Augustus by John Williams

I have been reading the book, Augustus, by John Williams.  It is a fictional epistolary novel that tells the story of how a mere boy named Octavian grew up to become one of the greatest men in all of history, Augustus.

One of Augutus' earliest desicions to make is to decide who is a friend and who is a foe.  Not only does this play a role throughout the entire novel, but it plays a pivotal role when one of his friends, Salvidienus Rufus, betrays Octavian. Octavian is left no choice but to call Rufus a traitor to Rome and fire him from an official position.  Quintus Salvidienus Rufus dies by committing suicide in front of a messenger, who gives him a letter from Octavius Caesar to tell him that Rufus is no longer a general in Octavius’ army.  It struck me to see how the entire scene occurred.  When Octavius, Mark Antony, and Maecenas are discussing who is a friend to their cause (and who is not), Octavius declares that he wants to make Salvidienus a consul.  Antony reveals a letter to Octavius, where Salvidienus declares his allegiance to Antony and calls Octavian an outlaw.  Due to this Octavius decides to remove him from his military campaign.  When Salvidienus receives the news, he is heartbroken that his childhood friend removes him from his honorable job and rejects him as a friend, and thus, he commits suicide.

In the novel, one of the most controversial characters is Augustus' daughter Julia.  Julia was known to be a bit promiscuous, as has many lovers throughout the novel.  Despite this, many defend her actions as her husbands were merely political marriages to men at least twenty or thirty years older than she. After many years of her affairs, Augustus exiles Julia from Rome due to her adulterous behavior and a plot against Tiberius’ and his life.  Augustus knows that Julia has been unfaithful to her third husband, Tiberius and she has had many lovers.  Later, a plot is revealed that certain men (who all were lovers of Julia) are planning to kill Tiberius, and if a success, kill Augustus as well.  It is not clear whether Julia knew of the conspiracy or not, but Augustus tells her that because of her known unhappiness with Tiberius and her love affairs with the conspirators, the odds do not look in her favor of innocence.  Therefore, in order to spare her life from execution (due to her treason), Augustus exiles her from the city of Rome.  This scene speaks to me because Augustus is forced to make a decision that he knows is for the best, but still will hurt her more than it will him.  Also. the scene shows that Julia has two personalities: one as the daughter of the Emperor which shows her devotion to Rome and to her father, and another as a sort of a party-girl (for a lack of a better word) which shows her devotion to live her life even if it means doing the wrong thing.

I feel that Augustus' love for Julia plays an important role in his decision to exile her as this is arguable one of the hardest decsions he has ever made.  He has fought in many battles, and yet when it comes to family, this is one he knows that there wont be any positive outcome.  Octavius’ relationship with Julia was strong at first.  He cherished and loved her, and even called her his “Little Rome”.  She loved him as well, and often clung to him.  Then, Octavius used Julia by marrying her to his allies, as a way of cementing political alliances.  This began the deterioration of the relationship between the two.  After marrying to Tiberius, Julia began to have affairs with many men.  Not only did this taint her father’s public image, but his willingness to overlook her actions made him seem weak-willed, further stretching the relationship.  After discovering that Julia was possibly involved in a plot with her lovers to have Tiberius and Augustus killed, Augustus exiled her (which was a form of mercy from the death penalty).

One of the best parts about the novel is to see how Octavius changes throughout his life, as shown from Book 1 to Book 3.  He starts out as a weak-willed boy, who lacks the necessary skills to carry the reputation as the son of Caesar.  Julius Caesar even sends Octavius to a special camp to teach him about how to become a great general.  After Caesar’s death, Octavius learns how to speak for himself in front of the public.  He learns how to make alliances (with Mark Antony and Lepidus), in order to stand up to the Senate.  Thus, he becomes more independent, especially after fighting the other two triumvirs over Rome.  He makes his own laws and learns how to give the people what they want, and avoid political unrest.

Titles played a role in the novel because they were used back in ancient times as a way of declaring a person’s importance or personality.  For example, Augustus’ true name is Imperator Caesar Divi Filius Augustus, Pater Patriae.  Having Caesar incorporated to his name glorifies his ancestry of being a direct descendent of Julius Caesar.  Also, Caesar was deified, which enhanced Augustus’ power.  Even the name “Augustus” means “worthy of honor”.  This title was given to him after defeating Mark Antony and Cleopatra, becoming the first emperor.  Certain titles were given to declare a certain position.  For example, Lepidus was given the title “Pontifex Maxiumus” which meant that he was head of all of the priests.  In fact, before being exiled, that title was the only one not stripped from him.

The epistolary form helps contribute to the novel because it shows the character’s point of view.  For example, Julia’s diary explains to the reader that she truly hated Tiberius, and she respected Livia, who was not fond of Julia.  Nicolaus’ letters give a perspective of a Jew living in Rome, and how he portrayed Cleopatra as a wise ruler, instead of the lover of Antony.  The letters also give the reader access to certain political strategies, such as Tiberius’ letters from his advisors telling him to leave the city after receiving a consulship, or to announce the plot against his life.  It provides insight into what people think as they remember past events, such as Augustus’ nostalgia of living in all of his past glory.

Being myself a Jew, it is rare to see great Jewish people (especially in ancient history) play a role in the affairs of the great leaders of history.  However, when there is one, it is interesting bhow their religion plays into their success.

“Perhaps it is because I am nominally a Jew yet a philosopher and no fanatic, and because my father has some small business connection with the court of King Herod…” (112)

I chose this excerpt because it is quite rare to see the point-of-view of a Jew in Roman times.  Nicolaus of Damascus is a Roman Jew who has seen the inner politics of the empire personally.  In this letter, he writes to Strabo and describes his position as the private tutor for Cleopatra’s children, and is quite confused about why he got the job (he thinks it has to do with his religion and his philosophical skills). This excerpt supports the central theme of different points-of-view.  Even though Nicolaus is not a devote Jew, he still identifies himself as one and therefore, he is part of a minority.  History is written primarily by the dominant group of an area, but very rarely is history written by someone who is not exactly part of said majority.  The fact that Nicolaus is a Jew says a lot about how his religion plays a part in the daily life of a Roman, in this case Cleopatra (and eventually, Augustus).  It is also noted that a Jew could rise in the social and economic status of the Roman society.  He claims that he gains support due to his father’s financial connection to King Herod.