Caesar Augustus’s Negative Political Impact on Rome

Aislynn Cross Augustus Caesar was the first Emperor of Rome. He led many men into battle and won many victories for Rome, but his gravest legacy were the changes that He implemented. These changes negatively impacted the political freedom of Rome and it’s citizens. Before Augustus Caesar became the first Roman Emperor, Julius Caesar was the population’s favorite to lead the Senate. Rome was at first governed in a republic by the Senate, an Aristocracy ruled by the wealthiest noblemen. The Roman empire had many civil wars throughout the Mediterranean and there were rebellions against the Senate. 

The Senate was in ruins because the soldiers fought for their generals and not for the Senate, which means that the generals had all of the authority to make decisions for the Roman Empire. Julius Caesar was one of these said generals who had a reputation of being victorious, especially in the battle of Gual. He joined two men named Crassus’ and Pompey who both were hungry for power and together they created a very powerful political and military alliance called the First Triumvirate. They each kept each other in check making sure that no one person rebelled, but when Crassus died, the remaining two’s alliance fell. Pompey and Julius both went to different sides of the Mediterranean, Julius went to Gaul and Pompey traveled to Rome. 

When Pompey was selected to lead Senate, Julius retaliated against him and defeated Pompey’s army and obtained all of the power in both Rome and Gaul. Alone he had far more power than all of the people in the Senate combined, therefore, he was stabbed to death by the Senate. Agustus Caesar, born as Octavius Thurinus, was the adopted son of Julius Caesar. Agustus Caesar stole the political power in Rome after Julius was stabbed to death. Agustus was much like a monarch, but, because the citizens of his empire hated the title of king, he was a king in everything but the title. “Those who assassinated my father, I drove into exile.”

To avenge for his adoptive father, he exiled and banished and killed Julius’s assassins, which were comprised of the entirety of the old Senate, which created new opportunities for the advancement of the people of Rome. He created the first Roman empire and supported hundreds of thousands of people within the city of Rome, but it came at a cost. Agustus, while seeming to uphold the law, did not earn his position fairly. He bribed the soldiers with gifts, bribed the poorer citizens with cheap grain and food, and bribed the people of the new Senate. 

Because of the patriarchal nature of the Aristocracy, Agustus was accepted into the Senate. Nobody even thought of running against him, and those who wanted to run against him were already dead or dying on the battlefield. “I excelled in all authority.” Agustus made the gap between social classes wider, so that nobles were insured to never become slaves and slaves could not become nobles. Whilst he, the safest of all lived happily in his grand mansion, the most powerful man in all of Rome. Agustus bribed the people of the Senate to step down so that he could stay in power. Agustus had the ability and the sole responsibility of, “Making and collecting funds, declaring war, making peace, and ruling over foreigners and citizens alike.” Augustus had much power over the Senate, but worked, much like his father did, in a group of people called the second Triumvirate. 

“Octavian consolidated his power. He forced Lepidus into retirement and misstated the facts concerning Antony's actions in Egypt. This led the credulous Roman Senate to declare war on Antony and his mistress, Queen Cleopatra of Egypt.” Augustus Caesar was incredibly deceptive. He chose to force one of his only friends into early retirement than spread rumors which led to the demise of his other friend, Mark Anthony. leaving Agustus Caesar the Roman Empire. He decided to make improvements in the city itself, using slaves to do his labor. He also had decided that he wanted more, that he wanted to rule the entire world. 

“In the process turning Rome from a sprawling brick town into an imperial city of gleaming marble. He extended the rule of Rome over vast tracts of land by military action, and astute massaging of the diplomatic relationships that Rome maintained with friendly nations made possible the somewhat fictive claim that Rome ruled the known world.” Augustus expanded the Roman empire and ruled all of Europe, Asia, and Africa. “The power of Italy grew.” He made many changes to the world and also made many constitutional reforms. 

These included a new process in which power was dealt with. Augustus rarely rewarded his armies after he gained power, he also reduced the size dramatically, to the point that his armies had no power outside of city Rome. This was a controlling and manipulative act that robbed the army of all of its independence. He also made sure that no man other than him could rule the Senate, with the power of veto, which was put in place. This restricted the Senate's political freedoms. There were very few Senators who worked in the people’s interest and for not their own interests. This act hurt the citizens of Rome and stripped all lawmakers other than Augustus of their power. His people suffered because their political independence had been taken away and only Augustus held any power. Much like a dictator or monarch. 

The changes that Augustus Caesar created negatively impacted the political freedom of the Roman empire and the Roman empire’s citizens. Augustus Ceasar grabbed every opportunity he found to lead, even using illegal methods such as bribery and blackmail to get what he wanted. He was a manipulative Emperor, and it’s because of that that he never allowed his people any political freedoms or rights. Which inevitably led to the end of the Roman empire when barbarian troops attacked.