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30These were the events connected with Agrippa’s death. After this Augustus was chosen supervisor and corrector of morals for another five years; for he received this office also for limited periods, as he did the monarchy. He ordered the senators to burn incense in their assembly hall whenever they held a session, and not to pay the usual visit to him, his purpose being, in the first instance, that they should show reverence to the gods, and, in the second, that they should not be hindered in convening. 2And inasmuch as extremely few candidates sought the tribuneship, because its power had been abolished, he made a law that the magistrates in office should each nominate one of the knights who possessed not less than one million sesterces, and that the plebs should then fill the vacancies in the tribuneship from this list, with the understanding that, if the men desired to be senators later, they might do so, or otherwise they should return again to the equestrian order.
3When the province of Asia was in dire need of assistance on account of earthquakes, he paid into the public treasury from his private funds the amount of its annual tribute and assigned to it for two years a governor chosen by lot and not appointed.
4On one occasion, when Apuleius and Maecenas were subjected to abuse in court when a case of adultery was being tried, not because they had behaved wantonly themselves, but because they were actively aiding the man on trial, Augustus entered the court-room and sat in the praetor’s chair; he took no harsh measures, but simply forbade the accuser to insult either his relatives or his friends, and then rose and left the room. 5For this action and others the senators honoured him with statues, paid for by private subscription, and also by giving bachelors and spinsters the right to behold spectacles and to attend banquets along with other people on his birthday; for neither of these things had been permitted previously.
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