plebs Sextus Pacuvius or Apudius (Dio 53.20.2– 4) pledged his life for Augustus’
(“according to the habit of the Iberians”). Inad 37, during a life-threatening ill-
ness of the emperor Caligula (37– 41), other men declared that they would give their
lives in exchange for the health of the emperor. While Augustus had declined the
offer of his enthusiastic follower, Caligula insisted after the recovery from his illness
that the vows had to be fulfilled.
In the eyes not only of the Roman public but also of the provincials, the stabil-
ity and security of the empire were determined by the situation of the emperor’s
family. An emperor without children could guarantee the security of the empire only
for the period of his own earthly existence. The quality of his preceding personal
reign was of no avail in such a situation. Should an emperor die and the question
of his succession not have been definitely decided, that could endanger the whole of
the Roman empire and its existence. In such a situation there was nearly no chance
of preventing fierce factional conflicts and as a result even a civil war between the
warring factions, as the bloody civil wars after the death of Nero, the last emperor
of the Julio-Claudian dynasty (ad54 – 68), showed. The collective memory of the
Roman people during the early empire was very much influenced by the recollec-
tion of the civil wars that had led to the establishment of the Augustan system of
government.
Therefore it was a near-divine obligation for a reigning emperor to provide off-
spring, if possible male, who could follow their father and take over his reign. If for
various reasons such a solution was not possible, the emperor was obliged to find
at least a political construction that could guarantee a smooth transition of power
to a qualified person. A daughter could marry the possible successor. That was the
method applied by Augustus, who used his only daughter Julia in this way. Julia was
given successively, just like a trophy, to three men (Marcellus, Vipsanius Agrippa,
Tiberius) each of whom was at that particular moment the most likely successor to
Augustus. If even this alternative was not available, any other female member of the
imperial family could marry the future successor. This was the system under the early
Antonines: Trajan adopted Hadrian, who was already married to a niece of Trajan.
Hadrian himself first adopted Aelius Verus and, after Aelius’ unexpected death,
Antoninus Pius. Pius’ daughter Faustina II was subsequently married to Marcus
Aurelius, one of the two adopted sons of Antoninus Pius.
As the marital union between Faustina and Marcus Aurelius produced a real crowd
of children, among them some potential successors to the throne, it was no longer
necessary to adopt sons in order to secure the succession within the family.
Unfortunately the problems returned after a while as Commodus, the successor
to Marcus Aurelius, was married but without children. At the same time he was plagued
with five married sisters and consequently five brothers-in-law who all aspired to become
emperor. If even the extended family failed to produce any fitting successor, the emperor
could take any suitable man and adopt him as his son and successor. This was done
by Nerva. He could only evade enormous political pressure by the surprising adop-
tion of Trajan at the end ofad 97.
The decision of the reigning emperor to choose such a solution was to a certain
extent regarded as inspired by the gods. The great altar of the imperial providence
Emperors 313