[-4-] These and other laws which he at this time enacted he inscribed on white tablets and submitted to the senate before taking any final action with regard to them; and he allowed the senators to read, each one, the articles separately, his object being that if any provision did not please them, or if they could suggest anything better, they might speak. He was very desirous of being democratic, and once, when one of the companions of his campaigns asked him to aid him in the capacity of advocate, at first he pretended to be busy and bade one of his friends serve as advocate; when, however, the petitioner grew angry and said: "but as often as you needed my assistance, I did not send somebody else to you in place of myself, but in person I encountered dangers everywhere in your behalf," the emperor then entered the courtroom and pled his cause. He also stood by a friend of his who was defendant in a suit, having first communicated this very purpose to the senate: he saved the friend but was so far from being angry at his accuser, although the latter spoke most bluntly, that when he had to undergo a scrutiny regarding his morals the emperor acquitted him, saying that his bluntness was a necessary thing on account of the out-and-out baseness of the mass of mankind. Augustus, indeed, punished others who were reported to be conspiring against their sovereign. He had quæstors hold office in the coast districts near the City and in certain other parts of Italy; and this he did for several years. Yet at this time he was unwilling, as I have remarked, [3] to enter the city on account of Drusus's death. [B.C. 8 _(a. u. 746)_]