27 B.C. He announced his resolve to bring them firmly under Roman authority. Since most of the peninsula already fell in that category, the intended targets were plainly the Cantabrians and Asturians. Tales made the rounds of their ferocious nature and fanatic resistance to any infringement on autonomy. Augustus threw open the gates of Janus' temple, a symbolic means to proclaim a crusade against the foe. And his personal leadership of the army would reinforce martial credentials, a check on actual or potential rivals with military claims of their own.[322] As the opening of the gates declared Augustus' purpose, so their closing advertised its accomplishment. The princeps made certain to have that ceremony conducted to commemorate his success in 25 B.C., only the fourth time in Roman history that Janus' gates were shut — but the second time in five years.73 The occasion in 29 had marked official termination of civil war; this time the ritual signified pacification of the empire. Augustus declined to celebrate a triumph, a display of moderatio, but accepted a more enduring distinction: the privilege of wearing garlands and triumphal dress on the first day of every year.[323] He plainly intended to make the event memorable, a fact underscored by the composition and publication of Augustus' own autobiography. The work concluded with the successful close of the Cantabrian War.[324] It memorialized a capstone of the princeps' career. In light of later accomplishments, the bellum Cantabricum et Asturicum may not have seemed so momentous. Augustus gives it only brief mention in the Res Gestae, among a number of regions which he brought to submission.[325]The earlier and more emphatic presentation, however, is reflected in the Livian tradition and picked up by Velleius Paterculus: after two centuries of bloodshed in that violent and savage land, Caesar Augustus' campaigns imposed a lasting peace that not only crushed armed resistance but even wiped out brigandage.77 The conquest of north-west Spain rounded off control of the entire peninsula.
As in the case of Parthia, battlefield exploits in Spain did not match their publicity in Rome. Confusion in the sources prevents a confident reconstruction of events, geography, or chronology. It is clear, in any case, that Augustus' personal intervention was anything but decisive. The princeps was at Tarraco at the beginning of 26 B.C., there to inaugurate his eighth consulship.78 He participated in the campaign of that year, but in what area and for how long remain unknown. Florus and Orosius record only Roman victories in Cantabria, with the princeps directing a three-pronged attack from the base camp at Segisamo: the Romans inflicted a defeat on their foes at Bergida (or Velleia), starved them out at Mt Vindius and captured the city of Aracelium (or Racilium). Names of the sites and their locations have long been disputed. Nor is it clear whether the campaign of 26 confined itself to Cantabria or included Asturia. The question connects to a further one: did the three Roman assaults occur serially or simultaneously? No definitive answers are possible.79 Cassius Dio's account, however, discloses setbacks: the Romans made little headway under Augustus, illness felled the princeps who withdrew to Tarraco, and successes came only through the exertions of C. Antistius Vetus, legate of Tarraconen- sis.80 Augustus, it may be safely surmised, did not return to the battlefield after the campaigning season of 26 в.с. Roman forces penetrated into Asturia and gained a dramatic victory over besieged and desperate Spaniards at Mt Medullius in 26 or 2 5.81 A concerted assault by the Asturians followed in 25, nearly overwhelming Roman forces in the region, thwarted only by a last-minute betrayal of their plan and a march to the rescue by the army of P. Carisius, legate of Lusitania. Carisius' capture of the Asturian stronghold Lancia concluded the fighting. Romans had gained the upper hand, but the struggle had been bloody and the cost in lives heavy.82
The victories prompted Augustus to direct the closing of Janus' doors, an announcement of thorough pacification, and generated the award of triumphal honours. The princeps even authorized the establishment of a veteran colony, colonia Augusta Emerita (Merida), to mark the settled status of the land.83 An ode of Horace welcomed home the returning conqueror, comparing him to Hercules and rejoicing in a new security.84 But the conquest was superficial and the celebration premature. Both Cantabrians and Asturians exploded into revolt as soon as Augustus left the province in 24, thus exposing the fragility of his achievement. The legate of Tarraconensis, L. Aelius Lamia, resorted to brutality in suppressing the rebellion.85 Two years later the Cantabrians
79 Flor. 11.33.48—50; Oros. vi.21.3-5. Among numerous scholarly discussions, see Magie 1920(0 285) 325-39; Syme 1934 (c 313) 293-317; Schuten 1943 (e 238); Horrent 1953 (c 276) 279-90; Schmitthenner 1962 (c 305) 54-60; Syme 1970 (c 314) 83-103; a recent summary of scholarship in Santos Yanguas 1982 (e 237) 16-26. See also Santos 1975 (c 503) 531-6; Lomas Salmonte 1975 (e 230) 103-27; Solana Sainz 1981 (e 259) 97-119; Tranoy 1981 (e 244) 132-44; Martino 1982 (c 287) 41-104. 80 Dio liii.25.5-8; cf. Flor. 11.33.51; Suet. Aug. 81.
Flor. 11.33.50; Oros. vi.21.6—8. The location of Mt Medullius, whether in Asturia or in Callaecia, is uncertain; Santos Yanguas 1982 (e 237) 18-26; Martino 1982 (c 287) 105-24.
Flor. 11.33.54-8; Oros. vt.21.9-10; Dio liii.25.8. For the deployment and identification of the legions, see testimony collected by Lomas Salmonte 1975 (e230) 135-9; Jones (£226)48-51; Solana Sainz 1981 (e 239) 120-42; Santos Yanguas 1982 (e 237) 26-45. 83 Dio liii.26.1.
84 Hor. Carm. in.i4;cf. iv. 14.50. A darker interpretation of the poem by Sholz 1971(0 307) 12337. 85 Dio Lni.29.1-2. For the legate's name, see AE 1948, 93.
rose against their new governor, C. Furnius, and the Asturians against the increasing cruelty of Carisius, bringing still more ruthless repression and subjugation.[326] Yet another insurrection by the redoubtable Canta- brians in 19 B.C. provoked the dispatch of M. Agrippa himself who subdued them, but only at heavy cost and severe losses, declining even to accept the triumph voted him at Augustus' urging.[327] Agrippa's campaign which flushed the Cantabrians out of their strongholds and compelled them to settle in the plains finally brought a measure of stability to the region.[328] The princeps was able to make a more peaceful tour of Spain in 15-14 B.C., organizing colonial foundations and exhibiting generosity.[329]
Here as elsewhere propaganda and reality diverged. Augustus entered Spain to claim victory and announce pacification. And so he did. His autobiography saluted the achievement, Velleius Paterculus embellished it, the tradition followed by Florus and Orosius reiterated it. The conquest of north-west Spain rounded off Roman suzerainty in the Iberian peninsula. But the real victory did not match Augustus' boast. It came slowly, a bloody and brutal process that endured well beyond the princeps' declaration of success. The Ara Pacis was duly decreed to herald Augustus' return from Spain. Not, however, in 25 в.с. when Janus' doors were closed and triumphal honours bestowed; rather in 13 в.с. after more than a decade of intermittent insurrection, costly casualties and terrorism.
VI. AFRICA
In Africa entrenchment of control rather than expansionism predominated. The region served as an important granary for Rome and its security held a place on the imperial agenda. The provincia Africa, once the realm of Carthage, had been in Roman hands for a century. Iulius Caesar added to the empire's holdings, annexing the kingdom of Numidia, henceforth Africa Nova, with the former province becoming Africa Vetus.[330] The fall of Sextus Pompeius in 36 в.с. brought both provinces under Octavian's authority. He strengthened Roman presence in both, sending new settlers to Carthage in 29 в.с. and to Cirta in 26 в.с.91 Confidence in their security allowed him to transfer responsibility for the area, whether as one or as two provinces, to the Senate in the dispositions of 27 в.с.92