Reformations Augustus example essay topic

A period of confusion, unrest, civil strife and violence of all kinds had finally culminated in the emergence of one man as the supreme arbiter of the destinies of the Roman World. Octavian was that man. During his triumph in 29 B. C, Octavian (later to become Augustus) had returned to Rome a hero after having organized the East. Octavian had held the consulship in 31 B. C up until 23 B.C. The Augustan principate was the name given to the reformations Augustus had brought to the Republic. These values were in essence applicable to the format of the Empire was run for the next 200 years. What Augustus done most successfully was recognize that he needed to rectify the mistakes that his predecessors had made as well implementing some of their more successful ideas into his plans.

The Augustan principate was laid down for the first time in 27 B. C, however Augustus himself rectified it furthermore in 23 B. C and in 18 B.C. The individual success of Augustus is plain to see as he survived at the heart of the Empire until his death at an old age. In several ways the reforms under Augustus had directly links to the past, such as the involvement of Augustus with the arts at the time and the emphasis he placed on upholding roman morals. He also held pro-consular power, which had been seen in the past. Although there were links to the past the emphasis of the Augustan principate was the new format that Augustus introduced. The 19th century historian Mommsen argued that the division of provincial responsibility between the Emperor and senate was legitimate; he termed the situation as a diarchy.

This was one of the new situations created by the Augustan principate. One thing which was relatively new to Romans was the peace and stability enjoyed under the rule of Augustus. The main emphasis of the reforms were to tie the Emperor closer to the military, how did Augustus do this? He gave new powers to new constitutional positions and gave precedence to the Roman value of the hierarchical system. He also set about a reform of the providences.

The above when examined more closely can give us a more accurate picture of the Augustan principate's foundations, whether old theories or new ideas. After 20 years the civil wars were ended, foreign wars buried, peace recalled, the fury of arms everywhere lulled to sleep; their force was restored to the laws, authority to the courts, its majesty to the senate: the rule of magistrates was restored to its old forms- except 2 praetors were added to the 8. The ancient original form of the commonwealth was restored Vell eius Paterculus wrote this in 30 A. D, at a time when the reforms of 27 B. C were still in effect. This was the attitude of the time but how much was this truth.

After Augustus laid down his powers, fears of a renewing of civil war arose. It was decided that a compromise should be reached where Caesar maintained great power (particularly in the military) as well as restoring the old system. In this respect Augustus learned from Caesar the dictator, who was assassinated for not restoring the Republic and putting himself virtually into the position of a king. Augustus quickly showed that the memories of Caesars fate were fresh in his mind and that he was willing to collaborate with the senate.

One of Augustus first tasks was to re-establish the provinces. Whilst doing this he used a method employed by Pompey of commanding the provinces using Legates. In 55 B. C, Pompey had used Legates to rule two Spanish provinces through Legates without leaving Rome. Employing this method also had the bonus that the provinces that were under control from the Legates had legions stationed there. The troops within the legions had sworn allegiance to Augustus and now they were under the control of Legates appointed by Augustus, this decreased the chance of civil war resuming as no one was commanding the armies except Augustus and his representatives. Augustus used this situation to great effect and it is a good example of how he did use methods that had been successful in the past for previous rulers, it showed that although he was trying to undo the mistakes of the past he recognized the fact that he could use proven successful tactics to his advantage.

Another tactic that Augustus employed that had been seen before was extending roman citizenship to all Italians. This had been employed and became law in the Lex Julia of 90 B.C. This neutralized the threat somewhat that the Italians could carry. This threat had been seen before during the Social war of 90 B.C.