Augustus Caesar

Augustus Caesar (63 BC – AD 14) was grand-nephew of Gaius Julius Caesar. He was the first Roman Emperor, and took the name Gaius Julius Caesar Octavianus (Octavian) after the assassination of Julius Caesar, who had adopted him as a son and made him his heir. He was son of Atia, the daughter of Julius Caesar's sister Julia Caesaris. He reigned from 27 BC until his death in AD 14, which was a period of relative peace and prosperity, called Pax Romana, which lasted for about two centuries. He was one of the greatest leaders of the history. Following the assassination of Julius Caesar in 44 BC, Agustus, Mark Antony, and Marcus Lepidus formed the Second Triumvirate. However, later, Lepidus was exiled in 36 BC, and Antony was defeated by Octavian's naval commander Marcus Agrippa at the Battle of Actium in 31 BC. Thereafter, Augustus maintained autocratic authority by having the Senate grant him lifetime tenure as commander-in-chief, tribune and censor. He had no biological sons who outlived him. He had an adopted son and heir, Tiberius, who was his wife Livia's son from a previous marriage, who succeeded him as emperor. Augustus's only biological child was Julia the Elder, but he was disappointed with her conduct.

Wisdom & Quotes

• What is done well is done quickly enough.

- favourite proverbial saying, quoted in Suetonius, Lives of the Caesars

• If we could survive without a wife, citizens of Rome, all of us would do without that nuisance; but since nature has so decreed that we cannot manage comfortably with them, nor live in any way without them, we must plan for our lasting preservation rather than for our temporary pleasure.

- from a speech regarding the morality laws of Lex Julia, which according to Livy was plagiarized from another by Quintus Metellus who had suggested that everyone ought to be forced to marry

• Hurry slowly.

– quoted in Suetonius, II. Augustus

• To seek to keep the established constitution unchanged argues a good citizen and a good man.

– quoted in An Examination of the Isis Cult with Preliminary Exploration into New Testament Studies

• I found Rome a city of bricks and left it a city of marble.

– quoted in Svetonius, Lives of the Cesars

• Ah, never to have married, and childless to have died!

– quoting Homer's Iliad, since Augustus was frequently disappointed in the conduct of his daughter Julia

• Goodbye, Livia; remember our marriage!

- Augustus's words while on deathbed, quoted in Suetonius, Divus Augustus

Titus Livy