118
OCTAVIAN SOLE RULER.
the kingdom which Antony had given her were either rejected
or not answered at all, then, after having tried various poisons,
or not venturing to apply them, she put a viper on her breast,
and thus ended her existence.
The war was terminated on the 2nd of August, 722. The
death of Antony had put an end to the civil war and the
triumvirate, which had in fact ceased to exist some time before,
when Lepidus was excluded. From this moment Octavian
was sole master of the Roman world. A decree of the senate
afterwards ordained, that in future feriae Augustae6 should be
celebrated on the first of August7, and the month of Sextilis
δ In several of the MSS. notes there seems to be a reference to the Fasti
Fraenestini; but as they do not contain the month of August, I suspect that
the Calendarium Amiternum is meant (Orelli, Inscript, vol. ii. p. 397) where
we read—Feriae ex S. C. Q(uod) E(o) D(ie) Caesar, Divi F. Rempublic (am)
tristissim .... periculo libérât.
7 These Feriae were celebrated with general solemnities and public entertain-
ments, at which persons appeared decorated with garlands of flowers. They
continued to be celebrated down to the time of the Empress Placidia, and even
in that of Pope Leo the Great, under the name of feriae Augustae. The
festival was indeed a political one, but was connected with libations and other
religious observances, and the ancient rites and ceremonies were carefully pre-
served down to the latest times. Hence the festival Sancti Petri in Vincula*,
(according to Beda and Biondo of Forli) was transferred to that day, and
Christian Rome allowed it to be celebrated in a manner which was a complete
continuation of the ancient feriae Augustae : the day remained as it had been
before. The clients even at the present time go on that day to the houses of
the patricians and receive presents. What I here call clients are persons who
have a sort of claim to receive presents on certain occasions, just as we see
them described in Juvenal; and such persons receive their presents usually on
the first of January and the first of August. It is still customary with domes-
tics at Rome to ask presents on those days, and persons arc compelled to spend
a considerable sum of money in that way. I have often been annoyed at it,
until I found in the work of Biondo of Forli that it was a remnant of antiquity.
The name Fcraugusti or Feragosto occurs throughout the middle ages. Vaiious
other ancient rites and ceremonies have been continued in Christian Rome in
this manner. Down to the eighteenth century, for instance, a carved figure of
the Virgin Mary was carried from the city to the small river Almo and washed
in it, just as was customary in ancient times with the statue of Cybele:
throughout the middle ages, moreover, the statues of saints were carried about
in procession from one church to another, and this was nothing but a continua-
tion of ancient solemnities which we meet with both at Rome and in Greece.
I might mention a great many other things which exist at Rome down to this
day, and remind one of the pagan times. But many of these customs have
lately been abolished, or have fallen into disuse.—N.
* In the church of S. Pietro in Vincula, on the Esquiline, in the baths of
Trajan, theιe are preserved the chains with which the Apostle Peter was fet-
tered at Rome, and also those which he wore at Jerusalem.
Chaeacter of the empire.
119
received the name of Augustus, as Quinctilis had received
that of Julius. Octavian would have preferred to give his
name to the month of September, in which he was born; but
as his appointment to his first consulship, and the termination
of the Civil War, fell both in the month of Sextilis, the latter
received the name of Augustus.
It is my intention to conclude my History of Rome with
the year 722; for here Rome’s history is at an end, and
assumes a totally different aspect. The history of Rome
from that time onwards until the fall of the empire resolves
itself into histories of the several emperors; and the ancients
were quite right in so viewing and treating it, and in calling
Octavian who now received the name of Augustus, the first
emperor. I shall accordingly relate to you the history of each
of the emperors, and give you an account of his government,
his wars, and the like. But before I proceed to do so, I have
to speak of the transition of Rome from a republican to a
monarchical state, and of the institutions of the latter. To this
I shall add a brief account of Roman literature down to the
time of Augustus, and the history of Augustus, of his wars and
of his family. The history of the empire will be much briefer
in proportion than that of the republic ; for in the latter we had
to consider all the separate men who acted a prominent part,
whereas under the empire we shall have to deal with the go-
vernment on the one hand, and with the masses on the other.
Most of the wars under the empire are of a kind which render
detailed descriptions unnecessary : those of Drusus and Germa-
nicus form of course an exception.
In accordance with my plan, I will now give you an outline
of the manner in which Octavian established the Roman mo-
narchy. He had already been invested with the consulship
several times. His first consulship belongs to the year 709,
the second which he received ten years later, was resigned soon
after he had entered upon it. Two years later he obtained the
third, and thenceforward he was consul uninterruptedly until
the eleventh year. The number of all his consulships amounts to
thirteen. Soon after the termination of the war of Actium he
assumed the appearance of intending to resign his power; but
every one knew that it was a mere farce, and that no one
could take him at his word. All the armies had sworn alle-
giance to him and were dependent upon him, and except the