only if I looked at his deeds beside those of Hercules:  yet even then I should fail of my effect, inasmuch as the latter killed only serpents when he was a child, a stag and a boar when he was a man,—­oh, yes, and by Jupiter a lion also, though reluctantly and in obedience to a command; whereas our hero voluntarily made wars and enacted laws not among beasts but among men, carefully preserved the commonwealth, and himself gained brilliance.  It was for this that you chose him praetor and appointed him consul at that age when some are unwilling even to serve in the army.

[-37-] “This was the beginning of political life for Augustus, and it is the beginning of my speech about him.  Soon after, seeing that the largest and best portion both of the people and of the senate was in accord with him, but that Lepidus and Antony, Sextus, Brutus, and Cassius were employing rebels, he feared that the city might become involved in many wars,—­civil wars,—­at once, and be so torn asunder and exhausted as not to be able to revive in any fashion; and so he manipulated them very cleverly and to the greatest public good.  He attached himself to the strong ones, who were menacing the very city, and with them fought the others till he made an end of them:  when these were out of the way he in turn freed us from the former.  He chose against his will to surrender a few to their wrath so that he might save the majority, and he chose to assume a friendly attitude toward them individually so as not to have to fight with them all at once.  From this he derived no individual gain but aided us all most evidently.  Why should one speak at length to enumerate his deeds in the wars both at home and abroad?  Consider especially that the former ought never to have occurred at all and that the latter by the conquests gained show their advantages better than any words, moreover that they largely depended upon chance, that the successes were obtained with the aid of many citizens and many allies so that these deserve the credit equally with him, and finally that the achievements might possibly be compared with those of some others.  These, accordingly, I shall put aside.  You can behold and read them inscribed in letters and characters in many places.  I shall speak only of the works which belong to Augustus himself, which have never been performed by any other man, and have not only caused our city to survive from many dangers of a sorts but have rendered it more prosperous and powerful.  The mention of them will confer upon him a unique glory and will afford the elder among you an innocent pleasure while giving the younger men an exact instruction in the character and constitution of the government.