Res Gestae

For it seemed almost like a dream that this young man, just come to his growth,[*](He was 31 years old.) of small stature but conspicuous for great deeds, after the bloodstained destruction of kings and nations had passed from city to city with unlooked-for speed; that increasing in power and strength wherever he went, he had easily seized upon all places as swiftly as rumour flies, and finally had received the imperial power, bestowed upon him by Heaven’s nod without any loss to the state.