Chap. 46.] THE MISFOBTUNES OF AUGUSTUS. 1 95 



Capitol, whither he himself, in his triumph, had forborne to 

 drag in a similar manner even the very captives whom he had 

 taken in his conquests ? This crime, too, must be looked upon 

 as all the greater, from its having so nearly deprived Mace- 

 donicus of the honours of his funeral, so great and so glorious, 

 in which he was borne to the pile by his triumphant children, 

 he himself thus triumphing, as it were, in his very obsequies. 

 Most assuredly, there is no happiness that can be called un- 

 alloyed, when the terror of our life has been interrupted by 

 any outrage, and much more by such an outrage as this. -As 

 for the rest, I really am at a loss whether we ought most to 

 commend the manners of the age, 3 or to feel an increased degree 

 of indignation, that, among so many members of the family of 

 the Metelli, such wicked audacity as that of C. Atinius re- 

 mained unpunished. 



CHAP. 46. THE MISFORTUNES OF AUGUSTUS. 



In the life of the now deified emperor Augustus even, whom 

 the whole world would certainly agree to place in this class, 4 

 if we carefully examine it in all its features, we shall find 

 remarkable vicissitudes of human fate. There was his rejec- 

 tion from the post of master of the horse, by his uncle, 5 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 6 with some among 

 the very worst of the citizens, and that, too, with an unequal 



for succour, and so save himself from being hurled from the Tarpeian 

 rock. 



3 Which allowed the laws to take their course, even against an individual 

 o-f the first consequence in the state. B. 



4 In the class of those who were considered peculiarly fortunate ; " hac 

 censura," literally, "in this assessment," in allusion to the classification of 

 the citizens of Rome, according to the estimate of their property. B. 



5 In B.C. 45, when, being but about eighteen years of age, he had the 

 presumption to ask his uncle for the office of " magister equitum ;" upon 

 which Julius Caesar bestowed it on M. Lepidus, probably being of opinion 

 that his nephew was not yet fit for the office. 



6 In his triumvirate with Antony and Lepidus, he showed himself no 

 less cruel than his colleague, Antony, notwithstanding the gloss which 

 Pliny attempts to throw over his actions. Two thousand equites and 

 three hundred senators are said to have been put to death during this 

 proscription. 



O 2 



