Augustus and the People - Roman Empire Ancient History

Ancient History - Roman Empire - Augustus

1. Augustus and the people of Rome

2. The Principate In theory, Augustus jointly ruled through a dyarchy (division of power between 2 groups) – Augustus and the Senate After Actium, Augustus maintained the only military force in Rome, so this was in reality more or less complete power The way this power was seen as acceptable (though not by all) was because it rested on certain republican principles, such as: Tribunician powers: convene the senate, initiate legislation, veto legislation (this last factor made the popular assemblies completely redundant) The consulate, held for life, giving him chief executive power Proconsular power, giving him control of the armed forces Maius Imperium – overriding command over all provinces (even those technically belonging to the people/senate) Censorship – he could revise senatorial lists/membership

3. The Principate The senate still had the following powers: Though Augustus had access to a huge ‘emperor’s’ treasury, swelled by the income from Egypt, the Senate still controlled the aerarium or Senate treasury (however, Augustus restricted the aerarium to only minting copper coinage) The Senate still had the right to look after certain crucial jobs and infrastructure, importantly roads and transport throughout Italy (though Augustus frequently appointed his own prefects within the Senate to these special jobs) The Senate was given control of the older provinces and allowed to keep their magistracies and governorships (so there was still a [much smaller] incentive to climb the ranks of the Cursus Honorum )

4. Augustus and the Equestrians Augustus seems to have preferred this class of society for the selection of officials Without the esteem and pre-existing family ties/rivalries of much older patrician families, the equestrian class would work hard in their duties to establish a good reputation and to ensure favour with the Princeps – “first one or leader” The equestrian class provided: Officers for the army Prefects and administrators of public works Jurors for criminal courts Officials of the imperial provinces Officials to supervise tax collecting in both senatorial and imperial provinces

5. Augustus and the Plebs Through his huge construction initiative within Rome (especially the building of temples), he fostered a strong sense of local pride among the urban plebeians. He encouraged art and literature with a strong emphasis on glorifying Rome’s past in a way that linked the imperial destiny of Rome with the Julian family. Various elaborate games were instituted to mark the anniversary of his regime – circuses (free gladiatorial games) as part of the republican tradition were used to high effect by Augustus to keep the Roman proletariat on side. Providing cheap food – with direct control of Egypt (the bread-bowl of the empire), Augustus provided cheap wheat to the population at low prices and subsidised the loss with his own imperial treasury.

6. Augustus and the Plebs To the Roman plebs I paid out three hundred sesterces per man in accordance with the will of my father, and in my own name in my fifth consulship I gave four hundred sesterces apiece from the spoils of war; a second time, moreover, in my tenth consulship I paid out of my own patrimony four hundred sesterces per man by way of bounty, and in my eleventh consulship I made twelve distributions of food from grain bought at my own expense, and in the twelfth year of my tribunician power I gave for the third time four hundred sesterces to each man. In the colonies of my soldiers, as consul for the fifth time, I gave one thousand sesterces to each man from the spoils of war; about one hundred and twenty thousand men in the colonies received this triumphal largesse. When consul for the thirteenth time I gave sixty denarii apiece to the plebs who were then receiving public grain; these were a little more than two hundred thousand persons. To the municipal towns I paid money for the lands which I assigned to soldiers in my own fourth consulship and afterwards in the consulship of Marcus Crassus and Gnaeus Lentulus . The sum which I paid for estates in Italy was about six hundred million sesterces, and the amount which I paid for lands in the provinces was about two hundred and sixty million.  - Res Gestae

7. Augustus and the Army Because the imperial provinces bordered dangerous enemies, they housed the legions and therefore gave Augustus direct control of the armed forces. Consequently, all further expansion of the empire was reliant on and associated with Augustus’ command (this ensured the loyalty of the armies and also extremely limited the military careers of potential political opponents as was common during the breakdown of the republic). Augustus refers to significant care taken in looking after and rewarding legion veterans with property and pensions in his Res Gestae   I paid cash gratuities to the soldiers whom I settled in their own towns at the expiration of their service, and for this purpose I expended four hundred million sesterces as an act of grace.

8. “[Augustus] ended once and for all the soldier’s reliance on their generals to provide for their retirement, which over the last century of the Republic had repeatedly led to the soldiers’ private loyalty to their commander turning their loyalty to Rome. Augustus fully nationalised the Roman legions and removed them from politics.” Mary Beard details the following military reforms of Augustus. Uniform terms and conditions of employment-sixteen years, later extended to twenty. Cash settlement/land on retirement

9. Practice Question Synthesise evidence from three sources (see Daymap for five options) to create a historical argument to support whether Augustus was a revolutionary or a reformer (45 lines).