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was surnamed. The Romans, according to their ancestral meaning, call 'Augustus' one who is led to kingship by an omen and the testimony of the gods. That after his many very excellent deeds, Augustus introduced the fifteen-year cycle from the autumnal equinox, in this following the philosophers, who say that the equinoctial hour consists of fifteen parts. That the Romans named the month 'Augustus' in honor of Augustus Caesar, who died, as they say, on the sixteenth day of this month. 4.112 That Augustus translated Sophocles' *Ajax* into his native tongue; then, as his literary virtue was flourishing along with his practical virtue, he judged his own tragedy unworthy in comparison with Sophocles, and erased it. Then, being asked by Cicero, under whom he was diligently studying, 'Where is the *Ajax* written by you?' he replied wittily and intelligently at the same time, that his own Ajax had fallen upon a sponge, just as Sophocles' Ajax had fallen upon an iron sword. And such was his concern for letters that when an uneducated magistrate dared to write a public letter to him, he became so indignant that he removed the uneducated man from his office. And he set a measure and limit on both feasts and dowries, being the first to do this for his own daughter. And he was so concerned for the freedom of his subjects that when one of the flatterers in the senate called him 'master' as a way of showing superiority, he stood up and said, 'But I have learned to converse with free men, not slaves'. 4.113 That Chares says: Do not accept unseasonable expense anywhere, but try to hold every rein of the stomach. 4.114 That the Gauls, having entered Rome by night through the sewers, seized the Capitol; for Servius Tullius the king had constructed the sewers of Rome to be of such a size that a wagon full of hay could be carried through them. But when the geese in the temple saw the enemy and cried out—for their nature is sleepless—the general arose and drove the barbarians from the temple; then, when a force was gathered, he laid them low. Hence a festival and honors for the geese, for guarding the city, but destruction for the dogs. For on the third day before the Nones of August, they used to kill the dogs in Rome without hindrance in honor of the geese, because the dogs betrayed the Capitol by sleeping, while the geese saved it by staying awake. But some say that they did this so that they would not be a nuisance to the sick at night; others, so that they would not harm people by going mad; for at that time Sirius rises, which is also thought to be the cause of their madness. 4.115 That the subterranean fire, spreading far in the depths of the earth, consumes the fatty substance; and this is alum or sulfur. For asphalt is sulfur that has been burned in the earth and is being extinguished; for when this burns for a short time, since it is immediately extinguished, it makes the asphalt more liquid and fatty, such as that which floats on the surface around Etna and on the lake in Judea; but when it burns more violently, it becomes stone, such as the jet stone around Babylon. When, then, that which spreads underneath consumes the underlying places, it shows us no effect on the earth; but whenever it works and rarefies a large space, then, being compressed in the hollow and cavernous places, if it finds an exit, it produces no more than a sign of the earth's boiling and rumbling; but if on the other hand it remains embodied, that is.... an overlying mountain or land or sea, a mountain such as Vesuvius in Italy and the one in Lipara and the

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ἐπεκλήθη· Αὔ γουστον δὲ οἱ Ῥωμαῖοι κατὰ τὴν πάτριον σημασίαν καλοῦσι τὸν κατ' οἰωνὸν καὶ θεῶν μαρτυρίαν προαγόμενον εἰς βασιλείαν. ὅτι μετὰ πολλὰς ὅσας ἀρίστας αὐτοῦ πράξεις ὁ Αὔγουστος τὸν ἀπὸ τῆς μετοπωρινῆς ἰσημερίας πεντεκαιδεκαετῆ κύκλον εἰσήγαγε καὶ τούτῳ τοῖς φιλοσοφοῦσιν ἑπόμενος, οἵ φασι τὴν ἰσημερινὴν ὥραν συνεστάναι ἐκ δεκαπέντε μοιρῶν. ὅτι οἱ Ῥωμαῖοι Αὔγουστον τὸν μῆνα ὠνόμασαν εἰς τιμὴν τοῦ Αὐγούστου Καίσαρος ἀποθανόντος ὥς φασι κατὰ τὴν ἑκκαιδεκάτην τοῦ τοιούτου μηνός. 4.112 Ὅτι Αὔγουστος τὸν τοῦ Σοφοκλέους Αἴαντα εἰς τὴν πάτριον φωνὴν μετήνεγκεν· εἶτα ἀκμαζούσης αὐτῷ μετὰ τὴν πρακτικὴν καὶ τῆς ἐκ λόγων ἀρετῆς, ὡς ἀναξίαν ἐκ παραβολῆς πρὸς Σοφοκλέα τὴν ἑαυτοῦ διεγίνωσκε τραγῳδίαν, ταύτην ἐξήλειψεν. εἶτα ἐρωτηθεὶς πρὸς τοῦ Κικέρωνος, παρ' ᾧ μετὰ σπουδῆς ἐπαιδεύετο· «ποῦ τυγχάνει ὁ παρὰ σοῦ γραφόμενος Αἴας;» ἀστείως ἅμα καὶ νουνεχῶς ἀπεκρίνατο, σπόγγῳ τὸν ἑαυτοῦ Αἴαντα, καθάπερ σιδήρῳ τὸν τοῦ Σοφοκλέους, ἐπιπεσεῖν. καὶ τοσαύτη τις αὐτῷ φροντὶς οὖσα περὶ λόγους ἐτύγχανεν, ὡς ἄρχοντος ἀπαιδεύτου γράψαι πρὸς αὐτὸν δημοσίαν τολμήσαντος ἐπιστολὴν οὕτως ἀγανακτῆσαι, ὡς παραλῦσαι τῆς ἀρχῆς τὸν ἀπαίδευτον. καὶ μέτρον δὲ καὶ ὅρον ταῖς τε εὐωχίαις καὶ ταῖς προιξὶν ἔθηκε, πρῶτος ἐπὶ τῇ ἑαυτοῦ θυγατρὶ τοῦτο ποιήσας. τῆς δὲ τῶν ὑπηκόων ἐλευθερίας τοσοῦτον ἐφρόντιζεν, ὥστε τινὸς τῶν κολάκων ἐπὶ τῆς βουλῆς δεσπότην αὐτὸν ὥσπερ ἐν ὑπεροχῆς τρόπῳ καλέσαντος, αὐτὸς ἐξαναστὰς· «ἐγὼ δέ», ἔφη, «ἐλευθέροις, ἀλλ' οὐ δούλοις ἔμαθον διαλέγεσθαι». 4.113 Ὅτι ὁ Χάρης φησί· δαπάνην ἄκαιρον μηδαμοῦ προσίεσο, γαστρὸς δὲ πειρῶ πᾶσαν ἡνίαν κρατεῖν. 4.114 Ὅτι οἱ Γάλλοι διὰ τῶν ὑπονόμων ἐπελθόντες τῇ Ῥώμῃ νυκτὸς κατέσχον τὸ Καπετώλιον· τοιούτους γὰρ τοὺς ὑπονόμους τῆς Ῥώμης Σέρβιος Τοῦλλος κατεσκεύασεν ὁ ῥῆξ, ὡς ἅμαξαν πλήρη χόρτου δύνασθαι δι' αὐτῶν παρενεχθῆναι. τῶν δὲ ἐν τῷ ἱερῷ χηνῶν ἰδόντων τοὺς πολεμίους καὶ ἀνακλαγξάντων-καὶ γὰρ ἄγρυπνος ἡ φύσις αὐτοῖς- ὁ στρατηγὸς διαναστὰς ἐξώθησε τοὺς βαρβάρους ἐκ τοῦ ἱεροῦ· εἶτα καὶ δυνάμεως συναχθείσης κατέστρωσεν· ἔνθεν ἑορτὴν μὲν καὶ τιμὰς τῶν χηνῶν, ἀνθ' ὧν ἐφύλαξαν τὴν πόλιν, ὄλεθρον δὲ τῶν κυνῶν. τῇ γὰρ πρὸ τριῶν Νωνῶν Αὐγούστων ἀνῄρουν ἀκωλύτως ἐν Ῥώμῃ τοὺς κύνας εἰς τιμὴν τῶν χηνῶν, ὅτι τὸ Καπετώλιον οἱ μὲν κύνες προέδωκαν ὑπνώσαντες, οἱ δὲ χῆνες ἐγρηγορότες διέσωσαν. οἱ δέ φασιν, ὅτι τοῦτο ἐποίουν, ἵνα μὴ ὀχληροὶ τοῖς νοσοῦσι νυκτὸς γίνωνται· οἱ δέ, ἵνα μὴ λυττῶντες τοὺς ἀνθρώπους βλάπτωσι· τηνικαῦτα γὰρ ὁ σείριος ἀνατέλλει, ὃς καὶ δοκεῖ τῆς λύττης αὐτοῖς αἴτιος εἶναι. 4.115 Ὅτι πολὺ ἐν τῷ βάθει τῆς γῆς ἐπινοστοῦν τὸ κατάγειον πῦρ τὴν πιμελώδη νέμεται οὐσίαν· αὕτη δ' ἐστὶ στυπτηρία ἢ θεῖον· ἡ γὰρ ἄσφαλτος κεκαυμένον ἐν γῇ καὶ ἐναποσβεννύμενον θεῖόν ἐστι· τούτου γὰρ τὸ μὲν ἐπ' ὀλίγου διακαέν, ἅτε παραχρῆμα διασβεννύμενον, ὑγροτέραν τε καὶ πιμελωδεστέραν ἐργάζεται τὴν ἄσφαλτον, οἵα τὰ κατ' Αἴτνην καὶ κατὰ τὴν ἐν Ἰουδαίᾳ λίμνην ἐπινήχεται· διακαὲν δὲ σφοδρότερον λιθοῦται, οἷός ἐστιν ὁ γαγάτης λίθος ὁ περὶ Βαβυλῶνα. ἡνίκα γοῦν τὸ ὑπονοστοῦν τοὺς ὑποκειμένους νέμεται τόπους, οὐδὲν ἡμῖν πάθος ἐπιδείκνυσι γῆς· ὁπόταν δὲ ἐργασάμενον πολὺν ἐξαραιώσῃ τόπον, τηνικαῦτα θλιβόμενον ἐν τοῖς κοιλώμασι καὶ σηραγγώδεσι τόποις, εἰ μὲν ἐπιτύχοι διεκδρομῆς, οὐδὲν πλέον βρασμοῦ γῆς καὶ μυκήματος ἐργάζεται σημεῖον· εἰ δ' αὖ μένει σωματούμενον ἤτοι .... ὑπερκείμενον ὄρος ἢ γῆν ἢ θάλασσαν, ὄρος μὲν ὡς τὸ ἐν Ἰταλίᾳ Βέσβιον καὶ τὸ ἐν Λιπάραις καὶ τὸ