Book 27
3.5
Symmachus was succeeded as prefect of the city by Lampadius,In 365. a former praetorian prefect, a man who took it very ill if even his manner of spitting was not praised, on the ground that he did that also with greater skill than anyone else; but yet he was sometimes strict and honest.
3.6
When this man, in his praetorship, gave magnificent games and made very rich largesses, being unable to endure the blustering of the commons, who often urged that many things should be given to those who were unworthy of them,Such as mimes, actors, and charioteers; cf. xiv. 6, 14. in order to show his generosity and his contempt of the mob, he summoned some beggars from the VaticanThe Vatican hill, where there was an Apostles’ Church before whose doors the people begged for alms. and presented them with valuable gifts.
3.7
But of his vanity, not to digress too far, it will suffice to give this single instance, insignificant indeed, but something to be shunned by high officials. For through all quarters of the city which had been adorned at the expenses of various emperors, he had his own name inscribed, not as the restorer of old buildings, but as their founder. From this fault the emperor Trajan also is said to have suffered, and for that reason he was jestingly called wall-wort.Pseud.-Aurel. Victor, Epit. 41, 13, says that Constantine gave this name to Trajan, because he had his name put on many buildings (ob titulos multis aedibus inscriptos).
