Caesar Augustus

Roman emperor (r. 27 b.c.e.-14 c.e.)

• Born: September 23, 63 b.c.e.
• Birthplace: Rome (now in Italy)
• Died: August 19, 14 c.e.
• Place of death: Nola (now in Italy)

Through his political skill and intelligence, Augustus transformed the chaos that followed the assassination of Julius Caesar into the long-lasting Roman Empire.

Early Life

Augustus (uh-GUHS-tuhs), the first emperor of Rome, was born Gaius Octavius, and during his youth he was known to history as Octavian. His family was an old and wealthy one from the small town of Velitrae (Velletri), about twenty miles southeast of Rome. The Octavii were not, however, a noble family; they were of the equestrian order, which meant that they did not sit in the Roman senate and thus could not hold the higher offices of the state. Octavian’s father, a supporter of Julius Caesar, was the first of the family to achieve those distinctions; he died when Octavian was four.

Octavian’s great-uncle was that same Julius Caesar whom he so admired, and Caesar discerned in the young man possibilities of future greatness. At sixteen, Octavian planned to accompany Caesar to Spain in his campaign against the forces of Pompey the Great, Caesar’s enemy in the civil wars. Delayed by illness, Octavian followed Caesar, risking considerable hardship along the way, including a shipwreck from which he narrowly escaped. Although he arrived after the hostilities had ended, his daring and initiative greatly impressed Caesar.

In 44 b.c.e., while Caesar was preparing his campaign against the Parthian Empire in the east, Octavian went on ahead, intending to join the army en route. He was in Apollonia, on the Adriatic coast, when he learned that Caesar had been assassinated in Rome on the ides of March (March 15). Along with this shocking news, he soon learned that in his will Caesar had named him heir to the bulk of the dictator’s vast estate and, much more significantly, had adopted him. Although it was impossible to transmit political office or power through inheritance, Caesar had clearly signaled his choice of successor. Octavian, in turn, indicated his determination to claim his rights by an immediate return to Italy and by taking the name Gaius Julius Caesar. At eighteen he was prepared to contest control of the Roman world.

Portrait busts, statues, and the writings of historians have left a clear picture of the first emperor. He was of average height and wore lifts in his sandals to appear taller. His hair was blondish, and his teeth were small and widely spaced. The ancient historian Suetonius describes Octavian as handsome, and other writers have remarked on his calm, quiet expression. He had clear, bright eyes and liked to believe that a certain divine radiance could be seen in them. Throughout his life he was bothered by a number of illnesses, some of them quite serious. Perhaps because of his poor health he was temperate in his habits, drinking little and eating lightly. Although a conscientious administrator, he hated to rise early, and his chief pastime was gambling with his friends. More than anything else, his actions and achievements clearly indicate that he was a man of great ambition and clear intelligence, with a profound perception of the qualities of others.

Life’s Work

When Octavian returned to Italy, he had two immediate goals: to claim his inheritance from Caesar and to avenge his adoptive father’s death. He first tried to establish an alliance with Marc Antony, a close associate and colleague of Caesar, but Antony took a harsh attitude toward the much younger man and even blocked the implementation of Caesar’s will. As a result, Octavian went over to the side of the senate, which was attempting to regain control of the state. With the help of Octavian and an army raised largely from Caesar’s veterans, the senatorial forces defeated Antony at Mutina (Modena, northern Italy) in 43 b.c.e. Octavian quickly realized, however, that the senate planned to use him to remove Antony as a threat and then discard him. The orator Cicero summed up their plan for Octavian: “The young man is to be praised, honored, and exalted.” In Latin the last word can be understood as a pun for “removed.”

Sensing this design, Octavian arranged a meeting with Antony and Marcus Aemilius Lepidus, another associate of Caesar. The three formed the Second Triumvirate, patterned on the earlier alliance of Caesar, Marcus Licinius Crassus, and Pompey. Both triumvirates became the effective power of the Roman world, largely because of their command of military forces. The Second Triumvirate was sealed by marriage: Octavian wed the daughter of Antony’s wife; later, Antony would marry Octavian’s sister.

The triumvirs quickly had themselves voted unlimited powers and began to eradicate their opposition, especially those associated with the murder of Caesar. A proscription was proclaimed, and hundreds of Romans, including Cicero, were put to death. Octavian and Antony then confronted the army of Marcus Junius Brutus and Cassius, the leaders of the conspiracy against Caesar. In the Battle of Philippi in Greece (October 23 and November 14, 42 b.c.e.), the last forces capable of restoring the Republic were smashed.

Octavian and Antony divided the Roman world between them, Octavian taking the west, Antony the east. Lepidus was shunted aside and sank into obscurity, eventually ending his life under house arrest. Relations between the two major partners steadily deteriorated. The alliance was patched up by marriage, and in 36 the two cooperated in the defeat of Sextus Pompeius (son of Pompey the Great) in Sicily. Developments after that, however, led to inevitable conflict.

While in the east, Antony formed a close liaison with Cleopatra, queen of Egypt and former lover of Caesar. Antony granted her territories once held by Egypt but now subject to Rome, and he displayed signs of establishing an independent monarchy in Asia. Octavian skillfully exploited the antiforeign sentiments that these actions aroused, and in 32 b.c.e. Rome declared war on Antony and Cleopatra.

Octavian gathered a fleet and an army and moved east. Under his friend Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa, the Roman forces defeated those of Antony and Cleopatra at the naval battle of Actium, off the Greek coast, on September 2, 31. The two lovers escaped to Egypt, but when surrounded by Octavian’s forces, they committed suicide. Octavian annexed Egypt as a Roman province; he was now sole ruler of the Roman state.

His position was still precarious, however, and for the rest of his life he had to balance the reality of his power carefully with the appearance of a restored Republic. Although briefly considering a true return to the Republic, Octavian realized that it was impossible and would lead to bloody civil war. Instead of claiming or accepting offices of overt power—such as the dictatorship—which had brought about the death of Caesar, Octavian was content to serve in more traditional ways, such as consul (thirteen times in all) or tribune. His most frequently used title was an innovation: princeps (short for princeps civitatis, “first citizen”); this appellation was vague enough not to offend, yet sufficient to preserve his authority.

In 27 b.c.e. Octavian was granted the title Augustus by the senate, indicating the religious aspect of his position. Throughout his reign, Augustus artfully underscored the moral need for a strong ruler to end centuries of internecine bloodshed. It is as Augustus that he is best known to history.

As ruler, Augustus’s major concerns were internal reform and external defense. In Rome, he revised the senate roll, striking off many who were unfit to serve. He vigorously enforced laws against immorality, even sending his own daughter into exile for her numerous and blatant adulteries. His life was less circumscribed. He stole his wife, Livia, from her first husband and was married to her while she was pregnant; he was known later for his many affairs, showing a particular preference for young virgins.

Nevertheless, he was careful in his observance of ancient Roman religious rituals and in 12 c.e. was elected pontifex maximus, or head priest. Whenever possible, he revived old customs and mores, attempting to strengthen patriotism and social order. His many building projects, especially in Rome, repaired years of neglect and greatly improved life in the city.

Along the borders, Augustus was content to maintain existing boundaries for most of the Empire. In Germany, he made an effort to extend the limits of Roman rule to the Elbe River. These attempts were abruptly ended in 6 b.c.e., when German tribes ambushed and massacred three legions under the command of Publius Quinctilius Varus. The disaster caused Augustus to fix the boundaries at the Rhine River; for a long time afterward he could be heard crying out in his palace, “Varus, give me back my legions!”

As he grew older, Augustus attempted to fix the succession of power, realizing that he must provide for an orderly transition lest his accomplishments be destroyed in another round of civil war. When his three grandsons either died or proved unfit, he was forced to turn to Tiberius, Livia’s son by her first husband. Tiberius had long served Augustus in civil and military posts and had been advanced as heir on several occasions, only to be set aside for a candidate more suitable to Augustus’s needs. At last, however, he was adopted by Augustus and served as his colleague and virtual coemperor until Augustus’s death.

Augustus died in 14, and the fact that Tiberius succeeded him without a renewal of internal strife and disastrous civil war is perhaps the best indication of Augustus’s success in creating a new and lasting political order—the Roman Empire.

Significance

One of the sayings attributed to Augustus is that he found Rome a city of brick and left it one of marble. This is literally true: His extensive renovation and construction transformed Rome from top to bottom—from its temples to its sewer system. A similar transformation was wrought by Augustus in the whole of the Roman world.

He found a state that was wracked by internal unrest, one that was seemingly incapable of ruling itself without resorting to self-destructive civil war. Through patience, tact, and, when necessary, force, he translated the ruins of the Republic into the edifice of the Empire. So difficult a task, to refound the Roman state, was made all the harder by the need to disguise its true nature. Throughout his reign, Augustus carefully retained the forms and procedures of a republic, deferring to the senate, refusing extravagant titles, and being careful to allow others a measure of honor and prestige—although never enough to threaten his preeminent position.

Augustus’s major accomplishments were to establish the Roman Empire and to become its first emperor, almost without public notice. While all knew that power had shifted into the hands of one man, the shift had been accomplished in such a gradual, subtle fashion, and with such positive results, that few openly complained. Most Romans probably approved of the changes made by Augustus. There was security, increasing prosperity, and, above all, peace. The arts flourished, and the golden age of Roman literature under Augustus produced such lasting writers as Horace, Ovid, Livy, and Vergil.

Augustus restored peace to a society that badly needed it. Conflicts continued on the borders, but internal warfare came to an end. In one of his most significant acts, Augustus closed the gates to the temple of Janus, an act done only when Rome was formally at peace. Before his time, the gates had been shut only twice in Rome’s long history. More than anything else it was this peace, this Pax Romana and the blessings it brought, that caused a grateful senate to accord Augustus the title pater patriae—father of his country.

First Ten Emperors of Imperial Rome

27 b.c.e.-14 c.e.

• Augustus

14-37

• Tiberius

37-41

• Caligula

41-54

• Claudius

54-68

• Nero

68-69

• Galba

69

• Otho

69

• Vitellius

69-79

• Vespasian

79-81

• Titus

Bibliography

Grant, Michael. The Roman Emperors: A Biographical Guide to the Rulers of Rome, 31 B.C.-A.D. 476. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1985. A lucid, compressed review of the life and times of Augustus, placing him within the context of his society.

Grant, Michael. The Twelve Caesars. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1983. This volume takes the ancient biographer Suetonius as its starting point but goes far beyond him in its exploration and explanation of the difficulties and accomplishments of Augustus. Especially good in delineating the agonizingly careful line Augustus had to trace in establishing an empire on the ruins of a fallen, but still potent, republic.

Jones, A. H. Augustus. Edited by M. I. Finley. New York: W. W. Norton, 1971. A well-researched and well-presented overview of Augustus’s life and career, giving equal attention to both.

Massie, Allan. The Caesars. New York: Franklin Watts, 1984. A popular biography of Rome’s Imperial rulers. The section on the first emperor is well done and provides several interesting views of his task in setting up the Imperial system.

Southern, Pat. Augustus. New York: Routledge, 2001. Biography focuses on Augustus the man. Covers the life of the emperor in chronological order.

Suetonius, Gaius Tranquillus. Lives of the Twelve Caesars. Translated by Robert Graves. Rev. ed. New York: Welcome Rain, 2001. Suetonius is long on incident and short on evaluation, but his lively portrait of Augustus has never been surpassed. While other, later authors have given more facts about the founder of the Roman Empire, Suetonius presents him as a human being. This work certainly deserves its reputation as a classic.