The glory too of Augustus will
vanish, if by the promiscuous courtship of flattery it comes to be
vulgarly prostituted.
"For myself, Conscript Fathers, I am a mortal man; I am confined to the
functions of human nature; and if I well supply the principal place
amongst you, it suffices me. This I acknowledge to you; and this
acknowledgment, I would have posterity to remember. They will do abundant
right to my memory, if they believe me to have been worthy of my
ancestors; watchful of the Roman state; unmoved in perils, and in
maintaining the public interest, fearless of private enmities. These are
the temples which in your breasts I would raise; these the fairest
portraitures, and such as will endure. As to temples and statues of stone,
if the idol adored in them comes to be hated by posterity, they are
despised as his sepulchres. Hence it is I here invoke the Gods, that to
the end of my life they would grant me a spirit undisturbed, and
discerning in duties human and divine: and hence too I here implore our
citizens and allies, that whenever my dissolution comes, they would with
approbation and benevolent testimonies of remembrance, celebrate my
actions and retain the odour of my name.
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