Note 25 — TRANSLATION

As praefectus urbi. Nicolaus is correct and the other authors are wrong. App., 3, 9; Dio 43, 51; Plin., N. H., 7, 147 say that Octavius became magister equitum in this year. Gardthausen, Aug. und seine Zeit, p. 48, shows that there is a possibility for confusion between the terms praefectus urbi and magister equitum in the writings of the later Greek historians. The latter office would be considerably too responsible for a youth of 16 years, while it is conceivable that the duties of praefectus urbi, at least during the period of the Feriae when the city was almost entirely deserted, would not be excessively onerous. Strabo 5, C. 229 and Dio 49, 42 show that the practice of appointing youths for this office was continued by Augustus.