JLB Augustus Paper One

By: Jessica Barnes
Student
Southwest Missouri State University
Springfield Missouri
USA
Planet Earth
Alpha Quadrant
GEP397
Rockinjess

                                                                         Augustus                                                                              

Augustus: visionary or bully?  Quite a dramatic question, but yet poses an interesting debate.  Personally, I prefer the latter, bully, and not the former,visionary (the extended explanation was for the Deluxe Yours Truly or perhaps his faithful sidekick Eefy).  Perhaps my years of studying history have finally turned me into, gasp!, one of those history students with a cynical view of our world and people, but by looking at the facts, I am going to use pure evidence to show Augustus to have been a powerful bully in slightly over 1000 Words.

But let me start from the beginning.  Gaius Octavius was born on September 23, 63 B.C.  While in college, this normal student tended to blend in with all the rest of the student population (that might be a slight stretch).  Everything changed when Gaius received a letter stating that he had been adopted by the great Julius Caesar at some point in time and was the heir to the throne of the Roman Empire.  If I were Gaius, I could have quite possibly went running in the other direction.  After all, I wouldn’t want to wind up as a Human Pincushion- and then there is the whole thing about the awesome and incredibly daunting responsibility that would have been just presented before me.  However, Gaius made a choice that probably changed the world, choosing to become the next Caesar.  Hence, he changed his name to Gaius Julius Caesar Octavianus, or Octavian.  Gaius would later be known as Augustus Caesar.  For more in-depth biography on Augustus, see Matthew Howell’s page 99: Matts Augustus Paper or the well-written Augustus.    

Augustus did many good things for the empire, including:

More equal taxes

Censuses

Improvement and addition to the Roman Road System, a highway system

New Forum

Improved vanity of Streets

Building of Aqueducts

Postal Service

Better Housing

Police and Fire protection

Promotion of the Arts

Local autonomy in administration matters

However, why would a Roman leading figure do this?  History dictates that this could not have been for the common good of the people, despite the fact that many of these reforms did just that.  Look at those who followed Augustus- [Caligula], Nero, Claudius and others of like them.  They were more interested in [Numero Uno] than the millions of people they governed over.  [Caligula] made his horse a senator, Nero married a unick, and Claudius pretended to be a buffoon for a good part of his life so he could seize the power when it came up for grabs.  The good in Augustus’ reforms, I believe, were both a foreseen and an unforeseen side effect of Augustus’ dictatorship.  Augustus was a shrewd politician and was smarter than thousands of Nero’s or [Caligula]’s combined.  I am sure he saw the value in getting the millions of Roman [plebians] to support him.  In that sense they were visionary reforms, in addition to the fact that some of them were highly inventive and original.  However, they reflect the bigger concept of Augustus as a bully.  After all, how can one ignore the fact that Augustus never gave control back to the state after many of his reforms?  He established no court, the main way of redressing your problems in a society.  Also, he had the Roman people believing that they were under a constitutional rule, which we know this to be untrue since Augustus was blatantly the head of a military dictatorship.  The Romans were ruled by one, and only one man, and that man was Augustus.    

Looking at numerous websites in preparing for this paper, I couldn’t help but notice that many of them stated that Augustus made the empire “one”, or a whole after he defeated Marc Antony and Cleopatra (who was excellently played by [Elizabeth Taylor] way back when) at Actium.  While this is theoretically true, my many history courses (excellently taught by professors at Southwest Missouri State University) tell me that this is theoretically impossible.  Augustus’ reign marked the height of the Roman Empire, which reached as far north as Scotland.  I refuse to believe Scotland and England and other varying countries that were under control of the Romans were “one”.  I think that the common knowledge the average person possesses is aware of the vast cultural and social differences of those areas versus those of Egypt or Italy, and explains my point thoroughly without me really even having to explain it.  In addition, Augustus and mainly the Roman leaders before him made the empire “one” by battles, war, and subjugating peoples to Roman rule and law.  Augustus was simply a bully, and following his famous predecessor’s (Julius Caesar) footsteps, who had followed a long line of bullies.  Augustus was ruling as a dictator.  Wouldn’t a visionary try and make peoples from across the empire all love and follow explicitly Roman rule?

OK, maybe I am stretching my hard evidence a little far, that is to say from the concrete to the theoretical, but my point is still being made of Augustus as a bully.  Let me make my final thoughts this turns into a small novel and before Eefy is begging the Deluxe Yours Truly outside for a walk.  Augustus’ reign established the [Pax Romana], which marked the absolute high point in Roman civilization and the start of the Roman Emperors, and most importantly peace.  In 27 B.C., when he was given the name Augustus (“the exalted”), he was also given legal ruling power over religious, civil, and military dealings within the Roman world. Roman people, in exchange for peace and reforms, traded their in right to a constitutional government and allowed Augustus to become an absolute ruler.  The Senate took an oath allowing Augustus to be an emperor!  Though the Roman people were clamoring for his reforms, they were only good for the short term because in the long-term, Augustus’ dictatorship ended representative governments in Europe.  Augustus had so much absolute power, he even (confidently) name a successor. 

Octavian, Augustus, Gaius, whatever you refer to him as, he was an incredibly important figure in Roman history as well as shaping the history of western civilization.  However, while many choose to classify him as a visionary leader, I prefer to put him in the category of bully.  In some respects, yes, Augustus was visionary, but that is simply one part of the larger bully within.  He skillfully avoided the fate of a Human Pincushion and was an incredibly brilliant and calculating politician, managing to establish an almost implausible or inconceivable power unknown to Julius Caesar and any other Roman leader before him.  A peacemaker throughout history (to Jessica Barnes’ knowledge) has yet to be seen that can acquire that kind of power and empire.  Augustus, through his massive acquisition and use of power throughout multiple facets of the Roman Empire, plainly demonstrates the fact that he was indeed a bully.

Augustus died in 14 A.D. and was succeeded by his stepson [Tiberius].  After his death, in retrospect, it was no surprise that there were crises in leadership- because nobody could live up to the original bully and emperor.

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Other sites by the author:

Christopher Columbus

Punic Wars

The majority of information for this paper came from class lectures by Dr. Jospeh Hughes, previous historical knowledge, or various websites or online encyclopedias for general background information. 

A final note:

As we are studying the Romans, don’t forget to break out all the togas for the Toga Parties.