Augustus Ascendant Part 3

From Anthony Everitt's Augustus on page 206: "The end of the civil wars brought a substantial peace dividend. A grand total of sixty legions under arms in 31 B.C. was reduced to the minimum necessary to guard the empire from external invasion. Octavian set the number at twenty-eight legions, or about 150,000 men, all of whom were Roman citizens. These ere brigaded with about the same number of auxiliary troops, noncitizens recruited from the less Romanized and less military secure provinces (for example, Gaul and northern Africa). These auxiliaries often served near or in their homelands-a sensible policy, for it gave the provinces an active role in their own defense."

The army had a permanent prescence in the areas where it was most needed: along the frontiers in the east and northern Africa, Spain, northeast Gaul, and the Balkans. These reserves were sufficient, however, there weren't any men to send to areas where any conflict might occur. During his short life to this point, Octavian had learned a great deal about public finance, and to reduce public spending it seems he was willing to take a gamble on a just-adequate military.

Then he looked into civilian matters. Suetonius believes that Octavian pondered deeply about restoring the Republic after Actium. However, this flies in the face of everything we know about his sure and steady climb to absolute power. Dio thought that a debate was held where Arippa argued for a republican constitution, and Maecenas spoke of the benefits of a monarchy. This debate probably never happened, but Octavian did manage to cleverly mesh these two opposing principles. As always, Octavian took his time to decide how to go about this-three years in this case.

Octavian and Agrippa held the consulships together in 28 BC-this was Octavian's sixth time as consul. The pair annulled all of the acts of the triumvirs and promised that there would never be a return to the civil bloodbaths of the past. The consuls also assumed censoria potestas, the power of censors. The censors had been two senior and very trusted officials elected every five years. They had three major tasks: first to hold a lustrum or general ritual purification of the people; second to perform a census of Roman citizensl third to supervise the conduct of citizens-especially members of the Senate.

Going back to Anthony Everitt's Augustus on page 207: "The census held by Octavian and Agrippa revealed that there were 4,063,000 citizens (we do not know whether the number included women and children). A more ticklish job was to identify and weed out senatorial undesirables. The number of senators was reduced from one thousand to a somewhat more manageable eight hundred. As Suetonius records, this was a highly unpopular procedure. At the meeting when the outcome of the review of the Senate was announced, Octavian is said to have worn a sword and steel corselet beneath his tunic. Senators were allowed to approach only after their togas were searched."

The new regime still wasn't ready to put the ship of state on a long-term course. However, an incident occurred shortly after this involving Marcus Licinius Crassus, the grandson of Julius Caesar's onetime colleague, that showed the rules of the new political order should be put in effect sooner rather than later.

Marcus had returned to Rome after a very successful campaign on the Macedonian frontier. He wanted not only a triumph but also a spolia opima. This very esteemed honor was granted to a general who had killed the enemy commander with his own hands and took his armor, the spolia opima or splendid spoils. This was done by only two other men in the history of the state before Crassus.

The problem was that absolute control of the legions was essential to Octavian's hold on power, and he didn't feel he could allow an independent man to gain such a high military reputation. A technicality was cited to prevent Crassus from dedicating the armor of his defeated opponent in the tiny Temple of Jupiter Feretrius on the Capitol, but he was allowed his triumph. Afterwards, though, history tells us nothing about him, so we are left to wonder if his iverreaching-at least in the eyes of the new regime brought his military career to an early end.

Finally in 27 BC, Octavian, aged thirty-six, was ready to unveil his constitutional blueprint. On 1 January he began his seventh consulship with Agrippa once again as his colleague. From Augustus on page 208: "On the Ides (the thirteenth of the month) he made a most extraordinary speech to the Senate-perhaps the most important speech of his life. Dio gave him words that cannot have been very far from those he actually uttered: I lay down my office in its entirety and return to you all authority absolutely-authority over the army, the laws and the provinces-not only those territories which you entrusted to me, but those which I later secured for you.

"For most of Octavian's listeners, the statement came as a shock. No one knew exactly how to react, and his cautious audience either believed him or pretended to. While he was speaking, senators broke in with shouts and interjections."

After Octavian sat down, the protests continued. He made a great display of reluctance, but allowed himself to be "argued" into accepting a very large "province" for ten years. This so-called province consisted of Gaul, Spain and Syria. Octavian would have proconsular authority over these lands: he would be able to appoint legates, or choose deputies to rule them in his stead while he remained consul at Rome. All the other provinces of the empire would come under direct senatorial management the same as before: the Senate would appoint former consuls and praetors to govern them.

The Senate certainly wasn't lax in showing its gratitude towards Octavian for this. The doorposts of his house were adorned with laurel and the lintel with oak leaves for rescuing Roman citizens from death. Octavian would later boastfully recall how a golden shield was put in the Senate House, "in recognition of my valor, my clemency, my justice and my piety."

Then there was the most glorious honor bestowed upon him-a change of name. One idea was to call Octavian by the name of Rome's original founder-Romulus. However, Romulus had made himself a king, and even worse-one tale had him murdered by angry senators-the same fate Octavian's first patron met! A much better idea was to call him Augustus, meaning "Revered One." Thus it was agreed and Octavian's official name was now Imperator Ceasar Augustus. A more modest title was adopted for casual use: princeps, "first citizen." These new names ushered in a new political era for Rome and a makeover for Octavian-the formerly bloodsoaked triumvir was now Augustus, the law-abiding princeps.

These acts of largely political theater were acted out primarily to assure the Senate that he was not leading Rome down the same path as his adoptive father-an autocracy-or even something similar to a Hellenistic monarchy. Octavian-now Augustus believed-and perhaps he was on the money with this thought-that if enough senators felt he was following in Julius Caesar's footsteps he would be the star of his own Ides of March.

Augustus also had to keep the ruling class happy so they would apply their skills to the arduous task of the day-to-day running of the empire. From Augustus on page 208: "The Senate was not quite the body it had been. New men from the Italian countryside had filled many gaps left the the old governing families that had been weakened in the civil wars or had lost their money and estates. Many came from regions that had received citizenship as little as fifty years before. Theirs was an Italian rather than a Roman identity. Even more controverially, leading men from southern Gaul and Spain, provinces that had long since adopted the Roman language and culture, were recruited as senators. All these arrivestes saw their fate as inextricably linked to the new regime. So did a good number of impoverished aristocrats, for the astute Augustus took good care to fund them generously and thereby constrain their freedom to oppose him. He bound other noble clans to him by arranging marriages with his relatives."

However much power Augustus managed to accrue, members of the Senate still felt a deep patriotic belief in Rome's constitution, and would never accept one-man rule. These men presumed the Roman empire and its rule and administration to remain a collective undertaking-even if it were led by one man.

In the end Augustus didn't really give back any real power to the Senate and the people of Rome, and in the final analysis he owed his preeminent position to the army. To a lesser extent he also owed his newly minted position to the people, who could be relied on to reelect him to the position of consul as many times as he wished.

This will probably be the last article on this blog for this year. I hope to do much more here next year. Thanks again to Jon and anyone else who reads or follows this blog for your fantastic thoughts and comments! I hope you all have a beautiful and joyous 2010!