The Roman History by Cassius Dio

Author:Cassius Dio
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Penguin Books Ltd
Published: 1987-04-18T16:00:00+00:00

6. While these events were in progress, Augustus visited Sicily to settle affairs in that island and in other territories, and travelled as far as Syria. While he was still there the people of Rome plunged into bitter strife concerning the election of the consuls. This episode made it clear that it was impossible for a democratic system of government to be carried on among them, for even though they possessed little power either in the electoral process or in the conduct of the offices of state, they fell to rioting. One of the consulships, it appears, was being reserved for Augustus, and so at the beginning of the year10 Marcus Lollius alone took up the office. Then, when Augustus refused to assume the other consulship, Quintus Lepidus and Lucius Silvanus contested the election, and their rivalry created such a state of turmoil that those who kept their heads appealed to Augustus to come home. But he refused to move, and when the two candidates came to visit him, he reprimanded them, dismissed them and sent instructions that the vote should be taken while both men were away. However, this failed to calm the situation, and the people remained as bitterly divided as ever, so that it was a long time before Lepidus was elected. Augustus was angry at these events, for neither could he devote all his time exclusively to Rome, 11 nor did he dare to leave the city without a head. He cast around for a man to put in charge of affairs, and considered Agrippa to be the best choice. As he wished to endow him with a prestige above the ordinary to help him govern the people more easily, he sent for him and obliged him to divorce his wife, even though she was Augustus’s own niece, and to marry Julia.12 Agrippa was at once despatched to Rome to proceed with the wedding and take control of the affairs of the capital. This solution is said to have been adopted partly on the advice of Maecenas, who, when he was deliberating with him on these problems, remarked, ‘You have made him so powerful that he must either become your son-in-law, or be killed.’ Agrippa then brought under control the various disorders which he found still festering, and in particular he curtailed the celebration of Egyptian rites, 13 which were again creeping into the city: he forbade anyone to practise these, even in the suburbs up to a radius of one mile. When a riot broke out over the election of the prefect of the city, the official elected on account of the national holiday, the Feriae, 14 he was unable to quell it, so that the citizens spent the year without this post being filled.

7. While Agrippa was dealing with these problems, Augustus, after settling various matters in Sicily and establishing Roman colonies in Syracuse and certain other cities, crossed over to Greece. He paid honour to the Spartans by giving them the island of Cythera, and attending their mess-room.

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