Note 40 — Below is a copy of the deeds of the divine Augustus, by which he subjected the whole world to the dominion of the Roman people, and of the amounts which he expended upon the commonwealth and the Roman people, as engraved upon two brazen columns which are set up at Rome.1

Cf. Dio, LIII, 1. This title had been conferred upon the senior senator who had served as censor. Its only privilege was the right of speaking first in debate. The honor had fallen into abeyance with the death of Catulus in 694. It is readily seen how the revival of such a title and of the right to express his views before any other senator, gave Augustus a quasi-constitutional initiative in the senate. Gradually the title dropped its second part, and “prince” began to have something of its modern significance. Cf. Tacitus, Ann. III, 53, for Tiberius’ view of its meaning.

Augustus’ notation of time here, “through forty years,” is similar to the “thirty-seventh year of the tribunitial power” in Chap. IV, or “the seventy-sixth year” of Chap. 36.