Marx: AN PRINCIPATUS AUGUSTI MERITO INTER FELICIORES REIPUBLICAE ROMANAE AETATES NUMERETUR?

Quaerenti, qualis Augusti aetas fuerit, plura occurunt, ex quibus de ea judicari potest; primum comparatio cum aliis Romanae historiae aetatibus, nam, si ostenderis, aetatibus prioribus, quas felices appellant, similem fuisse Augusti aetatem, illis vero, quas aequalium et recentium judicium, versis et mutatis moribus in pejorem partem, republica in factiones divisa, in bello etiam rebus male gestis, dissimilem, de ea ex aliis conjecturam facere potes; tum quaerendum est, quae veteres de ea ipsa dixerint, quid externae gentes de imperio habuerint, an id veriti sint aut contemserint, denique vero quales artes litteraeque fuerint.

To one inquiring what sort of age that of Augustus was, many considerations occur, from which a judgment about it can be made; first, a comparison with the other ages of Roman history, for if you show that the Augustan age was similar to earlier ages, which they call happy, but unlike those which the judgment of contemporaries and of the more recent—morals having been turned and altered for the worse, the commonwealth divided into factions, and affairs in war too ill-conducted—has pronounced, from these you can make a conjecture about it; then one must ask what the ancients themselves said about it, what foreign nations held concerning the imperium, whether they feared it or contemned it, and finally what the condition of the arts and letters was.

Ne vero longius sim, quam necesse, pulcherrimam aetem ante Augustum, quam morum simplicitas, virtutis studia, magistratuum plebisque integritas felicem fecerunt, aetas, qua Italia inferior subigebatur, illamque Neronis, qua nulla miserior, cum Augusti aetate comparabo.

Lest I be longer than necessary, I will compare with the age of Augustus both the most beautiful age before Augustus—made happy by simplicity of morals, studies of virtue, the integrity of the magistrates and of the plebs, the age in which Lower Italy was being subdued—and that age of Nero, than which none was more wretched.

Nullo tempore magis a studiis optimarum artium Romani abhorruere, quam aetate ante bella punica, eruditione minime aestimata, cum in agriculturam summi illarum aetatum homines praecipue studium operamque collocarent, eloquentia supervacua, cum paucis verbis de rebus agendis dicerent neque orationis elegantiam, sed sententiarum vim peterent, historia vero eloquentiae non egente, cum res gestas tantum referret solumque in Annalium confectione consisteret.

At no time did the Romans more recoil from the pursuits of the best arts than in the age before the Punic wars, erudition being least esteemed, since the foremost men of those ages chiefly placed their zeal and effort in agriculture; eloquence was superfluous, since they spoke with few words about matters to be transacted and sought not the elegance of oration, but the force of sentences; and history, for its part, had no need of eloquence, since it merely reported deeds and consisted solely in the compilation of Annals.

Tota vero aetas patrum plesbisque lite impleta; nam ab expulsis regibus usque ad primum bellum punicum de utriusque jure certatur et magna historiae pars leges tantum refert, quas tribuni aut consules, magna utrimque cum contentione, fecere.

Indeed the whole era of the patricians and the plebs was filled with litigation; for from the expulsion of the kings down to the First Punic War there was contestation about the right of each, and a great part of history records only the laws which the tribunes or the consuls, with great contention on both sides, enacted.

Quid eo tempore laudandum sit, jam diximus.

What at that time is to be praised, we have already said.

Neronis aetatem si describere volumus, non multa verba opus sunt, nam, optimis occisis civibus, turpi regnante arbitrio, legibus violatis, urbe cremata, ducibus cum vererentur, ne res bene gestae suspicionem excitarent neque quid ad magna facta eos commoveret, pace potius quam bello gloriam quaerentibus, quis interrogabit, qualis illa aetas fuerit?

If we wish to describe the age of Nero, there is no need of many words; for, with the best citizens slain, foul arbitrary power reigning, the laws violated, the city burned, as the leaders feared lest well-achieved deeds arouse suspicion and nothing moved them to great acts, seeking glory in peace rather than in war—who will ask what sort of age that was?

Quin Augusti aetas huic dissimilis sit, nemo dubitare potest, nam ejus imperium clementia insigne est, cum Romani, quamvis omnis libertas, omnis etiam libertatis species evanuerat, jussis principis instituta legesque mutare valentibus omnibusque honoribus, quos prius tribuni plebis, censores, consules habuerant, tum ab uno viro occupatis, tamen putarent, se regnare, imperatorem tantum aliud nomen dignitatibus, quas prius tribuni aut consules tenuissent, neque libertatem sibi dereptam viderent. Hoc vero magnum clementiae argumentum, si cives dubitare possunt, quis princeps sit, an ipsi regnent, an regnentur.

That the age of Augustus was unlike this one, no one can doubt; for his rule was distinguished by clemency, since the Romans—although all liberty, and even every semblance of liberty, had vanished, with the commands of the princeps strong enough to change institutes and laws, and with all the honors which previously the tribunes of the plebs, the censors, and the consuls had held now occupied by one man—yet thought that they themselves were reigning, and that the emperor was only a different name for the dignities which previously tribunes or consuls had held, nor did they see liberty torn away from themselves. This, indeed, is a great argument of clemency, if citizens can doubt who is the ruler—whether they themselves rule, or are ruled.

Bello vero Romani nunquam feliciores, nam Parthi subiecti, Cantabri victi, Rhaeti et Vindelicii prostrati sunt: Germani vero, summi Romanis hostes, quos Caesar frustra pugnasset, singulis quidem proeliis et proditione et insidiis et virtute silvisque Romanos superarunt: sed omnino et Romana civitate, quam singulis Augustus praebuit, et armis, quae duces periti gessere, et inimicitia, inter eos ipsos excitata, multorum Germaniae populorum vis frangebatur.

In war indeed the Romans were never more fortunate, for the Parthians were subjected, the Cantabrians conquered, the Rhaetians and Vindelicians laid low: the Germans, however, the greatest enemies to the Romans, whom Caesar had fought in vain, in individual battles and by treachery and ambushes and valor and by their forests outmatched the Romans: but altogether, both by Roman citizenship, which Augustus offered to individuals, and by arms which skillful leaders bore, and by enmity stirred up among them themselves, the strength of many peoples of Germany was broken.

Domi militiaeque igitur Augusti aetas non comparanda cum Neronis pejorumque principum tempore.

At home and in the field, therefore, the age of Augustus is not to be compared with the time of Nero and of the worse princes.

Partes litesque autem, quas aetate ante bellum punicum invenimus, tum cessarant, nam Augustum omnes partes, omnes dignitates, omnem potestatem in se collegisse videmus, neque igitur imperium a se ipso dissidere potuit, quod omni civitati summum affert periculum, auctoritate apud externos populos ea re dimminuta, et rebus publicis magis ambitionis causa quam propter civitatis salutem administratis.

But the factions and quarrels, which we find in the age before the Punic War, had then ceased, for we see that Augustus had gathered into himself all factions, all dignities, all power; and therefore the government could not be at odds with itself, which brings the greatest peril to every commonwealth, with authority among foreign peoples diminished by that fact, and public affairs administered more for the sake of ambition than for the safety of the state.

Tali modo vero Augusti aetas oculos ad se rapere non debet, ne multis in rebus illa aetate inferiorem videremus, nam moribus, libertate, virtute aut dimminutis aut plane demotis, dum avaritia, luxuria, intemperantia regnant, aetas ipsa felix nominari non potest, sed imperium Augusti, instituta legesque hominum, quos elexerat, ut rempublicam perturbatam meliorem redderent, valde effecerunt, ut perturbatio, a bellis civilibus evocata, decesserit.

In such a manner indeed the age of Augustus ought not to draw eyes to itself, lest we should see that age inferior in many things; for with morals, liberty, and virtue either diminished or plainly removed, while avarice, luxury, and intemperance reign, the age itself cannot be called happy; but the imperium of Augustus, and the institutions and laws of the men whom he had chosen, in order that they might render the perturbed republic better, very greatly effected that the perturbation, called forth by the civil wars, has departed.

Exempli causa Senatum, quem corruptissimi homines ingressi erant, a vestigiis sceleris expiare videmus Augustum, multis ab eo expulsis, quorum mores ei invisi, multis introductis, qui virtute et intelligentia excelluere.

For example, we see Augustus purging the Senate, which the most corrupt men had entered, from the vestiges of crime, many being expelled by him, whose morals were odious to him, many being introduced who excelled in virtue and intelligence.

Augusto principe semper viri, virtutis et sapientiae gloria praestantes, munere reipublicae fructi erant, nam Maecenate, Agrippa quis viros eo tempore majores nominare potest! Principis ingenium ipsum, quamvis nunquam simulationis integumentis nudatum conspicimus, ut jam diximus, potestate non abutens, invisam vim mitiore specie tegens videtur, et si respublica, qualis ante bella punica fuerit, illi tempori aptissima erat, quod animos ad magnas res excitabat, viros hostibus terribiles reddidit, pulchram inter patres plebemque aemulationem, a qua vero non semper invidia abest, evocavit, respublica, qualem Augustus instituerat, ejus temporibus aptissima mihi quidem videtur, nam, animis effeminatis, simplicitate morum decessa, civitatis magnitudine aucta, imperator potius quam libera res publica populo libertatem afferre valet.

Under Augustus as princeps, men always outstanding in the glory of virtue and wisdom enjoyed the office of the republic; for with Maecenas and Agrippa—who can name men greater at that time! The very character of the princeps, although we never behold it laid bare, stripped of the coverings of dissimulation, as we have already said, not abusing power, seems to cloak a hated force with a gentler appearance; and if the republic, such as it had been before the Punic Wars, was most fitting for that age—because it stirred minds to great deeds, made men terrible to enemies, and summoned a noble emulation between the fathers and the plebs, from which indeed envy is not always absent—the republic such as Augustus had instituted seems to me, at any rate, most fitting for his times; for, with spirits enervated, with the simplicity of morals departed, and with the magnitude of the state increased, an emperor rather than a free republic has the power to bring liberty to the people.

Jam ad id venimus, quale veterum de Augusti aetate judicium fuerit?

Now we have come to this: what was the judgment of the ancients about the age of Augustus?

Eum ipsum divinum apellant neque hominem sed deum potius putant. Quod non dici posset, Horatio tantum teste, sed strenuus historiae scriptor, Tacitus, semper de Augusto ejusque aetate maxima reverentia, summa admiratione, amore etiam loquitur.

They call that very one divine and think him not a man but rather a god. Nor could this be said with Horace alone as witness; rather, the vigorous writer of history, Tacitus, always speaks of Augustus and his age with the greatest reverence, the highest admiration, and even love.

Litterae vero artesque nullo tempore magis floruere, ea aetate plurimis scriptoribus viventibus, a quibus fontibus quasi, omnes populi eruditionem hauriebant.

Letters indeed and the arts at no time flourished more, in that age with very many writers living, from whom, as if from fountains, all peoples were drawing erudition.

Cum respublica igitur bene instituta videatur, principe populo felicitatem ferre cupiente, summis viris vero eo auctore honores tenentibus, cum Augusti aetas optimis historiae Romanae aetatibus non inferior, malis vero dissimilis videatur, cum partes litesque cessas videas, artes litterasque vero florentes, Augusti principatus merito inter meliores aetates numerandus valdeque vir aestimandus, qui, etsi omnia ei licerent, tamen, assecutus imperium, reipublicae salutem tantum efficere studuit.

Therefore, since the republic seems well instituted, with the prince desiring to bear felicity to the people, and the highest men indeed, with him as author, holding honors; since the age of Augustus seems not inferior to the best ages of Roman history, and unlike the bad ones; since you see parties and lawsuits at rest, but the arts and letters flourishing, the principate of Augustus is deservedly to be numbered among the better ages, and the man very greatly to be esteemed, who, although everything was permitted to him, yet, having attained the imperium, strove to effect only the safety of the republic.