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RES GESTAE OF AUGUSTUS

e. The unifying concept is his claim to have possessed and to have exercised during his more than 50 years in power of supreme moral authority or auctoritas, culminating in his being accorded by the Roman people in B.C. 2 the title of parens patriae or Father of his country.

Relatively brief, the Res Gestae is noticeable for its clarity of expression, what Brunt & Moore call "a cool record of fact . . . on occasion dry to the point of tedium." Many aspects of his reign are omitted, including many of his legislative and administrative accomplishments and the names of his principal adversaries and enemies. Foreign policy is treated superficially. He covers some military campaigns, and omits others. Noticeable by its absence is any reference to the crushing defeat suffered by the Roman legions under Quinctulius Varus at the hands of Teutonic tribes at the Battle of Teutenborg Forest in A.D. 9.

The one-sided nature of Augustus' account was not, according to Hornblower and Spawforth inconsistent with "the tradition of self-advertisement used by great men under the republic." Brunt & Moore say that "such a document was bound to be an apologia, containing the things which Augustus wished to be remembered about his life, and omitting things which were inconsistent with the picture he was drawing." The interesting question is why he included what he did, his emphasis and reasons behind his omissions and half-truths.

Augustus begins his account with a beguilingly straightforward statement, which contains more than a grain of truth, but is nevertheless a gross oversimplification. He says in para. 1 that "at the age of nineteen, on my own initiative and at my own expense, I raised an army by means of which I restored liberty to the republic, which had been oppressed by the tyranny of faction."

The brief dictatorship of Julius Caesar, who adopted Augustus, then named Gaius Octavius (Octavian), as his son and designated succe...

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RES GESTAE OF AUGUSTUS. (1969, December 31). In LotsofEssays.com. Retrieved 12:58, March 28, 2024, from https://www.lotsofessays.com/viewpaper/1681275.html