But the most interesting matter, in connection with Ancyra is the famous Inscription of Augustus[[106]] (sometimes called his “Will”), generally known by scholars under the title of the “Marmor Ancyranum.” What was then visible of this Inscription was first copied by Busbequius, about A.D. 1555, and published in 1579, at Antwerp, by Andreas Schottus.[[107]] At first, the Latin portion only was obtained, but, by degrees, portions of the Greek have been recovered, an important addition having been made by Mr. Hamilton.[[108]] A very complete account of it has been recently published by Theod. Mommsen, under the title “Res gestæ Divi Augusti,” Berl. 1865, with very accurate copies of the Greek legend, specially executed for Napoleon III. by M. Perrot.
[106]. The whole town of Ancyra swarms with inscriptions. Mr. Hamilton says: “The collection of inscriptions made during my stay at Ancyra was very numerous; many of them never before published. They were met with in all parts of the town,—in the gateways and courtyards of private houses, but, chiefly, on the walls of the citadel.”
[107]. The original inscription was engraved at Rome on brazen tablets in front of his Mausoleum (Sueton. Aug.), known in Mediæval times under the name of L’Austa. From an inscription in Boeckh, C. I. Gr. No. 4,039, we learn that the Ancyran inscription was placed in the Σεβαστῆον (Augusteum), and on one of the antæ of the Temple are the words—
Γαλατῶν [τ]ὁ [κοινὸν]
[ἱε] ρασάμενον
Θεῷ Σεβαστῷ
Καὶ Θεᾷ Ῥώμῃ
This is probably the temple alluded to in the decree of Augustus, and referred to by Josephus (Antiq. xvi. 6).
[108]. Too much credit cannot be given to Mr. Hamilton for his successful labours in copying the greater part of the Greek version, which in many instances supplies defects in the Latin version. “I entered,” says he, “into a negotiation with the proprietor of the house ... (abutting on the Temple).... In the course of two days I had the satisfaction of finding that he had agreed to my proposal. I had hardly dared to hope that the Mahometan would have allowed a Ghiaour to take down the wall of his house for such a purpose.”
It would be impossible to give here even the briefest summary of this very interesting and valuable inscription, which fully deserves the most careful perusal; but we may mention that, among the historical events Augustus records, are his crushing the murderers of Julius Cæsar, when he was only 21,—the titles conferred on him—the census of his people—the closing of the Temple of Janus—his great largesses to the people, agreeably with the will of Julius Cæsar—with a remarkable list of the monumental works begun or completed by him in Rome[[109]]—a notice of the highest value to Roman antiquaries, and, therefore, very properly given by Mr. Parker in his recent volume on the “Forum Romanum.” He then recounts his crushing the pirates, noticing also the Servile war; the effect of the battle of Actium on Italy; the boundaries of the provinces then subject to him, and the extension of the Roman arms to Æthiopia and Arabia; the submission of Tiridates and Phraates, the kings of Parthia; and of Dubnovelaunus, king of the Britons. He concludes by saying, “When I wrote this I was in my seventy-sixth year,” and very shortly after this he died.[[110]]