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calling himself Rome’s dictator.The young man chose the wiser course
of pretending to keep the traditional republican institutions in place
while quietly manipulating them to his own advantage.
To that bold end, Octavian steadily consolidated a wide range of
powers, always making sure to appear as if he were following accepted
Roman law and tradition. He shrewdly kept the senators, consuls, and
Octavian Changes His Image
After he won the final Roman civil war, Octavian faced the enormous task
of rebuilding Rome’s government. He wanted to maintain as much control
of that new system as possible. But he was smart enough to realize that
more strong-arm tacticswould likely just lead to morewar and destruction.
Clearly, he needed to change his image to that of a reasonable, construc-
tive ruler. To help him achieve that goal, he consulted his close friend Gaius
Maecenas, awealthy and verywise literary patron. According to the Roman
historian Dio Cassius, Maecenas told Octavian:
If you perform of your own accord all the actions you would wish an-
other man to perform if he were your ruler, you will not go astray,
but will succeed in all your endeavors and in consequence lead a life
which is filled with happiness and completely free from danger. For
howcan men fail to regard youwith affection as their father and their
savior, when they see that you are both disciplined and principled in
your life; formidable in war and yet disposed to peace; that you show
no arrogance and take no advantage; that you associate with them
on a footing of equality; do not enrich yourself in the process of levy-
ing [taxes]; do not live in luxury while imposing hardships on others;
and refrain from licentious [immoral] behavior. [You] hold in your
hands the most potent guarantee of your security—the fact that you
never do wrong to another.
Dio Cassius,
Roman History: The Reign of Augustus
, trans. Ian Scott-Kilvert. New York: Pen-
guin, 1987, p. 123.
