The Army Resolves to Make His Sons Augusti

Meanwhile the tribunes chose from the troops under their command those officers whose loyalty and zeal the emperor had long known, and sent them to the Caesars with news of what had happened, and they duly carried out this service. As soon as the soldiers throughout the provinces heard the news of the emperor’s death, they all resolved with one accord, as if moved by a power from above, to acknowledge no one but his sons as rulers of the Roman world, just as though their great emperor were still alive. Soon afterward they decided that his sons should no longer keep the name of Caesar, but should each be honored with the title of Augustus, a name that marks the highest supremacy of imperial power. Such were the measures the army took. They told one another of these decisions by letter, so that the united wish of the legions became known at the same moment throughout the whole extent of the empire. [a]