Augustus victorious
Commends a newly translated study of the first Roman emperor and the world that he created
PETER JONES Augustus: The Biography by Jochen Bleicken This is a superb account of the grand-nephew of Julius Caesar, Gaius Octavius. Born into a wealthy Italian family of no serious distinction in the small town of Velletrae, he became Octavianus when adopted (aged 18) by Caesar as his son and heir, and was to emerge as Rome’s first emperor, Augustus.
Jochen Bleicken argues that being Caesar’s heir meant nothing more than it did for the heir of any other aristocrat: it implied he had an advantageous foot on the political ladder, but what he made of it was up to him. After Caesar’s assassination in 44 BC, Cicero for one was not at all certain Octavian would become a ‘good citizen’, and few would have bet on him becoming master of the Roman world.
Octavian began his political career when that world was in turmoil after Caesar’s death, with civil war ready to flare up again. Bleicken argues that Octavian came to understand that there was no future in the military dictatorship of the sort that Caesar had run. But since military dictatorship was all that was on offer among the old families who now lined up to fight over Caesar’s inheritance (there was nothing ‘revolutionary’ about those who assassinated Caesar), Octavian had to play that game. Absurdly young though he was, he showed himself a brilliant – and at times rather lucky – survivor in the ensuing lawless chaos, selecting and discarding friends and enemies as he saw fit, as willing to murder rivals as he was to show clemency.
When he emerged victorious against Antony and Cleopatra in 31 BC, he had done so owing nothing to Rome’s innerring of powerful ancient families. Free of that baggage, he set about creating a new state, which nodded to its republican past but whose basis was three-fold: a constitution legitimising one-man rule by the princeps (‘first man’); Rome’s first professional standing army under the princeps’ supreme command, stationed across the provinces; and the promotion of new executive and administrative talent wherever it could be found. Further, by replacing the republican culture of exploiting the provinces for private gain with responsible administration, he established Rome as one of the world’s most successful empires.
When he died, his mix of patience, determination and ruthlessness had completely reconstructed the Roman world. It was an unparalleled, probably unique, personal achievement.
Bleicken published the original German version of this book in 1998. Expertly translated by Anthea Bell, it combines fine scholarship and balanced argument with a clear, well-constructed storyline that does Bleicken’s subject proud. It should become standard reading for everyone interested in the foundations of the Roman empire.