Download Bianco Alex Bianco Sarah Bergen / Elizabeth Downer / Rebecca

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Alex Bianco
Sarah Bergen / Elizabeth Downer / Rebecca Ibrahim
English 10-3 / Latin II-2 / World History M/W/F
9 November 2010
The Popular Emperor
He has been called divi filius, son of the divine; pater patriae, father of the country; and
Augustus, which is a title that is given only to great men. Gaius Julius Octavius has a well known
reputation as one of the best Roman emperors in all history, but he only received the title of
emperor due to his popularity with the Roman people, and through sheer force.
When Octavian was a boy, he was higher middle class, but he also was the great-nephew
and adopted son of the most powerful man at that time, Julius Caesar. Caesar was Octavian’s
role model and was a very important part in Octavian`s life, but also was what inspired Octavian
to get involved in politics. But, sadly, Caesar was assassinated on the ides of March by some of
his closest friends. While Octavian did lose his role model to the assassins, he also recognized
this as an opportunity to exploit Caesar`s death to gain popularity by proclaiming to all of Rome
that he was going to avenge his father. The Roman people, loving the drama, started supporting
Octavian. Weather Octavian did this for his own, personal gain, or for some greater cause,
doesn’t change the fact he used Caesar`s murder to heighten his own political popularity, but he
would have gone much further than that. Even though it was a complete betrayal to Caesar,
Octavian, “…for a while was even willing to collaborate with Caesar`s assassins” (Eck 12). This
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clearly shows how little Octavian actually cared about vengeance and his closest relative, but
rather illuminates what he would do for popularity and power.
Octavian continued to grow more and more popular, this time by carrying out Caesar’s
will, which bequeathed 300 sesterces to all the urban poor and also scheduled games in Caesar’s
honor. Even though he was only following Caesar`s last requests, people acted like he did these
things out of the kindness of his heart. Further still, while the games were taking place, a comet
appeared over the coliseum, which everyone thought meant Caesar should receive the status of a
god, except Marc Antony, who was Octavian`s political opponent. He actually disagreed with
Caesar’s ascension to the status of god, this made Antony unpopular and his supporters turned to
Octavian (Eck 11).
Finally, the last major event that made Octavian a well liked and powerful man was
loaning the senate his army in their time of need. The senate needed an army because Octavian
had scared Antony out of Rome, but he was still out there trying to gain some power, and the
senate couldn’t enforce their legislation on him due to their lack of manpower. So, Octavian
deciding to loan the senate his army was a wonderful decision on his part, because the senate
began to favor him and decided to give him a position of power in the senate. Therefore, he
basically regained control of his army. Now that all his popularity had gotten him a formal
position in the Roman government, he could start expanding his grasp on the Roman Empire.
Before he received his position in the senate he had marched on Rome and tried to take
power then, but his men didn`t want to fight against other Romans just yet because they didn’t
think there was any reason to, so he didn’t achieve his goal. What, this first march did
accomplish though, is it inspired fear in Marc Antony, which is why he fled Rome and began
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working on gathering support outside of Rome. But, once Octavian held power in the senate, he
then left Rome with the senate`s blessing and set off on a military campaign against Marc
Antony in 43 BCE. Most likely, Octavian agreed to do this because he saw it a way of
eliminating his competition, for although Marc Antony was unpopular and did not have too
many supporters, he still had some and a lot of power.
Hastily, Octavian arrives at Mutina, where he finds Antony and eventually, Marc Antony
loses to Octavian and he flees to Gaul, while Octavian emerges the victor. Even better for
Octavian, the two consuls Hirtius and Pansa died in the fighting leaving their armies behind for
Octavian to take drastically increasing his power. Now Octavian has a golden opportunity and,
“Caesar`s heir was now ready to pounce. Both consulships were vacant, and the disorganized and
increasingly uneasy senators had no obvious and willing candidates” (Everrit 75). So, centurions
from Octavian`s army go to Rome demanding that Octavian become consul. The senate refuses.
So, he takes his army and marches on Rome demanding to be a consul. The senate can’t refuse.
Octavian looks at every opportunity that will help him get a higher position of power, and will
seize that opportunity. Weather it is using your great-uncle`s death or attack your country,
Octavian will do whatever it takes to become a figure of power.
While Octavian was seizing his first consulship of many, Marc Antony was in Gaul
recruiting supporters, and soon enough he and his new supporters were claiming that they were
going to avenge Caesar`s murder. Anthony was starting to become a real threat to Octavian, and
Octavian had not yet fulfilled his promise of avenging Caesar`s murder. So, Octavian did the
unthinkable and formed the Second Triumvirate with Anthony and a man named Aemilius
Lepidus, who was later thrown out of the triumvirate. As Anthony Everitt stated in his book;
“Octavian and Antony liked each other no more than they had in the past, but they were now
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bound together as permanent partners. (97)” A Roman consul named Cassius Dio even said,
“[Octavian] heard of the situation and feared the outcome in either case—weather Antony, acting
alone, should be defeated or should conquer; for in the first case, he felt that Brutus and Cassius
[Caesar`s assassins] would be in a stronger position to oppose him, or in the latter case, Antony
certainly would be (as cited by Everitt 89).” This clearly shows Octavian was worried about
someone being more powerful than him and that is why he allied himself with Antony, to save
his title as the most powerful man in Rome.
As soon as Octavian and Anthony became allies, they both set out to fulfill the promise
they made, and decided to besiege Caesar`s chief assassins, Brutus and Cassius in 42 BCE at
Philippi. Eventually the triumvirs won and Brutus and Cassius, plus many of their followers
committed suicide. Then the triumvirs continued to fight every competitor they might have, for
example Sextus Pompeius. He was the son of Pompey the great, and attacked in 36 BCE, and
was later killed in 35 BCE by Octavian and Antony. These two continued to fight their
competitors as allies until Octavian saw an opportunity to dispose of Antony. He first pointed out
that Antony divorced Octavia, Octavian`s sister, and left to live with Cleopatra, the queen of
Egypt. Then, Octavian published Antony`s will, which he had acquired illegally, that basically
bequeathed everything Antony had to Cleopatra. This made the Roman people feel as if Antony
had betrayed them, and encouraged Octavian to attack Antony. After the battle, Antony and
Cleopatra commit suicide and many of their troops surrender, leaving Octavian Emperor of the
Roman Empire.
Throughout history many great men and women have come into a position of power
through popularity and brute force. This is no exception for the popular emperor, Gaius Julius
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Octavius, a man who would stop at nothing to become the most powerful and influential man in
the Roman Empire and the world.
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Work Cited
Eck, Werner. The Age of Augustus. Massachusetts: Blackwell publishing, 1998.
Everitt, Anthony. Augustus. New York: Random House, 2006