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19During this time and still earlier the Romans at home had passed many resolutions in honour of Caesar’s naval victory. Thus they granted him a triumph, as over Cleopatra, an arch adorned with trophies at Brundisium and another in the Roman Forum. 2Moreover, they decreed that the foundation of the shrine of Julius should be adorned with the beaks of the captured ships and that a festival should be held every four years in honour of Octavius; that there should also be a thanksgiving on his birthday and on the anniversary of the announcement of his victory; also that when he should enter the city the Vestal Virgins and the senate and the people with their wives and children should go out to meet him. 3But it would be quite superfluous to go on and mention the prayers, the images, the privilege of the front seat, and all the other honours of the sort. At the beginning, then, they not only voted him these honours but also either took down or effaced the memorials of Antony, declared the day on which he had been born accursed, and forbade the use of the surname Marcus by any of his kin. 4When, however, they learned of Antony’s death, the news of which came while Cicero, the son of Cicero, was consul for a part of the year, some held that it had come to pass not without divine direction, since the consul’s father had owed his death chiefly to Antony; 5and they voted to Caesar crowns and thanksgivings in great number and granted him the privilege of celebrating another triumph, this time over the Egyptians. For neither on the previous occasion nor at this time did they mention by name Antony and the other Romans who had been vanquished with him and thus imply that it was proper to celebrate their defeat. 6The day on which Alexandria had been captured they declared a lucky day, and directed that in future years it should be taken by the inhabitants of that city as the starting-point in their reckoning of time. They also decreed that Caesar should hold the tribunician power for life, that he should aid those who called upon him for help both within the pomerium and outside for a distance of one mile,—a privilege possessed by none of the tribunes,— 7also that he should judge appealed cases, and that in all the courts his vote was to be cast as Athena’s vote. The priests and priestesses also in their prayers in behalf of the people and the senate were to pray for him likewise, and at all banquets, not only public but private as well, everybody was to pour a libation to him.
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