The period of the reign of Octavian is my favorite period to live in the history of Rome, if given the opportunity. The future emperor Augustus was born into an equestrian family as Gaius Octavian. He was the grandnephew and adopted son of Julius Caesar. Octavian served under Julius Caesar and on hearing Caesar’s assassination and learning that he was mentioned in Caesar’s will, his desire to avenge Caesar’s murder escalated. He succeeded in winning over many of Caesar’s supporters, including some of the legions. Octavian was forced to distribute Caesar’s legacies to the Roman public from whatever funds he was able to raise himself after Mark Anthony failed to hand him Caesar’s assets and documents. Such efforts to see Caesar’s will done helped raise Octavian’s standing with the Roman people considerably.
According to Greer, Octavian’s forces defeated those of Anthony and Cleopatra in a decisive naval engagement near Actium in Greece. He then became the sole master, the third to rule Rome, and the one who finally managed to turn military dictatorship into legitimate and permanent monarchy. Greer, Thomas H, and Gavin Lewis. A Brief History of the Western World, 9th ed. (Boston, MA: Wadsworth Publishing, 2005), 119. But this position had once been held before by Julius Caesar. Octavian was not one to forget what fate had befallen Caesar. In order to prevent a similar demise, he needed to create a new constitution. He completed the reforms and reconstruction started by Caesar. Octavian ‘surrendered’ all his power to the senate – thus restoring the Republic and refused all offers of kingly honors and referred to simply as princeps (‘first citizen’). It was a purely symbolical sacrifice as he receiving most of the very same power right back again. He was continually re-elected as consul and further received the name ‘Augustus’, meaning ‘revered’.
According to Greer, Augustus also tried to restore the ancient Roman virtues, which had been corrupted by the spoils of conquest. Greer and Lewis, A Brief History of the Western World, 122. He tried to set personal examples and guide Romans back to the virtuous paths of the old Republic. He imposed stricter laws on personal behavior, adultery, and divorce, and encouraged poets to praise high-mindedness, noble conduct, and love of country.Augustus was undoubtedly one of the most talented, energetic and skillful administrators that the world has ever known. The enormously far-reaching work of reorganization and rehabilitation which he undertook in every branch of his vast empire created a new Roman peace with unprecedented prosperity. Following in the footsteps of Julius Caesar, he won genuine popular support by hosting games, erecting new buildings, and by other measures to the general good. Augustus restored temples, built grand new buildings like the Theatre of Apollo, the Horologium and the great Mausoleum of Augustus.
According to Greer, Augustus showed his respect for local institutions and encouraged provincial leaders to fulfill their responsibilities. He kept control over the affairs of the empire as a whole in Rome, but control over local affairs he left to the individual provinces. Greer and Lewis, A Brief History of the Western World, 121. This has given Augustus maximum but peaceful control over the entire Rome. He refused to be a dictator to run everything by himself and created opportunities for other citizens to partake in running the affairs of the country, avoiding power corruption and helping him to reform, construct and expand the Empire. Most of all, Augustus appeared to appreciate that his personal standing and security benefitted from governing in the public interest. Augustus was no great military commander, but he possessed enough common sense to recognize that this was so. And so he relied on Agrippa, his left arm man, to do his fighting for him. But even though he had to rely on one of his generals to bring the wars to a successful conclusion, Augustus achieved vast gains in imperial territory as well as in the standing of Rome and was seen as a powerful and intelligent commander in chief.
Under Augustus the army was thoroughly reorganized, strengthened and posted away from Italy into the provinces. He also remodeled the civil service and substantially rebuilt some parts of Rome, even contributing his personal money to the treasury department for improvement in their affairs. No-one could ever have foreseen the success of Augustus’ reign. His long life only went to further create him and his family as the natural rulers in the eyes of the Roman people.
During his final years Augustus withdrew more and more from public life. He left Rome for the last time and fell ill on the way to Capri and, after four days resting on Capri, when they crossed back to the mainland Augustus at last passed away. The body was taken to Rome and given a stately funeral and his ashes were then placed in his Mausoleum.
The rule of Octavian is so successful and very attractive to me as an appraiser of democracy, peace, respect, love as displayed by the emperor. He came to power as a young man and built upon the skills and knowledge gained from his father to construct a powerful empire that lasted for many years even after his death. He did not ignore the rest of the citizens but included their decision in undertaking any major project for the country. This has created trust and respect for the young Octavian and gave him the vote of the people. In our current world, many leaders are egoistic and really mostly on their power and their own decision making capabilities to undertake many national projects. This has resulted in the violence and mistrust among citizens of many nations such as the Arab spring which is blowing in the Middle East. The Octavian rule is one of the best regimes in the Roman History as far as I’m concerned.
