Augustus

by Anthony Everitt

  his Romanized name of Arminius It was wrongly thought by Martin Luther and others that the German for “Arminius” is Hermann. It may have been Armin.

  location for the ambush The site was identified in the 1990s near the modern German town of Bramsche between the Ems and Weser rivers.

  “dreaded but unavoidable act” Dio 56 21 5.

  “Quinctilius Varus, give me back my legions!” Suet Aug 23 2.

  A record survives Pliny 748.

  “blackened the characters” Tac Ann 172.

  “republicanist” Sen Contr 10 Praef 4–8.

  “You must not” Suet Aug 51 3.

  stay within the empire’s current boundaries Tacitus (Ann 111) places this advice in the breviarium.

  In the late spring Augustus’ remorse over Agrippa Postumus is told with varying levels of detail by Pliny 7150, Plutarch in his essay on talkativeness (although referring to a Fulvius rather than a Fabius), Dio 56 30, and Tac Ann 15.

  “There [on Planasia]” Tac Ann 15.

  Augustus’ last days Suet Aug 97–100.

  During the ritual Suetonius says only “the nearby temple”; the main temple built and dedicated by Agrippa was the Pantheon, to which the historian was very probably referring.

  “Augustus’ illness” Tac Ann 15.

  “Livia was afraid” Dio 56 30 2.

  According to Dio Ibid., 56 30 5.

  But Suetonius claims Suet Aug 98 5.

  commander of the island guard According to Suetonius (Tib 22 1), Tiberius did not announce Augustus’ death until he received the news of Postumus’ execution. This seems unlikely, for it would have entailed four or five days’ silence. It would also be unnecessary, for no uprising could have been organized in such a short space of time.

  “repository of imperial secrets” Tac Ann 330.

  “palace secrets” Ibid., 16.

  recovery came too late When rulers or heads of state die in office, raison d’état has been known to stimulate ruthless behavior: one recalls that the death of England’s King George V in 1935 was hastened by his doctor so that it met the deadline for the London Times newspaper of the following morning!

  “Some doubt remains” Suet Tib 22.

  Augustus’ signet ring These were routine actions when a Roman died: see Smith, see under funus.

  “Since fate has cruelly carried off” Suet Tib 23.

  he adopted his wife For a full discussion of Livia’s adoption, see Barrett, Chapter 8 passim.

  “she took a share” Dio 56 47 1.

  The funeral of a leading Roman For this description of Augustus’ funeral I have added generic data about Roman funerals from Smith, funus, to the accounts of Dio and Suetonius.

  INTO THE FUTURE

  “let her waste away” Tac Ann 153.

  “pilgrimage to far lands” Ibid., 324.

  “On the open ground” Ibid., 161.

  “no Charlemagne” Fuller, p. 181.

  “Intelligent people praised” Tac Ann 19.

  “filial duty” Ibid., 110.

  “I am surprised” Plut Apo reg et imp 207D.

  “faultily faultless” Tennyson, Alfred Lord Maul 2 6.

  “May I achieve” Suet Aug 28 2.

  SOURCES

  * * *

  ANCIENT SOURCES

  The ancient literary sources for the life and times of Augustus are numerous, but all in their different ways flawed or limited. In general, much more information about the civil wars up to the deaths of Mark Antony and Cleopatra has survived. As noted in the preface, many important histories and memoirs have been lost.

  Appian, a Greek from Alexandria who flourished about A.D. 160, wrote a detailed and usually dependable account of the civil wars, but he breaks off with the death of Sextus Pompeius. Cassius Dio, a leading politician who lived between about A.D. 150 and 235, was the author of a history of Rome in eighty books; only twenty-six survive, but fortunately these cover the period from 68 B.C. to A.D. 54, barring some lacunae. He is a diligent and careful writer, but anachronistically applies the political system of his day to the Augustan age.

  Tacitus (c. A.D. 55–c. A.D. 117) was one of the greatest Roman historians, but his masterpiece, the Annals, discusses the reign of Augustus only summarily, for he is primarily concerned with the period from the accession of Tiberius to the death of Nero. His objectivity was affected by a strong animus against the imperial system.

  Velleius Paterculus (c. 19 B.C.–after A.D. 31) served under Tiberius, whom he uncritically admired. His brief history of Rome is of uneven quality, but contains some valuable character sketches.

  Toward the end of his life Augustus prepared an official record of his career, the Res Gestae. He tells no lies, but sometimes fails to tell the truth.

  Plutarch, a Greek who lived between c. A.D. 46 and c. A.D. 120, wrote a series of Parallel Lives in which he recounts the life stories of eminent Greek politicians or generals and compares them with those of leading Romans, with whom he finds points of resemblance. He aims to bring out the moral character of his subjects rather than to narrate political events, and does so largely through anecdotes. His biographies of Brutus and Mark Antony are fine pieces of work, and throw much light on the period. However, he probably passes on propaganda against Antony without due skepticism, and sees Antony and Cleopatra’s relationship in overly romantic terms.

  Suetonius, who lived from c. A.D. 70 to c. 160, was one of Trajan’s and Hadrian’s secretaries, and had access to the imperial archives. His lives of the Caesars run from Julius Caesar to Domitian. His biographies of Augustus and Tiberius are of particular importance. His work is anecdotal and thematic, rather than narrative, but, while reflecting the interests and attitudes of his time, contains valuable information.

  Cicero’s letters and his great series of speeches against Mark Antony, the Philippics, are useful (if handled with caution) for the period up to his death in 43 B.C.

  Nicolaus was a Greek historian who flourished at the end of the first century B.C.; a courtier of Herod the Great, he met Augustus and won his friendship. His fragmentary life of Augustus gives a detailed account of the conspiracy against Julius Caesar and his assassination, and includes plausible stories about Augustus’ childhood (perhaps told him by his subject).

  Strabo, who lived from c. 64 B.C. to A.D. 19, was a near contemporary of Augustus. He came from Pontus and traveled widely. He wrote a geographical study of the known world which contains useful economic information as well as descriptions of places.

  Pliny the Elder (A.D. 23 or 24–A.D. 79) was an industrious writer, whose Natural History was an attempt to sum up all human knowledge. It contains much fascinating (sometimes nonsensical and bizarre) information about the arts, sciences, and beliefs of the day (including material about Augustus and his contemporaries).

  Relevant and usually plausible anecdotes can be found in Attic Nights by the Latin author Aulus Gellius (probably born early in the second century A.D.); in Saturnalia, a fictional dialogue in which a wide range of different subjects are discussed, by Macrobius, a Roman philosopher who flourished about A.D. 400; and in Memorable Facts and Sayings by Valerius Maximus, who lived about the time of Tiberius.

  Poets such as Virgil and Horace commented on political issues and events in their work and celebrated the Augustan regime. Ovid fell foul of the authorities in a major political and sexual scandal that implicated Augustus’ granddaughter, and much of his later poetry took the form of appeals against his banishment.

  The literary sources are complemented by an abundance of inscriptions, including Fasti (chronological lists of consuls and triumphatores) and Calendars, which cataloged festivals and other events by the days of the year. Octavian, Antony, and other leading personalities minted coins whose imagery conveyed important political messages. Octavian and Agrippa used architecture as a means of managing public opinion and asserting their political vision.

  Translations of Appian’s The Civil Wars, Dio Cassius’ The Reign of Augustus, Horace’
s Odes, Epistles, Epodes, and Satires, Livy’s History of Rome, Ovid’s Erotic Poems (Amores and Ars Amatoria), Poems of Exile (Tristia and Epistulae ex Ponto), Pliny the Elder’s Natural History, selected lives by Plutarch, Suetonius’ Lives of the Caesars, Tacitus’ Annals, and Virgil’s Eclogues, Georgics, and Aeneid, have been published by Penguin Books, and editions of all the authors listed above, except for Macrobius and Nicolaus, are available in the original languages with facing-page English translations by the Loeb Classical Library of Harvard University Press. English translations of some texts can be found on the Lacus Curtius website (see below). Macrobius’ Saturnalia has been translated by D. P. Vaughan (New York: Columbia University Press, 1969), and Nicolaus’ Life of Augustus by Jane Bellemore (Bristol, Eng.: Bristol Classical Press, 1984).

  FURTHER READING

  For a succinct overview of the period, I commend H. H. Scullard, From the Gracchi to Nero: A History of Rome from 133 B.C. to A.D. 68, fifth edition (London: Methuen, 1982). The Cambridge Illustrated History: Roman World (Cambridge, Eng.: Cambridge University Press, 2002) is an excellent survey for the general reader. Werner Eck’s The Age of Augustus (Oxford, Eng.: Blackwell, 2003) (originally published in 1998 in German as Augustus und seine Zeit) is a compact, insightful study. The Ancient City: Life in Classical Athens and Rome (Oxford, Eng.: Oxford University Press, 1998) is a readable introduction to daily life in ancient Greece and Rome by Peter Connolly and Hazel Dodge, notable for the elegant illustrations that evoke the two cities as they were in their heydays. Gilles Chaillet’s extraordinary Dans la Rome des Césars (Grenoble, Fr.: Editions Glénat, 2004) reconstructs the entire city as it would have looked at the beginning of the fourth century A.D.; it shows (sometimes speculatively) the appearance of Augustan buildings and Rome’s general layout.

  My researches into Augustus’ life and times were guided, in the first instance, by Ronald Syme’s The Roman Revolution, first published in 1939 by the Oxford University Press (OUP paperback, 1960), a classic that remains essential reading, both for its analysis of the politics of the Augustan regime and for its study of the Roman ruling class; and his The Augustan Aristocracy (Oxford, Eng.: Oxford University Press, 1986) further explores the history of, and interconnections between, leading Roman families in the late first century B.C. and the first century A.D.

  The massive Cambridge Ancient History, volume X: The Augustan Empire, 43 B.C. to A.D. 69, is comprehensive and authoritative, and includes a full bibliography. The old Cambridge Ancient History, published between 1923 and 1939 by Cambridge University Press, is still worth consulting.

  Other modern works I found variously helpful include

  Barrett, Anthony A. Livia: First Lady of Imperial Rome (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2002)

  Carcopino, Jérôme. Daily Life in Ancient Rome (London: Penguin, 1956 [originally pub. 1941])

  Carter, John M. The Battle of Actium (London: Hamish Hamilton, 1970)

  Castle, E. B. Ancient Education and Today (London: Penguin, 1961)

  Dilke, O.A.W. Greek and Roman Maps (London: Thames & Hudson, 1985)

  Dupont, Florence. Daily Life in Ancient Rome (Oxford, Eng.: Blackwell, 1993)

  Fuller, J.F.C. The Decisive Battles of the Ancient World and Their Influence on History, vol. 1, abridged edition (London: Paladin, 1970)

  Goldsworthy, Adrian Keith. The Roman Army at War, 100 B.C.–A.D. 200 (Oxford, Eng.: Oxford University Press, 1996)

  Grant, Michael. Cleopatra (London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1972)

  ———. Gladiators: The Bloody Truth (London: Penguin, 1971)

  Green, Peter. From Alexander to Actium (London: Thames & Hudson, 1990)

  Jackson, Ralph. Doctors and Diseases in the Roman Empire (London: British Museum Press, 2000)

  Keppie, Lawrence. The Making of the Roman Army from Republic to Empire (reprint, London: Routledge, 1998)

  Levick, Barbara. Tiberius the Politician (London and New York: Routledge, 1999)

  Meijer, Fik. The Gladiators: History’s Most Deadly Sport (London: Souvenir Press, 2004)

  Powell, Anthony, and Kathryn Welch, eds. Sextus Pompeius (London: Classical Press of Wales and Duckworth, 2002)

  Southern, Pat. Augustus (London and New York: Routledge, 1998)

  Stambaugh, John E. The Ancient Roman City (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1988)

  Van Hoof, Anton J. L. From Autothanasia to Suicide: Self-Killing in Classical Antiquity (London: Routledge, 1990)

  Walker, Susan, and Peter Higgs. Cleopatra of Egypt: From History to Myth (London: British Museum Press, 2001)

  Wildfang, Robin Lorsch, and Jacob Isager. Divination and Portents in the Roman World (Odense, Denmark: Odense University Press, 2000)

  Williams, Craig A. Roman Homosexuality: Ideologies of Masculinity in Classical Antiquity (London: Oxford University Press, 1999)

  Some monuments of Victorian and early-twentieth-century scholarship retain their value, if consulted with care, as reservoirs of interesting but often obscure information. They include William Smith’s splendid Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities (1870), and Samuel Ball Platner’s A Topographical Dictionary of Ancient Rome, revised by Thomas Ashby in 1929 (now challenged by L. Richardson’s A New Topographical Dictionary of Ancient Rome [Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1992]). Smith, Platner, and other compendiums can be found gratis on one or other of two excellent websites: Ancient Library, www.ancientlibrary.com, and Lacus Curtius http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/home.htm.

  * See p. 240.

  Return to text.

  ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

  * * *

  A generous grant from the Authors’ Foundation enabled me to visit places associated with Augustus’ career. I am most grateful to Dr. Irene Jacopi, director of the Palatine Hill and the Roman Forum, and architect Giovanna Tedone, both of the Soprintendenza per i beni archeologici di Roma, for taking the trouble to show me around the houses of Augustus and Livia (closed to the public for restoration).

  The London Library, its helpful staff and its wide collection, greatly assisted my researches.

  I am grateful to the following copyright-holders for reproduction permissions: Roman Forum reconstruction by John Connolly, akg-images; Palatine Hill, Photo Scala, Florence; Julius Caesar, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin; Mark Antony at Kingston Lacy, Bankes Collection, the National Trust; Sextus Pompeius, Hermitage Museum, Saint Petersburg; a Roman warship at the Gregorio Profano Museum, the Vatican Museums; water-color of Alexandria by J-P Golvin, George Braziller, Inc.; Cleopatra, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin; Octavia, Museo Nazionale Romano, Roma; Livia, Musei Capitolini, Roma, author’s photograph; Augustus, trustees of the British Museum; Agrippa, Musée du Louvre; Ara Pacis at Rome, Alinari; Tiberius at the museum of Ventotene, author’s photograph; Gaius Caesar, trustees of the British Museum; Agrippa Postumus, Musei Capitolini, author’s photograph; Gemma Augustea, Kunsthistorisches Museum, Wien oder KHM, Vienna; Room of the Masks, Photo Scala, Florence; Augustus of Prima Porta, Alinari.

  When quoting from Roman poets, I have used the following translations: James Michie’s Odes of Horace (Penguin Books, 1964: copyright David Higham Associates); Niall Rudd’s Satires and Epistles of Horace (Penguin Books, 1979); Peter Green’s versions of Ovid, Erotic Poems (Penguin Books, 1964) and Poems of Exile (Penguin Books, 1994: copyright David Higham Associates); Cecil Day Lewis’s Aeneid by Virgil (Oxford University Press, 1952); and E. V. Rieu’s Eclogues by Virgil (Penguin Books, 1949). I have used John Carter’s translations of Appian, The Civil Wars, and Cassius Dio, The Age of Augustus (Penguin Books, 1996 and 1987); D. R. Shackleton Bailey’s translation of Cicero’s letters (Penguin Books, 1978); Aubrey de Sélincourt’s Livy: The Early History of Rome; Propertius’ The Poems, translated by W. G. Shepherd (Penguin Books, 1985: copyright University of Oklahoma Press); Ian Scott-Kilvert’s selection from Plutarch, Makers of Rome (Penguin Books, 1965); Rex Warner’s selection from Plutarch, Fall of the Roman Republic (Penguin Books, 1958); Robert Graves’s vers
ion of Suetonius, revised by Michael Grant, The Twelve Caesars (Penguin Books, 1979); and Michael Grant’s translation of Tacitus’ Annals, On Imperial Rome (Penguin Books, 1956). On occasion and for other prose authors I have either depended on the Loeb Classical Library or translated passages myself. The quotation from “Alexandrian Kings” can be found in C. P. Cavafy’s Collected Poems, translated by Edmund Keeley and Philip Sherrard (The Hogarth Press, 1975).

  The battle maps follow Johannes Kromayer and Georg Veith, Heerwesen und Kriegführung der Griechen und Römer, Munich, 1928.

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  ANTHONY EVERITT’s fascination with ancient Rome began when he studied classics in school and has persisted ever since. He read English literature at Cambridge University and served four years as secretary general of the Arts Council for Great Britain. A visiting professor of arts and cultural policy at Nottingham Trent University and City University, Everitt has written extensively on European culture and development, and has contributed to The Guardian and Financial Times since 1994. Cicero, his first biography, was chosen by both Allan Massie and Andrew Roberts as the best book of the year in the United Kingdom and was a national bestseller in the United States. Anthony Everitt lives near Colchester, England’s first recorded town, founded by the Romans, and is working on histories of ancient Rome and Greece for teenagers.

  ALSO BY ANTHONY EVERITT

  Cicero: The Life and Times of Rome’s Greatest Politician

  Copyright © 2006 by Anthony Everitt

  All rights reserved.

  Published in the United States by Random House, an imprint of The Random House Publishing Group, a division of Random House, Inc., New York.

  RANDOM HOUSE and colophon are registered trademarks of Random House, Inc.

  Published in the United Kingdom by John Murray Publishers, Ltd. as The First Emperor: Caesar Augustus and the Triumph of Rome in slightly different form.