ny means nor difficult to interpret, that pointed to this end. The sun
suffered a total eclipse and most of the sky seemed to be on fire. The
forms of glowing logs appeared falling from it and bloody comet stars
were seen. When a senate-meeting had been announced on account of his
sickness in order that they might offer prayers, the senate-house was
found closed and an owl sitting upon it hooted. A thunderbolt fell upon
his image standing on the Capitol and erased the first letter of the name
of Caesar. This led the seers to declare that on the hundredth day
after that he should attain to some heavenly condition. They made this
deduction from the fact that the letter mentioned signifies "hundred"
among the Latins and all the rest of the name means "god" among the
Etruscans. These signs appeared while he was still alive. Men of later
times called attention to the case of the consuls and of Servius
Sulpicius Galba. The former officials were in some way related to
Augustus, and Galba, who afterward came to power, was at this time on the
very first day of the year enrolled among the iuvenes. Since he was the
first of the Romans to become sovereign after the race of Augustus had
passed away, it gave occasion to some to say that this coincidence had
not been due to mere accident, but had been brought about by some divine
counsel.

[-30-] So Augustus fell sick and died. Livia incurred some suspicion
regarding the manner of his death, inasmuch as he had secretly sailed
over to the island to meet Agrippa and thought to reconcile everything in
a way satisfactory to all. She was afraid, some say, that Augustus would
bring him back to make him sovereign, and so smeared with poison some
figs that were still on trees from which Augustus was wont to gather
fruit with his own hands. So she ate the ones that had not been smeared,
and pointed out the poisoned ones to him. From this or from some other
cause he became ill and sending for his associates he told them all his
wishes, finally adding: "Rome was clay when I took it in hand: I leave it
to you stone." In this he had reference not entirely to the appearance
of its buildings, but also to the strength of the empire. By asking
some applause from them as to comic actors at the close of some mime he
ridiculed most tellingly the whole life of man.

Thus on the nineteenth day of August, the day on which he first became
consul, he passed away, having lived seventy-five years, ten months, a