The Augustan Settlement

  1. The Position of Octavian in 31-27 BC
    1. Head of a party that monopolized the civilian and military structure of society ...700 senators[of about 1000] served under my command in the war against Antony rg 25.3.
    2. Beholden both to party (its members) and to the local elites ("landed gentry") of Italy...The whole of Italy voluntarily swore allegiance to me and demanded me as the leader the the war in which I was citoriious at Actium, rg 25.2 ; also note the change in policy on settling veterans. I paid cash to the towns for the lands I assigned to soldiers [rg 16; after 30BC]
    3. Victor in foreign, not civil, war (officially)
  2. The Problem: Though the republican constitution had not functioned effectively since 60 BC, respectable opinion ("landed gentry".....why these people?) was still very much attached to its constitutional forms. Octavian had restored peace and order but as triumvir his position was outside (extralegal) these forms. Tradition and his propaganda (he was, among other notions, "triumvir for the reordering of the constitution") demanded some kind of restoration of traditional government.
  3. The Questions:
    1. What form was the restoration to take?
    2. How was he going to legitimize his position and, at the same time, to reward his followers in the army and in the senate and to do so without endangering himself or the peace?  (To rule he need both constitutional power and moral authority (= auctoritas).
  4. The Evolution of his Legal and Extra-legal Status:   Note Tacitus' comments: RC I, p. 556...(gift giving critical)
    1. In 28 BC, Octavian was still exercising the powers of a triumvir (i.e., powers superior to magistrates and laws RC-I §195; rg c. 7); he was consul continuously. Aside from these more or less legal powers (I 194, 195 c.34), Octavian was also the leader of a victorious party (I 197; II 3) and the restorer and guarantor of peace (I 194, 195 c.34; II 7 esp the passage from Strabo). He was the wealthiest individual and the "son of god" (I 195 cc15-8). All citizens and subjects (not just soldiers) had sworn an oath (I 201; II 3; rg. c. 25) of allegiance to him (and not to the state). These make (I 195 c.34) up his auctoritas (see below). Civic crown for "saving the lives of citizens".
    2. In January, 27 BC, Octavian gave up his extralegal powers (I 194), but retained the consulate. The senate, thankful for the beneficium, gave him a special command (imperium but an imperium that was disconnected from any office and greater) of all the armed provinces for ten years (this was renewed regularly) and the title of Augustus.
    3. Legal powers: The Roman Revolution was completed in the sense that one man now combined the two institutions that had overthrown the republic (the tribune of the people and the commander of a special army). They form the basis of the imperial government from the legal point of view.
      1. proconsular imperium maius (= the power of the consul, superior (I 194, 201) to the imperium of any other magistrate and valid throughout the empire and in Rome (I 195; II 5). He could not be vetoed by another magistrate. Constitution persists, but its basic feature was undermined.
      2. tribunicia potestas = personal sacrosanctity.
    4. In 12 BC, he was elected pontifex maximus; and in 2 BC given the title pater patriae (=father of his country; rg. c. 35).
    5. The accession of Tiberius by peaceful means guaranteed the continuation of system.
    6. Critical evidence, in the words of Augustus himself...: 
      34) In [28 and 27 B.C.] after I had put an end to civil war, having attained supreme power by universal consent, I transferred the State from my own power to the control of the Roman Senate and People [SPQR]. For this service of mine [on January 13 and 16, 27 B.C.] I received THE TITLE OF AUGUSTUS by Decree of the Senate; the doorposts of my house were publicly decked with laurels; the CIVIC CROWN was affixed over my doorway; and a Golden Shield was set up in the Julian Senate House, which (as the inscription on this Shield testifies) 'the Roman Senate and People gave me in recognition of my valor, clemency, justice, and devotion'.  After that time I excelled all in authority, but possessed no more power than the others who were my colleagues in each magistracy.       That is, he is officially first among equals = primus inter pares aka princeps
      (35) When I held my thirteenth  consulate (=2 BC) the Senate, the equestrian order, and the entire Roman people gave me the title "father of the country" and decreed that this title would be inscribed in the vestibule of my house, in the Julian senate house, and in the Augustan Forum...
      Oath (in an earlier lecture) now taken by all.       More of them in RC II, §3
    7. Note also: The offices established by the laws, it is true, are maintained even now...and yet, in order to preserve the appearance of having this authority not through their power by virtue of the laws, the emperors have taken to themselves all the offices (including the titles) which under the Republic possessed great power, Dio, Roman history = RC I §194
  5. Synthesis
    1. Political solution:
      1. Augustus' position was based on both legally defined powers (imperium, trib. pot., pontifex maximus, etc.) and his auctoritas (head of party, guarantor of order, son of god, restorer of the republic, pater patriae, etc.). His image was to be seen everywhere.
      2. He had separated the powers of office from the office itself; i.e., he had the powers of the offices without being constrained by the conventions surrounding that office (could not be vetoed by colleague)..
      3. He claimed to have held no power greater than that of any of his colleagues after 27 BC (rg 6: "I refused to accept any office offered to me that was contrary to the traditions of our ancestors"). This is deceptive.. why?
      4. That is, he is officially first among equals = primus inter pares aka princeps
    2. He was the head of a patronage system that reached through his immediate friends to the senate and down to all levels of society.
  6. Legitimacy: conferred by the Senate and the People
    1. The People had conferred legitimacy in 32 BC when they took the oath of allegiance to him personally. This was confirmed by the award of tribunician power in 22.
    2. The Senate legitimized his position in the Settlement of 27 BC and as individual senators sought and received offices and honors in Augustus' restored state. RC I p.579, the last paragraph from Suetonius.
    3. He could legitimately claim that peace and order depended on his "charismatic leadership"; but unlike other "charismatic leaders" he did put in place the necessary institutions so that the continuity of government and institutions was assured.
  7. Thinking about the broader implications of the problem...
  8. The role of moral reform and the establishment of the pax deorum will come in the next lecture