Download Imperial ideology in Augustus

Imperial ideology in Augustus
by Flavio Sanza
“When I was nineteen, I assembled an army by my decision and money to free
the republic crushed by a faction. For this Senate put me in his order with
honours under the consulate of Pansa and Hirtio, giving me the right to speak in
the consular people and the military command”.1
These words introduct reflections of Augustus, nephew and adoptive son of
Julius Caesar2; when Octavian was seventy – six, he wrote a diary to explain how
he was arrived to the absolute power.3 His memories, entitled Res gestae, were
an ideological manifest of Octavian’s qualities, a demonstration that a clever man
like him was able to create an empire from nothing.4 After the victory at Azio in
31 b.C., Augustus had the roman republic in his hands, so he decided to
transform it in a personal possession. After him there were other generals who
had tried to do this, for example Sulla that occupied Rome in 83 b.C. and killed
1
“Annos undeviginti natus exercitum privato consilio et privata impensa comparavi, per
quem rem publicam a dominatione factionis oppressam in libertatem vindicavi. Eo
nomine senatus decretis honorificis in ordinem suum me adlegit, C. Pansa et A. Hirtio
consulibus consularem locum sententiae dicendae tribunes, et imperium mihi dedit”.
(Augustus, Res gestae 1, 1).
2
“So [Octavian] immediately took Caesar’s name, accepted his inheritance and tried to enter
into politics”. (“…άλλά τό τε όνοµα τού Καίσαρος παραχρήµα άνέλαβε καί τού κλήρον αύτόυ
διεδέξατο, τώυ τε πραγµάτων είχετο”.) (Cassius Dio, Ρωµαϊκή Ιστορία XLV, 3, 2); “Two
consuls Pansa and Hirtius were missed against him [Antonius]; with them Octavian, an eighteen
young man, Caesar’s nephew that was become his heir for testament having his name”. (“Missi
ad eum persequendum duo consules, Pansa et Hirtius, et Octavianus adulescens annos X et VIII
natus, Caesaris nepos, quem ille testamento heredem reliquerat et nomen suum ferre iusserat”.)
(Eutropius, Breviarium ab urbe condita VII, 1); “Caesar’s testament decided that a half of his
[Caesar’s] patrimony went to C. Octavian, his sister’s nephew, adopted to give him the name”.
(“Testamento Caesaris heres ex parte dimidia institutus est C. Octavius, sororis nepos, et in
nomen adoptatus [est]”.) (Livius, Periochae, CXVI); “In the last testament [Caesar] named heirs
three sister’s grand-nephews: Gaius Octavian for three quarters, Lucius Pinarius and Quintus
Pedius for the other quarter. In the last lines he [Caesar] took Octavian in his family and in his
name”. (“Sed nouissimo testamento tres instituit heredes sororum nepotes, Gaium Octauium ex
dorante, et Lucium Pinarium et Quintum Medium ex quadrante reliquo; in ima cera Gaium
Octauium etiam in familiam nomenque adoptauit”.) (Suetonius, Caesar, LXXXIII); “ When
Caesar’s testament was opened, in it there was written that he [Caesar] adopted Octavian, his
sister Julia’s nephew”. (“Caesaris deinde testamentum apertum est, quo C. Octavium, nepotem
sororis suae Iuliae, adoptabat”.) (Velleius Paterculus, Historiae romanae II, 59, 1).
3
Aug. 35, 2
4
The expression derives from the union of res (thing), with the participle of gero (to do), so res
gestae mean famous enterprises as we can read in the Octavian’s diary introduction: “Dedicated
to the divine Augustus’ great deeds…” (“Rerum gestarum divi Augusti…”) (Ottaviano
Augusto, Res gestae, A cura di Luca Canali, Mondadori, Milano, 2002, p. 4).
1
many citizens using his legions.5 Also Caesar conquered the capital in 49 b.C.
but he evitated to do a massacre knowing that harmony was better than terror to
organise a state. Sulla abandoned the power after proscriptions and Caesar was
killed during the Ides of March, so these two generals weren’t able, for different
reasons, to transform the Republic in a radical way.
With Octavian things were different because he used the “imperium” to create
an impressive personal power6; we have found this word in the end of the
opening paragraph when Augustus said that Senate gave him the military
command. This term was very important in the roman history because with it
anyone could drive legions to protect the State. Usually Senate gave imperium to
consuls to do wars everywhere so, when Sulla and Caesar had it, they could
conquer Rome; their soldiers were professional warriors, so they became
instruments in the hands of their generals to subdue the State. When legions won
a battle and killed more than six thousand enemies, they gave the name of
“imperator” to their commander7:
“Twice I was honoured by an ovation and three times I celebrated curule
triumphes, I was called imperator for twenty-one times and the Senate gave me
other triumphes but I didn’t accept”.8
In this paragraph Octavian explained that his power derived from his condition
of general with a strong army9, so we understand that the “imperium” was a
situation in which a man could control the political power with the military one.
The emperor had defeated all his enemies killing no one, so he was good because
5
“Sulla exiled Carbone from Italy after to have destroyed his army in Clusium, Faventia and
Fidentia. With Samniti, the only Italic people that hadn’t abandoned figthing, he stopped the
war near Rome, in front of the Porta Collina. Conquered the republic, he dirtied his victory with
a great cruelty never seen in one man. He ordered to kill eight thousand surrendered men in the
public villa; he exposed proscription lists; he massacred a lot of people in the city and in Italy;
he ordered to kill all Praeneste’s disarmed citizens and Marius, a senatorial member, after to
have broken his arms and legs, cut his ears and pulled his eyes up”. (“Sylla Carbonem, eius
exercitu ad Clusium ad Faventiam Fidentiaque caeso, Italia expulit, cum Samnitibus, qui soli ex
Italicis populis nondum arma posuerant, iuxta urbem Romanam ante portam Collinam
debellavit, reciperataque re publica pulcherrimam victoriam crudelitate, quanta in nullo
hominum fuit, inquinavit. Octo milia dediticiorum in villa publica trucidavit, tabulam
proscriptionis posuit, urbem ac totam Italiam caedibus replevit, inter quas omnes Praenestinos
inermes concidi iussit, Marium, senatori ordinis virum, cruribus bracchiisque fractis, auribus
praesectis et oculis effossis necavit”.) (Liv. Per. LXXXVIII).
6
“Caius Caesar (Octavian) did a peace with Antonius and Lepidus so they formed a triumvirate
for five years to give a new constitution to the state and to proscribe their personal enemies”.
(“C. Caesar pacem cum Antonio et Lepido fecit ita, ut tresviri rei publicae constituendae per
quinquennium essent ipse et Lepidus et Antonius, et ut suos quisque inimicos proscriberent”.)
(Liv. Per. CXX).
7
Diodorus Siculus, Biblioteca historica, XXXVI, 14
8
“Bis ovans triumphavi et tris egi curulis triumphos et appellatus sum viciens et semel
imperator secernente pluris triumphos mihi senatu, quibus omnibus supersedi”. (Aug. 4, 1).
9
“Roman citizens that took me the military oath were five hundred thousand”. (“Millia civium
Romanorum sub sacramento meo fuerunt circiter quingenta”.) (Aug. 3, 3).
2
he wasn’t cruel as Sulla10; he said also that Rome punished only rebels, for the
others the submission to Rome was the best. We can notice that Octavian’s
ideology is near to the Alexander the Great’s one, the Persia conqueror: the king
created Ellenism11, a fusion of different life’s styles, to have an empire where
Macedonian and Persian people were on the same level. When Rome conquered
Asia, it used the Greek language to understand and to be understood those people
because Ellenism was deeply entered in them; also the Republic invented a
mechanism called Romanisation to impose its culture to Africa, Spain, Gaul and
Palestine.12 The forced integration gave social and economical advantages to
subduesds but also damages as violence, massacres and identity loss; Res gestae
were a manifest of this ideology, so Octavian said that all his wars were
necessary because they had given peace and justice to Rome.13
“I exiled my father’s murders, I punished their crime with right sentences and,
when they fought against the Republic, I defeated them twice… I often made
civil and external wars on earth and sea in all the world and, when I won, I
spared all citizens that had asked me grace”.14
This is a central point: Octavian’s command was right because it served to
eliminate Caesar’s killers. Augustus was obliged to fight for his honor and to
save the state, so the army became foundamental to control politics. The turn was
in the end of I century b.C. when Caius Marius founded the professional army
recruiting poor and unemployed persons15; before this legionaries were farmers
that didn’t need to do wars because they had to take care of fields and crops. But
Marius wanted professionists to defeat Jugurtha, so he created a new type of
legionary that fought only to pillage; this explains why Sulla, Caesar and
10
“I prefered to save and not destroy foreigner people when it was possible to forgive without
danger”. (“Externas gentes, quibus tuto ignosci potuti, conservare quam excidere malui”.) (Aug.
3, 2).
11
It derives from verb ελληνίζω that means “I speak Greek”.
12
The political ability to absorbe conquered lands was the great difference between Rome and
the other ancient civilizations; in fact the Empire could give rights to the others to eliminate
differences, for example giving the Roman citizenship. (ANDREA GIARDINA – ALDO
SCHIAVONE, A cura di, Storia di Roma, Einaudi, Torino, 1999, p. 450).
13
“Wars are unjust when they start without a just reason. It is impossible to justify a war if it
isn’t for revenge or to stop the enemy… A war isn’t correct if before it hasn’t been announced,
declared and preceded from a repairing request”. (“Illa iniusta bella sunt, quae sunt sine causa
suscepta. Nam extra ulciscendi aut propulsandorum hostium causam bellum geri iustum nullum
potest. … Nullum bellum iustum habetur nisi denuntiatum, nisi indictum, nisi de repetitis
rebus”.) (Cicerone, Dello stato, A cura di Anna Resta Barrile, Mondadori, Milano, 1994, p. 188
– 90).
14
“Qui parentem meum trucidaverunt, eos in exilium expuli iudiciis legitimis ultus eorum
facinus, et postea bellum inferentis rei publicae vici bis acie… Bella terra et mari civilian
externaque toto in orbe terrarium saepe gessi, victorque omnibus veniam petentibus civibus
peperci”. (Aug. 2, 1; 3, 1).
15
“In that time he (Marius) enlisted soldiers without following social classes but taking
volunteers, in particular the poors”. (“Ipse interea milites scrivere, non more maiorum neque ex
classibus, sed uti cuiusque lubido erat, capite censos plerosque”.) (Sallustius, Bellum Iugurtinum
86).
3
Octavian’s soldiers occupied Rome in different moments without problems doing
an action that, a century before, legions had refused.16
Another element to control the State was the richness17, in fact only
prosperous Romans could do a good political career because this was very
expansive; education had a price and arriving to consulate was very difficoult, so
it was important to have powerful friends with a lot of money. A rich family was
the second important element to have the power in the Republic, in fact the report
money – political career – army was a constant factor of the roman history;
Caesar, for example, conquested the Gaul to eliminate his debts.18
Octavian used also the religion to realise a perfect idea of principate, in fact
Romans were superstitious and thought that all human actions were controlled by
divinity. Public acts and wars were regulated by complex rituals to have gods’
favour, so Augustus became pontifex to give a sacral meaning to his imperium19;
Octavian’s power was the strongest one in the Rome of I century b.C. because all
his actions, for his fellow citizens, were justified by gods. For this reason the
16
Legions were excellent for short wars, so many commanders controlled them distributing
booty without understanding real problems, for example the low social condition of soldiers. If
wars were long and hard, legionaries started to fight badly and, in many cases, they could
defected. (ALESSANDRO MILAN, Le forze armate nella storia di Roma antica, Jouvence,
Roma, 1993, p. 74).
17
“For these reasons Caesar had great projects about the young man (Octavian): he signed him
in the patrician class educating Octavian in the command and in those arts that must know who
prepares himself to govern a great empire with ability, he taught him the roman and the greek
eloquence but also a good military and political preparation with great accuracy”. (“έξ ούν
τούτων ύ Καίσαρ µεγάλα έπ’ αύτώ έπελπίσας ές τε τούς έύπατρίδρας αύτόν έσήγαγε καί έπί
τήν άρχήν ήσκει, καί πάνθ’ όσα προσήκει τώ µέλλοντι καλώς κατ’ άξίαν τηλικούτο κράτος
διοικήσειν ύπάρχειν άκριβώς έξεπαίδευσε λόγοις τε γάρ ρήτορικοίς, όυχ ότι τή τών Λατίνων
άλλά καί τήδε τή γλώσση, ήσκείτο, καί έν ταίς στρατείαις έρρωµένως έξεπονείτο, τά τε
πολιτικά καί τά άρχικά ίσχυρώς έδιδάσκετο”.) (Cassio Dio XLV, 2, 7 – 8); “Augustus wrote to
descend from an ancient and rich family of horsemen and that his father was the first senator of
it”. (“Ipse Augustus nihil amplius quam equestri famiglia ortum se scribit uetere ac locuplete, et
in qua primis senator pater suus fuerit”.) (Suetonius, Augustus II).
18
“Losing the hope to obtain a province, he (Caesar) asked maximum pontificate using a lot of
money; they said that, considering the quantity of his debts in that occasion, before going to
comitia in the election morning, he told to his mother that kissed him: «I won’t return at home if
I am not pontifex»”. (“Deposita prouinciae spe pontificatum maximum petit non sine
profusissima largitione: in qua reputans magnitudinem aeris alieni, cum mane ad comitiva
descenderet, praedixisse matri oscuranti fertur «domum se nisi potificem non reuersurum»”.)
(Suet. Caes. XIII).
19
Aug. 7, 3. The son of Caesar unified himself to the Rome goddess, so people could adore him;
in the oriental part of empire this was natural because for centuries inhabitants considered their
kings as gods. So, in 29 b.C., first temples dedicated to Rome and Augustus were built in
Pergamum and Nicomedia. (KARL CHRIST, Breve storia dell’impero romano, Il Mulino,
Bologna, 2003, p. 18; or. ed., Die Römische Kaiserzeit. Von Augustus bis Diokletian, München,
Beck, 2001, Translation and italian editino of Alessandro Cristofori).
4
emperor built and restored a lot of new temples to show his deep respect into the
tradition.20
“I didn’t accept dictatorship offered by people and senate, while I was absent
or present in the city under the consulate of Marcus Marcellus and Lucius
Arruntius… I didn’t accept the consulate, renewable year by year or perpetual,
that it was offered to me”.21
Showing indifference for the power, Augustus demonstrated not to be a danger
for Rome and the Republic; here propaganda was evident because he had the
State in his hands but nobody had to understand it. Another his goal was to have
“sacrosantitas” as a tribune: no one could beat or kill him because he was
inviolable.22 For the roman tradition the killer of a tribune was damned and
everyone could eliminate him without legal consequences.
“I reduced the Senate for three times and, during my sixth consulate, I took the
census of population with my colleague Marcus Agrippa,”.23
Officially Octavian wanted to eliminate from politics bad people as usurers
and managers of brothels, but his real idea was to exclude who had been
ambiguous or hostile to him during civil wars. A lot of ex – senators needed to
kill Augustus but it was impossible because he had fantastic bodyguards, the
praetorians.24
“I spent six hundred millions of sesterces for italian farms and two hundred
and sixty millions for provincial lands… I gave money prizes to the soldiers that
I put into municipalities after their service end and for this I spent four hundred
millions… Four times I helped the national revenue with my money, so I gave
one hundred and fifty millions to persons that had supervised it. Under the
consulate of M. Lepidus and L. Arruntius I transfered one hundred and seventy
millions from my patrimony to the military national revenue, done under my
20
Aug. 19. Octavian wanted to return to the roman tradition to create a solid report with people,
so he stopped oriental religions and destroyed all written prophecies that didn’t respect Sibylline
Books. (GUIDO CLEMENTE, Guida alla storia romana. Eventi, strutture sociali, metodi di
ricerca, Mondadori, Milano, 1990, p. 379 – 80).
21
“Dictaturam et apsenti et preaesenti mihi delatam et a populo et a senatu, M. Marcello et L.
Arruntio consulibus non recepi… Consulatum quoque tum annuum et perpetuum mihi delatum
non recepi”. (Aug. 5, 1; 3).
22
Aug. 10, 1. In 23 b.C. Senate decided that Octavian was “sacrosantus in perpetuum” with an
eternal “tribunicia potestas”. He renounced to consulate to be a tribune of people, a paradox, but
this power justified the choice transforming him into the first (princeps) of Romans. (MARIO
ATTILIO LEVI, Agusto e il suo tempo, Rusconi, Milano, 1994, p. 269 – 70).
23
“Senatum ter legi, et in consulatu sexto censum populi conlega M. Agrippa egi”. (Aug. 8, 2).
24
There were seven cohorts of vigilants (seven thousand men) and four urban cohorts (six
thousand men) for the public order in Rome. Augustus organized also the Praetorian Guard:
these ten thousand soldiers were selected to protect the emperor, so they had a double salary
than legionaries. The prince named three prefects, usually horsemen, to command these groups.
(AUGUSTO FRASCHETTI, Augusto, Laterza, Bari, 2004, p. 85 – 6).
5
suggestion, to have prizes for soldiers that had served for more than twenty
years”.25
We are surprised for the prince’s patrimony but it was normal for Romans that
a rich man spent big amountsfor the others; for example, the benefactor made
buildings of utility like thermae and organized circus games to distract plebs
from daily problems, so he had a lot of clients to control elections and public life.
The patronage was one of the social mechanism in Rome to have a great social
power; in other words rich people were obliged to give money to plebs to avoid
insurrections, on the contrary also the most important man could be abandoned
by his clients. Everybody knew that Octavian was very rich, so he was obliged to
give it to his veterans because they were fundamental for him.26
“I reapaired the Capitol and Pompeius theatre, very expansive buildings, but I
didn’t write my name on them. In many places I restored ruined aqueducts, I
doubled the water course called Marcia and I put in it a new spring. I completed
Forum Iulium and the basilica between the Castor temple and the Saturn one,
started but not finished buildings by my father; when this basilica was destroyed
by a fire, I rebuilt it in a larger place and I dedicated it to my children’s name;
and I said that it was completed by my heirs if I wasn’t able to finish it. When I
was consul for the sixth time, I restored eighty – two urban temples under
senatorial request without I left nothing to repair. When I was consul for the
seventh time, I restored Flaminia way from the city to Arminium and all bridges
except Mulvium and Minucium”.27
25
“Ea summa sestertium circiter sexsiens milliens fuit quam pro Italicis praedis numeravi et
circiter bis milliens et sescentiens quod pro agris provinsialibus solvi… Militibus quos emeritis
stipendis in sua municipia deduxi praemia numerato persolvi, quam in rem sestertium quater
milliens circiter impendi… Quater pecunia mea iuvi aerarium, ita ut sestertium milliens et
quingentiens ad eos qui praerant aerario detulerim. Et M. Lepido et L. Arruntio cos. in aerarium
militare, quod ex consilio meo constitutum est ex quo praemia darentur militibus qui vicena aut
plura stipendia emeruissent, HS milliens et septingentiens ex patrimonio meo detuli”. (Aug. 16,
1, 2; 17, 1 – 2).
26
The creation of a professional army was the first step to build the roman empire: Octavian
understood that recruiting occasionally could be dangerous, so he organized twenty – eight
legions with one hundred and sixty thousand men that served for twenty years; in this way he
had the possibility to control riots and enemies in the external provinces. (KLAUS
BRINGMANN, Storia romana. Dalle origini alla tarda antichità, Il Mulino, Bologna, 1998, p.
58 – 9; or. ed., Römische Geschichte: von den Anfängen bis zur Spätantike, München, Verlag
C.H. Beck, 1995, Translation of Alessandro Cristofori).
27
“Capitolium et Pompeium theatrum utrumque opus impensa grandi refeci sine ulla
inscriptione nominis mei. Rivos aquarum compluribus locis vetustate labentes refeci, et aquam
quae Marcia appellatur duplicavi fonte novo in rivum eius inmisso. Forum Iulium et basilicam
quae fuit inter aedem Castori et aedem Saturni, coepta profligataque opera a patre meo, perfeci
et tandem basilicam consumptam incendio, ampliato eius solo, sub titulo nominis filiorum
meorum incohavi, et, si vivus non perfecissem, perfici ab herendibus meis iussi. Duo et
octoginta templa deum in urbe consul sextum ex auctoritate senatus refeci nullo praetermisso
quod eo tempore refici debebat. Consul septimum viam Flaminiam ab urbe Ariminum refeci
pontesque omnes praeter Mulvium et Minucium”. (Aug. 20).
6
This works list is important because, for the ancient people, big monuments
were useful to impress the watcher28: if in Egypt pyramids were the symbol of
the pharaon’s strength, at Rome great temples were the demonstration of the
emperor’s power. These buildings had also another meaning, to impose the
civilization to the others: for example, the imperial ideology said that a town
became real when it had all roman structures as a theatre, an aqueduct, a circus,
thermae, etc.
“I did bigger all roman provinces near to which there were people that didn’t
want our control”.29
This part of Res gestae describes all emperor’s conquests in the Mediterranean
Sea, but Octavian had difficoulties to control the central Europe because
barbarians were great warriors. In 9 a.C. a roman army was destroyed in
Germany during an ambush, so empire borders became the line Rhine –
Danube.30 In the Middle East Augustus transformed the Aegypt in a province but
his egemony was stopped by Parthi, famous archer – horsemen that had killed
Crassus at Carrhae in 53 b.C.31 Octavian said to have won them because they had
given back insignia but, in reality, there was a secret agreement.32
“During my sixth and seventh consulates, after I had stopped civil wars and
taken the control of state affaires, I moved the republic government from me to
the senatorial and Romans free will. For this, I was named Augustus by senatus
consultum…”.33
The end of Octavian’s diary was a masterpiece of psychology: Caesar’s son
said that he didn’t want the power, so he gave it back. This could appear stupid
but it served to drive the general opinion in his direction. Romans were
conquered by emperor’s action and they called him “Augustus” to show big love
and respect.34 Octavian didn’t need a formal power to avoid problems with
Senate, that had killed Caesar for the same reason. He had money, legions,
28
Ara Pacis was the real symbol of Octavian empire: this altar was built between 13 and 9 b.C.
and its decorations were made to represent Augustus’ qualities as pietas (devotion) and maiestas
(greatness). (LEVI, Agusto e il suo tempo, op. cit., p. 370 – 1).
29
“Omnium provinciarum populi Romani quibus finitimae fuerunt gentes quae non parerent
imperio nostro fines auxi”. (Aug. 26, 1).
30
“He suffered only two ignominious defeats, both in Germany, one with Lollius and the other
with Varus. But, while in the first one infamy was more than damage, the Varus’ one was a
disaster because three legions with their commander, all General Staffs and reinforcements were
destroyed”. (“Graues ignominias cladesque duas omnino nec alibi quam in Germania accepit,
Lollianam et Varianam, sed Lollianam maioris infamiae quam detrimenti, Varianam paene
exitiabilem tribus legionibus cum duce legatisque et auxiliis omnibus caesis”.) (Suet. Aug.
XXIII).
31
Aug. 27, 1; Plutarchus, Crassos 24 – 31
32
Aug. 29, 2
33
“In consulatu sexto et septimo, postquam bella civilia exstinxeram, per consensum
universorum potitus rerum omnium, rem publicam ex mea protestate in senatus populique
Romani arbitrium transtuli. Quo pro merito meo senatus consulto Augustus appellatus sum…”.
(Aug. 34, 1 – 2).
34
This name derived from verb augeo that means “I raise”.
7
imperium and sacrosantitas, so his position protected him from any type of
enemy; with the people’s favour he had the support of clients and soldiers, the
real roots of his power. In this way the roman empire was created by charism of
one clever man, a master of puppets that was abled to control the others with the
silence of his actions.35
35
“Then he had the name of Caius Caesar and the nickname of Augustus, the first title for his
great – uncle’s testament, the other because, while some senators wanted to name him Romulus
as a second founder of Rome, Munatius Plancus’ proposal naming him Augustus prevailed, not
to give him a name never used before but for the honorific meaning of the word. In fact they
called «augusti» those sacred places for religion where it took augures to consacrate something;
this word can derive from auctus [increase] or from avium gestus or gustus as this Ennius’ verse
remembers us: «After the famous Rome was erected with an august presage»”. (“Postea Gai
Caesaris et deinde Augusti cognomen assumpsit, alterum testamento maioris auunculi, alterum
Munati Planci sententia, cum, quibusdam censentibus Romulum appellari oportere quasi et
ipsum conditorem urbis, praeualuisset, ut Augustus potius uocaretur, non solum nouo sed etiam
ampliare cognomine, quod loca quoque religiosa et in quibus augurato quid consecratur augusta
dicantur, ab auctu uel ab auium gestu gustuue, sicut etiam Ennius docet scribens: Augusto
augurio postquam incluta condita Roma est”.) (Suet. Aug. VII).
8