magistrates and the senate to his own house, and delivered them a
particular account of the state of the empire. But reflecting at the
same time that it would be both hazardous to himself to return to the
condition of a private person, and might be dangerous to the public to
have the government placed again under the control of the people, he
resolved to keep it in his own hands, whether with the better event or
intention, is hard to say. His good intentions he often affirmed in
private discourse, and also published an edict, in which it was declared
in the following terms: "May it be permitted me to have the happiness of
establishing the commonwealth on a safe and sound basis, and thus enjoy
the reward of which I am ambitious, that of being celebrated for moulding
it into the form best adapted to present circumstances; so that, on my
leaving the world, I may carry with me the hope that the foundations
which I have laid for its future government, will stand firm and stable."

XXIX. The city, which was not built in a manner suitable to the grandeur
of the empire, and was liable to inundations of the Tiber [149], as well
as to fires, was so much improved under his administration, that he
boasted, not without reason, that he "found it of brick, but left it of
marble." [150] He also rendered (92) it secure for the time to come
against such disasters, as far as could be effected by human foresight.
A great number of public buildings were erected by him, the most
considerable of which were a forum [151], containing the temple of Mars
the Avenger, the temple of Apollo on the Palatine hill, and the temple of
Jupiter Tonans in the Capitol. The reason of his building a new forum
was the vast increase in the population, and the number of causes to be
tried in the courts, for which, the two already existing not affording
sufficient space, it was thought necessary to have a third. It was
therefore opened for public use before the temple of Mars was completely
finished; and a law was passed, that causes should be tried, and judges