guarded against the jealousy and hatred which the title would arouse.

§ 54.2.1 He took the same course also when they wished to elect him censor for life; for, declining to take the office himself, he immediately appointed others to be censors, namely Paulus Aemilius Lepidus and Lucius Munatius Plancus, the latter a brother of that Plancus who had been proscribed, and the former a man who had himself been condemned to die at that same time. 2 These were the last two private citizens to hold the censorship together, which was no doubt the meaning of the sign given to them; for the platform, on which they were to perform one of the functions devolving upon them, collapsed as they ascended it on the first day of their holding the office, and was shattered in pieces, and after that no others of the same rank as these became censors together.

§ 54.2.3 Even at this time, in spite of their having been chosen to the position, Augustus performed many of the duties belonging to their office. Of the public banquets, he abolished some altogether and limited the extravagance of others. He committed the charge of all the festivals to the praetors, commanding that an appropriation should be given them from the public treasury, 4 and also forbidding any one of them to spend more than another from his own means on these festivals, or to give a gladiatorial combat unless the senate decreed it, or, in fact, oftener than twice in each year or with more than one hundred and twenty men. To the curule aediles he entrusted the putting out of fires, for which purpose he granted them six hundred slaves as assistants.

§ 54.2.5 And since knights and women of rank had given exhibitions on the stage even then, he forbade not only the sons of senators, who had even before this been excluded, but also their grandsons, so far, at least, as these belonged to the equestrian order, to do anything of the sort again.

§ 54.3.1 Although in these measures he showed himself, in form as well as in name, both law-giver and arbitrary ruler, in his behaviour generally he was moderate, to such a degree, in fact, that he even stood by some of his friends when their official conduct was under investigation. 2 And when a certain Marcus Primus was accused of having made war upon the Odrysae while he was governor of Macedonia, and declared at one moment that he had done it with the approval of Augustus and at another with that of Marcellus, Augustus came of his own accord to the court-room; and upon being asked by the praetor whether he had instructed the man to make war, he denied it.

§ 54.3.3 And when the advocate of Primus, Licinius Murena, in the course of some rather disrespectful remarks that he made to him, enquired: “What are you doing here, and who summoned you?” Augustus merely replied: “The public weal.” For this he received praise from the people of good sense and was even given the right to convene the senate as often as he pleased; but some of the others despised him. 4 At all events, not a few voted for the acquittal of Primus, and others formed a plot against Augustus. Fannius Caepio was the instigator of it, but others also joined with him. Even Murena was reported to be in the conspiracy, whether truly or by way of calumny, since he was immoderate and unrestrained in his outspokenness toward all alike.

§ 54.3.5 These men did not stand trial, and so were convicted by default, on the supposition that they intended to flee; and a little later they were slain. Murena found neither Proculeius, his brother, nor Maecenas, his sister's husband, of any avail to save him, though these men were most highly honoured by Augustus. 6 And inasmuch as some of the jurymen voted to acquit even these conspirators, the emperor made a law that in trials at which the defendant was not present the vote should not be taken secretly and the defendant should be convicted only by a unanimous vote. Now that he took these measures, not in anger, but as really conducive to the public good, he gave very strong proof;

§ 54.3.7 at any rate, when Caepio's father freed one of the two slaves who had accompanied his son in his flight because this slave had wished to defend his young master when he met with death, but in the case of the second slave, who had deserted his son, led him through the midst of the Forum with an inscription making known the reason why he was to be put to death, and afterwards crucified him, the emperor was not vexed. 8 Indeed, he would have allayed all the criticism of those who were not pleased with what had been done, had he not gone further and permitted sacrifices to be both voted and offered as for a victory.

§ 54.4.1 It was at this time that he restored to the people both Cyprus and Gallia Narbonensis as districts no longer needing the presence of his armies; and thus proconsuls began to be sent to those provinces also. 2 He also dedicated the temple of Jupiter Tonans. Concerning this temple two stories have been handed down, first, that at that time claps of thunder occurred when the ritual was being performed, and, second, that at a later time Augustus had a dream as follows. The people, he thought, approached Jupiter who is called Tonans and did reverence to him, partly because of the novelty of his name and of the form of his statue, and partly because the statue had been set up by Augustus,

§ 54.4.3 but chiefly because it was the first they encountered as they ascended the Capitol; and thereupon the Jupiter in the great temple was angry because he was now reduced to second place as compared with the other. At this, Augustus related, he said to Jupiter Capitolinus, “You have Tonans as your sentinel”; 4 and when it was day, he attached a bell to the statue as confirmation of the vision. For those who guard communities at night carry a bell, in order to be able to signal to the inhabitants whenever they need to do so.

§ 54.5.1 These were the events that occurred in Rome; and at about this same period the Cantabri and the Astures broke out into war again, the Astures on account of the luxurious ways and cruelty of Carisius, and the Cantabri because they perceived that the others were in revolt and because they despised their own governor, Gaius Furnius, since he had but lately arrived and they supposed that he was unacquainted with conditions among them. 2 Nevertheless, he did not appear to them that sort of man when it came to action; for they were defeated and reduced to slavery by him, and the Astures likewise, since he also aided Carisius. Not many of the Cantabri were captured; for when they had no hope of freedom, they did not choose to live, either,

§ 54.5.3 but some set their forts on fire and cut their own throats, and others of their own choice remained with them and were consumed in the flames, while yet others took poison in the sight of all. Thus the most of them and the fiercest element perished. As for the Astures, as soon as they had been repulsed while besieging a certain stronghold and had later been defeated in battle, they offered no further resistance, but were promptly subdued.

§ 54.5.4 About this time the Ethiopians, who dwell beyond Egypt, advanced as far as the city called Elephantine, with Candace as their leader, ravaging everything they encountered. At Elephantine, however, learning that Gaius Petronius, the governor of Egypt, was approaching, they hastily retreated before he arrived, hoping to make good their escape. But being overtaken on the road, they were defeated and thus drew him after them into their own country.

§ 54.5.5 There, too, he fought successfully with them, and took Napata, their capital, among other cities. This place was razed to the ground, and a garrison left at another point; for Petronius, finding himself unable either to advance farther, on account of the sand and the heat, or advantageously to remain where he was with his entire army, withdrew, taking the greater part of it with him. 6 Thereupon the Ethiopians attacked the garrisons, but he again proceeded against them, rescued his own men, and compelled Candace to make terms with him.

§ 54.6.1 While this was going on, Augustus went to Sicily in order to settle affairs in that island and elsewhere as far as Syria. While he was still there, the Roman populace fell to quarreling over the election of the consuls. This incident showed clearly that it was impossible for a democratic government to be maintained among them; 2 at any rate, although they had but little authority either in the matter of the elections or of the offices themselves, they fell to rioting. One of the consulships, it seems, was being kept for Augustus, and accordingly at the beginning of the year Marcus Lollius alone entered upon office; but when the emperor would not accept the position, Quintus Lepidus and Lucius Silvanus became rival candidates and threw everything into such turmoil that Augustus was summoned home by those who retained their senses.

§ 54.6.3 He would not return, however, and when the two candidates themselves came to him, he rebuked them and sent them away, giving orders that the vote should be taken during the absence of them both; thereupon the people were no more quiet than before, but fell into great strife again, until at last Lepidus was chosen.4 Augustus was displeased at the incident, for he could not devote all his time to Rome alone and did not dare leave the city in a state of anarchy; accordingly, he sought for some one to set over it, and judged Agrippa to be most suitable for the purpose.

§ 54.6.5 And as he wished to invest him with a dignity above the ordinary, in order that he might govern the people more easily, he summoned him, compelled him to divorce his wife, although she was the emperor's own niece, and to marry Julia; and he sent him to Rome at once to attend both to the wedding and to the administration of the city. This step is said to have been taken partly on the advice of Maecenas, who in counselling him upon these very matters said: “You have made him so great that he must either become your son-in-law or be slain.” 6 Agrippa, then, checked whatever other ailments he found still festering, and curtailed the Egyptian rites which were again invading the city, forbidding anyone to perform them even in the suburbs within one mile of the city. And when a disturbance arose over the election of the prefect of the city, the official chosen on account of the Feriae, he did not succeed in quelling it, but they went through that year without this official.

§ 54.7.1 While Agrippa was thus occupied, Augustus, after arranging various matters in Sicily and making Roman colonies of Syracuse and certain other cities, crossed over into Greece. 2 He honoured the Lacedemonians by giving them Cythera and attending their public mess, because Livia, when she fled from Italy with her husband and son, had spent some time there. But from the Athenians he took away Aegina and Eretria, from which they received tribute, because, as some say, they had espoused the cause of Antony; and he furthermore forbade them to make anyone a citizen for money.

§ 54.7.3 And it seemed to them that the thing which had happened to the statue of Athena was responsible for this misfortune: for this statue on the Acropolis, which was placed to face the east, had turned around to the west and spat blood. 4 Augustus, now, after transacting what business he had in Greece, sailed to Samos, where he passed the winter; and in the spring of the year when Marcus Apuleius and Publius Silius were consuls, he went on into Asia, and settled everything there and in Bithynia.

§ 54.7.5 For although these provinces as well as those previously mentioned were regarded as belonging to the people, he did not for that reason neglect them, but gave most careful attention to them all, as if they were his own. Thus he instituted various reforms, so far as seemed desirable, and made donations of money to some, at the same time commanding others to contribute an amount in excess of the tribute. 6 He reduced the people of Cyzicus to slavery because during a factious quarrel they had flogged and put to death some Romans. And when he reached Syria, he took the same action in the case of the people of Tyre and Sidon on account of their factious quarrelling.

§ 54.8.1 Meanwhile Phraates, fearing that Augustus would lead an expedition against him because he had not yet performed any of his engagements, sent back to him the standards and all the captives, with the exception of a few who in shame had destroyed themselves or, eluding detection, remained in the country. 2 Augustus received them as if he had conquered the Parthian in a war; for he took great pride in the achievement, declaring that he had recovered without a struggle what had formerly been lost in battle.

§ 54.8.3 Indeed, in honour of this success he commanded that sacrifices be decreed and likewise a temple to Mars Ultor on the Capitol, in imitation of that of Jupiter Feretrius, in which to dedicate the standards; and he himself carried out both decrees. Moreover he rode into the city on horseback and was honoured with a triumphal arch. 4 Now all this was done later in commemoration of the event; but at the time of which we are speaking he was chosen commissioner of all the highways in the neighbourhood of Rome, and in this capacity set up the golden mile-stone, as it was called, and appointed men from the number of the ex-praetors, each with two lictors, to attend to the actual construction of the roads.

§ 54.8.5 And Julia gave birth to a boy, who received the name Gaius; and a permanent annual sacrifice on his birthday was granted. Now this, like all the other acts mentioned, was done in pursuance of a decree; on their own initiative, however, the aediles gave games in the Circus and a slaughter of wild beasts on Augustus's birthday.

§ 54.9.1 This is what was going on in the city. Augustus administered the subject territory according to the customs of the Romans, but permitted the allied nations to be governed in their own traditional manner; and he did not regard it as desirable either to make any additions to the former or to extend the latter by any new acquisitions, but thought it best to be satisfied with precisely what they already possessed, and he communicated this opinion to the senate. 2 Therefore he undertook no war, at any rate for the time being, but actually gave away certain principalities — to Iamblichus, the son of Iamblichus, his ancestral dominion over the Arabians, and to Tarcondimotus, the son of Tarcondimotus, the kingdom of Cilicia, which his father had held, except for a few places on the coast. These latter together with Lesser Armenia he granted to Archelaus, because the Mede, who previously had ruled them, was dead.

§ 54.9.3 To Herod he entrusted the tetrarchy of a certain Zenodorus, and to one Mithridates, though still a mere boy, he gave Commagene, inasmuch as its king had put the boy's father to death. 4 And since the other Armenians had preferred charges against Artaxes and had summoned his brother Tigranes, who was in Rome, the emperor sent Tiberius to drive Artaxes out of the kingdom and to reinstate Tigranes.

§ 54.9.5 And although nothing was accomplished by Tiberius commensurate with his preparations, since before his arrival the Armenians slew Artaxes, yet he assumed a lofty bearing, especially after sacrifices had been voted to commemorate what he had done, as though he had accomplished something by valour. 6 And his thoughts were already on the monarchy, inasmuch as, when he was approaching Philippi, a tumult was heard coming from the field of battle, as if from an army, and fire blazed up spontaneously from the altars which Antony had built in the fortified camp.

§ 54.9.7 Tiberius, accordingly, was feeling elated over these occurrences. But Augustus, for his part, returned to Samos and once more passed the winter there. In recognition of his stay he gave the islanders their freedom, and he also attended to many matters of business. 8 For a great many embassies came to him, and the people of India, who had already made overtures, now made a treaty of friendship, sending among other gifts tigers, which were then for the first time seen by the Romans, as also, I think by the Greeks. They also gave him a boy who had no shoulders or arms, like our statues of Hermes.

§ 54.9.9 And yet, defective as he was, he could use his feet for everything, as if they were hands: with them he would stretch a bow, shoot missiles, and put a trumpet to his lips. How he did this I do not know; I merely state what is recorded. 10 One of the Indians, Zarmaros, for some reason wished to die, — either because, being of the caste of sages, he was on this account moved by ambition, or, in accordance with the traditional custom of the Indians, because of old age, or because he wished to make a display for the benefit of Augustus and the Athenians (for Augustus had reached Athens ); — he was therefore initiated into the Mysteries of the two goddesses, which were held out of season on account, they say, of Augustus, who also was an initiate, and he then threw himself alive into the fire.

§ 54.10.1 The consul that year was Gaius Sentius; and when it became necessary for a colleague to be elected (for Augustus on this occasion, also, did not accept the position after it had been kept open for him), factious quarrelling again took place and murders occurred, so that the senators voted a guard for Sentius; 2 and when he was unwilling to use it, they sent envoys to Augustus, each with two lictors. Now when the emperor learned of these things, realizing that there would be no end to the evil, he did not this time deal with the matter as he had before, but appointed one of the envoys themselves, Quintus Lucretius, to the consulship, though this man's name had been posted in the list of the proscribed and he hastened to Rome himself.

§ 54.10.3 For this and other things he had done while absent from the city many honours of all sorts were voted him, none of which he would accept, save the founding of an altar to Fortuna Redux (for this was the name they gave to her), and the provision that the day on which he arrived should be numbered among the holidays and be called Augustalia. 4 Since even then magistrates and the rest made preparations beforehand to go out to meet him, he entered the city by night; and on the following day he gave Tiberius the rank of an ex-praetor and allowed Drusus to stand for various offices five years earlier than was the practice.

§ 54.10.5 And inasmuch as there was no similarity between the conduct of the people during his absence, when they quarrelled, and while he was present, when they were afraid, he accepted an election, on their invitation, to the position of supervisor of morals for five years, and took the authority of censor for the same period and that of consul for life, and in consequence had the right to use the twelve rods always and everywhere and to sit in the curule chair between the two men who were at the time consuls. 6 After voting these measures they begged him to set everything to rights and to enact whatever laws he liked; and the laws which should be proposed by him they called “leges Augustae” from that very moment, and desired to take an oath that they would abide by them. He accepted all the other measures, believing them to be necessary, but did not require the oaths from them;

§ 54.10.7 for he well knew that, if any measure they decreed should represent their judgment, they would observe it even without taking an oath, but if it should not, they would pay no heed to it, even if they should offer ten thousand guarantees.

§ 54.11.1 Augustus, then, was engaged with these matters; and one of the aediles voluntarily resigned his office by reason of poverty. As for Agrippa, as soon as he had settled whatever business was urgent in Rome, whither he had been sent from Sicily on the occasion mentioned, he was then assigned to the provinces of Gaul; 2 for the people there not only were quarrelling among themselves, but also were being harassed by the Germans. After putting a stop to those troubles, too, he went over to Spain. It seems that the Cantabri who had been captured alive in the war and sold, had killed their masters in every case, and returning home, had induced many to join in their rebellion; and with the aid of these they had seized some positions, walled them in, and were plotting against the Roman garrisons.

§ 54.11.3 It was against these people, then, that Agrippa led an expedition. But he had some trouble also with his soldiers; for not a few of them were too old and were exhausted by the continual wars; and fearing the Cantabri as men hard to subdue, they would not obey him. 4 Nevertheless, partly by admonishing and exhorting them, and partly by inspiring them with hopes, he soon made them yield obedience. In fighting against the Cantabri, however, he met with many reverses; for they not only had gained practical experience, as a result of having been slaves to the Romans, but also despaired of having their lives granted to them again if they were taken captive.

§ 54.11.5 But finally Agrippa was successful; after losing many of his soldiers, and degrading many others because they kept being defeated (for example, he gave orders that the entire Augustan legion, as it had been called, should no longer bear that name), he at length destroyed nearly all of the enemy who were of military age, deprived the rest of their arms, and forced them come down from their fortresses and live in the plains. 6 Yet he sent no communication concerning them to the senate, and did not accept a triumph, although one was voted at the behest of Augustus, but showed moderation in these matters as was his wont; and once, when asked by the consul for his opinion about his brother, he would not give it.

§ 54.11.7 At his own expense he brought into the city the water-supply known as the Aqua Virgo, and named it the Augusta. The emperor took such great delight in this that once, when there was a great scarcity of wine and people were loudly complaining, he declared that Agrippa had in a most competent manner seen to it that they should never perish of thirst.

§ 54.12.1 Such was the character of this man; but others both strove for triumphs and celebrated them, not only for no exploits comparable to this, but merely for arresting robbers or for restoring harmony to cities that were torn by factious strife. 2 For Augustus, at least in the beginning, bestowed these rewards lavishly upon certain men, and those whom he honoured by public funerals were very many. Accordingly, while these men gained lustre through such distinctions, Agrippa was promoted to the supreme power, one might say, by him.

§ 54.12.3 For Augustus saw that the public business required strict attention, and feared that he himself might, as often happens to men of his position, fall victim to a plot. (As for the breastplate which he often wore beneath his dress, even when he entered the senate, he believed that it would be of but scanty and slight assistance to him.) 4 He therefore first added five years to his own terms as princeps, since his ten-year period was about to expire (this was in the consulship of Publius and Gnaeus Lentulus ), and then he granted to Agrippa many privileges almost equal to his own, especially the tribunician power for the same length of time.

§ 54.12.5 For that number of years, he said at the time, would be enough for them; though not long afterward he obtained the other five years of his imperial power in addition, so that the total number became ten again.

§ 54.13.1 When he had done this, he purged the senatorial body. For the members seemed to him to be too numerous even now, and he saw nothing good in a large throng; moreover, he hated not only those who were notorious for some baseness, but also those who were conspicuous for their flattery. 2 And when, as on the previous occasion, no one would resign of his own free will, and Augustus, in his turn, did not wish to incur blame alone, he himself selected the thirty best men (a point which he afterwards confirmed by oath) and bade them, after first taking the same oath, choose five at a time, relatives not to be included, by writing the names on tablets.

§ 54.13.3 After this he made the groups of five cast lots, with the arrangement that the one man in each group who drew the lot should be a senator himself and should write down five other names according to the same plan. The original thirty, of course, were to be included among those who were available for selection by the second thirty and for the drawing of lots. And since some who were chosen were out of town, others were drawn in their place and discharged the duties that belonged to them. 4 At first all this went on for several days in the way described; but when various abuses crept in, Augustus no longer trusted the lists to the quaestors and no longer submitted the groups of five to the lot, but he himself thenceforth made the selection and himself chose the senators who were still required in order to make the number of men appointed six hundred in all.

§ 54.14.1 It had, indeed, been his plan to limit the senators to three hundred, as in the early times, and he thought he ought to be well content if that number of men were found who were worthy of the senate. But the number he actually enrolled was six hundred, since all alike were displeased with the other arrangement; for it turned out that those whose names would be stricken off the roll would be much more numerous than those who kept their places, so that the present senators were more afraid of being reduced to the ranks than hopeful of being in the new senate. 2 Indeed, he did not stop even when this was done, but subsequently took other measures. It seems that certain unsuitable persons were even then found on the lists; and one Licinius Regulus, indignant because his name had been erased, whereas his son and several others to whom he thought himself superior had been selected by the lot, rent his clothing in the very senate,

§ 54.14.3 laid bare his body, enumerated his campaigns, and showed them his scars; and Articuleius Paetus, one of those who were to remain senators, earnestly begged that he might retire from his seat in the senate in favour of his father, who had been rejected. Consequently Augustus purged the senate again, removing some and choosing others in their places. 4 And since, even so, the names of many had been stricken out, and some of them, as usually happens in such a case, found fault with him on the ground that they had been unjustly expelled, he at that time accorded them the right to attend spectacles and celebrate festivals along with the senators, wearing the same garb as they, and for the future he allowed them to stand for the various offices.

§ 54.14.5 The majority of them came back in the course of time into the senate; but some few were left in an intermediate position, being regarded as belonging neither to the senate nor to the people.

§ 54.15.1 After these events, many immediately and many later were accused, whether truly or falsely, of plotting against both the emperor and Agrippa. 2 It is not possible, of course, for those on the outside to have certain knowledge of such matters; for whatever measures a ruler takes, either personally or through the senate, for the punishment of men for alleged plots against himself, are generally looked upon with suspicion as having been done out of spite, no matter how just such measures may be.

§ 54.15.3 For this reason it is my purpose to report in all such cases simply the recorded version of the affair, without busying myself with anything beyond the published account, except in perfectly patent cases, or giving a hint as to the justice or injustice of the act or as to the truth or falsity of the report. 4 Let this explanation apply also to everything that I shall write hereafter. As for the time of which we are speaking, Augustus executed a few men; in the case of Lepidus, however, although he hated the man, among other reasons, because his son had been detected in a plot against him and had been punished, yet he did not wish to put him to death, but kept subjecting him to insult from time to time in various ways.

§ 54.15.5 Thus he would order him to come back to the city from his estate in the country, whether he wished to do so or not, and would always take him to the meetings of the senate, in order that he might be subjected to the utmost to jeering and insults, so that he might realize his loss of power and dignity. In general he did not treat him as worthy of any consideration on his part, and on the occasions referred to called on him for his vote the last of all the ex-consuls. 6 For while he was wont to put the vote to the other senators in the regular order, in the case of the ex-consuls he used to call on one first, another second, and others third and fourth, and so on, just as he pleased; and the consuls also did the same. Thus it was that he used to treat Lepidus.

§ 54.15.7 And when Antistius Labeo wrote down the name of Lepidus among those who might be senators, at the time when the process of selection which we have described was being followed, the emperor first declared that he had perjured himself, and he threatened to punish him. Thereupon Labeo replied: “Why, what harm have I done by keeping in the senate one whom you even now permit to be high priest?” 8 At this Augustus desisted from his anger; for though he had often been asked, both privately and publicly, to take this priesthood, he did not feel that it was right to do so while Lepidus lived. This reply of Antistius was regarded as a happy one, as was also another remark of his: when it was said in the senate, on one occasion, that the senators ought to take turns in guarding Augustus, Antistius, not daring to speak in opposition nor yet willing to assent, remarked, “As for me, I snore, and so cannot sleep at the door of his chamber.”

§ 54.16.1 Among the laws that Augustus enacted was one which provided that those who had bribed anyone in order to gain office should be debarred from office for five years. He laid heavier assessment upon the unmarried men and upon the women without husbands, and on the other hand offered prizes for marriage and the begetting of children. 2 And since among the nobility there were far more males than females, he allowed all who wished, except the senators, to marry freedwomen, and ordered that their offspring should be held legitimate.

§ 54.16.3 Meanwhile a clamor arose in the senate over the disorderly conduct of the women and of the young men, this being alleged as a reason for their reluctance to enter into the marriage relation; and when they urged him to remedy this abuse also, with ironical allusions to his own intimacy with many women, 4 he at first replied that the most necessary restrictions had been laid down and that anything further could not possibly be regulated by decree in similar fashion. Then, when he was driven into a corner, he said: “You yourselves ought to admonish and command your wives as you wish; that is what I do.”

§ 54.16.5 When they heard that, they plied him with questions all the more, wishing to learn what the admonitions were which he professed to give Livia. He accordingly, though with reluctance, made a few remarks about women's dress and their other adornment, about their going out and their modest behaviour, not in the least concerned that his actions did not lend credence to his words. 6 Another instance of such inconsistency had occurred while he was censor. Some one brought before him a young man who had taken as his wife a married woman with whom he had previously committed adultery, and made ever so many accusations against the man, and Augustus was at a loss what to do, not daring to overlook the affair nor yet to administer any rebuke. At length, though with difficulty, he recovered himself and said: “Our factious quarrels have borne many terrible fruits; let us, then, forget them and give our attention to the future, that nothing of the sort may occur again.”

§ 54.16.7 Inasmuch, too, as certain men were betrothing themselves to infant girls and thus enjoying the privileges granted to married men, but without rendering the service expected of them, he ordered that no betrothal should be valid if the man did not marry within two years of such betrothal, — that is, that the girl must in every case be at least ten years old at her betrothal if the man was to derive any advantages from it, since, as I have stated, girls are held to have reached the marriageable age on the completion of twelve full years.