Seneca - College of Stoic Philosophers

190 CAIUS MAECENASoblivion were the order of the day. To the sonof that Cicero, the thunder of whose eloquencein defence of the old constitution had cost himhis life, fell the duty as consul of announcing tothe people the news of the battle of Actium andof presiding over the games and pageants givenin honour of the victory. The untamable soulof Cato was applauded with impunity by theCourt poets. Men, like Messala, who had distinguishedthemselves on the republican side in thecivil war were admitted to the intimacy of theemperor and the letter of the old constitution;was preserved inviolate at a time when its spiritwas fundamentally subverted.Augustus seems really to have been by temperamenta conservative. He cared little for thepomp and circumstance of power, and was underno temptation to imitate those excesses of unconstitutionallanguage and demeanour, the fatalcandour of which had proved more disastrousto his uncle Julius Caesar than the most violentof his actions. He knew that wounded vanityis a more potent factor in the making of patriotsthan loss of liberty. Moreover, he was attachedto the Roman traditions and religion;he was alover of order, system, and decorum ;he had thehistorical sense ;he had an admirable taste inliterature ;he was an indulgent friend ;andhe loved the freedom from restraint in socialintercourse secured with such difficulty byprinces.When Augustus returned from his final victoryat Actium, he contemplated a genuine