Ancient Rome: An Introductory History (45 page)

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king of kings, and he allotted Armenia, Media, and Parthia (once Antonius had conquered it) to Alexander, and to Ptolemy he allotted Phoenicia, Syria, and Cilicia. Then he brought his sons forth, Alexander in Median clothing with a tiara and straight hat, and Ptolemy in Macedonian soldiers' boots, short cloak, and diadem. (Plutarch, Antonius LIV)

Some of the Romans merely pitied Antonius, as they thought he was the victim of some love drug that Cleopatra had given him to keep him under her control. Cleopatra appeared to be using Antonius as a pawn in her dream of conquering the Roman empire and transferring the seat of power to Alexandria; she even swore oaths with these words: "As surely as I will be giving edicts on the Capitol, will (such-and-such) happen. . . ."

Finally, from two of Antonius' friends, who had deserted him, Octavian learned what Antonius had written in his will. Octavian seized the will, which had been deposited with the Vestal Virgins, and read it to the Senate. Although horrified at Octavian's actionsanything concerned with the Vestal Virgins was regarded as sacred, and Octavian had violated their sanctitythe audience was more horrified at Antonius' wishes: among other things, he wanted his body to be buried with Cleopatra in Egypt,
even if he died in Rome
.

The people of Rome and the West, seeing the return of peace, stable government, and prosperity, probably had little difficulty in their choice between Octavian and Antonius. Antonius' career since the death of Caesar must not have inspired confidence. Octavian too had been brutal during the triumvirate, but he had restored peace and prosperity. Life under Octavian was good, and besides Octavian was in control of Italy and the West. When it became clear that Octavian and Antonius would have a war for the empire, Italy and the western provinces swore allegiance to Octavian, a fact he records in his
Res gestae
: "Iuravit in mea verba tota Italia sponte sua . . . iuraverunt in eadem verba provinciae Galliae, Hispaniae, Africa, Sicilia, Sardinia" ("All Italy voluntarily swore allegiance to me . . . the Gallic provinces, the Spanish provinces, Africa, Sicily, and Sardinia likewise swore allegiance";
Res Gestae
25).

In 32 Antonius collected his forces from the East and transferred them to Greece; Cleopatra accompanied him. Antonius' associates

Page 225

told him that bringing Cleopatra was a mistake, for without her Antonius could claim to the Italians that the war was simply a political dispute between him and his former colleague in the triumvirate. Cleopatra's presence, however, changed the war into an invasion of Italy by a foreign power. (Octavian was careful to declare war only on Cleopatra, not on Antonius.) Antonius had no choice but to allow her to accompany him, for she was providing much of the navy.

In 31
B.C.
the two forces met in battle at Actium, a promontory on the coast of western Greece that was sacred to Apollo. It was not much of a battle. Antonius' forces, sick and hungry, were deserting him; his fleet quickly fell apart, and Octavian won.

Antonius and Cleopatra fled to Egypt, where they instituted another society of banqueteers (called "those about to die together") and resolved to enjoy the rest of their lives, however long that might be. Cleopatra meanwhile was using her slaves as victims in experiments with different types of poisons, to see which poison brought on the quickest and easiest death.

The next year Octavian arrived in Egypt from Syria, while his generals entered from Libya. Fearing that Cleopatra, in despair, might incinerate the treasury of the Ptolemies, Octavian made various offers to her that would allow her to live. When Antonius' remaining forces deserted him, Cleopatra sent messengers to tell Antonius that she had committed suicide; upon hearing them, he stabbed himself and lived just long enough to be brought to Cleopatra, who was still alive, barricaded within her mausoleum. He died in her arms.

Soon Octavian arrived, and his envoys treated Cleopatra with respect and courtesy, for in addition to the treasury, Octavian also wanted her presence in his triumph. He ordered his men to do everything to keep her alive, and he himself even visited her and tried to reassure her. Despite the precautions, Cleopatra managed to kill herself. In a basket of figs her servants hid a black asp, whose bite was said to confer upon the victim death as well as divinity; by its bite Cleopatra met her end.

Octavian incorporated Egypt into the empire, treating it as his personal property. He killed Caesarion (Caesar's son by Cleopatra) and Antyllus (Antonius' son by Fulvia), and finally found himself

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without opposition for the rule of the Roman Empire. The poet Horace celebrated Octavian's victory over Cleopatra with his famous "Cleopatra" ode:

Now's the time to drink,
Now's the time to pound the ground with free feet,
my friends, for a long time it's been time to honor the gods with magnificence.
Before now it would have been a crime to break out
the prized Caecuban from ancient wine cellars,
while that queen with her polluted flock of diseased and filthy men was
preparing insane destruction for the Capitol and empireshe, deluded by her
good luck and powerless to hope.
The one ship of hers that barely escaped the fires didn't
humble her at all, but Caesar, with chains ready for the deadly monster, forced
her mind, drunk on Egyptian wine, to face horrible reality,
as she flew from Italy and his rowers in feverish
pursuit, like a falcon diving for tender doves or a quick hunter
in winter pursuing a rabbit in the fields of Haemonia.
Seeking to die honorably,
she had no coward's fear of the sword,
nor did her swift fleet make for hidden shores.
Her face serene, she dared to behold her helpless
palace, brave enough even to clutch deadly snakes
so she could take the black poison into her body.
All the more fierceshe planned her own death
she deprived Caesar's swift Liburnian ships of her being led in
his proud triumph like a meek woman.
(Horace,
Odes
I.37)

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Chapter 23
The Roman Empire
The Principate

The Battle of Actium eliminated the danger from Antonius and all other significant opposition to Octavian's rule. Grave problems nonetheless remained for the young Octavian. What form of government would ensure his own political survival, as well as the prosperity of Rome, Italy, and the provinces? He knew that he could not restore the republic of old: Ambitious generals would certainly seize power and in the process provoke a new series of civil wars, which the empire might not survive; the Senate certainly could not be counted on to provide leadership, for it was largely to blame for failing to solve the various problems that destroyed the republic; and the Roman populace itself had degenerated into a mob dependent on the grain dole, placated by "bread and circuses." Nor could Octavian become a monarch: His adopted father's fate, as well as his own conservative republican values, precluded any monarchy. Serious problems, indeed.

But guided by his own conservative outlook (one of his favorite sayings was
festina lente
, "hurry, but slowly"), Octavian slowly and deliberately created a system of government that would bring to Europe and the Mediterranean world the longest period of peace and prosperity that it had ever seen. Once that period ended, such stability did not occur again until after World War II.

Of utmost importance to Octavian was the control of the armies. From 43 to 33
B.C.
he had relied upon his triumviral powers for his military might, and from 31 to 23 he was elected to successive consulships. Yet the nobles resented his dominance of the consulship and military; their ancestors, after all, had been consuls, and they felt it their right to reach the highest honor in Roman

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government. Also, Octavian's own delicate health limited the number and weight of the neverending burdens he could assume in running the empire. Therefore, in 27
B.C.
, after a serious illness, Octavian offered to restore the republic; the Senate objected, begging him not to desert his country.

The two sides compromised by dividing the empire into two parts, one ruled by Octavian and the other by the Senate. It is not mere coincidence that the provinces ruled by Octavian, called imperial provinces, were those most in need of a large standing army: Gaul, with its armies along the Rhine; Spain, still in the process of pacification; Syria, always threatened by Parthia; and Egypt, which supplied Rome with one-fourth of its yearly supply of grain, a power Octavian could not let fall into the hands of any overly ambitious senator. The senatorial provinces were the peaceful ones: Sicily, Corsica, Sardinia, Greece, Asia, Bithynia, Crete, and Africa. Only two senatorial provinces, Illyricum and Macedonia, had armiesto protect the empire from incursions from across the Danube. After "restoring" the republic in 27
B.C.
Octavian was honored with the honorary title
augustus
, which means "holy, sacred, venerable" (
sebastos
in Greek), and the month Sextilis was renamed in his honor. Later, after another serious illness in 23, Augustus was granted
maius imaperium
(greater power), by which he could overrule all other magistrates if necessary. He already had
tribunicia potestas
(tribune's power), by which he could veto the undesired actions of any magistrate; by a different law, he was freed from having to obey the laws: "Princeps legibus solutus est." (This caused some problems for the public under later emperors: what were the legal limits to their behavior?)

To all appearances, then, the republic had been restored. Octavian rarely held the consulship after 23, and the powers that he held, if considered separately, were not new or extraordinary. For example, the tribune's power dated to the early days of the republic (see chapter 6). Pompey, who had fought for the republic at Pharsalus, had held
maius imperium
and extraordinary commands. And, of course, individual Romans had always ruled the provinces as governors. Octavian (henceforth called Augustus) chose his legal title very carefully; he called himself
princeps
("first citizen", from
primus
, "first," and
capio
, "to seize"). This

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