Augustus: The Life of Rome's First Emperor Hardcover – Deckle Edge, October 17, 2006

This is one of the best biographies I have ever read. Everitt is a serious historian, but is not staid. Up front, he lays out an interesting scenario of Augustus's death based on what is known, but fills it out with he knows about the Roman society in general and the Augustan period in general. The picture is a bit different than that painted by Robert Graves.Next, he talks about the historical record. What do we know based on the preserved record and what we know that has been lost (which is a lot!). He exams what is likely to propaganda supported by Augustus but also poured on by supplicants, such as Horace. He notes that Augustus encouraged relatively freed dialogue, but limits existed (witness, Ovid. Ovid is a minor figure here in a much larger tapestry than "An Imagined Life", and has a much less favorable portrayal).I liked the fact that he clearly delineated what Augustus was (a great politician and social thinker) and what he was not (a great general). He portrayed Augustus as the scion of a well-to-do country bourgeois family whose move into high aristocracy was made possible through his adoption by the Dictator. From there, Augustus hangs on by the skin of his teeth through cunning and luck to become all that he could be.Some of the incidences that Everitt lays out are quite interesting (the Egyptian Asp is 6 feet long full grown, too large to be smuggled in a basket of fruit. The small ones are far less deadly). Some are hilarious. In 41 AD Mark Antony's brother, Lucius Antonius, turns on Octavian and is besieged in the town of Perugia for a long time. Some of the large iron and stone rocks fired by the sides were excavated and found to have engravings by the soldiers, including "I seek Octavian's arse" and "Hi, Octavius. You suck cock". So there was a precedent for "Eat this Tojo!"Try it. You'll like it.

There aren't too many Augustus per se books out there. So any addition is welcome. This one attempts to be factual. But it is undermined by the fact that there isn't much source material. Among the few, there is the gossipy Suetonius. What a pity. That man had gold to work with and look what he did. Then there is the great Livy. There is also Cassius Dio but he was far displaced in time. So was Plutarch. What little we know about Augustus suggests a possibility that he probably kept some account of his activities. Possibly even of his motivations to continue along the thorny path blazed by Cæsar. After all, his legacy meant a lot to him. But such if they ever existed have vanished. Intriguingly his descendant Claudius, who was quite scholarly for a future Emperor, conceived or perhaps even wrote a few lines about the history of his times from an insider's perspective, including things about Augustus, but he was discouraged on the grounds that his studies would never be allowed to see the light of day. Hmm. Before I came to Everitt I had read a rather literary account of Augustus by John Williams, also reviewed by me. At that time I bemoaned such fictitious accounts. Now that I've had a chance to read this book, and knowing that there really isn't much to go on anyway, I'm coming around to the point of view that Williams' Augustus, however imaginary, was a brave thing to have done. Under the circumstances it's at least more entertaining in the better sense of the word.

Augustus Caesar is a fascinating study. While he was not much of a soldier, and not terribly personable by most accounts, he became the master of Rome's political game following the death of Julius Caesar, and within a number of years he eliminated all of his enemies and established himself as a de facto King of Rome. The Republic was dead, and the Empire that Augustus replaced it with would endure for many centuries.This book is quite readable, and it really does serve to give the reader a feel for what Augustus Caesar was really like. We see that he was heartless as regards marital matters, repeatedly requiring his inner circle to marry or divorce against their wishes for political reasons. This ended up causing him much trouble. While he led a tough and adventurous life by modern standards (and perhaps any standard) he was apparently not competent militarily, and had a penchant for becoming ill on campaigns. But he was smart enough to rely on his hyper-competent client Marcus Agrippa, and he was able to keep Agrippa's loyalty throughout the latter's life. The Roman people were tired of civil war, proscriptions, and turmoil, and welcomed the calm and peace of Augustus' dictatorship. Republics have fallen for these kinds of reasons since.This is an insightful book and an enjoyable read. Highly recommended. RJB.