Augustus

12 Caesars: vol 2, Augustus

The Project Gutenberg EBook The Lives Of The Caesars, by Suetonius,
V2 #2 in our series by C. Suetonious Tranquillus
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Title: The Lives Of The Twelve Caesars, Volume 2. [AUGUSTUS]
Author: C. Suetonius Tranquillus
Release Date: August, 2004 [EBook #6387] [Yes, we are more than
one year ahead of schedule] [This file was first posted on December 3,
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Language: English

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*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LIVES OF
THE CAESARS, SUETONIUS, V2 ***

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THE LIVES OF THE TWELVE CAESARS
By C. Suetonius Tranquillus;
To which are added,
HIS LIVES OF THE GRAMMARIANS, RHETORICIANS, AND
POETS.
The Translation of Alexander Thomson, M.D.
revised and corrected by T.Forester, Esq., A.M.

(71)
D. OCTAVIUS CAESAR AUGUSTUS.
I. That the family of the Octavii was of the first distinction in Velitrae
[106], is rendered evident by many circumstances. For in the most
frequented part of the town, there was, not long since, a street named
the Octavian; and an altar was to be seen, consecrated to one Octavius,
who being chosen general in a war with some neighbouring people, the
enemy making a sudden attack, while he was sacrificing to Mars, he
immediately snatched the entrails of the victim from off the fire, and
offered them half raw upon the altar; after which, marching out to battle,
he returned victorious. This incident gave rise to a law, by which it was
enacted, that in all future times the entrails should be offered to Mars in
the same manner; and the rest of the victim be carried to the Octavii.
II. This family, as well as several in Rome, was admitted into the senate
by Tarquinius Priscus, and soon afterwards placed by Servius Tullius
among the patricians; but in process of time it transferred itself to the
plebeian order, and, after the lapse of a long interval, was restored by
Julius Caesar to the rank of patricians. The first person of the family
raised by the suffrages of the people to the magistracy, was Caius

Rufus. He obtained the quaestorship, and had two sons, Cneius and
Caius; from whom are descended the two branches of the Octavian
family, which have had very different fortunes. For Cneius, and his
descendants in uninterrupted succession, held all the highest offices of
the state; whilst Caius and his posterity, whether from their
circumstances or their choice, remained in the equestrian order until the
father of Augustus. The great-grandfather of Augustus served as a
military tribune in the second Punic war in Sicily, under the command
of Aemilius Pappus. His grandfather contented himself with bearing the
public offices of his own municipality, and grew old in the tranquil
enjoyment of an ample patrimony. Such is the account given (72) by
different authors. Augustus himself, however, tells us nothing more
than that he was descended of an equestrian family, both ancient and
rich, of which his father was the first who obtained the rank of senator.
Mark Antony upbraidingly tells him that his great-grandfather was a
freedman of the territory of Thurium [107], and a rope-maker, and his
grandfather a usurer. This is all the information I have any where met
with, respecting the ancestors of Augustus by the father's side.
III. His father Caius Octavius was, from his earliest years, a person
both of opulence and distinction: for which reason I am surprised at
those who say that he was a money-dealer [108], and was employed in
scattering bribes, and canvassing for the candidates at elections, in the
Campus Martius. For being bred up in all the affluence of a great estate,
he attained with ease to honourable posts, and discharged the duties of
them with much distinction. After his praetorship, he obtained by lot
the province of Macedonia; in his way to which he cut off some
banditti, the