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CHAPTER 9 · THE TRANSFORMATIONS OF AUGUSTUS Caesar’s heir

Mary Beard • SPQR

Augustus further signaled his devotion by minting an aureus, a type of gold Roman coin, with his personal branding of festina lente . On the side that didn’t include his face — because what leader isn’t going to slap his visage on some coin? — he imprinted the image of a crab hoisting a butterfly. The butterfly represented speed, the crab caution... See more

Festina lente: A Roman emperor's guide to getting stuff done

But Augustus became something no Roman had been before: the commander-in-chief of all the armed forces, who appointed their major officers, decided where and against whom the soldiers should fight, and claimed all victories as by definition his own, whoever had commanded on the ground.

Mary Beard • SPQR

Augustus is dead. Long live Augustus!

Mary Beard • SPQR

The riddle of Augustus

Mary Beard • SPQR

Augustus had attempted a careful balancing act, combining extra privileges for the senate and a parade of civilitas with an attempt to reconfigure the old Republican institution into something closer to an arm of administration in his new regime.

Mary Beard • SPQR

His rule was also presented as inevitable, as part of the natural and historical order: in short, as part of how things were. In 8 BCE the senate decided (who knows with what nudging?) that the month Sextilis, next to Julius Caesar’s July, should be renamed August – and so Augustus became part of the regular passage of time, as he remains.

Mary Beard • SPQR

Augustus thought “nothing more derogatory to the character of an accomplished general than precipitancy and rashness.” To quash such impulses, Augustus trained his generals to instead make haste slowly and that “the cautious captain is better than the bold.”

Festina lente: A Roman emperor's guide to getting stuff done

On the death of Nerva in 98 CE, Trajan’s succession was so guaranteed that the new emperor did not even return to Rome…

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