3. However, it was very remarkable, that during
these long contentions among themselves, and these horrid devastations
by civil war, the state was daily growing more formidable and
powerful, and completed the destruction of all the kings who presumed
to oppose it.
4. The first care of Augus'tus was to assure himself of the friends of
Antony; to which end he publickly reported that he had burnt all
Antony's letters and papers without reading them, convinced that,
while any thought themselves suspected, they would be fearful of even
offering him their friendship.
5. He had gained the kingdom by his army, but he resolved to govern it
by the senate. This body, though greatly fallen from its ancient
splendor, he knew to be the best constituted, and most remarkable for
wisdom and justice. To the senate, therefore, he gave the chief power
in the administration of his government, while he himself secured the
fidelity of the people and the army by donatives, and acts of favour.
6. By these means the odium of severity fell upon the senate, and the
popularity of pardon was solely his own.
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