would enable him to
avoid the appearance of having forced them against their will. As a
consequence, after apprising those senators with whom he was most
intimate of his designs, he entered the senatorial body in his seventh
consulship and read the following document.

[B.C. 27 (_a. u._ 727)]

[-3-] "I am sure that I shall seem to some of you, Conscript Fathers, to
have made an incredible choice. For what each one of my hearers would not
wish to do himself, he does not like to believe when another states it as
accomplished. This is chiefly because every one is jealous of every one
who surpasses him and is more or less inclined to distrust anything said
that is higher than his own standard.[1] Moreover I know this, that those
who make apparently untrustworthy statements not only persuade nobody but
further have the appearance of cheats. And, indeed, if it were a case of
announcing something that I was not intending to do immediately, I should
hesitate very much about making it public, for fear of obtaining some
unworthy charge against me instead of gratitude. But, as it is, when
the performance will follow the promise this very day, I feel entirely
confident not only of avoiding any shame for prevarication but of
surpassing all mankind in good repute. [-4-] You all see that I am so
situated that I could rule you perpetually. All the revolutionists either
have been disciplined and been made to halt or have had pity shown them
and so have come to their senses. My helpers have been made devoted by
a recompense of benefits and steadfast by a participation in the
government: therefore they do not desire any political innovations, and
if anything of the sort should take place, the men to assist me are even
more ready for it than the instigators of rebellion. My military is in
prime condition, we have good-will, strength, money, and allies, and
chiefest of all you and the people are so disposed toward me that you
would be quite willing to have me at your head. However, I will lead you
no longer, nor shall any one say that all the acts of my previous career
have been with the object of sole rulership. I give up the entire domain,
and I restore to you absolutely everything,--the arms, the laws, and the
provinces,--not only all those which you committed to me but also all
that I myself subsequently acquired for you. Thus by my deeds themselves
you may ascertain that I did not from the outset desire any position of
power, but wis