The First Emperor (2)

We last left off with the deaths of Antony and Cleopatra. Octavian now stood at the centre of
Roman politics and the populace stood by with bated breath, waiting to see what his next
move would be. Much like trying to sneak up on a wild animal, the key thing to remember is:
'no sudden movements'.
Octavian stood in a fantastic position, but any drastic change or adjustment to the state of
Roman affairs, and the young Caesar stood to lose it all. Slow and steady wins the race, as the
saying goes, and that's exactly the strategy Octavian employed. For the first 12 years of his
reign, which we will here mark as 31 BC although you may see differently elsewhere [see The
first Emperor (part 1)], Octavian made a series of piecemeal adjustments to his position,
always ensuring he had the consent of the 3 main branches of Roman politics: the Senate,
the army, and the people. Losing the support of any one of these could spell disaster.
If he upset the Senate, Octavian could wind up the same way as his adoptive father - a route
he would want to avoid at all costs, understandably.
If he lost the support of the troops, his position could very quickly become unstable and he
could be ousted by another aspiring politician; Aemilius Lepidus had lost the support of his
troops in 36 BC, and had in turn been forced to retire altogether.
Then there were the people. Although perhaps not powerful enough as a single entity to
ensure he stayed in power (case in point Caesar, who had been very popular with the
masses), losing the support of the very people he claimed to have been fighting for could
easily have hindered Octavian's rise to power. Octavian had in fact used Mark Antony's
partnership with the Egyptian queen Cleopatra in 32 BC as proof he had abandoned the
Roman people, which resulted in them throwing their full support behind the young Caesar
and his civil war against Antony.
Securing and enhancing his position was then very much a balancing act. That is not to say
however that Octavian didn't face any opposition. He did, and a little later on we will see just
how he dealt with it.
But back to Rome. Octavian arrived back in the city victorious in the summer of 29 BC. With
the spoils of war filling his pockets, Octavian was able to commence a building programme
that would change the face of Rome. At the same time he had to ensure he had the titles and
powers he would need to continue to be top dog. In 33 BC Octavian had secured for himself
the role of consul for a second time (he had first held it in 43 BC before creating
the Second Triumvirate) and would go on to hold it annually from 31 to 23 BC. To be

consul that many times, and consecutively, was absolutely unheard of, but unlike Caesar's
occupation of the role of Dictator, the role of consul was at least subject to an annual
election, even if the election process itself was a mere formality. But we're getting ahead of
ourselves.
Earlier I made mention to the series of piecemeal adjustments that Octavian made to his
position. There were in fact three main adjustments, which are known today as the 3
'Settlements'. The First Settlement was initiated shortly after Octavian's return to Rome,
in 28/27 BC (it was a slightly extended process but ultimately known as one Settlement).
The fasces, a bundle of rods and axes symbolising consular power and their ability to hand
out capital punishment, were traditionally shared between the 2 consuls of Rome. Octavian
however had taken complete possession of all 12 fasces during the civil war with Antony.
Now, in 28 BC, he made the very symbolic gesture of sharing them with his fellow
consul, Marcus Agrippa (the very same Agrippa who had won the Battle of Actium for
Octavian), thereby symbolising the end of the crisis.
Then, in 27 BC at a meeting of the Senate, Octavian stood, gave an account of the current
state of affairs in Rome and how brilliant everything was (thanks to him, of course) and then,
in a rather dramatic turn of events, resigned. No doubt the Senate had already been fully
briefed as to what would happen by Octavian's 'people' but, ever the showman, the young
Caesar wanted to make a very public display of his commitment to 'restoring the Republic'.
There was of course no more Republic to restore, but so long as the Romans still hated the
idea of monarchy, Octavian played the game. In return for his oh-so-generous gesture, and
after a lot of staged back-and-forth with the senators pleading for him to reconsider and
Octavian refusing, the young Caesar was rewarded with his consular power being
given back to him, control over a number of large and very important provinces of the
Empire (including Spain and Egypt) and a new name: Augustus. With connotations of
reverence and piety, Octavian's new name offered him a complete break with his past. Rather
than hanging on to the memory of his adoptive father for credibility, Octavian could now
henceforth stand on his own and create a legacy for himself, as Augustus.
The next major adjustment to Augustus' power came 4 years later, in 23 BC. After being the
leading man in politics for almost 10 years, it appears (although the sources are a bit cloudy
about it) that Augustus became the target of an assassination plot. Although the conspiracy
was uncovered and the plotters promptly executed, the whole affair undoubtedly gave
Augustus some food for thought, and new concerns. But he didn't have much time to think
as, in the same year, he fell seriously ill. So ill in fact that he was forced to make preparations
for who would succeed him (he decided on splitting control between Agrippa, his right-hand

man, and Piso, his fellow consul that year, demonstrating again his commitment to keeping
up the facade of a Republic not dominated by a single man).
Luckily for Augustus however, and the course of Roman imperial history, he recovered.
Quick to make some changes following his near death experience(s), Augustus made the
decision to resign from the consulship in another dramatic meeting of the Senate. In return
for relinquishing this power, Augustus was again rewarded, this time with a new type of
power: that of a Tribune, in addition with something called imperium proconsulare
maius (which gave him greater authority than other proconsuls). The history of the tribunes
of Rome is rather long and too complex to go into much detail here, but essentially their role
was to protect the interests of the Roman people. As such, they had the power to propose
legislation, call an assembly of the people, and (most importantly) the power
to veto any item of state business or the actions of other magistrates. Although he was not
given the office, just the power, it was more than enough, as Augustus could now truly
present himself as being a representative of the people.
To add to this, Augustus was given a shiny new title: princeps, meaning 'first man among
citizens', i.e. The chief man in the state. 23 BC may have started pretty shaky, but
the Second Settlement saw to it that Augustus ended the year on a high.
The Third Settlement occurred in 19 BC. By this point, Augustus had been virtually in
charge of Rome long enough that he didn't have to be as careful with maintaining his image
of being 'just one of you guys'. As such, when, as part of this arrangement, he was granted
consular power for life, hardly anyone batted an eyelid. Similar to the arrangement of 23 BC
however, Augustus was granted the power and not the office of consul, so as still to allow
others to hold the post. Not that it really mattered though. With Augustus at the top, you
pretty much just did whatever he wanted done. The princeps did however get another handy
power alongside this one as part of the settlement- censoria potestas, the power of a censor,
which gave him the ability to appoint and get rid of senators whenever he saw fit. A pretty
handy power to have.
Over the next 30 years of his reign, Augustus used his legally obtained powers to shape the
city of Rome and her Empire. Territories were added, foreign peoples conquered, peace
achieved, an incredible building programme was initiated, legislation was introduced and
revised, a standing professional army was created, and some of the best literature of the
Roman age was composed under Augustus' patronage. All in all, Rome experienced quite the
Golden Age. Not everyone approved of the way in which the princeps was able to achieve
the Pax Romana (Roman peace) which led to such improvements being initiated, however.
Critics such as the Roman historian Tacitus (56 - 117 AD) wrote unfavourably of the way in
which Augustus,

"seduced the army"

and the
"slavish obedience" [Annals I.2]
that he encouraged (although a lot of critics wrote long after the princeps was dead, Tacitus
included). No one however, could dispute that following the turbulent century that had
preceded, the Augustan Age was one of great prosperity.
But all good things must come to an end. Augustus had, throughout the 40+ years he had
been in power, made so many improvements and adjustments to the city of Rome and
Rome's great Empire that many, the princeps included, understandably began to
question what would happen when he died. Augustus had been forced to think about this
difficult question in 23 BC, but with each passing year, that question became more and more
pressing.
In the next post, we will be looking at the issue of Augustus' succession, and the man who
was to eventually succeed him; the unfortunate Tiberius.

The inscription at the top reads: "The deeds of the divine Augustus, by which he subjected the
whole world to the Roman people." Augustus wrote an account of his deeds towards the end
of his life. After his death, according to his wishes, it was inscribed on bronze pillars outside of
his mausoleum. This is a modern reproduction of the inscription.
source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Res_Gestae_Divi_Augusti.jpg

Glossary:

Proconsul - proconsuls governed Roman provinces throughout the Empire and

commanded the armies within those provinces.