Ecce Romani III

Chapter 57: Background Information

Culture/History: More on Augustus

Grammar: Subjunctive Mood - a review of subordinate clauses

The Readings

Eutropius is an obvious fan of Augustus. Others might find less noble parts of his career and note some military reverses he encountered. At the time that Eutropius is writing, the conditions of the Empire are not good. There are struggles over the throne, the economy is in decline, and the borders are in constant threat from foreign invasions. Perhaps he looks back at the Pax Romana with envy.

Reading Notes

Passage A

1. sepultus est (line 6) -- Augustus's tomb and mausoleum are described on the Vroma site. Hadrian used the tomb as a model for his own, known today as the Castel Sant'Angelo, located directly across the Tiber river from the Vatican.
2. imperium (lines 8, 12) -- meaning "empire" here, but sometimes its original meaning of "power" is used. The same confusion occurs with imperator, originally meaning "victorious general" during the Republic but changed its meaning to "emperor" during the Empire.
3. Omnes...Panticapaeum (line 14-15) -- refers to Augustus's settlement of the Black Sea area. It may refer to the area between the Sea of Azov and the Black Sea or to the passage between the Black and Aegean seas (the Bosphorus). Augustus did not, in fact, add the area to the empire. It had been a client kingdom since the time of Pompey. Augustus did intervene twice to help stabilize its government.
4. Augustus (line 14) -- the name is premature here, since Octavian did not receive this title until 27 BC.

Passage B

1. Germanorum (line 1) -- one of Augustus's main objectives was to stabilize the northern frontier. He began by securing control of the south bank of the Danube and organizing several provinces. The forward momentum ceased with the death of his stepson Drusus in 9 BC. When the three legions of Varus were wiped out in the Teutoberg Forest by the Germans in AD 9, Augustus decided not to pursue going beyond the Rhine.
2. Tiberium (line 3) -- After the deaths of Augustus's grandsons, his stepson Tiberius was accepted as heir and became emperor upon Augustus's death.
3. munus (line 7) -- "service, duty, gift, funeral games" -- all are words that could translate munus. Here it refers to "gifts".
4. primus...Lollius (line 9) -- Lollius was the first to administer it as propraetor.
5. Caesareas (line 11) -- a number of towns were named for Augustus (the February 1987 issue of National Geographic has a good article on the town of Caesarea located in Palestine).
6. nominarent (line 11) -- subjunctive in a relative clause of characteristic; see ch. 65.

J. Jahnige, September 2003

Fabulae ^