Page:Tacitus; (IA tacituswilliam00donnrich).pdf/68

56 public and all private business of importance: to the leading members of it he allowed liberty of debate: he checked flattery of himself; in his preferments he was guided by merit, by ancient nobility, by renown in war, by ability in civil accomplishments, insomuch that his appointments to office were universally approved. Consuls and prætors retained the usual distinctions of their offices; inferior magistrates their proper authority; and the laws, except in cases of treason, were beneficially administered. The tithes, taxes, and public revenues were managed by companies of Roman knights: the Cæsar's own affairs were conducted by men of eminent probity, some of whom were known to him only by their good repute; and when once engaged by him, they were retained without any restriction of term, and most of them grew old in the same employment. Dearth of provisions at times distressed the people, but through no fault of the prince, who spared neither pains nor expense to remedy the deficiency of food, whether it were owing to storms at sea delaying the corn-fleets, or to bad harvests. He took care that the provinces should not be oppressed by new taxes, and that the already existing burdens should not be rendered intolerable by the strictness or rapacity of the farmers of the revenue." "My sheep," it was a favourite maxim of his, "may be shorn, but not flayed by you." Corporal punishments and confiscation of goods were unknown. Many a noble owned far more landed property in Italy than the emperor did: many a rich man possessed more freedmen and slaves: and the behaviour of the imperial slaves was modest, which could not always be said of the senatorial bondmen. If he had any suits with private persons, he referred them