Suetonius
De Vita Caesarum
Divus Augustus
The Lives of the Caesars The Deified Augustus
I. THERE are many indications that the Octavian family was in days of old a
distinguished one at Velitrae; for not only was a street in the most frequented
part of the town long ago called Octavian, but an altar was shown there besides,
consecrated by an Octavius. This man was leader in a war with a neighbouring town,
and when news of a sudden onset of the enemy was brought to him just as he chanced
to be sacrificing to Mars, he snatched the inwards of the victim from the fire
and offered them up half raw; and thus he went forth to battle, and returned victorious.
There was, besides, a decree of the people on record, providing that for the future
too the inwards should be offered to Mars in the same way, and the rest of the
victims be handed over to the Octavii.
II. The family was admitted to the senate by king Tarquinius Priscus among
the lesser clans [Plebeian families in the Senate enrolled in addition to the
patricians. See: Geer, American Journal of Philology, 55, 337ff.]; was later enrolled
by Servius Tullius among the patricians; in course of time returned to the ranks
of the plebeians; and after a long interval was restored to patrician rank by
the Deified Julius. The first of the house to be elected by the people to a magistracy
was Gaius Rufus, who became quaestor. He begot Gnaeus and Gaius, from whom two
branches of the Octavian fimaily were derived, of very different standing; for
Gnaeus and all his scions in turn held the highest offices, but Gaius and his
progeny, whether from chance or choice, remained in the equestrian order down
to the father of Augustus. Augustus' great-grandfather served in Sicily in the
Second Punic War as tribune of the soldiers under the command of Aemilius Papus
[205 B.C.]. His grandfather, content with the offices of a municipal town and
possessing an abundant income, lived to a peaceful old age. This is the account
given by others; Augustus himself merely writes [in his Memoirs] that he came
of an old and wealthy equestrian family, in which his own father was the first
to become a senator. Marcus Antonius taunts him with his great-grandfather, saying
that he was a freedman and a rope-maker from the country about Thurii, while his
grandfather was a money-changer. This is all that I have been able to learn about
the paternal ancestors of Augustus.
III. His father Gaius Octavius was from the beginning of his life a man of
wealth and repute, and I cannot but wonder that some have said that he too was
a money-changer, and was even employed to distribute bribes at the elections and
perform other services in the Campus; for as a matter of fact, being brought up
in affluence, he readily attained to high positions and filled them with distinction.
Macedonia fell to his lot at the end of his praetorship; on his way to the province,
executing a special commission from the senate, he wiped out a band of runaway
slaves, refugees from the armies of Spartacus and Catiline, who held possession
of the country about Thurii. In governing his province he showed equal justice
and courage; for besides routing the Bessi and the other Thracians in a great
battle, his treatment of our allies was such, that Marcus Cicero, in letters which
are still in existence [Ad Quint. Frat. 1.1.21], urges and admonishes his brother
Quintus, who at the time was serving as proconsular governor [Quintus Cicero was
really propraetor] of Asia [61/58 B.C.] with no great credit to himself, to imitate
his neighbour Octavius in winning the favour of our allies.
IV. While returning from Macedonia, before he could declare himself a candidate
for the consulship, he died suddenly, survived by three children, an elder Octavia
by Ancharia, and by Atia a younger Octavia and Augustus. Atia was the daughter
of Marcus Atius Balbus and Julia, sister of Gaius Caesar. Balbus, a native of
Aricia on his father's side, and of a family displaying many senatorial portraits
[imagines were waxen masks of ancestors of senatorial rank, kept in the atrium
of their descendants], was closely connected on his mother's side with Pompeius
the Great. After holding the office of praetor, he was one of the commission of
twenty appointed by the Julian law to distribute lands in Campania to the commons.
But Antonius again, trying to disparage the maternal ancestors of Augustus as
well, twits him with having a great-grandfather of African birth, who kept first
a perfumery shop and then a bakery at Aricia. Cassius of Parma also taunts Augustus
with being the grandson both of a baker and of a money-changer, saying in one
of his letters: "Your mother's meal came from a vulgar bakeshop of Aricia; this
a money-changer from Nerulum kneaded into shape with hands stained with filthy
lucre."
V. Augustus was born just before sunrise on the ninth day before the Kalends
of October in the consulship of Marcus Tullius Cicero and Gaius Antonius [Sept.
23, 63 B.C.], at the Ox-Heads in the Palatine quarter, where he now has a shrine,
built shortly after his death. For it is recorded in the proceedings of the Senate,
that when Gaius Laetorius, a young man of patrician family, was pleading for a
milder punishment for adultery because of his youth and position, he further urged
upon the Senators that he was the possessor and as it were the warden of the spot
which the deified Augustus first touched at his birth, and begged that he be pardoned
for the sake of what might be called his own special god. Whereupon it was decreed
that that part of his house should be consecrated.
VI. A small room like a pantry is shown to this day as the emperor's nursery
in his grandfather's country-house near Velitrae, and the opinion prevails in
the neighbourhood that he was actually born there. No one ventures to enter this
room except of necessity and after purification, since there is a conviction of
long-standing that those who approach it without ceremony are seized with shuddering
and terror; and what is more, this has recently been shown to be true. For when
a new owner, either by chance or to test the matter, went to bed in that room,
it came to pass that, after a very few hours of the night, he was thrown out by
a sudden mysterious force, and was found bedclothes and all half-dead before the
door.
VII. In his infancy he was given the surname Thurinus in memory of the home
of his ancestors, or else because it was near Thurii that his father Octavius,
shortly after the birth of his son, had gained his victory over the runaway slaves.
That he was surnamed Thurinus I may assert on very trustworthy evidence, since
I once obtained a bronze statuette, representing him as a boy and inscribed with
that name in letters of iron almost illegible from age. This I presented to the
emperor [i.e., Hadrian], who cherishes it among the Lares of his bed-chamber.
Furthermore, he is often called Thurinus in Marcus Antonius' letters by way of
insult; to which Augustus merely replied that he was surprised that his former
name was thrown in his face as a reproach. Later he took the name of Gaius Caesar
[44 B.C.], and then the surname Augustus [27 B.C.], the former by the will of
his great-uncle [i.e., Julius Caesar], the latter on the motion of Munatius Plancus.
For when some expressed the opinion that he ought to be called Romulus as a second
founder of the city, Plancus carried the proposal that he should rather be named
Augustus, on the ground that this was not merely a new title but a more honourable
one, inasmuch as sacred places too, and those in which anything is consecrated
by augural rites are called "august" [augusta], from the "increase" [auctus] in
dignity, or from the movements or feeding of the birds [avium gestus gustusve],
as Ennius [Annales, 502, Vahlen] also shows when he writes: "After by augury august
illustrious Rome had been founded."
VIII. At the age of four he lost his father [59 B.C.]. In his twelfth year
he delivered a funeral oration to the assembled people in honour of his grandmother
Julia. Four years later, after assuming the gown of manhood, he received military
prizes at Caesar's African triumph, although he had taken no part in the war on
account of his youth. When his uncle presently went to Spain to engage the sons
of Pompeius [46 B.C.], although Augustus had hardly yet recovered his strength
after a severe illness, he followed over roads beset by the enemy with only a
very few companions, and that too after suffering shipwreck, and thereby greatly
endeared himself to Caesar, who soon formed a high opinion of his character over
and above the energy with which he had made the journey. When Caesar, after recovering
the Spanish provinces, planned an expedition against the Dacians and then against
the Parthians, Augustus, who had been sent on in advance to Apollonia, devoted
his leisure to study. As soon as he learned that his uncle had been slain and
that he was his heir [44 B.C.], he was in doubt for some time whether to appeal
to the nearest legions, but gave up the idea as hasty and premature. He did, however,
return to the city and enter upon his inheritance, in spite of the doubts of his
mother and the strong opposition of his stepfather, the ex-consul Marcius Philippus.
Then he levied armies and henceforth ruled the State, at first with Marcus Antonius
and Marcus Lepidus, then with Antonius alone for nearly twelve years, and finally
by himself for forty-four.
IX. Having given as it were a summary of his life, I shall now take up its
various phases one by one, not in chronological order, but by classes, to make
the account clearer and more intelligible. The civil wars which he waged were
five, called by the names of Mutina, Philippi, Perusia, Sicily, and Actium; the
first and last of these were against Marcus Antonius, the second against Brutus
and Cassius, the third against Lucius Antonius, brother of the triumvir, and the
fourth against Sextus Pompeius, son of Gnaeus.
X. The initial reason for all these wars was this: since he considered nothing
more incumbent on him than to avenge his uncle's death and maintain the validity
of his enactments, immediately on returning from A pollonia he resolved to surprise
Brutus and Cassius by taking up arms against them; and when they foresaw the danger
and fled, to resort to law and prosecute them for murder in their absence. Furthermore,
since those who had been appointed to celebrate Caesar's victory by games did
not dare to do so, he gave them himself. To be able to carry out his other plans
with more authority, he announced his candidature for the position of one of the
tribunes of the people, who happened to die; though he was a patrician, and not
yet a senator [Since the time of Sulla only senators were eligible for the position
of tribune]. But when his designs were opposed by Marcus Antonius, who was then
consul, and on whose help he had especially counted, and Antonius would not allow
him even common and ordinary justice without the promise of a heavy bribe, he
went over to the aristocrats, who he knew detested Antonius, especially because
he was besieging Decimus Brutus at Mutina, and trying to drive him by force of
arms from the province given him by Caesar and ratified by the Senate. Accordingly,
at the advice of certain men, he hired assassins to kill Antonius, and when the
plot was discovered, fearing retaliation he mustered veterans, by the use of all
the money he could command, both for his own protection and that of the State.
Put in command of the army which he had raised, with the rank of propraetor, and
bidden to join with Hirtius and Pansa, who had become consuls, in lending aid
to Decimus Brutus, he finished the war which had been entrusted to him within
three months in two battles. In the former of these, so Antonius writes, he took
to flight and was not seen again until the next day, when he returned without
his cloak and his horse; but in that which followed all agree that he played the
part not only of a leader, but of a soldier as well, and that, in the thick of
the fight, when the eagle-bearer of his legion was sorely wounded, he shouldered
the eagle and carried it for some time.
XI. As Hirtius lost his life in battle during this war, and Pansa shortly afterwards
from a wound, the rumor spread that he had caused the death of both, in order
that after Antonius had been put to flight and the state bereft of its consuls,
he might gain sole control of the victorious armies. The circumstances of Pansa's
death in particular were so suspicious, that the physician Glyco was imprisoned
on the charge of having applied poison to his wound. Aquilius Niger adds to this
that Augustus himself slew the other consul Hirtius amid the confusion of the
battle.
XII. But when he learned that Antonius after his flight had found a protector
in Marcus Lepidus, and that the rest of the leaders and armies were coming to
terms with them, he abandoned the cause of the nobles without hesitation, alleging
as a pretext for his change of allegiance the words and acts of certain of their
number, asserting that some had called him a boy, while others had openly said
that he ought to be honoured and got rid of, to escape the necessity of making
suitable recompense to him or to his veterans. To show more plainly that he regretted
his connection with the former party, he imposed a heavy fine on the people of
Nursia and banished them from their city when they were unable to pay it, because
they had at public expense erected a monument to their citizens who were slain
in the battles at Mutina and inscribed upon it: "they fell for liberty."
XIII. Then, forming a league with Antonius and Lepidus; he finished the war
of Philippi [42 B.C.] also in two battles, although weakened by illness, being
driven from his camp in the first battle and barely making his escape by fleeing
to Antonius' division. He did not use his victory with moderation, but after sending
Brutus' head to Rome, to be cast at the feet of Caesar's statue, he vented his
spleen upon the most distinguished of his captives, not even sparing them insulting
language. For instance, to one man who begged humbly for burial, he is said to
have replied: "The birds will soon settle that question." When two others, father
and son, begged for their lives, he is said to have bidden them cast lots or play
mora [a game still common in Italy, in which the contestants thrust out their
fingers, the one naming correctly the number thrust out by his opponent being
the winner], to decide which should be spared, and then to have looked on while
both died, since the father was executed because he offered to die for his son,
and the latter thereupon took his own life. Because of this the rest, including
Marcus Favonius, the well-known imitator of Cato, saluted Antonius respectfully
as Imperator when they were led out in chains, but lashed Augustus to his face
with the foulest abuse. When the duties of administration were divided after the
victory, Antonius undertaking to restore order in the East, and Augustus to lead
the veterans back to Italy and assign them lands in the municipalities, he could
neither satisfy the veterans nor the landowners, since the latter complained that
they were driven from their homes, and the former that they were not being treated
as their services had led them to hope.
XIV. When Lucius Antonius at this juncture [41 B.C.] attempted a revolution,
relying on his position as consul and his brother's power, he forced him to take
refuge in Perusia, and starved him into surrender, not, however, without great
personal danger both before and during the war. For at an exhibition of games,
when he had given orders that a common soldier who was sitting in the fourteen
rows be put out by an attendant, the report was spread by his detractors that
he had had the man killed later and tortured as well; whereupon he all but lost
his life in a furious mob of soldiers, owing his escape to the sudden appearance
of the missing man safe and sound. Again, when he was sacrificing near the walls
of Perusia, he was well nigh cut off by a band of gladiators, who had made a sally
from the town.
XV. After the capture of Perusia [40 B.C.] he took vengeance on many, meeting
all attempts to beg for pardon or to make excuses with the one reply, "You must
die." Some write that three hundred men of both orders were selected from the
prisoners of war and sacrificed on the Ides of March like so many victims at the
altar raised to the Deified Julius. Some have written that he took up arms of
a set purpose, to unmask his secret opponents and those whom fear rather than
good-will kept faithful to him, by giving them the chance to follow the lead of
Lucius Antonius; and then by vanquishing them and confiscating their estates to
pay the rewards promised to his veterans.
XVI. The Sicilian war [43/35 B.C.] was among the first that he began, but it
was long drawn out by many interruptions, now for the purpose of rebuilding his
fleets, which he twice lost by shipwreck due to storms, and that, too, in the
summer; and again by making peace at the demand of the people, when supplies were
cut off and there was a severe famine. Finally, after new ships had been built
and twenty thousand slaves set free and trained as oarsmen, he made the Julian
harbour at Baiae by letting the sea into the Lucrine lake and Lake Avernus. After
drilling his forces there all winter, he defeated Pompeius between Mylae and Naulochus,
though just before the battle he was suddenly held fast by so deep a sleep that
his friends had to awaken him to give the signal. And it was this, I think, that
gave Antonius opportunity for the taunt: "He could not even look with steady eyes
at the fleet when it was ready for battle, but lay in a stupor on his back, looking
up at the sky, and did not rise or appear before the soldiers until the enemy's
ships had been put to flight by Marcus Agrippa." Some censured an act and saying
of his, declaring that when his fleets were lost in the storm, he cried out, "I
will have the victory despite Neptune," and that on the day when games in the
Circus next occurred, he removed the statue of that god from the sacred procession.
And it is safe to say that in none of his wars did he encounter more dangers or
greater ones. For when he had transported an army to Sicily and was on his way
back to the rest of his forces on the mainland, he was surprised by Pompeius's
admirals Demochares and Apollophanes and barely escaped with but a single ship.
Again, as he was going on foot to Regium by way of Locri, he saw some of Pompeius's
biremes coasting along the shore, and taking them for his own ships and going
down to the beach, narrowly escaped capture. At that same time, too, as he was
making his escape by narrow bypaths, a slave of his companion Aemilius Paulus,
nursing a grudge because Augustus had proscribed his master's father some time
before, and thinking that he had an opportunity for revenge, attempted to slay
him.
After Pompeius's flight, Augustus' other colleague, Marcus Lepidus, whom he
had summoned from Africa to help him, was puffed up by confidence in his twenty
legions and claimed the first place with terrible threats; but Augustus stripped
him of his army; and though he granted him his life when he sued for it, he banished
him for all time to Circei.
XVII. At last he broke off his alliance with Marcus Antonius, which was always
doubtful and uncertain, and with difficulty kept alive by various reconciliations;
and the better to show that his rival had fallen away from conduct becoming a
citizen, he had the will which Antonius had left in Rome, naming his children
by Cleopatra among his heirs, opened and read before the people. But when Antonius
was declared a public enemy, he sent back to him all his kinsfolk and friends,
among others Gaius Sosius and Titus Domitius, who were still consuls at the time.
He also excused the community of Bononia from joining in the rally of all Italy
to his standards, since they had been from ancient days dependents of the Antonii.
Not long afterwards [31 B.C.] he won the sea-fight at Actium, where the contest
continued to so late an hour that the victor passed the night on board. Having
gone into winter quarters at Samos after Actium, he was disturbed by the news
of a mutiny of the troops that he had selected from every division of his army
and sent on to Brundisium after the victory, who demanded their rewards and discharge;
and on his way back to Italy he twice encountered storms at sea, first between
the headlands of the Peloponnesus and Aetolia, and again off the Ceraunian mountains.
In both places a part of his galleys were sunk, while the rigging of the ship
in which he was sailing was carried away and its rudder broken. He delayed at
Brundisium only twenty-seven days---just long enough to satisfy all the demands
of the soldiers---and then went to Egypt by a roundabout way through Asia and
Syria, laid siege to Alexandria, where Antonius had taken refuge with Cleopatra,
and soon took the city. Although Antonius tried to make terms at the eleventh
hour, Augustus forced him to commit suicide, and viewed his corpse. He greatly
desired to save Cleopatra alive for his triumph, and even had Psylli brought to
her, to suck the poison from her wound, since it was thought that she died from
the bite of an asp. He allowed them both the honour of burial, and in the same
tomb, giving orders that the mausoleum which they had begun should be finished.
The young Antonius, the elder of Fulvia's two sons, he dragged from the image
of the Deified Julius, to which he had fled after many vain entreaties, and slew
him. Caesarion, too, whom Cleopatra fathered on Caesar, he overtook in his flight,
brought back, and put to death. But he spared the rest of the offspring of Antonius
and Cleopatra, and afterwards maintained and reared them according to their several
positions, as carefully as if they were his own kin.
XVIII. About this time he had the sarcophagus and body of Alexander the Great
brought forth from its shrine, and after gazing on it, showed his respect by placing
upon it a golden crown and strewing it with flowers; and being then asked whether
he wished to see the tomb of the Ptolemies as well, he replied, "My wish was to
see a king, not corpses." He reduced Egypt to the form of a province, and then
to make it more fruitful and better adapted to supply the city with grain, he
set his soldiers at work cleaning out all the canals into which the Nile overflows,
which in the course of many years had become choked with mud. To extend the fame
of his victory at Actium and perpetuate its memory, he founded a city called Nicopolis
near Actium, and provided for the celebration of games there every five years;
enlarged the ancient temple of Apollo; and after adorning the site of the camp
which he had occupied with naval trophies, consecrated it to Neptune and Mars.
XIX. After this he nipped in the bud at various times several outbreaks, attempts
at revolution, and conspiracies, which were betrayed before they became formidable.
The ringleaders were, first the young Lepidus, then Varro Murena and Fannius Caepio,
later Marcus Egnatius, next Plautius Rufus and Lucius Paulus, husband of the emperor's
granddaughter, and besides these Lucius Audasius, who had been charged with forgery,
and was moreover old and feeble; alsoAsinius Epicadus, a half-breed of Parthian
descent, and finally Telephus, slave and page [the nomenclator was a slave whose
duty it was to remind his master, or mistress, of the names of persons] of a woman;
for even men of the lowest condition conspired against him and imperilled his
safety. Audasius and Epicadus had planned to take his daughter Julia and his grandson
Agrippa by force to the armies from the islands where they were confined, Telephus
to set upon both Augustus and the Senate, under the delusion that he himself was
destined for empire. Even a soldier's servant from the army in Illyricum, who
had escaped the vigilance of the door-keepers, was caught at night near the emperor's
bed-room, armed with a hunting knife; but whether the fellow was crazy or feigned
madness is a question, since nothing could be wrung from him by torture.
XX. He carried on but two foreign wars in person: in Dalmatia, when he was
but a youth, and with the Cantabrians after the overthrow of Antonius. He was
wounded, too, in the former campaign, being struck on the right knee with a stone
in one battle, and in another having a leg and both arms severely injured by the
collapse of a bridge. His other wars he carried on through his generals, although
he was either present at some of those in Pannonia and Germany, or was not far
from the front, since he went from the city as far as Ravenna, Mediolanum, or
Aquileia.
XXI. In part as leader, and in part with armies serving under his auspices,
he subdued Cantabria, Aquitania, Pannonia, Dalmatia, and all Illyricum, as well
as Raetia and the Vindelici and Salassi, which are Alpine tribes. He also put
a stop to the inroads of the Dacians, slaying great numbers of them, together
with three of their leaders, and forced the Germans back to the farther side of
the river Albis, with the exception of the Suebi and Sigambri, who submitted to
him and were taken into Gaul and settled in lands near the Rhine. He reduced to
submission other peoples, too, that were in a state of unrest. But he never made
war on any nation without just and due cause, and he was so far from desiring
to increase his dominion or his military glory at any cost, that he forced the
chiefs of certain barbarians to take oath in the temple of Mars the Avenger that
they would faithfully keep the peace for which they asked; in some cases, indeed,
he tried exacting a new kind of hostages, namely women, realizing that the barbarians
disregarded pledges secured by males; but all were given the privilege of reclaiming
their hostages whenever they wished. On those who rebelled often or under circumstances
of especial treachery he never inflicted any severer punishment than that of selling
the prisoners, with the condition that they should not pass their term of slavery
in a country near their own, nor be set free within thirty years. The reputation
for prowess and moderation which he thus gained led even the Indians and the Scythians,
nations known to us only by hearsay, to send envoys of their own free will and
sue for his friendship and that of the Roman people. The Parthians, too, readily
yielded to him, when he laid claim to Armenia, and at his demand surrendered the
standards which they had taken from Marcus Crassus and Marcus Antonius [Crassus
lost his standards at the Battle of Carrhae in 53 B.C., and Antonius through the
defeat of his lieutenants in 40 and 36 B.C.]; they offered him hostages besides,
and once when there were several claimants of their throne, they would accept
only the one whom he selected.
XXII. The temple of Janus Quirinus, which had been closed but twice before
his time since the founding of the city [in the reign of Numa, and in 235 B.C.
after the First Punic War], he closed three times in a far shorter period, having
won peace on land and sea. He twice entered the city in an ovation, after the
war of Philippi, and again after that in Sicily, and he celebrated three regular
triumphs [the ovation was a lesser triumph, in which the general entered the city
on foot, instead of in a chariot drawn by four horses] for his victories in Dalmatia,
at Actium, and at Alexandria, all on three successive days.
XXIII. He suffered but two severe and ignominious defeats, those of Lollius
[15 B.C.] and Varus [9 A.D.], both of which were in Germany. Of these the former
was more humiliating than serious, but the latter was almost fatal, since three
legions were cut to pieces with their general, his lieutenants, and all the auxiliaries.
When the news of this came, he ordered that watch be kept by night throughout
the city, to prevent any outbreak, and he prolonged the terms of the governors
of the provinces, that the allies might be held to their allegiance by experienced
men with whom they were acquainted. He also vowed great games to Jupiter Optimus
Maximus, in case the condition of the commonwealth should improve, a thing which
had been done in the Cimbric and Marsic wars. In fact, they say that he was so
greatly affected that for several months in succession he cut neither his beard
nor his hair, and sometimes he would dash his head against a door, crying: "Quintilius
Varus, give me back my legions!" And he observed the day of the disaster each
year as one of sorrow and mourning.
XXIV. He made many changes and innovations in the army, besides reviving some
usages of former times. He exacted the strictest discipline. It was with great
reluctance that he allowed even his generals to visit their wives, and then only
in the winter season. He sold a Roman knight and his property at public auction,
because he had cut off the thumbs of two young sons, to make them unfit for military
service; but when he saw that some tax gatherers were intent upon buying him,
he knocked him down to a freeman of his own, with the understanding that he should
be banished to the country districts, but allowed to live in freedom. He dismissed
the entire tenth legion in disgrace, because they were insubordinate, and others,
too, that demanded their discharge in an insolent fashion, he disbanded without
the rewards which would have been due for faithful service. If any cohorts gave
way in battle, he decimated them [i.e., executed every tenth man, selected by
lot], and fed the rest on barley [instead of the usual rations of wheat]. When
centurions left their posts he punished them with death, just as he did the rank
and file; for faults of other kinds he imposed various ignominious penalties,
such as ordering them to stand all day long before the general's tent, sometimes
in their tunics without their sword-belts, or again holding ten-foot poles or
even a clod of earth [carrying the pole to measure off the camp, or clods for
building the rampart, was the work of the common soldiers; hence degrading for
officers].
XXV. After the civil wars he never called any of the troops "comrades," either
in the assembly or in an edict, but always "soldiers"; and he would not allow
them to be addressed otherwise, even by those of his sons or stepsons who held
military commands, thinking the former term too flattering for the requirements
of discipline, the peaceful state of the times, and his own dignity and that of
his household. Except as a fire-brigade at Rome, and when there was fear of riots
in times of scarcity, he employed freedmen as soldiers only twice: once as a guard
for the colonies in the vicinity of Illyricum, and again to defend the bank of
the river Rhine; even these he levied, when they were slaves, from men and women
of means and at once gave them freedom; and he kept them under their original
standard [i.e., he kept them apart from the rest in the companies in which they
were first enrolled], not mingling them with the soldiers of free birth or arming
them in the same fashion. As military prizes he was somewhat more ready to give
trappings [the phalerae wre discs or plates of metal attached to a belt or to
the harness of horses] or collars, valuable for their gold and silver, than crowns
for scaling ramparts or walls, which conferred high honour; the latter he gave
as sparingly as possible and without favouritism, often even to the common soldiers.
He presented Marcus Agrippa with a blue banner in Sicily after his naval victory.
Those vho had celebrated triumphs were the only ones whom he thought ineligible
for prizes, even though they had been the companions of his campaigns and shared
in his victories, on the ground that they themselves had the privilege of bestowing
such honours wherever they wished. He thought nothing less becoming in a well-trained
leader than haste and rashness, and, accordingly, favourite sayings of his were:
"More haste, less speed"; "Better a safe commander than a bold"; and "That is
done quickly enough which is done well enough." He used to say that a war or a
battle should not be begun under any circumstances, unless the hope of gain was
clearly greater than the fear of loss; for he likened such as grasped at slight
gains with no slight risk to those who fished with a golden hook, the loss of
which, if it were carried off, could not be made good by any catch.
XXVI. He received offices and honours before the usual age, and some of a new
kind and for life. He usurped the consulship in the twentieth year of his age
[43 B.C.], leading his legions against the city as if it were that of an enemy,
and sending messengers to demand the office for him in the name of his army; and
when the Senate hesitated, his centurion, Cornelius, leader of the deputation,
throwing back his cloak and showing the hilt of his sword, did not hesitate to
say in the House, "This will make him consul, if you do not." He held his second
consulship nine years later [33 B.C.], and a third after a year's interval [31
B.C.]; the rest up to the eleventh were in successive years [30-23 B.C.], then
after declining a number of terms that were offered him, he asked of his own accord
for a twelfth after a long interval, no less than seventeen years [5 B.C.], and
two years later for a thirteenth [2 B.C.], wishing to hold the highest magistracy
at the time when he introduced each of his sons Gaius and Lucius to public life
upon their coming of age. The five consulships from the sixth to the tenth he
held for the full year, the rest for nine, six, four, or three months, except
the second, which lasted only a few hours; for after sitting for a short time
on the curule chair in front of the temple of Jupiter Capitolinus in the early
morning, he resigned the honour on the Kalends of January and appointed another
in his place. He did not begin all his consulships in Rome, but the fourth in
Asia, the fifth on the Isle of Samos, the eighth and ninth at Tarraco.
XXVII. He was for ten years a member of the triumvirate for restoring the State
to order, and though he opposed his colleagues for some time and tried to prevent
a proscription, yet when it was begun, he carried it through with greater severity
than either of them. For while they could oftentimes be moved by personal influence
and entreaties, he alone was most insistent that no one should be spared, even
adding to the list his guardian Gaius Toranius, who had also been the colleague
of his father Octavius in the aedileship. Julius Saturninus adds that after the
proscription was over Marcus Lepidus addressed the Senate in justification of
the past and held out hope of leniency thereafter, since enough punishment had
been inflicted; but that Augustus on the contrary declared that he had consented
to end the proscription only on condition that he was allowed a free hand for
the future. However, to show his regret for this inflexibility, he later honoured
Titus Vinius Philopoemen witll equestrian rank, because it was said that he had
hidden his patron, who was on the list. While he was triumvir, Augustus incurred
general detestation by many of his acts. For example, when he was addressing the
soldiers and a throng of civilians had been admitted to the assembly, noticing
that Pinalius, a Roman knight, was taking notes, he ordered that he be stabbed
on the spot, thinking him an eavesdropper and a spy. Because Tedius Afer, consul
elect, railed at some act of his in spiteful terms, he uttered such terrible threats
that Afer committed suicide. Again, when Quintus Gallius, a praetor, held some
folded tablets under his robe as he was paying his respects, Augustus, suspecting
that he had a sword concealed there, did not dare to make a search on the spot
for fear it should turn out to be something else; but a little later he had Gallius
hustled from the tribunal by some centurions and soldiers, tortured him as if
he were a slave, and though he made no confession, ordered his execution, first
tearing out the man's eyes with his own hand. He himself writes, however, that
Gallius made a treacherous attack on him after asking for an audience, and was
haled to prison; and that after he was dismissed under sentence of banishment,
he either lost his life by shipwreck or was waylaid by brigands. He received the
tribunician power for life, and once or twice chose a colleague in the office
for periods of five years each. He was also given the supervision of morals and
of the laws for all time, and by the virtue of this position, although without
the title of censor, he nevertheless took the census thrice, the first and last
time with a colleague, the second time alone.
XXVIII. He twice thought of restoring the republic; first immediately after
the overthrow of Antonius, remembering that his rival had often made the charge
that it was his fault that it was not restored; and again in the weariness of
a lingering illness, when he went so far as to summon the magistrates and the
Senate to his house, and submit an account of the general condition of the empire.
Reflecting, however, that as he himself would not be free from danger if he should
retire, so too it would be hazardous to trust the State to the control of more
than one, he continued to keep it in his hands; and it is not easy to say whether
his intentions or their results were the better. His good intentions he not only
expressed from time to time, but put them on record as well in an edict in the
following words: "May it be my privilege to establish the State in a firm and
secure position, and reap from that act the fruit that I desire; but only if I
may be called the author of the best possible government, and bear with me the
hope when I die that the foundations which I have laid for the State will remain
unshaken." And he realized his hope by making every effort to prevent any dissatisfaction
with the new regime. Since the city was not adorned as the dignity of the empire
demanded, and was exposed to flood and fire, he so beautified it that he could
justly boast that he had found it built of brick and left it in marble. He made
it safe too for the future, so far as human foresight could provide for this.
XXIX. He built many public works, in particular the following: his forum with
the temple of Mars the Avenger [24 B.C.], the temple of Apollo on the Palatine
[28 B.C.], and the fane of Jupiter the Thunderer on the Capitol [22 B.C.]. His
reason for building the forum was the increase in the number of the people and
of cases at law, which seemed to call for a third forum, since two were no longer
adequate. Therefore it was opened to the public with some haste, before the temple
of Mars was finished, and it was provided that the public prosecutions be held
there apart from the rest, as well as the selection of jurors by lot. He had made
a vow to build the temple of Mars in the war of Philippi, which he undertook to
avenge his father; accordingly he decreed that in it the Senate should consider
wars and claims for triumphs, from it those who were on their way to the provinces
with military commands should be escorted, and to it victors on their return should
bear the tokens of their triumphs. He reared the temple of Apollo in that part
of his house on the Palatine for which the soothsayers declared that the god had
shown his desire by striking it with lightning. He joined to it colonnades with
Latin and Greek libraries, and when he was getting to be an old man he often held
meetings of the Senate there as well, and revised the lists of jurors. He dedicated
the shrine to Jupiter the Thunderer because of a narrow escape; for on his Cantabrian
expedition during a march by night, a flash of lightning grazed his litter and
struck the slave dead who was carrying a torch before him. He constructed some
works too in the name of others, his grandsons and nephew to wit, his wife and
his sister, such as the colonnade and basilica of Gaius and Lucius [12 B.C.],
also the colonnades of Livia and Octavia [33 & 15 B.C.], and the theatre of Marcellus
[13 B.C.]. More than that, he often urged other prominent men to adorn the city
with new monuments or to restore and embellish old ones, each according to his
means. And many such works were built at that time by many men; for example, the
temple of Hercules and the Muses by Marcius Philippus, the temple of Diana by
Lucius Cornificius, the Hall of Liberty by Asinius Pollio, the temple of Saturn
by Munatius Plancus, a theatre by Cornelius Balbus, an amphitheatre by Statilius
Taurus, and by Marcus Agrippa in particular many magnificent structures.
XXX. He divided the area of the city into regions and wards, arranging that
the former should be under the charge of magistrates selected each year by lot,
and the latter under magistri elected by the inhabitants of the respective neighbourhoods.
To guard against fires he devised a system of stations of night watchmen, and
to control the floods he widened and cleared out the channel of the Tiber, which
had for some time been filled with rubbish and narrowed by jutting buildings.
Further, to make the approach to the city easier from every direction, he personally
undertook to rebuild the Flaminian Road all the way to Ariminum, and assigned
the rest of the high-ways to others who had been honoured with triumphs, asking
them to use their prize-money in paving them. He restored sacred edifices which
had gone to ruin through lapse of time or had been destroyed by fire, and adorned
both these and the other temples with most lavish gifts, depositing in the shrine
of Jupiter Capitolinus as a single offering sixteen thousand pounds of gold, besides
pearls and other precious stones to the value of fifty million sesterces.
XXXI. After he finally had assumed the office of Pontifex Maximus on the death
of Lepidus (for he could not make up his mind to deprive him of the honour while
he lived) [13 B.C.], he collected whatever prophetic writings of Greek or Latin
origin were in circulation anonymously or under the names of authors of little
repute, and burned more than two thousand of them, retaining only the Sibylline
books and making a choice even among those; and he deposited them in two gilded
cases under the pedestal of the Palatine Apollo. Inasmuch as the calendar, which
had been set in order by the Deified Julius, had later been confused and disordered
through negligence, he restored it to its former system [8 B.C.]; and in making
this arrangement he called the month Sextilis by his own surname, rather than
his birthmonth September, because in the former he had won his first consulship
and his most brilliant victories. He increased the number and importance of the
priests, and also their allowances and privileges, in particular those of the
Vestal virgins. Moreover, when there was occasion to choose another vestal in
place of one who had died, and many used all their influence to avoid submitting
their daughters to the hazard of the lot, he solemnly swore that if anyone of
his grand-daughters were of eligible age, he would have proposed her name. He
also revived some of the ancient rites which had gradually fallen into disuse,
such as the augury of Safety, the office of Flamen Dialis, the ceremonies of the
Lupercalia, the Secular Games, and the festival of the Compitalia. At the Lupercalia
he forbade beardless youths to join in the running, and at the Secular Games he
would not allow young people of either sex to attend any entertainment by night
except in company with some adult relative. He provided that the Lares of the
Crossroads should be crowned twice a year, with spring and summer flowers. Next
to the immortal Gods he honoured the memory of the leaders who had raised the
estate of the Roman people from obscurity to greatness. Accordingly he restored
the works of such men with their original inscriptions, and in the two colonnades
of his forum dedicated statues of all of them in triumphal garb, declaring besides
in a proclamation: "I have contrived this to lead the citizens to require me,
while I live, and the rulers of later times as well, to attain the standard set
by those worthies of old." He also moved the statue of Pompeius from the hall
in which Gaius Caesar had been slain and placed it on a marble arch opposite the
grand door of Pompeius' theater.
XXXII. Many pernicious practices militating against public security had survived
as a result of the lawless habits of the civil wars, or had even arisen in time
of peace. Gangs of footpads openly went about with swords by their sides, ostensibly
to protect themselves, and travellers in the country, freemen and slaves alike,
were seized and kept in confinement in the workhouses [the ergastula were prisons
for slaves, who were made to work in chains in the fields] of the land owners;
numerous leagues, too, were formed for the commission of crimes of every kind,
assuming the title of some new guild [collegia, or guilds, of workmen were allowed
and were numerous; not infrequently they were a pretext for some illegal secret
organization]. Therefore to put a stop to brigandage, he stationed guards of soldiers
wherever it seemed advisable, inspected the workhouses, and disbanded all guilds,
except such as were of long standing and formed for legitimate purposes. He burned
the records of old debts to the treasury, which were by far the most frequent
source of blackmail. He made over to their holders places in the city to which
the claim of the state was uncertain. He struck off the lists the names of those
who had long been under accusation, from whose humiliation nothing was to be gained
except the gratification of their enemies, with the stipulation that if anyone
was minded to renew the charge, he should be liable to the same penalty [i.e.,
if he failed to win his suit, he should suffer the penalty that would have been
inflicted on the defendant, if he had been convicted]. To prevent any action for
damages or on a disputed claim from falling through or being put off, he added
to the term of the courts thirty more days, which had before been taken up with
honorary games. To the three divisions of jurors he added a fourth of a lower
estate, to be called ducenarii, and to sit on cases involving trifling amounts.
He enrolled as jurors men of thirty years or more, that is five years younger
than usual. But when many strove to escape court duty, he reluctantly consented
that each division in turn should have a year's exemption, and that the custom
of holding court during the months of November and December should be given up.
XXXIII. He himself administered justice regularly and sometimes up to nightfall,
having a litter placed upon the tribunal, if he was indisposed, or even lying
down at home. In his administration of justice he was both highly conscientious
and very lenient; for to save a man clearly guilty of parricide from being sewn
up in the sack [parricides were sewn up in a sack with a dog, a cock, a snake,
and a monkey, and thrown into the sea or a river], a punishment which was inflicted
only on those who pleaded guilty, he is said to have put the question to him in
this form: "You surely did not kill your father, did you?" Again, in a case touching
a forged will, in which all the signers were liable to punishment by the Cornelian
Law, he distributed to the jury not merely the two tablets for condemnation or
acquittal, but a third as well, for the pardon of those who were shown to have
been induced to sign by misrepresentation or misunderstanding. Each year he referred
appeals of cases involving citizens to the city praetor, but those between foreigners
to ex-consuls, of whom he had put one in charge of the business affairs of each
province.
XXXIV. He revised existing laws and enacted some new ones, for example, on
extravagance, on adultery and chastity, on bribery, and on the encouragement of
marriage among the various classes of citizens. Having made somewhat more stringent
changes in the last of these than in the others, he was unable to carry it out
because of an open revolt against its provisions, until he had abolished or mitigated
a part of the penalties, besides increasing the rewards and allowing a three years'
exemption from the obligation to marry after the death of a husband or wife. When
the knights even then persistently called for its repeal at a public show, he
sent for the children of Germanicus and exhibited them, some in his own lap and
some in their father's, intimating by his gestures and expression that they should
not refuse to follow that young man's example. And on finding that the spirit
of the law was being evaded by betrothal with immature girls and by frequent changes
of wives, he shortened the duration of betrothals and set a limit on divorce.
XXXV. Since the number of the Senators was swelled by a low-born and ill-assorted
rabble (in fact, the Senate numbered more than a thousand, some of whom, called
by the vulgar Orcivi [ "freedmen by the grace of Orcus," were slaves set free
by their master's will. The Orcivi Senatores were those admitted by Marcus Antonius
under pretence that they had been named in the papers left by Caesar] were wholly
unworthy, and had been admitted after Caesar's death through favor or bribery)
he restored it to its former limits and distinction by two enrolments, one according
to the choice of the members themselves, each man naming one other, and a second
made by Agrippa and himself. On the latter occasion it is thought that he wore
a coat of mail under his tunic as he presided, and a sword by his side, while
ten of the most robust of his friends among the Senators stood by his chair. Cremutius
Cordus writes that even then the Senators were not allowed to approach except
one by one, and after the folds of their robes had been carefully searched. Some
he shamed into resigning, but he allowed even these to retain their distinctive
dress, as well as the privilege of viewing the games from the orchestra and taking
part in the public banquets of the order. Furthermore, that those who were chosen
and approved might perform their duties more conscientiously, and also with less
inconvenience, he provided that before taking his seat each member should offer
incense and wine at the altar of the god in whose temple the meeting was held;
that regular meetings of the Senate should be held not oftener than twice a month,
on the Kalends and the Ides; and that in the months of September and October only
those should be obliged to attend who were drawn by lot, to a number sufficient
for the passing of decrees. He also adopted the plan of privy councils chosen
by lot for terms of six months, with which to discuss in advance matters which
were to come before the entire body. On questions of special importance he called
upon the Senators to give their opinions, not according to the order established
by precedent, but just as he fancied, to induce each man to keep his mind on the
alert, as if he were to initiate action rather than give assent to others.
XXXVI. He introduced other innovations too, among them these: that the proceedings
of the Senate should not be published; that magistrates should not be sent to
the provinces immediately after laying down their office; that a fixed sum should
be allowed the proconsuls for mules and tents, which it was the custom to contract
for and charge to the State; that the management of the public treasury should
be transferred from the city quaestors to ex-praetors or praetors; and that the
centumviral court [a very ancient tribunal, consisting at first of 105 members,
three from each tribe, but later of 180; it sat in the Basilica Julia, with a
spear, the ancient symbol of Quiritary ownership, planted before it. It was divided
into four chambers, which usually sat separately, but sometimes altogether, or
in two divisions], which it was usual for ex-quaestors to convoke, should be summoned
by the Board of Ten [i.e., the decemviri stlitibus iudicandis].
XXXVII. To enable more men to take part in the administration of the State,
he devised new offices: the charge of public buildings, of the roads, of the aqueducts,
of the channel of the Tiber, of the distribution of grain to the people, as well
as the prefecture of the city, a board of three for choosing Senators, and another
for reviewing the companies of the knights whenever it should be necessary. He
appointed censors, an office which had long been discontinued. He increased the
number of praetors. He also demanded that whenever the consulship was conferred
on him, he should have two colleagues instead of one; but this was not granted,
since all cried out that it was a sufficient offence to his supreme dignity that
he held the office with another and not alone.
XXXVIII. He was not less generous in honouring martial prowess, for he had
regular triumphs voted to above thirty generals, and the triumphal regalia to
somewhat more than that number. To enable Senators' sons to gain an earlier acquaintance
with public business, he allowed them to assume the broad purple stripe immediately
after the gown of manhood and to attend meetings of the Senate; and when they
began their military career, he gave them not merely a tribunate in a legion,
but the command of a division of cavalry as well; and to furnish all of them with
experience in camp life, he usually appointed two Senators' sons to command each
division. He reviewed the companies of knights at frequent intervals, reviving
the custom of the procession after long disuse. But he would not allow an accuser
to force anyone to dismount as he rode by, as was often done in the past; and
he permitted those who were conspicuous because of old age or any bodily infirmity
to send on their horses in the review, and come on foot to answer to their names
whenever they were summoned. Later he excused those who were over thirty-five
years of age and did not wish to retain their horses from formally surrendering
them.
XXXIX. Having obtained ten assistants from the Senate, he compelled each knight
to render an account of his life, punishing some of those whose conduct was scandalous
and degrading others; but the greater part he reprimanded with varying degrees
of severity. The mildest form of reprimand was to hand them a pair of tablets
publicly, which they were to read in silence on the spot. He censured some because
they had borrowed money at low interest and invested it at a higher rate.
XL. At the elections for tribunes if there were not candidates enough of senatorial
rank, he made appointments from among the knights, with the understanding that
after their term they might remain in whichever order they wished. Morever, since
many knights whose property was diminished during the civil wars did not venture
to view the games from the fourteen rows through fear of the penalty of the law
regarding theatres, he declared that none were liable to its provisions, if they
themselves or their parents had ever possessed a knight's estate. He revised the
lists of the people district by district, and to prevent the commons from being
called away from their occupations too often because of the distributions of grain,
he determined to give out tickets for four months' supply three times a year;
but at their urgent request he allowed a return to the old custom of receiving
a share every month. He also revived the old time election privileges, trying
to put a stop to bribery by numerous penalties, and distributing to his fellow
members of the Fabian and Scaptian tribes [Augustus was a member of the latter
because of his connection with the Octavian family; with the former, through his
adoption into the Julian gens] a thousand sesterces a man from his own purse on
the day of the elections, to keep them from looking for anything from any of the
candidates. Considering it also of great importance to keep the people pure and
unsullied by any taint of foreign or servile blood, he was most chary of conferring
Roman citizenship and set a limit to manumission. When Tiberius requested citizenship
for a Grecian dependent of his, Augustus wrote in reply that he would not grant
it unless the man appeared in person and convinced him that he had reasonable
grounds for the request; and when Livia asked it for a Gaul from a tributary province,
he refused, offering instead freedom from tribute, and declaring that he would
more willingly suffer a loss to his privy purse than the prostitution of the honour
of Roman citizenship. Not content with making it difficult for slaves to acquire
freedom, and still more so for them to attain full rights, by making careful provision
as to the number, condition, and status of those who were manumitted, he added
the proviso that no one who had ever been put in irons or tortured should acquire
citizenship by any grade of freedom [i.e., even by iusta libertas, which conferred
citizenship; slaves who had been punished for crimes or disgraceful acts became
on manumission dediticii, or "prisoners of war"].
He desired also to revive the ancient fashion of dress, and once when he saw
in an assembly a throng of men in dark cloaks, he cried out indignantly, "Behold
them Romans, lords of the world, the nation clad in the toga," [Verg., Aen. I.282],
and he directed the aediles never again to allow anyone to appear in the Forum
or its neighbourhood except in the toga and without a cloak.
XLI. He often showed generosity to all classes when occasion offered. For example,
by bringing the royal treasures to Rome in his Alexandrian triumph he made ready
money so abundant, that the rate of interest fell, and the value of real estate
rose greatly; and after that, whenever there was an excess of funds from the property
of those who had been condemned, he loaned it without interest for fixed periods
to any who could give security for double the amount. He increased the property
qualification for Senators, requiring one million two hundred thousand sesterces,
instead of eight hundred thousand, and making up the amount for those who did
not possess it. He often gave largess [congiarium, strictly a distribution of
oil, came to be used of any largess] to the people, but usually of different sums:
now four hundred, now three hundred, now two hundred and fifty sesterces a man;
and he did not even exclude young boys, though it had been usually for them to
receive a share only after the age of eleven. In times of scarcity too he often
distributed grain to each man at a very low figure, sometimes for nothing, and
he doubled the money tickets [the tesserae nummulariae were small tablets or round
hollow balls of wood, marked with numbers; they were distributed to the people
instead of money and entitled the holder to receive the sum inscribed upon them---grain,
oil, and various commodities were distributed by similar tesserae].
XLII. But to show that he was a prince who desired the public welfare rather
than popularity, when the people complained of the scarcity and high price of
wine, he sharply rebuked them by saying: "My son-in-law Agrippa has taken good
care, by building several aqueducts, that men shall not go thirsty." Again, when
the people demanded largess which he had in fact promised, he replied: "I am a
man of my word"; but when they called for one which had not been promised, he
rebuked them in a proclamation for their shameless impudence, and declared that
he would not give it, even though he was intending to do so. With equal dignity
and firmness, when he had announced a distribution of money and found that many
had been manumitted and added to the list of citizens, he declared that those
to whom no promise had been made should receive nothing, and gave the rest less
than he had promised, to make the appointed sum suffice. Once indeed in a time
of great scarcity when it was difficult to find a remedy, he expelled from the
city the slaves that were for sale, as well as the schools of gladiators, all
foreigners with the exception of physicians and teachers, and a part of the household
slaves; and when grain at last became more plentiful, he writes: "I was strongly
inclined to do away forever with distributions of grain, because through dependence
on them agriculture was neglected; but I did not carry out my purpose, feeling
sure that they would one day be renewed through desire for popular favor." But
from that time on he regulated the practice with no less regard for the interests
of the farmers and grain-dealers than for those of the populace.
XLIII. He surpassed all his predecessors in the frequency, variety, and magnificence
of his public shows. He says that he gave games four times in his own name and
twenty-three times for other magistrates, who were either away from Rome or lacked
means. He gave them sometimes in all the wards and on many stages with actors
in all languages,a and combats of gladiators not only in the Forum or the amphitheatre,
but in the Circus and in the Saepta; sometimes, however, he gave nothing except
a fight with wild beasts. He gave athletic contests too in the Campus Martius,
erecting wooden seats; also a seafight, constructing an artificial lake near the
Tiber, where the grove of the Caesars now stands. On such occasions he stationed
guards in various parts of the city, to prevent it from falling a prey to footpads
because of the few people who remained at home. In the Circus he exhibited charioteers,
rumlers, and slayers of wild animals, who were sometimes young men of the highest
rank. Besides he gave frequent performances of the game of Troya by older and
younger boys, thinking it a time-honoured and worthy custom for the flower of
the nobility to become known in this way. When Nonius Asprenas was lamed by a
fall while taking part in this game, he presented him with a golden necklace and
allowed him and his descendants to bear the surname Torquatus. But soon afterwards
he gave up that form of entertainment, because Asinius Pollio the orator complained
bitterly and angrily in the Senate of an accident to his grandson Aeserninus,
who also had broken his leg. He sometimes employed even Roman knights in scenic
and gladiatorial performances, but only before it was forbidden by decree of the
Senate. After that he exhibited no one of respectable parentage, with the exception
of a young man named Lycius, whom he showed merely as a curiosity; for he was
less than two feet tall, weighed but seventeen pounds, yet had a stentorian voice.
He did however on the day of one of the shows make a display of the first Parthian
hostages that had ever been sent to Rome, by leading them through the middle of
the arena and placing them in the second row above his own seat. Furthermore,
if anything rare and worth seeing was ever brought to the city, it was his habit
to make a special exhibit of it in any convenient place on days when no shows
were appointed. For example a rhinoceros in the Saepta, a tiger on the stage and
a snake of fifty cubits in front of the Comitium. It chanced that at the time
of the games which he had vowed to give in the circus, he was taken ill and headed
the sacred procession lying in a litter; again, at the opening of the games with
which he dedicated the theatre of Marcellus, it happened that the joints of his
curule chair gave way and he fell on his back. At the games for his grandsons,
when the people were in a panic for fear the theatre should fall, and he could
not calm them or encourage them in any way, he left his own place and took his
seat in the part which appeared most dangerous.
XLIV. He put a stop by special regulations to the disorderly and indiscriminate
fashion of viewing the games, through exasperation at the insult to a senator,
to whom no one offered a seat in a crowded house at some largely attended games
in Puteoli. In consequence of this the Senate decreed that, whenever any public
show was given anywhere, the first row of seats should be reserved for Senators;
and at Rome he would not allow the envoys of the free and allied nations to sit
in the orchestra, since he was informed that even freedmen were sometimes appointed.
He separated the soldiery from the people. He assigned special seats to the married
men of the commons, to boys under age their own section and the adjoining one
to their preceptors; and he decreed that no one wearing a dark cloak should sit
in the middle of the house. He would not allow women to view even the gladiators
except from the upper seats, though it had been the custom for men and women to
sit together at such shows. Only the Vestal virgins were assigned a place to themselves,
opposite the praetor's tribunal. As for the contests of the athletes, he excluded
women from them so strictly, that when a contest between a pair of boxers had
been called for at the games in honour of his appointment as pontifex maximus,
he postponed it until early the following day, making proclamation that it was
his desire that women should not come to the theatre before the fifth hour.
XLV. He himself usually watched the games in the Circus from the upper rooms
of his friends and freedmen, but sometimes from the imperial box, and even in
company with his wife and children. He was sometimes absent for several hours,
and now and then for whole days, making his excuses and appointing presiding officers
to take his place. But whenever he was present, he gave his entire attention to
the performance, either to avoid the censure to which he realized that his father
Caesar had been generally exposed, because he spent his time in reading or answering
letters and petitions; or from his interest and pleasure in the spectacle, which
he never denied but often frankly confessed. Because of this he used to offer
special prizes and numerous valuable gifts from his own purse at games given by
others, and he appeared at no contest in the Grecian fashion [i.e., those given
at Rome in the Greek language and dress, sometimes by Greek actors] without making
a present to each of the participants according to his deserts. He was especially
given to watching boxers, particularly those of Latin birth, not merely such as
were recognized and classed as professionals, whom he was wont to match even with
Greeks, but the common untrained townspeople that fought rough and tumble and
without skill in the narrow streets. In fine, he honoured with his interest all
classes of performers who took part in the public shows; maintained the privileges
of the athletes and even increased them; forbade the matching of gladiators without
the right of appeal for quarter; and deprived the magistrates of the power allowed
them by an ancient law of punishing actors anywhere and everywhere, restricting
it to the time of games and to the theatre. Nevertheless he exacted the severest
discipline in the contests in the wrestling halls and the combats of the gladiators.
In particular he was so strict in curbing the lawlessness of the actors, that
when he learned that Stephanio, an actor of Roman plays, was waited on by a matron
with hair cut short to look like a boy, he had him whipped with rods through the
three theatres and then banished him. Hylas, a pantomimic actor, was publicly
scourged in the atrium of his own house, on complaint of a praetor, and Pylades
was expelled from the city and from Italy as well, because by pointing at him
with his finger he turned all eyes upon a spectator who was hissing him.
XLVI. After having thus set the city and its affairs in order, he added to
the population of Italy by personally establishing twenty-eight colonies; furnished
many parts of it with public buildings and revenues; and even gave it, at least
to some degree, equal rights and dignity with the city of Rome, by devising a
kind of votes which the members of the local Senate were to cast in each colony
for candidates for the city offices and send under seal to Rome against the day
of the elections. To keep up the supply of men of rank and induce the commons
to increase and multiply, he admitted to the equestrian military careera those
who were recommended by any town, while to those of the commons who could lay
claim to legitimate sons or daughters when he made his rounds of the districts
he distributed a thousand sesterces for each child.
XLVII. The stronger provinces, which could neither easily nor safely be governed
by annual magistrates, he took to himself; the others he assigned to proconsular
governors selected by lot. But he changed some of them at times from one class
to the other, and often visited many of both sorts. Certain of the cities which
had treaties with Rome, but were on the road to ruin through their lawlessness,
he deprived of their independence; he relieved others that were overwhelmed with
debt, rebuilt some which had been destroyed by earthquakes, and gave Latin rights
or full citizenship to such as could point to services rendered the Roman people.
I believe there is no province, excepting only Africa and Sardinia, which he did
not visit; and he was planning to cross to these from Sicily after his defeat
of Sextus Pompeius, but was prevented by a series of violent storms, and later
had neither opportunity nor occasion to make the voyage.
XLVIII. Except in a few instances he restored the kingdoms of which he gained
possession by the right of conquest to those from whom he had taken them or joined
them with other foreign nations. He also united the kings with whom he was in
alliance by mutual ties, and was very ready to propose or favour intermarriages
or friendships among them. He never failed to treat them all with consideration
as integral parts of the empire, regularly appointing a guardian for such as were
too young to rule or whose minds were affected, until they grew up or recovered;
and he brought up the children of many of them and educated them with his own.
XLIX. Of his military forces he assigned the legions and auxiliaries to the
various provinces, stationed a fleet at Misenum and another at Ravenna, to defend
the Upper and Lower seas, and employed the remainder partly in the defence of
the city and partly in that of his own person, disbanding a troop of Calagurritani
which had formed a part of his body-guard until the overthrow of Antonius, and
also one of Germans, which he had retained until the defeat of Varus. However,
he never allowed more than three cohorts to remain in thc city and even those
were without a permanent camp; the rest he regularly sent to winter or summer
quarters in the towns near Rome. Furthermore, he restricted all the soldiery everywhere
to a fixed scale of pay and allowances, designating the duration of their service
and the rewards on its completion according to each man's rank, in order to keep
them from being tempted to revolution after their discharge either by age or poverty.
To have funds ready at all times without difficulty for maintaining the soldiers
and paying the rewards due to them, he established a military treasury, supported
by new taxes. To enable what was going on in each of the provinces to be reported
and known more speedily and promptly, he at first stationed young men at short
intervals along the military roads, and afterwards post-chaises. The latter has
seemed the more convenient arrangement, since the same men who bring the dispatches
from any place can, if occasion demands, be questioned as well.
L. In passports, dispatches, and private letters he used as his seal at first
a sphinx, later an image of Alexander the Great, and finally his own, carved by
the hand of Dioscurides; and this his successors continued to use as their seal.
He always attached to all letters the exact hour, not only of the day, but even
of the night, to indicate precisely when they were written.
LI. The evidences of his clemency and moderation are numerous and strong. Not
to give the full list of the men of the opposite faction whom he not only pardoned
and spared, but allowed to hold high positions in the state, I may say that he
thought it enough to punish two plebeians, Junius Novatus and Cassius Patavinus,
with a fine and with a mild form of banishment respectively, although the former
had circulated a most scathing letter about him under the name of the young Agrippa,
while the latter had openly declared at a large dinner party that he lacked neither
the earnest desire nor the courage to kill him. Again,when he was hearing a case
against AemiliusAelianus of Corduba and it was made the chief offence, amongst
other charges, that he was in the habit of expressing a bad opinion of Caesar,
Augustus turned to the accuser with assumed anger and said: "I wish you could
prove the truth of that. I'll let Aelianus know that I have a tongue as well as
he, for I'll say even more about him;" and he made no further inquiry either at
the time or afterwards. When Tiberius complained to him of the same thing in a
letter, but in more forcible language, he replied as follows: "My dear Tiberius,
do not be carried away by the ardour of youth in this matter, or take it too much
to heart that anyone speak evil of me; we must be content if we can stop anyone
from doing evil to us."
LII. Although well aware that it was usual to vote temples even to proconsuls,
he would not accept one even in a province save jointly in his own name and that
of Rome. In the city itself he refused this honour most emphatically, even melting
down the silver statues which had been set up in his honour in former times and
with the money coined from them dedicating golden tripods to Apollo of the Palatine.
When the people did their best to force the dictatorship upon him, he knelt down,
threw off his toga from his shoulders and with bare breast begged them not to
insist.
LIII. He always shrank from the title of Dominus [ "Lord" or "Master"] as reproachful
and insulting. When the words "O just and gracious Lord!" were uttered in a farce
at which he was a spectator and all the people sprang to their feet and applauded
as if they were said of him, he at once checked their unseemly flattery by look
and gesture, and on the following day sharply reproved them in an edict. After
that he would not suffer himself to be called "Sire" even by his children or his
grandchildren either in jest or earnest, and he forbade them to use such flattering
terms even among themselves. He did not if he could help it leave or enter any
city or town except in the evening or at night, to avoid disturbing anyone by
the obligations of ceremony. In his consulship he commonly went through the streets
on foot, and when he was not consul, generally in a closed litter. His morning
receptions were open to all, including even the commons, and he met the requests
of those who approached him with great affability, jocosely reproving one man
because he presented a petition to him with as much hesitation "as he would a
penny to an elephant." On the day of a meeting of the Senate he always greeted
the members in the House and in their seats, calling each man by name without
a prompter; and when he left the House, he used to take leave of them in the same
manner, while they remained seated. He exchanged social calls with many, and did
not cease to attend all their anniversaries, until he was well on in years and
was once incommoded by the crowd on the day of a betrothal. When Gallus Cerrinius,
a senator with whom he was not at all intimate, had suddenly become blind and
had therefore resolved to end his life by starvation, Augustus called on him and
by his consoling words induced him to live.
LIV. As he was speaking in the Senate someone said to him: "I did not understand,"
and another: "I would contradict you if I had an opportunity." Several times when
he was rushing from the House in anger at the excessive bickering of the disputants,
some shouted after him: "Senators ought to have the right of speaking their mind
on public affairs." At the selection of Senators when each member chose another,
Antistius Labeo named Marcus Lepidus, an old enemy of the emperor's who was at
the time in banishment; and when Augustus asked him whether there were not others
more deserving of the honor, Labeo replied that every man had his own opinion.
Yet for all that no one suffered for his freedom of speech or insolence.
LV. He did not even dread the lampoons against him which were scattered in
the Senate house, but took great pains to refute them; and without trying to discover
the authors, he merely proposed that thereafter such as published notes or verses
defamatory of anyone under a false name should be called to account.
LVI. When he was assailed with scurrilous or spiteful jests by certain men,
he made reply in a public proclamation; yet he vetoed a law to check freedom of
speech in wills [the Romans in their wills often expressed their opinion freely
about public men and affairs]. Whenever he took part in the election of magistrates,
he went the round of the tribes with his candidates and appealed for them in the
traditional manner. He also cast his own vote in his tribe, as one of the people.
When he gave testimony in court, he was most patient in submitting to questions
and even to contradiction. He made his forum narrower than he had planned, because
he did not venture to eject the owners of the neighbouring houses. He never recommended
his sons for office without adding "If they be worthy of it." When they were still
under age and the audience at the theatre rose as one man in their honour, and
stood up and applauded them, he expressed strong disapproval. He wished his friends
to be prominent and influential in the state, but to be bound by the same laws
as the rest and equally liable to prosecution. When Nonius Asprenas, a close friend
of his, was meeting a charge of poisoning made by Cassius Severus, Augustus asked
the Senate what they thought he ought to do; for he hesitated, he said for fear
that if he should support him, it might be thought that he was shielding a guilty
man, but if he failed to do so, that he was proving false to a friend and prejudicing
his case. Then, since all approved of his appearing in the case, he sat on the
benches [the moveable seats provided for the advocates, witnesses, etc.] for several
hours, but in silence and without even speaking in praise of the defendant. He
did however defend some of his clients, for instance a certain Scutarius, one
of his former officers, who was accused of slander. But he secured the acquittal
of no more than one single man, and then only by entreaty, making a successful
appeal to the accuser in the presence of the jurors; this was Castricius, through
whom he had learned of Murena's conspiracy.
LVII. It may readily be imagined how much he was beloved because of this admirable
conduct. I say nothing of decrees of the Senate, which might seem to have been
dictated by necessity or by awe. The Roman knights celebrated his birthday of
their own accord by common consent, and always for two successive days [September
22 and 23]. All sorts and conditions of men, in fulfilment of a vow for his welfare,
each year threw a small coin into the Lacus Curtius, and also brought a New Year's
gift to the Capitol on the Kalends of January, even when he was away from Rome.
With this sum he bought and dedicated in each of the city wards costly statues
of the gods, such as Apollo Sandaliarius, Jupiter Tragoedus, and others. To rebuild
his house on the Palatine, which had been destroyed by fire, the veterans, the
collegia, the tribes, and even individuals of other conditions gladly contributed
money, each according to his means; but he merely took a little from each pile
as a matter of form, not more than a denarius from any of them. On his return
from a province they received him not only with prayers and good wishes, but with
songs. It was the rule, too, that whenever he entered the city, no one should
suffer punishment.
LVIII. The whole body of citizens with a sudden unanimous impulse proffered
him the title of Pater Patriae ["Father of his Country"]; first the commons, by
a deputation sent to Antium, and then, because he declined it, again at Rome as
he entered the theatre, which they attended in throngs, all wearing laurel wreaths;
the Senate afterwards in the House, not by a decree or by acclamation, but through
Valerius Messala. He, speaking for the whole body, said: "Good fortune and divine
favour attend you and your house, Caesar Augustus; for thus we feel that we are
praying for lasting prosperity for our country and happiness for our city. The
Senate in accord with the people of Rome hails you Father of your Country." Then
Augustus with tears in his eyes replied as follows (and I have given his exact
words, as I did those of Messala): "Having attained my highest hopes, Fathers
of the Senate, what more have I to ask of the immortal gods than that I may retain
this same unanimous approval of yours to the very end of my life."
LIX. In honour of his physician, Antonius Musa, through whose care he had recovered
from a dangerous illness, a sum of money was raised and Musa's statue set up beside
that of Aesculapius. Some householders provided in their wills that their heirs
should drive victims to the Capitol and pay a thank-offering in their behalf,
because Augustus had survived them, and that a placard to this effect should be
carried before them. Some of the Italian cities made the day on which he first
visited them the beginning of their year. Many of the provinces, in addition to
temples and altars, established quinquennial games in his honour in almost every
one of their towns.
LX. His friends and allies among the kings each in his own realm founded a
city called Caesarea, and all joined in a plan to contribute the funds for finishing
the temple of Jupiter Olympius, which was begun at Athens in ancient days, and
to dedicate it to his Genius [i.e., one's tutelary divinity, or familiar spirit,
closely identified with the person himself]; and they would often leave their
kingdoms and show him the attentions usual in dependents, clad in the toga and
without the emblems of royalty, not only at Rome, but even when he was travelling
through the provinces.
LXI. Now that I have shown how he conducted himself in civil and military positions,
and in ruling the State in all parts of the world in peace and in war, I shall
next give an account of his private and domestic life, describing his character
and his fortune at home and in his household from his youth until the last day
of his life. He lost his mother during his first consulship [43 B.C.]and his sister
Octavia in his fifty-fourth year [9 B.C.]. To both he showed marked devotion during
their lifetime, and also paid them the highest honours after their death.
LXII. ln his youth he was betrothed to the daughter of Publius Servilius Isauricus,
but when he became reconciled with Antonius after their first quarrel, and their
troops begged that the rivals be further united by some tie of kinship, he took
to wife Antonius' stepdaughter Claudia, daughter of Fulvia by Publius Clodius
[43 B.C.], although she was barely of marriageable age; but because of a falling
out with his mother-in-law Fulvia, he divorced her before they had begun to live
together. Shortly after that he married Scribonia [40 B.C.], who had been wedded
before to two ex-consuls, and was a mother by one of them. He divorced her also,
"unable to put up with her shrewish disposition," as he himself writes, and at
once [38 B.C.] took Livia Drusilla from her husband Tiberius Nero, although she
was with child at the time; and he loved and esteemed her to the end without a
rival.
LXIII. By Scribonia he had a daughter Julia, by Livia no children at all, although
he earnestly desired issue. One baby was conceived, but was prematurely born.
He gave Julia in marriage first to Marcellus, son of his sister Octavia and hardly
more than a boy, and then after his death to Marcus Agrippa, prevailing upon his
sister to yield her son-in-law to him; for at that time Agrippa had to wife one
of the Marcellas and had children from her. When Agrippa also died, Augustus,
after considering various alliances for a long time, even in the equestrian order,
finally chose his stepson Tiberius, obliging him to divorce his wife, who was
with child and by whom he was already a father. Marcus Antonius writes that Augustus
first betrothed his daughter to his son Antonius and then to Cotiso, king of the
Getae, at the same time asking for the hand of the king's daughter for himself
in turn.
LXIV. From Agrippa and Julia he had three grandsons, Gaius, Lucius, and Agrippa,
and two granddaughters, Julia and Agrippina. He married Julia to Lucius Paulus,
the censor's son, and Agrippina to Germanicus, his sister's grandson. Gaius and
Lucius he adopted at home, privately buying them from their father by a symbolic
sale [the form of purchase consisted in thrice touching a balance with a penny
in the presence of the praetor], and initiated them into administrative life when
they were still young, sending them to the provinces and the armies as consuls
elect. In bringing up his daughter and his granddaughters he even had them taught
spinning and weaving, and he forbade them to say or do anything except openly
and such as might be recorded in the household diary [a record of the imperial
household, which apparently dated from the time of Augustus]. He was most strict
in keeping them from meeting strangers, once writing to Lucius Vinicius, a young
man of good position and character: "You have acted presumptuously in coming to
Baiae to call on my daughter." He taught his grandsons reading, swimming, and
the other elements of education, for the most part himself, taking special pains
to train them to imitate his own handwriting; and he never dined in their company
unless they sat beside him on the lowest couch, or made a journey unless they
preceded his carriage or rode close by it on either side.
LXV. But at the height of his happiness and his confidence in his family and
its training, Fortune proved fickle. He found the two Julias, his daughter and
granddaughter, guilty of every form of vice, and banished them [in 9 and 2 B.C.,
respectively]. He lost Gaius and Lucius within the span of eighteen months, for
the former died in Lycia [2 A.D.] and the latter at Massilia [4 A.D.]. He then
publicly adopted [4 A.D.] his third grandson Agrippa and at the same time his
stepson Tiberius by a bill passed in the assembly of the curiae; but he soon disowned
Agrippa because of his low tastes and violent temper, and sent him off to Surrentum.
He bore the death of his kin with far more resignation than their misconduct.
For he was not greatly broken by the fate of Gaius and Lucius, but he informed
the Senate of his daughter's fall through a letter read in his absence by a quaestor,
and for very shame would meet no one for a long time, and even thought of putting
her to death. At all events, when one of her confidantes, a freedwoman called
Phoebe, hanged herself at about that same time, he said: "I would rather have
been Phoebe's father." After Julia was banished, he denied her the use of wine
and every form of luxury, and would not allow any man, bond or free, to come near
her without his permission, and then not without being informed of his stature,
complexion, and even of any marks or scars upon his body. It was not until five
years later that he moved her from the island [of Pandataria] to the mainland
and treated her with somewhat less rigour. But he could not by any means be prevailed
on to recall her altogether, and when the Roman people several times interceded
for her and urgently pressed their suit, he in open assembly called upon the gods
to curse them with like daughters and like wives. He would not allow the child
born to his granddaughter Julia after her sentence to be recognized or reared.
As Agrippa grew no more manageable, but on the contrary became madder from day
to day, he transferred him to an island [Planasia] and set a guard of soldiers
over him besides. He also provided by a decree of the Senate that he should be
confined there for all time, and at every mention of him and of the Julias he
would sigh deeply and even cry out: "Would that I ne'er had wedded and would I
had died without offspring" [Iliad III.40, where the line is addressed by Hector
to Paris]; and he never alluded to them except as his three boils and his three
ulcers.
LXVI. He did not readily make friends, but he clung to them with the utmost
constancy, not only suitably rewarding their virtues and deserts but even condoning
their faults, provided they were not too great. In fact one cannot readily name
any of his numerous friends who fell into disgrace, except Salvidienus Rufus,
whom he had advanced to a consul's rank, and Cornelius Gallus, whom he had raised
to the prefecture of Egypt, both from the lowest estate. The former he handed
over to the Senate that it might condemn him to death, because he was plotting
revolution; the latter he forbade his house and the privilege of residence in
the imperial provinces because of his ungrateful and envious spirit. But when
Gallus too was forced to undergo death through the declarations of his accusers
and the decrees of the Senate, though commending their loyalty and their indignation
on his account, Augustus yet shed tears and bewailed his lot, because he alone
could not set what limits he chose to his anger with his friends [i.e., while
a private citizen could quarrel and make up with his friends, the emperor's position
made his anger fatal]. All the rest continued to enjoy power and wealth to the
end of their lives, each holding a leading place in his own class, although sometimes
differences arose. Not to mention the others, he occasionally found Agrippa lacking
in patience and Maecenas in the gift of silence; for the former because of a slight
suspicion of coolness and of a preference shewn for Marcellus, threw up everything
and went off to Mytilene, while the latter betrayed to his wife Terentia the secret
of the discovery of the conspiracy of Murena. In return he demanded of his friends
affection on their part, both in life and after death. For though he was in no
sense a legacy-hunter, and in fact could never bring himself to accept anything
from the will of a stranger, yet he was highly sensitive in weighing the death-bed
utterances of his friends, concealing neither his chagrin if he was left a niggardly
bequest or one unaccompanied with compliments, nor his satisfaction, if he was
praised in terms of gratitude and affection. Whenever legacies or shares in inheritances
were left him by men of any station who had offspring, he either turned them over
to the children at once, or if the latter were in their minority, paid the money
back with interest on the day when they assumed the gown of manhood or married.
LXVII. As patron and master he was no less strict than gracious and merciful,
while he held many of his freedmen in high honour and close intimacy, such as
Licinus, Celadus, and others. His slave Cosmus, who spoke of him most insultingly,
he merely put in irons. When he was walking with his steward Diomedes, and the
latter in a panic got behind him when they were suddenly charged by a wild boar,
he preferred to tax the man with timorousness rather than with anything more serious,
and turned a matter of grave danger into a jest, because after all there was no
evil intent. But he forced Polus, a favourite freedman of his, to take his own
life, because he was convicted of adultery with Roman matrons, and broke the legs
of his secretary Thallus for taking five hundred denarii to betray the contents
of a letter. Because the tutor and attendants of his son Gaius took advantage
of their master's illness and death to commit acts of arrogance and greed in his
province, he had them thrown into a river with heavy weights about their necks.
LXVIII. In early youth he incurred the reproach of sundry shameless acts. Sextus
Pompeius taunted him with effeminacy; Marcus Antonius with having earned adoption
by his uncle through unnatural relations; and Lucius, brother of Marcus Antonius,
that after sacrificing his honour to Caesar he had given himself to Aulus Hirtius
in Spain for three hundred thousand sesterces, and that he used to singe his legs
with red-hot nutshells, to make the hair grow softer. What is more, one day when
there were plays in the theatre, all the people took as directed against him and
loudly applauded the following line, spoken on the stage and referring to a priest
of the Mother of the Gods, as he beat his timbrel: "See'st how a wanton's finger
sways the world?" [a double word-play on orbem "round drum" and "world," and temperat,
"beats" and "sways"].
LXIX. That he was given to adultery not even his friends deny, although it
is true that they excuse it as committed not from passion but from policy, the
more readily to get track of his adversaries' designs through the women of their
households. Marcus Antonius charged him, besides his hasty marriage with Livia,
with taking the wife of an ex-consul from her husband's dining room before his
very eyes into a bed-chamber, and bringing her back to the table with her hair
in disorder and her ears glowing; that Scribonia was divorced because she expressed
her resentment too freely at the excessive influence of a rival; that his friends
acted as his panders, and stripped and inspected matrons and well-grown girls,
as if Toranius the slave-dealer were putting them up for sale. Antonius also writes
to Augustus himself in the following familiar terms, when he had not yet wholly
broken with him privately or publicly: "What has made such a change in you? Because
I lie with the queen? She is my wif e. Am I just beginning this, or was it nine
years ago? What then of you---do you lie only with Drusilla? Good luck to you
if when you read this letter you have not been with Tertulla or Terentilla or
Rufilla or Salvia Titisenia, or all of them. Does it matter where or with whom
you take your pleasure?"
LXX. There was besides a private dinner of his, commonly called that of the
"twelve gods," which was the subject of gossip. At this the guests appeared in
the guise of gods and goddesses, while he himself was made up to represent Apollo,
as was charged not merely in letters of Antonius, who spitefully gives the names
of all the guests, but also in these anonymous lines, which everyone knows: "As
soon as that table of rascals had secured a choragus [the choragus at Athens had
charge of the costuming and stage setting of plays], and Mallia [according to
some, the choragus; others regard it as the name of a place] saw six gods and
six goddesses, while Caesar impiously plays the false role of Apollo and feasts
amid novel debaucheries of the gods; then all the deities turned their faces from
the earth and Jupiter himself fled from his golden throne." The scandal of this
banquet was the greater because of dearth and famine in the land at the time,
and on the following day there was an outcry that the gods had eaten all the grain
and that Caesar was in truth Apollo, but Apollo the Tormentor, a surname under
which the god was worshipped in one part of the city. He was criticized too as
over fond of costly furniture and Corinthian bronzes and as given to gaming. Indeed,
as early as the time of the proscriptions there was written on his statue--- "In
silver once my father dealt, now in Corinthians I" [Corinthiarius: coined in jest
on the analogy of argentarius: used in inscriptions of slaves in charge of the
vasa Corinthia], since it was believed that he caused some men to be entered in
the list of the proscribed because of their Corinthian vases. Later, during the
Sicilian war, this epigram was current: "After he has twice been beaten at sea
and lost his ships, he plays at dice all the time, in the hope of winning one
victory."
LXXI. Of these charges or slanders (whichever we may call them) he easily refuted
that for unnatural vice by the purity of his life at the time and afterwards;
so too the odium of extravagance by the fact that when he took Alexandria, he
kept none of the furniture of the palace for himself except a single agate cup,
and presently melted down all the golden vessels intended for everyday use. He
could not dispose of the charge of lustfulness and they say that even in his later
years he was fond of deflowering maidens, who were brought together for him from
all quarters, even by his own wife. He did not in the least shrink from a reputation
for gaming, and played frankly and openly for recreation, even when he was well
on in years, not only in the month of December [when the freedom of the Saturnalia
allowed it], but on other holidays as well, and on working days too. There is
no question about this, for in a letter in his own handwriting he says: "I dined,
dear Tiberius, with the same company; we had besides as guests Vinicius and the
elder Silius. We gambled like old men during the meal both yesterday and today;
for when the dice were thrown, whoever turned up the 'dog' or the six, put a denarius
in the pool for each one of the dice, and the whole was taken by anyone who threw
the 'Venus' [when only aces appeared, the throw was called 'canis', when all the
dice turned up different numbers, 'Venus']." Again in another letter: "We spent
the Quinquatria [the five day festival of Minerva, March 20-25] very merrily,
my dear Tiberius, for we played all day long and kept the gaming-board warm. Your
brother made a great outcry about his luck, but after all did not come out far
behind in the long run; for after losing heavily, he unexpectedly and little by
little got back a good deal. For my part, I lost twenty thousand sesterces, but
because I was extravagantly generous in my play, as usual. If I had demanded of
everyone the stakes which I let go, or had kept all that I gave away, I should
have won fully fifty thousand. But I like that better, for my generosity will
exalt me to immortal glory." To his daughter he writes: "I send you two hundred
and fifty denarii, the sum which I gave each of my guests, in case they wished
to play at dice or at odd and even during the dinner."
LXXII. In the other details of his life it is generally agreed that he was
most temperate and without even the suspicion of any fault. He lived at first
near the Forum Romanum, above the Stairs of the Ringmakers, in a house which had
belonged to the orator Calvus; afterwards, on the Palatine, but in the no less
modest dwelling of Hortensius, which was remarkable neither for size nor elegance,
having but short colonnades with columns of Alban stone, and rooms without any
marble decorations or handsome pavements. For more than forty years too he used
the same bedroom in winter and summer; although he found the city unfavourable
to his health in the winter, yet continued to winter there. If ever he planned
to do anything in private or without interruption, he had a retired place at the
top of the house, which he called "Syracusa" [with reference to the study of Archimedes]
and "technyphion" [ "little workshop"]. In this he used to take refuge, or else
in the villa of one of his freedmen in the suburbs; but whenever he was not well,
he slept at Maecenas' house. For retirement he went most frequently to places
by the sea and the islands of Campania, or to the towns near Rome, such as Lanuvium,
Praeneste or Tibur, where he very often held court in the colonnades of the Temple
of Hercules. He disliked large and sumptuous country palaces, actually razing
to the ground one which his granddaughter Julia built on a lavish scale. His own
villas, which were modest enough, he decorated not so much with handsome statues
and pictures as with terraces, groves, and objects noteworthy for their antiquity
and rarity; for example, at Capreae the monstrous bones of huge sea monsters and
wild beasts, called the "bones of the giants," and the weapons of the heroes.
LXXIII. The simplicity of his furniture and household goods may be seen from
couches and tables still in existence, many of which are scarcely fine enough
for a private citizen. They say that he always slept on a low and plainly furnished
bed. Except on special occasions he wore common clothes for the house, made by
his sister, wife, daughter or granddaughters; his togas were neither close nor
full, his purple stripe neither narrow nor broad, and his shoes somewhat high-soled,
to make him look taller than he really was. But he always kept shoes and clothing
to wear in public ready in his room for sudden and unexpected occasions.
LXXIV. He gave dinner parties constantly and always formally, with great regard
to the rank and personality of his guests. Valerius Messala writes that he never
invited a freedman to dinner with the exception of Menas, and then only when he
had been enrolled among the freeborn after betraying the fleet of Sextus Pompeius.
Augustus himself writes that he once entertained a man at whose villa he used
to stop, who had been one of his body-guard. He would sometimes come to table
late on these occasions and leave early, allowing his guests to begin to dine
before he took his place and keep their places after he went out. He served a
dinner of three courses or of six when he was most lavish, without needless extravagance
but with the greatest goodfellowship. For he drew into the general conversation
those who were silent or chatted under their breath, and introduced music and
actors, or even strolling players from the circus, and especially story-tellers.
LXXV. Festivals and holidays he celebrated lavishly as a rule, but sometimes
only in a spirit of fun. On the Saturnalia, and at any other time when he took
it into his head, he would now give gifts of clothing or gold and silver; again
coins of every device, including old pieces of the kings and foreign money; another
time nothing but hair cloth, sponges, pokers and tongs, and other such things
under misleading names of double meaning. He used also at a dinner party to put
up for auction lottery-tickets for articles of most unequal value, and paintings
of which only the back was shown, thus by the caprice of fortune disappointing
or filling to the full the expectations of the purchasers, requiring however that
all the guests should take part in the bidding and share the loss or gain.
LXXVI. He was a light eater (for I would not omit even this detail) and as
a rule ate of plain food. He particularly liked coarse bread, small fishes, handmade
moist cheese, and green figs of the second crop; and he would eat even before
dinner, wherever and whenever he felt hungry. I quote word for word from some
of his letters: "I ate a little bread and some dates in my carriage." And again:
"As I was on my homeward way from the Regia in my litter, I devoured an ounce
of bread and a few berries from a cluster of hard-fleshed grapes." Once more:
"Not even a Jew, my dear Tiberius, fasts so scrupulously on his sabbaths as I
have today; for it was not until after the first hour of the night that I ate
two mouthfuls of bread in the bath before I began to be anointed." Because of
this irregularity he sometimes ate alone either before a dinner party began or
after it was over, touching nothing while it was in progress.
LXXVII. He was by nature most sparing also in his use of wine. Cornelius Nepos
writes that in camp before Mutina it was his habit to drink not more than three
times at dinner. Afterwards, when he indulged most freely he never exceeded a
pint; or if he did, he used to throw it up. He liked Raetian wine best, but rarely
drank before dinner. Instead he would take a bit of bread soaked in cold water,
a slice of cucumber, a sprig of young lettuce, or an apple with a tart flavour,
either fresh or dried.
LXXVIII. After his midday meal he used to rest for a while just as he was,
without taking off his clothes or his shoes, with his feet uncovered and his hand
to his eyes. After dinner he went to a couch in his study, where he remained till
late at night, until he had attended to what was left of the day's business, either
wholly or in great part. Then he went to bed and slept not more than seven hours
at most, and not even that length of time without a break, but waking three or
four times. If he could not resume his sleep when it was interrupted, as would
happen, he sent for readers or story-tellers, and when sleep came to him he often
prolonged it until after daylight. He would never lie awake in the dark without
having someone sit by his side. He detested early rising and when he had to get
up earlier than usual because of some official or religious duty, to avoid inconveniencing
himself he spent the night in the room of one of his friends near the appointed
place. Even so, he often suffered from want of sleep, and he would drop off while
he was being carried through the streets and when his litter was set down because
of some delay.
LXXIX. He was unusually handsome and exceedingly graceful at all periods of
his life, though he cared nothing for personal adornment. He was so far from being
particular about the dressing of his hair, that he would have several barbers
working in a hurry at the same time, and as for his beard he now had it clipped
and now shaved, while at the very same time he would either be reading or writing
something. His expression, whether in conversation or when he was silent, was
so calm and mild, that one of the leading men of the Gallic provinces admitted
to his countrymen that it had softened his heart, and kept him from carrying out
his design of pushing the emperor over a cliff, when he had been allowed to approach
him under the pretence of a conference, as he was crossing the Alps. He had clear,
bright eyes, in which he liked to have it thought that there was a kind of divine
power, and it greatly pleased him, whenever he looked keenly at anyone, if he
let his face fall as if before the radiance of the sun; but in his old age he
could not see very well with his left eye. His teeth were wide apart, small, and
ill-kept; his hair was slightly curly and inclining to golden; his eyebrows met.
His ears were of moderate size, and his nose projected a little at the top and
then bent slightly inward. His complexion was between dark and fair. He was short
of stature (although Julius Marathus, his freedman and keeper of his records,
says that he was five feet and nine inches in height [Roman measure, a little
less than five feet seven inches American measure]), but this was concealed by
the fine proportion and symmetry of his figure, and was noticeable only by comparison
with some taller person standing beside him.
LXXX. It is said that his body was covered with spots and that he had birthmarks
scattered over his breast and belly, corresponding in form, order and number with
the stars of the Bear in the heavens [Ursa Major, aka "the Big Dipper"]; also
numerous callous places resembling ringworm, caused by a constant itching of his
body and a vigorous use of the strigil. He was not very strong in his left hip,
thigh, and leg, and even limped slightly at times; but he strengthened them by
treatment with sand and reeds. He sometimes found the forefinger of his right
hand so weak, when it was numb and shrunken with the cold, that he could hardly
use it for writing even with the aid of a finger-stall of horn. He complained
of his bladder too, and was relieved of the pain only after passing stones in
his urine.
LXXXI. In the course of his life he suffered from several severe and dangerous
illnesses, especially after the subjugation of Cantabria [23 B.C.], when he was
in such a desperate plight from abscesses of the liver, that he was forced to
submit to an unprecedented and hazardous course of treatment. Since hot fomentations
gave him no relief, he was led by the advice of his physician Antonius Musa to
try cold ones. He experienced also some disorders which recurred every year at
definite times; for he was commonly ailing just before his birthday; and at the
beginning of spring he was troubled with an enlargement of the diaphragm, and
when the wind was in the south, with catarrh. Hence his constitution was so weakened
that he could not readily endure either cold or heat.
LXXXII. In winter he protected himself with four tunics and a heavy toga, besides
an undershirt, a woollen chest-protector, and wraps for his thighs and shins,
while in summer he slept with the doors of his bed-room open, oftentimes in the
open court near a fountain, besides having someone to fan him. Yet he could not
endure the sun even in winter, and never walked in the open air without wearing
a broad-brimmed hat, even at home. He travelled in a litter, usually at night,
and by such slow and easy stages that he took two days to go to Praeneste or Tibur;
and if he could reach his destination by sea, he preferred to sail. Yet in spite
of all he made good his weakness by great care, especially by moderation in bathing;
for as a rule he was anointed or took a sweat by a fire, after which he was doused
with water either lukewarm or tepid from long exposure to the sun. When however
he had to use hot salt water and sulphur baths for rheumatism, he contented himself
with sitting on a wooden bath-seat, which he called by the Spanish name dureta,
and plunging his hands and feet in the water one after the other.
LXXXIII. Immediately after the civil war he gave up exercise with horses and
arms in the Campus Martius, at first turning to pass-ball [the pila was a small
hard ball; three players stood at the three points of a triangle (whence the game
was called trigon) and passed the ball one from the other] and balloonball [the
folliculus was a large light ball; the players wore a guard on the right arm,
with which they struck the ball, as in the Italian gioco del pallone], but soon
confining himself to riding or taking a walk, ending the latter by running and
leaping, trapped in a mantle or a blanket. To divert his mind he sometimes angled
and sometimes played at dice, marbles and nuts [many games were played with nuts]
with little boys, searching everywhere for such as were attractive for their pretty
faces or their prattle, especially Syrians and Moors; for he abhorred dwarfs,
cripples, and everything of that sort, as freaks of nature and of ill omen.
LXXXIV. From early youth he devoted himself eagerly and with the utmost diligence
to oratory and liberal studies. During the war at Mutina, amid such a press of
affairs, he is said to have read, written and declaimed every day. In fact he
never afterwards spoke in the Senate, or to the people or the soldiers, except
in a studied and written address, although he did not lack the gift of speaking
offhand without preparation. Moreover, to avoid the danger of forgetting what
he was to say, or wasting time in committing it to memory, he adopted the practice
of reading everything from a manuscript. Even his conversations with individuals
and the more important of those with his own wife Livia, he always wrote out and
read from a note-book, for fear of saying too much or too little if he spoke offhand.
He had an agreeable and rather characteristic enunciation, and he practised constantly
with a teacher of elocution; but sometimes because of weakness of the throat he
addressed the people through a herald.
LXXXV. He wrote numerous works of various kinds in prose, some of which he
read to a group of his intimate friends, as others did in a lecture room; for
example, his "Reply to Brutus on Cato." At the reading of these volumes he had
all but come to the end, when he grew tired and handed them to Tiberius to finish,
for he was well on in years. He also wrote "Exhortations to Philosophy" and some
volumes of an Autobiography, giving an account of his life in thirteen books up
to the time of the Cantabrian war, but no farther. His essays in poetry were but
slight. One book has come down to us written in hexameter verse, of which the
subject and the title is "Sicily." There is another, equally brief, of "Epigrams,"
which he composed for the most part at the time of the bath. Though he began a
tragedy with much enthusiasm, he destroyed it because his style did not satisfy
him, and when some of his friends asked him what in the world had become of Ajax,
he answered that "his Ajax had fallen on his sponge."
LXXXVI. He cultivated a style of speaking that was chaste and elegant, avoiding
the vanity of attempts at epigram and an artificial order, and as he himself expresses
it, "the noisomeness of far-fetched words," making it his chief aim to express
his thought as clearly as possible. With this end in view, to avoid confusing
and checking his reader or hearer at any point, he did not hesitate to use prepositions
with names of cities, nor to repeat conjunctions several times, the omission of
which causes some obscurity, though it adds grace. He looked on innovators and
archaizers with equal contempt, as faulty in opposite directions, and he sometimes
had a fling at them, in particular his friend Maecenas, whose "unguent-dripping
curls," as he calls them, he loses no opportunity of belabouring and pokes fun
at them by parody. He did not spare even Tiberius, who sometimes hunted up obsolete
and pedantic expressions; and as for Marcus Antonius, he calls him a madman, for
writing rather to be admired than to be understood. Then going on to ridicule
his perverse and inconsistent taste in choosing an oratorical style, he adds the
following: "Can you doubt whether you ought to imitate Annius Cimber or Veranius
Flaccus, that you use the words which Sallustius Crispus gleaned from Cato's Origines
? Or would you rather introduce into our tongue the verbose and unmeaning fluency
of the Asiatic orators?" And in a letter praising the talent of his granddaughter
Agrippina he writes: "But you must take great care not to write and talk affectedly."
LXXXVII. That in his everyday conversation he used certain favourite and peculiar
expressions appears from letters in his own hand, in which he says every now and
then, when he wishes to indicate that certain men will never pay, that "they will
pay on the Greek Kalends." Urging his correspondent to put up with present circumstances,
such as they are, he says: "Let's be satisfied with the Cato we have; and to express
the speed of a hasty action, "Quicker than you can cook asparagus." He continually
used baceolus (dolt) for stultus (fool), for pullus (dark) pulleiaceus (darkish),
and for cerritus (mad) vacerrosus (blockhead); also vapide se habere (feel flat)
for male se habere (feel badly), and betizaree (be like a beet) for languere (be
weak), for which the vulgar term is lachanizare. Besides he used simus for sumus
and domos in the genitive singular instead of domuos. The last two forms he wrote
invariably, for fear they should be thought errors rather than a habit. I have
also observed this special peculiarity in his manner of writing: he does not divide
words or carry superfluous letters from the end of one line to the beginning of
the next, but writes them just below the rest of the word and draws a loop around
them.
LXXXVIII. He does not strictly comply with orthography, that is to say the
theoretical rules of spelling laid down by the grammarians, seeming to be rather
of the mind of those who believe that we should spell exactly as we pronounce.
Of course his frequent transposition or omission of syllables as well as of letters
are slips common to all mankind. I should not have noted this, did it not seem
to me surprising that some have written that he cashiered a consular governor,
as an uncultivated and ignorant fellow, because he observed that he had written
izi for ipsi. Whenever he wrote in cipher, he wrote B for A, C for B, and the
rest of the letters on the same principle, using AA for X.
LXXXIX. He was equally interested in Greek studies, and in these too he excelled
greatly. His teacher of declamation was Apollodorus of Pergamon, whom he even
took with him in his youthful days from Rome to Apollonia, though Apollodorus
was an old man at the time. Later he became versed in various forms of learning
through association with the philosopher Areus and his sons Dionysius and Nicanor.
Yet he never acquired the ability to speak Greek fluently or to compose anything
in it; for if he had occasion to use the language, he wrote what he had to say
in Latin and gave it to someone else to translate. Still he was far from being
ignorant of Greek poetry, even taking great pleasure in the Old Comedy and frequently
staging it at his public entertainments. In reading the writers of both tongues
there was nothing for which he looked so carefully as precepts and examples instructive
to the public or to individuals; these he would often copy word for word, and
send to the members of his household, or to his generals and provincial governors,
whenever any of them required admonition. He even read entire volumes to the Senate
and called the attention of the people to them by proclamations; for example,
the speeches of Quintus Metellus "On Increasing the Family," and of Rutilius "On
the Height of Buildings"; to convince them that he was not the first to give attention
to such matters, but ihat they had aroused the interest even of their forefathers.
He gave every encouragement to the men of talent of his own age, listening with
courtesy and patience to their readings, not only of poetry and history, but of
speeches and dialogues as well. But he took offence at being made the subject
of any composition except in serious earnest and by the most eminent writers,
often charging the praetors not to let his name be cheapened in prize declamations.
XC. This is what we are told of his attitude towards matters of religion. He
was somewhat weak in his fear of thunder and lightning, for he always carried
a seal-skin about with him everywhere as a protection, and at any sign of a violent
storm took refuge in an underground vaulted room; for as I have said, he was once
badly frightened by a narrow escape from lightning during a journey by night.
XCI. He was not indifferent to his own dreams or to those which others dreamed
about him. At the Battle of Philippi, though he had made up his mind not to leave
his tent because of illness, he did so after all when warned by a friend's dream;
fortunately, as it turned out, for his camp was taken and when the enemy rushed
in, his litter was stabbed through and through and torn to pieces, in the belief
that he was still lying there ill. All through the spring his own dreams were
very numerous and fearful, but idle and unfulfilled; during the rest of the year
they were less frequent and more reliable. Being in the habit of making constant
visits to the temple of Jupiter the Thunderer, which he had founded on the Capitol,
he dreamed that Jupiter Capitolinus complained that his worshippers were being
taken from him, and that he answered that he had placed the Thunderer hard by
to be his doorkeeper; and accordingly he presently festooned the gable of the
temple with bells, because these commonly hung at house-doors. It was likewise
because of a dream that every year on an appointed day he begged alms of the people,
holding out his open hand to have pennies dropped in it.
XCII. Certain auspices and omens he regarded as infallible. If his shoes were
put on in the wrong way in the morning, the left instead of the right, he considered
it a bad sign. If there chanced to be a drizzle of rain when he was starting on
a long journey by land or sea, he thought it a good omen, betokening a speedy
and prosperous return. But he was especially affected by prodigies. When a palm
tree sprang up between the crevices of the pavement before his house, he transplanted
it to the inner court beside his household gods and took great pains to make it
grow. He was so pleased that the branches of an old oak, which had already drooped
to the ground and were withering, became vigorous again on his arrival in the
island of Capreae, that he arranged with the city of Naples to give him the island
in exchange for Aenaria. He also had regard to certain days, refusing ever to
begin a journey on the day after a market day,a or to take up any important business
on the Nones; though in the latter case, as he writes Tiberius, he merely dreaded
the unlucky sound of the name.
XCIII. He treated with great respect such foreign rites as were ancient and
well established, but held the rest in contempt. For example, having been initiated
at Athens and afterwards sitting in judgment of a case at Rome involving the privileges
of the priests of Attic Ceres, in which certain matters of secrecy were brought
up, he dismissed his councillors and the throng of bystanders and heard the disputants
in private. But on the other hand he not only omitted to make a slight detour
to visit Apis, when he was travelling through Egypt, but highly commended his
grandson Gaius for not offering prayers at Jerusalem as he passed by Judaea.
XCIV. Having reached this point, it will not be out of place to add an account
of the omens which occurred before he was born, on the very day of his birth,
and afterwards, from which it was possible to anticipate and perceive his future
greatness and uninterrupted good fortune. In ancient days, when a part of the
wall of Velitrae had been struck by lightning, the prediction was made that a
citizen of that town would one day rule the world. Through their confidence in
this the people of Velitrae had at once made war on the Roman people and fought
with them many times after that almost to their utter destruction; but at last
long afterward the event proved that the omen had foretold the rule of Augustus.
According to Julius Marathus, a few months before Augustus was born a portent
was generally observed at Rome, which gave warning that nature was pregnant with
a king for the Roman people; thereupon the Senate in consternation decreed that
no male child born that year should be reared; but those whose wives were with
child saw to it that the decree was not filed in the treasury, since each one
appropriated the prediction to his own family. I have read the following story
in the books of Asclepias of Mendes entitled Theologamena. When Atia had come
in the middle of the night to the solemn service of Apollo, she had her litter
set down in the temple and fell asleep, while the rest of the matrons also slept.
On a sudden a serpent glided up to her and shortly went away. When she awoke,
she purified herself, as if after the embraces of her husband, and at once there
appeared on her body a mark in colours like a serpent, and she could never get
rid of it; so that presently she ceased ever to go to the public baths. In the
tenth month after that Augustus was born and was therefore regarded as the son
of Apollo. Atia too, before she gave him birth, dreamed that her vitals were borne
up to the stars and spread over the whole extent of land and sea, while Octavius
dreamed that the sun rose from Atia's womb. The day he was born the conspiracy
of Catiline was before the House, and Octavius came late because of his wife's
confinement; then Publius Nigidius, as everyone knows, learning the reason for
his tardiness and being informed also of the hour of the birth, declared that
the ruler of the world had been born. Later, when Octavius was leading an army
through remote parts of Thrace, and in the grove of Father Liber consulted the
priests about his son with barbarian rites, they made the same prediction; since
such a pillar of flame sprang forth from the wine that was poured over the altar,
that it rose above the temple roof and mounted to the very sky, and such an omen
had befallen no one save Alexander the Great when he offered sacrifice at the
same altar. Moreover, the very next night he dreamt that his son appeared to him
in a guise more majestic than that of mortal man, with the thunderbolt, sceptre,
and insignia of Jupiter Optimus Maximus, wearing a crown begirt with rays and
mounted upon a laurel-wreathed chariot drawn by twelve horses of surpassing whiteness.
When Augustus was still an infant, as is recorded by the hand of Gaius Drusus,
he was placed by his nurse at evening in his cradle on the ground floor and the
next morning had disappeared; but after long search he was at last found lying
on a lofty tower with his face towards the rising sun. As soon as he began to
talk, it chanced that the frogs were making a great noise at his grandfather's
country place; he bade them be silent, and they say that since then no frog has
ever croaked there. As he was lunching in a grove at the fourth milestone on the
Campanian road, an eagle surprised him by snatching his bread from his hand, and
after flying to a great height, equally to his surprise dropped gently down again
and gave it back to him. After Quintus Catulus had dedicated the Capitol, he had
dreams on two nights in succession: first, that Jupiter Optimus Maximus called
aside one of a number of boys of good family, who were playing around his altar,
and put in the fold of his toga an image of Roma, which he was carrying in his
hand; the next night he dreamt that he saw this same boy in the lap of Jupiter
of the Capitol, and that when he had ordered that he be removed, the god warned
him to desist, declaring that the boy was being reared to be the saviour of his
country. When Catulus next day met Augustus, whom he had never seen before, he
looked at him in great surprise and said that he was very like the boy of whom
he had dreamed. Some give a different account of Catulus' first dream: when a
large group of well-born children asked Jupiter for a guardian, he pointed out
one of their number, to whom they were to refer all their wishes, and then, after
lightly touching the boy's mouth with his fingers, laid them on his own lips.
As Marcus Cicero was attending Gaius Caesar to the Capitol, he happened to tell
his friends a dream of the night before---that a boy of noble countenance was
let down from heaven on a golden chain and, standing at the door of the temple,
was given a whip by Jupiter. Just then suddenly catching sight of Augustus, who
was still unknown to the greater number of those present and had been brought
to the ceremony by his uncle Caesar, he declared that he was the very one whose
form had appeared to him in his dream. When Augustus was assuming the gown of
manhood, his senatorial tunic was ripped apart on both sides and fell at his feet,
which some interpreted as a sure sign that the order of which the tunic was the
badge would one day be brought to his feet. As the Deified Julius was cutting
down a wood at Munda and preparing a place for his camp, coming across a palm
tree, he caused it to be spared as an omen of victory. From this a shoot at once
sprang forth and in a few days grew so great that it not only equalled the parent
tree, but even overshadowed it; moreover many doves built their nests there, although
that kind of bird especially avoids hard and rough foliage. Indeed, it was that
omen in particular, they say, that led Caesar to wish that none other than his
sister's grandson should be his successor. While in retirement at Apollonia, Augustus
mounted with Agrippa to the studio of the astrologer Theogenes. Agrippa was the
first to try his fortune, and when a great and almnst incredible career was predicted
for him, Augustus persisted in concealing the time of his birth and in refusing
to disclose it, through diffidence and fear that he might be found to be less
eminent. When he at last gave it unwillingly and hesitatingly, and only after
many urgent requests, Theogenes sprang up and threw himself at his feet. From
that time on Augustus had such faith in his destiny, that he made his horoscope
public and issued a silver coin stamped with the sign of the constellation Capricornus,
under which he was born.
XCV. As he was entering the city on his return from Apollonia after Caesar's
death, though the heaven was clear and cloudless, a circle like a rainbow suddenly
formed around the sun's disc, and straightway the tomb of Caesar's daughter Julia
was struck by lightning. Again, as he was taking the auspices in his first consulship,
twelve vultures appeared to him, as to Romulus, and when he slew the victims;
the livers within all of them were found to be doubled inward at the lower end,
which all those who were skilled in such matters unanimously declared to be an
omen of a great and happy future.
XCVI. He even divined beforehand the outcome of all his wars. When the forces
of the triumvirs were assembled at Bononia, an eagle that had perched upon his
tent made a dash at two ravens, which attacked it on either side, and struck them
to the ground. From this the whole army inferred that there would one day be discord
among the colleagues, as actually came to pass, and divined its result. As he
was on his way to Philippi, a Thessalian gave him notice of his coming victory
on the authority of the deified Caesar, whose shade had met him on a lonely road.
When he was sacrificing at Perusia without getting a favourable omen, and so had
ordered more victims to be brought, the enemy made a sudden sally and carried
off all the equipment of the sacrifice; whereupon the soothsayers agreed that
all the dangers and disasters with which the sacrificer had been threatened would
recoil on the heads of those who were in possession of the entrails; and so it
turned out. As he was walking on the shore the day before the sea-fight off Sicily,
a fish sprang from the sea and fell at his feet. At Actium, as he was going down
to begin the battle, he met an ass with his driver, the man having the name Eutychus
and the beast that of Nicon; and after the victory he set up bronze images of
the two in the sacred enclosure into which he converted the site of his camp.
XCVII. His death, too, of which I shall speak next, and his deification after
death, were known in advance by unmistakable signs. As he was bringing the lustrum
to an end in the Campus Martius before a great throng of people, an eagle flew
several times about him and then going across to the temple hard by, perched above
the first letter of Agrippa's name. On noticing this, Augustus bade his colleague
Tiberius recite the vows which it is usual to offer for the next five years; for
although he had them prepared and written out on a tablet, he declared that he
would not be responsible for vows which he should never pay. At about the same
time the first letter of his name was melted from the inscription on one of his
statues by a flash of lightning; this was interpreted to mean that he would live
only a hundred days from that time, the number indicated by the letter C, and
that he would be numbered with the gods, since aesar (that is, the part of the
name Caesar which was left) is the word for god in the Etruscan tongue. Then,
too, when he was on the point of sending Tiberius to Illyricum and was proposing
to escort him as far as Beneventum, and litigants detained him on the judgment
seat by bringing forward case after case, he cried out that he would stay no longer
in Rome, even if everything conspired to delay him---and this too was afterwards
looked upon as one of the omens of his death. When he had begun the journey, he
went on as far as Astura and from there, contrary to his custom, took ship by
night since it chanced that there was a favourable breeze, and thus contracted
an illness beginning with a diarrhea.
XCVIII. Then after skirting the coast of Campania and the neighbouring islands,
he spent four more days at his villa in Capreae, where he gave himself up wholly
to rest and social diversions. As he sailed by the gulf of Puteoli it happened
that from an Alexandrian ship which had just arrived there, the passengers and
crew, clad in white, crowned with garlands, and burning incense, lavished upon
him good wishes and the highest praise, saying that it was through him they lived,
through him that they sailed the seas, and through him that they enjoyed their
liberty and their fortunes. Exceedingly pleased at this, he gave forty gold pieces
to each of his companions, exacting from every one of them a pledge under oath
not to spend the sum that had been given them in any other way than in buying
wares from Alexandria. More than that, for the several remaining days of his stay,
among little presents of various kinds, he distributed togas and cloaks as well,
stipulating that the Romans should use the Greek dress and language and the Greeks
the Roman. He continually watched the exercises of the ephebi [Greek youths between
the ages of eighteen and that of full manhood, who had regular gymnastic training
as a part of their education], of whom there was still a goodly number at Capreae
according to the ancient usage. He also gave these youths a banquet at which he
himself was present, and not only allowed, but even required perfect freedom in
jesting and in scrambling for tickets for fruit, dainties and all kinds of things,
which he threw to them. In short, there was no form of gaiety in which he did
not indulge. He called the neighbouring part of the island of Capreae Apragopolis
[the "land of the do-nothings"] from the laziness of some of his company who sojourned
there. Besides he used to call one of his favourites, Masgaba by name, Ktistes
[the Greek name for a founder of a city or colony], as if he were the founder
of the island. Noticing from his dining-room that the tomb of this Masgaba, who
had died the year before, was visited by a large crowd with many torches, he uttered
aloud this verse, composed offhand: "I see the founder's tomb alight with fire";
and turning to Thrasyllus, one of the suite of Tiberius who was reclining opposite
him and knew nothing about the matter, he asked of what poet he thought it was
the work. When Thrasyllus hesitated, he added another verse: "See you with lights
Masgaba honoured now?" and asked his opinion of this one also. When Thrasyllus
could say nothing except that they were very good, whoever made them, he burst
into a laugh and fell a joking about it. Presently he crossed over to Naples,
although his bowels were still weak from intermittent attacks. In spite of this
he witnessed and then started with Tiberius for his destination [Beneventum].
But as he was returning his illness increased and he at last took to his bed at
Nola, calling back Tiberius, who was on his way to Illyricum, and keeping him
for a long time in private conversation, after which he gave attention to no business
of importance.
XCIX. On the last day of his life he asked every now and then whether there
was any disturbance without on his account; then calling for a mirror, he had
his hair combed and his falling jaws set straight. After that, calling in his
friends and asking whether it seemed to them that he had played the comedy of
life fitly, he added the tag: "Since well I've played my part, all clap your hands
And from the stage dismiss me with applause." Then he sent them all off, and while
he was asking some newcomers from the city about the daughter of Drusus, who was
ill, he suddenly passed away as he was kissing Livia, uttering these last words:
"Live mindful of our wedlock, Livia, and farewell," thus blessed with an easy
death and such a one as he had always longed for. For almost always on hearing
that anyone had died swiftly and painlessly, he prayed that he and his might have
a like euthanasia, for that was the term he was wont to use. He gave but one single
sign of wandering before he breathed his last, calling out in sudden terror that
forty young men were carrying him off. And even this was rather a premonition
than a delusion, since it was that very number of soldiers of the pretorian guard
that carried him forth to lie in state.
C. He died in the same room as his father Octavius, in the consulship of two
Sextuses, Pompeius and Appuleius, on the fourteenth day before the Kalends of
September [August 19, 14 A.D.] at the ninth hour, just thirty-five days before
his seventy-sixth birthday. His body was carried by the Senators of the municipalities
and colonies from Nola all the way to Bovillae, in the night time because of the
season of the year, being placed by day in the basilica of the town at which they
arrived or in its principal temple. At Bovillae the members of the equestrian
order met it and bore it to the city, where they placed it in the vestibule of
his house. In their desire to give him a splendid funeral and honour his memory
the Senators so vied with one another that among many other suggestions some proposed
that his cortege pass through the triumphal gate, preceded by the statue of Victory
which stands in the House, while a dirge was sung by children of both sexes belonging
to the leading families; others, that on the day of the obsequies golden rings
be laid aside and iron ones worn; and some, that his ashes be collected by the
priests of the highest colleges. One man proposed that the name of the month of
August be transferred to September, because Augustus was born in the latter, but
died in the former; another, that all the period from the day of his birth until
his demise be called the Augustan Age, and so entered in the Calendar. But though
a limit was set to the honours paid him, his eulogy was twice delivered: before
the temple of the Deified Julius by Tiberius, and from the old rostra by Drusus,
son of Tiberius; and he was carried on the shoulders of Senators to the Campus
Martius and there cremated. There was even an ex-praetor who took oath that he
had seen the form of the Emperor, after he had been reduced to ashes, on its way
to heaven. His remains were gathered up by the leading men of the equestrian order,
bare-footed and in ungirt tunics, and placed in the Mausoleum. This structure
he had built in his sixth consulship [28 B.C.] between the Via Flaminia and the
bank of the Tiber, and at the same time opened to the public the groves and walks
by which it was surrounded.
CI. He had made a will in the consulship of Lucius Plancus and Gaius Silius
on the third day before the Nones of April [April 3, 13 A.D.], a year and four
months before he died, in two note-books,written in part in his own hand and in
part in that of his freedmen Polybius and Hilarion. These the Vestal virgins,
with whom they had been deposited, now produced, together with three rolls, which
were sealed in the same way. All these were opened and read in the Senate. He
appointed as his chief heirs Tiberius, to receive two-thirds of the estate, and
Livia, one-third; these he also bade assume his name. His heirs in the second
degree were Drusus, son of Tiberius, for one-third, and for the rest Germanicus
and his three male cbildren. In the third grade he mentioned many of his relatives
and friends. He left to the Roman people forty million sesterces; to the tribes
three million five hundred thousand; to the soldiers of the pretorian guard a
thousand each; to the city cohorts five hundred; and to the legionaries three
hundred. This sum he ordered to be paid at once, for he had always kept the amount
at hand and ready for the purpose. He gave other legacies to various individuals,
some amounting to as much as twenty thousand sesterces, and provided for the payment
of these a year later, giving as his excuse for the delay the small amount of
his property, and declaring that not more than a hundred and fifty millions would
come to his heirs; for though he had received fourteen hundred millions during
the last twenty years from the wills of his friends, he said that he had spent
nearly all of it, as well as his two paternal estates and his other inheritances,
for the benefit of the State. He gave orders that his daughter and his granddaughter
Julia should not be put in his Mausoleum, if anything befell them. In one of the
three rolls he included directions for his funeral; in the second, an account
of what he had accomplished, which he desired to have cut upon bronze tablets
and set up at the entrance to the Mausoleum; in the third, a summary of the condition
of the whole empire; how many soldiers there were in active service in all parts
of it, how much money there was in the public treasury and in the privy-purse,
and what revenues were in arrears. He added, besides, the names of the freedmen
and slaves from whom the details could be demanded.
Source:
From: Suetonius, De Vita Caesarum, 2 Vols., trans. J. C. Rolfe (Cambridge,
Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1920), pp. 123-287.
Scanned by: J. S. Arkenberg, Dept. of History, Cal. State Fullerton. Prof.
Arkenberg may have modernized the text.
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