In the consulship of Marcus Silanus and Lucius Norbanus, Germanicus
travelled to Egypt, to view the famous antiquities of the country; though
for the motives of the journey, the care and inspection of the province
were publicly alleged: and, indeed, by opening the granaries, he mitigated
the price of corn, and practised many things grateful to the people;
walking without guards, his feet bare, and his habit the same with that of
the Greeks; after the example of Publius Scipio, who, we are told, was
constant in the same practices in Sicily, even during the rage of the
Punic War there. For these his assumed manners and foreign habit, Tiberius
blamed him in a gentle style, but censured him with great asperity for
violating an establishment of Augustus, and entering Alexandria without
consent of the Prince. For Augustus, amongst other secrets of power, had
appropriated Egypt, and restrained the senators, and dignified Roman
knights from going thither without licence; as he apprehended that Italy
might be distressed with famine by any who seized that province, the key
to the Empire by sea and land, and defensible by a light band of men
against potent armies.
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