Book 25
4.17
He was somewhat talkative, and very seldom silent; also too much given to the consideration of omens and portents, so that in this respect he seemed to equal the emperor Hadrian. Superstitious rather than truly religious, he sacrificed innumerable victims without regard to cost, so that one might believe that if he had returned from the Parthians, there would soon have been a scarcity of cattle; like the Caesar Marcus,Marcus Aurelius. of whom (as we learn) the following Greek distich was written: We the white steers do Marcus Caesar greet. Win once again, and death we all must meet.
4.18
He delighted in the applause of the mob, and desired beyond measure praise for the slightest matters, and the desire for popularity often led him to converse with unworthy men.
4.19
But yet, in spite of this, his own saying might be regarded as sound, namely, that the ancient goddess of Justice, whom AratusCf. xxii. 10, 6. raised to heaven because of her impatience with men’s sins, returned to earth again during his rule, were it not that sometimes he acted arbitrarily, and now and then seemed unlike himself.
4.20
For the laws which he enacted were not oppressive, but stated exactly what was to be done or left undone, with a few exceptions, For example, it was a harsh law that forbade ChristianCf. xxii. 10, 7. rhetoricians and grammarians to teach, unless they consented to worship the pagan deities.
