Giving It Back — Augustus: He Found Rome Brick and Left It Marble

Suetonius, who wrote around AD 120, records that Augustus boasted he had found Rome a city of brick and left it a city of marble. But before he built anything, he had to do something harder. He had to convince the Romans that he did not want to rule them at all.

January of 27 BC. The civil wars are over. Antony and Cleopatra are dead, and so are Caesar’s killers, and Sextus Pompey has been crushed in Sicily. Tacitus writes that of the party of Julius Caesar only one leader was left (Annals 1.2). Octavian is thirty-five, with loyal legions and no one who could oppose him.

The year before, in 28 BC, he hands out gifts and eases burdens. Dio writes that the people receive a fourfold grain ration, and Octavian cancels the debts owed to the treasury from before Actium and burns the old promissory notes of the state’s debtors (53.2). Then he enters the Senate with a speech in his hand.

Dio, who wrote two centuries later, quotes it in full. It is his reconstruction, not a transcript, but the sense is clear. Octavian says he could rule to the end of his life, because all factions are pacified, the army is loyal to him, and there is no shortage of money or allies. And that is precisely why he will not.

The senators listen and do not know what to think. Dio divides them into three groups. A few know the true intention and applaud eagerly. The rest either do not believe it, or believe it and do not know what to do about it. Those who believe him do not dare show their joy. Those who do not believe him do not dare expose him (53.11).

Now you are a senator. The man who commands the largest army in the state stands before you and hands you everything. What do you do?

In the Senate no one says aloud that it is a game. Dio writes that Octavian got his way: the Senate and the people confirmed his power. He accepted “care of the affairs of the state,” since someone has to, but not over all the provinces and not forever (53.12).

The weaker, peaceful provinces he gave to the Senate. The stronger, restless ones bordering on enemies he kept for himself. Officially so that the senators could enjoy the better part of the state without fear while he bore the hardships and dangers. Dio adds a comment of his own: the real point was that the senators should be defenseless, and only he should have arms and soldiers.

One problem remained: what to call a man who is nobody and everything at once? Dio writes that Octavian badly wanted to become Romulus, the second founder of the city, but realized that it smelled of kingship, and gave it up (53.16). Suetonius tells it a little differently: when some advised Romulus, Munatius Plancus proposed Augustus, because the word sounds weightier and concerns sacred things (Augustus 7).

The sources differ on whether Octavian himself wanted Romulus or others suggested it. They agree on the outcome. From now on Octavian is Augustus, that is, “the revered one,” almost superhuman. The Greeks call him Sebastos.

The first request of a man who wants nothing? Dio records it right after the speech: the Senate is to grant his bodyguard double pay, so that it will guard him well (53.11).