Chapter XV: The Emperor Augustus, His Character and Aims, His Work and Friends (2)

Sextus Propertius (_circ._ B.C. 45-_circ._ B.C. 15) was another of the Mæcenas circle of poets who did something to glorify Augustus. He is not (but that is a personal opinion) on anything like the same level as either Vergil or Horace as an artist. He is said to have died young, perhaps at thirty years of age, and there is no evidence of personal intimacy with Augustus, but there is some indication of his having been on bad terms with Horace. His elegies also are nearly all poems of passion. Politics and emperors are mere episodes, and were introduced in deference to Mæcenas. Still many points in the career of Augustus are referred to in the same spirit as that of Horace. The siege of Perusia—described in tones of horror, which would scarcely have been acceptable—precedes his conversion (1, 21), and the failure of the marriage law of B.C. 27 is only referred to with relief (2, 7, 1). In more complimentary terms he speaks of the victory of Actium (3, 7, 44), and of the downfall of Antony and Cleopatra (4, 8, 56; 4, 10, 32, _sqq._; 4, 7, 56); and the end of the civil wars is attributed to Augustus (_illa qua vicit condidit arma manu_, 3, 8, 41). Then came the intended invasion of Britain (3, 23, 5); the Arabian expedition and the Indian envoys (3, 1, 15; 4, 3 1); the opening and description of the Palatine Library—the best extant (3, 29); the raids of the Sugambri and their suppression (5, 6, 77); while he has the Parthians frequently on his lips, though rather as predicting what is to be done with them than as recording the return of the standards.[321] In the fifth book there are signs of a beginning of a _Fasti_ like that of Ovid as a record of events in Roman history; and it is possible that this was in obedience to a wish of Augustus, who, on his death, transferred the task to Ovid. Thus his voice also was secured, in part at least, in support of the imperial _régime_.

[Sidenote: Ovid.]

Publius Ovidius Naso (B.C. 43-A.D. 18) belongs to the last part of the reign. He had only seen Vergil, and though he had heard Horace recite, he does not profess to have known him. He was quite young when Augustus was winning his position and reforming the constitution, and there are no signs of his coming forward as a court poet till Mæcenas and his circle had disappeared, and if he had attracted the attention of Augustus at all, it was probably not altogether in a favourable manner. His earliest poems—the _Amores_ and _Heroidum Epistulæ_—do not touch on public affairs; they are poems of passion—the former personal, the latter dramatic. In the _Ars Amatoria_ (about B.C. 2-A.D. 2) for the first time we detect the court poet from a complimentary allusion to the approaching mission of Gaius Cæsar to Syria and Armenia, with his title of _princeps iuventutis_ and that of Augustus as _pater patriæ_, as also to the _naumachia_ or representation of the battle of Salamis given by Augustus in the flooded _nemus Cæsarum_ in B.C. 2 (_A. A._, 1, 171-2). The _Metamorphoses_ had been composed before his exile in A.D. 9, but after the death of Augustus he apparently introduced the Epilogue (xv. 745 _sq._) containing an eulogy on Tiberius, and on the now finished career of Augustus. It is the _Fasti_—the Calendar of events in Roman history—that probably was undertaken in obedience to a wish of the Emperor, and in which accordingly we find points in his career touched upon. It was dedicated to Germanicus, and contains an allusion to his own exile, and was therefore, partly at least, composed between B.C. 2 and A.D. 10. His allusions to Augustus are not those of an intimate acquaintance, but of an admiring subject—real or feigned. He mentions the battle of Mutina (iv. 627); the bestowal of the title Augustus (i. 589); the recovery of the standards from the Parthians as a triumph of the Emperor (vi. 467). He alludes to Augustus becoming Pontifex Maximus (iii. 415); to the laurels on his palace front (iv. 957); to the demolition of the house of Vedius Pollio as connected with the reforms and the laws of B.C. 18 (vi. 637); to the division of the city into _vici_, and the worship of the Lares Augusti (v. 145); to the Forum Augusti and the temple of Mars dedicated in B.C. 2. (v. 551, _sqq._). Ovid afterwards protested that his books had been read with pleasure by Augustus, and assumed to have some knowledge of the private chambers of the palace (Trist., 1, 5, 2; 2, 520), but there is nothing in the allusions to matters which he knew that Augustus wished to have recorded that has the air of close or intimate relations. They are the conventional expressions of the outside, and perhaps humble, panegyrist, not those of a friend and supporter, like Horace. The abject expressions in the Tristia and the letters from Pontus need not be taken into account. They are merely bids for a recall, and they often express in the crudest form the growing fashion of worshipping the Emperor or his genius. Perhaps the most subtle of these appeals is that in which he explains why he had spent his youth in writing frivolous poetry instead of celebrating the glories of the Emperor—he was not a good enough poet, and would have dishonoured a subject above his reach (Tr., ii. 335-340). This was using a weapon forged by the Emperor himself, who had always let it be known that he disliked being the subject of inferior artists. The melancholy and feebleness of these later poems of Ovid seem to bear a sort of analogy with the cloud that descended on the later years of Augustus. Vergil and Horace have the freshness of the morning or the vigour of noon, Ovid the gathering sadness of the evening.

AUGUSTUS’S ACCOUNT OF HIS REIGN (FROM THE INSCRIPTION IN THE TEMPLE OF ROME AND AUGUSTUS AT ANGORA)

1. When I was nineteen I collected an army on my own account and at my own expense, by the help of which I restored the republic to liberty, which had been enslaved by the tyranny of a faction; for which services the Senate, in complimentary decrees, added my name to the roll of their House in the consulship of Gaius Pansa and Aulus Hirtius [B.C. 43], giving me at the same time consular precedence in voting; and gave me imperium. It ordered me as proprætor “to see along with the consuls that the republic suffered no damage.” Moreover, in the same year, both consuls having fallen, the people elected me consul and a triumvir for revising the constitution.

2. Those who killed my father I drove into exile, after a legal trial, in punishment of their crime, and afterwards when these same men rose in arms against the republic I conquered them twice in a pitched battle.

3. I had to undertake wars by land and sea, civil and foreign, all over the world, and when victorious I spared surviving citizens. Those foreign nations, who could safely be pardoned, I preferred to preserve rather than exterminate. About 500,000 Roman citizens took the military oath to me. Of these I settled out in colonies or sent back to their own towns, after their terms of service were over, considerably more than 300,000; and to them all I assigned lands purchased by myself or money in lieu of lands. I captured 600 ships, not counting those below the rating of triremes.

4. I twice celebrated an ovation, three times curule triumphs, and was twenty-one times greeted as imperator. Though the Senate afterwards voted me several triumphs I declined them. I frequently also deposited laurels in the Capitol after performing the vows which I had taken in each war. For successful operations performed by myself or by my legates under my auspices by land and sea, the Senate fifty-three times decreed a supplication to the immortal gods. The number of days during which, in accordance with a decree of the Senate, supplication was offered amounted to 890. In my triumphs there were led before my chariot nine kings or sons of kings. I had been consul thirteen times at the writing of this, and am in the course of the thirty-seventh year of my tribunician power [A.D. 13-14].

5. The Dictatorship offered me in my presence and absence by the Senate and people in the consulship of Marcus Marcellus and Lucius Arruntius [B.C. 22] I declined to accept. I did not refuse at a time of very great scarcity of corn the commissionership of corn supply, which I administered in such a way that within a few days I freed the whole people from fear and danger. The consulship—either yearly or for life—then offered to me I declined to accept.

6. In the consulship of M. Vinicius and Q. Lucretius [B.C. 19], of P. and Cn. Lentulus [B.C. 18], and of Paullus Fabius Maximus and Q. Tubero [B.C. 11], when the Senate and people of Rome unanimously agreed that I should be elected overseer of the laws and morals, with unlimited powers and without a colleague, I refused every office offered me which was contrary to the customs of our ancestors. But what the Senate at that time wished me to manage, I carried out in virtue of my tribunician power, and in this office I five times received at my own request a colleague from the Senate.

7. I was one of the triumvirate for the re-establishment of the constitution for ten consecutive years. I have been _princeps senatus_ up to the day on which I write this for forty years. I am Pontifex Maximus, Augur, one of the fifteen commissioners for religion, one of the seven for sacred feasts, an Arval brother, a _sodalis Titius_, a fetial.

8. In my fifth consulship [B.C. 29] I increased the number of the patricians by order of people and Senate. I three times made up the roll of the Senate, and in my sixth consulship [B.C. 28] I took a census of the people with M. Agrippa as my colleague. I performed the _lustrum_ after an interval of forty-one years; in which the number of Roman citizens entered on the census roll was 4,063,000. A second time with consular imperium I took the census by myself in the consulship of Gaius Censorinus and Gaius Asinius [B.C. 8], in which the number of Roman citizens entered on the roll was 4,223,000. I took a third census with consular imperium, my son Tiberius Cæsar acting as my colleague, in the consulship of Sextus Pompeius and Sextus Appuleius [A.D. 14], in which the number of Roman citizens entered on the census roll was 4,937,000. By new laws passed I recalled numerous customs of our ancestors that were falling into desuetude in our time, and myself set precedents in many particulars for the imitation of posterity.

9. The Senate decreed that vows should be offered for my health by consuls and priests every fifth year. In fulfilment of these vows the four chief colleges of priests or the consuls often gave games in my lifetime. Also individually and by townships the people at large always offered sacrifices at all the temples for my health.

10. By a decree of the Senate my name was included in the ritual of the Salii; and it was ordained by a law that my person should be sacred and that I should have the tribunician power for the term of my natural life. I refused to become Pontifex Maximus in succession to my colleague during his life, though the people offered me that sacred office formerly held by my father. Some years later I accepted that sacred office on the death of the man who had availed himself of the civil disturbance to secure it; such a multitude flocking to my election from all parts of Italy as is never recorded to have come to Rome before, in the consulship of P. Sulpicius and C. Valgius [6 March, B.C. 12].

11. The Senate consecrated an altar to Fortuna Redux, near the temple of Honour and Virtue, by the Porta Capena, for my return, on which it ordered the Vestal Virgins to offer a yearly sacrifice on the day on which in the consulship of Q. Lucretius and M. Vinicius [B.C. 19] I returned to the city from Syria, and gave that day the name _Augustalia_ from my cognomen [15 Dec.].

12. By a decree of the Senate at the same time part of the prætors and tribunes of the plebs, along with the consul Q. Lucretius and leading nobles, were despatched into Campania to meet me—an honour that up to this time has been decreed to no one else. When I returned to Rome from Spain and Gaul after successful operations in those provinces, in the consulship of Tiberius Nero and Publius Quintilius [B.C. 13], the Senate voted that an altar to Pax Augusta should be consecrated for my return on the Campus Martius, upon which it ordered the magistrates and priests and Vestal Virgins to offer an annual sacrifice [30 Jan.].

13. Whereas the Ianus Quirinus, which our ancestors ordered to be closed when peace throughout the whole dominions of the Roman people by land and sea had been obtained by victories, is recorded to have been only twice shut before my birth since the foundation of the city, the Senate three times voted its closure during my principate.

14. My sons Gaius and Lucius Cæsar, whom fortune snatched from me in their early manhood, in compliment to me, the Senate and Roman people designated consuls in their fifteenth year with a proviso that they should enter on that office after an interval of five years. From the day of their assuming the _toga virilis_ the Senate decreed that they should take part in public business. Moreover, the Roman equites in a body gave each of them the title of _Princeps Iuventutis_, and presented them with silver shields and spears.

15. To the Roman plebs I paid 300 sesterces per head in virtue of my father’s will; and in my own name I gave 400 apiece in my fifth consulship [B.C. 29] from the sale of spoils of war; and a second time in my tenth consulship [B.C. 24] out of my own private property I paid a bounty of 400 sesterces per man, and in my eleventh consulship [B.C. 23] I measured out twelve distributions of corn, having purchased the grain from my own resources. In the twelfth year of my tribunician power [B.C. 11], I for the third time gave a bounty of 400 sesterces a head. These largesses of mine affected never less than 50,200 persons. In the eighteenth year of my tribunician power and my twelfth consulship [B.C. 5] I gave 320,000 of the urban plebs sixty denarii a head. In the colonies of my soldiers, in my fifth consulship [B.C. 29] I gave from the sale of spoils of war 1,000 sesterces a head; and among such settlers the number who received that triumphal largess amounted to about 120,000 men. In my thirteenth consulship [B.C. 2] I gave 60 denarii apiece to the plebeians then in receipt of public corn; they amounted to somewhat more than 200,000 persons.

16. The money for the lands, which in my fourth consulship [B.C. 30], and afterwards in the consulship of M. Crassus and Cn. Lentulus the augur [B.C. 14], I assigned to the soldiers, I paid to the municipal towns. The amount was about 600,000,000 sesterces, which I paid for lands in Italy, and about 260,000,000 which I disbursed for lands in the provinces.

I was the first and only one within the memory of my own generation to do this of all who settled colonies in Italy and the provinces. And afterwards in the consulship of Tib. Nero and Cn. Piso [B.C. 7], and again in the consulship of C. Antistius and D. Lælius [B.C. 6], and of C. Calvisius and L. Pasienus [B.C. 4], and of L. Lentulus and M. Messalla [B.C. 3], and of L. Caninius and Q. Fabricius [B.C. 2], to the soldiers, whom after their terms of service I sent back to their own towns, I paid good service allowances in ready money; on which I expended 400,000,000 sesterces as an act of grace.

17. I four times subsidised the _ærarium_ from my own money, the sums which I thus paid over to the commissioners of the treasury amounting to 150,000,000 sesterces. And in the consulship of M. Lepidus and L. Arruntius [A.D. 6], to the military treasury, which was established on my initiative for the payment of their good service allowance, to the soldiers who had served twenty years or more, I contributed from my own patrimony 170,000,000 sesterces.[322]

18. From and after the year of the consulship of Gnæus and Publius Lentulus [B.C. 18], whenever the payment of the revenues were in arrear, I paid into the treasury from my own patrimony the taxes, whether due in corn or money, sometimes of 100,000 persons, sometimes of more.

19. I built the curia and Chalcidicum adjoining it, and the temples of Apollo on the Palatine with its colonnades, the temple of the divine Iulius, the Lupercal, the colonnade at the Flaminian circus, which I allowed to be called Octavia, from the name of the builder of the earlier one on the same site, the state box at the Circus Maximus, the temples of Jupiter Feretrius and of Jupiter Tonans on the Capitol, the temple of Quirinus, the temples of Minerva and of Juno the Queen, and of Jupiter Liberalis on the Aventine, the temple of the Lares at the head of the _via Sacra_, the temple of the divine Penates in the Velia, the temple of Youth, the temple of the Mater Magna on the Palatine.

20. The Capitolium and the Pompeian theatre—both very costly works—I restored without any inscription of my own name. Water-conduits in many places that were decaying from age I repaired; and I doubled the aqueduct called the Aqua Marcia, by turning a new spring into its channel.

The Forum Iulium and the basilica, which was between the temple of Castor and the temple of Saturn, works begun and far advanced by my father, I completed; and when the same basilica was destroyed by fire, I began its reconstruction on an extended plan, to be inscribed with the names of my sons, and in case I do not live to complete it I have ordered it to be completed by my heirs.

In my sixth consulship [B.C. 28], I repaired eighty-two temples of the gods in the city in accordance with a decree of the Senate, none being omitted which at that time stood in need of repair. In my seventh consulship [B.C. 27] I constructed the Flaminian road from the city to Ariminum, and all the bridges except the Mulvian and Minucian.

21. On ground belonging to myself I built a temple to Mars Ultor and the Forum Augustum, with money arising from sale of war spoils. I built a theatre adjoining the temple of Apollo, on ground for the most part purchased from private owners, to be under the name of my son-in-law Marcus Marcellus. Offerings from money raised by sale of war-spoil I consecrated in the temple of Apollo, and in the temple of Vesta, and in the temple of Mars Ultor, which cost me about 100,000,000 sesterces. Thirty-five thousand pounds of gold,[323] crown money contributed by the municipia and colonies of Italy for my triumphs, I refunded in my fifth consulship [B.C. 29], and subsequently, as often as I was greeted Imperator, I refused to receive crown money, though the municipia and colonies had decreed it with as much warmth as before.

22. I three times gave a show of gladiators in my own name, and five times in the name of my sons and grandsons; in which shows about 10,000 men contended. I twice gave the people a show of athletes collected from all parts of the world in my own name, and a third time in the name of my grandson. I gave games in my own name four times, as representing other magistrates twenty-three times. In behalf of the quindecimviri, and as master of the college, with M. Agrippa as colleague, I gave the Secular games in the consulship of C. Furnius and C. Silanus [B.C. 17]. In my thirteenth consulship [B.C. 2], I gave for the first time the games of Mars which, since that time, the consuls have given in successive years. I gave the people wild-beast hunts, of African animals, in my own name and that of my sons and grandsons, in the circus and forum, and the amphitheatres twenty-six times, in which about 3,500 animals were killed.

23. I gave the people the spectacle of a naval battle on the other side of the Tiber, in the spot where now is the grove of the Cæsars, the ground having been hollowed out to a length of 1,800 feet, and a breadth of 1,200 feet, in which thirty beaked ships, triremes or biremes, and a still larger number of smaller vessels contended. In these fleets, besides the rowers, there fought about three thousand men.

24. In the temples of all the states of the province of Asia, I replaced the ornaments after my victory, which he with whom I had fought had taken into his private possession from the spoliation of the temples. There were about eighty silver statues of me, some on foot, some equestrian, some in chariots, in various parts of the city. These I removed, and from the money thus obtained I placed golden offerings in the temple of Apollo in my own name and in that of those who had honoured me by the statues.

25. I cleared the sea of pirates. In that war I captured about 30,000 slaves, who had run away from their masters, and had borne arms against the republic, and handed them back to their owners to be punished. The whole of Italy took the oath to me spontaneously, and demanded that I should be the leader in the war in which I won the victory off Actium. The provinces of the Gauls, the Spains, Africa, Sicily, Sardinia, took the same oath. Among those who fought under my standards were more than seven hundred Senators, eighty-three of whom had been, or have since been, consuls up to the time of my writing this, 170 members of the sacred colleges.

26. I extended the frontiers of all the provinces of the Roman people, which were bordered by tribes that had not submitted to our Empire. The provinces of the Gauls, and Spains and Germany, bounded by the Ocean from Gades to the mouth of the river Elbe, I reduced to a peaceful state. The Alps, from the district near the Adriatic to the Tuscan sea, I forced to remain peaceful without waging unprovoked war with any tribe. My fleet sailed through the Ocean from the mouth of the Rhine towards the rising sun, up to the territories of the Cimbri, to which point no Roman had penetrated, up to that time, either by land or sea. The Cimbri, and Charydes, and Semnones and other peoples of the Germans, belonging to the same tract of country, sent ambassadors to ask for the friendship of myself and the Roman people. By my command and under my auspices, two armies were marched into Æthiopia and Arabia, called Felix, nearly simultaneously, and large hostile forces of both these nations were cut to pieces in battle, and a large number of towns were captured. Æthiopia was penetrated as far as the town Nabata, next to Meroe. Into Arabia the army advanced into the territories of the Sabæi as far as the town Mariba.

27. I added Egypt to the Empire of the Roman people. When I might have made the Greater Armenia a province after the assassination of its king Artaxes, I preferred, on the precedent of our ancestors, to hand over that kingdom to Tigranes, son of King Artavasdes, grandson of King Tigranes, by the hands of Tiberius Nero, who was then my stepson. The same nation being afterwards in a state of revolt and rebellion, I handed over to the government of King Ariobarzanes, son of Artabazus, king of the Medes, after it had been reduced by my son Gaius; and after his death to his son Artavasdes, upon whose assassination I sent Tigranes, a member of the royal family of the Armenians, into that kingdom. I recovered all the provinces on the other side of the Adriatic towards the East and Cyrenæ, which were by this time for the most part held by various kings, and before them Sicily and Sardinia which had been overrun by an army of slaves.

28. I settled colonies of soldiers in Africa, Sicily, Macedonia, both the Spains, Achaia, Asia, Syria, Gallia Narbonensis, Pisidia. Italy has twenty-eight colonies established under my auspices, which have in my lifetime become very densely inhabited and places of great resort.

29. A large number of military standards, which had been lost under other commanders, I recovered, after defeating the enemy, from Spain and Gaul and the Dalmatians. I compelled the Parthians to restore the spoils and standards of three Roman armies, and to seek as suppliants the friendship of the Roman people. These standards I laid up in the inner shrine belonging to the temple of Mars Ultor.

30. The tribes of the Pannonii, which before I was _princeps_ an army of the Roman people never reached, having been subdued by Tiberius Nero, who was then my stepson and legate [B.C. 11], I added to the Empire of the Roman people, and I extended the frontier of Illyricum to the bank of the river Danube. And when an army of the Daci crossed to the south of that river it was conquered and put to flight under my auspices; and subsequently my army, being led across the Danube, forced the tribes of the Daci to submit to the orders of the Roman people.

31. To me there were often sent embassies of kings from India, who had never before been seen in the camp of any Roman general. By embassadors the Bastarnæ and the Scythians and the kings of the Sarmatians, who live on both sides of the river Don, and the king of the Albani and of the Hiberi and of the Medes, sought our friendship.

32. Kings of the Parthians—Tiridates, and afterwards Phrates, son of King Phrates—fled to me for refuge; of the Medes Artavasdes; of the Adiabeni Artaxares; of the Britons Dumnobellaunus and Tim ...;[324] of the Marcomanni and Suebi....[324] Phrates, king of the Parthians, son of Orodes, sent all his sons and grandsons to me in Italy, not because he had been overcome in war, but seeking our friendship by means of his own sons as pledges. And a very large number of other nations experienced the good faith of the Roman people while I was _princeps_, with whom before that time there had been no diplomatic or friendly intercourse.

33. The nations of the Parthians and the chief men of the Medes by means of embassies sought and accepted from me kings of those peoples—the Parthians Vonones, son of King Phrates, grandson of King Orodes; the Medes Ariobarzanes, son of King Artavasdes, grandson of King Ariobarzanes.

34. In my sixth and seventh consulships [B.C. 28, 27], when I had extinguished the flames of civil war, having by universal consent become possessed of the sole direction of affairs, I transferred the republic from my power to the will of the Senate and people of Rome. For which good service on my part I was by decree of the Senate called by the name of Augustus, and the door-posts of my house were covered with laurels in the name of the state, and a civic crown was fixed up over my door, and a golden shield was placed in the Curia Iulia, which it was declared by its inscription the Senate and people of Rome gave me in recognition of valour, clemency, justice, piety. After that time I took precedence of all in rank, but of power I had nothing more than those who were my colleagues in the several magistracies.

35. While I was administering my thirteenth consulship [B.C. 2], the Senate and equestrian order and the Roman people with one consent greeted me as FATHER OF MY COUNTRY, and decreed that it should be inscribed in the vestibule of my house, and in the Senate house, and in the Forum Augustum, and under the chariot which was there placed in my honour in accordance with a senatorial decree.

When I wrote this I was in my seventy-sixth year [A.D. 13-14].

FOOTNOTES

[1] _Ad capita bubula._ Lanciani (_Remains of Ancient Rome_, p. 139) says that this was the name of a lane at the eastern corner of the Palatine. Others have thought it to be the name of the house, as the _ad malum Punicum_ in which Domitian was born (Suet., _Dom._ 1). So later we hear of a house at Rome _quæ est ad Palmam_ (_Codex Theod._, p. 3). The house may have had its name from a frieze with ox-heads on it, like the tomb of Metella, which came to be called _Capo-di-bove_. It seems less easy to account for a lane being so called. See also p. 205.

[2] C. I. L., vol. i. p. 279.

[3] Cicero, _ad Q. Fr._ 1, 1, 21; 1, 2, 7. Velleius Pat., 2, 59; Sueton., _Aug._ 3.

[4] The plebeian Atii Balbi do not seem to have been important. M. Atius Balbus was prætor in B.C. 62 (with Cæsar), governor of Sardinia B.C. 61-60, and in B.C. 59 was one of the XX viri under the Julian land law (Cic., _ad Att._ ii. 4).

[5] These and other stories will be found in Sueton., _Aug._ 94, and Dio, 45, 2. Vergil makes skilful use of them in _Æn._, vi. 797, _sqq._

[6] Antony, when he wished to depreciate Augustus, asserted that his great-grandfather had a rope-walk at Thurii; and some such connection of his ancestors with that place may account for the cognomen, which would naturally be dropped afterwards (Suet., _Aug._ 7).

[7] The marriage could not have taken place earlier than the middle of B.C. 57, for when Atia’s first husband died Philippus was in Syria. He was succeeded by Gabinius in B.C. 57, and reached Italy in time to stand for the consulship, the elections that year being at the ordinary time, _i.e._, July (Cic., _ad Att._ 4, 2).

[8] L. Marcius Philippus was the son of the famous orator, and was a warm supporter of Cicero. With his colleague as consul-designate he proposed the prosecution of Clodius (Cic., _ad Q. Fr._ ii. 1). When the civil war was beginning he was allowed by Cæsar to remain neutral (Cic., _ad Att._ ix. 15; x. 4). But Cicero found him tiresome company, for he was garrulous and prosy (_ad Att._ xii. 9, 16, 18); and in the troublous times following the assassination of Cæsar he set little store by his opinion (_ad Att._ xvi. 14; _ad Brut._ i. 17).

[9] The law of B.C. 52 allowed Cæsar to be “elected in his absence” (_absentis rationem haberi_), but said nothing of his being in possession of a province. By long prescription the Senate had the right of deciding when a provincial governor should be “succeeded.” But then Cæsar’s term of provincial government had been fixed by a _lex_, which was superior to a _Senatus-consultum_; and he might also argue that if it was unconstitutional for a man to be elected consul while holding a province, the Senate had violated the constitution in allowing Pompey to be consul in B.C. 52.

[10] The Senate did not insist on the _professio_, from which Cæsar had been exempted by name in Pompey’s law. But its contention was that it still retained the right of naming the date at which a man was to leave his province, and of deciding in regard to an election whether a man was a legal candidate, which might depend on other things besides the making or not making a _professio_.

[11] The difficulty was that both consuls were absent. There was no one therefore capable of holding a consular election. But as the other curule magistrates still existed, “the _auspicia_ had not returned to the Fathers,” who could not therefore name an interrex. The Prætor Lepidus—though willing—could not “create” a _maius imperium_. The only way out of it was to name a Dictator (_com. hab. causa_); but one of the consuls, according to tradition, could alone do that. Eventually Lepidus, by a special vote of the people was authorised to name Cæsar as Dictator—which had precedents in the cases of Fabius Maximus and Sulla—and Cæsar, as Dictator, held the consular elections. Cæs., b. c. ii, 21; Dio, 41, 36.

[12] Nicolas (ch. 4) says that he took the _toga virilis_ about fourteen (περὶ ἔτη μάλιστα γεγονὼς τεσσαρακαίδεκα). But Suetonius (_Aug._ 8) says that he spoke the _laudatio_ of his grandmother in his twelfth year, and “four years afterwards” took the _toga virilis_.

[13] Octavius was _sui iuris_, his father being dead; his adoption therefore required the formal passing of a _lex curiata_. Now the opposition, supported by Antony, against this formality being carried out was one of the grounds of Octavian’s quarrel with him in B.C. 44-3, and the completion of it was one of the first things secured by Octavian on his entrance into Rome in August, B.C. 43 [Appian, b. c. iii. 94; Dio, 45, 5]. This seems conclusive against the theory that Iulius adopted him in his lifetime. Moreover all authorities speak of the adoption as made by _Will_. Livy, _Ep._ 116, _testamento in nomen adoptatus est_; Velleius, ii. 59, _testamentum apertum est, quo C. Octavium nepotem sororis suæ Iuliæ adoptabat_. See also Appian, b. c. iii. 11; Dio, 45, 3; Plutarch, _Brut._ 22. It is true that Nicolas—speaking of the triumph of B.C. 46—(§ 8) says υἱὸν ἤδη πεποιημἐνος. But if he means anything more than “regarding him as a son,” he twice afterwards contradicts himself: See § 17 ἀπήγγελλον τά τε ἄλλα καὶ ὡς ἐν ταῖς διαθήκαις ὡς υἱὸς εἴη Καίσαρι ἐγγεγραμμένος. _Cf._ § 13.

[14] Cicero, _ad Att._ xii. 48, 49; Nicholas, § 14; Valer. Max., 1, 15, 2. For the subsequent fate of the man see Cicero, _ad Att._ xiv. 6, 7, 8; App., b. c. iii. 2-3.

[15] The patrician _gentes_ were dying out, and it was thought good to replenish their numbers, thus gradually forming a class of nobles distinct from these ennobled by office. In making the Octavii patricians, the initiative was taken by the Senate; in later times, however, the power of creating _patricii_ was conferred on the imperator. Iulius seems also to have done it on his own authority. (Dio, 43, 47; Suet., _Aug._ 2.)

[16] He took with him Apollodorus of Pergamus, a well-known author of a system of rhetoric (Suet., _Aug._ 89; Strabo, 13, 4, 3; Quinct., 3, 1, 17). Other teachers of his, whether at Apollonia or elsewhere, are Areius of Alexandria, Alexander of Pergamus, Athenodorus of Tarsus (Suet. _l. c._; Dio, 51, 4; Plutarch, _Ant._ 11; Nicol. Dam., § 17; Zonaras, 10, 38).

[17] Suet., _Aug._ 65; Vell. Paterc., 2, 59, 64; App., b. c. 5, 66; Dio, 48, 33. The other instance of a friend who fell into disfavour and ruin quoted by Suetonius is Cornelius Gallus. But he does not seem to have been at Apollonia. He was nearly three years older than Augustus, and in B.C. 44-3 was perhaps with Pollio in Bætica. See Cic., _ad Fam._ x. 32.

[18] Nicolas, § 16; App., b. c. iii. 9-10.

[19] Dolabella consul for the last half of B.C. 44 with Antony; Pansa and Hirtius, B.C. 43; Plancus and Dec. Brutus B.C. 42. Probably M. Brutus and C. Cassius (or certainly the former) B.C. 41 [Plut., _Cæs._ 62; Cic., _ad Fam._ xii. 2]. For B.C. 43 prætors and other magistrates were named, but for the next years only consuls and tribunes.

[20] Dio, 43, 47, καὶ ἔς γε τὰ ἔθνη ἀκληρωτὶ ἐξεπέμφθησαν.

[21] M. Brutus, C. Cassius, Dec. Brutus, L. Cimber, C. Trebonius.

[22] Cic., _ad Att._ xiv. 9; Cæs., b. c. ii. 22; Plut., _Ant._ xi.

[23] Dio, 46, 60.

[24] Cæsar had auxiliaries in Spain from Aquitania B.C. 49; Cæs., b. c. i. 39.

[25] Cicero, _ad Att._ xiv. 5, 8, 9.

[26] Livy, _Ep._ 62. Appian says that Metellus did not fight, but was received as a friend, wintered at Salonæ, and then went home and claimed a triumph (_Illyr._ xi.).

[27] Eutrop., v. 4.

[28] _Id._ vi. 4; Oros., v. 23.

[29] Cæs., b. c. iii. 5, 9.

[30] Livy, _Ep._ 110; App., b. c. ii. 47.

[31] _Id._, b. c. ii. 59.

[32] Cæs., _b. Alex._ 42-3.

[33] _Id._, 34-6.

[34] Cic., _ad Fam._ v. 10 (_a_), 10, 11.

[35] App., _Illyr._ 13.

[36] App., b. c. iv. 75; Dio, 47, 21. Vatinius was ill, and his late reverses had lost him the confidence of his men, who insisted on being transferred to Brutus.

[37] Dio, 43, 42; Horace, _Odes_, iii. 1, 13.

[38] Cæs., _b. Alex._ 48-64; _Hisp._ 7, 12.

[39] App., b. c. ii. 107.

[40] Wrongly called Aulus Albinus by Appian, b. c. ii. 48; see Klein, _die Verwaltungsbeamten der Provinzen_, p. 83.

[41] Cic., _ad Fam._ xiii. 30, 36, 50, 78, 79; Cæs., _b. Afr._ 2, 26, 34.

[42] Cic., _ad Fam._ vi. 16, 17.

[43] Dio, 48, 17, 19; Livy, _Ep._ 123; Appian, b. c. iv. 84. A certain M. Casinius was nominated to Sicily for B.C. 43, but did not go there, perhaps owing to the order of the Senate (meant to support Dec. Brutus) made on the 20th of December, B.C. 44, that all governors should retain their provinces till farther orders (Cic., _ad Fam._ xii. 22, 25).

[44] App., b. c. ii. 48.

[45] Cic., _ad Att._ xv. 7; xvi. 3.

[46] App., b. c. iv. 2; Dio, 46, 55.

[47] Sueton., _Aug._ 47. This probably means after his accession to sole power. According to Nicolas, § 11-12, he visited Africa with Cæsar in B.C. 45. See p. 13. There is no record, however, of his ever having been to Sardinia.

[48] App., b. c. v. 67. The hold of Sext. Pompeius on Sardinia was recognised in the “treaty” of Misenum made in B.C. 39 (Dio, 48, 36; App., b. c. v. 72).

[49] See Note 2, p. 24.

[50] Cicero, _3 Phil._ § 26; _ad Fam._ xii. 22, 23, 30.

[51] Appian, b. c. iii. 85, 91.

[52] Appian, b. c. iv. 36, 53-56; v. 26; Dio, 48, 21-23. It seems impossible to reconcile Appian and Dio. The course of events here indicated agrees chiefly with Dio, whose account appears on the whole the more reasonable.

[53] Cæs., b. c. iii., 102.

[54] _Id._, _b. Alex._ 42.

[55] Drawn up by the commissioners after the fall of Corinth, B.C. 146.

[56] Cicero, _ad Att._ xi. 15; Cæsar, b. c. ii. 56, 106; Dio, 42, 14.

[57] Servius had fought against Cæsar at Pharsalia, though his son was with Cæsar. After the battle he retired to Samos and refused to continue the war. See Cicero, _ad Fam._ iv. 3, 4, 11, 12; vi. 6; xiii. 17, 19, 23, 25, 28.

[58] App., b. c. v. 72.

[59] Cicero, _ad Fam._ vi. 12; App., b. c. iii. 2.

[60] See Cicero, _13 Phil._ 23 (Antony’s letter).

[61] P. Cornelius Lentulus Spinther. See his letter to Cicero, _ad Fam._ xii. 14, 15.

[62] Cæs., _b. Alex._ 66: _rebus omnibus provinciæ et finitimarum civitatum constitutis_ is all that we are told.

[63] Dio, 47, 26. Appian gives two accounts of Bassus. In the first he represents him as the real commander of the legions, while Sext. Iulius was the nominal chief. He, however, gives an alternative account more in accordance with that of Dio. See App., b. c. iii. 77; iv. 58, _sq._

[64] Cicero, _ad Att._ xiv. 9.

[65] _Id._, _ad Fam._ xii. 11 (Cassius to Cicero); xii. 12.

[66] Cicero, _ad Att._ vi. 5; Valer. Max., vi. 1, 15.

[67] Cyrene with four other cities—Apollonia, Ptolemais, Arsinoe, Berenice—formed a Pentapolis. (Livy, _Epit._ 70.)

[68] App., b. c. I. iii. _sq._; Sall., _hist. fr._ ii. 39.

[69] Vell. Pat., ii. 34; Dio, 36, 2; Iust. 39, 5; Livy, _Epit._ 100. The laws of Crete were left in force (Cic., _Mur._ § 74; _pro Flacc._ § 30).

[70] App., b. c. iii. 12, 16, 36; iv. 57; Dio, 47, 21.

[71] Cicero, _2 Phil._ § 97.

[72] The possibility of these legions crossing to Italy had caused no little anxiety at Rome; Cicero, _ad Att._ xiv. 16.

[73] Cicero, _ad Att._ xv. 21.

[74] Suetonius (_Iul._ 83) says, “three-fourths”; so also does Nicolas Dam. 17 (τρία μέρη τῶν χρημάτων). But Livy (_Ep._ 116) says “one-half” (_ex semisse_). It is possible Livy may refer to the amount left when the legacy of 300 sesterces to each citizen was deducted. Nicolas seems to think, however, that this legacy was charged on the remaining fourth. Octavian certainly undertook to pay it, but then Pinarius and Pedius handed over their shares to him.

[75] Appian (b. c. ii. 147) says that the body itself was not seen during Antony’s _laudatio_, but that a wax figure was displayed which by some mechanical contrivance was made to revolve and show all the wounds.

[76] Nicolas (§ 17) would seem to send them straight to Antium. But from Cicero’s letters it is clear that Brutus at any rate went first to Lanuvium, _ad Att._ xiv. 10, 21; xv. 9. They seem to have gone to Antium towards the end of May or beginning of June.

[77] Suet., _Aug._ 25.

[78] The last being the adjectival form of his original name, in accordance with the usual custom in cases of adoption.

[79] Cicero, _ad Att._ xiv. 5, 10, 11, 12.

[80] Cicero, _ad Att._ xiv. 20, 21. Dio (45, 6) says that the introducing tribune was Tib. Canutius. But it seems probable that this refers to a second speech.

[81] Cic., _ad Att._ xv. 2. There is a singularly manly and frank letter from Matius to Cicero (_ad Fam._ xi. 28), defending his attachment to Cæsar and his services to Octavian.

[82] Appian, b. c. 3, 20, τῶν προσόδων ἐξ οὗ παρῆλθεν ἐπὶ τὴν ἀρχὴν ἐς αὐτὸν ἀντὶ τοῦ ταμιείου συμφερομένων. The sole management of the Treasury had been committed to Cæsar in B.C. 45 (Dio, 43, 44, τἁ δημόσια χρήματα μόνον διοικεῖν). He had taken it out of the hands of the _quæstors_ and appointed two _præfecti_ to manage it: but it does not seem that they had anything to do with the money in the temple of Ops, as to which there was some doubt as to its being “public money” in the ordinary sense.

[83] Cicero, _1 Phil._ § 17; _2 Phil._ § 93.

[84] Cicero, in _2 Phil._ § 93, seems to assume that Antony had taken the money all at once. But from Cicero’s own letters it would seem that the process of despoiling the temple of Ops was a gradual one, and that the use made of the money by Antony was more or less a matter of conjecture. On the 27th of April he writes: “You mention plundering going on at the temple of Ops. I, too, was a witness to that at the time” (_ad Att._ xiv. 14). On the 7th of May he says that Dolabella had a great share of it (_ad Att._ xiv. 18). In November he says that his nephew Quintus knew all about it, and meant to reveal it to the public (_ad Att._ xvi. 14). Appian (b. c. iii. 20) makes Antony say to Octavian: “The money transferred to my house was not so large a sum as you conjecture, nor is any part of it in my custody now. The men in power—except Dolabella and my brothers—divided up the whole of it as the property of a tyrant.”

[85] Cic., _ad Att._ xvi. 8.

[86] Dio, 45, 6; this seems a different case from that mentioned by App., b. c. iii. 47, and referred to by Cicero, _ad Att._ xvi. 15, as happening later in this same year.

[87] See _ante_ p. 14: Dio, 45, 2; Sueton., _Aug._ 2, 10; Tac., _Ann._ xi. 25.

[88] Dio, 45, 4; Cicero, _ad Att._ xv. 3.

[89] Cicero, _2 Phil._ § 100; _ad Att._ xiv. 20, 21.

[90] _Id._, _ad Att._ xiv. 3 (9th April); xv. 4 (24th May); _2 Phil._ § 108; Appian, b. c. iii. 5. The Senate had been induced to vote him a bodyguard. See the letter of Brutus and Cassius to Antony in Cicero, _ad Fam._ xi. 2.

[91] Dio, 45, 10; Cic., _ad Att._ xvi. 1. The negotiation after all fell through on the question of Sextus’s recovering the actual house and property of his father, much of which was in Antony’s hands (Cic., _ad Att._ xvi. 4; Dio, 45, 9). He refused to accept a mere money compensation. Eventually, when the Senate had broken with Antony, it made terms with Sextus, appointing him commander of the naval forces of the Republic. Consequently he was proscribed by the Triumvirs. App., b. c. iii. 4.

[92] Cic., _ad Att._ xv. 10, 11.

[93] Cicero (_2 Phil._ § 109) declares that Antony’s bodyguard was stationed round the Senate—some of them being foreign mercenaries—and that his opponents therefore did not venture to enter the house.

[94] Appian, b. c. iii. 29-30. But Appian in regard to the order of events here is very confused and often wrong.

[95] Cicero, _ad Att._ xvi. 4, 5.

[96] _Id._, _1 Phil._ § 14; _ad Att._ xvi. 7; _ad Fam._ xii. 2.

[97] Nicolas (§ 30), Appian (b. c. iii. 39), Plutarch (_Ant._ 16), acquit Augustus. The two writers who adopt Cicero’s view of the truth of the accusation are Seneca (_de Clement._ 1, 9, 1) and Suetonius (_Aug._ 10). See Cicero, _ad Fam._ xii. 23.

[98] _ad Att._ xv. 12.

[99] See _ante_, p. 3.

[100] He had the title _Imperator_ inherited from Cæsar (Dio, 43, 44); but this was a mere honorary title, and could not be held to give _imperium_. He was careful to use it however, as in the inscription recording the formation of the triumvirate.... EMILIVS M. ANTONIVS. IMP. CÆSAR. III VIR R.P.C. A.D. IV KAL. DEC. AD. PRID. KAL. IAN. SEXT....

[101] _Monum. Ancyr._ I, annos undeviginti natus exercitum privato consilio et privata impensa comparavi: per quem rem publicam _dominatione factionis oppressam in libertatem vindicavi_. Compare Cæsar, _b. civ._ 1, 22, ut se et Populum Romanum _factione paucorum oppressum in libertatem vindicaret_.

[102] Cicero, _ad Att._ xvi. 8 and 9.

[103] _Id._, _ad Fam._ xii. 23.

[104] App., b. c. iii. 43-45; Cic., _3 Phil._ § 10; Dio, 45, 13.

[105] Cic., _ad Att._ xvi. 10, 13 a, 13 b, 14.

[106] _Id._, _3 Phil._ § 19.

[107] _pestifera_, _13 Phil._ § 19.

[108] Cicero, _3 Phil._ §§ 19-27; _5 Phil._ § 23; _13 Phil._ § 19; App., b. c. iii. 45.

[109] Cic., _ad Att._ xvi. 11.

[110] _Id._ xvi. 14.

[111] _Id._ xvi. 15. It seems from Appian (b. c. iii. 31) that Octavian was not a candidate, but he was generally supposed to wish it, and that therefore many were going to vote for him. He ostensibly supported another candidate—Flaminius. Antony stopped the election on the ground that there was no need to fill up a vacancy so late in the year. This settled the question. But it is doubtful whether this does not refer to an earlier occasion.

[112] Cicero, _ad Att._ xvi. 15, 3.

[113] _Id._, _ad Fam._ xi. 6; _3 Phil._ §§ 37-39.

[114] The passages are Cicero, _5 Phil._ §§ 45-47; _11 Phil._ § 20; _13 Phil._ § 39; _Monum. Ancyr._ § 3; Livy, _Ep._ 118; C. I. L. x. 8375; Suet., _Aug._ 10, 26. Dio (40, 29) says that he was in the Senate ἐν τοῖς τεταμιευκόσι—_inter quæstorios_. This may be a misunderstanding of Cicero’s proposal that for _purposes of election_ he was to count as having been quæstor. The rank of proprætor was necessary for his command in the army, not for his entrance into the Senate.

[115] Pollio in Bætica, Lepidus in Gallia Narbonensis and Hispania Citerior, and Plancus in Northern Gaul.

[116] _Laudandum, ornandum, tollendum_ (Cic., _ad Fam._ xi. 20, 21). This epigram seems to have been inspired by the exultant hopes roused by the news of the battle of Forum Gallorum.

[117] _Monum. Ancyr._ § 1, respublica ne quid detrimenti caperet me pro prætore cum consulibus providere iussit. This was a general order, neither Antony nor any particular _hostis_ being named.

[118] Octavian first assumed the _fasces_ (symbol of imperium) on the 7th of January (C. I. L. x. 8375.)

[119] Cicero, _8 Phil._ §§ 25-28.

[120] The letter is preserved in the 13th Philippic, with Cicero’s bitter comments. It dwells on the favours and honours voted to the chief assassins, as well as the abolition of many of Cæsar’s _acta_. Antony also asserts that Lepidus and Plancus are on his side and warns Octavian that Cicero is playing him false.

[121] The country is very flat, but was intersected by drains and watercourses, making military evolutions difficult, if not impossible, in the rainy season. (App., b. c. 3, 65.)

[122] Such as the cavalry engagement between Pontius Aquila and Tib. Munatius Plancus at Pollentia (Dio, 46, 38). Octavian also suffered some loss by the desertion of some Gallic cavalry (_ib._ 37).

[123] Cic., _ad Brutum_, ii. 2.

[124] In enrolling legions Bassus was probably justified by the _SCtum ultimum_, which included the prætors. He was known to be a supporter of Antony, and might be thought capable of occupying Rome in his interest. We shall see afterwards that he joined him in Cisalpine Gaul. Some rumour of his being likely to act in this way had been rife before January 1st, when he was only prætor-designate. (See Cic., _ad Att._ xvi. 1; _ad Brut._ i. 3.)

[125] Cicero says of Octavian that he _secundum proelium fecit_ because he _castra multarum legionum paucis cohortibus tutatus est_ (_14 Phil._ § 28). The attack on the camp is not mentioned elsewhere (_ib._ § 37). For his being greeted as Imperator see C. I. L. ix. 8375.

[126] Cic., _ad Brut._ 1, 3, 5.

[127] Suet., _Aug._ 11; Cic., _ad Brut._ i. 6.

[128] Cic., _ad Fam._ xi. 21.

[129] Dio, 46, 41; Livy, _Ep._ 118.

[130] Cic., _ad Brut._ i. 15.

[131] _Id._, _ad Fam._ xi. 20, 21, see _ante_ p. 52.

[132] _Id._, _ad Brut._ i. 4; App., b. c. iii. 82; Dio, 46, 42; Plut., _Cic._ 46. There was evidently some rumour of Cicero intending to be consul, though he speaks with rather affected indignation of Octavian wishing to be elected also (_ad Brut._ i. 10).

[133] Cic., _ad Brut._ 1, 3.

[134] _Id._ § 4.

[135] Cic., _ad Fam._ xi. 10.

[136] He was perhaps deceived by the report that Octavian’s legions had taken an oath not to fight against any that had served under Iulius Cæsar. This applied to some men at present with Antony. But Dio implies that the oath was at the secret instigation of Octavian himself (Dio, 46, 42).

[137] Cic., _ad Fam._ xi. 13.

[138] _Id._ xi. 19.

[139] _Id._ xi. 20.

[140] _Id._ xi. 14.

[141] Cic., _ad Fam._ x. 23.

[142] _Id._ x. 24.

[143] _Id._ xi. 12 and 14.

[144] Cic., _ad Fam._ x. 16.

[145] _Id._ x. 35; xii. 35.

[146] _Id._ xi. 26, _cp._ xi. 13.

[147] _Id._, _ad. Brut._ i. 10.

[148] A similar technical difficulty had occurred in B.C. 49 (both consuls being absent, and unwilling, of course, to name a dictator), and had been got over by the nomination of a dictator by the prætor under a special law. See p. 8; Cic., _ad Fam._ x. 26; _ad M. Brut._ i. 5.

[149] Plancus (Cic., _ad Fam._ x. 29) expresses surprise that Cæsar wished to give up the glory of defeating Antony for the sake of “a two months’ consulship.” But this only shows that Plancus did not understand Octavian’s object or policy.

[150] Suet., _Aug._ 26; Dio, 46, 43; Plut., _Pomp._ 58. Appian (b. c. 3, 82), without alluding to this scene, regards the application itself as the result of a secret intrigue with Cicero, and Cicero’s exclamation, if made, may have been intended as encouraging and not sarcastic.

[151] The number given by Appian (b. c. iii. 88). Octavian had five legions when he went to Gaul: two raised in Campania of veterans, one of _tirones_, the Martia and Quarta (App., b. c. iii. 47). The other three must have been made up from the armies of Pansa and Hirtius. None of the veteran legions in these two armies would consent to follow Decimus Brutus (Cic., _ad Fam._ xi. 19).

[152] Cic., _ad Brut._ 1, 18.

[153] _Ib._ and App., b. c. iii. 90.

[154] The panic had been increased by some damage done by his soldier on the march to properties of known anti-Cæsareans.