3.A REIGN THAT IS CRUEL IS STORMY
1. The parts of this discourse must be distinguished as follows. To be pronounced in one breath is the passage: T HE DIVINE A UGUSTUS WAS A
MILD PRINCE IF ONE SHOULD START TO JUDGE HIM FROM THE TIME OF HIS PRINCIPATE. What follows after that, BUT AGAINST THE COMMON REPUBLIC HE WIELDED THE SWORD, WHEN HE WAS THAT AGE AT WHICH YOU ARE NOW, is to be pronounced separately. For those writing the history of that time are unanimous in praising Augustus’ clemency, after, with Lepidus and Antony removed, he undertook the government of the state by himself. In the triumvirate he carried on savage proscriptions in a harsh, fierce manner, and committed certain other deeds full of cruelty, which would take a long time to enumerate. Suetonius Aug., 51.1: Of his clemency and kindness there are abundant and signal instances. See Cornelius Tacitus Ann., 1.9,
and many passages in Ovid. I did not wish to tarry here because certain things, as they suggest themselves, will be touched upon in passing.
BUT AGAINST THE COMMON REPUBLIC HE WIELDED THE SWORD
Erasmus in his latter edition uses the ablative instead of the accusative.
Both readings can be supported. For Caesar was eighteen years old, more or less, when he was sent on an expedition against Antony, who then besieged Brutus at Modena, and finished the business within three
months. A little later, when Antony had fled, and when one of the consuls had been slain in battle and the other had died of a wound, he fastened his mind on seeking the consulate. Since there was a general suspicion among men that he (Octavius) had slain Hirtius in the confusion of battle, and that Glyco the surgeon had, at his instigation, smeared poison into Pansa’s wound, so that, after crushing Antony’s forces and denuding the state of its leaders, he might become lord and master of it all, and since the Senate had decided to break his power by calling back the army — terrified, I say, by these tidings, he directed his efforts to seeking the consulship. And when there was doubt about the outcome he moved legions to the city, turning against the state the military force which had been entrusted to him for the protection of the state. At this time Cicero wrote to him: For what purpose did me send you? From whom do you return? Against whom did me arm you? Whom do you think you are attacking? From whom do you take away the army? And against whom do you prepare for battle? Why is the enemy forsaken? a citizen put in place of the enemy? Why is your camp moved by a halfway march farther from the enemies’ camp and closer to the city? [Pseudo Cicero, Ep. Octav., 5] A little later he wickedly
associated himself with Antony and Lepidus in a triumvirate. Thus he was about nineteen years old when HE WIELDED THE SWORD AGAINST THE STATE, and in the state.
THAT AGE AT WHICH YOU NOW ARE
The reckoning is to be calculated from Suetonius [Aug., 8.1] as follows: He lost his father when he was only four years of age; at the age of twelve he pronounced a funeral oration in praise of his grandmother Julia. Four years afterwards, having assumed the toga of manhood, he was honored
with [several] military awards by Caesar in his African triumph. How much time intervened between this and the death of the dictator Julius must be inferred from another computation. [Suet., Aug., 8.3.]:... he first held the government in conjunction with Mark Antony and Marcus
Lepidus, then with Antony alone, for nearly twelve years, and at last in his own hands for forty-four years. [Ibid., 100.1]. He died at the age of seventy-six, less thirty-five days. Sixteen years elapsed to the time he gave the funeral oration for his grandmother [Ibid., 8.1]; then almost twelve years of association with Lepidus and Antony [Ibid., 8.3]; after forty- four, which are assigned to the monarchy, four years remain. During this period Augustus stood partly by the state, partly turned to the side of Antony and Lepidus. From this observation it can also be gathered that this book was composed by Seneca in the second year of Nero’s reign. For Nero succeeded Claudius at age seventeen [Suet., Nero, 8], after which a full year passed, and another was in progress. For he had entered his nineteenth year. The syntax here used by Seneca, although not very common, is used by good writers. Cicero [Ep. Faro., 6.20.3]: And me are now at the age that me ought to bear bravely all those things which do not happen by our fault. De Orat. [1.47.207]: “I ask you then, Antony,” went on Crassus, “as this burden is laid upon people of our age... ” Contra Verr. [2.2.14.37]:... and they launch the most violent attack against a man of that age, mho is by no means litigious... Philipp. [11.7.17]: P. Africanus said that in his brother there reposed the highest virtue and counsel, and that he himself, made officer to his brother, mould certainly not desert him at that age and in those great campaigns. Plautus [Mere., 2.2.19.1901]: Of what age do I seem to you to be? Apuleius, Metamorph., [5.29.6]: So that first you trampled upon the precepts even of your parent, indeed of your mistress, and not only tortured me as if I were your real enemy with filthy loves, but also, a boy of your age, you indulged in licentious and immature embraces.
AT THE PERSON OF THE CONSUL MARK ANTONY It is well known that Antony was consul in the year Julius Caesar was killed by the conspirators. For this reason he had in his possession Caesar’s papers (because it had been decreed by the Senate, that his acts were not to be rescinded), and the money which Calphurnia had left with
him, four thousand talents. When Octarian, the heir designate to three- fourths of this, sought it, he was subjected to abuse. This was the first cause of their falling out: yet it was only temporary. Through common friends they became reconciled at a friendly meeting on the Capitoline. That night a terrible vision troubled Antony in bis sleep. It seemed to him that his right hand was smitten from heaven, and shortly thereafter it was announced to him that Caesar was plotting against him. For this reason violent enmity flared up between them once again. Plutarch, Antony [15f].
Suetonius [Aug., 10.3] also recalls it in these words: At the instigation of persons about him, he engaged some ruffians to murder his antagonist.
Appian [3.40.16641.167], relates the same story.
HE HAD ALREADY BEEN PARTNER IN THE PROSCRIPTION Enemy of the consul, PARTNER IN THE PROSCRIPTION. There was no agreement among them, except when they entered into a covenant
concerning the triumvirate and the proscription of more than two hundred citizens.