How he began to be called emperor (chapters 41-43).

Duration of time, the remainder of the consulship of Cæsar (5th) and
Sextus Apuleius. (B.C. 29 = a. u. 725.)


_(BOOK 52, BOISSEVAIN)_

[-1-] My record has so far stated what the Romans both did and endured
for seven hundred and twenty-five years under the monarchy, as a
democracy, and beneath the rule of a few. After this they reverted to
nothing more nor less than a state of monarchy again, although Cæsar had
a plan to lay down his arms and entrust affairs to the senate and the
populace. He held a consultation on the subject with Agrippa and Mæcenas,
to whom he communicated all his secrets. Agrippa, first of the two,
answered him as follows:--

[-2-] "Be not surprised, Cæsar, if I try to turn your mind away from
monarchy, in spite of the fact that I might enjoy many advantages from it
if you held the place. If it were going to prove serviceable to you, I
should be thoroughly enthusiastic for it. But those who hold supreme
power are not in a like position with their friends: the latter without
incurring jealousy or danger reap all the benefits they please, whereas
jealousies and dangers are the lot of the former. I have thought it
right, as in other cases, to look forward not for my own interest but for
yours and the public's. Let us consider leisurely all the features of the
system of government and turn whichever way our reflection may direct us.
For it will not be asserted that we ought to choose it under any and all
circumstances, even if it be not advantageous. Otherwise we shall seem to
have been unable to bear good fortune and to have gone mad through our