Cæsar Augustus (VIII), T. Statilius T.F. Taurus (II). (B.C. 26 = a. u. 728.)
Augustus (IX), M. lunius M.F. Silanus. (B.C. 25 = a. u. 729.)
Augustus (X), C. Norbanus 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 Cæsar 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 incumbent of the consulship, 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 nobility. 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 Cæsar's falling sick; for even so Agrippa filled his place.
[-2-] Cæsar 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-prætors. 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 ædile on account of the great expenses. Moreover the courts which belonged to the ædileship were to be assigned to the prætors as had been the custom, the more important to the prætor urbanus and the others to the prætor peregrinus. Again, he himself appointed the prætor urbanus, 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 passed 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 consulship 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 consulship and read the following document.
[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 surpasses 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 nobody 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 gratitude. 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 surpassing 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 participation in the government: therefore they do not desire any political innovations, and if anything of the sort should take place, the men to assist 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 rulership. 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 surpassing 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.