Augustus Ascendant Part 9

The years 23-17 BC are interesting to study because they show the "ways and means" of how Augustus intended to rule the empire he controlled. His control of the empire would probably seem very awkward to a modern dictator. Rome of course, knew inststantly, pretty much, of what was going on and how he intended to rule. But the Roman Empire was so enormous in extent, how could Augustus put his "stamp" over the whole immense territory?

Obviously there was no such thing as fast communication in those days. All hell could be breaking out in one area of the empire and it could be weeks-at the very least-before Rome knew anything about it. Augustus intended to mold the empire to his liking as much as he could. Even though travel was slow and often dangerous Augustus spent years away from Rome-with Agrippa's help. Sometimes one man would take the place of the other in whatever area they were in-and the other would watch over the political situation in Rome.

For years after Actium (31 BC) the eastern provinces had a much greater say in their own governance than other areas. In 25 BC, Galatia (in central Anatolia) was made a province of Rome. Augustus sent Agrippa east in 23 BC. There are no historical records left that tell us exactly what his mission was. Agrippa made the island of Samos his headquarters. Conceivably, Agrippa could have been sent to gather intelligence on the Parthians. Augustus didn't want to make war with the Parthians again but he did want to negotiate the return of the army standards that Crassus lost in 53 BC, and also those lost by Mark Antony in 36 BC.

Augustus wanted to achieve a stable peace-a detente or even an entente with the Parthians. It was a time to consolidate the empire and not resume holtilities with a formidable foe. Around this time, Augustus was either going to join Agrippa or take over for him. But he was prevented from doing this-not only because the plague of the previous year continued to rage through Italy, until the point farmers stopped working their fields and food shortages developed-but the river Tiber also overflowed and flooded the city! This started an even greater cascade of problems when the people of Rome demanded that Augustus assume dictatorial powers to deal with the problem-they even threatened to burn down the Senate House (with the Senators inside) if this didn't happen.

Now another event had happened that showed how precarious Augustus' role in the state he had created was. If the princeps did what the mob demanded, the whole fiction of the "restored Republic" would be blown right open. It would also ruin his relations with the Senate into the future, as they of course would see it as a return to the days of Julius Caesar. Once again Augustus showed his tremendous skill at coming up with a different solution that didn't please everybody 100% but was enough.

Augustus swore before the mob that he would rather be stabbed to death than be made dictator. He did have himself made commissioner of the grain supply and quickly put an end to the food shortages. Augustus also arranged for the yearly appointment of two former praetors to oversee the distribution of grain in the future.

Finally, in the autumn of 22 BC, Augustus left for a restful trip to the east, probably in the company of Livia. But no more than they made their first stop in Sicily, that news of yet more unrest in Rome reached them. It seems that the Roman people were determined to have an absolute leader at this time in their history, as opposed to the pride of being free in the past. They had elected only one consul this year, hoping that Augustus would fill the seat of the vacancy. He refused to do this, but he did have Agrippa return to Rome to restore order. In 21 BC, after his return to the Capitol, Agrippa married Augustus' daughter, the 18-year-old Julia. Agrippa must have felt very secure in his power and position indeed, for he did so despite her father's abscence!

Then Agrippa was off yet again for more military campaigning. He went to Gaul, Spain and Aquitania and other places. Then he went to northern Spain and began once again to try to bring to heel the same tribes that Augustus hadn't been entirely successful in pacifying. Agrippa was victorious at this in 19 BC, as he had been so successful in his generalship in other tasks.

I hope to post again here pretty soon. I have been having some connection problems so hopefully this will sort itself out like it did before. Thanks again to Jon, human being and anyone following or commenting here! The image is of a theater in Merida, Spain promoted by Agrippa and built between 16 to 15 BC. All the best to anyone stopping by!

Extra note-the information for this post came (once again) from Anthony Everitt's excellent Augustus pages 221 to 225. I found a treasure of a book -Fergus Millar's The Roman Empire and its Neighbours from 1966. I would like to start using information from this book in between the Augustus information because it so beautifully explains the background functioning of Rome's government and how different posts and departments of government changed over the years. The Millar book I had picked up for a whopping dollar at a library sale. It is too bad I hadn't looked through it earlier for this blog-but am so glad I finally did. Due to the economy-libraries, yard sales, discount book stores and the like have some incredible prices on books. I picked up a first edition (like new) of David McCullough's John Adams for 3 dollars and fifty cents. In a way it is sad-I seem to notice that the history books are usually the "cheapest" -I assume this is because people (especially in the United States) are not interested in historical subjects. I am just writing this to let people know you might find some incredible deals out there for books right now.