My Name Is Augustus

I was not always known as the great savior of the Roman Republic. My name is Augustus, but I was born Gaius Octavius, and throughout my life many of my friends and enemies often called me by the name Octavianus. I was born in the city of Velitrae, into a very wealthy family, and I had two older sisters, both of which were named Octavia. My father, Gaius Octavius, was a praetor who served in the Senate as well as a governor of Macedonia, but I scarcely remember him, as he died when I was very young.

My mother, Atia, was the niece of the great Julius Caesar, and it was through her I would be able to establish my connection to Caesar later on. She presided over my education as a child and sent me to a school where I learned the skills I would need to hold a government position, or perhaps even become a senator. It was here I forged a great friendship with Marcus Agrippa, a man who would stand beside me for the rest of my life.

When I was twelve years old, my grandmother Julia died, and I delivered the oration at her funeral. I was praised by many for my elegant speech and for the first time I was brought into association with my highly controversial great uncle. I was delighted at this, as Caesar was my idol and I wanted to strive to match his greatness in any way that I could. At the age of sixteen, my great uncle Caesar started to take an interest in me.

Get quality help now

RhizMan

Verified

Proficient in: Augustus

4.9 (247)

“ Rhizman is absolutely amazing at what he does . I highly recommend him if you need an assignment done ”

+84 relevant experts are online

Hire writer

At the time, he was in Hispania fighting and campaigning against Pompey’s sons. Even though I was considered too young for service, I followed him overseas, although I was shipwrecked on my way there. To make matters worse, I had been suffering from a state of serious illness. I was unsure of whether I would survive navigating my way through the war zone and I was very frightened about the task the lay before me. However, I was determined to prove myself to Caesar and show that I was fully capable of being a leader. Eventually, I was able to rejoin Caesar after leading the men who were with me through enemy territory. This feat impressed my great uncle, as it caused him to form a high estimate of my abilities, and he even promoted me to patrician status, a decision which I was very pleased with.

I was sent to Apollonia by Caesar to further my political apprenticeship, but also so I could join the legions there and prepare for the Parthian campaign that my great uncle was planning. Caesar wanted me to accompany him on this expedition so I could increase my reputation and experience. Though, at the time I was still too young to actually be noteworthy in public life.

Upon hearing the news of my great uncle’s assassination and the disorder and mayhem the ensued throughout Rome, I was shocked. I was particularly outraged when I found out that the senators that murdered my great uncle were the same ones whom Caesar had shown mercy several years earlier when he marched on Rome! I was angry and confused, but I knew that sailing straight to Rome was a rash and dangerous decision. After consulting with Agrippa, and my other companions, I decided it would be best to sail for Brundisium in Italy instead of waiting for more news.

When I reached Brundisium, I learned that I was stated in Caesar’s will. He had granted me three quarters of his estate, so long as I adopted the name Gaius Julius Caesar. Though I would be given Caesar’s fortune, the adoption meant much more to me, as it would entitle me to call myself Caesar’s true son and heir. I had always idolized my great uncle, so getting the opportunity to be adopted by him would further enhance my reputation, although his recent assassination would make taking up his name quite risky. Despite my mother’s and stepfather’s efforts to get me to decline Caesar’s name and inheritance because of the perils that it would bring, I knew that inaction would also make me a target for Republicans as well as those who came into control of Caesar’s armies, especially Mark Antony, who was the current consul and one of Caesar’s huge supporters that was annoyed when he was not named as Caesar’s heir. After much thought, I decided I would take up Caesar’s name.

Soon after I reached Brundisium, I began to quickly take action. I requested my inheritance from Mark Antony, but my request was passed on to Cicero, who dismissed it because he believed I was too reckless, self-confident, and inexperienced to accomplish anything. I was intent on getting my inheritance and proving Cicero wrong, though first I needed support. Many of Caesar’s former advisors and financers decided to support me after I had publicly proclaimed that I was Caesar’s heir. I figured that formal recognition of my adoption would be the best way to get my inheritance. Soon, I came into control of the treasury left in Brundisium for the Parthian campaign, and with the promise of higher pay, I began to attract many legionaries to my side. Some of Antony’s legions even mutinied and joined my army. By declaring myself to be Gaius Julius Caesar, the legions, who were made of Caesar’s former soldiers, became enthusiastic to support me because they recognized me as Caesar’s son. When I finally reached Rome, I was the leader of a massive army and my greatest opponent was Mark Antony.

My relationship with Antony steadily got worse. He viewed me as a major threat, as my most effective weapon against him was the ability to incite mutiny in his camps. After the two new consuls Hirtius and Pansa defeated Antony at Mutina, I took command of their surviving men and stood at the head of eight legions. However, my legions and Antony’s legions were reluctant to fight each other as they were all former soldiers of Caesar, and they were much more interest in fighting Caesar’s assassins, not Antony. I realized that it would be much more beneficial to negotiate terms with Antony and Lepidus (one of Antony’s supporters), instead of going to war with them. Yet without establishing legitimate control over my armies, there was no way the Senate would tolerate me working with the enemy. So, for a second time in less than a year, I marched on Rome with my army, but this time, men from my legions demanded that I become consul and they were very successful in convincing the Senate.

I became the the youngest consul in the Republic’s history, an achievement I vas very proud of. My first act as consul was making a declaration saying that the branding of Antony and Lepidus as public enemies should be repealed, and I reversed the amnesty made after Caesar’s death, and made his murder a crime. I traveled to Bologna where Antony, Lepidus, and myself held negotiations to reunite the Caesarian forces. The first decision we made was to declare ourselves as triumvirs and joint dictators of the state, and to make our actions legal, our alliance was ratified back in Rome. With the help of Antony and Lepidus, I was able to hunt down and eliminate all of the conspirators in my great uncle’s murder. I had finally created a reminder of Caesar’s legacy and solidified my position as Caesar’s true heir.

Later, our alliance remained strong, although Lepidus’ influence was diminished as he was not very popular among our soldiers. Each of us ruled over a portion of the western provinces, and one difficult task I was faced with was defeating Pompey’s son, Sextus, who was raiding grain shipments to Rome, thus creating a food shortage within the city. Instead of the gods, I was blamed by the people that I was doing nothing to stop Sextus, and I felt very embarrassed. So, I invaded Sicily to take down Sextus’ naval force, however I was overwhelmed and defeated for the first time in my career when Sextus surprised me with a counterattack. The so called son of Neptune had inflicted a heavy wound on my reputation, but I would not give into humiliation so easily. I invaded Sicily once again, this time putting Agrippa in charge, and Sextus was defeated, bringing Sicily under my control. Lepidus though, who did not have much of a role in our alliance by now, tried to challenge my authority and rally Sextus’ former troops to his side. Angered by his actions, I persuaded Sextus’ soldiers to desert Lepidus and join my ranks, which worked, and I had Lepidus expelled from our alliance.

After the fallout with Lepidus, my relations with Antony were strained. Antony’s wife and my sister’s husband had died, so I quickly arranged a marriage between them to strengthen our alliance. However, much to my dislike, Antony was spending much of his time in Egypt with Cleopatra, as he needed financial support to fuel his Parthian campaign. The more time he spent with her, the more he ceased to behave like a Roman and remember that he was a servant of the Republic. Our alliance was broken when he divorced Octavia and sent her back to Italy. What made me furious though, was that he declared that Caesarion, Cleopatra’s son, was Caesar’s true heir. Eventually, I recognized that he only took to heart the interests of Cleopatra and that she was the true enemy. I declared war on Cleopatra, and a civil war sparked between Antony and myself.

As I closed in on Antony’s main base at Actium, Agrippa slowly won victories, and at the last battle, Antony and Cleopatra fled like cowards, amidst their burning fleet. I pursued them to Alexandria, where at last both of them took their own lives in fear of being captured by me. With their deaths, I had finally ended the civil wars which had raged through the Republic for decades, and brought peace back to Rome.

When I returned to Rome, I celebrated my triumphs and began a sixth consulship with Agrippa as my colleague. I proclaimed to the Roman citizens that I was going to bring back Republic, and with Agrippa and Maecenas (my political advisor), I rebuilt Rome to its former glory. I rebuilt many temples to ensure that the good will of the gods would flow throughout the city once more. I reestablished courts and elections, encouraged literature, and revised and enforced old Republican policies that would give more opportunities to the people. My greatest reform was reducing the size of the Senate to make it more respectable and dignified. Never again would I allow an event like my great uncle’s death to occur, especially with influence from corrupt senators. Rome became the most prosperous city in the world, and the Senate bestowed upon me several powers as well as the name Augustus, to celebrate what I had achieved.

Years after I ended the civil wars, I finally set out to do what my great uncle had planned to do decades ago: conquer Parthia. I understood that noble conquest would do much to benefit the welfare and growth of the Republic, but I also knew that we did not have issues with Parthia since the time of Crassus. After much negotiations, the Parthians knelt and willingly gave me the eagle standard Crassus had lost long before, and with it I revived the spirit of the Republic. At long last, my reputation surpassed that of Caesar’s and I had succeeded in restoring the Republic.

I am very old now, dying from disease, and I am looking for a successor. Many say that my success was due to luck and heavy reliance on the people I surrounded myself with, yet I believe that it was my early ambition, unmatched political skill, and my ability to take calculated risks that helped me in my rise to supremacy. I am sure my legacy will remain strong when I am gone, because I know that my achievements will resound through the streets of Rome forever, and that the name Augustus will always be remembered as the man who saved the Republic.