Upon this occasion, therefore, the
Senate decreed "supplications to the Gods; with the celebration of the
greater Roman games, under the direction of the Pontifs, the Augurs, the
College of Fifteen, assisted by the College of Seven, and the Fraternity
of Augustal Priests." Lucius Apronius had moved, that "with the rest might
preside the company of heralds." Tiberius opposed it; he distinguished
between the jurisdiction of the priests and theirs; "for that at no time
had the heralds arrived to so much pre-eminence: but for the Augustal
Fraternity, they were therefore added, because they exercised a priesthood
peculiar to that family for which the present vows and solemnities were
made," It is no part of my purpose to trace all the votes of particular
men, unless they are memorable for integrity, or for notorious infamy:
this I conceive to be the principal duty of an historian, that he suppress
no instance of virtue; and that by the dread of future infamy and the
censures of posterity, men may be deterred from detestable actions and
prostitute speeches. In short, such was the abomination of those times, so
prevailing the contagion of flattery, that not only the first nobles,
whose obnoxious splendour found protection only in obsequiousness; but all
who had been Consuls, a great part of such as had been Praetors, and even
many of the unregistered Senators, strove for priority in the vileness and
excess of their votes.
Pages:
258
259
260
261
262
263
264
265
266
267
268
269
270
271
272
273
274
275
276
277
278
279
280
281
282