https://greekreporter.com/2025/11/27/ugly-truth-emperor-augustus-legendary-roman-myths/
Disgustus of Rome...
I think Augustus was genuinely a lot better than what had been happening in the last 100 years. Was there genuinely more freedom under Caeser or Sulla? I don't think so.
Of course, if you're trying to draw modern parallels with Augustus, it's interesting how much the American constitution shares with the constitution of Augustus. Replace a leader for life with an elected leader, and popular assemblies with a house of representatives, and you're pretty much there.
I think the thing about Gaius Julius Caesar / Augustus is that he probably mellows over the decades, though that may be simply a growing sense of security. There is no doubt that he was as nasty and ruthless as anyone during the civil wars, wading to the top through blood. He was also a master of PR. So too was Constantine, the other notably "whitewashed" emperor. But Constantine was arguably a nasty piece of work to the very end.
Arguably the third emperor who has had an easy ride from modern historians (meaning Gibbons onwards) is Vespasian. Some of his characteristics have genuine appeal, not least his ridicule of deification of emperors. However, he was very much a man of his culture, the bad parts included; are we truly comfortable with the bloke who started construction of the Colosseum, that temple to gratuitous bloodshed?
Quote from: DBS on Nov 29, 2025, 01:44 PMHowever, he was very much a man of his culture, the bad parts included; are we truly comfortable with the bloke who started construction of the Colosseum, that temple to gratuitous bloodshed?
Well he didn't invent circuses. I think we need to judge people against the generally accepted moral standards of the time, rather than trying to impose our standards. It's easy to have high moral standards when you're part of a fabulously rich society by ancient standards.
Or to put it another way, if everyone is killing lots of people, then you can be a good person just by killing slightly less...
I read Tacitus early on in my reading (Just after Seutonius) so never had a great opinion of the early emperors, my problem has been accepting they were not so bad. ;D