[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 105 (Thursday, July 30, 1998)]
[Senate]
[Pages S9355-S9356]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       AUGUSTUS ENGLEKEN STEVENS

  Mr. BYRD. Mr. President, August is from the Latin Augustus, the 
eighth month of our calendar year, a time of harvest and of plenty, 
named after Augustus Caesar. Augustus Caesar, or, more formally, Gaius 
Julius Caesar Octavianus. He was the grandnephew of Julius Caesar, and 
he was the first emperor of Rome, from 27 B.C. through 14 A.D. August 
is also an adjective, derived from the Latin verb meaning to increase, 
and in English meaning: to inspire awe and reverence, impose, something 
that is imposing and magnificent, or dignified and majestic. The 
adjective augustan refers also to the age of Augustus Caesar and his 
reign and suggests that anything so described is classical and elegant. 
The term Augustan age specifically refers to a period of Latin 
literature during the reign of Augustus Caesar, when elegance and 
correctness were highly valued. Oh, that we might return to that age at 
least in one sense, when elegance and correctness--not political 
correctness, but correctness--were highly valued.
  Augustine, a diminutive form of Augustus, was the name of two saints, 
Saint Augustine of Hippo (354-430 A.D.), a Latin church father and 
bishop of Hippo, in northern Africa, known for his ``Confessions'' and 
his work ``The City of God.'' The second Saint Augustine--the dates we 
are not sure of but we can believe that he lived until about 604 A.D. 
He was a Roman monk who went to spread Christianity among the English 
and who was the first Archbishop of Canterbury.
  We can see from this that the name Augustus is fraught with 
significance and with portent. It is a name to be lived up to with 
great deeds and great learning. It is also the name conferred upon the 
newest member of Senator Ted Stevens' growing family, Augustus Engleken 
Stevens. My guess would be the middle name is Anglo-Saxon. And this is 
the third child of Senator Stevens' third son, Ben.

  It is also the tenth grandchild to join the impressive Stevens clan. 
This newest Caesar to rule with his chubby and imperious fist, and to 
issue edicts in a piercing wail, was born on Monday, July 27, at 3:20 
p.m., weighing in at a healthy 7 pounds, 10 ounces.
  I congratulate Senator Stevens and his wife, Catherine, on this 
blessed addition to their family. As they well know, there is no 
greater joy than to gather into one's arms a tiny, peaceful bundle, and 
to gaze down upon that small, sleeping face, to gently stroke the soft, 
velvety down of hair and rounded cheek, and to listen closely for the 
faint murmurs and coos that slip almost unnoticed from that perfect 
cupid's bow of a mouth. What happier moment could there be, than to see 
that little mouth open in a sleepy, toothless yawn, or to catch a 
glimpse of a little foot--not much longer than a peanut, with toes so 
small that they could not possibly have working bones inside them--
kicking out on bowed leg from within the folded blanket?
  In choosing a name as ancient and as illustrious as Augustus, his 
parents--I surmise--have high hopes and grand ambitions for their 
infant son. I am sure that grandfather Ted has great, grandiloquent 
schemes afoot as well, to bounce him on a hobbyhorse knee, or to take 
him salmon fishing in pristine Alaskan waters. I suspect that those who 
see Ted on the Senate floor, shepherding appropriations bills through 
contentious debate to final passage--fists pounding and voice booming--
might not recognize Senator Stevens in his happier and more serene role 
as grandfather. But to be a grandfather is to be a happy man.
  And what feelings of immortality, to be a grandfather. Holding this 
youngest member of his family, born in the waning days of this second 
millennium, the namesake of one whose life spanned the opening days of 
the first millennium, and poised to come into his own birthright in the 
third millennium, Senator Stevens can see history unfold into the 
coming ages. Through children and grandchildren, one has a glimpse of 
the glorious future, the immortality of the human race, tinged with the 
bittersweet sorrow of time passing too swiftly and of children who grow 
up much too quickly.

[[Page S9356]]

  Lest I overwhelm young Augustus with the great weight of such high 
expectations and such intimations of immortality, I hasten to wish him 
a happy childhood, complete with much exploring, great adventures, 
barked shins and skinned knees, of quiet moments of wonder and 
learning, of great books to be shared with his parents and 
grandparents, and of countless hugs and kisses. Be a boy, Augustus, 
with moments good and bad, tender and terrible. Be like the Augustus in 
these lines by Heinrich Hoffman (1809-1874), who said:

  Augustus was a chubby lad;
  Fat ruddy cheeks Augustus had:
  And everybody saw with joy
  The plump and hearty, healthy boy.
  He ate and drank as he was told,
  And never let his soup get cold.
  But one day, one winter's day,
  He screamed out, `Take the soup away!
  O take the nasty soup away!
  I won't have any soup to-day.'

  Welcome, young emperor, and carry on, bringing ever your illustrious 
grandfather under your sway with the dictatorial charms of a much loved 
child.
  I yield the floor.
  Mr. STEVENS addressed the Chair.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Alaska.
  Mr. STEVENS. Mr. President, I am uncharacteristically speechless. I 
think--to listen to my good friend talk about my latest grandchild--he 
is absolutely right in one thing; and that is, there is nothing so 
humbling as to look at a grandchild and realize what that child means. 
Senator Byrd told me once that to have a grandchild is to touch 
infinity. And it is a very sobering thing to think about. But it is a 
joy to have these grandchildren. If one must get old, it helps a lot.
  I thank the Senator very much.
  I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. STEVENS. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order 
for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

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