1. Restoring Republic? He twice thought of restoring the republic; first immediately after the overthrow of Antony, remembering that his rival had often made the charge that it was his fault that it was not restored; and again in the weariness of a lingering illness, when he went so far as to summon the magistrates and the senate to his house, and submit an account of the general condition of the empire. Reflecting, however, that as he himself would not be free from danger if he should retire, so too it would be hazardous to trust the State to the control of more than one, he continued to keep it in his hands; and it is not easy to say whether his intentions or their results were the better. (Suet, Aug 28) 2. Order of succession Meanwhile, to consolidate his power, Augustus raised Claudius Marcellus, his sister's son and a mere stripling, to the pontificate and curule aedileship: Marcus Agrippa, no aristocrat, but a good soldier and his partner in victory, he honoured with two successive consulates, and a little later, on the death of Marcellus, selected him as a son-in-law.... He had admitted Agrippa's children, Gaius and Lucius, to the Caesarian hearth, and even during their minority had shown, under a veil of reluctance, a consuming desire to see them consuls designate with the title Princes of the Youth. When Agrippa gave up the ghost, untimely fate, or the treachery of their stepmother Livia, cut off both Lucius and Caius Caesar, Lucius on his road to the Spanish armies, Caius—wounded and sick—on his return from Armenia. Drusus had long been dead, and of the stepsons Tiberius alone survived. On him all centred. Adopted as son, as colleague in the empire, as consort of the tribunician power, he was paraded through all the armies... (Tac, Ann 1.3) 3. Marcellus Some three years before the plot of Egnatius was exposed, about the time of the conspiracy of Murena and Caepio, fifty years from the present date, Marcus Marcellus died, the son of Octavia, sister of Augustus, after giving a magnificent spectacle to commemorate his aedileship and while still quite a youth. People thought that, if anything should happen to Caesar, Marcellus would be his successor in power, at the same time believing, however, that this would not fall to his lot without opposition from Marcus Agrippa. He was, we are told, a young man of noble qualities, cheerful in mind and disposition, and equal to the station for which he was being reared. After his death Agrippa, who had set out for Asia on the pretext of commissions from the emperor, but who, according to current gossip, had withdrawn, for the time being, on account of his secret animosity for Marcellus, now returned from Asia and married Julia the daughter of Caesar, who had been the wife of Marcellus, a woman whose many children were to be blessings neither to herself nor to the state. (Velleius 2.93) 4. Marcellus’ campaigns in Spain Marcellus, returning trophy-laden from the western war to the bounds of craggy Italy, then first cut his flaxen beard. This was his fatherland’s desire, to send him out a boy and take him back a man. (Crinagoras X in Gow & Page, The Garland of Philip) 5. The imperial succession: factors at play This he did later; at the time, after being restored to health, he brought his will into the senate and desired to read it, by way of showing people that he had left no successor to his realm; but he did not read it, for none would permit it. Absolutely everybody, however, was astonished at him because, although he loved Marcellus both as son-in-law and nephew, and in addition to other honours shown him had to such an extent helped him make a brilliant success of the festival which he gave as aedile that he had sheltered the Forum during the whole summer by means of curtains stretched overhead and had exhibited on the stage a dancer who was a knight, and also a woman of high birth, nevertheless he had not entrusted to him the monarchy, but actually had preferred Agrippa before him. Thus it would appear that he was not yet confident of the youth's judgment, and that he either wished the people to regain their liberty or for Agrippa to receive the leadership from them. For he well understood that Agrippa was exceedingly beloved by them and he preferred not to seem to be committing the supreme power to him on his own responsibility. (Dio 53.31) 6. Marcellus in the underworld And, at this, Aeneas said (since he saw a youth of outstanding beauty with shining armour, walking with Marcellus, but his face lacking in joy, and his eyes downcast): ‘Father, who is this who accompanies him on his way? His son: or another of his long line of descendants? What murmuring round them! What presence he has! But dark night, with its sad shadows, hovers round his head.’ Then his father Anchises, with welling tears, replied: ‘O, do not ask about your people’s great sorrow, my son. The Fates will only show him to the world, not allow him to stay longer. The Roman people would seem too powerful to you gods, if this gift were lasting. (Verg, Aen 6.860-71) 7. Agrippa Such was the character of this man; but others both strove for triumphs and celebrated them, not only for no exploits comparable to this, but merely for arresting robbers or for restoring harmony to cities that were torn by factious strife. For Augustus, at least in the beginning, bestowed these rewards lavishly upon certain men, and those whom he honoured by public funerals were very many. Accordingly, while these men gained lustre through such distinctions, Agrippa was promoted to the supreme power, one might say, by him. For Augustus saw that the public business required strict attention, and feared that he himself might, as often happens to men of his position, fall victim to a plot.... He therefore first added five years to his own terms as princeps, since his ten-year period was about to expire (this was in the consulship of Publius and Gnaeus Lentulus [18 BC]), and then he granted to Agrippa many privileges almost equal to his own, especially the tribunician power for the same length of time. (Dio 54.12) 8. Julia and family The people honour Julia, the goddess, bearer of beautiful children, daughter of the divine emperor Augustus. (I. Priene 225) 9. Letter of Augustus to Gaius, AD 1 Greetings, dear Gaius, my delightful little donkey, whom I always miss whenever you are absent... I beg the gods that whatever time I have left I might pass with all of us in good health and with the State in the happiest condition, and with the two of you behaving like men and succeeding to my post of honour. (Aulus Gellius, Attic Nights 15.7.3) 10. Priesthoods I was high priest, augur, one of the Fifteen for the performance of rites, one of the Seven of the sacred feasts, brother of Arvis, fellow of Titus, and Fetial. (RG 7) 11. Tradition After he finally had assumed the office of pontifex maximus on the death of Lepidus (for he could not make up his mind to deprive him of the honour while he lived) he collected whatever prophetic writings of Greek or Latin origin were in circulation anonymously or under the names of authors of little repute, and burned more than two thousand of them, retaining only the Sibylline books and making a choice even among those; and he deposited them in two gilded cases under the pedestal of the Palatine Apollo. Inasmuch as the calendar, which had been set in order by the Deified Julius, had later been confused and disordered through negligence, he restored it to its former system; and in making this arrangement he called the month Sextilis by his own surname, rather than his birth-month September, because in the former he had won his first consulship and his most brilliant victories. He increased the number and importance of the priests, and also their allowances and privileges, in particular those of the Vestal virgins. Moreover, when there was occasion to choose another vestal in place of one who had died, and many used all their influence to avoid submitting their daughters to the hazard of the lot, he solemnly swore that if anyone of his grand-daughters were of eligible age, he would have proposed her name. He also revived some of the ancient rites which had gradually fallen into disuse, such as the augury of Safety, the office of Flamen Dialis, the ceremonies of the Lupercalia, the Secular Games, and the festival of the Compitalia. (Suet, Aug 31) 12. Religious authority By virtue of being consecrated in all the priesthoods and of their right to bestow most of these positions upon others, as well as from the fact that, even if two or three persons hold the imperial office at the same time, one of them is high priest, they hold in their own hands supreme authority over all matters both profane and sacred. (Dio 53.17.8) 13. Fasti The order of the calendar throughout the Latin year, its causes, and the starry signs that set beneath the earth and rise again, of these I’ll sing. (1.1-2) Let others sing of Caesar’s wars; my theme will be Caesar’s altars and the days he added to the sacred roll.