Reader

He held the consulship four times: the first,

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from the calends [the first] of July for two months; the second,

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from the calends of January for thirty days; the third,

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until the ides [the 13th] of January; and the fourth,

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until the seventh of the same ides [7th January]. Of these, the two last he held successively. The third he assumed by his sole authority at

Lyons

; not, as some are of opinion, from arrogance or neglect of rules; but because, at that distance, it was impossible for him to know that his colleague had died a little before the beginning of the new year. He twice distributed to the people a bounty of three hundred sesterces a man, and as often gave a splendid feast to the senate and the equestrian order, with their wives and children. In the latter, he presented to the men forensic garments, and to the women and children purple scarfs. To make a perpetual addition to the public joy for ever, he added to the Saturnalia

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one day, which he called juvenalis [the juvenile feast].