TheAugustanAge:HistoriansandPoetsConsidertheEmperorThefollowingworksareexcerptsfromthehistoriesandpoetrypublishedeitherduringor after Augustus’ long life (63 BCE‐14 CE). This first excerpt is from VelleiusPaterculus’GreekandRomanHistorychapter89,publishedin30CE.VelleiusPaterculusGreekandRomanHistory89:“[Augustus]CaesarreturnedtoItalyandRome[29BCE]tobegreetedbyhugecrowd,anduniversalacclaimfromyoungandold,richandpooralike.Themagnificenceofhistriumph and the public games he provided could hardly be adequately describedwithin the scope of a full‐scale work, let alone one as restricted as this. There wasnothing, thereafter, which mencould hope for from thegods,nor the gods provide tomen, no blessings which in their wildest imaginings men could pray for nor goodfortune bring to pass, which Augustus on his return to Rome did not restore to therepublic, the Romanpeople,and the world at large. Twentyyears[49‐29 BCE] of civilstrife were ended, foreign wars laid to rest, peace restored, and man’s crazed lust forwarfare everywhere dead and buried. Force was restored to the laws, authority to thecourts,majestytothesenate…theancient,traditionalformoftherepublicwasbroughtback. Fields were cultivated once again, religious rites observed; men felt safe at last,withtheirpropertyrightssecured….Hisrejectionofthedictatorshipwasasobstinateasthepeople’sdeterminationtoofferittohim.”Question:HowdoesVelleiusPaterculusassessAugustus’impactonRome?This next passage is from, arguably, the greatest history ever written in Latin, and isoften compared to Thucydides’ history for its incisive analysis, elegant prose, wit andconcision, and penetrating understanding of the human condition. This is an excerptfrom Tacitus’ Annals, published early in the 2nd century CE, and is a fragmentaryaccount of the period 14‐68 CE (from Augustus’ death to the death of the last Julio‐Claudianemperor,Nero).Tacituschapter9:“After[Augustus’funeral] therewasmuchdiscussionabouthim….Hislifewaseitherextolled or criticized. One school of thought argued that duty to his father [JuliusCaesar,hisgrandunclebutalsohisfatherbyadoption]andtheneedsoftherepublic,inwhichtherewasthennoplaceforlaw,haddrivenhimtocivilwar,acoursewhichnonecould prepare for or execute by honorable means. While seeking vengeance on hisfather’smurderers,hehadindeedmademanyconcessionstoAntony,many toLepidus.Oncethelatter hadlapsedintotheinertiaofsenilityandtheformerbecomecorruptedbyhisownvices,thereremainednoothersolutiontothediscordsofthefatherlandthanthatitshouldberuledbyoneman.Yet hehadorderedtherepublicnotasakingdom,norasadictatorship,butunderthenameofprinceps;theboundariesoftheempirewerenow defended by the Ocean and by mighty rivers; legions, provinces, fleets and thegeneral administration were all now coordinated; towards citizens the law was observed, restraint towards allies. The city itself was not magnificently adorned; onlyonafewoccasionshadforcebeenused,toguaranteepeaceandquietfortherest.Othersarguedtothecontrary.Dutytohisfatherandthecrisisoftherepublic,theysaid,weresimply convenientpretexts. Hislust fordespotic powerhad ledhim toincite theveterans by bribery, to raise an army when a young man and a private citizen, tocorrupt the consular legions, and to feign support for the Pompeian faction. Soon,havingbysenatorialdecreeseizedthefasces[thesymbolofultimateauthority]andthestatus of praetor, he took possession of two armies …. He had then extorted theconsulship from a reluctant senate and turned against the republic the very forceswhich he had received for the campaign against Antony [in 44‐43]. Proscriptions ofcitizensand landconfiscationsfollowed, ofwhichnoteventhe perpetratorsapproved.ItmightbegrantedthatthedeathsofBrutusandCassius[atPhilippiin42]wereadebtheowedto aninherited enmity…;later, Antony,seduced bythe treaties ofTarentumandBrundisiumandbymarriagetoOctavian’ssister[43‐40],hadpaidwithhislifeforaspurious kinship. That peace had followed could not be denied, but it was a peacestainedwithblood–themilitarydisastersofLollius[16BCE]andVarus[9CE],andatRome the killings of such as Varro, Egnatius and Iull us [all suspected of
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