The contrast between the splendor of state ceremonial and Rome’s restored monumental center, on the one hand, and Augustus’ austere lifestyle on the other, was, of course, a conscious policy, which magnified Rome while seeking to counter individual decadence. It would appear, though, that his simple habits had a basis in modest personal tastes.
Of course, there were two sides to Augustus’ personality, which looked Janus-like in opposing directions: the affectionate family man was also the ancient lecher; the plain-living Roman built a secret holiday palazzo; loyal to his intimates, he was blind to their excesses and sometimes criminal failings; the loving parent with high expectations sometimes behaved like a demanding bully who insisted on having his own way; the cultivated patron of the arts could be a heartless killer when crossed in politics.
One senses, above all, that the suppression of ordinary human emotions which his public duties demanded of the princeps pulled against deep and powerful currents of feeling for those closest to him. This internal struggle may have fueled the fury with which he reacted to betrayals of trust.
But for all his flaws, the balance sheet ends in credit. For the most part, the private man lived decently according to the standards of the time, and the public man did terrible things, but usually for the public good.
It is argued that Augustus was merely the last in a line of unruly, Republic-busting dynasts who came and went throughout the first century B.C. Like a surfer, he rode a wave of change that was already rolling.
There is something in this. If the Actium campaign had had a different outcome, the trend toward autocracy might well have continued unabated. But would the careless and unfocused Antony have been able to build such an enduring edifice? One doubts it.
Augustus once wrote in an edict: “May I achieve the reward to which I aspire…of carrying with me, when I die, the hope that these foundations I have established for the state will abide secure.” His hope was fulfilled. Of all Rome’s emperors, he reigned the longest; and his work lasted, with modifications, for many generations. His successors all called themselves Augustus and cited his example (however differently they in fact behaved). State institutions continued to evolve in ways he did not predict, but in the main along the lines he set down.
Augustus devoted his long reign to perfecting and implementing two core policies—constitutional reform, and imperial expansion under one-man rule. But no less important was his management of the provinces. Working with his friend and partner, Agrippa, he spent many years touring the empire. He disciplined, if he did not entirely eliminate, the rapacity of imperial proconsuls; he encouraged urbanization and the Roman way of life; and he extended Roman citizenship to many thousands of provincials throughout the empire.
This had a hugely important consequence. It generated loyalty and gratitude to Rome. It made people feel that they were not victims of the empire, but its stakeholders. They were members of an imperial commonwealth. It was this shared consciousness that helped to bind Europe and the lands of the Mediterranean basin together for half a millennium and more.
How many statesmen in human history can lay claim to such a record of enduring achievement?
NOTES
ABBREVIATIONS
Full publication data for modern works appears in the Sources section.
Aesch Prom
Aeschylus, Prometheus Unbound
App
Appian, Civil Wars
Res Gest
Augustus, Res Gestae
Barrett
Anthony A. Barrett, Livia
Aul Gell
Aulus Gellius, Noctes Atticae
Caes Gall
Julius Caesar, Commentaries on the Gallic War
Carcopino
Jérôme Carcopino, Daily Life in Ancient Rome
Carter
J. M. Carter, The Battle of Actium
CAH
Cambridge Ancient History, vol. 10
Old CAH
Cambridge Ancient History (1923–1939), vol. 10
Castle
E. B. Castle, Ancient Education and Today
Dio
Cassius Dio, Roman History
Celsus
Celsus, De Medicina
Cic Att
Cicero, Letters to Atticus
Cic Brut
Cicero, Letters to Brutus
Cic De Or
Cicero, De Oratore
Cic Fam
Cicero, Letters to His Friends [ad Familiares]
Cic Phil
Cicero, Philippics
Connolly and Dodge
Peter Connolly and Hazel Dodge, The Ancient City, Life in Classical Athens and Rome
CIL
Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum
Dupont
Florence Dupont, Daily Life in Ancient Rome
Florus
Florus, Epitome of Roman History
Fuller
J.F.C. Fuller, The Decisive Battles of the Ancient World and Their Influence on History
Grant Cleo
Michael Grant, Cleopatra
Grant Glad
Michael Grant, Gladiators: The Bloody Truth
Green
Peter Green, From Alexander to Actium
Green Erot
Peter Green (trans.), Ovid, The Erotic Poems
Hom Il
Homer, Iliad
Hom Od
Homer, Odyssey
van Hoof
Anton van Hoof, Autothanasia to Suicide: Self-killing in Classical Antiquity
Hor Cent
Horace, Centennial Hymn
Hor Ep
Horace, Epistles
Hor Odes
Horace, Odes
Hor Sat
Horace, Satires
ILS
Inscriptiones Latinae Selectae, ed. H. Dessau
Jackson
Ralph Jackson, Doctors and Diseases in the Roman Empire
Jos Ant
Josephus, Antiquities
Levick
Barbara Levick, Tiberius the Politician
Livy Per
Livy, Periochae
Livy
Livy, Preface
Macr
Macrobius, Saturnalia
Mart
Martial, Epigrams
Meijer
Fik Meijer, The Gladiators
Men Double
Menander, The Double Deceiver
Nic
Nicolaus, Life of Augustus
Ovid Am
Ovid, Amores
Ovid Ars Am
Ovid, Ars Amatoria
Ovid Pont
Ovid, Epistulae ex Ponto
Ovid Trist
Ovid, Tristia
Pliny
Pliny, Naturalis Historia
Plut Apo reg et imp
Plutarch, Moralia, Apophthegmata regum et imperatorum
Plut Aem Pau
Plutarch, Aemilius Paullus
Plut Ant Comp
Plutarch, Antony and Demetrius Comparison