he durst not so much as desire) and Cinna was ever affectionately faithful to him: he made Cæsar his _sole heir_; and this was the _last conspiracy_ that ever was formed against him. This moderation of Augustus was the excellency of his mature age; for in his youth he was passionate and sudden; and he did many things which afterward he looked back upon with trouble: after the battle of Actium, so many navies broken in Sicily, both _Roman_ and _strangers_: the _Perusian altars_, where 300 _lives_ were _sacrificed_ to the _ghost_ of Julius; his frequent _proscriptions_, and other severities; his _temperance_ at last seemed to be little more than a _weary cruelty_. If he had not _forgiven_ those that he _conquered_, whom should he have _governed_? He chose his very _life-guard_ from among his _enemies_, and the _flower_ of the Romans owed their _lives_ to his _clemency_. Nay, he only punished Lepidus himself with _banishment_, and permitted him to wear the _ensigns_ of his _dignity_, without taking the _pontificate_ to himself so long as Lepidus was living; for he would not possess it as a _spoil_, but as an _honor_. This _clemency_ it was that secured him in his greatness, and ingratiated him to the people, though he laid his hand upon the government before they had thoroughly submitted to the yoke; and this clemency it was that made his _name famous_ to _posterity_. This is it that makes us reckon him _divine_ without the authority of an _apotheosis_. He was so tender and patient, that though many a bitter jest was broken upon him, (and _contumelies_ upon princes are the most _intolerable_ of all _injuries_) yet he never punished any man upon that subject. _It is_, then, generous _to be_ merciful, _when we have it in our_ power to _take_ revenge.