Marc Anthony slain; and of all the chiefs of the late Dictator's
party, only Octavius his nephew was left; he put off the invidious name of
Triumvir, and styling himself Consul, pretended that the jurisdiction
attached to the Tribuneship was his highest aim, as in it the protection
of the populace was his only view: but when once he had laid his
foundations wider, secured the soldiery by liberality and donations,
gained the people by store of provisions, and charmed all by the blessings
and sweetness of public peace, he began by politic gradations to exalt
himself, to extend his domination, and with his own power to consolidate
the authority of the Senate, jurisdiction of the Magistrate, and weight
and force of the Laws; usurpations in which he was thwarted by no man: all
the bravest Republicans and his most daring foes were slain in battle, or
gleaned up by the late sanguinary proscriptions; and for the surviving
Nobility, they were covered with wealth, and distinguished with public
honours, according to the measure of their debasement, and promptness to
bondage. Add, that all the creatures of this new Power, who in the loss of
public freedom had gained private fortunes, preferred a servile condition,
safe and possessed, to the revival of ancient liberty with personal peril.
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