Res Gestae Divi Augusti. Augustus Caesar – Gaius Julius Caesar Octavianus |

Imperator Caesar Divi Filius Augustus

Res Gestae Divi Augusti

Augustus Caesar – Gaius Julius Caesar Octavianus

September 23. 63 BC – August 19. 14 AD

Among historical documents none surpass in importance the explication of Augustus which he, the Emperor, the greatest of all statesmen throughout history, left among the papers consigned with the Vestal Virgins prior to his death. These, preserved in a copy chiselled onto the walls of the Temple of Rome and Augustus at Ancyra in Asia Minor. Here, known as the Monumentum Ancyranum, – is the Queen of all Inscriptions.

Suetonius stated that Augustus had consigned with the vestal Virgins, along with his will, three further documents, all of which were opened and read in the Senate. The first contained directions for his funeral; the third, a summarised statement of the condition of the whole empire; the second, the one with which I have here concerned an abstract of his acts that he wished to have engraved upon bronze tablets to be set up before his mausoleum. More than forty years prior to his death, Augustus had built this mausoleum on the Tiber, on the northern edge of the Campus Martius, in the middle of a small park, which was opened by the Emperor to the public. The mausoleum was likely surrounded by an enclosing wall, at the entrance to which, facing the Campus Martius, stood the pilasters, onto which was engraved the index rerum gestarum. The bronze tablets have disappeared. The original document, however, was copied onto the walls of many of the temples of Augustus throughout the empire, and remains of three copies have been discovered in Asia Minor. In addition to the Augusteum at Ancyra, inscribed with both the Latin text and the Greek, there was discovered another ruined temple at Apollonia with remnants of the same Greek version. One can conclude that it is almost certain that the Augusteum at Pergamon had both the Latin and the Greek versions; and lastly at Antioch in Pisidia. Sir W. M. Ramsay found, in 1914, a number of fragments of the Latin text from a fourth copy. But the inscription on the temple of Rome and Augustus at Ancyra is more whole, although tarnished in parts by the fading away of the stone, that it outweighs all the others in importance, and the designation Monumentum Ancyranum has become equal with Res Gestae Divi Augusti.

A translation follows the Latin :

Rérum gestárum díví Augusti, quibus orbem terrarum ímperio populi Rom. subiécit, et inpensarum, quas in rem publicam populumque Romanum fecit, incísarum in duabus aheneís pílís, quae sunt Romae positae, exemplar subiectum.

Annós undéviginti natus exercitum priváto consilio et privatá impensá comparávi, per quem rem publicam dominatione factionis oppressam in libertátem vindicávi. Quas ob res senatus decretís honorificís in ordinem suum me adlegit Pansa Hirtio consulibus, consula rem locum sententiae dicendae simul dans, et imperium mihi dedit. Rés publica ne quid detrimenti caperet, me pro praetore simul cum consulibus providere iussit. Populus autem eódem anno mé consulem, cum cos. uterque bello cecidisset, et trium virum reí publicae constituendae creavit.

Quí parentem meum interfecerunt, eós in exilium expulí iudiciís legi timís ultus eórum facinus, et posteá bellum inferentís reí publicae víci bis acie.

Bella terra et mari civilia externaque tóto in orbe terrarum suscepi victorque omnibus veniam petentibus cívibus pepercí. Externas gentés, quibus túto ignosci potuit, conserváre quam excídere malui. Míllia civium Rómanorum adacta sacrámento meo fuerunt circiter quingen ta. Ex quibus dedúxi in coloniás aut remísi in municipia sua stipendis emeri tis millia aliquanto plura quam trecenta et iís omnibus agrós adsignavi aut pecuniam pro praemis militiae dedí. Naves cépi sescentas praeter eás, si quae minóres quam triremes fuerunt.

Bis ováns triumphavi, tris egi curulís triumphós et appellátus sum viciens semel imperátor. Cum autemplúris triumphos mihi senatus decrevisset, iis supersedi. Laurum de fascibus deposuí in Capitolio votis, quae quóque bello nuncupaveram, solutís. Ob res á me aut per legatos meós auspicís meis terra marique prospere gestás quinquagiens et quin quiens decrevit senátus supplicandum esse dís immortalibus. Dies autem, per quós ex senátús consulto supplicátum est, fuere DCCCLXXXX. In triumphis meis ducti sunt ante currum meum regés aut regum liberi novem. Consul fueram terdeciens, cum scribebam haec, et agebam septimum et trigensimum annum tribuniciae potestatis.

Dictaturam et apsenti et praesenti a populo et senatu Romano mihi oblatam M. Marcello et Arruntio consulibus non accepi. Non recusavi in summa frumenti penuria curationem annonae, quam ita administravi, ut intra paucos dies metu et periclo praesenti populum universum meis im pensis liberarem. Consulatum tum datum annuum et perpetuum non accepi.

Consulibus Vinucio et Lucretio et postea et Lentulis et tertium Paullo Fabio Maximo et Tuberone senatu populoque Romano consen tientibus.

Princeps senatus fui usque ad eum diem, quo scripseram haec, per annos quadraginta. Pontifex maximus, augur, quindecimvirum sacris faciundis, septemvirum epulonum, frater arvalis, sodalis Titius, fetialis fuí.

Patriciórum numerum auxí consul quintum iussu populi et senátús. Sena tum ter légi. Et In consulátú sexto cénsum populi conlegá. Agrippá égí. Lústrum post annum alterum et quadragensimum féci. Quó lústro cívi um Románórum censa sunt capita quadragiens centum millia et sexa ginta tria millia. Iterum consulari cum imperio lústrum sólus féci. Censorino et Asinio cos. Quó lústro censa sunt cívium Romanórum capita quadragiens centum millia et ducen ta triginta tria millia. Tertium consulári cum imperio lústrum conlegá. Caesare filio meo feci Sex. Pompeio et Sex. Appuleio cos. Quó lústro censa sunt civium Románórum capitum quadragiens centum millia et nongenta triginta et septem millia. Legibus novis latis complura exempla maiorum exolescentia iam ex nostro usu revocavi et ipse multárum rérum exempla imi tanda posteris tradidi.

Vota pro valetudine mea suscipi per consulés et sacerdotes quinto quoque anno senatus decrevit. Ex iis votís saepe fecerunt vívo me ludos aliquotiens sacerdotum quattuor amplissima collé gia, aliquotiens consules. Privatim etiam et múnicipatim úniversi cives uno animo continenter apud omnia pulvínária pró vale tudine mea sacrificaverunt.

Nomen meum senatus consulto inclusum est ín saliáre carmen et sacrosan ctus ut essem in perpetuum et quoad víverem, tribúnicia potestás mihí esset, per legemsanctum est. Pontifex maximus ne fierem in víví conle gae locum, populo id sacerdotium deferente mihi, quod pater meus habuerat, recusavi. Cepi id sacerdotium aliquod post annós eó mor tuo demum, qui id tumultus occasione occupaverat, cuncta ex Italia ad comitia mea coeunte tanta multitudine, quanta Romae nunquam ante fuisse narratur P. Sulpicio. Valgio consulibus.

Aram Fortunae Reducis iuxta aedés Honoris et Virtutis ad portam Capenam pro reditu meo senátus consacravit, in qua ponti fices et virgines Vestales anniversárium sacrificium facere iussit eo die, quo consulibus. Lucretio et Vinucio in urbem ex Syria redi, et diem Augustalia ex cognomine nostro appellavit.

Senatus consulto eodem tempore pars praetorum et tribunorum plebis cum consule. Lucretio et principibus viris obviam mihi missa est in Campaniam, qui honos ad hoc tempus nemini prae ter me est decretus. Cum ex Hispaniá Galliaque, rebus in his provincís prospe re gestis, Romam redi Ti. Nerone. Quintilio consulibus , áram Pacis Augustae senatus pro reditú meó consacrari censuit ad cam pum Martium, in qua magistratús et sacerdotes et virgines Vestáles anniversarium sacrificium facere iussit.

Ianum Quirinum, quem claussum esse maiores nostri voluerunt, cum per totum imperium populi Romani terra marique esset parta vic toriis pax, cum prius, quam náscerer, a condita urbe bis omnino clausum fuisse prodátur memoriae, ter me principe senatus claudendum esse censuit.

Filios meos, quós iuvenes mihi eripuit fortuna, Gaium et Lucium Caesares honoris mei caussá senatus populusque Romanus annum quíntum et deci mum agentís consulés designávit, ut eum magistrátum inírent post quin quennium. Et ex eó die, quó deducti sunt in forum, ut interessent consiliís publicís decrevit senatus. Equites autem Románi universi principem iuventútis utrumque eórum parmis et hastís argenteís donátum ap pelláverunt

Plebei Románae viritim trecenos numeravi ex testámento patris meí, et nomine meo quadringenos ex bellórum manibiís consul quintum dedí, iterum autem in consulátú decimo ex patrimonio meo quadringenos congiári viritim pernumeraví, et consul undecimum duodecim frúmentátiónes frúmento privatim coémpto emensus sum, et tribuniciá potestáte duodecimum quadringenós nummós tertium viritim dedí. Quae mea congiaria pervenerunt ad hominum millia nunquam minus quinquáginta et ducenta. Tribuniciae potestátis duodevicensimum consul XII trecentís et viginti millibus plebís urbánae sexagenós denariós viritim dedí. In colonis militum meórum consul quintum ex manibiís viritim millia nummum singula dedi; acceperunt id triumphale congiárium in colonís hominum circiter centum et viginti millia. Consul ter tium decimum sexagenós denáriós plebeí, quae tum frúmentum publicum accipiebat, dedi; ea millia hominum paullo plúra quam ducenta fuerunt.

Pecuniam pro agrís, quós in consulátú meó quárto et posteá consulibus M. Crasso et Cn. Lentulo augure adsignávi militibus, solví múnicipís. Ea summa sestertium circiter sexsiens milliens fuit, quam pró Italicís praedis numeravi, et circiter bis milliens et sescentiens, quod pro agrís próvincialibus solví. Id primus et solus omnium, qui dedúxerunt colonias militum in Italiá aut in provincís, ad memoriam aetátis meae feci. Et postea Ti. Nerone et. Pisone consulibus, itemque C. Antistio et D. Laelio cos., et Calvisio et. Pasieno consulibus, et L. Lentulo et. Messalla consulibus, et. Cánínio et Fabricio cos. militibus, quós eme riteis stipendís in sua municipia deduxi, praemia numerato persolví, quam in rem sestertium quater milliens libenter impendi.

Quater pecuniá meá iuví aerárium, ita ut sestertium mílliens et quingentiens ad eos quí praerant aerário detulerim. Et. Lepido et. Arruntio cos. in aerarium militare, quod ex consilio meo constitutum est, ex quo praemia darentur militibus, qui vicena aut plura stipendia emeruissent, milliens et septingenti ens ex patrimonio meo detuli.

Inde ab eo anno, quo Lentuli consules fuerunt, cum deficerent vectigalia, tum centum millibus hominum tum pluribus multo fru mentarias et nummariás tesseras ex aere et patrimonio meo dedi.

Cúriam et continens eí chalcidicum, templumque Apollinis in Palatio cum porticibus, aedem dívi Iulí, Lupercal, porticum ad cir cum Fláminium, quam sum appellári passus ex nómine eius quí pri4 órem eódem in solo fecerat Octaviam, pulvinar ad circum maximum, aedés in Capitolio Iovis Feretrí et Iovis Tonantis, aedem Quiriní, aedés Minervae et Iúnonis Reginae et Iovis Libertatis in Aventíno, aedem Larum in summá sacrá viá, aedem deum Penátium in Velia, aedem Iuventátis, aedem Mátris Magnae in Palátio fécí.

Capitolium et Pompeium theatrum utrumque opus impensá grandí reféci sine ullá inscriptione nominis meí. Rívos aquarum complúribus locís vetustáte labentés refécí, et aquam quae Márcia appellátur duplicavi fonte novo in rivum eius inmisso. Forum Iúlium et basilicam, quae fuit inter aedem Castoris et aedem Saturni, coepta profligate que opera á patre meó perféci et eandem basilicam consumptam in cendio ampliáto eius solo sub titulo nominis filiórum meorum in cohavi et, si vivus nón perfecissem, perfici ab heredibus iussi. Duo et octoginta templa deum in urbe consul sextum ex decreto senatus reféci, nullo praetermisso quod eo tempore refici debebat. Consul septimum viam Flaminiam ab urbe Ariminum feci et pontes omnes praeter Mulvium et Minucium.

In privato solo Mártis Vltoris templum forumque Augustum ex mani biís fecí. Theatrum ad aedeApollinis in solo magná ex parte á privatis empto féci, quod sub nomine. Marcelli generi mei esset. Dona ex manibiís in Capitolio et in aede dívi Iúlí et in aede Apollinis et in ae de Vestae et in templo Martis Vltoris consacrávi, quae mihi consti terunt circiter milliens. Aurí coronárí pondo triginta et quinque millia múnicipiís et colonís Italiae conferentibus ad triumphós meós quintum consul remisi, et posteá, quotienscumque imperátor appel látus sum, aurum coronárium nón accepi decernentibus municipiis et colonis aeque benigne adquo antea decreverant.

Ter munus gladiátorium dedí meo nomine et quinquens filiórum meo rum aut nepótum nomine; quibus muneribus depugnaverunt homi num circiter decem millia. Bis athletarum undique accitorum spectaclum populo praebui meo nómine et tertium nepotis meí no mine. Ludos fecí meo nomine quater, aliorum autem magistrá tuum vicem ter et viciens. Pro conlegio XV virorum magister con legií collega. Agrippa ludos saeclares. Furnio. Silano cos. feci. Consul XIII ludos Martiales primus feci, quos post id tempus deinceps insequentibus annis mecum fecerunt consules.Venationes bestia rum Africanárum meo nómine aut filiorum meórum et nepotum in cir co aut in foro aut in amphitheatris populo dedi sexiens et viciens, quibus confecta sunt bestiarum circiter tria millia et quingentae.

Navalis proelí spectaclum populo dedi trans Tiberim, in quo loco nunc nemus est Caesarum, cavato solo in longitudinem mille et octingentós pedés, in látitudinem mille et ducenti.In quo tri ginta rostrátae náves trirémes aut biremés, plures autem minóres inter se conflixérunt. Quibus in classibus pugnave runt praeter rémigés millia hominum tria circiter.

In templís omnium civitátium provinciae Asiae victor orna menta reposui, quae spoliátis templis is cum quó bellum gesseram privátim possederat. Statuae meae pedestrés et equestres et in quadrigeis argenteae steterunt in urbe XXC circiter, quas ipse sustuli exque eá pecuniá dona aurea in áede Apollinis meó nomi ne et illórum, qui mihi statuárum honórem habuerunt, posui.

Mare pacávi á praedonibus. Eó bello servórum, qui fugerant á dominis suis et arma contrá rem publicam céperant, triginta fere millia capta dominis ad supplicium sumendum tradidi. Iuravit in mea verba tóta Italia sponte suá et me belli, quó víci ad Actium, ducem depoposcit. Iura verunt in eadem verba próvinciae Galliae Hispaniae Africa Sicilia Sar dinia. Qui sub signis meis tum militaverint, fuerunt senátóres plúres quam DCC, in iís qui vel antea vel posteá consules factí sunt ad eum diem quó scripta sunt haec, LXXXIII, sacerdotés circiter CLXX.

Omnium próvinciarum populi Romani, quibus finitimae fuerunt gentés quae non parerent imperio nostro, fines auxi. Gallias et Hispa niás próviciás et Germaniam qua includit Óceanus a Gádibus ad ósti um Albis flúminis pacavi. Alpes a regióne eá, quae proxima est Ha driánó mari, ad Tuscum pacari feci nullí gentí bello per iniúriam inláto. Classis mea per Oceanum ab óstio Rhéni ad sólis orientis gionem usque ad fines Cimbrorum navigavit, quó neque terra neque mari quisquam Romanus ante ide tempus adít, Cimbrique et Charydes et Semnones et eiusdem tractús alií Germánórum populi per legátós amici tiam meam et populi Románi petierunt. Meo iussú et auspicio ducti sunt duo exercitus eódem fere tempore in Aethiopiam et in Arabiam, quae appel latur eudaemón, maximaeque hostium gentís utriusque copiae caesae sunt in acie et complura oppida capta. In Aethiopiam usque ad oppi dum Nabata perventum est, cuí proxima est Meroé. In Arabiam usque ín fínés Sabaeorum processit exercitus ad oppidum Mariba.

Aegyptum imperio populi Romani adieci. Armeniam maiorem inter fecto rége eius Artaxe cum possem facere provinciam, málui maiórum nostrórum exemplo regnum id Tigrani regis Artavasdis filio, nepoti au tem Tigránis regis, per Ti. Neronem tradere, qui tum mihi privignus erat. Et eandem gentem posteá descíscentem et rebellantem domitam per Gaium filium meum regi Ariobarzani regis Medorum Artabazi filio regen dam tradidi et post eius mortem filio eius Artavasdi. Quo interfecto Tigre ne qui erat ex régió genere Armeniorum oriundus, in id regnum mísí. Pro vincias omnís, quae trans Hadrianum mare vergunt ad orientem, Cyre násque, iam ex parte magná regibus eas possidentibus, et antea Siciliam et Sardiniam occupatás bello servili reciperáví.

Colonias in África Sicilia Macedoniá utráque Hispániá Achaia Asia Syria Galliá Narbonensi Pisidia militum dedúxí. Italia autem XXVIII coloni ás, quae vívo me celeberrimae et frequentissimae fuerunt, meis auspicis deductas habet.

Signa mílitaria complura per aliós ducés ámissa devictís hostibus reciperaví ex Hispania et Gallia et a Dalmateis. Parthos trium exercitum Romano rum spolia et signa reddere mihi supplicesque amicitiam populí Romaní petere coegi. Ea autem signa in penetrálí, quod est in templo Martis Vltoris, reposui.

Pannoniorum gentes, quas ante me principem populi Romaní exercitus nun quam adít, devictas per Ti. Neronem, qui tum erat privignus et legátus meus, ímperio populi Romani subieci protulique finés Illyrici ad ripam flúminis Danui. Citra quod Dacorum transgressus exercitus meis auspicis victus profliga tusque est, et posteá trans Danuvium ductus exercitus meus Dacorum gentes imperia populi Romani perferre coegit.

Ad me ex India regum legationes saepe missae sunt, nunquam antea visae apud quemquam Romanorum ducem. Nostram amicitiam petierunt per legatos Bastarnae Scythaeque et Sarmatarum qui sunt citra flumen Tanaim et ultrá reges, Albanorumque réx et Hibérorum et Medorum.

Ad mé supplices confugerunt regés Parthorum Tíridates et postea Phrátes regis Phratis filius; Medorum Artavasdes; Adiabenorum Artaxa res; Britannorum Dumnobellaunus et Tima; Sugambrorum Maelo; Marcomanórum Sueborum rus. Ad me rex Parthorum Phrates Orodis filius filiós suós nepotesque omnes misit in Italiam, non bello superátus, sed amicitiam nostram per liberorum suorum pignora petens. Plúrimaeque aliae gentes expertae sunt fidem me prin cipe, quibus anteá cum populo Romano nullum extiterat legationum et amícitiae commercium.

A me gentés Parthórum et Médórum per legatos principes eárum gen tium régés petitós accéperunt: Parthi Vononem regis Phrátis fílium, régis Oródis nepótem, Médí Ariobarzanem, regis Artavazdis fi lium, regis Ariobarzanis nepotem.

Ín consulátú sexto et septimo, bella ubi civilia exstinxeram per consénsum úniversórum potitus rerum omnium, rem publicam ex meá potestáte in senátus populique Romani arbitrium transtulí. Quó pro merito meó senatus consulto Augustus appellátus sum et laureís postés aedium meárum vestiti publice coronaque civíca super iánuam meam fíxa est clupeusque aureus in cúriá Iúliá posi tus, quem mihi senatum populumque Romanum dare virtutis cle mentiae iustitiae pietatis caussa testatum est per eius clúpei inscriptionem. Post id tempus praestiti omnibus dignitate, potes tatis autem nihilo amplius habui quam qui fuerunt mihi quo que in magistratu conlegae.

Tertium decimum consulátum cum gerebam, senatus et equester ordo populusque Románus úniversus appellavit me patrem patriae idque in vestibulo aedium meárum inscribendum esse atque in curia et in foró sub quadrigis, quae mihi ex positae sunt, decrevit. Cum scripsi haec, annum agebam septuagensumum sextum.

Monumentum Ancyranum

Res Gestae Divi Augusti

Here below is a copy of the acts of the Deified Augustus which he placed the whole world under the sovereignty of the Roman people, and of the amounts which he spent upon both the state and the Roman people :

At the age of nineteen, on my own initiative and at my own expense, I raised an army by means of which I restored liberty to the republic, which had been oppressed by the tyranny of a faction. For which service the senate, with complimentary resolutions, enrolled me in its order, in the consulship of Gaius Pansa and Aulus Hirtius, giving me at the same time consular precedence in voting; it also gave me the imperium. As propraetor it ordered me, along with the consuls, “to see that the republic suffered no harm.” In the same year, moreover, as both consuls had fallen in war, the people elected me consul and a triumvir for settling the constitution.

Those who slew my father I drove into exile, punishing their deed by due process of law, and afterwards when they waged war upon the republic I twice defeated them in battle.

Wars, both civil and foreign, I undertook throughout the world, on sea and land, and when victorious I spared all citizens who sued for pardon. The foreign nations which could with safety be pardoned I preferred to save rather than to destroy. The number of Roman citizens who bound themselves to me by military oath was about 500,000. Of these I settled in colonies or sent back into their own towns, after their term of service, something more than 300,000, and to all I assigned lands, or gave money as a reward for military service. I captured six hundred ships, over and above those which were smaller than triremes.

Twice I triumphed with an ovation, thrice I celebrated curule triumphs, and was saluted as imperator twenty-one times. Although the Senate decreed me additional triumphs I set them aside. When I had performed the vows which I had undertaken in each war I deposited upon the Capitol the laurels which adorned my fasces. For successful operations on land and sea, conducted either by myself or by my lieutenants under my auspices, the senate on fifty-five occasions decreed that thanks should be rendered to the immortal gods. The days on which such thanks were rendered by decree of the senate numbered 890. In my triumphs there were led before my chariot nine kings or children of kings. At the time of writing these words I had been thirteen times consul, and was in the thirty-seventh year of my tribunician power.

The dictatorship offered me by the people and the Roman Senate, in my absence and later when present, in the consulship of Marcus Marcellus and Lucius Arruntius I did not accept. I did not decline at a time of the greatest scarcity of grain the charge of the grain-supply, which I so administered that, within a few days, I freed the entire people, at my own expense, from the fear and danger in which they were. The consulship, either yearly or for life, then offered me I did not accept.

In the consulship of Marcus Vinucius and Quintus Lucretius, and afterwards in that of Publius and Gnaeus Lentulus, and a third time in that of Paullus Fabius Maximus and Quintus Tubero, when the Senate and the Roman people unanimously agreed that I should be elected overseer of laws and morals, without a colleague and with the fullest power, I refused to accept any power offered me which was contrary to the traditions of our ancestors. Those things which at that time the senate wished me to administer I carried out by virtue of my tribunician power. And even in this office I five times received from the senate a colleague at my own request.

For ten years in succession I was one of the triumvirs for the re-establishment of the constitution. To the day of writing this I have been princeps senatusfor forty years. I have been pontifex maximus, augur, a member of the fifteen commissioners for performing sacred rites, one of the seven for sacred feasts, an arval brother, a sodalis Titius, a fetial priest.

As consul for the fifth time, by order of the people and the senate I increased the number of the patricians. Three times I revised the roll of the senate. In my sixth consulship, with Marcus Agrippa as my colleague, I made a census of the people. I performed the lustrum after an interval of forty-one years. In this lustration 4,063,000 Roman citizens were entered on the census roll. A second time, in the consulship of Gaius Censorinus and Gaius Asinius, I again performed the lustrum alone, with the consular imperium. In this lustrum 4,233,000 Roman citizens were entered on the census roll. A third time, with the consular imperium, and with my son Tiberius Caesar as my colleague, I performed the lustrum in the consulship of Sextus Pompeius and Sextus Apuleius. In this lustrum 4,937,000 Roman citizens were entered on the census roll. By the passage of new laws I restored many traditions of our ancestors which were then falling into disuse, and I myself set precedents in many things for posterity to imitate.

The senate decreed that every fifth year vows should be undertaken for my health by the consuls and the priests. In fulfilment of these vows games were often held in my lifetime, sometimes by the four chief colleges of priests, sometimes by the consuls. In addition the entire body of citizens with one accord, both individually and by municipalities, performed continued sacrifices for my health at all the couches of the gods.

By decree of the senate my name was included in the Salian hymn, and it was enacted by law that my person should be sacred in perpetuity and that so long as I lived I should hold the tribunician power. I declined to be made Pontifex Maximus in succession to a colleague still living, when the people tendered me that priesthood which my father had held. Several years later I accepted that sacred office when he at last was dead who, taking advantage of a time of civil disturbance, had seized it for himself, such a multitude from all Italy assembling for my election, in the consulship of Publius Sulpicius and Gaius Valgius, as is never recorded to have been in Rome before

The Senate consecrated in honour of my return an altar to Fortuna Redux at the Porta Capena, near the temple of Honour and Virtue, on which it ordered the pontiffs and the Vestal virgins to perform a yearly sacrifice on the anniversary of the day on which I returned to the city from Syria, in the consulship of Quintus Lucretius and Marcus Vinucius, and named the day, after my cognomen, the Augustalia,

At the same time, by decree of the senate, part of the praetors and of the tribunes of the people, together with the consul Quintus Lucretiusand the leading men of the state, were sent to Campania to meet me, an honour which up to the present time has been decreed to no one except myself. When I returned from Spain and Gaul, in the consulship of Tiberius Nero and Publius Quintilius, after successful operations in those provinces, the senate voted in honour of my return the consecration of an altar to Pax Augusta in the Campus Martius, and on this altar it ordered the magistrates and priests and Vestal virgins to make annual sacrifice.

Janus Quirinus, which our ancestors ordered to be closed whenever there was peace, secured by victory, throughout the whole domain of the Roman people on land and sea, and which, before my birth is recorded to have been closed but twice in all since the foundation of the city, the senate ordered to be closed thrice while I was princeps.

My sons Gaius and Lucius Caesar, whom fortune snatched away from me in their youth, the senate and the Roman people to do me honour made consuls designate, each in his fifteenth year, providing that each should enter upon that office after a period of five years. The senate decreed that from the day on which they were introduced to the forum they should take part in the counsels of state. Moreover, the entire body of Roman knights gave each of them the title of princeps iuventutis and presented them with silver shields and spears.

To the Roman plebs I paid out three hundred sesterces per man in accordance with the will of my father, and in my own name in my fifth consulship I gave four hundred sesterces apiece from the spoils of war; a second time, moreover, in my tenth consulship I paid out of my own patrimony four hundred sesterces per man by way of bounty, and in my eleventh consulship I made twelve distributions of food from grain bought at my own expense, and in the twelfth year of my tribunician power I gave for the third time four hundred sesterces to each man. These largesses of mine reached a number of persons never less than two hundred and fifty thousand. In the eighteenth year of my tribunician power, as consul for the twelfth time, I gave to three hundred and twenty thousand of the city plebs sixty denarii apiece. In the colonies of my soldiers, as consul for the fifth time, I gave one thousand sesterces to each man from the spoils of war; about one hundred and twenty thousand men in the colonies received this triumphal largesse. When consul for the thirteenth time I gave sixty denarii apiece to the plebs who were then receiving public grain; these were a little more than two hundred thousand persons.

To the municipal towns I paid money for the lands which I assigned to soldiers in my own fourth consulship and afterwards in the consulship of Marcus Crassus and Gnaeus Lentulus the augur. The sum which I paid for estates in Italy was about six hundred million sesterces, and the amount which I paid for lands in the provinces was about two hundred and sixty million. I was the first and only one to do this of all those who up to my time settled colonies of soldiers in Italy or in the provinces. And later, in the consulship of Tiberius Nero and Gnaeus Piso, likewise in the consulship of Gaius Antistius and Decimus Laelius, and of Gaius Calvisius and Lucius Pasienus, and of Lucius Lentulus and Marcus Messalla, and of Lucius Caninius and Quintus Fabricius, I paid cash gratuities to the soldiers whom I settled in their own towns at the expiration of their service, and for this purpose I expended four hundred million sesterces as an act of grace.

Four times I aided the public treasury with my own money, paying out in this manner to those in charge of the treasury one hundred and fifty million sesterces. And in the consulship of Marcus Lepidus and Lucius Arruntius I contributed one hundred and seventy million sesterces out of my own patrimony to the military treasury, which was established on my advice that from it gratuities might be paid to soldiers who had seen twenty or more years of service.

Beginning with the year in which Gnaeus and Publius Lentulus were consuls, whenever taxes were in arrears, I furnished from my own purse and my own patrimony tickets for grain and money, oftentimes to a hundred thousand persons, sometimes to many more.

I built the curia and the Chalcidicum adjoining it, the temple of Apollo on the Palatine with its porticoes, the temple of the deified Julius, the Lupercal, the portico at the Circus Flaminius which I allowed to be called Octavia after the name of him who had constructed an earlier one on the same site, the state box at the Circus Maximus, the temples on the capitol of Jupiter Feretrius and Jupiter Tonans, the temple of Quirinus, the temples of Minerva, of Juno the Queen, and of Jupiter Libertas, on the Aventine, the temple of the Lares at the highest point of the Sacra Via, the temple of the Di Penates on the Velia, the temple of Youth, and the temple of the Great Mother on the Palatine.

The Capitolium and the theatre of Pompey, both works involving great expense, I rebuilt without any inscription of my own name. I restored the channels of the aqueducts which in several places were falling into disrepair through age, and doubled the capacity of the aqueduct called the Marcia by turning a new spring into its channel. I completed the Julian Forum and the basilica which was between the temple of Castor and the temple of Saturn, works begun and far advanced by my father, and when the same basilica was destroyed by fire I began its reconstruction on an enlarged site, to be inscribed with the names of my sons, and ordered that in case I should not live to complete it, it should be completed by my heirs. In my sixth consulship, in accordance with a decree of the senate, I rebuilt in the city eighty-two temples of the gods, omitting none which at that time stood in need of repair. As consul for the seventh time I constructed the Via Flaminia from the city to Ariminum, and all the bridges except the Mulvian and the Minucian.

On my own ground I built the temple of Mars Ultor and the Augustan Forum from the spoils of war. On ground purchased for the most part from private owners I built the theatre near the temple of Apollo which was to bear the name of my son-in‑law Marcus Marcellus. From the spoils of war I consecrated offerings on the Capitol, and in the temple of the divine Julius, and in the temple of Apollo, and in the temple of Vesta, and in the temple of Mars Ultor, which cost me about one hundred million sesterces. In my fifth consulship I remitted thirty-five thousand pounds weight of coronary gold contributed by the municipia and the colonies of Italy, and thereafter, whenever I was saluted as imperator, I did not accept the coronary gold, although the municipia and colonies voted it in the same kindly spirit as before.

Three times in my own name I gave a show of gladiators, and five times in the name of my sons or grandsons; in these shows there fought about ten thousand men. Twice in my own name I furnished for the people an exhibition of athletes gathered from all parts of the world, and a third time in the name of my grandson. Four times I gave games in my own name; as representing other magistrates twenty-three times. For the college of quindecemvirs, as master of that college and with Marcus Agrippa as my colleague, I conducted the Secular Games in the consulship of Gaius Furnius and Marcus Silanus. In my thirteenth consulship I gave, for the first time, the games of Mars, which, since that time, the consuls by decree of the senate have given in successive years in conjunction with me. In my own name, or that of my sons or grandsons, on twenty-six occasions I gave to the people, in the circus, in the forum, or in the amphitheatre, hunts of African wild beasts, in which about three thousand five hundred beasts were slain.

I gave the people the spectacle of a naval battle beyond the Tiber, at the place where now stands the grove of the Caesars, the ground having been excavated for a length of eighteen hundred and a breadth of twelve hundred feet. In this spectacle thirty beaked ships, triremes or biremes, and a large number of smaller vessels met in conflict. In these fleets there fought about three thousand men exclusive of the rowers.

After my victory I replaced in the temples in all the cities of the province of Asia the ornaments which my antagonist in the war, when he despoiled the temples, had appropriated to his private use. Silver statues of me, on foot, on horseback, and in chariots were erected in the city to the number of about eighty; these I myself removed, and from the money thus obtained I placed in the temple of Apollo golden offerings in my own name and in the name of those who had paid me the honour of a statue.

I freed the sea from pirates. About thirty thousand slaves, captured in that war, who had run away from their masters and had taken up arms against the republic, I delivered to their masters for punishment. The whole of Italy voluntarily took oath of allegiance to me and demanded me as its leader in the war in which I was victorious at Actium. The provinces of the Spains, the Gauls, Africa, Sicily, and Sardinia took the same oath of allegiance. Those who served under my standards at that time included more than 700 senators, and among them eighty-three who had previously or have since been consuls up to the day on which these words were written, and about 170 have been priests.

I extended the boundaries of all the provinces which were bordered by races not yet subject to our empire. The provinces of the Gauls, the Spains, and Germany, bounded by the ocean from Gades to the mouth of the Elbe, I reduced to a state of peace. The Alps, from the region which lies nearest to the Adriatic as far as the Tuscan Sea, I brought to a state of peace without waging on any tribe an unjust war. My fleet sailed from the mouth of the Rhine eastward as far as the lands of the Cimbri to which, up to that time, no Roman had ever penetrated either by land or by sea, and the Cimbri and Charydes and Semnones and other peoples of the Germans of that same region through their envoys sought my friendship and that of the Roman people. On my order and under my auspices two armies were led, at almost the same time, into Ethiopia and into Arabia which is called the ‘Happy One’ and very large forces of the enemy of both races were cut to pieces in battle and many towns were captured. Ethiopia was penetrated as far as the town of Nabata, which is next to Meroë. In Arabia the army advanced into the territories of the Sabaei, the town of Mariba.

Egypt I added to the empire of the Roman people. In the case of Greater Armenia, though I might have made it a province after the assassination of its King Artaxes, I preferred, following the precedent of our fathers, to hand that kingdom over to Tigranes, the son of King Artavasdes, and grandson of King Tigranes, through Tiberius Nero who was then my stepson. And later, when the same people revolted and rebelled, and was subdued by my son Gaius, I gave it over to King Ariobarzanes the son of Artabazus, King of the Medes, to rule, and after his death to his son Artavasdes. When he was murdered I sent into that kingdom Tigranes, who was sprung from the royal family of the Armenians. I recovered all the provinces extending eastward beyond the Adriatic Sea, and Cyrenae, which were then for the most part in possession of kings, and, at an earlier time, Sicily and Sardinia, which had been seized in the servile war.

I settled colonies of soldiers in Africa, Sicily, Macedonia, both Spains, Achaea, Asia, Syria, Gallia Narbonensis, Pisidia. Moreover, Italy has twenty-eight colonies founded under my auspices which have grown to be famous and populous during my lifetime.

From Spain, Gaul, and the Dalmatians, I recovered, after conquering the enemy, many military standards which had been lost by other generals. The Parthians I compelled to restore to me the spoils and standards of three Roman armies, and to seek as suppliants the friendship of the Roman people. These standards I deposited in the inner shrine which is in the Temple of Mars Ultor.

The tribes of the Pannonians, to which no army of the Roman people had ever penetrated before my principate, having been subdued by Tiberius Nero who was then my stepson and my legate, I brought under the sovereignty of the Roman people, and I pushed forward the frontier of Illyricum as far as the bank of the river Danube. An army of Dacians which crossed to the south of that river was, under my auspices, defeated and crushed, and afterwards my own army was led across the Danube and compelled the tribes of the Dacians to submit to the orders of the Roman people.

Embassies were often sent to me from the kings of India, a thing never seen before in the camp of any general of the Romans. Our friendship was sought, through ambassadors, by the Bastarnae and Scythians, and by the kings of the Sarmatians who live on either side of the river Tanais, and by the king of the Albaniand of the Hiberiand of the Medes.

Kings of the Parthians, Tiridates, and later Phrates, the son of King Phrates, took refuge with me as suppliants; of the Medes, Artavasdes; of the Adiabeni, Artaxares; of the Britons, Dumnobellaunus and Tim of the Sugambri, Maelo; of the Marcomanni and Suevirus. Phrates, son of Orodes, king of the Parthians, sent all his sons and grandsons to me in Italy, not because he had been conquered in war, but rather seeking our friendship by means of his own children as pledges. And a large number of other nations experienced the good faith of the Roman people during my principate who never before had had any interchange of embassies or of friendship with the Roman people.

From me the peoples of the Parthians and of the Medes received the kings for whom they asked through ambassadors, the chief men of those peoples; the Parthians Vonones, son of King Phrates, grandson of King Orodes; the Medes Ariobarzanes, the son of King Atavazdes, grandson of King Ariobarzanes.

In my sixth and seventh consulships, when I had extinguished the flames of civil war, after receiving by universal consent the absolute control of affairs, I transferred the republic from my own control to the will of the senate and the Roman people. For this service on my part I was given the title of Augustus by decree of the senate, and the doorposts of my house were covered with laurels by public act, and a civic crown was fixed above my door, and a golden shield was placed in the Curia Julia whose inscription testified that the senate and the Roman people gave me this in recognition of my valour, my clemency, my justice, and my piety. After that time I took precedence of all in rank, but of power I possessed no more than those who were my colleagues in any magistracy.

And while I was administering my thirteenth consulship the senate and the equestrian order and the entire Roman people gave me the title of Father of my Country, and decreed that this title should be inscribed upon the vestibule of my house and in the senate-house and in the Forum Augustum beneath the quadriga erected in my honour by decree of the senate. At the time of writing this I was in my seventy-sixth year.

Augustus Caesar. Gaius Julius Caesar Octavianus.

(C-I) OR

15 09 2018

Secret Intelligence Service

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