The energies of Augustus found scope for them- selves in other lines, and all with the object of building up his world-wide Empire that he meant to last in the ages to come. At the beginning of vol.. I. — lo
his reign he put his hand to the restoration of the State religion. In B.C. 28 he claims to have 're- paired 82 temples of the gods' (Mon. Anc. 20), earning for himself the title given him by Livy {Hist. IV. XX. 7), 'the builder or restorer of all the temples.' The sacred images, we are told, had become actually ' foul with smoke ' or were 'mouldering with mildew.' The ancestral reli- gion was (lenrl, belief in the gods had all but dis- appoareil. Nor «;is it only the repair of edifices for reliiiimis \\.irslii|i tliat he took in hand; from him the siiereii culleges .and brotherhoods received ,a new impulse liy liis becoming a member himself of one and all of them. Through him their en- dowments were greatly increased. With great cere- mony was observed the centenary of the city, for which Horace prepared his well-known ode, as the inscription found in the Tiber in 1871 so strikingly confirms ('carmen composuit Q. Horatius Flac- cus'). Tlie worship of the Lares was restored. At crossways and street corners three hundred small shrines were set up, whose altars were .adorned twice a year with flowers. One of the latest discoveries is that of a shrine of the Lares Publici in front of the Arch of Titus, on the branch of the Via Sacra leading up to the Pala- tine by the old Mugonian Gate. New temples were erected, the most notable being that of Apollo behind his own 'Domus.' A new spirit also was infused into the rites and ceremonies of the old worship, to which the writings of Virgil contributed in a special degree.
The hardest task yet remained in the social and moral reformation of his people. As early as B.C. 25 we find Horace (Od. III. vi.), in this reflect- ing probably tlie opinion of his master, afhrniing the necessity of 'a reformation of morals as ^yell as a restoration of temples and a revival of religion.' In a later ode (xxiv.) he promises immortality to the statesman who shall bring back the morality of the olden time. The action taken by Augustus about that time was effective, temporarily at least, for his praises were celebrated as ' one who by his presence had cleansed the family from its foul stains, had curbed the licence of the age, and recalled the old morality.' The text of his laws enacted for this purpose has not come down to us, but their date may be taken as from B.C. 18 to 17, or about 12 years before the Christian era. His own example, unfortunately, did not enable him to take u]i a very high position on the subject of mani^iui', lie li;ii'l put away Scribonia in order
to iii.-inv l.ivin, \\\ 1 he took from her husband
Tiberius Nen.. A^aiii and again he interposed to dissolve existing UKuriages, when his policy as to the succession required it. High motives, there- fore, we do not expect to find in his legislation on marriage. Nothing could have brought out more clearly the impotence of such legislation than the openly scandahnis character of his daughter Julia. In B.C. 2, the very year when he was hailed by the Senate as the father of his country, he became aware of what had long been in everyone's know- ledge. So keenly did he feel the scandal that he shunned society for a time, and even absented himself from the city. His only remedy was her banishment to Pandataria. Never afterwards was she allowed to set foot in Rome. Nor did she see again the face of her father, whom she outlived only by a few short weeks. There were not wanting schools of philosophy that vied with each other in leading men to virtue. Greek phUosophers of note were welcomed to the halls of the ' Domus Augusti.' But no system of morals or philosophy had yet appeared that could show the way of attaining to the Divine likeness by the bestowal of a new nature, until Christianity came upon the scene.
146
AUGUSTUS
AUTHORITY OF CHEIST
The same moulding hand that built >ip the Empire can be traced in the modification through which C»sar - worship passed under Augustus. The deification of Julius by the Senate in B.C. 42 was only what was to be expected. The decree ran : ' To the Genius of the divine Julius, father of his country, whom the Senate and Roman people placed among the number of the gods.' In the very heart of the Roman Forum, from B.C. 29, there was to be seen, on an elevated plat- form, a most beautiful marble temple proclaiming the deification of the great Juhus. Augustus never allowed such worship of himself during his lifetime as had been tlie case with Julius. From the earliest period of his reign there is evidence that he allowed it in the provinces, but only in conjunction with ' Rome,' and the formula en- joined for all that were not Roman citizens was ' Rome and Augustus.' In the case of citizens the one name allowed, along with Rome, was that of •the divine Julius.' For his Roman subjects he would be neither 'rex' nor 'divus,' but outside the favoured circle of Roman citizenship he had less scruple in receiving for himself a share of divine honour, believing that it formed the binding link that was needed to knit all the parts of his wide Empire into one great unity.