OCTAVIUS IN HIGH FAVOUR

dangerous to one

now

the grosser vices of

practically a prince

Rome.

ii

uncontaminated by

Stories to the contrary, afterwards

spread abroad by his enemies, are of the most unsubstantial

and untrustworthy kind.

But though he seems

have quietly submitted to

to

this

tutelage, he soon conceived an ardent desire to share in the

Caesar had been very

activities of his great-uncle.

^ little at
Afiicawifh

war.
days in

December of

in the city.

He

Rome

since the beginning of the civil

few days

in

March,

the same year, were

all

B.C. 49, thirteen

that he had spent

was absent during the whole of

his consulship

On his return from

48) till September, B.C. 47.
Alexandria in that month, he stayed barely three months at
(b.c.

Rome.
his way

On

the 19th of

December he was

at

Lilybaeum, on

to Africa to attack the surviving Pompeians.

Octavius

longed to go with him, and Caesar was willing to take him.

was not good, and his mother set herself against

The Dictator might no doubt have insisted, but he saw that
it.
the boy was not fit to face the fatigues of a campaign. Octavius
submitted, quietly biding his time.
He was rewarded by findBut

his health

ing himself high in his great-uncle's favour

in B.C.

46

after the victory of

when he

He was

Thapsus.

returned

admitted to

share his triple triumph, riding in a chariot immediately behind

that of the imperator, dressed in military uniform as

had actually been engaged.

sufficient interest

He

though he

found, moreover, that he had

with Caesar to obtain pardon

for the brother

of his friend Agrippa, taken prisoner in the Pompeian

army

in

This first use of his influence made a good impression,

without weakening his great-uncle's affection for him. Though
Africa.

Caesar did not formally adopt him,i he treated

him openly

as

* Octavius was sui itiris, his father being dead

his adoption therefore
required the formal passing of a lex curiata. Now the opposition, supported by Antony, against this formahty being carried out was one of the
;

grounds of Octavian's quarrel with him in B.C. 44-3, and the completion of
it was one of the first things secured by Octavian on his entrance
into
Rome in August, B.C. 43 [Appian, b. c. iii. 94 Dio, 45, 5]. This seems
;

CHAPTER

VIII

THE NEW CONSTITUTION,

B.C.

Hie ames

The

3O-23

diet pater atque frineeps.

seven years which followed the death of

Cleopatra witnessed the settlement of the

its
collsStutilJIn.

most important

dyarchy^ the

two

time of equal power.

As

it

They were

far as it

was

constitution in

It has been called a

points.

parties to

and the Senate.

new

Antony and

being the Emperor

not, however, at

possible

any

Augustus rested

on the same foundation as those of the

Republican magistrates, and treated the Senate with studious
But in spite of all professions, in spite even of himrespect.
self, he became a monarch, whose will was only limited by
those forces of circumstance and sentiment to which the most
his various functions

autocratic of sovereigns have at times

The
B.C.

important epochs in
29,

27,

23

but

it

this

reconstruction are the years

will

be necessary sometimes to

anticipate the course of events

often took

The

many

been forced to bow.

and to speak

at

once of what

years to develop.

reduction of the vast armaments which the various

phases of the civil

possible
^the'a^my.''^

war had

called into existence

was made

by the wealth which the possession of

Egypt put into Cssar's hands. Though Egypt

became a Roman province it was from the first

in a peculiar position, governed by a

131

*'

prefect " appointed by

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XII

THE REFORMER AND LEGISLATOR

Quid

leges sine moribiis

vance proficiunt f

The

activity of

Augustus

as reformer in the city

and to a great extent in the provinces

also,

and

Italy,

was subsequent

to

the settlement of his constitutional position in B.C.

23, after

reformrinthe
^'^^^^'

which date changes

in

it

were generally

But

consequential, and in matters of detail.

it

36 he had taken effective measures

to suppress the brigandage which had pushed its audacity
In B.C. 34-3 Agrippa,
nearly up to the very gates of Rome.

began long before.

under

his

In

influence,

water supply of

B.C.

had started the improvement in

Rome

by restoring the Aqua Marcia

the

had
j

cleansed and enlarged the cloacae, repaired the streets, and

begun

many important

buildings.

evidence that Augustus was

details of administration

year,

in

Ephesus,

his

in

resettlement

In

turning his

B.C.

31

we

attention

have

to

the

the provinces,^ and in the next

of

Asia,

he restored

Troad, works of

Pergamus, and the

Antony had taken from them

to

to
art

Samos,

which

bestow upon Cleopatra.^

^ The
lex liilia et Titia^ enabling the provincial governor to assign
guardians to such persons as were legally bound to have them, was passed
between the ist of May and ist of October, B.C. 31, the period during

which M.

Titius

was

consul.

Authorities will be found in

Mommsen,
212

res gestce, p. 96.