[
76]
Having made these dispositions, he spent the winter at Athens with Octavia
just as he had spent the previous one at Alexandria with Cleopatra, merely
looking over the reports sent from the army, exchanging the display of a
commander for the simplicity of private life, wearing the square-cut pallium
and the Attic shoe, and without formal company. He went out, in like manner,
without the insignia of office, accompanied by two friends and two
attendants, to the discussions and lectures of the public teachers. He took
his meals in the Greek fashion, passed his leisure time with Greeks, and
enjoyed their festivals in company with Octavia, with whom he was very much
in love, being
by nature excessively fond of women. At the end of the
winter he
was like another man. He changed his clothing, and with his clothing his
whole appearance. There was straightway a crowd around his doors composed of
lictors, army officers, guards, and all things that inspire terror and awe.
Embassies were received which had previously been kept waiting by his
orders, lawsuits were decided, ships were launched, and all other
preparations for the campaign were put in motion.
