Augustus, page 50
THE LAST YEARS
Yet for the moment the province between the Rhine and the Elbe was lost – every excavated Roman garrison and civilian settlement in the area was abruptly abandoned at this time. Tiberius spent the next four campaigning seasons either on the Rhine or leading punitive expeditions to the east, and he was later joined by Germanicus. Few details survive of these campaigns, but they seem gradually to have advanced further from the security of the Rhine, burning villages, destroying crops, stealing herds and flocks, and killing or capturing anyone they could catch. The Romans called this vastatio – devastation – and were very good at it, but it is clear that they still faced serious opposition. As the man who had destroyed the legions, Arminius’ power grew and he came to lead not only many of the Cherusci, but warriors from other tribes as well. The defeat of Varus had shattered the Romans’ aura of invincibility as thoroughly as the rapid Japanese conquests of Hong Kong, Malaya and Burma in 1941–2 broke the reputation of the British Empire throughout the Far East. It is extremely difficult – perhaps impossible – to recover from such humiliating failures.18
The centre of Rome by AD 14
The campaigns in Germany continued for the rest of Augustus’ life, and it is clear that he still hoped to regain the lost province. Yet many of the achievements were more symbolic than practical. In AD 11 Tiberius and Germanicus combined their forces for the first major expedition across the Rhine, but little fighting resulted. Arminius and the other German leaders were too sensible to risk a battle on the Romans’ terms, and the Roman commanders were equally cautious and so did not press the Germans too far. On 23 September, while still in enemy territory, they celebrated Augustus’ birthday with a series of horse races organised by their centurions, before withdrawing to the Rhine. As yet there was no sign of winning vengeance for the defeat or recovering lost standards, but the confident advance of the Romans at least suggested that everything was under way to ensure that Rome eventually emerged victorious.19
An ongoing war offered Tiberius further opportunity to prove his worth and display his willingness to labour on behalf of the state. He continued to return to Rome each winter, and from either AD 9 or AD 10 he customarily took his place in the Senate or other public meetings sitting beside Augustus between the two consuls. It may well be that several of the letters written by the princeps to Tiberius, and later quoted by Suetonius, date to these years. His excerpts were designed to prove Augustus’ affection, such as: ‘I have nothing but praise for your conduct of the war, my dear Tiberius, and am sure no one could have acted more prudently in the face of so many difficulties and an army lacking in spirit.’ ‘When I hear and read that you are exhausted by constant labours, may the gods correct me if my own body doesn’t ache in sympathy. I beg you to spare yourself, lest hearing of your illness slay your mother and me, and place the Roman people at peril . . .’ ‘It does not matter whether or not I am well, if you are not.’ As usual, there were plenty of quotations and witty Greek tags intended to reinforce his points.20
In January AD 10 Tiberius dedicated the restored Temple of Concord in the Forum in his own and his brother Drusus’ name, paying for the work with the profits of the wars in Germany – probably the earlier successful campaigns rather than the recent ones. The triumph awarded him for Illyricum was postponed until 12 October AD 12, and the occasion was marked by the extension of his proconsular imperium to cover the entire empire and not simply the western provinces where he was already running the war effort. Augustus had also been hailed as imperator for the defeat of the rebellion, but as usual chose not to celebrate a triumph. By the end of his life he had been hailed as imperator no fewer than twenty-one times – an utterly unprecedented total that was never matched in the future. Germanicus was awarded ornamenta triumphalia for the suppression of the Balkan rebellion and was consul for AD 12 at the age of twenty-six. He had skipped the praetorship, and Tiberius’ actual son Drusus was quaestor in AD 11 and also marked down for an early consulship.21
Before the news of the disaster in Germany had reached Rome, one of Augustus’ main concerns in AD 9 was an outburst of resentment at his legislation encouraging marriage and the raising of children. Although most agreed that this was an admirable ambition, they disliked the penalties imposed on the unmarried and the childless, which among other things restricted the ability to inherit estates from anyone outside the close family. In the past, rich childless men or women found it easy to win friends among those hoping to receive a bequest when they died. Not only was this made more difficult, but if there were no family members to inherit, then it was possible for the money and property to go to the state. Raising the three or more children encouraged by the laws was expensive, especially if funds were needed to give all of them equestrian or senatorial status, let alone provide for the expenses of a comfortable life.22
These laws were inevitably of most concern to the wealthy, and during the celebration of some games a group of equites were especially forceful in their demands for the laws to be repealed. Augustus responded with a public meeting, where he displayed Germanicus’ growing family as an example, and then supposedly divided the assembled equestrians into those with children and – a far greater number – those without children. Either at this meeting or at another in the Senate he presented a speech, which was probably read out by someone else. For some time the quaestor allocated to him each year performed this task, and it is known that Germanicus also did this for him during these years. He repeated his arguments for the necessity of raising future generations, quoting at length from a famous speech delivered in the second century BC admonishing the senators of that age for failing to marry and raise enough children.23
The only concession Augustus made was a modified version of the law which was presented later in the year by the suffect consuls – both of whom ironically enough were single and had no children. The precise differences between the lex Papia Poppaea and the earlier law are difficult to understand, since later jurists conflated the two, but it is clear that it was still considered as harsh by the elite. In the long run it could not prevent the trend towards the extinction of the old aristocratic families, which ultimately had more to do with the high infant mortality rate than anything the state could control. The law did yield some revenue, and also emphasised what Augustus considered to be proper dutiful and moral behaviour for Romans – something probably especially relevant in the nervous months after the loss of Varus and his legions.24
These were difficult years, made worse by serious flooding in AD 12, which disrupted one of the major festivals. Caesar Augustus was old, and the prospect of a world without him loomed ever larger. Horoscopes, long an obsession of many Romans especially among the aristocracy, became even more popular. Augustus banned anyone from privately seeking forecasts from seers and astrologers, and even if a group went to consult one of these they were forbidden to ask about the end of anyone’s life. At the same time the princeps published the details of his own birth and the star positions at the time, allowing those who were able to cast his horoscope if they chose. A year before, he also relaxed the ban on equestrians fighting as gladiators since several were ignoring it and appearing in the arena. The crowds seemed to like the appearances of wealthy men who chose to risk life and limb in this way, and even Augustus watched with every sign of enjoyment.25
Yet the princeps was not always inclined to such openness, generosity and willingness to ignore flouted laws. Around this time the books written by Titus Labienus were confiscated and publicly burnt. Grandson of the man who was Julius Caesar’s lieutenant in Gaul, but had joined Pompey in 49 BC, he had the habit at public readings of his works of saying that he would skip the next passage and only permit it to be read after his death. Such dark hints seemed all the more sinister when compared to the virulent attacks he openly made on plenty of important public figures, although whether he slandered them or reminded them of past actions which now seemed indiscreet or inconvenient is harder to say. With that Roman fondness for punning, contemporaries nicknamed him Rabienus or ‘rabid’. As far as we can tell he did not attack Augustus or his close family, but may well have written with favour of Pompey and other enemies of Julius Caesar. Labienus committed suicide in angry protest at the destruction of his work.26
The equally acerbic orator Cassius Severus boasted that he knew the destroyed works by heart. He was known for his determined and extremely aggressive prosecutions in court, but was also fond of writing pamphlets insulting prominent men and women in the fine old tradition of Roman rhetorical abuse. Once again, Augustus is unlikely to have been one of the targets, but around AD 12 he permitted a prosecution under the maiestas law remodelled in AD 6 and dealing with the vague concept of offences damaging the ‘majesty’ of the Roman state and people. It seems to have been the first time this was employed in answer to written and spoken attacks on individuals. Cassius was found guilty and sent into exile in the comparative luxury of Crete. Under Tiberius and his successors, maiestas became overwhelmingly concerned with perceived disloyalty to the emperor, and such trials became ever more common – as indeed did censorship. Such hindsight makes this seem a particularly sinister development, but perhaps more importantly we should note that the barrage of insults and abuse was also a sign of continuing enmities between members of the elite that had little or nothing to do with the princeps. Rivalry for office and honours also continued. In 11 BC the sixteen candidates for the praetorship were so closely tied that Augustus permitted all of them to hold the office, even though afterwards he reverted to the normal twelve in a year.27
Further measures were taken to lighten the burden of work and ceremony on the elderly Augustus. In AD 12 Germanicus read out a speech in the Senate in which the princeps asked that the senators no longer formally greet and bid him farewell when he arrived at and left the Forum. He also asked that they come to greet him less frequently when he was at home, and asked for their pardon if he was no longer able to dine at their homes as often as in the past. In the following year the consilium principis, which for so long had acted as a sounding board of senatorial opinion, was fundamentally altered. Instead of consisting of senators picked by lot and serving for six months, membership became permanent and all were selected by the princeps. It was also given greater authority, so that its decisions now counted as if they were decrees of the entire Senate. No doubt it was easier for the elderly Augustus to conduct a good deal of business in the comfort of his house – Dio notes that sometimes he would recline on a couch at meetings of this body.28
One other obvious consequence of this change was to further the influence of Tiberius and his sons, preparing the way for the succession when the princeps died. Yet it would be wrong to see Augustus as a mere puppet in all this. It is clear that he continued to undertake a considerable amount of work and make important decisions, even if guided by advisers and family. There were still traces of the experienced and wily politician. In AD 13 complaints grew about the five per cent inheritance tax levied to fund the aerarium militare. Augustus’ response was to invite senators to suggest their own solutions for providing secure and steady funding for the Military Treasury – a vital thing at any time, but especially with the continuing war in Germany. Tiberius was away, and Germanicus and Drusus were instructed not to express any opinion on the matter in case this was seen as their grandfather’s view. The Senate discussed the issue, and submitted a few proposals in writing to the princeps. None seemed practical and were essentially a hearty rejection of the current system without offering a viable alternative. Caesar Augustus then announced that he was favouring a levy on property, and sent men to begin the process of registering everyone for the new tax. A nervous Senate quickly agreed that they would be happier with the old inheritance tax rather than face so uncertain a prospect. The princeps declared himself equally happy to accept so sensible a decision.29
Also in AD 13 he was awarded another ten-year extension of his province and powers. At the same time Tiberius was finally granted these in full, and in the last years his head had begun to appear on the reverse side of coins which had Augustus on the face. The two colleagues were also granted consular powers to supervise a census which was completed by May AD 14 and enrolled 4,937,000 citizens – almost 900,000 more than were named in the first census the princeps had overseen in 28 BC. For Augustus, this growth was a visible sign of his success in restoring peace and prosperity to the Roman people. It was now forty-three years since the suicide of Antony, and Caesar Augustus was in his seventy-sixth year. Dio talks of omens that hinted that a change was coming. One occurred when a madman ran out to the procession of gods and symbols paraded at the games and sat in the chair of office of Julius Caesar; another when lightning struck the letter C of Caesar on the base of a statue of Augustus on the Capitoline Hill – AESAR was the Etruscan word for god and was taken to hint at impending deification. Suetonius claims that when the completion of the census was marked by the usual ceremony, an eagle flew several times above Augustus and then perched on a temple pediment just above the first letter in the name of Agrippa. The princeps had been about to read out a formal vow for the welfare of the Roman people in the five years up to the next census, but instead he had Tiberius do this for him, commenting that he would not be there to see the promises through.30
THE FINAL JOURNEYS
At some point in the year, the princeps is supposed to have undertaken a long journey, sailing to the island off Sardinia where Postumus Agrippa was held. He was accompanied by only a single aristocratic attendant, the former consul Paullus Fabius Maximus, who died within the year. Many scholars dismiss the story as an invention intended to cast doubt over Augustus’ true feelings over the succession. Yet it is hard to believe that tales could circulate claiming that he had left Rome for so long a period unless this was at least plausible, and so it may have occurred. It may also be true that Augustus and his grandson – once his son – had a tearful reunion. What is clear is that this made no difference to his plans. The princeps had drawn up his will the previous year and lodged it with the Vestals, and made no attempt to change it. Tiberius was primary heir to two-thirds of his estate, with Livia receiving the remaining third. Agrippa was not named other than to stipulate that he and the two Julias were not to be interred in Augustus’ Mausoleum.31
The census had kept Tiberius in Italy for most of the year, but late in the summer he was to go to Illyricum on a brief tour to check that the province was still stable and secure. No doubt there were plenty of petitions and local disputes to answer, but there is no suggestion of any threat to the overall peace of the region. It was simply a convenient distance at which he could perform a useful and prestigious task and yet still be able to return to Rome for the winter. Augustus and Livia accompanied him on the start of his journey, planning to go as far as Beneventum in part because the princeps wanted to attend games in his honour to be held in Naples. The party travelled south-west to the port of Astura, where they took ship – breaking his habit of sailing only in the daytime because the wind was favourable. Overnight Caesar Augustus fell ill with stomach trouble that manifested itself as diarrhoea.32
It did not seem especially serious, and the ship sailed on southwards along the coast to Capri, where he kept a villa – the one with the collection of fossils. As they approached the major port of Puteoli, they were passed by a merchant ship from Alexandria, whose crew and passengers greeted him almost as worshippers. Clad in white, crowned with garlands, they burned incense – perhaps already engaged in an offering to mark their safe arrival. Enthusiastically they called out to Caesar Augustus that it was ‘through him they lived, through him they sailed, and through him they enjoyed freedom and prosperity’. The princeps was delighted, and gave each of his party forty gold aurei (a sum equivalent to 1,000 denarii or 4,000 sesterces) with the instruction that they should spend it only on goods from Alexandria.33
He spent four days relaxing on Capri and seemed now to be recovering from his illness. His festive spirit and fondness for parties and jokes prompted him to give out Greek costume to his Roman companions, and Roman costume to his Greek friends. He would then bid them all to wear them. As part of the game, the Romans were to speak Greek and the Greeks were to speak Latin. During these days he watched with interest the exercises of the local ephebes, a legacy of the long-standing Greek settlement and influence in the area. These youths went through a vaguely military training of fitness and drills – the ephebeia – before they were acknowledged as fully adult citizens of their communities. Augustus gave them a feast, during which he threw tickets for prizes, such as fruit and delicacies, to the crowd, and encouraged them to joke, even at his expense. On another day he joked with one of Tiberius’ entourage, asking the man to suggest the author of the couple of lines of poetry he had just composed as if they were quotes.
Still troubled by periodic attacks of diarrhoea, Augustus felt well enough to cross to Naples and watch the games honouring him. After that, he journeyed with Tiberius as far as Beneventum and there bade him farewell. Turning for home, Caesar Augustus had made only the short journey to his villa at Nola before the illness returned more severely. It was the country house where his father had died, and perhaps this coincidence more readily convinced him that the end was near. A message was sent recalling Tiberius, who most probably had followed the Appian Way towards the great port at Brundisium. Our sources disagree over whether or not the princeps’ adopted son reached his father before he died, but Suetonius, who presents the most detailed and convincing account, claims that he did. They spent a long time alone together discussing affairs of state. Yet when Tiberius left, it was claimed that attendants heard Augustus mutter, ‘Oh unlucky Roman People, to be masticated by such slow jaws.’34
