The Life and Legacy of Augustus Caesar
- Augustus Caesar, despite his poor health, lived to be 76 years old and reigned as emperor for 41 years. In his final years, he chose his stepson Tiberius as his successor.
- In his last moments, Augustus reflected on his life and asked if he had played his part well. He was a dutiful heir, a victor in battle, a reformer of government, and a generous patron of art and literature.
- Augustus' death marked the end of the Roman Republic and the beginning of imperial rule. Italy mourned his passing, and he was proclaimed a god by the Senate. His reign as emperor set the stage for the Roman Empire to thrive for centuries.
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お願いします (25) In spite of his poor health, Augustus lived to be 76 years old and reigned for 41 years as emperor. In the last years of his life, he realized that he must choose a successor. But whom? His beloved grandsons had both died young. With only one logical choice left, Augustus summoned his stepson Tiberius to Rome. He named this gloomy man as his co-ruler and successor. (26) In 14 CE, Augustus took a last journey by sea. He caught a chill in the night air and became quite ill. He called Tiberius to his bedside and spoke with him for a long time in private. Then, on August 19, knowing that the end was near, he called for a mirror and had his hair carefully combed. The biographer Suetonius tells the story: “he summoned a group of friends and asked ‘Have I played my part in the comedy of life believably enough?’” Then he added lines from a play: If I have pleased you, kindly show Appreciation with a warm goodbye. (27) Augustus Caesar had played many roles well: the dutiful heir of Julius Caesar; the victor over Antony; the reformer of Roman government; the generous sponsor of literature and art;and, in his final years, the kindly father figure of Rome─providing food, entertainment, and security to his people. Near the end of his life, he remembered: “When I was 60 years old, the senate, the equestrians, and the whole people of Rome gave me the title of Father of my Country and decreed that this should be inscribed in the porch of my house.” (28) When Augustus died, all Italy mourned, and the Senate proclaimed him a god. His rule marked a turning point in history. In his lifetime, the Roman Republic came to an end. but he rescued the Roman state by turning it into a system ruled by emperors─a form of government that survived for another 500 years. In an age in which many rules were called “saviors” and “gods,” Augustus Caesar truly deserved to be called the savior of the Roman people.
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(25) 健康がすぐれなかったにもかかわらず、アウグストゥスは、76才まで生きて、皇帝として41年間統治しました。彼の人生の最後の数年には、彼は、後継者を選ばなければならないと理解しました。しかし、誰を？ 彼の最愛の孫は、二人とも若くして亡くなりました。残った論理的選択肢は、一つだけでした、アウグストゥスは、彼の継子のチベリウスをローマに呼びました。彼は、この陰気な男を彼の共同統治者と後継者に指名しました。 (26) 西暦14年に、アウグストゥスは、最後の船旅をしました。 彼は、夜風に打たれて寒けを感じると、病は重篤になりました。彼は、病床にチベリウスを呼び、長い間、彼と内密の相談をしました。そして、8月19日に、死期が迫ったことを悟ると、彼は、鏡を求めて、丁寧に髪を梳かせました。伝記作家のスエトニウスは、次の様に、物語を語っています：「彼は、数人の友人を呼び出しと『余は、人生という喜劇において十分に余の役割を果たし得たりしか？』と尋ねました」それから、彼は、劇からとった台詞数行を加えました： 余が、そなたたちを満足させたならば、暖かい別れの言葉で感謝を示したまえ。 (27) アウグストゥス・カエサルは、見事に多くの役割を演じました：ジュリアス・シーザー（カエサル）の忠実な後継者; アントニーに対する勝者; ローマ政府の改革者; 文学や芸術の寛大な後援者; そして、彼の晩年には、ローマ─の慈悲深い父親代わりとなって ― その人民に、食物、娯楽、安心を与えました。人生の終わりが近づくと、彼は、思い出しました：「余が、60才のとき、元老院議員、騎兵、ローマの全人民が、余に国父の称号を与え、その称号が、我が家の玄関先に刻まれねばならぬと定めたり。」 (28) アウグストゥスが死んだとき、全イタリアが嘆きました、そして、元老院は彼が神であると宣言しました。彼の治世は、歴史に分岐点を記しました。彼の生涯の内に、ローマ共和国は、終焉を迎えましたが、彼は、ローマを皇帝によって統治される制度 ― さらに500年間生き延びる政治体制 ― に変えることによって、ローマを救ったのでした。多くの為政者が「救世主」や「神」と呼ばれていた時代にあって、アウグストゥス・カエサルは、ローマ人民の救世主と呼ばれるに本当にふさわしい働きをしたのでした。
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お願いします (17) Augustus Caesar, now the emperor of Rome, worked to reorganize the government and military. His greatest accomplishment was the creation of a system of government that lasted in Rome for five centuries: the Roman Empire. (18) Augustus created Rome's first police and fire brigade. He created a network of roads that connected the major cities of the empire, linking them all to Rome. He changed the way finance were handled and issued new gold and silver coins. He gave free food to the poor. He built the Forum of Augustus and decorated it with statues of his ancestors. He beautified the city and boasted of this accomplishment: “I found a city made of brick and left it a city of marble.” Augustus also sponsored artists and poets like Horace and Virgil, whose works glorified Rome─and, of course, himself. (19) Throughout his reign, Augustus never forgot that his great-uncle had been killed by jealous enemies who feared his power and popularity. Augustus pretended that his powers were all voluntarily given. He allowed freedom of speech and encouraged people to give him advice. But he was clever. He knew how to use power without seeming to seek or even treasure it. During his rule, magistrates were still elected to govern Rome. By sharing power with the magistrates, Augustus kept people from worrying that he was governing Rome alone. In fact, the soldiers were loyal to him and him alone─he paid their salaries and his treasury would pay their pensions. (20) The emperor's authority was so great that everyone left all the major decisions to him. But he was also very careful. Augustus kept a force of 4,500 soldiers to defend him. These soldiers, later called the Praetorian Guard, protected all of Italy. But some of them were always on hand to protect the emperor. To be on the safe side, the guards allowed only one senate at a time to approach the emperor, and they searched each man before he came close.
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お願いします (26) In the end, he was killed at the height of the powers by men he thought were his friends. It was particularly sad that Brutus was among the assassins. According to Suetonius, Caesar, as he wasdying, turned to Brutus and said, “You too, my son?” (27) Brutus didn't feel guilty about betraying Caesar. He was proud of it. His ancestor was the Brutus who had expelled the last King, Tarquin the Proud, from Rome. Brutus issued a coin to celebrate the Ides of March as Caesar's assassination day. The coin shows the deadly daggers that had killed Caesar and the “cap of liberty” traditionally worn by slaves after they were freed. Brutus bragged that he had saved Rome from slavery. (28) But the murder of Julius Caesar did Rome no good. The city faced another 13 years of civil unrest and war. Assassination did help Caesar's reputation, though. In his will, Caesar left a gift of money to every Roman citizen. More that ever, he was the common man's hero, so admired that later rules of Rome adopted the name Caesar. (29) Brutus and his friends thought they were serving Rome and saving the Republic by killing a man who had become too powerful, a man they feared might make himself king. They were shortsighted. The Republic was already dying...almost dead. Rome would soon be dominated by a single ruler. That man would be Caesar's great-nephew and heir, Augustus Caesar.
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お願いします (22) Caesar then restored Cleopatra to her throne and defeated her brother in battle. On his way back to Rome, Caesar passed through Asia. There, he squashed a rebellion in Asia Minor (modern Turkey). In a letter to a friend, he made light of the victory. The letter had only three words: “Veni, vidi, vici.” (“I came, I saw, I conquered.”) Plutarch says that this brief message matched “the sharpness and speed of the battle itself.” Caesar's fans later made placards with these three words written on them, which they carried in his triumphal procession into Rome. (23) When Caesar returned to Rome, he was proclaimed dictator. Then he began the work of healing Rome's terrible war wounds. He gave 100 denarii to every citizen and pardoned his own enemies, even those who had supported Pompey against him, including Cicero and Brutus. (Caesar was especially fond of Brutus. In his youth, Caesar had been in love with Brutus's mother, and he always looked out for her son. Brutus did not return the favor.) (24) During four years of almost absolute power, Caesar passed many laws to control debt, reduce unemployment, and regulate traffic in Rome. He levied taxes on foreign imports to boost Rome's economy. He put unemployed Romans to work building a new Forum and a large public building named in his family's honor: the Basilica Julia. He planned the first public library and built embankments along the Tiber to protect the city against floods. He revised the old Roman calendar, replacing it with the one that we use today, beginning with January. (25) Julius Caesar was perhaps the most extraordinary of all ancient Romans─a senator, military leader, and dictator of Rome. But he was also a poet, a brilliant historian who wrote about his military victories, and the only orator of his day who could compete with Cicero. His personal charm brought him the loyalty of men and the love of women.
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お願いします (1)“When I was 18 years old…I raised an army and used it to bring freedom back to the Roman state. I spent my own money to do it…. Because of this, the Senate passed a special resolution to make me a senator.” These words were written by Julius Caesar's great-nephew: the first person to serve as a Roman general and member of the Senate while he was still a teenager. (2) Julius Caesar, who had no legitimate sons of his own, was especially fond of his sister's grandson, Gaius Octavius. When his sister Julia died, the dictator chose 12-year-old Octavius to deliver his grandmother's funeral oration. Five years later, in 46 BCE, Octavius rode with his great-uncle in his triumphal procession into Rome. The next year, the young man joined Caesar's military campaign in Spain. The dictator believed that someday his great-nephew would do great things for Rome. (3) After his victories in Spain, Caesar planned a war against the rebellious tribes of Illyria, a region across the Adriatic Sea. Putting young Octavius in charge, he sent the army to Illyria with instructions to wait for him there. Then Caesar returned to Rome to begin reforming the government─a big job. Caesar set to work with energy and determination. But his plans were foiled by the daggers of his enemies, when he was assassinated on the Idea of March. (4) Eighteen- year-old Octavius was in Illyria when he got news of his uncle's death. He made up his mind to return to Rome. While he was packing to leave, a second messenger came with the surprising news that, in his will, Caesar had adopted Octavius as his son and made him the heir to an enormous fortune. This news was sure to raise eyebrows─and perhaps some swords─in Rome.
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お願いします (5) Although he was still an inexperienced teenager, Octavius was suddenly a public figure. He would soon be plunged into the cutthroat world of Roman politics. His mother and stepfather saw how dangerous this could be. They tried to persuade him to stay away from Rome. But Octavius was determined, and he set out to claim his inheritance. As a first step, he took his adoptive father's name and combined it with his own birth name. He became Gaius Julius Caesar Octavianus. (6) Rome, meanwhile, was in the hands of Caesar's deputy, Mark Antony. He had seen the assassination and moved quickly to grab power. Octavian was not yet in Rome, so Antony delivered Caesar's funeral oration. His speech helped to persuade people that the dictator's assassins were the enemies of Rome. With lightning speed, Antony took over Caesar's money, property, and all of his official papers. (7) This was not what Caesar had wanted. In his will, he promised a generous gift of money to every Roman citizen. But Antony refused to honor the murdered hero's wish. (8) When Octavian reached Rome, he honored his great-uncle by giving his own money to the citizens. With the help of Cicero's speeches and with Caesar's veterans marching behind him, Octavian earned the support of the Senate. Not only was he elected to the Senate, he also became a consul─even though, according to Roman law, he was too young to hold these offices. Octavian bragged about it when he later wrote his memoirs.
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お願いします (16) Pompey would have liked more time to train his troops; they were not as battle- ready as Caesar's army. When Caesar's troops entered Italy, Pompey's soldiers panicked and many deserted. Pompey gathered what troops he could and escaped from Rome just before Caesar arrived. Caesar had Pompey on the run. (17) Caesar entered Rome for the first time in nine years. He found the government in chaos. Again, he didn't hold back but set to work right away. He asked the Senate to join forces with him to avoid more bloodshed. He chose Mark Antony as his chief lieutenant─next in command. Then, delegating power to other trusted generals, Caesar himself set out for Greece. There he defeated Pompey's army in 48 BCE. (18) Plutarch reports that when Caesar saw the dead Romans lying on the field, he groaned and said: “They made this happen;they drove me to it.” (19) News of Caesar's victory was greeted back home with wild excitement. His popularity soared, and Rome elected him to a second consulship. (20) Meanwhile Pompey had escaped to Egypt, arriving in the midst of a civil war between 15-year-old King Ptolemy XIII and his older sister, Cleopatra VII. Ptolemy believed that Caesar would follow his rival to Egypt, and he was right. So he prepared a surprise for the general. Hoping to please Caesar and lure him to his side against Cleopatra, Ptolemy's advisors captured Pompey and cut off his head. Then they pickled it in brine. They expected Caesar to be delighted, but they were wrong. (21) When Caesar arrived in Egypt, Ptolemy presented Caesar with Pompey's pickled head─the head of the noble Roman who had been his rival but also his friend and former son-in-law. Disgusted and pained, Caesar turned away and wept. He commanded that Pompey's body be buried with honor. And he ordered the execution of the Egyptians who had murdered a great leader of the Roman people.
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お願いします (12) No Roman official could be brought to trial while still in office. Tiberius's enemies planned to attack him as soon as his term ended. But he shocked them by announcing his plan to run for re-election. This wasn't supposed to happen. Tribunes were supposed to serve for one year only. Many aristocrats believed that the plebs would soon proclaim Tiberius kind. Would a tyrant once again rule Rome? (13) A brawl broke out in the election assembly and Tiberius was killed in the street fighting that followed. For the first time in centuries, violence had entered Roman politics, and there it stayed until the fall of the Republic. (14) Tiberius had challenged the power of the Senate and won─even though he died in the process. His land reform had become law. A committee soon set to work distributing state-owned lands to the poor. Tiberius's brother Gaius was a member of that committee. In 123 BCE─ten years after Tiberius's death─Gaius followed in his brother's footsteps and was elected tribune. (15) Gaius was a true revolutionary, even more than Tiberius had been. The younger Gracchus was a great orator, and he pushed through some important reforms. His grain law, for example, kept the price of grain low enough that ordinary citizens could afford to buy bread for their families. (16) Like his brother, Gaius fought against the power of the nobles. He changed the jury system so that when senators were tried in the courts for corruption, the jurw would include some men who weren't members of the Senate. This change made it harder for corrupt senators to get away with their crimes. Although Gaius was re-elected, opposition to him grew among Rome's nobility. And like Tiberius, Gaius met his death in a street battle during his second term in office.
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お願いします (21) During his own lifetime, Cicero was known as a great statesman, orator, and man of action. But he died a bitterly disappointed man. He had failed to do what he most wanted to accomplish: to save the Roman Republic. Not even Cicero's enemies, though, could doubt his love for Rome. Plutarch, writing many years after Cicero's death, tells a story about Octavian─after he had risen to great power as the emperor Augustus Caesar. The emperor found his grandson reading a book written by Cicero. Knowing that his grandfather had agreed to let Mark Antony's soldiers murder Cicero, “The boy was afraid and tried to hide it under his gown. Augustus...took the book from him, and began to read it.... When he gave it back to his grandson, he said,‘My child, this was a learned man, and a lover of his country.’”
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お願いします (1) In February of 44 BCE, the Roman Senate declared Julius Caesar dictator of Rome for life. According to the Greek writer Plutarch, the Senate also offered Caesar a crown, but he turned it down. Caesar knew how much Romans had hated the idea of kinds since the reign of Tarquin the Proud, 500 years before. (2) One month later, Julius Caesar was dead, murdered in the Senate. Why? This ancient coin may provide the answer. (3) On it, we see the face of Julius Caesar, a thin, handsome man with fine features, the perfect image of a noble Roman. Caesar himself had ordered the coin to be made, so it probably looks very much like him. He was the first living Roman to be depicted on a coin─by tradition, leaders and heroes received this honor only after their deaths. On the dictator's head is a laurel wreath, a symbol of victory. When Caesar's enemies was this coin, they began to question his plans. Did he intend to become Rome's king after all? Did he plan to set up a monarchy with his children and grandchildren ruling after him? This fear haunted many senators as they watched Caesar's power and popularity grow. (4) Soon after the coin appeared, a group of senators met to plot his murder. (5) In early March, people reported bizarre happenings: strange birds seen in the Forum and odd sounds heard there. Then, when Caesar was sacrificing to the gods, one of the animals was found to have no heart! Many believed that these happenings were omens─warnings of disasters to come.
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お願いします (1) Tiberius and Gaius Gracchus were two Roman brothers who fought and died for the same cause. They even died the same way, murdered in violent stredt brawls. But the two Gracchi were very different in age and personality. Plutarch, the Greek writer who brought so many Romans to life through his biographies, describes them:“Tiberius, in his looks...and gestures...was gentle and composed. But Gaius was fiery and passionate.” When Tiberius gave a speech, he spoke quietly and never moved from one spot. But Gaius was like an actor. When he spoke to the people, he“would walk about, pacing on the platform. And in the heat of his orations, he would throw his cloak from his shoulders.” (2) The Gracchi brothers were noblemen whose family was well known in Rome. Their father had served two terms as a consul, the highest office in Rome. Their mother, Cornelia, was the daughter of the general Scipio Africanus, who had defeated Rome's great enemy, the Carthaginian general Hannibal. (A King of Egypt once proposed marriage to Cornelia, but she turned him down.) As children of such distinguished parents, the Gracchi brothers had not only social rank but also plenty of money. Still, they devoted themselves to improving the lives of the poor. (3) Tiberius and Gaius entered politics in difficult times. The Roman Republic was in trouble. Like a teenager who grows tall “overnight,” Rome had grown dramatically during the Punic Wars, from 264 to 146 BCE. And although 118 years is a long time for a person, it's a very short time for a city or empire. Rome entered the war years as a small city-state. It ended them as the ruler of the Mediterranean, controlling all of Italy, with conquered lands stretching from Africa and Spain to Greece. The once-poor farming community had mushroomed into a giant whose military conquests poured masses of gold, grain, and slaves into Italy.
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