Sublime

The Res Gestae is a rich source of detail about Augustus’ career and the Roman world of his day. It starts with a delicately euphemistic description of his rise to power, which entirely omits any mention of the pogrom (‘I liberated the state oppressed by the power of a faction’ is how he refers to his clash with either Antony or Brutus and

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But the patricians satisfy themselves by deciding that henceforth it shall be elective, and they fix the forms of election with marvellous skill. The senate must choose the candidate; the patrician assembly of the curies must confirm this choice; and, finally, the patrician augurs must declare whether this newly elected king is pleasing to the

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