Augustus: The Life Of The First Emperor, by Anthony Everitt

This particular book, written by someone who had previously written a biography on Cicero, seeks to present a mostly sympathetic view of Augustus and on the Roman order that he helped to establish at the end of the anarchical period of the late Republic. On the one hand, this book serves as part of a fairly consistent trend whereby authors write about a particular personage or era of history and then continue writing books in the same subject because of the familiarity with sources they gain from the first work. This is a sensible policy as far as an author is concerned, and in this particular case we get a mostly chronological beginning to the work that covers Octavian’s early life combined with a thematic look at his later life.

It should be made plain that this is a sympathetic book about autocracy in general, both in its calm acceptance of the popularity of autocracy among the common population of Rome (who greatly distrusted the elites who made up the Senate) as well as its generally blithe acceptance of the bloodthirstiness of Roman policies towards conquered areas and the deaths that were required to pacify various areas to Roman rule. Those readers who have a particularly strong distaste towards the bread and circus required to keep the population of Rome quiet, or who loathe any sort of extraconstitutional behavior among leaders would probably not find Augustus to be a very sympathetic person as far as his politics are concerned. While he was a careful and cautious autocrat, he was an autocrat all the same and those who loathe imperialism on principle are unlikely to find Augustus to be an appealing character.

This book spends a lot of time talking about the amicis Caesar (the friends of Caesar), some of whom were very unsavory fellows, as well as discussing a bit too much in detail information about the affairs of Augustus’ family, as well as a great deal of unfriendly gossip that no one really deserves to have survive about them for a couple thousand years. It is rather unedifying to hear about what particular figures may or may not have been kept boys of Roman aristocrats or what would possess someone to feed their slaves to eels for mere clumsiness, or speculate on the paternity of Roman children born of matrons known for sleeping around a bit too widely and indiscreetly. It is difficult to view a society that has such a corrupt ruling elite with any sort of equanimity, if one has rather strong and severe moral standards for oneself. In fact, this book is harshest when examining the moral standards of Augustus and accusing him of hypocrisy. Rather than honoring the sentiment of high moral values, the author tends to take the view that since all of us are sinners that there can be no just enforcement of laws dealing with sin. Small wonder, then, that the author should take such an indulgent view of the corruption of the Roman elite, but it serves as a wide gulf between the author’s worldview and my own.

For those readers who like reading a somewhat gossipy and generally flattering but very honest and open biography of a man whose caution and sobriety helped establish an enduring Roman autocracy that remains important in our own civilization, this book will provide a cultured and dignified look at a major world historical figure. Those readers who are a bit squeamish about the unpleasant aspects of Roman life that pervade this book, whether it be the abandonment of infants based on their father’s decision, the brutal punishments for parricide, or the unpleasant sexual goings on of Roman elites, which gets talked about over and over and over again here, this book is likely to be a bit too corrupt in its own presentation. This book ought to garner a reasonable reading audience from cosmopolitan classicists who are not of a particularly moralistic tone, but those readers who do not have a great interest in understanding the subtleties of the late Roman Republic and who either have a firm preference for liberty over tyranny or morality over gross hypocrisy and corruption will likely this book and its approach to be somewhat disappointing.