Augustus, page 44
He refused to see Julia, and condemned her to exile on the tiny island of Pandateria. She was to be allowed no wine, no luxuries of any sort and virtually no male companionship – any man, whether slave or free, visiting the island on any duty was only permitted to go after Augustus had closely examined his appearance and character. Julia’s freedwoman Phoebe committed suicide, presumably from shame at having been involved or fear of punishment. Augustus said that he would have ‘preferred to be Phoebe’s father’. However, Julia’s mother Scribonia accompanied her daughter into exile. Some see this as a public refutation of the accusations of adultery, ignoring the simple possibility of a mother’s continued affection for her daughter and a willingness to forgive that was markedly absent in her former husband.40
Caesar Augustus’ response to the whole affair was one of rage, and he wanted all those involved to be punished and publicly shamed. In time his anger abated a little. After five years on the island Julia was allowed to move to a more comfortable villa on the mainland near Rhegium, but was still denied luxuries and male company. He was adamant in refusing to recall her in spite of several large demonstrations by crowds in Rome. In time he is said to have regretted his handling of the business, wishing that he had dealt with it privately. Seneca tells us that he complained that none of this would have happened if only Agrippa and Maecenas had still been alive to advise him. At the very least they would have told him the truth, and prevented the whole thing from happening – or at least stopped Julia’s misbehaviour from getting as bad as it did. Yet his old friends had gone, and so had the younger ones, leaving Augustus feeling old and isolated. More and more his hopes focused on Caius and Lucius.41
20
THE ‘SENTRY POST’
‘Mars comes, and at his coming he gave the sign of war. The Avenger descends himself from heaven to behold his own honours and his splendid temple in the Forum of Augustus. The god is huge, and so is the structure; not otherwise ought Mars to dwell in his son’s city . . . He beholds . . . the name of Augustus on the front of the temple; and the building seems to him still greater, when he reads the name of Caesar.’ Ovid, turn of the century BC to AD.1
Caius and Lucius were not damaged by their mother’s disgrace, and Julia had probably had little to do with their upbringing for some time. Both of the teenagers were now formally adults, and began to assume a more and more public role. Although 2 BC ended on a sour note of anger and betrayal for Augustus, the year was otherwise one of confident celebration and festivities, in which his sons played a prominent part. On 12 May Caius and Lucius presided over the games accompanying the inauguration of the Temple of Mars Ultor, the centrepiece of the new Forum of Augustus. This lay at a right angle to the Forum of Julius Caesar, which Augustus had largely built, and this in turn joined onto the main Forum Romanum, which he had transformed. In this way the public space at the heart of the City more than doubled in size, providing far more covered and open areas for administration, court sessions, ceremony and ritual. The need for this was real – the porticoes of the Forum of Augustus were put to use long before building work on the entire complex was complete. Many of Augustus’ own reforms created new officials and new tasks, or revived long-neglected practices. Structural renewal of this area was in many ways a physical sign of making the state function properly once again.2
Both Julius Caesar and Augustus purchased the land needed for their Forum projects, since almost none was in public hands. They paid for it from their own funds and then demolished houses, flats, shops and warehouses to create clear sites. Not all the owners were willing to sell, and none were compelled to do so – at least if the plot lay on the fringes of the planned complex. A young Caesar had vowed to build a temple to the avenging war god before Philippi, and it took forty years to fulfil this – some of the delay was no doubt due to the need to wait for land to become available. In the end he was unable to secure everything that he wanted; the Forum of Augustus is not symmetrical because one or two owners refused to sell, and so its north-eastern corner has an irregular shape. Perhaps it was frustrating for Augustus, but his willingness to accept this showed his respect for the rights of property and an unwillingness to override them even for the wider good of the state, let alone his own fame. In some ways the very imperfection of the new Forum was a more valuable symbol than perfect symmetry would have been.3
In every other respect no expense was spared. All of Augustus’ building projects were grand in both design and execution, even when this involved the deceptively simple restoration of archaic shrines. The remodelled Forum Romanum and the neatly planned Forum Julium were magnificent, intended to reflect the grandeur of Rome’s power and also as reminders that the current greatness and restoration was led by the princeps. The Forum Augustum outdid them both, and since it could only be accessed through two entrances its impact was enhanced. A high wall shut off all sight of the City streets beyond at the same time as it protected the monument from the risk of fire. The courtyard was paved in marble, arranged in colourful patterns. Modern ideas mixed with classical architecture in the design, and the porticoes included Caryatids – supporting pillars shaped like statues of women – which Agrippa had also employed in the Pantheon. Seeing these, an educated observer would immediately think of the Erechtheion, a temple built by Pericles in the fifth century BC on the Acropolis at Athens, invoking associations with the Athenians at their cultural and imperial height. Others might miss the reference, but would still see rows of elegant and delicately carved statues decorating the sides of the Forum – Pliny felt that the Forum of Augustus was one of the most beautiful buildings in the world. The invocation of a famous past was not rigid – the Caryatids in the Forum were in high relief, their backs flat and flush against the wall, unlike their models at Athens which were fully rounded, free-standing statues capable of bearing the weight of the roof.4
The Temple of Mars Ultor was faced in white Italian marble and approached by a wide flight of steps, with the main altar set into them. Roman temples were homes for the gods when they chose to visit the City rather than places of worship. Altars of all the main cults were almost invariably outside them – and certainly all animal sacrifices were made in the open air. At the front of the temple was a row of eight very high Corinthian columns, with matching rows down the left and right sides all supporting its tall pediment. The design mirrored the shape of the Temple of Venus in Julius Caesar’s Forum, but was half as big again. Venus and Mars were traditional Roman deities, strong protectors of the res publica, and the goddess was claimed as ancestor by the Julii. The clan also boasted of descent from the kings of Alba Longa, and that dynasty produced Rhea Silvia, who bore the twins Romulus and Remus to the god Mars. The Julii did not pretend to belong to that line, but more recently Julius Caesar and Augustus had claimed an association with Rome’s founder and his father the war god.
In the porticoes on either side of the courtyard were statues invoking the past. On the left stood Aeneas, and around him the kings of Alba Longa and the most notable of the Julii – the last not very numerous and no doubt including many men with modest records, for the family had enjoyed few periods of prominence. Opposite stood Romulus, surrounded by the ‘most distinguished men’ (summi viri) of Rome’s history, some of whom bolstered the numbers on the other side as well. Inscriptions, which Augustus certainly approved but probably did not write, recorded each man’s deeds. There were no foreigners, save the figures from the times before the foundation of Rome, and so far there is no direct evidence from the site for any women among their number. Julius Caesar was not included, since as the divine Julius he could not stand with mere mortals. Instead his statue was inside the temple with those of the gods.5
Aeneas was shown carrying his father Anchises from the wreck of Troy, and leading his son Iulus by the hand – an image common in private art of this era as well as official iconography. Scholarly opinion was divided over whether or not this Iulus was in truth the ancestor of the Julii and ultimately Rome’s founder, but there was no certainty and at the very least the Julian version was felt to be plausible. Romulus’ statue showed him carrying the spolia opima and unsurprisingly the focus was mainly on martial glory and especially on men who had triumphed.
It was intended as a parade of those who had helped to make Rome great, and was not overtly partisan, including both Sulla and Marius, as well as Pompey the Great. The inscriptions emphasised victories over foreign enemies, and seem to have kept any mention of involvement in civil war brief and neutral. In the case of Marius it told of the defeat of Jugurtha in Numidia, the wars against the Cimbri and Teutones and his successive consulships, and in approving tones of his suppression of the tribune Saturninus in 100 BC, before concluding more neutrally that ‘at the age of seventy he was expelled from his country by civil war, and restored by force of arms. He became consul for the seventh time.’6
Augustus declared that the statues of the summi viri were there so that people could measure his own achievements and those of future principes against the heroes of the past. It was obvious from the design of the complex what conclusion he expected them to reach in his own case. Alone, in the centre of the courtyard leading up to the temple, was a bronze statue of Imperator Caesar Augustus riding in a four-horse chariot like a triumphing general. This was his Forum, and the newly awarded title of pater patriae was carved on the statue’s base. This was also a view of Roman history placing him squarely in the centre, associated with gods and heroes from the origins of the City down to his own generation. Augustus identified himself with the success of Rome, as the worthy heir to such great men since he had led the state to its greatest achievements of power and prosperity. Indeed, he was the link between all these disparate figures, both human and divine, the son of one of the deities whose images stood in the temple.7
The Forum of Augustus celebrated his leadership and Rome’s glory. Its porticoes would house court sessions, and the Temple of Mars Ultor would play a central role in the state’s life. At long last the eagles recaptured from the Parthians were given a permanent home, while any other Roman military standards lost and recovered in the future would also be placed in the shrine. Whenever the Senate met to discuss the declaration of war or the award of a triumph they would convene in this temple. From here commanders would set out for their provinces and here they would return, and those who won triumphs would receive statues within the Forum. It was also decreed that from now on any aristocratic boy assuming the toga of manhood would do so at the temple, reminding him that this brought with it an obligation to serve the state in war if necessary.
Caius and Lucius were given some form of temporary authority to preside over the games, which included beast fights where 260 lions were killed in the Circus Maximus. A little later, the Circus Flaminius was flooded – or perhaps a section of it temporarily turned into a small lake – and the crowd treated to the sight of thirty-six crocodiles being slaughtered by professional hunters. Perhaps this was intended as commemoration of the victory in Egypt, but the killing of such exotic creatures was a common entertainment – just as the tiger presented to Augustus by the Indian ambassadors most probably ended up in the arena at Rome. Human beings also died to entertain the people, and grand gladiatorial games were once again staged in the Saepta. Not all the entertainments were intentionally lethal. Augustus’ grandson, the ten-year-old Agrippa Postumus, rode in the Trojan Games – Suetonius says that Augustus felt this ritual was a good way for young noblemen to be introduced to the public. These were not serious fights, but even so were sometimes dangerous, and on one occasion the princeps presented a golden torque to a senator’s son who was permanently lamed by a bad fall from his horse during the games. Asinius Pollio’s grandson also broke a leg in this way – quite possibly in 2 BC – and his criticism of the sport in the Senate was so determined and well reasoned that Augustus soon ceased to celebrate them.8
The fourteen administrative regions of Rome
PAST AND PRESENT
One of the longest-remembered aspects of this festival was grander and more expensive than any previous entertainment staged at Rome. This was the naumachia Augusti – the naval battle of Augustus. An artificial lake measuring 1,800 by 1,200 Roman feet was dug on the west bank of the Tiber and filled with water supplied by a specially built aqueduct, the Aqua Alsietina, which ran for more than twenty miles. The theme was the Battle of Salamis in 480 BC, where the Greeks, led by the Athenians, had shattered the navy of the invading Persians, and if not quite so big as the real thing it was grand enough. Augustus later boasted that altogether ‘thirty beaked warships, triremes or biremes, and many more smaller vessels fought. Around 3,000 men fought, not including the rowers.’ It is unclear how this fight worked, and how far it was mock or real. Given the Romans’ tastes, no doubt it was not wholly bloodless, but presumably it also involved considerable stage management. More than two centuries later, Dio says that you could still see some of the structures put up for this, while Velleius speaks of the Roman crowd’s appetite for entertainment being ‘sated’ by the magnificence of these games.9
Dio also tells us that the Greeks won the fight, perhaps implying that the struggle was genuine and the outcome uncertain, although more than likely this was the hoped-for result. With echoes of the Acropolis in the new Forum, and the restaging of Athens’ greatest victory, there was clearly a desire to be associated with the glories of the classical past and the heights of Greek culture so revered by educated Romans. In those years Athens was a democracy, led by elected leaders such as Pericles rather than tyrants or kings. Perhaps Augustus had a particular interest in invoking this, and thus presenting himself as such a leader, but we should not push this idea too far. It is unconvincing to claim that in earlier years he had thought more like a Hellenistic monarch from the age of Alexander the Great and his successors, and thus constructed gaudily decorated monuments like the Temple of Apollo, before turning to a more restrained architectural style befitting the leader of a free state.10
The clear distinction between the classical Greece of city states and the Hellenistic era of monarchies is largely an invention of modern scholarship. Romans fond of Greek culture saw no reason to restrict themselves to ‘superior’ styles and literature of the fifth and early fourth centuries and ignore later works. Also we should remember that the Forum of Augustus was every bit as spectacular as any monument built in earlier years, and as celebratory of the person of the princeps. Not only that, but two famous paintings of Alexander the Great were displayed within it, as were several statues, so the aim was clearly to invoke great victories and victors of the past without being tied too closely to their political context.11
The same building and the same symbols could be associated with more than one theme, and it is hard to believe that the sight of a grand naval spectacular did not evoke as many thoughts of Actium as it did of Salamis. Both could be portrayed as victories of civilisation over barbarism and of west over east, the recent triumph of Augustus worthily ranked alongside the greatest events of history, just as the summi viri added to the grandeur of his Forum. By association Caesar Augustus appropriated the glories of the past, taking all that was best. Thus he took men like Marius, Sulla and Pompey, stripped away the negative associations of the civil wars, and turned them into his predecessors, men who had added to Rome’s power which culminated in his own achievements. It was much the same as Virgil’s appropriation of an idealised Cato to act as judge in the underworld. Augustus openly expressed admiration for Cato the Younger, praising anyone who wanted to preserve the state as it was. The dead had no say over their use by the new regime, and such an inclusive view of history reinforced the sense that the partisanship of the civil wars was firmly in the past. Even former enemies – and others unlikely to have favoured Caesar Augustus and his permanent supremacy – provided examples of virtues admired and claimed by the princeps.12
The use of Julius Caesar’s bitterest enemies stopped short of full rehabilitation. Pompey and Cato were employed as sanitised versions of the real men, and if their imperfections and bad decisions were remembered these served only to highlight the ‘better’ record of the princeps. Praising some of their deeds and characters should not be seen as tacit criticism of Julius Caesar. It is an article of faith among scholars that Augustus consciously distanced himself from the dictator, repeated so often that it is never really questioned even though it runs contrary to the evidence. The convention of calling him Octavian and then Augustus has encouraged this, and helps us to forget that for all his changes of name after 44 BC, he was always called Caesar. It is true that he more often invoked his father in the years of his rise to power than later on, but even this was less marked than has been claimed. He was still Caesar Augustus, finished many of the dictator’s projects, and in the new Forum celebrated his Julian ancestry. Wider Roman history and its heroes were added to this family and their associations, with Aeneas and Venus, Romulus and Mars. This was private family history welded to state history, just as the monument combined private and public glory. The poet Ovid stressed that the Temple of Mars Ultor showed the fulfilment of vengeance both for the murder of Julius Caesar and the return of the lost standards by a humbled Parthia. Here as elsewhere, Augustus elevated himself and his family to the centre of public life, his personal achievements seamlessly interwoven with the wider good.13
