authority which the men of very greatest attainment used to hold gives them the right to stop any measure brought up by some one else, in case they do not join in approving it, and to be free from personal abuse.  Moreover if they are thought to be wronged in even the slightest degree not merely by action but even by conversation they may destroy the guilty party without a trial as one polluted.  They do not think it lawful to be tribune, because they belong altogether to the patrician class, but they assume all the power of the tribuneship undiminished from the period of its greatest extent; and thereby the enumeration of the years they have held the office in question goes forward on the assumption that they receive it year by year along with the others who are successively tribunes.  Thus by these names they have secured these privileges in accordance with all the various usages of the democracy, in order that they may appear to possess nothing that has not been given them.

[-18-] They have gained also another prerogative which was given to none of the ancient Romans outright to apply to all cases, and it is through this alone that it would be possible for them to hold the above offices and any others besides.  They are freed from the action of the laws, as the very words in Latin indicate.  That is, they are liberated from every consideration of compulsion and are subjected to none of the written ordinances.  So by virtue of these democratic names they are clothed in all the strength of the government and have all that appertains to kings except the vulgar title.  “Caesar” or “Augustus” as a mode of address confers upon them no distinct privilege of its own but shows in the one case the continuance of their family and in the other the brilliance and dignity of their position.  The salutation “father” perhaps gives them a certain authority over us which fathers once had over their children.  It was not used, however, for this purpose in the beginning, but for their honor, and to admonish them to love their subjects as they would their children, while the subjects were to respect them as they respect their fathers.

Such is the number and quality of the titles to which those in power are accustomed according to the and according to what has now become tradition.  At present all of them are, as a rule, bestowed upon the rulers at once, except the title of censor:  to the earlier emperors they were voted separately and from time to time.  Some of the emperors took the censorship in accordance with ancient custom and Domitian took it for life.  This is, however, no longer done at the present day.  They possess its powers and are not chosen for it and do not employ its name except in the censuses.