augustus By the same author non-fiction The Roman Army at War, 100 bc–ad 200 Roman Warfare The Fall of Carthage: The Punic Wars 265–146 bc Cannae: Hannibal’s Greatest Victory The Complete Roman Army In the Name of Rome: The Men Who Won the Roman Empire Caesar: The Life of a Colossus The Fall of the West: The Death of the Roman Superpower Antony and Cleopatra fiction True Soldier Gentlemen Beat the Drums Slowly Send Me Safely Back Again All in Scarlet Uniform Run Them Ashore AUGUSTUS First Emperor of Rome Q ADRIAN GOLDSWORTHY New Haven & London First published 2014 in the United States by Yale University Press and in Great Britain by Weidenfeld & Nicolson. Copyright © 2014 by Adrian Goldsworthy. All rights reserved. This book may not be reproduced, in whole or in part, including illustrations, in any form (beyond that copying permitted by Sections 107 and 108 of the U.S. Copyright Law and except by reviewers for the public press), without written permission from the publishers. 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This paper meets the requirements of ANSI/NISO Z39.48-1992 (Permanence of Paper). 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 contents Acknowledgements vii List of Maps ix Introduction 1 PART ONE: Caius Octavius (Thurinus) 63–44 bc 1 ‘Father of His Country’ 19 2 ‘A Man of Wealth and Good Reputation’ 32 3 The Consulship of Julius and Caesar 47 4 A Way Out 63 PART TWO: Caius Julius Caesar (Octavianus) 44–38 bc 5 Heir 83 6 Praise 98 7 Reward and Discard 115 8 Vengeance and Discord 128 PART THREE – Imperator Caesar, Divi Filius 38–27 bc 9 Sons of Gods 151 10 Rivals 170 11 Triumph 195 vi AUGUSTUS PART FOUR: Imperator Caesar Augustus, Divi Filius 27–2 bc 12 Renewal and Restoration 217 13 To Overcome the Proud in War 239 14 The ‘Title of Greatest Power’ 258 15 The Eagles 284 16 An End and a Beginning 307 17 Family and Colleagues 334 18 Augustan Peace 355 PART FIVE: Imperator Caesar Augustus, Divi Filius, Pater Patriae 2 bc–ad 14 19 Father 377 20 The ‘Sentry Post’ 402 21 For the Sake of the Res Publica 426 22 Pax Augusta 446 Conclusion: Hurry Slowly 469 Appendix One: The Senatorial Career or Cursus Honorum 482 Appendix Two: Date of the Birth of Jesus 487 Glossary 493 Key Personalities 503 Family Trees 512 Bibliography 522 Abbreviations 538 Notes 540 Index 587 acknowledgements Many of the ideas in this book have developed over many years. At the end of my fi rst year at Oxford back in 1988, I took a course on Augustan Rome, which was wonderfully taught by my tutor Nicho- las Purcell, who fi rst brought me into contact with Platner and Ashby’s hefty A Topographical Dictionary of Ancient Rome (1929). In the years that followed there were lectures, seminars and tutorials given by the likes of Alan Bowman, Miriam Griffi n, Fergus Millar, Barbara Levick, Andrew Lintott and David Stockton, all helping to shape my understanding of the ancient world and Augustus and his era in particular. You will fi nd works by all of these in the notes at the end of this book, and I should also acknowledge the great debt to the many other scholars whose books and articles I have consulted. More specifi cally, I must thank those who have helped during the writing of this biography. Philip Matyszak is a friend made during those years at Oxford, whose ideas about the inner workings of the Roman Senate have always been inspirational. Once again he has taken time off from his own writing to read this manuscript and pro- vide many useful comments. Similarly Ian Hughes took a look at a large chunk of the book and provided comments blending an under- standing of the history with something of a copy-editor’s eye. Kevin Powell read the entire book with his accustomed eye for detail and ability to retain sight of the broader picture. Another great friend, Dorothy King, listened to many of the ideas as they developed, in- variably commenting with both insight and wit, and also helped by providing some of the pictures. Thanks should also go to my mother for her proof-reading skills, and my wife for taking a look at some sections. They and all the other family and friends have had to live with Augustus in their lives for the last few years, and I am very grateful for their support. viii AUGUSTUS As always, I must thank my agent, Georgina Capel, for creating the situation allowing me to take the time to write this book properly, and for her unfailing enthusiasm for the project. Thanks must also go to my editors, Alan Samson in the UK and Christopher Rogers in the USA, and their teams for producing so handsome a volume. Finally, I owe a great debt to David Breeze for producing the family trees in this book. Inspired by the tables in M. Cooley (ed.), The Age of Augustus. Lactor 17 (2003), he not only suggested the idea of having more specifi c tables looking at the family at diff erent stages, but then went to considerable trouble to produce them for me. The family connections of Augustus’ relatives and their contemporaries are complicated in the extreme, but these diagrams go a long way to making them seem simple. maps The Roman Empire in the fi rst century bc 26 The centre of Rome around 63 bc 42 Italy 113 Greece and Macedonia, and the Battles of Philippi 139 Augustus’ campaigns in Illyricum, 35–33 bc 176 The Battle of Actium 190 The western provinces, including Spain and Gaul 245 Plan of the Palatine quarter developed by Augustus 274 The Forum of Augustus 308 The Campus Martius 389 The fourteen administrative regions of Rome 407 The centre of Rome by ad 14 456 The Rhine and Danube frontiers 470 This page intentionally left blank introduction ‘And it came to pass in those days, that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus, that all the world should be taxed. (And this taxing was fi rst made when Cyrenius was governor of Syria.) And all went to be taxed, every one into his own city.’ The Gospel according to Luke, later fi rst century AD.1 This brief mention in the Christmas story must have been the fi rst time I heard of Augustus, and although it is hard to be precise with such early memories I must have been very young. Like most people who hear or read these words, I doubt that I thought much of them, and it was only later that my love of history grew and I developed a particular fascination for everything about ancient Rome. You cannot study Roman history without coming across Augustus and his legacy. He was the fi rst emperor, the man who fi nally replaced a Republic which had lasted for almost half a millennium with a veiled monarchy. The system he created gave the empire some 250 years of stability, when it was both larger and more prosperous than at any other time. In the third century ad it faced decades of crisis and survived only after extensive reform, but even so the ‘Roman’ em- perors who ruled from Constantinople until the fi fteenth century felt themselves to be rightful successors to the power and authority of Augustus. Unquestionably important, his story is at the same time intensely dramatic. When teaching students about Augustus, I have always stopped to remind them that he was not quite nineteen when he thrust himself into Rome’s extremely violent politics – hence almost always younger than anyone in the class. It is often hard to remem- ber this when recounting what he did, skilfully and unscrupulously manoeuvring his way through the twisting allegiances of these years of civil war. The great-nephew of the murdered Julius Caesar, he was made the principal heir in his will and given his name, which 2 AUGUSTUS he took to mean full adoption. Power was not supposed to be in- herited at Rome, but armed with this name he rallied the dead dictator’s supporters and proclaimed his intention to assume all of his father’s offi ces and status. He then proceeded to achieve pre- cisely that, against all the odds and opposed by far more experienced rivals. Mark Antony was the last of these, and he was defeated and dead by 30 bc. The young, murderous warlord of the civil wars then managed to reinvent himself as the beloved guardian of the state, took the name Augustus with its religious overtones, and was eventually dubbed ‘the father of his country’, an inclusive rather than divisive fi gure. He held supreme power for forty-four years – a very long time for any monarch – and when he died of old age, there was no question that his nominated successor would follow him. Yet in spite of his remarkable story and profound infl uence on the history of an empire which has shaped the culture of the western world, Caesar Augustus has slipped from the wider consciousness.