Offensiones Augustae

Augustus Caesar, the first emperor of Rome, is one of the most influential rulers during the beginnings of the Roman Empire. He is most known for changing the method of Roman government from a consulship to a republic, and for instigating the Pax Romana. Although from an initial inspection Augustus’s accomplishments are great and numerous, they also reveal his selfish political desires that contradict his goals for the empire.

Augustus Caesar was undoubtedly a political genius with a great influence on the evolution of Roman politics, but he was also a self-righteous, moral hypocrite. His hypocrisy begins prior to his consulship or emperor-ship. It begins during his military career. Augustus fought alongside his great uncle, Julius Caesar, and gained a lot of his political influence from fighting alongside him. He was close with Julius Caesar and was able to become emperor through J. Caesar willing it to Augustus, even though it wasn’t rightfully his. Seutonius recalls, “News then came that Caesar (Julius) had been assassinated after naming him (Augustus) his heir, and Augustus was tempted, for a while, to put himself under the protection of the troops quartered nearby. However, deciding that this would be rash and injudicious, he returned to Rome and there entered upon his inheritance.” Augustus believed that it would be ‘rash and injudicious’ to put himself under protection, however later on in his career, he contrasts his actions and is swift to put himself under protection. As I had mentioned previously, the throne wasn’t rightfully Augustus’s. By Roman law at the time, the throne was rightfully Mark Antony’s. Mark Antony had married Julius Caesar’s daughter which would make him next in line. It is even speculated that Brutus, Julius Caesar’s assassin, was actually Julius Caesar’s son, which would have put him next in line. Due to the throne dispute between Augustus, Mark Antony, and Brutus, civil unrest came about the empire. Seutonius wrote, “Augustus actually engaged assassins to murder Antony and, when the plot came to light, spent as much money as he could raise on enlisting a force of veterans to protect himself and the commonwealth.” Augustus now clearly felt it was okay to protect himself, and to spend a large amount of money on doing so. Once he was willed the position of Emperor he had a new sense of self worth which showed through his changing of value and hypocritical actions.

When Augustus became emperor, he campaigned on bringing back ‘Old Roman Values.’ Old Roman Values included morality, monogamy, chastity, nationalism and piety. To tackle issues with Roman marriage and high divorce rates, Augustus created laws that gave tax cuts on marriages. It also imposed a tax on unmarried citizens as well as those that chose to not have children. He also instituted a law that infidelity within a marriage was now a state crime. To bring back religious values and restore pride in Roman citizens, he promoted himself to Pontifex Maximus (the religious leader of the Roman state.) He also brought back ancient Roman religious festivals and created a cult to worship the emperor as a god. In addition to all of his campaign accomplishments, Augustus also made an effort to restore the beauty of the city. He created a better system of roads throughout Rome and made restoring old monuments a priority. Suetonius claims “Aware that the city was architecturally unworthy of its position as capital of the empire, besides being vulnerable to fire and river floods, Augustus so improved its appearance so that he could justifiably boast ‘I found Rome built of bricks; I leave it clothed in marble!’.” Although Augustus did a lot for the Roman state, his legacy was always a catalyst for his actions. Even as Suetonius claims, it was more important to Augustus to be able to boast about his actions, rather than doing them for the betterment of the Roman empire.

In an effort to restore art within the empire, Augustus also created a panel of Authors to create more literature. The board of authors included notable names such as Livy, Virgil, and Ovid. From all three of these authors, Augustus requested that the origin story of Rome be rewritten. Livy and Ovid were requested to rewrite the famous story of Romulus and Remus and the Rape of the Sabine women. Virgil was requested to write the Aeneid, which was to glorify the Caesars and tell the tale of the founding of Rome in the style of the famous Greek epics.

Virgil’s task was not a simple one. He had to create an epic origin story that mimics the heroism and poetry of the Odyssey and the Iliad. He also had to use this epic to confirm that Augustus’s family was of direct descent from the gods. To satisfy Augustus’s request, Virgil produced the Aeneid. The Aeneid follows the tale of Aeneas who survived the Trojan war and is fated to found Rome. Virgil mentions Augustus a few times by name within the epic. Every time Augustus is named, he is being called out by a God, and the God praises Augustus. Virgil never released the Aeneid as a fully finished work. It was only released after Virgil was on his deathbed and asked a slave to burn it. The slave didn’t burn it and decided to release copies out to everyone. For a long time the Aeneid was assumed to be a pro-Augustan work, but now it is mostly seen to be anti-Augustan. A careful read of the Aeneid reveals Virgil’s true feelings towards Augustus and criticizes his actions. Ovid does a similar tactic within his retelling. The two genius authors were able to criticize the empire without Augustus even noticing.

In Ovid’s retelling of the foundation of Rome, he similarly includes commentary that points out the flaws of the early Romans. Ovid’s task was to rewrite the story of Romulus and Remus and the Rape of the Sabine women.

The tale of Romulus and Remus begins with a young girl, Rhea Silvia, being raped by the god, Mars. Rhea Silvia then gives birth to two twin boys, Romulus and Remus. Romulus and Remus are sent away and floated down the river. A she-wolf (the guardian animal of Mars) finds the two infants and takes them in to raise them as her own. She later brings the two children to a shepherd who raises the two boys. Romulus and Remus then set off to find new land to settle. The two boys find land that they both agree is suitable for a new civilization, but they couldn’t agree on who should rule it. Eventually, Romulus kills Remus and he founds Rome. Romulus starts by marketing Rome as a sanctuary for fugitives, criminals, and runaways. By doing so, he inherits a vast population, however mostly of men. Romulus begins to realize that he couldn’t continue the growth of the population without women. At the time, the neighboring city-states to Rome had laws in place that prevented marriage to foreigners, so Romulus proposed to many of the city-states to change the law to allow for women to marry the Romans. All of the city-states turned down the offer. Romulus then came up with another plan.

Romulus invited a few of the neighboring states to a festival being held at the Circus Maximus. The Sabines arrived, and when the Sabine men were distracted by the events of the Circus, the Roman men seized their women. They took them to their houses, raped them, or even brought them to other Roman men that weren’t in attendance. The Sabine women were then forced to marry the Romans and Rome now had a method to increase its population.

Ovid took these famous stories and decided to indirectly criticize the Roman men for Raping a neighboring country. He also criticized the treatment of the Sabine women. Ovid’s actions didn’t please Augustus since Augustus was trying to restore faith in the Roman empire, not destroy it. Even though Ovid’s actions displeased Augustus, it wasn’t until Ovid published the Ars Amatoria that Augustus took any action towards Ovid. A section in Ovid’s Ars Amatoria titled “How to pick up women in the forum” caused Augustus to exile Ovid. Augustus claimed that Ovid’s work violated Rome’s values of chastity. Ovid’s work as well as his exile serve as an example of the displeasement that the citizens had for Augustus and his new policies. Ovid speaking out against the early Romans’ actions directly displays a sense of morality, one of the fundamentals of Augustus’ campaign. Ovid’s exile shows a direct contradiction of Augustus’s campaign and his actions.

Similar to Ovid, Livy was also tasked with rewriting the beginnings of Rome. Livy wrote a total of 142 books recounting the events, of which only 35 have survived today. The books not only include the retelling of the foundation of Rome, but also commentary surrounding it. Livy’s take on the origin story is the most interesting. Livy was the only author out of the three to follow Augustus’s orders and to write a foundation story that glorified the Roman empire. In Livy’s The History of Early Rome, Livy says “I invite the reader’s attention to the much more serious consideration of the kind of lives our ancestors lived, of who were men… I would then have him trace the process of moral decline, to watch, first, the sinking of the foundations of morality as the old teaching was allowed to lapse, then the rapidly increasing disintegration, then the final collapse of the whole edifice, and the dark dawning of our modern day when we can neither endure our vices, nor face the remedies needed to cure them.” Livy sets up the tale to claim that their ancestors were men. Although Romulus was a man and they started with a population of mostly men, they eventually obtained women in order to grow the empire. The ancestry should include both men and women. Leaving out the women is important for Livy in the beginning of this tale because he uses the claim of male ancestry to dismiss the rape of the Sabine women later on. In addition, his opening is claiming that the beginnings of Rome had morality, which eventually declined to Augustan society, which now has none. His claim about the decline of morality is also important because it gives the reason behind Augustus wanting to “restore old Roman values.”

Livy begins his telling with the rape of Rhea Silvia, “the first steps be taken to the founding of the mightiest empire the world has known – next to the God’s. The Vestal Virgin was raped and gave birth to twin boys. Mars, she declared, was their father – perhaps she believed it, perhaps she was merely hoping by the pretense to palliate her guilt.” First, Livy begins the story by glorifying Rome. He implies that Rhea Silvia being raped was fated and that it was an essential step to the beginnings of a great empire. Not only that, but continues to dismiss Rhea Silvia. After she claimed being raped by Mars, Livy victim blames. He claims that maybe she really was raped by Mars, or maybe she was trying to not feel any guilt towards losing her virginity as a Vestal Virgin. Regardless of whether Rhea Silvia was raped by Mars or not, it still is the start to the beginning of Rome. No other origin story even suggests that Rhea Silvia may have made the whole thing up. Livy has a very dismissive attitude towards crimes of the early Roman people and justifies them by either saying that it was “fated” or “essential for the foundation.”

Later on in his retelling, Livy recounts the rape of the Sabine women. “Romulus, however, reassured them… they need not fear; as married women they would share all the fortunes of Rome, all the privileges of the community, and they would be bound to their husbands by the dearest bond of all, their children… The men too played their part: they spoke honeyed words and vowed that it was passionate love which had prompted their offense. No plea can better touch a woman’s heart.” Again, Livy continues to dismiss the crime of the Romans. Even though they were raped, Livy claims it to be okay because Romulus reassured them. Not only did Romulus reassure the women and parents, but the men of the family acted only on love and passion. Livy even claims that women were easily pleased by children, and words of affirmation and endearment, and later uses these ‘ways to a woman’s heart’ to claim that the women were happy to become Romans.

After the Sabine women were taken in by the Romans, a war commenced between the Sabines and the Romans. The Romans were severely losing the war, and the war later was stopped by the Sabine (now Roman) women. “‘We are mothers now,’ they cried; ‘our children are your sons- your grandsons: do not put on them the stain of parricide. If our marriage – if the relationship between you is hateful to you, turn your anger against us. We are the cause of strife.’” The Sabine women are now the ones stopping the war because they are mothers. Like Livy claimed before, children were the greatest bond between a husband and wife. Not only were they stopping the war because they were mothers and wives to the Romans, but also telling the Sabines as well as the Romans that they are to blame. Livy is using this retelling to allow for the blame to be on the women rather than blaming the Romans for raping them.

The monarchy of Rome begins with Romulus, and ends with the seventh king of Rome, Tarquinius Superbus (or Tarquin the Proud.) Unlike the other two authors, Livy recounts the beginnings of Rome until the era of Augustus. The monarchy ends the same way it began; with a rape. Tarquinius Superbus has a son that rapes a woman named Lucretia. Livy describes the incident, “They found Lucretia sitting in her room in deep distress. Tears rose to her eyes as they entered, and to her husband’s question, ‘Is it well with you?’ she answered, ‘No. What can be well with a woman who has lost her honour? In your bed, Collatinus, is the impress of another man. My body only has been violated. My heart is innocent, and death will be my witness… he is Sextus Tarquinius. He it is who last night came as my enemy disguised as my guest, and took his pleasure of me. That pleasure will be my death – and his too if you are men… I am innocent of fault, but I will take my punishment. Never shall Lucretia provide a precedent for unchaste women to escape what they deserve.’ With these words she drew a knife from under her robe, drove it into her heart, and fell forward, dead.” The recount of the story, allows for Lucretia to take the blame for her rape. She would rather take her own life than live with the reputation of being unchaste. The death of Lucretia starts an overthrow of the king because of her deciding to kill herself. Livy chooses to highlight that Lucretia knew she was in the wrong for being raped, and she should take her punishment, death, because of it.

Livy’s retellings of the beginnings of Rome were encouraged by Augustus. Livy chooses to victim blame and discount the women within the stories. He accounts the events as “necessary for a great empire” and allows for the crimes of the Roman citizens to be dismissed. All of these claims made by Livy were under the encouragement of Augustus even though they directly violate his values. Augustus preached morality, however dismissing the rapes that started and ended the monarchy shows only care for the men involved.

Today, Augustus is prided as one of the greatest leaders of Rome. Many scholars regard Augustus as a great ruler that was extremely conscientious about the needs and health of his citizens. National Geographic cites some of Augustus’s greatest accomplishments to be “passing laws to encourage marriage stability, renewing religious practices, instituting a system of taxation and a census, and expanding the Roman roads.” Brittanica even calls him “one of the great administrative leaders of our history.” Augustus had many accomplishments that were great for the Roman empire, but his actions do not support his own values. He encouraged Virgil to create a false origin story that distracted from the horrors of the original origin story, while giving Augustus the ability to claim direct descent from the gods. Augustus also had Livy and Ovid rewrite the origin story and dismissed Ovid when he disagreed. Livy on the other hand created a work that Augustus approved of, but victim-blamed and dismissed the validity and citizenship of the women involved. Augustus wanted to found an empire that was created on “old Roman values” of monogamy, chastity, and piety. Livy’s dismissal of the Sabine women shows the acceptance of rape when it is to women that are not initially of Roman citizenship, and condemns rape (by blaming the woman) when it is done to a Roman citizen. The values that Augustus preaches don’t hold true within the works produced by his panel of authors. Augustus’s actions before and during his emperor-ship show the minimal care he has for his citizens, and the great care he has for himself and his legacy.

References

Encyclopædia Britannica, inc. (n.d.). Personality and achievement of Augustus. Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved April 24, 2022, from https://www.britannica.com/biography/Augustus-Roman-emperor/Personality-and-achievement

Livy, & Sélincourt De Aubrey. (1960). The early history of Rome. Penguin Books.

National Geographic Society. (2018, July 3). Caesar Augustus. National Geographic Society. Retrieved April 24, 2022, from https://www.nationalgeographic.org/encyclopedia/caesar-augustus/

Suetonius, G. T., Graves, R., & Grant, M. (2006). The Twelve caesars. Penguin.