The usual _insignia_ of the Princeps are those of a Republican magistrate. Within the walls he wears the scarlet-striped gown (_toga praetexta_); outside them he may don the scarlet _paludamentum_. But the laurel crown, which he might wear anywhere and at any time,[1657] and the laurel-wreathed _fasces_[1658] are peculiar to him. At festivals and games the embroidered robe of triumph (_vestis triumphalis_) might also be assumed. Like other magistrates he has lictors[1659] and _viatores_, but he also boasts a special bodyguard as well, other than the praetorian cohorts. This guard was composed of mounted foreign mercenaries, usually of German horsemen. But other peculiar honours seemed to lift the Princeps to more than magisterial rank. Regular vows (_vota_) were offered for him, as for the state,[1660] by the consuls and the colleges of priests; his birthday and the days of his victories were celebrated as public festivals;[1661] his statue and image are sacred and may not be profaned even by juxtaposition with unclean things;[1662] his _genius_ is the most binding power by which a man can swear; for while perjury in the name of the gods is punished only by heaven, to swear falsely by the Emperor’s name is treason on earth.[1663] Coins, whether struck by the Senate or the Emperor, show only his head or that of members of the imperial house. The _domus Caesaris_ was, in fact, raised far above the position of the other noble houses in the state. It was especially the agnatic descendants of the founder of the dynasty that were thus honoured, and the Roman idea of the unity of the household even led to the inclusion of the name of Caesar’s relatives in the soldier’s oath of fealty.[1664] Their effigies, too, appear on coins—a right originally restricted to such members of the family as actually shared in the government, but which was in later times granted as a compliment to ladies of the imperial house.[1665] Caesar’s relatives might also be distinguished by commands which could be interpreted as a promise of the succession. We shall speak elsewhere of this meaning which might be read into the gift of the proconsular or tribunician power, and almost equally significant was the appointment of some young member of the family to the honorary command of the corps of _equites_ (_princeps juventutis_).[1666] There was, indeed, one title which seemed to signify a dignity absolutely equal to that of the Princeps himself. This was the name _Augusta_, which was borne by certain ladies of the ruling family. It was originally reserved for a single member, such as the mother, the grandmother, or the wife of the reigning Emperor, and may have originally implied some share in the throne. The Principate was not a regular magistracy, and there was no valid constitutional ground for excluding women from the throne, although the actual influence of queen-mothers, such as Livia, Agrippina, or Mamaea, however powerful it may have been, was wholly