64
Death of a dictator
The assassination plot grew rapidly,
eventually including 60 senators,
among them many of Caesar’s close
colleagues. The plotters decided
to strike at a meeting of the Senate
that had been called for March 15,
(the Ides of March). On the day,
they gathered at Cassius’s home,
each senator concealing a dagger
beneath his robes, before moving
on to Pompey’s Theatre—part of a
great civic complex that Caesar’s
old rival had constructed—where
the Senate was meeting. A group
of gladiators had been stationed in
the theatre itself, to help control any
crowd problems. However, many of
the conspirators were nervous and
ready to flee, convinced that the
plot had been uncovered.
Caesar had indeed been warned:
a list of the plotters had been thrust
into his hands, but he ignored it.
His wife pleaded with him not to
attend the Senate meeting, but one
of the conspirators, stationed at
Caesar’s house, helped calm her
fears. When Caesar arrived at the
meeting, a conspirator distracted
his deputy, Mark Anthony, delaying
him outside the theatre. As Caesar
took his seat, the conspirators drew
their daggers and struck, stabbing
him 23 times. In an ironic twist,Caesar breathed his last slumped
against the base of a statue of his
old rival Pompey.The Second Triumvirate
Seized with manic fervor, the
conspirators dipped their hands
in Caesar’s blood and rushed out
into the Forum to proclaim their
tyrannicide. In the power vacuum
that followed, Mark Anthony, and
Caesar’s heir, Octavian, promptly
assumed control of the state, forming
in 43 bce a triumvirate (a group
of three men holding power) with
Lepidus, one of Caesar’s former allies.
Needing to gather enough funds
to stabilize their authority, and to
remove political opposition, the
triumvirate drew up a list of those
who had supported Caesar’s
murderers, and declared them
outlaws. Around 200 senators and
more than 2,000 equites (“knights”
or minor nobility) were either killed
or had their estates confiscated.
The treasury’s coffers now filled,
the triumvirate hunted down and
destroyed Brutus and Cassius.
In 40 bce, the triumvirs met again,
this time to carve up the Roman
world. Africa was given to Lepidus,
the East to Mark Anthony, and the
West to Octavian. However, it wasTHE ASSASSINATION OF JULIUS CAESAR
not long before Octavian went to
war against Anthony in north
Africa, and, after defeating his
forces at Actium in western Greece
in 31 bce, Octavian became the
master of the Roman world.Rome’s first emperor
Octavian returned to Rome in
28 bce and, instead of following
Caesar’s example, he renounced
the dictatorial powers granted
to him in order to wage his war
against Antony. In 27 bce, in
gratitude for his service to Rome,
the Senate bestowed on him
the name Augustus (“revered
personage”) and granted him wide-
ranging legal powers. Eventually,
through political sleight of hand,
he became Rome’s sole ruler,
controlling all aspects of the Roman
state and command of the army.
An emperor in all but name
(he was careful to spurn such titles,
styling himself instead as princeps,
or “first citizen”), over the next
four decades, Augustus set about
transforming the ruins of the
republican system into an imperial
autocracy, all the while maintaining
the illusion that his authority
was dependent on the will of the
people. He loosely established the
boundaries of the empire, pushed
through reforms to clean up both
private and public life, and crushed
dissent. After the long periods of
exhausting civil war, many in the
empire were grateful for peace.The Pax Romana
Indeed the might of the Roman
military and the consequent
improvements in security and
stability across a vast stretch of
territory, in what became known as
the Pax Romana (“Roman Peace”),
led to a growth in trade, economic
activity, population, and general
prosperity. The arts and cultureCaesar, like a most
gentle physician, had been
assigned to the Romans
by Heaven itself.
Plutarch
Parallel LivesI found Rome a city of
bricks, and left it a
city of marble.
Augustus
According to Suetonius,
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65
The Ara Pacis Augustae altar
in Rome is dedicated to Pax,
the Roman goddess of peace. The
processional frieze shows members
of the Roman Senate with a priest.flourished, public and private
building works proliferated, and the
provinces outside Italy underwent a
process of Romanization, in which
the Roman language, culture, laws,
and institutions were embedded
into diverse societies and across
ethnic boundaries. Provincials were
even granted full Roman citizenship
after a period of military service.
However, for the regions beyond
the bounds of empire, Augustus’s
Pax Romana often meant just the
opposite. Even after reducing the
army from 80 legions to a permanent
force of just 28, Augustus had to
find employment for 150,000 soldiers.
He launched a series of campaigns
to extend borders, suppress and
harry rebels and “barbarians,” and
seize slaves from conquered areas.An imperial legacy
By the end of his life in 14 ce,
Augustus had established a new
imperial system that would endure
for centuries. For some years before
his death, Augustus had prepared
the way for an heir to succeed him,
and retain control of the state. His
step-son Tiberius was graduallyANCIENT CIVILIZATIONS
granted powers until he could
effectively be considered to be
a co-emperor. This smoothed the
transition of authority on Augustus’
death, preventing a vacuum of
power and ensuring continuity.
Augustus thus established the
principle of direct succession and
ensured the survival of the office of
emperor. The system continued
through multiple dynasties, with the
empire reaching its height under the
Nerva-Antonine dynasty when the
emperor Hadrian ordered the
building of a wall in northern Britain
to mark the empire’s outer limit.
The transition from republic to
monarchy, while drastic, gave Rome
a new stability. Masquerading as a
democrat, Augustus created a new
autocratic system of government,
which, despite restricting political
participation, was much better able
to resist the compulsive upheavals
that had plagued the Roman
Republic a generation before. ■Bear with me the hope
that when I die, that the
foundations which have laid
for [Rome’s] future government,
will stand firm and stable.
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