Cementing Augustus’s Rule, Establishing the Pax Romana

Bartley Cai                                                                                        

Engl. 2000.R11

David Pedersen

Essay 3

4/2/16

Cementing Augustus’s Rule, Establishing The Pax Romana

Publius Vergilius Maro, recognized most commonly as Vergil, was born in 70 BC at Andes, a region in the northern part of Italy. A significant majority of Vergil’s life is denoted by controversial events in politics; from a young age, there was political strife in, what was at the time, the Roman Republic. Only just a few years after Vergil’s birth, in 63 BC, the Catiline conspiracy was uncovered by Cicero, in which the senator Catiline, an aristocrat in debt (due to stagnant trade and loss of tax revenue during this period), planned to overthrow the Republic (Wasson). Chaotical events following this was the civil war between Pompey the Great and Julius Caesar, followed by the assassination of Julius Caesar, whose will would officially adopt his nephew, Gaius Octavius, implying his succession, which would cause further civil war (Mark).

Following nearly 20 years of civil war, Vergil began writing The Aeneid in 30 BC, with Octavius (later to be known as Augustus) holding consulship, defeating numerous political enemies and well on his way to becoming the first Emperor of Rome (Eck ch. 4, 5, and 6). The Aeneid was incomplete, however, with Vergil dying ten years after its start. In writing The Aeneid, Vergil had three purposes: to capture the glory of Roman ideals of obligations toward “one’s family, state, and gods”, which encompasses piety (Johnston xi), to set Caesar Augustus’ rule in stone and celebrate the peace and prosperity he brought (Papillon and Haigh 113), and to revive Roman religion (Knapp sec. 22, 23, and 24; Pharr 6 sec. 15 and 16). Heroism, as presented in The Aeneid, reflects these three purposes as well as the transition from the political turmoil of the 1st Century B.C., to the Pax Romana, an era that was relatively free of conflict, established by Caesar Augustus. Thus, religion, which encompasses the gods and fate, playing an integral role in The Aeneid, is one of the main aspects of heroism that responds to Vergil’s three purposes of The Aeneid.

        Clyde Pharr states that the higher class, “educated Romans were becoming quite blasé… and were gradually losing the faith of their fathers with its simple, unquestioning reliance on the infallible wisdom of the gods and their helpful interference in human affairs” (6). Undoubtedly, Augustus’s desire to revive religion stemmed from the neglect of temples and rituals and most importantly,  what the poet Horace attributed “the degeneracy of the times to the neglect of religion.” (Knapp sec. 23 and 24). Calling upon Vergil, the combination of Augustus’s desire and Vergil’s equal fervor in turn reflects the prevalence of the role of gods and fate in The Aeneid (Knapp sec. 39). Many times throughout the text, the gods are transcended by the higher power of fate. For example, Juno, the god who directly opposes Aeneas’s campaign to Italy states, “This I accept, that their Latin realms cannot be prevented, and Lavinia is fixed by fate to be his wife - yet I can drag out long delays to their plans.” (Vergil 314-317). Thus, the most consistent approach is to first examine the role of gods, then fate.

        The role of gods in The Aeneid most directly reflect the purpose of fulfilling “responsibilities toward one’s family, state, and gods.” (Johnston xi). During Aeneas’s extended stay in Carthage, a plot by Juno to prevent Aeneas from reaching Italy by making him settle in Carthage, Jupiter sends Mercury to remind Aeneas of his mission: “Have you so lost sight of your future kingdom and glory? The very king of the gods… sends me down to you from Olympus and orders me to bring you this message: ‘...If the glory of great deeds fails to inspire you, will you not think at least of Ascanius, your son, and his fortune as Iulus, your heir, inasmuch as the kingdom of Italy and the Roman land are his destiny?’ ” (Vergil 265-274). Thus, with Aeneas “mindful of Jove’s commands” (Vergil 331), captures the responsibilities of one’s family, state, and gods all at once by leaving Carthage to resume his pursuit of Italy. Another example that captures these responsibilities is at the anniversary games, where Juno unleashes another plot to attempt to prevent Aeneas from reaching Italy. Disguised as one of the Trojan women, she stirs up anguish among the women and begin to burn Aeneas’s fleet (Vergil V. 659-662). Aeneas now faces a decision: to settle at his father’s resting place or continue on to what the gods has decreed him. Following a vision of his father, he compromises instead, letting those who wish to remain to settle, and to continue on with a now limited fleet (Vergil V. 727-729). This also shows his fulfillment towards state, family, and the gods; he is compromising, allowing both parties to be content, and he is allowing his future descendants the glory that is the future of Rome by following the gods command to pursue his search.

Fate plays the strongest role in legitimizing Caesar Augustus’s rule. Indeed, there are numerous instances within The Aeneid that explicitly mention and allude to the forthcoming rule of Caesar Augustus. For example, when Aeneas visits his father Anchises in the underworld to learn of his destiny, his father tells him: “Romulus… the son of Mars… Through his auspices, my son, the glory of Rome will spread her sovereignty over the earth and her spirit to Olympus… turn your eyes here; look upon this line, your Romans… this man here is Augustus Caesar… He will found again a Golden Age that existed once in Saturn’s Latium.” (Vergil 777-794). Another example is the shield given to Aeneas by Vulcan which depicts the future reign of Rome as well as the actions taken by Caesar Augustus to bring in the golden age, which the text states: “In the center of the shield was the battle of Actium… From here Augustus Caesar was leading Italians into battle, endorsed by the Senate, the people, and the Penates and also by the great gods… On the other side is Antony… Caesar was entering Rome in triple triumph, making eternal offerings to the Italic gods - three hundred enormous altars throughout the entire city… slaughtered bullocks covered the ground in front of the alters… Caesar sits on the ivory threshold of Phoebus’ shining temple, accepting gifts from the people and hanging them on the temple doors in dedication to the god.” (Vergil 674-722). This shield’s depiction thus legitimizes Caesar Augustus’s rule by drawing a connection to Aeneas; like Aeneas, Augustus has the role of fate set for him, and Augustus also appeases the gods, while working for one’s family and state. The depiction also reflects the wishes of Augustus to restore Roman religion.  This connection and depiction also allowed the Romans to see that Augustus was finishing was Aeneas had started, with the golden age starting at the crowning of Augustus, and also the assurance of an even better future.