Book 16
12.69
As a consequence, he was elated by the grandiloquence of his sycophants, and then and later in his published edicts he arrogantly lied about a great many matters, frequently writing that he alone (although he had not been present at the action) had both fought and conquered, and had raised up the suppliant kings of foreign nations. If, for example, when he himself was then in Italy, one of his generals had fought bravely against the Persians, he would make no mention of him in the course of a very long account, but would send out letters wreathed in laurel to the detrimentThey were a detriment because of the expense they caused for celebrations, and graft by the agentes in rebus. of the provinces, indicating with odious self-praise that he had fought in the front ranks.
