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3Although in these measures he showed himself, in form as well as in name, both law-giver and arbitrary ruler, in his behaviour generally he was moderate, to such a degree, in fact, that he even stood by some of his friends when their official conduct was under investigation. 2And when a certain Marcus Primus was accused of having made war upon the Odrysae while he was governor of Macedonia, and declared at one moment that he had done it with the approval of Augustus and at another with that of Marcellus, Augustus came of his own accord to the court-room; and upon being asked by the praetor whether he had instructed the man to make war, he denied it. 3And when the advocate of Primus, Licinius Murena, in the course of some rather disrespectful remarks that he made to him, enquired: “What are you doing here, and who summoned you?” Augustus merely replied: “The public weal.” For this he received praise from the people of good sense and was even given the right to convene the senate as often as he pleased; but some of the others despised him. 4At all events, not a few voted for the acquittal of Primus, and others formed a plot against Augustus. Fannius Caepio was the instigator of it, but others also joined with him. Even Murena was reported to be in the conspiracy, whether truly or by way of calumny, since he was immoderate and unrestrained in his outspokenness toward all alike. 5These men did not stand trial, and so were convicted by default, on the supposition that they intended to flee; and a little later they were slain. Murena found neither Proculeius, his brother, nor Maecenas, his sister’s husband, of any avail to save him, though these men were most highly honoured by Augustus. 6And inasmuch as some of the jurymen voted to acquit even these conspirators, the emperor made a law that in trials at which the defendant was not present the vote should not be taken secretly and the defendant should be convicted only by a unanimous vote. Now that he took these measures, not in anger, but as really conducive to the public good, he gave very strong proof; 7at any rate, when Caepio’s father freed one of the two slaves who had accompanied his son in his flight because this slave had wished to defend his young master when he met his death, but in the case of the second slave, who had deserted his son, led him through the midst of the Forum with an inscription making known the reason why he was to be put to death, and afterwards crucified him, the emperor was not vexed. 8Indeed, he would have allayed all the criticism of those who were not pleased with what had been done, had he not gone further and permitted sacrifices to be both voted and offered as for a victory.
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