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History and Evolution:
By William E. Steinman:
Part 31, Octavian:
October 27, 2003:
With the assassination of Caesar, Brutus and Gaius Cassius Longinus expected to see rejoicing in the streets and their own empowerment and recognition as saviors of the republic and freedom. That did not happen. It turned out the people in the streets did not care one whit about the freedom of the nobility. In addition, there were somewhat more Caesarians in the senate than they had foreseen. What resulted instead was, a difficult and prolonged struggle between the political factions of Rome.
The conspirators had to leave town as Marc Antony gathered political power to himself. Antony had been a competent general under Caesar and an active supporter in the senate. Later he became consul under Caesar and upon the assassination, moved to acquire Caesar's power. This was not to last, for an adopted son of Caesar, Octavian was also angling for power.
From the time of Caesar's death until 30 BC the civil wars and the struggle between these two men continued. There were alliances, battles, intrigues, and romance as Cleopatra of Egypt managed to get into the fray. The struggle culminated with the suicides of Antony and Cleopatra in 30 BC after a defeat at sea at the hands of Octavian. Of course the story of Antony and Cleopatra was another that was immortalized by the pen of the incomparable William Shakespear.
Octavian went on to establish the Roman principate, putting him in total control of the Greco-Roman world. It helped the financing a great deal when he acquired the very rich treasury of Egypt after Cleopatra's demise. Along the way he acquired the name the world knows him by, which is Imperator Caesar Augustus. Through careful political maneuvers designed to placate the senate he ultimately become the first Emperor of the Roman Empire.
There is little doubt that Octavian was a consummate politician and a powerful military leader. He was, in my understanding, a true superior dominant. Although he began his reign as a military despot he sought to quit that role. It seems he wished to establish, as far as possible, a sound civilian government for Rome. That he actually brought that off and still maintained stability for his 40 year reign is a tribute to his genius for balance. His ongoing task was to maintain a balance between his own power and republican traditions so as to avoid a return to the lawlessness that had destroyed the republic.
Among his achievements, he created a civilian government and restored power to the senate. He put the republic in the hands of the senate and the roman people. To assuage the senate he renounced his roll as consul. In exchange the senate gave him tribunal powers. By law, he could not be an actual tribune of the plebeians since he was a patrician, but he did acquire the power. He received these powers for life and the era of his reign is counted as the time he held this power. He received many other titles an honors during his reign, including the title he particularly relished, pater patriae or Father of His Country. Everyone was pacified and after decades of turmoil, the government of Rome was stable.
In fact, Octavian, or Augustus as we can now call him, was all powerful. Although the senate seemed to have some powers, in fact membership in the senate was controlled by Augustus. If a person wanted to have a career in senate politics he had to acquire the favor of Augustus. He did reduce the size of the senate from about 1000 to about 600. That got rid of a lot of the deadwood and troublemakers, Still he did consult the senate for advice and kept the members informed of his activities.
The equestrian order was also reorganized by Augustus. The Equites as they were called, were an order of knights. The membership came originally from the senate who were also members of the cavalry. Augustus reorganized it as a military class and opened it to people of lower birth. This took it out of politics and put it directly into the hands of Augustus. He used these knights as civil servants under his command and a world of power and wealth opened up to them. They even became eligible for membership in the senate.
The improvement of Italy and of Rome was still a priority to Augustus however. He carried out improvements throughout the Italian peninsula. His boast was he found Rome a city of brick and left it a city of marble. He built aqueducts, bridges, and roads throughout Italy. All of this, plus a reasonable tax and duty policy helped to improve the economic conditions of Italy which had sorely decline in the previous anarchy.
By bringing non-Roman Italians into the senate Augustus unified Italy with Rome and brought in much needed new blood. Under his reign morale across Italy increase considerably. He also nurtured this by restoring temples and reviving religious practices. With all of this he was not all kindness and light. He did make it difficult to free slaves and he withheld citizenship from any who were freed.
As to the provinces of Rome, the senate administered the long standing ones. The rest were under the supervision of Augustus through his various agents. The Caesarian practice of creating settlements and granting lands to the faithful was accelerated by Augustus. These communities were populated entirely by Roman citizens. Other communities of locals were somewhat autonomous under the eyes of the provincial government. They paid taxes, but were much better off under the empire than they had been before.
The army had allegiance to the Emperor only. Each soldier took an oath each year to that effect, and it was owed after the emperors death to his successor. For sure, Augustus reduced the size of his military even though his ultimate power depended on it. Before the victory against Antony and Cleopatra it stood at 60 legions. He cut that to 28, but it remained a standing army at his command. The legionnaires along with auxiliaries and other garrisons comprised a powerful stabilizing force throughout the empire.
In foreign policy Augustus was expansionist minded. He sought to expand the Roman empire out to natural boundaries like deserts and oceans. Expansion was begun by Augustus and carried forward by his successors, the so called Julio-Claudian dynasty. These were the four emperors who succeeded Augustus.
In summary, we can say that Imperator Caesar Augustus was an
emperor worthy of the designation superior dominant. In a state
that was used to knocking off its leaders almost as soon as they
came to power Octavian's survival was remarkable. For some 56
years, until his death, he occupied various positions of power
and finally that of emperor. Although his foster father Julius
Caesar ended the republic and made the beginnings of empire, Augustus
was the first true emperor. He was in fact an emperor rather than
a tyrant. He achieved stability and peace during his reign, commodities
that were in short supply before he came to power. Those who followed
him were not quite up to his standards.
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