[32] Dio, LIV, 1, writes: “In the following year (732) the Tiber again overflowed; statues in the Pantheon were struck by lightning, so that the spear was knocked out of the hand of Augustus. Pestilence was so violent in all Italy that year that there was no one to till the fields; and I think the same was the case in foreign lands. The Romans thought that this plague and famine had come upon them, because they had not made Augustus consul that year; they wished to name him dictator, and with great show of violence compelled the senate, shut up in the curia, to decree this; threatening to burn them unless they did it. So the senate approached Augustus with the twenty-four fasces (insignia of dictatorship, the consul having only twelve), and begged him to accept the dictatorship and the administration of the food supply. He did indeed undertake the latter charge, and ordered that duumvirs, who had held the praetorship five years before, should be yearly appointed to have charge of the distribution of grain, but would by no means accept the dictatorship. When neither by words nor prayers he could move the people, he tore his garments. For he justly wished to avoid the jealousy and hatred of that name, since moreover, he already held a dignity and power superior to that of the dictatorship.” Vell. II, 89, 5, says: “The dictatorship which the people persistently thrust upon him, he as constantly repelled.”
The dictatorship had fallen into disuse after 552, and was revived, irregularly, by Sulla in 672. Cæsar made it the basis of his power, being made perpetual dictator shortly before his death. After that event, on motion of Antony, the office was abolished.
[33] In Chap. 15, Augustus states that in 731 he twelve times distributed grain at his own expense. This assumption of the grain administration in 732 was not strictly a charity. The extract from Dio under Note [69], gives some of the details. It is probable that from this time the tribute in kind was turned into the fiscus, or imperial treasury, instead of into the ærarium, or treasury of the senate, as heretofore. This new task of the imperial government involved not merely the gratuitous distribution of grain to the ordinary Roman citizens (after 752 even to senators and knights), but also the providing of a sufficient supply of grain for all purchasers at a minimum price, often below the market value. It appears that grain tickets “tessaræ frumentariæ” were distributed to the citizens entitled to free grain, and then, to assist the vast multitude of strangers, freedmen, and attachés of the great houses, money tickets, “tessaræ nummariæ” were given out. Cf. Mommsen, Röm. St., II, 992.
[34] Vell. II, 89; Suet. Aug. 26; Dio, LIV, 10. Dio’s statement that Augustus in 735 accepted the consular power (differing from the consulship as the tribunitial power from the tribuneship. Cf. Note [31], Chap. 4.) for life, cannot be correct in face of the other two authorities cited, who corroborate Augustus here. Chapter 8 tells of two special assumptions of the consular power for the taking of the second and third census.
[35] Before the restoration of the text of this inscription, in this case depending entirely upon the remains at Apollonia, it used to be taught that Augustus accepted the formal superintendence of laws and morals. And there seemed to be good ground for such belief. Horace, c., 740 in Carm. IV, 5, v. 22, says, “Morality and law have subdued foul wrong;” and in Ep., II, 1, v. 1, “Since thou hast protected Italy with arms, adorned her with morality, and improved her with laws.” Ovid wrote, Tristia, II, 233: “The city wearies thee with the care of laws and morals, which thou desirest should be like thy own.” Suet. Aug. 27, says: “He accepted the control of laws and morals for life, as he had the tribunitial power; and in the exercise of this control, altho’ without the honor of the censorship, he yet thrice took the census of the people, the first and third times with a colleague, the second time alone.” Dio, LIV, 10, 30, says that in 735 and 742 Augustus accepted this office for periods of five years. But the inscription shows that Suetonius and Dio were wrong, and that a natural but incorrect inference had been drawn from the poets.
This power was offered to Augustus three times; in 735, 736 and 743, and as often refused. Why was it offered, and why refused? Cf. Dio, LIV, 10; Vell. II, 91, 92; Suet. Aug. 19. While Augustus was in Asia in 735 M. Egnatius Rufus, who is painted as a sort of Catiline, tried to obtain the consulship, and even to supplant Augustus, and stirred up sedition in the attempt. This so alarmed the senate and people that they offered Augustus the plenary power of legislation and coercion. The repetition of the offer in 736 was from a similar cause. The reason for that of 743 is unknown. The power thus offered was analogous to the decemvirate, or the Sullan dictatorship. Cf. Mommsen, Röm., St., II, 686.
[36] This sentence answers the second question asked in the above Note. It was part of Augustus’ policy to seem to keep wholly within the lines of the constitution. Hence his refusal to accept any extraordinary office. Yet his tribunitial power was new and extraordinary. Tacitus’ comment is caustic, Ann., III, 56: “That specious title (the tribunitial power) importing nothing less than sovereign power, was invented by Augustus at a time when the name of king or dictator was not only unconstitutional but universally detested. And yet a new name was wanted to overtop the magistrates and the forms of the constitution.”
[37] Dio, LIV, 16, names three laws promulgated by Augustus in 736: one took cognizance of bribery by candidates for office; a second dealt with extravagance; and a third was for the encouragement of matrimony.
[38]ᵃ in 736 Agrippa was associated with Augustus for five years. Cf. Dio, LIV, 12; Vell. II, 90; Tac. Ann. III, 56.
ᵇ in 741 Agrippa again for five years. Cf. Dio, LIV, 12, 28.