“Even his friends could not deny that he occasionally engaged in a bit of adultery, excusing his behavior on the account that he didn’t do it because of desire, but rather because of prudent considerations of policy, that he might all the more easily learn the plans of his enemies by asking their wives.”
Adulteria quidem exercuisse ne amici quidem negant, excusantes sane non libidine, sed ratione commissa, quo facilius consilia adversariorum per cuiusque mulieres exquireret.
Note: Augustus died 2,000 years ago today.
No doubt, he also made just allowance for the fact that the population needed augmentation following decades of civil wars.
Edward Gibbon describes the elevation of Augustus thus:
“It would require the pen of Tacitus (if Tacitus had assisted at this assembly) to describe the various emotions of the senate, those that were suppressed, and those that were affected. It was dangerous to trust the sincerity of Augustus; to seem to distrust it was still more dangerous. The respective advantages of monarchy and a republic have often divided speculative inquirers; the present greatness of the Roman state, the corruption of manners, and the license of the soldiers, supplied new arguments to the advocates of monarchy; and these general views of government were again warped by the hopes and fears of each individual. Amidst this confusion of sentiments, the answer of the senate was unanimous and decisive. They refused to accept the resignation of Augustus; they conjured him not to desert the republic, which he had saved. After a decent resistance, the crafty tyrant submitted to the orders of the senate; and consented to receive the government of the provinces, and the general command of the Roman armies, under the well-known names of Proconsul and Imperator. But he would receive them only for ten years. Even before the expiration of that period, he hope that the wounds of civil discord would be completely healed, and that the republic, restored to its pristine health and vigor, would no longer require the dangerous interposition of so extraordinary a magistrate. The memory of this comedy, repeated several times during the life of Augustus, was preserved to the last ages of the empire, by the peculiar pomp with which the perpetual monarchs of Rome always solemnized the tenth years of their reign.”
Gibbon, Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire Vol.1 Chp.3
Reblogged this on Piedras de papel.
Hey, thanks! Happy Augustus2K! (Honestly, I was completely unaware of the near-holiday status of the event until today!)
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