D. Octavius Caesar Augustus (Augustus) - C. Suetonius Tranquillus
But to submit this important question to the free and unbiassed decision
of a numerous assembly, it is probable, neither suited the inclination of
Augustus, nor perhaps, in his opinion, consisted with his personal
safety. With a view to the attainment of unconstitutional power, he had
formerly deserted the cause of the republic when its affairs were in a
prosperous situation; and now, when his end was accomplished, there could
be little ground to expect, that he should voluntarily relinquish the
prize for which he had spilt the best blood of Rome, and contended for so
many years. Ever since the final defeat of Antony in the battle of
Actium, he had governed the Roman state with uncontrolled authority; and
though there is in the nature of unlimited power an intoxicating quality,
injurious both to public and private virtue, yet all history contradicts
the supposition of its being endued with any which is unpalatable to the
general taste of mankind.
There were two chief motives by which Augustus would naturally be
influenced in a deliberation on this important subject; namely, the love
of power, and the personal danger which (150) he might incur from
relinquishing it. Either of these motives might have been a sufficient
inducement for retaining his authority; but when they both concurred, as
they seem to have done upon this occasion, their united force was
irresistible. The argument, so far as relates to the love of power,
rests upon a ground, concerning the solidity of which, little doubt can
be entertained: but it may be proper to inquire, in a few words, into the
foundation of that personal danger which he dreaded to incur, on
returning to the station of a private citizen.
Augustus, as has been already observed, had formerly sided with the party
which had attempted to restore public liberty after the death of Julius
Caesar: but he afterwards abandoned the popular cause, and joined in the
ambitious plans of Antony and Lepidus to usurp amongst themselves the
entire dominion of the state. By this change of conduct, he turned his
arms against the supporters of a form of government which he had
virtually recognized as the legal constitution of Rome; and it involved a
direct implication of treason against the sacred representatives of that
government, the consuls, formally and duly elected. Upon such a charge
he might be amenable to the capital laws of his country. This, however,
was a danger which might be fully obviated, by procuring from the senate
and people an act of oblivion, previously to his abdication of the
supreme power; and this was a preliminary which doubtless they would have
admitted and ratified with unanimous approbation. It therefore appears
that he could be exposed to no inevitable danger on this account: but
there was another quarter where his person was vulnerable, and where even
the laws might not be sufficient to protect him against the efforts of
private resentment. The bloody proscription of the Triumvirate no act of
amnesty could ever erase from the minds of those who had been deprived by
it of their nearest and dearest relations; and amidst the numerous
connections of the illustrious men sacrificed on that horrible occasion,
there might arise some desperate avenger, whose indelible resentment
nothing less would satisfy than the blood of the surviving delinquent.
Though Augustus, therefore, might not, like his great predecessor, be
stabbed in the senate-house, he might perish by the sword or the poniard
in a less conspicuous situation. After all, there seems to have been
little danger from this quarter likewise for Sylla, who in the preceding
age had been guilty of equal enormities, was permitted, on relinquishing
the place of perpetual dictator, to end his days in quiet retirement; and
the undisturbed security which Augustus ever afterwards enjoyed, affords
sufficient proof, that all apprehension of danger to his person was
merely chimerical.
(151) We have hitherto considered this grand consultation as it might be
influenced by the passions or prejudices of the emperor: we shall now
take a short view of the subject in the light in which it is connected
with considerations of a political nature, and with public utility. The
arguments handed down by history respecting this consultation are few,
and imperfectly delivered; but they may be extended upon the general
principles maintained on each side of the question.
For the restoration of the republican government, it might be contended,
that from the expulsion of the kings to the dictatorship of Julius
Caesar, through a period of upwards of four hundred and sixty years, the
Roman state, with the exception only of a short interval, had flourished
and increased with a degree of prosperity unexampled in the annals of
humankind: that the republican form of government was not only best
adapted to the improvement of national grandeur, but to the security of
general freedom, the great object of all political association: that
public virtue, by which alone nations could subsist in vigour, was
cherished and protected by no mode of administration so much as by that
which connected, in the strongest bonds of union, the private interests
of individuals with those of the community: that the habits and
prejudices of the Roman people were unalterably attached to the form of
government established by so long a prescription, and they would never
submit, for any length of time, to the rule of one person, without making
every possible effort to recover their liberty: that though despotism,
under a mild and wise prince, might in some respects be regarded as
preferable to a constitution which was occasionally exposed to the
inconvenience of faction and popular tumults, yet it was a dangerous
experiment to abandon the government of the nation to the contingency of
such a variety of characters as usually occurs in the succession of
princes; and, upon the whole, that the interests of the people were more
safely entrusted in the hands of annual magistrates elected by
themselves, than in those of any individual whose power was permanent,
and subject to no legal control.
In favour of despotic government it might be urged, that though Rome had
subsisted long and gloriously under a republican form of government, yet
she had often experienced such violent shocks from popular tumults or the
factions of the great, as had threatened her with imminent destruction:
that a republican government was only accommodated to a people amongst
whom the division of property gave to no class of citizens such a degree
of pre-eminence as might prove dangerous to public freedom: that there
was required in that form of political constitution, a simplicity (152)
of life and strictness of manners which are never observed to accompany a
high degree of public prosperity: that in respect of all these
considerations, such a form of government was utterly incompatible with
the present circumstances of the Romans that by the conquest of so many
foreign nations, by the lucrative governments of provinces, the spoils of
the enemy in war, and the rapine too often practised in time of peace, so
great had been the aggrandizement of particular families in the preceding
age, that though the form of the ancient constitution should still remain
inviolate, the people would no longer live under a free republic, but an
aristocratical usurpation, which was always productive of tyranny: that
nothing could preserve the commonwealth from becoming a prey to some
daring confederacy, but the firm and vigorous administration of one
person, invested with the whole executive power of the state, unlimited
and uncontrolled: in fine, that as Rome had been nursed to maturity by
the government of six princes successively, so it was only by a similar
form of political constitution that she could now be saved from
aristocratical tyranny on one hand, or, on the other, from absolute
anarchy.
On whichever side of the question the force of argument may be thought to
preponderate, there is reason to believe that Augustus was guided in his
resolution more by inclination and prejudice than by reason. It is
related, however, that hesitating between the opposite opinions of his
two counsellors, he had recourse to that of Virgil, who joined with
Mecaenas in advising him to retain the imperial power, as being the form
of government most suitable to the circumstances of the times.
It is proper in this place to give some account of the two ministers
above-mentioned, Agrippa and Mecaenas, who composed the cabinet of
Augustus at the settlement of his government, and seem to be the only
persons employed by him in a ministerial capacity during his whole reign.
M. Vipsanius Agrippa was of obscure extraction, but rendered himself
conspicuous by his military talents. He obtained a victory over Sextus
Pompey; and in the battles of Philippi and Actium, where he displayed
great valour, he contributed not a little to establish the subsequent
power of Augustus. In his expeditions afterwards into Gaul and Germany,
he performed many signal achievements, for which he refused the honours
of a triumph. The expenses which others would have lavished on that
frivolous spectacle, he applied to the more laudable purpose of
embellishing Rome with magnificent buildings, one of which, the Pantheon,
still remains. In consequence of a dispute with Marcellus, the nephew of
Augustus, he retired to Mitylene, (153) whence, after an absence of two
years, he was recalled by the emperor. He first married Pomponia, the
daughter of the celebrated Atticus, and afterwards one of the Marcellas,
the nieces of Augustus. While this lady, by whom he had children, was
still living, the emperor prevailed upon his sister Octavia to resign to
him her son-in-law, and gave him in marriage his own daughter Julia; so
strong was the desire of Augustus to be united with him in the closest
alliance. The high degree of favour in which he stood with the emperor
was soon after evinced by a farther mark of esteem: for during a visit to
the Roman provinces of Greece and Asia, in which Augustus was absent two
years, he left the government of the empire to the care of Agrippa.
While this minister enjoyed, and indeed seems to have merited, all the
partiality of Augustus, he was likewise a favourite with the people. He
died at Rome, in the sixty-first year of his age, universally lamented;
and his remains were deposited in the tomb which Augustus had prepared
for himself. Agrippa left by Julia three sons, Caius, Lucius, and
Posthumus Agrippa, with two daughters, Agrippina and Julia.
C. Cilnius Mecaenas was of Tuscan extraction, and derived his descent
from the ancient kings of that country. Though in the highest degree of
favour with Augustus, he never aspired beyond the rank of the equestrian
order; and though he might have held the government of extensive
provinces by deputies, he was content with enjoying the praefecture of
the city and Italy; a situation, however, which must have been attended
with extensive patronage. He was of a gay and social disposition. In
principle he is said to have been of the Epicurean sect, and in his dress
and manners to have bordered on effeminacy. With respect to his
political talents, we can only speak from conjecture; but from his being
the confidential minister of a prince of so much discernment as Augustus,
during the infancy of a new form of government in an extensive empire, we
may presume that he was endowed with no common abilities for that
important station. The liberal patronage which he displayed towards men
of genius and talents, will render his name for ever celebrated in the
annals of learning. It is to be regretted that history has transmitted
no particulars of this extraordinary personage, of whom all we know is
derived chiefly from the writings of Virgil and Horace; but from the
manner in which they address him, amidst the familiarity of their
intercourse, there is the strongest reason to suppose, that he was not
less amiable and respectable in private life, than illustrious in public
situation. "O my glory!" is the emphatic expression employed by them
both.
(154) O decus, O famae merito pars maxima nostrae. Vir. Georg. ii.
Light of my life, my glory, and my guide!
O et praesidium et dulce decus meum. Hor. Ode I.
My glory and my patron thou!
One would be inclined to think, that there was a nicety in the sense and
application of the word decus, amongst the Romans, with which we are
unacquainted, and that, in the passages now adduced, it was understood to
refer to the honour of the emperor's patronage, obtained through the
means of Mecaenas; otherwise, such language to the minister might have
excited the jealousy of Augustus. But whatever foundation there may be
for this conjecture, the compliment was compensated by the superior
adulation which the poets appropriated to the emperor, whose deification
is more than insinuated, in sublime intimations, by Virgil.
Tuque adeo quem mox quae sint habitura deorum
Concilia, incertum est; urbisne invisere, Caesar,
Terrarumque velis curam; et te maximus orbis
Auctorem frugum, tempestatumque potentem
Accipiat, cingens materna tempora myrto:
An Deus immensi venias maris, ac tua nautae
Numina sola colant: tibi serviat ultima Thule;
Teque sibi generum Tethys emat omnibus undis. Geor. i. 1. 25, vi.
Thou Caesar, chief where'er thy voice ordain
To fix midst gods thy yet unchosen reign--
Wilt thou o'er cities fix thy guardian sway,
While earth and all her realms thy nod obey?
The world's vast orb shall own thy genial power,
Giver of fruits, fair sun, and favouring shower;
Before thy altar grateful nations bow,
And with maternal myrtle wreathe thy brow;
O'er boundless ocean shall thy power prevail,
Thee her sole lord the world of waters hail,
Rule where the sea remotest Thule laves,
While Tethys dowers thy bride with all her waves. Sotheby.
Horace has elegantly adopted the same strain of compliment.
Te multa prece, te prosequitur mero
Defuso pateris; et Laribus tuum
Miscet numen, uti Graecia Castoris
Et magni memor Herculis. Carm. IV. 5.
To thee he chants the sacred song,
To thee the rich libation pours;
Thee placed his household gods among,
With solemn daily prayer adores
So Castor and great Hercules of old,
Were with her gods by grateful Greece enrolled.
(155) The panegyric bestowed upon Augustus by the great poets of that
time, appears to have had a farther object than the mere gratification of
vanity. It was the ambition of this emperor to reign in the hearts as
well as over the persons of his subjects; and with this view he was
desirous of endearing himself to their imagination. Both he and Mecaenas
had a delicate sensibility to the beauties of poetical composition; and
judging from their own feelings, they attached a high degree of influence
to the charms of poetry. Impressed with these sentiments, it became an
object of importance, in their opinion, to engage the Muses in the
service of the imperial authority; on which account, we find Mecaenas
tampering with Propertius, and we may presume, likewise with every other
rising genius in poetry, to undertake an heroic poem, of which Augustus
should be the hero. As the application to Propertius cannot have taken
place until after Augustus had been amply celebrated by the superior
abilities of Virgil and Horace, there seems to be some reason for
ascribing Mecaenas's request to a political motive. Caius and Lucius,
the emperor's grandsons by his daughter Julia, were still living, and
both young. As one of them, doubtless, was intended to succeed to the
government of the empire, prudence justified the adoption of every
expedient that might tend to secure a quiet succession to the heir, upon
the demise of Augustus. As a subsidiary resource, therefore, the
expedient above mentioned was judged highly plausible; and the Roman
cabinet indulged the idea of endeavouring to confirm imperial authority
by the support of poetical renown. Lampoons against the government were
not uncommon even in the time of Augustus; and elegant panegyric on the
emperor served to counteract their influence upon the minds of the
people. The idea was, perhaps, novel in the time of Augustus; but the
history of later ages affords examples of its having been adopted, under
different forms of government, with success.
The Roman empire, in the time of Augustus, had attained to a prodigious
magnitude; and, in his testament, he recommended to his successors never
to exceed the limits which he had prescribed to its extent. On the East
it stretched to the Euphrates; on the South to the cataracts of the Nile,
the deserts of Africa, and Mount Atlas; on the West to the Atlantic
Ocean; and on the North to the Danube and the Rhine; including the best
part of the then known world. The Romans, therefore, were not improperly
called rerum domini [266], and Rome, pulcherrima rerum [267], maxima
rerum [268]. Even the historians, Livy and Tacitus, (156) actuated
likewise with admiration, bestow magnificent epithets on the capital of
their country. The succeeding emperors, in conformity to the advice of
Augustus, made few additions to the empire. Trajan, however, subdued
Mesopotamia and Armenia, east of the Euphrates, with Dacia, north of the
Danube; and after this period the Roman dominion was extended over
Britain, as far as the Frith of Forth and the Clyde.
It would be an object of curiosity to ascertain the amount of the Roman
revenue in the reign of Augustus; but such a problem, even with respect
to contemporary nations, cannot be elucidated without access to the
public registers of their governments; and in regard to an ancient
monarchy, the investigation is impracticable. We can only be assured
that the revenue must have been immense, which arose from the accumulated
contribution of such a number of nations, that had supported their own
civil establishments with great splendour, and many of which were
celebrated for their extraordinary riches and commerce. The tribute paid
by the Romans themselves, towards the support of the government, was very
considerable during the latter ages of the republic, and it received an
increase after the consulship of Hirtius and Pansa. The establishments,
both civil and military, in the different provinces, were supported at
their own expense; the emperor required but a small naval force, an arm
which adds much to the public expenditure of maritime nations in modern
times; and the state was burdened with no diplomatic charges. The vast
treasure accruing from the various taxes centered in Rome, and the whole
was at the disposal of the emperor, without any control. We may
therefore justly conclude that, in the amount of taxes, customs, and
every kind of financial resources, Augustus exceeded all sovereigns who
had hitherto ever swayed the sceptre of imperial dominion; a noble
acquisition, had it been judiciously employed by his successors, in
promoting public happiness, with half the profusion in which it was
lavished in disgracing human nature, and violating the rights of mankind.
The reign of Augustus is distinguished by the most extraordinary event
recorded in history, either sacred or profane, the nativity of the
Saviour of mankind; which has since introduced a new epoch into the
chronology of all Christian nations. The commencement of the new aera
being the most flourishing period of the Roman empire, a general view of
the state of knowledge and taste at this period, may here not be
improper.
Civilization was at this time extended farther over the world than it had
ever been in any preceding period; but polytheism rather increased than
diminished with the advancement of commercial (157) intercourse between
the nations of Europe, Asia, and Africa; and, though philosophy had been
cultivated during several ages, at Athens, Cyrene, Rome, and other seats
of learning, yet the morals of mankind were little improved by the
diffusion of speculative knowledge. Socrates had laid an admirable
foundation for the improvement of human nature, by the exertion of reason
through the whole economy of life; but succeeding inquirers, forsaking
the true path of ethic investigation, deviated into specious discussions,
rather ingenious than useful; and some of them, by gratuitously adopting
principles, which, so far from being supported by reason, were repugnant
to its dictates, endeavoured to erect upon the basis of their respective
doctrines a system peculiar to themselves. The doctrines of the Stoics
and Epicureans were, in fact, pernicious to society; and those of the
different academies, though more intimately connected with reason than
the two former, were of a nature too abstract to have any immediate or
useful influence on life and manners. General discussions of truth and
probability, with magnificent declamations on the to kalon, and the
summum bonum, constituted the chief objects of attention amongst those
who cultivated moral science in the shades of academical retirement.
Cicero endeavoured to bring back philosophy from speculation to practice,
and clearly evinced the social duties to be founded in the unalterable
dictates of virtue; but it was easier to demonstrate the truth of the
principles which he maintained, than to enforce their observance, while
the morals of mankind were little actuated by the exercise of reason
alone.
The science chiefly cultivated at this period was rhetoric, which appears
to have differed considerably from what now passes under the same name.
The object of it was not so much justness of sentiment and propriety of
expression, as the art of declaiming, or speaking copiously upon any
subject. It is mentioned by Varro as the reverse of logic; and they are
distinguished from each other by a simile, that the former resembles the
palm of the hand expanded, and the latter, contracted into the fist. It
is observable that logic, though a part of education in modern times,
seems not to have been cultivated amongst the Romans. Perhaps they were
apprehensive, lest a science which concentered the force of argument,
might obstruct the cultivation of that which was meant to dilate it.
Astronomy was long before known in the eastern nations; but there is
reason to believe, from a passage in Virgil [269], that it was little
cultivated by the Romans; and it is certain, that in the reformation of
the calendar, Julius Caesar was chiefly indebted to the scientific
knowledge of (158) Sosigenes, a mathematician of Alexandria. The laws of
the solar system were still but imperfectly known; the popular belief,
that the sun moved round the earth, was universally maintained, and
continued until the sixteenth century, when the contrary was proved by
Copernicus. There existed many celebrated tracts on mathematics; and
several of the mechanical powers, particularly that of the lever, were
cultivated with success. The more necessary and useful rules of
arithmetic were generally known. The use of the load-stone not being as
yet discovered, navigation was conducted in the day-time by the sun, and
in the night, by the observation of certain stars. Geography was
cultivated during the present period by Strabo and Mela. In natural
philosophy little progress was made; but a strong desire of its
improvement was entertained, particularly by Virgil. Human anatomy being
not yet introduced, physiology was imperfect. Chemistry, as a science,
was utterly unknown. In medicine, the writings of Hippocrates, and other
Greek physicians, were in general the standard of practice; but the
Materia Medica contained few remedies of approved quality, and abounded
with useless substances, as well as with many which stood upon no other
foundation than the whimsical notions of those who first introduced them.
Architecture flourished, through the elegant taste of Vitruvius, and the
patronage of the emperor. Painting, statuary, and music, were
cultivated, but not with that degree of perfection which they had
obtained in the Grecian states. The musical instruments of this period
were the flute and the lyre, to which may be added the sistrum, lately
imported from Egypt. But the chief glory of the period is its
literature, of which we proceed to give some account.
At the head of the writers of this age, stands the emperor himself, with
his minister Mecaenas; but the works of both have almost totally
perished. It appears from the historian now translated, that Augustus
was the author of several productions in prose, besides some in verse.
He wrote Answers to Brutus in relation to Cato, Exhortations to
Philosophy, and the History of his own Life, which he continued, in
thirteen books, down to the war of Cantabria. A book of his, written in
hexameter verse, under the title of Sicily, was extant in the time of
Suetonius, as was likewise a book of Epigrams. He began a tragedy on the
subject of Ajax, but, being dissatisfied with the composition, destroyed
it. Whatever the merits of Augustus may have been as an author, of which
no judgment can be formed, his attachment to learning and eminent writers
affords a strong presumption that he was not destitute of taste.
Mecaenas is said to have written two tragedies, Octavia and Prometheus; a
History of (159) Animals; a Treatise on Precious Stones; a Journal of the
Life of Augustus; and other productions. Curiosity is strongly
interested to discover the literary talents of a man so much
distinguished for the esteem and patronage of them in others; but while
we regret the impossibility of such a development, we scarcely can
suppose the proficiency to have been small, where the love and admiration
were so great.