Post by Christopher Martin on Dec 8, 2016 4:37:09 GMT
BE ADVISED: This section of the history lecture gives the context to our readings in Tacitus, Horace, Seneca, and Lucan, so you should come back to this lecture several times in order to refresh your memory.
PEACE RESTORED: THE FIRST EMPERORS: 30BC - 68AD
Victorious after the long civil wars, Octavian finally returned to Rome in 29BC. His aim was to found a peaceful, effective but constitutional government, which the Republic in its last decades had failed to supply. The whole empire had suffered from the exactions of rival generals and was exhausted. As a cost-cutting exercise, he disbanded half his huge army, settling the soldiers in colonies around the empire. From now on, there would be a regular army of only 28-30 legions, or around 150,000 men, backed by equal numbers of auxiliary troops stationed in camps along the frontiers. To symbolize peace and to give the city room to grow, Octavian let most of the old Servian walls decay. respecting Republican laws, he kept no troops in Italy - now extended to include the Po valley - but he retained nine cohorts of special Praetorian guards. Unlike [Julius] Caesar, he seldom had a bodyguard in Rome. But he used his friends and colleagues, notably Agrippa, his general and son-in-law, and Maecenas, his cultural minister.
In 27BC, Octavian formally resigned his offices and announced the "transfer of the state to the Senate's and peoples free disposal." The senate gave them right back to him, along with the title "Augustus," meaning revered, auspicious, augmenting. He was elected consul and gave the Senate new powers as a high court and took part in in its debates, becoming "princeps senatus," leader of the Senate. Its functions became administrative, not political, in his disguised revolution. Augustus termed himself "princeps," or first citizen, avoiding a royal or imperial appearance. He gave up always being consul in 23BC after a serious illness. In its place, the Senate offered him tribunician power, making his person sacrosanct, and "maius imperium," power over all the provinces. His "auctorita," personal prestige and authority, were key to his success, along with his old-fashioned probity, or "virtus."
But the basis of Augustus' power was military, for he was also "imperator," commander-in-chief." He used the army to expand the empire, annexing north-west Spain and the Danubian lands from the Alps to the Black Sea. Egypt also came under his control, while in the east he made a peaceful settlement with the Parthians in 20BC. It was only in Germany that his expansionist policy was defeated when Varus was annihilated with three legions in AD9. This defeat plunged him into despair. His grandsons, his intended heirs, had both died and he had unwillingly adopted his stepson Tiberius of the proud Claudian family. None of the Julio-Claudian dynasty would ever repeat Augustus' golden age.
Tiberius, and excellent general, was an embittered man of 53 by the time he came to power in AD14. He continued Augustus' policies but lacked his "auctoritas" and charm. Instead, he relied on Sejanus, prefect of the Praetorian guard, as first minister, especially after Tiberius retired to Capri in AD26. There he was rumored to indulge in fantastic sexual perversities. Probably untrue, such stories illustrate his unpopularity. Sejanus started treason trials that killed many in the imperial family before being executed for treason himself in AD31.
Tiberius' successor was his 24-year-old great-nephew Gaius, called Caligula after the little boots (a version of "caligae, military boots) that he wore as a child. Very popular at first, Caligula abolished treason trials and proved as generous as Tiberius had been mean. But a serious illness six months into his reign seems to have driven him mad. He began a reign of terror, executing the Praetorian prefect macro and many senators. His behavior became increasingly eccentric - he joked he would make his horse consul. After he built a temple to himself as co-equal with Jupiter, he was assassinated in AD41.
While the senate debated, a guard discovered a 50-year-old man hiding behind the curtain: this was Claudius, Caligula's uncle, passed over in the succession because of his bad stammer. But Claudius had a shrewd brain. Hailed by the Praetorians as emperor - he wisely offered them a bribe - his reign followed Augustan precedents, except for his conquest of Britain in AD43, which won him military laurels. Claudius relied on freedmen as civil servants and began to centralize the government. But his personal life was less happy. His wife Messalina, notoriously promiscuous, was arraigned for treason in AD48. Claudius then married his niece, Agrippaina, who probably poisoned him to make way for her son, Nero.
Nero was only 17 when he succeeded his stepfather in AD54. At first guided by the philosopher Seneca and the Praetorian prefect Burrus, he ruled well, apart from murdering Britannicus, Claudius' son. he had artistic interests if not talents, and made a public performance as a singer in AD64. By then, with his mother murdered, Burrus dead and Seneca forced to commit suicide, Nero had become a tyrant to rival Caligula. The fire that destroyed half of Rome in AD64 was blamed on him by the people, although he scapegoated the Christians and had many of them burnt. He used the opportunity to build his Golden House, grandest of all the imperial palaces, but he also issued intelligent building regulations afterwards. Fatally, Nero neglected the army, and it was army rebellions that ended his rule in AD68. Abandoned even by his slaves, he committed suicide on June 9 AD 68. The line of the Julio-Claudians died with him and civil war flared once again across the Roman world.
Have fun reading Tacitus!
THE TEXT CAN BE FOUND HERE.
PEACE RESTORED: THE FIRST EMPERORS: 30BC - 68AD
Victorious after the long civil wars, Octavian finally returned to Rome in 29BC. His aim was to found a peaceful, effective but constitutional government, which the Republic in its last decades had failed to supply. The whole empire had suffered from the exactions of rival generals and was exhausted. As a cost-cutting exercise, he disbanded half his huge army, settling the soldiers in colonies around the empire. From now on, there would be a regular army of only 28-30 legions, or around 150,000 men, backed by equal numbers of auxiliary troops stationed in camps along the frontiers. To symbolize peace and to give the city room to grow, Octavian let most of the old Servian walls decay. respecting Republican laws, he kept no troops in Italy - now extended to include the Po valley - but he retained nine cohorts of special Praetorian guards. Unlike [Julius] Caesar, he seldom had a bodyguard in Rome. But he used his friends and colleagues, notably Agrippa, his general and son-in-law, and Maecenas, his cultural minister.
In 27BC, Octavian formally resigned his offices and announced the "transfer of the state to the Senate's and peoples free disposal." The senate gave them right back to him, along with the title "Augustus," meaning revered, auspicious, augmenting. He was elected consul and gave the Senate new powers as a high court and took part in in its debates, becoming "princeps senatus," leader of the Senate. Its functions became administrative, not political, in his disguised revolution. Augustus termed himself "princeps," or first citizen, avoiding a royal or imperial appearance. He gave up always being consul in 23BC after a serious illness. In its place, the Senate offered him tribunician power, making his person sacrosanct, and "maius imperium," power over all the provinces. His "auctorita," personal prestige and authority, were key to his success, along with his old-fashioned probity, or "virtus."
But the basis of Augustus' power was military, for he was also "imperator," commander-in-chief." He used the army to expand the empire, annexing north-west Spain and the Danubian lands from the Alps to the Black Sea. Egypt also came under his control, while in the east he made a peaceful settlement with the Parthians in 20BC. It was only in Germany that his expansionist policy was defeated when Varus was annihilated with three legions in AD9. This defeat plunged him into despair. His grandsons, his intended heirs, had both died and he had unwillingly adopted his stepson Tiberius of the proud Claudian family. None of the Julio-Claudian dynasty would ever repeat Augustus' golden age.
Tiberius, and excellent general, was an embittered man of 53 by the time he came to power in AD14. He continued Augustus' policies but lacked his "auctoritas" and charm. Instead, he relied on Sejanus, prefect of the Praetorian guard, as first minister, especially after Tiberius retired to Capri in AD26. There he was rumored to indulge in fantastic sexual perversities. Probably untrue, such stories illustrate his unpopularity. Sejanus started treason trials that killed many in the imperial family before being executed for treason himself in AD31.
Tiberius' successor was his 24-year-old great-nephew Gaius, called Caligula after the little boots (a version of "caligae, military boots) that he wore as a child. Very popular at first, Caligula abolished treason trials and proved as generous as Tiberius had been mean. But a serious illness six months into his reign seems to have driven him mad. He began a reign of terror, executing the Praetorian prefect macro and many senators. His behavior became increasingly eccentric - he joked he would make his horse consul. After he built a temple to himself as co-equal with Jupiter, he was assassinated in AD41.
While the senate debated, a guard discovered a 50-year-old man hiding behind the curtain: this was Claudius, Caligula's uncle, passed over in the succession because of his bad stammer. But Claudius had a shrewd brain. Hailed by the Praetorians as emperor - he wisely offered them a bribe - his reign followed Augustan precedents, except for his conquest of Britain in AD43, which won him military laurels. Claudius relied on freedmen as civil servants and began to centralize the government. But his personal life was less happy. His wife Messalina, notoriously promiscuous, was arraigned for treason in AD48. Claudius then married his niece, Agrippaina, who probably poisoned him to make way for her son, Nero.
Nero was only 17 when he succeeded his stepfather in AD54. At first guided by the philosopher Seneca and the Praetorian prefect Burrus, he ruled well, apart from murdering Britannicus, Claudius' son. he had artistic interests if not talents, and made a public performance as a singer in AD64. By then, with his mother murdered, Burrus dead and Seneca forced to commit suicide, Nero had become a tyrant to rival Caligula. The fire that destroyed half of Rome in AD64 was blamed on him by the people, although he scapegoated the Christians and had many of them burnt. He used the opportunity to build his Golden House, grandest of all the imperial palaces, but he also issued intelligent building regulations afterwards. Fatally, Nero neglected the army, and it was army rebellions that ended his rule in AD68. Abandoned even by his slaves, he committed suicide on June 9 AD 68. The line of the Julio-Claudians died with him and civil war flared once again across the Roman world.
Have fun reading Tacitus!
THE TEXT CAN BE FOUND HERE.