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diff --git a/old/66609-0.txt b/old/66609-0.txt deleted file mode 100644 index cb7c97d..0000000 --- a/old/66609-0.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,12474 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg eBook of Augustus, by E. S. Shuckburgh - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and -most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions -whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms -of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at -www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you -will have to check the laws of the country where you are located before -using this eBook. - -Title: Augustus - The Life and Times of the Founder of the Roman Empire - -Author: E. S. Shuckburgh - -Release Date: October 24, 2021 [eBook #66609] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: UTF-8 - -Produced by: Wouter Franssen and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team - at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images - generously made available by The Internet Archive) - -*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK AUGUSTUS *** - - - - - -AUGUSTUS - - - - -Works on Roman History, etc. - - -ROMAN LIFE UNDER THE CÆSARS. - - By ÉMILE THOMAS. With Numerous Illustrations. Small demy 8vo, - cloth, 7s. 6d. - -ROME AND POMPEII. - - By GASTON BOISSIER. Translated by D. HAVELOCK FISHER. With Maps - and Plans. Large crown 8vo, cloth, 7s. 6d. - -THE COUNTRY OF HORACE AND VIRGIL. - - By GASTON BOISSIER. Translated by D. HAVELOCK FISHER. Large - crown 8vo, cloth, 7s. 6d. - -ROME: FROM THE EARLIEST TIMES TO THE END OF THE REPUBLIC. - - By ARTHUR GILMAN, M.A. 3rd Edition. With a Map and Numerous - Illustrations. Large crown 8vo, cloth, 5s. (“The Story of the - Nations.”) - -LONDON: T. FISHER UNWIN. - - - - -[Illustration: AUGUSTUS - -With _Corona Civica_ - -Photographed from the Bust in the Vatican Museum - -Edⁿᵉ Alinari] - - - - - AUGUSTUS - - THE LIFE AND TIMES OF THE - FOUNDER OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE - (B.C. 63-A.D. 14) - - BY - E. S. SHUCKBURGH, LITT.D. - LATE FELLOW OF EMMANUEL COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE - - ILLUSTRATED - - [Illustration] - - LONDON: T. FISHER UNWIN - PATERNOSTER SQUARE · 1903 - - (_All rights reserved._) - - - - -Preface - - -Augustus has been much less attractive to biographers than Iulius; -perhaps because the soldier is more interesting than the statesman; -perhaps because the note of genius conspicuous in the Uncle was wanting -in the Nephew. Yet Augustus was the most successful ruler known to us. -He found his world, as it seemed, on the verge of complete collapse. He -evoked order out of chaos; got rid one after the other of every element -of opposition; established what was practically a new form of government -without too violent a breach with the past; breathed fresh meaning into -old names and institutions, and could stand forth as a reformer rather -than an innovator, while even those who lost most by the change were -soothed into submission without glaring loss of self-respect. He worked -ceaselessly to maintain the order thus established, and nearly every part -of his great empire had reason to be grateful for increased security, -expanding prosperity, and added amenity of life. Nor can it be said -that he reaped the credit due in truth to ministers. He had excellent -ministers and agents, with abilities in this or that direction superior -to his own; but none who could take his place as a whole. He was the -centre from which their activities radiated: he was the inspirer, the -careful organiser, the unwearied manipulator of details, to whom all -looked, and seldom in vain, for support and guidance. We may add this to -a dignity never forgotten, enhanced by a physical beauty and grace which -helped to secure reverence for his person and office, and established -a sentiment which the unworthiness of some of his successors could not -wholly destroy. He and not Iulius was the founder of the Empire, and it -was to him that succeeding emperors looked back as the origin of their -power. - -Yet his achievements have interested men less than the conquest of -Gaul and the victories in the civil war won by the marvellous rapidity -and splendid boldness of Iulius. Consequently modern estimates of the -character and aims of Augustus have been comparatively few. An exhaustive -treatise is now appearing in Germany by V. Gardthausen, which will -be a most complete storehouse of facts. Without any pretence to such -elaboration of detail, I have tried in these pages to do something to -correct the balance, and to give a picture of the man as I have formed -it in my own mind. The only modest merit which I would claim for my -book is that it is founded on a study as complete as I could make it of -the ancient authorities and sources of information without conscious -imitation of any modern writer. These authorities are better for the -earlier period to about B.C. 24, while they had the Emperor’s own Memoirs -on which to rely. The multiform activities of his later life are chiefly -to be gathered from inscriptions and monuments, which record the care -which neglected no part however remote of the Empire. In these later -years such histories as we have are more concerned with wars and military -movements than with administration. Suetonius is full of good things, -but is without chronological or systematic order, and is wanting in -the critical spirit to discriminate between irresponsible rumours and -historical facts. Dio Cassius, plain and honest always, grows less and -less full as the reign goes on. Velleius, who might at least have given -us full details of the later German wars, is seldom definite or precise, -and is tiresome from devotion to a single hero in Tiberius, and by an -irritating style. - -It has been my object to illustrate the policy of Augustus by constant -reference to the Court view as represented by the poets. But in his -later years Ovid is a poor substitute for Horace in this point of view. -The Emperor’s own catalogue of his achievements, preserved on the walls -of the temple at Ancyra, is the best possible summary; but a summary -it is after all, and requires to be made to live by careful study and -comparison. - -The constitutional history of the reign is that which has generally -engaged most attention. I have striven to state the facts clearly. Of -their exact significance opinions will differ. I have given my own for -what it is worth, and can only say that it has been formed independently -by study of our authorities. - -I have not tried to represent my hero as faultless or to make black -white. Nothing can clear Augustus of the charge of cruelty up to B.C. -31. But in judging him regard must be had to his age and circumstances. -We must not, at any rate, allow our judgment of his later statesmanship -to be controlled by the memory of his conduct in a time of civil war -and confusion. He succeeded in re-constituting a society shaken to its -centre. We must acknowledge that and accept the bad with the good. But it -is false criticism to deny or blink the one from admiration of the other. - -I have to thank the authorities of the British Museum for casts of coins -reproduced in this book: also the Syndics of the Pitt Press, Cambridge, -for the loan of certain other casts. - - - - -Contents - - - PAGE - - PREFACE v - - CHAPTER I. - - CHILDHOOD AND YOUTH, B.C. 63-44 1 - - CHAPTER II. - - THE ROMAN EMPIRE AT THE DEATH OF IULIUS CÆSAR 17 - - CHAPTER III. - - THE INHERITANCE 34 - - CHAPTER IV. - - THE CONSULSHIP AND TRIUMVIRATE 53 - - CHAPTER V. - - PHILIPPI 79 - - CHAPTER VI. - - PERUSIA AND SICILY 89 - - CHAPTER VII. - - ACTIUM 109 - - CHAPTER VIII. - - THE NEW CONSTITUTION, B.C. 30-23 131 - - CHAPTER IX. - - THE FIRST PRINCIPATUS, B.C. 27-23 151 - - CHAPTER X. - - THE IMPERIAL AND MILITARY POLICY OF AUGUSTUS 171 - - CHAPTER XI. - - AUGUSTUS AND HIS WORSHIPPERS 194 - - CHAPTER XII. - - THE REFORMER AND LEGISLATOR 212 - - CHAPTER XIII. - - LATER LIFE AND FAMILY TROUBLES 233 - - CHAPTER XIV. - - THE LAST DAYS 247 - - CHAPTER XV. - - THE EMPEROR AUGUSTUS, HIS CHARACTER AND AIMS, HIS WORK AND - FRIENDS 265 - - AUGUSTUS’S ACCOUNT OF HIS REIGN 293 - (_From the Inscription in the Temple of Rome and Augustus - at Angora_) - - INDEX 303 - - - - -List of Illustrations - - - AUGUSTUS WITH _CORONA CIVICA_. (From the Bust in the - Vatican Museum) _Frontispiece_ - - THE YOUNG OCTAVIUS. (From the Bust in the Vatican - Museum) _Facing p._ 10 - - COIN.—_Obv._ M. Brutus. _Rev._ Two Daggers and Cap - of Liberty ” 16 - - ” _Obv._ Head of Augustus bearded as sign of - Mourning. _Rev._ Divus Iulius ” 16 - - ” _Obv._ Head of Agrippa. Cos. III. _i.e._ B.C. - 27. _Rev._ Emblematical Figure ” 16 - - ” _Obv._ Head of Augustus with Official Titles. - _Rev._ Head of same with Radiated Crown and - the Iulian Star ” 16 - - ” _Obv._ Head of Sext. Pompeius. _Rev._ The same - with titles, _Præfectus Classis et oræ. - Maritimæ_ ” 16 - - AUGUSTUS ADDRESSING TROOPS. (From the Statue in - the Vatican) ” 108 - - COIN.—_Obv._ Head of Augustus. _Rev._ The Sphinx ” 130 - - ” _Obv._ Heads of Augustus and Agrippa. _Rev._ - Crocodile and Palm—_Colonia Nemausi_ (Nismes) ” 130 - - ” _Obv._ Head of Augustus. _Rev._ Triumphal Arch - celebrating the Reconstruction of the Roads ” 130 - - ” _Obv._ Head of Drusus. _Rev._ Trophy of Arms - taken from the Germans ” 130 - - ” _Obv._ Head of Livia. _Rev._ Head of Iulia ” 130 - - ALTAR DEDICATED TO LARES OF AUGUSTUS IN B.C. 2 BY - A _MAGISTER VICI_. (Uffizi Gallery, Florence) ” 196 - - AUGUSTUS AS SENATOR. (From the Statue in the Uffizi - Gallery, Florence) ” 212 - - IULIA, DAUGHTER OF AUGUSTUS. (From the Bust in the - Uffizi Gallery, Florence) ” 234 - - LIVIA, WIFE OF AUGUSTUS. (From the Bust in the Uffizi - Gallery, Florence) (Page 274) ” 234 - - MÆCENAS. (From the Head in the Palazzo dei - Conservatori, Rome) ” 279 - - P. VERGILIUS MARO. (From the Bust in the Capitoline - Museum, Rome) (Page 284) ” 279 - - - - -CHAPTER I - -CHILDHOOD AND YOUTH, B.C. 63-44 - - _Iam nova progenies_ - _cœlo demittitur alto._ - - -[Sidenote: Birth of Augustus, Sept. 23, B.C. 63.] - -In a house at the eastern corner of the Palatine, called “At the -Oxheads,”[1] on the 23rd of September, B.C. 63—some nine weeks before -the execution of the Catilinarian conspirators by Cicero’s order—a child -was born destined to close the era of civil wars thus inaugurated, to -organise the Roman Empire, and to be its master for forty-four years. - -The father of the child was Gaius Octavius, of the plebeian _gens -Octavia_, and of a family that had long occupied a high position in the -old Volscian town of Velitræ. Two branches of the Octavii were descended -from C. Octavius Rufus, quæstor in B.C. 230. The elder branch had -produced five consuls and other Roman magistrates, but of the younger -branch Gaius Octavius, the father of Augustus, was the first to hold -curule office. According to the inscription, afterwards placed by his -son in the _sacrarium_ of the palace,[2] he had twice served as military -tribune, had been quæstor, plebeian ædile, iudex quæstionum, and prætor. -After the prætorship (B.C. 61) he governed Macedonia with conspicuous -ability and justice. He is quoted by Cicero as a model administrator -of a province; and he was sufficiently successful against the Bessi -and other Thracian tribes—constant scourges of Macedonia—to be hailed -as “imperator” by his soldiers. He returned to Italy late in B.C. 59, -intending next year to be a candidate for the consulship, but early in -B.C. 58 he died suddenly in his villa at Nola, in the same chamber as -that in which his son, seventy-two years later, breathed his last.[3] - -[Sidenote: The mother of Augustus.] - -The mother of the young Gaius Octavius was Atia, daughter of M. Atius -Balbus,[4] of Velitræ, and Iulia, sister of Gaius Iulius Cæsar. This -connection with Cæsar—already rising in political importance—may have -made his birth of some social interest, but the ominous circumstances -said to have accompanied it are doubtless due to the curiosity or -credulity of the next generation. The people of Velitræ, it is reported, -had been told by an oracle that a master of the Empire was to be born -there. Rumours, it is said, were current in Rome shortly before his -birth that a “king of the Roman people” was about to be born. His mother -dreamed strange dreams, and the learned Publius Nigidius prophesied the -birth of a lord of the world; while Catullus and Cicero had visions.[5] -But there was, in fact, nothing mysterious or unusual in his infancy, -which was passed with his foster-nurse at Velitræ. When he was two years -old his father, on his way to his province, carried out successfully an -order of the Senate to destroy a band of brigands near Thurii, survivors, -it is said, of the followers of Spartacus and Catiline. In memory of this -success his parents gave the boy the cognomen Thurinus. He never seems -to have used the name, though Suetonius says that he once possessed a -bust of the child with this name inscribed on it in letters that had -become almost illegible. He presented it to Hadrian, who placed it in his -private _sacrarium_.[6] - -[Sidenote: The stepfather of Augustus.] - -[Sidenote: The great-uncle of Augustus.] - -[Sidenote: The first Triumvirate and its results.] - -About B.C. 57 or 56[7] his mother Atia re-married. Her husband was L. -Marcius Philippus (prætor B.C. 60, governor of Syria B.C. 59-7, Consul -B.C. 56); and when in his ninth year Octavius lost his foster-mother he -became a regular member of his stepfather’s household. Philippus was -not a man of much force, but he belonged to the highest society, and -though opposed to Cæsar in politics, appears to have managed to keep -on good terms with him.[8] But during his great-nephew’s boyhood Cæsar -was little at Rome. Prætor in B.C. 62, he had gone the following year -to Spain. He returned in B.C. 60 to stand for the consulship, and soon -after the consulship, early in B.C. 58, he started for Gaul, from which -he did not return to Rome till he came in arms in B.C. 49. But though -occupied during the summers in his famous campaigns beyond the Alps, he -spent most of his winters in Northern Italy—at Ravenna or Lucca—where he -received his partisans and was kept in touch with home politics, and was -probably visited by his relatives. Just before entering on his consulship -he had formed with Pompey and Crassus the agreement for mutual support -known as the First Triumvirate. The series of events which broke up this -combination and made civil war inevitable must have been well known to -the boy. He must have been aware that the laurelled despatches of his -great-uncle announcing victory after victory were viewed with secret -alarm by many of the nobles who visited Philippus; and that these men -were seeking to secure in Pompey a leader capable of outshining Cæsar in -the popular imagination by victories and triumphs of his own. He was old -enough to understand the meaning of the riots of the rival law-breakers, -Milo and Clodius, which drenched Rome in blood. Election after election -was interrupted, and, finally, after the murder of Clodius (January, -B.C. 52), all eyes were fixed on Pompey as the sole hope of peace and -order. There was much talk of naming him dictator, but finally he was -created sole consul (apparently by a decree of the Senate) and remained -sole consul till August, when he held an election and returned his -father-in-law, Metellus Scipio, as his colleague. - -[Sidenote: Pompey’s position after B.C. 52.] - -The upshot of these disorders, therefore, was to give Pompey a very -strong position. He was, in fact, dictator (_seditionis sedandæ causa_) -under another name; and the Optimates hastened to secure him as their -champion. A law had been passed in B.C. 56, by agreement with Cæsar, -giving Pompey the whole of Spain as a province for five years after his -consulship of B.C. 55. As Cæsar’s government of Gaul terminated at the -end of B.C. 49, Pompey would have imperium and an army when Cæsar left -his province. He would naturally indeed be in Spain; but the Senate now -passed a resolution that it was for the good of the State that Pompey -should remain near Rome. He accordingly governed Spain by three legati, -and remained outside the walls of the city with imperium. The great -object of the Optimates was that Cæsar should return to Rome a _privatus_ -while Pompey was still there in this unprecedented position. Cæsar wished -to be consul for B.C. 48. The Optimates did not openly oppose that wish, -but contended that he should lay down his provincial government and -military command first, and come to Rome to make his _professio_, or -formal announcement of his being a candidate, in the usual way.[9] - -But Cæsar declined to walk into this trap. He knew that if he came home -as a _privatus_ there were many ready to prosecute him for his actions -in Gaul, and with Pompey there in command of legions he felt certain -that a verdict inflicting political ruin on him could be obtained. He -therefore stood by the right—secured by a law of B.C. 55, and reinforced -by Pompey’s own law in B.C. 52—of standing for the consulship without -coming to Rome, and without giving up his province and army before the -time originally fixed by the law. He would thus not be without imperium -for a single day, but would come to Rome as consul. - -Here was a direct issue. Pompey professed to believe that it could be -settled by a decree of the Senate, either forbidding the holder of the -election to receive votes for Cæsar in his absence, or appointing a -successor in his province. Cæsar, he argued, would of course obey a -_Senatus-consultum_. But Cæsar was on firm ground in refusing to admit -a successor till the term fixed by the law had expired, and also in -claiming that his candidature should be admitted in his absence—for that -too had been granted by a law. If neither side would yield the only -possible solution was war.[10] - -[Sidenote: Provocation to Cæsar.] - -Cæsar hesitated for some time. He saw no hope of mollifying his enemies -or separating Pompey from them. His daughter Iulia’s death in B.C. 54 -after a few years’ marriage to Pompey had severed a strong tie between -them. The death of Crassus in B.C. 53 had removed, not indeed a man of -much strength of character, but one whose enormous wealth had given him -such a hold on the senators that any strong act on their part, against -his wishes, was difficult. After his death the actual provocations to -Cæsar had certainly increased. The depriving him, under the pretext of -an impending Parthian war, of two legions which were being kept under -arms in Italy; the insult inflicted upon him by Marcellus (Consul B.C. -51) in flogging a magistrate of his new colony at Comum, who if the -colony were regarded as legally established would be exempt from such -punishment;—these and similar things shewed Cæsar what he had to expect -if he gave up office and army. He elected therefore to stand on his legal -rights. - -[Sidenote: Civil war.] - -Legality was on his side, but long prescription was in favour of the -Senate’s claim to the obedience of a magistrate, especially of the -governor of a province. There was therefore a deadlock. Cæsar made one -attempt—not perhaps a very sincere one—to remove it. He had won over -Gaius Curio, tribune in B.C. 50, by helping him to discharge his immense -debts. Curio therefore, instead of opposing Cæsar, as had been expected, -vetoed every proposal for his recall. His tribuneship ended on the 9th of -December, B.C. 50, and he immediately started to visit Cæsar at Ravenna. -He told him of the inveteracy of his opponents, and urged him to march -at once upon Rome. But Cæsar determined to justify himself by offering a -peaceful solution—“he was willing to hand over his province and army to -a successor, if Pompey would also give up Spain and dismiss his armies.” -Curio returned to Rome in time for the meeting of the Senate on the 1st -of January, B.C. 49, bringing this despatch from Cæsar. - -The majority of the Senate affected to regard it as an act of rebellion. -After a debate, lasting five days, a decree was passed on January -the 7th, ordering Cæsar to give up his province and army on a fixed -day, on pain of being declared guilty of treason. This was vetoed by -two tribunes, M. Antonius and Q. Cassius. Refusing, after the usual -“remonstrance,” to withdraw their veto, they were finally expelled and -fled to Ariminum, on their way to join Cæsar at Ravenna. The Senate -then passed the _Senatus-consultum ultimum_, ordering the magistrates -and pro-magistrates “to see that the state took no harm,” and a levy of -soldiers—already begun by Pompey—was ordered to be held in all parts of -Italy. - -[Sidenote: Cæsar crosses the Rubicon.] - -Cæsar, informed of this, addressed the single legion which was with him -at Ravenna, urging it to support the violated tribunes. Satisfied with -the response to his appeal, he took the final step of passing the Rubicon -and marching to Ariminum, outside his province. - -Both sides were now in the wrong, the Senate by forcibly interfering -with the action of the tribunes, Cæsar by entering Italy. An attempt, -therefore, was made to effect a compromise. Lucius Cæsar—a distant -connection of Iulius—visited him at Ariminum, bringing some general -professions of moderation from Pompey, though it seems without any -definite suggestion. Cæsar, however, so far modified his former offer -as to propose a conference, with the understanding that the levy of -troops in Italy was to be stopped and Pompey was to go to his Spanish -province. On receiving this communication at Capua Pompey and the consuls -declined all terms until Cæsar had withdrawn from Ariminum into Gaul; -though they intimated, without mentioning any date, that Pompey would -in that case go to Spain. But the levy of troops was not interrupted; -and Cæsar’s answer to this was the triumphant march through Picenum and -to Brundisium. Town after town surrendered, and the garrisons placed in -them by Pompey generally joined the advancing army, till finally a large -force, embracing many men of high rank, surrendered at Corfinium. Cæsar -had entered Italy with only one legion, but others were summoned from -winter quarters in Cisalpine Gaul, and by the time he reached Brundisium -Pompey had given up all idea of resisting him in Italy, and within -the walls of that town was preparing to cross to Epirus, whither the -consuls with the main body of his troops had already gone. Cæsar had no -ships with which to follow him. He was content to hasten his flight by -threatening to block up the harbour. Pompey safely out of Italy, he went -to Rome to arrange for his regular election into the consulship. Meeting -with opposition there[11]—one of the tribunes, L. Cæcilius Metellus, -vetoing all proposals in the Senate—he hastened to Spain to attack the -legates of Pompey, stopping on his way to arrange the siege of Marseilles -(which had admitted Ahenobarbus, named successor of Cæsar in Gaul), -and sending legati to secure Sicily, Sardinia, and Africa. Of these the -only failure was in Africa, where Curio was defeated and killed. This -province therefore remained in the hands of the Pompeians; but Cæsar’s -own successes in Spain, the fall of Marseilles, and the hold gained upon -the corn supplies of Sicily and Sardinia placed him in a strong position. -The constitutional difficulty was surmounted; he was named Dictator to -hold the elections, returned himself as consul, and, after eleven days in -Rome for the Latin games, embarked at Brundisium on January 3, B.C. 48, -to attack Pompey in Epirus. - -[Sidenote: Iulius Cæsar master of the Roman world, B.C. 47.] - -It is not necessary to follow the events of the next six months. Cæsar -had to struggle with great difficulties, for Pompey as master of the -sea had a secure base of supplies; and therefore, though Cæsar drew -vast lines round his camp, he could not starve him out. Pompey, in -fact, actually pierced Cæsar’s lines and defeated him in more than one -engagement. Eventually, however, Cæsar drew him into Thessaly; and the -great victory of Pharsalia (August 9th) made up for everything. Pompey -fled to Egypt, to meet his death on the beach by order of the treacherous -young king; and though Cæsar still had weary work to do before Egypt -was reduced to obedience, and then had to traverse Asia Minor to crush -Pharnaces of Pontus at Zela, when he set foot once more in Italy in -September, B.C. 47, he had already been created Dictator, and was -practically master of the Roman world. - -[Sidenote: Octavius takes the _toga virilis_ and is made a pontifex, B.C. -48.] - -In these momentous events the young Octavius had taken no part. At the -beginning of B.C. 49 he had been sent away to one of his ancestral -estates in the country. But we cannot suppose him incapable of -understanding their importance or being an uninterested spectator. His -stepfather Philippus was Pompeian in sympathy, but his close connection -with Cæsar kept him from taking an active part in the war, and he was -allowed to remain in Italy, probably for the most part in his Campanian -villa. From time to time, however, he came to Rome; and Octavius, who now -lived entirely with him, began to be treated with a distinction natural -to the near relative of the victorious dictator. Soon after the news of -Pharsalia he took the _toga virilis_, and about the same time was elected -into the college of pontifices in the place of L. Domitius Ahenobarbus, -who had fallen in the battle. This was an office desired by the highest -in the land, and the election of so young a boy, just entering upon his -sixteenth year, put him in a position something like that of a prince of -the blood; just as afterwards Augustus caused his two grandsons to be -designated to the consulship, and declared capable of official employment -as soon as they had taken the _toga virilis_.[12] - -[Sidenote: Octavius’s relations with his parents and his great-uncle.] - -The boy, who three years before had made a great impression by his -delivery of the _laudatio_ at his grandmother Iulia’s funeral, again -attracted much attention by his good looks and modesty. He became the -fashion; and when (as was customary for the pontifices) he presided -in a prætorian court during the _feriæ Latinæ_, it was observed to be -more crowded by suitors and their friends than any of the others. It -seems that the rarity of his appearance at Rome added to the interest -roused by his great-uncle’s successes. For his mother did not relax -her watchfulness. Though legally a man he was still carefully guarded. -He was required to sleep in the same simple chamber, to visit the same -houses, and to follow the same way of life as before. Even his religious -duties were performed before daylight, to escape the languishing looks of -intriguing beauties. These precautions were seconded by his own cool and -cautious temperament, and the result seems to have been that he passed -through the dangerous stage of adolescence—doubly dangerous to one now -practically a prince—uncontaminated by the grosser vices of Rome. Stories -to the contrary, afterwards spread abroad by his enemies, are of the most -unsubstantial and untrustworthy kind. - -[Illustration: THE YOUNG OCTAVIUS. - -_Photographed from the Bust in the Vatican by Edne. Alinari._ - -_To face page 10._] - -[Sidenote: Wishes to go to Africa with Cæsar.] - -But though he seems to have quietly submitted to this tutelage, he soon -conceived an ardent desire to share in the activities of his great-uncle. -Cæsar had been very little at Rome since the beginning of the civil war. -A few days in March, B.C. 49, thirteen days in December of the same -year, were all that he had spent in the city. He was absent during the -whole of his consulship (B.C. 48) till September, B.C. 47. On his return -from Alexandria in that month, he stayed barely three months at Rome. On -the 19th of December he was at Lilybæum, on his way to Africa to attack -the surviving Pompeians. Octavius longed to go with him, and Cæsar was -willing to take him. But his health was not good, and his mother set -herself against it. The Dictator might no doubt have insisted, but he saw -that the boy was not fit to face the fatigues of a campaign. Octavius -submitted, quietly biding his time. He was rewarded by finding himself -high in his great-uncle’s favour when he returned in B.C. 46 after -the victory of Thapsus. He was admitted to share his triple triumph, -riding in a chariot immediately behind that of the imperator, dressed -in military uniform as though he had actually been engaged. He found, -moreover, that he had sufficient interest with Cæsar to obtain pardon for -the brother of his friend Agrippa, taken prisoner in the Pompeian army in -Africa. This first use of his influence made a good impression, without -weakening his great-uncle’s affection for him. Though Cæsar did not -formally adopt him,[13] he treated him openly as his nearest relation -and heir. Octavius rode near him in his triumph, stood by his side at the -sacrifice, took precedence of all the staff or court that surrounded him, -and accompanied him to theatres and banquets. He was soon besieged by -petitions to be laid before Cæsar, and shewed both tact and good nature -in dealing with them. This close connection with the wise and magnanimous -Dictator, inspired him with warm admiration and affection, which help -to explain and excuse the severity with which he afterwards pursued his -murderers. - -[Sidenote: Octavius employed in civil duties, B.C. 46.] - -In order to give him experience of civic duties, one of the theatres was -now put under his charge. But his assiduous attention to this duty in -the hot season brought on a dangerous illness, one of the many which he -encountered during his long life. There was a general feeling of regret -at the prospect of a career of such promise being cut short. Cæsar -visited him daily or sent friends to him, insisted on the physicians -remaining constantly at his side, and being informed while at dinner -that the boy had fainted and was in imminent danger, he sprang up from -his couch, and without waiting to change his dining slippers, hurried to -his chamber, besought the physicians in moving terms to do their utmost, -and sitting down by the bed shewed the liveliest joy when the patient -recovered from his swoon. - -[Sidenote: Octavius follows Cæsar to Spain, B.C. 45.] - -Octavius was too weak to accompany the Dictator when starting for -Spain against Pompey’s sons in December B.C. 46. But as soon as he was -sufficiently recovered he determined to follow him. He refused all -company except that of a few select friends and the most active of his -slaves. He would not admit his mother’s wish to go with him. He had -yielded to her before, but he was now resolved to take part in a man’s -work alone. His voyage, early in B.C. 45, proved long and dangerous; -and when at length he landed at Tarraco he found his uncle already at -the extreme south of Spain, somewhere between Cadiz and Gibraltar. The -roads were rendered dangerous by scattered parties of hostile natives, or -outposts of the enemy, and his escort was small. Still, he pushed on with -energy and reached Cæsar’s quarters near Calpe, to which he had advanced -after the victory at Munda (March 17th). Gnæus Pompeius had fled on board -a ship, but was killed when landing for water on the 11th of April, and -it was apparently just about that time that Octavius reached the camp. -Warmly received and highly praised for his energy by the Dictator, he -was at once admitted to his table and close intimacy, during which Cæsar -learned still more to appreciate the quickness of his intelligence and -the careful control which he kept over his tongue. - -[Sidenote: Octavius accompanies his great-uncle to Carthage.] - -Affairs in Southern Spain having been apparently settled (though as it -proved the danger was by no means over), Octavius accompanied Cæsar to -Carthage, to settle questions which had arisen as to the assignment of -land in his new colony. The Dictator was visited there by deputations -from various Greek states, alleging grievances or asking favours. -Octavius was applied to by more than one of them to plead their cause, -and had therefore again an opportunity of acquiring practical experience -in the business of imperial government, and in the very best school. - -He preceded Cæsar on his return to Rome, and on his arrival had once more -occasion to shew his caution and prudence. Among those who met him in the -usual complimentary procession was a young man who had somehow managed to -make himself a popular hero by pretending to be a grandson of the great -Marius. His real name was Amatius or Herophilus, a veterinary surgeon -according to some, but certainly of humble origin. As Marius had married -Cæsar’s aunt Iulia, this man was anxious to be recognised as a cousin by -the Dictator. He had in vain applied to Cicero to undertake his cause, -and to Atia and her half-sister to recognise him. The difficulty for -Octavius was that the man was a favourite of the populace, of whose cause -Cæsar was the professed champion; yet his recognition would be offensive -to the nobles and a mere concession to clamour. Octavius avoided the -snare by referring the case to Cæsar as head of the state and family, and -refusing to receive the would-be Marius till he had decided.[14] - -[Sidenote: Octavius at Apollonia, B.C. 45-44.] - -He did not remain long at Rome however. Cæsar returned in September, -and was assassinated in the following March. And during that interval, -though he found time for many schemes of legislation, and of restoration -or improvement in the city, he was much employed in preparing for two -expeditions—calculated to last three years—first against the Daci or Getæ -on the Danube, and secondly against the Parthians in Mesopotamia. These -were the two points of active danger in the Empire, and Cæsar desired -to crown his public services by securing their peace and safety. For -this purpose six legions were quartered in Macedonia for the winter, in -readiness to march along the Via Egnatia to the eastern coast of Greece. -Returning from Spain Dictator for life, Cæsar was to have two “Masters -of the Horse.” One was to be Octavius, who had meanwhile been created -a patrician by the Senate.[15] But for the present he was sent to pass -the winter at Apollonia, the Greek colony at the beginning of the Via -Egnatia, where he might continue his studies in quiet with the rhetors -and other teachers whom he took with him or found there,[16] and at the -same time might get some military training with the legions that were -not far off. He was accompanied by some of the young men with whom he -habitually associated. Among them were Agrippa and Mæcenas, who remained -his friends and ministers to the end of their lives, and Salvidienus -Rufus, who almost alone of his early friends proved unfaithful.[17] - -He seems to have led a quiet life at Apollonia, winning golden opinions -in the town and from his teachers for his studious and regular habits. -The admiration and loyalty of his friends were confirmed; and many of the -officers of the legions seem to have made up their minds to regard him as -the best possible successor to the Dictator. - -[Sidenote: News of Cæsar’s assassination brought to Apollonia.] - -In the sixth month of his residence at Apollonia, in the afternoon of -a March day, a freedman of his mother arrived with every sign of rapid -travel and agitation. He delivered a letter from Atia, dated the 15th of -March. It briefly stated that the Dictator had just been assassinated -in the Senate House. She added that she “did not know what would happen -next; but it was time now for him to play the man, and to think and act -for the best at this terrible crisis.”[18] The bearer of the letter could -tell him nothing else, for he had been despatched immediately after -the murder, and had loitered nowhere on the way; only he felt sure that -as the conspirators were numerous and powerful, all the kinsfolk of the -Dictator would be in danger. - -This was the last day of Octavius’s youth. From that hour he had to play -a dangerous game with desperate players. He did not yet know that by -the Dictator’s will he had been adopted as his son, and was heir to the -greater part of his vast wealth; but a passionate desire to avenge him -sprang up in his breast, a desire strengthened with increasing knowledge, -and of which he never lost sight in all the political complications of -the next ten years. - -[Illustration: Obv.: M. Brutus. Rev.: Two daggers and cap of liberty. - -Obv.: Head of Augustus bearded as sign of mourning. Rev.: Divus Julius. - -Obv.: Head of Agrippa. Cos III., _i.e._, B.C. 27. Rev.: Emblematical -figure and S. C. (_Senatus Consulto_). - -Obv.: Head of Augustus with official titles. Rev.: Head of same with -radiated crown and the Julian star. - -Obv.: Head of Sext. Pompeius. Rev.: The same with titles, Præfectus -classis et oræ maritime. - -_To face page 16._] - - - - -CHAPTER II - -THE ROMAN EMPIRE AT THE DEATH OF IULIUS CÆSAR - - _Vicinæ ruptis inter se legibus_ - _urbes Arma ferunt; sævit toto_ - _Mars impius orbe._ - - -[Sidenote: Natural boundaries of the Roman Empire.] - -At the death of Cæsar the Roman Empire had been for the most part won. -Egypt was indeed annexed by Augustus, though on a peculiar tenure, but -subsequent additions were in a manner consequential, the inevitable -rectifications of a long frontier. Such were the provinces of the Rhine, -the Alps, and the Danube as far east as Mœsia; and to a certain extent -the province of Galatia and Lycaonia (B.C. 25). The Rhine, the Danube, -and the Euphrates seemed already the natural boundaries of the Empire -on the north and east, the Atlantic Ocean on the west, and the African -and Arabian deserts on the south. And these boundaries, with occasional -modifications, and for the most part temporary extensions, continued to -the end. - -[Sidenote: Its dangers.] - -But though the greater part of this wide Empire was already won, it was -not all equally well organised and secured. Thus, in Northern Gaul, -there were still Germans and other enemies to be conquered or repelled; -in Southern Spain a son of the great Pompey was in arms; Macedonia was -continually subject to invasion by Getæ, Bessi, and other barbarians; the -Dalmatians and neighbouring tribes made Illyricum an uncertain member of -the Empire; in Syria, Cæcilius Bassus—an old officer of Pompey’s—was -defying Roman armies, and inviting the aid of the Parthians always ready -to cross the Euphrates into the Roman province. - -[Sidenote: Cæsar’s precautions and preparations.] - -To confront two of these dangers Cæsar had collected a large army in -Macedonia in the autumn of B.C. 45 to crush the Getæ, and then crossing -to Syria to force the Parthian to respect the frontier of the Euphrates, -or even to attack them in Mesopotamia. The former of these projects -was no doubt important for the safety of the Empire, and was in after -years successfully secured by Augustus and his legates. The latter was -more visionary and theatrical, meant perhaps to strike the imagination -of the Romans rather than to secure great practical advantage. After -Cæsar’s death Antony lost more than he gained by similar enterprises, and -Augustus always avoided coming into actual contact with the Parthians, -or attempting to extend his rule beyond the Euphrates. But there were -dangers within the Empire no less formidable than from without. Its -integrity had rested, and generally securely rested, on the loyalty -of its provincial governors to the central authority as represented -by the Senate, or, in the last resort, by the order of the people -expressed in a _lex_ or _plebiscitum_. It was the beginning of the -end when these governors used the forces under their command, or the -wealth and influence secured abroad, to defy or coerce the authorities -at home. Sertorius, Sulla, and Cæsar himself, had shewn that this was -not an impossible contingency. It was against this danger that, among -other reforms in the government of the Provinces, Cæsar’s own law had -provided that the tenure of a proprætor should be confined to one, and -of a proconsul to two years. But now that he was going on a distant -expedition, calculated as likely to occupy three years, he took other -precautions. Having provided for the chief offices at home,[19] he was -careful to see that the provinces should be held by men whom he believed -to be loyal to himself, and likely from their character and ability to -maintain their peace and security. Being Consul and Dictator, and his -_acta_ being confirmed beforehand by Senate and people, he could make -what nominations he pleased. A decree of the Senate was still taken -as a matter of form, but the old practice (often a farce) of drawing -lots for the provinces was abandoned;[20] Pompey’s law ordaining a five -years’ interval between curule office and a province was neglected, and -Cæsar practically nominated the governors. But it raises a doubt as to -the unfettered power or the insight of the Dictator that five of those -thus nominated were among the assassins on the Ides of March.[21] Nor -in other respects did his choice prove happy. The state of open war or -dangerous unrest which shewed itself in almost all parts of the Empire -after his death must be learnt by a review of the provinces, if we are to -understand the problem presented to Augustus and his colleagues in the -triumvirate, and the relief felt by the Roman world when Augustus finally -took the administration into his own hands, and shewed himself capable of -restoring law and order. - -[Sidenote: (1) THE GAULS.] - -The GAULS now included three districts, the status of which was somewhat -unsettled. (1) _Cisalpine Gaul_, that is, Italy between Etruria and the -Alps, was still nominally a province, though Cæsar’s law of B.C. 48 -had granted full _civitas_ to the transpadane, as that of B.C. 89 had -to the cispadane, towns. It had formed part of Cæsar’s province from -B.C. 58 to B.C. 48, and he seems to have retained it until after the -battle of Pharsalia, when he appointed first Marcus Brutus and then C. -Vibius Pansa to it. Though part of Italy, and generally peaceful, it had -great military importance in case of an invasion from the north. After -March B.C. 44 it was to be in the hands of Decimus Brutus, who had long -served under Cæsar, and was regarded by him with special confidence and -affection. Antony’s attempt to wrest it from Decimus Brutus brought on -the first civil war after Cæsar’s death. - -[Sidenote: (2) TRANSALPINE GAUL.] - -(2) _Transalpine Gaul_ technically consisted of “the Province,” that is, -South-eastern France, from the Cevennes on the west to Italy, and from -the Lake of Geneva on the north to the sea. But since Cæsar’s conquests -there had to be added to this the rest of France, Belgium, and Holland -as far as the Rhine. No formal division into distinct provinces had yet -been made. In B.C. 49 Decimus Brutus, after driving out Ahenobarbus, -the governor named by the Senate, remained in command of the whole -till B.C. 45, when he returned in Cæsar’s train to Italy. But in the -course of these four years, or on his return, (3) Belgica was separated -from the rest and assigned to Hirtius, who, however, governed it by a -legate named Aurelius, without going there himself.[22] In the course of -the next year a farther division was made: Aurelius retained Belgica; -Lepidus, with four legions, was appointed to “the Province” (afterwards -called Gallia Narbonensis) together with Hispania Citerior; while L. -Munatius Plancus governed the rest, consisting of what was afterwards -two provinces—Aquitania and Lugdunensis. Plancus and Decimus Brutus were -named consuls for B.C. 42, and therefore their governorships necessarily -terminated at the end of B.C. 43, and might do so earlier. In the course -of B.C. 43 Plancus founded Lugdunum[23] (Lyon), which was afterwards -the capital of the central province of the four organised by Augustus. -But though the organisation of this country was not complete, Cæsar’s -conquest had been so decisive that no advantage was taken of the civil -war by the natives to attempt a rising.[24] There seem to have been some -insignificant movements in B.C. 42, but it was not for some years later -that any danger of importance arose there. The Belgæ had been expected -to rise on Cæsar’s assassination, but their chiefs hastened to assure -Hirtius’s legate of their adhesion to the Roman government.[25] - -[Sidenote: (3) ILLYRICUM.] - -The province of ILLYRICUM had been formed about the same time as that -of Macedonia (B.C. 146), but its limits had fluctuated, and it had -not received much continuous attention. It included places, such as -Dyrrachium, Corcyra, Issa, Pharus, which had been declared free after -the contest with Queen Teuta in B.C. 228, but were practically under -Roman control. Yet some of the most powerful tribes not only did not -acknowledge Roman authority, but made frequent incursions upon Roman -Illyricum. The most dangerous of these were the Dalmatians, with whom -several wars are recorded. In B.C. 117 L. Cælius Metellus occupied -Salonæ;[26] in B.C. 87-5 Sulla won a victory over them;[27] in B.C. 78-77 -C. Cosconius, after a two years’ campaign, took Salonæ by storm.[28] But -little was really effected in securing the province against its enemies. -It was let much alone so long as its tribute was paid, and was put under -the governor sometimes of Macedonia, sometimes of Cisalpine Gaul. In -Cæsar’s case (B.C. 58) it was specially assigned, like the rest of his -province, and he seems at first to have intended to go there in force -and subdue the hostile barbarians. But the Gallic campaigns drew him -away, and he only once actually entered Illyricum (B.C. 54) to overawe -the invading Pirustæ. In the last year of his proconsulship (B.C. 50) -some troops which he sent against the Dalmatians were cut to pieces. -The result of this was that the barbarians, fearing his vengeance, -adhered to Pompey in the civil war, whose legate, M. Octavius, with a -considerable fleet, maintained himself there,[29] and in B.C. 49 defeated -and captured Gaius Antonius, whom Cæsar sent against him.[30] At the -beginning of the next year Aulus Gabinius, while trying to lead a force -round the head of the Adriatic to join Cæsar, lost nearly all his men -in a battle with the Dalmatians.[31] After Pharsalia Gabinius was sent -back to assist Cornificius, who had been despatched to Illyricum as -proprætor after the mishap of Gaius Antonius; but he was again defeated -and shut up in Salonæ, where he died suddenly.[32] In B.C. 47, however, -P. Vatinius, having joined Cornificius, defeated and drove Octavius out -of the country.[33] After serving also in the African campaign of B.C. -46, Vatinius was sent back to Illyricum with three legions (B.C. 45) -expressly to reduce the still independent tribes. At first he gained -sufficient success to be honoured by a _supplicatio_,[34] but after -Cæsar’s death he was defeated by the Dalmatians with the loss of five -cohorts, and was driven to take refuge in Dyrrachium.[35] Early in B.C. -43 he was forced to surrender his legions to M. Brutus, who, however, in -the year and a half which preceded his death at Philippi, was too busy -elsewhere to attend to Illyricum.[36] Hence the expeditions of Pollio in -B.C. 39,[37] and of Augustus in B.C. 35 were rendered necessary, and they -for a time secured the pacification of the country and the extension of -Roman provinces to the Danube. - -[Sidenote: (4) SPAIN.] - -At the death of Iulius SPAIN was also a source of great danger -and difficulty. Since B.C. 197 it had been divided into two -provinces—Citerior and Ulterior—separated by the Saltus Castulonensis -(_Sierra Morena_), each governed by a prætor or proprætor. In B.C. 54 -Pompey introduced a triple division. Of his three legates Afranius held -Hispania Citerior; but the farther province was divided between Petreius, -who held the district as far west as the Anas (_Guadiana_), afterwards -called Bætica, while Terentius Varro governed the country west of that -river with Lusitania. Having forced Pompey’s legates to surrender the -country (B.C. 49), Cæsar seems not to have continued the triple division. -Q. Cassius was sent to Hispania Ulterior, M. Lepidus to Hispania -Citerior. But Cassius offended his own soldiers as well as the natives, -and had to escape by sea, being drowned on his way home. Nor did his -successor Trebonius do much better in B.C. 47; for many of his soldiers -deserted to Gnæus Pompeius when he came to Spain after the defeat at -Thapsus in the spring of B.C. 46.[38] And though Gnæus Pompeius perished -soon after the battle of Munda (B.C. 45) his younger brother Sextus -survived. At Cæsar’s death he was already at the head of a considerable -fleet which enabled him to control Sicily and re-occupy Bætica, when -its last Cæsarean governor—the famous C. Asinius Pollio—left it to join -Antony in Gallia Narbonensis in the summer of B.C. 43. The upper province -had meanwhile been governed by the legates of Metellus, who was about to -return to it and Gallia Narbonensis with four legions when Cæsar’s death -introduced new complications.[39] - -[Sidenote: (5) SICILY.] - -SICILY for eight years after Cæsar’s death was practically separated from -the Empire. In B.C. 49 it had been easily won over to Cæsar’s authority -by C. Curio, and after his success in Spain against Pompey’s legates -Cæsar had nominated Aulus Allienus[40] as its proprætor. In B.C. 46 -Allienus was succeeded by M. Acilius[41] (afterwards sent to Achaia), who -in his turn was succeeded by T. Furfanius Postumus (B.C. 45). Finally, -among Cæsar’s arrangements for B.C. 44 was the appointment of Pompeius -Bithynicus to Sicily. His father had served under Pompey and had perished -with him in Egypt; and Bithynicus seems to have feared retaliation from -the Pompeians if they returned to power; for on the death of Cæsar we -find him writing to Cicero in evident anxiety as to his position.[42] -He failed to hold the island against Sext. Pompeius, who landed in B.C. -43, and after sustaining a slight reverse at Messene forced Bithynicus -to yield him a share in the government, and shortly afterwards put him -to death because he believed him to be plotting against him.[43] Sicily -therefore had to be restored to the Empire by the triumvirs, a task which -fell chiefly to Augustus. - -[Sidenote: (6) SARDINIA.] - -SARDINIA was important for its supply of corn. In B.C. 49 Cæsar’s -legate Q. Valerius Orca occupied it without difficulty, its governor, -M. Aurelius Cotta, escaping to Africa. In B.C. 48 Orca was succeeded by -Sext. Peducæus.[44] But the arrangements made between that date and B.C. -44 are not known, for Peducæus appears to have been in Rome from the end -of B.C. 45.[45] In the first division of the provinces by the triumvirs -(November, B.C. 43) it fell to Octavian’s share,[46] though Suetonius -remarks that Africa and Sardinia were the only two provinces never -visited by him.[47] Meanwhile Sext. Pompeius occupied it,[48] and it was -not recovered till B.C. 38. - -[Sidenote: (7) AFRICA. NUMIDIA.] - -The province of AFRICA—the ancient territory of Carthage—may be taken -with this western part of the Empire. It had long been a peaceful -province, but in B.C. 46 it was the scene of the great rally of the -Pompeians after the disaster at Pharsalia. Since their final defeat at -Thapsus it had been farther secured by Cæsar’s colony at Carthage (B.C. -46-5), and had been governed by a fervent Cæsarean, C. Calvisius Sabinus. -At the end of B.C. 45 Sabinus returned to Rome, and Q. Cornificius (once -Cæsar’s quæstor) was named to succeed him. But affairs in Africa had -been complicated by the formation of a new province from the dominions -of Iuba, called sometimes New Africa, sometimes Numidia (B.C. 46). -Of this new province the first proprætor was the historian Sallust, -succeeded in B.C. 45 by T. Sextius with three legions. On Cæsar’s -death, therefore, there were two men in Africa who might possibly -take different views of the situation. Cornificius indeed—friend and -correspondent of Cicero—shewed at once that he meant to stand by the -Senate. A few months later he was confirmed in this resolution by the -fact of his continuance in office depending on the senatorial decree -of the 20th of December,[49] whereas Antony had commissioned Calvisius -Sabinus (who had never withdrawn his legates from Africa) to go back to -the province.[50] Accordingly, after Antony’s defeat at Mutina (April, -B.C. 43), the Senate felt strong enough to order Sextius to transfer -his three legions to Cornificius, who was himself under orders to send -two of them to Rome.[51] This was done, and with the remaining legion -Cornificius maintained his position in Old Africa, when the Triumvirate -was formed in November, and was able to offer protection to many of the -proscribed. But Sextius now claimed both provinces, as having fallen to -Octavian’s share. He enrolled troops in his own province and obtained the -help of Arabion, of the royal family of Numidia and chief of the robber -tribe of Sittians; and though Cornificius had the stronger force, he was -presently defeated and killed. Octavian, however, looked upon Sextius -as a partisan of Antony rather than of himself, and presently sent C. -Fuficius Fango to supersede him. Sextius seems to have foreseen that -differences would occur between Antony and Octavian likely to give him a -chance of recovering his province. Therefore under pretence of wishing to -winter in a genial climate he stayed on in Africa. His opportunity came -with the new distribution of provinces after Philippi (October-November, -B.C. 42). Old or “Prætorian” Africa fell to Antony, New Africa or Numidia -to Octavian. But upon the quarrel between Octavian and Fulvia (supported -by Lucius Antonius) in B.C. 41, Sextius was urged by Fulvia to demand -the prætorian province from Fango as properly belonging to Antony. After -several battles, in which he met with various fortunes, Fango was at last -driven to take refuge in the mountains, and there killed himself. Sextius -then held both provinces till, in B.C. 40, the triumvir Lepidus took -possession of them as his share of the Empire.[52] - -Thus the Western Provinces, in spite of Cæsar’s precautions, were all in -a condition to cause difficulty to his successors in the government. The -Eastern Provinces were for the most part in a state of similar disorder. -Illyricum has already been discussed, as most conveniently taken with -the Gauls. For those farther east Cæsar’s arrangements were no more -successful in securing peace than in the West. - -[Sidenote: (8) MACEDONIA.] - -The victory at Pharsalia put MACEDONIA under Cæsar’s control, and he -apparently continued to govern it till B.C. 45 by his legates. While in -Egypt (B.C. 48-7), fearing, it seems, that it might be made a centre of -resistance,[53] he directed Gabinius to go there with his legions, if the -state of Illyricum allowed of it.[54] We have no farther information -as to its government till the autumn of B.C. 45, when a large military -force was stationed there; and in that, or the following year, Q. -Hortensius—son of the famous orator—was made governor. Marcus Brutus was -named by Cæsar to succeed him in B.C. 43, and Hortensius did, in fact, -hand over the province to him at Thessalonica at the beginning of that -year. But meanwhile Antony had induced the Senate to nominate himself -(June, B.C. 44). He withdrew five of the legions and then managed to get -the province transferred to his brother Gaius. When Antony was declared -a _hostis_, the Senate revoked the nomination of Gaius and restored the -province, along with Illyricum, to M. Brutus, who was in fact already in -possession, having defeated and captured Gaius Antonius. - -[Sidenote: (9) GREECE.] - -Closely connected with Macedonia was GREECE, which had been left, since -B.C. 146, in a somewhat anomalous position. Thessaly indeed, was, to -a great extent, incorporated with Macedonia; but the towns in Bœotia, -as well as Athens and Sparta, were nominally free, though connected -with Rome in such a way as to be sometimes spoken of separately as -“provinces.” So with the towns in the Peloponnese once forming the Achæan -League. The League was dissolved and each town had a separate _fœdus_ -or charter.[55] But with all this local autonomy Greece was practically -governed by Rome, and in certain cases the proprætor of Macedonia -exercised jurisdiction in it. But as yet there was no “province” of -Greece or even of Achaia, with a separate proconsul or proprætor. Cæsar, -as in other cases, made temporary arrangements which afterwards became -permanent under Augustus. In B.C. 48, Q. Fufius Calenus, one of his -legates, was sent to take possession of Greek cities in Cæsar’s interest, -and remained at Patræ with troops till B.C. 47, exercising authority -over the whole of the Peloponnese.[56] In the autumn he went home and -was rewarded by the consulship for the rest of the year. But in B.C. -46, Cæsar appointed Serv. Sulpicius Rufus governor of Greece, and his -authority seems to have extended throughout the Peloponnese and as far -north as Thessaly.[57] Sulpicius returned to Rome at the end of B.C. -45, or beginning of B.C. 44, and does not seem to have had a successor. -Greece appears to have been tacitly allowed to revert to its old position -of nominal freedom and real attachment to Macedonia. M. Brutus at any -rate, as governor of Macedonia, assumed that he had authority in Greece. -After the re-arrangement at Philippi (B.C. 42), it fell to Antony’s -share, who, for a time at least, yielded Achaia to Sext. Pompeius.[58] - -[Sidenote: The Asiatic Provinces.] - -[Sidenote: (10) BITHYNIA AND PONTUS.] - -As Cæsar was meditating a settlement of Syria, it was important that the -Asiatic provinces should be in safe hands. To BITHYNIA and PONTUS—among -the newest of Roman provinces—L. Tillius Cimber had been nominated. -We know nothing of his antecedents except that we find him among the -influential friends of Cæsar in B.C. 46; but his provincial appointment -was readily confirmed by the Senate after his share in Cæsar’s death.[59] -He devoted himself to the collection of a fleet, with which he aided the -pursuit of Dolabella, and afterwards assisted Brutus and Cassius. - -[Sidenote: (11) ASIA.] - -The province of ASIA was quiet and wealthy. For financial and strategic -reasons it was specially necessary at this time to have it in safe hands. -Cæsar had nominated C. Trebonius, who had been his legate in Gaul and -Britain, and had often been intrusted with important commands. He had -stuck to his old general in the civil war and had been rewarded by the -prætorship of B.C. 48, and the province of Farther Spain in the next -year. Though he was not successful in Spain Cæsar continued to trust -him sufficiently to send him to Asia. He did not actually strike a blow -in the assassination, but he aided it by withdrawing Antony from the -Senate on a treacherous pretence of business. His appointment was readily -confirmed by the Senate, and he went to Asia purposing to fortify towns -and collect troops to aid the party of the assassins. It was this—not -alone his participation in the murder—which caused Dolabella, probably at -the instigation and certainly with the approval of Antony,[60] to put him -to death when refused admittance by him into Smyrna or Pergamus. At the -end of the year the Senate had arranged that he was to be succeeded by -one of the Consuls, Hirtius or Pansa. But after his murder the province -remained in the hands of his quæstor,[61] and on the death of Hirtius and -Pansa at Mutina it was transferred by the Senate to M. Brutus (to be held -with Macedonia), who in the course of B.C. 42 made a progress through it -to hold the _conventus_, to collect men and money, and to meet Cassius. -It was, no doubt, heavily taxed; and after the battle of Philippi Antony -took possession of it and again unmercifully drained its resources. - -[Sidenote: (12) CILICIA.] - -On quitting the province of CILICIA in July, B.C. 50, Cicero left it in -charge of his quæstor, C. Cælius Caldus. Whether, in the confusion of the -first years of civil war, any successor was appointed we do not know. -The province needed some resettlement, for in B.C. 47 Cæsar stopped at -Tarsus, on his way to Pontus, for some days, to meet the chief men and -make certain regulations, of which he does not tell us the nature.[62] -But it seems that then, or shortly afterwards, it was considerably -reduced in extent. The Phrygian “dioceses”—Laodicea, Apamea, and -Synnada—were assigned to Asia, as well as most of Pisidia and Pamphylia. -The remainder—Cilicia Aspera, and Campestris, with Cyprus—seem to have -been held somewhat irregularly by Cæsar’s own legates. It was afterwards -treated by Antony as though at his own disposal, Cyprus and Cilicia -Aspera being presented to Cleopatra, part of Phrygia with Lycaonia, -Isaurica, and Pisidia to Amyntas, king of Galatia. The province, in -fact, as known to Cicero, was almost separated from the Empire until -reorganised by Augustus. - -[Sidenote: (13) SYRIA.] - -The province of SYRIA was extremely important in view of the danger from -the Parthians. Bounded on the north by Mount Amanus it included Phœnicia -and Cœle-Syria as far south as the head of the Red Sea and the eastern -mouth of the Nile. On the east it was bounded by the Euphrates and the -deserts of Arabia. After the organisation of Pompey in B.C. 63 it had -been administered by proconsuls and the usual staff. In B.C. 57-6 it was -held by Gabinius, who employed his forces for the restoration of Ptolemy -Auletes to the throne of Egypt. In B.C. 54-3 it was held by Crassus; and -after his fall at Carrhæ it was successfully defended and administered -by C. Cassius as _quæstor_ and _proquæstor_. In B.C. 51-50, while Cicero -was in Cilicia, it was ruled by Bibulus; and in B.C. 49 Pompey secured -it for his father-in-law, Q. Cæcilius Metellus Scipio, who collected -troops and went to the aid of Pompey in Thessaly, and after Pharsalia -escaped to Africa. It was then put in the hands of the quæstor, Sextus -Iulius, a connection of the Dictator, with some legions, one of which -had been left there by Cæsar in anticipation of the coming Parthian war. -But a new complication had been introduced by Q. Cæcilius Bassus. This -man had been with Pompey at Pharsalia and had escaped to Syria, where -for a time he lived obscurely. But after a while, by tampering with -the soldiers of Sextus Iulius, who was both incompetent and vicious, -he induced them to assassinate their commander and transfer their -allegiance to himself.[63] Professing to be lawful proconsul of Syria -he fortified himself in Apamea, and there repulsed forces sent by Cæsar -under Antistius Vetus and L. Statius Murcus successively. He made some -agreement with the Parthians which secured their aid;[64] and though -Murcus was reinforced by Crispus governor of Bithynia, Bassus was still -unsubdued at the time of Cæsar’s death. There had been, therefore, -a double need for a strong man in Syria, and Cæsar had nominated C. -Cassius, the former defender of it against the Parthians. After Cæsar’s -death, however, Dolabella secured the passing of a law transferring Syria -to himself with the command against the Parthians. But some irregularity -in the auguries taken at the comitia gave Cassius a plausible excuse -for ignoring this law. Consequently when Dolabella entered the province -from the north, Cassius did so from the south. After some successful -movements in Palestine, Cassius induced Murcus and Crispus, and finally -Bassus himself, to hand over their legions to him, as well as Trebonius’s -legate, Allienus, who was bringing some legions from Egypt.[65] Thus -reinforced he shut up Dolabella in Laodicea and frightened him into -committing suicide. Syria therefore remained in the hands of Cassius; and -when he fell at Philippi it was vacant. In accordance with the agreement -made with Octavian after that battle it fell to the lot of Antony, who -retained it personally, or by his legates, till his death. - -[Sidenote: (14) EGYPT.] - -EGYPT was still an independent kingdom, ruled since B.C. 47 by Cleopatra. -Nevertheless, there was a considerable Roman force stationed in it, -partly left by Gabinius, when he restored Ptolemy Auletes in B.C. 57-6, -partly stationed there by Cæsar himself. They must have been somewhat -in the position of the English troops supporting the authority of the -Khedive, but prepared to resist all outside interference. So in this case -the Romans retained a preponderating influence, though with no legal -authority or right of raising revenue. These troops appear to have been -in a very disorderly state, and in B.C. 50 murdered two of the sons of -Bibulus who were among their officers.[66] - -[Sidenote: (15) CYRENE AND CRETE.] - -The district between Egypt and Roman Africa, called CYRENE, was once -joined to Egypt and then governed by a king of its own (B.C. 117). This -king (Ptolemy Apion), dying in B.C. 96 without issue, left his dominions -to the Romans. The Roman government took over the royal estates, and -placed a tax on the principal product of the country—silphium (valuable -for its medicinal qualities)—but did not organise it as a province. -The five principal cities[67] were allowed to retain a pretty complete -autonomy. But upon disagreements between these states breaking out, the -whole country in B.C. 74 was reduced to the form of a province governed -by a _quæstor pro prætore_.[68] Six years later (B.C. 68-7) complaints -as to the harbouring of pirates caused Q. Cæcilius Metellus to reduce -CRETE also.[69] When Pompey superseded Metellus in B.C. 67, he introduced -certain changes in the administration of both provinces, though there -is no proof that he combined them as was done at a later date. In B.C. -44 indeed, they were assigned separately—Crete to Brutus and Cyrene to -Cassius[70]—while Antony produced a memorandum of Cæsar’s directing that -Crete should be restored to liberty,[71] that is, should cease to pay -_tributum_. At the division of the provinces after Philippi both were -assigned to Antony, and he assumed the right some years later of forming -out of them a kingdom for his daughter by Cleopatra. - -[Sidenote: The general disorders in the Empire.] - -It will be seen therefore that at Cæsar’s death there was hardly any -part of the Empire in which there were not elements of mischief more or -less active. The most peaceful district was perhaps Greece, though it -managed to put itself under the frown of the triumvirs by sympathising -with Brutus, and later on under that of Octavian by sympathising with -Antony. The disturbances which most affected the actual residents in Rome -and Italy were those in Sicily and Sardinia, Gaul and Illyricum. The -man who should put an end to these would seem a saviour of society. The -struggles in the far East, though from a financial point of view they -were of considerable importance, would not loom so large in the eyes of -the Italians. We have now to trace the steps by which Augustus was able -to satisfy the needs of the state; to restore peace and plenty to Italy; -to organise and safeguard the provinces; and thus to be almost worshipped -as the visible guarantee of order and tranquillity. - - - - -CHAPTER III - -THE INHERITANCE - - _Cui dabit partes scelus_ - _expiandi Iuppiter?_ - - -[Sidenote: News of Cæsar’s murder brought to Apollonia, March, B.C. 44.] - -The news of his great-uncle’s death reached Octavius at Apollonia in the -afternoon, just as he and his suite were going to dinner. A vague rumour -of some great misfortune quickly spread through the town, and many of -the leading inhabitants hastened to the house with zealous friendliness -to ascertain its truth. After a hasty consultation with his friends, -Octavius decided to get rid of most of them while inviting a few of the -highest rank to discuss with him what should be done. This being effected -with some difficulty, an anxious debate was carried on into the night. -Opinions were divided. One party urged Octavius to go to the army in -Macedonia, appeal to its attachment to Cæsar, and call on the legions -to follow him to Rome to avenge the murdered Dictator.[72] Those who -thus advised trusted to the impression likely to be made by Octavius’s -personal charm and the pity which his position would excite. Others -thought this too great an undertaking for so young a man. They argued -that the many friends whom Cæsar had raised to positions of honour and -profit might be trusted to avenge his murder. They did not yet know that -theirs were the very hands which had struck him down. After listening to -the various opinions Octavius resolved to take no decisive step until -he had reached Italy, had consulted his friends there, and had seen the -state of affairs with his own eyes. - -[Sidenote: Octavius prepares to go to Italy, April, B.C. 44.] - -Preparations for crossing were begun at once, and in the few days before -the start farther details of the assassination reached Apollonia. The -citizens begged Octavius to stay, putting all the resources of the town -at his disposal; and a number of officers and soldiers came from the -army with tenders of service, whether to guard his person or to avenge -the Dictator. But for the present he declined all offers. He thanked the -Apolloniates and promised the town immunities and privileges—a promise -which in after years he did not forget. He told the officers and soldiers -that he would claim their services at some future time. For the present -he did not need them: “only let them be ready when the time came.” The -conduct of the Martia and Quarta a few months later shewed that these -feelings were genuine and lasting. - -Octavius had a poor vessel and a stormy crossing, but landed in safety, -probably at Hydruntum (_Otranto_), the nearest point in Calabria, and in -fair weather only a five hours’ voyage.[73] That fact and the state of -the wind may have influenced the choice of the port. But he was also too -much in the dark as to affairs in Italy to venture upon such a frequented -landing-place as Brundisium, where he might have found himself in the -midst of political enemies or hostile troops. From Hydruntum he went by -land to Lupiæ, rather more than half way to Brundisium. There he first -met some who had witnessed Cæsar’s funeral, had heard the recitation of -his will, and could tell him that he was adopted as Cæsar’s son, and -(with a deduction of a liberal legacy to the citizens) was heir to -three-quarters of his property,[74] the remaining fourth being divided -between Cæsar’s two other grand-nephews Q. Pedius and Lucius Pinarius. -He learnt also that the Dictator’s funeral, which by his will was to be -conducted by Atia, had been performed in the Forum amidst great popular -excitement, caused partly by the sight of his wounded body,[75] partly by -Antony’s speech, and had been followed by attacks on the houses of the -chief assassins, who, after barricading themselves for three days on the -Capitol, had found it necessary to retire from Rome, first to the villa -of Brutus at Lanuvium, and then to Antium,[76] in spite of the amnesty -voted in the Senate on the 17th of March. - -[Sidenote: Octavian accepts the inheritance and name, May, B.C. 44.] - -Though deeply moved by this story Octavian did not allow his feelings -to betray him into taking any false or hasty step. _Satis celeriter -quod satis bene_ was his motto now as in after life.[77] He went on to -Brundisium, having ascertained that it was not occupied by enemies, and -there received letters from his mother and stepfather confirming what he -had already heard. His mother begged him to join her at once, to avoid -the jealousies roused by his adoption. Philippus advised him to accept -neither inheritance nor name, and to hold aloof from public business. -The advice was, no doubt, prompted by affection, and was natural in -the circumstances. But though Octavian never blustered, neither did he -easily turn aside: he wrote back declaring his determination to accept. -His own friends henceforth addressed him as “Cæsar,” his full name now -being Gaius Iulius Cæsar Octavianus.[78] The adoption indeed was not -complete without the formal passing of a _lex curiata_; but though that -was delayed for more than a year, the new name was assumed at once. He -complied with his mother’s wish that he should visit her first, and he -soon had the satisfaction of feeling that though Philippus was still -opposed, her heart was with him in the manly resolve to sustain the great -part which Cæsar’s affection had assigned to him. Cicero mentions in a -letter of April 11th that Octavius had arrived in Italy, and on the 18th -that he had reached Naples. On the 19th Balbus—the Dictator’s friend and -agent—called on him and learned from his own lips his resolve to accept -the inheritance. On the 22nd Cicero met him at his stepfather’s villa -near Puteoli, and anxiously watched for any indication of his political -aims. He was only partly satisfied. - - “Octavius here treats me with great respect and friendliness. - His own people addressed him as ‘Cæsar,’ but as Philippus did - not do so, I did not do it either. I declare it is impossible - for him to be a good citizen! He is surrounded by such a number - of people who actually threaten our friends with death. He says - the present state of things is intolerable.”[79] - -It was not Octavian’s cue as yet to break openly with the aristocrats. -The first struggles for his rights were likely to be with Antony, in -which the aid of Cicero and his party would be useful. At the same time -he was too cautious and self-controlled to commit himself or betray his -real intentions, which remained an enigma to the emotional orator, who -hardly ever spoke without doing so. Cicero consoled himself by the -reflection that at any rate Octavian’s claims must cause a quarrel with -Antony. Yet he was indignant that this stripling could go to Rome without -risk, while Brutus and Cassius and the other “heroes” of the dagger could -not. Octavian’s journey to Rome was for the twofold purpose of giving -formal notice to the prætor urbanus that he accepted the inheritance, and -of making a statement of his intentions as administrator of the will at a -public assembly. For the latter he needed to be introduced to the meeting -by a tribune. For this service he relied on Lucius Antonius. All three -brothers were in office this year—Marcus consul, Gaius prætor, Lucius -tribune; and as supporters of the late Cæsar they could not in decency -refuse him this opportunity of declaring his sentiments. - -[Sidenote: Octavian and M. Antonius.] - -Octavian reached Rome in the first week of May, duly accepted the -inheritance, and was introduced to a _contio_ by Lucius Antonius about -the 10th of that month.[80] The speech was not satisfactory to the -Ciceronian party. He declared his intention to carry out his “father’s” -will as to the legacy to the people, and to celebrate the games at the -dedication of the temple of Venus promised by Cæsar. Preparations for -them were begun at once, two of the Dictator’s friends, Matius and -Postumius, being selected to superintend them.[81] But though confining -himself to expressions of veneration for his “father’s” memory, and -uttering no threats against any one, Octavian had not given up for a -moment his resolve to punish the murderers. The amnesty voted in the -Senate he regarded as a temporary expedient. All that was needed was an -accuser, and he did not mean that such a person should be long wanting. -But meanwhile his first business was to secure his own position and the -possession of Cæsar’s property. This at once brought him into collision -with Antony. - -[Sidenote: The money at the temple of Ops.] - -The financial arrangements of the late Dictator were to a great degree to -blame for this. He seems to have introduced the system of the _fiscus_, -though without the name known in later times: that is, large sums of -money were deposited in the temple of Ops to his order, separate from the -public _ærarium_ of the temple of Saturnus, and not clearly distinguished -from his own private property. It was as though a Chancellor of the -Exchequer paid portions of the revenue to his private banking account, -and were to die suddenly without leaving any means of distinguishing -between public and private property.[82] Cicero says that this money -(700,000,000 sesterces, or about five and a half millions sterling) was -the proceeds of the sale of confiscated properties,[83] and there was, it -seems, much other property in lands and houses from the same source. The -claim by an heir of Cæsar would be met by a double opposition—from the -government, which would regard the whole as public; and from the owners -or their representatives, who might have hopes of recovering parts of it. -For at Rome confiscation did not bar claims under marriage settlements, -or for debts secured on properties. The large sum at the temple of Ops -had been taken over entirely by Antony the Consul, nominally as being -public money, really—as Cicero affirms—to liquidate his own enormous -debts. It is very likely that Antony shared the spoil with others, -perhaps with his colleague Dolabella, and they may have satisfied their -consciences with some partial use of it for public purposes.[84] At -any rate it was not forthcoming when Octavian put in his claim. Even -in regard to such property as was handed over to him he was constantly -harassed by lawsuits. Claimants were instigated, as he believed, by one -or other of the Antonies; while Gaius Antonius, acting _prætor urbanus_ -for Brutus, would often preside in the court. He was resolved, however, -to carry out Cæsar’s will, even if he had to sell his own paternal estate -and draw upon his mother’s resources. But it seems, after all, that the -property of Cæsar which he did manage to get, or his own wealth, was so -ample, that he was able to do this without crippling himself. Pinarius -and Pedius got their shares, but handed them over to him, perhaps as -being too heavily weighted with legacies to be of much value to them, or -thinking that his great future made it a good investment. At any rate -the legacies were paid, the games given, and when some months later he -proceeded to enroll two legions of veterans he was able to pay each man -a bounty amounting to something like £20 of our money.[85] At no time in -his career does he seem to have had serious money difficulties. No doubt -his resources were always large, but he must also have had the valuable -faculty of husbanding them in small matters, while always having enough -for large outlays. - -[Sidenote: Difficulties about Octavian’s adoption.] - -But it was not only in regard to money that Octavian found himself -thwarted by Antony and his brothers. A tribune, probably Lucius Antonius -himself, prevented the formal passing of the _lex curiata_ for his -adoption, with a view of weakening his claims upon the inheritance. When -he wished to be elected tribune in the place of Cinna, who had fallen -a victim to the mob in mistake for L. Cinna, a prætor who had spoken -against Cæsar, he was prevented by the partisans of Antony.[86] There -was indeed a legal obstacle in the fact that he was now a patrician,[87] -was under age, and had not held the quæstorship, though this last was -a breach of custom rather than of law. Lastly, Antony treated him with -studied disrespect, keeping him waiting in his ante-room; while Lucius -Antonius and the other tribunes forbade him to place Cæsar’s gilded chair -in the Circus at his games.[88] - -[Sidenote: Octavian and the Optimates. After the meeting of the Senate in -June.] - -It was clear that a breach between the two was imminent. The younger man -was not abashed by the years or high office of the other; and though some -formal reconciliation was brought about by common friends or by military -officers, Octavian seems to have allowed the Ciceronians to believe that -he intended to join them in opposing Antony. His attentions to them -became more marked after the meeting of the Senate of the 1st of June. To -this meeting the Constitutionalists had been looking forward as likely -to bring the uncertainty to an end. At it the question of the provinces -was to be settled; the two consuls, with the aid of a committee, were to -report on what were the genuine _acta_ of Cæsar; and some means were to -be found to enable Brutus and Cassius to carry on their duties as prætors -in Rome with safety. - -[Sidenote: Antony and Cæsar’s _acta_ and veterans.] - -Meanwhile Antony had been availing himself of the papers of Cæsar as -though the committee had already reported. He had also been securing -himself—as he thought—by visiting the colonies of Cæsar’s veterans in -Campania[89] and by gradually collecting a bodyguard. This had now -assumed sufficiently formidable proportions to overawe the Senate.[90] It -is true that he had experienced difficulties at Capua, where the existing -coloni resented his attempt to plant others in the same territory; but, -on the whole, he seems to have improved his position by his tour in April -and May. Then again Lepidus had visited Sext. Pompeius in Spain, and was -reported to have induced him, on condition of recovering his father’s -property, to return to Rome and place his naval and military forces -(amounting to more than six legions) at the disposal of the consuls.[91] -This, thinks Cicero, would make Antony irresistible; and so no doubt -thought Octavian also. - -[Sidenote: The position of Brutus and Cassius. The change of provinces.] - -Nor did the meetings of the Senate in June effect anything to dissipate -these fears. What was done for Brutus and Cassius satisfied neither -party. They were offered the _cura annonæ_, superintendence of the -corn supply—Cassius in Sicily, Brutus in Asia—which would give them a -decent pretext for being absent from Rome for the rest of the year. -They, however, regarded this offer as an insult.[92] So also in regard -to the provinces: Brutus and Cassius were deprived of Macedonia and -Syria, which Cæsar had assigned to them respectively, and were offered -the unimportant governorships of Crete and Cyrene. But Antony in the -same meetings secured still greater military strength for himself by an -arrangement with Dolabella. The latter was appointed to Syria and the -command against the Parthians by a _lex_; and he then induced the Senate -to give Macedonia to himself, with the command of the legions stationed -there, one of which he had bargained with Dolabella to hand over to him. -These decrees having been passed,[93] he sent his brother Gaius over at -once to announce the fact to the legions in Macedonia and to give them -notice that they might at any time be summoned to Italy. For Antony -himself had no intention of going to Macedonia. His private resolve was -to hold Gallia Cisalpina with the largest force possible, as giving him -most hold on Italy. He had only accepted Macedonia in order to get these -legions into his hands. At the same time he carried a repeal of Cæsar’s -law confining the tenure of a province for a proprætor to one, and for a -proconsul to two, years. - -[Sidenote: Antony gets himself nominated to Cisalpina Gaul.] - -Though this increasing power of Antony was naturally calculated to alarm -Octavius, he was, on the other hand, opposed to Decimus Brutus—one of -the assassins—retaining Gallia Cisalpina. He therefore supported Antony -in carrying a law conferring that province on him at the end of his -consulship.[94] The Senators now saw that they had been tricked. They had -given Antony the Macedonian legions without conditions, and he would now -use them in another province given him by a _lex_—over which they had no -control. Suggestions were made to remove Gallia Cisalpina from the list -of provinces, and incorporate it (as was afterwards done by Augustus) in -Italy, thus doing away with any pretext for a proconsul residing there -with legions. But for the present the law stood which assigned it to -Antony for B.C. 43. It appears to have been passed by the beginning of -July, and he at once sent word to his brother to bring the legions over. -They were expected in July,[95] but did not actually arrive till nearly -three months later. Meanwhile a war of recriminations was maintained -between Antony the consul and Brutus and Cassius the prætors by letters -or edicts. Antony accused the prætors of collecting forces hostile to -the government, the prætors accused Antony of making it impossible for -them to come to Rome by denouncing them in speeches and edicts, in breach -of his promise. On the 1st of August L. Calpurnius Piso—father-in-law -of the late Cæsar—inveighed against Antony in the Senate, ending with -a hostile motion, of the exact nature of which we are not informed. -But he could get no one to speak or vote with him, so completely cowed -were the Senators by Antony’s military forces.[96] On the other hand, -Antony was uneasy at the growing popularity of Octavian, especially -among the veterans. He had himself made a bid for their favour by two -commissions for assigning land to them both in Italy and the provinces. -But the veterans were suspicious; they had expected some signal act of -vengeance for the murder of Cæsar; and at the same time Antony’s lavish -grants of public land to unworthy favourites impoverished the exchequer -and diminished the amount available for distribution. They lowered his -popularity with the veterans as much as they annoyed the Senators, who -yet did not venture to oppose him. - -[Sidenote: Attempted assassination of Antony.] - -The friction between the two men—varied by occasional -reconciliations—became more and more acute, until about the end of -September it was rumoured that Octavian had suborned men to assassinate -Antony. Of course Octavian disclaimed it, and upon Antony giving out that -certain men had been found in his house with daggers, he went openly -with an offer to serve along with his friends among his bodyguards. The -popular belief was that Antony had invented the whole story to discredit -him; but Cicero and others of his party both believed and approved, and -subsequent writers are divided in opinion. Nicolas of Damascus probably -gives Octavian’s own version, according to which Antony was unable to -produce the pretended assassins to a council of his friends, or to -induce them to advise active retaliation upon Octavian. Appian points -out that it was not to Octavian’s interest just then that Antony should -disappear, for it would have been a great encouragement to the party of -the Assassins, of whose real sentiments towards himself he was no doubt -aware.[97] - -For with this party his alliance was a matter of great doubt. In June -Cicero had said of him: - -[Sidenote: Octavian and the Optimates.] - - “In Octavian, as I have perceived, there is no little ability - and spirit; and he seems likely to be as well disposed to our - heroes as I could wish. But what confidence one can feel in a - man of his age, name, inheritance, and upbringing may well give - us pause. His stepfather, whom I saw at Antium, thinks none at - all. However, we must foster him, and, if nothing else, keep - him estranged from Antony. Marcellus will be doing admirable - service if he gives him good advice. Octavian seems devoted to - him, but has no great confidence in Pansa and Hirtius.”[98] - -Philippus was not a man for whom Cicero had a great respect.[99] But -Marcellus, the husband of Octavia (Cos. B.C. 50), was a sound aristocrat -and a trustworthy man. Still Octavian had done nothing since to identify -himself with the conservative party, in spite of his differences with -Antony. With Cicero himself he kept up friendly communications; yet at -the final breach between Cicero and Antony in September, it does not seem -to have occurred to Cicero to put forward Octavian as Antony’s opponent; -nor does he mention him in the first two Philippics. It was Octavian’s -own independent action which first shewed that he was ready and able to -assume that position, and Cicero viewed this at first with anxiety and -almost dismay. - -[Sidenote: Octavian enrolls veterans.] - -Antony left Rome on the 9th of October to meet the Macedonian legions -at Brundisium. Octavian no longer hesitated. Sending agents to tamper -with the loyalty of the newly arrived legions, he himself went a round -of the veterans in Campania, offering them a bounty of 500 denarii -(about £20), if they would enlist again. In doing this he acted wholly -on his own initiative and without authority from Senate or people, and -without holding any office giving him military command.[100] In after -years Augustus regarded this as the first step in his public career, -the first service rendered to the State: “When nineteen years old I -raised an army on my own initiative and at my own expense, with which -I restored to liberty the republic which had been crushed under the -tyranny of a faction.” And not only did he reckon this his first public -service; the wording of this statement is a declaration that he thereby -adopted the policy and was continuing the work of his “father,” for he -uses the very phrase which Cæsar had used in justifying himself.[101] -This phrase illustrates another point also. Ostensibly the enrolment of -veterans was to protect himself against Antony. Perhaps he did not yet -see how it was to be done, but at the bottom of his heart was the purpose -of checkmating, if not destroying, the clique which had caused Cæsar’s -murder, though for the moment he was with them in opposition to Antony, -and was eager to have Cicero’s support and approval. Yet how doubtful and -uneasy the orator felt is shewn by two letters in which he tells what -Octavian was doing. - - “Puteoli, 2 November. On the evening of the 1st I got a letter - from Octavian. He is entering upon a serious undertaking. - He has won over to his views all the veterans at Casilinum - and Calatia. And no wonder: he gives a bounty of 500 denarii - apiece. Clearly his view is a war with Antony under his own - leadership. So I perceive that before many days are over we - shall be in arms. But whom are we to follow? Consider his name, - consider his age! Again, he demands to begin with a secret - interview with me at Capua of all places! It is really quite - childish to suppose that it can be kept quiet. I have written - to explain to him that it is neither necessary nor practicable. - He sent a certain Cæcina of Volaterræ to me, an intimate friend - of his own, who brought me news that Antony was on his way to - the city with the _Alaudæ_, was imposing money contribution - on the municipal towns, and was marching at the head of the - legion with colours flying. He wanted my opinion, whether he - should start for Rome with his legion of 3,000 veterans, or - should hold Capua, and so intercept Antony’s advance, or should - join the three Macedonian legions now sailing by the Mare - Superum, which he hopes are devoted to himself. They refused - to accept a bounty offered them by Antony, as my informant at - least asserts. They even used grossly insulting language to - him and moved off when he attempted to address them. In short, - Octavian offers himself as our military leader, and thinks - that our right policy is to stand by him. On my part I advised - his making for Rome. For I think he will have, not only the - city mob, but, if he can impress them with confidence, the - loyalists also on his side. Oh, Brutus! Where are you! What an - opportunity you are losing! I did not actually foresee this, - but I thought that something of the sort would happen.” - - “Puteoli [3] November. Two letters on the same day from - Octavian! His present view is that I should come to Rome at - once, and that he wishes to act through the Senate. I told him - that a meeting of the Senate was impossible before the 1st of - January, and I believe it is so. But he adds also, ‘and by your - advice.’ In short he insists, while I suspend judgment. I don’t - trust his youth, I am in the dark as to his disposition, I am - not able to do anything without your friend Pansa. I am afraid - of Antony succeeding, and I don’t like moving far from the sea. - At the same time I fear some great _coup_ being struck without - my being there. Varro for his part dislikes the youth’s plan. - I don’t agree with him. He has forces on which he can depend. - He can count on Decimus Brutus, and is making no secret of his - intentions. He is organising his men in companies at Capua, he - is paying them their bounty money. War seems to be ever coming - nearer and nearer.”[102] - -[Sidenote: Antony’s breach with the Senate, November-December, B.C. 44.] - -In spite of these half-hearted and doubtful expressions of Cicero, the -Senate at his own suggestion was presently glad to approve Octavian’s -action, and to accept his aid. For events now followed quickly. -When Antony met the legions at Brundisium, sent over by his brother -Gaius,[103] he seems at first to have found them ready to obey him. But -difficulties were presently promoted by the agents of Octavian, who -offered the men liberal bounties, or scattered _libelli_ among them -denouncing Antony’s tyranny and neglect of Cæsar’s memory, and urging -Octavian’s claim on their allegiance. Signs of mutiny soon shewed -themselves, and after a stormy meeting at which some officers and men -used insubordinate language, Antony arrested and put to death several of -the officers as ringleaders, and about 300 men.[104] These severities, -followed by more liberal offers and some conciliatory language, seemed -for the time to put an end to the mutiny. Selecting therefore a -“prætorian cohort” from the legions, Antony started for Rome, ordering -the rest to march in detachments up the coast road to Ariminum, where the -_via Æmilia_ through the valley of the Po begins. In Cicero’s letters -of the 8th, 11th, and 12th of November are recorded the various rumours -of his approach, and the anxieties as to what he intended to do at -Rome.[105] He arrived about the 20th in full military array, and entered -the city with a strong bodyguard, the rest of his men being encamped -outside the walls. He did not stay long however. Having summoned the -Senate for the 25th, in an edict, in which he denounced the character and -aims of Octavian,[106] he went to Tibur, where he had ordered his new -levies to muster. Here he delivered a speech, which Cicero afterwards -described as “pestilent.”[107] On the 25th, however, he did not appear -in the Senate. A second edict postponed the meeting to the 29th. Cicero -insinuates that his non-appearance on the 25th was caused by some extra -debauch. But, in fact, the reason may have been the news about the _legio -Martia_, which, instead of going to Ariminum, had turned off from the -coast road and reached Alba Fucensis. It might be of course that the -legion was on its way to join Antony at Tibur, to which there was a good -road from Alba Fucensis (_via Valeria_). Antony therefore went to Alba, -but found the gates closed, and was greeted by a shower of arrows from -the walls. It was clear that this legion at least did not mean to serve -him. He came to Rome for the meeting of the Senate on the 29th, but was -informed just before it that the Quarta had followed the example of the -Martia, and was at Alba Fucensis. He understood that these legions meant -to join Octavian, and he no longer thought it possible to get Octavian -declared a _hostis_, though one of his partisans was ready to propose it. -Having therefore transacted some formal business—chiefly the allotment -of provinces, in which his brother Gaius obtained Macedonia, and a -supplicatio in honour of Lepidus, he hurriedly returned to Tibur. His -friends and supporters visited him in great numbers; but within a few -days he was on his march to Ariminum to join what remained of the five -Macedonian legions.[108] - -[Sidenote: Cicero’s doubts as to Octavian’s intentions.] - -Antony’s object was to attack Decimus Brutus, whose forces were -concentrated at Mutina. But at any rate, he was gone from Rome, and -Octavian had won the first trick in the game. Cicero attributes Antony’s -lowered tone in the Senate, and his hurried departure, to Octavian’s -promptness and success in raising the veterans, and inducing the Martia -and Quarta to desert him. At first, however, he had not felt easy as to -the young man’s intentions. Writing from Puteoli on the 5th of November -he tells Atticus that he gets a letter from Octavian every day, begging -him to come to Capua and once more to save the republic, or, if not, at -least to go to Rome. Cicero is “shamed to refuse and yet afraid to take”; -but owns that Octavian is acting with vigour, and will probably enter -Rome in great force. But he doubts whether the young man understands -the situation, or the terrorism established by Antony in the Senate. He -had better wait, he thinks, till the new consulate begins on January -1st.[109] About the 12th of November, he tells Atticus that if Octavian -wins now, the fear is that he will confirm Cæsar’s _acta_ more completely -than ever, which will be against the interests of Brutus, while, if he is -beaten, Antony will become more despotic still.[110] Early in December -(or the end of November), he mentions with alarm the possibility of -Octavian being elected for a chance vacancy in the Tribunate[111]; and -assents to a remark made by Atticus, that though Octavian had given -Antony a notable check, “they must wait to see the end.” Again he says to -Oppius, “I cannot be warmly on his side without having some security that -he will cordially embrace the friendship of Brutus and Cassius and the -other tyrannicides.”[112] - -[Sidenote: Octavian begins his march.] - -On the 9th of December, however, when he came to Rome after Antony’s -departure, Cicero made up his mind that for the present all distrust was -to be dismissed or at least concealed. Octavian had mustered his forces -at Alba Fucensis, and after some communications with the Senate—which -warmly welcomed his offer of aid—had started with his legions on the -track of Antony; who before the end of the year began the investment of -Mutina, upon the refusal of Decimus Brutus to quit the province. - -[Sidenote: Octavian is recognised by the Senate, and obtains imperium, -Jan. B.C. 43.] - -Accordingly, on the 20th of December, Cicero himself proposed a -resolution in the Senate authorising the Consuls-designate to provide for -the safe meeting of the Senate on the 1st of January; approving of an -edict of Decimus Brutus, just arrived, in which he forbade any one with -imperium entering his province to succeed him; directing all provincial -governors to retain their provinces till successors were named by the -Senate; and, lastly, approving the action of “Gaius Cæsar” in enrolling -the veterans, and of the Martia and Quarta in having joined him. These -resolutions were to be formally put to the Senate on the 1st of January -by the new consuls.[113] Accordingly on that and the following days, -after somewhat stormy debates, these decrees were passed, as well as one -which acknowledged the services of Octavian, and gave him the rank of -proprætor with imperium. It was also enacted that in regard to elections -to office he should be considered to have held the quæstorship. He -thus became a member of the Senate, with a right of speaking among the -_prætorii_, and consequently with a plausible claim to stand for the -consulship, in spite of his youth. A second decree—after the battles at -Mutina—gave him _consularia ornamenta_.[114] - -Octavian was now fully launched on his public career. He had shown both -Antony and the Senate that he was no negligible quantity. Though the -Senate neither liked nor trusted him, he had played his cards with such -skill that it was forced to treat him as its champion; while Antony had -contrived to put himself in such clear opposition to the constitutional -claims of the Senate, that Octavian could attack him without thereby -committing himself to the support of the Assassins, and had made himself -so strong that (if he proved successful against Antony) he would -hereafter be able to dictate his own terms. Cicero saw this clearly -enough, but he hoped that the defeat of Antony would secure to the side -of the Senate the governors of Gaul and Spain with their legions,[115] -and that thus supported they would be able to discard their youthful -champion. “He was,” he said later on, “to be complimented, distinguished, -and—extinguished.”[116] We shall now see how the hopes of the sanguine -orator were once more blasted, and how all these intrigues were baffled -by the wary policy and cool persistence of “the boy.” - - - - -CHAPTER IV - -THE CONSULSHIP AND TRIUMVIRATE - - _Gravesque_ - _principum amicitias._ - - -[Sidenote: Octavian’s position at the beginning of B.C. 43.] - -The campaign of Mutina, in which Octavian had now embarked, was ended by -two battles—one at Forum Gallorum on the 15th, and another at Antony’s -camp on the 21st of April. After the latter date there were military -movements of some interest and importance, but no actual conflict. Before -these battles Octavian’s position had been difficult and delicate; and -though it was much improved after them, it was not in the way expected -by the Senate. The change was due to his own prudence and energy. Since -his start from Alba to follow Antony the aspect of affairs at Rome had -been much modified, and he had had good reason to doubt the favour of -the party over whom Cicero was now exercising a predominant influence. -Cicero appears indeed to have kept up a constant correspondence with -Octavian, in which he did his best by flattery and argument to retain -his aid and lull his suspicions. But there were facts which it must -have been difficult for him to explain to Octavian’s satisfaction. It -is true that besides the honours voted to him in the Senate in the -first week of B.C. 43, he had been joined with the other magistrate -in the _Senatus-consultum ultimum_, empowering them to “see that -the state took no harm.”[117] But though the decrees also gave him a -constitutional right to command soldiers,[118] yet the despatch of the -two consuls to the seat of war deprived him of the chief command; while -the more moderate party had carried over Cicero’s head a resolution to -send three commissioners to negotiate with Antony. Cicero asserts that -they were only authorised to convey to Antony the Senate’s order that -he was to quit the Gallic province. That was not, however, the view of -the commissioners themselves. One of them—Serv. Sulpicius Rufus—died -on the journey; but the other two—L. Calpurnius Piso and L. Marcius -Philippus—brought back some proposals from Antony in February, which, had -they been accepted, might perhaps have secured the safety of Brutus and -Cassius, but would certainly have left Octavian out in the cold, without -any pretext for keeping up his military force. - -[Sidenote: Antony’s proposals.] - -Antony proposed to give up the Cisalpine province, on condition of -receiving Transalpine Gaul—exclusive of Narbonensis—with the six legions -already under him, supplemented by those at present commanded by Dec. -Brutus, for five years, or for such time as Brutus and Cassius should -be consuls or proconsuls. Secondly, on condition that the _acta_ of his -consulship—including the use of the money from the temple of Ops and -his grants of lands—should be left intact; and that those serving with -him should have complete indemnity.[119] The envoys were against the -extreme measure of declaring a state of war (rather than a _tumultus_) -and proclaiming Antony a _hostis_, and the majority of the Senate -agreed with them and voted for further negotiations. It was a strange -position. Octavian had been authorised by the Senate to drive Antony -from Cisalpine Gaul. One of the consuls—Aulus Hirtius—had left Rome with -two legions, and had, in fact, come into contact with the enemy in a -cavalry skirmish at Claterna; the other consul, Pansa, was also preparing -to follow. Yet the Senate was negotiating with Antony as though he were -not a _hostis_, but a citizen with a grievance. The time was soon to come -when Octavian, too, would find it convenient to make terms with Antony; -but nothing could have been more against his interests than the present -action of the Senate. It would seem to him a cynical disregard of their -mutual obligations. Nor was this the worst. Antony’s offer as to Brutus -and Cassius was only an offer to recognise an accomplished fact. These -two leaders in the assassination had been already nominated by the Senate -to Macedonia and Syria. Cicero was in constant correspondence with them, -addressing them as the chief hope of the constitution, and suggesting -that their armies might be used to maintain the hold of the party on -Italy. Trebonius, moreover, had been sent to Asia with the express -understanding that he was to fortify that province and collect money to -support Brutus and Cassius. When news came that Trebonius had been put to -death by Dolabella, the latter was declared a _hostis_ by the Senate, and -his punishment entrusted to Cassius. - -[Sidenote: Antony’s letter to Octavian.] - -These facts must have gradually made it quite clear to Octavian that -the complete triumph of the Ciceronian party would be no less damaging -to him than that of Antony. But though skilful use was made of them by -Antony himself in a letter addressed to Hirtius and Octavian,[120] the -young Cæsar was not to be induced to take any premature step. The Senate -might be dealt with hereafter: for the present the first necessity was to -prevent Antony from becoming strong enough to dictate terms to himself as -well as to the Senate. He therefore quietly continued to take his part in -the campaign. - -[Sidenote: The military situation in the spring of B.C. 43.] - -The Senatorial armies commanded the district round Mutina, except -Bononia, Regium Lepidi, and Parma. Of these towns, the first was -twenty-three miles east of Mutina along the Æmilian road; the other two -about the same distance west of it. They were in the hands of Antony, -affording him bases of operation on either side of Mutina. In the middle -of February Cicero was daily expecting to hear of Dec. Brutus ending -the war by a sally from Mutina. At that time Antony’s headquarters -were at Bononia, only a part of his troops actually investing Mutina. -Hirtius was at Claterna, eleven miles east of Bononia; Octavian at Forum -Cornelii (Imola), nine miles farther east. Bad weather had prevented -serious operations, but some time in March Antony evacuated Bononia to -push on the siege of Mutina with his full force. Hirtius and Octavian at -once occupied Bononia, and gradually pushed out fortified posts towards -Mutina;[121] for Dec. Brutus was hard pressed for food, and they feared -that he would have to surrender. But not being on an equality with -Antony, especially in cavalry, they were anxious to wait for the fresh -legions from Rome under Pansa. Some minor skirmishes took place from time -to time,[122] but as the days dragged on and Mutina was not relieved, the -anxiety at Rome grew greater and greater. “I am restlessly waiting for -news,” writes Cicero on the 11th of April; “the decisive hour is upon us; -for our whole hope depends on relieving Dec. Brutus.”[123] On the 15th -and 16th there was a panic in the city caused by the prætor Ventidius -Bassus. He had enrolled two legions of veterans, and was believed to be -about to enter Rome. He, however, marched off to Potentia to watch the -result of the struggle in Gallia Cisalpina; and a few days later came the -news of the victory of Forum Gallorum, which changed this unreasonable -panic into an exultation almost as unreasonable.[124] - -[Sidenote: Battle of Forum Gallorum, April 15th, B.C. 43.] - -Pansa was expected to reach the seat of war about the 16th of April. -A detachment, consisting of the Martia and two prætorian cohorts, was -sent out to conduct him and his four new legions into camp. In order to -intercept this force Antony concealed two legions in Forum Gallorum, -only allowing his cavalry and light armed to be seen. On the 14th Pansa -encamped near Bononia, and next morning started to join Hirtius in his -camp near Mutina, along with the troops sent out to meet him. The main -force marched over the open country; the two prætorian cohorts kept to -the _via Æmilia_. Near Forum Gallorum there was some marshy and difficult -ground. The Martia got through this first, and suddenly sighted Antony’s -cavalry. The men could not be held back: enraged at the recollection of -their comrades executed at Brundisium, they broke into a charge. Pansa, -unable to stop them, tried to bring up two new legions to their support. -But Antony was too quick for him. He suddenly led out his legions from -the village, and Pansa, in danger of being surrounded, had to retire upon -his camp of the previous night, having himself received two wounds, -while the prætorian cohorts on the Æmilian road were cut to pieces. -Antony seemed to have won the day. But he attempted too much. He pushed -on towards Bononia, hoping to storm the camp, but was beaten off and -forced to retire to his own quarters near Mutina. He was, however, many -hours’ march from them. His men were tired, and when they reached Forum -Gallorum again they were met by Hirtius, who, having heard of Pansa’s -disaster, had come out with twenty veteran cohorts. Antony’s wearied men -were utterly routed almost on the ground of their morning’s victory, and -he had to escape with his cavalry to his camp near Mutina, which he did -not reach till long after sunset. Hirtius had no cavalry to pursue him, -and accordingly went on to visit the wounded Pansa. - -Though the prætorian cohorts which had suffered so severely on the road -were Octavian’s, he was not leading them, nor does he seem to have been -engaged in either of the battles. But it appears that some of Antony’s -men had threatened the camp in charge of which he had been left, and that -his success in repelling this attack was sufficiently marked for his -soldiers to greet him with the title of Imperator as well as Hirtius and -Pansa.[125] - -[Sidenote: Antony’s second defeat at Mutina, 21 April.] - -The news of this victory reached Rome on the 20th, and the extravagant -exultation of the Ciceronians may be gathered from the Fourteenth -Philippic. But Antony was still investing Mutina, and though he had lost -heavily, so also had his opponents, especially the Martia and Octavian’s -prætorian cohorts. Pansa, disabled by his wounds, had been carried to -Bononia, and for some days nothing of importance was attempted. But on -the 21st Hirtius and Octavian moved to the west of Mutina, where the -lines of investment were less complete, with the hope of relieving the -town on that side. Antony sent out his cavalry to intercept them, and, -after some skirmishing, two legions to support it. Octavian attacked -and drove them back to their camp, into which Hirtius forced his way, -but was killed within the vallum. Octavian got possession of the body, -but had presently to evacuate the camp. Still Antony’s losses in these -two battles had been so severe that he feared being himself invested by -Octavian, who would in that case, he felt sure, be joined by Lepidus and -Plancus. Whatever might then be the fate of Decimus Brutus, he at any -rate would be paralysed. He resolved to make a dash for the Transalpine -province, hoping there to be joined not only by Pollio, Lepidus, and -Plancus, but by Ventidius also. He accordingly raised the siege, and with -a strong body of cavalry marched along the _via Æmilia_. At Dertona he -left the road, and made the difficult pass of Aquæ Statiellæ, leading -to the coast at Vada Sabatia. There he was joined by Ventidius, and -proceeded along the Riviera into the province. Decimus Brutus did not -start in pursuit till the third day, partly owing to the exhausted state -of his men after their long investment, partly because he wished to -induce Octavian to join him. - -[Sidenote: The exultant Ciceronians slight Octavian.] - -The news of Antony’s retirement reached Rome on the 26th. The exultant -Ciceronians regarded the war as at an end, and next day, under Cicero’s -influence, Antony and his adherents were declared _hostes_ in the -Senate.[126] He was believed to be utterly ruined, and the Senate was -regarded as once more supreme. Decimus Brutus would of course cut to -pieces the poor remains of Antony’s troops; Lepidus and Plancus would -hold their provinces in obedience to the Senate. Octavian was no longer -necessary, and was immediately made to feel it. Not only were scandalous -rumours spread abroad, charging him with causing the death of Hirtius, -and suborning his physician to poison the wounds of Pansa,[127] but -in the vote of thanks to the army no mention was made of him. The vote -also was so framed as to introduce divisions in the army itself by -naming certain cohorts for honour and passing over others; while the -legates conveying these thanks and honours were instructed to communicate -directly with the men, not through Octavian as their commander. The -legions of Pansa were transferred to Decimus Brutus, even the Martia and -Quarta, formerly commended for joining Octavian. At the same time, all -those most likely to be hostile to him were promoted. Sext. Pompeius was -declared head of the naval forces of the republic; Brutus and Cassius -were confirmed in their provinces and given special powers in all other -provinces east of the Adriatic; a commission of ten was appointed to -revise the _acta_ of Antony’s consulship, in which Octavian had no -place.[128] Lastly, his claim to a triumph and to be a candidate for one -of the vacant consulships was rejected, though as a kind of sop he was -granted _consularia ornamenta_,[129] and Cicero appears to have proposed -his having an ovation.[130] But it was about the same time that Cicero’s -unlucky epigram as to “distinguishing and extinguishing” him was reported -to Octavian.[131] If Cicero, who was in constant correspondence with -him, and was even discussing the possibilities of their holding the -consulship as colleagues,[132] could thus speak, what was he to think of -the rest? No doubt all these circumstances contributed to fix Octavian’s -resolve. He at once declined to co-operate with Decimus Brutus, or to -surrender his legions to him. Although those under Hirtius and Pansa -had been assigned bodily by the Senate to Brutus, the Martia and Quarta -refused to obey the order, and declared their loyalty to Octavian. Their -example was followed by the other veterans, who refused to serve under -an assassin of their old imperator. Thus fortified, Octavian adopted -a line of conduct which partly alarmed and partly puzzled the other -commanders of troops. He established secret communications with Antony, -releasing prisoners taken from his army, and allowing certain officers -to rejoin him; while he himself, remaining inactive for some months, was -privately preparing to enforce his claim on the consulship. The departure -of Decimus Brutus left him in undisturbed command of the greater part of -Cisalpine Gaul, and there were no military forces between him and Rome, -now that Ventidius had accomplished his rapid march from Potentia to the -western coast at Vada. - -[Sidenote: Revulsion of feeling at Rome.] - -The gradual disillusionment of the Ciceronians as to the victory over -Antony; the perplexity caused by the inactivity of Octavian; the delays -and helplessness of Decimus Brutus—all these are faithfully reflected -in the Cicero correspondence of this period. At first everything is -_couleur-de-rose_. On the 21st of April, on the receipt of the news of -the battle of Forum Gallorum, he writes:— - - “In the youthful Cæsar there is a wonderful natural strain of - virtue. Pray heaven we may govern him in the flush of honours - and popularity as easily as we have held him up to this time! - This is certainly a more difficult thing, but nevertheless I - have no mistrust. For the young man has been convinced, and - chiefly by my arguments, that our safety is his work, and that, - at any rate, if he had not diverted Antony from the city, all - would have been lost.”[133] - -On the 27th (after hearing of the fight at the camp) he thinks Octavian -is with Decimus Brutus in pursuit of Antony or, as he says, “of the -remnant of the enemy.”[134] - -But presently he is informed that Octavian is not thus acting, or serving -the interests of the Senate. Decimus Brutus writes from Dertona on the -5th of May:— - - “If Cæsar had hearkened to me and crossed the Apennines, I - should have reduced Antony to such straits that he would have - been ruined by failure of provisions rather than the sword. But - neither can any one control Cæsar, nor can Cæsar control his - own army—both most disastrous facts.”[135] - -Decimus Brutus was inaccurately informed as to the relations between -Octavian and his troops,[136] but was quite right in concluding that -he had no help to expect from him. He wrote again on the 12th of May, -attributing his delay in beginning the pursuit to the fact that “he could -not put any confidence in Cæsar without visiting and conversing with -him.”[137] He had, however, gained nothing by the interview, and had -been specially dismayed to find that the Martia and Quarta refused to -join him.[138] On the 24th of May he writes again, warning Cicero that -Octavian has heard of his epigram; that the veterans are indignant at -the proceedings in Rome; and that Octavian had secured all the troops -lately commanded by Pansa.[139] Later in the same month he appears to -have suggested the recall of M. Brutus, and that meanwhile the defence of -Italy should be intrusted to Octavian.[140] - -This last suggestion shows how far he had failed to penetrate the policy -of Octavian. The mistake was shared by L. Munatius Plancus, governor -of Celtic Gaul, who was moving down towards the province expecting to -be joined by Octavian in opposing Antony, or, at any rate, supposing -that Octavian’s army was at the disposal of the Senate. “Let Cæsar,” -he says, on the 6th of June, “come with the best troops he has, or, if -anything prevents him from coming in person, let his army be sent.”[141] -Some weeks later he too had learnt that Cæsar’s real purpose had been -misunderstood. He writes on the 28th of July:— - - “I have never ceased importuning him by letter, and he has - uniformly replied that he is coming without delay, while all - the time I perceive that he has given up that idea, and has - taken up some other scheme. Nevertheless, I have sent our - friend Furnius to him with a message and a letter, in case he - may be able to do some good.”[142] - -While the generals in Gaul were thus being gradually brought to see that -Octavian had an independent policy of his own, the hopes of support -entertained by Cicero at home were one by one disappearing. By the middle -of May he knew that Antony’s retreat was not the disorganised flight -supposed, nor the end of the war. - - “The news which reached Rome,” he says, about the 15th of May, - “and what everybody believed, was that Antony had fled with - a small body of men, who were without arms, panic stricken, - and utterly demoralised. But if he is in such a position (as - Græceius tells us) that he cannot be offered battle without - risk, he appears to me not to have fled from Mutina, but merely - to have changed the seat of war. Accordingly there is a general - revulsion of feeling.”[143] - -In these circumstances Cicero could do nothing but try to keep Decimus -Brutus, Lepidus, and Plancus loyal to the Senate, and urge them to act -with vigour. - - “Be your own Senate,” he writes to Plancus about the 27th of - May, “and follow wherever the interests of the public service - shall lead you. Let it be your object that we hear of some - brilliant operation by you before we thought that it was going - to happen. I pledge you my word that whatever you achieve the - Senate will accept as having been done not only with loyal - intention, but with wisdom also.”[144] - -But on the 29th of May Lepidus joined Antony.[145] On the 3rd of June -Decimus Brutus writes for the last time in despairing tones to Cicero -from near Grenoble,[146] and though a subsequent junction with Plancus -kept him from destruction for a few weeks longer, he was never able to -do anything of any account again. The only hope remaining to Cicero was -to induce M. Brutus or C. Cassius, or both, to come to Italy with their -armies. He had not, indeed, quite given up hope of Octavian’s loyalty, -but his old doubts were recurring, and though he still used flattering -words to him, he must have been conscious that Octavian had gauged their -value. Late in June, writing to urge M. Brutus to come to Italy, he says: -“The protecting force of the young Cæsar I regard as trustworthy; but so -many are trying to sap his loyalty that at times I am mortally afraid of -his giving in.”[147] - -[Sidenote: Octavian, after some vain negotiations, at length moves on -Rome. Aug., B.C. 43.] - -It does not seem true that Octavian yielded to the influence of others in -the steps which he now took. As at other times in his life he may have -listened to advice, but the final decision was always his own, adopted -from passing sentiment or passion, but with the cool determination of -settled policy. He had decided that to be able to treat with Antony on -equal terms he must obtain one of the vacant consulships. This would -make him legally head of the State, and add to his military strength -the prestige and authority of that position. If possible he would be -elected without any show of force, and therefore began negotiations -with the Senate soon after the battles of Mutina through Cicero. But -the Senate suspected Cicero of wishing for the consulship himself, and -would not listen to the suggestion. The constitutional difficulty -about the election gave the Senate a decent excuse for postponement. -Both consuls were dead, and the prætor was unable to “create” a higher -imperium than his own. There was no one to name a dictator, and as -magistrates with imperium still existed the _auspicia_ had not reverted -to the _patres_, therefore they could not name _interreges_. On the 1st -of January, when the curule offices would all be vacant, the _auspicia_ -would revert to the Senate. Accordingly, after some discussion, Cicero -tells a correspondent at the end of June, it had been held to be best, -“in the interests of the constitution, to put off the elections till -January.”[148] But Octavian had no intention of being thwarted by this -technical difficulty. He had no wish for the present to farther weaken -Antony, and bring the whole weight of the Ciceronians upon himself, but -he was resolved that the consulship was necessary in order to be on -an equal footing with him.[149] He therefore allowed a deputation of -four hundred of his soldiers to go to Rome to demand the payment of the -bounties voted to them, with the understanding that they were also to -ask for the consulship for Octavian. There would be some show of reason -in combining these two demands, for they needed his protection against -the decemvirs, who were likely to interfere in the allotment of lands -made both by Iulius and Antony. But the deputation, though admitted to -the curia, received an unfavourable answer. We are told that the Senate -insisted on their appearing unarmed, but that one of them left the Senate -house and returned with a sword and the remark, “If you do not give Cæsar -the consulship this will do so.” Whereupon Cicero exclaimed, “If that is -your way of pressing his suit, he will get it.” The same story is told -of Iulius, and one is always suspicious of such dramatic scenes.[150] At -any rate, Octavian regarded the attitude of the Senate as hostile, and -determined to march on Rome with his eight legions,[151] a corresponding -force of cavalry, and some auxiliary troops. - -[Sidenote: Octavian enters Rome and obtains the consulship. August, B.C. -43.] - -He moved in two columns, the first consisting of his swiftest and most -active men, led by himself; for among other causes of anxiety was a -fear that his mother and sister might meet with ill-treatment in Rome. -The Senate had no troops to oppose to this formidable army, and in its -terror sent legates with the money promised to the men, but lately -refused to the deputation. Octavian however refused them entrance into -the camp, and pushed on without stopping. The panic in the city grew -daily more acute, and Cicero, who had pledged his credit for Octavian’s -loyalty,[152] found himself an object of suspicion and retired from Rome. -Then every concession was made in the Senate: the bounty promised to some -of the troops was doubled, and extended to all the troops alike, though -the exchequer was exhausted by the payment of only two legions.[153] -Octavian was to have the distribution of lands and rewards instead of the -decemvirs, and was allowed to be a candidate for the consulship in his -absence. Messengers were sent to announce these concessions to him; but -he had scarcely heard them when he was informed of a change of sentiment -in Rome. The legions, summoned by the Senate from Africa, had arrived; -Cicero had reappeared; the decrees were rescinded; and measures were -being taken to defend the city. The two legions from Africa were to be -supported by a levy _en masse_ and by a legion enrolled by Pansa but not -taken with him. The city prætor M. Cornutus was to be commander-in-chief. -At the same time boats and other means of transport were being prepared -in the Tiber for the escape of the chief citizens, their families and -property, in case of defeat; while a vigorous search was being made for -Octavian’s mother and sister as hostages. Octavian felt that no time -was to be lost. Sending forward messengers to assure the people that -they would not be harmed,[154] he continued his advance on Rome. A day’s -march from the city he was met by a large number of real or pretended -sympathisers; and felt it safe to leave his troops and enter Rome with -a strong bodyguard. Enthusiastic crowds greeted his entrance, and as he -approached the temple of Vesta he had the happiness of seeing his mother -and sister, who had taken sanctuary with the Vestals, and now came out to -embrace him. The three legions in Rome, in spite of some opposition from -their officers, declared for him; and the prætor Cornutus killed himself -in despair. It was all over, and Octavian was master of the situation. -For a moment indeed there seemed a gleam of hope. A rumour reached the -city that the Martia and Quarta had refused to follow Octavian to Rome. -Cicero hastily gathered some partisans into the Senate house in the -evening to discuss the possibility of further resistance. But while they -were in conference they learnt that the rumour was false. There was -nothing for it but to disperse, and Cicero was fain to seek out Octavian -and offer a tardy congratulation—received with ironical courtesy. - -[Sidenote: The consulship and other honours.] - -The constitutional difficulty as to the election was at once surmounted -by the investment of two men with proconsular powers to hold it. The rest -was a mere form, and on the 19th of August Octavian, with his cousin -Q. Pedius, entered upon their consulship. The now obsequious Senate -proceeded to heap honours upon him. He was to have money to pay the -promised bounties; to enjoy an imperium, when with an army, superior to -the consuls; to do whatever he thought necessary for the protection of -the city; and to take over the army lately assigned to Decimus Brutus. -The _lex curiata_ for his adoption under Cæsar’s will was at once -passed, and he was now by right as well as by courtesy a Cæsar. His -colleague, Q. Pedius, at the same time carried a law for the trial of all -concerned in the murder of Iulius, and the _quæstio_ seems at once to -have been instituted. All were condemned in their absence and lost their -citizenship and the protection of the laws.[155] Brutus and Cassius, with -the rest of the assassins, were thus put at a great disadvantage. It was -an act of war on their part, as condemned men, to hold their provinces or -command troops. That the Senate, in which the majority were doubtless in -favour of Brutus and Cassius, should have practically sanctioned these -measures,[156] shews how completely it was cowed. Octavian’s position -was, in fact, a very strong one. It was not possible for M. Brutus to -transport a sufficient force from Macedonia to crush him, much less for -Cassius from Syria. The two combined would no doubt hope some day to be -able to attack him; but meanwhile he had time to fortify himself by new -coalitions. - -[Sidenote: Octavian goes to meet Antony.] - -Cæsar—as we should now call him—only stayed in Rome to see these measures -secured. He then left the city under the care of Pedius, and marched -once more into Cisalpine Gaul. His nominal object was to destroy Decimus -Brutus—now a condemned man—but his real purpose was to come to an -understanding with Antony and Lepidus. Letters had already passed between -them, and some plan of action had been agreed upon. Antony was to crush -Decimus Brutus and Plancus, while the Senate was persuaded by Pedius to -rescind the decrees declaring Antony and Lepidus _hostes_. This news -was sent to Cæsar while on his leisurely march, and passed on by him to -Antony; who thereupon proceeded to fulfil his part of the bargain. He was -by this time, or shortly afterwards, reinforced by Asinius Pollio[157] -with two legions from Spain, who at once succeeded in securing the -cohesion of Plancus. The greater part of the troops under Decimus Brutus -also insisted on following Plancus; and Brutus was obliged to fly with a -small force. - -[Sidenote: Death of Decimus Brutus.] - -[Sidenote: The triumvirate arranged, Nov., B.C. 43.] - -This settled the fate of Decimus Brutus, and left Northern Italy open to -Antony, unless Cæsar still chose to oppose him. After various fruitless -attempts to escape, Brutus was put to death by a Sequanian Gaul, under -orders from Antony,[158] who then with Pollio and Lepidus[159] marched -into Cispadane Gaul with a large part of their forces, the rest being -left to guard the province. The invading army marched along the Æmilian -road as though to attack Cæsar. But the real intention on both sides -was to come to terms. On an islet in a tributary of the Po, between -Mutina and Bononia, the three leaders, Antony, Lepidus, and Cæsar met -for conference, though not till elaborate precautions had been taken -against treachery. For two days they sat from morning till night in -earnest debate, in full view of their respective armies. On the third the -soldiers of both sides were summoned to a _contio_, and informed of the -articles which had been agreed upon, though the last and most terrible -of them—the proscription—was not communicated. The terms announced were: -(1) Cæsar agreed to abdicate the consulship, which was to be held for -the remainder of the year by Ventidius Bassus; (2) Lepidus and Plancus -were to be consuls for B.C. 42; (3) Lepidus, Cæsar, and Antony were to be -appointed by a _lex_ for the remainder of the year, and for five years -from the next 1st of January, _triumviri reipublicæ constituendæ_—a board -of three for settling the constitution. - -[Sidenote: Powers of the Triumvirate.] - -The Triumvirate was practically a dictatorship in commission. The word -was avoided owing to its prohibition in Antony’s law. But the triumvirs -were to exercise all the powers of a dictator; their _acta_ were to be -authoritative; they were to be independent of the Senate; superior to -all magistrates; to have the right of proposing laws to the _Comitia_; -to regulate the appointment of magistrates and provincial governors. The -colleagueship was an apparent concession to the fundamental principle of -the constitution; but from the first it was practically a duumvirate -rather than a triumvirate, Lepidus being treated almost at once as -inferior. The Empire east of the Adriatic was for the moment separated -from this home government, being held by Brutus and Cassius; but the -western part was to be divided among the three—Cæsar taking Africa, -Sardinia, and Sicily; Antony, Cisalpine Gaul and Transalpina, with the -exception of Narbonensis; Lepidus, Gallia Narbonensis and Upper Spain. In -these districts each would be supreme and govern personally or by their -legates. But the greater part of Cæsar’s share was still in the hands -of Sextus Pompeius, and would have to be won back. It was accordingly -arranged that in the following year Lepidus, as consul, should be -responsible for the order of Italy, while Cæsar undertook to put down -Sextus, and Antony to confront M. Brutus and Cassius. - -The soldiers of both armies, having no desire to fight each other, -received the announcement with enthusiasm. Their devotion to Iulius -Cæsar’s memory was warmed by the belief that the anti-Cæsarean clique at -Rome meant to deprive them of the money and lands assigned to them. The -Triumvirs, on the other hand, promised them allotments in the choicest -parts of Italy—Capua, Rhegium, Venusia, Vibo, Beneventum, Ariminum, -Nuceria. There was land at most of these places which from one cause or -another had become _ager publicus_; and when that failed there would -always be owners, whose part in the war just over, and that about to -take place, would give opportunity for confiscation. This combination of -military chiefs therefore suited the views and wishes of the soldiers, -and some of them urged that the bond should be drawn still closer by -Cæsar’s marriage with Antony’s stepdaughter Clodia.[160] Cæsar assented -to the betrothal, but as Clodia was still quite young, he prudently -deferred the marriage. He doubtless foresaw possible inconveniences in -being too closely allied with Antony. - -[Sidenote: The Proscription.] - -The next step was for the three to enter Rome and obtain a legal -confirmation of their appointment. But they did not wait till their -arrival in the city to begin the vengeance. They had agreed to follow the -precedent of Sulla by publishing lists of men declared to be out of the -pale of the law. The larger list was reserved for further consideration; -but a preliminary list of seventeen names was drawn up at once, and -soldiers were sent with orders to put the men to death wherever found. -Among these were Cicero, his brother, and nephew. Plutarch tells us that -Cicero’s name was put upon the list as a compromise. Octavian bargained -for Lucius Cæsar, Antony’s uncle, and in return conceded to Antony the -inclusion of Cicero, while Lepidus consented to his brother, L. Paulus, -being entered.[161] Four of the seventeen were found at once and put to -death. Cicero escaped till the arrival of the triumvirs in Rome, but was -killed near Formiæ on the 7th of December, his brother and nephew having -already been put to death in Rome. Cæsar was the first to arrive in the -city, and was quickly followed by Antony and Lepidus, each with a strong -prætorian guard. Their appointment was duly confirmed in the _Comitia_ -on the proposal of the tribune Titus Titius, and on the 27th of November -they entered upon their office.[162] - -Naturally the sudden execution of three of the seventeen who were -found in Rome had created great alarm in the city, where no one knew -whose turn was to come next. The panic was somewhat lessened by Pedius -publishing the list of the seventeen, with the assurance that no more -executions were intended. He appears to have honestly believed this, but -the agitation of the night of horror was too much for him, and he died -within the next twenty-four hours. On the day after the installation -of the triumvirs (November 28th) the citizens were horrified to see an -edict fixed up in the Forum, detailing the causes of the executions -which were to follow, and offering a reward for the head of any one of -those named below—25,000 sesterces to a freeman, 10,000 and freedom to a -slave. All who aided or concealed a proscribed man were to suffer death -themselves. Below were two tablets, one for Senators and one for equites. -They contained 130 names, besides the original seventeen, to which were -shortly added 150 more. Additions were continually being made during the -following days, either from private malice or covetousness. In some cases -men were first killed and then their names inserted in the lists. The -edict made it the interest of slaves to betray their masters, against -whom perhaps in many cases these unfortunate men had a long list of -injuries to avenge. They had now the fierce gratification of seeing their -oppressors grovelling at their feet. But it also placed a severe strain -on the affection of the nearest kinsmen whose lives were forfeited if -they concealed or aided the proscribed. The sale of confiscated property -at low rates gave opportunities for the covetous, and many a man perished -because he possessed house or land desired by Fulvia or some friend of -Antony. But though the terror revealed much meanness and treachery, it -also brought to light many instances of courage and devotion. Wives and -sons risked death for husbands and fathers; and there were slaves who -assumed the dress of their masters and died for them. - -The massacre began with Salvius, though holding the sacrosanct office -of tribune. Two prætors—Minucius and L. Velleius—were cut down while -engaged in their courts. To shew how no connections, however high, were -to save any man, at the head of the list was a brother of Lepidus, an -uncle of Antony, a brother of Plancus, and the father-in-law of Asinius -Pollio. But as usual in times of such horror, many perished who from -their humble position or their youth could have had no share in politics. -The total number eventually proscribed, according to Appian, was “three -hundred Senators and about two thousand equites.” Livy says that there -were 130 names of Senators on the lists, and a large number (_plurimi_) -of equites. Livy is probably giving the number of Senators who actually -perished.[163] In Rome itself the terror was probably brief. It would not -take long to find those who stayed in the city; the gates and roads were -strictly guarded, and it was difficult to evade military vigilance. But -many were hiding in the country, and the search for them went on into -the first months of the next year, and all through Italy soldiers were -scouring towns, villages, woods, and marshes in search of the proscribed. -Probably the exact number of those executed was never known. But it seems -likely that about half escaped, some of whom in happier times rose to -high office. There were three possible places of refuge, the camp of M. -Brutus in Macedonia, of Cassius in Syria, and the fleet of Sext. Pompeius -in Sicily. Pompeius sent vessels to cruise round the southern coasts of -Italy and pick up refugees; and tried to counteract the edict by offering -those who saved any one of them double the sum set upon their heads by -the triumvirs. He was liberal in relieving their necessities, and found -commands or other employments for those of high rank.[164] At length, -early in B.C. 42 Lepidus informed the Senate that the proscriptions were -at an end. He seems to have meant by this that no new list was to be -issued, not that those already proscribed were to be pardoned; and Cæsar, -who was present, entered a protest against being bound even by this -declaration.[165] - -[Sidenote: Protest of Ladies.] - -In fact another list was published, but this time it was of properties to -be confiscated, not of lives to be taken. In spite of the already large -confiscations the triumviral government was in financial difficulties. -Confiscated properties were liable to reductions for the dowries of -widows, 10 per cent. to sons, and 5 per cent. to daughters.[166] These -claims were not always paid perhaps, but they sometimes were. Again, -besides the natural fall of prices caused by so much property coming -into the market at once, much of it was sold to friends and partisans at -great reductions, few venturing to bid against men in power or soldiers. -The treasury, therefore, was not enriched as much as might have been -expected; and as the triumvirs had two wars in the immediate future to -face, they were in great need of money. The tributum and tax on slaves -were reimposed, but failed to produce a surplus. A device therefore was -hit upon something like the fines on “Malignants” in England, under the -Commonwealth. Lists of persons more or less suspect were put up, who were -ordered to contribute a tenth of their property. Each man had to value -his own estate, and this gave rise to frequent accusations of fraud, -generally resulting in the confiscation of the whole. Others found it -impossible to raise the money without selling property, which could only -be done just then at a ruinous sacrifice. An alternative was offered to -such men which proved equally ruinous. They might surrender their whole -estate and apply for the restoration of a third. The treasury was not -likely to be prompt in completing the transaction, for it had first to -sell and satisfy charges on the estate, nor to take a liberal view of -the amount due to the owner. It was an encumbered estates act, under -which the margin of salvage was always small, and tended to disappear -altogether.[167] Among those thus proscribed were about fourteen hundred -ladies. They did not silently submit, but applied to Octavia, as well -as to Antony’s mother Iulia, and his wife Fulvia. By Octavia and Iulia -they were kindly received, but were driven from Fulvia’s door. Undismayed -they appeared before the tribunal of the triumvirs, where Hortensia, -daughter of the orator Hortensius, pleaded their cause with something -of her father’s eloquence. “If they were guilty,” she argued, “they -ought to have shared the fate of their relations. If not it was as -unjust to injure their property as their persons. They had no share in -political rights, and therefore were not liable to taxation. Women had -of old voluntarily contributed their personal ornaments to the defences -of the country; but they had never contributed, and, she hoped, never -would contribute to a civil war, or shew sympathy on either side.” The -triumvirs received the protest with anger, and ordered their lictors to -drive the ladies away. But they were struck by marks of disapproval among -the crowd; and next day a new edict was substituted, which contained -only four hundred names of women, and, instead of naming individual -men, imposed on all properties above 100,000 sesterces (about £800) an -immediate tax of 2 per cent. of the capital, and one year’s income for -the expenses of the war.[168] - -[Sidenote: Responsibility of Augustus for the proscriptions.] - -For a just view of the character of Augustus, it is important to decide -how far he acquiesced in the cruelties of the proscription. With the -general policy he seems to have been in full accord; and as far as a -complete vengeance on those implicated in the murder of Iulius was -concerned, he was no doubt inexorable. But his administration as sole -head of the state was so equitable and clement, that many found it -difficult to believe that he did more than tacitly acquiesce in the rest -of the proscriptions. Augustus himself, in the memoir left to be engraved -after his death, omits all mention of them, and conveniently passes -from the legal condemnation of the assassins to the assertion that he -spared the survivors of Philippi. Paterculus only alludes to them in a -sentence, which contains a skilful insinuation that Augustus only joined -in them under compulsion. Appian makes no distinction between the three. -He tells us, indeed, some stories of mercy shown by Augustus, and of his -expressing approbation of acts of fidelity on the part of friends or -slaves. But he also credits Antony with at least one act of a similar -kind. Plutarch says that most blame was thought to attach to Antony, as -being older than Cæsar and more influential than Lepidus. Dio goes more -fully into the question. He affirms that Antony and Lepidus were chiefly -responsible for the proscriptions, pointing out that Octavian by his own -nature, as well as his association with Iulius, was inclined to clemency; -and moreover, that he had not been long enough engaged in politics to -have conceived many enmities, while his chief wish was to be esteemed and -popular; and lastly, that when he got rid of these associates, and was in -sole power, he was never guilty of such crimes. The strongest of these -arguments is that which claims for Cæsar’s youth immunity from widespread -animosities; and it does seem probable that outside the actual assassins -and their immediate supporters, Augustus would not personally have cared -to extend the use of the executioner’s sword. But he cannot be acquitted -of a somewhat cynical indifference to the cruelties perpetrated under -the joint name and authority of the triumvirs. None of them have been -directly attributed to him, except perhaps in the case of his (apparently -unfaithful) guardian Toranius; but neither is there any record of his -having interfered to prevent them. Suetonius seems to give the truer -account, that he resisted the proscription at first, but, when it was -once decided upon, insisted that it should be carried out relentlessly. -The proscription was an odious crime; but a proscription that did not -fulfil its purpose would have been a monstrous blunder also. I do not, -however, admit Seneca’s criticism that his subsequent clemency was merely -“cruelty worn out.”[169] The change was one of time and circumstance. -Youth is apt to be hard-hearted. With happier surroundings and lengthened -experience his character and judgment ripened and mellowed. - -[Sidenote: Death of Atia.] - -While these horrors were just beginning Cæsar lost his mother Atia, -the tender and careful guide of his childhood and youth, the first of -his near kin to recognise and approve his high destiny. She died while -he was still consul, that is, between the 19th of August and the 27th -of November, B.C. 43. Devoted to her in her life Cæsar now obtained for -her the honours of a public funeral. During the campaign of Mutina she -was, it seems, at Rome; and when his estrangement from the Senate made -her position unpleasant or dangerous, she had taken sanctuary with the -Vestal Virgins accompanied by Octavia, and was ready to greet him when -he returned to Rome. Nicolas of Damascus gives an attractive picture -of Octavian’s relations with his mother; and even the uncomplimentary -Suetonius owns that his dutiful conduct to her had been exemplary. -She had brought up her son with strictness, and the author of the -_de oratoribus_ classes her with the mother of the Gracchi. But her -strictness had not forfeited her son’s affection, nor failed to impress -upon him a high sense of duty. Her second husband Philippus survived her -several years.[170] - - - - -CHAPTER V - -PHILIPPI - - _Cum fracta virtus, et minaces_ - _turpe solum tetigere mento._ - - -[Sidenote: M. Brutus and C. Cassius in the East.] - -The first task of the Triumvirs, after securing their power at Rome, was -the restoration of unity and peace to the Empire, which was threatened -at two points: Brutus and Cassius were in arms in the East, Sext. -Pompeius in the West. The opposition of Brutus and Cassius seemed the -more formidable of the two. Brutus, indeed, after holding Macedonia -throughout B.C. 43, after capturing and eventually putting to death Gaius -Antonius, and after winning some laurels in contests with surrounding -barbarians, had towards the end of the year practically abandoned the -province and removed to Asia, in which a decree of the Senate had given -him proprætorial authority along with Cassius. But at Cyzicus and on -the coast of Bithynia he had collected a considerable fleet, and having -thus strengthened himself and levied large sums of money, he sent urgent -messages to Cassius to join him in the defence of the republic. - -Meanwhile Cassius had done much towards securing the rest of the East to -their cause. At the end of B.C. 44 he had entered Palestine, and been -joined successively by the forces of L. Statius Murcus, proconsul of -Syria; of M. Crispus, proconsul of Bithynia; of Cæcilius Bassus, the old -Pompeian officer who had seduced the troops of Sextius Iulius from their -allegiance; and by four legions from Egypt under Aulus Allienus, whom -Dolabella had sent to bring them to himself. With twelve legions he had -shut up Dolabella at Laodicea-ad-Mare, aided by a fleet raised in part by -Lentulus, the proquæstor of Asia, and had eventually terrified him into -suicide. He had himself also, or by his legates, collected a fleet strong -enough to prevent Cleopatra sending aid to Antony and Octavian, while -part of it, under Statius Murcus and Cn. Domitius Ahenobarbus, was to -watch the harbour of Brundisium and prevent the despatch of troops from -Italy. - -In the spring of B.C. 42, therefore, when Brutus and Cassius met at -Smyrna they were both in possession of formidable forces, naval and -military, and Cassius at any rate was also well supplied with money. They -did not, however, at once push on to Macedonia, for they believed that -the danger threatened by Sext. Pompeius would delay the advance of the -Triumvirs. They therefore spent some months in farther securing the East. -Brutus proceeded to reduce the cities in Lycia, Cassius sailed against -Rhodes, while one of his legates invaded Cappadocia, and defeated and -killed King Ariobarzanes. Both encountered some resistance, but when they -met again in the summer at Sardis they had successfully carried out their -objects; and Cassius had refilled his exchequer by the taxes of Asia, the -towns in which had been compelled to pay nearly ten years’ revenue in -advance. - -Having told off a portion of his fleet to keep up the watch over -Cleopatra and at Brundisium, the two proconsuls set out together for -Abydos, and thence crossed to Europe. They marched along the coast road, -formerly traversed by Persian invaders, their fleet also, like that of -the Persian king of old, coasting along parallel with their march, till -they came to the part of the Pangæan range which covers the ten miles -between Philippi and its harbour Neapolis (Datum). There they found the -road blocked by Gaius Norbanus and Decidius Saxa, with eight legions, -sent in advance by Antony. When they left the main road and attempted -to pass nearer Philippi they found the heights immediately south of the -town also guarded. They drove off the enemy and encamped on two hills -which they connected by a trench and stockade; and eventually farther -secured their position by occupying a line of hills commanding the road -to the sea. They thus kept up communication with the fleet at Thasos as a -base of supplies. Norbanus and Saxa did not venture to attack them, but -retired upon Amphipolis, and thence sent intelligence to Rome, meanwhile -keeping the enemy in check by skirmishing parties of cavalry. Brutus and -Cassius were in no hurry to advance, for they had an excellent position, -and were sure of supplies while in touch with their fleet; whereas their -opponents depended on the country, which was neither rich nor well -stocked. The fleet of Murcus and Domitius might also delay, and perhaps -prevent Antony and Cæsar from bringing reinforcements, while the fleet at -Thasos could stop supplies being conveyed by sea. - -[Sidenote: The difficulties of Antony and Cæsar with Sextus Pompeius.] - -Nor were these the only difficulties in the way of the Triumvirs. Ever -since the battle of Munda (B.C. 45) Sextus Pompeius had been leading -a piratical life in the Western Mediterranean. His forces had been -continually increased by fugitive Pompeians and by natives from Africa, -until he had become possessed of a formidable power against which the -successive governors of Southern Spain had been able to effect little. -After the death of Iulius Cæsar an attempt was made through Lepidus to -come to terms with him, and he had agreed to submit to the government on -condition of a _restitutio in integrum_, including the restoration of -his father’s property. But though Antony obtained a confirmation from -the Senate the arrangement was never carried out. Probably the immense -sum named as the value of the property—about five millions sterling—made -it impossible, especially when the money in the temple of Ops had been -squandered. Moreover Pompeius seems to have demanded the actual house -and estates of his father, and these were in Antony’s hands, who would -not easily surrender them. Sextus therefore stayed in Spain or with his -fleet. When the Senate broke with Antony it renewed negotiations with -Sextus, promised him the satisfaction of his claims, passed a vote of -thanks to him for services, and confirmed him in his command of all -Roman ships on active service.[171] The Triumvirs deposed him from this -command, and put his name on the proscription list. His answer was to -sail to Sicily, force Pompeius Bithynicus to surrender Messana, and take -possession of the island. Here he was joined by numerous refugees of the -proscribed and many skilful seamen from Africa and elsewhere. By thus -holding Sicily and Sardinia he could do much towards starving out Italy, -upon the southern shores of which he also made frequent descents. He -acted as an independent ruler, and presently put Bithynicus to death on a -charge of plotting against him.[172] - -[Sidenote: The campaign of Philippi.] - -Cæsar and Antony suspected Lepidus of keeping up communication with -Pompeius, and consequently he was practically shelved. He was to remain -at Rome to keep order and carry out formal duties, while Antony was to -transport his legions from Brundisium to attack Brutus and Cassius, and -Cæsar was to conduct the war against Sextus Pompeius. But the strength -of Pompeius seems not to have been fully realised. Cæsar despatched a -fleet under Q. Salvidienus to Sicily, while he himself went by land -to Rhegium. But Salvidienus was badly defeated by Pompeius and had to -retire to the Italian shore to refit,[173] and before Cæsar had time -to do anything more he was called to the aid of Antony, who was in -difficulties at Brundisium, the exit of the harbour being blocked by the -ships of Statius Murcus, presently reinforced by those of Ahenobarbus. -The arrival of Cæsar and his fleet enabled the transports to cross, -and Antony marched along the Egnatian Way to join his advanced army at -Amphipolis. Cæsar was once more attacked by illness and obliged to stay -at Dyrrachium; but hearing that Antony, on his arrival, had suffered -some reverses in cavalry skirmishes, he resolved to join him at all -hazards. It was indeed a crisis of the utmost importance to him. He was -leaving Italy exposed to a double danger, on the east from Murcus and -Ahenobarbus, on the south from Sextus Pompeius. If Antony were defeated -Cæsar would be in a most alarming position; if Antony won without him, -his own prestige would be damaged and he might have to take a second -place in the joint government. As before in the Spanish journey his -resolution conquered physical weakness, and he reached the seat of war -before any general engagement had taken place. He found the army somewhat -discouraged. Antony had left his heavy baggage at Amphipolis, which had -been secured by Decidius and Norbanus, and had advanced over the wide -plain (about sixty miles) to within a mile of the high ground on which -Brutus and Cassius were entrenched. But they were too strongly posted to -be attacked, and he had suffered some losses in his attempts to draw them -down. His men were getting demoralised by the evidently superior position -of the enemy, who were protected on the right by mountains, and on their -left by a marsh stretching between them and the sea, so that it was -impossible to turn their position on either side. Delay was all in favour -of Brutus and Cassius, whose fleet afforded abundant provisions, while -Antony would have great difficulty in feeding his army during the winter, -and the season was already advanced. In mere numbers there was not much -difference. Both had nineteen legions; and, though those of Brutus were -not at their full strength, he and Cassius had 20,000 cavalry, as against -13,000 of Antony and Cæsar. - -[Sidenote: First battle at Philippi.] - -The first battle (late in October) was brought on by an attempt of -Antony’s to get across the marsh by a causeway which he had himself -constructed, and storm an earthwork which Cassius had thrown up to -prevent him. Repulsing a flank attack made by the division of Brutus, he -carried the earthwork and even took the camp of Cassius, who with his -main body retired to the heights nearer Philippi with heavy loss. But -Antony had also suffered severely, and the fate of the day could not be -considered decided until it was known how Brutus had fared, who after -the unsuccessful attack on Antony’s flank, had attacked Cæsar’s division -which was opposite him. In this last movement he had been entirely -successful. Cæsar’s camp had been stormed and his men driven into flight, -he himself being absent through illness. The result of this cross victory -was that both armies returned to their original positions. Antony, -finding that the left wing was defeated, did not venture to remain in the -camp of Cassius. Cassius might have returned to it, but for a mistake -which cost him his life. He was wrongly informed that Brutus had been -defeated, and being short-sighted he mistook a squadron of cavalry that -was riding up to announce Brutus’s success for enemies, and anticipated -what he supposed to be inevitable capture by suicide. Brutus, informed -of this, withdrew his men from the attack on Cæsar’s camp, and retired -behind their lines, occupying again Cassius’s abandoned quarters. - -[Sidenote: Second battle at Philippi, November.] - -Nearly at the same time as this indecisive battle the cause of the -triumvirs had suffered a disaster nearer home. A fleet of transports -conveying the Martia, another legion, and some cavalry was destroyed by -Murcus and Ahenobarbus, and the greater part of the men had been lost at -sea or forced to surrender. Though Brutus did not yet know this he held -his position for about a fortnight longer. But the tidings when they -came made it more than ever necessary for Antony and Cæsar to strike a -blow; for they were still more isolated than before and more entirely -cut off from supplies. On the other hand, the officers and men in the -army of Brutus were inspired by it with an eager desire to follow up -the good news by fighting a decisive battle. Brutus yielded against his -better judgment and drew out his men. Antony and Cæsar did the same. But -it was not until the afternoon was well advanced that the real fighting -began. After spending more time than usual in hurling volleys of pila -and stones, they drew their swords and grappled in a furious struggle at -close quarters. Both Antony and Cæsar were active in bringing up fresh -companies to fill up gaps made by the fallen. At last the part of the -line against which Cæsar was engaged began to give way, retiring step by -step, and fighting desperately all the while. But the order grew looser -and looser, until at length it broke into downright flight. The camp -of Brutus was stormed and his whole army scattered. Cæsar was left to -guard the captured camp, while Antony (as at Pharsalia) led the cavalry -in pursuit. He ordered his men to single out officers for slaughter or -capture, lest they should rally their men and make a farther stand. He -was particularly anxious to capture Brutus, perhaps as hoping to avenge -his brother. But in this his men were foiled by a certain Lucilius, who -threw himself in their way professing to be Brutus, and the mistake -was not discovered till he was brought to Antony. Brutus had, in fact, -escaped to high ground with four legions. He hoped with this force to -recapture his camp and continue the policy of wearing out the enemy by -delay. But a good look-out was maintained by Antony during the night, and -the next morning his officers told Brutus that they would fight no more, -but were resolved to try to save their lives by making terms with the -victors. Exclaiming that he was then of no farther use to his country, -Brutus called on his freedman Strato to kill him, which he immediately -did. - -[Sidenote: Conduct of Cæsar after the victory.] - -There is some conflict of testimony as to the severitie inflicted after -the victory. The bulk of the survivors with their officers submitted -and were divided between the armies of the two triumvirs. A certain -number who had been connected with the assassination and included in -the proscription lists felt that they had no mercy to expect, and saved -farther trouble by putting an end to their own lives. But some also, as -Favonius the Stoic, imitator of Cato, were executed. Suetonius attributes -to Cæsar not only special severity, but cruel and heartless insults to -those whom he condemned. To one man begging for burial he answered that -“that would be business of the birds.” A father and son begging their -lives he bade play at _morra_ for the privilege of surviving. And he -ordered the head of Brutus to be sent home that it might be placed at -the foot of Iulius Cæsar’s statue. As usual there remain some doubts as -to these stories. That of the father and son, for instance, is related -by Dio, but placed after Actium.[174] And the story as to the head of -Brutus is somewhat inconsistent with the honourable treatment of the -body attributed to Antony.[175] The refusal of funeral rites is contrary -to his own assertion in his autobiography; and, in the _Monumentum -Ancyranum_, he declares that he “spared all citizens.”[176] But it must -be conceded that until the assassins and their supporters were finally -disposed of he shewed himself relentless. The milder sentiments are those -of a later time. The plea of a duty to avenge his “father’s” murder may -mitigate, but cannot annul, his condemnation. - -[Sidenote: Second division of the Empire, B.C. 42.] - -The victory of Philippi reunited the eastern and western parts of the -Empire, and therefore necessitated a fresh distribution of spheres of -influence among the triumvirs. The new agreement was reduced to writing -and properly attested, partly that Cæsar might silence opposition at -Rome, but partly also because the two men had already begun to feel some -of their old distrust of each other. During the late campaign, when there -seemed some chance of defeat, Antony had expressed regret at having -embarrassed himself with Cæsar instead of making terms with Brutus and -Cassius, and such words, however hasty or petulant, would be sure to -reach Cæsar’s ears. The respect also shewn by Antony to the remains of -Brutus, and the evident tendency of the defeated party to prefer union -with him rather than with Cæsar, as well as the more generous terms which -he was willing to grant, must all have suggested to Cæsar the precarious -nature of the tie between them. It was necessary therefore to put the -arrangement now made beyond dispute. - -The division did not, as two years later, distinguish between East and -West. It was still only the western half of the Empire which was to be -divided. Italy was to be treated as the centre of government, open to all -the triumvirs alike for recruiting and other purposes. The provinces were -to be administered in the usual way by governors approved of by them, -except that Antony was to have Gaul and Africa, Cæsar Spain and Numidia, -thus securing to each a government in the west and south roughly equal -in extent and in importance, now that Sicily and Sardinia were in the -hands of Sextus Pompeius and thus actually hostile to Italy. But the last -article in the agreement, though intended to provide only for a passing -state of affairs, did in fact foreshadow the division of the Empire into -East and West. By it Antony undertook to go at once to Asia to crush -the fragments of the republican party still in arms in the East, and to -collect money sufficient for the payment of the promised rewards to the -veterans. Cæsar, on the other hand, was to return to Italy to carry on -the war against Sextus Pompeius and arrange the assignation of lands. -Lepidus was still consul as well as triumvir, but if the suspicion of his -being in correspondence with Pompeius was confirmed he was to have no -province and was to be suppressed by Cæsar. If it did not turn out to -be true Antony undertook to hand over Africa to him. He was throughout -treated as subordinate— - - “a slight, unmeritable man, - Meet to be sent on errands.” - -The real governors of the Empire were to be Antony and Cæsar. The force -of circumstances ordained that for the next ten years Antony was to -govern the East and Cæsar the West. And as yet the heart and life of -the Empire was in the west. It was this, as much as the difference of -his character, which eventually secured to Cæsar the advantage over his -colleague and made him master of the whole. - - - - -CHAPTER VI - -PERUSIA AND SICILY - - _actus cum freto Neptunius_ - _dux fugit ustis navibus._ - - -[Sidenote: Augustus returns to Rome after Philippi, early in B.C. 41.] - -The campaign which ended with the second battle at Philippi and the -death of Brutus had been won at the cost of much physical suffering to -Cæsar, who only completed his twenty-first year some days after it. He -had been in bad health throughout, barely able to endure the journey -across Macedonia, and only performing his military duties with the utmost -difficulty and with frequent interruptions. On his return journey he had -to halt so often from the same cause that reports of his death reached -Rome. The slowness with which he travelled also gave time for all kinds -of rumours to spread abroad as to farther severities to be exercised upon -the republican party on his return, and many of those who felt that they -were open to suspicion sought places of concealment for themselves or -their property. - -[Sidenote: B.C. 41 Consuls L. Antonius Pietas, Serv. Vatia Isauricus II. -Allotting lands for the veterans.] - -Cæsar sent reassuring messages to Rome, but he did not arrive in the city -till the beginning of the next year (B.C. 41). He found Lucius Antonius -consul, who had celebrated a triumph on the first day of the year for -some trifling successes in Gaul. The real control of affairs, however, -was being exercised by Fulvia, the masculine wife of Marcus Antonius, -widow successively of Clodius and Curio, against whom Lepidus had been -afraid or unable to act. Fulvia and Lucius professed to be safeguarding -the interests of Marcus and fulfilling his wishes, and Lucius adopted the -cognomen _Pietas_ as a sign of his fraternal devotion. But the moving -spirit throughout was Fulvia. Cæsar’s first business in Rome was the -allotment of land to the veterans. This had been begun a year before in -Transpadane Gaul, on the establishment of the Triumvirate, by Asinius -Pollio, left in command of that district; and Vergil has given us some -insight into the bitterness of feeling which it often roused: - - “Shall some rude soldier hold these new ploughed lands? - Some alien reap the labours of our hands? - Ah, civil strife, what fruit your jangling yields! - Poor toilsome souls—for these we sowed our fields!” - -When there was public land available for the purpose, the allotment could -generally be made without much friction; but as there was not enough of -it, the old precedent of “colonisation” was followed. A number of Italian -towns (nineteen in all) were selected, in the territories of which the -veterans of a particular legion were to be settled as _coloni_, with a -third of the land assigned for their support. No doubt in each case the -lands held by men who had served in the opposite camp were first taken as -being lawfully confiscated; but it must often have happened that there -was not enough of such lands, and that those of persons not implicated -in the civil wars were seized wholly or in part. In such cases it was -understood that the owners were to be compensated by money arising from -the sale of other confiscations. But this money was either insufficient -or long in coming. Petitions and deputations remonstrating against the -injustice poured in upon Cæsar, who, on the other hand, had to listen to -many complaints from the veterans of inadequate provision made for them -and of promises still unfulfilled. - -[Sidenote: L. Antonius and Fulvia take advantage of the discontent.] - -This was a sufficiently thorny task in itself. But it was made still -more irksome by L. Antonius and Fulvia. Their pretext was that the -veterans in Antony’s legions were less liberally treated than those -in Cæsar’s own; and Lucius claimed, as consul and as representing his -brother, the right of settling the allotments of Antony’s veterans. Cæsar -retorted by complaining that the two legions to which he was entitled -by his written agreement with Antony had not been handed over to him. -Starting from these counter charges they were soon at open enmity, -embittered by the frequent collision between the constitutional authority -of the consul and the extra-constitutional _imperium_ of the triumvir. -Lucius and Fulvia made capital out of this, maintaining that Marcus was -ready to lay down his extraordinary powers as triumvir, and to return to -Rome as consul. Fulvia was credited with a more personal motive. Antony’s -infatuation for Cleopatra was becoming known in Rome, and it was believed -that Fulvia designedly promoted civil troubles in the hope of inducing -her husband to return.[177] At any rate she and Lucius took advantage -of the ill-feeling against Cæsar caused by the confiscation of land. -They feigned to plead for the dispossessed owners, maintaining that the -confiscations had already produced enough for the payment of all claims, -and that, if it were found that this was not so, Marcus would bring home -from Asia what would cover the balance. They thus made Cæsar unpopular -with both sides—with the veterans who thought that he might have -satisfied their claims in full; with the dispossessed owners, who, over -and above the natural irritation at their loss, thought that his measure -had not been even necessary, and that he might have paid the veterans -without mulcting them, or might have waited for the money from Asia. -Specially formidable was the anger of landowners who were in the Senate. -The discontent was increased by the hardness of the times; for corn -was at famine price owing to Sextus Pompeius and Domitius Ahenobarbus -infesting the Sicilian and Ionian seas. Cæsar was therefore in a serious -difficulty. Unable to satisfy veterans and Senators at the same time, he -found how powerless is mere military force against widespread and just -resentment. His one answer to senatorial remonstrance had been, “But how -am I to pay the veterans?” Now, however, he found it necessary to let -alone the properties of Senators, the dowries of women, and all holdings -less than the share of a single veteran. This again led to mutinies -among the troops, who murdered some of their tribunes, and were within -a little of assassinating Cæsar himself. They were only quieted by the -promise that all their relations, and all fathers and sons of those who -had fallen in the war, should retain lands assigned to them. This again -enraged a number of the losers, and fatal encounters between owners and -intruding “colonists” became frequent. The soldiers had the advantage of -training, but the inhabitants were more numerous, and attacked them with -stones and tiles from the housetops, both in Rome and the country towns. -The burning of houses became so common that it was found necessary to -remit a whole year’s rent of houses let for 500 denarii (£20) and under -in the city, and a fourth part in the rest of Italy. - -[Sidenote: Other provocations offered to Augustus. He takes steps to -protect himself.] - -Cæsar was also made to feel that attachment to Antony meant hostility to -himself; for two legions despatched by him to Spain were refused passage -through the province by Q. Fufius Calenus and Ventidius Bassus, Antony’s -legates in Gallia Transalpina.[178] Alarmed by the aspect of affairs, -he tried to come to some understanding with Lucius and Fulvia, but -found them resolutely hostile. The mediation of officers in the army, -of private friends and Senators proved of no avail; though he produced -the agreement drawn up between Marcus and himself, and offered to allow -the Senate to arbitrate on their disputes. Satisfied that by the refusal -of this offer Lucius and Fulvia had put themselves in the wrong, he -determined to rely upon his army. For Lucius had been collecting men -among those offended by Cæsar, and Fulvia, accompanied by many Senators -and equites, had occupied Præneste with a body of troops, to which she -regularly gave the watchword as their commander, appeared among them -wearing a sword, and frequently harangued the men. - -The men of Cæsar’s army, no doubt acting on a hint from himself, now -took the matter into their own hands. They suddenly entered Rome, -affirming that they wished to consult the Senate and people. Assembling -on the Capitol, with such citizens as ventured to come, they ordered the -agreement between Cæsar and Antony to be read, voted its confirmation, -constituted themselves judges between the disputants, and named a day -on which Fulvia, Lucius, and Cæsar were to appear before them at Gabii. -Having ordered these resolutions to be written out and deposited with -the Vestals, they peaceably dispersed. Cæsar was present and of course -consented to appear; but Lucius and Fulvia, though at first promising -to attend at Gabii, did not do so. They scoffed at the idea of a mob -of soldiers, a _senatus caligatus_[179] (a “Tommy-Atkins-parliament”), -presuming to speak for Senate and people. They were therefore voted in -their absence to be in the wrong, and Cæsar’s _acta_ were confirmed. -The show of legality thus gained for him was used by his officers to -justify the collection of money in all directions. Temples were stripped -of silver ornaments to be coined into money, and troops were summoned -from Cisalpine Gaul, which in spite of the claims of Marcus Antonius, -was now made a part of Italy without a provincial governor having a -right to maintain troops.[180] Lucius also, as consul, enrolled men -wherever his authority was acknowledged, and once more there was civil -war in Italy. It was in many respects a recrudescence of the republican -opposition lately headed by Brutus and Cassius. For Sextus Pompeius had -been joined by Murcus with vessels carrying two legions and 500 archers, -and was reinforced with the remains of the armies of Brutus and Cassius, -which had taken refuge in Cephallenia. In Africa Antony’s legate, Titus -Sextius, though he had surrendered the province to Cæsar’s legate -Lurco, had resumed possession and put Lurco to death. Lastly, Domitius -Ahenobarbus was threatening Brundisium with seventy ships. It was not -clear how far these movements were known or approved by Antony; but the -old republican party hoped that their upshot would be the dissolution of -the triumvirate, the downfall of Cæsar, and the restoration of the old -constitution. - -[Sidenote: Open war between Augustus and L. Antonius B.C. 41-40.] - -For the present Cæsar left Sextus Pompeius alone. But he sent a legion -to Brundisium and summoned Salvidienus with his six legions from his -march into Spain. Salvidienus had been opposed by Antony’s legates -Pollio and Ventidius, and was now harassed in his rear by them when he -turned homeward along the _via Cassia_. Open hostilities, however, began -elsewhere. Some legions at Alba Fucensis showed signs of mutiny, and both -Cæsar and Antonius started for Alba, hoping to secure their adhesion. -But Antonius got there first, and by lavish promises won them to his -side. Cæsar only came in time to skirmish with Antonius’s rearguard under -C. Furnius, and then moved northward to renew his attack on Furnius, -who had retreated to Sentinum in Umbria. On his way he unsuccessfully -attacked Nursia, where Antonius had a garrison, and while he was thus -engaged Antonius himself led his main army to Rome. Such troops as Cæsar -had left in or near the city surrendered to him; while Lepidus, without -attempting resistance, fled to Cæsar,[181] and the other consul made no -opposition. Lucius summoned a _contio_, declared that he meant to depose -Cæsar and Lepidus from their unconstitutional office, and to re-establish -the just authority of the consulship, with which his brother Marcus would -be fully satisfied. His speech was received with applause; he was hailed -_imperator_; and the command in a war was voted to him, though without -the enemy being named. Reinforced by veterans of his brother’s army he -started along the _via Cassia_ to intercept the returning Salvidienus. - -Informed of these transactions Cæsar hurried to Rome, leaving Sentinum -still besieged. But it was Agrippa who struck the decisive blow. With -such forces as he could collect he, too, marched on the heels of Antonius -along the _via Cassia_, and occupied Sutrium, about thirty miles from -the city. This cut off L. Antonius’s communications with Rome, who, -with Salvidienus in front of him and Agrippa in his rear, could neither -advance or retire along the _Cassia_ without fighting. With an enemy -on both sides of him he did not venture to give battle, but turned off -the road to Perusia. At first he encamped outside the town expecting to -be soon relieved by Pollio and Ventidius. But finding that they were -moving slowly, and that three hostile armies—under Cæsar, Agrippa, and -Salvidienus—were threatening him, he retired within the walls; where he -thought he might safely winter. Cæsar at once began throwing up lines of -circumvallation, and cut him off from all chance of supply. Perusia is on -a hill overlooking the Tiber and the Trasimene lake. But its position, -almost impregnable to assault, made it also somewhat easy to blockade. -Fulvia was active in urging the legates of Antony in Gaul and North -Italy to come to the relief of Lucius. But Pollio and Ventidius hesitated -and doubted, not feeling certain of the wishes of Marcus; and though -Plancus cut up one legion on its march to join Cæsar, neither he nor any -of the others ventured to engage him when he and Agrippa threw themselves -in their way. Pollio retired to Ravenna, Ventidius to Ariminum, Plancus -to Spoletium, leaving Lucius to his fate; while Fufius Calenus remained -in the Alpine region without stirring. Meanwhile Salvidienus proceeded to -Sentinum, which he took, and shortly afterwards received the surrender of -Nursia. - -[Sidenote: B.C. 40 Cos, C. Asinius Pollio, Cn. Domitius Calvinus. Fall of -Perusia.] - -[Sidenote: Livia.] - -Cæsar was thus able to use his whole force against Perusia. The blockade -lasted till March, B.C. 40, when L. Antonius was compelled to surrender -by hunger. Cæsar had taken an active share in the siege throughout, and -had run serious risks, at one time being nearly captured in a sally of -gladiators while engaged in sacrifice; at another being in danger from -a mutiny in his own army. On the fall of Perusia the townsmen suffered -severely from the victorious soldiery, apparently without the order, and -perhaps against the wish, of Cæsar; and in the course of the sack the -town itself was accidentally set on fire and in great part destroyed. -There is again a conflict of testimony as to Cæsar’s severities. -Suetonius says that he executed a great number, answering all appeals -with a stern “Death!” (_moriendum est_): and his enemies asserted that -he deliberately enticed L. Antonius into the war to have an excuse for -thus ridding himself of his opponents. Some also reported that he caused -300 to be put to death on the Ides of March, at an altar dedicated to -Iulius. On the other hand, it is certain that L. Antonius was allowed to -go away in safety; and Livy says that Cæsar pardoned him and “all his -soldiers.” Appian attributes the death of such leading men as fell to the -vindictiveness of the soldiers. Velleius, of course, takes the same view; -while Dio, equally of course, agrees rather with Suetonius. The first -writer to mention the _Perusinæ aræ_ is Seneca; but as his object was to -contrast the clemency of Nero with the cruelty of Augustus, it is fair -to suspect that he was not very particular as to the historical basis -for his allegations. If there were some executions and also some altar -dedicated to Iulius—both of which are more than probable—it would be easy -for popular imagination to connect the two. No doubt all in Perusia who -were implicated in the assassination, or had been on the proscription -lists, would have short shrift.[182] The altar story is unlike the usual -good sense of Augustus; but it seems that in this siege he desired to -emphasise the fact that he was the avenger of his “father,” some at least -of the leaden bullets used by the slingers bearing the words _Divom -Iulium_.[183] At any rate, whether during the siege or by executions -after it, there seems no doubt that at Perusia a blow was struck at the -old republican party—already decimated by civil war and proscription—from -which it never recovered. The victory, moreover, left Cæsar supreme in -Italy. The legates of M. Antonius for the most part abandoned their -legions and went to join him, or to Sicily to join Sextus Pompeius, who -was already negotiating with Antony. Fufius Calenus, indeed, refused to -surrender his eleven legions; but he died shortly afterwards, and his -son handed them over to Cæsar. Plancus, abandoned by his two legions, -escaped to Antony. Ventidius seems to have done the same; while Pollio, -though not leaving Italy, hung about the east coast in expectation of -Antony’s arrival. Among others, Tiberius Nero abandoned a garrison which -he was commanding, and, with his wife Livia (soon to be the wife of -Augustus) and his infant son (afterwards the Emperor Tiberius), fled to -Sextus Pompeius. Thither also went Antony’s mother Iulia, whom Pompeius -received with respect and employed as envoy to her son; while Fulvia -embarked at Brundisium and sailed to Athens to meet her husband. In Italy -there was no one to rival Cæsar, who by these surrenders and desertions -had now a formidable army. What he had still to fear was a combination of -Antony and Sextus Pompeius and an invasion of Italy by their joint forces. - -[Sidenote: Fresh terms with M. Antonius.] - -[Sidenote: Marriage with Scribonia, B.C. 40.] - -Such an invasion was, in fact, contemplated. Antony was in Asia when -he heard of the fall of Perusia. Crossing to Athens he met Fulvia and -his mother Iulia, the latter bringing an offer from Sextus Pompeius of -support against Cæsar. Antony was in no good humour with his wife or -his agents, whom he must have regarded as having blundered. Nor was he -prepared to begin hostilities at once. But he promised that if Sextus did -so he would accept his aid; and that, even if he did not, he would do -his best to include him in any terms made with Cæsar. Meanwhile, though -the veterans were shy of enlisting against Antony, Cæsar found himself -at the head of more than forty legions, and with such an army had no -fear of not holding his own on land. But his opponents were strong at -sea, and, if they joined with Sextus Pompeius, would have the coasts -of Italy at their mercy. He therefore tried on his own account to come -to an understanding with Pompeius. With this view he caused Mæcenas to -negotiate his marriage with Scribonia, sister of Scribonius Libo, and -aunt to the wife of Pompeius. He had been betrothed in early life to a -daughter of his great-uncle’s colleague, P. Servilius Isauricus, and in -B.C. 43 to Antony’s stepdaughter, Clodia. But neither marriage had been -completed, and at the beginning of Fulvia’s opposition, in B.C. 41, he -had repudiated Clodia. The present union was one of political convenience -only. Scribonia had been twice married, and by her second husband had a -son only a few years younger than Cæsar himself. She was therefore much -the older, and seems also to have been of difficult temper. That at -least was the reason he gave for the divorce which followed a year later, -on the day on which she gave birth to her daughter Iulia. But a truer -reason (besides his passion for Livia) was the fact that by that time -circumstances were changed, and it was not necessary, or even convenient, -to have such a connection with Sextus Pompeius any longer. - -[Sidenote: First reconciliation of Brundisium, and new division of the -Empire.] - -Antony arrived off Brundisium in the summer of B.C. 40, and was joined -by Sextus and Domitius Ahenobarbus. The three made some descents upon -the coast and threatened Brundisium with a blockade. But before much -damage had been done the interference of common friends brought about -a reconciliation. Antony consented to order Sextus Pompeius to return -to Sicily, and to send away Ahenobarbus as proprætor of Bithynia. A -conference was held at Brundisium, at which Pollio represented Antony, -Mæcenas Cæsar, while M. Cocceius Nerva (great-grandfather of the Emperor) -attended as a common friend of both. The reconciliation here effected -was to be confirmed by the marriage of Antony (whose wife Fulvia had -just died at Sicyon) to Cæsar’s sister Octavia, widow of C. Claudius -Marcellus, the consul of B.C. 50. The two triumvirs accordingly embraced, -and agreed to a new division of the Empire. An imaginary line was to be -drawn through Scodra (_Scutari_) on the Illyrian coast. All west of this -line, up to the Ocean, was to be under the care of Cæsar, except Africa, -which was already in the hands of Lepidus; all east of it, up to the -Euphrates, was to go to Antony. The war against Sextus Pompeius (unless -he came to terms) was to be the common care of both, in spite of Antony’s -recent negotiations with him. Cæsar, on his part, agreed to amnesty all -who had joined Antony from the armies of Brutus and Cassius, in some -cases even though they had been among the assassins.[184] Lastly, both -were to have the right to enlist an equal number of soldiers in Italy. -This agreement was followed by an interchange of hospitalities, in which -Antony displayed the luxury and splendour learnt at the Egyptian court, -while Cæsar affected the simplicity of a Roman and a soldier.[185] - -[Sidenote: A new agreement with Sext. Pompeius, B.C. 39.] - -But Sextus did not tamely submit to be thus thrown over. He resumed -his old plan of starving out Italy. His freedman, Menodorus, wrested -Sardinia from the governor sent by Cæsar, and his ships, cruising off -Sicily, intercepted the corn-ships from Africa. The people of Rome -were threatened with famine, and on the arrival of Cæsar and Antony to -celebrate the marriage, though an ovation was decreed to both, there -were serious riots in which Cæsar’s life was in danger, and which had to -be suppressed by Antony’s soldiers. They were forced by the outcry to -renew negotiations with Sextus, whose brother-in-law Libo—in spite of the -advice of Menodorus—arranged a meeting between him and the triumvirs at -Misenum, early in B.C. 39. Every precaution was taken against treachery -at the hands of Pompeius. And not without reason. The execution of -Bithynicus three years before had been followed and surpassed by the -treacherous murder of Statius Murcus, followed by the cruel crucifixion -of his slaves on the pretence that the crime had been theirs. The -conference was therefore held on temporary platforms erected at the -end of the mole at Puteoli, with a space of water between them. But an -agreement having been reached, Antony and Cæsar accepted a banquet on -board his ship; and when Menodorus suggested to Pompeius that he should -cut the cables and sail away with them as prisoners, he answered that -Menodorus should have done it without asking, but that he himself was -bound by his oath. The terms made between them were that Sextus Pompeius -was to remain governor of Sicily, Sardinia, and Corsica, with his -fleet, as well as in Peloponnesus, but was to remove all garrisons from -Italian towns and undertake not to hinder commerce or receive runaway -slaves,[186] and should at once allow the corn which he had impounded to -reach Italy. On the other hand, all men of rank who had taken refuge with -him were to have restitution of civil rights and property. If they had -been on the proscription lists, they were to recover only a fourth; and -if they had been condemned for the assassination, they were to be allowed -a safe place of exile. Those—not coming under these three classes—who had -served in his army or navy, were to have the same claim to pensions as -those in the armies of the triumvirs. - -Pompeius then returned to Sicily, the triumvirs to Rome. Thence they went -different ways: Antony and Octavia to Athens; Cæsar to Gaul, where the -disturbed state of the country required his presence. Now, therefore, -begins the separate administration of East and West, and the different -principles on which it was carried on contributed largely to the final -rupture between the two men. Antony’s was the otiose policy of setting -up client kings who would take the trouble of government off his hands -and yet be ready to pay him court and do him service, because their -dignity and power depended upon his supremacy. Thus Darius, grandson -of Mithradates, was appointed to Pontus; Herod to Idumæa and Samaria; -Amyntas to Pisidia; Polemon to a part of Cilicia. To Cæsar, on the other -hand, fell the task of preserving order and establishing Roman rule in -countries nearer home, peace and good government in which were essential -to the comfort of the city. Above all, he was bound to prevent Sextus -Pompeius from again interrupting the commerce and corn supply of Italy. -The only service of any of Antony’s partisans near enough to be of active -interest to Rome was the victory of Pollio over the Parthini, for which -he was awarded a triumph.[187] - -[Sidenote: B.C. 38, renewed war with Sextus Pompeius.] - -But the war with Sextus Pompeius soon became Cæsar’s chief task, and -its renewal was with some justice laid at Antony’s door. For being as -he thought unfairly treated by Antony as to the Peloponnese, which the -latter had declined to hand over till he had collected the year’s taxes, -Pompeius once more began harassing the Italian shores and intercepting -corn-ships. Cæsar answered this by bringing troops from Gaul and building -ships. He established two depôts—at Brundisium and Puteoli—and invited -Antony’s presence at Brundisium to discuss the question of war. Antony -doubtless found it inconvenient to be closely pressed on this matter, -for he was greatly responsible for the difficulty. Though he came to -Brundisium, therefore, he left again immediately, without waiting for -Cæsar, who had been delayed. He gave out that he was opposed to any -breach of the treaty with Pompeius, ignoring the fact that Pompeius -had already broken it. He even threatened to reclaim Menodorus as his -slave, on the ground that he had been the slave of Cn. Pompeius, and had -therefore passed to him as the purchaser of Pompey’s confiscated estate. -Unable, therefore, to reckon on help from Antony, Cæsar undertook the -business himself. He strengthened assailable points on the Italian -coasts; collected ships at Rome and Ravenna; and took over Corsica and -Sardinia from Menodorus, who deserted to him and was made joint admiral -with Calvisius. He set sail himself from Tarentum, Calvisius from Cosa -in Etruria; while a large army was stationed at Rhegium. Pompeius was -almost taken by surprise, but yet managed to reach Cumæ and all but -defeat his enemy’s fleet. This was followed by a violent storm in which -Cæsar’s fleet suffered severely, off the Skyllæan promontory, and by a -second battle in which it only escaped destruction by nightfall. A second -terrible storm, which Pompeius’s more experienced mariners managed to -avoid, still further reduced Cæsar’s sea forces. Pompeius, elated by -these successes, assumed the title of son of Neptune, and wore sea-green -robes as a sign of his origin.[188] - -[Sidenote: Activity of Agrippa, B.C. 37-6. Second reconciliation with -Antony.] - -Cæsar did not give in, but he changed his generals. Agrippa was summoned -from Gaul, where he had been very successful, and for the first time -since the expedition of Iulius Cæsar, had led an army across the Rhine. -The construction and command of a new fleet were entrusted to him. -With characteristic energy he not only built and manned a large number -of ships, but began the formation of a new harbour (_portus Iulius_) -for their safety and convenience, by piercing the causeway between the -sea and the Lucrine Lake, deepening the lake itself, and connecting it -with the lake Avernus. Here he practised his ships and men during the -winter, and by the summer of B.C. 36 was ready for action. Meanwhile -fresh negotiations with Antony were conducted by Mæcenas, and in the -spring of B.C. 37 a reconciliation was arranged at Tarentum, with the -help of Octavia. The two triumvirs met on the river Taras, and after an -interchange of hospitalities they agreed: First, that the triumvirate -should be renewed for a second period of five years, that is, to the last -day of B.C. 33.[189] Secondly, that Antony should supply Cæsar with 120 -ships for the war against Sextus, and Cæsar give Antony 20,000 men for -the Parthian war, which was now becoming serious. Some farther mutual -presents were made through Octavia, and Antony started for Syria leaving -her and their child with her brother. - -[Sidenote: Continued war with Sextus Pompeius, B.C. 37-36.] - -Cæsar’s plan of campaign for B.C. 37 was that on the 1st of July a -combined attack should be made on Sicily, from three points—from Africa -by Lepidus, from Tarentum by Statilius Taurus, and from Puteoli by -himself. Another violent storm baffled this plan; Cæsar had to take -refuge at Elea; Taurus had to put back to Tarentum; while, though -he reached Sicily, Lepidus returned without effecting anything of -importance. Another winter and spring had to be spent on preparations, -and it was not till the autumn of B.C. 36 that the final engagements -took place. At that time Pompeius’s fleet was stationed along the -Sicilian coast from Messana to Tyndaris, with headquarters at Mylæ. -After reconnoitring the position from the Æolian islands, Cæsar left the -main attack to Agrippa, while he himself joined Taurus at Leucopetra. -Agrippa repulsed the enemy’s ships, but not decisively enough to enable -him to pursue them to their moorings. It was sufficient, however, to -enable Cæsar to cross to Tauromenium, leaving his main body of men on -the Italian shore under the command of Valerius Messalla. Here he soon -found himself in the greatest danger. Pompeius’s fleet was not held up -by Agrippa, as Cæsar thought, but appeared off Tauromenium in force. -Messalla was unable to cross to his relief, and a body of Pompeian -cavalry attacked him while his men were making their camp. Cæsar himself -managed to get back to Italy, but he left three legions, 500 cavalry, and -2,000 veterans, under Cornificius, encamped near Tauromenium, surrounded -by enemies, and without means of supply. He himself landed in a forlorn -condition, with only one attendant, and with great difficulty found his -way to the camp of Messalla. Thence he sent urgent orders to Agrippa to -despatch a force to the relief of Cornificius; commanded Messalla to send -for reinforcements from Puteoli; while Mæcenas was sent to Rome with full -powers to suppress the disorders likely to occur when the ill-success -against Pompeius was known. - -The force despatched by Agrippa found Cornificius and his men in a -state of desperate suffering in the difficult district of Mount Ætna, -and conveyed them to the fleet off Mylæ. So far, though Pompeius had -maintained his reputation at sea, he had not shown himself able to follow -up a success on land. And now the tide turned against him. Agrippa seized -Tyndaris, in which Pompeius had large stores, and Cæsar landed twenty-one -legions there, with 2,000 cavalry and 5,000 light-armed troops. His plan -was to assault Messana while Agrippa engaged the fleet. There was a good -road from Tyndaris to Messana (_via Valeria_), but Pompeius still held -Mylæ and other places along the coast with the defiles leading to them. -He was misled, however, by a report of an immediate attack by Agrippa, -and, withdrawing his men from these defiles and strong posts, allowed -Cæsar to occupy them. Finding the report to be false, he again attempted -to intercept Cæsar as he was marching with some difficulty over the -district of Mount Myconium. But his general (Tisienus) failed to take -advantage of Cæsar’s unfavourable position, who, having meanwhile been -joined by Lepidus, encamped under the walls of Messana. He was now strong -enough on land to send detachments to occupy the various towns from which -Pompeius drew supplies; and therefore it was necessary for the latter -to abandon Sicily, or to scatter the fleet of Agrippa and so open the -sea to his transports. In a second battle off Mylæ, however, the fleet -of Pompeius was nearly annihilated, and though he escaped himself into -Messana, his land forces under Tisienus surrendered to Cæsar. When he -discovered this Pompeius, without waiting for the eight legions which -he still had at Lilybæum, collected seventeen ships which had survived -the battle and fled to Asia, hoping that Antony in gratitude for former -services would save and possibly employ him. - -[Sidenote: Deposition of Lepidus.] - -The danger which for so many years had hung like a cloud about the shores -of Italy was thus at an end. But there was one more danger still to be -surmounted before Cæsar’s authority was fully established in Sicily. The -eight Pompeian legions from Lilybæum under Plennius presently arrived at -Messana. Finding Pompeius fled, as Cæsar happened to be absent, Plennius -handed them over to Lepidus, who was on the spot. Lepidus added them -to his own forces, and being thus strengthened, conceived the idea of -adding Sicily to his province of Africa. It had not been definitely -included in any of the triumviral agreements; he had been the first to -land there, and had in the course of his march forced or persuaded many -cities to submit,—why should he have less authority to deal with it than -Cæsar, whose office was the same as his own? He had originally bargained -for Narbonensis and Spain: he had been shifted to Africa without being -consulted, and his provinces had been taken over by Cæsar. He was now -at the head of twenty-two legions, and would no longer be treated as a -subordinate. His arguments were sound; but they needed to be backed by -a determination as fixed as that of his rival, and, above all, by the -loyalty of his army. Neither of these advantages were his. In a stormy -interview with Cæsar he shewed that he could scold as loudly as another. -But when they had parted, he failed from indolence or blindness to detect -that Cæsar’s agents were undermining the fidelity of his men, especially -in the Pompeian legions, by informing them that without Cæsar’s assent -the promises made them by Lepidus would not be held valid. On his next -visit to the camp of Lepidus with a small bodyguard, Cæsar was mobbed by -the soldiers, and even had some of his guard killed, but when in revenge -for this he invested Lepidus with his main army, the forces of the latter -began quickly to melt away, and before many days he was compelled to -throw himself at Cæsar’s feet. He was forced to abdicate the triumvirate, -and sent to reside in Italy, where he remained till his death (B.C. 13), -in a private capacity and subject to constant mortifications. He retained -indeed the office of Pontifex Maximus, because of certain religious -difficulties as to its abdication, but he was never allowed to exercise -any but the most formal functions. This treatment of a colleague was not -generous; but the whole career of Lepidus since the beginning of the -civil war had been weak and shifty. He was “the greatest weathercock in -the world” (_ventosissimus_),[190] as Decimus Brutus told Cicero, and he -certainly presents the most pitiful figure of all the leading men of the -day. - -[Sidenote: The fate of Sextus Pompeius, B.C. 35.] - -The old policy of Philippi and Perusia was followed as regards the -forces of Pompeius. Senators and equites were, it is to be feared, in -many cases put to the sword; while the rank and file were admitted into -Cæsar’s army, and an amnesty was granted to those Sicilian towns which -had submitted either to Pompeius or Lepidus. Africa and Sicily Cæsar -took over as his part of the Empire and appointed proprætors to each. -He did not attempt to pursue Sextus Pompeius; he preferred that Antony -should have the responsibility and perhaps the odium of dealing with him. -In fact, he did some years afterwards make his execution a ground of -complaint against Antony. Yet Antony seems to have had little choice in -the matter. For Pompeius acted in Asia much as he had acted in Sicily -and Italy, capturing towns and plundering ships, while sending peaceful -embassies to Antony, offering to serve him against Cæsar. Being at last -compelled to surrender to Amyntas (made king of Pisidia by Antony), and -being by him delivered to Antony’s legate Titius, he was taken to Miletus -and there put to death. But it was, and still remains, uncertain whether -this was done by Antony’s order. - -He was just forty, and had led a strange life since he witnessed his -father’s death from the ship off the coast of Egypt. He seems to have -had some generous qualities which attached men to him. But the times -were out of joint, and he was compelled to live the life of a pirate -and freebooter, having a grievance against every successive party that -gained power at Rome, trusting none, and feeling no obligation to treat -them as fellow citizens or even as noble enemies. He seems to have missed -more than one chance of crushing Cæsar; but his troops, though numerous, -were fitted neither by spirit nor by discipline to encounter regularly -trained legions in open fight. We cannot withhold a certain admiration -for the courage and energy which maintained him as virtual ruler of no -inconsiderable portion of the Roman Empire for nearly twelve years. - -[Illustration: AUGUSTUS ADDRESSING TROOPS. - -_Photographed from the Statue in the Vatican by Edne. Alinari._ - -_To face page 108._] - - - - -CHAPTER VII - -ACTIUM - - _Altera iam teritur bellis civilibus aetas._ - _Sævis Liburnis, scilicet invidens,_ - _privata deduci superbo_ - _non humilis mulier triumpho._ - - -[Sidenote: The early manhood of Augustus and its fruits.] - -When Sextus fled from Sicily Cæsar was about to complete his 27th year. -It was nearly nine years since, while little more than a boy, he had -first boldly asserted himself in opposition to men more than twice his -own age, and had forced those who had been statesmen before he was born -to regard him as their champion or respect him as their master. Since -that time he had had little rest from grave anxieties or war. At Mutina, -Philippi, Perusia, and in Sicily, he had tasted danger and disaster as -well as victory; and had more than once been in imminent hazard. These -fatigues had been made more trying by frequent illness, apparently -arising from a sluggish liver, to which he had been subject from boyhood. -Through all he had been supported by an indomitable persistence and a -passionate resolve to avenge his adoptive father, all the more formidable -perhaps in a character naturally cold and self-contained. As he went on -there gradually awoke in him a nobler ambition, that of restoring and -directing the distracted state. Neither now nor afterwards do the more -vulgar attributes of supreme power—wealth, luxury, and adulation—seem to -have had charms for him. He felt the governing power in him, he believed -in his “genius,” what we might call his “mission,” and the difficulties -of a divided rule became more and more clear to him. From this time, -therefore, he used every means which wise statesmanship or crafty policy -could suggest to rid himself of the remaining partner in the Triumvirate, -and to gain a free hand in the work of restoration which he had already -begun. - -[Sidenote: Marriage with Livia, B.C. 38.] - -In private life he had taken a step which was the source of a lifelong -happiness to him. The political marriage with Scribonia in B.C. 40, -contracted with the idea of conciliating Sextus Pompeius, had been ended -by divorce on the very day of the birth of his only daughter Iulia. -The reason alleged was her disagreeable disposition; but, besides the -change in the political situation, there was another reason of a more -personal nature. The peace of Misenum had permitted many partisans of -Brutus, Cassius, or Lucius Antonius, who had fled to Sextus Pompeius, -to return to Rome. Among others came Tiberius Nero,[191] with his young -wife, Livia Drusilla. Unless statues and coins are more than usually -false, she was possessed of rare beauty. In B.C. 38 she was twenty years -old, and had one son (the future Emperor Tiberius) now in his fourth -year, and was within three months of the birth of her second son Drusus. -Even to the lax notions of divorce and re-marriage then current this -seemed somewhat scandalous. A year was held to be the necessary interval -for a woman between one marriage and another. But the object of this -convention was to prevent ambiguity as to the paternity of children; and -when Cæsar consulted the pontifices, they told him that, if there was no -doubt as to the paternity of the child with which Livia was pregnant, -the marriage might lawfully take place at once. No opposition seems to -have been made by Livia’s husband, who was at least twenty years her -senior.[192] He acted as a father in giving her to her new husband, and -entertained the bridal pair at a banquet. The marriage was so prompt -that a favourite page of Livia’s, seeing her take her place on the same -dinner couch as Cæsar, whispered to his mistress that she had made a -mistake, for her husband was on the other couch. On the birth of Drusus, -Cæsar sent the infant to its father, thus complying with the conditions -of the pontifices. That the two men should have been on good terms -is not incredible in view of the prevailing sentiment as to divorce. -We find Cicero, for instance, writing effusively to Dolabella almost -directly after he had compelled his daughter to divorce him for gross -misconduct, and there are other instances. At any rate Tiberius Nero, on -his death-bed in B.C. 33, left the guardianship of his sons to Cæsar; and -in spite of such a beginning the marriage proved permanently happy. Cæsar -was devoted to Livia to the day of his death; his last conscious act was -to kiss her lips.[193] - -[Sidenote: Honours voted to Cæsar.] - -The victory in Sicily left him supreme in the West, and he at once -devoted himself to the re-establishment of order and prosperity. The -relief to Italy and Rome was immense; for with Pompeius master of the -sea the city was always in danger of famine, and the Italian coast of -devastation. This feeling of relief found expression in the proceedings -of the Senate, which now began those votes of special honours and powers -to Cæsar, which in the course of the next ten or twelve years gradually -clothed him with every attribute of supremacy in the state. On his return -from Sicily he was decreed an ovation, as after Philippi,[194] as well -as statues and a triumphal arch. On the day of the victory over Pompeius -(2nd of September), there were to be _feriæ_ and _supplicationes_ for -ever; he and his wife and family were to be feasted on the Capitol; -and he was to have the perpetual right of wearing the laurel wreath of -victory. He refused the office of Pontifex Maximus, as long as Lepidus -lived, but he accepted the privileges of the tribuneship—the personal -sanctity which put any one injuring or molesting him under a curse, and -the right of sitting with the tribunes in the Senate. This it seems -gave him practically the full _tribunicia potestas_ within the city. -But it was a novel measure, and its full consequences were not perhaps -foreseen.[195] He had twice before wished to be elected tribune, but his -“patriciate” stood in his way. This was meant as a kind of compromise, -and it furnishes the keynote to his later plans for absorbing the powers -of the republican offices. - -[Sidenote: Measures of conciliation and restoration.] - -[Sidenote: The wars for security of frontiers.] - -Cæsar’s chief difficulties now came from the large military forces of -which he found himself possessed, either by his own enlistment or from -that of the various defeated leaders. To disband them was neither safe in -view of possible complications with Antony, nor possible without finding -large sums of money or great tracts of unoccupied land with which to -reward the men; whereas his object now was to put an end to confiscation, -fines, and unusual imposts, and to bring back confidence and security. -After suppressing more than one incipient mutiny, he contrived to secure -enough land for those who had served their full time, partly by purchases -from Capua, where there was still a good deal of unassigned land. He -repaid the colony by granting it revenues from lands at Cnossus in -Crete, which had become _ager publicus_ on the defeat of the pirates, and -on some of which a Roman colony was not long afterwards established.[196] -Some of the men, again, who had been most clamorous and mutinous he sent -to Gaul as a _supplementum_ to colonies already existing, or to found -new colonies.[197] He was thus able to make remission of taxation, as -well as of arrears due from the lists of forfeiture published by the -triumvirs. His enemies said that his object was to throw the odium of -their original imposition upon Antony and Lepidus; or to make a merit of -necessity, since in most cases it would have been impossible to collect -the money. These motives may have had a share in his policy, but he -doubtless also wished to restore confidence and cause an oblivion of -the miseries of the civil wars. For the soldiers who remained various -other employments were found. The weakness of the central government had -long been shewn by the existence of marauding bands in various parts -of Italy. The civil wars had aggravated the evil, till travelling had -become dangerous almost everywhere, and even the streets of Rome were -unsafe. Cæsar now organised a police force of soldiers under Sabinus -Cotta to patrol the city and Italy, and within a few months the evil -was much mitigated.[198] Besides this, Statilius Taurus was sent with -an army to restore order in the two African provinces—Proconsularis and -Numidia.[199] Another expedition was sent against the Salassi, inhabiting -the modern Val d’Aosta, who had for two years been holding out against -Antistius Vetus. He had driven them into their mountain fastnesses; but -when he left the district they once more descended and expelled the Roman -garrisons. The war was entrusted to Valerius Messalla, who reduced them -at least to temporary submission (B.C. 35-34).[200] Another similar war -was that against the Iapydes, living in what is now Croatia, who in their -marauding expeditions had come as far as Aquileia and plundered Roman -colonies. To this Cæsar went in person. He destroyed their capital, -Metulum, on the Colapis (mod. _Kolpa_), after a desperate resistance, in -the course of which he was somewhat severely injured by the fall of a -bridge. The rest of the country then submitted.[201] The Iapydes had no -doubt provoked the attack. But that does not seem to be the case with the -Pannonians, whom Cæsar proceeded to invade. They were a mixed Illyrian -and Celtic tribe, dwelling in forests and detached villages without great -towns, and appear to have lived peaceably. But Cæsar resolved to take -their one important town, Siscia, at the junction of the Kolpa and Save, -partly as a convenient magazine in wars against the Daci, and partly for -the mere object of keeping his army employed and paid at the expense -of a conquered country. The siege of the town lasted thirty days, and -after its fall he returned to Rome, leaving Fufius Geminus to continue -the campaign. So again in the spring of B.C. 34 Agrippa was sent against -the Dalmatians, and when later in the season he was joined by Cæsar -in person, their chief towns were taken and burnt; and this people, -who since their defeat of Gabinius in B.C. 44-43, had been practically -independent, had again to submit and pay tribute, with ten years’ -arrears, and restore the standards taken from Gabinius. Their submission -was followed by that of other tribes, and by the middle of B.C. 33, the -whole of Illyricum was restored to obedience. - -These were the sort of successes to make a man popular at Rome; for they -were not costly in blood or treasure, and they affected the interests -of a large number of merchants and men of business. Nor was this all. -One of his legates, Statilius Taurus, was so successful in Africa, and -another, C. Norbanus, in Spain, that both were decreed triumphs in B.C. -34, and in the same year Mauretania was made a Roman province. Cæsar had -declined a triumph after the Pannonian war, but accepted honours for -Octavia and Livia, who were exempted from the _tutela_, to which all -women were subject; and during these two years his name was becoming -associated with success and with the expansion of the Empire and of trade. - -[Sidenote: Improvements in the city.] - -This was accompanied by restorations and improvements in the city -calculated to appeal still more strongly to popular imagination. In B.C. -33 Agrippa as ædile reformed the water supply of Rome, constructing 700 -basins, 500 fountains, and repairing the aqueducts.[202] He also cleansed -the cloacæ, adorned the circus, distributed oil and salt free, and opened -the baths gratis throughout his year of office, besides throwing among -the spectators at the theatre _tesseræ_ (tickets) entitling the holders -to valuable presents. Cæsar himself, who was consul for a few months at -the beginning of B.C. 33, erected the Porticus Octaviæ, named in honour -of his sister, with the spoils of the Illyrian and Pannonian wars,[203] -and began the building of the temple of Apollo and the two libraries, on -the site bought for a house on the Palatine before B.C. 36, when that of -Hortensius had been granted to him by the Senate,[204] and while he was -still living in the house of Calvus near the Forum. - -[Sidenote: The contrast of Antony’s career.] - -[Sidenote: The Parthians.] - -These successes in the Western provinces, combined with such costly -improvements in the city, impressed (as it was intended that they should) -the minds of the people in Rome with the feeling that Cæsar’s name was -the best guarantee for the era of peace and prosperity which seemed -at last to be succeeding the ruin and horror of civil war. In strong -contrast—carefully emphasized by Cæsar and his friends—were the military -expeditions in the East, and the extravagance of Antony’s infatuation for -Cleopatra in Egypt. In B.C. 40 he had been roused from the intoxication -of love and revelry in Alexandria to find Syria in the hands of the -Parthian Pacorus, son of Orodes, and of Labienus, son of the old legate -of Iulius, who had joined the enemy after the battle of Philippi. They -had defeated and killed his legate, Decidius Saxa, and taken possession -of the province. It is true that next year, B.C. 39, P. Ventidius drove -away Labienus, and in B.C. 38 defeated the Parthians and killed Pacorus. -But Antony was jealous of Ventidius, deposed him from his command, and -went in person to besiege the remains of the Parthian army in Samosata, -where they had been received by Antiochus, king of Commagene. He failed -to take the town, and though in his despatch he took all the credit of -previous successes, the truth was well known in Rome. After his failure -at Samosata he made somewhat inglorious terms with Antiochus, and going -off to meet Cæsar at Tarentum left C. Sosius in charge of Syria. Sosius -put down an insurrection in Judæa and established Herod as king (B.C. -38-7). But in B.C. 36 Antony suffered severe reverses in an expedition -against Phraates, who had just succeeded his father Orodes as king of -Parthia. One success, however, in the course of an inglorious campaign -enabled him to send home laurelled despatches, the real value of which -Cæsar and his friends took care should be known. In B.C. 35 he began -carving out a kingdom for his elder son by Cleopatra, and making -preparations for an expedition against the king of Armenia, whom he -accused of failing in his duty of supporting him in the previous year. -Having first made a treaty of friendship with the king of Media, in B.C. -34 he invaded Armenia, and getting possession of the person of the king -by an act of treachery which shocked Roman sentiment—not very scrupulous -in such matters—he brought him in silver chains to Alexandria. - -[Sidenote: Cleopatra.] - -Thus Antony’s career as an administrator and defender of the Empire -was rightly or wrongly looked upon as comparing unfavourably with that -of Cæsar. But still more shocking to Roman feeling was his position in -Cleopatra’s court. Though the moral standard at Rome was far from high, -it was rigid in regard to certain details. Just as a valid marriage -could only be contracted with a woman who was a _civis_, so for a man -in high position to live openly with a foreign mistress, however high -her rank, was peculiarly scandalous. The beloved Emperor Titus, a -hundred years later, had to give way to this sentiment and dismiss his -Idumæan mistress. But that a Roman imperator should not only have such a -connection with a “barbarous” queen, but should act as her officer and -courtier; that she should have a bodyguard of Roman soldiers; should give -the watchword to them as their sovereign; and should even employ them to -deal with what in one sense or another was Roman territory—this seemed an -outrage of the worst kind. In a poem written it seems while the campaign -at Actium was still undecided, but when rumours of Antony’s defeat were -reaching Rome, Horace well expresses the disgust with which the position -conceded to Cleopatra by Antony’s fondness was regarded: - - False, false the tale our grandsons will declare— - That Romans to a woman fealty sware; - Shouldered their pikes; presented arms; and did - Whate’er her wrinkled eunuchs deigned to bid: - Or that among our Roman flags were seen - The gauzy curtains of her palanquin.”[205] - -Antony himself made no concealment as to the queen’s connection with -the army. After his disastrous expedition of B.C. 36-5, Cleopatra -supplied him with money, and he told his men when paying them that -they were receiving it from her. The connection also involved a breach -with Cæsar. Their friendship—always doubtful—had been patched up from -time to time by formal reconciliations; in B.C. 43 after Mutina; in -B.C. 40 at Brundisium; and in B.C. 37 at Tarentum. For a time Antony -had found great pleasure in the society of Octavia, with whom he lived -for a time at Athens. But after the meeting at Tarentum he left Octavia -with her brother on his return to the East, and soon fell again under -Cleopatra’s spell, who, though not beautiful, fascinated him by her art -and infinite variety. When in B.C. 35 Octavia, trying to effect another -reconciliation, went to Athens, taking money and soldiers for him from -her brother, Antony accepted the gifts, but sent her word that she was -to return to Rome. Cæsar would have had her repudiate him at once, but -she seems to have been sincerely attached to him, and to have shrunk -from the idea of an insult to herself being made an occasion of civil -war. She persisted in living in his town house, and in bringing up with -liberality, not only her own children by him, but also Antony’s children -by Fulvia. - -[Sidenote: Final breach between Cæsar and Antony.] - -But after his return from the Armenian expedition (B.C. 34) Antony became -still more infatuated with Cleopatra. He publicly gave her the title of -“Queen of Queens,” and her eldest son the name of Cæsarion and “King -of Kings”; while to his two sons and daughter by Cleopatra he assigned -kingdoms in Syria, Armenia, Libya, and Cyrene. He had the assurance to -write to the Senate asking for the confirmation of these _acta_. When -his two friends, C. Sosius and Cn. Domitius Ahenobarbus entered on their -consulship (1st of January, B.C. 32), they resolved to suppress this -despatch, in spite of Cæsar’s wishes; but they communicated to the Senate -his message that the second period of the Triumvirate having expired -(on the last day of B.C. 33), he had no desire for its renewal. He did -not, however, lay down his imperium, and the object of this declaration -was to embroil Cæsar with the Senate, should he wish to retain his -extraordinary powers. Ahenobarbus, indeed, had had enough of civil war -and wished to take no step likely to bring it about. But Sosius made -an elaborate speech in praise of Antony, and attacking, or at least -depreciating, Cæsar; and was only prevented from bringing in a motion -in Antony’s favour by the intervention of a tribune. A few days after -this Cæsar (who had not been present on the 1st of January) summoned the -Senate, and delivered a speech from the consular bench, which though -studiously moderate as regards himself, was very outspoken as regards -Sosius and Antony. No one ventured to reply, and the Senate was dismissed -with the assurance that Cæsar would produce proofs of what he had said -about Antony. The two consuls, without taking any farther step, left -Rome privately and joined Antony in Alexandria. They were followed by a -considerable number of Senators, Cæsar giving out that they went with his -full consent, and declaring that others might go if they chose. - -[Sidenote: The grievances of either side.] - -[Sidenote: War proclaimed against Cleopatra, B.C. 32.] - -This was a division of the governing body similar to that of B.C. 49-8, -and it was evident that a civil war was imminent. Sentiment was by no -means all on one side at Rome, as is proved by the numbers of the Senate -who crossed to Antony. Party feeling, in fact, was so keen that the very -boys in the streets divided themselves into Cæsarians and Antonians;[206] -and both leaders shewed great eagerness by arguments and declarations to -put themselves in the right. Antony’s grievances against Cæsar were: -(1) that he deprived Lepidus of Africa without consulting him; (2) that -he had not shared with him the countries formerly controlled by Sextus -Pompeius; (3) that he enrolled soldiers in Italy without sending him -the contingents due by their agreement. Cæsar’s against Antony were -that he was occupying Egypt (not a Roman province) without authority; -had executed Sextus Pompeius, whom he (Cæsar) had wished to spare; had -disgraced the Roman name by his conduct to the king of Armenia, by his -connection with Cleopatra, and by bestowing kingdoms on his children by -her; and, lastly, had wronged him by acknowledging Cæsarion as a son of -Iulius Cæsar. Letters and messages were interchanged for some months on -these and other points, both trying to justify themselves. Antony, in -one letter at least, preserved by Suetonius, ridicules in the coarsest -terms what he regards as Cæsar’s hypocritical or prudish objection to his -connection with the queen. But at length Cæsar found means to discredit -Antony in the eyes of the Senators, and to convince them that they must -prevent an invasion of Italy by a proclamation of war against Cleopatra, -which would be understood to be against Antony. He did this by using two -of Antony’s officers who had quarrelled with him and returned to Rome—M. -Titius and L. Munatius Plancus. The latter, Cicero’s correspondent, -the governor of Celtic Gaul in B.C. 44, and consul in B.C. 42, had -joined Antony in Alexandria as his _legatus_, and had been much in his -confidence. He is held up to scorn by contemporary writers as a monster -of fickleness and an ingrained traitor, and his thus turning upon Antony -was regarded with much contempt even by the Cæsarians. The story he and -his companion had to tell, however, served Cæsar’s turn. They brought -word that, on hearing of his speech in the Senate, Antony had publicly -divorced Octavia in the presence of the Senators, and had announced that -he intended to undertake a war against him. They also told how Antony -styled Cleopatra his queen and sovereign, gave her a bodyguard of Roman -soldiers, with her name on their shields; how he escorted her to the -forum and sat by her side on the seat of justice; how, when she rode -in her chair he walked on foot by her side among the eunuchs; how he -called the general’s quarters or prætorium “the Palace,” wore an Egyptian -scimitar and a robe embroidered with gold, and sat on a gilded chair; -and how some religious mummeries had been played, in which he took the -part of Osiris, she of the Moon and Isis. The Roman world believed that -Antony was bewitched by Cleopatra; and the serious consequences likely to -ensue were made more manifest by his will, of which Augustus got either -a copy or an account of its contents from Plancus, and read it publicly -from the Rostra. In it Antony affirmed the legitimacy of Cæsarion, gave -enormous legacies to his children by Cleopatra, and ordered his body to -be buried with that of the queen’s in the royal mausoleum. Altogether -people began to believe the report that he meant to hand over the Empire, -even Rome itself, to Cleopatra, and to transfer the seat of government to -Alexandria. There was one of those outbursts of feeling which carries all -before it. Even those who had been neutral, or inclined to be suspicious -of Cæsar, turned violently against Antony. He was deposed from the -consulship for B.C. 31, to which he had been elected, and declared to be -divested of imperium. It seems probable that he was not at first declared -a _hostis_,[207] but war was voted against Cleopatra. It was enough -for his enemies that he should be found fighting with the Egyptians -against Rome; and the vote was well understood to include him. Cæsar was -appointed to proclaim the war with all the _Fetial_ ceremonies, and the -Senate assumed the _sagum_.[208] - -Both sides were now making preparations in earnest. Cæsar could draw -forces from Italy, Gaul, Spain, Illyricum, Sardinia, Sicily, and other -islands. Antony relied on Asia, the parts about Thrace, Greece and -Macedonia, Egypt, Cyrene, and the islands of the Ægean, besides a large -number of client kings who had owed their position to him.[209] He -silenced their scruples, when gathered at Samos, by pointing out that -they would not be formally at war with Rome, and promising that within -two months of the victory he would lay down his imperium and remit all -power to the Senate and people. Nor did he confine his exertions to -the East. Agents were sent to cities in Italy carrying money, though -Cæsar—who kept himself well informed—frustrated this attempt for the most -part. - -[Sidenote: Antony approaches Italy.] - -From Samos Antony removed his headquarters to Athens, whence in the -winter of B.C. 32 he started to invade Italy. But at Corcyra he -got intelligence of an advanced squadron of Cæsar’s fleet near the -Acroceraunian promontory, and thinking that Cæsar was there in full -force, he decided to put off hostilities till the spring, by which time -he expected to be joined by the forces of the client kings. He himself -wintered at Patræ, distributing his forces so as to guard various points -in Greece. He scornfully rejected Cæsar’s proposal for an interview, on -the ground that there was no one to decide between them, if either broke -the terms upon which they might agree. The proposal was probably not -seriously meant. It was only another means of putting Antony in the wrong. - -[Sidenote: B.C. 31, Con., C. Octavius Cæsar, Val. Messala. The beginning -of hostilities.] - -Nothing, however, was done before the end of the year, a storm having -frustrated an attempt of Cæsar’s to surprise some of the enemy’s ships -at Corcyra. In the early spring the first move was made by Agrippa, -who swooped down upon Methone in Messenia, killed Bogovas, late king -of Mauretania, and harassed the shores of Greece by other descents, in -order to divert Antony’s attention; who was now with his main fleet in -the Ambracian gulf, having secured the narrow entrance to it by towers -on either side, and with ships stationed between. His camp was close to -the temple of Apollo, on the south side of the strait. The successes of -Agrippa encouraged Cæsar to move. He landed troops in Ceraunia, making -his own headquarters at the “Sweet Haven,” at the mouth of the Cocytus, -and sent a detachment by land round the Ambracian sea to threaten -Antony’s camp. Having failed to entice the fleet from the Ambracian -gulf, or to tempt the men to abandon Antony, he seized the high ground -overlooking the strait, and opposite Actium, where he entrenched himself, -on the ground on which he afterwards built Nicopolis. The summer months, -however, were wearing away without any decisive blow being struck by -either side, and the delay was irksome to both. Rome was in a state of -simmering revolt owing to distress and heavy taxes, a discontent which -found expression in the conspiracy of Lepidus, son of the ex-triumvir. -It was promptly suppressed, indeed, and Lepidus was sent over to Cæsar -to receive his condemnation; but, nevertheless, Mæcenas, who was in -charge of Rome, found that he had no sinecure. To Antony, again, delay -meant discontent among his Eastern followers, tottering loyalty, and -probable abandonment. Above all, Cleopatra was in a highly nervous state, -and was urging a return to Egypt. At last on the 31st of August, a -cavalry engagement going against Antony, she became clamorous; and after -long deliberation, Antony determined to follow her advice. He ordered -his ships to be prepared for battle, but with the secret intention of -avoiding a fight and sailing away to Alexandria.[210] - -[Sidenote: Battle of Actium, Sept. 3, B.C. 31.] - -Cæsar was kept informed of this, and resolved to prevent it. His idea -was to allow the Antonian fleet to issue out and begin their course, -and then to fall upon their rear. But Agrippa thought that the superior -sailing powers of the Antonian fleet would render this impossible, and -urged an attack as soon as the ships cleared the straits. There had -been rough weather for four days, but on the 3rd of September there was -a calm,[211] or only some surf from the preceding storms; and when the -trumpet rang out for the start Antony’s huge vessels, furnished with -towers and filled with armed men, began streaming out of the straits. -They did not at first show any signs of standing out to sea. The ships -took up a close order and waited to be attacked. There was a brief pause -on Cæsar’s side. He or Agrippa hesitated to attack these great galleons -with their smaller craft. But before long an order was issued to the -vessels on the extremities of Cæsar’s fleet to exert their utmost powers -in rowing in order to get round Antony’s two wings. To avoid this danger -Antony was forced against his will to order an attack. - -The battle raged all the afternoon without decisive result; though the -smallness of Cæsar’s vessels proved in many points a decided advantage. -They could be rowed close up to bigger ships and be rowed away again -when a shower of javelins had been poured in upon the enemy. Antony’s -men returned the volleys and used grappling irons of great weight. If -these irons caught one of the smaller ships they were doubtless very -effective; but if the cast missed they either seriously damaged their own -ship, or caused so much confusion and delay that an opportunity was given -to the enemy to pour in fresh volleys of darts. At length Cleopatra, -whose ships were on the southern fringe of the fleet, could bear the -suspense no longer. She gave the signal for retreat, and a favourable -breeze springing up, the Egyptian ships were soon fading out of sight. -Antony thinking that this was the result of a panic, and that the day -was lost, hastened after the retiring squadron. The example of their -leader was followed by many of the crews, who lightening their ships by -throwing overboard the wooden towers and war tackle, fled with sails full -spread. But others still maintained the struggle, and it was not until -Cæsar’s men began throwing lighted brands upon the enemy’s ships that the -rout became general. Even then the work was not over, for Cæsar spent -the whole night on board endeavouring to rescue men from the burning -ships.[212] - -[Sidenote: The finale of the civil war in Egypt, B.C. 31-30.] - -Antony got clear off from pursuit, but his camp on land was easily taken, -and his army was intercepted while trying to retreat into Macedonia. For -the most part the men took service in Cæsar’s legions, the veterans being -disbanded without pensions. Antony, however, was followed to Egypt by -many of his adherents of rank, and still thought himself strong enough -to make terms with Cæsar. But he could no longer hope for aid from the -client kings. They all hastened to make their peace with Cæsar, or were -captured and punished. Even Cleopatra was secretly prepared to betray him. - -With the exception of one visit to Brundisium of seven days, to suppress -the mutiny of some discontented veterans, Cæsar spent the winter at -Samos and Athens, collecting an army and navy destined to deprive Egypt -permanently of its independence. Cleopatra had indeed tried to brave it -out. She returned to Alexandria with her prows decked with flowers and -her pipers playing a triumphant tune. The people are not likely to have -been deceived, but there was no sign of revolt. She was able to seize -the property of those whose fidelity she suspected, and even put to -death the captive king of Armenia to gratify her ally the king of Media. -Messages were sent to the kings who had been allied with Antony, and for -some gladiators whom he had in training at Trapezus. The gladiators -started but were intercepted, and no help came from the client kings. -A still worse disappointment awaited him in Cyrene, over which he had -placed L. Pinarius Scarpus with four legions. When, leaving Cleopatra -at Parætonium, he went to take over these legions, Pinarius refused to -receive him and even put his messengers to death, and shortly afterwards -handed over his province and army to Cæsar’s legate, Cornelius Gallus. -This was an unmistakable sign that Antony’s day of influence was over. -Cleopatra returned to Alexandria and made secret preparations for -retiring into Asia, as far as Iberia (_Georgia_) if necessary, though -still keeping up appearances and sending in every direction for aid. -Cleopatra’s son Cæsarion and Antony’s son by Fulvia (Antyllus) were -declared of man’s estate and capable of governing, and messages were -despatched to Cæsar proposing that Antony should retire to Athens as a -_privatus_, and that Cleopatra should abdicate in favour of Cæsarion. -The queen also, without Antony’s knowledge, sent Cæsar a gold sceptre -and crown. He made no reply to Antony, but answered in threatening terms -to Cleopatra, while sending his freedman Thyrsus to give her privately a -reassuring message. Antony suspected the purport of Thyrsus’s mission, -and with a last ebullition of his old swaggering humour had him flogged, -and sent back with the message, that if Cæsar felt aggrieved he might -put his freedman Hipparchus (who had joined Cæsar) to the torture in -revenge. But things went from bad to worse with him. News came that -the gladiators had been impounded, that his own legatus in Syria (Q. -Didius) had bidden the Arabs burn the ships which he had prepared for his -flight in the Red Sea, and that the only two client kings who had seemed -inclined to stand by him—those of Cilicia and Galatia—had fallen off. He -therefore tried once more to open communications with Cæsar. He sent him -as a prisoner one of the assassins of Iulius, whom he had protected and -employed, P. Turullius, and a considerable sum of money by the hands -of his son Antyllus. Cæsar put Turullius to death and took the money, -but returned no answer to Antony, though he again sent a private message -to Cleopatra. Presently Antony was informed that Gallus had arrived at -Parætonium with the four legions taken over from Pinarius; and believing -that even now his personal influence was sufficient to win back the men, -he hurried thither, accompanied by the remains of his fleet coasting -along to guard him. But this only led to farther disaster. The soldiers -refused to listen to him; and when his ships entered the harbour the -chains were made fast across the mouth and they were trapped. On land he -now found himself between two hostile forces; for Cæsar with Cleopatra’s -connivance had landed at Pelusium and was marching on Alexandria, and -Gallus was attacking him from Parætonium. He once more executed one -of those rapid movements for which he was famous. Hastening back to -Alexandria he flung his cavalry upon Cæsar’s vanguard when tired with its -march. But the success of this movement encouraged him to make a general -attack, in which he was decisively beaten. His last resource, the ships -still remaining in the harbour of Alexandria, failed him. Acting under -Cleopatra’s orders the captains refused to receive him. The queen, it is -said, had shut herself up in the Tomb-house or Ptolemæum, hoping to drive -Antony to despair and suicide, as the only solution of the difficulty. If -that was indeed her motive, she was both successful and repentant. Antony -stabbed himself, and begged to be carried to the Tomb-house, where he -died in her arms. - -[Sidenote: Death of Cleopatra.] - -Cæsar was now eager to secure Cleopatra’s person. He sent Gallus to her -with soothing messages, which he delivered to her at the porch. But while -he was speaking with her C. Proculeius entered by a window, seized the -queen, and conveyed her to the Palace, where she was allowed her usual -attendants and all the paraphernalia of royalty. Of the two accounts of -Cæsar’s interview with her the more picturesque one is given by the -usually prosaic Dio. He found her looking charming in her mourning, -surrounded by likenesses of various kinds of the great Iulius, and in -the bosom of her dress a packet of letters received from him. On his -entrance she rose with a blush and greeted him as her lord and master. -She pleaded that Iulius had always honoured her and acknowledged her as -queen. She read affectionate passages from his letters, which she kissed -passionately with tears streaming from her eyes, being at the same time -careful to put respectful admiration and affection for Cæsar himself into -her looks and the tone of her voice. Cæsar quite appreciated the drama -thus played for his behoof, but feigned unconsciousness, keeping his -eyes fixed on the ground and saying nothing but: “Courage, madam! Do not -be alarmed, for no harm will happen to you.” He said no word, however, -as to her retention of royal power, nor did his voice betray the least -tenderness. In an agony of disappointment she flung herself at his feet -and besought him by the memory of his father to allow her to die and -share Antony’s tomb. Cæsar made no reply except once more to bid her not -be alarmed; but he gave orders that though allowed her usual attendants -she was to be closely watched. Cleopatra understood only too well that -the intention was to take her to Rome that she might adorn the victor’s -triumph. But in order to secure greater freedom she feigned submission -and to be busied in collecting presents to take to Livia. Having thus -diminished the vigilance of Epaphroditus and her other guards, she some -days afterwards made a parade of writing a letter to Cæsar, which she -induced Epaphroditus to convey. When he returned, however, he found -the queen, decked in royal robes, lying dead with two of her waiting -women dead or dying by her side. “No one knows for certain,” says Dio, -“how she died. Some say that a venomous snake was conveyed to her in a -water-vessel or in some flowers. Others that the long pin with which -she fastened her hair had a poisoned point, with which she pricked her -arm.” Plutarch, with a like expression of doubt, says that the snake was -conveyed in a basket of figs; and that on receiving the letter brought -by Epaphroditus Cæsar understood her purpose and hurried to the Palace -to prevent it, and even summoned some of the mysterious Psylli—snake -charmers and curers—to suck out the poison.[213] But in spite of his -disappointment, he admired her spirit and gave her a royal funeral. -Perhaps after all he felt relieved of a difficulty. According to Plutarch -she had shown him that she was not to be easily managed. At the end of -her conversation with Cæsar, he says, she handed him a schedule of the -royal treasures. But when one of her stewards or treasurers remarked -that she was keeping back certain sums, the enraged queen sprang up, -clutched his hair, and beat his face with her fists. When Cæsar smiled -and tried to pacify her, she exclaimed: “A pretty thing, Cæsar, that you -should visit and address me with honour in my fallen state, and that one -of my own slaves should malign me! If I have set apart certain women’s -ornaments, it was not for myself, but for Octavia and Livia, that they -might soften your heart to me.” - -It would be pleasanter if the death of Cleopatra and the confiscation of -her treasury were the end of the story. But the executions of the two -poor boys, Cæsarion and Antyllus, were acts of cold-blooded cruelty. -The former, who could not have been more than sixteen, had been sent by -his mother with a large supply of money to Æthiopia, but was betrayed -by his _pædagogus_, overtaken by Cæsar’s soldiers, and put to death. -The young Antonius (or Antyllus) begged hard for his life, and fled for -safety to the _heroum_ of the divine Iulius, constructed by Cleopatra, -but was dragged away and killed. He could at most have been no more -than fourteen, and had in childhood been betrothed to Cæsar’s infant -daughter, Iulia. Perhaps the pretensions of Cæsarion to the paternity of -Cæsar, and his acknowledgment as heir to the throne of Egypt, made his -death inevitable; but the extreme youth of Antyllus and his helplessness -might have pleaded for him. The rest of Antony’s children were protected -by Octavia, and brought up as became their rank. - -It is impossible not to feel some sympathy for Antony, who had thus flung -away fame and life for a woman’s love. But it was doubtless a happy thing -for the world that the direction of affairs fell to the cautious Augustus -rather than to him. He had some attractive qualities, but no virtues. -Boundless self-indulgence in a ruler more than outweighs good-nature or -liberality. It brings more suffering to subjects than the occasional -gratification caused by the latter qualities can compensate. His scheme -for erecting a series of semi-independent kingdoms in the East would -almost certainly have been the cause of endless troubles. He was not more -than fifty-three at his death, but there were signs of a great decay of -energy and activity. The people thought of him— - - “As of a Prince whose manhood was all gone, - And molten down in mere uxoriousness.” - -And undoubtedly, if instead of spending a winter in Samos in luxury and -riot and part of another at Athens in much the same way, he had begun his -attack on Cæsar a year earlier, the result might have been different. But -he let the occasion slip and found, as others have done, that the head of -Time is bald at the back. - -[Illustration: Obv.: Head of Augustus. Rev.: The Sphinx. - -Obv.: Heads of Augustus and Agrippa. Rev.: Crocodile and Palm. _Colonia -Nemausi_ (Nismes). - -Obv.: Head of Augustus. Rev.: Triumphal Arch, celebrating the -reconstruction of the roads. - -Obv.: Head of Drusus. Rev.: The Trophy of Arms taken from the Germans. - -Obv.: Head of Livia. Rev.: Head of Julia. - -_To face page 130._] - - - - -CHAPTER VIII - -THE NEW CONSTITUTION, B.C. 30-23 - - _Hic ames dici pater atque princeps._ - - -[Sidenote: The new constitution.] - -The seven years which followed the death of Antony and Cleopatra -witnessed the settlement of the new constitution in its most important -points. It has been called a _dyarchy_, the two parties to it being the -Emperor and the Senate. They were not, however, at any time of equal -power. As far as it was possible Augustus rested his various functions on -the same foundation as those of the Republican magistrates, and treated -the Senate with studious respect. But in spite of all professions, -in spite even of himself, he became a monarch, whose will was only -limited by those forces of circumstance and sentiment to which the most -autocratic of sovereigns have at times been forced to bow. The important -epochs in this reconstruction are the years B.C. 29, 27, 23; but it will -be necessary sometimes to anticipate the course of events and to speak at -once of what often took many years to develop. - -[Sidenote: Reduction of the army.] - -The reduction of the vast armaments which the various phases of the civil -war had called into existence was made possible by the wealth which the -possession of Egypt put into Cæsar’s hands. Though Egypt became a Roman -province it was from the first in a peculiar position, governed by a -“prefect” appointed by the Emperor, who took as his private property -both the treasures and domain lands of the Ptolemaic kings and the -balance of the revenues over the expenses. This formed the nucleus of -what was afterwards called the _fiscus_,[214] the imperial revenue as -distinguished from the _ærarium_ or public treasury. He was thus enabled -to disband many legions at once, without the dangerous discontent of the -veterans, or the irritation of fresh confiscations. It was imperatively -necessary to do this if he wished to avoid the dangers which had so often -threatened the State from leaders of overgrown military forces. The -number of legions under arms during the preceding ten years was indeed -formidable. In B.C. 36, when Cæsar took over those of Lepidus and Sextus -Pompeius, he had forty-four or forty-five legions under his command.[215] -Between that time and the war with Antony he had reduced the number to -eighteen. But after the victory at Actium and the death of Antony, the -legions taken over from him, along with those newly raised for the war, -again amounted to fifty. Therefore Cæsar had twice to deal with a body of -about 250,000 men. He says himself that in the course of his wars half a -million citizens had taken the military oath to him. The wealth of Egypt -served to purchase lands or compensate towns for such as were taken for -the veterans. From first to last more than 300,000 men were provided for -in this way.[216] An important purpose also served by this measure was -the repeopling of Italy and the renovation of many towns which during -the civil wars, or from other causes, had fallen into decay. Republican -precedent was followed by recalling the ancient practice of settling -“colonies” in the Italian towns, but with this difference, that the new -colonists were usually treated as a _supplementum_ of an already existing -colonia, lands being purchased for them from private owners or from the -communities. Augustus claims twenty-eight of such Italian colonies, of -which thirteen are known to have been in past times “Roman” or “Latin” -colonies. Other towns, besides a money compensation, were rewarded by -being raised to the status of a colony, generally with the addition of -“Iulia” or “Augusta” to their name. This system was presently extended -beyond Italy—to Africa, Spain, Sicily, Illyricum, Macedonia, Achaia, -Gallia Narbonensis, Asia, Syria, and Pisidia. Settlements in these -countries were all colonies of veterans, except Dyrrachium, which was -filled with dispossessed Italians. This was not altogether a novelty: -for extra-Italian colonies had been already established in Cisalpine and -Transalpine Gaul, at Carthage, and at Corinth. Iulius Cæsar is said to -have settled 80,000 citizens in this way outside Italy. The extra-Italic -colonies of Augustus, however, differed from these last in regard to -status. They had what was called _Latinitas_, that is, citizenship -without the right of voting or holding office at Rome. In virtue of this -citizenship they came under the Roman law and belonged to the assize -(_conventus_) of the provincial governors. Some of them, again, had the -special privileges which were summed up in the general term “Italic -right” (_ius Italicum_), and included freedom from the jurisdiction -of the provincial governor (_libertas_), and exemption from tribute -(_immunitas_). The general aim seems to have been to put the extra-Italic -colonies as far as possible in the same position as those in Italy. As -a rule also the veterans settled in a colony had been enlisted in the -province, and had, therefore, already local connections. Augustus took -trouble in fostering and adorning these towns, whether in Italy or the -provinces, and records with pride that many had become populous cities -during his lifetime. In many cases their subsequent importance shewed -that they had been well selected. Thus Carthage had a great mediæval -history; Durazzo and Philippi were long places of consequence; Saragossa, -Merida, Cordova, Aix, Patras, Beyroot, all trace their prosperity to the -colonisation of Augustus.[217] - -[Sidenote: Improvements at Rome.] - -Nor did he meanwhile forget to encourage restoration at Rome, to which -he had already given a strong impulse. Nothing had damaged Antony in the -eyes of the Romans more than the report of his intention to transfer the -seat of Empire to Alexandria. A similar report as to the establishment -of an imperial city for the East at Ilium caused a like uneasiness a few -years later, which found expression in one of Horace’s most spirited -odes.[218] Cæsar prudently shewed not only that he held firmly by the -Imperial position of Rome, but that he also wished to make it externally -worthy to be the capital of the world. As in all his projects, no one -co-operated more loyally than Agrippa. But others also were pressed -into the service; and those especially who had earned triumphs were -encouraged to use a portion at least of their spoils in public works. In -the next few years there was a great outburst of temple restoration,[219] -and it became the fashion among the immediate friends and followers of -Augustus to signalise their tenure of office or a military success by -undertaking some important building. Horace again has reflected the view -of such matters which the official classes were expected to take, and -perhaps to a certain extent did take. The sufferings of the Romans in the -revolutionary period had undoubtedly been great. The ruinous state of the -temples was doubtless connected with the unsettled times—whether as cause -or consequence, who could exactly say? It was not unnatural to suppose -that among the other _delicta maiorum_ this too had moved the wrath of -the gods. At any rate moral laxity went side by side with scepticism -and neglect of religious observances. Nor need we regard either poet or -emperor as a monster of hypocrisy in supporting such a doctrine. Habit -and tradition are stronger than philosophy. There always remains the -Incalculable after all our reasoning; and many to-day regret the decay -of religious sentiment as a public misfortune, who are yet profoundly -uncertain as to what they in truth believe themselves. - -[Sidenote: Honours bestowed on Cæsar, B.C. 30-27.] - -On his return from Asia and Greece, where he had spent the winter and -spring of B.C. 30-29, Cæsar was received with enthusiasm by all classes. -Solemn sacrifice was offered by the consul in the name of the people, and -every honour which the Senate could bestow was awaiting his acceptance. -Those voted after Actium were lavishly increased in September B.C. -30, on the news of Antony’s death and the occupation of Alexandria. -Two triumphal arches were to be erected, one at Rome and another at -Brundisium;[220] the temple of the divine Iulius was to be adorned with -the prows of captured ships; his own birthday, the day of the victory at -Actium, and that of the entry into Alexandria were to be for ever sacred; -the Vestal Virgins and the whole people were to meet him on his return in -solemn procession; he was to have the foremost seat at all festivals; and -was to celebrate three triumphs—one for the victory over the Dalmatian -and neighbouring tribes, a second for Actium, and a third for Egypt. -The _tribunicia potestas_ for life had again been voted to him with -the right of exercising it within a mile radius beyond the walls. He -was to have the right to hear all cases on appeal and to have a casting -vote in all courts. His name was to be mentioned in public prayers for -the state. On the 1st of January, B.C. 29, all his _acta_ had been -confirmed; and when it became known that the Parthians had referred a -disputed succession to the throne to his arbitration, some fresh honours -were devised. The disasters under Crassus and Antony had made the Romans -particularly sensitive in regard to the Parthians; and this apparent -acknowledgment by them of a superiority attaching to Augustus, however -indefinite, was represented by the court party and the court poets, not -only as a veritable triumph over the Parthians, but as a step in a career -of Eastern conquest of almost unlimited extent.[221] Accordingly his -name was now to be coupled with those of the gods in hymns; a tribe was -named _Iulia_ in his honour; he was to wear the chaplet of victory in -all assemblies; and to nominate as many members as he chose to all the -sacred colleges. Cæsar accepted most of these honours, but begged to be -excused the procession on his return. This was an honour which he always -avoided if he could, preferring to enter the city quietly by night. It -was no doubt a trying ordeal at the end of a long journey, and he may -have felt like Cromwell that a larger crowd still would have come out to -see him hanged. The three triumphs, however, were now celebrated with the -greatest splendour, especially the third over Egypt, in which a figure of -the dead queen lying upon a couch, with son and daughter beside her, was -a prominent feature. - -[Sidenote: The increase of the Patriciate and the Census.] - -Cæsar now had ample powers for every purpose of government. The -_tribunicia potestas_ in itself gave him legislative initiative and -control over other departments. It was afterwards regarded as the most -important of his powers. But in his first measures of reform he availed -himself rather of his powers as consul. The consulship was to be really, -as it always remained nominally, the chief state office, combining all -the prerogatives once centred in the _rex_. Thus in holding the Census of -B.C. 28 he acted as Consul with his colleague Agrippa, exercising indeed -a _censoria potestas_, though not one formally bestowed, but as inherent -in the consulship.[222] He concluded it with the solemn _lustrum_, which -had not been performed for forty-two years, the last Censors (B.C. 50) -having apparently been prevented from performing this solemnity by the -outbreak of civil war. The Census was made the occasion of a reform -in the _ordines_ and especially of the Senate. In the first place, he -recruited the dwindling number of patrician _gentes_ by raising certain -plebeian families to the patriciate, as his own family had been raised -by Iulius in B.C. 45 in virtue of a _lex Cassia_. The same power was now -accorded to him by a law proposed by L. Sænius, who was consul during the -last two months of B.C. 30. The object seems to have been to preserve a -kind of nobility, which at the same time should have certain political -disabilities. The patricians, indeed, still had the exclusive right of -being appointed to certain religious offices, but, on the other hand, -they were debarred from the tribuneship and the plebeian ædileship,[223] -the two offices in which a man by legislative proposals or lavish -expenditure might make himself politically conspicuous. - -[Sidenote: The lectiones Senatus.] - -A similar desire to restore the ancient order of the State prompted his -reformation of the Senate. The powers of this body had always been great -precisely because they were not defined by law; and by associating it -with himself he would gain all the advantages of this indefiniteness and -prestige, while really keeping full control of it. Iulius Cæsar had made -the mistake of treating it with studied disrespect, and his chief enemies -were within its walls. The Triumvirs, though in reality despotic, had -looked to it to give their _acta_ an outward show of legality. Thus on -Octavian’s demand it had condemned Q. Gallius in B.C. 43, and Salvidienus -in B.C. 40, for treason. It had confirmed the triumviral _acta_ en bloc, -giving Antony charge of the Parthian war and ratifying his arrangements -in the East in advance. It had voted triumphs and other honours to the -triumvirs and their agents. It was the Senate that in B.C. 41 voted L. -Antonius an _hostis_, that in B.C. 32 decreed war against Cleopatra, -deposed Antony from consulship and imperium, and in B.C. 31-30 voted the -various honours and powers to the victorious Cæsar. The late civil war -had in a way made the importance of the Senate more prominent. So many -Senators had joined Antony at Alexandria that, like Sertorius in Spain -and Pompey in Epirus, he had professed to have the Senate with him. -The victory of Actium had pricked that bubble, and the Senate at Rome -remained the only Senate of the Empire. Cæsar was wise to put himself -under the ægis of this ancient and still respected body. But it was -necessary to secure its dignity and effectiveness, which had suffered -in various ways during the revolutionary period. Among other things its -numbers had been swollen and often with men of inferior social standing. -Iulius Cesar had filled it with his creatures—provincials from Gaul -and Spain, sons of freedmen, centurions, soldiers, and peregrini—so -that a pasquinade was put up by some wit that “no one was to show a new -Senator the way to the Senate House.”[224] Another batch of Senators was -introduced after Cæsar’s death, chiefly by Antony, in virtue of real or -fictitious entries found in Cæsar’s papers, whom the populace nicknamed -“post-mortem Senators” (_Senatores orcini_),[225] or sometimes even -on their own initiative without any other formality than assuming the -laticlave and senatorial shoe.[226] Many Senators no doubt perished in -the proscriptions, in the subsequent battles of Philippi and Perusia, and -in the contests with Sextus Pompeius, but the Triumvirs appear to have -been lavish in enrolling new members without regard to fortune, origin, -or official position; and so careless were they in this matter that cases -are recorded of unenfranchised slaves having obtained office and seats in -the Senate and being then recognised and claimed by their masters.[227] -The result was that at the time of the battle of Actium there were more -than a thousand Senators.[228] This was too large a number for practical -work, without taking into consideration inferiority of character. No -doubt a good many who had sided with Antony disappeared in various ways; -but in now making a formal _lectio_ Cæsar resolved to reduce the number -still more. Sixty voluntarily resigned and were allowed to retain the -purple and certain social distinctions, but a hundred and forty were -simply omitted from the new list. By this means the roll was reduced -to about six hundred, which continued to be the number in subsequent -lectiones. - -To secure their attendance and to prevent interference in the provinces -the regulation was enforced which prohibited any Senator from leaving -Italy (except for Sicily or Gallia Narbonensis) unless he had imperium -or was on a legatio,[229] that is, practically, unless he was serving -the state in some way on Cæsar’s nomination. In the next _lectio_ (B.C. -19) Augustus tried an elaborate system of co-option, by nominating -thirty on the existing roll, each of whom were to name five who were -to draw lots for admission, and so on till the number was made up. -But finding that it was not worked fairly he stopped this and made up -the roll himself. This continued to be the system, but as time went on -the difficulty was not so much to exclude unworthy men as to induce -enough of the right sort to serve. Membership became less attractive -as the imperial power developed, and the holding of profitable offices -depended on the will of the Emperor, who was not bound to select from -the Senate. Moreover, a property qualification was now required. None -had existed under the republic by definite law, though a certain -fortune was regarded as practically necessary; and as the Senate was -recruited from the _ordo equester_, a minimum was in the last century -of the republic automatically secured. Cæsar fixed 800,000 sesterces, -and later on a million sesterces as the Senatorial fortune, though in -cases of special fitness he gave grants to enable men to maintain their -position. Still the honour of membership was not found to make up for -its disabilities—the difficulty of going abroad and the prohibition as -to engaging in commerce. In B.C. 13 Augustus was obliged to compel men -who had the property qualification to serve. Even then the attendance -was so slack that in B.C. 11 the old quorum of four hundred was reduced. -In B.C. 9 various regulations were introduced to facilitate business, -such as the publication of an order of the day (λεύκωμα), fixed days -of meeting, a variation as to the quorum required for different kinds -of business, a scale of fines for non-attendance, the selection by lot -of thirty-five Senators to attend during September and October, and an -extension to the prætors of the power of bringing business before the -house. Towards the end of the life of Augustus, when his age made it -too much of an exertion to meet the full Senate, a committee of sixteen -Senators was selected by lot to confer with him at his own house. The -inevitable consequence was that this small committee practically settled -most questions, which only came formally before the whole body, whose -administrative function was farther lessened by the diminished importance -of the _ærarium_ as compared with the imperial treasury or _fiscus_. -Finally, it lost the right of coining silver, retaining only the bronze. -On the whole, then, the tendency was towards restricting the functions -of the Senate and making membership less attractive. But this does not -appear to have been the original design of Augustus. He habitually -addressed it with respect, referred all his powers to its confirmation, -and took it into his confidence on imperial affairs. He revived the -ancient dignity of _princeps Senatus_—in abeyance since the death of -Cicero—and held that rank himself all his life. Certain of the provinces -were still left to its management, and cases of _majestas_ were referred -to its decision. The publication of the Senate’s _acta_ had originated -with Iulius Cæsar (B.C. 59), who was not likely to have done anything to -enhance its prestige. The prohibition of this publication by Augustus -was perhaps intended partly to protect the proceedings from criticism, -partly to emphasise the fact that the Senate shared with him the intimate -secrets of government which it was not for the public advantage to have -generally known. The effect, however, was not good; what could not be -ascertained with exactness from official sources was often misrepresented -by irresponsible rumour, and one of the early measures of Tiberius was to -reverse this order.[230] - -[Sidenote: The end of the anarchy.] - -With a Senate purified by his first _lectio_ Cæsar felt that the -constitution might in form, at any rate, be restored. But first the -end of the revolutionary period had to be marked. On January 11, B.C. -29, the temple of Ianus was closed, for the first time since B.C. 235, -for the third time in all Roman history. It was still shut when Cæsar -returned from Asia, and on the 1st of January, B.C. 28, the _augurium -salutis_ was taken. This ceremony—ascertaining by augury whether prayers -for the people should be offered to Salus—could only be performed in -time of complete peace. At the same time a single edict annulled all -the _acta_ of the triumvirs, which were to have no force from his sixth -consulship (B.C. 28).[231] The constitutional significance of this will -be best seen by recalling some facts as to the triumvirs. Whether its -_acta_ were good or bad, the triumvirate was in itself a suspension of -the constitution. Established by a _lex_ on the 27th of November, B.C. -43, to hold office till the 31st of December, B.C. 38, its authority -had been renewed in the course of B.C. 37 to the 31st of December, B.C. -33, whether by another _lex_ or by the will of the triumvirs themselves -is a moot point.[232] But, however appointed, the triumvirs were like -dictators in superseding all other magistrates, and more powerful -than dictators from the length of their tenure of office, and because -the terms of their appointment (_reipublicæ constituendæ causa_) gave -them absolute legislative powers. They could abolish, modify, or grant -dispensation from existing laws. Their edicts had the force of laws, and -such laws as were passed in the regular way during their office either -confirmed their powers, or were passed at their desire to give formal -permanence to their edicts. They had complete control of elections, and -agreed between themselves as to the nomination of magistrates, often -for several years in advance. They controlled the treasury, the domain -lands, the raising or removal of taxation in Rome and Italy. They divided -among themselves the command of the military forces and the government -of the provinces. Each of them, personally or by a legatus, exercised -imperial powers in the provinces assigned to him; set up or put down -client kings; granted immunities or freedom to cities, or abolished -them; bestowed or withdrew the citizenship of individuals; waged war -with surrounding nations; raised or remitted taxation. At Rome also they -had exercised the right of summoning, consulting, and presiding over -the Senate, of vetoing the motion of other Senators, but without being -subject to the tribunician veto themselves. To abolish the _acta_ of -such a despotic body might with reason be regarded a considerable step -towards a restoration of the constitution. Even if some of his own _acta_ -were thereby abolished, Cæsar would have no difficulty in re-enacting -them if desirable. The point was to abolish the memory of a period of -unconstitutional government, to prevent its enactments remaining as -precedents or grounds of claim by citizen or subject, and to leave the -field open for the new arrangement which Cæsar wished men to regard as -a restoration of the republic. For he had already conceived a plan, in -virtue of which the people, magistrates, and Senate should resume their -old functions, while he himself should be practically the colleague of -the higher magistrates—endowed with their powers, though not necessarily -with their office—and thereby practically direct the policy of the state. -The key to the policy—as he wished it to be regarded—is contained in -his own comment: “After that time (January 1, 27) I was superior to all -in rank, but of power I had no more than my colleagues in the several -offices.”[233] There were some of his powers difficult to reconcile with -this theory of a restored constitution; but he was careful to rest these -on votes of the people or Senate, to accept them only for fixed periods, -or to profess to share them with his colleagues.[234] - -[Sidenote: Inauguration of the new constitution, 1 January, B.C. 27.] - -The new constitution was now introduced in a characteristic scene, -apparently designed to make it clear that Cæsar did not seek power, -but undertook it under pressure. In a meeting of the Senate, at the -beginning of his seventh consulship, he delivered from a written copy -a carefully prepared speech, in which he surrendered to the Senate -all the powers which it had bestowed upon him, as well as those which -he had acquired in any other way—the command of troops, the powers of -legislation, the government of the provinces. He based his resolution -on justice, the inherent right of the people to manage its own affairs, -and on his own right to consult for his personal safety, health, and -ease. At the same time, he dwelt on his public services and those of his -adoptive father, the labours they had both endured, the dangers to which -both had been exposed, and justified the exercise up to this time of his -various powers. Finally, he urged them to refrain from innovations, to -give a hearty obedience to the laws, to elect the best men for civil and -military offices without prejudice or favouritism, to deal honestly with -public money, to treat allies and subjects equitably, to seek no wars but -to be prepared for any, and to see that he had no cause to regret his -renunciation of power. The speech was received with loud remonstrances, -some sincere and some perhaps cautious and time-serving, but so general -that he had to consent with real or feigned reluctance to receive back -his autocratic powers. Was he merely playing a part, or had he any real -wish to retire from public life? As in most cases there was probably a -division of feeling in his heart. He was in weak health, and had had -another illness a few months before. For eighteen years—just half his -life—he had been ceaselessly engaged in fatiguing duties, in wars for -which he had no genius, and in civil administration which, though much -better suited to his taste and abilities, had been carried out amidst -constant opposition and difficulty. One side of his mind may well have -been eager for rest. But, on the other hand, no man who has tasted power -and feels that he can wield it quits it without pain. At no time did -he find pleasure in the outward trappings of state, or in the personal -indulgences for which it gives opportunity, but he was ambitious in the -best sense. He loved his country and desired to be remembered as the -restorer of its prosperity and happiness, as the benefactor of the Empire -and the guarantee of its peace and good government. Twenty-four years -later when Valerius Messalla, speaking in the name of people and Senate, -greeted him with the affectionate title of “Father of his country,” he -burst into tears and could only murmur that he had nothing more to pray -for except to retain their affection to the end of his life. But whatever -secret wish he may have had for rest he must have known that it was -impossible. The elements of disorder and oppression were not destroyed. -If the restraining hand were removed they would break out into new -activity. Nor would it be safe for himself after years of steady working -for this end, in the course of which he must have offended countless -interests, to trust himself to a new generation of statesmen without the -experience in the working of a free state possessed by their ancestors, -and yet with the same passions and ambitions. A scheme had, in fact, -been elaborated in conjunction with his faithful friends and ministers, -Agrippa and Mæcenas. Dio represents the former as urging Cæsar to -withdraw from power and frankly to restore the republic. He grounded his -advice on the financial and political difficulties which he would have -to face, on the uncertainty of his own health, on the impossibility of -drawing back hereafter and the evil destiny of all those who in previous -ages had attempted to gain absolute power. Mæcenas, on the other hand, -not only urged him to retain his power, but went into most elaborate -details as to the arrangements which it would be necessary to make. He -did not deny the risks, but maintained that the glory was worth them, -and that a withdrawal was neither safe for himself nor for the people. -It is not clear how far we may regard these two speeches, as well as -that of Augustus in the Senate, as representing what was really said. It -is possible that as they were all written documents they may have been -preserved, and that Dio is translating from them; but at any rate they -represent fairly well the two sides of the question which Augustus must -have considered with care and anxiety.[235] - -[Sidenote: Division of the Provinces, B.C. 27.] - -The arrangement actually made was of the nature of a compromise. The -provinces were divided, as formerly between Antony and Cæsar, so now -between Cæsar and the Senate. Those that required considerable military -forces were to be under Cæsar, governed by his deputies with the rank -of prætor (_legati pro prætore_), appointed by his sole authority, and -holding office during his pleasure. The rest were to be still governed -by proconsuls, selected as of old by ballot under the superintendence of -the Senate from the ex-prætors or ex-consuls, subject to the existing -laws as to length of tenure and the obligation of furnishing accounts, -and liable with their staff to prosecution _de rebus repetundis_ in the -ordinary courts. The “primacy” of the Emperor, however, was apparent in -this partnership with the Senate, no less than in that with colleagues -in office. In the allotment of Senatorial provinces he retained the -right of nominating the exact number required, so that no one of whom -he disapproved could obtain a province. In both classes of province he -appointed a procurator, with authority over the finances independent -of the proconsul or legatus.[236] In both also the governor received a -salary fixed by himself, and had to conform to certain general principles -laid down by him. In all alike he possessed a _majus imperium_, soon -afterwards, if not at first, defined as a _proconsulare imperium_.[237] - -For the rest he retained his right of being yearly elected consul, his -tribunician power, his membership of the sacred colleges, his command of -the army. But freedom of election was ostensibly restored to the people, -and the Senate was still the fountain of honour, and had the control -of the _ærarium_. But this last was no longer managed by two elected -quæstors, but by two men of prætorian rank, nominated by the Emperor. -It was, moreover, now of minor importance, as the _fiscus_ (to use the -later term) was entirely in the hands of Cæsar, and into it went the -revenues of the imperial provinces, and, above all, of Egypt. The key -of the position was that though the old republican magistrates still -existed, Cæsar in various ways was their colleague, and of course the -predominant partner. The Senate, however, accepted his view of the case, -as afterwards expressed in the _Monumentum_, that he had “transferred -the republic from his power to the authority of the Senate and people -of Rome.” To show their confidence in him the Senators voted him a -bodyguard (the men drawing double pay), and confirmed his authority in -the provinces. The latter, which made him _princeps_ throughout the -Empire, as he already was in Rome, he refused to accept for more than -ten years. But it was always renewed subsequently for periods of five or -ten years; and when in B.C. 23, the _proconsulare imperium_ was declared -to be operative within, as well as beyond, the pomærium, he had, in fact, -supreme control, military and financial, in all parts of the Empire. To -mark his exceptional position without offending the prejudice against -royalty, it was desired to give him a special title of honour. His own -wish was for “Romulus,” as second founder of the state. But objection was -raised to it as recalling the odious position of _rex_, and he eventually -accepted the title of AUGUSTUS, a word connected with religion and the -science of augury, and thereby suggesting the kind of sentiment which -he desired to be attached to his person and genius. This was voted by -the Senate on the Ides (13th) of January, B.C. 27, and confirmed by a -plebiscitum on the 16th. He was now “first” or _princeps_ everywhere, -whether in the Senate, or among his colleagues in the offices, or among -the proconsuls in the provinces.[238] He was, therefore, spoken of as -_princeps_ in ordinary language, and the word gradually hardened into a -title. It exactly suited the view which he himself wished to be taken -of his political position, as giving a primacy of rank among colleagues -of equal _legal_ powers; though, of course, a primacy, supported by the -power of the purse and the sword, made him a master while masquerading -as a colleague. He, however, adopted the word as rightly expressing his -position without giving needless offence, and his successors took it as a -matter of course, though it less frequently occurs in inscriptions than -their other titles.[239] - -Closely connected with the bestowal of the title Augustus was another -vote of the Senate, that the front of his house should not only be -adorned with the laurels that told of victory over his enemies, but also -with the oaken or “civic” crown which told of the lives of citizens -preserved. This appears again and again on his coins with the legend—_ob -cives servatos_: and it is mentioned by Augustus himself at the end of -his record of achievements, as though—with the later title of Pater -Patriæ—it indicated the chief glory of his career. - - - - -CHAPTER IX - -THE FIRST PRINCIPATUS, B.C. 27-23 - - _Serves iturum Cæsarem in ultimos_ - _orbis Britannos et invenum recens_ - _examen Eois timendum_ - _partibus Oceanoque rubro._ - - -[Sidenote: Gaul and Britain.] - -The settlement of his official status at Rome left Augustus free to turn -to other parts of the Empire. He had spent the greater part of two years -after the victory at Actium in organising the East. His face was now -turned northward and westward. In the spring of B.C. 27, he set out for -Gaul to reorganise the provinces won by Iulius in B.C. 58-49, and farther -secured by the operations of Agrippa in B.C. 37 and Messalla in B.C. -29. It was understood that he meant also to cross to Britain, and the -court poets are dutifully anxious as to the dangers he will incur, and -prophetically certain of the victories he will win. A British expedition -had been for some years floating in Roman minds. It is true that Iulius -Cæsar had invaded the island and imposed a tribute on some of the tribes. -But the tribute does not seem to have been paid. The Briton was still -_intactus_, and was classed with the Parthian as a danger to the frontier -of the Empire.[240] He was chiefly known at Rome by the presence of -certain stalwart slaves, and by the determination he displayed not to -admit adventurous Roman merchants.[241] But, after all, Augustus found -enough to do in Gaul, and saw good reason for abstaining from such a -dangerous adventure. The Britons, though they neglected the _tributum_, -yet paid a duty on exports and imports to and from Gaul, principally -ivory ornaments, and the better sorts of glass and pottery; and it was -pointed out that the danger of a British invasion of Gallia was small, -that a military occupation of the island would cost more than the tribute -would bring in, and that the _portoria_ would be rather diminished than -increased by it.[242] Augustus, at any rate, professed to be satisfied by -certain envoys sent to him from Britain. They dedicated some offerings on -the Capitol, and received for their countrymen the title of “Friends of -Rome!”[243] - -[Sidenote: Augustus in Gaul, B.C. 27-6.] - -Augustus spent the summer and winter of B.C. 27-6 in Narbo, finding -enough to do in holding a census of the rest of Gaul for purposes of -taxation, and regularly organising the country annexed by Iulius to -that ancient province, which had been Roman long before his time. Four -provinces were created with separate legati. The original “province” was -now called Gallia Narbonensis; the south-western district, extending -from the Pyrennees to the Loire, retained its old name of Aquitania; -the central or “Celtic” Gaul was called Lugdunensis, from its capital -Lugdunum, made a _colonia_ in B.C. 43; the northern country up to the -Rhine was Belgica, including the districts on the left bank of the Rhine, -in which Agrippa had settled certain German tribes who had crossed the -river. Augustus was not content with a merely political organisation. -He established schools to spread the use of the Latin language, and -everywhere introduced the principles of Roman law. He took especial -pains to adorn and promote the towns in Narbonensis, where traces of his -buildings are still to be seen. The effect of his work now and ten years -later was that Gaul became rapidly Romanised both in speech and manners, -and that in learning and civilisation it soon rivalled Italy itself. - -This was a work thoroughly congenial to Augustus, and in which his -ability was conspicuous. But he now had to engage again in war, for which -his genius was by no means so well suited. Ianus Quirinus was again open. -The surrounding barbarians were again threatening Macedonia; the Salassi -of the _Val d’Aosta_ were again making raids, and there was imminent -danger in Northern Spain. The governor of Macedonia, M. Crassus (grandson -of the triumvir) had been so successful over the Thracians and Getæ, that -he was allowed a triumph in July, B.C. 27, but it appears that their -incursions did not cease in spite of these victories.[244] The war with -the Salassi was entrusted to Terentius Varro Muræna, who, after winning -some victories in the field, sold many thousands of their men of military -age into slavery, and established a colony of 3,000 veterans to overawe -them, called Augusta Prætoria, the modern Aosta.[245] - -[Sidenote: Augustus in Spain, B.C. 26-25.] - -[Sidenote: The Arabian Expedition.] - -From Narbo, Augustus next proceeded to Spain in the early part of B.C. -26, and spent the rest of the year in peaceful reforms and in the -organisation of the province. But in B.C. 25 he was forced to enter -upon a campaign against the Cantabri and Astures, those warlike tribes -in the north-west, who, nominally included in the upper province, -were continually harassing the more obedient peoples, and showing -their dislike of Roman supremacy.[246] The war was tantalising and -difficult. The hardy highlanders knew every forest, mountain, and -valley, and the Roman soldiers could neither provide against sudden -attacks, not get at the enemy in their fastnesses. From fatigue and -anxiety Augustus fell ill and was obliged to retire to Tarraco, leaving -the conduct of the campaign to Gaius Antistius Vetus, who was able to -win several engagements, because after the retirement of Augustus the -natives ventured more frequently to appear in the open. Another of his -legates, Titus Carisius, took Lance (_Sallanco_); and finally Augustus -founded a colony of veterans among the Lusitani, called Augusta Emerita -(_Merida_), and another called Cæsar-Augusta (_Zaragossa_) among the -Editani, on the site of the ancient Salduba, from which all the great -roads to the Pyrennees branch off. The Cantabri were not crushed, but -they were quiet for a time. Ianus was closed, and Augustus returned at -the beginning of B.C. 24; and the courtier Horace is again called on -to celebrate a success, and to welcome the Emperor’s home-coming as of -a victor.[247] The Senate voted him a triumph, partly for the Spanish -campaign and partly for some successes of his legate, M. Vinicius, in -Gaul, who had caused his soldiers to proclaim Augustus imperator for the -eighth time. Augustus refused the triumph, but accepted the acclamation -of imperator—thus assuming as head of the army that what was everywhere -done was, to use the technical expression, done “under his auspices,” -and was to be reckoned to his credit. He also accepted honours for his -young nephew Marcellus, and his stepson Tiberius. The former was admitted -to the Senate with prætorian rank, and with ten years seniority for -office, in virtue of which he was at once elected ædile, though only in -his twentieth year; the latter was allowed five years’ seniority, and -at once elected quæstor in his nineteenth year. A triumphal arch was -also erected in honour of Augustus in the Alpine region.[248] The temple -of Ianus did not remain long closed, however. Soon after Augustus left -Spain the Cantabri and Astures again rose; and in B.C. 24 took place -the ill-judged and unfortunate expedition of Ælius Gallus into Arabia. -A march of six months’ duration, in which large numbers perished from -heat and disease and only seven men in actual fighting, was followed -by a retreat lasting sixty days. Gallus had been misled and duped -by the satrap of the Nabatæans, and all the hopes of splendid booty -were baffled. The expedition had been approved, if not suggested, by -Augustus, partly on the pretext of preventing incursions into Egypt; -but more, it would seem, because Arabia was regarded as an El Dorado, -where vast treasures of gold and jewels were to be found, accumulated -from the export of the rich spices of the country, which the inhabitants -were believed to keep jealously in a country as yet never pillaged by -an invader. As usual, the court poets echo the popular delusions, and -eulogise the certain success of the Emperor; Horace harps on the rich -“treasures of the Arabians,” their “well-stocked houses,” their “virgin -stores.” The Roman arms are to strike terror in the East and the Red Sea, -and are at length being employed on what is their proper and natural -foe.[249] Augustus, says another poet, is now a terror to the “homestead -of the yet unplundered Arabia.”[250] Happily this was an almost solitary -instance of such wild schemes, prompted by greed, and promoted by -ignorance and delusion. Augustus came to see that the frontiers of his -great empire afforded sufficient work for its military resources; but it -was not till near the end of his long life that a great military disaster -gave him a sharp reminder of the impolicy of pushing beyond them. - -[Sidenote: New buildings at Rome.] - -During these years the process of adorning Rome with splendid buildings -or restorations of old ones had been steadily going on. For the largest -number of these Augustus himself was responsible. In B.C. 28 the temple -of Apollo on the Palatine, with its colonnades and libraries, had been -dedicated. In the same year the restoration of 82 temples was begun on -his initiative, and apparently at his expense. The new temple of Mars -Ultor, vowed at Philippi, with its surrounding forum Augustum, was in -process of erection, as well as another to Iupiter Tonans on the Capitol, -vowed in the course of the Cantabrian expedition to commemorate a narrow -escape from being struck by lightning. He also completed the forum and -basilica partly erected by Iulius, had begun or projected the _porticus -Liviæ et Octaviæ_, and had erected the imposing rotunda intended as the -mortuary of the Iulian _gens_: while Statilius Taurus had built the first -amphitheatre, Plancus a great temple of Saturn, and Cornelius Balbus -was about to begin a new theatre. But most splendid of all were the -benefactions of Agrippa. Baths, bridges, colonnades, gardens, aqueducts, -were all dedicated by him to the use of the public. Above all, by B.C. -25 he had completed the magnificent Pantheon, still in its decline one -of the most striking buildings in the world. It was dedicated to Mars -and Venus, mythical ancestors of the Iulian _gens_, but its name may -be derived either from its numerous statues of the gods, or from the -supposed likeness of its dome to the sky. Its purpose—beyond being a -compliment to Augustus—is still a subject of dispute. Nor have we any -record of its use except as the meeting-place of the Arval brothers.[251] - -[Sidenote: The illness and recovery of Augustus, B.C. 23.] - -Great way, therefore, was already made towards justifying the boast of -Augustus that he found Rome brick and left it marble. For these buildings -were lined or paved with every kind of precious marble and stone. But -the year following his return from Spain witnessed a crisis in his -life as well as in his political position. He seems to have been in a -feeble state of health all through B.C. 24, the effect probably of his -fatigues and anxieties in Spain. But soon after entering on his eleventh -consulship in B.C. 23, he became so much worse that he believed himself -to be dying. It became necessary, therefore, to make provision for the -continuance of the government. Augustus had no hereditary office, and no -power of transmitting his authority. Still it was supposed that he was -training his nephew and son-in-law Marcellus, or his stepson Tiberius, -to be his successor. The former was curule-ædile, and seems to have -conceived the ambition of succeeding his uncle. But when he thought death -approaching, Augustus did not designate either of these young men. He -handed his seal to Agrippa, and the official records of the army and -revenue to Cn. Calpurnius Piso, his colleague in the consulship. He would -play his part as constitutional magistrate to the last. To speculate -on what might have been is not very profitable. Agrippa had advised a -restoration of the republic in B.C. 30. But every year since then had -made it more difficult; and, if he had wished to do it, he would probably -have found it as impossible as his master had done, and would have had -to choose between supporting Marcellus and taking the direction of -affairs into his own hands. The difficulty, however, did not arise; for -owing either to the goodness of his constitution, or the skill of his -physician, Antonius Musa, Augustus recovered. - -[Sidenote: The new constitutional settlement, B.C. 23.] - -When he met the Senate once more he offered to read his will to prove -that he had been true to his constitutional obligations, and had named -no successor, but had left the decision in the hands of the Senate and -people. The Senators, however, declined to hear it, but insisted that the -powers which he had been exercising should be more clearly defined and -placed on a better legal footing. Accordingly a _Senatus-consultum_ was -drawn up, to be afterwards submitted to the centuriate assembly, giving -him a variety of powers, and forming a precedent which was followed in -the case of subsequent emperors. It began with a confirmation of the -_tribunicia potestas_, for life and unlimited as to place, with the right -of bringing business of any kind before the Senate (_ius relationis_). -It next gave him the _ius proconsulare_, both within and without the -pomærium, involving a _maius imperium_ in all provinces. Further, it gave -him the right of making treaties; the right of summoning, consulting, -and dismissing the Senate (_ius consulare_); the confirmation of all his -_acta_, “Whatever he shall think to be for the benefit and honour of the -republic in things divine and human, whether public or private”; finally, -exemption from the provisions of certain laws and _plebiscita_. Some -legal difficulty was apparently discovered afterwards as to the right of -proposing laws to the centuriate assembly, which was remedied in B.C. -19 by his receiving the full consular power for life, with the right -of having _lictors_, and sitting on the consular bench. This seems to -have been a concession to legal purists. He doubtless exercised the full -consular powers before; but a distinction was drawn by some between the -_ius consulare_ and the _imperium consulare_, and whatever doubt there -might be was now set at rest. - -[Sidenote: The imperial powers.] - -As the imperial powers may now be considered as fully developed, future -extensions being merely logical deductions from the constitution as now -established, it will be convenient here once for all to point out their -nature and extent. They may be classed under two headings—(1) _imperium_; -(2) _potestas tribunicia_. - -The first—_imperium_—embraces all those powers which Augustus obtained as -representing the curule magistrates, or from special law and senatorial -decrees. As imperator, then, he had supreme command of all forces by -land or sea. The military oath was now taken in his name, no longer to -individual officers raising legions. He alone had the right to enrol -soldiers; he nominated the officers; his procurators paid the men in his -name; from him proceeded all rewards. The Senate, indeed, still awarded -triumphs and _triumphalia ornamenta_, but it was at his suggestion, and -the tendency was to confine the right of triumph to the Emperor himself. - -By the same _imperium_ he decided on questions of peace or war; on the -distribution of the _ager publicus_, and the assignation of lands to -veterans and _coloni_ generally. - -Finally, the right of conferring the citizenship, complete or partial, -and settling the status of all colonies and _municipia_, and of -interpreting the laws by a _constitutio principis_, expressed in an edict -or decree, which amounted, in fact, to legislative power. - -The second—_potestas tribunicia_—was superior to the ordinary powers -of the tribunes, because by it he could veto their proceedings, while -they could not veto his. “It gave him”—to use Dio’s words—“the means of -absolutely putting a stop to any proceeding of which he disapproved; -it rendered his person inviolable, so that the least violence offered -him by word or deed made a man liable to death without trial as being -under a curse.” From the ancient constitution of the office also it -made him president of the _comitia tributa_ (representing the old -_consilia plebis_), gave him the right of interposing in all decisions of -magistrates or Senate affecting the persons or civil status of citizens -(_auxilii latio_), and that of compelling obedience by imprisonment or -other means, as in the republic the tribunes had done even to the consuls -in extreme cases (_coercitio_). Though this power was given the Emperor -for life, it was also in a sense annual; and it was in effect so much -the most important of all his powers, while at the same time in origin -and professed object so much the most popular, that it became the custom -from henceforth to date all documents, inscriptions, and the like, by the -year of the tribunician power from 27th of June this year (B.C. 23). The -_imperium_ was renewed at intervals of ten or five years, the tribunician -power of Augustus went on from year to year without break. It was now -unnecessary any longer to hold the consulship, for the _imperium_ given -him in other ways covered all, and more than all, which the consulship -could give. It was convenient to use it for rewarding others, as it -retained all its outward signs of dignity, and still in theory made -its holder head of the state, though in reality its duties had become -almost wholly ceremonial. He therefore abdicated the consulship, which he -did not hold again till B.C. 5, when he desired to give _éclat_ to his -grandson’s _deductio in forum_. - -The clause in the _lex_, quoted above, also gave Augustus supreme control -of all religious matters, and made him able, among other things, to -nominate most of the members of the sacred colleges. He did not become -Pontifex Maximus till the death of Lepidus (B.C. 13). When that took -place he became official, as well as real, head of the Roman religion. - -Certain other arrangements in regard to the city of Rome itself followed, -all in the direction of centralisation. Thus Augustus presided at the -review of the equites, which used to be held by the censors. Public -works were mostly entrusted to _curatores_ appointed by him; for the -supply of corn he named a _præfectus annonæ_; and for police a _præfectus -urbi_, under whom were the _cohortes urbanæ_, the night-watch and fire -brigade (_nocturni vigiles_). Each of these bodies had their own -officers or _præfecti_; but Augustus from time to time appointed some -one as _præfectus urbi_, to whom all alike would be subject. Such an -officer, however, did not always assume the name, and really as well as -theoretically the ultimate authority was Augustus himself, who later on, -by dividing Rome into _regiones_ and _vici_, made elaborate arrangements -for the effective policing of the city. - -[Sidenote: The succession.] - -Augustus might pose as a constitutional magistrate enjoying a life-tenure -of his office, without the right of transmitting it to an heir. This view -was strictly legal, but it was evident that such a power could not safely -be left by its holder without any understanding as to a successor. The -matter was indeed in the hands of Senate and people; but in the minds of -possible heirs, as well as of the Senate and people themselves, it began -to be thought natural and necessary that some arrangement of the sort -should be made. The cases are numerous in all history of rulers, whether -new or hereditary, who have wished to found or continue a dynasty, or -who have thought to prevent confusion and danger after their own death -by naming a successor, or by taking him into present partnership. Such a -scheme was not as yet fully developed, even if it was contemplated. But -Marcellus, who had been adopted by Augustus on his marriage to Iulia, -betrayed his hopes by protesting against the preference shewn by the -apparently dying Emperor to Agrippa; and Augustus yielded so far as to -send Agrippa from Rome as governor of Syria. - -[Sidenote: Death of Marcellus.] - -A sudden disaster, however, put an end to any intention that may have -been formed in regard to Marcellus. In the summer of B.C. 23, he was -attacked by fever, and Antonius Musa, who had successfully treated -Augustus by a _régime_ of cold baths, tried a similar treatment on the -young man with fatal effect. His death was a great grief to Augustus -and so severe a blow to Octavia, that she lived afterwards in complete -retirement. It produced a sensation in Rome such as has been witnessed -more than once among us at the death of an heir to the throne; and has -been immortalised by a celebrated passage inserted by Vergil in the sixth -book of the _Æneid_, a work in which Augustus was specially interested -as a consecration of the greatness of Rome and the hereditary dignity of -the Iulian _gens_. It is skilfully placed at the end of the catalogue of -Roman heroes whose souls are being reviewed by Anchises in the Elysian -realms, where they are waiting their time for entering the bodies of men -destined to make Roman history. The Marcellus of the Punic war naturally -introduces the younger shade, whose brief tenure of life is even now -foreshadowed by the cloud that hangs about his brow. When Vergil recited -the lines to the Emperor and his sorrowing sister, Octavia fainted from -emotion, and Augustus bestowed a splendid reward upon the poet. It may -help us to realise the scene if we once more read the familiar lines. -Æneas notices the mysterious and melancholy shade and eagerly questions -his father:— - - “‘What youth is this of glorious mien - The noblest and the best between, - Cheered to the echo? See, a cloud - (The darkening shadow of the shroud) - Hovers about him even now, - And black night broods upon his brow. - Is he some scion of the race, - Destined our mighty line to grace?’ - - Thus spake the son, the father sighed, - And thus with rising tears replied: - ‘Seek not, my son, to learn the woe, - Your progeny is doomed to know. - The fates will show and then withdraw - The gift men loved but hardly saw. - Too mighty, gods! for so you deemed, - With such a prince Rome’s race had seemed! - What sobs shall thrill the Martian plain! - Ah, Tiber, what dark funeral train - Your waves shall see, as past the Mound - New-built you sweep your waters round! - No scion of the Ilian stock - Shall raise such hopes, such hopes shall mock. - Ah, Romulus, thy land shall see - No son to fire thy pride as he. - Oh loyalty! Oh faith unstained! - Oh strong right hand to yield untrained! - Whether on foot he grasped the sword, - Or charger’s flank with rowel scored, - No foe would e’er have faced his steel - Nor learnt what ’tis the vanquished feel. - Oh child of many tears, if fate - Shall not prevent your living date, - Thou art Marcellus! Lilies fair - Scatter in handfuls on his bier! - Oh let me but his herse bestrew - With flowers bright with purple hue. - Vain gift! but let it still be paid - To grace my far-off grandson’s shade.’” - -The death of Marcellus had occurred in an unhealthy season when many -shared the same fate. Yet there were found people who attributed it to -Livia’s jealousy on behalf of her son Tiberius, and her anger at the -preference shown to the Emperor’s nephew. Scarcely any death occurred -in the imperial family that did not give rise to some such idle and -malevolent gossip. But the Emperor soon had cause to regret the absence -of Agrippa, who was living in Lesbos and administering Syria by his -legate. The next year was a year of sickness and scarcity at Rome, and -was also disturbed by more than one outbreak of political unrest, one -of the few conspiracies against the life of Augustus being detected and -punished. We do not know why Muræna and Fannius Cæpio plotted to kill -Augustus, if they really did so. It may be that the change made in the -principate in B.C. 23 seemed to them to be too much in the direction -of autocracy, or that the consulship without Augustus as colleague -suggested some idea that its old supremacy might be recovered. The -violent party strife which occurred later at the election for B.C. 21, -may have had some connection with the same feeling. Muræna had had a -successful career, had been rewarded by an augurship and a consulship -in B.C. 23, and there is nothing known which explains his conduct. It -may be that his offence was chiefly intemperance of language. Dio says -that he had a sharp tongue which spared no one, and Horace perhaps -meant to give him a hint in the ode addressed to him. Velleius tells -us that, unlike his fellow conspirator Fannius Cæpio, he was a man of -high character.[252] At any rate their execution—for both are said -to have been put to death—is one of the few instances of severity on -the part of Augustus since the civil war. This trouble was followed -by others—a renewed outbreak in Spain, riots at the elections, and a -coldness between himself and his devoted friend and minister Mæcenas, -caused, it is said, by his being supposed to have communicated to his -wife Terentia, the sister of Muræna, some secret as to the detection of -the plot. All these things must have caused Augustus much uneasiness. He -had left Rome in the summer of B.C. 22 for Sicily, intending to start -thence on another progress through the Eastern Provinces. There urgent -messages came to him to return and put a stop to the disturbances. He -did not wish to give up his Eastern journey and yet did not venture to -leave the city without some control. His thoughts turned naturally to -the support that had never failed him—to Agrippa. He was summoned home -primarily to take charge of Rome; but he came back to what seemed the -highest possible position next to that of the Emperor, and one that -promised a still greater one in the future. Augustus insisted on his -divorcing Marcella (daughter of Octavia) and marrying his own daughter -Iulia, left a widow by Marcellus. As usual Agrippa did all that was -imposed upon him well and thoroughly (B.C. 21-20). Having restored order -in the city, he next went to Gallia Narbonensis, where he not only put -a stop to some dangerous disturbances, but initiated great public works -in the way of roads and aqueducts. Passing to Spain he finally crushed -the Cantabri and Astures, who were again in arms. He seems indeed to -have suffered reverses in this war, as his master had done before, but -in the end he reduced them to submission. All this good work was done -while Augustus was in the East (B.C. 21-19), and for it he refused the -triumph offered him by the Senate at the instigation of the Emperor. -But his succession, should he survive the Emperor, was now secured by -his being associated with him in the _tribunicia potestas_ and other -prerogatives for five years at the first renewal of his powers in B.C. -17. Agrippa had now two sons by Iulia, Gaius born in B.C. 20, Lucius in -B.C. 17; and Augustus adopted both of them by the ancient process of a -fictitious purchase. He had now legitimate heirs and nothing farther was -done about the succession for some years. Agrippa died in March, B.C. -12, just as his period of tribunician power was expiring. But during -these years the two sons of Livia, Tiberius and Drusus, had begun those -services on the German frontier and among the Rhæti and other powerful -tribes which proved their vigour and ability. These services were -renewed, after a few months’ interval of quiet, in B.C. 13 and following -years. Accordingly Augustus seems to have meditated putting Tiberius in -much the same position as Agrippa had held. In B.C. 11 he compelled him -to divorce his wife Vipsania (a daughter of Agrippa) and marry Agrippa’s -widow Iulia, the Emperor’s only daughter. He thought still farther to -secure a line of descendants to succeed if necessary to his power. But he -made the mistake of neglecting sentiment. Tiberius was devotedly attached -to Vipsania, by whom he had a son, and could feel neither affection nor -respect for Iulia, who fancied that she lowered herself in marrying him. -The only thing that could compensate him for such a marriage was the -chance of succession, and that was barred by the existence of Gaius and -Lucius Cæsar. His only son by Iulia died, and before long her frivolity -and debaucheries disgusted him, and therefore, though associated in -the tribunician power for five years in B.C. 7, he sought and obtained -permission in the next year to retire to Rhodes, where he stayed seven -years in seclusion. - -[Sidenote: Gaius and Lucius Cæsar.] - -Meanwhile the boys were being brought up with a view to their splendid -future under the eye of Augustus, when he was at home, and often under -his personal instruction, accompanied him as they grew older on his -journeys, in a carriage preceding his own or riding by his side, and in -fact were treated in every way as real and much beloved sons. In the year -in which they assumed the _toga virilis_ (B.C. 5 and B.C. 2) Augustus -again entered upon the consulship, that the _deductio in forum_ should be -as brilliant and dignified as possible. The Senate was not behindhand; -from the day of taking the _toga virilis_ it voted that they should be -capable of taking part in public business, and each of them in turn was -designated consul, Gaius to enter upon his office that time five years. -A new dignity moreover was invented, each in turn being named by the -equites _princeps inventutis_. As Augustus was _princeps senatus_ as well -as _princeps civitatis_, each of these young men was to be the head of -the next _ordo_, the original condition for belonging to which was that -a man must be _iuvenis_. Both were members of the College of Augurs. -They were, in fact, treated as we expect to see princes of the blood and -heirs-apparent treated.[253] But whatever was the intention of Augustus -or the expectation of the people, fate interposed ruthlessly. The -younger—Lucius—died first, on the 20th of August, A.D. 2, at Marseilles, -before he could enter on the consulship to which he had been designated; -the elder Gaius was sent into Asia in B.C. 1, where he entered upon his -consulship of A.D. 1. The object of his mission was to force Phraates -IV., king of the Parthians, to evacuate Armenia which he had invaded. -This was accomplished without fighting and by personal negotiation with -the Parthian king; but when he entered Armenia to take possession and -arrange for its restoration to its recognised king, he was wounded by -an act of treason under the walls of Artagera. Weakened by this wound, -and being in other respects in a feeble state of health and spirits, he -obtained leave from Augustus to lay down his command. He started on his -homeward journey, but died on the way at Limyra in Lycia the 23rd of -February, A.D. 4. - -[Sidenote: Tiberius finally fixed upon as successor.] - -The succession was once more uncertain. The members of the imperial -family at this time were few. Of the children of Agrippa and Iulia -Agrippa Postumus was barely sixteen, and his two sisters, the younger -Iulia and Agrippina a few years older. Drusus, the younger brother of -Tiberius, had married Antonia, daughter of Marcus Antonius and Octavia, -and had left three children, Germanicus, b. B.C. 15, Livia b. B.C. 12, -and Claudius (afterwards Emperor) b. B.C. 10. Augustus meant to provide -a new line of descendants by marrying Agrippina to Germanicus, but that -did not take place till about A.D. 5. Meanwhile, probably on Livia’s -suggestion, he turned his thoughts to his stepson Tiberius, who had -divorced Iulia and had a son (Drusus) by his former wife Vipsania, who -was married to his cousin Livia. There is no good evidence that Augustus -entertained any but warm feelings for Tiberius, and he certainly had -had good reason to respect his military abilities and energy. He seems -to have been hurt at his prolonged stay at Rhodes and to have regarded -it as a sign that Tiberius cared nothing for him and his family. He -had therefore discouraged his return two years before, though he had -given him the position of legatus as a colourable pretext for staying -abroad without loss of dignity. Upon the death of Lucius, however, he -seems to have wished him to return to Rome. Tiberius did so, partly -on the instigation of his mother, and partly, perhaps, because he had -reason to expect the hostility of Gaius, and yet had judged from the -latter’s visit to him on his way to Syria that he was not likely to be a -formidable rival; for he was at once somewhat arrogant and weak, and was -surrounded by injudicious and dishonest advisers. On his return he for -some time lived in retirement and refrained from all public business. -But when the death of Gaius was announced (A.D. 4) Augustus adopted -Tiberius and Agrippa Postumus, having first arranged that Tiberius -should adopt his nephew Germanicus. The adoption of Agrippa Postumus -was shortly afterwards annulled, and he was banished to an island under -surveillance.[254] - -There was now therefore a regular line of succession. Tiberius indeed had -no drop of Iulian blood in his veins, but adoption according to Roman -law and sentiment placed him exactly in the same position as that of a -naturally born son, and by his son’s marriage to Antonia, his adoption of -Germanicus, and the marriage of the latter to Agrippina, it seemed that -there was security that after him must come some one who was collaterally -or directly descended from Augustus. In the same year (A.D. 4) Tiberius -was once more associated with Augustus in the tribunician power for ten -years.[255] There could be no longer any doubt who would succeed. At the -death of Augustus there would be, if Tiberius survived, a man already -possessed of the most important of his functions; and his position -was still farther strengthened in the last year of the Emperor’s life -by being associated also in his _imperium proconsulare_. This gave him -authority in the provinces and the command of all military forces; and -we find him, in fact, upon the death of Augustus giving the watchword at -once to the prætorian guard. - -Augustus therefore is responsible for the principate of Tiberius, though -some of its powers had to be formally bestowed by a decree of the -Senate. Did he do ill or well in this? Hardly any emperor left behind -him such an evil reputation as Tiberius. His funeral procession was -greeted with shouts of “Tiberius to the Tiber,” the Senate did not vote -him the usual divine honours, and Tacitus has exerted all his skill to -make his name infamous. A gallant attempt has been made by Mr. Tarver to -plead for a rehearing of the case, and to shew that Tiberius was pure -in private life and admirable as a ruler. I for one agree with him in -rejecting as unproved slander and often as physically impossible the -charges of monstrous immoralities raked up both by Tacitus and Suetonius, -often, no doubt, from the prurient gossip of Rome, which has never been -surpassed for foulness. The same summary rejection cannot, I think, be -applied to the formidable list of his cruelties. But these mainly fell -upon members of the imperial family and their adherents; they did not -affect the Empire at large. Augustus could not foresee these family and -dynastic tragedies; but he judged, and apparently judged rightly, that -he was leaving a successor whose prudence and sagacity, in spite of -what seemed a sullen reserve, would secure the peace and prosperity of -the Empire as a whole. There is nothing to prove that Augustus regarded -him otherwise than affectionately. If he turned out to be the monster -represented by his enemies, Augustus no doubt made a grave mistake. It is -a ridiculous suggestion that he deliberately designated him his successor -in order that people might regret himself. Such recondite snares for -posthumous fame are more like the cunning of a madman than the motives -influencing a reasonable being. Suetonius, who reports the suggestion, -says that after mature reflection he is convinced that a man so careful -and prudent as Augustus must have acted on better motives; must have -weighed the virtues and faults of Tiberius and decided that the former -predominated. As a matter of fact Augustus had little choice. Agrippa -Postumus was impossible; Germanicus might have served, but he could never -have displaced his uncle without a struggle. At the time of Tiberius’ -adoption he was only nineteen, and Augustus could not reckon on the ten -more years of life which in fact remained for him. No doubt in these last -years of his life Augustus had come to see that some sort of hereditary -principle was necessary to prevent civil war at every vacancy. In B.C. 23 -he had ignored that principle altogether, and as far as he could without -naming an heir had put Agrippa in the way of the succession. But Agrippa -had now been dead nearly sixteen years, and Augustus had had no minister -since either so able or so faithful. Like Cromwell in his last hours, he -was driven to recognise the conveniency of the hereditary principle; and -though the practical designation of Tiberius was apparently a breach of -it, yet by means of the adoptions and marriages which he had arranged, -it best prepared for its continuance hereafter. It was one of those -politic compromises which had characterised his whole policy. It moreover -best secured the position and safety of the beloved Livia; and it set -a precedent which was often followed with advantage in after-times, -when military arrogance and violence did not overpower every other -consideration, that an Emperor’s natural heir should be his successor, -or at any rate some one closely allied to him; and that in case of the -failure or complete unworthiness of such an heir a prudent emperor should -provide for the succession by adoption. - - - - -CHAPTER X - -THE IMPERIAL AND MILITARY POLICY OF AUGUSTUS - - _Tu regere imperio populos,_ - _Romane, memento._ - - -[Sidenote: The extension of the Empire under Augustus.] - -At the end of his life Augustus left, among other memoirs, a roll -containing certain maxims of state which he thought important for his -successors to observe. Among them was an injunction not to seek to -increase the Empire, for it would be difficult to guard an extended -frontier. His own policy had been directed generally on this principle. -Such additions as were made in his time were mainly those rendered -inevitable by the necessity of securing the already existing frontiers. -When his generals went beyond that they met with difficulties and -sometimes with disaster.[256] The additions actually made were (1) in -Africa: Egypt was made a province in B.C. 30, at first almost as a -private possession of the Emperor, though in B.C. 10 it was, nominally -at any rate, put on the same footing as the other provinces. Mauretania, -on the other hand, though made a province in B.C. 33, was restored to -independence under King Iuba in B.C. 25. (2) In Asia a new province of -Galatia was formed in B.C. 25, with a capital at Ancyra, and embracing -several districts, such as Lycaonia, Isauria, Pamphylia, and parts of -Phrygia. (3) In the West, sometime before A.D. 6, Mœsia, answering to -the modern Servia and Bulgaria, was made a province as a barrier of -the Empire on the Danube. So also Illyricum, in B.C. 9-8, was extended -to the Danube by the addition of Pannonia; Noricum, also on the Danube, -was held in subjection, if not fully organised as a province, after B.C. -16; and Rhætia (modern Bavaria) was put under a Roman procurator after -B.C. 15. All these additions were clearly rendered necessary in order to -protect the line of the Danube as the frontier of the Empire. Lastly, on -the reorganisation of Gaul in four provinces (B.C. 16-14), two districts -along the left bank of the Lower Rhine, called Germania Superior and -Germania Inferior, were also occupied and partly organised, while some -minor Alpine districts, Alpes Maritimæ (Savoy and Nice), Alpes Cottiæ -(Susa and district), Alpes Penninæ (Canton du Valois) were taken over -and administered sometimes independently and sometimes as part of other -provinces. In these cases again the extension was merely consequential, -the inevitable result of having a long frontier to defend against -invading tribes.[257] The Rhine and the Danube then became the limits -of the Empire. We shall have occasion to see immediately what dangers -awaited an attempt to go beyond them. - -[Sidenote: The East.] - -Augustus twice spent periods of between two and three years in the East, -engaged in resettling frontiers and re-organising the Roman provinces. - -After the victory at Actium (B.C. 31) he remained in the East till B.C. -29. The changes then made chiefly consisted in upsetting most of the -arrangements which had been made by Antony with various client kings, -and in favour of the children of Cleopatra. Thus Cyprus, which had been -restored to Cleopatra, was now separated from Egypt and made a province; -the coast towns of Syria and Palestine were reunited to the province of -Syria; certain cities of Crete and Cyrene, Iudæa and Ituræa, and of -Cilicia, which Antony had assigned to Cleopatra’s son, Cæsarion, were -either reunited to the provinces or declared free, as was also the case -with other districts and towns assigned by Antony to his own son by -Cleopatra. Certain client kings, however, were allowed to retain their -territory and dignity, such as Herod in Iudæa, Amyntas in Galatia, -Archelaus in Cappadocia. But the eternal question in the East was that -of the Parthians. They not only were resolved to maintain the Euphrates -as the limit beyond which Roman power was not to pass, but they had -frequently made raids upon Syria, and were always attempting to occupy -Armenia, which was a Roman protectorate, and the intervening kingdom -of Media. The disaster of Crassus in Mesopotamia, and the chequered -operations of Antony, had all sprung from these facts. When Augustus -arrived in Asia the state of things which had finally resulted from -the operations of Antony was that Artaxes (whose father, Artavasdes, -had been treacherously captured by Antony and afterwards put to death -by Cleopatra) was king of Armenia, and had attacked Media and captured -its king Artavasdes; and that Phraates had recovered his kingdom of -Parthia. Augustus had two or three advantages in dealing with these -complications. He found the brothers of the Armenian Artaxes still -prisoners at Alexandria, and sent them to Rome as hostages. Again the -captured king of Media managed to escape and appealed to him for help; -and, lastly, Phraates of Parthia had only just recovered his throne, -from which he had been expelled by a rebellion headed by Tiridates, and -the latter escaped to Syria and sent to implore the help of Augustus, -while legates from Phraates also arrived soliciting his support. Augustus -availed himself skilfully of these complications to assume the position -of a lord paramount and arbiter. He allowed Tiridates to remain in -safety in Syria; but he treated the legates of Phraates in a friendly -manner, and cordially invited a son of that king to accompany him to -Rome, where, however, he was kept as a hostage. Artavasdes was set up in -Lesser Armenia to form a check upon Artaxes. These diplomatic successes -were regarded in Rome, as we have seen, as veritable triumphs over the -dangerous Parthians—the only name much known there. The abolition of the -arrangements of Antony, which had involved the curtailment of the Roman -Empire, was recorded on coins struck in B.C. 29, with a head of Augustus -on the obverse, and on the reverse a figure of victory standing on the -mystic cista, with the legend _Asia recepta_. But it is with his second -Eastern progress (B.C. 22-19) that the useful public works, such as roads -and buildings, of which traces are still found, probably began. - -[Sidenote: Movements in the East between B.C. 24 and B.C. 22.] - -Between these two visits there had been only two movements of serious -importance—the useless and almost disastrous expedition of Ælius -Gallus into Arabia (B.C. 24-3), and the invasion of Southern Egypt at -Elephantine by Candace, queen of Æthiopia, encouraged by the diminution -of the Roman forces in Egypt during the Arabian expedition. The -Æthiopians gained some minor successes over three Roman cohorts stationed -near the frontier, but were eventually repulsed by the præfect Gaius -Petronius, who pursued them to their capital town Nabata, which he took -and plundered.[258] - -[Sidenote: Second Eastern progress, B.C. 22-19.] - -The second eastward progress of Augustus began with some months’ -residence in Sicily. There he was busied in founding colonies, of which -seven are named. The chief town of Sicily was still Syracuse, but it -seems to have suffered in the time of Sextus Pompeius, and Augustus -placed in it two thousand settlers, probably veterans. It was the object -of such colonies to provide for veterans and poor Italians, but also -to Romanise countries more completely, and to introduce an industrial -class. Sicily needed above all things free cultivators. Its corn trade -had suffered from the competition of Africa, Sardinia, and Egypt, and -its pastoral farms were largely owned by Roman capitalists, who did not -reside, but employed slave-labour directed by bailiffs or _villici_.[259] -One object at least, therefore, of these measures of Augustus was to -bring into the country a class of small landowners residing on their -property. Land was found for them by purchase, where there was no _ager -publicus_ available. - -[Sidenote: Augustus in Greece B.C. 21.] - -From Sicily Augustus passed to Greece and wintered at Samos. Achaia -was a senatorial province, but the Emperor, we may notice, exercised -complete authority there. He had already established two colonies—at -Actium and Patræ, and he seems to have devoted most of his attention -to promoting their interests. He compelled the inhabitants of several -townships in the neighbourhood of both towns to migrate to the new -colonies, and he insisted on the colony at Actium being admitted to the -Amphictyonic League. The places were well chosen for naval purposes, but -the element of compulsion in his policy towards them was unfortunate. -He does not appear to have done much for Greece generally. It was in -a lamentably decaying state, the population declining, and old towns -disappearing. Nearly the only exception was the Iulian colony at Corinth. -Such changes as Augustus made on this visit rather tended to emphasise -this state of things, and certainly did nothing to relieve it. Athens, -which retained nothing of its greatness except its past and the still -surviving reputation as a university town (though Marseilles was running -it hard even in that), had disgraced itself in his eyes by the display of -sympathy, first for the Pompeians against Iulius, again for Brutus and -Cassius against the triumvirs, and lastly for Antony against himself. A -town always on the losing side can expect little favour. It was deprived -of its few remaining extra-Attic dependencies, Ægina and Eretria, and -was forbidden to avail itself of almost the only source of revenue -left—the fees which certain persons were still willing to pay for the -honour of being enrolled as its citizens. Sparta, indeed, was rewarded -by the restoration of Cythera, in return, it is said, for hospitality -to Livia when in exile with her former husband; but, on the other hand, -it was deprived of the control over its harbour town of Gythium. But -though both Iulius and Augustus favoured Sparta, as against Athens—a fact -commemorated by a temple to Iulius and an altar to Augustus—it remained -completely insignificant. - -Very different was his policy in Asia. There Augustus set himself to -restore the prosperity of the towns by grants of money, by relief from -or readjustment of tribute, and by the promotion of useful public works. -Nor were details of local administration and internal reforms neglected. -Edicts are preserved which touch on such matters as the age of local -magistrates, or the succession to the property of intestates in Bithynia, -shewing with what minute care he studied local interests and problems. -It was now probably that schemes were set on foot for opening up the -country by roads, afterwards carried out by his legates. Milestones are -being now discovered along the _via Sebaste_ connecting the six Pisidian -colonies dated in the eighteenth year of his tribunician power (B.C. 6) -and a marble temple to Augustus still stands at Ancyra (_Angora_), to -witness the gratitude of these Asiatic cities. At the same time disorder -or illegal conduct was sternly punished. Cyzicus was deprived of its -_libertas_ for having flogged and put to death some Roman citizens, and -the same punishment was awarded for their internal disorders to Tyre and -Sidon, whose ancient liberties had been secured to them by Antony when he -handed over the country to Cleopatra. - -[Sidenote: Return of the standards by the Parthians.] - -But of all his achievements during this progress nothing made such a -sensation in the Roman world, or was so much celebrated by the poets of -the day, as the fact that he received back from the Parthian king the -Roman eagles and standards lost by Crassus in B.C. 53, by Antony’s legate -Decidius Saxa in B.C. 40, and by Antony himself in B.C. 36 in a battle -with Parthians and Medes. Those taken by the Medes had been returned to -him, but not those taken by the Parthians. In B.C. 23 Tiridates, who -had been allowed to take refuge in Syria in B.C. 30, came to Rome, and -Phraates, to counteract his appeal, sent ambassadors thither also. After -consulting the Senate Augustus declined to give up Tiridates, but he -sent back to Phraates the son whom he had kept at Rome for the last six -years on condition that the king should restore the standards. Pressed -though he was by the disaffection of his subjects, Phraates had not -yet fulfilled his bargain. But perhaps this disaffection had by B.C. -20 become more acute, or he was alarmed by the promptness with which -Augustus asserted Roman supremacy in Armenia. Artaxes had ruled ill and -had been insubordinate. Augustus appears to have meditated an expedition -against him, but his subjects anticipated the difficulty by assassinating -him. Augustus says that he might have made Armenia a province, but -preferred to allow the ancient kingdom to remain. Accordingly on his -order Tiberius went to Armenia and with his own hand placed the diadem -on the head of Tigranes, brother of the late king, who had been living -in exile at Rome. Thus the supremacy of Augustus was acknowledged in -Armenia and its king ruled by his permission. A coin struck in B.C. -19 represents it as a real capture of Armenia, having on its reverse -_Cæsar Div. F. Armen. capt. Imp. viiii._ The Parthian king thought it -well now to fulfil his bargain, and again Tiberius was commissioned to -receive the captured standards in Syria. With the standards were also -some prisoners; though there were others who had in the thirty-three -years that had elapsed since the fall of Crassus settled peaceably in -Parthian territory, married wives, and now refused to return.[260] Such -a contented abandonment of their native land seemed shocking to the -orthodox Roman, unable to suppose life worth living among barbarians -for one who had once been a citizen of the Eternal City. Prisoners of -war were never much valued at Rome. It was the traditional maxim that -the state never paid ransom, though private friends might and did, and -Horace’s ode may be meant to support the Emperor’s refusal of some -demand of Phraates for ransom of prisoners to accompany the standards. -This transaction, however, was the crown of the Emperor’s work in the -East. It is commemorated on coins of B.C. 19 bearing a triumphal arch, -with Augustus receiving the standards, on the obverse, and the legend -_civibus et signis militaribus a Parthis receptis_ on the reverse. The -poets were not behind with their compliments. Vergil, who was in Greece -in this the last year of his life, seems to have inserted three lines in -his description of opening the doors of Bellona to bring in an allusion -to it.[261] Horace, who had for the time given up lyric poetry, yet -contrives a compliment in one of his epistles;[262] and, on returning -to lyric poetry in B.C. 13-12, is careful to include it among the great -services of Augustus; and Propertius, after prophetic suggestions as to -what will be done, at last burst out into a triumphant hymn of praise -over the achievements of these years, and, above all, on the Nemesis that -has come for the slaughtered Crassus.[263] Many years afterwards Ovid -takes the opportunity in describing the temple of Mars Ultor, in which -Augustus deposited the recovered standards, to glorify him for having -wiped out an old and shameful stain upon the Roman arms.[264] There -were many other arrangements made with the client kings of Asia, all of -which were accompanied by the strict condition that they were henceforth -to confine themselves to the territories now assigned to them and were -to make no wars of aggression. The _pax augusta_ was to be strictly -maintained everywhere. - -[Sidenote: Augustus returns from the East, B.C. 19.] - -All this had been done without any drop of blood shed in war, and -Augustus was able to devote the winter of B.C. 20-19 at Samos to rest and -enjoyment, receiving numerous embassies from all parts, as far as from -India. The Indian envoys brought him a present of tigers, a beast never -before seen in Greece or Italy, and a wonderful armless dwarf who could -draw a bow and throw javelins with his feet. He returned next year by way -of Athens, where he was initiated in the Eleusinian mysteries and where -he met with Vergil. The poet joined the Emperor’s train, visited Megara -with him, and returned with him to Italy, only to fall ill at Brundisium -and die (September 22). - -[Sidenote: Troubles in the West. Defeat of Lollius, B.C. 16.] - -Though Augustus returned to Rome amidst loud congratulations, the Western -part of the Empire was not yet at peace, and in fact there were many -threatening signs of future trouble. Agrippa, indeed, in the very year -of the Emperor’s return from the East, crushed the rebellious Cantabri -and Astures, not without severe fighting; but though Augustus was able -now to remain at home, passing laws, holding the secular games, and -strengthening his family by adopting Agrippa’s children, the Empire was -not at peace, the Ianus Quirinus still stood open. There were, in fact, -a number of “little wars,” mostly frontier raids. Thus in B.C. 17-16, P. -Silius Nerva was engaged with various Alpine tribes, and in repelling an -inroad of Pannonians. There were also about the same time brief outbursts -in Spain and Dalmatia, and inroads of barbarous tribes (Dentheletæ and -Scordisci) into Macedonia. In Thrace the guardian of the sons of Cotys -had to be assisted against the Bessi, and the Sauromatæ had to be driven -back across the Danube. These were comparatively unimportant affairs, But -a more serious danger was caused by some warlike German tribes—Sugambri, -Usipetes, and Tencteri—crossing the Rhine and invading Gallia Belgica. -They defeated some Roman cavalry, and while pursuing them came up with -Lollius and his main army, which they again defeated, capturing the -eagle of the Fifth Legion. Suetonius says that the affair was rather -disgraceful than really disastrous. But it seemed sufficiently serious -to Augustus. Agrippa was away in the East looking after Syria and Asia, -and did not return till B.C. 13; and he resolved to go to Gaul himself, -taking with him Tiberius, and leaving Drusus to carry on the latter’s -prætorship. The Germans, however, had no wish to fight a regular imperial -army, they therefore retired beyond the Rhine, and made terms and gave -hostages. - -[Sidenote: Administration of Gaul, B.C. 16-14.] - -Augustus nevertheless found enough to do without positive fighting in -introducing improvements and reforms. At Nemausus the old gate of the -town walls still stands, inscribed with his name, and dated in the -seventh year of his tribunician power (B.C. 16); he had, moreover, to -listen to long tales of grievances caused by the extortions of Licinius, -the procurator at Lugdunum. This man’s career was an early example of -that of the rich freedmen of later times. Brought as prisoner from Gaul -by Iulius Cæsar, and apparently emancipated by Octavian in accordance -with his uncle’s will, he had by some means amassed an immense fortune, -and retained the favour of Augustus by large contributions to the -public works from time to time promoted by the Emperor. A millionaire -disposed to such liberality is always welcome to a sovereign with a -taste for expensive reforms. As a Gaul by birth, Augustus seems to have -supposed that he would be a sympathetic officer. But he proved more -Roman than the Romans in exacting the last farthing. We are reminded -of “Morton’s fork” and of Empson and Dudley, when we are told that he -insisted on certain monthly payments being made fourteen times in the -year, on the ground that November and December meaning the ninth and -tenth months, there must be two more to be accounted for! The complaints -were so serious, however, that Licinius thought it necessary to offer to -surrender his whole property to Augustus, as though he had only amassed -it for the public service, with the deliberate purpose of weakening the -disloyal natives. We are not told whether he was left in power, but -at any rate he escaped punishment and survived Augustus. He probably -was recalled to Rome, where he tried to pacify public indignation by -large contributions to the restoration of the Curia Iulia, which was -re-dedicated in honour of the Emperor’s grandsons about A.D. 12. - -[Sidenote: Campaigns of Tiberius and Drusus, B.C. 15.] - -But another and more serious trouble had now to be faced. The Rhæti, -inhabiting the modern Grisons, Tyrol, and parts of Lombardy, were making -raids upon Gaul and Italy, burning and slaying and plundering. With them -were allied the Vindelici (inhabiting parts of modern Baden, Wurtenburg, -and S. Bavaria), with other Alpine tribes.[265] The campaign against -these tribes was intrusted to Tiberius, who conceived a masterly plan -which was crowned with brilliant success. Drusus was summoned from Rome -to guard the passes into Lombardy, and in the valleys of the Tridentine -Alps at the entrance of the Brenner pass, near the Lacus Benacus (Lago -di Garda), he won a brilliant victory over them, and forced many of -their mountain strongholds. Shut off thus from Italy they turned their -armies towards Helvetic Gaul, but were met by Tiberius and again -defeated between Bâle and the Lake of Constance. These two defeats seem -practically to have annihilated these tribes, and they gave no further -trouble. It was after this that Noricum was annexed, and Rhætia and -Vindelicia conquered, and presently formed into the province Rhætia. - -[Sidenote: At the end of B.C. 14 Augustus returns to Rome.] - -[Sidenote: B.C. 13.] - -Still Augustus had to stay on another year in Gaul. Risings had to be -suppressed among the Ligurians of the Maritime Alps, and in Pannonia; -while Agrippa, who had returned from Palestine accompanied or followed by -Herod, went to Sinope, on the Pontus, to put down a disturbance that had -arisen owing to a disputed claim to the crown of the Cimmerian Bosporus, -which an usurper named Scribonius had seized. At the end of B.C. 14, or -the beginning of B.C. 13, Augustus returned to Rome with Tiberius, who -entered then upon his first consulship, and there they were also joined -by Agrippa. Whether the temple of Ianus was now closed for the third time -is not certain. But there are some good reasons for supposing that it -was. In two passages, Horace, writing in B.C. 13, speaks of it as though -it were a recent occurrence; Dio, in speaking of the return of Augustus, -says that he came back after “having settled all the affairs of the -Gauls, Germanies and Spains”; there was certainly a lull in the German -trouble, where Drusus had been left in command; and lastly an inscription -recording the extension of the great road to Gades in Southern Spain, -has the date of this year, and records the closing of Ianus in honour -of Augustus. None of these are in themselves absolute proofs, but taken -together they form a strong presumption.[266] At any rate, Augustus -returned to Rome with the feeling that he had secured peace. Though he, -as usual, avoided meeting a complimentary procession by entering the city -after nightfall, yet he came with laurelled fasces. The next morning, -after greeting a crowd of people on the Capitol, he caused the laurels to -be taken off and solemnly laid on the knees of Jupiter, and the first -business he transacted in the Senate was the settlement of the claims of -his soldiers. But the peace did not last long. Augustus himself spent the -next three years in Italy busied with the census, the lectio senatus, -legislation, and various ceremonies. Lepidus died in the early part of -this year, and he was at once declared Pontifex Maximus, though the -_inauguratio_ did not take place till the following February. - -[Sidenote: Death of Agrippa, B.C. 12.] - -However, before the year was ended, news came of disturbances in -Pannonia, and Agrippa—once more associated in the tribunician power—was -sent thither. He had no fighting, for the rising was abandoned at his -approach. It was his last journey. Next spring he was taken ill in one -of his Campanian villas. Augustus threw all business aside and hastened -to his house, but arrived too late. Never had ruler a more faithful or -abler friend and servant. At every crisis of his life Agrippa had been by -his side, and wherever danger was most threatening he had taken the post -of difficulty and honour. If he gained wealth in his master’s service, -he was always ready to spend it in support of his master’s aims. In the -interests of the dynasty he had sunk all private wishes and ambitions. -About Agrippa the passion for prurient scandal, characteristic of the -age and people, for once is silent, and not a single line or innuendo -survives to impeach his private or public life. Augustus shewed both his -respect and deep feeling. He accompanied the body to Rome, pronounced the -funeral oration himself, and deposited the ashes in the new mausoleum -which he had erected for his own family. - -[Sidenote: Tiberius in Pannonia.] - -The news of Agrippa’s death seems to have encouraged the Pannonians -once more to strike for freedom. Tiberius accordingly was appointed to -succeed him in the command. He laid waste wide portions of their country, -inflicted much slaughter upon the inhabitants, and seems quickly to have -reduced them to obedience, though only for a time. - -[Sidenote: Drusus in Germania B.C. 12-9.] - -Meanwhile Drusus was not idle. The Sugambri and their allies crossed the -Rhine into the district called Lower Germany, a part of Belgium (now -North Brabant), where they would find tribes nearly allied to themselves, -and willing to shake off the Roman yoke. Drusus had been engaged in the -consecration of an altar to Augustus at Lugdunum, where he had invited -the attendance of leading Gauls from all these provinces. He hurried back -to the Rhine and drove the invaders over the river, and then throwing a -bridge across it (somewhere below Cologne), he attacked the Usipites on -the right bank of the Lupia, and then marched up the Rhine to attack the -Sugambri. But there was a fleet of ships supporting him in the Rhine. He -cut a canal from the River to Lake Flevo (Zuyder Zee), so that this fleet -might sail up the coast to the mouths of the three rivers—the Amisia, -Visurgis, and Albis (_Ems_, _Weser_, _Elbe_). He proposed to make the -Elbe the limit of the Roman Empire, instead of the Rhine; but in this -first year only reduced the coast as far as the Visurgis. The next year -(B.C. 11), he advanced by land to the same river, only farther inland, -and occupied the country of the Cherusci (Westphalia), and though on -their way home his men were nearly caught in an ambush, they got back -safely to the banks of the Lupia, and several forts were established in -various parts of the country. The next year (B.C. 10) he was engaged -with the Chatti (Hessen), who endeavoured to regain the territories from -which he had driven them in the previous year.[267] In B.C. 9, being -now consul, he pushed as far as the Elbe, where he erected a trophy to -mark the extreme limit of the Roman advance, through the land of the -Chatti and Trevi. But on his return march he fell and broke his leg, and -there being no skilled physician with the army, he died after thirty -days’ suffering. Besides these marches into Germany, he had, during his -command, established a line of fortresses on the Lower Rhine, to the -number of fifty, as far up the stream as Argentoratum (Strassburg). - -[Sidenote: Tiberius in Germany B.C. 8-7.] - -On hearing of his brother’s accident, Tiberius, who was at Ticinum, -hurried to his side, was with him when he died, and accompanied the -corpse on foot back to Rome, where he delivered a funeral oration, and -Augustus, who returned from Lugdunum at this time, another. The ashes -were placed in the Mausoleum of Augustus. Tiberius was appointed to -succeed him on the Rhine, and in B.C. 8 crossed the river to attack the -Sugambri. But as the other tribes made their submission, the Sugambri -were induced to send some of their leading men to negotiate also. -Augustus then took a step which requires, at any rate, some explanation. -He seized these legates and kept them in confinement in various towns as -hostages. It had the immediate effect, however, of keeping the Sugambri -quiet, large numbers of them were settled on the left bank of the Rhine, -and Tiberius was able to come home for his triumph in B.C. 7, with which -the name of Drusus was also associated. - -No wars of any consequence disturbed the peace of the Empire for nearly -nine years. Tiberius retired to Rhodes in B.C. 6, and his successors in -the command of the army of the Rhine had the task of maintaining and -strengthening the conquests of Drusus. The two districts on the left bank -of the river, Germania Inferior and Superior, though for some purposes -they belonged to Gallia Belgica, yet as military districts were distinct, -and they included some fortresses on the right bank of the Rhine. The -country between the Rhine and the Elbe was in an ambiguous position. It -was not a province, and yet the commanders on the Rhine occupied as much -of it as they could from time to time maintain. - -[Sidenote: Tiberius again in Germany and Illyricum, A.D. 4-7.] - -But in A.D. 4 Tiberius, now returned from Rhodes, and adopted son of -Augustus, took over the command on the Rhine, and immediately began a -great forward movement like that of his brother Drusus. He too advanced -to the Weser and reduced the Cherusci who were in revolt; and after -marching to the Lippe again, advanced to the Elbe (A.D. 5), reducing -the Chauci and Longobardi, this time with the support of a fleet that -entered the mouth of the Elbe. Some others thought it safer to send -envoys and make terms of friendship with Rome. Next year (A.D. 6) he was -to attack the Marcomanni under a powerful leader named Marobudus. The -attack was to be made from two sides. C. Sextius Saturninus, an able -and experienced officer, was to lead one army from the Rhine, through -the territory of the Chatti (near Cologne), while Tiberius himself led -another from Noricum across the Danube. The two were to converge upon -the district now occupied by the Marcomanni answering to the modern -Bohemia. Tiberius was accompanied by the governor of Pannonia (Valerius -Messalinus), and a large part of the troops stationed there. But the -expedition was prevented by a sudden rising in Pannonia and Dalmatia. The -inhabitants of these countries had not become reconciled to Roman rule; -they felt the burden of the tribute, and the opportunity afforded by the -withdrawal of so many troops was eagerly seized. Tiberius was forced to -offer terms to Marobudus, which he accepted, and hurry back to Pannonia, -while Saturninus returned to the Rhine for fear of an outbreak there. -The rising in Pannonia and Dalmatia was with difficulty suppressed after -a weary struggle lasting between three and four years. Many legions had -to be drafted into the country from other provinces as well as large -auxiliary forces. Germanicus was summoned to assist with a new army, and -Augustus himself came to Ariminum to be near at hand. Suetonius affirms -that it was the most serious struggle in which the Romans had been -engaged since the Punic wars. In B.C. 9 Tiberius indeed returned to Rome -to claim his triumph, but had to go back to put a last touch to the war. - -[Sidenote: The fall of Varus, A.D. 9.] - -Meanwhile the army of the Rhine had been under the command of P. -Quintilius Varus. Velleius gives an unfavourable account of him. He -was more a courtier than a soldier, and in his government of Syria had -shown himself greedy of money. “He entered a rich province a poor man, -and left a poor province a rich one.” From the time of his accession to -the command in B.C. 7 he seems to have regarded the country between the -Rhine and Elbe as completely reduced to the form of a Roman province, -and proceeded to levy tribute with the same strictness as he had been -used to do in Syria. But the German tribes did not regard themselves as -Roman subjects. The Romans were only masters of so much as their camps -could control. While Varus was living in fancied security in his summer -camp on the Weser, busied only with the usual legal administration of a -provincial governor, four great German peoples, the Cherusci, Chatti, -Marsi, and Bructeri, were secretly combining under the lead of the -Cheruscan chief, Arminius, to strike a blow for liberty. As the autumn of -A.D. 9 approached Varus prepared to return to the regular winter quarters -on the Rhine (Castra Vetera). Arminius, who had served in the Roman -army, and had been rewarded by the citizenship and the rank of eques, -had ingratiated himself with Varus, and was fully acquainted with his -plans, and though Varus had been warned of his treachery he seems to have -taken no heed. In order to bring him through the difficult country where -the ambush was to await him, a rising of a tribe off his direct road to -the Lower Rhine was planned. He fell into the trap, and turning aside to -chastise the rebellious tribe, was caught in a difficult pass, somewhere -between the sources of the Lippe and Ems, and he and nearly the whole -of his army perished. For three days the army struggled through a thick -and almost pathless forest, encumbered by a heavy baggage train, and a -number of women and children, attacked and slaughtered at nearly every -step by the Germans who were concealed in the woods, and continually made -descents upon them. A miserable remnant was saved by the exertions of L. -Asprenas, a legate of Varus, who had come to the rescue. Varus and some -of his chief officers appear to have committed suicide. The loss of three -legions and a large body of auxiliaries greatly affected the Emperor, -now a man of over seventy. For many months he wore signs of mourning, -and we are told that at times in his restless anxiety he beat his head -upon the door, crying, “Varus, give me back my legions!” Perhaps this is -the picturesque imagination of anecdote mongers. Though alarmed for the -possible consequences both at home and in the provinces, he acted with -spirit and energy. He ordered the urban pickets to be carefully posted, -suspended all changes in provincial governments, and held a levy of -citizen soldiers, enforcing by threats and punishment the duty of giving -in the names. For some time past service in the army had been regarded as -a profession sufficiently attractive to draw volunteers, without having -recourse to the legal right of conscription. But a sudden emergency -like this seems to have found men apathetic or disinclined, and he had -to resort to the old methods. He thought it necessary also to get rid -for a time of Gauls or Germans who were serving in the city cohorts or -residing in Rome. Tiberius, on the news of the disaster, hurried from -his Pannonian quarters to Rome, and was appointed to the Rhine command, -to which he went early in A.D. 10. The danger most to be feared was -that the victorious Germans would at once cross the Rhine. But this had -been averted partly because the Marcomanni had declined to join the -insurrection, even when Arminius sent the head of Varus to their chief, -Marobudus, and partly by the fact that the rebellious Germans themselves -wasted time in blockading Aliso, the fort erected by Drusus on the Lippe, -which was obstinately defended by its garrison under Lucius Cædicius. It -proved to be the Ladysmith of the German war, for the Germans, fearing to -leave it on their rear, missed the opportunity of attacking the camps on -the Rhine before they could be reinforced. The brave garrison, when their -provisions were exhausted, escaped on a dark night and reached Castra -Vetera in safety. Still, the result of the rising was to free Germany -beyond the Rhine. When Tiberius arrived to take the command in A.D. 10, -he spent the first year in strengthening the forts along that river; and -though in A.D. 11 he moved his summer camp beyond it, he never went far, -or apparently engaged in any warlike operations then or in A.D. 12. In -the next year he returned to Rome and was succeeded in the command by his -nephew, Germanicus. The forward movements of this young prince belong to -the next reign, but Tiberius no doubt learnt now what a few years later -induced him to recall Germanicus and be content with the frontier of the -Rhine. - -[Sidenote: Administrative reforms. The post.] - -The life of Augustus was now near its close, and there are no more -military enterprises to record. He had never commanded in the field -since the Cantabrian war of B.C. 25; but he had taken part in the most -important wars by moving to within such a distance of the seat of war as -to hear news quickly and to superintend the despatch of provisions and -reinforcements. He was probably more usefully employed in this way, and -was enabled to see, by personal observation, the needs of the provinces -and the best methods of remedying abuses and promoting prosperity. In -the course of his reign he is said to have visited every province except -Sardinia and Africa, and hardly any is without some trace of his activity -and liberality in the way of roads, bridges, or public buildings. He -was anxious that all, however distant, should feel in touch with the -central authority at Rome. Among other means to promote this was the -establishment or improvement of an imperial post which should reach the -most distant dependencies. - -We must not think of this as being like the modern postal service—meant -for the general use of the public. It was purely official. Just as the -main purpose of the great roads was to facilitate the rapid movement -of armies and officials, so the post was a contrivance to expedite -official despatches, to convey the Emperor’s orders to remotest parts -of the Empire, and to carry back news and warnings to the government -at home. Along the great roads in Italy and the provinces there had -long been posting houses where relays of horses, mules, or carriages -could be obtained, but there was never what we should call a postal -service for the transmission of private letters. Rich men kept slaves -for this purpose (_tabellarii_), the magistrates had official messengers -(_statores_), and the companies of _publicani_ had their regular service -of carriers. Private people could, as a favour, get their letters -occasionally conveyed by some of these; and it was considered a proper -act of politeness at Rome when despatching a slave with letters to -distant places, to send round to one’s friends to know whether they -wished to send any by him. Again, governors of provinces under the -republic had arranged with certain scribes in Rome to copy out the -_diurna acta_ and transmit them by slaves or paid messengers. But for -official purposes Augustus arranged a number of stations along the great -roads with men, horses, and carriages, to convey to and from Rome all the -news that it was needful for the government to know or all orders that -emanated from the Emperor.[268] Private persons would have no right to -use these public servants or conveyances; but no doubt the organisation -for the public service facilitated the transmission of private -correspondence also. - -This actual and material tightening of the bond which united distant -parts of the Empire with the central government went side by side with -the moral effect of the change in the position of the governors. No -longer permitted to make what profit they could from excessive exactions, -or percentages allowed by usage though not by law, they all received a -fixed salary, as did the lesser officials; and though extortion was still -occasionally heard of, the provinces knew that they had a rapid means of -appealing to the Emperor and a fair certainty of redress. - -[Sidenote: The army under one commander-in-chief.] - -Another change that made at first for unity, though it afterwards had -the contrary effect, concerned the army. In the time of the republic -there was in theory no one standing army. There were many armies, all -of which took the military oath to their respective commanders. Now the -military oath was taken by all to one man—the Emperor. The commanders of -legions were his _legati_. He regulated the pay, the years of service, -the retiring allowance for all alike. Each of the republican imperators -had a prætorian guard, generally consisting of auxiliary troops. Now -there was one prætorian guard, naturally stationed at Rome, and though -distinguished from the rest by increased pay and easier years of service, -it, as well as the _cohortes vigilum_, was under the same command. This -applies also to the fleet which was organised under Augustus chiefly -to protect the coast and clear the sea of pirates: the two principal -stations being at Misenum on the west, and Ravenna on the east coast, -with a third maintained for a time at Forum Iulii (Fréjus). The men -serving in these ships occupied the same position as citizen soldiers -or auxiliaries, and like them took the oath to one man—the Emperor. -But the very completeness of the organisation, it is right to notice -here, eventually made for disruption. Certain legions became constantly -attached to certain provinces, the auxiliaries serving with them being -as a rule recruited from the same provinces. The several branches of the -army thus came to feel an _esprit de corps_, and to regard themselves -as a separate entity with separate interests and claims. Consequently, -when in after-times the central authority was in dispute or in process -of change, the legions in the different provinces spoke and thought -of themselves as separate “armies,” capable of taking an independent -line and having a determining voice in deciding who should be their -Imperator. In those troublous times the provinces which had no military -establishment, or only a weak one, ceased to count for much, and had -to follow the strongest army near them.[269] For the present such -difficulties were not foreseen. Augustus was a strict disciplinarian, -and little was heard as yet of any serious insubordination. When it -did occur it was promptly punished. He disbanded the 10th legion for -misconduct, and exercised at times the full vigour of military punishment -for desertion of posts or lesser offences, and was careful in addressing -his troops not to lower his dignity by affectation of equality. He called -them “Soldiers!” not “Fellow-soldiers!” At the same time he kept up the -traditional exclusiveness of the legions, and seldom employed freedmen, -except as a kind of special constable in the city, and twice in times -of great distress, the Illyrian and German wars: even then they were -formed in separate cohorts, and armed in some way less complete than the -legionaries. - -The same conservative attachment to the ancient superiority of Rome -made him chary of granting the citizenship either to individuals, or to -masses of soldiers, or to states. This was one of the points in which -his policy was opposite to that of Iulius. The latter by his large -grants of citizenship to soldiers, professional men and communities, -had helped to raise the number of citizens from about 450,000 in B.C. -70 to 4,063,000 (the number in the Census of B.C. 28). During the -forty-five years that remained to Augustus the number had only gone up -to 4,937,000 (the Census of A.D. 13). This is probably little more than -can be accounted for by the growth of population; so that extensions of -the franchise must have been insignificant. His idea was an empire, one -in its military obligations and in its subjection to one supreme head, -and yet not divorced from the original city state. Rome was to be the -imperial city, the seat of government; the Populus Romanus was to be the -inhabitants of Rome extended to the limits of Italy. There was to be a -sharp line of division between the ruling and the ruled. It was one of -those compromises that are without the elements of permanence. And yet -it established a sentiment that has lasted, and is a reason that even to -this day the centre of spiritual life to a large part of Europe is on the -banks of the Tiber. In material matters the extension of the citizenship -meant the gradual shifting of the centre of power, and when early in -the third century Caracalla, for purposes of taxation, extended the -citizenship to the whole Empire, though the Roman name and its historical -prestige remained, Rome itself became only one of a number of cities in -a widely spread empire, and politically by no means the most important. -Such a conception was far from the mind of Augustus. It would have seemed -to him to be more worthy of his rival Antony, who was for setting up a -new Rome in Alexandria. - - - - -CHAPTER XI - -AUGUSTUS AND HIS WORSHIPPERS - - _O tutela præsens_ - _Italiæ dominæque Romæ._ - - -[Sidenote: Popular feeling towards Augustus.] - -After the settlement of the constitution in B.C. 23 Augustus was only -absent from Italy three times, from B.C. 22 to B.C. 19 in Sicily and the -East, from B.C. 16 to B.C. 13 in Gaul and Spain, and B.C. 9-10 in Gaul. -At the outbreak of the Pannonian and Dalmatian wars A.D. 6-9 he stayed -for some time at Ariminum. For the rest of the time he lived at Rome, -with the usual visits to his country houses, made by land or yacht. -His return to the city after any prolonged absence was celebrated with -every sign of rejoicing, with sacrifices, music, and a general holiday. -On his return from Gaul in B.C. 13 an altar was dedicated to _Fortuna -redux_.[270] Nor was this mere adulation. The people had come to look -upon him as the best guarantee of peace and security. The troubles of -the days preceding the civil wars, the street fighting and massacres, -the horrors of the civil war itself, were not forgotten: but his own -part in them was ignored or forgiven; it was only remembered that he had -put an end to them; that he had restored the ruinous city in unexampled -splendour; that it was owing to his liberality, or that of his friends -acting under his influence, that at Rome there were luxurious baths, -plentiful water, abundant food, streets free from robbers, help ready in -case of fire, and cheerful festivals nearly always in progress. It was -thanks to him that the roads in Italy were not beset by brigands, that -the corn-ships from Egypt crowded the harbour of Puteoli unmolested by -pirates on their course,[271] that not only the dreaded Parthian, but -princes from the ends of the earth were sending embassies desiring the -friendship of Rome. At the least sign of the old disorders they clamoured -for his return and besought him to become Dictator, director of the corn -trade, perpetual guardian of morals, anything, convinced that under his -absolute rule there would be peace, plenty, and security. Horace exactly -represents this feeling when he addresses Augustus in his absence in -Gaul: “Oh scion of the gracious gods, oh best guardian of the race of -Romulus ... return! Your country calls for you with vows and prayer ... -for when you are here the ox plods up and down the fields in safety; -Ceres and bounteous blessing cheer our farms; our sailors speed o’er seas -that know no fear of pirates; credit is unimpaired; no foul adulteries -stain the home; punishment follows hard on crime.... Who fears Parthian, -Scythian, German, or Spaniard with Cæsar safe? Each man closes a day of -peace on his native hills, trains his vines to the widowed trees, and -home returning, light of heart, quaffs his wine and ends the feast with -blessings on thee as a god indeed.”[272] - -[Sidenote: The worship of Augustus.] - -These feelings found expression in a form which in our day is apt -to appear, according to our temperament, ridiculous or profane. In -plain terms this was to treat Augustus as divine, a god on earth. The -various expressions of Horace[273] may perhaps be put down to poetical -exaggeration or conventional compliment, though there is a real meaning -at their back; but though Augustus refused to allow temples and altars -to himself in Rome and Italy,[274] and even ordered certain silver -statuettes to be melted down, the evidence of inscriptions makes it -certain that the cult began in his lifetime in several places, as at -Pompeii, Puteoli, Cumæ in Campania, and in other parts of Italy.[275] -In Rome itself, when Augustus reorganised the _vici_, the old worship -of the _Lares Compitales_ at some consecrated spot in each _vicus_ -or “parish” was restored, but they were commonly spoken of as _Lares -Augusti_, and the _Genius Augusti_ was associated with them. It is this -fact that, to a certain extent, explains and renders less irrational an -attitude of mind which we are apt to dismiss as merely absurd. Each man -had a _Genius_—a deity to whom he was a particular care. We speak of a -man’s “mission,” implying by the word itself some external and directing -power, probably divine. The step is not a long one which identifies the -man and his genius, especially when his mission seems to be to bring -us peace and prosperity. “Oh Melibæus, ’twas a god that wrought this -ease for us!” exclaims the countryman in Vergil, who had got back his -lands. This confusion between the inspirer and the inspired, between the -mission and the man, was everywhere apparent. Among the statues in the -temples, and in the sacred hymns and other acts of worship, the figure -or the name of Augustus was associated with those of the gods in a way -that admitted, indeed, of a distinction being drawn between a memorial -to an almost divine man and an act of devotion to a god, but often -obscured that distinction for ordinary folk. When we dedicate a church -to a saint, or “to the glory of God and in memory of So-and-so,” the -distinction is of course clear, but the confusion which has from time to -time resulted is also notorious. Thus in the Cuman Calendar of a sacred -year, in which the anniversaries of striking events in the career of -Augustus are marked for some act of worship, sometimes the _supplicatio_ -is bluntly stated as _Augusto_; sometimes in honour of some abstract idea -as _imperio Augusti_, _Fortunæ reduci_, _Victoriæ Augustæ_; at others to -a god—_Iovi sempiterno_, _Vestæ_, _Marti Ultori_, _Veneri_. In fact, the -_supplicatio_ always had a double reference, it was an act of prayer or -thanksgiving to a god, but it was also an honour to a successful man. The -two ideas properly distinct easily coalesced. A _supplicatio_ in honour -of Augustus, without much violence, became a _supplicatio_ to him. - -[Illustration: ALTAR DEDICATED TO THE LARES OF AUGUSTUS IN B.C. 2 BY A -MAGISTER VICI. - -_Photographed from the Original in the Uffizi Gallery, Florence._ - -_To face page 196._] - -Of the still more formal cult which arose after his death with a temple -regularly dedicated to him by Livia on the Palatine, and a new college -of Augustales to keep up the worship in all parts of the Empire, an -explanation somewhat analogous may be given. He was declared _divus_ by -the Senate, he was the late Emperor of blessed memory, a sainted soul, -the very spirit or genius of eternal Rome. The traditions in early -Roman history of the god-born and deified founder, the hero-worship of -Greece, the veil which concealed (as it still conceals) the state of the -departed, combined with the tolerant spirit of polytheism to make it -almost as easy for the men of that time to admit a new deity into the -Olympian hierarchy, as for mediæval Europe to admit a new saint into the -Calendar. - -Augustus, as we said, had the good sense and modesty to put difficulties -in the way of this worship in Rome and Italy. It was another matter -in the provinces. The divine, or semi-divine, honours paid him there -were closely bound up with loyalty to Rome and a belief in her eternal -mission. He therefore allowed temples and altars to be built, but always -on the understanding that the name of Rome should be associated with -his own. Such a method of expressing devotion to Rome and reverence for -her magistrates had not been unknown in earlier times. In the second -century B.C. a colossal statue of Rome had been set up by the Rhodians in -a temple of Athena; the people of Chalcis had erected a temple in honour -of Flamininus; and Cicero implies that in his time it was not an uncommon -thing to do in the Asiatic provinces. At Smyrna a temple to Rome had -been erected in B.C. 195;[276] and even before these the communities in -Asia and Greece had been accustomed to honour the Ptolemies in a similar -manner. The new cult therefore had nothing strange to the feelings and -habits of the time. It began early in his career of success—not later at -most than B.C. 36, after the defeat of Sextus Pompeius[277]—and it spread -rapidly. We hear of temples “to Rome and Augustus,” or altars, at Cyme, -Ancyra, Pergamus, Nicomedia, Alexandria, Paneas, Sparta, and elsewhere -in the East. Connected with them were yearly festivals and games, as at -Athens, Ancyra, and in Cilicia.[278] Nor was it in the East only that -this worship began in the lifetime of Augustus. We hear of temples or -altars in Spain, Mœsia, Pannonia, Narbonne; and the altar at Lugdunum -(Lyon), consecrated by Drusus in B.C. 12, was deliberately intended to -supersede the Druidical religion which was national and separatist. - -[Sidenote: The attitude of Augustus to this worship.] - -For forming an estimate of Augustus himself it is of great interest to -decide, if possible, how far he was deluded, how far he was acting from -deliberate policy in countenancing these things. When some people of -Tarraco reported to him, as an omen of his victorious career, that a -palm had grown on the mound of his altar in that city, he replied with -half-grave, half-playful irony, “That shews how often you use it!”[279] -But there is no note of disapproval or abnegation in the answer. He -accepts it as a natural fact that there should be such an altar, as a -modern sovereign might accept the compliment of a statue. Can we explain -it, except as a case of conscious fraud or blinding vanity? I believe -we may. We must notice first that Augustus had been zealous in the -apotheosis of Iulius, had urged Antony to become his flamen, had built -a temple to him in Rome, and encouraged the building of temples and -altars elsewhere. Now this apotheosis and worship of Iulius had begun -before his death,[280] as Augustus knew perfectly well. But in spite of -the manifestly party spirit of the packed Senate that voted the divine -honours to Iulius, he gave no sign of revulsion or incredulity. On the -contrary, he professed himself the heir not only of his wealth and -honours, but also of his religious obligations and political purposes. -It is clear, again, that Augustus believed in the gods, that is, in some -immortal being or beings who governed and controlled the world. The -restorer of a hundred temples, of sacred writings and ancient religious -rites, the pious fulfiller of vows made in the hour of danger or escape, -may have had crude or uncertain beliefs, have held views philosophical or -superstitious, wise or foolish, but he could hardly have been an atheist. - -He was too busy a man to be much troubled with philosophic doubts, -and perhaps—obvious as it may be—the answer of Napoleon would have -represented his view: who after listening for a time to certain -atheistic arguments, said, pointing to the starry heavens, “All very -well, gentlemen, but who made all that?” Given a belief in oneself and -in Providence, the next step is to believe that Providence is on our -side, as Cromwell saw the hand of God even in his most questionable -achievements. If we can translate this into the language of an age -accustomed to hear at any rate with acquiescence of heroic men, sons of -the gods and destined to be enrolled among their peaceful ranks, of the -genius which attended each man from the cradle to the grave, of the care -of the gods for the welfare of the state in its darkest hours, manifested -by omens, warnings, and even material appearances: if again we consider -how much it adds to the strength of a belief to find it shared by others -and to see that it makes for the moral good of the world, we may come -faintly to conceive a frame of mind in Augustus on this subject which -need not—in view of his age and its sentiments—be set down either as -wholly irrational or wholly hypocritical. “The Roman Empire,” he might -say to himself, “is all that really matters in the world. I am divinely -appointed to restore and defend it. I have in fact secured its peace -and prosperity. If the people call me god, it is their way of honouring -the Genius that directs me, the Providence that has selected me to be -their benefactor and saviour. If they believe in that, they must also -believe in the sanctity and eternal authority of Rome and the Empire. -Religion and loyalty are but different words for the same virtue.” In -his eyes the state was divinely appointed, even in itself divine, and in -so far as he represented the state he was a divinity to its subjects. -Stability was its first requisite. “My highest ambition,” he said in an -edict, “is to be called the author of an ideally good constitution, and -to carry with me to the grave a hope that the foundations I have laid -will remain unmoved.” Goodness, and loyalty to the state, had become -convertible terms to him. Once as he was looking at a villa formerly -belonging to Cato, one of his companions, thinking to please him by -denouncing an anti-Cæsarean, spoke of the “obstinate wrong-headedness of -Cato.” But he answered gravely “any one who is opposed to revolution is -a good man as well as a good citizen.” At another time he came upon one -of his grandsons reading a book of Cicero. The boy, thinking he was on -forbidden ground, tried to conceal the book; but Augustus took it into -his hand, read in it a short time, and handed it back with the remark, -“A true scholar, my boy, and a patriot.” Perhaps he thought with remorse -of his own part in the great man’s death, perhaps of the time when he -believed him to have been false to himself, but “patriot”—“a lover of his -country”—made up for all.[281] - -[Sidenote: The civilitas of Augustus.] - -It is clear, again, that it was not personal vanity or a desire for -adulation that actuated Augustus. He disliked fulsome compliments or -overstrained titles of respect, and laughed at cringing attitudes, -as when he said of some obsequious petitioner that “he held out his -billet and then snatched it away again like a man giving a penny to an -elephant.” He specially objected to be called _dominus_, a word properly -applying to a master of slaves, and forbade the word to be used even -in jest in his own family. He wished to be regarded as a citizen among -citizens. He took care to shew interest (unlike Iulius) in the games -and shows that were liked by the people, and disapproved of special -marks of respect being paid to his young grandsons by the people rising -and cheering when they entered the circus. He went through the streets -on foot even when Consul, or rode with the curtains of his sedan drawn -back, that he might not seem to avoid the looks or approach of the -crowd; he admitted all kinds of people without distinction of rank -to his morning levees; forbade the Senators to rise when he entered -or left the house; visited friends without state, and was careful to -attend family festivities such as betrothal parties. At elections he -went round with his candidates and canvassed for votes, and appeared -for his clients in the courts (though anxious not to allow his presence -to exercise an unfair influence) and shewed no annoyance at being -cross-questioned and refuted. In the Senate he allowed great freedom of -speech without resentment. He was interrupted while speaking by cries of -“We don’t understand,” “I would contradict you if it were of any use.” -On one occasion, when he was leaving the house with some signs of anger -after a tiresome debate, he was followed by cries, “Senators should be -allowed to speak freely on public affairs,” something like the shouts -of “Privilege” that greeted Charles I. on a famous occasion. When he -mildly remonstrated with Antistius Labeo for nominating Lepidus (whom he -particularly disliked and treated with great contumely) to the Senate, -Antistius retorted rudely, “Every one is entitled to his own opinion.” He -was tolerant of such language and wrote a soothing note to Tiberius, who -expressed himself vehemently about some occurrence of the sort: “My dear -Tiberius, don’t give way to youthful excitement, or be so very indignant -at some one being found to speak harm of me. It is quite enough if we can -prevent their _doing_ us any harm.” In matters more personal or private -he could stand a telling or rough retort. When holding a review of the -equites he brought up a number of charges against a certain eques, who -rebutted them one after the other and ended with the contemptuous remark: -“Next time, sir, you cause inquiries to be made about a respectable -man, you had better intrust the business to respectable people.” Seeing -another eques eating in the circus he sent a message to him, “When I want -to lunch, I go home.” “Yes,” was the answer, “but you are not afraid of -losing your place.” Another eques was rebuked by him for squandering his -patrimony, and deigned no further remark than, “Oh well, I was under the -impression that it was my own property.” He once paid a Senator’s debts, -and got no more thanks than a note with the words, “Not a farthing for -myself!” A young man was once noticed at Court with an extraordinary -likeness to himself. Augustus ordered him to be introduced and said: -“Young gentleman, was your mother ever at Rome?” “No,” he replied, “but -my father was.” In this case it must be acknowledged that the Emperor -richly deserved the retort. The point, however, in all these stories -is that he was content to give and take and be a man among men. There -would be no longer any ground for Pollio’s remark, when Augustus wrote -some satirical epigrams upon that incarnation of all the talents: “I -say nothing. It is not easy to write against a man who can write one’s -name in a proscription list.” There are other anecdotes which still -farther illustrate this human side of Augustus. A veteran begged him -to appear for him in court, and Augustus named one of his friends to -undertake the case. The veteran cried out, “But when you were in danger -at Actium, Cæsar, I did not get a substitute; I fought for you myself!” -With a blush Augustus consented to appear. The troubles and tragedies -of life interested him. On hearing of one of Herod’s family executions, -he remarked, “I had rather be Herod’s pig than his son!” And when a man -supposed to be rich was found on his death to be overwhelmed with debt, -he sent to purchase his pillow at the auction, which had enabled him to -sleep when he owed such enormous sums. He could bear to have the laugh -turned against himself. The story of the man with the two ravens, one -taught to greet himself and the other Antony, has been already referred -to (p. 119). Another is of a similar kind. A poor Greek poet was in -the habit of waylaying him as he left his house for the forum with -complimentary epigrams to thrust into his hand. Augustus took no notice -for some time, but one day seeing the inevitable tablet held out he took -it and hastily scribbled a Greek epigram of his own upon it. The poet by -voice and look affected to be overpowered with admiration, and running up -to the Emperor’s sedan handed him a few pence, crying, “By heaven above -you, Augustus, if I had had more I would have given it you!” Everybody -laughed and Augustus ordered his steward to give him a substantial sum of -money. - -It is curious that though Augustus was unmoved by rough retorts or -offensive speeches he shewed considerable sensitiveness to attacks -which took the form of lampoons and epigrams. He went so far on some -occasions as to refute them in an edict. But he used the “edict” as a -means of communication with the citizens and provinces on all sorts of -subjects, such as for explaining his purpose in putting up the bust -of distinguished men, or to draw attention to what he thought useful -in ancient writers. But he shrank not only from offensive poems, but -from being the subject of any poetry or history composed by incompetent -people. Before all things he was not to be made to look ridiculous by -witty attacks or clumsy praise. The prize poem or declamation was an -abomination to him, and the prætors were charged to prevent the public -use of his name in such compositions. Connected with this sensitive -refinement of taste may be mentioned the simplicity of his manners and -way of life. - -[Sidenote: The residences of Augustus.] - -The Palace of Augustus, though in a group of great splendour, was not in -itself on a scale approaching the huge constructions of later Emperors. -He appears at first to have occupied a modest house close to the forum, -which had once belonged to the orator Licinius Calvus, who died B.C. 47. -He then purchased a site on the Palatine on which to erect a new house; -but in B.C. 36, after the final defeat of Sextus Pompeius, the Senate -voted him the house of Hortensius. In a chamber of this house he slept -summer and winter for the rest of his life, though occasionally when -unwell he would pass the night in the house of Mæcenas on the Esquiline -which was regarded as a healthier situation. On receiving this house -from the Senate, he devoted the site already purchased to the temple of -Apollo and its libraries, which with its peristyle was filled with the -most precious specimens of Greek art, and in which under the statue of -Apollo by Scopas the Sibylline books were preserved in gilded caskets. -In B.C. 12, upon becoming Pontifex Maximus, he built a small temple of -Vesta between these buildings and his house, to keep up the tradition -of the Pontiff residing near the shrine of Vesta in the forum, while he -handed over the official residence of the Pontiff to the Vestal Virgins -themselves. The house of Hortensius was afterwards partly destroyed by -fire and rebuilt with greater magnificence, the neighbouring house once -owned by Catiline being taken in; but even then it was on a moderate -scale compared with the later palaces. Its entrance, however, was -conspicuously marked by the laurels, the civic crown, and gilded shields -which were placed there by vote of the Senate since B.C. 27. Besides this -town-house, which has furnished the name for a royal residence to this -day, he had of course various villas in different parts of Italy. But -they were not numerous in comparison with the number we know to have been -owned by nobles at the end of the republic. There was one at the ninth -milestone on the Flaminian Way called _ad gallinas_, in the gardens of -which was the bay tree, from the leaves of which Augustus had his garland -made when celebrating his triumphs; as it became the traditional habit -of succeeding Emperors to do also. The others near Rome were selected -for their coolness and healthy position—Lanuvium twenty miles from the -city on a lofty spur of the Alban Mountains, “cold Præneste” twenty-five -miles, and “sloping Tibur” about twenty miles away. These, however, were -suburban residences and gave no escape from society or business. They -were full of Roman villas,[282] and in the temple of Hercules at Tibur he -frequently sat to administer justice. When he could get a real holiday he -preferred a yachting voyage among the islands on the Campanian coast. -For one of them (Ænaria) he took in exchange from the municipality -of Naples the beautiful Capreæ, destined for greater notoriety under -his successor. He used to call it or some small island in the bay his -“Castle of Idleness.”[283] His villas were on a modest scale. He greatly -disapproved of the vast country palaces which were becoming the fashion, -and forced his granddaughter to demolish one which she was building.[284] -Earlier in life he was accused of extravagance in the matter of rich -furniture and antique bronzes. But he seems to have shaken off this -weakness later on. The furniture of his villas was extremely simple, and -there were no costly pictures and statues in them, but the gardens were -carefully laid out with terraces and shrubberies, and generally adorned -with various curiosities, as at Capreæ with the huge bones of a whale. - -His table was simple and the dinners never long. He was careful in -selecting his company, but knew how to make graceful concessions as to -the rank of his guests when occasion required it. He drank little wine, -and generally not of the best vintages; but he exerted himself to promote -conversation and to draw out the silent and shy. He would sometimes come -late and retire early without breaking up the party; sometimes talked -instead of eating, taking his own simple food before or after the meal. -Before all he does not appear to have adopted the unsociable habit, often -mentioned by Cicero and especially characteristic of Iulius, of reading -and answering his letters at table. The dinner was generally a family -function and his young grandsons were always present at it. Sometimes -conversation was varied by reciters, readers, actors or professors of -philosophy. But at the Saturnalia and other festivals the quiet and -decorum of these meals gave way to the spirit of the hour. The table was -better furnished and the Emperor presented his guests with all kinds of -gifts, or amused himself by holding a kind of blind auction, putting -together lots of widely different value which the guests bid for without -knowing what they were purchasing. On such occasions gambling with dice -was permitted, though in family parties the Emperor took care to lose or -to surrender his winnings, and sometimes he supplied each member of the -party with a sum of money beforehand with which to make their stakes. But -games of chance had a fascination for him at all times of his life, and -his real gambling was not confined to festival days. He made no secret -of it, and we hear nothing of any great loss or gain. Social life at -Rome began early in the day, visitors at a levee would arrive soon after -daybreak, and a magistrate would sometimes have to be up immediately -after midnight, to take omens or perform some other religious rite. But -as Augustus worked late at night, and was not a good sleeper, early -rising was painful to him, and resulted in his falling fast asleep in -his sedan. If any of these night duties became imperative he took the -precaution of sleeping in some lodging near the place. But his normal -habit was to work up to noon, then after the light luncheon or prandium, -often consisting of bread and a few grapes, to sleep for a short time -fully dressed. Having finished the morning’s work and bath, dinner (cena) -would come between 3 and 4, though busy men like the Emperor often pushed -it on to 6 or 7; after dinner he went to his study, and there finished -off what was left of the day’s work, his memoranda and accounts, sitting -or reclining on his couch far into the night. The amount of work which -he must have bestowed upon his official business is shewn by the state -of readiness and completeness in which the various schedules of the -finances of the Empire and the army, and the book of political maxims -were found at his death. In early youth he had dabbled in literature, -and composed a tragedy in the Greek fashion called “Ajax”; but coming -in later years to estimate its value more truly he destroyed it, and -when some friend or flatterer inquired for it, he said, “Ajax has fallen -on his own sponge.”[285] He composed also memoirs of his own life, but -they were interrupted by his serious illness after the Spanish War (B.C. -25-3), and never resumed. They were used by Suetonius and other writers, -as well as collections of his letters, edicts, and speeches, but have not -been preserved. Only one of his epigrams has survived, of which I shall -speak hereafter. These excursions into literature, never very serious, -seem to have ceased as he got on in life. In the third book of his _Odes_ -(written between B.C. 30-25), Horace tells the Muses that “they afford a -recreation to high Cæsar when he has put his troops into winter quarters -and seeks a rest from toil,”[286] but in the fourth book (B.C. 13-12) -it is the statesman, the conqueror, and reformer that he addresses, not -the man of letters. The Epistle addressed to Augustus in B.C. 12, though -it deals with literary criticism and explicitly supports the Emperor’s -well-known dislike of being the theme of inferior writers, while it -dwells upon his numerous employments and warmly compliments him on his -successful achievements, contains no word or hint of his authorship.[287] -The principate was a most laborious profession, absorbing all his -energies and occupying all his time, and though he might enjoy the -company of literary men, despatches, edicts, and state papers would now -be the limit of his literary ambition. - -The heavy work of his lofty position was performed under painful -conditions of health. Besides at least four serious illnesses[288] -of which we hear, he was subject to periodical complaints, generally -recurring at the beginning of spring and autumn. Soon after B.C. 30 he -gave up the martial exercises of the Campus, then the less fatiguing -ball games, and finally confined himself to getting out of his sedan to -take short runs or walks. As he grew old his only outdoor amusements -(except yachting) seem to have been fishing and playing games with little -children. - -In the last years of his life he gave up going into Roman society. -In the earlier part of his principate he dined out freely, and not -always in select company. He seems to have been rather inclined to the -vulgar millionaire, perhaps because he could reckon on contributions to -the public objects which he had at heart. He did not expect splendid -entertainments, and was content with the wine of the district, still he -did not like being treated with too little ceremony. To one man who gave -him a dinner ostentatiously plain and common, he remarked on leaving—“I -did not know that I was such an intimate friend of yours.” At times, -too, he had occasion to assume the Emperor with some of these _nouveaux -riches_, as in the celebrated case of Vedius Pollio. This man had a -stewpond of lampreys, which he fed with flesh. When he was entertaining -Augustus on one occasion the cup-bearer dropped a valuable crystal -cup, and his master ordered him at once to be thrown to the lampreys. -Augustus tried to beg him off, but when Pollio refused, he ceased to -entreat; assuming imperial airs he ordered all the cups of the same -sort in the house, and all others of value, to be brought into the room -and broken. Licinius, the grasping procurator of Gaul, was another of -these rich vulgar people, with whom Augustus was somewhat too intimate, -and expected in return for that honour large contributions to his -works. On one occasion he even took the liberty of altering the figure -in the promissory note sent by him so as to double the sum. Licinius -said nothing, but on the next occasion he sent a note thus expressed: -“I promise towards the expense of the new work—whatever your Highness -pleases.” - -Wit is seldom kind, and some of the retorts attributed to him are not -always exceptions to the rule. To a humpbacked advocate pleading before -him, and often repeating the expression, “If you think I am wrong in -any way, pray set me straight,” he said, “I can give you some advice, -but I can’t set you _straight_.” To an officer who made rather too -much fuss about his services, and kept pointing to an ugly scar on his -forehead, he said, “When you run away you shouldn’t look behind you.” -More good-natured are the following. To a young prefect who was being -sent home from camp for misbehaviour, and who exclaimed, “How can I go -home? What am I to say to my father?” he replied, “Tell him that you did -not like me.” To another who was being cashiered, and pleaded to have -the usual good-service pension, that people might think he had left the -service in the usual way, he said, “Well, give out that you have received -the money; I won’t say that I haven’t paid it.” - -Though affable to all, and neither an unkind nor unreasonable master to -his slaves, or patron to his freedmen, he was enough a man of his age not -to hesitate to inflict cruel punishment for certain offences. A secretary -who had taken a bribe to disclose some confidential paper, he ordered to -have his legs broken. A favourite freedman was forced to commit suicide -when detected in intrigues with Roman married ladies. He ordered the -personal servants of his grandson Caius, who had taken advantage of his -illness and death to enrich themselves in the province of Syria, to be -thrown into the sea with weights attached to their feet. - -To those who had been his friends there is hardly any instance of extreme -severity after the end of the civil wars. It is possible that Muræna -died before trial, though his fellow-conspirator was put to death. -Cornelius Gallus, the first prefectus of Egypt, committed suicide rather -than confront the accusations brought against him and the evident animus -of the Senate; but Augustus did not wish it, and exclaimed with tears in -his eyes that it was hard that he should be the only man who might not be -angry with his friends without the matter going farther than he intended. -The coldness that arose between him and his ministers Agrippa and Mæcenas -was only temporary and never very grave. He deeply deplored their loss -at their death. We shall have to discuss his conduct to his daughter and -granddaughter and their paramours in another chapter. But neither in -regard to these persons nor the conspirators against his life did he ever -act in a way that his contemporaries would think cruel. - -These anecdotes of Augustus do not suggest a very heroic figure, very -quick wit, or great warmth of heart. They rather indicate what I conceive -to be the truer picture, a cool and cautious character, not unkindly -and not without a sense of humour; but at the same time as inevitable -and unmoved by pity or remorse as nature herself. No one accuses him of -having neglected or hurried any task that it was his duty to perform. -But neither friend, relation, nor minister ever really influenced him. -He issues orders, and they all obey instinctively, without remonstrance, -and generally with success. He is providence to them all. Everything -succeeds under his hands. He is no soldier, though he knows one when he -sees him, but all the nations of the earth seek his friendship. Till the -last decade of his life no serious reverse befel his armies; at home all -opposition melted away, as the difficulties in a road or course disappear -before a skilful driver or steerer. He is not godlike, but there is an -air of calm success about him which swayed men’s wills and awakened their -reverence. - - - - -CHAPTER XII - -THE REFORMER AND LEGISLATOR - - _Quid leges sine moribus_ - _vanæ proficiunt?_ - - -[Sidenote: The earliest reforms in the Empire.] - -The activity of Augustus as reformer in the city and Italy, and to a -great extent in the provinces also, was subsequent to the settlement of -his constitutional position in B.C. 23, after which date changes in it -were generally consequential, and in matters of detail. But it began -long before. In B.C. 36 he had taken effective measures to suppress the -brigandage which had pushed its audacity nearly up to the very gates -of Rome. In B.C. 34-3 Agrippa, under his influence, had started the -improvement in the water supply of Rome by restoring the Aqua Marcia; -had cleansed and enlarged the cloacæ, repaired the streets, and begun -many important buildings. In B.C. 31 we have evidence that Augustus -was turning his attention to the details of administration in the -provinces,[289] and in the next year, in his resettlement of Asia, he -restored to Samos, Ephesus, Pergamus, and the Troad, works of art which -Antony had taken from them to bestow upon Cleopatra.[290] In B.C. 28, -measures of relief were adopted for state debtors, and a term fixed -beyond which those who were in actual possession of properties could not -be disturbed by legal proceedings. - -[Illustration: AUGUSTUS AS SENATOR. - -_Photographed from the Statue in the Uffizi Gallery, Florence._ - -_To face page 212._] - -[Sidenote: The roads and police patrols, B.C. 27.] - -The first need of the country was security. How difficult this had long -been to maintain, and how ill the senatorial government at the end of the -Republic had been able to cope with the evil is shewn by the fact that -remnants of the bands of Spartacus and Catiline were in B.C. 61 still -infesting the district of Thurii. In spite of the repressive measures -of B.C. 36, which seem to have been successful as far as the immediate -neighbourhood of Rome was concerned, at the end of the civil war armed -bands still openly appeared in various parts of Italy, seized and carried -off travellers, confined them in the slave-barracks, or _ergastula_, -or put them to ransom. These _ergastula_ were originally slave-prisons -used for keeping refractory slaves, who worked during the day in chains, -and were shut up in separate cells at night, often underground or only -lighted by windows high up and out of reach of the inmates. In some -parts of Italy—chiefly the north—they were not known, and chained slaves -were not employed; but in other parts they were numerous, and afforded -convenient hiding-places. The chief abuse connected with them was that -men properly free could be carried off and concealed in them as though -they were slaves, while they afforded a leader in rebellion convenient -sources from which to draw recruits; the miserable inmates being only -too ready to join any one who gave them a hope of freedom and release -from those horrible dens. Accordingly a review of the _ergastula_ is -constantly heard of, till they were finally abolished by Hadrian. Among -the measures for the suppression of brigandage now taken was a visitation -of these places. It was not done in mercy to the slaves. Augustus, though -he treated his own servants with kindness, took the sternest Roman view -of the absolute power of a master, and boasts that after the war with -Sextus Pompeius he handed over 30,000 slaves—who had been serving with -the enemy—to their masters “to be punished.”[291] When we remember what -the “punishment” of a Roman slave meant, it is difficult to think without -horror of the sum total of human misery which this implies. - -[Sidenote: The great roads of Italy secured.] - -A more effective and permanent measure, however, was to secure the -roads and make them fit for rapid military movements. A system of road -commissions (_curæ viarum_) was started in B.C. 27, commissioners -(_curatores_) being appointed to superintend each of the great roads -leading from Rome to various parts of Italy. The duty at first was -usually imposed upon men who had enjoyed triumphs, and Augustus himself, -after his triple triumph, undertook the _via Flaminia_, the great north -road from Rome to Ariminum on the Adriatic, from which place other roads -branched off through the valley of the Po, and to the Alpine passes. The -pavement of the road was relaid, the bridges repaired, and the completion -of the work was commemorated by the still existing arch at Rimini, with -its partially surviving inscription.[292] For greater safety, also, -military pickets were stationed at convenient points along the roads, -which put a stop to brigandage. - -In close connection with the roads were the twenty-eight military -colonies established by Augustus in Italy. Of these seven were along the -line of the Flaminia, or near it; one of them (Bononia) was the point -where the main roads to Rome converge. Others guarded the entrances to -the Alpine passes, or the road through Venetia to Istria—which Augustus -included in Italy—while another group protected the main roads through -Campania. Thus these colonies were not only centres of loyalty to the -Empire, but served to keep open the great routes. The object of the -division of Italy into eleven regions, the exact date of which is not -known, was probably for the purpose of the census, and the taxation -which was connected with it, but it was also for other administrative -purposes, as for the regulation of the military service of the young -men in each of them.[293] The regions followed the natural divisions of -the country and of nationalities, but the importance of the roads in -connection with them is shown by the fact that before long they became -known in many cases by the name of the chief road that traversed them, -as Æmilia, Flaminia, and others. What Augustus was doing for Italy his -legates under his authority were doing for the most important provinces. -Great roads—_viæ Augustæ_—were being laid everywhere. We have evidence of -them from inscribed tablets in Dalmatia, Pisidia, and Cilicia, Bætica, -Northern Spain, Gallia Narbonensis, and elsewhere.[294] These works -went on throughout his reign, but in B.C. 20 he commemorated his formal -appointment as head commissioner of all roads by placing a pillar covered -with gilded bronze in the forum near the temple of Saturn, with the -distances of all the chief places along the great roads from one of the -thirty-seven city gates from which these roads branch out. The base of -this _milliarium aureum_ is still in its place. - -[Sidenote: The collegia.] - -Another source of mischief were the _collegia_, or guilds. Under cover -of promoting the interests of certain trades and professions these -guilds were used, or were believed to be used, for all kinds of illegal -purposes. Some of them were of great antiquity, but they had come to -be so often misused for political terrorism (especially the _collegia -opificum_) that the Senate had suppressed many of them in B.C. 63. But -Clodius shortly afterwards got a law passed authorising their meetings, -and he employed them freely for promoting his own riotous proceedings. -Iulius Cæsar had dissolved all except the most ancient and respectable, -but during the civil wars they seem to have revived. Under a law passed -in B.C. 22 Augustus held a visitation of them. Some were dissolved and -some reformed, and a licence was henceforth required from Senate and -Emperor for their meetings. - -[Sidenote: Feeding the city.] - -In the city itself the first need was food. It depended very largely on -imported corn. Again and again we hear of dearth and famine prices at -Rome. The people, often, no doubt, rightly, believed that this dearness -of provisions arose from artificial causes. When Sextus Pompeius and -his confederates were scouring the seas and pouncing upon corn-ships -the cause was clear enough, and the gratitude to Augustus for crushing -him was very natural. But even when there was no such evident danger -great distress was often caused by sudden rise of prices. The idea -had always been in such times to appoint some powerful man _præfectus -annonæ_, with a naval force enabling him to secure that the corn fleets -should have free passage to Italy, should be able to unload their -cargoes without difficulty, and dispose of them at a moderate price. A -well-known instance of this was the appointment of Pompey in B.C. 57. -But in less troublous times a separate commissioner was appointed to -watch the several places of corn export, Sicily, Sardinia, and Africa. -These were not posts of very great dignity, and Brutus and Cassius in -B.C. 44 looked upon their nomination to them as a kind of insult. But -besides the dangers of the sea and of pirates certain merchants had hit -upon means—practised long before at Athens—of artificially raising the -price. They made what we should call “a corner” in corn. Either they -bought it up and kept it back from the market, or they contrived various -ways of delaying the ships and producing a panic among the dealers. As -in all difficulties, the people looked to Augustus for help, and in -B.C. 22 begged him to accept the office of _præfectus annonæ_, “chief -commissioner of the corn market.” While declining the dictatorship -offered him at the same time with passionate vehemence, he accepted this -commissionership; and the law which he caused to be passed now or some -time later on shews how necessary some State interference was. By this -law penalties were inflicted on any one “who did anything to hinder the -corn supply, or entered into any combination with the object of raising -its price; or who hindered the sailing of a corn-ship, or did anything of -_malice propense_ whereby its voyage was delayed.”[295] - -[Sidenote: Distribution of corn free or below market value.] - -But besides a free and unmolested corn market, the Roman populace had -long come to look for another means of support—a distribution of corn -either altogether free or considerably below the market price. Detached -instances of this practice occur in the earlier history of Rome, the corn -sometimes coming as a present from some foreign sovereign, sometimes -being distributed by private liberality. It had always been objected to -by the wiser part of the Senate, and had laid the donors open to the -charge of trying to establish a tyranny. It was reserved for the tribune -Gaius Gracchus to make it into a system (B.C. 122). Since his time it had -been submitted to as a matter of course by nearly all magistrates. Sulla, -indeed, seems to have suspended it for a time, but the first measure of -the counter revolution that followed his death was to re-establish it. -Iulius Cæsar had restricted it to citizens below a certain census, but -had not the courage to abolish it. It was, indeed, a kind of poor-law -relief, but of the worst possible sort. It not only induced a number of -idle and useless people to prefer the chances of city life to labour -in the country, but it unnaturally depressed the price of corn, and -therefore discouraged the Italian farmer, already nearly ruined by the -competition of foreign corn; it exhausted the treasury, and, after all, -did not relieve the poor. Livy regards it as one of the causes which -denuded Italy of free cultivators, and left all the work to slaves. -Cicero always denounced it on much the same grounds, and Appian points -out how it brought the indigent, careless, and idle flocking into the -city.[296] The system, moreover, was open to gross abuses, slaves being -manumitted that they might take their share, under contract to transfer -it to their late masters. Augustus saw that by these distributions -injustice was done both to farmers and merchants, and that agriculture -in Italy was being depressed by it. He says in his memoirs[297] that -he had at one time almost resolved to put a stop to the practice, but -refrained from doing so because he felt sure that the necessity of -courting the favour of the populace would induce his successors to -restore it. However unsound this reasoning may be, it would no doubt have -been an heroic measure for one in his position to have carried out the -half-formed resolution. As a matter of fact, his distributions were on a -large scale, and in times of distress were entirely gratis. _Tesseræ_, or -tickets, entitling the holders to a certain amount of corn or money, were -distributed again and again. The value of the corn tickets was generally -supplied from the _fiscus_ or his private revenue; but that after all was -only a question of accounts, it did not affect the economical or moral -results in any way. - -[Sidenote: State loans.] - -A better economical measure was a system of State loans. Immediately -after the end of the civil war the transference to the Roman treasury of -the enormous wealth in money and jewels of the Ptolemies at Alexandria -caused the price of money to go down and the money value of landed -property consequently to go up. For a time at least the common rate of -interest sank from 12 to 4 per cent. Augustus took advantage of this -state of things to relieve landowners who were in difficulties, by -lending them money free of interest, if they could show property of -double the value as security for repayment. - -[Sidenote: The Tiber.] - -There were other reforms equally beneficial. Among the many _curæ_ -(commissions) which he established was one for superintending public -works, which would thus not depend on private munificence; another of the -streets; of the water supply; and, above all, of the Tiber. Rome was, -as it still is, extremely subject to floods. Quite recently there were -five or six feet of water in the Pantheon, and in B.C. 27 the rise of -the Tiber was so serious that the lower parts of the city were covered, -and the augurs declared it to be an omen of the universal prevalence -of the power of the new _princeps_. In B.C. 23 it swept away the _pons -Sublicius_.[298] He could not of course prevent these floods, but he -gave some relief by dredging and widening the river-bed, which was -choked with rubbish and narrowed by encroachments. The commission thus -established remained an important one for many generations, but in B.C. 8 -he superintended the business himself. - -[Sidenote: Fire brigades.] - -A danger at Rome, more frequent and no less formidable than flood, was -fire. So frequent were fires that the most stringent laws had been passed -against arson, which it seems was even punishable by burning alive. In -B.C. 23 Augustus formed a kind of fire brigade of public slaves under -the control of the curule-ædiles. But the old magistracies were no -longer objects of desire, and it was difficult to get men of energy to -fill them, a state of things which was one of the chief blots in the new -imperial system. At any rate in this case they were not found efficient, -and in the later years of his reign (A.D. 6), a new brigade in four -divisions was formed of freedmen with an equestrian præfect, who turned -out to be so effective that they became regularly established. - -[Sidenote: The Sibylline Books and Sacred Colleges.] - -Another part in the scheme of Augustus for the reconstruction of society -was to revive the influence of the Sacred Colleges and brotherhoods, -and to renew the ceremonies with which they were connected. One method -of doing this was to become a member of them all himself, much as -the king of England is sovereign of all the Orders. Thus according -to the _Monumentum_ (ch. 7) he was pontifex, augur, quindecemvir for -religious rites, septemvir of the Epulones, an Arval brother, a fetial -and a sodalis Titius. Nor was he only an honorary or idle member. He -attended their meetings and joined in their business, and took part in -whatever rites they were intended to perform. Thus his membership of the -Arval brethren is recorded in the still existing _acta_; as a fetial -he proclaimed war against Cleopatra. The _sodales Titii_, a college -of priests of immemorial antiquity, had almost disappeared until the -entrance of Augustus into their college revived them and their ritual. -He not only joined these colleges, but revived and even increased their -endowments,[299] and, above all, those of the six Vestal Virgins, to whom -he presented the _regia_, once the official residence of the Pontifex -Maximus, and an estate at Lanuvium. The restoration of the College of -Luperci, which had celebrated on the 15th of February the old ceremony of -“beating the bounds” almost from the foundation of the city, was more or -less a political matter. It had gone out of fashion, and its ceremonies -had got to be looked upon as undignified. Iulius Cæsar had revived and -re-endowed them. The Senate for that very reason in the reaction after -his death had deprived them of these endowments, which Augustus now -restored. We have already noticed his renewal of the _augurium salutis_, -the old ceremonial prayer at the beginning of the year that could only be -offered in time of peace. He also induced some one to accept the office -of _flamen Dialis_ in B.C. 11, after it had been vacant since B.C. 87, -because the restrictions under which its holder laboured were so numerous -and tiresome that in spite of its dignity—its seat in the Senate and -curule chair and lictor—no one would accept it. He took pains again -to restore the Sibylline Books to their old place of importance. The -originals were lost in the fire of B.C. 82, and a commission had at once -been issued to collect others from towns in Greece and Greek Italy. But -some of them were getting illegible from age, and some were of doubtful -authenticity, and consequently all kinds of prophetic verses got into -circulation, giving rise at times to undesirable rumours and panics. -Augustus in B.C. 18 ordered them to be re-copied and edited, and the -authorised edition was then deposited in his new temple of Apollo on the -Palatine, and continued to be consulted till late in the third century. -After an attempt by Iulian to revive its authority it was finally burnt -by Stilicho about A.D. 400. - -[Sidenote: Pontifex Maximus.] - -As one of the quindecemvirs Augustus had charge of these books, but -he formally took the official headship of Roman religion by becoming -Pontifex Maximus. He was elected and ordained to that office in March -B.C. 12. The people had wished him to take it in B.C. 30, but he would -not violate what was a traditional and sacred rule that the office was -lifelong, and though Lepidus was degraded from the triumvirate in B.C. -36, he was still Pontifex Maximus. It is true that he was not allowed to -do any of the duties, or only those of the most formal kind, but still -he had the office. The ground for asking Augustus to take it was that -the election of Lepidus had been irregular; he had managed to get put in -during the confusion following the assassination of Cæsar, and therefore -might be deposed. Augustus however takes credit for his scrupulous -observance of a religious rule, and was particularly gratified by the -crowds of people who came up to vote for him, a sort of ecclesiastical -coronation.[300] - -[Sidenote: The _ludi sæculares_, May 31-June 2, B.C. 17.] - -In B.C. 17 he gave an emphasis to some of these religious revivals by -celebrating the _ludi sæculares_, the centenary of the city, in virtue -of some verses found in this Sibylline volume. We need not trouble -ourselves as to whether his calculation of the year was a right one -(the _sæculum_ was really 110 years), it is enough to note that they -were meant, like a centenary of a college or university, to call out -patriotic and loyal feelings which should embrace both the country and -the country’s religion. They are made interesting to us by the fact -that Horace—always ready to further his master’s purposes—was selected -to write the Anthem or Ode to be sung by a chorus of twenty-seven boys -and twenty-seven girls. An inscription, found in 1871 in the bed of the -Tiber, gives the official program of this festival, and ends with the -words _Carmen composuit Q. Horatius Flaccus_.[301] The poet probably -had before him, when he wrote it, the general scheme of the festival, -which included solemn sacrifices and prayer to Iuno, Diana, Iupiter, and -Ilithyia. Augustus and Agrippa took the leading part in the religious -functions—as members of quindicemviri—and both repeated the prayers, -which in the case of all these deities invoked a blessing on the “Populus -Romanus Quiritium.” In short, everything was done to mark it as a -national festival, to make the Romans recall their glorious inheritance -and unique position, and at the same time to show that the _princeps_ -represented that greatness before gods and men. Whatever else Augustus -may have thought of the national religion, he evidently regarded it as -the surest bond of national life, and the inclusion of a prayer to -Ilithyia, goddess of childbirth, joined with his contemporaneous attempt -to encourage marriage and the production of children (which the obedient -Horace echoes[302]), shews that he also connected that religion with -morality. The restoration of religion, in fact, in his mind, goes side -by side with the purification of morals. It is the practical statesman’s -view of religion as a necessary police force and perhaps something more. -Napoleon restored the Catholic Church in France with a similar sagacity, -and the people blessed him, as they did Augustus, for giving them back -_le bon Dieu_. - -[Sidenote: The reformation of morals.] - -But the state of things required in his judgment, not only a religious -revival, but more stringent laws. Horace again reflects his master’s -views in the making, before they find expression in act. The sixth ode -of the first book (written about B.C. 25) joins to the necessity of a -restoration of the temples and a return to religion a warning as to the -relaxation of morals, tracing the progress in vice of the young girl -and wife, with the shameful connivance of the interested husband, and -exclaims: “Not from such parents as these sprang the youth that dyed the -sea with Punic blood, and brake the might of Pyrrhus and great Antiochus -and Hannibal, scourge of God.” Again in the twenty-fourth ode of the -same book, also written about B.C. 25, he warmly urges a return to the -old morality, and promises immortality to the statesman who shall secure -it: “If there be one who would stay unnatural bloodshed and civic fury, -if there be one who seeks to have inscribed on his statue the title of -‘Father of the Cities,’ let him pluck up heart to curb licentiousness. -His shall be a name for the ages!” And when Augustus has acted on the -resolution, to the formation of which the poet was privy, he tells him -ten years later that by his presence family life is cleansed from its -foul stains, that he has curbed the licence of the age and recalled -the old morality.[303] This he would represent as the result of the -Emperor’s legislation, the _lex marita_ of the secular hymn. - -It was after his return from the East in B.C. 19 that Augustus first -received censorial powers for five years. Whether this amounted to a -definite office—a _præfectura moribus_ or _regimen morum_, as Dio and -Suetonius assert—does not much matter. The experiment of appointing -censors in the ordinary way had been tried in B.C. 22 for the last time -and had not been successful, and the _censoria potestas_ now given to -Augustus practically put into his hands that control over the conduct -of private citizens which the censors had exercised by their power of -inflicting “ignominy” upon them. The ancient censorial stigma had been -applied to irregularities in almost every department of life, but it -depended on the will of the censors themselves, not on laws. Feeling now -directly responsible for the morals and general habits of the citizens he -began a series of legislative measures designed to suppress extravagance -and debauchery, and to encourage marriage and family life, which would -have permanent validity. He believed in externals, even trivial ones, -as indicating a growing laxity; making, for instance, a point of men -appearing in the forum and on official occasions in the old Roman toga. -The lighter and more comfortable _lacerna_ or _pallium_ was as abominable -in his eyes as a suit of flannels would seem to a martinet of to-day -in the Park or on parade.[304] Before all things the Romans were to be -national, in dress no less than in other respects. - -[Sidenote: Sumptuary laws.] - -But the failure which always attends such regulations was no less -inevitable in regard to the first of his new reforming measures, his -sumptuary laws, regulating the exact amount that it was legal to spend -on a _cena_ in ordinary days, on festivals, and at wedding feasts, or -the _repotia_ which the bridegroom gave on the afternoon following his -marriage. This was no new thing. It had been tried at various times -throughout Roman history. Beginning with a very ancient law regulating -the amount of silver plate each man might legally possess, the rent he -might pay for his house, and the provisions of the Twelve Tables, we have -laws in the third and second centuries B.C., limiting the cost of dress -and jewels for women, the number of guests that might be entertained at -banquets, and the amount that might be spent upon them. Sulla had also a -sumptuary law, among his other acts, of the same kind. But Iulius Cæsar -had gone farther than any one in B.C. 46. He had not only regulated the -cost of furniture and jewels, according to the rank of the owners, and -the amounts to be spent upon the table, but he had sent agents into -the provision markets, who seized all dainties beyond the legal price, -and even entered private houses and removed dishes from the table. Of -course such measures were not only annoying, they were ineffective -also. Directly he left Rome the rules were neglected. Our own Statute -Book has many laws of the same kind, which rapidly became dead letters. -Nearly the one and only permanent effect of the old sumptuary laws had -been to create a sentiment against large and crowded dinner parties as -vulgar.[305] Nor did Augustus succeed much better. Towards the end of his -reign he issued an edict extending the legal amount which might be spent -on banquets, hoping to secure some obedience to the law. But nothing -that we know of Roman life afterwards leads us to think that this form -of paternal government—though quite in harmony with Roman ideas—ever -attained its object. Human nature was stronger than political theory. - -[Sidenote: The Iulian laws of marriage, adultery and divorce.] - -Nor were the laws, carried about the same time,[306] on marriage, -divorce, and kindred subjects, much more effective. In part they -re-enacted rules which had always been acknowledged and always disobeyed, -and so far as they did not punish a crime, but endeavoured to enforce -marriage, they were continually resisted or effectually evaded. -They consisted of a series of enactments—whether we regard them as -separate laws or chapters in the same law—for restraining adultery and -libitinage, for regulating divorce, and for encouraging the marriage of -all ranks.[307] They were passed in B.C. 18-17, and were supplemented -by a law of A.D. 9, called the _lex Papia Poppæa_. The text of none of -them survives, and we have to trust to scattered notices in the later -legal writers. They may be roughly classed as restrictive, penal, and -beneficiary. In the first may be placed the regulation that no senator -or member of a senatorial family might marry a freed-woman, courtesan, -actress, or the daughter of an actor; though other men might marry a -freed-woman or even emancipate a slave in order to marry her. And under -the same head came the regulations as to divorce. The legal doctrine -appears to have been that marriage contracted with the old religious -ceremony called _confarreatio_ was indissoluble, except in the case of -the wife’s adultery, on whose condemnation to death the execution was -preceded by a solemn dissolution of the marriage or _diffareatio_. It was -also a common belief that no divorce had ever taken place at Rome until -that of Carvilius in B.C. 231. Yet the laws of the Twelve Tables (B.C. -450) contained provisions as to divorce, so that it had certainly been -known before; and perhaps the truth was that Carvilius was the first to -divorce his wife without any plea of adultery, in which case he would -have to give security for the repayment of her dowry. Since that time -the religious _confarreatio_ had become extremely rare. Both men and -women avoided an indissoluble tie. The fashion was to be married _sine -manu_, that is, without the woman passing into the _manus_ or power of -her husband. She still remained subject to the _patria potestas_, or to -that of her guardian, or was _sui iuris_ according to her circumstances -at the time. Such marriages could be dissolved by either party, and -without charge of misconduct. Public opinion seems to have restrained -both men and women for some time from taking advantage of their freedom, -but its force steadily diminished, till towards the end of the republic -divorce became so common as to provoke little remark. It was an -arrangement—as in the case of Augustus and his family—governed almost -entirely by considerations of convenience or advantage, and generally -left all parties concerned on a friendly footing. This of course was -not always the case when the divorce was the result of misconduct, or -at least of misconduct on the wife’s part, nor even if it resulted -from incompatibility of temper or money disputes, which left a feeling -of soreness behind them. It was a system—however disastrous to family -life—too deeply rooted for Augustus to attempt to change it, even if -he had wished to do so. His law seems to have dealt only with certain -formalities and conditions of divorce—such as the necessity of having -witnesses, and in case of a charge of misconduct a kind of family council -or court of inquiry—not with the freedom of divorce itself, except that -in the case of a freed-woman, she was prevented from divorcing her -husband or marrying again without his consent. That, however, rested -on the idea of the rights of a patronus rather than on the sanctity of -marriage. Otherwise the law chiefly dealt with questions of property, -restraining the husband from alienating his wife’s estate without her -consent, and re-enacting (with what modifications we do not know) the -provisions for the repayment of dowry. - -[Sidenote: Penalties (1) for adultery or seduction.] - -The _penal_ enactments affected (1) those guilty of adultery or seduction -(_stuprum_), and (2) those who remained unmarried or without children. -In adultery both parties were punished by transportation (_deportatio -in insulam_) and a partial confiscation of property. A husband’s -unfaithfulness incurred no penalty except that he lost all claim to -retain any part of the wife’s dowry, even for the benefit of children. -But the old barbarous principle of the injured husband’s right to kill -both wife and paramour, if detected by himself, was retained, though -under certain conditions. If he allowed the guilty wife to remain with -him, he was bound to release the man; and if he connived at the adultery -for gain, he was subject to a fine. _Stuprum_ was formerly defined as -the forcible detention of a free woman for immoral purposes, and could -be punished by flogging or imprisonment. Under the Iulian law it was -extended to the seduction of an unmarried woman or a widow who had been -living chastely. - -[Sidenote: (2) For remaining unmarried.] - -The penalties upon those who remained unmarried between certain ages were -in the form of a direct tax or of certain disabilities. The former, under -the name of _uxorium_, was of great antiquity, and had been levied by -the censors of B.C. 404, but it was light and intermittent; the Iulian -law revived and increased it. The disabilities were that an unmarried -man between the legal ages could not take a legacy from a testator -not related to him within the sixth degree, unless he married within -a hundred days of being informed of the legacy. This was extended by -the _lex Papia Poppæa_ (A.D. 9) to the childless, who could only take -half any legacy from a testator unconnected with them within the sixth -degree. One child saved a man from coming under this law, three children -a freeborn woman, four a freed-woman. Again, a husband and wife who were -childless could only receive a tenth of a legacy left by one to the -other, though, if there were children by another marriage, a tenth was -added for each, or if they had had children who had died. For all alike -there were numerous exemptions founded on absence from home on public -service, age, or ill-health; and a certain time of grace (_vacatio_) was -given between the attainment of the legal age and the actual marriage, or -between two marriages, or after a divorce. - -[Sidenote: Privileges to parents. The _ius trium liberorum_.] - -The beneficiary clauses of the law were those which relieved married -men or women and men or women with children from these disabilities, -and gave them exemption from certain onerous public duties and special -places of honour in the theatres. The fathers of three children at Rome, -four in Italy, five in the provinces, had also certain preferences for -offices and employments and other honorary distinctions, such as taking -precedence of a colleague in the consulship. This was not a new idea, for -it had in one shape or another existed in many Greek states, and in B.C. -59 Iulius Cæsar had in his agrarian law given the preference to fathers -of three children in the distribution of land. - -[Sidenote: Opposition to the law.] - -The disabilities imposed on the unmarried were met with vehement -resistance, in consequence of which the clause was introduced giving -the three years’ grace between the attainment of the legal age and the -actual marriage. After the passing of the Papia Poppæa (A.D. 9) the -Emperor in the theatre or circus was received with loud shouts from the -equestrian seats demanding its repeal. He is said to have sent for the -children of Germanicus and held them up as an example for all to follow; -and he afterwards summoned two meetings of the equites, one of those -married, and the other of the single. To each he delivered a speech, -which Dio reports or invents. He pointed with dismay to the fact that the -first meeting was so much less numerous than the second. He commended -the married men for having done their duty to the State, but to the -unmarried he addressed a longer and more vehement appeal. He argued that -they were defeating the purpose of the Creator, were contributing to the -disappearance of the Roman race, which was being replaced by foreigners -necessarily admitted to the franchise in order to keep up the numbers of -the citizens; that he had only followed in his legislation the precedent -of ancient laws with increased penalties and rewards, and that while he -acknowledged that marriage was not without its troubles, yet that was -true of everything else, and they were compensated by other advantages -and the consciousness of duty done.[308] - -But though the Emperor carried his point at the time and passed a law -which remained in force for more than three centuries, it did not really -benefit morality. It was constantly evaded by colourable marriages, often -with quite young children. “Men did not marry to have heirs, but in order -to become heirs,” it was said. And though Augustus attempted to prevent -this by an edict enacting that no betrothal was to count which was not -followed by a marriage within two years, other means of evading the law -were found which gave rise to the intrusion of spies and informers who -made their profit by thus violating the secrets of the family. Again, -the granting of the _ius trium liberorum_ became gradually a matter of -form, and the idea of the superiority of the married state necessarily -disappeared with the rise of certain Christian ideals. The law was -repealed by the sons of Constantine. - -[Sidenote: The character of Augustus in view of this legislation.] - -Though a line is often drawn between a man’s public and private -character, it still remains hard to reconcile the earnestness of Augustus -in pressing these laws and his severity in punishing offences of this -nature with the reports of his own personal habits. I have already -expressed my disbelief in the stories of his youthful immoralities. -Suetonius, who spares no emperor the inevitable chapter summing up his -sins of the flesh, asserts that not even his friends deny the intrigues -of his later years, but merely urge that they were conducted not for -the gratification of his passions, but for motives of policy, that he -might gain information of secret plots. He mentions no names and gives -no evidence; the only names that have come down are those mentioned -in Antony’s extraordinary letter justifying his own connection with -Cleopatra. Antony, however, could only have known Roman gossip at second -or third hand in Alexandria, and the whole tone of the letter is so -reckless and violently coarse that it goes for very little by way of -evidence. Dio indeed mentions the wife of Mæcenas. But his statements -do not hang together or amount to very much. In one place he tells us -that Augustus was annoyed with Mæcenas because the latter had told his -wife something as to measures being taken against her brother Murena. At -another he says that some gossips attributed his journey to Gaul in B.C. -16 to a wish to enjoy her society without exciting popular remark, “for -he was so much in love with her that he once made her dispute with Livia -as to the superiority in beauty.” Even if the gossip was worth anything, -this hardly looks like a secret intrigue. Nor is it a confirmation of -it that Mæcenas at his death left Augustus his heir. However, the fact -may nevertheless be so. Livia is said elsewhere by Dio to have explained -her lasting influence over Augustus by the fact that she was always -careful not to interfere in his affairs, and, while remaining strictly -chaste herself, always pretended not to know anything of his amours. If -Livia did say this, it would of course be a sufficiently strong proof of -the allegations against him. But such reported sayings rest ultimately -on gossip and tittle-tattle, and do not go for much. The story told -by Dio, and amplified by Zonaras, of Athenodorus of Tarsus getting -himself conveyed into his chamber in the covered sedan intended for -some mistress, and springing out of it sword in hand and then appealing -to Augustus as to whether he did not often run such risks, is not very -likely in itself, and at any rate must refer to the triumviral days. For -about B.C. 30 Athenodorus was sent back to govern Tarsus. The one epigram -by the hand of Augustus, which has been preserved by Martial,[309] is -undeniably outspoken and coarse, but it is the coarseness of disgust, -not of lubricity, and to my mind is evidence—so far as it may be called -so—for him rather than against him. If, however, all that Suetonius and -Dio allege against his middle life is true, we must still remember that -in the eyes of his contemporaries, and indeed in Roman society generally -from Cato downwards, such indulgence in itself was not reprehensible. It -entirely depended on circumstances, and whether other obligations—such -as friendship, public duty, family honour—were or were not violated. -From that point of view the only crime of Augustus would be in the case -of Terentia, wife of Mæcenas, if the tale is true. As among the other -emperors whose life Suetonius wrote, with the exception of Vespasian, the -character of Augustus stands out clear. One age cannot judge fairly of -another, and it is not seldom that we find ourselves at as great a loss -to reconcile theory and practice, as to account for lives such as those -of Augustus and Horace in conjunction with the legislation of the former -and the moral sentiments occasionally expressed by the latter. - - - - -CHAPTER XIII - -LATER LIFE AND FAMILY TROUBLES - - _Edepol, Senectus, si nil quidquam_ - _aliud viti apportes tecum, cum_ - _advenis, unum id sat est quod diu_ - _vivendo multa quæ non volt videt._ - - -[Sidenote: The situation in B.C. 20-17.] - -After the restoration of the standards and prisoners from the Parthians -in B.C. 20, and when the peaceful settlement of the Eastern provinces -and subordinate kingdoms had been carried through or fairly started, -Augustus appears to have thought that the greater part of his life’s -work had been accomplished. The frontiers of the Empire had been settled -and secured. The Eastern provinces had been visited, necessary reforms -introduced, and great works of public utility set on foot. He wrote word -to the Senate that the Empire was sufficiently extensive, and that he had -no intention of adding to it by further annexations. He returned to Rome -the following year (B.C. 19) to find that the renewed trouble in Northern -Spain had been settled, or was on the point of being settled, by Agrippa. -He proposed to devote himself henceforth to internal reforms and the -superintendence of the peaceful improvements which he contemplated in the -provinces. He no doubt had in mind the necessity of a personal visitation -of distant parts of the Empire from time to time; but by associating -the able and trustworthy Agrippa with himself in the tribunician power -(B.C. 18) he might feel that he would always have a support in the -administration at home or abroad on which he could rely. It was at this -time, therefore, that the reforms and restorations were accomplished -which have been described in the last chapter, crowned by the national -festival, the _ludi sæculares_, in which he and Agrippa stood side by -side as mouthpieces of the whole people before the gods. - -We have seen, however, how these peaceful hopes were disappointed. -Scarcely were the secular games over than news came of the serious -disturbances in Gaul, Pannonia, Dalmatia, and Thrace, which led to his -three years’ absence from Rome and his long residence in Gaul and Spain. -He had only returned to Rome from this absence little more than a year -when he lost Agrippa, who died in March, B.C. 12, and he was obliged -to fall back upon the support of Tiberius, as his two grandsons were -only eight and five years old respectively. It was in B.C. 11 that he -compelled him to divorce his wife, Vipsania, to whom he was devotedly -attached, and marry Iulia, left a widow by Agrippa. The change was -thoroughly distasteful to Tiberius. He loved Vipsania, and he had good -reason to suspect Iulia of at least levity. So strong were his feelings -for his divorced wife that means had to be taken to prevent the two -meeting, for on a chance _rencontre_ he was observed to follow her with -straining eyes and tears. The arrangement, indeed, was wholly the work -of Augustus, with a view to a possible failure in the succession (which -did actually occur), for by this time he had evidently imbibed the idea -of a dynasty, and of the necessity of having some one connected with -him to take his place, who would be regarded as a natural successor -by all classes of citizens. But it proved the origin of a sorrow and -mortification which did much to overcloud his later days. - -[Illustration: JULIA, DAUGHTER OF AUGUSTUS. - -_From the Bust in the Uffizi Gallery, Florence._ - -_To face page 234._ - -LIVIA, WIFE OF AUGUSTUS. - -_From the Bust in the Uffizi Gallery, Florence._ - -_Page 274._] - -[Sidenote: Iulia, b. B.C. 39; ob. A.D. 14.] - -At first, we are told, the marriage seemed likely to be a happy one. -Iulia accompanied her husband on his campaigns in Dalmatia (B.C. 11-10), -or at any rate awaited him at Aquileia, where a child was born and -died. But from that time forward the breach between them was always -widening. Tiberius seems to have remembered certain passages that had -passed between them while she was still the wife of Agrippa, and she -regarded him as her social inferior, and wrote a violent complaint of -his character and habits to Augustus—supposed to have been composed for -her by her lover, Sempronius Gracchus, who paid for that service by his -life in the first year of the next reign; and when in B.C. 6 Tiberius -retired to Rhodes, his motive seems to have been as much to escape her -company as to avoid the awkwardness of his political position. Left -thus to her own devices in the midst of a corrupt society, she seems -soon to have outdone all former excesses. She was beautiful—except that -she early had grey hair—witty and wilful: so wilful and capricious that -Augustus used to say that he had “two fanciful daughters whom he was -obliged to put up with—the state and Iulia.” She drew round her all the -rich and extravagant youth. At the amphitheatre, on one occasion, some -one pointed out the contrast between the respectable elderly personages -who surrounded Livia and the wild youth who formed her own train. “Oh! -they will grow old along with me!” she replied. To a graver friend, who -suggested that she would do better to imitate the economical habits of -her father, she retorted: “He forgets that he is a Cæsar; I remember that -I am Cæsar’s daughter.” Once the Emperor entered the room while she was -at her toilet and noticed that her tire women had been plucking out her -grey hairs. He stayed chatting on all kinds of subjects, and insensibly -led the conversation to the subject of old age. “Which would you prefer?” -he asked, “to be grey or bald?” “Oh, grey,” she replied. “Then I wonder,” -said he, “that you let these women make you bald so soon.” She had at -times given him some unpleasant doubts as to her conduct. She came to -see him once dressed in a meretricious style, which she knew would vex -him. Next day she reappeared dressed with complete decorum. He had said -nothing the day before, but now exclaimed, “Isn’t this a style more -becoming to a daughter of Augustus?” “Oh,” said she, “I dressed to-day -for my father to see, yesterday for my husband.” - -He had never liked her mixing in general society as a girl. She and -his granddaughters, who lived in his house, were trained to spend -their time in women’s work, spinning wool, and the like, and to have -no secret conversations or idle talk; and he once wrote to a young -noble who had called on her while staying at Baiæ that “he had taken -a great liberty.” But in spite of such seclusion she had developed a -considerable knowledge of and taste for literature, and her cheerful -good nature made her popular at court and in society. Her father watched -her career as a married woman, and from time to time gave her half-grave -and half-playful hints as to her extravagance in dress and the style of -people that surrounded her. But he does not seem to have entertained -serious suspicions. Meanwhile she is said by our authorities not only -to have been indulging in numerous intrigues, but to have violated all -propriety and decency by joining in noisy revelry at night in the streets -and forum, and to have been present at parties where men stayed late and -drank deep. The crash came at a moment that seemed a culminating one in -the Emperor’s career, when a scandal must have been peculiarly trying. - -[Sidenote: _Pater patriæ_, B.C. 2.] - -Since the beginning of B.C. 8 Augustus had been at home. In that year -a fresh period of his various powers had been duly renewed by a vote -of the Senate, which had also honoured him by naming the month -Sextilis after him as “August,” and he had had the gratification of -welcoming Tiberius home from Germany victorious, and witnessing his -triumph. His young grandson Gaius was designated consul in B.C. 5 for -the sixth year from that time, and the next year he himself took that -office after an interval of eighteen years, that he might add dignity -to the ceremony of Gaius taking the _toga virilis_. Though vexed at -Tiberius’s retirement to Rhodes, he had good reason to hope that in the -two young Cæsars the succession was well provided for. In spite of some -uneasiness on the German frontier and among the Parthians, there was for -the time profound peace. At the beginning of B.C. 2 he was again consul, -in order to introduce the second grandson to the forum; and to show their -appreciation of his achievements, and their affection for his person, the -Senate at length voted to give him the title of “_pater patriæ_.” It was -first offered him by a popular deputation in his villa at Antium. He made -some difficulty about accepting it; but the next time he appeared at the -theatre or circus he was met by loud shouts, the whole people addressing -him by that title, and at the following meeting of the Senate on the -5th of February Valerius Messala was put up to address him formally: -“With prayers for your person and your house, Cæsar Augustus—for in -offering them we deem ourselves to be praying for the perpetual felicity -of the Republic and the prosperity of this city—we, the Senate, in full -accord with the Roman people, unanimously salute you as _Father of your -country_.” Augustus, rising with tears in his eyes and voice, could just -answer briefly, “My dearest wishes have been fulfilled, Fathers of the -Senate, and what is there left for me to ask of the immortal gods except -that I may retain this unanimous feeling of yours to the last day of my -life?” - -Though the title had long been popularly applied to Augustus, this -was the first official recognition of it. It had very old historical -precedent, from Romulus to Iulius Cæsar. It was meant to be the highest -compliment which could be paid, but it conferred no new powers, though -in after-times some of the Emperors regarded it as giving them a kind of -paternal authority. Augustus was evidently highly gratified. The shows -given at his expense this year were of unusual magnificence: gladiators, -wild beast hunts, sham sea-fights on the flooded Transtiberine fields, -had all roused great enthusiasm, and a special festival in his honour -had been held at Naples—in the Greek fashion—as an expression of thanks -to him for assistance rendered in the distress caused by a recent -earthquake and eruption of Vesuvius. The year thus opened with unusual -cheerfulness, and though now past sixty he might feel encouraged by the -popular enthusiasm to continue his work with unabated energy. - -[Sidenote: Detection of Iulia.] - -Suddenly the disgrace that had been gathering round his house was -revealed to him. We are not told who enlightened him and turned the -suspicions which he had persistently put away into certainty. Of course -the natural suggestion is that it was Livia, between whom and Iulia, -as mother of the two young heirs who stood in the way of Livia’s son -Tiberius, there was no cordial feeling. The contrast in their ways of -life, and the remarks caused by it, no doubt reported by good-natured -friends, had not helped to make these relations any more pleasant. But -whoever was the informant, Augustus was at last thoroughly roused, and -thrown into the greatest state of agitation. Whatever may have been his -own private vices in the past, the decorum of the palace in which Livia -presided was unimpeached and highly valued by him. The pure atmosphere -of the Augustan house—Horace says—and the paternal care of the Emperor -were mainly the causes of the manly characters of Tiberius and Drusus, -and Horace always echoes what Augustus at any rate wished to be thought -true. To have the secrets of the family thus revealed to the multitude, -to the scorn of the hostile and the pity of the well-disposed, was no -doubt galling. He shunned society for some time and kept away from Rome. -He had also the additional annoyance of reflecting that the publicity -was greatly his own fault. In the heat of his anger he wrote to the -Senate and put the affair, more or less, in its hands. In cooler moments -he repented of this, and exclaimed that “it would never have happened -if Agrippa and Mæcenas had been alive.” Several men are said to have -suffered death on the charge, though we only know of two names, Iulius -Antonius and Sempronius Gracchus, the former of whom committed suicide, -while the latter was banished to an island on the African coast. Seneca, -who generally makes the worst of Augustus, says that he spared their -lives and punished them by banishment. The case of Iulius Antonius was -particularly bad. He was the son of Antony by Fulvia, had been brought up -by Octavia, married to her daughter Marcella, and by her influence and -the kindness of Augustus, had been prætor (B.C. 13) and consul (B.C. 10). -He had therefore been treated as a member of the family, and a highly -favoured one. Gracchus is said to have begun his intrigue while Iulia -was the wife of Agrippa, and to have helped to irritate her against her -husband Tiberius. But however guilty Iulia may have been, she did not -forfeit the popular affections. Again and again Augustus was assailed -by petitions to recall her. He passionately refused, exclaiming at last -to a more than usually persistent meeting, that he “would wish them all -daughters and wives like her.” The most that he could be persuaded to -grant was that at the end of five years she should be allowed to exchange -her island (Pandateria) for Rhegium, and to live under less stringent -conditions as to dress and food, and the servants who attended her. Her -mother, Scribonia, accompanied her into exile, and though Tiberius, -acting under the authority of Augustus, sent from Rhodes a message of -divorce, he made a formal request that she might be allowed to retain -whatever he had given her. The sincerity of such an intercession was -illustrated by the fact that on the death of Augustus he immediately -deprived her of all allowances. She, however, only survived her father a -few weeks. All this severity is perhaps best accounted for if we accept -the statement of Dio and Pliny, that she was charged not only with -adultery, but with joining in some plot against her father in favour -of her lover, Iulius Antonius.[310] At any rate it is difficult not to -feel some sympathy with a woman, married and re-married without choice -on her part or any question of affection, for nine years the wife of a -man as old as her father, and then transferred to another, whose heart -was fixed elsewhere, and whom his warmest admirers cannot describe as -one likely to be sympathetic or expansive, one in fact who began with a -strong prejudice against her. She knew also that her own mother, with -whom she seems to have kept up affectionate relations, had been turned -off immediately after her birth for no assignable reason, just as she had -been married for a momentary political object. She could have grown up -with no very deep reverence for her father’s morality or lofty ideas of -the marriage relationship. - -[Sidenote: Death of Gaius and Lucius Cæsar, A.D. 2-4.] - -From this time forward family misfortunes seemed to dog the steps of -Augustus for some years to come. The next blow was the death of the -two young sons of Iulia, Gaius and Lucius, whom he had adopted, had -personally educated in their childhood, and was training for their great -future. When the elder was only 15 (B.C. 5) he had been designated consul -for A.D. 1, and the Senate had voted that he and his brother might at -that age “take part in public business,” that is, might be employed in -any capacity the Emperor might choose directly they assumed the _toga -virilis_. Accordingly, in B.C. 1, Gaius was sent to the East, with a -pretty wide commission to visit the Eastern provinces. He seems to have -travelled considerable distances, and even entered Arabia. Tiberius, -who was then at Rhodes, crossed to Samos to greet him. The meeting, -however, was not a happy one. M. Lollius, the head of Gaius’s staff, -seems to have influenced the young prince against Tiberius, and induced -him to send home a report to the Emperor of certain indications that he -was contemplating some treasonable measures. Augustus candidly informed -Tiberius of this, and it was it seems partly from the necessity of -clearing himself, that at the earnest entreaty of his mother, he, two -years later, sought and obtained the permission of Augustus to return -to Rome. Meanwhile there had been wild talk among the staff of Gaius, -one of them expressing his readiness to sail to Rhodes and bring the -head of “the exile” back. He does not, however, appear to have forfeited -the confidence or affection of Augustus, who writes to him on the 23rd -September, A.D. 1: “Good day to you, Gaius, apple of my eye, whom by -heaven I continually miss when away. But it is especially on days such -as this one that my eyes seek for my Gaius; and wherever you have spent -it I hope that you have kept my sixty-fourth birthday in good health -and spirits. For you see I have safely passed the grand climacteric, -which for all old men is their 63rd year. Pray heaven that whatever -time remains for me I may spend with the knowledge that you and your -brother are safe and sound and the republic supremely prosperous, with -you playing the man and preparing to take up my work.” But these hopes -were doomed to be disappointed, as we have seen, by the treacherous -wound received at Artagera in Armenia in A.D. 4. Two years earlier his -younger brother, Lucius, had died suddenly and somewhat mysteriously at -Marseilles at the beginning of a progress through the Western provinces, -which was to form part of his political education. The fact that his -death corresponded nearly with the return of Tiberius from Rhodes gave -rise to suspicions that it had been caused by the machinations of Livia, -anxious to secure the succession for her son. Even the death of Gaius, -though so far away, was put down to the same malignant influence; for -it was argued that his wound was slight and had not been expected to -end fatally. Tacitus records that the detractors of the imperial family -were accustomed to remark that “Livia had been a fatal mother to the -republic, a fatal stepdame to the family of the Cæsars.” There is, -however, no scrap of evidence to connect her with either event. It is -doubtful whether the young men had shewn much promise; but their death -was treated as a matter for public mourning. At Pisæ, of which colony -they were “patrons,” there still exist two long and pompous inscriptions -(_Cenotaphia_) recording their death, speaking of the successful campaign -of Gaius in the East, ordering mourning “in view of the magnitude of so -great and unexpected a calamity,” and decreeing various honours to the -memory of Lucius “princeps iuventutis,” and of Gaius “princeps designate.” - -[Sidenote: The succession.] - -These losses were followed by the adoption of Tiberius by Augustus, and -that of Germanicus by Tiberius. The former had already several children, -so that the sons and grandsons and great-grandsons—by adoption—of -Augustus in A.D. 7, as recorded on the arch at Pavia, were Tiberius; -Germanicus; Drusus, son of Tiberius; Nero and Drusus, sons of Germanicus, -and Claudius, his brother. All these survived Augustus. But Tiberius and -Claudius alone reigned, Caligula was not born till five years later (A.D. -12). - -[Sidenote: Fresh troubles. The younger Iulia.] - -Augustus thus felt that the succession was well secured; but the last -decade of his life was destined in some ways to be the most troubled of -all. The German wars began again in A.D. 4, and culminated in the Varian -disaster of A.D. 9; while the difficulties and alarm were increased by -the dangerous risings in Pannonia and Dalmatia (A.D. 6-9), during which -Augustus remained for some time at Ariminum, to be within moderate -distance of the seat of war. A renewed outbreak of piracy also compelled -him to take over the management of Sardinia from the Senate for three -years (A.D. 6-9). This was partly the cause, perhaps, of the distress at -Rome in B.C. 6 from a rise in the price of corn, intensified by various -disastrous fires. The unrest thus created led to some more or less -dangerous conspiracies, such as that of Plautius Rufus, who was accused -of abetting disturbances and spreading seditious libels. Others were -connected with attempts to rescue Iulia at Rhegium and Agrippa Postumus -in Planasia, an island near Elba. We also hear of a plot of one Cornelius -Cinna, who however was pardoned and allowed to be consul in A.D. 4. -Seneca asserts that after this act of clemency the life of Augustus was -never attempted again; and Dio has recorded a conversation between him -and Livia in that year, in which, seeing her husband sleepless and torn -with continued anxieties, she recommended this policy of leniency. But -one last mortification remained for him. In A.D. 9 his granddaughter -Iulia was discovered to have followed her mother’s example. She was -married to Æmilius Paulus Lepidus, and had a son and a daughter Lepida, -once betrothed to the future Emperor Claudius, but never married to him. -Her lover, D. Silanus, was not banished to any definite place, but was -obliged to leave Rome, to which he was not allowed to return till A.D. -20, and then under disabilities for State employment. Iulia herself -was banished to the island Tremesus (_St. Domenico_), on the coast of -Apulia, where she remained till her death in A.D. 27, supported by an -allowance from Livia. We do not know enough of the affair to judge of -her guilt; but in some mysterious way her husband was involved in a -charge of treason about this time. In the same year the poet Ovid was -banished to Tomi, forty miles south of the mouth of the Danube, in a -district exposed to constant raids of the Sarmatians and Dacians. It has -always been supposed that this severity was connected with the affair of -Iulia, and that either he was one of her lovers, or was privy to some of -her intrigues, amatory or political. The reason assigned in the edict -appears to have been the licentiousness of his verse, and as Augustus -was just then engaged in reinforcing his laws against various forms of -immorality, and trying to encourage marriage as against concubinage, -this may have been partly the reason. Only as his most licentious poems -had been published seven years before it seems a little late in the -day. His own account of his misfortune—never outspoken—goes through two -phases. At first he seems to wish to attribute it all to his amatory -poems. “He is a poet destroyed by his own genius: his verses have been -his undoing: they deserved punishment, but sure not so heavy a one.” -But presently he began to own that there was something else: “Not,” he -says, “any political offence, no plot against the Emperor, no plan of -violence against the state. He had seen something he should not have -seen. He is ruined by his own simplicity and want of prudence, combined -with treachery on the part of friends and slaves. The exact cause he dare -not reveal, and yet it is well known at Rome.” Ovid was now fifty-two and -married for a third time to a wife connected distantly with the imperial -family. The chances are therefore against an intrigue with Iulia. There -is one other possible explanation; Ovid was at Elba when he got notice of -the edict, staying with his wife’s connection, Paulus Fabius Maximus, who -afterwards incurred the suspicion of Livia as favouring Agrippa Postumus, -confined in the neighbouring island of Planasia since B.C. 7. We know -from Suetonius that there was at least one plot to remove him, and it may -be that Ovid knew of it and even saw some of the conspirators. - -However that may be, the other explanation is also possible: that -Augustus meant what he said, and regarded Ovid’s works as unwholesome. -He was what would be called in our time a “decadent” poet. He represents -the worst side of Roman society, as it began to be unfavourably affected -by that abstention from practical politics, which came to be the fashion -in the latter half of the reign of Augustus. He had himself refused to -take any office that would give him a seat in the Senate, and seemed to -think that to be the natural conduct of a man of taste and literature. He -was the mouthpiece of the gilded youth who sought in amorous intrigue, -and a fastidious dalliance with the Muses, a more congenial employment -than the performance of those duties to the state which no longer held -out promises of unlimited wealth or power. He was only cleverer than the -ruck of such men, and Augustus may possibly have selected him as the -representative of a tendency at which he was alarmed. Ovid was precisely -the sort of man to create the tone of society which had been the ruin of -his daughter and granddaughter. It is quite possible that being intimate -with such circles the poet may have known, or been supposed to know, -something inconvenient about the last scandal, and, at any rate, he would -be on the side of Iulia as against her grandfather. At the time of his -exile he was engaged, at the Emperor’s suggestion or request, on the -composition of the poetical Calendar or Fasti, which was incidentally to -celebrate the chief events of Roman history, and it has been suggested -that the story of Claudia’s vindication of her chastity (_Fast._ iv. 305 -_sqq._) was intended as a veiled defence of the elder or younger Iulia. -Whatever the offence given, neither Augustus nor Tiberius could ever be -induced to allow his recall. - -The poet’s abject language in praying to be allowed to return illustrates -incidentally the absolute supremacy of the Emperor, and the attribution -to him of divine honours and powers, the steady progress of which has -been noted in a previous chapter. We may also note that what Paris is to -the Parisians, Rome is to Ovid. Augustus and his ministers or friends had -made it the home of splendour and luxury. The poet fondly dwells on all -its beauties, pleasures, and conveniences, and, like a true Parisian, -can hardly conceive of life away from it, its games, its theatres, the -sports on the Campus, the lounge in the forum, or the wit and poetry -heard at the tables of the great. As the spring comes round in his -dreary, treeless dwelling on the Pontus, he thinks of the flowers and -vines of Italy, but, above all, of the pleasures of the city in April, -the month of festivals: “It is holiday with you now, and the wordy war of -the wrangling forum is giving place to the unbroken round of festivals. -The horses are in request, and the light foils are in play. The young -athletes, their shoulders glistening with oil, are bathing wearied limbs -in baths supplied by the virgin stream. The stage is in full swing, and -the audiences are clapping their favourite actors, and the three theatres -are echoing instead of the three forums. Oh four times, oh beyond all -counting, happy he who may enjoy the city unforbidden!” It had been the -object of Augustus to make the city splendid and attractive, and to -keep the citizens comfortable and contented and proud of their home. He -had doubtless succeeded; but it was sometimes at the cost of a lowered -standard of public duty and a growing devotion to personal ease and -enjoyment. - - - - -CHAPTER XIV - -THE LAST DAYS - - _Let the sound of those he fought for,_ - _And the feet of those he wrought for,_ - _Echo round his bones for evermore._ - - -[Sidenote: The activities of the last years of Augustus, A.D. 8-14.] - -The public and private troubles mentioned in the last chapter did not -break the spirit or paralyse the energies of the aged Emperor, or prevent -him from taking a strenuous part in the administration of the Empire. -The last eight years of his life were full of stir and movement, though -our meagre authorities give us few details. He actively supported the -campaigns of Tiberius and Germanicus; he was introducing reforms in -Gaul;[311] he was pushing on improvements in the East, and founding a -series of colonies in Pisidia as a defence against the predatory mountain -tribes; he was directing a census of the whole Empire; he was emending -his marriage laws by the farther enactments contained in the _lex Papia -Poppæa_, which he supported by energetic speeches; he was elaborating a -great financial scheme; he was personally attending to the embankment of -the Tiber; he was reforming the city police and fire brigades; and when -the Varian disaster occurred we have seen with what energy he acted, how -he enforced the law of military service and despatched reinforcements to -the Rhine, while he cleared the city of dangerous elements and provided -against possible movements in the provinces. Though now seventy-two -years old he shewed no sign of senility in heart; and as it was said -that at every stage of his life he had the beauty appropriate to it, so -in spirit, courage, and prudence he seems always to have answered to any -strain to which he was submitted. - -[Sidenote: Financial measures of Augustus.] - -To understand the financial changes of these years it is necessary to -recall a few broad facts as to the revenue of the Empire. It arose from -(1) Italy, (2) the provinces. In Italy the sources of revenue were the -customs (_portoria_), the rent of public land, the _vicesima_ or 5 per -cent. on the value of manumitted slaves. From the time that it became -the habit to pay the soldiers, a _tributum_ or property tax had been -raised, at first as a temporary measure, or even as a loan, but gradually -as a regular thing. Since the Macedonian wars, however, B.C. 167, this -_tributum_ had not been levied: the additional wealth acquired by the new -conquests being sufficient. It does not appear that the _tributum_ was -abolished by law, and indeed for a short time it was reimposed by the -Triumvirs, though only as an extraordinary tax (_temerarium_). After the -Social war of B.C. 89 the Italians became full citizens and shared this -exemption. - -The second and most important source of revenue were the provinces. -There were royalties on mines, customs, rent of public land, and other -sources of profit to the government; but also every province paid a -_stipendium_—a certain sum of money—to the Roman treasury. The manner -in which it was paid—whether in money or produce, or a mixture of -the two—differed in different provinces, as also did the mode of its -assessment and collection; but the broad fact was that each province had -to furnish a sum of money, and that owners of property in a province -were liable to a _tributum_ or tax.[312] - -In the time of Augustus there was no great change made in the nature or -incidence of this taxation; but the management of the treasury itself was -revolutionised. In the first place, the _ærarium_ instead of being under -the care of the yearly elected quæstors, who issued money on the order of -Senate or magistrates, was put under _præfecti_ appointed by the Emperor, -and though the Senate still had a nominal control over it, it was -really under his power. In the next place, a new _ærarium_ was formed, -afterwards called the _fiscus_, into which was paid the revenues of the -imperial provinces. This was entirely under the Emperor, and the tendency -was in time to have every extraordinary revenue, such as confiscations, -lapsed legacies (_caduca_), and the like, paid into it. Besides this -there was the _patrimonium Cæsarum_, the private property of the Emperor -in virtue of his office. To this belonged the whole revenues of Egypt and -the Thracian Chersonese, and other large estates. When Augustus talks of -his having supplemented the treasury or made distributions to the people, -it is often from this fund that he drew, though he had besides large -personal property (_res familiaris_), which he employed at times for the -same purpose. - -Of course from the revenue of the provinces had to be deducted the cost -of their administration and defence. Provinces, therefore, which needed -large forces and constant defence from surrounding barbarians did not -pay. Cicero, indeed, asserts that in his time none of the provinces -except Asia paid for their expenses. This probably is an exaggeration, -but there is no doubt that the loss on some had to be put against the -gain on others, and that the balance of the yearly budget was not always -on the right side, as, at a later date, we know that Vespasian said that -the treasury wanted four hundred million sesterces (about £3,000,000 -sterling) to be solvent. The outbreak of the German wars in A.D. 4, and -the large forces which it had long been necessary to keep upon the Rhine -had caused, if not a deficit, at any rate the near prospect of one. It -was just such a crisis as in old times would have justified the levying -of a _tributum_ as a special war tax. There were, however, two reasons -against Augustus doing this. In the first place, such a _tributum_ would -be temporary, and he wanted a permanency; and, in the second place, the -citizens had come to view freedom from the _tributum_ as their special -privilege, differentiating Italy from the subject provinces, and marking -them out as a governing body. True to his policy of avoiding offensive -names, while at the same time getting what he wanted, Augustus decided -against the _tributum_. What he did was to create a new department, an -army-pay treasury (_aes militare_), with two præfects of prætorian rank. -The money in this treasury was to be devoted to the pay and pensions -of the soldiers. He started it with a gift in his own name and that of -Tiberius of 170,000,000 sesterces (about £1,500,000), and arranged that -the tax which he had contrived soon after the end of the civil wars, the -1 per cent. on goods sold at auctions or by contract, should be paid -into it. But this was not sufficient for the purpose, and he had to -look round for other means of raising revenue. He did therefore what a -late Chancellor of the Exchequer did for us—he imposed death duties: 5 -per cent. on all legacies except those from the nearest relatives. This -avoided the offensiveness of depriving the people of Italy of a valued -privilege, while it in fact brought them financially almost in a line -with the provinces. For those who paid _tributum_ did not pay _vicesima_, -and _vice versâ_. Still the tax offended a powerful class and met with -much resistance. The practice of leaving large legacies to friends, as -an acknowledgment of services rendered, was common in Italy, and the tax -therefore fell heavily upon the rich. In A.D. 13 a determined move was -made in the Senate to obtain its abolition. Augustus sent a written -communication to the Senate, pointing out that the money was necessary, -but asking them to contrive some other method of raising it. The Senators -declined to formulate any plan, and only answered that they were ready -to submit to _anything_ else. Thereupon Augustus proposed a _tributum_ -or tax on land and houses. Confronted with this alternative the Senate -at once withdrew from opposition. It was a case of financial necessity, -and it must not be supposed that Augustus wished to lower the prestige -of Italy or the value of the citizenship. That was one of the points in -which he reversed the policy of Iulius, who had been lavish in bestowing -the citizenship, and seems to have had visions of a uniform Empire united -in privilege as in government. Augustus, on the other hand, was even -ultra-conservative and ultra-Roman in this respect. He made constant -difficulties about granting the citizenship. In answer to Tiberius, who -begged it for some favourite Greek, he insisted upon only granting it if -the man appeared personally and convinced him of the soundness of his -claim. Even Livia met with a refusal in behalf of some Gaul. The Emperor -offered to grant the man immunity from tribute, saying that he cared less -about a loss to his treasury than for vulgarising the citizenship. - -[Sidenote: Declining health and strength.] - -Though Augustus shewed in this transaction all his old tact and -statesmanship with no failure either in determination or power of -_finesse_, yet he was growing visibly feebler in body. He gave up -attending social functions; and it was too much for him to appear any -longer at meetings of the Senate. Accordingly, instead of the half-yearly -committee of twenty-five members who used to be appointed to prepare -measures for the House, a sort of inner cabinet of twenty members -appointed for a year—with any members of his family whom he chose—met -at his house and often round the couch on which he was reclining, and -their decisions were given the force of a _Senatus-consultum_. His -interest, however, in every detail was as keen as ever. For instance, -we have a letter from him to Livia, written at the end of A.D. 11, -as to the advisability of allowing Claudius (the future Emperor) to -appear in Rome during the ceremonies connected with the consulship of -his brother Germanicus. Claudius (now twenty-one) was reported to be -deformed and half-witted, and his mother Antonia herself described him as -scarcely human (_monstrum hominis_). The letter is worth reading, partly -because it is the only complete one (at any rate, of any length) which -we possess, and partly because it illustrates the care which Augustus -took to keep up the prestige of the imperial family, to avoid, above all -things, incurring popular ridicule, and his attention to minute details:— - -“I have consulted with Tiberius, as you desired me to do, my dear Livia, -as to what is to be done about your grandson (Claudius) Tiberius. We -entirely agree in thinking that we must settle once for all what line we -are to take in regard to him. For if he is sound and, to use a common -expression, has all his wits about him, what possible reason can there -be for our doubting that he ought to be promoted through the same grades -and steps as his brother? But if we find that he is deficient, and so -deranged in mind and body as to be unfit for society, we must not give -people accustomed to scoff and sneer at such things a handle for casting -ridicule both on him and on us. The fact is that we shall always be in -a state of agitation if we stop to consider every detail as it occurs, -without having made up our minds whether to think him capable of holding -offices or not. On the present occasion, however, in regard to the point -on which you consult me, I do not object to his having charge of the -triclinium of the priests at the games of Mars if he will submit to -receive instructions from his relative, the son of Silanus, to prevent -his doing anything to make people stare or laugh. We agree that he is not -to be in the imperial box at the Circus. For he will be in full view of -everybody and be conspicuous. We agree that he is not to go to the Alban -Mount or to be in Rome on the days of the Latin festival. For if he is -good enough to be in his brother’s train to the mountain, why should -he not be honorary city prefect? Those are the decisions at which we -arrived, my dear Livia, and we wish them to be settled once for all to -prevent our wavering between hope and fear. You are at liberty, if you -choose, to give Antonia this part of my letter to read.” - -[Sidenote: Confidence in Tiberius.] - -Perhaps the voice is the voice of Tiberius, but the courtesy and -well-bred style are all Augustus’s. By this time the influence of -Tiberius was well established, and Augustus treats him as a successor who -has a right to be consulted on all family matters and important State -affairs. Since his return from Rhodes Tiberius had done eminent service -to the State both on the Rhine and in Illyricum. In appointing Varus -to Germany Augustus had made a mistake which he seldom committed. He -had nearly always picked good men, but P. Quintilius Varus had not only -been extortionate in his former province, but was neither energetic nor -prudent; and his experience among the unwarlike inhabitants of Syria was -not a good preparation for dealing with the brave and warlike Germans. -Tiberius knew him well, having been his colleague in the consulship of -B.C. 13, and would certainly not have appointed him. It was to Tiberius -that the Emperor then turned to retrieve the disaster and confront the -almost more serious dangers in Illyricum. And if he found him trustworthy -in the field, this letter shows how much confidence he felt in him -at home. It was a common report that Augustus knew and disliked his -character. The lackeys of the palace gave out that he had on one occasion -exclaimed, “Unhappy people of Rome who will some day be the victims of -those slow grinders!” And in a speech to the Senate some expressions -used by him were taken to convey an apology for his reserved and sullen -manners, and an acknowledgment, therefore, of his mistrust or dislike. -But it is abundantly plain that in these last years he not only trusted -his military abilities, but felt a sincere affection for himself. In -earlier times, before the retreat to Rhodes, the short notes written -to him (parts of which are preserved by Suetonius[313]) are playful -and intimate; and though he was vexed at his retirement and answered a -suggestion of return by a message bidding him “dismiss all concern for -his relatives, whom he had abandoned with such excessive eagerness,”[314] -yet the fragments preserved of the Emperor’s letters to him in these -later times breathe not only admiration, but warm affection. “Goodbye, -Tiberius, most delightful of men! Success to you in the field, you who -serve the Muses as well as me! Most delightful of men, and, as I hope -to be happy, bravest of heroes and steadiest of generals!” And again: -“How splendidly managed are your summer quarters! I am decidedly of -opinion that, in the face of so many untoward circumstances and such -demoralisation of the troops, no one could have borne himself with -greater prudence than you are doing! The officers now at Rome who have -served with you all confess that the verse might have been written for -you, ‘One man by vigilance restored the State.’” Once more: “Whenever -anything occurs that calls for more than usually earnest thought or that -stirs my spleen, what I miss most, by heaven, is my dear Tiberius, and -that passage of Homer always occurs to me— - - “‘If he but follow, e’en from burning fire - We both shall back return, so wise is he!’” - -And in the midst of his laborious campaign the Emperor writes to him -anxiously: “When I hear or read that you are worn out by the protracted -nature of your labours, heaven confound me if I do not shudder in every -limb; and I beseech you to spare yourself, lest if we hear of your being -ill your mother and I should expire and the Roman people run the risk of -losing their empire. It doesn’t matter a bit whether I am well or not as -long as you are not well. I pray the gods to preserve you to us and to -suffer you to be well now and always, unless they abhor the Roman people.” - -These letters seem sufficiently to refute the idle stories of the _gêne_ -that his presence was to Augustus, of his being a wet blanket to cheerful -conversation, and a makeshift with which the Emperor was forced to put -up in default of better heirs. Nor did Tiberius fall short in respect -and loyal service. After his adoption in A.D. 4, he immediately accepted -the position of a son under the _patria potestas_, abstained from -manumissions and other acts of a man who was _sui iuris_, and apparently -transferred his residence to the palace, and seems really to have taken -the burden from shoulders no longer strong enough to bear it. - -[Sidenote: Death of Augustus at Nola, August 19, A.D. 14.] - -For now the end was near, portended as the pious or credulous believed -by many omens. There was an eclipse of the sun,[315] and various fiery -meteors in the sky. On one of his statues the letter C of Cæsar was -melted by lightning, and the augurs prophesied, or afterwards invented -the prediction, that he would die within a hundred days and join the -gods—_æsar_ being good Etruscan for “divinities.” He himself seems to -have been made somewhat nervous by certain accidents that might be -twisted into omens. The early part of A.D. 14 was taken up with the -usual legal business, but also with the Census, which he held this year -in virtue of his consular power and with Tiberius as his colleague. The -organisation of the city into _vici_ probably made the actual clerical -work easy and rapid, but when that was over came the ceremony of “closing -the lustrum” (_condere lustrum_), and the offering of solemn sacrifice -and prayer. This took place in the Campus Martius, and large crowds -assembled to witness it. But the Emperor, uneasy at something which -he thought ominous, or perhaps really feeling unwell, would not read -the solemn vows, which according to custom had been written out and -were now put into his hands. He said that he should not live to fulfil -them and handed them over to Tiberius to read. After this ceremony was -over, Augustus was anxious to get away from Rome and take his usual -yachting tour along the Latin and Campanian coast. On this occasion he -had the farther object of accompanying Tiberius as far as Beneventum -on the Appian road, on his way to Brundisium and Illyricum, where some -difficulties resulting from the recent war required his presence and -authority. But various legal causes awaiting decision detained the -Emperor in the city. He was restive and impatient at the delay, and -petulantly exclaimed that “if they let everything stop them he should -never be at Rome again.” At length, however, he set out, accompanied -by Livia and Tiberius and a numerous court. They reached the coast at -Astura, in the delta of a river of the same name, which falls into the -sea at the southern point of the bay of Antium. It was a quiet place -though there were seaside villas near, and there Cicero had spent the -months of his mourning for Tullia, finding consolation in the solitude -of the woods which skirt the side of the stream. At Astura the party -embarked, but owing to the state of the wind they did so by night. A -chill then caught brought on diarrhœa, and laid the foundation of his -fatal illness. Nevertheless the voyage along the Campanian coast and the -adjacent islands was continued till they reached Capreæ. It was on this -voyage that, happening to touch at Puteoli, he was so much delighted and -cheered by the thanks offered him by the crew of an Alexandrian corn-ship -for his safeguarding of the seas. At Capreæ he seems to have stayed some -time, amusing himself by watching the young athletes training for the -Greek games at Naples—the only town in Italy except Rhegium which at this -time retained any traces of Hellenic customs and life. He gave parties, -also, at which he asked his Roman guests to dress in Greek fashion and -speak Greek, and the Greeks to use Roman dress and speak Latin. There -was the usual distribution of presents, and on one occasion he gave -a banquet to the athletes in training, and watched them after dinner -pelting each other with apples and other parts of the dessert. It was a -custom, more honoured in the breach than in the observance, with which he -was familiar. He once entertained a certain Curtius, who prided himself -on his taste in cookery, and who thought a fat thrush that had been put -before him was ill-done. “May I despatch it?” he said to the Emperor. “Of -course,” was the reply; upon which he threw it out of the window. On this -occasion the aged Emperor, feeling, we may suppose, somewhat better and -glad to be away from the cares of State, enjoyed this curious horse-play. -He was also particularly cheerful during these days at Capreæ, pleasing -himself with inventing Greek verses and then defying one of Tiberius’ -favourite astrologers to name the play from which they came. - -Before long, however, he crossed to Naples, with his illness still upon -him, but with alternate rallies and relapses. At Naples he had to sit -through some long gymnastic contests that were held every fifth year -in his honour. Such a function in an August day at Naples would have -been trying to the most vigorous and healthy, but for a man in his -seventy-sixth year, and suffering from such a complaint, it must have -been deadly. He preferred, however, not to disappoint people eager to -shew him honour. He then fulfilled his purpose of accompanying Tiberius -to Beneventum, and having taken leave of him there turned back towards -Naples. But he was never to reach it. At Nola, about eighteen English -miles short of that town, his illness became so acute that he was obliged -to stop at the villa there in which his father had died seventy-two -years before. Messengers were hastily sent to recall Tiberius. With -him the dying man had a long private conversation, in which he seems -to have imparted to him his wishes and counsels as to the government; -and perhaps it was now that he pointed out the three nobles who were -possible candidates for the succession—“Marcus Lepidus, who was fit for -it, but would not care to take it; Asinius Gallus, who would desire it, -but was unfit; and L. Arruntius, who was not unfit for it and would have -the courage to seize it if opportunity offered.” But this conference over -he busied himself with no other affairs of State. He seemed to acquiesce -in the fact that he had done with the world, its vexations and problems. -On the last day of his life, the 19th of August (his lucky month!) the -only question which he continually repeated was whether his situation -was causing any commotion out of doors. Then he asked for a mirror -and directed his attendants to arrange his hair and close his already -relaxing jaws, that he might not shock beholders by the ghastliness of -his appearance. Then his friends were admitted to say goodbye. With a -pathetic mixture of playfulness and sadness he asked them whether “they -thought that he had played life’s farce fairly well?” quoting a common -tag at the end of plays:— - - “If aught of good our sport had, clap your hands, - And send us, gentles all, with joy away.” - -These being dismissed, he turned to Livia and asked for news of one of -her granddaughters who was ill; but even as he spoke he felt the end was -come—“Livia, don’t forget our wedded life, goodbye!” And as he tried to -kiss her lips he fell back dead. - -It was a rapid and painless end, for which he had so often hoped, an -_euthanasia_ that he used to pray for, for himself and his friends. Up -to the last his mind had been clear, with only the slightest occasional -wandering. And so after long years of work and struggle, of mixed evil -and good, of stern cruelties and beneficent exertion, of desperate -dangers and well-earned honours, the great Emperor as he lay dying looked -into the eyes which he had loved best in the world. - -The body was borne to Rome by the municipal magistrates of the several -towns along the road, the _cortège_ always moving by night because of the -heat, and the bier being deposited in the court-house of each town till -it reached Bovillæ, twelve miles from Rome. There a procession of Roman -knights took it in charge, having obtained that honour from the consuls, -conducted it to Rome, and deposited it in the vestibule of his own house -on the Palatine. - -With not unnatural or unpardonable emotion some extravagant proposals -were made in the Senate as to funeral honours and general mourning. But -Tiberius disliked such excesses, and the funeral though stately was -simple. The bier was carried on the shoulders of Senators to the Campus. -Twice the _cortège_ stopped, first at the Rostra, where Drusus, the son -of Tiberius, delivered a funeral oration (_laudatio_), and again at the -front of the temple of Iulius, where Tiberius himself read a panegyric. -Drusus had dwelt chiefly on his private virtues, Tiberius confined -himself to his public work. He began with a reference to his youthful -services to the state immediately after the death of Cæsar; his success -in putting an end to the civil wars, and his clemency after them. He -spoke of the skill with which, while splendidly rewarding his ministers, -he yet prevented them from gaining a power detrimental to the state; of -his disinterested and constitutional conduct when, having everything in -his hands, he yet shared the power with the people and Senate; of his -unselfishness in the division of the provinces in taking the difficult -ones upon himself; of his equity in leaving Senate and constitution -independent; of his economy and liberality; of the good order which -he kept and the wholesome laws which he carried; of his sympathy with -the tastes and enjoyments of the people; of his hatred of flattery and -tolerance of free speech. The address was read and had been carefully -composed. There is not much fervour or eloquence in it, but it skilfully -put the points which Augustus would himself have put, and indeed had put -in that _apologia pro vita sua_ which we know from the inscription at -Ancyra. - -The speeches over, the _cortège_ moved on to the Campus Martius, -where the body was burnt on the pyre prepared for it, and the ashes -ceremoniously collected by eminent equites, who according to custom wore -only their tunics, without the toga, ungirdled, and with bare feet. -The urn was then deposited in the Mausoleum which Augustus had himself -erected in B.C. 28 on the Campus close to the curving river-bank, which -had already received the ashes of his nephew Marcellus, of his sister -Octavia, of his two grandsons, and of his great friend and minister -Agrippa, but was sternly closed by his will to his erring daughter and -granddaughter. - -[Sidenote: His will, and other documents left by him.] - -Always careful and businesslike, he left his testamentary dispositions -and the accounts of his administration in perfect order. His will, -which had been deposited with the Vestal Virgins and was now read aloud -by Drusus in the Senate, made Tiberius heir to two-thirds, Livia to -one-third of his private property. In case of their predeceasing him it -was to be divided between Drusus (son of Tiberius), Germanicus, and his -three sons, as “second heirs.” There were liberal legacies to citizens -and soldiers and to various friends. The property thus disposed of was -the _res familiaris_: the _Patrimonium Cæsarum_—Egypt, the Thracian -Chersonese, and other estates—went to his successor in the principate. -The will contained an apology for the smallness of the amount thus coming -to his heirs (150,000,000 sesterces or about £1,200,000) on the plea that -he had devoted to the public service nearly all the vast legacies which -had fallen to him. By the will Livia was also adopted into the Iulian -_gens_ and was to take his name. She was thenceforth therefore known as -Iulia Augusta, and seems to have assumed that thereby she obtained a -certain share in the imperial prerogatives, a claim which led to much -friction between herself and her son. - -Besides the will, and a roll containing directions as to his funeral, -there were two other documents drawn up by Augustus with great care. -One was a _breviarium totius imperii_, an exact account of the state of -the Empire, the number of soldiers under colours, the amount of money -in the treasury or the _fiscus_, the arrears due, and the names of -those freedmen who were to be held responsible. As a kind of appendix -to this were some maxims of state which he wished to impress upon his -successor: such as, not to extend the citizenship too widely, but to -maintain the distinction between Roman and subject; to select able men -for administrative duties, but not to allow them to become too powerful -or think themselves indispensable; and not to extend the frontiers of the -Empire. - -A third roll contained a statement of his own services and achievements -(_index rerum a se gestarum_). Meant to be preserved as an inscription, -it is in what we might call the telegraphic style, a series of brief -statements of facts without note or comment beyond the suggestiveness of -a word here and there designedly used. Yet it is essentially a defence -of his life and policy—the oldest extant autobiography. He directed it -to be engraved on bronze columns and set up outside the Mausoleum. This -was no doubt done, but the bronze columns have long ago disappeared.[316] -Fortunately, however, copies of the inscription were engraved elsewhere -(with a Greek translation) in temples of “Rome and Augustus,” as at -Apollonia in Pisidia and Ancyra in Galatia. That at Ancyra (_Angora_) -exists nearly complete to this day, and some portions at Apollonia. No -life of Augustus could be complete without this document, which is -therefore given in an English dress at the end of this book. - -The Senate at once proceeded to decree divine honours to him. A temple -was to be built at Rome, which was afterwards consecrated by Livia and -Tiberius. Others were erected elsewhere, and the house at Nola in which -he died was consecrated. His image on a gilded couch was placed in the -temple of Mars, and festivals (_Augustalia_) were established with a -college of Augustales to maintain them in all parts of the Empire, as -well as an annual festival on the Palatine which continued to be held by -succeeding Emperors. - -[Sidenote: Rumours as to the death of Augustus.] - -The usual foolish rumours followed his death. Some said that Tiberius -did not reach Nola in time to see him alive; that he had died some -time before, but that Livia closed the doors and concealed the truth. -Others even said that his death had been hastened by Livia by means of -a poisoned fig; and professed to explain it by a piece of secret court -history. Shortly before his death, they said, Augustus had gone attended -only by Fabius Maximus on a secret visit to Agrippa Postumus in the -island of Planasia, to which he had been confined since the cancelling -of his adoption in A.D. 5; and that Livia fearing that he would relent -towards him and name him as successor, determined that he should not live -to do so, Fabius Maximus having meanwhile died suddenly and somewhat -mysteriously. But the authentic accounts of his last illness and death -give the lie to such an unnecessary crime. Unhappily the jealousy of -the unfortunate Agrippa Postumus was a fact which helped to spread such -stories, but it was a jealousy roused by the knowledge of some secret -plots to carry him off and set him up as a rival, and “the first crime -of the new reign”—his assassination by his guards—must, we fear, lie at -the door of either Tiberius or Livia. Another report was that the soul of -Augustus flew up to heaven in the shape of an eagle that rose from his -pyre. Nor must the ingenious Senator—Numerius Atticus—be omitted, who -declared on oath that he had seen the soul of the Emperor ascending, and -was said to have received a present of 25,000 denarii (about £1,000) from -Livia in acknowledgment of this loyal clearness of vision. - -[Sidenote: The continuous government.] - -The prudent forethought of Augustus in regard to the succession answered -its purpose. There was practically no break in the government. Tiberius -was possessed of _tribunicia potestas_, which enabled him to summon and -consult the Senate. He also, in virtue of his proconsular imperium, -gave the watchword to the prætorian guard, and despatched orders to the -legions in service in the provinces. There was, indeed, some question -as to whether this imperium legally terminated with the death of the -_princeps_, but the matter was settled by all classes taking the oath -(_sacramentum_) to him, and all the powers and honours (except the title -of _pater patriæ_, which he would not accept) were shortly afterwards -voted to him in the Senate and confirmed by a _lex_. His professed -reluctance to accept the whole burden only brought out more clearly how -the work of Augustus had made the rule of a single man inevitable: “I -ask you, sir, which part of the government you wish to have committed -to you?” said Asinius Gallus. No answer was possible. A man could not -control the provinces without command of the army. But he could not -control the army if another man controlled the exchequer. He could not -keep order in Rome and Italy, if another had command of all the legions -and fleets abroad, and could at any moment invade the country or starve -it out by stopping the corn-ships. And if a man had the full control of -the purse and the sword, the rest followed. It was well enough for the -officials to have the old titles and perform some of the old work, but if -the central authority were once removed there would be chaos. The Senate -had attempted to exercise that central authority and failed. It could not -secure the loyalty of men who, exercising undisturbed power in distant -lands, soon grew impatient of the control of a body of mixed elements -and divergent views, which they often conceived to be under the influence -of cliques inimical to themselves. The provinces too as they became -more Romanised were certain to claim to be put on a more equal status -with Italy: they could only be held together by a man who had equal -authority everywhere, never by a local town council. Augustus, indeed, -did not realise this development, or rather he feared its advent. In his -eyes Rome ought still to rule, but could only do so by all its powers -being centred in one man, who could consult the interest and attract the -reverence of all parts of the Empire alike. The success of this plan -depended, of course, on the character of the man, and perhaps, above all, -on his abilities as a financier; but, at any rate, it was impossible -to return to a system of divided functions, and constitutional checks, -which were shewn to be inoperative the moment a magistrate drew the sword -and defied them. So far the work of Augustus stood, and admitted of no -reaction. Republican ideals could only be entertained as pious opinions, -not more practical than some of the republican virtues, on the belief in -which they were founded. - - - - -CHAPTER XV - -THE EMPEROR AUGUSTUS, HIS CHARACTER AND AIMS, HIS WORK AND FRIENDS - - _Hic vir hic est, tibi quem_ - _promitti sæpius audis._ - - -[Sidenote: The early career and change of character.] - -When a great piece of work has been done in the world it is not difficult -to find fault with it. A man seldom if ever sees the bearing and ultimate -results of his own actions, or carries out all that he intended to do. -Even when he seems to have done so, time reveals faults, miscalculations, -failures. At an age when among us a boy is just leaving school, Augustus -found himself the heir of a great policy and a great name amidst the -ruins of a constitution and the _disjecta membra_ of a great Empire. -A comparatively small city state had conquered the greater part of -the known world, and proposed to govern it by the machinery which had -sufficed when its territory was insignificant, not extending at any rate -beyond the shores of Italy. A close corporation, greedy and licentious, -had divided amongst its members the vast profits from the gradually -extending dominions. The central authority which should have restrained -the rulers of distant provinces and the collection of their revenues -was composed to a great extent of those most deeply interested in the -corruptions which it was their duty to judge and condemn. Loyalty to this -central authority grew weaker and weaker, party spirit grew stronger -and less scrupulous. In the desperate struggle for wealth and luxury men -stuck at nothing. Bloodshed bred bloodshed, violence provoked violence, -till good citizens and honourable men (and there were always such) found -themselves helpless; and the constitution which had rested on the loyalty -of magistrates and citizens was ready to fall at the first touch of -resolute disobedience. Then a great man appeared. Iulius Cæsar had not -been free from the vices or corruption of his contemporaries; but party -connections at home led him to sympathise with the people, and the ten -years of war and government in Gaul, during which his enemies at home -were constantly threatening and thwarting him, had convinced him that -the existing constitution was doomed. He was resolved to attempt its -reconstruction, even at the risk of civil war. But civil war is a sea -of unknown extent. Conqueror though he was in all its battles, it left -him only a few months to elaborate reforms. In those he did some great -things; but his revival of the Sullan Dictatorship was too crude a return -to monarchy, while the exigencies of civil war forced him to employ -inferior agents. The aristocratic clique saw themselves about to lose -their cherished privilege of tyranny and extortion, and they killed him. - -When Octavian came home to take up his inheritance, he would naturally -have joined Antony, and taken immediate vengeance on the guilty clique. -But he found him intent upon the consolidation of his own position, -and not inclined to admit his claim to the inheritance or to any share -of power. He therefore outwardly joined the leaders of the party which -he detested in order to get rid of Antony and forestall his bid for -autocracy. The vicissitudes of the struggle which followed, ending in -the triumvirate and the division of the Roman world, infected him with -the poison of civil strife—the cruelty which treats honourable enemies -as outlaws, and regards personal triumph as the only end of political -exertion. This period in his career and in the development of his -character ends with the victory over Sextus Pompeius, in B.C. 36, and the -additional security gained by the successes of Agrippa in Gaul during the -two preceding years. From that time he began to regard himself as the -champion of law and order, as the defender of Italy, and the guarantee of -peace in the Western Provinces. - -Then came a great danger—the danger of a separation of East and West. -Under the influence of his passion for Cleopatra, Antony was building -up a new empire of subordinate kings, it is true, but subordinate to -Alexandria not Rome: and Alexandria was being adorned with the spoils -of Asiatic temples to make it a worthy capital of the Eastern world. -How far this was really to involve a diminution of the Roman Empire -was probably not clear to Antony himself. The old provinces were not -formally separated, but they were pared and diminished to round off the -new kingdoms for his and Cleopatra’s children. At Rome the danger was -looked upon as a real one; and once more Augustus felt that if he was to -have a free hand in the renovation of the Empire which he contemplated, -Antony must disappear. No doubt every artifice was employed to discredit -his opponent, and to convince the Roman people that their dominion in -the East was slipping from them. But, however Machiavellian his tactics, -there was a solid basis of fact beneath them; a real danger of separation -had existed. The victory of Actium settled that question; and when -the few severities which followed it were over, we are happily called -thenceforth to contemplate the legislator and reformer, the administrator -of, on the whole, a peaceful Empire. There were no more civil wars, and -no serious conspiracies. With rare exceptions—perhaps only the Arabian -expedition—the wars in which Augustus was henceforth engaged were the -necessary consequences of a long frontier. War was often prevented by -diplomacy, and such wars as were undertaken were always successful, -with the exception of those with the Germans, and even in their case -immediate danger was averted. - -The moral problem presented by the change from ruthless cruelty to wise -and persistent clemency has exercised the minds of philosophers and -historians ever since. “It was not clemency,” says Seneca, “but a surfeit -of cruelty.” But this explains nothing. If Augustus had ever been cruel -for cruelty’s sake, the increased opportunities of exercising it would -have whetted his appetite for blood as it did in some of his successors. -It was circumstances that had changed, not altogether the man. Still, no -doubt, success softened (it does not always) Augustus’s character. His -ministers were humane men and in favour of milder methods; his wife was -a high-minded woman, and always ready to succour distress, as she shewed -during the proscriptions, and afterwards in her son’s reign. He had among -his immediate friends philosophers and men of letters, whose influence, -so far as it went, was humanising. And lastly such opposition as still -existed was no longer of irreconcilables who had known “liberty”; a -new generation had grown up which on the whole acquiesced in the peace -and security of a benevolent despotism. It was a new era, and Augustus -became a new man. Full of honours and possessed with irresistible powers, -feeling the responsibility heavily, and often in vain desiring rest, he -had no farther personal object to gain beyond the credit of having served -his country and saved the Empire. The apologia of the _index rerum_, -brief and bald as it is, was intended to shew that he had done this. - -[Sidenote: The value of his work.] - -In estimating the value of his work we are met with this difficulty at -the very threshold of the inquiry, that his object was to avoid quick and -conspicuous changes. Instead of discussing some heroic measure we have -to examine a multitude of details. In every department of political and -social life we trace his hand. Working day and night, he was scheming -to alter what he thought bad, and to introduce what he thought good. -The reconstruction and embellishment of the city, the restoration of -religion, the rehabilitation of marriage, measures necessary for the -security of Rome and Italy, for the better government and material -prosperity of the provinces, for the solvency of the exchequer, and for -the protection of commerce—all these continually occupied his time and -his thoughts. Of this steady industry this or that result may be open to -criticism, but, on the whole, it seems certain that it increased the good -order and prosperity of the Empire, and therefore added to the comfort -and happiness of innumerable lives. - -[Sidenote: Advantages and disadvantages of the autocracy.] - -But of course the upshot of it all was the establishment of a monarchy; -and it still remains to be considered how far its benefits were -counterbalanced by evils arising from the loss of freedom. It might be -argued that tyrants always appeal to their right use of power however -irregularly obtained, but that the plea is beside the question. Freedom -is the only guarantee of the _continuance_ of good government. The -beneficent tyrant may any day be succeeded by a bad one. The policy of -Augustus had led the people on step by step to forfeit this freedom, -and lose even the taste for it, lulled to sleep by the charms of safety -and luxury. When the glamour had faded from some eyes, it was too late. -The generation which had known freedom had disappeared; the experience -necessary for working the old machinery no longer existed. The few who -still remembered with regret the old constitution, under which they had -hoped to take an independent share of political activity, had nothing -left to them but sullen submission. - -[Sidenote: In the provinces.] - -In the provinces, indeed, this consideration did not apply. The despotism -there added to the sum of happiness and took nothing away. They had lost -their independence long ago. They were already under a master, a master -who was changed at short intervals, whom it was very difficult to bring -to an account if he were oppressive, in whose selection they had had -absolutely no share, and whose character they had no means of calculating -beforehand. They might one year be enjoying all the benefits of an able -and disinterested ruler, the next they might find themselves in the power -of a tyrannical extortioner, selfish, cynical, cruel. The old republican -names and ideals were nothing to them; or rather they suggested organised -oppression and a conspiracy to refuse redress. The change to one master, -who had everything to gain by their prosperity, and was at the same -time master of their old oppressors, must have seemed in every respect -a blessing. If there was any drawback it was that nationality and the -desire for self-government were killed by kindness. In all difficulties -and disasters they looked to the Emperor for aid and seldom looked in -vain. In the East especially this was probably not wholesome; yet the -immediate effects in producing prosperity and comfort were marked enough -to put aside for the present all such scruples. - -[Sidenote: In Italy.] - -But for the governing nation itself, while some of the benefits were -no less manifest, the mischievous results were more easy to point out. -Material prosperity was much increased. The city was made a pleasant -and attractive place of residence. Italy was partially repeopled with -an industrious class. Commerce was encouraged and protected, literature -and the fine arts were fostered, and the Palace on the whole set a good -example of simplicity of living. But, on the other hand, the rule of a -single person stifled political life. By the system of _curæ_ or special -commissions all administrative work was transferred to nominees of the -Emperor, who were often his intimate friends, or even his freedmen, -bound to him by the closest ties of subordination. The old magistracies -became unattractive, not only because they no longer led as a matter of -course to profitable employment abroad, but because their holders had -little of interest to do. The Senate, though treated with respect and -retaining some importance as a high court of justice, was practically no -longer a governing body. It was wholly at the beck of the Emperor, and -such work of consequence as it still performed was often transacted by -small committees, the main body merely assenting. In spite, therefore, -of the dignity of the Senator’s position, it ceased to attract the best -men. The higher classes turned away from a political career, and gave -themselves up more and more to luxurious idleness. The rise of the -freedman—practically the rule of favourites—was clearly foreshadowed, -though owing to the industry of Augustus, and his genius for detail, it -did not become prominent in his time. As the upper classes were thus to -a certain extent demoralised by the Principate, so the city proletariat -was pampered and made still more effete. The city was made only too -attractive to them, and they were to be kept in good humour by an endless -series of games and shows. There was a good deal of truth in the retort -of the player Pylades, when reproved by Augustus for his feud with -Bathyllus, that it was for the Emperor’s advantage that the people should -have their attention fixed on the playhouse rather than on politics. -But they soon began not only to regard these amusements as their right: -they expected also to be fed at the cost of the government, whether by -direct gifts of money, or by the distribution of cheap or even gratuitous -corn. Nor can it be said that the amusements provided for them were of -an elevating nature. Augustus boasts in the _Index_ (c. 20), that he -gave seven shows of gladiators in his own name or that of his sons, in -which about 10,000 men in all had fought;[317] and besides other games -twenty-six _venationes_ of “African beasts,” _i.e._, mostly elephants, in -which about 3,500 were killed. The mob of Rome needed little brutalising, -but they got it in abundance. - -With such drawbacks, however, it still must be owned that the -administration of Augustus largely increased the sum of human happiness -by the mitigation of oppression in the provinces, and by the suppression -of disorder in Rome and Italy. The finances were placed on a sound -footing, property was rendered secure, and men felt everywhere that they -might pursue their business with every chance of enjoying the fruits of -their labours. This was something after a century of revolution more or -less acute, and twenty years of downright civil war. It is worth while to -attempt to picture to ourselves the man who was the author of these good -and bad results. - -[Sidenote: The personal appearance and character of Augustus.] - -Augustus was a short man (just under five feet seven inches), but so well -proportioned that the defect in height was not noticed unless he was -standing by much taller men. He was remarkably handsome at all periods of -his life, with an expression of calm dignity, whether silent or speaking, -which involuntarily inspired respect. His eyes were grey, and so bright -and keen that it was not easy to meet their gaze. If he had a personal -vanity it was in regard to them. He liked to think that they dazzled -those on whom he looked, and he was pleased at the answer of the Roman -eques, who, when asked why he turned away, replied, “Because I could not -bear the lightning of your eyes.” Vergil gratified this vanity of his -patron when in the description of the battle of Actium (_Æn._, viii. 650) -he pictures him, - - _Stans celsa in puppi; geminas cui tempora flammas_ - _Læta vomunt._ - -And the Emperor Iulian, in “The Banquet of the Emperors,” laughs not -unkindly at the same weakness when he introduces him, “changing colour -like a chameleon, and wishing that the beams darting from his eyes -should be like those of the mighty sun.” The busts, statues, and coins -of Augustus fully confirm this statement as to his beauty; and in the -triumphal statue found in Livia’s villa at Prima Porta, the artist has -succeeded in suggesting the brightness and keenness of his eyes. He was -usually clean shaven, but from his uncle’s death to B.C. 38, according -to Dio (48, 34), he grew his beard as a sign of mourning; though coins -showed him with a slight whisker till about B.C. 36. These portraits -are full of life and character. The clear-cut features, the firm mouth -and chin, the steady eyes, the carelessly ordered hair, the lines on -forehead and cheeks, suggest a man who had suffered and laboured, who was -yet self-controlled, calm, and clear-headed. It is a face not without -some tenderness, but capable of firing up into hot indignation and even -cruelty. There is an air of suffering but of determined victory over -pain; altogether a face of a man who had done a great work and risen -to a high place in the world and knew it; who had confidence, lastly, -in his star. On taking leave of Gaius Cæsar, it is said, he wished him -“the integrity of Pompey, the courage of Alexander, and his own good -fortune.” On some of his coins beneath the head crowned with the crown -of twelve rays, is the Iulian star, first observed at the funeral of -Iulius Cæsar, and which he adopted as the sign of his own high fortunes: -on others the Sphinx, which he at first adopted as his signet—emblem -perhaps of a purpose unbetrayed. Augustus was accomplished in the -subjects recognised in the education of his time, though he neither wrote -nor spoke Greek with ease. He had studied and practised rhetoric, and -had a good and correct taste in style, avoiding the use of far-fetched -or obsolete words and expressions, or affected conceits. He ridiculed -Antony for his “Asiatic” style of oratory, full of flowers of speech and -flamboyant sentences; and writing to his granddaughter, Agrippina, while -praising her abilities he warns her against pedantic expressions whether -in conversation or writing. Without being an orator, he spoke clearly -and to the point, assisted by a pleasant voice, which he took pains to -preserve and improve. In the Senate, the camp, and private conferences, -he preferred to read his speeches, though he could also speak well on -the spur of the moment. In domestic life, though somewhat strict, he -was generally simple and charming. He lived much with wife and children, -associating himself with their employments, and even joining in the games -of the latter. He personally superintended the education of his adopted -sons, taught them his own method of shorthand, and interested himself in -their reading. He had old-fashioned ideas about the proper employment of -the women in his family. They were expected to busy themselves in weaving -for the use of the household, to visit and receive visits only with his -approval, and not to converse on subjects that could not with propriety -be entered on the day’s journal. Though his daughter and granddaughters -were well educated, and had a taste for literature, it may well be -that a home thus conducted was so dull as partly to account for their -aberrations in the fuller liberty of married life. - -His attachments were warm and constant, and he was not illiberal to -his friends or disinclined to give them his full confidence. But he -was always his own master. No friend or freedman gained control over -him or rose to the odious position of “favourite.” He allowed and even -liked freedom of speech, but it was always without loss of dignity. He -was not a man with whom liberties were taken even by the most intimate. -He was quick tempered, but knew it, and was ready to admit of caution -and advice, as in the well-known story of Mæcenas, watching him in -court about to condemn a number of prisoners (probably in the civil -war times), and throwing across to him a note with the words, _Surge -tandem carnifex!_ “Tis time to rise, hangman!” Or when he received with -complaisance the advice of Athenodorus (hero of the covered sedan) that -when he was angry he should say over the letters of the alphabet before -coming to a decision. - -[Sidenote: His ultra-Roman views.] - -In later times he was always looked back upon by his successors as the -true founder of the Empire, and the best model for their guidance; -yet it is doubtful how far he had wide and far-reaching views. He was -a statesman who dealt with facts as he found them and did the best -he could. He was deeply impressed with the difficulty of his task. -Commenting on the fact of Alexander the Great having accomplished his -conquests by the age of 32, and then feeling at a loss what to do for the -rest of his life, he remarked that he “was surprised that Alexander did -not regard the right ordering of the empire he possessed a heavier task -than winning it.” But in one important respect at least he was wrong in -his idea of what he had done. He never conceived of an empire filled with -citizens enjoying equal rights, or in which Rome could possibly occupy a -secondary place. He was ultra-Roman in his views; and worked and schemed -to maintain the supremacy of the Eternal City. That supremacy may indeed -be said to have remained to this day in the region of spiritual affairs. -But it was destined to disappear politically, except in name, before many -generations had passed away, and as a logical consequence of much that -he had himself done. A new Rome and a new Empire—though always resting -on the old title and theory—were to arise, in which Italy would be a -province like the rest, and old Rome but the shadow of a mighty name. - -[Sidenote: The court circle.] - -Among those who exercised a permanent influence on Augustus, the first -place must be given to LIVIA (B.C. 54-A.D. 29). The writers on Augustus -comment on the romantic revolution of her fortunes. After the affair of -Perusia she fled with her husband, Nero, and her little son, Tiberius, -from Augustus, who was to be her husband, and was to be succeeded by her -son. Her divorce and prompt marriage to Augustus, while within a few -months of being again a mother, is not only a thing revolting to our -ideas, it was strictly against Roman principles and habits, and required -all her new husband’s commanding influence to be admitted as legal. Yet -Suetonius says, and says truly, that he continued “to love and honour her -exclusively to the end” (_dilexit et probavit unice et perseveranter_). -The same writer gives an account of the Emperor’s intrigues with other -women. To our ideas the two statements are contradictory, but Suetonius -would not have thought so. Conjugal love was not _amor_; the latter was -thought even inconsistent with, or at least undesirable in, conjugal -affection. He means that throughout his life Augustus continued to -regard her with affection, to respect her character, and give weight to -her opinion. For my own part, I believe that something more might be -said, and that much of what has come down to us as to the conduct of the -Emperor may be dismissed as malignant gossip. But however that may be, -the influence of Livia over him seems never to have failed, and it was -exercised on the side of clemency and generosity. She set an excellent -example of pure and dignified conduct to Roman society, and, though -abstaining from interference generally in political matters, was ready to -give advice when called upon. She seems usually to have accompanied him, -when possible, on his foreign progresses or residences away from Rome. -When Herod visited Augustus at Aquileia in B.C. 14, she appears to have -shared her husband’s liking for that strange medley of magnificence and -cruelty, and sent him costly gifts for the festivity which accompanied -the completion of the new city of Cæsarea Sebaste in B.C. 13. The usual -allegation against her is that she worked for the succession of her -sons, Tiberius and Drusus, as against the Iulian family, represented -by the son of Octavia and the children of Iulia. To secure this object -she was accused in popular rumour of compassing the deaths successively -of Marcellus, of Gaius and Lucius Cæsar, of Agrippa Postumus, and, -finally, of having even hastened the end of Augustus himself. This last -is not mentioned by Suetonius, and is only related by Dio as a report, -for which he gives no evidence, and which he does not appear to have -believed. Tacitus records the criticism of her as a _gravis noverca_ to -the family of the Cæsars, and seems to accept her guilt in regard to -Gaius and Iulius (_Ann._ 4, 71). But he is also constrained to admit that -she exercised a humanising influence over Tiberius, that his victims -constantly found refuge and protection in her palace, and that she was -benevolent and charitable to the poor—maintaining a large number of -orphan boys and girls by her bounty. The most suspicious case against -her is the execution of Agrippa Postumus immediately after the death -of Augustus—“the first crime of the new reign.” It will never be known -whether the order for that cruel deed issued from her or her crafty -son. The death of Marcellus was in no way suspicious, as it occurred in -a season of exceptional unhealthiness, when large numbers were dying -at Rome of malarial fever. As to the deaths of Gaius and Lucius, no -suspicion seems to have occurred to Augustus, and he was keenly anxious -for their survival. The poisoned fig supposed to have been given to -himself is a familiar feature in the stories of great men’s death of -every age in Italy. Tacitus in the famous summing up of her character, -while acknowledging the purity of her domestic conduct, yet declares that -her social manners were more free than was considered becoming among -women of an earlier time; that as a mother she was extravagantly fond, as -a wife too complaisant; and that her character was a combination of her -husband’s adroitness and her son’s insincerity. He by no means intends to -draw a pleasing portrait. He seldom does. But what we may take for true -is that she was beautiful, loyal to her husband, open-handed and generous -to the distressed, merciful and kind to the unfortunate. To those who -think such qualities likely to belong to a poisoner and murderess, her -condemnation must be left. It is curious that neither Vergil, Horace, nor -Propertius mention or allude to Livia; nor does Ovid do so until after -the death of Augustus—for the _consolatio ad Liviam_ on the death of -Drusus is not his. On some of the inscriptions of a later period in the -reign her name appears among the imperial family as wife of the Princeps. -That was itself an innovation, and it seems as if the poets abstained -from mentioning her under orders. It was improper for a matron of high -rank to be made public property in this way. Horace, for instance, only -once alludes to the wife of Mæcenas, and then under a feigned name. - -Of those who influenced the earlier policy of Augustus, and supported -him in the first twenty years of the Principate, the first place must be -given to Agrippa and Mæcenas. - -M. VIPSANIUS AGRIPPA (B.C. 63-13), differed widely from Mæcenas, but -was like him in constant attachment and fidelity to Augustus. He was -with him in Apollonia, and on the news of the murder of Iulius advised -an appeal to the army. Even before this he had accompanied him to Spain -when he went to join his uncle in B.C. 45, and ever afterwards served him -with unswerving fidelity and conspicuous success. In the war with Sextus -Pompeius, at Perusia, in Gaul, Spain and Illyria, in the organisation of -the East, and on the Bosporus, it was his energy and ability that decided -the contest in favour of his master, or secured the settlement that he -desired. He was the organiser of the Roman navy, and though his great -work at the Lucrine lake proved to be only temporary, the squadrons that -guarded the seas at Misenum, Ravenna and Forum Iulii were the result -of his activity and foresight. His acts of splendid liberality in Rome -have been already noticed. He shewed the same magnificence in Gaul and -elsewhere, and seems also to have largely assisted in the great survey -of the empire instituted by Augustus. Not only did he support all the -plans and ideas of his master, he was ready to take any position and make -any personal sacrifice to further his views. After his first marriage -to Pomponia, by whom he was the father of Vipsania, he was married to -Marcella, the Emperor’s niece. To support his master’s plans for the -succession he submitted to divorce her and marry Iulia, after having -previously made way for the rise of Marcellus by accepting a command in -the East. The Emperor shewed his confidence in him on every occasion. In -B.C. 23 when he thought himself dying he placed his seal in his hands, -in B.C. 18 he caused him to be admitted to share his tribunician power -for five years, which was renewed again in B.C. 13; so that though his -two sons were adopted by Augustus, the succession would almost certainly -have fallen to him had the Emperor died in their minority. This elevation -however did not give him rest: the last years of his life were spent -in the East, on the Bosporus and in Pannonia, from which last he only -returned to die. This faithful service had been rendered in spite of -the fact that he had advised against the acceptance of the principate. -He had urged the financial difficulties, the irreconcilable nature of -the opposition, the impossibility of drawing back, and Octavian’s own -weak health. But when his master preferred the advice of Mæcenas, he -took his part in the undertaking without faltering and with splendid -loyalty. Though Augustus owed much of his success to his own cautious -statesmanship, he owed even more to the man who failed in nothing that he -undertook, and would claim no honour for himself in return. The Emperor -delivered the funeral oration over this loyal servant, and, deposited his -ashes in the Mausoleum which he had built for his own family. - -[Illustration: MÆCENAS. - -_Photographed from the Head in the Palazzo dei Conservatori, Rome, by -Edne. Alinari._ - -_To face page 279._ - -P. VERGILIUS MARO. - -_Photographed from the Bust in the Capitoline Museum, Rome, by Edne. -Alinari._ - -_Page 284._] - -C. CILNIUS MÆCENAS (_circ._ B.C. 65-B.C. 8), was probably a few years -older than Augustus, but near enough to his age to have been one of -his companions at Apollonia. His influence was maintained till about -B.C. 16. It is most conspicuous from the time immediately following the -Perusian war. He negotiated the marriage with Scribonia, the peace of -Brundisium with Antony (B.C. 40), and the subsequent reconciliation of -B.C. 38. In the war against Sextus Pompeius (B.C. 38-36), he was partly -with Augustus, but partly at Rome, with full powers to act for him and -even to alter his despatches and letters as seemed necessary, having -the triumvir’s private seal entrusted to him for that purpose. This -was possible from the fact of such letters being written by amanuenses -and being therefore only recognisable by the seal. Thus Cicero often -commissions Atticus to write formal letters to his friends for him. -This position—it was no definite office, or perhaps was more like being -_legatus_ to Octavian than anything else—he seems to have retained -till after the battle of Actium, at which he probably was not present, -though that has been disputed. He detected the conspiracy of the younger -Lepidus, and sent him to Octavian to be judged. In B.C. 29, on Octavian’s -return from the East, he recommended the establishment of a despotism, -as a republic was no longer possible. The speech preserved by Dio (52, -14-40) may very well be genuine, in view of the habit of the day, and -of Augustus himself, of reading addresses even in comparatively private -conferences on matters of importance.[318] Even if it is not the genuine -speech, it correctly represents many of the principles on which Augustus -did act, and as to which he doubtless consulted Mæcenas. It counsels him -to keep in his hands legislation, foreign affairs, elections, executive -appointments and the courts of law, and to hear cases of appeal himself: -exactly what Augustus did under various disguises. It argues that it -was necessary both for his own safety and that of the state that he -should remain in power, the glory being well worth the risk. Other -recommendations are a reform of Senate and equites, the maintenance of -the old republican magistrates for home service, the establishment of a -_præfectus urbi_, the exercise by himself of censorial functions, the -subordination of provincial governors to the Emperor, and their payment -by a fixed salary, with the appointment of procurators to superintend -the finances of the provinces. A system of education for the equites -is also suggested, which does not seem to have been carried out; but -many of the financial proposals were adopted, as well as the idea of -keeping the people amused by games and shows. The advice to abolish the -_comitia_ Augustus could not follow consistently with his policy of -compromise. They remained and were the causes of more than one trouble -and disturbance, but their freedom of election was gradually but surely -destroyed, and one of the first measures of Tiberius was to abolish them -as no longer a reality. The reform of the Senate was, as we have seen, -carried out. As for the judicia, the Senate became a high court for cases -of treason (_maiestas_), before which alone Senators could be tried; -the _decuriæ iudicum_ were reformed, and Augustus himself performed -the functions of a court of appeal in various ways, sometimes by his -tribunician power of “interceding” against the sentences of magistrates -or Senate, and sometimes by hearing cases from the provinces of citizens -who disputed the competence of provincial courts and claimed to be -heard at Rome. Mæcenas holding no office never became a Senator; but he -represented the Emperor in his absence, unless Agrippa was appointed to -do so instead. In this capacity he really exercised a greater power than -any definite office would have given him, and the whole business of the -Empire passed through his hands.[319] - -But it was not only as the ostensible representative of the Emperor that -he worked for his support. In the comparative retirement of his palace on -the Esquiline he contributed to that object by gathering round him the -best intellects and first men of letters of the day, whom he induced to -devote their talents not only to glorify the Emperor personally, but to -popularise his policy and magnify his service to the state. How far this -may have been effectual by making it the fashion to accept and admire the -principate may perhaps be questioned, but that he should have secured -such writers as Vergil, Horace, and Propertius on his side says much for -his insight and literary taste. One of the weaknesses of the position -of Iulius had been that he had the literary class mostly against him. -The present reputation and future fame of Augustus were to be better -safeguarded. Personally Mæcenas was luxurious and effeminate, always a -valetudinarian, and in his later years afflicted with almost constant -insomnia. This accounts well enough for the retirement from public -business during the last eight years of his life without those other -causes of the Emperor’s displeasure which have been already discussed. -His wife was a beauty, much younger than himself, wilful and wayward; -and if it is true that she intrigued with Augustus, it seems also true -that her husband repaid her in kind. There were frequent quarrels and -reconciliations, so that Seneca says that he married her “a thousand -times;” and once at any rate the family trouble found its way into the -law courts, where, however, the _bona fides_ of the divorce which she -was alleged to have made was questioned.[320] In spite of some coldness -between them in later years, and the physical infirmities which removed -him from public business, Augustus sincerely mourned his loss, as of a -counsellor who never betrayed his confidence or spoke idle words. He had -no real successor. From the time of his death the Emperor seems more and -more to have become his own prime minister, or to have looked to his own -family for assistance as well as for a successor. Tacitus (_Ann._ 3, 30) -says that his place was taken by Sallustius Crispus, great-nephew of -the historian; but Augustus does not seem to have thought highly of his -ability, and the part he took in affairs was not prominent enough to have -secured mention by either Suetonius or Dio. Mæcenas wrote himself both -in prose and verse, but in an affected and obscure style, which Augustus -playfully ridiculed. The stoic Seneca is particularly severe on a poem -in which he declares that he clings to life in spite of all physical -sufferings however painful:— - - “Though racked with gout in hand and foot, - Though cancer deep should strike its root, - Though palsy shake my feeble thighs, - Though hideous hump on shoulders rise, - From flaccid gum teeth drop away; - Yet all is well if life but stay. - Give me but life, and e’en the pain - Of sharpest cross shall count as gain.” - -[Sidenote: Augustus and the poets.] - -The chief writers of the Mæcenas circle, who either became intimate -with Augustus himself, or were induced by Mæcenas to join in the chorus -of praise, were Vergil, Varius, Horace, Propertius. Of the epics of L. -Varius Rufus (_circ._ B.C. 64-14) on Iulius Cæsar and Augustus, we have -only a few fragments. The historian, Livy, (B.C. 59-A.D. 16) was also on -friendly terms with Augustus, and seems to have had some hand in teaching -Claudius, son of Drusus, the future emperor. But his great work—from -the foundation of Rome to the death of Drusus (B.C. 9) was afterwards -regarded as being too republican, and even Augustus used laughingly to -call him the Pompeian. It was the poets who made Augustus and his policy -the subject of their praises, and who employed their genius to support -his views. - -[Sidenote: Vergil.] - -The first to do this was P. Vergilius Maro (B.C. 70-17). The earliest -of his writings, the _Eclogues_, composed between B.C. 42-37, do not -show any close connection with Augustus. The first indeed celebrates the -restoration of his farm after a personal interview with Octavian, on the -suggestion of Pollio and Mæcenas, and the poet declares that never will -there fade from his heart the gracious look of the young prince. But the -chief object of praise in the _Eclogues_, so far as there is one, is -Pollio, who had been left in charge of the distribution of lands by the -Triumvirs in B.C. 42. In the _Georgics_, however, finished after B.C. 30, -we find that he has fallen in with the new _régime_. They are dedicated -to the minister Mæcenas, they celebrate Augustus’s triple triumph of -B.C. 29, and they were composed partly, at any rate, at the wish of -Mæcenas, who with Augustus was anxious to make country life and pursuits -seem desirable. No doubt the theme itself was congenial to Vergil, who -preferred a country life at Nola, or near Tarentum, to the bustle of -Rome; but it also happened to chime in with the views of Augustus, who -all his life believed in the influence of literature and wished to have -the poets on his side. Accordingly, soon after his return from the East -in B.C. 29 he seems to have suggested to Vergil to compose a poem that -would inspire men with a feeling of national pride and an enthusiasm -for the greatness of Rome’s mission. The plan and form were no doubt -wholly Vergil’s, but the spirit and purpose, like those of Horace’s more -patriotic odes of about the same time, were those which the Emperor -desired. He was not satisfied with mere suggestion, he was eager for -the appearance of the poem. While in Gaul and Spain from B.C. 27-24 he -frequently wrote to the poet urging the completion of the work. A part of -one of Vergil’s answers has been preserved: - -“As to my Æneas, upon my honour if I had anything written worth your -listening to, I would gladly send it. But the subject thus begun is so -vast, that I almost think I must have been beside myself when I undertook -a work of this magnitude; especially considering that—as you are aware—I -am also devoting part of my time to different and much more important -studies.” - -The _Æneid_ was thus undertaken at the solicitation of Augustus. The -legend on which it turns—perhaps a late one—of the landing of Æneas -in Italy and the foundation of Rome by his descendant, is with great -skill interwoven with a fanciful descent of the _gens Iulia_ from his -son Iulus, to magnify Rome and her divine mission, and at the same -time to point to Augustus as the man of destiny, and as representing -in his own person and career the majesty of the Roman people. In such -a poem detailed allusions cannot be expected as in the occasional odes -of Horace. Yet, besides the fine passage in the eighth book describing -the victory of Actium and the discomfiture of Cleopatra, and that in -the sixth announcing the victorious career of Augustus, we have, more -or less, direct references to the restoration of religious worship in -the _vici_, to the return of the standards by the Parthians, and the -death of the young Marcellus. In form, the _Æneid_ follows the model of -Homer, the supreme epic. But in substance it is original, in that it -does not take for its theme one of the old myths—as the Alexandrine poets -always did—but while teeming with all kinds of mythological allusions it -finds its chief inspiration in the greatness of Rome, measured by the -elemental strife preceding the accomplishment of the divine purpose: -_tantæ molis erat Romanam condere gentem_—“So vast the task to found the -Roman race,” is the keynote of the whole. It is original as the epic of -Milton was original who, with details borrowed from every quarter, took -for his theme the foundation of a world and the strife in heaven that -preceded it. Vergil’s epic is Roman history on the highest plane, and has -crystallised for ever a view of that history which has done more than -arms and laws to commend it to the imagination of mankind. Augustus had a -true intuition when he forbade the poet’s executors to obey his will and -burn the rolls containing this great national epic. - -[Sidenote: Horace.] - -Q. HORATIUS FLACCUS (B.C. 65-B.C. 8) is not perhaps so great a poet as -Vergil, but he possessed the charm which keeps such work as his alive. -His connection with Augustus is a remarkable phenomenon in literary -history. Having fought on the side of his enemies at Philippi, and having -shared in the amnesty granted to the bulk of the troops, he returned home -to find his paternal property confiscated. Poverty drove him to poetry, -poetry gained him the friendship of Varius and Vergil, who introduced -him to Mæcenas, who saw his merit, relieved him from the uncongenial -employment of a clerk, and eventually introduced him to Augustus. The -Emperor, in his turn, was not long in recognising his charm. He writes to -Mæcenas: - -“In old times I was vigorous enough to write my friends’ letters for -them. Nowadays being overwhelmed with business and weak in health, I am -very anxious to entice Horace away from you. He shall therefore quit your -table of parasites and come to my table of kings and assist me in writing -letters.” - -The refusal of Horace—prudent no doubt in view of his tastes and -habits—did not lose him the Emperor’s favour. He twice received -substantial marks of it, and some extracts of letters to him from -Augustus have been preserved which exhibit the latter in his most -gracious mood: - -“Consider yourself a privileged person in my house, as though an habitual -guest at my table. You will be quite within your rights and will always -be sure of a welcome; for it is my wish that our intimacy should be on -that footing if your state or health permits it.” - -And again: - -“What a warm recollection I retain of you, you will be able to learn from -Septimius among others, as I happened to be talking about you in his -presence the other day. For you need not suppose, because you were so -high and mighty as to reject my friendship, that I am on the high horse -too to pay you back.” - -Augustus, in fact, had a great opinion of Horace, and predicted his -immortality. He selected him to write the ode for the secular games, -pressed him later in life to immortalise the achievements of Tiberius and -Drusus, and was desirous of his own name appearing as the recipient of -one of his Satires or Epistles. - -“I am quite angry, let me tell you, that you don’t give me the preference -as a person to address in your writings of that kind. Are you afraid -that an appearance of intimacy with me will damage your reputation with -posterity?” - -Horace made the Emperor a return in full for such condescension. How far -the genius of a poet is warmed or chilled by patronage it is not easy to -decide. So far as he is tempted away from his natural bent, or confined -in the free expression of thought, he suffers: so far as he is saved -from sordid cares, he is a gainer. Horace, in early youth, sympathised -with the republican party in whose ranks he had served, and probably in -later life still felt a theoretical preference for it, and could speak -of the _nobile letum_ and _atrox animus_ of Cato with a true note of -admiration, But he was a man of his time. The policy of Octavian had made -the supremacy of Augustus inevitable, and it at least secured peace and -safety. The patronage and liberality of Mæcenas assuredly helped to turn -the scale, but I see no reason to doubt that the poet was convinced, -though, perhaps, without enthusiasm, that the new _régime_ was one to -be supported by reasonable men. The kindness of the Emperor naturally -enhanced the effect of his commanding personality, but it would be -difficult for a poet so placed to write with greater dignity and less -fulsomeness than Horace does in the first epistle of the second book, -addressed to Augustus at his own request. But it is in the _Odes_ that we -must trace the unbroken sympathy with the career and policy of Augustus. -If they are closely examined, with an eye to chronological arrangement, -the ingenuity with which these imitations of Greek models are framed to -support and recommend the purposes or celebrate the successes of the -Emperor, will stand revealed in a striking manner. The _Epodes_ and the -first three books of the _Odes_ were apparently written between B.C. 35 -and B.C. 25. Dropped in among a number of poems of fancy, or passion, or -mere literary _tours de force_, are compositions that follow not only the -actual achievements of Augustus, but his ideals, his intentions, and his -aspirations, from the years just before Actium to his return from Spain -in B.C. 25. We begin with the Second Epode, which refers with regret to -the abandoned intention of invading Britain in B.C. 35, and expresses -his alarm at the prospect of a renewed civil war. In the Sixteenth Epode -this terror has become a reality; the civil war has begun, and the poet, -foreseeing the downfall of the state, turns longing eyes to the peace and -calm of the fabled islands of the West. From Italy and all its horrors -they must at any rate depart. In the Ninth Epode the relief has come; the -shameful servitude of a Roman imperator and Roman soldiers to a foreign -queen is over; Antony and Cleopatra are in full flight (B.C. 31). In -another year it is known that Antony has fallen by his own hand, and that -Cleopatra has saved herself the indignity of the triumphal procession by -the adder’s aid (_Od._ i. 39). The discharge of the legions follows, and -their settlement in Italian and Sicilian lands (2 _Sat._, 6, 54). In the -other odes of the first book the devotion to Augustus proceeds apace. -The Iulian star is in the ascendant (1, 2, 20); Augustus is _pater_ -and _princeps_, anticipating the future titles (1, 2, 20); he is again -contemplating the invasion of Britain (1, 35, 29); the Arabian expedition -is being planned with all its futile hopes of wealth (1, 29; 1, 35). In -the second book of the _Odes_, beginning with reflections on the evils -of civil war (2, 1), the poet notices one after the other the triumphs -of Augustus or his generals in B.C. 27-24. The Cantabrian war (2, 6, 2; -2, 11, 1); the triumphal arch at Susa (2, 9, 19); the success of his -diplomacy in Scythia, Armenia, and Parthia (_ib._) In the third book the -embassy of British chiefs is treated as though the island were annexed -(3, 5, 2); the Cantabrians are regarded as conquered after the expedition -of Augustus (3, 8, 22; 3, 14). Then succeeds a period of statesmanship -and reform. The Emperor’s Roman policy, and his determination to keep -Rome the centre of government, are warmly supported (3, 3); the moral -evils, the extravagance and debauchery of the age must be cured, and -Horace proceeds to support the abortive legislation of B.C. 27, and to -foreshadow the censorial acts, and the legislation of B.C. 18. There -is a protest against the magnificence and extent of country houses (2, -15); against the effeminacy of youth (iii. 2); against the immorality -of women and the licentiousness that led to civil strife (3, 24). The -_Carmen sæculare_ speaks of the legislation as effected, and foretells -its success (20); while in the fourth book he asserts that, at any rate -while Augustus is with them, that success has been secured (4, 5), and -that he has not only given them peace, but a great moral reform (4, 15). -The policy of the Emperor in regard to the bugbear of the East, the -Parthian power, is also followed step by step. They are the dangerous -enemy whose subjection will make Augustus divine (3, 5, 1-4), and whose -threatened invasions keep his ministers in constant anxiety (3, 29, 27). -This is before B.C. 20; but in B.C. 19 they have made submission and -restored the standards and prisoners (_Epist._ i. 18, 56), and this is -one of the triumphs of Augustus that requires a master hand to record -(_Epist._ ii. 1, 255); it is the glory of the Augustan age (_Od._ 4, -15, 6), and as long as Augustus is safe, no one will fear them more (4, -5, 25). Finally, at the Emperor’s request, he celebrated the victories -of Drusus and Tiberius over the Vindelici and Rhæti (4, 4 and 14), and -especially the defeat of the Sugambri who had routed Lollius (4, 2, 34; -4, 14, 51), with a compliment to Augustus himself for having gone to -Gaul to support Tiberius and Drusus with reinforcements and advice (4, -14, 33), and for having at length closed the door of Ianus (4, 15, 9). -The lyrical career of Horace, therefore, corresponds remarkably with the -activities of Augustus. His genius presented those activities to his -fellow citizens (and Horace’s verses were soon read in schools) exactly -in the light in which the Emperor wished them to be viewed. If we lay -aside some expressions of overstrained compliment, which favoured the -growing fashion of paying the Emperor divine honours, it cannot be said -that the language is fulsome or degrading to the poet. The “parasitic -table” of Mæcenas may, as M. Beulé asserts, have been a misfortune to -the poets, and attenuated their vein of inspiration: but a man must have -something in practical life on which to pin his faith; and Horace might -have done worse than devote his genius to promote loyalty to the great -statesman who had saved Roman society and given peace and prosperity to -an empire. Just as Vergil, if he had followed his own impulse, might have -perhaps produced a fine poem on the Epicurean cosmogony, but not one that -lives and breathes with the noble glow of patriotism. - -[Sidenote: Propertius.] - -Sextus Propertius (_circ._ B.C. 45-_circ._ B.C. 15) was another of the -Mæcenas circle of poets who did something to glorify Augustus. He is -not (but that is a personal opinion) on anything like the same level as -either Vergil or Horace as an artist. He is said to have died young, -perhaps at thirty years of age, and there is no evidence of personal -intimacy with Augustus, but there is some indication of his having been -on bad terms with Horace. His elegies also are nearly all poems of -passion. Politics and emperors are mere episodes, and were introduced -in deference to Mæcenas. Still many points in the career of Augustus -are referred to in the same spirit as that of Horace. The siege of -Perusia—described in tones of horror, which would scarcely have been -acceptable—precedes his conversion (1, 21), and the failure of the -marriage law of B.C. 27 is only referred to with relief (2, 7, 1). In -more complimentary terms he speaks of the victory of Actium (3, 7, 44), -and of the downfall of Antony and Cleopatra (4, 8, 56; 4, 10, 32, _sqq._; -4, 7, 56); and the end of the civil wars is attributed to Augustus (_illa -qua vicit condidit arma manu_, 3, 8, 41). Then came the intended invasion -of Britain (3, 23, 5); the Arabian expedition and the Indian envoys (3, -1, 15; 4, 3 1); the opening and description of the Palatine Library—the -best extant (3, 29); the raids of the Sugambri and their suppression (5, -6, 77); while he has the Parthians frequently on his lips, though rather -as predicting what is to be done with them than as recording the return -of the standards.[321] In the fifth book there are signs of a beginning -of a _Fasti_ like that of Ovid as a record of events in Roman history; -and it is possible that this was in obedience to a wish of Augustus, -who, on his death, transferred the task to Ovid. Thus his voice also was -secured, in part at least, in support of the imperial _régime_. - -[Sidenote: Ovid.] - -Publius Ovidius Naso (B.C. 43-A.D. 18) belongs to the last part of the -reign. He had only seen Vergil, and though he had heard Horace recite, -he does not profess to have known him. He was quite young when Augustus -was winning his position and reforming the constitution, and there -are no signs of his coming forward as a court poet till Mæcenas and -his circle had disappeared, and if he had attracted the attention of -Augustus at all, it was probably not altogether in a favourable manner. -His earliest poems—the _Amores_ and _Heroidum Epistulæ_—do not touch -on public affairs; they are poems of passion—the former personal, the -latter dramatic. In the _Ars Amatoria_ (about B.C. 2-A.D. 2) for the -first time we detect the court poet from a complimentary allusion to the -approaching mission of Gaius Cæsar to Syria and Armenia, with his title -of _princeps iuventutis_ and that of Augustus as _pater patriæ_, as also -to the _naumachia_ or representation of the battle of Salamis given by -Augustus in the flooded _nemus Cæsarum_ in B.C. 2 (_A. A._, 1, 171-2). -The _Metamorphoses_ had been composed before his exile in A.D. 9, but -after the death of Augustus he apparently introduced the Epilogue (xv. -745 _sq._) containing an eulogy on Tiberius, and on the now finished -career of Augustus. It is the _Fasti_—the Calendar of events in Roman -history—that probably was undertaken in obedience to a wish of the -Emperor, and in which accordingly we find points in his career touched -upon. It was dedicated to Germanicus, and contains an allusion to his -own exile, and was therefore, partly at least, composed between B.C. -2 and A.D. 10. His allusions to Augustus are not those of an intimate -acquaintance, but of an admiring subject—real or feigned. He mentions the -battle of Mutina (iv. 627); the bestowal of the title Augustus (i. 589); -the recovery of the standards from the Parthians as a triumph of the -Emperor (vi. 467). He alludes to Augustus becoming Pontifex Maximus (iii. -415); to the laurels on his palace front (iv. 957); to the demolition of -the house of Vedius Pollio as connected with the reforms and the laws -of B.C. 18 (vi. 637); to the division of the city into _vici_, and the -worship of the Lares Augusti (v. 145); to the Forum Augusti and the -temple of Mars dedicated in B.C. 2. (v. 551, _sqq._). Ovid afterwards -protested that his books had been read with pleasure by Augustus, and -assumed to have some knowledge of the private chambers of the palace -(Trist., 1, 5, 2; 2, 520), but there is nothing in the allusions to -matters which he knew that Augustus wished to have recorded that has the -air of close or intimate relations. They are the conventional expressions -of the outside, and perhaps humble, panegyrist, not those of a friend -and supporter, like Horace. The abject expressions in the Tristia and -the letters from Pontus need not be taken into account. They are merely -bids for a recall, and they often express in the crudest form the growing -fashion of worshipping the Emperor or his genius. Perhaps the most -subtle of these appeals is that in which he explains why he had spent -his youth in writing frivolous poetry instead of celebrating the glories -of the Emperor—he was not a good enough poet, and would have dishonoured -a subject above his reach (Tr., ii. 335-340). This was using a weapon -forged by the Emperor himself, who had always let it be known that he -disliked being the subject of inferior artists. The melancholy and -feebleness of these later poems of Ovid seem to bear a sort of analogy -with the cloud that descended on the later years of Augustus. Vergil and -Horace have the freshness of the morning or the vigour of noon, Ovid the -gathering sadness of the evening. - - - - -AUGUSTUS’S ACCOUNT OF HIS REIGN (FROM THE INSCRIPTION IN THE TEMPLE OF -ROME AND AUGUSTUS AT ANGORA) - - -1. When I was nineteen I collected an army on my own account and at my -own expense, by the help of which I restored the republic to liberty, -which had been enslaved by the tyranny of a faction; for which services -the Senate, in complimentary decrees, added my name to the roll of -their House in the consulship of Gaius Pansa and Aulus Hirtius [B.C. -43], giving me at the same time consular precedence in voting; and gave -me imperium. It ordered me as proprætor “to see along with the consuls -that the republic suffered no damage.” Moreover, in the same year, both -consuls having fallen, the people elected me consul and a triumvir for -revising the constitution. - -2. Those who killed my father I drove into exile, after a legal trial, -in punishment of their crime, and afterwards when these same men rose in -arms against the republic I conquered them twice in a pitched battle. - -3. I had to undertake wars by land and sea, civil and foreign, all over -the world, and when victorious I spared surviving citizens. Those foreign -nations, who could safely be pardoned, I preferred to preserve rather -than exterminate. About 500,000 Roman citizens took the military oath to -me. Of these I settled out in colonies or sent back to their own towns, -after their terms of service were over, considerably more than 300,000; -and to them all I assigned lands purchased by myself or money in lieu -of lands. I captured 600 ships, not counting those below the rating of -triremes. - -4. I twice celebrated an ovation, three times curule triumphs, and was -twenty-one times greeted as imperator. Though the Senate afterwards voted -me several triumphs I declined them. I frequently also deposited laurels -in the Capitol after performing the vows which I had taken in each war. -For successful operations performed by myself or by my legates under -my auspices by land and sea, the Senate fifty-three times decreed a -supplication to the immortal gods. The number of days during which, in -accordance with a decree of the Senate, supplication was offered amounted -to 890. In my triumphs there were led before my chariot nine kings or -sons of kings. I had been consul thirteen times at the writing of this, -and am in the course of the thirty-seventh year of my tribunician power -[A.D. 13-14]. - -5. The Dictatorship offered me in my presence and absence by the -Senate and people in the consulship of Marcus Marcellus and Lucius -Arruntius [B.C. 22] I declined to accept. I did not refuse at a time -of very great scarcity of corn the commissionership of corn supply, -which I administered in such a way that within a few days I freed the -whole people from fear and danger. The consulship—either yearly or for -life—then offered to me I declined to accept. - -6. In the consulship of M. Vinicius and Q. Lucretius [B.C. 19], of P. and -Cn. Lentulus [B.C. 18], and of Paullus Fabius Maximus and Q. Tubero [B.C. -11], when the Senate and people of Rome unanimously agreed that I should -be elected overseer of the laws and morals, with unlimited powers and -without a colleague, I refused every office offered me which was contrary -to the customs of our ancestors. But what the Senate at that time wished -me to manage, I carried out in virtue of my tribunician power, and in -this office I five times received at my own request a colleague from the -Senate. - -7. I was one of the triumvirate for the re-establishment of the -constitution for ten consecutive years. I have been _princeps senatus_ up -to the day on which I write this for forty years. I am Pontifex Maximus, -Augur, one of the fifteen commissioners for religion, one of the seven -for sacred feasts, an Arval brother, a _sodalis Titius_, a fetial. - -8. In my fifth consulship [B.C. 29] I increased the number of the -patricians by order of people and Senate. I three times made up the roll -of the Senate, and in my sixth consulship [B.C. 28] I took a census of -the people with M. Agrippa as my colleague. I performed the _lustrum_ -after an interval of forty-one years; in which the number of Roman -citizens entered on the census roll was 4,063,000. A second time with -consular imperium I took the census by myself in the consulship of Gaius -Censorinus and Gaius Asinius [B.C. 8], in which the number of Roman -citizens entered on the roll was 4,223,000. I took a third census with -consular imperium, my son Tiberius Cæsar acting as my colleague, in the -consulship of Sextus Pompeius and Sextus Appuleius [A.D. 14], in which -the number of Roman citizens entered on the census roll was 4,937,000. By -new laws passed I recalled numerous customs of our ancestors that were -falling into desuetude in our time, and myself set precedents in many -particulars for the imitation of posterity. - -9. The Senate decreed that vows should be offered for my health by -consuls and priests every fifth year. In fulfilment of these vows the -four chief colleges of priests or the consuls often gave games in my -lifetime. Also individually and by townships the people at large always -offered sacrifices at all the temples for my health. - -10. By a decree of the Senate my name was included in the ritual of the -Salii; and it was ordained by a law that my person should be sacred and -that I should have the tribunician power for the term of my natural life. -I refused to become Pontifex Maximus in succession to my colleague during -his life, though the people offered me that sacred office formerly held -by my father. Some years later I accepted that sacred office on the death -of the man who had availed himself of the civil disturbance to secure -it; such a multitude flocking to my election from all parts of Italy as -is never recorded to have come to Rome before, in the consulship of P. -Sulpicius and C. Valgius [6 March, B.C. 12]. - -11. The Senate consecrated an altar to Fortuna Redux, near the temple -of Honour and Virtue, by the Porta Capena, for my return, on which it -ordered the Vestal Virgins to offer a yearly sacrifice on the day on -which in the consulship of Q. Lucretius and M. Vinicius [B.C. 19] I -returned to the city from Syria, and gave that day the name _Augustalia_ -from my cognomen [15 Dec.]. - -12. By a decree of the Senate at the same time part of the prætors and -tribunes of the plebs, along with the consul Q. Lucretius and leading -nobles, were despatched into Campania to meet me—an honour that up to -this time has been decreed to no one else. When I returned to Rome from -Spain and Gaul after successful operations in those provinces, in the -consulship of Tiberius Nero and Publius Quintilius [B.C. 13], the Senate -voted that an altar to Pax Augusta should be consecrated for my return on -the Campus Martius, upon which it ordered the magistrates and priests and -Vestal Virgins to offer an annual sacrifice [30 Jan.]. - -13. Whereas the Ianus Quirinus, which our ancestors ordered to be closed -when peace throughout the whole dominions of the Roman people by land and -sea had been obtained by victories, is recorded to have been only twice -shut before my birth since the foundation of the city, the Senate three -times voted its closure during my principate. - -14. My sons Gaius and Lucius Cæsar, whom fortune snatched from me in -their early manhood, in compliment to me, the Senate and Roman people -designated consuls in their fifteenth year with a proviso that they -should enter on that office after an interval of five years. From the day -of their assuming the _toga virilis_ the Senate decreed that they should -take part in public business. Moreover, the Roman equites in a body gave -each of them the title of _Princeps Iuventutis_, and presented them with -silver shields and spears. - -15. To the Roman plebs I paid 300 sesterces per head in virtue of -my father’s will; and in my own name I gave 400 apiece in my fifth -consulship [B.C. 29] from the sale of spoils of war; and a second time -in my tenth consulship [B.C. 24] out of my own private property I paid -a bounty of 400 sesterces per man, and in my eleventh consulship [B.C. -23] I measured out twelve distributions of corn, having purchased the -grain from my own resources. In the twelfth year of my tribunician power -[B.C. 11], I for the third time gave a bounty of 400 sesterces a head. -These largesses of mine affected never less than 50,200 persons. In -the eighteenth year of my tribunician power and my twelfth consulship -[B.C. 5] I gave 320,000 of the urban plebs sixty denarii a head. In the -colonies of my soldiers, in my fifth consulship [B.C. 29] I gave from the -sale of spoils of war 1,000 sesterces a head; and among such settlers -the number who received that triumphal largess amounted to about 120,000 -men. In my thirteenth consulship [B.C. 2] I gave 60 denarii apiece to the -plebeians then in receipt of public corn; they amounted to somewhat more -than 200,000 persons. - -16. The money for the lands, which in my fourth consulship [B.C. 30], and -afterwards in the consulship of M. Crassus and Cn. Lentulus the augur -[B.C. 14], I assigned to the soldiers, I paid to the municipal towns. The -amount was about 600,000,000 sesterces, which I paid for lands in Italy, -and about 260,000,000 which I disbursed for lands in the provinces. - -I was the first and only one within the memory of my own generation to -do this of all who settled colonies in Italy and the provinces. And -afterwards in the consulship of Tib. Nero and Cn. Piso [B.C. 7], and -again in the consulship of C. Antistius and D. Lælius [B.C. 6], and of C. -Calvisius and L. Pasienus [B.C. 4], and of L. Lentulus and M. Messalla -[B.C. 3], and of L. Caninius and Q. Fabricius [B.C. 2], to the soldiers, -whom after their terms of service I sent back to their own towns, I paid -good service allowances in ready money; on which I expended 400,000,000 -sesterces as an act of grace. - -17. I four times subsidised the _ærarium_ from my own money, the sums -which I thus paid over to the commissioners of the treasury amounting -to 150,000,000 sesterces. And in the consulship of M. Lepidus and L. -Arruntius [A.D. 6], to the military treasury, which was established on -my initiative for the payment of their good service allowance, to the -soldiers who had served twenty years or more, I contributed from my own -patrimony 170,000,000 sesterces.[322] - -18. From and after the year of the consulship of Gnæus and Publius -Lentulus [B.C. 18], whenever the payment of the revenues were in arrear, -I paid into the treasury from my own patrimony the taxes, whether due in -corn or money, sometimes of 100,000 persons, sometimes of more. - -19. I built the curia and Chalcidicum adjoining it, and the temples of -Apollo on the Palatine with its colonnades, the temple of the divine -Iulius, the Lupercal, the colonnade at the Flaminian circus, which I -allowed to be called Octavia, from the name of the builder of the earlier -one on the same site, the state box at the Circus Maximus, the temples -of Jupiter Feretrius and of Jupiter Tonans on the Capitol, the temple of -Quirinus, the temples of Minerva and of Juno the Queen, and of Jupiter -Liberalis on the Aventine, the temple of the Lares at the head of the -_via Sacra_, the temple of the divine Penates in the Velia, the temple of -Youth, the temple of the Mater Magna on the Palatine. - -20. The Capitolium and the Pompeian theatre—both very costly works—I -restored without any inscription of my own name. Water-conduits in many -places that were decaying from age I repaired; and I doubled the aqueduct -called the Aqua Marcia, by turning a new spring into its channel. - -The Forum Iulium and the basilica, which was between the temple of Castor -and the temple of Saturn, works begun and far advanced by my father, I -completed; and when the same basilica was destroyed by fire, I began its -reconstruction on an extended plan, to be inscribed with the names of my -sons, and in case I do not live to complete it I have ordered it to be -completed by my heirs. - -In my sixth consulship [B.C. 28], I repaired eighty-two temples of -the gods in the city in accordance with a decree of the Senate, none -being omitted which at that time stood in need of repair. In my seventh -consulship [B.C. 27] I constructed the Flaminian road from the city to -Ariminum, and all the bridges except the Mulvian and Minucian. - -21. On ground belonging to myself I built a temple to Mars Ultor and -the Forum Augustum, with money arising from sale of war spoils. I built -a theatre adjoining the temple of Apollo, on ground for the most part -purchased from private owners, to be under the name of my son-in-law -Marcus Marcellus. Offerings from money raised by sale of war-spoil I -consecrated in the temple of Apollo, and in the temple of Vesta, and in -the temple of Mars Ultor, which cost me about 100,000,000 sesterces. -Thirty-five thousand pounds of gold,[323] crown money contributed by -the municipia and colonies of Italy for my triumphs, I refunded in my -fifth consulship [B.C. 29], and subsequently, as often as I was greeted -Imperator, I refused to receive crown money, though the municipia and -colonies had decreed it with as much warmth as before. - -22. I three times gave a show of gladiators in my own name, and five -times in the name of my sons and grandsons; in which shows about 10,000 -men contended. I twice gave the people a show of athletes collected from -all parts of the world in my own name, and a third time in the name of my -grandson. I gave games in my own name four times, as representing other -magistrates twenty-three times. In behalf of the quindecimviri, and as -master of the college, with M. Agrippa as colleague, I gave the Secular -games in the consulship of C. Furnius and C. Silanus [B.C. 17]. In my -thirteenth consulship [B.C. 2], I gave for the first time the games of -Mars which, since that time, the consuls have given in successive years. -I gave the people wild-beast hunts, of African animals, in my own name -and that of my sons and grandsons, in the circus and forum, and the -amphitheatres twenty-six times, in which about 3,500 animals were killed. - -23. I gave the people the spectacle of a naval battle on the other side -of the Tiber, in the spot where now is the grove of the Cæsars, the -ground having been hollowed out to a length of 1,800 feet, and a breadth -of 1,200 feet, in which thirty beaked ships, triremes or biremes, and -a still larger number of smaller vessels contended. In these fleets, -besides the rowers, there fought about three thousand men. - -24. In the temples of all the states of the province of Asia, I replaced -the ornaments after my victory, which he with whom I had fought had taken -into his private possession from the spoliation of the temples. There -were about eighty silver statues of me, some on foot, some equestrian, -some in chariots, in various parts of the city. These I removed, and from -the money thus obtained I placed golden offerings in the temple of Apollo -in my own name and in that of those who had honoured me by the statues. - -25. I cleared the sea of pirates. In that war I captured about 30,000 -slaves, who had run away from their masters, and had borne arms against -the republic, and handed them back to their owners to be punished. The -whole of Italy took the oath to me spontaneously, and demanded that I -should be the leader in the war in which I won the victory off Actium. -The provinces of the Gauls, the Spains, Africa, Sicily, Sardinia, took -the same oath. Among those who fought under my standards were more than -seven hundred Senators, eighty-three of whom had been, or have since -been, consuls up to the time of my writing this, 170 members of the -sacred colleges. - -26. I extended the frontiers of all the provinces of the Roman people, -which were bordered by tribes that had not submitted to our Empire. The -provinces of the Gauls, and Spains and Germany, bounded by the Ocean from -Gades to the mouth of the river Elbe, I reduced to a peaceful state. The -Alps, from the district near the Adriatic to the Tuscan sea, I forced to -remain peaceful without waging unprovoked war with any tribe. My fleet -sailed through the Ocean from the mouth of the Rhine towards the rising -sun, up to the territories of the Cimbri, to which point no Roman had -penetrated, up to that time, either by land or sea. The Cimbri, and -Charydes, and Semnones and other peoples of the Germans, belonging to -the same tract of country, sent ambassadors to ask for the friendship -of myself and the Roman people. By my command and under my auspices, -two armies were marched into Æthiopia and Arabia, called Felix, nearly -simultaneously, and large hostile forces of both these nations were cut -to pieces in battle, and a large number of towns were captured. Æthiopia -was penetrated as far as the town Nabata, next to Meroe. Into Arabia the -army advanced into the territories of the Sabæi as far as the town Mariba. - -27. I added Egypt to the Empire of the Roman people. When I might have -made the Greater Armenia a province after the assassination of its king -Artaxes, I preferred, on the precedent of our ancestors, to hand over -that kingdom to Tigranes, son of King Artavasdes, grandson of King -Tigranes, by the hands of Tiberius Nero, who was then my stepson. The -same nation being afterwards in a state of revolt and rebellion, I handed -over to the government of King Ariobarzanes, son of Artabazus, king of -the Medes, after it had been reduced by my son Gaius; and after his death -to his son Artavasdes, upon whose assassination I sent Tigranes, a member -of the royal family of the Armenians, into that kingdom. I recovered all -the provinces on the other side of the Adriatic towards the East and -Cyrenæ, which were by this time for the most part held by various kings, -and before them Sicily and Sardinia which had been overrun by an army of -slaves. - -28. I settled colonies of soldiers in Africa, Sicily, Macedonia, both -the Spains, Achaia, Asia, Syria, Gallia Narbonensis, Pisidia. Italy has -twenty-eight colonies established under my auspices, which have in my -lifetime become very densely inhabited and places of great resort. - -29. A large number of military standards, which had been lost under other -commanders, I recovered, after defeating the enemy, from Spain and Gaul -and the Dalmatians. I compelled the Parthians to restore the spoils and -standards of three Roman armies, and to seek as suppliants the friendship -of the Roman people. These standards I laid up in the inner shrine -belonging to the temple of Mars Ultor. - -30. The tribes of the Pannonii, which before I was _princeps_ an army of -the Roman people never reached, having been subdued by Tiberius Nero, -who was then my stepson and legate [B.C. 11], I added to the Empire of -the Roman people, and I extended the frontier of Illyricum to the bank -of the river Danube. And when an army of the Daci crossed to the south -of that river it was conquered and put to flight under my auspices; and -subsequently my army, being led across the Danube, forced the tribes of -the Daci to submit to the orders of the Roman people. - -31. To me there were often sent embassies of kings from India, who had -never before been seen in the camp of any Roman general. By embassadors -the Bastarnæ and the Scythians and the kings of the Sarmatians, who live -on both sides of the river Don, and the king of the Albani and of the -Hiberi and of the Medes, sought our friendship. - -32. Kings of the Parthians—Tiridates, and afterwards Phrates, son of -King Phrates—fled to me for refuge; of the Medes Artavasdes; of the -Adiabeni Artaxares; of the Britons Dumnobellaunus and Tim ...;[324] of -the Marcomanni and Suebi....[324] Phrates, king of the Parthians, son of -Orodes, sent all his sons and grandsons to me in Italy, not because he -had been overcome in war, but seeking our friendship by means of his own -sons as pledges. And a very large number of other nations experienced the -good faith of the Roman people while I was _princeps_, with whom before -that time there had been no diplomatic or friendly intercourse. - -33. The nations of the Parthians and the chief men of the Medes by means -of embassies sought and accepted from me kings of those peoples—the -Parthians Vonones, son of King Phrates, grandson of King Orodes; the -Medes Ariobarzanes, son of King Artavasdes, grandson of King Ariobarzanes. - -34. In my sixth and seventh consulships [B.C. 28, 27], when I had -extinguished the flames of civil war, having by universal consent become -possessed of the sole direction of affairs, I transferred the republic -from my power to the will of the Senate and people of Rome. For which -good service on my part I was by decree of the Senate called by the name -of Augustus, and the door-posts of my house were covered with laurels -in the name of the state, and a civic crown was fixed up over my door, -and a golden shield was placed in the Curia Iulia, which it was declared -by its inscription the Senate and people of Rome gave me in recognition -of valour, clemency, justice, piety. After that time I took precedence -of all in rank, but of power I had nothing more than those who were my -colleagues in the several magistracies. - -35. While I was administering my thirteenth consulship [B.C. 2], the -Senate and equestrian order and the Roman people with one consent greeted -me as FATHER OF MY COUNTRY, and decreed that it should be inscribed in -the vestibule of my house, and in the Senate house, and in the Forum -Augustum, and under the chariot which was there placed in my honour in -accordance with a senatorial decree. - -When I wrote this I was in my seventy-sixth year [A.D. 13-14]. - - - - -FOOTNOTES - - -[1] _Ad capita bubula._ Lanciani (_Remains of Ancient Rome_, p. 139) says -that this was the name of a lane at the eastern corner of the Palatine. -Others have thought it to be the name of the house, as the _ad malum -Punicum_ in which Domitian was born (Suet., _Dom._ 1). So later we hear -of a house at Rome _quæ est ad Palmam_ (_Codex Theod._, p. 3). The house -may have had its name from a frieze with ox-heads on it, like the tomb of -Metella, which came to be called _Capo-di-bove_. It seems less easy to -account for a lane being so called. See also p. 205. - -[2] C. I. L., vol. i. p. 279. - -[3] Cicero, _ad Q. Fr._ 1, 1, 21; 1, 2, 7. Velleius Pat., 2, 59; Sueton., -_Aug._ 3. - -[4] The plebeian Atii Balbi do not seem to have been important. M. Atius -Balbus was prætor in B.C. 62 (with Cæsar), governor of Sardinia B.C. -61-60, and in B.C. 59 was one of the XX viri under the Julian land law -(Cic., _ad Att._ ii. 4). - -[5] These and other stories will be found in Sueton., _Aug._ 94, and Dio, -45, 2. Vergil makes skilful use of them in _Æn._, vi. 797, _sqq._ - -[6] Antony, when he wished to depreciate Augustus, asserted that his -great-grandfather had a rope-walk at Thurii; and some such connection of -his ancestors with that place may account for the cognomen, which would -naturally be dropped afterwards (Suet., _Aug._ 7). - -[7] The marriage could not have taken place earlier than the middle of -B.C. 57, for when Atia’s first husband died Philippus was in Syria. He -was succeeded by Gabinius in B.C. 57, and reached Italy in time to stand -for the consulship, the elections that year being at the ordinary time, -_i.e._, July (Cic., _ad Att._ 4, 2). - -[8] L. Marcius Philippus was the son of the famous orator, and was a warm -supporter of Cicero. With his colleague as consul-designate he proposed -the prosecution of Clodius (Cic., _ad Q. Fr._ ii. 1). When the civil -war was beginning he was allowed by Cæsar to remain neutral (Cic., _ad -Att._ ix. 15; x. 4). But Cicero found him tiresome company, for he was -garrulous and prosy (_ad Att._ xii. 9, 16, 18); and in the troublous -times following the assassination of Cæsar he set little store by his -opinion (_ad Att._ xvi. 14; _ad Brut._ i. 17). - -[9] The law of B.C. 52 allowed Cæsar to be “elected in his absence” -(_absentis rationem haberi_), but said nothing of his being in possession -of a province. By long prescription the Senate had the right of deciding -when a provincial governor should be “succeeded.” But then Cæsar’s term -of provincial government had been fixed by a _lex_, which was superior -to a _Senatus-consultum_; and he might also argue that if it was -unconstitutional for a man to be elected consul while holding a province, -the Senate had violated the constitution in allowing Pompey to be consul -in B.C. 52. - -[10] The Senate did not insist on the _professio_, from which Cæsar had -been exempted by name in Pompey’s law. But its contention was that it -still retained the right of naming the date at which a man was to leave -his province, and of deciding in regard to an election whether a man was -a legal candidate, which might depend on other things besides the making -or not making a _professio_. - -[11] The difficulty was that both consuls were absent. There was no -one therefore capable of holding a consular election. But as the other -curule magistrates still existed, “the _auspicia_ had not returned to -the Fathers,” who could not therefore name an interrex. The Prætor -Lepidus—though willing—could not “create” a _maius imperium_. The only -way out of it was to name a Dictator (_com. hab. causa_); but one of -the consuls, according to tradition, could alone do that. Eventually -Lepidus, by a special vote of the people was authorised to name Cæsar -as Dictator—which had precedents in the cases of Fabius Maximus and -Sulla—and Cæsar, as Dictator, held the consular elections. Cæs., b. c. -ii, 21; Dio, 41, 36. - -[12] Nicolas (ch. 4) says that he took the _toga virilis_ about fourteen -(περὶ ἔτη μάλιστα γεγονὼς τεσσαρακαίδεκα). But Suetonius (_Aug._ 8) says -that he spoke the _laudatio_ of his grandmother in his twelfth year, and -“four years afterwards” took the _toga virilis_. - -[13] Octavius was _sui iuris_, his father being dead; his adoption -therefore required the formal passing of a _lex curiata_. Now the -opposition, supported by Antony, against this formality being carried out -was one of the grounds of Octavian’s quarrel with him in B.C. 44-3, and -the completion of it was one of the first things secured by Octavian on -his entrance into Rome in August, B.C. 43 [Appian, b. c. iii. 94; Dio, -45, 5]. This seems conclusive against the theory that Iulius adopted -him in his lifetime. Moreover all authorities speak of the adoption as -made by _Will_. Livy, _Ep._ 116, _testamento in nomen adoptatus est_; -Velleius, ii. 59, _testamentum apertum est, quo C. Octavium nepotem -sororis suæ Iuliæ adoptabat_. See also Appian, b. c. iii. 11; Dio, 45, 3; -Plutarch, _Brut._ 22. It is true that Nicolas—speaking of the triumph of -B.C. 46—(§ 8) says υἱὸν ἤδη πεποιημἐνος. But if he means anything more -than “regarding him as a son,” he twice afterwards contradicts himself: -See § 17 ἀπήγγελλον τά τε ἄλλα καὶ ὡς ἐν ταῖς διαθήκαις ὡς υἱὸς εἴη -Καίσαρι ἐγγεγραμμένος. _Cf._ § 13. - -[14] Cicero, _ad Att._ xii. 48, 49; Nicholas, § 14; Valer. Max., 1, 15, -2. For the subsequent fate of the man see Cicero, _ad Att._ xiv. 6, 7, 8; -App., b. c. iii. 2-3. - -[15] The patrician _gentes_ were dying out, and it was thought good -to replenish their numbers, thus gradually forming a class of nobles -distinct from these ennobled by office. In making the Octavii patricians, -the initiative was taken by the Senate; in later times, however, the -power of creating _patricii_ was conferred on the imperator. Iulius seems -also to have done it on his own authority. (Dio, 43, 47; Suet., _Aug._ 2.) - -[16] He took with him Apollodorus of Pergamus, a well-known author of a -system of rhetoric (Suet., _Aug._ 89; Strabo, 13, 4, 3; Quinct., 3, 1, -17). Other teachers of his, whether at Apollonia or elsewhere, are Areius -of Alexandria, Alexander of Pergamus, Athenodorus of Tarsus (Suet. _l. -c._; Dio, 51, 4; Plutarch, _Ant._ 11; Nicol. Dam., § 17; Zonaras, 10, 38). - -[17] Suet., _Aug._ 65; Vell. Paterc., 2, 59, 64; App., b. c. 5, 66; Dio, -48, 33. The other instance of a friend who fell into disfavour and ruin -quoted by Suetonius is Cornelius Gallus. But he does not seem to have -been at Apollonia. He was nearly three years older than Augustus, and in -B.C. 44-3 was perhaps with Pollio in Bætica. See Cic., _ad Fam._ x. 32. - -[18] Nicolas, § 16; App., b. c. iii. 9-10. - -[19] Dolabella consul for the last half of B.C. 44 with Antony; Pansa and -Hirtius, B.C. 43; Plancus and Dec. Brutus B.C. 42. Probably M. Brutus and -C. Cassius (or certainly the former) B.C. 41 [Plut., _Cæs._ 62; Cic., _ad -Fam._ xii. 2]. For B.C. 43 prætors and other magistrates were named, but -for the next years only consuls and tribunes. - -[20] Dio, 43, 47, καὶ ἔς γε τὰ ἔθνη ἀκληρωτὶ ἐξεπέμφθησαν. - -[21] M. Brutus, C. Cassius, Dec. Brutus, L. Cimber, C. Trebonius. - -[22] Cic., _ad Att._ xiv. 9; Cæs., b. c. ii. 22; Plut., _Ant._ xi. - -[23] Dio, 46, 60. - -[24] Cæsar had auxiliaries in Spain from Aquitania B.C. 49; Cæs., b. c. -i. 39. - -[25] Cicero, _ad Att._ xiv. 5, 8, 9. - -[26] Livy, _Ep._ 62. Appian says that Metellus did not fight, but was -received as a friend, wintered at Salonæ, and then went home and claimed -a triumph (_Illyr._ xi.). - -[27] Eutrop., v. 4. - -[28] _Id._ vi. 4; Oros., v. 23. - -[29] Cæs., b. c. iii. 5, 9. - -[30] Livy, _Ep._ 110; App., b. c. ii. 47. - -[31] _Id._, b. c. ii. 59. - -[32] Cæs., _b. Alex._ 42-3. - -[33] _Id._, 34-6. - -[34] Cic., _ad Fam._ v. 10 (_a_), 10, 11. - -[35] App., _Illyr._ 13. - -[36] App., b. c. iv. 75; Dio, 47, 21. Vatinius was ill, and his late -reverses had lost him the confidence of his men, who insisted on being -transferred to Brutus. - -[37] Dio, 43, 42; Horace, _Odes_, iii. 1, 13. - -[38] Cæs., _b. Alex._ 48-64; _Hisp._ 7, 12. - -[39] App., b. c. ii. 107. - -[40] Wrongly called Aulus Albinus by Appian, b. c. ii. 48; see Klein, -_die Verwaltungsbeamten der Provinzen_, p. 83. - -[41] Cic., _ad Fam._ xiii. 30, 36, 50, 78, 79; Cæs., _b. Afr._ 2, 26, 34. - -[42] Cic., _ad Fam._ vi. 16, 17. - -[43] Dio, 48, 17, 19; Livy, _Ep._ 123; Appian, b. c. iv. 84. A certain -M. Casinius was nominated to Sicily for B.C. 43, but did not go there, -perhaps owing to the order of the Senate (meant to support Dec. Brutus) -made on the 20th of December, B.C. 44, that all governors should retain -their provinces till farther orders (Cic., _ad Fam._ xii. 22, 25). - -[44] App., b. c. ii. 48. - -[45] Cic., _ad Att._ xv. 7; xvi. 3. - -[46] App., b. c. iv. 2; Dio, 46, 55. - -[47] Sueton., _Aug._ 47. This probably means after his accession to sole -power. According to Nicolas, § 11-12, he visited Africa with Cæsar in -B.C. 45. See p. 13. There is no record, however, of his ever having been -to Sardinia. - -[48] App., b. c. v. 67. The hold of Sext. Pompeius on Sardinia was -recognised in the “treaty” of Misenum made in B.C. 39 (Dio, 48, 36; App., -b. c. v. 72). - -[49] See Note 2, p. 24. - -[50] Cicero, _3 Phil._ § 26; _ad Fam._ xii. 22, 23, 30. - -[51] Appian, b. c. iii. 85, 91. - -[52] Appian, b. c. iv. 36, 53-56; v. 26; Dio, 48, 21-23. It seems -impossible to reconcile Appian and Dio. The course of events here -indicated agrees chiefly with Dio, whose account appears on the whole the -more reasonable. - -[53] Cæs., b. c. iii., 102. - -[54] _Id._, _b. Alex._ 42. - -[55] Drawn up by the commissioners after the fall of Corinth, B.C. 146. - -[56] Cicero, _ad Att._ xi. 15; Cæsar, b. c. ii. 56, 106; Dio, 42, 14. - -[57] Servius had fought against Cæsar at Pharsalia, though his son was -with Cæsar. After the battle he retired to Samos and refused to continue -the war. See Cicero, _ad Fam._ iv. 3, 4, 11, 12; vi. 6; xiii. 17, 19, 23, -25, 28. - -[58] App., b. c. v. 72. - -[59] Cicero, _ad Fam._ vi. 12; App., b. c. iii. 2. - -[60] See Cicero, _13 Phil._ 23 (Antony’s letter). - -[61] P. Cornelius Lentulus Spinther. See his letter to Cicero, _ad Fam._ -xii. 14, 15. - -[62] Cæs., _b. Alex._ 66: _rebus omnibus provinciæ et finitimarum -civitatum constitutis_ is all that we are told. - -[63] Dio, 47, 26. Appian gives two accounts of Bassus. In the first he -represents him as the real commander of the legions, while Sext. Iulius -was the nominal chief. He, however, gives an alternative account more in -accordance with that of Dio. See App., b. c. iii. 77; iv. 58, _sq._ - -[64] Cicero, _ad Att._ xiv. 9. - -[65] _Id._, _ad Fam._ xii. 11 (Cassius to Cicero); xii. 12. - -[66] Cicero, _ad Att._ vi. 5; Valer. Max., vi. 1, 15. - -[67] Cyrene with four other cities—Apollonia, Ptolemais, Arsinoe, -Berenice—formed a Pentapolis. (Livy, _Epit._ 70.) - -[68] App., b. c. I. iii. _sq._; Sall., _hist. fr._ ii. 39. - -[69] Vell. Pat., ii. 34; Dio, 36, 2; Iust. 39, 5; Livy, _Epit._ 100. The -laws of Crete were left in force (Cic., _Mur._ § 74; _pro Flacc._ § 30). - -[70] App., b. c. iii. 12, 16, 36; iv. 57; Dio, 47, 21. - -[71] Cicero, _2 Phil._ § 97. - -[72] The possibility of these legions crossing to Italy had caused no -little anxiety at Rome; Cicero, _ad Att._ xiv. 16. - -[73] Cicero, _ad Att._ xv. 21. - -[74] Suetonius (_Iul._ 83) says, “three-fourths”; so also does Nicolas -Dam. 17 (τρία μέρη τῶν χρημάτων). But Livy (_Ep._ 116) says “one-half” -(_ex semisse_). It is possible Livy may refer to the amount left when -the legacy of 300 sesterces to each citizen was deducted. Nicolas seems -to think, however, that this legacy was charged on the remaining fourth. -Octavian certainly undertook to pay it, but then Pinarius and Pedius -handed over their shares to him. - -[75] Appian (b. c. ii. 147) says that the body itself was not seen during -Antony’s _laudatio_, but that a wax figure was displayed which by some -mechanical contrivance was made to revolve and show all the wounds. - -[76] Nicolas (§ 17) would seem to send them straight to Antium. But -from Cicero’s letters it is clear that Brutus at any rate went first to -Lanuvium, _ad Att._ xiv. 10, 21; xv. 9. They seem to have gone to Antium -towards the end of May or beginning of June. - -[77] Suet., _Aug._ 25. - -[78] The last being the adjectival form of his original name, in -accordance with the usual custom in cases of adoption. - -[79] Cicero, _ad Att._ xiv. 5, 10, 11, 12. - -[80] Cicero, _ad Att._ xiv. 20, 21. Dio (45, 6) says that the introducing -tribune was Tib. Canutius. But it seems probable that this refers to a -second speech. - -[81] Cic., _ad Att._ xv. 2. There is a singularly manly and frank letter -from Matius to Cicero (_ad Fam._ xi. 28), defending his attachment to -Cæsar and his services to Octavian. - -[82] Appian, b. c. 3, 20, τῶν προσόδων ἐξ οὗ παρῆλθεν ἐπὶ τὴν ἀρχὴν ἐς -αὐτὸν ἀντὶ τοῦ ταμιείου συμφερομένων. The sole management of the Treasury -had been committed to Cæsar in B.C. 45 (Dio, 43, 44, τἁ δημόσια χρήματα -μόνον διοικεῖν). He had taken it out of the hands of the _quæstors_ and -appointed two _præfecti_ to manage it: but it does not seem that they had -anything to do with the money in the temple of Ops, as to which there was -some doubt as to its being “public money” in the ordinary sense. - -[83] Cicero, _1 Phil._ § 17; _2 Phil._ § 93. - -[84] Cicero, in _2 Phil._ § 93, seems to assume that Antony had taken the -money all at once. But from Cicero’s own letters it would seem that the -process of despoiling the temple of Ops was a gradual one, and that the -use made of the money by Antony was more or less a matter of conjecture. -On the 27th of April he writes: “You mention plundering going on at the -temple of Ops. I, too, was a witness to that at the time” (_ad Att._ -xiv. 14). On the 7th of May he says that Dolabella had a great share -of it (_ad Att._ xiv. 18). In November he says that his nephew Quintus -knew all about it, and meant to reveal it to the public (_ad Att._ xvi. -14). Appian (b. c. iii. 20) makes Antony say to Octavian: “The money -transferred to my house was not so large a sum as you conjecture, nor is -any part of it in my custody now. The men in power—except Dolabella and -my brothers—divided up the whole of it as the property of a tyrant.” - -[85] Cic., _ad Att._ xvi. 8. - -[86] Dio, 45, 6; this seems a different case from that mentioned by App., -b. c. iii. 47, and referred to by Cicero, _ad Att._ xvi. 15, as happening -later in this same year. - -[87] See _ante_ p. 14: Dio, 45, 2; Sueton., _Aug._ 2, 10; Tac., _Ann._ -xi. 25. - -[88] Dio, 45, 4; Cicero, _ad Att._ xv. 3. - -[89] Cicero, _2 Phil._ § 100; _ad Att._ xiv. 20, 21. - -[90] _Id._, _ad Att._ xiv. 3 (9th April); xv. 4 (24th May); _2 Phil._ -§ 108; Appian, b. c. iii. 5. The Senate had been induced to vote him a -bodyguard. See the letter of Brutus and Cassius to Antony in Cicero, _ad -Fam._ xi. 2. - -[91] Dio, 45, 10; Cic., _ad Att._ xvi. 1. The negotiation after all -fell through on the question of Sextus’s recovering the actual house -and property of his father, much of which was in Antony’s hands (Cic., -_ad Att._ xvi. 4; Dio, 45, 9). He refused to accept a mere money -compensation. Eventually, when the Senate had broken with Antony, it made -terms with Sextus, appointing him commander of the naval forces of the -Republic. Consequently he was proscribed by the Triumvirs. App., b. c. -iii. 4. - -[92] Cic., _ad Att._ xv. 10, 11. - -[93] Cicero (_2 Phil._ § 109) declares that Antony’s bodyguard was -stationed round the Senate—some of them being foreign mercenaries—and -that his opponents therefore did not venture to enter the house. - -[94] Appian, b. c. iii. 29-30. But Appian in regard to the order of -events here is very confused and often wrong. - -[95] Cicero, _ad Att._ xvi. 4, 5. - -[96] _Id._, _1 Phil._ § 14; _ad Att._ xvi. 7; _ad Fam._ xii. 2. - -[97] Nicolas (§ 30), Appian (b. c. iii. 39), Plutarch (_Ant._ 16), acquit -Augustus. The two writers who adopt Cicero’s view of the truth of the -accusation are Seneca (_de Clement._ 1, 9, 1) and Suetonius (_Aug._ 10). -See Cicero, _ad Fam._ xii. 23. - -[98] _ad Att._ xv. 12. - -[99] See _ante_, p. 3. - -[100] He had the title _Imperator_ inherited from Cæsar (Dio, 43, 44); -but this was a mere honorary title, and could not be held to give -_imperium_. He was careful to use it however, as in the inscription -recording the formation of the triumvirate.... EMILIVS M. ANTONIVS. IMP. -CÆSAR. III VIR R.P.C. A.D. IV KAL. DEC. AD. PRID. KAL. IAN. SEXT.... - -[101] _Monum. Ancyr._ I, annos undeviginti natus exercitum privato -consilio et privata impensa comparavi: per quem rem publicam _dominatione -factionis oppressam in libertatem vindicavi_. Compare Cæsar, _b. civ._ 1, -22, ut se et Populum Romanum _factione paucorum oppressum in libertatem -vindicaret_. - -[102] Cicero, _ad Att._ xvi. 8 and 9. - -[103] _Id._, _ad Fam._ xii. 23. - -[104] App., b. c. iii. 43-45; Cic., _3 Phil._ § 10; Dio, 45, 13. - -[105] Cic., _ad Att._ xvi. 10, 13 a, 13 b, 14. - -[106] _Id._, _3 Phil._ § 19. - -[107] _pestifera_, _13 Phil._ § 19. - -[108] Cicero, _3 Phil._ §§ 19-27; _5 Phil._ § 23; _13 Phil._ § 19; App., -b. c. iii. 45. - -[109] Cic., _ad Att._ xvi. 11. - -[110] _Id._ xvi. 14. - -[111] _Id._ xvi. 15. It seems from Appian (b. c. iii. 31) that Octavian -was not a candidate, but he was generally supposed to wish it, and that -therefore many were going to vote for him. He ostensibly supported -another candidate—Flaminius. Antony stopped the election on the ground -that there was no need to fill up a vacancy so late in the year. This -settled the question. But it is doubtful whether this does not refer to -an earlier occasion. - -[112] Cicero, _ad Att._ xvi. 15, 3. - -[113] _Id._, _ad Fam._ xi. 6; _3 Phil._ §§ 37-39. - -[114] The passages are Cicero, _5 Phil._ §§ 45-47; _11 Phil._ § 20; _13 -Phil._ § 39; _Monum. Ancyr._ § 3; Livy, _Ep._ 118; C. I. L. x. 8375; -Suet., _Aug._ 10, 26. Dio (40, 29) says that he was in the Senate ἐν -τοῖς τεταμιευκόσι—_inter quæstorios_. This may be a misunderstanding of -Cicero’s proposal that for _purposes of election_ he was to count as -having been quæstor. The rank of proprætor was necessary for his command -in the army, not for his entrance into the Senate. - -[115] Pollio in Bætica, Lepidus in Gallia Narbonensis and Hispania -Citerior, and Plancus in Northern Gaul. - -[116] _Laudandum, ornandum, tollendum_ (Cic., _ad Fam._ xi. 20, 21). This -epigram seems to have been inspired by the exultant hopes roused by the -news of the battle of Forum Gallorum. - -[117] _Monum. Ancyr._ § 1, respublica ne quid detrimenti caperet me -pro prætore cum consulibus providere iussit. This was a general order, -neither Antony nor any particular _hostis_ being named. - -[118] Octavian first assumed the _fasces_ (symbol of imperium) on the 7th -of January (C. I. L. x. 8375.) - -[119] Cicero, _8 Phil._ §§ 25-28. - -[120] The letter is preserved in the 13th Philippic, with Cicero’s -bitter comments. It dwells on the favours and honours voted to the chief -assassins, as well as the abolition of many of Cæsar’s _acta_. Antony -also asserts that Lepidus and Plancus are on his side and warns Octavian -that Cicero is playing him false. - -[121] The country is very flat, but was intersected by drains and -watercourses, making military evolutions difficult, if not impossible, in -the rainy season. (App., b. c. 3, 65.) - -[122] Such as the cavalry engagement between Pontius Aquila and Tib. -Munatius Plancus at Pollentia (Dio, 46, 38). Octavian also suffered some -loss by the desertion of some Gallic cavalry (_ib._ 37). - -[123] Cic., _ad Brutum_, ii. 2. - -[124] In enrolling legions Bassus was probably justified by the _SCtum -ultimum_, which included the prætors. He was known to be a supporter of -Antony, and might be thought capable of occupying Rome in his interest. -We shall see afterwards that he joined him in Cisalpine Gaul. Some rumour -of his being likely to act in this way had been rife before January 1st, -when he was only prætor-designate. (See Cic., _ad Att._ xvi. 1; _ad -Brut._ i. 3.) - -[125] Cicero says of Octavian that he _secundum proelium fecit_ because -he _castra multarum legionum paucis cohortibus tutatus est_ (_14 Phil._ § -28). The attack on the camp is not mentioned elsewhere (_ib._ § 37). For -his being greeted as Imperator see C. I. L. ix. 8375. - -[126] Cic., _ad Brut._ 1, 3, 5. - -[127] Suet., _Aug._ 11; Cic., _ad Brut._ i. 6. - -[128] Cic., _ad Fam._ xi. 21. - -[129] Dio, 46, 41; Livy, _Ep._ 118. - -[130] Cic., _ad Brut._ i. 15. - -[131] _Id._, _ad Fam._ xi. 20, 21, see _ante_ p. 52. - -[132] _Id._, _ad Brut._ i. 4; App., b. c. iii. 82; Dio, 46, 42; Plut., -_Cic._ 46. There was evidently some rumour of Cicero intending to be -consul, though he speaks with rather affected indignation of Octavian -wishing to be elected also (_ad Brut._ i. 10). - -[133] Cic., _ad Brut._ 1, 3. - -[134] _Id._ § 4. - -[135] Cic., _ad Fam._ xi. 10. - -[136] He was perhaps deceived by the report that Octavian’s legions had -taken an oath not to fight against any that had served under Iulius -Cæsar. This applied to some men at present with Antony. But Dio implies -that the oath was at the secret instigation of Octavian himself (Dio, 46, -42). - -[137] Cic., _ad Fam._ xi. 13. - -[138] _Id._ xi. 19. - -[139] _Id._ xi. 20. - -[140] _Id._ xi. 14. - -[141] Cic., _ad Fam._ x. 23. - -[142] _Id._ x. 24. - -[143] _Id._ xi. 12 and 14. - -[144] Cic., _ad Fam._ x. 16. - -[145] _Id._ x. 35; xii. 35. - -[146] _Id._ xi. 26, _cp._ xi. 13. - -[147] _Id._, _ad. Brut._ i. 10. - -[148] A similar technical difficulty had occurred in B.C. 49 (both -consuls being absent, and unwilling, of course, to name a dictator), and -had been got over by the nomination of a dictator by the prætor under a -special law. See p. 8; Cic., _ad Fam._ x. 26; _ad M. Brut._ i. 5. - -[149] Plancus (Cic., _ad Fam._ x. 29) expresses surprise that Cæsar -wished to give up the glory of defeating Antony for the sake of “a two -months’ consulship.” But this only shows that Plancus did not understand -Octavian’s object or policy. - -[150] Suet., _Aug._ 26; Dio, 46, 43; Plut., _Pomp._ 58. Appian (b. c. 3, -82), without alluding to this scene, regards the application itself as -the result of a secret intrigue with Cicero, and Cicero’s exclamation, if -made, may have been intended as encouraging and not sarcastic. - -[151] The number given by Appian (b. c. iii. 88). Octavian had five -legions when he went to Gaul: two raised in Campania of veterans, one of -_tirones_, the Martia and Quarta (App., b. c. iii. 47). The other three -must have been made up from the armies of Pansa and Hirtius. None of -the veteran legions in these two armies would consent to follow Decimus -Brutus (Cic., _ad Fam._ xi. 19). - -[152] Cic., _ad Brut._ 1, 18. - -[153] _Ib._ and App., b. c. iii. 90. - -[154] The panic had been increased by some damage done by his soldier on -the march to properties of known anti-Cæsareans. - -[155] Confiscation of property and the forbidding of “fire and water” -followed as a matter of course. One of the assassins—P. Servilius -Casca—was tribune, and as such could not legally be condemned, but he -vacated his tribuneship by flying from Rome and was condemned with the -rest. - -[156] The Senate had nothing to do with this _quæstio_, which was -established by a _lex_, but its attitude to Octavian amounted to a -condonation if not an active approval. - -[157] According to Appian (b. c. iii. 97), Pollio for some time declined -to join Antony and Lepidus. He seems to have done so when their outlawry -was removed. - -[158] Decimus Brutus first tried to reach Ravenna, hoping to sail -to Macedonia and join M. Brutus. Headed back by Cæsar’s advance, he -recrossed the Alps (being gradually deserted by his men) and trusted -himself to a Gaul, who had received favours from him of old. But his host -communicated with Antony, and by his orders put him to death. There were -other versions of his death. Perhaps neither Antony nor Cæsar cared to -ask questions so long as he was dead. (App., b. c. iii. 97-98; Dio, 46, -53; Velleius Pat., ii. 64; Livy, _Ep._ 120.) - -[159] Plancus did not accompany Antony into Italy; he stayed in Gaul, -busying himself with the foundation of Lugdunum, and apparently -suppressing some movements in the Eastern Alps, for at the end of the -year coming home to enter on his consulship, he celebrated a triumph _ex -Rhætis_ [Inscrip. Neap., 4089; Fast. Capitol. 29 Dec. A. V. 711.] Pollio, -who had presently to assent to the proscription of his father-in-law, L. -Quintius, was left in charge of Transpadane Gaul, to arrange for lands -for the veterans. It was in this business that he came across Vergil and -his farm. - -[160] Daughter of Fulvia by her first husband, P. Clodius. - -[161] Plut., _Ant._ 19; App., b. c. iv. 6; Dio, 46, 44. - -[162] The usual interval (_tres nundinæ_) for _promulgatio_ was dispensed -with. - -[163] Appian, b. c. iv. 5; Livy, _Ep._ 120. Of the 69 names given by -Appian, he records the escape of 31. This tallies roughly with the -discrepancy between his and Livy’s reckoning. - -[164] Appian, b. c. iv. 36. - -[165] Suet., _Aug._ 27. - -[166] Dio, 47, 14. - -[167] _Id._ 47, 16-17. - -[168] App., b. c. 4, 34. - -[169] _Lassam crudelitatem_, Sen. _de Clem._ 1, 9, 2. The other opinions -referred to are Velleius, ii. 66; App., b. c. iv. 42, 45; Plut., _Ant._ -21; Dio, 47, 7; Sueton., _Aug._ 27. For Toranius, see Nic. Dam. 2. - -[170] Sueton., _Aug._ 61; Dio, 47, 17; [Tacit.] _de orat._ 29. - -[171] Cicero, _13 Phil._ §§ 8-12, 50; Velleius, ii. 73. The decree was -passed on the 20th of March, B.C. 43. - -[172] Dio, 48, 17 _sq._; Livy, _Ep._ 123. - -[173] App., b. c. iv. 85; Dio, 47, 36; Livy, _Ep._ 123. - -[174] Dio, 51, 2; Suet., _Aug._ 13. - -[175] At any rate the head never reached Rome, but was lost at sea. App., -b. c. iv. 135; Dio, 47, 49; Plut., _Ant._, 22; _Brut._ 53; Sueton., -_Aug._ 13. - -[176] Ulpian (dig. 48, 24) quotes this lost autobiography; see _Mon. -Ancyr._ § 3. - -[177] The first meeting of Antony and Cleopatra, when the queen was rowed -up the Cydnus in her barge, dressed as Venus with attendant cupids, seems -to have been in the autumn of B.C. 42 (Plut., _Anton._ 25-6.). He had -seen her once before in B.C. 56 when he accompanied Gabinius to restore -her father. But she must have been a mere child then. - -[178] These legions had behaved badly at Placentia, demanding a sum of -money from the inhabitants. Calenus and Ventidius may have justified -their action on this score (Dio, 48, 10). - -[179] From _caliga_, “a soldier’s boot.” - -[180] Dio, 48, 12. - -[181] Appian, b. c. 4, 30; Dio, 48, 31. Livy, however (_Ep._ 121), says -_M. Lepido fuso_, as though he had resisted and had been beaten. - -[182] Livy, _Ep._ 126; Velleius, ii. 74; App., b. c. v. 48-49; Dio, 48, -14; Seneca, _de Clem._ 1, 11, 1. The uncertainty of historical testimony -is illustrated by the fact that both Dio and Appian name C. Canutius (Tr. -Pl. B.C. 44) among the victims at Perusia, while Velleius (ii. 64) says -that he was the first to suffer under the proscription in B.C. 43. - -[183] C. I. L., i. 697. - -[184] This was to safeguard Cn. Domitius Ahenobarbus. There is some -doubt, however, as to his having been an assassin. Cocceius denied it -(App., b. c. v. 62). Suetonius (Nero 3) does the same. But Cicero (_2 -Phil._ §§ 27, 30) says that he was; and Appian himself does the same (b. -c. v. 59). Dio thrice speaks of him as a σφαγεύς (48, 7, 29, 54). At -any rate he was condemned by the _lex Pedia_, as though he had been an -assassin. He may have been one of those who joined the assassins on the -Capitol _after_ the murder. - -[185] Appian, b. c. v. 65. It has been doubted whether this or the -meeting of B.C. 37 was the one to which Horace accompanied his patron -Mæcenas. In favour of this one is the mention of Cocceius Nerva by Horace -(_Sat._ 1 v. 28, 50), against it is the way in which he is mentioned -with Mæcenas as aversos _soliti_ componere amicos, as if he had been so -engaged before. But though in the second meeting he is not mentioned by -Appian, he may have been there. Something has been made of the mention -of the croaking frogs (l. 14), as this meeting could hardly have been -earlier than July, when the Italian frogs are said to be silent. For the -Ovations see C. I. L., i. p. 461. - -[186] This was one of the chief grievances. Hor., _Ep._ ix. 9, _minatus -urbi vincla, que detraxerat servis amicus perfidis_. - -[187] Hor., _Od._ ii. 1, 15-16; Dio, 48, 41; C. I. L., i. p. 461. Pollio -after this withdrew from active political life and devoted himself to -literature. He seems to have taken no part in the subsequent quarrels -between Antony and Augustus. - -[188] Dio, 48, 19, 48; Hor., _Epod._ 9, 17. - -[189] The first period ended on the last day of B.C. 38; but neither -Antony nor Cæsar had laid down their imperium of office. They now assumed -that it went on from the first day of B.C. 37, the want of legal sanction -during the intervening months being ignored. There is no certain trace of -this second triumvirate having been confirmed by a _lex_; yet one would -think that they would have taken care to have that formality observed. -See p. 143. - -[190] Cicero, _ad Fam._ xi. 9; Cicero himself calls him _levissimus_, _ad -Brut._ 1, 15, § 9. - -[191] In B.C. 52 Cicero had wished to give his daughter Tullia in -marriage to Tiberius Claudius Nero (Cic., _Att._ 6, 6.). - -[192] He was quæstor in B.C. 48, and therefore was not born later than -B.C. 78. Livia was born B.C. 58. - -[193] Even Suetonius, not much inclined to speak good of Augustus, admits -that he _dilexit et probavit unice ac perseveranter_. - -[194] Suetonius (c. 22) says that he had two ovations—after Philippi and -after the bellum Siculum. But if an ovation was decreed after Philippi, -it was not celebrated till B.C. 40, upon the reconciliation with Antony. -The second was this. Another had been voted in B.C. 43 after Mutina, but -not celebrated (C. I. L. i. p. 461). See also p. 100. - -[195] Appian (b. c. v. 132) says that they elected him perpetual tribune -(αὐτὸν ... εἕλοντο δήμαρχον ἐς ἀεί). Dio (49, 15) only says that they -gave him the personal sacredness of the tribunes and the right of sitting -on their bench. Orosius (6, 18, 34) says that the Senate voted _ut in -perpetuum tribuniciæ potestatis esset_. We shall have to discuss this -later on, but it must be said at once that Augustus was never tribune, -and that it seems doubtful whether the _tribunicia potestas_ was given in -its full sense at this time. - -[196] Dio, 49, 14; Strabo, x. 4, 9. - -[197] Dio, 49, 34. - -[198] App., b. c. v. 132; Suet., _Aug._ 32. - -[199] Or, as they were also called Vetus, and Nova Africa. The former was -the old province formed of the territory of Carthage, the latter the new -province formed after the battle of Thapsus (B.C. 46) of which the first -governor was the historian Sallust. See pp. 23-4. - -[200] Appian, _Illyr._ 17; Dio, 49, 34, 38. - -[201] Appian, _Illyr._ 18-21; Dio, 49, 37. The Iapydes (a wild tribe) had -first been attacked in B.C. 129 by C. Sempronius and subdued after some -disasters. (Livy, _Ep._ 59.) - -[202] Pliny, _N. H._ 36 § 121. - -[203] The Porticus Octaviæ, of which an arch remains, was a rectangular -cloister enclosing the temples of Jupiter Stator and Iuno Regina. - -[204] Dio, 49, 15; Sueton., _Aug._ 72. - -[205] Horace, _Epod._ ix. ii.; _cp._ Ov., _Met._ 15, 826. - -[206] An anecdote has been preserved illustrating the policy of “sitting -on the hedge,” which must have prevailed among many while the contest -between the two leaders was still undecided. After Actium, when Cæsar -landed (the time and place are charmingly vague), a man offered a -_cornix_ which had been taught to say, “Ave, Cæsar, imperator et victor.” -He bought the bird at a large price, whereat the man’s partner, being -jealous, urged that he should be forced to bring another bird, which -when brought repeated as it had been taught, “_Ave, Antoni, imperator et -victor_.” - -[207] Dio, 50, 5; but Suetonius, _Aug._ 17, says that he was declared a -_hostis_. - -[208] Dio, 50, 5. Thus Horace, on hearing the rumours of Antony’s defeat, -exclaims (somewhat prematurely), _Epod._ ix. 27: - - “_Terra marique victus hostis punico,_ - _lugubre mutavit sagum._” - -[209] Bocchus of Mauretania, Tarchondemus of Cilicia Aspera, Archilaus of -Cappadocia, Amyntas of Lycaonia and Galatia, Philadelphus of Paphlagonia, -Malchus of Arabia, Herod of Judæa, Sadalas of Thrace, Polemon of Pontus. -(Plut., _Ant._ 61.) - -[210] Dio, 50, 14-23. - -[211] Dio, 50-31, says, ὑετός τε ἐν τούτῳ λαβρὸς καὶ ζάλη πολλή. But -Plutarch, _Ant._ 65, says that after four days of stormy weather on the -day of battle νηνεμίας καὶ γαλὴνης γενομένης συνῄεσαν. - -[212] Suet., _Aug._ 17. - -[213] The earlier writers, Horace (_Od._ i. 37, 27) and Velleius (2, 87), -seem to have no doubt about the snake story. Livy (as we have him) says -nothing either way except that she died by suicide (_Ep._ 133). It is the -later writers who express the doubt, Suet., _Aug._ 17; Plut., _Ant._ 86; -Dio, 51, 14. - -[214] This word—one of the financial terms borrowed from Sicily (lit. “a -basket”)—was perhaps not commonly used in the restricted sense in the -time of Augustus, though the thing existed. Into the emperor’s _fisc_ -went the revenues of the imperial provinces; but the balance in the case -of most was not large. Cicero indeed (_pro lege Manil_, § 14) says that -none of the provinces except Asia did much more than pay its expenses. -This was probably an exaggeration, but not a very great one. - -[215] This, it should be remembered, was exclusive of the legions -regularly raised for certain provinces and stationed in them. - -[216] _Mon. Ancyr._ 3, 16. - -[217] Traces of the work of Augustus in provincial towns may still be -seen, as at Nismes and other towns in South-eastern France. - -[218] Horace, _Odes_ iii. 3. - -[219] In the _Mon. Ancyr._ 20, he says that he repaired 82 temples in -B.C. 28, and the Flaminian road with all but two of its bridges in B.C. -27. - -[220] The foundations of the triple arch at Rome were discovered in -1888 between the temple of Cæsar and that of the Castores. For the -inscription see C. I. L. vii. 872. _SENATUS . POPULUSQUE . ROMANUS . IMP -. CÆSARI . DIVI . IULI . F . COS . QUINCT . COS . DESIG . SEXT . IMP . -SEPT . REPUBLICA . CONSERVATA._ The date here indicated is B.C. 29. See -Lanciani, _Ruins of Ancient Rome_, p. 270. Middleton, _Remains of Ancient -Rome_, vol. i. p. 284. There does not appear to be any record of the arch -at Brundisium. - -[221] Vergil, _Georg._ iv. 560, _Cæsar dum magnus ad altum fulminat -Euphratem bello._ Horace, _Od._ 1, 12, 53: - - _Ille seu Parthos Latio imminentes_ - _Egerit iusto domitos triumpho,_ - _Sive subjectos Orientis oræ Seras et Indos._ - -Similar exaggerations will be found scattered throughout the poems of -Propertius (ii. 7, 3; iii. 1, 13; iii. 23, 5; iv. 3, 4; iv. 4, 48; iv. -11, 3). Still more exaggerated language was used afterwards on the -restoration of the standards (B.C. 20). - -[222] A good deal of confusion in our authorities has arisen by a -failure to distinguish between a _censoria potestas_ granted like the -_tribunicia_ by special vote and the _censoria potestas_ inherent in -the consulship, from which it had been devolved in B.C. 444. In the -_Monumentum_, ch. 8, Augustus himself says nothing about the _censoria -potestas_, but in the Venusian fasti (C. I. L. ix. 422) we find _imp. -Cæsar vi. M. Agrippa II. Cos. idem censoria potestate lustrum fecerunt_. -Suetonius (c. 27) knew that he was not Censor, but supposed him to have -acted under a decree granting him _morum legumque regimen perpetuum_, an -office, however, which Augustus expressly says that he declined (_Mon._, -ch. 6). Dio (52, 42) describes him as τιμητεύσας σὺν τῷ Ἀγρίππᾳ, a direct -confusion between the censorial power possessed by a Consul and that -bestowed independently. He, however, apparently did receive _censoria -potestas_ (never the censorship) in B.C. 19 for five years. - -[223] _Rex sacrorum_, the greater _flamens_, the Salii had still to be -patricians. An _interrex_ also must be a patrician, but that office was -now practically at an end. The last case of an _interrex_ was in B.C. 52. - -[224] A jest that was reproduced in London when country peers came up to -vote against the Home Rule Bill and were said by gossips to be obliged to -ask their way to the House of Lords. A popular ballad also was sung about -the streets— - - “Cæsar leads the Gauls in triumph and guides them to the Senate house; - Gauls have doffed their native brogues and donned the Senate’s - laticlave!” - -Sueton., _Cæs._ 72, 80. See also Cicero, 9 _Phil._ § 12; 13 _Phil._ § -27; _ad Fam._ vi. 18; _Bell. Afr._ 28; Dio, 42, 51; 43, 27. Compare the -career of P. Ventidius Bassus, brought a prisoner from Asculum to adorn -the triumph of Pompey after the Social war, then a mule contractor to -Cæsar, and afterwards going through all the offices to the consulship in -B.C. 43. - -[225] On the analogy of slaves enfranchised by will. Suet., _Aug._ 35; -Plutarch, _Ant._ 15. - -[226] Cicero calls such a man a _voluntarius Senator_, 13 _Phil._ § 28. - -[227] Dio, 48, 34. - -[228] Suet., _Aug._ 35; Dio, 52, 42. In the _Monumentum_ (c. 25) he -reckons the number of Senators who had served under him as “more than -700.” To them must be added those who had not taken active service and -those who were with Antony. - -[229] Dio, 52, 42. The regulation had always existed because every -Senator was bound to attend if called upon, and therefore must be within -reach, unless he was one of those _qui reipublicæ causa abessent_. (Livy, -43, 11.) Thus Cicero, defending the Senators who crossed over to join -Pompey in Epirus, says to Atticus (viii. 15) that there was hardly one -who had not a legal right to cross, either as having imperium, or being -legatus to an imperator. The usual means of evading this was to obtain -a _libera legatio_ for a fixed time. Occasionally a man got himself -named an ordinary legatus to a provincial governor, but was allowed to -go elsewhere with some colourable commission. But this was an abuse. See -Cicero, _ad Fam._ xii. 21; _ad Q. Frat._ ii. 9; _ad Att._ xv. 11. Sicily -and Gallia Narbonensis were excepted as being practically Italy, or, as -Cicero says, “suburban provinces.” - -[230] Sueton., _Aug._ 36; Dio, 3, 19; Tacitus, _Ann._ 5, 4. - -[231] ὅρον τὴν ἕκτην ὑπάτειαν αὑτοῦ προσθείς. Dio, 53, 2. See Tacitus, -_Ann._ iii. 28. - -[232] The doubt was an old one. Appian in one place affirms and in -another denies that there was a _lex_ for the second period of the -triumvirs (_Illyr._ 28; b. c. v. 95). No other authority mentions one, -and it certainly was not passed in the early months of B.C. 37, that is, -till after the triumvirs had already continued their office without legal -confirmation for some time. Willems (_le Sénat_, ii. 761) holds that -there was a plebiscitum; Mommsen that there was not. - -[233] _Mon. Ancyr._ ch. 34. - -[234] In B.C. 28 he took care to transfer the consular fasces to his -colleague Agrippa in alternative months, and when with soldiers to give -the watchword jointly with him. (Dio, 53, 1.) - -[235] I do not myself see any good reason to doubt that Dio has given at -any rate the substance of these documents. It is not perhaps natural to -us to suppose two men like Mæcenas and Agrippa solemnly reading speeches -to the Emperor; but it was no unusual thing at Rome. Augustus himself is -said to have done it, even to his wife, Livia, and frequently with others -(Sueton., _Aug._ 84). Tacitus says it was the fashion of the time (_Ann._ -4, 37), as it seems to have been still earlier, for Cicero complains that -his nephew, Quintus, had written an elaborate diatribe against him which -he meant to deliver to Iulius Cæsar in Alexandria. (_Ad Att._ xi. 10.) -For similar documents see Dio, 52, 1-40; 53, 3; 55, 15-21. - -[236] Dio, 52, 15. - -[237] The IMPERIAL provinces were: Hispania Tarraconensis, and Lusitania, -the Galliæ (beyond the Alps), including the districts afterwards called -Germania, superior and inferior, Cœle-Syria, Phœnicia, Cilicia, Cyprus, -Ægypt. - -The SENATORIAL were: Sicilia, Hispania Bætica, Sardinia, Africa, Numidia, -Dalmatia, Greece and Epirus, Macedonia, Asia, Crete and Cyrene, Bithynia -and Pontus. - -Cisalpine Gaul ceased to be a province, and was included in Italy. - -Subsequent changes were: - - B.C. 24. Cyprus and Gallia Narbonensis were transferred to the - Senate. - - B.C. 21. Dalmatia was transferred to the Emperor. - - B.C. 6. Sardinia was transferred to the Emperor for nine years. - -The provinces added during the lifetime of Augustus: Galatia, Lycaonia, -Mœsia, and the minor Alpine provinces were imperial. - -All provinces added afterwards were imperial. - -[238] Ovid (F. 1, 587-616) says the Ides of January; the Calendarium -Prænestinum gives the 16th. Possibly the one is the date of the SCtum, -the other of the plebiscitum. - -[239] Augustus himself uses it in the _Monumentum_ (chs. 30, 32), “me -principe,” “ante me principem.” Horace (_Od._ 1, 21, 13; 2, 30; _Ep._ 2, -1, 256), Propertius (v. 6, 46), both employ it when speaking of Augustus. -It occurs in inscriptions referring to Tiberius, and is the common term -used by Tacitus. If, therefore, it was not formally bestowed (as seems -probable), it soon grew into use as a title in ordinary language. Nor -was it altogether a new idea; Cicero had used it as a possible title of -honour, with which Pompey or Cæsar, had they been moderate, might have -been content. (Cic., _ad Fam._ vi. 6). Again, though it is not a mere -extension of _princeps senatus_, yet it is clearly connected with it. -As the Senatus is the first _ordo_ in the state, the _princeps senatus_ -is also _princeps civitatis_. The two titles were soon confounded. Thus -Pliny (_N.H._ xxxvi. § 116) speaks of M. Æmilius Scaurus as _totius -princeps civitatis_, when he means that he had been several times entered -by the Censors on the roll as _princeps senatus_. But a new connotation -became attached to the word from the political powers of the _princeps_. - -[240] Horace, _Epode_, vii. 7; _Odes_, i. 21, 15; iii. 5, 2; Propert., -iii. 23, 5. - -[241] Vergil, _Georg._ iii. 25; Horace, _Odes_ iii. 4, 33. - -[242] Strabo, ii. 5, 8; iv. 6, 4. - -[243] Strabo, _l. c._ In the _Monument_. (ch. 32) Augustus records the -visit of two British princes, Dumnobellaunus and another, of whose name -only the letters _Tinn_ remain (perhaps “Tincommius,” a king of what is -now Sussex). - -[244] The triumph of M. Crassus is dated by the Tab. Triumph. C. I. L. 1, -416; but the defeat of the “Dacian Cotiso” is classed with the Cantabrian -war by Horace (_Od._ 3, 8, 18-24), and Livy, _Ep._ 135, mentions a second -war of M. Crassus “against the Thracians,” as contemporary with the -Spanish war. - -[245] The Salassi, who had for the last 100 years given much trouble, had -twice in recent years been in arms: in B.C. 35 they defeated C. Antistius -Vetus, and, in B.C. 34, had, with great difficulty, been partly subdued -by Valerius Messalla. Their command of the principal Alpine pass made it -important that they should be kept in check. - -[246] Hor., _Od._ 2, 6, 2, _Cantabrum indoctum iuga ferre nostra_. - -[247] _Odes_ iii. 8, 21, _servit Hispanæ vetus hostis oræ Cantaber sera -domitus catena_; iii. 14, 3, _Cæsar Hispana repetit Penates Victor ab -ora_. - -[248] Perhaps that of which remains exist at Aosta, and cannot now be -dated. That at Turbia was built B.C. 6 (Pliny, _N. H._ 3 § 136). That -at Susa in B.C. 8 [C. I. L. v. 7,231]. Horace may refer to it among the -_Nova Augusti tropæa_ (_Od._ 2, 9, 19). - -[249] Horace, _Odes_ i. 29, 1; ii. 12, 24; iii. 24, 1; i. 35, 32-40. - -[250] Propert., 3, 1, 11. - -[251] Middleton (_Remains of Ancient Rome_, vol. ii. pp. 126-128) seems -to have given good reasons against its connection with the Thermæ of -Agrippa. Lanciani (_Ruins and Excavations_, pp. 476-488) asserts that the -structure as it now stands is of the age of Hadrian (about A.D. 129), -and doubts Agrippa’s original building being of the same shape. Even -the portico with its inscription—M. AGRIPPA L. F. COS. TERT. FECIT—he -thinks was taken to pieces and put up again by Hadrian. The history of -the building, however, cannot be regarded as thoroughly ascertained. -Agrippa’s third consulship was in B.C. 27, whereas Dio places the -completion of the Pantheon under B.C. 25 (53, 27). It may well have been -that the external building was finished and dedicated in B.C. 27, and -that the inside occupied two more years. - -[252] A. Licinius Muræna was called A. Terentius Varro Muræna from -being adopted by Terentius Varro. See Dio, 54, 3; Suet., _Aug._ 19; -Hor., _Odes_ 2, 10; Velleius Paterc. 2, 91. Of Fannius Cæpio nothing -practically is known, he was prosecuted by Tiberius for _maiestas_ and -condemned. - -[253] In the _cenotaphia Pisana_ Gaius is described after his death as -“iam _designatum_ iustissimum ac simillimum parentis sui virtutibus -_principem_.” But this is probably not an official title. - -[254] There seems little doubt that the character of Agrippa Postumus -gave some ground for this measure; but Augustus seems to have regretted -and at times to have contemplated recalling him. His murder immediately -after the death of Augustus is called by Tacitus “the first crime of the -new reign.” Whether Tiberius or Livia was responsible for it cannot be -discussed here. - -[255] So Dio (55, 5) says. Suetonius (_Tib._ 16) says five years. There -may have been a renewal after five years. - -[256] _Monum. Ancyr._ 27; C.I.L. vi. 701. - -[257] This is what Augustus means by saying “that he extended the -frontiers of all the provinces bordering on tribes that had not -submitted” (_Mon. Anc._ 26). - -[258] The exact position of Nabata is uncertain. It is described in the -_Mon. Ancyr._ 26 as “close to Meroe.” Augustus takes the responsibility -of both these campaigns as being _meo iussu et auspicio_. - -[259] As, for instance, Agrippa. Hor., _Ep._ 1, 12, 1. The seven colonies -mentioned are Syracuse, Tauromenium, Catana, Thermæ, Tyndaris, Lilybæum, -Panormus. - -[260] Dio, 54, 8; Horace, _Od._ 3, 5; this ode was written several years -before the restoration of the standards, but the fact of the _milites -Crassi_ having settled in Parthia was naturally known. - -[261] Verg., _Æn._ vii. 604-606. - -[262] Horace, _Ep._ i. 18, 56; _Odes_ iv. 15, 6. - -[263] Propert., 3, 10, 13; 4; 4, 16; 4, 5, 48; 4, 12, 3; 5, 6, 79. - -[264] Ovid, _F._ v. 567-594. According to Mommsen there were two temples -of Mars Ultor, one on the Capitol (Dio, 54, 8), the other in the Forum -Augustum, vowed at Philippi, but not dedicated till B.C. 2. The _signa_ -seem to have been deposited first in the former and then transferred to -the latter. Ovid evidently speaks of them as in the temple in the Forum -Augustum. - -[265] Such as the Brenni and Genauni of Hor., _Od._ iv. 14, 10; cp. iv. -4, 18. - -[266] _Mon. Ancyr._, 13; Horace, _Epist._ 2, 1, 255; _Odes_, 4, 15, 9; -Dio, 54, 25. For the inscription, see Clinton, _Fast. Hell._, B.C. 14. -The tenth tribunician year is from June 27th, B.C. 14, to 26th June, B.C. -13. The _ara pacis_ was founded in this year (4th July), dedicated 30th -January, B.C. 9. - -[267] But he does not seem to have had any fighting this year, and in -fact the Senate voted to close the Ianus Quirinus, though that was -prevented by an inroad of the Daci into Pannonia, with which Tiberius was -sent to deal. Dio, 54, 36. - -[268] Especially in camps, in which there seem to have been a regular -service of _tabellarii castrenses_. (Wilmann’s _Exempla_ 1357.) - -[269] The armed provinces were those on the frontier. Towards the end -of the life of Augustus, the preponderance of the military force on -the Rhine and Danube is the noteworthy fact. The Gauls and “Germany” -had eight legions, Spain three, Africa two, Egypt two, Syria four, -Pannonia two, Mœsia two, Dalmatia two. But those on the Rhine were more -concentrated. (Tac., _Ann._ 4, 5.) - -[270] C.I.L. x. 8375; _Mon. Ancyr._ 11. - -[271] Suet., _Aug._ 98: “As he chanced to be cruising in his yacht round -the bay of Puteoli, the passengers and crew of an Alexandrine ship, which -had just come to land, came with white robes, with garlands on their -heads and burning censers in their hands, loudly blessing and praising -him, and saying that they owed it to him that they were alive, that they -sailed the sea, that they were enjoying their liberty and property.” - -[272] Horace, _Odes_ iv. 5. - -[273] See, among others, _Ep._ ii. 1-16; _Odes_ 3, 5, 2; 4, 5, 32. - -[274] Suet., _Aug._ 52; Dio, 51, 20. - -[275] The Latin inscriptions bearing on this point have been collected in -a convenient form by Mr. Rushforth, _Latin Historical Inscriptions_, pp. -51-61. Other places in Italy thus shewn to have adopted the cult in some -form or other during the lifetime of Augustus are Asisium, Beneventum, -Fanum Fortunæ, Pisa, Tibur, Verona, possibly Ancona, and Forum Clodii, -and some unnamed place in Latium. - -[276] Plut., _Flamin._ 16; Cicero, _ad Q. Fr._ 1, 1, 9; _ad Att._ 5, 21; -Tac., _Ann._ 4, 56. Polyb. 31, 15. - -[277] Appian, b. c. 5, 132, “and the cities began placing his image side -by side with those of their gods.” - -[278] Information as to these is mostly to be found in Greek -inscriptions, C.I.G. 3,524, 3,604, 3,831, 4,039. See also Dio, 51, 10; -Strabo, 27, 1, 9; Joseph., _Antiq._ 15, 10, 3; Livy, _Ep._ 137; Pausan., -iii. 25. - -[279] Quintilian, vi. 377. - -[280] For this and his statue in the temple of Quirinus, with legend of -_Deo invicto_, the vote of the Senate giving him a temple, flamen, and -other divine honours, see Dio, 43, 45; 44, 6; Cicero, _2 Phil._ § 110; -ad _Att._ 13, 44; Sueton., _Cæs._ 76. It was worse than the case of -Augustus, more insincere and less spontaneous. The Senate was filled with -the protégés of Iulius at the time. - -[281] Macrob., _Sat._ 2, 4, 18; Plut., _Cic._ 49; Suet., _Aug._ 28. - -[282] See Horace, _Odes_ iii. 4, 22: vester, Camenæ, vester in arduos -| tollor Sabinos, seu mihi frigidum | Præneste seu Tibur supinum | seu -liquidæ pacuere Baiæ. - -[283] Apragopolis. In Suetonius (c. 97) it is doubtful whether he means -Capreæ or some other island. Perhaps it is _Nesis_, where M. Brutus had a -villa which might have come into his hands as confiscated property (Cic., -_ad Att._ xvi. 1-4.) - -[284] An echo of his master’s feelings on this point is as usual found in -Horace, _Od._ ii. 15. - -[285] Another tragedy “Achilles” is mentioned by Suidas. - -[286] Hor., _Od._ 3, 136. Suetonius (_Aug._ 85) mentions others, “An -answer to Brutus about Cato,” evidently a youthful essay; “Exhortations -to Philosophy,” no doubt youthful too; an hexameter poem called -_Sicilia_. When he tried to read them in later life to a family audience -they bored him so much that he handed the rolls over to Tiberius to -finish. Lastly, a short volume of Epigrams which he used to compose in -the bath. - -[287] Hor., _Epist._ 2, 1. - -[288] In B.C. 46, 42, 25, and 23. From that time, however, though -generally delicate he seems not to have had any serious attack. - -[289] The _lex Iulia et Titia_, enabling the provincial governor to -assign guardians to such persons as were legally bound to have them, was -passed between the 1st of May and 1st of October, B.C. 31, the period -during which M. Titius was consul. - -[290] Authorities will be found in Mommsen, _res gestæ_, p. 96. - -[291] _Mon. Ancyr._, 25. - -[292] C. I. L. xi. 365; _Mon. Ancyr._ 20. “In my seventh consulship I -remade the Flaminian road from the city to Ariminum, and all the bridges -except the Mulvian and Minucian.” - -[293] See Suet., _Aug._ 46. The regions are described by Pliny alone, -_N.H._ iii. 46-128. - -[294] The inscription on the road to Salonæ in Dalmatia is dated A.D. -19, but it must have been begun much earlier. For the other roads see -Willmanns 832, 829, 830, 832; Clinton’s _Fasti_, anno B.C. 14; _Journal -of Hellenic Studies_, xii. part i. p. 109 _sq._ C. I. L. iii. 6,974. - -[295] Digest, 47, 11, 6. The penalties varied from a fine to exclusion -from the corn trade, _relegatio_, and condemnation to public works. - -[296] Cicero, pro Sest. § 103; _ad Att._ vi. 6; Livy, vi. 12; Appian, b. -c. ii. 120; Dionys. H. xii. 24. - -[297] Quoted by Sueton., _Aug._ 42. - -[298] Dio, 53, 20, 33; Horace, _Odes_ 1, 2. - -[299] The Sacred Colleges (1) were exempt from military service, imposts -and public services of all kinds; (2) had a charge on the _ager publicus_ -for sacrifices, feasts, &c.; (3) in most cases had estates besides; (4) -received special grants from time to time for repairs of buildings. - -[300] _Mon. Ancy._, 10; Livy, _Ep._ 117; Vell., ii. 63; App., b. c. v. -131; Dio, 44, 53. All these authorities speak of the irregularity of the -election of Lepidus. - -[301] _Ephemeris Epigraphica_, viii. 2; Lindsay’s _Latin Inscriptions_, -p. 102. - -[302] _Carmen Sæcul._ 13. - -[303] Horace, _Odes_ iv. 5, 21; iv. 15, 9-12. - -[304] We frequently hear in earlier times of the scandal caused by -certain people abandoning the heavy and not very comfortable toga for -lighter dress, Greek or Gallic. Those who care to trace the history of -such a matter will find references to it in Cicero, _pro Rab. Post._ § -27; 2 _Phil._ § 76; Livy, 29, 19; Tac., _Ann._ ii. 59; Hor., _Ep._ 1, -7, 65. And if it is desired to see how futile such orders are against a -prevailing fashion, the continued disuse of it may be traced in Juvenal -1, 119; 3, 172; Mart. 1, 49, 31; 12, 18, 17; Suet., _Aug._ 40; and as -late as Hadrian we find that the order needed renewal, Spart. _Had._ 22. -George III. insisting that Bishops should wear wigs is a case in point. - -[305] Cicero (_in Pis._ § 67) speaks with scorn of the vulgar rich man -who had five, or sometimes more, guests on each couch. - -[306] Though in making regulations on these subjects Augustus acted on -his censorial powers, when it came to enacting laws he would propose them -to the tribes in virtue of his tribunician powers. - -[307] _De adulteriis coercendis; de pudicitia; de maritandis ordinibus._ - -[308] Dio, 56, 2-10; Suet., _Aug._ 34. - -[309] Martial, _Epigr._, xi. 20. - -[310] Pliny, _N. H._ 7 § 149; Dio, 54, 9. - -[311] In A.D. 11 the people of Narbonne founded an altar to him in -gratitude for some reform in their constitution which he had either -granted or initiated. (Wilmanns, 194.) - -[312] Asia and Sicily originally did not pay a _stipendium_, but tithes -on produce. This system was abolished by Iulius Cæsar. - -[313] Suet., _August._ 76. - -[314] Suet., _Tib._ 11. - -[315] Dio, 56, 29. But there does not appear to have been one that year. -There was a partial eclipse of the moon on the 4th of April and a total -eclipse on the 27th of September. - -[316] The Mausoleum was a huge mound of earth covered with shrubs, upon -a substructure or dome cased with white marble and surrounded by walks -and plantations, and surmounted by a bronze statue of Augustus. On -the still-existing foundation there is now what is called the _Teatro -Correa_. Besides this the spot on which his body was burnt was also -enclosed and planted. Strab., iv. 53. Middleton, _Remains of Ancient -Rome_, vol. ii. p. 288. - -[317] It ought, however, to be said to his credit that he forbade the -exhibition of gladiators _sine missione_, _i.e._, without the right of -being allowed to depart safe from the arena when defeated if the people -so willed it. - -[318] See note on p. 147. - -[319] Horace, _Od._ iii. 8. - -[320] Seneca, _Epp._ 114; _Digest._ 24, 1, 64. - -[321] 2, 17, 13; 3, 1, 13; 3, 23, 5; 4, 3; 4, 4, 48; 4, 11, 3; 5, 6, -79-84. - -[322] For purposes of comparison of these sums with our money, 1,000 -sesterces may be taken as equivalent to about £8 10s., and a denarius as -about 10d. - -[323] A pound of gold worth about £45. - -[324] These names and some other words are obliterated in the -inscription, both Latin and Greek. - - - - -INDEX - - - A - - Abydos, 80 - - Achæan League, the, 27 - - Achaia, 27, 28; - colonies in, 133 - - Acilius, M., 23 - - Actium, 86, 123-24, 290; - colony at, 175 - - _Ad capita bubula_, 1 - - _Ad gallinas_, 205 - - Ægina separated from Athens, 176 - - Ælius Gallus, 155, 174 - - Æmilius Lepidus, M., as prætor (B.C. 49) holds election for dictator, - 8; - appointed to Hispania Citerior, 23; - visits Sextus Pompeius, 42; - in Transalpine Gaul, 59; - joins Antony, 64; - becomes one of the triumvirate, 70, 71; - announces the close of the proscriptions, 74; - suspected of intriguing with Sextus Pompeius, 82, 87; - his inferior position, 88; - in Africa, 99; - comes to Sicily, 104; - claims to govern Sicily, 105; - deposed from the triumvirate, 106; - his office of Pontifex Maximus, 107, 112, 160; - his death, 160; - see also 202, 221, 222 - - Æmilius Lepidus, M. (son of the triumvir), his conspiracy, 123; - his brother, 258 - - Æmilius Paullus Lepidus, L., (brother of the triumvir), proscribed, 72 - - _Ærarium_, the, 148, 249, 296 - - Æthiopia, 174, 299 - - Afranius, 23 - - Africa, province of, 24-26, 99; - see also 9, 11, 65, 71, 171; - colonies in, 133; - New Africa, 25, 113 - - Agrippa, _see_ “Vipsanius” - - Agrippa, Postumus, 167, 168, 277 - - Agrippina, 167 - - Ahenobarbus, _see_ “Domitius” - - Aix, 134 - - Alaudæ, the, 47 - - Alba Fucensis, 49, 51, 53 - - Albis (R. Elbe), 184, 186, 187 - - Alexandria, 11, 116, 117, 120, 121, 125, 127, 198 - - Allienus, Aul., 23, 31, 80 - - Alps, provinces of the, 17, 172 - - Amanus, Mount, 30 - - Amatius (the pseudo-Marius), 13 - - Amisia (R. Ems), 184 - - Amnesty to the Assassins, 38 - - Amphipolis, 83 - - Amyntas, king of Galatia, 30, 173; - and of Pisidia, 102, 108 - - Ancyra, 171; - temple of Augustus and Rome at, 176, 198, 261 - - _Annonæ præfectus_, 216, 217 - - Antiochus, king of Commagene, 116 - - Antistius Vetus, C., 31, 113, 154, 202 - - Antonius Musa (physician), 158, 161 - - Antonius, C. (brother of Marcus), defeated in Illyricum, 22; - in Macedonia, 27, 48, 49; - prætor (B.C. 44), 38, 40 - - Antonius, Julius (son of Marcus), 239 - - Antonius, L. (brother of Marcus), 26; - Trib. Pl. (B.C. 44), 38, 41; - triumphs as consul (B.C. 41), 89; - his quarrel with Augustus, 91, 93-5; - besieged in Perusia, 95-6 - - Antony (M. Antonius), depreciates Augustus, 3; - as Tribune (B.C. 50) vetoes the recall of Iulius Cæsar, 7; - Consul (B.C. 44), 18; - his speech at Cæsar’s funeral, 36; - opposes the claims of Octavian, 38-9; - takes the money in the temple of Ops, 39-40; - his use of Cæsar’s papers and his intrigues with the veterans, 42; - accuses Octavian of plotting his assassination, 44-5; - suppresses a mutiny at Brundisium, 48; - his speech at Tibur, 49; - goes to Ariminum, 50; - commissioners sent to, 54; - his letter to Hirtius and Octavian, 55; - his approval of the murder of Trebonius, 29; - his siege of Mutina, 56; - defeated at Forum Gallorum, 57-8; - his great march to Vada, 59; - declared a _hostis_, 59-60; - agrees with Lepidus and Octavian to form the triumvirate, 68-70; - his hold on Pompey’s property, 82; - his campaign at Philippi, 82-6; - goes to the East, 87; - his infatuation for Cleopatra, 91, 116, 117; - joins Sextus Pompeius in invading Italy, 98; - makes terms with Augustus and marries Octavia, 99, 100; - his legate puts Sextus Pompeius to death, 108; - his failures in the East, 116; - his final quarrel with Augustus, 118-21; - divorces Octavia, 120; - his defeat at Actium, 122-25; - his final struggle in Egypt, 126; - his death at Alexandria, 127; - estimate of, 130; - his letter to Augustus, 231 - - Antyllus (son of Antony), 127, 129 - - Apamea (in Syria), 30, 31 - - Apollo, temple and libraries of, 115, 156, 204, 205 - - Apollonia (in Epirus), 15, 34, 278; - (in Cyrene), 32; - (in Pisidia), 261 - - Apragopolis, 206 - - Aqua Marcia, 212, 297 - - Aquæ Statiellæ, 59 - - Aquileia, 234 - - Aquitania, 20 - - Arabia, deserts of, 17, 30; - expeditions into, 155, 156, 174 - - Archelaus, king of Cappadocia, 173 - - Argentoratum (Strassburg), 185 - - Ariminum, 7, 48, 71 - - Ariobarzanes, king of Cappadocia, 80 - - Armenia, 118, 177; - king of, 116, 125, 167 - - Arminius, chief of the Cherusci, 187, 188 - - Army, unity of the, 191 - - Arsinoe (in Cyrene), 32 - - Artagera, 167 - - Artavasdes, 173, 174 - - Artaxes, 173, 174, 177 - - Arvales, 220 - - Asia, province of, 9, 28, 88; - _Asia recepta_, 174 - - Asinius Gallus, 258, 263 - - Asinius Pollio, C., in Bætica, 23; - joins Antony, 59, 69; - superintends assignment of lands, 90, 283; - awaits Antony after Perusia, 97; - assists at the treaty of Brundisium, 99; - triumphs over the Parthini, 102 - - Asprenas, L., 188 - - Astura, 256 - - Astures in Spain, the, 153, 154, 179 - - At the Oxheads, 1 - - Athenodorus of Tarsus, 15, 231 - - Athens, 27, 101; - not favoured by Augustus, 175 - - Atia, mother of Augustus, 2, 3, 15, 36, 37; - death of, 78 - - Atius Balbus, M., 2 - - _Augurium salutis_, 142 - - Augusta Emerita, 154 - - Augustus (Gaius Iulius Cæsar Octavianus) birth of (B.C. 63), 1-2; - his cognomen of Thurinus, 3; - in the household of his stepfather, 3, 9; - takes the _toga virilis_ and made a pontifex, 10; - not adopted in Cæsar’s lifetime, 11; - shares Cæsar’s triumph, 12; - in charge of a theatre, 12; - goes to Spain, 12; - and to Carthage, 13; - appointed _magister equitum_ and made a patrician, 14; - at Apollonia, 15; - his resolve to avenge Cæsar, 16, 34; - returns from Apollonia, 35-7; - adopted by Cæsar’s will, 37; - pays Cæsar’s legacies and celebrates his games, 38, 40; - his dealings with the Ciceronians, 41; - his alleged plot against Antony, 44, 45; - enrols veterans, 46; - tampers with Antony’s legions, 48; - joined by the legio Martia and Quarta and granted prætorian rank, - 50-52; - his campaign at Mutina, 56-9; - slighted by the Senate, 60; - refuses to pursue Antony, 61; - demands and obtains the consulate, 64-8; - enters the triumvirate and is betrothed to Clodia, 70-71; - his share of responsibility for the proscriptions, 76; - in the campaign of Philippi, 83-6; - his assignment of lands to veterans and troubles with L. Antonius - and Fulvia, 90-92; - his campaign of Perusia, 94-7; - marries Scribonia, 98; - his quarrels and reconciliations with Antony, 99-102; - his dangers in the Sicilian war, 102-9; - deposes Lepidus, 106-7; - honours voted to after the defeat of Sextus Pompeius, 111, 112; - his campaigns in Illyricum, 114; - his house on the Palatine, 115; - his letters to and from Antony, 120; - proclaims war as Fetial against Cleopatra, 121; - at the battle of Actium, 124; - winters at Samos and Athens (B.C. 31-30), 125, 126; - his interviews with Cleopatra, 128, 129; - honours voted to after Actium, 135; - his constitutional reforms, 137-47; - shares the provinces with the Senate, 147-48; - the title Augustus, 149, 301; - goes to Gaul (B.C. 27), 151-53; - and to Spain, 154; - his benefactions, 296; - his illness of B.C. 23 and recovery, 157, 158; - adopts Gaius and Lucius, 166; - his adoption of Tiberius, 168-69; - his maxim as to the extension of the Empire, 171, 261; - his settlement of the East, 172-79; - favours Sparta rather than Athens, 176; - in Gaul, 180-82; - activity after the fall of Varus, 188; - his military discipline, 192; - his absences from Italy, 194; - the worship of, 195-201; - his tolerant character, 201-4; - his health, 208-9; - his residences, 204-6; - his way of life, 206-11; - his reforms and legislation, 212-32; - his connection with the sacred colleges, 220; - his legislation on marriage and divorce, 226-32; - saluted as _pater patriæ_, 236-37; - financial measures, 250; - last journey and death, 255-58; - his funeral, 252-60; - will and other documents left by him, 260-62; - summary of his career, 265-72; - physical appearance and habits, 272-74; - buildings and other public works, 156, 297-98 - - Aurelius, 20 - - Aurelius Cotta, M., 24 - - Autocracy, advantages and disadvantages of, 269-71 - - Avernus, Lake, 103 - - - B - - Bætica, 23, 215 - - Balbus, _see_ “Cornelius” - - _Basilica Iulia_, 156 - - Bassus, Q. Cæcilius, 18, 30, 31, 80 - - Bassus, Ventidius, 57, 59, 61, 70, 97, 116, 139 _n._ - - Belgæ, the, 21 - - Belgica, province of, 20, 180 - - Benacus Lacus, 181 - - Beneventum, 71, 256, 257 - - Berenice, 32 - - Bessi, the, 2, 17, 180 - - Beyroot (Berutum), 134 - - Bithynia and Pontus, province of, 28, 31, 80 - - Bœotia, 27 - - Bononia, 56, 57, 58 - - Brigandage, 113, 213 - - Britain, 151-52, 300 - - Brundisium, 8, 35, 48, 57, 82; - treaty of, 99-100; - mutiny of veterans at, 125 - - Brutus, _see_ “Iunius” - - - C - - Cadiz, 12 - - Cæcilius Caldus, C., 29 - - Cælius Metellus, L., 47 - - Cæcilius Metellus, L., Tr. Pl. (B.C.), 8 - - Cæcilius Metellus Creticus, Q., 32 - - Cæcilius Metellus, Q., father-in-law of Pompey, 4, 30 - - Cæcina of Volaterræ, 47 - - Cæsar, Gaius, 166, 167; - death of, 240-42; - - Cæsar, Lucius, 166, 168; - death of, 241 - - Cæsar, _see_ “Iulius,” “Augustus” - - Cæsar-Augusta, 154 - - Cæsarion, 118, 120, 129, 173 - - Calabria, 35 - - Calpe (Gibraltar), 13 - - Calpurnius Piso, L., father-in-law of Cæsar, 44, 54 - - Calvisius Sabinus, C., 25, 103 - - Campania, 46 - - Candace, 174 - - Cantabri, war with, 153, 154, 179 - - Capreæ (Capri), 206, 256 - - Capua, 8, 48, 71, 112 - - Caracalla, 193 - - Carthage, colony at, 13, 133 - - Cassius, C., 19 _n._; - in Asia and Syria, 29-31; - has to quit Rome after Cæsar’s murder, 41; - offered the _cura annonæ_, 42; - nominated to Cyrene, 32, 43; - publishes edicts with Brutus against Antony, 44; - his nomination to Syria renewed by Senate, 55; - to be attacked by Antony, 71; - his war with the triumvirs, 79-83; - his death, 84 - - Cassius, Q., Tr. Pl. [B.C., 49], 7; - his failure in Spain, 23 - - Carrhæ, battle of, 30 - - Carthage, colony at, 25 - - Casinius, M., 24 - - Castra Vetera, 187, 188 - - Catiline, conspiracy of, 1, 3, 213 - - _Censoria potestas_, 137, 224, 294 - - Census, the, 137, 255 - - Chatti, the, 184, 186, 187 - - Chauci, the, 186 - - Cherusci, the, 187 - - Cicero (M. Tullius), 1, 2, 14, 24, 30; - meets Octavian, 37; - his view of Octavian and the situation, 39, 45-6, 50-1; - his epigram, 52, 60; - his correspondence with Octavian, 53; - his hostility to the party of Antony, 54, 56, 58-65; - his submission to Octavian, 67; - proscribed, 72; - Augustus’s opinion of, 201 - - Cilicia, province of, 25, 29, 30, 173 - - Cimber, L., 19 - - Cinna, L., 41 - - Citizenship, reluctance of Augustus to extend the, 251 - - Claterna, skirmish at, 55-6 - - Claudius, son of Drusus (afterwards emperor), 243 - - Claudius Marcellus, C. (Cos. B.C. 50), 45, 99 - - Claudius Marcellus, M. (Cos. B.C. 51), 6 - - Claudius Marcellus, M., son of Octavia, hopes to succeed Augustus, - 157, 161; - Vergil’s lines on his death, 162-63 - - Claudius Nero, Tib. (husband of Livia), 97, 110, 111 - - Claudius Nero, Tib. (son of Livia, afterwards emperor), 97, 157, 163, - 165; - forced to divorce Vipsania and marry Iulia, 165; - adopted by Augustus, 168, 186; - his character, 169; - crowns the king of Armenia, 177; - campaigns in the Eastern Alps, 181; - in Pannonia, 183; - succeeds Drusus on the Rhine, 185; - retires to Rhodes, 167, 185; - succeeds again to the command on the Rhine and thence goes to - Dalmatia, 186; - returns to the Rhine on the fall of Varus, 188; - letter of Augustus to, 202; - marries Iulia, 234; - divorces Iulia, 239; - Augustus’s feelings towards, 169-70, 253-55; - his successes, 263; - his speech at the funeral of Augustus, 259 - - Cleopatra, 30, 33; - prevented from sending aid to Antony against Brutus and Cassius, 80; - her meeting with Antony on the Cydnus, 91; - her influence on Antony, 118-21; - at Actium, 123-24; - her negotiations with Octavian and death, 126-29. - See also 172, 173, 176, 212, 231 - - Clodia, betrothed to Augustus, 71; - repudiated, 98 - - Clodius, P., 4 - - M. Cocceius Nerva, 99 - - Cœle-Syria, 30 - - _Collegia_, the, 215, 216 - - Colonies of Augustus in Italy, 133 - - Commagene, 116 - - Comum, colony of, 6 - - _Confarreatio_, 226 - - _Constitutio principis_, 159 - - _Consularia ornamenta_, 52 - - Corcyra, 21, 122 - - Cordova, 134 - - Corfinium, 8 - - Corinth, 27; - colony at, 133 - - Corn, supply and price of, 216, 217; - free distribution of, 217, 218, 296 - - Cornelius Balbus, L., 37; - theatre of, 156 - - Cornelius Dolabella, P., 18; - (Cos. B.C. 44) shares the money in the temple of Ops, 39; - receives a legion from Macedonia, 43; - puts Trebonius to death, 55; - his proceedings in Syria, 28, 29, 31; - kills himself at Laodicea, 80 - - Cornelius Lentulus Spinther, P., 29, 80 - - Cornificius, Q., 25, 105 - - Cornutus, M. (Præt. B.C. 43), 67 - - Cosa, 103 - - Cotys of Thrace, 180 - - Crassus, _see_ “Licinius” - - Crete, 32, 113, 172 - - Crispus, _see_ “Marcius” - - Croatia, 114 - - Cumæ, 196 - - _Cura annonæ_, 42 - - Curio, C., 6, 7, 9 - - Cyme, 198 - - Cyprus, separated from Egypt, 172 - - Cyrene, province of, 32, 33, 118, 173 - - Cyzicus, deprived of liberty, 176 - - - D - - Daci, the, 14, 114 - - Dalmatia, roads in, 215 - - Dalmatians, the, 17, 21, 22, 179, 186 - - Danube, 14; - provinces of the, 17, 172, 186 - - Dentheletæ, the, 180 - - Dertona, 59, 61 - - Dictatorship refused by Augustus, 217, 294; - of Sulla, 266 - - Didius, Q., 126 - - _Diffareatio_, 226 - - Divorce, 226-228 - - Dolabella, _see_ “Cornelius” - - Domitius Ahenobarbus, L., 8, 10, 20 - - Domitius Ahenobarbus, Cn., 80, 81, 84, 99, 100, 118 - - Druidical religion, the, 198 - - Drusus (son of Livia), 111, 165; - marries Antonia, 167; - his campaigns in the Eastern Alps, 181; - his German campaigns, 184; - his death, 185; - see also 167 - - Drusus (son of Tiberius), 167, 242; - speaks at the funeral of Augustus, 259 - - Dyrrachium, 21 - - - E - - East and West, separation of, 86-7, 101, 267 - - Egypt, 9, 17, 24, 31-2, 125, 131, 132, 174 - - Elephantine, 174 - - Empire, the state of, 17-32; - divisions of between the triumvirs, 1st, 71, 2nd, 86-7, 3rd, 99-101 - - Ephesus, 212 - - Epirus, 8, 9 - - Equites, review of, 160; - property of, 141 - - Eretria separated from Athens, 176 - - _Ergastula_, 213 - - Euphrates, the, 17, 30, 99 - - - F - - Fannius Cæpio, conspirator, 164 - - Fetials, the, 220 - - Finances of the Empire, 248 - - Fire brigades, 219, 220 - - _Fiscus_, the, 39, 132, 141, 218, 249 - - Flamen Dialis, 220; - flamen of Iulius, 199 - - Flevo Lake (Zuyder Zee), 184 - - Floods in Rome, 219 - - _Fortuna redux_, 194, 197, 295 - - Forum Augustum and forum Iulium, 156 - - Forum Cornelii, 56 - - Forum Gallorum, battles at, 53, 58, 61 - - Forum Iulii (Fréjus), 191 - - Fuficius Fango, C., 26 - - Fufius Calenus, Q., 27, 97 - - Fufius Geminus, 114 - - Fulvia (wife of Antony), 26, 75, 98 - - - G - - Gabinius, A. (Cos. B.C. 58), 3, 26, 30, 114 - - Galatia, province of, 171 - - Germania inferior and superior, 172, 185 - - Germanicus, son of Drusus, 167, 229, 242 - - Germans, the, 17, 181-82, 184-85, 186-89, 242 - - Gaul, 4, 8, 17; - the provinces of, 19-21; - Cisalpine Gaul, 43, 44, 71, 133; - Transalpine Gaul, 71; - Narbonensis, 20, 23, 215; - colonies in, 133; - Augustus in, 152-53 - - _Genius_ of a man, the, 196 - - Getæ, the, 14, 17, 18 - - Gracchus, C., 217 - - Greece, province of, 27; - declining state of, 175 - - Grenoble, 64 - - Gythium, 176 - - - H - - Hadrian, 3 - - Hercules, temple of, 205 - - Herod, 101, 173, 182, 203 - - Herophilus, 13 - - Hirtius, Aul. (Cos. B.C. 43), governor of Transalpine Gaul, 20, 21; - to go to Asia, 29; - in the campaign of Mutina, 55-58; - his death, 59 - - Horace (Q. Horatius Flaccus) his view of Antony’s subservience to - Cleopatra, 117; - records Cæsar’s Cantabrian campaign, 154; - on the Arabian expedition, 155; - on the recovery of the standards, 178; - on the absence of Augustus, 195; - on the literary tastes of Augustus, 208; - his ode for the secular games, 222; - his connection with Augustus and his support of his popularity, - 285-89 - - Hortensia, 76 - - Hortensius, Q., 27; - house of, 204 - - - I - - Iapydes, 114 - - Iberia (Georgia), 126 - - Idumæa, 107 - - Illyricum, 17; - province of, 21, 22, 26, 33, 114; - colonies in, 133 - - Imperator, 46 - - Imperium, 159, 160 - - Indian envoys, 179, 300 - - Isauria, 171 - - Issa, 21 - - Istria, 214 - - Italy, brigandage in, 113; - colonies of Augustus in, 133; - privileges of, 250 - - Ituræa, 173 - - Ianus, closing of, 142, 179, 182, 295 - - Iuba, 25, 171 - - Iulia, aunt of Iulius Cæsar, 14. - Sister of Iulius Cæsar, 2, 10. - Daughter of Iulius Cæsar, 6. - Mother of Antony, 6. - Daughter of Augustus, 99; - married to Marcellus, 161; - married to Agrippa, 164; - married to Tiberius, 231-36, 238-40. - Granddaughter of Augustus, 243 - - Iudæa, 116, 173 - - Iulius Cæsar, C. (the Dictator), 2-9, 11, 13, 18; - assassination of, 15, 34, 39; - his contemplated expedition against the Getæ and Parthians, 14, 18; - his enfranchisement of the Transpadani, 19; - in Cilicia, 29; - his funeral and will, 35, 36; - _heroum_ of at Alexandria, 129; - his settlements of veterans, 133; - apotheosis of, 199; - sumptuary laws of, 225 - - Iulius Cæsar, L. (relative of the Dictator), 7, 72; - Sextus Iulius, 30, 80 - - Iunius Brutus, Dec., 18, 19, 20; - in Cisalpine Gaul, 43, 48; - his edict, 51; - Antony proposes to succeed him, 54; - hard pressed for food in Mutina, 56; - delays the pursuit of Antony, 59; - his difficulties, 61, 62; - his last despairing letter to Cicero, 64; - his death, 69 - - Iunius Brutus, M., to be consul (B.C. 41), 18; - governor of Cisalpine Gaul, 19; - nominated to Crete, 32; - prætor (B.C. 44), 41-4; - in Macedonia, 28, 54-6, 79; - plan for recalling him to Rome, 62, 64; - to be attacked by Antony, 71; - his administration in Asia and campaign at Philippi, 79-81, 83-5; - his death, 85 - - Iupiter Tonans, 156 - - _Ius italicum_, 133; - _ius relationis_, _ius consulare_, 158; - _ius trium liberorum_, 229-30 - - - L - - Labienus, 116 - - Lance (_Sallanco_), 154 - - Land, assignations of, 91, 92, 112, 113, 132, 133 - - Laodicea, 30, 31, 80 - - _Lares compitales_, 196 - - _Latinitas_, 133 - - Latin games, the, 9, 10 - - _Legati pro prætore_, 147 - - Legio Martia, 35, 50, 57, 58, 60, 67; - Quarta, 35, 50, 66, 67; - reduction in number of legions, 132; - commanders of, 191; - numbers of in the provinces, 192 _n._ - - Lentulus, _see_ “Cornelius” - - Lesbos, Agrippa in, 163 - - Leucopetra, 104 - - _Lex curiata_ for adoption, 37, 68; - _lex Papia Poppæa_, 226-29 - - Libya, 118 - - Licinius procurator at Lugdunum, 180, 181, 209, 210 - - Licinius Crassus, M., 6, 30 - - Licinius Muræna, A., his conspiracy, 164 - - Lilybæum, 11 - - Limyra, 167 - - Livia, daughter of Drusus, 167 - - Livia, wife of Augustus, 97, 110; - accused of making away with Marcellus, 163; - and of Lucius and Gaius, 201; - in Sparta, 176; - her facility as a wife, 231; - her connection with Iulia, 238; - farewell of Augustus to, 258; - becomes Iulia Augusta, 260; - her character, 275-78 - - Livy, historian, 283 - - Loans, state, 218, 219 - - Longobardi, the, 186 - - Lucca, 4 - - Lucrine Lake, 103 - - _Ludi sæculares_, 222, 223 - - Lugdunum, founding of, 20; - Augustus at, 180; - altar at, 198 - - Luperci, the, 220-21 - - Lupia (R. Lippe), 186 - - Lupiæ, 35 - - _Lustrum_, 137, 255, 294 - - Lycia, 80, 167 - - - M - - Macedonia, 2, 14, 17; - province of, 26, 27, 29, 43; - the legions in, 14, 34, 46; - colonies in, 133 - - Mæcenas (C. Cilnius) with Octavius at Apollonia, 15; - negotiates marriage with Scribonia, 98; - represents Augustus at Beneventum, 99, and at Tarentum, 103; - in charge of Rome (B.C. 31), 123; - his loss of favour, 164; - his character and services, 279-82 - - _Manus_, 227 - - Marcella, d. of Octavia and wife of Agrippa, 164 - - Marcellus, _see_ “Claudius” - - Marcius Philippus, L. (stepfather of Augustus), 3, 4, 9, 36, 45, 54 - - Marcius Crispus, Q., 31, 79 - - Marcomanni, the, 186, 187 - - Marius, C., 13, 14 - - Marobudus, chief of the Marcomanni, 186, 188 - - Marriage, laws of, 226-30 - - Mars Ultor, 156, 197; - two temples of, 178 - - Marseilles, siege of, 9 - - Matius, C., 38 - - Mauretania, 171 - - Mausoleum of Augustus, 156, 261 - - Media, 173, 177 - - Merida, 133, 154 - - Mesopotamia, 14, 18 - - Metellus, _see_ “Cæcilius” - - Menodorus, freedman of Sext. Pompeius, 100, 101 - - Miletus, 108 - - _Milliarium aureum_, 215 - - Milo, 4 - - Minucius, Q., 73 - - Misenum, treaty of, 24, 100 - - Mœsia, 17, 171; - temple in, 198 - - _Monumentum Ancyranum_, 261-62, 293-301 - - Morals, reform in, 223-32 - - Munatius Plancus, L. (Cos. B.C. 42), 18, 20, 62, 63, 76, 97, 120; - builds temple of Saturn, 156 - - Munda, 13, 23 - - Muræna, _see_ “Licinius” - - Murcus, _see_ “Statius” - - Mutina, campaign of, 25, 29, 52, 53-62 - - Mylæ, battles off, 104, 106 - - - N - - Nabata, 174 - - Naples, 37, 256, 257 - - Narbo, 152, 153; - temple at, 198 - - Narbonensis, _see_ “Gaul” - - _Naumachia_, 291, 298 - - Neapolis (port of Philippi), 80 - - Nemausus (Nismes), 180 - - Nicolas of Damascus, 45 - - Nicomedia, 198 - - Nigidius, P., 2 - - Nile, the, 30 - - Nola, 2, 257, 262 - - Norbanus, C., 81, 83, 115 - - Noricum, 172, 181, 186 - - Nuceria, 71 - - Numidia, 25, 26, 87; - _see_ “Africa” - - - O - - Octavia (sister of Augustus), 45, 75; - married to Antony, 100, 101; - reconciles Antony and Augustus, 103, 104; - her fidelity to Antony, 118; - divorced by Antony, 120; - her retirement from society, 162; - brings up Iulius Antonius, 239 - - _Octavia gens_, the, 1 - - Octavius, Octavian, _see_ “Augustus” - - Octavius (father of Augustus), 1-3 - - Octavius, Rufus, C., 1, 2 - - Octavius, M., 22 - - Ops, money in the temple of, 39, 40, 54 - - _Orcini Senatores_, 139 - - Ovations of Augustus, 111 - - Ovid on the recovery of the standards, 178; - his banishment, 243-46; - his relations with Augustus, 291-93 - - - P - - Pacorus, 116 - - Pamphylia, 171 - - Paneas, 198 - - Pannonians, the, 114, 172, 179, 183, 186 - - Pannonia, altar in, 198 - - Pansa, _see_ “Vibius” (Transcriber’s Note: good luck with that; there - isn’t an index entry for Vibius. But try page 19.) - - Pantheon, the, 156 - - Parthians, rumours of war with, 6; - Cæsar’s contemplated expedition against, 14, 18; - threaten Syria, 30; - Antony’s wars with, 43, 104, 116; - invade Armenia, 167; - their submission to Augustus and return of the standards, 173-79, - 233, 300 - - _Pater patriæ_, 237, 301 - - Patræ, 27, 134; - colony at, 175 - - Patricians recruited, 14, 137 - - _Patrimonium Cæsarum_, 249 - - _Pax Augusta_, altar to, 182, 295 - - Pedius, Q., 36 - - Peducæus, Sext., 24 - - Peloponnese, 27 - - Pergamus, 212 - - Perusia, siege of, 95-7; - _Perusinæ aræ_, the, 96, 97 - - Pharnaces of Pontus, 9 - - Pharsalia, battle of, 9, 19, 22, 25, 28, 30 - - Pharus, 21 - - Philippi, battles of, 22, 26, 28, 31, 32, 76, 80-86 - - Philippics of Cicero, the, 46 - - Philippus, _see_ “Marcius” - - Phœnicia, 30 - - Phraates IV., King of Parthia, 167, 173, (Phrates, 300) - - Phrygia, 30, 171 - - Picenum, 8 - - Pinarius, L., 36 - - Penestæ, an Illyrian tribe, 21 - - Pergamus, 198 - - Piracy, 195, 298 - - Pisidia, colonies in, 176, 215 - - Plancus, _see_ “Munatius” - - Plennius, 106 - - Plutarch acquits Augustus of plotting against Antony’s life, 45; - his account of Cleopatra’s death, 129 - - Po, the river, 70, 214 - - Polemon of Cilicia, 102 - - Pollio, _see_ Asinius - - Pompeii, 196 - - Pompeius Magnus, Cn., position of, 4-9; - his government of Spain, 23; - organises Syria, 30, Crete, 32; - his defeat at Pharsalia and death in Egypt, 9 - - Pompeius, Cn. (son of Magnus), 12, 23 - - Pompeius, Sext. (younger son of Magnus) survives Munda, 17; - occupies Sardinia, 24; - visited by Lepidus in Spain, 42; - holds Sicily and Sardinia, 71, 81, 82; - rescues many of the proscribed, 74; - receives Achaia from Antony, 82; - war with, 87; - negotiations with, 98, 99; - renewed war with, 100-106; - death of, 108 - - Pompeius Bithynicus, 24, 82 - - Pontifex Maximus, office of, 107, 112, 160, 221-22, 295 - - Pontus, 28, 29 - - _Populus Romanus_, extension of the meaning of, 193 - - Porticus Octaviæ, 115, 116; - Liviæ, 156 - - Postal service, the, 189, 190 - - Portus Iulius, 103 - - Postumius, 38 - - Potentia, 6 - - _Præfectus urbi_, _præfectus annonæ_, 160 - - Præneste, 205 - - _Princeps senatus_, 142, 166, 294 - - “_Princeps_” as a title of the Emperor, 149-50; - powers of, 159 - - _Princeps iuventutis_, 166, 296 - - Propertius on the Arabian expedition, 155; - on the recovery of the standards, 178; - on the achievements of Augustus generally, 290 - - _Proconsulare imperium_, 148 - - Proculeius, C, 127 - - Proscriptions, the, 72-5 - - Provinces, the, 17-34; - Cæsar’s law as to the, 18; - division of between Augustus and Senate, 147-48; - finances of, 249 - - Ptolemais, 32 - - Ptolemy Apion of Cyrene, 18, 32 - - Ptolemy Auletes, 30, 31 - - Puteoli, 196 - - - Q - - Quintilius Varus, P., fall of, 187-88 - - - R - - Ravenna, 4, 7 - - Red Sea, the, 30 - - Regium Lepidi, 56 - - _Res familiaris_, 249, 260 - - Rhæti, the, 165, 172, 181 - - Rhætia, province of, 182 - - Rhegium, 71, 82, 103 - - Rhine, provinces of the, 17, 172; - crossed by Agrippa, 103; - armies of, 250; - frontier of the empire, 172; - crossed by Germany, 180 - - Rhodes, 80, 167 - - Rome, streets in, 113; - improvements in, 115, 134, 135, 156; - party feeling in, 119; - its attractions, 245-6; - supremacy of, 193, 275 - - Romulus, 149 - - - S - - Salassi, the, 113 - - Salonæ, 21, 22 - - Saltus Castulonensis, 22 - - Salvidienus Rufus, Q., 15, 82 - - Salvius, 73 - - Sænius, L. (Cos. B.C. 30), 137 - - Sallustius Crispus, 282 - - Samaria, 102 - - Samos, 28, 122 - - Samosata, 116 - - Sardinia, 9, 33, 71; - province of, 24-5 - - Sardis, 80 - - Saxa, Decidius, 81, 83, 116 - - Saragossa, 134, 154 - - Scodra, 99 - - Scopas, 205 - - Scordisci, the, 180 - - Scribonia (wife of Augustus), 98, 110, 239 - - Scribonius, usurper in the Bosporus, 182 - - Secular games, the, 222, 298 - - Senate, meeting of on 1st of June (B.C. 44), 42; - grants military rank to Octavian, 51; - lectiones and reforms of by Augustus, 138-42; - decline of, 270-1 - - Senators, number of, 140; - property qualification of, 144 - - _Senatus consultum ultimum_, 7, 53 - - Sertorius, 18 - - Sextius Saturninus, C., 186 - - Sextius, T., 25 - - Sibylline books, the, 205, 221 - - Sicily, Curio’s success in, 9; - province of, 23, 24, 33, 82; - war in, 104-106; - colonies in, 133, 174, 175 - - Sidon deprived of liberty, 176 - - Silius Nerva, P., 179 - - Smyrna, 80 - - Sodales Titii, the, 220 - - Sosius, C., campaign in Judæa, 116, 118 - - Spain, Pompey’s rule of, 4, 5, 8; - Cæsar in, 8, 9, 13; - provinces of, 22, 23, 29, 87; - colonies in, 133, 134; - temple in to Augustus, 198 - - Sparta, 27, 176, 198 - - Spartacus, 3, 213 - - T. Statilius Taurus, 104, 115; - builds an amphitheatre, 156 - - C. Statius Murcus, 31, 79, 81, 84 - - Stilicho, 221 - - Suetonius, 3, 24 - - Sugambri, 180 - - Sulla, 18 - - Sulpicius Rufus, Serv., 28, 54 - - _Sublicius pons_, 219 - - Succession, the, 160, 170, 242, 263 - - Sumptuary laws, 225 - - _Supplicatio_, meaning of, 197 - - Synnada, diocese of, 30 - - Syria, 18; - province of, 30, 31, 43, 118, 173, 177 - - - T - - Tarentum, 103 - - Tarraco, 13, 154 - - Tarsus, 29 - - Tauromenium, 104, 105 - - Temples, repair of, 134, 156, 297 - - Tencteri, 180 - - Terentius Varro, 48 - - Teuta, Queen, 21 - - Thapsus, 11, 23 - - Thasos, 81 - - Thessaly, 9, 27 - - Thracian tribes, 2 - - Thurii, 3, 213 - - Thurinus, 3 - - Thyrsus (freedman of Antony), 126 - - Tibur, 49, 205 - - Tillius Cimber, L., 28 - - Tiridates, 173, 177 - - Titius T. (Tr. Pl. B.C. 43), 72, 108, 117, 120 - - Titus, Emperor, 117 - - Toga, the disuse of the, 224 - - Trebonius, C., 19, 23, 28, 55 - - _Tribunicia potestas_, 112, 135-37, 158-60 - - Triumphs of Iulius Cæsar, 11; - of Augustus, 137 - - Triumvirate, the first, 4. - The second, 25, 70, 72, 118; - powers of, 143; - acta of abolished, 144 - - Turullius, P., 126 - - Tyre, deprived of liberty, 176 - - Tyndaris, 104 - - - U - - Usipites, the, 180, 184 - - - V - - Vada Sabatia, 59, 61 - - Valerius Messalla, M., 104, 105 - - Valerius, P., 22 - - Valerius Orca, Q., 24 - - Valerius Messalinus, 186 - - Varius Rufus, L., 283 - - Varus, _see_ Quintilius - - Vedius Pollio, his cruelty rebuked, 209; - his house demolished, 291 - - Velitræ, 1, 2 - - Velleius Paterculus excuses Augustus for the proscriptions, 76 - - _Venationes_, 271, 298 - - Venetia, 214 - - Venusia, 71 - - Vergil, 2; - on the confiscations, 90; - on the death of Marcellus, 162, 163; - on the recovery of the standards, 179; - death of, 179; - his connection with Augustus and his work, 283-85 - - Vesta, temple of, 67; - new temple of, in Palatine, 205 - - Vestal Virgins, the, 67, 78, 135, 220 - - Veterans, the, 42, 44, 46, 90, 91, 132, 133, 174 - - _Via Æmilia_, 48, 59, 79; - _Egnatia_, 14, 15, 83; - _Flaminia_, 214, 297; - _Valeria_, 49; - _Valeria_ (in Sicily), 105; - _Sebaste_ (in Pisidia), 176; - _viæ Augustæ_ in the provinces, 215 - - Vibo, 71 - - _Vicesima_, the 5 p. c. legacy duty, 250, 251 - - Vindelici, 181 - - Vipsania, wife of Tiberius, 165, 167, 234 - - Vipsanius Agrippa, M., 11, 15; - makes the _portus Iulius_, and organises a navy against Sext. - Pompeius, 103-105; - improves the water supply of Rome, 115; - his activity before and at Actium, 123, 124 (Cos. B.C. 28); - holds the Census with Augustus, 137; - his great buildings, 156; - receives his Seal from Augustus when supposed to be dying, 157; - appointed to Syria, 161; - marries Iulia, 164; - in Gaul and Spain (B.C. 21-19), 165, 179; - associated in tribunician power, 165; - on the Bosporus, 182; - his death, 183, 234; - his character and career, 278-79 - - Visurgis (R. Weser), 184, 186, 187 - - - Z - - Zela, 9 - - - The Gresham Press, - UNWIN BROTHERS, LIMITED, - WOKING AND LONDON. - -*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK AUGUSTUS *** - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will -be renamed. - -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, -so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the -United States without permission and without paying copyright -royalties. 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