nor did he usually call them by any other name than that of his “three
imposthumes or cancers.”
LXVI. He was cautious in forming friendships, but clung to them with
great constancy; not only rewarding the virtues and merits of his friends
according to their deserts, but bearing likewise with their faults and
vices, provided that they were (120) of a venial kind. For amongst all
his friends, we scarcely find any who fell into disgrace with him, except
Salvidienus Rufus, whom he raised to the consulship, and Cornelius
Gallus, whom he made prefect of Egypt; both of them men of the lowest
extraction. One of these, being engaged in plotting a rebellion, he
delivered over to the senate, for condemnation; and the other, on account
of his ungrateful and malicious temper, he forbad his house, and his
living in any of the provinces. When, however, Gallus, being denounced
by his accusers, and sentenced by the senate, was driven to the desperate
extremity of laying violent hands upon himself, he commended, indeed, the
attachment to his person of those who manifested so much indignation, but
he shed tears, and lamented his unhappy condition, “That I alone,” said
he, “cannot be allowed to resent the misconduct of my friends in such a
way only as I would wish.” The rest of his friends of all orders
flourished during their whole lives, both in power and wealth, in the
highest ranks of their several orders, notwithstanding some occasional
lapses. For, to say nothing of others, he sometimes complained that
Agrippa was hasty, and Mecaenas a tattler; the former having thrown up
all his employments and retired to Mitylene, on suspicion of some slight
coolness, and from jealousy that Marcellus received greater marks of
favour; and the latter having confidentially imparted to his wife
Terentia the discovery of Muraena’s conspiracy.
He likewise expected from his friends, at their deaths as well as during
their lives, some proofs of their reciprocal attachment. For though he
was far from coveting their property, and indeed would never accept of
any legacy left him by a stranger, yet he pondered in a melancholy mood
over their last words; not being able to conceal his chagrin, if in their
wills they made but a slight, or no very honourable mention of him, nor
his joy, on the other hand, if they expressed a grateful sense of his
favours, and a hearty affection for him. And whatever legacies or shares
of their property were left him by such as were parents, he used to
restore to their children, either immediately, or if they were under age,
upon the day of their assuming the manly dress, or of their marriage;
with interest.
LXVII. As a patron and master, his behaviour in general was mild and
conciliating; but when occasion required it, he (121) could be severe.
He advanced many of his freedmen to posts of honour and great importance,
as Licinus, Enceladus, and others; and when his slave, Cosmus, had
reflected bitterly upon him, he resented the injury no further than by
putting him in fetters. When his steward, Diomedes, left him to the
mercy of a wild boar, which suddenly attacked them while they were
walking together, he considered it rather a cowardice than a breach of
duty; and turned an occurrence of no small hazard into a jest, because
there was no knavery in his steward’s conduct. He put to death Proculus,
one of his most favourite freedmen, for maintaining a criminal commerce
with other men’s wives. He broke the legs of his secretary, Thallus, for
taking a bribe of five hundred denarii to discover the contents of one of
his letters. And the tutor and other attendants of his son Caius, having
taken advantage of his sickness and death, to give loose to their
insolence and rapacity in the province he governed, he caused heavy
weights to be tied about their necks, and had them thrown into a river.
LXVIII. In his early youth various aspersions of an infamous character
were heaped upon him. Sextus Pompey reproached him with being an
effeminate fellow; and M. Antony, with earning his adoption from his
uncle by prostitution. Lucius Antony, likewise Mark’s brother, charges
him with pollution by Caesar; and that, for a gratification of three
hundred thousand sesterces, he had submitted to Aulus Hirtius in the same
way, in Spain; adding, that he used to singe his legs with burnt
nut-shells, to make the hair become softer [207]. Nay, the whole
concourse of the people, at some public diversions in the theatre, when
the following sentence was recited, alluding to the Gallic priest of the
mother of the gods [208], beating a drum [209],
Videsne ut cinaedus orbem digito temperet?
See with his orb the wanton’s finger play!
applied the passage to him, with great applause.
(122) LXIX. That he was guilty of various acts of adultery, is not
denied even by his friends; but they allege in excuse for it, that he
engaged in those intrigues not from lewdness, but from policy, in order
to discover more easily the designs of his enemies, through their wives.
Mark Antony, besides the precipitate marriage of Livia, charges him with
taking the wife of a man of consular rank from table, in the presence of
her husband, into a bed-chamber, and bringing her again to the
entertainment, with her ears very red, and her hair in great disorder:
that he had divorced Scribonia, for resenting too freely the excessive
influence which one of his mistresses had gained over him: that his
friends were employed to pimp for him, and accordingly obliged both
matrons and ripe virgins to strip, for a complete examination of their
persons, in the same manner as if Thoranius, the dealer in slaves, had
them under sale. And before they came to an open rupture, he writes to
him in a familiar manner, thus: “Why are you changed towards me? Because
I lie with a queen? She is my wife. Is this a new thing with me, or
have I not done so for these nine years? And do you take freedoms with
Drusilla only? May health and happiness so attend you, as when you read
this letter, you are not in dalliance with Tertulla, Terentilla, Rufilla
[210], or Salvia Titiscenia, or all of them. What matters it to you
where, or upon whom, you spend your manly vigour?”
LXX. A private entertainment which he gave, commonly called the Supper
of the Twelve Gods [211], and at which the guests (123) were dressed in
the habit of gods and goddesses, while he personated Apollo himself,
afforded subject of much conversation, and was imputed to him not only by
Antony in his letters, who likewise names all the parties concerned, but
in the following well-known anonymous verses:
Cum primum istorum conduxit mensa choragum,
Sexque deos vidit Mallia, sexque deas
Impia dum Phoebi Caesar mendacia ludit,
Dum nova divorum coenat adulteria:
Omnia se a terris tunc numina declinarunt:
Fugit et auratos Jupiter ipse thronos.
When Mallia late beheld, in mingled train,
Twelve mortals ape twelve deities in vain;
Caesar assumed what was Apollo’s due,
And wine and lust inflamed the motley crew.
At the foul sight the gods avert their eyes,
And from his throne great Jove indignant flies.
What rendered this supper more obnoxious to public censure, was that it
happened at a time when there was a great scarcity, and almost a famine,
in the city. The day after, there was a cry current among the people,
“that the gods had eaten up all the corn; and that Caesar was indeed
Apollo, but Apollo the Tormentor;” under which title that god was
worshipped in some quarter of the city [212]. He was likewise charged
with being excessively fond of fine furniture, and Corinthian vessels, as
well as with being addicted to gaming. For, during the time of the
proscription, the following line was written upon his statue:--
Pater argentarius, ego Corinthiarius;
My father was a silversmith [213], my dealings are in brass;
because it was believed, that he had put some persons upon the list of
the proscribed, only to obtain the Corinthian vessels in (124) their
possession. And afterwards, in the Sicilian war, the following epigram
was published:--
Postquam bis classe victus naves perdidit,
Aliquando ut vincat, ludit assidue aleam.
Twice having lost a fleet in luckless fight,
To win at last, he games both day and night.
LXXI. With respect to the charge or imputation of loathsome impurity
before-mentioned, he very easily refuted it by the chastity of his life,
at the very time when it was made, as well as ever afterwards. His
conduct likewise gave the lie to that of luxurious extravagance in his
furniture, when, upon the taking of Alexandria, he reserved for himself
nothing of the royal treasures but a porcelain cup, and soon afterwards
melted down all the vessels of gold, even such as were intended for
common use. But his amorous propensities never left him, and, as he grew
older, as is reported, he was in the habit of debauching young girls, who
were procured for him, from all quarters, even by his own wife. To the
observations on his gaming, he paid not the smallest regard; but played
in public, but purely for his diversion, even when he was advanced in
years; and not only in the month of December [214], but at other times,
and upon all days, whether festivals or not. This evidently appears from
a letter under his own hand, in which he says, “I supped, my dear
Tiberius, with the same company. We had, besides, Vinicius, and Silvius
the father. We gamed at supper like old fellows, both yesterday and
today. And as any one threw upon the tali [215] aces or sixes, he put
down for every talus a denarius; all which was gained by him who threw a
Venus.” [216] In another letter, he says: “We had, my dear Tiberius, a
pleasant time of it during the festival of Minerva: for we played every
day, and kept the gaming-board warm. Your brother uttered many
exclamations at a desperate run of ill-fortune; but recovering by
degrees, and unexpectedly, he in the end lost not much. I lost twenty
thousand sesterces for my part; but then I was profusely (125) generous
in my play, as I commonly am; for had I insisted upon the stakes which I
declined, or kept what I gave away, I should have won about fifty
thousand. But this I like better for it will raise my character for
generosity to the skies.” In a letter to his daughter, he writes thus:
“I have sent you two hundred and fifty denarii, which I gave to every one
of my guests; in case they were inclined at supper to divert themselves
with the Tali, or at the game of Even-or-Odd.”
LXXII. In other matters, it appears that he was moderate in his habits,
and free from suspicion of any kind of vice. He lived at first near the
Roman Forum, above the Ring-maker’s Stairs, in a house which had once
been occupied by Calvus the orator. He afterwards moved to the Palatine
Hill, where he resided in a small house [217] belonging to Hortensius, no
way remarkable either for size or ornament; the piazzas being but small,
the pillars of Alban stone [218], and the rooms without any thing of
marble, or fine paving. He continued to use the same bed-chamber, both
winter and summer, during forty years [219]: for though he was sensible
that the city did not agree with his health in the winter, he
nevertheless resided constantly in it during that season. If at any time
he wished to be perfectly retired, and secure from interruption, he shut
himself up in an apartment at the top of his house, which he called his
Syracuse or Technophuon [220], or he went to some villa belonging to his
freedmen near the city. But when he was indisposed, he commonly took up
his residence in the house of Mecaenas [221]. Of all the places of
retirement from the city, he (126) chiefly frequented those upon the
sea-coast, and the islands of Campania [222], or the towns nearest the
city, such as Lanuvium, Praeneste, and Tibur [223], where he often used to
sit for the administration of justice, in the porticos of the temple of
Hercules. He had a particular aversion to large and sumptuous palaces;
and some which had been raised at a vast expense by his grand-daughter,
Julia, he levelled to the ground. Those of his own, which were far from
being spacious, he adorned, not so much with statues and pictures, as with
walks and groves, and things which were curious either for their antiquity
or rarity; such as, at Capri, the huge limbs of sea-monsters and wild
beasts, which some affect to call the bones of giants; and also the arms
of ancient heroes.
LXXIII. His frugality in the furniture of his house appears even at this
day, from some beds and tables still remaining, most of which are
scarcely elegant enough for a private family. It is reported that he
never lay upon a bed, but such as was low, and meanly furnished. He
seldom wore any garment but what was made by the hands of his wife,
sister, daughter, and grand-daughters. His togas [224] were neither
scanty nor full; (127) and the clavus was neither remarkably broad or
narrow. His shoes were a little higher than common, to make him appear
taller than he was. He had always clothes and shoes, fit to appear in
public, ready in his bed-chamber for any sudden occasion.
LXXIV. At his table, which was always plentiful and elegant, he
constantly entertained company; but was very scrupulous in the choice of
them, both as to rank and character. Valerius Messala informs us, that
he never admitted any freedman to his table, except Menas, when rewarded
with the privilege of citizenship, for betraying Pompey’s fleet. He
writes, himself, that he invited to his table a person in whose villa he
lodged, and who had formerly been employed by him as a spy. He often
came late to table, and withdrew early; so that the company began supper
before his arrival, and continued at table after his departure. His
entertainments consisted of three entries, or at most of only six. But
if his fare was moderate, his courtesy was extreme. For those who were
silent, or talked in whispers, he encouraged to join in the general
conversation; and introduced buffoons and stage players, or even low
performers from the circus, and very often itinerant humourists, to
enliven the company.
LXXV. Festivals and holidays he usually celebrated very expensively, but
sometimes only with merriment. In the Saturnalia, or at any other time
when the fancy took him, he distributed to his company clothes, gold, and
silver; sometimes coins of all sorts, even of the ancient kings of Rome
and of foreign nations; sometimes nothing but towels, sponges, rakes, and
tweezers, and other things of that kind, with tickets on them, which were
enigmatical, and had a double meaning [225]. He used likewise to sell by
lot among his guests articles of very unequal value, and pictures with
their fronts reversed; and so, by the unknown quality of the lot,
disappoint or gratify the expectation of the purchasers. This sort of
traffic (128) went round the whole company, every one being obliged to
buy something, and to run the chance of loss or gain wits the rest.
LXXVI. He ate sparingly (for I must not omit even this), and commonly
used a plain diet. He was particularly fond of coarse bread, small
fishes, new cheese made of cow’s milk [226], and green figs of the sort
which bear fruit twice a year [227]. He did not wait for supper, but
took food at any time, and in any place, when he had an appetite. The
following passages relative to this subject, I have transcribed from his
letters. “I ate a little bread and some small dates, in my carriage.”
Again. “In returning home from the palace in my litter, I ate an ounce
of bread, and a few raisins.” Again. “No Jew, my dear Tiberius, ever
keeps such strict fast upon the Sabbath [228], as I have to-day; for
while in the bath, and after the first hour of the night, I only ate two
biscuits, before I began to be rubbed with oil.” From this great
indifference about his diet, he sometimes supped by himself, before his
company began, or after they had finished, and would not touch a morsel
at table with his guests.
LXXVII. He was by nature extremely sparing in the use of wine.
Cornelius Nepos says, that he used to drink only three times at supper in
the camp at Modena; and when he indulged himself the most, he never
exceeded a pint; or if he did, his stomach rejected it. Of all wines, he
gave the (129) preference to the Rhaetian [229], but scarcely ever drank
any in the day-time. Instead of drinking, he used to take a piece of
bread dipped in cold water, or a slice of cucumber, or some leaves of
lettuce, or a green, sharp, juicy apple.
LXXVIII. After a slight repast at noon, he used to seek repose [230],
dressed as he was, and with his shoes on, his feet covered, and his hand
held before his eyes. After supper he commonly withdrew to his study, a
small closet, where he sat late, until he had put down in his diary all
or most of the remaining transactions of the day, which he had not before
registered. He would then go to bed, but never slept above seven hours
at most, and that not without interruption; for he would wake three or
four times during that time. If he could not again fall asleep, as
sometimes happened, he called for some one to read or tell stories to
him, until he became drowsy, and then his sleep was usually protracted
till after day-break. He never liked to lie awake in the dark, without
somebody to sit by him. Very early rising was apt to disagree with him.
On which account, if he was obliged to rise betimes, for any civil or
religious functions, in order to guard as much as possible against the
inconvenience resulting from it, he used to lodge in some apartment near
the spot, belonging to any of his attendants. If at any time a fit of
drowsiness seized him in passing along the streets, his litter was set
down while he snatched a few moments’ sleep.
LXXIX. In person he was handsome and graceful, through every period of
his life. But he was negligent in his dress; and so careless about
dressing his hair, that he usually had it done in great haste, by several
barbers at a time. His beard he sometimes clipped, and sometimes shaved;
and either read or wrote during the operation. His countenance, either
when discoursing or silent, was so calm and serene, that a (130) Gaul of
the first rank declared amongst his friends, that he was so softened by
it, as to be restrained from throwing him down a precipice, in his
passage over the Alps, when he had been admitted to approach him, under
pretence of conferring with him. His eyes were bright and piercing; and
he was willing it should be thought that there was something of a divine
vigour in them. He was likewise not a little pleased to see people, upon
his looking steadfastly at them, lower their countenances, as if the sun
shone in their eyes. But in his old age, he saw very imperfectly with
his left eye. His teeth were thin set, small and scaly, his hair a
little curled, and inclining to a yellow colour. His eye-brows met; his
ears were small, and he had an aquiline nose. His complexion was betwixt
brown and fair; his stature but low; though Julius Marathus, his
freedman, says he was five feet and nine inches in height. This,
however, was so much concealed by the just proportion of his limbs, that
it was only perceivable upon comparison with some taller person standing
by him.
LXXX. He is said to have been born with many spots upon his breast and
belly, answering to the figure, order, and number of the stars in the
constellation of the Bear. He had besides several callosities resembling
scars, occasioned by an itching in his body, and the constant and violent
use of the strigil [231] in being rubbed. He had a weakness in his left
hip, thigh, and leg, insomuch that he often halted on that side; but he
received much benefit from the use of sand and reeds. He likewise
sometimes found the fore-finger of his right hand so weak, that when it
was benumbed and contracted with cold, to use it in writing, he was
obliged to have recourse to a circular piece of horn. He had
occasionally a complaint in the bladder; but upon voiding some stones in
his urine, he was relieved from that pain.
LXXXI. During the whole course of his life, he suffered, at times,
dangerous fits of sickness, especially after the conquest of Cantabria;
when his liver being injured by a defluxion (131) upon it, he was reduced
to such a condition, that he was obliged to undergo a desperate and
doubtful method of cure: for warm applications having no effect, Antonius
Musa [232] directed the use of those which were cold. He was likewise
subject to fits of sickness at stated times every year; for about his
birth-day [233] he was commonly a little indisposed. In the beginning of
spring, he was attacked with an inflation of the midriff; and when the
wind was southerly, with a cold in his head. By all these complaints,
his constitution was so shattered, that he could not easily bear either
heat or cold.
LXXXII. In winter, he was protected against the inclemency of the
weather by a thick toga, four tunics, a shirt, a flannel stomacher, and
swathings upon his legs and thighs [234]. In summer, he lay with the
doors of his bedchamber open, and frequently in a piazza, refreshed by a
bubbling fountain, and a person standing by to fan him. He could not
bear even the winter’s sun; and at home, never walked in the open air
without a broad-brimmed hat on his head. He usually travelled in a
litter, and by night: and so slow, that he was two days in going to
Praeneste or Tibur. And if he could go to any place by sea, he preferred
that mode of travelling. He carefully nourished his health against his
many infirmities, avoiding chiefly the free use of the bath; but he was
often rubbed with oil, and sweated in a stove; after which he was washed
with tepid water, warmed either by a fire, or by being exposed to the
heat of the sun. When, upon account of his nerves, he was obliged to
have recourse to sea-water, or the waters of Albula [235], he was
contented with sitting over a wooden tub, which he called by a Spanish
name (132) Dureta, and plunging his hands and feet in the water by turns.
LXXXIII. As soon as the civil wars were ended, he gave up riding and
other military exercises in the Campus Martius, and took to playing at
ball, or foot-ball; but soon afterwards used no other exercise than that
of going abroad in his litter, or walking. Towards the end of his walk,
he would run leaping, wrapped up in a short cloak or cape. For amusement
he would sometimes angle, or play with dice, pebbles, or nuts, with
little boys, collected from various countries, and particularly Moors and
Syrians, for their beauty or amusing talk. But dwarfs, and such as were
in any way deformed, he held in abhorrence, as lusus naturae (nature’s
abortions), and of evil omen.
LXXXIV. From early youth he devoted himself with great diligence and
application to the study of eloquence, and the other liberal arts. In
the war of Modena, notwithstanding the weighty affairs in which he was
engaged, he is said to have read, written, and declaimed every day. He
never addressed the senate, the people, or the army, but in a
premeditated speech, though he did not want the talent of speaking
extempore on the spur of the occasion. And lest his memory should fail
him, as well as to prevent the loss of time in getting up his speeches,
it was his general practice to recite them. In his intercourse with
individuals, and even with his wife Livia, upon subjects of importance he
wrote on his tablets all he wished to express, lest, if he spoke
extempore, he should say more or less than was proper. He delivered
himself in a sweet and peculiar tone, in which he was diligently
instructed by a master of elocution. But when he had a cold, he
sometimes employed a herald to deliver his speeches to the people.
LXXXV. He composed many tracts in prose on various subjects, some of
which he read occasionally in the circle of his friends, as to an
auditory. Among these was his “Rescript to Brutus respecting Cato.”
Most of the pages he read himself, although he was advanced in years, but
becoming fatigued, he gave the rest to Tiberius to finish. He likewise
read over to (133) his friends his “Exhortations to Philosophy,” and the
“History of his own Life,” which he continued in thirteen books, as far
as the Cantabrian war, but no farther. He likewise made some attempts at
poetry. There is extant one book written by him in hexameter verse, of
which both the subject and title is “Sicily.” There is also a book of
Epigrams, no larger than the last, which he composed almost entirely
while he was in the bath. These are all his poetical compositions for
though he begun a tragedy with great zest, becoming dissatisfied with the
style, he obliterated the whole; and his friends saying to him, “What is
your Ajax doing?” he answered, “My Ajax has met with a sponge.” [236]
LXXXVI. He cultivated a style which was neat and chaste, avoiding
frivolous or harsh language, as well as obsolete words, which he calls
disgusting. His chief object was to deliver his thoughts with all
possible perspicuity. To attain this end, and that he might nowhere
perplex, or retard the reader or hearer, he made no scruple to add
prepositions to his verbs, or to repeat the same conjunction several
times; which, when omitted, occasion some little obscurity, but give a
grace to the style. Those who used affected language, or adopted
obsolete words, he despised, as equally faulty, though in different ways.
He sometimes indulged himself in jesting, particularly with his friend
Mecaenas, whom he rallied upon all occasions for his fine phrases [237],
and bantered by imitating his way of talking. Nor did he spare Tiberius,
who was fond of obsolete and far-fetched expressions. He charges Mark
Antony with insanity, writing rather to make men stare, than to be
understood; and by way of sarcasm upon his depraved and fickle taste in
the choice of words, he writes to him thus: “And are you yet in doubt,
whether Cimber Annius or Veranius Flaccus be more proper for your
imitation? Whether you will adopt words which Sallustius Crispus has
borrowed from the ‘Origines’ of Cato? Or do you think that the verbose
empty bombast of Asiatic orators is fit to be transfused into (134) our
language?” And in a letter where he commends the talent of his
grand-daughter, Agrippina, he says, “But you must be particularly careful,
both in writing and speaking, to avoid affectation.”
LXXXVII. In ordinary conversation, he made use of several peculiar
expressions, as appears from letters in his own hand-writing; in which,
now and then, when he means to intimate that some persons would never pay
their debts, he says, “They will pay at the Greek Calends.” And when he
advised patience in the present posture of affairs, he would say, “Let us
be content with our Cato.” To describe anything in haste, he said, “It
was sooner done than asparagus is cooked.” He constantly puts baceolus
for stultus, pullejaceus for pullus, vacerrosus for cerritus, vapide se
habere for male, and betizare for languere, which is commonly called
lachanizare. Likewise simus for sumus, domos for domus in the genitive
singular [238]. With respect to the last two peculiarities, lest any
person should imagine that they were only slips of his pen, and not
customary with him, he never varies. I have likewise remarked this
singularity in his hand-writing; he never divides his words, so as to
carry the letters which cannot be inserted at the end of a line to the
next, but puts them below the other, enclosed by a bracket.
LXXXVIII. He did not adhere strictly to orthography as laid down by the
grammarians, but seems to have been of the opinion of those who think,
that we ought to write as we speak; for as to his changing and omitting
not only letters but whole syllables, it is a vulgar mistake. Nor should
I have taken notice of it, but that it appears strange to me, that any
person should have told us, that he sent a successor to a consular
lieutenant of a province, as an ignorant, illiterate fellow, upon his
observing that he had written ixi for ipsi. When he had occasion to
write in cypher, he put b for a, c for b, and so forth; and instead
of z, aa.
LXXXIX. He was no less fond of the Greek literature, in which he made
considerable proficiency; having had Apollodorus (135) of Pergamus, for
his master in rhetoric; whom, though much advanced in years, he took with
him from The City, when he was himself very young, to Apollonia.
Afterwards, being instructed in philology by Sephaerus, he received into
his family Areus the philosopher, and his sons Dionysius and Nicanor; but
he never could speak the Greek tongue readily, nor ever ventured to
compose in it. For if there was occasion for him to deliver his
sentiments in that language, he always expressed what he had to say in
Latin, and gave it another to translate. He was evidently not
unacquainted with the poetry of the Greeks, and had a great taste for the
ancient comedy, which he often brought upon the stage, in his public
spectacles. In reading the Greek and Latin authors, he paid particular
attention to precepts and examples which might be useful in public or
private life. Those he used to extract verbatim, and gave to his
domestics, or send to the commanders of the armies, the governors of the
provinces, or the magistrates of the city, when any of them seemed to
stand in need of admonition. He likewise read whole books to the senate,
and frequently made them known to the people by his edicts; such as the
orations of Quintus Metellus “for the Encouragement of Marriage,” and
those of Rutilius “On the Style of Building;” [239] to shew the people
that he was not the first who had promoted those objects, but that the
ancients likewise had thought them worthy their attention. He patronised
the men of genius of that age in every possible way. He would hear them
read their works with a great deal of patience and good nature; and not
only poetry [240] and history, but orations and dialogues. He was
displeased, however, that anything should be written upon himself, except
in a grave manner, and by men of the most eminent abilities: and he
enjoined the praetors not to suffer his name to be made too common in the
contests amongst orators and poets in the theatres.
XC. We have the following account of him respecting his (136) belief in
omens and such like. He had so great a dread of thunder and lightning
that he always carried about him a seal’s skin, by way of preservation.
And upon any apprehension of a violent storm, he would retire to some
place of concealment in a vault under ground; having formerly been
terrified by a flash of lightning, while travelling in the night, as we
have already mentioned. [241]
XCI. He neither slighted his own dreams nor those of other people
relating to himself. At the battle of Philippi, although he had resolved
not to stir out of his tent, on account of his being indisposed, yet,
being warned by a dream of one of his friends, he changed his mind; and
well it was that he did so, for in the enemy’s attack, his couch was
pierced and cut to pieces, on the supposition of his being in it. He had
many frivolous and frightful dreams during the spring; but in the other
parts of the year, they were less frequent and more significative. Upon
his frequently visiting a temple near the Capitol, which he had dedicated
to Jupiter Tonans, he dreamt that Jupiter Capitolinus complained that his
worshippers were taken from him, and that upon this he replied, he had
only given him The Thunderer for his porter [242]. He therefore
immediately suspended little bells round the summit of the temple;
because such commonly hung at the gates of great houses. In consequence
of a dream, too, he always, on a certain day of the year, begged alms of
the people, reaching out his hand to receive the dole which they offered
him.
XCII. Some signs and omens he regarded as infallible. If in the morning
his shoe was put on wrong, the left instead of the right, that boded some
disaster. If when he commenced a long journey, by sea or land, there
happened to fall a mizzling rain, he held it to be a good sign of a
speedy and happy return. He was much affected likewise with any thing
out of the common course of nature. A palm-tree [243] which (137)
chanced to grow up between some stone’s in the court of his house, he
transplanted into a court where the images of the Household Gods were
placed, and took all possible care to make it thrive in the island of
Capri, some decayed branches of an old ilex, which hung drooping to the
ground, recovered themselves upon his arrival; at which he was so
delighted, that he made an exchange with the Republic [244] of Naples, of
the island of Oenaria [Ischia], for that of Capri. He likewise observed
certain days; as never to go from home the day after the Nundiae [245],
nor to begin any serious business upon the nones [246]; avoiding nothing
else in it, as he writes to Tiberius, than its unlucky name.
XCIII. With regard to the religious ceremonies of foreign nations, he
was a strict observer of those which had been established by ancient
custom; but others he held in no esteem. For, having been initiated at
Athens, and coming afterwards to hear a cause at Rome, relative to the
privileges of the priests of the Attic Ceres, when some of the mysteries
of their sacred rites were to be introduced in the pleadings, he
dismissed those who sat upon the bench as judges with him, as well as the
by-standers, and beard the argument upon those points himself. But, on
the other hand, he not only declined, in his progress through Egypt, to
go out of his way to pay a visit to Apis, but he likewise commended his
grandson Caius (138) for not paying his devotions at Jerusalem in his
passage through Judaea. [247]
XCIV. Since we are upon this subject, it may not be improper to give an
account of the omens, before and at his birth, as well as afterwards,
which gave hopes of his future greatness, and the good fortune that
constantly attended him. A part of the wall of Velletri having in former
times been struck with thunder, the response of the soothsayers was, that
a native of that town would some time or other arrive at supreme power;
relying on which prediction, the Velletrians both then, and several times
afterwards, made war upon the Roman people, to their own ruin. At last
it appeared by the event, that the omen had portended the elevation of
Augustus.
Julius Marathus informs us, that a few months before his birth, there
happened at Rome a prodigy, by which was signified that Nature was in
travail with a king for the Roman people; and that the senate, in alarm,
came to the resolution that no child born that year should be brought up;
but that those amongst them, whose wives were pregnant, to secure to
themselves a chance of that dignity, took care that the decree of the
senate should not be registered in the treasury.
I find in the theological books of Asclepiades the Mendesian [248], that
Atia, upon attending at midnight a religious solemnity in honour of
Apollo, when the rest of the matrons retired home, fell asleep on her
couch in the temple, and that a serpent immediately crept to her, and
soon after withdrew. She awaking upon it, purified herself, as usual
after the embraces of her husband; and instantly there appeared upon her
body a mark in the form of a serpent, which she never after could efface,
and which obliged her, during the subsequent part of her life, to decline
the use of the public baths. Augustus, it was added, was born in the
tenth month after, and for that reason was thought to be the son of
Apollo. The (139) same Atia, before her delivery, dreamed that her
bowels stretched to the stars, and expanded through the whole circuit of
heaven and earth. His father Octavius, likewise, dreamt that a sun-beam
issued from his wife’s womb.
Upon the day he was born, the senate being engaged in a debate on
Catiline’s conspiracy, and Octavius, in consequence of his wife’s being
in childbirth, coming late into the house, it is a well-known fact, that
Publius Nigidius, upon hearing the occasion of his coming so late, and
the hour of his wife’s delivery, declared that the world had got a
master. Afterwards, when Octavius, upon marching with his army through
the deserts of Thrace, consulted the oracle in the grove of father
Bacchus, with barbarous rites, concerning his son, he received from the
priests an answer to the same purpose; because, when they poured wine
upon the altar, there burst out so prodigious a flame, that it ascended
above the roof of the temple, and reached up to the heavens; a
circumstance which had never happened to any one but Alexander the Great,
upon his sacrificing at the same altars. And next night he dreamt that
he saw his son under a more than human appearance, with thunder and a
sceptre, and the other insignia of Jupiter, Optimus, Maximus, having on
his head a radiant crown, mounted upon a chariot decked with laurel, and
drawn by six pair of milk-white horses.
Whilst he was yet an infant, as Caius Drusus relates, being laid in his
cradle by his nurse, and in a low place, the next day he was not to be
found, and after he had been sought for a long time, he was at last
discovered upon a lofty tower, lying with his face towards the rising sun
[249]. When he first began to speak, he ordered the frogs that happened
to make a troublesome noise, upon an estate belonging to the family near
the town, to be silent; and there goes a report that frogs never croaked
there since that time. As he was dining in a grove at the fourth
mile-stone on the Campanian road, an eagle suddenly snatched a piece of
bread out of his hand, and, soaring to a prodigious height, after
hovering, came down most unexpectedly, and returned it to him.
Quintus Catulus had a dream, for two nights successively after his
dedication of the Capitol. The first night he dreamt (140) that Jupiter,
out of several boys of the order of the nobility who were playing about
his altar, selected one, into whose bosom he put the public seal of the
commonwealth, which he held in his hand; but in his vision the next
night, he saw in the bosom of Jupiter Capitolinus, the same boy; whom he
ordered to be removed, but it was forbidden by the God, who declared that
it must be brought up to become the guardian of the state. The next day,
meeting Augustus, with whom till that hour he had not the least
acquaintance, and looking at him with admiration, he said he was
extremely like the boy he had seen in his dream. Some give a different
account of Catulus’s first dream, namely, that Jupiter, upon several
noble lads requesting of him that they might have a guardian, had pointed
to one amongst them, to whom they were to prefer their requests; and
putting his fingers to the boy’s mouth to kiss, he afterwards applied
them to his own.
Marcus Cicero, as he was attending Caius Caesar to the Capitol, happened
to be telling some of his friends a dream which he had the preceding
night, in which he saw a comely youth, let down from heaven by a golden
chain, who stood at the door of the Capitol, and had a whip put into his
hands by Jupiter. And immediately upon sight of Augustus, who had been
sent for by his uncle Caesar to the sacrifice, and was as yet perfectly
unknown to most of the company, he affirmed that it was the very boy he
had seen in his dream. When he assumed the manly toga, his senatorian
tunic becoming loose in the seam on each side, fell at his feet. Some
would have this to forbode, that the order, of which that was the badge
of distinction, would some time or other be subject to him.
Julius Caesar, in cutting down a wood to make room for his camp near
Munda [250], happened to light upon a palm-tree, and ordered it to be
preserved as an omen of victory. From the root of this tree there put
out immediately a sucker, which, in a few days, grew to such a height as
not only to equal, but overshadow it, and afford room for many nests of
wild pigeons which built in it, though that species of bird particularly
avoids a hard and rough leaf. It is likewise reported, that Caesar was
chiefly influenced by this prodigy, to prefer his sister’s grandson
before all others for his successor.
(141) In his retirement at Apollonia, he went with his friend Agrippa to
visit Theogenes, the astrologer, in his gallery on the roof. Agrippa,
who first consulted the fates, having great and almost incredible
fortunes predicted of him, Augustus did not choose to make known his
nativity, and persisted for some time in the refusal, from a mixture of
shame and fear, lest his fortunes should be predicted as inferior to
those of Agrippa. Being persuaded, however, after much importunity, to
declare it, Theogenes started up from his seat, and paid him adoration.
Not long afterwards, Augustus was so confident of the greatness of his
destiny, that he published his horoscope, and struck a silver coin,
bearing upon it the sign of Capricorn, under the influence of which he
was born.
XCV. After the death of Caesar, upon his return from Apollonia, as he
was entering the city, on a sudden, in a clear and bright sky, a circle
resembling the rainbow surrounded the body of the sun; and, immediately
afterwards, the tomb of Julia, Caesar’s daughter, was struck by
lightning. In his first consulship, whilst he was observing the
auguries, twelve vultures presented themselves, as they had done to
Romulus. And when he offered sacrifice, the livers of all the victims
were folded inward in the lower part; a circumstance which was regarded
by those present, who had skill in things of that nature, as an
indubitable prognostic of great and wonderful fortune.
XCVI. He certainly had a presentiment of the issue of all his wars.
When the troops of the Triumviri were collected about Bolognia, an eagle,
which sat upon his tent, and was attacked by two crows, beat them both,
and struck them to the ground, in the view of the whole army; who thence
inferred that discord would arise between the three colleagues, which
would be attended with the like event: and it accordingly happened. At
Philippi, he was assured of success by a Thessalian, upon the authority,
as he pretended, of the Divine Caesar himself, who had appeared to him
while he was travelling in a bye-road. At Perugia, the sacrifice not
presenting any favourable intimations, but the contrary, he ordered fresh
victims; the enemy, however, carrying off the sacred things in a sudden
sally, it was agreed amongst the augurs, that all the (142) dangers and
misfortunes which had threatened the sacrificer, would fall upon the
heads of those who had got possession of the entrails. And, accordingly,
so it happened. The day before the sea-fight near Sicily, as he was
walking upon the shore, a fish leaped out of the sea, and laid itself at
his feet. At Actium, while he was going down to his fleet to engage the
enemy, he was met by an ass with a fellow driving it. The name of the
man was Eutychus, and that of the animal, Nichon [251]. After the
victory, he erected a brazen statue to each, in a temple built upon the
spot where he had encamped.
XCVII. His death, of which I shall now speak, and his subsequent
deification, were intimated by divers manifest prodigies. As he was
finishing the census amidst a great crowd of people in the Campus
Martius, an eagle hovered round him several times, and then directed its
course to a neighbouring temple, where it settled upon the name of
Agrippa, and at the first letter. Upon observing this, he ordered his
colleague Tiberius to put up the vows, which it is usual to make on such
occasions, for the succeeding Lustrum. For he declared he would not
meddle with what it was probable he should never accomplish, though the
tables were ready drawn for it. About the same time, the first letter of
his name, in an inscription upon one of his statues, was struck out by
lightning; which was interpreted as a presage that he would live only a
hundred days longer, the letter C denoting that number; and that he would
be placed amongst the Gods, as Aesar, which is the remaining part of the
word Caesar, signifies, in the Tuscan language, a God [252]. Being,
therefore, about dispatching Tiberius to Illyricum, and designing to go
with him as far as Beneventum, but being detained by several persons who
applied to him respecting causes they had depending, he cried out, (and
it was afterwards regarded as an omen of his death), “Not all the
business in the world, shall detain me at home one moment longer;” and
setting out upon his journey, he went (143) as far as Astura [253];
whence, contrary to his custom, he put to sea in the night-time, as there
was a favourable wind.
XCVIII. His malady proceeded from diarrhoea; notwithstanding which, he
went round the coast of Campania, and the adjacent islands, and spent
four days in that of Capri; where he gave himself up entirely to repose
and relaxation. Happening to sail by the bay of Puteoli, the passengers
and mariners aboard a ship of Alexandria [254], just then arrived, clad
all in white, with chaplets upon their heads, and offering incense,
loaded him with praises and joyful acclamations, crying out, “By you we
live, by you we sail securely, by you enjoy our liberty and our
fortunes.” At which being greatly pleased, he distributed to each of
those who attended him, forty gold pieces, requiring from them an
assurance on oath, not to employ the sum given them in any other way,
than the purchase of Alexandrian merchandize. And during several days
afterwards, he distributed Togae [255] and Pallia, among other gifts, on
condition that the Romans should use the Greek, and the Greeks the Roman
dress and language. He likewise constantly attended to see the boys
perform their exercises, according to an ancient custom still continued
at Capri. He gave them likewise an entertainment in his presence, and
not only permitted, but required from them the utmost freedom in jesting,
and scrambling for fruit, victuals, and other things which he threw
amongst them. In a word, he indulged himself in all the ways of
amusement he could contrive.
He called an island near Capri, Apragopolis, “The City of the
Do-littles,” from the indolent life which several of his party led there.
A favourite of his, one Masgabas [256], he used (144) to call Ktistaes.
as if he had been the planter of the island. And observing from his room
a great company of people with torches, assembled at the tomb of this
Masgabas, who died the year before, he uttered very distinctly this verse,
which he made extempore.
Ktistou de tumbo, eisoro pyroumenon.
Blazing with lights I see the founder’s tomb.
Then turning to Thrasyllus, a companion of Tiberius, who reclined on the
other side of the table, he asked him, who knew nothing about the matter,
what poet he thought was the author of that verse; and on his hesitating
to reply, he added another:
Oras phaessi Masgaban timomenon.
Honor’d with torches Masgabas you see;
and put the same question to him concerning that likewise. The latter
replying, that, whoever might be the author, they were excellent verses
[257], he set up a great laugh, and fell into an extraordinary vein of
jesting upon it. Soon afterwards, passing over to Naples, although at
that time greatly disordered in his bowels by the frequent returns of his
disease, he sat out the exhibition of the gymnastic games which were
performed in his honour every five years, and proceeded with Tiberius to
the place intended. But on his return, his disorder increasing, he
stopped at Nola, sent for Tiberius back again, and had a long discourse
with him in private; after which, he gave no further attention to
business of any importance.
XCIX. Upon the day of his death, he now and then enquired, if there was
any disturbance in the town on his account; and calling for a mirror, he
ordered his hair to be combed, and his shrunk cheeks to be adjusted.
Then asking his friends who were admitted into the room, “Do ye think
that I have acted my part on the stage of life well?” he immediately
subjoined,
Ei de pan echei kalos, to paignio
Dote kroton, kai pantes umeis meta charas ktupaesate.
If all be right, with joy your voices raise,
In loud applauses to the actor’s praise.
(145) After which, having dismissed them all, whilst he was inquiring of
some persons who were just arrived from Rome, concerning Drusus’s
daughter, who was in a bad state of health, he expired suddenly, amidst
the kisses of Livia, and with these words: “Livia! live mindful of our
union; and now, farewell!” dying a very easy death, and such as he
himself had always wished for. For as often as he heard that any person
had died quickly and without pain, he wished for himself and his friends
the like euthanasian (an easy death), for that was the word he made use
of. He betrayed but one symptom, before he breathed his last, of being
delirious, which was this: he was all on a sudden much frightened, and
complained that he was carried away by forty men. But this was rather a
presage, than any delirium: for precisely that number of soldiers
belonging to the pretorian cohort, carried out his corpse.
C. He expired in the same room in which his father Octavius had died,
when the two Sextus’s, Pompey and Apuleius, were consuls, upon the
fourteenth of the calends of September [the 19th August], at the ninth
hour of the day, being seventy-six years of age, wanting only thirty-five
days [258]. His remains were carried by the magistrates of the municipal
[259] towns and colonies, from Nola to Bovillae [260], and in the
nighttime, because of the season of the year. During the intervals, the
body lay in some basilica, or great temple, of each town. At Bovillae it
was met by the Equestrian Order, who carried it to the city, and
deposited it in the vestibule of his own house. The senate proceeded
with so much zeal in the arrangement of his funeral, and paying honour to
his memory, that, amongst several other proposals, some were for having
the funeral procession made through the triumphal gate, preceded by the
image of Victory which is in the senate-house, and the children of
highest rank and of both sexes singing the funeral (146) dirge. Others
proposed, that on the day of the funeral, they should lay aside their
gold rings, and wear rings of iron; and others, that his bones should be
collected by the priests of the principal colleges. One likewise
proposed to transfer the name of August to September, because he was born
in the latter, but died in the former. Another moved, that the whole
period of time, from his birth to his death, should be called the
Augustan age, and be inserted in the calendar under that title. But at
last it was judged proper to be moderate in the honours paid to his
memory. Two funeral orations were pronounced in his praise, one before
the temple of Julius, by Tiberius; and the other before the rostra, under
the old shops, by Drusus, Tiberius’s son. The body was then carried upon
the shoulders of senators into the Campus Martius, and there burnt. A
man of pretorian rank affirmed upon oath, that he saw his spirit ascend
from the funeral pile to heaven. The most distinguished persons of the
equestrian order, bare-footed, and with their tunics loose, gathered up
his relics [261], and deposited them in the mausoleum, which had been
built in his sixth consulship between the Flaminian Way and the bank of
the Tiber [262]; at which time likewise he gave the groves and walks
about it for the use of the people.
CI. He had made a will a year and four months before his death, upon the
third of the nones of April [the 11th of April], in the consulship of
Lucius Plancus, and Caius Silius. It consisted of two skins of
parchment, written partly in his own hand, and partly by his freedmen
Polybius and Hilarian; and had been committed to the custody of the
Vestal Virgins, by whom it was now produced, with three codicils under
seal, as well as the will: all these were opened and read in the senate.
He appointed as his direct heirs, Tiberius for two (147) thirds of his
estate, and Livia for the other third, both of whom he desired to assume
his name. The heirs in remainder were Drusus, Tiberius’s son, for one
third, and Germanicus with his three sons for the residue. In the third
place, failing them, were his relations, and several of his friends. He
left in legacies to the Roman people forty millions of sesterces; to the
tribes [263] three millions five hundred thousand; to the pretorian
troops a thousand each man; to the city cohorts five hundred; and to the
legions and soldiers three hundred each; which several sums he ordered to
be paid immediately after his death, having taken due care that the money
should be ready in his exchequer. For the rest he ordered different
times of payment. In some of his bequests he went as far as twenty
thousand sesterces, for the payment of which he allowed a twelvemonth;
alleging for this procrastination the scantiness of his estate; and
declaring that not more than a hundred and fifty millions of sesterces
would come to his heirs: notwithstanding that during the twenty preceding
years, he had received, in legacies from his friends, the sum of fourteen
hundred millions; almost the whole of which, with his two paternal
estates [264], and others which had been left him, he had spent in the
service of the state. He left orders that the two Julias, his daughter
and grand-daughter, if anything happened to them, should not be buried in
his tomb [265]. With regard to the three codicils before-mentioned, in
one of them he gave orders about his funeral; another contained a summary
of his acts, which he intended should be inscribed on brazen plates, and
placed in front of his mausoleum; in the third he had drawn up a concise
account of the state of the empire; the number of troops enrolled, what
money there was in the treasury, the revenue, and arrears of taxes; to
which were added the names of the freedmen and slaves from whom the
several accounts might be taken.
* * * * * *
(148) OCTAVIUS CAESAR, afterwards Augustus, had now attained to the same
position in the state which had formerly been occupied by Julius Caesar;
and though he entered upon it by violence, he continued to enjoy it
through life with almost uninterrupted tranquillity. By the long
duration of the late civil war, with its concomitant train of public
calamities, the minds of men were become less averse to the prospect of
an absolute government; at the same time that the new emperor, naturally
prudent and politic, had learned from the fate of Julius the art of
preserving supreme power, without arrogating to himself any invidious
mark of distinction. He affected to decline public honours, disclaimed
every idea of personal superiority, and in all his behaviour displayed a
degree of moderation which prognosticated the most happy effects, in
restoring peace and prosperity to the harassed empire. The tenor of his
future conduct was suitable to this auspicious commencement. While he
endeavoured to conciliate the affections of the people by lending money
to those who stood in need of it, at low interest, or without any at all,
and by the exhibition of public shows, of which the Romans were
remarkably fond; he was attentive to the preservation of a becoming
dignity in the government, and to the correction of morals. The senate,
which, in the time of Sylla, had increased to upwards of four hundred,
and, during the civil war, to a thousand, members, by the admission of
improper persons, he reduced to six hundred; and being invested with
the ancient office of censor, which had for some time been disused, he
exercised an arbitrary but legal authority over the conduct of every rank
in the state; by which he could degrade senators and knights, and inflict
upon all citizens an ignominious sentence for any immoral or indecent
behaviour. But nothing contributed more to render the new form of
government acceptable to the people, than the frequent distribution of
corn, and sometimes largesses, amongst the commonalty: for an occasional
scarcity of provisions had always been the chief cause of discontents
and tumults in the capital. To the interests of the army he likewise
paid particular attention. It was by the assistance of the legions that
he had risen to power; and they were the men who, in the last resort,
if such an emergency should ever occur, could alone enable him to
preserve it.
History relates, that after the overthrow of Antony, Augustus held a
consultation with Agrippa and Mecaenas about restoring the republican
form of government; when Agrippa gave his opinion in favour of that
measure, and Mecaenas opposed it. (149) The object of this consultation,
in respect to its future consequences on society, is perhaps the most
important ever agitated in any cabinet, and required, for the mature
discussion of it, the whole collective wisdom of the ablest men in the
empire. But this was a resource which could scarcely be adopted, either
with security to the public quiet, or with unbiassed judgment in the
determination of the question. The bare agitation of such a point would
have excited immediate and strong anxiety for its final result; while the
friends of a republican government, who were still far more numerous than
those of the other party, would have strained every nerve to procure a
determination in their own favour; and the pretorian guards, the surest
protection of Augustus, finding their situation rendered precarious by
such an unexpected occurrence, would have readily listened to the secret
propositions and intrigues of the republicans for securing their
acquiescence to the decision on the popular side. If, when the subject
came into debate, Augustus should be sincere in the declaration to abide
by the resolution of the council, it is beyond all doubt, that the
restoration of a republican government would have been voted by a great
majority of the assembly. If, on the contrary, he should not be sincere,
which is the more probable supposition, and should incur the suspicion of
practising secretly with members for a decision according to his wish, he
would have rendered himself obnoxious to the public odium, and given rise
to discontents which might have endangered his future security.
But to submit this important question to the free and unbiassed decision
of a numerous assembly, it is probable, neither suited the inclination of
Augustus, nor perhaps, in his opinion, consisted with his personal
safety. With a view to the attainment of unconstitutional power, he had
formerly deserted the cause of the republic when its affairs were in a
prosperous situation; and now, when his end was accomplished, there could
be little ground to expect, that he should voluntarily relinquish the
prize for which he had spilt the best blood of Rome, and contended for so
many years. Ever since the final defeat of Antony in the battle of
Actium, he had governed the Roman state with uncontrolled authority; and
though there is in the nature of unlimited power an intoxicating quality,
injurious both to public and private virtue, yet all history contradicts
the supposition of its being endued with any which is unpalatable to the
general taste of mankind.
There were two chief motives by which Augustus would naturally be
influenced in a deliberation on this important subject; namely, the love
of power, and the personal danger which (150) he might incur from
relinquishing it. Either of these motives might have been a sufficient
inducement for retaining his authority; but when they both concurred, as
they seem to have done upon this occasion, their united force was
irresistible. The argument, so far as relates to the love of power,
rests upon a ground, concerning the solidity of which, little doubt can
be entertained: but it may be proper to inquire, in a few words, into the
foundation of that personal danger which he dreaded to incur, on
returning to the station of a private citizen.
Augustus, as has been already observed, had formerly sided with the party
which had attempted to restore public liberty after the death of Julius
Caesar: but he afterwards abandoned the popular cause, and joined in the
ambitious plans of Antony and Lepidus to usurp amongst themselves the
entire dominion of the state. By this change of conduct, he turned his
arms against the supporters of a form of government which he had
virtually recognized as the legal constitution of Rome; and it involved a
direct implication of treason against the sacred representatives of that
government, the consuls, formally and duly elected. Upon such a charge
he might be amenable to the capital laws of his country. This, however,
was a danger which might be fully obviated, by procuring from the senate
and people an act of oblivion, previously to his abdication of the
supreme power; and this was a preliminary which doubtless they would have
admitted and ratified with unanimous approbation. It therefore appears
that he could be exposed to no inevitable danger on this account: but
there was another quarter where his person was vulnerable, and where even
the laws might not be sufficient to protect him against the efforts of
private resentment. The bloody proscription of the Triumvirate no act of
amnesty could ever erase from the minds of those who had been deprived by
it of their nearest and dearest relations; and amidst the numerous
connections of the illustrious men sacrificed on that horrible occasion,
there might arise some desperate avenger, whose indelible resentment
nothing less would satisfy than the blood of the surviving delinquent.
Though Augustus, therefore, might not, like his great predecessor, be
stabbed in the senate-house, he might perish by the sword or the poniard
in a less conspicuous situation. After all, there seems to have been
little danger from this quarter likewise for Sylla, who in the preceding
age had been guilty of equal enormities, was permitted, on relinquishing
the place of perpetual dictator, to end his days in quiet retirement; and
the undisturbed security which Augustus ever afterwards enjoyed, affords
sufficient proof, that all apprehension of danger to his person was
merely chimerical.
(151) We have hitherto considered this grand consultation as it might be
influenced by the passions or prejudices of the emperor: we shall now
take a short view of the subject in the light in which it is connected
with considerations of a political nature, and with public utility. The
arguments handed down by history respecting this consultation are few,
and imperfectly delivered; but they may be extended upon the general
principles maintained on each side of the question.
For the restoration of the republican government, it might be contended,
that from the expulsion of the kings to the dictatorship of Julius
Caesar, through a period of upwards of four hundred and sixty years, the
Roman state, with the exception only of a short interval, had flourished
and increased with a degree of prosperity unexampled in the annals of
humankind: that the republican form of government was not only best
adapted to the improvement of national grandeur, but to the security of
general freedom, the great object of all political association: that
public virtue, by which alone nations could subsist in vigour, was
cherished and protected by no mode of administration so much as by that
which connected, in the strongest bonds of union, the private interests
of individuals with those of the community: that the habits and
prejudices of the Roman people were unalterably attached to the form of
government established by so long a prescription, and they would never
submit, for any length of time, to the rule of one person, without making
every possible effort to recover their liberty: that though despotism,
under a mild and wise prince, might in some respects be regarded as
preferable to a constitution which was occasionally exposed to the
inconvenience of faction and popular tumults, yet it was a dangerous
experiment to abandon the government of the nation to the contingency of
such a variety of characters as usually occurs in the succession of
princes; and, upon the whole, that the interests of the people were more
safely entrusted in the hands of annual magistrates elected by
themselves, than in those of any individual whose power was permanent,
and subject to no legal control.
In favour of despotic government it might be urged, that though Rome had
subsisted long and gloriously under a republican form of government, yet
she had often experienced such violent shocks from popular tumults or the
factions of the great, as had threatened her with imminent destruction:
that a republican government was only accommodated to a people amongst
whom the division of property gave to no class of citizens such a degree
of pre-eminence as might prove dangerous to public freedom: that there
was required in that form of political constitution, a simplicity (152)
of life and strictness of manners which are never observed to accompany a
high degree of public prosperity: that in respect of all these
considerations, such a form of government was utterly incompatible with
the present circumstances of the Romans that by the conquest of so many
foreign nations, by the lucrative governments of provinces, the spoils of
the enemy in war, and the rapine too often practised in time of peace, so
great had been the aggrandizement of particular families in the preceding
age, that though the form of the ancient constitution should still remain
inviolate, the people would no longer live under a free republic, but an
aristocratical usurpation, which was always productive of tyranny: that
nothing could preserve the commonwealth from becoming a prey to some
daring confederacy, but the firm and vigorous administration of one
person, invested with the whole executive power of the state, unlimited
and uncontrolled: in fine, that as Rome had been nursed to maturity by
the government of six princes successively, so it was only by a similar
form of political constitution that she could now be saved from
aristocratical tyranny on one hand, or, on the other, from absolute
anarchy.
On whichever side of the question the force of argument may be thought to
preponderate, there is reason to believe that Augustus was guided in his
resolution more by inclination and prejudice than by reason. It is
related, however, that hesitating between the opposite opinions of his
two counsellors, he had recourse to that of Virgil, who joined with
Mecaenas in advising him to retain the imperial power, as being the form
of government most suitable to the circumstances of the times.
It is proper in this place to give some account of the two ministers
above-mentioned, Agrippa and Mecaenas, who composed the cabinet of
Augustus at the settlement of his government, and seem to be the only
persons employed by him in a ministerial capacity during his whole reign.
M. Vipsanius Agrippa was of obscure extraction, but rendered himself
conspicuous by his military talents. He obtained a victory over Sextus
Pompey; and in the battles of Philippi and Actium, where he displayed
great valour, he contributed not a little to establish the subsequent
power of Augustus. In his expeditions afterwards into Gaul and Germany,
he performed many signal achievements, for which he refused the honours
of a triumph. The expenses which others would have lavished on that
frivolous spectacle, he applied to the more laudable purpose of
embellishing Rome with magnificent buildings, one of which, the Pantheon,
still remains. In consequence of a dispute with Marcellus, the nephew of
Augustus, he retired to Mitylene, (153) whence, after an absence of two
years, he was recalled by the emperor. He first married Pomponia, the
daughter of the celebrated Atticus, and afterwards one of the Marcellas,
the nieces of Augustus. While this lady, by whom he had children, was
still living, the emperor prevailed upon his sister Octavia to resign to
him her son-in-law, and gave him in marriage his own daughter Julia; so
strong was the desire of Augustus to be united with him in the closest
alliance. The high degree of favour in which he stood with the emperor
was soon after evinced by a farther mark of esteem: for during a visit to
the Roman provinces of Greece and Asia, in which Augustus was absent two
years, he left the government of the empire to the care of Agrippa.
While this minister enjoyed, and indeed seems to have merited, all the
partiality of Augustus, he was likewise a favourite with the people. He
died at Rome, in the sixty-first year of his age, universally lamented;
and his remains were deposited in the tomb which Augustus had prepared
for himself. Agrippa left by Julia three sons, Caius, Lucius, and
Posthumus Agrippa, with two daughters, Agrippina and Julia.