BOOK VIII. THE ROMAN EMPIRE IN ITS GREATNESS; OR, THE CÆSARS AND THE ANTONINES. FROM AUGUSTUS TO COMMODUS. B.C. 29 TO A.D. 193. Χ VOL. III. СНАР. CONTENTS OF BOOK VIII. XXXVIII.-DEGENERACY OF THE CÆSARS; AND THE FLAVIAN DY- CHAPTER XXXVII. THE CONSTITUTION OF THE EMPIRE, AND THE REIGN OF AUGUSTUS. B.C. 29 TO A.D. 14. "Crescit occulto velut arbor ævo Fama Marcelli: micat inter omnes "Gentis humanæ pater atque custos, "ILLE seu Parthos Latio imminentes "Te minor latum reget æquus orbem; "No war, or battle's sound, Was heard the world around: The idle spear and shield were high up hung; Unstain'd with hostile blood; The trumpet spake not to the armed throng; And kings sat still with awful eye, As if they surely knew their soVRAN LORD was by."-MILTON. OCTAVIAN THE SOLE RULER OF THE ROMAN WORLD-IMPERATOR AND CENSOR FOR LIFECENSUS OF THE EMPIRE-THE DIGNITY OF PRINCEPS-HE ACCEPTS THE IMPERIUM FOR TEN YEARS-THE PROVINCES OF CESAR, AND OF THE SENATE AND PEOPLE-THE TITLE OF AUGUSTUS-THE NAME OF CÆSAR-AUGUSTUS GOES TO SPAIN -HIS DANGEROUS ILLNESSES-QUESTION OF A SUCCESSOR-HE RECEIVES THE PERPETUAL TRIBUNITIAN AND CONSULAR POWERS-HIS LEGISLATIVE AND JUDICIAL FUNCTIONSTHE EMPEROR NOT ABOVE THE LAWS-THE POPULAR ASSEMBLIES-STATE OF THE ROMAN PEOPLE-THE SENATE AND THE EQUITES-THE IMPERIAL CONSULS, PRÆTORS, EDILES, AND QUESTORS—THE PREFECT OF THE CITY GOVERNMENT OF THE PROVINCES MILITARY ORGANIZATION-THE PRÆTORIAN COHORTS AND URBAN GUARDS— THE LEGIONS-THE FLEET-FINANCES OF THE EMPIRE-SUMMARY OF THE IMPERIAL SYSTEM THE FAMILY OF AUGUSTUS-LIVIA AND HER STEP-SONS-OCTAVIA AND MARCELLUS-DEATH OF MARCELLUS-MARRIAGE OF JULIA ΤΟ AGRIPPA-CAIUS AND LUCIUS CAESAR, AND AGRIPPA POSTUMUS-DESCENDANTS OF OCTAVIA AND ANTONY SIX CESARS-AUGUSTUS IN THE EAST-THE STANDARDS OF CRASSUS RECOVERED THE GREAT SECULAR GAMES AGRIPPA GOES TO THE EAST AUGUSTUS IN GAUL DESCRIPTION OF THE DANUBIAN REGIONSVINDELICIA AND RHETIA CONQUERED BY TIBERIUS AND DRUSUS-CONSULSHIP OF TIBERIUS -GENEALOGY OF THE This twofold motto is chosen to contrast the Christian view of history with the heathen faith, which is content with a Cæsar for a Messiah upon earth, while reluctantly confessing that he has a superior in heaven. AUGUSTUS PONTIFEX MAXIMUS-DEATH OF AGRIPPA-MARRIAGE OF TIBERIUS TO JULIA-DRUSUS IN GAUL-ACCOUNT OF THE GERMANS AND THEIR LAND-THE FOUR CAMPAIGNS OF DRUSUS IN GERMANY-HIS DEATH AND FUNERAL-CONQUEST OF MOESIA TIBERIUS IN GERMANY-HIS RETIREMENT TO RHODES-BANISHMENT OF JULIA -ADVANCEMENT AND DEATHS OF CAIUS AND LUCIUS CESAR-ADOPTION OF TIBERIUS HIS CAMPAIGNS IN GERMANY AND ILLYRICUM-INTRIGUES AGAINST AUGUSTUSEXILE OF OVID-CATASTROPHE OF VARUS-TIBERIUS AND GERMANICUS IN GERMANYLAST DAYS AND DEATH OF AUGUSTUS. TACITUS observes that, when the Civil Wars were finished at Actium, it became the business of the peace to collect all power into one man's hands.* It was no longer necessary for Octavian to grasp at the prize which he had all along pursued, and which he had no intention of letting go. The people saw the only hope of tranquillity in his supreme rule, and the Senate were ready to confer any powers and dignities that it might please him to assume. If indeed we may trust tradition, there was one sturdy republican left among his councillors-the very man who had been from the first the sharer of his schemes. Dion Cassius has composed, in the style of a rhetorical exercise, a debate between Agrippa and Mæcenas, in which the former exhorts Octavian to lay down his power, and the latter argues for a monarchy far more complete than that he assumed. But Octavian made his decision with that unfailing instinct which guided his ambition. With equal prudence, he rejected the dangers of an undefined despotism, like that of the Greek tyrants; the position of a Roman Dictator, raised above the laws; and the hateful name of King. But it was only in name that he renounced the dictatorship; for he retained the military imperium which was the most essential attribute of that office, and kept his troops enrolled; and the Senate, to whom the generals of the Republic had always given back their imperium after a triumph, conferred upon Octavian the title of Imperator for life. They also conferred upon him the censorship for life; and, with Agrippa as his colleague, he proceeded to effect an entire renovation of the Senate, as he proposed to conduct the government in the name and through the agency of that august body. More than this, he procured a decree enabling him to raise plebeians to patrician rank; and by the transfer to him of this function of the Senate, he became the fountain of honour. In the following year (B.c. 28), Octavian was consul for the sixth time, and shared the dignities of the office with his colleague Postquam bellatum apud Actium, atque omnem potestatem ad unum conferri pacis interfuit." (Tac. Hist. I. 1.) The honorary title of Imperator must not be confounded with the imperium itself, of which we have presently to speak. |