Marcus Agrippa: Right-hand Man of Caesar Augustus (2 page)

Agrippa’s life bridged the last days of the Roman Republic and its first as a form of constitutional monarchy that modern historians often refer to as the Early Empire or Principate. Making this story all the more compelling is the fact that Agrippa played a key role in that transition. This book charts the life of Agrippa chronologically from birth to death, divided into chapters which describe the key events and themes which shaped it.

When I completed this book I was the same age as Agrippa when he died. I am fortunate indeed to have outlived him, but I marvel at his extraordinary achievements compared to my own lifetime’s humble offerings. Writing history means making editorial decisions both as a historian and as a writer. As a historian I have to be faithful to the facts as they are known and to make explicit any speculations. Readers sometimes express the view ‘I would have liked to have known more about his private life/emotional state/opinions’ and so on as if I had intentionally withheld the information. One of the challenges of writing about people of the ancient past is the paucity of personal detail. If only Agrippa’s daybook or autobiography had survived! People of antiquity are so often no more than names associated with an event for whom we do not even possess a reliable contemporary description. Discussing their characters or motivations would, thus, be no more than speculation, a task better left to historical fiction writers. Indeed, despite all the statue busts we have, there is not a single mention of the colour of Agrippa’s hair or his eyes, nor even his height, for us to project those features on to the cold white marble and imagine it as warm, human flesh.

As a writer I have to decide how much backstory to include to set the context in which the actors of the story lived and made consequential decisions that affected their lives. The world of M. Agrippa was very different to our own and thus, for example, to understand a position that he held and its significance in his meteoric career makes an explanation of some or all aspects of that role necessary. Where it makes sense to do so I place the explanation in the narrative rather than the
endnotes, because, for example, in the case of a priesthood, it reveals that a technocrat like Agrippa willingly accepted religious postings, despite their arcane practices and rituals and his public rejection of astrology and charlatanism. He was a man of his times and, as his life story shows, he delighted and thrived in them, and was quite capable of living with contradictions and paradoxes.

There is much to know about his world in all its nuanced complexity, but such limited space in a single volume biography to discuss it. I encourage the reader to study the endnotes and explore the points raised. They are extensive for a reason. Firstly, they fully disclose how this sausage was made! A historian worth his salt owes it to his reader to disclose that. Secondly, given the paucity and quality of source material, the reader should be aware that what modern – and especially ancient – historians sometimes present as indisputable fact, on closer inspection, can be found to be assertion based on inference or guesswork – and indeed, that it is disputed by others in the same field of scholarship.

An Ancient Chinese proverb states ‘the beginning of wisdom is to call things by their right names’. Romans generally had two names, a personal name (
praenomen
) and a family or clan name (
nomen genticulum
), but from the later days of the Republic, it was becoming common to have three by adding a nickname (
cognomen
). While the subject of this biography had all three constituent parts to his name, he seems to have insisted on being known simply as M. Agrippa. Victorious commanders in battle might also be granted an honourific title (
agnomen
). Modern historians usually call Romans by their
cognomina
or
agnomina
, the last of the three or more names, hence Cicero for M. Tullius Cicero, or Augustus for Imperator Caesar Augustus. I do not use the convention Octavian for the man who became Caesar’s heir. He assumed and used the name of his great uncle and never used Octavianus. Throughout the text I use Iulius (I have used Iulius for Julius throughout) Caesar for the
dictator
and plain Caesar for the man who would later become Augustus. In some cases the Latin name has mutated into an Anglicism, such as Livy for Livius or Pliny for Plinius. For the names of ancient historians, I use the modern form. For the protagonists in the story I retain the Latin form – hence M. Antonius rather than Marc (or Mark) Antony – and the Greek form – thus Kleopatra for Cleopatra – since this is faithful to the original spelling found on coins and inscriptions and respects the names by which they themselves were known in their own time. For the same reason I use Caius not Gaius and Cnaeus not Gnaeus.

By tradition, Roman men and women in extended families often had the same name. Agrippa’s daughters and granddaughters took the feminine form of the family’s
nomen genticulum
with the result that there are several women with the name Vipsania Agrippina. To distinguish between them modern historians refer to Vipsania Agrippina (first wife of Tiberius), Agrippina Maior or ‘the Elder’ (wife of Germanicus) and Agrippina Minor or ‘the Younger’ (mother of Nero). The reader will be forgiven for thinking that studying the
Domus Augusta
, the House of Augustus, can quickly become very confusing: it is, even for people intimately familiar with the Roman period. With that in mind, I have tried to use the singular name Agrippa throughout to refer to the man who is the subject of
this biography. The family tree will help the reader understand the branches of the House of Agrippa.

Where a place has a Latin name I prefer to use it since the modern name creates a false impression of the scale and feel of the ancient place – hence Oppidum Ubiorum (founded by Agrippa) rather than Cologne, which at this time more likely looked like a town of the American Wild West. In other cases, where the modern place name is unfamiliar to most readers I use the ancient name, such as Antiocheia on the Orontes (in Roman Syria) rather than Antakya (now in Turkey). Some ancient places in the East have both Latin and Greek names, such as Corcyra and Kerkyra, in which case I tend to use the original Greek form. The exceptions are Actium, Athens, Egypt and Rome, because to use Athenae (or Athenai), Aegyptus and Roma would be unnecessarily pedantic; and places for which the ancient name is not known I use the modern name unless there is a well-known Anglicism. I have listed ancient and modern place names on page 230 for convenience.

The names and places used by the indigenous peoples of Rome’s empire and the lands on its borders who sided with or fought against the Romans are only known to us through Greek and Latin writings. Similarly a few tribal chieftains and kings are known but only by Romanized or Hellenized names. The Parthian king of kings Frahâtak is generally known to readers in English by the ‘westernized’ (actually the Greek) form Phraates.

The Latin version is used for Roman officer ranks, arms, equipment and battle formations throughout the text since there is often no modern equivalent. Definitions of the terms are listed in the Glossary. Similarly with legal and political terms: the Roman republic Agrippa was born into was a complex structure of elected magistrates, assemblies of citizen voters and the Senate. For readers unfamiliar with the principal institutions and roles of its officials, I recommend starting with a reading of
Appendix 1
before diving into the main narrative.

Writing about the ancient world involves making several editorial decisions and presentational compromises. Chronology is one of them. The Romans had their own calendar using the names of each year’s consuls (see page xxviii), and ancient historians routinely refer to dates in this way. For modern readers, it is cumbersome and very confusing. Our own style of identifying years by serial numbers makes life so much easier! However, in respect of dates, I have adopted the increasingly accepted conventions BCE (Before the Common Era) instead of BC (Before Christ), and CE (Common Era) for AD (
anno Domini
). I am aware some readers dislike this newer format, but it
is
common in research literature – popular historian Mary Beard is on record in
A Don’s Life
(26 September 2011) as stating the convention has been around for years and that about half of the academic papers published on Ancient History display dates in this format – and even the BBC now uses it. Thus, Agrippa was born in 64 BCE (or 64 BC) and Augustus died in 14 CE (AD 14).

The job of a biographer is to present as accurate and unbiased an account as possible – warts and all – of his chosen subject’s life but also to make the story compelling reading. Establishing, checking and interpreting facts makes for an
intellectually stimulating journey as lines of inquiry take one this way or that. Like a detective, asking questions, examining evidence, having an open mind and a willingness to follow the leads wherever they go are the essential prerequisites to successfully solving a case. In the final analysis, however, as one strives to make the man come alive on the page the writing itself is a lonely endeavour, with the inner voice being both constant companion and sternest critic. I hope the result is a truthful and compelling account of the life of one of Ancient Rome’s most successful generals and consequential sons.

To the shades of Marcus Agrippa, son of Lucius, consul three times, I present this book.
Arma virumque cano
.

There are several people who deserve my thanks for helping me with this project. I start with family and friends. My partner, mother, brother and my friend Sonia St James (self-styled ‘muse to creative minds’) have all offered much appreciated encouragement throughout the project. To my commissioning editor, Philip Sidnell, who responded enthusiastically to my proposal for this, my third book for Pen & Sword, I shall again always be grateful. To Noel Sadler, who laid out these pages, Dominic Allen who created the jacket, and Matt Jones who supervised the whole production process, I offer my sincere thanks.

I feel very honoured that Steven Saylor agreed to provide the foreword to
Marcus Agrippa
. Steven has a remarkable talent for making the ancient world come alive for modern readers. He has studied the Roman world in particular for many years. As the author of the fictional
Roma Sub Rosa
series set in the last days of Republican Rome he is well-qualified to compose the opening remarks. It was into this age of political and military giants that Agrippa was born. I have enjoyed several discussions with him over dinner in Austin, Texas and have always come away from them with new insights into the ancient past, the study of which we both so much enjoy.

This book tells the story of Marcus Agrippa in both words and pictures. I offer my thanks to the helpful staff of The Perry-Castañeda Library of The University of Texas at Austin, who allowed me access to their amazing collection of books, many now out of print. For helping me to illustrate the story, I offer my thanks to Shanna Berk Schmidt of Harlan J. Berk, Ltd, Chicago, and Richard Beale of Roma Numismatics Limited, London, for kindly providing images of coins. From the re-enactment world, I must thank Chris Haines, MBE, Mike Knowles, and members of The Ermine Street Guard, a registered charity in England, of which I am proud to say I am a veteran member, for use of their photographs. For images of Roman portrait busts, I express my gratitude to Marie-Lan Nguyen in France, and for the Praeneste warship to Jasper Oorthuys, editor-in-chief of the excellent
Ancient Warfare
magazine, published by Karwansaray B.V. in The Netherlands, and for which I am news editor.

War stories cannot be told without the aid of maps. Erin Greb of Erin Greb Cartography did a marvellous job of producing the maps of Agrippa’s travels to my exact specifications. My thanks also to Ian Hughes for drawing the plans of the Campus Martius and Portus Iulius, and to Alex Swanston at Pen & Sword for the one of the Battle of Actium