Aemilius Paulus

O Paulus Aemilius, groan beneath the earth when thou learnest that thy son is escorted to the censorship by Aemilius the common crier and Licinius Philonicus.

But Scipio had the good will of the people because he supported them in most things, while Aemilius, although he sided with the nobles, was no less loved by the multitude than the one who was thought to pay most court to the people and to seek their favour in his intercourse with them.

And they made this manifest by conferring upon him, along with his other honours, that of the censorship,[*](In 164 B.C.) which is of all offices most sacred, and of great influence, both in other ways, and especially because it examines into the lives and conduct of men.

For it is in the power of the censors to expel any senator whose life is unbecoming, and to appoint the leader of the senate, and they can disgrace any young knight of loose habits by taking away his horse. They also take charge of the property assessments and the registry lists.

Accordingly, the number of citizens registered under Aemilius was three hundred and thirty-seven thousand four hundred and fifty-two; he also declared Marcus Aemilius Lepidus first senator, a man who had already held this presidency four times, and he expelled only three senators, men of no note, and in the muster of the knights a like moderation was observed both by himself and by Marcius Philippus his colleague.