Professor John Van Sickle: jvsickle@brooklyn.cuny.edu
Traces of Augustus are still with us
today & they offer clues to his historical importance & influence.
The most obvious, of course, is the name of the month just past. The month of late summer had been known in the old Roman calendar simply as "Sixth Month" (Sextilis) followed by Seventh, Eighth, Ninth, & Tenth, names that survive in our calendar as September, October, November, December, although we no longer count from March as they did in Rome. A major reform of the calendar had been imposed by the adoptive father of Augustus, Julius Caesar, who extended the year to 365 days & added an extra day every fourth year. His family name, Julius, was assigned to the fifth month after his assassination; that made July. Then Augustus took the next month for himself.
B. August as a Name
Other traces of Augustus will be evident to any of you who search the World-Wide-Web: for a large number of distinguished people have shared the name, including the contemporary playwright August Wilson, not to mention cities like Augusta in Georgia & Maine.
C. Ideas in Public Ideology
A trace also survives in a very prominent
public place in America today. Take out a dollar bill & look closely
at the Great Seal of the United States. On the left, beneath the pyramid,
you will see a phrase in Latin: NOVUS ORDO SECLORUM (a new order
of the centuries). Now this language comes from a poem that promoted Augustus’
political program as a new deal for Rome after decades of destructive civil
war. The poet was Virgil who later would write the Aeneid, in which
Augustus figures prominently. But Virgil began his career in short poems
called eclogues or Bucolics, one of which (the fourth), announces the birth
of a heroic child who will bring back the original Golden Age to the world,
hence "a new order of centuries." The ideas of a child savior & a renewed
paradise would lead the late Roman emperor Constantine to see in Virgil’s
poem a prophecy of the coming of Christ. Others would use Virgil’s language
to describe political turning points. The designers of the Great Seal for
the new American republic were far from the first to promote a new political
initiative by echoing the ideology & propaganda that heralded Augustus’
rule in Rome. Indeed, when Americans speak of George Washington as the
"Father of the Country," they echo, often unconsciously, the title that
Augustus received rather late in life & of which he was most proud.
An excellent overview of the importance of Augustus has been written by Professor Garrett Fagan of the Pennsylvania State University. It is posted on the World-Wide-Web but I quote it here to place my remarks in context:
Aside from the immense importance of
Augustus's reign from the broad historical perspective, he himself is an
intriguing figure: at once tolerant and implacable,ruthless and forgiving,
brazen and tactful. Clearly a man of many facets, he underwent three major
political reinventions in his lifetime and negotiated the stormy and dangerous
seas of the last phase of the Roman Revolution with skill and foresight.
With Augustus established in power and with the Principate firmly rooted,
the internal machinations of the imperial household provide a fascinating
glimpse into the one issue that painted this otherwise gifted organizer
and politician into a corner from which he could find no easy exit: the
problem of the succession." [http://www.roman-emperors.org/auggie.htm]
His fellow Romans saw Augustus against a backdrop of history & myth that we need to consider to begin to appreciate what he did & what it meant. You may have been reading about Augustus already, perhaps in the sketch of his life by Suetonius, which was assigned, or in searches on the World-Wide-Web: I have gathered some useful links for you on my own web-site at the following address: [http://academic.brooklyn.cuny.edu/classics/jvsickle/auglink.htm]. In reading, you may have remarked that it was only rather late, well along towards the mid-point in his life, that the Roman Senate conferred on him the name Augustus in gratitude because he had "restored the Republic." The following brief sketch is designed to give at least a preliminary notion of such terms as "Senate," "Republic," & indeed "Rome" the better to weigh the import of "restored" in its context. The sketch includes the geography of the Mediterranean Basin & within it the characteristics of Italy & near its center, the unique situation of Rome, with some of its peculiar institutions & myths.
The name "Mediterranean" means "Amidst lands," which included three continents -- Europe, Asia, & Africa -- & in the latter the ancient civilization of the Nile Valley, which was Egypt. The long trench of the sea results from the pressure of clashing tectonic plates that pile up rugged, mountainous land, often volcanic, shaken by earthquakes, leaving little area suitable for farming to sustain human habitation except along the coasts in narrow plains that were always subject to intense presssure from piracy & war. The elongated sea offered a challenge to perfect maritime arts & an opportunity for contact among peoples. Ideas & technologies moved across it first from East to West, above all the cultural complex of city & farm that we call civilization. For civilization to develop, it was necessary to learn to domesticate & manage plants & animals, organize work, store & protect seed, & defend land. Specialization & inequalities develop, with a few becoming rulers that dominate & exploit the many that are needed for practical crafts, agricultural labor & military service. [for the cultural model, cf. Guns,Germs & Steel: The Fate of Human Societies]
B. Italy: Mountain, Rivers, Plains
Knifing down into the Mediterranean & isolated from the rest of Europe by the Alps, Italy has a long mountain spine, with coastal plains but also more interior plains of great rivers such as the Po, the Arno, & the Tiber.
C. Rome: Greek Roots in Italic Ground
The name of Rome suggests the Greek,
rhome
, meaning strength, & it is a Greek idea of the city that takes root
in the unique setting afforded by the Tiber River crossing.
In central Italy, a peculiarity of the
river Tiber offered a rare opportunity for diverse peoples to mingle &
interact. Ships from Greece, Phoenicia, anywhere in the Mediterranean world,
could sail upstream precisely to the point where shallows blocked navigation
but afforded easy crossing from bank to bank for travellers by road. One
road ran northwest-southeast connecting peoples along the coast; another
ran between the northeastern uplands & the salt-pans at the river’s
mouth.
The natural intersection of sea & land routes inspired human enterprise to create a market (in Latin, forum). The site also offered opportunity for security & control, since around & above the market settlement was possible on higher points left when local streams cut away the volcanic stone: these would become known as the Seven Hills of Rome.
b. Founding Themes [ca 750 BCE]
The resulting settlement followed the
cultural model of civilization from Greece & the Near East, with its
tensions between few & many, city & country, but with local variations
& distinctive Roman names.
From Greece, the local Italic peoples also absorbed Homeric poetry & the legends of Troy. But the Italians, giving their distinctive local twist to the tales, claimed to derive from the defeated Trojans, including the hero, Aeneas, who was said to have escaped to Italy after the Trojan War. Aeneas’ mother was Venus, his son Iulus, claimed as the mythic ancestor of the Julian family that would adopt Augustus.
(2) Asylum, war & rape (Sabines). Legend has it that Romulus sought to populate his new city by offering safe-haven to those who had made their home cities too hot to hold them. The resulting male riff-raff needed female company to survive as a community. They promptly took by force the daughters & wives of people from the neighboring hills, the Sabines.
(3) Senate versus People (few versus many). The council of elders or Senate defined by wealth & family tradition (patricians) dominated public affairs until the Civil Wars in constant conflict with the many, the plebeians, at first small farmers but eventually landless soldiers & urban poor.
(4) City & Farm:
citizen army, wealth from land.. Starting as a city-farm culture,
Rome outgrew the model as it gained control over other cities, making it
in effect an empire. When soldiers no longer own land but expect to receive
it as their reward, the situation becomes ripe for revolution.
The doubling of the founding figure
(since both Remus & Romulus clearly replicate the name of Rome) &
the story that Romulus (who represents the patrician class) murdered Remus
(who represents the many, the plebeians) reflect the tensions between the
few & the many [cf.
Wiseman again] that would animate Rome’s history until they swelled
beyond traditional restraints to produce civil war.
In legend, good kings like Romulus & his successor, the law-giver Numa, gave way to the tyrannical Tarquins, who were expelled thanks to the severe leadership of Brutus, who brought Liberty to Rome & established a Republic.
b. Republic (oligarchy): Two Consuls (few) / Tribunes of the People (many) [ca 500-ca 100 BCE]
In the new Republic, monarchy for life
gave way to dyarchy, two Consuls. They were elected by the people for a
term of one year & they exercised supreme power in military & civilian
affairs. Against these
privileges of the few, the people early obtained the right to elect
Tribunes, who could not be arrested, who could call assemblies, propose
laws, & exercise veto power.
Liberty under the Republic meant that a small group of patrician or rich plebeian families competed for election to the consulships, which brought prestige & wealth through military campaigning. The competing family interests kept each other more or less in check, since they all belonged to the Senate, which exercised ultimate control over armies, provinces, & military campaigns.
(2) Checks Fail: Recurrent Civil Wars [ca 100-31 BCE]. Defying senatorial control, successful generals begin winning personal loyalty of their armies, who were no longer small farmers. Employing proscription (the execution of opponents & seizure of their property), generals reward their soldiers with land outside the checks imposed by the oligarchy of Republic.
(3) Julius Caesar [100-44 BCE: March 15 = Ides of March]. Ambitious & canny military leader, Caesar obtained special command in Gaul (58-50 BCE), where he won enormous wealth & the fierce loyalty of his troops. In 49, defying the Senate, he marched down into Italy with his troops, defeated the commander of the senatorial party (Pompey), & made himself Dictator for Life. In a show of pride, he dedicated a temple to Venus Genetrix (Mother of his Line), dusting off the legend that the Julian family descended from the Trojan hero Aeneas, who in mythology was Venus’ son.
Caesar’s arrogance & dominance provoked
conspirators from the oligarchic party, who killed him in the name of Liberty.
Among them was Brutus, thinking to repeat the action of his ancestor, the
first consul, who had helped create the Republic at the start. The conspirators
somehow hoped that with Julius Caesar out of the way, the Republic could
be restored. They failed to reckon with several facts. Rome’s empire had
long since grown too complex to be governed by the competing factions in
the Senate, Caesar’s veterans were loyal to his memory & greedy for
their rewards, the Roman people, too, remembered Caesar with affection,
especially on learning that he had left them money in his will, & above
all Caesar in his will had adopted one of his sister’s grandsons, to whom
he bequeathed his name. The new Caesar would know how to exploit the name’s
persuasive power among the many while neutralizing its repugnance for the
few as Julius had not taken the trouble to do.
Names grow with power, from Octavius to Imperator Caesar Son of God to Augustus.
The year 63 BCE has a place in history
for two reasons. One of the consuls was Marcus Tullius Cicero, who came
from a hill town & was the first of his family to achieve distinction
at Rome. He suppressed a conspiracy against the republican order by one
Catiline, who rallied the poor & disaffected. Potentially still more
momentous, on September 23 a son was born to one Gaius Octavius, also from
an obscure Italian family, and Atia, who was the daughter of Julia, the
sister of Julius Caesar.
Octavius’ father dies, leaving the mother Atia & her uncle, Julius Caesar, to educate the boy.
2. Ca 50 BCE: aged 12 or 13, Funeral Oration for Grandmother Julia.
Octavius delivered the public praise of his grandmother, Julia, the sister of Julius Caesar, which implies the latter’s interest & confidence in the young man. In 49, Caesar marched south across the River Rubicon with his army, defying the Senate, setting out on the path that would make him Dictator for Life & provoke the oligarchic reaction.
3. Ca 48-45 BCE: Garb of manhood (toga uirilis) & Campaign with Caesar.
Although ill, young Octavius
forced himself to make the rough trip to join Julius Caesar in the field.
He gained his great-uncle’s esteem. Caesar then sent him to the East in
view of a planned campaign.
In the East, Octavius, now 18
years old, learns that Juluius Caesar has been assassinated. He makes the
bold & risky choice to return to Rome to claim his inheritance. En
route he raises 10,000 of Caesar’s veterans from their settlements to form
an army to support his claims.
Adopted in the last will & testament of Julius Caesar, his young heir immediately calls himself Caesar, which was the name that commanded the loyalty of the veteran legions. Historians, however, often refer to him as "Octavian," which means, "the one from the Octavius clan." Back in Rome, he soon learns that Caesar’s lieutenant, Marc Antony, is claiming leadership of Caesar’s friends, trying to shut him out. At this, he makes a temporary alliance with the senatorial party (Cicero), even though they were sympathetic to the assassains. From the Senate, he obtains command, subordinate to two consuls, of an army fielded against Antony.
2. 43 BCE: Imperator Caesar.
In the spring, at Mutina (Modena) in
north-central Italy, the senatorial army defeats Antony, but both consuls
die. The victory lets young Caesar use the military title Imperator
(victorious commander), which he will make a regular part of his name so
that eventually it becomes the ancestor of the word "emperor" itself.
By summer, now in command of an army, the new Imperator Caesar, not yet 20 years old, uses his newly acquired legions to force the Senate to make him consul.
b. Switching from Senate to Party of Caesar.
Determined to avenge Julius Caesar,
his heir now turns against the senatorial party & comes to terms with
two Caesarian generals, Antony & Lepidus. They form a three-man commission
(triumvirate) to share the Roman world & avenge Caesar’s murder. To
terrorize their opponents & reward their legions, they proscribe many
members of the senatorial party (among them Cicero), which means death
& forfeit of property for those proscribed (in all, 300 senators, 2000
knights).
Prestige grows in name, despite a military
disgrace.
Caesar’s heir now has his name inscribed on coinage, "Son of the God."
b. October: Battle at Philippi: Antony defeats Caesar’s Assassains.
In the first battle, young Caear’s camp
was overrun, but he escaped. Antony, however, carried the day. The assassains,
Brutus & Cassius, committed suicide. (cf. Shakespeare, Julius Caesar).
After growing tensions that threaten a new outbreak of civil wars, young Caesar renews agreement with Antony at Brundisium. The hope of peace encourages Virgil to write of a renewed Golden Age & new birth in his fourth eclogue, which is the prophetic poem that still reechoes on the Great Seal of the United States. But tensions grow again. Despite marriage to young Caesar’s sister Octavia, Antony went on to sire children with the queen of Egypt, Cleopatra, & recognized her son by Julius Caesar, Caesarion.
5. 31 BCE: war against Antony & Cleopatra, victory at Actium.
Uniting Italy & Rome against the
Egyptian queen, painting the conflict as a struggle between the West &
an exotic East, Caesar with his long-time aid Agrippa wins the battle of
Actium, which ends the civil wars (cf. Shakespeare, Antony & Cleopatra;
also Virgil, Aeneid, book 8, the image on the great shield). From
this time forward, there would be only one ruler at Rome. The oligarchic
model of the Republic was finished, along with its slogan, Liberty. Needless
to say, he saw to it that Juliu’s Caesar’s only natural son (not adoptive
like himself) by Cleopatra, Caesarion, was killed.
The fatal example of Julius Caesar dictated
a show of respect for Roman tradition, yet the new reality demanded untraditional
solutions. A leader who owed power to his direct relations with the many
(legionary soldiers & populace of Rome) would not surrender to the
remnants of the few, but the trappings of republican tradition could mask
without voiding the innovations imposed.
Reflecting the victory at Actium, the name Romulus was proffered, but Augustus was preferred. To recur to the name of the founder & first king of Rome would have offended whatever survived of the oligarchic party. Also, legend had it that Romulus had been assassinated. Instead of appearing to revert to the situation before the Republic, the victor preferred to claim that he had "restored the Republic" after the crises of the civil wars. Unlike the name of Romulus, the title that the young Caesar accepted sounded religious rather than political. Augustus stemmed from the language of augury, which was the ritual of seeking omens, where it served to describe as "augmented" or "increased in dignity" certain shrines & other things made sacred or otherwise venerated by action of the augural priests (cf. Suetonius 7). Such a term could resonate with actual new authority & suit a program of religious restoration without making the kind of specific claim that provoked political rage. The political tactlessness of Julius Caesar’s title, "Dictator for Life," was not to be repeated, even though the risk was less, because the senatorial party had been more than decimated by proscription & two civil wars since his assassination in 44.
2. Traditional Powers but Newly Extended & Combined
It being opportune to show regard for
tradition yet imperative to consolidate a new kind of power, experiment
with constitutional arrangements became the rule. Apart from the innovative
title Augustus itself, he held traditional offices but in quite
unprecedented repetitions, extensions, & combinations.
For the campaign against Antony & Cleopatra & victory at Actium, he used the unprecedented title of dux, but on return he reverted to the traditional office of consul & stood for election to one of the two annual consulships each year from 28 to 23 BCE. At the same time, he kept command of those provinces of the empire that contained significant contingents of soldiers; & he kept for himself as a private source of wealth & food to distribute to the populace the agricultural bounty of Egypt.
b. Tribune of the People:
In 23 Augustus left the consulate for others to enjoy, though it no longer possessed its traditional prestige & power. He turned, instead, to the office that originated as the defender of the many against the oligarchy & received the powers of Tribune, which meant that he could initiate & veto legislative activity & enjoy exemption from arrest.
c. Proconsulship for Life & Maius Imperium ("Greater Command"):
To compensate for not holding consulships, he received two powers that allowed him to oversee & override the activities of governors also in provinces he did not directly control.
d. Princeps ("first to take" prince):
The title in the republican senate designated
the senior member, "first among equals," who enjoyed the right to take
first place in the roll of speakers on a question. In the regime of Augustus,
it undergoes metaphorical extension to suggest his leading role in every
area of civic life, until the regime can be called the principate.
Relations with the few (the Senate),
the many (soldiers & urban plebs): public munificence & works.
The historian Tacitus writing a century later described Augustus' relationship with the upper class as follows: "...the most violently opposed had fallen in battle or through proscription, the rest of the nobles, in so far as those who were most readily obedient were raised up with wealth and honor and enhanced with new dignities, preferred the safe present to the dangerous past" (Ann. 1.2).
Honor for an aristocratic Roman had long meant winning public office & exercising military command.[cf Barton’s new book] Since Augustus now controlled all the provinces that were defended by legions, he alone could decide what military commanders to appoint as his delegates. Likewise he took virtual control of the electoral process. He would nominate certain candidates. This would assure their election by the people, who were grateful to Augustus for spectacular entertainments, gifts, & distributions of grain [see next paragraph]. With patronage of this sort, no one else could afford to compete. They may have welcomed avoiding the usual electoral expenses of paying for spectacles & distributing bribes, to say nothing of the gangs & soldiers used to intimidate voters during the civil wars. [Shades of the Florida elections!]
b. Augustus and the Many
To soldiers, Augustus offered a regular term of service & the certainty of pay without the need for proscriptions & dislocations. He created in effect a professional standing army & stationed its legions far from the city of Rome, often settling new colonies which served to keep the peace & to spread Roman culture.
To the poor of Rome, he could offer a more regular distribution of grain & he created a force to police the city & fight fires. As one scholar has recently put it, "He issued regular distributions of food and money at festivals and to commemorate important moments in his reign. In doing so he not only alleviated the suffering of the poor, but he also bound the lower classes to his house. Preferential treatment of the population of Rome was thus established as one of the foundations of imperial government." [Source: www.umich.edu/~classics/cc/372/sibyl/en/Augustus.html]
c. Morality and Culture
In keeping with his announced act of restoring the Republic, Augustus also sought to "restore what he thought was Rome's 'pristine moral virtue.' In 18 he issued laws that encouraged the upper classes to have more children by giving preferential treatment to fathers of more than three offspring and imposing severe penalties upon the childless. He also issued a severe law aimed at curbing adultery."
"The reign of Augustus was also notable as the golden age of Latin literature. Although Augustus himself can take little or no credit for the development of poets such as Vergil, Propertius, Tibullus and Horace--all of them began writing well before Actium-- he did have an active interest in the arts. Vergil's Aeneid and Livy's massive history of Rome created images of Rome's past which Augustus found congenial, even though neither, especially Vergil's, can be considered wholly favorable. With the passing of time, however, his attitude towards literature began to harden. His later years were notable for the exile of the one great talent his reign produced, the poet Ovid. One reason for this was that Augustus found his work offensive." [Source: www.umich.edu/~classics/cc/372/sibyl/en/Augustus.html]
d. The Problem of a Successor
The most intractable problem Augustus faced was how to assure a peaceful succession to the new system of power he had created. He outlived one trusted lieutenant & prospective heir, Agrippa, but also two son’s that Agrippa fathered with Augustus’ daughter Julia. In the end he was forced to fall back on the elder son of his wife Livia, Tiberius Claudius Nero. But for details I refer you to the useful accounts & charts available on the World-Wide-Web.
e. Public Monuments & Works
Leaders at Rome had long used building programs to display their power & win public favor. Even before the Republic a sewer, the Cloaca Maxima, had been constructed to drain the area between the hills that became the Roman Forum.
As part of his show of respect for tradition, Augustus boasted of restoring 80 temples. He assigned to Agrippa the task of improving the water supply & building public baths.
(2) Altar of Augustan Peace. Conceived in 13 BCE & dedicated in 9 BCE, makes a calculated display of policy & pride. Of two side panels, one portrays Augustus together with his family, including his prospective & problematic heirs, he himself in the role of high priest, Pontifex Maximus, which he had just assumed. [Cf. lucid arguments by Bowersock in Raaflaub & Toher: G. W. Bowersock, "The Pontificate of Augustus," in M. Toher & K. Raaflaub, Between Republic & Empire (California 1990) 380-394] The other side panel shows the Roman Senate, reconciled to his rule. The end panels show mythological & allegorical supports for his position. Just around the corner from Augustus conducting sacrifice, his mythic ancestor Aeneas conducts sacrifice, with the shrine of the Lares (gods of house & state) in the background. Another end panel depicts a fecund female with two babies on her lap, otherwise laden with fruits & surrounded with burgeoning plants & peaceful animals: a bucolic scene that brings to mind the peace projected by Virgil in the fourth eclogue. The pair of babies in the mother’s lap recall the twins, Remus & Romulus before they quarreled, as if the strife in Roman history could be cancelled from the books. Virgil, too, in the first book of the Aeneid, projecting the Golden Age of Augustus, imagines Quirinus (scilicet Romulus)with his brother Remus peacefully giving laws (the function traditionally of the second king, Numa) but also of Augustus:
aspera tum positis mitescunt saecula bellis:
cana Fides et Vesta, Remo cum fratre Quirinus
iura dabunt; dirae ferro et compagibus artis
claudentur belli portae; furor impius intus
saeua sedens super arma et centum uinctus aënis
post tergum nodis fremet horridus
ore cruento.
[Harsh ages then will mellow wars being put aside:
hoary Trust & Vesta, Romulus with brother Remus
will sanction laws, the dreadful gates of war be closed
with tight iron clasps; wicked rage within
squatting on cruel weapons & bound (a hundred knots
of bronze behind) will bellow rough with bloody jaws].
(Aeneid 1.291-296, the prophecy by Jupiter to Venus, mother of Aeneas).
Rome: Tiber Ford, Market, Seven Hills
Hut of Romulus on Palatine Hill
Twins under Wolf (Capitoline Museum)
Brutus (so-called)
Julius Caesar
Caesar Dictator for Life (coin: CAESAR DICT PERPETVO)
Cicero
EID MART (coin: "Ides of March," Liberty Cap between Daggers)
Empire 146 BCE
Empire 50 BCE (with Gaul added by Julius Caesar)
Empire 14 CE
Heroic Image of Augustus (from
Prima Porta, now in Vatican Museum)
Augustus in the garb of a Priest
Forum Augusti: distance
FA: steps of temple
FA: temple from side
FA: columns on side
FA: fire wall & niches
Gemma Augustea: Augustus with eagle & scepter (cf. Jupiter)
Altar of Augustan Peace: Imperial family (cf. difficult succession)
AP: Aeneas & Lares (cf. myth of Julian descent from Troy)
AP: corner, with Aeneas & Augustus
AP: Female figure with twins in context of bucolic-georgic abundance (cf. Golden Age, fourth eclogue)