22
PRINCIPLES OF
Chap. II.
pression, "se rendre redoubtable à la tête des troupes," we may understand that Piso already had the command of the troops, and that all that was requisite, was to render himself formidable in that nation, which he might do in various other ways than by increasing the levies.
Tacitus, speaking of the means by which Augustus obtained an absolute ascendency over all ranks in the state, says, Cùm cæteri nobilium, quanto quis servitio promptior, opibus et bonoribus extollerentur; An. l. I. c. 2. This D'Alembert has translated, "Le reste des nobles trouvoit dans les richesses et dans les honneurs la récompense de l'esclavage." Here the translator has but half expressed the meaning of his author, which is, that"the
