Augustus Ascendant Part 13

In the Republic, any citizen found guilty of a crime had the right to appeal directly to the people. Now in Augstus' "restored Republic" only he could overturn a sentence of death. Provacatio ad populum became appellatio ad Caesarem-an appeal to Caesar. Augustus-who was nothing if not efficient-although perhaps his honesty in many areas left something to be desired- tried many things to improve the efficiency and honesty of imperial administration. With the ever indispensable Agrippa's help, Augustus ushered in an era of uniform and tranquil governance throughout the empire.

In Africa, the Gallic and Spanish provinces some of the luxuries of Roman civilization were introduced (aqueducts, theaters and the like). Regular censuses were performed to ensure a fair assessment or provincial taxation, and tax collection as a whole was made more equitable. Augustus "borrowed" Egnatius Rufus' concept of maintaining a troop of 600 slave firefighters in Rome itself, and in 6 AD, this was expanded into seven cohorts of firemen, with each cohort protecting two of the fourteen districts that Augustus had divided the city into. Three cohortes urbanae or urban cohorts were formed to police Rome also.

In Augustus on page 231, Anthony Everitt goes into other ways Augustus sought to improve imperial administration: "Augustus did not interfere in the local government of Italy. He left its four hundred or so towns and cities to manage their own affairs as they had always done, except in two respects. He divided the peninsula into eleven departments for the purpose of the census of citizens and the registration of public land. And, more important, he recognized the need for speedy communications. He tried to persuade senators to invest some of the spoils of successful military campaigns in improving and extending the Italian road network. When that failed, he himself took over the cura viarum, the responsibility for roads, and made large ddonations from his own pocket for road construction."

Regular relay stations were set up across Italy. Chariots and horses were made available by local officials and people using the service paid a fixed fee for it. As this network became more sophisticated, an experienced military man called the praefectus vehicularum, was put in charge of it. Over time the relay stations provided an extensive network that improved communications in all of Italy and the provinces to the north. Augustus and Agrippa had followed the example of distinguished men from the era of the Republic, who were expected to spend large amounts of money on public works. Both men invested a great deal of their personal wealth in new public buildings and upgrades in the city. Eventually new senatorial commissions were set up in such a way that they oversaw the upkeep of roads- the curatores viarum and public buildings and temples- the curatores locorum publicum.

From Augustus on page 232: "Augustus introduced greater order into the day-to-day management of the empire than had existed in the past. In the abscence of a professional civil service, officeholders with imperium in the Republic, such as consuls and praetors, used to govern from their town houses in Rome and used slaves and servants, family and friends to expedite business. Augustus governed in the same way, but on a much larger scale. He employed a growing army of slaves and freedmen to undertake the routine tasks of administration."

Augustus, however, didn't believe that it was politically acceptable fro people like slaves and freedmen to be the official standard-bearers of the new order. He laid down a roadmap for a governmental service for men of Rome's upper classes. In this way, young men of the senatorial class who showed talent could spend their whole careers as public administrators who were reimbursed quite well for their services. After these men had completed military service, and still in their late teens, they could secure minor posts as vigintiviri, which literally means "twenty men." A typical career path for these men would be working for a year in the mint; supervising the cleaning and upkeep of Roman streets, managing prisons and executions, and judging cases that involved slavery or freedom. From these lower positions they would go on to serve as tribunes of the people-except of course if they were members of the patrician class- or aediles. After this, they could run for one of the twelve praetorships. After serving as praetor they could go on to govern a minor province or command a legion. The always coveted office of the consulship awaited the most ambitious and successful, after which one could go on to govern one of the major provinces or one of the curatorships in Rome.

Augustus on pages 232-233: "The Senate only produced senior administrators, and the princeps also looked for assistance in less important jobs from the equites. Whether they were senators or equites able men became professional servants of the state, receiving a salary and living out long and interesting careers. The fact that Augustus twice enacted bribery laws, in 18 B.C. and 8 B.C., not only illustrates his commitment to clean government, but also suggests that his efforts may have met some resistance. Inch by inch, though, prototypes of the institutions that we take for granted in a modern state were beginning to emerge. The amateurish and corrupt mechanisms of the Republic were gradually replaced by something resembling an honest state bureaucracy."

I still have a lot of information to post and hope to be online here and there to do it. I haven't been so caught up in awhile. If I were a better typist I could keep going-but my hands and fingers are saying forget it! All the best to anyone stopping by!