Real name Caius Julius Caesar Octavius , Augustus was the first and most famous Roman emperor. When his uncle Julius Caesar died in 44 BC, Octave began a long political struggle to gain power. In 31 BC, he won the naval battle of Actium against his main rivals Marc Antony and Queen Cleopatra of Egypt. Back in Rome, Octave set up the foundations of a new regime in 27 BC:the principate. Now called Augustus, he gradually accumulated all the powers, thus founding the foundations of the Roman Empire. Marked by peace and prosperity in the arts, his period of reign is called the "Age of Augustus" and will be considered the golden age of Roman classicism.
Octave, heir to Caesar
The future Augustus is born Caius Octavius September 23, 63 BC (the year of Cicero's consulship), in Rome, on the Palatine. His father was governor of the province of Macedonia until 59 BC, and he died on his return in 58. Octave therefore knew him very little, and it was his mother who then took on great importance in his life. Gold, Altia Baeba Caesonia is the niece of Julius Caesar. The young Octave is then under the tutelage of Caius Toranius , but also under the protection of his maternal grandmother, Julia. It was thanks to her that he learned until he was twelve years old, with some of the greatest masters of rhetoric, and in this context that he made his first friends who would play a major role in suite, such as Agrippa. If Octave excels in politics, the military thing is not his forte. Agrippa, a brilliant strategist on land and at sea, will be his strong arm.
The political situation in Rome is increasingly tense, with the main backdrop of the rivalry between Caesar and Pompey. Very early, Octave gets closer to his great-uncle and plays a political role, like his sister, in the intrigues that are tied. In 48, Caesar brought Octave into the college of pontiffs and from 45, he was on a military campaign in Spain against the supporters of Pompey. Already appear his first health problems, and especially his difficulties to pose as a true military leader, unlike his friend Agrippa who accompanies him. The same year, Julius Caesar, without sons, wrote his will and made Octave his heir, to whom he bequeathed three quarters of his property.
On the death of Caesar, assassinated in March 44; Octave is then in Apollonia and his life is threatened. But Caesar's heir decides, against his mother's advice, to return to Rome to assert his rights. He was therefore only nineteen when he arrived in Brindes and decided to call himself Caius Julius Caesar Octavianus , or Octavian. He fully intends to play a central role in resolving the continuing civil wars and avenging the death of his adoptive father.
Civil War
As Caesar's legitimate heir, Octavian first posed as a rival to Marc-Antoine, appreciated by the Roman people, and who saw himself succeeding his mentor. However, thanks to his political skill and the military aid of those close to him (Agrippa in particular, as always), the future Augustus gradually manages to push aside his rival. Among other things, he benefited from the support of Cicero, which should allow him to have the decisive support of the Senate. Antony was then defeated in Modena in 43 BC, the two incumbent consuls were killed and Cicero planned to be consul with the young man...but the Senate refused!
This is one of the important points during the first years of the political trajectory of the future emperor, who will see in the Senate his main opponent. Indeed, the venerable senators do not see favorably the rise in power of the one who could become a new Caesar, younger at that! Octavian, however, does not disassemble and finally obtains the consulship, and organizes the punishment of Caesar's assassins. At the end of the year 43, it is clear that Octavian had gained the upper hand over his adversaries and, after tough negotiations, he obtained the support of Marc-Antoine and Lépide, to form the second triumvirate.
It is time for Caesar's assassins to pay:they are hunted down the following year, and beaten at the Battle of Philippi; the main plotters, Brutus and Cassius, commit suicide. The triumvirs then shared the Roman world, not yet an empire, and the last danger, Sextus Pompey, was crushed in 36.
The lull did not last long, however, as the rivalry between Antoine and Octavien continued, despite the marriage of the latter's sister to the former. The future Augustus is more and more popular, while at the same time Antoine falls under the thumb of Cleopatra; Lepidus is quickly dismissed, and his African provinces fall into the hands of Octavian. War broke out between Caesar's two heirs, culminating in the naval battle of Actium (31 BC):Antony and Cleopatra were defeated, Octavian became sole master of Rome.
The beginnings of the principality of Augustus
As of 38, Octavian obtained the title of imperator; but his victory against Antoine allows him to accumulate titles, and therefore powers:princeps senatus in 28 (this year, he completed his sixth consulship, with Agrippa as his colleague). The senate gives him the honorary title of Augustus in 27 BC, the tribunician power in 23 BC, and his imperium is renewed for ten years. Without it being really official, it is indeed a new regime that is settling in place of the Republic:the principate. Auguste, despite his speeches which insist on the importance of the Senate and the people, is indeed the only decision-maker. He then carried out reforms:army, administration, organization of the provinces, as well as major works in Rome:he shaped what became the Roman Empire, for centuries to come.
Strictly observant of Roman virtues, Augustus endeavored to regulate public morals by enacting sumptuary laws (limiting expenses) and natalist laws (in favor of marriage). In the economic field, he encouraged the development of agriculture in the Italian peninsula. His religious policy has two aspects:Augustus works on the one hand to restore and renovate the traditional religion, and on the other hand, he founds the imperial cult.
Protectors of the arts, Augustus was a friend of the poets Ovid, Horace and Virgil, as well as of the historian Livy, to whom he gave his encouragement and generous gifts. With the help of his friend and adviser, Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa, Augustus worked to beautify Rome, notably by building the forum of Augustus, the theater of Marcellus, the temple of Apollo Palatine, the Pantheon and the baths of Gripped; according to Suetonius, "he left a Rome of marble, where he had found a city of bricks".
A difficult end of reign
Inner peace obviously does not mean peace with neighbors. Augustus must work hard, and above all send the talented Agrippa to subdue the various threats surrounding the Empire. It is above all a question of consolidating the borders, rather than enlarging the territory of Rome:he fixes the limits of the Empire on the Euphrates, facing the Parthians; in the North, it pushes the borders to the Danube. However, he experienced a traumatic setback in 9 AD, when the legate Varus was massacred with three legions against the Germans. It was then Tiberius who took over, but the emperor had to resolve to move the border to the left of the Rhine.
His reign is more and more painful:to his health problems are added conspiracies (like that of Cinna, in 16-13 BC), and especially inheritance issues. Indeed, the Emperor Augustus, despite several marriages (including the last with Livia), still has no son. He adopted Caius and Lucius in 17 BC, but they died before him… He ended up adopting his grandson Tiberius, son of Livia, in 4 AD. Moreover, Augustus sees his friends and companions all dying before him:Agrippa, Maecenas, or Drusus. It is therefore almost alone that he in turn dies on August 19, 14 AD; he is deified the same year, as he had previously deified Caesar. On the death of Augustus, Tiberius, who married his daughter Julie, succeeded him.
The legacy of Emperor Augustus
Historians, both ancient and modern, have made varying judgments about Augustus. Some have condemned his ruthless pursuit of power, particularly his role in the proscription during the triumvirate era. Others, like Tacitus who puts the imperial regime on trial, have recognized his actions as sovereign. Modern historians sometimes criticize his unscrupulous methods and his authoritarian style of government, but they generally credit him with having established an efficient administration, a stable government, and having brought security and prosperity to this which will become the Roman Empire.
It was during the "century of Augustus" that the annalist Livy published his History of Rome since its foundation .
Non-exhaustive bibliography
- Auguste, biography of Pierre Cosme. Perrin, 2005 (republished by Tempus in 2009).
- Auguste - The Ambiguities of Power, by Frédéric Hurlet. Colin, 2015.
- Suetonius, Lives of the Twelve Caesars. Folio, 2009.