CONTENTS
Title Page
Dedication
Chronology
Maps
Family Tree
Preface
Introduction
I SCENES FROM A PROVINCIAL CHILDHOOD
II THE GREAT-UNCLE
III A POLITICAL MASTER CLASS
IV UNFINISHED BUSINESS
V A BOY WITH A NAME
VI FROM VICTORY, DEFEAT
VII KILLING FIELDS
VIII DIVIDED WORLD
IX GOLDEN AGE
X FIGHTING NEPTUNE
XI PARTHIAN SHOTS
XII EAST IS EAST AND WEST IS WEST
XIII THE PHONY WAR
XIV SHOWDOWN
XV A LONG FAREWELL
XVI ABDICATION
XVII WHOM THE GODS LOVE
XVIII EXERCISING POWER
XIX THE CULT OF VIRTUE
XX LIFE AT COURT
PHOTO INSERT
XXI GROWING THE EMPIRE
XXII A FAMILY AT WAR
XXIII THE UNHAPPY RETURN
XXIV THE BITTER END
INTO THE FUTURE
Notes
Sources
Acknowledgments
About the Author
Also by Anthony Everitt
Copyright
FOR RODDY ASHWORTH
CHRONOLOGY
B.C.
BEFORE 70
Gaius Octavius marries Atia
? 70
Gaius Cilnius Maecenas born
69
Octavia, Octavius’ second daughter, born
63
Consulship of Marcus Tullius Cicero
Conspiracy of Lucius Sergius Catilina
September 23
Gaius Octavius (Augustus) born
C. 62
Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa born
61
Gaius Octavius (Augustus’ father) praetor
60
First Triumvirate formed
59
Julius Caesar consul
58
Gaius Octavius dies
58–49
Caesar proconsul in Gaul
BEFORE 54
Octavia marries Gaius Claudius Marcellus
53
Marcus Licinius Crassus invades Parthia; defeated and killed at Carrhae
52
Pompey the Great sole consul
49
Civil war begins. Caesar invades Italy, wins campaign in Spain, becomes dictator
48
Caesar defeats Pompey at Pharsalus in Greece
Pompey killed in Egypt
Caesar installs Cleopatra on Egyptian throne
46
Caesar defeats republican army in northern Africa
Cato commits suicide
45
Caesar defeats republican army in Spain
autumn
Octavius at Apollonia
Caesar Dictator for Life
March 15
Caesar assassinated
April
Octavius in Italy
Octavius accepts adoption by Caesar; becomes Gaius Julius Caesar Octavianus, or Octavian
43
War at Mutina; Mark Antony defeated
Octavian consul
Mark Antony, Octavian, and Marcus Aemilius Lepidus form Second Triumvirate; Proscription launched; Cicero put to death
42
Campaign at Philippi; Brutus and Cassius commit suicide
Sextus Pompeius in control of Sicily
Julius Caesar deified
Octavia’s son, Marcus Claudius Marcellus (Marcellus), born
Tiberius Claudius Nero, son of Livia Drusilla and Tiberius Claudius Nero, (Tiberius) born
41
Lucius Antonius besieged at Perusia
Antony meets Cleopatra, winters at Alexandria
40
Perusia falls
Marcellus, Octavia’s husband, dies
Octavian marries Scribonia
Parthians invade Syria
Calenus dies in Gaul
Treaty of Brundisium; Antony marries Octavia
39
Treaty of Misenum
Ventidius defeats the Parthians
Agrippa campaigns in Gaul
Octavian’s daughter, Julia, born
38
Triumvirate renewed
Nero Claudius Drusus (Drusus) born
January 17
Octavian marries Livia Drusilla
Antony dismisses Ventidius
Sextus Pompeius defeats Octavian off Cumae and in straits of Messana
37
Virgil’s Eclogues published
Treaty of Tarentum
36
After initial defeat (August), Octavian defeats Sextus Pompeius at Naulochus (September 3)
Lepidus dropped from Triumvirate
Antony’s Parthian expedition
Octavian granted tribunicia sacrosanctitas
35
Sextus Pompeius killed
Octavian campaigns in the Balkans
34
Antony annexes Armenia
Donations of Alexandria
33
Octavian consul (2), Triumvirate lapses at end of year
Agrippa aedile
Tiberius Claudius Nero (father) dies
32
Antony divorces Octavia
Octavian publishes Antony’s will
Consuls leave Rome for Antony
Oath of loyalty to Octavian
31
Octavian consul (3)
Battle of Actium
30
Octavian consul (4)
Octavian captures Alexandria; Antony and Cleopatra commit suicide
29
Octavian consul (5)
Octavian’s triple triumph
Temple of Julius Caesar and the Curia Julia dedicated
Marcus Licinius Crassus pacifies Thrace
28
Octavian consul (6)
Review of Senate
Temple of Apollo on the Palatine dedicated
Mausoleum of Augustus begun
27
Octavian consul (7)
January
First constitutional settlement; Octavian named Augustus; granted a large provincia for ten years
Agrippa builds Pantheon
27–24
Augustus in Gaul and Spain
26
Augustus consul (8)
Dismissal and death of Gaius Cornelius Gallus
Expedition to Arabia Felix
25
Augustus consul (9)
Julia marries Marcellus
Augustus falls ill in Spain, convalesces
? 24–23
Trial of Marcus Primus and conspiracy of Fannius Caepio and Aulus Terentius Varro Murena
24
Augustus consul (10)
23
Augustus consul (11)
Augustus at Rome, falls ill
Second constitutional settlement: Augustus resigns consulship, receives imperium proconsulare maius and tribunicia potestas
Death of Marcellus
Horace’s Odes (three books) published
23–21
Agrippa with enhanced imperium in the east
22–19
Augustus in the east
21
Agrippa marries Julia, goes to Gaul
20
Augustus negotiates entente with Parthia; Tiberius in Armenia
Gaius born to Julia
Rufus Egnatius praetor
C. 19
Agrippa’s daughter, Julia, born
19
Egnatius bids for the consulship
Virgil dies
August
us, back at Rome, receives consular powers
Agrippa subdues Spanish tribes
18
Renewal of Augustus’ imperium maius for five years
Renewal of Agrippa’s imperium for five years, plus grant of tribunicia potestas
Review of Senate
18–17
Social and moral reforms (leges Juliae)
17
Lucius born to Julia, Augustus adopts Gaius and Lucius
Celebration of the Ludi Saeculares
16–13
Augustus in Gaul; Agrippa in the east
15
Tiberius and Drusus campaign in the Alps
Drusus’ son, Nero Claudius Drusus Germanicus(Germanicus), born
13
Tiberius consul (1)
Agrippa granted imperium maius, and tribunicia potestas renewed
Theater of Marcellus and Ara Pacis dedicated
13–12 winter
Agrippa in Pannonia to suppress threatened rebellion
12
Lepidus dies, Augustus succeeds him as pontifex maximus
March
Agrippa dies
Agrippa Postumus born
12–9
Tiberius campaigns in Pannonia; Drusus in Germany
11
Tiberius divorces Vipsania and marries Julia
10
Drusus’ son, Tiberius Claudius Drusus Nero Germanicus (Claudius), born
9
Death of Drusus
9–7
Tiberius campaigns in Germany
8
Augustus’ imperium maius renewed
Deaths of Maecenas and Horace
7
Tiberius consul (2), celebrates triumph
6
Armenian revolt
Tiberius granted tribunicia potestas for five years
Tiberius retires to Rhodes
5
Augustus consul (12)
Gaius Caesar comes of age, appointed princeps iuventutis, designated consul for A.D. 1
2
Augustus consul (13)
Lucius Caesar comes of age
Disgrace of Julia
Forum of Augustus and Temple of Mars Ultor dedicated
King Frahâta of Parthia murdered, succeeded by Frahâtak
Ovid publishes Ars Amatoria
1
Gaius Caesar sent to the east with imperium
A.D.
2
Agreement between Gaius Caesar and King Frahâtak
Tiberius returns from Rhodes
Lucius Caesar dies at Massilia
2–3
Gaius Caesar wounded
4
Gaius Caesar resigns his duties and dies
Augustus adopts Agrippa Postumus and Tiberius, who adopts Germanicus
Tiberius granted tribunicia potestas for ten years
Tiberius campaigns in Germany
lex Aelia Sentia
Review of Senate
5
Tiberius reaches the Elbe
6
Establishment of aerarium militare
Revolt in Pannonia and Dalmatia
7
Agrippa Postumus banished to Planasia
8
Julia, Augustus’ granddaughter, and Ovid banished
Pannonians surrender
9
Dalmatia subdued
Varus defeated in Germany; three legions lost
lex Papia Poppaea
10–11
Tiberius campaigns in Germany
12
Germanicus consul
Tiberius’ triumph
13
Germanicus takes command in Gaul and Germany
Tiberius’ tribunicia potestas renewed for ten years; he receives imperium proconsulare maius equal to that of Augustus
Germanicus receives proconsular imperium
14 August 19
Augustus dies
Agrippa Postumus put to death
Tiberius becomes princeps
Julia, Augustus’ daughter, dies in exile
15
Germanicus visits the scene of the Variana clades
17
Ovid dies in exile
19
Germanicus dies, perhaps poisoned
23
Tiberius’ son, Drusus, dies, perhaps killed by Sejanus
28
Julia, Augustus’ granddaughter, dies in exile
29
Julia Augusta (Livia) dies
37
Tiberius dies; Gaius (Caligula) succeeds
41
Gaius assassinated; Claudius succeeds
43
Claudius invades Britannia
54
Claudius dies, perhaps poisoned; Nero succeeds
68
Nero commits suicide, last member of Augustus’ family to be princeps
PREFACE
* * *
His career was a masterly study in the wielding of power. He learned how to obtain it and, more important, how to keep it. As the history of the last hundred years has shown, empires are hard won and easily lost. In the first century B.C., Rome governed one of the largest empires the world had seen, but through foolish policies and bad governance risked its collapse. Augustus devised a political system that enabled the empire’s survival for half a millennium. History never repeats itself exactly, but today’s leaders and students of politics will find his policies and methods to be of interest.
Yet Augustus himself is a shadowy figure. Many books have been written about his achievements, but they have tended to focus on the Augustan age, rather than on the man as he was. My hope is to make Augustus come alive.
As well as narrating his own doings, I place his story in his times and describe the events and personalities that affected him. Shipwrecks, human sacrifice, hairbreadth escapes, unbridled sex, battles on land and at sea, ambushes, family scandals, and above all the unforgiving pursuit of absolute power—Augustus lived out an extraordinary and often terrifying drama.
The stage is crowded with larger-than-life personalities: the brilliant and charming Julius Caesar; the ruthless Cleopatra, who is often said to have used sex as an instrument of policy; the idealistic assassin Brutus; the intelligent drunkard Mark Antony; the dour Tiberius; the great but promiscuous lady Julia, and many more.
The incidents and actions that make up a life cannot be fully realized without also conveying a sense of place. So I have sought to evoke the main locations of Augustus’ career, as they were at the time and as they appear today—among them, his house on the Palatine, the secret palace on the island of Pandateria, the low, sandy headland of Actium, and the spectacular city of Alexandria.
The Roman world is still recognizable to us who live two millennia later. The day-to-day practice of politics, the realities of urban living, the seaside resorts, the cultivation of the arts, the rising divorce rate, the misdemeanors of the younger generation: past and present have many things in common. However, certain forms of degradation—slavery, the low status of women, and the gladiatorial carnage of the arena—shock and astonish us. So, too, does the moral approval accorded to military violence and imperial expansion. Julius Caesar’s largely unprovoked conquest of Gaul was hailed at Rome as a wonderful achievement, but it is estimated that one million Gauls lost their lives in the fighting.
Augustus was a very great man, but he grew gradually into greatness. He did not possess Julius Caesar’s bravura and political genius (it was that genius, of course, which killed Caesar, for it made him incapable of compromise). He was a physical coward who taught himself to be brave. He was intelligent, painstaking, and patient, but could also be cruel and ruthless. He worked extraordinarily hard. He thought in the long term, achieving his aims slowly and by trial and error.
Augustus is one of the few historical figures who improved with the passage of time. He began as a bloodthirsty adventurer, but once he had achieved power, he made a respectable man o
f himself. He repealed his illegal acts and took trouble to govern fairly and efficiently.
One curious aspect of Augustus’ life is that many of the leading players were very young men. The adults who started Rome’s civil wars fell victim to long years of fighting, leaving the baton to be picked up by the next generation. Augustus and his schoolmates Maecenas and Agrippa were in their late teens when they took charge of the state. Pompey the Great’s son Sextus was probably much the same age when he set himself up as a guerrilla leader in Spain.
Augustus died old, but throughout his long reign he never hesitated to entrust great responsibility to the young men of his family: his stepsons Tiberius and Drusus, and his grandsons Gaius and Lucius. The excitement of making one’s way in an adult world must have been intoxicating.
We are right to call Augustus Rome’s first emperor, yet the title is anachronistic. At the time he was simply regarded as the chief man in the state. The Roman Republic had, apparently, been restored, not abolished. Augustus developed a personality cult, but he did not hold permanent authority and had to have his powers regularly renewed. Only with the accession of Tiberius did people finally realize that they were no longer citizens of a free commonwealth, but subjects living under a permanent monarchy. So nowhere in this book do I call Augustus emperor.
The task of writing a life of Augustus is complicated by the fact that many contemporary sources are lost, casualties of the Dark Ages: the autobiography down to 25 B.C. that Augustus wrote in Spain; his correspondence with Cicero; Agrippa’s memoirs; the history of his times by Pollio and Messala’s commentaries on the civil wars after Julius Caesar’s assassination; thirty books of Livy’s great history of Rome, covering the period from 44 to 9 B.C. Only fragments of the life of Augustus written by a friend of Herod the Great, Nicolaus of Damascus, have survived, and Appian’s detailed study of Rome’s civil wars in the first century B.C. closes with the death of Sextus Pompeius in 35 B.C.