Rome. Seen by so many as the
foundation for the western world that exists today. From the era of the republic
to the magnificent, sprawling Roman Empire that left an incredible legacy over its centuries
of existence. The story of Rome is known far and wide, but what about the man who turned
the dying republic into a mighty empire?... The First Citizen is how he was often addressed. The once young, sickly boy who managed to turn
his misery into a fate that so many would envy. Born Gaius Octavius, the man who became
Emperor Augustus - the first emperor of the budding Roman Empire - changed
the face of Rome as everyone knew it… Before he ruthlessly etched his
name into nearly every history book, leaving a Rome, once of clay, now one of
marble, Emperor Augustus was born in 63 BC to a fairly well-off Roman family. His father
was a Senator and his mother was the daughter of Julius Caesar’s sister. After his
father’s unfortunate demise in 59 BC, the young boy would end up being raised in
the household of his maternal grandmother, Julia. While this undoubtedly brought him into
closer contact with his revered great-uncle for the next few years, Caesar was scarcely impressed
by the young boy. Octavius wasn’t much of the strong, military-leader type by this point, and
would frequently fall ill so much so that he would have appeared to be more of a weak embarrassment
than anything else to his great-uncle. Still, after being elected to the College of Pontiffs
in 47 BC, Octavius wished to join Julius Caesar for his upcoming campaigns in Africa and
Hispania. Despite his mother’s initial protests, Octavius was eventually able to gain approval for
such a task, but another bout of illness knocked him off to the sidelines yet again. It’s almost as
if Caesar had been right about the boy all along… Except, he wasn’t. And he was quite wrong
indeed. Octavius was determined to prove to not only his great-uncle but to himself, that
he was so much more than anyone had so far estimated. Pulling himself together with
every ounce of strength in his weakened body, Octavius boarded a ship and was on
his way to meet Caesar in Hispania. But despite his valiant efforts, the
world had other plans for the boy. As he sailed to the front and readied
for battle, Octavius’s ship wrecked, throwing yet another wrench in
his nonetheless admirable plan. By the time he arrived at Caesar’s camp, the
battle was essentially over. But it was Caesar himself who noted that his young relative had no
way of knowing that this would be the case at the time he had set sail, and he was significantly
impressed by the passion and strength of Octavius. This would prove to be one of the
greatest decisions that the boy would ever make… It was because of Octavius’s bravery in
Hispania that Caesar began to develop a fondness for his grand-nephew, and it was now
that Julius Caesar was so remarkably dazzled that he changed his will in order to adopt the boy
and leave him as his sole heir and beneficiary. When Caesar was assassinated in March of 44 BC,
Octavius had been in Apollonia for education and military training, and he had not been made
aware of his place in his great-uncle’s will, although he suspected that he
may have been left something, given that Caesar had conceived no legitimate
children. In spite of the plethora of warnings being sent his way to stay out of Italy and
away from possible danger, Octavius courageously returned to Rome where he found himself a new
rival by the infamous name of Mark Antony… The following years, during which historians
now refer to Caesar’s heir as Octavian, were marked by this bitter battle
for the murdered ruler’s holdings. The Senate, who had all hoped to see Caesar’s
ally of Mark Antony meet his own demise, backed the young challenger. After gathering an
army of Caesar’s former supporters, Octavian was gaining continuous support around Rome, which left
Antony severely uneasy. Eventually recognizing his mounting disadvantage, Antony fled for Cisalpine
Gaul where he would face off and on conflict from the Romans. But, despite Octavian’s growing
popularity, the Roman senate had failed to give him the proper praise and privileges that he felt
were earned by his own efforts against Antony, and suddenly, two warring rivals became
unlikely friends against the Roman state… As Octavian had worked to strongarm the
senate into complying with his own wishes, Antony had formed an alliance with yet another
supporter of the assassinated Caesar, Marcus Aemilius Lepidus. It was this duo who, in 43 BC,
Octavian would form an unexpected alliance with that would shake the Roman senate to its core.
This was the formation of the Second Triumvirate… By this time, the whole of the Roman
Republic was split between the three men, with Octavian taking the west, Antony
the east, and Lepidus Africa. Still, this agreement was only temporary and even while
it remained intact, the competition between Antony and Octavian remained and prospered like an
unwatered weed. And as Antony began to develop a scandalous relationship with the Egyptian
queen Cleopatra, Octavian made one of his first power moves back in Rome that would make many
reconsider which Caesarian they really preferred. Octavian, needing to house his war veterans during
this time of relative peace, decided that at the risk of angering many of his citizens, it would
be best not to alienate his troops who could potentially mount a rebellion against him. Thus,
he chose to confiscate lands from Roman citizens to house his veterans and avoid their wrath.
One political opponent, Lucius Antonius, brother of Mark Antony, though, tried to take
advantage of Octavian’s growing disapproval. Lucius finally mounted his armed opposition
in collaboration with Antony’s wife, Fulvia, after Octavian doubled down by divorcing Fulvia’s
daughter from her first marriage. This attempted revolt was an utter failure, and it ended with
the humbling surrender of Lucius and his allies at the start of 40 BC. Nonetheless, Octavian’s
decisions within Rome continued to cause today’s equivalent of a disastrous drop in the polls
of public opinion. Yet, unfazed, Octavian came to a miraculous conclusion - he should
become the sole ruler of the Roman Republic… Antony, during this time, had been
engaged in his own political affairs, but it was when he divorced Octavians sister in
favor of none other than the famed Cleopatra, that Octavian drew the line in the
sand before burying his rival in it… With Lepidus being ousted from the alliance after
the renewal of the triumvirate, it was now yet again a face-off between the likes of Octavian and
Mark Antony. The result would be disastrous for the latter, and after facing a humiliating defeat
at the hands of Octavian, who had simultaneously been working to mend his reputation back home
by pinning Antony as the more autocratic leader than himself, both Cleopatra and Mark Antony took
their own lives in 30 BC. Hammering the final nail into the coffin, knowing all too well that “two
Caesars are one too many”, Octavian had the son of Cleopatra and Julius Caesar and the eldest
by the same woman and Antony assassinated. Now, one heir to Caesar remained. One ruler of Rome
stood unchallenged. And his name was now Augustus… When he first returned to Rome, the
once sickly young boy continued his ingenious plan of painting himself as
the humble restorer of the once-great republic. He knew that he couldn’t just
return and seize all power at once, so he instead accepted the position of consul
alongside his greatest friend and soldier, Marcus Agrippa, with the intention of inching his way
to the status of unofficial emperor from there. And the plan worked marvelously. After a
theatrical show of handing over his power to the Senate, which predictably prompted the Senators
to shortly ask for his return to authority, the clever heir accepted, though he didn’t
miss the chance to feign reluctance; and it was after this that in 27 BC the
Senate gave him yet another name - Augustus… It was at this time also that, now Augustus,
was granted the title of Princeps, which made him more or less the first emperor of Rome in
all but name. And while Augustus was undoubtedly immensely intelligent when it came to political
maneuvering, his attempts to hide his own growing autocratic rule could only go so far. When the
de-facto emperor fell ill yet again in 23 BC, he was left in a difficult to navigate situation of
somehow naming an heir to his monarchical position without actually doing so, as to not expose
himself and whoever would take his place. As a result, there was no one named as his
technical heir, although he did assert that his signet ring would be passed down to his
unwavering friend and ally, Marcus Agrippa. This surprised many, but not as much as
the fact that Augustus, now 40 years old, survived the crippling illness, and with
his full strength and spunk restored… Augustus would survive for
nearly another 3 decades, during which time he truly transformed and
molded the whole of Rome in every way possible. Nearly doubling the size of the former republic,
Augustus expanded Rome’s holdings across his own continent and others, while creating
diplomatic ties throughout the expansion that would stretch his power beyond the official
territories of the Roman Empire. He also passed laws to encourage the general morality
and religiousness of Rome, established a taxation and census system, in addition to
improving infrastructure within the empire. His reform and stabilization of the
Roman Empire and birthing of the Pax Romana set the stage for the brilliant
centuries to follow of great Roman power. Augustus was truly the father of the Roman
Empire and the mastermind behind all that it would bring to the world for generations
to follow. With names like Nero and Caligula in his family tree, it’s clear that Emperor
Augustus left his mark on every last inch of the empire he worked so skillfully to build.
With his death on August 19, 14 AD - ironically, in the month he had named after himself -
Augustus left the world with one last message, one that would ring true then and for long after… "Behold, I found Rome of clay,
and leave her to you of marble"...
