« Dio 54.12 | Dio 54.13 | Dio 54.14 | About This Work »
13When he had done this, he purged the senatorial body. For the members seemed to him to be too numerous even now, and he saw nothing good in a large throng; moreover, he hated not only those who were notorious for some baseness, but also those who were conspicuous for their flattery. 2And when, as on the previous occasion, no one would resign of his own free will, and Augustus, in his turn, did not wish to incur blame alone, he himself selected the thirty best men (a point which he afterwards confirmed by oath) and bade them, after first taking the same oath, choose five at a time, relatives not to be included, by writing the names on tablets. 3After this he made the groups of five cast lots, with the arrangement that the one man in each group who drew the lot should be a senator himself and should write down five other names according to the same plan. The original thirty, of course, were to be included among those who were available for selection by the second thirty and for the drawing of lots. And since some who were chosen were out of town, others were drawn in their place and discharged the duties that belonged to them. 4At first all this went on for several days in the way described; but when various abuses crept in, Augustus no longer entrusted the lists to the quaestors and no longer submitted the groups of five to the lot, but he himself thenceforth made the selection and himself chose the senators who were still required in order to make the number of men appointed six hundred in all.
« Dio 54.12 | Dio 54.13 | Dio 54.14 | About This Work »