Augustus

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*Rise to Power
*Constitutional Settlements
*Family&Succession
*Religious and Moral Programmes

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Rise to Power

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The rule of the emperor Augustus saw one form of government coming to an end and another beginning, although there is no firm dividing line between the two, and he himself would not have acknowledged publicly any changes taking place.

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On the Ides of March (15 March) 44 BC, Julius Caesar was assassinated by a group of senators led by Brutus and Cassius.

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Brutus was a descendant of one of the first consuls of Rome, and as such, he was a staunch Republican.

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He and his supporters believed that Caesar wished to be made a king and they felt that this could not be tolerated.

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Therefore, in the name of the Republic and of liberty, they stabbed Caesar to death on the steps of the senate-house.

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Gaius Octavius, later to be called Augustus, was born in Rome on 23 September 63 BC.

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He was the grand-nephew of Julius Caesar, his mother being Atia, daughter of Julius Caesar's sister, Julia.

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Octavian's father, also called Gaius Octavius, died when Octavian was four years old.

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At the time of Caesar's assassination, Octavian was in Illyricum (modern Albania), preparing for Caesar's expedition to Parthia in 44 BC.

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He was only eighteen years old, but had already served under Julius Caesar in Spain in 46 BC and had established a loyal following among his troops.

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However, his political experience was not extensive.

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On learning of the assassination, Octavian set out for Rome and on the way heard that Caesar had adopted him as his son and heir.

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Octavian thus acquired the following:

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The name Gaius Iulius Caesar Octavianus. Octavian made full use of the name Caesar and to call him Octavian after this was to question the adoption and belittle him.

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Three-quarters of Caesar's estate.

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Caesar's slaves, including secretarial staff and those who handled finances.

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Support and loyalty of Caesar's veteran soldiers, as well as support and loyalty of Caesar's freedmen, with whom he now had a patron-client relationship, and support and loyalty of Caesar's friends and those who owed a debt of gratitude to Caesar.

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Octavian had assumed that he could call on the support of Caesar's close friend, Mark Antony, and that they would be united in avenging the murder of his "father".

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In this belief Octavian was disappointed ,as he found firstly that Antony was bitter because Octavian had been named heir rather than himself, and secondly that Antony and his colleague Lepidus were in favour of an amnesty for Caesar's assassins.

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Antony would not relinquish the property and money which was now rightfully Octavian's.

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Antony had spent some of the money and Octavian drew on his own resources (some acquired as revenues in the provinces, some from Julius Caesar's other resources) to pay the legacies Caesar had left, thus increasing his own popularity amongst Caesar's beneficiaries.

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Octavian also raised a private army by appealing to Caesar's veterans and offering incentives to them.

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The senator and lawyer, Marcus Cicero, convinced the Senate that Octavian was no threat to them and could be used as long as they needed his help in restoring the Republic.

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The senate felt that the Republic had been weakened in recent decades by the individual aims of ambitious politicians.

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Cicero now claimed the major threat to the Republic to be Mark Antony, and in a series of speeches known as the Philippics, Cicero attacked Antony as aiming at a dictatorship.

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Antony had seen to the passing of a law which gave him both provinces of Gaul to himself for five years, as well as allowing him to keep the legions he held in Macedonia.

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He had demanded Cisalpine Gaul from Decimus Brutus, an unconstitutional action, and the senate moved to give assistance to Decimus Brutus at Mutina in the north of Italy.

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In November 44 BC, Octavian, happy to be the so-called champion of liberty, was enrolled in the senate, given praetorian imperium and sent, by an Ultimate Decree of the Senate, with the two consuls to fight against Antony at Mutina.