Worcester daily spy. [volume] (Worcester [Mass.]) 1850-1888, 1862-11-08
WOttester Dailg Spy
Testament of the Emperor Augustus.
[From Galignanil

Testament of the Emperor Augustus.
From Gslignanil
The celebrated inscription commonly, but
incorrectly, called the testament of Augustus,
is, even for those who are neither scholars nor
psychologists, one of the most interesting Gu
riosities of the museum of Napoleon III. 1t
was discovered at Augora, the Ancyra of the
ancients, and has been brought to France by
M. Perrot. There is every reason to believe
that this documentwas drawn up by Augustus
himself, for Suetonius states that the emperor,
sixteen months before his death, deposited his
will and three scrolls, signed and sealed, with
the vestal virgins, who, after his decease, car
ried them all to the senate house, where they
were opened and read. The will, properly so
called, disposed of his property among his
relatives, while of the three scrolls, the first
contained instructions for his funeral; the
second, a concise history of all the principal
events of his life, which the emperor ordered
to be inscribed on bronze tablets, to be placed
in front of his mausoleum; and the third, a
statistical account of the Roman army, state
ment of the funds in the public treasury, and
the names of his freedmen and slaves, who
might be called upon to give any explanations
required.
The bronze tablets, like all other monu-
ments of that metal, were destroyed by the
barbarians, but it fortunately happened that
the inhabitants of Ancyra, who were great adj
mirerS of Augustus, and had erected temple
in his honor, though they could not better per-
petuate his fame than by inscribing this docu-
ment on its walls, and as it was in Latin, a
language known to but few persons i'll Asia
Minor, they placed Greek translation by its
side. This was lucky thought, which has
saved psychologists much useless lamenta-
tons, for the inscription has suffered greatly
from the ravages of time, and several parts of
it are quite illegible; but it so happens that
the passages deficient in the original are sup
piled by the translation, so that M. Perrot has
been able to give the inscription complete, or
very nearly so.
The Turks, who care nothing for antiquity,
and would readily have demolished the no
blest monuments of the past to employ their
materials for the meanest purposes, had run
up some wretched buildings against the wall
which bore this precious inscription. The
only means of obtaining it, therefore, was to
appropriate the owners of these novels. To
do so, both money and influence were neces-
sary, and neither was wanting to NJ. Perrot,
seconded as he was by the emperor of the
French. Every difficulty was surmOunted,
and the inscription of Ancyra is now in Paris.
The style of the document is very simple, as
the facts sre allowed to speak for themselves.
The emperor, beginning with the outlet of his
political career, says: "When nineteen years
of age, | raised without other counsel than
my own, and at my own expense, an army
with which l restored liberty to the republic,
oppressed by the tyranny Of faction" We
thus see the student, leaving his university of
Apollonia to enroll in the south of Italy the
unemployed veterans of his great uncle. Law
had ceased to reign ever since the days of
Gracchi. Supreme power belonged to the
worthiest, provided he were also the strongest.
As might be supposed, the portion relating
to the prescription is very laconic and not
little obscure. 0ctavius, when emperor, can
hardly be supposed to have found much
pleasure in these "reminiscences: '"Fhe peo-
pie" he says, ''haying raised me to the con-
sulate and the functions of triumvir, charged
to recognize the republic, FURNISHED with eX-
lie the conspirators who had killed my father,
thus avenging his death in accordance with
the law" Uegitims judicis ultus.) 1t had
always been supposed that law had very little
to do with the proceedings of Octavius in this
matter. Appian, a historian, worthy of all
credit, has preserved the manifesto issued by
the triumvirs, and the pages of history do not
contain more sanguinary or more afro
cious document A price was set on the head
Of every prosscript, and all who sheltered
one of the victims prescribed by Antony, and
Octavius did nothing to save the great orator.
1t is said that in after years he felt deep re-
morse for his conduct on that occasion.
The emperor next recounts the honors and
dgnities with which he was loaded; two ova-
tons, three triumphs fifty-fve supplcations
(Te DeumS they would be called in the Ian
guage of the present day., thirteen times con-
sui, and thirtyseven times tribune. He adds
that absolute power was offered to him, but
declined Hewas satisfied with being twenty
one times iInperator and tribune of the peo-
pie, prince of the senate, augur and high pom
tiff for life. Thrice he made general census
OF the Roman citizens; the first time they
numbered 4,063000; the second 4, 233, 900; ;
and the third 1887 600 As these were the
whole of the freemen, what millions of slaves
there must haYe been in the empire, which
then extended from the Atlantic to the Eu-
pirates, and from the German Ocean to the
Great Sahara. Augustus boasts of his disn-
terestedness in waiting for the death of the
weak minded Lepidus ere he seized the ponti-
fcate, his closing three times the temple of
Janus, his largesses to the people, and the
faithful execution of his fathers will. Angus
tus dwells with great compacency on the
metamorphoses of Rome from a brick-built
city to one of marble, and enumerates all the
great public works of his reign. He then
mentions the combats of gladiators, in which
not less than 10000 men had fought, He
states that there had been in Rome no less
than eighty bronze statues of himself, all of
which he melted down and gave the proceeds
as offerings to the temple of Apollo. He next
gives the list of his triumphs as soldier and
statesman, and states that in his thirteenth
consulate the patricians and people decI eed
him the title of "Pater Patrie," and ordered
the name to be inscribed over the vestibule of
his palace. He concludes with remarking =
"When l wrote this was in the 10Th wear of
my age" Such is the curious remnant of an
tquity now installed in the new museum.
Census OF Fugitive Slaves.