He divided his property, which was considerable, between Valerius Proculus, his half-brother, to whom he left half; Augustus, to whom he gave a quarter; Mecænas, who got a twelfth; and the rest to Varus.
Will of Augustus
(13 A.D.)
Augustus Cæsar made his will under the consulate of Silius and Plancus in the year A.D. 13, and one year and four months before his death.
It is much to be regretted that this important and interesting document should not have reached our times in its entirety; nevertheless, by collating the passages relating to it by several historians, we arrive at a considerable portion of it.
When Augustus had made his will, he deposited it, according to custom and the example of his uncle Julius Cæsar, in the sacred Temple of Vesta, under the care of the most ancient of the priestesses. The act was in two parts, and was written, partly by his own hand and partly under dictation to his two freedmen, Polybius and Hilarion. It was accompanied by four other portions sealed with the same seal.
As soon as Augustus was dead, Tiberius commanded that the first day of the meeting of the Senate should be consecrated to his memory; whereon the Vestals solemnly brought the will and the four appendices belonging to it, which were opened, and they then proceeded to the verification of the will; then Polybius, the freedman before mentioned, was charged to read it aloud.
The first lines were thus conceived:
“Since Heaven has taken from me my two grandchildren, Caïus and Lucilius, I declare Tiberius my successor, and I transmit to him all my rights....”
He then passes to the disposal of his goods; he appoints as his heirs the above-named Tiberius and Livia, the former to receive two-thirds, the latter one-third; he then desires they should bear his name, or rather, as says Tacitus, he desires Livia to assume the title of Augusta.
In case of the death of Tiberius and Livia he replaces them by appointing one-third to Drusus, son of Tiberius, and the rest to Germanicus and his three sons.