burial to a Prince who had grown old in peace and power, and even provided
against a relapse into liberty, by a long train of successors."

Hence much and various matter of observation concerning Augustus: the
superstitious multitude admired the fortuitous events of his fortune;
"that the last day of his life, and the first of his reign, was the same;
that he died at Nola, in the same village, and in the same house, and in
the same chamber, where his father Octavius died. They observed to his
glory, his many Consulships, equal in number to those of Valerius Corvinus
and of Caius Marius, joined together; that he had exercised the power of
the Tribuneship seven-and-thirty continued years: that he was one-and-
twenty times proclaimed Imperator; with many other numerous honours
repeated to him, or created for him." Men of deeper discernment entered
further into his life, but differed about it. His admirers said, "that his
filial piety to his father Caesar, and the distractions of the Republic,
where the laws no longer governed, had driven him into a civil war; which,
whatever be the first cause, can never be begun or carried, on by just and
gentle means." Indeed, to be revenged on the murderers of his father, he
had made many great sacrifices to the violent genius of Anthony; many to
Lepidus: but when Lepidus was become sunk and superannuated in sloth; when
Anthony was lost headlong in sensuality, there was then no other remedy
for the distracted State, rent piecemeal by its Chiefs, but the
sovereignty of one: Augustus, however, never had assumed to be over his
country King, or Dictator; but settled the government under the legal name
of Prince, or Chief of the Senate: he had extended the Empire, and set for
its bounds the distant ocean and rivers far remote; the several parts and
forces of the State, the legions, the provinces, and the navy, were all
properly balanced and connected; the citizens lived dutifully under the
protection of the law, the Allies in terms of respect, and Rome itself was
adorned with magnificent structures: indeed, in a few instances he had