e reproving others:
when, instead, your life in every way without exception is precisely
like theirs? Be of good cheer, for you have in your own hands a great
safeguard by never wronging another. And believe me when I tell you that
you will never be the object of hatred or plots. Since this is so, you
must quite inevitably lead a pleasant life. What is pleasanter, what is
more conducive to prosperity, than to enjoy in a rightful way all the
blessings among men and to have the power of granting them to others?

[-40-] "With this in mind, together with all the rest that I have told
you, heed my advice and let not that fortune slip which has chosen you
out of all and set you at the head of all. If you would choose the
substance of monarch but fear the name of 'kingdom' as accursed, then
refrain from taking possession of the latter and be satisfied to employ
merely the title of 'Caesar.' If you need any further appellations, they
will give you that of _Imperator_, as they gave it to your father. They
will reverence you also by still another name, so that you may obtain all
the advantages of a kingdom without the disfavor that attaches to the
term itself."

[-41-] Maecenas thus brought his speech to an end. Caesar thanked them both
heartily for their many ideas, the exhaustiveness of their exposition,
and their frankness. He rather inclined, however, to the proposition of
Maecenas. Yet he did not immediately put into practice all of the other's
suggestions, for fear that he might meet with some setback if he wanted
to reform men in multitudes. So he made some changes for the better at
once and others later. He left some things also for those who should
come to the head of the State afterward to do, as might be found more
opportune in the progress of time. Agrippa cooeperated with him in all his
projects quite zealously, in spite of having stated a contrary opinion,
just as if he had been the one to propose the plan. Caesar did this and
what I have recorded earlier in the narrative in that year when he was
consul for the seventh time, and added the title of _Imperator_. I do not
refer to the title anciently granted some persons for victories,--this he
received many times before and many times later for his deeds themselves,
so that he had the name of imperator twenty-one times,--but to the other
one which signifies supreme power, just as they had voted to his father
Caesar and to the children and descendants of the same.

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