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Augustus Caesar: A Life
From Beginning to End
(Roman Emperors),
by Hourly History.
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So little about the supposed subject and so much more about the better known figures of the era, such as Julius Caesar and Mark Antony, one is reminded rather strongly of various pieces of famous literature - and their screen versions - as one reads this, making it natural to wonder whether that's exactly how it was penned.
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"The man who would become Augustus shares this complicated legacy of appellation. Upon his birth in 63 BCE, he had been bestowed with the name of Gaius Octavius Thurinus, with Octavius—later Octavian—being his first name with which others were to address him. In this book, he will be referred to as Octavian to avoid confusion.
"On his father’s side, Octavian’s family hailed from the village of Velletri some 25 miles outside of Rome. His father—who also carried the name Octavian—had risen to some political prominence, first with his appointment as quaestor (the Roman equivalent of prosecutor) in 70 BCE and then the seat of praetor in 61 BCE when Octavian was just two years old. This then led to an expanded role for Octavian’s father as the administrator of Macedonia, which meant that he would be gone for much of young Octavian’s first few years of life. When he returned in 58 BCE, he died from an abrupt and sudden illness, leaving the young Octavian officially fatherless.
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"Octavian’s mother, a still fairly young and eligible woman named Atia, would remarry shortly after her first husband’s passing. She married a Macedonian aristocrat named Lucius Marcius Philippus who claimed to have been descended from none other than the Macedonian king of legend, Alexander the Great. Shortly after his mother’s union with Phillippus, Octavian was sent to live with his grandmother Julia. No one knows for sure why this was the case, although many have drawn the conclusion that Phillippus may not have been entirely accepting of his new stepson."
"Octavian was well cared for by his grandmother. It was also through the house of his grandmother that he would become acquainted with the most pivotal person in his life, his great-uncle Gaius Julius Caesar. Octavian and this rising Roman star shared Julia as their common relative since she was Julius Caesar’s aunt as well as Octavian’s grandmother. Caesar was in his early forties at the time and Octavian just a small child, so ... any interaction during this phase of Octavian’s life couldn’t have been too meaningful due to the gap in age, but the two would become close in good time.
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"Immediately after being in his grandmother’s care during his early years, Octavian then went on to public education in the Roman form of elementary school called the ludi litterarii. Here Octavian would have learned the basics of mathematics, reading, and writing. Much emphasis would have been placed on group learning with the teacher repeating back information to the class and expecting the students to memorize what they were told.
"The next major milestone in Octavian’s life occurred when he was 12 years old in 51 BCE as his grandmother Julia passed away. As young as he was, due to the recognized closeness that the child had with his caretaker, he was allowed to say a few words at her funeral. Octavian’s eulogy was no doubt a touching one, but it was quickly overshadowed by the rousing speech given by his great-uncle, Julius Caesar. Caesar wanted to leave no doubt that he revered his aunt and all of his ancestors from the house of Julien. He proclaimed, “The family of my aunt Julia is descended from kings on her mother’s side and, through her father, from the gods themselves. For the Marcii Reges, her mother’s family, are heirs of Ancus Marcius, fourth King of Rome, while the Julian’s of which our clan is a member, descend from the goddess Venus herself. My family therefore holds the sanctity of kings who rule among men and of gods who rule over kings.”
"Claiming descent from the divine was a pretty bold statement, but for the most part the local residents in attendance, who all revered and respected both Julia and her nephew Julius Caesar in equal measure, are said to have responded favorably to the send-off. But no doubt lost in all of this acclaim and familial fanfare were the words of young Octavian, who through the tears streaming down his face attempted to express not his belief in his family’s greatness, but simply the heartache he felt after having lost the person who had cared for him most."
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"After the death of his grandmother, Octavian finally moved in with his mother and stepfather. Shortly after settling in with his new primary providers, he was enrolled to take classes with a grammaticus—a special Roman instructor in literature and language. Here young Octavian would learn to become well versed in both Latin and Greek, with a heavy overall emphasis on Hellenic culture. But most importantly, and telling for the future that Octavian was being groomed for, the grammaticus also specialized in training the pupils in public speaking. For any prominent Roman expected to someday contribute to civic culture, this was a crucial aspect of their education.
"As well as advancing his studies, Octavian was also busy developing his social life. He is said to have been rather easy to get along with and well liked among his peers, making many friends. One of which, Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa, would remain so for the rest of their lives. These strong support groups would prove pivotal as Octavian entered into his teenage years.
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"Adolescence would prove to be a trying time for Octavian. Not only did he have to face the normal stressors of coming of age, but he also had to deal with a Roman Republic that was coming apart at the seams. And Octavian’s own great-uncle was one of the main figures who had a hand in the impending Roman Civil War. You see, in 49 BCE due to a collapse of old political alliances, military grandstanding, and economic downturn, all the ingredients were coming together for a schismatic split of Rome.
"Julius Caesar had previously been allied with the powerful Roman General Pompey, but as the ambitions of both men began to grow, Rome was soon not quite big enough for the two of them. Pompey, who had gained considerable support in the Senate, convinced the senators to order Caesar to resign.
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"Caesar was with his troops in Gaul, a Roman territory in western Europe, when he received orders to return to the Senate to tender his resignation in person. Caesar, however, believed that this was just a ruse to separate him from his troops. He was convinced that if he did as he was told, he would be arrested and promptly executed as soon as he arrived. So instead of returning to Rome as commanded, Caesar officially went rogue and, gathering his troops together, moved onto the border of northern Italy poised to strike out at his rival.
"After their overtures were rejected by Caesar, on January 7, 49 BCE the Senate unanimously declared Caesar to be an enemy of the state and declared martial law. Not wasting any time, just a few days after this declaration, Julius Caesar crossed the river Rubicon, leaving the Roman territory of Gaul for Italian soil, and began his march on Rome. In the midst of all this turmoil, Octavian meanwhile had been hustled off to the safety of the countryside by his mother Atia.
"In this first test of wills, Caesar would ultimately be victorious, chasing General Pompey out of Rome with what was left of his army fleeing to Pharsalus in Greece. In just a matter of weeks, Caesar was then named dictator of the Republic. This was meant to be a stopgap measure, temporarily put in place until order could be established."
"From early on, Octavian showed that he had an incredible capacity to turn the tragic into magic. He was an astute reader of others and always knew just what to say in order to seize victory from the jaws of defeat. Even as Caesar’s war raged, Octavian was poised and ready to take all the glory."
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"After General Pompey fled to Greece, Caesar made the decision to put off any pursuit in favor of consolidating his gains. This meant reinforcing territory gained, shutting down factions loyal to Pompey, and implementing his special program of Clementia. It is from this Latin word that we get the term “clemency,” and for Caesar it meant much the same thing. His campaign of Clementia was used to reconcile segments of Roman society that were initially opposed to his leadership. Those that pledged to renounce Pompey and follow Caesar were immediately absolved of any wrongdoing.
"After all of this interpersonal and political wrangling, Caesar finally raised enough troops to march on Pompey’s Greek stronghold in Pharsalus in August of 48 BCE. Pompey’s army was decisively defeated, but the general managed to escape Caesar’s dragnet once again, and this time he fled to Egypt. He was seeking asylum with the Ptolemaic dynasty which had ruled the Egyptian Kingdom since the days of Alexander the Great.
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"Unfortunately for Pompey, the Egyptians were more afraid of incurring Caesar’s wrath than anything else, so rather than granting him a safe refuge, they decided to have him executed instead. And so, in one of the most anticlimactic moments in history, Caesar arrived on Egyptian soil to finish his long drawn out struggle with Pompey only to have Pompey’s head handed over to him by the Egyptians.
"Egypt at the time was in the midst of a succession crisis and being ruled by Ptolemy XIII who was only 11 years old. This meant that even though the child had been placed on the throne and treated as a figurehead, the real rulers were his royal handlers who were making all of the decisions behind the scenes. The most competent member of the royal family to rule was actually Ptolemy’s 21-year-old sister Cleopatra. And as shocking as it may be to most in the modern world, Cleopatra had already been made queen through marriage to her little brother. Such incestuous practices were quite common in ancient Egypt, and even though Ptolemy and Cleopatra were both Greek transplants, this was an Egyptian tradition that the Ptolemaic dynasty had adopted on their own.
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"It was shortly into Cleopatra’s tenure as queen of Egypt that Ptolemy’s entourage grew resentful of her power and drove her out. And when Caesar arrived, Cleopatra was essentially in exile, living with her own loyal retinue of followers, while the young King Ptolemy was directed by palace officials.
"This was the maze of intrigue that Caesar had walked into. Since Egypt was a protectorate of Rome, and with Caesar still riding high on his previous works of clemency, he felt compelled to mediate the peace and declared that both parties should meet under his supervision to come to terms. Cleopatra knew, however, that if she ventured out from her stronghold she would risk a potential ambush from her brother’s troops. It was for this reason that she came up with a clever ploy for the ages.
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"She had one of her loyal subjects roll her up into a carpet and hand deliver her to Julius Caesar. Just about as soon as this beautiful young woman was unrolled from that piece of carpeting and presented to the infatuated Caesar, her brother Ptolemy was all but doomed. Caesar and Cleopatra began to engage in an affair with each other shortly after their meeting, and the only thing that pulled Caesar from her arms was news of an uprising in the Roman province of Asia Minor.
"Caesar left to quash this rebellion and then finally made his way back to Rome in October of 47 BCE. It was during this return trip to Rome that Caesar held an audience with his grand-nephew Octavian once again. Caesar is said to have been very impressed with how his nephew had turned out and saw to it that he was trained as a proper patrician—or member of the Roman aristocracy. But when Caesar prepared to set sail back to North Africa—and no doubt back to Cleopatra—Octavian insisted that he join him for the journey.
"But even though Octavian was now 17 years old and beginning to assert his independence, he was overruled by an even greater power than Caesar—his mother Atia. She insisted that he wasn’t quite yet ready to go overseas, and Octavian quietly obeyed her commands and stayed home. Caesar wouldn’t return to Rome again until nearly a year later in July of 46 BCE. It was during this time that Octavian began to truly get to know his great-uncle, attending official functions with him and learning all of the nuances of statecraft as well as everyday interpersonal relations.
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"As much as the two were seen together, it became common knowledge that young Octavian had the ear of Caesar. And soon enough those close to him began to ask Octavian to intercede with Caesar on their behalf for various requests and favors. One of those seeking this intercession was Octavian’s old friend Agrippa. Octavian’s old classmate Agrippa wasn’t pleading for any special favors for himself, but rather for his brother who had been caught on the wrong side of the Roman Civil War and was in dire need of Caesar’s clemency.
"The only trouble was Caesar had already granted the man clemency in the past, but he had joined up with a group of rebels once again, this time getting himself captured as an enemy combatant in North Africa. As forgiving as Caesar was, he certainly didn’t take too kindly to those who had squandered his previous acts of clemency. Even so, Octavian was still able to work a little bit of magic for Agrippa and his brother, convincing his uncle to grant a general amnesty for the young man once again.
"If Octavian wasn’t already Julius Caesar’s right-hand man, he certainly seemed like it to most."
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"In celebration of the successful conclusion of the campaign in North Africa, Caesar hosted an official triumph in which Octavian was encouraged to take part. During the victory parade, Octavian was given a place of honor, riding right behind Caesar’s carriage. This was rather remarkable considering the fact that Octavian played no role in the actual campaign itself. After the triumph came to a close, Octavian was also frequently seen seated next to Caesar at public banquets and civic events. It was only when Cleopatra arrived from Egypt to join Caesar as his personal guest in Rome that Octavian began to be seen less frequently with Julius Caesar.
"But by the time of Octavian’s 18th birthday, Caesar was already on the move once again, this time for Spain, and he wished for his nephew to accompany him. Yet another rebellion had broken out on the Iberian Peninsula, and Caesar wanted to have Octavian to be part of his trusted entourage as he worked to snuff this Spanish rebellion out. This would have been a great opportunity for Octavian, a kind of internship for the unseasoned. But just prior to Caesar’s announcement that he was leaving for Spain, Octavian had come down with a bad case of heat stroke and was relegated to bed. Caesar, wishing his grand-nephew a speedy recovery, instructed him to join him when he felt strong enough to do so.
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"After resting up for a time, Octavian was then able to leave for Spain in the Spring. To his chagrin and immense disappointment, by the time Octavian arrived in Spain, the battle was all but over and the rebellion firmly put down by Julius Caesar. Caesar, however, was overjoyed to be once again in the company of his nephew and made sure that Octavian roomed with him in his own lodging. The two grew even closer during this time spent together, engaging in endless conversation all hours of the night. Later critics of Octavian would try to accuse Octavian of having had an incestuous relationship with his great-uncle Julius Caesar, but there is no real proof of anything of that nature ever having occurred.
"Staying in these lodgings for a while, Caesar would then have Octavian accompany him and his entourage to the next destination on his itinerary: the Spanish port city of Cartagena. After a brief stay in Cartagena, Caesar and Octavian then made their way to northern Italy later that summer. Octavian would stay for just a short time longer with Caesar before requesting and receiving permission to head back to the house he shared with his mother and stepfather. For the next few months, the teenager laid low, living a quiet life with his parents. He didn’t see too many people during this period except for the occasional friends, such as Agrippa, who would come over to visit him.
"Meanwhile, Caesar made his way back to Rome and began to engage in a major overhaul in Roman legislation. Not everyone in the Senate would be happy with these changes, but they felt powerless to object to Caesar’s authority openly. They felt that he was strangling the life out of the Republic, so they took it into their own hands to stop him. It was during a special meeting held on March 15, 44 BCE that Caesar was stabbed to death. His murderers believed they were saving the Republic from a dictator, but all they did was sign the death warrant of the Roman Republic and ushered in the age of empire—an empire that Octavian would soon rule as the very first Roman emperor."
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"Octavian was getting ready to eat dinner with some friends at a country estate in Apollonia, Illyria, when a messenger sent by his mother arrived with the devastating news of Caesar’s assassination. As the servant read out the contents of his mother’s letter, Octavian was overwhelmed with a mixture of grief, fear, and outrage. He was grieved to lose the man he had become so close to, he feared what the future of Rome might be, and he was outraged enough to immediately consider avenging his murdered relative.
"For a time, as he talked amongst his friends as to what course of action he should take, he seriously considered joining Caesar’s army, which was quartered outside of Rome. He knew that the soldiers were no doubt just as shocked as he was and wanted nothing more than to get revenge for the death of their leader. The only thing that stayed his hand was the arrival of another letter from his mother and stepfather which urged him to take a more patient approach, not to do anything drastic, and wait things out as a private citizen. They also advised him to return to Rome as soon as possible.
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"Octavian left for Italy shortly thereafter, landing in the southern Italian port city of Brundisium. It was after his arrival here that he was informed of his stake in Caesar’s will. Caesar had apparently crafted a new will shortly before his death, and in it, he had named Octavian as his adopted heir. His parents, especially his stepfather, was immediately wary of Octavian taking any side of the conflict. Philippus even went so far as to tell Octavian to ignore the will, as Caesar’s was an inheritance far too dangerous to accept.
"Octavian stood his ground, however, and ignoring the warnings of his parents left for Rome with the full intention of claiming all that his slain uncle had left behind for him. Octavian gambled that just as was the case with Caesar, the general public would be on his side. And he was right. As soon as he stepped foot in Rome, he was greeted by throngs of supporters and well-wishers. The politicians in the Senate may not have liked his arrival too much, but they were far outnumbered but the average Roman citizen who were ready to turn their eyes onto Octavian as their new leader.
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"But despite this popular upswell from the ground, Octavian knew he needed some strong political allies on his side. It was for this reason that he came into contact with Caesar’s prior associate Mark Antony. At the time Mark Antony, though a loyal follower of Caesar, had managed to hammer out a tenuous peace with the faction of senators that were linked to—or even directly responsible for—Caesar’s death. Ever since the soaring speech he gave at Caesar’s funeral, Mark Antony was doing everything he could to win over popular Roman sentiment to his side.
"Octavian was desperately seeking an ally, but it soon became clear that Mark Anthony would be something much more akin to a rival. And as the rivalry heated up, the most important thing for Octavian to achieve was legitimizing his adoption by Julius Caesar in the eyes of the Republic. As heir, it was Octavian’s right to demand his inheritance from the acting consul—which was Mark Antony. Upon requesting this, however, Mark Antony flatly refused, claiming that upon Caesar’s death he had found the state treasury empty. This was a complete fabrication. In reality, the treasurer was empty because Mark Antony had drained it to pay off his huge debts.
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"As was Roman custom, Octavian as true inheritor was meant to take some of his adoptive father’s inherited fortune and use it to pay out legacies to all of his father’s associates. But even though Mark Antony had squandered much of Octavian’s inheritance, Octavian, an already wealthy young man, dipped into his own pocket to pay for it. With this objective complete, he went on a campaign to win over the hearts and minds of Rome. This was a personality campaign and test of tenacity between Mark Antony and Octavian, not too different from the bitter political election campaigns of today, with both sides hurling vitriol at the other. But vicious barbs were getting both men nowhere fast.
"It was in this volatile backdrop that Mark Antony left Rome on October 9, 44 BCE, for Brundisium to rally his troops. He had four whole Macedonian legions situated in the region, and he intended to make sure that he could rely on them if he had to. But the reception that Mark Antony received from his troops was not what he expected. As soon as he arrived, the men were restless and began to bombard him with questions. They also began to demand that he punish those responsible for Caesar’s death.
"Mark Antony then mounted the stage to address his soldiers, supplying them with several unsatisfactory explanations to their inquiries. He concluded his speech by announcing that he would be giving each of them a small bonus. This was a gesture of goodwill that Mark Antony hoped would buy the loyalty of the troops. But the amount he offered was such a paltry sum that many of the soldiers burst into laughter when they heard it. Humiliated, Antony viewed the disruption as nothing short of insubordination and moved to make an example of his more boisterous troops. He had a few of them seized and brutally punched and kicked until they died right there on the spot. He then turned to the shocked crowd and flatly informed them, “You will obey orders.”"
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"While Mark Antony was busy instilling fear and terror in his own army, Octavian tried a much different approach. Wishing to secure a loyal militia, he left for the port city of Campania where many of Caesar’s veterans were residing. Here he pulled on both their heartstrings as well as their purse strings. Octavian reminded them of their loyal service to his now adoptive father and how much they revered the slain leader, and at the same time promised them such a generous financial compensation that they couldn’t refuse his offer.
"Octavian offered these men twice the amount of what their normal salary would have been. And unlike others who had made them promises and then backed out, they knew that Octavian’s pockets were deep enough that he would be able to make good on his promise. As a result, in a very short period of time, Octavian had brought together a solid fighting force of over 3,000 troops.
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"But despite his popular support, and the loyalty that his money helped secure, from the beginning there was confusion over what the actual objectives of the group would be. Octavian raised the army with the full intention of deposing Mark Antony. Most of these veterans, however, wished to hunt down Caesar’s assassins instead. Despite these conflicting goals among the ranks, Octavian placed himself at the head of his new army and marched on Rome. The army stormed right into the Roman Forum, causing the senators to flee. But Mark Antony was ready and arrived shortly thereafter with his Macedonian troops.
"Facing off against their brothers in arms was apparently not what Octavian’s soldiers had signed up for and many began to defect. As his army began to collapse, Octavian had no choice but to gather those most loyal to him and make a hasty retreat. But even though Octavian had lost this initial battle, it soon became clear that he was winning the larger war. Greatly dissatisfied with Mark Antony, whole legions began to abandon him and pledge allegiance to Octavian. With a new legion joining forces with Octavian on a daily basis, it became clear to Mark Antony that he had found himself in a highly untenable situation.
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"In April of 43 BCE, the forces of Mark Antony and Octavian would face off once again. Antony had been tipped off that a contingent of Octavian’s troops would be traveling from Bologna to Mutina. He saw this as the perfect opportunity to carry out an ambush. Octavian’s commanders had foreseen just such a contingency, however, and at the last minute sent an additional legion as well as Octavian’s Pretorian Guard to trail the group as potential reinforcements. Mark Antony assembled his troops on the side of the road hidden in the brush, and when Octavian’s men passed by, they struck.
"The battle raged for about two hours before Mark Antony was able to push his opponents back. He and his men thought that the battle was won, but on their way back to their encampment, they were intercepted by the additional reinforcements that had been sent by Octavian’s commanders. Mark Antony’s men were caught completely off guard and decimated in short order. His troops would then regroup in the city of Mutina, where they would confront their opponents once again, this time led by none other than Octavian himself. Here for the first time, Octavian proved himself in battle, and Mark Antony was utterly defeated. Yet he was not killed or captured and managed to make a break for it at the last minute, escaping across the Alps to the wildlands of Gaul.
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"Although Octavian could have pursued and overtaken the fleeing Mark Antony, he refused to do so. He wished to conserve resources, and he still harbored the notion that he could convert Mark Antony into an ally against the senatorial opposition he would have to face eventually. He knew that he needed to consolidate his power in Rome, and this meant requesting he be given the role of consul. According to the rules of the Roman Republic, in order for anyone to obtain the position of consul they had to be at least 42 years of age. Barely 20 years old, Octavian was far from meeting this requirement. Luckily, he had some powerful backers.
"In July of 43 BCE, about 400 of his loyal veterans marched into the Senate and demanded that Octavian be granted a place on the consul. And just a few months later, on October 19, 43 BCE, Octavian was duly elected as Roman consul—just one more stepping stone on his path to Empire."
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"While Octavian was consolidating his power base and authority in Rome, it didn’t take Mark Antony very long at all to build a new army for himself in Gaul. He also managed to make a new friend in the form of the leading Roman political figure Marcus Aemilius Lepidus. It was through Lepidus that the idea of peace talks between Mark Antony and Octavian had been conceived. Octavian agreed to give it a try, and with 11 legions, he marched off to the predetermined meeting grounds near Bologna in November of 43 BCE.
"There was a small island located in the river Lavinius which flowed between Bologna and Mutina, and it was determined that it would be on this small piece of isolated terrain that Mark Antony and Octavian would meet. The two men and their armies, marching from opposite directions, converged on this tiny waterlogged island. It is said that both Antony and Octavian posted about 5,000 troops on their side of the river banks. Then about 300 soldiers were placed on opposite ends of the bridges leading to the island.
"Finally, once convinced that their side was secure and the other side was not plotting any underhanded tricks, Mark Antony and Octavian stepped foot onto the island with Lepidus standing between them as mediator. The three men quickly got down to business and hammered out their objectives. Top priorities for them if they were going to work together were to legitimize their power as well as hunt down the remaining senatorial conspirators Brutus and Cassius. These two senators were responsible for Caesar’s death and were now fomenting rebellion in the east, so both Mark Antony and Octavian could agree that they needed to be shut down.
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"Seizing upon this common ground, Mark Antony, Octavian, and Lepidus would from this moment forward form the so-called Second Triumvirate patterned after the First Triumvirate that Julius Caesar formed with the powerful Roman figures of General Pompey and Marcus Licinius Crassus. As was the case with the First Triumvirate, the three men apportioned territory to each other to govern. Mark Antony was governor of Gaul, Lepidus was given Transalpine Gaul and Spain, and Octavian was awarded North Africa and the Italian islands of Sardinia and Sicily.
"Once this was established, the men enacted a program of proscription in which Roman politicians and nobles were quantified as enemies of the state based on their involvement in Caesar’s assassination and any other subsequent civil turmoil. Those who were classified as such had their land and possessions confiscated and often faced execution as well. This was all just a staging ground, however, for the final confrontation with the renegade senators Brutus and Cassius. The two senators, who had been building a power base in Greece, sent their troops to meet Octavian’s men in the nearby Macedonian city of Philippi on October of 42 BCE. These troops were promptly decimated by Antony and Octavian’s combined force of 28 legions. Upon hearing that all was lost, Brutus and Cassius opted to end their own lives by committing suicide.
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"It is said that after the hostilities had ceased, the behavior of Mark Antony and Octavian couldn’t have been more different. Although Mark Antony was known for his brutality among his own soldiery, for whatever reason against the defeated rebels led by the senatorial defectors, he decided to show a fairly large amount of grace and mercy. Octavian, on the other hand, became known for his cruel retribution, showing no mercy for those he believed to have sided with the assassins of his dead uncle.
"Among the thousands of prisoners of war, it was determined that there were several noble Romans linked to the senatorial conspirators Brutus and Cassius. Octavian decided that all of these men should be executed on the spot. And he would not spare even the slightest of niceties for these men that he had summarily condemned. In one famous instance, one of the condemned had merely requested that he receive a proper burial, to which Octavian coldly responded, “That’s a matter for the carrion birds to decide.”
"Octavian was apparently determined to make sure that anyone linked to the death of his uncle receive no quarter. This was done both out of sentimental attachment to his great uncle and also out of a pragmatic realization that these loose ends of conspirators had to be tied. Octavian wished to show the world that he was a force to be reckoned with."
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"“I have often wondered how it is that every man loves himself more than all the rest of men, but yet sets less value on his own opinions of himself than on the opinions of others.”
"—Marcus Aurelius"
Indeed.
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"After the successful conclusion of the battle of Philippi, Antony and Octavian began to reassess the territorial holdings of the Triumvirate. It had come to their attention that while they were engaged in battle in the east, the third member of the Triumvirate, Lepidus, was back in Italy engaged in secret negotiations with a leader of the senatorial rebellion named Sextus Pompeius, who since the days of his father Pompey had managed to create quite a monopoly for himself in Sicily. As a result of this perceived betrayal, Lepidus was ordered to give his territory in Spain to Octavian while handing over his extra territory in Gaul to Mark Antony. It was then later determined that Cisalpine Gaul should be incorporated into northern Italy.
"With these new arrangements decided upon, Octavian turned his attention to the rule of his new dominion. But the year 41 BCE would prove to be yet another year of unrest for Rome. He soon found that he was caught between a rock and a hard place when it came to satisfying the wishes of his war veterans as well as appeasing the needs of the general population. Soon these two factions of Roman society were practically in open warfare with each other in the streets. There was even a kind of general strike that took place in Rome in which all official offices and commerce were effectively shut down.
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"As the Roman historian Appian describes it, “The civilian population shut the workshops and made the elected office-holders leave, saying that they had no need of either office-holders or crafts in a starving and plundered city.” The main problem was the fact that there was a shortage in the government subsidized grain on which a large chunk of the Roman poor depended. It has been estimated that about 300,000 Romans consumed 150,000 tons of this grain on a yearly basis. But most of this grain was not grown in Rome or even surrounding Italy; most had to be shipped from Sicily, Sardinia, and even Egypt. The fact that Rome was so dependent on outside grain imports was always a source of consternation for Roman rulers, and now Octavian was forced to crunch the numbers and do this same kind of grain calculus himself.
"Meanwhile in the east, Mark Antony was facing a looming deficit of his own, not of grain, but of cold hard cash. The coffers had been emptied during the many wars in the east, yet the eastern province had already been taxed so much that, short of provoking a rebellion, he didn’t dare tax the strained citizenry any further. He soon realized that he would have to look elsewhere to raise his funds, and the first place that came to mind was Egypt. He knew that Egypt was legendary for its riches and knowing that the queen of Egypt—Julius Caesar’s former mistress—Cleopatra was dependent on the whims of Rome, he figured it would be an easy purse to plunder.
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"Mark Antony sent his close aid Quintus Dellius to Alexandria to inform the queen of his demands. Like many men, Dellius was immediately captivated by the charms of Cleopatra, and even more importantly he knew that Mark Antony would be as well. Thinking as much, Dellius, a man known for his mischievous charisma and ability to instantly worm his way into hearts, took it upon himself to groom the queen for her meeting with Mark Antony. He informed her to maximize her beauty by wearing her most “alluring attire” while at the same time reassuring her that Mark Antony was a gentleman and that she would have nothing to fear during her stay. Cleopatra was apparently persuaded by Dellius and composed herself just as directed before sailing off to meet Mark Antony. Much as Dellius had expected, Mark Antony was immediately enthralled by the charm and personality of Cleopatra and invited her to have a personal dinner with him. This dinner then turned into several more dinners, which culminated in Mark Antony leaving his post in the east to set sail for Egypt arriving sometime in January of 40 BCE, where he determined to spend the rest of the winter months.
"But even if Mark Antony was on vacation, the enemies of Rome were not. And an age-old foe in the east, the Parthian Empire (modern-day Iraq and Iran), found Mark Antony’s leave of absence to be the perfect time to strike, invading Roman Syria in late February. Upon hearing of this incursion, Mark Antony cut his wintertime liaison with Queen Cleopatra short and headed back to his command post in Asia Minor. After putting out this fire, Mark Antony would soon turn his attention to his frayed relationship with Rome, where tension was threatening to boil over once again into war."
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"It seems that while Mark Antony was engaged in an affair with Cleopatra in Egypt, his wife Fulvia had taken matters into her own hands in Italy. The trouble began when Octavian sought to put away his wife Clodia, who also happened to be Fulvia’s daughter. Octavian dropped Clodia off on her mother’s doorstep, asserting that it was his right to do so because the marriage had never been consummated in the first place.
"Fulvia apparently was not going to take this insult to her family’s honor lightly. She took drastic measures by strapping a sword to her side and began to organize some of Mark Antony’s legions in preparation to march on Rome. Further encouraging her toward these brash actions was Mark Antony’s brother, Lucius Antonius, who cited the ongoing massive discontent of the Roman public as a sign of Octavian’s weakness and their ultimate success.
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"Things didn’t go well for Fulvia’s army, however; they were soon cornered in the Italian town of Perusia, and after a two-month long siege, they were forced to surrender. Despite the trouble they caused, Octavian’s punishment of the insurrectionists was light. Being the brother of Mark Antony, Lucius’ life was spared, and since Fulvia was Mark Antony’s wife, she was merely sent into exile. Perhaps her biggest punishment came with her husband’s sharp rebuke when he met up with her in Athens, Greece. Although it has not been recorded exactly what transpired between the two of them during this visit, it is said that Antony held Fulvia in the highest of contempt, basically disavowing her and placing all of their misfortune on her shoulders. Sadly, this was too much of a burden for Fulvia to bare, and shortly after their meeting, Fulvia became deathly sick. It remains unclear exactly what the cause of her malady was, but she was also severely depressed, which only hastened her decline. She passed away shortly after his departure.
"It’s hard to say how much Mark Antony may have grieved his troubled wife’s death, but at any rate, he didn’t have much time to mourn. Shortly after Fulvia’s death, he received word that Fufius Calenus, the governor of Gaul, had died, and that Octavian had taken it upon himself to seize the territory and all of the former governor’s troops. Since this violated the terms of their Triumvirate, Mark Antony prepared once again for war with Italy.
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"The two armies seemed to be poised for a titanic collision, but then something rather incredible occurred. As both sides converged on the intended site of battle in the city of Brundisium, the veteran soldiers on both sides of the conflict began to open a dialogue with each other. Bypassing their leaders completely, the troops began to enter into peace talks among themselves. This was apparently a war that neither side wished to fight, and so defying orders from Octavian and Antony, both sides put down their arms.
"Octavian and Mark Antony were both astonished and outraged at the sudden turn of events. But neither of them dared punish their troops for insubordination since they knew it would only provoke an all-out mutiny. So, seizing this rare opportunity as a way out of war, the two leaders agreed to grant each other a general amnesty and hammer out a new peace agreement. Even though the third member of the Triumvirate, Lepidus, wasn’t present, Antony and Octavian crafted a new contract for all three of them for another five years.
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"This agreement had Lepidus maintaining his miniscule holdings in North Africa while Octavian took over all territory west of Italy and Mark Antony was allotted all land east of Italy. Italy itself was considered a kind of neutral territory where both had authority and the ability to raise troops. This template would come to be repeated many times over the next few centuries with the Roman Empire divided primarily between the east and the west, governed by two strong rulers, one for each side.
"As a special addition to the terms they came up with, Octavian sought to strengthen the deal by offering the newly widowed Mark Antony his sister’s hand in marriage. In doing so, Octavian tried to follow the example of his great-uncle Julius Caesar who had bought precious peace with Pompey by having him marry his daughter Julia. Octavian hoped that this extra provision would help to bind the two leaders together. This new agreement, known as the Treaty of Brundisium, would prove to be a bitter disappointment, however, and its shelf life would prove to be much shorter than the agreed five years."
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"Even though peace had been restored between Octavian and Mark Antony, Rome still suffered from an age-old crisis—lack of grain to feed its populace. Most of Rome’s grain supplies were coming out of Sicily and Sardinia which was controlled by Sextus Pompeius, the surviving son of Pompey, who had ruled the islands virtually unopposed since his father’s defeat by Julius Caesar. During the chaos of Caesar’s assassination and the Second Triumvirate’s squabbles, Sextus was left to build up a powerful army and navy centered around Sicily.
"But it wasn’t his naval power that he used to threaten Rome, in the summer of 39 BCE, Sextus used his monopoly over grain to bring Octavian to his knees. Octavian had attempted to keep the peace with Sextus through various means before—one of which included a marriage to Scribonia, a daughter of one of Sextus’ loyal followers. He had married Scribonia shortly after putting away Fulvia’s daughter. This marriage quickly produced a child, but it didn’t produce the political favor that Octavian wished it would bring him with Sextus.
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"The peace bought was only a temporary one, and soon Sextus began to blockade grain shipments once again. And so, in a quite callous and cold fashion, Octavian had cast off his second wife Scribonia without a second thought, divorcing her on the very day she gave birth to their daughter Julia in 39 BCE. Octavian then switched tactics and began to wage war against Sextus instead. Joining forces with Lepidus, Octavian led a combined army in an invasion of Sicily in 36 BCE. By early September, Sextus’ maritime empire had been all but decimated. Sextus himself barely escaped with his life but was soon captured in the Greek city of Miletus, where one of Mark Antony’s generals had him put to the sword.
"All seemed to be going well for the Triumvirate, until Lepidus, the weakest member of the trio, decided to attempt to take Sicily for himself, taking up arms against Octavian and trying to evict him from the island. But right when battle was about to be engaged, most of Lepidus own soldiers refused to fight and switched sides to Octavian, leaving the embarrassed Lepidus no choice but to surrender. Octavian was surprisingly merciful to Lepidus, and even though he was officially terminated from the Triumvirate, Lepidus was allowed to keep his title as pontifex maximus and effectively allowed to retire in peace.
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"The Roman Empire was now split between two rulers, Octavian and Mark Antony, who each controlled approximately one half of all Roman territory. Mark Antony had been engaged in a series of battles against the Parthian Empire on his eastern borders. Facing high casualties, he had requested reinforcements from Octavian but was disappointed to receive less than 2,000 troops. Desperate to bolster his forces, Mark Antony turned to the only other monarch he knew that he could rely upon: the queen of Egypt, Cleopatra. As he became involved with Cleopatra again, his interest in his second wife Octavia waned, and to her brother Octavian’s disgust, he sent her back to Rome.
"Mark Antony’s luck on the battlefield began to improve shortly thereafter, culminating in the successful seizure of Armenia in 34 BCE. Despite these victories in the east, Octavian was becoming a much louder critic of Mark Antony, a sentiment that was on full display on January 1, 33 BCE during his address to the Roman Senate. It was during this speech that Octavian denounced Mark Antony for his relationship with Cleopatra and accused him of arbitrarily handing out “land and distinction” to non-Roman citizens. Strangely, he also criticized Mark Antony for allowing the execution of Sextus Pompeius two years prior, even though Octavian most likely would have done much the same thing had he been the one to capture the renegade.
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"All of these remarks, however, seemed only to backfire on Octavian, since after these lines were drawn, many senators opted to defect to Mark Antony’s side. But less than a year later, in the fall of 32 BCE, his attacks on Mark Antony would pay off when former Antony loyalists Marcus Titius and Munatius Plancus drifted into Octavian’s orbit. It was Munatius Plancus, in particular, that would provide the key in turning most of Rome against Antony. Plancus was a close aide of Antony’s who knew many of his most guarded secrets. Wishing to help Octavian in his search to dig up dirt on Mark Antony, Plancus informed him that Antony had hidden his final will and testament inside the Temple of the Vestal Virgins in Rome.
"Seeing this document as a good enough place to start as any, Octavian then moved to have the curators of the temple hand over the will. They were not willing to violate the sanctity of the temple, however, and insisted that if Octavian wanted the document, he should get it himself. Octavian immediately obliged, seizing the will by force. Then, after scouring the will for any potentially inflammatory material, he publicized it for all to see. Most troubling for Romans who read it was the fact that Mark Antony had requested to be buried in Alexandria, Egypt, and had left special legacies for his children with Cleopatra.
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"As trivial as these things may seem to us today, for the ancient Romans, they were tantamount to treason, and their revelation served to give Octavian all the support he would need to declare war on Mark Antony. He would have to declare war on Egypt first, which was done in late 32 BCE. Antony and Cleopatra were actually in Greece at the time, and by catching them off guard, Octavian’s army managed to cut them off from their main supply of troops. Mark Antony was now surrounded, and the knowledge of the trap they were in facilitated massive defections from Antony’s remaining troops.
"Desperate to escape the dragnet they were caught in, Mark Antony and Cleopatra took what was left of their entourage and set sail off the shores of the Greek mainland. After a harrowing pursuit, Mark Antony’s small fleet managed to escape to Alexandria, but the escape was pointless since Octavian immediately landed and continued the chase over land, threatening to overtake the beleaguered couple again. Realizing that there was nowhere left to run, Mark Antony and Cleopatra chose to take their own lives. Mark Antony stabbed himself with his weapon before dying in Cleopatra’s embrace. Cleopatra then followed her lover’s lead by taking a drought of poison."
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"“He [Julius Caesar] learned that Alexander, having completed nearly all his conquests by the time he was thirty-two years old, was at an utter loss to know what he should do during the rest of his life, whereat Augustus expressed his surprise that Alexander did not regard it as a greater task to set in order the empire which he had won than to win it.”
"—Plutarch"
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"After the demise of his archrival, Octavian was now the undisputed, single ruler of the Roman Empire. Some still entertained the idea that Rome was a republic, but when all power rested in the hands of one man, empire status was hard to deny. It is true that Octavian initially allowed the continuance of most free elections, but for the most part, Rome was now a republic in name only. The Senate still had a foothold in North Africa and more importantly the grain stores therein. But senators could only count on five legions between them whereas Octavian had a full twenty legions under his command. There could be no doubt that if anyone rose up against Octavian, they would be quickly shut down.
"After several years of consolidating his power, on January 16, 27 BCE, Octavian reached another milestone on the road to empire, receiving the title of Augustus. Roughly translated, Augustus means, “the illustrious one.” This title had spiritual connotations for the average Roman since it was meant to be a title that conveyed Octavian’s divine authority over the common man. Now that all of his earthly rivals had been shut down, Octavian wanted his people to believe that he had been ordained by deity.
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"But this man of supposed god-given authority would soon prove his mortality when he struck down by a horrible illness in 23 BCE. This malady was so bad that all those in attendance assumed that he was on his deathbed. Octavian, thinking as much himself, began to make his final will and testament known. Without a biological heir in sight, Octavian made it known that he wished for General Agrippa to succeed him. This was a shock to many who believed that Octavian had been grooming his nephew Marcellus as a potential successor.
"It could be that at the time Octavian did not think his nephew would be ready for the weight of command, whereas the seasoned General Agrippa would be much more acclimated for the role of supreme ruler. He went ahead and handed his signet ring over to Agrippa, and despite the fact that the senatorial procedures were traditionally needed to make such transfers of power legal, Octavian overruled them and declared that Agrippa should be considered in charge.
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"Octavian then surprised everyone—including himself—by recovering from his illness, but his intentions had already been made clear regardless. Marcellus would face death later that year when he came down with the same mysterious illness that had nearly proved lethal with Octavian. Due to subpar sanitation practices, outbreaks of plague were quite common in Rome at the time. Unfortunately for young Marcellus, he didn’t have an immune system as strong as his uncle’s, and he succumbed to the illness.
"Shortly after Octavian’s recovery, he awarded General Agrippa a term of five years as the administrator of the east. Agrippa seemed to be an emperor in training, but when he passed away in 12 BCE, Octavian was forced to look for a new successor. The two most promising candidates were his stepsons from his marriage to his latest wife, Livia. In particular, Octavian was fond of his stepson Tiberius and began to groom him as a potential successor.
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"By 7 BCE, Tiberius was elected to hold office as consul for the second time. He then went on to complete a daring military campaign in the uncharted territory of the Germanic lands of the north, a battle that resulted in Roman victory and the deportation of 40,000 Germanic tribesmen to the other side of the Rhine. This earned Tiberius his first official triumph, gaining him just the right kind of notoriety needed to follow in Octavian’s footsteps. But to the amazement of all who heard it, just a year later in 6 BCE, Tiberius announced that he was going to “retire from public life.” He then sent himself into a kind of self-imposed exile to the island of Rhodes.
"The idea that this capable 36-year-old man with all the social and political connections that anyone could want would retire seemed to perplex the entire Roman world. The news was the most alarming to Emperor Augustus, however, since at the age of 57 years old, having a preordained heir was of the utmost importance. His only other viable options at the time were his grandsons Lucius and Caius Caesar, but they were still far too young to be relied upon. And when Lucius died in the year 2 CE, and Gaius passed in 4 CE, it became clear that Tiberius was the only possible heir to be had.
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"When Octavian finally passed away on August 19, 14 CE at age 75, he died with the assurance that his stepson Tiberius would carry on his legacy. Octavian, who was a meticulous planner during his life, wanted to make sure that all things were well in order upon his death. In fact, his famous final words are said to be, “Have I played the part well? Then applaud as I exit!” He was critiquing his actions even as he left the world stage behind."
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Table of Contents
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Introduction
Uncle Caesar’s War
The Clemency of Caesar
Ushering in the Age of Empire
The Adoptive Son of Julius Caesar
Defeating Mark Antony
The Second Triumvirate
The Triumvirate Begins to Crack
The Treaty of Brundisium
The Suicide Pact
The First Roman Emperor
Conclusion
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REVIEW
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Introduction
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"The man who would become Augustus shares this complicated legacy of appellation. Upon his birth in 63 BCE, he had been bestowed with the name of Gaius Octavius Thurinus, with Octavius—later Octavian—being his first name with which others were to address him. In this book, he will be referred to as Octavian to avoid confusion.
"On his father’s side, Octavian’s family hailed from the village of Velletri some 25 miles outside of Rome. His father—who also carried the name Octavian—had risen to some political prominence, first with his appointment as quaestor (the Roman equivalent of prosecutor) in 70 BCE and then the seat of praetor in 61 BCE when Octavian was just two years old. This then led to an expanded role for Octavian’s father as the administrator of Macedonia, which meant that he would be gone for much of young Octavian’s first few years of life. When he returned in 58 BCE, he died from an abrupt and sudden illness, leaving the young Octavian officially fatherless.
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"Octavian’s mother, a still fairly young and eligible woman named Atia, would remarry shortly after her first husband’s passing. She married a Macedonian aristocrat named Lucius Marcius Philippus who claimed to have been descended from none other than the Macedonian king of legend, Alexander the Great. Shortly after his mother’s union with Phillippus, Octavian was sent to live with his grandmother Julia. No one knows for sure why this was the case, although many have drawn the conclusion that Phillippus may not have been entirely accepting of his new stepson."
"Octavian was well cared for by his grandmother. It was also through the house of his grandmother that he would become acquainted with the most pivotal person in his life, his great-uncle Gaius Julius Caesar. Octavian and this rising Roman star shared Julia as their common relative since she was Julius Caesar’s aunt as well as Octavian’s grandmother. Caesar was in his early forties at the time and Octavian just a small child, so ... any interaction during this phase of Octavian’s life couldn’t have been too meaningful due to the gap in age, but the two would become close in good time.
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"Immediately after being in his grandmother’s care during his early years, Octavian then went on to public education in the Roman form of elementary school called the ludi litterarii. Here Octavian would have learned the basics of mathematics, reading, and writing. Much emphasis would have been placed on group learning with the teacher repeating back information to the class and expecting the students to memorize what they were told.
"The next major milestone in Octavian’s life occurred when he was 12 years old in 51 BCE as his grandmother Julia passed away. As young as he was, due to the recognized closeness that the child had with his caretaker, he was allowed to say a few words at her funeral. Octavian’s eulogy was no doubt a touching one, but it was quickly overshadowed by the rousing speech given by his great-uncle, Julius Caesar. Caesar wanted to leave no doubt that he revered his aunt and all of his ancestors from the house of Julien. He proclaimed, “The family of my aunt Julia is descended from kings on her mother’s side and, through her father, from the gods themselves. For the Marcii Reges, her mother’s family, are heirs of Ancus Marcius, fourth King of Rome, while the Julian’s of which our clan is a member, descend from the goddess Venus herself. My family therefore holds the sanctity of kings who rule among men and of gods who rule over kings.”
"Claiming descent from the divine was a pretty bold statement, but for the most part the local residents in attendance, who all revered and respected both Julia and her nephew Julius Caesar in equal measure, are said to have responded favorably to the send-off. But no doubt lost in all of this acclaim and familial fanfare were the words of young Octavian, who through the tears streaming down his face attempted to express not his belief in his family’s greatness, but simply the heartache he felt after having lost the person who had cared for him most."
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October 27, 2022 - October 27, 2022.
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Chapter 1. Uncle Caesar’s War
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"After the death of his grandmother, Octavian finally moved in with his mother and stepfather. Shortly after settling in with his new primary providers, he was enrolled to take classes with a grammaticus—a special Roman instructor in literature and language. Here young Octavian would learn to become well versed in both Latin and Greek, with a heavy overall emphasis on Hellenic culture. But most importantly, and telling for the future that Octavian was being groomed for, the grammaticus also specialized in training the pupils in public speaking. For any prominent Roman expected to someday contribute to civic culture, this was a crucial aspect of their education.
"As well as advancing his studies, Octavian was also busy developing his social life. He is said to have been rather easy to get along with and well liked among his peers, making many friends. One of which, Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa, would remain so for the rest of their lives. These strong support groups would prove pivotal as Octavian entered into his teenage years.
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"Adolescence would prove to be a trying time for Octavian. Not only did he have to face the normal stressors of coming of age, but he also had to deal with a Roman Republic that was coming apart at the seams. And Octavian’s own great-uncle was one of the main figures who had a hand in the impending Roman Civil War. You see, in 49 BCE due to a collapse of old political alliances, military grandstanding, and economic downturn, all the ingredients were coming together for a schismatic split of Rome.
"Julius Caesar had previously been allied with the powerful Roman General Pompey, but as the ambitions of both men began to grow, Rome was soon not quite big enough for the two of them. Pompey, who had gained considerable support in the Senate, convinced the senators to order Caesar to resign.
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"Caesar was with his troops in Gaul, a Roman territory in western Europe, when he received orders to return to the Senate to tender his resignation in person. Caesar, however, believed that this was just a ruse to separate him from his troops. He was convinced that if he did as he was told, he would be arrested and promptly executed as soon as he arrived. So instead of returning to Rome as commanded, Caesar officially went rogue and, gathering his troops together, moved onto the border of northern Italy poised to strike out at his rival.
"After their overtures were rejected by Caesar, on January 7, 49 BCE the Senate unanimously declared Caesar to be an enemy of the state and declared martial law. Not wasting any time, just a few days after this declaration, Julius Caesar crossed the river Rubicon, leaving the Roman territory of Gaul for Italian soil, and began his march on Rome. In the midst of all this turmoil, Octavian meanwhile had been hustled off to the safety of the countryside by his mother Atia.
"In this first test of wills, Caesar would ultimately be victorious, chasing General Pompey out of Rome with what was left of his army fleeing to Pharsalus in Greece. In just a matter of weeks, Caesar was then named dictator of the Republic. This was meant to be a stopgap measure, temporarily put in place until order could be established."
"From early on, Octavian showed that he had an incredible capacity to turn the tragic into magic. He was an astute reader of others and always knew just what to say in order to seize victory from the jaws of defeat. Even as Caesar’s war raged, Octavian was poised and ready to take all the glory."
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October 27, 2022 - October 27, 2022.
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Chapter 2. The Clemency of Caesar
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"After General Pompey fled to Greece, Caesar made the decision to put off any pursuit in favor of consolidating his gains. This meant reinforcing territory gained, shutting down factions loyal to Pompey, and implementing his special program of Clementia. It is from this Latin word that we get the term “clemency,” and for Caesar it meant much the same thing. His campaign of Clementia was used to reconcile segments of Roman society that were initially opposed to his leadership. Those that pledged to renounce Pompey and follow Caesar were immediately absolved of any wrongdoing.
"After all of this interpersonal and political wrangling, Caesar finally raised enough troops to march on Pompey’s Greek stronghold in Pharsalus in August of 48 BCE. Pompey’s army was decisively defeated, but the general managed to escape Caesar’s dragnet once again, and this time he fled to Egypt. He was seeking asylum with the Ptolemaic dynasty which had ruled the Egyptian Kingdom since the days of Alexander the Great.
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"Unfortunately for Pompey, the Egyptians were more afraid of incurring Caesar’s wrath than anything else, so rather than granting him a safe refuge, they decided to have him executed instead. And so, in one of the most anticlimactic moments in history, Caesar arrived on Egyptian soil to finish his long drawn out struggle with Pompey only to have Pompey’s head handed over to him by the Egyptians.
"Egypt at the time was in the midst of a succession crisis and being ruled by Ptolemy XIII who was only 11 years old. This meant that even though the child had been placed on the throne and treated as a figurehead, the real rulers were his royal handlers who were making all of the decisions behind the scenes. The most competent member of the royal family to rule was actually Ptolemy’s 21-year-old sister Cleopatra. And as shocking as it may be to most in the modern world, Cleopatra had already been made queen through marriage to her little brother. Such incestuous practices were quite common in ancient Egypt, and even though Ptolemy and Cleopatra were both Greek transplants, this was an Egyptian tradition that the Ptolemaic dynasty had adopted on their own.
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"It was shortly into Cleopatra’s tenure as queen of Egypt that Ptolemy’s entourage grew resentful of her power and drove her out. And when Caesar arrived, Cleopatra was essentially in exile, living with her own loyal retinue of followers, while the young King Ptolemy was directed by palace officials.
"This was the maze of intrigue that Caesar had walked into. Since Egypt was a protectorate of Rome, and with Caesar still riding high on his previous works of clemency, he felt compelled to mediate the peace and declared that both parties should meet under his supervision to come to terms. Cleopatra knew, however, that if she ventured out from her stronghold she would risk a potential ambush from her brother’s troops. It was for this reason that she came up with a clever ploy for the ages.
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"She had one of her loyal subjects roll her up into a carpet and hand deliver her to Julius Caesar. Just about as soon as this beautiful young woman was unrolled from that piece of carpeting and presented to the infatuated Caesar, her brother Ptolemy was all but doomed. Caesar and Cleopatra began to engage in an affair with each other shortly after their meeting, and the only thing that pulled Caesar from her arms was news of an uprising in the Roman province of Asia Minor.
"Caesar left to quash this rebellion and then finally made his way back to Rome in October of 47 BCE. It was during this return trip to Rome that Caesar held an audience with his grand-nephew Octavian once again. Caesar is said to have been very impressed with how his nephew had turned out and saw to it that he was trained as a proper patrician—or member of the Roman aristocracy. But when Caesar prepared to set sail back to North Africa—and no doubt back to Cleopatra—Octavian insisted that he join him for the journey.
"But even though Octavian was now 17 years old and beginning to assert his independence, he was overruled by an even greater power than Caesar—his mother Atia. She insisted that he wasn’t quite yet ready to go overseas, and Octavian quietly obeyed her commands and stayed home. Caesar wouldn’t return to Rome again until nearly a year later in July of 46 BCE. It was during this time that Octavian began to truly get to know his great-uncle, attending official functions with him and learning all of the nuances of statecraft as well as everyday interpersonal relations.
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"As much as the two were seen together, it became common knowledge that young Octavian had the ear of Caesar. And soon enough those close to him began to ask Octavian to intercede with Caesar on their behalf for various requests and favors. One of those seeking this intercession was Octavian’s old friend Agrippa. Octavian’s old classmate Agrippa wasn’t pleading for any special favors for himself, but rather for his brother who had been caught on the wrong side of the Roman Civil War and was in dire need of Caesar’s clemency.
"The only trouble was Caesar had already granted the man clemency in the past, but he had joined up with a group of rebels once again, this time getting himself captured as an enemy combatant in North Africa. As forgiving as Caesar was, he certainly didn’t take too kindly to those who had squandered his previous acts of clemency. Even so, Octavian was still able to work a little bit of magic for Agrippa and his brother, convincing his uncle to grant a general amnesty for the young man once again.
"If Octavian wasn’t already Julius Caesar’s right-hand man, he certainly seemed like it to most."
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October 27, 2022 - October 27, 2022.
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Chapter 3. Ushering in the Age of Empire
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"In celebration of the successful conclusion of the campaign in North Africa, Caesar hosted an official triumph in which Octavian was encouraged to take part. During the victory parade, Octavian was given a place of honor, riding right behind Caesar’s carriage. This was rather remarkable considering the fact that Octavian played no role in the actual campaign itself. After the triumph came to a close, Octavian was also frequently seen seated next to Caesar at public banquets and civic events. It was only when Cleopatra arrived from Egypt to join Caesar as his personal guest in Rome that Octavian began to be seen less frequently with Julius Caesar.
"But by the time of Octavian’s 18th birthday, Caesar was already on the move once again, this time for Spain, and he wished for his nephew to accompany him. Yet another rebellion had broken out on the Iberian Peninsula, and Caesar wanted to have Octavian to be part of his trusted entourage as he worked to snuff this Spanish rebellion out. This would have been a great opportunity for Octavian, a kind of internship for the unseasoned. But just prior to Caesar’s announcement that he was leaving for Spain, Octavian had come down with a bad case of heat stroke and was relegated to bed. Caesar, wishing his grand-nephew a speedy recovery, instructed him to join him when he felt strong enough to do so.
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"After resting up for a time, Octavian was then able to leave for Spain in the Spring. To his chagrin and immense disappointment, by the time Octavian arrived in Spain, the battle was all but over and the rebellion firmly put down by Julius Caesar. Caesar, however, was overjoyed to be once again in the company of his nephew and made sure that Octavian roomed with him in his own lodging. The two grew even closer during this time spent together, engaging in endless conversation all hours of the night. Later critics of Octavian would try to accuse Octavian of having had an incestuous relationship with his great-uncle Julius Caesar, but there is no real proof of anything of that nature ever having occurred.
"Staying in these lodgings for a while, Caesar would then have Octavian accompany him and his entourage to the next destination on his itinerary: the Spanish port city of Cartagena. After a brief stay in Cartagena, Caesar and Octavian then made their way to northern Italy later that summer. Octavian would stay for just a short time longer with Caesar before requesting and receiving permission to head back to the house he shared with his mother and stepfather. For the next few months, the teenager laid low, living a quiet life with his parents. He didn’t see too many people during this period except for the occasional friends, such as Agrippa, who would come over to visit him.
"Meanwhile, Caesar made his way back to Rome and began to engage in a major overhaul in Roman legislation. Not everyone in the Senate would be happy with these changes, but they felt powerless to object to Caesar’s authority openly. They felt that he was strangling the life out of the Republic, so they took it into their own hands to stop him. It was during a special meeting held on March 15, 44 BCE that Caesar was stabbed to death. His murderers believed they were saving the Republic from a dictator, but all they did was sign the death warrant of the Roman Republic and ushered in the age of empire—an empire that Octavian would soon rule as the very first Roman emperor."
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October 27, 2022 - October 27, 2022.
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Chapter 4. The Adoptive Son of Julius Caesar
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"Octavian was getting ready to eat dinner with some friends at a country estate in Apollonia, Illyria, when a messenger sent by his mother arrived with the devastating news of Caesar’s assassination. As the servant read out the contents of his mother’s letter, Octavian was overwhelmed with a mixture of grief, fear, and outrage. He was grieved to lose the man he had become so close to, he feared what the future of Rome might be, and he was outraged enough to immediately consider avenging his murdered relative.
"For a time, as he talked amongst his friends as to what course of action he should take, he seriously considered joining Caesar’s army, which was quartered outside of Rome. He knew that the soldiers were no doubt just as shocked as he was and wanted nothing more than to get revenge for the death of their leader. The only thing that stayed his hand was the arrival of another letter from his mother and stepfather which urged him to take a more patient approach, not to do anything drastic, and wait things out as a private citizen. They also advised him to return to Rome as soon as possible.
................................................................................................
"Octavian left for Italy shortly thereafter, landing in the southern Italian port city of Brundisium. It was after his arrival here that he was informed of his stake in Caesar’s will. Caesar had apparently crafted a new will shortly before his death, and in it, he had named Octavian as his adopted heir. His parents, especially his stepfather, was immediately wary of Octavian taking any side of the conflict. Philippus even went so far as to tell Octavian to ignore the will, as Caesar’s was an inheritance far too dangerous to accept.
"Octavian stood his ground, however, and ignoring the warnings of his parents left for Rome with the full intention of claiming all that his slain uncle had left behind for him. Octavian gambled that just as was the case with Caesar, the general public would be on his side. And he was right. As soon as he stepped foot in Rome, he was greeted by throngs of supporters and well-wishers. The politicians in the Senate may not have liked his arrival too much, but they were far outnumbered but the average Roman citizen who were ready to turn their eyes onto Octavian as their new leader.
................................................................................................
"But despite this popular upswell from the ground, Octavian knew he needed some strong political allies on his side. It was for this reason that he came into contact with Caesar’s prior associate Mark Antony. At the time Mark Antony, though a loyal follower of Caesar, had managed to hammer out a tenuous peace with the faction of senators that were linked to—or even directly responsible for—Caesar’s death. Ever since the soaring speech he gave at Caesar’s funeral, Mark Antony was doing everything he could to win over popular Roman sentiment to his side.
"Octavian was desperately seeking an ally, but it soon became clear that Mark Anthony would be something much more akin to a rival. And as the rivalry heated up, the most important thing for Octavian to achieve was legitimizing his adoption by Julius Caesar in the eyes of the Republic. As heir, it was Octavian’s right to demand his inheritance from the acting consul—which was Mark Antony. Upon requesting this, however, Mark Antony flatly refused, claiming that upon Caesar’s death he had found the state treasury empty. This was a complete fabrication. In reality, the treasurer was empty because Mark Antony had drained it to pay off his huge debts.
................................................................................................
"As was Roman custom, Octavian as true inheritor was meant to take some of his adoptive father’s inherited fortune and use it to pay out legacies to all of his father’s associates. But even though Mark Antony had squandered much of Octavian’s inheritance, Octavian, an already wealthy young man, dipped into his own pocket to pay for it. With this objective complete, he went on a campaign to win over the hearts and minds of Rome. This was a personality campaign and test of tenacity between Mark Antony and Octavian, not too different from the bitter political election campaigns of today, with both sides hurling vitriol at the other. But vicious barbs were getting both men nowhere fast.
"It was in this volatile backdrop that Mark Antony left Rome on October 9, 44 BCE, for Brundisium to rally his troops. He had four whole Macedonian legions situated in the region, and he intended to make sure that he could rely on them if he had to. But the reception that Mark Antony received from his troops was not what he expected. As soon as he arrived, the men were restless and began to bombard him with questions. They also began to demand that he punish those responsible for Caesar’s death.
"Mark Antony then mounted the stage to address his soldiers, supplying them with several unsatisfactory explanations to their inquiries. He concluded his speech by announcing that he would be giving each of them a small bonus. This was a gesture of goodwill that Mark Antony hoped would buy the loyalty of the troops. But the amount he offered was such a paltry sum that many of the soldiers burst into laughter when they heard it. Humiliated, Antony viewed the disruption as nothing short of insubordination and moved to make an example of his more boisterous troops. He had a few of them seized and brutally punched and kicked until they died right there on the spot. He then turned to the shocked crowd and flatly informed them, “You will obey orders.”"
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October 27, 2022 - October 27, 2022.
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Chapter 5. Defeating Mark Antony
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"While Mark Antony was busy instilling fear and terror in his own army, Octavian tried a much different approach. Wishing to secure a loyal militia, he left for the port city of Campania where many of Caesar’s veterans were residing. Here he pulled on both their heartstrings as well as their purse strings. Octavian reminded them of their loyal service to his now adoptive father and how much they revered the slain leader, and at the same time promised them such a generous financial compensation that they couldn’t refuse his offer.
"Octavian offered these men twice the amount of what their normal salary would have been. And unlike others who had made them promises and then backed out, they knew that Octavian’s pockets were deep enough that he would be able to make good on his promise. As a result, in a very short period of time, Octavian had brought together a solid fighting force of over 3,000 troops.
................................................................................................
"But despite his popular support, and the loyalty that his money helped secure, from the beginning there was confusion over what the actual objectives of the group would be. Octavian raised the army with the full intention of deposing Mark Antony. Most of these veterans, however, wished to hunt down Caesar’s assassins instead. Despite these conflicting goals among the ranks, Octavian placed himself at the head of his new army and marched on Rome. The army stormed right into the Roman Forum, causing the senators to flee. But Mark Antony was ready and arrived shortly thereafter with his Macedonian troops.
"Facing off against their brothers in arms was apparently not what Octavian’s soldiers had signed up for and many began to defect. As his army began to collapse, Octavian had no choice but to gather those most loyal to him and make a hasty retreat. But even though Octavian had lost this initial battle, it soon became clear that he was winning the larger war. Greatly dissatisfied with Mark Antony, whole legions began to abandon him and pledge allegiance to Octavian. With a new legion joining forces with Octavian on a daily basis, it became clear to Mark Antony that he had found himself in a highly untenable situation.
................................................................................................
"In April of 43 BCE, the forces of Mark Antony and Octavian would face off once again. Antony had been tipped off that a contingent of Octavian’s troops would be traveling from Bologna to Mutina. He saw this as the perfect opportunity to carry out an ambush. Octavian’s commanders had foreseen just such a contingency, however, and at the last minute sent an additional legion as well as Octavian’s Pretorian Guard to trail the group as potential reinforcements. Mark Antony assembled his troops on the side of the road hidden in the brush, and when Octavian’s men passed by, they struck.
"The battle raged for about two hours before Mark Antony was able to push his opponents back. He and his men thought that the battle was won, but on their way back to their encampment, they were intercepted by the additional reinforcements that had been sent by Octavian’s commanders. Mark Antony’s men were caught completely off guard and decimated in short order. His troops would then regroup in the city of Mutina, where they would confront their opponents once again, this time led by none other than Octavian himself. Here for the first time, Octavian proved himself in battle, and Mark Antony was utterly defeated. Yet he was not killed or captured and managed to make a break for it at the last minute, escaping across the Alps to the wildlands of Gaul.
................................................................................................
"Although Octavian could have pursued and overtaken the fleeing Mark Antony, he refused to do so. He wished to conserve resources, and he still harbored the notion that he could convert Mark Antony into an ally against the senatorial opposition he would have to face eventually. He knew that he needed to consolidate his power in Rome, and this meant requesting he be given the role of consul. According to the rules of the Roman Republic, in order for anyone to obtain the position of consul they had to be at least 42 years of age. Barely 20 years old, Octavian was far from meeting this requirement. Luckily, he had some powerful backers.
"In July of 43 BCE, about 400 of his loyal veterans marched into the Senate and demanded that Octavian be granted a place on the consul. And just a few months later, on October 19, 43 BCE, Octavian was duly elected as Roman consul—just one more stepping stone on his path to Empire."
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October 27, 2022 - October 27, 2022.
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Chapter 6. The Second Triumvirate
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"While Octavian was consolidating his power base and authority in Rome, it didn’t take Mark Antony very long at all to build a new army for himself in Gaul. He also managed to make a new friend in the form of the leading Roman political figure Marcus Aemilius Lepidus. It was through Lepidus that the idea of peace talks between Mark Antony and Octavian had been conceived. Octavian agreed to give it a try, and with 11 legions, he marched off to the predetermined meeting grounds near Bologna in November of 43 BCE.
"There was a small island located in the river Lavinius which flowed between Bologna and Mutina, and it was determined that it would be on this small piece of isolated terrain that Mark Antony and Octavian would meet. The two men and their armies, marching from opposite directions, converged on this tiny waterlogged island. It is said that both Antony and Octavian posted about 5,000 troops on their side of the river banks. Then about 300 soldiers were placed on opposite ends of the bridges leading to the island.
"Finally, once convinced that their side was secure and the other side was not plotting any underhanded tricks, Mark Antony and Octavian stepped foot onto the island with Lepidus standing between them as mediator. The three men quickly got down to business and hammered out their objectives. Top priorities for them if they were going to work together were to legitimize their power as well as hunt down the remaining senatorial conspirators Brutus and Cassius. These two senators were responsible for Caesar’s death and were now fomenting rebellion in the east, so both Mark Antony and Octavian could agree that they needed to be shut down.
................................................................................................
"Seizing upon this common ground, Mark Antony, Octavian, and Lepidus would from this moment forward form the so-called Second Triumvirate patterned after the First Triumvirate that Julius Caesar formed with the powerful Roman figures of General Pompey and Marcus Licinius Crassus. As was the case with the First Triumvirate, the three men apportioned territory to each other to govern. Mark Antony was governor of Gaul, Lepidus was given Transalpine Gaul and Spain, and Octavian was awarded North Africa and the Italian islands of Sardinia and Sicily.
"Once this was established, the men enacted a program of proscription in which Roman politicians and nobles were quantified as enemies of the state based on their involvement in Caesar’s assassination and any other subsequent civil turmoil. Those who were classified as such had their land and possessions confiscated and often faced execution as well. This was all just a staging ground, however, for the final confrontation with the renegade senators Brutus and Cassius. The two senators, who had been building a power base in Greece, sent their troops to meet Octavian’s men in the nearby Macedonian city of Philippi on October of 42 BCE. These troops were promptly decimated by Antony and Octavian’s combined force of 28 legions. Upon hearing that all was lost, Brutus and Cassius opted to end their own lives by committing suicide.
................................................................................................
"It is said that after the hostilities had ceased, the behavior of Mark Antony and Octavian couldn’t have been more different. Although Mark Antony was known for his brutality among his own soldiery, for whatever reason against the defeated rebels led by the senatorial defectors, he decided to show a fairly large amount of grace and mercy. Octavian, on the other hand, became known for his cruel retribution, showing no mercy for those he believed to have sided with the assassins of his dead uncle.
"Among the thousands of prisoners of war, it was determined that there were several noble Romans linked to the senatorial conspirators Brutus and Cassius. Octavian decided that all of these men should be executed on the spot. And he would not spare even the slightest of niceties for these men that he had summarily condemned. In one famous instance, one of the condemned had merely requested that he receive a proper burial, to which Octavian coldly responded, “That’s a matter for the carrion birds to decide.”
"Octavian was apparently determined to make sure that anyone linked to the death of his uncle receive no quarter. This was done both out of sentimental attachment to his great uncle and also out of a pragmatic realization that these loose ends of conspirators had to be tied. Octavian wished to show the world that he was a force to be reckoned with."
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October 27, 2022 - October 27, 2022.
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Chapter 7. The Triumvirate Begins to Crack
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"“I have often wondered how it is that every man loves himself more than all the rest of men, but yet sets less value on his own opinions of himself than on the opinions of others.”
"—Marcus Aurelius"
Indeed.
................................................................................................
"After the successful conclusion of the battle of Philippi, Antony and Octavian began to reassess the territorial holdings of the Triumvirate. It had come to their attention that while they were engaged in battle in the east, the third member of the Triumvirate, Lepidus, was back in Italy engaged in secret negotiations with a leader of the senatorial rebellion named Sextus Pompeius, who since the days of his father Pompey had managed to create quite a monopoly for himself in Sicily. As a result of this perceived betrayal, Lepidus was ordered to give his territory in Spain to Octavian while handing over his extra territory in Gaul to Mark Antony. It was then later determined that Cisalpine Gaul should be incorporated into northern Italy.
"With these new arrangements decided upon, Octavian turned his attention to the rule of his new dominion. But the year 41 BCE would prove to be yet another year of unrest for Rome. He soon found that he was caught between a rock and a hard place when it came to satisfying the wishes of his war veterans as well as appeasing the needs of the general population. Soon these two factions of Roman society were practically in open warfare with each other in the streets. There was even a kind of general strike that took place in Rome in which all official offices and commerce were effectively shut down.
................................................................................................
"As the Roman historian Appian describes it, “The civilian population shut the workshops and made the elected office-holders leave, saying that they had no need of either office-holders or crafts in a starving and plundered city.” The main problem was the fact that there was a shortage in the government subsidized grain on which a large chunk of the Roman poor depended. It has been estimated that about 300,000 Romans consumed 150,000 tons of this grain on a yearly basis. But most of this grain was not grown in Rome or even surrounding Italy; most had to be shipped from Sicily, Sardinia, and even Egypt. The fact that Rome was so dependent on outside grain imports was always a source of consternation for Roman rulers, and now Octavian was forced to crunch the numbers and do this same kind of grain calculus himself.
"Meanwhile in the east, Mark Antony was facing a looming deficit of his own, not of grain, but of cold hard cash. The coffers had been emptied during the many wars in the east, yet the eastern province had already been taxed so much that, short of provoking a rebellion, he didn’t dare tax the strained citizenry any further. He soon realized that he would have to look elsewhere to raise his funds, and the first place that came to mind was Egypt. He knew that Egypt was legendary for its riches and knowing that the queen of Egypt—Julius Caesar’s former mistress—Cleopatra was dependent on the whims of Rome, he figured it would be an easy purse to plunder.
................................................................................................
"Mark Antony sent his close aid Quintus Dellius to Alexandria to inform the queen of his demands. Like many men, Dellius was immediately captivated by the charms of Cleopatra, and even more importantly he knew that Mark Antony would be as well. Thinking as much, Dellius, a man known for his mischievous charisma and ability to instantly worm his way into hearts, took it upon himself to groom the queen for her meeting with Mark Antony. He informed her to maximize her beauty by wearing her most “alluring attire” while at the same time reassuring her that Mark Antony was a gentleman and that she would have nothing to fear during her stay. Cleopatra was apparently persuaded by Dellius and composed herself just as directed before sailing off to meet Mark Antony. Much as Dellius had expected, Mark Antony was immediately enthralled by the charm and personality of Cleopatra and invited her to have a personal dinner with him. This dinner then turned into several more dinners, which culminated in Mark Antony leaving his post in the east to set sail for Egypt arriving sometime in January of 40 BCE, where he determined to spend the rest of the winter months.
"But even if Mark Antony was on vacation, the enemies of Rome were not. And an age-old foe in the east, the Parthian Empire (modern-day Iraq and Iran), found Mark Antony’s leave of absence to be the perfect time to strike, invading Roman Syria in late February. Upon hearing of this incursion, Mark Antony cut his wintertime liaison with Queen Cleopatra short and headed back to his command post in Asia Minor. After putting out this fire, Mark Antony would soon turn his attention to his frayed relationship with Rome, where tension was threatening to boil over once again into war."
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October 27, 2022 - October 27, 2022.
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Chapter 8. The Treaty of Brundisium
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"It seems that while Mark Antony was engaged in an affair with Cleopatra in Egypt, his wife Fulvia had taken matters into her own hands in Italy. The trouble began when Octavian sought to put away his wife Clodia, who also happened to be Fulvia’s daughter. Octavian dropped Clodia off on her mother’s doorstep, asserting that it was his right to do so because the marriage had never been consummated in the first place.
"Fulvia apparently was not going to take this insult to her family’s honor lightly. She took drastic measures by strapping a sword to her side and began to organize some of Mark Antony’s legions in preparation to march on Rome. Further encouraging her toward these brash actions was Mark Antony’s brother, Lucius Antonius, who cited the ongoing massive discontent of the Roman public as a sign of Octavian’s weakness and their ultimate success.
................................................................................................
"Things didn’t go well for Fulvia’s army, however; they were soon cornered in the Italian town of Perusia, and after a two-month long siege, they were forced to surrender. Despite the trouble they caused, Octavian’s punishment of the insurrectionists was light. Being the brother of Mark Antony, Lucius’ life was spared, and since Fulvia was Mark Antony’s wife, she was merely sent into exile. Perhaps her biggest punishment came with her husband’s sharp rebuke when he met up with her in Athens, Greece. Although it has not been recorded exactly what transpired between the two of them during this visit, it is said that Antony held Fulvia in the highest of contempt, basically disavowing her and placing all of their misfortune on her shoulders. Sadly, this was too much of a burden for Fulvia to bare, and shortly after their meeting, Fulvia became deathly sick. It remains unclear exactly what the cause of her malady was, but she was also severely depressed, which only hastened her decline. She passed away shortly after his departure.
"It’s hard to say how much Mark Antony may have grieved his troubled wife’s death, but at any rate, he didn’t have much time to mourn. Shortly after Fulvia’s death, he received word that Fufius Calenus, the governor of Gaul, had died, and that Octavian had taken it upon himself to seize the territory and all of the former governor’s troops. Since this violated the terms of their Triumvirate, Mark Antony prepared once again for war with Italy.
................................................................................................
"The two armies seemed to be poised for a titanic collision, but then something rather incredible occurred. As both sides converged on the intended site of battle in the city of Brundisium, the veteran soldiers on both sides of the conflict began to open a dialogue with each other. Bypassing their leaders completely, the troops began to enter into peace talks among themselves. This was apparently a war that neither side wished to fight, and so defying orders from Octavian and Antony, both sides put down their arms.
"Octavian and Mark Antony were both astonished and outraged at the sudden turn of events. But neither of them dared punish their troops for insubordination since they knew it would only provoke an all-out mutiny. So, seizing this rare opportunity as a way out of war, the two leaders agreed to grant each other a general amnesty and hammer out a new peace agreement. Even though the third member of the Triumvirate, Lepidus, wasn’t present, Antony and Octavian crafted a new contract for all three of them for another five years.
................................................................................................
"This agreement had Lepidus maintaining his miniscule holdings in North Africa while Octavian took over all territory west of Italy and Mark Antony was allotted all land east of Italy. Italy itself was considered a kind of neutral territory where both had authority and the ability to raise troops. This template would come to be repeated many times over the next few centuries with the Roman Empire divided primarily between the east and the west, governed by two strong rulers, one for each side.
"As a special addition to the terms they came up with, Octavian sought to strengthen the deal by offering the newly widowed Mark Antony his sister’s hand in marriage. In doing so, Octavian tried to follow the example of his great-uncle Julius Caesar who had bought precious peace with Pompey by having him marry his daughter Julia. Octavian hoped that this extra provision would help to bind the two leaders together. This new agreement, known as the Treaty of Brundisium, would prove to be a bitter disappointment, however, and its shelf life would prove to be much shorter than the agreed five years."
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October 27, 2022 - October 27, 2022.
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Chapter 9. The Suicide Pact
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"Even though peace had been restored between Octavian and Mark Antony, Rome still suffered from an age-old crisis—lack of grain to feed its populace. Most of Rome’s grain supplies were coming out of Sicily and Sardinia which was controlled by Sextus Pompeius, the surviving son of Pompey, who had ruled the islands virtually unopposed since his father’s defeat by Julius Caesar. During the chaos of Caesar’s assassination and the Second Triumvirate’s squabbles, Sextus was left to build up a powerful army and navy centered around Sicily.
"But it wasn’t his naval power that he used to threaten Rome, in the summer of 39 BCE, Sextus used his monopoly over grain to bring Octavian to his knees. Octavian had attempted to keep the peace with Sextus through various means before—one of which included a marriage to Scribonia, a daughter of one of Sextus’ loyal followers. He had married Scribonia shortly after putting away Fulvia’s daughter. This marriage quickly produced a child, but it didn’t produce the political favor that Octavian wished it would bring him with Sextus.
................................................................................................
"The peace bought was only a temporary one, and soon Sextus began to blockade grain shipments once again. And so, in a quite callous and cold fashion, Octavian had cast off his second wife Scribonia without a second thought, divorcing her on the very day she gave birth to their daughter Julia in 39 BCE. Octavian then switched tactics and began to wage war against Sextus instead. Joining forces with Lepidus, Octavian led a combined army in an invasion of Sicily in 36 BCE. By early September, Sextus’ maritime empire had been all but decimated. Sextus himself barely escaped with his life but was soon captured in the Greek city of Miletus, where one of Mark Antony’s generals had him put to the sword.
"All seemed to be going well for the Triumvirate, until Lepidus, the weakest member of the trio, decided to attempt to take Sicily for himself, taking up arms against Octavian and trying to evict him from the island. But right when battle was about to be engaged, most of Lepidus own soldiers refused to fight and switched sides to Octavian, leaving the embarrassed Lepidus no choice but to surrender. Octavian was surprisingly merciful to Lepidus, and even though he was officially terminated from the Triumvirate, Lepidus was allowed to keep his title as pontifex maximus and effectively allowed to retire in peace.
................................................................................................
"The Roman Empire was now split between two rulers, Octavian and Mark Antony, who each controlled approximately one half of all Roman territory. Mark Antony had been engaged in a series of battles against the Parthian Empire on his eastern borders. Facing high casualties, he had requested reinforcements from Octavian but was disappointed to receive less than 2,000 troops. Desperate to bolster his forces, Mark Antony turned to the only other monarch he knew that he could rely upon: the queen of Egypt, Cleopatra. As he became involved with Cleopatra again, his interest in his second wife Octavia waned, and to her brother Octavian’s disgust, he sent her back to Rome.
"Mark Antony’s luck on the battlefield began to improve shortly thereafter, culminating in the successful seizure of Armenia in 34 BCE. Despite these victories in the east, Octavian was becoming a much louder critic of Mark Antony, a sentiment that was on full display on January 1, 33 BCE during his address to the Roman Senate. It was during this speech that Octavian denounced Mark Antony for his relationship with Cleopatra and accused him of arbitrarily handing out “land and distinction” to non-Roman citizens. Strangely, he also criticized Mark Antony for allowing the execution of Sextus Pompeius two years prior, even though Octavian most likely would have done much the same thing had he been the one to capture the renegade.
................................................................................................
"All of these remarks, however, seemed only to backfire on Octavian, since after these lines were drawn, many senators opted to defect to Mark Antony’s side. But less than a year later, in the fall of 32 BCE, his attacks on Mark Antony would pay off when former Antony loyalists Marcus Titius and Munatius Plancus drifted into Octavian’s orbit. It was Munatius Plancus, in particular, that would provide the key in turning most of Rome against Antony. Plancus was a close aide of Antony’s who knew many of his most guarded secrets. Wishing to help Octavian in his search to dig up dirt on Mark Antony, Plancus informed him that Antony had hidden his final will and testament inside the Temple of the Vestal Virgins in Rome.
"Seeing this document as a good enough place to start as any, Octavian then moved to have the curators of the temple hand over the will. They were not willing to violate the sanctity of the temple, however, and insisted that if Octavian wanted the document, he should get it himself. Octavian immediately obliged, seizing the will by force. Then, after scouring the will for any potentially inflammatory material, he publicized it for all to see. Most troubling for Romans who read it was the fact that Mark Antony had requested to be buried in Alexandria, Egypt, and had left special legacies for his children with Cleopatra.
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"As trivial as these things may seem to us today, for the ancient Romans, they were tantamount to treason, and their revelation served to give Octavian all the support he would need to declare war on Mark Antony. He would have to declare war on Egypt first, which was done in late 32 BCE. Antony and Cleopatra were actually in Greece at the time, and by catching them off guard, Octavian’s army managed to cut them off from their main supply of troops. Mark Antony was now surrounded, and the knowledge of the trap they were in facilitated massive defections from Antony’s remaining troops.
"Desperate to escape the dragnet they were caught in, Mark Antony and Cleopatra took what was left of their entourage and set sail off the shores of the Greek mainland. After a harrowing pursuit, Mark Antony’s small fleet managed to escape to Alexandria, but the escape was pointless since Octavian immediately landed and continued the chase over land, threatening to overtake the beleaguered couple again. Realizing that there was nowhere left to run, Mark Antony and Cleopatra chose to take their own lives. Mark Antony stabbed himself with his weapon before dying in Cleopatra’s embrace. Cleopatra then followed her lover’s lead by taking a drought of poison."
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October 27, 2022 - October 27, 2022.
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Chapter 10. The First Roman Emperor
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"“He [Julius Caesar] learned that Alexander, having completed nearly all his conquests by the time he was thirty-two years old, was at an utter loss to know what he should do during the rest of his life, whereat Augustus expressed his surprise that Alexander did not regard it as a greater task to set in order the empire which he had won than to win it.”
"—Plutarch"
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"After the demise of his archrival, Octavian was now the undisputed, single ruler of the Roman Empire. Some still entertained the idea that Rome was a republic, but when all power rested in the hands of one man, empire status was hard to deny. It is true that Octavian initially allowed the continuance of most free elections, but for the most part, Rome was now a republic in name only. The Senate still had a foothold in North Africa and more importantly the grain stores therein. But senators could only count on five legions between them whereas Octavian had a full twenty legions under his command. There could be no doubt that if anyone rose up against Octavian, they would be quickly shut down.
"After several years of consolidating his power, on January 16, 27 BCE, Octavian reached another milestone on the road to empire, receiving the title of Augustus. Roughly translated, Augustus means, “the illustrious one.” This title had spiritual connotations for the average Roman since it was meant to be a title that conveyed Octavian’s divine authority over the common man. Now that all of his earthly rivals had been shut down, Octavian wanted his people to believe that he had been ordained by deity.
................................................................................................
"But this man of supposed god-given authority would soon prove his mortality when he struck down by a horrible illness in 23 BCE. This malady was so bad that all those in attendance assumed that he was on his deathbed. Octavian, thinking as much himself, began to make his final will and testament known. Without a biological heir in sight, Octavian made it known that he wished for General Agrippa to succeed him. This was a shock to many who believed that Octavian had been grooming his nephew Marcellus as a potential successor.
"It could be that at the time Octavian did not think his nephew would be ready for the weight of command, whereas the seasoned General Agrippa would be much more acclimated for the role of supreme ruler. He went ahead and handed his signet ring over to Agrippa, and despite the fact that the senatorial procedures were traditionally needed to make such transfers of power legal, Octavian overruled them and declared that Agrippa should be considered in charge.
................................................................................................
"Octavian then surprised everyone—including himself—by recovering from his illness, but his intentions had already been made clear regardless. Marcellus would face death later that year when he came down with the same mysterious illness that had nearly proved lethal with Octavian. Due to subpar sanitation practices, outbreaks of plague were quite common in Rome at the time. Unfortunately for young Marcellus, he didn’t have an immune system as strong as his uncle’s, and he succumbed to the illness.
"Shortly after Octavian’s recovery, he awarded General Agrippa a term of five years as the administrator of the east. Agrippa seemed to be an emperor in training, but when he passed away in 12 BCE, Octavian was forced to look for a new successor. The two most promising candidates were his stepsons from his marriage to his latest wife, Livia. In particular, Octavian was fond of his stepson Tiberius and began to groom him as a potential successor.
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"By 7 BCE, Tiberius was elected to hold office as consul for the second time. He then went on to complete a daring military campaign in the uncharted territory of the Germanic lands of the north, a battle that resulted in Roman victory and the deportation of 40,000 Germanic tribesmen to the other side of the Rhine. This earned Tiberius his first official triumph, gaining him just the right kind of notoriety needed to follow in Octavian’s footsteps. But to the amazement of all who heard it, just a year later in 6 BCE, Tiberius announced that he was going to “retire from public life.” He then sent himself into a kind of self-imposed exile to the island of Rhodes.
"The idea that this capable 36-year-old man with all the social and political connections that anyone could want would retire seemed to perplex the entire Roman world. The news was the most alarming to Emperor Augustus, however, since at the age of 57 years old, having a preordained heir was of the utmost importance. His only other viable options at the time were his grandsons Lucius and Caius Caesar, but they were still far too young to be relied upon. And when Lucius died in the year 2 CE, and Gaius passed in 4 CE, it became clear that Tiberius was the only possible heir to be had.
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October 27, 2022 - October 27, 2022.
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Conclusion
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"When Octavian finally passed away on August 19, 14 CE at age 75, he died with the assurance that his stepson Tiberius would carry on his legacy. Octavian, who was a meticulous planner during his life, wanted to make sure that all things were well in order upon his death. In fact, his famous final words are said to be, “Have I played the part well? Then applaud as I exit!” He was critiquing his actions even as he left the world stage behind."
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October 27, 2022 - October 27, 2022.
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Augustus Caesar: A Life
From Beginning to End
(Roman Emperors),
by Hourly History
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October 27, 2022 - October 27, 2022.
Purchased October 27, 2022.
ASIN:- B07DPNXLTY
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https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/5069562032
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