Note 155 — Chapter XV · THE PALATINE AND THE PALACE OF THE CÆSARS. THE GOVERNMENT OFFICES, AND THE POLICE AND CITY GOVERNMENT OF ROME

Sometimes, with an affectation of democracy, almost any decently clad person would be admitted to present petitions or merely to pay respects. Servile prostrations before the Emperor were not encouraged under the Early Principate; once when a petitioner went through great bowings and scrapings while presenting a scroll to Augustus, the latter cried testily, “You act as if you were presenting some money to an elephant.”