Augustus (62 page)

“extraordinary and intolerable”
Plut Ant 58 4.

the promontory of Actium
My treatment of the battle of Actium, which follows, is indebted to John M. Carter’s
The Battle of Actium,
an authoritative account. The ancient writers often describe accurately enough what took place, but without understanding why, and leaving out important incidents that have to be inferred. Nevertheless the broad outline of the battle is clear enough.

“My services to Antony”
Vell Pat 2864.

“What is so terrible”
Plut Ant 62 3.

“press-ganging travellers”
Ibid., 62 1.

“Antony, although he was deeply grieved”
Ibid., 63 2–3.

“The fighting took on”
Ibid., 66 2.

XV. A LONG FAREWELL

Plutarch’s life of Antony is the main source for Antony’s and Cleopatra’s last days, supported by Dio. Peter Green’s
From Alexander to Actium
gives background on Hellenistic culture and Ptolemaic Egypt.

“all the solitude he could desire”
Plut Ant 69 1.

“A young man”
Vell Pat 2881.

“actually kill”
Dio 51 6.

his seal ring
This ring was later replaced by one with the head of Alexander the Great. His last seal ring showed Augustus’ head and was used by his successors.

his fifty-fourth year
Three years have been proposed for the date of Antony’s birth: 86, 83, and 81. I assume 83, the most popular date among modern scholars.

“Cleopatra and Antony now dissolved”
Plut Ant 71 3.

“There are many different ways”
Ibid., 75 1.

“about the hour of midnight”
Ibid., 75 3–4.

“clinging with both hands”
Ibid., 77 3.

“greatest emporium”
Strabo 17 1 13.

“No Latin ruler”
Ernle Bradford,
Cleopatra
(London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1971), p. 49.

“she had abandoned”
Plut Ant 83 1.

“by no means insensible”
Ibid., 84 1.

“So here it is”:
Ibid., 86 1.

“lying dead upon a golden couch”
Ibid., 85 3–4.

“no one knows clearly”
Dio 51 14 1. For a helpful discussion of asp bites, see
Sunday Times
of London article, “Cleopatra and the Asp” by Richard Girling. November 28, 2004.
www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2099-1362193,00.htm
.

It is possible
For this theory, see W. R. Johnson,
Arion
(Boston: Boston University Press, 1967), p. 393 n. 16.

he was no looter
Suet Aug 71 1.

“Would you now like”
Ibid., 18 2.

Julius Caesar was accused
Green, p. 667 n. 151.

“indiscreet talk when drunk”
Ovid Trist 2446.

“I am the only man in Rome”
Suet Aug 66 2.

having sexual intercourse
Pliny 7 184.

a bridge over the stream
See L. A. Holland,
Janus and the Bridge,
Papers and Monographs, American Academy in Rome. 21, 1961.

XVI. ABDICATION

The quality of the ancient literary sources now declines sharply, and many episodes are only known about in general and partial terms. Sometimes years pass without explicit incident. This chapter draws on Suetonius, Velleius Paterculus, and (above all) Dio Cassius. The archaeological record is of considerable but occasional assistance. The description of the Palatine is indebted to the official guidebook,
The Palatine
(Milan: Ministero per i Beni e le Attività Culturali, Soprintendenza Archeologica di Roma, pub. Electa, 1998).

“Wars, both civil and foreign”
Res Gest 13.

“Plotting destruction to”
Hor Odes 1376–12.

“High up on the poop”
Virgil Aen 8 678–81.

“Atia’s [his mother’s] emphatic declaration”
Dio 45 1 2–5; also the source for other episodes in this section.

“Romans, you shall have an end”
Plut Cic 44 3.

“cheerful in mind and disposition”
Vell Pat 2932.

minimum ages of officeholders
See Syme RR, p. 369.

physical incompatibility
Pliny 757.

“more a rustic at heart”
Ibid., 35 26.

a collector on a grand scale
Ibid., 35 26 and 34 62.

“outdo a woman”
Vell Pat 2882.

heated swimming pool
Dio 5576.

“Goodbye, my ebony of Medullia”
Macr 24.

“was…well-disciplined”
Vell Pat 2791.

is said to have worn a sword
Suet Aug 35 1–2.

“I lay down my office”
Dio 53 4 3–4.

presumably with proconsular authority
There has been much scholarly debate about the nature of Octavian’s powers. Some say that they were proconsular (cf. Pompey’s governorship of Spain in the fifties
B.C.
), others that his
imperium
as consul was sufficient. The difficulty with the latter explanation is that a consul’s
imperium
lasted only one year. Even though Octavian had developed the habit of assuming the consulship annually, that could not guarantee authority over his
provincia
for a decade.

“in recognition of my valour”
Res Gest 34.

“When I had put an end”
Ibid.

“After this time”
Ibid.

XVII. WHOM THE GODS LOVE

Dio is the main narrative source, with contributions from Suetonius and Virgil.

Whom the Gods Love [die young]
Men Double, Fragment 4.

The
princeps
was superstitious
Suet Aug 92 1.

On a night march
Ibid., 29 3.

“from the fatigue and anxiety”
Dio 53 25 7.

Livia accompanied her husband
Tac Ann 334. Livia’s grandson Drusus made this claim in
A.D.
21.

Livia was an able businesswoman
For Livia’s business interests, see Barrett, chapter 9.

Marcus Primus, the governor of Macedonia
Dio dates this episode and the Caepio plot to 22
B.C.
; but Augustus’ presence is required and in that year he was abroad. Also by that time he had
imperium maius
and was entitled to interfere where he wished.

“The loftiest pines”
Hor Odes 2104–8, 21–22. It is possible that the poem was written after Murena’s fall, but presented as prophetic.

The praetor, or presiding judge
Dio 54 3 3.

“since he was notoriously rough-tongued”
Ibid., 34.

abscesses on the liver
Suet Aug 81 1.

“severe pain in the right part”
Celsus 415.

“all cold things”
Ibid.

It has been suggested
See John Buchan,
Augustus
(London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1937), p. 161.

a general and overriding proconsular authority
There is a dispute whether this was
maius imperium proconsulare,
“greater proconsular authority,” allowing him to override or give orders to governors of the senatorial provinces, or
aequum imperium proconsulare,
“equal proconsular authority,” which would allow him to raise matters with governors but not to command them. The former is perhaps more probable (because of the discovery of five edicts from Cyrene that show Augustus intervening directly in provincial business: Ehrenberg and Jones
Documents
n 311, translated in Lewis and Rheinhold,
Roman Civilization
236ff); if the latter, Augustus would have had to get his way by deploying his prestige, or
auctoritas
.

“secret
coup d’état” Syme RR, p. 345.

“had felt that Augustus”
Suet Aug 66 3.

Marcellus was not well disposed
Dio 53 32 1.

“scandalous sending away of Agrippa”
Pliny 7149.

“Fate shall allow the earth”
Virg Aen 6 869–70, 882–86.

“sweet and strangely seductive”
Suet Virg 32.

It was whispered that Livia
Dio 53 33 4.

“You have made him”
Ibid., 54 6 5.

“stepmother to ships”
Aesch Prom 727.

poison had been sprinkled
Tac Ann 110.

Nonius Asprenas
Suet Aug 56 3.

XVIII. EXERCISING POWER

Dio is the main source, with Suetonius (his life of Augustus now being supplemented by that of Tiberius).

He was strongly and heavily built
This description of Tiberius’ appearance and personality is drawn from Suet Tib 68. Contemporary statues and busts of him have also been used.

abstruse and unanswerable questions
Suet Tib 70 3.

“I compelled the Parthians”
Res Gest 29.

“better qualified to be a gladiator”
Vell Pat 2913.

an ingenious scheme
Dio 54 13.

“I don’t understand that!”
Suet Aug 54.

In his official memoir
For these expenses see Res Gest 16.

XIX. THE CULT OF VIRTUE

Dio provides the basic information. Virgil and Horace embody the Augustan regime’s aspirations in verse.

“Of late years”
Livy.

“praised Pompey so warmly”
Tac Ann 434.

“fashionable designations”
Ibid.

“the righteous are set apart”
Virg Aen 8 670.

“Turn not your country’s hand”
Ibid., 6833.

“to seek to keep the constitution”
Macr 2418.

“rule an Italy”
Virg Aen 4 228–30.

“And here, here”
Ibid., 6 791–94.

“large inconvenience of wealth”
Hor Odes 3148.

“Family pride”
Ibid., 32419–22.

“If we could get on without a wife”
Aul Gell 16.

According to Suetonius
Suet Aug 71 1.

“guide and command”
Dio 54 16 4.

“Let us turn our minds”
Ibid., 16 6.

the general population was rising
Suet Aug 29 1, 46 1.

“preserve a significant distinction”
Dio 56 33 3.

In later years
The
lex Fufia Caninia
was passed in 2
B.C.
and the
lex Aelia Sentia
in
A.D.
4.

“You shall pay”
Hor Odes 361–5.

“After a sacrifice was completed”
Old CAH, p. 477.

“Goddess [Diana], make strong our youth”
Hor Cent 17–20.

“Now Faith and Peace”
Ibid., 57–60.

XX. LIFE AT COURT

Most of the material in this chapter derives from anecdotes in Suetonius (with additional material about Livia from Barrett, and general information on daily life in ancient Rome from Carcopino, Dupont, and Smith). Suetonius seems usually reliable or at least plausible, for he had access to the imperial archives and quoted from documents, as well as to contemporary (but now lost) memoirs. Many of the anecdotes are undated and doubtless refer to different times in Augustus’ reign.

“remarkable neither for size”
Suet Aug 72 1.

“Whenever he wanted”
Ibid., 72 2.

“would hardly be considered fit”
Ibid., 73 1.

“Anyone would think”
Ibid., 53 3.

a court developed
This section is indebted to Andrew Wallace-Hadrill, “The Imperial Court,” CAH, pp. 283–308.

they may have been loosely arranged
This judgment is based on the departments known to have been established by later emperors.