Octavian put both 08Antonius Antyllus, Antony’s oldest son by Fulvia, and Ptolemy XV Caesarion to death – as potential rivals they could not be allowed to live; but he spared Antony’s children by Cleopatra and they were brought up by Octavia. Octavian annexed Egypt, not as an ordinary province but one governed by a prefect appointed by Octavian. The Donations of Alexandria were cancelled, but the arrangements made by Antony in Asia remained mostly unchanged.
In the middle of the first century BC the Bastarnae led by their king Deldo migrated into the centre of the Danube region. After achieving some success against the Triballi and Moesi he began making attacks on Macedonia. In 29 BC the proconsul of Macedonia, Marcus 17Licinius Crassus lured the Bastarnae into a disastrous position on the Cendrus, a tributary of the Danube. A massacre ensued during which Deldo was killed by Crassus himself.
In 29 BC Octavian celebrated a triple triumph for his victories in Dalmatia, at Actium and in Egypt (these were naturally projected not as part of a civil war but the destruction of foreign foes). At the same time the doors of the Temple of Janus (the two-faced god of boundaries), that remained open in times of war, were closed (although border wars were continuing in Gaul and Spain.) for the first time since 235 BC.
Aerarium (aes: ‘bronze’, money’) referred to the public treasury and to the public finances. The Temple of Saturn, at the foot of the road up to Capitoline, was dedicated probably at the inception of the Republic, and from that time on it was the main depository of the state. The most important non-financial documents in the Aerarium were copies of the laws and decrees of the Senate, which did not become valid until the copies were deposited. Throughout most of the Republic the Aerarium was in charge of two quaestors, but in 45 BC Caesar appointed two aediles. In 29 BC Octavian gave the Senate the annual choice of two praefecti (prefects) of praetorian rank for the post.
Early in 44 BC Caesar began building the Curia Julia, a new meeting house for the Senate. After his assassination he was deified by the Senate, and Octavian began the construction of the Temple of Divus Caesar. In 29 BC Octavian finished and dedicated both structures.
In 29 BC Agrippa started an impressive building program on his own property in the Campus Martius which included three buildings aligned from south to north: the Baths of Agrippa, the Basilica of Neptune and the Pantheon.
In 28 BC Octavian began construction of his mausoleum on the northern edge of the Campus Martius, At the entrance to the Mausoleum were pillars or pilasters on which was engraved the res gestae, the funerary inscription giving a first-person record of his life and accomplishments
In 28 BC Octavian was consul with Agrippa. He no longer made full use of his full powers; instead he executed all his official duties as consul with his colleague Agrippa at his side. Agrippa was also his colleague in the office of censor, which was intended to prepare the citizenry and the Senate for their duties in the res publica (the republic); the census showed over four million citizens.
A lectio senatus (selection for the Senate) reduce the Senate, which had swollen to about one thousand members in the time of Caesar, by about two hundred members, declaring himself princeps senatus (‘chief member of the Senate’) conferring on him the right to speak first in any measure before the Senate. Two later lectiones senatus decreased the number of senators by various stages to its republican dimensions.
Octavian was now in a similar position as Caesar had been before his assassination – having no rival and was beginning to look like a king, a reviled figure in Rome. To maintain his rank while avoiding assassination Octavian found it necessary to describe his position in republican-sounding terms.
At the close of the year Octavian put an end to the uncertainty over validity of measures from the time of his triumvirate by means of an edict that declared invalid all acts of his that contravened the constitution. Thus the laws of the Republic once again represented the standard of political conduct.
At the end of the year he laid down his consular power and on 1 January he took up his seventh consulship. On 13 January the Senate met. Octavian made a speech renouncing his special powers and ‘transferring the state to the Roman people’. He accepted the provinces of Spain, Gaul, and Syria for ten years, was voted the honours mentioned in his res gestae, and on 16 January renamed Imperator Caesar Augustus, an arrangement known as the ‘First Settlement of Augustus’.
Thus it began to be accepted that Augustus ruled Rome not by force or coercion but because he had brought to end the cycle of war and now was the Roman most able to keep public order and maintain the peace. Augustus himself claimed to have restored the Republic but effectively he was now in sole charge of the Roman world.
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