The Age of Augustus (Blackwell Ancient Lives) [Paperback]

Werner Eck's "The Age of Augustus" is a concise historical biography on Augustus. From his birth in 63BC to his death in 14AD, Augustus' accomplishments are all clearly summarized in this book. Eck discusses each transition in Augustus' life and discusses some of the issues that arose and how they were dealt with. He also analyses some of Augustus' decision after becoming Principate such as creating a standing army, continuing the perception of a Roman Republic (even though that had ceased to exist years before) and in establishing and perpetuating his humble image. The downside to this book is that it is short. Too-short when one considers the relative importance of Augustus to Rome. In short an interesting read that covers the basics of the birth of Imperial Rome. What it lacks in details it more then makes up for in providing a clear and condensed biography of the most important man in Roman history.

In this book, Werner Eck tells the story of Augustus's life and rise to power. He demonstrates that the consolidation of Augustus's power took the entirety of his life to complete. Augustus is presented as a political genius whose rise was enabled by the military genius of others. Eck's narration is not a whitewash; he emphasizes the brutality that attended Augustus's ascent. Werner uses Augustus's Res gestae for his organizational structure. He repeatedly refers to it, highlighting the spin that Augustus places on the events.

Julius Caesar was murdered on March 15, 44 BC by his Republican opponents and, though an amnesty was proclaimed, public opinion turned against the assassins and Antony stirred up enough unrest to drive them from Rome. Octavian rose to power in order to avenge his adopted father and he, Antony, and Lepidus formed a triumvirate, with a mandate from the senate granting them virtually unlimited power for 5 years. They followed Sulla's example and enacted proscriptions against political opponents that allowed anyone to kill them and left the senatorial class so crippled that the coalition was able to fill the gaps with their own people, what Ronald Syme has called The Roman Revolution.

Octavian established power through his legions - settling them, against precedent, within Italy - thus gaining a broad clientele that thought militarily. Public opinion turned against Antony once he named Cleopatra "Queen of Kings" and after it was discovered that he had left Roman territories to her children in his will. In order to avoid a civil war, the Senate declared war on Cleopatra and sent Octavian to defeat both of them. He effectively cut off Antony's supply line across the Adriatic and Antony's soldiers and the eastern kings in his coalition began defecting. The summer brought an outbreak of disease in Antony's camp and come August his troop strength was halved. Octavian decided to make a stand at Actium and a naval battle was fought. Popular belief (and "popular history") holds that he was shocked that his "lover," Cleopatra, had fled the battle and, heartbroken, he sailed after her, abandoning his troops. This completely ignores the historical record and Eck writes that Antony sought "an encounter as a means of fleeing - a decision that may seem paradoxical, but in fact made perfect sense. He did not intend to seek victory, as is evident from the fact that his ships carried large sails, which would only have been in the way in a pitched battle. Antony's actual goal was to break through the blockade and flee." Afterwards, Octavian was able to negotiate favorable conditions with Antony's remaining troops, furthering his base of power.

By now the Roman populace was completely exhausted following two decades of civil war, and men in power remembered the Republic as "no longer living experience, but merely hollow shells." Octavian and his political friends decided that in order to establish their power they had to restore, in name, the old Republic. He initially relinquished his power but the Senate was now also powerless and Octavian remained consul while retaining command of the provinces - the real source of power - and his imperium did not require any additional titles. In 28 and 27 BC, when the Senate celebrated the "restoration of the Republic," this was actually true viewed against the past two decades. In effect, much of Octavian's reforms were to change things by making them stay the same - by reviving Republican traditions under his monarchical rule. Eck writes that "even this apparently conservative epoch is marked by profound change."

Octavian chose for himself the name Imperator (Gaius Julius) Caesar Augustus and instituted slow reforms that were only complete near the end of his life. Later emperors based their powers chiefly on his legal precedents and even took his name - which was initially merely that - and turned its components into a title. At the end of his 45 year rule there were no longer any members of the Senate who hadn't served under a Princeps, and to try to undo or reverse this would create a power vacuum resulting in a civil war.

Eck uses Augustus, his "Res Gestae" that lists his accomplishments, and Tacitus, writing 100 years after his death, as his main primary sources. Tacitus described Augustus's "true qualities" as those of "betrayal, duplicity toward his political opponents, and brutality toward ordinary citizens," therefore providing a nice contrast between Augustus's own whitewashing of his history and Tacitus's enmity for him.