239 Ov. Ars Am. 1.177-228. 240 Ov. Fast. v. 579-94.
Ov. Met. xv.820-31, xv.877; Fast. 1.85-6,1.717,11.684, iv.857-62.
Ov. Tr. 11.1.169-78, 225-52,111.12.45-8.
E.g. BMCRE Augustus, nos. 1, 68, 77-8, 101-2, 217-19, 224, et at.
E.g. BMCRE Augustus, nos. 10-19, 4°~4> S32. 4>o~23, 647-5 5, 671-81, 703.
2« Pliny, HN in.136-7. 246 Dio u.22.1-2; Zanker 1972 (f 626) 8-12.
247 Dio lin. 16.4.
Augustus after Philippi but not completed until 2 b.c., held conspicuous place. It would be the locus of assemblage for the Senate for all declarations of war or award of triumphs, and the symbolic starting- point for every general to lead his troops abroad. The Forum Augustum served as repository for weapons of all sorts and for arms seized as booty from the defeated foes of Rome.248 The statue of the princeps himself stood in the centre of the Forum, set in a triumphal chariot which contained record of his conquests.249 The flanks of the Forum held two rows of statues. In the niches of one side Augustus installed representatives of the great men of Rome's past, with inscribed elogia attesting, among other things, to military achievements and triumphal honours. Opposite that array of heroes stood the figures of Aeneas and all the representatives of the Julian line.250 The princeps thus linked himself and his family to a gallery of republican duces, triumphatores and summi viri, as heir to the grandest martial traditions of the state.
Other items add to the impression. Among them the commanding statue of Augustus at Prima Porta takes pride of place. An elaborately engraved cuirass calls forth the martial image. The centrepiece of the breastplate displays the transfer of captured standards by the Parthians to Rome, emblematic of Roman supremacy in the East. And the figures of female barbarians in the middle zone of the cuirass, dejected and submissive, represent Roman humbling of the Celtic peoples of the West. Triumphal symbolism predominates. The mother earth figure, reclining at the bottom with cornucopiae and babies, projects prosperity and the bountifulness of the land. As is clear, the new and prosperous age depends upon armed force and constitutes the fruits of victory.251 The Prima Porta figure signifies conquest of the empire and world-wide rule assured by the continual vigilance of the princeps.
The celebrated Ara Pacis, it might be thought, forms a counterpoint to this presentation. Not necessarily so. The altar, in fact, strikes a balance that parallels other verbal and visual productions of the Augustan era: a juxtaposition of the rewards of peace with the military success that made them possible. The Senate voted to consecrate the Ara Pacis in 13 в.с. as memorial to Augustus' return in that year from the subjugation of Spain and the pacification of Gaul.252 The panel of Aeneas on the west side of the altar has him offering sacrifice to the Di Penates, a scene that evidently celebrates his homecoming, just as the monument itself celebrated Augustus' homecoming. But that panel is balanced by
218 Ov. Fast. v.5 50-62; Suet. Aug. 29.2; Dio lv.io.2-j.
»» Aug. RG jj.i; Veil. Pat. 11.59.2.
Ov. Fast. v. 565-6; Suet. Aug. 51.5; Dio lv.10.5; SHA. Alex. Sev. 28.6; Zanker 1968 (f625); Frisch 1980 (в 251) 91-8; Zanker 1988 (f 6jj) 210-14; Luce 1990 (c 284) i2j-j8.
On the Prima Porta statue, see esp. Kahler 1959 (f 441); Zinserling 1967 (f 656) j27-j9; Pollini 1978 (f 551) 8-74; Zanker 1988 (f 6jj) 183-92. 232 Aug. RG 12.2.
another, featuring the partially preserved Mars, father of the twins Romulus and Remus, and pre-eminent god of war. A similar balance occurs on the eastern panels of the Ara Pacis. One depicts a female deity with the attributes of fertility and bountifulness, calling attention to the blessings of a tranquil time. But its corresponding panel contains the goddess Roma resting, as often, on a pile of arms. The imagery takes on meaning in combination. The accomplishment of peace is inseparable from success in war.[403]
That association is reinforced by a recent discovery. Close connexion held between the Ara Pacis and the Egyptian obelisk that stood as the gnomon of the colossal sundial, the Solarium Augusti. The shadow of the obelisk pointed squarely at the centre of the Ara Pacis on 2 3 September, the birthday of Augustus himself.[404] The obelisk itself was set up to memorialize Augustus' subordination of Egypt to the control of the Roman empire. The collective message dramatically linked peace with military authority and imperial expansion.
XI. CONCLUSION
A survey of territorial expansion under Augustus tempts conclusions about strategic designs, empire-wide policy, and imperialist intent. It has been claimed, for example, that Augustus adopted and refined a military system of hegemonic rule, resting on a combination of client states and an efficiently deployed armed force stationed in frontier sectors but mobile enough for transfer wherever needed.[405] Many reckon the push to the north as a carefully conceived and sweeping plan that linked the Alpine, Balkan and German campaigns, and aimed to establish a secure boundary of the empire that ran along the line of the Danube and the Elbe.[406] Others, however, consider Augustus a determined imperialist, bent on expansion everywhere and motivated by dreams of world conquest. Only the Pannonian revolt and the defeat of Varus obliged him to check his ambition and bequeath a defence policy to his successor.[407]
Yet the very idea of an all-encompassing scheme, whatever its form, misconceives the diversity and flexibility of Augustus' foreign ventures. No uniform plan or articulated goal guided his acts. Location, circumstances and contingencies determined decisions.
The eastern realms provoked varied responses. In Asia Minor and Judaea Augustus cultivated client princes, generally keeping in place those already established, regardless of prior allegiances. But he was not averse to deposing dynasts (e.g. in Commagene), intervening in royal dispensations (as with Herod), or even converting principalities into provinces (Galatia and Judaea) when unexpected developments called for it. Principal garrisons of Roman power in the East stood in Egypt and Syria - but for very different purposes. Egypt held a special place for Augustus, its economic resources a mainstay of empire and its territory a staging-ground for military adventures in Ethiopia and Arabia. Troops in Syria, by contrast, served to signal stability rather than advance, a means of showing the flag and discouraging Parthian ambitions. The princeps kept a hand in the dynastic affairs of Armenia and a careful watch on vicissitudes in the royal house of Parthia. Recovery of the standards took priority in policy and propaganda. But dealings with Parthia relied on diplomacy - alternate displays of resolve and negotiated settlements - rather than force. The kingdom supplied occasions for posturing, not a menace against which to devise a strategy.
Different motives and different actions prevailed in the West. The princeps or his generals conducted vigorous campaigns in Illyria and Spain in the 30s and 20s B.C. Strategic purposes, however, played at best a secondary role. Octavian used the Illyrian adventure to shore up his reputation vis-a-vis Antony, and brought north-west Spain under subjection to demonstrate Roman might throughout the Iberian peninsula. Roman involvement in north Africa had still a different character (or characters): the princeps experimented with client kings, warfare and colonial foundations at various times and places in that area - with no consistent results.