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Germans in the Teutoburg Forest. All hopes of achieving Roman supremacy there were abandoned.
As PATER PATRIAE, Augustus stressed the importance of the Roman family and institutions. In 18
B.C., he pushed for the acceptance of the lex Julia de adulteriis, which punished adultery, and the lex
Julia de maritandis ordinibus, which required marriage and also the remarriage of the widowed. Only one
person, the Lady Antonia, was given dispensation. Augustus honored family life and was always devoted to
Livia, but his domestic affairs, and especially his constant search for a successor, dominated and
strained his later years.
A successor to Augustus was not necessarily expected as there were no imperial precedents. Although
Augustus searched constantly for an heir, Suetonius commented that twice the ruler thought of stepping
down (after Antony's death and when he fell seriously ill, probably in 23 B.C.). But finding a suitable
successor was not easy, for few men in the Roman world would have been able to maintain Augustus'
equilibrium between the republican traditions and imperial realities. As the years passed, family tragedies
and disappointments reduced his options until only one figure remained.
In the early years there was a battle of wills between Marcus Agrippa and Augustus' nephew, Marcellus
(29-23 B.C.). Marcellus was the husband of Augustus' daughter Julia, but he died in 23. As a result, Julia
was married
to Agrippa. Although not eligible for the throne himself because of his common origin, his
children could become emperors. Julia bore Agrippa three sons: Gaius, Lucius and Agrippa Posthumus.
Agrippa and his two sons, Gaius and Lucius, were officially adopted in 17 B.C.
Augustus needed administrative help, but his three adopted grandsons were too young. He turned to his
wife Livia's sons by her former husband, Tiberius Claudius Nero: Tiberius and Nero Drusus. Nero
Drusus died on the Elbe in 9 B.C.; in 6 B.C., Tiberius was elevated to imperial assistant, with a share in
Augustus' iribunicia potestas. Only one year later, Gaius was given the title of PRINCEPS
IUVENTUTIS, joined by Lucius in 5 B.C., thus marking them as the true heirs. Tiberius moved to
Rhodes, where he remained until 4 A.D., when tragic events brought him to Rome again. Lucius had died in
2 A.D., followed by Gaius. And Agrippa Posthumus was exiled.
With the heirs of his choice gone, Augustus faced yet another blow. His daughter Julia had caused a
terrible scandal in 2 B.C. and was exiled. This left Augustus with only Tiberius to aid him, something that
Livia had always desired. In 3 A.D., Augustus accepted 10 more years of rule. The fact that Tiberius was
destined to succeed him became evident in 13 A.D., when he was granted full tribunicia potestas and
imperium proconsulare. Augustus placed his will with the Vestal Virgins and fell ill in 14, dying on
August 29. Tiberius, who was on his way to Illyricum, was summoned back to assume the position of
PRINCEPS. On the 17th of September, Augustus was deified by the Senate of Rome.
Octavian, or Augustus, was a figure of immensely human proportions, despite his auctoritas and eventual
divinity. Suetonius wrote that he was remarkably handsome, of graceful gait but often less than
immaculate appearance. His teeth were decayed, and his messily tended hair was yellow. Although he
was only five feet, seven inches tall (perhaps less), he was elegantly proportioned. His health was always
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