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46These were the measures that were passed in honour of his victory (I do not mention all, but as many as have seemed to me notable), not in one day, to be sure, but just as it happened, at different times. Caesar began to avail himself of some, and was intending to use others in the future, however emphatically he declined some of them. 2Thus he took the office of consul immediately, even before entering the city, but did not hold it through the whole year; instead, when he got to Rome he renounced it, turning it over to Quintus Fabius and Gaius Trebonius. 3When Fabius died on the last day of his consulship, he straightway named another man, Gaius Caninius Rebilus, in his place for the remaining hours. This was the first violation of precedent at this time, that one and the same man did not hold that office for a year or even for all the rest of the same year, but while living withdrew from it without compulsion from either ancestral custom or any accusation, and another took his place. 4Again, there was the fact that Caninius was appointed consul, served, and ceased to serve all at the same time. Hence Cicero jestingly remarked that the consul had displayed such great bravery and prudence in office as never to fall asleep in it for the briefest moment. 5So after that period the same persons no longer (except a few in the beginning) acted as consuls through the whole year, but according to circumstances, some for a longer time, some for a shorter, some for months, others for days; indeed, at the present time no one serves with any one else, as a rule, for a whole year or for a longer period than two months. 6In general we consuls to -day do not differ from one another, but the naming of the years is the privilege of those who are consuls at the beginning. Accordingly, in the case of the other consuls I shall name only those who were closely connected with the events mentioned, but in order to secure perfect clearness with regard to the succession of events, I shall mention also those who first held office in each year, even if they make no contribution to its events.
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