Founding an Empire: Lessons from Augustus with Dr Barry Strauss

我非常荣幸能在此向大家介绍今晚的特邀演讲嘉宾。他，是我们这个时代最杰出的罗马史学家之一。斯特劳斯博士，巴里·斯特劳斯博士，是康奈尔大学的布莱斯·尼德·布尔马人文研究荣誉教授，也是胡佛研究所的科拉斯·佩奇院长研究员。他是一位军事和海军史专家。斯特劳斯博士著有九本书。我不知道这是否包括最新的一本。是第十本还是第九本？>> 我认为是第十本。>> 好的，十本书。我稍后会谈谈第十本。他也是一位公认的权威，研究古代世界最伟大的政治家和军事领袖的领导才能以及我们可以从中吸取的教训，包括本周对我们学生特别感兴趣的一位人物——奥古斯都·凯撒。本周我们在康奈尔大学阅读《埃涅阿斯纪》时，他一直是我们关注的焦点。斯特劳斯博士曾在康奈尔大学担任历史系主任，以及朱迪斯·雷皮和平与冲突研究所所长，他还曾在海军研究生院国防分析系担任杰出访问教授。因此，他可能是我们理解古代历史，特别是军事历史如何帮助我们理解当前冲突、军事战略等的最佳典范。他的奖学金包括国家人文基金会、德国学术交流中心、韩国基金会、麦克道尔殖民地、雅典古典研究美国学院和罗马美国学院的奖学金。为了表彰他的学术成就，斯特劳斯博士获得了卢西奥·克莱蒂新闻文学奖，并被授予希腊索洛莫斯的荣誉市民称号。因此，今晚在介绍我这位前同事时，我想特别关注并强调他在课堂上的杰出工作。成为一名伟大的学者是一回事。我认为，成为一名杰出的教师是更伟大的事情，是我们在这里非常珍视的。他在康奈尔大学获得了克拉克奖，现已更名为罗素教学卓越奖。为什么呢？虽然巴里和我曾是康奈尔大学同一系里的同事，但我们通常在戈德温·史密斯大厅的两端授课。我的重点是拉丁语和罗马文学，而巴里的重点，如我所说，是历史和军事战略。但教授关于维吉尔、西塞罗、奥维德、卡图卢斯等人的高级研究生研讨班时，我无法告诉你们，与那些学生一起工作是多么令人沮丧，他们可能并非出于自己的过错，却几乎无法告诉我关于亚克兴角战役的主要人物和背景。巴里的一本重要著作就以此为主题，我强烈推荐这本书，名为《塑造罗马帝国的战争》。这些非常聪明的学生了解文学理论的所有复杂性、微妙之处，甚至可以说是其晦涩难懂之处，但对罗马历史，特别是军事历史却知之甚少。直到我在一个关于贺拉斯的研究生研讨班上遇到一位学生，他对我所教的贺拉斯的《颂歌》第三卷第二首诗进行了精彩而深刻的分析，其中有一句名言：Dulor proprii。有什么区别呢？这位学生参加了巴里的课程。因此，我曾徒劳地试图让他的课程成为必修课，无论你在古典学领域学习什么。但我认为，这反映了学术界普遍存在的碎片化和学科划分，更不用说古典学了，你可以专攻任何你想要的领域，而无需具备理解你所选择的狭窄领域所必需的更广泛的知识。因此，任何有志于去康奈尔大学学习古典学或历史的人，请问巴里，你还在康奈尔大学任教吗？不，他已经退休了。这太糟糕了。所以去问巴里应该选哪门课。无论你在康奈尔大学主修什么，一定要选。嗯，我非常感激巴里对那位学生产生了如此大的影响。我只是谦卑地希望，他离开我的课堂时，会认为理解诗歌对于理解古代历史和古代世界也很重要。所以，最后我想推荐一下，我直到今天才知道，他的最新著作已经出版，《犹太人对抗罗马：反抗世界上最强大帝国的两个世纪》。我非常期待阅读它。当我们第一次联系斯特劳斯博士邀请他访问雷斯顿时。我一无所知。我收到了他电子邮件的回复，他当时正在耶路撒冷，为这本书进行了为期三周的研究。我迫不及待地想读它。这也不是他今晚的演讲主题，但却是更适合我们本周学生的主题，我们非常荣幸能邀请到你，巴里。感谢你的到来。我们期待你今晚的讲座。感谢丹如此慷慨的介绍。很高兴回到这个校园，我们曾在这里一起度过。感谢大家今晚的到来。我很高兴得知，你们中的一些在雷斯顿的人本周一直在阅读《埃涅阿斯纪》，我也很高兴与雷斯顿学院有联系。我非常钦佩你们在将人文主义和人文学科研究带回学术体验中心所做的工作。没有什么比这更重要了。所以，非常感谢你们邀请我来这里。我非常荣幸和高兴能来到这里。今晚，我想谈谈奥古斯都，我认为你们大多数人都会知道，他是罗马的第一位皇帝。凯撒·奥古斯都。他出生于公元前63年，卒于公元14年。他对古代历史和现代历史都产生了巨大的影响。我们今天认为理所当然的许多事物都可追溯到他的统治时期。西方文明的许多传统都在奥古斯都的统治下得以确立。我想我给讲座起的名字是“如何建立一个帝国：来自奥古斯都的见解”。所以，让我退后一步，问一个问题：如何建立一个帝国？建立一个帝国需要具备哪些素质？如果我能从退后一步再退后一步的话，我的理想不是建立一个帝国。我的理想是建立一个宪政共和国和民主。所以我永远不能说奥古斯都是我的理想。但如果你想建立一个帝国，比如说一个商业帝国或一个王朝，而这正是奥古斯都所做的，我认为他就是你要找的人。我认为我们可以从他和他的人生中学到一些东西，尽管我们有时会想退避三舍。所以，我将向你们展示一个五幕剧。奥古斯都的五幕，奥古斯都的人生。为了不让你们悬念，这五幕是：青年、军阀、第一公民、家庭、商人，以及神。让我们从青年开始。所以，当奥古斯都出生于公元前63年，四岁时，命运给了他沉重的一击。他的父亲去世了。他的父亲是一个雄心勃勃的人，他并非罗马最高层精英的一员，而是在第二梯队。他不是来自罗马。他来自一个叫阿勒市的城市，距离罗马以南约25英里。他正朝着成为执政官的目标迈进。他有远大的抱负，但却英年早逝，从未实现。这让年轻的奥古斯都陷入了困境。但要说清楚的是，那时他还不叫奥古斯都。他的名字和他父亲一样。他父亲名叫盖乌斯·奥克塔维乌斯。这个四岁的男孩也叫盖乌斯·奥克塔维乌斯。他的母亲是一位名叫阿提亚的女人。这对他意义重大，原因有二。首先，阿提亚是一位非常坚定的女性。她非常决心要让她的孩子们取得成功。其中最重要的两个孩子是她的儿子奥克塔维乌斯和他的妹妹，叫什么呢？奥克塔维娅。这是她最关心的两个人。她改嫁给另一位罗马显贵，这对她很有帮助，但对年轻的奥克塔维乌斯来说，更有帮助的是他母亲的母系家族，他母亲的母亲名叫尤莉亚，她恰好是罗马最杰出的人物之一，也是历史上最著名的人物之一，正是尤利乌斯·凯撒。而奥克塔维乌斯的母亲阿提亚决心让她的聪明才智的儿子不被他的叔祖父忽视。凯撒是他的叔祖父。巧合的是，尤利乌斯·凯撒没有自己的合法儿子。他有一个合法的女儿，但不幸在分娩时去世了。他可能有一个私生子。对此有些疑问，但我认为他很可能有。那是他与情妇，也就是埃及女王克利奥帕特拉所生的儿子，她稍后还会出现在我们的视野中。他的名字你可能知道，他继承了埃及王位。他是托勒密十五世·凯撒，更广为人知的名字是凯撒里昂，但他不会成为凯撒的继承人。凯撒还有其他几位亲戚，相对亲近的亲戚，其中奥克塔维乌斯最为突出。在这些年轻人中，他显得最有才华，最有前途。于是，他开始了政治生涯，奥克塔维乌斯在11岁时，他的祖母去世了，他被选中发表葬礼演说，这对罗马人来说是一件非常重要的事情。他的公开生涯始于11岁，终于76岁去世。所以，你算算。这个人活了很长时间，并且在其中大部分时间里都处于显赫地位，这也是他如此重要的原因之一，因为他活得太久了，并且扮演了如此重要的政治角色。他的导师，他的指导者，作为年轻人，选择正确的导师非常重要，是他的母亲阿提亚和他的叔祖父尤利乌斯·凯撒。一个雄心勃勃的罗马政治家不可能有比这两人更好的导师了。凯撒是罗马共和国的产物，但也是一个超越罗马共和国的人。他出身于罗马最尊贵的贵族，血统最纯正。在很多方面，他尊重共和国。他在共和国的 ranks 中晋升，但他也看穿了共和国。他对共和国感到愤世嫉俗。正如你可能知道的，共和国正处于困境。近一个世纪以来，共和国遭受了反复的打击，有时导致内战，常常导致内部分歧和动荡。许多人怀疑共和国能否生存。简而言之，它的麻烦在于，老套的说法其实是最真实的：为城邦设计的政治制度不适合统治一个世界帝国。此时，罗马帝国从西班牙的大西洋一直延伸到东方的幼发拉底河。他们还没有那么远，但很快就会到达。它统治着数千万人，没有这种制度是不可能的，除非改变政治制度。但罗马人是非常保守的民族，他们不想改变政治制度。他们被一系列社会和文化变革逼迫着。他们发现，与其由罗马宪法规定的由SPQR（元老院与罗马人民）统治，他们越来越多地受到一系列有权势的人物、军事指挥官和政治领袖的统治，这些人拥有由穷人组成的军队的忠诚，这些穷人服役于罗马军队，比对共和国更忠诚于他们的指挥官。在共和国最后的世纪里，有一系列指挥官扰乱了共和国，其中尤利乌斯·凯撒最为成功。当年轻的盖乌斯·奥克塔维乌斯成年，度过青少年时期时，他追随凯撒的职业生涯，并最终加入了凯撒与罗马共和国进行了四年内战的最后几场战役。这些战役发生在西班牙，奥克塔维乌斯在那里花了几个月时间，可以说是 his great uncle 的膝下，向这位才华横溢而愤世嫉俗的政治家尤利乌斯·凯撒学习。当他们两人于公元前45年秋天回到罗马时，凯撒修改了他的遗嘱，并指定奥克塔维乌斯为他的继承人，将他大部分财产和名字留给了盖乌斯·奥克塔维乌斯。接下来的冬天，对凯撒和罗马来说，都是一个充满事件的冬天。凯撒在血腥的内战中击败了所有敌人，现在是罗马的第一号人物，接受了“终身独裁官”的头衔，这是一个在罗马从未有过的头衔，这让许多罗马人，包括他的一些最亲近的支持者感到震惊。他们认为，这不是他们所奋斗的，我们不希望共和国变成这样。所以，正如我们所知，在公元前44年的三月十五日，凯撒被暗杀了。他在罗马元老院开会的地点，在庞培剧院，在他最大的敌人庞培·马格努斯（庞培大帝）的雕像脚下，被一群罗马参议员刺死。奥克塔维乌斯当时不在场。他被暗杀时不在罗马。凯撒正计划一次伟大的军事远征，以征服罗马唯一剩下的帝国对手——帕提亚，当时是古伊朗帝国。这将是几个世纪以来历史上的一个重要事件。但凯撒想在一开始就将其扼杀，并征服帕提亚。他计划于3月18日出发进行这次伟大的东征，但他从未成行。然而，他已将许多部队派往亚得里亚海对岸，驻扎在现在的阿尔巴尼亚。其中一人就是年轻的盖乌斯·奥克塔维乌斯。他的母亲给他写了一封信，气喘吁吁地讲述了他叔祖父被暗杀的消息。奥克塔维乌斯感到震惊和沮丧。凯撒不仅是他的职业生涯的“饭票”，更是他的导师，是他爱戴并相信的人。他必须决定该怎么做。他是否要领导一场反对刺客的运动，布鲁图斯、喀西斯和德西姆斯·布鲁图斯（我曾在另一本书中写过他们）在那里，在阿尔巴尼亚？他是否要集结军队，还是回到意大利，观察政治局势，缓慢而谨慎地行动？嗯，这反映了奥克塔维乌斯是个什么样的人，他选择了后者。他回到了意大利，在一个不起眼的地方登陆，位于意大利东南海岸，小心翼翼地观察四周，确保海岸安全，人们会接受他，然后才返回罗马。他首先去拜访了他的母亲和继父，他们住在城外的一座别墅里，他必须处理凯撒遗嘱中提到的遗产。凯撒说，他将追认盖乌斯·奥克塔维乌斯为他的儿子。你应该知道，在罗马文化中，收养成年人是很常见的。这并不罕见。然而，追认收养并不常见。事实上，根本不存在这种事，它是非法的。后来，一位皇帝会更进一步，他会追认自己为他的一位继承人的儿子，即使那位继承人从未收养过他。但在这里，我们有一个基本上是虚假的收养，在罗马法律上是不可接受的。奥克塔维乌斯的母亲和继父说：“别这样做。这是一个毒杯。你才18岁。你永远无法摆脱这一切。”这标志着这个家伙的野心、他的远见和他的胆量，他说不，我想这样做。别再叫我奥克塔维乌斯了，我不再是盖乌斯·奥克塔维乌斯了，我是盖乌斯·尤利乌斯·凯撒。他的母亲是第一个，但不是最后一个称他为这个名字的罗马人。现在，根据罗马的命名惯例，他的名字应该是盖乌斯·尤利乌斯·凯撒·奥克塔维亚努斯，因为他想记住他的出生家庭，但他从未接受过，也不允许任何人称他为奥克塔维亚努斯，尽管我们历史学家通常在他职业生涯的最初几十年里是这样称呼他的。他想被称为凯撒。坚持如此。那年秋天，也就是公元前44年，在他19岁生日后不久，他在罗马的论坛上，在他叔祖父的雕像前，在他看来，他发表了一次演讲，他说：“我打算获得我叔祖父所拥有的一切荣誉，最后一件。”为了这点事，人们被送进了疯人院。对于这个19岁的孩子来说，在一个30岁的人仍被视为青少年社会里，说出“我将拥有这一切”是多么离谱的野心。他是怎么做到的？嗯，他很聪明。他有非凡的情商，而且绝对无情。他有什么道德感，它并没有阻碍他。他是马基雅维利之前的马基雅维利。他非常善于操纵他人，并能悄无声息地行动。在这个人生阶段，他最特别操纵的人就是罗马最伟大的演说家西塞罗，他曾隐退政坛，从未支持过凯撒，曾被凯撒赶下舞台，现在他看到了这个人，新的凯撒，他想，这个人我可以利用他。我可以利用他来拯救共和国。他认为自己将成为新的凯撒，但他还是个孩子。他永远做不到。我要利用这个人。但西塞罗不知道的是，恰恰相反，年轻的凯撒将利用他。于是，就发生了……我将称他为奥克塔维安。称他为凯撒太令人困惑了。奥克塔维安此时的主要对手是尤利乌斯·凯撒的另一位远房亲戚，一位年长得多的男人，接近40岁，马克·安东尼，我们都从莎士比亚和好莱坞认识他。马克·安东尼当时是罗马的两位最高官员之一，执政官之一。他决心要继承凯撒的衣钵。当凯撒的遗嘱没有像承认这个孩子盖乌斯·奥克塔维乌斯那样承认他时，他感到非常沮丧。他认为他可以轻易地将他推开。但他低估了奥克塔维安。奥克塔维安极具说服力，令人印象深刻，他说服了凯撒的部下，认为他就是凯撒的部队可以支持并领导他们为他们英雄所遭受的不公复仇的那个人。这尤其困难，因为奥克塔维安虽然长得英俊，但身体上并不令人印象深刻。他一点也不像个英雄。事实上，尽管他参加了许多战斗，并非没有勇气，但他从未成为一个伟大的军事家，更不用说伟大的将军了。但他是一位非凡的政治家。正如我所说，如果你不让道德感碍事，并且你非常擅长操纵他人，就像这个人一样，这真的很有帮助。于是，他设法说服了安东尼的两个军团叛逃，转而加入了他。他通过承诺他们更多的金钱、更多的奖励和更少的军事纪律来做到这一点。突然间，他有了一支私人军队。这太离谱了。这应该是一个共和国。他有一支私人军队。这是他后来几年吹嘘的，他拥有这支私人军队。凭借这支私人军队，他让元老院祝福他，让他成为拯救他们免受凯撒刺客和马克·安东尼（他现在是凯撒的继承人，他认为自己是凯撒的继承人）侵害的人，而马克·安东尼则与罗马元老院中的保守派对立。奥克塔维安设法击败了安东尼，迫使安东尼越过阿尔卑斯山，逃离意大利，前往高卢。在这些战斗中，无论是因为意外还是因为有人投毒（有许多传言是后者），两位执政官都在这些战斗中丧生，让奥克塔维安成为元老院一方的领导者。西塞罗写信给人们说：“别担心，我们会利用他，然后摆脱他。”恰恰相反。安东尼去了高卢。他组建了一支新军队。他得到了高卢和西班牙的凯撒支持者加入他。他进军意大利。奥克塔维安会怎么做？他会忠于元老院并支持他们吗？一点也不。他和安东尼在一个靠近现代博洛尼亚的河流中的岛屿上会面，并达成了一项协议。我们将统治罗马。我们和第三个人，一个叫雷必达的人。我们将统治罗马共和国，我们将进军罗马，元老院将任命我为执政官，尽管我还只是个孩子，离被任命为执政官的年龄还差得很远。而且奏效了。他们进军罗马。但现在发生了一些可怕的事情。凯撒在赢得内战后，以宽恕政策闻名，宽恕他的敌人。这是凯撒最伟大的功绩之一，他希望通过团结所有人或大多数人来结束困扰罗马的内战。他确实杀了一些敌人，但大多数时候他没有。这很了不起。但正如你所知，这并没有奏效。他们回来了，并暗杀了凯撒。现在，安东尼和奥克塔维安都不打算采取同样的政策了。于是，他们宣布了清洗，列出了数千名罗马显贵的名字，他们的财产将被没收，他们的生命将被剥夺。现在，他们大多数人都逃脱了，他们逃跑了，大约只有300人被杀。但其中最著名被杀的人就是奥克塔维安以前的盟友西塞罗，他作为共和国的烈士而死。他是安东尼的死敌。安东尼恨他。奥克塔维安后来声称他试图拯救西塞罗，但如果他真的做了，他也没有很努力，西塞罗被杀。奥克塔维安、安东尼和雷必达现在掌管着意大利和西罗马帝国。第二年，他们去对付凯撒的剩余刺客，由布鲁图斯和喀西斯领导。正如我们从莎士比亚那里知道的，他们在腓立比战役中击败了他们。现在，安东尼、奥克塔维安和雷必达（雷必达很快被排挤到一边）基本上是罗马帝国的统治者。所以，我们进入第二阶段。奥克塔维安，盖乌斯·尤利乌斯·凯撒，现在是一位军阀。他统治着帝国西部。安东尼统治着帝国东部。如果说他生命的第一阶段，对奥克塔维安最重要的两个人是他的母亲阿提亚和他的叔祖父尤利乌斯·凯撒，那么在他生命的下一阶段，对他成功最重要的两个人是：首先是一位非常忠诚于奥克塔维安的童年朋友，他恰好是一位杰出的军事指挥官，他的名字是马库斯·维帕尼乌斯·阿格里帕。对奥克塔维安来说，幸运的是，他不是罗马贵族的一员。所以他没有真正的威胁。我应该说，罗马是一个非常讲究阶级的社会。在顶层只有极少数家族，他们自称贵族，他们的祖先曾统治过共和国并担任过最高职务。要打入这个圈子非常困难。阿格里帕没有机会这样做。说实话，奥克塔维安也一样。记住，奥克塔维安的父亲并不是一个特别显赫的人物。他不是无名小卒，但他也不是贵族。奥克塔维安只在母亲一方是贵族，而在罗马，这并不真正算数。只有父系血统才真正重要。然而，他被凯撒收养了，罗马人非常重视收养，他现在通过收养成为贵族的一员。但他一直渴望得到顶层人士的认可。所以，他做了许多罗马人，尤其是精英阶层所做的事情。他们进行了权宜婚姻，进行了政治婚姻。我认为将其视为黑手党式的婚姻并不为过，即你与一个竞争家族的人结婚，这样两个家族就会联合起来。首先，他娶了安东尼家族的一位女性。但这行不通，他抛弃了她。然后，他娶了庞培大帝家族的一位女性。为什么是庞培大帝家族的？因为他在西部的主要对手是庞培最后的儿子之一，一个名叫塞克斯图斯·庞培的人，坦率地说，他是个海盗。塞克斯图斯这个海盗控制着意大利周围的海域，可以切断意大利的粮食供应。她也属于一个比盖乌斯·奥克塔维乌斯更古老的贵族家庭。但后来他找到了一个更好的人，一个出身于罗马贵族最高阶层的人，没有人比她更尊贵。她叫莉维亚。莉维亚很年轻。她19岁。她已婚并怀孕了。没问题。奥克塔维安的妻子，奥克塔维安的妻子也已婚并怀孕了。所以，在他妻子生下女儿尤莉亚的第二天，他离婚了，然后娶了莉维亚。她的丈夫也离婚了。她怀孕六个月，三个月后，她生下了她第二个儿子。恶毒的人说：“哇，她有奇迹，三个月就怀孕了，太容易了。”回想起来，这真是恶毒的话，因为这是她的最后一个孩子，她和奥克塔维安生了一个死产的孩子，但无法再生育其他孩子。所以，我们还应该指出莉维亚的另一件事是，她与奥克塔维安的关系有着一段有趣的经历。她和她的丈夫在清洗期间不得不逃离意大利，因为他们在名单上。但他们活了下来，现在，来自罗马南部那个乡村小镇的盖乌斯·奥克塔维乌斯，现在娶了罗马最贵族的女人。他真的成功了。他是一位凯撒。他娶了莉维亚。我认为，因为这个人非常聪明，而且受过良好的教育，尤其是在希腊古典文学方面，他并非愚蠢。他有远见。这就是奥古斯都的另一件事。我们不能仅仅把他看作一个政治鲨鱼，尽管他确实是，但他不止于此。他也是一个非常有远见的人。我认为我们可以将他与林肯相比。他是一个有宏大远见的人。他不是像林肯那样的解放者。他的目标不同，但他却在追求卓越。他只想打出全垒打。他明白共和国已经走到了尽头。并非所有历史学家都同意我的观点。有些人会说，它之所以走到尽头，是因为凯撒和奥克塔维安暗杀了它，它本可以幸存。我不太确定。我认为，没有重大的变革，它就无法幸存，尽管不一定必须如此有利于一个家族，就像他们最终所做的那样。但奥克塔维安在罗马聚集了一批智囊团，莉维亚是一位非常强大的女性，她自己也是一位政治权力人物，她也受过良好的教育，政治上非常精明。我们知道奥古斯都经常向她试探他的想法。他非常害怕她，他会先写下来，然后从笔记本上读给她听，以确保她同意。她保存了奥古斯都写给她的所有信件，在他去世后，她会拿出这些信件说：“看，我有证据。我从一开始就在这里。”所以，他们住在罗马。他们正在处理一些军事问题。塞克斯图斯·庞培和其他人，但东方也存在一个迫在眉睫的问题，那就是安东尼。正如我所说，罗马帝国已经分裂给了奥古斯都·奥克塔维安和安东尼。你可能会想，嘿，奥克塔维安拥有罗马，拥有意大利，奥克塔维安得到了最差的奖品，他只得到了东方。但实际上恰恰相反，罗马帝国的东部，说希腊语的部分，是帝国中富裕、成熟、受教育程度高、发展程度最高的部分。而且它与帕提亚接壤，这是罗马将军们仍然想要的那个令人垂涎的军事奖赏。所以，如果你当时打赌谁会胜出，你可能会赌安东尼。奥克塔维安拥有凯撒的名字。他可以自称凯撒，并说他是罗马贵族的一员。但安东尼才是真正的贵族。他确实是贵族出身，他也是出身于最尊贵的血统。如果奥克塔维安拥有凯撒，那么安东尼就拥有凯撒的情妇。他拥有克利奥帕特拉。当时，安东尼首先娶了一位另一位著名的政治妻子，她很巧地去世了。所以她不是问题。但他随后与奥克塔维安的姐姐奥克塔维亚进行了政治婚姻，当时她恰好是寡妇。安东尼娶了奥克塔维亚，他们育有两个女儿，起初过着相当幸福的婚姻生活，住在雅典。但嘿，他是个拉丁情人。我能说什么呢？与此同时，他与埃及女王克利奥帕特拉有染。关于克利奥帕特拉，我可以讲很长时间。她不仅仅是舞台和银幕上的一个人物。她确实是古代历史上最杰出的领袖之一。也许是所有历史上最杰出的女性领袖之一。一个才华横溢、野心勃勃的人，她想做的就是恢复她统治埃及三个世纪的王朝——托勒密王朝的财富，他们曾是古代世界的一大强国，但如今已陷入困境。她认为前进的道路是依附于世界上最有权势的人。首先，她选择了尤利乌斯·凯撒，并为他生了一个儿子——凯撒里昂。然后，当他不幸不再出现时，她选择了马克·安东尼。他认为依附于这位才华横溢、聪明绝顶、被许多人视为女神的女人，并且恰好是世界上最富有的人，对他来说只有好处，因为埃及是罗马帝国中最富有的省份，这得益于尼罗河谷的肥沃土地和农业财富，得益于与印度和东方的贸易，以及托勒密家族几个世纪以来在亚历山大港积累的财富。事实上，罗马之所以没有吞并埃及，是因为罗马政治家们彼此嫉妒，他们不想让任何一个人获得吞并这个极其富裕的地方并使埃及的领导人成为他们的客户的功劳。但现在安东尼差不多做到了，他已经掌握了埃及。当然，罗马人没有口袋，但你懂我的意思。同样，如果你要打赌，如果最终是西部奥克塔维安和东部安东尼之间的摊牌，你可能会赌安东尼，因为他拥有克利奥帕特拉，拥有所有财富，他们建造了一支强大的舰队。但奥克塔维安有一些优势。首先，他有运气。其次，他有阿格里帕。奥克塔维安在击败西部敌人、击败塞克斯图斯·庞培、从零开始建造海军、在一些非常艰难的战斗中幸存下来方面取得了巨大成功。而安东尼则没有运气。安东尼认为自己是一位伟大的将军，堪比凯撒，但实际上他并不是一位非常伟大的将军。他是个还可以的将军。但他在军事上的主要成就是领导撤退。没有人比马克·安东尼更擅长领导撤退。但正如丘吉尔所说，战争不是靠撤退取胜的。安东尼征服帕提亚帝国的企图惨败。然而，他在东方重新集结。就在他回来的时候，奥克塔维安决定出击。奥克塔维安有杀戮本能，这也是创造帝国所必需的。奥克塔维安决定宣战，但不是对安东尼。他知道罗马人民对内战已 no patience。他们打过太多内战了。他曾承诺不再打内战。那么，他向谁宣战？向克利奥帕特拉。这很奇怪。克利奥帕特拉是埃及的盟友。事实上，她是一位罗马公民。她从她父亲那里继承了公民权，她父亲曾被授予罗马公民身份。她可能会说：“我做了什么？”她所做的是支持奥克塔维安的敌人。奥克塔维安认为罗马，罗马帝国不足以容纳两个人。我还要说，奥克塔维安自称是凯撒，但克利奥帕特拉有一张王牌，那就是她确实有凯撒的儿子。每个人都认为他是凯撒的儿子，即使有些历史学家对此表示怀疑。凯撒里昂，她可以这样说：你喜欢尤利乌斯·凯撒，我有他。我有他的儿子在这里，在亚历山大港，他才是应该统治罗马帝国的人，而不是这个假冒的凯撒，他的收养甚至不合法。顺便说一句，在奥克塔维安成为罗马的主人之后，他邀请元老院，或者说一个集会，来使他的收养合法化。再次，荒谬的收养，不是罗马的做法，但如果你是共和国的当权者，你可以做到。最终归结为一场战争。战争有其自身的规则。事实证明，赢得战争需要勇气。尽管安东尼拥有巨额财富、庞大的海军和最先进的船只，比奥克塔维安的船只更好，他拥有克利奥帕特拉，拥有巨大的支持，但他缺乏胆量，而奥克塔维安有，在阿格里帕的帮助下。所以，在一个我今晚不想详细讲述的故事中，但我写了一本书关于它，阿格里帕与奥克塔维安，在阿格里帕的帮助下，主要是在阿格里帕的帮助下，在公元前31年9月的亚克兴角战役中击败了安东尼和克利奥帕特拉。他们几乎失去了所有的船只和整个舰队，以及他们的陆军。他们夹着尾巴逃回了埃及。他们试图挽回，尤其是克利奥帕特拉。她试图建造一支新舰队，但被她的敌人摧毁了。他们把它烧毁了。她考虑逃往西班牙，在西班牙的山区进行游击战，对抗奥克塔维安。他们还谈论逃往印度，他们有贸易联系。但这一切都没有实现。第二年，奥克塔维安向东进军。在他东进的路上，他经过了犹太。在那里，他遇到了奥克塔维安任命的犹太国王。这个人他以前在罗马见过，但他是安东尼的人，正是古代历史上最臭名昭著的人物之一，希律王。希律王在基督教和犹太文献中都受到谴责，但他本人是一位非常精明的政治家。希律王向奥克塔维安乞求宽恕，他说这是绝对真实的。我曾是你的敌人马克·安东尼忠实的朋友。但关键是忠诚。忠诚的友谊。我将像对安东尼一样忠诚于你。我是掌握罗马帝国东方边境钥匙的人。你不能没有我，如果你把我拉到你的队伍里，你永远不会后悔，教练。于是，奥克塔维安说：“成交。”他们两人成了形影不离的朋友。事实上，他们的合作对历史产生了重大影响，但那是另一个故事。总之，奥克塔维安现在进军埃及。你知道发生了什么吗？安东尼被他的部队抛弃，他自杀了，一次糟糕的自杀。但他确实在克利奥帕特拉的怀抱中慢慢死去。奥克塔维安进入了首都亚历山大港。克利奥帕特拉把自己锁在她的宝库里，她计划在那里死去。但奥克塔维安设法让某人欺骗她，迫使她打开宝库，她被俘了。现在奥克塔维安可以为所欲为。他决定与她会面。关于这次会面说了什么有不同的报道，历史报道也各不相同。但我会告诉你这次会面说了什么，因为我认为我知道这次会面说了什么。所以，克利奥帕特拉除了是一位女王，她还是一位母亲。她是某个王朝的成员，她希望这个王朝延续下去。她有四个孩子，三个儿子和一个女儿，其中一个儿子是尤利乌斯·凯撒的儿子，凯撒里昂。她很清楚奥克塔维安不会与他的竞争对手有良好的关系。所以她派他南下，由一位值得信赖的副官带他去印度寻求安全。但她还有三个与马克·安东尼生的孩子。我想她对凯撒——对奥克塔维安说的是：看，如果你答应让我的孩子们活下来，我就答应让路。没有证据表明说了这些话，但我们所知道的是，不久之后，一封信被送到了奥克塔维安那里。她自杀了，他跑回去想找到她。那件著名的事件是她偷偷藏了一条蛇，可能是一条幼年眼镜蛇，它杀死了她。尽管有其他消息来源说，我们不确定，也许只是她藏在梳子里的毒药。也许奥克塔维安并不那么后悔她自杀。他本来打算把她带回罗马参加他的凯旋仪式，但他知道根据先例，罗马人民对被迫参加凯旋仪式的女性很仁慈和软弱，他们可能会让她活下来，这对他来说将是一个大问题。总之，如果他承诺让她的孩子们活下来，他就遵守了他的承诺。他回到罗马，把她的孩子们带回罗马，让他们参加他的凯旋仪式。至于可怜的凯撒里昂，嗯，奥克塔维安的一位老师，一位来自亚历山大港的希腊人，对《奥德赛》中的一句诗进行了双关语，其中说“太多的统治者是坏事”。这个双关语在希腊语中很奏效，意思是“太多的凯撒是坏事”。总之，他让凯撒里昂被杀。凯撒里昂的导师，结果是个叛徒，说服他回到亚历山大港，说：“啊，你的兄弟，他是你的兄弟。他不会伤害你。”奥克塔维安·凯撒是你的兄弟。但当然，事实证明并非如此。他让凯撒里昂被杀。他回到罗马。他庆祝了一场非凡的凯旋仪式，一系列的凯旋仪式，现在他拥有了一切。他是罗马帝国的统治者。现在我们进入下一阶段，第一公民。现在，在某种程度上，哎呀，比我预期的要晚一点。这是奥克塔维安生命中最重要的阶段，因为他所做的一切无非是平息了困扰罗马长达一个世纪的内战，从公元前133年开始。现在是公元前29年，他回到罗马。他关闭了罗马雅努斯神庙的门，这在罗马是一件罕见的事情，因为它标志着罗马世界处于和平状态。他说，战争结束了。他向罗马人承诺的未来的一件事是和平。他的意思是，不再有内战。他还向罗马人承诺了永无止境的帝国。Impirium，这将需要更多的战争。但那将是征服，这又是另一回事。对罗马人来说，征服外国人。但他如何才能实现和平？他如何才能说服那些多年来一直在争吵的罗马政客不要继续争吵？他通过各种方式，使用胡萝卜和大棒。罗马人没有“胡萝卜和大棒”这个说法，这很可惜，因为它确实解释了他们很多 MMO，他们很多行为方式，他们很多行为方式。棍棒很简单。在他登上顶峰的道路上，他要对一百名参议员的死亡负责。这给幸存的参议员发出了一个信号。你不想惹这个人。他不会犯他叔祖父的错误，原谅他的敌人。总的来说，他没有这样做。至于其他人，他会让他们活下来。元老院继续存在。元老院里有人。他参加元老院会议。他认识每个人。他不需要有人告诉他元老院里的人的名字。他握手。他不想让任何人站起来。坐下。我们都是朋友，不是吗？他知道他的叔祖父凯撒曾玩弄过被任命为国王的想法。Rex，罗马政治词汇中最肮脏的词。他从未被任命为Rex。他只是玩弄了一下。他确实被任命为终身独裁官，一个他和他朋友们，或者也许是他的敌人，创造出来的违宪职位。巧合的是，对于奥克塔维安来说，独裁官已经被马克·安东尼废除了。所以他说：“我不会当独裁官。”那么他将是什么？嗯，两件事。首先，他希望人们称他为Princips。我们从那里得到“王子”这个词，但它的意思是“第一”，这是一个荣誉职位的参考。最杰出的参议员，元老院的领导者，元老院的第一人。他乐于被人这样称呼。他拥有政治职位。他担任共和国存在的政治职务，但他以一种扭曲的方式担任。所以他是保民官，也是执政官。他拥有保民官的权力，也拥有执政官的权力，但不是以普通罗马人以前的方式。他拥有生杀予夺的权力，但也不是以普通罗马人以前的方式。我们的朋友盖乌斯·奥克塔维乌斯，然后是盖乌斯·尤利乌斯·凯撒·奥克塔维亚努斯，然后是盖乌斯·尤利乌斯·凯撒，自从我们上次看他的名字以来，他已经获得了两个新名字。他成为了盖乌斯·尤利乌斯·凯撒，一位神的儿子，Divi Filius，因为他宣布尤利乌斯·凯撒为神，被神化了。他还成为了盖乌斯·尤利乌斯·凯撒，神之子，统帅。他被授予了Imperator的称号，意思是胜利的将军。我们从Imperator那里得到“皇帝”这个词，但他从不称自己为皇帝。那么他称自己为什么呢？嗯，在公元前27年，我们发现他有一位支持者，顺便说一句，他曾经是反对者，但被奥克塔维安收编了。这个时期，奥克塔维安的军阀时期是罗马政治生活中背叛的黄金时代。他让元老院投票授予他一个称号。这个称号引用了罗马史诗中的一句诗。Anus说，罗马是由Augusto Agario建立的，意思是“由一个受人尊敬的预言建立的”，他采用了这个词，受人尊敬也可以解释为崇敬的，虔诚的。这就是盖乌斯·奥克塔维安现在将被称呼的称号。一个完全违宪的称号。想象一下，如果美国总统现在只能被称为“受人尊敬的人”。这相当于。我能想到一个特别的人，但算了。这就是他希望人们称呼他的方式。现在，我说过有棍棒。所以，棍棒。好的。在内战中，罗马有60个军团。庞大的军队，巨大的负担，每个军团5000人。这真的很大。更不用说许多许多

非军团部队，辅助部队。嗯，奥古斯都，我们现在应该称他为他，将军队减少到28个军团，并确保其中最重要的军团驻扎在最战略性的地点，并由他亲自控制。至于那些不那么战略性、不那么重要的军团，他将它们交给元老们。历史上，罗马的元老们在卸任后一直负责指挥军团军队。奥古斯都说：“你们可以继续做你们一直以来做的事情。只是你们不再控制那些重要地点的军团了。换句话说，你们没有人会像我一样进军罗马。我会确保这种情况不会再次发生。但你们仍然可以当元老。你们仍然可以当执政官。你们仍然可以担任政治职务。我们过去让人们举行的那些凯旋仪式，不行了，你们不能再举行凯旋仪式了，因为那可能成为罗马最高权力的跳板。那将是我和我家族的垄断。稍后会详细谈谈这个家族。但你们仍然，我们仍然会有一个共和国。我们仍然会有人民。他们的大会将不再重要。还有选举，罗马共和国一直都有选举，我们不再进行选举了。但是，人民，你们不会不高兴，因为我将像没有人做过的那样向罗马人民分发粮食。我知道你们喜欢面包，也喜欢马戏。没有人会像我一样在罗马举办表演。而且我会自掏腰包支付这些费用，因为我现在拥有埃及，我的腰包非常鼓。顺便说一句，埃及并没有成为一个标准的罗马行省。它成为了奥古斯都和他家族的私人财产。罗马元老们，冒着生命危险，也不允许进入埃及。奥古斯都确保管理埃及的人的级别低于元老。他是一名罗马骑士，级别较低。所以，他以这种方式让人们高兴。现在，如果有人说，但你废除了共和国怎么办？我没有这样做。他以此为荣，说我拯救了罗马共和国。它曾受到一个派别的威胁，那些想劫持它的人。我拯救了它，并将其归还给罗马人民。出于感激，他们给了我“受尊敬者”、“尊贵者”奥古斯都的称号。所以，在这种情况下，每个人都赢了。他做了很多事情。正如我所说，他是一个非常有远见的人。他进行实验。他必须随着时间的推移进行一些改变。但他绝对决心要实现一个和平的解决方案，结束内战，并迎来一个和平时期。他有凯撒的远见，在某种程度上庞培也有，但元老院显然没有。那就是，要使罗马帝国成功，就必须是意大利精英，抱歉，罗马精英，意大利城镇和城市精英之间的一种伙伴关系。罗马元老院如此精英如此势利，以至于他们甚至不承认意大利城镇的精英。第三，行省的精英。每个人都必须加入这个阵营。这将是一个非常大的阵营。如果你仔细想想，管理一个帝国真的没有其他办法。你不能让这个城市的一百个家族说，“我们统治世界。”这根本行不通，尤其是在一个没有技术工具、没有监视和通信手段的工业前社会，你可能无法做到。历史上真的没有哪个帝国仅仅通过残暴就能成功的。它总是必须是中心精英和外围精英之间的伙伴关系。奥古斯都对此深有体会。凯撒也曾体会过。庞培也曾体会过。元老院没有。这是他们成功的原因之一。所以，他也给予了这些行省精英一些荣誉、权威和权力。这也是罗马和平时期，罗马和平的开端的原因之一。这是对帝国的一种不同的看法。现在，奥古斯都并没有放弃扩张。他进行了扩张。如果我有一张地图可以展示给你们，我可以告诉你们，他在西班牙的一部分进行了扩张。他在瑞士，在现在的法国和意大利之间的海阿尔卑斯山脉，以及北非的一部分进行了扩张。当然，他将埃及并入了帝国，最著名也最臭名昭著的是在德国。他的将领们征服了德国，直到易北河，但那是一次彻底的失败，因为在罗马历史上最糟糕的失败之一中，他的军队被日耳曼叛乱分子伏击，叛乱由阿米尼乌斯领导，他在条顿堡森林战役中消灭了三个军团，公元9年，这让奥古斯都对着负责的将军，一个名叫瓦鲁斯的人，昆提利乌斯·瓦鲁斯大喊：“瓦鲁斯，把我的军团还给我。”他没有要回来。军团从28个减少到25个，持续了很长时间。但总的来说，奥古斯都的和平时期非常成功。奥古斯都做的一件重要的事情，我认为对于我们这些上周读过《埃涅阿斯纪》的人来说意义重大的是，他还大规模地进行了信息战。目标是罗马帝国的罗马人民。他没有留下任何侥幸。他希望罗马人民走在街上，早上起床刷牙时，都能想到他和他的家人。我正在使用一个不合时宜的词，抱歉。所以，他希望他们的形象无处不在。我们没有一个可爱迷人的家庭吗？我的妻子莉维亚，她前一段婚姻的两个儿子，提比略和德鲁苏，我前一段婚姻的女儿尤莉亚。他首先将尤莉亚嫁给了他姐姐奥克塔维亚的儿子，但他英年早逝，他们没有孩子。所以他决定尤莉亚必须嫁给另一个人，他信任的人，他的将军阿格里帕。阿格里帕不巧已经结婚了，而且他爱他的妻子。奥古斯都说：“对不起，我需要你。”他很无情。记住，这个人很无情。所以他让阿格里帕与他的妻子离婚，娶了尤莉亚，他们生了一堆孩子。我们的家庭不是很可爱吗？他们不是很迷人吗？他们无处不在。在帝国的东方和西方，奥古斯都作为神被崇拜，不亚于神。在罗马，情况有点不同。好吧，我有点跑题了，说到神。我们稍后会回来。但是硬币，直到凯撒时代，罗马硬币上从来不能有在世罗马人的肖像。他们有罗马女神的肖像。但是从凯撒时代开始，硬币上就有凯撒这样在世的政治人物的肖像，甚至还有刺杀者布鲁图斯。现在，屋大维，奥古斯都的形象在他的所有硬币上无处不在。当耶稣说“凯撒的归凯撒”时，他指的是一枚印有奥古斯都或当时皇帝提比略肖像的硬币。这是一个非常视觉化的东西，也是一个宣传工具，用来展示奥古斯都和他的家人。当然，他举办节日，并委托创作关于他的诗歌。最著名的是《埃涅阿斯纪》，正如你们所知，这是一首关于罗马和神话人物埃涅阿斯的诗，但也是一幅毫不掩饰的奥古斯都的画像。奥古斯都对罗马人说：“我是最罗马的罗马人，因为对我来说最重要的是虔诚（pietas），这是一个无法翻译的词，意思是像忠诚或家庭忠诚高于一切。”他说他致力于忠诚于他的父亲凯撒，并为他的谋杀报仇。他为自己能够在这场内战结束后，将每一个刺杀尤利乌斯·凯撒的人都以某种方式杀死而感到自豪。不是所有人都死于他之手。但他抓住了他们。在罗马，他献上了一座神庙，一座献给战神玛尔斯的、复仇的玛尔斯的庙。被复仇的对象是尤利乌斯·凯撒。现在，建筑也是这个计划的一部分。建筑也是如此，所以，抱歉，所以奥古斯都是虔诚的奥古斯都，正如你们所知，埃涅阿斯也是虔诚的埃涅阿斯，他也是一个虔诚、忠诚、信任、对传统有信心的人，一个将继承家族传统的人，并且认为这是最重要的，也是一个致力于复仇的人，当复仇到来时。你们可能也知道，你们不必仔细阅读《埃涅阿斯纪》就能看出，维吉尔并不完全支持这一切，维吉尔和他的许多同代人一样说：“好吧，我们可能已经结束了内战，但想想付出的代价。想想建立罗马帝国付出的代价。想想我们现在拥有奥古斯都的地位付出的代价。”一个罗马人可能会说，尽管维吉尔在诗中从未公开说过，但他是在恢复共和国。在一枚硬币上，他说：“我已将罗马人民的权利、法律和权利归还给罗马人民。”但这又意味着什么呢？塔西佗在后来回顾时说，奥古斯都只给了罗马人共和国的表象。它不是真的。真正的共和国已经死亡并被埋葬了。奥古斯都的辩护者可能会说，这是真的。但罗马人无法容忍共和国。共和国导致了混乱。它导致了内战。它导致了到处都是暴力。它导致了死亡。现在我们有了一位统治者，一位第一公民，一位受人尊敬的人，他给我们带来了和平和繁荣。所以，建筑，这是奥古斯都推销的另一件事。他重建了罗马城。他临终时说：“我发现罗马是一座砖砌的城市。我离开时，它是一座大理石的城市。”他确实把它变成了一座大理石的城市，但这座大理石城市被重新包装成奥古斯都和他家族的城市。好了，快速看一下最后两个阶段。家族生意。像任何家族生意一样，奥古斯都关心继承问题，他花费了大量的时间和精力来确保他能被一个能够延续家族生意的人继承。他非常沮丧，因为他想让一个血亲来做这件事。他只有一个亲生孩子，尤莉亚。尤莉亚确实有儿子，特别是三个。他收养了其中两个。第三个是阿格里帕的。他没有收养第三个，因为他认为阿格里帕应该，阿格里帕应该有人继承他的名字，这是公平的。他培养了这两个年轻的儿子。尽管他们是他的孙子，他还是收养了他们。在阿格里帕死后，他收养他们为儿子。他们被培养成他的继承人。但他们英年早逝。一个战死，一个因伤病去世，一个因疾病去世。然后是第三个儿子，他收养了第三个儿子，但第三个儿子被证明是无能的，根本无法继承他。所以，凯撒，抱歉，奥古斯都取消了收养，并将他流放。在那之前，他已经流放了他的女儿尤莉亚，因为尤莉亚被证明是一个不忠的女人。阿格里帕死后，他强迫提比略娶尤莉亚。另一个人，为了奥古斯都的野心，不得不放弃幸福的婚姻。提比略是莉维亚与她第一任丈夫的儿子，他是一名非常有才华的士兵，但政治才能不那么出众。凯撒·奥古斯都希望他娶莉维亚。抱歉。娶尤莉亚。这并没有成功。尤莉亚最终以臭名昭著的方式与他发生不正当关系。最糟糕的是，她与马克·安东尼的一个儿子有染。奥古斯都受够了。他处死了马克·安东尼的儿子，并将尤莉亚流放。这一切更加令人尴尬，因为奥古斯都计划的另一部分是道德改革。尽管他自己早年并非道德模范。他认识到罗马需要孩子，需要稳定的家庭。所以他转向一个相信家庭的人，以各种方式推广家庭，希望能够重建罗马人口。好了，从建筑转向我们的最后一件事，神。甚至在他职业生涯早期，在他击败马克·安东尼之前，他就开始建造他的建筑，重建罗马，那就是他的陵墓。他建造了一个宏伟的陵墓，在某些方面借鉴了伊特鲁里亚模式，在某些方面借鉴了埃及模式。罗马以前从未有过这样的建筑。它是罗马天际线上最高的建筑。你仍然可以看到罗马奥古斯都陵墓的废墟，但很难从中感受到它是什么样的。如果你看到圣天使城堡，那是哈德良后来建造的陵墓，保存得更好，你就能更好地了解它。这 meant to show everyone in Rome that Augustus and his family are the center of Rome. They're there to stay. And when members of his family die before he does, he has them buried in the mausoleum. Octavia, for instance, is buried in the mausoleum. And astonishingly, part of her epitap still survives. We still have it from the from the mausoleum. This is to remind people that the family is divine. Julius Caesar is deified and Augustus is also deified after his death. But he's leading up to this even while he's alive. As I I spilled the beans before, he is worshiped outside of Rome as a god both in the east and in the west. He can't be worshiped as a god in Rome because the Romans just won't tolerate worshiping a human being as a god. They have enough of their republican sensibilities left that this is just unacceptable to them. But Augustus is very good at finding workarounds. And the workaround is that people can worship the genius agugusti the spirit of Augustus. He puts a statue of the spirit of Augustus in the forum that he builds the forum of Augustus. Rome is a city divided into many little neighborhoods. I think they're 265. I may be wrong about that. And each of them has neighborhood shrines at crossroads. and he encourages people to sacrifice to Augustus, make little libations to Augustus at these crossroads in these local shrines. The most interesting workaround as far as I'm concerned is the one that Herod comes up with in Judea. Now, everywhere in the east, people are showing local rulers are showing their loyalty to Augustus by having emperor worship. But that's not going to work if you're a Jew. You can't worship a human being. So, how does Herod get around it? Well, in Jerusalem, there is the temple. The temple that Herod rebuilds on a magnificent scale. And he comes up with a plan. We can't worship Augustus in the temple, but we can sacrifice to the health and wealth and success and prosperity of Augustus. And we can do it on a daily basis. And in fact, these sacrifices are actually going to be funded by Augustus as a sign of how close the relationship is between Herod and Augustus. And so it comes to pass and it continues until the year 66 AD when the end of these sacrifices is a signal of the great Jewish revolt against Rome. But that's another story. Augustus is thinking creatively and he's also thinking ahead. his plans to have blood of his blood succeed him on the throne don't quite succeed. As I said, his grandsons who he adopts dies young and he's forced to accept the fact that one of Livia's sons, Tiberius, will be his successor. The other of Livia's sons, Dusus, also dies young. So, Tiberius is the last man left standing and Augustus adopts him and says, "You will be my successor." But there's a catch. you'll be my successor, but your nephew, the son of your brother, your deceased brother, is actually going to be your successor and his sons. Why? Because your nephew is married to someone descended from me, married to Agraina. And so, eventually my blood will sit on the throne of Rome. My blood will be the first citizen. It's anacronistic to talk about sitting on the throne. And Tiberius has to accept this. Augustus, as I said, lived a very long time. He lived until he was 76, which in anticy particularly is a very long life. And he dies, in the year 76. There are all these stories about him on his deathbed. And supposedly one of the things he said his friends were gathered around him and he asked them have I played my part well in the comedy of life. We don't know if he really said that. He also supposedly said if the mime is over if you approve please applaud. We don't know if he said that but it seems such an Augustus thing to say it's elegant. And Augustus appreciated elegance. He appreciated great literature like the Aniid. There few rulers in history who can have a poem like that. Say a poem like that was dedicated to them. Are there any? I don't know. And he had a certain sense of cynicism and yet he also thought that he was playing a role that Rome was his stage and that what he was doing was not just for his own benefit. It was for the benefit of the Roman people to whom he'd given peace, to whom he'd given prosperity. He'd saved the republic. He was convinced he'd saved the republic. We would never say that he'd save the republic. And what he did slowly ate away at the republic as it became more and more monarchical and less and less free. But he said, "This is the price we have to pay if we want to have an empire." And if you had asked a Roman at the time, I'll give you a choice. You can be a constitutional republic and you can govern a city-state in Italy or you can be an empire and you can govern everything from Britain to Syria, but you're not going to be a constitutional republic anymore. You're basically going to be a monarchy. We'll pretty it up by calling it ruled by the first citizen and ruled by the revered person, but it's going to be a dynasty. And that's the choice you have to make. I have no doubt the Romans would have chosen the latter. There were a few like Cicero and above all Kato who would have said we want to be a republic. But I think when they said that they didn't understand that they couldn't have both. They really had to make a choice. They thought they could have it all. But they couldn't have it all. They had to choose between one or the other. It could have been a freer republic, a freer constitutional arrangement than the one they eventually got under Augustus. But that was the price of having civil war and those are the risk that they had paid. So, in the end, although it would never be my choice to be ruled by someone like Augustus, I'd have to say I think I would applaud him at the end. And I would say that he played his part well in the comedy of life. So, thank you, Barry. Thank you. Just brilliant. Um really in the spirit of what we do here at Rston. So, we'll open it up for some questions. We have some time. I might invoke the privilege to perhaps open these questions by asking the first >> if we could go back to that first stage for a moment 44 March of 44 >> maybe another comment on let's imagine that we're there that the will is open that we hear all of this if we can say that there is such thing as an as an average Roman citizen to what extent would have been somewhat surprised at all of this I mean that Octavian now is this sole heir because Julius was always full of surprises and it wasn't the only one in the will. Uh the pardon goes on you know even after his death the gener the lavishness of generosity to individual citizens. How maybe a comment on you know I mean how would we have been struck by by this news of him being this whole air >> I think that's a really good question on the one hand I think they would have been surprised here's this guy he's a kid he's 18 you know this is what Caesar is leaving to to rule in his stead to replace him if not to rule to be the heir to his name and his fortune his political faction on the other hand the Romans were very familial people as you know and the fact that Caesar that Octavian was not a a blood descendant of Caesar but certainly a blood member of his family I think that would have mattered to people but I don't think I I think you know that for that Brutus and Casus and Desimus Brutus the leaders of the assassins I think they made a terrible mistake I don't think it was necessarily the case that Caesar's troops would never do business with the assassins who' killed them. In fact, I think that they could have bribed those troops and got them to support them in spite of everything because there were a lot of Romans who were not on board with what Caesar was doing. I think if they had played their cards differently, they could have won and Romans would have said, "This kid, he's not really adopted anyhow. We just don't buy it. Um, so we're going to go with Brutus and Cashes." Because Brutus, after all, came from one of the greatest of the families of the Roman Republic. So I think a lot of Romans would not have been happy with this. >> Thank you so much for that lecture. Um I wanted to ask how Augustus used the office of pontif effects to legitimize his rule and whether or not he was performing auggury as he was a soldier on the battlefield. >> Golly, that's a great question. I don't really know the answer to the second question of whether he do you was he performing orgy when he was a soldier on the battlefield? I mean I just know that the pontifffects was responsible for bird watching and that's what legitimate legitimized him and legitimizes office. So I just >> but he wasn't pontifffects for quite some time right >> he couldn't become pontifffects while lepodus was alive. So it's only later on that he becomes pontifffects and it does help to legitimize his rule but I don't think he could have been doing that in his in his early years. And then do you think that um do you think that he legitimately viewed himself as a bridge between the heavens and earth or do you think that that was just a political ploy? >> Another really good question. I mean short answer is I don't know. But I suspect he really did see himself as a bridge between the heaven and the heavens and the earth. I mean I think that people in ancient times in particular would think that someone of remarkable achievements could never have achieved them without the gods. Uh so that's certainly what they thought about Alexander. Um well not everyone but Alexander and his supporters thought that about him. You know the Spartans famously said when Alexander declared that everyone worshiped him as a god they famously responded if Alexander wants to be a god let him. Um and I think many Romans would have said that about uh Augustus. But I think he is likely to have thought I could never have done this without the favor of the gods. It wouldn't have been possible. Look what I came from and look where I've ended up. um only with divine support could I have done it. As you know his patron is Apollo and I think he takes that very seriously. I think he thinks that I would never have done this without Apollo. So yeah I think he does see that. >> Thank you for your lecture. You mentioned that a lot of the cause of the civil war was growing from a citystate a polus into an empire. Do you think that the Roman virtue of the original republic survived the growth into an empire? And do you think that Augustus either helped that preservation of virtue, if it was the case, or hindered it or in part destroyed sort of the the Republican or the the early virtue of Rome, the pas and other things? >> That's a really good question and an answer to it. I'm going to quote a line. and I hope I don't misquote it that I I've often used before in response to a question like that. And it's a line that comes from the novel The Leopard, an Italian novel of the 1950s. Uh it's a novel set at the time of Gabaldi's landing in Sicily, the revolution that is going to upset the aristocrats, the nobility of the kingdom of the two Sicilles in southern Italy. And um the main character, the two main characters are an older aristocrat and his young ambitious nephew. And when Gabel de lands, the old aristocrat says, "We can never accept this. We have to be loyal to the old order." And his young ambitious nephew says, you know, "Uncle, if we want things to stay the same, everything has to change." I think that's the way that Romans and especially someone like Augustus looked at the world and I think one of the reasons he was successful was that when he was young he had the lack of respect for traditions that young people sometimes have present company excluded of course but I think there are things about the republic people would say you can't do things that way and Octavian would say why not you know he didn't come from the center of the Roman elite eat and he hadn't devoted his whole life to it and his mentor had been Caesar. So I think what he comes up with is a system that allows some of those Roman virtues to survive but it doesn't allow all of them to survive. And I think part of the genius of the Romans is that they're constantly making these compromises. They're constantly pragmatic. We can't have everything but let's save what's really important. Um, and I think that's true throughout the empire and throughout its throughout its many centuries. When the Ottomans conquer Constantinople in 1453, Mechmmed the Conqueror, you know what he calls himself? Kaiser, the Caesar of Rome. Um, there there's still this little bit of Romanas that's still important, that still survives. And you might say that's a pretty slim selection of the virtues of the Romans. And there's many more of those virtues that survive in Augustus's day, but I think the Romans are constantly doing that. They're making changes, but trying to preserve at least some core of what made them Roman. >> You mentioned that Augustus had audacity and his enemies did not. And at the end of your lecture, you spoke about even your own preference for a constitutional republic, but admiration for the audacity that delivered Augustus' empire to him. So, I'm curious, looking at history in this way, in this specific case and maybe other eras, in what way can we who prefer and long for a true constitutional republic become more audacious? Well, that's a really great question and I think one way is by doing exactly what you're doing here at Alston, which is studying history, studying the classics, getting a sense of the things that have made the western tradition, the tradition of constitutional republics great. I mean, the worst thing that can happen is spending our time apologizing for the west and apologizing for what what the west has has achieved. I think we have to have enough confidence in its virtues that we're willing to seize the day and that we're willing to take risks in support of those virtues. Uh I also think that um one of the dangers in living in a society that is as prosperous and successful and as peaceful as the United States is that I think we underestimate the danger of audacity on the part of people who want to have want to take some of our wealth and our power and who want to have it for themselves. And living in this this very wonderful society we live in in which we're so sheltered and so safe um I think we don't see that. So I think that one of the things we need to do is to give people safe risks um that's a bit of an oxymoron but to put people in position uh young people in position where they have to take risks as much as possible safe risks under controlled conditions but we don't want to live in a society that's utterly pampered. So to give you an example from the world I know of the world of higher education um there's something that never really existed 20 years ago or when I started teaching even earlier than that and that is disability accommodations and I think disability accommodations were meant to be a very good thing to help the people who are truly disabled so that they could so they could perform. um um but they have been outrageously abused and scammed to the extent where at Stanford where I now hang my hat. Would you like to guess what percentage of the students at Stanford have disability accommodations? This is public knowledge. I'm not giving away telling their family secrets. Want to guess what percentage have disability accommodations? >> 40%. >> 40% of the undergraduates Stanford are disabled. Come on. And so I mean that sort of thing is is not going to give people audacity. Or maybe it does give them audacity. Audacity and you know scamming the system but it's not the kind of audacity we want to give people. >> Uh thank you for that wonderful portrait of of Augustus Barry. Absolutely fascinating. >> Um although it may be the case that to speculate on counterfactual history is not something good professional historians like you do. if you were forced to and we either imagine that Augustus wasn't named as Caesar's successor or he was named but died at Philippi two years later. What do you think would have happened broadly in Rome? As you've said, the republic didn't look as though it could survive with the empire. Would there have been an imperial line similar but a bit different? or would the world as we know it, including possibly the existence of America, be very different indeed? >> Yeah, it's a it's a really it's a great question. I've tried to think about that a little bit and I I don't think that the republic as it had existed say in the 60s BC, I don't think that it could have continued. I think that the pressures of succeeding abroad and getting a faction behind you a military faction behind you were just too great. So for instance, we see Brutus putting his image on coins. This Marcus Brutus, the guy who assassinated Caesar to save the republic. What does that mean? And we see Brutus and Cases learning the hard way that they have to pay the soldiers. And um I don't see how they could have gone back to the republic that had been without paying the soldiers, without recognizing the need to have some kind of understanding with the provinces. I think what they might have been able to do is to have something more like the Soviet system where you have rule by a a small elite but one that's open to people from outside. So Stalin is not Russian, he's Georgian. He comes from one of the minorities of the empire and eventually that's what happens in Rome. There aren't any Italians emperors anymore. They all come from other places. So no, I don't think it could have continued the way that it was, but it could have been. It didn't have to be one family. Although given the importance of family in Roman society, so much more important than in our society, that temptation would might have been hard to resist. But in one way or another, I think it had to change. >> Thank you. Uh thank you so very much for a wonderful lecture. Thank you. I was fascinated by this. Um uh you said that the word pietas is difficult to translate right >> and I was wondering if it's something we can still try. Is it to do with a kind of moderation of audacity or sheer naked ambition with some kind of I don't know religious faith perhaps? Yes. >> And I was wondering how we can kind of you know square that circle or the other way around. >> Yeah. Well that's a really good question and I think you're absolutely right. If one were simply peace, if one was simply devoted to Pas, you would have to limit your ambition. Uh you would have to be willing to make sacrifices on behalf of tradition, on behalf of the family. But I think the Romans had long since passed that point where they could do that. If if you if that's who you are and that's what you're all about, I don't think you can conquer the world. And the Romans wanted to have it both ways. They wanted to have Pas and also imperium cinaphene empire without end. I I just don't think you can have both. And I think in a way that's that's the problematic of the aniid you know. Yeah. Pus anas but it turns out that he has to break a whole lot of eggs to make the omelette. So >> thank you Dr. Strauss for such a lucid and learned lecture. uh our students get a philosophy and literature-heavy curriculum and the history is largely implicit. We go through the western run of western texts and offer lectures in for historical context. But I think it's very important for our students to see how deep a historian has to go and the command of the facts. It's just it's a spectacular display. So thank you so much for that. Um, and I wonder if I in the spirit of good pedagogy, if I could tease you out a little bit on a suggestive remark you made about the anid itself. Um, what evidence did you see in the in perhaps you could point to a couple of episodes um that expressed Virgil's skepticism over this whole imperial project? >> Yeah. Um really good question and as you know scholars are divided on that question as to whether the anid is simply pro- Augustus and what he's done or if it has doubts. So one thing that people would famously say is the end of the Aniid and the fact that Anias seems in a fit of emotion or in a moment of emotion to kill Turnis when Turnis was surrendering and that the what last word in the aniid is umbas um not shades it's not a word of um it's not an optimistic note and it's much less optimistic than the ending of the Iliad, say, as terrible as the Iliad ends, it ends with the the funeral of Hector. It's a kind of catharsis that it ends with the funeral of Hector. So, I would say that that would be a a strong thing. Also, um the whole Daido episode. I mean perhaps I'm interpreting it from a modern point of view but as Latin as the Romans could be about affairs of the heart kind of hard to see the way Anias Lozer and Leiser as just okay um and also I'd say Crayusa what happens to his first wife when oops I wasn't paying attention and she's gone but don't worry her ghost comes back and says it's Cool. Maybe maybe I'm reading that from the modern point of view too much. Um but um I do those are some of the things that give me pause and I think I've given others pause about what does this all mean? Of course that raises the question Augustus wasn't stupid and you know is he not going to notice any of this stuff? I think he probably would have noticed it and I think there's a degree to which he would have said good it lets people to let off steam because in fact this has been a thing that's bigger than any of us understand can understand what's happened and it is monstrous in some ways and a bloodletting in some ways. So Augustus supposedly joked about the fact that Libby the court historian, he's really a Pompeian, you know, isn't that isn't that cool? So I I think it's possible. Yeah. >> I was listening to a podcast a few days ago to theologians who are also historians and they were referring to Old Testament prophecy about the empires. Mhm. >> And apparently the last empire in this prophecy was the Roman Empire. Mhm. >> And um the the conclusion they came to and I'd like maybe to comment on it that the Roman Empire was necessary for the spread of Christianity. Mhm. >> And the reason why God chose the time he did to come and on human was because it was at the beginning of the empire and the unity of the then western world so that Christianity could spread quickly. So my my question is to you can you comment on that or or for one thing the road work did Caesarus start that also the great roads that kept the empire together you know the great road work that was done you were talking about buildings but was that part of what he did also >> I think I'm going to take the easy way out and comment on the second question rather than the first I'm a historian not a theologian So I I I don't think I can answer that. But um the roads, no, Caesar didn't start the roads. Uh the roads had been started several centuries earlier and there was a great network of Roman roads already that were very important in Rome's conquest, first since conquest of Italy and later in the empire. The Romans extended the Romes, the roads, excuse me, and and they made the road network even deeper richer than it had been. But it's a very significant factor. These roads were originally excuse me military roads. But yes, it is certainly true that an idea that had already been there in the hellistic age that the whole world was one city, cosmopoulos if you will, was encouraged and reach a higher pitch at the time of Augustus. the idea and that's certainly one of the ideas of the Augustine peace that the whole world is united and Augustus does say so part of his message is information warfare is at the end of his life he has inscribed in bronze tablets in Rome and all around the empire in cities all around the empire in Latin and Greek a record of his achievements and this is a highly propagandistic reference a record of his achievements ments um one of the things that he says is that I conquered thanks to me Rome conquered the world and and manifestally it hadn't conquered the world and Romans knew that but they said it was the world wonderful well amongst the resestai of Rston College we can say that we brought Dr. Strauss to campus and I know it's his first visit. Not only do I hope that it's not the last, but perhaps the first of maybe a regular visit if at all possible. So, thank you so much, Barry, for being here. Thank you everyone.