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XXI. In part as leader, and in part with armies serving under his auspices, he
subdued Cantabria, Aquitania, Pannonia, Dalmatia, and all Illyricum, as well as Raetia and
the Vindelici and Salassi, which are Alpine tribes. He also put a stop to the inroads of
the Dacians, slaying great numbers of them, together with three of their leaders, and
forced the Germans back to the farther side of the river Albis, with the exception of the
Suebi and Sigambri, who submitted to him and were taken into Gaul and settled in lands
near the Rhine. He reduced to submission other peoples, too, that were in a state of
unrest. But he never made war on any nation without just and due cause, and he was so far
from desiring to increase his dominion or his military glory at any cost, that he forced
the chiefs of certain barbarians to take oath in the temple of Mars the Avenger that they
would faithfully keep the peace for which they asked; in some cases, indeed, he tried
exacting a new kind of hostages, namely women, realizing that the barbarians disregarded
pledges secured by males; but all were given the privilege of reclaiming their hostages
whenever they wished. On those who rebelled often or under circumstances of especial
treachery he never inflicted any severer punishment than that of selling the prisoners,
with the condition that they should not pass their term of slavery in a country near their
own, nor be set free within thirty years. The reputation for prowess and moderation which
he thus gained led even the Indians and the Scythians, nations known to us only by
hearsay, to send envoys of their own free will and sue for his friendship and that of the
Roman people. The Parthians, too, readily yielded to him, when he laid claim to Armenia,
and at his demand surrendered the standards which they had taken from Marcus Crassus and
Marcus Antonius [Crassus lost his standards at the Battle of Carrhae in 53 B.C., and
Antonius through the defeat of his lieutenants in 40 and 36 B.C.]; they offered him
hostages besides, and once when there were several claimants of their throne, they would
accept only the one whom he selected.
XXII. The temple of Janus Quirinus, which had been closed but twice before his time
since the founding of the city [in the reign of Numa, and in 235 B.C. after the First
Punic War], he closed three times in a far shorter period, having won peace on land and
sea. He twice entered the city in an ovation, after the war of Philippi, and again after
that in Sicily, and he celebrated three regular triumphs [the ovation was a lesser
triumph, in which the general entered the city on foot, instead of in a chariot drawn by
four horses] for his victories in Dalmatia, at Actium, and at Alexandria, all on three
successive days.
XXIII. He suffered but two severe and ignominious defeats, those of Lollius [15 B.C.]
and Varus [9 A.D.], both of which were in Germany. Of these the former was more
humiliating than serious, but the latter was almost fatal, since three legions were cut to
pieces with their general, his lieutenants, and all the auxiliaries. When the news of this
came, he ordered that watch be kept by night throughout the city, to prevent any outbreak,
and he prolonged the terms of the governors of the provinces, that the allies might be
held to their allegiance by experienced men with whom they were acquainted. He also vowed
great games to Jupiter Optimus Maximus, in case the condition of the commonwealth should
improve, a thing which had been done in the Cimbric and Marsic wars. In fact, they say
that he was so greatly affected that for several months in succession he cut neither his
beard nor his hair, and sometimes he would dash his head against a door, crying:
"Quintilius Varus, give me back my legions!" And he observed the day of the
disaster each year as one of sorrow and mourning.
XXIV. He made many changes and innovations in the army, besides reviving some usages of
former times. He exacted the strictest discipline. It was with great reluctance that he
allowed even his generals to visit their wives, and then only in the winter season. He
sold a Roman knight and his property at public auction, because he had cut off the thumbs
of two young sons, to make them unfit for military service; but when he saw that some tax
gatherers were intent upon buying him, he knocked him down to a freeman of his own, with
the understanding that he should be banished to the country districts, but allowed to live
in freedom. He dismissed the entire tenth legion in disgrace, because they were
insubordinate, and others, too, that demanded their discharge in an insolent fashion, he
disbanded without the rewards which would have been due for faithful service. If any
cohorts gave way in battle, he decimated them [i.e., executed every tenth man,
selected by lot], and fed the rest on barley [instead of the usual rations of wheat]. When
centurions left their posts he punished them with death, just as he did the rank and file;
for faults of other kinds he imposed various ignominious penalties, such as ordering them
to stand all day long before the general's tent, sometimes in their tunics without their
sword-belts, or again holding ten-foot poles or even a clod of earth [carrying the pole to
measure off the camp, or clods for building the rampart, was the work of the common
soldiers; hence degrading for officers].
XXV. After the civil wars he never called any of the troops "comrades,"
either in the assembly or in an edict, but always "soldiers"; and he would not
allow them to be addressed otherwise, even by those of his sons or stepsons who held
military commands, thinking the former term too flattering for the requirements of
discipline, the peaceful state of the times, and his own dignity and that of his
household. Except as a fire-brigade at Rome, and when there was fear of riots in times of
scarcity, he employed freedmen as soldiers only twice: once as a guard for the colonies in
the vicinity of Illyricum, and again to defend the bank of the river Rhine; even these he
levied, when they were slaves, from men and women of means and at once gave them freedom;
and he kept them under their original standard [i.e., he kept them apart from the
rest in the companies in which they were first enrolled], not mingling them with the
soldiers of free birth or arming them in the same fashion. As military prizes he was
somewhat more ready to give trappings [the phalerae were discs or plates of metal
attached to a belt or to the harness of horses] or collars, valuable for their gold and
silver, than crowns for scaling ramparts or walls, which conferred high honour; the latter
he gave as sparingly as possible and without favouritism, often even to the common
soldiers. He presented Marcus Agrippa with a blue banner in Sicily after his naval
victory. Those who had celebrated triumphs were the only ones whom he thought ineligible
for prizes, even though they had been the companions of his campaigns and shared in his
victories, on the ground that they themselves had the privilege of bestowing such honours
wherever they wished. He thought nothing less becoming in a well-trained leader than haste
and rashness, and, accordingly, favourite sayings of his were: "More haste, less
speed"; "Better a safe commander than a bold"; and "That is done
quickly enough which is done well enough." He used to say that a war or a battle
should not be begun under any circumstances, unless the hope of gain was clearly greater
than the fear of loss; for he likened such as grasped at slight gains with no slight risk
to those who fished with a golden hook, the loss of which, if it were carried off, could
not be made good by any catch.
XXVI. He received offices and honours before the usual age, and some of a new kind and
for life. He usurped the consulship in the twentieth year of his age [43 B.C.], leading
his legions against the city as if it were that of an enemy, and sending messengers to
demand the office for him in the name of his army; and when the Senate hesitated, his
centurion, Cornelius, leader of the deputation, throwing back his cloak and showing the
hilt of his sword, did not hesitate to say in the House, "This will make him consul,
if you do not." He held his second consulship nine years later [33 B.C.], and a third
after a year's interval [31 B.C.]; the rest up to the eleventh were in successive years
[30-23 B.C.], then after declining a number of terms that were offered him, he asked of
his own accord for a twelfth after a long interval, no less than seventeen years [5 B.C.],
and two years later for a thirteenth [2 B.C.], wishing to hold the highest magistracy at
the time when he introduced each of his sons Gaius and Lucius to public life upon their
coming of age. The five consulships from the sixth to the tenth he held for the full year,
the rest for nine, six, four, or three months, except the second, which lasted only a few
hours; for after sitting for a short time on the curule chair in front of the temple of
Jupiter Capitolinus in the early morning, he resigned the honour on the Kalends of January
and appointed another in his place. He did not begin all his consulships in Rome, but the
fourth in Asia, the fifth on the Isle of Samos, the eighth and ninth at Tarraco.
XXVII. He was for ten years a member of the triumvirate for restoring the State to
order, and though he opposed his colleagues for some time and tried to prevent a
proscription, yet when it was begun, he carried it through with greater severity than
either of them. For while they could oftentimes be moved by personal influence and
entreaties, he alone was most insistent that no one should be spared, even adding to the
list his guardian Gaius Toranius, who had also been the colleague of his father Octavius
in the aedileship. Julius Saturninus adds that after the proscription was over Marcus
Lepidus addressed the Senate in justification of the past and held out hope of leniency
thereafter, since enough punishment had been inflicted; but that Augustus on the contrary
declared that he had consented to end the proscription only on condition that he was
allowed a free hand for the future. However, to show his regret for this inflexibility, he
later honoured Titus Vinius Philopoemen with equestrian rank, because it was said that he
had hidden his patron, who was on the list. While he was triumvir, Augustus incurred
general detestation by many of his acts. For example, when he was addressing the soldiers
and a throng of civilians had been admitted to the assembly, noticing that Pinalius, a
Roman knight, was taking notes, he ordered that he be stabbed on the spot, thinking him an
eavesdropper and a spy. Because Tedius Afer, consul elect, railed at some act of his in
spiteful terms, he uttered such terrible threats that Afer committed suicide. Again, when
Quintus Gallius, a praetor, held some folded tablets under his robe as he was paying his
respects, Augustus, suspecting that he had a sword concealed there, did not dare to make a
search on the spot for fear it should turn out to be something else; but a little later he
had Gallius hustled from the tribunal by some centurions and soldiers, tortured him as if
he were a slave, and though he made no confession, ordered his execution, first tearing
out the man's eyes with his own hand. He himself writes, however, that Gallius made a
treacherous attack on him after asking for an audience, and was haled to prison; and that
after he was dismissed under sentence of banishment, he either lost his life by shipwreck
or was waylaid by brigands. He received the tribunician power for life, and once or twice
chose a colleague in the office for periods of five years each. He was also given the
supervision of morals and of the laws for all time, and by the virtue of this position,
although without the title of censor, he nevertheless took the census thrice, the first
and last time with a colleague, the second time alone.
XXVIII. He twice thought of restoring the republic; first immediately after the
overthrow of Antonius, remembering that his rival had often made the charge that it was
his fault that it was not restored; and again in the weariness of a lingering illness,
when he went so far as to summon the magistrates and the Senate to his house, and submit
an account of the general condition of the empire. Reflecting, however, that as he himself
would not be free from danger if he should retire, so too it would be hazardous to trust
the State to the control of more than one, he continued to keep it in his hands; and it is
not easy to say whether his intentions or their results were the better. His good
intentions he not only expressed from time to time, but put them on record as well in an
edict in the following words: "May it be my privilege to establish the State in a
firm and secure position, and reap from that act the fruit that I desire; but only if I
may be called the author of the best possible government, and bear with me the hope when I
die that the foundations which I have laid for the State will remain unshaken." And
he realized his hope by making every effort to prevent any dissatisfaction with the new
regime. Since the city was not adorned as the dignity of the empire demanded, and was
exposed to flood and fire, he so beautified it that he could justly boast that he had
found it built of brick and left it in marble. He made it safe too for the future, so far
as human foresight could provide for this.
XXIX. He built many public works, in particular the following: his forum with the
temple of Mars the Avenger [24 B.C.], the temple of Apollo on the Palatine [28 B.C.], and
the fane of Jupiter the Thunderer on the Capitol [22 B.C.]. His reason for building the
forum was the increase in the number of the people and of cases at law, which seemed to
call for a third forum, since two were no longer adequate. Therefore it was opened to the
public with some haste, before the temple of Mars was finished, and it was provided that
the public prosecutions be held there apart from the rest, as well as the selection of
jurors by lot. He had made a vow to build the temple of Mars in the war of Philippi, which
he undertook to avenge his father; accordingly he decreed that in it the Senate should
consider wars and claims for triumphs, from it those who were on their way to the
provinces with military commands should be escorted, and to it victors on their return
should bear the tokens of their triumphs. He reared the temple of Apollo in that part of
his house on the Palatine for which the soothsayers declared that the god had shown his
desire by striking it with lightning. He joined to it colonnades with Latin and Greek
libraries, and when he was getting to be an old man he often held meetings of the Senate
there as well, and revised the lists of jurors. He dedicated the shrine to Jupiter the
Thunderer because of a narrow escape; for on his Cantabrian expedition during a march by
night, a flash of lightning grazed his litter and struck the slave dead who was carrying a
torch before him. He constructed some works too in the name of others, his grandsons and
nephew to wit, his wife and his sister, such as the colonnade and basilica of Gaius and
Lucius [12 B.C.], also the colonnades of Livia and Octavia [33 & 15 B.C.], and the
theatre of Marcellus [13 B.C.]. More than that, he often urged other prominent men to
adorn the city with new monuments or to restore and embellish old ones, each according to
his means. And many such works were built at that time by many men; for example, the
temple of Hercules and the Muses by Marcius Philippus, the temple of Diana by Lucius
Cornificius, the Hall of Liberty by Asinius Pollio, the temple of Saturn by Munatius
Plancus, a theatre by Cornelius Balbus, an amphitheatre by Statilius Taurus, and by Marcus
Agrippa in particular many magnificent structures.
XXX. He divided the area of the city into regions and wards, arranging that the former
should be under the charge of magistrates selected each year by lot, and the latter under magistri
elected by the inhabitants of the respective neighbourhoods. To guard against fires he
devised a system of stations of night watchmen, and to control the floods he widened and
cleared out the channel of the Tiber, which had for some time been filled with rubbish and
narrowed by jutting buildings. Further, to make the approach to the city easier from every
direction, he personally undertook to rebuild the Flaminian Road all the way to Ariminum,
and assigned the rest of the high-ways to others who had been honoured with triumphs,
asking them to use their prize-money in paving them. He restored sacred edifices which had
gone to ruin through lapse of time or had been destroyed by fire, and adorned both these
and the other temples with most lavish gifts, depositing in the shrine of Jupiter
Capitolinus as a single offering sixteen thousand pounds of gold, besides pearls and other
precious stones to the value of fifty million sesterces.
XXXI. After he finally had assumed the office of Pontifex Maximus on the death of
Lepidus (for he could not make up his mind to deprive him of the honour while he lived)
[13 B.C.], he collected whatever prophetic writings of Greek or Latin origin were in
circulation anonymously or under the names of authors of little repute, and burned more
than two thousand of them, retaining only the Sibylline books and making a choice even
among those; and he deposited them in two gilded cases under the pedestal of the Palatine
Apollo. Inasmuch as the calendar, which had been set in order by the Deified Julius, had
later been confused and disordered through negligence, he restored it to its former system
[8 B.C.]; and in making this arrangement he called the month Sextilis by his own surname,
rather than his birthmonth September, because in the former he had won his first
consulship and his most brilliant victories. He increased the number and importance of the
priests, and also their allowances and privileges, in particular those of the Vestal
virgins. Moreover, when there was occasion to choose another vestal in place of one who
had died, and many used all their influence to avoid submitting their daughters to the
hazard of the lot, he solemnly swore that if anyone of his grand-daughters were of
eligible age, he would have proposed her name. He also revived some of the ancient rites
which had gradually fallen into disuse, such as the augury of Safety, the office of Flamen
Dialis, the ceremonies of the Lupercalia, the Secular Games, and the festival of the
Compitalia. At the Lupercalia he forbade beardless youths to join in the running, and at
the Secular Games he would not allow young people of either sex to attend any
entertainment by night except in company with some adult relative. He provided that the
Lares of the Crossroads should be crowned twice a year, with spring and summer flowers.
Next to the immortal Gods he honoured the memory of the leaders who had raised the estate
of the Roman people from obscurity to greatness. Accordingly he restored the works of such
men with their original inscriptions, and in the two colonnades of his forum dedicated
statues of all of them in triumphal garb, declaring besides in a proclamation: "I
have contrived this to lead the citizens to require me, while I live, and the rulers of
later times as well, to attain the standard set by those worthies of old." He also
moved the statue of Pompeius from the hall in which Gaius Caesar had been slain and placed
it on a marble arch opposite the grand door of Pompeius' theater.
XXXII. Many pernicious practices militating against public security had survived as a
result of the lawless habits of the civil wars, or had even arisen in time of peace. Gangs
of footpads openly went about with swords by their sides, ostensibly to protect
themselves, and travellers in the country, freemen and slaves alike, were seized and kept
in confinement in the workhouses [the ergastula were prisons for slaves, who were
made to work in chains in the fields] of the land owners; numerous leagues, too, were
formed for the commission of crimes of every kind, assuming the title of some new guild [collegia,
or guilds, of workmen were allowed and were numerous; not infrequently they were a pretext
for some illegal secret organization]. Therefore to put a stop to brigandage, he stationed
guards of soldiers wherever it seemed advisable, inspected the workhouses, and disbanded
all guilds, except such as were of long standing and formed for legitimate purposes. He
burned the records of old debts to the treasury, which were by far the most frequent
source of blackmail. He made over to their holders places in the city to which the claim
of the state was uncertain. He struck off the lists the names of those who had long been
under accusation, from whose humiliation nothing was to be gained except the gratification
of their enemies, with the stipulation that if anyone was minded to renew the charge, he
should be liable to the same penalty [i.e., if he failed to win his suit, he should
suffer the penalty that would have been inflicted on the defendant, if he had been
convicted]. To prevent any action for damages or on a disputed claim from falling through
or being put off, he added to the term of the courts thirty more days, which had before
been taken up with honorary games. To the three divisions of jurors he added a fourth of a
lower estate, to be called ducenarii, and to sit on cases involving trifling
amounts. He enrolled as jurors men of thirty years or more, that is five years younger
than usual. But when many strove to escape court duty, he reluctantly consented that each
division in turn should have a year's exemption, and that the custom of holding court
during the months of November and December should be given up.
XXXIII. He himself administered justice regularly and sometimes up to nightfall, having
a litter placed upon the tribunal, if he was indisposed, or even lying down at home. In
his administration of justice he was both highly conscientious and very lenient; for to
save a man clearly guilty of parricide from being sewn up in the sack [parricides were
sewn up in a sack with a dog, a cock, a snake, and a monkey, and thrown into the sea or a
river], a punishment which was inflicted only on those who pleaded guilty, he is said to
have put the question to him in this form: "You surely did not kill your father, did
you?" Again, in a case touching a forged will, in which all the signers were liable
to punishment by the Cornelian Law, he distributed to the jury not merely the two tablets
for condemnation or acquittal, but a third as well, for the pardon of those who were shown
to have been induced to sign by misrepresentation or misunderstanding. Each year he
referred appeals of cases involving citizens to the city praetor, but those between
foreigners to ex-consuls, of whom he had put one in charge of the business affairs of each
province.
XXXIV. He revised existing laws and enacted some new ones, for example, on
extravagance, on adultery and chastity, on bribery, and on the encouragement of marriage
among the various classes of citizens. Having made somewhat more stringent changes in the
last of these than in the others, he was unable to carry it out because of an open revolt
against its provisions, until he had abolished or mitigated a part of the penalties,
besides increasing the rewards and allowing a three years' exemption from the obligation
to marry after the death of a husband or wife. When the knights even then persistently
called for its repeal at a public show, he sent for the children of Germanicus and
exhibited them, some in his own lap and some in their father's, intimating by his gestures
and expression that they should not refuse to follow that young man's example. And on
finding that the spirit of the law was being evaded by betrothal with immature girls and
by frequent changes of wives, he shortened the duration of betrothals and set a limit on
divorce.
XXXV. Since the number of the Senators was swelled by a low-born and ill-assorted
rabble (in fact, the Senate numbered more than a thousand, some of whom, called by the
vulgar Orcivi [ "freedmen by the grace of Orcus," were slaves set free by their
master's will. The Orcivi Senatores were those admitted by Marcus Antonius under
pretence that they had been named in the papers left by Caesar] were wholly unworthy, and
had been admitted after Caesar's death through favor or bribery) he restored it to its
former limits and distinction by two enrolments, one according to the choice of the
members themselves, each man naming one other, and a second made by Agrippa and himself.
On the latter occasion it is thought that he wore a coat of mail under his tunic as he
presided, and a sword by his side, while ten of the most robust of his friends among the
Senators stood by his chair. Cremutius Cordus writes that even then the Senators were not
allowed to approach except one by one, and after the folds of their robes had been
carefully searched. Some he shamed into resigning, but he allowed even these to retain
their distinctive dress, as well as the privilege of viewing the games from the orchestra
and taking part in the public banquets of the order. Furthermore, that those who were
chosen and approved might perform their duties more conscientiously, and also with less
inconvenience, he provided that before taking his seat each member should offer incense
and wine at the altar of the god in whose temple the meeting was held; that regular
meetings of the Senate should be held not oftener than twice a month, on the Kalends and
the Ides; and that in the months of September and October only those should be obliged to
attend who were drawn by lot, to a number sufficient for the passing of decrees. He also
adopted the plan of privy councils chosen by lot for terms of six months, with which to
discuss in advance matters which were to come before the entire body. On questions of
special importance he called upon the Senators to give their opinions, not according to
the order established by precedent, but just as he fancied, to induce each man to keep his
mind on the alert, as if he were to initiate action rather than give assent to others.
XXXVI. He introduced other innovations too, among them these: that the proceedings of
the Senate should not be published; that magistrates should not be sent to the provinces
immediately after laying down their office; that a fixed sum should be allowed the
proconsuls for mules and tents, which it was the custom to contract for and charge to the
State; that the management of the public treasury should be transferred from the city
quaestors to ex-praetors or praetors; and that the centumviral court [a very ancient
tribunal, consisting at first of 105 members, three from each tribe, but later of 180; it
sat in the Basilica Julia, with a spear, the ancient symbol of Quiritary ownership,
planted before it. It was divided into four chambers, which usually sat separately, but
sometimes altogether, or in two divisions], which it was usual for ex-quaestors to
convoke, should be summoned by the Board of Ten [i.e., the decemviri stlitibus
iudicandis].
XXXVII. To enable more men to take part in the administration of the State, he devised
new offices: the charge of public buildings, of the roads, of the aqueducts, of the
channel of the Tiber, of the distribution of grain to the people, as well as the
prefecture of the city, a board of three for choosing Senators, and another for reviewing
the companies of the knights whenever it should be necessary. He appointed censors, an
office which had long been discontinued. He increased the number of praetors. He also
demanded that whenever the consulship was conferred on him, he should have two colleagues
instead of one; but this was not granted, since all cried out that it was a sufficient
offence to his supreme dignity that he held the office with another and not alone.
XXXVIII. He was not less generous in honouring martial prowess, for he had regular
triumphs voted to above thirty generals, and the triumphal regalia to somewhat more than
that number. To enable Senators' sons to gain an earlier acquaintance with public
business, he allowed them to assume the broad purple stripe immediately after the gown of
manhood and to attend meetings of the Senate; and when they began their military career,
he gave them not merely a tribunate in a legion, but the command of a division of cavalry
as well; and to furnish all of them with experience in camp life, he usually appointed two
Senators' sons to command each division. He reviewed the companies of knights at frequent
intervals, reviving the custom of the procession after long disuse. But he would not allow
an accuser to force anyone to dismount as he rode by, as was often done in the past; and
he permitted those who were conspicuous because of old age or any bodily infirmity to send
on their horses in the review, and come on foot to answer to their names whenever they
were summoned. Later he excused those who were over thirty-five years of age and did not
wish to retain their horses from formally surrendering them.
XXXIX. Having obtained ten assistants from the Senate, he compelled each knight to
render an account of his life, punishing some of those whose conduct was scandalous and
degrading others; but the greater part he reprimanded with varying degrees of severity.
The mildest form of reprimand was to hand them a pair of tablets publicly, which they were
to read in silence on the spot. He censured some because they had borrowed money at low
interest and invested it at a higher rate.
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