Res Gestae §1:
At the age of 19, on my own initiative and at my own expense [privato consilio et privata impensa], I raised an army by means of which I liberated the Republic [rem publicam… in libertatem vindicavi], which was oppressed by the tyranny of a faction. For which reason the senate, with honorific degrees, made me a member of its order... giving me at the same time consular rank in voting, and granted me the imperium. It ordered me as propraetor, together with the consuls, to see to it that the state suffered no harm [res publica ne quid detrimenti caperet]. Moreover, in the same year, when both consuls had fallen in the war, the people elected me consul and a triumvir for the settlement of the Commonwealth [triumvirum rei publicae constituendae].
From the notice of proscriptions in 43:
No one is to harbor or conceal any of the persons listed below in this register, or arrange to convey them anywhere else, or be induced by payment to do so. If any person is discovered to have saved, assisted, or been privy to information about them, we regard such a person as one of the proscribed, and we exclude the possibility of excuse or pardon. The killers are to bring the heads of their victims to us: For each, a freeman will receive 25,000 denarii, and a slave will receive his personal freedom, 10,000 denarii, and Roman citizenship for his master. The same will hold for informers, and to preserve anonymity the names of none of those who receive awards will be noted in our records [Appian, Civil Wars, IV.11].
An edict of Augustus:
May it be my privilege to set up a sound and secure state [salvam ac sospitem rem publicam sistere] and thereby to reap the fruit I desire, that I may be called the author of the best possible constitution [optimi status auctor] and bear with me when I pass on the hope that the foundations of the state which I will have laid down [fundamenta rei publicae quae iecero] will remain unshaken [Suetonius, Divus Augustus §28].
Res Gestae §34
...having attained supreme power by universal consent, I transferred the state from my own power to the control of the Roman senate and people [per consensum universorum potitus rerum omnium, rem publicam ex mea potestate in senatus populique Romani arbitrium transtuli].
After that time I excelled all in authority [auctoritate omnibus praestiti], but I possessed no more power [potestatis] than the others who were my colleagues in each magistracy.
Some Key Roman Political Terms
res publica — republic, state, government, commonwealth
optimates — elite faction
populares — popular faction
dictator
triumvir
princeps
imperium — power to rule
potestas — formal power attached to an office
auctoritas — authority of prestige or reputation
Honors and Titles from Gaius Octavius to the Divine Augustus
Period of Ascendancy:
63 Gaius Octavius born.
49 Julius Caesar marches on Rome, briefly assumes dictatorship.
46 Caesar made dictator for a ten year term.
45 Senate offers Caesar consulship for ten years, renames seventh month "Juli", grants the use of "Imperator" as a hereditary name.
44 Caesar accepts dictatorship for life and is murdered; the will adopts Octavius as heir; he is now called Caesar by allies, Octavius by opponents, Octavian by historians.
43 Octavian made senator, granted imperium (the legal right to command his army), charged to defend the state; Octavian marches on Rome, is elected consul, has his adoption legally recognized, holds a trial to convict the assassins; Octavian, Marcus Antonius, and Lepidus appointed to triumvirate ("tresviri rei publicae constituendae" -- compare the abolished "Dictator rei publicae constituendae"); proscription of opponents.
42 Julius Caesar declared divine, Octavian is now "divi filius"; assassins Brutus and Cassius defeated at Phillipi, Octavian celebrates his first triumph.
36 Sextus Pompeius defeated; Octavian voted a triumph, granted the right to wear a laurel wreath and either tribunician sacrosanctity or power (unclear) for life; Lepidus falls from power.
32 War declared on Cleopatra, companion of Antonius; Octavian demands oath of loyalty to his person among population under his control.
31 Octavian elected consul, subsequently re-elected each year through 23; naval victory at Actium.
30 Octavian victorious at Alexandria, Antonius and Cleopatra dead; Egypt becomes special province of Octavian where senators are forbidden to travel (see temple portrait of Pharoah).
29 Octavian celebrates triple triumph, awarded the right to wear a triumphal crown at festivals, the right to elevate citizens to patrician status, the right revise the membership of the senate; new Forum dedicated; gates of Janus closed.
28 Octavian declared princeps senatus for life.
Period of Constitutional Settlements:
27 Octavian "transferred the state from my own power to the control of the senate and people of Rome"; senate decrees the name "Augustus", the adornment of his house with laurel, the corona civica for saving the lives of citizens; Augustus holds governorship of Spain, Gaul, Sicily, Cyprus, Syria and Egypt.
23 Augustus resigns consulship, perhaps receiving tribunician power for life and proconsular imperium for five years; for two or three years Augustus refuses to stand for election as consul and in response the assembly refuses to elect a second consul.
22 Augustus accepts temporary control of the corn supply, refuses offers of dictatorship and consulship for life.
19 Senate and people appoint Augustus sole supervisor of laws and morals with supreme power, though he claims to rely only on tribunician power in his acts.
Later Honors:
13 Senate votes to construct altar to Augustan peace (Ara Pacis).
12 On Lepidus’s death Augustus becomes pontifex maximus.
8 The assembly moves to rename the eighth month of the year "August".
2 The senate, the equestrian order, and the people declare Augustus pater patriae.
14 CE Augustus dies and is deified.
Select Bibliography
Appian, tr. John Carter (1966) Civil Wars, NY: Penguin.
Brunt, P.A. and Moore, J.M. (1967) Res Gestae Divi Augusti, Oxford: OUP.
Galinsky, Karl (1996) Augustan Culture, Princeton: PUP.
Millar, F. and Segal, E., eds. (1984) Caesar Augustus: Seven Aspects, Oxford: OUP.
Southern, Pat (1998) Augustus, NY: Rutledge.
Syme, R. (1958) "Imperator Caesar Augustus: A Study in Nomenclature," Historia, 7, pp. 172-188.
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