Literature. — On the one side, Th. Mommsen, Sitzungs- berichte d. Bed. A had., 1895, p. 495 f. ; W. M. Ramsay, loc. cit. <apra\ F. Rendall, Acts, London, 1897, p. 340. On the other ■ii<le, Sehiirer, loc. cit. ; Th. Zahn, Introd. to NT, Eng. tr., K<linburs-h, 1909, i. 60, 551 ff. ; A. C. Headlam, art. 'Julius' in II DB ; P. W. Schmiedel in EBi i. 909.
James Strahan. AUGUSTUS. — 1. The name.— The Lat. name Augustus OQitnxs only once in the RV of the NT, namely in Lk 2^ The word, cognate with augur, had a sacred ring about it, having been applied (a) to places and objects which either possessed by nature or acquired by consecration a religious or hallowed character ; (b) to the gods. It was a new thing to apply it to a human being, and the Sen- ate felt and intended it to be so, when it conferred the title upon Octavian on 16 Jan., 27 B.C. By this title they went as near to conferring deifica-
tion upon a human being as robust Italian common- sense would allow. ' It suggested religious sanctity and surrounded the son of the deified Julius with a halo of consecration ' (Bury, A History of the Eoman Empire, 1893, p. 13). The official Gr. equivalent of Augustus was 2ej3a(rr6s. It is noteworthy that Luke in his own Greek narrative keeps the Latin word, whereas he puts the Greek 2e/3a(rT6j into the mouth of Festus(Ac 25-i-^; AV ' Augustus,' RV ' the emperor,' RVm ' the Augustus '). The differ- ence is important. A Greek Christian like Luke could only use the word 2e/3a(rr6s (which meant ' to be worshipped,' ' worthy of worship ') of God Himself : being a Greek, writing his own language, he had not the same objection to the foreign word Augustus, and he had to be intelligible. The absence of Beds (' god,' diuus), with the name of the deceased and deified Emperor in Lk 2^ is also perfectly consistent with the Christian attitude (on Ac 27S see AUGUSTAN Band).
2. Life. — The Emperor of whom we commonly speak as Augustus was originally named Gaius Octavius [Thurinus], like his father, and was born on 22 Sept., 63 B.C., the year of Cicero's consul- ship. The ancestral home of his race was Velitrae (modern Veletri) in the Volscian country, at no great distance from Rome. The family was equestrian and rich, the father of the future Emperor being the first of his race to enter the Senate. He had an honourable and successful official career, attaining to the prjetorship and the governorship of the province of Macedonia. He died suddenly, and left three children, one of them the future Emperor (aged 4), whose mother was Atia. This Atia was the daughter of M. Atius Balbus and Julia, the sister of the great dictator Julius Caesar. Augustus was thus the grand-nephew of the dictator. He received the dress of manhood at 15, and was allowed to accompany his grand-uncle to Spain (47 B.C.), where he already showed the quality of courage. Soon after he was sent to Apollonia on the other side of the Adriatic, to pursue his studies. He was still there when the dictator was assassinated, on 15 March, 44 B.C. It was then that he re- vealed what was in him. Though only eighteen and a half years of age, he, having been adopted into the Julian family by the will of his grand- uncle, whose heir he was at the same time con- stituted, took the name Gaius Julius Caesar Octavianus, and immediately left for Italy, to claim not only the private but also the public inheritance of his grand-uncle. His great career is best followed in the next section. His private and family history may be summed up here. As a young man he was betrothed to a daughter of P. Servilius Isauricus, but he broke of!" this engagement, and for political reasons married Claudia, step-daughter of Mark Antony, in her extreme youth. Her he immediately divorced, and afterwards Scribonia, his second wife. Im- mediately after the second divorce he robbed Tiberius Claudius Nero of his wife, Livia Drusilla (38 B.C.), and with her he lived all the rest of his life. His immediate household consisted of her, her two sons by her previous husband, tlie future Emperor Tiberius (q.v.), and Drusus, as well as his own daughter Julia, Scribonia's child. Julia bore five children to the second of her three husbands, M. Vipsanius Agrippa, namely Gaius, Lucius, Agrippa, Julia, and Agrippina. Gaius and Lucius were adopted by their grandfather, but died early. All his direct descendants in fact died early or disgraced him, and he was forced to fall back on his step-son Tiberius for the succession. Drusus having perished in 9 B.C., Tiberius was compelled in his turn to adopt his nephew Germanicus. I Augustus died 19 August, A.D. 14.
AUGUSTUS
AUTHORITIES
125
3. Official career. — The stages in Augustus' official career may be summed up as follows. He was recognized by the Senate in 44 B.C. ; re- ceived pra?torian imperium against Antony, on 19 August made consul (though hai'dly twenty years of age), elected triumuir rei publirce constituendce (with Antony and Lepidus) for five years, 43 ; appointed aurjur, 37 (or later) ; first conferment of tribunicia potestas, 36 ; between 37 and 34 elected XVuir sarris faciundis ; 30, fourth consulship (hence annually, with certain exceptions, untU the 13tli was reached in 2 B.C.) ; 27, title Augttstus and imperial powers ; 23, the tribunicia potestas conferred on him for life ; 22, a special ctira annonre ; 18, imperial powers renewed for 5 years ; 16 (before this date), elected scpteviuir epidomtm ; 15, coinage of gold and silver for the Empire reserved to Emperor ; 12, oiecte&pontifexviaximtis', 8, imperial powers renewed for ten years ; 2, received title of pater patrice ; A.D. 3, imperial powers renewed for ten years, and again in A.D. 13. The 'deification ' took place on 17 ISept., 14.