Roman History, 51.20

Cassius Dio  translated by Earnest Cary

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20These were the decrees passed at that time; and when he was consul for the fifth time, with Sextus Apuleius, they ratified all his acts by oath on the very first day of January. When the letter came regarding the Parthians, they further arranged that his name should be included in their hymns equally with those of the gods; 2that a tribe should be called the “Julian” after him; that he should wear the triumphal crown at all the festivals; that the senators who had participated in his victory should take part in the triumphal procession arrayed in purple-bordered togas; 3that the day on which he entered the city should be honoured with sacrifices by the whole population and be held sacred for evermore; and that he might choose priests even beyond the regular number,—as many, in fact, as he should wish on any occasion. This last-named privilege, handed down from that time, was afterwards indefinitely extended, so that I need not henceforth make a point of giving the exact number of such officials. 4Now Caesar accepted all but a few of these honours, though he expressly requested that one of them, the proposal that the whole population of the city should go out to meet him, should not be put into effect. Nevertheless, the action which pleased him more than all the decrees was the closing by the senate of the gates of Janus, implying that all their wars had entirely ceased, and the taking of the augurium salutis, which had at this time fallen into disuse for the reasons I have mentioned. 5To be sure, there were still under arms the Treveri, who had brought in the Germans to help them, and the Cantabri, the Vaccaei, and the Astures,—the three last-named of whom were later subjugated by Statilius Taurus, and the former by Nonius Gallus,—and there were also numerous other disturbances going on in various regions; yet inasmuch as nothing of importance resulted from them, the Romans at the time did not consider that they were engaged in war, nor have I, for my part, anything notable to record about them.

6Caesar, meanwhile, besides attending to the general business, gave permission for the dedication of sacred precincts in Ephesus and in Nicaea to Rome and to Caesar, his father, whom he named the hero Julius. These cities had at that time attained chief place in Asia and in Bithynia respectively. 7He commanded that the Romans resident in these cities should pay honour to these two divinities; but he permitted the aliens, whom he styled Hellenes, to consecrate precincts to himself, the Asians to have theirs in Pergamum and the Bithynians theirs in Nicomedia. This practice, beginning under him, has been continued under other emperors, not only in the case of the Hellenic nations but also in that of all the others, in so far as they are subject to the Romans. 8For in the capital itself and in Italy generally no emperor, however worthy of renown he has been, has dared to do this; still, even there various divine honours are bestowed after their death upon such emperors as have ruled uprightly, and, in fact, shrines are built to them.

9All this took place in the winter; and the Pergamenians also received authority to hold the “sacred” games, as they called them, in honour of Caesar’s temple.

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