He then most artfully refused the magistracy, as well as the dictatorship, absented himself from Rome, and waited till the fatal effects of tumult and faction forced the senate to invest him with a perpetual consulship.

Augustus, as well as his successors, affected, however, to conceal so invidious a title.] [Footnote 131: The note of M.Guizot on the tribunitian power applies to the French translation rather than to the original.

The former has, maintenir la balance toujours egale, which implies much more than Gibbon's general expression.

The note belongs rather to the history of the Republic than that of the Empire .-- M] To these accumulated honors, the policy of Augustus soon added the splendid as well as important dignities of supreme pontiff, and of censor.

By the former he acquired the management of the religion, and by the latter a legal inspection over the manners and fortunes, of the Roman people.