Latin Texts & Translations

In the life of the now deified emperor Augustus even, whom the whole world would certainly agree to place in this class, ^[Note] if we carefully examine it in all its features, we shall find remarkable vicissitudes of human fate. There was his rejection from the post of master of the horse, by his uncle, ^[Note] and the preference which was given to Lepidus, and that, too, in opposition to his own requests; the hatred produced by the proscription; his alliance in the Triumvirate ^[Note] with some among the very worst of the citizens, and that, too, with an unequal

share of influence, he himself being entirely borne down by the power of Antony; his illness ^[Note] at the battle of Philippi; his flight, and his having to remain three days concealed in a marsh, ^[Note] though suffering from sickness, and, according to the account of Agrippa and Mecænas, labouring under a dropsy; his shipwreck ^[Note] on the coast of Sicily, where he was again under the necessity of concealing himself in a cave; his desperation, which caused him even to beg Proculeius ^[Note] to put him to death, when he was hard-pressed by the enemy in a naval engagement; ^[Note] his alarm about the rising at Perusia; ^[Note] his anxiety at the battle of Actium; ^[Note] the extreme danger he was in from the falling of a tower during the Pannonian war ^[Note] seditions so numerous among his soldiers; so many attacks by dangerous diseases; ^[Note] the suspicions which he entertained

respecting the intentions of Marcellus; ^[Note] the disgraceful banishment, as it were, of Agrippa; ^[Note] the many plots against his life; ^[Note] the deaths of his own children, ^[Note] of which he was accused, and his heavy sorrows, caused not merely by their loss; ^[Note] the adultery ^[Note] of his daughter, and the discovery of her parricidal designs; the insulting retreat of his son-in-law, Nero; ^[Note] another adultery, that of his grand-daughter; ^[Note] to

which there were added numerous other evils, such as the want of money to pay his soldiers; the revolt of Illyria; ^[Note] the necessity of levying the slaves; the sad deficiency of young men; ^[Note] the pestilence that raged in the City; ^[Note] the famine in Italy; the design which he had formed of putting an end to his life, and the fast of four days, which brought him within a hair's breadth of death. And then, added to all this, the slaughter of Varus; ^[Note] the base slanders ^[Note] whispered against his authority; the rejection of Posthumous Agrippa, after his adoption, ^[Note] and the regret to which Augustus was a prey after his banishment; ^[Note] the suspicions too respecting Fabius, to the effect that he had betrayed his secrets; and then, last of all, the machinations of his wife and of Tiberius, the thoughts of which occupied his last moments. In fine, this same god, ^[Note] who was raised to heaven, I am at a

loss to say whether deservedly or not, died, leaving the son of his own enemy his heir. ^[Note]