/lit/ - Literature

>A. J. Woodman (Hackett Publishing)
The City of Rome from its inception was held by kings; freedom and the consulship
were established by L. Brutus. Dictatorships were taken up only on occasion, and neither did decemviral power remain in effect beyond two years, nor the military tribunes’ consular prerogative for long. Not for Cinna nor for Sulla was there lengthy domination, and the powerfulness of Pompeius and Crassus passed quickly to Caesar, the armies of Lepidus and Antonius to Augustus, who with the name of princeps took everything, exhausted as it now was by civil dissensions, under his command. The Roman people of old, however, had their successes and adversities recalled by brilliant writers; and to tell of Augustus’ times there was no dearth of deserving talents, until they were deterred by swelling sycophancy.The affairs of Tiberius and Gaius, as of Claudius and Nero,were falsified through dread while the men themselves flourished, and composed with hatred fresh after their fall. Hence my plan is the transmission of a mere few things about Augustus and of his final period, then of Tiberius’ principate and the remainder—without anger and partiality, any reasons for which I keep at a distance.