54
The following is contained in the Fifty-fourth of Dio's Rome:
How road commissioners were appointed from among the ex-prætors (chapter 8).
How grain commissioners were appointed from among the ex-prætors (chapters 1 and 17).
How Noricum was reduced (chapter 20).
How Rhætia was reduced (chapter 22).
How the Maritime Alps began to yield obedience to the Romans (chapter 24).
How the theatre of Balbus was dedicated (chapter 25).
How the theatre of Marcellus was dedicated (chapter 26).
How Agrippa died and Augustus acquired the Chersonese (chapters 28, 29).
How the Augustalia was instituted (chapter 34).
Duration of time, 13 years, in which there were the following magistrates here enumerated:
M. Claudius M. F. Marcellus Æserninus, L. Arruntius L.F. (B.C. 22 = a. u. 732.)
M. Lollius M. F., Q. Æmilius M. F. Lepidus. (B.C. 21 = a. u. 733.)
M. Apuleius Sex, F., P. Silius P. F. Nerva. (B.C. 20 = a. u. 734.)
C. Sentius C. F. Saturninus, Q. Lucretius Q. F. Vispillo. (B.C. 19 = a. u. 735.)
Cn. Cornelius L. F., P. Cornelius P. F. Lentulus Marcellinus. (B.C. 18 = a. u. 736.)
C. Furnius C. F., C. Iunius C. F. Silanus. (B.C. 17 = a. u. 737.)
L. Domitius Cn. F. Cn. N. Ahenobarbus, P. Cornelius P. F. P. N. Scipio.(B.C. 16 = a. u. 738.)
M. Livius L. F. Drusus Libo, L. Calpurnius L. F. Piso Frugi. (B.C. 15 = a. u. 739.)
M. Licinius M. F. Crassus, Cn. Cornelius Cn. F. Lentulus. (B.C. 14 = a. u. 740.)
Tib. Claudius Tib. F. Nero, P. Quintilius Sex. F. Varus. (B.C. 13 = a. u. 741.)
M. Valerius M. F. Messala Barbatus, P. Sulpicius P. F. Quirinus. (B.C. 12 = a. u. 742.)
Paulus Fabius Q. F. Maximus, Q. Ælius Q. F. Tubero. (B.C. 11 = a. u. 743.)
Iullus Antonius M. F., Africanus Q. Fabius Q. F. (B.C. 10 = a. u. 744.)
[B.C. 22 (a. u.732)]
[-1-] The following year, during which Marcus Marcellus and Lucius Arruntius were the consuls, the river caused another flood which submerged the City, and many objects were struck by thunderbolts, among them the statues in the Pantheon; and the spear even fell from the hand of Augustus. The pestilence raged throughout Italy so that no one tilled the land, and I think that the same was the case in foreign parts. The Romans, therefore, reduced to dire straits by disease and by famine, thought that this had happened to them for no other reason than that they did not have Augustus for consul this time also. They accordingly wished to elect him as dictator, and shutting the senate up within its halls they forced it to vote this measure by threatening to burn down the building. Next they took the twenty-four rods and accosted Augustus, begging him both to be named dictator and to become commissioner of grain, as Pompey had once been. He accepted the latter duty under compulsion and ordered two men from among those who had served as prætors five years or more previously, in every instance, to be chosen annually to attend to the distribution of grain. As for the dictatorship, however, he would not hear of it and went so far as to rend his clothing when he found himself unable to restrain them in any other way, either by reasoning or by prayer. As he already had authority and honor even beyond that of dictators he did right to guard against the jealousy and hatred which the title would arouse. [-2-] His course was the same when they wished to elect him censor for life. Without entering upon the office himself he immediately designated others as censors, namely Paulus Æmilius Lepidus and Lucius Munatius Plancus, the latter a brother of that Plancus who had been proscribed and the former a person who at that time had himself been under sentence of death. These were the last private citizens to hold the appointment, as was at once made manifest by the men themselves. The platform on which they were intended to perform the ceremonies pertaining to their position fell to the ground in pieces when they had ascended it on the first day of their office. After that there were no other censors appointed together, as they had been. Even at this time Augustus in spite of their having been chosen took care of many matters which properly belonged to them. Of the Public Messes he abolished some altogether and reformed others so that greater temperance prevailed. He committed the charge of all the festivals to the prætors, commanding that an appropriation be given them from the public treasury. Moreover he forbade them to spend from their own means on these occasions more than they received from the other source, or to have armed combat under any other conditions than if the senate should vote for it, and even then there were to be not more than two such contests in each year and they should consist of not more than one hundred and twenty men. To the curule ædiles he entrusted the extinguishment of conflagrations, for which purpose he granted them six hundred slave assistants. And since knights and women of note had thus early appeared in the orchestra, he forbade not only the children of senators, to whom the prohibition had even previously extended, but also their grandchildren, who naturally found a place in the equestrian class, to do anything of the sort again. [-3-] In these ordinances he let both the substance and the name of the lawgiver and emperor be seen. In other matters he was more moderate and even came to the aid of some of his friends when their conduct was subjected to official scrutiny. But a certain Marcus Primus was accused of having made war upon the Odrysae, while he was governor of Macedonia, who said at one time that he had done it with the approval of Augustus, and again with that of Marcellus. The emperor thereupon came of his own accord into the court and, when interrogated by the prætors as to whether he had instructed the man to make war, entered a denial. The advocate of Primus, Licinius Murena, in the course of some rather disrespectful remarks that he made to him enquired: "What are you doing here!" and "Who summoned you!" To this Augustus only replied: "The Public Good." For this he received praise from sensible persons and was even given the right to convene the senate as often as he pleased. Some of the others looked down upon him. Indeed, not a few voted for the acquittal of Primus and others united to form a plot against Cæsar. Fannius Cæpio was at the head of it, though others had a share. Murena also was said, whether truly or by way of calumny, to have been one of the conspirators, since he was insatiate and unsparing in his outspokenness to all alike. These men did not appear for trial in court but were convicted by default on the supposition that they intended to flee; shortly after, however, they were put to death. Murena found neither his brother Proculeius nor Mæcenas his sister's husband of any avail, though they were the recipients of distinguished honors from Augustus. And as some of the jurymen actually voted to acquit these conspirators, the emperor made a law that votes should not be cast secretly in cases by default and that the persons on trial must receive a unanimous conviction. That he authorized these provisions not in anger but as really conducive to the public good he gave overwhelming evidence. Cæpio's father liberated one of his slaves who had accompanied his son on his flight, because he had wished to defend the younger man when he met his death; but a second slave who had betrayed him the father led through the middle of the Forum with an inscription making known the reason why he should be killed, and after that crucified him: yet at all this the emperor showed no indignation. He would have allayed all the criticism of those not pleased with the course of events, had he not allowed sacrifices, as for some victory, to be both voted and offered.
[-4-] It was at this period that he restored both Cyprus and Gallia Narbonensis to the people as provinces no longer needing his administration of martial law.
Thus proconsuls began to be sent to these places also. He also dedicated the temple of Jupiter Tonans, concerning which event these two traditions survive,—that at the time thunder occurred during the ritual, and that later Augustus had a dream, which I shall proceed to describe. He thought that the throng had come to do reverence to the deity, partly attracted by the novelty of his name and form and partly because he had been put in place by Augustus, but chiefest of all because they encountered him first when they ascended the Capitol; and he dreamed that Jupiter in the great temple was angry because he was now reduced to second place, and that he himself thereupon said to the offended god (as he reported the story) that he had Tonans as an advance guard. When it became day he attached a bell to the statue by way of confirming the vision. For those who guard apartment houses by night carry a bell, in order to be able to signal the inhabitants whenever they wish.—These events, then, took place at Rome.
[-5-] About this same period the Cantabri and the Astures broke out into war again. The action of the Astures was due to the haughtiness and cruelty of Carisius. The Cantabri, on the other hand, took the field because they learned that the other tribe was in revolt and because they despised their governor, Gaius Furnius, since he had but lately arrived and they conceived him to be unacquainted with conditions in their territory. He did not, however, show himself that sort of man in action, for both tribes were defeated and reduced to slavery by him, Carisius even receiving help from him. Not many of the Cantabri were captured. As they had no hope of freedom they did not choose to live, but some after setting the forts on fire stabbed themselves, and others let themselves be consumed with the works, while still others in the sight of all took poison. Thus the most of them and the fiercest faction perished. As for the Astures, as soon as they had been repulsed in a siege at some point and had subsequently been beaten in battle, they made no further resistance but were straightway subdued.
About this same time the Ethiopians, who dwell beyond Egypt, advanced as far as the city called Elephantine, with Candace as their leader, ravaging the whole region that they traversed. On learning that Gaius[1] Petronius, the governor of Egypt, was approaching and somewhere near, they hastily retreated hoping to make good their escape. Overtaken on the road, however, they suffered defeat and then drew him on into their own country. There, too, he contended nobly and took among other cities Napata, the royal residence of that tribe. This town was razed to the ground and a garrison left at another post. For Petronius, not being able to advance farther on account of the sand and the heat, nor to remain conveniently on the spot with his entire army, withdrew, taking the most of it with him. At that the Ethiopians attacked the garrisons, but he again proceeded against them, rescued his own men, and compelled Candace to make terms with him.
[ B.C. 21 (a. u.733)]
[-6-] While this was going on Augustus went to Sicily in order to settle the affairs of that island and of other countries as far as Syria. While he was still there, the Roman populace fell to disputing over an election of the consuls. This incident showed clearly that it was impossible for them to be safe under a democracy, for with the little power that they had over elections and in regard to offices, even, they began rioting. The place of one of the consuls was being kept for Augustus and in this way at the beginning of the year Marcus Lollius alone entered upon office. As the emperor would not accept the place, Quintus Lepidus and Lucius Silvanus became rival candidates and threw everything into such turmoil that Augustus was invoked by those who still retained their senses. He would not return, however, and sent them back when they came to him, rebuking them and bidding them cast their votes during the absence of both claimants. This did not promote peace any the more, but they began to quarrel and dispute again vehemently, so that it was long before Lepidus was chosen. Augustus was displeased at this, for he could not spend all his time at Rome alone, and he did not dare to leave the city without a head; seeking, therefore, for some one to set over it he judged Agrippa to be most suitable for the purpose. And as he wished to clothe him in some greater dignity than common, in order that this might help him to govern the people more easily, he summoned him, compelled him to divorce his wife (although she was Cæsar's own niece), and to marry Julia, and forthwith sent him to Rome to attend both to the wedding and to the administration of the City. This step is said to have been due partly to the advice of Mæcenas, who in conversation with him upon these very matters said: "You have made him so great that he should either become your son-in-law or be killed."—Agrippa healed the sores which he found still festering and repelled the advance of the Egyptian rites, which were returning once more to the City, forbidding any one to perform them even in the suburbs within eight half-stadia. A disturbance arose regarding the election of the præfectus urbi—the one chosen on account of the Feriæ—and he did not attempt to quell it, but they lived through that year without that official. This was whatheaccomplished.
[-7-] Augustus after settling various affairs in Sicily and making Syracuse together with certain other cities Roman colonies crossed over into Greece. The Lacedæmonians he honored by giving them Cythera and attending their Public Mess, because Livia, when she fled from Italy with her husband and son, passed some time there. From the Athenians, as some say, he took away Ægina and Eretria, the produce of which they were enjoying, because they had espoused the cause of Antony. Moreover he forbade them to make any one a citizen for money. It seemed to them that what happened to the statue of Athena had tended to their misfortune. Placed on the Acropolis facing the east it had turned about to the west and spat blood.
[ B.C. 20 (a. u.734)]
As for Augustus, after setting the Greek world in order, he sailed to Samos, passed the winter there, and in the spring when Marcus Apuleius and Publius Silius became consuls proceeded to Asia and gave his attention to matters there and in Bithynia. Though these and the foregoing provinces were regarded as belonging to the people, he did not make light of them, but accorded them the very best of care, as if they were his own. He instituted all reforms that seemed desirable and made a present of money to some, while others he instructed to collect an amount in excess of the tribute. The people of Cyzicus he reduced to slavery because during an uprising they had flogged and put to death some Romans. And when he reached Syria he took the same action in the case of the people of Tyre and Sidon on account of their uprising.
[-8-] Meanwhile Phraates, fearing that he might lead an expedition against him because as yet none of the agreements had been carried out, sent back to him the standards and all the captives, save a few who in shame had destroyed themselves or by eluding detection had remained in the country. Augustus received them with the appearance of having conquered the Parthian in some war. He took great pride in the event, saying that what had been lost in former battles he had recovered without a struggle. Indeed, in honor of his success he both commanded sacrifices to be voted and performed them, besides constructing a temple of Mars Ultor on the Capitol, in imitation of Jupiter Feretrius, for the offering up of the standards. Moreover he rode into the City on a charger and was with an arch carrying a trophy. That was what was done later in commemoration of the event. At this time he was chosen commissioner of the highways round about Rome, set up the so-called golden milestone, and assigned road-builders from the ranks of the ex-prætors, with two lictors, to take care of the various streets. Julia also gave birth to a child, who received the name Gaius; and a sacrifice of kine was permitted forever upon his birthday. Now this was done, like everything else, in pursuance of a decree: privately the ædiles had a horse-race and slaughter of wild beasts on the birthday of Augustus.—These were the occurrences in the City.
[-9-] Augustus ordained that the subject territory should be managed according to the customs of the Romans, but permitted allied countries to be governed according to their own ancestral usage. He did not think it desirable that there should be any additions to the former or that any new regions should be acquired, but deemed it best for the people to be thoroughly satisfied with what they already possessed; and he communicated this opinion to the senate. Therefore he began no war at this time, but gave out certain sovereignties,—to Iamblichus son of Iamblichus his ancestral dominion over the Arabians, and to Tarcondimotus son of Tarcondimotus the kingdom of Cilicia which his father held, except a few coast districts. For these together with Lesser Armenia he granted to Archelaus, because the Median king, who had previously ruled them, was dead. To Herod he entrusted the tetrarchy of a certain Zenodorus and to one Mithridates, though a mere lad, Commagene, since the king of it had killed his father. And as the other Armenians had preferred charges against Artaxes and had summoned his brother Tigranes, who was in Rome, the emperor sent for Tiberius to cast the former out of his kingdom and restore the latter to it once more. Nothing was accomplished, however, worthy of the preparations he had made, for the Armenians slew Artaxes before his arrival. Still, Tiberius assumed a lofty bearing as if he had effected something by his own ability, and all the more when sacrifices were voted in honor of the result. And he now began to have thoughts about obtaining the monarchy when, as he was approaching Philippi, an outcry was heard from the field of battle, as if coming from an army, and fire of its own accord shot up from the altars founded by Antony upon the ramparts. These things contributed to the exalted feelings of Tiberius.
Augustus returned to Samos and once more passed the winter there. As a recompense for his stay he awarded the islanders freedom, and he attended to many kinds of business. Great numbers of embassies came to him, and the Indi, who had previously opened negotiations about friendship, now made terms, sending among other gifts tigers, which were then for the first time seen by the Romans, as also, I think, by the Greeks. They likewise presented to him a boy without shoulders (like the statues of Hermes that we now see). Yet this creature in spite of his anatomy made perfect use of his feet and hands: he would stretch a bow for them, shoot missiles, and sound the trumpet,—how, I do not know; I merely record the story. One of the Indi, Zarmarus, whether he belonged to the class of sophists and was ambitious on this account or because he was old and was following some immemorial custom, or because he wished to make a display for Augustus and the Athenians (for it was there that he had obtained an audience), chose to die; he was therefore initiated into the service of the two goddesses,—although it was not the proper time, it is said, for the ritual,[2]—through the influence of Augustus, and having become an initiate he threw himself alive into the fire.
[B.C. 19 (a. u.735)]
[-10-] The consul that[2] year was Gaius Sentius. When it was found necessary that a colleague be appointed to hold office with him,—for Augustus again refused to accept the post which was being saved for him,—an uprising once more broke out in Rome and assassinations occurred, so that the senators voted Sentius a guard. When he expressed himself as opposed to using it, they sent envoys to Augustus, each with two lictors. As soon as the emperor learned this and felt assured that nothing but evil would come of it, he did not adopt an attitude like his former one toward them but appointed consul from among the envoys themselves Quintus Lucretius, though this man's name had been posted among the proscribed, and he hastened to Rome himself. For this and his other actions while absent from the city many honors of all sorts were voted none of which he would accept, save the founding of a temple to Fortuna Redux,[3] (this being the name they applied to her), and that the day on which he arrived should be numbered among the thanksgiving days and be called Augustalia. Since even then the magistrates and the rest made preparations to go out to meet him, he entered the city by night; and on the following day he gave Tiberius the rank of the ex-prætors and allowed Drusus to become a candidate for offices five years earlier than custom allowed. The quarrelsome behavior of the people during his absence did not accord at all with their conduct, influenced by fear, when he was present; he was accordingly invited and elected to be commissioner of morals for five years, held the authority of the censors for the same length of time and that of the consuls for life, being allowed to use the twelve rods always and everywhere and to sit in the chair of office in the midst of the consuls of any year. After voting these measures they begged him to set right all these matters and to enact what laws he liked. And whatever ordinances might be composed by him they called from that very momentleges Augustæand desired to take an oath that they would abide by them. He accepted their principal propositions, believing them to be necessary, but absolved them from the requirement of an oath. If they should vote for a measure that suited them, he knew well that they would observe it even if they made no agreement to that effect. Otherwise they would not pay any attention to it, even if they should take ten thousand pledges to secure it.—Augustus did this. Of the ædiles one voluntarily resigned his office by reason of poverty.
[-11-] Agrippa on being sent at this time, as described from Sicily to Rome, transacted whatever business was urgent and was later assigned to the Gauls. The inhabitants there were at war among themselves and were being harshly used by the Celtæ. After settling those troubles he went over to Spain. For the Cantabri, who had been captured alive in the war and had been sold, severally killed their masters, returned home, and united many for a revolt. With the aid of these accessions they occupied available sites, walled them about and concocted schemes against the Roman garrisons. It was against this tribe that Agrippa led an expedition, but he had some trouble also with the soldiers. Not a few of them were too old, exhausted by the succession of wars, and in fear of the Cantabri, whom they regarded as hard to subdue; and they consequently would not obey him. However, by admonition, exhortation, and the hopes that he held out[4] he soon made them yield obedience: in fighting the Cantabri, on the other hand, he met with many failures. They had the advantage of experience in affairs, since they had been slaves to the Romans, and of despair of ever gaining safety again in case of capture. Agrippa lost numbers of his soldiers and degraded numerous others because they had been defeated; among other actions he prohibited a whole division called the Augustan from being so named any longer; still, after a long time he destroyed nearly all of the enemy who were of age for warfare. He deprived the rest of their arms and made them go down from the heights to the flat lands. Yet he made no communication about them to the senate and did not accept the triumph although voted in accordance with instructions from Augustus. In these matters he showed moderation, as was his wont, and when asked once by the consul for an opinion in a case concerning his brother he would not give it. At his own expense he brought in the so-called Parthenian water-supply and named it the Augustan. In this the emperor took so great delight that once when a great scarcity of wine had arisen and persons were making a terrible to-do about it, he declared that Agrippa had carefully seen to it that they should never perish of thirst.
[-12-]Such was the character of this man. Of the rest many both made a triumph their object and celebrated it, not for rendering these same services, but some for having arrested robbers and others for quieting cities that were in a state of turmoil. For Augustus, at first at least, bestowed these rewards lavishly upon some and honored a very great number with public burials. Those persons, then, gained splendor by these fêtes; but Agrippa was advanced by him to a position of comparative independence. Augustus saw that the public business required strict attention and feared that he might, as often happens in such cases, become the victim of plots.
[B.C. 18 (a. u. 736)]
The breastplate which he often wore beneath his dress even on entering the senate itself he expected would be of small and slight assistance to him in that case. Therefore he himself first added five years to his term as supreme ruler when the ten-year period had expired (this took place in the consulship of Publius and Gnaeus Lentulus), and then he gave Agrippa many rights almost equal to his own, together with the tribunician authority for the same length of time. He then said that so many years would suffice them. Not much later he obtained the remaining five belonging to his imperial sovereignty, so that the number of years became ten again.
[-13-] When he had done this he next investigated the senatorial body. The members seemed to him even now to be numerous and he saw danger in so large a throng, while he felt a hatred for not only such as were notorious for some baseness, but also those who were distinguished for their flattery. And when no one, as previously, would resign willingly nor wished alone to incur accusation, he himself selected the thirty best men (a point which he confirmed by oath) and bade them after first taking the same oath to choose and write down groups of five, outside of their relatives, on tablets. After this he subjected the groups of five to a casting of lots, with the arrangement that the one man in each who drew a lot should himself be a senator, and enroll five others on the same conditions.
There would, of course, properly be thirty of those chosen by others and by those who drew a lot. And since some of them were out of town others drew as substitutes and attended to what should have been their duties. At first this went on so for several days; but when some abuses crept in, he no longer put the documents in the charge of the quaestors nor submitted the groups of five to lot, but he himself read whatever remained and he himself chose the members that were lacking: and thus six hundred in all were appointed. [-14-]It had been his plan to make them three hundred as in old times, and he thought he ought to be well satisfied if he found so many of them worthy of the senate. But he finally chose a list of six hundred because of the universal displeasure; for it came out, by reason of the fact that those whose names would be cancelled would be many more than those who remained in the body, that greater fear of becoming private citizens prevailed among its members than expectation of being senators. Not even here did the matter rest, since some unsuitable persons were still enrolled. A certain Licinius Regulus after this, indignant because his name had been erased whereas his son and several others to whom he thought himself superior had been counted in, rent his clothing in the very senate, laid bare his body, enumerated his campaigns, and showed them his scars. And Articuleius Pætus, one of the senatorsin posse, besought earnestly that he might retire from his seat in the senate in place of his father, who had been rejected. Augustus then made a new organization, getting rid of some and choosing others in their place. Since even so the names of many had been stricken out and some of them, as usually happens in such a case, charged that they had been driven out unjustly, he immediately accorded them the right to behold spectacles and join in festivals in common with the senators, wearing the same garb, and he permitted them for the future to stand for offices. Most of them came back in the course of time into the senate: some few were left in an intermediate position, regarded as belonging neither to the senate nor to the people.
[-15-] After this many at once and many subsequently gained the reputation, whether it was true or false, of plotting against both the emperor and Agrippa. It is not possible for one outside of such matters to have certain knowledge about them. Much of what a sovereign does by way of punishment either personally or through the senate on the ground that plots have been made against him is viewed with suspicion as probably a display of wanton power, no matter how justly he may have acted. For that reason my intention is to record in all matters of this nature simply the regular version of the story, not busying myself with aught beyond the public report, except in perfectly patent cases, nor making any ulterior suggestions as to whether any act was just or unjust or any statement true or false. Let this principle apply to everything which I shall write after this.
At the time Augustus executed a few: Lepidus he hated because his son had been detected in a against him and had been punished, as well as for other reasons; he did not, however, wish to kill him but kept insulting him now in one way, now in another. He ordered Lepidus against his will to come down from the country to the city and always took him to gatherings, in order that the man might be subjected to the greatest amount of jeering and insolence in view of the change from his former power and dignity. He did not treat him in any way as worthy his consideration, and at this time he afforded him, last of all the ex-consuls, the chance of voting. To the rest he was wont to put the question in the order that belonged to them, but of the ex-consuls he used to make one first, another second, and third and fourth and so on as he liked. This the consuls also did. Thus it was that he treated Lepidus. And when Antistius Labeo enrolled the latter among the men who were to be senators at the time the vote on this matter was taken, the emperor first declared that he had perjured himself and threatened to take vengeance. Thereupon the other replied: "Why, what harm have I done by keeping in the senate one whom you even now still permit to be high priest?" This answer quieted Augustus's anger, for though he had often, both privately and publicly, been judged worthy of this priesthood, he did not deem it right to take it while Lepidus lived. The reply of Antistius seemed, indeed, to have been a rather happy one, as was the case once when there was talk in the senate to the effect that they ought to take turns in guarding Augustus; for he had said, not daring to speak in opposition nor willing to agree: "As for me, I snore, and so can not sleep at the door of his chamber."
[-16-] Among the laws that Augustus enacted was one which provided that those who to gain office bribed any person should be debarred from the said office for five years. He laid heavier penalties upon the unmarried men and women without husbands, and on the other hand offered prizes for marriage and the procreation of children. And since among the nobility there were far more males than females he allowed those who pleased, save the senators, to marry freedwomen, and ordered that the offspring of such a man should be deemed legitimate.
At this period a clamor arose in the senate regarding the disorderly conduct of the women and the young men, this being alleged as a reason for the difficulty of persuading them to contract marriage; and when they urged him to remedy this abuse also, meanwhile indulging in sarcasms because he enjoyed the favors of many women, at first he made answer that the most necessary restrictions had been laid down and that anything further could not be defined in a similar fashion. Then, when he was driven into a corner, he said: "You ought to admonish and command your wives what you wish,—just as I myself do." When they heard that, they plied him with questions all the more, wishing to learn the admonitions which he said he gave Livia. Reluctantly thereupon he made a few remarks about dress and about other adornment, about going out and modest behavior on such occasions. He cared not at all that he did not make good his words in fact. Something of the sort he had done also while censor. They brought before him a young man who had married a woman after seducing her, making the most violent accusations against him: Augustus was at a loss what to do, not daring to overlook the affair nor yet to administer any rebuke. After a very long time he heaved a deep sigh and said: "The factional disputes have borne many terrible fruits: let us try to forget them and give our attention to the future, to see that nothing of the sort occurs again."
Inasmuch, too, as certain infants were obtaining by betrothal the honors of married couples, but did not accomplish the object in view, he ordered that no betrothal should be valid where a person did not marry before two years had passed. That is, any one betrothed must be certainly ten years old in order to reap any benefit from it. Twelve full years, as I have said, is required by custom for girls to reach the marriageable age.
[-17-] Besides these separate enactments there was one instructing those from time to time in office each to propose one of those who had been prætors three years previously to attend to the distribution of the grain, and providing that of that number the four who secured the lot should give out grain in turn: and the præfectus urbi, appointed for the Feriæ, was always to choose one of them. The Sibylline verses which had become indistinct through lapse of time he ordered the priests to copy out with their own hands in order that no one else should read them. He allowed the offices to be thrown open to all such as had property worth ten myriad denarii and were competent to hold office in accordance with the law. This was the value which he at first set upon the senatorial rank: later he raised it to twenty-five myriads. Upon some of those who lived upright lives but possessed less than ten myriads in the first case or twenty-five in the second he bestowed the amount lacking. Again, he allowed those prætors who so desired to spend on the festivals besides what was given them from the public treasury three times as much again, so that even if some were vexed at the minuteness of his other regulations yet by reason of this one and also because he brought back from exile one Pylades, a dancer, driven out on account of civil quarrels, they remembered them no longer. Hence Pylades is said to have rejoined very cleverly when the emperor rebuked him for having quarreled with Bathyllus, an artist in the same line and a relative of Mæcenas: "It is to your advantage, Cæsar, that the populace should exhaust its energy over us."—These were the occurrences of that year.
[B.C. 17 (a. u.737)]
[-18-]In the consulship of Gaius Furnius and Gaius Silanus Agrippa again announced the birth of a son named Lucius, and Augustus immediately adopted him together with his brother Gaius, not waiting for them to become men but appointing them that very moment successors to his office, in order that less plots might be directed against him. The festival of Honor and of Virtus he transferred to the days which are at present theirs. Those that celebrated triumphs he commanded to erect out of the spoils some public work to commemorate their deeds. The Sæcularia he brought for the fifth time to a successful conclusion. The orators, he ordered, were to give their services without pay, on pain of a fine of quadruple the amount they might receive. Those whom the lot made jurymen in any season he forbade to enter any person's house during that year. And since members of the senate showed lack of interest in attending meetings of that body, he increased the penalties for such as were late without some good excuse.
[B.C. 16 (a. u.7386)]
[-19-] Next he started for Gaul, during the consulship of Lucius Domitius and Publius Scipio, making an excuse of the wars that had arisen in that region. For since he had become disliked by many as a result of his long stay in the capital and by inflicting penalties offended many who committed some act contrary to the laws laid down, while he was compelled in sparing many others to transgress his own enactments, he decided to leave the country, somewhat after the manner of Solon. Some suspected that he had gone away on account of Terentia, the wife of Mæcenas, and intended, because there was much talk made about them in Rome, to join her without any gossip during his trip abroad. So great was his passion for her that he once had her enter a contest of beauty against Livia.
Before starting he dedicated the temple of Quirinus, which he had built up anew. By this I mean he had adorned it with seventy-six columns, equal to the total number of years he had lived. This consequently caused some to say that he had chosen the number purposely and not by mere chance. After the consecration of this edifice he arranged through Tiberius and Drusus for gladiatorial combats, permission having been granted them by the senate. Then he committed to Taurus the management of the City together with the rest of Italy,—for Agrippa had been despatched again to Syria and he no longer looked with equal favor on Mæcenas because of the latter's wife,—and taking Tiberius, though he was prætor, along, he set out on his journey. Tiberius had become prætor in spite of holding the honors of an ex-prætor, and his entire office by a decree was placed in the hands of Drusus. The night following their departure the Hall of Youth burned to the ground. This was not the only portent that had occurred, for a wolf had rushed along the Sacred Way into the Forum, tearing men to pieces, and at a distance from the Forum ants were very plainly seen together in swarms; likewise a gleam all night long kept shooting from the south toward the north. Prayers were therefore offered for the safe return of Augustus. Meantime they celebrated the quinquennial festival of his sovereignty, the expense being borne by Agrippa; for the latter had been consecrated by his fellow priests to be one of the quindecimviri to whom the oversight of the event fell in regular succession.
[-20-] There was much other confusion, too, during that period. The Camunni and Vennones, Alpine tribes, flew to arms but were conquered and subdued by Publius Silius. The Pannonians in company with the Norici overran Istria, and after suffering damage at the hands of Silius and his lieutenants the former came to terms again and were the cause of the Norici falling into the same slavery. The uprisings in Dalmatia and in Spain were in a short time quelled. Macedonia was ravaged by the Dentheleti and the Scordisci. In Thrace somewhat earlier Marcus Lollius while aiding Rhoemetalces, the uncle and guardian of the children of Cotys, had subjugated the Bessi. Later Lucius Gallus conquered the Sarmatæ in the same dispute and drove them back across the Ister. The greatest, however, of the wars which at that time fell to the lot of the Romans, which also had something to do, probably, with Augustus's leaving the city, was against the Celtæ.
The Sugambri, Usipetes, and Tencteri had first seized in their own territory some of the Romans and had crucified them, after which they crossed the Rhine and plundered Germania and Gaul. When the Roman cavalry approached they laid an ambush and by taking to flight drew their assailants to follow them; and though they fell in unexpectedly with the Roman leader Lollius, they conquered even him. On ascertaining this Augustus hastened against them but found no warfare to carry on. For the barbarians, learning that Lollius was getting ready and that the emperor was also heading an expedition, retired into their own territory and made peace, giving hostages.
[B.C. 15 (a. u.739)]
[-21-] On this account Augustus had no need of arms, but the demands of various other business consumed the entire time of this year, as well as of the next, in which Marcus Libo and Calpurnius Piso were consuls. For much injury had been wrought by the Celtæ and much by a certain Licinnius.[5] And of this, I think, the sea-monster had very plainly given them warning beforehand. This creature, twenty feet broad and three times as long and resembling a woman except for its head, had been washed up on the land from the ocean. Now Licinnius was originally a Gaul but was captured, brought among Romans, and made a slave to Cæsar, by whom he was set free, and then by Augustus he had been made procurator of Gaul. He had barbarian avarice and Roman haughtiness, and tried to overthrow every person and thing deemed superior to himself and to annihilate any power which temporarily appeared strong. It was his care to supply himself with plenty of funds for the requirements of his ministry as well as to secure a plenty for himself and for members of his family. His abuses went so far that in some cases where the population paid tribute by the month he made the months fourteen in number. He declared that this month called December was really the tenth, and for that reason it was necessary to count in also the two last months (of which he called one Undecimber and the other Duodecimber), and to contribute the money that was due for them. These quibbles brought him into danger. The Gauls secured the ear of Augustus and made a terrible protest, so that the emperor first shared their indignation and next begged them to be patient. Of some of the extortions he said he was unaware and others he affected not to believe. Some things he concealed, being ashamed of having employed such a procurator. Licinnius however, by devising another scheme was enabled to laugh to scorn absolutely all their efforts. When found that Augustus was displeased with him and that he was likely to be punished, he took the emperor into his house, and showing him many treasures of silver and gold and many other valuables piled up in heaps, he said: "I have gathered these purposely, master, for you and for the rest of the Romans, to prevent the inhabitants from getting control of so much money and therefore revolting. You see I have kept it all for you and herewith give it to you." Thus the sophist was saved, by pretending that he had sapped the strength of the barbarians to serve Augustus.
[-22-] Drusus and Tiberius meanwhile were concerned with the following undertakings. The Rhæti, who dwell between Noricum and Gaul, near the Tridentine Alps close to Italy, overran a good part of the adjacent territory of Gaul and carried plunder even out of Italy. Such of the Romans or their allies as used the road going through their country met with depredations. These actions of theirs were of course more or less like those of any nation which has not accepted terms of peace, but further they destroyed all the males among their captives, not only those who were apparent but also the embryo ones in the wombs of women, the sex of which they discovered by some divination. For these reasons Augustus first sent Drusus against them: he joined battle with a detachment of theirs that met him near the Tridentine mountains, and speedily had them routed; for this exploit he received the honors belonging to prætors. Later, when the tribe had been repulsed from Italy but still harassed Gaul, the emperor despatched Tiberius in addition. Both of the leaders then invaded the Rhætian country at many points at once,—the lieutenants leading such divisions as they did not command personally,—and Tiberius even crossed the lake[6] in boats. In this way, by encountering them separately, the Roman commanders spread alarm and had no difficulty in overcoming those who came near enough for fighting at any time, because they had only to deal with scattered forces; the remainder, who had become weaker and more despondent through such tactics, they captured. And because the land had a large population of males and seemed ripe for revolt, they deported most of those of military age, especially the strongest, leaving behind only so many as would be sufficient to inhabit the country but unable to make any uprising.
[-23-] This same year Vedius Pollio died, a man who in general had done nothing deserving notice, being the son of liberti, ranking as a knight, without any achievement of consequence in his record; but he had become exceedingly renowned for his wealth and his cruelty, so that he has even won a place in history. Most of the things that he did it would be wearisome to relate, but I may mention that he kept in tanks huge eels trained to eat men, and was accustomed to throw to them the slaves that he desired to put to death. Once, when he was entertaining Augustus, the cupbearer shattered a crystal goblet, and without respect to the guest he ordered that the fellow be thrown to the eels. Hereupon the boy fell on his knees supplicating Augustus who at first tried to persuade Pollio not to carry out his intentions. As his host would not yield the point the emperor said: "Bring all the rest of the drinking vessels which are of the same sort or any others of value that you may possess, for I want to use them," and when they were brought he ordered them to be broken. The master seeing this was of course vexed but could no longer be angry over one cup, considering the great number of others that were ruined, and could not punish his servant for what Augustus had done; therefore reluctantly he took no action. That was the sort of person this Pollio was, who died. He left various bequests to many different persons and to Augustus a good share of his inheritance together with Pausilypum[7], a place between Neapolis and Puteoli, with instructions that some public work of great beauty should be erected. Augustus razed his house to the foundation, on the pretext that it was necessary for the preparation of the other structure, but really with the purpose that he should have no monument in the city, and built a colonnade, inscribing on it the name not of Pollio but of Livia.
This he did later. At the time mentioned he founded a number of cities as colonies in Gaul and in Spain and restored to the people of Cyzicus their freedom. To the Paphians, who had suffered from an earthquake, he gave money and allowed them, by a decree, to call their city Augusta. I have recorded this, not because Augustus himself and the senators failed to aid many other cities both before and after this, in case of similar misfortunes,—if any one should attempt to mention them all, the task of such a historian would be endless,—but my aim is to show that the senate assigned names to cities as an honor and the latter did not, as is the usual procedure now, compile for themselves (each separately) such lists of names as they might choose.
[B.C. 14 (a. u.740)]
[-24-] The next year Marcus Crassus and Gnæus Cornelius became consuls; and the curule ædiles after resigning their office because they had entered upon it under unfavorable auguries took it back again, contrary to precedent, at another meeting of the assembly. The Portico of Paulus was burned and the fire from it reached the temple of Vesta, so that the sacred objects that this shrine contained were carried up to the Palatine by all of the vestal virgins except the eldest (who had gone blind) and were placed in the house of the priest of Jupiter. The portico was afterward rebuilt, nominally by Æmilius, who was the representative of the family that had formerly erected it, but really by Augustus and the friends of Paulus. At this time the Pannonians revolted and were again subdued, and the maritime Alps, inhabited by Ligurians called Cometæ and still free even then, were reduced to a slave district. The revolt in the Cimmerian Bosporus was also quelled. One Seribonius, who maintained that he was a grandson of Mithridates and had received the kingdom from Augustus after the death of Asander, married the latter's wife, named Dynamis, who was the daughter of Pharnaces and a grandchild of Mithridates, and obtaining the power committed to her by her husband got control of Bosporus. Agrippa on being informed of this sent against him Polemon, king of the Pontus near Cappadocia. He found Seribonius no longer alive, for the people of Bosporus, learning of his ambitions, had killed him beforehand, but when these resisted Polemon out of fear that he might be allowed to reign over them, he engaged them in a set battle. The victory was his, but he was unable to reduce them to order until Agrippa came to Sinope, apparently with the intention of conducting a campaign against them. At that they laid down their arms and were delivered to Polemon. The woman Dynamis became his spouse,—of course with the sanction of Augustus. For this outcome sacrifices were made in the name of Agrippa, but he did not celebrate the triumph, though voted to him. Nay, he did not so much as write the senate anything about what had been accomplished. As a result subsequent conquerors, taking his method as a law, no longer sent any word themselves to the legislative body and did not accept the celebration of a triumph. For this reason no one else among his peers (so I am inclined to think) was permitted to do this, but they enjoyed merely the ornament of triumphal honors.
[-25-] Augustus finally finished ordering everything in the Gauls, the Germanias, and the Hispaniæ: upon special districts he spent a great deal, and levied a great deal upon others, and to some he gave freedom and citizenship, whereas from others he took them away.
[B.C. 13 (a. u.741)]
He then left Drusus in Germania and himself returned to Rome in the consulship of Tiberius and of Quintilius Varus. It chanced that the news of his coming reached the city during those days when Cornelius Balbus after dedicating the theatre now called by his name was giving spectacles. At this he assumed great importance as if it were he that was to bring Augustus back, though because of a flooding of the Tiber there was so great a quantity of water in the theatre that no one could enter it save in a boat; and Tiberius put the vote to Balbus first, as an honor for his building the theatre. The senate convened and among other decisions resolved to place an altar in the senate-chamber itself, to commemorate the return of Augustus, and that criminals who approached him as suppliants within the pomerium should be exempt from punishment. However, he accepted neither of these honors and even escaped a reception by the people on this occasion by being brought into the city under the cover of night. This he did almost always whenever he had to go out to the suburbs or anywhere else, both on his way out and on his way back, so that nobody should annoy him. The following day he greeted the people on the Palatine, ascended the Capitol, and taking off the laurel from around his rods he placed it upon the knees of Jupiter. For that day he furnished the people with baths and barbers free of charge. After this he convened the senate and made no address himself by reason of hoarseness, but gave the book to the quaestor to read which enumerated his achievements and promulgated rules as to how many years the citizens should serve in the army and how much money they should receive at the end of their services in place of the land for which they were always wont to ask. The object was that by being enlisted on certain specified terms from the very start they should find in their treatment no excuse for revolt. The number of years was for the Pretorians twelve and for the rest sixteen; and the money to be distributed was less for some and more for others. These measures caused the soldiers neither pleasure nor anger for the time being, because they had neither obtained all they were desiring nor yet lost everything. In the remainder of the population it aroused confident hopes of not being deprived of their possessions in the future.
[-26-] His next action was to dedicate the theatre called after Marcellus. In the festival held on this account the patrician children as well as his grandson Gaius performed the "Troy" equestrian exercise, and six hundred Libyan wild beasts were slaughtered. Iullus, the son of Antony, who was prætor, celebrated the birthday of Augustus with horse-races and slaughterlng of wild beasts, and entertained both him and the senate (following a decree of that body) upon the Capitol.
After this there was another reorganization of the senate. At first the necessary value of their property had been limited to ten myriad denarii because many of them had been deprived by the wars of their ancestral estates. As time went on and men's possessions became larger, it was advanced to twenty-five myriads, and no one was any longer found who wanted to be senator. On the contrary, some children and grandchildren of senators, of whom a part were really poor and another part had been brought low through calamities suffered by their ancestors, not only failed to lay claim to the senatorial dignity, but when already placed on the list withdrew on oath. Therefore previous to this, while Augustus was still out of the City, a decree had been passed that the so-called viginti viri[8] should be appointed from the knights. Hence none of them was any longed enrolled in the senate without having secured some one of the other offices that lead to it.—These twenty men are a part of the six-and-twenty.[9] Three of them have charge of capital cases at law. The next three attend to the coinage of the money. Four act as commissioners of the streets in the City. Ten are put over the courts that fall by lot to theCentumviri. The two who were entrusted with the roads outside the walls and the four who were sent to Campania had been abolished. The senate had voted during the absence of Augustus another measure besides this, namely that, since nobody could any longer be easily induced to become a candidate for the tribuneship, they might appoint by lot some who had been quæstors and were not yet forty years old. At this time the emperor made a scrutiny of the whole body of citizens. Those of them who were over thirty-five years of age he did not trouble, but those under that age who had property of the requisite value he forced to become senators, except in the case of cripples. Their bodies he viewed himself but in regard to their property he accepted sworn statements, the men themselves taking the oath (with others to corroborate their allegations) and accounting for their lack of funds as well as for their habits of life.
[-27-] Nor did he, while observing such strictness in ordinary public business, neglect the conduct of his own family. Indeed, he rebuked Tiberius because he had seated Gaius beside him at the thanksgiving festival which he gave in honor of the emperor's return: and he censured the people for honoring him with applause and eulogies. On the death of Lepidus he was appointed high priest and the senate consequently wished to vote him certain honors;[10] but he declared that he would not accept them, and when the senators became urgent he rose and left the gathering. So that measure was not ratified, and he received no official residence, but because it was absolutely essential that the high priest should live on public ground he made a portion of his own dwelling public property. The house of the rex sacrificulus, however, he gave to the vestal virgins because it was separated merely by a wall from their apartments.
Cornelius Sisenna was blamed for the conduct of his wife and stated in the senate that he had married her with the knowledge and on the advice of the emperor,—whereat Augustus grew exceedingly angry. He indulged in no violence of word or action but hurried out of the senate-chamber and then a little later came back again, choosing rather to do this (as he said to his friends afterward), in spite of its not being right, than to remain where he was and be compelled to do some harm.
[B.C. 12 (a. u.742)]
[-28-] Meantime he bestowed upon Agrippa, who had come from Syria, the great honor of the tribunician authority for another five years, and sent him out to Pannonia, which was ready for war, allowing him greater powers than officials outside of Italy ordinarily possessed. Agrippa made the campaign though it already was winter: Marcus Valerius and Publius Sulpicius were the consuls. As the Pannonians became terror stricken at his approach and showed no further signs of uprising he returned, and on reaching Campania fell sick. Augustus happened to be giving, under the name of his children, contests of armed warriors at the Panathenaic festival, and when he learned of Agrippa's condition he left the country. Finding him dead, he conveyed his body to the capital and allowed it to lie in state in the Forum. He also delivered the oration over the dead man, with a curtain stretched in front of the corpse. Why he did this I know not. Yet some have said it was because he was high priest, and others because he was discharging the functions of censor. Both are mistaken. A high priest is not forbidden to behold a corpse, nor yet a censor, except when he is about to put the finishing touches to the census. Then if he sees such an object before his purification, all his work is rendered null and void. Besides this oration Augustus conducted his funeral procession in the way that his own was later conducted. He buried him in his own tomb, though the deceased had a lot of his own in the Campus Martius.
[-29-] Such was the end of Agrippa, who had in every way proved himself clearly the noblest of the men of his day and used the friendship of Augustus for the emperor's own greatest benefit and for that of the commonwealth. So much as he surpassed others in excellence, to such an extent did he voluntarily make himself lower than his patron. He employed all his own skill and bravery for what would prove most profitable to Augustus and expended all the honor and power received from him on benefiting others. As a result he never became in the least troublesome to Augustus nor the object of jealousy on the part of others. He helped his friend organize the monarchy like one who was really in love with the idea of supreme power and he won over the populace by his kindness, showing himself most truly a friend of the people. At his death he left them gardens and the bath-house called after his name, so that they might bathe free of charge; and he gave Augustus certain lands for this purpose. The latter not only rendered these public property, but distributed to the people also a hundred denarii apiece, with the explanation that Agrippa had ordered it. He had inherited most of the deceased's property, among the articles of which was the Hellespontine Chersonese, which had come I know not how into the possession of Agrippa. The emperor felt his loss for a very long time and therefore caused the populace to hold him in honor. A posthumous son born to him he called Agrippa. However, he did not allow any of the citizens to omit any of the ancestral customs (although none of the more prominent men wished to present himself for the festivals) and he personally superintended the gladiatorial combats. They were often given, too, in his absence.—This demise of Agrippa was not only a private loss to his own household, but a public loss to all the Romans, as was shown by the fact that portents occurred on this occasion as great as were usually seen before the most tremendous disasters. Owls gathered in the capital and a bolt of lightning descended upon the house at Albanum, where the consuls reside during the sacrifices.[11] The star called comet stood for several days over the City and was finally dissolved into flashes of light. Many buildings in the City were destroyed by fire, among them the tent of Romulus, which was set ablaze by crows dropping upon it burning meat from some altar.—These were the matters of interest connected with Agrippa.
[-30-] After this Augustus was chosen supervisor and corrector of morals for another five years,—this also he received for a limited period as he had the monarchy,—and he ordered the senators to burn incense as often as they had a sitting, and not to come to his residence: the first, that they might show reverence to the gods, and the second, that they might have no difficulty in convening. Inasmuch as very few became candidates for the tribuneship on account of its power having been abolished, he made a law that magistrates should each nominate one of the knights who possessed not less than twenty-five myriads; the people should then choose from these the number lacking, and if the men desired to be senators afterward, well and good; otherwise they should return again to the rank of knights.
The province of Asia also stood very greatly in need of some assistance on account of earthquakes, and he therefore paid into the public treasury from his own resources their annual tribute and assigned them a governor for two years chosen by lot and not arbitrarily selected.
Apuleius and Mæcenas were at one time bitterly reviled in some court of adultery, not because they had themselves behaved wantonly but because they had actively aided the man on trial; thereupon Augustus entered the courtroom and sat in the prætor's chair: he did nothing violent, but simply forbade the accuser to insult his relatives or friends, and then rose and left the place. For this action and others the senators honored him with statues, paid for by private subscription, and by giving bachelors and spinsters the right to behold spectacles with other people and to attend banquets on his birthday. Neither of these privileges was previously permitted them.
[-31-] When now Agrippa, whom he loved for his excellence and not through any compulsion, had died, the emperor found that he needed an assistant in the public business, one who would far surpass the rest in both honor and power, who might manage everything opportunely and be free from envy and plots. Therefore he reluctantly chose Tiberius, for his own grandsons were at this time still minors. He caused him also to divorce his wife, though she was a daughter of Agrippa by another marriage and had one child an infant and was soon to give birth to another; and having betrothed Julia to him he sent him out against the Pannonians. This people had for a time been quiet, fearing Agrippa, but now after his death they revolted. Tiberius subdued them, having ravaged considerable of their territory and done much injury to its inhabitants; he had as enthusiastic allies the Scordisci, who were neighbors of theirs and similarly equipped. He took away their arms and sold for export most of the male population that was of age. For these achievements the senate voted him a triumph, but Augustus did not allow him to hold it, granting him instead the triumphal honors.
[-32-] Drusus had this same experience. The Sugambri and their allies, owing to the absence of Augustus and the fact that the Gauls were restive under the yoke of slavery, had become hostile, and he therefore occupied the subject territory before them, sending for the foremost men on the pretext of the festival which they celebrate even now about the altar of Augustus at Lugdunum. Also he observed the Celtae crossing the Rhine and drove them back. Next he crossed over to the land of the Usipetes opposite the very island of the Batavi, and from there marched along the river to the Sugambri country, devastating vast stretches. He sailed along the Rhine to the ocean, conciliated the Frisii, and traversing the lake invaded Chaucis, where he ran in danger, as his boats were left high and dry at the ebb-tide of the ocean. He was saved at this time by the Frisii (who joined his expedition with infantry), and withdrew, for it was now winter.
[B.C. 11(a. u.743)]
Coming to Rome he was made aedile[12]in the consulship of Quintus Aelius and Paulus Fabius, though he had already prætor's honors.
[-33-] At the opening of the spring he set out again to the war, crossed the Rhine, and subjugated the Usipetes. He bridged the Lupia, invaded the country of the Sugambri and advanced through it into Cheruscis, as far as the Visurgis. He was able to do this because the Sugambri in anger at the Chatti, the only tribe among their neighbors that had refused to join their alliance, had made a campaign of the whole population against them. Drusus took this opportunity to traverse their country unnoticed. And he would nave crossed also the Visurgis, had not provisions grown scarce and the their country, and though beaten at first vanquished them in turn and ravaged both that land and the territory of adjacent tribes which had taken part in the uprising. Immediately he reduced all of them to subjugation, gaining control of some with their consent, terrifying others into reluctant submission, and engaging in pitched battles with others. Later, when some of them rebelled, he again enslaved them. And for this thanksgivings and triumphal honors were accorded him.
[-35-] While these events were occurring Augustus took a census, reckoning in all the property that belonged to him, as an individual might do, and also making a list of the senate. As he saw that many were not always present at the meetings he ordered that even less than four hundred might constitute a quorum for passing decrees. Previously that had been the minimum number for ratifying any measure. The senate and the people again contributed money to be spent on images of himself, but he would erect no such likeness, and only set up representations of the Public Health, of Concord, and of Peace. The citizens were always collecting money for statues to him, on the slightest excuse; and at last they ceased paying it privately, as before, but would come to him on the first day of the year and give, some more, some less. He, after adding as much or more again, would return it, not only to the senators but to all the rest. I have also heard the story that on one day of the year, following some oracle or dream, he would assume the guise of a beggar and would accept money from those who passed. This, whether trustworthy or not, is a prevailing tradition.
That year he gave Julia in marriage to Tiberius, and his sister Octavia dying, he caused her body to lie in state in the hero-shrine of Julius; on this occasion, too, he had a curtain over the corpse. He himself delivered there the funeral speech and Drusus, having changed his senatorial dress, had a place on the platform, for the mourning was a public affair. Her body was carried in procession by her sons-in-law: not all the honors voted to her were accepted by Augustus.
At this same time the first priest of Jupiter since [-36-] Merula was appointed; and the quaestors were ordered to pay careful heed to the decrees passed from time to time, because the tribunes and the ædiles, who had previously been entrusted with this business, transacted it through their assistants, and as a result some mistakes and confusion took place.
It was voted, moreover, that the temple of Janus Geminus, which was open, should be closed, on the assumption that wars had ceased.
[B.C. 10 (a. u.744)]
It was not closed, however, for the Dacians crossing the Ister on the ice took the crops of Pannonia as booty, and the Dalmatians revolted at the imposition of taxes. Against the latter Tiberius was sent from Gaul, whither he had gone in company with Augustus, and he restored order. The nations of the Celtæ, and especially the Chatti, were partly weakened and partly subdued by Drusus; the tribe mentioned had gone to join the Sugambri, having abandoned their own country, which the Romans had given them to dwell in. The emperor delayed in Lugdunis, where he could keep a sharp watch on affairs, as it was so near the Celtæ. The victors returned to Rome with Augustus, assumed whatever dignities had been voted them by the senate, and performed such other duties as belonged to them.—These events took place in the consulship of Iullus and Fabius Maximus.
[Footnote 1: Pliny (Natural History VI, 181) calls himPublius.]
[Footnote 2: Readings and punctuation from Dindorf.]
[Footnote 3: Augustus returned to Rome October twelfth, and the temple in question was consecrated December fifteenth.]
[Footnote 4: Boissevain here amends to [Greek: 'epelpisas]]
[Footnote 5: In the matter of the spelling of this name the weight of authority prefersLicinus. Dio's form is less correct.]
[Footnote 6: I. e., thelacus Venetus.]
[Footnote 7: This eminence with its villa appropriately bore the Greek titlePausilypon(Grief's Surcease), a compound word like our modern namesHeartsease,Sans Souci, etc. It is the modern "Hill of Posilipo."]
[Footnote 8: English,Twenty Men; their regular title.]
[Footnote 9: Latin,Viginti Sex Viri.]
[Footnote 10: The words "certain honors" are supplied on the suggestion of Boissevain. Boissée and others, who surmise that the text here contains a lacuna]
[Footnote 11: I. e., at the time of the Feriæ.]
[Footnote 12: The reading [Greek: agoranomos] is generally preferred here to [Greek: asotunmos]]
55
The following is contained in the Fifty-fifth of Dio's Rome:
How Drusus died (chapters 1, 2).
How the Precinct of Livia was consecrated (chapter 8)
How the Campus Agrippae was consecrated (chapter 8)
How the Diribitorium was consecrated (chapter 8).
How Tiberius retired to Rome (chapter 11).
How the Forum of Augustus was consecrated (chapter 12).
How the Temple of Mars therein was consecrated (chapter 12).
How Lucius Cæsar and Gaius Cæsar died (chapters 11, 12).
How Augustus adopted Tiberius (chapter 13).
How Livia urged Augustus to rule more mercifully (chapters 14-22).
About the legions and how men were appointed to manage the military fund (chapters 23-25).
How the night-watchmen[1] were appointed (chapter 26).
How Tiberius fought against the Dalmatians and Pannonians (chapters 28-34).
Duration of time, 17 years, in which there were the following magistrates here enumerated:
Nero Claudius Tib. F. Drusus, T. Quinctius T. F. Crispinus. (B.C. 9 = a. u. 745.)
C. Marcius L. F. Censorinus, C. Asinius C. F. Gallus. (B.C. 8 = a. u. 746.)
Tib. Claudius Tib. F. Nero (II), Cn. Calpurnius Cn. F. Piso. (B.C. 7 = a. u. 747.)
Decimus Laelius Decimi F. Balbus, C. Antistius C. F. Veter. (B.C. 6 = a. u. 748.)
Augustus (XII), L. Cornelius P. F. Sulla. (B.C. 5 = a. u. 749.)
C. Calvisius C. F. Sabinus (II), L. Passienus Rufus (B.C. 4 = a. u. 750.)
L. Cornelius L. F. Lentulus, M. Valerius M. F. Messalla [or] Messalinus.(B.C. 3 = a. u. 751.)
Augustus (XIII), M. Plautius M. F. Silvanus. (B.C. 2 = a. u. 752.)
Cossus Cornelius Cn. F. Lentulus, L. Calpurnius Cn. F. Piso (B.C. 1 = a. u. 753.)
C. Cæsar Augusti F., L. Æmilius L. F. Paulus. (A.D. 1 = a. u. 754.)
P. Vinicius [or Minucius] M. F., P. Alfenus [or Alfenius] P.F. Varus.(A.D. 2 = a. u. 755.)
L. Ælius L. F. Lamia, M. Servilius M.F. (A.D. 3 = a. u. 756.)
Sextus Ælius Q. F. Catus, C. Sentius C.F. Saturninus. (A.D. 4 = a. u. 757.)
L. Valerius Potiti F. Messala Valesus, Cn. Cornelius L. F. Cinna Magnus.(A.D. 5 = a. u. 758.)
M. Æmilius L.F. Lepidus, L Arruntius L.F. (A.D. 6 = a. u. 759)
Aul. Licinius Aul. F. Nerva Silianus, Q. Cæcilius Q.F. Metellus Creticus.(A.D. 7 = a. u. 760.)
M. Furius M. F. Camillus, Sex. Nonius L.F. Quintilianus. (A.D. 8 = a. u. 761.)
[B.C. 9 (a. u.745)]
[-1-] The following year Drusus became consul with Titus Crispinus, and omens occurred that were not favorable to him. Many buildings were destroyed by storm and thunderbolts, among them many temples: even that of Jupiter Capitolinus and the temple annexed to it were injured. He, however, paid no attention to this and invaded the country of the Chatti, advancing as far as Suebia, conquering the territory traversed not without hardship and vanquishing the troops that assailed him not without bloodshed. From there he marched to Cheruscis and crossing the Visurgis proceeded as far as the Albis, pillaging the entire district. This Albis rises in the Vandaliscan mountains and empties in a great flood into the ocean this side of the Arctic Sea. Drusus undertook to cross it, but failing in the attempt set up trophies and withdrew. For a woman taller than mankind confronted him and said: "Whither are thou hastening, insatiable Drusus? It is not fated that thou shalt see all this region. Depart. For thee the end of labor and of life is already at hand." It is strange to think that any such voice should have come to a person's ears from the apparition, yet I can not discredit the tale, for he at once retired. And as he was returning in haste he died on the way of some disease, before he reached the Rhine. Proof of the story seems to me to lie in the fact that at the time of his death wolves prowled and yelped about the camp and two youths were seen riding through the middle of the ramparts. A kind of lamentation in a woman's voice was also heard, and there were shooting stars in the sky. These are the noteworthy points. [-2-] Augustus, soon learning that he was sick (for he was not far off), sent Tiberius to him with speed. The latter found him still breathing and on his death carried his body to Rome, causing the centurions and military tribunes to convey him over the first stage,—as far as the winter quarters of the army,—and from there the foremost men of each city. When the deceased was laid in state in the Forum a double funeral oration was delivered. Tiberius eulogized him there and Augustus in the Flaminian hippodrome. Since the latter had been abroad on a campaign it was impious for him to do otherwise than perform the fitting rites in honor of the exploits of Drusus at the very entrance of the pomerium. The body was carried to the Campus Martius by the knights, both those who belonged strictly to the equestrian order and those, as well, who were of senatorial family.[2] Then, after being given to the flames, it was deposited in the monument of Augustus. He and his children received the title of Germanicus and honors in the way of both images and an arch, besides obtaining a cenotaph close to the Rhine itself.