three times as much again, so that even if some were vexed at the minuteness of his other regulations yet by reason of this one and also because he brought back from exile one Pylades, a dancer, driven out on account of civil quarrels, they remembered them no longer.  Hence Pylades is said to have rejoined very cleverly when the emperor rebuked him for having quarreled with Bathyllus, an artist in the same line and a relative of Maecenas:  “It is to your advantage, Caesar, that the populace should exhaust its energy over us.”—­These were the occurrences of that year.

[B.C. 17 (a. u. 737)]

[-18-]In the consulship of Gaius Furnius and Gaius Silanus Agrippa again announced the birth of a son named Lucius, and Augustus immediately adopted him together with his brother Gaius, not waiting for them to become men but appointing them that very moment successors to his office, in order that less plots might be directed against him.  The festival of Honor and of Virtus he transferred to the days which are at present theirs.  Those that celebrated triumphs he commanded to erect out of the spoils some public work to commemorate their deeds.  The Saecularia he brought for the fifth time to a successful conclusion.  The orators, he ordered, were to give their services without pay, on pain of a fine of quadruple the amount they might receive.  Those whom the lot made jurymen in any season he forbade to enter any person’s house during that year.  And since members of the senate showed lack of interest in attending meetings of that body, he increased the penalties for such as were late without some good excuse.

[B.C. 16 (a. u. 7386)]

[-19-] Next he started for Gaul, during the consulship of Lucius Domitius and Publius Scipio, making an excuse of the wars that had arisen in that region.  For since he had become disliked by many as a result of his long stay in the capital and by inflicting penalties offended many who committed some act contrary to the laws laid down, while he was compelled in sparing many others to transgress his own enactments, he decided to leave the country, somewhat after the manner of Solon.  Some suspected that he had gone away on account of Terentia, the wife of Maecenas, and intended, because there was much talk made about them in Rome, to join her without any gossip during his trip abroad.  So great was his passion for her that he once had her enter a contest of beauty against Livia.

Before starting he dedicated the temple of Quirinus, which he had built up anew.  By this I mean he had adorned it with seventy-six columns, equal to the total number of years he had lived.  This consequently caused some to say that he had chosen the number purposely and not by mere chance.  After the consecration of this edifice he arranged through Tiberius and Drusus for gladiatorial combats, permission having been granted them by the senate.  Then he committed to Taurus the management of the City together with the rest