Roman History LIII.30
LIII.30
When Augustus was consul for the eleventh time, with Calpurnius Piso, he fell so ill once more as to have no hope of recovery; at any rate, he arranged everything as if he were about to die, and gathered about him the magistrates and the foremost senators and knights. He did not, to be sure, appoint a successor, though all were expecting that Marcellus would be preferred for this position, but after talking with them awhile about the public affairs, he gave Piso the list of the forces and of the public revenues written in a book, and handed his ring to Agrippa. And although he lost the power of attending even to the most urgent matters, yet a certain Antonius Musa restored him to by means of cold baths and cold potions. For this, Musa received a great deal of money from both Augustus and the senate, as well as the right to wear gold rings (for he was a freedman), and he was granted exemption from taxes, both for himself and for the members of his profession, not only those living at the time but also those of future generations. But it was fated that he who taken to himself the function of Fortune or Destiny should speedily be caught in her toils; for though Augustus had been saved in this manner, yet when Marcellus fell ill not long afterward and was treated in the same way by Musa, he died. Augustus gave him a public burial after the customary eulogies, placing him in the tomb which he was building, and as a memorial to him finished the theater whose foundations had already been laid by the former Caesar and which was now called the theater of Marcellus. And he ordered also that a golden image of the deceased, a golden crown, and a curule chair should be carried into the theater at Ludi Romani and should be placed in the midst of the officials having charge of the games.
When Augustus was consul for the eleventh time, with Calpurnius Piso, he fell so ill once more as to have no hope of recovery; at any rate, he arranged everything as if he were about to die, and gathered about him the magistrates and the foremost senators and knights. He did not, to be sure, appoint a successor, though all were expecting that Marcellus would be preferred for this position, but after talking with them awhile about the public affairs, he gave Piso the list of the forces and of the public revenues written in a book, and handed his ring to Agrippa. And although he lost the power of attending even to the most urgent matters, yet a certain Antonius Musa restored him to by means of cold baths and cold potions. For this, Musa received a great deal of money from both Augustus and the senate, as well as the right to wear gold rings (for he was a freedman), and he was granted exemption from taxes, both for himself and for the members of his profession, not only those living at the time but also those of future generations. But it was fated that he who taken to himself the function of Fortune or Destiny should speedily be caught in her toils; for though Augustus had been saved in this manner, yet when Marcellus fell ill not long afterward and was treated in the same way by Musa, he died. Augustus gave him a public burial after the customary eulogies, placing him in the tomb which he was building, and as a memorial to him finished the theater whose foundations had already been laid by the former Caesar and which was now called the theater of Marcellus. And he ordered also that a golden image of the deceased, a golden crown, and a curule chair should be carried into the theater at Ludi Romani and should be placed in the midst of the officials having charge of the games.