Essay on the Senate in the Augustan constitution
Augustus (62 BC 14 AD), also known as Octavian, assumed control of the Roman Empire following the death of Julius Caesar and the power vacuum that ensued. Like Caesar before him, Octavian was a totalitarian leader. Unlike his predecessor, however, Octavian set precedents for his successors, including the organization of the Senate, the mitigation of his own power, and the development of a rudimentary republic. Though Octavian advocated the advancement of the Senate, its existence served mostly to placate his critics and accentuate the specious image of an all-inclusive government. In the Augustan constitution, the Senate handled matters of state such as citizenry, land development and social order.
Roman leadership grew wary of the Senate following the assassination of Julius Caesar. In order to preserve governmental unity and to avoid splintering the growing empire, subsequent Roman emperors downplayed the role of the Senate, assuming power only slightly less dictatorial than the first Caesar. Upon assuming leadership, Octavian was faced with placating the Senate while simultaneously consolidating unchallenged power. The solution was simple, and thus in January 27 BC Octavian went through the pantomime of giving up power to the senate, and receiving most of it back again (Scarre 1997, p. 18). What appeared to be concessions in power was actually a series of maneuvers in which Octavian engaged in order to write the Senate’s power out of the new constitution. Such strategies were later found to be obsolete, as the Senate almost played into Octavian’s hands, ceding power in order to quell growing concerns regarding the cohesion of the state. Whether to circumvent the Roman bureaucracy or to simply create a scapegoat if events took a turn for the worst, the Senate played a significant part in its dilution in the Octavian constitution. The Senate would often pass laws that…
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Tags: Augustus, Caesar, constitution, Octavian, Roman Empire, Rome, Senate
