Augustus: The Life and Times of the Founder of the Roman Empire

by Evelyn S. Shuckburgh

At the death of Cæsar the Roman Empire had been for the most part won. Egypt was indeed annexed by Augustus, though on a peculiar tenure, but subsequent additions were in a manner consequential, the inevitable rectifications of a long frontier. Such were the provinces of the Rhine, the Alps, and the Danube as far east as Mœsia; and to a certain extent the province of Galatia and Lycaonia (B.C. 25). The Rhine, the Danube, and the Euphrates seemed already the natural boundaries of the Empire on the north and east, the Atlantic Ocean on the west, and the African and Arabian deserts on the south. And these boundaries, with occasional modifications, and for the most part temporary extensions, continued to the end.

Its dangers.

But though the greater part of this wide Empire was already won, it was not all equally well organised and secured. Thus, in Northern Gaul, there were still Germans and other enemies to be conquered or repelled; in Southern Spain a son of the great Pompey was in arms; Macedonia was continually subject to invasion by Getæ, Bessi, and other barbarians; the Dalmatians and neighbouring tribes made Illyricum an uncertain member of the Empire; in Syria, Cæcilius Bassus—an old officer of Pompey’s—was defying Roman armies, and inviting the aid of the Parthians always ready to cross the Euphrates into the Roman province.

Cæsar’s precautions and preparations.

To confront two of these dangers Cæsar had collected a large army in Macedonia in the autumn of B.C. 45 to crush the Getæ, and then crossing to Syria to force the Parthian to respect the frontier of the Euphrates, or even to attack them in Mesopotamia. The former of these projects was no doubt important for the safety of the Empire, and was in after years successfully secured by Augustus and his legates. The latter was more visionary and theatrical, meant perhaps to strike the imagination of the Romans rather than to secure great practical advantage. After Cæsar’s death Antony lost more than he gained by similar enterprises, and Augustus always avoided coming into actual contact with the Parthians, or attempting to extend his rule beyond the Euphrates. But there were dangers within the Empire no less formidable than from without. Its integrity had rested, and generally securely rested, on the loyalty of its provincial governors to the central authority as represented by the Senate, or, in the last resort, by the order of the people expressed in a lex or plebiscitum. It was the beginning of the end when these governors used the forces under their command, or the wealth and influence secured abroad, to defy or coerce the authorities at home. Sertorius, Sulla, and Cæsar himself, had shewn that this was not an impossible contingency. It was against this danger that, among other reforms in the government of the Provinces, Cæsar’s own law had provided that the tenure of a proprætor should be confined to one, and of a proconsul to two years. But now that he was going on a distant expedition, calculated as likely to occupy three years, he took other precautions. Having provided for the chief offices at home,[19] he was careful to see that the provinces should be held by men whom he believed to be loyal to himself, and likely from their character and ability to maintain their peace and security. Being Consul and Dictator, and his acta being confirmed beforehand by Senate and people, he could make what nominations he pleased. A decree of the Senate was still taken as a matter of form, but the old practice (often a farce) of drawing lots for the provinces was abandoned;[20] Pompey’s law ordaining a five years’ interval between curule office and a province was neglected, and Cæsar practically nominated the governors. But it raises a doubt as to the unfettered power or the insight of the Dictator that five of those thus nominated were among the assassins on the Ides of March.[21] Nor in other respects did his choice prove happy. The state of open war or dangerous unrest which shewed itself in almost all parts of the Empire after his death must be learnt by a review of the provinces, if we are to understand the problem presented to Augustus and his colleagues in the triumvirate, and the relief felt by the Roman world when Augustus finally took the administration into his own hands, and shewed himself capable of restoring law and order.

(1) The Gauls.

The Gauls now included three districts, the status of which was somewhat unsettled. (1) Cisalpine Gaul, that is, Italy between Etruria and the Alps, was still nominally a province, though Cæsar’s law of B.C. 48 had granted full civitas to the transpadane, as that of B.C. 89 had to the cispadane, towns. It had formed part of Cæsar’s province from B.C. 58 to B.C. 48, and he seems to have retained it until after the battle of Pharsalia, when he appointed first Marcus Brutus and then C. Vibius Pansa to it. Though part of Italy, and generally peaceful, it had great military importance in case of an invasion from the north. After March B.C. 44 it was to be in the hands of Decimus Brutus, who had long served under Cæsar, and was regarded by him with special confidence and affection. Antony’s attempt to wrest it from Decimus Brutus brought on the first civil war after Cæsar’s death.

(2) Transalpine Gaul.

(2) Transalpine Gaul technically consisted of “the Province,” that is, South-eastern France, from the Cevennes on the west to Italy, and from the Lake of Geneva on the north to the sea. But since Cæsar’s conquests there had to be added to this the rest of France, Belgium, and Holland as far as the Rhine. No formal division into distinct provinces had yet been made. In B.C. 49 Decimus Brutus, after driving out Ahenobarbus, the governor named by the Senate, remained in command of the whole till B.C. 45, when he returned in Cæsar’s train to Italy. But in the course of these four years, or on his return, (3) Belgica was separated from the rest and assigned to Hirtius, who, however, governed it by a legate named Aurelius, without going there himself.[22] In the course of the next year a farther division was made: Aurelius retained Belgica; Lepidus, with four legions, was appointed to “the Province” (afterwards called Gallia Narbonensis) together with Hispania Citerior; while L. Munatius Plancus governed the rest, consisting of what was afterwards two provinces—Aquitania and Lugdunensis. Plancus and Decimus Brutus were named consuls for B.C. 42, and therefore their governorships necessarily terminated at the end of B.C. 43, and might do so earlier. In the course of B.C. 43 Plancus founded Lugdunum[23] (Lyon), which was afterwards the capital of the central province of the four organised by Augustus. But though the organisation of this country was not complete, Cæsar’s conquest had been so decisive that no advantage was taken of the civil war by the natives to attempt a rising.[24] There seem to have been some insignificant movements in B.C. 42, but it was not for some years later that any danger of importance arose there. The Belgæ had been expected to rise on Cæsar’s assassination, but their chiefs hastened to assure Hirtius’s legate of their adhesion to the Roman government.[25]

(3) Illyricum.