Dio's Rome Volume IV Part 2

How Caesar fought against Astures and Cantabri (chapter 25).

How Gaul began to be governed Romans (chapter 26).

How the Portico of Neptune and the Baths of Agrippa were dedicated (chapter 27).

How the Pantheon was dedicated (chapter 27).

How Augustus was released from the obligation of obeying the laws (chapter 28).

How an expedition was made into Arabia Felix (chapters 29-33).

Duration of time six years, in which there were the following magistrates here enumerated.

Caesar (VI), M. Vipsanius L.F. Agrippa (II). (B.C. 28 = a. u. 726.)

Caesar (VII), M. Vipsanius L.F. Agrippa (III). (B.C. 27 = a. u. 727.)

Caesar Augustus (VIII), T. Statilius T.F. Taurus (II). (B.C. 26 = a. u.

728.)

Augustus (IX), M. lunius M.F. Sila.n.u.s. (B.C. 25 = a. u. 729.)

Augustus (X), C. Norba.n.u.s C.F.C.N. Flaccus. (B.C. 24 = a. u. 730.)

Augustus (XI), Cn. Calpurnius Cn.F.Cn.N. Piso. (B.C. 23 = a. u. 731.)

_(BOOK 53, BOISSEVAIN.)_

[B.C. 28 (_a. u._ 726)]

[-1-] The following year Caesar held office for the sixth time and did everything according to the usage approved from very early times, delivering to Agrippa his colleague the bundles of rods which belonged to an inc.u.mbent of the consuls.h.i.+p, while he himself used the others. On completing his term he had the oath administered according to ancestral custom. Whether he ever did this again I do not know. Agrippa he honored exceedingly, even going so far as to give him his niece in marriage and to provide him with a tent similar to his own whenever they went on a campaign together; and the watchword was given by both of them. At that particular time besides attending to the ordinary run of business he finished the taking of the census, in which he was called _Princeps Senatus_, as had been deemed proper under the real democracy. He further completed and dedicated the temple of Apollo on the Palatine, the precinct surrounding it, and the stores of books. And he celebrated in company with Agrippa the festival in honor of the victory won at Actium, which had been voted: in it he had the horse-race between boys and between men of the n.o.bility. This celebration every five years, as long as it lasted, was in charge of the four priesthoods in succession,--I mean the pontifices and augurs and the so-called septemviri and quindecimviri. A gymnastic contest was also held at that time,--a wooden stadium being built in the Campus Martius,--and there was an armed combat of captives. This continued for several days without a break, in spite of Caesar's falling sick; for even so Agrippa filled his place.

[-2-] Caesar spent some of his private means upon the festivals, and when money was needed for the public treasury he borrowed it and supplied the want. For the management of this branch of the service he ordered two annual magistrates to be chosen from among the ex-praetors. To the populace he distributed a quadruple allowance of grain and made a present of money to some of the senators. For many of them had grown so poor as not to be willing to be even aedile on account of the great expenses.

Moreover the courts which belonged to the aediles.h.i.+p were to be a.s.signed to the praetors as had been the custom, the more important to the praetor urba.n.u.s and the others to the praetor peregrinus. Again, he himself appointed the praetor urba.n.u.s, as he often did subsequently. The pledges deposited with the public treasury before the battle of Actium he released, save any that involved house property, and burned the old acknowledgments of those who owed the State anything. Egyptian rites he did not admit within the pomerium, but paid great attention to the temples of Egyptian deities. Such as had been built by private individuals he ordered their children and descendants, if any survived, to repair, and the rest he restored himself. He did not, however, appropriate the credit for their building but allowed it to rest with those who had originally constructed them. And since very many unlawful and unjust ordinances had been pa.s.sed during the internecine strifes and in the wars, and particularly in the dual reign of Antony and Lepidus, he abolished them all by one promulgation, setting his sixth consuls.h.i.+p as the limit of their existence. As he obtained approbation and praise for this act he desired to exhibit another instance of magnanimity, that by such a policy he might be honored the more and that his supremacy might be voluntarily confirmed by the people, which would enable him to avoid the appearance of having forced them against their will. As a consequence, after apprising those senators with whom he was most intimate of his designs, he entered the senatorial body in his seventh consuls.h.i.+p and read the following doc.u.ment.

[B.C. 27 (_a. u._ 727)]

[-3-] "I am sure that I shall seem to some of you, Conscript Fathers, to have made an incredible choice. For what each one of my hearers would not wish to do himself, he does not like to believe when another states it as accomplished. This is chiefly because every one is jealous of every one who surpa.s.ses him and is more or less inclined to distrust anything said that is higher than his own standard.[1] Moreover I know this, that those who make apparently untrustworthy statements not only persuade n.o.body but further have the appearance of cheats. And, indeed, if it were a case of announcing something that I was not intending to do immediately, I should hesitate very much about making it public, for fear of obtaining some unworthy charge against me instead of grat.i.tude. But, as it is, when the performance will follow the promise this very day, I feel entirely confident not only of avoiding any shame for prevarication but of surpa.s.sing all mankind in good repute. [-4-] You all see that I am so situated that I could rule you perpetually. All the revolutionists either have been disciplined and been made to halt or have had pity shown them and so have come to their senses. My helpers have been made devoted by a recompense of benefits and steadfast by a partic.i.p.ation in the government: therefore they do not desire any political innovations, and if anything of the sort should take place, the men to a.s.sist me are even more ready for it than the instigators of rebellion. My military is in prime condition, we have good-will, strength, money, and allies, and chiefest of all you and the people are so disposed toward me that you would be quite willing to have me at your head. However, I will lead you no longer, nor shall any one say that all the acts of my previous career have been with the object of sole rulers.h.i.+p. I give up the entire domain, and I restore to you absolutely everything,--the arms, the laws, and the provinces,--not only all those which you committed to me but also all that I myself subsequently acquired for you. Thus by my deeds themselves you may ascertain that I did not from the outset desire any position of power, but wished in very truth to avenge my father cruelly murdered and to extricate the city from great and continuous evils. [-5-] I would that I had never taken charge of affairs even to the present extent. That is, I would that the city had never needed me for any such purpose, but that we of this age had from the outset lived in peace and harmony as our fathers once did. But since an inflexible fate, as it seems, brought you to a place where there was need even of me, though I was still young, and I was put to the test, I was always ready to labor zealously at everything even beyond what was expected of my years, so long as the situation demanded my help, and I accomplished everything with good fortune, even surpa.s.sing my powers. There was not one consideration out of all that might be cited which could turn me from aiding you when you were in danger, not toil or fear or threats of foes or prayers of friends or the numbers of the confederates or the desperation of our adversaries.

I gave myself to you unsparingly for all the tasks that fell to our lot, and my performances and sufferings you know. From it I myself have derived no gain except that I caused my country to survive, but you are both preserved and in your sober senses. Since, then, the gracious act of Fortune has restored to you by my hands peace without treachery and harmony without turmoil, receive back also liberty and democracy.

Take possession of the arms and the subject nations, and conduct the government as has been your wont.

[-6-] "You should not be surprised at my att.i.tude when you see my right conduct in other ways, my mildness and freedom from meddling, and reflect moreover that I have never accepted any extraordinary privilege, beyond what the majority might gain, though you have often voted many of them to me. Do not, again, condemn me for folly because, when it is in my power to rule over you and hold so great a sovereignty over this great world, I am unwilling. Examining the merits of the situation I deem it most just for you to manage your own affairs: examining the advantages, I regard it as most advantageous to myself to be free from trouble, from jealousy, from plots, and for you to conduct a free government with moderation and love: examining where the glory lies (for the sake of which men often choose to enter war and danger), will it not add most to my reputation to resign so great a dominion? Will it not be most glorious to leave so exalted a sovereignty and voluntarily become a plain citizen? So if any one of you doubts that any one else could show true moderation in this and bring himself to speak out, let him at all events believe me. For, though I could recite many great benefits which have been conferred upon you by me and by my father for which you would naturally love and honor us above all the rest, I could say nothing greater and I should take pride in nothing else more than this, that he would not accept the monarchy which you strove to give him, and that I, holding it, lay it aside.

[-7-] "What need to set side by side his separate exploits,--the conquest of Gaul, the subduing of Moesia, the subjugation of Egypt, the enslaving of Pannonia? Or again Pharnaces, Juba, Phraates, the campaign against the Britons, the crossing of the Rhine? Yet these are greater and more important deeds than all our forefathers performed in all previous time.

Still, any of these accomplishments scarcely deserves a place beside my present act, nor yet, indeed, does the fact that the civil wars, the greatest and most diverse that have occurred in the history of man, we fought to a successful finish, and that we made humane terms, overcoming all who withstood us, as enemies, and saving alive all who yielded, as friends; (so that if our city should ever again be fated to suffer from disaffection, we might pray that the quarrel should follow this same course). For that in spite of our possessing such great power and standing at the summit of excellence and good fortune so that we might govern you willing or unwilling, we should neither lose our heads nor desire sole supremacy, but that instead he should reject it when offered and I return it when given is a superhuman achievement. I speak in this way not for idle boasting,--I should not have said it at all if I were to derive any advantage whatever from it,--but in order that you may see that whereas there are many public benefits to our credit and we have in private many lofty t.i.tles, we take greatest pride in this, that what others desire to gain even by doing violence to their neighbors we surrender without any compulsion.

[-8-] Who could be found more magnanimous than I (not to mention again my father deceased) or whose conduct more G.o.dlike? With so many fine soldiers at my back and citizens and allies (O Jupiter and Hercules!), that love me, supreme over the entire sea within the Pillars of Hercules except a very few tribes, possessing both cities and provinces on all the continents, at a time when there is no longer any foreign enemy opposing me and there is no disturbance at home, but you all are at peace, harmonious and strong, and greatest of all are willingly obedient,--under such conditions I voluntarily, of my own motion, resign so great a dominion and alienate so vast a property. For if Horatius, Mucius, Curtius, Regulus, the Decii wished to encounter danger and death with the object of seeming to have done a great and n.o.ble deed, why should I not even more desire to do this as a result of which I shall while alive excel both them and all the rest of mankind in glory? No one of you should think that whereas the ancient Romans pursued excellence and good repute, all manliness has now become extinct in the city. Again, do not entertain a suspicion that I wish to betray you and confide you to any base fellows or expose you to mob rule, from which nothing good but all the most terrible evils always result to mankind. Upon you, upon you, the most excellent and prudent, I lay all public interests. The other course I should never have followed, had it been necessary for me to die or even to become monarch ten thousand times. This policy I adopt for my own good and for that of the city. I myself have undergone both labors and hards.h.i.+ps and I can no longer hold out either in mind or in body.

Furthermore I foresee the jealousy and hatred which rises in the b.r.e.a.s.t.s of some against the best men, and the plots which result from those feelings; and for that reason I choose rather to be a private citizen with glory than to be a monarch in danger. And the public business would be managed much better if carried on publicly and by many people at once than if it were dependent upon any one man.

[-9-] "For these reasons, then, I supplicate and beseech all of you both to commend my course and to cooperate heartily with me, reflecting upon all that I have done for you in war and in government. You will be paying me all the thanks due for it by allowing me now at last to lead a life of quiet. Thus you will come to know that I understand not only how to rule but to be ruled, and that all commands which I have laid upon others I can endure to have laid upon me. I must surely expect to live in security and to suffer no harm from any one by either deed or word, such is the confidence (based upon the consciousness of my own rect.i.tude) that I have in your good-will. I may of course meet with some catastrophe, as happens to many; for it is not possible for a man to please everybody, especially when he has been involved in so great wars, some foreign and some civil, and has had affairs of such magnitude entrusted to him: yet even so, I am quite ready to choose to die as a private citizen before my appointed time rather than to become immortal as a sole ruler. That very circ.u.mstance will bring me fame,--that I not only murdered no one in order to hold possession of the sovereignty but even died untimely in order to avoid becoming monarch. The man who has dared to slay me will certainly be punished by Heaven and by you, as took place in the case of my father. He was declared to be equal to a G.o.d and obtained eternal honors, whereas those who slew him perished, the evil men, in evil plight. We could not become deathless, yet by living well and by dying well we do in a sense gain this boon. Therefore I, who possess the first requisite and hope to possess the second, return to you the arms and the provinces, the revenues and the laws. I make only this final suggestion, that you be not disheartened through fear of the magnitude of affairs or the difficulty of handling them, nor neglect them in disdain, with the idea that they can be easily managed.

[-10-] "I have, indeed, no objection to suggesting to you in a summary way what ought to be done in each of the leading categories. And what are these suggestions? First, guard vigilantly the established laws and change none of them. What remains fixed, though it be inferior, is more advantageous than what is always subject to innovations, even though it seem to be superior. Next, whatever injunctions these laws lay upon you be careful to perform, and to refrain from whatever they forbid, and do this scrupulously not only in word but also in deed, not only in public but in private, that you may obtain not penalties but honors. The offices both of peace and of war you should entrust to those who are each time the most excellent and sensible, without jealousy of any persons, and entering into rivalry not that this man or that man may reap some advantage but that the city may be preserved and prosperous. Such men you must honor but chastise those who show any different spirit in politics.

Make your private means public property of the city, and keep your hands off public money as you would off your neighbors' goods. Keep careful watch over what belongs to you but be not eager for that upon which you can have no claim. Treat the allies and subject nations with neither insolence nor rapacity, and neither wrong nor fear the enemy. Have your arms always in hand, but do not use them against one another nor against a peaceful population. Give the soldiers a sufficient support, so that they may not on account of want desire anything which belongs to others.

Keep them together and discipline them, to prevent their doing any damage through audacity.

"But why need I make a long story by going into everything which it is your duty to do? You may easily understand from this how the remaining business must be conducted. I will close with this one remark. If you conduct the government in this way, you will enjoy prosperity yourselves and you will gratify me, who found you in the midst of wretched dishonor and have rendered you such as you are. If you prove impotent to carry out any single branch as you should, you will cause me regret and you will cast the city again into many wars and great dangers."

[-11-] While Caesar was engaged in setting his decision before them, a varied feeling took possession of the senators. A few of them knew his real intention and as a result they kept applauding him enthusiastically.

Of the rest some were suspicious of what was said and others believed in it, and therefore both marveled equally, the one cla.s.s at his great artifice and the other at the determination that he had reached. One side was displeased at his involved scheming and the other at his change of mind. For already there were some who detested the democratic const.i.tution as a breeder of factional difficulties, were pleased at the change of government, and took delight in Caesar. Consequently, though the announcement affected different persons differently, their views in regard to it were in each case the same. As for those who believed his sentiments to be genuine, any who wished it could not rejoice because of fear, nor the others lament because of hopes. And as many as disbelieved it did not venture to accuse him and confute him, some because they were afraid and others because they did not care to do so. Hence they all either were compelled or pretended to believe him. As for praising him, some did not have the courage and others were unwilling. Even in the midst of his reading there were frequent shouts and afterward many more.

The senators begged that a monarchy be established, and directed all their remarks to that end until (naturally) they forced him to a.s.sume the reins of government. At once they saw to it that twice as much pay was voted to the men who were to compose his body-guard as to the rest of the soldiers, that this might incite the men to keep a careful watch of him.

Then he began to show a real interest in setting up a monarchy.

[-12-] In this way he had his heads.h.i.+p ratified by the senate and the people. As he wished even so to appear to be democratic in principle, he accepted all the care and superintendence of public business on the ground that it required expert attention, but said that he should not personally govern all the provinces and those that he did govern he should not keep in his charge perpetually. The weaker ones, because (as he said) they were peaceful and free from war, he gave over to the senate. But the more powerful he held in possession because they were slippery and dangerous and either had enemies in adjoining territory or on their own account were able to cause a great uprising. His pretext was that the senate should fearlessly gather the fruits of the finest portion of the empire, while he himself had the labors and dangers: his real purpose was that by this plan the senators be unarmed and unprepared for battle, while he alone had arms and kept soldiers. Africa and Numidia, Asia and Greece with Epirus, the Dalmatian and Macedonian territories, Sicily, Crete, and Libya adjacent to Cyrene, Bithynia with the adjoining Pontus, Sardinia and Baetica, were consequently held to belong to the people and the senate. Caesar's were--the remainder of Spain, the neighborhood of Tarraco and Lusitania, all Gauls (the Narbonensian and the Lugdunensian, the Aquitani and the Belgae), both themselves and the aliens among them. Some of the Celtae whom we call Germani had occupied all the Belgic territory near the Rhine and caused it to be called Germania, the upper part extending to the sources of the river and the lower part reaching to the Ocean of Britain. These provinces, then, and the so-called Hollow Syria, Phoenicia and Cilicia, Cyprus and the Egyptians, fell at that time to Caesar's share. Later he gave Cyprus and Gaul adjacent to Narbo back to the people, and he himself took Dalmatia instead. This was also done subsequently in the case of other provinces, as the progress of my narrative will show. I have enumerated these in such detail because now each one of them is ruled separately, whereas in old times and for a long period the provinces were governed two and three together. The others I have not mentioned because some of them were acquired later, and the rest, even if they had been already subdued, were not being governed by the Romans, but either were left to enjoy their own laws or had been turned over to some kingdom or other. All of them that after this came into the Roman empire were attached to the possessions of the man temporarily in power.--This, then, was the division of the provinces.

[-13-] Wis.h.i.+ng to lead the Romans still further away from the idea that he looked upon himself as absolute monarch, Caesar undertook the government of the regions given him for ten years. In the course of this time he promised to reduce them to quiet and he carried his playfulness to the point of saying that if they should be sooner pacified, he would deliver them sooner to the senate. Thereupon he first appointed the senators themselves to govern both cla.s.ses of provinces except Egypt.

This land alone, for the reasons mentioned, he a.s.signed to the knight previously named.[2] Next he ordained that the rulers of senatorial provinces should be annual magistrates, elected by lot, unless any one had the special privilege accorded to a large number of children or marriage. They were to be sent out by the a.s.sembly of the senate as a body, with no sword at their side nor wearing the military garb. The name proconsul was to belong not only to the two ex-consuls but also to the rest who had served as praetors or who at least held the rank of ex-praetors. Both cla.s.ses were to employ as many lictors as were usual in the capital. He ordered further that they were to put on the insignia of their office immediately on leaving the pomerium and were to wear them continually until they should return. The heads of imperial provinces, on the other hand, were to be chosen by himself and be his agents, and they were to be named propraetors even if they were from the ranks of the ex-consuls. Of these two names which had been extremely common under the democracy he gave that of praetor to the cla.s.s chosen by him because from very early times war had been their care, and he called them also propraetors: the name of consul he gave to the others, because their duties were more peaceful, and called them in addition proconsuls. These particular names of praetor and consul he continued in Italy, and spoke of all officials outside as governing as their representatives. He caused the cla.s.s of his own choosing to employ the t.i.tle of propraetor and to hold office for as much longer than a year as should please him, wearing the military costume and having a sword with which they are empowered to punish soldiers. No one else, proconsul or propraetor or procurator, who is not empowered to kill a soldier, has been given the privilege of wearing a sword. It is permitted not only to senators but also to knights who have this function. This is the condition of the case.--All the propraetors alike employ six lictors: as many of them as do not belong to the number of ex-consuls are named from this very number.[3] Both cla.s.ses alike a.s.sume the decorations of their position of authority when they enter their appointed district and lay them aside immediately upon finis.h.i.+ng their term.

[-14-] It is thus and on these conditions that governors from among the ex-praetors and ex-consuls have been customarily sent to both kinds of provinces. The emperor would send one of them on his mission whithersoever and whenever he wished. Many while acting as praetors and consuls secured the presidency of provinces, as sometimes happens at the present day. In the case of the senate he privately gave Africa and Asia to the ex-consuls and all the other districts to the ex-praetors. He publicly forbade all the senators to cast lots for anybody until five years after such a candidate had held office in the City. For a short time all persons that fulfilled these requirements, even if they were more numerous than the provinces, drew lots for them. Later, as some of them did not govern well, this I appointment, too, reverted to the emperor. Thus they also in a sense receive their position from him, and he ordains that only a number equal to the number of provinces shall draw lots, and that they shall be whatever men he pleases. Some emperors have sent men of their own choosing there also, and have allowed certain of them to hold office for more than a year: some have a.s.signed certain provinces to knights instead of to senators.

These were the customs thus established at that time in regard to those senators that were authorized to execute the death penalty upon their subjects. Some who have not this authority are sent out to the provinces called "provinces of the senate and the people",--namely, such quaestors as the lot may designate and men who are co-a.s.sessors with those who hold the actual authority. This would be the correct way to speak of these a.s.sociates, with reference not to the ordinary name but to their duties: others call these also _presbeutai_, using the Greek term; about this t.i.tle enough has been said in the foregoing narrative. Each separate official chooses his own a.s.sessors, the expraetors selecting one from either their peers or their inferiors, and the ex-consuls three from among those of equal rank, subject to the approval of the emperor.

There were certain innovations made also in regard to these men, but since they soon lapsed this is sufficient to say here.

[-15-] This is the method followed in regard to the provinces of the people. To the others, called provinces of the emperor, which have more than one citizenlegion, lieutenants are sent chosen by the ruler himself, generally from the ex-praetors but in some instances already from the ex-quaestors or those who had held some office between the two. Those positions, then, appertain to the senators.

From among the knights the emperor himself despatches, some to the citizen posts alone but others to foreign places (according to the custom then inst.i.tuted by [the same] Caesar), the military tribunes, the prospective senators and the remainder, concerning whose difference in rank I have previously spoken in the narrative.[4] The procurators (a name that we give to the men who collect the public revenues and spend what is ordered) he sends to all the provinces alike, his own and the people's, and some of these officers belong to the knights, others to the freedmen. By way of exception the proconsuls levy the tribute upon the people they govern. The emperor gives certain injunctions to the procurators, the proconsuls, and the propraetors, in order that they may proceed to their place of office on fixed conditions. Both this practice and the giving of salary to them and to the remaining employees of the government were made the custom at this period. In old times some by contracting for work to be paid for from the public treasury furnished themselves with everything needed for their office. It was only in the days of Caesar that these particular persons began to receive something definite. This salary was not a.s.signed to all of them in equal amounts, but as need demands. The procurators get their very name, a dignified one, from the amount of money given into their charge. The following laws were laid down for all alike,--that they should not make up lists for service or levy money beyond the amount appointed, unless the senate should so vote or the emperor so order: also that when their successors should arrive, they were immediately to leave the province and not to delay on their return, but to be back within three months.

[-16-] These matters were so ordained at that time,--or, at least, one might say so. In reality Caesar himself was destined to hold absolute control of all of them for all time, because he commanded the soldiers and was master of the money; nominally the public funds had been separated from his own, but in fact he spent the former also as he saw fit.

When his decade had come to an end, there was voted him another five years, then five more, after that ten, and again another ten, and a like number the fifth time,[5] so that by a succession of ten-year periods he continued monarch for life. Consequently the subsequent emperors, though no longer appointed for a specified period but for their whole life at once, nevertheless have been wont to hold a festival every ten years as if then renewing their sovereignty once more: this is done even at the present day.

Caesar had received many honors previously, when the matter of declining the sovereignty and that regarding the division of the provinces were under discussion. For the right to fasten the laurel in front of his royal residence and to hang the oak-leaf crown above the doors was then voted him to symbolize the fact that he was always victorious over enemies and preserved the citizens. The royal building is called Palatium, not because it was ever decreed that that should be its name, but because Caesar dwelt on the Palatine and had his headquarters there; and his house secured some renown from the mount as a whole by reason of the former habitation of Romulus there. Hence, even if the emperor resides somewhere else, his dwelling retains the name of Palatium.

When he had really completed the details of administration, the name Augustus was finally applied to him by the senate and by the people. They wanted to call him by some name of their own, and some proposed this, while others chose that. Caesar was exceedingly anxious to be called Romulus, but when he perceived that this caused him to be suspected of desiring the kings.h.i.+p, he no longer insisted on it but took the t.i.tle of Augustus, signifying that he was more than human. All most precious and sacred objects are termed _augusta_. Therefore they saluted him also in Greek as _sebastos_, meaning an _august_ person, from the verb _sebazesthai_. [-17-] In this way all the power of the people and that of the senate reverted to Augustus, and from his time there was a genuine monarchy. Monarchy would be the truest name for it, no matter how much two and three hold the power together. This name of monarch the Romans so detested that they called their emperors neither dictators nor kings nor anything of the sort. Yet since the management of the government devolves upon them, it can not but be that they are kings. The offices that commonly enjoy some legal sanction are even now maintained, except that of censor. Still, everything is directed and carried out precisely as the emperor at the time may wish. In order that they may appear to hold this power not through force, but according to law, the rulers have taken possession,--names and all,--of every position (save the dictators.h.i.+p) which under the democracy was of mighty influence among the citizens who bestowed the power. They very frequently become consuls and are always called proconsuls whenever they are outside the pomerium. The t.i.tle of imperator is invariably given not only to such as win victories but to all the rest, to indicate the complete independence of their authority, instead of the name "king" or "dictator." These particular names they have never a.s.sumed since the terms first fell out of use in the Senate, but they are confirmed in the prerogatives of these positions by the appellation of imperator. By virtue of the t.i.tles mentioned they get the right to make enrollments, to collect moneys, declare wars make peace, rule foreign and native territory alike everywhere and always, even to the extent of putting to death both knights and senators within the pomerium, and all the other privileges once granted to the consuls and other officials with full powers. By virtue of the office of censor they investigate our lives and characters and take the census. Some they list in the equestrian and senatorial cla.s.s and others they erase from the roll, as pleases them. By virtue of being consecrated in all the priesthoods and furthermore having the right to give the majority of them to others and from the fact that _one_ of the high priests (if there be two or three holding office at once) is chosen from their number, they are themselves also masters of holy and sacred things. The so-called tribunician authority which the men of very greatest attainment used to hold gives them the right to stop any measure brought up by some one else, in case they do not join in approving it, and to be free from personal abuse. Moreover if they are thought to be wronged in even the slightest degree not merely by action but even by conversation they may destroy the guilty party without a trial as one polluted. They do not think it lawful to be tribune, because they belong altogether to the patrician cla.s.s, but they a.s.sume all the power of the tribunes.h.i.+p undiminished from the period of its greatest extent; and thereby the enumeration of the years they have held the office in question goes forward on the a.s.sumption that they receive it year by year along with the others who are successively tribunes. Thus by these names they have secured these privileges in accordance with all the various usages of the democracy, in order that they may appear to possess nothing that has not been given them.

[-18-] They have gained also another prerogative which was given to none of the ancient Romans outright to apply to all cases, and it is through this alone that it would be possible for them to hold the above offices and any others besides. They are freed from the action of the laws, as the very words in Latin indicate. That is, they are liberated from every consideration of compulsion and are subjected to none of the written ordinances. So by virtue of these democratic names they are clothed in all the strength of the government and have all that appertains to kings except the vulgar t.i.tle. "Caesar" or "Augustus" as a mode of address confers upon them no distinct privilege of its own but shows in the one case the continuance of their family and in the other the brilliance and dignity of their position. The salutation "father" perhaps gives them a certain authority over us which fathers once had over their children. It was not used, however, for this purpose in the beginning, but for their honor, and to admonish them to love their subjects as they would their children, while the subjects were to respect them as they respect their fathers.

Such is the number and quality of the t.i.tles to which those in power are accustomed according to the and according to what has now become tradition. At present all of them are, as a rule, bestowed upon the rulers at once, except the t.i.tle of censor: to the earlier emperors they were voted separately and from time to time. Some of the emperors took the censors.h.i.+p in accordance with ancient custom and Domitian took it for life. This is, however, no longer done at the present day. They possess its powers and are not chosen for it and do not employ its name except in the censuses.

[-19-] Thus was the const.i.tution made over at that time for the better and in a way to provide greater security. It was doubtless absolutely impossible for the people to be preserved under a democracy. Events after this, however, can not be said to be similar to those preceding this period. Formerly everything was referred to the senate and the people even if it occurred at a distance; hence all learned of it and many recorded it. Consequently the truth of happenings, no matter with how much fear and grat.i.tude and friends.h.i.+p and enmity toward any one they were related, has been found at least In the works of those who wrote of them and to a certain extent also in the public records. But after this time business began to be transacted more often with concealment and secrecy. Nowadays, even if anything is made public, it is distrusted because it can not be proved. It is suspected that all speeches and acts are to meet the wishes of the men at the time in power and of their a.s.sociates. As a result much that never occurs is noised abroad and much that really happens is unknown. Nearly everything is reported in a different form from what really takes place. Yet the magnitude of the empire and the number of events render accuracy in regard to them most difficult. In Rome there are many operations going on, and so in its subject territory, as well as against hostile tribes, always and every day, so to speak, clear information about which no one can easily get except those actively concerned. There are great numbers who do not hear at all of what has taken place. Hence all that follows which will require mention I shall narrate as it has been published, whether it is so in truth or is really somewhat different. In addition, however, my own opinion so far as possible will be stated in matters where I have been able to deduce something else than the common report from the many things I have read or heard or seen.

[-20-] Caesar, as I have said, received the further designation of Augustus, and a sign of no little moment in regard to him occurred that very night. The Tiber overflowed and occupied all of Rome that was built in the plain country so that it was submerged. From this the soothsayers inferred that he would rise to great heights and keep the whole city subservient. While different persons were rivals to show him excessive honors, one s.e.xtus Pacuvius, or, as others say, Apudius[6] surpa.s.sed them all. In the open senate he consecrated himself to him after the fas.h.i.+on of the Spaniards and advised the rest to do the same. When Augustus hindered him he rushed out to the crowd standing near by, and (as he was tribune) compelled them and next all the rest who were wandering about through the streets and lanes to consecrate themselves; to Augustus. From this episode we are wont even now to say in appeals to the sovereign "we have consecrated ourselves to you." Pacuvius ordered all to offer sacrifice for this occurrence and before the people he once said he should make Augustus his inheritor on equal terms with his son. This was not because he possessed anything much, but because he wished to get more. And his desire was accomplished.

[-21-] Augustus attended with considerable zeal to all the business of the empire to make it appear that he had received it in accordance with the wishes of all, and he also enacted many laws. (I need not go into each one of them in detail except those which have a bearing upon my history. This same course I shall follow in the case of later events, in order not to become wearisome by introducing all such matters as not even those who specialize on them most narrowly know with accuracy.) Not all of these laws were enacted on his sole responsibility: some of them he brought before the public in advance, in order that, if any featured caused displeasure, he might learn it in time and correct them. He urged that any one at all give him advice, if any one could think of anything better. He accorded them full liberty of speech and some provisions he actually did alter. Most important of all, he took as advisers for six months the consuls or the 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. Through them he was accustomed to a certain extent to communicate to all the rest the provisions of his laws. Some features he brought before the entire senate. He deemed it better, however, to consider most of the laws and the greater ones in company with a few persons at leisure, and acted accordingly. Sometimes he tried cases with their a.s.sistance. The entire senate by itself sat in judgment as formerly and transacted business with occasional groups of envoys and heralds from both peoples and kings.

Furthermore the people and the plebs came together for the elections, but nothing was done that would not please Caesar. Some of those who were to hold office he himself chose out and nominated and others he put, according to ancient custom, in the power of the people and the plebs, yet taking care that no unfit persons should be appointed, nor by factious cliques nor by bribery. In this way he controlled the entire empire.

[-22-] I shall relate also in detail all his acts that need mentioning, together with the names of the consuls under whom they were performed.