Life of Augustus
quam decederet, factum ab eo ac duobus codicibus, partim ipsius partim libertorum Polybi et
Hilarionis manu, scriptum depositumque apud se virgines Vestales cum tribus signatis aeque
voluminibus protulerunt. Quae omnia in senatu aperta atque recitata sunt. Heredes instituit
primos: Tiberium ex parte dimidia et sextante, Liviam ex parte tertia, quos et ferre nomen
suum iussit, secundos: Drusum Tiberi filium ex triente, ex partibus reliquis Germanicum
liberosque eius tres sexus virilis, tertio gradu: propinquos amicosque compluris. Legavit
populo Romano quadringnties, tribubus tricies quinquies sestertium, praetorianis militibus
singula milia nummorum, cohortibus urbanis quingenos, legionaris trecenos nummos: quam
summam repraesentari iussit, nam et confiscatam semper repositamque habuerat. Reliqua
legata varie dedit perduxitque quaedam ad vicies sestertium, quibus solvendis annuum diem
finiit, excusata rei familiaris mediocritate, nec plus perventurum ad heredes suos quam milies
et quingenties professus, quamvis viginti proximis annis quaterdecies milies ex testamentis
amicorum percepisset, quod paene omne cum duobus paternis patrimoniis ceterisque
hereditatibus in rem publicam absumpsisset. Iulias filiam neptemque, si quid iis accidisset,
vetuit sepulcro suo inferri. Tribus voluminibus, uno mandata de funere suo complexus est,
altero indicem rerum a se gestarum, quem vellet incidi in aeneis tabulis, quae ante Mausoleum
statuerentur, tertio breviarium totius imperii, quantum militum sub signis ubique esset,
quantum pecuniae in aerario et fiscis et vectigaliorum residuis. Adiecit et libertorum
servorumque nomina, a quibus ratio exigi posset.
April [the 11th of April], in the consulship of Lucius Plancus and Gaius Silius [A.D. 13]. It
consisted of two skins of parchment, written partly in his own hand, and partly by his freedmen
Polybius and Hilarian; and had been committed to the custody of the Vestal Virgins, by whom it
was now produced, with three codicils under seal, as well as the will: all these were opened and
read in the senate. He appointed as his direct heirs, Tiberius for two-thirds of his estate, and
Livia for the other third, both of whom he desired to assume his name. The heirs in remainder
were Drusus, Tiberius's son, for one third, and Germanicus with his three sons for the residue.
In the third place, failing them, were his relations, and several of his friends. He left in legacies
to the Roman people forty millions of sesterces; to the tribes three millions five hundred
thousand; to the praetorian troops a thousand each man; to the city cohorts five hundred; and to
the legions and soldiers three hundred each; which several sums he ordered to be paid
immediately after his death, having taken due care that the money should be ready in his
exchequer. For the rest he ordered different times of payment. In some of his bequests he went
as far as twenty thousand sesterces, for the payment of which he allowed a twelvemonth;
alleging for this procrastination the scantiness of his estate; and declaring that not more than a
hundred and fifty millions of sesterces would come to his heirs notwithstanding that during the
twenty preceding years, he had received, in legacies from his friends, the sum of fourteen
hundred millions; almost the whole of which, with his two paternal estates, and others which
had been left him, he had spent in the service of the state. He left orders that the two Julias, his
daughter and granddaughter, if any thing happened to them, should not be buried in his tomb.
With regard to the three codicils before mentioned, in one of them he gave orders about his
funeral; another contained a summary of his acts, which he intended should be inscribed on
brazen plates, and placed in front of his mausoleum; in the third he had drawn up a concise
account of the state of the empire; the number of troops enrolled, what money there was in the
treasury, the revenue, and arrears of taxes; to which were added the names of the freedmen and
slaves from whom the several accounts might be taken.