. History of Rome and of the Roman people, from its origin to the Invasion of the Barbarians;. IRE. sentiments ; and Vergils testimony to the felicity of Rome in themidst of the profound peace and serene grandeur which Augustushad bestowed uj^on her, was the sincere echo of public opinion. •When the poet bids us observe the countless sacrifices offered on the altars of thethree hundred templeswhich the Emperor haserected, the chohs ofwomen chanting in thesacred courts, Augustushimself seated on thefhreshold of the templeof Apollo while cap-tives from all nationsdefile before him, orhanging up
. History of Rome and of the Roman people, from its origin to the Invasion of the Barbarians;. IRE. sentiments ; and Vergils testimony to the felicity of Rome in themidst of the profound peace and serene grandeur which Augustushad bestowed uj^on her, was the sincere echo of public opinion. •When the poet bids us observe the countless sacrifices offered on the altars of thethree hundred templeswhich the Emperor haserected, the chohs ofwomen chanting in thesacred courts, Augustushimself seated on thefhreshold of the templeof Apollo while cap-tives from all nationsdefile before him, orhanging up in the tem-ples the gifts whichnations and kings haveoffered, we seem to feelthe whole city thrilledwith joy and gratitude.*Or, again, listen to theelder Pliny when hespeaks with a sort ofreligious fervor of thispeople selected by thegods to restore de-stroyed empires, tosoften mens manners,to unite discordant andbarbarous idioms in acommon language, to make it possible for men to understand andlove each other, — in a word, to gather into one common countiyall the nations of the AUGUSTUS IN THE TOGA.^ * Aeneid, vii. 710. .See also Horace, Can», iv. v. 17 sfjq. : —Tiiliis lios . . rura perambulal,Pacatum volitant per mare navitae. * Museum of the Louvre. » Pliny, Hist. Nat. iii. 6. ADMINISTRATION OF AUGUSTUS IN THE IKOVINCES. 231 But we have testimony surer, if less brilliaut, than the enthusi-asm of the scholar and the poet. One day, as Augustus was sail-ing along the shore of Puteoli, the sailors and passengers of anAlexandrian vessel came to salute him, clad in white garmentsand crowned with flow-ers. They burned in-cense before him as ifhe were a god, and criedout : It is by thee thatwe live and are free ;to thee we owe ourwealth and was so grati-fied by this homage,his biographer con-tinues, that he dis-tributed forty pieces ofgold among his attend-ants, directing them toexpend the money inthe purchase of Egyp-tian commodities. Dur-ing the
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