office
Princeps
princeps
also: princeps, first citizen
The leading man of the Roman state, the title by which the emperor's primacy was framed. Marcellus and Drusus are each called a 'future princeps.'
Reading notes
- Consolation to Marcia §2 future princeps
Princeps, 'first citizen,' the title framing the emperor's primacy; both Marcellus and Drusus were expected to succeed to it.
- On Mercy §1.14 Father of his Country
Pater Patriae, the honorific voted to Augustus and his successors; Seneca presses its literal sense — a father's power is the most temperate kind, set on the children's good.