SKIDMORE CC 200 - The Augustan Age - Historians and Poets Consider the Emperor

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TheAugustanAge:HistoriansandPoetsConsidertheEmperorThefollowingworksareexcerptsfromthehistoriesandpoetrypublishedeitherduringor after Augustus’ long life (63 BCE‐14 CE). This first excerpt is from VelleiusPaterculus’GreekandRomanHistorychapter89,publishedin30CE.VelleiusPaterculusGreekandRomanHistory89:“[Augustus]CaesarreturnedtoItalyandRome[29BCE]tobegreetedbyhugecrowd,anduniversalacclaimfromyoungandold,richandpooralike.Themagnificenceofhistriumph and the public games he provided could hardly be adequately describedwithin the scope of a full‐scale work, let alone one as restricted as this. There wasnothing, thereafter, which mencould hope for from thegods,nor the gods provide tomen, no blessings which in their wildest imaginings men could pray for nor goodfortune bring to pass, which Augustus on his return to Rome did not restore to therepublic, the Romanpeople,and the world at large. Twentyyears[49‐29 BCE] of civilstrife were ended, foreign wars laid to rest, peace restored, and man’s crazed lust forwarfare everywhere dead and buried. Force was restored to the laws, authority to thecourts,majestytothesenate…theancient,traditionalformoftherepublicwasbroughtback. Fields were cultivated once again, religious rites observed; men felt safe at last,withtheirpropertyrightssecured….Hisrejectionofthedictatorshipwasasobstinateasthepeople’sdeterminationtoofferittohim.”Question:HowdoesVelleiusPaterculusassessAugustus’impactonRome?This next passage is from, arguably, the greatest history ever written in Latin, and isoften compared to Thucydides’ history for its incisive analysis, elegant prose, wit andconcision, and penetrating understanding of the human condition. This is an excerptfrom Tacitus’ Annals, published early in the 2nd century CE, and is a fragmentaryaccount of the period 14‐68 CE (from Augustus’ death to the death of the last Julio‐Claudianemperor,Nero).Tacituschapter9:“After[Augustus’funeral] therewasmuchdiscussionabouthim….Hislifewaseitherextolled or criticized. One school of thought argued that duty to his father [JuliusCaesar,hisgrandunclebutalsohisfatherbyadoption]andtheneedsoftherepublic,inwhichtherewasthennoplaceforlaw,haddrivenhimtocivilwar,acoursewhichnonecould prepare for or execute by honorable means. While seeking vengeance on hisfather’smurderers,hehadindeedmademanyconcessionstoAntony,many toLepidus.Oncethelatter hadlapsedintotheinertiaofsenilityandtheformerbecomecorruptedbyhisownvices,thereremainednoothersolutiontothediscordsofthefatherlandthanthatitshouldberuledbyoneman.Yet hehadorderedtherepublicnotasakingdom,norasadictatorship,butunderthenameofprinceps;theboundariesoftheempirewerenow defended by the Ocean and by mighty rivers; legions, provinces, fleets and thegeneral administration were all now coordinated; towards citizens the law was observed, restraint towards allies. The city itself was not magnificently adorned; onlyonafewoccasionshadforcebeenused,toguaranteepeaceandquietfortherest.Othersarguedtothecontrary.Dutytohisfatherandthecrisisoftherepublic,theysaid,weresimply convenientpretexts.  Hislust fordespotic powerhad ledhim toincite theveterans by bribery,  to raise an army when a young man and a private citizen, tocorrupt the consular legions, and to feign support for the Pompeian faction. Soon,havingbysenatorialdecreeseizedthefasces[thesymbolofultimateauthority]andthestatus of praetor, he took possession of two armies …. He had then extorted theconsulship from a reluctant senate and turned against the republic the very forceswhich he had received for the campaign against Antony  [in 44‐43]. Proscriptions ofcitizensand landconfiscationsfollowed, ofwhichnoteventhe perpetratorsapproved.ItmightbegrantedthatthedeathsofBrutusandCassius[atPhilippiin42]wereadebtheowedto aninherited enmity…;later, Antony,seduced bythe treaties ofTarentumandBrundisiumandbymarriagetoOctavian’ssister[43‐40],hadpaidwithhislifeforaspurious kinship. That peace had followed could not be denied, but it was a peacestainedwithblood–themilitarydisastersofLollius[16BCE]andVarus[9CE],andatRome the killings of such as Varro, Egnatius and Iull us [all suspected of


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SKIDMORE CC 200 - The Augustan Age - Historians and Poets Consider the Emperor

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