Download The Rome of Augustus Lecture III 9 February 2006 "The Importance

The Rome of Augustus
Lecture III 9 February 2006
"The Importance of Being Caesar"
Chronological focus: from assassination of Julius Caesar in March 44 to naval victory of Octavian (the
future Augustus) over Antony and Cleopatra at Actium in NW Greece in 31.
Main events: 44 adoption of Octavian in Julius Caesar's will; 43 official alliance ("Triumvirate") of
Octavian, Antony, and Lepidus, condemnation ("proscription") of their enemies, including Cicero; 42
Brutus and Cassius (assassins of J. Caesar) defeated by Antony and Octavian at Philippi, Julius Caesar
declared divine (divus); 40 Octavian's forces besiege Antony's wife Fulvia and brother Lucius at Perusia
(Perugia), Antony and Octavian reconciled at Brundisium (Brindisi), Antony marries Octavian's sister
Octavia; 39-38 Octavian divorces Scribonia, marries Livia; 37 Antony marries Cleopatra in Egypt, 32
Antony divorces Octavia, Senate declares war on Cleopatra; 31 (September) Octavian's forces under
Agrippa defeat Antony and Cleopatra at Actium; 30 suicides of Antony and Cleopatra in Alexandria.
General comment on ancient literary sources for period (most of them represented in Sourcebook): problem
of bias. Need for critical judgment even greater when dealing with propaganda from the period, e.g., the
overt or implicit messages on coins.
An example: Julius Caesar’s assassination and its conflicting interpretations: as liberation of Rome,
posthumous revenge for Pompey, murder of the people’s champion.
.
Caesar's death proclaimed by his assassins as restoring "liberty," as on coin of Brutus showing
"cap of freedom" and referring to the Ides of March.
But whose liberty? Mainly the Senate's, not the people's, who were devoted to Caesar and less
concerned than the Senate about the breakdown of Republican rules. Witness Mark Antony's success in
whipping up popular resentment against the conspirators.
Irony of Pompey as the standard-bearer of the Republic. P. as much a symptom as Julius Caesar of
the weakening of Republican institutions: consul at age 36, having held no previous offices; a quasimonarch in the Eastern provinces; offered divine cult in the East. (Coins of Brutus from mid-50s perhaps
hinting that Pompey was a threat to freedom.)
Caesar's “cult of personality” (e.g., image on coins) immediately taken up by his assassins and by
all parties in the following conflict.
With Caesar dead, a new struggle for power between two men laying claim to his political legacy. Caesar
was anathema to traditionalists, but his name had enormous potency and his legions remained loyal to his
memory. Mark Antony the obvious successor; within months Cicero was denouncing Antony as a new
threat to the Republic in a series of 14 "Philippic" orations that cost him his life a year later.
A more surprising contender Octavian (the future Augustus). Born "Gaius Octavius," in 44 he was
a 19-year-old of not particularly eminent background, his father a praetor who had died before becoming
consul. Main asset his connection with Caesar: a grandson of Caesar's sister, he had apparently impressed
the Dictator as someone to watch.
In his will Caesar adopted Octavius and made him his principal heir. Legal name became "C.
Julius Caesar Octavianus," but he never used "Octavianus" and constantly stressed his identity as "Caesar"
or "Son of Caesar" (coins appear from 43 onward with their heads on obverse and reverse).
Octavian's claims as Caesar's heir and avenger, plus the support of many of Caesar's legions, made
him a major player. "Elected" consul at 20, admitted to Senate. From then on Antony—and everyone
else— had to deal with him.
Cicero’s ambivalent reactions to Octavian, in speeches and letters.
In 42 Julius Caesar declared divine (divus). We'll consider later how to interpret phenomenon of
deification; important point here is the use Octavian made of Caesar's new status to enhance his own
position, as shown by many coins with the inscription "Son of the Divine One" [Divi Filius].
Elevation of Julius Caesar to divine status also useful to Octavian in purging Caesar of his despotic
associations: "Caesar the Divine" much more appealing than "Caesar the Dictator."
Formal shape given to alliance of Antony and Octavian in the “Triumvirate,” in effect a threeperson dictatorship of Antony, Octavian, and Aemilius Lepidus, an army commander under Julius Caesar;
unlike so-called "First Triumvirate" (60 BC)—a private arrangement among Julius Caesar, Pompey, and
Marcus Crassus—this was a legally sanctioned office that could be publicly advertised, e.g., on coins. In
November 43 Triumvirate authorized for five years, renewed for a second term in 37. Lepidus actually out
of the picture by 36, lived quietly at home until he died in 13. First act of Triumvirs was to draw up a list of
their enemies for elimination (the "proscription list"); to secure their own position, to seize property and
cash needed to pay off soldiers, and to settle scores with enemies. Estimates of victims vary: about 300
senators and 2000 "knights" (equites) placed on the list, but not all those proscribed actually died. Most
prominent victim Cicero, proscribed by Antony in revenge for Cicero's orations against him.
The next decade a time of fragile relations between Antony and Octavian, rapid alternations of
conflict and truce (e.g., in 40). Division of responsibility between eastern provinces (Antony) and western
(Octavian) reduced friction, also the necessity of confronting a common enemy, Sextus Pompey. Alliance
for a time cemented by marriage of Antony to Octavian's sister Octavia in 40. But Antony already involved
with Cleopatra in 41; in or about 37 formally married to her in an Egyptian rite (not recognized in Roman
law); in 32 he severed ties with Octavia and made Cleopatra and her children by him his official heirs.
Antony-Cleopatra relationship a propaganda godsend to Octavian.
When final break came in 32, war declared on Cleopatra alone. Augustan sources (especially
Horace and Virgil) portray conflict as one of Rome vs Egypt, but Antony had support of both consuls of 32
and more than 300 senators.
Militarily, naval battle of Actium (September 31) a fiasco for Antony rather than a triumph for
Octavian (main credit for victory belongs to Octavian's naval commander, Marcus Agrippa), but result the
same: last organized opposition to Octavian now eliminated. At age 33 he was the undisputed master of the
Roman world.
Reading assignment for Lecture IV. finish Suetonius, Life of Augustus; Augustus (SB 66-94), Res Gestae
(SB 33-38), Tacitus, Annals 1.1-15 (SB 55-60), Seneca on "The Clemency of Augustus" (SB 49-51);
Gibbon, Decline and Fall chap. 3 (SB 221-234); Syme, Roman Revolution chap. 22 (SB 235-244); Zanker
89-100; Le Glay et al. 151-157, 169-190.
Checklist of items from Lecture II:
mos maiorum
novus homo/novi homines(“new man/men”)
cursus honorum
gloria
SPQR
Dictator (and Dictator Perpetuo)
Lucius Brutus
Lucretia
consulship
Romulus and Remus
Two recent books on today’s topic:
Anthony Everitt, Cicero: The Life and Times of Rome’s Greatest Politician. New York, 2001. Well
researched and readable biography. Cicero would have loved the subtitle.
Michael Parenti, The Assassination of Julius Caesar: A People’s History of Ancient Rome. New York,
2003. Revisionist study arguing that Caesar was killed because he was planning to turn power over to the
common people.