The Wise and Ingenious Companion, French and English; / or, A Collection of the Wit of the Illustrious Persons, Both Ancient and Modern

by Abel Boyer

149

The Beginnings of Augustus’s Reign were fatal to the Roman Empire, by reason of his Cruelties, and the disorders he occasion’d. But as the latter end of his Reign was quite different, and rendred the Empire more flourishing than ever, ’twas said of him: That it were to be wished, either that he had never come into the World, or never gone out of it.

149

Les commencemens du Regne d’Auguste furent pernicieux à l’Empire Romain, à cause de ses cruautez, & des désordres qu’il causa; mais comme la fin de son Regne toute differente, rendit l’Empire plus florissant que jamais, on dit de lui: Qu’il eût été à souhaiter, ou qu’il ne fut jamais venu au monde, ou qu’il n’en fut jamais sorti.