When he was delivered from his apprehensions, his behaviour at first was
					unassuming, and he did not carry himself much above the level of a private
					person; and of the many and great honours offered him, he accepted but few, and
					such as were very moderate. His birth-day, which happened to fall at the time of
					the Plebeian Circensian games, he with difficulty suffered to be honoured with
					the addition of only a single chariot, drawn by two horses. He forbad temples,
					flamens, or priests to be appointed for him, as likewise the erection of any
					statues or effigies for him, without his permission; and this he granted only on
					condition that they should not be placed amongst the images of the gods, but
					only amongst the ornaments of houses. He also interposed to prevent the senate
					from swearing to maintain his acts; and the month of September from being called
					Tiberius, and October being named after Livia . The praenomen likewise of EMPEROR, with the cognomen of
					FATHER OF HIS COUNTRY, and a civic crown in the vestibule of his house, he would
					not accept. He never used the name of AUGUSTUS, although he inherited it, in any
					of his letters, excepting those addressed to kings and princes. Nor had he more
					than three consulships; one for a few days, another for three months, and the
					third, during his absence from the city, until the ides [fifteenth] of May. He had such an aversion to flattery, that he would never suffer any senator to
					approach his litter, as he passed the streets in it, either to pay him a
					civility, or upon business. And when a man of consular rank, in begging his
					pardon for some offence he had given him, attempted to fall at his feet, he
					started from him in such haste, that he stumbled and fell. If any compliment was
					paid him, either in conversation or a set speech, he would not scruple to
					interrupt and reprimand the party, and alter what he had said. Being once called
						"lord," In this he imitated Augustus. See c. liii. of
						his life. by some person, he desired that he might no more be
					affronted in that manner. When another, to excite veneration, called his
					occupations "sacred," and a third had expressed himself thus: " By your
					authority I have waited upon the senate," he obliged them to change their
					phrases; in one of them adopting persuasion, instead of "authority," and in the
					other, laborious, instead of "sacred." He remained unmoved at all the aspersions, scandalous reports, and lampoons,
					which were spread against him or his relations; declaring, "In a free state,
					both the tongue and the mind ought to be free." Upon the senate's desiring that
					some notice might be taken of those offences, and the persons charged with them,
					he replied, "We have not so much time upon our hands, that we ought to involve
					ourselves in more business. If you once make an opening Si hanc fenestram aperuitis , if you open
						that window, equivalent to our phrase "if you open the door." for
					such proceedings, you will soon have nothing else to do. All private quarrels
					will be brought before you under that pretence." There is also on record another
					sentence used by him in the senate, which is far from assuming: "If he speaks
					otherwise of me, I shall take care to behave in such a manner, as to be able to
					give a good account both of my words and actions; and if he persists, I shall
					hate him in my turn." These things were so much the more remarkable in him, because, in the respect he
					paid to individuals, or the whole body of the senate, he went beyond all bounds.
					Upon his differing with Quintus Haterius in the senate-house, "Pardon me, sir,"
					he said, "I beseech you, if I shall, as a senator, speak my mind very freely in
					opposition to you." Afterwards, addressing the senate in general, he said:
					"Conscript Fathers, I have often said it both now and at other times, that a
					good and useful prince, whom you have invested with so great and absolute power,
					ought to be a slave to the senate, to the whole body of the people, and often to
					individuals likewise: nor am I sorry that I have said it. I have always found
					you good, kind, and indulgent masters, and still find you so." He likewise introduced a certain show of liberty, by preserving to the senate and
					magistrates their former majesty and power. All affairs, whether of great or
					small importance, public or private, were laid before the senate. Taxes and
					monopolies, the erecting or repairing edifices, levying and disbanding soldiers,
					the disposal of the legions and auxiliary forces in the provinces, the
					appointment of generals for the management of extraordinary wars, and the
					answers to letters from foreign princes, were all submitted to the senate. He
					compelled the commander of a troop of horse, who was accused of robbery attended
					with violence, to plead his cause before the senate. He never entered the
					senate-house but unattended; and being once brought thither in a litter, because
					he was indisposed, he dismissed his attendants at the door.