Qui mos cui potius quam consuli aut quando magis usurpandus colendusque est, quam cum imperio senatus, auctoritate rei publicae ad agendas optimo principi gratias excitamur? Quod enim praestabilius est aut pulchrius munus deorum, quam castus et sanctus et dis simillimus princeps? Ac si adhuc dubium fuisset, forte casuque rectores terris an aliquo numine darentur, principem tamen nostrum liqueret divinitus constitutum.
Who should duly observe this custom if not the consul? And what occasion could be more appropriate for doing so than the day when by the Senates command we are called on to express thanks in the name of our country to the best of emperors? For what gift of the gods could be greater and more glorious than a prince whose purity and virtue make him their own equal? If it were still in doubt whether the rulers of the earth were given us by the hazards of chance or by some heavenly power, it would be evident that our emperor at least was divinely chosen for his task;
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