Did Augustus restore the Republic? - approx. 2000 words
Bibliography:
Primary sources:
Cassius Dio, Roman History, Books 51-55
https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Cassius_Dio/home.html Accessed 17 November 2022
Suetonius, Life of Augustus, The Twelve Caesars
http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Suetonius/12Caesars/Augustus*.html Accessed 15
November 2022
Tacitus, The Annals of Imperial Rome 1.2-2.2
https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Tacitus/Annals/1A*.html Accessed 18 November 2022
Velleius Paterculus, The Roman History, Loeb Classical Library, Book II, 89-91
https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/e/roman/texts/velleius_paterculus/2c*.html Accessed 20 November 2022
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Restored the republic = gave power back to the senate and the people of Rome
Whilst populist rhetoric and ‘pacification through victories’ was the basis of Augustan
power, it required co-opting and reforming the old Republican regime.
Augustus produced material that shows us he restored the republic
- Res Gestae verse 5, 6 and 34 → ‘I transferred the Republic from my power to that of
the senate and people of Rome’ + ‘After that time I took precedence of all in rank, but
of power I possessed no more than those were my colleagues in any magistracy’
However this is massively contrasted in Suetonius’ point of view → written under the
Emperor Hadrian (much later on)
● He was able to write more freely and he completely goes against this idea
