next colony.[166] And gathering these also into an assembly, he addressed them. He succeeded in persuading both legions to escort him to Rome through the other colonies to Rome and strenuously to repel any act of violence on the part of Antonius. He attracted other soldiers also with high pay, and on the march he trained and instructed the new recruits, sometimes individually and sometimes in squads, telling them that they were going against Antonius. He sent some of his followers who were preeminent for intelligence and daring to Brundisium,[167] to see if they could also win the forces just arrived from Macedonia over to his side, bidding them remember his father Caesar and not to betray his son. He instructed his propagandists that if they could not achieve their purpose in the open, they were to write this out and scatter it all about so that the men could pick up the notices and read them;[168] and in order that they might join his party he made promises that filled the rest with hope of what they would receive from him when he came into his power. So they departed. (End of the life of Augustus and of the narrative of Nicolaus of Damascus.) COMMENTARY 1. [1] Σεβαστός, Augustus, must be understood. The word was doubtless given in the context immediately preceding the present opening sentence. The title was proposed by Plancus and was ratified by the senate on January 16, 27 B.C. (CIL 1^2 p. 307, Suet., Aug. 7, 2; Dio 53, 16, 6-8; 20, 1; Liv., Epit. 134; Vell. 2, 91, 1; Flor. 2, 34; Mon. Anc. 6, 16). Nicolaus attaches no significance of divinity to the title, though Suetonius and Dio do so. Verg., Ec. 1, 6; G. 1, 24-39, speaks of Octavian as divine, but no attribute of divinity is mentioned in the Aeneid with reference to Augustus. [2] Nicolaus does not necessarily infer that an imperial cult existed at this period in Italy, and hence is not at variance with Suet., Aug. 52; Dio 51, 20, where it is stated that Augustus did not permit an imperial cult in Italy, although he allowed temples to be erected to ‘Rome and Augustus’ in the provinces. See also H. Heinen, Klio 11, pp. 139 ff.; W. S. Ferguson, Am. Hist. Rev., 18, pp. 243 ff. J. Asbach, Rh. Mus., 37, p. 297, is mistaken in reasoning that Augustus must have died before any worship could have taken place. L. R. Taylor, Trans. Am. Philol. Ass., 51, p. 124 suggests that whatever savored of an imperial cult in Italy from 30 B.C. on, was in fact simply a cult of the _genius_ of the emperor (Dio 51, 19, 7; Ov., Fast. 2, 637; Hor., Od. 4, 5, 31-35).