Augustus

As promised, I stuck with the theme of Ancient Rome and continued chronologically onto Augustus by Adrian Goldsworthy. I suspected that the pace and tone of Augustus would mimic Caesar and I was right. Which is not at all surprising since it was the same author and a continuation of the same story.

Like Caesar, this is a great collection of facts, stories, and myths surrounding Augustus, the first emperor of Rome. The breadth of information is almost too much. However, similarly with Caesar (and all historical related books), we are left to interpret the actions of Augustus since no true biography exists. You can certainly see that Augustus was ruthless and violent during his rise and beginning of his reign, but as he aged (and his rule solidified), he become more of a diplomat and less of a dictator. If he were truly a psychopath or wanted to watch the world burn (as some of his predecessors might be classified), then his reign would have ended differently.

Having said that, Augustus did banish his own daughter for immoral behavior! Augustus passed a myriad of laws that were designed to strengthen the Roman family, including punishing those who are unmarried or without children. One of the “racier” laws was against adultery, which was commonplace in Ancient Rome. Unfortunately for Augustus, his own daughter, Julia The Elder, was arrested and convicted of adultery and was subsequently exiled. She had it lucky since some of her lovers were executed. This incident, while not unique, is proof that Augustus did (mostly) rule with an iron fist. 

As I said in previous reviews, if you enjoy the history of Ancient Rome, then this book is for you. It does have a plethora of information, which at times can be too much for a casual reader, but given the length of the book, this isn’t surprising. I think you’d rather have the full picture, rather than cherry picking the facts that fit a certain narrative. 

Happy reading!

C. L.