Being provoked by some petulant jests, which were designed to render him odious,
					he answered them by a proclamation; and yet he prevented the senate from passing
					an act, to restrain the liberties which were taken with others in people's
					wills. Whenever he attended at the election of magistrates, he went round the
					tribes, with the candidates of his nomination, and begged the votes of the
					people in the usual manner. He likewise gave his own vote in his tribe, as one
					of the people. He suffered himself to be summoned as a witness upon trials, and
					not only to be questioned, but to be cross-examined, with the utmost patience.
					In building his Forum, he restricted himself in the site, not presuming to
					compel the owners of the neighbouring houses to give up their property. He never
					recommended his sons to the people, without adding these words. "If they deserve
					it." And upon the audience rising on their entering the theatre, while they were
					yet minors, and giving them applause in a standing position, he made it a matter
					of serious complaint. He was desirous that his friends should be great and powerful in the state, but
					have no exclusive privileges, or be exempt from the laws which governed others.
					When Asprenas Nonius, an intimate friend of his, was tried upon a charge of
					administering poison at the instance of Cassius Severus, he consulted the senate
					for their opinion what was his duty under the circumstances; "For," said he, "I
					am afraid lest, if I should stand by him in the cause, I may be supposed to
					screen a guilty man; and if I do not, to desert and prejudge a friend." With the
					unanimous concurrence, therefore, of the senate, he took his seat amongst his
					advocates for several hours, but without giving him the benefit of speaking to
					character, as was usual. He likewise appeared for his clients; as on behalf of
					Scutarius, an old soldier of his, who brought an action for slander. He never
					relieved any one from prosecution but in a single instance, in the case of a man
					who had given information of the conspiracy of Muraena; and that he did only by
					prevailing upon the accuser, in open court, to drop his prosecution. How much he was beloved for his worthy conduct in all these respects, it is easy
					to imagine. I say nothing of the decrees of the senate in his honour, which may
					seem to have resulted from compulsion or deference. The Roman knights
					voluntarily, and with one accord, always celebrated his birth for two days
					together; and all ranks of the people yearly, in performance of a vow they had
					made, threw a piece of money into the Curtian lake, An
						inclosure in the middle of the Forum, marking the spot where Curtius leapt
						into the lake, which had been long since filled up. as an offering
					for his welfare. They likewise, on the calends [first] of January, presented for
					his acceptance new-year's gifts in the capitol, though he was not present: with
					which donations he purchased some costly images of the Gods, which he erected in
					several streets of the city: as that of Apollo Sandaliarius, Jupiter Tragoedus,
						 Sandalarium, Tragrxdum; names of streets, in which
						temples of these gods stood; as we now say St. Peter, Cornhill , etc. and others. When
					his house on the Palatine hill was
					accidentally destroyed by fire, the veteran soldiers, the judges, the tribes,
					and even the people, individually, contributed, according to the ability of
					each, for rebuilding it; but he would accept only of some small portion out of
					the several sums collected, and refused to take from any one person more than a
					single denarius. Upon his return home from any of the provinces, they attended
					him not only with joyful acclamations, but with songs. It is also remarked, that
					as often as he entered the city, the infliction of punishment was suspended for
					the time. The whole body of the people, upon a sudden impulse, and with unanimous consent,
					offered him the title of FATHER OF HIS COUNTRY. It was announced to him first at
						 Antium , by a deputation from the
					people, and upon his declining the honour, they repeated their offer on his
					return to Rome , in a full theatre,
					when they were crowned with laurel. The senate soon afterwards adopted the
					proposal, not in the way of acclamation or decree, but by commissioning M.
					Messala, in an unanimous vote, to compliment him with it in the following terms:
					" With hearty wishes for the happiness and prosperity of yourself and family,
					Caesar Augustus, (for we think we thus most effectually pray for the lasting
					welfare of the state), the senate, in agreement with the Roman people, salute
					you by the title of FATHER OF YOUR COUNTRY." To this compliment Augustus
					replied, with tears in his eyes, in these words (for I give them exactly as I
					have done those of Messala): "Having now arrived at the summit of my wishes, O
					Conscript Fathers, what else have I to beg of the Immortal Gods, but the
					continuance of this your affection for me to the last moments of my life?" To the physician Antonius Musa, who had cured him of a dangerous illness, they
					erected a statue near that of aEsculapius, by a general subscription. Some heads
					of families ordered in their wills, that their heirs should lead victims to the
					capitol, with a tablet carried before them, and pay their vows, " Because
					Augustus still survived." Some Italian cities appointed the day upon which he
					first visited them, to be thenceforth the beginning of their year. And most of
					the provinces, besides erecting temples and altars, instituted games, to be
					celebrated to his honour, in most towns, every five years. The kings, his friends and allies, built cities in their respective kingdoms, to
					which they gave the name of Caesarea :
					and all with one consent resolved to finish, at their common expense, the temple
					of Jupiter Olympius, at Athens ,
					which had been begun long before, and consecrate it to his Genius. They
					frequently also left their kingdoms, laid aside the badges of royalty, and
					assuming the toga, attended and paid their respects to him daily, in the manner
					of clients to their patrons: not only at Rome , but when he was travelling through the provinces. Having thus given an account of the manner in which he filled his public offices
					both civil and military, and his conduct in the government of the empire, both
					in peace and war; I shall now describe his private and domestic life, his habits
					at home and among his friends and dependents, and the fortune attending him in
					those scenes of retirement, from his youth to the day of his death. He lost his
					mother in his first consulship, and his sister Octavia, when he was in the
					fifty-fourth year of his age. A.U.C. 711. He
					behaved towards them both with the utmost kindness whilst living, and after
					their decease paid the highest honours to their memory. He was contracted when very young to the daughter of Publius Servilius Isauricus;
					but upon his reconciliation with Antony after their first rupture, See cc. x. xi. xii. and xiii. the armies on both
					sides insisting on a family alliance between them, he married Antony's
					step-daughter Claudia, the daughter of Fulvia by Publius Claudius, although at
					that time she was scarcely marriageable; and upon a difference arising with his
					mother-in-law Fulvia, he divorced her untouched, and a pure virgin. Soon
					afterwards he took to wife Scribonia, who had before been twice married to men
					of consular rank, One of them was Scipio, the father of
						Cornelia, whose death is lamented by Propertius, iv. 12. The other is
						unknown. and was a mother by one of them. With her he likewise
						parted, A.U.C. 715 being quite tired out, as he
					himself writes, with the perverseness of her temper; and immediately took Livia
					Drusilla, though then pregnant, from her husband Tiberius Nero; and she had
					never any rival in his love and esteem.