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Augustan Rome
Augustus’ career as sole ruler of Rome began after a century of warfare on Italian
soil, and a decade of mayhem following the death of Caesar in 44 BC.
His first concern is obviously a tightly controlled peace. Having disposed of the last
significant rival army at Actium in 31, he centralised power in himself, whie
nominally restoring it to the Senate. After styling himself ‘Romulus’ initially, he
adopted the personal titles ‘Princeps’ (a Republican hounour) and ‘Augustus’ voted to
him by the Senate in 27 BC. He was never declared dictator, still less king. The title
‘imperator’ which he did use was the title of any Roman vested with ‘imperium’ –
traditionally the consuls, the praetors, governors of provinces etc. So, while
indicating high authority the title was neutral about the nature of that authority –
practical experience gradually converted its meaning to ‘emperor’. The title
Imperator Caesar divi filius was a favourite extension of this title.
Physical rebuilding is another urgent need. The wars had been a time of actual
demolition, but, in Rome itself, equally of neglect and dilapidation. Augustus set
about rebuilding and adding to the public buildings of Rome, and some significant
buildings outside the capital. His achievements are recorded at length in his personal
testament, the res gestae.
And he took practical measures to strengthen the borders of the Roman state, ensure
the stable and profitable administration of the provinces, to break the power of overmighty and competing aristocrats and to eliminate disorder (and, indeed, dissent)
from domestic politics.
All this does not concern us very much, because the details of this aspect of Augustus’
rule were not particularly important to Virgil. The peace and stability yes – he seems
to have owed the restoration of his family property in Mantua to Augustus. Also, as a
survivor of the Civil Wars, he is ready to celebrate Augustan autocracy without irony
or compromise.
However, Augustus was also extrardinarily active in morality legislation. Some of
this was practical – he introduced penalties for childlessness and privileges for parents
to three children. One reason for this was a perceived lack of post-war citizen
manpower affecting the state in general, but particularly the legions and their officer
classes. However, the extent of the legislation makes it clear that the motivation was
also ideological. For the first time, adultery is a crime against the state (punishment,
banishment), an adulterous wife must be divorced, marriage is compulsory
(punishment, exclusion from inheritance), but citizens cannot marry certain lewd
persons, etc. Furthermore, Augustus used law to reinforce clear class divisions and to
regulate mixing at public spectacles. He reinstates old festivals, religious offices and
ceremonials (The Arval priesthood and the Lupercalia, the Lustrum, the Flamen
Dialis, the holding of the Secular Games in 17 BC) and the Res Gestae make it clear
that temple restoration (82 at Rome) is presented as a pious action necessary to the
welfare of the state. The great monument to the connection of piety and peace, is of
course the Ara Pacis.
The Roman state had never been neutral on religion and morality, but the 1st century
BC was a time of great religious scepticism among the upper classes, who also
practised a great degree of personal freedom, doing all the things Augustus was to ban
– failing to marry, divorcing frequently, committing adultery, failing to produce
legitimate heirs.
It is interesting to ask whether these reforms were obvious ones to make at the time,
and indeed, whether Augustus was the obvious person to make them. They certainly
conform to a traditional conservative agenda. The obvious proponent might be
someone like Cato the Younger, politician, conservative, austere moralist , sometimes
bizarrely so, divorcing his wife so she could bear children to a childless friend. He
was also a commited republican and anti-Caesarian which is why he died by suicide
after the Battle of Utica 46, thwarting efforts to save him by tearing open his wounds
and disembowelling himself.
As Octavian was unknown when he claimed his adoptive father’s armies (illegally) it
is hard to judge his character. His sonship was an awkward start. Thrice married,
Caesar’s only natural heir was an illegitimate son by Cleopatra, exotic enemy of
Rome. In addition to the usual scurrilous accusations in Roman politics, he was
supposed to have furthered his early career through homosexual relations with the
king of Bithynia. Augustus was a tough commander, in the great tradition – but in a
Civil War. He made his notorious marriage to Livia, barely divorced and pregnant by
her former husband, apparently for reasons of lust, on the day that his divorced wife
gave birth to his daughter and only natural heir, Julia. He would later banish Julia and
her daughter for immorality – under his own legislation.
Nonetheless, Augustus returns to mores pristinae and the gods in the face of
cataclysm. His success makes it appear to have been an appropriate move. Not that
the morality legislation ‘took’ any more than changes in the tax law today. And it is
difficult to say whether people became more personally religious. However, a line
had been drawn under the period of chaos and expiation in the traditional manner set
in place. And this public traditionalism went hand in hand with extremely radical but
unstated changes to the way government was conducted. Revolution in the guise of
restoration. Augustus tapped into something deep in Roman culture which it is
probably hard for us to understand.