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ruling class for the empire. Senators filled the chief mag- istracies of the Roman government, held the most im- portant military posts, and governed the provinces. One needed to possess property worth 1 million sesterces (an unskilled laborer in Rome received 3 sesterces a day; a Roman legionary, 900 sesterces a year in pay) to belong to the senatorial order. The equestrian order was open to all Roman citizens of good standing who pos- sessed property valued at 400,000 sesterces. They, too, could now hold military and governmental offices, but the positions open to them were less important than those of the senators.
Citizens not of the senatorial or equestrian order belonged to the lower classes, who made up the over- whelming majority of free citizens. The diminution of the power of the Roman assemblies ended whatever political power the lower classes may have possessed earlier in the republic. Many of these people were pro- vided with free grain and public spectacles to keep them from creating disturbances. Nevertheless, by gaining wealth and serving as lower officers in the Roman legions, it was sometimes possible for them to advance to the equestrian order.
Augustus’s belief that Roman morals had been cor- rupted during the late republic led him to initiate social legislation to arrest the decline. He thought that increased luxury had undermined traditional Roman frugality and simplicity and caused a loosening of morals, evidenced by easy divorce, a falling birthrate among the upper classes, and lax behavior manifested in hedonistic parties and the love affairs of prominent Romans with fashionable women and elegant boys.
Through his new social legislation, Augustus hoped to restore respectability to the upper classes and reverse the declining birthrate as well. Expenditures for feasts were limited, and other laws made adultery a criminal offense. In fact, Augustus’s own daughter Julia was exiled for adultery. Augustus also revised the tax laws to penalize bachelors, widowers, and married per- sons who had fewer than three children.
Significance of the Augustan Age
The Augustan Age was a lengthy one. Augustus died in 14 C.E. after dominating the Roman world for forty-five years. He had created a new order while placating the old by restoring and maintaining traditional values, a fitting combination for a leader whose favorite maxim was “make haste slowly.” By the time of his death, his new order was so well established that few agitated for an alternative. Indeed, as the Roman historian
124 Chapter 6 The Roman Empire
Tacitus pointed out, “Actium had been won before the younger men were born. Even most of the older gen- eration had come into a world of civil wars. Practically no one had ever seen truly Republican government. . . . Political equality was a thing of the past; all eyes watched for imperial commands.”4 The republic was now only a memory and, given its last century of war- fare, an unpleasant one at that. The new order was here to stay.
The Early Empire (14–180)
Q FOCUS QUESTION: What were the chief features of the Roman Empire at its height during the second century?
There was no serious opposition to Augustus’s choice of his stepson Tiberius (ty-BEER-ee-uss) as his successor. By designating a family member as princeps, Augustus established the Julio-Claudian dynasty; the next four successors of Augustus were related either to his own family or to that of his wife, Livia.
The Julio-Claudians and Flavians
Several major tendencies emerged during the reigns of the Julio-Claudians (14–68). In general, more and more of the responsibilities that Augustus had given to the senate were taken over by the emperors, who also insti- tuted an imperial bureaucracy, staffed by talented freedmen, to run the government on a daily basis. As the Julio-Claudian successors of Augustus acted more openly as real rulers rather than “first citizens of the state,” the opportunity for arbitrary and corrupt acts also increased. Nero (NEE-roh) (54–68) freely elimi- nated people he wanted out of the way, including his own mother, whose murder he arranged. Without troops, the senators proved unable to oppose these excesses. Eventually, however, Nero’s extravagances provoked a revolt of the Roman legions. Abandoned by his guards, Nero chose to commit suicide by stabbing himself in the throat after uttering his final words: “What an artist the world is losing in me.” A new civil war erupted in 69, known as the year of the four emperors. Finally, Vespasian (vess-PAY-shun), com- mander of the legions in the East, established himself as sole ruler and his family as a new dynasty known as the Flavians, which ruled from 69 to 96. The signifi- cance of the year 69 was summed up precisely by Taci- tus when he stated that “a well-hidden secret of the
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