Complete Works of Suetonius by Suetonius

Author:Suetonius [Suetonius]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: Classic literature and art
Publisher: Delphi Classics
Published: 2016-02-20T16:00:00+00:00

The Life of Tacitus

1 1 A certain measure adopted after the departure of Romulus, during the infancy of Rome’s power, and recorded by the pontiffs, the duly authorized writers of history, — namely, the proclamation of a regency for the interval in which one good prince was being sought for to succeed another — was also adopted after the death of Aurelian for the space of six whole months, while the senate and the army of Rome were engaged in a contest, one that was marked not by envy and unhappiness but rather by good feeling and sense of duty. 2 This occasion, however, differed in many ways from that former undertaking. For originally, when the regency was proclaimed after the reign of Romulus, regents were actually created, and that whole year was divided up among the hundred senators for periods of three, or four, or five days apiece, in such a way that there was only one single regent who held the power. 3 From this it resulted that the regency remained in force for even more than a year, in order that there might be no one of those equal in rank who had not held the rule at Rome. 4 To this must be added that also in the time of the consuls and the military tribunes vested with consular power, whenever a regency was proclaimed there were always regents, and never did the Roman commonwealth so entirely lack this office that there was not some regent created, though it might be for only two or three days. 5 I perceive, indeed, that the argument can be brought up against me that for the space of four years during the time of our ancestors there were no curule magistrates in the commonwealth. There were, however, tribunes of the plebs vested with the tribunician power, which is the most important element of the power of a king. 6 Even so, it is nowhere stated that there were no regents in that time; and indeed it has been declared on the authority of more reliable historians that consuls were later created by regents for the purpose of conducting the election of the other magistrates.

2 1 And so the senate and people of Rome passed through an unusual and a difficult situation, namely, that for six months, while a good man was being sought, the commonwealth had no emperor. 2 What harmony there was then among the soldiers! What peace for the people! How full of weight the authority of the senate! Nowhere did any pretender arise, and the judgement of the senate, the soldiers and the people of Rome guided the entire world; it was not because they feared any emperor or the power of a tribune that they did righteously, but — what is the noblest thing in life — because they feared themselves.

3 I must, however, describe the cause of a delay so fortunate and an instance of unselfishness which should both receive special mention in the

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