Review of Senate
18–17
Social and moral reforms (leges Juliae)
17
Lucius born to Julia, Augustus adopts Gaius and Lucius
Celebration of the Ludi Saeculares
16–13
Augustus in Gaul; Agrippa in the east
15
Tiberius and Drusus campaign in the Alps
Drusus’ son, Nero Claudius Drusus Germanicus(Germanicus), born
13
Tiberius consul (1)
Agrippa granted imperium maius, and tribunicia potestas renewed
Theater of Marcellus and Ara Pacis dedicated
13–12 winter
Agrippa in Pannonia to suppress threatened rebellion
12
Lepidus dies, Augustus succeeds him as pontifex maximus
March
Agrippa dies
Agrippa Postumus born
12–9
Tiberius campaigns in Pannonia; Drusus in Germany
11
Tiberius divorces Vipsania and marries Julia
10
Drusus’ son, Tiberius Claudius Drusus Nero Germanicus (Claudius), born
9
Death of Drusus
9–7
Tiberius campaigns in Germany
8
Augustus’ imperium maius renewed
Deaths of Maecenas and Horace
7
Tiberius consul (2), celebrates triumph
6
Armenian revolt
Tiberius granted tribunicia potestas for five years
Tiberius retires to Rhodes
5
Augustus consul (12)
Gaius Caesar comes of age, appointed princeps iuventutis, designated consul for A.D. 1
2
Augustus consul (13)
Lucius Caesar comes of age
Disgrace of Julia
Forum of Augustus and Temple of Mars Ultor dedicated
King Frahâta of Parthia murdered, succeeded by Frahâtak
Ovid publishes Ars Amatoria
1
Gaius Caesar sent to the east with imperium
A.D.
2
Agreement between Gaius Caesar and King Frahâtak
Tiberius returns from Rhodes
Lucius Caesar dies at Massilia
2–3
Gaius Caesar wounded
4
Gaius Caesar resigns his duties and dies
Augustus adopts Agrippa Postumus and Tiberius, who adopts Germanicus
Tiberius granted tribunicia potestas for ten years
Tiberius campaigns in Germany
lex Aelia Sentia
Review of Senate
5
Tiberius reaches the Elbe
6
Establishment of aerarium militare
Revolt in Pannonia and Dalmatia
7
Agrippa Postumus banished to Planasia
8
Julia, Augustus’ granddaughter, and Ovid banished
Pannonians surrender
9
Dalmatia subdued
Varus defeated in Germany; three legions lost
lex Papia Poppaea
10–11
Tiberius campaigns in Germany
12
Germanicus consul
Tiberius’ triumph
13
Germanicus takes command in Gaul and Germany
Tiberius’ tribunicia potestas renewed for ten years; he receives imperium proconsulare maius equal to that of Augustus
Germanicus receives proconsular imperium
14 August 19
Augustus dies
Agrippa Postumus put to death
Tiberius becomes princeps
Julia, Augustus’ daughter, dies in exile
15
Germanicus visits the scene of the Variana clades
17
Ovid dies in exile
19
Germanicus dies, perhaps poisoned
23
Tiberius’ son, Drusus, dies, perhaps killed by Sejanus
28
Julia, Augustus’ granddaughter, dies in exile
29
Julia Augusta (Livia) dies
37
Tiberius dies; Gaius (Caligula) succeeds
41
Gaius assassinated; Claudius succeeds
43
Claudius invades Britannia
54
Claudius dies, perhaps poisoned; Nero succeeds
68
Nero commits suicide, last member of Augustus’ family to be princeps
PREFACE
His career was a masterly study in the wielding of power. He learned how to obtain it and, more important, how to keep it. As the history of the last hundred years has shown, empires are hard won and easily lost. In the first century B.C., Rome governed one of the largest empires the world had seen, but through foolish policies and bad governance risked its collapse. Augustus devised a political system that enabled the empire’s survival for half a millennium. History never repeats itself exactly, but today’s leaders and students of politics will find his policies and methods to be of interest.
Yet Augustus himself is a shadowy figure. Many books have been written about his achievements, but they have tended to focus on the Augustan age, rather than on the man as he was. My hope is to make Augustus come alive.
As well as narrating his own doings, I place his story in his times and describe the events and personalities that affected him. Shipwrecks, human sacrifice, hairbreadth escapes, unbridled sex, battles on land and at sea, ambushes, family scandals, and above all the unforgiving pursuit of absolute power—Augustus lived out an extraordinary and often terrifying drama.
The stage is crowded with larger-than-life personalities: the brilliant and charming Julius Caesar; the ruthless Cleopatra, who is often said to have used sex as an instrument of policy; the idealistic assassin Brutus; the intelligent drunkard Mark Antony; the dour Tiberius; the great but promiscuous lady Julia, and many more.
The incidents and actions that make up a life cannot be fully realized without also conveying a sense of place. So I have sought to evoke the main locations of Augustus’ career, as they were at the time and as they appear today—among them, his house on the Palatine, the secret palace on the island of Pandateria, the low, sandy headland of Actium, and the spectacular city of Alexandria.
The Roman world is still recognizable to us who live two millennia later. The day-to-day practice of politics, the realities of urban living, the seaside resorts, the cultivation of the arts, the rising divorce rate, the misdemeanors of the younger generation: past and present have many things in common. However, certain forms of degradation—slavery, the low status of women, and the gladiatorial carnage of the arena—shock and astonish us. So, too, does the moral approval accorded to military violence and imperial expansion. Julius Caesar’s largely unprovoked conquest of Gaul was hailed at Rome as a wonderful achievement, but it is estimated that one million Gauls lost their lives in the fighting.
Augustus was a very great man, but he grew gradually into greatness. He did not possess Julius Caesar’s bravura and political genius (it was that genius, of course, which killed Caesar, for it made him incapable of compromise). He was a physical coward who taught himself to be brave. He was intelligent, painstaking, and patient, but could also be cruel and ruthless. He worked extraordinarily hard. He thought in the long term, achieving his aims slowly and by trial and error.