Moriendum est - It is time to die
Augustus (then Octavian)


Transcript of the college class lecture „The Roman Empire“ in 2003, University of Minnesota, USA

[Prof. Saramotti speaking]:
Hello for today’s lecture. We will discuss the rise of Augustus to supreme power today. If there are no questions about the last few lectures we will start right ahead since we have a lot to talk about.

Last week we closed with the sudden death of Caesar during his Parthian campaign. His second in command, Marc Anthony immediately seized control over Caesars troops. With the death of the supreme ruler of the Roman Republic the political situation had become unstable once again and Anthony feared that the republican forces might return to the pre-caesarean constitution re-establishing the old republic. Anthony could not continue his campaign and ended the war with a return to the status quo in August 40 BC after some disputes with the Parthians.
Meanwhile the news of Caesars death had reached Rome. Turmoil broke out and rumours spread that Calatinus the younger might size Rome with his veterans. The sources are a bit vague to what Calatinus really planned, but it certainly was not to take Rome by force, since Calatinus was not driven by political ambition. Fearing another period of bloodshed and terror – let’s not forget his father did try to take Rome by force against Silanus in 79 BC. So the Senators quickly took the opportunity to invade the home of Calatinus the younger and kill him on the 5th of August. That ultimately ended the line of the Atilius Calatinus family.

With one potential danger to the Senate solved the Senators still had to deal with Marc Anthony, who was the larger threat of the two. They wanted him to concede with the Senate to limit his power. Certainly the Senate did not want another man with supreme powers like Caesars. While Marc Anthony was marching back to Rome he did in fact show signs that he would not claim Caesars supreme power.
But then a young Quaestor returned from Spain claiming he was the sole heir to his uncle Marcus Julius Caesar. This man was Gaius Octavian Thurinus, a young man who was in fact adopted by his uncle in his testament. Henceforth Octavian changed his name to Gaius Julius Caesar Octavius claiming the political and military power of his uncle. And that was something no one could have excepted at all.

The Senate and Marc Anthony could have simply ignored the 23 year old lad and no one would have bothered with him. But by using the name of Caesars he spread unbelievable charm to the old veterans and the tenth legion which had returned with Calatinus.
So the Senate thought: ‘Okay – we have a young inexperienced man with hardly any political support and on the other hand a powerful general returning from the East with a couple of legions who probably will take Rome by force. Shouldn’t we try to manipulate the young lad and use the magic of his new name to stop Anthony?’
So the old Senator Dollabella supported the young new Caesar by acknowledging Caesars last will. Indeed Marc Anthony came to Rome without his troops – but rather to gather support with the population rather because he feared Octavian. For him the new Caesar was an annoying impostor with no political backing. By ignoring him, he hoped the young lad would disappear sooner or later. Octavian visited Marc Anthony and requested parts of Caesars fortune, but Anthony simply sent the boy away.
Anthony’s next move was to win the support of the people. He had brought Caesars dead body back to Rome and in September he staged a large burring ceremony and spoke the eulogy. Anthony won the support of the people with his empathic ways.
Of course that made the Senate sceptic, fearing that Anthony would now start to rise to supreme power like Caesar, so they started giving more and more support to Octavian, hoping to install a counterweight to the rising imbalance of the Roman State.
But for now Anthony had the power in the Senate and he brought a law through that would give him proconsular power over the Asian provinces for five years. While Dollabella and Orata still held speeches against Anthony, they where helpless seeing Anthony go to the east, where he could reap all the fame and fortune he needed to be the real successor to Caesar.

In the meanwhile Octavian made his legion swear an oath to his name – that is Caesars name and the Senate gave him legal imperium over the legion. Everything seemed like Octavian was becoming a puppet easy to be manipulated. But in February 39 BC one of the two consuls of Rome, consul Plankus, died of old age and Octavian immediately requested the vacant seat. This was an outrage to Dollabella and Orata who had supported him at first. The young lad wasn’t even 24 and he wanted to become the next consul. Of course they had to refuse. But Octavian simply went to his legion and marched with his men into Rome in March 39 BC.
Now this is one of the many coup d’etats we have seen in the last fifty years of the Roman Republic. But this one was especially bold since the man in command came out of nowhere, had no political allies or back up by the people of Rome. Octavian showed to be shrewd and ruthless, rather and inexperienced and manipulable. With Rome under military control he installed himself as consul and now the young Caesar had a political power that even Anthony could not ignore. Everyone feared that Anthony might declare war on Octavian and no one knew who the actual good guy in this case was.
With everyone keeping eyes on Octavian and Anthony we nearly forgot that there was a third man with a couple of legions in Gaul. Sextus Fabius Ambustus, the man Caesar left to conquer the rest of Gaul when he had to return to Rome from his campaign against Aedui. Octavian brought Ambustus to Rome and sent message for diplomatic talks to Anthony. Suprisingly to the public and the senate the three men met in Brundisium to talk about their sphere of influences. Anthony would get the east including Greece, Octavian Spain and Africa and Gaul for Ambustus. The three returned to Rome together, celebrating that they had averted another civil war. The people cheered, the Senate was helpless. The three men established the Lex Titia which install and legalised a second triumvirate as a official institution to reorganise the Roman State. By putting the Roman constitution upside down Octavian and Anthony had defacto ended the Roman Republic.
The first move of the Triumvirate was to confiscate money. The three men released proscription lists, banned a handful of Senators to exile and confiscated their goods. Among them was one of the Senatorial leaders, Sergius Orata.
With his position secured, Marc Anthony returned to the east. He seemed to be the winner of the conference at Brundisium. He had secured his position in the east, had more money, more troops and was hailed as the saviour of Rome by the general population.
Ambustus returned to Gaul, but failed to play any important part in the triumvirate.
Octavian remained in Rome, but his new land reforms saw tremendous resettlements in Italy for his troops which made him rather unpopular.

Back in the east Anthony met the Egyptian king Ladamos Ptolemiates, who he had met some five years ago when he was sent to Egypt by Caesar to watch the alliance between Rome and Egypt. The two were on amiable terms and Ladamos, who had no son, saw in Anthony a potential successor to the throne in Egypt. The both agreed that Anthony would marry his daughter Cleopatra in the coming year. On a side note Anthony also installed Herodes as the king of Judea during the same time.

In the meanwhile Octavian was starting his armament. He commanded his second in command Agrippa to build up a fleet, since Caesars fleet was still in the hands of Anthony. At the end of the year he met Ambustus at the conference of Bononia and brought him under his direct control. Octavian now effectively controlled the whole western part of the Roman Empire.
That led the remaining senators to believe that their young pupil had ultimately turned to a tyrant. On the 18th of November Octavian became the target of an assassination attempt that didn’t succeed. Full of anger he returned to Rome and released new prospricion lists that marked many Senators as enemy of the state. In the following days many Senators were executed in Rome, among them the leader of the Senate Dollabella, while Orata was assassinated in his exile in northern Italy. These ruthless executions were applauded by Anthony who greeted Octavian’s determined actions.
Alright, we will have a 15 minute break and after that we will talk about the breakdown of the triumvirate.