When after the
destruction of Brutus and Cassius there was no longer any army of the
Commonwealth, when Pompeius was crushed in Sicily,
and when, with Lepidus pushed aside and Antonius slain, even the Julian
faction had only Csar left to lead it, then, dropping the title of
triumvir, and giving out that he was a Consul, and was satisfied with a
tribune's authority for the protection of the people, Augustus
[p. 4]
won
over the soldiers with gifts, the populace with cheap corn, and all men with
the sweets of repose, and so grew greater by degrees, while he concentrated
in himself the functions of the Senate, the magistrates, and the laws. He
was wholly unopposed, for the boldest spirits had fallen in battle, or in
the proscription, while the remaining nobles, the readier they were to be
slaves, were raised the higher by wealth and promotion, so that, aggrandised
by revolution, they preferred the safety of the present to the dangerous
past. Nor did the provinces dislike that condition of affairs, for they
distrusted the government of the Senate and the people, because of the
rivalries between the leading men and the rapacity of the officials, while
the protection of the laws was unavailing, as they were continually deranged
by violence, intrigue, and finally by corruption.
