Augustus (Octavius)
63 BC - 14 AD
Caesar's sole male relative was a slight, frail
grandnephew only 18 years old, who was named heir in
Caesar's will to three-quarters of his great wealth. By
another condition in the will of the dead dictator, this
youth was also adopted as Caesar's son, and so for a
while he called himself Caius Julius Caesar Octavianus,
or Caesar the Younger. After 27 BC, he is known as
Augustus. Octavian Augustus was really the greatest civil
leader that the ancient world ever produced. When he came
to Rome after Caesar's murder, his only possessions were
an inherited name and whatever appeal his youth might
bring; but in cold, sagacious steps he made his way
rapidly on the policy of avenging Caesar. Through his
good sense, moderation, and conscientious attention to
duty, Augustus won the support of all major elements in
the Mediterranean world. In many provinces, which now
enjoyed more careful government and suffered less from
extortion, he was made a god, and the month of his final
achievement was named after him. Augustus lived to be 76
years old. In his last year, he revised a recital of the
great deeds he had achieved for the Roman state, which
was to be set up at his tomb. The original version in
Rome has disappeared, but another copy of this work, was
carved on the temple of Augustus at Ancyra and still
survives. In his administration of the Roman Empire, the
disaster which upset Augustus the most took place in
Germany. While Augustus remained at peace with Parthia,
he advanced the Roman frontier in Europe to the Danube
and Rhine. By this advance he subjected modern
Switzerland, Austria, much of Hungary, and the Balkans to
Roman rule and protected the connections between the
western and eastern provinces of the Empire; no other
Roman leader made such additions. In 9 AD, the governor
of Germany, Varus, was lured into a trap and three Roman
legions were wiped out; all of Germany was lost. Since
Augustus had neither the energy nor the military strength
to start a reconquest, the Roman frontier remained
essentially on the Rhine. Yet, the Mediterranean world
attained peace and prosperity under the government of
Augustus, who was celebrated in temples, statues, and
dedications as an earthly redeemer. The Empire was
expensive in its demands of men for the armed forces and
of money to support the political system, but the
accompanying economic expansion supported these burdens
without great difficulty for two centuries and more.
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