Celestial Inclinations: A Life of Augustus 0197599648, 9780197599648, 2022042401, 2022042402, 9780197599662, 9780197599679

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Celestial Inclinations

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Celestial Inclinations A Life of Augustus

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ANNE-​M ARIE LEWIS

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Oxford University Press is a department of the University of Oxford. It furthers the University’s objective of excellence in research, scholarship, and education by publishing worldwide. Oxford is a registered trade mark of Oxford University Press in the UK and certain other countries. Published in the United States of America by Oxford University Press 198 Madison Avenue, New York, NY 10016, United States of America. © Oxford University Press 2023 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the prior permission in writing of Oxford University Press, or as expressly permitted by law, by license, or under terms agreed with the appropriate reproduction rights organization. Inquiries concerning reproduction outside the scope of the above should be sent to the Rights Department, Oxford University Press, at the address above. You must not circulate this work in any other form and you must impose this same condition on any acquirer. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Names: Lewis, Anne-Marie, author. Title: Celestial inclinations : a life of Augustus / Anne-Marie Lewis. Other titles: Life of Augustus Description: New York, NY : Oxford University Press, [2023] | Includes bibliographical references and index. | Identifiers: LCCN 2022042401 (print) | LCCN 2022042402 (ebook) | ISBN 9780197599648 (hb) | ISBN 9780197599662 (epub) | ISBN 9780197599679 Subjects: LCSH: Augustus, Emperor of Rome, 63 B.C.-14 A.D. | Emperors—Rome—Biography. | Rome—Kings and rulers—Biography. | Rome—History—Augustus, 30 B.C.-14 A.D. | Rome—Politics and government—30 B.C.-284 A.D. | Astronomy and state—Rome. | Astrology and politics—Rome. Classification: LCC DG 279 . L 45 2023 (print) | LCC DG279 (ebook) | DDC 937/.07—dc23/eng/20221024 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2022042401 LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2022042402 DOI: 10.1093/​oso/​9780197599648.001.0001 1 3 5 7 9 8 6 4 2 Printed by Integrated Books International, United States of America

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sentio, inquit, te sedem etiam nunc hominum ac domum contemplari; quae si tibi parva, ut est, ita videtur, haec caelestia semper spectato, illa humana contemnito. tu enim quam celebritatem sermonis hominum aut quam ­expetendam consequi gloriam potes? . . . alte spectare si voles atque hanc sedem et aeternam domum contueri, neque te sermonibus vulgi dedideris nec in praemiis humanis spem posueris rerum tuarum. “I notice,” said Scipio Africanus, “that you are now still ­gazing attentively upon the dwelling place and home of human beings. If it seems insignificant to you, as it is, spurn the human and always observe the celestial. What fame are you able to get from the common talk of human beings? What glory is worth desiring? . . . If you are willing to look up and to contemplate this dwelling place and the eternal celestial home, you will not pay attention to the talk of the common people. Nor will you place hope for your concerns in human rewards.” —​Publius Cornelius Scipio Africanus speaking to Publius Cornelius Scipio Aemilianus, his grandson by adoption (Cicero, Rep. 6.19.20, 6.23.25)

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Contents

List of Figures

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List of Tables

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Acknowledgments Methods and Materials

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1. Nigidius Figulus and the Birth of a Future Dominus for the World: 63 b.c.

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2. Celestial Display and Cicero’s Consular Year: 63–​60 b.c.

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3. Celestial Venus, Caesar’s Victories, and the Julian Calendar: 59–​45 b.c. 55 4. Cicero’s Aratea and the Education of Octavius in the Fixed Constellations: 46–​45 b.c.

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5. Theogenes of Apollonia and the Geniturae of Agrippa and Octavius: 45–​44 b.c.

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6 Octavianus and the Sidus Crinitum: 44 b.c.

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7. Conflict, Alliance, and the Stella Comans: 44–​42 b.c.

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8. Antonius, Octavianus, and the Egyptian Mathematicus: 39 b.c.

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9. Octavianus, Antonius, and the Banquet of the Twelve Gods: 38 b.c.

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10. From Naulochus to Actium: 37–​31 b.c.

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11. Triumphs and Temples after the Battle of Actium: 30–​28 b.c.

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12. A New Name for Octavianus and the Ludi Saeculares: 29–​17 b.c.

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13. Deaths in the Family and the Ara Pacis Augustae: 16–​9 b.c.

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14. Consolidation and Transition in the Final Years of Augustus’ Rule: 8 b.c.–​a.d. 14

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15. The Death, Funeral, and Deification of Augustus: a.d. 14

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Notes

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Select Bibliography

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Index

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List of Figures

Cover Fig. 1.1 ig. 2.1 F Fig. 2.2 ig. 3.1 F Fig. 3.2 Fig. 3.3 ig. 4.1 F Fig. 4.2 Fig. 4.3 Fig. 4.4 Fig. 4.5 ig. 4.6 F Fig. 4.7 Fig. 4.8 Fig. 5.1 Fig. 5.2 ig. 6.1 F Fig. 6.2 Fig. 6.3

Bust of Augustus by Salva Ruano The birth of the son of Gaius Octavius and Atia Balba, September 22, 63 b.c. 33 The first day of Cicero’s consulship, January 1, 63 b.c. 48 The conclusion of Cicero’s third oration against Catilina, December 3, 63 b.c. 52 The day of the Battle of Pharsalus, August 9, 48 b.c. 68 The morning of the Battle of Thapsus, April 6, 46 b.c. 77 The evening before the dedication of the Temple of Venus Genetrix by Caesar, September 25, 46 b.c. 81 Group 1. The summer solstice, June 25, 46 b.c. 106 Group 2. The winter solstice, December 25, 46 b.c. 109 Group 3. The day after the winter solstice, December 26, 46 b.c. 111 Group 4. The night after the winter solstice, December 26, 46 b.c. 112 Group 5. Two days after the winter solstice, December 27, 46 b.c. 114 The Farnese Globe 117 Images of the constellations on the Farnese Globe 118 The rising of Cancer, July 16, 45 b.c. 124 P.Oxy. 235 136 The Genitura of Octavius as on an astrological board, modern display 149 The funeral of Caesar, March 20, 44 b.c. 161 The first day of the ludi in honor of Caesar, September 20, 44 b.c. 177 Fides and Aquila on the Farnese Globe 178

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List of Figures

Fig. 6.4 Aquila and the Milky Way at the ludi in honor of Caesar, September 20, 44 b.c. 182 Fig. 7.1 Octavianus receives the praetorian imperium, January 7, 43 b.c. 193 Fig. 7.2 Octavianus is elected consul suffectus, August 19, 43 b.c. 197 Fig. 7.3 The morning of Caesar’s deification, January 1, 42 b.c. 216 Fig. 7.4 The Second Battle of Philippi, October 23, 42 b.c. 220 Fig. 9.1 Near the beginning of the Banquet of the Twelve Gods, December 17, 38 b.c. 247 Fig. 9.2 Near the end of the Banquet of the Twelve Gods, December 17, 38 b.c. 248 Fig. 10.1 The Battle of Naulochus, September 3, 36 b.c. 255 Fig. 10.2 The ovatio for Octavianus, November 13, 36 b.c. 258 Fig. 10.3 The day of the Battle of Actium, September 2, 31 b.c. 269 Fig. 10.4 The evening after the Battle of Actium, September 2, 31 b.c. 273 Fig. 11.1 The day of the fall of Alexandria, August 1, 30 b.c. 284 Fig. 11.2 The closing of the doors of the Shrine of Janus, January 11, 29 b.c. 290 Fig. 11.3 The triumphal celebration for Octavianus’ conquest of Egypt, August 15, 29 b.c. 293 Fig. 11.4 The dedication of the Curia Iulia and the Temple of Divus Iulius, August 18, 29 b.c. 296 Fig. 11.5 The dedication of the Temple of Apollo Palatinus, October 9, 28 b.c. 301 Fig. 12.1 Octavianus takes the honorific cognomen Augustus, January 13, 27 b.c. 309 Fig. 12.2 The dedication of the Temple of Jupiter Tonans, September 1, 22 b.c. 314 Fig. 12.3 The arrival of Augustus back in Rome, October 12, 19 b.c. 316 Fig. 12.4 The first nocturnal celebration of the Ludi Saeculares, May 31, 17 b.c. 323 Fig. 12.5 The first diurnal celebration of the Ludi Saeculares, June 1, 17 b.c. 328 Fig. 12.6 The third diurnal celebration of the Ludi Saeculares, June 3, 17 b.c. 329 Fig. 13.1 The departure of Augustus from Rome to Gaul and the western frontier, July 30, 16 b.c. 337 Fig. 13.2 The public anniversary of the birth of Augustus, September 23, 13 b.c. 339 Fig. 13.3 Augustus assumes the position of Pontifex Maximus, March 6, 12 b.c. 340

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ig. 13.4 F Fig. 13.5 Fig. 13.6 Fig. 13.7 Fig. 14.1 ig. 14.2 F Fig. 14.3 Fig. 14.4 Fig. 14.5 Fig. 14.6 ig. 15.1 F Fig. 15.2 ig. 15.3 F Fig. 15.4 Fig. 15.5 Fig. 15.6

List of Figures

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The funeral of Agrippa, March 29, 12 b.c. 344 The dedication of the Theater of Marcellus, May 4, 11 b.c. 348 The dedication of the Ara Pacis Augustae, January 30, 9 b.c. 352 The Tellus Relief Panel, Ara Pacis Augustae 356 The Kalends of the newly named mensis Augustus, August 1, 8 b.c. 367 Augustus receives the title pater patriae, February 5, 2 b.c. 371 The dedication of the Temple of Mars Ultor, May 12, 2 b.c. 374 The adoption of Tiberius and Agrippa Postumus, June 26, a.d. 4 381 The dedication of the Altar to Ops Augusta and Ceres Mater, August 10, a.d. 7 384 The celebration of the lustrum following the announcement of the completion of the census, May 11, a.d. 14 390 The death of Augustus, August 19, a.d. 14 399 The arrival of the body of Augustus in Rome, September 3, a.d. 14 401 The funeral of Augustus, September 8, a.d. 14 404 The deification of Augustus, September 17, a.d. 14 405 The Gemma Augustea cameo, ca. a.d. 14 408 The Livia mit Büste des Divus Augustus cameo, ca. a.d. 14 413

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List of Tables

Table 6.1 Ancient Sources Supporting the Identification of the Sidus Crinitum as the Star Altair in Aquila 174 Table 6.2 Ancient Sources Reporting the Hostile Tradition Identifying the Sidus Crinitum as a Comet 174 Table 6.3 Ancient Sources Mistakenly Associated with the Sidus Crinitum 175 Table 7.1 Ancient Sources for Caesar’s Constellation Chelae (Libra) 206 Table 7.2 Ancient Sources for the Stella Comans, Caesar’s Bright Star in Chelae (Libra) 207

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Acknowledgments

It is my profound pleasure to express thanks to all those who have contributed over the years directly and indirectly in a variety of ways to this project. Alexander G. McKay supervised my doctoral dissertation at McMaster University, and I remain grateful for his support and for the opportunity to explore under his guidance the Phaenomena of Aratus and its ancient Latin translations. The work I undertook for my dissertation, which enabled me to combine an early interest in astronomy with a later passion for the Greek and Roman worlds, has served as the catalyst for all my subsequent research. Jean Soubiran, André Le Boeuffle, George Goold, and Pierre Brind’Amour encouraged me in the earliest stages of my astronomical and astrological investigations. Patrizio Domenicucci sent me his monograph on the celestial object of 44 b.c., Astra Caesarum: Astronomia, astrologia e catasterismo da Cesare a Domiziano (1996). Roger T. Macfarlane and Paul S. Mills shared with me their unpublished manuscript, “Hipparchus’ Commentaries on the Phaenomena of Aratus and Eudoxus: Translation and Notes.” Robert Hannah sent me his article on the parapegma of Euktemon before its publication. I thank Chris Marriott for permission to publish sky maps generated by his advanced astronomical program; John Halloran for permission to publish the results derived from his advanced astrological program; Salva Ruano, Césares de Roma, for permission to use a photo of his realistic sculpture of Augustus for the cover; the American Philosophical Society for permission to use an illustration from one of their monographs; the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna for permission to use images of two of the cameos in their collection; and Sarah Bavier, Visual Resources Librarian at Reed College, for kindly arranging permission for me to publish an image from the estate of Professor Charles S. Rhyne. York University also provided research grants for travel to Rome and Vienna in support of this project. I am also deeply grateful to those who have been involved in the production of the book from the initial manuscript to publication: Stefan Vranka, Editor for Ancient History, Archaeology, and Classical Studies at Oxford University Press,

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for his interest in and support of this project; Zara Cannon-​Mohammed, the Project Editor at Oxford University Press; Kimberly Walker, the Project Editor from Newgen Publishing UK; and Leslie Safford, the copyeditor. My heartfelt gratitude to my parents, Stephen E. Lewis and Anna M. Lewis, who always supported my scholarly interests, cannot properly be put in words. I also thank my son Brendan W. Fisher, who has always been a source of great joy and inspiration in my life. My greatest debt for this book, however, is to my husband, Roger S. Fisher, who is also my colleague at York University. He has shared his expertise in Greek and Roman history, culture, literature, law, and language in many conversations with me, read and critiqued drafts of the manuscript at all stages, and encouraged me in this project over the years that I have been working on it.

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Methods and Materials

Celestial Inclinations: A Life of Augustus tells the story of the successful career and reign of the first emperor of Rome from a perspective that has been overlooked in scholarly considerations of the man and the events that marked out his life. Augustus had great confidence in the destiny that he believed was written for him in the heavens, and from an early age he made effective use of the celestial sphere to confirm for himself and convey to others that important celestial entities supported his activities on the Earth and his inevitable greatness. The notion that Augustus had a connection with the celestial sphere was advanced privately by his parents even before the day of his birth. Atia Balba, the mother of Augustus, believed that she had been impregnated by a snake while she was attending a nocturnal ritual for Apollo, and she identified the permanent markings that appeared on her body afterwards as indications that her child was the son of Apollo, who was identified with the Sun (Augustum natum mense decimo et ob hoc Apollinis filium existimatum).1 Atia was a firm believer in omens, and she dreamed before the birth that her inner organs were carried up to the stars and unfolded across every land and the circuit of the zodiac (somniavit intestina sua ferri ad sidera explicarique per omnem terrarum et caeli ambitum). Gaius Octavius, Augustus’ father, also dreamed that the brightness of the Sun rose from Atia’s womb (utero Atiae iubar solis exortum). The connection of Augustus with the celestial sphere was made public on the day of his birth, when Publius Nigidius Figulus, a Roman mathematicus who was skilled in astrologia, which included both astrology and observational astronomy, announced at a meeting of his fellow Roman senators that the celestial sphere proclaimed the future dominance of the newborn son of Gaius Octavius.2 Augustus would deepen his own knowledge of the heavens when he entered public life as a young man (adulescens) under the mentorship of his maternal great-​uncle, Gaius Iulius Caesar (Caesar) (cos. 59 b.c.). Augustus may have begun his formal study of observational astronomy

Celestial Inclinations. Anne-​Marie Lewis, Oxford University Press. © Oxford University Press 2023. DOI: 10.1093/​oso/​9780197599648.003.0001

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in 46 b.c., the important year in which Caesar celebrated his quadruple triumph and began to finalize his revision of the Roman calendar on astronomical grounds. Augustus also had his genitura (his natal horoscope) interpreted for him in Apollonia by the Greek mathematicus Theogenes not long before the assassination of Caesar on the Ides of March 44 b.c. The bond that Augustus had with the celestial sphere was no secret during his lifetime. In one of the many speeches he delivered in 43 b.c. that attacked Marcus Antonius (cos. 44 b.c.), Marcus Tullius Cicero (Cicero) (cos. 63 b.c.) called Augustus a young man with foresight derived from heavenly inspiration who was presented to the Roman people by some god (populo Romano obtulit hunc divinum adulescentem deus).3 The poet Publius Ovidius Naso (Ovid) had the Arcadian goddess Carmentis note in Augustus a celestial inclination (caelestis mens) by means of which he would bear the public burdens inherited from his adoptive father Caesar (pondera caelesti mente paterna feret).4 The historian Gaius Velleius Paterculus said that Augustus had a celestial mind that spurned human counsel (sprevit itaque caelestis animus humana consilia).5 Velleius Paterculus also suggested that the soul of Augustus returned to the heavens (animam caelestem caelo reddidit) and more precisely to the zodiac (post redditum caelo patrem et corpus eius humanis honoribus, numen divinis honoratum) upon his death.6 Near the end of Augustus’ life, the astrological poet Marcus Manilius commented that Augustus was himself a celestial entity who had come into existence for the mortal world and would then return to the zodiac (sidus nostro qui contigit orbi, /​legum nunc terris post caelo), which he would make complete once again (descendit caelo caelumque replebit) upon his return.7 Augustus used both astrology and observational astronomy to access and exploit the celestial sphere throughout his life. His genitura, which was unique to him among his aristocratic contemporaries, was a source of personal guidance for him throughout his life, but he did not share it outside his innermost circle.8 More important to him in his public, political activities were his astronomical observations of the sky where the celestial manifestations of his mythological Julian kin could be found. According to the genealogy promoted by Caesar, the gens Iulia had a divine origin. Caesar claimed direct descent from Iulus, the son of Trojan Aeneas, whose mother was the Olympian divinity Venus. Through his mother, Atia, and his maternal grandmother Iulia, a sister of Caesar, Augustus could claim a Julian ancestry. Because of their connection to Venus, Caesar and his Julian family were also linked to the other Olympian deities who were related to Venus and especially to Jupiter, the father of Venus. The Olympian deities who were kin to the Julians had celestial manifestations as the five visible ancient planets Saturn, Jupiter, Venus, Mars, and Mercury and as the two luminaries, Apollo the Sun and Diana the Moon.

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These divinities were the mythological ancestors who formed the celestial genealogy of Augustus. The notable presence in the heavens of these Julian ancestral divinities along with other celestial entities associated with them is called celestial display in this biography of Augustus.9 Celestial display does not involve tracking the exact technical risings and settings, notably the heliacal rising of a star (the first visible appearance of a star at the eastern horizon before sunrise) or the cosmical setting of a star (the first visible setting of a star at the western horizon before sunrise).10 Celestial display is not archaeoastronomy, which involves the study of light-​and-​shadow phenomena and the orientation and alignment of buildings, monuments, cities, and towns according to regularly observed astronomical events visible from the Earth, such as the appearance of the Sun at the equinoxes and solstices.11 And celestial display is not astral mysticism, which deals with the worship of celestial divinities.12 Celestial display in this biography is the manifestation of the Julian ancestral divinities in the form of the planets and the luminaries and of certain constellations and bright stars associated with these planets and luminaries at major events and activities, unplanned or planned, and the interpretation of these celestial entities in the sky as indications of support. Augustus was not the first Roman to notice how celestial display might be exploited in combination with important activities and events, but he certainly took the closest and most long-​lasting interest of any Roman politician who lived before him or during his own lifetime in utilizing celestial display to his own political advantage. Cicero, influenced by his friend Nigidius Figulus, was the first Roman politician to attempt to use celestial display during the year of his consulship in 63 b.c. But Cicero overstepped his bounds by appropriating a Julian ancestor when he made the doubtful case in the presence of Jupiter in his celestial manifestation that Jupiter supported the controversial executions that Cicero authorized at the end of his consular year. Caesar also, it appears, began to take notice of celestial display in 48 b.c. Caesar had the right by birth to call upon Venus, one of his celestial Julian kin, but he did not have the time to use Venus in her full celestial potential before he was assassinated. Augustus, however, learned from Caesar the power of this strategy, and he would take note of and employ the Julian celestial entities at his important public events with greater success than both Caesar and Cicero before him. The analysis of the interplay between the celestial and terrestrial spheres in the life of Augustus that is presented in this book covers the saeculum Augustum, which is defined here as the period beginning in January 63 b.c., the year of Augustus’ birth, and ending with his deification in September a.d. 14.13 The narrative framework is built on the important events in Augustus’ life that have demonstrable celestial significance. These events, all of which have firm dates,

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have been analyzed by way of fresh assessments and rereadings of relevant ancient sources, and they have been presented in chronological order within their historical and cultural contexts. The sources include some written by Augustus himself. Fragments of the thirteen-​volume memoir down to the time of the Cantabrian War (De Vita Sua) that Augustus composed around 24 b.c. during a time of relative stability in his life are extant.14 The autobiographical record of the many accomplishments that Augustus left, among other documents, to be opened after his death and displayed publicly outside his mausoleum in Rome and in the Roman provinces may be closely reflected in the Res Gestae Divi Augusti, which was written by Augustus in a.d. 14 during his seventy-​sixth year, and can be read today.15 A few letters written by Augustus survive in the ancient sources, but the full corpus of the correspondence of and to Augustus, the daily journal he appears to have kept, and his complete memoir, which would have provided a fuller picture of the celestial influences in his life, are all lost. Memoirs and letters written by members of Augustus’ small family faction, which consisted of his maternal great-​uncle Caesar, who died in 44 b.c.; a few male relatives of little power; and mostly women who had great influence privately but kept a relatively low profile publicly, are missing today but were consulted by later historians who wrote about the period of the saeculum Augustum.16 In addition to having a small family faction, Augustus had only a few close friends, most of whom were his coevals. He was fiercely loyal throughout his life to his closest friends, Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa (Agrippa) (cos. 37 b.c.) and Gaius Cilnius Maecenas (Maecenas).17 The memoirs, account books, and letters written by these two men constitute today a regrettable loss, as do the family genealogies that Cicero’s closest friend Titus Pomponius Atticus (Atticus) researched and wrote up at the request of prominent Romans families (the Iunii, the Marcelli, the Fabii, and the Aemilii), although these were available, like other ancient sources, to later writers in the ancient world.18 Other extant contemporary ancient sources written by those who were not family members or close friends of Augustus but who interacted with Augustus or his Julian family can be used to fill in the gaps left by the absence of sources written by the man at the center of this study and those closest to him. The contemporary account of the conspiracy of Lucius Sergius Catilina (Catilina) by the historian Gaius Sallustius Crispus (Sallust), who was associated with Caesar, covers the dramatic events of 63 b.c., the year of Augustus’ birth. A favorable biography of Augustus based on Augustus’ own memoir and written in Greek by Nicolaus of Damascus, who was the friend and historian of Herod the Great of Judaea and who had also once been a tutor to the children of Antonius and Cleopatra VII of Egypt, provides contemporary evidence for episodes in the life of the younger Augustus down to about 25 b.c. The biography of Atticus by

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Cornelius Nepos, who was a friend of Atticus, offers a contemporary perspective on a man who was able to deal affably and generously with many of the most formidable political actors of his day: Cicero, Caesar, Antonius, Marcus Iunius Brutus (Brutus), and Antonius’ third wife Fulvia.19 Atticus was also linked to the family of Augustus, who was said to have been fond of Atticus and later betrothed his stepson Tiberius Claudius Nero, the future emperor Tiberius, to the infant granddaughter of Atticus, herself the daughter of Augustus’ close friend Agrippa. Contemporary historical sources written by authors who knew Augustus but are associated more with the reign of Augustus’ stepson and successor Tiberius are also useful. The partisan history of Velleius Paterculus, who served as a commander of a legion in the army of Tiberius in Germany after a.d. 4, provides an eyewitness view especially of Tiberius’ activities, with some attention to those of Augustus. Valerius Maximus presents some relevant stories about Augustus in his collection of popular and morally instructive sayings and doings. The many works of Cicero, including his law-​court speeches, public orations, philosophical treatises, poetry, and letters, are particularly valuable sources for the early decades of the saeculum Augustum, 63–​43 b.c. Cicero’s philosophical works, such as his De Divinatione, De Natura Deorum, and De Republica, and his extant poetry provide evidence for the importance of the celestial sphere in contemporary thinking during the period of the saeculum Augustum. The letters Cicero sent to Atticus, who appears to have preserved them in sixteen volumes after Cicero’s death in 43 b.c., are priceless for their insights into Cicero’s deepest fears, worries, and hopes about his family, his friends, his enemies, his career, Rome, and the young Augustus. The collection of Cicero’s letters to Atticus also contains some letters written to Cicero by others, as is not surprising, since the sharing of copies of letters was a common practice.20 The letters Cicero exchanged with contemporary political figures whom he considered friends (familiares) are more carefully worded and more formal than those he sent to Atticus. They were probably gathered later and edited by Cicero’s secretary Tiro. Cicero also wrote letters full of political advice and news of events to his only brother, Quintus Tullius Cicero (Quintus Cicero), letters short and personal to his first wife, Terentia, and letters dealing with the aftermath of Caesar’s assassination to Brutus, in whose career Cicero took a great interest. Although Cicero’s letters provide generally the perspective of only one member of Rome’s elite and cannot be taken on their own to provide a comprehensive history, they provide important perspectives on how Cicero and his contemporaries lived their private and public lives in accordance with the strength of the family factions into which they were born and with the assistance of the political, financial, and personal alliances they formed outside their factions. Cicero wrote poetic accounts about his political achievements. Portions of the poem he composed on his consulship (De Consulatu Suo) are

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extant, and one excerpt from this poem contains an astronomical account of his consular year. Cicero also wrote three books in verse about the year of his exile, De Temporibus Meis, now lost, in which he paid tribute to those who helped him in his efforts to return.21 Cicero, always keen to promote his accomplishments, even tried to get himself inserted into a history of Rome, now lost, that was being written by Lucius Lucceius (Lucceius) to cover the period from the Italian Social War in the years 91–​87 b.c. down through his own day. Cicero had written to urge Lucceius to consider including an account of Cicero’s actions from the time of the conspiracy of Catilina in 63 b.c. through the year of his exile, 58–​57 b.c. Lucceius would find in these years, Cicero said, plenty of material and plenty of wickedness as well as a villain (Catilina) and a hero (Cicero) to make for exciting writing and reading.22 The works of poets writing during the saeculum Augustum are also valuable sources, although the poets themselves are only occasionally mentioned in the historical sources that deal with this period. Cicero agreed with his brother that the poems of Titus Lucretius Carus (Lucretius) displayed many lights of poetic talent (multis luminibus ingenii) as well as much craftsmanship (multae artis).23 Velleius Paterculus lists a number of the important poets active during the saeculum Augustum: Publius Terentius Varro Atacinus, Lucretius, Gaius Valerius Catullus (Catullus), Publius Vergilius Maro (Vergil), Albius Tibullus (Tibullus), and Ovid.24 The biographer Gaius Suetonius Tranquillus (Suetonius) mentions the neoteric poet Catullus because two of his poems offended Caesar.25 Suetonius also mentions the poet Gaius Cornelius Gallus (Gallus) but only because Gallus had betrayed the trust of Augustus.26 The major poets of the period were associated with two literary circles. The most important circle centered on Augustus’ close friend Maecenas and included Quintus Horatius Flaccus (Horace), Vergil, Sextus Propertius (Propertius), and Gallus. The second circle centered on Marcus Valerius Messalla Corvinus (Messalla) (cos. suff. 31 b.c.), Augustus’ opponent several times over, and included Tibullus, Lygdamus, Sulpicia, and Ovid. One of the tasks of the poets, as Horace noted, was to write words that were not only pleasing but also helpful to life (aut simul et iucunda et idonea dicere vitae).27 The poets in both circles were favorably disposed toward Augustus, and they subtly but effectively communicated what Augustus could not communicate himself without drawing down the ire of his political contemporaries—​how the appearance of the planets, the luminaries, and certain stars and constellations in notable configurations signaled the support of the celestial sphere for Augustus.28 The use of the contemporary poetry of the period as historical evidence in no way diminishes the verses as works of art. Nor does such an approach reduce the content of the poems to the level of mere reportage. In all cases, before any historical reading, due consideration has been given to the narrative of the poem in which the

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celestial allusion appears; in other words, to an examination first of how the poem means.29 Just as poetic sources, artistic sources also yield useful evidence about the importance to Augustus of the celestial sphere. Augustan or early Tiberian artistic representations in public art (architecture and sculptural reliefs) and private art (paintings), in which Augustus himself may have had some direct input, as well as contemporary and near-​contemporary artistic representations supervised by others close to him (cameos and coinage) provide evidence that is consistent with information that can be gathered from the historical and literary sources. It is also possible to rely with confidence upon historical sources that postdate the saeculum Augustum because these later sources are known to have been based upon earlier sources, some now lost, that were written during the lifetime of Augustus. These earlier sources include the histories of Pompeius Trogus and Gaius Asinius Pollio (Pollio) (cos. 40 b.c.), the latter a former partisan of Caesar and of Antonius, and the history of the period down to 9 b.c. known as the Ab Urbe Condita, written by Titus Livius (Livy), which is now extant only in the short summaries of books 117–​42.30 The Flavian historian Publius Cornelius Tacitus (Tacitus) writing in the late first and early second century a.d. begins his less than complimentary assessment of the Julio-​Claudian dynasty with a brief discussion of Augustus before launching into his venomous account of the reign of Tiberius, who was himself highly skilled at astrology. Important evidence about the life, character, and celestial interests of Augustus also appears at times in the compendium of scientific and cultural knowledge written by Gaius Plinius Secundus (Pliny the Elder) in the years before he lost his life in trying to save people in the area from the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in a.d. 79. Later historical sources include the epitomes of Roman history written in Latin by Publius Annius Florus (Florus) and the Roman histories written in Greek by Appian and Cassius Dio (Dio). The epitomes of Florus, which were written in the late first–​early second century a.d., are based largely on the history of Livy. Appian’s history, which was written during the second century a.d. and may have been based on the earlier history written by Augustus’ contemporary Pollio, is especially valuable down to the year 36 b.c. The history of Rome written by Dio in the late second–​early third century a.d. is complete for Augustus down to 10 b.c. and in summaries after this year. Dio’s account, the main historical narrative after 36 b.c., provides a chronological structure but few actual dates, as its author admits, but in comparison with other extant historical sources, Dio’s history regularly provides information on omens and celestial matters.31 In addition, the biographies written in Greek by Lucius Mestrius Plutarchus (Plutarch) in the early second century a.d., comparing notable Romans with notable Greeks, also provide valuable evidence for the public and private lives of Augustus and his use of the celestial sphere. Plutarch wrote no biography of Augustus, for whom no comparable Greek figure

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exists, but he wrote biographies of several of the principal political figures of the saeculum Augustum whose lives in various ways intersected with the life of Augustus: Caesar, Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus (Pompeius Magnus) (cos. 70 b.c.), Cicero, Marcus Licinius Crassus (Crassus) (cos. 70 b.c.), Marcus Porcius Cato the Younger (Cato), Brutus, and Antonius. Further evidence about the character of Augustus and the events and people in his life is provided in biographies of the political figures Caesar, Augustus, Tiberius, Tiberius Claudius Nero Germanicus (the emperor Claudius), and Nero Claudius Caesar (the emperor Nero), and of the poets Horace and Vergil, which were written also during the early second century a.d. by Suetonius, whose position as the secretary to the emperor Hadrian gave him access to the imperial archives and quite likely to the full memoir of Augustus itself. Suetonius’ biographies are particularly valuable for their personal, political, and social perspectives and the anecdotes of celestial relevance they provide about his subjects. Important information regarding the Roman understanding of time, the Roman calendar, and birthdays can be found in the prose work Noctes Atticae, written by Aulus Gellius in the second century a.d., and in the prose work De Die Natali, written by the third-​century a.d. grammarian Censorinus on the basis of earlier sources. Information found nowhere else in the ancient sources regarding the festival of the Saturnalia in December and the reform of the Roman calendar by Caesar and the subsequent adjustments to the Julian calendar made by Augustus can be found in the Saturnalia, a prose work written in the fifth century a.d. by the antiquarian Macrobius Ambrosius Theodosius (Macrobius) but evidently based on earlier sources. Because of the focus on astrology and astronomy in this life of Augustus, astronomical and astrological works also serve as an important and distinct category of ancient source materials. The astronomical and astrological sources that predate the lifetime of Augustus or date securely to the period of the saeculum Augustum have been emphasized here. These include the poem on the universe written in Latin by Lucretius; the practical handbooks that discuss the seasons and the names and regular appearances of celestial objects by Marcus Porcius Cato the Elder (cos. 195 b.c.) and the polymath Marcus Terentius Varro (Varro), a contemporary of Caesar and Augustus; astronomical accounts written in Greek by Aratus of Soli in Cilicia, especially, and by Geminos, and in Latin by Cicero, Nigidius Figulus, Gaius Iulius Hyginus (Hyginus), Manilius, Nero Claudius Drusus Germanicus (Germanicus), Vergil, and Ovid; and prose works by Marcus Vitruvius Pollio (Vitruvius) in Latin and by Strabo and Diodorus Siculus in Greek that discuss astronomy and astrology in some detail. The celestial information found in later works by writers including the natural philosopher Pliny the Elder, the biographers Plutarch and Suetonius, and the historians Appian and Dio is also employed when it clarifies the impact of celestial display on the

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important historical events of the saeculum Augustum considered here. Little use of the Greek and Roman handbooks of astrology that postdate the lifetime of Augustus, however, has been made in this life of Augustus. These handbooks, most notably those written in the first century a.d. by Dorotheus Sidonius, in the second century a.d. by Claudius Ptolemaeus (Ptolemy) and by Vettius Valens, and in the fourth century a.d. by Iulius Firmicus Maternus show evidence at times that they are using accumulated past astrological teachings, but they are very detailed and specific and they clearly have accumulated so much post-​Augustan material that they may not completely reflect the earlier doctrine and practice of astrology during the lifetime of Augustus. Fortunately, use of these later sources to interpret a genitura from the period of the saeculum Augustum is not necessary. Sufficient astrological guidance can be gathered from sources of the period such as astrological papyrus fragments containing natal horoscopes, contemporary poetry, and the poetic compendium of astrology written by Manilius, all of which can be used to interpret the geniturae of Augustus, Agrippa, and Antonius, which are of critical importance to this study, in ways that are faithful to the astrological understanding and practices of the saeculum Augustum. The ancient written sources and the monumental fasti, most of which were carved in stone and set up in various places around Italy during the lifetimes of Augustus and his successor Tiberius, provide the dates for the major events that mark the life of Augustus.32 These dates are presented in the ancient Greek and Roman sources in variable ways, as the birthday of Cicero demonstrates. Cicero was born in the region of Arpinum, a town in Italy located about sixty miles southeast of Rome, a place he described in a letter to Atticus with a quotation from Homer’s Odyssey as rough but a good nursing mother (τρηχεῖ’, ἀλλ’ ἀγαθὴ κουροτρόφος).33 Cicero noted the date of his birth as the third day before the Nones (III Non., natali meo).34 Plutarch in his biography of Cicero recorded Cicero’s birthday according to the Greek system: Cicero was born on the third day of the new Kalends: that is, on the third day of the first month of the year (ἡμέρᾳ τρίτῃ τῶν νέων Καλανδῶν).35 Aulus Gellius dated Cicero’s birth according to the Roman day and the Roman system of eponymous years: Cicero was born in the year when Quintus Caepio and Quintus Serranus were consuls on the third day before the Nones of January (dinumeratis quippe annis a Q. Caepione et Q. Serrano, quibus consulibus ante diem tertium Nonas Ianuar. M. Cicero natus est).36 Plutarch writing in the first century a.d. century noted that Cicero died at the age of sixty-​four (ἔτος ἐκεῖνο γεγονὼς ἑξηκοστὸν καὶ τέταρτον) from which one may count back from the year of his death to the year of his birth.37 The most commonly employed ways of expressing a date in the Roman calendar are evident in these references to Cicero’s birthday.38 The years are most commonly distinguished from one another as eponymous years according to the two elected

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consuls who took office on the first day of each year. The twelve months are usually noted in an abbreviated form, as they are in Cicero’s letters: Ian., Febr., Mart., Apr., Mai., Iun., Quint., Sext., Sept., Oct., Nov., and Dec. Dates are also noted with reference to the three important points of each month, also abbreviated: the Kalends (Kal.), the first day of each month; the Nones (Non.), the fifth day in the shorter months and in the months of January, Sextilis, and December, which later came to have thirty-​one days, or the seventh day in the longer months; and the Ides (Id.), the thirteenth day in the shorter months and in the months of January, Sextilis, and December or the fifteenth day in the longer months.39 Days in a month other than these three fixed days are counted backward by inclusive reckoning from these fixed days as, for example, the third day before the Nones of January.40 Dates have been expressed in the following chapters in two ways: first, in the ancient format and, second, according to the modern system by the modern month written in full, the numerical day of the month, and the Julian year with the use of the designations b.c., which is the equivalent of b.c.e., Before the Common Era, and a.d., which is the equivalent of c.e., the Common Era, of the Anno Domini system.41 The date for Cicero’s birthday, for example, would be expressed first as the third day before the Nones of January in the consulship of Quintus Caepio and Quintus Serranus and then in modern form as January 3, 106 b.c. The dates provided for events that are of critical importance for Augustus must also be considered in light of any issues that may have beset the Roman calendar during the period of the saeculum Augustum. According to legend, the quasi-​lunar Roman calendar was created by Romulus and Numa, the first and second kings of Rome, and it sometimes needed periodic adjustments, known as intercalations, in the form of days added in the month of February that would bring the calendar back into harmony with the astronomical year. The task of inserting intercalary days in the Roman calendar during the period of the Roman Republic was given to priests who were politicians, not astronomers. Sometimes the priests missed out the intercalations because of ineptitude or simple ignorance of what had to be done to keep the calendar in line. Sometimes the priests missed out the intercalations because of political manipulation or financial chicanery.42 Caesar reformed the calendar by the addition of extra intercalary days, and on the Kalends of January ( January 1) in 45 b.c., he put his new Julian calendar in place by decree.43 Caesar’s calendar had 365 days and required the addition of one leap day added every four years to maintain its alignment with the astronomical calendar. Ideally, because of Caesar’s reform of the calendar on astronomical grounds, no further issues with the Julian calendar should have occurred afterwards. But the Julian calendar had begun to drift as early as 42 b.c. because the leap days planned by Caesar to occur every fourth year were applied incorrectly every third

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year instead.44 The discrepancy that developed was not as severe as the one Caesar had to correct in 46 b.c., and it was little regarded, practically speaking, by the general population at the time.45 The drift in the calendar, however, needed to be fixed eventually, and following some adjustments by Augustus after 12 b.c., the Julian calendar began to operate from a.d. 8 on as Caesar had intended. Before 45 b.c., the years in which calendrical intercalations took place, when they did take place, often cannot be known today with definite certainty. For this reason, modern historians usually consider dates in the pre-​Julian Roman calendar as the ideal Julian dates without regard for any possible intercalation in the year.46 This method of retrojection for dates is not automatically assumed here. Instead, for the events before Caesar’s reform of the calendar, the dates provided in the sources are assessed for accuracy individually in conjunction with other ancient sources. For example, no issues with the Roman calendar seem to have occurred in 106 b.c., the year of Cicero’s birth, because Cicero would have been sure to note any chronological issues that had an impact upon him. Dates for events occurring between 45 b.c. and a.d. 8, when the Julian calendar was slightly adrift, have also been assessed in conjunction with information found in the ancient sources. The ancient evidence indicates, however, that both Caesar and Augustus may have been using the astronomical calendar rather than the Roman civic calendar or the slightly drifting Julian calendar more often than has been previously recognized. The astronomical calendar, which was based on the observed movement of the Sun through the constellations of the zodiac around the Earth, was the only calendar in Roman culture that was reliable for farmers and sailors; for generals and soldiers who needed to tell time outside Rome, on campaign, and while traveling; or for anyone who wished to keep a permanent and accurate record of time. Cicero was probably referring to the astronomical calendar in a letter he sent to his younger brother, Quintus Cicero, in March 56 b.c. when he remarked that he knew the sea was still closed to navigation (adhuc clausum mare scio fuisse), thus preventing anyone from bringing an eagerly awaited letter from him.47 The astronomical calendar was also most likely the calendar used by Cicero and Atticus in their personal correspondence, where precise and accurate dating was necessary. Cicero and Atticus wrote faithfully to each other over many years, often several times a day. Both men also moved around frequently. Cicero rotated between his house in Rome and his several villas in Italy and sometimes went abroad. Atticus spent time in Rome at his house on the Quirinal Hill and traveled abroad to places like Athens and Epirus in northwest Greece, where he had property. Sometimes letters were delayed and arrived at their destination together in bundles. Sometimes letters arrived damaged, waterlogged, and unreadable. Sometimes letters were lost in transit. With such frequent exchanges of letters and all the difficulties of keeping track of the order of

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correspondence, accurate dating was essential. Cicero organized letters methodically and answered them in their chronological order, often noting the dates on which they had been written by his correspondents and the dates on which they had been received by him.48 Cicero also kept the letters he received from Atticus in chronological order and at times reread them for inspiration and for comfort. For these reasons, Cicero would probably not have used the Roman calendar, which was subject to the possibility of random intercalations not planned on any strict schedule far in advance. Cicero would have used the most reliable, accurate method of dating the letters he wrote, which was the astronomical calendar. Augustus also planned the grand celebration known as the Ludi Saeculares in 17 b.c. that was to mark the end of one period of time, a saeculum, and the beginning of another, with reference to the astronomical calendar. He must also have used the astronomical calendar in 10–​9 b.c., when he placed the imported Egyptian obelisk within the large solar complex devised by Novius Facundus in the Campus Martius. When Augustus was periodically away from Rome on military campaigns and administrative business during the years 42 b.c. through a.d. 4, he also had to employ the astronomical calendar. In this regard, he was following Caesar, who appears to have followed the astronomical calendar in the year before his reformed Julian calendar was formally put into operation on the Kalends of January 45 b.c. In following the astronomical calendar, Augustus was able to set the date for a new event in order to take advantage of an agreement between the celestial backdrop of fixed constellations on the original date and on any future anniversaries. In order to date a letter by the astronomical calendar, keep track of a birthday, record a personal event, plan for an event in the future, or honor the anniversary of an event in the past, Romans like Cicero, Caesar, and Augustus availed themselves of relatively small, portable, multipurpose personal calendars, which would have resembled the calendars on which people today record a variety of events: public and private anniversaries, birthdays, obligations, religious days, civic dates, work days, school days, holidays, weekends, seasonal points, lunar phases, or even specialized dates that provide the locations of planets, the Sun, and the Moon in their astrological signs, and the dates when the planet Mercury is retrograde. Ancient personal calendars were not carved in stone as were the monumental fasti but created by using a fragile medium like papyrus or wood, with the result that they have been lost over time. Evidence in the ancient sources, however, indicates their existence and practical usefulness for tracking and choosing dates. Cicero asked Atticus to use his own personal calendar to mark the beginning of Cicero’s proconsulship in 51–​50 b.c. and to track out the year to its conclusion. Cicero also used his own personal calendar to mark the beginning of his proconsular year, to record the only military encounter he had during

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this year with a local tribe in order to record his exploits and write about them later, and to mark the conclusion of his proconsular year.49 The progress of time in a year on such personal calendars could be accomplished easily and accurately by moving a peg or a marker on the calendar from day to day. Gaius Petronius Arbiter (Petronius) in his Satyricon, which was written during the reign of Nero, the great-​great-​grandson of Augustus, recounts a description remembered by Encolpius, the main character in the novel, of how personal calendars were used. These personal calendars (parapegmata), which were in the house of the ostentatious freedman Gaius Pompeius Trimalchio Maecenatianus, the host of the banquet Encolpius was attending, allowed Trimalchio’s household staff to note their master’s personal obligations, the character of the days, and the course of the Sun, the Moon, and the planets.50 Trimalchio’s personal calendars took the form of two tablets (duae tabulae) affixed to the posts on either side of the entry to the dining room in his house. One calendar listed two future dinner engagements of Trimalchio on the third day before the Kalends of January and the day before the Kalends of January (December 30 and December 31). The other calendar presented a list of favorable (boni) and unfavorable (incommodi) days marked with a distinguishing stud, as well as the course of the Moon and images of the five ancient planets and the two luminaries.51 Augustus and other Romans were attentive not only to marking and tracking dates but also to noting the hours of the day, which are important for the assessment of the major events in Augustus’ life. The accepted length of the entire Roman day, twenty-​four hours, is probably traceable to the Egyptians.52 One solar day was technically measured from the point of one culmination at noon to the next culmination at noon, but the official change from one calendar day to the next took place at midnight.53 Sunrise and sunset were the most important points in a day, which was divided up for practical use into twelve diurnal hours beginning at sunrise, the start of the first hour, and twelve nocturnal hours beginning at sunset. As seasonal hours, the daylight hours in summer were known to be longer than the nighttime hours, and the daylight hours in winter were known to be shorter than the nighttime hours.54 At the spring and fall equinoxes, the hours of night and day were equal. These equinoctial hours, which were known by the third century b.c. and are the source of the hours used today, were useful to astronomers but not employed in daily life in the Roman world. Augustus probably knew about the popular practice of dividing time during the day into three-​hour blocks, beginning with sunrise.55 The most important of the seasonal hours of the Roman day after the hour of sunrise were the third, sixth, and ninth hours, but other hours could also be singled out, as they were at the ludi (public celebrations) presented by Augustus in honor of Caesar in 44 b.c. and the Ludi Saeculares of 17 b.c. For events taking place by night, the sources might refer to

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sunset, the hour of the night, or the night watch. The adjective medius was also used to mark the middle of the day and the middle of the night.56 For telling the hours of the day, Augustus, like Cicero, may have relied on a sunny day when at Rome on the consultation of the large public sundial in the Forum Romanum, as Cicero notes in the Brutus, or on the public announcement by an attendant (accensus) of the praetor of the third, sixth, and ninth hours of the day.57 Or he may have had access to an anaphoric clock, a geared water clock inscribed with the constellations of the zodiac, like the clock described by Vitruvius in his work on architecture or like the Tower of the Winds, the monumental anaphoric water clock constructed around 50 b.c. in the Roman Agora in Athens.58 But Augustus may also have used a personal sundial or a gnomon that used a stick to cast a shadow for observation of the Sun by day or a water clock in his own house to measure the passing of time by day and night in smaller segments than an hour throughout the day.59 Caesar had used such a clock to measure the length of night in Britain.60 Cicero mentioned one of these smaller segments of time when he was informed by a messenger from Servilia that her son Brutus had started out on his journey after sunrise halfway through the second hour of the day (H. II S, that is, hora secunda semis).61 By night, Augustus could have used the movement of the stars in conjunction with a water clock or a calibrated oil lamp like the clever device Cicero received from his brother, Quintus Cicero, who had commissioned the gift in Samos. In a letter to his brother, Cicero declared with satisfaction his ability to write before sunrise by the light of this lamp on its little wooden stand (hanc scripsi ante ad lychnucum ligneolum).62 Cicero also mentioned at times the hours associated with events in his letters. He wrote that he had taken his place at table for a dinner during the ninth hour of the day (hora nona).63 He meticulously provided dates for his three-​week journey from Greece to Brundisium (modern Brindisi) in Italy, where he arrived at the fourth hour of the day (hora quarta).64 He provided an hourly account of the trial of Titus Annius Milo (Milo) in 56 b.c.: Pompeius Magnus spoke at the sixth hour (hora sexta).65 From that point until the eighth hour (ad horam octavum), abuse was hurled at Publius Clodius (formerly Claudius) Pulcher and his sister Clodia (formerly Claudia) Pulchra. Around the ninth hour (hora fere nona), the supporters of Clodius Pulcher began spitting on their opponents. Cicero occasionally also noted the hour at which he was writing a letter: for example, at the fourth hour of the day (quarta hora) and at the ninth hour of the night (hora noctis nona).66 Augustus was even more meticulous than Cicero in regard to the hours. He added to all his letters the exact moments of the hours of both the day and night in order to indicate precisely when each letter was written (ad epistulas omnis horarum quoque momenta nec diei modo sed et noctis, quibus datae significarentur, addebat).67

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The major events considered in this study are set in their chronological context by date, time, and hour and analyzed in conjunction with astrological diagrams of calculated geniturae or astronomical sky maps, a methodology that has not been used on such a large scale before. Advanced astrological computer programs have been used to create accurate geniturae.68 Advanced astronomical computer programs have been used to create sky maps that accurately represent the state of the heavens for the events in question.69 When precise times for events of celestial importance in Augustus’ life are included in the ancient sources, these times are used for the analysis of the celestial backdrop for the events. If an exact time is not provided by the ancient sources for an event of celestial importance, the two best times daily for observation of the planets and luminaries are considered: (1) a window of around an hour before sunrise, when the bright stars and planets were more visible, and up to sunrise, and (2) a window from sunset until around an hour after sunset, before all the stars and constellations had fully emerged.70 These best times are usually located within the period of nautical twilight when the Sun is between 6° and 12° below either the eastern or western horizons. Augustus as a young man undoubtedly observed the heavens on a regular basis from an elevated place at the home he shared with his mother and stepfather on the Esquiline Hill in Rome after sunset, and throughout his life he also preferred to travel around at night, thus enabling him to deepen his knowledge of what he was seeing in the heavens and his ability to use what he was seeing to his advantage.71 Even if the skies were cloudy on a particular night, however, Augustus would have been aware of the locations of stars, constellations, planets, and luminaries, the movements of which he had been tracking, because he had been educated as a young man, like other Roman men at this time, in matters of the celestial sphere by using observation, celestial globes, and astronomical texts, particularly the translation of Aratus’ Phaenomena by Cicero. Augustus would have known what was hidden behind any clouds or mist and been able to assess the significance of the state of the heavens for himself, and he would have known how to communicate this information in subtle but effective ways, if necessary, to those who mattered. The assessment of the major events in the life and career of Augustus in their celestial contexts has yielded new interpretations of the critical importance of the heavens as part of the strategies Augustus employed to achieve a dominant place in Roman politics and Roman culture. Augustus was, throughout his life, aware of the power of certain days.72 He was also very receptive to receiving messages from visual omens (ostenta). These omens appeared in the form of dreams, apparitions, and prodigies. But they also appeared in the form of things found in the vault of the heavens, such as eagles, vultures, owls, ravens, eagle owls, kites, wrens, swallows, pigeons, lightning, and celestial objects.73 According to the historian

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Dio, the omens that appeared in the heavens were of the greatest significance in public divination among the Romans (τῆς γὰρ μαντείας τῆς δημοσίας ἔκ τε τοῦ οὐρανοῦ καὶ ἐξ ἄλλων τινῶν).74 Combining the power of days and celestial ostenta, Augustus developed a sense of the theatrical possibilities of the presence of his celestial Julian kin in the dark or darkening sky on days of significance to him.75 Augustus would always have been able to find something to see in the celestial sphere before sunrise or after sunset, and the sight of one or even a few planets along with the luminaries or certain bright stars and constellations moving across the sky according to the predictable cosmic schedules that each followed naturally would not have been an uncommon one. What would not have been a regular occurrence, however, was the presence of multiple planets, luminaries, and certain important bright stars and constellations in the dark or darkening sky on days of significance to Augustus. The constellations Gemini, Virgo, and Aquila appeared frequently in the sky as a part of the celestial display for events in Augustus’ early life over which he had no control in terms of their timing. These constellations also appeared regularly as part of the celestial display for events that Augustus did plan after 30 b.c. These constellations were the most significant to Augustus, and their presence at the important events in Augustus’ life, planned and unplanned, was not perceived by Augustus as coincidental. The Sun, the Moon, and the planet Jupiter, which moved across the heavens within the band of the zodiac, were the most important of Augustus’ celestial Julian kin to appear as part of the astronomical backdrops at his important events, both unplanned and planned. Over 60% of the events from the life of Augustus include the presence of between three and five of the luminaries and planets in clusters or close conjunctions. Again, their presence was not perceived as coincidental. Some conjunctions occurred more frequently than others, but the conjunction between Saturn and Jupiter, the two most distant ancient planets, which occurs only about once every twenty years, was particularly notable. Augustus, who demonstrated a capable shrewdness from a young age, would use the appearance of these celestial entities on certain days in subtle ways that were favorable to him and yet provoked no alarm among his fellow aristocrats. With a favorable celestial display as a dramatic backdrop for his important events, Augustus was able to assert a cosmic destiny at moments of triumph and even during times of setbacks and crises, and he was able, contrary to all expectations, to survive among the ruthless politicians of the day and ultimately to surpass them. The evidence in the ancient sources examined in conjunction with geniturae and sky maps supports the hypothesis presented in this book that Augustus was aware that the days on which his major public events happened to fall, either by fate or by planning, presented a celestial display consisting of Julian planets and luminaries and certain constellations and the bright stars associated with them

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that was meaningful to him and reflective of the concentrated visual support of the most powerful deities in the Roman pantheon for their own Julian descendant. There are forty-​six datable events occurring in all twelve months of the year for which the sky can be seen to have provided a meaningful backdrop that reflected the support of the celestial sphere for Augustus. These events include all the events deemed by ancient sources and modern scholars as the most important ones in the life of Augustus. The events fall into in two groups by date. The first group includes events that took place when they happened and for which Augustus was not able to plan deliberately to take advantage of the state of the celestial sphere at the time. This group includes the birthday of Augustus in September 63 b.c., the ludi presented in honor of Caesar in 44 b.c., the election of Augustus as suffect consul, several major battles, and the day on which Antonius and Cleopatra were finally defeated in Alexandria in 30 b.c. For these early events, Augustus observed the placements of the celestial entities that appeared as backdrops for the events and noted that the presence on significant days of his Julian kin in their celestial manifestations supported his actions and boded well for his eventual greatness. The second group includes events after the fall of Alexandria in 30 b.c., a major turning point in the life of Augustus, after which he had no more serious rivals for power in Rome. For events in the second group occurring after the fall of Alexandria, Augustus went beyond mere observation of the celestial sphere at the time of the event to choose dates in the Roman calendar that were usually unencumbered by preexisting major festivals or civic events and on which his Julian kin in their celestial manifestations would serve as a notable backdrop and therefore as an indication of their powerful support for him. Augustus is said to have surpassed all his predecessors in the frequency, variety, and magnificence of the spectacles he presented at his major public events following the fall of Alexandria and the defeat of Antonius and Cleopatra.76 He also surpassed all his predecessors in his use of the heavens to provide meaningful celestial displays for his many planned major public events, which include dedications of temples, altars, and a theater; the celebration of a triple triumph; the presentation of the once-​in-​a-​ lifetime Ludi Saeculares; a private celebration of the Saturnalia; the assumption of the office of Pontifex Maximus; the acceptance of various honors, including the cognomen Augustus, the title Pater Patriae (Father of the Fatherland), and the renaming of the month Sextilis in his honor; the confirmation of his plan for the imperial succession through his formal adoption of his stepson Tiberius and his grandson Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa Postumus (Agrippa Postumus); and several public celebrations of his official public birthday. Even the events associated with the end of Augustus’ life, over which he may have exerted limited active control, had astronomical significance. The celestial sphere appeared to confirm on the day of his death, on the night of the return of his body to Rome, and on

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the days of his funeral and deification the deep interconnection of Augustus with the celestial sphere that had lasted from before the day of his birth, to the end of his mortal existence, and even beyond into a time everlasting during which he would take his rightful place in the celestial sphere as an immortal being among his celestial Julian kin.

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Nigidius Figulus and the Birth of a Future Dominus for the World 63 b.c.

The man who is commonly known at different periods of his life as Octavius, Octavianus, or Augustus was born in 63 b.c., a year that would prove to be a turbulent one. On January 1, the first day of this year in the Roman civic calendar, Cicero entered upon the position of consul. Several months prior, Cicero had campaigned vigorously for the office against Catilina and Gaius Antonius “Hybrida” (Antonius Hybrida), the paternal uncle of the twenty-​three-​year-​old Antonius, who appears to have been enjoying at the time an extravagant and reckless life in the company of other misguided young men like himself.1 Cicero used his status as one of Rome’s preeminent orators and his many personal and political contacts to win a majority of the votes. Cicero’s victory was not unique in Roman history but it was still impressive. He was the least illustrious of the three men who were standing for the consulship that year but the first of his family to hold the prestigious senior position of consul as a “new man” (a novus homo). Antonius Hybrida narrowly beat out Catilina for the second consular seat. Catilina, a member of an ancient patrician family now in decline, may have been plotting a revolution in 64 b.c., and he especially resented his defeat at the hands of the upstart Cicero, to whom he referred scathingly as a mere lodger in the city because he had been born outside Rome in the small Italian town of Arpinum (ἐς δ’ ξενίαν τῆς πόλεως ἰγκουϊλῖνον).2 Cicero maneuvered the consulship to his benefit from the beginning. Soon after his installation, Cicero induced Antonius Hybrida to step back and allow him to be senior consul by arranging for him to receive the rich province of Macedonia, which had been allotted to him for his post-​consular governorship, in place of Gallia Cisalpina, the province that Antonius Hybrida had originally

Celestial Inclinations. Anne-​Marie Lewis, Oxford University Press. © Oxford University Press 2023. DOI: 10.1093/​oso/​9780197599648.003.0002

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drawn. Cicero enhanced his popularity with the urban population by successfully arguing against a bill proposed by the tribune Publius Servilius Rullus that favored the rural population. Unfortunately, Cicero’s legislative victory came at a political cost. The defeat of Rullus’ legislation aggravated growing resentment among the population in the countryside of Italy. The disaffected Catilina immediately saw an opportunity to capitalize on this rural discontent, and he campaigned later that year for the consulship of 62 b.c. According to Roman custom, the ordinary consular election for the following year was to take place in mid-​ July 63 b.c., and Cicero as consul was to preside over the elections. The mood was tense. The omens were bad. Catilina was moving arrogantly around the city with throngs of supporters and making threats. Cicero then learned that Catilina planned to assassinate him on the day of the election and become consul in his place. These developments compelled Cicero to postpone the consular election to some future date in order to call Catilina before the Senate for questioning. Cicero was so terrified for his life that he went out surrounded by a bodyguard of his friends and wore a breastplate even though he knew that it would offer no real protection, since Catilina and his henchmen preferred to strike at the head and neck, not at the torso, of their victims. The value of the breastplate was thus more symbolic, and Cicero made sure that it was clearly visible under his toga as a means of arousing hatred against those who meant to kill him. Cicero announced Catilina’s murderous plot to the Senate, which did not find Cicero’s accusations credible enough to do anything about them. Catilina rushed out from the Senate in triumphant delight, a reaction that must have galled Cicero, but as a result of Cicero’s bold actions the conspirators took fright and receded into the background for the moment. The consular elections finally occurred, either later in the month of July or at some point after July.3 As in the election the previous year, Catilina once again failed to secure the consulship. His loss would set off an alarming chain of events in the coming months. Around the time of the crisis of the consular election of 63 b.c., a panic arose among aristocratic Roman parents that had nothing to do with Catilina. According to Iulius Marathus, a freedman of Augustus who later wrote either a memoir or a biography of him, an unusual event portending something unfortunate (a prodigium) appeared in the late summer months of 63 b.c. before Augustus was born (ante paucos quam nascaretur menses). This prodigium was interpreted to mean that nature was about to give birth to a king for the Roman people (regem populo Romano naturam parturire).4 Suetonius mentions this prodigium in the longest chapter of his biography of Augustus, a section that deals with notable omens from which it was possible to expect and observe from the moment of the birth of Augustus his future greatness and everlasting good fortune (quibus futura magnitudo eius et perpetua felicitas sperari animadvertique posset).5 In response to

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the prodigium, the frightened Senate decreed that all male children born in 63 b.c. were not to be brought up. Senators with pregnant wives whose children were due in this year, each thinking that the decree applied to his own family, prevented its enactment, and hence the proactive slaughter of male newborns was never carried out. By the end of the summer, the initial panic regarding the prodigium appears to have receded, and no evidence exists that Cicero, or indeed any other Roman member of the ruling class, found the prodigium a cause of continuing alarm for the state at that time. A sense of general unease, however, began to settle once again over Rome in the final months of the year 63 b.c. Rumors began to circulate that Catilina was conspiring with others to challenge the legitimate power of the Roman political system. Because Cicero and members of the governing Senate did not know the full extent of Catilina’s support and because they feared the collapse of law and order, the nature of the threat posed by Catilina remained unclear and was therefore terrifying. Cicero in his vainglorious desire to cast himself as the savior of the Roman Republic made it his business to unmask and defeat the attempt by Catilina and his supporters to overthrow the state. As the senior consul for 63 b.c., Cicero called an emergency ad hoc meeting of the Senate in late September outside the usual schedule of senatorial meetings in order to confront the situation head on.6 This meeting was deemed necessary to discuss the serious rumors beginning to circulate about the activities of Catilina. The absence of an official record of such a meeting is an understandable omission that attests to the growing problems, which were heightened by Cicero’s informants and Cicero’s own desire to deal authoritatively and immediately with a potentially dangerous situation for the Roman Republic. Gaius Octavius, one of the Roman senators, is said to have come late to this extraordinary meeting of the Roman Senate because of the birth of his son, whom he had acknowledged, according to Roman custom, as a legitimate member of his family before he set out for the meeting from his home on the Palatine Hill. The date in 63 b.c. on which the son of Gaius Octavius (the future Augustus) was born has been debated among scholars. Several possibilities from September 18 through September 24 have been proposed for the birthdate and thus for the senatorial meeting at which the birth was announced.7 Of the dates suggested, September 21, September 22, and September 23 are the most likely because of the significance attached later to the astrological Sign Capricornus by the son of Gaius Octavius himself.8 On these three dates, the astrological Moon appeared in Capricornus. Of these dates, September 22, on the basis of the historical evidence, is the better choice for the birthdate. Suetonius notes that the son of Gaius Octavius was born in a house at the Ox-​heads in the Palatine district of Rome.9 The time of birth was just before sunrise (paulo ante solis exortum) on the ninth

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day before the Kalends of October in the consulship of Cicero and Antonius Hybrida. This date, counting inclusively, would be September 22 in the Roman Republican calendar, in which the month of September had twenty-​nine days. The historian Velleius Paterculus noted that the son of Gaius Octavius would formally become consul suffectus on the tenth day before the Kalends of October (September 21), the day before his twentieth birthday, which he celebrated personally on September 22 (consulatumque iniit Caesar pridie quam viginti annos impleret decimo Kal. Octobres).10 September 22 finds additional support in Suetonius’ biography. The son of Gaius Octavius would die on the fourteenth day before the Kalends of September (August 19, a.d. 14), in the seventy-​sixth year of his life less thirty-​five days (septuagesimo et sexto aetatis anno, diebus V et XXX minus) before he would have entered his seventy-​seventh year, which would have made his birthday September 22, 63 b.c.11 A letter written later by the son of Gaius Octavius, by then known as Augustus, to his grandson and adoptive son Gaius Iulius Caesar (Gaius Caesar) and preserved by Aulus Gellius offers further support for September 22 as the date Augustus appears to have chosen to mark for his birthday throughout his life.12 Aulus Gellius includes the information that Augustus’ letter to Gaius Caesar was dated to the ninth day before the Kalends of October, September 23 in the Julian calendar, in which September had thirty days. Augustus was writing to tell his grandson that he was relieved to have passed safely through his sixty-​third year, his astrological grand climacteric (κλιμακτῆρα communem seniorum omnium tertium et sexagesimum annum evasimus), which was considered to be a critical, potentially dangerous year in one’s life.13 His sixty-​third year of life would have been completed on the anniversary of his birth on September 22, in a.d. 1. Augustus wrote to Gaius Caesar on the day after his birthday in the hope and expectation that he had celebrated the anniversary of his grandfather’s sixty-​fourth birthday in a.d. 1 (celebrasse quartum et sexagesimum natalem meum) wherever he happened to be on that day. Augustus continued to celebrate his birthday personally on September 22, the date noted by Suetonius as the birthdate of Augustus. September 23, however, has also been noted in credible ancient sources as the birthdate of the son of Gaius Octavius. It is the date given by Dio in Greek form as the twenty-​third day of September (τῇ γὰρ τρίτῃ καὶ εἰκοστῇ τοῦ Σεπτεμβρίου ἐγεγέννητο).14 The Roman equites were said to have always celebrated the birthday of Augustus of their own accord and by common consent on two successive days (biduo), which are not identified in the sources.15 Since the son of Gaius Octavius was born on September 22, the celebrations of the equites would most likely have taken place on September 22, the day of the actual birthday, and on either the preceding day, September 21, or the following day, September 23. On the basis of the historical evidence, the better choice for the second birthdate is September 23.

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Why the equites celebrated both days is unknown, but the reason for the double celebration does not appear to have anything to do with distortions in the Roman calendar in 63 b.c. Cicero commented in one of his orations against Catilina in November 63 b.c. that the conspirators were about to encounter frost and snow in the Apennines, an indication that the Roman calendar was in line with the seasons and that no intercalation occurred in this year.16 And if any intercalation had occurred in this year, Cicero would surely have said something about it in the several works he wrote that mentioned or dealt with the conspiracy of Catilina, just as he would later mention the dreaded possibility of an intercalation in 51–​50 b.c., the year of his delayed proconsulship.17 The presence of two attested birthdates for the son of Gaius Octavius may simply be a matter of a difference in the length of the month of September. In the Roman Republican calendar under which the son of Gaius Octavius was born, the month of September had twenty-​nine days.18 The birth and the extraordinary meeting of the Senate to discuss the matter of Catilina, nine days before the Kalends of October, took place on September 22, 63 b.c. In the Julian calendar, the month of September had thirty days and this date became September 23, 63 b.c. in the Julian calendar after Caesar’s reforms came into effect. Both dates, in other words, were the ninth day before the Kalends of October but according to different calendars. Augustus later permitted the official public celebration of his birthday on this Julian date, September 23. It has been suggested that Augustus wished to ensure that the official celebration of his birthday had an association with September 23, the day of the foundation of the Temple of Apollo Medicus, which was located outside the formal boundary of Rome (the pomerium) in the Campus Martius. This temple would be splendidly restored by Gaius Sosius (cos. 32 b.c.), who, although a supporter of Antonius at the Battle of Actium in 31 b.c., would be pardoned afterwards by Augustus, who was then known as Octavianus.19 September 23 would have served, therefore, both as an acknowledgment of Augustus’ official public birthday, according to the Julian calendar, as well as a public reminder of his clemency. Augustus’ official birthday on September 23 would come to be noted on many of the monumental Roman fasti as a day on which sacrifices were to be made.20 Privately, however, the son of Gaius Octavius would mark the day of his birth on September 22, the pre-​Julian date that he treated as a Julian date. This date, September 22, was the more important birthdate to him personally throughout his life. Suetonius reports that when Gaius Octavius arrived at the meeting of the Senate on September 22, 63 b.c. and publicly announced the birth of his son, Cicero’s friend Nigidius Figulus, the mathematicus and Roman senator who was taking notes at the meeting, gave an immediate and dramatic response, exclaiming that a dominus terrarum orbi had been born. The word dominus has both

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a domestic meaning, “master of slaves,” and a political meaning, “tyrant,” but Octavius’ father appears to have shown no alarm at Nigidius Figulus’ statement in Suetonius’ account. Suetonius had employed the verb affirmo (confirm) to emphasize that Nigidius Figulus was merely putting in words a destiny that the cosmos had already “written” for the baby boy. Dio, however, provides a description of the birth of the son of Gaius Octavius that differs in its account of the reaction of Gaius Octavius to Nigidius Figulus’ pronouncement.21 Nigidius Figulus predicted for the son of Gaius Octavius absolute rule (αὐταρχία) and declared that Gaius Octavius had fathered a δεσπότης. The meanings of the Greek word δεσπότης paralleled those of dominus, “master of slaves” and “tyrant,” but according to Dio, Gaius Octavius interpreted the pronouncement to mean that he had fathered a future king for Rome. Gaius Octavius then expressed a wish to do away with the infant, but Nigidius Figulus said that no such action could be taken because the survival of the child was fated, as was his eventual kingship. Some scholars have expressed skepticism about the historicity of this birth story, which they view as an example of how the life of the son of Gaius Octavius was later mythologized through the retrojection of celestial associations from its very beginning.22 Other scholars consider the episode to be a Roman example of the positive omens said to be associated with the births of Hellenistic kings.23 Ancient sources, however, clearly viewed the prediction that Nigidius Figulus delivered at the time of the birth of the son of Gaius Octavius as historical. Later in life, Augustus would not allow others to address him either seriously or in jest as dominus because he found the associations of the word insulting.24 His aversion to being called dominus suggests that the declaration by Nigidius Figulus of his destiny as the dominus terrarum orbi took place at the time of his birth and was no retrojection because he would not have made so much of an event that identified him by using a word he detested if it had not occurred at the time of his birth. Velleius Paterculus commented that the day of the birth of the son of Octavius would blind all people of all races by its greatness from the very day of the birth (omnibus omnium gentium viris magnitudine sua inducturus caliginem).25 Suetonius also wrote that Nigidius Figulus’ pronouncement at the meeting of the Senate was common knowledge (nota ac vulgata res est), and he included it, along with the prodigium of 63 b.c., in his biography in the section dealing with episodes that predicted the future greatness and everlasting good fortune of the son of Gaius Octavius from the very moment of his birth.26 Dio also reported that Nigidius Figulus’ prediction dates to the time of the birth and not later (τότε μὲν δὴ ταῦτ’ ἐλέχθη).27 That Nigidius Figulus could have provided this pronouncement so quickly upon hearing the news of the birth of Gaius Octavius’ son is not surprising. Because of the general public agitation caused by the matter of Catilina’s

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unhappiness with his loss of the election for the consulship for a second time and the senators’ private unease, probably not completely forgotten, regarding the ominous prodigium, Nigidius Figulus, as a senator, would have been particularly alert for news of the birth of the aristocratic boy who might be considered the rex prophesied by the prodigium. Nigidius Figulus, as a mathematicus, would have undertaken both an astrological calculation and an astronomical visual inspection of the heavens on the morning of the meeting before sunrise, as he would have done each day as a matter of course and especially on this day because of the significance of the emergency meeting of the Senate called to discuss the urgent matter of a potential insurrection. Nigidius Figulus’ dramatic public announcement at the meeting of the Roman Senate that a dominus (or δεσπότης) for the world had been born is usually considered to be astrological because of the reputation Nigidius Figulus had as an astrologer during and well after the period of the saeculum Augustum.28 Nigidius Figulus is presented as a practitioner of astrology at the end of the first book of Lucan’s Pharsalia, an epic poem that was written in the first century a.d. during the reign of Nero and that dealt with the civil war between Caesar and Pompeius Magnus. Nigidius Figulus is one of three seers summoned according to usual Roman custom to interpret the terrible omens that occurred when Caesar was gathering his forces in the north of Italy in preparation for his expected battle with Pompeius Magnus. The first seer, a haruspex, is called by the common Etruscan name Arruns, and the third seer, a matron infused with the madness of Bacchus, is unnamed. Nigidius Figulus, in the middle, is the only historical figure of the three. In his pronouncement, Nigidius Figulus mentioned several astrological placements that predicted war, tyranny, and suffering.29 Nigidius Figulus retained this reputation as an important Roman practitioner of astrology throughout antiquity. Writing in the early fifth century a.d., Aurelius Augustinus, the Bishop of Hippo, depicted Nigidius Figulus commenting astrologically on the birth of twins.30 Nigidius Figulus, whose cognomen means “potter,” is said to have spun a potter’s wheel (figuli rota) very quickly and compared it to the spinning of the zodiac (caelum). As the potter’s wheel was whirling, he placed marks on the rim in what appeared to be the same place. When the spinning of the wheel stopped, the notches on the rim were not in the same place but some distance apart. A similar situation happened, Nigidius Figulus said, with the spinning of the zodiac and the births of twins. They may seem to have been born at the same time, but the rapid spinning of the much larger zodiac made their births, on this larger scale, distant from each other. Nigidius Figulus thus concluded that twins were not astrologically identical in their characters and fortunes. Despite the considerable reputation of Nigidius Figulus as an astrologer, the pronouncement regarding the birth of the son of Gaius Octavius was not likely to have been an astrological prediction. The revelation of any feature of a

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genitura, which was essentially a private matter, and a complex undertaking at that, would have been unusual, especially in the setting of an emergency meeting of the Roman Senate called to discuss the current political situation. In addition, geniturae were not usually created at this time for newborns. Geniturae could be created for young children, as was the case when Livia Drusilla, the future third wife of the newly born son of Gaius Octavius, later received a prediction from a mathematicus named Scribonius with regard to her firstborn son, Tiberius, when he was young (de infante), an expression that could be used for a child up to three years of age.31 The public pronouncement of Nigidius Figulus at the meeting of the Senate in 63 b.c. was based more likely not in astrology but in observational astronomy. As a mathematicus, Nigidius Figulus was skilled in observational astronomy and he was said to be superior to all practitioners, even those in Egyptian Memphis, in his ability to observe the planets (stellarum . . . visu) and in his assessment of the stars in the constellations (numerisque sequentibus astra).32 Nigidius Figulus’ pronouncement would have derived from the publicly verifiable assessment of the sky that he undertook before sunrise and before he arrived at the meeting of the Senate. As a mathematicus skilled in observational astronomy, Nigidius Figulus would have made his pronouncement regarding the birth of the son of Gaius Octavius on the basis of his knowledge of the scope and workings of the celestial sphere, which were well established within the limits of ancient knowledge during the saeculum Augustum, as astronomical works written during this period indicate. The cosmos was an orderly system that was finite. It was imagined to be a very large hollow dome with the spherical Earth at its center. This dome had four cardinal directions (east, north, west, and south) projected out from the same cardinal directions on the Earth, and it appeared to rotate on a fixed axis around the celestial pole. Visible in this celestial sphere and moving according to their own schedules were the constellations and their stars, the luminaries (the Sun and the Moon), and the five visible ancient planets (Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, Venus, and Mercury). For his study of the planets, luminaries, and constellations, Nigidius Figulus would have had access to direct observation as well as to a number of useful physical resources. These resources included astronomical texts, the most popular of which at this time was the poetic Phaenomena of Aratus, with its Latin translation by Cicero; dioptras, which were sighting tubes placed on a stand through which one could isolate and look at a particular astronomical object such as a star; mechanical devices such as the Antikythera Mechanism that could produce solar, lunar, and planetary positions; celestial globes that displayed the constellations in their locations relative to one another; armillary spheres that reflected the celestial Great Circles by means of rings; orreries that provided a model of the movements of the Sun, the Moon, and the five visible ancient

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planets; and ephemerides, almanacs, and tables that listed the movements of the planets, luminaries, and constellations from day to day and year to year.33 During his observations, Nigidius Figulus would have taken note of the appearance of the fixed constellations, which were distant celestial entities that appeared on the inside surface of the dome above the Earth. The fixed constellations and their stars, which were of varying apparent brightness, were known to be regular in their appearances, rising and setting essentially at the same point on the horizon at the same time and in the same place each year. The names, imagined identities, and stories of the forty-​seven fixed constellations, most of which were Greek in origin, were well known during the saeculum Augustum, thanks especially to the Phaenomena of Aratus, Cicero’s Latin translation of the Phaenomena, and the Catasterismi of Eratosthenes. The most important of the constellations, those found in the area known as the zodiac, had origins that could be traced back to Mesopotamia.34 The word zodiac took its name from the Greek word ζῴδιον, a diminutive form of ζῷον (living being).35 Its twelve constellations were named in Aratus’ Phaenomena and Cicero’s translation in an order that is probably Athenian: Cancer, Leo, Virgo, Chelae, Scorpios, Sagittarius, Capricornus, Aquarius, Pisces, Aries, Taurus, and Gemini.36 Eight of the twelve constellations of the zodiac (Aries, Taurus, Cancer, Leo, Scorpios, Chelae, Capricornus, and Pisces) were animal figures. The remaining four (Gemini, Virgo, Sagittarius, and Aquarius) were anthropomorphic figures. Nigidius Figulus would also have taken note of the Sun, the Moon, and the five ancient planets that were visible to the naked eye and in motion around the stationary Earth in zones between the Earth and the fixed constellations.37 The Sun was seen to be the brightest celestial object in the sky by far. Its Greek name was ἥλιος. Its Latin name sol was said to derive from solus (having no equal).38 The Sun served as the primary determinant, practically speaking, for measuring the length of a year, the seasons, the day, and the hours. In modern understanding, the Earth is known to move around the Sun, but in the ancient world the Sun was seen to move around the Earth, making its annual journey in about 365 days, in a counterclockwise direction, from west to east against the backdrop of the fixed stars, passing in turn through the twelve constellations located in the zodiac. To an observer in Rome or Greece facing south, each day the Sun could be seen moving across the sky from east to west in a clockwise direction along the ecliptic, one of the celestial Great Circles that was tilted to the celestial equator at an angle of 23½° and so called because of the occurrence of solar and lunar eclipses along this circle. To the observer at a latitude around the Mediterranean Sea who was watching the horizon day by day during the saeculum Augustum, the Sun would have been seen at a particular location to rise in the east and set in the west very close to the same time each year. The Sun was also seen to move north and south of due

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east and due west at the horizon line in a regular and predictable way through the points of the solstices and the equinoxes at different times of the year. The solstices were easier to track from the perspective of the Earth, especially at sunset, because at the solstices the Sun appeared to stand still for a few days before moving on, whereas the Sun appeared to pass quickly through the points of the equinoxes.39 Aratus began the year, in Athenian style, at the summer solstice, when the Sun rose in the first degree of Cancer. Cicero followed Aratus’ lead in his translation.40 In the month of June, the Sun appeared to an observer to be at its northernmost point along the horizon, the summer solstice, which was located in the first degree of Cancer.41 After pausing for a few days at this point, the Sun then turned southward. In September, the Sun crossed the celestial equator at the fall equinox, which was located in the first degree of Chelae (a fall constellation known also as Libra). The Sun then continued south, reaching its southernmost point along the horizon in December at the winter solstice, which is located in the first degree of Capricornus. After pausing for a few days at this point, the Sun turned north again and crossed the celestial equator at the spring, or vernal, equinox in the first degree of Aries in March. This cycle of movement then repeated. The practice of beginning the year at the spring equinox when the Sun rose in the first degree of Aries derives from the work of the second-​century b.c. astronomer Hipparchus of Nicaea, who wrote a commentary on Aratus’ Phaenomena about one hundred years after the publication of the poem. By the time of the saeculum Augustum, the spring equinox in Aries was considered to be a fixed point. The length of time between the appearance of the Sun at the beginning of one spring equinox to the next spring equinox was the solar, or tropical, year. Hipparchus, however, is said to have discovered that the spring equinox in Aries was not fixed but was very slowly moving westward, or backward, from Aries along the ecliptic relative to the background of the fixed stars.42 In a so-​called sidereal year, the Sun appeared to move steadily against the background of the fixed stars passing through the twelve constellations located in the zodiac. The sidereal year was not the same length as the solar year. The difference was about twenty minutes. The movement of the spring equinox, which was due to the precession of the earth’s axis, was happening, as is known today, at a gradual rate of about fifty seconds of longitude a year, 1° of arc in seventy-​two years, or one 30° constellation of the zodiac in 2,160 years.43 Over a period of a hundred years, a potential maximum lifetime of an ancient Roman, the difference was only about thirty-​six hours.44 No mathematicus during the saeculum Augustum, including Nigidius Figulus, was overly concerned with or even took any account of the small discrepancy caused by precession during this time, and the precession of the equinoxes does not in any significant way affect the celestial display for the events considered in this life of Augustus.45

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In his astronomical observations, Nigidius Figulus would also have taken note of whether the Moon was in the heavens. The Moon was seen to be the second brightest object in the sky after the Sun. The Greek name of the Moon was σελήνη. Its Latin name luna was said to derive from luceo (glimmer).46 The Moon, like the Sun, appeared from the perspective of an observer in the northern hemisphere who was looking south to make its annual journey counterclockwise from west to east through the constellations of the zodiac, within a narrow band measuring about six degrees on either side of the line of the ecliptic.47 The Moon moved more quickly around the Earth than the Sun over a period of about a month (29½ days) following a more complex schedule than that of the Sun because of its elliptical orbit. Like the Sun, each day the Moon journeyed clockwise across the sky from east to west but at more variable times than the Sun, depending upon its position in its own orbit. The Moon also was seen from the Earth to rise at different times during the day and to change its appearance according to a regular cycle of phases.48 The Moon was new and unseen when it was near the Sun. The Moon rose in any of its waxing, or increasing, phases during the day. The Moon rose in its full phase at sunset. The Moon rose in its waning, or decreasing, phases any time between sunset and sunrise. Nigidius Figulus would also have paid close attention to the presence in the sky of the five ancient planets, which were of lesser brightness and smaller size in appearance than the Moon and the Sun. The planets were named by astronomical writers during the saeculum Augustum in three ways. The first system of planetary nomenclature was based upon the bright appearance of the planets and employed names derived from Greek: Phaethon (Bright) was the name for Saturn, Phaenon (Shining) for Jupiter, Pyroeis (Fiery) for Mars, Phosphoros or Lucifer (Light-​Bearer) for Venus, and Stilbon (Gleaming) for Mercury.49 The second system of nomenclature for the planets can be traced to the Epinomis, a short dialogue that was meant to serve as an appendix to Plato’s Laws and that was written either by Plato himself or perhaps by one of his associates, the astronomer Philip of Opus. In this system, each planet was named “the planet of a deity,” as in the description of Saturn and Jupiter as planets of Kronos and Dios (ἀστέρες . . . Κρόνου . . . Διός).50 Plato used the term ἀστήρ for planet, but Cicero, who created the Latin astronomical lexicon, and other astronomical writers of the period of the saeculum Augustum used several different terms for planet: stella, a word employed to represent a distinct celestial point of light; fulgor, a word representing the flashing brightness of the planet; cursus, representing its orbit; and globus, representing its shape.51 The divine associations of the planets were represented by the name of the Olympian deity associated with the planet in the genitive case or by a related adjectival form. In the c­ oncluding portion of Cicero’s De Republica, a work written probably between 54 b.c. and

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51 b.c., Lucius Aemilius Paullus’ son, who is better known as Publius Cornelius Scipio Aemilianus (cos. 147 b.c.) after his adoption, and his adoptive grandfather, Publius Cornelius Scipio Africanus (cos. 205 b.c.), are described as looking back at the Moon and the planets from the vantage point of the Milky Way, the celestial Great Circle recognizable in the dark sky as a dramatic, long band of white.52 In this dream sequence known as the Somnium Scipionis, Cicero linked the five ancient planets with Olympian deities.53 From the farthest out to the closest, the planets were named according to their association with the planetary divinities. Saturn was stella Saturnia (the Saturnian point of light). Jupiter was fulgor Iovis (the flashing brightness of Jove). Mars was globus Martius (the Martian sphere). Venus was cursus Veneris (the course of Venus). Mercury was cursus Mercurii (the course of Mercury). In Vitruvius’ listing of the planets, which appears in his De Architectura, a work written between 27 b.c. and 11 b.c., the planets were named as points of light. Saturn was stella Saturni; Jupiter was stella Iovis; Mars was stella Martis; Venus was stella Veneris; and Mercury was stella Mercurii.54 Hyginus, who wrote his astronomical compendium in the years 11–​3 b.c., followed the lead of Vitruvius in using stella with the name of the divinity in the genitive to identify the planets but also provided the names for the planets that were associated with their brightness.55 A third planet-​naming system that developed out of the second system came into being during the period of the saeculum Augustum, and it may have been instituted by Nigidius Figulus, who was described as someone who took care to know the planetary divinities and the secluded recesses of the zodiac (Figulus, cui cura deos secretaque caeli /​nosse fuit).56 According to this third system, which reflected the nomenclature used for the planetary symbols in an astrological genitura, the planets visible in the heavens were not cosmological entities named for their bright appearance nor were they astronomical entities merely associated with Olympian divinities. The planets were the celestial manifestations of the Olympian divinities themselves.57 The stella Saturni was Saturnus, who controlled and maintained the periods of time.58 The stella Iovis was Jupiter, the god possessed of a prophetic mind (mente divina) that could probe the innermost thoughts of mortals.59 The stella Martis was the god Mars or Mavors.60 The stella Veneris was Cytherean Venus.61 The stella Mercurii was the god Mercury.62 This new way of understanding the identity of the planets as the celestial manifestations of Olympian divinities extended also to the luminaries. The Sun was Phoebus, the leader, the first among equals, the director of all the lights, and the mind and controlling power of the universe.63 And as the syncretism of the Sun and the Olympian divinity Apollo became more widespread during the saeculum Augustum, the Sun came to be identified with Apollo.64 The Moon came to be identified with Diana, the sister of Apollo.65

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Like the movements of the Moon and the Sun, the movements of the planets were no mystery to an observer during the saeculum Augustum, as the concise discussion by Nigidius Figulus’ contemporary Vitruvius indicates.66 To an observer in the northern hemisphere facing south, the five visible ancient planets appeared to move from west to east over the course of a year through the constellations of the zodiac within a narrow band measuring about eight degrees on either side of the line of the ecliptic, the path of the Sun. The planets could also be seen, when visible, moving from east to west each day. The planets traveled at their own speeds and on their own schedules but on courses that were predictable and not wildly erratic.67 Manilius imagined himself traveling around slowly in the heavens, enjoying and getting to know the movements of the planets and the constellations.68 He described the swift orbits of the planets and listed them in the first book of his poem by their association with divinities as [sidus or ignis] Saturni, Iovis, and Martis.69 He also used the mythological divine nomenclature for the planets, which was influenced by astrology: Saturnus, Iuppiter, Mavors/​ Mars, Venus, and Mercurius.70 Manilius described the movements of the planets as individualized dances in the round choreographed by the law of nature (exercent varias naturae lege choreas) because at times they appeared to stop their usual annual eastward motion along the zodiac and then to move briefly westward in a retrograde motion before returning to their usual annual eastward motion.71 Saturn was known to take a long time to pass through the constellations of the zodiac, about twenty-​nine years. Jupiter was known to take about twelve years to move through the zodiac. Mars took almost two years (687 days) to move through the zodiac. It was visible, glowing reddish, for eighteen months at a time before disappearing for four to six months, its motion being the most irregular in comparison to that of the other planets. Venus took about seven months (225 days) to move through the zodiac. It appeared as the Morning Star (Lucifer) or as the Evening Star (Hesperus or Vesper)—​both were recognized as one object as early as Pythagoras. As the brightest of the planets, Venus could be seen even during the day if one knew where to look. Mercury moved most quickly of the five planets, taking about three months (eighty-​eight days) to move through the zodiac. Mercury would have been more difficult to see with the naked eye because of its proximity to the Sun, and it became visible only briefly before sunrise near the fall equinox and after sunset near the spring equinox. Nigidius Figulus would have made his observations of the heavens on the day of the extraordinary meeting of the Senate on September 22, 63 b.c. before sunrise, most likely during morning nautical twilight around 5:00 to 5:30 a.m., as would have been the usual daily practice for a serious mathematicus. At the time of his observation, he would not yet have known that a male child, a first son, had just been born to his fellow senator Gaius Octavius and his wife Atia.

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The state of the heavens at the time when Nigidius Figulus would have made his own observations before setting off for the extraordinary meeting of the Senate on that day would have been virtually identical to the time of the birth of the son of Gaius Octavius just before sunrise. The locations of the constellations, luminaries, and planets that appeared at the time of the birth of the son of Gaius Octavius can be illustrated on an astronomical sky map. In the sky map presented in this chapter as Fig. 1.1 and in the sky maps presented in the other chapters in this book, east is at the left, west is at the right, north is at the top, and south is at the bottom. The constellations, luminaries, and planets above the horizon and thus potentially visible are located within the circle, the central area of visibility. The constellations, luminaries, and planets outside the circle in the center are below the horizon and not visible to an observer. The constellations, both those within the central area of visibility and those just outside the area of visibility, are shown with the imagined outlines that were derived from connecting the stars in the constellations. The forty-​seven Aratean constellations appear on the sky maps. Other constellations identified and named since the time Aratus wrote his Phaenomena are also included on the sky maps but will not be discussed. All the constellations are identified by the abbreviations established by the International Astronomical Union (IAU). For example, in the sky map in Fig. 1.1 to the south, the constellation Canis (modern Canis Major) is marked as CMa. These abbreviations are included in italics in square brackets after the name of the constellations in the discussions presented in this chapter and in the chapters following as, for example, Canis [CMa]. Important very bright stars within the constellations are indicated by large disks, dark or clear, and they are identified according to the names by which they are commonly known. For example, the brightest star in the constellation Canis [CMa] is noted as Sirius. The full names of the five ancient planets (Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, Venus, and Mercury) within the band of the zodiac on either side of the ecliptic, which is shown as an arced line stretching across the sky map from east to west, are also indicated. The planets are marked by dark disks of varying sizes. For example, on Fig. 1.1 in the east the planet Mercury is marked by a dark disk and named within its constellation, here Virgo [Vir]. The Sun is indicated by a clear disk as in Fig. 1.1, where it is near to rising in the east in Virgo. The Moon is indicated by a dark, clear, or partially clear disk indicating its phase. The Sun and the Moon are named on the sky maps. The three major modern planets (Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto, pace more recent views on its status), which are known in the modern world but were unknown to the ancient Greeks and Romans, do not appear on the sky maps and will not be discussed. At the time of the birth of the son of Gaius Octavius, the Sun in Virgo [Vir] was near to rising in the east (see the central area of visibility in Fig. 1.1). Mercury was also in Virgo [Vir] in the east, very close to and ahead of the Sun, and perhaps

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Fig. 1.1.  The birth of the son of Gaius Octavius and Atia Balba. September 22, 63 b.c. Just before sunrise, 5:50 a.m. Rome (41° 53ꞌ N, 12° 29ꞌ E). SkyMap Pro V. 12 by permission of Chris Marriott.

even briefly visible, since the day of the birth of the son of Gaius Octavius was close to the day of the fall equinox. Toward the west, Mars and Saturn together in Taurus [Tau] were in a very close conjunction, and Jupiter in Cancer [Cnc] was located between the Sun and Mercury in the east and Saturn and Mars in the west. Nigidius Figulus’ interpretation of the state of the heavens on the morning of the birth of the son of Gaius Octavius was based upon the identification of the

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planets and the luminaries as the celestial manifestations of the Olympian divinities. His interpretation may also have been influenced by his awareness and acceptance of the genealogy promoted by Caesar and according to which the Olympian divinities were the mythological ancestors of his Julian family. The mother of the newborn son of Gaius Octavius, Caesar’s niece Atia, was a Julian on her mother’s side.72 Her son could also claim the Julian kinship to Venus and, through Venus, kinship to Jupiter, her father, and kinship to all the other Olympian deities closely related to Jupiter, several of whom had celestial manifestations as luminaries or planets. The celestial manifestation of Caesar’s patron goddess Venus was not in the heavens on the day of the birth of Atia’s son, but the celestial manifestation of Jupiter, the father of Venus, was in a prominent position to bear witness to the happy event of welcoming a son of one of his mortal kin into his own family. Jupiter was the celestial entity most relevant to Nigidius Figulus’ announcement that a future mortal dominus for the world had been born because Jupiter was the celestial manifestation of the dominus or δεσπότης of the Olympian gods. The importance of Jupiter in his celestial manifestation on the day of the birth of the son of Gaius Octavius would have derived further support from the stories that had been circulating about the family of the newborn child. One story passed down through oral tradition told of a lightning strike on the city wall at Velitrae, the ancestral home of Gaius Octavius’ paternal ancestors.73 This lightning strike, which had occurred at some point in the past and which was symbolic of Jupiter, had been interpreted to mean that one day a citizen of Velitrae would have power over the state (responsum est eius oppidi civem quandoque rerum potiturum). Later, this visual omen was interpreted as a prediction of the future power of Augustus (sero tandem documentis apparuit ostentum illud Augusti potentiam portendisse). Gaius Octavius, the father of the newborn, belonged to the branch of the gens Octavia whose members were of the equestrian order and engaged in business.74 Antonius would later cast aspersions upon the son of Gaius Octavius by alleging that his grandfather had been a moneychanger (argentarius) whose own father had been a former slave (libertinus) and a rope-​maker (restio) in the area around Thurii in southern Italy. In reality, Gaius Octavius’ family was now financially wealthy and upwardly mobile politically, qualities that had made him respectable and desirable as a marriage partner for Atia, the Julian niece of Caesar, who had been elected Pontifex Maximus of Rome during 63 b.c., the year of the birth, and who had an illustrious lineage that he traced back to Venus.75 Years later, the son of Gaius Octavius would even elevate his Octavian father into the circle of his Julian family by dedicating to him a memorial arch within a small temple on the Palatine Hill, where he lived, that was topped by a sculpture by Lysias of a four-​ horse chariot together with Apollo and Diana, two of his divine Julian ancestors who had celestial manifestations.76 In making his dramatic pronouncement

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about the newborn son of Gaius Octavius and Atia as the future dominus for the world before an audience of Roman senators, Nigidius Figulus had demonstrated for the first time how important it was not only to observe the celestial sphere on an eventful day but also to assess the heavens for potential exploitation. The story Nigidius Figulus might have heard that linked Jupiter, Velitrae, and the newborn son of Gaius Octavius supported the significance of the appearance of Jupiter in his celestial manifestation as a witness to the birth of the child who was the son of one of Nigidius Figulus’ fellow senators, Gaius Octavius, and the grandnephew of another, Caesar. Nigidius Figulus’ pronouncement essentially constitutes the first documented use of celestial display, that is, of the interpretation of the manifestations of the Julian ancestral divinities as an indication of support in the terrestrial realm.

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Celestial Display and Cicero’s Consular Year 63–​6 0 b.c.

Several days after his birth, the infant son of Gaius Octavius and Atia was named Gaius Octavius after his father, and he will be named Octavius in the following chapters that deal with the early period of his life in order to distinguish him from his father, Gaius Octavius.1 Stories that linked Octavius to the Olympian deities and to the Sun and Jupiter had begun to circulate before the time of Octavius’ birth and shortly afterwards. Suetonius placed these stories in the section of his biography where he gathered together the marvelous events that predicted the future greatness of Octavius from the day of his birth.2 A certain Gaius Drusus is said to have written in his own hand that Octavius, while still an infant or a toddler (infans adhuc), was placed by his nurse in his bed on the ground floor of the house.3 Octavius slipped out of his bed at some point during the night, only to be found the next day after a long search: he was lying down and facing the rising Sun in a very high tower, which was perhaps a dovecote used to house pigeons. Octavius’ ambitious mother, Atia, declared that her son may have been the child of Apollo, who was at the time identified with the Sun, a statement that Atia’s uncle Caesar apparently took as true.4 At some point before his premature death in 59 b.c., Octavius’ father is said to have consulted oracles in Thrace concerning the future of his son. As an answer to Gaius Octavius’ question, a huge pillar of flame rose high up to the zodiac (ad caelum). The same omen of fire had been received by Alexander the Great when he consulted the priests in this place. Gaius Octavius also dreamed that his son appeared to him as a man more eminent than a mere mortal; he was wearing a radiate crown and holding the thunderbolt, scepter, and divine symbols of Jupiter Optimus Maximus, the great sky god and father of Venus, who had his temple on the Capitoline Hill in Rome

Celestial Inclinations. Anne-​Marie Lewis, Oxford University Press. © Oxford University Press 2023. DOI: 10.1093/​oso/​9780197599648.003.0003

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(visus est filium mortali specie ampliorem, cum fulmine et sceptro exuviisque Iovis Optimi Maximi ac radiata corona). Later, Quintus Lutatius Catulus (Catulus) (cos. 78 b.c.) and Cicero are said to have both dreamed about the connection of Jupiter and Octavius, whom they had never seen before and did not know.5 The significance of the birth of Octavius, the dominus terrarum orbi with celestial ancestry upon whom Nigidius Figulus pronounced at the extraordinary meeting of the Senate in September 63 b.c., was potentially momentous for the Roman state, but it would be largely ignored in the midst of the looming constitutional crisis that took place in the final months of this year. Cicero’s spies had been telling him for a long time that plots were afoot and that civil war was likely, but proof of an actual conspiracy did not surface until Cicero was awakened around midnight on October 20 by a delegation of Roman aristocrats, including Crassus, who earlier that evening had received letters from an unnamed person. Having read the one letter addressed directly to him and having learned of the plan for bloodshed, Crassus then took all the letters to Cicero. Crassus was not particularly fond of Cicero but he wished to ensure that no blame would be attached to him—​although later in the year, one of the conspirators did try to implicate him in the plot.6 Cicero, the senior consul, took the lead role because his co-​consul Antonius Hybrida was suspected of having a role in the conspiracy himself. Cicero convened the Senate at sunrise the next day and read the letters publicly to the Senate. Cicero announced that Gaius Manlius planned to lead an uprising of Italian peasants who were angry over Roman rules about debt bondage. This uprising was set to occur on the sixth day before the Kalends of November (October 27) prior to a massacre of leading citizens allegedly planned by Catilina, who had lost the consulship for both 63 b.c. and 62 b.c.7 The massacre was to take place the day after the uprising on the fifth day before the Kalends of November (October 28). Faced with these serious rumors and aroused by Cicero’s alarm, the Roman Senate had recourse to past precedent and, on the day on which Cicero read out the letters, the twelfth day before the Kalends of November (October 21), the Senate enacted the Roman equivalent of martial law by means of a senatus consultum ultimum, which authorized Cicero to take extraordinary steps in defense of law and order. An impromptu force to defend the state was quickly raised. Led by Quintus Marcius Rex (cos. 68 b.c.), who was specially appointed for the occasion, this force set out to put down the uprising. Meanwhile, Catilina remained in Rome as if nothing had been amiss, but in reality he was meeting with his conspirators and even planning for Cicero’s assassination, which was to take place during the night of November 7. Cicero heard about the plot from informants, including an aristocratic Roman woman named Fulvia, who had provided him with information about Catilina’s subversive activities before the election for the consulship of 63 b.c.8 Fulvia at the time

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of the conspiracy of Catilina was the mistress of Quintus Curius, a supporter of Catilina who had been expelled from the Senate, but she also was, according to the historian Sallust, probably one of Cicero’s agents. Cicero managed to protect himself from the assassins who arrived at his house by barring his door to their entry when they arrived just as the Sun was rising on November 7. On the same day or perhaps on the next day, Cicero called for an extraordinary meeting of the full Senate.9 For the venue, he chose the Temple of Jupiter Stator, Jupiter the Upholder, which was located on the Via Sacra. This temple was an unusual choice for a meeting of the Senate but logical because the building was easily fortified and one heavy with meaning. By setting the meeting in this location Cicero was signaling that he had called all the senators into the presence of Jupiter in a temple that had been vowed by Romulus to Jupiter following his military victory over the Sabines.10 These associations with Romulus and Jupiter allowed Cicero to link himself and his defense of the Republic with the foundation of the Roman state and gave him an opportunity to present Jupiter publicly as supportive of him during the crisis. At this meeting, Cicero directly confronted Catilina, who sat by himself because all the attendees avoided being in his company. In the first oration he delivered against Catilina at this meeting, Cicero denounced him, revealed that he knew everything about Catilina’s plans, and demanded that Catilina leave Rome. The senators were unwilling to show any support for Catilina but were not resolved to force him into exile. Nonetheless, Catilina saw which way things were going and that Cicero was gaining the upper hand, and he slipped away from the city that very night with 300 of his followers, going into voluntary exile. On November 9, with Catilina’s guilt manifest for all to see, Cicero delivered his second oration against Catilina to an assembly of the people. A few weeks later, around the end of November, Cicero learned once again through informants and his own observations that the conspirators had sought the assistance of the Allobroges of Gallia Transalpina. The conspirators had not only aimed to sway their fellow senators to the cause of Catilina but also hoped to persuade the Allobroges to revolt. When the matter was exposed, the Allobroges, who had been uncertain whether to fall in with Catilina and his promise of debt relief or with the Roman government and its great resources, readily withdrew their ill-​considered support for Catilina’s uprising. Cicero had learned about details of the conspiracy through the evidence that was disclosed to him in piecemeal fashion by informants. The full picture remained obscure, but the threat was real. Finally, Cicero intercepted incriminating letters implicating five men, some of whom were members of the governing class. The chief conspirator was Publius Cornelius Lentulus Sura (Lentulus), who had been left behind in Rome after Catilina departed. Lentulus was a corrupt, licentious patrician who had been

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expelled from the Senate and was trying to restart his political career. He apparently had a plan to kill all the senators and as many Roman citizens as possible and then burn down the city, sparing only the children of Pompeius Magnus, who would then be used as hostages. A date had been fixed for the mayhem, the night of the Saturnalia, December 17.11 The second most important conspirator at Rome was Gaius Cornelius Cethegus, another patrician and praetor, who was storing at his house the weapons and the material to be used for setting multiple blazes around the city. These weapons would be discovered, thus sealing his fate. The plan to set the fires had also involved stopping up the aqueducts so that no water could be used to put out the flames. Also among the five accused were the equestrians Lucius Statilius and Publius Gabinius Capito, and the Italian Marcus Caeparius of Terracina. Cicero acted decisively. Lentulus, a former consul (71 b.c.), praetor for a second time (63 b.c.), and stepfather of Antonius, was led to the Temple of Concordia to face the Senate along with the other conspirators. The plot was revealed. Lentulus resigned his office, and the conspirators were arrested and placed in the custody of senior senators.12 Cicero delivered a third oration against Catilina and the conspirators on the third day before the Nones of December (December 3), again to an assembly of the people, denouncing the conspirators and demanding action.13 Following the oration, Cicero went to a friend’s house, where he had to spend the night of December 3–​4 because his own house was being used by his wife Terentia to host the winter celebration of the goddess Bona Dea, at which men were forbidden to be present.14 Cicero is said to have agonized that night about inflicting the death penalty upon the conspirators. On the one hand, the thought of imposing the ultimate penalty of execution went against his kindly nature and could lead to accusations that he had acted excessively against very prominent Romans with powerful friends. On the other hand, if he treated the accused gently, he would put the state in dire peril. Plutarch blamed Cicero’s wife Terentia; Cicero’s younger brother, Quintus Cicero; and Cicero’s friend the Roman mathematicus Nigidius Figulus for urging Cicero to act against the conspirators without mercy.15 A positive omen of a spontaneous flame said to have been given by the goddess Bona Dea, which was communicated to him by Terentia, helped Cicero decide what course of action to take.16 On that night, Cicero sent soldiers to occupy the Capitoline Hill and the Forum Romanum. At dawn on the Nones of December (December 5), a second omen in the form of the rising of the fire to a great height occurred while the Vestal Virgins were sacrificing in his house, and the omen gave Cicero hope for the course he intended to take. He believed that this omen had been sent by an external force, the divine power (παρὰ τοῦ δαιμονίου).17 The Senate met that morning to determine the nature and extent of the conspiracy and to decide how to punish the

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conspirators. For Cicero, December 5 would remain the day on which he had acquired a certain exceptional, immortal glory (eximiam quondam atque immortalem gloriam consecutus sum).18 He never ceased to mention the day whenever he could. Some twenty years later in 43 b.c., Brutus, one of the assassins of Caesar, would remark sharply in a letter to Atticus that, unlike Cicero, who could not resist boasting at all hours about the Nones of December, he, Brutus, did not go around bragging continually about the Ides of March.19 At this meeting on December 5, 63 b.c., Caesar the maternal great-​uncle of the recently born son of Gaius Octavius and Atia delivered a reasoned speech advocating for the strict imprisonment of the conspirators in towns around Italy and the confiscation of their property as a punishment until such time as they could have a fair trial.20 Cicero was suspicious of Caesar’s motives in advocating for clemency, and he thought that Caesar may have been complicit in the activities of the conspirators, an accusation that Caesar denied. Cicero, however, was unwilling to challenge Caesar, because of his popularity with the Roman people at the time. Cicero then rose and delivered his fourth, devastating oration against Catilina and, thanks to a strong speech in support of Cicero delivered by the independently minded Cato, the Senate voted for the death penalty even though capital punishment was rare under Roman law and almost never imposed against members of the governing class. Cicero acted with swift resolution. He personally led Lentulus along the Via Sacra and through the Forum Romanum to the carcer, the prison used for temporary detention that was located at the foot of the Capitoline Hill. The praetors then escorted each of the remaining four conspirators, who had been held in different places, to the prison to join Lentulus. There, all five conspirators were summarily executed without trial that very evening—​each being lowered down into the deep, foul subterranean chamber within the prison known as the Tullianum, where they were strangled. When Cicero was asked what had happened to the five conspirators, Plutarch reports that Cicero said only, “They lived” (ἔζησαν): that is, they were once alive and now they were dead.21 Cicero’s decisive action in ending the crisis was at first welcomed with great joy by the Roman senators and the Roman populace, who lit his way with celebratory torches as they escorted him home that evening, calling him the savior (σῶτηρ) and founder (κτίστης) of Rome. Catulus, the leader of the Optimate faction, declared that Cicero should receive the title of pater patriae (πατὴρ τῆς πατρίδος, father of the fatherland).22 Cicero had achieved the lofty position in Rome that he had long sought. Even before he stepped down from the consulship at the end of December 63 b.c., Cicero remained adamant that he, by his actions, had saved the Roman state. Catilina, who had managed to evade capture, remained at large throughout December, but he died while fighting in battle near the Italian town of Pistoria in Etruria in early January 62 b.c., shortly after Cicero’s term as consul

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had ended. By spring 62 b.c., the conspiracy that had threatened Cicero’s consular year was over. Cicero did not discover the crisis on his own. He had relied on an extensive trusted network of informants, agents, and spies, and he used his political intuition to sniff out the full extent of the threat. In Cicero’s mind, at least, his year as consul was among the most dramatic and critical in recent Roman history, and his handling of the crisis was, in his own assessment, worthy of epic. He might have even thought at the time, as he came to believe later, that divine intervention had been involved. Questions among the governing class with regard to what Cicero had done at the end of his consular year and his authority to take such extreme steps, however, had been raised even before Cicero left office. Cicero was permitted to take the oath before he stepped down from the consulship, as was customary, but he was not permitted to speak to the people from the Old Rostra in the Forum Romanum, as was also customary. Cicero did himself no favors by making up and pronouncing his own oath and swearing that he truly had saved the Roman state and maintained its authority.23 After Cicero had left office as consul, he remained convinced that he had done the right thing in flushing out and executing five of the leading conspirators in Rome in the final month of his consular year, even though the sentence of capital punishment against the conspirators rested on the legally questionable and ambiguous authority of the Senate’s ultimate decree commanding Cicero to save the state. Cicero had a few supporters, notably Cato, who ensured that Cicero was honored for his accomplishments during his consular year. But Cicero’s opponents, who were either secret supporters of Catilina and his conspirators or who were eager to exploit the public outrage at the harsh treatment of the conspirators at the hands of Cicero, were resolved to give him no peace. Cicero was almost tried for the murder of the Roman citizens after the death of Catilina in January 62 b.c. but he escaped prosecution at that time. Cicero continued to boast about the achievements of his consular year and to magnify himself excessively even when Romans more favorably disposed to him had begun to grow annoyed at his constant self-​promotion, both orally and in his writings. Cicero even complained frankly in a letter to Pompeius Magnus, who, he felt, had not congratulated him sufficiently for the magnificent achievements of his consular year.24 By his own admission, Cicero and his brother, Quintus Cicero, had always been united in their pursuit of praise (laudis avidissimi semper fuimus).25 Cicero took great pleasure in receiving adulation from others and in praising himself, and his excessive desire for fame and glory is said to have been his greatest weakness throughout his entire life.26 Cicero’s arrogance was compounded by the sarcastic and biting jests he made at the expense of others, thus creating enemies.27 Although wrapped up in his own high principles and in his self-​righteousness, Cicero eventually began to realize that he had made himself

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hated because of his arrogance and constant self-​aggrandizement. He was now vulnerable and becoming a target. Cicero’s most dangerous opponent at the time would turn out to be someone unexpected, Publius Claudius Pulcher, a patrician more than ten years his junior, who is generally portrayed negatively in the ancient sources as a violent and unscrupulous populist.28 Cicero had once considered Claudius Pulcher an ally for working with him against Catilina in 63 b.c. and even assisting in guarding Cicero himself in those perilous times. Their enmity could be traced to a scandalous episode that occurred in the year 62 b.c. when the secret rites of the goddess Bona Dea were held at night in the house of Caesar, who was praetor in this year, and hosted by Caesar’s third wife, Pompeia, a granddaughter of Lucius Cornelius Sulla (cos. 88 b.c.). Claudius Pulcher was in love with Pompeia and she with him, and because he was still beardless he allegedly devised a plan to disguise himself as a woman in order to attend the rites, which were only for women, and to engage that night in an adulterous liaison with Pompeia. Claudius Pulcher was led into the house of Caesar by a slave girl who was part of the plan. Upon their arrival, the slave girl ran off to tell Pompeia that Claudius Pulcher had arrived. Bored with waiting for Pompeia to appear, Claudius Pulcher began wandering around Caesar’s large house and was discovered by a slave of Caesar’s mother, Aurelia, a prudent woman who had been keeping a close watch on her young daughter-​in-​ law. When Claudius Pulcher was asked his identity, his voice gave him away. The women began crying out that the rites had been profaned by the presence of a forbidden man. Claudius Pulcher fled and was found in the room belonging to the slave girl who had brought him into the house. He was either thrown out or, as Cicero says, he was smuggled out by the young slave girl, and the next day the outraged women told their husbands about the incident. Claudius Pulcher was charged with sacrilege. In an effort to gain public sympathy and cause a distraction before his trial, Claudius Pulcher began attacking leading members of the Senate and alluding to the controversial decisions Cicero had made at the end of his consular year. Claudius Pulcher’s trial, which was not held until May 61 b.c., was sensational. He denied that he had been in Rome at the time of the incident despite the reports that he had been found in Caesar’s house. Caesar backed away from the prosecution of Claudius Pulcher for profaning the rites of the Bona Dea, although Caesar did immediately divorce his wife Pompeia after the incident at his house, not because of any adultery, he said, but because of the suspicions others had of his wife, which he would not tolerate. Throughout the trial the jury was terrified. Caesar refused to testify against Claudius Pulcher, a decision that may have been payback for Claudius Pulcher’s help in securing the governorship of Gaul for him. Unlike Caesar, however, Cicero testified against Claudius Pulcher, stating

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that Claudius Pulcher had indeed been in Rome at the time. Cicero may have been forced to testify against Claudius Pulcher by his assertive and fearless wife Terentia, who is said to have hated Claudia Pulchra, the middle sister of the three sisters of Claudius Pulcher and the wife of Quintus Caecilius Metellus Celer (cos. 60 b.c.). Claudia Pulchra had a scandalous reputation and was sarcastically nicknamed Κουαδραντία or mulier quadrantaria illa after the quadrans, a coin of little value.29 Terentia felt that Claudia Pulchra had in mind to take Cicero away from her and marry him herself. Claudius Pulcher was in the end acquitted of having profaned the rites of the goddess, thanks to the intervention of someone left unidentified who is said to have bribed the jury. Cicero implies that the wealthy benefactor was the aristocratic Crassus, who had brought the incriminating letters to him on the night of October 20, 63 b.c. Cicero describes this bald-​headed man (calvus) to Atticus in an allusive way that obviously made sense to both of them, reminding Atticus that this man was the one who had once delivered an oration in Cicero’s honor.30 Although Cicero had not previously been on unfriendly terms with Claudius Pulcher, his testimony against Claudius Pulcher in the trial had poisoned the relationship between the two of them irrevocably and set Claudius Pulcher on a path of vengeance.31 With the scandal of the Bona Dea now in the past, questions regarding what Cicero had done at the end of his consular year and his authority to take such extreme steps resurfaced. Cicero began to consider how he might defend his actions and absolve himself from the blame for the brutal end to the crisis that had settled directly upon him. His primary concern was to protect his good name for posterity. For this, he turned his mind to literature, the best way to ensure that future generations would look back upon his consulship with approval.32 His strategies for self-​aggrandizement were lofty. He is said to have planned to write a history of Rome that began with the year of his consulship and worked backward to the founding of Rome by Romulus.33 He had hoped in 62 b.c. that the poet Archias might complete a poem about his consulship, but this did not come to pass.34 He also sent to Atticus a personal account of his consulship (a commentarium) written in Greek, seeking a review of his Greek style and tone, which he hoped would seem learned.35 Cicero then promised to send Atticus the Latin version. And after that, Cicero promised to send Atticus a poem on the same subject because he was so determined not to let any opportunity for praising himself be overlooked (ne quod genus a me ipso laudis meae praetermittatur).36 Later in the same year, Cicero also sent his consular memoir (nostrum illud ὑπόμνημα) to Posidonius of Apamea, the influential Stoic philosopher with whom he had once studied, requesting that Posidonius write up a more embellished version of the events of that year (ut ornatius de isdem rebus scriberet).37 Cicero was disappointed to hear back from Posidonius that not

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only did the project not inspire him but also that he was quite discouraged at the prospect of taking on such a task, allowing Cicero to think that Posidonius found it too immense for his pen rather than too dangerous for his person. As a result, concerned that his self-​satisfied perception of his consular year was not going to protect him from the growing disapproval in the public sphere, Cicero felt compelled to mount his own written defense of his consular year in an epic poem. This poem, De Consulatu Suo, which consisted of a not insubstantial three books written in dactylic hexameters, the appropriate meter for a poem with a heroic theme, was completed before the end of December 60 b.c. Only a few fragments of the poem have survived.38 Its best-​known verse, O fortunatam natam me consule Romam, drew later criticism on the basis of its literary qualities.39 But this verse and the other fragments that are extant today may be insufficient evidence of the literary quality of the entire poem itself. Cicero was very fond of poetry as a child, and it is worth remembering that Cicero in his day was considered the best poet among the Romans until his work was eclipsed by the work of the late Republican and Augustan poets who followed. Only then did Cicero’s poetry fall sharply into disrepute and neglect.40 Cicero’s contemporary political enemies did not take issue with the literary qualities of the poem he wrote on his consulship. They complained instead about Cicero’s constant self-​promotion of the poem that dealt with his consulship and his high estimation of its excellence in comparison with other works of literature.41 No detailed contemporary personal record of the year of Cicero’s consulship in the form of a memoir or a corpus of letters written by or to Cicero survives. Several passing comments found in the scorching orations that Cicero delivered publicly against Catilina in November and December 63 b.c. provide insight into the effective strategies Cicero employed before he reached the point of the final decisive actions he took at the end of his consular year. The only record of Cicero’s consular year from its beginning to its end consists of his own poem on his consulship, which also has not survived in its entirety. The fragments of this poem show that Cicero, a formidable courtroom advocate, did not hold back in mounting a robust defense of his consular year. The largest fragment from his consular poem, which he placed in his De Divinatione, a philosophical work in prose published at some point in the months before and after the assassination of Caesar, perhaps between late 45 b.c. and mid-​44 b.c., indicates that Cicero was also tracking the celestial sphere during his consular year. This strategy may have been Cicero’s practical response to the knowledge he had received that Catilina was surrounded by advisors with divinatory interests and expertise.42 For advice as the conspiracy unfolded, Cicero had turned to Nigidius Figulus, the mathematicus and senator who had made the dramatic pronouncement on September 22, 63 b.c. that a dominus for the world had been born in the person of the son

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of Gaius Octavius and Atia.43 Cicero was also able to rely on his own astronomical expertise. His interest in the celestial sphere went back some thirty years to around 90 b.c. when, as a young man not yet fully immersed in the pursuit of his political career, he had essentially created the Roman lexicon for astronomy by translating into Latin verse Aratus’ Phaenomena, the Greek poem that was a foundational text of astronomy for Roman students and for those whose interest in the cosmos continued after the formal period of their education had ended.44 The celestial sphere was in Cicero’s thoughts once again when he was composing the poetic defense of his consulship. In a letter he wrote to Atticus in June 60 b.c., the same year in which he was writing his defense, Cicero told his friend that he had sent to him, as requested, his translation of the second, meteorological part of Aratus’ Phaenomena, which Cicero called his Prognostica.45 In the De Divinatione, Cicero gave his brother, Quintus Cicero, the task of introducing a lengthy segment from his consular poem. Quintus Cicero quoted first from the second meteorological portion of his brother’s translation of Aratus’ Phaenomena, the portion that dealt with the impact of the Sun and the Moon on the Earth and with the reliable terrestrial signs that could be obtained, for example, from the sea, birds, and frogs.46 Quintus Cicero then presented in one continuous block seventy-​eight verses from Cicero’s consular poem, which had been written some fifteen years earlier in 60 b.c., saying that he, Quintus Cicero, had memorized the verses because he took such pleasure in them (cuius edidici etiam versus, et lubenter quidem).47 In these verses from the consular poem, Cicero had introduced as his advocate Urania, the Muse of Celestial Matters. Urania presented the celestial sphere as the backdrop and witness for the major political events of 63 b.c. In many ways, Urania’s account of Cicero’s consular year resembles the astronomical diaries that were created in Babylon, which combined observations of celestial phenomena with political events, one of the most famous of which is the account created by Babylonian priests for the Battle of Gaugemela, which took place on the twenty-​fourth day of Year 5 of Artašata, a name for Darius II, in month 6, that is, on October 1, 331 b.c.48 In this fourth-​century b.c. astronomical diary, several astronomical events were noted as having taken place before the battle. A total lunar eclipse occurred on September 20, 331 b.c., reaching its maximum after sunset and foretelling doom coming from the west. Jupiter disappeared about thirty minutes before this eclipse reached totality, which was unpropitious. Saturn remained continually present, thus adding to the difficulty, and presaged the outcome of the battle, the victory of the Macedonian conqueror Alexander the Great over the Persian king Darius II.49 Urania began her pronouncement to Cicero in the excerpt from Cicero’s consular poem by referencing Jupiter, the god in whose temple the Roman senators

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had met and heard Cicero’s first oration delivered against Catilina on November 7 or November 8:50 From the beginning (principio), Jupiter inflamed with fire (flammatus . . . igni) is turned around (vertitur) and surveys the whole world with his light (totum conlustrat lumine mundum). He strives to reach the heavens and the lands with a mind divine (menteque divina caelum terrasque petessit), which, enfolded and confined in the vaults of the eternal upper ether (aetheris aeterni saepta atque inclusa cavernis), completely holds in check the perceptions and experiences of mortals. With the word principio, Urania echoed the opening words of Aratus’ Phaenomena (Ἐκ Διὸς ἀρχώμεσθα, From Zeus let us begin) and Cicero’s own partially extant translation of this verse (A Iove Musarum primordia).51 The description provided by Urania was partly cosmological: the planet Jupiter glowed with light, turned around, and confined itself in a celestial orbit. But the description also suited well a planetary divinity because Jupiter was described as having a prophetic mind that could probe the perceptions and experiences of human beings. The view that a planet was a celestial manifestation of an Olympian deity appears to have been behind the pronouncement made by Nigidius Figulus on the day of Octavius’ birth, and it had become common by the time the De Divinatione was published around 45 b.c. In these selected verses of his consular poem, Cicero would single out Jupiter by name and by attribution four times, thus foreshadowing the appearance of Jupiter in his planetary manifestation as the critical celestial support upon which Cicero would rely in defense of the controversial actions he took at the end of 63 b.c.52 Cicero, an expert himself in matters of the celestial sphere, deferred to Urania in her role as his divine advisor on celestial matters. Urania had told him to inquire at the beginning of his consular year into the motions of the planets from which he might receive guidance in all things:53 And if you wish to learn the movements and the shifting courses of the planets (stellarum motus cursusque vagantis) located in the home of the zodiacal constellations, which are said to wander (errant) according to the terminology and false reports of the Greeks but in truth are carried on specific courses and in specific areas, you will then discern that all things are distinguished by a divine mind (divina mente). What follows in the remaining verses is a literary and accurate record presented by the Muse Urania, in chronological order, of Cicero’s observations of

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the celestial sphere during the year 63 b.c. In appropriately solemn and at times obscure language, Cicero has Urania recount how he observed the heavens and found there the signs of both warnings and support for the actions he would take with regard to the Catilinarian conspiracy. Cicero depicts Urania, proclaiming (pronuntiat) the course of the events that occurred in that year set against their celestial backdrops.54 Picking up on the first word of her speech (principio), Urania begins at the beginning of Cicero’s consular year:55 When you were consul, you began first (primum) by observing the swift motions of the stars (astrorum volucris . . . motus) and the important conjunctions of planets sparkling with a conflagration (concursusque gravis stellarum ardore micantis). Urania here refers to the Kalends of January ( January 1), the day on which Cicero assumed the consulship (see the central area of visibility in Fig. 2.1). Before sunrise within morning nautical twilight on this first day, Cicero, who was perhaps anxious to prove himself worthy of his elevation as a novus homo to the pinnacle of Roman offices, would have noted a celestial display that contained three planets. Venus was in Sagittarius [Sgr] at the eastern horizon and in conjunction with Mercury in Sagittarius.56 Mars in Scorpios [Sco] was ahead, not very far to the west of Mercury and Venus. Subsequent celestial signs were not particularly promising. Urania mentions the early event over which Cicero presided as consul, the Feriae Latinae. She sets this event against the ominous celestial omens visible in the sky at this time:57 When you circled around the snowy mounds on the Alban Mount, you both honored the Latins with shining milk and saw celestial objects shimmering with a bright conflagration (claro tremulos ardore cometas). And you made the judgment that these many nightly occurrences were associated with destruction because the Latin feast had actually fallen at a dreadful time. The event of the Feriae Latinae was a movable one, and its date was scheduled by the consul. The precise date chosen by Cicero is unknown, but the celebration probably took place in January shortly after he assumed the consulship. The celestial objects to which Urania refers are not comets, because comets do not appear in multiples, and no record of a comet appearing at this time in 63 b.c. is found in the historical or astronomical records.58 Because Urania uses the word tremulos (shimmering) to describe cometas, she is more likely referring to the aurora

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Fig. 2.1.  The first day of Cicero’s consulship. January 1, 63 b.c. Before sunrise, 7:20 a.m. Rome (41° 53ꞌ N, 12° 29ꞌ E). SkyMap Pro V. 12 by permission of Chris Marriott.

borealis, the Northern Lights, which would have been a rare but possible occurrence even as far south as Italy.59 Livy had noted the appearance of what appeared to be the aurora borealis as a bad omen that occurred before the Battle of Cannae in 216 b.c., a dreadful, never-​forgotten slaughter for the Romans.60 The appearance of a red aurora borealis over Ostia had later caused the emperor Tiberius to rush a fire brigade to the town.61 Pliny the Elder would also later describe the aurora borealis and the common view in Roman culture that the aurora borealis

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was an indication of great misfortune and terror for mortals.62 As the timing of the Feriae Latinae in January had indicated, the year had an unpropitious start, but the celestial sphere had at least provided, as expected, an indication of what might come. The first half of Cicero’s consular year continued to be plagued by bad omens and precursors for what was to come, thus creating, perhaps, in Cicero’s mind an expectation of the trouble that eventually came to pass. In her pronouncement, Urania next mentions the occurrence of another natural celestial event, a lunar eclipse:63 The Moon concealed its bright form as its light grew smaller (claram speciem concreto lumine luna /​abdidit), and suddenly it was canceled out in the starry night (et subito stellanti nocte perempta est). Cicero has Urania accurately describe how this celestial event unfolded: the light of the Moon began to lessen and then yield to the light of the stars. A partial lunar eclipse was visible at Rome on May 3, 63 b.c., when the Moon was full in Scorpios. The eclipse began during the night at 1:26 a.m., reached its maximum at 4:32 a.m. when the Moon was near the western horizon, and ended after sunrise when the Moon was no longer visible. As Livy’s account regarding the reaction of the tribune Gaius Sulpicius Gallus to the lunar eclipse that occurred on the night before the Battle of Pydna in June 168 b.c. indicates, eclipses were understood by educated Romans well before the saeculum Augustum to be natural and predictable occurrences.64 Eclipses are said to have been demonstrated by using an orrery associated with third-​century b.c. mathematician Archimedes of Syracuse that was brought to Rome in the late third century b.c., a fact that Cicero himself mentioned in the first book of his De Republica.65 To the general populace ignorant of the rational scientific explanation, however, lunar eclipses were frightening, unfavorable omens.66 While Cicero, who was himself highly conversant with the scientific aspects of the celestial sphere, knew that eclipses were a natural occurrence not to be feared, the Roman people would have viewed this eclipse, in progress at sunrise, as unpropitious. As consul, Cicero must have been concerned about whether such an event would promote unrest among the urban population. Close upon this partial lunar eclipse of May 3 occurred a partial solar eclipse on May 18 that was also visible at Rome. Urania also mentions this eclipse:67 Why was the beam of Phoebus (Phoebi fax), a messenger of sorrowful war, which was flying toward the great dome of the sky with its inflamed conflagration (quae magnum ad columen flammato ardore volabat), striving

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to reach the regions of the steep zodiac and obliteration (praecipitis caeli partis obitusque petessens)? Scholars have suggested various explanations for Urania’s allusion here to the beam of Phoebus (Phoebi fax), but when Urania’s words are read in conjunction with a sky map, it is clear that she must be describing the mechanics of the solar eclipse that took place around sunrise on May 18, 63 b.c.68 The Sun in Taurus was rushing toward the horizon in its usual daily fashion but as if not knowing that on this morning it would run into the Moon, which was ahead and also in Taurus. This partial solar eclipse began at 4:54 a.m. just after sunrise, reached its maximum at 5:36 a.m., and ended at 6:20 a.m., about ninety minutes after sunrise. Urania commented that this solar eclipse was a portent of sorrowful war to come. Urania’s insight into the meaning of this omen was further strengthened with the benefit of Cicero’s hindsight on the events of his consular year. These two eclipses were followed by other unfortunate earthly portents, primarily destructive lightning strikes, which were orchestrated by high-​thundering Jupiter from starry Olympus (pater altitonans stellanti nixus Olympo).69 Jupiter in his planetary manifestation appeared in Cancer at the eastern horizon during morning nautical twilight on July 5 and from that day on was poised to make a visual impact in the heavens during the remaining months of the year. Urania also alludes to the appearance of another celestial entity in the sky at the same time. She mentions a bad omen involving a statue of the twins Romulus and Remus being fed by their lupine nurse: the statue was struck by Jupiter’s lightning and crashed to the ground:70 Here was the untamed nurse of Roman fame special to Mars who began to nourish the small boys born from the seed of Mavors [Mars] from her udders heavy with life-​giving milk. Then she fell with the boys after a fiery lightning strike and left behind the imprints of her feet after they were ripped away. Significantly, the god Mars was also in the heavens in his planetary manifestation at the time of the initial appearance of Jupiter in the eastern sky during morning nautical twilight on July 5. Mars appeared in the heavens ahead of Jupiter in the constellation Aries. Another partial lunar eclipse, visible at Rome, occurred later in the year on October 27, 63 b.c., the same date on which the conspirators chose to set the uprising in motion. The eclipse began at 3:05 p.m. and ended at 8:40 p.m., reaching its maximum at 5:52 p.m. shortly after the Moon in Taurus rose after sunset. Cicero, and others, knew that an eclipse was merely a natural and predictable

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phenomenon no different from the solar and lunar eclipses that had already happened in May of this year. But the occurrence of another eclipse happening at the beginning of the final crisis in 63 b.c. may have been exploited by Cicero’s enemies in 63 b.c. as boding poorly for its resolution. Urania ignored this second partial lunar eclipse. In 60 b.c. when Cicero published these verses on his consulship in an attempt to justify his actions, which were being viewed critically by the ruling class, the mention of a third eclipse in one year would certainly have been inadvisable. Cicero instead has Urania focus on Jupiter as the planetary divinity who was providing powerful, visual support for him. Jupiter would appear alone among the planets and luminaries in the heavens shortly before sunrise on October 27. Cicero left unmentioned any reference to the night of November 7, during which the conspirators had planned to assassinate him. Jupiter had appeared at the eastern horizon around 9:00 p.m. on November 7 and would be visible throughout the night until the Sun rose, thus demonstrating for all to see Jupiter’s support and protection for Cicero, who had outwitted the efforts of the assassins to carry out their murderous, shocking deed at the very house of Cicero himself. The final event of Cicero’s consular year mentioned by Urania was the revelation that the Allobroges of Gaul had reneged on their support for Catilina and thus revealed the destruction of the state that Catilina had planned.71 This reversal was publicly revealed by Cicero in his third oration against Catilina on December 3, 63 b.c. In this oration, which was delivered at night, Cicero described the portents, celestial and terrestrial, that had occurred during the year of his consulship, and he mentioned the intervention on his side of Jupiter Optimus Maximus.72 In his consular poem, Cicero made much of the installation on December 3 of a statue of Jupiter on the Capitoline Hill, facing east toward the sunrise and placed on a lofty pedestal.73 The statue was a replacement for a statue of Jupiter that had been struck by lightning in 65 b.c. The haruspices had decreed that a larger statue to Jupiter should be put in its place, and the consuls for the year 65 b.c. had let the contract for its relocation. After a two-​year delay, the project had finally been completed. To Cicero, the installation of this new statue to Jupiter on the Capitoline Hill on the morning of this critical day, December 3, confirmed the support of Jupiter for his efforts to prevent the destruction of the state. Urania, the Muse of Celestial Matters, in Cicero’s consular poem, had employed the two words columen and columna, which had interchangeable meanings, to link the terrestrial and celestial presence of Jupiter on this day.74 Urania referred to the lofty pedestal of the new statue of Jupiter, which faced east toward the rising Sun (excelsum ad columen formata decore /​sancta Iovis species claros spectaret in ortus).75 And she referred to the appearance of Jupiter the planet in the lofty dome of the heavens (Iuppiter excelsa clarabat sceptra columna).76 Cicero and the Roman

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populace would have been able to see the newly installed statue of Jupiter on the Capitoline Hill highlighted by the light of the rising Sun on the morning of December 3. Cicero, together with the people and the Senate of Rome, would also have been able to behold in total darkness about three hours after sunset on this momentous day, December 3, the god Jupiter in his planetary manifestation in his lofty abode in the heavens, rising in the east in Cancer [Cnc] (see the central area of visibility in Fig. 2.2).

Fig. 2.2.  The conclusion of Cicero’s third oration against Catilina. December 3, 63 b.c., 8:00 p.m. Rome (41° 53ꞌ N, 12° 29ꞌ E). SkyMap Pro V. 12 by permission of Chris Marriott.

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At the end of his first oration against Catilina, which he delivered about a month prior on November 8, Cicero had addressed Jupiter directly. At the end of his third oration against Catilina on December 3, Cicero called upon the citizens of Rome to offer their prayers to Jupiter:77 Roman citizens (Quirites), since it is now night (quoniam iam est nox) and since you have solicited the good will of Jove [ Jupiter], the guardian of this city and of yourselves, disperse into your homes. Although the danger has now been driven away, defend those homes, just as you did last night, with guards and watchmen. Cicero, speaking outdoors to the people, would probably not have missed the opportunity to point dramatically upward to the planet Jupiter when he delivered his final words in the darkness of night at the conclusion of the dramatic events of this day. Jupiter would remain in the heavens, watchful and supportive throughout the entirety of that night and on the nights following until the conclusion of Cicero’s consular year. Jupiter was mentioned by name several times in the orations Cicero delivered against Catilina during his consular year, 63 b.c., and Jupiter would remain after that year in Cicero’s thoughts.78 In February 55 b.c., Quintus Cicero had only just finished reading Cicero’s poem on his consulship, which he called Cicero’s Urania. The poem had been published some five years earlier but Quintus Cicero had been too busy as propraetor in Asia in 62–​59 b.c. and as legatus to Pompeius Magnus in 56 b.c. and to Caesar in Gaul in 55 b.c. to read the work until February 55 b.c. In a letter Cicero sent in reply to his brother in 55 b.c., Cicero accepted the advice his brother had given him to remember the oration of Jupiter (ut meminerim Iovis orationem) that he had placed at the end of his consular poem.79 Cicero said tellingly that indeed he remembered the oration of Jupiter, which he wrote more for himself than for others (ego vero memini, et illa omnia mihi magis scripsi quam ceteris). In his consular poem, Cicero did not have Urania mention the summary execution of the conspirators on December 5, two days after the speech he delivered on the night of December 3, because he remained convinced of the necessity of the extreme actions he had taken at the end of his consulship and saw no need to apologize for or excuse them. Urania praises Cicero for keeping faith with Rome’s far distant ancestors and for fulfilling his duty and devotion (pietasque fidesque) to the divinities (divi).80 Urania commends Cicero’s decision to leave his early philosophical studies at Athens and enter upon a career that served the state. She acknowledges his well-​deserved return, after his consular year had ended, to the embrace of those philosophical studies, which included the study of Plato, the eminent Greek philosopher who wrote on celestial matters. She mentions

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Cicero’s worries, which by 60 b.c. had prompted him to engage her advocacy on his behalf by using her capability and status as the Muse of Celestial Matters. Her advice to Cicero, as Cicero presented it, was to elevate Jupiter, who appeared in the heavens in his celestial manifestation on the critical days of the conspiracy, as the primary source of support for the controversial actions Cicero had been compelled to take at the end of his consular year. The verses Cicero placed in the mouth of Urania, the Muse of Celestial Matters, in an effort to defend the actions he had taken during his consulship are significant in themselves as indications of Cicero’s firmly held opinion of the correctness of his actions in the face of growing distaste for what he had done at the end of December 63 b.c. But they are critically important for this study because they constitute the first record of an attempt by one of Rome’s leading citizens to use celestial display in a political context. In September 63 b.c., Nigidius Figulus had shown how celestial display might be employed to interpret the meaning of the appearance of a celestial entity on a significant day, but Cicero, influenced by Nigidius Figulus, his friend and consultant in matters celestial, was the first senior politician who was in office at the time to put Nigidius Figulus’ celestial strategy into practice in service of a controversial political decision for all Romans to see and judge. Cicero had tracked the messages being conveyed to him by the heavens during the year of his consulship, 63 b.c. He referred to them in his orations against Catilina. He recreated them later in the consular poem he wrote in 60 b.c. Cicero’s choice of spokesperson—​Urania, a daughter of Jupiter—​was clever and bold, but contemporary critics complained that Cicero associated himself too much with Jupiter.81 The choice of Jupiter was also presumptuous. Despite saving the Roman state from Catilina and his fellow conspirators, Cicero had overstepped his bounds. The implication he promoted, that he had taken the controversial actions he did at the end of his consular year under the silent gaze of powerful Jupiter, who was visible in his celestial manifestation in the heavens at critical times in this year, and thus with Jupiter’s support, was ultimately damaging to Cicero’s goal of restoring his reputation and saving himself from prosecution. Although ambitious and accomplished as an orator, he was an equestrian outsider from the Italian town of Arpinum with too many enemies. He had no justifiable right to use celestial display and to call upon Jupiter, the most powerful Olympian celestial deity and the proclaimed ultimate ancestor of Caesar and his Julian family, in support of the controversial decision he had made at the end of his consular year to murder five Catilinarian conspirators, one of whom was a former consul.

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Celestial Venus, Caesar’s Victories, and the Julian Calendar 59–​4 5 b.c.

The epic poem Cicero wrote in 60 b.c. to defend his consular actions made little impact on his powerful enemies. In 59 b.c., Cicero’s most relentless foe, Claudius Pulcher, who had the backing of Caesar and Crassus, renounced his patrician status and had himself adopted into a plebeian family of the gens Fonteia.1 Claudius Pulcher’s adoption by a plebeian was very unusual because the Claudii were staunch patricians and always opposed the common people, who were represented by the tribunes. Publius Fonteius was also a surprising choice for an adoptive father because he was an obscure young man and only twenty years old. Claudius Pulcher did not change his name according to Roman custom to reflect the name of his adoptive father. His new name simply replaced the patrician spelling of his nomen Claudius with the plebeian spelling Clodius. The adoption was, in fact, a purely political ruse undertaken in order to drive Cicero from the city. In order to protect himself, Cicero either asked to go off to Gaul with Caesar as a legate or he was asked by Caesar to do so. Cicero reneged on the plan when Clodius Pulcher appeared to be friendly with him again, a ploy Cicero should have recognized, given the enmity he had created between them when he bore witness against Clodius Pulcher at his trial in 61 b.c. Caesar was immensely irritated that Cicero had turned down the opportunity to accompany him to Gaul, and allegedly he urged Clodius Pulcher to attack Cicero for the execution of the Catilinarian conspirators. Clodius Pulcher began to harass Cicero publicly and threaten him with prosecution. In 59 b.c., the conflict with Clodius Pulcher worsened. Cicero dismissively took to calling Clodius Pulcher “Little Pulcher” (Pulchellum) and he began to distance himself from politics. He returned to his legal advocacy, entertained visitors, and basked in the memory of

Celestial Inclinations. Anne-​Marie Lewis, Oxford University Press. © Oxford University Press 2023. DOI: 10.1093/​oso/​9780197599648.003.0004

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the glorious year of his consulship (renovatur memoria consulatus).2 In the same month Cicero revealed to Atticus that the situation was nonetheless wearing him down and that he was thoroughly disgusted with life (prorsus vitae taedet).3 Early in 58 b.c. Clodius Pulcher set in motion the prosecution of Cicero that he had been threatening and that Cicero had so much feared. As a tribune of the plebs, Clodius Pulcher proposed a law that would exile anyone who had put to death a Roman citizen without trial. This law was aimed directly at Cicero, who had engineered the execution of Roman citizens at the end of his consular year, 63 b.c. Caesar and Crassus were apparently instrumental in these machinations, and Pompeius Magnus is also said to have supported them. Cicero began to go around dressed in the dark clothing of mourning with his hair unkempt, supplicating people, demeaning himself, and making himself a figure of ridicule. Some 20,000 equites are said to have dressed like him to show their support, but Clodius Pulcher and his followers pelted Cicero with stones and mud when they saw him in the streets. Pompeius Magnus had been telling Cicero that he had nothing to fear from Clodius Pulcher and that he could count on his protection, but in the end, Pompeius Magnus refused to help Cicero because he was Caesar’s son-​in-​law. Before Cicero could be formally prosecuted, he took from his house a small statue of Minerva and dedicated it on the Capitoline Hill with the inscription “To Minerva Guardian of Rome” (’Αθηνᾷ ‘Ρώμης φύλακι).4 Escorted by his friends, he secretly fled the city around midnight sometime in March 58 b.c. By his own admission, as he wrote to Atticus, Cicero made this journey into exile, crushed and despondent and even despairing of life.5 He had the encouragement of Atticus to go on living and some help from supporters as he journeyed first to Sicily, where he assumed wrongly that he would be welcomed with honor. Then, following a vote of formal banishment orchestrated at Rome by Clodius Pulcher, Cicero went on to Macedonia. Cicero’s villas and his house on the Palatine Hill were burned to the ground. His property was confiscated and put up for sale, but no one would buy anything. His wife, Terentia, remained at Rome to look after his interests and their two children while he endured his miserable exile far away from Rome and Roman politics, apparently in tearful lamentation. Cicero’s exile lasted until August 57 b.c., when he returned, thanks to the unrest that had erupted at Rome and to the intervention of Pompeius Magnus and Crassus, whose son was a great admirer of Cicero. To Cicero’s delight, he was welcomed back by enthusiastic crowds in the sixteenth month after he had fled into exile. Cicero gave Atticus a dated account of his journey from Dyrrachium, beginning on the day before the Nones of Sextilis (August 4) to the Nones of September (September 5).6 After arriving in Rome, Cicero marched up to the Capitoline Hill and tore down the tablets containing the record of the enactments of the tribunes that had been posted there.7 He accepted the restoration

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by the Senate of his house on the Palatine Hill, his villas, and the small statue of Minerva that had fallen down in a storm at some time after Cicero had placed it on the Capitoline Hill just before he fled into exile in 58 b.c. Difficulties and violence instigated by Clodius Pulcher initially beset Cicero as he was trying to restore his houses, his finances, and his career in the months following his return. Cicero also contributed to his troubles during this period by annoying and alienating many people, even those who were well disposed to him, with his arrogant frankness and boastfulness. In 56 b.c., Cicero attacked Clodius Pulcher viciously in several public speeches, but eventually the usual rhythms of life returned because Cicero ceased to refer to any continuing difficulties with Clodius Pulcher in his letters to Atticus as time went on.8 Clodius Pulcher was eventually killed on January 18, 52 b.c., following a brawl on the Via Appia between his armed gang and that of his rival Milo. His death appears to have been presaged by the appearance of unpropitious omens such as lightning, shooting stars (the popular name for meteors), and an owl flying in the city.9 Clodius Pulcher’s body was placed on the Old Rostra in the Forum Romanum and then carried to the Senate House, where his frenzied supporters decided to cremate him, thus setting the Senate House and neighboring buildings ablaze. Although his bitter enemy was now dead, Cicero was unable to revive his political career and took to advising Caesar and Pompeius Magnus as a kind of elder statesman. Active politics, however, intruded upon Cicero once again when he was forced to serve his long-​overdue proconsulship, twelve years after his consular year of 63 b.c. Cicero had first drawn the province of Macedonia for his proconsulship but had exchanged it with his colleague Antonius Hybrida in order to secure his complicity in allowing him to assume the role of senior consul for that year. Cicero accepted the province of nearby Gallia Cisalpina and then chose not to serve at that time but to stay in Rome and defend the Republic. Now, in 51 b.c., Cicero found himself being sent to distant Cilicia to replace Appius Claudius Pulcher (cos. 54 b.c.), the elder brother of the late Clodius Pulcher, as proconsul. Cicero presented a generally cordial and professional attitude toward Appius Claudius Pulcher.10 He remained unforgiving, however, of Clodius Pulcher, his now dead enemy. Even years following the episode of the Bona Dea, a bitter Cicero would continue to describe Claudius Pulcher in terms of his religious affront as “that thief of the knowledge of the rituals of the women” (ille fur muliebrium religionum).11 A knowing mention of the murder of Clodius Pulcher appears in one of the letters Cicero sent to Atticus in July 51 b.c. as he was journeying out to his proconsular province.12 Well after the death of Clodius Pulcher but obviously still taking satisfaction in it, Cicero wrote sarcastically that he had arrived in Ephesus on the eleventh day before the Kalends of Sextilis ( July 22) on the five hundred sixtieth day after the so-​called Battle of Bovillae, the town on the Via

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Appia where Clodius Pulcher had been killed (a. d. XI Kal. Sext., sexagesimo et quingentesimo post pugnam Bovillam). In a similarly caustic manner, Cicero dated another letter to Atticus written in February 50 b.c. while he was enduring his proconsulship also with reference to Clodius Pulcher as the seven hundred sixty-​fifth day after Clodius Pulcher fought at his “Leuctra” (post Leuctricam pugnam die septingentesimo sexagesimo quinto).13 In linking the much more important Battle of Leuctra at which the Spartans were defeated by the Theban general Epaminondas in 371 b.c. with the street battle on January 18, 52 b.c. in which Clodius Pulcher was killed, Cicero clearly intended to diminish Clodius Pulcher and obliterate the memory of the day of his death. Cicero viewed his proconsulship in Cilicia as a virtual second exile, and as the letters he wrote during this year indicate, he was obsessed with time during the weeks when he was preparing to leave Rome, during his journey out to his province, and while he was in his province. He begged Atticus to take steps to prevent the addition of any extra days to the Roman calendar by intercalation that might prolong the year that he was having to spend in Cilicia (ne intercaletur).14 He also charged Caelius Rufus in a letter with making sure that no extension of his term as proconsul through manipulation of the calendar would take place.15 Cicero wrote several letters to Atticus that reported on the stages of his journey to his province in 51 b.c. Tired and cranky, Cicero wrote to Atticus on the sixth day before the Kalends of Sextilis ( July 27) from Tralles, a stop along the journey he was making, asking Atticus to be sure to mark the Kalends of the month Sextilis (August 1) on his own personal calendar (παράπηγμα ἐνιαύσιον) as the first day of the proconsular governorship he was being compelled to serve so long after the year of his consulship and to mark off each day following on his personal calendar to its conclusion by using the peg of the year (clavum anni) on the calendar.16 In the following letter, written from Laodicea on August 3, Cicero informed Atticus that he had reached the end point of his journey on the day before the Kalends of the month Sextilis ( July 31).17 Cicero asked Atticus to mark the beginning of his proconsulship from this day July 31 and not from August 1. Cicero also used his personal calendar to record the days of the only military encounter of his proconsular year, which involved the Pindenissitae, a generally unknown people who lived on Mount Amanus in Eleutherocilicia (modern southwest Turkey). Cicero described them as wild and fierce men (feri homines et acres) prepared to take a stand against his troops, and after a siege of fifty-​seven days, they surrendered on the morning of the Saturnalia (December 17). Cicero sent a report of the encounter to Atticus on December 19, 51 b.c. that was clearly based on the events he had recorded in his personal calendar.18 Cicero used his personal calendar to track the days of his proconsulship until his departure from his province on the third day before the Kalends of Sextilis ( July 30, 50 b.c.).19

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Cicero left his province as soon as he could, leaving Gaius Caelius Caldus, who had been allotted to him as quaestor in Cilicia in June 50 b.c., in temporary charge until a formally chosen replacement should appear. Cicero wrote a warm letter of welcome to Caelius Caldus, who had been highly recommended to him for the position of quaestor.20 In a letter to his protégé Caelius Rufus, Cicero defended Caelius Caldus as a youth of noble birth (nobilis adulescens), although he really seemed to be just a boy (puer).21 In a letter written to Atticus around the same time, however, Cicero candidly agreed with Atticus that Caelius Caldus was a silly boy lacking in seriousness and self-​control (puerum inquies et fortasse fatuum et non gravem et non continentum).22 By October 50 b.c., Cicero’s brother, Quintus Cicero, who had been with Cicero in Cilicia as one of his legates, had taken control of Cilicia, as Cicero wished. Cicero was looking forward to receiving official recognition of his victory over the Pindenissitae upon his return to Rome, and he had started lobbying for a triumph as soon as the engagement was over. He wrote to Cato in January 50 b.c. to share some details about his military campaign against the Pindenissitae, of which he had made a record, seeking Cato’s support for this hoped-​for glorious honor. Cato sent a letter to Cicero in reply in April, stating delicately that a triumph was not likely.23 Many of Cicero’s friends still entertained the possibility of a triumph for him, and Cicero continued to feel that a triumph was something he deserved not only for his military conquest of the Pindenissitae but also as a reward for his political rebirth. This triumph, which was really not warranted, was never conferred and Cicero had to make do with a supplicatio, a decree of public thanksgiving authorized by the Senate. Upon his return to Rome in 50 b.c., Cicero began to realize that he would have to choose between the two greatest political rivals of the day, Caesar and Pompeius Magnus. A few years earlier, the accord between Caesar and Pompeius Magnus, the celebrated Roman general who had once been both Caesar’s son-​in-​ law and his ally in the First Triumvirate, began to break down.24 The reasons for the dissolution of their entente included the death in 54 b.c. of Caesar’s daughter, Iulia, who had been Pompeius Magnus’ wife, and the death in 53 b.c. of the triumvir Crassus, who had died after the Battle of Carrhae during his expedition to Parthia.25 The defeat of Crassus had been foretold by one of his military eagles. The military eagle (aquila) carried into battle by the Romans was a golden image of an eagle placed within a small shrine on top of a long shaft, the other end of which ended in a spike that enabled the shaft to be set firmly into the ground.26 All Roman legions had their aquila, which was moved from winter quarters only when the entire army took the field. One day, the pole atop which the aquila of Crassus’ army was perched in its small shrine became so firmly rooted in the ground that many soldiers had to struggle to pull it out. The aquila was finally

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dislodged but its seeming reluctance to accompany the army of Crassus into battle was considered a bad omen. Crassus was defeated and he retreated within the walls of Carrhae.27 He was urged by his Arab guides to wait until the Moon had passed by Scorpios to make his escape. Demonstrating his knowledge of the zodiac, in which Sagittarius the Archer followed Scorpios, Crassus punned that he feared the archer even more than Scorpios, meaning not that he feared the heavenly archer, Sagittarius, but that he feared the Parthian archer who was his real adversary (κελευόντων ἄχρι ἂν σελήνη παραλλάξῃ τὸν σκορπίον, “Ἀλλ᾿ ἔγωγε,” εἰπών, “ἔτι τούτου μᾶλλον φοβοῦμαι τὸν τοξότην”).28 By the time Crassus decided to attempt the escape, the Moon was full and he was unable to travel with his army without being seen. He waited for a night without moonlight, which provided secrecy but not enough light for safe movement. Some soldiers, having gotten lost in the dark of the moonless night, were revealed to the enemy when the Sun rose and were killed. Other soldiers fled to Syria. Crassus himself rode off to Syria in the company of five hundred horsemen. Compelled by his disaffected soldiers, Crassus then made the mistake of agreeing to discuss terms of a truce personally with the Parthian leader Surenas. The two met accompanied by an equal number of comrades in the open space between the armies. The Parthians tried to drag Crassus off his horse, and a fight ensued. Crassus was slain either by one of his own men to save him from being captured alive or by a Parthian after he had been mortally wounded.29 The Parthians are said to have poured molten gold into the mouth of the corpse of Crassus to mock the fact that his fabulous wealth was no longer of any use to him. They also held a triumphal procession in which a Roman captive who looked like Crassus was dressed up in a woman’s royal robe and paraded on horseback to the accompaniment of songs that ridiculed Crassus’ weakness and cowardice. The head of Crassus was cut off and sent to the Parthian king. It arrived while the king was watching a performance of Euripides’ Bacchae at the point in the play where Agave was holding up the head of her son Pentheus, who had been killed by the crazed worshippers of Bacchus. To great acclaim, the actor playing Agave picked up and spontaneously addressed the head of Crassus instead of the stage prop representing the head of Pentheus. The Parthian who had beheaded Crassus was also watching the performance, and he is said to have leaped up in front of the king to take credit for the deed. With both Iulia and Crassus dead, the fracturing of the once amicable familial and political alliance between Caesar and Pompeius Magnus was inevitable. The two remaining triumvirs were ambitious men who were similar to each other in their goal to rule but different in their characters. Pompeius Magnus is said to have desired to be loved by all those he ruled, but Caesar cared not whether he was loved so long as he ruled.30 Cicero had tried to broker a peace between the two of them, to no avail. In early January 49 b.c., Caesar came to the small

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Rubicon River, the boundary between Italy and the province of Gallia Cisalpina. He paused there to discuss the matter with those who were with him, commenting, according to Suetonius, that once they had crossed the small bridge there, war would be declared.31 As Caesar was pondering the options open to him, he and others with him saw a visual omen (ostentum) in the form of a tall, beautiful figure sitting nearby and playing music on a shepherd’s pipe. The figure seized a war trumpet from one of the soldiers gathered around, sounded the battle call, and pressed on to the other bank of the river. Caesar said that he had to follow the visual omens sent by the gods (deorum ostenta) and he then said in Latin, “Iacta alea est” (the die has been thrown). Plutarch in his accounts of this episode emphasized Caesar’s state of mind at the Rubicon as he considered the enormity of the decision and discussed his options with his friends, including Pollio. While he was there, Caesar is said to have had a disturbing dream one night that he was committing incest with his mother. He was satisfied to know that the dream was interpreted to mean that he had not engaged in sexual relations with his actual mother, Aurelia, but with Mother Earth, the mother of all people.32 On the day after his dream, Caesar stopped ruminating about what he should do and crossed the Rubicon, entrusting himself to whatever the future held (ὥσπερ ἀφεὶς ἑαυτὸν ἐκ τοῦ λογισμοῦ πρὸς τὸ μέλλον). Just before he crossed, Caesar uttered nothing more than the common Greek saying “The die is thrown. Let it fall where it may” (“ἀνερρίφθω κύβος”).33 This Greek expression was found in The Peplos Bearer by the Athenian comic playwright Menander, of whom Caesar had a high opinion.34 The context for the expression in the play, of which only several lines of a fragment survive, is a discussion about the perils of marriage. One character, a man, tells another character, also a man, that he will be sorry if he marries because he will be embarking on an actual sea of difficulties from which he will not be able to escape. The other man replies that the matter has already been decided and things will turn out as they may (ἀνερρίφθω κύβος).35 Caesar knew that he was heading toward the final conflict with Pompeius Magnus, and he would not have used this common expression to make light of the situation. He probably uttered these words because, according to Plutarch, they were something that men often said as a prelude to entering into difficult and daring ventures (καὶ τοῦτο δὴ τὸ κοινὸν τοῖς εἰς τύχας ἐμβαίνουσιν ἀπόρους καὶ τόλμας προοίμιον ὑπειπών).36 When Pompeius Magnus heard that Caesar was marching south, he fled Rome with his supporters in February 49 b.c., following many others who had departed into exile earlier. Cicero did not mention Caesar’s crossing of the Rubicon, but he expressed great surprise and consternation about the shocking desertion of Rome by Pompeius Magnus.37 Cicero moved the women and children of his family out of their house in Rome for their safety. Caesar, unable to catch Pompeius Magnus in Italy, went to Spain, joined there by Caelius Rufus,

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who advised Cicero in a letter written before he went to Spain with Caesar not to make an enemy of Caesar but to depart for some distant town.38 Caesar then returned from Spain to Rome, where he was granted the dictatorship with the help of the praetor Marcus Aemilius Lepidus (Lepidus) but then promptly resigned from the position. Cicero heard that Pompeius Magnus had crossed from Brundisium in the south of Italy over to Greece in early March 49 b.c. Despite his criticisms of Pompeius Magnus, Cicero wrote to Atticus to tell him that he was filled with grief and shame that he had not set sail with Pompeius Magnus and the consuls, tribunes, senators, and 30,000 men who accompanied him.39 Apparently, however, the news of the departure of Pompeius Magnus that Cicero had received was in error and Pompeius Magnus was still in Italy, confining himself to the town of Brundisium and still only thinking of sailing across. A few days later, Cicero heard that Pompeius Magnus had finally left Brundisium for Greece. Pompeius Magnus made his way to Dyrrachium, which was located on the coast of the Adriatic Sea, where he was greeted by disturbing omens that appeared in the vault of the heavens and included lightning, owls, and shooting stars.40 A total solar eclipse (ὅ τε ἥλιος σύμπας ἐξέλιπε) that Dio also mentioned with the omens that greeted Pompeius Magnus at Dyrrachium is probably better associated not with the time of his arrival at Dyrrachium in March 49 b.c. but with a later month, when Pompeius Magnus was establishing his camp in Greece. This eclipse may have been the partial annular solar eclipse that was visible around midday on August 9, 49 b.c. This eclipse would have been dramatic looking, since the Moon would have partly covered the center of the disk of the Sun and left a ring of fire around the edges. Cicero remained in Italy after Pompeius Magnus had departed, longing to be with Pompeius Magnus and his supporters but tending to various family matters. He celebrated the assumption of the toga of manhood (toga virilis) by his only son, Marcus Cicero, in March at his villa in his ancestral town of Arpinum.41 There he dithered and fretted. Cicero remained hesitant to declare his full support for either Pompeius Magnus or Caesar, although he was leaning toward Pompeius Magnus. After Pompeius Magnus had quitted Italy, Cicero received many overtures from Caesar in the form of letters and envoys, including Antonius, Cicero’s fellow augur, who attempted to keep Cicero from escaping to Pompeius Magnus.42 But in a letter dated the seventeenth day before the Kalends of June (May 16) in 49 b.c., Cicero wrote to Atticus from Cumae, where he was surreptitiously planning his journey to join Pompeius Magnus. Cicero told Atticus, who was in Greece, that the equinox at which very wild weather had occurred was at that time delaying him (nunc quidem aequinoctium nos moratur, quod valde perturbatum erat).43 This statement is not likely to mean that Cicero was writing at the time of the spring equinox, which occurred on March 24 in 49 b.c. and that

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he dated his letter May 16 according to the Roman calendar, which happened to be out of harmony with the seasons in that year.44 Cicero, who was attentive to calendrical matters, never mentions any dislocation of the calendar in this year. Cicero must have been using the astronomical calendar, as he had done when he was sailing from Athens to Delos in 51 b.c. in the month Quintilis ( July), a time when voyages were commonly beset by strong winds and rough seas.45 As the author of the first Latin translation of Aratus’ Phaenomena, Cicero would not have used the technical astronomical term aequinoctium carelessly for a date that was not the astronomical equinox. Following what appears to be his usual practice of dating letters precisely in order to keep them in correct chronological order, Cicero noted the day May 16 according to the reliable astronomical calendar. In referring to a duration of time, Cicero was using the present-​tense verb moratur to indicate an action that began in the past at the equinox in March and continued into the present in May.46 Cicero must therefore mean that that even in May the spring equinox was hindering his efforts to escape from Italy by sea to join the army of Pompeius Magnus. The weather around the time of the equinox when the Sun was in Aries, which was noted in the parapegma found at the end of Geminos’ astronomical work as generally rainy, had been very stormy and apparently continued to be so up to May 16 as Cicero waited to sail.47 The delay in leaving Italy to join Pompeius Magnus allowed Cicero to be in Italy when his daughter, Tullia, gave birth on the fourteenth day before the Kalends of June (May 19) in 49 b.c. Tullia survived the delivery but the child was born prematurely at seven months and was apparently sickly. Cicero never mentions the child again, which indicates that the child probably died while an infant, perhaps in this same year. Despite this personal disappointment, Cicero nonetheless found himself now possessed of a determination to act.48 He decided to throw in his lot fully with Pompeius Magnus. He told Atticus that he would write again only after he had departed because so many spies were lurking around. The next letters that Cicero wrote to Atticus are dated many months later in the new year 48 b.c. and they indicate that Cicero had successfully evaded being detained in Italy by any of Caesar’s agents. Caelius Rufus, who had become disillusioned with Caesar while on campaign with him, sent Cicero a sharply worded letter written in January 48 b.c., in which he criticized the inaction and ineptitude of the Pompeians who knew that Caesar’s forces were getting ready to fight.49 Before Caesar himself headed to Brundisium in the new year, he observed a propitious omen in the vault of the heavens.50 A bird known as the kite (ἴκτινος) appeared in the Forum Romanum and dropped a branch of laurel upon one of Caesar’s companions. This event was interpreted as boding well for his upcoming encounter with Pompeius Magnus. Caesar crossed the Ionian Gulf after the time of the winter solstice in

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the early part of January 48 b.c. in the month that is roughly the equivalent of the Athenian month Poseideon (χειμῶνος ἐν τροπαῖς ὄντος, ἱσταμένου ’Ιαννουαρίου μηνὸς; οὗτος δ’ ἂν εἴη Ποσειδεὼν ’Αθηναίοις).51 Pompeius Magnus was in winter quarters in Thessaly, where he had gone to gather a large army and navy. Thinking that Caesar would not cross over to Greece in the winter, Pompeius Magnus had let down his guard. Caesar sailed over and then tried to return to Italy in order to bring reinforcements, but he had to abort his trip, which he made in a small boat, because of the wind and high seas. Eventually Antonius brought the rest of Caesar’s army over. Both sides were now at full complement, and the opening moves of the conflict between Caesar and Pompeius Magnus began. Caesar’s troops engaged in constant skirmishes around the fortifications of Pompeius Magnus; these skirmishes were either inconclusive or detrimental and emboldened the other side, although the cautious Pompeius Magnus remained unwilling to engage in battle at the time, to the dismay of his generals. On the Ides of June ( June 13) Cicero was in the camp of Pompeius Magnus.52 Cicero’s letters from the camp to his correspondents are few, but he appears to have made a pest of himself during the time he was there.53 Cicero made no secret of the fact that he was sorry that he had come and that Pompeius Magnus was not really making any use of him. He also criticized Pompeius Magnus’ military preparations and insulted his fellow comrades-​in-​arms by his sarcastic comments. Caesar marched his army to Pharsalus and set up camp there. Pompeius Magnus pursued him. Caesar in his account of the battle does not identify the exact location where the battle took place, referring only to the battle fought in Thessaly (proelium in Thessalia factum), but Appian locates the site of the battle in Thessaly between the town of Pharsalus and the Enipeus River (ἐς τὸ μεταξὺ Φαρσάλου τε πόλεως καὶ Ἐνιπέως ποταμοῦ).54 Caesar did not note the date of this battle in his military account, but the time must have been during the summer because he mentioned that his soldiers were fatigued by the sweltering heat at midday (qui etsi magno aestu fatigati nam ad meridiem res erat perducta).55 The monumental fasti, however, mark the day that is the equivalent of the Julian date August 9, 48 b.c. as that on which Caesar was victorious at Pharsalus.56 Since Caesar was outside Rome on campaign, he would undoubtedly have been using the astronomical calendar, which would have been of greater practical use in its ability to reflect time accurately according to celestial placements. Pompeius Magnus was apparently reluctant to fight at Pharsalus and had to be convinced by the senators, knights, and mercenary kings who were with him to engage in the battle. Appian declared Pompeius Magnus’ decision to fight an indication that a god was now in the process of harming him (θεοῦ βλάπτοντος ἤδη).57 Caesar made sacrifices at midnight on what would turn out to be the eve of the battle, invoking Venus and Mars.58 While he was sacrificing, Caesar

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vowed a temple to Venus, provided she brought him victory in the coming battle. Pompeius Magnus also made sacrifices on the eve of the battle, but the omens were not good. Some of the sacrificial victims managed to escape, and a swarm of bees settled on the altar. A bright light was said to have shone over Caesar’s camp, and a flame in the sky was said to have flown from Caesar’s camp to that of Pompeius Magnus.59 Caesar did not mention the appearance of the flame in his commentary on the civil war he fought against Pompeius Magnus, but Plutarch states that Caesar said that he saw this flame himself as he was making the rounds of the watches. Each side tried to interpret the omens to its own advantage, but Pompeius Magnus’ troops were unnerved. Shortly before daylight on the morning of the battle, Pompeius Magnus was awakened when a panic erupted in his camp. His troops, for the most part untested novices, were nervous to begin with, more concerned, Caesar said, with preserving their faces from disfiguring wounds. Plutarch says that Caesar called the young and inexperienced soldiers who had joined Pompeius Magnus “handsome, newly blooming war-​dancers” (τοὺς καλοὺς τούτους καὶ ἀνθηροὺς πυρριχιστάς).60 Although Caesar in his own account of the battle does not record these disparaging comments, which would have been inappropriate in tone in a military commentary, they are consistent nonetheless with the reputation Caesar had for verbal wit. The bad omens for Pompeius Magnus aggravated what was already a tense situation. After settling things down, Pompeius Magnus returned to bed and fell into a deep sleep, during which he had a prophetic dream. Upon waking, Pompeius Magnus immediately told those close to him that he dreamed he had decorated his temple to Venus with many spoils of battle.61 Pompeius Magnus had dedicated his Temple of Venus Victrix (Venus Victorious) in Rome several years earlier. The events that had accompanied the dedication of this temple included theatrical performances, athletic competitions, and wild-​beast hunts. The dedication also included elephants that called for vengeance, with their trunks raised to the heavens (ἐς τὸν οὐρανόν), because of the deaths of their fellow elephants that had died or been wounded in the staged combats with armed warriors who had been part of the festivities.62 These elephants, like all elephants, were said to have had the ability to read the heavens, knowing before human beings did the time of the new Moon (πρὶν ἐς ὄψιν τοῖς ἀνθρώποις τὴν σελήνην ἐλθεῖν). The Temple of Venus Victrix was built at the top of the auditorium of the Theater of Pompeius Magnus, Rome’s first permanent theater. Rows of seats in the theater gave the appearance of steps leading up to the temple. Two dates have been suggested for the dedication of this temple of Pompeius Magnus: August 12, 55 b.c. or August 12, 52 b.c.63 On both days, the planet Venus was the Evening Star. If the temple had been dedicated in 55 b.c. Pompeius Magnus may have been quietly pleased by the appearance of Venus as the Evening Star as a representation

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of the illustrious genealogy of his wife Iulia, the daughter of Caesar, who had publicly claimed Venus as his divine ancestor. If the temple had been dedicated in 52 b.c., Pompeius Magnus might still have been aware of the presence of Venus as the Evening Star, but now Venus could mean nothing to him on a personal level, since his connection to the Julian family and to Caesar by marriage had been broken by the death of Iulia in 54 b.c.64 In either case, however, Pompeius Magnus does not appear to have made public mention of the presence of Venus as the Evening Star at the dedication of his temple to Venus. This course of action would have been wise. Pompeius Magnus knew of and accepted the associations with Venus proclaimed by Caesar. Several years earlier, Cicero had tried to use planetary Jupiter, the ultimate Julian ancestor, to justify his consular actions, and he paid for his folly. Pompeius Magnus would not have made the same celestial mistake at the time of the dedication of his temple if he knew of Cicero’s misstep. Word of Pompeius Magnus’ dream about his temple to Venus before the battle spread through the ranks of his soldiers. Everyone considered his dream to be so propitious an omen of victory that they became overconfident, forgetting the bad omens of the night before. On the one hand, Pompeius Magnus was personally encouraged by his dream, but on the other hand, he became more cautious and more despairing of his chances. He feared that Caesar’s claim of descent from Venus, which he acknowledged, would bring Caesar the victory and that he, Pompeius Magnus, would be responsible for the further growth of Caesar’s glory.65 Caesar’s personal devotion to Venus, whom he had revered as his divine ancestor (Venus Genetrix) for many years, was no secret.66 In the eulogy Caesar delivered in honor of his paternal aunt, Iulia, at her funeral in 68 b.c., Caesar emphasized his illustrious divine lineage. Suetonius provides a portion of this eulogy in which Caesar traced his paternal lineage back to the goddess Venus:67 The maternal family line of my paternal aunt Iulia (amitae meae Iuliae maternum genus) was descended from kings. The paternal family line was united in kinship with the immortal gods (paternum cum diis inmortalibus coniunctum est). For the Marcii Reges descend from Ancus Marcius, from which came the name of her mother [Marcia]. The Iulii, of which clan our family is a branch, descends from Venus (a Venere Iulii, cuius gentis familia est nostra). Our family line, therefore, has both the respect due to kings (sanctitas regum), who chiefly exert power among human beings, and the reverence due to the gods, under whose power the kings themselves are (et caerimonia deorum, quorum ipsi in potestate sunt reges). In a letter written to Cicero in 49 b.c., Caelius Rufus had referred to Caesar as the descendant of Venus (Venere prognatus).68 Admittedly sarcastic, the remark

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captures nonetheless that Caesar’s use of his eminent ancestry as an important factor in his public persona was well known.69 Caesar was not the first Roman politician in recent memory to claim an association with Venus. Sulla, the enemy of Marius, who was Caesar’s uncle by marriage, had also done so. In 86 b.c., Sulla the dictator accepted the cognomina Φῆλιξ (Latin Felix, Fortunate) and ’Επ­ αφρόδιτος (Favorite of Venus).70 This favorable association with Venus claimed by Sulla was probably based in Sulla’s acknowledgment of his good fortune in all aspects of his life: military, political, and amatory. Caesar’s claim to Venus, which was based in his genealogy, however, was stronger. As a descendant of Venus, Caesar claimed that he received his youthful demeanor from Venus. His signet ring contained an image of the goddess carved in full armor. He used the watchword “Venus” in almost all his dangerous endeavors. And he had acknowledged his vow to build a temple to Venus in Rome and the supportive presence of Venus by making his watchword for the Battle of Pharsalus Ἀφροδίτη νικηφόρος (Venus Victorious).71 Given his devotion to Venus, Caesar cannot have missed the presence of bright Venus in her planetary manifestation in Cancer [Cnc] before sunrise during morning nautical twilight on what would be the day of the Battle of Pharsalus (see the central area of visibility on the sky map in Fig. 3.1), August 9, 48 b.c. By her appearance in sky as the Morning Star on this important day, Venus would be seen to be showing support for her Julian descendant Caesar rather than for his opponent Pompeius Magnus, who had no family claim to her protection. The Pompeii were associated with Picenum, a region in western central Italy. Gnaeus Pompeius Strabo, the father of Pompeius Magnus, had been the first in his family to hold the consulship in 89 b.c. but was reviled by the Roman people. Pompeius Strabo’s mother was a Lucilia. The name of the wife of Pompeius Strabo who was mother of his son Pompeius Magnus is unknown. The limitations of Pompeius Magnus’ own genealogy in comparison with the grandness of Caesar’s genealogy, which was coupled with the appearance of such an eminent supporter of Caesar as the goddess Venus in her celestial manifestation, suggests why, among other reasons, Pompeius Magnus may have felt so anxious before the battle. Caesar did not expect to fight on the day on which the Battle of Pharsalus took place. The omens taken on that morning, however, were favorable for a great change.72 Suddenly, as Caesar was breaking camp at sunrise (ἅμα δὲ ἡμέρᾳ) to march off to Scotussa, his men noticed that the enemy were moving down to the plain to engage.73 Caesar then declared that the day predicted by a soothsayer for the battle had finally come.74 The two sides fell into order. Caesar commanded his right flank, and Antonius commanded Caesar’s left flank. Pompeius Magnus on his left flank was to face Caesar. The forces of Pompeius Magnus outnumbered those of Caesar by about two to one, but Caesar later commented

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Sidereal Time: 01:30:03 Julian Day: 1704111.6250

Fig. 3.1.  The day of the Battle of Pharsalus. August 9, 48 b.c. Before sunrise, 5:00 a.m. Pharsalus, Thessaly, Greece (39° 18ꞌ N, 22° 38ꞌ E). SkyMap Pro V. 12. By permission of Chris Marriott.

that Pompeius Magnus had made a grave tactical error at the beginning of the engagement by ordering his inexperienced soldiers not to advance but to stand awaiting the enemy. In giving this order, Pompeius Magnus deprived his troops of momentum and the opportunity to test their courage. As expected from the omens, the battle did not go well for Pompeius Magnus and his soldiers, and it was terribly bloody.

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When Pompeius Magnus learned during the battle that Caesar’s troops were in the rear and besieging his base camp, he gave up the fight entirely, went to his tent, changed his clothes, and fled in a panic on horseback with four friends to nearby Larissa. When Caesar’s troops entered the camp of the enemy, they found it decked out with flowers and with tables set with bowls of wine and cups as if for a victory celebration.75 Caesar’s efforts at clemency were rebuffed by the soldiers of Pompeius Magnus who had been left behind. Following the defeat, the remnants of Pompeius Magnus’ army made their way to Spain and Africa. Pompeius Magnus, after much deliberation, took the advice of those around him and decided to head to Egypt by ship along with some supporters, his youngest son, Sextus Pompeius, and his wife, Cornelia, the cultured daughter of Quintus Caecilius Metellus Pius Scipio (Scipio) (cos. 52 b.c. with Pompeius Magnus), who was a member of the gens Cornelia before his adoption and an enemy of Caesar. Cornelia was also the widow of Publius Licinius Crassus, the son of Crassus, the former fellow triumvir of Pompeius Magnus and Caesar. Pompeius Magnus chose to go to Egypt while thinking to spare Cornelia from greater suffering and assuming that he would receive a kindly welcome from the young king Ptolemy XIII because Pompeius Magnus had helped restore Ptolemy Auletes, the father of Ptolemy XIII, to the throne of Egypt and because the sixty ships from Egypt sent by Ptolemy XIII and his sister Cleopatra to support him at Pharsalus had been spared a role in the battle. Pompeius Magnus, however, is believed to have had no choice in his destination because by this time his essential spirit (his δαίμων) was said to be leading the way (δαίμων ἐκείνην ὑφηγεῖτο τὴν ὁδόν).76 Before Pompeius Magnus arrived at the coast of Egypt sometime in September 48 b.c., Theodotus, a rhetorician from Samos who was one of the advisors of Ptolemy XIII, had argued that the best course of action would be to kill Pompeius Magnus. In so doing, the young Egyptian king would no longer have to worry about a threat from Pompeius Magnus and would please Caesar. Pompeius Magnus, fearful and suspicious but acting against the advice of those with him, was blind to the trap set for him. As the small boat to which he had transferred was nearing the Egyptian shore, he was stabbed in the back as his wife and son watched in horror from the trireme on which they had all arrived. Pompeius Magnus did not put up a fight or speak to the assassins but took the final blows with dignity after pulling his toga over his face. The greatest ruler of the Romans (τὸν μέγιστον αὐτοκράτορα ‘Ρωμαίων), according to Plutarch, died on the sea, where he had claimed so many of his victories, a victim of inconsistent fortune (discordante fortuna), according to Velleius Paterculus, in the year of the consulship of Caesar and Publius Servilius Isauricus, 48 b.c.77 Pompeius Magnus died either one day before his birthday in his fifty-​eighth year (duodesexagesimum annum agentis pridie natalem ipsius vitae fuit exitus), according to Velleius

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Paterculus, or one day after his birthday (μιᾷ δ’ ὕστερον ἡμέρᾳ τῆς γενεθλίου τελευτήρας τὸν βίον), having lived for fifty-​nine years (ἑξήκοντα μὲν ἑνὸς δέοντα βεβιωκὼς ἔτη), according to Plutarch.78 The servants of the eunuch Potheinus butchered the corpse of Pompeius Magnus, cutting off the head and throwing the rest of the body naked onto the shore. Phillip, one of the freedmen of Pompeius Magnus who had been with him on the little boat and witnessed his murder, stayed with the headless body, washed it, and cremated it on the shore with only one witness, an old Roman soldier who had served in the campaigns of Pompeius Magnus and then stayed behind in Africa. Cicero had learned of the defeat of Pompeius Magnus at the Battle of Pharsalus and his ignominious death, but he did not discuss the matter at length in his correspondence with anyone. He commented to Atticus in a letter that, in his opinion, the defeat of Pompeius Magnus was not unexpected.79 He said only that he grieved over Pompeius Magnus’ downfall and recognized that he had been an honorable, faithful, and serious man (hominem enim integrum et castum et gravem cognovi). On the advice of the young Brutus, who had been on friendly terms with Cicero since 50 b.c. and who had been with Pompeius Magnus at Pharsalus and knew where Pompeius Magnus might flee, Caesar pursued Pompeius Magnus to Egypt. Caesar landed at Alexandria on October 2, 48 b.c., where he was disgusted to be handed the severed head of Pompeius Magnus by Theodotus. Caesar is said to have wept for his former triumviral comrade and son-​in-​law when he was presented with Pompeius Magnus’ signet ring, which depicted a lion armed with a sword. Dio suggests that Caesar incurred ridicule because, having hated Pompeius Magnus and sought sole control, he was considered to be hypocritical in his grief.80 Plutarch also notes that Caesar and Pompeius Magnus had no fond feelings for each other, and following the death of Crassus in 54 b.c., each wanted the other out of the way.81 Caesar nonetheless paid to Pompeius Magnus the respect owed to a former member of his family. He ordered Pompeius Magnus’ head to be buried in Egypt. He sent the cremated remains of Pompeius Magnus to his wife Cornelia in Rome, where they were interred at Pompeius Magnus’ villa, which was near Alba Longa, the home of Iulus, the son of Aeneas, the mythical founder of the Roman people and an ancestor of the Julians. Pompeius Magnus had originally intended to bury his wife Iulia, Caesar’s daughter, at this villa, but the Roman people had insisted that Iulia be buried in Rome in the Campus Martius instead. With these matters settled, Caesar turned his attention to the local political situation in Egypt, which was in turmoil. The local dynastic rulers were the thirteen-​year-​old Ptolemy XIII and his elder sister, the twenty-​one-​year-​old Cleopatra, who were locked, together with their supporters, in a struggle for political control. Ptolemy XIII remained in Alexandria under the guardianship

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of the general Achillas and the eunuch Potheinus, but Cleopatra had been driven away and was seeking a way to return. Quite rightly, Cleopatra saw the powerful Roman general Caesar as the means of achieving this goal. Cleopatra arranged to have herself smuggled, perhaps in a bedding sack, into the palace that Caesar had commandeered for his headquarters.82 They met, and Cleopatra managed to capture Caesar’s interest and secure his support for her own political ambitions. Ptolemy XIII and his other sister, Arsinoe, who was younger than Cleopatra, then attacked the palace, and a battle ensued. Caesar was prepared for the confrontation because he had learned about a plot against his life from his barber, a slave who moved around freely and picked up all the gossip and news. Achillas and Potheinus, who had been among those responsible for advising the death of Pompeius Magnus and who had later hatched a plot to kill Caesar in Alexandria, were killed. Ptolemy XIII was defeated nine months later and drowned in the Nile. His sister Arsinoe was captured. Caesar, now victorious in the East, marched formally into Alexandria, welcomed by Cleopatra, who had secured the throne as a result of the defeat and death of her brother and by the directive of Caesar. Back at Rome, Caesar’s grandnephew Octavius had put aside the purple-​ edged toga praetexta of boyhood. Dressed now in the white toga virilis, the symbol of his entry into manhood, he entered the Forum Romanum for the formal ceremony.83 A remarkable omen was said to have occurred at the time. Octavius’ tunic with the broad stripe ripped at either side and fell to his feet, which was interpreted in two ways: positively, according to Octavius himself and Suetonius as a prophecy that the Senate would one day be would be subjected to him, and negatively, according to Dio as an unfortunate occurrence on such an important day in his life.84 One of the monumental fasti gives the date for Octavius’ ceremony of manhood as the fourteenth day before the Kalends of November (October 19).85 Nicolaus of Damascus states that this ceremony took place after Octavius had completed fourteen years of his life (κατέβαινε δὲ εἰς τὴν ἀγορὰν περὶ ἔτη μάλιστα γεγονὼς ιδ’).86 He also implies that this ceremony took place on the same day that Octavius was publicly admitted into the college of priests to replace Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus (cos. 54 b.c.) who had been killed at the Battle of Pharsalus in August 48 b.c. Nicolaus of Damascus, however, may have compressed the two ceremonies into one event in the life of Octavius, and most likely both ceremonies did not take place on the same day. Octavius’ ceremony of manhood may have occurred after he had celebrated his sixteenth birthday on September 22, 48 b.c.87 Octavius’ election to the priesthood probably took place in January 47 b.c. after he had been named, again at Caesar’s intervention, praefectus urbi, an appointment that signaled preferment and a future political role.88 Nicolaus of Damascus describes Octavius sitting with remarkable dignity in the center of the Forum Romanum as urban prefect, performing the duties of the

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consuls who had departed to the Alban Mount to celebrate the Feriae Latinae in early January.89 Octavius’ great-​uncle Caesar was voted a number of honors at this time and he assumed in absentia the dictatorship, with Antonius as his Master of the Horse. Many unpropitious and disturbing omens sent by the divine power (ὑπὸ τοῦ δαιμονίου) were said to have occurred at Rome while Caesar remained outside Rome.90 Caesar spent the next several months in Egypt with Cleopatra; he was distracted, to the concern of his supporters and the scorn of his enemies, by the splendors of her company and by the richness of Hellenistic Egyptian culture.91 He is said to have had many discussions with learned Egyptians with regard to astronomical and astrological matters during the time he spent in Alexandria in establishing Cleopatra’s rule in Egypt.92 An account found in the tenth book of the Pharsalia, a historical epic poem written during the principate of Nero by Marcus Annaeus Lucanus (Lucan), tells of a banquet hosted for Caesar by Cleopatra. This banquet can be associated with the period of Caesar’s sojourn in Alexandria, following the defeat of Ptolemy XIII and the ascension of Cleopatra to the Egyptian throne. Lucan’s verses capture the attention shown by the Egyptians during the saeculum Augustum to the practical use of observational astronomy. The Egyptians had been assessing the heavens long before the first Ptolemy arrived as ruler in Egypt, following the subdivision of the empire of Alexander the Great.93 The Egyptians had noted, on the basis of observation, the risings and settings of certain stars, most notably the dawn rising in July of the bright star Sothis, the star of Isis (Sirius in Canis), which was tied to the annual flooding of the Nile River. Although their early mathematical system had been rudimentary, the Egyptians had created a 365-​day solar calendar. During the years of Ptolemaic rule, they had also developed to a high degree the methodology and tenets of mathematical astrology, which was based in the interplay of the symbols of the planets and luminaries with the twelve Signs of the zodiac and the twelve astrological Places through which they moved in a horoscope. At the banquet, Caesar asked Acoreus, an elderly Egyptian priest from Memphis and a former courtier to Ptolemy XIII, to tell him about the source of the Nile River.94 Acoreus had appeared earlier in Lucan’s poem, where he addressed Ptolemy XIII and the council before Pompeius Magnus arrived on the Egyptian shore. The identity of Acoreus is debated. Acoreus may have been a fictional character created to represent the astronomical knowledge of the Egyptians to which Caesar was now being exposed. Acoreus may also have been a historical figure who appeared, like many figures elsewhere in extant ancient sources, only in Lucan’s account. If so, Lucan may have found the name in records to which he had access through his grandfather Seneca the Elder, who had lived through Caesar’s civil war with Pompeius Magnus; through his uncle

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Lucius Annaeus Seneca (Seneca the Younger), who had been born during the saeculum Augustum and was a young man when Augustus died in a.d. 14; or even through his own access to the Julian family archive now controlled by the emperor Nero, with whom he had been until recently on friendly terms.95 In the tradition of speech-​making in ancient historical works, the comments made by Acoreus are best viewed not as a verbatim transcript but as an appropriate statement attributed to him by the author. They express the truth of the situation, if not the exact words, and they provide important insights about Caesar and the extent of Caesar’s increasing interest in Egyptian astronomical knowledge at this time. Caesar, as a self-​described seeker after truth, asked Acoreus about the secrets of the Nile River. Acoreus is said to have replied with a statement about the powerful effects of the Sun, the Moon, and the planets (sidera) in the world below:96 Sol [the Sun] divides the seasons of eternal time. The Sun exchanges the day for night and with its powerful rays stops the planets from moving and delays their shifting courses by stationary periods. Luna [the Moon] mingles Tethys [the sea] and the land by its own changes of phase. The freezing ice and the snowy zone have yielded to Saturnus [the planet Saturn]. Mavors [the planet Mars] is master of the winds and unpredictable thunder. Under Iovis [the planet Jupiter] there is temperate weather and never turbulent air, but fruitful Venus [the planet Venus] possesses the seeds of all things. Cyllenius [the planet Mercury] is the ruler of the vast sea. According to Acoreus, the malefic planets Saturn and Mars heralded bad weather, and the benefic planets Jupiter and Venus heralded good weather.97 Acoreus then went on to explain how the flooding of the Nile River was tied to the appearance of Sirius, the brightest star in the constellation Canis. The language of Acoreus is very abstruse but it can be understood with reference to a sky map for July 19 in the following way:98 When Cyllenius [the planet Mercury] is in the part of the sky [the east] where the constellation Leo is mingled with Cancer and where Sirius is stretching forth its white-​hot fires [in the southeast], at a time [just before sunrise] when Cancer, the constellation above the source of the Nile, and Capricornus appear at either ends of the celestial Great Circle [that is, at the eastern and western ends of the zodiac], when the master of the waters [Sirius] has shone down with its fierce fire on the source of the Nile, then the Nile with its flow of water loosened rises just as the ocean rises with

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the waxing lunar phases. Having been ordered to do so, the Nile answers the summons, and it does not diminish its enlarged size before the night has taken back the summer hours from the Sun. Acoreus was describing the day when the bright star Sirius appeared sufficiently ahead of the Sun above the horizon for the first time to be visible before sunrise at its heliacal or visible morning rising.99 The appearance of Sirius on this day signaled that the flooding of the Nile River was near.100 According to Acoreus, just as the Moon moving through its phases raises up the tides of the ocean, the appearance of Sirius in July in the southeast raises up the waters of the Nile, which then pour out over its banks to nourish the surrounding land.101 Acoreus went on to acknowledge Caesar’s desire to explore the Nile himself, and he described its course for Caesar with reference to three constellations. As Acoreus had noted earlier, the Nile rises at the equator in Cancer in the south. It then heads toward Bootes in the north.102 At midsummer, past Meroe, the constellation Leo is straight above. At Memphis, the Nile, now tame, spreads itself out over the plain. Caesar himself took a long trip up the Nile River with Cleopatra in April and May 47 b.c.103 Caesar would have traveled all the way to Ethiopia with Cleopatra had his soldiers agreed to follow him.104 Instead, he left Egypt for Syria in early June 47 b.c. A son was born to Cleopatra in late June after Caesar had departed, and Cleopatra claimed that Caesar was the father. Following his departure from Egypt, Caesar moved quickly around to various places in the East and landed back in Italy in September 47 b.c. to quell a rebellion in his army. At the southern Italian port city of Brundisium, Caesar met with an anxious Cicero, who had taken no part in the Battle of Pharsalus because of illness. Cicero had refused to take a command after the battle at the request of Cato, a decision that led to accusations of treachery from the son of Pompeius Magnus. Cato had to save Cicero from what was looking to be certain death in the camp, and he sent Cicero immediately home to safety in Italy.105 To Cicero’s relief, Caesar met him at Brundisium in friendship and treated him with respect. Caesar then made his way to Rome to plan for the final military action that was needed to finish the civil war. Cato and Scipio, the father of Cornelia (wife of Pompeius Magnus), had escaped after their defeat at Pharsalus and sailed to Africa, where they had secured the support of Juba, the king of Numidia. Caesar’s engagement with them would take place at Thapsus. The only contemporary account of the Battle of Thapsus is found in De Bello Africo, a work that appears to have been written not by Caesar himself but by one of his military comrades, perhaps Gaius Oppius or Aulus Hirtius (cos. 43 b.c.). This work is very useful because its author is careful to provide dates, probably on the basis of a personal calendar, for many of Caesar’s key actions leading up to the final confrontation.106

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All of the dates provided by the author are given in Roman style and they appear to be Julian dates, which are an indication that the author wrote up his account after Caesar’s reform of the calendar took effect on January 1, 45 b.c. or that Caesar and his comrades, telling time—​as would be most efficient while on military campaign far from Rome—​by the astronomical clock, may have been already been considering the calendar dates in late 47 b.c. and early 46 b.c. to be the Julian dates they would officially become on January 1, 45 b.c. According to the account, Caesar crossed to Lilybaeum in Sicily on the fourteenth day before the Kalends of January (December 19, 47 b.c.).107 He crossed over to North Africa six days before the Kalends of January (December 27).108 Caesar moved camp on the Kalends of January ( January 1, 46 b.c.) and arrived in Leptis.109 On the fourth day before the Nones of January ( January 2), he moved camp again.110 On the day before the Nones of January ( January 4), Caesar engaged in a battle from the fifth hour of the day until sunset.111 Following days of skirmishes, maneuvering, and provisioning, Caesar at the time of the first night watch on the sixth day before the Kalends of February ( January 27) gave the order that his staff should be on alert, and at the third watch he led his troops toward Ruspina.112 A rainstorm combined with hail struck probably sometime in early February at the time of the second watch of the night. The storm was ferocious and of the sort expected when the Pleiades set at sunrise in the west in early November, according to the astronomical calendar (vergiliarum signo confecto).113 This reference to the Pleiades indicates that the author was knowledgeable about the predictions found in astro-​meteorological parapegmata and about charting the appearance of the constellations as a means of time telling.114 After weeks of training, provisioning, and worrying, Caesar led his forces out of camp on the twelfth day before the Kalends of April (March 21), but the enemy did not engage.115 Caesar left Aggar on the second day before the Nones of April (April 3) and pitched camp near Thapsus, a city on the coast in what is now Tunisia.116 Caesar is said to have planned to wait for the beginning of summer (aestate inita) to engage with the enemy.117 According to Varro, summer (aestas) began when the Sun was in the constellation Taurus, on May 9 (dies primus est veris in aquario, aestatis in tauro, autumni in leone, hiemis in scorpione).118 The day of battle, however, came earlier than the first day of summer. On April 6, 46 b.c., the enemy had moved out in front of the ramparts and began to demonstrate undisciplined behavior, wandering around in both panic and excitement. Elephants were stationed on the right and left wings of the enemy’s forces. Caesar’s right wing sounded the battle charge independently and began the attack, taking the enemy off guard by moving suddenly and with extraordinary speed. The author of the De Bello Africo does not give the date of this decisive encounter against the forces of Scipio, Cato, and Juba, but the monumental fasti and the poetic Fasti of Ovid confirm the date as

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April 6, 46 b.c., a few days after Caesar had pitched camp near Thapsus.119 All of the dates in Ovid’s Fasti are accurate Julian dates, which can be confirmed by astronomical placements.120 In the entry for April 6 in the Fasti, Ovid describes himself chatting with an elderly man who was a veteran of the Battle of Thapsus. Ovid describes the constellation Chelae (Libra) setting in the west at sunrise on this day, which was the anniversary of the day of the battle. The heavens on the day of the battle were notable. During morning nautical twilight before sunrise on the day of the Battle of Thapsus on April 6, 46 b.c., Chelae [Lib] was nearing the western horizon, and a bright Venus was in the east in Pisces [Psc] (see the central area of visibility in Fig. 3.2). According to Plutarch, Caesar may not have been actively engaged during the Battle of Thapsus. As he was preparing for the battle, he was struck with the symptoms of his usual sickness, some malady of the head that made him susceptible to epileptic episodes (τὴν κεφαλὴν νοσώδης καὶ τοῖς ἐπὶ τοῖς ἐπιληπτικοῖς ἔνοχος).121 This chronic illness, which apparently came upon him suddenly when he was idle, had struck him first in Spain. The soldiers, on Caesar’s behalf, seized the moment and fought at Thapsus when celestial Venus would have been seen by all to be favorable to Caesar’s cause. This battle occurred during April, the month sacred to Venus, and was therefore special to her Julian descendants.122 The battle occurred while Venus was still in Pisces, a constellation associated with Venus that represented the fishes that took Venus and her son Cupid on their backs and saved them from the monstrous Typhon.123 In the Battle of Thapsus, Venus in her celestial manifestation looked down favorably from the sky as Caesar’s forces won a total victory. The battle had been long and difficult. Caesar lost only a few dozen men, but the enemy forces were demolished, losing as many 50,000 men, in addition to the commanders Scipio, who died in battle, and Cato, who took his own life after the battle. Cato’s son had removed Cato’s sword from his tent after the battle, fearing that Cato might use it to commit suicide rather than be captured. Cato grew more and more enraged as he interrogated his slaves one by one about the whereabouts of the sword, even punching one in the mouth so viciously that he damaged his own hand. Finally the sword was brought in during the night by a young child, and Cato tested its sharpness. After reading the Phaedo, Plato’s treatise on the soul, twice through, Cato lay down and stabbed himself as the birds were beginning to sing before the Sun rose. The noise that Cato made from tumbling off his couch and knocking over a nearby board of the sort used by geometers and astronomers to draw figures (καταβαλὼν ἀβάκιόν τι τῶν γεωμετρικῶν παρακείμενον) brought his son and others running in.124 They found Cato covered in blood and with his intestines protruding. He was still alive; he had been unable to stab himself forcefully enough because of his damaged hand. Cato’s physician tried to push Cato’s intestines back in and stitch him up. When Cato

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Fig. 3.2.  The morning of the Battle of Thapsus. April 6, 46 b.c. Before sunrise, 5:30 a.m. Thapsus, North Africa (35° 37ꞌ N, 11° 2ꞌ E). SkyMap Pro V. 12. By permission of Chris Marriott.

realized what his physician was doing, he pushed him away and ripped out his intestines with his own bare hands and so died. Caesar is said to have commented that he would have spared Cato’s life, although Cato would never have accepted such a fate. Caesar had to settle for sparing Cato’s son. Caesar boarded his ship at Utica after the battle on the Ides of June ( June 13) and arrived two days later in Sardinia. He began his journey to Italy on the fourth day before the Kalends

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of Quintilis ( June 28) and arrived back at Rome twenty-​seven days later after encountering bad weather along the way.125 Caesar had informed Acoreus at the banquet given in his honor by Cleopatra perhaps sometime in 47 b.c. that during the times of his recent military campaigns he had been privately making time for studying the heavens and pondering the reworking of the Roman calendar.126 The tracking of the Julian dates before the Battle of Thapsus and Caesar’s likely awareness of the planet Venus as a celestial backdrop on the days of the Battle of Pharsalus in August 48 b.c. and the Battle of Thapsus in April 46 b.c. not only confirm Caesar’s growing interest in the celestial sphere but also suggest Caesar’s willingness to exploit celestial display for political advantage. Caesar would make even more direct use of celestial Venus as a celestial backdrop when he staged his quadruple triumph in Rome after his return from North Africa. Caesar may have consulted with the Alexandrian astronomer Sosigenes, an advisor of Cleopatra who had accompanied him back to Rome in 47 b.c., in his preparations for the triumphs that would celebrate his military victories in Gaul, Egypt, Pontus, and Africa.127 Caesar’s triumph over Pontus has become well known for the placard declaring the speed of Caesar’s conquest: “Veni, Vidi, Vici.”128 In each of his triumphs, however, Caesar was careful not to include any Roman names on placards carried in the processions. Caesar included images of both his Roman and foreign opponents that told the story of his victories, but he did not include any images of Pompeius Magnus, whose death was still being mourned by the populace.129 Caesar’s four triumphs were spectacular and no expense was spared. At each, the trappings were made of a different type of material: citrus wood for the Gallic triumph, acanthus for the Pontic triumph, tortoiseshell for the Alexandrian (or Egyptian) triumph, and ivory for the African triumph.130 The Gallic triumph, which occurred first, was said to have been the most splendid. The ancient historical accounts provide no specific dates for the triumphs, which were held over several days, and no date for the dedication of the Temple of Venus Genetrix following the last triumph, but the monumental fasti of the imperial period attest that the temple was dedicated on the sixth day before the Kalends of October.131 This date would be September 25 in the pre-​Julian Roman calendar, in which September had twenty-​nine days, but September 26 in the Julian calendar, in which September had thirty days. Since the dedication of the temple to Venus was not a festival day under the old calendar but a new date in the civic life of Rome, the date was set where Caesar wished. Since Caesar had already been using Julian dates during the campaign at Thapsus several months earlier and since he was intending to celebrate the anniversary of the dedication of the temple again in the next year 45 b.c., when the Julian calendar would be in force, Caesar undoubtedly chose to dedicate the temple to Venus Genetrix, his divine patron goddess, on September 26, the date

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according to the soon-​to-​be-​unveiled Julian calendar. The triumphs were held prior to the dedication of the temple within the days September 20–​25, 46 b.c.132 Caesar’s mistress, the Egyptian queen Cleopatra, was in Rome when Caesar celebrated his four triumphs and dedicated his Temple of Venus Genetrix. Cleopatra, her new dynastic husband Ptolemy XIV, who was her fifteen-​year-​old younger brother, and her infant son had arrived in Rome at some point earlier in 46 b.c.133 Caesar accepted paternity of Cleopatra’s child, who was named Ptolemy XV Philopator Philometor Caesar, although he came to be better known by the nickname the Alexandrians gave him, Caesarion (Little Caesar). Cleopatra and her entourage took possession of Caesar’s urban villa, which was outside the boundary (the pomerium) of the city of Rome. Horace commented that Caesar’s urban villa was a fair distance from the center of Rome.134 It was located in the Trastevere district across the Tiber River on the right bank, between the first milestone of the Via Campana-​Portuensis and the slope of Monteverde. The area was densely populated with artisans and craftsmen, but it was also the location, down by the river, of villas belonging to wealthy Romans, such as Caesar and Clodia Pulchra, the middle of the three sisters of Clodius Pulcher. Possessed of a large expanse of gardens, Caesar’s villa was the grandest of the villas in the area. Cleopatra’s presence at Caesar’s villa was well known, and at the time Cleopatra was living there, Caesar remained married to his wife of over twelve years, Calpurnia, the daughter of Lucius Calpurnius Piso Caesoninus (Calpurnius Piso) (cos. 58 b.c.). The fact that Caesar openly had a mistress was not an issue. Caesar had a reputation as an adulterer. He had seduced several wives of Roman aristocrats and had engaged in love affairs with foreign queens, but his passion for Cleopatra appears to have been a growing embarrassment to those around him.135 Given his active involvement in the planning of the reform of the Roman calendar, which entailed attention to celestial matters, and under the influence of Cleopatra and his Egyptian astronomical advisor, Caesar quite likely chose carefully the days for the triumphs and the subsequent celebrations with attention to when Venus his divine ancestor in her planetary manifestation could be seen by all as visibly supportive of him by her presence in the sky. The evening following Caesar’s last triumphal procession on September 25, 46 b.c., which was the day before he would dedicate the Temple of Venus Genetrix, was particularly notable:136 Caesar spent the other days of the triumphal celebrations in the manner he acknowledged to be the custom at the time. But on the last day after dinner (τῇ δὲ τελευταίᾳ ἐπειδὴ ἐκ τοῦ δείπνου ἐγένοντο), he entered his own forum after having put on slippers (βλαύτας ὑποδεδεμένος) and wearing garlands of flowers of all kinds. With almost all the people escorting him

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and with many elephants carrying torches, he was accompanied home from his forum. Caesar had most likely dined not at his villa across the Tiber, where Cleopatra and her retinue were being housed, but at the Domus Publica, which was located adjacent to the Atrium Vestae on the Via Sacra and therefore closer to the center of the events being staged that September. Caesar had lived in the Domus Publica as Pontifex Maximus since his election to the office in 63 b.c., and the house had been the location of the scandalous intrusion of Clodius Pulcher into the festivities in celebration of the goddess Bona Dea in the winter of 62 b.c. The weather on September 25, 46 b.c. was fine because Caesar had set out while he was wearing only slippers. Caesar’s evening trip to his own forum had the appearance of a joyous, spontaneous public event that appealed to the members of the Roman population who participated in it. But it was carefully orchestrated. Forty elephants that had served as Caesar’s honor guard when he had mounted the steps of the Capitol as darkness fell following the close of his four triumphs accompanied the procession bearing torches.137 These elephants were going to be used for the elephant combat that would take place during the public celebrations (ludi) to follow. The stroll also took place under a sky notable for its significant celestial display. The central monument of Caesar’s forum was the Temple of Venus Genetrix, which was to be dedicated on the following day. Caesar walked toward his forum, which was not far from his official residence. The location of bright Venus in Virgo [Vir] on this evening would have been known by observation on the days prior. Caesar and those accompanying him could have seen Venus, the ancestor of the Julian family in her planetary manifestation, in Virgo [Vir] near the western horizon as though she were part of the procession herself (see the central area of visibility in Fig. 3.3).138 Venus would remain above the horizon for several minutes after sunset. Her presence in the darkening sky on this final day of the triumphal celebrations, the day preceding the dedication of her own temple of Venus Genetrix, would have been an indication that she remained near and that she supported Caesar’s military victories and the celebration to be staged the next day in her honor. In addition, to the east of Venus were Saturn and Jupiter in a close conjunction in Scorpios [Sco]. This rare conjunction of Saturn and Jupiter had been visible before sunrise for the first time in twenty years at the beginning of the year 46 b.c. Since about June 1, 46 b.c. this conjunction had been a dramatic visible presence in the eastern sky after sunset. Its appearance thus represented the support not only of Venus but also of her father, Jupiter, and her paternal grandfather, Saturn, for Caesar, their Julian descendant. Caesar, like other Roman aristocrats closely involved in the events that were part of the Catilinarian conspiracy of 63 b.c., must have noticed the bold and

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Fig. 3.3.  The evening before the dedication of the Temple of Venus Genetrix by Caesar. September 25, 46 b.c. Sunset, 6:08 p.m. Rome (41° 53ꞌ N, 12° 29ꞌ E). SkyMap Pro V. 12. By permission of Chris Marriott.

innovative use of planetary celestial display for political purposes that had been an important part of Cicero’s strategy to co-​opt Jupiter in support of the controversial actions he had taken at the end of his consular year. Cicero had referred to this celestial support in the consular poem he wrote a few years later in 60 b.c. Prior to 48 b.c., however, Caesar had shown little interest in the celestial sphere or indeed in adopting the use of celestial display for himself. In 59 b.c., the year

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of his own consulship, Caesar had rejected the unpropitious omens most likely found in the vault of the heavens that were announced (obnuntio) by his consular colleague Marcus Calpurnius Bibulus, who was driven violently from the Forum Romanum and never returned there while he was in office.139 In the autobiographical accounts of his earlier military campaigns, Caesar included several references to the hour of the day or night but very few references to the appearance of celestial entities. In his account of the wars he waged in Gaul in the years 58–​50 b.c., Caesar referred to the full Moon, to the new Moon, and to the rising and setting of the Sun.140 Caesar also referred several times to the hour of the day or night.141 In his more recent accounts of the civil strife with Pompeius Magnus before 48 b.c., Caesar included one reference to sunset but no references to any constellation, star, planet, or the Moon, and no references to the hours of the day or night. During the final battle he fought against Pompeius Magnus at Pharsalus during this civil war and at the Battle of Thapsus, however, Caesar appears to have had a change of mind with regard to the celestial sphere as he came to see the merit and power of the planet Venus as part of the narrative of the victories. In taking his stroll in full public view at the conclusion of his triumphs in 46 b.c., under a sky that displayed his divine patron Venus in her planetary manifestation, Caesar was using celestial display in a way that Cicero could not. Cicero had called upon Jupiter, but he had little support for the actions he had taken, no personal connection to the celestial entities, and no right to invoke Jupiter personally to support him as a public magistrate during his consular year. Caesar, however, had advantages and opportunities that Cicero lacked—​a strong following, a personal connection to Venus, and the right to invoke the support of the celestial manifestation of a member of his own Julian family. Pompeius Magnus, with the revelation of his dream of his Temple of Venus Victrix prior to Battle of Pharsalus, had attempted to defuse the power of Caesar’s personal connection to Venus, who was so prominently visible in her planetary manifestation in the morning sky on the day of that battle. But his halfhearted efforts were in vain. The appearance of Venus as the Evening Star at the conclusion of each of the days of Caesar’s triumphs and on the eve of his dedication of a temple to his divine ancestor Venus, which he had vowed before the Battle of Pharsalus, was conclusive visible proof of her evident support for Caesar and for his Julian family. The appearance of Venus in her planetary manifestation in Virgo on the day of the dedication of the Temple of Venus Genetrix may have reminded those Romans, including Caesar, who were conversant with stellar lore that Virgo was associated with the Egyptian goddess Isis, who was the divine manifestation of Cleopatra.142 More importantly for Cleopatra at this time would have been the appearance of the bright star Sirius in Canis before sunrise on the morning of the dedication of the temple on September 26, 46 b.c. The heliacal rising of Sirius

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(Egyptian Sothis) marked the beginning of the Egyptian year and the flooding of the Nile River, and it represented the Egyptian goddess Isis and Cleopatra herself. Although Cleopatra may have played little if any public role in Caesar’s triumphal celebrations, her presence in Rome was not out of mind. Cleopatra’s younger sister, Arsinoe, whom Caesar had captured after a failed coup in Egypt, walked with the other captives in his Egyptian triumph. The sight of a woman, a member of Egypt’s royal family and former ruler of Egypt, in chains aroused the Roman people to pity, and Arsinoe was spared the execution meted out to the Gallic chieftain Vercingetorix, the prize captive who walked in Caesar’s Gallic triumph.143 Caesar’s passion for Cleopatra was a popular subject for the songs that were traditionally sung by the soldiers to mock their commander as they walked in the Egyptian triumphal procession. On the day following the triumphs, September 26, 46 b.c., Caesar dedicated the Temple of Venus Genetrix in his own newly built but not quite finished Forum Iulium. As was appropriate, Caesar set up in the temple a cult statue of Venus, but next to Venus, he placed a beautiful statue of the foreign queen Cleopatra in the guise of the goddess Isis.144 Caesar, however, was able to neutralize this provocative and potentially dangerous precedent in two ways. First, following the dedication of the temple, Caesar presented the Ludi Veneris over several days. Caesar introduced for the first time at these ludi a camelopard (a giraffe), so named because its body was similar to a camel except for its legs, neck, and skin, which were spotted like that of a leopard.145 Second, Caesar used these ludi as unprecedented public funerary celebrations in honor of Iulia, his daughter and only legitimate child, who had died in 54 b.c. when Caesar was away from Rome.146 Iulia’s baby had died a few days after her, a death that would have put an end to any dynastic plans Caesar may have been entertaining. Cicero in a letter written to his brother in late November 54 b.c. refers briefly to the courage that Caesar had shown in the face of such sorrow, and he mentions the poem that he wrote for Caesar, which was in his own opinion a pleasing epic (ἔπος), as a sign of his sympathy for Caesar’s loss.147 Caesar had also incorporated some lighter entertainment in these ludi in honor of Iulia, as Cicero had noted briefly in a letter he wrote at the end of September or the beginning of October 46 b.c. to Quintus Cornificius (Cornificius), who was one of Cicero’s fellow augurs. Since Cornificius was also a poet, Cicero mentioned a contest he attended, which involved the performance of improvised mimes.148 Cornificius was away from Rome and serving as the governor of Cilicia, and Cicero could tell him only that he wished he had been at the event so he could have shared a knowing laugh with him about the performance. The story, which Cicero left untold, is described much later by Macrobius in his Saturnalia.149 Publilius Syrus, a celebrated writer of mimes who had come to Rome as a slave from Syria and earned his freedom by his wit, had challenged

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other writers of mime to a competition on stage in public. Caesar had permitted this contest to be part of his ludi of September 46 b.c. Caesar is said to have paid Decimus Laberius (Laberius), a Roman eques who wrote mimes with a reputation for their sharp frankness of speech (asperae libertatis), 500,000 sesterces to take part. Laberius felt compelled by Caesar to perform and so presented a mime that was viewed by those in attendance as critical of Caesar’s ambition and arrogance and perhaps even predictive of his downfall. Caesar was not offended. He laughed and gave the palm of victory to Publilius and the 500,000 sesterces to Laberius, as promised. At the end of the ludi Caesar also gave a gold ring to Laberius. This ring was no prize but a symbol of the restoration by Caesar of Laberius’ status of eques, which he had been compelled to forfeit in order to compete with Publilius on stage.150 As Laberius, now restored to his equestrian status, was heading to take his rightful seat in the rows allotted to the equites, he passed Cicero, who is said to have remarked to Laberius sarcastically that he would have made room for Laberius to join him had the seating not been so tight, meaning that he would never have allowed Laberius to sit with him at all. Laberius replied with a biting jab at Cicero’s habit of sitting on the fence politically (“atqui solebas duabus sellis sedere,” obiciens tanto viro lubricum fidei).151 The celebrations at these ludi in 46 b.c. also included the Lusus Troiae, the equestrian riding display that was allegedly first performed by Iulus, the namesake of the gens Iulia, along with his fellow Trojan youth at the celebrations in honor of the first anniversary of the death of his grandfather Anchises.152 At sunset on the days of the ludi that followed the dedication of the temple to Venus (September 27–​October 1, 46 b.c.), Venus remained in the western part of the sky. Her presence symbolized her continuing support for Caesar and reflected a devotion to family, both earthly and celestial, on the part of Caesar that no one could criticize with any justification. At the end of these celebrations, Caesar had a number of large projects in preparation, such as digging a canal through the Isthmus of Corinth, but he decided first, as Pontifex Maximus, to put the finishing touches to his plan for the adjustment and correction of the unstable quasi-​lunar Roman Republican calendar.153 In this calendar, an intercalary month of twenty-​two or twenty-​three days after the Terminalia, which occurred on the seventh day before the Kalends of March (February 23), was needed at times. The intercalation was not always applied, and when the intercalation was applied, it was open to potential manipulation for political ends.154 For his reform of the calendar, Caesar had consulted the best experts and mathematici (τοῖς ἀρίστοις τῶν φιλοσόφων καὶ μαθηματικῶν), and the Egyptian astronomer Sosigenes had assisted closely with the task. Caesar had investigated the problem in a systematic manner (φιλοσοφηθεῖσα χαριέντως) and used a table of days prepared for him by the scribe Marcus Flavius to determine the order of days and their relative positions (qui scriptos dies singulos ita ad

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dictatorem retulit).155 Because of Caesar’s reforms, 46 b.c. would of necessity be a year of confusion (annus confusionis).156 The year would have fifteen months, and in addition to the usual intercalary month, a second addition of extra days was to be made between November and December.157 The Roman calendar, which had 355 days, was reset permanently in line with the Egyptian system of time, about which Caesar had learned during his time in Alexandria. The Egyptian calendar had 365 days. Because 365 days was a bit short of the 365¼ days that measured more accurately the Sun’s annual journey through the constellations of the zodiac, Caesar planned the insertion of a leap day accomplished by doubling the sixth day before the Kalends of March (February 24) every four years. Caesar thus achieved his goal of officially bringing the Roman calendar into harmony with the astronomical calendar, a harmony already in operation in other places such as Sicily and Greece, as Cicero had noted admiringly decades earlier in 70 b.c.158 The Julian calendar, which kept Roman festivals intact, took effect for public use by decree on the Kalends of January ( January 1) in 45 b.c. in a year without consuls when Caesar was both Pontifex Maximus and Dictator.159 Caesar also wrote a work entitled De Astris, no longer extant, which may have been a commentary meant to accompany and explain his calendrical reforms, not a parapegma or a self-​standing prose work written in the tradition of Aratus’ Phaenomena.160 In these years, Cicero, the author of the translation of Aratus’ Phaenomena, and Caesar, the author of the new Julian calendar, were fated to clash in a battle for astronomical authority. Cicero, in the letters he wrote to various acquaintances and friends in 46 b.c., the year in which Caesar was finalizing his reform of the calendar, does not mention Caesar’s efforts and his major accomplishment in this area. On January 6, 45 b.c., a few days after Caesar’s reforms had officially taken place, Cicero is said to have remarked, in response to someone commenting that a constellation named λύρα was going to appear on the next day, that the constellation was appearing in accordance with the edict that put Caesar’s reform of the calendar into operation (φησαντός τινος αὔριον ἐπιτέλλειν Λύραν, “Ναί,” εἶπεν, “ἐκ διατάγματος”).161 Cicero’s comment is usually interpreted as a reference to the rising of the constellation Fides (Lyra) with its very bright star Vega. But the reference made by Cicero is not to the heliacal or apparent morning rising of the constellation Fides at sunrise near the horizon in the northeast on January 5 but to the Little Lyre (modern Equuleus), which was located near the constellation Delphinus. The Little Lyre was associated with Arion, the musician famed in Greek mythological narratives because he was rescued from certain death in the sea by a dolphin. The entry in Ovid’s Fasti for January 5 confirms this identification.162 The Little Lyre belonged to the Sphaera Barbarica, which had been made known to the Romans by Cicero’s friend the mathematicus Nigidius Figulus.163 Cicero’s tart response was, therefore, not just personal and reflective of

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the tensions and rivalry that had always been part of his relationship with Caesar but also subtle and learned and meant to indicate his astronomical superiority. Cicero felt that Caesar had always demonstrated goodwill toward him despite their differences.164 But Cicero is said to have been the first person to detect and fear the tyrannical intentions that lay behind Caesar’s charming exterior.165 He is also said to have feared Caesar because of his popularity with the Roman people. Only recently following the suicide of Cato after the Battle of Thapsus in 46 b.c., Cicero and Caesar had engaged in a literary battle, much enjoyed by their readers. Cicero had written an encomium praising Cato, which he entitled Cato. Caesar, annoyed because he viewed Cicero’s praise of Cato as criticism of himself, countered with his own work, which he entitled Anti-​Cato.166 Enduring fame would certainly be Caesar’s as a result of his reform of the Roman calendar on the basis of the astronomical considerations, which was without doubt one of the greatest accomplishments in Roman cultural history. Caesar had demonstrated the extent of his power, which stretched beyond the political world to the celestial sphere itself. A bronze statue, among other honors, had already been voted to Caesar that depicted him atop a likeness of the inhabited world and bore an inscription that proclaimed him to be a demigod (ἡμίθεος), a word he later removed.167 But Cicero would have wanted Rome’s aristocrats to remember that he, not Caesar, was Rome’s preeminent authority on observational astronomy, thanks to his translation of Aratus’ Phaenomena, which was still read and used decades after its publication around 90 b.c. This translation had created the Latin astronomical lexicon and still remained an accessible means by which students could learn how to understand and use the celestial sphere. During this time of Caesar’s triumphant rise to political and cultural power at Rome, Cicero retreated from public life, staying mostly at his country estate at Tusculum and rarely journeying to Rome except to meet with Caesar. The Republic seemed to be slowly collapsing before his eyes, trampled by politicians who felt unrestrained by law or tradition. He had plans to write a history of Rome but then became distracted by personal issues, many of his own making. Cicero divorced his first wife, Terentia, who was the mother of his son, Marcus, and his daughter, Tullia, because he said that Terentia neglected him. He quickly married Publilia, a young girl who was his ward, because she was rich and could help pay off his debts. His beloved Tullia died in late February or early March 45 b.c., not long after her divorce from her third husband, Publius Cornelius Dolabella (Dolabella) (cos. suff. 44 b.c.), whom she had married in 50 b.c. The divorce, which followed an unhappy marriage, was finalized during her second pregnancy. Tullia had been delivered of a second child, a son who survived, but she died shortly after the birth. Cicero immediately divorced his second wife, Publilia, because she seemed to be pleased at the death of Tullia, with whom she had felt

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competitive for the attentions of Cicero. In the weeks after Tullia’s death, Cicero exchanged letters with the eminent jurist Servius Sulpicius Rufus (cos. 51 b.c.), who counseled him to deal with his grief in a Stoic way so that sorrow would not crush his spirit.168 Cicero’s friend Lucceius offered similar advice, which made little impression upon him.169 While Cicero acknowledged the concern and advice of his friends, no words and no examples of those who had suffered in similar ways could console him for the cruel loss of his daughter’s company and conversation. Cicero mentioned in a few letters to Atticus the deep wounds inflicted by his divorce from Terentia and by the death of Tullia.170 But the painful loss of his daughter was generally unexamined in any meaningful way in Cicero’s correspondence at this time. Cicero, however, found an outlet for his grief in the spring and summer of 45 b.c. in badgering Atticus in many letters to help him find a place to build a little shrine (fanum) in memory of his daughter.171 Cicero’s plan was not to build the shrine in the house where Tullia had died, as was legally permissible, but in the open air, as was not permissible. His aim was to prevent the shrine from being removed by future owners of Tullia’s house and to give those outside his immediate family the opportunity to visit what he considered would be a sacred spot. Cicero became interested in acquiring in particular a part of the gardens of Quinctius Scapula, which were in the Vatican plain and thus close to the city center of Rome. Cicero also expressed an interest to Atticus in the spring of 45 b.c. in acquiring a portion of the grounds of Clodia Pulchra’s villa in the Trastevere section of Rome across the Tiber in order to build the shrine as well as a place in which he might live in his old age, but Clodia Pulchra had been unwilling to sell. Essentially, in planning this open-​air shrine, Cicero was seeking a kind of deification (ἀποθέωσις) of his late daughter. Cicero, however, did not imagine that the soul of Tullia had traveled to the Milky Way to join there the souls of deserving Romans who had served the state well, about which he had written in 51 b.c. in the sixth book of his De Republica. In July 45 b.c., Cicero received a note of sympathy on the death of Tullia from Caesar that had been posted on the day before the Kalends of May (April 30) and had taken many months to arrive from Hispalis in Spain.172 For an antidote to all his troubles, Cicero had turned to literature to ease the pain of his loss and then began slowly to engage again in writing philosophical works, although he considered writing secondary to his political activities.173 In the works he wrote during this time, Cicero revisited the celestial sphere in which he had nurtured an interest ever since he had translated the Phaenomena of Aratus. In late 45 b.c., in a treatise on natural philosophy called the De Natura Deorum, Cicero quoted from his translation of the Phaenomena. In his translation of Plato’s Timaeus, which was written in 45–​44 b.c., Cicero represented his friend Nigidius Figulus as his

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spokesman for matters dealing with the interconnectedness of the cosmos.174 Nigidius Figulus had gone into exile after seemingly running afoul of Caesar, as Cicero’s letter of commiseration and support for his restoration, which was written to him in August 46 b.c., indicates.175 Nigidius Figulus may have died in exile in 45 b.c., and Cicero may not have known whether he was alive or dead at the time he published his translation of Plato’s Timaeus. The assignment of the role of spokesman to Nigidius Figulus in Cicero’s Timaeus was testament to Cicero’s continuing esteem for the astronomical expertise of Nigidius Figulus, whom he had always deemed most accomplished, learned, and trustworthy. Around the same time, Cicero then published, as a sequel to his De Natura Deorum, the De Divinatione, in which he again made reference to his translation of Aratus’ Phaenomena and into which he had inserted the defense of his consular year, set against a backdrop of celestial observations conveyed by the Muse Urania. In his De Divinatione, Cicero had his brother, Quintus Cicero, who also had an interest in celestial matters, emphasize the importance of observing the heavens, for through observation of the risings of the Sun, the Moon, and the other heavenly bodies, one could predict long beforehand the time when each of them was going to be present.176 Quintus Cicero also noted that the philosopher Posidonius had declared that one could find signs of future events in the observation of natural signs in the heavens. In support, Quintus Cicero quoted Heraclides of Pontus, a student of Plato:177 We know that Ceos was accustomed to watch with care the rising of Canicula [the star Sirius in the constellation Canis] so as to see, as Heraclides of Pontus writes, whether the coming year would be beneficial or disastrous. For if the star seemed rather dim and misty, this indicated that the sky was thick and dense, with the result that its exhalation was going to be weighty and disastrous. If the star appeared bright and unclouded, this indicated that the sky was thin and uncontaminated and, as a result, beneficial. In a cautious way, years later, Cicero was thus once again bringing to the forefront a view he had presented through Urania in his consular poem of 60 b.c., that the heavens had the ability to give advice, support, and valuable signs of future events on a public scale to cities and their public figures. Cicero had not been successful when he had tried to put this view into practice for himself, but Caesar had done so with positive results in 48 b.c. at the Battle of Pharsalus and in 46 b.c. at the Battle of Thapsus, at his quadruple triumphs, and at the dedication of the Temple of Venus Genetrix.

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Cicero’s Aratea and the Education of Octavius in the Fixed Constellations 46–​4 5 b.c.

By 46 b.c., Octavius had been receiving both familial and political preferments from Caesar for several years.1 These preferments resulted from the strategies Octavius’ mother, Atia, employed to secure her son’s future. After the death of her first husband in 59 b.c., Atia had gradually but expertly nudged her only son into the orbit of her uncle Caesar, the most prominent member of her maternal Julian family. In 51 b.c., Caesar had chosen Octavius, who was then in his twelfth year (duodecimum annum agens), to give the eulogy at the funeral for his grandmother Iulia, Caesar’s younger sister.2 The choice of Octavius for the task of delivering a funeral oration for a woman of the family was not without precedent. Caesar had delivered two funeral orations before Octavius was born, both around 68 b.c., one for his own aunt Iulia, the wife of Marius, and one for his first wife, Cornelia, the daughter of Lucius Cornelius Cinna (cos. 87 b.c.) and the mother of his only daughter, Iulia. The oration for his aunt, an elderly Roman matron, was acceptable according to Roman custom, but the oration for his wife, who had died young, was contrary to Roman custom and thus set a new precedent.3 This opportunity provided to Octavius by Caesar served as a step for Octavius toward his future training in rhetoric in the political world and, more importantly, as a public acknowledgment of his increasingly important place in Caesar’s Julian family. Octavius’ mother, Atia, continued to maintain firm control over her son even after he had donned the toga virilis, perhaps in the year 48 b.c., and she treated him still as a boy.4 By this point, however, Caesar had been sufficiently impressed by Octavius to take on the responsibility of seeing to Octavius’ higher education and advancement in oratory, politics, and the military.5 Through Caesar’s interventions in 47 b.c., Octavius was elected pontifex

Celestial Inclinations. Anne-​Marie Lewis, Oxford University Press. © Oxford University Press 2023. DOI: 10.1093/​oso/​9780197599648.003.0005

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and named praefectus urbi. By the summer of 46 b.c., Octavius had begun accompanying his great-​uncle Caesar everywhere he went. Caesar had taken note of Octavius’ admirable qualities and behavior and was treating him not just as a close kinsman but also as a son, although he did not formally adopt Octavius because he felt that adoption at that time would have weakened Octavius’ character.6 In September 46 b.c., Caesar had recognized Octavius publicly by presenting him with military gifts at his African triumph.7 As a participant in Caesar’s magnificent triumphal celebrations, Octavius would have witnessed the power of celestial display in the form of the presence of the planet Venus in the evening sky as a dramatic and meaningful backdrop for Caesar’s triumphal events. He would also have learned valuable lessons from Caesar with regard to the need for the subtle and careful handling of Julian astro-​genealogy and the need to control the messages to be found in the celestial sphere as an indication of support for his future political actions. Octavius may have begun his own formal studies of the celestial sphere during this year. General interest in observational astronomy was high, as was evident in Cicero’s renewed engagement with his translation of Aratus’ Phaenomena. This astronomical interest was further invigorated by the institution of the new Julian calendar, which was based on astronomical time. As a young man with a heritage in an entrepreneurial branch of the gens Octavia through his father, Gaius Octavius, and a heritage in the patrician gens Iulia through his mother, Atia, Octavius had received the usual excellent education given to aristocratic boys at this time. His education would have begun in the home with his mother and continued later under the tutelage of his father. At Rome, in the years following the birth of his son in 63 b.c., Octavius’ father had advanced in his political career. Possessed of wealth derived from the banking business of his family in Velitrae and from their landed estates, Gaius Octavius had been in the Senate since 70 b.c. His second marriage in 65 b.c. to Atia had helped to further his career by giving him useful family associations. Atia was the daughter of Marcus Atius Balbus (Atius Balbus) (praetor before 59 b.c.), a wealthy equestrian businessman from Aricia, an old Latin city about sixteen miles southeast of Rome along the Via Appia. Atius Balbus was related to Pompeius Magnus through his mother, Pompeia. Cicero and Antonius would later imply that Atia’s father had African ancestry or servile origins, but Atia’s mother was Iulia, the younger of the two sisters of Caesar. The startling and potentially ominous prediction made by Nigidius Figulus in 63 b.c. for the firstborn son of Atia clearly had not impeded the continuing political advancement of her husband, who was recognized for his estimable character and accomplishments.8 Gaius Octavius was elected praetor for 61 b.c., and he served his governorship in Macedonia in 60–​59 b.c., a position in which he was said to have excelled.9 His wife and children may have accompanied him there. Shortly after his return in 59 b.c., Gaius

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Octavius died suddenly when his son was only about four years old. Atia remarried in 58 or 57 b.c., either while Cicero was in exile in Macedonia or after he returned to Rome. Octavius thus gained not only a stepfather, Lucius Marcius Philippus (Philippus) (cos. 56 b.c.), but also new family associations. Octavius’ father had died before he could ensure that his son received the necessary guidance to be able to rise up in the ranks of the nobility. After his father’s death, the Octavii of Velitrae did not take an interest in Octavius’ education or his political career. The guardians who were appointed for Octavius after the death of his father, in fact, squandered most of the money that had been left to him. Octavius’ mother, Atia, took Octavius’ education in hand herself.10 Octavius’ stepfather, Philippus, a man noted for his neutrality, did not adopt Octavius, but he took a father’s interest in his stepson and played a supporting role in raising him.11 Octavius is said to have devoted himself to his formal education until he was compelled by events to move into the public sphere in 44 b.c.12 From young childhood, an aristocratic Roman youth such as Octavius would have been imbued with partial knowledge of the night sky as he listened to the adults around him discuss and share their knowledge of the heavens. It is difficult for people in the modern world to appreciate fully the star lore and knowledge of the celestial sphere that so absorbed Octavius. But for Octavius and for the Romans, who looked up at the sky much more closely than people do today, the night sky was bright, active, and informative. During the period of the saeculum Augustum, the Romans learned to read the heavens to determine the predictable movements of the constellations, stars, and luminaries for the information they could provide in service of communal human activities such as time keeping, navigation, weather forecasting, and agricultural planning. Because the celestial sphere was well ordered, these important earthly activities could all be regulated and accomplished by watching the sky.13 Information gained from past observations of the regular appearance of the constellations and predictions of their future appearances was stored in tables, on parapegmata, and on solid celestial globes incised or carved with figures indicating the locations of the constellations in relation to one another.14 The Romans were a people of action, not theory, and they educated their sons in practical matters and trained them up to be doers. Sallust conveyed this cultural imperative in the context of a comparison of the Athenian and Roman characters:15 The accomplishments of the Athenians, as I judge them, were sufficiently illustrious and splendid, but nevertheless they were lesser in importance than people think because of their renown. Because many talented writers happened to live there, the deeds of the Athenians were celebrated to

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the highest degree throughout the entire world. . . . But for the Roman people there never was this opportunity because each of their most sensible men were very busy with practical matters (quisque maxume negotiosus erat). No Roman cultivated his mind apart from the body. Each of the best Roman men preferred to do rather than to say (quisque facere quam dicere . . . malebat). Each preferred that his own worthy deeds be praised by others rather than that he himself recount those of others. As Vergil noted in the sixth book of the Aeneid, it was the Greeks (alii) who would sketch out the movements of the zodiac with a pointed stick and tell of the rising stars (caelique meatus /​describent radio et surgentia sidera dicent).16 It was the Romans who would rule the peoples of the world, impose peace, spare the conquered, and bring down the proud in war. One of the practical crafts to which Vergil alluded in his observations (hae tibi erunt artes) may be the ability of the Romans to read and use the map of the heavens in service to the accomplishment of these tasks.17 The Romans did not have the same appetite as the Greeks for investigating at great length and in great depth the theoretical aspects of mathematical astronomy. In accordance with their practical nature, the Romans took a distinctly utilitarian view of the study of astronomy.18 All Romans, including aristocratic young men who were given a formal education in astronomy, had to have a practical knowledge of the heavens in order to carry on their trades. An orator needed a knowledge of astronomy.19 An architect who might wish to serve a leading Roman politician also needed this knowledge.20 An educated Roman aristocrat might have delighted in demonstrating his understanding of the heavens and of the poetry about the heavens that he had memorized as part of his higher education, and astronomy was important for anyone who wished to write or to understand poetry.21 But a Roman politician needed to have a knowledge of the heavens and the associated star lore not just for show or pleasure. Accurate astronomical observation was in many ways a prerequisite to the exercise of power because young Roman men had to develop the very practical ability to orient themselves and others in time and space and manage the calendar. Octavius, who was being mentored by Caesar for a future political and military career in particular, needed to study observational astronomy in order to learn how to find his way around the sky and how to tell the hours of the day and night. To do so was a critical skill for a military commander, as the Greek historian Polybius had noted (καὶ μάλιστα τῶν ἐξ ἀστρολογίας καὶ γεωμετρίας, ὧν τὸ μὲν ἔργον οὐ μέγα πρός γε ταύτην τὴν χρείαν).22 The general must know the times of the solstices and the equinoxes by watching the Sun. The general must know the times of night and day by gauging the appearance of the constellations of the zodiac, a task that was not difficult to learn for anyone who has inquired closely into matters of observational

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astronomy (πάνυ δὲ καὶ τοῦτο ῥᾴδιον τοῖς τὰ φαινόμενα πεπολυπραγμονηκόσιν).23 On nights with clouds, the general must study the Moon with awareness of the constellation of the zodiac in which it was located (ἐν δὲ ταῖς συννεφέσι νυξὶ τῇ σελήνῃ προσεκτέον).24 This practical skill was one that could be easily learned by careful study of observational astronomy. Cicero in his Tusculan Disputations had categorized astronomy as a highly prized technical expertise developed by the Greeks that had been put to practical use by the Romans for observation and planning (itaque nihil mathematicis illustrius: at nos metiendi ratiocinandique utilitate huius artis terminavimus modum).25 When Octavius began a serious study of the constellations and stars, perhaps in 46 b.c., about 6,000 stars of sixth apparent magnitude or greater were theoretically visible to the naked eye at night in the northern skies but not all at once throughout the year. In fact, only about 2,000 stars could be seen if conditions for viewing were excellent, and knowledge of forty-​seven constellations visible or somewhat visible in the northern latitudes would have given Octavius the ability to use the constellations in service of communal and political activities. A young Roman such as Octavius would have needed to learn these important visible constellations and their bright stars correctly and efficiently and to maintain this knowledge over many years. Octavius would have worked initially under the guidance of a teacher experienced in both astronomical texts and in direct observation of the heavens, but he did not study astronomical matters with Cicero, who was still Rome’s preeminent astronomical writer. Cicero had known Octavius’ father, who was a member of the Roman Senate, and the families of Octavius and Cicero had lived on the northern side of Palatine Hill at some point early in Octavius’ life. The house of Octavius’ birth at the Ox-​heads on the Palatine Hill was probably located near the northeast corner of the hill. Cicero’s house was located in the northwest part of the Palatine Hill.26 Cicero, however, did not know Octavius by sight in Octavius’ early years. Cicero’s unfamiliarity with Octavius may have been due to the difficulties that plagued Cicero after his consular year, 63 b.c. Cicero’s unfamiliarity may also be because Octavius, although born on the Palatine Hill, may have been raised not only in Rome but also in Velitrae at the country estate of his paternal grandfather, which contained a small room that was said to be Octavius’ nursery.27 After his mother remarried, Octavius moved to a house in the Carinae (the Keels) district on the nearby Esquiline Hill, where many of Rome’s wealthiest citizens lived.28 Cicero was also absent from Rome during the year of his exile 58–​57 b.c. and again from late spring of 51 b.c. through the end of July 50 b.c. during his proconsulship. After Cicero stepped back from public life, he turned to teaching philosophy, not astronomy to young Roman nobles.29 Although Cicero had mentioned Caesar briefly a few times in letters from the year 51 b.c., Cicero did not mention Caesar’s grandnephew Octavius

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and he did not know who Octavius was until several years later. According to Plutarch, while Caesar was still alive, Cicero dreamed that Jupiter had singled out a young Roman man from among those parading before him as the one who would become their ruler (οὗτος ἡγεμὼν γενόμενος) and end the civil wars.30 One day when Cicero was heading to the Campus Martius, he saw this young man and learned that he was Octavius, the grandson of Caesar’s sister. Cicero afterwards made an effort to speak to Octavius whenever he met him, and he took note of the significant fact that Octavius had been born in 63 b.c., the year of Cicero’s own consulship. Suetonius and Dio relate a different dream that Cicero is said to have had on the last night of December, most likely in 49 b.c. In this dream Cicero saw an aristocratic boy lowered down from the zodiac (e caelo) by a golden chain to the Capitoline Hill, where he received a whip from Jupiter in front of Jupiter’s temple there.31 On the next day, January 1, when Cicero attended Caesar to the Capitoline for the inauguration of Caesar’s consulship of 48 b.c., he saw Octavius, who had been brought to the ceremony by Caesar, for the first time in his life. Only then did Cicero realize that the boy in his dream was Octavius. Cicero was open to receiving messages from prophetic dreams, and he had used a dream to conclude the sixth book of his De Republica, which was published in 51 b.c. Cicero was also open to the belief that other sources of divination could be reliable and he was willing to share his thoughts on these matters openly with others. Cicero’s brother, Quintus Cicero, noted that Cicero had been a member of the college of augurs since 53 b.c., and Cicero did not deny or repudiate that augury was a reliable form of divination or that the supernatural could be a source of prophecy.32 Cicero, in fact, wrote to Aulus Caecina, a supporter of Pompeius Magnus, about what he considered to be his own considerable skill in divination (divinatio) and his ability to see into the future.33 Cicero said that he had his own system of providing predictions about Caesar that was based on his assessment of Caesar himself and the political situation but he likened his skill at divination to that of augurs and astrologers (astrologi).34 Direct observation of the heavens under the guidance of a teacher was critical throughout antiquity to learning the sky, but by the time of the saeculum Augustum, several written resources were available by which preliminary knowledge of the heavens might be acquired before one stepped outside to observe the heavens directly. Astronomical treatises written by Theodosius of Bithynia, perhaps around 100 b.c., dealt with elementary spherical geometry and astronomical applications that were mathematically oriented and therefore probably not suitable for basic introductory instruction to the constellations for practical young Romans.35 The astronomical text written in Greek prose by Geminos at some point during the first century b.c. was elementary in nature but may not have been readily available at Rome as an introduction to the heavens. The

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commentary on the Phaenomena by Aratus that was written by Hipparchus during the latter part of the second century b.c. was a critique undertaken by its author, as he declared, not for his own professional advancement but for sake of Aeschrion, the enthusiastic friend to whom he dedicated the work, and for the benefit of any others who might read Aratus’ poem.36 Hipparchus, an expert in mathematical astronomy, acknowledged the charm and popularity of the Phaenomena but systematically noted the errors he found in the locations of parts of the imagined figures superimposed upon the stars that Aratus described in his poem.37 Hipparchus’ commentary, however, was not a source of basic astronomical principles. It demanded knowledge not only of the poetic Phaenomena but also of two other technical works now lost to us save for direct references to them in Hipparchus’ commentary. The first of these was the prose Phaenomena, a treatise written by the astronomer Eudoxus of Cnidus about one hundred years before Aratus’ work of the same name.38 This work was one of the primary sources for Aratus’ poem.39 The second work was the commentary on Aratus’ poem written by Hipparchus’ older contemporary Attalus of Rhodes, who had aimed, unlike Hipparchus, either to confirm that Aratus’ astronomical descriptions agreed with observed phenomena or to establish the accuracy of his descriptions by emending Aratus’ text where necessary in order to ensure harmonization.40 Hipparchus never gave an account of astronomy from first principles and did not construct an astronomical system. Hipparchus had a high reputation in antiquity, but his works, including his commentary on the popular Phaenomena of Aratus, were little read in general.41 Hipparchus’ close focus on correcting the details of Aratus’s descriptions made his commentary valuable to specialists and authoritative, but it also made it too technical as a suitable elementary text in observational astronomy for young nonspecialists.42 Hipparchus in his commentary had found some fault with parts of the Phaenomena and even suggested that Aratus had not observed the sky for himself.43 The Phaenomena had been written in the years after 276 b.c. by Aratus while he was in residence at the court of Antigonus Gonatas at Pella in Macedonia. The legend that Antigonus Gonatas assigned Aratus the task of writing about astronomy when he was an expert in medicine, not astronomy, is deemed false in two of the four ancient biographies of Aratus, Vita I and Vita IV.44 The Phaenomena itself provides evidence that Aratus had made observations of the heavens and that, although Aratus may not have been a mathematical astronomer like Hipparchus, he was far from being ignorant of the important basics of practical observational astronomy, as Hipparchus had insinuated. Aratus’ Phaenomena, which has been categorized as a popular survey, had much to recommend it as a reliable source text for elementary instruction in observational astronomy, and it remained a school text for centuries after its publication.45 The poem provided a

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survey of astronomy at an introductory level without theorems, proofs, arithmetic, geometry, or references to stellar placements by degrees. Aratus’ Phaenomena, as a didactic poem, was a suitable text for a curriculum of study in astronomy for a well-​born student at Rome. In his poem, Aratus drew the attention of his audience upward toward the heavens and offered a written text to which a reader could look, day or night, for practical guidance on a regular basis. In the first, astronomical part of his poem, Aratus presented a detailed celestial catalog. This part of the Phaenomena led the reader systematically through the named fixed constellations north of the ecliptic, south of the ecliptic, and in the zodiac. Aratus also described the constellations that appeared on four of the imagined celestial Great Circles.46 And he provided a means by which one could tell the coming point of sunrise from the constellations that rose and set with each of the twelve constellations in the zodiac through which the Sun passed on its annual journey around the Earth. In the second astro-​meteorological part of his poem, Aratus provided guidance for navigation and weather forecasting on the basis of celestial and terrestrial phenomena.47 The information presented in Aratus’ poem could be used not only by observers at Pella but also by observers around the Mediterranean living near the same latitude. The locations of the fixed constellations and the movement of the Sun through the constellations of the zodiac could be confirmed at sea, from a high position on land, or wherever there was a good view outside all around. The importance of the Moon as a useful indicator for weather forecasting was noted in the poem, but the planets (ἀστέρες) were completely sidestepped.48 Aratus excused his omission of the planets by claiming that he lacked the confidence to deal with them. This refusal or unwillingness to include the planets in his poem, however, did not reflect Aratus’ ignorance of the planets: in fact, Aratus did write a work on the planets, which is now lost. The real reason for the omission of the planets in Aratus’ Phaenomena was probably that the planets were less regular in their appearance in the sky than the fixed constellations.49 Although the movements of the planets could be tracked once they had appeared in the heavens and although the planets when they were visible had some use for anyone seeking to follow a direction, they played little if any role in the communal activities such as time keeping, navigation, weather forecasting, and agricultural planning that were the focus of Aratus’ poem. Aratus’ Phaenomena had remained in circulation and of interest since its initial appearance. Copies of the original Greek poem were in the Great Library in Alexandria, and editorial work was continually underway there to establish an authoritative text of the poem.50 At Rome, writers had expressed their admiration for the literary qualities of the verses of Aratus’ Phaenomena. Aratus had employed elegant dactylic hexameters that reflected a new taste in Greek poetry; he also used a style that derived from Hesiod’s poetry, an elevated diction that

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owed much to Homer’s epic poems, and a Stoic vision of the all-​pervasive life force of the cosmos represented by Zeus in its composition. Several extended narratives that told of the origin and identities of some of the most important constellations were interspersed throughout the poem to enliven the technical information being presented.51 The neoteric poet Gaius Helvius Cinna, a friend of Catullus, had alluded to the polished nature of Aratus’ Phaenomena in the epigram he attached to an unusual copy of the poem he had acquired in Bithynia, and Cicero had praised Aratus’ poetic skill (sed poetica quadam facultate).52 In his De Republica, however, Cicero had Lucius Furius Philus (cos. 136 b.c.) state that Aratus had taken his own description of the celestial sphere from that of Eudoxus and set it out in verse with what one might call poetic talent but without expertise in astronomy (non astrologiae scientia).53 Cicero had also placed a statement critical of Aratus’ astronomical knowledge in the mouth of a character in one of his other works. In his De Oratore, which was published in 54 b.c., Cicero had Lucius Licinius Crassus, an orator of the generation before Cicero and one of his teachers, who had died in late 91 b.c. around the time Cicero was working on his translation of the Phaenomena, comment that according to learned experts, Aratus was inexperienced in astronomy, although he had written very accomplished verses about the heavens.54 The conclusion of Licinius’ statement in the De Oratore, however, provides some perspective. Orators were expected to do the same thing as Aratus had done in developing a necessary expertise in a subject for the purposes of a speech. Aratus must have developed a level of expertise in the subject from writing about it, and Cicero did the same. Cicero was fluent in Greek, both written and oral, and could declaim easily in Greek to the admiration of others, but he was no expert in astronomy himself until he had undertaken his translation of the Phaenomena.55 The negative comments Cicero placed in the mouths of characters in his works are not reflective of Cicero’s own opinion of the astronomical value of the Phaenomena, an opinion that was more in line with the earlier positive assessments of the Phaenomena provided by the astronomer Attalus. Cicero in translating the Phaenomena into Latin had displayed no misgivings about the astronomical information conveyed by Aratus in his poem. Cicero omitted any detailed discussion of the planets (stellae) in his own translation, claiming that he was unable to discern a pattern to the twisted paths of the planets in the limited space allotted.56 Cicero, however, certainly had an understanding of the motions of the planets, which by this time, were well known. Cicero’s unwillingness to engage with the planets in his translation was based in his need to follow his Greek model, and yet his reservations are expressed a bit differently as a reflection of his desire to compete with the original. Even when Cicero revisited his translation much later in the 40s b.c., he did not see fit to alter his translation of

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Aratus’ poem on the basis of Hipparchus’ criticisms, if indeed he had even bothered to read them. For Cicero, Aratus’ Phaenomena possessed scientific merit, and throughout the saeculum Augustum, the poem retained its status as a valuable and useful text of observational astronomy. Ovid, the greatest Roman poet in the closing years of this period, would write in the concluding poem of the first book of the Amores that Aratus would always be together with the two luminaries, the Sun and the Moon (Aratus cum sole et luna semper erit).57 In other words, while the literary merits of the poem, its language, its style, its brevity, and its elegance, may have given Aratus high standing as an admired writer in Rome, the astronomical subject matter of the poem gave Aratus immortal status as the author of a text of observational astronomy that could be used with profit by nonexperts to learn how to locate the fixed constellations and the bright stars in the sky. The Phaenomena of Aratus certainly possessed all the necessary information about the names of the fixed constellations and how they changed their locations over the course of a year in the heavens, but an important question regarding Octavius’ education in celestial matters remains. Would Octavius have read Aratus’ Phaenomena in the original Greek as an introduction to the fixed constellations? Copies of Aratus’ Phaenomena were available at Rome by the time Octavius began his own study of astronomy around 46 b.c., and he may have been able to read the Greek poem with some ease at this time. Octavius may have spent time as a young boy in Macedonia when his father was posted there and where Aratus had written the Phaenomena, and he probably learned Greek formally or informally from an early age, like other aristocratic Roman boys of his time.58 Octavius apparently excelled in the study of Greek and read Greek works, including the versified plays of Athenian comedy.59 But Octavius never spoke and composed in Greek extemporaneously or with confidence. If he needed to speak Greek, he first wrote out his text in Latin and then had it translated into Greek.60 Octavius may not have been alone in his less than perfect knowledge of Greek. Cicero’s son, Marcus Cicero, made an urgent request to his father’s scribe, Tiro, from Athens in 44 b.c. for a Greek clerk who could help him with transcribing his Greek notes (ut quam celerrime mihi librarius mittatur, maxime quidem Graecus. multum enim mihi eripitur operae in exscribendis hypomnematis).61 In addition, the complex subject matter of the Greek Phaenomena needed to be appreciated through several lenses: a challenging vocabulary, a Hellenistic aesthetic that prized brevity and sophisticated expression, a Stoic world view, and the heavens themselves. The poem was therefore best studied deeply and over time. As a means of quickly putting the astronomical information in the poem to practical use for a young non-​Greek speaker and nonspecialist in celestial matters, it would therefore have served a beginning student in Rome less well than

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its Latin version by Cicero. For this reason, Octavius, who was in training to be a Roman politician and a general and not a professional mathematical astronomer, at first probably learned the basics of the constellations not from Aratus’ Greek original but from the Latin translation of the Phaenomena by Cicero, who had been reviving his reputation in the years around 46 b.c. as one of Rome’s preeminent experts in observational astronomy. Copies of Cicero’s translation of Aratus’ poem into Latin, a work that Cicero completed around 90 b.c., when he was a young man, would have been just as readily available as copies of the Greek original, and perhaps even more so. Cicero remained exceedingly proud of his translation and missed no opportunity to promote its usefulness to his contemporaries. Octavius would later refer to the constellation Helice the Greater Bear by the old Latin name Septentriones, which appeared in Cicero’s translation. Octavius’ use of this Latin name, which is found also in Caesar’s military commentary on the Gallic Wars, provides evidence for Octavius’ close familiarity with the Latin astronomical lexicon that Cicero created for his translation of Aratus’ Phaenomena.62 Today, Cicero’s Latin translation of the Phaenomena is extant in a fragmentary state. From the astronomical first part of the poem, thirty-​three short disconnected fragments from various ancient sources and a thirty-​fourth long continuous fragment preserved in manuscripts, which cover Aratus’ Phaenomena 1–​450, have survived. Six short fragments, derived from several ancient sources, from the second meteorological part of the poem are also extant. Cicero’s translation, however, was in its full form at the time Octavius could have accessed it in 46 b.c. Like the original upon which it was based, Cicero’s Latin translation of the first 450 verses of Aratus’ poem constitutes a basic introduction to the constellations and forms the necessary foundation for the more advanced information regarding the constellations that appeared on the celestial Great Circles and the constellations that rose and set with each of the constellations of the zodiac in turn (the paranatellonta). A student of observational astronomy could have accessed these Latin verses with profit as an introduction to the constellations. Cicero, however, had also created a shorter guide to the essential astronomical information about the constellations that appeared in his translation in the form of short excerpts from verses 1–​450 of his translation of the Phaenomena. He included this shorter guide in his philosophical treatise De Natura Deorum.63 Cicero would publish the De Natura Deorum after the summer of 45 b.c. after it had been sent around, as was his usual practice, for criticism and comments from his friends, associates, and fellow writers before it was finished.64 Octavius could have learned of Cicero’s excerpts from his great-​uncle Caesar, whom Cicero counted at this time among his many associates. Cicero and Caesar exchanged many letters, most now lost. Cicero and Caesar certainly had serious political

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differences, but they had an interest in each other’s written works.65 The two men had apparently dined pleasantly together at Puteoli (modern Pozzuoli) in December 45 b.c., where literary matters (φιλóλογα multa) were discussed.66 Cicero had high praise for Caesar’s abilities as a writer and an orator.67 He also valued and feared Caesar’s critical acumen. Caesar is said to have applauded some of the verses in the first part of a work of Cicero that he read but he called the rest rather frivolous (reliqua . . . ῥᾳθυμότερα).68 Cicero placed the excerpts from his Latin translation of the Phaenomena in the mouth of the Stoic Quintus Lucilius Balbus (Balbus), the interlocutor in the second book of his De Natura Deorum. Balbus is known only from this work, and the discussion in which he takes place is dated to around 76 b.c. Balbus said that he had memorized the original verses from Cicero’s translation and that he still retained them in his memory with great pleasure because they were written in Latin. The ability to become accomplished in subjects that were traditionally monopolized by the Greeks was becoming a point of pride at Rome. Cicero regretted that he had been persuaded to take his rhetorical training in Greek, not in Latin, as many others were doing at the time.69 But Cicero brought it about that the Romans were not ranked second in literary talent behind the Greeks, whom the Romans had conquered by arms (quique effecit, ne quorum arma viceramus, eorum ingenio vinceremur).70 The astronomical excerpts created by Cicero and presented by Balbus in Cicero’s De Natura Deorum present the fixed constellations in a succinct and orderly way.71 If the useful précis Cicero placed in this philosophical work was in circulation around 46 b.c., as is very likely, it would have served very well as the first part of an astronomical “curriculum” that a beginning Roman student such as Octavius might have followed around this time for his formal introduction to the fixed constellations.72 Aratus’ Greek Phaenomena would certainly have been the ultimate written source for this astronomical information, but there was no need to go back to Aratus’ poem or even to Cicero’s full translation, because Cicero himself had selected key verses and simplified the information for memorization as a kind of vade mecum that could be put to practical use by a student first embarking on a study of the constellations. These verses would have provided what was initially necessary to know—​in only ninety Latin verses that were better suited to aural comprehension and memorization compared with the equivalent of Cicero’s full translation of Aratus’ original 450 verses. Using Cicero’s summary, a beginning student could have learned the names and locations of the constellations efficiently and quickly and in Latin. In Cicero’s précis in the De Natura Deorum, forty-​five of the forty-​seven named Aratean constellations were presented in the order in which they appeared in Aratus’ original Greek poem and in Cicero’s Latin translation. Only Deltoton and Piscis were missing.73 Octavius could have written down these selected verses

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from Cicero’s translation for future reference and included rudimentary sketches, as Balbus implied that he did when he used the verb describitur (sketch out).74 Study of the selected Latin verses from his translation of the Phaenomena that Cicero would eventually publish in the De Natura Deorum would most likely have been followed by direct observation of the heavens at specific and appropriate times of the year.

Part I of a Ciceronian Astronomical “Curriculum”: Text and Direct Observation The Romans of the saeculum Augustum believed that one could and should learn not only from advice given orally but also from written texts.75 The astronomical information presented in written form in Cicero’s De Natura Deorum is a solid foundation for a Ciceronian astronomical “curriculum” by means of which a young Roman aristocrat such as Octavius could have begun to learn, under the guidance of a teacher, how to read the night sky quickly and efficiently and retain this information for future use. In the De Natura Deorum, Cicero had Balbus present the selections from Cicero’s poetic translation set amidst comments and paraphrases of the translation, which were in prose. In the following excerpts, the comments and paraphrases are presented in English and in roman type style. The verses that Balbus quoted from Cicero’s translation are indented and presented in English prose and in italics. These translated verses are intentionally literal and aim to convey the somewhat archaic style of Cicero’s verses. Balbus began his exposition of the first part of the “curriculum” by establishing the context for his discussion of the constellations with a brief general statement about the celestial sphere:76 There follows [after the planets and the luminaries] the vast multitude of the fixed stars the shapes of which are so arranged that their names derive from their likenesses to known figures. And at this point, looking at me, he said, “I will make use of your Aratean verses, which you translated when you were a very young man. They delight me so much because they are written in Latin that I retain many of them in my memory.” All right then, as we continually see with our eyes, without any change or variation the rest of the celestial entities glide with a swift motion and they are carried around with the heavens during nights and days. The mind of anyone who desires to see the steadfastness of nature cannot ever be satisfied with the contemplation of these things so, the furthest point of the double-​sided axis is called the pole.

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The excerpts from Cicero’s translation and the paraphrases of Balbus on the constellations that follow would probably have been studied and memorized first by a beginning student such as Octavius before any formal direct observation of the heavens. Thirty-​seven of the forty-​five constellations chosen by Cicero are named by Balbus in the quoted excerpts from Cicero’s translation, and eight of the constellations chosen by Cicero are named in the paraphrases and comments of Balbus. The names of the constellations are highlighted in bold the first time they appear in the excerpts that follow. The constellations fall into five groups according to their visibility in the heavens around either the summer solstice or the winter solstice.77 Group 1. Fourteen constellations from Cicero’s summary form a first group for study, memorization, and discussion under the direction of a teacher. Examination of the text describing this first set of constellations would have been undertaken at the time of the summer solstice in June. Balbus begins,78 Around this pole are carried two Bears, which are never setting. One of them is named among the Greeks Cynosura. The other is said to be Helice. Of course, we see on all nights the very bright stars of this Helice, which we are accustomed to call the Septem Triones. And little Cynosura with stars of equal number and a similar pattern circles around the same pole of the heavens. The Phoenicians on the deep sea place their trust in this nocturnal guide. But that other one mentioned earlier [Helice] flashes back more adorned with stars, and it is first widely seen at the earliest beginning of night. To be sure, Cynosura is small but there is an advantage in it for sailors because it is rotated on an inner course in a small circle. And more wonderful than this one would be the appearance of those stars between the Bears. Like a river with its rushing stream, the fierce-​eyed Draco creeps, unrolling itself down and up and making the coils of its body curved. Not only is the appearance of this entire figure splendid but the shape of its head and the conflagration of its eyes must be considered first of all. One star alone does not shine out to adorn the head of this figure, but its temples are marked by a double flashing brightness. Two fiery lights blaze from its cruel eyes, and its chin shines with one beaming star. You might say that its head, bent forwards but turned around on its shapely neck, is fixing its attention on the tail of the Greater Bear [Helice]. And, of course, we see the rest of the body of Draco throughout the nights.

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Its head unexpectedly buries itself a little here in the sea where the risings and settings are merged into one space. Near the head of Draco, however, bordering it, a weary figure that resembles a grieving man is turned around, which, of course, the Greeks call Engonasin because it is supposedly carried around laboring on its knees. Here has been placed that Corona with its exceptional flashing brightness. And this Corona, of course, is near the back of Engonasin, but near the head of Engonasin is Anguitenens, whom the Greeks call by his well-​known name, Ophiuchus. This figure holds Anguis in the grip of his two hands and he himself remains bound by its twisted body, for the snake encircles the middle of the man beneath his chest. Nevertheless, pressing down, Ophiuchus plants his feet heavily and treads on the eyes and breast of Nepa [here, Scorpios with Chelae its Pincers]. But following Septentriones [Helice the Greater Bear] is Arctophylax, who is commonly said to be Bootes because he drives the Bear in front of him, which is joined as if to a wagon. Then these verses follow: Bootes has a star sparkling with rays that appears fixed beneath his stomach; the star is called by its well-​known name, Arcturus. Placed under his feet and carried along is Virgo with her brilliant body, holding a dazzling stalk of grain. And the constellations are so measured off that a divine skill is evident in so many divisions of the space. And you will see the brothers Gemini under the head of Helice the Greater Bear. Lying under the middle of Helice is Cancer, and near its feet is held fast the great Leo shaking a quivering flame from its body. Having studied and memorized the information provided for the constellations in this first group of fourteen constellations, aided by the mnemonic rhythms of the hexameter poetry, a student such as Octavius would then have needed to spend time outside to observe the constellations in the heavens directly for himself, gaining a familiarity with the “sky-​view.”79 There were, of course, no grid lines in the sky. There were no labels. There were no figures. But there were traditional guides to the heavens that had been developed over time by using the brighter stars in the constellations that represented parts of the figure itself, such as the head, arms, shoulders, legs, and tail. These imagined figures conveyed the

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outlines of visual patterns superimposed upon the stars’ shapes that represented their imagined identities as figures of animals, birds, human beings, and objects, and they served as guides for moving the eye around the heavens with understanding.80 Most of the figures of the constellations were imagined, in sky-​view, to be facing down on the Earth from the perspective of the observer. Body parts described as being on the left or right sides of the figures were thus understood to be on the left or right sides of the figures themselves as in a painting.81 The imagining of these figures in corporeal form presupposed the existence of a formal star catalog listing the individual stars that were attached to various parts of the figures of the constellations. A star catalog established by Eudoxus was probably used by Aratus and later perhaps also consulted by Cicero for his translation. The star catalog of Eudoxus, now lost, does not seem to have been identical to the star catalog of Hipparchus, which although now also lost, was apparently similar to the star catalog in the Almagest by Ptolemy, which is extant.82 A textual version of a star catalog dated to the later years of the saeculum Augustum, 11–​3 b.c., exists in the form of the third book of Hyginus’ De Astronomia, which contains specific information about individual stars in the fixed constellations. The skies that Octavius may have observed in his initial study of astronomy in 46 b.c. can be recreated by means of advanced professional astronomical programs. Since the constellations were fixed in their locations and regular in their appearances during the span of years from the initial release of the Greek Phaenomena around 275 b.c. through to 46 b.c. and beyond, the sky maps presented here would be applicable for the years during which Aratus wrote the original poem, Cicero translated it into Latin, Cicero conveyed the shortened version in his De Natura Deorum, Octavius engaged formally in his initial studies of the constellations, and Octavius continued to use this knowledge.83 The latitude for the location to which the original Greek Phaenomena was attached (the port city of Pella, 40° N) was not drastically distant from the latitude of the location to which Cicero’s translation, Cicero’s précis, and Octavius’ first observations were attached (Rome, 41° N) or, in fact, for any location around the Mediterranean Sea. Observations could have been undertaken at sea or at some elevated location such as atop a hill, or wherever the view of the constellations was the least obstructed. In the sky maps that follow, 46 b.c. has been chosen as the likely year that Octavius would have been fully engaged in learning observational astronomy. Octavius appears to have still been living in his childhood home on the Esquiline Hill when he may have begun to study the constellations in a more formal, systematic way. This home was at an elevated place in the city from which he could have made his observations.84 In 45 b.c., with Caesar’s permission, Octavius would move to his own house above the Scalae Anulariae, which was near the Forum Romanum and not far from his childhood home

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on the Esquiline Hill.85 This house may also have been in a somewhat elevated location.86 The coordinates for the Esquiline Hill and the Forum Romanum are the same as the coordinates for the Palatine Hill, which are used throughout for the sky maps associated with events that took place at Rome. The astronomical dates are used. The Sun, the Moon, and the planets within the band of the zodiac appear on the sky maps in this chapter, but since the focus in this chapter is on the fixed constellations, these celestial entities will not be discussed. Aratus specified a time at the beginning of night (πρώτης ἀπὸ νυκτός) as the starting point for observing the first set of constellations.87 Cicero followed his lead. According to Hipparchus, who quoted Attalus, sunset was the beginning of night. Observation of the heavens after sunset would certainly have been more comfortable because safe movement was still possible by using the limited lighting from torches and oil lamps. Observation after sunset also offered another possible good time to observe the constellations, the time of the full Moon, which is recommended by Manilius.88 Although this observational opportunity did not happen every day, nonetheless, at the time of the full Moon and for a few days around the time of the full Moon, the brightest stars and constellation patterns would be more visible. The full Moon also offered greater ease of movement due to the moonlight shining down upon the landscape. Octavius was able to observe the heavens on a regular basis after sunset. Apparently, his charm, beauty, and lineage were so attractive to women when he was young that he was compelled to go to the temples only under cover of darkness.89 His experience of spending so much time in moving around in the dark at night was a habit that he continued. He later chose to move around in a litter, usually at night.90 And his preference was to enter and leave a city in the evening or during the night in order not to bother anyone with the necessity of holding ceremonies.91 The names of the fourteen constellations in the first group mentioned by Balbus are highlighted in bold in the following description of the sky map. These first fourteen constellations could be observed beginning after sunset on the day of the summer solstice or on the few days prior to and following this day (see the central area of visibility in Fig. 4.1). That Aratus chose the solstices is consistent with the fact that the solstices were easier to discern as the farthest points to which the Sun appeared to travel back and forth along the line of the horizon between late June and late December. The two Bears, Cynosura [UMi] and Helice [UMa], recognized by the distinctive and similar patterns of their bright stars and their relationship to the pole around which they revolved, are mentioned first in Balbus’ narration. Both constellations are visible throughout the night and thus reliable guides. Between the Bears is Draco [Dra], the head of which was bent forward but twisted back to gaze upon the tail of the

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Sidereal Time: 13:37:43 Julian Day: 1704797.2813

Fig. 4.1.  Group 1. The summer solstice. June 25, 46 b.c. Sunset, 7:45 p.m. Esquiline Hill, Rome (41° 53ꞌ N, 12° 29ꞌ E). SkyMap Pro V. 12. By permission of Chris Marriott.

Greater Bear. The shape of Draco resembles a twisting river, and bright stars mark its head. Draco can also be seen throughout the night and is another reliable guide. The head of Draco is near Engonasin [Her]. Near the back of Engonasin is Corona [CrB] with its bright stars arranged in a small circle. Near the head of Engonasin are Anguitenens [Oph] and Anguis [Ser], the snake that is encircling his midsection. Engonasin is treading upon the recognizable Scorpios [Sco] and Chelae [Lib]. The student would then return to the first key reference point,

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Helice the Greater Bear. Behind Helice is Bootes [Boo] and its brightest star, Arcturus, which is located in the lower portion of the figure. Beneath the feet of Bootes is Virgo [Vir] with its brightest star, Spica. Beneath the head of Helice is the constellation Gemini [Gem], the two brightest stars of which are just at the western horizon. Beneath the midsection of Helice is Cancer [Cnc]. Near the feet of Helice is Leo [Leo] with its brightest star, Regulus. Group 2. After study of the first set of constellations that appeared in the heavens at the time of the summer solstice, a young Roman student such as Octavius would have moved on to fourteen more constellations for study, memorization, and discussion on the basis of Cicero’s summary and under the direction of a teacher. Study of the text describing this second group of constellations would have been undertaken at the time of the winter solstice in December. Balbus continues,92 Auriga will be carried along near the left side of Gemini. Fierce Helice gazes upon his head opposite, and the bright Capra holds on to his left shoulder. And then what follows: but this Capra is endowed with a large dazzling star. On the other shoulder, the Haedi emit a faint fire for mortals. Under Auriga’s feet is the horned Taurus, crouching with its powerful body. Its head is sprinkled with numerous stars. The Greeks were accustomed to call these stars the Hyades named from the word “raining” because the Greek word ὕειν means “to rain.” We ignorantly call them Suculae, as if they were named after suckling pigs not from the word rain. Now Cepheus, with palms outstretched, follows behind the Lesser Septentrio [Cynosura] for in fact he revolves near the very back of Cynosura. Preceding Cepheus is Cassiepia with her dimly seen outline of stars. But near Cassiepia is spun Andromeda with her dazzling body, sorrowing, fleeing the gaze of her mother. Near Andromeda, Equus, shaking its mane with its sparkling flashing brightness, touches the top of her head with its belly. One star joining them holds both figures with a common light, desiring to make an eternal knot from the stars. Next, close by, is Aries with its twisted horns. Next to Aries is Pisces. One of its Fishes lies a little in front of the other and is touched more by the freezing blasts of Aquilo [a northern wind].

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Near the feet of Andromeda is sketched out Perseus whom the gales from the most northern area of Aquilo pound. Regarding Perseus: near his left knee you will see all located in one space with their delicate shining light the small Vergiliae [the Pleiades]. Then Fides set in place and slightly concaved is seen. Then the winged Avis is under the broad vault of the sky. Now, nearest to the head of Equus is the right hand of Aquarius, and beyond that Aquarius in full. Then breathing icy cold from its powerful breast there is Capricornus with its half-​wild body on a great circle [the Tropic of Capricorn]. When the Titan [the Sun] has clothed this circle with his perpetual light, he changes direction turning his chariot in the winter time. The fourteen constellations in the second group could all be observed beginning after sunset on the day of the winter solstice (see the central area of visibility in Fig. 4.2). The starting point of this second set of observations in Balbus’ summary is the constellation Auriga [Aur]. Once again, Helice the Greater Bear [UMa] is called upon to serve as a reference point. Helice to the north gazes down upon the head of Auriga, which itself can be readily found by its brightest star, Capra, which is on the left shoulder of the imagined figure. The Haedi, opposite and less bright, are also held by Auriga. Under the feet of Auriga, one can find Taurus [Tau]. Its head is marked by stars that make up its face. As a group, these stars are known as the Hyades. Next, Cynosura the Lesser Bear [UMi] is called upon to serve as a reference point. Cepheus [Cep] with hands that are outstretched is to be found near the back of Cynosura. Cepheus is preceded by Cassiepia [Cas], the jagged outline of which is marked by stars that are not brilliant but clearly recognizable. Near Cassiepia is the much brighter Andromeda [And], the figure of the daughter who flees from the sight of her mother, Cassiepia. Near Andromeda is Equus [Peg]. The belly of Equus touches the head of Andromeda and, in fact, the two constellations are joined by a common star. Nearby is the small constellation Aries [Ari]. And next to Aries is the constellation Pisces [Psc]. One of its two Fishes is to be found more to the north than the other. Above the northernmost of the two Fishes is Andromeda, and beneath her feet and north of her is Perseus [Per]. Near the left knee of Perseus can be found the Vergiliae within the area of Taurus [Tau].93 A jump now has to be made from the eastern part of the sky to the western where one can find Fides [Lyr]. Nearby is Avis [Cyg]. Moving to the south, one can find Equus again and the constellation Aquarius [Aqr]. Finally, ahead of Aquarius and at the western horizon is Capricornus [Cap]. Capricornus is located on a celestial Great Circle (the Tropic of Capricorn) and

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Sidereal Time: 22:39:43 Julian Day: 1704980.1569

Fig. 4.2.  Group 2. The winter solstice. December 25, 46 b.c. Sunset, 4:46 p.m. Esquiline Hill, Rome 41° 53ꞌ N, 12° 29ꞌ E). SkyMap Pro V. 12. By permission of Chris Marriott.

it marks where the Sun turns and begins its journey northward toward the point of the spring equinox. Group 3. After study of the second set of constellations that appeared in the heavens around sunset at the time of the winter solstice, a young Roman student such as Octavius would have moved on to four more constellations for study, memorization, and discussion under the direction of a teacher. Study of the text describing this smaller third group of constellations could have been

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undertaken one day after the time of the winter solstice in December. Balbus continues,94 Now, here it is noticed when Scorpios, revealing itself, emerges on high dragging behind it Arcus [the Bow of Sagittarius] by its strength. Near which [Sagitta the single Arrow], the Bird [Avis] luminous on its wings is whirled along. But nearby, Aquila brings itself with its burning body. Then there is Delphinus. These four new constellations in the third group could be observed on the day after the winter solstice before and up to sunrise (see the central area of visibility in Fig. 4.3). Roman aristocrats were accustomed to rise early to work, and astronomical observation before sunrise would have been a natural activity for a mathematicus or a student of observational astronomy such as Octavius. Cicero was fond of doing intellectual work like writing before sunrise (ante lucem) and then getting up at sunrise (simul cum sole) or even well before sunrise to travel in the darkness.95 This habit of early rising to engage in work, however, was not to everyone’s taste. Cicero reported to Atticus the notable bit of gossip that Antonius summoned some local officials to his country villa. They arrived in the morning to find Antonius still asleep. Antonius did not get up until well after sunrise, at the third hour of the day, around 9 a.m.96 Octavius also detested having to rise early in the morning, although he often had to do so.97 If he had to rise early, he would arrange to sleep at the house of a friend who lived near the place where the early-​morning event was to be held. In the sky before sunrise on the day after the winter solstice, Scorpios [Sco], recognizable because of its resemblance to a real scorpion with its curved tail, is dragging behind it the constellation Arcus [Sgr], Sagittarius, which is noted only in the description by the reference to the full emergence in the south of his bow. Above, in the east, near Sagitta [Sge] the single Arrow is Avis [Cyg]. Near Avis is Aquila [Aql], with its brightest star, Altair. Delphinus [Del] is close to the eastern horizon. Group 4. After study of the third set of constellations that appeared in the heavens around sunrise on the day after the winter solstice, a young Roman such as Octavius would have moved on to six more constellations for study, memorization, and discussion. Study of the text describing this fourth group of constellations would also have been undertaken on the day after the winter solstice in December. Balbus continues:98 and next is Orion luminous with his slanting body. Following Orion that Canis, fiery, flashes back with the shining light of its stars.

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Fig. 4.3.  Group 3. The day after the winter solstice. December 26, 46 b.c. Sunrise, 7:42 a.m. Esquiline Hill, Rome (41° 53ꞌ N, 12° 29ꞌ E). SkyMap Pro V. 12. By permission of Chris Marriott.

Lepus follows behind never still, with a body wearied from running. But Argo creeping near the tail of Canis glides forward. Aries and the Pisces with their scaly bodies touch this one, Pistrix, which is touching the banks of Flumen with its dazzling body.

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You will catch sight of it gliding and extending over a wide area. You will see the lengthy chains that hold the Fishes of Pisces from part of their tails. The six constellations in the fourth group could be observed on the day after the winter solstice in total darkness (see the central area of visibility in Fig. 4.4).

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Fig. 4.4.  Group 4. The night after the winter solstice. December 26, 46 b.c. Total darkness, 8:00 p.m. Esquiline Hill, Rome (41° 53ꞌ N, 12° 29ꞌ E). SkyMap Pro V. 12. By permission of Chris Marriott.

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Although the observations at this time would have taken place when many stars provided some visual competition, the student would have been able to see rising over the eastern horizon in the southeast an important celestial group centered on the constellation Orion [Ori], which was easy to pick out in the sky and use as a guide. Following Orion is Canis [CMa], recognizable by its brilliant star Sirius. Using Orion as a guide, a student could find Lepus [Lep] at the feet of Orion. The constellation Argo [Pup] is just emerging in the southeast behind Canis. To the west of the recognizable Orion is Pistrix [Cet]. Above Pistrix are the constellations Aries and Pisces. Pistrix is touching Flumen [Eri], which takes the shape of a long river. Near Pistrix are the tails of the two Fishes of the constellation Pisces. Aratus had placed a reference to the single star, the “knot of the heavens” that joins the imagined chains linking Pisces, at about the center of the astronomical portion of his poem.99 Group 5. After study of the fourth set of constellations that appeared in the heavens in total darkness the day after the winter solstice, a student such as Octavius would have moved on to the final seven fixed constellations for study, memorization, and discussion. Study of the text describing this fifth group of constellations could have been undertaken two days after the winter solstice in December. Balbus concludes:100 then you will see Ara near the stinger of flashing Nepa [here, Scorpios], which the breeze of Auster [a southern wind] soothes with its breath. And nearby, Centaurus moves along, hastening at his horse-​part to connect with Chelae. This fierce Centaurus, extending his right hand in which the wild Quadrupes is held, stretches out and moves toward the dazzling Ara. Here Hydra raises itself from the lower realms. Its body is stretched out for a long distance. In the middle coil, flashing Cratera shines out. Corvus luminous with its feathered body pecks with its beak at the end of the tail of Hydra. And here, under the brothers Gemini themselves, is that Ante-​Canis, which is known by its Greek name Προκύων [Procyon]. The final seven constellations in the fifth group could be observed two days after the winter solstice up to sunrise (see the central area of visibility in Fig. 4.5). The stinger of Scorpios [Sco] would be the guide to the emergence of Ara [Ara] below. Although mentioned by Balbus, Ara is only just rising above the horizon, so far south that it would be seen only with difficulty and probably only at sea by an observer. To the west is Centaurus [Cen], partially beneath Chelae. Centaurus is holding in his right hand Quadrupes [Lup] in the direction of Ara. Visible also

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Fig. 4.5.  Group 5. Two days after the winter solstice. December 27, 46 b.c. Sunrise, 7:42 a.m. Esquiline Hill, Rome (41° 53ꞌ N, 12° 29ꞌ E). SkyMap Pro V. 12. By permission of Chris Marriott.

is Hydra [Hya], with its body stretched out for a long distance. At its middle coil is the shining Cratera [Crt], and at the end of its tail is Corvus [Crv]. Procyon [CMi] is not in the heavens either near sunrise or sunset at the time of the winter solstice. Aratus, however, used strong language to vouch for the location of the constellation in the heavens (ναὶ μὴν καί Προκύων Διδύμοις ὑπὸ καλὰ φαείνει).101 The word ναί may be used in oaths to mean “yes, verily,” and the words καὶ μήν

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may be used to mean “and indeed” for statements deserving special attention. These words in combination therefore appear to be an expression of a very strong affirmation resting on the authority of the poet with regard to the presence of Procyon, although it remains unseen. The observer therefore had to rely, as a teacher might have noted, on the sworn word of Aratus, which Cicero accepted, that Procyon was under Gemini, which it is.

Part II of a Ciceronian Astronomical “Curriculum”: Texts and the Viewing of a Celestial Globe Following the study of the textual excerpts found in Cicero’s De Natura Deorum in conjunction with direct observation of the sky, the next step in a Ciceronian astronomical “curriculum” would have involved gaining familiarity with the constellations that touched four of the five celestial Great Circles: the Northern Circle, the Southern Circle, the Middle Part, and the Fourth Circle, which were of use in measuring out the time in a year and in understanding the spatial relationships of the constellations as they appeared on the circles.102 Cicero did not provide a précis of these verses in his De Natura Deorum or elsewhere. Knowledge of these arrangements of the constellations on the four celestial Great Circles, however, could have been attained first by studying the relevant verses in Cicero’s full Latin translation, which were based in observation of the heavens, and then by consulting a celestial globe, which presented a panoptic view of the constellations in their imagined human, animal, or material forms incised or carved on and near these circles. Study of this portion of the text of Cicero’s translation of Aratus’ Phaenomena would have benefited from being undertaken in conjunction with learning the mythological associations described in several available written works. Extended mythological narratives are limited in the Phaenomena because the intention of the poem was practical and its focus was on being of service for communal activities such as navigation and agriculture. Most of the forty-​seven constellations in Aratus’ poem are lacking mythological associations. The myth of Virgo is described at some length in Aratus’ poem, and the myth of Orion to a lesser extent. Cynosura, Helice, Corona, Auriga, Cepheus, Cassiepia, Andromeda, Equus, the Vergiliae, Fides, Aquila, Argo, Pistrix, and Flumen are provided with brief mythological allusions only. The compiling of more extended mythological associations for the constellations in support of the Phaenomena had begun to flourish in the Hellenistic period. The prose work known as the Catasterismi, which was written in the late third century b.c. by Eratosthenes of Cyrene, a younger contemporary of Aratus, has survived only in epitomes, or summaries, but it provided more information about the myths of all the constellations that appeared in Aratus’ Phaenomena.103 Eratosthenes’ compendium

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appears to have served as a mythological companion to Aratus’ poem, and the mythological narratives in the Catasterismi were eventually formally interspersed, perhaps in the second century a.d. or later, in manuscripts of Aratus’ poem at their relevant points, probably because the summaries had a long history of being used in this way. The Latin translation of the poem by Cicero followed the original Phaenomena closely and is similarly thin on providing mythological information pertaining to the constellations. The Sphaera Graecanica written by Cicero’s friend the mathematicus Nigidius Figulus, however, appears to have followed the lead of the Catasterismi of Eratosthenes in presenting mythological associations for the constellations. Only references to what Nigidius Figulus had to say about the mythological associations of the twelve constellations of the zodiac are extant today. Hyginus’ De Astronomia, a prose compendium that dates to the saeculum Augustum, relies in places on Eratosthenes’ work, and the poetry written during this period also shows awareness of Eratosthenes’ mythological narratives. A student of astronomy such as Octavius could have gained some knowledge of the mythological narratives associated with the constellations from the limited references in Aratus’ Phaenomena and Cicero’s translation, and more knowledge from Nigidius Figulus’ Sphaera Graecanica and Eratosthenes’ Catasterismi. Descriptions from the mythological narratives found in these works would have enlivened and made more concrete for the student the figures of the constellations found on a celestial globe in this part of the proposed “curriculum.” The celestial globe was the most important astronomical teaching model in the ancient world. Eudoxus, who wrote the astronomical work upon which Aratus based the first part of his poetic Phaenomena, is said to have had a globe incised with the fixed constellations and stars.104 Cicero and other writers during the period of the saeculum Augustum mentioned the use of celestial globes, and Octavius probably had access to one for his studies.105 Today only a few extant examples of ancient celestial globes are in existence, and only two may date to the period of the saeculum Augustum. The oldest and best known celestial globe is the large Farnese Globe (the Farnese Atlas), which dates to the first century b.c. and is on display today in the Museo Archeologico Nazionale in Naples.106 The globe, which depicts the constellations of the celestial sphere, is supported on the shoulder of a male figure, who is commonly identified as Atlas (see Fig. 4.6). On the Farnese Globe, four celestial Great Circles are represented by raised lines, but the fifth celestial Great Circle, the Milky Way, which is the only celestial Great Circle visible in the sky, is not depicted. The figures on the globe representing the constellations are carved in shallow relief. The Farnese Globe is missing some of the Aratean constellations. The Bears Helice and Cynosura are absent from the globe because of physical damage at the top, where today a large hole appears. Sagitta may be depicted on the globe near the figure of Avis, as Balbus described

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Fig. 4.6.  The Farnese Globe, Atlas holding the celestial sphere on his shoulder. Passeri, Atlas Farnesianus Marmoreus, 1750.

it in Cicero’s précis. The Vergiliae do not appear to be present as a distinct figure on the globe but they were located within the figure of Taurus. The omission of Deltoton and Piscis may be deliberate, although the area of the globe where Piscis appears has suffered damage. The excerpts presented by Balbus are also missing these two constellations, Deltoton and Piscis, an omission that suggests that Cicero may have consulted a celestial globe similar in design to the Farnese Globe to compile the précis of the forty-​five constellations that he placed in the second book of his philosophical treatise De Natura Deorum. Octavius could have undertaken a study of the constellations on a celestial globe, following the final direct observations of the sky at the time of the winter solstice in 46 b.c. beginning in the following year, 45 b.c. In working with a

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celestial globe, Octavius would have needed to practice “globe-​view,” a different way of seeing the constellations, according to which the constellations on the globe were presented as mirror images of their imagined figures in the sky.107 The order of the constellations of the zodiac was different in globe-​view and sky-​view. For example, an observer of the heavens in the northern hemisphere facing south would see the constellation Virgo to the right of the constellation Chelae (see Fig. 4.1), but the viewer of a celestial globe such as the Farnese Globe would see Virgo presented on the celestial globe to the left of Chelae (see Fig. 4.6). Most of the human figures incised or carved on a celestial globe had their backs turned to the external viewer, and the viewer of the globe would look along with the figures into the center of the globe representing the Earth. Viewing such a celestial globe could have been done indoors at any time and during any kind of weather. The study of the figures of the constellations located on a globe could have been accomplished by the viewer walking around a large globe such as the Farnese Globe or holding and turning around a smaller, more portable globe, such as Kugel’s Globe, which also dates to the period of the saeculum Augustum.108 The figures of the constellations on and near the four celestial Great Circles are presented here by means of stereographic projections of the figures of the constellations (see Fig. 4.7) found on the Farnese Globe. Brief descriptions from the mythological narratives from Aratus’ Phaenomena, the compendium of Eratosthenes, and the discussion of the zodiac by Nigidius Figulus that are associated with a select number of the forty-​five Aratean constellations found on the Farnese Globe that have proven to be the most significant for Octavius are also presented, as follows.

Fig. 4.7.  Images of the constellations on the Farnese Globe from Richard Bentley’s edition of Manilius, Astronomia (1739).

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On the Farnese Globe, the Northern Circle (the Tropic of Cancer) is the second from the top.109 A viewer would find among the constellations on this circle (see the image on the left side in Fig. 4.7) the figure of Andromeda, the daughter of Cepheus and Cassiepia whom Perseus rescued and later married after she had been exposed to await death by a sea monster.110 The Southern Circle (the Tropic of Capricorn) is the second from the bottom.111 A viewer would find among the constellations depicted on this circle (see the image on the left side in Fig. 4.7) the constellation Pistrix, the sea monster sent by Poseidon to take vengeance on Cepheus’ wife, Cassiepia, by killing her daughter, Andromeda, because of a boast Cassiepia had made about the lesser beauty of the Nereides Doris and Panope.112 Also on this circle is Canis, which in mythological narratives is either the dog given to Europa for her protection or the dog of the mighty hunter Orion (see the image on the left side in Fig. 4.7).113 The Middle Part (the equator) is represented by a horizontal straight line at the middle of the globe.114 Among the constellations depicted on this circle (see the image on the left side in Fig. 4.7), the viewer would find Orion, who is the son of Poseidon and Euryale, the daughter of Minos, or the foster son of the childless Hyrieus. Orion is described variously in mythological narratives as the companion of Helios, Artemis, and Leto. His bad deeds included a determination to hunt to death all the wild beasts of the Earth, the rape of Merope the daughter of Oenopion, and some affront that enraged the goddess Artemis. He either seized Artemis by the robe when he was out hunting to gain the favor of Oenopion or he conceived a lust for her. Orion’s death by the sting of a scorpion is said to have been caused either by Earth or by Artemis.115 This Middle Part also intersects part of the eagle Aquila, the messenger-​bird of Zeus that had carried Ganymede to Zeus to serve as his cupbearer (see the image on the left side in Fig. 4.7).116 The viewer would also find on this Middle Part the three linked constellations Hydra, Corvus, and Cratera (see the image on the right side in Fig. 4.7).117 Hydra the water snake was falsely blamed by the raven Corvus for distracting it from completing an errand set by Apollo. Corvus had lied to Apollo about the reason for its tardiness in returning and, as a punishment, was prevented from drinking from the mixing bowl, Cratera, which is nestled in the middle coil of Hydra. The Fourth Circle (the zodiac) is represented as a band running on a diagonal between the Northern Circle and the Southern Circle and crossing the Middle Part.118 In the image on the right side in Fig. 4.7 is Cancer, the crab that bit Hercules while he was trying to kill the hydra.119 Next is Leo, the lion of Nemea conquered by Heracles in the first of his labors.120 Following is Virgo, who is associated with several female figures: Astraea, the daughter of Astraeus, who was the father of the stars; Δίκη (Dikē, Iustitia), a daughter of Zeus and Themis; Erigone the daughter of Icarius; Demeter, the mother of Persephone; Isis, an Egyptian

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goddess; Atargartis, a Syrian goddess; and τύχη (Roman Fortuna).121 After Virgo is Chelae, the Pincers of Scorpios, which became later, as Libra the Balance, a symbol of clemency and justice.122 Next is the body of Nepa (Scorpios), the scorpion that caused the death of the hunter Orion.123 Following Scorpios is Sagittarius the Archer, who is either Crotus, who lived his life among the Muses of Mount Pelion, or Chiron, the son of Saturnus and Philyra and the teacher of Hercules, Aesculapius, and Achilles.124 On the image on the left side in Fig. 4.7 is Capricornus, the son of the nanny goat Capra and an ally of Zeus against Typhon and the Giants.125 Following is Aquarius, who is either Ganymede, the cupbearer of Zeus; Deucalion of Thessaly, who survived the great flood sent by Zeus; or Aristaeus, a son of Apollo who provided many benefits for mortals.126 Next are the Pisces, the two offspring of the large fish Piscis that lived in a lake in Syria. This large fish came to the rescue of Derceto, a Syrian goddess, who is said to be either a daughter of Aphrodite or Aphrodite herself.127 Following is Aries, the ram with the golden fleece that carried off the children of Phrixus and Helle or the ram that showed Bacchus where to find water in Libya.128 After Aries is Taurus, the bull that Jupiter rewarded with celestial prominence in recognition of his paramours, either Europa, who was carried over the sea to Crete, or Io, who took the form of a cow.129 Last is Gemini, which represents either the heroes Hercules and Theseus, whose exploits benefited humanity, or, more commonly at Rome, the brothers Pollux and Castor, the Dioscuri, who grew up in Laconia, were devoted to each other, and partook of various adventures such as sailing with Jason and traveling with Heracles in quest of the golden fleece.130 The Farnese Globe also displayed constellations that were not located on the celestial Great Circles. A student pursuing this portion of an astronomical “curriculum” such as that suggested here could also have used the mythological narratives attached to these constellations on the globe to invest these imagined figures with life. For example, no longer depicted on the Farnese Globe and therefore missing on the image on the right side in Fig. 4.7 above the Northern Circle would have been the circumpolar Bears, Helice and Cynosura.131 The Bears were the nurses of the infant Zeus on Mount Ida in Crete. Helice is also said to be Callisto, the daughter of Lycaon of Arcadia and one of the hunting companions of Artemis. Callisto’s pregnancy following a rape by Zeus so enraged Artemis that she changed Callisto into a bear. Callisto was subsequently placed in the heavens with her son to save her from death at the hands of the Arcadians. Cynosura, which is also known as Phoenice, is a smaller mirror image of Helice that was placed in the heavens, also in the form of a bear, by Artemis in recognition of her originally unjust punishment of her pregnant companion Callisto.132 Also in this northern area is Corona, the crown of Ariadne, the daughter of Minos, the Cretan king (see the image on the right side in Fig. 4.7).133 The crown, which

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was made of gold and Indian jewels and created by Hephaestus, was either a gift given by Aphrodite and the Seasons to Ariadne at her wedding to Dionysus or a gift given by Dionysus to Ariadne when he had visited Crete in an attempt to seduce her at some time before Theseus arrived on the island. The crown is said to have emitted such a brilliant light that it later helped Theseus escape from the labyrinth and then sail away with Ariadne to Naxos. The crown was placed in the heavens as a memorial to Ariadne after she died. Nearby is Engonasin, which is identified as Heracles (see the image on the right side in Fig. 4.7). This figure is described in narratives as holding a club upraised and wearing a lion’s skin draped over his shoulder, although these elements are not shown on the Farnese Globe, where the figure is naked.134 Also in this region is Fides, the lyre first created by Hermes out of a tortoise shell while he was still in his cradle (see the image on the right side in Fig. 4.7). Hermes gave the lyre to Apollo, and Apollo gave it to the musician Orpheus, the son of the Muse Calliope.135 When Orpheus chose to honor Apollo, not Dionysus, as the greatest god, Dionysus sent his female worshippers to tear Orpheus apart. The Muses asked Zeus to place the lyre in the heavens in memory of Orpheus. Depicted on the image on the left side below the Middle Part in Fig. 4.7 is the constellation Flumen, which appeared on the Farnese Globe as a stream pouring from the urn held by Aquarius.136 It passed through the feet of the sea monster Pistrix and ended under Orion’s left foot. Flumen is either Eridanus, a river of much lamentation because of the death of Phaethon, who plunged into it after his fiery ride in the chariot of the Sun, or the Nile River.137 Near the Fourth Circle (the zodiac) close to the imagined figure of Taurus, which is depicted in the image on the left side in Fig. 4.7, would be the Vergiliae, which were considered to be a separate constellation in the Phaenomena and in Cicero’s translation of Aratus’ poem but not depicted on the Farnese Globe. The Vergiliae were the seven daughters of Atlas: Alcyone, Merope, Celaeno, Electra, Sterope, Taygete, and Maia.138 Six of the daughters had encounters with gods that produced offspring, of whom the most prominent was the god Hermes, who was the son of Maia and Zeus and whose celestial manifestation was the planet Mercury. Merope was allegedly the daughter who was not visible because she married Sisyphus, a mortal.

Part III of a Ciceronian Astronomical “Curriculum”: Text and Direct Observation Finally, in conclusion of the “curriculum” that might have served as an introduction to observational astronomy using Cicero’s translation of the Phaenomena, a student such as Octavius would have needed to return to direct observation—​that

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is, to the sky-​view—​to study the risings and settings of the constellations, the so-​ called paranatellonta, knowledge of which was of particular use for determining the duration of the night on a particular day of the year or the length of a voyage.139 Cicero, following Aratus, provides all the necessary information for how to use the twelve constellations of the zodiac that rise in turn in the course of a year at the eastern horizon so that one can accomplish this task.140 The result is the establishing of twelve “snapshots” on certain days of the constellations that are seen to be either rising or setting, visible or not visible, when each of the constellations of the zodiac appears in turn at the eastern horizon an hour before sunrise. Aratus showed awareness of the system whereby the circle of the zodiac was divided into twelve 30° segments. This system was later standardized by Hipparchus, who made use of these degrees when he was discussing the risings and settings of the constellations that could straddle two of the equally divided 30° segments. Unlike Hipparchus, however, Aratus focused on the natural size of the constellations as they were observed in the heavens. Some constellations were smaller than 30° and some were larger than 30°.141 Combining study of the text attached to each zodiacal constellation with direct observation of the sky would have been undertaken month by month and it would have taken at least one year to complete the entire cycle of observations, allowing time for memorization, repetition, and any delays that might have made direct observation difficult. Study over an extended period of time may have necessitated a shift in location, but such shifts would not have been problematic. Members of the Roman elite were known to keep up their private studies even while on military campaign. Cato, for example, read the Phaedo, Plato’s dialogue on the soul, twice before he committed suicide after the Battle of Thapsus in 46 b.c., and he had a geometric board, which he may have been using for astronomical study, in his tent at that time.142 The constellations rising and setting at each of the twelve points of observation throughout a year would have been in virtually the same location in 45 b.c. and in any of the years after 45 b.c. for any place around the Mediterranean where an aristocratic Roman like Octavius happened to be. Changes in location would also have been instructive because they provided confirmation that knowledge of the risings and settings of the constellations was portable and therefore valuable. If Octavius’ practical instruction in astronomy continued in a systematic fashion using the text of Cicero’s translation of the Phaenomena, observations of the rising and settings of the constellations would have followed the study of the constellations on the celestial Great Circles by using a celestial globe and the mythological narratives associated with the constellations. Practice in learning how to assess the paranatellonta on twelve days of the year would provide necessary points of orientation and the basis upon which to predict the arrival of

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sunrise on days prior to or on days following each of the twelve days. A time of one hour before sunrise when the Sun was not yet visible and located at the first point of the zodiacal constellation that followed the constellation seen at the horizon would have been used. This time fell during morning nautical twilight, when the bright stars and the horizon would be visible. The material presented in this section of Cicero’s translation and in the corresponding verses in Aratus’ Phaenomena demands, of necessity, a long period of study. Special attention would undoubtedly have been given in this part of the “curriculum” to notable constellations with distinctive shapes and bright stars such as Helice the Greater Bear, Cynosura the Lesser Bear, Draco, Corona, Bootes, Virgo, Gemini, Auriga, Taurus, the Vergiliae, Fides, Aquila, Orion, Scorpios, and Canis. A focus in this part of the “curriculum” on such constellations would be an indication that the initial instruction in observational astronomy for nonspecialist Roman students such as Octavius was practical in its emphasis upon what was essential to know, obvious to pick out, and easy to use. An example of how Octavius could have proceeded methodically through the risings and settings of the constellations is presented in the following discussion. Octavius would quite likely have begun the third part of the “curriculum” on the basis of Cicero’s translation of Aratus’ Phaenomena in the summer with the rising of Cancer, which appears first in the listing of risings and settings. He would then have followed his study of the text with observation of the sky one hour before sunrise in order to confirm which constellations were rising and setting or not visible when Cancer was rising at the eastern horizon.143 One hour before sunrise on July 16, 45 b.c., Octavius at Rome could have seen the celestial array that was described in this part of Cicero’s text (see the central area of visibility in Fig. 4.8). One hour before sunrise on or around this date, the Sun, as yet unseen, was in the first point of Leo. At the northwest horizon, part of Ariadne’s crown Corona [CrB] was setting. Engonasin [Her], the figure of Hercules, remained mostly aloft in the northwest. To the south, Piscis [PsA], the mother of the two fishes of the constellation Pisces, was setting as far as its lower tail. Ahead of Engonasin to the west, the serpent bearer Anguitenens [Oph] was setting from knees to shoulders, along with the serpent Anguis [Ser]. In the northwest near Corona, most of Bootes [Boo], the guardian of Helice the Greater Bear, had set while the upper part of the figure remained. In the east, Orion [Ori] the mighty but unfortunate hunter, with his belt, shoulders, and sword, was fully aloft. Nearby in the southeast, a portion of Flumen [Eri], the river, appeared. Orion would have been particularly helpful as a visible chronological guide. Before sunrise in July, one could begin to track the path of this easily recognizable constellation, which remained visible, moving slowly westward from the eastern horizon up to the time of the rising of Leo in August. The chronological exercise that comprises

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Local Time: 03:41:00 16-Jul-45BC Location: 41° 53' 0" N 12° 29' 0" E

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UTC: 02:41:00 16-Jul-45BC RA: 22h56m52s Dec: +41° 52' Field: 182.0°

Sidereal Time: 22:56:51 Julian Day: 1705183.6118

Fig. 4.8.  The rising of Cancer. July 16, 45 b.c., 3:41 a.m. Esquiline Hill, Rome (41° 53ꞌ N, 12° 29ꞌ E). SkyMap Pro V. 12. By permission of Chris Marriott.

the third part of the Ciceronian “curriculum” would have continued over the months into the following year or beyond and involved an examination of the risings and settings of the constellations that occurred when each of the following eleven constellations of the zodiac in turn was located at the eastern horizon one hour before sunrise: Leo (around August 22), Virgo (around October 5), Chelae (around October 27), Scorpios (around November 22), Sagittarius (around December 25), Capricornus (around January 21), Aquarius (around February 14),

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Pisces (around March 24), Aries (around April 19), Taurus (around May 27), and Gemini (around June 25). Cicero did not undertake his translation of the Phaenomena of Aratus with the purpose of creating a Latin textbook that would be used to teach observational astronomy to students, but it appears that he was aware of its practical features and value. Cicero’s translation, both in its excerpted and fuller forms, gave young Romans such as Octavius a common Latin astronomical vocabulary and offered them a means by which they might learn to orient themselves spatially and tell time reliably and independently of any potential problems with the Roman calendar anywhere they might happen to be—​at sea, on the road, on the battlefield, on their own agricultural holdings, at Rome, in Italy, and anywhere around the Mediterranean.144 Echoes of Cicero’s translated verses appear in the works of the great poets of the saeculum Augustum, including Vergil, Horace, and Ovid.145 These allusions provide evidence that young Romans learned their basic astronomy first from Cicero’s verses before proceeding on, if necessary and desired, to the Greek Phaenomena itself. Armed with such knowledge, a young Roman student could enjoy, appreciate, use, and discuss with understanding the celestial sphere as it had been revealed by Aratus in his Phaenomena and by Cicero in his translation and even displayed on astronomically themed drinking cups, which may have been common during the period of the saeculum Augustum. In his third Eclogue, which would be published in 39 b.c., the poet Vergil describes the shepherds Damoetas and Menalcas competing over drinking cups of this sort as the prize for the winner of their singing contest. Menalcas had thrown down the gauntlet, so to speak, by calling Damoetas untrained (indoctus) and commenting on how Damoetas was in the habit of mangling a pitiful song on his whistling reed pipe. Damoetas accepted the challenge and proposed a singing contest, first wagering a cow (vitula) that produced milk twice a day and suckled two calves. Menalcas then put up an even more valuable wager, two beechwood cups, both embossed with entwining vines and clusters of ivy berries, each part of a set and still unused. These cups were the work of the craftsman Alcimedon (caelatum divini opus Alcimedontis).146 By describing Alcimedon as divinus, Menalcas was implying that Alcimedon relied upon divine inspiration for his design. By using the word caelatum (embossed), Menalcas was punning upon the word caelum (the zodiac). The celestial theme of Menalcas’ cups was apparent in the images that appeared on the inside of the drinking cups, in the center. Again Menalcas played with celestial terminology by calling the images signa, a word that could be used, in the sense of “heavenly signs,” for the constellations.147 One of the beechwood cups displayed the astronomer Conon, who is said to have discovered the whereabouts of the lock of hair that Queen Berenice II had vowed upon the safe return from war of her

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husband, King Ptolemy III Euergetes of Egypt. Berenice’s hair had allegedly been stolen following its dedication and Conon found it in the heavens. This lock of hair came to be known as the constellation Coma Berenices and it occupied an area consisting of dim stars near the tail of Leo (see Fig. 4.1). Coma Berenices did not appear among the forty-​seven constellations discussed by Aratus in the Phaenomena, because it was newly created around 247 b.c. after Aratus. It also did not appear in Cicero’s translation, which followed the original of Aratus closely. By the period of the saeculum Augustum, Coma Berenices had already become extinct as a separate named constellation in almost all astronomical works.148 The romantic story of the constellation, which had been told by the Greek poet Callimachus, however, remained of interest to the Romans, and the poet Catullus dedicated one of his poems to its catasterism.149 The second cup in Menalcas’ set displayed another astronomer whose name apparently had slipped Menalcas’ mind. Regarding this astronomer, Menalcas asked,150 and who was the other one (quis fuit alter) who sketched out with the pointed stick of a geometer or astronomer the whole celestial sphere for the people of the world (descripsit radio totum qui gentibus orbem) and who sketched out in words the seasons that the harvester and the stooping plowman had at their disposal? Menalcas may have been pretending to be ignorant but he must have known that the astronomer whose name he could not remember was none other than Aratus, who had described, in the first astronomical part of his Phaenomena, the constellations that could be observed in the celestial sphere and, in the second meteorological part of his poem, the weather signs that could be observed in the celestial sphere, on the sea, and on land.151 Cicero had already translated this famed Greek poem into Latin some sixty years prior and Vergil would reference several of the important constellations found in Aratus’ poem and in Cicero’s translation, and translate parts of the second meteorological part of Aratus’ poem into Latin in the first book of his Georgics, which would be published in 29 b.c.152 In response to this fine wager of the cups displaying Aratus and Conon, Damoetas then offered, in addition to his cow, two of his own cups also made by Alcimedon. Their handles were entwined with acanthus vines. One cup displayed in its center an image of the musician Orpheus followed by all the creatures of the forest who had been entranced by his songs. Vergil would later explore in the fourth book of his Georgics the tragic story of Orpheus, who had gone down into the underworld to lead his wife, Eurydice, back to life but lost her forever when he turned around too soon before she had emerged fully into the earthly realm.153 Orpheus was also associated with the constellation Fides the Lyre. Jupiter had

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placed the lyre in the heavens at the request of the Muses in memory of Orpheus, following his gruesome death at the hands of crazed followers of the god Bacchus. Damoetas did not describe the image on the second cup but, given the wordplay and punning already going on between the two shepherds even before the competition began, the other cup may also have been Jupiter-​themed. When Damoetas mentioned that Menalcas should admire the cow over the drinking cups, he might have been implying that the image in the center of the other drinking cup was of Europa or Io. Menalcas and Damoetas agreed that their fellow shepherd Palaemon would be the judge of the contest. They agreed on the form, amoebean verses consisting of a two-​verse call and a two-​verse response, a form that the Muses loved. Palaemon chose Damoetas to start off the contest and he began at the beginning, like Urania in Cicero’s poetic defense of his consulship, by referencing the opening of Cicero’s translation of Aratus’ Phaenomena (A Iove Musarum primordia):154 From Jove is the beginning (Ab Iove principium), Muses. All things are full of Jove. Jove looks after the earth. He is attentive to my poems. Menalcas did not take up the Aratean challenge but turned the focus of the contest to amatory adventures. Damoetas eventually shifted the focus from the amatory to the agricultural and then to the political by mentioning Pollio, who was at the time the patron of Vergil. The contest then concluded with an intertwining of the amatory and the agricultural, and Palaemon declared the poetic competition a draw. Each of the contestants, he said, deserved the cow but neither one received the other’s set of valuable astronomically themed drinking cups. Astronomically themed drinking cups were also employed during the period of the saeculum Augustum to reveal the full imagery of the celestial sphere. The Augustan epigrammatist Antipater of Thessalonica wrote of two “cunningly wrought drinking cups” that depicted the celestial sphere of Aratus’ Phaenomena. The vessels were imagined as describing themselves to the recipient of the gift:155 Each of us reveals the heavens, for we two have been cut from a globe. The one of us has the southern stars, but the other has the constellations in the north. So no longer look attentively at your Aratus, because after drinking divided measures from both of us you are looking at everything revealed in the Phaenomena. Like the beechwood cups of Menalcas, these astronomically themed drinking cups would have had images on the inside that became visible after the cups were drained. These images were of the constellations north of the zodiac and

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south of the zodiac. These splendid cups were said to have been sent by a man named Theogenes to a man named Piso, who may have been Caesar’s father-​in-​ law, the philosophically minded Calpurnius Piso. This Theogenes may be the trusted mathematicus whom Octavius and his close friend Agrippa would visit in Apollonia, seeking interpretations of their natal horoscopes. The story of Octavius’ encounter with Theogenes, which will be considered in the following chapter, will provide insight into another aspect of Octavius’ interest in the celestial sphere, astrology, a private source of support and guidance that would engage his close attention not long before Caesar was assassinated in March 44 b.c.

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5

Theogenes of Apollonia and the Geniturae of Agrippa and Octavius 45–​4 4 b.c.

Having embarked on the formal studies of the celestial sphere that would help prepare him for his future military and political activities, Octavius was now given more responsibilities by Caesar, who chose him to preside over ludi held in 45 b.c. at the Greek theater in Rome.1 Octavius worked so diligently in the hot weather that he fell ill, to the great distress and concern of Caesar. Octavius also began to take more initiatives. After he had recovered his health, he set off for Spain with the intention of meeting Caesar, who was on campaign there fighting the sons of Pompeius Magnus. Sextus Pompeius, the youngest son of Pompeius Magnus, who had witnessed the murder of his father off the coast of Egypt, managed to escape after the defeat by Caesar at the Battle of Munda in Spain in this same year. Gnaeus Pompeius, his elder brother, was captured and executed after the battle, a defeat said to have been predicted by the golden legionary eagles in their little shrines shaking their wings and dropping the thunderbolts they held in their talons, an unpropitious omen that was interpreted to mean that the eagles were themselves flying off to Caesar and that Jupiter was hurling his weapons directly at Gnaeus Pompeius.2 Caesar had not made much of this omen, because he is said to have known that the divine power (τὸ δαιμόνιον) was setting his course. Caesar did take serious note of another omen that occurred in Spain around the same time in 45 b.c. When he was overseeing the cutting down of trees for his camp at Munda, Caesar interpreted the fast growth of a new shoot on a palm tree and the arrival of pigeons to build nests in the tree, despite its very rough foliage, as proof that Octavius was the correct choice to succeed him.3

Celestial Inclinations. Anne-​Marie Lewis, Oxford University Press. © Oxford University Press 2023. DOI: 10.1093/​oso/​9780197599648.003.0006

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Octavius arrived in Spain and found to his great disappointment that the Battle of Munda was over and that Caesar had moved on. He then set off to find Caesar, who was delighted to see him. Caesar is said to have conversed earnestly with Octavius to test his intelligence and his understanding of matters, and he is said to have been pleased with what he found, a conclusion that would have supported the omen of the palm tree. Octavius then journeyed to New Carthage with Caesar, and there he impressed Caesar even more. Emboldened by Caesar’s approval, Octavius asked Caesar for the position of Master of the Horse, although he was only about nineteen years old at the time.4 Caesar gave it again to his experienced ally Lepidus (cos. 46 B.C.) but he appointed Octavius to the position for the year 43 b.c. Octavius was given permission by Caesar to return to Rome to see his mother and to live apart from his parents in his own house above the Scalae Anulariae. This house had once belonged to the orator and neoteric poet Gaius Licinius Macer Calvus, a younger contemporary of Cicero and a friend of the poet Catullus. Octavius, however, still continued to spend a good deal of time with his mother and stepfather and he maintained his sober, chaste lifestyle. While holding his fourth dictatorship in 45 b.c., Caesar celebrated at Rome a triumph over the remnants of the army of Pompeius Magnus, a spectacle that was considered somewhat unseemly because he was marking a victory not over a foreign enemy but over fellow Roman citizens.5 In this same year, Caesar sent his grandnephew Octavius out of Rome to complete his education and to be trained for the upcoming Parthian campaign that Caesar was planning for 44 b.c. Octavius arrived in Apollonia, a rich, important, and strategically situated Greek port city located on the Adriatic Sea in Illyria (today Albania), in the late autumn of 45 b.c. Apollonia was also a city well disposed to Caesar.6 Octavius stayed in Apollonia for between four and six months.7 There, in the company of Agrippa and Quintus Salvidienus Rufus (Salvidienus), Octavius perfected his military education by means of regular drills with cavalry contingents sent out to him for that purpose. While Octavius was acquiring the basic skills necessary for a future or at least an aspiring Roman general and for Caesar’s planned Parthian campaign, he socialized with senior army officers, who visited him out of deference to his great-​uncle. Octavius also did not neglect his intellectual development while abroad. He brought to Apollonia his teacher Apollodorus of Pergamum, an elderly Greek rhetorician who taught him self-​control and patience. He studied with the Stoic philosopher Athenodorus of Tarsus, a student of the philosopher Posidonius, who is said to have accepted astrology.8 Caesar had also sent Octavius to Apollonia to be trained in the study of the liberales disciplinae (liberales artes).9 The first-​century b.c. Roman polymath Varro, whom Caesar had chosen to be the librarian for the Greek and Roman public libraries he planned, had discussed the nine Roman liberales disciplinae in a work now lost.10 They included

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The Geniturae of Agrippa and Octavius

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grammar, dialectic, rhetoric, geometry, arithmetic, music, medicine, architecture, and astronomy. Caesar was so interested in the teaching of the liberales disciplinae that he gave citizenship to all teachers of the subjects in order to convince them to settle at Rome.11 Since the liberales disciplinae included astronomy, Octavius would have been able to continue his study of the fixed constellations, including their risings and settings, over the several months he was resident in Apollonia. This period of study in his life was very influential upon Octavius, and he is said to have maintained a devotion to the liberales disciplinae throughout the remainder of his life.12 While in Apollonia, at some point between his arrival in the late autumn of 45 b.c. and his departure in the spring of 44 b.c., Octavius and his close friend Agrippa are said to have paid a visit to a man by the name of Theogenes whom Suetonius identified as a mathematicus, a practitioner of both observational astronomy and Hellenistic mathematical astrology.13 Any skepticism about the historicity of the episode can be put to rest on the basis of the ancient evidence. First, the visit of Octavius and Agrippa to Theogenes is not merely a fictional destiny story invented later to mythologize the divinity of Octavius, because Agrippa is included as an important part of the narrative. In his biography, Suetonius includes Octavius’ visit to Theogenes within the lengthy section, which deals, like the story of the pronouncement of Nigidius Figulus at the meeting of the Roman Senate in 63 b.c., with notable omens from which it was possible to expect and observe from the moment of the birth of Octavius his future greatness and everlasting good fortune (quibus futura magnitudo eius et perpetua felicitas sperari animadvertique posset).14 Suetonius’ biography is quite clear that the visit should be seen as a meaningful event that took place in the life of Octavius before the assassination of Caesar, and he may have found the account in a contemporary source, perhaps even in the memoirs of Octavius himself, which were housed in the private imperial archives to which he had access. Second, Theogenes was most likely a historical figure. Although Theogenes means “god-​born,” the name was not uncommon for Greek-​speaking historical personages who had lived for centuries around the Mediterranean.15 Some men of this name had acquired prominence among their fellow citizens. A fifth-​century b.c. Theogenes was an acclaimed boxer from the island of Thasos. Another fifth-​century b.c. Theogenes was one of the Thirty Tyrants at Athens following the Peloponnesian War. A fourth-​ century b.c. Theogenes was honored at Naucratis by a decree in the mid-​fourth century b.c. A man named Theogenes is said to have sent to Calpurnius Piso a pair of drinking cups that depicted the celestial sphere of Aratus’ Phaenomena. This Theogenes may have been the trusted mathematicus who was consulted by Octavius and Agrippa while they were in Apollonia. Third, the visit of Octavius to Theogenes has strong historical plausibility in the context of Octavius’ celestial

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interests. There remains a sturdy belief that Octavius throughout his life demonstrated only a “gentlemanly acceptance” of astrology and never could have believed in an allegedly dubious activity that was practiced by charlatans.16 This view was not that of Octavius himself. He believed that he was connected to the celestial sphere from his childhood and he did not view astrology in this way. He would certainly have taken the opportunity to explore his connection to the celestial sphere more deeply on a personal level by means of astrology, one of the two related branches of astrologia. During the saeculum Augustum, astrology was considered a form of divination, and the Romans of the period recognized Hellenistic astrology as a serious pursuit that demanded technical expertise.17 Manilius, the author of the longest and earliest Roman compendium on astrology to that date, lived during the period of the saeculum Augustum and wrote the five books of his astrological poem the Astronomica near its close.18 The poem is unique for its time and Manilius was justifiably proud of the greatness of his astrological accomplishments.19 Manilius was probably born in Rome but he appears to have been part of a family of astrologers that hailed from Antioch in what is today Turkey.20 Manilius had traced the beginning of astrology, the great sacred mystery that dealt with the knowledge of the heavens, back to the god Mercury.21 But he also recognized that the practice of astrology had its quite earthly origin in Mesopotamia in the practice of celestial omen reading undertaken by priests for the king.22 This practice, which can be dated to before the second millennium b.c., was based in the assessment of celestial omens conveyed in the appearance of the luminaries, the planets, solar and lunar eclipses, and the risings and settings of the constellations and stars.23 The priests observed the omens that were communicated to them by the Mesopotamian gods and interpreted them for the benefit of the king, the state, and the public good. Mesopotamian celestial omen reading in service of the king was not very useful in areas to the west of Mesopotamia, but Mesopotamian birth omens for individuals had great attraction because of their wider appeal.24 Mesopotamian astrology of this sort moved westward to Alexandria in Egypt, where it developed during the Hellenistic period into a complex mathematically based form of personal astrology that involved the calculation and interpretation of horoscopes for individuals.25 Berosus had taken Egyptian Hellenistic astrology farther westward to the Greek island of Cos in the fourth century b.c. Hellenistic astrology arrived in Rome by the beginning of the second century b.c., transported, like Greek literary models and Greek philosophical ideas, through Roman contact with Greek culture in southern Italy, Egypt, and Greece itself. At Rome, Hellenistic astrology was embraced by eminent practitioners in the fields of religion, mathematics, and philosophy, especially Stoicism and Pythagoreanism.26 Hellenistic astrology was a much more complex endeavor than observational astronomy, which involved

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simply orienting oneself and then looking up and around to find the locations of the Sun, the Moon, the five visible ancient planets, the constellations, and the bright stars in order to assess the relevance of their appearances for communal activities such as navigation and agriculture. Observational astronomy was available to everyone. Sailors, farmers, generals, soldiers, and travelers all developed experience in using the sky to seek practical information in this way. Hellenistic astrology, although available to an aristocrat, a politician, a citizen, a foreigner, a slave, a man, or a woman, was really accessible only to those persons willing to pay for a skilled astrological practitioner to calculate, present, and interpret a natal horoscope created for a birth (a genitura) or a horoscope created for the beginning point of an event (a katarchē). Cicero had criticized foreign Chaldaean astrology at some length in his De Divinatione.27 Cicero, however, cannot have been as contemptuous of Roman practitioners of Hellenistic astrology as may seem, since he counted among his friends Rome’s three most prominent serious practitioners of Hellenistic astrology at the time: Varro, Tarutius of Firmum, and especially Nigidius Figulus, the senator who had advised him during the crises of his consular year.28 Diodorus Siculus, who wrote a multivolume universal history during the saeculum Augustum, had high praise for Chaldaean astrology and its practitioners.29 But, in truth, the Hellenistic astrologer (the mathematicus) was considered to be more professional and serious as a practitioner of astrology than the Chaldaean astrologer. The mathematicus was not considered by Roman aristocrats of the saeculum Augustum, as so often later in the Roman Empire, to be a greedy practitioner who engaged in an unsavory mix of subversive gossip and unscrupulous manipulation. The mathematicus was regarded as an individual of integrity and competence who sought to understand the universe and, what is critical for astrology, to illuminate the mutual bond between the terrestrial and the celestial realms.30 The fundamental assumptions of Hellenistic astrological practice during the saeculum Augustum may be determined by using geniturae that date to this period. Three geniturae written in Greek have survived on papyrus fragments.31 As may have been typical at this time, these natal horoscopes take no account of the precession of the equinoxes, although the phenomenon was known.32 They employ as an establishing point the beginning point of Aries (the vernal point), which provided a strong sense of balance, steadiness, and harmony for a genitura.33 The papyrological horoscopes do not note the retrogradation of the astrological planets, the Ascending Node, Descending Node, Lot of Fortune, major aspectual relationships, decans, or dodecatemoria. They do provide information about the essential elements that needed to be calculated for a genitura during this period: the locations of the Sun, the Moon, Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, Venus, and Mercury in the astrological Signs of the zodiac (Latin Signa, Greek ζῴδια)

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and in the astrological Places (Latin Loci, Greek τόποι).34 The prime actors in a genitura were the Sun, the Moon, Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, Venus, and Mercury, which had the names of the divinities associated with them but were not the divinities themselves. These astrological luminaries and planets, which appeared in the Signs and the Places in a genitura, were related to the actual luminaries and planets in the heavens, but they were viewed as symbolic representations of these luminaries and planets. Of the twelve Signs, eleven Signs had the astronomical names of the constellations of the zodiac established by Cicero in his translation of Aratus’ Phaenomena. Chelae would acquire the additional name Libra during the saeculum Augustum, and both names, Chelae and Libra, would be in use. The twelve Signs of the zodiac kept the same order as the constellations of the zodiac. Beginning with the vernal point, they were Aries, Taurus, Gemini, Cancer, Leo, Virgo, Chelae (Libra), Scorpios, Sagittarius, Capricornus, Aquarius, and Pisces. The Signs were considered to be fixed segments 30° in size.35 The astrological Signs were not identical in size to the variable physical expanses occupied by the astronomical constellations of the same name that appeared in the heavens according to the system preferred by Aratus.36 For example, the constellation Capricornus in the heavens was smaller than the 30° allotted to the astrological Sign of the same name.37 The constellation Virgo took up more space in the heavens than the 30° allotted to the Sign of the same name. The Signs of the zodiac were considered to be either male (Aries, Gemini, Leo, Chelae [Libra], Sagittarius, and Aquarius) or female (Taurus, Cancer, Virgo, Scorpios, Capricornus, and Pisces).38 Each Sign was considered to be a special Domicile (Latin Domicilium, Greek οἶκος) of the Sun, the Moon, Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, Venus, and Mercury. By established convention, the Sun and the Moon had one special Domicile (the modern Rulership), and Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, Venus, and Mercury each had two special Domiciles to which they were particularly attached. For example, the Domicile of the Moon was Cancer, and the Domiciles of Venus were Chelae (Libra) and Taurus. A practitioner of Hellenistic astrology such as Theogenes would have worked in a precise, orderly manner in using these astrological principles. In order to calculate a full genitura, the mathematicus would need to know the date of birth, the moment of birth, and the place of birth, which could be determined according to the Greek and Roman climata, an ancient system of observer’s latitude that reflects modern numerical geographical coordinates for latitude.39 Calculations could be made by using a mechanical device such as the Antikythera Mechanism or tables listing the placements of the Sun, the Moon, Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, Venus, and Mercury in the Signs of the zodiac.40 In addition to determining the locations of these prime actors in the Signs of the zodiac, the mathematicus also needed to calculate the degree of the Ascendant (Latin Horoscopos, Greek ὡροσκόπος), the Sign of the zodiac that was rising in the east at the time of the birth.41 This

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calculation was most likely accomplished by the use of tables.42 The Ascendant anchored the entire view of the sky in its symbolic form at the time of the birth of an individual. The establishment of the Ascendant also enabled the mathematicus to determine the three other Cardinal Points, which were all 90° apart, and the points of the Places, which were all 30° in size and located between the four Cardinal Points.43 A list containing all of the degree placements of the Sun, the Moon, Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, Venus, and Mercury in the Signs of the zodiac; the location of the Ascendant in a particular Sign; and the names of the Signs of the zodiac located at the other Cardinal Points and at the Places would undoubtedly have been kept by the serious mathematicus for his own records. A copy of a full calculated genitura was probably also given to the individual seeking the astrological forecast to take away and to use for future reference. Because of the valuable information found in a full genitura and the possibility that such information could be used to derive hostile predictions, the full genitura was something not likely to have been shared widely or with the public. Following the completion of the calculations for the full genitura, the second task of a mathematicus such as Theogenes was to present the elements of the genitura in some physical form in person to the individual seeking an astrological forecast. The presentation of the genitura was a dramatic performance accomplished most likely with the aid of an astrological board. Astrological boards, which were of Egyptian origin, have been found around the Mediterranean, and some can be dated to the first century b.c. An astrological board consisted of a circular wheel incised on a board made of wood, stone, or ivory that was overlaid or carved with lifelike images of the Signs of the zodiac, such as a crab for the Sign Cancer or a lion for the Sign Leo.44 The Sun, the Moon, Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, Venus, and Mercury were presented on the astrological board as if frozen in time and space at the moment of the birth of the individual. They were displayed in the form of movable markers set on the board in their correct locations in the Signs and Places. The markers would have been made of different precious gemstones to distinguish them from one another: gold or crystal for the Sun, silver or diamond for the Moon, obsidian or serpentine for Saturn, crystal or opal for Jupiter, reddish onyx or hematite for Mars, lapis lazuli for Venus, and turquoise or emerald for Mercury.45 The papyrological horoscope P.Oxy. 235 presents a roughly drawn diagram, without any indication of degrees, to accompany its list of astrological placements that may reflect the astrological elements that were displayed in the form of the markers and incisions on an astrological board (see Fig. 5.1).46 The diagram displays the Earth-​centered view of the cosmos that was represented on the astrological board. East is at the left, south is at the top, west is at the right, and north is at the bottom. The diagram is segmented into quarters by means of the

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Fig. 5.1.  P.Oxy. 235. Neugebauer and Van Hoesen (1959) No. 15/​22, Fig. 9, 17. By permission of the American Philosophical Society.

two diameters intersecting at right angles. The horizontal line drawn across the middle of the diagram represents the line of the horizon separating day above from night below. The vertical line crossing the line of the horizon represents the two important points crossed by the Sun, the Moon, Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, Venus, and Mercury over the course of a day: the zenith at the top of the diagram and the nadir at the bottom. At the ends of these four lines are the four Cardinal Points. The Ascendant is located at the left side of the diagram on the horizon line, and it represents east and the time of sunrise. The Midheaven (Latin Medium Caelum, Greek μεσουράνημα) is located 90° from the Ascendant at the top of the diagram, and it represents the culminating degree of the ecliptic in the south and a time of midday. The Descendant (Latin Occasus, Greek δύσις) is located 180° opposite the Ascendant on the horizontal line and it represents west and the time of sunset. The Lower Midheaven (Latin Imum Caelum, Greek ὑπὸ γῆν) is located 180° opposite the Midheaven at the bottom of the circle and it represents north and midnight. The names of these Cardinal Points appear on the outside of the circle in P.Oxy. 235. The four quadrants, two above the horizon and two below the horizon, are also segmented between the Cardinal Points, like a pie, into the Places (the modern Houses). The Places between the Cardinal Points follow one another in order in a counterclockwise direction beginning at the Ascendant in the east. Each Place represents a time span of two hours.47 The Places on the diagram are not numbered in order from first through twelfth, nor are they named.48

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The Places are not obviously distinguished by lines, but they can be identified by the names of the Signs of the zodiac that appear in their standard order at intervals that are roughly equivalent between the Cardinal Points beginning at the Ascendant.49 The names of the Signs of the zodiac indicating the Places appear inside the circle in P.Oxy. 235. The names of the Sun, the Moon, Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, Venus, and Mercury, which represent the movable gemstone markers, appear on the outside of the circle in P.Oxy. 235. The time of birth for the individual in this genitura, around the fourth hour of the night (ωρα τεταρτη τηc νυκτος τυνχανει), is made apparent on the papyrus fragment in Fig. 5.1 by the location of HλΙΟC the Sun in the west in ΖΥΓΟC Chelae (Libra). The third task of a mathematicus such as Theogenes was the interpretation of the genitura for the individual seeking the astrological consultation. Once the gemstone markers for the Sun, the Moon, Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, Venus, and Mercury had been set in their appropriate locations in their Signs and Places on the astrological board, the mathematicus would have been able to present, again in person, an analysis of the interrelationships among these major astrological elements and then reveal their meanings orally to the individual. Manilius recommended a method whereby the numerous complex astrological elements were analyzed systematically in order to reach a whole interpretation.50 Astrology could be used for such revelations because it illuminated the fixed laws of nature and the destinies these laws foretold.51 These laws were the components of a universal system in which fatum (fate or destiny) linked human events to cosmic alignment and reflected the will of the cosmos.52 The poet Horace endorsed a soft or weak astrology that did not presuppose that fate was absolute. According to a soft astrology, an individual’s genius or essential divine spirit provided guidance by blending in due proportion (temperat) the elements of the natale . . . astrum, that is, the genitura of an individual.53 Manilius, however, endorsed the opposite, a hard or strong astrology. According to a hard astrology, fate was absolute and the heavenly bodies caused certain things, such as character traits and events, to occur on the Earth without any human interference.54 Manilius did not attempt to explain how exactly the celestial bodies affected the terrestrial domain in such a strict way. Astrology simply worked, which was the important issue. Octavius appears to have endorsed this second type of astrology, according to which he saw his own fate absolutely written for him. In a modern astrological consultation, the astrologer, using the natal horoscope, aims to counsel the individual and analyzes the individual’s horoscope with the intention to reveal the inner person, to present major life themes, and to help guide the individual to self-​understanding.55 This modern psychological approach, however, would have been of no interest for astrological interpretation in the ancient world. A Greek or Roman mathematicus aimed rather to provide an

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answer to a question posed by the individual on the basis of what the astrological placements in the individual’s genitura indicated about concrete situations such as future interrelationships, opportunities, and pitfalls that involved things such as parents, siblings, property, inheritance, partnerships, spouses, children, reputation, fame, status, length of life, fortunate events, or unfortunate crises.56 The skill with which a serious ancient mathematicus such as Theogenes provided an astrological interpretation for the question posed would have depended on the extent and nature of his training, his experience, and his prior study of astrological compendia and precedents that had been gathered or inherited. Extensive collections of astrological precedents dated to the period of the saeculum Augustum are no longer extant, although the fact that the astrologer Tiberius Claudius Thrasyllus of Alexandria (Thrasyllus), who knew Octavius in his later years, passed down precedents to his son Tiberius Claudius Balbillus (Balbillus) is evidence that they once existed.57 The founder of astrology at Rome, the former slave Manilius Antiochus who had come to Rome in the earlier years of the first century b.c., perhaps during the period of Sulla and the Mithridatic Wars, may have been the father or grandfather of Manilius, the author of the Astronomica. Because the practice of astrology, like medicine, was often passed down over several generations within a family, Manilius’ Astronomica may also offer an accumulated body of prior astrological knowledge from western Greece, where Theogenes himself lived.58 Because astrological handbooks dated to the period of the saeculum Augustum are practically nonexistent, common scholarly practice has been to refer for interpretive guidance to handbooks that were written much later, on the assumption that the various points of astrological interpretation found in these later works were based on and consistent with past practices. It is fortunately not necessary to rely on these later sources of astrology for interpreting a genitura dated to the saeculum Augustum, because sources that date to the period itself or before provide a sufficient basis for the interpretation of geniturae.59 The three papyrological natal horoscopes found in Egypt that date to the period of the saeculum Augustum lack interpretations, but Manilius’ Astronomica, although often considered to be a didactic poem that presents an interesting subject matter in an aesthetic way but without much practical merit, offers useful guidance for interpreting a genitura during this period.60 The focus of interpretive guidance in Manilius’ Astronomica was on the meanings of the quadrants, the Signs, and the Places, each of which had control over an area relevant to an individual’s life. The poem offers some guidance about the astrological meaning of the placements of the Sun and the Moon in relation to the Signs, the Cardinal Points, and the Places. The first year of the life of an individual was special to the Sign in which the Sun appeared on the day of the birth.61 The months of the first year of the life of an individual were

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special to the Sign in which the Moon appeared in each month.62 The appearance of the Moon in the region of the Ascendant was of special importance.63 The Sun had a particular affiliation with Place 9.64 Manilius was also aware of the astrological planets. Manilius mentioned the shifting movements of the astrological planets (vagae stellae) several times in his poem.65 He acknowledged that the positions of the astrological planets, Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, Venus, and Mercury in a genitura were important, and he mentioned that they had an interpretive role in relation to the Places, but he offered little further guidance in the poem about what the influences were.66 It has been suggested that Manilius omitted an extensive discussion of Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, Venus, and Mercury because their presence would have disturbed the sense of order in the cosmos presented in his poem or because their omission might have served to confirm the absence of any subversive intent in astrology or to show that Manilius disliked the astrological planets, which may have been an embarrassment and a source of frustration for him.67 These possibilities are unlikely. Verses in the Astronomica imply that Manilius included the influences of Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, Venus, and Mercury somewhere in the poem, but the poem today is incomplete. Manilius promised to deal with the astrological planets in his second book and third book, but the promise was not fulfilled in those books as they exist today.68 In the final fifth book of the poem, Manilius implied that this point would be appropriate for a discussion of the astrological planets, although no discussion has survived.69 The absence today of the astrological planets from Manilius’ compendium is regrettable because an analysis of their locations and their interactions is essential for a full astrological interpretation.70 But the incomplete information found in Manilius’ poem about the astrological planets and the lack of astrological interpretations for these important astrological elements in the three papyrological horoscopes from this period, while problematic, are not insurmountable. During this period, the general influences of the Sun, the Moon, Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, Venus, and Mercury were not viewed as an overly complicated matter. The influences of the astrological planets and luminaries were quite straightforward in their impact. Evidence found in other literary sources written during the saeculum Augustum provides all the information necessary to interpret the influence of the astrological planets and luminaries in a genitura. The basic influence of Saturn was unfavorable.71 The basic influence of Jupiter was favorable.72 The basic influence of Mars was unfavorable.73 The basic influence of Venus was favorable.74 The basic influence of Mercury was ambiguous, neither positive nor negative but neutral.75 The basic influences of the Sun and the Moon were somewhat ambiguous, perhaps neutral or even benefic, but both were considered to be brighteners.76 Application of this straightforward contemporary understanding of the impact of the Sun, the Moon, Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, Venus, and Mercury in the Signs and

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the Places makes it possible to replicate the interpretations of the geniturae provided by Theogenes to both Agrippa and Octavius in ways that are valid and well grounded, and make good sense in and for the time when they were undertaken. Curious, perhaps, about their future prospects while they were away from Rome in Apollonia, Octavius and Agrippa paid a visit one day, unexpectedly or by appointment is not known, to the mathematicus Theogenes to have their geniturae interpreted. A consultation with a mathematicus was a private matter and there are few descriptions in the ancient sources written during the period of the saeculum Augustum that describe such an encounter. The poets Ovid and Propertius each provide an example of an astrological consultation in which an astrologer came to the individual who was seeking a prediction. Both episodes demonstrate a sound basis in astrological tenets and practice and provide some details about what was involved in an astrological consultation. Ovid described himself in a poem from the first book of his Amores as hiding behind double doors to watch as his current love interest received a visit from a disreputable old woman (anus lena) named Dipsas, who may have been an aged brothel owner or some sort of go-​between whose aim was to profit from the affairs of others. Dipsas also practiced astrology. Dipsas would not have made the calculations for the genitura on the spot but used a genitura provided to her. As was appropriate for such a private consultation delivered, probably with the knowledge that a hostile Ovid was listening behind the doors, Dipsas did not reveal an interpretation of the entire genitura. Dipsas examined the young woman’s genitura and singled out two astrological placements for attention, probably using a portable astrological board:77 Hostile Mars in opposition has harmed you (stella . . . contraria Martis). Mars has moved out of this relationship. Now Venus well placed appears in its own Sign (Venus apta). Consider how its appearance might be of use to you! Dipsas interpreted an unpropitious Mars and a propitious Venus in the genitura of the young woman and gave her some practical advice on the basis of the question she must have asked with regard to her relationship with Ovid. To Ovid’s horror, Dipsas advised her to abandon Ovid, a poor poet, and take up with a less distinguished but wealthier lover. Ovid’s contemporary Propertius also described a meeting with an astrologer. In the first poem of his fourth book, Propertius wrote of himself walking around Rome and conversing with a mathematicus named Horos, who appears to have been a stranger to the city and Egyptian in origin. After Horos gave details about his own illustrious family lineage and his astrological credentials, he stopped to provide an astrological interpretation

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for Propertius outside on the street, again probably using a portable astrological board. Horos could not have made the calculations for the genitura on the spot outside but he quite likely used the genitura that Propertius provided to him. Horos counseled Propertius on the basis of his genitura and the question Propertius asked, apparently with regard to his poetic career. Horos singled out one feature of Propertius’ genitura and said that the sinister back of the eight-​ footed Cancer (octipedis Cancri terga sinistra time) posed a future potential danger to the poet.78 As was appropriate for such a private matter, Propertius did not provide sufficient information in the published poem for anyone to create his full genitura or to gain any clear indication of why Cancer was so dangerous for him or what the source was of his peril.79 Tacitus also described the consultation of a mathematicus that took place outside, but in this consultation the mathematicus consulted with himself on his own behalf. One day, the mathematicus Thrasyllus was invited by Tiberius to go for a walk up on the cliff above the sea on the island of Rhodes.80 Tiberius asked Thrasyllus what the genitura of Thrasyllus predicted about Thrasyllus’ own future. Thrasyllus set out the astrological placements of the Sun, the Moon, Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, Venus, and Mercury from his own genitura, probably on the portable astrological board he had with him, in front of Tiberius (ille positus siderum ac spatia dimensus) and an allegedly trustworthy attendant of Tiberius in response to the question posed. No astrological placements were provided in Tacitus’ account, but as Thrasyllus examined and interpreted his genitura closely in light of the question, he is said to have become more and more alarmed that the placements predicted his imminent death. The meeting of Octavius and Agrippa with Theogenes in Apollonia that Suetonius presented in his biography of Augustus was more formal than the astrological consultations involving Thrasyllus, Horos, and Dipsas, and it was held in the work space of the mathematicus. Agrippa and Octavius went to Theogenes without much fanfare, which is not surprising, given that they were probably under close watch at their quarters in Apollonia and that they were aware that a consultation of this nature was always best kept private. Suetonius describes their visit with some pertinent and perceptive details:81 While Octavius was in seclusion from public life in Apollonia, he had climbed up to the pergula of the mathematicus Theogenes together with his companion Agrippa (comite Agrippa). After great and almost unbelievable things were predicted for Agrippa, who consulted (consulebat) Theogenes first, Octavius persisted in concealing his own genitura and in refusing to disclose it through fear and shame that he might be found to be lesser. When only after many requests he at last gave it unwillingly and with hesitation, Theogenes jumped up and paid him homage.

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Octavius and Agrippa found Theogenes at work in his pergula. This room was the observatory in Theogenes’ house, and it probably also served as the center of a school of astrologia.82 The speed with which Theogenes is said to have produced the predictions for Agrippa and Octavius indicates that each young man already had in hand his genitura, which had been calculated at some point earlier, probably in Rome either by a Greek-​speaking mathematicus or possibly even by one of Rome’s own eminent practitioners of astrology. That Octavius and Agrippa had each traveled with their own genitura in hand was not without precedent. Gnaeus Octavius (cos. 87 b.c.), who belonged to the political branch of the gens Octavia, is said to have been carrying a diagram of his natal horoscope tucked in the folds of his toga (διάγραμμα Χαλδαϊκὸν ἐν τοῖς κόλποις αὐτοῦ) when he was assassinated in his consular year.83 Gnaeus Octavius had consulted a variety of diviners, Chaldaean astrologers, haruspices, and interpreters of the Sibylline books, heeding the advice of all of them to remain in Rome in order to achieve success against Marius and his co-​consul for 86 b.c., Lucius Cornelius Cinna. Assassins sent ahead on the orders of Marius to kill Gnaeus Octavius pulled him down from the Old Rostra in the Forum Romanum and murdered him while he was wearing his consular garment. Although Plutarch commented caustically that Gnaeus Octavius should have spent less time with diviners and more time with statesmen and strategists because he ended up dead not victorious, Plutarch also noted that Marius believed in divination and it saved him, although not the consul Octavius. Gnaeus Octavius’ contemporary Sulla may also have been in possession of his own genitura by the 90s b.c. A Chaldaean astrologer had used it to predict Sulla’s future greatness.84 Sulla is also said to have had absolute confidence in the prediction that his genitura made about his date of death, which occurred as predicted.85 At the visit to Theogenes, Agrippa presented the genitura he had brought with him first, which is not surprising. Agrippa was most likely older than Octavius and he was displaying the fearless temperament that would serve him and Octavius long and well later in his life. Agrippa was apparently more willing than his cautious friend to step forward and see what would come of the encounter with the mathematicus at Apollonia. This initiative, however, was not due to any arrogance on the part of Agrippa. Octavius honored Agrippa beyond all of his other close friends (ἐς ὑπερβολὴν ἐτίμα).86 Octavius had even courageously requested that Caesar pardon the brother of Agrippa who had supported Cato against Caesar in the Libyan war, and Caesar granted the request.87 Agrippa, who was of lower social status than Octavius, knew his place in their relationship and knew not to get above it. In fact, even from the earliest days of their friendship, Agrippa followed the advice he always gave to his own close friends: a man who wished to survive should always aim to assist those in

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positions of power, to relieve them of burdens, and to allow them to take credit for the successes.88 Agrippa’s genitura has not survived, and few scholars have provided suggestions for the astrological placements in Agrippa’s genitura because Agrippa’s birth information is uncertain, and little is known of his early life until he appears as the companion of Octavius at Apollonia in 44 b.c.89 On the basis of circumstantial evidence, however, it is possible to reconstruct partially the genitura that Agrippa may have presented to Theogenes in Apollonia. Agrippa was probably born somewhere outside the city of Rome in Italy. Arpinum, a town located in central Italy about sixty miles southeast of Rome, has the support of tradition as Agrippa’s birthplace, and the coordinates of Arpinum have been chosen as representative of a place in Italy for the proposed genitura offered in the following analysis.90 Arpinum had also produced notable Roman politicians before, such as Marius and Cicero. Agrippa was said to have been born feet first, but he survived this unnatural and ill-​omened birth.91 As a result of this difficult birth, Agrippa was said to have suffered from a weakness in his legs. Reasonable inferences can be made about the date of Agrippa’s birth from scattered evidence. Agrippa and Octavius were students together so they must have been close in age.92 Agrippa also died in 12 b.c., worn down apparently by the infidelities of his wife Iulia and the tyrannical attitude of his old friend Octavius, who was at the time his father-​in-​law. Agrippa died within his fifty-​ first year in 13 b.c. (quinquagensimo uno raptus anno) during the Quinquatria, a five-​day festival that was held during the days March 19–​23 and that was sacred to Minerva.93 Two years have been offered as possibilities for Agrippa’s birth: 64 b.c. or 63 b.c., but most scholars agree that Agrippa was born in 64 b.c., the date accepted here.94 Agrippa’s month of birth, which would be important to know for an astrological forecast, has been debated. A suggestion that Agrippa was born in the latter part of March 64 b.c. is not supported by any ancient evidence.95 Agrippa, however, may have been born in the month of November.96 Supporting evidence for November appears in a calendar that was created in Paphos on the island of Cyprus, probably between 21 and 12 b.c., and in which one of the months is named after Agrippa.97 This month was associated with November. On Cyprus, the usual first month, ’Αφροδίσιος, was traditionally named after Aphrodite, the goddess to whom Cyprus was sacred because, according to myth, she emerged out from under the sea where she was born and set foot on land in Cyprus.98 The names of the months in the Paphian calendar indicate clearly that this calendar was intended to honor Augustus, as Octavius was then known, and members of his family, mortal and divine. Σεβαστός, the first month in the calendar, honors Augustus. The second month, ’Αγριππαίος, honors Agrippa. The remaining

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months in the calendar honor women, divinities and heroes, and political figures with connections to Augustus’ family or to Rome. Aphrodite, the patron goddess of Cyprus, is honored in the eighth month. Augustus and Agrippa stand apart as the only two major political figures of the time who are honored in the calendar. The nature of this Paphian calendar as one created to honor Augustus and his family is not in doubt. The chronological significance of the months, however, has been debated. The months in this calendar follow the Julian calendar in relative order and length, but the months begin on the second day of the month, not the first day, as in the Julian calendar. The calendar assigns the beginning of the month dedicated to Augustus to October 2, and it assigns the beginning of the month dedicated to Agrippa to November 2.99 It can be argued that the first months in the Paphian calendar are named after Augustus and Agrippa because these two months celebrate their all-​important birth dates. On first glance, the commemoration of the birth of Augustus in the month of October appears to be in error because Augustus was born on September 22 in the pre-​Julian calendar and honored on his publicly celebrated birthday on September 23 in the Julian calendar, not in October. September was considered so significant a month by the Roman people in relation to Augustus that after Augustus’ death in a.d. 14, there would be a suggestion, which was never implemented, that this month be renamed mensis Augustus.100 But the Paphian calendar may have been set up not to honor the actual birth month of Augustus in September but to mark astronomically the constellation of the zodiac in which the Sun was located on Augustus’ birthday. A solar basis for this calendrical decision is likely, given the recent history of Cyprus. The island was given into Egyptian control in 48–​47 b.c. and Caesar’s mistress Cleopatra, who was known to keep experts in astronomy and astrology as her advisors, had taken an active role in its administration. Cyprus remained in Egyptian control until it was reincorporated as a Roman province after the death of Cleopatra in 30 b.c. By 21 b.c., Cyprus was a senatorial province with an ex-​praetor as its proconsul. On October 2, the beginning of the Paphian month dedicated to Augustus, the Sun was still astronomically in the large constellation Virgo, which was also the location for the Sun on the day of Augustus’ birth. The following month begins with November 2, when the Sun was in Scorpios. The Sun was located in the constellation Scorpios between November 1 and November 21 in 64 b.c., the likely year of Agrippa’s birth. The Augustan poet Horace may also have provided a supportive clue for a precise date for Agrippa’s birth date in November. Horace referred to Agrippa as ingenuus leo.101 If Horace were playing upon the word ingenuus, which is related to the Latin word for being born (gigno), he may have been describing Agrippa not only as a “noble lion” but also as “lion born,” which might imply that one of the astrological planets or luminaries in Agrippa’s genitura was in the Sign Leo. During

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the month of November 64 b.c., only the Moon appeared in Leo—​all day on November 13 (the Ides of November) through to about 4:00 p.m. on November 14. Since November 13 would be an important date in Agrippa’s later public life (see Chap. 10), November 13, 64 b.c. is an excellent candidate for the birthdate of Agrippa. The Moon was specially noted as the ruler of a genitura when the birth took place at night. If Agrippa’s birth had been nocturnal, Agrippa would have been able to be identified as ingenuus leo, “lion born,” with astrological justification. Without knowledge today of the hour of Agrippa’s birth, exact or even approximate, the Ascendant, the other three Cardinal Points, the points of the Places, and the ruler of the Ascendant cannot be determined. But on the basis of a reasonable place and date for Agrippa’s birth (November 13, 64 b.c. at Arpinum) it is possible to reconstruct important parts of what may have been the genitura that Agrippa already had in his possession when he visited Theogenes with Octavius and that he provided first for interpretation to the mathematicus. The partial genitura for Agrippa that is presented here follows the order of the placements found in the list in the papyrological horoscope P.Oxy. 235. The Latin names for the astrological Signs found in Manilius’ Astronomica are used. Eleven of these names are identical to those used by Cicero for the astronomical constellations in his translation of the Phaenomena. Cicero, however, used the name Chelae, not Libra. Manilius used both names. The Genitura of Agrippa In the consulship of Lucius Iulius Caesar and Gaius Marcius Figulus At Arpinum The Ides of November During the night The Sun in Scorpios, a female Sign, Domicile of Mars102 The Moon in Leo, a male Sign, Domicile of the Sun Saturn in Aries, a male Sign, Domicile of Mars Jupiter in Gemini, a male Sign, Domicile of Mercury Mars in Chelae (Libra), a male Sign, Domicile of Venus Venus in Chelae (Libra), a male Sign, Domicile of Venus Mercury in Scorpios, a female Sign, Domicile of Mars Upon receipt of the astrological information that had been derived for Agrippa from prior calculations of his genitura, Theogenes would probably then have presented in front of Agrippa and Octavius, who was with him at the time, all the essential astrological elements of Agrippa’s genitura. Gemstones would probably have been used to mark the locations of the Sun, the Moon, Saturn, Jupiter,

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Mars, Venus, and Mercury in their appropriate locations on an incised astrological board. In his account of Agrippa’s astrological consultation with Theogenes, Suetonius did not state the question that Agrippa posed to the mathematicus. But he did provide Theogenes’ answer, and from this answer the nature of the question appears to have had something to do with Agrippa’s future political role. As was typical during the period, Theogenes would have focused on a few of the essential elements in Agrippa’s genitura in giving his response. In the proposed genitura of Agrippa, the Sun was in the Sign Scorpios, a Domicile ruled by Mars. The Sun as a brightener would have highlighted this Sign. According to Manilius, the Sun in Scorpios indicated an individual who enjoyed all aspects of war and fighting. Such individuals sought to fight even in times of peace and devoted their leisure time to the study of war.103 The Moon was in the Sign Leo, the Domicile of the Sun. The Moon would have brightened Leo and linked itself to the Sun through Leo, which was the Domicile of the Sun. Manilius associated Leo with the Nemean Lion, which was conquered and killed by the hero Hercules.104 This association had potentially negative implications. Saturn was in the Sign Aries, a Domicile of Mars. The presence of the malefic Saturn here would not have been a positive placement. Jupiter was in the Sign Gemini, a Domicile of Mercury. The influence of Jupiter in any area of a genitura was known to be favorable. Mythological narratives associated with the constellation Gemini could have added to an understanding of the impact of Jupiter in the Sign Gemini in Agrippa’s genitura. According to Eratosthenes and Nigidius Figulus, the most common mythological association for the constellation Gemini was with Pollux, the immortal son of Jupiter and Leda, and Castor, his mortal brother. Pollux and Castor served as protectors on the battlefield, symbols of victory, and saviors of mariners who found themselves in peril on stormy seas.105 Pollux and Castor were devoted to each other, and upon Castor’s death at the hands of Lyncneus, Jupiter permitted Castor to share the immortal status of Pollux.106 They were placed in the heavens by Jupiter, and two dazzling stars marked their faces (ora . . . Geminorum inlustria).107 Their story was well known and important to the Romans during the saeculum Augustum and it had astronomical as well as astrological implications. Mars and Venus were both in the Sign Chelae (Libra), a Domicile of Venus. The influence of Mars, which was known to have a negative influence in a genitura, could have been canceled out by the influence of Venus, which had a positive influence in a genitura. The strength of Venus would have been increased in Chelae (Libra), which was one of the Domiciles of Venus.

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Mercury was with and behind the Sun in the Sign Scorpios, a Domicile of Mars. Mercury was considered neutral in its impact, but the rulership of Mars over Scorpios may have added a negative cast to the Place where Mercury appeared in Agrippa’s genitura. Without a time of birth for Agrippa, the nature of the Ascendant, which controlled the mastery of life and character, and the Midheaven, which was a place of glory, honor, and reputation, cannot be determined. Nonetheless, why Theogenes may have predicted great and almost unbelievable things for Agrippa is evident. The genitura reflected the qualities of Agrippa, who was described by Velleius Paterculus as a man of good character, action, and loyalty.108 Most of the astrological planets and luminaries in Agrippa’s genitura were in male signs, a feature that appears to be an indication, consistent with general Roman cultural norms, of a search for power through military activity and public service. Especially notable in Agrippa’s genitura were the Sun and Jupiter. The presence of the Sun, a brightener, in Scorpios in a Domicile of Mars implied an obsessive dedication to war and fighting. The presence of Jupiter, a benefic planet, in Gemini, which represented protection for mariners and a brotherly devotion, indicated that Jupiter would be supportive of success earned on the sea by Agrippa and in conjunction with someone close. Like Agrippa, Octavius must have had his genitura in hand when the two young men visited Theogenes. As with Agrippa, how and when Octavius obtained his own calculated genitura is unknown, but it was probably created for him at some point in his early life. Perhaps it had been requested by his parents, who may have felt the need for reassurance and confirmation because of the prediction regarding their son’s destiny made by Nigidius Figulus at the extraordinary meeting of the Senate called to deal with the Catilinarian crisis of 63 b.c. Perhaps it had even been created by Nigidius Figulus, who served in the Roman Senate along with Octavius’ father, Gaius Octavius, but this possibility cannot be proven on the basis of currently available evidence. The genitura of Octavius that Theogenes would have seen can be reconstructed more fully than that of Agrippa because the critical information for Octavius’ birth has survived in the historical record.109 Octavius was born at the Ox-​heads on the Palatine Hill in Rome just before sunrise (paulo ante solis exortum). The date September 22, 63 b.c.—​not September 23—​is being used for the calculation of the genitura because September 22 was the date that Octavius would continue to mark as his birthday throughout his life and the date that was therefore most likely used for the calculation of his genitura.110 Any time between about 5:30 a.m. and 5:59 a.m., the time of astrological sunrise on September 22, during which the major astrological placements are generally the same, would be suitable. A time of 5:50 a.m. has been chosen for the astrological calculations here. The genitura for Octavius

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presented in the following analysis recreates, on the basis of P.Oxy. 235, the list that the mathematicus who had earlier calculated the genitura of Octavius might have presented to Octavius or to his parents for future reference and use: The Genitura of Octavius Year of the consulship of Marcus Tullius Cicero and Gaius Antonius Hybrida At the Ox-​heads, Palatine Hill, Rome The ninth day before the Kalends of October A little before sunrise Sun in Virgo, a female Sign, Domicile of Mercury Moon in Capricornus, a female Sign, Domicile of Saturn Saturn in Aries, a male Sign, Domicile of Mars Jupiter in Cancer, a female Sign, Domicile of the Moon Mars in Taurus, a female Sign, Domicile of Venus Venus in Scorpios, a female Sign, Domicile of Mars Mercury in Virgo, a female Sign, Domicile of Mercury Ascendant in Virgo, a female Sign, Domicile of Mercury Midheaven in Gemini, a male Sign, Domicile of Mercury Descendant in Pisces, a female Sign, Domicile of Jupiter Lower Midheaven in Sagittarius, a male Sign, Domicile of Jupiter Ruler of the Ascendant Mercury After Octavius had heard Theogenes’ enthusiastic response to Agrippa’s genitura on the basis of the question he had posed, he became unwilling to present his own genitura for interpretation. This reluctance indicates that even though Octavius was undoubtedly aware of the positive message that celestial display had conveyed for him at the time of his birth, he may not yet have asked a serious astrologer to provide him, on the basis of his genitura, with advice in answer to a question. In the spring of 44 b.c., Octavius found himself in a privileged position, but while in Apollonia undergoing his training for some future role with his great-​uncle Caesar, Octavius must have wondered, like Agrippa, about his prospects. As he did for the genitura of Agrippa, Theogenes would have taken the information in the genitura that Octavius presented to him and set out all of the gemstone markers for the astrological planets and luminaries in their locations on his astrological board. After setting out the markers for the genitura of Octavius in front of his two young guests, Theogenes jumped up (exilivit) either because of some high emotion or perhaps even out of fear. He then paid homage to Octavius as to a king (adoravitque eum). Because Suetonius has provided a close approximation of the time of Octavius’ birth, a diagram that replicates the appearance of the genitura of Octavius that Theogenes may have displayed on his astrological board

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can be created (see Fig. 5.2). On this modern diagram, which includes degrees, the following glyphs are used for the visual representations of the Signs on the astrological board or diagram: ♈ Aries, ♉ Taurus, ♊ Gemini, ♋ Cancer, ♌ Leo, ♍ Virgo, ♎ Chelae (Libra), ♏ Scorpios, ♐ Sagittarius, ♑ Capricornus, ♒ Aquarius, and ♓ Pisces. The following glyphs are used for the gemstone markers that would have represented the astrological planets and luminaries: ♄ Saturn, ♃ Jupiter, ♂ Mars, ♀ Venus, ☿ Mercury, ☉ the Sun, and ☽ the Moon.

Fig. 5.2. The Genitura of Octavius as on an astrological board, modern display. September 22, 63 b.c. 5:50 a.m., Just before sunrise. Palatine Hill, Rome (41° 53ꞌ N, 12° 29ꞌ E). AstrolDeluxe Platinum V. 9.8.8. By permission of John Halloran.

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An interpretation of the elements of Octavius’ genitura on the basis of ancient sources that date to the period of the saeculum Augustum or before indicates that the ecstatic reaction of Theogenes as related by Suetonius was supported by the entirety of the genitura itself. In the genitura of Octavius, Virgo was the Sign on the Ascendant.111 The Ascendant controlled the mastery of life and character.112 It indicated what skills the individual might have, what sort of early years the individual might experience, and what education the individual might receive. Virgo had many astrologically relevant mythological associations in the Greek and Roman worlds.113 Virgo was linked to Isis, Erigone, and Astraea, the daughter of the father of the stars, Astraeus. Virgo was linked to Ceres (Greek Demeter), the goddess of agricultural fecundity, because she carried in her hand a shining ear of grain.114 Virgo was also Iustitia (Greek Δίκη), the goddess who had lived among human beings and dispensed justice during the Golden Age, the time when the fruitful Earth produced abundant crops without human intervention.115 Δίκη had fled the Earth in disgust after mortals had descended into wickedness during the Bronze Age and had taken up a place in the sky near the constellation Bootes. Virgo was also Fortuna or τύχη.116 According to Manilius, Virgo was associated with dominion over the ilia: that is, the area of the body from flank to groin.117 Virgo was associated with geographical rulership over the island of Rhodes; the Greek areas of Ionia, including Attica and Caria; and the land of the Arcadians in the northern Peloponnese.118 These multiple associations would have predicted Octavius’ future connection in his public role with the celestial sphere, agricultural fecundity, the dispensing of justice, and Fortuna. The bodily association of Virgo with the ilia would perhaps have made him aware of a potential physical weakness that might have political implications. Suetonius singled out for comment a weakness in Octavius’ left hip, thigh, and leg, the area of the ilia, which caused him to limp at times.119 The association of Virgo with certain areas of the Greek-​speaking East could have made Octavius particularly alert to the fact that these places might become significant to him in the future. These places include Athens and Attica, the Ionian islands near Actium, and the coast of Asia Minor, where the city of Aphrodisias in Caria, which was named for Aphrodite (Venus) and favored by Caesar, was located.120 The Sun and Mercury in the genitura of Octavius were located in Places on either side of the Ascendant but they were in the same Sign: Virgo, a Domicile of Mercury. According to Manilius, the location of the Sun in Virgo predicted an individual who would be dedicated to study, charming, expert at speaking, and able to discern all things, although they might be concealed by the invisible forces of nature.121 Individuals with the Sun in Virgo might also suffer in their early years from a lack of fruitfulness in producing offspring, exhibit modesty, take care to restrain their words, and hold back the great gifts nature had given

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them. The Sun in Octavius’ genitura was located in the region of the Ascendant, and as a brightener it emphasized this point, which dealt with the formation of Octavius’ character and the effect of the early years upon his future enterprises.122 The Sun was also located in Place 1, which dealt with the fortunes of children and the anxieties parents had for their children.123 Mercury, which was also located in the Sign Virgo, ruled the Ascendant in Virgo, one of its own Domiciles. The mythological heritage of Mercury was impressive and celestial. Mercury was a planetary god in his own right. He was the son of Jupiter, a planetary god, and Maia, a nymph who appeared in her celestial manifestation with her sisters among the Vergiliae (Pleiades), a notable grouping of stars near those stars forming the core of the constellation Taurus.124 Mercury was also the grandson of Atlas, who is said to have held the entire celestial sphere on his shoulder.125 This prominent position for Mercury in the region of the Ascendant in Octavius’ genitura would have boded well for an interest in the celestial sphere and a willingness to receive indications of support and guidance from the heavens.126 According to Manilius, Mercury was considered to be the divine founder of astrology itself (princeps auctorque).127 Mercury also showed favor to merchants and thieves who sought gain and profit and it presented opportunities for prosperity, success, and greatness.128 Mercury, however, was located in Place 12, a gate of toil (porta laboris), which was an area of ill omen and one hostile to future activity.129 The presence of Mercury in Virgo, one of its own Domiciles, and the presence of the brightening Sun in the area of the Ascendant in Virgo, which was ruled by Mercury, might have had some compensatory effect on the unpropitious placement of Mercury in Place 12, but the potential negative impact of Mercury in Place 12 could not be completely ignored. In addition, the presence of Mercury near the Ascendant in a Sign associated with Fortuna or τύχη meant that Octavius would be throughout his life at the mercy of this powerful force, which was considered to be more arbitrary than fair (fortuna in omni re dominator; ea res cunctas ex lubidine magis quam ex vero).130 Although the Ascendant was necessary for establishing the entire genitura and was important for interpretive purposes, the Midheaven would have been the most important of the four cardinal points for an individual with aspirations for a life on the public stage.131 The Midheaven was a place of glory, honor, reputation, gratitude from the crowd, and the power to render judgments in the Forum, to organize the world, to join foreign peoples by treaties, and to raise up individuals according to their own lot. Given its nature, the Midheaven would have been of critical significance regarding Octavius’ likely question to Theogenes about his future political role. In the genitura of Octavius, the Midheaven was in the Sign Gemini, which represented the brothers Pollux and Castor, who were known for their devotion to each other and who served as protectors and saviors of mariners

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and armies. The Midheaven, with its proximity to Place 10, which dealt with marriage, was also under the general protection of Venus.132 The benefic Venus and the benefic Jupiter, the latter of which was located in the region of the Midheaven in the genitura of Octavius, would thus have bestowed their favor upon this location, in which marriage and success were joined. Jupiter was located in Place 10, which Manilius named Fortuna and described as the point where the universe was held suspended and in balance.133 Jupiter was also in the Sign Cancer, the Domicile of the Moon. Jupiter was thus linked to the Moon, which was located opposite in the Sign Capricornus. The location of the Moon in any genitura was important, but because Octavius’ birth took place before sunrise, the point at which the astrological day began, the Moon took on an extra significance.134 A nocturnal birth was under the influence of the Moon, which was the ruler of the night, and in a nocturnal birth, the Moon was considered to be the ruler of the entire genitura.135 The Moon was located in the quadrant that was under the line of the horizon between the Descendant and the Lower Midheaven and that was associated with the years of mature adulthood, a time of life in which there were many changes.136 The Moon would have generally brightened the region of the Lower Midheaven, which dealt with property and the foundations of things.137 The Moon would also have brightened Place 4 in Octavius’ genitura. Place 4 was a location in a genitura where Saturn exercised influence over Capricornus, one of Saturn’s Domiciles, and a location that dealt with the fortunes of fathers and the elderly. It was also called the foundation of a genitura.138 The Sign Capricornus was the location of the Moon, the ruler of Octavius’ nocturnal genitura. Manilius had given Capricornus control over all that was in the West under the setting Sun.139 Octavius himself made no secret of the fact that he had been born under Capricornus.140 Suetonius had also noted the importance of Capricornus in Octavius’ genitura (sideris Capricorni, quo natus est).141 But the Moon in Capricornus, while an important element in Octavius’ genitura, was not the only or the most important element in his genitura, despite what has commonly been assumed.142 Finally, Saturn in the Sign Aries, a Domicile of Mars, and Mars in the Sign Taurus, a domicile of Venus, were in Place 8, an abode of Typhon, the monstrous offspring of Tellus the Earth who had been attacked by a thunderbolt and crushed under collapsing mountains, one of which became the volcano Etna.143 The influence of Saturn in a genitura was generally unfavorable. In Octavius’ genitura, the influence of Saturn was made even worse because Saturn was found in Place 8 with Mars, the influence of which was also unfavorable. The negative influence of these two planets together in an unpropitious Place and in the quadrant associated with youth, which was located above the line of the horizon between the Midheaven and the Descendant, would have been an indication of potential

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difficulties occurring when Octavius was a young man.144 But the negative influence of Mars in Place 8 may have been balanced out and neutralized somewhat by the presence of Mars in the Sign Taurus, a Domicile of Venus, and by the presence of Venus in the Sign Scorpios, a Domicile of Mars, opposite in Place 2, because the influence of Venus, like that of Jupiter, conveyed favor wherever and however it appeared in a genitura. Suetonius provided no evidence about how long Octavius and Agrippa stayed in the pergula of Theogenes in order to receive their astrological consultations. But the interpretation Octavius received in response to the question he asked with regard to his role under the continuing guidance of his great-​uncle Caesar would have provided him with a useful personal forecast regarding the near future. Most of the planets in Octavius’ genitura were in female Signs, a feature that appears to be an indication, consistent with Roman cultural norms, of a tendency to exert power behind the scenes and react to situations rather than act beforehand. Octavius’ genitura also possessed astrological planets in several difficult Places (2, 8, and 12). Because of the presence of both Mars and Saturn in Place 8, there would undoubtedly be difficulties ahead. The astrological planets found in the difficult places were balanced, however, by astrological planets or luminaries in beneficial Places (1, 4, and 10). The Ascendant in Virgo, which was ruled by Mercury, called attention to the value of considering the celestial sphere as a source for advice and guidance, and it predicted a life that would be subject to Fortuna, both good and bad. The presence of the Sun in Virgo in Place 1 in the region of the Ascendant would have brought the area of the Ascendant into brighter prominence. The presence of Jupiter in Place 10 in the region of the Midheaven would have confirmed astrologically that the power to rule the world that Nigidius Figulus had noted from his astronomical observation of Jupiter in the celestial display on the day of Octavius’ birth would eventually come to pass for Octavius. The presence of Jupiter in Cancer, a Domicile of the Moon, in Place 10 in the region of the Midheaven, which was in Gemini, a Domicile of Mercury, would have been the most powerful element in Octavius’ genitura and the one that caused Theogenes to pay homage to Octavius as to a king. The genitura of Octavius, in short, did not predict a completely easy life, but it did predict one of eventual eminence under the protection first of Apollo the Sun, which was located in the area of the Ascendant in his genitura, and then of Jupiter, which was located in the area of the Midheaven. Octavius’ visit to Theogenes in Apollonia with Agrippa was not a youthful lark. Octavius and Agrippa were two young men facing uncertain futures during turbulent times, and the purpose of their visit was to receive answers to questions on the basis of interpretations of their geniturae from a serious practitioner of Hellenistic astrology. The fact that Octavius and Agrippa attended the

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consultation together is testament to their deep, trusting friendship. It could not have escaped the notice of Theogenes that the geniturae of both Agrippa and Octavius displayed a prominence for Gemini. In the proposed genitura of Agrippa, Jupiter was in Gemini, and in the genitura of Octavius, the Midheaven was in Gemini. Gemini was the Sign associated with the mythological brothers Pollux and Castor, who were so devoted to each other that they shared both life and death. Octavius and Agrippa were friends who were as close and devoted to each other as brothers might be and linked together, it seems, for the foreseeable future. As a result of their joint astrological consultation in Apollonia, Octavius knew the details of Agrippa’s genitura, and Agrippa knew the details of Octavius’ genitura. Probably others in Octavius’ immediate family and close inner circle knew the details of his genitura as well. The same cannot be said for the Roman public. Octavius kept the detailed information found in his genitura closely guarded throughout his life, perhaps given some of the ambiguities in the genitura that could have been exploited by his enemies. He would have no hesitation later in his life in a.d. 11 about revealing a part of his genitura to a wider public audience but only in response to rumors about his impending death, greatly exaggerated, and after his position at the apex of Roman politics had long been established.

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Octavianus and the Sidus Crinitum 44 b.c.

Armed with the cautionary but encouraging reply delivered by the mathematicus Theogenes with regard to his political future, Octavius continued to spend his days in Apollonia in the usual way, training, studying, meeting with various individuals, and preparing to receive further tutelage under the guidance of Caesar, who remained in Rome while he prepared for his upcoming Parthian expedition. What Caesar would have thought of Octavius’ consultation with Theogenes is unknown but he may have viewed the prediction as further confirmation of the omen of the palm tree that supported his choice of Octavius to succeed him. As events turned out, Caesar never had the opportunity to meet with his grandnephew again. On the Ides of March (March 15) in 44 b.c., Caesar famously hesitated about whether to go to a meeting of the Roman Senate at which he would have to deal with his political opponents. The stakes were high, as was the danger to his person because many members of the Roman elite suspected that he had monarchical ambitions and therefore needed to be removed. Caesar had been warned by haruspices and terrible omens not to attend the meeting, but he was selectively superstitious regarding prophecies.1 He had accepted the omen of the palm tree and the assessment of the soothsayers that the humanlike hoof of his horse predicted his rulership of the world. He was so confident of this good equine omen that he later dedicated a statue of this remarkable horse in the Temple of Venus Genetrix. Caesar did not, however, take more recent omens as seriously. These included flashes of light seen in the heavens (σέλα . . . οὐράνια) and solitary birds landing in the Forum Romanum.2 The horses that Caesar had dedicated to the Rubicon River and left there to roam freely were said to be refusing to graze and were weeping copiously.3 And on the day before the Ides of March, a little bird, a wren (avis regaliolus) carrying a laurel branch, flew into the Pompeian Senate House. The wren was pursued by other birds and torn to pieces

Celestial Inclinations. Anne-​Marie Lewis, Oxford University Press. © Oxford University Press 2023. DOI: 10.1093/​oso/​9780197599648.003.0007

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there. Caesar at the time was living in the Domus Publica, the atrium-​style house on the Via Sacra that had been allotted to him when he was elected Pontifex Maximus in 63 b.c.4 Caesar had begun to feel unwell after dinner on the evening before the Ides of March, on which he was scheduled to attend the meeting of the Senate.5 On the Ides, he awoke, startled by the noise of the doors and windows of his bedroom crashing open, to find the light of the Moon shining in upon him.6 On that morning, a crescent Moon, 22% full, in Capricornus was in the southeast sky around 5:00 a.m. before sunrise. Two dreams that occurred on the morning of the Ides may have caused Caesar to rethink his decision to set out for the meeting. As he was lying awake, Caesar observed Calpurnia sleeping restlessly next to him, muttering and groaning. When Calpurnia awoke she related to Caesar a disturbing nightmare in which she said that their house had fallen into ruin and that she had seen him covered in blood.7 Caesar himself also reported having had a dream in which he rose up to the heavens and grasped the hand of Jupiter.8 Despite the bad omens and warning dreams, Caesar was eventually persuaded to leave home on the Ides of March around the fifth hour of the day (quinta fere hora progressus est). Caesar had been lured by the deceptions of Decimus Iunius Brutus Albinus (Decimus Brutus), who had called upon him that morning and urged him not to disappoint the senators who had been waiting for him since sunrise.9 Caesar departed for the meeting, carried in a litter and unaccompanied by bodyguards, as was his custom because he had dismissed his bodyguard after he ended the civil war against the supporters of Pompeius Magnus in 45 b.c. From that point on, he had always refused a military escort, although his supporters urged him to have one and even volunteered to serve him in this way. Caesar preferred instead, he said, to be surrounded by the goodwill of others, and he usually went around accompanied only by a crowd of people composed of magistrates, citizens, freedmen, and slaves. Spurinna the haruspex had earlier warned Caesar to beware of some peril that would befall him on the Ides of March. When Caesar met Spurinna on the way to the Senate House, Caesar joked that the Ides had come, to which Spurinna replied that the Ides had not yet ended.10 Upon arriving at the Senate House, Caesar performed the sacrifices, which were not propitious. He was inclined to cancel the meeting and dismiss the Senate. The conspirators awaited Caesar inside, watchful and terrified that their plot had somehow been revealed. The conspirators knew that if Caesar postponed the meeting on the Ides of March, their plans would fail and the opportunity for them to kill Caesar would be lost because in four days’ time Caesar was going to set out on his Parthian expedition. Caesar’s friends urged him to postpone the meeting, but Decimus Brutus, chiding Caesar about his fears, again urged him not to disappoint the Senate and led him forward by the hand.11 Lepidus, Caesar’s Master of the Horse, was not at the Senate House on that morning. Lepidus had associations

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with the two major conspirators. He was married to Iunia Secunda, a half-​sister of Brutus and a sister-​in-​law of Gaius Cassius Longinus (Cassius), and perhaps he deliberately absented himself from the meeting at this time because he had some foreknowledge of the planned assassination. Antonius, another of Caesar’s allies and one of the two consuls for the year 44 b.c., was at the Senate House that morning, but he was detained at the door by Gaius Trebonius (cos. suff. 45 b.c.), one of the conspirators. A slave had tried to make his way to Caesar but when he was unable to do so, he ran to Caesar’s house, where he sought the protection of Caesar’s wife Calpurnia and asked to wait there until Caesar returned because he told her that he had important news to report to Caesar. The Greek philosopher Artemidorus approached Caesar to hand him a note in the form of a small roll. When Artemidorus noticed that Caesar was handing such rolls over to one of his attendants without looking at them, Artemidorus, who knew the extent of the conspiracy, drew close to Caesar and told Caesar to read the roll he had given him by himself. Caesar held on to this roll as he made his way to his seat in the Senate House, but he was unable to read it because a crush of people began to engage his attention. Fortune was with the conspirators, and they had not waited in vain. Caesar walked unsuspectingly into the midst of about sixty of them, led by Brutus and Cassius, who are both considered by the ancient historians and biographers to be equally culpable in the conspiracy and the assassination.12 The conspirators crowded in and surrounded Caesar as he sat in his chair. Ovid in the Fasti imagined that Vesta, an earth-​bound Olympian goddess, removed the body of Caesar before he was attacked by his assassins, leaving a phantom Caesar behind, and that she took the blows herself.13 In actuality, the corporeal Caesar suffered the shockingly brutal attack. Tullius Cimber pushed forward and pulled Caesar’s cloak from his shoulder. Servilius Casca struck first. The other assassins stabbed Caesar and one another in a frenzy. When Caesar saw that Brutus was also advancing on him with dagger drawn, he is said to have cried out, “You, too, child?” (καὶ σύ, τέκνον;).14 Caesar had commented in the past that he feared not the long-​haired, corpulent men of Rome, who were contented, but the pale, thin ones like Brutus and Cassius, who were not.15 Although Caesar had a great affection for Brutus, who is said by some to have been Caesar’s own son by his former mistress Servilia, he had his suspicions of him. The dagger thrust to be delivered by Brutus, although not the one that killed Caesar, was the one that Caesar could not bear to endure. He covered his head and gave himself up to his certain death. On the night before he died Caesar had dined quietly with Lepidus and Decimus Brutus, the close friend who would lead him the next morning to the Senate House and his death. Caesar asked them what they thought was the best sort of death. Caesar’s choice was a death that was sudden (αἰφνίδιος) or

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unexpected (ἀπροσδόκητος).16 Caesar’s preference, it seemed, had now come to pass. Incapacitated by twenty-​three stab wounds, Caesar died at the base of the statue of Pompeius Magnus, which became drenched in his blood.17 Cassius is said by Plutarch to have turned to this statue before the first blow was struck to invoke the aid of Pompeius Magnus in the deed.18 The assassins had felt that the place where the meeting of the Senate was to be held on the Ides of March and where the assassination was to be accomplished in the large rectangular porticus attached to the Theater of Pompeius Magnus was a sign of divine support for their actions (ἐδόκει δὲ καὶ τὸ τοῦ τόπου θεῖον εἶναι καὶ πρὸς αὐτῶν).19 That Caesar died at the foot of the statue of Pompeius Magnus in a place associated with Pompeius Magnus was also a sign to them that the essential spirit of Pompeius Magnus (his δαίμων), which survived his death, had taken its vengeance on Caesar for defeating him at the Battle of Pharsalus.20 After Caesar had fallen, Brutus stepped forward to address the senators, but they fled from the Senate House in terror, joining other panic-​stricken people who had been attending an event in the Theater of Pompeius Magnus, which was part of the complex where the meeting of the Senate was being held. Brutus had given the order that Antonius was not to be assassinated, but Antonius had already changed into the clothing of a slave or a plebeian and fled into his house, which he fortified. Lepidus led one of his legions from the island in the Tiber River to the Campus Martius and awaited orders from Antonius. The conspirators had intended to drag Caesar’s body through the streets and throw it into the Tiber but they decided against this course of action because of their fear of Antonius and Lepidus. Instead, they took sanctuary on the Capitoline Hill, making claims that they had given the Romans back their liberty. Caesar’s friends had gone into hiding in their homes, and for some time Caesar’s body was left lying where it had fallen. Finally, three young house slaves carried the body of Caesar back home on a litter with difficulty because they were only three in number, making sure that Caesar’s mangled body, with its lifeless arms hanging down, was visible to all. When the body arrived at the Domus Publica, it was greeted by the shrieks of the members of Caesar’s household and his wife Calpurnia, who cried out that she had begged him not to go. On the day after the assassination, because of the fear that the state would once again be plunged into civil war, Antonius called a meeting of the Senate to convene before sunrise in the Temple of Tellus, which was near his house in the Carinae district on the Esquiline Hill. This house had once belonged to Pompeius Magnus, and Antonius alone had shamelessly dared to buy it, allegedly without any regard for the memory of the great man who had once been its owner. Antonius made a brief speech about unanimity. Cicero, whom the conspirators had not asked to join the plot against Caesar, is also said to have made a

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lengthy speech, which must have been moderate in its tone because it appears to have calmed the population and restored civic harmony for the moment by advocating that the conspirators be granted amnesty and that provinces be granted to Brutus and Cassius. Antonius and Lepidus sent their sons up to the Capitoline Hill to serve as hostages. Cassius then dined with Antonius, and Brutus dined with Lepidus. The piteous sight of Caesar’s brutalized body being carried through the streets following his murder, however, had disturbed the people and they feared Brutus even though the conspirators had distributed bribes to them. The next day, at another meeting of the Senate, thanks were given to Antonius and the grant of the provinces to Brutus and Cassius was ratified, although this concession never actually came to be. The Senate voted that all the enactments of Caesar be permitted to stand and that Caesar also be honored as a god (ὡς θεὸν τιμᾶν).21 Caesar’s will, which he had made on the Ides of September (September 13) in 45 b.c. and deposited with the Vestal Virgins, was read aloud at the firm request of Antonius or Caesar’s father-​in-​law Calpurnius Piso.22 Antonius insisted that Caesar be given a public funeral. Cassius opposed both the reading of the will and the public funeral, but Brutus had no objection to granting these demands, which would turn out to be a mistake. In his will, Caesar had bequeathed to the citizens seventy-​five drachmas each, a remarkable gift. He also bequeathed his gardens by the Tiber River, which were attached to the urban villa where Cleopatra and her retinue had been staying since 46 b.c. Cleopatra would leave Caesar’s villa in June 44 b.c., having lost her influence and status at Rome, as Cicero’s comments about the haughtiness of the queen and her impertinent retinue indicate. Cicero was fascinated by Cleopatra, but he was not afraid after the death of Caesar to say that he hated her (reginam odi).23 In his will, Caesar made no mention of Cleopatra’s son Caesarion, and he adopted Octavius, the grandson of his younger sister Iulia. Tragically, Caesar had also named Decimus Brutus, the trusted friend who became one of his assassins, as a secondary heir. Following Caesar’s murder, Atticus complained to Cicero that the day of the Liberalia, March 17, was a dark one because on this day the Senate had met and decreed that Caesar’s acta be confirmed and that Caesar be granted a public funeral.24 Caesar’s funeral took place not many days after, possibly on March 20, 44 b.c., a plausible date that has been accepted here.25 The arrangements for the funeral were made by Octavius’ mother, Atia, who was Caesar’s niece.26 The funeral was a theatrical event. Caesar’s father-​in-​law brought the body of Caesar to the Forum Romanum, where it was placed on the Old Rostra in a gilded shrine modeled on the Temple of Venus Genetrix.27 This speaker’s platform in the Forum Romanum had been rebuilt by Caesar at the shorter, northwest end of the Forum, and it was inaugurated shortly before his death.28 Within the shrine, Caesar’s body, its bloody wounds exposed for all to see, rested on an ivory couch

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draped with cloths of gold and purple. At the head of the couch stood a pillar draped with the garments that Caesar had been wearing when he was assassinated. Antonius stood near the body on the Old Rostra to address the thronging crowds. He spoke some words for Caesar as consul, friend, and Julian kinsman so as to arouse pity in those who were in attendance (laudatusque miserabiliter).29 According to Suetonius, Antonius added only a few words, after a list was read by a herald, that reminded those in attendance about Caesar’s divine and mortal honors and the oaths that the people had taken to guard his safety.30 According to Appian and Dio, who are both fond of including lengthy speeches in their histories, Antonius delivered a long, brilliant funeral oration in the presence of the body of Caesar at his funeral. Antonius harangued the crowd at length about the virtues, accomplishments, generosity, and shameful assassination in the Senate House of Caesar, Rome’s pater patriae (οὗτος ὁ πατήρ).31 During his oration, Antonius is said to have turned dramatically and raised his hand toward the Capitoline Hill. This was the place where the conspirators had taken refuge after the assassination. Antonius, however, was not now offering a hand of reconciliation. Like Cicero, who had called upon Jupiter in his third oration against Catilina on December 3, 63 b.c., Antonius called upon Jupiter to witness his oath to avenge Caesar’s death.32 During his oration, Antonius would have seen the crowd in front of him as he faced in a direction where Jupiter in his planetary manifestation was located at sunrise in the southeast in Capricornus [Cap] (see the central area of visibility in Fig. 6.1). Antonius, like someone possessed by a god (ἔνθους, ἐ πιθειάσας), gave a powerful performance, singing of Caesar as a celestial deity (ὡς θεὸν οὐράνιον) and raising his hands to the heavens in testament to Caesar’s divine birth (ἐν πίστιν θεοῦ γενέσεως).33 At sunrise on this day, Caesar’s divine patron Venus in her celestial manifestation in Pisces [Psc] was also just emerging into the sky at the eastern horizon. Moved by the words of Antonius, the recitations of the deeds of Caesar, and the music, the Roman people in attendance cried out in unison like a chorus from an Athenian tragedy as they lamented with Antonius. Two unidentified men on horseback, girt with swords and carrying spears, were said to have appeared suddenly after Caesar’s body had been moved down from the Old Rostra and began making the journey through the Forum Romanum to the appointed place for its cremation in the Campus Martius.34 Perhaps those in attendance thought that the two figures were Pollux and Castor, who were said to have appeared at the Battle of Lake Regillus in the fifth century b.c. and fought on the side of the Romans. On the day of Caesar’s funeral, the two brightest stars in Gemini [Gem], Pollux, the brighter of the two stars, and Castor, appeared above the eastern horizon around 10:00 a.m. while the funeral was in progress. Those conversant with celestial placements would have known of the whereabouts of these stars, although they would have been unseen by day. These

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Local Time: 06:17:00 20-Mar-44BC Location: 41° 53' 0" N 12° 29' 0" E

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UTC: 05:17:00 20-Mar-44BC RA: 17h47m07s Dec: +41° 52' Field: 182.0°

Sidereal Time: 17:47:06 Julian Day: 1705430.7201

Fig. 6.1.  The funeral of Caesar. March 20, 44 b.c. Sunrise, 6:17 a.m. Rome (41° 53ꞌ N, 12° 29ꞌ E). SkyMap Pro V. 12. By permission of Chris Marriott.

two mysterious figures were said to have thrown the torches that set Caesar’s bier on fire. Other sources, however, describe a completely human origin for the blaze that followed. Antonius himself may have lit the torches, an action that inflamed the crowd, which then rushed off to set fire to the houses of the conspirators.35 The more likely explanation, however, is that those in attendance were roused into a frenzy of rage by Antonius’ oration and incited to grief by the presentation of the bloody and tattered garments that Caesar had been wearing when he died

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and the display of a wax image of Caesar that turned around mechanically and showed the twenty-​three wounds he had received. When Caesar’s body on its journey to the point of cremation was near the Domus Publica, his home at the other end of the Forum Romanum, in which he had lived in as Pontifex Maximus since 63 b.c., they piled up wooden benches and tables and set them alight, cremating Caesar’s body themselves right on that spot.36 Following Caesar’s cremation in the Forum Romanum by the frenzied mob, the consul Antonius moved quickly and skillfully, with the support of Lepidus and his army, to restore and maintain order. Antonius also worked to diminish the growing influence of Cicero, whom he distrusted as complicit in the murder of Caesar not because Cicero had participated in the murder in any way but because he made no secret of the fact that he approved of it.37 Caesar’s widow Calpurnia entrusted her husband’s fortune to Antonius, who made use of it to secure his own position in Rome to the exclusion of Caesar’s immediate family.38 The conspirators, whom Antonius had not punished for their act, brazenly remained in Rome. The tearing to pieces by the people of the wrong Cinna, the tribune Gaius Helvius Cinna instead of the praetor Lucius Cornelius Cinna, who was sympathetic to the assassins, on the day of Caesar’s funeral, however, had been an early indication of the anger of the people, who were beginning to turn against the conspirators. Brutus and Cassius felt that it was wise to flee Rome. They remained close by, not far from the city, waiting to see what would happen. Several days after the spontaneous cremation of Caesar’s body in the Forum Romanum, Caesar’s freedmen gathered up his bones and interred them in his family tomb. They set up an altar at the site of the pyre on which Caesar’s body had been burned in the Forum Romanum and sacrificed there as if to a god (ὡς καὶ θεῷ).39 Unbeknownst to the assassins, the murder of Caesar had unleashed an entity that outlived Caesar’s corporeal form, his powerful essential spirit (μέγας αὐτοῦ δαίμων).40 Caesar’s δαίμων would not rest until it had tracked down and destroyed every last one of the men who had participated in his murder. Not one of them would escape punishment.41 Octavius received a letter in Apollonia from his mother, Atia, by which he learned the shocking news that Caesar had been killed by a clique of Roman aristocrats.42 These men were the very same aristocrats who had voted to confer many extravagant honors and privileges upon Caesar, including the title of pater patriae, only to feel that Caesar had encroached on their cherished libertas when he had actually accepted some of them. They were the very same aristocrats who had watched as Caesar had repeatedly pushed aside the laurel crown Antonius had tried to offer him at the festival of the Lupercalia, about a month before they committed the murder, seeing it as an indication of Caesar’s royal aspirations, which he had repeatedly and publicly denied. In the letter, Octavius was directed

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to come home quickly because of the danger to his family in Rome and to himself from the many conspirators still on the loose rather than because of any prospect that he might salvage something from the situation. His friends at Apollonia urged him to go to Macedonia to secure the backing of the army that Caesar had stationed there in preparation for his Parthian campaign and then return to Rome to take vengeance on the assassins. Octavius, although fearful, decided to return to Italy, determine the situation, and then go to Rome to take further counsel with experienced men there. The assassination shattered any plans that Caesar may have had for Octavius and, for the moment, any hopes that Octavius may have taken away from his astrological consultation at Apollonia. As yet unaware of the full situation, Octavius made a difficult journey across the Ionian Sea on a ship that had been in port during the season of winter (χειμῶνος ἔτι), arriving at or near Brundisium between the end of March and mid-​April.43 He was welcomed back by enthusiastic crowds and favorable omens (ominibusque prosperis exceptus), the most notable of which was solar. In a sky that was bright, clear, and cloudless, a circle appeared around the Sun (circulus ad speciem caelestis arcus orbem solis ambiit).44 This omen was most likely a corona, an optical phenomenon caused by the refraction of small water droplets or ice crystals around the Sun.45 Velleius Paterculus interpreted the corona as a crown descending upon a man soon to become very great. Suetonius viewed it as an indication of a happy and great future. Dio, however, saw it as an indication of impending confusion. The tomb of Caesar’s daughter, Iulia, in the Campus Martius in Rome was struck by lightning immediately after Octavius’ arrival in Italy. This lightning strike would have been a manifestation of the support of Jupiter for the return of a member of the gens Iulia and an indication, perhaps, of the new place Octavius was to learn that he now held within the family of Caesar as a brother by adoption to the deceased Iulia. Upon his arrival in Italy, formally as a mere private citizen, Octavius learned from informants about the current situation at Rome and the mood of the people. He also learned for the first time that he had been adopted in Caesar’s will.46 Although Octavius’ adoption would not be formally ratified by law until 43 b.c. because of Antonius’ obstructions, Octavius considered himself to be Caesar’s son from the point of his return to Italy, and he presented himself to the Roman people as Caesar’s son.47 Octavius received another letter from his mother, Atia, urging him to return quickly now that he had been named Caesar’s heir, and a letter from his stepfather, Philippus, advising that he choose not to engage in politics, advice that Octavius was unwilling to accept.48 Both Atia and Philippus, who worried for Octavius’ safety upon his return, urged him to proceed with caution.49 On the fourteenth day before the Kalends of May (April 18), Octavius arrived in Naples and met with Lucius Cornelius Balbus the Elder (Cornelius Balbus), who

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had been Caesar’s chief agent for public affairs. Octavius was in Rome by mid-​ May. As Cicero knew would happen, Octavius’ appearance complicated the balance of power. The adoption thrust Octavius right into immediate conflict with Antonius, who had usurped Caesar’s fortune and goodwill and had ambitions for predominance in a divided, confused, and frightened city. Octavius consulted with his mother and his stepfather about what he should do, and he sought the advice of his friends and allies. In the end, despite the concern for his future of his friends and his family, especially his mother, who alternated between pride and anxiety, he acted decisively. Velleius Paterculus commented that the celestial mind of Octavius spurned the human advice in favor of his trust in the high opinion his great-​uncle Caesar had gained of him in recent years (sprevit itaque caelestis animus humana consilia).50 Octavius took up his role as Caesar’s son and stepped into the political arena. With an eye to his status among the older and more experienced politicians he had to confront, Octavius refused to call himself Octavianus, a name that signaled his identity as an adoptee, and chose to call himself Caesar, although Cicero did not call him by this name when Octavius first returned to Rome in the spring of 44 b.c. and his stepfather, Philippus, strongly advised against its use.51 The decisions Octavius made about his nomenclature at this time signal how keen he was to ensure that others see him now as a Julian on his paternal side. The several ways Cicero named him—​Octavius, Octavianus, Caesar the boy (puer), Caesar Octavianus—​also represent in microcosm the difficulties Cicero and others had in figuring out how to deal with him when he entered the political scene at such a young age and without the backing of Caesar, his once-​powerful family mentor.52 Only nineteen years of age, of delicate constitution, and lacking the requisite political and military experience to move effectively among the Roman elite, Caesar’s heir Octavius, or Octavianus, as he will be called from this point to distinguish him from his adoptive father, Caesar, and to reflect his new if not quite official status, was considered at the time to be an outstanding boy (puer egregius) by Cicero, who was still a keen observer of the political scene and not without influence.53 On the tenth day before the Kalends of May (April 22), Cicero informed Atticus that Octavianus had met him in Puteoli in a respectful, friendly manner.54 Apparently Octavianus had been escorted to Cicero by his stepfather, Philippus, and by Gaius Claudius Marcellus (Gaius Marcellus) (cos. 50 b.c.), the husband of his younger sister, Octavia, who both wished to broker an exchange of Octavianus’ expected wealth and access to an army for Cicero’s mentorship.55 Brutus was irate when he heard about Cicero’s decision to support Octavianus and is said to have written to Cicero to rebuke him for being so willing to nurture a young despot.56 Cicero is said to have readily accepted the arrangement with Octavianus for two reasons. The first reason was personal. Although Cicero

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had once found Antonius to be more delightful to be with than anyone else and although he had been treated in a respectful manner by Antonius more recently, Cicero was now coming to detest Antonius, and he saw Octavianus as someone he could use against him.57 The second reason was loftier. Cicero had dreamed a few years earlier that he had watched as a Roman boy who turned out to be Octavianus was singled out by Jupiter as the future ruler of Rome who would end the civil wars. Cicero considered his dream to be a reliable omen of Octavianus’ future role and importance.58 Octavianus agreed to speak with Antonius as a younger man and private citizen calling upon an older man and a consul.59 First, Octavianus went to see the brother of Antonius, Gaius Antonius the urban praetor, and declared before him and witnesses, as was customary, that he accepted his adoption by Caesar. Octavianus then left the Forum Romanum and went to meet Antonius in the gardens attached to Antonius’ house on the Esquiline Hill.60 Antonius kept Octavianus waiting for a long time near the doors to the house, a slight that Octavianus interpreted at first as a sign of Antonius’ displeasure. The meeting when it did begin, however, started off pleasantly. Appian presents a scenario in which Octavianus and Antonius made formal speeches to each other, a typical feature of his history. These speeches are not verbatim transcripts, but they may contain essential details of their conversation that were found in contemporary sources such as the memoirs of Octavianus.61 Octavianus is said to have thanked Antonius for standing up to the assassins but then criticized him for not bringing them to trial and for letting them get away. He admitted that perhaps his words were inappropriate but that his sorrow compelled him to speak candidly. He asked for Antonius’ support in taking vengeance on the assassins and then asked Antonius for his legacy. Octavianus had been bequeathed three-​quarters of Caesar’s estate, with Lucius Pinarius and Quintus Pedius, two grandsons of Caesar’s elder sister Iulia, receiving the remaining one-​quarter. Dio suggests that Octavianus declined his financial inheritance as too difficult to manage and that for this reason, Antonius had claimed both the financial inheritance and Caesar’s power for himself.62 In reality, Octavianus needed the legacy. Antonius was shocked and offended at the boldness of Octavianus’ demands, but his initial reaction of contempt for Octavianus as nothing but a mere stripling (μειράκιος) is said to have masked his fear of him.63 Antonius defended his actions after the assassination of Caesar and told Octavianus that he should have been more thankful to him because he, Antonius, was the reason that Octavianus was now enjoying his new status as heir of Caesar and successor to his name and any inheritance. As to the request for money, Antonius said that there was not very much of it to begin with and it had already been divided up. Antonius advised Octavianus to take whatever he could get his hands on of the money that was left

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and distribute it among those who were not well disposed to him. Needless to say, Octavianus was insulted by this response, now convinced of the deep hatred Antonius bore him.64 Our best sources for the turbulent months of the spring and summer of 44 b.c. are Cicero’s private letters. Although Cicero was not in Rome during these months, his correspondents at Rome kept him up to date on the activities of Octavianus and others. Writing from his ancestral home in Arpinum in May 44 b.c., Cicero reminded Atticus of the meteorological part of his Prognostica, the second part of his translation of Aratus’ Phaenomena, by mentioning that he feared it might rain because the frogs were croaking (si Prognostica nostra vera sunt; ranae enim ῥητορεύουσιν). These little frogs (ranunculi) were the foster children of fresh water (aquai dulcis alumnae) who could forecast the weather, as Aratus had noted in his poem.65 In a letter dated the Nones of Quintilis, or Iulius, as the month was now known ( July 7), Cicero alluded to the public event that Brutus the tyrannicide was planning to stage in lavish fashion in Rome in his capacity as urban praetor for the year 44 b.c.66 This event was the Ludi Apollinares, which was to take place on the days July 6–​13. Cicero received reports in early July from Atticus that Brutus was in a state of helpless anxiety about how his ludi would be conducted because Brutus’ co-​praetor, Antonius’ brother Gaius Antonius, was to preside over them while Brutus was absent from Rome.67 Brutus had requested that Cicero attend the event, but Cicero expressed no desire to return to Rome and endorse Brutus in this way.68 Although Caesar’s birthday fell within the period of his ludi, Brutus was particularly irritated that his ludi were being advertised as taking place in the mensis Iulius, the month renamed in honor of Caesar before his assassination, rather than in the mensis Quintilis, as the month had been called in the Roman calendar of the Republic.69 Brutus even tried to have the posters advertising the beast hunt following the ludi printed with the date as the third day before the Ides of the mensis Quintilis, not the third day before Ides of the mensis Iulius. Apparently the ludi of Brutus did not go entirely well. According to Appian, an unruly crowd stopped the ludi, to the dismay of Brutus, who had hoped that these ludi would be beneficial to the cause of the assassins.70 During the summer of 44 b.c., despite the clear case to be made of a crime in the assassination of Caesar, there seems to have been no appetite to prosecute and punish those responsible. Several attempts to elevate the memory of Caesar in the early summer of 44 b.c. had met with obstruction. When the Senate decreed public sacrifices on the day of Caesar’s birth, July 13, which happened to be the most important day of the Ludi Apollinares, the decision was apparently met with disapproval. When Octavianus tried to display Caesar’s throne and garland at the ludi presented in July by the aedile Lucius Critonius (Critonius) after the ludi presented by Brutus in July, Antonius prohibited him from doing so, even

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though a display in Caesar’s honor at any ludi had already been authorized by the Senate.71 Some of the people of Rome began to take pity on Octavianus for the way he was being treated. Octavianus’ position remained precarious because he lacked status and powerful patrons, and even his own stepfather (vitricus), Philippus, is said to have expressed doubts about Octavianus’ chances at some point before the ludi Brutus presented in July 44 b.c.72 Octavianus was theoretically in control of financial resources, but he had limited access to them. He had no means of securing the generous funding Caesar been voted by the Roman people and dispatched to the East for his Parthian War.73 He had no opportunity to sell or mortgage the gardens surrounding Caesar’s urban villa down by the Tiber River in Rome to raise capital because Caesar had bequeathed the gardens to the Roman people and not to his primary heir. Octavianus had distributed some money that he had acquired from the sale of his property around the city prior to the Ludi Apollinares in July in an effort to draw attention to himself and support away from the conspirators.74 But he found it difficult to fulfill Caesar’s bequest of legacies for the Roman people, which had become his burden as Caesar’s adopted son and heir. He was beset by lawsuits and found himself having to cobble together the money he needed from members of his family. His financial situation in July 44 b.c. and throughout the summer of 44 b.c., in short, was grim. Without direct access to his expected inheritance or the remnants of Caesar’s fortune, Octavianus found himself without the necessary funds to complete Caesar’s Forum Iulium, which had not been finished in 46 b.c. or in 45 b.c., or to hold the ludi that he himself had solemnly vowed in Caesar’s honor in 44 b.c. As a result, Octavianus had to set about raising the funds to hold the ludi as best he could himself.75 Octavianus was able to rely for help on some of Caesar’s friends, who still remained loyal to his memory. Two of them, Gaius Matius (Matius) and Marcus Curtius Postumus, had agreed to serve as administrators for Octavianus’ ludi in honor of Caesar.76 It has been suggested that Octavianus presented these ludi in honor of Caesar in July, but the ancient sources provide no evidence that Octavianus presented any ludi in July 44 b.c.77 Cicero’s request that Atticus keep him informed about all of the rest of the ludi (quem ad modum accipiantur hi ludi, deinde omnia reliquorum ludorum in dies singulos persequare) has been interpreted as evidence that Octavianus’ ludi took place in July.78 But since the focus of Cicero’s comments is solely on the ludi of Brutus, Cicero may mean that he was interested in knowing how the ludi of Brutus were received and how all the festivities on the days of those ludi turned out.79 Cicero in his correspondence to Atticus with regard to Octavianus mentions no ludi being held in the month of July that would have competed with the Ludi Apollinares sponsored by Brutus or the ludi sponsored by Critonius. Sometime in the late summer of 44 b.c., Brutus

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and Cassius left Italy and sailed for the eastern provinces. Presumably by the end of August, Octavianus had raised the necessary funding to hold the ludi in honor of Caesar at a presentable level as he had promised. Letters exchanged by Matius and Cicero provide evidence that Octavianus was able to hold the ludi sometime between the end of August and October 44 b.c.80 Nicolaus of Damascus noted that Octavianus held his ludi in September 44 b.c., at the same time as Caesar had held his prior celebrations in honor of Venus Genetrix in both September 46 and again in 45 b.c. (θέας ἐποίει ἐνστάσης ἑορτῆς ἥν ὁ πατὴρ αὐτοῦ κατεστήσατο ’Αφροδίτῃ).81 Appian noted that Antonius had prohibited Octavianus from presenting the display of Caesar’s garland and throne not only at the ludi presented by Critonius in July but also at the ludi Octavianus was planning to hold in the future (ἑξῆς) on the anniversary of the triumphal celebrations and the dedication of the Temple of Venus Genetrix in the Forum Iulium that Caesar had originally staged in September 46 b.c. (ἐκώλυσε δὲ καὶ ἐν ταῖς ἑξῆς θέαις ἔτι παραλογώτερον ἅς αὐτὸς ὁ Καῖσαρ ἐτέλει, ἀνακειμένας ἐκ τοῦ πατρὸς ’Αφροδίτῃ Γενετείρᾳ, ὅτε περ αὐτῇ καὶ τὸν νεὼν ὁ πατὴρ τὸν ἐν ἀγορᾷ ἅμα αὐτῇ ἀγορᾷ ἀνετίθει).82 Nothing is known about the program of events scheduled for Octavianus’ ludi in honor of Caesar, but they must have been relatively modest due to his lack of copious funds for planning and presenting an event of this scale and importance. The ludi must also have been uncontroversial and completely acceptable within Roman cultural mores because Cicero, who had returned to Rome in late August 44 b.c., does not mention Octavianus or the presentation of his ludi in any of the letters he wrote to various correspondents during the month of September 44 b.c. Octavianus in his memoirs, which were written in 24 b.c., notes that the ludi he presented in honor of Caesar in 44 b.c. were held over seven days.83 Octavianus refers to these ludi as “my public celebrations” (ipsis ludorum meorum diebus). Suetonius describes them as ludi held for the first time by Octavianus in honor of his father Caesar, which was their primary purpose.84 Octavianus’ ludi of 44 b.c., however, are called by three different formal names in the ancient sources (ludi Victoriae Caesaris, ludi Veneris Genetricis, and ludi funebres). These names suggest a direct association with the triumphal celebrations, the dedication of the Temple of Venus Genetrix, and the following funeral ludi that Caesar had originally presented in September 46 b.c. and was planning to commemorate in some way for a third time within the days September 20–​26, 44 b.c. As a member of Caesar’s family, Octavianus had been placed on the board (collegium) that Caesar had created to assist in planning the celebration of 44 b.c.85 The three names given to Octavianus’ ludi in the ancient sources are evidence that they were planned on the basis of the original celebrations of 46 b.c. and intended to reference the tripartite nature of the original celebrations. The name Ludi Victoriae Caesaris (Public Celebrations in Honor of Caesar’s

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Victory) is attested by Matius in a letter written to Cicero in October 44 b.c. and noted by Suetonius in his biography of Augustus.86 Writing to Cicero with regard to his own continuing loyalty to the memory of Caesar, Matius defended his administration of the ludi at which the young Octavianus had celebrated Caesar’s victory (at ludos, quos Caesaris victoriae Caesar adulescens fecit, curavi). According to Matius, his assistance with these ludi was a matter of a private obligation, not of the constitution of the Republic. Matius considered his aid to be a debt he owed to Caesar, whom he considered a very dear friend, and he could not refuse the favor when he was asked to help by Octavianus, whom he considered a young man embodying such hope for the future and worthiness of Caesar himself (debui et optimae spei adulescenti ac dignissimo Caesare repetenti negare non potui). Matius was probably not referencing any particular victory of Caesar but the victory celebration of Caesar over Gaul, Egypt, Pontus, and Africa in the four triumphs he held within the days September 20–​25, 46 b.c.87 The second name for Octavianus’ ludi of 44 b.c., Ludi Veneris Genetricis (Public Celebrations in Honor of Venus Genetrix), is attested in several sources.88 This name referenced and linked Octavianus’ ludi with Caesar’s dedication of the Temple of Venus Genetrix in the Forum Iulium, which took place on September 26, 46 b.c. following the celebration of his triumphs.89 The third name, ludi funebres (public funeral celebrations), is attested by Servius.90 These funerary events may have been presented over a period of three days (per triduum) within the period of Octavianus’ ludi.91 This name captured the primary purpose of the ludi of 44 b.c., but it also referenced the precedent Caesar himself had set in his original ludi of 46 b.c. when he followed his four triumphal celebrations and the dedication of the new Temple to Venus Genetrix with unprecedented funeral ludi for Iulia, his daughter by Cornelia, who had died in 54 b.c. in the house of her husband Pompeius Magnus of some complication due to her pregnancy. Octavianus’ decision to hold his ludi in honor of Caesar in September 44 b.c. on the same seven days as those in September 46 b.c. on which Caesar had presented four military triumphs and dedicated a temple to his divine ancestor Venus had the potential to benefit Octavianus substantially. He could link himself firmly in the imagination of the Roman populace with the military success achieved by Caesar in service of the state. He could publicly acknowledge that he too was under the general protection of Venus, the divine ancestor of the gens Iulia, as a member through his mother, Atia, by birth and through Caesar now by adoption, as Caesar’s will had indicated. And he could present himself as a dutiful son celebrating the obligatory funeral rites in honor of his deceased father within the same days on which events presented by Caesar had already been held, thus causing no undue alarm in Antonius and his supporters.

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In the months following his return from Apollonia, Octavianus had faced obstruction from Antonius, who continued to do everything he could to block Octavianus from securing his position and rightful inheritance, much of which had already been squandered. Octavianus knew enough to be cautious in his dealings with those in positions of power, but he was also persistent in trying to find a place for himself within the political establishment. Because of his daring moves and persistence, Octavianus was beginning to acquire a reputation for bravado, which was supported by his acknowledged good fortune (εὐτυχία).92 Antonius still had good reason to keep trying to hold Octavianus in check, even though at the end of the summer his own grip on events was beginning to slip. The month of September 44 b.c., in particular, must have been particularly trying for Antonius. He was already on the defensive after Cicero had delivered the first of several scathing orations against him on September 2, 44 b.c. Antonius delivered a furious public response to Cicero’s oration at a meeting of the Senate held in the Temple of Concordia on September 19. He denounced Cicero as being the ringleader of the plot to assassinate Caesar.93 Antonius cannot have been unmindful that the next day, September 20, was the day on which Octavianus’ ludi in honor of his father Caesar were to begin. Octavianus’ first concern was in representing himself as the heir of Caesar in a manner that would elevate his reputation and esteem without immediately offending Antonius. He was content to let Antonius and Cicero go at it, while he moved strategically to present his ludi in September 44 b.c. in such a way as not to irritate Antonius at a sensitive time. Octavianus had planned his ludi to be outwardly uncontroversial and unlikely to give offense, but he must have been well aware that a celestial object worthy of note would appear on the days during which the ludi took place. In his memoirs, Octavianus identified the celestial object that appeared on the seven days of his ludi of 44 b.c. as a sidus crinitum.94 Two accounts that he may have included in the second book of his memoirs set out the competing theories that had circulated at the time about the astronomical identity of this celestial object. In one account, Vulcanius, an otherwise unknown haruspex who witnessed the appearance of the celestial object at Octavianus’ ludi in 44 b.c., called the object a comet (κομή­ της).95 Having made this identification at an assembly of the people, Vulcanius is said to have dropped dead after announcing that he had just conveyed secret knowledge about the coming of the tenth age. Why Vulcanius identified the sidus crinitum as a comet is unknown, although his intent was probably hostile. Neither Vulcanius’ declaration that the sidus crinitum at the ludi of 44 b.c. was a comet nor any other Roman and Greek written source that dates to the period of the saeculum Augustum or discusses events for this period, however, proves beyond a doubt that Octavianus’ sidus crinitum was a comet.96 The Romans had learned about comets from Greek and Roman scientific works.

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Manilius in his Astronomica listed the types of comets, which he called cometae.97 A comet might possess a tail that resembled flowing hair (crinis, capillus, barba), or it might resemble a rounded column (columna teres), a rectangular beam (trabs quadrata), an earthenware vessel (dolium), a firebrand (lampas) with several flaming branches, or even a nanny goat (capella) with a bearded chin. Few people alive at Rome during the saeculum Augustum had ever seen a spectacular bright comet themselves, and the Romans did not keep systematic records of the appearances of comets.98 Ancient Chinese astronomers, however, did keep detailed, verifiable records of comets and similar celestial visitors. No comet is listed in the Chinese records for the year 44 b.c., but a celestial object called a “guest-​star” is attested in the Chinese records for the first part of this year.99 This guest-​star, which is said to have been reddish-​yellow with a broom-​tail, appeared in the northwest from mid-​May through mid-​June 44 b.c. around the time Octavianus was stepping into a very dangerous, volatile situation. This “guest-​star” was probably a nova and it was not mentioned in the Greek or Roman historical sources in connection with Octavianus’ arrival in Italy or Rome. In addition, if, as Vulcanius had stated so dramatically, a comet had actually appeared in the heavens over Rome at the time of Octavianus’ ludi in honor of Caesar in September 44 b.c., it would have would have been an event worthy of note. Cicero, always the gossip, was quick to notice when things were amiss or unusual, and he would not have passed up the opportunity to mention in his correspondence the notable presence of a comet in the spring or summer of 44 b.c. following Octavianus’s arrival back in Italy. Cicero mentions no comet, and his silence is significant.100 Manilius also mentions no comet appearing at the ludi Octavianus presented for Caesar in his listing of celestial omens that occurred during Octavianus’ lifetime.101 Comets, like shooting stars, were regarded during the saeculum Augustum and after as baleful omens that heralded death, wars, treachery, catastrophes, and the overthrow of rulers.102 The appearance of a comet at this critical event in 44 b.c. would have been disastrous for Octavianus, who was young, vulnerable, and still seeking his way in an environment that was fraught with potential dangers.103 Vulcanius’ identification of the sidus crinitum as a comet was later repeated in the first century a.d. by Seneca the Younger, Pliny the Elder, and Plutarch.104 But Octavianus himself certainly did not identify the sidus crinitum as a comet, and the historian Dio reported in his third-​century account of this year that most people also did not believe at the time that the celestial object that appeared at Octavianus’ ludi was a comet at all.105 In the second account that Octavianus may have included in his memoirs, Baebius Macer, another contemporary witness to the ludi of 44 b.c., who is said to have written a biography of Octavianus, noted that the sidus crinitum was stellam amplissimam, quasi lemniscis, radiis coronatam.106 Stella is used in

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Roman astronomical literature for a celestial object observed as a distinct point of light.107 Baebius Macer’s stella appeared wreathed with rays (radiis coronatam) that were described as being like lemnisci.108 A lemniscus was an attachment to a wreath that could be made of wool, linden-​bast, or even gold.109 The adjective amplus is not a technical astronomical term.110 It refers not to the relative brightness or size of the stella but to its eminence. Baebius Macer is thus describing a very eminent star, wreathed with rays of light that were close to the star and, like heavy golden adornments, somewhat dense in appearance. According to Servius, who wrote a commentary in the fourth century a.d. on the poems of Vergil, Octavianus himself affirmed the identity of the sidus crinitum as a star (stella).111 Several other ancient sources agree that the sidus crinitum was a star. Suetonius in his biography of Caesar calls the celestial object a stella crinita, as does Iulius Obsequens, the author of a fourth-​century list of prodigia arranged according to year.112 Suetonius had also used stella to describe the object that Octavianus had added to a statue of Caesar.113 Dio identifies the celestial object at the ludi of 44 b.c. as a star by means of the Greek astronomical term ἄστρον.114 The two words that were used in 24 b.c. for the celestial object by Octavianus, or Augustus as he was then known, sidus and crinitum, provide further support for the identity of the celestial object of 44 b.c. as a star. The term sidus is employed more often by Latin poets than by Latin prose writers, and it can be used for a star or for a fixed constellation.115 The adjective or perfect passive participle crinitus is rare. It has a basic definition of “hairy” or “long-​haired,” when it appears in general contexts, as in Ovid’s description of a woman whose long hair was badly coiffed.116 But during the period of the saeculum Augustum, the word crinitus when used in astronomical contexts also had the extended technical meaning of “bright.”117 Germanicus, the grandson of Octavianus’ younger sister, Octavia, would use crinitus in his Latin translation of Aratus’ Phaenomena to describe a star located in the constellation Anguis.118 This stella crinita has been identified as β Serpentis, a star near the border between the head and back of Anguis, which was brighter than the faint stars around it.119 The related noun crinis would also be used by Germanicus to describe Arcturus in Bootes as it rose from the ocean toto crine.120 Arcturus, a very bright star in the heavens, described itself as a brilliant white star (splendens stella candida) in the prologue to Plautus’ comedy Rudens.121 The original verses in Aratus’ Phaenomena had accurately described Bootes rising as a whole (ἀθρόος), not just with his head or hair.122 Germanicus’ use of toto crine means, therefore, that Bootes leaps from the ocean with its brightness unimpaired: that is, with the bright star Arcturus, which was located in the lower part of the figure of Bootes, not at its head.123 Germanicus was apparently the first Roman poet to employ crinitus and crinis to describe the brightness of a star, but he may not have invented this usage

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himself. The fact that Germanicus used crinitus and crinis for a bright star in the same way as Octavianus had used crinitum to describe the sidus of 44 b.c. suggests that Germanicus’ usage of crinita to describe a stella that possessed a radiant brightness was based in a verbal coinage of Octavianus that may have been due to Octavianus’ own lack of visual acuity. Suetonius noted that Octavianus had bright and shining eyes (oculos habuit claros ac nitidos). Octavianus liked to think that his eyes emanated a kind of divine power (quiddam divini vigoris) and that they appeared to shine so like the flashing brightness of the Sun (quasi ad fulgorem solis) that individuals looking at him were forced to lower their faces because they were unable to endure the brilliant intensity of his gaze.124 This belief was consistent with a statement made by Cicero that the eyes reflect the inner spirit and character of a human being.125 Octavianus is also said by Pliny the Elder to have had remarkable-​looking blue eyes with larger whites than normal, like those of a horse, but he did not possess the same exceptional level of night vision attributed to his successor Tiberius.126 Octavianus was also probably nearsighted. He engaged from his early youth in many scholarly activities that overused his eyes, such as reading both Greek and Latin texts and copying out instructive precepts. Later he would damage his eyesight even further by reading entire volumes to the Senate.127 The description of the sidus as crinitum was also consistent with Octavianus’ known fondness for using peculiar expressions and unusual words in everyday conversation.128 By using the words sidus and crinitum together to describe the celestial object that appeared at the ludi he presented in honor of Caesar in 44 b.c., the nearsighted Octavianus was describing what the object looked like to him. It appeared as a star (sidus) with a dense, hazy radiance (crinitum) around its bright core. All the ancient evidence points to Octavianus’ original identification of the sidus crinitum of 44 b.c. as a star, not a comet.129 Octavianus is said to have always been keenly aware of his close association with the celestial sphere and of its personal meaning for him because of his celestial inclination (caelestis mens). By the time he presented the ludi of 44 b.c., Octavianus would have been formally studying the celestial sphere for a few years, and he would have been continuing his studies in preparation for his future military and political career. The public celebration that Octavianus planned in Caesar’s honor was the first event in his campaign to ensure for himself the support of the Roman people and his fellow aristocrats. Octavianus was able to examine the heavens for a bright star that would be significant for his association with Caesar and one that could be safely slipped past members of the Roman elite and Antonius, the most formidable obstacle to his ambitions at this time and someone who would certainly seize on any misstep on the part of his young adversary. The clues for identifying the star that was Octavianus’ sidus crinitum are found in the numerous ancient Roman

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Table 6.1.  Ancient Sources Supporting the Identification of the Sidus Crinitum as the Star Altair in Aquila Term

Source

Date of Source

stella crinita sidus crinitum

for 44 b.c. ca. 24 b.c.

stelliger apex stella crinita ἄστρον

Jul. Obseq. Prodigies 68 Augustus, Commentarii de Sua Vita; fr. 6 [Malcovati] quoted in Plin. Nat. 2.94 Sil. Pun. 13.863 Suet. Jul. 88 Dio 45.7.1

stella stella stella stella ἀστήρ

Serv. Ecl. 9.47 Serv. A. 1.287 Serv. A. 6.790 Serv. A. 8.681 Zon. 10.13

late first century a.d. early second century a.d. late second–​early third century a.d. fourth century a.d. fourth century a.d. fourth century a.d. fourth century a.d. twelfth century a.d.

Table 6.2.  Ancient Sources Reporting the Hostile Tradition Identifying the Sidus Crinitum as a Comet Term

Source

Date of Source

cometes cometes κομήτης

Sen. Nat. 7.17.2 Plin. Nat. 93–​4 Dio 45.7.1

cometes κομήτης

Serv. Ecl. 9.47 Zon. 10.13, drawing on Dio 45.7.1

before a.d. 65 before a.d. 79 late second–​early third century a.d. fourth century a.d. twelfth century a.d.

and Greek sources that have been associated with the celestial object of 44 b.c. and the ludi at which it appeared (see Table 6.1, Table 6.2, and Table 6.3). These sources, many of which have been previously noted, date from the first century b.c. through the twelfth century a.d. They include contemporary accounts and later accounts in several genres (commentaries, autobiography, biography, natural history, and poetry). When the sources are cross-​checked with specific reference to other historical, cultural, astronomical, astrological, and literary evidence and when they are assessed with the aid of advanced professional astronomical

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Table 6.3.  Ancient Sources Mistakenly Associated with the Sidus Crinitum Term

Source

Date of Source

fax cometae cometes cometes κομήτης λαμπάς cometes

Jul. Obseq. Prodigies 68 Verg. G. 1.488 Tib. 2.5.71 Calp. Ecl. 1.78 Plu. Caes. 69.3 Dio 45.17.4 Avien. in Serv. A. 10.272

for 44 b.c. ca. 29 b.c. before 19 b.c. mid-​first century a.d. early second century a.d. late second–​early third century a.d. fourth century a.d.

computer programs, it becomes clear that the sidus crinitum was a bright star in a constellation that was associated with Jupiter. Octavianus not only identified the sidus crinitum as a stella, but he also provided information about the time of its appearance and about its location in the sky during the seven days of his ludi in honor of Caesar on September 20–​26, 44 b.c.:130 On the very days of my ludi, a sidus crinitum attracted attention (est conspectum) for the seven days (per septem dies) in the region of the sky under the Septentriones (sub Septentrionibus) This sidus was located above the horizon (oriebatur) around the eleventh hour of the day (circa undecimam horam diei), and it was bright and notable according to all lands (clarumque et omnibus e terris conspicuum fuit). The sidus crinitum was under Helice the Greater Bear throughout entire ludi of 44 b.c. The time of its appearance above the horizon and its near visibility was during the eleventh seasonal hour, which ended at 5:16 p.m., about one hour before sunset, as the period of nautical twilight was beginning to approach. This eleventh hour was considered to be a concluding point for activities of a Roman day.131 Octavianus’ description of the appearance of the sidus crinitum at the eleventh hour agrees with other ancient accounts of the appearance of the celestial object around the eleventh hour that were provided by Seneca the Younger (emersit), Suetonius (exoriens), and Iulius Obsequens (exorta).132 It is also consistent with Dio’s comment that the object appeared near evening (πρὸς ἑσπέραν ἐξεφάνη).133 Baebius Macer, in his contemporary description of the celestial object that appeared at the ludi of Octavianus, which is included in Servius’ commentary,

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is said to have remarked, however, that the celestial object of 44 b.c. appeared above the horizon (orior) around the eighth hour (circa horam octavam): that is, around 1:00–​2:00 p.m.134 Servius also noted the time of the appearance of the celestial object in the heavens more generally as during the daytime (per diem) and in the mid-​afternoon (medio die), which would be consistent with the time given by Baebius Macer of around the eighth hour.135 At first glance, this chronological discrepancy in the ancient sources between the eleventh hour and the eighth hour appears to be problematic. But the hours provided for the time of the appearance of the sidus crinitum by Octavianus (the eleventh hour) and by Baebius Macer (the eighth hour) may not contradict one another at all. They may simply be two ways of describing the time of the appearance in the heavens of the same object at different points in the day. Baebius Macer could have been describing a time in the early afternoon when the sidus crinitum had first emerged above the horizon in the east. Octavianus could have been describing a time when the sidus crinitum was nearing visibility as sunset was approaching. The celestial object to which Octavianus referred in his memoirs, therefore, would have been a bright star that had arrived in the heavens around the eighth hour of the day and was still in the heavens at the eleventh hour and soon to be visible to an observer as darkness descended. At both of these times, the sidus crinitum would still have been unseen during the daylight, but anyone who was conversant with celestial placements, including Octavianus, would have known that this celestial object had appeared in the heavens and would later be visible to observers in the darkened sky. A sky map for the end of the eleventh hour at Rome on September 20, 44 b.c., the first day of Octavianus’ ludi, presents six bright stars as potential candidates for the sidus crinitum. These stars, all acknowledged as very bright in Eratosthenes’ Catasterismi, are identified by name within the central area of visibility in Fig. 6.2.136 Centrally located are the stars Deneb in Avis [Cyg], Altair in Aquila [Aql], and Vega in Fides [Lyr].137 Located to the west are Arcturus in Bootes [Boo], Antares in Scorpios [Sco], and Spica in Virgo [Vir].138 Of these six very bright stars, only Altair meets the chronological imperative specified by Baebius Macer, that the stella (or sidus) rose above the horizon around the eighth hour on September 20, 44 b.c.139 Altair in Aquila rose into the heavens in the east, unseen around 1:00 p.m. within the eighth hour, as was noted by Baebius Macer. The remaining five stars, in contrast, rose earlier, at the following times. Arcturus in Bootes rose in the east before sunrise around 5:00 a.m. Spica in Virgo rose in the east at sunrise around 6:00 a.m. Vega in Fides rose in the east, unseen around 9 a.m. Antares in Scorpios rose in the east, unseen around 10 a.m. Deneb in Avis rose in the east unseen, around 11 a.m. At 1 p.m., Altair in Aquila would also not yet have been visible in the daylight, but the fact that it had risen into the

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Local Time: 17:16:00 20-Sep-44BC Location: 41° 53' 0" N 12° 29' 0" E

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UTC: 16:16:00 20-Sep-44BC RA: 16h53m21s Dec: +41° 52' Field: 182.0°

Sidereal Time: 16:53:21 Julian Day: 1705615.1778

Fig. 6.2.  The first day of the ludi in honor of Caesar. September 20, 44 b.c. End of the eleventh hour, 5:16 p.m. Rome (41° 53ꞌ N, 12° 29ꞌ E). SkyMap Pro V. 12. By permission of Chris Marriott.

sky during the eighth hour would have been known to anyone knowledgeable of celestial placements. With the exception of Spica, which set with the Sun, these stars would still be in the heavens after sunset during evening nautical twilight on this day. Octavianus also wrote that the sidus crinitum was observed in the area of the sky sub septentrionibus, a location noted by several other ancient sources.140

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Octavianus was referring to the constellation Helice the Greater Bear [UMa] in the north, which Cicero had named Septem Triones in the précis of the translation of Aratus’ Phaenomena that he had Balbus present in the De Natura Deorum (see Chap. 4).141 Of the six very bright stars visible in the heavens at the eighth and eleventh hours of the day on September 20, 44 b.c., only the bright stars Vega in Fides [Lyr] and Altair in Aquila [Aql] can be said to have appeared in the region of the sky sub septentrionibus with reference to a celestial globe such as the Farnese Globe (see Fig. 6.3). On the Farnese Globe, Fides is located under Helice the Greater Bear, which was located at the top of the globe where today there is a large hole. The constellation Fides is represented as a lyre, the musical instrument with a body made out of a tortoise shell, and it is shown facing neck down. Vega, its brightest star, which is not indicated, is located on the shell of the imagined figure. The constellation Aquila, which is represented as an eagle, is also under Helice, directly beneath Fides. Manilius described Aquila with clear reference to an image that was on a celestial globe and lying on its back (Aquilamque supinam).142 The constellation Aquila is shown on the Farnese Globe lying face upwards as if on its back, although it is also hanging on the imaginary line of the

Fig. 6.3.  Fides (number 12) and Aquila (number 6) on the Farnese Globe. Passeri, Atlas Farnesianus Marmoreus, 1750.

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Tropic of Cancer with its feet, pointed head down with its wings outstretched. Aquila is turning its head to look up at Helice. Altair, the brightest star in Aquila, is not indicated on the figure but it served as the star that represented the head of Aquila.143 In antiquity, this brightest star had the name Aquila, the same name as the constellation Aquila, although today the star is known by the name Altair in order to distinguish it from the constellation Aquila.144 Octavianus also noted that the sidus crinitum was conspicuum (notable). Meteorological considerations during the period of the saeculum Augustum give the edge in this regard to Altair in Aquila over Vega in Fides as the likelier choice for the sidus crinitum that appeared at the ludi of September 44 b.c. In the four instances in which Aratus mentions the small constellation Λύρη (Fides), Aratus provides no useful meteorological warnings.145 Cicero follows Aratus closely in his own translation of the verses referring to Λύρη, which he calls Fides, and also omits any meteorological information.146 Aratus, however, mentions that the appearance of the constellation Aquila the Eagle (’Αητός) is difficult in the sense of stormy when it rises from the sea at sunrise in early December:147 Close to Avis, another bird is carried on the wind (ἄηται), not as large in size, yet troublesome (χαλεπός) when it rises from the sea (ἐξ ἁλὸς ἐλθὼν) at the departure of night (νυκτὸς ἀπερχομένης), and they call it ’Αητός. Cicero follows Aratus in translating the meteorological information in Aratus’ verses.148 Cicero’s description is elegant in its language and imagery:149 At propter se Aquila ardenti cum corpore portat, igniferum mulcens tremebundis aethera pinnis; non nimis ingenti cum corpore, sed grave maestis ostendit nautis perturbans aequora signum. Nearby, however, Aquila the star, caressing the fire-​bearing upper ether with its trembling feathers, brings itself forth with its burning appearance. It is not found in a constellation with a particularly large body, but when it throws the sea into confusion, it reveals the burdensome constellation to gloomy sailors. Cicero’s translation conveys the Aratean wordplay of the verb ἄηται and the adjective ’Αητόν and the assonance in ἄλλος ἄηται in the assonance in his own Aquila ardenti.150 Cicero also repeats the initial ae-​sound in the words aethera and aequora, a device that sets in contrast the sky and the sea. And Cicero repeats the word corpore twice. In the two prepositional phrases in which corpore

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is found, the word means different things. In the phrase ardenti cum corpore, the word corpore refers to the bright appearance of the star Aquila (Altair), and in the phrase ingenti cum corpore, the word corpore refers to the size of the entire constellation Aquila. The participle mulcens adds significantly to the description of Aquila found in Aratus’ original. The verb mulceo (caress) is found in Latin elegiac poetry in relation to the natural world and to the body or the mind of a human being.151 Cicero employs the verb figuratively to present a portrait of the stella Altair caressing (mulcens) the fire-​bearing (ignifer) upper ether with feathers that are trembling both from exertion and high emotion. Both Fides and Aquila appear in the parapegma attached to the end of Geminos-​Phaenomena.152 In this parapegma, which is reflective of astro-​ meteorological interests during the first century b.c., Fides and Aquila have meteorological associations. Both constellations appear in the parapegma in almost the same numbers (Fides eight times, Aquila nine times; Fides in five months, Aquila in six months), but whereas the Geminos-​parapegma associates Fides only with rain, it associates Aquila with storms, storms at sea, and the presence of the south wind, which was known to bring torrential downpours. The destructive South Wind appeared on the Tower of the Winds, an anaphoric water clock constructed around 50 b.c. in the Roman Agora in Athens. The clock contained representations of the constellations. The South Wind was depicted as a young beardless, winged male figure holding a hydria upside down, which was meant to signify the very rainy associations of this wind.153 Although Vega, the brightest of the six bright stars that are candidates for the sidus crinitum, could have been used as a marker to find Altair, a military leader like Octavianus would certainly have been sure to pay more attention to Altair in Aquila, which was a star that was better known and more worthy of note in regard to the weather because it forecast the severe storms that had the potential to destroy legions on land and wreck ships before, during, or after a battle at sea. In addition, the mythological narratives associated with the Aquila the Eagle would have been more relevant to Octavianus than those associated with Fides the Lyre. Fides was created by the Olympian divinity Mercury (Greek Hermes) when he was only a baby. Mercury gave it to his half-​brother the god Apollo, and Apollo gave it to the musician Orpheus, who unfortunately met a tragic end after he was torn apart by female worshippers of Bacchus. Fides was placed in the heavens either by Mercury or Jupiter, according to different versions of the myth, but it never returned to the Earth.154 Although Apollo is known from mythological narratives to have played the lyre, Fides is associated with Mercury and Orpheus, and in its celestial form it served as a reminder of the misfortune that had befallen Orpheus.155 Cicero mentions Fides only briefly in his translation of the Phaenomena, noting its creation by Mercury and its location in

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the heavens in relation to the constellations Engonasin and Avis.156 Fides therefore appears to have no mythological relevance for the honoring of Caesar at these ludi, and its brightest star Vega would have been of no symbolic use to Octavianus at this critical event in 44 b.c. The star Altair in the constellation Aquila, on the other hand, had mythological narratives that were more notable in Roman culture and more relevant to Octavianus than Vega in Fides. Aquila was the bird of Jupiter, the ultimate Olympian ancestor of the gens Iulia.157 Aquila had accompanied Jupiter when he set off to do battle with the Titans. Aquila had the ability to move of its own volition and, as the great messenger-​ bird of Zeus (Ζηνὸς . . . μέγας ἄγγελος), it could travel between the world of the divinities and the world of mortals. Aquila was said to be the dominant bird of all birds and the only bird that could fly toward the Sun without being affected by its rays. Aquila had achieved its place in the heavens because it was the sacred bird of Jupiter. Both Aratus and Cicero paid more attention to Altair than to Vega in their descriptions because Altair in Aquila was important not only for its appearance as a sign of stormy weather but also because Altair, the brightest star in the constellation Aquila, was located within the bounds of the Milky Way, which Cicero identified as the fire-​carrying (ignifer) part of the sky. Today it is known that the band of the Milky Way is a cross section of the large spiral galaxy to which all the stars visible from the Earth belong. But for Aratus, the Milky Way was the fifth celestial Great Circle and the only one of the celestial Great Circles that could be observed in the heavens because it had actual visible substance. For Aratus, the Milky Way was a celestial Great Circle like no other in its blazing star-​filled appearance and in its resemblance to a flow of milk from which it took its name Γάλα.158 The Milky Way was a celestial entity so striking, Aratus wrote, that someone observing the sky on a dark night would point it out to a fellow observer standing nearby. Cicero’s Latin translation follows Aratus’ original closely, but his description employs more words of brightness (ardeo, candeo, candor, fulgeo, lumen, lustro) than the original in order to emphasize the striking brilliance of the Milky Way.159 Manilius’ description is longer and it captures Aratus’ sense of wonder at the sight of the Milky Way in the heavens.160 The Milky Way compels the attention of the observer (cogitque notari). It shimmers gleaming white in a dark-​blue world (in caeruleo candens nitet . . . mundo), like a track made in green fields by wheels or like foaming waters churned up by a ship plying the seas. It compels mortals to lean their faces back (resupina facit mortalibus ora) to marvel at its extraordinary lights (nova . . . lumina) and to search out with the human heart and soul the celestial purposes (inquiruntque sacras humano pectore causas).161 This location of Altair in relation to the Milky Way is the final piece of evidence needed to confirm that Altair in Aquila is the best choice for the sidus

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crinitum that appeared at the ludi presented in honor of Caesar in September 44 b.c. Fides is near but not within the bounds of the Milky Way but Altair in Aquila is located within the bounds of the Milky Way (media autem finitur ab eo quem supra lacteum orbem demonstravimus esse) (see Fig. 6.4).162 The star Altair in Aquila was about midway between the eastern and western horizons at sunset on September 20, the first day of Octavianus ludi of 44 b.c. (see Fig. 6.2). Altair in Aquila would have been easy to locate on this day by using the Moon, which was about 61% full. The Moon in Capricornus would have been visible in the southeast sky at the eleventh hour and would have been able to serve as a marker for knowing the location of the as yet unseen Altair in Aquila and Jupiter in Capricornus [Cap], which was also above the eastern horizon by the beginning of the eleventh hour (see Fig. 6.2). Jupiter was the last of Octavianus’ Julian kin in their celestial manifestations to appear in the sky at the end of the eleventh hour where it joined the Moon in Capricornus [Cap], and ahead, Saturn in Sagittarius [Sgr], Venus in Scorpios [Sco], and Mercury and the Sun in Virgo [Vir]. Only Mars was missing at this time.

Fig. 6.4.  Aquila and the Milky Way at the ludi in honor of Caesar. September 20, 44 b.c. Just before sunset, 6:10 p.m. Rome (41° 53ꞌ N, 12° 29ꞌ E). Detail, south. The bounds of the Milky Way are marked by the wavy lines on the map. SkyMap Pro V. 12. By permission of Chris Marriott.

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The location of Aquila within the bounds of the Milky Way was important because the Milky Way had developed a powerful association in Roman culture with the afterlife, thanks to Cicero’s De Republica, which was published in 51 b.c. This work had become well known following its publication and had flourished in popularity (tui politici libri omnibus vigent).163 In the sixth and final book of his De Republica, Cicero had described the Milky Way as the final celestial destination of worthy immortal souls.164 The great Roman general Publius Cornelius Scipio Africanus declared that a life of justice and duty to parents, kin, and the state was the road into the heavens and the means by which a deserving soul after death might join the souls of other eminent Romans resident in one of the celestial Great Circles, the gleaming white Milky Way. This idea owed much to Pythagorean and Stoic philosophical tenets to which Octavianus may have been particularly attracted. Octavianus had studied with the philosopher Arius of Alexandria (Arius Didymus), who was considered eclectic in his sensibilities but Stoic in his leanings, and with Arius’ sons, Dionysius and Nicanor, whom he esteemed highly. This idea of the Milky Way as a destination persisted throughout the saeculum Augustum. Manilius would state near the end of this period that the Milky Way was the eternal resting place of the worthy souls of great men and a few great women:165 Perhaps the courageous souls (fortes animae) and divine parts of individuals (numina) worthy of the heavens [here, the Milky Way] (dignataque . . . caelo) move here after they are loosened from their own bodies and returned from the globe of earth. And dwelling in their own area of the heavens [the Milky Way] (suumque habitantia caelum), they go on living for years that are divinely infinite (aetherios vivunt annos), and they delight in the world (mundoque fruuntur). Manilius goes on to mention by name the Greeks and Romans whose souls, or spirits, have deserved to make this journey. The soul of Pompeius Magnus was in the Milky Way because of his military and civic victories.166 The soul of Cato, who had proved himself to be the victor over his fate (fortunae victor), was also in the Milky Way.167 Octavianus is said to have honored next to the immortal gods the memory of men such as these, Roman leaders who had brought the power (imperium) of the Roman people to its highest level.168 As Octavianus and the Roman people believed (eo sidere significari vulgus credidit Caesaris animam inter deorum immortalium numina receptam), the sidus crinitum indicated that Caesar’s soul had indeed been received among the divine spirits (numina) of the immortal heroes in the heavens.169 During the period of the saeculum Augustum, the word deus could mean not only a god but also a highly distinguished mortal

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individual, such as Plato or Epicurus.170 Numina were also considered to be the divine parts of individuals.171 Later, Pliny the Elder would combine the two by offering the definition of deus as a human being who gives aid to another human being.172 The reward for such action was a place for the human being among the divine spirits of good men (numina). This place, according to Cicero, was in the heavens and, more precisely, in the Milky Way. The bright star Altair in Aquila had been in the heavens at sunrise on the day of Caesar’s funeral in March 44 b.c. (see Fig. 6.1). It was in the heavens beginning around the eighth hour on the first day of the ludi presented by Octavianus in honor of Caesar in September 44 b.c. and could therefore have been cast by Octavianus as a memorial of the means by which Caesar’s soul was conveyed to the Milky Way, following his funeral. At the time of the ludi of 44 b.c., Octavianus was not claiming full divinity for Caesar. He was celebrating that the worthy soul of Caesar, not yet officially a god, had taken its place in the Milky Way, joining there the souls of other notable Romans who had served the state well. The choice of Altair in Aquila as the celestial entity that Octavianus singled out for notice as the sidus crinitum at the ludi he presented in honor of Caesar was also brilliant on Octavianus’ part because the eagle was considered by aristocratic Romans like Octavianus to be a reliable visual omen (ostentum). For example, one day while still young, Octavianus was having lunch in a grove located at the fourth milestone along the Via Appia when an eagle swooped down and snatched the bread he was eating out of his hand. The eagle flew off very high into the sky and then flew back down and unexpectedly returned the bread gently back to him.173 This omen of the bird associated with Jupiter was viewed favorably. In addition, the presence of Altair in Aquila the Eagle at the ludi held at the same time as Caesar had dedicated the Temple of Venus Genetrix in 46 b.c. gave Octavianus the opportunity to address head on and neutralize two recent incidents involving Caesar, the Temple of Venus Genetrix, and eagles that might have reflected negatively upon him as Caesar’s adopted son when he was memorializing his father in 44 b.c. The first incident had its origins in 80 b.c. when Caesar was alleged to have engaged in scandalous behavior with King Nicomedes of Bithynia.174 Cicero is said to have gossiped in his letters about how Caesar, lying on a golden couch, was carried in to Nicomedes. When Caesar was defending Nicomedes’ daughter before the Senate and setting out his obligations to Nicomedes himself, Cicero is said to have commented that Caesar did not have to state those obligations, since everyone knew what each man gave to the other (remove, inquit, istaec, ora te, quando notum est, et quid ille tibi et quid illi tute dederis). Aspersions cast at Caesar such as these were not new. In the 50s b.c. Caesar had been less than amused when the poet Catullus had called his prefect of engineers Mamurra of Formiae Caesar’s sleep-​around dick (ista vestra diffututa mentula) and the

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diseased twin with whom Caesar shared a little couch.175 Gaius Scribonius Curio (cos. 76 b.c.), who had assisted Cicero during the year of his consulship, had referred to Caesar in an oration as a man for all women and a woman for all men (eum oratione omnium mulierum virum et omnium virorum mulierem appellat).176 Thirty years after Caesar’s alleged service as Nicomedes’ catamite, the episode had still not been forgotten. During Caesar’s Gallic triumph in September 46 b.c., one of the four that had preceded the dedication of the Temple to Venus Genetrix in his new Forum Iulium, the episode was recounted in the bantering songs sung by soldiers marching along with the eagles of the legions long after the alleged encounters between Caesar and Nicomedes had taken place. Suetonius has recorded one of the songs written in a trochaic meter, which was commonly used in Roman comedy and in Fescennine verses such as those one might sing at a joyous celebration. These verses sung at the triumph would have been easy to remember and to repeat:177 Gallias Caesar subegit, Nicomedes Caesarem: Ecce Caesar nunc triumphat qui subegit Gallias, Nicomedes non triumphat qui subegit Caesarem. Caesar drove the Gauls to their knees, Nicomedes drove Caesar to his knees. Lo and behold! Caesar, who drove the Gauls to their knees, now has a triumph. Nicomedes, who drove Caesar to his knees, has none. Caesar was even said to have served King Nicomedes at a dinner party as his cupbearer. In myth, Aquila the Eagle is said to have carried off the Trojan youth Ganymede to serve as the cupbearer to Jove. In both Greek and Roman literature, the story of the abduction of Ganymede was a popular one that had been told as early as Homer, and the tale of the abduction of Ganymede by an eagle appeared in Roman literature.178 In the celestial sphere, Aquila the Eagle is very near Ganymede, one of the associations for the zodiacal constellation Aquarius [Aqr]. That Caesar’s soldiers were still singing at his triumph in 46 b.c. about his having engaged with a foreign ruler in a sexually subservient way was not out of place at a triumph. But the songs had greatly annoyed Caesar. He had tried to defend himself at the time of his triumphs in 46 b.c., without success. In emphasizing Altair in Aquila as the bird of Jupiter that conveyed the souls of deserving Romans such as Caesar to the Milky Way, and not as the bird of Jupiter that kidnapped Ganymede, at the ludi he presented in honor of Caesar in 44 b.c., Octavianus was able to lessen the taint of sexual subservience that had dogged Caesar for years and instead direct attention to the nobility and Olympian ancestry of Caesar.

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A second episode, potentially more damaging to Octavianus because it was more recent and political, involved the public spat between Caesar and Pontius Aquila, the tribune in 45 b.c. whose name Aquila was the same as that of the constellation Octavianus had noticed in the heavens at his ludi of 44 b.c.179 The public hostility between Caesar and Pontius Aquila had been preceded by Caesar’s failure to rise when members of the Senate approached him as he sat in front of the Temple of Venus Genetrix. Caesar had apparently defended his actions by claiming that he was either unable to stand because he was suffering from diarrhea, according to Dio, or that he was held down by Cornelius Balbus, according to Suetonius, or that he had not seen the crowd approaching him and therefore did not rise, according to Nicolaus of Damascus.180 The explanations are not mutually exclusive and each may have been true. In addition, Caesar had received contradictory advice about what he should do. Gaius Trebatius Testa had urged him to rise and in so doing annoyed him, but Cornelius Balbus had dissuaded him from rising. Imitating Caesar, Pontius Aquila did not rise when Caesar passed by the tribunes in his triumphal procession following his victory at the Battle of Munda in March 45 b.c., prompting a scathing remark from Caesar: “Try to take the republic from me, Aquila, you tribune!” (repete ergo a me Aquila rem publicam tribunus).181 Aquila’s dismissive action continued to rankle Caesar. For several days afterwards, Caesar added the sarcastic proviso to any promises he made, “That is, if Pontius Aquila allows it” (si tamen per Pontium Aquilam licuerit). Whatever the motivation for Aquila’s decision not to rise before Caesar, the optics of Caesar having remained seated earlier while fellow Roman aristocrats approached him had caused widespread resentment because it seemed that he was presenting himself as a rex. Octavianus, by elevating the star Altair in Aquila at his own ludi of September 44 b.c. in honor of Caesar, would have been able to diminish the regal taint that accompanied the recent public spat between Caesar and the tribune Pontius Aquila by elevating the celestial Aquila over the terrestrial Aquila and by giving the celestial Altair in Aquila the noble role of conveyancer of a deserving Roman soul to join other deserving Roman souls in their perpetual celestial abode, the Milky Way. The focus on Altair in Aquila as the celestial backdrop for Octavianus’ ludi of 44 b.c. supported the narrative of the fate of Caesar’s soul following his death. Octavianus is said to have wanted the celestial object that appeared at his ludi in honor of Caesar to be associated with the soul of Caesar (ille eam esse confirmavit parentis sui . . . ipse animam patris sui esse voluit), and he persuaded the Roman people that this was the case (stella . . . quam persuasione Augusti Caesaris populus esse populus credidit).182 He believed that Caesar’s soul had been taken up into the heavens (creditumque est animam esse Caesaris in caelum recepti) and numbered among the ranks of worthy Romans (in deorum numerum relatus est) there.183

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The Roman people are said to have concurred with Octavianus’ assessment of the appearance of the sidus crinitum.184 The idea that Caesar was of the heavens was not new. Antonius had already declared in the dramatic oration he gave several months earlier at Caesar’s funeral that Caesar was a celestial being divinely born (θεὸν οὐρανίον . . . θεοῦ γενέ­ σεως).185 Antonius had afterwards forbidden Octavianus from displaying items that implied Caesar’s divinity and he had expressed his unhappiness with earlier attempts in 44 b.c. to award Caesar divine honors.186 But since Antonius had already made the point that Caesar was a celestial being, Octavianus’ focus on the journey of Caesar’s soul to the Milky Way, a place for dutiful Romans, would have caused no undue alarm to Antonius or other Roman aristocrats that Octavianus was attempting to have Caesar declared a god at that time. The association of the journey of Caesar’s soul to the heavens with the assistance of Altair, the brightest star in the constellation Aquila the Eagle, however, was not something that Antonius had proposed in his oration. The association was an innovation of Octavianus derived from his celestial inclination and based in his knowledge of the mythical narratives associated with the constellations. Aquila the Eagle was the bearer of Jove’s thunderbolts and the conveyor of messages from the celestial realm to the earthly realm and the bearer of individuals from the earthly realm to the celestial realm. Altair in Aquila would thus have been a logical choice to carry the soul of Caesar into the Milky Way. Octavianus’ focus on Altair in Aquila, Jupiter’s own messenger bird, as the conveyancer of Caesar’s soul to a place where the souls of other Roman heroes could be found was also uncontroversial in the context of Cicero’s own musings on the fate of the souls of notable Romans. The focus on Altair in Aquila as the sidus crinitum was thus a clever strategy that would have neutralized any fears that the young Octavianus was following in his adoptive father’s footsteps and aiming to make himself a rex or dictator at that time. After the conclusion of the ludi he presented in honor of Caesar in 44 b.c., Octavianus made this link between the sidus crinitum (Altair in Aquila) and Caesar public and permanent by setting an image of this sidus (stella) on the head or the helmet of the bronze statue of his father in the Temple of Venus Genetrix in the Forum Iulium.187 Octavianus’ opponents could accept the public messaging that he was presenting himself as a dutiful son at ludi honoring his father, a worthy Roman whose soul had risen to the Milky Way to join the souls of other worthy Romans there. It probably escaped them that Octavianus had privately seen a physical connection between Altair in Aquila and himself. Octavianus had noted in his memoirs that Helice the Greater Bear was a reference point for the sidus crinitum. Octavianus is also said by Suetonius in a section of his biography that precisely records the intimate details of some of Octavianus’ weaknesses and skin abnormalities to

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have had birthmarks on his torso that formed the outline of Helice the Greater Bear (per pectus atque alvum genetivis notis in modum et ordinem ac numerum stellarum caelestis ursae).188 This information would not have been common knowledge but was of interest to Roman writers, who found it illuminating to cite, with the authority of some private source, the evidence for such marks.189 Octavianus concluded that the sidus crinitum had come into being for his benefit and that he came into being in relation to it (interiore gaudio sibi illum natum seque in eo nasci interpretatus est).190 Octavianus may have been deliberately alluding, with his use of nasci and natum, to the same word (natam) that Cicero had employed in the poem he wrote on his consulship in 60 b.c.: O fortunatam natam me consule Romam!191 Cicero’s consulship, in his own view and that of his supporters, had marked the rebirth of the Roman state with Cicero as its pater patriae. In a sense, the sidus crinitum marked the political birth of Octavianus, although he would not have been so foolish at this time to declare himself Rome’s pater patriae. But Octavianus may also have been referring with the words natum . . . nasci to some remarkable astrological parallels that were found in his genitura and in a horoscope created for the anniversary of his birth, which fell on the third day of the ludi (see Fig. 5.2). Octavianus’ birthday in 44 b.c. would be the first one he celebrated as the son of Caesar. For a time of just before sunrise on September 22, 63 b.c., the day Octavianus marked as his birthday, and September 22, 44 b.c., the anniversary of this day in 44 b.c., the following astrological confluences occurred: the Sun in Virgo at the Ascendant, the Moon in Capricornus, Venus in Scorpios, Mercury in Virgo, the Ascendant in Virgo, the Midheaven in Gemini, the Descendant in Pisces, and the Lower Midheaven in Sagittarius. Taking special note of one’s birthday was common practice among the Romans, and even holding a public event on one’s birthday was not unknown. Pompeius Magnus, for example, had held a magnificent triumph in the year of the consulship of Marcus Pupius Piso Frugi Calpurnianus and Marcus Valerius Messalla Niger (61 b.c.), the second day of which coincided with his birthday. Significantly, September 22, 44 b.c. was the first time since the day of Octavianus’ own birth on September 22, 63 b.c. that the placements in his genitura of the Sun in Virgo, the Moon in Capricornus, Venus in Scorpios, and Mercury in Virgo had realigned in this way. These dramatic astrological confluences and the appearance of Altair in Aquila as part of the celestial display before and after sunset on the days of the ludi he presented in 44 b.c. in honor of Caesar strongly suggest that Octavianus had focused for the first time on his own behalf on something in the sky that clearly reflected the support of the heavens for him at the time of his first public undertaking. Octavianus had, from his youth, a strong belief in his connection to the celestial sphere, a belief that was encouraged most likely by his mother, Atia. He was thus receptive to learning how to read the appearance of the bright stars,

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planets, luminaries, and relevant constellations in the heavens to his advantage and to note the power of celestial display as a meaningful theatrical backdrop for important events. Octavianus was also receptive to learning how to manipulate the celestial sphere to his own political and personal advantage without offending his fellow aristocratic rivals. Caesar did not live long enough to continue his exploitation of celestial Venus in the heavens to his own advantage. He did live long enough, however, to pass on an awareness of the strategy to his clever grandnephew. Octavianus must have noticed that Venus, Caesar’s patron goddess, was in the western sky in Scorpios in her celestial manifestation at the eleventh hour during the ludi he presented in honor of Caesar in September 44 b.c. (see Fig. 6.2). By her presence in the sky, Venus thus honored Caesar, the Julian descendant who had been so devoted to her during his life. Octavianus, however, chose not to focus on Venus but to focus on the sidus crinitum, a prominent but seemingly uncontroversial celestial symbol, one that he knew would be in the sky at the time of the ludi, and one that would serve not only to establish the fate of the soul of his adoptive father but also to help solidify his own uncertain position at Rome. The sidus crinitum did not represent the rebirth of the future Augustus, the beginning of his rule, the Golden Age of his reign, or his own divinity, as is commonly argued.192 In late 44 b.c., these matters cannot have been in Octavianus’ mind, because at this time his political standing and social position were still very weak and uncertain. Altair in Aquila was Jupiter’s own bird, and the sidus crinitum, which became visible in the sky after sunset on the days of Octavianus’ ludi in honor of Caesar, represented to Octavianus that the celestial sphere, and in particular Jupiter, could manifestly provide personal messages of support regarding his potential success and future greatness. These messages must have given Octavianus a sense of security at the private level but also the confidence to continue noticing celestial display in his own political interests. In going forward, Octavianus would use celestial display many times to demonstrate for himself that the universe on a wider scale was acquiescing in his right to take on not only Caesar’s name but also the full scope of Caesar’s auctoritas—​personal, familial, political, and celestial.

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During the days of the ludi Octavianus presented in honor of Caesar in September 44 b.c., a bright star, the sidus crinitum, had appeared in the celestial display as evening twilight approached. Octavianus had interpreted its presence as an indication that the soul of Caesar had risen into the heavens. Octavianus had also noted the parallels that linked him personally to this sidus crinitum, and he discovered that the celestial sphere could provide evidence of support for him in his political endeavors. During these ludi, Octavianus had managed not to offend Antonius or his supporters: he cleverly circumvented Antonius’ prohibition on overt, extravagant honors for Caesar and carefully staged his ludi in what must have been a modest, acceptable fashion. In the months following these ludi, however, the struggle between Octavianus, the untried heir to Caesar’s name and the goodwill of his supporters, and Antonius, the capable leader of the Caesarian faction, intensified as each man worked in and outside Rome to hinder the political advancement of the other, gather resources, build networks of military and political support, and take steps to avenge the assassination of Caesar for personal and political advantage. Cicero placed himself right in the thick of the bitter struggles between Octavianus and Antonius. He had returned to Rome not long before Octavianus’ ludi had been presented in September 44 b.c., called back, as he wrote to Lucius Munatius Plancus (Plancus), by the voice of the Republic.1 Cicero complained to Plancus about Antonius’ arrogance and cruelty and spoke of the fears he had for his own safety and that of the state. Cicero also complained to Cassius that Antonius viewed the assassins of Caesar as parricides who had killed Rome’s “father” and that Antonius blamed him for advising the murderers to take the

Celestial Inclinations. Anne-​Marie Lewis, Oxford University Press. © Oxford University Press 2023. DOI: 10.1093/​oso/​9780197599648.003.0008

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action they did.2 To calm the situation, the tribunes urged Antonius to sit down with Octavianus, and at a meeting held on the Capitoline Hill that was brokered by Caesar’s soldiers, the two were temporarily reconciled. The disturbing dream that Antonius is said to have had on the night following his meeting with Octavianus in which his right hand was struck by the thunderbolt of Jupiter must have made him wary of a truce made with his Julian kinsman, whose adoptive father, Caesar, had openly claimed descent from Venus, the daughter of Jupiter.3 A few days after his reconciliation with Antonius, in early October, Octavianus was accused of plotting an attempt on the life of his adversary. Antonius, regretting his reconciliation with Octavianus and fearing his growing influence, was rumored to have concocted the plot himself, and Octavianus vehemently denied the accusation as baseless. Considerable damage was done to their fragile accord, which had not yet begun to take effect. After consulting his friends, Octavianus set out around Italy to co-​opt for himself the veterans of Caesar’s legions. He did not tell his mother what he was doing so as not to worry her.4 During this time, Antonius was also aware of Cicero’s attempts to court and manipulate Octavianus. Cicero had declared his approval of Octavianus, and he believed that he had much to hope for in Octavianus because of his drive for praise and glory. Detesting Antonius and having already goaded him on September 2, 44 b.c. with the first of the orations known as the Philippics, Cicero looked to the young Octavianus as someone he could use in his goal of restoring the Republic. By early November, Cicero thought that he and Octavianus were on the same side. He was pleased to be receiving a letter from Octavianus every day, asking him to save the Republic once again, a flattering and obsequious allusion to Cicero’s consular year.5 Cicero was willing to deal with Octavianus, but his attitude towards him was patronizing. He felt that Octavianus was acting with vigor but that he was obviously still a boy. In November 44 b.c., during the Ludi Plebeii, Octavianus proved Cicero’s assessment of him correct when he boldly occupied the Forum Romanum with troops in the absence of Antonius and delivered a speech to the people. Cicero could not resist commenting snidely to Atticus on the speech, which Cicero had read but not heard. Octavianus, stretching out his hand dramatically to a statue of Caesar, is said to have sworn in the speech to try to attain honors for Caesar, his adoptive father. Cicero commented bluntly in Greek that being saved by an Octavianus with those views would not be worth it (μηδὲ σωθείην ὑπό γε τοιούτου).6 Cicero continued to express his reservations about Octavianus, whom he categorized as having a good deal of spirit but too little influence to be of much use (sed in isto iuvene, quamquam animi satis, auctoritatis parum est).7 Cicero was clearly suspicious of Octavianus and his motives, although he was willing to let Octavianus play his hand for the time being. Nonetheless, Cicero, who felt that Octavianus would be able to keep

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Antonius in check, decided to take a wait-​and-​see approach toward Octavianus. Realizing that Octavianus’ power appeared to be growing and that his own was quickly diminishing, Antonius called a meeting of the Senate on the fourth day before the Kalends of December (November 28, 44 b.c.) to complain about the recent activities of his young rival.8 As he was about to enter the Senate, Antonius heard the disconcerting news that two more legions had transferred their loyalty to Octavianus. Cicero suggested that some god had put a plan into Octavianus’ mind (nisi Caesari Octaviano deus quidam illam mentem dedisset), with the result that Antonius’ efforts to secure power at that time were stymied.9 Antonius entered the Senate House, said a few words, and then left Rome immediately. He set off to join the legions in northern Italy that had remained loyal to him and was determined to wrest nearby Gallia Cisalpina from its current governor, Decimus Brutus, who had occupied the city of Mutina (modern Modena). Cicero continued to warn Decimus Brutus not to do anything to hinder or provoke Octavianus, who had taken a stand against Antonius, the real danger at the moment, because Octavianus might be useful in restoring the Republic.10 Octavianus went along with Cicero’s strategy to make use of Decimus Brutus against Antonius even though Decimus Brutus had blood on his hands as the conspirator who had deceived Caesar into leaving his home so as not to disappoint the waiting senators on the morning of his assassination. In the letter written to Decimus Brutus in December 44 b.c., Cicero began by referring to Octavianus as an adulescens, a designation more appropriate for his chronological years, but then corrected himself and called Octavianus a puer, which indicated his persistently dismissive attitude towards him. Cicero continued to attack the absent Antonius viciously and publicly in a series of orations. On the thirteenth day before the Kalends of January (December 20), Cicero delivered the third Philippic against Antonius at a meeting of the Senate and his fourth Philippic in the Forum Romanum later that day at a contio convened by Marcus Servilius, a tribune of the plebs. Cicero began the new year, 43 b.c., by delivering his fifth Philippic at a meeting of the Senate on the Kalends of January ( January 1), and on January 4, he delivered his sixth Philippic to the Senate, both against a still absent Antonius.11 By the close of this lengthy senatorial meeting, Octavianus had been voted to receive the praetorian imperium, which gave him the ability to take official action against Antonius, who over the months following the arrival of Octavianus back in Rome had lost his former status, as a result of both the growing popularity of the young Octavianus and the public attacks of Cicero, now himself at the forefront of the supporters of the senatorial order. Octavianus accepted the fasces that represented his praetorian imperium for the first time on the seventh day before the Ides of January in the year of the consulship of Aulus Hirtius and Gaius Vibius Pansa ( January 7, 43 b.c.).12 This day may not have been chosen

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by Octavianus, but the heavens displayed some significant celestial placements (see the central area of visibility in Fig. 7.1). During morning nautical twilight on this day, Saturn, Mercury, and a very thin crescent Moon, 2% full, at the eastern horizon were in close conjunction in Sagittarius [Sgr]. The stars Pollux and Castor in Gemini [Gem], a constellation that would often be present as part of the celestial backdrop for events that were meaningful for Octavianus, were just at the western horizon.

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UTC: 06:00:00 7-Jan-43BC RA: 13h45m25s Dec: +41° 52' Field: 182.0°

Sidereal Time: 13:45:24 Julian Day: 1705723.7500

Fig. 7.1.  Octavianus receives the praetorian imperium. January 7, 43 b.c. Before sunrise, 7:00 a.m. Rome (41° 53ꞌ N, 12° 29ꞌ E). SkyMap Pro V. 12. By permission of Chris Marriott.

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The steady rise of Octavianus was proof of his remarkable achievement in advancing his career beyond all customary boundaries, but proof also, perhaps, of how much others, like Cicero, felt that he would be not only useful but also easily managed. Efforts to have Antonius declared a public enemy by the Senate, which were encouraged by Cicero, eventually succeeded, and the engagement against Antonius that everyone was expecting appeared to be imminent. Antonius, safely encamped with his troops in the north, could only watch as the consul Hirtius and Octavianus joined up their forces near Mutina. Pansa, the other consul of 43 b.c., also moved north to help block Antonius, while Cicero made sure that he was in place to look after matters at Rome in the absence of the consuls on the field of battle. Minor cavalry skirmishes took place during the winter months while diplomatic efforts were made to secure a peace, but these ended in failure. The first major engagement, between Antonius’ troops and those of Pansa, took place beginning at sunrise on the eighteenth day before the Kalends of May (April 14, 43 b.c.) near Mutina in the difficult terrain around Forum Gallorum.13 In the battle, which was fought amidst two marshes, Antonius’ forces were at first victorious. Pansa was critically wounded in the side by a javelin and carried off to Bononia (modern Bologna). When Antonius’ soldiers, triumphant, were returning to their quarters as evening was approaching, they were surprised to be engaged by Hirtius, who had hurried to the scene as soon as he heard of the defeat of the troops under the command of Pansa and Octavianus. The celestial display for the first battle in which Octavianus fought was less dramatic than the celestial display that would later accompany the major public events over which he had more direct control, but it was still notable. At the end of evening nautical twilight on April 14, 43 b.c., as this surprise attack on Antonius’ camp was taking place, the Moon, 40% full, and Mars were in very close conjunction in Cancer. Hirtius eventually had to call off his counterattack because of the marshy ground and the darkness. Although Hirtius did not pursue Antonius’ men, thereby failing to secure a decisive victory, he had managed to tarnish the victory that Antonius had scored earlier in the day. According to an eyewitness account sent to Cicero by Servius Sulpicius Galba, another of Caesar’s assassins who was fighting with the troops commanded by the consuls, Antonius’ troops staggered back to their camp around the fourth hour of the night after having lost a majority of their veteran forces. The troops of the untried Octavianus had also suffered great losses, but the decisions made by Hirtius in the battle and the surprise turn of events brought success. In concluding his account of the battle dispatched to Cicero from camp, Galba reported that two military eagles and sixty battle standards had been captured. He commented that the matter had been well done (res bene gesta est).14 Despite his losses, Octavianus’ bravery in the battle is said to have been remarkable.15 He defended the camp, and after the standard-​bearer of

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his legion was gravely wounded during the battle, Octavianus picked up the eagle and carried it himself. The Feriale Cumanum would later mark April 14, 43 b.c. as the day on which Octavianus was successful in battle for the first time, and two days later, on April 16, Octavianus was saluted as a victorious commander (imperator).16 Before and at sunrise on both April 14, 43 b.c. and April 16, 43 b.c., Jupiter and Venus were in a close conjunction in Pisces in the eastern sky. In the days following, Antonius tried to avoid another battle, but Hirtius and Octavianus forced him into an engagement at Mutina about a week later, around April 21.17 Antonius’ troops were soundly defeated at this second battle. The battle continued right into Antonius’ camp, where Hirtius was killed. Octavianus tried to rush in to remove Hirtius’ body but was driven back. Both sides remained at the ready and under arms throughout the night following the engagement, unsure if the battle would resume at any moment. Immediately after the battle, Antonius’ counselors urged him to continue the fight at Mutina because the other side was weakened by the death of one consul, Hirtius, and the grave injury of the other, Pansa. But a god was said to be already harming Antonius (ἤδη θεοῦ βλάπτοντος), who feared that Octavianus would either attempt to break into Mutina or besiege him in the town.18 Antonius assessed his current situation on the ground and chose not to fight. He quickly broke camp and headed north toward the Alps. After the siege of Mutina was lifted, Decimus Brutus sent a message to Octavianus that thanked him and asked to meet with him so he could convince Octavianus that he had been led into the conspiracy against Caesar by other men and was the victim of a divine power (δαιμόνιον) that was responsible for harming him.19 Octavianus did not order Decimus Brutus to be killed but he would have nothing to do with him. Caesar’s essential spirit (his δαίμων) and the divine power (τὸ δαιμόνιον) had already begun to exact vengeance upon his murderers.20 Pontius Aquila, the tribune who had engaged with Caesar in a public spat in 45 b.c. and fought at Mutina, had died in the battle there in 43 b.c. Octavianus brought charges of murder against Brutus and his fellow conspirators, who remained outside Rome with their armies. He also placed in the same category one of their associates, Sextus Pompeius, the youngest son of Pompeius Magnus, who was then about twenty-​four years old. Sextus Pompeius had not been one of Caesar’s assassins, but Sextus Pompeius, like Brutus and Cassius, was an opponent even at this time whom Octavianus would not and could not sidestep.21 After Mutina, Octavianus had not pursued Antonius to secure a decisive final victory, but the news of Antonius’ defeat at Mutina had prompted initial jubilation at Rome, which was encouraged by Cicero. The situation, however, remained unstable. Brutus and Cassius were in the East, their armies and authority intact, with no plans to return to Rome. In the West, Antonius, Lepidus, Octavianus,

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Sextus Pompeius, Plancus, Pollio, and Decimus Brutus jockeyed for survival and position with troops at their potential disposal. Octavianus had made it known in the months following the victory at Mutina that he wished to stand for election to one of the suffect consulships to replace Hirtius or Pansa, who had both died during the campaign against Antonius and had not been able to finish out the remainder of their consular year. Octavianus was accused of causing the deaths of both consuls, Hirtius and Pansa, in the expectation that he might then assume one of the consulships for the year 43 b.c.22 The Senate, however, voted not to make the assumption of a vacant consulship uncontested. In early August, Octavianus, backed by eight legions of foot soldiers, eight legions of horsemen, and auxiliary troops, crossed the Rubicon River at the border between Italy and Gallia Cisalpina, the same river that Caesar had crossed to begin the civil war against Pompeius Magnus.23 Octavianus, unlike Caesar, crossed the Rubicon with no supernatural visitors in support or famous words in justification. After splitting his army in two he led a select group on a fast forced march to Rome. The news that Octavianus was heading to the city struck terror in the members of the Roman Senate, who worried what a young man possessed of such brilliant fortune (τύχη) might do (νέον ἄνδρα καὶ τύχῇ λαμπρᾷ κεχρημένον).24 Octavianus’ enemies wished to kidnap his mother and his younger sister and hold them as hostages but the two women were hidden so well that they were unable to be found.25 When Octavianus appeared with his troops outside the city walls, the Senate, the people, and Cicero capitulated, and Octavianus decided not to march into Rome at the head of an army like a conqueror. He chose to stand for the office that would give him lawful power and political authority. On the nineteenth day of August in 43 b.c., the year in which Hirtius and Pansa had died on campaign, when he was in his nineteenth year (cum XVIIII annos, haberet consul creatus est), Octavianus became consul suffectus.26 Although later Octavianus would state that he had always strictly adhered to custom in the assumption of all offices, including the suffect consulship, he had clearly usurped the position at the young age of twenty (consulatum vicesimo aetatis anno invasit).27 Octavianus is said to have offered Cicero the position of colleague in the consulship he was seeking.28 Cicero, of course, was flattered but also somewhat taken aback by the precocious offer and chose in the end to support the Senate over Octavianus. Octavianus instead took as his colleague in the consulship Quintus Pedius, who has been identified either as a Julian relative or an elderly uncle by marriage.29 On the day of the election, vultures were seen in the sky, an event that was interpreted as a visual omen propitious for Octavianus because it brought to mind Romulus, who had seen the same birds when he was in the process of founding Rome.30 Octavianus probably did not have any choice in the day, but certain celestial placements shortly before and up to sunrise on August 19, 43 b.c.

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were notable. Venus, the patron goddess of Caesar and his Julian family, was the Morning Star in 43 b.c. from February through mid-​November. On August 19 at sunrise, Venus was in the east in Leo [Leo] (see the central area of visibility in Fig. 7.2). In the west, Jupiter, the father of Venus and the king of the Olympian gods, was in Pisces [Psc] in a close conjunction with the Moon, which was 98% full. The constellation Gemini [Gem], which represented the protective patrons of Rome’s armies and of the Roman equestrian class, into which Octavianus had been born, Boo

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Fig. 7.2.  Octavianus is elected consul suffectus. August 19, 43 b.c. Sunrise, 5:16 a.m. Rome (41° 53ꞌ N, 12° 29ꞌ E). SkyMap Pro V. 12. By permission of Chris Marriott.

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was also in the heavens at this time. Octavianus formally became consul suffectus on the tenth day before the Kalends of October, September 21, 43 b.c., which was the day before his birthday.31 Just before sunrise on this day, Venus, Mercury, and the Sun were in the east in Virgo, which was the location of the Sun and Mercury in the heavens on the day of Octavianus’ birth. The Moon, 83% full, was in the west in Taurus. Octavianus then formalized his testamentary adoption as heir and son of Caesar by means of a lex curiata, a critical step that had repeatedly been obstructed by Antonius.32 Both Antonius and Lepidus, the Pontifex Maximus, were away from Rome when the ceremony was held. After the Second Battle at Mutina in April 43 b.c., Cicero had expressed his fears about Octavianus being elected to the suffect consulship but Octavianus skillfully manipulated him. Brutus, who was said to be gentle and high minded, not violent in temperament like Cassius, wrote a sharply worded letter to Atticus about Cicero that is thought by some to be out of character for him. Angry words, although rare in the collection of letters associated with Cicero, do exist. Cicero himself had written a stinging letter in 62 b.c. to Pompeius Magnus, who had neglected to congratulate him sufficiently on the achievements of his consular year.33 Cicero’s protégé Caelius Rufus criticized Cicero and the Caesarians vigorously in a letter written in 48 b.c.34 And as the rage acted out by Cato in the hours before his suicide indicate, even the most philosophically minded Roman general could lose his sense of calm and balance when under great duress. In his letter to Atticus, which was clearly meant to hit Cicero in his reputation, which mattered greatly to him, Brutus accused Cicero of succumbing to the blandishments of Octavianus, who was not even a member of his own family.35 Brutus called Cicero a submissive suppliant (supplex et obnoxius) responsible for stimulating the ambition for power and the unruly behavior of the boy Octavianus rather than checking it. In another letter that Brutus allegedly wrote directly to Cicero, Brutus lambasted Cicero without mercy, calling out Cicero’s weakness and hopelessness (imbecillitas et desperatio) and his destructive preference for Octavianus over Antonius, under whose benevolent autocracy he, Brutus, together with Cassius and their supporters, might have prospered and even shared in ruling the state.36 Cicero had written two letters in July 43 b.c. to Brutus, both of which appear to have been in response to criticisms he had either received directly in letters from Brutus or heard about from Atticus. In one letter, Cicero justified his actions on the basis of his past achievements, his record of opposing Antonius, and his justifiable support of Octavianus, who had removed Antonius from their necks, so to speak.37 In the other letter, Cicero defended his support of the mere youth who was practically a boy (pro adulescentulo ac paene puero) and his taking on of the obligation of legal surety (vas) for the political actions of Octavianus with the approval of the state.38 The task was a particularly daunting one because it

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involved influencing the mind and thoughts (animi et sententiae) of Octavianus, who was in Cicero’s opinion a young man of good character (boni ingeni) and at a pliant age (flexibilis aetas). Cicero pledged, like a good surety, to hold fast to Octavianus in the face of those, like Antonius, who were setting themselves against Octavianus (tenebo multis repugnantibus). Before he died, the consul Pansa is said to have spoken with Octavianus about his relationship with Antonius. Pansa’s words, as they appear in Appian’s history, were certainly grander, lengthier, and more coherent than the actual words of advice, if any, he may have managed to express at his last meeting with Octavianus on that day. One comment, whether spoken by Pansa himself or attributed to him, is significant. Pansa referred to Octavianus as a man who had been born with a destiny reflected in his essential spirit (σὺν δαιμονίᾳ μοίρᾳ γενόμενος).39 Pansa, as a close associate of Caesar who had served with Caesar in Gaul and had been Caesar’s choice for one of the consulships of 43 b.c., would have known and observed Octavianus in the years prior. Pansa may have heard the stories that had circulated about the notable destiny predicted for Octavianus since the time of his birth. Or perhaps Pansa was simply expressing a view that was beginning to gain traction among Roman aristocrats. Pansa on his deathbed had also allegedly recommended that Octavianus reconcile himself with Antonius so that they could both avenge Caesar. Similar advice had been given to Octavianus by his friends after Octavianus had returned to Italy from Apollonia, but circumstances had permitted no serious alliance at that time. Octavianus now headed out of Rome, this time to deal with Antonius rather than to fight him. Antonius had allied himself with the patrician Lepidus, who had been Caesar’s Master of the Horse and was now Pontifex Maximus, a position bestowed upon him by Antonius after Caesar’s death. Lepidus and Antonius had reason to be confident, backed as they were by a large army. They were open to a reconciliation and could also offer the welcome news that they had forced the conspirator Decimus Brutus into flight. When Decimus Brutus was cornered, Antonius ordered him to be killed by the Gallic chieftain Camelus, who sent the head to Octavianus as proof. Decimus Brutus was the second of Caesar’s murderers to be killed, and not long after, a third murderer, Lucius Minucius Basilus, a landowner from Picenum and a former legate of Caesar, was killed by his own slaves. In agreeing to meet Antonius, Octavianus put on a brave show of force. Holding office now as a consul for the remainder of the year, he was confident in the power of his name and the unquestioned loyalty of his troops, who he must have supposed were willing to die for the adoptive son of their beloved Caesar. He undoubtedly also felt confident in his destiny, and if all of that was not sufficient, he was backed by five legions, the same number as Antonius and Lepidus. Octavianus therefore went to meet Antonius on more equal terms

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than ever before, being a consul, even though in reality he was very much the junior partner in the negotiations. Lepidus had brokered this meeting between Antonius and Octavianus, which was held over several days in the autumn of 43 b.c., perhaps at the end of October, on a small island in the Lavinius River near Bononia.40 Many fearful meteorological signs were observed around the Sun at the time of the meeting.41 An old soothsayer from Etruria announced that the rule of kings was returning and then closed his mouth, holding his breath until he died. After two days of negotiations, the three rivals Antonius, Octavianus, and Lepidus emerged with an agreement that recognized the hard reality of their situation. Antonius was related to both Lepidus and Octavianus by family relations, but all three had good reason to hate one another, and even more reason not to trust one another, but no one of them was able to secure a victory alone, and each was unwilling, for the time being, to enter into an alliance with either of the other two.42 Out of necessity, they reached a cutthroat’s agreement (προσ­ ποιητὸν ὁμολογίαν).43 They would work together as a triumvirate, the second such arrangement at Rome, at least for as long as it took to wreak vengeance on their common enemies. This goal of vengeance was the primary motivation driving the actions of those loyal to Caesar’s memory, and it was noted later by Octavianus himself as one of his accomplishments (ultus eorum facinus).44 According to the Pact of Bononia, Antonius, Octavianus, and Lepidus were now nominally allies and presented one front, although Antonius clearly held a stronger hand at the moment, and Octavianus, despite his show of confidence, was the one who had to make concessions. Octavianus had to resign as suffect consul for the remainder of 43 b.c., an office he had only recently taken up well before the normal age for holding the office. Octavianus and his consular colleague were replaced for the remainder of this year by two other suffect consuls, Gaius Carrinas and Publius Ventidius, who had both been partisans of Caesar. Consulships were then allotted for the several years thereafter, with Lepidus and Plancus securing the consulship for 42 b.c. The three men then divided up the Roman provinces among themselves. Antonius took the strategically important Gallia Cisalpina (Gallia Togata) and Gallia Transalpina (Gallia Comata). Lepidus took the rather more remote Gallia Narbonensis and Spain. And Octavianus received the leftovers, a portion of Africa and some islands near the Italian mainland (Sicily and Sardinia), which Sextus Pompeius may already have claimed for himself and for which Octavianus would have to fight. The soldiers of the three men were all bought off with the promise of booty to be taken from the wealthy inhabitants of Italian cities and towns. On the domestic front, Octavianus was forced to give up Servilia, the daughter of Publius Servilius Isauricus, to whom he was betrothed in 43 b.c. In her place, he had to marry Clodia Pulchra, Antonius’ stepdaughter, the daughter of Antonius’ current wife, Fulvia. and her first husband, the tribune

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Clodius Pulcher, Cicero’s former enemy, with whom Antonius had been an ally for a short time. Before the three men left their meeting, they also drew up their initial proscription list, which included the wealthy, the powerful, and the hated: about 300 Roman senators and 2,000 equites.45 Various portents occurred for each of the three men before they returned to Rome. For Lepidus, a serpent coiled around the sword of a centurion and a wolf knocked over his dinner table, which was interpreted to mean that he would have power and then trouble. For Antonius, milk flowed in the trenches and chanting was heard, which was interpreted similarly to mean that he would experience satisfaction but then loss. Octavianus had received his portent earlier. When the troops of the triumvirs were assembled at Bononia, an eagle (aquila) that was sitting on Octavianus’ tent struck to the ground two ravens (corvi) that had been attacking it from either side and trying to pluck out its feathers.46 The entire army interpreted this visual omen in the sky as an indication of impending discord among the three men, after which only Octavianus, who was represented by the eagle, would survive. Lepidus, Antonius, and Octavianus journeyed to Rome and entered the city, each on a different day and accompanied by a praetorian cohort and one legion. A significant portent greeted them. Vultures were seen upon the Temple of Concordia and the Temple of the Genius Populi Romani (the Temple of the Essential Spirit of the Roman People), both of which were near the Capitoline Hill.47 By means of a law proposed by the tribune Publius Titius and enacted on the fifth day before the Kalends of December (November 27), Antonius, Octavianus, and Lepidus were declared tresviri rei publicae constituendae, three men bonded together for five years as a formal government commission with consular power. Their apparent aim, which no one believed, was the restoration of the Republic. Their actual goal was the avenging of the murder of Caesar.48 Their pact, which allowed them to identify their friends, take vengeance on their enemies, and fill up their depleted coffers, was now sanctioned by law. The proscriptions started immediately, so eager were some to kill and reap the rewards. The triumvirs closed all the exits out of the city and posted soldiers to prevent anyone on the proscription lists from escaping. The triumvirs demanded that the heads of all those proscribed be brought to them in order for the assassins to claim anonymously the considerable rewards. They offered 25,000 Attic drachmas to a free man and 10,000 Attic drachmas along with freedom to a slave.49 Informers would be rewarded at the same rates. The triumvirs needed a good deal of revenue to pay off these rewards, and they published a decree in which they demanded that 1,400 wealthy aristocratic women provide a valuation of their property and hand over to them whatever financial assistance was demanded of them.50 The women refused and decided to visit the women in

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the families of the triumvirs to get their assistance in having the decree undone. Octavianus’ mother, Atia, had died of natural causes at some point during this turbulent period, between August 19 and November 27, and she was given a public funeral. Two couplets, probably contemporary and funerary in nature that were written in her honor, imply that Atia could be counted as a fortunate mortal woman (felix . . . femina), regardless of whether she had given birth to a son who could be counted among mortal men or among the gods (ante omnes alias felix tamen hoc ego dicor /​sive hominum peperi femina sive deum).51 Octavianus’ younger sister Octavia and Antonius’ mother, Iulia, listened to the case of the disgruntled women, but Antonius’ wife Fulvia, who had a reputation for excessive arrogance and for her fervent loyalty to the causes of her husbands, had the delegation driven from her house by force. The disgruntled women, led by Hortensia, the daughter of the famed Roman orator Quintus Hortensius Hortalus, then addressed the triumvirs themselves. At first the triumvirs reacted angrily and beat the women away, but in the end they capitulated. Cicero, to his shock, was among the first of those to be named on the proscription lists, and the shattering in a violent windstorm of the statue to Minerva early in 43 b.c. that had replaced the statue he had placed on the Capitoline Hill before he fled into exile in 58 b.c. was said later to have portended his death.52 Cicero and his brother, Quintus Cicero, who were together at Cicero’s country estate at Tusculum, decided to go to Cicero’s estate at Astura and then escape to Macedonia and join Brutus, to whom many of the proscribed were also attempting to flee.53 The two brothers had always been close and fond of each other despite their disagreements over matters such as the raising of Quintus, the intractable son of Quintus Cicero.54 As they were traveling, Quintus Cicero became despondent and decided to return home to get more provisions for the journey. A few days later, he was betrayed by his slaves and killed at the same time as his son. Each begged to be killed before the other. The murderers accommodated their requests by dividing themselves into two groups and killing both at the same time.55 Cicero arrived at Astura and boarded a ship, which was forced to put in at Circaeum, perhaps because of Cicero’s seasickness. He went ashore and spent the night in pondering what to do. At first, he determined to return to Rome to kill himself upon the hearth in the house of Octavianus and in this way release an avenging spirit upon him (ἀλάστορα προσβαλεῖν), but out of fear he decided against that rash plan of action.56 He then ordered his slaves to carry him to Caieta, where he had a villa. Ravens (κόρακες) that had flown out of the Temple of Apollo nearby and circled around Cicero as he was heading to shore were deemed a very unpropitious omen. When the ravens pulled off his bedcovers and began pecking at him as he rested at his villa, his slaves begged him to flee, and they carried him in his litter toward the sea so he could make his intended

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escape. His route was betrayed either by a young man named Philologus, who was a freedman of his brother, Quintus Cicero, and who had been educated by Cicero, or by a shoemaker who had been a client of Clodius Pulcher.57 Cicero was beheaded by the assassins who found him making his way along the shady path to the sea. He died on the seventh day before the Ides of December (December 7, 43 b.c.), at the age of sixty-​four (ἔτος ἐκεῖνο γεγονὼς ἑξηκοστὸν καὶ τέταρτον).58 Plutarch blames Lepidus and especially Antonius for the proscription of Cicero and claims that Octavianus was able to hold out against their demands until the third day, when he gave Cicero up.59 Antonius had more than sufficient reason to single out Cicero because he, Antonius, had been the target of the Philippics, fourteen destructive orations written by Cicero in 44–​43 b.c. Nor was Antonius content only with having Cicero treated like others on the proscription list. The centurion who had killed Cicero and brought back his severed head to Antonius in Rome received a bonus of 250,000 Attic drachmas on top of the usual reward (25,000 Attic drachmas). Antonius and especially his wife Fulvia took delight in visiting many indignities on Cicero’s head. Fulvia spat on it and pulled out the tongue, which she then pierced with her hairpins.60 Antonius is said to have placed the head of Cicero in front of him while he was dining until he had enough of gazing upon it. Both of Cicero’s hands had been cut off along with his head, and eventually Cicero’s head and right hand, the hand with which he had written the orations against Antonius, were put on display for a long time on the Old Rostra in the Forum Romanum.61 The Roman people are said to have seen hanging from this speaker’s platform not the face of Cicero but the image of the soul of Antonius (ἀλλὰ τῆς ’Αντωνίου ψυχῆς εἰκόνα).62 If Octavianus had felt inclined to spare Cicero, his erstwhile if patronizing ally, he may not have had the option, given all the other concessions he was forced to make to enter the Second Triumvirate. Whether Octavianus regretted that he had sacrificed Cicero to Antonius in the proscriptions is unknown. If the final anecdotes Plutarch tells in his biography of Cicero are true ones, perhaps at some point Octavianus did. Many years later, Octavianus would find his grandson reading one of Cicero’s works.63 When he was discovered doing so he tried to hide the work from his grandfather, who took it from him and then spent some time quietly reading it. He returned the work to his grandson, saying that Cicero had been a man skilled in many things (λόγιος ἀνήρ) and a man who loved his country (φιλόπατρις). Appian describes in detail the many horrors of the proscriptions as well as the heroic actions of wives, slaves, and friends to save the proscribed and help them escape. The polymath Varro was proscribed but hidden in plain sight in the country villa of a friend and survived. Even family members of the triumvirs were not safe. Antonius’ mother, Iulia, is said to have saved her brother, Lucius Iulius Caesar, by standing in the doorway to the room where he was hiding,

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courageously telling those sent to kill him that they would have to kill her first, she who happened to be the mother of their ruler.64 Iulia then went to the Forum Romanum and denounced Antonius publicly in front of his colleagues. Antonius called her an unreasonable mother but a good sister who should have advised her brother not to vote to make his nephew a public enemy. So great at this time was the influence of a mother even over a triumvir and a Roman general that Antonius rescinded the order of proscription against his uncle. Octavianus is said to have protested the proscriptions, and he has been excused from the atrocities committed because he was milder of manner and, being young, had fewer enemies than either Lepidus or Antonius, who exhibited the greatest cruelty.65 Octavianus is also said to have tried to save as many victims as he could from ruthlessness of Antonius. But it also said that while Octavianus may have tried to prevent the proscriptions, he acted more cruelly than his fellow triumvirs in carrying out the proscriptions once they were underway and he was hated more than the other two triumvirs. Octavianus was said to have gouged out the eyes of the praetor Quintus Gallius (Gallius) himself before ordering him to be executed because he suspected, falsely, as it turned out, that Gallius was carrying a concealed sword.66 Octavianus covered up these actions by saying later that he was only defending himself from an attack and by claiming falsely that Gallius had suffered imprisonment only to die later in a shipwreck. Not surprisingly, many omens were reported to have heralded the shocking massacres that took place as the proscriptions were carried out and victims were hunted down and killed on the spot. Some portents were meteorological: the light of the Sun was either diminished or disappeared, or the Sun was surrounded by three rings. Another portent was celestial.67 A certain newly arrived star appeared at Rome for many days at this time (τις ἀστὴρ καινὸς ἐπὶ πολλὰς ἡμέρας). This star was not a comet but once again probably the star Altair in Aquila, which had appeared in early December 43 b.c. at the eastern horizon shortly before sunrise. Altair could have been regarded as coming for the souls of the proscribed, like Cicero, who had served the state well and who were destined to make their way to the Milky Way to join the souls of other worthy, if unfortunate, Romans. According to Manilius, the soul of Cicero was to be found in the Milky Way because he had served the Roman state as consul and through his oratory.68 Following the elimination of Cicero, the triumvirs were able to unite their efforts without interference. Caesar’s assassins had not been punished, and Caesar’s deeds and accomplishments had not been commemorated by decree during the two turbulent years following his death. While the proscriptions were still raging, the triumvirs made their first order of business the formal, public glorification of Caesar. Antonius, Octavianus, and Lepidus saw advantage, none more so than Octavianus, in associating themselves as closely as they could in the

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public’s mind with Caesar. The event at which the triumvirs honored the memory of Caesar took place on the Kalends of January, the first day of the year, in 42 b.c., the same day on which Lepidus and Plancus also took up their prearranged consulships. The honors were unprecedented in their scope and scale. Driven by their own self-​serving aims, the triumvirs swore an oath that they would henceforth consider all of Caesar’s acts to be binding on them. They declared the day of his murder, the Ides of March, an unlucky day (τὴν ἠμέραν . . . ἀποφράδα).69 They closed the room where he had been murdered. They created a shrine at the site in the Forum Romanum where his body had been spontaneously burned by the Roman mob and declared it to be a place of sanctuary.70 They ordered that an image of Caesar be carried together with an image of his divine ancestor Venus in the elaborate processions that preceded the ludi circenses. They vowed to finish the building of the Curia Iulia in Caesar’s honor. They moved the celebration of Caesar’s birthday, July 13, to the previous day, which was the fourth day before the Ides of the mensis Iulius ( July 12) so that the merrymaking would not conflict with the final day of the Ludi Apollinares, which was sacred to Apollo.71 They declared that Caesar was to be honored as a victor, although he was now dead, together with any Roman general who had achieved a victory. They also decreed that anyone who did not follow these new observances would be cursed in the sight of both Caesar and Jupiter and, in the case of senators or their sons, forfeit one million sesterces, a considerable amount of money. In addition to these honors, the triumvirs went much further, decreeing that no image of Caesar was to be carried in any funeral of his family members, in order to honor him as the god he now truly was (καθάπερ θεοῦ τινος ὡς ἀληθῶς ὄντος).72 Caesar’s elevation from a human being (homo) to a highly distinguished Roman who had a right to residence in the heavens (deus), and now to a divinity (divus) was complete.73 The deification of a Roman citizen, not long dead, on this consular day was exceptional, but the decision to declare Caesar equal to the gods—​that is, deified—​on the same day as the inauguration of the consuls for the year, on January 1, 42 b.c. was shrewd. The most important political ritual of the Roman Republic, the announcement of the consuls, who would hold the highest administrative office and give their name to the year, served to cloak this self-​serving innovation on the part of the triumvirs. This decision gave Octavianus a decided advantage over Antonius because Octavianus could deem his father Caesar equal to the gods (αὐτοῦ Καίσαρος, θείων τιμῶν ἀξιουμένου . . . τὸν πατέρα τιμῶν ἰσοθέων ἠξίωσεν).74 From this point on Octavianus would think of himself as the son of Divus Iulius—​that is, the son of a Roman divinity—​although he wisely did not begin styling himself as the son of the divinity (divi filius) until years later, in the early 30s b.c.75 Octavianus undoubtedly examined the celestial display on the important day of Caesar’s deification on January 1, 42 b.c. and it appears that he

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Table 7.1.  Ancient Sources for Caesar’s Constellation Chelae (Libra) Term

Source

Date of Source

Caesaris astrum novum sidus Idalium astrum domus sidus novum

Verg. Ecl. 9.47 Verg. G. 1.32–​5 Prop. 4.6.59 Ov. Fast. 3.160 Ov. Met. 15.749

ca. 42–​41 b.c. ca. 29 b.c. ca. 25 b.c. ca. a.d. 4 ca. a.d. 7

found in the heavens a significant celestial placement related to Caesar that he would be able to use to his political advantage. Octavianus’ comrades in the triumvirate, Antonius and Lepidus, may not have realized, or may not have feared, the implications of the deification of Octavianus’ adoptive father on January 1, 42 b.c. Octavianus had taken note of the appearance of Altair in Aquila at the ludi he presented in Caesar’s honor in September 44 b.c. as an indication that Caesar’s soul had ascended to the heavens to take up residence amid the countless indistinguishable stars of the Milky Way. After Caesar’s deification on January 1, 42 b.c., a more illustrious permanent celestial residence for the soul of Caesar, now divus, was necessary. This new celestial residence for Caesar’s soul, which was in the heavens in the morning during the ceremony of Caesar’s deification on January 1, 42, b.c., is noted in a number of ancient sources that are commonly attributed to the sidus crinitum of 44 b.c. but better understood as having to do with a different celestial object that was interpreted by Octavianus in 42 b.c. as the new celestial permanent residence for Caesar’s soul (see Table 7.1 and Table 7.2).76 The poets Vergil, Horace, Propertius, Ovid, and Manilius were unanimous, consistent, and eager in their promotion of the idea that the soul of the deified Caesar was to be found after 42 b.c. in a new residence in a more eminent place in the heavens following his deification. Initially encouraged probably by Octavianus, who had the most to gain, the poets created the manner of speaking about Caesar’s permanent celestial elevation. Their verses contributed to the public acceptance of the notion that an observer of the night sky might be able look up to see clearly and distinctly at certain times of the year the precise final resting place of the immortal soul of the divine Caesar in the heavens. Manilius, one of the last poets of the saeculum Augustum, confirmed in the first book of his Astronomica that Octavianus had identified the zodiac as the new final resting place for Caesar’s soul in the heavens. By the time Manilius made his statement about the final resting place for Caesar’s soul, over fifty years had

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Table 7.2.  Ancient Sources for the Stella Comans, Caesar’s Bright Star in Chelae (Libra) Term

Source

Date of Source

patrium sidus Iulium sidus stella comans iubar stella sidus sidus sidus

Verg. Aen. 8.681 Hor. Carm. 1.12.47 Ov. Met. 15.749 Ov. Met. 15.841 Ov. Met. 15.850 V. Max. 1 pref. V. Max. 3.2.19 V. Max. 6.9.15

Before 19 b.c. ca. 24 b.c. ca. a.d. 7 ca. a.d. 7 ca. a.d. 7 early first century a.d. early first century a.d. early first century a.d.

passed since Caesar’s death and deification, and the story of Caesar’s initial elevation to the heavens at his funeral by means of Altair in Aquila had been replaced by the narrative that Caesar’s soul now resided in a more prestigious location in the heavens. Manilius acknowledged the first location for the soul of Caesar, the Milky Way but focused on the second, permanent location for the soul of Caesar within the zodiac. Because this passage is corrupt and difficult, the original Latin is presented below. Some of the verses have been rearranged for astronomical sense:77 . . . [Augustus] descendit caelo caelumque replebit, quod reget Augustus socio per signa Tonante, cernet et in coetu divum magnumque Quirinum altius aetherii qua candet circulus orbis quemque novum superis numen pius addidit ipse, illa deis sedes, haec illis proxima divum qui virtute sua similes vestigia tangunt.

799 800 801 802 803 804 805

Augustus came down from the zodiac and will return to make the zodiac complete again (descendit caelo caelumque replebit). He will rule throughout the constellations of the zodiac (per signa) with the Thunderer [ Jupiter] as his companion. In the company of the gods (in coetu divum), he will see great Quirinus [Romulus] where higher the circle of the heavenly orb [the Milky Way] gleams white (altius aetherii qua candet circulus orbis). And he will see the one [Caesar] whom, dutiful, he himself has added as a new divinity to the ranks of the gods (quemque novum superis numen pius addidit ipse). That former dwelling place [the Milky Way] is

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for heroic men (illa deis sedes). The latter dwelling place [the zodiac] is for those who, like the gods in their own excellence, walk in their footprints (haec illis proxima divum /​ qui virtute sua similes vestigia tangunt). Manilius appears to have had in mind an episode from the first book of the Metamorphoses in which Ovid set the scene for a council of the gods with regard to the wickedness of mortals, news of which caused a shock among the gods in attendance not unlike the horror that followed the murder of Caesar.78 Ovid described the gods traveling to a meeting along the Milky Way. On either side of this gleaming white celestial path in the heavens, the only celestial Great Circle that was visible to an observer on the Earth (via sublimis, caelo manifesta sereno /​ lactea nomen habet, candore notabilis ipso), the souls of noble Romans had their dwellings as on the Palatine Hill in Rome. The home of Jupiter was reached by traveling along the Milky Way and to a more prestigious location, which according to current thinking would have been in the zodiac where Jupiter in his celestial manifestation as a planet was to be found. Like Ovid, Manilius distinguishes the two different places in the celestial sphere where the souls of worthy Romans are imagined to reside. The Milky Way is for the souls of highly distinguished individuals, and the zodiac is for the gods or for those who have become gods. The soul of Romulus remained in the Milky Way together with the souls of other notable Romans, who had all served the Roman state in some way, but the soul of the eminent Caesar, a descendant of Jupiter himself, which had been briefly resident in the Milky Way, had been elevated to the zodiac, a place in the heavens that was more prestigious. The first clear reference to the constellation in the zodiac that was the new abode of Caesar’s soul appeared in Vergil’s ninth Eclogue, which was written not long after Caesar’s deification, perhaps in 42–​41 b.c.79 Vergil was not yet counted among the Roman poets associated with Octavianus’ close friend Maecenas, but he was being careful to curry favor in all the right places.80 Vergil also had a positive opinion of Octavianus’ adoptive father, Caesar.81 In the ninth Eclogue, the shepherd Lycidas asks his fellow shepherd Moeris the meaning of the song he had heard Moeris singing to himself one cloudless night:82 “Daphnis, why do you turn your thoughts to the old appearances of the signa? Look! The astrum Caesaris, the one who is sacred to Dione [Venus], has come forth in order to make the crops rejoice in their fruits and in order to make the grapevine bring forth its color on sunny hills.” Moeris had been singing about Daphnis, a shepherd much admired in his fictional community, who was described by Vergil earlier in his fifth Eclogue as

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having been cut down by a cruel death, a death that caused even the natural world to mourn.83 The general tone of the fifth Eclogue and its stellar allusions have suggested to some that Daphnis is a metaphor for Caesar.84 Menalcas, another shepherd, says in this same fifth Eclogue that he too will sing of Daphnis, lifting him up and carrying him to the stars themselves (tollemus ad astra /​Daphnim ad astra feremus).85 Menalcas calls Daphnis shining white (candidus) as he looks at the clouds and stars beneath his feet (candidus . . . /​sub pedibusque videt nubes et sidera Daphnis).86 Like the grandson of Scipio Africanus in Cicero’s Somnium Scipionis who observed the heavens in a vivid dream, Daphnis in the fifth Eclogue is described as observing and contemplating the unaccustomed threshold of Olympus (insuetum . . . limen Olympi), where his soul has taken up residence as a god (deus, deus ille).87 In the ninth Eclogue, Moeris in his little song had asked the now deceased Daphnis why he was still turning his mind to the old astronomical configuration of the constellations in the zodiac (signa), in which the Pincers of Scorpios (Chelae) had taken on a new identity and name, Libra the Balance.88 The name Libra is Roman and its first appearance in literature dates to the period of the saeculum Augustum.89 The name was unknown to Aratus, and Cicero did not employ it in his translation of the Phaenomena. This newly named constellation Libra is the constellation of Caesar (the astrum Caesaris).90 The Sun appeared in the heavens in Libra in the autumn around the time of the grape harvest to which Moeris refers.91 Astrologically, Chelae (Libra) was one of the two Domiciles of Venus, whom Caesar had revered as his divine ancestor. The celebration of Caesar’s association with Venus continued even after his death. In 42 b.c., the triumvirs added the honor that an image of Caesar together with one of Venus was to be carried in the processions at the ludi circenses. In addition, the close association of Caesar and Venus may have been indicated in Caesar’s own genitura, which he may eventually have come to know thanks to the influence of Cleopatra and the Hellenistic mathematici who served as her advisors. In the genitura for the accepted day of Caesar’s birth, July 13, 100 b.c., the Moon was in Chelae (Libra) until about 3:00 p.m. on that day.92 If Caesar, like Octavianus, had been born at night, his birth would have been nocturnal and the Moon in Libra would have been the ruler of his entire genitura. Confirmation for the location of the new permanent dwelling place of Caesar’s soul within the zodiacal constellation Chelae (Libra) appeared in poems written after the event of Caesar’s deification. In the first book of his Georgics, which was published after the Eclogues, around 29 b.c. Vergil speculated in a rhetorical fashion about where Caesar, the adoptive father of Octavianus, might choose to spend his immortality.93 Perhaps Caesar will choose to watch over cities or the sea, or perhaps he will take up the celestial abode that has already been prepared for him:94

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You might attach yourself in the late months of the year to the novum sidus where a spot between Erigone [Virgo] and the stars following Chelae [that is, Scorpios] is opened. Blazing Scorpios itself now draws in its pincers for you and has left more than your due part of the sky. Scholars have generally interpreted these verses as a reference to Octavianus, but they are more appropriate as a reference to Caesar, especially since Vergil, who was politically astute, would have been unwise to speculate at this time about the early death and journey to the heavens of the soul of the young Octavianus, who was still far from secure in his situation among Rome’s competitive aristocrats and certainly unwilling to be deceased.95 Vergil uses novum sidus not to mean that a new star or constellation has appeared in the heavens but that Caesar’s soul is to be found within the constellation imagined to have been created by the action of Scorpios, observed in sky-​view, pulling in its pincers, the old Chelae, to reveal a space for the newly named constellation Libra.96 Vergil may also have had in mind an image like that found on the Farnese Globe (see Fig. 4.6 and Fig. 4.7), where both Chelae the Pincers of Scorpios and Libra the Balance are depicted in the same space. From the perspective of someone looking at the Farnese Globe, the place of the new location for the soul of Caesar would be within Chelae (Libra).97 Caesar would also be linked a few years later with Chelae (Libra) in a poem from the fourth book of the elegies of Propertius, who became part of the poetic circle closest to Octavianus, that of Maecenas. This poem, which celebrates the victory of Octavianus at the Battle of Actium, dates to around 25 b.c.:98 Father Caesar looks with wonder, Idalio . . . ab astro. “I am a god (sum deus). That trust placed in you is the mark of our family.” The astronomical term astrum in the singular refers to a constellation in the zodiac. The adjective Idalius, which is derived from the name of the town Idalium on Cyprus that was sacred to Venus, is used to describe Venus. Propertius is stating that the now deified Caesar is gazing down from the heavens from the vantage point of his permanent abode, the Idalian constellation of Chelae (Libra), one of the two astrological Domiciles of Venus. The connection between Caesar and the constellation Chelae (Libra) would also appear in the work of the poet Ovid, who was associated with the rival poetic circle of Messalla. Ovid comments in the introduction to the third book of his Fasti, that Caesar had reformed the Roman calendar, bringing it into harmony with the solar year and clearly establishing the timing of the Sun’s path through each of the twelve signs of the zodiac in turn:99

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Caesar, a god (deus), wished to know the sky promised to him and he did not wish to enter an unknown celestial home (domus) as a stranger (hospes). He is said to have drawn up the exact points at which the Sun would return to each of the constellations of the zodiac (signa). Ovid emphasizes that the deified Caesar wished to take up residence in a place in the heavens that would be familiar to him, a place to which he was connected by family.100 One of the celestial homes best known to Caesar, as earlier poets had already noted, was Chelae (Libra), which was astrologically one of the Domiciles of Caesar’s divine ancestor Venus. This association between Chelae (Libra) and Caesar would also be made explicit in the Fasti in the entry for April 6, the third day of the Ludi Megalenses, where Ovid describes himself having a discussion with one of Caesar’s veterans:101 It was, I remember, the third morning for the ludi and a certain elderly man, day after day sitting in the same place, said to me as I was watching: “This was the well-​known day when Caesar on Libyan shores crushed the treacherous army of proud Juba. Caesar was my general. Under him I am proud to have served as tribune. He was in control of my duties. I acquired this seat because of the war. You acquired it because of the peace, enjoying the honor with The Ten Men.” About to say more, we were parted by a sudden rain. Libra [Chelae] hanging down, began to set the heavenly waters in motion. The elderly man was a veteran of the Battle of Thapsus (46 b.c.), in which Caesar had triumphed over Scipio, Cato, and Juba of Numidia. This victory was one of the four that Caesar had celebrated in his triumphs in September 46 b.c., which Octavianus’ own ludi in honor of Caesar in 44 b.c. had referenced. In Ovid’s description, the time is sunrise, and on this day Chelae (Libra) was at the western horizon, imagined as Libra, to be hanging just like a real balance from the imaginary line of the ecliptic. The exact location of Caesar’s soul within Chelae (Libra) that was chosen by Octavianus would be referenced around 24 b.c., by the poet Horace, who placed the soul of Caesar more precisely in a star within a constellation but one that was not necessary to name openly because everyone knew the one to which he was referring, Chelae (Libra):102 The Iulium sidus shines among all the fires just as the Moon shines among those fires that are lesser.

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In a poem intended to please and praise, Horace acknowledges the importance of the celestial sphere to Octavianus. Horace declares that the Iulium sidus, the Julian star, is brighter visually and symbolically than the other stars in the heavens, just as the Moon is brighter than the more distant planets, implying that even in the celestial sphere there is rank and social hierarchy. In his description of the images on the shield of Aeneas in Book 8 of the Aeneid, Vergil would also provide evidence that a star was the precise location in which Caesar’s soul was to be found. This epic poem, published in 19 b.c., depicts at the center of the shield an image of Octavianus standing aboard his ship at the Battle of Actium:103 On one side, Augustus Caesar is standing on the high prow, leading the Italians into the battle with the senators, the people, the Penates, and the great gods. His bright temples spew forth double flames and his father’s star (the patrium sidus) is revealed on his helmet. For this poetic depiction of Octavianus, Vergil is combining two allusions. First, by the use of patrium sidus to refer to the star of his father Caesar, he is alluding to the physical representation of the sidus crinitum, the star that Octavianus had placed above the head or helmet of the statue of Caesar in the Temple of Venus Genetrix, which had been dedicated by Caesar himself in 46 b.c. The sidus crinitum was the star Altair in Aquila that represented the initial journey of the soul of Caesar up to the Milky Way. Second, Vergil in his description is representing Octavianus as if he were a statue himself. Octavianus is depicted on the shield with the patrium sidus placed at the top of his own helmet. This star represented the new, more prestigious celestial abode of the soul of Caesar, which, as Vergil had suggested earlier in his ninth Eclogue, was to be found within Chelae (Libra), the autumn Domicile of Venus. An indication of the identity of the particular star in the constellation Chelae (Libra) that was the final celestial resting place of Caesar’s soul would appear in the fifteenth and final book of Ovid’s Metamorphoses, which was published before Ovid went into exile around a.d. 7. This description concludes with the assassination of Caesar, the metamorphosis of his earthly body into pure soul, and the conveyance of his soul to its final resting place in the heavens. Following his narrative of how Aesculapius came to Rome from Greece, Ovid turns his attention to more recent Roman history. While Aesculapius was a deity imported from abroad, Caesar has the distinction of being a divinity who was native born, and one whose soul is now permitted to reside in an illustrious part of the heavens:104

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Caesar is a god in his own city, and he was illustrious in the arts of Mars and the toga. His wars that ended in triumphs, his accomplishments at home, his lightning-​speed glorious deeds, and the actions of his own descendant in sidus vertere novum stellamque comantem. The words italicized in the previous passage have been interpreted to mean that Caesar was initially said to have been turned into a new star (sidus . . . novum) that was really a comet (stella comans) by virtue of his military and civic accomplishments and by the actions of his adoptive son, Octavianus.105 These interpretations make no astronomical sense and are contrary to the precision with which Ovid used astronomical terminology in his poems and the accuracy that he displays in the astronomical allusions in his poems, the Fasti especially. Ovid, in short, would never state the impossible—​that a celestial object could be both a star and a comet at the same time. More plausibly, Ovid is following the lead of Vergil, who in the Georgics used the term novum sidus for Libra, the new name for the constellation Chelae. Inverting Vergil’s phrase novum sidus as sidus novum, Ovid is describing here how Caesar’s soul has moved (vertere) from the Milky Way, to which it had originally been conveyed by Altair in Aquila, into the sidus novum: that is, into the newly named constellation Libra and, more precisely, into one of the stars in Chelae (Libra), its stella comans. The participle comans can be used to describe something that is feathery in appearance, and in this astronomical context, like the adjective/​participle crinitus, it can mean “bright.” The sidus crinitum and the stella comans were both bright stars that appeared for those with less than perfect eyesight to have bright cores with radiant fringes. In using the phrase stella comans, Ovid cleverly and poetically plays on Octavianus’ name for the celestial object that appeared at the ludi of 44 b.c., sidus crinitum, which was Altair, the brightest star in the constellation Aquila. Ovid, however, applies the name stella comans to the brightest star in the sidus novum, Chelae (Libra), which was the star Zubeneschamali on the original Northern Pincer, according to Eratosthenes (προηγεῖται μὲν ἐν αὐτοῖς πάντων φαιδρότερος ὢν ὁ ἐπὶ τῆς βορείας χηλῆς λαμπρὸς ἀστήρ).106 The color of Zubeneschamali is said by some astronomers to be pale emerald, an unusual color among the visible stars that would have made this star more distinctive. Ovid would also provide near the end of his fifteenth book of the Metamorphoses an explanation for how Caesar’s soul might have made the shift from its first temporary residence in the Milky Way to its permanent residence in the star Zubeneschamali in Chelae (Libra) on the day of his deification in 42 b.c. In his description of the role of Venus in Caesar’s deification here, Ovid has clearly compressed and telescoped events and subsumed them to the theme of

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his poem, metamorphosis, or change in form. He interweaves the story of Caesar and Octavianus, moving through time, both employing his own narration and presenting an imagined conversation between Venus and her father, Jupiter.107 Ovid begins with the deification of Caesar in 42 b.c. and then highlights earlier feats of Caesar, such as his conquest of Britain (55–​54 b.c.), subjugation of Egypt (48–​47 b.c.), defeat of Juba (46 b.c.), defeat of Pharnaces of Pontus (47 b.c.), and triumphs (the last in 45 b.c.). Venus opens her complaint to Jupiter about Caesar’s impending assassination, likening the wound she is being dealt to the physical attack she suffered during the Trojan War at the hands of the Achaean warrior Diomedes. She ends her plea in the present moment by begging her father to save Caesar from death. According to Ovid, although the complaints of Venus moved the gods, neither they nor Jupiter were able to do anything to change Caesar’s allotted destiny. Terrible omens occurred that presaged the assassination of Caesar. Venus even tried to protect Caesar by hiding him in a cloud as she had once hidden her Trojan son, Aeneas, to protect him from Diomedes. In the Aeneid, Jupiter had soothed Venus with foreknowledge of the future when she was complaining about the treatment of Aeneas by Juno.108 In the Metamorphoses, Ovid follows Vergil in having Jupiter console his anguished daughter with regard to the fate of Caesar, one of her own descendants. Caesar will conquer at Pharsalus (48 b.c.) and his son will conquer at Philippi (42 b.c.) and at Actium (31 b.c.), and once peace has finally been established, Caesar’s son Augustus, the former Octavianus, will transfer the burden of his power to Tiberius, the son of his wife Livia (a.d. 14).109 The heavens await Augustus, who will at some point in the future as yet unknown be taken to his heavenly dwelling place and to the stars he has studied so deeply (aetherias sedes cognataque sidera tanget).110 Following the conclusion of Jupiter’s words to his daughter, Ovid then compresses time and appears to conflate two events: the funeral of Caesar, which took place a few days after his assassination, perhaps on March 20, 44 b.c., and the deification of Caesar, which took place on January 1, 42 b.c. Ovid begins by presenting Venus standing unseen in the midst of the senators (constitit alma Venus nulli cernenda suique) at Caesar’s funeral in 44 b.c., which took place outside in the Forum Romanum.111 Venus in her celestial manifestation as a planet had been just at the horizon at sunrise on the day of Caesar’s funeral (see Fig. 6.1). At Caesar’s funeral, Venus was merely an observer because Jupiter had not given her permission to make Caesar a divinity right away. Only later, when Caesar was formally deified by decree of the Roman Senate on January 1, 42 b.c., was Venus able carry out her role in Caesar’s deification:112 Venus removed Caesar’s newly deified soul from its current place in her arms (Caesaris eripuit membris . . . /​recentem animam) so it would not be

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dissolved into nothingness and she carried it to the celestial stars (caelestibus intulit astris). And while she carried Caesar’s soul, she felt it seize fire and grow bright and she released it from her bosom. His soul in the form of a star (stella) flies higher than the Moon and sparkles (micat), drawing its flame-​filled radiant brightness on the wide track (flammiferumque trahens spatioso limite crinem). By order of her father, Jupiter, Venus on the morning of Caesar’s deification made sure that the soul of her descendant became a radiant star (iubar).113 This scenario is reflected in the celestial display after sunrise at 9:00 a.m. on the morning of Caesar’s deification, January 1, 42 b.c. (see the central area of visibility in Fig. 7.3). Altair in Aquila [Aql] was in the east. Altair in Aquila represented the initial journey Caesar’s soul had made in 44 b.c. to join the souls of Rome’s most notable citizens who were believed to have taken up residence in the Milky Way, as Cicero had described at the end of his De Republica. Venus was nearby to the southeast in Capricornus [Cap]. Although unseen in the daylight, the location of Venus would have been known to those, like Octavianus and Ovid, who knew the celestial sphere well. According to Ovid, Venus was responsible for effecting this move for Caesar’s soul from the Milky Way.114 On the day of Caesar’s deification, Venus in her celestial manifestation was well placed to carry out the task of directing Caesar’s soul to its more illustrious resting place. Having been transported to the Milky Way initially by Altair in Aquila, Caesar’s soul had been waiting there since his funeral in March 44 b.c. in the company of the souls of Rome’s worthiest citizens. Altair in Aquila, just to the north of the zodiac and within the bounds of the Milky Way, was near Venus at this time. Venus retrieved the soul of her own Caesar from among the countless stars of the Milky Way and set it on its way to its new permanent celestial residence. Caesar’s soul continued its own journey ahead of Venus along the wide track on either side of the ecliptic, the path of the Sun. It traveled on, ending up within the zodiacal constellation Chelae (Libra) and, more precisely, in its brightest star, Zubeneschamali, its final resting place. Conveyed to the star Zubeneschamali in Chelae (Libra), which was an astrological Domicile of Venus, the soul of Caesar, in its celestial manifestation, was thus able to look down upon Jupiter’s Capitoline temple and the Forum Romanum from the vantage of his more illustrious celestial abode.115 With Caesar elevated to the status of divus and with his soul now in its new, more prestigious celestial abode in the zodiac, the triumvirs, and especially Octavianus, turned their attention to exacting revenge upon the assassins of Caesar, the liberators, as they still called themselves, who remained in the East. Very late one night before Brutus and Cassius had crossed over with their armies into Asia, a strange apparition with an unnatural-​looking body (δεινὴν καὶ

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Fig. 7.3.  The morning of Caesar’s deification. January 1, 42 b.c., 9:00 a.m. Rome (41° 53ꞌ N, 12° 29ꞌ E). SkyMap Pro V. 12. By permission of Chris Marriott.

ἀλλοκοτον ὄψιν ἐκφύλου σώματος καὶ φοβεροῦ) and a harsh demeanor (ἀνδρὸς . . . χαλεποῦ τὸ εἶδος) is said to have appeared to Brutus as he was reflecting quietly in his tent, unable to sleep as usual because of his cares and anxieties.116 The apparition identified itself as the evil essential spirit (δαίμων κακός) of Brutus and said that Brutus would see it in the vicinity of Philippi (ὄψει δέ με περὶ Φιλίππους), to which Brutus calmly replied, “I will see you” (ὄψομαι). When Brutus later told Cassius about the apparition, Cassius calmed his fears on the basis of his

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Epicurean beliefs, saying that there was no proof that the δαίμων even existed, and if it did exist, there was no indication that it looked like a human being, that it could speak like one, or that it had any influence. Brutus and Cassius met in Smyrna, a city on the Aegean coast, in the spring of 42 b.c. to coordinate their strategy and to assess the considerable resources at their disposal. Together they had a large army but they were insecure about the environment in which they were operating. The citizens of Rhodes and communities on the mainland in Lycia were reluctant to become their allies because they feared the consequences of crossing the triumvirs even though they were far away in Rome. Brutus and Cassius decided to make of them an example of what would happen to any other communities that refused to take sides. In the spring of 42 b.c., Cassius attacked Rhodes, secured an easy victory, and was harsh in his punishment of the local population. Brutus then moved against the cities of Lycia. The outcome was the same. The treatment of the defeated populations did not escape notice. Brutus and Cassius looked strong and decisive, but they were acting out of fear and weakness, and everyone knew the final showdown was coming. Moving north, seeking a more favorable location for their camps and the impending battle, Brutus and Cassius crossed the Hellespont in late summer and moved into northern Greece. They arrived with their legions at Philippi, a city in eastern Macedonia, hoping to avoid battle as long as they could. Octavianus might have also wished to postpone the final confrontation. He had been suffering from some illness during the month of September and had been left behind at Dyrrhachium. But Antonius, now in his element and with years of military service under Caesar, showed himself to be a natural leader and clever tactician. He moved quickly and boldly on Philippi. Octavianus, still unwell, arrived at Philippi after Antonius had set up camp and had begun engaging in cavalry skirmishes with the enemy. Brutus and Cassius hoped to delay the battle and starve the opposing army, which did not have well-​developed supply lines. Antonius, unwilling to delay, was intent on forcing Brutus and Cassius to engage in battle. The omens in the weeks before the impending confrontation were not particularly good for Brutus and Cassius. Dio listed several unusual and thus disturbing omens in the vault of the heavens that had been visible in early October 42 b.c. both at Rome and at Philippi.117 At Rome, shooting stars flashed in the sky. The Sun changed in size, growing small and then tripling in size, and the Sun even shone once at night. No solar eclipse was visible either at Philippi or Rome in late September or early October 42 b.c. to account for a change in the size of the Sun. But the perception that the Sun had changed in size may be explained by fluctuating atmospheric conditions or the refraction of light when observations of the Sun at the horizon were made at sunrise or sunset. The Sun shining at night may have been a rare meteorological phenomenon known as noctilucent clouds,

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whereby the light of the Sun, already set, is reflected up into clouds containing tiny ice particles. These clouds reflected the Sun’s light back to the Earth and gave the appearance of sunshine at night. Noctilucent clouds could have appeared as far south as Macedonia on a very clear night during the summer preceding the battle. Vultures gathered above the heads of the troops of Brutus and Cassius, looking down at them and screeching in a frightening manner. Two eagles, which had accompanied Brutus and Cassius from the time they had set out for Asia and had set themselves up on the battle standards of their army, flew off on the day before the first battle.118 Brutus and Cassius disagreed about whether they should proceed to fight or not. Brutus prevailed and the engagement took place on the day after the eagles had been seen flying off in the sky. On the morning of the battle, the two armies quietly and somewhat spontaneously arranged themselves in opposite lines.119 Dio considered this battle to be of enormous magnitude because it involved a struggle, unlike other struggles, over freedom and democracy.120 The two stronger and more experienced generals, Cassius on his left flank and Antonius on his right flank, faced each other, while Brutus on his right flank faced Octavianus on his left flank. Cassius, the more experienced and able commander, had granted Brutus the honor of commanding the right flank with his army, which was splendidly decked out in gold and silver armor but smaller than the army of Octavianus.121 Brutus and Cassius urged their soldiers to fight for liberty and democracy. The watchword given by Brutus was either “Freedom” or “Apollo.”122 Brutus is said to have chosen “Apollo” in remembrance of a verse from Homer’s Iliad, which he had quoted earlier during the celebration of his birthday at Carystus.123 In this verse Patroclus said to Hector that ruinous fate and Apollo had destroyed him. The Caesarian forces were nominally commanded by both Antonius and Octavianus, although Antonius was the more experienced and senior of the two and Octavianus had been ill. Antonius and Octavianus urged their soldiers to take vengeance on those who had killed Caesar in order to secure the reward of 20,000 sesterces promised to each of them. Their watchword was also “Apollo.” The soldiers of Brutus moved suddenly before they were ordered to do so. The lines of Brutus and Cassius fell into disorder, but Octavianus’ forces were soon overrun by the troops under the command of Brutus. Octavianus had managed to rouse himself with difficulty from his sickbed, but he was forced to flee his own encampment, narrowly escaping, and he sought refuge in a marsh for three days, an action that neither Agrippa nor Maecenas, Octavianus’ closest friends, denied. In order to save face before Antonius and their battle-​hardened troops, Octavianus said, as he notes later in his memoirs, that he had left his tent and the camp before the battle, warned to do so by a dream of his physician Marcus Artorius.124 The battle became chaotic. The commanders had difficulty following

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the action because of clouds of dust. Communication was difficult, and miscommunications and misunderstandings plagued both sides. Cassius, who had bad eyesight, could not determine accurately who the enemy was. The battle was one in which experience and a cool hand might prove decisive, and that is how it turned out, when Antonius managed to rout Cassius and his forces. Cassius fell into despair, and not realizing that Brutus had defeated Octavianus on the other flank, either committed suicide with the assistance of his freedman Pindarus or was beheaded by him without the order to do so, tragically on the anniversary of his birth.125 Caesar is said to have had a hand in the death of Cassius. An epiphany of the essential spirit (the δαίμων) of Caesar is said to have charged Cassius during the Battle of Philippi, causing him to fall back.126 The dagger Cassius used to commit suicide was the same one he had used to stab Caesar on the Ides of March.127 Brutus mourned the death of Cassius, calling him the “last of the Romans,” and he sent his body secretly to the island of Thasos for burial so as not to cause despair among his remaining troops. The soldiers of Cassius were disaffected but assuaged somewhat by the promise of 2,000 drachmas each and the future plundering of Thessalonica and Sparta. Brutus, however, continued to have to confront and sort out many problems. Antonius and Octavianus were also dealing with issues of provisioning and bad autumn weather which included heavy rain and freezing cold, and with news of the loss of the ships that had been on the way to help them.128 They wished to fight a second battle as quickly as possible because their supplies were running low. Brutus had heard a rumor about these problems, but he chose not to believe the report that his opponents were desperate to engage again and he did not know the full truth of their difficulties until too late. He was forced eventually by the intractability of his soldiers and disaffection among his general staff to head into battle for the second time at Philippi. The date was October 23, 42 b.c.129 The apparition of the evil essential spirit of Brutus (his δαίμων κακός) visited him one more time on the night before the battle but said nothing.130 Again two eagles forecast the outcome.131 They were seen by all the troops to be fighting in the sky in the area between the battle lines. The eagle on the side of Brutus gave up and fled. The sky at sunrise on October 23 appeared to predict the outcome of the battle that aimed to avenge Caesar’s murder once and for all (see the central area of visibility in Fig. 7.4). Caesar’s star Zubeneschamali in Chelae (Libra) [Lib] was in the east ahead of the Sun. Venus, the patron goddess of Caesar, remained in her celestial manifestation in the east in Virgo [Vir], where she had appeared on the day of the first battle in early October as a witness to the partial victory of those who had come to avenge Caesar’s death. Mars, the god of war and father of Romulus, was to the west of Venus in Leo [Leo].

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UTC: 04:44:00 23-Oct-42BC RA: 8h14m52s Dec: +40° 59' Field: 182.0°

Sidereal Time: 08:14:52 Julian Day: 1706377.6972

Fig. 7.4.  The Second Battle of Philippi. October 23, 42 b.c. Sunrise, 6:44 a.m. Philippi, Greece (41° 00ꞌ N, 24° 17ꞌ E). SkyMap Pro V. 12. By permission of Chris Marriott.

The battle lines of the conspirators eventually broke under the assault by the combined forces of Antonius and Octavianus and because of the good fortune of Octavianus himself (δι’ αὐτοῦ Καίσαρος εὐτυχίαν).132 Caesar had even participated indirectly in the battle against Brutus. According to Suetonius, a Thessalian is said to have met Octavianus as he was on his way to Philippi and announced that he would be victorious on the authority of divus Caesar, whose apparition (species) he had met on a trackless path.133 Dio tells a similar story: a Thessalian had

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dreamed that Caesar told him to tell Octavianus to wear an item during the battle that Caesar had worn when he was dictator. Octavianus chose to wear Caesar’s ring.134 The army of Brutus was routed. Brutus fled into the mountains, and on the night of October 23, 42 b.c., Brutus is said to have looked up at the vault of the heavens, which Plutarch says was studded with stars (ἀποβλέψας εἰς τὸν οὐρανὸν ἀστέρων ὄντα μεστόν).135 Brutus quoted a line from Euripides’ Medea that was spoken by Medea to Creon.136 Brutus’ words were recorded by Publius Volumnius, a philosopher, fellow student, and comrade who was with Brutus at the time. Referring to Antonius, Brutus said, “Zeus, let it not escape your notice who is the cause of the evils” (Ζεῦ, μὴ λάθοι σε τῶνδ’ ὃς αἴτιος κακῶν).137 Looking up, Brutus would have been able to see Jupiter in Aries [Ari] in the heavens at the close of evening nautical twilight and throughout the darkness of that night. On the day following his defeat in the Second Battle of Philippi, a despondent Brutus sent some of his officers to investigate the position of the enemy. They returned, led according to Appian by some god who was already weakening them (βλάπτοντος ἤδη τοῦ θεοῦ), and they told Brutus that they would no longer fight with him and that he should save himself.138 Determining that he was no longer of use to his cause and country, Brutus asked Strato of Aegaeae, a member of his household with whom he had studied rhetoric, to assist him in killing himself.139 Brutus quoted beforehand two verses from a Greek tragedy said by Heracles in which Heracles lamented that he worshiped manly excellence (ἀρετή), only to find out that it was enslaved to Fortuna (τύχη).140 Whether Brutus fell upon his dagger, which happened to be the one with which he had stabbed Caesar, with Strato standing nearby, or whether Strato held the dagger upon which Brutus fell is not known. Antonius is said to have been the one who found the dead Brutus. Antonius stood over his body, gently blaming Brutus for ordering the death of his brother Gaius Antonius. He then covered the body with his own valuable crimson cloak and ordered that one of his freedmen see to the burial. The fate of the body of Brutus is not certain. The body may have been cremated and the ashes sent home to Brutus’ mother, Servilia. Or Octavianus may have had only the head of Brutus sent back to Rome. The head either never arrived, having been thrown overboard during a storm at sea as an omen of bad luck, or it arrived in Rome, where it was cast down at the base of Caesar’s statue.141 The deaths of Brutus and Cassius, which were the result of the grievous crime they had committed on the Ides of March in murdering Caesar, who had once spared them, were no surprise. From that time, the divine power had showed its anger with them (τὸ δαιμόνιον αὐτοῖς ἄρα ἐνεμέσησε) and they were doomed men.142 Velleius Paterculus offers an assessment of Cassius and Brutus, upon whom Octavianus had been intent to take vengeance for their role in leading those who had assassinated Caesar.143 This assessment sets the two men in sharp contrast and downplays the events in which

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Brutus demonstrated his arrogance and brutality. Cassius was said to have been the better general, but Brutus the better man. Cassius was the more fearsome enemy but Brutus the better friend. Cassius had more strength but Brutus more virtue. Plutarch later, in his biography of Brutus, also contrasts the two men, focusing on their personal qualities. Cassius was older and more experienced, Brutus younger and less so. Cassius was less distinguished in his lineage and associations than Brutus, who claimed to trace his lineage back to Brutus the regicide of early Roman history.144 Each of the two assassins of Caesar had a different philosophical persuasion. Brutus was a Neoplatonist, Cassius an Epicurean. Each displayed a different temperament. Brutus was said to be gentle and high-​ minded, while Cassius was said to be angry and violent.145 Each rivaled the other, although they were bound by friendship and a familial tie because Cassius was married to Iunia, a sister of Brutus. Their competition with each other may have been fanned by Caesar, who did not much like Cassius. The feeling apparently had been mutual.146 Most of Brutus’ troops were welcomed into the ranks of the triumvirs’ legions. Some of Brutus’ aristocratic compatriots fled. Some were executed. Some capitulated and were granted permission to live. The victory of the Caesarians at Philippi, which had cost many Roman lives, was decisive in determining which side would dominate Roman politics in the immediate future. Antonius and Octavianus tried to marginalize their fellow triumvir Lepidus by redistributing between themselves the portions of the provinces that Lepidus had been given as part of the Pact of Bononia in 43 b.c. Antonius then set out for Asia and Octavianus returned to Italy, apparently falling dangerously ill on the journey back. Octavianus arrived to find that the simplification of the triumviral arrangement did not elevate him as he might have wished. Octavianus had not distinguished himself particularly well on the battlefield at Philippi, and perhaps he had not expected to do so. Afterwards, the furious resentment caused by the confiscations of farms in Italy to pay off the veterans who had fought for the Caesarian cause at Philippi affected Octavianus more than Antonius, who was rightly hailed as the victor in the battles. Temporary setbacks such as these would not have been any surprise to Octavianus. They were, after all, represented in his genitura in the appearance of two unpropitious astrological planets together, Mars and Saturn in Place 8. Octavianus, however, remained confident of his destiny in the long run as it was predicted by the celestial sphere, and he most likely viewed these setbacks as unwelcome but certainly not permanent.

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Antonius, Octavianus, and the Egyptian Mathematicus 39 b.c.

After the deification of Caesar and the victory at Philippi, Antonius and Octavianus began to consolidate power in their respective spheres of interest. Antonius spent the winter of 42–​41 b.c. in the East, settling military and financial matters there, pardoning almost all the supporters of Brutus and Cassius, demonstrating an ostentatious philhellenism, and accepting some rather high accolades for a Roman general. In the summer of 41 b.c., Antonius summoned Cleopatra, the wealthy queen of Egypt, to meet him in Tarsus in Cilicia, ostensibly to blame her for not coming to his aid in avenging the murder of Caesar. Quintus Dellius, the messenger sent to her by Antonius, sized up her character and her potential usefulness and advised her to go to Antonius in extravagant fashion and on her own terms. In response to Antonius’ summons, Cleopatra at first presented an attitude of scorn towards him, but she then chose to make the journey to meet with Antonius in person. She arrived having been rowed up the Cydnus River on a barge clad in gold with purple sails and silver oars, surrounded by musicians and the fragrance of incense. On the barge, she posed herself reclining beneath a canopy like Venus in a painting as Antonius watched from the shore. Cleopatra insisted that Antonius join her on her barge for a feast, and he reciprocated with a feast for her on the next day. She defended herself ably and to Antonius’ satisfaction with regard to her past actions and quickly adapted herself to his personality. Antonius apparently had long been enamored of Cleopatra and he would have had prior contact with her during the time she spent in Caesar’s villa in Rome in the years 46–​44 b.c., but from the time of his meeting with her in Cilicia he became her emotional captive, won over by her irresistible charm, her intelligence, her persuasiveness, and her accomplishments as the queen of Egypt.1

Celestial Inclinations. Anne-​Marie Lewis, Oxford University Press. © Oxford University Press 2023. DOI: 10.1093/​oso/​9780197599648.003.0009

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Antonius spent the winter of 41–​40 b.c. with Cleopatra in Alexandria, where the two of them formed a group of about a dozen close associates called The Society of Those Who Live Life to the Fullest (σύνοδος ἀμιμητοβίων), with whom they spent or squandered, according to Plutarch, their time and Cleopatra’s money by feasting extravagantly and engaging in leisurely pursuits.2 Cleopatra was by now in a much more powerful position than she had been when she had engaged in an affair as a girl with Gnaeus Pompeius, the elder son of Pompeius Magnus, or when she had become the mistress of Caesar. She made demands that Antonius met without question. At her request, Antonius had Cleopatra’s sister, Arsinoe, dragged from her refuge at the Temple of Artemis at Miletus in Ephesus and executed. The situation in Parthia, however, came to distract Antonius from his extramarital relationship with Cleopatra, and he left her in the spring of 40 b.c. while she was pregnant so that he could journey to the East. Cleopatra gave birth later in this year to twins, Alexander Helios (Alexander the Sun) and Cleopatra Selene (Cleopatra the Moon), their names reflecting the Egyptian regime’s interest in celestial matters. While Antonius was away from Rome, Octavianus, although ill, was in Italy, dealing with pressing matters there, especially the problem of the veterans whose settlement on land in eighteen cities in Italy was creating much disaffection among those left dispossessed and without compensation for their losses. Riots had even broken out, encouraged by Antonius’ brother Lucius Antonius (cos. 41 b.c.) and Antonius’ wife Fulvia, who rallied those with grievances as a way of stirring up trouble for Octavianus while continuing to make sure that the population realized that the victory at Philippi over the murderers of Caesar had been due to Antonius alone and not to Octavianus. Spurred on by a breakdown in negotiations with Fulvia and Lucius Antonius and furious at what he perceived as backstabbing, Octavianus began to clean house. He put aside his wife Clodia Pulchra, the daughter of Clodius Pulcher and Antonius’ current wife Fulvia. Clodia Pulchra was barely of marriageable age, and when Octavianus sent her back to her mother, he swore that the marriage had not been consummated. Octavianus’ dismissal of Clodia Pulchra was an indication of his unwillingness to put up any longer with Fulvia and her notoriously difficult temperament and a declaration that he opposed Fulvia and her brother-​in-​law Lucius Antonius but did not wish to make an enemy of her husband Antonius. In the opinion of the historian Velleius Paterculus, Lucius Antonius was a man who had all the faults of Antonius but none of the virtues his brother occasionally demonstrated, and Fulvia was a woman only by virtue of the fact that she had a woman’s body.3 Picking up on the generally dismissive attitude toward Fulvia current among some members of the Roman ruling aristocracy, Octavianus composed an epigram in six verses about Fulvia around this time. This epigram has survived because the

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Roman poet Martial used it later within one of his own short epigrams as his defense against a critic who frowned upon plain speaking (Romana simplicitas) in Latin poetry. Octavianus wrote,4 Quod futuit Glaphyran Antonius, hanc mihi poenam Fulvia constituit, se quoque uti futuam. Fulviam ego ut futuam? quid si me Manius oret pedicem? faciam? non puto, si sapiam. “aut futue; aut pugnemus” ait. quid quod mihi vita carior est ipsa mentula? signa canant! Because Antonius screwed (futuit) Glaphyra, Fulvia decides this penalty for me: I should also screw (futuam) her. I should screw (futuam) Fulvia? What if Manius should beg that I bugger him? Would I? If I’m wise, I don’t think so. “Screw me (futue) or fight me,” she says. What’s the answer to that? My dick (mentula) is dearer to me than life itself. Sound the battle-​cry! Octavianus’ obscene epigram is witty and frank and not without literary qualities. It is rich in its soundplay (the f-​sound runs through the verses), in its metrical play (three elegiac couplets reflect the metrical battle between the dactylic hexameter used in heroic epic poetry and the dactylic pentameter found in elegiac love poetry), in its attention to the length of syllables in three words in the final two verses all ending in -​a (vita, ipsa, mentula), in its wordplay (several forms of futuo are contrasted with several forms of the name Fulvia), and in its use in the final verse of the word signa, which can mean not only a battle cry but also the constellations of the zodiac. It is politically charged. It employs the word mentula, the same word used by the poet Catullus to insult Caesar with regard to his alleged sexual relationship with Mamurra, his prefect of engineers.5 It mentions Manius, the troublemaking procurator of Antonius who roused Fulvia against Octavianus (and would later be put to death by Antonius because of his accusations against Cleopatra). It is also personal in its mention of the courtesan Glaphyra, who was the queen of Cappadocia. Glaphyra may have been a recent object of Antonius’ attentions and she symbolized Antonius’ interest in seducing not only courtesans but foreign queens from the East who wielded power in their kingdoms. Octavianus’ reference to Glaphyra was a slur on Fulvia’s inability to keep the attention of her husband Antonius from straying to a new Eastern rival, Cleopatra of Egypt. Fulvia was possessive of Antonius. Her desire to fight in her husband’s interests was inflamed by her jealousy of Cleopatra and her desire to draw Antonius away from her.6

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According to Plutarch, both women wanted to rule the ruler, Antonius, but Cleopatra was the one who would succeed, thanks ironically to Fulvia, who had tamed her husband and taught him how to obey women.7 The epigram composed by Octavianus paints a portrait of Fulvia that is consistent with what other ancient sources say about her. Like Antonius’ mother, Iulia, Fulvia was not afraid to engage in political matters directly. Twenty years earlier in 63 b.c., Fulvia had been one of Cicero’s agents during his consular year, and she had first married Clodius Pulcher, then briefly his associate Gaius Scribonius Curio (tribune 50 b.c.), and finally Antonius. But Octavianus’ epigram implies that Fulvia, although a crafty, well-​connected adversary poised to be Octavianus’ opponent in battle, was really only doing the bidding of her husband Antonius in threatening to unman his fellow triumvir. The rebellion of Fulvia and Lucius Antonius ended in a showdown with Octavianus at Perusia (modern Perugia), a town northeast of Rome, in the winter of 41–​40 b.c. Before the battle, in which Octavianus was aided by Agrippa, Octavianus made sacrifices, as was customary. The omens that Octavianus had been receiving during these sacrifices were so unfavorable that he sent for more victims in order to get a better result.8 As he was waiting, the enemy suddenly appeared and stole all the sacrificial implements and entrails. What at first was taken to be an unpropitious event became a beneficial one when the haruspices interpreted the raid to mean that all the difficulties Octavianus had been having with his sacrifices would fall upon the enemy who had stolen the entrails. The omens now predicted for Octavianus a successful outcome in the battle. After Octavianus’ victory at Perusia, Lucius Antonius was captured and pardoned but kept under constant watch afterwards. Fulvia was permitted by Octavianus to escape unharmed to Athens, where she is said to have met with Antonius and his mother, Iulia.9 With the instigators gone, only Perusia paid a price for the uprising. An example had to be made of the city if Octavianus was to possess any security in his home base in Italy. Perusia was to have been consigned to Octavianus’ soldiers for plunder, but one of its citizens set his own house on fire beforehand, and all Perusia, with the exception of the Temple of Vulcan, burned to the ground. The rebellion and its aftermath proved to be a turning point for Octavianus, who had struggled to win broad support in Italy. The activities of both Octavianus and Antonius left no room for those trying to sit things out, and other warlords began lining up to support one or the other. Octavianus made a move to court Sextus Pompeius, who was still outside Rome. Having divorced the daughter of Fulvia, Octavianus now tried another marriage as a way to draw Sextus Pompeius into his orbit. He had Maecenas arrange a marriage on his behalf with Scribonia, the younger sister of Lucius Scribonius Libo (cos. 34 b.c.), who was the father-​in-​law of Sextus Pompeius and an avowed supporter of Antonius

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over Octavianus.10 Scribonius Libo is said to have been delighted with the match between Octavianus and his sister, who was older than Octavianus and had been married twice before. Octavianus’ activities in Italy alarmed Antonius, and by midsummer in 40 b.c. Antonius returned to Italy in hopes of pushing back on the gains won by Octavianus in his absence. When Octavianus’ troops would not admit Antonius to Brundisium, Antonius was irate. News came that Fulvia had fallen ill and died in 40 b.c. in Sicyon, downtrodden by the angry reproaches of her husband Antonius because of her failed rebellion.11 Antonius is said to have been saddened nonetheless by Fulvia’s death because their marriage had once been an affectionate one and he felt that he was partly to blame for her passing.12 The praetorian cohorts of both Antonius and Octavianus met with the intention of somehow brokering a truce between the two men. Octavianus was advised to write, as the younger man, to the older Antonius. Octavianus chose instead to write to Iulia, the mother of Antonius, whom he acknowledged as his own Julian kinswoman.13 In the fall of 40 b.c. Antonius celebrated with Octavianus a lesser triumph (an ovatio) at Rome to mark their victory at Philippi and the vengeance accomplished upon the conspirators who had assassinated Caesar. With Fulvia dead and Sextus Pompeius biding his time, Antonius and Octavianus once again found themselves drawn into an uneasy entente, to the great joy of their soldiers. Their alliance was formally ratified in September or October 40 b.c. by the Treaty of Brundisium. The new agreement was negotiated by the two men who would both be patrons of the poet Vergil: Pollio on behalf of Antonius and Maecenas on behalf of Octavianus. As a result of the deal, Antonius was to take provinces in the East, and Octavianus was to take provinces in the West. Lepidus, the third member of the triumvirate, was further marginalized and allowed to have Africa as his province. The Treaty of Brundisium was celebrated with banquets that demonstrated the personae that Octavianus and Antonius had crafted for themselves. Octavianus presented his banquet in a military, Roman style while Antonius presented his banquet in an ostentatious, Egyptian style. Octavianus was now more secure in the West than before, and Antonius was at least able to count on the eastern provinces as a solid base from which to operate. To seal their alliance further, Antonius gave up the traitor Salvidienus to Octavianus. Salvidienus was of obscure equestrian origin. He was an old and trusted friend of Octavianus who had been with him and Agrippa at Apollonia in 44 b.c. before Caesar’s assassination. Salvidienus owed his high position, including the consulship he was intending to hold in 39 b.c., completely to his friendship with Octavianus. The circumstances of Salvidienus’ seeming treachery are murky, but apparently he had been planning to betray Octavianus and go over to Antonius before the Treaty of Brundisium was negotiated. Octavianus

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summoned Salvidienus to Rome and accused him before the Senate, after which Salvidienus was either executed as an enemy of the people of Rome or committed suicide. To bind themselves together more closely and in a less bloody way, Octavianus and Antonius resorted to marriage ties. Octavianus offered his widowed younger sister, Octavia, as a wife to the widowed Antonius even though Octavia had not completed the necessary legal ten-​month mourning period for her first husband, Gaius Marcellus, and was pregnant.14 After the Senate granted a dispensation, this strategic marriage took place, perhaps sometime in October 40 b.c.15 The Treaty of Brundisium had linked Octavianus, Antonius, and Lepidus, but Sextus Pompeius was still a free agent, roving the seas at will and cutting off the supply of food to Rome, with a considerable fleet of about 250 ships under his command. Riots took place in Rome, people were killed, and Octavianus himself was stoned by the mob when he tried to calm the situation. Antonius had to rush down into the Forum Romanum to save him. Sextus Pompeius must have realized that his best option was to make his peace with both Octavianus and Antonius, it now being impossible to divide them. Sextus Pompeius was said to have been poorly educated (studiis rudis) and ill tutored in his speech (sermone barbarus). He was vigorous and swift of action (impetu strenuus, manu promptus, cogitatu celer) but very different from his father, Pompeius Magnus, in his understanding of social obligation and hierarchy (fide patri dissimillimus).16 Sextus Pompeius was nonetheless someone with whom Octavianus and Antonius needed to reckon because of the trouble he had been causing and could potentially keep on causing and because of the popularity of his government in Sicily.17 Antonius invited Sextus Pompeius to a meeting by using Scribonius Libo, the brother-​in-​ law of Octavianus, as his agent. With Scribonius Libo as intermediary, Antonius and Octavianus met Sextus Pompeius at Puteoli, probably in the late summer of 39 b.c.18 Sextus Pompeius arrived with a number of his most magnificent ships and sailed past his opponents in grand fashion as evening was falling. Early the next morning, the meeting was held on platforms set up in shallow water, perhaps to prevent the possibility of ambush or to afford Sextus Pompeius a quick escape. Octavianus and Antonius sat on the platform near the shore. Sextus Pompeius and Scribonius Libo sat on the platform nearest the sea. The platforms were separated by a little space, just enough to make conversation comfortably audible. At first, the negotiations broke down because Sextus Pompeius was under the impression that he had been invited to the meeting in order to take the place of Lepidus in the triumvirate, a change that Antonius and Octavianus had no intention of implementing. Finally, Sextus Pompeius, at the urging of his mother, Mucia, and Antonius, at the urging of his mother, Iulia, met again together with Octavianus on the breakwater at Puteoli, ringed by ships, and came to an

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agreement, the Pact of Misenum, a copy of which was sent to Rome to be stored safely with the Vestal Virgins. Sextus Pompeius was required to end his blockade of Italy, release his troops, cease building ships, and stop engaging in piracy. Concessions were made with regard to the return of the aristocrats still in exile and the restoration of their property and slaves. To celebrate the pact, banquets were held. The first banquet was given by Sextus Pompeius on his impressive flagship, which had six banks of oars and was moored next to the breakwater. At this banquet, the participants joked about the relationship of Antonius and Cleopatra and made some pointed remarks about Antonius having purchased at auction the house in the Carinae district on the Esquiline Hill that had once belonged to Sextus Pompeius’ father, Pompeius Magnus. One of the compatriots of Sextus Pompeius, who is named as either Menas or Menodorus in the ancient sources, is said to have advised Sextus Pompeius that the cables on the ship where they were dining should be cut, offering to do this himself if needed so that Octavianus and Antonius could be taken prisoners.19 Menas was a former slave of Pompeius Magnus whom Antonius had purchased along with the property of Pompeius Magnus. He was now a freedman, pirate, and prefect of the fleet of Sextus Pompeius. By taking the action urged by Menas, Sextus Pompeius would have been able to avenge the deaths of his father and brother, eliminate both Octavianus and Antonius from the political scene at the same time, and make himself ruler. Sextus Pompeius, however, chose not to go back on his word but to let the situation stand as it was. A marriage agreement was also arranged at the banquet. The daughter of Sextus Pompeius was betrothed to Marcus Claudius Marcellus (Marcellus), the nephew of Octavianus and stepson of Antonius. On the next day, consulships were established for the next four years. Scribonius Libo was to serve with Antonius in 34 b.c. Sextus Pompeius was to serve with Octavianus in 33 b.c. Gnaeus Domitius Ahenobarbus, who had been pardoned for his suspected role in the murder of Caesar and was now a partisan of Antonius, was to serve with Gaius Sosius, another partisan of Antonius, in 32 b.c. Antonius was to serve with Octavianus in 31 b.c., after which they were expected to restore the republic to its original form. Antonius hosted the second of the three banquets in tents on the breakwater, and Octavianus hosted the third, also on the breakwater. Despite the outward show of good humor and friendship, suspicions remained. The ships were closely guarded and the participants in the banquets wore concealed daggers. The grand alliance was sealed, thus uniting not only partisans but also three men connected by ties of kinship and marriages to the gens Iulia.20 The populace at Rome rejoiced in the cessation of hostilities, and in order to avoid any potential hostile incidents, Antonius and Octavianus returned to Rome secretly by night in order to deflect any vulgar attention from themselves (νυκτός, ἐκκλίνοντες τὸ φορτικόν).21

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Shortly after their return, Octavianus had to deal in the fall of 39 b.c. with a domestic scandal that had serious political implications. Having married Scribonia only in 40 b.c., Octavianus divorced her in about a year’s time because he said that he could not take any more of her unreasonable expectations (pertaesus . . . morum perversitatem eius).22 The divorce took place perhaps in October 39 b.c., on the very day that Scribonia gave birth to their daughter, Iulia. Scribonia had apparently expressed her unhappiness, according to Antonius, at the influence that one of Octavianus’ mistresses had over him. This mistress may have been Livia Drusilla, whom Octavianus would marry soon after his divorce from Scribonia. Livia was beautiful and she possessed an eminent lineage. She was the daughter of a Claudius Pulcher, who is better known as Marcus Livius Drusus Claudianus, the name he assumed after his adoption by the tribune Marcus Livius Drusus.23 The birth family of Livia’s father could trace its origins back to the legendary Clausus, who is said to have helped Aeneas settle in Italy, and could boast of many famous ancestors in their gens Claudia, both men and women.24 Livia’s mother, Alfidia, was from a less distinguished but wealthy family associated with Fundi, a town located along the Via Appia in Latium. Livia’s more recent history, however, was one that, at first glance, hardly made her a potential wife for the triumvir Octavianus. The men close to her fell on the wrong side politically. Livia’s father had once supported Caesar, Pompeius, and Crassus, the members of the First Triumvirate. He had then shifted his allegiance to support Caesar’s assassins. Proscribed by the members of the Second Triumvirate, Livia’s father joined Brutus and Cassius against Antonius and Octavianus. Livia’s father survived the battle of Philippi in 42 b.c., but not interested in seeking mercy, he committed suicide in his tent.25 Livia was also the wife of Tiberius Claudius Nero (Claudius Nero) (prae. 42 b.c.), who had once been a quaestor of Caesar during the Alexandrine War and a commander of the fleet. Cicero had written a letter of recommendation for Claudius Nero in 51 b.c.26 Livia’s husband had more recently thrown his support behind Fulvia and Lucius Antonius in opposition to Octavianus. After the battle at Perusia, Livia was forced to flee in 40 b.c. to Sicily, where Sextus Pompeius was based, along with her husband and their two-​year-​ old son, Tiberius, who had been born on the sixteenth day before the Kalends of December in the consulship of Lepidus and Plancus (November 16, 42 b.c.).27 Tiberius is said to have spent much of his early life on the run with his parents. After leaving Sextus Pompeius to join Antonius and following some time spent away from Italy in Sparta, where the Claudii had a loyal base of clients, Claudius Nero and Livia were able to return to Italy, perhaps in late summer of 39 b.c., when relations between Octavianus and Antonius had improved.28 How and when Octavianus met Livia is unknown, but the relationship between the two apparently developed at this time with extraordinary speed.

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Octavianus was seriously enamored of Livia by the time of the lavish entertainment he presented on the occasion of the ritual first shaving of his beard when he turned twenty-​five years old on his birthday, September 22, 39 b.c.29 Whatever the personal attraction, Octavianus cannot have been unaware of the beneficial family and social connections Livia would bring him despite the political missteps of her father and current husband.30 Most ancient sources state that Livia was willingly given up to Octavianus (despondente ei Nerone) by her husband when she was pregnant with her second child and then married to Octavianus (nupserat).31 Tacitus, however, says that Octavianus forcibly removed Livia from her husband.32 The marriage of Livia and Octavianus took place not long after the ceremony of the beard but before Octavianus engaged in battle with Sextus Pompeius off Sicily in 38 b.c. Dio places the marriage in the year of the consulship of Appius Claudius Pulcher and Gaius Norbanus Flaccus, 38 b.c.33 The Fasti Verulani dates the marriage to the sixteenth day before the Kalends of February ( January 17) in this year.34 Suetonius in his biography of Claudius, the fourth Roman emperor and grandson of Livia, however, states that the marriage took place three months before the birth of the child Livia was carrying (nupsisset).35 Because the child is known to been born on January 14, 38 b.c. the marriage, according to family history, must have taken place three months earlier in October 39 b.c. Tacitus notes that Octavianus brought Livia before the tutelary deities of his own home, the Penates, while she was pregnant by her first husband (penatibus suis gravidam induxerit).36 One way to reconcile the family date of the marriage (October 39 b.c.) and the public date ( January 38 b.c.) is to assume that a quiet marriage ceremony took place in October 39 b.c. Such a ceremony would perhaps have lessened the public scandal for Octavianus of having his betrothed, six months pregnant by another man, living in his house following the divorce of his second wife on the very day she had given birth. A public celebration of the marriage could then have taken place in January shortly after the birth of Livia’s second son, and this official date was recorded in the monumental fasti. The marriage of Octavianus and Livia is said to have been declared beneficial to the state by auspicious omens (auspicatis rei publicae ominibus).37 One of these omens may have been based on an assessment by a trusted mathematicus. In 42 b.c., Livia is known to have consulted a mathematicus named Scribonius, who promised that her firstborn son Tiberius would have an illustrious career and would rule in the future but without regal status (ac de infante Scribonius mathematicus praeclara spopondit, etiam regnaturum quandoque, sed sine regio insigni).38 The identity of this Scribonius is not certain, but the best candidate might be Scribonius Libo (cos. 34 b.c.), the man who prepared the ground for the Pact of Misenum with Sextus Pompeius. Astrological interests tended to run in families at Rome, and members of the Scribonii would be accused of the treasonous use of astrology in

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a.d. 16 during the reign of Tiberius. Scribonius Libo was also the father-​in-​law of Sextus Pompeius and probably the brother of Scribonia, Octavianus’ former second wife and thus Octavianus’ former brother-​in-​law. Scribonius Libo may also have been associated with Livia through the adoption of his son Marcus Livius Drusus Libo (cos. 15 b.c.) into Livia’s family.39 In late fall 39 b.c., around the time Octavianus had married Livia, Octavianus and Antonius entered a relatively stable period that was buttressed by their familial relationship through the marriage of Octavianus’ sister Octavia to Antonius and by their formal political alliance. The relationship between the two men, however, remained beneath the surface an uneasy one. The differences in their ages and experience, the competing personae both men projected to the Roman people, the imperatives of their followers, and their ambitions remained insurmountable barriers to the creation and maintenance of any real, lasting alliance between the two. This competition, although most evident in their public encounters, played itself out also on the private level. As brothers-​in-​law, Octavianus and Antonius encountered each other often in more relaxed social activities outside of politics, and the two are said to have participated in numerous youthful adventures together.40 An episode that can be dated to the later months of 39 b.c., and more precisely to the period between Octavianus’ return to Rome from a brief trip to settle matters in Gaul in the summer of 39 b.c. and some point in October 39 b.c., after which Antonius left Rome for the East, provides evidence that Antonius and Octavianus engaged with each other in the common Roman pastime of games of chance.41 The Greek biographer and moral essayist Plutarch presented two accounts of the episode, a brief one in his speech on τύχη and a longer one with more precise details in his biography of Antonius.42 Although Antonius’ gaming losses are described in the biography after the prediction, the general scenario in both accounts is the same and they appear to derive from a common source. In the speech on τύχη, Plutarch wrote that during the period when they were allies, Antonius and Octavianus often engaged in pursuits of leisure, such as ball games, bird fights, and gambling with dice.43 Octavianus loved gambling. He played games of chance all year round, at the Saturnalia in December, on holidays, and even on non-​holidays. He was generous in his play, and he remarked that this generosity would raise him up to celestial glory (benignitas enim mea me ad caelestem gloriam efferet).44 Unfortunately for Antonius, whenever they played one of these competitive games of chance together, Antonius inevitably lost to Octavianus, and he undoubtedly wondered why. One day, a member of Antonius’ entourage spoke freely to Antonius. This man is described in Plutarch’s speech on τύχη as someone who took pride in his ability at divination (ἐπὶ μαντείᾳ). He is identified more precisely in Plutarch’s biography of Antonius as a diviner from

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Egypt (τις ἀνὴρ σὺν αὐτῷ μαντικὸς ἀπ’ Αἰγύπτου τῶν γενέσεις ἐπισκοπούντων) who made his predictions based on γενέσεις (geniturae). In other words, this diviner was a mathematicus, a Hellenistic astrologer. Either to do a favor for Cleopatra or simply to advise Antonius frankly, the mathematicus gave Antonius an astrological interpretation in response to the question Antonius must have asked him about his losses. In his speech on τύχη, Plutarch has the diviner address Antonius directly:45 Your δαίμων is frightened of the δαίμων of Octavianus. Your τύχη is important in itself, but it fawns (κολακεύει) on his τύχη. In his biography of Antonius, Plutarch reported first what the mathematicus said:46 Antonius’ τύχη, although being very bright (λαμπροτάτη) and very grand (μεγίστη), was being dimmed (ἀμαυρούσθαι) by the τύχη of Octavianus. Plutarch then provided the interpretation that the mathematicus presented directly to Antonius: “Your δαίμων is frightened of his,” he said. “And although your δαίμων is both prancing (γαῦρος) and sublime (ὑψηλός) on its own, it is made more undistinguished (ταπεινότερος) and more insignificant (ἀγεννέστερος) when Octavianus is drawing near (ἐγγίσταντος).” The key to understanding the meaning of this astrological interpretation lies in determining the correct meanings in context of the words τύχη (tychē in English) and δαίμων (daimon in English), which form the basis for the comparison of the two men. Although τύχη can mean Fortuna, this meaning does not sufficiently illuminate the astrological content of the statement provided by Plutarch. The word τύχη can also mean either one or both of two areas in a genitura: Place 5, an area with a positive influence named ἀγαθὴ τύχη in Greek that Manilius named Daemonie in Latin, or Place 6, an area with a negative influence known as κακὴ τύχη in Greek that Manilius called a gate of toil (porta laboris).47 The prediction relayed by Plutarch gives no clue as to which of the two Places might be involved, as would be required for this meaning of τύχη, and the comment that Antonius’ τύχη fawned on that of Octavianus makes little sense if τύχη is understood to be an astrological Place. Another meaning for τύχη, however, was known during the period of the saeculum Augustum, and this meaning clarifies better the

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astrological meaning of Plutarch’s narrative. Hyginus, who wrote a work of stellar mythology during the later period of the saeculum Augustum, noted that τύχη (Roman Fortuna) was one of the associations, among several, of Virgo.48 The word δαίμων must also be contextualized within the narratives presented by Plutarch. Like τύχη, the word δαίμων could be applied in astrological contexts to a Place. The fortunate Place 11 was known as ἀγαθὸς δαίμων and called felix by Manilius. The unlucky Place 12 was known as κακὸς δαίμων and called an infelix regio by Manilius.49 The description of the δαίμων in Plutarch’s narrative as frightened and prancing, however, is not suitable or sensible for a Place that appears in an astrological genitura. The word δαίμων is better understood in Plutarch’s narrative by its non-​astrological meaning in Roman culture as genius.50 The δαίμων must be distinguished from τὸ δαιμόνιον (the divine power), which was an external force.51 The δαίμων or genius was the guardian spirit of a man and it melded with the being of a man to become his very essence. According to Horace, the genius was a companion on life’s journey (natale comes), a god with a human nature, changeable in its appearance, both good or lucky (albus) and evil or unlucky (ater).52 The genius was honored by a Roman man on his birthday.53 It was the most sovereign part of the soul given to mortals by a god and it raised an individual to his kin in the heavens, as Plato had noted (δαίμονα θεὸς ἑκάστῳ δέδωκε . . . πρὸς δὲ τὴν ἐν οὐρανῷ ξυγγένειαν ἀπὸ γῆς ἡμᾶς αἴρειν).54 Sulla had a dream of his δαίμων calling him, which prompted him to make his will.55 He died later that night. Pompeius Magnus was led to his eventual death by his δαίμων.56 Caesar was led to his death at the base of the statue of Pompeius Magnus by his δαίμων.57 The δαίμων κακός of Brutus (his evil essential spirit) appeared to him before he crossed into Asia and again before the second battle at Philippi.58 The Romans also believed that the δαίμων could survive the death of the individual.59 The δαίμων of the deceased Pompeius Magnus led Caesar to his doom and took its vengeance upon him.60 The δαίμων of the deceased Caesar, in turn, would not rest until it had destroyed all the men who had participated in his murder.61 Cassius the conspirator gave up fighting before his defeat at Philippi was certain, frightened by the appearance of an apparition connected with Caesar’s δαίμων that is said to have taken the form of Caesar wearing the cloak of a general charging on horseback at him as if in battle.62 The δάιμων to which Plutarch refers is therefore best understood in the context of the episode involving Antonius and the mathematicus as the genius or essential spirit of a man. The Egyptian mathematicus made his astrological interpretation to Antonius alone but on the basis of a comparison between the geniturae of Antonius and Octavianus, thus indicating that Antonius knew the substance of the genitura of Octavianus, as Octavianus undoubtedly also knew the substance of Antonius’ genitura. Antonius had no qualms about revealing the elements of Octavianus’

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genitura privately to the Egyptian mathematicus, whom he trusted. The sharing of geniturae among individuals who were well known to each other and in a close relationship of some sort was considered acceptable. Octavianus and Agrippa had witnessed the interpretations of each other’s geniturae during their visit to Theogenes in Apollonia. Maecenas and the poet Horace knew each other’s geniturae.63As in the case of Agrippa and Octavianus, the Egyptian mathematicus did not calculate the placements for the geniturae himself. He provided an interpretation of these placements on the basis of the calculated geniturae presented to him, probably by using a portable astrological board. Sufficient information has survived in ancient sources to enable a full reconstruction of Octavianus’ genitura (see Chap. 5). Information regarding Antonius’ birth information, although not as comprehensive as that of Octavianus, does survive in several places, and from this information, it is possible to establish many of the placements in Antonius’ genitura and compare the relevant parts of it with the genitura of Octavianus. Antonius was probably born in or near Rome. The historians do not provide his birth date, although in his account of the final birthday celebration arranged for Antonius by Cleopatra in 30 b.c., Plutarch implies that Antonius’ birthday fell during a winter month.64 Dio remarked that after Antonius died in 30 b.c., the day of his birth was declared to be corrupted (τὴν τε ἡμέραν ἐν ᾗ ἐγεγέννητο μιαρὰν ἐνόμισαν).65 The Fasti Oppiani and Fasti Praenestini had marked January 14 as vitiosus but did not explain why. It was not until the publication in 1923 of the Fasti Verulani that an explanation for the designation vitiosus became apparent. The nineteenth day before the Kalends of February ( January 14) was marked as “the natal day of Antonius, inauspicious by decree of the Senate,” DIES VITIOSUS EX SENATUS CONSULTO ANTONII NATALIS.66 The emperor Claudius, the grandson of Antonius and Octavia, Octavianus’ younger sister, would later undo the designation of January 14 as inauspicious and corrupted by requesting that January 14, the birthdate that his own father, Drusus, shared with Antonius, be celebrated publicly.67 The birthday of Antonius had occurred before the reform of the Roman calendar by Caesar, on the seventeenth day before the Kalends of February on January 14, in a month that at the time had twenty-​nine days. Following the reform of the calendar, Antonius continued to celebrate his birthday on January 14, even though it fell on the nineteenth day before the Kalends of February, according to the Julian calendar, in which January had thirty-​one days.68 As to the year of Antonius’ birth, Plutarch offered two possibilities in his biography of Antonius. When Antonius died on the Kalends of August, August 1, in 30 b.c., he was either fifty-​six years old or fifty-​three years old.69 By inclusive reckoning counting from the year of birth, Antonius would thus have been born in either 85 b.c. or 82 b.c., probably in Rome. An examination of geniturae

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created for January 14, 85 b.c. and January 14, 82 b.c. provides a means of determining which date is preferable on the basis of both astrological considerations and the narrative in Plutarch’s accounts. In the genitura created for January 14, 85 b.c., Saturn was in Cancer; Jupiter was in Leo; Mars, Venus, and Mercury were in Aquarius; the Sun was in Capricornus; and the Moon was in Virgo.70 In the genitura created for January 14, 82 b.c., Saturn was in Virgo; Jupiter and Mars were in Scorpios; Venus was in Aquarius; Mercury was in Sagittarius; the Sun was in Capricornus; and the Moon was in Scorpios. Since Plutarch’s account focuses on τύχη (Virgo), an examination of Virgo in geniturae created for both of these days provides a means of choosing between the two years. On January 14, 85 b.c. the Moon was in Virgo. On January 14, 82 b.c. Saturn was in Virgo. In his prediction, the mathematicus described Antonius’ τύχη (Virgo) as very bright and very grand, a description that would apply better to the Moon rather than to Saturn. On the basis of Virgo, therefore, 85 b.c. would be the preferable year of Antonius’ birth.71 Virgo was also the only celestial placement that offered the mathematicus an opportunity to make a meaningful comparison of the geniturae of Antonius and Octavianus. In Octavianus’ genitura, calculated for September 22, 63 b.c., the birth date he personally chose to celebrate, the Sun was in Virgo. In this suggested genitura for Antonius the Moon was in Virgo. Antonius’ τύχη (Virgo) was said to have been not as bright or as grand as Octavianus’ τύχη (Virgo), and Antonius’ τύχη (Virgo) was dimmed by Octavianus’ τύχη (Virgo). These descriptions reflected the general astrological importance in a genitura of the Sun, which established the time of birth and ruled the critical first year of the life an individual. The inferiority of Antonius’ τύχη in comparison with the τύχη of Octavianus appears to have been connected by the mathematicus with the weakness of Antonius’ δαίμων in comparison with the δαίμων of Octavianus. In 43 b.c., the consul Pansa is said to have referred on his deathbed to Octavianus as a young man who had been born under a destiny that was reflected in his powerful δαίμων (σὺν δαιμονίᾳ μοίρᾳ γενόμενος).72 In the words of the Egyptian mathematicus, Antonius’ δαίμων was lesser, and although sublime, Antonius’ δαίμων was also prancing and frightened. Antonius’ δαίμων reflected Antonius’ personal qualities, which Plutarch described elsewhere in language similar to that of the mathematicus as boastful, hot-​tempered, given to empty prancing like a horse, and spoiled by a capricious love of receiving honor (πρὸς τὸν βίον αὐτοῦ, κομπώδη καὶ φρυαγ­ ματίαν ὄντα καὶ κενοῦ γαυριάματος καὶ φιλοτιμίας ἀνωμάλου μεστόν).73 The mathematicus had delivered an astrological interpretation in answer to a question Antonius asked about his continuous losses at gaming to Octavianus and on the basis of a comparison of the τύχη (Virgo) in the geniturae of Antonius and Octavianus. An astrological interpretation based on the combined narratives

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from Plutarch’s speech on τύχη and his biography of Antonius reflects the typically limited but precise details and cryptic style of an astrological interpretation and clarifies the issues at hand: Antonius’ Virgo (τύχη) is great in itself but it fawns (κολακεύει) on Octavianus’ Virgo (τύχη). Antonius’ Virgo (τύχη), although being very bright (λαμπροτάτη) and very grand (μεγίστη), is dimmed (ἀμαυρούσθαι) by the Virgo (τύχη) of Octavianus. Antonius’ genius (δαίμων) stands in awe (φοβεῖται) of Octavianus’ genius (δαίμων). Although Antonius’ genius is both prancing (γαῦρος) and sublime (ὑψηλός) when it is by itself, it is made more undistinguished (ταπεινότερος) by Octavianus drawing near (ἐγγίσταντος), and more insignificant (ἀγεννέστερος). According to the Egyptian mathematicus, however, Antonius’ difficulties were far greater than merely losing to Octavianus at dice throwing or cockfighting. The mathematicus warned Antonius,74 My good fellow, what is your business with this young man? Get away from him. You are more popular, you are more senior, you rule more men, you have fought in more wars, you excel in experience, but your essential spirit (δαίμων) is frightened of his. Your τύχη [Virgo] is important as it is, but it fawns (κολακεύει) on his τύχη [Virgo]. If you do not go far away, your experience (ἐμπειρία) will be undone (οἰχήσεται) after it has passed over (μεταβᾶσα) to him. Antonius’ future success at everything was at issue. If Antonius did not distance himself from Octavianus, all the knowledge he had gained in assembling allies over many years and in fighting battles would be lost to Octavianus, who would gather Antonius’ experience to himself and then use it to propel himself forward. The comparison of the geniturae of Octavianus and Antonius indicated that Antonius did not have the support of the celestial sphere. Antonius is said to have had more interest in mundane pursuits such as carousing and soldiering than in celestial matters, but he too was apparently open to receiving guidance from the heavens. According to Plutarch, Antonius took the advice of the Egyptian mathematicus seriously, accepted the recommendation readily, and left Italy immediately to settle matters in the East, after which he spent a pleasant time in Athens as a private citizen during the winter months of late 39 b.c. through early 38 b.c. in the company of his wife Octavia, who had given birth to their firstborn child, a daughter Antonia.75 While in Athens, Antonius put aside his official Roman military and civic garb and took to

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dining in Greek fashion, attending Greek lectures, socializing with Greeks, and dressing like a Greek in a Greek tunic and Attic shoes. Publicly, Antonius and Octavia were the recipients of extravagant Eastern honors, such as being hailed as Benefactor-​Gods (Θεοὶ Εὐεργεταί), and Antonius acknowledged for all to see a divine association he claimed for himself with the god Dionysus (Bacchus).76 He also accepted the betrothal to the goddess Athena arranged by the Athenians for him and received from them in return a dowry of four million sesterces. At the time of the gaming episode of 39 b.c. and afterwards, Octavianus was still lesser than Antonius in terms of reputation, power, and overall support of both the military and the people. But if Octavianus had heard about the prognostication the Egyptian mathematicus presented to Antonius, he would have received yet another indication of the continuing support of τύχη for him. The superiority of Octavianus’ τύχη was not unknown. Appian attributed the efforts of Octavianus’ soldiers in pushing back the enemy at the Second Battle of Philippi in 42 b.c. either to fear of famine or the good τύχη (εὐτυχία) of Octavianus.77 According to Plutarch, Octavianus himself wrote that his τύχη was the thing responsible for the making of him (καθάπερ ἔργῳ μεγάλῳ δημιουργὸν ἐπιγράψας ἑαυτῷ τὴν τύχην).78 Octavianus’ τύχη was so powerful that it could destroy a great general like Antonius just as a reef might wreck a ship (τῆς τύχης Καίσαρος τίθημι, περὶ ἣν ὡς ἕρμα κατέδυ καὶ συνετρίβη τηλικοῦτος αὐτοκράτωρ). Astrologically, the Sun was in Virgo (τύχη) in Octavianus’ genitura and in the area of the Ascendant, one of the two most powerful Cardinal Points. The celestial sphere had also reflected the prominence of Virgo (τύχη) from the moment of Octavianus’ birth, when Virgo had been rising in the east. At sunset, during the seven days of the ludi he had presented in September 44 b.c. in honor of Caesar, the Sun in Virgo had been in the west. At sunrise on the day of the first battle of Philippi on October 2, 42 b.c., the Sun had also been in Virgo. The awareness Octavianus had of the capricious but powerful τύχη and the personal confidence he had that his Virgo (τύχη) was known to be superior by those in his closest circle must have given him further motivation to press on to what he was convinced would be ultimate ­success. He could wait until the celestial predictions of superiority came to fruition and until the means to oust his rival appeared—​if in the end it were necessary to do so.

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Octavianus, Antonius, and the Banquet of the Twelve Gods 38 b.c.

Although the predictions of Antonius’ astrologer in the fall of 39 b.c. may have confirmed Octavianus’ perception that the celestial sphere was favorable to him, Antonius continued in his role as the leading figure among the triumvirs as he campaigned in the East in the winter months of early 38 b.c. While Antonius was away, Octavianus remained at Rome, where his third wife Livia gave birth to her second son, Nero Claudius Drusus (Drusus), when she was already a member of the household of Octavianus (quem intra Caesaris penates enixa erat Livia).1 Drusus was born about three months after the marriage of his mother to Octavianus in the fall of 39 b.c., on January 14, 38 b.c., a birthdate he shared with Antonius.2 A little verse in Greek went around among the people of Rome at the time of the birth of Drusus that proclaimed how only thοse blessed by τύχη had children after three months instead of after the usual nine or ten months (τοῖς εὐτυχοῦσι καὶ τρίμηνα παιδία).3 Around the time of Drusus’ birth the rumor began to circulate that Octavianus was really the father of Drusus, which is unlikely, given that the child would have had to be conceived in the spring of 39 b.c. while Livia was married to her husband Claudius Nero and away from Italy. The suspicion that Drusus was the son of Octavianus nonetheless became part of the ancestral narrative of the emperor Claudius, who was the youngest of the three children of Drusus.4 To counter the contemporary gossip, Octavianus sent the baby back to his father in order that he might acknowledge his son and raise him, as was the usual custom. Octavianus recorded the episode in his memoir (ἐς τὰ ὑπομνήματα ἐγγράψας) stating that he, Caesar (as Octavianus called himself ), sent the child born to Livia, his own wife, back to Claudius Nero, the father (Καίσαρ τὸ γεννηθὲν Λιουίᾳ τῇ ἑαυτοῦ γυναικὶ παιδίον Νέρωνι τῷ πατρὶ ἀπέδωκε).

Celestial Inclinations. Anne-​Marie Lewis, Oxford University Press. © Oxford University Press 2023. DOI: 10.1093/​oso/​9780197599648.003.0010

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Drusus would return to the household of Octavianus and Livia along with his older brother, Tiberius, after the death of their father in 33 b.c. because Claudius Nero gave Octavianus guardianship over his two sons in his will.5 In the spring of 38 b.c., a meeting was scheduled at Brundisium between Antonius and Octavianus but it did not come to pass, leaving the relationship between the two triumvirs on uncertain terms. Around the same time, the detente between Octavianus and Sextus Pompeius was beginning to fracture. Octavianus accused Sextus Pompeius of continuing to engage in piracy. Sextus Pompeius denied the allegations, but he may have been secretly attempting to accumulate resources in case war broke out between the triumvirs. Antonius, concerned that the balance of power might become unstable, tried to warn Octavianus not to violate the agreement with Sextus Pompeius. Menas, the prefect of the fleet of Sextus Pompeius, deserted to Octavianus and was given command of a ship. Octavianus, to allay the suspicion that he was responsible for breaking the treaty, blamed Sextus Pompeius and thus presented his casus belli. Octavianus then unwisely engaged with Sextus Pompeius at sea in the Straits of Messina off Cumae. Sextus Pompeius was superior in naval forces and expertise, and Octavianus lost the battle and fled from his own ship onto the rocky shore and into the mountains with the other survivors. He awoke the next morning to find his ships burning or smashed on the rocks and then had to struggle against the elements when a violent windstorm damaged the rest of the ships and destroyed more of his men. Octavianus, having failed in his attempt to assert his independence from Antonius and defeat Sextus Pompeius, despondently returned to Italy to gather the money necessary to build new ships and hire replacement rowers. At Rome, the populace was becoming openly contemptuous of Octavianus because of the continuing grain shortages that were due to the renewed piratical activities of Sextus Pompeius and because of Octavianus’ lack of success in military engagements. Around this time a two-​verse epigram regarding Octavianus’ excessive gambling and inability to be victorious was written in the iambic trimeter of tragedy by one of the allies of Sextus Pompeius; perhaps the author was Gaius Cassius Parmensis (Cassius Parmensis), who was an ally of Sextus Pompeius:6 After he was beaten twice at sea, he lost his ships. In order to claim a victory once in a while, he constantly gambles with dice (ludit assidue aleam). Octavianus was very fond of gambling and, as Plutarch had noted, he often beat Antonius handily at such games of chance. But Octavianus had gambled wrongly on a sea battle. He had failed to heed Antonius’ advice about not engaging with Sextus Pompeius, which was not as self-​serving as it might have seemed

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to Octavianus at the time. Octavianus must have learned a valuable lesson about himself from the incident. He may have been Caesar’s adopted son, but he was not yet Caesar’s heir when it came to the battlefield. Octavianus, however, had already shown that he was never going to be deterred by a temporary setback like this. Shortly after, despite these many difficulties, Octavianus felt confident enough to host a costly and elaborate private banquet (cena) described by the Greek nickname δωδεκάθεος (“Of the Twelve Gods”). Suetonius’ biography of Augustus is the only extant historical source to mention this particular banquet, but Suetonius states that he drew on earlier accounts.7 Suetonius devotes two chapters in his biography to a discussion of the fondness Octavianus had throughout his life for convivial banquets, which he is said to have held constantly and with careful attention to the formalities, conversation, appropriate entertainment, and rank of those on the guest list.8 But Suetonius included this Banquet of the Twelve Gods not in this section of his biography but in a section that provided examples of the poor judgment Octavianus demonstrated in the earlier years of his public life between 39 b.c. and 32 b.c. Undoubtedly because it is but one example of Octavianus’ alleged failings in this area, Suetonius’ story of the banquet omits important historical details, such the precise date on which the banquet occurred, the circumstances surrounding Octavianus’ hosting of the banquet, the names of the guests in attendance, and the identity of the twelve gods for whom the banquet was named. Suetonius relied on two contemporary sources for his account: letters written later by Antonius but based on contemporary accounts and an epigram written at the time of the banquet or shortly after. The existence of the epigram, which was very well known, suggests that the banquet really did take place and was not merely a fiction made up in letters written later by Antonius to discredit Octavianus as part of his war of propaganda against Octavianus, which was waged in the late 30s b.c. before their final showdown at the Battle of Actium. Antonius’ version of the banquet and of the reports of dissatisfaction among the populace that followed was based on contemporary accounts, hearsay, rumor, and the epigram but not on Antonius’ own personal experience, because Antonius, it appears, did not attend the banquet himself. Antonius’ letters provide the historical context for the banquet. In the letters, Antonius sharply criticized Octavianus for the role he played at the banquet, accusing him of performing at the banquet in the guise of a bard inspired by the god Apollo (ipsum pro Apolline ornatum). Antonius also brought up as a reproach that at this banquet guests reclined at table while they were dressed up as gods and goddesses (in qua deorum dearumque habitu discubuisse convivas). Antonius even listed the guests, naming them with very biting sarcasm (amarissime). Suetonius does not provide the names of the guests and they are now lost to us. The guests may

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have been aristocrats who supported Octavianus in 38 b.c. and whom Antonius intended to suffer some social embarrassment or political loss by naming them in association with the scandalous banquet hosted by Octavianus several years earlier. This possibility, however, is not likely, because in 38 b.c., Octavianus and Antonius were brothers-​in-​law who were on reasonably good terms, and the supporters of Octavianus would likely have been favorably disposed to both men during this period of entente. By the time of the war of propaganda that began to be waged by Octavianus and Antonius with increasing viciousness in the late 30s b.c., a clear line came to be drawn between the two men, and no one of their adherents would have been ashamed to be named a supporter of one or the other. Suetonius’ omission of the names of the guests may also be due to the fact that he thought that he did not need to name the guests, because they were not the focus of his biography. It is more likely, however, that by omitting the names of the guests at the banquet Suetonius is implying that the guests were unworthy of being identified for some reason. Suetonius remarked, probably using Antonius’ letters as a source, that the amount of money Octavianus spent feasting with his guests at the banquet offended the citizen body, which was at the time suffering from food shortages and starvation (penuria et fames). The people complained loudly that the “gods” had eaten all the grain and that Octavianus was not just “Apollo.” He was Apollo the Torturer. The second source included by Suetonius, the anonymous contemporary epigram, may have been written by someone who attended the banquet or perhaps even in the third person by Octavianus, the host of the banquet, who liked to compose witty epigrams, especially at the time of bathing before dinner (tempore balinei).9 At some point Octavianus even gathered up his epigrams and published them in a little book. The epigram about the banquet consists of three elegiac couplets (repetitions of a verse in hexameters followed by a verse in pentameters), which was the meter employed by contemporary poets such as Propertius, Tibullus, and Ovid, who wrote on both matters of the heart and politics during the saeculum Augustum:10 Cum primum istorum conduxit mensa choragum, Sexque deos vidit Mallia sexque deas, Impia dum Phoebi Caesar mendacia ludit, Dum nova divorum cenat adulteria : Omnia se a terris tunc numina declinarunt, Fugit et auratos Iuppiter ipse thronos. The first verse of the epigram describes a table of guests at the banquet (istorum . . . mensa) having chosen the producer (conduxit . . . choragum): that is,

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the coordinator of the playacting that was to take place at the banquet. The demonstrative adjective iste is used to describe these guests. The second verse of the epigram may indicate that Octavianus set up a head table at the banquet in the form of a lectisternium for six gods and six goddesses (sexque deos . . . sexque deas), who are unnamed in the sources for the banquet. A lectisternium was a ritual that involved the setting out of statues of divinities on dining couches at a public banquet to symbolize that the divinities were in attendance at the banquet. The images of the divinities were served food as offerings to secure their assistance at times of difficulty for the state. According to Livy, the first lectisternium was held in 399 b.c. on the advice of the Sibylline Books in an effort to rid the community of a plague. Images of the divinities Apollo, Latona, Diana, Hercules, Mercury, and Neptune were placed in public on three dining couches (stratis lectis). Because the situation was so dire, the citizens also held a lectisternium in their own homes.11 Livy describes a lectisternium held in 217 b.c. during the Second Punic War, at which six female Olympian divinities paired with six male Olympian divinities were placed on six dining couches (sex pulvinaria), two to a couch: Jupiter and Juno, Neptune and Minerva, Mars and Venus, Apollo and Diana, Vulcan and Vesta, and Mercury and Ceres.12 A lectisternium was also held on the Saturnalia in 217 b.c. in honor of Saturn after a sacrifice had been made at the Temple of Saturn in the Forum Romanum.13 The third and fourth verses of the epigram describe the role of Octavianus (Caesar) at the banquet. Octavianus performed not in the person of Apollo but with the conceit that he was inspired by Apollo (ipsum pro Apolline ornatum). Octavianus mimed the wicked lies of Phoebus that broke the sacred bonds between gods and mortals (impia dum Phoebi Caesar mendacia ludit) and that would have included most notably those lies Phoebus had told that led to his rapes of mortal women. Octavianus loved to jest with close friends and he was fond of the mime, as Ovid implies in one of the poems in his Tristia, which he later wrote in Tomis, where he was in exile.14 Mime was a popular improvised performative art during the period of the saeculum Augustum and consisted of the telling of a story, often scandalous and indecent, using gestures, words, and song. The actors were unmasked and women could take the female roles. The mime actress Volumnia Cytheris, for example, was famous, and she moved in elevated social circles as the mistress of prominent Romans, including Antonius and the poet Gallus. Cicero reported to Atticus in 49 b.c. the shocking gossip that Cytheris was seen being carried around Rome with Antonius like a second wife in an open litter accompanied by seven other litters filled with friends of Antonius, both men and women.15 Cicero, who had relished the convivial atmosphere of a dinner party himself, even attended a banquet in 46 b.c. at which Cytheris was a guest.16 Many mime performances were titled after professions, and several by the sharp-​tongued Decimus Laberius, the

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eques who had performed in a contest of mimes at the ludi following the dedication of Caesar’s Temple of Venus Genetrix in 46 b.c., took their names from constellations of the zodiac: Aries, Taurus, Cancer, Virgo, and Gemelli (Gemini).17 Like the bard Demodocus, who sang of the adultery of Aphrodite and Ares at the banquet given for Odysseus by King Alcinous of the Phaeacians, Octavianus also dished out during the banquet stories about the latest adulteries of the divine beings (nova divorum cenat adulteria).18 The fifth verse of the epigram refers to divinities (numina) and the sixth verse refers to Jupiter (Iuppiter). These references are more meaningful than what they seem to be at first glance. They suggest that the epigram reflects the celestial display that served as the backdrop on the day on which the banquet was held. The most important clue regarding the day on which the banquet was held is the description in the epigram of the invited guests at the banquet as istorum . . . mensa. The word iste can imply both possession and a sense of social inferiority, and it would have been a particularly appropriate modifier if those in attendance as guests at the banquet were not relatives or friends of Octavianus but individuals of lesser social status who were associated with Octavianus and his household. If this is the case, Antonius could easily have found a well-​ remembered event in the past that he could use as part of his later propaganda campaign to try to diminish Octavianus by declaring that Octavianus had dined with social inferiors, whose unimportance became obvious when their names were listed in the original source that Suetonius consulted. This slur would have supported accusations made by Antonius and Cassius Parmensis with regard to the maternal ancestor of Octavianus as an African, possibly servile, who worked in a bakeshop (pistrinum) in Aricia, and with regard to the paternal ancestor of Octavianus as a former slave who was a rope-​maker in the area around Thurii.19 After the banquet, the people had called Octavianus Apollo the Torturer, a name that may have alluded to his alleged slave ancestry and one that was used for Apollo in association with the place where slave witnesses in judicial proceedings were tortured for evidence. This place was located on the Esquiline Hill, where Antonius lived in the Carinae section in the grand house formerly belonging to Pompeius Magnus. The mention of the place in which slaves were tortured offers an important clue to the likely identity of the guests at the banquet as slaves, whom Suetonius had deemed unworthy of identification in his biography. Certainly, free members of the general Roman population, who were suffering such deprivations at the time, would have complained more bitterly if the guests dressed up as gods and goddesses who supped so well at Octavianus’ banquet were his household slaves. Aristocrats may have been expected to dine well, but the household slaves of Octavianus were not.

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A guest list of slaves would certainly have been unthinkable for one of Octavianus’ banquets on any ordinary day of the year but it would make sense if the banquet were held during the Saturnalia in December. A similar situation is described by the fifth-​century a.d. antiquarian Macrobius, who was referencing earlier Roman customs. During Macrobius’ day, in households that followed the customs of the festival (religiosae domus), a banquet was prepared for the household slaves (famuli) as if for the enjoyment of the master (tamquam ad usum domini) during the Saturnalia.20 After this slave banquet was finished, the table was reset for the master, who then dined. Octavianus appears to have conflated the two banquets into one on this occasion. Octavianus is said to have celebrated holidays and anniversaries with generosity and humor. Especially at the Saturnalia, he was fond of surprising his guests either with desirable gifts, such as clothing, gold, silver, and valuable old coins, or with joke gifts having double meanings, such as sponges, pokers, tongs, and items made of goats’ hair.21 At the Saturnalia, in particular, role reversals among master and slaves, role playing, general atypical social behaviors, and topsy-​turvy situations were not only tolerated but also encouraged.22 The appearance of a public lectisternium, a ritual traditionally held on occasions of some national emergency, in a domestic setting during a time of famine at a banquet hosted by the triumvir Octavianus; the attendance of slaves as guests; and the assumption by Octavianus, the son of the divine Caesar, of the role of mime and singer inspired by Apollo are consistent with a banquet held in a private home during the feast of the Saturnalia in mid-​December, at which playful verses composed without any expected negative consequences were part of the celebration.23 Octavianus’ choice of subject matter for his songs, the adulteries and immoralities of the Olympian gods, who were his own divine Julian kin, would have been appropriate entertainment at a banquet held during this festival, as would his active participation in performing these scandalous stories. The contemporary epigram contains not only clues to the identity of those in attendance and the kinds of events that took place at the banquet, probably during the Saturnalia, but also veiled celestial allusions that precisely indicate the year in which the banquet that so outraged the Roman populace may have been held. First, Octavianus was said in the epigram to have made sport of the adulteries of Phoebus, who is the Sun in his celestial manifestation. Second, the word Mallia in the second verse of the epigram may also be a celestial reference, but not in the form it appears in current texts of Suetonius’ account. This word has long remained inscrutable and problematic. Some theorize that the word derives from the name of the owner of the house in which the banquet was held. Publius Mallius, Aulus Manlius Torquatus, or an unknown woman named Mallia have been suggested as possibilities.24 The word Mallia, however, may not be correct in

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the text as it appears today.25 The letters l and i are commonly confused in manuscripts and dittography is not uncommon.26 The word Mallia, therefore, could be a scribal error that has been passed down in manuscripts, an easy corruption for Mālia (noted as the suggested preferable reading within the second verse of the epigram as ), which maintains the length of the first syllable and therefore the meter. Mālia would also be a better reading than Mallia in this context. The adjective mālius was applied to things or individuals associated with Mālis, the southern part of Thessaly.27 Greek Artemis (Roman Diana) had an important cult site there, and the goddess, in the guise of Hecate, also had associations with this region. Both Diana and Hecate were associated with the Moon. Mālia therefore might be a reference to the presence of the Moon above the horizon during the time at which the banquet was held. This usage of Mālia, an adjective connected with a place, for the goddess of the Moon would parallel the usage of Cytherea, an adjective connected with a place, the island Cythera, that was sacred to Venus.28 Third, the numina, or divine beings, mentioned in the epigram might be planetary deities that were in the heavens at the beginning of the banquet but slipped away one by one from the sky during the course of the banquet (omnia se a terris tunc numina declinarunt).29 And fourth, Iuppiter might be identified as the planet Jupiter, singled out because of its notable emergence into the sky at some point during the hours of the banquet. During the years 39 through 32 b.c., only one year, 38 b.c., presents a celestial display for the first day of the Saturnalia that fits exactly the veiled references to the celestial entities that appear to be present in the epigram.30 Roman banquets usually began in the late afternoon. At sunset on the first day of the Saturnalia, the sixteenth day before the Kalends of January (December 17) in 38 b.c., the celestial display matches the clues that appear in the second verse (Mālia), the third verse (Phoebi), the fifth verse (numina declinarunt), and the sixth verse (Iuppiter) of the epigram (see the central area of visibility in Fig. 9.1). As the banquet was underway, Mālia (the Moon), 97% full, could be found in Gemini [Gem] in the east. Phoebus the Sun in Sagittarius [Sgr] was setting in the west and in close proximity with two planetary numina, Mercury and Venus in Capricornus [Cap]. Saturn in Aquarius [Aqr] was not far behind them. These planets were heading toward their own settings (declinarunt), which would occur during the time the banquet was in progress. The image of the planets, luminaries, and constellations rising from the ocean at the eastern horizon and setting into the ocean at the western horizon was as old as Homer and common still in Roman poetry.31 By 7:00 p.m., the Sun, Mercury, and Venus had disappeared below the western horizon. Shortly before 10:00 p.m., Saturn also disappeared below the western horizon. In the east Jupiter (Iuppiter) in Virgo [Vir] had fled (fugit) toward the golden throne (auratos . . . thronos), which was an expression used for the Sun’s rising point at

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Fig. 9.1.  Near the beginning of the Banquet of the Twelve Gods. December 17, 38 b.c. Sunset, 4:43 p.m. Rome (41° 53ꞌ N, 12° 29ꞌ E). SkyMap Pro V. 12. By permission of Chris Marriott.

the eastern horizon (see the central area of visibility in Fig. 9.2).32 By 10:00 p.m., during darkness, Jupiter in Virgo [Vir] had joined the bright Moon in Gemini [Gem] to witness the banquet that was taking place in Octavianus’ house on the Palatine Hill. The contemporary epigram provided in Suetonius’ account can be reinterpreted, therefore, as both an account of the festivities held at Octavianus’ house

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Fig. 9.2.  Near the end of the Banquet of the Twelve Gods. December 17, 38 b.c. 10:00 p.m. Rome (41° 53ꞌ N, 12° 29ꞌ E). SkyMap Pro V. 12. By permission of Chris Marriott.

on December 17, the first evening of the Saturnalia in 38 b.c., and as a description of the celestial display at sunset and during the night on the day on which the banquet was held: As soon as a table of those house-​slaves led in the producer, Mālia the Moon saw six gods and six goddesses lying on couches. While Caesar Octavianus made fun of the immoral lies of Phoebus the Sun and while

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he sang of new adulteries of the gods, Mercury, Venus, and Saturn in their celestial manifestations inclined themselves downward, and Jupiter in his celestial manifestation fled toward the golden throne of the eastern horizon. In the topsy-​turvy world of the Saturnalia, the slave-​g uests dressed as gods and goddesses chose the master of ceremonies for the evening. Under the inspiration of Apollo, Octavianus mimed and sang of the amorous exploits of the Olympian gods who were members of his Julian family. Some of these gods may have been represented by the twelve statues set out in a lectisternium as the head table. Octavianus and his father Caesar before him had made it an accepted fact at Rome that the Olympian gods were their own divine ancestors and so their symbolic attendance at Octavianus’ private banquet would have been welcome. Some of the gods and goddesses who were represented at the banquet by the statues lying on couches may have also witnessed the banquet hosted by Octavianus on the Saturnalia from above in their celestial manifestations. From the beginning of the banquet an almost full Moon (Mālia) representing Diana would have been aloft in the sky and would have beheld with astonishment the upside-​down world of the banquet being held below. The Moon would have remained in the sky throughout the entirety of the banquet as the celestial divinities Phoebus Apollo the Sun, Mercury, Venus, and Saturn dropped in turn below the western horizon into the ocean and as Jupiter rose above the eastern horizon to join the Moon in the heavens when the banquet was nearing its conclusion. Perhaps Octavianus even took his guests outside his Palatine house during the banquet to see the bright Moon and to witness the appearance of celestial Jupiter in the heavens, much as Cicero might have pointed up to Jupiter in the night sky at the conclusion of the momentous day, December 3, 63 b.c., on which he had publicly revealed that the Allobroges had reversed their offer of foreign aid to Catilina, and on which he had called upon the citizens of Rome to offer their prayers to Jupiter. Octavianus had purchased this house on the Palatine Hill in 43 b.c. at a good price after the proscription and execution of its owner, Quintus Hortensius Hortalus, the eldest son of the famed orator of the same name, who had supported the assassins of Caesar, and he had begun living there in 41 b.c. This Palatine house had a room on an upper floor to which Octavianus retired when he needed to take refuge or to do anything privately without interruption. He used to call this room by two different names: technyphion, a Latinized form of the Greek word τεχνύφιον, a place for the practice of a τέχνη (a serious skill) and Syracusa, a name that would have brought to mind the mathematician Archimedes of Syracuse and the astronomical orrery associated with him that had been brought to Rome in the late third century b.c.33 The location of

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Octavianus’ Palatine house is known but this room and its possible terrace, being on an upper floor, are gone today.34 If this room had a terrace, as is quite likely, Octavianus may have not only pointed out the presence of Jupiter and the Moon in the heavens near the conclusion of the banquet but also regularly observed the heavens there at night from the comfort of his own home.35 If the banquet given by Octavianus in December 38 b.c. can be explained as part of the aberrant behavior demanded at celebrations of the Saturnalia, Octavianus’ choice of house-​slaves as guests and his role as inspired performer at the banquet would have been acceptable within the confines of these subversive festivities. A public lectisternium held in a private setting was another inversion of the normal course of things, much as celestial display, which was ordinarily referenced at public events held outdoors, was on this occasion employed at a private banquet held inside. Given that the banquet was held possibly during the Saturnalia when subversions were common and expected, why did Antonius think later that he could successfully use this private banquet in his propaganda against Octavianus several years after the event had taken place? Antonius and those close to him probably understood both the celestial implications of the banquet at the time it took place and the cleverness and confidence with which Octavianus called upon his celestial kin to join him in celebrating the feast of the Saturnalia in 38 b.c. Five of these celestial divinities (Phoebus Apollo the Sun, Diana the Moon, Mercury, Venus, and Saturn) had been in the heavens in their celestial manifestations to witness the beginning of the banquet. Two of these divinities (Diana the Moon and Jupiter) had been in the heavens at its conclusion. The fact that Octavianus had made no secret, however, that he had the power to invite most of his celestial kin (with the exception of Mars) to attend the banquet held in his home on the first day of the Saturnalia in 38 b.c. would have served as a bold declaration of the support of his celestial Julian family, something that up to this point, Octavianus had been rather cautious about displaying too obviously. The emergence during the banquet of Virgo bearing Jupiter, both of which had been of significance to him since the day of his birth, at the eastern horizon towards the closing of the banquet was also another indication that Octavianus’ astrological Virgo (τύχη) was greater than Antonius’ τύχη. Perhaps Antonius’ later attack on Octavianus’ banquet was more than an example of political opportunism. It was also personal. That may be why Antonius’ later comments on the banquet were so sarcastic. He saw the banquet for what it was—​a blatant reminder of his celestial inferiority to Octavianus. The celestial display at the Banquet of the Twelve Gods to which the epigram referred served the purpose of reminding Octavianus’ friends and his enemies that he was a member of the family of the Olympians, especially in the late 30s b.c., when they must have been wondering how the triumvirate would unwind and whether they would end up on the losing side or not.

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From Naulochus to Actium 37–​3 1 b.c.

In the months following the controversy over the Banquet of the Twelve Gods, political and military success continued to elude Octavianus. Sextus Pompeius had defeated Octavianus at sea in 38 b.c., but Sextus Pompeius continued his defensive posture and did not press the advantage he could have acquired. After that setback, Octavianus had called upon Antonius for assistance once again, and Antonius agreed to put aside their disagreements and journey back from the East, arriving in the spring of 37 b.c. with 300 ships.1 Octavianus, who was feeling aggrieved at Antonius for various slights, put off the meeting with Antonius several times, much to Antonius’ vexation. Octavianus’ despondency, however, was lifted somewhat by the victory of Agrippa in Gaul. Octavianus generously offered Agrippa a triumph for his campaign in Gaul, but Agrippa declined to celebrate it because Octavianus himself was faring so poorly in his military efforts. Agrippa turned his attention instead to fitting out Octavianus’ fleet for the expected engagement with Sextus Pompeius. Octavianus then went to Tarentum with Maecenas as his chief negotiator to meet with Antonius. This face-​to-​face meeting came to pass only because Octavia had intervened and convinced Octavianus to meet with Antonius by conveying to Octavianus her misery at being forced potentially to have to choose between her brother, Octavianus, and her husband, Antonius, only one of whom could be victorious.2 Both men arrived for the meeting near Tarentum at the same time. They met in the middle of a river after each had been rowed out in a small boat to meet the other. They then argued over which bank of the river would be their common point of debarkation. Octavianus prevailed after claiming he was going to Tarentum to visit Octavia, who was now perhaps pregnant again for a third time by Antonius. Thus Octavianus won a small victory over Antonius.3 The relationship of Octavianus and Antonius was continually shifting between suspicious rivalry and resentful dependency based on

Celestial Inclinations. Anne-​Marie Lewis, Oxford University Press. © Oxford University Press 2023. DOI: 10.1093/​oso/​9780197599648.003.0011

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their mutual needs, but the two made a great public show of trust at their meeting near Tarentum and Octavianus agreed to let Antonius entertain first in deference to his sister’s request.4 The triumvirate, which had expired at the end of 38 b.c., was renewed for a second five-​year term, and two marriage compacts accompanied their agreement. Octavianus betrothed Iulia, his two-​year-​old daughter by Scribonia, to Marcus Antonius Antyllus (Antonius Antyllus), Antonius’ son (by Fulvia), who was perhaps around ten years old. Antonius betrothed Antonia, his two-​year-​old elder daughter (by Octavia), who was a little older than Iulia, to the thirteen-​year-​old Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus (cos. 16 b.c.), the son of Gnaeus Ahenobarbus, a man who, although suspected of being among those involved in the conspiracy against Caesar, was now Antonius’ close partisan. Apparently neither side intended to honor these betrothals, although Antonia the Elder’s marriage to Lucius Ahenobarbus did take place later. Octavianus’ wife Livia did not have any role in making these arrangements, but a marvelous omen that was considered of great significance occurred around this time in 37 b.c. While Livia was sitting outside at her villa, which was located about nine miles from Rome along the Via Flaminia, an eagle threw a white guinea fowl (gallina) that was carrying a sprig of laurel with the berries still attached into her lap.5 Upon the advice of the augurs, Livia cared for the bird and planted the laurel sprig, which grew so well that its laurel leaves came to be used afterwards for the crowns of triumphant generals at Rome. Some people found this portent frightening, but others interpreted it to mean that Livia was destined to maintain her power over Octavianus. Livia’s influence over her husband Octavianus can be set in contrast to that of Octavia over her husband Antonius. Livia worked in the background and she would continue to have influence over her husband Octavianus long after this omen occurred. Octavia worked in public and had brokered an exchange of men and ships between her brother and husband in this year, but her influence over her husband was beginning to wane. Antonius headed east to Syria after the Conference at Tarentum in the spring of 37 b.c. In late summer 37 b.c. Antonius sent Octavia back to Italy, ostensibly so that she would not have to endure the difficulties of his war with the Parthians. In reality, Antonius had come to be less committed to his marriage with Octavia than he was to his relationship with Cleopatra. Octavianus stayed behind in Italy. The earlier Pact of Misenum, which had drawn Antonius, Octavianus, and Sextus Pompeius into an alliance, remained unbroken in theory, but it had already been tested in the year 38 b.c. when Octavianus had engaged Sextus Pompeius off Sicily and been beaten by his superior forces and the weather after two sea battles. Since this defeat, Menas, who was the former prefect of the fleet of Sextus Pompeius and who had deserted to Octavianus, had once again turned traitor and deserted Octavianus for Sextus Pompeius, taking with him seven of

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Octavianus’ ships. Menas again deserted back to Octavianus along with these ships after the command of Octavianus’ fleet was given to Agrippa, who had been busy strengthening the fleet in preparation for the inevitable showdown between the two sides. Octavianus summoned the third triumvir, the somewhat forgotten Lepidus, from Africa. Lepidus, whom Velleius Paterculus scathingly called a very puffed up (vanissimus) and very twisted (pravissimus) man, arrived with twelve legions.6 This contempt for Lepidus was not something recent. Cicero, who was admittedly biased, had conveyed his own low opinion of Lepidus in a letter written to Cassius in early July 43 b.c. and described Lepidus’ desertion of the cause of the Republic as an example of his villainy and fickleness (scelere et levitate Lepidi).7 Octavianus set sail at sunrise (ἠοῖ) on the tenth day after the summer solstice, the Kalends of July ( July 1) (ἡ ἡμέρα προείρητο πᾶσι, καὶ ἦν δεκάτη τροπῶν θερινῶν, ἥν τινα ‘Ρωμαῖοι νουμηνίαν ἔχουσι τοῦ μηνός).8 This month of July, the former Quintilis, had been renamed after Caesar in 44 b.c. Appian suggests that Octavianus chose this day, July 1, 36 b.c., because he judged that the first day of this month would be propitious for him because of its association with Caesar, who was always a bringer of victory (τήνδε μὲν ὁ Καῖσαρ ὤρισε τὴν ἡμέραν, αἰσι­ ούμενος ἴσως διὰ τὸν πατέρα νικηφόρον αἰεὶ γενόμενον). As he was leaving Puteoli, Octavianus poured libations into the water to the favorable winds, to steadfast Neptune and to the calm sea, asking that they might assist him in the fight against his enemies. A destructive storm blew up, as it had in his first effort against Sextus Pompeius a few years earlier, but Octavianus repaired what he could and as quickly as he could and decided not to postpone the engagement, because the summer was nearing its end. Sextus Pompeius did not strike Octavianus when he was vulnerable after the storm had wrecked many of his ships. He had hoped that Octavianus would simply withdraw.9 The first attack against Sextus Pompeius took place off Sicily in July 36 b.c. First, Agrippa was successful at Mylae. Next the hapless Octavianus was yet again defeated by Sextus Pompeius on both land and sea near Tauromenium. In the midst of these encounters Mount Etna erupted with a frightening show of flames and rumblings but no lava flow. The final showdown was orchestrated by Sextus Pompeius, who challenged Octavianus to a naval battle, with each side deploying 300 ships. The third day before the Nones of September (September 3) was agreed upon for the day of the battle, which was to take place off Naulochus, a city on the north coast of Sicily.10 Octavianus felt compelled to accept the challenge of Sextus Pompeius even though he realized that a postponement was more prudent, given that the summer was coming to an end (ἤδη τοῦ θέρους προκόπτοντος).11 He also anticipated troubles and dreaded naval encounters because of his continued lack of success in fighting them. He wisely yielded the command of his forces to Agrippa. A favorable omen is said to have occurred before the battle,

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a portent that brought Octavianus courage and confidence in the outcome. As he was walking along the shore on September 2, the day before the battle, a fish leaped out of the sea and landed at his feet.12 Diviners (μάντεις) interpreted this episode as a message that Octavianus would enslave the sea himself even though his opponent Sextus Pompeius had declared himself to be the adoptive son of Neptune, the god of the sea. To represent his acceptance of this mythological genealogy, Sextus Pompeius exchanged the traditional, crimson-​colored cloak of the Roman general for a cloak that was the dark-​blue color of the sea (χλαμύδα ἐκ φοινικῆς ἐς κυανῆν μεταλλάξαι).13 Suetonius in his biography of Augustus also includes an episode regarding the actions of Octavianus on board his ship on the morning of the Battle of Naulochus:14 Octavianus was not even able to lower his eyes (ne rectis quidem oculis) and inspect the line of ships arranged for battle, but he lay down on his back, astounded, gazing at the heavens (verum supinum, caelum intuentem, stupidum cubuisse). He did not stand up and come into view for the soldiers before the ships of the enemy were put to flight by Marcus Agrippa. Octavianus’ actions and behavior have generally been interpreted in a negative way because, as Suetonius suggests (putem), Antonius later used the episode to discredit and diminish Octavianus.15 But Antonius was not at this battle. He must have heard a version of what happened from eyewitnesses or reworked the report of what he had heard in order to add damaging evidence to his claims that Octavianus was an incompetent if not an unhinged commander, a claim not found in the accounts of the battle written by the historians Appian and Dio. A reconsideration of Suetonius’ account of the episode in view of Octavianus’ celestial interests, however, leads to a different possible conclusion regarding this episode and to a more positive interpretation of the actions of Octavianus before the battle. Suetonius reports that Octavianus had to be roused by his comrades from the sound sleep into which he had suddenly dropped before the hour at which the battle began (sub horam pugnae) in order to give the battle signal. Such a deep sleep after prior wakefulness before a major battle was not unknown. The same thing had happened to Pompeius Magnus in the early hours of the morning before the Battle of Pharsalus. Antonius’ version of the behavior of Octavianus may have been nothing more than a misrepresentation of the nature of a normal activity that Octavianus undertook each morning—​observation of the nature of the celestial display before sunrise.16 Octavianus did not accept the day of his encounter with Sextus Pompeius, September 3, 36 b.c., only with an eye to celestial display, but about an hour before sunrise during morning nautical twilight on

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the day of the Battle of Naulochus, Octavianus would have seen an impressive sky that presented several of the meaningful celestial elements that had been in the heavens at his past public events (see the central area of visibility in Fig. 10.1). The constellation Gemini [Gem], representing the brothers Pollux and Castor, who were the protectors of mariners, was centrally located in the zodiac. The planets Mercury and Mars were in conjunction in Leo [Leo] in the east. A bright Moon, Arcturus

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Sidereal Time: 03:05:05 Julian Day: 1708519.6424

Fig. 10.1.  The Battle of Naulochus. September 3, 36 b.c. Before sunrise, 4:25 a.m. Naulochus, Sicily (approximately 38° 14ꞌ N, 15° 23ꞌ E). SkyMap Pro V. 12. By permission of Chris Marriott.

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88% full, appeared in Aries [Ari] toward the west. In addition, the watery constellations Hydra [Hya], Argo [Pup], Flumen [Eri], Pistrix [Cet], and Pisces [Psc] could be seen in the south. Octavianus would also have known from a study of paranatellonta and from direct observations of the heavens on the days prior to the battle that the Sun in Virgo [Vir] was beginning to rise above the eastern horizon on the morning of the battle. The Battle of Naulochus went badly for Sextus Pompeius. Agrippa had an effective strategy and a new weapon, a kind of grappling device, which proved decisive.17 The enemy’s ships, once hit with this device, could not backwater or escape the onslaught of the marines, who then jumped over to carry on the fight on the opposing ship as if on land. Since most of the combatants were Latin speakers, it became impossible to know friend from foe. Agrippa attacked without mercy, and the seventeen ships of Sextus Pompeius that alone remained intact broke out and escaped. Sextus Pompeius fled with his daughter, his money, and his valuable possessions, hoping to make common cause with Antonius. Octavianus did not pursue him, realizing that he had unfinished business in the person of Lepidus, his fellow triumvir, who had chafed at being considered a subordinate by Octavianus. Lepidus, who had been less than helpful in the engagement, was trying to take control of Sicily for himself and assert command over Octavianus and his forces, but Octavianus was ready to stand up to him. Chaos in the chain of command led to confusion at first, but the troops quickly deserted Lepidus to throw in their lot with Octavianus. Lepidus was forced to beg Octavianus for mercy, which was quickly granted because Octavianus recognized the need to keep Lepidus and his camp on his side. Octavianus stripped Lepidus of his command and of membership in the triumvirate but spared his life and permitted him to keep his property. Octavianus also allowed Lepidus to keep the office of Pontifex Maximus, to which he had been appointed by Antonius after the assassination of Caesar in 44 b.c. Roman custom would have prevented Octavianus from depriving Lepidus of this office, but by publicly allowing Lepidus to remain Pontifex Maximus, Octavianus could be seen to be demonstrating restraint and an adherence to Roman values. Although Octavianus had managed to remove Lepidus and clear the path to the final showdown with Antonius, complete success was not yet within his grasp. The divine power had found fault with Octavianus’ glory after his encounter with Sextus Pompeius (τὸ δαιμόνιον ἐνεμέσησε τοῦ ζήλου).18 Suddenly the army of Octavianus revolted, putting him in a difficult situation. At first, Octavianus tried to assert his authority by threatening the troops with punishments. When that did not work, he was forced to become conciliatory and offer them prizes, honors, and. implausibly, no more civil war, given that his one major opponent, Antonius, remained on the scene. With the mutiny resolved, Octavianus returned

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victorious to Rome and was showered with gifts and privileges. The people voted that Octavianus was to receive for his own the house on the Palatine Hill that he had bought previously after the proscriptions in 43 b.c. and had lived in since 41 b.c. but had consecrated to Apollo.19 He also received the right to sit with the people’s tribunes on their benches. He was offered many other extravagant honors in addition, presumably as a token of the people’s overwhelming support. Mindful perhaps of his adoptive father, Caesar, he accepted only a few. Octavianus agreed to allow a golden statue of himself to be erected in the Forum Romanum. The inscription on this statue proclaimed that peace had been restored on land and sea.20 He accepted the right to hold a banquet with his wife and children in the Temple of Jupiter Capitolinus on the anniversary of his victory. And he was voted a lesser triumph (an ovatio) on the Ides of November (November 13, 36 b.c.).21 At this ovatio in 36 b.c., Octavianus rewarded Agrippa with a golden crown adorned with ships’ beaks (corona navalis), an honor that had never before been awarded and, as Dio notes, had never been awarded again to his day.22 November 13 was probably also Agrippa’s birthday (see Chap. 5). Having a significant public event coincide with one’s birthday was not unknown. Pompeius Magnus held his third triumph on the day before the Kalends of October (September 29 or September 30) in 61 b.c., a day that coincided with his birthday (natali suo egit), and one of the days on which Octavianus held his ludi in honor of Caesar, September 22, 44 b.c., coincided with his own birthday.23 The timing of Octavianus’ ovatio in 36 b.c. was favorable because the celestial display before and at sunrise on the morning of the ovatio suggested that the heavens too were celebrating Octavianus’ victory (see the central area of visibility in Fig. 10.2). Gemini [Gem], the constellation that represented Pollux and Castor, who protected those on the sea, was in the west. The planet Jupiter, the ultimate Olympian ancestor of the gens Iulia and an important part of the celestial display at Octavianus’ public events, was in the east in the constellation Chelae (Libra) [Lib], in which Caesar’s soul resided. Jupiter also happened to be the god who received the announcement of Octavianus’ victory over Sextus Pompeius in Rome. A soldier possessed by a god apparently ran into the Temple of Jupiter Capitolinus and placed his sword at the feet of the statue of Jupiter to show that victory had been accomplished and peace achieved.24 Jupiter in his planetary manifestation had been watching over Octavianus since the day he was born. This episode would have reflected dramatically, at a public event for all to see, the continuing support of Jupiter for Octavianus, his Julian descendant. While Octavianus had been battling Sextus Pompeius in Sicily, Antonius was in the East. He had set out in 37 b.c. with the intention of avenging the shameful defeat of Crassus at the Battle of Carrhae in 53 b.c. and of securing the return of the lost Roman standards from the Parthians. If Antonius were to be successful

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Sidereal Time: 10:08:49 Julian Day: 1708590.7500

Fig. 10.2. The ovatio for Octavianus. November 13, 36 b.c. Sunrise, 7:00 a.m. Rome (41° 53ꞌ N, 12° 29ꞌ E). SkyMap Pro V. 12. By permission of Chris Marriott.

in his efforts in Parthia, he would gain a big political advantage over Octavianus in public prestige. Antonius, however, could not have realized how completely he was about to follow in the footsteps of Crassus, who went east to advance himself politically and militarily, only to end up being defeated there. On his way out to Parthia, Antonius sent Gaius Fonteius Capito (Fonteius Capito) (cos. suff. 33 b.c.) to escort Cleopatra to Syria, where Antonius acknowledged publicly that he was the father of the twins born to Cleopatra in 40 b.c., commenting how

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beneficial it was for Rome to see that he, like his ancestor Hercules, sowed his seed, so to speak, in many places.25 On this visit, Cleopatra conceived another child, Ptolemy Philadelphus, who was born the next year, 36 b.c. Once the campaign in the East had gotten underway, things did not go smoothly for Antonius and his generals. Early on, Antonius had been sending back to Rome reports of military successes, but Octavianus and those around him had investigated and found that Antonius’ efforts were going poorly. Octavianus knew about Antonius’ difficulties but chose not to reveal publicly what he knew about these defeats in the East, because he was unwilling at the time to appear unfriendly to him. Antonius’ troops eventually reached deep into Parthian territory, but things went terribly wrong with the campaign. Antonius and his men were forced to make a dangerous retreat as winter conditions approached. Everyone knew that Antonius, for all his faults, had the ability to rise up again in the worst of circumstances and to maintain the loyalty and respect of his troops. Antonius displayed considerable leadership and courage in bringing his troops back to Armenia, but he had suffered a serious blow to his reputation. Nonetheless, Antonius might have retained the affection and respect of the Roman people had he not diminished himself through his relationship with Cleopatra, whom some blamed for distracting him from his Parthian endeavors. Cleopatra sent clothing and funds for his soldiers who were spending the winter of 36–​35 b.c. in Syria. Antonius himself went to Egypt to spend time with Cleopatra. Adding to an already complicated situation, Sextus Pompeius, after having fled the scene of the Battle of Naulochus at which he had been soundly defeated by the forces of Antonius’ rival Octavianus, had arrived in Mytilene in 36 b.c. in the midst of Antonius’ campaign in the East. Sextus Pompeius engaged in several attacks on Marcus Titius and Gaius Furnius, to whom Antonius had set the task of dealing with him. The supporters of Sextus Pompeius who did not approve of his reckless sorties against the enemy forces deserted him and, as before, he failed to follow up the encounters, having been allegedly influenced by a god who was harming him (θεοῦ βλάπτοντος).26 Sextus Pompeius then hoped to ally himself with Antonius, but realizing with contempt that Antonius was in a weakened position due to his defeats in the East, Sextus Pompeius then set to working against him. Sextus Pompeius, however, was hunted down, captured, and eventually killed in Miletus in 35 b.c. on the order of Antonius. The execution of Sextus Pompeius was carried out by Titius, who was reviled ever after for his actions. Octavianus presented ludi in the Circus in Rome to celebrate Sextus Pompeius’ death. He also bestowed several honors upon Antonius, who was not in Rome at the time, and set up a chariot for Antonius in front of the Old Rostra in the Forum Romanum, efforts meant to show that Octavianus remained friendly to Antonius and was sympathetic to the disasters he had experienced in his campaign in the

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East.27 For the moment, the death of Sextus Pompeius cleared the field and some of the tensions between the two men. Antonius was still married to Octavianus’ sister Octavia, who was sent to Athens in 35 b.c. by Octavianus her brother with troops, money, and supplies for Antonius her husband. Antonius accepted the material support but sent letters to Octavia, not receiving her as a husband might be expected to do. Cleopatra is said to have viewed Octavia as an enemy advancing into combat at close quarters with her and she feared Octavia’s influence over Antonius.28 Octavia had the advantage as wife of Antonius and sister of Antonius’ fellow triumvir. Octavia also possessed a recognized dignity and was devoted to her husband. Cleopatra, on the other hand, had the advantage of being with Antonius and able to make her case to him in person. She starved herself, played upon his emotions, threatened that she would die if he left her, and used her flatterers to try to convince Antonius that his marriage to Octavia was only an arranged political marriage and not one based on love. Cleopatra also reminded Antonius that she was a queen. Although Cleopatra did not state explicitly that her resources were considerable, Antonius certainly knew how useful they would be when he needed to call upon them. When faced with the choice between his virtuous Roman wife Octavia and his royal Egyptian mistress Cleopatra, Antonius chose Cleopatra. Antonius clearly intended to snub Octavia and Octavianus when he went to join Cleopatra again in Alexandria in the winter of 35–​34 b.c. Octavia was told by Antonius either to stay in Athens or return to Rome.29 Angry but realistic, Octavia returned to Rome and lived in Antonius’ house as his wife, looking after his affairs, their children, and his son by his deceased third wife, Fulvia. Antonius returned to Armenia in 34 b.c. to continue the military operations that were necessary to secure the eastern frontier. He had some success in those operations but threw away any opportunity to exploit them politically when he returned to Alexandria later in 34 b.c. and engaged in an elaborate public event that opened with a ceremony reminiscent of a Roman triumph and included what has come to be known as the Donations of Alexandria. During the course of the event, Antonius declared Cleopatra and Caesarion, Cleopatra’s son by Caesar, rulers of Egypt and other territories. In so doing, he was publicly and intentionally diminishing Octavianus, who was not a natural son of Caesar but a son adopted in Caesar’s will. As their relationship deteriorated, Octavianus would reproach Antonius for elevating Caesar’s Egyptian son in this way and thus inserting him as a male heir into the family of Caesar.30 Antonius also gave other eastern territories to his six-​year-​old twins, Cleopatra Selene and Alexander Helios, and to his two-​year-​old son, Ptolemy Philadelphus. Antonius did not intend this plan to remain a secret. He sent a declaration of the arrangements to Rome to seek their ratification from the people of Rome. The consuls of the year, who were

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partisans of Antonius, recognized the damage that the declaration would do to Antonius’ reputation and refused to read it in public. Antonius would come to regret the Donations of Alexandria because they made him appear disloyal to Roman values. Octavianus, in contrast, kept himself busy and his troops in fighting form with some campaigns in the West just across the Adriatic Sea not far from Italy against the Iapydes and the Pannonians, campaigns that enabled him to represent himself as a responsible, competent, and traditional Roman leader. By 33 b.c., he had conquered the region. Octavianus also turned his attention to projects of various sorts in Rome, including the rebuilding of the Porticus Octaviae and the restoration of the Theater of Pompeius Magnus. These projects were visible proof of Octavianus’ dedication to the well-​being of the Roman people and to the maintenance of the peace that he had re-​established on both land and sea, following the Battle of Naulochus. Another peacetime activity, the restoration of the water supply named the Aqua Marcia was funded by Agrippa and celebrated, according to Agrippa’s own memoirs, with ludi that lasted for fifty-​nine days.31 The initial planning, perhaps, of another aqueduct, the Aqua Virgo, which would be completed in 19 b.c., was undertaken on behalf of Octavianus by Agrippa, who also presented ludi in his capacity as aedile in 33 b.c. and provided gifts to the populace. Other projects included the restoration of the Cloaca Maxima, Rome’s largest underground sewer, through which Agrippa sailed, emerging dramatically at the Tiber River.32 These water projects were practical and beneficial to the city’s populace, but perhaps more importantly and on a grander scale, they were potent demonstrations of Octavianus’ power over nature. The display known as the Lusus Troiae was presented again at this time by Agrippa, reinforcing the illusion that the ancient traditions of the Roman Republic were being restored. The Lusus Troiae had been presented by Caesar at the ludi following the dedication of the Temple of Venus Genetrix in 46 b.c. It was presented again by Agrippa when he was praetor in 40 b.c. at a two-​day celebration of his ludi circenses. The Lusus Troiae was a potentially dangerous choreographed equestrian display put on by young aristocratic boys as a demonstration of their military training. Agrippa’s pride in its success was justified and reflected well upon Octavianus. Around the same time, Agrippa also drove out the foreign astrologers and sorcerers from Rome (καὶ τοὺς ἀστρολόγους τούς τε γόητας ἐκ τῆς πόλεως ἐξήλασεν).33 Diviners of various sorts who practiced their arts in public places seem to have been a common sight at Rome. Cicero had quoted the poet Ennius to criticize quack fortune tellers, including the foreign astrologers from the East who were regularly consulted by Appius Claudius Pulcher (cos. 54 b.c.), Cicero’s fellow augur and predecessor in the proconsulship of Cilicia (non habeo . . . /​de circo astrologos).34 Horace described strolling around the cheating-​filled Circus

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(fallacem Circum) and the Forum Romanum near evening (vespertinum), where he listened to diviners (divini), who would have included these foreign astrologi.35 Livy mentioned the banning of soothsayers from the Forum, Circus, and city in the past (vatesque foro circo urbe prohiberent), expulsions that seem to have been emergency measures, not regular occurrences.36 Ostensibly the expulsion in 33 b.c. was part of a move to regulate and bring order to the marketplaces of Rome, as was one of Agrippa’s responsibilities as aedile, but it may have had the more important hidden purpose of removing the threat of hostile or disturbing predictions being made by foreign astrologers from the East, especially those from Egypt, who would have been favorable to Cleopatra and thus have caused disturbances among the Roman people. An increasingly vicious and vigorous propaganda campaign began to be waged at this time by the camps of Octavianus and Antonius.37 This war of words was a prelude to the armed conflict that by this point seemed inevitable. Octavianus was in a stronger position because he had remained back at Rome and at the center of things in the West, while Antonius was far off in the East, unable to control how his actions were being represented at Rome. The second triumvirate had not been formally renewed for a third time in 33–​32 b.c., but Octavianus and Antonius continued to operate as if it had still been in place. As their relationship deteriorated, each man tried to influence the people of Rome and Italy with allegations against the other that were meant to wound and weaken. Antonius accused Octavianus of removing Lepidus from the position of Pontifex Maximus, an allegation that was false, and of having seized for himself control of the troops and territory that had been allotted to Lepidus as a triumvir, an allegation that was true. During this time Antonius apparently also tried to reconfigure two stories about Octavianus from several years earlier in an effort to tarnish his rival’s reputation and diminish his claims of divine support. Antonius attempted to spin the declaration of an Egyptian mathematicus that the τύχη of Octavianus was superior to his own into a commentary on Octavianus’ habit of excessive gambling and to portray Octavianus’ Banquet of the Twelve Gods as an example of Octavianus’ frivolity, extravagance, and impiety. Octavianus in turn accused Antonius of taking Egypt for himself and he blamed Antonius for killing Sextus Pompeius, a man he himself had spared. Octavianus also worked to diminish Antonius’ chosen association with the hero-​turned-​god Hercules. Antonius had long exploited the stories that the gens Antonia was descended from a son of Hercules, and he played up his physical and temperamental resemblance to Hercules. Antonius hiked up his toga, carried a sword at his side, and wore a rough cloak. He was keen to project a persona that was generous, boastful, charming, promiscuous, and without airs, just like Hercules himself.38 Hercules was a popular hero in Roman culture, but Antonius overlooked the negative

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qualities also attributed to Hercules. The mythical narratives current during the saeculum Augustum told of a Hercules who was deceived, poisoned, and eventually killed by a jealous Calydonian woman, his own wife Deianera.39 Octavianus, in his propaganda campaign, could easily exploit the relationship of the mythical Hercules and Deianera as a model for the relationship of Antonius and the possessive queen Cleopatra, whom Antonius treated as a wife in all but name. The pressures that eventually broke the alliance between Octavianus and Antonius were many, and anyone could see even without the aid of hindsight that the political situation was unstable. The alliance had always been doubtful and uncertain, and the two men had maintained what can only be called a fraught, implausible entente for about ten years following the defeat of the murderers of Caesar at the Battles of Philippi in 42 b.c. In the early years, Octavianus and Antonius had made a show of friendship as a way out of their predicament. Plutarch’s narrative of the two men playing games at leisure in 39 b.c. was reflective of the nature of their relationship as one of competitive camaraderie combined with a sense of unease. Octavia had managed both her husband and her brother well during their years of truce and helped keep their alliance in place. Although in practice, absolute faithfulness to one’s wife was not demanded of a Roman aristocrat in his marriage, Antonius’ open affair with Cleopatra was offensive to Roman public values and personally insulting to Octavianus and his sister. Octavianus now found himself in possession of far more power and influence than anyone could ever have expected when he entered the triumvirate as its most junior member in 43 b.c. Octavianus did not yet have a certain path to victory over Antonius, but Antonius was increasingly seen as an outsider who was weaker militarily, politically, and socially and under the thumb of a dangerous Egyptian queen. When Octavia returned from Athens, snubbed by Antonius, Octavianus had commanded her to live in her own house, but she refused to leave the one she shared with Antonius and so she was permitted to remain there. Antonius then acted swiftly and decisively, as he had when he ended his marriage with his first wife, his cousin Antonia, whom he had driven from his house because of her suspected adultery with Dolabella, who was at the time married to Cicero’s daughter, Tullia.40 In 32 b.c., Antonius divorced Octavia, sending his henchmen to see that she was thrown out of his house not because of any adultery on her part but because of his own adulterous relationship with Cleopatra. With all the children in her household in tow, Octavia left the house of Antonius in tears, lamenting that she would now certainly be considered one of the causes of the war.41 The Roman people felt more pity for Antonius than for Octavia at this time because they maintained that Antonius was giving up a wife whom they considered to be far superior in youth and beauty to her rival Cleopatra.42 Antonius might as

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well have declared a state of war on Octavianus when he insulted Octavia in this way and broke the fraternal bond that had linked him to Octavianus. Antonius began to make preparations for war. Octavianus commandeered Antonius’ will from the Vestal Virgins, an illegal act, and announced its allegedly scandalous provisions, one of which was that Antonius wished to be buried in Alexandria by the side of Cleopatra.43 The Roman people came to believe that Antonius, if he were to be victorious, intended to move the seat of Roman power to Alexandria. Aristocrats began choosing sides. Antonius, who was not in Rome but with Cleopatra, had to make do with supporters going around to make entreaties of the Roman people on his behalf. Octavianus was in Rome casting himself as the champion of Italy, and he had the support of Horace, Vergil, and Propertius, who belonged to the circle of poets surrounding Maecenas, Octavianus’ close friend and comrade. The final clash between Octavianus and Antonius was now inevitable but its outcome still uncertain. The Egyptian astrologers may have been expelled from the city of Rome by Agrippa in 33 b.c., but Octavianus had not expelled the planets and luminaries in the celestial sphere from his family faction of supporters. Both men and probably their closest allies recognized that the heavens reflected and to some degree directed the eventual outcome. As Antonius’ Egyptian mathematicus had told him eight years earlier, Antonius’ τύχη (Virgo) fawned on that of Octavianus. The solution advised by the mathematicus was for Antonius to put physical distance between himself and Octavianus, which he did following that astrological interpretation. But by September 31 b.c., Antonius could no longer remain separate from Octavianus and in his own area of influence. Octavianus declared war on Cleopatra, diminishing Antonius as a Roman general by calling him a slave to a woman and no longer in control of himself because he had been drugged by her.44 Before the two men set out to engage in battle, many portents that signaled impending suffering for the Romans on both sides of the conflict appeared in the vault of the heavens.45 According to Dio, sometime in the year of the consulship of Gnaeus Ahenobarbus and Gaius Sosius, 32 b.c., a beam of light, lifted up in the sky for many days, spread across the Aegean Sea from Italy in the west to Greece in the east (λαμπὰς ἐπὶ πολλὰς ἡμέρας ὑπὲρ τῆς ‘Ελληνικῆς θαλάσσης αἰωρηθεῖσα ἐς τὸν αἰθέρα ἀνέδραμε). This λαμπάς was probably the Milky Way, the place in the heavens where the souls of Romans who had served the state well, such as Romulus, Pompeius Magnus, Cato, and Cicero, were imagined to reside. At the end of July around midnight in 32 b.c., the Milky Way would have been visible on a diagonal from between the constellations Scorpios and Sagittarius, which were at the western horizon, toward the constellation Perseus, which was located to the northeast. Some swallows flew down to attack other swallows

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that had been living under the stern of Cleopatra’s flagship and destroyed their nests. An owl flew from the Temple of Concordia in Rome and then from temple to temple until finally settling upon the Temple of the Genius Populi Romani (The Temple of the Essential Spirit, or δαίμων, of the Roman People) near the Capitoline Hill. A similar portent that predicted the eventual dominance of Octavianus at this temple involving vultures instead of an owl had occurred when the three triumvirs had entered Rome in 43 b.c. In 32 b.c., the omen of the owl portended a major change in governance in the Roman state. Other omens appeared to predict with certainty the defeat of Antonius. A group of children in Rome divided themselves up into those who supported Antonius and those who supported Octavianus and fought a battle for two days until the Antonians were defeated. A marble statue of Antonius that was located next to a statue of Jupiter on the Alban Mount either began to bleed or to sweat profusely. Antonius and his supporters ignored these bad omens and faced the inevitable. Antonius and Octavianus, kinsmen who were once allies but now enemies, were finally about to come face to face with each other in battle, where the advice and prediction of the Egyptian mathematicus regarding the superiority of Octavianus’ τύχη over that of Antonius would be tested for its truth. The Battle of Actium was an important point in the political life of Octavianus. Not only was it the final step in his triumphant rise to political dominance in Rome, but it also became a key part of the public persona that he would craft for himself in the immediate aftermath and in subsequent years. The details of the battle must be reconstructed both from sources that are scanty and from those that provide fuller accounts. The portion of the memoirs of Octavianus that dealt with the battle is no longer extant, and in the summation of his deeds and accomplishments in the Res Gestae Octavianus noted only the victory and the oaths of fealty sworn to him by the whole of Italy; by the several provinces of Gaul and Spain; by the provinces of Africa, Sicily, and Sardinia; and by more than 700 unnamed senators, of whom eighty-​three had been or would be consuls and around 170 were priests.46 The account of Livy told in the course of Book 132 of his Roman history has been lost. Accounts by contemporary historians such as Nicolaus of Damascus, Pompeius Trogus, and Pollio, if they ever existed, are also no longer extant. Suetonius, who had access to the imperial archives, says nothing about the battle itself. The contemporary history of Velleius Paterculus provides only a general, short outline of the major points of the battle and its participants.47 A brief second-​century epitome by Florus adds nothing that is not known from earlier sources.48 Still extant, however, are the accounts in the history of Dio, which provides the narrative framework, and the biography of Antonius by Plutarch, which fills in more details.49 Vergil, Propertius, and surviving fragments from a few anonymous poems, in addition, offer poetic versions

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that broadly support the historical descriptions of the battle. The accounts extant today do not provide all the behind-​the-​scenes details about the discussions regarding strategies, tactics, preparations, and the many unpredictable factors inherent to battles fought at sea, such as wind, water, weather, the configuration of ships, and the capabilities of personnel, including squadron commanders, rowers, marines, and witnesses. Nonetheless, the information that does survive in the ancient sources enables the creation of a solid account of the preparations for the battle, the sequence of the battle itself and, remarkably, the significance of celestial display on the day on which the battle was fought. In the summer before what would be turn out to be their final encounter, the forces of Octavianus and Antonius continued to spy on and harass their opponents. By the winter of 31 b.c., Antonius had troops already stationed in Greece, waiting. In the late summer of 31 b.c., Octavianus crossed to Corcyra and then arrived first on the northwestern Greek mainland in the area of Actium, a town sacred to Apollo that was located on a promontory overlooking the Ionian Sea. Octavianus stationed himself on a tactical stronghold near the hill known today as Michalitsi. Antonius arrived later and set up a camp at Actium on marshy, unhealthy low-​lying ground on the coast of the bay near Punta. Efforts were made by both Antonius and Octavianus to try to draw each other into open battle, but these were unsuccessful. Agrippa seized the island of Leucas and effectively cut off Antonius’ supply lines, putting Antonius in an exceedingly difficult position. Antonius’ attempt to break out by sea failed, and a planned breakout by land never materialized. Over time, Antonius’ situation grew worse. Supplies and water ran short. Morale fell. Disease and a lack of supplies forced Antonius to move all his remaining troops to a camp on the southern side of the straits, but his situation did not improve. In desperation, Antonius decided to force a naval battle to please Cleopatra, although the odds were not in his favor.50 The month was late in the year for a sea battle, and time was not on his side, because he was losing troops from disease and desertion. Some treachery may also have been afoot among his admirals, several of whom detested Cleopatra, although this hatred could have been Octavianus’ propaganda. Most importantly, Antonius did not appear to have had a winning battle strategy. In the end, even though the chance of victory was slim, Antonius took up the only option left to him, to fight the battle at sea, with a secondary plan to break away and fight another day. The possibility of flight appears to have been incorporated as an option in the planning of Antonius and Cleopatra for the battle because Antonius took the sails of the ships on board should it be necessary to hoist them and escape. This situation was probably not what the seasoned general Antonius had imagined when he entered into the second triumvirate some twelve years earlier with the young and untried Octavianus.

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Octavianus’ preparation for the impending confrontation with Antonius included an examination of the state of the heavens on the morning of the day of the battle, an activity he appears to have undertaken on the morning of the Battle of Naulochus, which was also fought at sea. Both sides were prepared to fight right away at Actium but had to wait for four days (August 29, August 30, August 31, and September 1) until the winds and rough seas abated. On the fifth day (September 2), the sea and the winds were calm. Antonius visited all his ships in a rowboat, exhorting his men in turn and giving orders for the coming fight. Octavianus remained on land for some time, turning his attention to the heavens before he set out for his own ship:51 Καίσαρι δὲ λέγεται μὲν ἔτι σκότους ἀπὸ τῆς σκηνῆς κύκλῳ περιϊόντι πρὸς τὰς ναῦς ἄνθρωπος ἐλαύνων ὄνον ἀπαντῆσαι, πυθομένῳ δὲ τοὔνομα γνωρίσας αὐτὸν εἰπεῖν. “’Εμοὶ μὲν Εὔτυχος ὄνομα, τῷ δὲ ὄνῳ Νίκων.” A man driving an ass toward the ships is said to have encountered Octavianus as he was going around in a circle away from his tent while it was still dark. The man, having recognized him, replied to him when he was asked his name and that of the ass, “My name is Eutychos (Εὔτυχος) and the name of the ass is Nikon (Νίκων).” Octavianus would have realized that the name of the man Eutychos was related to the word τύχη (Virgo), which had a special celestial significance for him in his relations with Antonius. Octavianus considered this encounter so significant that he commemorated it later by placing a statue of the ass and the man at the campsite memorial at Nicopolis. The chance meeting of Octavianus with a stranger named Good Fortune (Eutychos) driving an ass named Conquering (Nikon) on the morning of the battle has been noted in scholarly discussions, but the even greater significance of the activity in which Octavianus was engaged when this meeting took place has been overlooked. Octavianus was not scanning the sky and looking for terrestrial omens such as birds, because the time was before sunrise, when it would have been too dark to see the birds and assess their significance. Before he met Eutychos, Octavianus was walking around in a circle in the darkness away from his tent and away from the campfire (Καίσαρι . . . ἀπὸ τῆς σκηνῆς κύκλῳ περιϊόντι), most likely in order to examine the state of the sky before sunrise at the four directional points—​east, north, west, and south. Like the astronomer Thales of Miletus, who is said by Plato, in the voice of Socrates, to have been walking around in the dark and observing the heavens (ὥσπερ καὶ Θαλῆν ἀστρονομοῦντα . . . καὶ ἄνω βλέποντα), Octavianus was also walking around in the dark and in a circle as he scanned the sky.52 Unlike Thales, however, who

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was so immersed in his observations, unaware of what was around him, that he fell into a cistern (πεσόντα εἰς φρέαρ), Octavianus was looking up and walking around with full awareness and with the purpose most likely of determining the hour and the nature of the celestial display. Octavianus would have been examining the appearance and location of certain constellations, as he would have learned to do as part of an astronomical “curriculum” probably derived from Cicero’s translation of Aratus’ Phaenomena. As Aratus and Cicero had advised in their discussion of the paranatellonta, the constellations that rose and set in turn with each of the constellations of the zodiac, an observer could determine the time of the coming sunrise by looking toward the eastern horizon for the constellation that was rising.53 Octavianus would also have been taking note of the presence of luminaries and planets in the zodiac, which represented his Julian kin in their celestial manifestations, and of significant constellations, an activity in which he would have engaged multiple times since the ludi he had presented in honor of Caesar in September 44 b.c. The weather at Actium on the fourth day before the Nones of September (τῇ δευτέρᾳ τοῦ Σεπτεμβρίου, September 2, 31 b.c.) was fair and suitable for the impending sea battle.54 The skies that morning would have been clear and the constellations and planets would have been visible to an observer. Plutarch does not give the precise time for Octavianus’ observations. But since Octavianus is not described as being surprised upon meeting Eutychos on the path in the darkness, he could see well enough to judge that the stranger was not a threat. Octavianus would not have been alone, because a commander strolling around by himself in the dark with the enemy lurking in the vicinity would do so only at his peril. Antonius had nearly been captured while out walking by men sent by Octavianus, who succeeded only in capturing the man walking in front of Antonius because Octavianius’ men emerged from hiding too soon and Antonius ran away.55 Those from Octavianus’ close circle with him would have been witness to the methodical way in which Octavianus carried out his usual assessment of the heavens before sunrise. During morning nautical twilight, Octavianus observing the sky in four directions would have seen a notable celestial array on the morning of the Battle of Actium (see the central area of visibility in Fig. 10.3). Looking first to the east, Octavianus would have seen Leo [Leo] near the eastern horizon, which indicated that Virgo [Vir] would be rising in about an hour.56 Looking to the north, Octavianus would have seen Helice the Greater Bear [UMa], the stellar outline of which he is said to have borne on his own torso and which was noted in 44 b.c. as relevant for him in relation to the celestial sphere. Looking to the west, Octavianus would have seen Jupiter, a planet of great significance to him, near the western horizon in Pisces [Psc]. To the east of Jupiter, the planet Mars ( Jupiter’s son), was in Taurus [Tau]. A bit farther to the east of Mars, the planet Saturn

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Sidereal Time: 02:59:37 Julian Day: 1710344.6271

Fig. 10.3.  The day of the Battle of Actium. September 2, 31 b.c. One hour before sunrise, 5:03 a.m. Actium, Greece (38° 56ꞌ N, 20° 44ꞌ E). SkyMap Pro V. 12. By permission of Chris Marriott.

( Jupiter’s father) was in Gemini [Gem], which represented the brothers Pollux and Castor, who were considered protectors on the battlefield, symbols of victory, and saviors of mariners who found themselves in peril on the sea. Looking to the south below the band of the zodiac, Octavianus would have seen stretching from east to west the watery constellations, the same celestial audience for the naval undertaking about to take place on that day as had witnessed Octavianus’

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victory at Naulochus over Sextus Pompeius: Hydra [Hya], Argo [Pup], Flumen [Eri], Pistrix [Cet], and Pisces [Psc]. Plutarch does not mention whether Cleopatra or Antonius observed the heavens before sunrise for guidance and confirmation, but Antonius, Cleopatra, or their advisers may also have examined the sky or even analyzed an astrological katarchē for the start of this day in order to gauge the potential outcome of the military encounter that was about to take place. One of Antonius’ compatriots, Fonteius Capito, may have had the necessary expertise to interpret the state of the heavens on behalf of Antonius and Cleopatra.57 Little is known about Fonteius Capito but in 37–​36 b.c. he was charged by Antonius with the task of escorting Cleopatra to Syria. He also appears as a character in one of the satires of Horace that was published around 35 b.c. in which he is described as a close friend of Antonius (Antoni non ut magis alter amicus) and a man who was even on friendly terms with Maecenas at the time.58 A mutilated fragment of an astrological writing associated with Fonteius Capito and preserved by Lydus suggests that Fonteius Capito had expertise in astrology.59 This fragment presents a dire warning for when the Moon was in the Sign Capricornus, including threats to the Pax Romana. Coincidentally, the Moon happened to be in Capricornus in the genitura of Octavianus, whom Antonius was to fight on this day. Cleopatra, who had long been surrounded by Egyptian experts in astrologia, which included both astrology and observational astronomy, probably knew that Octavianus was in the habit of looking up to gauge the support of the celestial sphere for himself. Looking up herself, she would not have missed the presence of the bright star Sirius in Canis [CMa].60 The heliacal rising of Sirius (Egyptian Sothis) marked the beginning of the Egyptian year and the flooding of the Nile River, and it represented the Egyptian goddess Isis and Cleopatra herself, an association that Caesar had honored at Rome when he erected a statue of Isis in the likeness of Cleopatra in 46 b.c. in his Temple to Venus Genetrix. Sirius was identified by Homer as a powerful star with evil associations.61 Its presence in the heavens that morning was thus obvious to all, but its significance was ambiguous. Astrologically, its meaning could be interpreted differently by both sides. According to Manilius, Sirius stirred up war—​but Sirius also brought back peace.62 Octavianus had been careful to declare war formally against Cleopatra alone and not against Antonius, in order to avoid a formal and unpopular declaration of civil war, and the battle at Actium was to be waged not only among mortal combatants but also among the gods of the two cultures. Everyone knew, however, that Octavianus’ final battle was really with the Roman general Antonius. Even with the presence in the predawn sky of the brilliantly shining Sirius, which represented Cleopatra in the heavens, the celestial display on the morning of this crucial military engagement was more positively disposed toward Octavianus than toward Antonius because

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it consisted of several members of the powerful celestial Julian family that had long and consistently appeared to support Octavianus’ rise to dominance. Even Sirius, the representation of Isis and Cleopatra, could have been viewed as a positive sign for Octavianus because Isis was also one of the several associations for Virgo.63 On the morning of September 2, 31 b.c., the opposing squadrons lined up. Agrippa had full command of the entire maritime operation and was posted on his left wing.64 Octavianus planned to go wherever Fortuna (Greek τύχη) called him (in quam a fortuna vocaretur) but he also reserved control of his own right wing for himself. Antonius was on his own right wing opposite Agrippa. The battle began, Plutarch says, around the sixth hour, midday (ἕκτη δὲ ἦν ὥρα), when Antonius’ troops became impatient and his left wing made the first move.65 Octavianus gave the order for his right wing to row backward and thus draw Antonius’ ships farther out of the protective gulf in order to surround them. The sources disagree about whether Octavianus used ramming to disable Antonius’ ships.66 Octavianus’ ships were faster and more maneuverable than those of Antonius, and the battle became more like a land battle or an assault on a walled town as the opposing ships crowded together. The battle remained indecisive for a long time. The wind, which regularly started to blow around noon in the area, continued to whip up the sea throughout the afternoon.67 Combined with the shifting of the sea and the maneuvering of the ships, the wind eventually caused the battle lines to drift and break down. This shifting worked in Agrippa’s favor but gave Cleopatra the opportunity to escape to the southwest, perhaps between 2:00 p.m. and 3:00 p.m.68 Cleopatra’s flagship suddenly broke through the opened middle. Antonius saw her ship raise its sails and flee. He followed, transferring from his own flagship to a smaller ship. When he caught up to Cleopatra, he was taken on board her ship and is said to have sat for three days in the prow of that ship, alone, despondent, and in silence. He could not even bring himself to look at Cleopatra until they landed at Taenarum on the southern part of the Peloponnese. According to Plutarch, the women with Cleopatra were instrumental in getting the two of them to speak to each other, to dine, and to retire to bed together.69 Back at Actium, Octavianus finally decided to use fire to try to bring the battle to a conclusion. He had resisted this option as long as possible out of fear that he would lose the money he believed Cleopatra had placed on her ships. The afternoon wind whipped up the fire, roasting alive many of Antonius’ soldiers in their heavy armor. The smoke also killed many sailors. To save themselves, some jumped into the sea, where they drowned or were speared by Octavianus’ soldiers on board their ships. Others committed suicide rather than be taken prisoner. Antonius’ troops could not believe that Antonius, to whom they were devoted,

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had fled during the battle and so, thinking that he had not, they continued to fight. Antonius’ fleet, now leaderless and battered by worsening conditions, continued the fight with increasingly less enthusiasm until the tenth seasonal hour, around 4:00–​5:00 p.m. (μόλις ὥρας δεκάτης ἀπεῖπε).70 The engagement went on for so long that Octavianus was compelled to spend the night aboard his ship (in serum dimicatione protracta, ut in nave victor pernoctaverit).71 Here Octavianus would have had an ideal place from which to view the heavens. Looking up after sunset on September 2, 31 b.c. during evening nautical twilight after the Battle of Actium was over, Octavianus would have seen a notable celestial display (see the central area of visibility in Fig. 10.4). The sky clearly showed the fullness of Octavianus’ victory over Cleopatra and Antonius. Sirius in Canis [CMa] was no longer visible, having dropped below the western horizon earlier in the day around 12:30 p.m., at the time the battle began and well before Cleopatra’s ship broke ranks and fled. Engonasin [Her], which would develop an association with Hercules during the saeculum Augustum, near the beginning of the battle had risen unseen in the daylight and remained in the sky.72 Hercules as Engonasin [Her], with whom Antonius identified, had been left behind in the heavens by Sirius just as Antonius had been deserted by Cleopatra when she had fled from the battle. The bright star Altair in the constellation Aquila [Aql], which had initially transported the soul of Caesar to its first celestial residence, was visible and would have been touching the Milky Way, the celestial home of the souls of worthy Romans who had served the state well. The constellation Chelae (Libra) [Lib] was in the west. Chelae (Libra) contained both Venus, the ancestor of the gens Iulia in her celestial manifestation, and the star Zubeneschamali, the final celestial resting place in Chelae (Libra) of the soul of Octavianus’ father Caesar. The Sun had set in the west, leaving its glow behind, but the constellation Virgo, in which the Sun appeared, remained aloft at the western horizon, its brightest star Spica bringing attention to its presence. In the east, Jupiter in Pisces [Psc], which had set within twenty minutes after sunrise on the day of the battle and not witnessed the battle itself, was now emerging. It joined in the heavens the Moon in Aquarius [Aqr], 97% full, which represented Diana, the goddess who was worshipped in Aricia, the birthplace of Octavianus’ mother, Atia. The Battle of Actium had turned out, in the end, to be less a battle of heroic exploits and brilliant tactics than a battle of sheer perseverance and force. September 2 was hailed as a marvelous day for the Roman state, but the victory, although obvious, was not immediately conclusive. Only after rebuffing the messages sent by Octavianus for seven days after the battle and realizing one night that their camp had been abandoned by their commander Publius Canidius Crassus (cos. suff. 40 b.c.) did Antonius’ troops finally surrender formally and receive the clemency of the victor.73 Although the opportunities for glorification and

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UTC: 17:30:00 2-Sep-31BC RA: 17h29m00s Dec: +38° 55' Field: 182.0°

Sidereal Time: 17:28:59 Julian Day: 1710345.2292

Fig. 10.4.  The evening after the Battle of Actium. September 2, 31 b.c. Shortly after sunset, 7:30 p.m. Actium, Greece (38° 56ꞌ N, 20° 44ꞌ E). SkyMap Pro V. 12. By permission of Chris Marriott.

storytelling were slim, the poets who were part of the circle around Maecenas, in their desire to praise Octavianus, were keen to depict Actium as one of the epic battles of all time. These poets were also receptive to Octavianus’ fixation on the heavens and aware, both at the time of the Battle of Actium and in the decades following, of Octavianus’ confidence in the support of the Julian celestial entities for his gradual climb to predominance in Roman politics. In particular, the poets

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emphasized the importance of Apollo the Sun, the only Julian celestial entity that actually witnessed the battle as it unfolded during the daylight hours.74 Horace is the first known Roman poet to call attention to the important presence of the Sun in the sky on the day of the battle. In his ninth Epode, which was published not long after the Battle of Actium in 30 b.c., Horace, who may even have been at Actium with Maecenas, describes the Sun as the celestial entity that sees all:75 Amidst the military standards, the Sun (sol) looks down on the shameful bed ringed with mosquito nets. Roaring at this bed, the Gauls have turned their two thousand horses, chanting the name of Caesar [Octavianus]. When the battle began around midday, the Sun as the celestial manifestation of Apollo was high in the sky and bearing witness to Octavianus’ efforts. Propertius also writes of Apollo as a witness to the battle in a poem from his third book, which was published in 23–​22 b.c.:76 Leucadian Apollo will narrate the story of the battle lines turned. One day sustained the weight of a war of such great effort (tanti operis). Apollo here is given the epithet Leucadian after the island of Leucas, which, although somewhat far south of the actual battle site itself, was nonetheless an integral part of Octavianus’ strategy because Agrippa’s blockade of the island before the battle took place cut off Antonius’ supply line. Apollo would tell the tale because, in the form of the Sun making its way across the heavens, he saw the entire battle unfold on that one day. Propertius’ genitive phrase tanti operis is both an indication of the effort it took to win the battle and a not-​so-​­subtle allusion to a verse about the foundations of the Roman people in Italy that appeared in the first book of Vergil’s Aeneid (tantae molis erat Romanam condere gentem), in which the most important contemporary poetic account of the Battle of Actium to that date would appear.77 As a member with Vergil of the circle of poets around Maecenas, Propertius would have known that Vergil was writing his Aeneid when he made his comment about Leucadian Apollo in the third book of his own poems.78 Vergil’s account is the longest and most detailed poetic account of the Battle of Actium, and it contains a number of important celestial references. The account appears in the eighth book of the Aeneid in Vergil’s description of the shield made by Vulcan and delivered by Venus to her son Aeneas before his own great battle against the Italian hero Turnus and his allies.79 Images depicting events at the Battle of Actium are placed in the center of the shield and framed by a billowing

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sea representing the scene of the battle. Set in the context of an epic poem about Aeneas and the founding of the Roman people, Vergil’s poetic description of the Battle of Actium in the visual images on the shield is not intended to be a work of history. Nonetheless, Vergil was careful to adhere to the key features of the Battle of Actium. His audience, after all, included eyewitnesses to the battle, such as Octavianus himself. Vergil anchors his descriptions within the physical elements. Earth is represented by the promontory of Leucas, the metal iron, and the ships described as being as big as mountains. Air is represented by the winds and the supportive deities who float above the fray. Fire is represented by the flaming arrows and the blazing Sun overhead. Water is represented by the sea on which the battle is being fought. Places relevant to the battle, such as Leucas and Actium, are mentioned. Some of the major participants (Octavianus, Agrippa, and Antonius) are named. Others (Cleopatra, the commanders of the Italian troops from the West, and the commanders of the foreign contingents from the East) are not named. The theme and setting is epic, and Octavianus himself is portrayed on the shield commissioned by Venus, who was the divine ancestor of the gens Iulia. The shield itself would be carried by Aeneas in his own fight to lay the foundations of a new home for himself and his people and establish a Roman family that would see its culminating victory at Actium. Vergil depicts in four tableaux on the shield the day on which the Battle of Actium was fought. Vergil opens the first tableau in his description of Aeneas’ shield with a panoramic view of the location of the battle lines at sunrise:80 In the middle it was possible to recognize the bronze-​clad fleet and the Actian field of battle. All Leucata [Leucas] was seething with the warlike spirit of Mars and the waves were flashing forth with gold. The seas are described as awash in golden light, which sets the time as sunrise. Varro had used a similar image to describe how the sky becomes golden because of the Sun’s fire at sunrise (Aurora dicitur ante solis ortum, ab eo quod ab igni solis tum aureo aer aurescit).81 Mars, the Roman god of war, was visible in his celestial manifestation as the planet Mars in Taurus [Tau] before and at sunrise on the day of the battle (see Fig. 10.3). In the second tableau, Vergil moves in more closely and presents the squadrons and the principal actors as they are lined up before the battle:82 On one side, Augustus Caesar is standing on the high prow, leading the Italians into the battle with the senators, the people, the Penates, and the great gods. His bright temples spew forth double flames and his father’s star (patrium sidus) is revealed on his helmet. Tall Agrippa is leading a

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squadron of ships, with favorable winds and gods. Agrippa’s temples flash with a naval crown adorned with ships’ beaks, a proud mark of honor from a war. On the other side, Antonius with his foreign might and motley armaments, victor over the peoples of the goddess of the dawn and the Arabian seashore, brings Egypt and the strength of the East and the far reaches of Bactria with him. And she follows—​unspeakable horror—​his Egyptian wife. The time is now after sunrise, but the battle has not yet begun. Octavianus is distinguished by the presence of the patrium sidus at the top of the helmet on his head. This star represented the permanent abode of the soul of his father Caesar in the star Zubeneschamali in the constellation Chelae (Libra), which had risen above the eastern horizon on the day of the battle after sunrise, around 9:45 a.m. At this time, Chelae (Libra) could not be seen in the daylight, but anyone conversant with the heavens would have known that it had arrived in the sky and known its whereabouts as the day went on. The twinned flames that were playing around Octavianus’ head are not likely to be the fiery flashes known as St. Elmo’s Fire, a weather phenomenon that appeared on the masts of ships during storms, because the weather at the time of the battle was no longer inclement. The flames may represent Pollux and Castor, the brightest stars in the constellation Gemini [Gem]. The cult of Pollux and Castor, who were revered not only as protectors of sailors but also as patrons of the equestrian class to which Octavianus and Agrippa belonged by birth, had established itself in Italy first in Magna Graecia. The brothers were said to have aided the Romans fighting against the deposed final king of Rome, Lucius Tarquinius Superbus, and his Latin allies at the Battle of Lake Regillus in 493 b.c. and a temple was dedicated to them in 484 b.c. in the Forum Romanum at the site of where the two were said to have appeared, watering their horses at the spring of Juturna after the battle.83 Gemini was present in the sky during morning nautical twilight before the Battle of Actium began (see Fig. 10.3). This constellation was still in the sky, although unseen, around the time the battle began several hours later. In the third tableau on the shield of Aeneas, Vergil presents the intense fighting well underway:84 All of the ships are rushing together and the entire sea foams, shaken violently by the oars pulled back and by the three-​pronged ramming beaks. They make for the deep water. You might think that the Cyclades torn loose are floating on the sea or that high mountains are engaged against mountains in battle. In such a great throng do the men on the turreted ships press forward. Pitch-​fed flames and the iron on the winged weapons

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are showered by hand. Neptune’s territory grows red with a slaughter unlike anything ever seen. In the middle, the queen calls her naval columns with her fatherland’s rattle and does not yet pay attention to the twin snakes behind her. Monstrous forms of all sorts of gods and Anubis the Barker wield their weapons against Venus and Minerva. Amidst the struggle, Mavors [Mars], adorned in iron, rages along with the sorrow-​ bringing Dirae from the sky. Discordia rejoicing in her ripped cloak advances. Bellona with her bloody whip follows her. Taking account of everything, Actian Apollo from above began to stretch his bow. Aware of his terrifying presence, every Egyptian, all the Indians, every Arab, all the Sabaeans began to turn their backs. Much of the focus in this third tableau is terrestrial, but three divinities with celestial manifestations (Mars, Venus, and Apollo the Sun) are mentioned. During the hours when the battle was being fought, the planets Mars and Venus remained in the heavens in their celestial manifestations, although they were unseen by day. Apollo the Sun remained visible, demonstrating by his engagement in the fighting as an archer his support for Octavianus. In the fourth and final tableau, Vergil describes Cleopatra hoisting sail and leaving the scene of the battle:85 The queen herself, after the winds were invoked, was seen putting up her sails and now all but throwing herself on the slack ropes. The god with power over fire [Vulcan] had presented her on the shield, pale at the thought of her coming death and carried by the waves and by Iapyx. Celestial references are missing in Vergil’s description of Cleopatra’s flight, an omission that emphasizes how the celestial sphere, in particular Isis in the form of the bright star Sirius, gave Cleopatra no support during the battle or her escape. Cleopatra is aided only by Iapyx, the west-​northwest wind, which has accepted the task of blowing her ship back to Egypt. A second contemporary poetic description of the Battle of Actium is found in another poem by Propertius, Vergil’s younger contemporary. Propertius’ comments constitute a large portion of the sixth poem in his fourth book, his so-​called Roman book, which was published in 16 b.c. Like the account of Vergil, the poetic account of Propertius contains important celestial references. Propertius’ description of the battle is introduced in the context of its relation to the dedication of the Temple of Apollo Palatinus in 28 b.c. but on the occasion of celebrations held in 16 b.c. to commemorate the Actian victory. Propertius was well aware of Vergil’s description of the battle, which he references throughout.

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Propertius’ narrative, composed not in the dactylic hexameter of the Aeneid but in elegiac couplets, is longer than Vergil’s account in the Aeneid and not so much historical as theatrical.86 Propertius opens his account with a prologue. He addresses Calliope, the Muse of Epic Poetry, and announces that his poem has been written in honor of Octavianus, the victor at Actium (Caesaris in nomen ducuntur carmina).87 Propertius sets the scene at Actium, a place where, he says dramatically, the armed forces of the world had come to fight. After the two battle lines were curved into crescents by the sea god Nereus, Phoebus Apollo left the island of Delos and arrived at the site of the battle. Apollo stood above the ship of Octavianus. Apollo was not there to perform, with his hair loosened on his neck ready to pluck his lyre and sing songs of peace. Apollo had come to Actium to fight,88 displaying the expression (quali aspexit . . . vultu) he had when he had caught sight of Agamemnon son of Pelops and had cremated the soldiers from the Doric camps on the voracious funeral pyres, displaying the expression he had when he caused to slacken in death the bending coils of Pytho, the serpent whom the peaceful goddesses feared. Apollo delivered a soliloquy praising Octavianus as the savior of the world who hailed from Alba Longa but who was greater than his Trojan ancestors (Longa mundi servitor ab Alba, /​Auguste, Hectoreis cognite maior avis), and he told Octavianus that he had come to engage in the battle on his side.89 Only by fighting would Octavianus be able to ensure that the omen of the birds that appeared to Romulus remained a positive one. Apollo declared the necessity of taking to the oars, and he called himself the one responsible for time (tempus adest, committe ratis: ego auctor temporis), an indication that he was present not only in his divine guise but also in his celestial one as the Sun, which set both diurnal time and annual time.90 Phoebus Apollo shot his arrows as he had promised (vincit Roma fide Phoebi), and the battle was won.91 Propertius then briefly described the final scene of Cleopatra fleeing and the carnage on the sea. Like Vergil, Propertius had focused in his poetic account on Apollo the Sun, who witnessed the entirety of the Battle of Actium during the day. But unlike Vergil, Propertius also included Jupiter in his account of Octavianus’ victory. Jupiter in his planetary manifestation was visible in the western sky before and at sunrise on the day of the Battle of Actium (see Fig. 10.3) but not present in the heavens during the hours of the actual battle. Jupiter returned to the heavens after the battle concluded and was visible in the east at and after sunset that evening (see Fig. 10.4). Propertius commented that Apollo’s appearance was blessed by the thunderbolt of his father, Jupiter, the strange flame shaped like a jagged torch

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that blazed out three times (nova flamma /​luxit in obliquam ter sinuata facem).92 Propertius requested that Jupiter himself take time to listen to his poem (dum canitur, quaeso, Iuppiter, ipse vaces), and he noted that the ship of Octavianus had sails filled with the favorable omen of Jupiter (hinc Augusta ratis plenis Iovis omine velis).93 In bringing Jupiter into the account of the hours following the victory at Actium, Propertius was also able to call attention in his poem to the presence of Caesar in the heavens after the conclusion of the battle. For about two hours after sunset, the star Zubeneschamali in Chelae (Libra) [Lib] would have remained visible in the western sky (see Fig. 10.4). According to Propertius, Octavianus’ father Caesar was said to have looked on in wonderment from the vantage of the Idalium astrum, the constellation Chelae (Libra) in which Caesar’s soul had taken up its permanent abode (at pater Idalio miratur Caesar ab astro).94 Caesar himself addressed his adoptive son, Octavianus, telling him of his divinity and of the well-​known promise made to their Julian bloodline: “I am a god. That trust placed in you is the mark of our family” (sum deus; est nostri sanguinis ista fides).95 The performance of the narrative of the battle in Propertius’ poem concluded with the applause of the sea nymphs circling around the victorious battle standards on Octavianus’ ships. Cleopatra, the “woman” (femina), had fled to Egypt, escaping death at that time. On the anniversary of the battle in 16 b.c., Apollo called for his lyre and took on the role of bard to sing of and to celebrate the victory and the peace that followed.96 An anonymous poem written after the poems of Propertius, Vergil, and Horace that dealt with the Battle of Actium also provides similar celestial information. This poem, the first elegy for Maecenas, which was written after Maecenas’ death in September 8 b.c. and handed down along with another elegy for Maecenas in manuscripts of the minor works falsely attributed to Vergil, also mentions the Sun. The author of this elegy for Maecenas remains unknown, but he claims to have written a poem of consolation to Livia on the death of her son Drusus in 9 b.c.97 By his own admission, the author was not a close friend of Maecenas, but Marcus Lollius (cos. 21 b.c.) gave him the opportunity to write the elegy. Although little discussion of the battle itself appears in the elegy, Maecenas is said by the poet to have played some important but undefined role in the battle.98 The poet described Apollo as the Sun traveling across the sky in his four-​horsed chariot and shooting arrows back along the ecliptic toward the point of sunrise in the east, which was the direction in which Cleopatra fled from the battle on her way back to Egypt.99 Two other poetic descriptions, also anonymous but written earlier than the first elegy for Maecenas, not long after the Battle of Actium, have been found on papyrus fragments. The Sun appears to be mentioned in a fragment associated with the Carmen de Bello Aegyptiaco (or Atiaco), a poem in Latin written after 30 b.c. Fifty-​two more or less complete hexameters from this poem

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appear in the papyrus fragment, which was discovered in the Villa of the Papyri in Herculaneum.100 A second poetic description in the form of a short Greek epigram in fourteen verses, which was written in Alexandria probably not long after Octavianus would receive his new honorific cognomen Σεβαστός (Augustus) in January 27 b.c., mentions Jupiter (Zeus) by name in three verses.101 Octavianus, of course, did not choose to fight the Battle of Actium on September 2, 31 b.c. solely on the basis of the celestial display on this day. But Octavianus knew, because of his familiarity with and interest in reading the celestial sphere, that when he arrived at Actium the battle would probably take place when the Sun was in Virgo, a highly significant celestial placement for him both astronomically and astrologically. Octavianus would have had not only foreknowledge of the celestial placements likely to be operative on the eventual day of the battle but also the ability to assess these placements as supportive of his potential victory. For Octavianus, the most important celestial element during the day of the Battle of Actium was the Sun in Virgo, which was the only one of his celestial kin to witness the entire battle and provide visual support. The Sun, the celestial luminary and keeper of time, was also the god Apollo who came with his formidable bow to do battle in support of Octavianus and eventually sing of his victory. The Sun was in Virgo, the τύχη of Octavianus, which had triumphed at Actium over the τύχη of Antonius, the suggested location of the Moon in Antonius’ genitura (see Chap. 8). The acknowledgment of the power of Octavianus’ τύχη in the form of Virgo may also be reflected in the Italian coins that were issued following Octavianus’ victory at Actium, a number of which include the image of the cornucopia, a hollow horn that was filled to overflowing with the fruits and vegetables of the fall harvest and was one of the iconographic symbols associated with τύχη (Virgo).102 The most important celestial element during the night after the battle was Jupiter, the planet most important to Octavianus, which appeared in Pisces, one of the watery signs. With Antonius defeated in the battle, the celestial sphere had confirmed what Octavianus’ celestial inclination had known all along. He was now in the position to bring to fruition the ultimate success that the presence of Jupiter, the most important of his Julian celestial kin, in the heavens had predicted for him from the day of his birth.

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Triumphs and Temples after the Battle of Actium 30–​2 8 b.c.

The engagement at Actium on September 2, 31 b.c., although a decisive victory at sea, was not the end of Octavianus’ conflict with Antonius and Cleopatra. His opponents both escaped with their lives, and they still had sufficient resources to cause Octavianus to proceed cautiously against them. Antonius and Cleopatra fled at first to the Peloponnese. Cleopatra then left for Egypt, where she had her base, while Antonius went to Libya with two friends, the Greek rhetorician Aristocrates and a Roman named Lucilius, in an attempt to recruit and assemble a force there. Lucilius had been a loyal comrade of Antonius since 42 b.c. after he claimed to be Brutus and was taken by some barbarian horsemen to Antonius, who admired his loyalty and permitted him to live. While in Libya, Antonius was not successful in his efforts to raise a force and so he set sail for Alexandria, where Cleopatra had been active in punishing those suspected of disloyalty, gathering funds to pay the army, and planning to get away, if necessary, to somewhere else. Antonius was not pleased to see Cleopatra attempting to raise her fleet and planning her escape and so he turned his back on her efforts and went to live in self-​imposed exile on the lighthouse island of Pharos. Here Antonius learned all the details of the defeat at Actium and of the defections to Octavianus of former allies, such as Herod of Judaea. Disappointed but no longer despondent, he returned to Alexandria and joined Cleopatra in her palace. This was a strange time for the couple as they waited for Octavianus to make his inevitable move against them. Antonius held the ceremony of the toga virilis for his son Antonius Antyllus in Alexandria with great fanfare, and he sought consolation in feasting and drinking once again. Antonius and Cleopatra dissolved

Celestial Inclinations. Anne-​Marie Lewis, Oxford University Press. © Oxford University Press 2023. DOI: 10.1093/​oso/​9780197599648.003.0012

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The Society of Those Who Live Life to the Fullest, and together with some close friends, they formed The Society of Those Pledged to Die Together ([σύνοδος] συναποθανουμένων).1 Cleopatra began to experiment with various poisons by which she might commit suicide. She celebrated her own birthday at some point between September and January in a modest fashion, but she celebrated at great cost what she and Antonius may have expected to be his last birthday on January 14, 30 b.c. Octavianus, after the battle at Actium, had no time to relish the victory. With the enemy commanders having escaped, the victory was tactical rather than strategic. He journeyed to Greece, where he took part in the Eleusinian Mysteries and then moved eastward to Asia, receiving as he went the soldiers and generals who were eager to transfer their loyalty from Antonius to him.2 Agrippa and Maecenas were sent to secure the base in Italy, where they had to deal with several serious but not insurmountable problems, notably veterans demanding their reward of land as well as a plot to assassinate Octavianus planned by Marcus Aemilius Lepidus, the handsome but impetuous son of the disgraced former triumvir Lepidus. Octavianus returned to Brundisium in Italy only briefly in the winter of 30 b.c., when he was serving his fourth consulship, and he then returned to Asia. He made his way gradually and carefully to Alexandria, arriving in the summer of 30 b.c., perhaps in July, eager now to get control of Cleopatra’s treasure, of which he was in desperate need.3 Although he was now in the homeland of his enemies, Octavianus did not think it wise or necessary to attack them at once. Both sides engaged in minor skirmishes, and indirect feelers were put out around the possibility of entering into formal negotiations to end the conflict, but all of these efforts were just delaying the need for one side to make a final move.4 Octavianus allegedly sent word secretly to Cleopatra, offering to pardon her and spare her kingdom if she were to kill Antonius.5 Cleopatra may also have been engaged in attempting to betray Antonius in order to save herself. Antonius sent a message to Octavianus to remind him of their friendship and their kinship and also enumerated for him the many youthful antics and passionate love affairs in which both of them had once engaged (ὅσα τε συνηράσθησάν ποτε καὶ συνενεανιεύσαντο ἀλλήλοις ἐξαριθμούμενος).6 The issue of their amatory adventures was one that had come up earlier in their dealings with each other. In a letter perhaps written in 33 b.c. when the two were still on speaking terms, Antonius had defended his relationship with Cleopatra outside his marriage to Octavia and accused Octavianus of continuing to sleep with four different women outside his marriage to Livia. He named one, Salvia Titisenia, and named the other three with diminutive forms of their names: Tertulla (for Tertia), Rufilla (for Rufia or Rufa), and Terentilla (for Terentia), that last of whom may have been the wife of Maecenas.7

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After some months passed, the stage was set for the anticlimactic end to the business that had been left unfinished at Actium almost a year earlier. The denouement, when it came, was quick and accompanied by various portents—​ auditory, monstrous, meteorological, and celestial in the form of shooting stars (ἀστέρες κομῆται).8 All of these portents were interpreted as heralding the defeat of Egypt. Antonius challenged Octavianus to single combat, which Octavianus declined. Antonius then partook of a generous feast, intending that, one way or the other, it would be his last. During the middle of that night, the god Bacchus is said to have deserted Antonius in a noisy departure with his followers. This perceived desertion was a bitter blow to Antonius, who had patterned his lifestyle after that of Bacchus.9 Unfortunately for the image Antonius wished to project, however, Bacchus was considered in contemporary Roman culture to be ruthless, dangerous to know, and at one time insane.10 Antonius resolved to fight Octavianus at sea and at sunrise on the next day, the Kalends of August (August 1, 30 b.c.).11 Just before sunrise on this day, the sky was favorable not to Antonius but to Octavianus (see the central area of visibility in Fig. 11.1). Sirius, the brightest star in Canis [CMa] was in the heavens in the southeast, but the constellation Engonasin, which was associated with Antonius’ ancestor Hercules, and Corona Borealis, which had associations with Bacchus, were absent. Several of Octavianus’ Julian ancestors in their celestial manifestations were visible within the band of the zodiac. In the east, Venus in Leo [Leo] was rising. Ahead to the west of Venus was Saturn in Gemini [Gem]. Ahead of Saturn, Jupiter and the Moon, about 60% full, were in a very close conjunction in Aries [Ari]. Antonius watched from the land at Alexandria as his ships sailed out and then promptly deserted to Octavianus. Antonius shouted that Cleopatra had betrayed him and she fled into her mausoleum, sending a message to Antonius that suggested she would be dead by the time he received it. Around this time in the midst of his own dangers, Antonius may have quoted the same verse as Brutus had quoted when he looked up at the stars on the night following his defeat at the Battle of Philippi before his own death, “Zeus, let it not escape your notice who is the cause of these evils” (Ζεῦ, μὴ λάθοι σε τῶνδ’ ὃς αἴτιος κακῶν).12 In reciting this verse, which was spoken by Medea to Creon in Euripides’ Medea, Antonius was calling upon Jupiter, whom Octavianus claimed as his ultimate divine Julian ancestor, to witness the regret he had in ending up subservient to Octavianus when he might have allied himself with Brutus and Cassius. Antonius may also have noticed, like Brutus, that Jupiter in his celestial manifestation was in the heavens that morning. Believing that Cleopatra was dead, Antonius commented to himself that τύχη had snatched away the last reason he had to love life (τὴν μόνην ἡ τύχη καὶ λοιπὴν ἀφῄρηκε τοῦ φιλοψυχεῖν πρόφασιν).13 Antonius immediately ran himself through with his sword after his slave Eros had killed

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Fig. 11.1.  The day of the fall of Alexandria. August 1, 30 b.c. Shortly before sunrise, 5:00 a.m. Alexandria, Egypt (31° 13ꞌ N, 29° 55ꞌ E). SkyMap Pro V. 12. By permission of Chris Marriott.

himself rather than kill Antonius. But Antonius was only mortally wounded, and Cleopatra was not yet dead. Antonius was brought to Cleopatra, who struggled to winch him up to her through an upper window in her mausoleum with the assistance only of her two female attendants. Antonius’ last words were said to be that he died with honor, a Roman conquered by a Roman (νῦν οὐκ ἀγεννῶς ‘Ρωμαῖος ὑπὸ ‘Ρωμαίου κρατηθείς).14 Following Antonius’ death in the arms of

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Cleopatra, Alexandria fell to Octavianus, a victory that concluded the contest between the two men that Brutus is said to have predicted in a letter he wrote to Atticus many years earlier.15 Octavianus’ true feelings about the death of his longtime rival were probably mixed. Octavianus would choose Cicero’s son Marcus Cicero to be a suffect consul with him in the year 30 b.c. but he would also decree in this year that no Antonius in the future was to have Antonius’ praenomen Marcus. So, says Plutarch, the divine power (τὸ δαιμόνιον) in the end took its final vengeance on Antonius on behalf of Cicero through the agency of Octavianus.16 But when Octavianus learned of Antonius’ death, he is also said to have withdrawn into his tent, where he wept privately for the man who had once been not only his fellow general and triumvir but also his brother-​in-​law and comrade-​in-​leisure.17 Octavianus’ reaction may explain, perhaps, why he took so long to press home the advantage after Actium. Concerned about looking too aggressive towards a fellow Caesarian and a Julian kinsman, Octavianus defended himself to his friends after Antonius’ death by reading out to them the letters that he had exchanged with Antonius in which Antonius had shown nothing but contempt for his conciliatory efforts. Octavianus is said in the entries for August 1 in several of the monumental fasti to have freed the state from a very sad time of danger (rem publicam tristissimo periculo liberavit).18 This description highlights the devastating toll, both personal and political, that this civil war had taken on all those involved. Octavianus permitted Cleopatra to embalm the body of Antonius, a process that took several days, and he also permitted Cleopatra to give Antonius a royal burial, presumably in the mausoleum in Alexandria near the Temple of Isis that she had been preparing for both of them.19 Whether the mausoleum was finished at the time is uncertain.20 After the entombment of Antonius, Octavianus first sent Proculeius, one of his companions whom Antonius had recommended to Cleopatra as trustworthy, to speak with Cleopatra because he was fearful that she would burn her treasury on her funeral pyre and rob him of the opportunity to bring her to Rome for his triumphal procession.21 Octavianus then sent the poet Gallus to her. Gallus distracted Cleopatra in conversation long enough for Proculeius to climb up into the upper window of the mausoleum and seize Cleopatra and prevent her from stabbing herself to death or taking poison.22 Several days after her capture, Octavianus came to speak with Cleopatra personally.23 She arranged the room carefully and dressed herself with seeming unconcern for her appearance in order to convey her grief and despair. She read to Octavianus the love letters from Caesar, which she had kept all these years. She also wept and addressed imploringly the many statues of Caesar she had placed around her in the room. Cleopatra blamed her fear of Antonius for her actions, but when Octavianus was unmoved by this line of argument she began to plead

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for her life, leaving Octavianus satisfied that she wished to go on living, whatever the outcome of her surrender would hold for her. She gave Octavianus a list of her treasures and offered to send gifts to both Octavia and Livia, a gesture that is said to have pleased Octavianus, who then departed, thinking that he had outwitted her. Several days after the burial of Antonius, however, Cleopatra proved Octavianus wrong. She managed to commit suicide even though Octavianus had set guards to watch her. The method Cleopatra used to commit suicide is not known for certain, but since an image of Cleopatra with an asp on her arm would be carried later in Octavianus’ Egyptian triumph, he apparently believed that she used an asp.24 Cleopatra died at the age of thirty-​nine, twenty-​ two of which years she had been queen, and more than fourteen of which she had spent sharing power with Antonius.25 The date of Cleopatra’s death is not provided in the ancient sources, but August 10 and August 12 have been suggested.26 Octavianus tried to have Cleopatra resuscitated. He was vexed at her death but admired her noble lineage. He permitted Cleopatra to be embalmed also and buried with Antonius in their mausoleum in Alexandria, as she had requested, with all regal splendor. On Octavianus’ order, the statues of Antonius in Alexandria were torn down, but the statues of Cleopatra were permitted to remain because one of Cleopatra’s friends bribed Octavianus with 2,000 talents to leave them standing. After the death of Cleopatra, Octavianus turned his mind to dealing with any remaining threats. The last conspirator involved in the assassination of Caesar, Cassius Parmensis, was executed shortly after Antonius’ defeat at Actium.27 Cassius Parmensis is said to have been visited one night in Athens by an apparition, huge in size, black in appearance, unkempt of beard, and matted of hair.28 The apparition identified itself as his evil essential spirit (his κακὸς δαίμων). A short time later he was put to death on the order of Octavianus. With this death, the δαίμων of Caesar was appeased and could finally rest. The one child Caesar had fathered with Cleopatra and the seven still-​dependent children Antonius had fathered by two of his Roman wives, however, remained alive and problematic. Caesarion, the seventeen-​year-​old son of Cleopatra and Caesar, was killed on the order of Octavianus as he was trying to flee to Ethiopia. Antonius Antyllus, the eighteen-​year-​old elder son of Antonius and Fulvia, who had been with his father and Cleopatra in Alexandria and to whom Octavianus had betrothed his infant daughter Iulia several years earlier, tried to plead for his life but was dragged away from the image of Divus Iulius at which he had taken sanctuary and killed quickly on the order of Octavianus. The three children of Antonius and Cleopatra were allowed to survive. The twins, Alexander Helios and Cleopatra Selene, who were then about twelve years old, and their brother Ptolemy Philadelphus, who was about six years old, were spared. Antonius’ three children by Cleopatra

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and Antonius’ only surviving son by Fulvia, Iullus Antonius, would be raised in Rome by Octavianus’ sister Octavia, the former wife of Antonius, together with Marcellus, Claudia Marcella the Elder, and Claudia Marcella the Younger, Octavia’s three children by Gaius Marcellus, and with Antonia the Elder and Antonia the Younger, Octavia’s daughters by Antonius. Octavia would arrange for Cleopatra Selene to be married in late 25 b.c. to Juba II, the son of Juba, the king of Mauretania. Juba II had been carried as an infant in Caesar’s African triumph in September 46 b.c., and he was brought up in Rome. He became a historian and served Octavianus loyally on his campaigns. For a favor to the newly married couple, Octavianus would spare the lives of Cleopatra Selene’s brothers Alexander Helios and Ptolemy Philadelphus. Antonia the Elder and Antonia the Younger, Octavianus’ nieces, would be given money from the estate of their father Antonius. Later, they would both be married well to Roman aristocrats. Octavianus would also order that Iullus Antonius be given the inheritance to which he was entitled by law as a son of Antonius. Thanks to Octavia, Octavianus would become very fond of Iullus Antonius, so fond that Octavianus is said to have considered him to be third in his estimation behind Agrippa and behind Livia’s sons, Tiberius and Drusus.29 After Octavianus dealt with the children of Antonius, Egypt the prize of the Εast was in his complete control, an accomplishment he would note later in his Res Gestae (Aegyptum imperio populi Romani adieci).30 The Roman civil wars that had raged for several decades were now over. Octavianus chose not to mention Antonius further by name, although he could not be completely forgotten or overlooked because he was forever bound with Octavianus’ family through his marriage to Octavia and their children.31 In the list of his accomplishments highlighted in his Res Gestae, Octavianus would refer to Antonius as the man with whom he had waged war (cum quo bellum gesseram).32 Octavianus is said to have mourned Antonius’ death to some degree, but whether he was happy to see Cleopatra follow Antonius into the afterlife is debatable. One view is that Octavianus greatly wished to keep Cleopatra alive so that she could walk, as a token of his victory, in his triumphal procession at Rome.33 Her suicide took Octavianus by surprise. But she had her own reasons for taking her own life and undoubtedly did not want to be paraded along the streets of Rome in Octavianus’ triumph, just as her sister, Arsinoe, had been in Caesar’s triumph in 46 b.c., a spectacle for the jeering Roman crowds aroused by all the hateful propaganda against her. Realistically, Octavianus may have considered Cleopatra to be too dangerous a figurehead to remain alive and so she did him a favor by removing herself. Her death allowed Octavianus to be declared the ruler of Egypt not long afterwards, perhaps on the day of the Egyptian New Year, 1 Thoth, in late August.34 Octavianus entered Alexandria in 30 b.c., arm and arm with the Stoic

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philosopher Arius of Alexandria, with whom he had studied and then remained on good terms.35 Following the annexation of Egypt as a province of Rome and the unusual administrative decision to appoint an eques as its governor, which gave Octavianus continuing control over the province, he did not rush back to Rome. He spent some time traveling around Egypt and he showed himself to be a tourist not particularly respectful of the antiquities. When visiting the tomb of Alexander the Great and viewing his body at that time, Octavianus apparently broke off a piece of Alexander’s nose. When offered the opportunity to visit the tombs of the Ptolemaic kings of Egypt, Octavianus commented drily that he came to see a king, not corpses.36 Dio viewed the conquest of Egypt by Octavianus as slavery for its people, a reality reflected by the portents that appeared after Cleopatra’s death.37 The dead showed themselves. The faces of statues took on sorrowful looks, and shooting stars (ἀστέρες κομῆται) were visible in the vault of the heavens. Octavianus accepted his fifth consulship with Sextus Appuleius on the first day of January in the following year, 29 b.c. (ἐν αὐτῇ τῇ τοῦ ’Ιανουαρίου), in absentia while he remained in the East settling matters there.38 The Senate at Rome did not hesitate in voting Octavianus various honors and privileges. These honors included the official public celebration of his birthday and the anniversary of the announcement of his victory over Cleopatra and Antonius with ceremonies of thanksgiving as well as the declaration that the day of Antonius’ birth be declared a corrupted day (τήν τε ἡμέραν ἐν ᾗ ἐγεγέννητο μιαρὰν ἐνόμισαν).39 Octavianus accepted most of the honors voted to him, to show his gratitude, but he rejected some of them, to show his superiority. He is said to have been most pleased by one particular honor that was decreed by the Senate. This honor not only reminded everyone of Octavianus’ victory, but it also reminded the public that with the exception of some lesser military actions still ongoing, a significant peace was now at hand. On January 11, 29 b.c., the twin-​doored Shrine of Janus Quirinus ( Janus Geminus), which was located between the Forum Romanum and the Forum Iulium, was closed for the first time since 235 b.c., following Rome’s victory over the Carthaginians in the First Punic War. The day of the closing in 29 b.c. was commemorated on the Fasti Praenestini.40 Octavianus included the event in his Res Gestae among his accomplishments, and he noted its importance in Roman history.41 Octavianus was not in Rome to participate in the closing of the doors of the Shrine of Janus, but he may have chosen this date, even though, as the first day of the Carmentalia, it was not unencumbered. During the saeculum Augustum, the Carmentalia was a festival for women that celebrated childbirth, but Ovid in the Fasti included in his entry for January 11 the prophecy of Carmentis that Rome was destined to give new gods to the zodiac (novos caelo terra datura deos), who included Caesar, Divus Iulius.42 The sky on the day

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of the ceremony of the closing of the doors of the Shrine of Janus on January 11, 29 b.c. during morning nautical twilight presented a few of the features that had appeared in the past and would appear in the future in the celestial display at the public events that were associated with him. Mars, the Roman god of war, and Mercury, the Roman messenger-​god, were in a close conjunction near the eastern horizon in the constellation Sagittarius. Caesar was represented in the sky in the constellation Chelae (Libra). Along with Mars and Mercury, Caesar bore witness to the ceremony indicating that all major Roman military engagements had ceased. The sky during evening nautical twilight on the occasion of the closing of the doors of the Shrine of Janus, however, would have been visually more meaningful for Octavianus and the occasion (see the central area of visibility in Fig. 11.2). On this evening, Venus was in Aquarius [Aqr] in the west. Saturn, a god associated with Italy, appeared in the east in Gemini [Gem], the constellation that represented Pollux and Castor, who were considered protectors of Roman armies and navies. To the west of Saturn, Jupiter and the Moon, about 50% full, were in a very close conjunction in Aries [Ari], as they had been just before sunrise on the day of the fall of Alexandria in 30 b.c. (see Fig. 11.1). Octavianus’ victory was thus complete not only in the eyes of the Roman people but also in the eyes of his Olympian celestial ancestors as well as of Caesar, Divus Iulius, who had appeared on that day before sunrise in his celestial residence, the star Zubeneschamali in Chelae (Libra). Octavianus, still in the East, attended to the business of running the Roman state and handling various administrative matters from afar during the winter months of 29 b.c. He stayed away almost as long as he could and seemed to be in no rush to return home to Italy, heightening the suspense and magnifying the importance of the day when he would return to Rome as the victor in war and the bringer of peace. He crossed to Greece and then to Italy during the summer and arrived in Rome at some point after July 1, 29 b.c., when the suffect consul Potitus Valerius Messalla (Potitus) replaced the ordinary consul Sextus Appuleius, and before August 13, the day of Octavianus’ first triumph.43 Upon his entry into the city, Octavianus was met by ecstatic crowds of Romans, who were grateful that he had ended years of civil war, established peace and order, brought cultivation back to the fields, and even restored the old form of the Republic (prisca illa et antiqua rei publicae forma revocata), this last accomplishment certainly a remarkable claim, given the actual current situation.44 Octavianus received sacrifices from the entire population, a perpetual honor decreed to him by the Senate and first put into practice in this year, 29 b.c.45 For the first time, a consul, Potitus, offered sacrifices on behalf of the Roman Senate and the people of Rome to Octavianus, something that had never been done for any Roman citizen before. Octavianus and Agrippa, as elected censors, then

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Sidereal Time: 01:31:30 Julian Day: 1710841.2292

Fig. 11.2.  The closing of the doors of the Shrine of Janus. January 11, 29 b.c. After sunset, 6:30 p.m. Rome (41° 53ꞌ N, 12° 29ꞌ E). SkyMap Pro V. 12. By permission of Chris Marriott.

began their assessment and purging of the membership of the Senate, which had swelled to one thousand members. They also imposed new restrictions on the travel of senators outside Italy. Dio describes the munificence that followed Octavianus’ return and preceded Octavianus’ triumphs.46 Octavianus honored and eulogized those commanders who had died in the campaigns. He then granted Agrippa, whose strategy had won the naval contest at Actium for him, many distinctions, including

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the dark-​blue naval flag. Now flush with the money that he had seized from Cleopatra, Octavianus was able to give gifts to his soldiers and to the Roman people, pay off his own debts, and forgive those debts owed to him. Octavianus, it appears, had put much thought into the staging of the three triumphs he would hold in the year 29 b.c., the only ones he would ever celebrate, undoubtedly in order to show himself worthy of being the heir of Caesar, who had celebrated four triumphs in 46 b.c. Octavianus’ triumphal celebrations took place on three consecutive days: the Ides of August, the nineteenth day before the Kalends of September, and the eighteenth day before the Kalends of September (August 13, 14, and 15, 29 b.c.).47 Two of the three celebrations recognized his recent victory over the Egyptian queen Cleopatra and her partner, the unspoken Antonius, a fallen Roman and once-​esteemed military commander. The first of the three days on which the triumphs were held coincided, probably by design, with the festival of Hercules Victor. This festival of Hercules perhaps marked the dedication of a temple to Hercules Victor by Lucius Mummius Achaicus (cos. 146 b.c.), a ceremony that took place on August 13. This temple may be the little round temple still preserved today in the area of the Forum Boarium in Rome.48 The coincidence would have signified publicly that Octavianus had appropriated Hercules, whom Antonius had claimed as his ancestor.49 In the three triumphal processions, Octavianus was accompanied by his thirteen-​year-​old nephew, Octavia’s son, Marcellus, who was riding on the right trace horse, and by his thirteen-​ year-​old stepson, Livia’s firstborn son Tiberius, who was riding on the left trace horse.50 On the first day of the triumphs, August 13, Octavianus celebrated his victories in the Dalmatian campaigns of 35–​33 b.c.; on the second day, August 14, he celebrated his victory at Actium in 31 b.c.; and on the third day, August 15, he celebrated his conquest of Egypt in 30 b.c. All three triumphal processions were costly and spectacular, thanks to Octavianus’ free access to the treasures of Egypt, but none was more spectacular than the triumph that recognized his conquest of Egypt on the third day.51 Cleopatra, by means of her suicide, may have escaped being part of Octavianus’ triumphal procession, but she was nonetheless present at this triumph, carried in effigy and depicted lying down on a couch. Her children by Antonius, the twins, Alexander Helios and Cleopatra Selene, were forced to walk along in the procession in front of Octavianus himself, but Ptolemy Philadelphus, her youngest child, apparently was not a participant. Octavianus had broken precedent by requiring his fellow consul Potitus and other magistrates to follow behind him in his triumphal chariot. This arrangement presented a powerful visual symbol that the consul was not Octavianus’ equal and that the magistrates were not in the dominant position of leading the victorious triumphator but in the lesser position of following behind him, now equal only to the members of the Senate.

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The coincidence of this impressive series of triumphs and the notable celestial display at sunrise on the days of the triumphs suggest that these magnificent events were planned to coincide not only with the celebration of Hercules Victor, the avowed ancestor of Antonius, but also with the heavens, undoubtedly under the guidance of Octavianus and with the assistance of his close circle of advisors who had remained at Rome while he was in the East and who would have undertaken the planning for the events on his behalf. Such a careful coordination of celestial and terrestrial events was not without precedent. Octavianus’ adoptive father, Caesar, appears to have used the appearance of Venus in her celestial manifestation as a supportive backdrop for his own quadruple triumph in 46 b.c., which the young Octavianus had attended and in which he had played a small role. On all three days of Octavianus’ triumphs in 29 b.c., the celestial display before sunrise was similar but the Moon was not visible in the west until the second day, August 14. On the third, most spectacular day of the triumphal celebration in honor of the conquest of Egypt, August 15, 29 b.c., all of the celestial ancestors of the gens Iulia, the two luminaries and the five ancient planets, were in the sky at sunrise and in notable configurations (see the central area of visibility in Fig. 11.3). In the east, the Sun in Leo [Leo] was rising. Mercury ahead of the Sun was also in Leo. Ahead of Mercury to the west were two pairs of planets in very close conjunction: first, Saturn and Venus in Cancer [Cnc] near Pollux, the brightest star in the constellation Gemini [Gem]; and second, Mars and Jupiter in Taurus [Tau]. The Moon, 96% full in Pisces [Psc], appeared in the west. The constellation Engonasin [Her], which was identified as Hercules during this period, was partially visible near Fides [Lyr] in the northwest to bear witness to the triumph of Octavianus over Antonius. Directly opposite in the southeast shone Sirius, the brightest star in the constellation Canis [CMa]. As the representative of Isis, who was the divine embodiment of the now deceased Cleopatra, Sirius was symbolic of Octavianus’ conquest of Egypt and of his assumption of the role of Cleopatra as ruler of Egypt. The powerful nature of this celestial display was one that Octavianus had employed before and would employ again: close conjunctions of planets, a notable Moon, the presence of Jupiter, and a prominence for the constellation Gemini, which had a powerful resonance in Roman culture and a notable place in Octavianus’ astrological genitura as the location of the Midheaven. As in 46 b.c., when Caesar had followed his triumphs with the dedication of the Temple of Venus Genetrix, Octavianus followed his own triple triumph with the dedication, three days later on the fifteenth day before the Kalends of September (August 18), of two buildings in the Forum Romanum that brought honor to his Julian family: the Curia Iulia, which was the new Senate House containing inside a shrine to Minerva known as the Chalcidicum, and the Temple of

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Fig. 11.3.  The triumphal celebration for Octavianus’ conquest of Egypt. August 15, 29 b.c. Sunrise, 5:12 a.m. Rome (41° 53ꞌ N, 12° 29ꞌ E). SkyMap Pro V. 12. By permission of Chris Marriott.

Divus Iulius.52 The triumphal processions a few days earlier had given Octavianus the means to demonstrate his military success through the performance of the processions. But performance is a fleeting spectacle. Cicero had recounted an episode in his De Finibus, a work dedicated to Brutus and presented to him in 45 b.c., which brings this point into sharper perspective.53 Cicero was studying in Athens in 79 b.c. and touring around town with his brother, his cousin, and a

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few friends when they came to Plato’s Academy. Cicero’s friend Pupius Piso, who would later support Cicero’s enemy Clodius Pulcher, much to Cicero’s annoyance, commented that a building could call up the memory of prominent individuals and beloved family members because places had the power to affect the emotions. The dedication of two buildings in the Forum Romanum, the Curia Iulia and the Temple of Divus Iulius, on August 18, 29 b.c. gave Octavianus the opportunity to invest a revered place in Rome with long-​lasting emotional resonances that would be more powerful and useful to him in the long term than the one-​time spectacles that accompanied the dedications of the buildings there. These two new buildings emphasized the eminent glory of his own Julian family, his recent victory in Egypt, his pride in being the son of the Roman deity Divus Iulius, and his continuing contribution to the civic and religious life of Rome. The building of a new Senate House, the Curia Iulia, had been started in 44 b.c. by Caesar to replace the Curia Hostilia, which had been rebuilt by Sulla. The construction had been interrupted by the civil wars, and Octavianus completed what Caesar had begun. Inside, Octavianus placed a statue of the goddess Victoria from Tarentum, which was decked out with the Egyptian spoils that Octavianus had seized after Cleopatra’s death.54 He also placed inside an encaustic painting of the Nemea, a personification of the Nemean forest near where Hercules had killed the Nemean lion. The Nemea was seated on a lion and holding a palm in her hand. In referencing Hercules, Octavianus was again serving notice that in defeating the unnamed Antonius at Actium he had also co-​opted Antonius’ ancestor, the divine hero Hercules, a personal form of syncretism whereby the victor appropriated the deities of the vanquished. Near the Nemea was depicted an old man with a staff, and above the head of this figure appeared a little painting of a chariot with two horses, perhaps representing the two-​horse chariot drawn by Diana across the sky in her celestial manifestation as the Moon.55 Octavianus placed a second notable painting in the Senate House as well. This one, by the fourth-​century Greek artist Philochares, depicted two otherwise unknown figures: Aristippus, a young man, and Glaucio, his father, whose resemblance to each other was strikingly close. Above them soared an eagle holding a snake in its talons. The portrait of father and son with an eagle flying over their heads may have referenced the status of the eagle as the bird of Jupiter as well as the initial journey of Caesar’s soul to the heavens following his funeral in 44 b.c. by means of Altair in Aquila the Eagle, the sidus crinitum, which had been celebrated at the ludi presented by Octavianus in honor of Caesar in September 44 b.c. The second Julian structure dedicated on this day, August 18, 29 b.c., was the Temple of Divus Iulius, another building project that had been delayed for a number of years. The triumvirs had begun construction of a temple in 42 b.c. at a spot in the Forum Romanum near where Caesar’s body had been cremated by

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the mob after Antonius had delivered his funerary oration. An altar and a column set up after the cremation had once stood there. Octavianus also used this new structure to celebrate his victory at Actium by installing beaks or battering rams of ships on the speaker’s platform he built in front of the temple. This new rostra, the Rostra Aedis Divi Iulii, or Rostra Iulia, faced the Old Rostra at the other end of the Forum Romanum, which was itself in the form of a ship’s beak.56 Inside, in the cella of this temple to Divus Iulius, Octavianus placed a colossal statue of a priestly Caesar, with his head veiled and holding a lituus, an augur’s wand that was used to mark out a ritual space in the sky and that was a symbol of the augur’s power to reveal the will of the gods to human beings. To commemorate Caesar’s devotion to Venus, the mythological ancestor to whom Caesar had been devoted, Octavianus also placed in the temple a painting from Caesar’s personal art collection. This painting by the fourth-​century b.c. Greek artist Apelles was called the Venus Anadyomene because it depicted the fully grown goddess Venus, naked and wringing her wet hair as she emerged out of the waves that were breaking onto the shore (Venerem exeuntem e mari divus Augustus dicavit in delubro patris Caesaris).57 The painting was mentioned briefly by the poet Propertius but more often by the poet Ovid.58 Ovid commented that if Apelles had not painted Venus she would still be submerged beneath the waves.59 Ovid also described in his Tristia the scene painted by Apelles of Venus wringing her hair as she emerges, barely covered by her natal waters (maternis . . . aquis).60 And in a poem addressed to Sextus Pompeius (cos. a.d. 14), Ovid again used the image of the now fully grown Venus pressing the water out of her dripping hair as she steps ashore and into her divine adulthood.61 The heavens during morning nautical twilight before sunrise on August 18, 29 b.c., the day of the dedication of the Curia Iulia and the Temple of Divus Iulius, presented a celestial display that was very similar to the celestial display on the third day of the triple triumph held several days prior on August 15, 29 b.c. (see Fig. 11.3). Notably, on August 18, Venus remained on this morning in the heavens in close conjunction with Saturn in Cancer [Cnc]. The Moon, now waning but still bright at 72% full, had moved into Taurus [Tau] and closer to Jupiter and Mars, which were also both in Taurus [Tau]. The celestial display during nautical twilight after sunset on this day, however, was perhaps more meaningful in the context of the occasion of the dedication of the Temple of Divus Iulius (see the central area of visibility in Fig. 11.4). The sky at that time was devoid of planets and luminaries, but aloft was the bright star Altair in Aquila [Aql]. Ahead within the zodiac was the star Zubeneschamali in Chelae (Libra) [Lib], the final resting place of Caesar’s soul. At the conclusion of the day’s events, which had celebrated the dedication of the temple of Octavianus’ divine father, no planets or luminaries appeared within the band of the zodiac. Divus Iulius had the zodiac all to himself.

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Fig. 11.4.  The dedication of the Curia Iulia and the Temple of Divus Iulius. August 18, 29 b.c. After sunset, 8:00 p.m. Rome (41° 53ꞌ N, 12° 29ꞌ E). SkyMap Pro V. 12. By permission of Chris Marriott.

The celebration following the dedication of the Temple of Divus Iulius went on for many days even though Octavianus fell ill in mid-​celebration and had to pass the supervision of the events on to others.62 Horse races of various sorts took place. Many wild animals, including a rhinoceros and hippopotamus, were slain, and gladiatorial combats featuring conquered peoples were presented. The gladiatorial contests even included a senator as one of the combatants. The equestrian

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exercise called the Lusus Troiae was again performed, and Octavianus’ stepson Tiberius led the older boys in the display. Octavianus’ celebrations of his victories and of Divus Iulius, during the month of August 29 b.c., concluded with the dedication on the fifth day before the Kalends of September (August 28) of an Altar of Victoria in the Curia Iulia, an altar that was set up to commemorate Octavianus’ victory over Cleopatra at Actium.63 The skies before sunrise on the day of the dedication were notable with all five planets in a row within the band of the zodiac, as they had been before sunrise on August 15, the day of the triumphal celebration for Octavianus’ Conquest of Egypt (see Fig. 11.3). The presence of the five ancient planets, Mercury, Venus, Saturn, Mars, and Jupiter, less closely spaced on this day but still in close proximity, formed a fitting conclusion to the two-​week celebration of Octavianus’ formal celebration of his own triumphs and of his divine father. One year later, on September 2, 28 b.c., during the year of his sixth consulship, Octavianus celebrated ludi marking the anniversary of his great victory at Actium, at which Apollo had appeared in his celestial manifestation as the Sun in support of him and his forces. At sunrise on this day the Sun in Virgo was rising in the east. The Moon, 99% full, was in Pisces in the west. Saturn was in Cancer and Jupiter was in Gemini. The star Sirius, the representative of the defeated Cleopatra and Egypt, was also visible in the south. Octavianus fell ill during the course of these Actian ludi, which were being held for the first time, but Agrippa stepped in to carry out Octavianus’ duties as if they had been his own.64 One debt remained to be paid by Octavianus to Apollo in thanks for the support Octavianus believed that the god had provided for him in his victory at Actium. On the seventh day before the Ides of October (October 9) in 28 b.c., Octavianus dedicated the Temple of Apollo Palatinus.65 This temple had been vowed by Octavianus in 36 b.c., during the naval campaign against Sextus Pompeius, and construction had probably begun soon after the battle.66 Apollo the Sun and Diana the Moon had aided Octavianus in that victory. Jupiter was said to have been part of the planning of the Temple of Apollo Palatinus by sending a bolt of lightning to mark the spot where the temple was to be built.67 The temple was attached to Octavianus’ house on the Palatine Hill but the temple precinct had been made a public space by the lightning strike. The great fire of a.d. 64 devastated the Augustan architectural record on the Palatine Hill, and this temple, Octavianus’ first independent building project, is unfortunately lost today, save for some relief panels, some sculptures, a few column bases, and the outline of its foundations.68 Brief descriptions of the temple, however, are found in various ancient prose sources, and these may be combined with contemporary poetic sources and results obtained from archeological excavations in this area of the Palatine, most recently those from 2005 on, to give a sense of the special

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nature of the temple, its significance to Octavianus, and the role played by celestial display on the day of its dedication. Octavianus’ Temple of Apollo Palatinus was the second temple to Apollo in Rome but the first to be built within the pomerium, Rome’s formal boundary.69 Octavianus had spared no expense or artistic vision in the creation of the Temple of Apollo Palatinus and its precinct. The temple was visible from many vantage points in the city. It sat on a high podium that was reached by a long flight of steps. Its Corinthian columns were almost fifty feet high and the four columns at the front were widely spaced.70 The temple faced, not southwest from the Palatine Hill looking over the Circus Maximus, as has long been surmised, but northeast, and its entrance was at the northeast end facing toward the road leading up to Octavianus’ house.71 The temple elevation was built entirely of white Carrara (Luna) marble. The pediment was decorated with archaic statues in Parian marble, and a statue of the Sun in his four-​horse chariot stood on top.72 The temple doors were inlaid with ivory reliefs depicting mythological scenes, an ubiquitous presence in art and literature during the saeculum Augustum.73 One side of the temple doors displayed the scene of the death of the children of boastful Niobe at the hands of Diana, and the other side displayed the scene of the expulsion of the Gauls from Delphi by Apollo. In the large open-​air space in front of the temple stood a statue of Apollo in his peacetime guise, singing and playing the cithara, and an altar surrounded by four lifelike oxen sculpted by Myron.74 The temple was famed for its shady portico with its columns constructed of yellow Numidian marble. This portico apparently came to have the dubious reputation of being a place, according to Ovid, where women might go to find partners for their amatory trysts when the Sun was in Virgo (Virginis aetheriis cum caput ardet equis), a time when a visit to the Portico of Pompeius Magnus near his theater was also recommended.75 Statues in the portico attached to the Temple of Apollo Palatinus, in black Greek marble, probably of the fifty Danaids, daughters of Greek Danaus, stood between the columns and were poised as if ready to kill their fifty intended husbands, who were the sons of their uncle Aegyptus.76 In the end, only forty-​nine of the fifty daughters committed the murders. Hypermestra spared Lynceus, probably out of love, and the two became the ancestors of the kings of Argos. This story of the Danaids referenced in stone both the victory of West over East at Actium and the clemency that Octavianus had shown in sparing the lives of Antonius’ three children by Cleopatra despite Antonius’ shabby treatment of his wife Octavia, Octavianus’ sister. The temple also contained a large library with separate sections for Greek and Latin works. Its librarian was Hyginus, a friend of the poet Ovid and a freedman of Octavianus, who would write a valuable compendium on astronomy during the period of the saeculum Augustum.77 Terra-​cotta relief panels associated

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with the temple depict, in Greek archaizing style, Apollo, the divine kinsman of Octavianus, in contest for the Delphic tripod with Hercules, the ancestor of Antonius, as well as Perseus and Athena posing with the head of Medusa. Cult statues of Apollo, his sister Diana, and their mother, Latona, by fourth-​century b.c. Greek sculptors stood in the cella. The Apollo, possibly sculpted by Scopas, was depicted as a musician, sporting long hair down his neck, wearing a long robe, and holding a cithara. The imagery of this statue may have been partially reflected in a wall painting of Apollo holding a cithara that was found inside the attached house of Octavianus on the Palatine Hill. A statue of Diana by Timotheus was also placed in the temple.78 Just as the fortune and goals of Octavianus were merging with those of the Roman state, so too the Temple of Apollo Palatinus came to signal the elevation of Apollo from Octavianus’ personal ally at Actium to a protecting divinity for Rome. Not surprisingly, given the commanding presence of Apollo as poet-​musician both outside and inside the temple, the dedication of this temple was a topic of interest to Horace, Propertius, and Vergil, who were part of the group of poets associated with Octavianus’ close friend Maecenas. Since all three poets could very well have been in Rome on the day of the important event of the dedication of the temple, their comments provide some indication of what may have happened on the day of the dedication and how the state of the heavens may have influenced Octavianus’ choice of the unencumbered day October 9, 28 b.c. for the event. A brief comment of Horace that the temple was newly dedicated appears in a poem from the first book of his odes that was published in 23 b.c. although the poem was probably written earlier.79 The firsthand account of Propertius found in a poem from Book 2 published between 28 and 25 b.c. that may have been commissioned by either Octavianus or Maecenas is the most detailed, and it is the source of the physical features of the temple previously noted.80 The ecphrasis in fifteen verses plus a dactyl and spondee describing the temple is not the focus of the poem. It falls between a five-​word opening in which a woman asks her lover why he is late—​he was attending the dedication of the Temple of Apollo Palatinus—​and a long lament about the lover’s suspicions regarding his mistress and the infidelities of women in general. Vergil presents the dedication of the temple on the shield of Aeneas in the eighth book of the Aeneid immediately after his description of Cleopatra being welcomed back to Egypt and enfolded in the bosom of the sorrowful Nile River after her flight from the Battle at Actium. These verses do not describe the Temple of Apollo Palatinus itself but provide information about the events that occurred on the day of the dedication of the temple. The dedication ritual of the temple appears to have been very low key in keeping perhaps with the temple’s somewhat severe archaizing decoration, which stood in strong contrast to the excessive

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Asiatic tendencies that had been favored by Antonius and put to such effective use by Antonius in his funeral oration for Caesar in 44 b.c. The scene of the dedication engraved by Vulcan on the shield of Aeneas is solemn:81 [Octavianus] himself sitting at the snow-​white threshold of gleaming white Phoebus [Apollo] inspects the gifts of the people and fastens them on the magnificent posts of the double doors. Conquered peoples are advancing in a lengthy line, as varied in languages as in fashion of dress and arms. At this point Mulciber [Vulcan] had depicted the race of nomads and ungirt Africans, the Leleges, Cares, and arrow-​bearing Geloni. The Euphrates River was now moving with gentler waves. Depicted also were the Morini, the furthest of men, and the double-​horned Rhine River as well as the unconquered Dahae and the Araxes River that had been angry at its bridge [and washed it away]. The foreigners shown advancing in procession and bringing gifts represent the peoples of the world over whom Apollo the Sun passes on his journey along the ecliptic from east to west each day.82 From the south came the wandering African tribes and Africans wearing long robes without belts. From the east came the Leleges and Carians of Asia Minor. From the west came the Morini of Gaul. From the north came the Geloni and Dahae of Scythia. These foreign peoples were accompanied by images of three mighty rivers portrayed as river gods: the Euphrates of Parthia, the Rhine of Germany, and the Araxes of Armenia. At first glance, the image of Octavianus receiving visitors that Vergil presents in these verses might seem similar to the daily morning salutatio when Roman clients attended on their patrons, but this cannot be the setting. Cicero had met morning callers in front of the bedchamber in his house (πρὸ τοῦ δωματίου).83 Others met morning callers in the atrium of their houses. But Octavianus, in Vergil’s description, was not in the atrium or in front of a room within his own home. Nor was he inside a magnificent room like a divinity who would receive visitors within his sanctuary. The Sun had welcomed Phaethon, his son, inside his palace and seated on a throne in this way.84 Instead, Octavianus was sitting at the threshold (limen) of the temple, just as Aurora, the attendant of the Sun, was imagined by Catullus to have arrived at the threshold to await and welcome the Sun at its rising (Aurora exoriente vagi sub limina Solis).85 If Vergil has described the actual scene on the day of the dedication of the Temple of Apollo Palatinus, the implications are very clear. Octavianus has been cast neither as a dominus nor as the god Apollo but as a doorkeeper or an attendant of Apollo, much as Octavianus appears to have cast himself as a bard of Apollo and not the god himself some years earlier in 38 b.c. at the controversial Banquet of the Twelve Gods.

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The celestial display at sunrise on October 9, 28 b.c., the day of the dedication of the Temple of Apollo Palatinus, was clearly supportive of Octavianus (see the central area of visibility in Fig. 11.5). Before and up to sunrise, Octavianus would have seen a sky that displayed several of the features he favored as backdrops for his special public events: the presence of the Moon, 32% full, in Leo [Leo]; a prominent central position for Gemini [Gem]; and the close proximity of the Moon in Leo with Saturn in Leo and Jupiter in Gemini around the midpoint Lyr

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Fig. 11.5.  The dedication of the Temple of Apollo Palatinus. October 9, 28 b.c. Sunrise, 6:15 a.m. Rome (41° 53ꞌ N, 12° 29ꞌ E). SkyMap Pro V. 12. By permission of Chris Marriott.

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of the band of the zodiac. Because of Octavianus’ sensitivity to the theatrics of celestial display and the usefulness of celestial support for his consolidation of power in Rome, the dedication was probably timed to reach its important point at sunrise when Apollo as the Sun, who was being honored with the dedication of this temple, would make his appearance in the east in Chelae (Libra) [Lib], the constellation in which Caesar’s soul was now resident. The Temple of Apollo Palatinus was on a northeast-​southwest axis and located at the southwest corner of the Palatine Hill. At sunrise, the rays of the Sun would have illuminated not only the gleaming white marble of the temple and the statue of the Sun god in his chariot atop the pediment but also the house of Octavianus attached to the temple where Octavianus was sitting at the threshold to welcome the Sun and those bringing gifts. The effect of the rising Sun as a backdrop for the events on the morning of the dedication of the Temple of Apollo Palatinus may be visualized more clearly by using Suetonius’ description of the crowning of the client king Tiridates of Armenia in Rome in a.d. 66 by Octavianus’ last Julio-​Claudian successor, Nero.86 The spectacle that Nero arranged was magnificent and spared no expense. The area around the Forum Romanum had been prepared under cover of darkness on the night before the ceremony. At sunrise, Nero dressed in triumphal garb, ascended the Old Rostra at the northwest end of the Forum Romanum, and seated himself upon an official higher magistrate’s chair (ἐπὶ δίφρου ἀρχικοῦ), the sella curulis, to receive Tiridates. The rising Sun made the white garments of the citizens gathered for the ceremony, the shining armor of the soldiers, and the triumphal garments of Nero himself dazzling. The effect of the rising Sun at the dedication of the Temple of Apollo Palatinus by Octavianus would have been similarly powerful and dramatic. The day of the dedication of the Temple of Apollo Palatinus, October 9, 28 b.c., was also the Solis dies, the day of the Sun according to the seven-​day planetary calendar, which was beginning to come into wider use at Rome during the saeculum Augustum. The Jewish tradition marked out a cycle of seven days that reflected the story of creation and the seventh day of rest on the Sabbath. This week was known among the Romans at least as early as 63 b.c., the year in which Pompeius Magnus was able to accomplish one of his victories in Palestine because he attacked the enemy on the Sabbath, a day that came to known as the day of Saturn (ἐν τῇ τοῦ Κρόνου ἡμέρᾳ), on which his opponents had a tradition of doing no work. Because the enemy put up no defense on this day, Pompeius Magnus was victorious.87 The Roman planetary week also had seven days, and its days were named in a set order apparently established by the Egyptians after the gods and goddesses associated with the five visible ancient planets and the two luminaries. This system, in which the god Saturn who controlled and maintained the periods of time was given precedence, was never really understood by the Greeks,

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according to Dio. The day of Saturn (ἐν τῇ τοῦ Κρόνου καὶ τότε ἡμέρᾳ ὠνομασμένῃ) was known as such when Antonius was campaigning in the East in 38 b.c.88 And Tibullus referred to the day of Saturn (Saturni dies) in one of the poems he composed probably in the years 32–​25 b.c.89 Whether Octavianus took the seven-​day planetary week into account when he was planning the dedication of the Temple of Apollo Palatinus is unknown, but the possibility that he did know that the day was that of the Sun would have invested the day of the dedication of this temple to Apollo with even more meaning. The completion of this long-​overdue temple on the Palatine Hill was a fitting end to civil war and armed conflict. Octavianus now had no serious rivals, and the prediction made by Nigidius Figulus on the day of his birth that a ruler for the world had been born had at last come to pass.

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A New Name for Octavianus and the Ludi Saeculares 29–​1 7 b.c.

In the years following the disappearance of Antonius from the scene, Octavianus seems to have been acutely aware that he needed to set his own future political course and that of the Roman state. During this period, Octavianus took counsel with his two oldest and closest comrades, Agrippa and Maecenas. Dio presents two long speeches said to have been delivered by Agrippa and Maecenas to Octavianus in 29 b.c. while he was pondering whether to return the Roman state to the Senate and the people. These speeches take up most of the fifty-​ second book of Dio’s history. They are not verbatim transcripts, but they support the evidence found in other ancient sources that Agrippa, Maecenas, and Octavianus were known to speak candidly to one another and that Octavianus relied on their advice.1 The speeches are meant to capture not so much the actual recommendations of Agrippa and Maecenas, which they undoubtedly did not deliver at one go in such a formal manner, but rather the options that were open to Octavianus during the years 29–​27 b.c. Agrippa spoke first.2 He argued against Octavianus’ attempt to acquire sole rulership and advised that he settle everything carefully before stepping down. Maecenas spoke next.3 He advised Octavianus not to step down but to obey Fortuna (τύχη), which had placed the state in his hands. He reminded Octavanius that he had to be scrupulous in all his actions because henceforth he would never be alone but would have to live, as it were, in a theater in which the spectators consisted of the entire inhabited world. In such an environment, not even the slightest mistake would go unnoticed (ἐν ἐνί τινι τῆς ὅλης οἰκουμένης θεάτρῳ ζήσῃ, καὶ οὐχ οἷόν τέ σοι ἔσται οὐδὲ βραχύτατον ἁμαρτόντι διαλαθεῖν).4 Maecenas argued that Octavianus should accept sole rulership of the Roman people because if he did not, he would most certainly perish

Celestial Inclinations. Anne-​Marie Lewis, Oxford University Press. © Oxford University Press 2023. DOI: 10.1093/​oso/​9780197599648.003.0013

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like his father Caesar before him. Maecenas also advised Octavianus to maintain the art of divination (μαντική) as a necessary one.5 Octavianus decided to follow the advice of Maecenas, who had advocated essentially that Octavianus rule as a monarch in all but name. The possibility that he might die and the absence of a chosen successor should he die were problems never far from Octavianus’ mind during these years. He planned a monumental circular tomb for himself in the Campus Martius, perhaps on the pattern of the tomb of Alexander the Great in Alexandria, which he had visited in 30 b.c. In 28 b.c., Octavianus’ tomb was nearly finished. Octavianus did not have robust health, and death through illness was a real danger. He had an episode of sickness in September 28 b.c. at the celebration of the ludi in honor of his victory at Actium and he remained ill on and off for months after that, perhaps until May of the following year.6 The transition of power to a successor was an issue fraught with potential difficulties. Octavianus had no male relative of a suitable age at this time to whom he might pass on his power and, unlike Caesar, he had arranged no adoptions. If Octavianus was thinking of passing control to Agrippa, a plebeian with military successes to his credit but little social status beyond his close association with Octavianus, civil unrest would undoubtedly occur. Octavianus put off a decision on the matter of the succession for the moment and turned his attention instead to the task of consolidating his power and subordinating the Senate and the people of Rome to a new order and to a family dynasty that promised peace and security in the guise of a restored Republic. He would use the celestial sphere circumspectly but effectively in support of this agenda. On January 1, 27 b.c., about three months after the dedication of the Temple of Apollo Palatinus, all of Octavianus’ prior special powers formally came to an end, and he embarked on the consulship, his seventh, with Agrippa, his third.7 Octavianus had thought of restoring the Republic twice earlier in his life, and Antonius had blamed him for not doing it.8 On the Ides of January ( January 13), in 27 b.c., Octavianus entered the Curia and read out to the Senate a lengthy address that set out his decision on how he planned to move forward.9 He delivered this speech from a prepared written script, a method that he preferred for oratorical presentation.10 The speech may have been modified by Dio to convey certain qualities of the speaker and the nature of the situation, but the point was clear. Octavianus declared his intention to renounce absolute power, which he said he had been compelled to assume only for the good of the state, and to return the customary powers of the Roman government to the Senate and the people. Feelings of fear, doubt, unease, and even admiration for Octavianus’ cunning ways circulated among those in attendance. Some senators took him at his word. Some senators were more cautious or even suspicious about what he was really

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intending to do and were unsure how to react. Others were aware of Octavianus’ true intentions, and they applauded him enthusiastically, hoping to be the first in line for favors and benefits. The whole episode, however, was not the generous gesture it seemed to be but a carefully orchestrated move to consolidate political power in his hands, as Maecenas had advised, without overtly appearing to stomp on Republican constitutional values. A debate followed Octavianus’ speech. Octavianus is said to have wished to be named Romulus after the first king of Rome, whose house was near his own on the Palatine Hill. The regal implications of the name Romulus were very strong and it is difficult to believe that Octavianus really intended to take the name. Plancus, perhaps sensing that Octavianus’ suggestion was a feint or knowing Octavianus’ true intentions, moved instead that Octavianus be granted the cognomen Augustus, a proposal that was accepted by the Senate.11 The adjective augustus had a number of powerful associations. It was related to augur and auctoritas, which Augustus himself would later note in his Res Gestae.12 It derived from the Latin verb augeo (increase), which was used in religious contexts and for sacred objects to mean venerable, worthy of honor, or increased in dignity.13 The Greek equivalent of augustus, σεβαστός from the verb σεβάζομαι, meaning “to be treated with reverential, even fearful awe,” captured the sense of the Latin verb as venerable and even implied something more than human (ὡς καὶ πλεῖόν τι ἢ κατὰ ἀνθρώπους).14 Augeo and its related words also had celestial implications. Vitruvius used the verb to describe the annual journey of the Sun along the ecliptic through the signs of the zodiac as it increased or diminished the lengths of days and nights (ita sol ea signa circum pervagando certis temporibus auget aut minuit dierum et horarum spatia).15 Augustus would claim that after 27 b.c., he excelled all others in influence (auctoritas) but had no power (potestas) greater than any of the other Roman magistrates with whom he served as a colleague.16 According to Dio, who is consistently hostile to the idea of monarchy in his history, although he admits its necessity, the Senate and the people confirmed that Octavianus had set up a de facto monarchy (μοναρχία), although the reality was dressed up in a Republican veneer.17 The contemporary view of the change in the constitutional order, however, was more favorable if only because people were relieved to see an end to the civil wars, as Octavianus would later mention in his Res Gestae (bella civilia exstinxeram).18 Ovid would note in the entry for January 13 in his Fasti that Octavianus was given the name Augustus, which acknowledged that he was a companion of Jupiter (hic socium summo cum Iove nomen habet).19 Octavianus was also granted, in addition to the new cognomen, the honor of hanging on his Palatine house a wreath made of oak leaves (the corona civica), which symbolized Jupiter and, after the civil wars, the clemency of the victor in sparing the lives of Roman citizens.20 On January 16, the people confirmed

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the title granted by the Senate.21 Octavianus was granted the right to display the clipeus virtutis, a shield proclaiming his excellence (virtus), clemency (clementia), justice (iustitia), and sense of duty (pietas), on his Palatine house along with the right to display laurel wreaths, which were sacred to Apollo, on either side of his doorway. After the members of the Senate had more time to consider how to respond, they decided to grant Octavianus a provincia, which was a customary senatorial prerogative. The provincia granted to him, however, was not confined to one province, as was the usual practice, but included a wide swath of territory, incorporating Tarraco and Lusitania in Spain, all the Gauls, Syria, Phoenicia, Cilicia, Cyprus, and Egypt.22 Octavianus’ provincial imperium, which included military command, was granted for an extraordinary ten years, and he remained consul for the year 27 b.c. Of the two days associated with this elevation of Octavianus to Augustus, January 13, 27 b.c. and January 16, 27 b.c., January 13 is more significant because on this day Octavianus deliberately chose to make the first move to secure full power. Octavianus had orchestrated the events of January 13 well: the well-​crafted speech, the reaction to it, the new honorific name, and the symbolic honors to be displayed publicly on his Palatine house. He had also chosen the day carefully. The Ides of January were free of other observances, and the Ides in general were sacred to Jupiter.23 Octavianus was continuing the process of acknowledging in public ways his divine protector, Jupiter, who was not only the king of gods and human beings and the ultimate ancestor of the gens Iulia but also the most significant astrological planet in his genitura. Apollo had been Octavianus’ earliest divine patron. “Apollo” had been the watchword for Octavianus and Antonius at the Battle of Philippi in 42 b.c., their victory over the assassins of Caesar. Octavianus took to wearing the laurel wreath of Apollo, and the stories on which he had been raised and by which he had been much influenced—​that his mother, Atia, had been impregnated by Apollo in the form of a snake while she was attending services to the god and that her husband Gaius Octavius dreamed that the Sun shone out of her womb—​probably began to circulate more widely. Apollo had been acknowledged by the poets as the deity whose visible presence in the heavens during the day of the Battle of Actium in 31 b.c. signified the support of his celestial Julian kin for his victory. In his early years, Octavianus had used as his signet the Greek sphinx, which was associated with the prophecies of Apollo. This signet was one of two with identical images that belonged to his mother, Atia.24 Octavianus would later abandon the sphinx signet, which he realized had negative associations in the story of Apollo’s prophecy regarding Oedipus, who had unknowingly killed his father and married his mother. He chose next to use a signet having the image of Alexander the Great. Because stories had been told that Alexander may have been a child of Zeus ( Jupiter), as the lightning strike

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upon his mother’s womb on the night before her marriage to Philip was consummated indicates, Octavianus may have been signaling with his new choice of signet his acknowledgment that Jupiter was joining Apollo as his divine and celestial patron.25 The presence of Jupiter in the night sky following the conclusion of the Battle of Actium on September 2, 31 b.c. had indicated the support of Jupiter for Octavianus in his public activities, and Jupiter had been the most important of the planetary deities to Octavianus since the day of his birth. The Ides in January fell in the powerful month of beginnings, shortly after Octavianus and Agrippa had assumed the consulship on January 1, marking the end of all prior arrangements and the beginning of what purported to be the restoration of Republican forms. An omen occurred on the night of the Ides, January 13, 27 b.c., after Octavianus had received his new cognomen, Augustus. This omen almost literally confirmed his new name. The Tiber River increased (augeo) its size and overflowed its banks, flooding the low-​lying areas, which became navigable by boat.26 The flooding of the Tiber in Rome was not unheard of but it was worthy of comment when it did occur. Cicero, for example, had written to his brother, Quintus Cicero, about a very damaging flood that occurred in 54 b.c. in Rome on the Via Appia near the Temple of Mars.27 Soothsayers in 27 b.c. prophesied that Augustus would rise to greatness and rule the entire city, an echo of the prediction made by Nigidius Figulus on the day of his birth. The heavens shortly after sunset on January 13, 27 b.c., the day on which Octavianus took his new cognomen, reflected the support of the Julian divinities in their celestial manifestations for the new, increased status of their descendant (see the central area of visibility in Fig. 12.1). In the east, Saturn was in Cancer [Cnc]. Ahead of Saturn to the west was Jupiter in Gemini [Gem], a planet long important for Augustus in a constellation containing the stellar representations of Castor and Pollux, who were revered by the Romans and appeared often in the celestial displays on days that were significant for Augustus. Mercury and the Sun, both in Capricornus [Cap], had dropped below the western horizon, but above the western horizon Venus, the divine patron of Caesar, and the Moon, who was Diana, the sister of Augustus’ first divine patron, Apollo, were in close proximity to each other in Aquarius [Aqr]. The sky shortly after sunset on January 13, 27 b.c. had again presented the features favored by Octavianus for his public events: close proximity of celestial entities, here of Venus and the Moon, at this time a very slim crescent, 1.7% full, and a prominence for Gemini, which contained the planet Jupiter. At some point during the year 27 b.c., Augustus set off in poor health again from Rome, journeying to Gaul and Spain.28 Back in Rome, his surrogates Messalla and Agrippa maintained control and continued to advance Augustus’ steadily increasing grip over Roman affairs and to build up the public spaces in the city as symbolic of the glory of a mighty state with Augustus at its head. The

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Fig. 12.1. Octavianus takes the honorific cognomen Augustus. January 13, 27 b.c. Shortly after sunset, 5:30 p.m. Rome (41 °53ꞌ N, 12° 29ꞌ E). SkyMap Pro V. 12. By permission of Chris Marriott.

projects Agrippa saw to completion as part of Augustus’ plan to improve Rome incurred no envy or animosity, because Agrippa proceeded deliberately in a modest way, always keeping his sense of loyalty to his friend at the forefront.29 The planning and building of the original Pantheon in the Campus Martius dates to this time, 27–​25 b.c.30 Agrippa had intended the temple as a tribute to Augustus. When Augustus refused to accept this gesture, the focus of the building was then

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shifted to honor the divine ancestors of Augustus, including Venus, whose cult statue in the temple made reference to the victory at Actium. Venus wore earrings fashioned out of a very large, valuable pearl split in two that had once been part of an earring worn by Cleopatra. This pearl had come into the possession of Octavianus after Cleopatra’s defeat and death. The pearl from the other earring was no longer in existence because, at a banquet, Cleopatra is said to have dissolved it in vinegar.31 She then swallowed the drink in order to win a wager with Antonius that she could spend ten million sesterces on one meal. In the year of Augustus’ eighth consulship, 26 b.c., Agrippa also brought to completion in the Campus Martius a construction project that had been planned by Caesar around 54 b.c., a large open enclosure surrounded by a colonnade that was located east of the Pantheon. He dedicated it to Augustus, naming it the Saepta Iulia in honor of the name of Augustus’ Julian gens. While Agrippa was serving the interests of Augustus at Rome and was trusted to do so even in Augustus’ absence, one of Augustus’ other comrades, the poet Gallus, had let his ambitions drive him not only to hybristic behavior but also to disloyalty.32 Gallus had been associated as a military engineer with Pollio, who in 41 b.c. had saved Vergil’s property in the north of Italy from confiscation. Vergil had addressed the fourth poem of his Eclogues to Pollio, who had himself written works of poetry as well as of history. Gallus was also a friend of Vergil and himself a Roman poet of some stature who was said to have created the genre of elegiac love poetry at Rome, although we have almost nothing of his poetic output that would allow us to judge the quality of his verses. Gallus is said to have written four books of love poetry addressed to Cytheris, the mime actress who had also been a mistress of Antonius.33 In 30 b.c., Gallus distracted Cleopatra as part of the effort to get her to give herself up while she was locked in an upper room in her mausoleum following the death of Antonius. Augustus had raised the equestrian Gallus to a great height and had entrusted him with the important task of administering Egypt as Prefect on Augustus’ behalf after the death of Cleopatra in 30 b.c. While in Egypt holding this position, Gallus apparently made derogatory remarks about Augustus and arrogantly set up statues of himself all over Egypt to commemorate the military activities in which he had engaged there. He was vaguely suspected of fomenting a revolt but whether he actually took such actions, which would have amounted to treason, is not fully known. Gallus was accused of violating the friendship of Augustus. When he was summoned back to Rome, the public denunciations were crushing. The penalties inflicted by Augustus, which included a ban on visiting the imperial provinces, and the even worse penalties inflicted by the Senate, which included exile and the loss of his estate to Augustus, were so severe that Gallus committed suicide in 26 b.c. before they were put into effect. Upon hearing of Gallus’ suicide, Augustus

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is said to have wept and complained that when he renounced a friendship the matter involved more than simply turning his back on a friend. As the shunning of Gallus had proven, such a renunciation was essentially a sentence of death for that former friend.34 In 25 b.c., Augustus arranged a marriage between his fourteen-​year-​old daughter, Iulia, and her seventeen-​year-​old first cousin, Marcellus, the son of Augustus’ younger sister, Octavia. The marriage hinted at plans for the creation of a line of succession, but a formal adoption of Marcellus did not take place.35 Augustus arrived back in Rome at the end of 25 b.c., and on January 1, 24 b.c. he embarked upon his tenth consulship.36 The Senate on this date granted him the extraordinary right to do what he pleased, essentially exempting him from the rule of law.37 The following year, 23 b.c., started poorly. Early in the year, when he had assumed his eleventh consulship, Augustus fell dangerously ill due to some sort of liver ailment, which also involved respiratory catarrh (destillationibus iocinere vitiato).38 Expecting the worst, Augustus passed his signet ring to Agrippa, thus demonstrating his confidence in Agrippa and not in Marcellus, whom he probably deemed too young and inexperienced, despite his good qualities, to take on the rulership of Rome.39 Augustus recovered his health, as he had before, but this time thanks to an unusual and radical course of treatment consisting of cold baths and cold drinks devised by his physician, the freedman Antonius Musa. Rome might have breathed a sigh of relief, given that the death of Augustus at this time would have led to certain political conflict. In this year of extreme crisis, more constitutional settlements were put in place. On July 1, 23 b.c., the day when the suffect consuls took office, Augustus stepped down from his eleventh consulship, which gave members of the political aristocracy more of a chance to hold this now symbolic but nonetheless coveted office. In return, he received the more powerful tribunician power for life and a proconsular imperium greater than the proconsular powers of all other governors. Any relief from the possibility of a constitutional crisis, however, was soon overtaken by events, and the year 23 b.c. turned out to be an annus horribilis anyway. Agrippa, possessed of a grant of imperium proconsulare for five years, left Rome. Agrippa is said to have sensed a slight coolness towards him from Augustus because of Marcellus and to have developed animosity toward Marcellus because of the preferments that Augustus was allegedly dispensing to his son-​in-​law and not to him.40 Given the chronology and the fact that Agrippa and Marcellus were brothers-​in-​law, however, any very serious ill will at the time between the two of them is unlikely.41 Agrippa was probably only following Augustus’ instructions to consolidate the East. The alleged hostility between Marcellus and Agrippa became a moot point at any rate when Marcellus died unexpectedly in his nineteenth year at the seaside town of Baiae while he was holding the position of aedile in 23 b.c.42 The exact

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month of his death is not given in the ancient sources, but it probably occurred in September or October after Augustus had recovered from his own illness in July.43 Augustus, who had benefited often from a fortunate τύχη (Fortuna), was now hobbled (παρὰ πόδας) by an unfortunate τύχη. Augustus not only mourned Marcellus’ untimely death, but he also had to deal with Musa’s failure to save Marcellus from his serious illness. Augustus’ wife Livia, who was very protective of the interests of her own two sons, Tiberius and Drusus, was suspected of having had something to do with the death of Marcellus, although this accusation cannot be proven. Augustus gave Marcellus an elaborate public funeral. He ordered that 600 chosen men enter the city to accompany the remains of Marcellus in procession, an indication of renown that was granted in consideration of the nature of Marcellus’ fortuna.44 Marcellus became the first member of Augustus’ family to be interred in the Mausoleum of Augustus, the tomb located in the Campus Martius outside Rome’s boundary. A plague then struck Rome and a food shortage created agitation among the populace. Worst of all for Augustus personally was the uncovering of a conspiracy to assassinate him planned by people who had connections to his own inner circle.45 The plot was orchestrated by Fannius Caepio, who is otherwise unknown, and Aulus Terentius Varro Murena (cos. 23 b.c.), who was hostile to Augustus and somehow related to Maecenas’ wife, Terentia. Augustus had to distance himself from Maecenas, who had tried to help Murena escape, but he did not demand the execution or exile of Maecenas, mindful perhaps of their long friendship and of how Maecenas had once saved his life several years earlier after the Battle of Actium. At that time, Maecenas had quietly discovered and derailed the plot of the son of Lepidus, the former triumvir, to assassinate Octavianus, as he was then named.46 In the following year, 22 b.c., Rome was struck by a plague and famine, and the situation became so dire that the people begged Augustus to assume the position of dictator. He turned down the request with great drama, tearing his garments to show how unwilling he was to assume the office, which had contributed to the ill will that led to the assassination of his father Caesar.47 Perhaps to reassure the public during all the problems of this year, Augustus reaffirmed publicly that he was under the protection of Jupiter. On the Kalends of September (September 1) in 22 b.c., he rededicated the Temple of Jupiter Libertas ( Jupiter God of Freedom) on the Aventine, about which we know little.48 On the same date, Augustus also dedicated the somewhat better-​known Temple of Jupiter Tonans ( Jupiter the Thunderer) on the Capitoline Hill. Augustus had vowed this temple to Jupiter Tonans in 26 b.c. in gratitude after he had been saved from death by a lightning strike while on a night march during the Cantabrian expedition.49 The lightning strike missed him but killed a torch-​carrying slave who was walking ahead of him. This temple, which was special to Augustus and

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confirmed Augustus’ growing devotion to Jupiter, has not survived, but it appears to have been at the southeast edge of the Capitoline Hill, overlooking the Forum Romanum. It may have been open to the sky, as was appropriate for temples to Jupiter the Thunderer.50 Like the Temple of Apollo Palatinus, the Temple of Jupiter Tonans was famed for its magnificence and contained notable works of art that stood in front of the temple and included such pieces as statues of Castor and Pollux, the brothers represented in the constellation Gemini.51 Augustus visited this temple frequently and is said to have even dreamed that Jupiter Capitolinus was upset that worshippers were going to the Temple of Jupiter Tonans, which stood close to the entrance of the area Capitolina, instead of to his own magnificent Temple of Jupiter Optimus Maximus.52 Augustus’ solution was to place bells on the Temple of Jupiter Tonans, thus casting it as an entry to the greater temple of Jupiter Capitolinus, which was behind. Because the Temple of Jupiter Tonans was dedicated in memory of the time Augustus had been saved at night from death by thunderbolt, Augustus must have taken note of the celestial display that would have been visible at night on September 1, 22 b.c., the day of the dedication of the Temple of Jupiter Tonans (see the central area of visibility in Fig. 12.2). About an hour after sunset on this day, Virgo [Vir] was at the western horizon, followed by Chelae (Libra) [Lib]. Saturn in Virgo was nearly below the western horizon. Jupiter, his successor, and Mars, Jupiter’s son, were the only planets in the sky in close conjunction in Scorpios [Sco]. The conjunction of Jupiter and Mars was not far from the densest portion of the band of the Milky Way, which was associated not only with the souls of deserving Romans but also with Juno, the sister and wife of Jupiter and the mother of Mars. Augustus was finally able to leave Rome in September 22 b.c.53 His three-​year trip in the East included the much-​welcomed return in 20 b.c. of legionary standards lost by Crassus to the Parthians without any necessary military engagement on his part. These returned standards were the ones that Antonius had failed to secure back in 36 b.c. and included also those that Antonius’ own leaders had lost on Antonius’ disastrous Parthian campaign. Augustus returned to Italy in success.54 The famed “Divus Iulius” coins, which were struck in the years 19–​18 b.c., probably commemorate his accomplishment.55 These coins typically have an image of Augustus on the obverse, wearing an oak wreath with the legend “Caesar” in front of the head and “Augustus” behind the head, which is in profile, and an image of a star with eight rays with a small textured hanging mass drooping from one of the rays of the eight-​pointed star at the top on the reverse with the legend “Divus” above the star and “Iulius” below the star.56 The star recalls the eight-​pointed Hellenistic stars that represented the powerful Stoic-​approved association of a ruler with the celestial sphere. The hanging mass appears to represent, in stylized form, not a comet as is usually believed, but a military trophy.

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Fig. 12.2.  The dedication of the Temple of Jupiter Tonans. September 1, 22 b.c. After sunset, 7:45 p.m. Rome (41° 53ꞌ N, 12° 29ꞌ E). SkyMap Pro V. 12. By permission of Chris Marriott.

Augustus in recovering the standards from the Parthians lost by Crassus had triumphantly finished the task that Caesar may have intended to accomplish in his own planned expedition to Parthia in 44 b.c. As the members of the second triumvirate had decreed in 42 b.c., all Roman generals were henceforth to share the thanksgiving for their subsequent victories with Caesar.57 In seeing to the minting of these “Divus Iulius” coins, Augustus was doing just that.

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The Senate and the magistrates had voted Augustus many honors when he was away in the East, and when he was nearing Rome on his return, they began to make preparations to meet him. In order to avoid encountering the crowds, Augustus entered the city at night (νύκτωρ ἐς τὴν πόλιν ἐσεκομίσθη), as was his preferred custom.58 Augustus accepted only the honor of the Senate’s inauguration of an altar that marked the day of his return and the listing of the day of his return among the Roman holidays under the name Augustalia (τὰ Αὐγουσ­ τάλια). The inauguration of the altar took place, according to the monumental fasti, on the fourth day before the Ides of October (October 12) in 19 b.c.59 This Altar of Fortuna Redux (Fortuna Goddess of the Return) was located near the Porta Capena, the entry point on the Via Appia through which Augustus entered the city walls. Augustus mentions the inauguration of the altar by the Senate on October 12 in his Res Gestae.60 The day of the inauguration of the altar, October 12, was unencumbered and may have been chosen by Augustus himself before his return.61 The celestial display that welcomed Augustus back to Rome on the night of his return was notable (see the central area of visibility in Fig. 12.3). Augustus’ exact time of arrival is unknown, but early in the night in full darkness, Jupiter was in Pisces [Psc], and the Moon, about 40% full, was near the western horizon in Capricornus [Cap]. Gemini [Gem] was at the eastern horizon, and Aquila the Eagle [Aql] was in the west. Castor and Pollux were considered to be protectors of Rome’s armies, and Aquila was Jupiter’s own bird and the symbol of the legionary eagles, the military standards that Augustus had brought back from Parthia with him. The Altar of Fortuna Redux was formally dedicated a few months after his return, on the eighteenth day before the Kalends of January (December 15) in 19 b.c.62 The day of the formal dedication of the altar may have been one that Augustus did not choose, because he usually avoided choosing days for his public celebrations if they were already occupied by another major civic event. December 15 was not unencumbered. On this day occurred the Consualia, which was a festival dedicated to Consus, the Roman god of agricultural storage, and which marked either the onset of the coming winter or perhaps the olive harvest.63 The celestial display on December 15, 19 b.c., shared some features with that on October 12, 19 b.c. At 9:00 p.m. on this day of the formal dedication, December 15, 19 b.c., Gemini was in the heavens. Jupiter was still in Pisces, and the Moon, about 80% full, was in Taurus. As on the night of Augustus’ arrival on October 12, 19 b.c., Jupiter and the Moon were in the heavens within the band of the zodiac on December 15. Augustus had returned from the East in 19 b.c. without Rome’s preeminent poet, Vergil, whose earlier Eclogues and Georgics included celestial references that commented upon Augustus and his public events in a positive and supportive way. Vergil had been working for ten years on his Aeneid, the epic poem that

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Sidereal Time: 22:04:30 Julian Day: 1714768.3333

Fig. 12.3.  The arrival of Augustus back in Rome. October 12, 19 b.c. Night, 9:00 p.m. Rome (41° 53ꞌ N, 12° 29ꞌ E). SkyMap Pro V. 12. By permission of Chris Marriott.

Augustus had commissioned, and he had traveled to Athens, where he intended to revise the poem. In Athens, Vergil met Augustus, who was traveling back to Rome himself and decided to return with him.64 Vergil became ill at Megara but decided to continue the journey. As his health declined, Vergil asked that his manuscript boxes be brought to him so that he could throw the Aeneid into the fire. No one listened to him. By the time Vergil reached Brundisium, his condition was worse and he died there on the eleventh day before the Kalends of October

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(September 21). His ashes were interred outside Naples on the Via Puteolana. To his half-​brother Valerius Proculus, Vergil left one-​half of his estate, to Augustus one-​quarter, and to Maecenas one-​twelfth. The remainder of his estate was bequeathed to Lucius Varius (Varius) and Plotius Tucca, fellow poets and friends also of Maecenas. Before setting out for Athens, Vergil had asked Varius to burn the Aeneid should anything happen to him, but Varius refused to agree to such a request. Vergil’s will, however, would have nullified this request because it specified that the Aeneid be published as Vergil would have published it himself. The grammarian Nisus, a younger contemporary of Suetonius, reported that his elders told him that Varius had made some significant changes to the poem, such as switching the order of Book 2 and Book 3 and removing four verses setting the Aeneid in the context of Vergil’s earlier work that appeared before the verse that opens the poem (arma virumque cano, Troiae qui primus ab oris) in modern texts. But the general consensus today is that Varius corrected only a few things and left as they were verses throughout the poem that Vergil had not yet completed. No ancient source provides information about Augustus’ personal feelings about the death of Vergil, but Augustus was clearly determined that the Aeneid, the epic poem that told the story of the origin of the gens Iulia and highlighted his connection to the celestial sphere, should be published without any significant delay. This Julian connection to the celestial sphere had been proclaimed by Vergil in the Aeneid’s sixth book, in which Aeneas journeys to the underworld and sees his future family members.65 Vergil has Anchises reveal to his son, Aeneas, their Roman descendants, whose greatness will be reflected in the celestial sphere. Aeneas sees Caesar and all the offspring of Aeneas’ son, Iulus, who will come into being in the future under the great axis of the heavens (hic Caesar et omnis Iuli /​progenies, magnum caeli ventura sub axem). One of these Julian descendants, Augustus, the son of Caesar, Divus Iulius (Divi genus), is singled out for particular attention. Augustus will again establish a golden age in Latium, the region once ruled by Saturn (aurea condet /​saecula qui rursus Latio regnata per arva /​ Saturno quondam). He will expand the empire to the east over the peoples of Africa and India. He will even extend the empire to lands far beyond the stars (extra sidera) visible in the celestial sphere to an observer in the northern hemisphere and far beyond the course of the year and the path of the Sun through the zodiac (extra anni solisque vias) to the west, where Atlas carrying the heavens on his shoulder twists the axis of the celestial sphere fastened with the burning stars (ubi caelifer Atlas /​axem umero torquet stellis ardentibus aptum).66 Ancient astronomical writers acknowledged the invisibility of the area in the heavens to the far south for observers in the northern latitudes, and on the Farnese Globe, which is held by the figure of Atlas, the area around the invisible Antarctic Circle is devoid of constellations (see Fig. 4.6).67 The Romans were also aware of the

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western boundary of their known world. Roman geographers based their work on the geographical studies of Greeks such as those by the eminent astronomers Eratosthenes of Cyrene, the author of the Catasterismi, and Hipparchus, the author of a commentary on Aratus’ Phaenomena, and they acknowledged that the western boundary was Britain and the island they called Thule, which is perhaps the very north of Britain.68 This western boundary appears to have been recognized on a map of the world, now no longer extant, that Agrippa was probably preparing around this time.69 Augustus remained in Rome from October 19 b.c. until the end of 16 b.c., having fallen into a regular pattern of a three-​year absence from Rome followed by a two-​year stay. In 17 b.c., Augustus was in his forty-​sixth year and now in good health and spirits. He set about engaging his energies in a program of social reform of both public and private morals. He had become a grandfather for the first time in 20 b.c. when his daughter, Iulia, whom he had married to his old friend Agrippa in 21 b.c., gave birth to a son, Gaius Iulius Caesar (Gaius Caesar). Maecenas is said to have advised Augustus to arrange this union between Iulia and Agrippa for two reasons.70 The marriage would solidify Agrippa’s status because the preferments Augustus had bestowed for many years upon Agrippa were causes for resentment among some members of the Roman aristocracy. The marriage would also guarantee Agrippa’s loyalty. According to Maecenas, Augustus had made Agrippa so great that Agrippa either had to become his son-​in-​law or else be killed—​by whom is left unsaid (τηλικοῦτον αὐτὸν πεποίηκας ὥστ’ ἢ γαμβρόν σου γενέσθαι ἢ φονευθῆναι). The comment might have been said in jest but it was chilling, nonetheless. In this year, 20 b.c., the aediles on their own initiative presented ludi in the Circus and a slaughter of wild animals on the occasion of Augustus’ publicly celebrated birthday on September 23. In 19 b.c. Agrippa opened a new aqueduct known as the Aqua Virgo, which brought water directly into the city of Rome.71 Augustus took great delight in the aqueduct, which was a considerable boon to Rome’s citizens. Agrippa called the Aqua Virgo the Augustan Aqueduct. The fact that Agrippa had named after Augustus an aqueduct that shared the name of the constellation Virgo, in which the Sun and Mercury appeared in the heavens at the moment of Augustus’ birth, may have added further to Augustus’ satisfaction. The marriage of Iulia and Agrippa continued to be a fruitful one. Augustus became a grandfather again to a granddaughter, Iulia, in 19 b.c., and then to a second grandson, Lucius Iulius Caesar (Lucius Caesar), in 17 b.c. The plans for a family dynasty that he may have fleetingly entertained before the death of Iulia’s first husband, Marcellus, in 23 b.c. now possessed much more than a glimmer of hope. Augustus had very much desired to have children by Livia, who already had two sons, but the only baby Livia conceived by Augustus was born prematurely

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and died.72 Livia had no further pregnancies. Worried about his safety and the unresolved question of his successor, Augustus had taken to wearing a breastplate under his clothing even when he went to the Senate, although he is also said to have thought that the breastplate would probably do him no good should he be set upon.73 With no other options to keep the succession in the Julian family, Augustus wasted no time in adopting both of his grandsons together after the birth of Lucius Caesar to make clear his intentions for the succession and to reduce the number of future plots against him.74 Augustus is said to have bought the two boys from their father Agrippa in a symbolic sale (per assem et libram emptos a patre Agrippa) by touching a balance (libra) three times with a small coin (an as).75 Augustus took his duties as father to his grandsons seriously and maintained a close interest in their education and training. As in his previous stays in Rome, Augustus made sure to use the time at home well to enhance his status and to further ensure his control in Rome. Upon his return from the East in October 19 b.c., he had begun planning a major celebration. Having been away for three years, he felt it necessary to reassert authority and to dampen down any dissatisfaction and general negative feelings that had emerged against himself and against Agrippa. His solution was to invest in a spectacle for the ages, one that employed symbolism, ancient religious and civic precedents, and dramatic celestial display as a way to cement his status as the leading citizen of Rome. He arranged to celebrate the end of the old saeculum, according to Roman understanding the longest span of a human life, and the beginning of a new one by presenting the Ludi Saeculares for the fifth time on behalf of The Board of the Fifteen (quindecimviri sacris faciundis), the college of priests of which he was president.76 To emphasize the solemnity and gravity of the undertaking, the year in which the celebration was to take place was announced as A.U.C. 737, the year according to the ab urbe condita system of dating, which was based on the date of the foundation of Rome and used, for example, on the Fasti Capitolini Consulares and the Fasti Triumphales Capitolini. Since A.U.C. dates were not in common use for identifying a year, the celebration was also dated according to the Roman system of eponymous years to the year of the consulship of Gaius Furnius and Gaius Iunius Silanus (17 b.c.). According to Roman legend, the first Ludi Saeculares were presented in 456 b.c. by a Sabine man named Valesius in thanks for the recovery of his children from the plague.77 The Ludi Saeculares that were supposedly presented in 348 b.c. in the consulship of Valerius Corvus may be legendary only, and the first well-​attested Ludi Saeculares were probably those in 249 b.c. when the Sibylline books were consulted under the direction of the board of ten priests known as the decimviri.78 The Ludi Saeculares were also presented in 146 b.c. and should have been presented in 49 b.c. or in 39 b.c. They were thus long overdue when

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Augustus decided to stage them again in 17 b.c. These Augustan Ludi Saeculares would share some similarities with the earlier Ludi Saeculares but in more ways they would break new ground. New would be the addition of diurnal rituals, the call to purification, the special dispensation made by the Senate that those who were unmarried could also attend, the focus on the gens Iulia, and the predominance of the ruling family of Augustus, who would co-​officiate with his son-​in-​ law Agrippa. And new would be the employment of the heavens by Augustus as a dramatic backdrop on the days of the event. Augustus’ Ludi Saeculares would take place on four days between two major festivals: the Ambarvalia, a cheerful agricultural celebration that was held in late May, and the Vestalia, a festival honoring the goddess Vesta, which was held on June 9.79 The days chosen were thus unencumbered, as was typical for the new events that Augustus chose to celebrate publicly with celestial display in mind. Augustus briefly mentions the Ludi Saeculares of 17 b.c. in his Res Gestae among other ludi he presented.80 But despite their importance, contemporary or near contemporary historical sources are either silent or missing for the event. Velleius Paterculus does not mention the Ludi Saeculares of 17 b.c. Valerius Maximus describes the ancient origins of these ludi, perhaps on the basis of an account written by the historian Valerias Antias, who flourished in the early first century b.c.81 Tacitus mentions the Ludi Saeculares only in the context of their next presentation by the emperor Claudius in a.d. 47, sixty-​four years after those presented by Augustus.82 Suetonius mentions them with the revival of other ancient rituals, such as the Augury of Safety, the Office of the Flamen Dialis, the Lupercalia, and the Compitalia, accomplishments that Augustus noted with pride in his Res Gestae.83 Dio includes the Ludi Saeculares only among a variety of other personal and administrative events for the year 17 b.c., such as the birth of Augustus’ grandson Lucius Caesar and his adoption together with his older brother, Gaius Caesar, and the increase of the fine for senators who were late to senatorial sessions without a good reason.84 Three detailed sources for the Ludi Saeculares that were contemporary with the event, however, do survive: a Sibylline oracle, an inscription, and a poem. The Sibylline oracle provides background about the Ludi Saeculares. This oracle has been preserved by Phlegon of Tralles, a freedman of the second-​century a.d. emperor Hadrian, in his work on long-​lived people (περὶ μακροβίων) and by the fifth–​sixth century a.d. historian Zosimus, who provides some information about the background to the Ludi Saeculares and about the preliminary rituals.85 The inscription supplies important details about the Augustan Ludi Saeculares.86 Two fragments of the inscription were found near the Tarentum (Terentum), a place in the Campus Martius near the Tiber River. The decrees of the Senate that preceded the Ludi Saeculares of 17 b.c. are preserved in the first part of the inscription, which is

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fragmentary. This part of the inscription indicates that the consul Silanus had declared to the Senate that the memory of this event had to be recorded permanently on a bronze column and a marble column. The Senate instructed the consul or consuls to deal with paying for these Ludi Saeculares and to set up the permanent record of the celebrations, as requested by the consul. The second part of this inscription preserves a record of the proceedings of the Ludi Saeculares of 17 b.c. The poem, a hymn called the Carmen Saeculare, was commissioned for the occasion and written by the poet Horace, under the inspiration of Apollo.87 The hymn does not follow the order of the ceremonies but it provides evidence for the celestial underpinnings of the Ludi Saeculares of Augustus and especially for the attendance of Apollo and Diana not only in their divine manifestations but also in their celestial manifestations as the luminaries, Apollo the Sun and Diana the Moon. To begin the process of holding the Ludi Saeculares once again, Augustus in 18 b.c. instructed The Board of the Fifteen, whose task was to carry out divine rituals and care for the Sibylline books, to copy verses from the Sibylline books.88 He commissioned Gaius Ateius Capito, a novus homo and sacerdotal lawyer, to interpret the Sibylline oracle and justify the length of the saeculum upon which these Ludi Saeculares would be based.89 The saeculum was determined to be 110 years, following a newly established sequence of the Ludi Saeculares going back to 456 b.c. The Sibylline oracle set the locations for the sacrificial rituals; the gifts to be offered to both the gods in the underworld and the gods in the heavens; the divinities to be honored: the Moerae (the Fates, Horace’s Parcae), Jupiter, Juno, Apollo, and Diana; and the hymn that was to be sung in Latin by separate choirs of boys and girls whose parents were still living. If all should be done according to the Sibylline instructions, Rome would remain powerful over Latium and Italy. The second part of the inscription set out the schedule for the events leading up to the Ludi Saeculares and for the events on the days of the Ludi Saeculares themselves. On the tenth day before the Kalends of June (May 23), a decree of the Senate (senatus consultum) was passed in the Saepta Iulia in response to the announcement made by the consul Silanus that Ludi Saeculares would be held for the first time in over a century under the direction of Augustus and Agrippa, who both held tribunician power at the time. On the seventh, sixth, and fifth days before the Kalends of June (May 26, May 27, and May 28), The Board of the Fifteen distributed, on both the Palatine Hill and the Capitoline Hill, torches, sulfur, and bitumen to the citizens and their wives, who were to use these items to purify themselves. On the third day before the Kalends of June (May 30), The Board of the Fifteen issued instructions that the matrons (matres familiae) should assemble from the first hour of the day in preparation for the solemn ritual. On

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the same day, the first fruits were to be offered. The Ludi Saeculares would commence on the next day (May 31) at the second hour of the night. The inscription is damaged at this point, but the beginning of the Ludi Saeculares at the second hour of the night is consistent with the requirement specified in the Sibylline oracle that the nocturnal sacrifices were to take place when night had come upon the Earth and the Sun had hidden its light (νὺξ ἡνίκα γαῖαν ἐπέλθῃ /​ἠελίου κρύψαντος ἑὸν φάος).90 The second part of the inscription also set out the proceedings on the four days of the Ludi Saeculares.91 The nocturnal rituals held on May 31, June 1, and June 2 were conducted by Augustus according to Greek ritual (Achivo ritu) with his head uncovered by his toga. Young people were permitted to attend the nocturnal rituals only if they were accompanied by an older family member.92 The nocturnal rituals began in darkness, a favorite time for Augustus. They were held at the Tarentum on the banks of the Tiber River, just northeast of today’s Corso Vittorio Emanuele II, where today a paved square is located.93 The Tarentum was a place where sulfurous vapor emerged from a small volcanic fissure in the ground. It was considered an entrance to the underworld, and an altar to the underworld divinities Dis and Proserpina was said to have been located here. All three nighttime sacrifices for the Augustan Ludi Saeculares were held at this place, which was associated with the first sacrifices made by Valesius. On the first night, the Fates were honored by the sacrifice, according to the Greek ritual, of nine dark ewe-​lambs and nine she-​goats. Augustus uttered a prayer asking the Fates to accept the sacrifices and grant protection and advancement to the people of Rome and protection for himself and his family. Following this sacrifice and prayer, 110 wives of free men presented a sellisternium, a ritual banquet at which images of goddesses sat on chairs or benches in a reflection of the archaic Roman custom whereby women sat on chairs to dine while men reclined on couches.94 The banquet was held in honor of Juno and Diana, for whom two seats were set aside. On this first night of the nocturnal celebration of the Ludi Saeculares on May 31, 17 b.c., around two hours after sunset, the heavens provided an impressive and meaningful celestial backdrop that included the Milky Way, Saturn, the Moon, and Virgo (see the central area of visibility in Fig. 12.4). The Milky Way would have been in the eastern sky stretching from the constellation Cassiepia [Cas] in the northeast where it was faint, through the celestial birds Avis [Cyg] and Aquila [Aql], and between Sagittarius [Sgr], where it was the densest, and the tail of Scorpios [Sco] in the southeast.95 The Milky Way was a spectacular brilliant white celestial band that was easy to find and see in the dark sky with the naked eye. The presence of the Milky Way in the heavens was important for its significance to the rituals being presented below in Rome. Manilius provided several different associations for the Milky Way. It represented the place where the immortal

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Local Time: 21:3 0:00 31-May-17BC UTC: 20:30:00 31-May-17BC Location: 41° 53' 0" N 12° 29' 0" E RA: 13h48m18s Dec: +41° 52' Field: 182.0°

Sidereal Time: 13:48:18 Julian Day: 1715365.3542

Fig. 12.4.  The first nocturnal celebration of the Ludi Saeculares. May 31, 17 b.c. Two hours after sunset, 9:30 p.m. Rome (41° 53ꞌ N, 12° 29ꞌ E). SkyMap Pro V. 12. By permission of Chris Marriott.

souls of eminent and deserving Romans who had served the state well were to be found after their deaths.96 It also represented the milk that flowed from the breast of Juno, the queen of heaven.97 This second association was relevant to the celebration of the Ludi Saeculares. Juno, represented by the Milky Way, was not far from her father, Saturn, in Scorpios [Sco]. Her symbolic presence at this first nocturnal celebration of the Ludi Saeculares was appropriate for the celebrations

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that ended with a sellisternium conducted by Roman matrons at which a special seat was set aside for her. On the first night of the Ludi Saeculares, the planet Saturn and the Moon were also visible in a very close conjunction in Scorpios [Sco]. The appearance of the planet Saturn on the night of May 31 was meaningful in its association with time, the underworld, the Golden Age, and Italy. The Ludi Saeculares were a resetting of time according to the calculations for the length of a saeculum authorized by Augustus. One saeculum was ending and another one was beginning. Balbus had argued from a Stoic perspective in the second book of Cicero’s De Natura Deorum that Saturn’s very name in Greek, Χρόνος, meant an “interval of time” (spatium temporis) and that his Roman name, Saturnus, indicated that he was saturated with years (est appellatus quod saturaretur annis).98 Saturn was associated with the underworld. After he was deposed by his son Jupiter, Saturn was said in some traditions to have been relegated to the deepest recesses of Tartarus.99 He was eventually freed by his son and sent to the Islands of the Blessed. The nocturnal rituals of the Ludi Saeculares were held near one of the alleged entrances to the underworld, and it would have been possible to imagine that Saturn had emerged from under the Earth to grace the night sky in his celestial manifestation above the rituals being held below in Rome. Saturn was also associated with the Golden Age as far back as Hesiod.100 This association was well known among the Augustan poets.101 Saturn ruled during the Golden Age when people on the Earth lived in peace and prosperity. He tried unsuccessfully to circumvent the Fates, who prophesied that he would eventually be overthrown by his own son.102 After he was dethroned, ages inferior to the Golden Age followed.103 The presence of Saturn in the heavens on the first night of the Ludi Saeculares would have been interpreted as a celestial representation that a golden age of peace and prosperity had now returned. Lastly, Saturn was associated with Italy.104 Vergil describes Aeneas walking around the site of future Rome with Evander, who told Aeneas the story of Saturn’s arrival:105 First from heavenly Olympus came Saturn, fleeing the weapons of Jove and exiled from the kingdom taken from him. He gathered together a people untrained and scattered on the high mountains. He drafted laws which he gave to them. He preferred that the land be called Latium because safe within its borders he had taken refuge (latuisset). During Saturn’s reign were the generations (saecula) that they call golden. The Roman two-​headed god Janus also described in Ovid’s Fasti how he received Saturn, a stranger god, after Saturn had been driven out from the celestial realms (caelitibus regnis) by his son Jupiter.106 Saturn arrived at the site of Rome by

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boat, sailing up the Tiber River. These associations of Saturn in contemporary Augustan thinking with time, the Golden Age, and Italy made Saturn an appropriate and significant celestial overseer of the rituals held each night during the Ludi Saeculares on the banks of the river where he had first made contact with the site of future Rome. During the nocturnal rituals of the Ludi Saeculares of 17 b.c., the Moon was in close conjunction with Saturn. The Moon was located in the southeast near the Milky Way. The Moon was bright, about 97% full, and waxing, or increasing. By the period of the saeculum Augustum, the Sun had become firmly associated with Apollo, and as a result the Moon became firmly associated with Diana, Apollo’s sister.107 Diana as Luna was imagined to be driving two snow-​white horses across the sky. And, like Saturn, she ruled time, but on a smaller scale, the month.108 On the Aventine Hill, Diana had a temple, which could be traced back to Servius Tullius, and her worship there emphasized arbitration, asylum, and the brotherhood of the Latins.109 This temple was rebuilt during the Augustan period after 36 b.c. by Lucius Cornificius, who is said to have spent more money on it than Octavianus had spent on building the Temple of Apollo Palatinus.110 Augustus had a particular interest in and devotion to the old Republican cult of Diana, who was worshipped as Diana Aricina or Diana Nemorensis in a grove sanctuary at Aricia, a Latin community that was located about eleven miles south of Rome in the Alban Hills.111 Aricia was the ancestral home of Atius Balbus, the father of Augustus’ mother Atia, and hence it was special to Augustus.112 According to the poetic accounts of the Battle of Actium, Diana was not among the divine Roman beings who assisted in the victory at Actium, for good reason. Diana did not appear in her lunar guise in the sky at any time during the hours of the battle, midday through about 5:00 p.m. Diana, however, rose as an almost full Moon after the end of the Battle of Actium while Octavianus was spending the night aboard his ship (see Fig. 10.4). The presence of Diana, the Moon, in the sky during the nocturnal rituals of the Ludi Saeculares on May 31, 17 b.c. would therefore have been a significant reminder not only of Augustus’ victory at Actium but also of his maternal heritage. Diana was brought down to the Earth after the sacrifices on that night. A seat was set for her as well as for Juno at the sellisternium staged by the Roman matrons. Also at the opening nocturnal ceremony of the Ludi Saeculares, the constellation Virgo [Vir] appeared to the west of the Moon in Scorpios [Sco]. Virgo was adjacent to Chelae (Libra) [Lib], the constellation in the zodiac that housed the permanent celestial location of the soul of Caesar. Virgo, the only female figure in the zodiac, was imagined to be holding in her left hand a sheaf of wheat, which was represented by the bright star Spica.113 Virgo had a strong personal significance for Augustus himself and it had many mythical associations. For Hesiod,

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Virgo represented Δίκη (Dikē), the daughter of Zeus and Themis, but for Aratus, Δίκη was linked with the Golden Age.114 Δίκη had lived on the Earth during the peaceful Golden Age, when she moved freely among mortals while she dispensed justice and settled disputes: hence her name, Δίκη (Roman Iustitia, Justice). She remained on the Earth during the Silver Age to rebuke mortals for their increasing wickedness. When the Bronze Age began, Δίκη could take no more. She abandoned the Earth and flew up to heaven, an action consistent with the representation of the figure with wings on the Farnese Globe. In contrast to Hesiod, Aratus ended the discussion of Virgo on a hopeful note. Although Δίκη left the Earth in disgust to take up her permanent abode in the band of the zodiac, she nonetheless still watched over mortals in the form of the constellation Virgo.115 The appearance of Virgo on the first and subsequent nights of the Ludi Saeculares was an indication not only of her constant vigilance over mortals but also of her return again to dwell with mortals—​that is, Romans—​and of her reinstitution of a new Golden Age, under the aegis of Augustus, for whom Virgo had great personal significance. The nocturnal celebrations on the following two nights of the Ludi Saeculares followed the pattern of the nocturnal celebration that took place on the first night but incorporated their own special elements. At the nocturnal celebration on June 1, the location was the same, the Tarentum on the banks of the Tiber River. The sacrifice on June 1 was made to the Illythyia, the goddess of wedlock, procreation, childbirth, and the decrees on marriage. Illythyia received nine cakes like those offered on a birthday (liba), nine round cakes (popana), and nine small cakes (pthoes). The sacrifice was followed, as on May 31, by a prayer of Augustus and a second sellisternium on the pattern of the first. The heavens looked very much the same around two hours after sunset on this day except that the Moon, now 99.7% full, had moved to the east into the constellation Sagittarius [Sgr] farther away from Saturn. The third and final nocturnal celebration took place on June 2. The location and time were the same. But on this night Tellus the Earth was honored. Tellus received as a sacrifice made by Augustus a black pregnant sow in perfect condition. The sacrifice was followed by a prayer and a sellisternium as on the previous nights. Again, the heavens were visually very similar to the heavens on June 1 and May 31. The Moon was as bright as it had been on June 1. It had moved eastward away from Saturn but still remained in the constellation of Sagittarius [Sgr]. The celebrations by day presented on June 1, June 2, and June 3, 17 b.c. had different features, different honorees, and their own set of celestial observers: Jupiter, the Moon, and the Sun. Augustus shared the officiating of these diurnal rituals with Agrippa. On the first day, June 1, the venue was the Capitoline Hill and the divinity honored was Jupiter Optimus Maximus. The Capitoline Hill was

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one of the sites at which The Board of the Fifteen had distributed to the people implements for purification and foodstuffs for offering before the Ludi Saeculares began. The Capitoline was the smallest of the seven hills of Rome but the most important because it was central to the religion of the Roman state. At the diurnal celebration on June 1, 17 b.c., Jupiter was offered two spotless white bulls in perfect condition, one by Augustus and one by Agrippa. Since the divinity honored was Jupiter Optimus Maximus, the morning sacrifice probably took place in the precinct of the Temple of Jupiter Optimus Maximus in the Area Capitolina in the southern portion of the hill, which Jupiter shared with Juno and Minerva. The original temple to Jupiter dated back to Lucius Tarquinius Superbus, the last king of Rome. It burned down in 83 b.c., and reconstruction began under Sulla, although Catulus, who is said to have dreamed on two successive nights about the young Octavius and Jupiter Capitolinus before he had ever seen him, did most of the rebuilding.116 Augustus later spent lavishly to restore the temple himself and an altar dedicated to Jupiter stood before the great temple. The new cult statue was of a seated Jupiter holding a scepter and thunderbolt and wearing a crown meant to represent rays of light (radiata corona).117 After the sacrifice at this first diurnal ritual came a prayer followed by performances in Latin presented without a break in a theater of wood in the meadow by the Tiber River. The wives of free citizens presented another sellisternium. A proclamation from The Board of the Fifteen with regard to a reduction in the period of mourning for women followed. Ancient sources are not forthcoming about the time of day at which the diurnal celebrations took place, but if celestial entities were to be noted and observed, the time of the rituals would best have been held before sunrise. One hour before sunrise during morning nautical twilight on June 1, 17 b.c., the first day of the diurnal celebrations of the Ludi Saeculares, Taurus [Tau] was at the eastern horizon (see the central area of visibility in Fig. 12.5). Jupiter, whose importance to Augustus was lifelong, was just at the eastern horizon in Taurus [Tau] to witness the sacrifices of the two spotless white bulls made in his honor on this day. The Moon, which was associated with Artemis of Aricia, the ancestral home of Augustus’ mother, was 98.5% full and located very close to the western horizon in a close conjunction in Scorpios [Sco] with Saturn, which represented Italy. The diurnal rituals on the second morning of the Ludi Saeculares performed on the morning of June 2 were also held on the Capitoline Hill, and Juno Regina was honored, again most likely in the precinct of the great Capitoline temple she shared with her husband, Jupiter, where her cella was to the left. Two fine white cows were sacrificed to her, one by Augustus, one by Agrippa. The sacrifices were followed by a prayer, a performance by 110 wives of free citizens, which was probably another sellisternium, and a proclamation delivered on behalf of the women.

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Fig. 12.5.  The first diurnal celebration of the Ludi Saeculares. June 1, 17 b.c. One hour before sunrise, 3:33 a.m. Rome (41° 53ꞌ N, 12° 29ꞌ E). SkyMap Pro V. 12. By permission of Chris Marriott.

On the morning of June 2 an hour before sunrise, the appearance of the sky was virtually identical to that of June 1. The Moon, however, had risen above the horizon and was now in Sagittarius, 99.9% full. On June 3, the third and final morning of the Ludi Saeculares, the sacrifices were held on the Palatine Hill, where Augustus lived. The divinities honored were Apollo and Diana. Augustus and Agrippa sacrificed nine cakes like those offered

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Fig. 12.6.  The third diurnal celebration of the Ludi Saeculares. June 3, 17 b.c. Sunrise, 4:32 a.m. Rome (41° 53ꞌ N, 12° 29ꞌ E). SkyMap Pro V. 12. By permission of Chris Marriott.

on a birthday, nine round cakes, and nine small cakes. They offered a prayer to Apollo and then to Diana. At sunrise on June 3, the Moon in Sagittarius [Sgr], 99.2% full, had now moved to the east away from the western horizon (see the central area of visibility in Fig. 12.6). The Sun was at the eastern horizon in Gemini [Gem] in close conjunction with Venus in Gemini and near Mercury in Taurus [Tau] and Jupiter in Taurus. The presence of Apollo as the Sun at the eastern horizon and his sister Diana as the Moon, almost full, near the western horizon highlighted the significance of the Sun and the Moon as well as the importance of the venue for the day’s celebrations, the Palatine Hill, where Augustus lived

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and where Apollo and Diana were represented by statues in the Temple of Apollo Palatinus that adjoined his house there. Following the sacrifices on the final morning, June 3, the hymn composed for the occasion by Horace was sung in separate choirs by twenty-​seven boys and twenty-​seven girls who all had living parents, first on the Palatine Hill and then on the Capitoline Hill with The Board of the Fifteen in attendance. In this hymn, Horace highlighted all of the celestial entities visible in the sky and important to Augustus that accompanied the celebrations on the days of the Ludi Saeculares. A reference to Latium near the end of the poem (remque Romanam Latiumque) calls to mind Saturn.118 Juno, the daughter of Saturn, who was represented in the appearance of the Milky Way, is the goddess addressed in the hymn as diva, who protected parents and offspring.119 Illythyia, the goddess of wedlock, procreation, childbirth, and the decrees on marriage, is associated with Juno.120 Jupiter is the bringer of rains and breezes that are beneficial to the harvest (nutriant fetus et aquae salubres /​et Iovis aurae).121 Diana is associated with the Aventine Hill and with Algidus, a loose reference to the area in which Aricia, the ancestral home of Augustus’ mother, was located (quaeque Aventinum tenet Algidumque, /​. . . Diana). Diana has power over the forests and she is the shining glory of the zodiac (silvarumque potens Diana, /​lucidum caeli decus).122 Diana is Luna, two-​horned queen of the stars, a reference to the changes in the appearance of the Moon as it goes through its phases (siderum regina bicornis . . . /​Luna).123 Diana’s name is the last divine name that the audience would have heard at the conclusion of the hymn (doctus et Phoebi chorus et Dianae /​dicere laudes).124 The emphasis at the Ludi Saeculares on Diana served to put to rest the slurs of the past that had been cast upon the maternal ancestry of Augustus by Antonius and others.125 Antonius had alleged that Augustus’ mother Atia was descended from a grandfather of African descent, possibly servile, who kneaded bread in a bakeshop in Aricia. The aspersions that Antonius cast at the ancestry of Augustus’ mother were simply foolish, according to Cicero, since both Augustus and Antonius were associated with the gens Iulia through their Julian mothers.126 But slurs such as these, which were customary in the Roman political arena, remained in circulation for years and they needed to be neutralized at some point. Apollo is also celebrated in the hymn as both a deity and a celestial entity. He is addressed first in the hymn (Phoebe, in the vocative).127 He is an archer with a flashing bow (fulgente decorus arcu), who is asked to be gentle and peaceful now and to put aside his weapon (condito mitis placidusque telo).128 Apollo is a musician dear to the nine Muses (acceptusque novem Camenis), a healer (qui salutari levat arte fessos /​corporis artus), and an augur skilled at reading the vault of the sky for the messages conveyed by birds.129 Apollo is also the life-​giving Sun, who day after day crosses the heavens in his shining chariot to bring forth the light at sunrise

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and then later to hide it at sunset (alme Sol, curru nitido diem qui /​promis et celas aliusque et idem /​nasceris).130 Virgo appears in the hymn in the reference to Ceres, the goddess of agricultural fertility, receiving a crown made from sheaves of wheat (spicea . . . corona) from Tellus the Earth, which brings to mind the bright star Spica (the Sheaf of Wheat) in Virgo, with whom Ceres was identified.131 Virgo also appears in the reference to the return of blessed plenty with her full horn, the cornucopia, an implement associated with her iconography (apparetque beata pleno /​copia cornu).132 Virgo had a strong personal significance for Augustus, who appears in the hymn between Romulus and Apollo. Augustus, the famous offspring of Anchises and Venus, was earlier a warrior but is now lenient to the fallen enemy (clarus Anchisae Venerisque sanguis, /​. . . bellante prior, iacentem /​lenis in hostem).133 Augustus is a victor on land and sea, a Julian conqueror feared by the Parthian and by others (iam mari terraque . . . /​Medus Albanasque timet secures).134 With Augustus appear Good Faith (Fides), Peace (Pax), Respect (Honor), old-​fashioned Shame (priscus Pudor), and Excellence (Virtus).135 The Sibylline oracle had directed that the serious nocturnal and diurnal rituals carried out during the course of the Ludi Saeculares should be followed by laughter (σπουδὴ δὲ γέλωτι μεμίχθω), and after the conclusion of the solemn religious rituals, lighter celebrations for the general populace took place.136 Turning posts were set up for chariot racing, and a stage and auditorium were constructed at the place near the Tiber River where the nocturnal sacrifices had taken place. By proclamation, The Board of the Fifteen announced the presentation of a variety of additional public performances beginning on June 5 that were noted with precisely specified seasonal hours, which began with sunrise: Latin performances (Latinos in theatro) in the theater by the Tiber River on the Nones of June ( June 5) during the second hour; Greek musical shows (Graecos thymelicos) in the Theater of Pompeius Magnus on June 5 during the third hour; and Greek stage plays (Graecos asticos) in the theater in the Circus Flaminius on June 5 during the fourth hour. The Board of the Fifteen also presented an animal hunt on the day before the Ides of June ( June 12). A procession also took place on June 12, and Agrippa presented the racing of the four-​horse chariots, probably on this day as well, although the date is missing because the inscription is fragmentary at this point. So ended the most intricate, symbolic, and spectacular event staged by Augustus during the period of the saeculum Augustum. The significance of the Augustan Ludi Saeculares cannot be underestimated. They were planned as a once-​in-​a-​lifetime event. No one alive had ever witnessed Ludi Saeculares or was expected to witness them again. The days were a mixture of theatricality, solemnity, laughter, and celestial display, all serving to confirm how tightly Augustus now controlled Rome. He had reshaped Roman religious and political institutions; reconfigured cultural memory; harnessed time in

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service of his political and cultural agenda; reinterpreted Roman mythology to his benefit by emphasizing especially his two divine and celestial patrons, Apollo the Sun and Jupiter; and managed to corral mythological and celestial symbols of the feminine and the maternal, Juno and Diana, in the nominal service of a state that, as leader without equal, he now had firmly in his grip. Ovid did not mention the Ludi Saeculares of 17 b.c. in his Fasti because, as a one-​time event, no anniversary would ever be celebrated. But Ovid, it appears, gave a subtle nod to the celestial underpinnings of the celebration, which he may have witnessed himself as a young man now set on his poetic career in Rome. In the Fasti, Ovid specifically refers to celestial objects that appeared on the June days on which the Ludi Saeculares in 17 b.c. took place. In the entry for June 1, Ovid mentions that Carna (Cranaë) the goddess of the cardo (dea cardinis) was honored on this day.137 A cardo is an axis around which things such as hinges and even the universe turn. Carna is the divine spirit (numen) that opens what is closed and closes what is open. She was also said to have been a sister of Phoebus Apollo, and she was known, like Diana, for her modesty and chaste ways.138 Carna had protected Proca, a king of Alba Longa, the ancestral home of the gens Iulia from the attack of strigae (screech owls) when Proca was just a baby five days old.139 On this day also Camillus had founded the Temple of Juno Moneta on the Capitoline Hill.140 At the end of his entry for the day, Ovid contrasts the earthly monuments in Rome (haec hominum monumenta patent) with the eternal “monuments” that were visible in the celestial sphere on this first day of June.141 If one looks up at the stars, Aquila, the bird with hooked talons that flies straight ahead and is associated with great Jove, is seen rising above the eastern horizon (si quaeritis astra /​tunc oritur magni praepes adunca Iovis) at sunset.142 Aquila was also visible in the western sky before sunrise. On the days of the nocturnal celebrations of the Ludi Saeculares, Altair in Aquila had risen in the east after sunset to be present at the rituals (see Fig. 12.4). Altair in Aquila had been an important part of the celestial display at Octavianus’ first public event, the ludi he presented in 44 b.c. in honor of Caesar. In the brief entry for June 2 in the Fasti, Ovid comments that one would see rising on the next morning the Hyades, the stars that comprise the horns and face of the constellation Taurus (postera lux Hyadas, Taurinae cornua frontis, /​evocat).143 The time of the rising of the Hyades in the east on this day would be sunrise.144 Taurus was associated with Jupiter, who had rewarded the bull with celestial prominence to honor either Europa or Io.145 At the diurnal celebrations on the days of the Ludi Saeculares, Taurus was fully aloft near the eastern horizon at sunrise (see Fig. 12.6). Ovid opens his entry for June 3 with a reference to Phoebus the Sun beginning its journey across the sky at sunrise (mane ubi bis fuerit Phoebusque iteraverit ortus), as it had, as usual, on the days prior, June 1 and June 2.146 In his Carmen Saeculare, Horace had also referred

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to the journey of the Sun across the heavens beginning at sunrise. With these references in the Fasti, Ovid may have been subtly acknowledging the presence of Jupiter and the Sun as important parts of the celestial display at the diurnal rituals of the Ludi Saeculares. He was probably also acknowledging that he knew that the Sun and Jupiter were the most important celestial manifestations to Augustus of his Julian kin. Both the Sun and Jupiter bore witness from their vantage point in the celestial sphere and in their symbolic presence at the rituals of the Ludi Saeculares that the dominus terrarum orbi predicted by Nigidius Figulus in 63 b.c. had solidified his position as a veritable ruler of time like Phoebus Apollo, the Sun of the Sibylline oracle (Φοῖβος ’Απόλλων, /​ὅστε καὶ ‘Ηέλιος κικλήσεται), and what was becoming more evident as time went on, as a monarch like Jupiter in all but name.147

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Deaths in the Family and the Ara Pacis Augustae 16–​9 b.c.

The Ludi Saecul ares of 17 b.c. had demonstrated the support of Jupiter and Apollo in their celestial manifestations for Augustus and his family, and they established the tone for the subsequent years of Augustus’ principate. The celebration of Juno, the goddess of marriage and childbirth, and Diana, the chaste goddess of the Moon, during the solemn rituals of 17 b.c. and their visible presence in the heavens in their celestial manifestations were also in tune with the moral legislation that had been enacted by Augustus under his tribunician power in 18–​17 b.c.1 Dio suggested that Augustus was somewhat hypocritical in his efforts to improve morality at Rome because he was far from being an exemplar of upright behavior.2 Augustus persisted nonetheless, and the legislation, which dealt with marriage, children, and adultery, had a cooling effect, perhaps desired, on Rome’s love poets. In 16 b.c. Propertius published a book of poetry, his fourth, that was distinctly civic if not patriotic in its tone. Lygdamus wrote poetry dated to the same year that was also careful and appeared to deal with love within the context of a marriage. Ovid in 15 b.c. published fifteen poems in the first collection of his Heroides in which foreign women were presented as excessive in their behavior and lacking in self-​control—​undesirable as wives or potential wives. Even Horace’s fourth book of Odes, published in 13 b.c., was distinctly less immoderate in its tone. Augustus’ moral legislation coincided with the appearance in contemporary works of myths that were associated with Aricia, the ancestral home of Augustus’ mother, Atia, and the location of an important temple to Diana. Vergil had included in his Aeneid the myth of Virbius, the Italian son of the goddess Aricia and Hippolytus, who was himself a devotee of the goddess Diana and a

Celestial Inclinations. Anne-​Marie Lewis, Oxford University Press. © Oxford University Press 2023. DOI: 10.1093/​oso/​9780197599648.003.0014

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subject of interest to the Augustan poets.3 The Greek myth of Orestes, the son of Agamemnon and Clytemnestra of Mycenae, was also popular. Orestes was known in Italy by the sixth century b.c., and by the fourth century b.c. the plays of Euripides, including the Iphigeneia at Tauris, had become famous in Italy.4 By the second century b.c. the Greek myth of Orestes had taken its Italian form in which Orestes brought the image of Artemis from Tauris to Aricia, where he and the image remained and where he died. During this period, Augustus may have moved the cremated remains of Orestes, the cineres Orestis (or ossa Orestis), from Aricia to Rome.5 No description of the ceremony of the transfer exists in the historical or poetic records, possibly indicating that the move was a low-​key affair in deference to the fact that Aricia had lost one of its most important treasures. But after the celebration of the dawning of a new saeculum in 17 b.c., the Aricians might have been happy to give up their prized relic to their favorite son, Augustus, and so join themselves to the eternal destiny of Rome that had been declared in the Sibylline oracle associated with the Ludi Saeculares. The remains of Orestes were numbered among the seven pledges (pignora) of Roman imperium, all of which came from elsewhere and confirmed Rome’s greatness and continuing hegemony.6 The remains of Orestes were displayed in Rome in an urn in front of the Temple of Saturn, which was on the slope of the Capitoline Hill next to the Temple of Concordia.7 The restoration of the Temple of Saturn had been undertaken by Plancus and completed not long before the transfer of the cineres Orestis, perhaps in the 20s b.c.8 Augustus and Agrippa remained in Rome for almost another year. After the middle of 16 b.c. Agrippa headed back to the East to deal with matters there while Augustus remained closer to home, traveling only north to Gaul and the western frontier sometime in July 16 b.c.9 Some suspected that Augustus had left Rome because of his scandalous infatuation with Maecenas’ wife, Terentia, which was so great that he allegedly made Terentia compete with his wife Livia in a contest to determine who was the more beautiful. Rumor also had it that Augustus even intended to run away with Terentia to live abroad away from all the gossip.10 This irrationality was apparently out of character for Augustus, an adulterer who was said to engage in his affairs not for reasons of passion but as a matter of policy in order to get information from the women with whom he slept about their husbands and lovers.11 Accompanying Augustus on his journey north out of the city in the end was not Terentia but his stepson Tiberius, who had become praetor before the customary age of thirty-​nine years for holding this office. Around the time of Augustus’ departure, some dire portents occurred. The Temple of Iuventus burned down. A wolf ran down the Via Sacra into the Forum Romanum, killing people there, and ants were seen to swarm together. One portent was celestial. A beam of light extended from south to north in the

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sky throughout the night (λαμπὰς τέ τις ἀπὸ μεσεμβρίας ἐπὶ τὴν ἄρκτον διὰ πάσης τῆς νυκτὸς ἠνέχθη).12 This light (λαμπάς) was most likely the Milky Way, the dense core of which was located in the constellation Sagittarius in the southern skies.13 The Milky Way could be seen by observers during the dark of night in the northern hemisphere from the end of June through September as a bright white band that stretched across the sky from the south to the north. At the end of July, the Milky Way would have been visible on a diagonal from between Scorpios [Sco] and Sagittarius [Sgr] in the south through Aquila [Aql], Avis [Cyg], and Cassiepia [Cas], ending in Perseus [Per] in the north (see the central area of visibility in Fig. 13.1). The Milky Way was not in itself a negative omen, but since the star Altair in Aquila [Aql], the imagined conveyancer of worthy Roman souls to the heavens, was found within its boundaries, the Milky Way might have been seen not only as a somber reminder of the destination for the fortunate souls of notable Romans who had served the state well but also as a foreboding for others destined to join them there. Chelae (Libra) [Lib], the constellation associated with Caesar, was in the heavens at this time, but because of the unpropitious omens, prayers were offered for Augustus’ safe return. Minding the political situation in Rome during the year 16 b.c. were two consuls who were members of Augustus’ own extended family: Publius Cornelius Scipio, a son of Octavianus’ second wife, Scribonia, by an earlier marriage for her and thus a half-​brother to his daughter, Iulia; and Lucius Ahenobarbus, the husband of his niece Antonia the Elder, a daughter of his sister Octavia and Antonius. On July 1, 16 b.c., Cornelius Scipio would be replaced by the suffect consul Lucius Tarius Rufus, a novus homo who had supported Agrippa at Actium. News of Augustus’ impending return to Rome in 13 b.c., the year of the consulship of Tiberius and Publius Quinctilius Varus, coincided with a flood of the Tiber River and with the dedication of a small theater in the Campus Martius by the Spanish-​born Lucius Cornelius Balbus the Younger.14 Balbus the Younger was the nephew of the Lucius Cornelius Balbus who had served Caesar on his military campaigns and then later served Octavianus. The nephew had been proconsul of Africa, where he had defeated the Garamantes and then received a triumph in 19 b.c., an unusual honor for a provincial. The episode of flooding may date the dedication of this theater no later than May because the flooding of the Tiber River tended to decrease dramatically in the months of June, July, and August.15 The Theater of Balbus was located just south of the Porticus Minucia and oriented on an east-​west axis. Its four small columns of onyx marble were considered quite sensational at the time.16 The flooding of the Tiber had prevented Balbus the Younger from reaching his new theater except by boat, but in keeping with his inflated sense of his accomplishment, the dedication of the theater was celebrated with costly ludi in anticipation of Augustus’ return.

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Fig. 13.1.  The departure of Augustus from Rome to Gaul and the western frontier. July 30, 16 b.c. 10:00 p.m. Rome (41° 53ꞌ N, 12° 29ꞌ E). SkyMap Pro V. 12. By permission of Chris Marriott.

The Senate, by decree, commemorated Augustus’ return with a vote to place an altar within the Senate chamber itself and a vote to ensure that anyone approaching Augustus inside the boundaries of Rome (the pomerium) as a suppliant should not be punished. Augustus rejected both of these honors when he arrived back in Rome from his trip to Germany, Gaul, and Spain at night and without fanfare, as was his preference.17 The next day, Augustus welcomed the

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people at his home on the Palatine Hill and presented the laurel from his fasces to Jupiter on the Capitoline Hill. Augustus called a meeting of the Senate and had his achievements read out for him by the quaestor, since he himself was unable to speak because of hoarseness. Horace celebrated the event of Augustus’ return in a poem with reference to the Sun, who witnessed it: “Beautiful Sun worthy of praise, I will sing, rejoicing at the return of Caesar [Augustus]” (O sol /​pulcher, o laudande!” canam recepto /​Caesare felix).18 In this same year, 13 b.c., ludi celebrating the official public birthday of Augustus on September 23 were presented by the praetor Iullus Antonius, the son of Antonius and Fulvia who had been raised by Octavia after he survived the purge of Antonius’ children following the death of Antonius in 30 b.c. Augustus always felt lethargic around his birthday in September, a time of year that had a reputation for being unhealthy, perhaps due to the sirocco winds that blew into Italy and the Mediterranean from northern Africa.19 But Augustus probably attended these ludi, which included the slaughter of wild beasts in the Circus and entertainments arranged for him and for the Senate on the Capitoline Hill, because Iullus Antonius was one of his favorites.20 The celestial display just before sunrise on September 23, 13 b.c. was notable (see the central area of visibility in Fig. 13.2). In the east Jupiter was in Virgo [Vir], Venus was in Leo [Leo], and the Moon, 34% full, was in Cancer [Cnc]. Gemini [Gem] with its brightest star Pollux was also visible to the west of Cancer. The following year, 12 b.c., would turn out to be both a triumphant and a sorrowful one for Augustus. During the period of his time at Rome, Augustus was finally able to assume, on the day before the Nones of March (March 6), the position of Pontifex Maximus.21 Caesar himself had held the pontificate until his assassination in March 44 b.c. The position was then secured irregularly for Lepidus by Antonius following Caesar’s death. Never a big player in the triumvirate, Lepidus made an ill-​considered move against Octavianus and was deposed from the triumvirate in 36 b.c. Octavianus had no choice but to allow Lepidus to remain Pontifex Maximus because Octavianus had no precedent for removing him from that office. Appian implies that Octavianus allowed Lepidus some remaining shred of dignity despite his fall, but Dio writes that Octavianus never forgave Lepidus for his betrayal.22 Octavianus is said to have hated Lepidus so much that he would periodically demand that Lepidus return to Rome from his estate at the resort town of Circaeum south of Rome, to which Octavianus had consigned him to spend the rest of his life, so that the insults hurled at him along the way to Rome would always remind him of the loss of his standing and power. Lepidus lived out a comfortable retirement from politics at his estate until his death, probably in early 12 b.c. Only then was Augustus able to assume the office of Pontifex Maximus for himself. By joining the auctoritas of the Pontifex Maximus with the powers of the principate, Augustus managed to create a

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Fig. 13.2.  The public anniversary of the birth of Augustus, September 23, 13 b.c. Just before sunrise, 5:50 a.m. Rome (41° 53ꞌ N, 12° 29ꞌ E). SkyMap Pro V. 12. By permission of Chris Marriott.

position for himself that combined civic and sacred offices and that enhanced his informal position as head of state with ever greater authority and influence. Augustus made sure that people recognized his restraint in not seizing the pontificate many years earlier from Lepidus, a man who was demonstrably unworthy of holding it, and Augustus made sure that people bore witness to the legality of his assumption of the office.23 He also pointed to the large crowds that thronged

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into Rome to witness his inauguration as Pontifex Maximus as proof that the people had affirmed his installation as the head of the Roman state religion.24 The celestial display before and up to sunrise on the day of his installation as Pontifex Maximus, March 6, 12 b.c., which was typical of the displays Augustus favored for his public events, demonstrated that his Julian kin in their celestial manifestations also sanctioned his assuming the office (see the central area of visibility in Fig. 13.3). At sunrise, the Sun and all five visible planets in a row were Aur 30°

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Fig. 13.3.  Augustus assumes the position of Pontifex Maximus. March 6, 12 b.c. Sunrise, 6:40 a.m. Rome (41° 53ꞌ N, 12° 29ꞌ E). SkyMap Pro V. 12. By permission of Chris Marriott.

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visible within the band of the zodiac. The Sun and Venus in the east were close together in Pisces [Psc]. To the west, Mercury and Mars were in conjunction in Aquarius [Aqr], and Saturn was in Capricornus [Cap]. In the west Jupiter was in Virgo [Vir], a constellation of personal significance for Augustus that represented, astrologically, the superiority of his τύχη. Following behind Virgo was Chelae (Libra) [Lib], the constellation in which the soul of Caesar was imagined to reside. The Moon in Leo was missing from the celestial display at sunrise on this morning, but after sunset on this day, a bright Moon, 83% full in Leo, had the zodiac to itself. Following his appointment as Pontifex Maximus, Augustus engaged in a flurry of important religious activities. He ordered the scrutiny of books of prophetic writings in both Greek and Latin that were in circulation. He instructed that about 2,000 of these books be burned because they were considered inaccurate or, possibly, too dangerous.25 Augustus also arranged for the examination of the sprawling collection of prophetic writings in Latin known as the Sibylline Books. These venerable books had been housed in the Temple of Jupiter Optimus Maximus on the Capitoline Hill until they were destroyed in a fire in 83 b.c. The collection was reconstructed both from Roman sources and from sources housed in other sites associated with Sibyls.26 Augustus had these oracles evaluated and purged also. Upon the completion of this process of vetting, winnowing, and editing, the newly trimmed-​down Sibylline oracles were deposited in two gilded cases under the base of the statue of Apollo on the Palatine Hill. In so doing, Augustus was declaring publicly his direct association with and control of the oracles that predicted Rome’s greatness. The transfer of the Sibylline books to the Palatine Hill was probably, like the transfer of the remains of Orestes from Aricia to Rome, a low-​key affair. Augustus may not have wished to make too much of the new association of sacred oracles, which had once been housed in the Temple of Jupiter on the Capitoline Hill, with the Temple of Apollo that was attached to his own home on the Palatine. The satisfaction that Augustus may have felt upon assuming the position of Pontifex Maximus and upon ending unfinished business from the days of the civil war and the triumvirate would prove to be short lived. Agrippa, his long-​ time friend, old compatriot in battles political and military, loyal son-​in-​law, and trusted co-​regent whom he had invested again with tribunician power for another five years, died, probably at some point in late March 12 b.c.27 Agrippa had returned from campaigning in Syria but was sent out again in the winter of 12 b.c., probably in January, to Pannonia. When the Pannonians gave up their threat of rebellion, Agrippa headed back to Italy and fell ill when he reached Campania. Augustus had left Rome in order to attend the Panathenaic Festival held annually in May–​June, an event that was being presented in Athens in the

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name of Gaius Caesar and Lucius Caesar, who were the natural sons of Agrippa and Iulia, but since 17 b.c., his own sons by adoption.28 Although Augustus was said to have started back to Rome immediately upon hearing of Agrippa’s illness, he arrived too late to see him alive. Augustus arranged for Agrippa’s body to lie in state in the Forum Romanum. Augustus also delivered the eulogy (the laudatio funebris) for Agrippa after first hanging a curtain in front of the body (παραπέ­ τασμά τι πρὸ τοῦ νεκροῦ παρατείνας).29 Dio discounted the explanation for the curtain as necessary, because Augustus, as Pontifex Maximus, was not permitted to look upon a corpse, but this explanation is undoubtedly correct.30 A part of Augustus’ eulogy for Agrippa, in the form of a handwritten Greek translation of the original Latin, survives on a small papyrus fragment from Egypt.31 The fragment emphasizes the role Augustus played in raising Agrippa to the high stature and position that he achieved in his life. Agrippa had become a member of Augustus’ family, although, if Pliny the Elder is to be believed, his position as Augustus’ son-​in-​law eventually became a burdensome servitude to him (socerique praegravi servitio).32 Agrippa’s rise from an obscure birth because of his many achievements and his relationship by long comradeship and by family to Augustus was the main feature of Agrippa’s life story and a cause for resentment among Rome’s competitive aristocrats. Some members of the ruling class were said to have stayed away from Agrippa’s funeral in a boycott, expressing their dislike of Agrippa even in death and their disapproval of such a lavish memorial for him.33 Agrippa’s funeral procession was conducted in the same manner as Augustus wished his own to be conducted. Although Agrippa had prepared a tomb for himself in the Campus Martius, Augustus placed Agrippa’s mortal remains instead in his own mausoleum, the second husband of Augustus’ daughter, Iulia, thus joining her first husband, Marcellus, in death there. Agrippa left his gardens and baths to the Roman people and most of his estate to Augustus, from which Augustus distributed 400 sesterces to each of the Roman people in Agrippa’s name. Augustus is said to have grieved for a long time over the loss of Agrippa. He had prized Agrippa as a friend and confidante, despite the flashes of impatience that Agrippa had occasionally showed.34 Many foreboding signs, typical of those preceding great public calamities, had predicted Agrippa’s death.35 Eagle owls (βύαι, bubones) flitted around the city in an unusual manner. The eagle owl with its moaning cry was considered in Roman culture to be a bad omen, a symbol of death, when it was seen in a city or during the day.36 Lightning reportedly struck the house on the Alban Mount in which the consuls resided when they carried out sacred rites. Fires consumed a number of buildings in the city, including most ominously the hut of Romulus on the Palatine Hill on which ravens had dropped burning sacrificial flesh snatched from an altar. In addition, a celestial sign, an ἄστρον, was visible:37

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The ἄστρον, the κομήτης ὠνομασμένος, raised up for many days above this city (ἐπὶ πολλὰς ἡμέρας ὑπὲρ αὐτοῦ τοῦ ἄστεως αἰωρηθεὶς) was lost to the blazing rays of the Sun (ἐς λαμπάδας διελύθη). The ἄστρον is commonly believed to have been Halley’s Comet, which appeared in late August in Gemini in 12 b.c. As described in the Chinese Annal of Han, its closest approach was on September 9, and it disappeared from view in Scorpios in late October. Halley’s Comet had visited only a few times before 12 b.c., although these visits had not been recorded at Rome.38 It appeared in May–​June 240 b.c., according to Chinese astronomical records. It appeared in November 164 b.c. and in July–​August 87 b.c., according to Babylonian astronomical records. The identification of the ἄστρον of March 12 b.c. as Halley’s Comet or indeed as any comet, however, is problematic. No comet for March is noted in any contemporary or later Greek or Roman sources or in contemporary Chinese astronomical sources. In addition, the comet of 12 b.c. appeared some five months after Agrippa’s death, too late to have been identified as an omen of Agrippa’s death. Dio’s comment on the ἄστρον that signaled the death of Agrippa in 12 b.c. is similar to the one he made in describing the ἄστρον that appeared at the ludi presented by Octavianus in honor of Caesar in September 44 b.c.39 Just as the celestial object of September 44 b.c. was identified by some but not by all as a comet, the celestial object of 12 b.c. may also have been mistaken for a comet when it was something else. Dio calls the celestial object of 12 b.c. an ἄστρον and then acknowledges that the object was only alleged to have been a comet (κομήτης ὠν ομασμένος). Like the sidus crinitum of 44 b.c., the ἄστρον was raised up for many days above Rome (ἐπὶ πολλὰς ἡμέρας ὑπὲρ αὐτοῦ τοῦ ἄστεως αἰωρηθείς). The participle αἰωρηθείς provides a possible clue to identifying the ἄστρον. Comets are not lifted up, but constellations are. This verb in the form αἰωρεῖ was employed by the early-​fifth-​century Greek poet Pindar in his description of the eagle, king of the birds that reveal omens (ἀρχὸς οἰωνῶν), which raised up the feathers on its back as it slept on the scepter of Zeus (ὑγρὸν νῶτον αἰωρεῖ).40 The ἄστρον, therefore, may have been the bright Altair in Aquila, the star that was imagined to carry the souls of worthy Romans, such as Caesar initially and Agrippa now to the heavens. Dio’s comment about the ἄστρον being lost to the blazing rays of the Sun is consistent with Eratosthenes’ description of Aquila the Eagle as the only celestial bird that flies as it faces the rising Sun and in a direction opposite to the rays of the rising Sun (μόνον δὲ τῶν ζῳδίων ἀνθήλιον ἵπταται. . . . γίνεται δὲ καὶ ἐν τοῖς ἄστροις ἐναντίον ταῖς ἀνατολαῖς). The head of Aquila was imagined to be its brightest star, Altair.41 A celestial map for sunrise on a day, perhaps during the period March 19–​24, 12 b.c., on which Agrippa’s funeral in Rome may have taken place can be seen to reflect accurately Dio’s somber words. On the pattern of the interval

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between Caesar’s death on March 15, 44 b.c. and his funeral several days later, possibly on March 20, 44 b.c., the date March 29, 12 b.c. has been chosen as a reasonable day for Agrippa’s funeral (see the central area of visibility in Fig. 13.4). On this proposed day for Agrippa’s funeral, Mars was in Pisces [Psc] in the east. Jupiter was in Virgo [Vir] at the western horizon. Before and at sunrise on this day, Altair, the brightest star in Aquila, was in the heavens, touching the bounds of the Milky Way and facing east. Altair would have disappeared in the daylight Tau

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Fig. 13.4.  The funeral of Agrippa. March 29, 12 b.c. Sunrise, 6:00 a.m. Rome (41° 53ꞌ N, 12° 29ꞌ E). SkyMap Pro V. 12. By permission of Chris Marriott.

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after the Sun rose, as Dio said. Altair, centrally located in the sky, would have been able to catch up the soul of Agrippa and carry it to the nearby Milky Way, just as Altair in Aquila had carried the soul of Caesar aloft first into the Milky Way after his soul was released from his funeral pyre. Noting Agrippa’s military successes in life, Manilius placed Agrippa’s soul in the Milky Way, where it resided permanently in the company of the souls of other Romans who had served the state well. Agrippa entered the Milky Way as a soldier who had fashioned his own fate through warfare (fortunae . . . fictorque sub armis /​miles Agrippa suae), a description that was consistent with Agrippa’s life and with his astrological genitura.42 With Agrippa gone, Augustus continued with his civic innovations, one of which included granting to those who were unmarried the right to attend banquets with others on the occasion of the public anniversary of his birth on September 23, a right that had never before been permitted at Rome.43 Augustus, however, needed another assistant to help deal with public matters and one to whom no member of the ruling class could object. He considered a number of possible candidates before reluctantly choosing his stepson Tiberius.44 Augustus forced Tiberius to divorce his wife, Vipsania Agrippina, who was the daughter of Agrippa and granddaughter of Atticus, the friend and correspondent of Cicero, in order to marry Iulia, his only child and the widow of Agrippa. Tiberius is said to have been much distressed at having to divorce his wife, with whom he was living quite happily and who was pregnant at the time with their second child. Tiberius is also said to have disapproved of Iulia’s character because she apparently had nurtured a desire for him even during her marriage to Agrippa.45 A hurried but private ceremony of marriage for Tiberius to Iulia, who was pregnant with Agrippa’s last child, took place immediately in this year (Iuliam Augusti filiam confestim coactus est ducere). Not long after Agrippa’s funeral and the remarriage of Iulia, Augustus dedicated the altar and statue of Vesta on the Palatine on the fourth day before the Kalends of May (April 28).46 Ovid in the entry for March 6 in the Fasti, the day on which Augustus had assumed the position of Pontifex Maximus, had mentioned Vesta because Augustus as Pontifex Maximus was now responsible for supervising the Vestal Virgins, who tended the sacred eternal flame that guaranteed Roman supremacy.47 Before Augustus took up the position, the Pontifex Maximus had lived in the Domus Publica, a house attached to the Atrium Vestae in the Forum Romanum. But since Augustus did not take up residence in this house, his election as Pontifex Maximus entailed a necessary move for Vesta to his own house on the Palatine Hill, part of which he found necessary to make public property, thus satisfying the requirement that the Pontifex Maximus live in a public place.48 Although the event celebrated on this day has been described as the dedication of the Temple to Vesta on the Palatine, the monumental fasti appear to suggest

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that Augustus dedicated a statue of Vesta and an altar.49 Ovid in the entry for the concluding days of April in the Fasti notes that Vesta arrived at the home of Augustus, which was attached to the Temple of Apollo Palatinus, joining there two other protective Julian divinities, Apollo and Diana, whose statues were inside the Temple of Apollo Palatinus that was attached to Augustus’ house (stet domus: aeternos tres habet una deos).50 Ovid in the Metamorphoses calls Vesta one of the household gods of Augustus.51 Augustus had commandeered for himself the direct connection to the goddess once enjoyed by the Vestal Virgins alone. Ovid in the Fasti also made clear the importance to Augustus of controlling Vesta closely. Vesta watched over the Palladium, the sacred image of Minerva (Athena) from Troy, which was one of the seven pignora that guaranteed Rome’s imperial domination.52 Following the arrival of Vesta on the Palatine Hill, Livia’s two sons, Tiberius and his younger brother, Drusus, set out to engage in short campaigns in the north, Tiberius in Pannonia and Illyricum and Drusus in Germany. The formal marriage of Iulia and Tiberius took place in 11 b.c. after Tiberius returned and once the period of mourning for Agrippa, Iulia’s second husband, had finished and all the issues of paternity had been settled.53 Iulia’s first husband, Marcellus, deceased now for over ten years, had not been forgotten at Rome. In the years following his death in 23 b.c., Marcellus’ memory was kept alive by his mother, Octavia, and by the Augustan poets. Octavia saw to the completion of work on the colonnade that had begun when Marcellus was aedile, and Augustus dedicated it to her as the Porticus Octaviae, perhaps in 23 b.c. Octavia dedicated a library within the colonnade to Marcellus at some point after 23 b.c.54 Its first librarian was Gaius Melissus, a freedman associated with Maecenas.55 Horace had shown how Marcellus could be forever remembered in one of his odes. In this poem, which was published in 23 b.c., the year of Marcellus’ death, Horace praised Augustus but also mentioned Marcellus among other notable Roman men between the fourth-​century b.c. statesman Marcus Furius Camillus and Caesar. Horace wrote that the glory of Marcellus would grow like a tree in an eternity as yet unseen (crescit occulto velut arbor aevo /​fama Marcelli).56 Propertius wrote a lament for Marcellus in the third book of his poems, which was published around 22 b.c. Lineage, beauty, and wealth could not save Marcellus from death, the fate that awaited everyone, but consolation was to be had in knowing that the soul of Marcellus, like that of Caesar, had made its way from the human realm up into the stars of the Milky Way (animae . . . tuae /​. . . /​. . . qua /​Caesar, ab humana cessit in astra via).57 In the sixth book of the Aeneid, Vergil gave Anchises the task of describing one final figure among the notable Romans awaiting rebirth at the River Lethe in the physical form that they would take in life, a beautiful but sorrowful youth who would be Marcellus, the nephew of Augustus.58 Vergil read

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the poignant verses about Marcellus to Augustus and Octavia in person. During this part of the recitation, Octavia wept and then fainted when she heard Vergil address the boy directly in his own anguished voice saying, “Alas, boy of sorrow to come, if only by some chance you could break free of the harsh fates. You will be Marcellus” (heu! miserande puer, si qua fata aspera rumpas, tu Marcellus eris).59 Many years later, however, Ovid was less reverential about Marcellus and his mother. In the first book of his Ars Amatoria published before his ignominious departure into exile around a.d. 7, Ovid would cheekily recommend the Porticus Octaviae as a venue for young men seeking participants for their amatory adventures.60 Such flippancy, however, would come back to haunt Ovid. Later, in his Tristia, which was written during his exile in Tomis, Ovid would describe how his third book of sorrowful poems was compelled to avoid the library of Marcellus in the Porticus Octaviae because Ovid, its author, was in such disgrace.61 The dedication of a theater in Rome named after Iulia’s first husband, Marcellus, occurred probably in the same year as Iulia’s formal marriage to Tiberius, 11 b.c. Dio implies that the theater was dedicated in 13 b.c. although his narrative is somewhat vague at this point, as the comment “after these things had taken place” (μετὰ δὲ δὴ ταῦτα) indicates, and he may have mixed up the Theater of Marcellus with the Theater of Balbus, which was dedicated in 13 b.c.62 Pliny the Elder provides a precise date for the dedication, the fourth day before the Nones of May in the consulship of Quintus Tubero and Paullus Fabius Maximus (Fabius Maximus) (May 4, 11 b.c.), which is probably the correct one.63 The Theater of Marcellus was in the Campus Martius. Caesar had originally planned a theater there to rival that of Pompeius Magnus, and he cleared a building site that included the Temple of Pietas and other shrines and buildings that had stood there, but he managed to lay only the foundations for the building. Augustus claimed that the building site was insufficient in size for the planned theater and he bought up neighboring lots. Work on the project started again after the death of Marcellus in late 23 b.c. as a memorial to him. The Theater of Marcellus was not one of Augustus’ own building projects but one that he saw to completion in the name of others. These projects, however, were more than efforts to beautify the city. They became important reflections of the power of Augustus and his Julian family. The Theater of Marcellus, which is thought to have been able to hold about 13,000–​15,000 spectators, had been far enough along in its construction to be used in some way for performances at the Ludi Saeculares in 17 b.c. (theatrum [quod est] in circo Flaminio).64 In the heavens at sunrise on the day of the dedication of the Theater of Marcellus on May 4, 11 b.c. were several celestial entities of significance to Augustus and his family (see the central area of visibility in Fig. 13.5). Venus in Pisces [Psc] was in the east. To the west, Saturn was in Aquarius [Aqr]. The Moon, 70% full, was in Capricornus [Cap]. Altair in Aquila

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Fig. 13.5.  The dedication of the Theater of Marcellus. May 4, 11 b.c. Sunrise, 5:02 a.m. Rome (41° 53ꞌ N, 12° 29ꞌ E). SkyMap Pro V. 12. By permission of Chris Marriott.

[Aql] was nearby, and Caesar’s star Zubeneschamali in Chelae (Libra) [Lib] was at the western horizon. Augustus was present for the dedication of the theater. The curule chair upon which he was sitting to view the festivities collapsed and he fell onto his back, although this mishap in no way affected the events presented in connection with the dedication of the theater, which was deemed to have been a splendid event. A tiger was displayed for the first time at Rome on stage and a beast hunt involving 600 wild animals from Africa took place. The Lusus Troiae,

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the equestrian exercise performed by patrician boys, was presented once again and included Augustus’ nine-​year-​old grandson and now adoptive son Gaius Caesar as a participant.65 Later that year, the official public birthday of Augustus on September 23, 11 b.c. was celebrated with the slaughter of wild beasts in the Circus and in many places around Rome.66 On this day just before sunrise, the heavens presented a notable celestial display. Venus and Mercury were in close conjunction in Virgo [Vir] near the eastern horizon together with the Sun. The three were balanced by a Moon 99% full in Pisces [Psc] just at the western horizon. Augustus went north to Gaul in 10 b.c. At some point in 10–​9 b.c., after he had lived his fifty-​fourth year (quinquagensimum et quartum agens aetatis annum), Augustus’ younger sister, Octavia, died.67 Augustus had been devoted to Octavia during her life, and in 35 b.c. he had granted to Octavia and to his wife Livia the unusual right to administer their own affairs without a guardian and to be protected against insults, as would a tribune.68 Octavia was given a public funeral as though she had been a public official. Her body lay in state in the Temple of Divus Iulius, shielded as the body of Agrippa had been by a curtain. Augustus himself delivered the family’s funeral speech for her on the Rostra Iulia, the speaker’s platform in front of this temple. Octavia’s body was carried in procession by her sons-​in-​law, all illustrious: Iullus Antonius (cos. 10 b.c.), the son of her second husband, the former triumvir Antonius, and Fulvia, as well as the husband of the elder Marcella; Lucius Ahenobarbus (cos. 16 b.c.), the husband of the elder Antonia; and Drusus (cos. 9 b.c.), the brother of Tiberius and husband of the younger Antonia. Only one of Octavia’s sons-​in-​law was missing. Marcus Valerius Messalla Barbatus Appianus (cos. 12 b.c.), the second husband of the younger Marcella, had died during the year of his consulship.69 Drusus delivered the public funeral oration for Octavia from the Old Rostra in the Forum Romanum. Following the funeral, Octavia’s cremated remains joined those of her son, Marcellus, and Agrippa in Augustus’ mausoleum in the Campus Martius. On January 1, 9 b.c., while wintering in Gaul, Augustus’ stepson Drusus took up his first consulship in absentia.70 At the end of the month, on the third day before the Kalends of February in the consulship of Drusus and Titus Quinctius Crispinus, January 30, 9 b.c., the Ara Pacis Augustae was dedicated.71 The building of the Ara Pacis Augustae and its precinct in the Campus Martius had been decreed by the Senate several years earlier on the fourth day before the Nones of July in the consulship of Tiberius and Quinctilius Varus ( July 4, 13 b.c.) after Augustus’ return to Rome and before the dedication of the Theater of Marcellus. Augustus refers to this decree of the inauguration of the Ara Pacis Augustae on July 4, 13 b.c. and to future sacrifices by the magistrates, the priests, and the Vestal Virgins on this date in his Res Gestae.72 The day of the inauguration, July 4,

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13 b.c., had been chosen by the Senate. The day of the dedication of the Ara Pacis Augustae, January 30, 9 b.c., however, was chosen by Augustus, and it was the day on which Augustus employed celestial display as a backdrop for the event. Ovid, the only Augustan writer to mention the Ara Pacis Augustae, commemorated the day of the dedication of the Ara Pacis Augustae in the Fasti in the entry for January 30, which was unencumbered by any other festival and the more important of the two days:73 My poem has led us to the Altar of Peace (Pacis ad aram). This day will be the second from the end of the month. Wreathed with Actian garlands (frondibus Actiacis) in your neatly arranged hair, be here, Peace (Pax), and remain kindly in the whole world. As long as there are no enemies, there will be no need for triumphs. You, Peace, will be a glory greater than war for our generals. May the soldier bear only weapons by which he may control weapons, and may the war-​trumpet be sounded in nothing but a procession. May the world, near and far, shudder at the descendants of Aeneas. If anywhere there has been a land that feared Rome too little, may it fall in love with Rome. Add incense to the flames of peace, priests, and let the white victim fall, sprinkled on its forehead. Ask the gods who are favorably disposed to dutiful prayers that the house that brings peace may endure with the peace forever. Ovid addresses the goddess Pax and he makes clear that the peace (pax) celebrated by the dedication of the Ara Pacis Augustae does not involve peace as the absence of war in the modern sense of the word. The Augustan Peace was a covenant between the goddess Pax and Augustus and between Augustus together with members of his family and the Roman people to maintain order and security in the Roman state. Peace could be more glorious than war, but defensive wars were always righteous and therefore necessary, a military philosophy to which Augustus himself is said to have adhered (nec ulli genti sine iustis et necessariis causis bellum intulit).74 Rome was to be feared and then maybe to be loved in the present, and Augustan control as well as order and security under Augustus and his family was to last for eternity. The sure message in Ovid’s proud and solemn words about the Augustan Peace was affirmed by the Ara Pacis Augustae itself. The Ara Pacis Augustae was constructed originally in the Campus Martius, just west of the Via Flaminia (Via Lata), today’s Via del Corso, which was the Roman road that went to the north. The area was not overbuilt and was connected with Augustus and his family. The Ara Pacis Augustae stood near and east of a solar complex in the Campus Martius devised by the mathematicus Novius Facundus. The complex may have been part

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of a large sundial, which had as its gnomon an Egyptian red granite obelisk from Heliopolis in Egypt. This obelisk, which was associated with the pharaoh Psammetichus II and was the first to be brought to Rome, was seventy-​two feet high and had hieroglyphic writing on all four sides that provided information about the nature of things according to the philosophy of the Egyptians.75 It was erected in 10 b.c. by Augustus but today stands reconstructed on a blank obelisk in the Piazza Montecitorio, far away from its original location. All Egyptian obelisks were dedicated to the divinity of the Sun, and on the base of the obelisk erected by Augustus a Latin inscription identified the obelisk as a gift to the Sun (Soli donum dedit).76 The shadow on a sunny day cast by the obelisk topped with a golden ball may have been used to mark the lengths of days and nights on the pavement constructed around the obelisk.77 But even if the Ara Pacis Augustae was not part of this solar complex, by its physical position within the orbit of Augustus’ gift to the Sun, the Ara Pacis Augustae represented the association between the cosmos and Augustus, of which he had been long aware, and the support of the celestial entities for himself and for his family. The heavens before and at sunrise on the day of the dedication of the Ara Pacis Augustae, January 30, 9 b.c., presented a meaningful display that both confirmed the public message of the monument regarding the Augustan Peace and reflected the supportive presence of the Sun and Augustus’ other celestial Julian kin (see the central area of visibility in Fig. 13.6). Mars, the god representing war, was in the west in Leo [Leo] at sunrise and within an hour of setting, as was appropriate for the day on which the Altar of Augustan Peace was being dedicated. In the east, Mercury in Aquarius [Aqr] was ahead of the Sun, which was also in Aquarius. To the west of Mercury and the Sun, Jupiter in Sagittarius [Sgr] and Venus in Capricornus [Cap] were located very close to each other. Jupiter and Venus were near the densest part of the Milky Way in Sagittarius [Sgr], which represented Juno, the goddess of marriage and family as well as the place in the heavens where the souls of noble Romans, including now Marcellus and Agrippa, were imagined to reside. Further to the west, Caesar was also represented in the heavens by the presence of the star Zubeneschamali in Chelae (Libra) [Lib], the imagined place of the final residence of Caesar’s soul. At sunrise on January 30, 9 b.c., the presence in the sky of Mars, the father of Romulus, and the dramatic close conjunction of Jupiter and Venus, the divine father and daughter who were ancestors not only of the gens Iulia but also of the Roman people, confirmed the trust that these Julian divinities placed in Augustus and his family to watch over the state. Privately, Augustus and his immediate family had an additional reason to rejoice. January 30, the day of the dedication of the Ara Pacis Augustae, also coincided with the birthdate that Augustus’ third wife, Livia, chose to celebrate, following the Julian reform of the Roman calendar. Like the birthday of Antonius,

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Fig. 13.6.  The dedication of the Ara Pacis Augustae. January 30, 9 b.c. Sunrise, 7:30 a.m. Rome (41° 53ꞌ N, 12° 29ꞌ E). SkyMap Pro V. 12. By permission of Chris Marriott.

which occurred also in January, the birthday of Livia has been caught up in issues of the pre-​Julian and the Julian calendars. In the Julian calendar, the month of January had thirty-​one days, and Livia was born on the third day before the Kalends of February, January 30. In the pre-​Julian calendar, the month of January had twenty-​nine days, and thus made Livia’s birthday the fifth day before the Kalends of February, January 28. Livia apparently chose to celebrate her birthday on January 30, not on January 28.78 This Julian date, January 30, the third day

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before the Kalends of February in the Julian calendar, appears in the Acta of the Fratres Arvales as the birthday of Livia (natali Iuliae Augustae).79 The year of Livia’s birth has been debated, with both 59 b.c. and 58 b.c. being considered strong candidates.80 Dio notes that at the time of her death in a.d. 29, in an unspecified month, Livia had lived eighty-​six years (ἕξ καὶ ὀγδοήκοντα ἔτη ζήσασα). It is possible, however, that according to inclusive reckoning, counting backward from a.d. 29, Livia was born in neither of these two years but in 57 b.c.81 She would have died in a.d. 29 after January 30, on which date she had reached the age of eighty-​six. The appearance of Venus and Jupiter in close proximity at sunrise in the southeast area of the sky on January 28 and January 30 in 57 b.c. and on January 30, 9 b.c., the date of the dedication of the Ara Pacis Augustae, adds celestial support to the likelihood that 57 b.c., was the year of Livia’s birth. Livia had kept a low public profile as the wife of the princeps. Since her scandalous marriage to Octavianus while pregnant with her second son, Drusus, in 39 b.c., she had remained married to Augustus for almost thirty years and had maintained a strong bond with him during those years. The longevity of their marriage was a remarkable accomplishment in a culture that used serial marriages for political ends. Livia is said to have been asked by someone about the methods she employed to maintain her great influence over Augustus. She replied that she remained scrupulously chaste, did whatever he wished of her, and did not meddle in his affairs, amorous or otherwise.82 Livia was also not above assessing for prophecies the omens that were associated with the vault of the heavens, to which Augustus had always been well attuned. In the late 40s b.c., for example, Livia is said to have consulted the mathematicus Scribonius with regard to the future prospects of her firstborn son, Tiberius, and around 38 b.c., she accepted the interpretation of the omen of the eagle dropping a guinea fowl carrying a sprig of laurel into her lap as an indication of her future power over her husband.83 Later in 9 b.c., perhaps in the autumn of this year, Livia would receive the ius trium liberorum, special privileges granted to women who had given birth to three children.84 The public recognition of Livia, however, began with the dedication of the Ara Pacis Augustae in late January 9 b.c. The Ara Pacis Augustae was not constructed specifically in Livia’s honor, but in having its dedication on the same day on which her birthday was celebrated, Livia became linked to the past, present, and future of the Roman state as Augustus had envisioned and shaped it. The Ara Pacis Augustae is the only Augustan monument mentioned in both literary and epigraphical sources that is still physically intact today.85 For these reasons it is considered to be the most important monument of the Augustan regime. The significance of the Ara Pacis Augustae was lost, however, on the succeeding imperial dynasty, probably because it was so strongly associated with Augustus and his Julian family. The Ara Pacis Augustae was also already sinking

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in the unstable ground of the northern Campus Martius by the Flavian era, and Suetonius, who lived and wrote during this era, did not mention the Ara Pacis Augustae among Augustus’ notable public works in his biography of Augustus.86 As time went on, the Ara Pacis Augustae gradually disappeared from view, and pieces of it began to emerge again only when some sculpted blocks were found in 1568.87 More fragments were discovered under the Palazzo Peretti Fiano-​Almagià, and their identification as part of the Ara Pacis Augustae was first suggested by the archeologist Friedrich von Duhn in 1879. The first systematic excavation took place in 1903, but the work was halted when the excavation risked the stability of the structure of the palazzo above. The excavation was taken up again in 1937 under the supervision of archeologist Giuseppe Moretti as part of Benito Mussolini’s plan to celebrate the bi-​millennium of Augustus.88 The reconstructed Ara Pacis Augustae was dedicated in 1938 on September 23, the day on which Augustus’ official public birthday had been celebrated during his lifetime. The site chosen for Mussolini’s reconstruction of the Ara Pacis Augustae was between the Mausoleum of Augustus, which is still in its original location, and the Tiber River. In 1960, some doubts were expressed about the identity of what had been established in 1937 as the Ara Pacis Augustae. An argument was made, on the basis of iconographical evidence, that the reconstructed altar was not the Ara Pacis Augustae but perhaps the Ara Gentis Iuliae. A counterargument stated that while there was no firm proof that the monument was the Ara Pacis Augustae, there was no conclusive proof that this altar was not the Ara Pacis Augustae.89 The communis opinio remains that this altar in the Campus Martius is the Ara Pacis Augustae, and images on later coins, nine issued under the emperor Nero and one issued under the emperor Domitian, appear to confirm that the monument known today as the Ara Pacis Augustae is indeed the monument dedicated on January 30, 9 b.c.90 Today, the Ara Pacis Augustae remains not at its ancient location but where it was sited and dedicated in 1937–​1938. The Ara Pacis Augustae is now housed in a glass pavilion designed by Richard Meier that opened to the public in 2006. It is next to the Mausoleum of Augustus, which itself has been newly restored. The Ara Pacis Augustae is remarkable, and in comparison with other Roman altars, it is unique.91 The Ara Pacis Augustae sat on a nearly square platform. It was constructed originally on an east-​west axis, and its original western entrance faced toward the Campus Martius and was approached by several stairs. The interior of the monument, which was open to the sky, contained the sacrificial altar itself, which was reached by steps and took up most of the interior space. Around this interior open space were simple carved decorations in the form of festoons in the upper zone and fence slats in the lower zone. Around the central sacrificial altar inside ran a small frieze depicting the annual sacrifice to which

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Augustus referred in his Res Gestae.92 On the outside of the monument, the lower-​relief panels running down the long sides on the north, south, east, and west walls contained riotous vegetation. Above the vegetation, on the long sides, north and south, were two processions of Romans, both halves of which were heading toward the west. The procession was most likely a representation of the supplicatio of 13 b.c., a celebration of public rejoicing held to celebrate the return of Augustus to Rome, for which Horace had composed a poem.93 The procession on the south side was the most important because it presented Augustus at the head of the procession, wearing a laurel wreath and possibly holding a lituus, along with Agrippa (who was still alive in 13 b.c.), Livia, and other members of Augustus’ immediate family. Not surprisingly, given Augustus’ fascination with Athenian art, literature, theater, and culture, and his intervention around 15 b.c. in building activities in the Athenian agora, the sculptural portraiture on the Ara Pacis Augustae replicated the ideal beauty and dispassionate, detached demeanor so favored in fifth-​ century Athenian sculpture and by Augustus himself in his own portraiture. The design also referenced Athenian monuments, in particular, the continuous frieze on the Parthenon and the composition of the relief panels that appeared on either side of the two doorways on the Altar of Pity or the Suppliants’ Altar, the name that had been given to the Altar of the Twelve Gods in the Athenian agora, probably in the mid-​fourth century b.c.94 The Ara Pacis Augustae, like the Altar of Pity, had four large exterior sculpted relief panels in the upper zone on either side of the two doorways, east and west. Mussolini was determined to dedicate the Ara Pacis Augustae during his bi-​millennial celebrations of Augustus’ birth in support of his insistence on declaring that he had founded a second Roman empire. The reconstruction of the Ara Pacis Augustae undertaken at that time was therefore hasty and driven by political concerns. The result has been that the interpretations of the four relief panels on either side of the doorways on the east and west side of Ara Pacis Augustae and their meaning for Augustus and his contemporaries have been distorted to some degree. Of the four relief panels on either side of the doorways, three are fragmentary: both relief panels at either side of the doorway on the original west side and one relief panel on the original east side, on the right. These relief panels were reconstructed with Mussolini’s propagandistic directives in mind. The most problematic reconstruction is that of the relief panel that is viewed to the right of the entrance on the original west side. The two segments of this relief panel were not found together at the same time. The two segments have nonetheless been set together on one relief panel, although the join at the center does not make for a coherent link between the two halves. The reconstruction appears to have been in service of a desired representation of Aeneas and his son, Iulus, sacrificing to the Penates, who are said

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to be shown in the little temple in the background, with attendants and a sow in the foreground. On the basis of their dress and type, however, the two figures in the panel inset to the left, when observed in person, look to have been incorrectly restored to this relief panel and should probably be on the southern wall of the procession around the corner to the right in an area that is mostly blank, save for some inset fragments.95 Only one relief panel, which is viewed to the left of the doorway on the original east side, is intact as a complete image that permits an interpretation that makes sense for its own time. The beautifully sculpted images on this relief panel admit several interpretations that all derive from the identification chosen for the seated female figure at the center (see Fig. 13.7). This central figure, which has undergone some minor reconstructions to its drapery, nose, and hair, is said to have reflected Livia’s facial features, notably her small chin, but it has been identified variously by scholars not as Livia herself but as Pax Augusta, Ceres, Venus, Virgo (Δίκη), Italia, Tellus Italiae, or Tellus the Earth.96 Each of these identifications has something to recommend it, but the natural elements that abound on the relief panel make Tellus the Earth the best choice. Tellus sits upon a rocky outcrop that is her very earthly essence, and she wears a crown made of flowers

Fig. 13.7.  The Tellus Relief Panel, Ara Pacis Augustae, left of the doorway on the east side of the altar, exterior, Rome. By permission of Charles Rhyne Estate. Courtesy Visual Resources Center, Eric V. Hauser Memorial Library, Reed College, Portland, Oregon.

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and fruits and a veil that falls from the back of her head. Grapes and pomegranates are resting on her lap. The waves at the bottom of the relief panel and the sea creature at the right represent the waters of the Earth. The swan at the left and the billowing drapery held by the two female figures on either side of Tellus represent the air. Tellus is at the center of the flora, fauna, natural elements, and anthropomorphic beings that surround her. But Tellus also represents the Earth as the center of the dome of the celestial sphere from which all celestial observations are made and around which the luminaries, the five visible ancient planets, and the constellations revolve. From this perspective, the figures surrounding Tellus may be interpreted as the visual representations of celestial entities, and the relief panel becomes a public statement in stone of celestial display on a day that must have had significance not only for Augustus, who had accomplished the Roman peace celebrated by the Ara Pacis Augustae, but also for his family, who were included in the pact with the Roman gods that the Ara Pacis Augustae represented. At the center of this relief panel, which is named in the discussion following as the Tellus Panel, Tellus is lightly holding two infants, one at each hip. The only siblings among the constellations that are known from the Phaenomena of Aratus and Cicero’s translation of this poem are Pollux and Castor, whose faces are represented by the two brightest stars in Gemini. This identification of the two infants is not only plausible but also supported by several other visual details. The infant in the background, its face reconstructed at some early date, at whom Tellus is gazing holds up to her a pomegranate, a fruit associated with Proserpina, Ceres’ daughter, who was kidnapped by her uncle Pluto to be the queen of the underworld. This infant would be Castor, who, according to the version of their myth popular during the saeculum Augustum, was mortal.97 Behind this infant are tall poppies and lilies amidst stalks of acanthus and barley; they recall the circumstances of the kidnapping of Proserpina, which occurred while she was out gathering flowers with the daughters of Oceanus.98 The infant in the foreground, restored early on the basis of the original right leg and hand, would be Pollux, his immortal brother. The placement of the children represents the appearance of the stars Pollux and Castor in the sky to an observer of the heavens in the northern hemisphere who was facing south (see, for example, Fig. 13.2). The star Pollux, which represented the face of Pollux, is on the left, while the star Castor, which represented the face of his brother, Castor, is on the right. At the feet of Tellus are two animals. A seated bull, its front portion reconstructed, looks calmly out at the viewer. The only bull among the constellations is Taurus. On the relief panel, the entire body of the bull is presented and not the half-​body that is represented by the stars that comprise the figure in the sky. Next to the bull is a little sheep, reconstructed from its original rear portion, rooting around in the ground. The only sheep among the constellations is Aries the Ram,

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which is adjacent to Taurus in the zodiac. Aries is presented as a small ram because it is a very small constellation. The representations of these two constellations appear on the relief panel as they would have appeared in the sky to someone in the northern hemisphere who was facing south toward the zodiac—​Taurus is to the east, or the left, of Aries. The female figures on the right side and the left side of the relief panel can also be identified as celestial entities. The pose and the position of the arms of the figure on the left side reflect the pose and position of the arms of her counterpart opposite on the right side. The figure on the right side is smaller than the central female figure. The figure on the right side is younger looking than the female figure on the left side, more a girl than a woman. This figure on the right side has hair that is looser and less coiffed and she clutches her veil, which has swelled out to an extent larger than that of the figure on the left, reflecting the possibility that she may be struggling with a strong wind. Although this figure on the right has a composed expression on her face, her slightly parted lips and upraised eyes betray some surprise or perhaps even fear. Her feet are tightly crossed at the ankles, and she is seated upon a rocky outcrop above the sea, which is represented by the wavy water into which she is dipping her feet. The fierce hybrid creature, its face reconstructed at some early date, upon which she appears to be resting her left elbow, has the tuft of a beard beneath its chin, sharp teeth, prominent nostrils, pointed ears, a distinctive ridge on its spine, and wing-​like fins. The visual emphasis for this creature is on the head, which is thrust forward and near the left thigh of the girl. The creature is pointing its snout and nostrils upward toward the figure on the right but has not yet touched her. The length of the creature arches up and down, unfurling its body behind her, although most of it remains unseen. These two linked figures most likely represent the constellations Andromeda and Pistrix.99 In mythological narratives, Andromeda was the daughter of Cepheus and Cassiepia. In punishment for the arrogance of her mother, Andromeda was exposed helpless on a rock, awaiting the sea-​monster sent to devour her. Artistic representations of the myth of Andromeda exposed in this way were very popular in southern Italy in art and literature.100 Sometimes Andromeda is described in literary works as chained to the rock, but sometimes she is described as helpless but not chained, as she is on the Tellus Panel.101 If Andromeda, at the far right of the relief panel, is to be understood as appearing at the western horizon, then Pistrix is correctly shown only partially visible beneath her, its head still in view but most of its body out of sight below the horizon. If Andromeda represents a constellation at the western horizon, then the female figure at the far left side of the relief panel must represent a constellation rising at the eastern horizon. This figure bears a serene expression and has the carefully coiffed hairdo of a more mature woman.102 She is depicted holding her

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veil more tightly to her and seated on a swan. The possibility that the figure of the woman is Cassiepia, the mother of Andromeda, and that the swan upon which she sits is the constellation Avis must be discounted because both Cassiepia and Avis are in the same area of the sky, the west, as Andromeda, not at the other end, the east, as this figure appears to be in relation to Andromeda. The only other female figure among the constellations is Virgo, the lone female figure in the zodiac. This figure on the left side of the Tellus Panel has no wings but she sits upon a winged swan.103 Since the swan was a creature believed to be sacred to Apollo the Sun, it can be argued that the swan represents the Sun. The two figures together would thus represent the appearance of the Sun in the constellation Virgo.104 This figure of Virgo within the zodiac is positioned slightly lower than the figure of Andromeda which is north of the zodiac. At the bottom left of the relief panel underneath the well-​coiffed female figure representing Virgo is a small broken water vessel tipped on its side. A bird stands atop the vessel amidst the reeds, and a small part of a snake may also be present beneath, although the relief panel is fragmentary at this point. These three figures—​snake, bird, and water vessel—​would represent the constellations Hydra, Corvus, and Cratera. The Phaenomena of Aratus and the Latin translations of Cicero and Germanicus list these three constellations together as a stellar group.105 Other astronomical works written during the saeculum Augustum do the same. The cautionary tale of their common catasterism was described by Eratosthenes in his compendium.106 Apollo sent a raven, a bird for which he served as a protector, to fetch pure water for a sacrifice. The raven became distracted by some tasty-​looking figs in a tree that were not quite ripe and decided to wait near the tree until the figs were ready to eat. Only after the raven ate its fill of the figs did it remember the task Apollo had assigned. The raven returned late, carrying a vessel that was to be used for mixing water with wine (a cratera) and a water snake (a hydra) and telling Apollo that the water snake had drunk up all the water in the spring for many days, thus preventing the raven from taking any for the sacrifice. Apollo the Sun who sees all things knew the truth. Apollo punished the raven by decreeing that no raven would ever be allowed to drink while figs were ripening. Hyginus tells a similar story except that in his version the raven returns, struggling, late but carrying only the cratera full of water.107 In Ovid’s version, the raven, which he calls a bird (avis), took the cratera to the spring but brought back only the water snake, telling Apollo the lie that the water snake had blocked its way to the spring and prevented it from completing the assigned task.108 In all versions, the bird, the water snake, and the water vessel are placed in the heavens as a group. The guilty bird was placed in the heavens, doomed to be pecking forever at the coils of the water snake in an effort to get at the vessel full of water. On the Tellus Panel as in the heavens, Corvus, the avis of Ovid, is

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pecking at Hydra and located above Cratera, which is pouring forth a trickle of water that flows into the torrent that appears at the right side of the Tellus Panel. This flowing water would represent the constellation Flumen, which would be seen in the heavens in the west, south of Andromeda and Pistrix when Virgo is rising in the east. What the Tellus Panel to the left of the door on the original east side of the Ara Pacis Augustae appears to represent, therefore, is a view of select constellations that would have appeared in the heavens at or near dawn when the Sun was rising in the constellation Virgo. All of the constellations shown on this relief panel would reflect the celestial display that was visible during the month of September. Since the Ara Pacis Augustae was an important monument planned by Augustus, the celestial representations on the relief panel probably reflect the celestial display on a day in September that was important in the life of Augustus. By the time of the dedication of the Ara Pacis Augustae in 9 b.c., five important events in the life of Augustus had taken place in September. The celestial display of the fixed constellations at sunrise for all of these events is identical: (1) September 22, 63 b.c., the birth of Augustus; (2) September 20, 44 b.c., the first day of the presentation by Octavianus of the ludi in honor of his adoptive father, Caesar; (3) September 3, 36 b.c., the Battle of Naulochus; (4) September 2, 31 b.c., the Battle of Actium; and (5) September 1, 22 b.c., the day of the dedication of the Temple of Jupiter Tonans on the Capitoline Hill. Given the nature of the Ara Pacis Augustae as a celebration not only of peace but also of Augustus and his close family, the figures on the Tellus Panel may represent the first and most fundamental of these events, the birth of Augustus in Rome just before sunrise on September 22, 63 b.c., the day he celebrated personally as his birthday. The figures on the Tellus Panel of the Ara Pacis Augustae correspond exactly to the placements of select constellations that were present in heavens at the time of Augustus’ birth (see Fig. 1.1). Tellus the Earth is at the center. An observer in the northern hemisphere facing south would see Virgo [Vir] rising at the eastern horizon. Hydra [Hya], Cratera [Crt], and Corvus [Crv] are south of the zodiac in the east beneath Virgo. Gemini [Gem], Taurus [Tau], and Aries [Ari] are in the band of the zodiac between the eastern and western horizons. Andromeda [And] and Pistrix [Cet], its head partially visible south of Aries [Ari], are at the western horizon. Andromeda is to the north of the zodiac in the west. Flumen [Eri] is south of the zodiac in the west. Because the Moon and the constellations that were not visible in the heavens at the time of Augustus’ birth, notably Capricornus, are absent from the Tellus Panel and because the constellations presented are those located both within the zodiac and outside the zodiac, the images must represent the celestial display on the day of Augustus’ birth (September 22, 63 b.c.), not the symbolic entities in Augustus’ astrological genitura. The images on the

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Tellus Panel can thus be interpreted as a record in stone of the celestial display at the time of Augustus’ birth, an appropriate representation for a monument that was located in an area of Rome associated with Augustus and his family and in a precinct dedicated to the keeper of time, the Sun, who was also Augustus’ early Olympian patron. The identification of the sculpted figures on the Tellus Panel as representations of the celestial placements at the eastern and western horizons along and near the zodiac at the time of Augustus’ birth suggests strongly that Augustus not only authorized the appearance of his person as priest in the procession on the south side of the outer wall but he also arranged for the celestial display at the time of his birth, which was publicly verifiable, to be represented permanently in visual form on a relief panel of the Ara Pacis Augustae located on the original eastern side of the monument. Located here, this relief panel would have been seen by anyone approaching the Ara Pacis Augustae or even just passing by. It did not matter, however, if the ordinary Roman of Augustus’ day failed to recognize that this relief panel represented the celestial placements that were in the heavens on the day of Augustus’ birth over fifty years earlier. It did not matter that the identity of the figures on the Tellus Panel as representatives of the celestial entities in the sky at the time of Augustus’ birth might be lost to memory as time went on. The important thing was that Augustus had the confidence to declare during his lifetime that his faith in the support of the celestial deities and their faith in him had been justified. The contract between the celestial sphere and Augustus was now carved and set forever in stone. It confirmed his association with the celestial sphere not only in the past and present but also into the future. The year 9 b.c. had begun with the first consulship of Drusus, Augustus’ favored stepson, and the dedication of the Ara Pacis Augustae in the Campus Martius with its powerful affirmations of celestial support for Augustus and his family, but it would end badly. Both Iulia and Tiberius had at first made the best of the marriage that had been forced upon them by Augustus two years earlier in 11 b.c., and both were said to have lived together in the beginning in a loving and harmonious relationship. After the death of their infant child at Aquileia in northern Italy and as Tiberius began to rise in stature, however, the two became distant emotionally from each other. In the autumn of 9 b.c. a family tragedy struck. Tiberius’ brother, Drusus, died on campaign before he reached the Rhine River in Germany while he was still consul. The loss was a grievous one because Drusus was said to have been possessed of admirable personal qualities and military talents.109 The cause of Drusus’ death is not certain in the ancient sources, although all of the explanations provided may have some truth in them.110 Livy, who wrote his history of Rome during the period of the saeculum Augustum, is the only source to note that Drusus died following an accident in which his horse

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fell on his leg and fractured it. Velleius Paterculus says only that the unfairness of the fates carried Drusus off. Valerius Maximus attributed the death of Drusus to a serious and dangerous illness, while Suetonius and Dio attributed his death to some serious disease. According to the biography of Claudius, the son of Drusus, which was written by Suetonius, Drusus was visited by an apparition that took the form of a barbarian woman of superhuman size who spoke to Drusus in Latin and forbade him to extend his victory any further. According to Dio, the apparition in the form of a woman larger than life appeared to Drusus and told him that his death was near. Dio expressed some amazement that such a warning might have come from the divine power (παρὰ τοῦ δαιμονίου) but says nonetheless that he is not able to disbelieve the story. Many bad omens, which included lightning strikes and shooting stars (ἁστέρες διαδρομαί), had occurred before the death of Drusus. These lightning strikes on shrines and on the house of Augustus itself were thought to have been sent by Jupiter.111 The unidentified author of the poem known as the Consolatio ad Liviam also refers to a dramatic celestial omen that took place in the year 9 b.c.:112 At the time, the sidera [the stars] in fact are even said to have fled from the sky, and Lucifer the Sun is said to have forsaken its accustomed path. All throughout the world Lucifer the Sun was seen by no one, and the day did not come with a planet (stella) leading the way. This portent appears to have been the solar eclipse of June 19, 9 b.c., which was partially visible both at Rome and over Germany where Drusus was active. The author of the Consolatio ad Liviam has described the solar eclipse accurately. On June 19, 9 b.c., the Sun and the Moon in the constellation Gemini were below the eastern horizon when the eclipse began, at 3:12 a.m. at Rome. The planet Venus (the stella) was just behind the eclipse and below the horizon, not in position to lead the Sun forth as the Morning Star. The Sun rose, darkened and therefore not in its usual way, into the sky at sunrise during the eclipse. The partial eclipse reached its end at Rome twenty minutes after sunrise. Although a solar eclipse was a celestial event that could be scientifically and satisfactorily explained, it would have been interpreted by some among the general populace at Rome and the soldiers of the Roman army in Germany as ominous. The poet of the Consolatio ad Liviam interpreted the conjunction of the Sun with the Moon in the solar eclipse a few months before the death of Drusus as an omen that had presaged the death.113 The encounter of the sidus to which the poet referred was the encounter of the Sun (Lucifer) with the Moon in the solar eclipse.114 The eclipse gave a warning to the world that a noble light (lumen), the life spirit of Drusus, would sink in waters of the River Styx.115 The birth

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of Drusus on January 14, 38 b.c. in the house of Octavianus, an event that had caused a such scandal among Rome’s elite, had also occurred on a day marked by a solar eclipse that presented itself in a similar way to that which presaged the death of Drusus. Both solar eclipses were partial and both were particularly notable in their appearance because they were in progress around the time of the rising of the Sun. Tiberius is said to have made a heroic journey to reach Drusus when he heard the news of his illness and he was at his brother’s side when he died.116 Stories have come down in the historical record, alleging the existence of some conspiracies in 9 b.c. Some people even thought that Drusus, who had expressed Republican sympathies, may have been poisoned on the orders of a suspicious Augustus after Drusus refused to obey Augustus’ command to return from his province.117 The body of Drusus was first escorted back to the army’s winter camp by Tiberius and the soldiers. Augustus and Livia traveled north in the coldest of weather and met the cortège at Ticinum (modern Pavia, near Milan).118 The journey to Rome may have taken a few weeks. Drusus had a public funeral and his body lay in state in the Forum Romanum. The poet of the Consolatio ad Liviam describes the flames (flamma) of the funeral pyre licking the heavenly stars as the streams of fire rose up (aethera subiectis lambit et astra comis).119 Two eulogies were pronounced for Drusus, the first in the Forum Romanum by Tiberius, the second by Augustus outside the pomerium in the Circus Flaminius. Following the cremation of the body in the Campus Martius, the remains of Drusus were interred in the Mausoleum of Augustus, joining there three other members of Augustus’ family who had predeceased him: Octavia, Agrippa, and Marcellus. Posthumous earthly honors for Drusus followed the funeral and Augustus himself is said to have written a memoir of the life of Drusus in prose.120 The poets had also not ignored the fate of the soul of Drusus. Manilius mentions in his description of the Milky Way that members of the great gens Claudia are numbered among the souls of noble Romans to be found there (Claudi magna propago).121 Manilius, it seems, intended for his readers to understand that the soul of Drusus had appropriately also made its journey to the Milky Way to join the souls of other Romans who had served the Roman state well.122 Throughout October and November 9 b.c., the months during which Drusus’ funeral most likely took place, Altair in Aquila shone in the sky after sunset. Augustus might have taken some comfort in his grief at the loss of Drusus, whom he had loved greatly during his life, from the appearance in the evening sky of Altair in Aquila, the same star that was imagined to have initially carried the soul of Caesar in 44 b.c. and later the soul of Marcellus in 23 b.c. and the soul of Agrippa in 12 b.c. to the Milky Way. The appearance of Altair not only suggested that the soul of Drusus had made the same journey, but it may also have shown that his

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premature death was somehow in accordance with fate. Livia, however, took no such comfort from the celestial sphere. She is said to have received more help in dealing with her grief following the death of her son Drusus from the Stoic philosopher Arius of Alexandria than from her husband, her firstborn son Tiberius, or the Roman people.123

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Consolidation and Transition in the Final Years of Augustus’ Rule 8 b.c.–​a.d. 14

Following the death of Drusus in 9 b.c., Augustus remained outside the pomerium of Rome until the period of mourning for Drusus had ended. When he returned, he did not celebrate publicly any of his own military accomplishments, but he took steps at last to put the Julian calendar back on its correct course. Augustus had observed the planning of the reform of the Roman calendar in 46 b.c. because he had been living with Caesar at the time.1 After its implementation in 45 b.c., however, Caesar’s Julian calendar had begun to drift gradually and slightly off the astronomical year because of the misapplication of Caesar’s formula for intercalation, an error that was due, perhaps, either to a misunderstanding of Caesar’s plan for the addition of the leap day or to the negligence of Lepidus, the former triumvir who had been responsible for calendrical matters as Pontifex Maximus from 44 b.c. until his death in 12 b.c.2 Augustus appears to have realized early that the Julian calendar was slowly falling out of line because an additional day was applied in 41 b.c., although subtracted later.3 Others may have had suspicions that the Julian calendar was developing problems like those Caesar had to fix in 46 b.c. and they may have used the calendar to manipulate others for their own benefit. Dio tells a story with events of 15 b.c. of a certain Licinius, a captured Gaul who became a slave of Augustus and was then freed by him. Licinius used the calendar as a means to secure extra tribute in Gaul. Licinius informed those Gauls who paid tribute by the month that the month called December was the tenth month of the calendar when in reality it was the twelfth month and so he pried tribute for two more months out of the Gauls (τὸν μῆνα τοῦτον τὸν Δεκέμβριον δαλούμενον δέκατον ὄντος εἶναι), at least until they complained directly to Augustus. At first Licinius claimed that he was ignorant

Celestial Inclinations. Anne-​Marie Lewis, Oxford University Press. © Oxford University Press 2023. DOI: 10.1093/​oso/​9780197599648.003.0015

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of what had been going on. But when Licinius realized that Augustus was not at all pleased that someone was apparently taking advantage of the calendar, which had issues that he had not yet been able to fix, he then took Augustus to his house and showed him all the valuable treasures he had secured not, he said, for himself but for Augustus. Licinius then gave everything to Augustus and thus saved himself from serious punishment.4 The problem of the drift of the calendar, however, was of greater importance to Augustus than punishing corrupt business practices. Augustus had probably been using the astronomical dates for scheduling his important public events well before he assumed the position of Pontifex Maximus, but once he had assumed the office he was able to take the necessary steps to nudge the Roman calendar formally and officially back on its proper Julian track and to bring the civic year into harmony with the astronomical year. According to Caesar’s plan, the addition of the leap day was supposed to take place every fourth year, but it had been taking place every third year. By 9 b.c., after thirty-​six years, the Julian calendar was already running three days behind the solar year, and the drift would only get worse as time went on. To bring the calendar back into line, Augustus ordered no further intercalation for the twelve years after 9 b.c. and he ordered the leap days in 5 b.c., 1 b.c., and a.d. 4 to be omitted.5 Following these adjustments, the Julian calendar began to operate properly once again, and it was fully on its correct course in a.d. 8. Augustus did not mention the necessary and critical adjustments he made to the Julian calendar among the achievements he listed in his Res Gestae. Nonetheless, he ordered that a bronze tablet be inscribed that would establish for future reference the correct form of the calendar as it was supposed to be, according to Caesar’s reforms.6 In 8 b.c., Augustus also accepted the honor decreed by the Senate that the mensis Sextilis be named after himself as the mensis Augustus.7 Although Augustus had been born in the mensis September and had achieved his most notable military victory at Actium in this month and although the people advocated for the renaming of the mensis September in his honor, Augustus considered the mensis Sextilis to be more significant. In the mensis Sextilis, he had held his first consulship, been declared ruler of Egypt, and celebrated a triple triumph for his victories in Illyricum, Actium, and Egypt. Another important reason for his choice of the mensis Sextilis as the month to be named after him must have been that it directly followed the mensis Iulius, which had been renamed to honor Augustus’ adoptive father, Caesar, in 44 b.c. Just as Augustus had succeeded Caesar as the ruler of the Roman state, so too would August, the month of Augustus, follow July, the month of Caesar. The year 8 b.c. must have been chosen for this honor by Augustus with celestial display in mind because in the five years prior (13 b.c., 12 b.c., 11 b.c., 10 b.c., and 9 b.c.) the time of sunrise on the Kalends of Sextilis had offered no spectacular celestial display. The early morning sky for the Kalends

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of Sextilis in 8 b.c., however, displayed not only the entire celestial Julian family of planets and luminaries but also the features Augustus favored for his public events. At sunrise on the Kalends of the mensis Sextilis, now the mensis Augustus (August 1) in 8 b.c., all five of the ancient planets and both luminaries were in the heavens to witness the honor of the renamed month (see the central area of visibility in Fig. 14.1). In the east, the Sun was rising in Leo [Leo]. Mercury was ahead of the Sun in Cancer [Cnc]. Venus in Gemini [Gem] was in close proximity with Com

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Fig. 14.1.  The Kalends of the newly named mensis Augustus, August 1, 8 b.c. Sunrise, 4:57 a.m. Rome (41° 53ꞌ N, 12° 29ꞌ E). SkyMap Pro V. 12. By permission of Chris Marriott.

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Mars in Cancer [Cnc]. Both planets, although in different constellations, were only a few degrees apart. Venus and Mars, in addition, were not far from Pollux, the brighter of the two stars in Gemini [Gem] that represented the faces of the brothers Pollux and Castor. The Moon, 30% full, was also nearby in Taurus [Tau]. In the west, Saturn was in Pisces [Psc] and Jupiter was in Aquarius [Aqr]. In this same year, Augustus also accepted the honor of having the public anniversary of his birth on September 23 permanently marked by ludi in the Circus.8 On the official public anniversary of his birth just before sunrise on September 23, 8 b.c., the Sun in the east was in Virgo, about to rise. Venus was also in Virgo. Ahead was Mars in Leo, and toward the west the Moon, 88% full, was in Taurus. The celestial display on this anniversary of the public celebration of Augustus’ birthday before sunrise on September 23, 8 b.c. shared a few features with the celestial display on the anniversary of the public celebrations of Augustus’ birthday on September 23, 13 b.c. (see Fig. 13.2) and September 23, 11 b.c., notably Virgo rising at the eastern horizon, the same display of fixed constellations, and the presence in the heavens of the Moon and Venus. In the autumn of this year, 8 b.c., a series of events brought loss and a change of circumstances for Augustus. His old compatriot Maecenas died, leaving Augustus the sole heir to Maecenas’ considerable fortune, which he had amassed during a life ruled by a love of luxury and a lack of political ambition.9 Maecenas was possessed of many talents, but Augustus at times had found him to be somewhat less than discreet. Augustus, however, was always grateful when Maecenas stepped in to dampen down his own fierce temper, which sometimes led him to overreact, and he recognized that Maecenas, like Agrippa, had never taken unseemly advantage of his friendship but was content to follow and serve him. Their friendship had survived over many years despite some strains, and Augustus sorrowed greatly over his death. Soon after Maecenas died, the poet Horace also died. In a poem he had written many years earlier, in 23 b.c., Horace had made much of the astrological confluences between his own genitura and that of Maecenas and of the likelihood that they would die around the same time, as did come to pass.10 On the military side and on a more positive note, in the following year on the Kalends of January ( January 1, 7 b.c.), Tiberius assumed the consulship with Gnaeus Calpurnius Piso. Having been denied a triumph in 12 b.c. by Augustus, Tiberius was granted a full triumph for his conquests in Germany in 7 b.c., which he may have celebrated only as a lesser triumph (an ovatio) and then celebrated years later, possibly in a.d. 12.11 Tiberius’ wife Iulia is not mentioned as having had any supporting role in celebrating Tiberius’ accomplishments. By this point, the two were fully estranged, although divorce was not an option. Ominously, a great fire ravaged Rome in the same year and led Augustus to create fourteen administrative districts or regiones in the city, showing that even the ruler of a great

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empire still had to deal not only with maintaining and extending the frontiers but also with necessary matters of daily life in the city.12 In 6 b.c., Gaius Caesar and Lucius Caesar, Augustus’ grandsons and adoptive sons, were of an age when they could begin to enter public life, and Augustus saw to it that they embarked early on their political careers. They were deemed eligible to participate in councils of state as soon as each assumed the toga virilis, Gaius Caesar in 5 b.c. and Lucius Caesar in 2 b.c., and both were designated for future consulships, Gaius Caesar for a.d. 1 and Lucius Caesar for a.d. 4. Augustus, however, did not approve of their insolent conduct, their susceptibility to flattery, and their extravagant lifestyles, all the result of having been raised in the luxury of the imperial household and having become spoiled because of their exalted status as Augustus’ chosen heirs.13 In an attempt to encourage his grandsons to set themselves on a better path, Augustus granted Tiberius the tribunician power for five years, which only made matters worse. Augustus’ grandsons felt slighted by the honor bestowed upon Tiberius, and Tiberius felt that he would suffer because of their anger. In response, Tiberius, now clearly diminished in his importance to Augustus, left Rome to take up residence as a private citizen on the island of Rhodes. Tiberius left Iulia behind in Rome because he was no longer able to tolerate her.14 On January 1, 2 b.c., Augustus entered the office of ordinary consul with Marcus Plautius Silvanus as his colleague, for the thirteenth and final time in order that his name might grace the year when Lucius Caesar came of age, as he, Augustus, had done in 5 b.c. for Gaius Caesar, when Augustus held his twelfth consulship.15 Soon after, on the Nones of February (February 5) in 2 b.c., Augustus was granted the honor of being called Father of the Fatherland (pater patriae) by the Senate and the people of Rome, an honor that is said to have moved him to tears.16 In his entry for this day in his Fasti, Ovid said that he himself was almost too overcome with emotion at the thought of trying to overburden his elegiac verses with a matter so worthy of epic poetry. Ovid called Augustus sacrosanct (sanctus) and the father of the celestial sphere (pater orbis).17 Under Augustus, each end of the path of the Sun, east and west, was now Roman.18 Augustus was greater than Romulus. Everything that was under the control of Jupiter (sub Iove) belonged to Augustus. Romulus had the name of master (domini nomen, a designation that Augustus disliked for himself ) but Augustus had the name of first among equals ([nomen] principis). Romulus had been made caelestis by his father—​that is, he had been given a place in the celestial sphere by Mars—​but Augustus had made his own father Caesar a celestial entity (caelestem fecit te pater, ille patrem) and thereby revealed the permanent residence in the heavens for Caesar’s soul that was authorized, as Vitruvius had noted, by the celestial divinities themselves (cum autem concilium caelestium in sedibus inmortalitatis eum dedicavisset).19 Ovid’s statement was supported by the

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appearance of the constellation Chelae (Libra), which was associated with Caesar, before and at sunrise on this auspicious day. The heavens at sunset on February 5, 2 b.c. were even more meaningful. Evening events were always preferred by Augustus, who detested having to rise early in the morning.20 Evening skies also had the potential to be viewed by more people and for a longer time after darkness began to fall. Augustus’ Julian kin made their appearance in the heavens as a dramatic backdrop to close this day (see the central area of visibility in Fig. 14.2). All five visible planets and both luminaries were in the sky on February 5, 2 b.c. at sunset. Jupiter was in Leo [Leo] in the east. To the west of Jupiter, Saturn was in Taurus [Tau]. Not far to the west of Saturn, Mars was in Aries [Ari]. To the west of Mars, Venus was in Pisces [Psc]. At the western horizon, the Sun and Mercury in Aquarius [Aqr] were in close conjunction with the Moon, an exceedingly slim crescent 0.5% full, in adjacent Pisces [Psc]. The celestial deities who were the Julian kin to Augustus all came together to demonstrate their public and visible support for the declaration of the Roman Senate and the people that Augustus had saved the Roman state and was Rome’s true pater patriae, an honor that had been bestowed upon Roman politicians only twice before during the saeculum Augustum, first in 63 b.c. to Cicero at the end of his consular year, and second in 44 b.c. to Caesar not long before his assassination. Ovid had stated in the Fasti in his entry for this day that Augustus was to human beings what Jupiter was to the gods and that Augustus even had the name of Jupiter throughout all the lands (quod in aethere Iuppiter alto, /​nomen habes: hominum tu pater, ille deum).21 Especially notable in the darkening sky would have been Jupiter in Leo [Leo]. On this day, Jupiter in his celestial manifestation was located in close conjunction with Regulus, the brightest star in Leo. Regulus was known among the Babylonians as King (LUGAL) and among the Greeks as the Heart of the Lion (Καρδία Λέοντος) or the Little King (βασιλίσκος).22 A few months later in this same year, 2 b.c., Augustus dedicated the Temple of Mars Ultor (Mars the Avenger) in his Forum Augustum.23 Augustus had bought up as much land as he could in the area he chose for building his forum, which was adjacent to the Forum Iulium and perpendicular to it. The work on the Forum Augustum in which the temple was located may have begun around 25 b.c. or 24 b.c. and been funded by booty from Augustus’ military campaigns.24 The purpose of the Forum Augustum was to provide space for law courts, but Dio lists its many other civic associations, including its most important, the governance of the provinces.25 The decorative features of Augustus’ forum were said to be magnificent and inspired by classical Athenian architecture, but it mimicked the design of Caesar’s Forum Iulium, which had the Temple of Venus Genetrix at its far end, in having its own major temple, that for Mars Ultor, in the same position, at the far end.26 The Temple of Mars Ultor was flanked by two long

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Fig. 14.2.  Augustus receives the title pater patriae. February 5, 2 b.c. Sunset, 5:30 p.m. Rome (41° 53ꞌ N, 12° 29ꞌ E). SkyMap Pro V. 12. By permission of Chris Marriott.

colonnades with columns of colored marble and white Corinthian capitals over thirty feet high. The colonnades were intended for use as courts. In the Attic story above the columns of the colonnades, caryatids modeled on but smaller than those holding up the porch of the Erechtheum in Athens were interspaced with shields bearing the depictions of divinities such as Jupiter Ammon as shield bosses. In a large hemicircular apse at the northwest side of the colonnade close to the temple was a depiction of Aeneas, the son of Venus, fleeing Troy while

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carrying his father, Anchises, and holding the hand of his son, Iulus, a scene described in the second book of Vergil’s Aeneid. Along this side in the colonnade were statues of Julio-​Claudian descendants of Aeneas. In a large hemicircular apse opposite on the southeast side of the colonnade close to the temple was a statue of Romulus holding the spoils of war taken from an enemy vanquished in single combat (the spolia opima). Along this side of the colonnade were statues of the great figures from the history of the Roman Republic (summi viri) with plaques providing their names and accomplishments. Both colonnades converged on the temple itself, thus harmonizing the two Roman foundation myths—​the foundation of Rome by Romulus and the foundation of the Roman people by Aeneas. A statue of Augustus in his triumphal chariot probably stood at the center of the Forum Augustum between the two colonnades on the axis of the temple.27 In the northwest at the back of the colonnade was a large square room that was richly veneered in colored marbles and that contained a colossal statue perhaps of Caesar and two paintings by Apelles, one of which is said to have depicted Alexander the Great with the personification of War in triumph, the other to have depicted the goddess Victoria together with Pollux and Castor, the brothers who appeared in the heavens as the constellation Gemini.28 The Temple of Mars Ultor itself had been very long in planning. Augustus had vowed a temple to Mars Ultor before the battles fought at Philippi in 42 b.c.29 The temple was constructed of white Carrara (Luna) marble. Its columns, eight in the front and eight down each side, were almost sixty feet high and of the Corinthian order. The temple displayed meaningful symbols of conquest and images of divinities and Roman mythical figures.30 An observer facing the pediment of the temple would have seen Mars at the center flanked by a scepter-​holding Venus on his right.31 Seated next to Venus was Romulus, the son of Mars and founder of Rome, holding the lituus of an augur, and next to Romulus reclining in the corner was a deity representing the Palatine Hill, where Romulus received the omen for founding the city. To the left of Mars was Fortuna (τύχη-​Virgo) holding items associated with her iconography: a ship’s rudder, which symbolized the direction of life’s affairs, and a cornucopia, which symbolized bountiful plenty. Seated next to Fortuna was the goddess Roma holding her weapons, and next to her reclining in the corner was an image of the Tiber River.32 The interior of the temple was Augustan, not Greek, in theme. Three cult statues stood at the front in the interior of the temple: at the center was Mars wearing full armor; to the right of Mars was Venus accompanied by her son Cupid; to the left of Mars was Caesar, Divus Iulius. The Roman battle standards that had been lost to the Parthians and finally recovered by Augustus in 20 b.c. were housed in the temple.33 To celebrate the dedication of the temple, Augustus presented gladiatorial combats and lavish spectacles.34 He gave to Gaius Caesar and Lucius Caesar

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the management of the chariot races and again presented the equestrian display known as the Lusus Troiae, in which his youngest grandson, Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa Postumus (Agrippa Postumus), took part. Lions were hunted in the Circus Maximus and crocodiles were hunted in the Circus Flaminius, which was flooded for the occasion. The Temple of Mars Ultor was dedicated on the fourth day before the Ides of May (May 12) in 2 b.c.35 The temple was not yet completed on this day, thus suggesting some imperative, perhaps celestial, in the choice of the day for the dedication. The sky at sunrise on May 12, 2 b.c. was quite barren of planets: only Mercury in Taurus [Tau], very close to the eastern horizon and rising ahead of the Sun, was in the heavens. But since Augustus was celebrating the god Mars, he would undoubtedly have chosen to highlight a time of day significant for the dedication of the Temple of Mars Ultor, when Mars was visible in the heavens, which happened to be after sunset, a time of day favored by Augustus for many of his public events (see the central area of visibility in Fig. 14.3). At sunset on May 12, 2 b.c., Saturn, which represented Italy, was in Taurus [Tau] at the western horizon in close conjunction with the Sun, which was also in Taurus. Mars, the major figure of the day, was also in the west, behind the Sun and Saturn. Mars was in Gemini [Gem], a constellation that had often appeared in the sky at times of significant public events staged by Augustus. To the east not far from Mars, Venus was in Cancer [Cnc]. Jupiter was in Leo [Leo] in close conjunction with Regulus, the brightest star in Leo. The Moon, 65% full, was in Virgo [Vir]. To the east of Virgo was the constellation Chelae (Libra) [Lib], where the soul of Caesar, who was represented by a cult statue within the temple, was imagined to have its final resting place. Only Mercury, which was ahead of the Sun, was missing from the display of Augustus’ celestial kin. Augustus, like others skilled in reading the sky, however, would have known that Mercury in Taurus [Tau], although below the western horizon out of sight, was in close conjunction with Saturn and the Sun. One final part of the celestial display, that of a constellation in the zodiac, would also have been significant at sunset on the day of the dedication: Scorpios [Sco] was rising in the east.36 The locations of constellations present in the heavens at and after sunset on May 12, 2 b.c., the day of the dedication of the Temple of Mars Ultor, would have been familiar to Augustus because the locations were generally the same for the constellations that appeared before sunrise around November 22 in any year, constellations that Aratus and Cicero had described rising with Scorpios. This section of the paranatellonta in Aratus’ poem contains the story of Scorpios, Orion, and Artemis.37 The mighty hunter Orion had seized Artemis by her robe while he was out hunting wild beasts on Chios in order to secure animal gifts for Oenopion, the son of Bacchus and Ariadne. To punish Orion for this violent assault, Artemis called up a tiny scorpion that brought

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Fig. 14.3.  The dedication of the Temple of Mars Ultor. May 12, 2 b.c. Sunset, 7:13 p.m. Rome (41° 53ꞌ N, 12° 29ꞌ E). SkyMap Pro V. 12. By permission of Chris Marriott.

down the massive hunter with its deadly sting. The flight of Orion, one of the most recognizable constellations in the heavens, now prey for the scorpion, was re-​enacted in the heavens eternally. When Scorpios appears at eastern horizon, Orion is disappearing at the western horizon. Augustus had originally vowed the temple to Mars Ultor in the hope of securing the assistance of Mars against the assassins of Caesar before the battles fought at Philippi in 42 b.c. At and

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after sunset on May 12, 2 b.c., the day of the dedication of this temple to Mars, Caesar in his celestial manifestation as the star Zubeneschamali in the constellation Chelae (Libra) [Lib], which was just to the west of Scorpios, was present to bear witness both to the vengeance Artemis had enacted upon Orion and to the vengeance Augustus had enacted in the battles. The Temple of Mars Ultor and the Forum Augustum reflected the military glory of Rome, the return of the standards from the Parthians that Augustus himself had gone off to secure, and the rightful eminence of Augustus as the avenger of Caesar and the heir of Caesar and all his Julian ancestors. It also confirmed on a monumental scale the protection of Rome’s other founding deity, the god Mars, a son of Jupiter and the father of Romulus, to whom Augustus had made little reference in his previous visual or celestial propaganda. The Julian divinities in their celestial manifestations were present to witness and to celebrate the dedication of this temple to Mars, which had been so long in creation but now stood splendid in its final form and resonant with imperial and familial significance.38 Several months later on August 1, 2 b.c., which was the first day of the month that had been renamed in Augustus’ honor in 8 b.c. as well as the anniversary of the day in 30 b.c. on which Antonius had committed suicide in Alexandria, Augustus celebrated the completion of the Temple of Mars Ultor with ludi.39 At sunrise on this day in August, Mars in Leo, which was in a close conjunction with the Sun in Leo, was escorted into the sky by the Sun. At sunset on this day, Mars was ushered below the western horizon and out of view by the Sun. Left behind in the west after the departure of Mars after sunset were Venus in Virgo, and, nearby, Jupiter together with a slim crescent Moon, 3.1% full, in Leo. All three were in close proximity and not far behind Mars, a fitting celestial display for the completion of the Temple of Mars Ultor and the Forum Augustum, both of which reflected the role of the Julian family in the establishment of peace after decades of war. The Temple of Mars Ultor would turn out to be the final project in Augustus’ plan to rebuild Rome as a glorious imperial city. The notable display of planets just before sunrise several weeks later on the official public birthday of Augustus on September 23, 2 b.c., however, must have served as further confirmation to Augustus and those around him that Augustus’ Julian kin in their celestial manifestations were continuing to bear witness to the culmination of Augustus’ great achievements over so many years. Just before sunrise on this official public birthday of Augustus, the Moon and four of the five ancient planets were in the heavens. Saturn was in Gemini, a constellation with special significance for Augustus. The Moon, 25% full, was in Leo in close conjunction with Regulus, the brightest star in Leo. In the east, Mars and Jupiter were in conjunction in Virgo, another constellation that had special relevance for Augustus. Jupiter in Virgo was also in conjunction with nearby Venus in Leo. Only the Sun, which was near

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to rising, and Mercury behind the Sun were missing from the celestial display on this morning. Despite a good beginning, the year 2 b.c. ended in shock and disappointment for Augustus and upheaval for the imperial household. Probably in September, Augustus was forced to banish his only daughter, Iulia, who was also the estranged wife of Tiberius as well as the mother of Augustus’ adoptive sons, Gaius Caesar and Lucius Caesar. While Iulia had been still married to Agrippa, she was linked with Diana the chaste goddess of the Moon, perhaps in an effort to encourage behavior that would serve as a model for other Roman matrons.40 Although Augustus appears to have had some idea of Iulia’s unconventional behavior, he did not know or he chose to ignore the full extent of Iulia’s alleged debaucheries and infidelities, which may have occurred even during the time of her marriage to Agrippa.41 A witticism imputed to Iulia by Macrobius supports the scurrilous reputation that Iulia is said to have possessed even while married to Agrippa. When people marveled about how much Iulia’s children looked like Agrippa, she is said to have replied wittily, “I never take on a boatman unless the hold is full” (numquam enim nisi navi plena tollo vectorem).42 In other words, Iulia never engaged in an extramarital affair unless she was already pregnant. Iulia was found guilty, according to our sources, of dissolute behavior, which included partying at night, drinking on the Old Rostra in the Forum Romanum, and committing adultery with many men.43 Augustus was so enraged when he learned of the full extent of Iulia’s activities that he communicated her misdeeds publicly to the Senate. He is said to have often cried out that he would never have had to suffer the disgrace of Iulia if either Agrippa or Maecenas were still alive.44 Iulia’s conduct was a shattering of the image of the first family that Augustus had worked to craft over the decades as well as an insulting rejection of the moral reforms that Augustus had instituted and celebrated at the Ludi Saeculares in 17 b.c. Iulia’s conduct, as reported by gossip and rumor, fitted a cultural stereotype that was familiar to Augustus from the Athenian tragedies that he knew so well. Those plays depicted the danger of the unstable female character for her community and for the ruling dynasty. The situations depicted in tragedies, based on ancient myths, now seemed to be happening in real life at Rome and within the ruling family of Augustus itself. Augustus had no choice but to be decisive, even if that choice resulted in a calamitous outcome and deep personal grief. On the authority of Augustus, a letter of divorce was sent to Iulia in the name of Tiberius, who was still in Rhodes. Augustus may have even contemplated the execution of Iulia, but instead he sent her to live under harsh penal restrictions on Pandateria (now Ventotene), a small, lonely, treeless island off the west coast of Italy. Her mother, Scribonia, Augustus’ second wife, volunteered to accompany her daughter to Pandateria and was permitted to do so, thereby alleviating the burden of

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Iulia’s solitary exile. But by joining Iulia there, Scribonia left herself vulnerable to accusations that the fault in her daughter’s waywardness lay with her. The elevation of Mars Ultor, Mars the Avenger, in his new temple, one might even say, had evoked memories of the dangerous political maneuverings of Rome’s civil wars and resurrected the ghost of Antonius because among those caught up in the purge of Iulia’s well-​born lovers was Antonius’ son Iullus Antonius, himself accused of an adulterous relationship with Iulia and suspected of treason and therefore at the center of the scandal. Augustus’ sister Octavia had raised Iullus Antonius along with all her own children by Gaius Marcellus and Antonius and with the children of Antonius and Cleopatra. Augustus had spared, favored, and advanced Iullus Antonius socially and politically and married him to his niece the elder Marcella.45 Iulia, Iullus Antonius, and her other paramours were allegedly suspected of planning to assassinate Augustus and secure the principate for themselves.46 The apparently thankless, or vengeful, Iullus Antonius was forced to commit suicide for his ill-​considered actions. Many questions remain unanswered with regard to the dramatic sequence of events and the steps Augustus took to punish his daughter and her alleged accomplices for her moral failings. The real reason for Augustus’ actions may have been more political than moral and involved some struggle between Iulia and Livia for influence over Augustus with regard to the succession. With Iulia exiled, Livia now had the opportunity to extend her dominance and hopefully to secure some place for her only surviving son, Tiberius, who was still absent from Rome, in the future dynastic plans of Augustus. Augustus’ actions clearly indicate that he found Iulia, not Tiberius, the one to blame for the divorce, but with the formal rupture in the marital tie that bound Tiberius to Augustus, Tiberius realized that he was vulnerable. He is said to have tried to reconcile Augustus with Iulia, but his efforts were in vain, and his repeated requests to return to Rome were denied.47 In a.d. 1, Augustus wrote to his adoptive son Gaius Caesar, who was the son of Iulia and whom he addressed as his “most delightful little donkey” (asellus iucundissimus), even though Gaius Caesar was one of the consuls of the year and preparing for his future role as Augustus’ chosen successor.48 Augustus announced in his letter that he had safely passed through his sixty-​third birthday, his astrological Great Climacteric (κλιμακτῆρα), which was widely considered to be a critical and potentially dangerous year in one’s life. In a.d. 2, Augustus probably presented once again the archaic equestrian exercise known as the Lusus Troiae. He had always been fond of the Lusus Troiae, which celebrated his mythological Julian ancestor Iulus and demonstrated the equestrian prowess of young Roman aristocrats.49 The presentation of the Lusus Troiae in this year, however, did not go well. The youngest son of Lucius Nonius Asprenas (cos. a.d. 6) fell off his horse and broke his leg. Augustus gave the boy a military decoration in

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the form of a golden ornamental collar called a torque as well as the right to bear, along with his descendants, the cognomen Torquatus. The grandson of Pollio, the former patron of Vergil, was also injured when he too broke his leg, probably at the same event. Pollio was so irate that he complained to the Senate. As a result, Augustus was forced to give up the presentation of the Lusus Troiae for good. In this year, Augustus finally permitted Tiberius to return to Rome from his self-​imposed exile in Rhodes.50 An eagle, which had sat on the roof of Tiberius’ house a few days before he was recalled to Rome, predicted Tiberius’ return in the eighth year after he had departed.51 At Rhodes, Tiberius had lived an unassuming life in a suburban villa, but during his years there he had drifted downward in status until he came to be despised and marginalized as the “exile” (exsul). Augustus had eventually granted him the position of envoy, which was of little use to him because he had begun to live in fear for his very life. Once back in Rome, Tiberius moved from his house in the Carinae district on the Esquiline Hill, which had once been the home of Antonius and before him of Pompeius Magnus, to a house in the Gardens of Maecenas, also on the Esquiline Hill. There he lived quietly and inconspicuously as a private citizen.52 Augustus’ plan, nurtured for some twenty years, to sidestep Tiberius and pass the principate on to a Julian descendant began to unravel when Lucius Caesar, the son of Iulia and Agrippa, whom Augustus had adopted in 17 b.c., died suddenly of an illness at Massilia in a.d. 2 on his way to Spain on the thirteenth day before the Kalends of September (August 20).53 Lucius Caesar’s brother Gaius Caesar was wounded a year later in a.d. 3 on the fifth day before the Ides of September (September 9) while on campaign in Armenia.54 Gaius Caesar was besieged and captured by the enemy, but Augustus made a settlement that gave the kingship of Armenia to Ariobarzanes. Gaius Caesar’s wound made him so ill in both body and mind that he begged Augustus to be allowed to retire from public life and remain in Syria. Gaius Caesar was not naturally robust of health, like his grandfather in his younger days, but at the urging of Augustus, Gaius Caesar decided to return to Rome. He died in Lycia before he could reach the shores of Italy either on the ninth or the eighth day before the Kalends of March (February 21 or 22, a.d. 4).55 Livia, the mother of Tiberius, was suspected of having had something to do with the deaths of both Gaius Caesar and Lucius Caesar, and Tiberius, who was also keeping close company at the time with the mathematicus Thrasyllus (καὶ Θράσυλλον ἄνδρα πάσης ἀστρολογίας διαπεφυκότα ἔχων) was said to have determined their fate by means of astrology, in which he himself was very well versed (αὐτός τε γὰρ ἐμπειρότατος τῆς διὰ τῶν ἄστρων μαντικῆς ὤν).56 Iulia around this time was moved from her banishment on Pandateria to Rhegium (modern Reggio di Calabria) at the tip of the Italian mainland near Sicily, indicating an awareness on the part of Augustus of how popular Iulia remained among the

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Roman people and perhaps also of some softening of his feelings toward her. Iulia was not, however, allowed to come back to Rome. It may have been under Iulia’s influence that Augustus renewed some of the preferments he had formerly shown to Tiberius, notably tribunician power for ten years and a command in Germany. In addition, Iulia may have played some role in plans for the formal adoption of Tiberius by her father in a.d. 4, although Tiberius’ mother, Livia, was the most instrumental in persuading Augustus to adopt her son. Augustus certainly recognized the value and successes of Tiberius as a general, qualities that the partisan historian Velleius Paterculus had highlighted when he called Tiberius a first-​rate general (summus dux) who earned seven triumphs in his life but modestly accepted only three.57 Tiberius took care of his commanders and soldiers on campaign and he led by example, fairly but sternly reprimanding those who were not up to his high level of self-​discipline. Tiberius was said by some to have possessed an admirable character and remarkable talents from the time of his entry into public life as quaestor at the age of nineteen, but Augustus was conscious of Tiberius’ faults.58 As comments Augustus would make later during his final illness indicate, Augustus found Tiberius to be haughty, severe, and uncongenial in his character, qualities that boded poorly for his eventual rulership. But some suspected that Augustus chose Tiberius to be his eventual successor precisely because of his negative qualities, realizing that in the future he, Augustus, would be considered more favorably than Tiberius when the two were compared.59 Augustus added a condition to his planned adoption of Tiberius, who was compelled to pass over his only son, Nero Claudius Drusus (Drusus the Younger) by his first wife, Vipsania Agrippina, who was a daughter of Agrippa, thus cutting him out of the succession. Tiberius would be compelled to adopt his nephew Germanicus, who had Julian associations. Germanicus was the eldest son of Tiberius’ now-​deceased younger brother, Drusus, and the younger Antonia, who was Augustus’ niece and a daughter of Augustus’ sister Octavia and Antonius. Germanicus was married to Agrippina the Elder, a daughter of Iulia by Iulia’s second marriage to Agrippa. Along with Tiberius, Augustus also planned to adopt Agrippa Postumus, the youngest son of his daughter, Iulia, who had been born after the death of his father, Agrippa, in 12 b.c., a legitimate heir. Given Iulia’s current position and the loss of influence she had suffered as a result not only of her exile but also of the untimely deaths of her two sons Gaius Caesar and Lucius Caesar, who had been Augustus’ heirs since 17 b.c., the planned adoption by her father, Augustus, of Agrippa Postumus, her only surviving son, and the required adoption by Tiberius of Germanicus, the husband of her granddaughter, may have given Iulia some hope for a future reconciliation with her father and the eventual full commutation of her sentence of exile.

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Augustus formally adopted Tiberius and Agrippa Postumus as his heirs on the sixth day before the Kalends of July ( June 26) in a.d. 4.60 The adoption was viewed with great joy by the Roman people, but for Augustus the adoption was not a happy event. Augustus really had no choice at this point with regard to the succession and he said that he had adopted Tiberius for the sake of the state (rei publicae causa facio).61 The adoption was a necessity brought about by the shattering loss of Gaius Caesar and Lucius Caesar. Because of their deaths, Augustus is said to have believed that Fortuna had deserted him when he was happy and confident in his children and in his household (sed laetum eum atque fidentem et subole et disciplina domus Fortuna destituit).62 The loss of his adoptive sons and heirs would haunt him for the rest of his life. In the statement of his accomplishments that he wrote toward the end of his life, Augustus would remark that Fortuna had snatched his sons from him when they were young men (filios meos, quos iuvenes mihi eripuit fortuna, Gaium et Lucium Caesares), and his will would open with a similar statement about cruel Fortuna, which had snatched his sons Gaius Caesar and Lucius Caesar from him (quoniam atrox fortuna Gaium et Lucium filios mihi eripuit).63 The view of Fortuna as a fickle entity was a familiar one during the saeculum Augustum. Fortuna could be beneficial, but Fortuna might delay the plans of human beings or smash them utterly (rumpit interdum, interdum moratur proposita hominum fortuna).64 The sky before and at sunrise on the day of the formal adoption of Tiberius and Agrippa Postumus by Augustus, however, demonstrated publicly for all to see a generally reassuring celestial display. Virgo (Fortuna-​τύχη) was missing in the heavens, but several members of Augustus’ divine family in their celestial manifestations bore witness to Augustus’ final strategic move to secure a role for the gens Iulia in the succession (see the central area of visibility in Fig. 14.4). At sunrise on the day of the adoption of Tiberius and Agrippa Postumus, June 26, a.d. 4, Venus in Gemini [Gem], the constellation of the brothers Pollux and Castor, was the Morning Star in the east. Augustus had again adopted two individuals, Tiberius and Agrippa Postumus, who became not only his sons but also brothers, like Pollux and Castor, to each other.65 Venus was ahead of the rising Sun, which was in Cancer [Cnc]. Ahead of Venus, Mars was in Taurus [Tau]. The Moon, 70% full, was in Pisces [Psc]. Jupiter was in Capricornus [Cap] near the western horizon. The planetary divinities important to Augustus and supportive of him over the years were thus present in the sky at sunrise to witness this dynastic reshuffling: Diana the Moon and Apollo the Sun, who had been celebrated at the Ludi Saeculares; Venus, who was the mother of Aeneas and the protecting deity of Caesar and the gens Iulia; Mars, who had finally been celebrated at the recent dedication of the Temple of Mars Ultor in memory of the vengeance exacted upon Caesar’s assassins; and Jupiter, the king of gods and

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Fig. 14.4.  The adoption of Tiberius and Agrippa Postumus. June 26, a.d. 4. Sunrise, 4:30 a.m. Rome (41° 53ꞌ N, 12° 29ꞌ E). SkyMap Pro V. 12. By permission of Chris Marriott.

mortals, with whom Augustus had been associated from the day of his birth and with whom he had become over the years more firmly identified. The aristocracy at Rome, however, may not have been as supportive as Augustus’ celestial kin of these dynastic arrangements. A serious plot against Augustus emerged in a.d. 4, and one of its leaders was the grandson of Pompeius Magnus.66 If an imagined private conversation between an anxious and sleepless

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Augustus and his wife Livia conveyed by Dio in the form of a lengthy formal speech by Livia is reflective of Augustus’ situation in any way, Augustus may have perceived the conspiracy as a threat to the very constitutional structure he had established.67 Augustus’ response to the situation was to accuse a number of the conspirators but to treat most of them in a conciliatory fashion and so save the monarchy. In the following year, a.d. 5, more disasters occurred. Earthquakes struck, a bridge over the Tiber River was washed away, and a partial solar eclipse took place.68 The partial solar eclipse on March 28, a.d. 5 was the only solar eclipse occurring during this year that was visible at Rome. It appeared in the constellation Aries [Ari] when the Sun and the Moon were in a very close conjunction with Venus. The eclipse began about two hours before sunset and was still ongoing when Virgo (Fortuna-​τύχη) began to rise in the east about an hour later. Eclipses were viewed commonly as negative portents, and this one heralded more problems to come for Augustus and his plans for the succession. In this year, Agrippa Postumus was enrolled among other young Romans who were of military age, but he was not given the same privileges, preferments, and advancements that had been bestowed upon his elder brothers, Gaius Caesar and Lucius Caesar. Agrippa Postumus is said to have made his dissatisfaction with the dismissive treatment of him by his grandfather, now his adoptive father, and his dislike of Livia very public. The source of the problem was Augustus’ refusal to give Agrippa Postumus access to the considerable inheritance bequeathed to him by his father, Agrippa.69 The ancient sources are also in agreement that the temperament of Agrippa Postumus was problematic, that his behavior was becoming difficult to manage, and that he may even have been part of the intrigues over the succession in which the Julian and the Claudian factions within the family of Augustus were becoming increasingly engaged.70 In the following year, Tiberius dedicated in his own name and the name of his deceased younger brother, Drusus, on the sixth day before the Kalends of February ( January 27), the Temple to Castor and Pollux, which was completely rebuilt at the location of the original temple located in the Forum Romanum.71 In the same year, Augustus took steps to build up the military treasury, which eventually included the imposition of taxes on inheritances. A severe famine struck the city in this year, and Augustus forbade the holding of public banquets on the public anniversary of his birth on September 23.72 The celebration of gladiatorial contests presented in honor of Drusus, Augustus’ stepson and Tiberius’ brother, who had died while on campaign in Germany in 9 b.c., by his sons, Germanicus and Claudius, are said to have brought some comfort to a weary and despondent populace. But problems in Rome and within the family of Augustus continued. Fire destroyed many parts of Rome and rumors of more plots began to circulate. Agrippa Postumus was banished, perhaps in late a.d. 7, to Surrentum

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(modern Sorrento) on the Italian mainland south of Rome, allegedly because of his depraved character and behavior. Not long after in the same year, the worsening conduct of Agrippa Postumus caused Augustus to move him to the island of Planasia (modern Pianosa) off the coast of Tuscany to continue his exile under military guard. This island belonged to Augustus, and Agrippa Postumus lived there in relative, if isolated, comfort in the large villa on the northeast coast of the island. Agrippa Postumus spent a lot of time in fishing while in exile there and he referred to himself as Neptune, the god of the sea. To make his displeasure with Agrippa Postumus even more evident, Augustus took the major source of Agrippa Postumus’ grievance, the inheritance from his father Agrippa, and donated it to the military treasury.73 As Augustus advanced in age, he had no more need to discharge his public debt to the major Olympian deities who had supported his family, his rise to power, and his lengthy principate. Over the years he had honored Venus, Apollo, Jupiter, and Mars with major building projects in Rome. Smaller efforts would close out his years of rulership. An altar to the plebeian deities Ops Augusta and Ceres Mater (Augustan Munificence and Mother Ceres, who was associated with Virgo and Fortuna-​τύχη) was dedicated on the Vicus Iugarius on the fourth day before the Ides of August (August 10) in a.d. 7.74 This street was a very old one linking the base of the Quirinal Hill to the Porta Carmentalis, which served as a route by which public processions entered the Forum Romanum.75 The altar may have been dedicated in honor of Livia or it may have been dedicated to Ops and Ceres because a.d. 7 was a crisis year that had been marked by continuing food shortages and rationing.76 The altar may also have been in recompense for a long-​past event involving Caesar and Antonius. Caesar had deposited 700 million sesterces in the Capitoline Temple of Ops, which were appropriated by Antonius for his own purposes after Caesar’s murder.77 With the dedication of this Altar to Ops and Ceres in the Vicus Iugarius, Augustus repaid the loss. The heavens reflected these associations (see the central area of visibility in Fig. 14.5). At sunset on the day of the dedication of the Altar to Ops Augusta and Ceres Mater on August 10, a.d. 7, Saturn, who was the husband of Ops, was in Virgo [Vir] in the west. Caesar, represented by the imagined final resting place for his soul in the star Zubeneschamali in Chelae (Libra) [Lib], was to the east of Saturn. In the months following the dedication of the Altar to Ops Augusta and Ceres Mater in a.d. 7, serious instability returned, creating a variety of difficulties and setbacks and perhaps even giving rise to more conspiracies against Augustus. Probably at the end of this year, Augustus also exiled Ovid, Rome’s last remaining great poet, to Tomis on the Black Sea.78 Ovid, like Vergil, had used his own celestial expertise to demonstrate the support of the celestial Julian kin for Augustus

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Fig. 14.5.  The dedication of the Altar to Ops Augusta and Ceres Mater. August 10, a.d. 7. Sunset, 7:20 p.m. Rome (41° 53ꞌ N, 12° 29ꞌ E). SkyMap Pro V. 12. By permission of Chris Marriott.

in the poems he had been writing in recent years. The exact cause for Ovid’s exile, or relegatio, appears in no ancient source. Ovid hints at the reason but never reveals it openly in the poetry that he composed while living in exile and that he sent back to Rome for publication. Ovid’s offense was nonetheless so grievous that his extended family relationship to Augustus through his third marriage to the daughter of Fabius Maximus, who was married to Marcia, the first cousin

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of Augustus, was no help at all in mitigating his punishment by Augustus or in securing his hoped-​for return to Rome.79 In the following year, a.d. 8, Vipsania Iulia Agrippina (Iulia the Younger), a daughter of Iulia and Agrippa, was accused and convicted of adultery with the prominent Decimus Iunius Silanus.80 The family interconnections of Iulia the Younger, the granddaughter of Augustus, were typically intricate but not protective. She had been married to Lucius Aemilius Paullus (cos. a.d. 1), who was a son of Cornelia, a daughter of Augustus’ second wife Scribonia by a previous marriage for her and thus a half-​sister to Augustus’s daughter, Iulia. The circumstances surrounding the exile of Iulia the Younger are murky because the historical record is scanty. Dio’s account of a.d. 8 is missing. Velleius Paterculus does not mention the scandal. The account of Suetonius is brief, as is that of Tacitus, who mentioned that Fortuna may have been generous to Augustus in his public life but less so to Augustus in his domestic life.81 Iulia the Younger’s husband was executed on the order of Augustus. Iulia the Younger’s lover Silanus was permitted to go into exile, and he would later return to Rome after the death of Augustus during the reign of Tiberius. Iulia the Younger was permanently exiled to the island of Trimerus off the coast of Apulia, where she lived for twenty more years, thanks to the financial support of Livia. Augustus did not permit the child to whom Iulia the Younger gave birth after she was sentenced to be acknowledged or fed.82 Velleius Paterculus had commented earlier that Iulia’s children would bring happiness neither to her nor to the Roman state.83 Iulia the Younger, her brother Agrippa Postumus, and their mother, Iulia, were never mentioned again by name by Augustus, who referred to them bitterly as his three abscesses (vomicae) or his three tumors (carcinomata).84 The situation that had precipitated the scandal of Iulia the Younger, as with Agrippa Postumus, may have been as much political as moral and may have somehow involved the struggle over the succession between the Julian faction represented by Agrippa Postumus and the Claudian faction represented by Tiberius. Tiberius and Germanicus returned from successful campaigns in a.d. 9, but their arrival back in Rome was overshadowed by the news that three Roman legions had been wiped out in the Teutoburg Forest in Germany in an attack coordinated by Arminius, one of the German mercenaries whom the Roman commander Publius Quinctilius Varus (cos. 13 b.c.) had trusted. The Varian disaster (clades Variana) took place in the later months of a.d. 9, perhaps in September, in northwest Germany near what is now Kalkriese, which is north of the city of Osnabrück.85 The encounter consisted of an ambush, skirmishes, and small battles over several days in an area of about twenty square miles. The Roman legions were defeated by the weather, the terrain, German grievances and treachery, and, so the Romans believed, the fickleness of Fortuna (iniquitate

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fortunae).86 They were also defeated because of errors and negligence on the part of Quinctilius Varus, a member of a patrician family long in decline who owed his current status to being part of the extended family of Augustus through his marriages. Quinctilius Varus had been married to a Vipsania, a daughter of Agrippa, at the time of Agrippa’s death in 12 b.c., but in a.d. 9, Quinctilius Varus was married to the grandniece of Augustus, Claudia Pulchra, the daughter of Marcella the Younger, who was a daughter of Augustus’ sister Octavia by her first husband, Gaius Marcellus. After the defeat at Teutoburg, Quinctilius Varus committed suicide rather than be captured alive, and his head was sent back to Augustus in Rome, who interred it in Quinctilius Varus’ family tomb. Augustus was so devastated at the news of this defeat that he tore his garments and refused to cut his hair or beard, as would befit the actions of a man after the death of a family member, and he thereafter marked the day of the defeat as a day of mourning. The military debacle in Germany in the early autumn of a.d. 9 was a great shock to the citizens of Rome and to Augustus, but the situation on the frontier was not as serious as first thought, and matters soon stabilized. Dio said that, upon reflection, Augustus determined that the defeat of Quinctilius Varus and the loss of the three legions could not have occurred without the anger of a divine power, especially because negative portents had both preceded and followed the catastrophe (οὐκ ἄνευ δαιμονίου τινὸς ὀργῆς).87 Soldiers in the camps had fought over the military eagles. Lightning had struck the Temple of Mars in the Campus Martius in Rome. The sky had appeared to be ablaze in many places, and numerous shooting stars had been seen all together in the northern part of the sky (ἀστέρες τε κομῆται συχνοὶ ἅμα κατεφαίνοντο, καὶ δόρατα ἀπ’ ἄρκτου φερό­ μενα).88 Despite the shock of the Varian disaster and the bad omens, civic life at Rome went on as usual nonetheless. On January 16, a.d. 10, Tiberius dedicated a restored Temple of Concordia, which was located at the end of the Via Sacra overlooking the Forum Romanum.89 In a.d. 11, when Drusus the son of Tiberius was holding a quaestorship, Augustus’ engagement with the celestial sphere took a personal turn when he proclaimed an edict that forbade predictions by diviners, including astrologers, about the death of an individual.90 Although the edict of a.d. 11 did not reference Augustus himself and although Augustus said publicly that he cared little himself for such predictions, he was concerned enough to release for all to see a public notice regarding the stars under which he had been born (τὴν τῶν ἀστέρων διάταξιν, ὑφ’ ὧν ἐγεγέννητο, φανερῶσαι). Dio’s words must be carefully evaluated to determine what exactly Augustus felt confident in releasing at this time. The word ἀστέρες has several meanings in ancient texts dealing with astronomical or astrological matters, depending on context, but here it refers to the Signs of Augustus’ genitura, which reflected in symbolic form the constellations of the

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zodiac in the sky.91 The word διάταξις can refer to an arrangement of things such as troops for battles, topics, or the planets and luminaries.92 Because the matter in question involved prediction, Augustus probably was referring in a.d. 11 to the release in some form of the locations of the astrological planets and luminaries in the Signs in his genitura. Suetonius, writing about one hundred years earlier than Dio, provides helpful evidence for determining the nature of the διάταξις released by Augustus in a.d. 11. Following his description of the visit to Theogenes at Apollonia in 44 b.c., Suetonius mentioned that Augustus authorized the issuing of silver coinage displaying the image of Capricornus, which was the location of the Moon in his genitura, and that he made available to the public some part of his genitura, which he called a thema (tantam mox fiduciam fati Augustus habuit, ut thema suum vulgaverit nummumque argenteum nota ­sideris Capricorni, quo natus est, percusserit).93 The visit to Theogenes, the issuing of the Capricornus coins, and the release of the thema were not simultaneous, although they are sometimes interpreted as such. The visit to Theogenes took place in the months before Caesar’s assassination in 44 b.c. Over a decade later, after the Battle of Actium in 31 b.c., Octavianus authorized the coinage displaying Capricornus.94 Sometime later (mox), according to Suetonius but in actuality over fifty years after his visit to Theogenes, Augustus publicly released a thema in a.d. 11.95 Following the prediction of Theogenes, Octavius had decided to go forward in his life with bravado but cautious awareness. He would not have revealed publicly, however, any portion of his private genitura as early as 44 b.c., given his youth, his inexperience, and the uncertainty of his situation at that time. Only in a.d. 11 was Augustus confident enough of his destiny to make public a thema, but not his genitura. The words genitura, from the Greek word γένεσις, and thema, from the Greek word θέμα, are not interchangeable. The genitura was the full natal horoscope that was kept private. The thema was a stripped-​down version of the genitura that was derived from the genitura and presented select features only. Being more general, a thema could be distributed, if desired, more widely and safely to the general public. Augustus released select astrological information in a.d. 11, probably the location of the Moon in Capricornus in its astrological Place in his genitura, to show that the issue of individuals predicting his death was of no concern to him. Augustus had been aware of the presence of predictions of this sort for years, as he implied in a letter he wrote in a.d. 1 to his grandson Gaius Caesar about having passed safely through his potentially dangerous astrological Great Climacteric. But in a.d. 11 Augustus released his thema, not his genitura, in order to prevent anyone with malicious intention from calculating the date of his death on the basis of precise knowledge of critical elements in his genitura. Manilius provided a straightforward method by which the year of an individual’s death might be calculated on the basis of a genitura.96 According to this method,

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which is based on the location of the Moon in an astrological Place, Augustus would reach the age of seventy-​two because the Moon was in Place 4 in his genitura. On September 22, a.d. 11, the birthday he celebrated personally, Augustus had gone beyond this predicted lifespan and turned seventy-​four years old. The public announcement by Augustus of this thema in a.d. 11 would have sufficed as a statement to the wider circle of his allies, his enemies, and the Roman populace in general that, despite recent setbacks, his place at the pinnacle of the Roman social and political hierarchy and the promise to him by the celestial sphere of a long life were still confirmed by the cosmos. In a.d. 12, Germanicus became consul with Gaius Fonteius Capito, the son of the former associate of Antonius, as his colleague, without having held the office of praetor, on a fast rise up the ladder of Roman political offices (cursus honorum) that was now becoming usual for members of the imperial family. Germanicus shared with Augustus a deep interest in the celestial sphere, and he followed Augustus, it appears, in employing crinitus with an extended meaning of “bright” in his Latin translation of the Greek Phaenomena of Aratus, which he had begun writing by this time.97 Germanicus’ Aratea was the second Latin translation of the Phaenomena and the only translation that dates to the period of the saeculum Augustum. A new Latin version of Aratus’ poem, it aimed to rival both the Greek original and the first Latin translation composed by Cicero around 90 b.c. and perhaps even to replace them. The goal of Germanicus’ translation was not the creation, as in Cicero’s translation, of a Latin lexicon of astronomical terminology. Nor was Germanicus’ version only a proud demonstration of how a Latin translation could replicate and improve upon the style, elegance, and technical virtuosity of its Greek original or Latin predecessor. Germanicus offered instead a contemporary translation that took account of the criticisms leveled at Aratus’ poem by the astronomer Hipparchus in his commentary.98 Germanicus’ translation was infused with Roman cultural references and undertaken for a different age, and it had as artistic precedents not only Cicero’s Latin translation of the Phaenomena but also the Latin poems of Catullus, Lucretius, Vergil, Horace, Propertius, Tibullus, and Ovid. In the first part of his translation, Germanicus followed the astronomical content of Aratus’ original poem. In the second part, Germanicus did not translate the celestial and terrestrial weather signs found in the original Phaenomena but in their place presented weather signs based on the astrological qualities of the planets.99 Germanicus’ translation offers clear evidence that celestial display, which had been so important for Augustus as an affirmation of his Julian astro-​genealogy, was now beginning to give way to astrology, which was preferred by Tiberius, upon whom Augustus was being compelled to rely more heavily. Tiberius had been educated by serious practitioners in astrology (innutritus caelestium praeceptorum disciplinis) and he was

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apparently dedicated to the craft.100 Tiberius’ dedication, according to Suetonius, was more of an addiction, and he was absolutely convinced that all things were driven by fate (quippe addictus mathematicae plenusque persuasionis cuncta fato agi).101 Tiberius was less interested, being a member by birth of the gens Claudia on both his father’s side and his mother’s side, in highlighting the celestial divinities who protected members of the gens Iulia and more interested in predictive astrology than celestial display. Tiberius’ astrological interests probably had some influence upon Augustus, but celestial display, not astrology, still remained for Augustus the most important means of demonstrating publicly the support of the celestial sphere for him. In a.d. 13, Augustus began to show signs of decline, and he started a process of disengaging from his imperial duties, announcing that he would attend the Senate only on special occasions. The year opened with the dedication, probably by Tiberius, of a statue to Augustan Justice on the sixth day before the Ides of January ( January 8).102 Augustus made his will a few months later on the third day before the Nones of April (April 3) in a.d. 13.103 In this same year, Augustus granted himself a fifth ten-​year term as head of the state, and he also again gave the tribunician power to Tiberius, making him virtually his co-​regent. At the public celebration of what would turn out to be his final official birthday in the same year, on September 23, a.d. 13, a disturbing episode occurred that was judged to have some relevance for Augustus.104 During the horse race that was part of the celebration, a raving man sat himself down on the chair that was dedicated to the deceased and deified Caesar and set the crown that had been placed on the seat upon his own head. On September 23 in this year, the celestial display just before sunrise was muted. Of all his Julian celestial kin, only an exceedingly slim crescent Moon, 0.5.% full, in Virgo [Vir] appeared in the sky near the eastern horizon ahead of the Sun. In a.d. 14, the heavens had also began to provide general ominous signs of some unfortunate event to come. The Sun was not visible in the sky, which seemed to be on fire, and red embers were seen to be falling from it (ὅ τε γὰρ ἥλιος ἅπας ἐξέλιπε, καὶ τοῦ οὐρανοῦ τὸ πολὺ καίεσθαι ἔδοξε, ξύλα τε διάπυρα ἀπ’ αὐτοῦ πίπτοντα ἐφαντάσθη).105 Blood-​red shooting stars were also visible (καὶ ἀστέρες κοῆται καὶ αἱματωδεις ὤφθησαν). The verb ἐκλείπω is commonly applied to eclipses, and Herodotus employed the verb to describe a solar eclipse that occurred at the time of the departure of Xerxes from Sardis.106 No solar eclipse, however, was visible at Rome during the years a.d. 9 through a.d. 14., and Dio may be referring to a combination of different celestial events that occurred on April 4, a.d. 14.107 On this day, a total lunar eclipse would have gradually turned the face of the full moon from white to red. The eclipse began around midnight when the Moon was in Virgo (Fortuna-​τύχη). The lunar eclipse reached its maximum at 3:00 a.m.

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Fig. 14.6.  The celebration of the lustrum following the announcement of the completion of the census. May 11, a.d. 14. Sunrise, 4:52 a.m. Rome (41° 53ꞌ N, 12° 29ꞌ E). SkyMap Pro V. 12. By permission of Chris Marriott.

and it ended shortly after sunrise when the Moon was at the western horizon in Chelae (Libra). This total lunar eclipse was entirely visible at Rome. Eclipses were viewed commonly as negative portents, and this one in the spring of a.d. 14 was believed to herald something unfortunate. At totality, the observer could have seen, not far from the Moon to the east, the notable presence of Jupiter and Saturn close together in Scorpios [Sco]. Altair in Aquila was also in the heavens

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at this time. The lunar eclipse may have been accompanied by a shimmering red aurora borealis that made the sky appear to be on fire. The aurora borealis, an atmospheric phenomenon that had been observed at Rome in the first month of Cicero’s consular year, 63 b.c. (see Chap. 2), was a frightening indication for the Romans of great misfortune to come. Augustus appeared in the Campus Martius before a large crowd on May 11, a.d. 14 to announce the conclusion of the census of the Roman population, which he and Tiberius had undertaken by a special grant of consular imperium, and to hold the lustrum, a ritual of purification with a procession.108 This lustrum, the third one held by Augustus, would turn out to be Augustus’ final public appearance. Unmistakable visual omens had already begun to appear that heralded his impending death (mors quoque eius . . . evidentissimis ostentis praecognita est).109 At the lustrum, an eagle (aquila) flew around Augustus several times and then perched above the first letter of Agrippa’s name inscribed on a nearby temple in the Campus Martius, which may have been the Pantheon, the temple to all the gods that Agrippa had completed in 25 b.c. This ominous sign was interpreted to mean that Augustus’ own death was near. Around the same time, the first letter C of Augustus’ earlier favored name and the family name of his adoptive father (Caesar) was melted off the pedestal of one of his statues on the Capitoline Hill by a lightning strike, and this omen was interpreted to mean that Augustus had only 100 (Roman numeral C) days more to live. The remaining letters, “aesar,” which meant “god” in Etruscan, were said to indicate that Augustus himself would shortly be joining the ranks of the gods himself (futurumque ut inter deos referretur). At sunrise on May 11, a.d. 14, the day of the lustrum, the Sun was rising in Taurus [Tau] (see the central area of visibility in Fig. 14.6). Venus was ahead to the west in Aries [Ari] and the Moon, 40% full, was in Pisces [Psc]. Jupiter in Scorpios [Sco] had dropped out of sight below the western horizon and Saturn in Scorpios [Sco] was close to the western horizon. Not far from Saturn to the east was Altair in Aquila the Eagle [Aql], the bright star on which Augustus had focused in September 44 b.c. as the representation of the initial stage of the journey of Caesar’s soul to the Milky Way. It may have seemed to those close to Augustus that Altair was now waiting for him.

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The Death, Funeral, and Deification of Augustus a.d. 14

In the months before his death, Augustus is said to have made a final attempt to ensure a place for a descendant of his own bloodline in the succession. Accompanied only by Fabius Maximus, one of his younger friends and the husband of his first cousin Marcia, Augustus sailed secretly to the island of Planasia, where he had a tearful meeting with his grandson Agrippa Postumus, whom he had adopted with Tiberius in a.d. 4 but exiled a few years later.1 Livia learned about Augustus’ clandestine visit from Marcia, who learned about it from her husband, Fabius Maximus, who had unwisely confided in her. Fabius Maximus died soon after, perhaps by suicide, and at her husband’s funeral Marcia was overheard blaming herself for her husband’s death. Augustus may have reconciled with Agrippa Postumus on Planasia but he did not release him from his place of detention or bring him back to Rome. The alleged restoration of the Julian Agrippa Postumus to his rightful place as the adoptive son of Augustus, however, constituted a danger to the Claudian Tiberius, who had been working to turn the probability that he might succeed Augustus into the likelihood that he actually would. Augustus left Rome during the summer of a.d. 14, perhaps in late July, after some delays.2 He went as far as Astura and then boarded a ship at night. While sailing, he developed an illness that began with diarrhea. He traveled along the coast of Campania and then reached Capri, where he spent four days in resting and engaging in various festivities and displays at his villa on the island. Tiberius and his mathematicus Thrasyllus were with Augustus on Capri. Thrasyllus had become a trusted advisor to Tiberius following an episode that had occurred some years earlier in a.d. 2, when Tiberius was still in Rhodes. Tiberius had

Celestial Inclinations. Anne-​Marie Lewis, Oxford University Press. © Oxford University Press 2023. DOI: 10.1093/​oso/​9780197599648.003.0016

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become uncomfortable with Thrasyllus being privy to all his thoughts and secrets and dissatisfied with Thrasyllus providing what appeared to him to be inaccurate predictions.3 Tiberius, who was very knowledgeable about astrology himself, decided to test the astrological skill of Thrasyllus and to kill him if he found Thrasyllus’ astrological abilities to be fraudulent. The two went for a walk one day on the rocky path near Tiberius’ villa, which overlooked the sea. Thrasyllus predicted the future rule of Tiberius, and Tiberius then asked Thrasyllus what his own genitura foretold for him. After Thrasyllus had set out the placements in his own genitura, perhaps on a portable astrological board, he realized with growing certainty that he was about to suffer some terrible calamity. When he announced his interpretation, Tiberius embraced him. Now fully convinced of Thrasyllus’ astrological ability, Tiberius decided not to push him off the cliff to his death. The trusting bond between the two men was cemented when Thrasyllus gave Tiberius an accurate prophecy regarding the arrival of a ship from Rome in a.d. 2 that was carrying a message from Augustus and Livia that Tiberius was being recalled to Rome. Suetonius relates a revealing exchange between Thrasyllus and Augustus, who were reclining opposite each other at a banquet held one evening while Augustus was resting on Capri.4 Augustus caught sight of a torchlight procession to the tomb of Masgaba, one of his favorites, who had died on Capri in the previous year and whom he used to call “the founder” (κτίστης). As Augustus watched the procession, he composed on the spot a Greek verse in iambic trimeter, a poetic meter used in the spoken portions of a Greek tragedy: “I see the founder’s tomb alight with fire” (κτίστου δὲ τύμβον εἰσορῶ πορούμενον). Augustus then turned to Thrasyllus to ask if he recognized the author of the verse. Thrasyllus hesitated. Augustus then added another Greek verse in iambic trimeter: “Do you see Masgaba honored now with lights?” (ὁρᾷς φάεσσι Μασγάβαν τιμώμενον;). Using consuluit, a verb appropriate in the context of an astrological consultation (ac de hoc quoque consuluit), Augustus asked if Thrasyllus could identify the author on the basis of this second verse, but Thrasyllus said that he could not. Thrasyllus commented instead that, aside from whoever wrote them, the verses were very good. Augustus is said to have let out a loud laugh (cachinnus) and then fallen into joking (in iocos). Cachinnus is not gentle, friendly laughter but loud, immoderate laughter that can contain an element of derision. The word iocus may be used when someone is jesting playfully but also when someone is trying to make another person the butt of a sarcastic joke. Augustus, who was physically unwell at this time but not addled in his mind, may have been showing his irritation with those practitioners of the craft of astrology who had made predictions in a.d. 11 about his impending death, including among them perhaps Thrasyllus and his patron Tiberius, Augustus’ presumed heir apparent.5 Augustus’ harsh

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laughter and derisive jesting, however, may also have been an acknowledgment of the careful handling of a potentially dangerous situation by Thrasyllus like the one he had faced up on the cliff in Rhodes several years earlier. The reluctance of Thrasyllus to answer Augustus’ questions about the author of these two Greek verses regarding the procession being held to commemorate the death of an associate of Augustus displayed the caution and discretion expected of a mathematicus. By hesitating and feigning ignorance, Thrasyllus saved not only himself but probably also Tiberius. Augustus sailed from Capri to Naples, although he was still suffering from the illness in his intestines.6 Although he remained unwell, Augustus went to Naples to watch a gymnastic contest that had been established there to honor him. Then, despite his continuing illness, Augustus decided to accompany Tiberius to Beneventum (modern Benevento), where he and Tiberius parted. Tiberius headed off to a campaign in Illyricum. Augustus, with his illness increasing, was carried back in the direction of Naples to his family property at Nola in Campania.7 The ancient sources provide different accounts of the whereabouts of Tiberius after he parted from Augustus at Beneventum.8 According to Velleius Paterculus, Augustus had accompanied Tiberius as far as Beneventum, and went to Nola due to his worsening health.9 Augustus quickly sent for Tiberius, who arrived in time to comfort him and speak to him about the fulfilment of his plans for the succession and of his willingness to yield to the fates (fata). According to Tacitus, Tiberius arrived in Illyricum only to be summoned back by an urgent letter from his mother, Livia, and it is not known whether Tiberius found Augustus dead or alive upon his arrival in Nola.10 According to Suetonius, Augustus arrived at Nola and then called back Tiberius, who was still on his way to Illyricum.11 Tiberius is said to have arrived while Augustus was still alive and to have engaged with Augustus in long and earnest private conversations. Dio, writing much later, presented the two current versions of Augustus’ final days. In the first version, Tiberius reached Illyricum but returned to Italy only after Augustus’ death, which Livia had been concealing from the public because of her son’s absence.12 In the second version, Tiberius returned to Nola in time to see Augustus alive and he received some guidance from him. Dio noted that the first version was accepted by the most trustworthy historians, but the second version is perhaps the more likely because it has the support of Velleius Paterculus, who was a contemporary of Tiberius, and Suetonius, who had access to the imperial archives. Augustus is said by Suetonius to have commented wryly after Tiberius had left following one of their confidential conversations at this time that he pitied the Roman people, who would be subject after his own death to the slowly chomping jaws of Tiberius (“miserum populum R., qui sub tam lentis maxillis erit!”).13 Augustus’ grandson and adoptive son Agrippa Postumus, who may have been

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reconciled with Augustus a few months earlier, posed a threat to Tiberius but he still remained far from Rome on the island of Planasia. Tiberius, being on the scene, had the best chance to succeed Augustus, regardless of his personal shortcomings. As his death approached, Augustus made no more mention of public matters. On August 19, a.d. 14, Augustus asked several times whether any commotion regarding his illness was taking place in the streets outside his house. Augustus commented with pride on the completion of his many building projects at Rome, which were all part of the planning and hard work he had put into turning Rome from a city of sun-​dried brick into one of marble (according to Suetonius, ut iure sit gloriatus marmoream se relinquere, quam latericiam accepisset, and according to Dio, ὅτι “τὴν ‘Ρώμην γηίνην παραλαβὼν λιθίνην ὑμῖν καταλείπω”).14 These building projects were important reflections of the power of Augustus and his Julian family that would be acknowledged far into the future. Augustus remained cogent of his surroundings and of his situation, even calling in people in turn to speak with him. He asked one group of friends whether it seemed to them that he had he had acted the mime of his life (mimus vitae) through to its end in a satisfactory manner (admissos amicos percontatus, ecquid iis videretur mimum vitae commode transegisse).15 Without waiting for their answers, he then recited a two-​ verse epigram in Greek of his own creation that was modeled on comic verses, the first verse more uncertain in the manuscripts and reconstructed in different ways, the second verse more stable and in the trochaic meter found in Roman comedy. An important key to understanding the meaning of Augustus’ concluding assessment of his life, his “clausula,” involves the first two words in the first verse. Some scholars prefer to reconstruct the beginning of the first verse as εἰ δέ, which means “if,” and to interpret Augustus’ final words as consistent with his own sense of careful modesty.16 Others prefer to reconstruct the beginning of the first verse as ἐπεὶ δέ, which means “since,” and to interpret this statement as an indication of the supreme confidence that Augustus possessed in his destiny right up to the end of his life.17 The reconstruction ἐπεὶ δέ is preferable because it reflects the way Augustus’ life had played out: ἐπεὶ δὲ πάνυ καλῶς πέπαισται, δότε κρότον καὶ πάντες ἡμᾶς μετὰ χαρᾶς προπέμψατε. Since it has been played very well, give your applause, and all of you send us off with pleasure. In Dio’s description of the final hours of Augustus’ life, Augustus is said to have asked those around him for their applause as if he were one of the comic buffoons

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asking for applause at the close of a performance (ὁμοίως τοῖς γελωτοποιοῖς, ὡς καὶ μίμου τινὸς τελευτῇͅ).18 Dio commented that by asking for applause Augustus thoroughly poked fun at the entire manner of living among human beings (πάμπανυ πάντα τὸν τῶν ἀνθρώπων βίον διέσκωψε). Dio, however, may have misinterpreted the meaning of Augustus’ words. Augustus had indeed experienced setbacks, adventures of various sorts, successes, joys, and sorrows over a long period of time.19 But Augustus in making his comment about the comedy of life was looking at his mortal life with an eye to his immortality among the stars as Scipio Africanus had advised his adoptive grandson Scipio Aemilianus to do in the dream sequence presented by Cicero in his De Republica (haec caelestia semper spectato, illa humana contemnito).20 The general archetypal theory of comedy, although modern, helps to illuminate how and why Augustus viewed his life in this way:21 At the beginning of the play [a comedy] the obstructing characters are in charge of the play’s society, and the audience recognizes that they are usurpers . . . As the final society reached by comedy is the one that the audience has recognized all along to be the proper and desirable state of affairs, an act of communion with the audience is in order. . . . The obstacles to the hero’s desire, then, form the action of the comedy, and the overcoming of them the comic resolution. The ending of a Hellenistic Greek comedy or a Roman comedy was usually, after various impediments, a happy one, or at least an ending that was what it had been fated to be. In an ancient comedy, the focus was the social center, which at Rome was the familia. Family had been one of the preoccupations of Augustus in his later years from the time of his enactment of moral legislation in 17 b.c. In 9 b.c., Augustus saw to it that Livia was granted the ius trium liberorum, which conveyed special privileges upon women who had given birth to three children. And in a.d. 9 he had praised fathers over childless men for their decision to have families in order to renew and glorify themselves and the Roman state.22 Augustus’ final conversation was with those who came to give him a report about the illness of a family member, Claudia Livia Iulia (Livilla), the daughter of his deceased stepson, Drusus, and his niece Antonia the Younger, who was herself the daughter of his unspoken rival Antonius and his sister Octavia, both now long dead. While kissing his wife Livia and asking that she remain mindful of their marriage, he died suddenly but not unexpectedly after complaining in alarm that he was being carried off by forty young men, a premonition apparently of the same number of the praetorian guard who carried his body out into the open following his death.23 Augustus died on the fourteenth

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day before the Kalends of September in the consulship of Sextus Pompeius and Sextus Appuleius (August 19, a.d. 14) at the ninth seasonal hour of the day (around 3:20 p.m.), a date recorded on the Fasti Amiternini as a very sad day (dies tristissimus).24 According to Suetonius, Augustus died in his seventy-​sixth year, thirty-​five days short of the anniversary of his birth on September 22, 63 b.c. (septuagesimo et sexto aetatis anno, diebus V et XXX minus). Suetonius was counting inclusively from September 22, 63 b.c., the date for Augustus’ birth, to August 19, a.d. 14. According to Dio, Augustus died on the nineteenth day of the mensis Augustus (τῇ ἐννεακαιδεκάτῇ τοῦ Αὐγούστου).25 He had lived seventy-​five years, ten months, and twenty-​six days. Dio was counting off the years Augustus lived with 63–​62 b.c. as the first year of Augustus’ life. Dio was counting off the months Augustus lived by using September to October as the first month of life. Dio was counting off the days from September 23, the day on which Augustus permitted the public celebrations of his birthday to take place (ζήσας μὲν πέντε καὶ ἑβδομήκοντα ἔτη καὶ μῆνας δέκα καὶ ἡμέρας ἓξ καὶ εἴκοσι [τῇ γὰρ τρίτῃ καὶ εἰκοστῇ τοῦ Σεπτεμβρίου ἐγεγέννητο]). By this reckoning, on his birthday in a.d. 13, Augustus had lived a full seventy-​five years. He would have turned seven-​six on his next official public birthday on September 23, a.d. 14, had he lived. Just as Caesar had expressed a wish for a sudden or unexpected death on the night before the Ides of March in 44 b.c., Augustus is said to have envied those who had passed from life by means of a swift and painless death (εὐθανασία) and to have wished for the same thing for himself.26 Tacitus suggested that Augustus’ death was the result of some wicked deed of Livia (scelus uxoris) in response to the alleged reconciliation of Augustus with his Julian grandson Agrippa Postumus and her fear that Augustus was planning to pass over Tiberius and name Agrippa Postumus as his successor.27 Dio implied that Livia and Tiberius conspired in the manner of Augustus’ death, which was caused by Livia smearing some figs that were still on the tree with poison in order to make Augustus ill.28 Augustus was accustomed to pick the figs from this tree himself and so would not have had any suspicions. But regardless of whether Augustus was dispatched from life by poison or died of some illness, the prophecy Livia is said to have received from the mathematicus Scribonius when her elder son, Tiberius, was very young was near to fulfillment. Tiberius would not be a king but he would rule (regnaturum quandoque, sed sine regio insigni).29 The announcement of the death of Augustus and the accession of Tiberius came together. Tiberius is also said to have concealed the death of Augustus until he was assured that Agrippa Postumus, who was still on Planasia, had been killed by one of the soldiers who were guarding him.30 Agrippa Postumus was unarmed and not expecting the attack, but he allegedly put up a strong fight for his life. On whose order Agrippa Postumus was killed is uncertain, but Tiberius denied

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afterwards that he had played any part in the murder of his rival, who had been both his stepson and his brother by adoption. Whether Augustus had willed himself to live until the day August 19, a.d. 14 is unknown, but not impossible.31 During Augustus’ lifetime, the poet Horace and Maecenas died in 8 b.c. around the same time, as Horace had predicted, and the two were buried near each other on the Esquiline Hill in Rome.32 Remarkable coincidences surrounding Augustus’ death appeared to indicate that Augustus’ death on that day and in that place was fated. These coincidences did not go unnoticed at the time. Augustus died in the same room in his house at Nola as his father had died. Augustus is said to have planned seventy-​six columns for the Temple of Quirinus, which he dedicated in 16 b.c., because he intended to live into his seventy-​sixth year.33 He died in the mensis Augustus, the month that had been named after him in 8 b.c. He died on the same day in a.d. 14 as the day on which he had assumed his first consulship in 43 b.c.34 Whether Augustus had been observing the heavens as his final illness grew more serious is unknown, but those expert in celestial matters who had been with him on Capri and may have journeyed on with him to Nola may have done so on his behalf and reported to him. Augustus would undoubtedly have been satisfied to know that he had indeed concluded his life against the backdrop of a notable celestial display. Some features of the celestial display on the day of his death would have been visible. Other features, unseen because Augustus’ death occurred during the day, would have been known to be present in the heavens at the time of Augustus’ death by those conversant with the celestial sphere. All of Augustus’ celestial Julian kin, the five visible ancient planets and the two luminaries, were in the heavens to bear witness to his death at Nola around 3:20 p.m. on August 19, a.d. 14 (see the central area of visibility in Fig. 15.1). The Sun in Leo [Leo] was visible to all. The Moon in Chelae (Libra) [Lib], slim at 25% full and waxing, could have been visible. The Moon was near Zubeneschamali, the star in Chelae (Libra) imagined to be the final resting place of the soul of Caesar. An experienced observer would have had no trouble tracking Venus to its location in the heavens at the time of Augustus’ death because Venus in Leo [Leo], the Morning Star on this day, had been moving from the eastern horizon across the sky toward the western horizon. An experienced observer would also know that Mars was near Venus and also in Leo. To the east, the location of Saturn and Jupiter in Scorpios [Sco] in close proximity would also have been known to be near the Moon in Chelae (Libra). The location of Mercury in Virgo [Vir] would have been known to be close to and just behind the Sun in Leo. In addition, it would have been known that Gemini [Gem], a constellation of significance to Augustus and often present in the heavens at his public events, was at the western horizon and that Altair in Aquila [Aql] was at the opposite end of the heavens, not far from the eastern horizon.

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Fig. 15.1.  The death of Augustus. August 19, a.d. 14, 3:20 p.m. Nola, Italy. 40° 55ꞌ N 14° 31ꞌ E. SkyMap Pro V. 12. By permission of Chris Marriott.

The body of Augustus was transported to Rome from Nola by senators from Nola and the surrounding towns, resting by day in major buildings along the way and traveling by night because of the hot weather.35 Members of the equestrian order from Bovillae, an ancient Latin town associated with Alba Longa and the gens Iulia, had the honor of carrying the body to the vestibule of Augustus’ house. The body of Augustus reached its final destination on the night of September 2–​3, a.d. 14 and remained at his Palatine house for four days.36 The decision to

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bring the body of Augustus back to Rome in this way and to have it arrive at a particular moment was that of Augustus’ close family, notably Livia, his widow, and Tiberius, his adoptive son and successor. Because no situation like this had ever occurred in Rome, the arrival of the body of Augustus in Rome was a critical moment. In order for the succession to proceed in an orderly manner and for the grand funeral of Augustus and the celebration of his Julian family to take place as planned, nothing could be left to chance. The arrival of Augustus’ body at his home on the Palatine Hill, probably between midnight and about 4:00 a.m. on September 3, a.d. 14, was a sorrowful final reflection of the stealthy way Augustus during his lifetime had preferred to arrive at Rome—​by night and without much attention. When the body of Augustus arrived at his home during that night, Diana in her celestial manifestation as the Moon, 68% full in Taurus [Tau], alone of Augustus’ celestial Julian kin bore witness to the return of the body of her Arician descendant to the home that was adjacent to the temple dedicated to her brother Apollo (see the central area of visibility in Fig. 15.2 for a time of 3:00 a.m.). The arrival may have been timed to coincide with the appearance of the Moon in the heavens at this time. Those who delivered Augustus’ body to his home on the Palatine Hill and those waiting to receive it may have looked up to see the Moon shining in the heavens at the moment of the body’s arrival. Some seven years earlier, the poet Ovid had looked up to assess the state of the heavens on the night before he was to set out for Tomis. As he wrote in one of his early poems from exile, Ovid saw the Moon shining down and illuminating the Temple of Jupiter on the Capitoline Hill (lunaque nocturnos alta regebat equos. /​hanc ego suspiciens et ad hanc Capitolia cernens).37 The next morning Ovid left Rome. He would never return. On the day following the arrival of the body of Augustus in Rome, Tiberius’ son, Drusus the Younger, retrieved the will of Augustus from the Vestal Virgins, with whom Augustus had deposited it in the previous year, a.d. 13. The seals were examined, and the will was read in the Senate by Polybius, one of the imperial freedmen. In his will, Augustus named two heirs of the first rank, Tiberius and Livia. Augustus wrote that because a cruel fate had snatched his adoptive sons Gaius Caesar and Lucius Caesar from him, he had chosen Tiberius as his chief heir.38 Agrippa Postumus was not mentioned. Augustus bequeathed to Tiberius two-​thirds of his estate and the cognomen Augustus. His wife Livia received one-​ third of the estate and was to take the name Augusta. Heirs of the second rank included Drusus the Younger and Germanicus, Augustus’ grandson by adoption, and Germanicus’ own sons. Heirs of the third rank included relatives and friends. Augustus also bequeathed 40 million sesterces to the Roman people, 3,500,000 sesterces to certain tribes, 1,000 sesterces each to his praetorian guards, and 300 sesterces each to the legionary soldiers.39 He permitted his exiled daughter, Iulia,

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UTC: 02:00:00 3-Sep-14 RA: 1h28m44s Dec: +41° 52' Field: 182.0°

Sidereal Time: 01:28:43 Julian Day: 1726416.5833

Fig. 15.2.  The arrival of the body of Augustus in Rome. September 3, a.d. 14., 3:00 a.m. Rome (41° 53ꞌ N, 12° 29ꞌ E). SkyMap Pro V. 12. By permission of Chris Marriott.

to receive gifts but also made a special order in the will that Iulia and his exiled granddaughter Iulia the Younger, both of whom he had never forgiven, were not to be recalled or buried in his mausoleum in the Campus Martius. Other sealed rolls were opened.40 One roll contained a record of Augustus’ achievements, perhaps the Res Gestae, which Augustus completed in a.d. 14 during his seventy-​sixth year (cum scripsi haec annum agebam septuagensumum sextum).41 According to the preface of the Res Gestae, which was appended later, these achievements were

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recorded on two bronze pillars at Rome.42 A second roll provided an account of military matters and expenditures and left commands for Tiberius. A third roll contained detailed instructions for his funeral, which would be suitably elaborate and for which Agrippa’s funeral in 12 b.c. had been a dress rehearsal. The senators began to vie with one another over ways that they might honor Augustus at his upcoming funeral. Suggestions included the passing of his funeral cortège through the triumphal gate, preceded by the statue of Victoria that was in the Senate House; a funeral dirge sung by girls and boys who belonged to the most important families in Rome; the wearing of iron rings instead of golden ones; the collecting of Augustus’ ashes by the priests of the highest colleges; the formal naming and official recording in the monumental calendars of the period stretching from Augustus’ birth to his death as the saeculum Augustum; and the transfer of Augustus’ name from the month of August to September, the month in which he had been born.43 In the end, the honors paid to Augustus were not excessive, and the mensis September was never renamed. Ancient sources do not give the exact date of Augustus’ funeral, but it most likely took place in early September, perhaps on September 8, a.d. 14.44 At the funeral, Augustus’ body was concealed in a coffin within a couch of gold and ivory covered with a purple and gold cloth. A wax image on top represented his body. This image along with several other images of him were carried to the Forum Romanum and accompanied by images of his ancestors and deceased relatives, excluding Caesar, who was a divinity (divus). An image of Pompeius Magnus, who was distantly related to Augustus, Livia, and Tiberius and still revered as a great Roman conqueror, was also carried in the procession. Drusus the Younger delivered first the family oration from the Old Rostra in the Forum Romanum.45 Tiberius delivered the public eulogy from the Rostra Iulia, the speaker’s platform in front of the Temple of Divus Iulius at the other end of the Forum Romanum. This speaker’s platform was redolent with appropriate symbolism for Augustus. Located near the Domus Publica and the spot at which the body of Caesar had been spontaneously burned in the Forum Romanum by the enraged mob in 44 b.c., this speaker’s platform was decorated with the beaks of ships that had been captured at the Battle of Actium. In his eulogy, a version of which Dio presents, Tiberius emphasized Augustus’ generosity toward the Roman people, his effective governorship of the empire, his swift dealing with wrongdoing, and the actions he had taken to deal with his rivals not in accordance with his own desires but in accordance with what seemed right to the divine power (παθὼν οὐχ ὅσα αὐτὸς ἤθελεν ἀλλ’ ὅσα τῷ δαιμονίῳ ἔδοξεν).46 Following Tiberius’ eulogy, the couch that contained the body of Augustus within was carried on the shoulders of senators to a funeral pyre in the Campus Martius. After the body was consumed by the flames, an eagle was released from the pyre to symbolize the flight of the soul

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of Augustus into the heavens. Livia is said to have given one million sesterces to Numerius Atticus, a senator and former praetor, who swore that he had seen an image of the cremated Augustus ascending into the heavens from his funeral pyre (qui se effigiem cremati euntem in caelum vidisse iuraret).47 Around the eighth seasonal hour on September 8, a.d. 14, Augustus’ celestial kin—​the five visible ancient planets, both luminaries, and Caesar in Chelae (Libra)—​were all present in the sky to bear witness to the journey of the celestial spirit of Augustus resolving itself in the flames of the funeral pyre into its fundamental elements and returning to the heavens (in sua resolutus initia . . . animam caelestem caelo reddidit) (see the central area of visibility in Fig. 15.3).48 Most of these celestial entities were not visible in the daylight but their locations would have been known to those who were conversant with the celestial sphere. Saturn and Jupiter were close together in Scorpios [Sco] in the east. Mercury, the Sun, Venus, and Mars were all in Virgo [Vir] to the west. The Moon, 18% full, was in Leo [Leo]. Caesar was present in the star Zubeneschamali in Chelae (Libra) [Lib], the constellation adjacent to Virgo. In addition, Altair in Aquila [Aql], the eagle that was imagined to have taken the soul of Caesar to the Milky Way, was now above the eastern horizon. Altair in Aquila was in an ideal position in the sky to perform the task of taking the soul of Augustus to the heavens—​that is, to the Milky Way—​to join the souls of other noble Romans, such as Romulus, Pompeius Magnus, Cato, Cicero, Agrippa, Marcellus, and Drusus, who had all served the state well. Following Augustus’ funeral, Livia kept a vigil near the place of the cremation of Augustus’ body for five days in the company of prominent members of the equestrian order, after which she gathered up Augustus’ bones and interred them in his mausoleum, where they joined the remains of the members of Augustus’ close family who had predeceased him. Tiberius had ended his eulogy at the funeral of Augustus by alluding to the two stages of the journey that Augustus’ soul would make following his death.49 First, Augustus had been made a noble Roman deserving of worship and declared to be immortal (καὶ τὸ τελευταῖον καὶ ἥρωα ἀπεδείξατε καὶ ἀθάνατον ἀπεφήνατε). Second, the soul of Augustus would be glorified for eternity after his deification, just as one would glorify a god (τὴν δὲ ψύχην ὡς καὶ θεοῦ ἀεὶ ἀγάλλειν). The first stage of the journey of the soul of Augustus had occurred following his funeral. The second stage of the journey of his soul would occur at the ceremony of Augustus’ deification, which took place about a month after his funeral on the fifteenth day before the Kalends of October (September 17) in a.d. 14.50 At his deification, Augustus was officially declared to be immortal (ἀθανατίσαντες αὐτόν) by a decree of the Roman Senate.51 He was granted celestial honors (honores caelestes). His godhead was honored with divine rites (numen divinis honoratum), and he became Divus Augustus.52 The final celestial display for Augustus, which

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UTC: 12:30:00 8-Sep-14 RA: 12h20m10s Dec: +41° 52' Field: 182.0°

Sidereal Time: 12:20:10 Julian Day: 1726422.0208

Fig. 15.3.  The funeral of Augustus. September 8, a.d. 14., 1:30 p.m. Rome (41° 53ꞌ N, 12° 29ꞌ E). SkyMap Pro V. 12. By permission of Chris Marriott.

occurred just before sunset on the day of his deification on September 17, a.d. 14, was a meaningful reflection of his life and of the conclusion of the journey of his soul to the heavens (see the central area of visibility in Fig. 15.4). Venus and Mars, both in Virgo [Vir], had dropped below the western horizon not long before sunset on the day of Augustus’ deification, but Augustus’ other celestial Julian kin remained above the horizon in the west, the area of Roman control that had been associated with Augustus during his lifetime. The Sun in Virgo [Vir] was near

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Fig. 15.4. The deification of Augustus. September 17, a.d. 14. Just before sunset, 6:18 p.m. Rome (41° 53ꞌ N, 12° 29ꞌ E). SkyMap Pro V. 12. By permission of Chris Marriott.

the western horizon. Mercury and Zubeneschamali, which represented the soul of the Caesar, Divus Iulius, were located in Chelae (Libra) [Lib]. Saturn, Jupiter, and a crescent Moon, 21% full, appeared close to one another in a triangular formation in Scorpios [Sco]. The soul of Augustus, like that of Caesar, journeyed first to the heavens—​that is, to the Milky Way—​following his funeral, and like the soul of Caesar it did not stay permanently in the Milky Way. Near the end of the fifteenth and final

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book of  his Metamorphoses, which was written several years before Augustus’ death, Ovid followed his anguished description of the journey of Caesar’s soul to the heavens with a rumination upon the future immortality of Augustus. Ovid also indicated that the soul of Augustus would take up its final residence in the zodiac:53 May that day be late in coming and well after my own life on which the essence of Augustus (caput Augustum) may approach the zodiac (accedat caelo) after he has left behind the Earth, which he is now ruling, and from afar be favorable to those praying to him. Manilius also provided evidence while Augustus was probably still alive that the final resting place for Augustus’ soul would be in the zodiac:54 Augustus came down from the zodiac and will return to make the zodiac complete again (descendit caelo caelumque replebit). He will rule throughout the constellations of the zodiac (per signa) with the Thunderer [ Jupiter] as his companion. In the company of the gods (in coetu divum), he will see great Quirinus [Romulus], where higher the circle of the heavenly orb [the Milky Way] gleams white (altius aetherii qua candet circulus orbis). And he will see the one [Caesar] whom, dutiful, he himself has added as a new divinity to the ranks of the gods (quemque novum superis numen pius addidit ipse). That former dwelling place [the Milky Way] is for heroic men (illa deis sedes). The latter dwelling place [the zodiac] is for those who, like the gods in their own excellence, walk in their footprints (haec illis proxima divum /​ qui virtute sua similes vestigia tangunt). The soul of Augustus would reside perpetually in the zodiac, a more illustrious place where the soul of Caesar was to be found and where the Julian divinities in their celestial manifestations as the planets and the luminaries traveled in their own unique courses. According to the narrative presented by Ovid in the fifteenth and final book of his Metamorphoses, the soul of Caesar was moved from the Milky Way by Venus, his patron goddess in her celestial manifestation, to the constellation Chelae (Libra), which was one of her astrological Domiciles. According to Germanicus, the adoptive grandson of Augustus and author of the second Latin translation of Aratus’ Phaenomena, the soul of Augustus was moved from the Milky Way to its permanent resting place in the zodiac not by a planetary divinity but by a constellation of the zodiac itself. Addressing Augustus directly, Germanicus wrote,55

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In the opinion of the astonished people and trembling citizenry, Capricornus carried the soul attached to the body of your birth into the zodiac (in caelum) and returned it to its natal constellation (maternis . . . astris). Capricornus was said to have been proud of its prominence at the birth of Augustus in whose genitura the Moon was in Capricornus.56 Now after the end of the mortal life of Augustus, Capricornus took on another important role, that of conveying the soul of Augustus to its final resting place, its natal constellation (maternis . . . astris) within the zodiac.57 Manilius revealed that Augustus’ natal constellation, Ovid’s maternis . . . astris, was the astrological Sign Virgo, which was the location of the astrological Sun, astrological Mercury, and the Ascendant in his astrological genitura.58 [Virgo] received into its care the light of the great world (lumen magni . . . mundi) under the rule of a Caesar (sub Caesare). The word lumen was used earlier by the author of the Consolatio ad Liviam to refer to the soul of the deceased Drusus.59 Here it refers to the soul of Augustus. The phrase sub Caesare is used by Manilius to refer to one of the ruling Caesars, and in this case the phrase refers to Tiberius the successor of Augustus.60 Augustus had rejected divine honors during his lifetime but hoped to be added to the number of the gods after he died.61 Augustus’ family would see to the fulfilment of this hope after his death. The poets provided evidence that Augustus’ soul was imagined to have journeyed from the Milky Way through the agency of Capricornus to Virgo in the zodiac, but they did not provide any clues for identifying the precise star in Virgo that was to serve as the final resting place for Augustus’ soul. Augustus’ family, however, appears to have made sure that the narrative of the journey in two stages of Augustus’ soul to the heavens after his funeral and his deification was depicted in their private art in a way that was consistent with Augustus’ own emphasis and reliance on celestial display and with his awareness of his genitura as a private source of guidance throughout his life. They also appear to have included in their private art, notably on two large cameos that are both housed today in the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna, where precisely within the constellation Virgo one might look up to find the stellar representation of the final resting place of the soul of Augustus after his deification. The first cameo, the Gemma Augustea, probably dates to the earliest period of the reign of Augustus’ successor Tiberius (see Fig. 15.5).62 In its upper tier, the Gemma Augustea depicts four members of Augustus’ immediate mortal family (Tiberius, Drusus, Germanicus,

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Fig. 15.5. The Gemma Augustea cameo. Inv. Nr. ANSA IX A 79. Kunsthistorisches Museum, ca. a.d. 14. By permission of the Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna.

and Livia), four non-​Olympian divinities (Victoria, Roma, Oikoumene, and Oceanus), and Augustus himself in his divine manifestation. A viewer can see at the left side of the cameo in the upper tier a male figure wearing a toga, holding a long staff, and stepping down from a two-​wheeled two-​horse chariot. The features of this figure recall those of Tiberius, who is crowned with laurel, a sign of the victory over the conquered peoples represented below him in the lower tier of the cameo. A scorpion on the small leather shield hanging from the tropaion carried by a helmeted soldier in the lower tier beneath this figure supports the identification of this male figure as Tiberius, whose Sun was located in the constellation Scorpios on the accepted day of his birth, November 16, 42 b.c., and in the astrological Sign Scorpios in his genitura. Behind Tiberius is a winged figure of the goddess Victoria, who appears to be serving as his charioteer. Near both Victoria and Tiberius, a riderless horse only partially visible and facing away from the viewer may represent Tiberius’ younger brother, Drusus, who died in 9 b.c., perhaps following a fall from his horse. A young man standing in front of this

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horse and displaying a subdued expression may be Germanicus, the son of Drusus and Tiberius’ adoptive son.63 The central female figure holding a spear, shield, and sword and wearing a three-​crested Attic helmet modeled on that worn by the Athena Parthenos of Phidias is probably the goddess Roma. Near her right foot is a helmet and breastplate, the spoils of military conquest. The goddess Roma is presented in a similar way, in profile, seated, helmeted, and surrounded by the spoils of victory, on one of the four relief panels found on the Altar of the Gens Augusta found in Carthage (modern Tunis). On this relief panel in Carthage, Roma is looking left at objects piled together on a short pedestal including a globe, a caduceus, and a cornucopia. These objects are symbolic of Mercury and of Virgo, both of which were important celestial entities on the day of Augustus’ birth and in his astrological genitura.64 The central male figure on the Gemma Augustea, who is looking in the direction of Roma but not quite at her and has both of his feet planted on the round shield upon which Roma is also resting her left foot, is the deified Augustus shown in his corporeal form and depicted, as he preferred in his portraiture, as youthful, dispassionate, and ethereal of demeanor. Augustus is sitting with Roma on a double bench (a subsellium) and wearing fine open-​toed sandals with a few thin straps. In one hand, he is holding a lituus, the curved ritual staff used by augurs to mark out spaces in the sky in which to examine the flight of birds and from their flight to reveal the will of the gods and fate. In the other hand, he is holding a long scepter such as Jupiter might hold. Augustus is partially clothed in a thin drape from the waist down, bare chest exposed, as the god Jupiter might appear because Augustus is now deified. This depiction is appropriate because by the end of the saeculum Augustum, Jupiter was more than a co-​patron with Apollo of Augustus. Jupiter had come to be identified with Augustus himself.65 Behind Augustus is a female figure wearing a turreted mural crown. She is Oikoumene, the goddess of the inhabitable world. Just as the figure at the left edge of the cameo has the features of Tiberius, this figure of Oikoumene on the right edge of the cameo has the features of Livia, the widow of Augustus and mother of Tiberius. Oikoumene is holding above Augustus’ head a crown of oak leaves. Also represented in physical form on the Gemma Augustea are nine celestial entities: Jupiter, Mercury, Altair in Aquila, Zubeneschamali in Chelae (Libra), Capricornus, Scorpios, the Moon, Virgo, and Spica in Virgo (see Fig. 15.5). These celestial entities appear in the upper tier on the right side of the Gemma Augustea, which represents the western area of the sky (see Fig. 15.4). At the top of the cameo on the right side, the corona civica is held over the head of Augustus by Oikoumene. The corona civica was the symbol of Jupiter that Augustus had hung on his Palatine house in 27 b.c. This crown represents the planet Jupiter.

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Near the right edge of the cameo, a small child is standing in front of the bearded male figure. This child, save for its head and left hand, is all but hidden from view. The bearded figure, whose right arm is wrapped around the back of the subsellium upon which Augustus is seated, suggests a representation of Oceanus, a god of the sea, and the very young child in his embrace would represent a celestial entity that is still visible but near to dropping down into the western waters of Oceanus, a situation that was reflected in an idea as old as Homer that the constellations, planets, and luminaries slipped below the western horizon and into the ocean at their setting.66 The figure of this child can plausibly be identified, according to the celestial display just before sunset on September 17, a.d. 14, the day of the deification of Augustus, as the planet Mercury, which was in Chelae (Libra) [Lib] on this day. The story of the birth of Mercury was known among writers at Rome during the saeculum Augustum.67 The longest narrative of Mercury’s birth and early growth appears in the Homeric Hymn to Hermes, which dates to around the late sixth century b.c. Mercury (Greek Hermes) was born to Maia in the tenth month of her pregnancy (τῆι δ᾿ ἤδη δέκατος μεὶς οὐρανῶι ἐστήρικτο) after she lay secretly with Jupiter.68 Mercury emerged from his mother’s immortal legs (ὃς καὶ ἐπεὶ δὴ μητρὸς ἀπ᾿ ἀθανάτων θόρε γυίων) and he did not stay long in his divine cradle. He was born in the morning. By midday he was playing the lyre that he had created out of the shell of a living tortoise and singing a song to the accompaniment of his lyre about the love affair between his parents and his own illustrious lineage. By evening, he had stolen the cattle of his half-​brother Apollo, butchered two of the cows, and roasted the meat. After his busy first day of life, Mercury then returned home to his cradle during morning twilight of the next day while he was still wearing his swaddling clothes. When confronted by his mother, Mercury told her that he was no typical baby afraid of the scolding of his mother, and he set out his plan to claim his rights and care for them both in the future. An eagle is standing on the ground near the feet of Augustus. The eagle is attached physically by one of its feathers to the diaphanous drape that covers Augustus’ lower body. The eagle has turned its head in the same direction as Augustus is facing, toward the left side of the cameo. The eagle represents Altair in Aquila. The eagle is at rest but still alert, the task of initially conveying the soul of Augustus to the Milky Way having been completed. The choice of an eagle as the celestial means by which the soul of a Roman emperor was carried to the heavens derived from the exploitation by the young Augustus of the bright star Altair in Aquila as the initial conveyancer of the soul of Caesar to the Milky Way in 44 b.c. The association of the eagle with such a task had been something new at the time, and it set a precedent that would be used to represent the conveyance of the soul of Augustus to the heavens in a.d. 14 and, later, to represent the

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conveyance of the souls of Claudius and Nero, the fourth and fifth of the Julio-​ Claudian emperors.69 At the top of the Gemma Augustea a small disk appears between the head of Augustus and Roma. This disk is inscribed in low relief in the background with a star having eight long thin rays. This star resembles the eight-​rayed star on the “Divus Iulius” coins, which Augustus released in 19–​18 b.c. (see Chap. 12). This star represents Zubeneschamali in Chelae (Libra), which was in the heavens to the west of Virgo just before sunset on the day of Augustus’ deification. Zubeneschamali is the final resting place in the heavens for the soul of Caesar, Divus Iulius. The disk is also inscribed in higher relief in the foreground with the figure of a goat-​fish with a curved tail upon which is balanced a crescent. The fantastical hybrid figure, shown with a caprine head and feet and a piscine fin, represents Capricornus.70 Capricornus, which was in the heavens just before sunset on the day of the deification of Augustus, was associated with the West, the area that Augustus controlled during his life.71 Capricornus was also imagined by Germanicus to be the celestial entity that conveyed the soul of Augustus to its final resting place in Virgo. At the end of the body of the goat-​fish is the tail of a scorpion arching over the back of the goat-​fish. This tail represents Scorpios, which was the location of Saturn, Jupiter, and the Moon on the day of Augustus’ deification. Scorpios was also symbolic of the vengeance that Augustus had exacted upon those who had murdered his father Caesar. The crescent balanced on the end of the scorpion’s tail represents the Moon, which, 21% full, appeared in Scorpios just before sunset on the day of Augustus’ deification. The astronomical Moon was not visible in the heavens to witness the birth of Augustus just before sunrise on September 22, 63 b.c., but the astrological Moon on the day of Augustus’ birth was located in the Sign Capricornus in Place 4 in Augustus’ genitura. The Moon also played an important role as the ruler of Augustus’ entire nocturnal genitura. The Moon was located in the heavens in the constellation Capricornus on the first day of the ludi that Augustus, who was then known as Octavianus, presented in honor of Caesar in 44 b.c. (see Fig. 6.2). The astrological Moon was in the Sign Capricornus in a horoscope for the anniversary of Augustus’ birth in 44 b.c., which occurred during the presentation of these ludi in 44 b.c. The Moon, which had played a prominent role by its appearances on the days of the Ludi Saeculares in 17 b.c., also represented Augustus’ connection with Diana of Aricia, the ancestral home of his mother Atia. A seated female figure appears at the lower right side of the upper tier of the Gemma Augustea. She is gazing with a pensive interest at Augustus, her right hand under her chin, as she leans with bent elbow on the subsellium upon which Augustus is seated. She is wearing a crown of fruits and holding a cornucopia, symbols that are part of the iconography of Ceres, Virgo, and Fortuna-​τύχη. This

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figure represents Virgo, an astronomical constellation and astrological Sign of great importance to Augustus throughout his life. A little child stands in front of the seated woman. The child is fully visible, with its right arm leaning on her right knee. This child is holding in its left hand a sheaf of wheat, pointing it toward the left. If the female figure with the cornucopia is Virgo, then the child touching her and holding the sheaf of wheat represents the star Spica, the Sheaf of Wheat, which is the brightest star in Virgo.72 The Sheaf of Wheat on the cameo points to the east directly toward Aquila the Eagle. Aquila represents the means by which the soul of Augustus was initially conveyed at Augustus’ funeral to its temporary celestial residence in the Milky Way, and the Sheaf of Wheat held by the child represents the permanent location of the soul of Augustus in the bright star Spica in Virgo. Eight of the celestial entities located at the right side of the cameo in the upper tier on the Gemma Augustea are associated with the zodiac ( Jupiter, Mercury, Zubeneschamali, Capricornus, Scorpios, the Moon, Virgo, and Spica). These celestial entities form an arch on the cameo that moves from the bottom right of the upper tier starting with Virgo over the top of the head of Augustus to the disk located between the heads of Roma and Augustus. This arch reflects the way that these celestial entities are seen to have formed a circle in the heavens at the time of Augustus’ deification that moves from Virgo northward up and around and down to Chelae (Libra). In the heavens, the ninth celestial entity Aquila is located north of the zodiac near Capricornus but it is not part of the zodiac. On the cameo, Aquila, stands apart from the zodiacal entities under the subsellium upon which Augustus sits. Aquila is located on the one side of the visible leg of the subsellium and Virgo is located on the other side of the visible leg. Altair in Aquila, which is represented by the head of the figure of the eagle, and Spica in Virgo, which is represented by the sheaf of wheat held by the child, together with Zubeneschamali, the Moon in Scorpios, and Capricornus, which appear together on the disk at the top of the cameo, form a triangle that encloses and frames the corporeal form of the now divine, celestial Augustus. A second cameo, Livia mit Büste des Divus Augustus, which also dates to the period shortly after the deification of Augustus, confirms the identification of the star Spica in Virgo as the precise final resting place in the constellation Virgo for the soul of Augustus (see Fig. 15.6). On this cameo, the larger figure on the right is depicted seated on a chair, the jagged arm of which is reminiscent of the thunderbolt of Jupiter. This somber figure is Augustus’ widow, Livia, now Augusta. Livia is presented in profile looking toward the left and wearing a turreted crown, like the figure of Oikoumene on the right side of the Gemma Augustea whose features are said to resemble her own. In this second cameo, Livia is holding in her right hand a little sculpted head adorned with a radiate crown. This little head

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Fig. 15.6. The Livia mit Büste des Divus Augustus cameo. Inv. Nr. Antikensammlung, IXa 95. Kunsthistorisches Museum, ca. a.d. 14. By permission of the Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna.

represents the deified Augustus. Livia’s left arm at the forefront of the cameo is resting on a disk. An incised image of a roaring lion in profile facing left appears on the disk. This image of the lion represents the constellation Leo within the band of the zodiac, and it closely resembles the image of the constellation Leo on the Farnese Globe (see Fig. 7.5). On the cameo, Livia holds in her left hand a sheaf of wheat. The sheaf of wheat to the left of Leo represents the star Spica in Virgo as it would appear in the heavens to an observer looking up at the heavens and facing south. The figure of Virgo, as it may have appeared on the Farnese Globe, is unseen on the disk because Livia herself is presented as Virgo, holding a sheaf of wheat.73 On the cameo, the sheaf of wheat is visible, bundled together with two

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poppies, which are associated with the iconography of Virgo through her identification with Ceres. Livia, as Virgo, is therefore holding in her right hand the image of the corporeal form of Augustus, his sculpted head, and in her left hand the symbol of his divine soul, a sheaf of wheat, which represents the star Spica in Virgo. This cameo confirms that the soul of Augustus was imagined to have taken up its permanent, illustrious celestial residence in the star Spica in Virgo, the constellation adjacent to Chelae (Libra) that contained the star Zubeneschamali, in which Caesar’s soul had its own permanent residence. The souls of Caesar and Augustus had followed a similar path to the heavens. They both journeyed first to the vast Milky Way but then moved to stars within constellations in the zodiac that were appropriate for them. These constellations were in the place of divine power (divinitatis fastigio) in the heavens, the zodiac, which was more prestigious than the Milky Way, where the souls of noble but less distinguished Romans were imagined to reside.74 The souls of Caesar and Augustus were near each other in the zodiac. The star Spica in Virgo, however, was much brighter than the star Zubeneschamali in Chelae (Libra), thus reflecting, as Ovid had noted, that the eminence of Augustus was greater than that of Caesar, who rejoiced in being considered lesser than his son (videns bene facta fatetur /​esse suis maiora et vinci gaudet ab illo).75 After Augustus’ deification, the consuls voted that the future anniversaries of Augustus’ birth (τὰ γενέσια) be celebrated with ludi similar to those held at the Ludi Martiales, which had first taken place in 2 b.c. following the dedication of the Temple of Mars Ultor on the Kalends of August (August 1).76 The people acquiesced in the transfer of power from Augustus to Tiberius, welcoming the first peaceful transition in many decades, but they did not seem to have rejoiced at the implications for their freedom. Dio commented that real grief was felt only after the death of Augustus when the Romans realized the magnitude of their loss and the change in conditions under Tiberius.77 Perhaps this delayed reaction explains why the death of Augustus did not immediately generate much genuine grief among the population or inspire an outpouring of refined literary appreciation from contemporary poets and other writers. The aftermath of the death of Augustus is marked more by a pervasive silence. No evidence exists for poems of consolation written to Livia or Tiberius in the aftermath of Augustus’ death. Only brief references to Augustus’ celestial afterlife appear in contemporary literary works. Ovid mentioned in a letter written during his exile at Tomis on the Black Sea to Bruttedius Brutus, one of his trusted correspondents, that he had composed a poem on the occasion of Augustus’ death as a demonstration of his own pietas.78 This poem, which is no longer extant, was about the recently created heavenly being (de caelite . . . recenti), Divus Augustus. Manilius suggested that the zodiac was the final resting place of Augustus’ soul, and Germanicus described

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the role of Capricornus in carrying the soul of Augustus to his natal Sign Virgo.79 Velleius Paterculus noted that the celestial soul of Augustus had returned to the heavens (animam caelestem caelo reddidit and more precisely to the zodiac as a god (redditum caelo patrem . . . numen divinis honoratum).80 Valerius Maximus mentioned the celestial spirit of Augustus (caelestis spiritus), who was destined for immortality, and commented on how the two divine Caesars (Augustus and Caesar) flashed as the brightest part of the zodiac (caeli clarissima pars, diui fulserunt Caesares).81 Throughout his life, Augustus had been careful and circumspect in not drawing too obvious attention to the relevance of the celestial sphere to his political activities. Perhaps the writers now compelled to adjust to the regime of Tiberius were following his lead. Augustus had learned from Caesar, who it appears learned from Cicero’s unsuccessful attempt to exploit the celestial sphere in his own political interests during the Catilinarian crisis in 63 b.c., how to use a meaningful display of celestial entities in the sky as a backdrop in the staging of important public events. Unlike Cicero, Augustus was able to utilize celestial display to his advantage without provoking the ire of the competitive Roman aristocrats who remained jealous of their position in Roman society. Unlike Caesar, who died just as he was beginning to employ celestial display publicly to his advantage, Augustus was able to put celestial display to use as a supportive backdrop over many years, with justification and without boasting about it, and in so doing to validate his strong belief in himself and in his own inevitable greatness. Augustus’ genitura had provided personal guidance for him, but celestial display had given him a powerful means of manipulating public events, maintaining the status quo, solidifying his position, propelling himself forward, and even seeing into the future. Supported quietly but firmly by the cosmos, Augustus was able to rise to power and prominence, to establish a successful monarchy, to secure a transition to his chosen successor, and, after a long life, to die in his bed, probably of old age. No one could have predicted with certainty, although the early indications were present, that his life would turn out this way. Only in hindsight does it have the air of inevitability. But in navigating his path to success through many dangers and pitfalls, which included serious illnesses, naval disasters, mutinies, conspiracies, betrayals, civic unrest, untimely deaths, and familial dysfunction, Augustus demonstrated with absolute certitude that the heavens were the means by which he could justify to himself and to others that his claim to earthly power was valid. The life of Augustus marks the end point of one period of Roman history, the Republic, and the beginning of another, the Empire. The principate created by Augustus lasted longer and was more stable than anyone could have hoped or expected at its beginning. It established the structure and manner of government for the Roman Empire for centuries to come, and it had a significant

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impact on Roman art and architecture, on the iconography of imperial rule, and on literature. Augustus’ greatest legacy in the end was the manner in which he successfully handled the difficult question of the transition of power to his successor. The splendid city of Rome rebuilt by Augustus in gleaming marble and the empire that he inaugurated kept his name and achievements alive in physical form for many years after his death and deification. These monuments, however, were fleeting earthly glories and most are now all gone. The stars in the celestial sphere, however, are for the ages, and the heavens, to which Augustus had always looked throughout his life, was to be his eternal celestial home. On the day of his deification on September 17, a.d. 14, Augustus took his rightful place among his divine kin in the zodiac that was his source of origin, and more precisely within the constellation Virgo in Spica, its brightest star. On that day at Rome, Spica had risen above the eastern horizon about an hour after sunrise, and it remained in the heavens throughout the day until just before sunset, when it was near the western horizon. Today, having moved eastward, Spica is visible at Rome above the western horizon after sunset on September 17. Spica will continue to appear year after year further eastward after sunset on this day, and for the next ten millennia it will be visible in the heavens on the anniversary of Augustus’ deification as his most enduring memorial.

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M et h o d s a n d M at er i a l s 1. Suet. Aug. 94.4. See also Dio 45.1.3. All English translations throughout this book are my own. 2. For the word mathematicus in use for practitioners of astrology and observational astronomy during the saeculum Augustum, see Vitr. 9.2.3. See also Le Boeuffle (1987) 64 and Macfarlane and Mills (2018) 2–​3 n. 2 on the word mathematicus. For discussion of the word astrologia, which included both observational astronomy and astrology, see Hübner (1989) 17; Volk (2009) 15. The first use of the word astronomia is Neronian (Sen. Ep. 95.10; Petr. 88). 3. Cic. Phil. 5.16.43. See Gudeman (1934b) 1625 for divinus as vir providens; Steel (2005) 57–​8 for divinus and the ability to understand what was in the heavens; Cole (2013) 187. 4. Ov. Fast. 1.534. See Green (2004) 244–​5 on Ovid’s caelesti mente as a striking phrase unparalleled in the Augustan poets. 5. Vell. 2.60.2. 6. Vell. 2.123.2, 2.124.3. For caelum, see Le Boeuffle (1987) 75–​9. Depending on context, caelum may mean, in general, the “heavens.” It may also mean the “zodiac,” for which see also Man. Astron. 2.791. 7. Man. Astron. 1.385–​6, 1.799–​800. 8. Boxer (2020) 141–​6: according to big-​data research, an individual’s natal horoscope is unique and will never repeat during the individual’s lifetime. 9. In the stemma of “descendants” of Sternfurcht, Sternglaube, and Sternbeobachtung in Gundel and Gundel (1966), 383, celestial display would perhaps straddle the categories of Sternglaube (belief ) and Sternbeobachtung (observation). This middle area includes the notion of the planets as gods and the consideration of the positions of planets. 10. For these risings and settings, see Mair (1955) 204; Kidd (1997) 279; Fox (2004) 103–​5; Robinson (2009) 356–​9; Evans (1998) 190–​8. See Fox (2004) 105 for the practical emphasis in Ovid’s Fasti on the presence of the constellation in the

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heavens, not on the technical risings and settings. See Green (2004) 15–​6 on the standard view that Ovid wrote the Fasti from A.D. 1–​2 onwards. According to Syme (1978) 34, the poem may have been published around a.d. 4. The Fasti was also later revised; see Green (2004) 16; Robinson (2011) 525–​31; Fantham (2006a) 373–​ 414; Newlands (1995) 5. 11. See Ruggles (2015); Hannah and Magli (2011); Bertarione and Magli (2015). 12. See Cumont (1909). 13. Suet. Aug. 100.3: after Augustus’ death, one man proposed that the period from Augustus’ birth to his death be named the saeculum Augustum and that the name be entered on the monumental calendars (ut omne tempus a primo die natali ad exitum eius saeculum Augustum appellaretur et ita in fastos referretur). 14. See Smith (2009) 1–​13 for the fragments and testimonia of Augustus’ memoirs. 15. Aug. RG 35.2. See Brunt and Moore (1967) 6 on its final form by 2 b.c. with some possible editing by Tiberius. 16. See Syme (1939) 127–​9 on Augustus’ faction. See Suet. Jul. 56.2–​7; Dio 55.25.5 on Caesar’s memoirs and other written sources now lost. 17. Suet. Aug. 66.1–​ 3. Plin. Nat. 36.24.122 quotes from Agrippa’s own list of accomplishments. 18. For Agrippa, see Smith (2003) 451–​3. For Atticus, see Nep. Att. 18.3–​4. On legendary genealogies during the Late Republic, see Wiseman (1974). 19. Nep. Att. 9–​10. 20. Cic. Att. 9.14 (March 49 b.c.). The dates and numbering of Cicero’s letters to Atticus provided here are those found in Shackleton Bailey (1965–​1970) and Shackleton Bailey (1999). 21. Cic. Fam. 1.9.23 (December 54 b.c., to Lentulus Spinther). For discussion of this poem, see Harrison (1990). The dates and numbering of Cicero’s letters to his friends provided here are those found in Shackleton Bailey (1977) and Shackleton Bailey (2001). 22. Cic. Fam. 5.12 (April 55 b.c., Cicero to Lucceius). 23. Cic. Q. fr. 2.10.3 (February 54 b.c.). The dates and numbering of Cicero’s letters to his brother, Quintus Cicero, provided here are those found in Shackleton Bailey (1980) and Shackleton Bailey (2002). 24. Vell. 2.36.2–​3. 25. Suet. Jul. 73. 26. Suet. Aug. 66.2. 27. Hor. Ars 333–​4, 343–​4. 28. See Plin. Nat. 18.57.209 on the importance of learning about the planets according to Vergil (G. 1.335–​6). 29. Dick (1970). 30. See Cornell (2013). 31. Dio 51.1.1.

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32. See Michels (1967) on the Fasti Antiates Maiores, which is painted in red and black letters on white plaster. 33. Cic. Att. 2.11.2 (April 59 b.c.); quotation from Hom. Od. 9.27. 34. Cic. Att. 7.5.3 (December 50 b.c.), 11.9.3 ( January 3, 47 b.c.), 13.42.2 (December 45 b.c.). 35. Plu. Cic. 2.1. 36. Gel. 15.28.3. 37. Plu. Cic. 48.5. 38. See Var. L. 6.3–​4 and Macr. Sat. 1.16.2–​14 on the Roman calendar. For discussion, see Michels (1967) 3–​9; Hannah (2005) 98–​130; Stern (2012) 208–​14. 39. See Hannah (2005) 122 for the Nones in January, Sextilis, and December. The situation is the same for the Ides. 40. Dating according to a Roman festival was also occasionally used. See Cic. Att. 6.1.1 (February 50 b.c.) for the date as the fifth day before the Terminalia (February 19). See Cic. Fam. 12.25.1 (March 43 b.c., Cicero to Quintus Cornificius) for the date as the Liberalia (March 17) and for a date during the Quinquatria (March 19–​23). 41. In this system, 1 b.c. is followed directly by a.d. 1. On the axis of b.c./​a.d., see Feeney (2007) 7–​12. 42. See Cic. Att. 6.1.8 (February 50 b.c.) for a story told by Publius Cornelius Scipio Africanus in the De Republica regarding how Gnaeus Flavius the son of Annius published the Roman calendar so that more than just the privileged few could see and use it. 43. See Cic. Fam. 6.14.2 (November 46 b.c., Cicero to Quintus Ligarius) for the mention of the fifth day before the Kalends of the first of the two intercalary months (November 27, 46 b.c.). These months were added by Caesar between the months of November and December as part of his reform of the calendar. 44. Hannah (2005) 119: this error was one probably noted not by ordinary observers but by the astronomers and would have had significance for the precise calculation of the equinoxes and the solstices. 45. Hannah (2005) 119–​22. 46. Feeney (2007) 150–​1. 47. Cic. Q. fr. 2.5.5 (March 56 b.c.). 48. Cic. Q. fr. 3.1 (September 54 b.c.). 49. Cic. Att. 5.14 ( July 51 b.c.), 5.15 (August 51 b.c.), 5.20 (December 51 b.c.), 6.3 (May–​June 50 b.c.). 50. Petr. 30. For parapegmata, see Lehoux (2004); Lehoux (2007). See Hannah (2001) 75–​6 for an illustration of a peg-​hole calendar from the Greek city of Miletus in Asia Minor. See also Hannah (2009) 53–​5 and Hannah (2020a). A parapegma is appended to Geminos’ astronomical treatise. Ovid’s Fasti is a parapegma in poetic form.

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51. Compare the first-​century a.d. Menologium Rusticum Colotianum, an agricultural calendar set up outdoors that appears to have been applicable to northern Italy. This menologium, inscribed on a four-​sided stone plinth about two feet high, displayed three columns on each side, listing essential information for each month of the year in order: the number of Julian days in each month; the date of the Nones; the number of seasonal hours in a day and seasonal hours in a night even to the half hour; the location of the Sun in its constellation in the zodiac, indicated by a small relief sculpture of the figure of the zodiac at the top of each column; the important religious festivals without dates; and the agricultural tasks to be performed. The calendar (Inv. No. 2632) is housed today in the Museo Archeologico Nazionale di Napoli. For discussion, see Broughton (1936); Lehoux (2007) 30, 208. For an image of the calendar, see Jones (2019a). 52. Hannah (2005) 87. 53. Cens. DN 24.1. 54. See Gem. Phaen. 6.7–​8 and Plin. Nat. 2.186–​7 on the lengths of days and nights. For discussion, see Evans and Berggren (2006) 34–​5; Hannah (2009) 74–​5, 112–​3. 55. Later works present detailed daily schedules by the hour; see Mart. 4.8 and Plin. Ep. 9.36. 56. See, for example, Hor. S. 2.8.3 (de medio . . . die); Ov. Fast. 4.762 and Ov. Met. 15.309–​ 10 (medio . . . die); Hor. Ep. 1.7.88 (media de nocte); Tib. 1.8.59 (media . . . nocte). See Var. L. 6.2.3–​8 for the names used in Latin for the times of day and night. 57. Cic. Brut. 200; Var. L. 6.9.87–​9 on the accensus. The dates and numbering of Cicero’s letters to Brutus provided here are those found in Shackleton Bailey (1980) and Shackleton Bailey (2002). 58. Vitr. 9.8. 59. For sundials, see Vitr. 9.8 and Plin. Nat. 7.212–​4. For discussions of sundials, see Soubiran (1969) lvi–​lxix; Gibbs (1976); Hannah (2009) 68–​115; Kelley and Milone (2011) 86–​91; Bonnin (2015); Graßhoff, Rinner, Schaldach, et al. (2016); Talbert (2017); Frischer, Pollini, Cipolla, et al. (2017) 24–​8; Jones (2019b); Hannah (2020b). 60. Caes. Gal. 5.13. 61. Cic. Att. 15.24 ( June 44 b.c.). 62. Cic. Q. fr. 3.5.9 (October–​November 54 b.c.). 63. Cic. Fam. 9.26.1 (November 46 b.c., Cicero to Paetus). 64. Cic. Fam. 16.9.1–​2 (November 50 b.c., Cicero to Tiro). 65. Cic. Q. fr. 2.3 (February 56 b.c.). 66. Cic. Att. 2.10 (April 59 b.c.), 4.3.5 (November 57 b.c.). 67. Suet. Aug. 50. See Wolkenhauer (2019) on “short time” in the Roman world; Heilen (2019) on short time and astrology; Hannah (2009) 126 for the lack of a specialized vocabulary to describe small bits of time among the Romans.

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68. Halloran (1993–​2018) AstrolDeluxe Platinum V. 9.8.9 was used for the computation of the natal horoscopes and for the diagram in Chap. 5 in this book. Halloran (1988–​1999) TimeSearch; Cosmic Patterns (2008) Sirius V. 3.0; Astrolabe Software (2014) Solar Fire V. 9 were also consulted. 69. Marriott (1992–​2018) Chris Marriott’s SkyMap Pro V. 12 was used for the computation of the sky maps in this book. Simulation Curriculum (1997–​2018) Starry Night Pro Plus V. 7.6.6; Carina Software (2014) Voyager Dynamic Sky Simulator V. 4.5; Espenak (2016a) for lunar eclipses and Espenak (2016b) for solar eclipses were also consulted. 70. See Plin. Nat. 18.219. See also Evans and Berggren (2006) 67 for Autolykos’ 15° Visibility Rule. 71. Suet. Aug. 78.2. 72. Suet. Aug. 92.2. 73. The prodigies are gathered in Suet. Aug. 90–​7. For discussion, see Deonna (1921). 74. Dio 38.13.3–​4. See Wiseman (2009b) on Augustus’ awareness of supernatural occurrences that demonstrated divine support for him. 75. See Beacham (1999) and Sumi (2015) on the political ramifications of the public ceremonies marking legislative and electoral assemblies, ludi, triumphs, departures, returns, and funerals. 76. Suet. Aug. 43.1. C h a p t er 1 1. Plu. Ant. 2.3–​4. 2. See Sal. Cat. 23 for the early plotting of Catilina. See App. BC 2.2.6 for Catilina’s opinion of Cicero. 3. See Hardy (1917) 181–​2; Ramsey (2007b) 18 for July after a brief delay; Wiseman (1994) 353–​4 for late September. 4. Suet. Aug. 94.3. See North (1990) 54–​5 on prodigies as a form of divination; Champeaux (1995) on the plausibility of the prodigium. 5. Suet. Aug. 94.1. 6. Suet. Aug. 94.5. 7. For September 22, see Brind’Amour (1983a) 62–​76; Abry (1988) 107–​8; Barton (1995) 40–​8; Schmid (2005) 399–​403; Lewis (2008). For September 23, see Suerbaum (1980) 334–​5; Ramsey and Licht (1997) 147–​8; Molnar (1999) 136; Severy (2003) 124; Bennett (2007) 195; Feeney (2007) 154–​6; Levick (2010) 4; Southern (2014) 1; Wardle (2014) 96. For September 22 or 23, see Getty (1951) 100. For September 22, 23, 24, see Michels (1967) 180–​1. For September 23 or September 24, see Ehrenberg and Jones (1976) 52–​3. For September 20, 21, 22, see Nicklin (1914) 273. For September 18 or 19, see Bennett (2011). See also Hannah (2005) 124–​5 for a discussion of the various possibilities for the birthdate.

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8. Suet. Aug. 94.12. 9. Suet. Aug. 5. 10. Vell. 65.2. 11. Suet. Aug. 100.1. 12. Gel. 15.7.3. 13. See Barton (1994) 187–​8 on the climacteric year. 14. Dio 56.30.5. 15. Suet. Aug. 57.1. 16. Cic. Cat. 2.23. See also Brind’Amour (1983a) 71; Bennett (2006). 17. Cic. Att. 5.13.3 ( July 51 b.c.), 5.15.1 (August 51 b.c.). 18. See Greswell (1854) 3.337–​8; Brind’Amour (1983a) 70 n. 21; Hannah (2005) 117. 19. See Richardson (1992) 13. 20. See Feriale Cum., Fasti Pinc. Acta Arv., Fasti Maf., Fasti Val., Fasti Pigh., and Phil. in Ehrenberg and Jones (1976) 52–​3. Abbreviations used for the names of the fasti are those in Ehrenberg and Jones (1976) 32, 44. 21. Dio 45.1.4–​5. 22. See, for example, Cramer (1954) 63; Green (2014) 67 n. 7. 23. See Vigourt (2002). 24. Suet. Aug. 53.1 for dominus; Dio 55.12.2 for δεσπότης. For discussion, see Wardle (2014) 374–​5. 25. Vell. 2.36.1. 26. Suet. Aug. 94.5. 27. Dio 45.1.5. 28. For Nigidius Figulus, see Cic. Fam. 4.13.4 (August 46 b.c., Cicero to Nigidius Figulus); Cic. Tim. 1 for Nigidius Figulus as a spokesman; Plu. Cic. 20.3; Luc. 1.639–​72; Dio 45.1.4. See Swoboda (1889) for fragments of Nigidius Figulus’ works. 29. Luc. 1.584–​695, 1.639–​72 (the prophecy). For analyses of the prophecy, see Housman (1927) 325–​7; Getty (1941); Hannah (1996); Lewis (1998). 30. August. C.D. 5.3. 31. Suet. Tib. 14.2. 32. Luc. 1.640–​1. 33. See Gem. Phaen. 12.4 for the dioptra; Cic. Rep. 1.14.21 for the solid celestial globe; Cic. N.D. 2.35.88 for the orrery; Gem. Phaen. 16.10–​2 for the armillary sphere. For the Antikythera Mechanism, see Price (1974); Hannah (2009) 28–​67; Jones (2017); Evans (2020); Freeth et al. (2021) for the latest model of the device. See Plin. Nat. 2.53–​5 on tables for the Sun and Moon compiled by Hipparchus. For a survey of various surveying instruments with astronomical applications, see Rihll (2020). 34. Evans (1999) 288–​91; Rogers (1998a); Rogers (1998b). For the Greek zodiac, see van der Waerden (1952–​1953) 224–​8.

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35. For Greek diminutives, see Smyth (1920) no. 855–​6 and van Emde Boas, Rijksbaron, Huitink, et al. (2019) no. 23.18. See Hannah (2009) 15–​6 for the diminutive as a reflection of the transformation of constellations of the zodiac into celestial images. 36. Arat. Phaen. 545–​9; Cic. Arat. 33[PHI 34].320–​31. Soubiran (1972) numbers the largest fragment of Cicero’s translation of the astronomical first portion of Aratus’ poem as frag. 33. A more recent convention numbers frag. 33 as frag. 34, according to the numbering set by the Packard Humanities Institute (PHI). The combined designation Arat. 33[PHI 34] will be used throughout in this book. 37. See Kuhn (1957–​1985) 45–​64 for a survey of the ancient understanding of the motions of the luminaries and planets. 38. Cic. N.D. 2.27.68. See also Cic. Rep. 6.17.17. 39. See Var. R. 1.28–​34 on the equinoxes (in the context of agriculture). See Evans (1998) 205–​7 on ancient methods for determining these points by observation. See Lehoux (2007) 88–​90 on the solstices. See Hannah (2009) 8–​9 for observation of the Sun at the summer solstice in Athens from the vantage point of the Pnyx. 40. Arat. Phaen. 545; Cic. Arat. 33[PHI 34].320. See also Kidd (1997) 374 n. to 545. 41. See Hipparch. 2.1.15–​6 for the midpoint of the constellations (at the 15° point) as the starting point of a zodiacal constellation, according to Eudoxus, but the beginning point of a zodiacal constellation as the starting point, according to Aratus. 42. The point of the spring equinox has shifted from the constellation Aries, its location during the saeculum Augustum, into the constellation Pisces. See Boxer (2020) 27–​8 for the future point of the spring equinox at the border between Pisces and Aquarius in a.d. 2600. 43. For precession, see Goold (1977) lxxxi–​lxxxiv; Evans (1998) 145–​7; Molnar (1999) 127–​8. 44. Hannah (2009) 14. 45. Evans (1998) 262; Evans and Berggren (2006) 113 n. 1: Geminos does not refer to precession. For Geminos’ dates, see Aujac (2002) xxiv (the last half of the first century b.c.) and Evans and Berggren (2006) 15–​22 (90–​25 b.c.). 46. Cic. N.D. 2.27.68. 47. Gem. Phaen. 5.51. 48. Hannah (2009) 25–​6. 49. Eratosth. Epit. 43; Cic. N.D. 2.20.52–​3; Gem. Phaen. 1.24–​30; Hyg. Astr. 2.42. For discussion, see Cumont (1935) 25–​32. 50. Pl. Lg. 12.967, Epin. 983e; 986e–​87d. On the Epinomis, see Nilsson (1940) and Tarán (1975). 51. See Le Boeuffle (1977) 5 on stella. 52. Cic. Rep. 6.16.16.

42

424

Notes

53. Cic. Rep. 6.17.17. Cicero’s dream sequence was influenced by the Pythagorean-​ inspired “Myth of Er,” although the planets are not named there (Plat. Rep. 10.616b–​17b). See Thompson (1910) and Knorr (1990) for Plato’s theories of planetary motions in comparison to those of Eudoxus. 54. Vitr. 9.1.5–​16. See Baldwin (1990) for these dates for Vitruvius’ work. 55. Hyg. Astr. 2.42. See Le Boeuffle (1965) 290 and Le Boeuffle (2002) xxxi–​xxxviii for this range of dates for the composition of Hyginus’ work. 56. Luc. 1.639–​40. 57. Le Boeuffle (1977) 253–​4. 58. Cic. N.D. 2.25.64; Vitruv. 9.1.14. 59. Cic. Div. 1.11.17; Ov. Fast. 1.85. See also Cumont (1935) 34–​6. 60. Cic. N.D. 2.46.119; Cic. Div. 1.12.20; Vitruv. 9.1.14; Ov. Fast. 5.550. 61. Ov. Fast. 4.674. 62. Cic. Tim. 29; Ov. Fast. 5.691. 63. For the Sun as Phoebus, see Cic. Div. 1.11.18; Ov. Fast. 1.164; Ov. Fast. 5.694. 64. For the Sun as Apollo, see Cic. N.D. 2.27.68. See also Miller (2009) 209. 65. Cic. Rep. 6.17; Cic. N.D. 2.27.68. 66. Vitr. 9.1.5–​16. 67. Tester (1987) 9. 68. Man. Astron. 1.13–​5. 69. Man. Astron. 1.807, 5.6. 70. In this usage Manilius was following Germanicus, whose translation of Aratus’ Phaenomena predates his work. Le Boeuffle (1965) 291 dates Germanicus’ translation to a.d. 17. Possanza (2004) 233–​5 dates the translation to a.d. 4–​7. Fantham (2006a) 388–​95 dates the translation to around a.d. 8. For Saturnus, see Man. Astron. 2.931, 4.501 and Germ. Arat. frag. 2.5. For Iuppiter, see Man. Astron. 2.890 and Germ. Arat. frag. 2.5. For Mavors, see Man. Astron. 4.500 and Germ. Arat. frag. 2.3, 4.25. For Venus, see Man. Astron. 1.808, 5.7 and Germ. Arat. frag. 4.50. For Mercurius, see Man. Astron. 1.808 and Germ. Arat. frag. 2.4. 71. Man. Astron. 1.670–​1. 72. Nic. Dam. 31–​3 provides evidence of the importance of maternal lineage for male children. Years after the birth of the son of Gaius Octavius, a man calling himself a son of Gaius Marius (cos. 107 b.c.), who had been married to Caesar’s aunt Iulia, appealed to Atia and her younger sister, Atia, nieces of Caesar, to recognize him as a member of the gens Iulia. Their rejection of the pretender was accepted by Octavius, the son of the elder Atia, who prudently recommended that the man approach his great-​uncle Caesar, who was the head of the family. For discussion, see Toher (2017) 220–​5. 73. Suet. Aug. 94.2. 74. Suet. Aug. 2. 75. See Syme and Santangelo (2016) 186–​95 for Caesar as Pontifex Maximus. 76. Plin. Nat. 36.4.36.

425

Notes

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C h a p t er 2 1. Two cognomina were associated with Octavius in his early years. Καιπίας (Dio 45.1.1) is obscure and may derive from an error in the transmission of Dio’s text. Thurinus (Suet. Aug. 7.1, 2.3) references Octavius’ paternal ancestors, who were said to come from Thurii. These nicknames did not stick permanently, but Antonius would later use Thurinus to insult Octavius. Ryan (2005) suggests a link with Capricornus for Καιπίας, which does not seem likely. 2. Suet. Aug. 94.1–​7. See also Dio 45.1–​3.5. 3. See Wardle (2014) 522 for the term infans in reference to a child from infancy to three years old. 4. Dio 45.1.1. 5. Plu. Cic. 44.3–​7; Suet. Aug. 94.5–​9; Dio 45.2.2–​4. 6. Sal. Cat. 48; Plu. Cic. 15.1; Plu. Crass. 13.2. 7. No intercalation occurred in the year 63 b.c., and the date is the same in both the pre-​Julian and Julian calendars, in both of which October had thirty-​one days. 8. Sal. Cat. 23, 26. See Rolfe and Ramsey (2013) 7–​16 for a chronology of the course of the conspiracy. See also Holmes (1918). On Fulvia, see Schultz (2021). 9. See Rolfe and Ramsey (2013) 73 n. 62 for either November 7 or November 8 as the date for the first oration; Dyck (2008) 243–​4 for November 8; Potter (1925) for November 7. 10. See Thompson (1981) and Richardson (1992) 225. The temple was not built until the third century b.c. 11. Plu. Cic. 18.2. See also Macr. 1.18.2–​23. During this time, the Saturnalia was celebrated only on one day. Later in the Augustan period, it was celebrated on three days, December 17, 18, and 19. 12. Sal. Cat. 48. 13. See Cic. Cat. 3.3 for paucis ante diebus, although twenty-​four days had passed since Catilina had left Rome in early November. For the chronology as deliberately vague, see Dyck (2008) 170 n. to 3.5–​8. 14. See Plu. Cic. 19–​20 for the winter festival of the Bona Dea, held in December. 15. See Plu. Cic. 19.5–​7 for the agonizing and Plu. Cic. 20.3 for the advice. 16. Plu. Cic. 20.1–​2. 17. Dio 37.35.4. See Pl. Ap. 31d for Socrates’ δαιμόνιον, which took the form of a warning voice. 18. Cic. Att. 1.19.6 (March 60 b.c.), 16.14.4 (November 44 b.c.). 19. Cic. ad Brut. 1.17.1 (uncertain date). 20. Cic. Cat. 4.7–​11 on Caesar’s proposals. 21. Plu. Cic. 22.4. 22. Cic. Pis. 3.6 notes that Catulus was responsible for Cicero being conferred with the title. Plu. Cic. 23.6 and App. BC 2.7.24–​5 note that Cato was responsible. 23. Plu. Cic. 23.3.

426

426

Notes

24. Cic. Fam. 5.7 (April 62 b.c., Cicero to Pompeius Magnus). 25. Cic. Att. 1.15.1 (March 61 b.c.). 26. Plu. Cic. 6.5; Dio 37.38. 27. Plu. Cic. 25–​7; Macr. 2.3. 28. For modern reconsiderations of Claudius (later Clodius) Pulcher, see Rundell (1979) and Mulroy (1988). 29. Plu. Cic. 29.5; Cic. Cael. 26.62. Compare Quint. Inst. 8.6.53 for Cicero’s protégé Marcus Caelius Rufus calling Claudia (later Clodia) Pulchra quadrantaria Clytaemestra. Claudia Pulchra is widely believed to have been the mistress of the poet Catullus, who gave her the pseudonym Lesbia, and to have had an affair with Caelius Rufus. 30. Cic. Att. 1.16.5 ( July 61 b.c.). Wiseman (1968) 297–​9 suggests that the benefactor may have been the twenty-​one-​year-​old Gaius Licinius Macer Calvus, one of the dissipated young aristocrats who supported Claudius (later Clodius) Pulcher at this time. 31. Plu. Cic. 29.1. See also Rundell (1979) for an analysis of the hostility between the two men. 32. See Steel (2005) 49–​63 on Cicero’s obsession with memorializing his consulship and the efforts he took to do so. 33. Dio 46.21.4. 34. Cic. Att. 1.16.15 ( June 61 b.c); Cic. Arch. 28–​9. 35. This commentary may be the book in Greek about the consulship of Cicero mentioned in Nep. Att. 18.6 and the work written by Cicero on his consulship mentioned in Plu. Caes. 8.4. 36. Cic. Att. 1.19.10 (March 60 b.c.). 37. Cic. Att. 2.1.2 ( June 60 b.c.). See Kidd (1988a); Kidd (1988b); Kidd (1999) for testimonia and fragments of Posidonius’ works. 38. Cic. Att. 2.3.4 (December 60 b.c.) quotes advice to himself from Calliope, the Muse of Epic Poetry, that he included in the third book of his poem on his consulship. See Soubiran (1972) 239–​63 for the fragments of the poem and see Gaillard (1976) and Volk (2013) for discussion of the work. 39. Cic. Cons. Frag. 7 in Soubiran (1972) 245. See Quint. Inst. 9.4.41, 11.1.24; Juv. 10.122–​6 for later criticism. For discussion of the verse, see Traglia (1950) 229–​32 and Allen (1956). 40. Plu. Cic. 2.3–​4. For Cicero’s poetic works, see Conte (1994) 200–​2. 41. See Cic. Pis. 29.72; Cic. Phil. 2.8.20. 42. Cic. Cat. 3.9, 4.2; Plu. Cic. 14.4, 17.5. 43. Plu. Cic. 20.3. 44. Tac. Dial. 30.5: Cicero’s expertise in astronomical matters continued to be recognized long after his death (ille rerum motus causasque cognoverat). 45. Cic. Att. 2.1.11 ( June 60 b.c.). For discussion, see Soubiran (1972) 8–​16.

427

Notes

427

46. Cic. Div. 1.8–​9. 47. Cic. Div. 1.11.17. See Krostenko (2000) for the rhetorical features of this excerpt from Cicero’s poem. 48. The diary on the fragmentary clay cuneiform tablets BM 36390 and BM 36761, no. –​330 is located today in the British Museum in London. See Sachs and Hunger (1988), Vol. 1, 176–​9 and pl. 29. 49. Arr. An. 3.7.6. 50. Cic. Cons. frag. 2.1–​5 [Div. 1.11.17]. 51. Arat. Phaen. 1; Cic. Arat. 1.1. See Kubiak (1994) on allusions to Cicero’s translation of Aratus’ Phaenomena in his consular poem. 52. For Jupiter, see Cic. Cons. frag. 2.1 [Div. 1.11.17], frag. 2.56 [Div. 1.12.20], and frag. 2.63 [Div. 1.12.21]. Cicero refers to Jupiter by attribution in Cons. frag. 2.36 [Div. 1.12.19]. 53. Cic. Cons. frag. 2.6–​10 [Div. 1.11.17]. 54. Cic. Div. 1.11.17. 55. Cic. Cons. frag. 2.11–​12 [Div. 1.11.18]. 56. Soubiran (1972) 241 n. 1 also interprets concursus . . . stellarum as a conjunction of planets. Haury (1984) 101–​2 notes the possibility that Cicero was referring to a conjunction of Mars and Jupiter near Aldebaran in Taurus on the evening of March 11, 64 b.c., an unlikely date in the context of the poem’s subject matter, which is Cicero’s consulship, not the election for the consulship. Courtney (1993) 164 suggests shooting stars, the popular name for meteors, which are also unlikely in this context. 57. Cic. Cons. frag. 2.13–​7 [Div. 1.11.18]. 58. Cic. Cons. frag. 2.22 [Div. 1.11.18]. Soubiran (1972) 153 n. 3 and Jocelyn (1984) 52–​3 discuss the possibilities, including the unlikely comets. 59. Pease (1920), Vol. 1, 106–​7; Falconer (1923) 243; and Wardle (2006) 148 come to the same conclusion. 60. Liv. 22.1.12. 61. Sen. Nat. 1.15.5. 62. Plin. Nat. 2.27.97. 63. Cic. Cons. frag. 2.18–​9 [Div. 1.11.18]. See also Wardle (2006) 148. 64. Liv. 44.37.5–​9; V. Max. 8.11.1; Plin. Nat. 2.10.57. 65. Cic. Rep. 1.14.22; Cic. Tusc. 1.25 (written in 45 b.c. before Cicero’s De Natura Deorum). For Posidonius’ orrery, see Cic. Nat. 2.34. For discussion, see Evans (1998) 80–​3. 66. Plin. Nat. 2.10.54; Plu. Aem. 17.7–​11. See also Plb. 29.16.1 for an eclipse as an omen of the overthrow of a king. 67. Cic. Cons. frag. 2.20–​2 [Div. 1.11.18]. 68. See Le Boeuffle (1987) 134 on the use of fax for the Sun. Köves-​Zulauf (1997) 219–​ 22 suggests the same identification as that proposed here, as does Wardle (2006)

428

428

69. 70. 71. 72. 73.

74.

75. 76. 77. 78. 79. 80. 81.

Notes 149. Haury (1984) considers several other possible explanations and proposes that Phoebi fax refers to zodiacal light. Cic. Cons. frag. 2.36 [Div. 1.12.19]. Cic. Cons. frag. 2.42–​6 [Div. 1.12.20]. Cic. Cons. frag. 2.64–​5 [Div. 1.12.21]. Cic. Cat. 3.21. Cic. Cat. 3.19–​22; Cic. Cons. frag. 55–​9 [Div. 1.12.20]. See also Jul. Obseq. Prodigies 61; Dio 37.34.3. For discussion, see Wardle (2006) 155–​6; Dyck (2008) 195–​6. See also Kurczyk (2006) 95–​7 for correspondences between Cic. Cons. and Cic. Cat. 3.18–​21. Cic. Cons. frag. 2.55–​63 [Div. 1.12.20–​21]. Columna and columen could be used refer to the dome of the heavens; see Cic. Cons. frag. 2.21 [Div. 1.11.18]. Cic. Arat. 33[PHI 34].26, 307 uses the related word culmen for the dome of the heavens, as did Nigidius Figulus in Swoboda (1889) 106 no. 85 and Man. Astron. 1.150. See Le Boeuffle (1987) 95–​6 for columen, 108 for culmen. Cic. Cons. frag. 2.55–​6 [Div. 1.12.20]. Cic. Cons. frag. 2.63 [Div. 1.12.21]. Cic. Cat. 3.29. Cic. Cat. 1.33, 3.20, 3.21, 3.22, 3.29. Cic. Q. fr. 2.8.1 (February 55 b.c.). Cic. Cons. frag. 2.63 [Div. 1.13.21]. See Cic. Dom. 92, a work written in 57 b.c., and [Sal.] Cic. 3–​6, which is either a rhetorical exercise or an invective written by Sallust himself, the dramatic date of which is 54 b.c. See Santangelo (2012) on this work. See also Quint. Inst. 11.1.24, in which Cicero was criticized by his enemies for including in his poem the detail that Jupiter had summoned him to a council of the gods. C h a p t er 3

1. See Lintott (1967) on Claudius Pulcher. 2. Cic. Att. 2.22.3 (August 59 b.c.). 3. Cic. Att. 2.24.4 (August 59 b.c.). 4. Plu. Cic. 31.6. See also App. BC 2.15.57; Dio 38.17.5. 5. Cic. Att. 3.2, 3.3 (March 58 b.c.), 3.4, 3.7 (April 58 b.c.). 6. Cic. Att. 4.1.4–​7 (September 57 b.c.). 7. Plu. Cic. 34.1. 8. The speeches Pro Sestio, De Haruspicum Responsis, and Pro Caelio were all delivered in 56 b.c. 9. Dio 40.47. 10. See Cic. Fam. 3.2 (February or March 51 b.c., to Appius Pulcher), 3.6 (August 51 b.c., to Appius Pulcher). See also Wiseman (1970).

429

Notes

429

11. Cic. Fam. 1.9.15 (December 54 b.c., Cicero to Lentulus Spinther). Other possible suggested readings for ille fur (illa furia or illa furta) are less preferable on the basis of sense. 12. Cic. Att. 5.13.1 ( July 51 b.c.). 13. Cic. Att. 6.1.26 (February 50 b.c.). 14. Cic. Att. 5.9.2 ( June 51 b.c.), Att. 5.13.3 ( July 51 b.c.). 15. Cic. Fam. 8.10.5 (November 51 b.c., Caelius Rufus to Cicero). 16. Cic. Att. 5.14.1 ( July 51 b.c.). 17. Cic. Att. 5.15 (August 51 b.c.). 18. Cic. Att. 5.20 (December 51 b.c.). 19. Cic. Att. 6.3.1 (May–​June 50 b.c.). 20. Cic. Fam. 2.19 ( June 50 b.c., Cicero to Caelius Caldus). 21. Cic. Fam. 2.15.4 (August 50 b.c., Cicero to Caelius Rufus). 22. Cic. Att. 6.6.3 (August 50 b.c.). 23. Cic. Fam. 15.5 (April 50 b.c., Cato to Cicero). 24. According to App. BC 2.9.33, Varro had entitled a volume on the first triumvirate of Caesar, Pompeius Magnus, and Crassus The Three-​Headed Monster (ἐπέγραψε Τρικάρανον). 25. Plu. Caes. 23.6, 28.1. 26. Dio 40.18.1–​2. 27. Dio 40.25.3–​4. 28. Plu. Crass. 29.4. 29. Dio 40.27.2–​4; Plu. Crass. 31–​2. 30. Dio 41.54.1. 31. Suet. Jul. 31–​2. 32. Suet. Jul. 7.2. links the dream with the period when Caesar was quaestor in Spain and provides this interpretation. 33. Plu. Caes. 32.9; Plu. Pomp. 60.2. See also App. BC 2.35.141: ὁ κύβος ἀνερρίφθω. Luc.  1.225–​7 does not mention the throwing of the die. In his poetic account, Caesar crosses the Rubicon and then states that he is leaving peace and laws defined behind and now following Fortuna (“hic,” ait, “hic pacem temerataque iura relinquo; /​te, Fortuna, sequor”). 34. Suet. Poet. (Vita Terenti 5) for Caesar’s comparison of Terence and Menander. See also Post (1931) and Casali (2018) 208–​9. 35. Men. frag. 65.4. 36. Plu. Caes. 32.8. 37. Cic. Att. 7.11.3 ( January 49 b.c.). 38. Cic. Att. 10.9a (April 49 b.c., Caelius Rufus to Cicero). 39. Cic. Att. 9.6.4 (March 49 b.c.). 40. Dio 41.14. 41. Cic. Att. 9.19 (April 49 b.c.).

430

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Notes

42. See Cic. Att. 10.8a (May 49 b.c., a friendly letter from Antonius to Cicero). 43. Cic. Att. 10.17.3 (May 49 b.c.). 44. For another view, see Holmes (1907) 711–​2. 45. Cic. Att. 5.12 ( July 51 b.c.). 46. See Greenough, Kittredge, Howard, and O’Toole (1903, repr. 1981) 294, no. 466. 47. See Aujac (2002) 106; Evans and Berggren (2006) 239; Lehoux (2007) 231. 48. Cic. Att. 10.18 (May 49 b.c.). 49. Cic. Fam. 8.17 ( January 48 b.c., Caelius Rufus to Cicero). 50. Dio 41.39.1–​3. 51. Plu. Caes. 37.3. 52. Cic. Att. 11.3 ( June 48 b.c.). 53. Plu. Cic. 38.2–​8. 54. Caes. Civ. 3.100; App. BC 2.75.313. 55. Caes. Civ. 3.95. 56. Fasti Val., Fasti Maff., Fasti Amit. in Michels (1967) 178. 57. App. BC 2.67.278. 58. App. BC 2.68.281. 59. Plu. Caes. 43.5; Plu. Pomp. 68.3; App. BC 2.68.282; Dio 41.61.2. 60. Plu. Pomp. 69.3; Plu. Caes. 45.2–​3. See Corbeill (2018) on Caesar’s wit. 61. Plu. Pomp. 68.2; Plu. Caes. 42.1. 62. Dio 39.38.2–​5. 63. See Richardson (1992) 411 for August 12, 55 b.c. and Coarelli (2007) 283 for August 12, 52 b.c. 64. App. BC 2.19.68. Vell. 2.47.1–​2 remarks that Iulia was delivered of a son; Plu. Pomp. 53.4 and Dio 39.64 of a daughter. 65. Plu. Pomp. 68.2. 66. Vell. 2.41.1; Suet. Jul. 6, 49.3; App. BC 2.68.281; Dio 43.43.3. 67. Suet. Jul. 6.1. See also Plu. Caes. 5.2. 68. Cic. Fam. 8.15.2 (March 49 b.c., Caelius Rufus to Cicero). 69. App. BC 22.15.102; Dio 44.37.3–​6. 70. Plu. Sull. 34.1–​2. See also Hübner (2005) 27–​9 for astrological placements in Firm. Math. 6.31.1 that possibly reflect the horoscope of Sulla and an astrological association with Venus. Holden (2011) 368 n. 5 suggests a date of June 15, 79 b.c. for the horoscope. 71. App. BC 2.104.430; App. BC 2.76.319 for Pharsalus. 72. Plu. Caes. 43.3.1–​4. 73. Plu. Pomp. 68.3; Plu. Caes. 43.7. Caes. Civ. 3.85 does not give a time of day but the soldiers had taken down the tents in preparation for moving on. 74. Plu. Caes. 43.4. 75. Plu. Pomp. 72.4. 76. Plu. Pomp. 76.6.

431

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431

77. Plu. Pomp. 79–​80; Vell. 2.53.3–​4. 78. Velleius Paterculus notes that Pompeius Magnus was born in the year of the consulship of Gaius Atilius Serranus and Quintus Servilius Caepio, 106 b.c. Plin. Nat. 37.6.13 notes that Pompeius Magnus was born on the day before the Kalends of October, the equivalent of either September 29 in the pre-​Julian Roman calendar or September 30 in the Julian calendar. 79. Cic. Att. 11.6.5 (November 48 b.c.). 80. Dio 42.8.2. 81. Plu. Caes. 28.1–​3. 82. Plu. Caes. 49.2. Dio 42.35.1–​2 omitted the story of the bedding sack but noted the shock of Cleopatra’s brother Ptolemy XIII and those in the palace at Cleopatra’s unexpected arrival. 83. Nic. Dam. 8; Suet. Aug. 8.1. See Dolansky (2008) on the assumption of the toga virilis as a defining moment. 84. Suet. Aug. 94.10; Dio 45.2.5–​6. 85. Fasti Ant. in Ehrenberg and Jones (1976) 53. See also Fast. Cum. in Ehrenberg and Jones (1976) 53. 86. Nic. Dam. 9. 87. See Wardle (2014) 110 for discussion of the possibilities for the date. 88. Vell. 2.59.3. 89. Nic. Dam. 13; Plin. Nat. 7.45.147. 90. Dio 42.27.1. 91. See Dio 42.34.4–​5 on Cleopatra’s charms and beauty. 92. App. BC 2.154.647; Macr. 1.16.39. 93. D.S. 1.81.3–​4. 94. Luc. 8.475–​535 on Acoreus. See Tracy (2014) 62–​5 on Acoreus and Memphis. See Jones (1994) on astronomy in Roman Egypt. 95. See Tracy (2014) 145–​76 for Sen. Nat. 4a.1–​30 as a possible source for Lucan’s account and Lintott (1971) 490 on the likelihood that Lucan consulted historical sources. 96. Luc. 10.201–​9. 97. See Germ. Arat. frag. 3–​4 on the appearance of the planets in the constellations of the zodiac as indications of different types of weather. 98. Luc. 10.210–​8. 99. For Sirius, see also Arat. Phaen. 332–​5. 100. See Renner (2010) on a similar description of astral influences upon the inundation of the Nile; this description appears in a papyrus fragment dated to the first century b.c. or first century a.d. 101. Luc. 10.259–​61. 102. Luc. 10.285–​331. The name Bootes is also spelled Boötes in English. 103. App. BC 2.90.379.

432

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104. Suet. Jul. 52.1. 105. Plu. Cic. 39. 106. In comparison, De Bello Alexandrino, also probably not written by Caesar, is lacking a detailed chronology. 107. B. Afr. 1. Plu. Caes. 52.2 specifies that the crossing to Sicily took place around the time of the winter solstice (περὶ τροπὰς χειμερινὰς διαβὰς εἰς Σικελίαν). The crossing took place a few weeks after the appearance of a very rare gathering or massing of the five visible ancient planets, which occurred in late November 47 b.c. in the east in Scorpios during morning nautical twilight. In this gathering, the five planets were within 10° of one another. On December 19, 47 b.c., four of the planets (Mars, Saturn, Venus, and Jupiter) remained close together before sunrise in the eastern sky. 108. B. Afr. 2. Compare Plu. Pomp. 65.3 for Caesar’s arrival at Brundisium and crossing after the winter solstice (ἐν τροπαῖς ἤδη τοῦ χειμῶνος ὄντος), which occurred on December 24 in this year. 109. B. Afr. 7. 110. B. Afr. 9. 111. B. Afr. 19. 112. B. Afr. 37. 113. B. Afr. 47. 114. Gem. Parapegma (Sun in Scorpios) for which see Aujac (2002) 101–​3; Evans and Berggren (2006) 235; Lehoux (2007) 228–​9. 115. B. Afr. 75. 116. B. Afr. 79. 117. B. Afr. 26. 118. Var. RR 1.28.1. See also Feeney (2007) 200–​1. 119. See Fast. Maf. and Fast. Ant. Mai. in Michels (1967) 175. See also Ov. Fast. 4.385–​6. 120. See Ideler (1825); Fox (2004); Robinson (2007) 131–​2; Lewis (2014); Lewis (2015a); Lewis (2015b) on the accuracy of Ovid’s astronomical references in the Fasti. 121. Plu. Caes. 17.2, 53.5–​6; App. BC 2.16. For discussion of Caesar’s malady, see Hughes (2004) and Galassi and Ashrafian (2015). 122. Ov. Fast. 4.1–​132. 123. See Ov. Fast. 2.458–​72 for the story. For the savior of Venus as Piscis, the mother of the Fishes, see Eratosth. 39. 124. Plu. Cat. 70.5. 125. B. Afr. 98. 126. Luc. 10.185–​7. See also Plu. Caes. 59. 127. Suet. Jul. 37.1; Dio 43.19.1. 128. Suet. Jul. 37.2. 129. App. BC 2.101.419. 130. Vell. 2.55.2.

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131. See Acta Arv., Fasti Pinc., and Fasti Val. in Degrassi (1963) 514. For discussion, see Ramsey and Licht (1997) 179–​81. 132. Ramsey and Licht (1997) 183–​4 argues that the triumphs were held on September 20, 22, 24, and 26 and that the Temple of Venus Genetrix was dedicated on this final day. 133. Dio 43.27.3. 134. Hor. S. 1.9.18. 135. See Suet. Jul. 49–​52 on Caesar’s seductions; Dio 43.27.3 on the growing concerns. 136. Dio 43.22.1. 137. Suet. Jul. 37. 138. Compare the discussion of West (1985) 63–​6 on how the presence of the planet Venus on a proposed date of September 4, 246 b.c. just before sunrise would have enhanced the story of the catasterism of the hair of Berenice in Callimachus’ frag. 110. 139. Suet. Jul. 20.1. 140. See, for example, Caes. Gal. 1.50 (ante novam lunam, before the new Moon), Gal. 4.29 (luna plena, the full Moon), Gal. 1.80 (prope ad solis occasum, almost at sunset), Gal. 7.41 (ante ortum solis, before sunrise). Septentriones, Cicero’s name for Helice the Greater Bear, is used for the direction north: for example, in Gal. 1.1 (ad septentriones). 141. See, for example, Caes. Gal. 5.35 (ad horam octavam, near the eighth hour); Gal. 8.35 (hora noctis circiter decima, around the tenth hour of the night). 142. Eratosth. 11. See also Robinson (2013) 446–​9. 143. Dio 43.19.2–​4. 144. App. BC 2.102.424. 145. Dio 43.23.1–​2. 146. See Plu. Caes. 55; Suet. Jul. 26.2; Dio 43.22.3 on the celebrations. 147. Cic. Q. fr. 3.6.3 (November 54 b.c.), 3.7.6 (December 54 b.c.). 148. Cic. Fam. 12.18.2 (October 46 b.c., Cicero to Cornificius). 149. Macr. Sat. 2.7.2–​9. See also Suet. Jul. 39.2. 150. Macr. Sat. 2.3.10. 151. Macr. Sat. 2.3.8. 152. For a description, see Verg. A. 545–​603. 153. For the Roman calendar, see Samuel (1972) 153–​70; Hannah (2005) 98–​124; Rüpke (2011); Stern (2012) 204–​22. 154. App. BC 2.154.648; Macr. Sat. 1.14.6. For discussion, see Michels (1967) 160–​5. 155. Ov. Fast. 3.161–​2 (the use of precise notations, exactis disposuisse notis); Plu. Caes. 59 (methodology); Plin. Nat. 18.211 (Sosigenes); Macr. Sat. 1.14.2 (Marcus Flavius). 156. Macr. Sat. 1.14.3. 157. See Suet. Jul. 40.2; Dio 43.26.1 on the number of days added by Caesar. See Hannah (2005) 116–​7 on the addition of a total of ninety days: one month of

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twenty-​three days made after February 46 b.c. and sixty-​seven days allotted in two months or in two months of twenty-​two days and one month of twenty-​three days made between November and December 46 b.c. 158. Cic. Verr. 2.2.129. 159. Macr. Sat. 1.14.13. 160. For discussion of the nature of Caesar’s work, see Cramer (1954) 76–​ 7; Domenicucci (1996) 85–​99; Gee (2000) 17–​20. Plin. Nat. 18.214 preferred Caesar’s observations and followed them closely. 161. Plu. Caes. 59.6. 162. See Ov. Fast. 1.315–​6 for January 5 (exoriente lyra). For discussion of the chronological issues see Fox (2004) 107–​8; Green (2004) 150–​1; Feeney (2007) 295 n. 133; Lewis (2014) 417–​21. See also Kimpton (2014) 29–​32 for a thematic consideration. 163. See Le Boeuffle (1964) 329–​30 for the two different constellations; Le Boeuffle (1977) 225–​7 for the second lyre among constellations in the Sphaera Barbarica. 164. Cic. Q. fr. 3.5.3 (late October–​November 54 b.c.). 165. Plu. Caes. 4.8. 166. Plu. Caes. 54.5–​6; App. BC 2.99.414; Dio 43.13.4. 167. Dio 43.21.2. 168. Cic. Fam. 4.5 (March 45 b.c., Sulpicius Rufus to Cicero), 4.6 (April 45 b.c., Cicero to Sulpicius Rufus). 169. Cic. Fam. 5.14 (May 45 b.c., Lucceius to Cicero), 5.15 (May 45 b.c., Cicero to Lucceius). 170. Cic. Att. 12.14, 12.22 (both March 45 b.c.). 171. Cic. Att. 12.35, 12.36, 12.37, 12.37a, 12.38a, 12.40, 12.41, 12.47, 12.52 (all May 45 b.c.); 13.34 ( July 45 b.c.). For discussion, see Cole (2013) 1–​7. 172. Cic. Att. 13.20.1 ( July 45 b.c.). 173. Cic. Fam. 5.15 (May 45 b.c., Cicero to Lucceius). 174. Only Cicero’s translation of Pl. Tim. 27c–​47b is extant. See Sedley (2013) 189 for a date of composition between late June 45 b.c. and Cicero’s death on December 7, 43 b.c. See Hoenig (2018) 45 for 45–​44 b.c. 175. Cic. Fam. 4.13 (August 46 b.c., Cicero to Nigidius Figulus). 176. Cic. Div. 1.56.128. For verses written by Quintus Cicero, see Aus. Ecl. 25. See Possanza (1992) and Gee (2007) for a fragment dealing with zodiacal constellations and weather conditions attributed to Quintus Cicero. 177. Cic. Div. 1.57.130. C h a p t er 4 1. Nic. Dam. 8.17–​10.21. 2. Suet. Aug. 8.1. See Nic. Dam. 3 for nine years; Quint. Inst. 12.6.1 for twelve years. For discussion, see Wardle (2014) 109–​10 and Toher (2017) 176–​7.

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3. Plu. Caes. 5.2–​5; Suet. Jul. 6.1. 4. Nic. Dam. 3.10. 5. Dio 43.41.3, 45.1.12, 45.2.7. In the late 30s b.c., according to Suet. Aug. 68, Antonius spread the rumor that the advancement of Octavius by Caesar was due to their illicit sexual intercourse (stuprum). 6. Nic. Dam. 4.28. 7. Suet. Aug. 8.1. 8. Vell. 2.59.2. 9. Cic. Q. fr. 1.1.21 (end of 60 b.c.–​beginning of 59 b.c.), 1.2.7 (October–​December 59 b.c.); Suet. Aug. 3.2. See also Broughton (1951) Vol. 2, 179. 10. Tac. Dial. 28. 11. Nic. Dam. 3.4–​6. 12. Dio 56.36.1–​2. 13. Man. Astron. 1.148. 14. On celestial globes in the Roman world, in general, see Rawson (1985) 163–​7; Le Boeuffle (1987) 246–​9 (sphaera); Le Boeuffle (1989) 32–​4; Evans (1999) 238–​41; Gee (2000) 96–​100; Evans and Berggren (2006) 27–​34; Lippincott (2011b) 4–​5; Dekker (2013) 80–​6. 15. Sal. Cat. 8.2–​5. 16. Verg. A. 6.849–​50. 17. Verg. A. 6.851–​3. 18. See Bonner (1977) 78 on the widespread study of technical subjects (such as astronomy) as part of a liberal education. See also Rawson (2005) 168–​9 for some astronomy as part of education at the post-​elementary stage of the grammaticus, which may have lasted until fourteen or fifteen years of age. 19. Cic. de Orat. 1.187, 1.72. 20. Vitr. 1.1.3, 1.1.10. 21. See Verg. G. 1.335–​7 for the importance of knowing the stars (sidera) and the planets in the zodiac, such as Saturn (Saturni . . . stella) and Mercury (ignis caelo Cyllenius). See also the supportive comment in Plin. Nat. 18.209. See Quint. Inst. 1.4.4 on the importance of a knowledge of astronomy for understanding references to time that are based on the rising and setting of the constellations in the zodiac (ortu occasuque signorum). 22. Plb. 9.14.5. 23. Plb. 9.15.7. See Hannah (1993) for a discussion of the observations of the constellations by the helmsman Palinurus in the third book of Vergil’s Aeneid. 24. Plb. 9.15.12. 25. Cic. Tusc. 1.2.5. 26. Suet. Aug. 5. See Wardle (2014) 96–​7 on Octavius’ house. See Plu. Cic. 8.6 and Cerutti (1997) on Cicero’s house. 27. Suet. Aug. 6.

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28. See Serv. A. 8.361 and Cic. Q. fr. 2.3.7 (February 56 b.c.). See Richardson (1992) 71–​2; Ziòłkowski (1996); Coarelli (2007) 179 for the location of the Carinae in relation to the Velia and the Oppius. 29. Plu. Cic. 40.1. 30. Plu. Cic. 44.3–​7. 31. Suet. Aug. 94.9; Dio 45.2.2. See Wardle (2005) 45 and Wardle (2014) 526–​8 for skepticism. 32. Cic. Div. 1.15.25. 33. Cic. Fam. 6.6.3–​8 (October 46 b.c., Cicero to Caecina). 34. See Cic. Div. 2.42–​7 for Cicero’s views on Chaldaean astrology. 35. See Neugebauer (1975) Vol. 2, 748–​60. 36. Hipparch. 1.1.5. On Hipparchus’ commentary, see Macfarlane and Mills (2018). See also Neugebauer (1975) Vol. 1, 274–98; Lightfoot (2017). 37. For discussion, see Martin (1956) 23–​9; Bishop (2015). 38. See Huxley (1963) on Eudoxus. 39. Some astronomers have suggested that the ultimate source for Aratus’ Phaenomena dates to a catalog composed in the third millennium b.c. See Roy (1984); Ovenden (1966); Zhitomirsky (1999); Frank (2015) 152–​6 for latitudes ranging from 36° to 40° N. 40. See Maass (1898) 1–​24 for the fragments from Attalus’ commentary that appear in Hipparchus’ commentary. See also Tueller and Macfarlane (2009) 238–​45. 41. Toomer (1978) 220. 42. See Jones (1991) on the numerical-​geometrical astronomy founded by Hipparchus and Hipparchus’ use of the elements of Babylonian astronomy. 43. Hipparch. 1.1.8. 44. See Mair (1955) 186; Martin (1974) 6–​22; Martin (1998) Vol. I, xii–​xxi for Vitae I–​IV of Aratus and the entry in the Souda and the possible common source in a life of Aratus possibly written by the Stoic Boethius of Sidon in the second century b.c. 45. See Lewis (1992); Cribiore (2001) 142–​3; Hunter (2004); Volk (2010) 209; Gee (2013); Volk (2015); Bishop (2019) 63–​70 on the Phaenomena as a textbook. See Dolan (2017) 1–​54 for a survey of the reception and influence of the Phaenomena. See Evans and Berggren (2006) 8–​9 on popular surveys of astronomy. See Semanoff (2006) for pedagogical techniques in the Phaenomena. See Erren (1967) for the scientific merits of the poem. 46. See Gem. Phaen. 5.11 on the conceptual nature of the celestial circles. 47. For astrometeorology, see Lehoux (2007); Bomhard (2008); Lehoux (2015). 48. Arat. Phaen. 454–​61. Aratus did not follow Plato, who had come to view the Sun (Helios) and the Moon (Selene) as animate entities (Pl. Tim. 41d–​41e and Pl. Lg. 10.899b). 49. See Kidd (1997) 345–​6 n. to 460.

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50. Kidd (1997) 49 notes that the definitive edition is attributed to Theon of Alexandria, who flourished late in the first century b.c. 51. See Porter (1946) and Fakas (2001) for Hesiod’s Works and Days as a literary model for Aratus’ Phaenomena. See also Hunter (1995). 52. See Morel and Blänsdorf (1995) frag. 11, 22 for the poem and see Courtney (1993) 221–​3 for Helvius Cinna. See Cic. Rep. 1.14.22. For discussions of the literary and aesthetic qualities of Aratus’ poem, see Pendergraft (1990); Bing (1993); Pendergraft (1995); Volk (2010) 199–​200; Possanza (2012) 67. 53. Cic. Rep. 1.14.22. 54. See Cic. de Orat. 1.69 for the comment. See also Fantham (2004) 143–​4. 55. See Plu. Cic. 4.6 on Cicero’s skill at Greek. 56. Cic. Arat. 33[PHI 34].223–​36. 57. Ov. Am. 1.15.16. 58. See Adams (2003) 3–​8 and Dickey (2012) 4 on bilingualism among the Romans. 59. Suet. Aug. 89.1. 60. According to Dio 51.16.4, Octavianus would later deliver a speech in Greek at Alexandria. He probably composed it first in Latin, as was his custom. 61. Cic. Fam. 16.21.8 (August 44 b.c., Cicero’s son, Marcus Cicero, to Tiro). 62. Suet. Aug. De Vita Sua frag. 6 [Malcovati] in Plin. Nat. 2.94. See also Pl. Am. 273 (Septentriones); Cic. N.D. 2.41.105 (Septem . . . Triones), 2.43.111 (Septentriones); Var. L. 7.74 (corrupt text, septem stellas rones); Ov. Met. 2.528 (septem . . . triones). For discussion, see Bishop (2016) 162–​4. 63. Cic. N.D. 2.41.104–​44.115. 64. See Cic. Q. fr. 3.5.1–​2 (October–​November 54 b.c.) for Cicero’s sharing of his written drafts among friends and associates. Cicero had been compelled to abandon the first draft of the first two books of De Republica, which he had been working on since at least 54 b.c., after criticism from Gnaeus Sallustius (not the historian Gaius Sallustius Crispus, who is commonly known as Sallust), and Cicero finally published the work in 51 b.c. His revision involved a meticulous treatment of geographical sources; see Cic. Att. 6.2.3 (April 50 b.c.). 65. See Pauli (1958) on the common literary interests of Caesar and Cicero and their cordial communications about such matters. 66. Cic. Att. 13.52.2 (December 45 b.c.). 67. Suet. Jul. 55.1–​2. 68. Cic. Q. fr. 2.16.5 (August 54 b.c.). 69. Suet. Rhet. 2. 70. Vell. 2.34.3. 71. The excerpts from Cicero’s De Natura Deorum appear in texts as fragments of Cicero’s translation of the Phaenomena. See Harley MS 647 British Library, a ninth-​century manuscript of Cicero’s Aratea in twenty-​two pages that originated in Northern France.

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72. In contrast, Gee (2001) 33 suggests that technical accuracy is not as important as the status of the stars as verbal art. 73. For the forty-​seven Aratean constellations with their IAU abbreviations, see Chap. 4, pages 105–14. See Cic. Arat. 33[PHI 34].4–​9 for Deltoton and Cic. Arat. 33[PHI 34].167–​9 for Piscis. Dekker (2013) 38 includes Corona Australis among the forty-​seven, but not the Vergiliae, which is included here among the forty-​seven. The grouping of stars in the shape of a ring under the feet of Sagittarius that later became the constellation Corona Australis was described in Arat. Phaen. 399–​401 but not named there. This group was also mentioned in Cic. Arat. 33[PHI 34].182 as dim and without a name ([stellae] . . . obscurae sine nomine) and not mentioned at all in the selections found in De Natura Deorum. See also Gem. Phaen. 3.13 and Germ. Arat. 391–​2 for the stars named later as Corona Australis; Hyg. Astr. 3.26 for the stars as Corona Centauri (the Crown of Sagittarius). See Lippincott (2011a) 291 Fig. 1b for a depiction of Corona Australis on the Farnese Globe. 74. Cic. N.D. 2.44.112. The so-​called ars Eudoxi, a Greek papyrus fragment housed today in the Louvre (P. Paris 1), contains crude illustrations, and it appears to be an elementary astronomical treatise of some sort. It has been dated to the second century b.c. It is not by Eudoxus. See Blass (1887); Tannery (1893) 283–​94; Neugebauer (1975) 686–​9; Jones (1999) 306. 75. Var. R. 1.1.8–​11. See Griffin (1994) 692–​4 on the importance of acquiring and using written texts. 76. Cic. N.D. 2.40.104–​5 (Arat. Phaen. 19–​26). 77. Compare Spyridis, Preka-​Padema, Gazeas, et al. (2019), which distributes the constellations in Eratosthenes’ Catasterismi (and Aratus’ Phaenomena) differently according to five “description routes.” 78. Cic. N.D. 2.41.105–​2.43.110 (Arat. Phaen. 27–​148). 79. For the term “sky-​view,” see Dekker (2013) 51, 155. 80. Man. Astron. 1.456–​73. 81. Hipparch. 1.4.6. See Dekker (2013) 34–​8 for Hipparchus’ Rule and the example of the constellation Orion (with illustrations). 82. See Toomer (1998) 14–​17; Evans (1987). 83. See Varro L. 18.24–​ 5 on the regularity of the appearance of the fixed constellations. 84. Compare Man. Astron. 1.401–​2 on the observation of Sirius from Mount Taurus in Cilicia. 85. Nic. Dam. 15.34. 86. Suet. Aug. 72. 87. Arat. Phaen. 41; Hipparch. 2.1.4. 88. Man. Astron. 1.469–​73. 89. Nic. Dam. 12. 90. Suet. Aug. 82.1.

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91. Suet. Aug. 53.2; Dio 54.25.4. 92. Cic. N.D. 2.43.110–​2.44.112 (Arat. Phaen. 156–​294). 93. The Vergiliae (the star cluster known today as the Pleiades or M45) were considered by Aratus to be a constellation, but they do not appear listed separately on the sky maps. 94. Cic. N.D. 2.44.113 (=​ Arat. Phaen. 305–​18). 95. Cic. Fam. 1.2.4 ( January 56 b.c., Cicero to Lentulus Spinther [cos. 57 b.c.]); Cic. Q. fr. 2.3.7 (February 56 b.c.), 3.2.1 (October 54 b.c.); Cic. Att. 13.38.1 (August 45 b.c.). 96. Cic. Att. 10.13.1 (May 49 b.c.). 97. Suet. Aug. 78.2. 98. Cic. N.D. 2.44.113–​4 (=​ Arat. Phaen. 322–​66). 99. Arat. Phaen. 362–​4. See de Callataÿ (1996) on the pivotal structural role of this star in the poem. 100. Cic. N.D. 2.44.114 (=​ Arat. Phaen. 402–​50). 101. See Liddell and Scott (1996) 1127–​8 for μήν and 1159 for ναί. For discussion, see also Kidd (1997) 342; Martin (1998) 331. 102. See Arat. Phaen. 525–​33 for the four circles. The fifth celestial circle, the Milky Way, appears in Arat. Phaen. 470–​9 and Cic. Arat. 33[PHI 34].245–​52, although no mention is made of the constellations through which the Milky Way passes, because it was not used to tell the time of the year. For its path, see Man. Astron. 1.684–​700. Hyg. Astr. 3.14 and Man. Astron. 1.618–​30 also discuss the constellations that appear on the colures, which do not appear in Aratus’ Phaenomena. For discussion, see Dekker (2013) 80–​3. 103. See Pàmias and Geus (2007); Hard (2015) xviii–xxvi; Spyridis, Preka-​Papadema, Gazeas, et al. (2019) on Eratosthenes’ Cataterismi. See also Robinson (2013) on Eratosthenes’ Catasterismi and Ovid. 104. Cic. Rep. 1.14.22. 105. For celestial globes and armillary spheres in Roman sources, see Cic. Arat. 33[PHI 34].302–​7 (following Arat. Phaen. 529–​33); Cic. N.D. 2.35.88; Cic. Rep. 1.14.21–​2; Cic. Tusc. 1.25.63; Verg. A. 6.795–​7; Ov. Fast. 6.277–​80. 106. See Schaefer (2005) for a suggested date of 125 b.c. plus or minus fifty-​five years and a connection to Hipparchus. See Duke (2006) for criticisms. 107. For the term “globe-​view,” see Dekker (2013) 51, 155. 108. See Dekker (2013) 57–​68 for Kugel’s Globe. This globe, which is dated to the first century b.c., is much smaller than the Farnese Globe and made of silver with incised, not carved, figures and lines. It presents all of the Aratean constellations. Kugel’s Globe was found in Turkey and is located today in the Galerie J. Kugel in Paris. 109. For a description of the constellations on this circle, see Arat. Phaen. 480–​500 and Cic. Arat. 33[PHI 34].253–​71.

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110. Arat. Phaen. 704–​5; Eratosth. 17. 111. For a description of the constellations on this circle, see Arat. Phaen. 501–​10 and Cic. Arat. 33[PHI 34].271–​84. 112. Arat. Phaen. 353–​4; Eratosth. 36; Cic. Arat. 33[PHI 34].139–​40. 113. Arat. Phaen. 326–​7, 340–​1, 755; Eratosth. 33; Cic. Arat. 33[PHI 34].123–​4. 114. For a description of the constellations on this circle, see Arat. Phaen. 511–​24; Cic. Arat. 33[PHI 34].285–​97. 115. Arat. Phaen. 634–​49; Eratosth. 32; Cic. Arat. 33[PHI 34].419–​35. 116. Arat. Phaen. 523; Eratosth. 30; Cic. Arat. 33[PHI 34].294. 117. Eratosth. 41. 118. For a description of the constellations on this circle, see Arat. Phaen. 537–​58 and Cic. Arat. 33[PHI 34].298–​340. 119. Eratosth. 11; Nigidius Figulus (Swoboda [1889] 114 no. 92). 120. Eratosth. 12; Nigidius Figulus (Swoboda [1889] 114–​5 no. 93). 121. Arat. Phaen. 96–​146; Eratosth. 11; Nigidius Figulus (Swoboda [1889] 115–​8 no. 93). 122. Eratosth. 7; Nigidius Figulus (Swoboda [1889] 118 no. 95). 123. Eratosth. 7; Nigidius Figulus (Swoboda [1889] 118–​20 no. 96). 124. Eratosth. 28; Nigidius Figulus (Swoboda [1889] 120–​1 no. 97). 125. Eratosth. 27; Nigidius Figulus (Swoboda [1889] 122–​5 no. 98). 126. Eratosth. 26; Nigidius Figulus (Swoboda [1889] 125–​6 no. 99). 127. Eratosth. 21, 39; Nigidius Figulus (Swoboda [1889] 126–​7 no. 99). 128. Eratosth. 19; Nigidius Figulus (Swoboda [1889] 110–​1 no. 89). 129. Eratosth. 14; Nigidius Figulus (Swoboda [1899] 111 no. 90). 130. Eratosth. 10; Nigidius Figulus (Swoboda [1889] 112–​3 no. 91). 131. Arat. Phaen. 30–​35; Eratosth. 1; Cic. Arat. 25.2. 132. Compare Nisbet (1982) on Helice as a visual link for Ovid in exile in Tomis to his wife back in Rome. 133. Arat. Phaen. 71–​2; Eratosth. 5. 134. Arat. Phaen. 577; Eratosth. 4. 135. Arat. Phaen. 268–​9, 597, 674; Eratosth. 24; Cic. Arat. 33[PHI 34].42–​4, 381. 136. Arat. Phaen. 360; Eratosth. 37; Cic. Arat. 33[PHI 34].145–​8. 137. See Loos (2008) and Loos (2012) for discussions of Phaethon’s fatal ride through the constellations in the chariot of the Sun, as recounted in the second book of Ovid’s Metamorphoses. 138. Arat. Phaen. 254–​67; Eratosth. 23; Cic. Arat. 33[PHI 34].27–​41. 139. Arat. Phaen. 730–​2. 140. Cic. Phaen. 341–​80, a translation of Arat. 33[PHI 34].559–​732. See also the more detailed discussions in Hipparch. 1.3, 2.4.4–​3.4.12, which contain degrees, and in Man. Astron. 5.32–​709 in the context of astrology. 141. For discussion, see Kidd (1997) 379.

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142. Plu. Cat. 70.5. Similarly, according to Suet. Aug. 84.1, Octavius would read and study during the campaign at Mutina in 43 b.c. According to Plu. Brut. 4.6–​8, Brutus would make an epitome of Polybius before the Battle of Philippi in 42 b.c. 143. Cic. Arat. 33 [PHI 34].350–​69, following Arat. Phaen. 570–​89. 144. See Morford (1967) on Cicero’s contributions to Latin astronomical nomenclature. 145. See Buescu (1941) 331–​59 for allusions to Cicero’s Aratea in the works of later poets (Loci Similes); See also Lewis (2015a) for Cic. Arat. 33[PHI 34].87–​90 as a source for Ov. Fast. 3.793–​808. 146. Verg. Ecl. 3.37. 147. Verg. Ecl. 3.40. Ovid in the Fasti uses signa for both constellations (for example, Fast. 1.1–​2) and for constellations of the zodiac (for example, Fast. 3.109–​10). For signa, see also Le Boeuffle (1977) 27–​9. 148. Gem. Phaen. 3.8 for Coma Berenices as a separate constellation. Eratosth. 12 and Hyg. Astr. 2.24. include Coma Berenices with Leo. Coma Berenices appears on the sky maps between Leo and Bootes and is marked as [Com]. See, for example, Fig. 4.1. 149. Call. Aet. frag. 110; Catul. 66. 150. Verg. Ecl. 3.40–​2. 151. For a discussion of the identity of the unnamed poet, see Fisher (1982). 152. Verg. G. 1.351–​465. For discussion, see Beede (1936). 153. Verg. G. 4.453–​527. 154. Verg. Ecl. 3.60–​1. The opening verse in Cicero’s translation, Cic. Arat. 1.1, is not complete. 155. For the epigram, see Gow and Page (1965) Vol. 2, 9.541 and Kuttner (1995) 10. C h a p t er 5 1. Nic. Dam. 9.19–​11.24. 2. Dio 43.35.4. 3. Suet. Aug. 94.11. 4. Plin. Nat. 7.45.147. 5. Plu. Caes. 56.7–​9; Dio 43.42. 6. Nic. Dam. 17.45. 7. Nic. Dam. 6.37–​8 notes that Octavius received the message about Caesar’s assassination during his fourth month in Apollonia. App. BC 3.9.32 notes that Octavius received the news after the sixth month of his stay. 8. Cic. Div. 1.3.6, 2.42.88; Aug. Civ. 5.2. See Str. 14.5.14–​5 for the Stoics of Tarsus. See Jones (2003) on the Stoics and astronomy; Riess (1933) 75 for Posidonius. 9. Vell. 2.59.4. 10. Suet. Jul. 44.2. 11. Suet. Jul. 42.1.

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12. Suet. Aug. 84.1. 13. Suet. Aug. 94.12. 14. Suet. Aug. 94.1. 15. Wardle (2014) 530 n. to 94.12 suggests an unremarked irony in the meeting of Theogenes, the “god-​born” mathematicus, with the “god-​born” Octavius. 16. Cramer (1954) 82. For the two sides of the scholarly debate about astrology, see Beck (2007) and Ripat (2011). 17. For discussions of Greek and Roman astrology, astrological practice, and astrologers, see Bouché-​ Leclercq (1899); Cumont (1912); Cramer (1954); Gundel and Gundel (1966); Lindsay (1971); Long (1982); Tester (1987); Barton (1994); Bakhouche (2002); Holden (2006); Beck (2007); Crane (2007); Campion (2008); Volk (2009); Green (2014); Greenbaum (2020); Heilen (2020); Hübner (2020). 18. For Manilius’ dates, see Goold (1977) xii–​xiv; Volk (2009) 137–​61. 19. Man. Astron. 2.57–​9, 2.136–​45, 3.34–​51. 20. Volk (2009) 4–​5. 21. Man. Astron. 1.30–​7. 22. Man. Astron. 1.41–​60. See also Rochberg (2004) 98–​120. 23. See Hunger (1999); Hunger and Pingree (1999); Swerdlow (1998) 1–​23; Reiner (1999). 24. The earliest Babylonian horoscopes are dated to 410 b.c. See Rochberg (1998) 51–​7 (Text 1 and Text 2). See also Koch-​Westenholz (1995) for a survey of Mesopotamian astrology. 25. Vitr. 9.6.2. D.S. 1.81.6 claims, however, that the Chaldaeans learned astrology from Egyptian priests. 26. See MacGregor (2005) and Volk (2009) 250 for Manilius’ Stoicism and philosophical eclecticism. 27. Cic. Div. 2.42–​7. 28. For Varro, see Cic. Div. 2.42.88 and Gel. 19.14.1–​4; for Tarutius of Firmum, see Cic. Div. 2.47.98–​9 and Plu. Rom. 12; for Nigidius Figulus, see Cic. Att. 7.24 (February 49 b.c.) and Gel. 19.14.1–​4. See also Grafton and Swerdlow (1985); Momigliano (1984); Beard (1987). 29. D.S. 2.29–​31. 30. See Man. Astron. 1.247–​54 on these bonds. 31. BGU 957, Neugebauer and Van Hoesen (1959) No. –​9 (10 b.c.); P.Oxy. 804, Neugebauer and Van Hoesen (1959) No. –​3 (4 b.c.); P.Oxy 235, Neugebauer and Van Hoesen (1959) No. 15/​22 (early Tiberian date). The Lion Horoscope of Nemrud Dagh, Neugebauer and Van Hoesen (1959) No. –​61, has been omitted because its date is uncertain, and it may be a katarchē, not a genitura. For discussion of the Lion Horoscope, see Neugebauer and Van Hoesen (1959) 14–​6; Heilen (2005); Kelley and Milone (2011) 478–​82; Crijns (2014); Belmonte and González-​ Garcia (2015).

43

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32. Barton (1995) 42. 33. See the preference for the placement of the first point of the Signs in the first degree in Man. Astron. 1.622, 2.178, 3.278–​93, 3.395–​436, 3.443–​82. For discussion, see Goold (1977) lxxxi–​lxxxiv. Man. Astron. 3.257 mentions use of the less common 8° point of Aries, which was the preferred reference point in the sidereal zodiac of the Babylonians, as a variant in use during the saeculum Augustum, but Manilius’ preference is for the first degree in Aries. The reconstruction of the natal horoscope of Octavius in Brind’Amour (1983a) 62–​76 used the 8° point. For the primacy of the first degree of Aries, see also Arat. Phaen. 534–​9 and Hipparch. 2.1.17. 34. In addition to Locus, Manilius also employs the words Pars, Regio, Sedes, and Templum. 35. Gem. Phaen. 1.3–​4; Man. Astron. 2.307. 36. Gem. Phaen. 1.5–​8. 37. Man. Astron. 1.271. 38. See Man. Astron. 2.150–​4 for the classification. 39. See Man. Astron. 2.342, 3.169 for genitura as the calculated horoscope. For latitude, see Arat. Phaen. 498–​9 following Eudoxus; Hipp. 1.2.22; Gem. Phaen. 1.12, 5.29. For discussion, see Le Boeuffle (1987) 92–​3; Kidd (1997) 358–​9; Aujac (2002) 190; Evans and Berggren (2006) 116. 40. Hannah (2009) 63–​4 suggests a primarily astrological purpose for the Antikythera Mechanism. 41. As in North (1986), some modern astrological terminology is used for clarity. 42. See Man. Astron. 3.203–​24 for one method of calculation for the Ascendant and Man. Astron. 3.483–​509 for a second method. For discussion, see Goold (1977) lxxvii and Brind’Amour (1983b). 43. See Man. Astron. 2.808–​40 on the cardinal points. 44. For astrological boards and their gemstone markers, see Evans (2004) 4–​14; Forenbaher and Jones (2011); Heilen and Greenbaum (2016) 128–​33; Jones (2019a). 45. Ps.-​Callisth., Alexander Romance 4, identifies the gemstone associated with Zeus as an air-​stone (τὸν Δία αἰθερίτου λίθου), which I have identified here as an opal, whitish or bluish in color. On the desirability of opals (Latin opali) during the saeculum Augustum, see Plin. Nat. 37.21.80-​2–​22.83-​4. Antonius proscribed the senator Nonius, who was the son of Nonius Struma, because Nonius was in possession of a very valuable opal that Antonius wanted for himself. Nonius fled before he was seized, taking the opal with him. 46. See Neugebauer and Van Hoesen (1959) No. 15/​22 (horoscope and diagram); Grenfell and Hunt (1899) 137–​9 (text); Jacobus (2015) 355 (image of the fragment). 47. Man. Astron. 3.218–​24. 48. Man. Astron. 2.788–​964 names the Cardinal Points but not the Places, which are not presented in numerical order beginning with the first. 49. Man. Astron. 2.841–​958.

4

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Notes

50. Man. Astron. 2.749–​87. 51. Man. Astron. 1.109–​12. 52. See Man. Astron. 4.406–​7 on cosmic sympathy; Astron. 1.59–​65, 2.148–​9, 4.118 on Fate. Tac. Ann. 6.22 also ponders the matter of fate and free will. For discussion, see Volk (2009) 59–​61. 53. Hor. Carm. 2.17.22 for this use of astrum. See also Le Boeuffle (1977) 31–​6. 54. Man. Astron. 1.51–​65, 1.147–​8. 55. Arroyo (1989) 16–​18. 56. See Tac. Ann. 6.21 for Tiberius posing the question for the mathematicus Thrasyllus. See also Crane (2007) xix. 57. See, for example, CCAG 8:4 p. 236, 24–​237, 10, Neugebauer and Van Hoesen (1959) L–​71, 76–​78, a literary horoscope preserved among those belonging to the mathematicus Balbillus. 58. On precedents, see Man. Astron. 1.58–​65 (exemplo monstrante viam). 59. Lewis (2008), for example, used Augustan and post-Augustan astrological sources for an interpretation of the natal horoscope of Octavius, with results that are consistent with those presented here. 60. Volk (2009) 180–​1 suggests that the poem’s goal was more to evoke, not teach, an “interesting subject matter in an aesthetic way.” 61. Man. Astron. 4.122–​293. Goold (1977) lxxxiv–​lxxxv for the likelihood that Manilius is discussing the Moon in the Signs here. Three references to the Sun in this section (Man. Astron. 4.144, 4.162–​3, 4.218), however, suggest instead a discussion of the Sun in the Signs. 62. Man. Astron. 3.517–​9. 63. Man. Astron. 3.590–​1. 64. Man. Astron. 2.907. 65. Man. Astron. 2.644, 2.742–​3, 3.62–​3, 3.101, 5.722. 66. Man. Astron. 1.58–​60, 2.643–​4. 67. Volk (2009) 48–​57, 116–​25. Compare Herbert-​Brown (2002) 123–​8, which argues that Ovid excised references to the planets when he revised the Fasti. 68. Man. Astron. 2.965, 3.156–​8. 69. Man. Astron. 5.30–​1. 70. Man. Astron. 2.961–​4. 71. Cic. Div. 1.39.85; Prop. 4.1.84. 72. Cic. Rep. 6.17.17; Cic. Div. 1.39.85; Prop. 4.1.84; Germ. Arat. frag. 4.1. 73. Cic. Rep. 6.17.17; Cic. Div. 1.39.85; Ov. Am. 1.8.29; Prop. 4.1.83; Ov. Ib. 215. 74. Catul. 64.329; Cic. Div. 1.39.85; Ov. Am. 1.8.30; Germ. Arat. frag. 4.50, frag. 4.74. 75. Ov. Ib. 213–​4. 76. Compare later designations found in Ptol. Tetr.1.5. The Sun, like Mercury, is considered to be neutral (διὰ τὸ κοινὸν τῶν φύσεων ὡς ἀμφότερα δυναμένους). The Moon, like Jupiter and Venus, is considered to be benefic (ὡς ἀγαθοποιούς).

45

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77. Ov. Am. 1.8.29–​31. Compare Tib. 1.2.43 for the unnamed female astrologer who was able to draw down the planets from the zodiac in the heavens: that is, onto her astrological board in their astrological forms (hanc ego de caelo ducentem sidera vidi). See also Ov. Pont. 3.1.159–​60, in which Ovid recommends that his wife find a fortunate day and an hour for a visit to Livia (lux . . . facito bona . . . adsit /​ horaque conveniens). Such a time could be found by means of astrology. 78. Prop. 4.1.150. 79. Possible astrological placements of relevance to a horoscope are scattered throughout the poem and an interpretation appears in Prop. 4.1.119–​50. For scholarly discussion of the horoscope and the difficulties of the text, see Nethercut (1970); Kidd (1979); Montanari Caldini (1979); Murgia (1989); Keyser (1992); Butrica (1993); Goold (1999); Hübner (2002). 80. Tac. Ann. 6.21. 81. Suet. Aug. 94.12. 82. See Dicks (1954) 85 on the ancient observatory. See Man. Astron. 4.387–​407, 4.866–​935; Barton (1994) 134–​42; Green (2014) 11–​55 on the pedagogical experience. 83. Plu. Mar. 42.4–​5. 84. Plu. Sull. 5.5–​6. On Sulla’s genitura, see Cramer (1954) 62; Hübner (2005); Holden (2011) 368. See also Thein (2009) 92–​3. 85. Plu. Sull. 37.1. 86. Dio 53.1.2. 87. Nic. Dam. 7.16. 88. Dio 49.4. 89. See Reinhold (1933) 4. n. 13, following Voight (1899) 185–​9, for Sagittarius not being the natal sign of Agrippa. 90. See Roddaz (1984) 23; Reinhold (1933) 9 n. 37. 91. Plin. Nat. 7.8.45. 92. Nic. Dam. 7.16. See also Toher (2017) 193. 93. Plin. Nat. 7.8.46; Dio 54.28.3. 94. For either 64 or 63 b.c., see Romeo (1998) 219. For 64 b.c., see Reinhold (1933) 1–​4; Roddaz (1984) 23–​6; Powell (2015) 258 n. 6. 95. Reinhold (1933) 1–​4. 96. Roddaz (1984) 23–​6. 97. See Codex Parisinus, folios 205a–​209b, Liber Glossarum, Corpus Glossariorum Latinorum 5.165; CCAG 2.139–​50. For discussion, see Boll (1900) 144.17, 145.9–​ 10; Scott (1931) 207–​19; Samuel (1972) 183–​4; Laffi (1967) 43–​6; Stern (2012) 273–​84. A date before 17 b.c. may be preferable because Augustus’ adoptive sons Lucius (born 20 b.c.) and Gaius (born 17 b.c.) are not honored in the Paphian calendar. 98. On the association of Aphrodite with Cyprus, see Hill (1940) 235.

46

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Notes

99. The constellation Chelae the Pincers (Libra) follows Virgo within the month of October. 100. Suet. Aug. 100.3. 101. Hor. S. 2.3.185. 102. P.Oxy. 235 identifies Scorpios as a masculine Sign. Neugebauer and Van Hoesen (1959) 19 suggests that a different system may be in use because Scorpios is usually identified as feminine, which is the designation used in the analysis here. On this horoscope, see also Nicklin (1902). 103. Man. Astron. 4.217–​29. 104. Man. Astron. 4.464. 105. See h. Hom. Dioscuri 33; Pl. Euthyd. 293a; D.S. 6, frag. 6; Hor. Carm. 1.12.27–​8; Prop. 2.26A.9; Hyg. Astr. 2.22; Ov. Fast. 5.720; Germ. Arat. 541. For the political significance of the brothers as helpers on the battlefield and symbols of victory, see Poulsen (1991); Champlin (2011) 73–​5. 106. Hyg. Astr. 2.22; Ov. Fast. 5.715–​20. 107. Cic. Arat. 33[PHI 34].254. 108. Vell. 2.79.1. 109. Suet. Aug. 5. 110. The astrological placements for both days are very similar. The Moon in Capricornus, however, is in Place 4 on September 22 and in Place 5 on September 23. See also Bennett (2011), A.U.C. 691 =​ 63 b.c. which comments that a mathematicus at this time would treat a pre-​Julian date as a Julian date when casting a genitura. 111. On the Ascendant in Virgo in the genitura of Octavius, see Getty (1951) 101; Molnar (2000) 160 n. 10; Schmid (2005) 399–​408; Holden (2006) 24; Lewis (2008); Boxer (2020) 84. Although Octavius claimed no association with Chelae (Libra) for himself, the view that Chelae (Libra) is the location of the Sun and the Ascendant in Octavius’ genitura is still commonly held. See, for example, Housman (1913); Brind’Amour (1983a) 62–​76; Abry (1988); Barton (1995); Domenicucci (1996) 121–​22; Ramsey and Licht (1997) 148; Schmid (2005) 405–​ 8; Rehak (2006) 72–​3; Green (2014) 97. 112. Man. Astron. 2.826–​35. 113. For the many associations of Virgo, see Allen (1899, repr.1963) 460–​73; Boll and Gundel (1924–​1937: 961–​3). 114. For the star Spica in Virgo, see Arat. Phaen. 97 (Στάχυς) and Cic. Arat. 16.6 (Spicum). 115. Arat. Phaen. 96–​136. 116. Hyg. Astr. 2.25. 117. Man. Astron. 2.461, 4.706. 118. Man. Astron. 4.763–​8. 119. Suet. Aug. 80.

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120. For Augustus’ associations with Athens and Greece, see Larsen (1958); Bowersock (1965); Hoff (1989); Hoff (1992); Galinsky (1996) 361–​3; Schmalz (1996). Tac. Ann. 3.62 notes the connection between Aphrodisias and Augustus. Man. Astr. 4.767–​8 notes that Ionia, Arcadia, and the Doric areas were under the control of Virgo; Goold (1977) 282 n. f. notes that Virgo’s control also extended to Attica and Athens. 121. Man. Astron. 4.189–​202. 122. Man. Astron. 2.826–​30. 123. Man. Astron. 2.936–​46. 124. Eratosth. Cat. 23. 125. Verg. A. 8.136–​7; Ov. Fast. 5.83. 126. See Hor. Carm. 1.2.41–​52 for an association between Octavius and Mercury. For discussion, see Miller (1991); Mayer-​Olivé (2016). 127. Man. Astron. 1.30. 128. See Ov. Fast. 5.104 on Mercury the god being favorable to thieves; Ov. Fast. 5.671, 5.690 on Mercury being favorable to merchants, gain, and profit. 129. Man. Astron. 2.856–​70. 130. Sal. Cat. 8.1. 131. Man. Astron. 2.810–​9. 132. Man. Astron. 2.918–​28. 133. Man. Astron. 2.927. 134. Cic. Div. 2.47.98 for Tarutius’ focus on the Moon when he calculated the genitura of Rome. For discussion, see Brind’Amour (1983a) 242–​9; Grafton and Swerdlow (1985) 456–​61. 135. Man. Astron. 3.197–​9. See also Cic. Div. 2.43.91 for the Moon controlling the birth of an individual, according to Chaldaean astrology. 136. Man. Astron. 2.849–​51. 137. Man. Astron. 2.820–​5. 138. Man. Astron. 2.929–​38. 139. Man. Astron. 4.791. 140. See also Bertarione and Magli (2015) on the orientation of Augusta Praetoria Salassorum (modern Aosta in the northwest part of the Italian Alps) at its founding around 25 b.c., which may have reflected Augustus’ association with Capricornus. 141. Suet. Aug. 94.12. 142. For an emphasis on Capricornus as the most important element in the genitura of Octavius, see Barton (1995); Brugnoli (1989); Schmid (2005) 19–​30; Schmid (2020). 143. Man. Astron. 2.874–​80. 144. Man. Astron. 2.846–​8.

48

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Notes C h a p t er 6

1. Plu. Caes. 63; Suet. Jul. 81; App. BC 2.149–​53. 2. Plu. Caes. 63.2. 3. Suet. Jul. 81.2–​3. 4. Richardson (1992) 133–​4. 5. Nic. Dam. 23.83; App. BC 2.115.480. 6. Plu. Caes. 63.8. 7. App. BC 2.115.480. See also Nic. Dam. 23.83 and Vell. 2.57. 8. Suet. Jul. 81.3; Dio 44.17.1. 9. Nic. Dam. 23.84; Plu. Caes. 63.12; Suet. Jul. 81.4; Dio 44.18. See Horsfall (1974) for a timetable of the day’s events. 10. V. Max. 8.11.2; Plu. Caes. 63.6. See Ramsey (2000a) for an analysis of the nature of Spurinna’s prediction as based in haruspicy. 11. Nic. Dam. 24.87; Plu. Caes. 64.1. 12. Vell. 2.58.1–​2; Plu. Brut. 8.6–​9; Suet. Jul. 80–​1; App. BC 2.111. 13. Ov. Fast. 3.697–​704. For discussion of the seriousness of this description, see McKeown (1984) 173–​4. 14. Dio 44.19.5. 15. Plu. Ant. 11.3; Plu. Brut. 8.2; Plu. Caes. 62.10. 16. App. BC 2.115.480; Plu. Caes. 63.7. 17. Suet. Jul. 82.3. Nic. Dam. 24.90 claims that Caesar suffered thirty-​five wounds. For discussion, see Cowan (2015) and Toher (2017) 270–​1, 335. 18. Plu. Brut.17.1; Plu. Caes. 66.2. 19. Plu. Brut. 14.2–​4. 20. Plu. Brut. 14.3; Plu. Caes. 66.1; Dio 44.52.1. 21. Plu. Caes. 67.8. 22. Plu. Caes. 68.1; Suet. Jul. 83.1. 23. Cic. Att. 14.8 (April 44 b.c.), 14.20 (May 44 b.c.), 15.15 (reginam odi), and 15.17 (both June 44 b.c.). 24. Cic. Att. 14.10.1 (April 44 b.c.). 25. Syme (1939) 98; Weinstock (1971) 350; Ramsey and Licht (1997) 47; Toher (2017) 244 for March 20. See Carotta and Eickenberg (2011) for March 17. 26. Nic. Dam. 17.48. 27. Suet. Jul. 84.1; Dio 44.35. 28. Dio 43.49.1. See Richardson (1992) 336–​7. 29. Cic. Att. 14.10 (April 44 b.c.). 30. Suet. Jul. 84.2. 31. Dio 44.36–​49. 32. App. BC 2.145.604. 33. App. BC 2.146.607–​12. 34. Suet. Jul. 84.3.

49

Notes

449

35. Cic. Phil. 2.36.91. 36. Dio 47.18.4. 37. Cic. Att. 14.6 (April 44 b.c.); Plu. Cic. 43. 38. Plu. Ant. 15.1. See also Dio 44.53.2. 39. Dio 44.51.1. 40. Plu. Caes. 69.2. 41. App. BC 2.154.649. 42. Nic. Dam. 16.38–​9. 43. Nic. Dam. 17.47. See Toher (2017) 242–​3 and Sumi (2015) 125 on the arrival. 44. Suet. Aug. 95. See also Livy Epit. 117; Vell. 2.59.6; Plin. Nat. 2.28.98; Dio 45.4.4. 45. Sen. Nat.1.2.1. 46. Nic. Dam. 17.48. See Dio 44.35.2 for the adoption in Caesar’s will. 47. See Crook (1954) 153; Schmitthenner (1973) 39–​90; Levick (2010) 26 for the scholarly debate about whether Octavius was adopted in Caesar’s will. 48. Nic. Dam. 18.52–​6. 49. App. BC 3.10.34. 50. Vell. 2.60.1–​2. See also App. BC 3.14. 51. See Nic. Dam. 18.52 for Philippus. See App. BC 3.11.38 and Dio 46.47.5–​6 on how Octavianus chose to name himself. 52. Cic. Att. 14.12.2 (April 44 b.c.) Octavius, 15.12.2 ( June 44 b.c.) Octavianus; Cic. Fam. 10.28.3 (February 43 b.c., to Trebonius) puer Caesar; Cic. ad. Brut. 2.5.2 (April 43 b.c.) Caesar Octavianus. 53. Cic. Att. 14.13A (Antonius to Cicero, April 44 b.c.), 16.11.6 (November 44 b.c.); Cic. Fam. 12.25.5 (Cicero to Quintus Cornificius, March 43 b.c.). 54. Cic. Att. 14.12.2 (April 44 b.c.). 55. Plu. Cic. 44.1. 56. Plu. Brut. 22.4. 57. See Cic. Att. 10.13 (May 49 b.c.). 58. Plu. Cic. 44.3–​7. Compare the similar dream of Cicero that is recorded in Suet. Aug. 94.9 and Dio 45.2.2. 59. App. BC 3.13.44; Dio 45.5.3. 60. App. BC 3.14.49–​50. 61. App. BC 3.14–​20. 62. Dio 44.53.5. 63. Plu. Ant. 16.1–​2. See also Vell. 2.60.3. 64. App. BC 3.21.77–​8. 65. Cic. Att. 15.16A (May 44 b.c.); Cic. Div. 1.9.15 (Cic. Prog. [PHI 4].1); Arat. Phaen. 947. 66. Cic. Att. 16.1 ( July 44 b.c.); App. BC 3.23.87. For discussion, see Sumi (2015) 144–​8. On the change of name for the month, see Dio 44.5.2, 45.7.2; Macr. Sat. 1.2.34.

450

450

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67. Cic., Att. 15.29.1, 16.4.1, 16.5.1 (all July 44 b.c.). See also Dio 47.20.2. Dio names Cassius as praetor urbanus, which is in error. 68. Cic. Att. 15.26.1 ( July 44 b.c.); Plu. Brut. 21.6. 69. Cic. Att. 16.1.1, 16.4.1 (both July 44 b.c.). See also Suet. Jul. 76 for the renaming of the month among the other honors Caesar accepted. 70. App. BC 3.24.90–​1. 71. App. BC 3.4.28, Nic. Dam. 130.28.108–​10. On the throne of Caesar and its display by Octavianus, see Weinstock (1971) 283–​4. 72. Cic. Att. 15.12 ( June 44 b.c.); Suet. Aug. 8.2. See also Nic. Dam. 28.110 for Octavianus’ lack of patrons. 73. See Dio 43.51.1–​2 on the resources granted to Caesar for the war. 74. App. BC 3.3.22.80–​23.89. 75. Suet. Aug. 10.1. See also Dio 45.6.4. 76. Cic. Att. 15.2.3 (May 44 b.c.). 77. Ramsey and Licht (1997) 8–​9. The shift to a date in July is foundational to the arguments presented in this 1997 monograph. 78. Cic. Att. 15.26.1 ( July 44 b.c.). 79. Ramsey and Licht (1997) 44 n. 8. 80. Cic. Fam. 11.27.8 (mid-​October 44 b.c., Cicero to Matius), Fam. 11.28. (n.d. but in response to Fam. 11.27, Matius to Cicero). 81. Nic. Dam. 130.28.108. See also Gelzer (1968) 284. Toher (2016) 376–​7 offers a different interpretation. 82. App. BC 3.28.107. 83. Aug. De Vita Sua frag. 6 [Malcovati] in Plin. Nat. 2.94. 84. Suet. Jul. 88. 85. Plin. Nat. 2.93. 86. Cic. Fam. 11.28.6–​7 (n.d. but in response to Fam. 11.27., dated mid-​October 44 b.c., Matius to Cicero); Suet. Aug. 10.1. 87. For Caesar’s triumphal celebrations, see Suet. Jul. 37.1 and Dio 43.19.1. For the Ludi Victoriae Caesaris that came to be held on July 20–​30 in the early imperial age and well after 44 b.c., see Ramsey and Licht (1997) 4 n. 10. 88. Sen. Nat. 7.17.2; Plin. Nat. 2.93; App. BC 3.4.28; Dio 45.6.4; Serv. A. 8.681. 89. App. BC 3.28.107. 90. Serv. Ecl. 9.47; Serv. A. 1.287, 6.790, 8.681. 91. Serv. A. 8.681. 92. Dio 45.4.1. 93. Cic. Fam. 12.2.1 (September–​October 44 b.c. to Cassius). 94. Aug. De Vita Sua, frag. 6 [Malcovati] in Plin. Nat. 2.94. 95. Serv. Ecl. 9.47. On Vulcanius, see Ramsey and Licht (1997) 140–​2. 96. The hypothesis that the celestial object of 44 b.c. was a “comet” that appeared in July 44 b.c. remains the dominant one although it is problematic. For discussion,

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see especially Ramsey and Licht (1997), the origin of the current communis opinio. For other major discussions, see Schodt (1887); Scott (1941); Bömer (1952) 27–​34; Wagenvoort (1956); Hannestad (1992); Flintoff (1992); West (1993); Domenicucci (1996) 29–​85; Gurval (1997); Pandey (2013); Green (2014) 151–​72; Pandey (2018) 35–​82. Hasegawa (1980) 65 no. 123 places the appearance of the alleged comet in September 44 b.c. 97. Man. Astron. 1.814–​46. 98. See Ho (1962) 145 no. 47 and Ramsey (2007a) 179 for Halley’s Comet (1P/​ Halley), which appeared in the east from August 10 to September 8 in 87 b.c. but would not have been visible to the naked eye. See Ramsey and Licht (1997) for the 87 b.c. sighting and Ramsey (2007a) 188 for a mid-​July–​late August appearance. See Barrett (1978) 93 and Ramsey and Licht (1997) 194 for the supposed reference to Halley’s Comet in Cic. N.D. 2.4.14. Cicero, however, appears to be describing multiple shooting stars there, not a comet. 99. See Ho (1962) 147 no. 59 (May–​June 44 b.c.); Barrett (1978) 95–​6 (May–​June 44 b.c. following Ho) for the object as a nova. No comet for May–​June 44 b.c. appears in the database of Chris Marriott’s SkyMap Pro 12 or Starry Night Pro Plus 7. Ramsey and Licht (1997) 66–​94 and Ramsey (2006) 106–​24 identify this object, however, as a comet and postulate an initial appearance in May–​June and a flare-​up in July 44 b.c. Kronk (1999) 22–​3 following Ramsey and Licht (1997) places the comet in July 44 b.c. Ramsey (2007a) 180 also places “Caesar’s Comet” in July 44 b.c. 100. Ramsey and Licht (1997) 112–​6 tries to explain the silence of Cicero with regard to the appearance of the alleged “comet,” but Gurval (1997) 41 n. 8 calls Cicero’s silence “ominous and telling.” 101. Man. Astron. 1.904–​26. 102. Cic. N.D. 2.5.14; Verg. G. 1.487–​8; Verg. A. 10.272–​3; Tib. 2.5.71; Man. Astron. 1.892–​905. 103. Cramer (1954) 78 suggests that the alleged comet of 44 b.c. was the first time in history that a comet was seen positively, but this view runs counter to the commonly held belief at Rome that comets foretold bad things. 104. Sen. Nat. 7.17.2 and Plin. Nat. 2.93 (cometes); Plu. Caes. 69.3–​4 (κομήτης). 105. Dio 45.7.1; Zon. 10.13. Misgivings about the identity of the celestial object as a comet have been expressed in modern scholarship. See Ceragioli (1997) 350; Gurval (1997) 41; Marsden (1997), the Foreword to Ramsey and Licht (1997) xiii; Baudy (2001). Ramsey and Licht (1997) 144 n. 33 also admits that Octavianus’ term for the celestial object of 44 b.c., sidus crinitum, is not used for a comet. 106. Serv. Ecl. 9.47 and Serv. A. 1.287, 6.790, 8.681 describe the object as a stella. 107. For this definition of stella, see Le Boeuffle (1977) 40. Since the sidus crinitum is a stella, it cannot be the extinct constellation Coma Berenices, which represented the lock of hair vowed by Queen Berenice II. The sky maps identify this extinct

452

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constellation as Com. When Coma Berenices appears in the heavens, it may be found between Leo [Leo] and Bootes [Boo]. 108. Compare Suet. Aug. 94.6 for the dream of Gaius Octavius in which his son appeared, wearing a radiate crown (radiata corona), and bearing items associated with Jupiter Optimus Maximus. 109. For lemniscus, see Hübner (1970–​1979). Compare Verg. A. 3.517 where the constellation Orion is described as armed with gold (armatumque auro circumspicit Oriona). 110. See Le Boeuffle (1987) and Gudeman (1900). 111. Serv. Ecl. 9.47; Serv. A. 6.790, 8.681. 112. Suet. Jul. 88; Jul. Obseq. 68. 113. Suet. Jul. 88. For discussion, see Pesce (1933) and Koortbojian (2013) 27–​8. 114. Dio 45.7.1 and Zon. 10.13 (ἀστήρ). For Dio, ἀστήρ and ἄστρον are interchangeable in meaning. Much later, Macr. Somn. Scip. 1.14.21 will categorize ἄστήρ as a single star and ἄστρον as a constellation. See Le Boeuffle (1977) 31. 115. See Le Boeuffle (1977) 19, 38–​40 for a comparison of stella, sidus, signum, and astrum. 116. Ov. Ars 3.243. 117. Lewis (2011) argues for the extended meaning of “bright” in astronomical contexts. This usage appears later in Val. Flac. 2.42 (astraque et effusit stellatus crinibus aether). Le Boeuffle (1977) 66–​8 considers crinitus in the context of comets. Santini (1977) 35–​58 considers the astronomical terminology of Germanicus’ translation, but crinis and crinitus are not included there. This extended usage for the word is not referenced in the entry on crinis in Lommatzsch (1906–​1909) 1204–​5, and it does not appear in the Oxford Latin Dictionary or in Lewis and Short’s A Latin Dictionary. 118. Germ. Arat. 86–​7. 119. See Eratosth. 6; Hyg. Astr. 3.13; Le Boeuffle (1975) 6 n. 4. Compare Gain (1976) 55 for the translation of stella crinita as “its last star gleams on its chin, its rays like hairs.” 120. Germ. Arat. 624. See Le Boeuffle (1975) 39 for the translation of toto crine as “avec toute sa chevulure.” See Gain (1976) 70 for the translation “with all his hairlike rays”; see also 85 n. 87. See Gain (1976) 117 n. 624 for the use of crinis to refer to “the rays of a constellation’s stars.” 121. Pl. Rud. Prologue 3. See also Eratosth. 8; Hyg. Astr. 3.3. See Fraenkel (1942) for discussion. 122. Arat. Phaen. 608–​9. For discussion, see Kidd (1997) 388 n. 609. 123. The word totus in toto crine may be an extension of the usage of totus with numbers to indicate brightness. See, for example, Catul. 41.2 and Verg. A. 1.272. 124. Suet. Aug. 79.2. 125. Cic. Leg. 1.27.

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126. Plin. Nat. 11.53.141–​54.143. 127. See Suet. Aug. 84.1–​2 for Octavianus’ eyesight. In his later years he could not see well out of his left eye. Dante (Convivio 3.9.15) commented that constant reading strained his vision so much that as a result the stars appeared blurry to him as if they were in a white haze (in tanto debilitai li spiriti visivi che le stelle mi pareano tutte d’alcuno albore ombrate). See Kelley and Milone (2011) 64–​5 on human visual acuity. 128. Suet. Aug. 87. 129. For the view that the sidus crinitum was first identified for political reasons as a star and then later identified as a comet, which was allegedly its true nature, see Ramsey and Licht (1997) 14–​5, 65, 135–​45. See also Williams (2003) 6 for the object as the “comet/​star.” 130. Aug. De Vita Sua, frag. 6 [Malcovati] in Plin. Nat. 2.94. 131. For the time of the eleventh hour as about an hour before sunset, see Cic. Clu. 27. See Plin. Nat. 2.72 regarding an eclipse on April 30, a.d. 59 that was visible over Armenia between the tenth and eleventh hours (inter horam diei decimam et undecimam). This eclipse began around 3:00 p.m. and ended around 5:15 p.m. at this location. For the significance of the eleventh hour as a concluding point for chores on a farm, see, for example, Col. 8.4.5 for the comment that a guinea fowl (gallina) should be enclosed for the night before the eleventh hour (ante horam diei undecimam). 132. Sen. Nat. 7.17.2; Suet. Jul. 88; Jul. Obseq. Prodigies 68. See Le Boeuffle (1987) 128, 207 for the astronomical terms orior, exorior, and emergo. 133. Dio 45.7.1; Zon. Epit. 10.13. 134. Serv. Ecl. 9.47. 135. Serv. A. 6.790; Serv. A. 1.287. 136. The designation of “bright” or “very bright” for these stars is consistent with stellar apparent magnitudes found in Ptolemy’s Almagest, which was written in the second century a.d. For example, the very bright star Altair is noted in Ptol. Alm. 7.5.16 as a greater than second-​magnitude star; see also Toomer (1998) 356. Modern star catalogs present stellar apparent magnitudes that are internally consistent but not necessarily in agreement with stellar apparent magnitudes presented in other star catalogs. The advanced astronomical computer programs consulted for this study note the star catalogs upon which the programs rely. For example, the apparent magnitude of Altair is noted in Marriott (1992–​2018) as 0.93 on the basis of the Tycho 2 Catalog, its main star catalog, which is used in consultation with the Hipparcos catalog and several others. Simulation Curriculum (1997–​2018) notes the apparent magnitude of Altair as 0.75 on the basis of a compilation of databases, primarily the Hipparcos catalog and the Tycho 2 catalog. Carina Software (2014) notes the apparent magnitude of Altair as 0.93 on the basis of the Hipparcos catalog, the Tycho 2 catalog, and several others. Modern astronomical compendia,

45

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which are based on different star catalogs, present apparent magnitudes that are consistent with the ancient designations but not necessarily with one another. For example, the apparent magnitude of Altair is noted in Allen (1899, repr. 1963) as 1.3; in Burnham (1978) Vol. 1, 205 as 0.77; and in Bakich (1995) 31 as 0.77. 137. For Deneb in Avis, see Eratosth. 25. For Altair in Aquila, see Eratosth. 30. For Vega in Lyra, see Eratosth. 24. 138. For Arcturus in Bootes, see Eratosth. 8. For Spica in Virgo, see Eratosth. 9; see also Hyg. Astr. 3.24. For Antares in Scorpios, see Eratosth. 7. 139. Domenicucci (1996) 47–​60 argued for the location of the sidus crinitum, which was identified as a comet, in the constellation Auriga in July, not September, on the basis of an apparent acrostic in Verg. Ecl. 9.43–​51 (HAEDO). See also Domenicucci (1989) and Ramsey (2000b). 140. Aug. De Vita Sua, frag. 6 [Malcovati] in Plin. Nat. 2.94. See also Jul. Obseq. Prodigies 68 and Serv. A. 8.681. 141. Cic. Nat. 2.41.105. 142. Man. Astron. 1.688. 143. Arat. Phaen. does not specify any individual stars in Aquila, although three stars fairly close together in a slightly curved line (γ, α, and β Aquilae) formed the core of the constellation. Hyg. Astr. 3.15 would note one star on the head, which was probably Altair in Aquila (α Aquilae). See Kidd (1997) 300 and Le Boeuffle (2002) 189, Chap. 15, n. 7. 144. See Cic. Arat. 33[PHI 34].87, 372 for the name. 145. Arat. Phaen. 268–​71, 597, 615, 674. See also Campbell (1988). 146. Cic. Arat. 33[PHI 34].42–​6, 381, 461. 147. Arat. Phaen. 314–​5. See Kidd (1997) 301 for χαλεπός as stormy (as in Arat. Phaen. 879) and the association of stormy weather with the Heliacal or Visible Morning Rising of Aquila in early December. See also Campbell (1988) for the word in the poem. 148. Cic. Arat. 33[PHI 34].89–​90 following Arat. Phaen. 523. 149. Cic. Arat. 33[PHI 34].87–​90. 150. See Volk (2012) 228–​9 for a discussion of the Aratean and Ciceronian wordplay in the descriptions of Aquila. 151. For mulceo, see, for example, Cic. Arat. 33[PHI 34].117; Prop. 4.7.60; Ov. Her. 2.38, 18.27; Ov. Am. 2.16.36; Ov. Rem. 197. See also Pichon (1902, repr. 1966) 209. 152. For the Geminos-​Parapegma, see Aujac (2002) 97–​108; Evans and Berggren (2006) 231–​40; Lehoux (2007) 226–​39. See also Hannah (2001) 76–​9 for a star-​based peg-​hole calendar from Greek Miletus, which is dated to around 100 b.c. 153. Compare Verg. A. 1.85–​6 for the destructive power of the East Wind Eurus and the South Wind Notus combined. 154. Arat. Phaen. 268–​9, 597.

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155. Eratosth. 24; Man. Astron. 1.324–​30. 156. Cic. Arat. 33[PHI 34].42–​4, 381. 157. Arat. Phaen. 522–​3; Eratosth. 30; Cic. Arat. 33[PHI 34].294. 158. Arat. Phaen. 469–​79. See also Eratosth. 44. 159. Cic. Arat. 33[PHI 34]. 245–​9. For words of brightness in Aratus’ Phaenomena and the ancient Latin poetic translations, see Lewis (2010). 160. Man. Astron. 1.701–​28. 161. Other descriptions of the Milky Way in Latin poetry are shorter. See Cic. Rep. 6.16.16; Germ. Arat. 455–​8; Ov. Met. 1.168–​9. 162. Hyg. Astr. 3.15. 163. Cic. Fam. 8.1.4 (May 51 b.c., Caelius Rufus to Cicero). 164. Cic., Rep. 6.16.16. 165. Man. Astron. 1. 758–​61: numina is suggested as a more appropriate reading in Astron. 1.758 in this context than nomina. 166. Man. Astron. 1.793–​4. 167. Man. Astron. 1.797. 168. Suet. Aug. 31.5. 169. Aug. De Vita Sua, frag. 6 [Malcovati] in Plin. Nat. 2.94. See also Dio 45.7.1. 170. Cic. Att. 4.16.2 ( July 54 b.c.) for Plato (deus ille noster Plato); Lucr. 5.8 for Epicurus (deus ille fuit); Verg. A. 5.391 for Eryx the teacher of Trojan Entellus (ubi nunc nobis deus ille magister). See also Cumont (1922) 91–​109 and Gundel and Gundel (1959) 25 for deus as a fortunate or highly distinguished individual. 171. Ov. Pont. 4.13.26. 172. Plin. Nat. 2.5.18–​9. 173. Suet. Aug. 94.7; Dio 45.2.1. 174. See Suet. Jul. 2 (for Nicomedes) and Jul. 49.1–​4 (for the comments at Rome). 175. Catul. 29, 57 (Catul. 29.14 for mentula). See also Suet. Jul. 73. 176. Suet. Jul. 52.3. 177. Suet. Jul. 49.4. See also Hahn (2015) 161–​2. 178. Hom. Il. 20.232–​5; Verg. A. 5.252–​5; Hyg. Astr. 2.16; Germ. Arat. 317–​20; Ov. Met. 10.155–​61. 179. Pontius Aquila possessed the name of a bird as part of his name, which while unusual was not unheard of at Rome. See Varro R.3.3.2 on the little “flock” of Roman men awaiting the results of an election, each of whom all had the name of a different bird: Merula (Blackbird), Pavo (Peacock), Pica (Magpie), and Passer (Sparrow). 180. Dio 44.8.3; Suet. Jul. 78.1; Nic. Dam. 22.79. Liv. Epit. 116 gives no reason. Compare a similar situation described in Plu. Caes. 60.4–​8. 181. Suet. Jul. 78.2. Pontius Aquila is listed among the conspirators at App. BC 2.113.474. See Epstein (1987) on Caesar’s personal enemies and their grievances, 569 for Pontius Aquila.

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Serv. Ecl. 9.47; Serv. A. 6.790. Suet. Jul. 88. Dio 45.7.1; Zon. 10.13. App. BC 2.146.607. Cic. Phil. 2.43.110; Nic. Dam. 28.107–​8; App. BC 3.28.105–​7. Plin. Nat. 2.93; Sil. 13.863–​4; Suet. Jul. 88; Dio 45.7.1; Serv. Ecl. 9.47; Jul. Obseq. Prodigies 68; Serv. A. 8.681; Zon. 10.13. See Crawford (1974) Vol. 2, 744 and plate no. 540 for a coin of 37 b.c. that depicts the sidus crinitum above a statue of Caesar that is standing inside a temple. The star memorialized on the famed “Divus Iulius” coins, which were struck many years after Octavianus’ ludi of 44 b.c., perhaps in the years 19–​18 b.c., is probably not the sidus crinitum. For the “Divus Iulius” coins, see Chap. 12. See Gurval (1997) 57–​9 for discussion of these later coins. 188. Suet. Aug. 80. 189. Cook (2018). 190. Plin. Nat. 2.23.94. 191. Cic. Cons. frag. VII in Soubiran (1972) 245. 192. For this view see, for example, Williams (2003). 182. 183. 184. 185. 186. 187.

C h a p t er 7 1. Cic. Fam. 10.1.3 (September 44 b.c., Cicero to Plancus). 2. Cic. Fam. 12.3.1 (October 44 b.c., Cicero to Cassius); Cic. Phil. 2.12.28. 3. Plu. Ant. 16.4. 4. Nic. Dam. 31.134. 5. Cic. Att. 16.11 (November 44 b.c.). 6. Cic. Att. 16.15.3 (November 44 b.c.). 7. Cic. Att. 16.14.2 (November 44 b.c.). 8. Cic. Phil. 3.8.20; App. BC 3.45.184–​7. 9. Cic. ad Brut. 2.5.2 (April 43 b.c.). 10. Cic. Fam. 11.6.2 (September 44 b.c., Cicero to Decimus Brutus), 11.7.2 (December 44 b.c., Cicero to Decimus Brutus). 11. Cic. Phil. 5.1.1; Phil. 6.1.3. 12. For the date, see Feriale Cum. and Fasti Prae. in Ehrenberg and Jones (1976) 44. 13. Cic. Fam. 10.30.1 (April 43 b.c., Galba to Cicero); Ov. Fast. 4.627–​8; Suet. Aug. 10.3. 14. Cic. Fam. 10.30.5 (April 43 b.c., Galba to Cicero). 15. Cic. Phil. 14.3.6, 14.10.28–​9; Vell. 2.61.4; Suet. Aug. 10.4; Dio 46.37.7. 16. Fasti Cum. in Ehrenberg and Jones (1976) 48; Ov. Fast. 4.675–​6 (April 16); Aug. RG 4 for his being saluted imperator twenty more times. 17. See Cic. ad Brut. 1.3.1–​2 (April 43 b.c.). For the date of the second encounter, see Syme (1939) 174; Levick (2010) 28; Wardle (2014) 124–​5. 18. App. BC 3.72.296. 19. App. BC 3.73.298–​9.

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20. Dio 48.1.1. 21. App. BC. 5.144.598 notes that Sextus Pompeius died in his fortieth year (Πομπήιον τεσσαρακοστὸν ἔτος βιοῦντα) in 35 b.c., which would place his birth around 75 b.c., but Welch (2012) 14–​15 argues for a birthdate for Sextus Pompeius of around 66 b.c., which would make him only slightly older than Octavianus. 22. Suet. Aug. 11; Dio 46.39.1. 23. App. BC 3.88.365; Dio 46.45. 24. Plu. Cic. 45.5. 25. App. BC 3.91.376. 26. Liv. Per. 119. See also Dio 46.45–​6. For the date, see Feriale Cum. in Ehrenberg and Jones (1976) 50. 27. Suet. Aug. 26.1. See also Aug. RG. 6.1 and Plu. Brut. 27.3. 28. App. BC 3.82.337–​9. 29. App. BC 3.94.388. For the identity of Quintus Pedius, see Syme (1939) 186, 197 (an obscure relative) and Levick (2010) 29 (an elderly uncle). 30. Suet. Aug. 95; App. BC 3.94.388–​9; Dio 46.46.2–​3. 31. Vell. 65.2. 32. App. BC 3.94.389; Dio 45.5.3–​4, 46.47.4–​5. See also Levick (2010) 29–​30. 33. Cic. Fam. 5.7 (April 62 b.c., Cicero to Pompeius Magnus). 34. Cic. Fam. 8.17 ( January 48 b.c., Caelius Rufus to Cicero). 35. Cic. ad Brut. 1.17 (n.d., Brutus to Atticus). Shackleton Bailey (1980) 10–​14 considered this letter spurious. Moles (1997) 144–​50 argued for its authenticity. 36. Cic. ad. Brut. 1.16 (n.d., Brutus to Cicero). Shackleton Bailey (1980) 10–​14 considered this letter spurious. Moles (1997) 144–​50 argued for its authenticity. Compare Tac. Dial. 18.5: Brutus considered Cicero’s oratorical style to be feeble and lacking in vitality (fractum atque elumbem). 37. Cic. ad Brut. 1.15 ( July 43 b.c., Cicero to Brutus). 38. Cic. ad Brut. 1.18 ( July 43 b.c., Cicero to Brutus). 39. App. BC 3.76.309. 40. Vell. 2.65; Plu. Ant. 19.1; App. BC 4.1.2–​3. 41. App. BC 4.4.14. For meteorological signs involving the Sun, see Arat. Phaen. 820–​90. 42. Dio 46.38.6, 46.52.2 (for Antonius to Lepidus); App. BC 5.63.267–​70 (for Antonius to Octavianus). 43. Dio 46.54.4. 44. Aug. RG 2. See also Cic. Fam. 12.3.2 (October 44 b.c., Cicero to Cassius). 45. App. BC 4.5.20. 46. Suet. Aug. 96.1. See also Dio 47.1. 47. See Fears (1978) on the Genius Populi Romani. 48. For the date, see Fasti Col. in Ehrenberg and Jones (1976) 32. App. BC 4.8–​11 claims to provide the text of the edict of the proscription, which is presented as a translation from Latin into Greek.

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49. App. BC 4.11.42–​4. 50. App BC 4.32.135. 51. Suet. Aug. 61.2; App. BC 4.2.7; Dio 47.17.6. See Hollis (2007) 304–​12 for the text. 52. Dio 45.17.3. 53. Plu. Cic. 47–​8; App. BC 4.19–​20. 54. See Cic. Q. fr. 1.3 ( June 58 b.c.) on Cicero’s attachment to and reliance on his brother. See Cic. Att. 10.11 (November 44 b.c.) for one of many letters mentioning young Quintus Cicero. 55. App. BC 4.20.83. 56. Plu. Cic. 47.4. 57. Plu. Cic. 48.2; App. BC 4.19.75. The individual may be the same person. 58. Plu. Cic. 48.5. See also Tac. Dial. 17.2. For scholarly discussions of Cicero’s death, see McDermott (1972); Homeyer (1977); Wright (2001). 59. Plu. Cic. 46.3–​5. 60. App. BC 4.20.79–​81; Dio 47.8.3–​4. 61. Plu. Cic. 48.6 (Cicero’s head and both hands were cut off and hung up); Plu. Ant. 20.2 (the head and right hand). App. BC 4.20.80 (the head and hand). 62. Plu. Cic. 49.2. See Vell. 2.66.2–​5 for a defense of the “great” Cicero in comparison with the “detestable” Antonius. 63. Plu. Cic. 49.5. 64. Plu. Ant. 20.3; App. BC 4.37.155–​8. 65. Vell. 2.66.2; Plu. Ant. 21.1; Dio 47.7–​8. 66. Suet. Aug. 27.3–​4. 67. Dio 45.17.4–​5. 68. Man. Astron. 1.794–​5. 69. Dio 47.19.1. 70. Dio 47.18.4. 71. For Caesar’s birthdate, see Dio 47.18.6 (the day on which the Ludi Apollinares began on July 13); Macr. Sat. 1.12.34 (the fourth day before the Ides of Quintilis, July 12). See also Cary (1917) Vol. 5, 154, n. 1 ( July 5); Michels (1967) 176 ( July 13); Meier (1982, trans. 1996) 51 (possibly July 13); Badian (2009) 16 ( July 12). 72. Dio 47.19.2. 73. Price (1980) 36. 74. App. ΒC 2.148.618. 75. See Wardle (2002) on the genesis of the term divus for Caesar and Wardle (2014) 98–​9 on divus as a Latin term for a divinity within the Roman state religion. 76. This new celestial residence was not likely to have been the so-​called Caesaris Thronos, which is mentioned in Plin. Nat. 2.178. For the identification of the Caesaris Thronos as possibly the non-​Aratean constellation Crux (the Southern Cross), see Le Boeuffle (1977) 151–​2 and Le Boeuffle (1987) 260. See also Domenicucci (1989) 99–​103; 69–​70; Domenicucci (1996) 67–​70; Ramsey and Licht (1997) 86 n. 65.

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Crux is very far south and cannot be seen in Italy. When it appears on a sky map it is identified as Cru. 77. Man. Astron. 1.799–​805. The verses are numbered according to the rearrangement proposed here. In comparison with Goold (1977) 68, I have understood qua for quam in 802 and included verse 803. For other suggested rearrangements of these verses and discussion, see Housman (1898) 63; Housman (1903) 71–​2; Goold (1977) 68; Volk (2009) 140–​4. 78. Ov. Met. 1.168–​76. 79. Verg. Ecl. 9.1–​6. 80. Verg. Ecl. 1.42. For discussions of the unnamed iuvenis in the poem, who is commonly identified as Octavianus, see Hunter (2001) 160–​1; Bing (2016). 81. See Green (1932); Ramage (1985); White (1988). 82. Verg. Ecl. 9.46–​9. Williams (2003) 20 suggests that these verses represent the joy at the coming golden age. This interpretation is unlikely, since this period around 42 b.c. was still one of great uncertainty for Octavianus and his future prospects. 83. Verg. Ecl. 5.20. 84. For discussion, see Drew (1922); Perret (1983). 85. Verg. Ecl. 5.51–​2. 86. Verg. Ecl. 5.56–​7. 87. Verg. Ecl. 5.56, 64. 88. Var. L. 7.14 defines signa in this way; compare Ov. Fast. 3.109–​10, for example. 89. Hyg. Astr. 2.26. The name Libra, which marks the fall equinox, is used in Var. L. 7.14. See also Le Boeuffle (1977) 170–​3 and Possanza (1992). Hipp. 3.1.5 uses Ζυγός (the Balance), but the name here may be a later interpolation. Geminos, writing during the period of the saeculum Augustum, names the constellation Ζυγός more frequently than Χηλαί (the Pincers). See also Kidd (1997) 211; Dekker (2013) 61; Macfarlane and Mills (2018) 148 n. 257. 90. See Le Boeuffle (1977) 33–​4 for astrum applied commonly to a constellation in the zodiac. See Ov. Fast. 2.461 for Dione as Venus. 91. Astrologically, the Sun moved into Chelae in 42 b.c. not long before sunrise on September 26, 42 b.c. Astronomically, since the constellations of the zodiac were not of equal size, the Sun moved out of Virgo into Chelae later, on October 6, 42 b.c. 92. See Badian (2009) 16 for 100 b.c. as the accepted year for Caesar’s birth. 93. Verg. G. 1.24–​42. 94. Verg. G. 1.32–​5. 95. See Lewis (2008) 316–​21. 96. See V. Max. 1 praef., 3.2.19, and 6.9.15 on sidus used to refer to the stars of Caesar and Octavianus (Augustus). 97. Kugel’s Globe displays Chelae as the Pincers, following Eudoxus and Aratus. See Dekker (2013) 61.

460

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98. Prop. 4.6.59–​60. 99. Ov. Fast. 3.159–​62. 100. This idea is consistent with Plato’s description of an individual going to the dwelling of his home star (πορευθεὶς οἴκησιν ἄστρον) after death; see Pl. Ti. 42B. 101. Ov. Fast. 4.377–​86. See also Fantham (1998) 166, n. 389–​90. 102. Hor. Carm. 1.12.46–​8. 103. Verg. A. 8.678–​81. 104. Ov. Met. 15.746–​50. 105. Ramsey and Licht (1997) 175. See also Ramsey and Licht (1997) 14–​5, 65, 135–​47. 106. Eratosth. Cat. 7. For the Pincers, see also Arat. Phaen. 89–​90, 607–​8; Hipp. 1.4.18; Hyg. Astr. 3.25. For other interpretations of the relative brightness of Zubeneschamali, see Allen (1899) 276–​7; Burnham (1978) Vol. 2, 1105–​6; Bakich (1995) 31–​3; Kidd (1997) 213. 107. Ov. Met. 15.745–​870. 108. Verg. A. 1.254–​96. 109. Ov. Met. 15.816–​39. 110. Ov. Met. 15.838–​9. Compare Consol. ad Liv. 213–​4: a place in the heavens where he will be received by Jupiter is owed to Augustus. 111. Ov. Met. 15.844. Compare Wiseman (2009a) 230 which associates Ov. Met. 15.760–​851 with the funeral of Caesar. 112. Ov. Met. 15.845–​50. 113. Ov. Met. 15.841. See Varro, L. 6.6 on the relationship of iubar and iubata; Varro L. 7.76 for iubar used for Venus as the Morning Star; Ov. Fast. 2.149–​50, 5.547–​8 for Venus as iubar, the Morning Star. See Le Boeuffle (1977) 238–​42 for Venus as iubar and sidus iubatum. The word iubatum, like crinitum and comans, may imply brightness. Compare Verg. A. 1.286–​8 (nascetur pulchra Troianus origine Caesar, /​. . . famam qui terminet astris, /​ Iulius, a magno demissum nomen Iulo). The Iulius to whom Vergil refers here is Caesar, who claimed descent from Venus through her grandson, Trojan Iulus. For this identification see Serv. A. 1.286 and Dobbin (1995). 114. Vergil suggests that the soul of Aeneas is also in the zodiac, having been carried there by his mother, Venus, upon the instruction of Jupiter according to Verg. A. 1.259–​60 (sublimemque feres ad sidera caeli /​magnanimum Aenean). See also CIL VI.21521 in Buecheler (1895), 508–​9, no. 1109, lines 27–​8, a post-​Flavian funerary inscription that implies that the soul of a boy named Marcus Lucceius Nepos has been carried into the light-​filled temples of the zodiac by Venus (nam me sancta Venus . . . /​ . . . in caeli lucida templa tulit). For a discussion of these verses, see Reed (2002) 226–​7. Compare Tib. 1.3.57–​8 (me . . . /​ipsa Venus campos ducet in Elysios). 115. Ov. Met. 15.850–​1. 116. See Plu. Brut. 36.7 and Plu. Caes. 69.11–​3. See also App. BC 4.134.565. 117. Dio 47.40.1–​2. For early October, see Pelling (1996) 8.

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118. Plu. Brut. 37.7. 119. Dio 47.42.1. 120. Dio 47.39.1. 121. Plu. Brut. 38–​40; Plu. Ant. 22. 122. V. Max 1.5.7; Plu. Brut. 24.7; Dio 47.43.1. 123. Hom. Il. 16.849. 124. See Val. Max. 1.7.1; Plin. Nat. 7.45.148; Plu. Brut. 41.47–​8; Plu. Ant. 22.2; Suet. Aug. 91.1; App. BC 4.110.464; Dio 47.41.3. 125. App. BC 4.113.475. 126. V. Max. 1.8.8. See also V. Max. 6.8.4. 127. Plu. Caes. 69.3; Dio 48.1.1. 128. Plu. Brut. 47.1–​2; App. BC 4.122.512–​3. 129. See Aug. RG 2 and Suet. Aug. 13.1 for two battles. See Fasti Prae. in Ehrenberg and Jones (1976) 54 for October 23 as the date of the second battle. Syme (1939) 205 dates the first battle to October 23. 130. Plu. Brut. 48.1. 131. App. BC 4.128.432; Dio 47.48.4. 132. App. BC 4.128.536. 133. Suet. Aug. 96.1–​2. 134. Dio 47.41.2. 135. Plu. Brut. 51.1. See also App. BC 4.130. 136. App. BC 4.130.546–​7; Plu. Brut. 51.1, 52.4. 137. Eur. Med. 332. 138. App. BC 4.131.550. 139. Vell. 2.70.4–​5; App. BC 131; Plu. Brut. 52.6–​8. 140. Dio 47.49.1–​2. 141. Suet. Aug. 13.1; Dio 47.49.2. 142. App. BC 4.134.563. 143. Vell. 2.72.2. 144. Plu. Brut. 1–​2; Plu. Caes. 62. 145. Plu. Brut. 29.1–​3. 146. Plu. Brut. 8.5. C h a p t er 8 1. App. BC 5.8.33. 2. Plu. Ant. 28.2. See also Dio 48.27.2. 3. Vell. 2.74.2 for Lucius Antonius; Plu. Ant. 30.2 and App. BC 5.59.250 for Fulvia. 4. Mart. 11.20.3–​8. See Plin. Ep. 5.3.2–​5 for the composition of humorous poetry by Octavianus. For discussion, see Hollis (2007) 284–​6 (no. 161); Wardle (2014) 485. 5. Catul. 29.14.

462

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6. Plu. Ant. 30.2; App. BC 5.59.250. 7. Plu. Ant. 10.3. 8. Suet. Aug. 96.2. 9. App. BC 5.52.217. 10. See App. BC 5.53.222–​3 and Dio 48.16.3 on the marriage arrangements. See Barrett (2002) 19–​21 and Fantham (2006b) 17–​19 on Scribonia’s parentage and marriage to Octavianus. See Cramer (1954) 254–​5 and Barrett (2002) 14–​15 on Scribonius Libo. 11. App. BC 5.59.249–​50. 12. Plu. Ant. 10.4–​5 describes some episodes from their relationship. 13. App. BC 5.63.267. 14. Vell. 2.78.1 (sororem Caesaris); Dio 48.31.3 (ποιήσαντες . . . τὴν τοῦ Καίσαρος ἀδελφήν). Plu. Ant. 31.1-​2 has confused Octavia the younger full sister of Octavianus with Octavia the older half-​sister of Octavianus, who was not the wife of Gaius Marcellus. 15. Plu. Ant. 31.3. For the possible date, see Pelling (1996) 19. 16. Vell. 2.73.1. 17. Dio 46.48. For the popularity, see Stone (1983). 18. No date for the meeting appears in Vell. 2.77.1–​3; Plu. Ant. 10.32; App. BC 5.71–​3; or Dio 48.36–​8. For summer, see Pelling (1996) 20; Southern (1998, repr. 2012) 102; Sumi (2015) 198. 19. Plu. Ant. 32.4 (Menas, a pirate); App. BC 5.73.310 (Menodorus); Dio 48.45.5 (Menas, a general). 20. Antonius was a distant cousin to Octavianus through his mother, a Iulia, who was the daughter of Lucius Iulius Caesar (cos. 90 b.c.). Octavianus was the grandson of a Iulia, who was a daughter of Gaius Iulius Caesar and Aurelia Cotta, as well as the sister of Caesar. Octavianus had once been linked to Antonius through his marriage to Clodia Pulchra, Antonius’ stepdaughter. Sextus Pompeius was also linked to the gens Iulia through the marriage of his father, Pompeius Magnus, to Iulia, the daughter of Caesar, and by his own marriage to Scribonia, the niece of Octavianus’ second wife, Scribonia. 21. App. BC 5.74.315–​6. 22. Suet. Aug. 62.2. See Fantham (2006b) 21 for Iulia’s birth date in the last weeks of 39 b.c. 23. See Suet. Tib. 3.1 and Barrett (2002) 6–​9 on Livia’s family. See Huntsman (2009) for Livia’s family connections and life before she married Octavianus. 24. See Barrett (2002) 4–​5. 25. Vell. 2.71.2; Dio 48.44.1; Barrett (2002) 13–​4. 26. Cic. Fam. 13.64 (April 50 b.c., Cicero to Minucius Thermus). 27. For the date, see Fasti Cum., Fasti Ant., Acta Arv. in Ehrenberg and Jones (1976) 54 and Suet. Tib. 5.

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28. See Dio 54.7.2 on Livia and Sparta. See Barrett (2002) 21 for the time of the return. 29. Dio 48.34.3. 30. See Barrett (2002) 21–​3 and Levick (2010) 38. Osgood (2006) 232 calls the marriage a typical dynastic one, arranged out of self-​interest on both sides. 31. Vell. 2.79.2, 2.94.1; Suet. Aug. 62.2; Suet. Tib. 4.3; Dio 48.44.3. 32. See Tac. Ann. 1.10.5, 12.6.2. Flory (1988) suggests that Tacitus’ version is derived from the hostile propaganda of Antonius that was based in stories about lustful tyrants. 33. Dio 48.43.1. 34. Fasti Ver. in Ehrenberg and Jones (1976) 46. See also Huntsman (2009) 148–​51. 35. Suet. Cl. 1. See also Vell 2.95.1; Suet. Aug. 62.2; Suet. Tib. 4.3; and Barrett (2002) 320. 36. Tac. Ann. 5.1. See Cic. Rep. 2.27.67; Macr. Sat. 1.5.12 and 2.17 on the Penates as household gods. See also Treggiari (1991) 166–​7: the Lares were involved in the marriage ceremony. When the bride arrived at the home of the bridegroom she placed a small coin, an as, on the hearth of the Lares of her new husband. 37. Vell. 2.92.2. 38. Suet. Tib. 14.2. 39. Tac. Ann. 2.27. See also Barrett (2002) 14–​5. 40. Dio 51.8.1. 41. App. BC 5.75–​76. For a date for Antonius’ departure in October, see Pelling (1996) 21. 42. Plu. Fortuna Rom. 7 (319F–​320A); Plu. Ant. 33.2. See Miano (2018) 157–​78 for τύχη as Roman Fortuna. 43. Plu. Fortuna Rom. 319F; Plu. Ant. 33.2. 44. Suet. Aug. 71. 45. Plu. Fortuna Rom. 319F. 46. Plu. Ant. 33.2–​3. 47. For the name of Place 5, see Man. Astron. 2.897. For the name of Place 6, see Man. Astron. 2.870. See Man. Astron. 3.40–​2 on the necessity of using, at times, Latin transliterations of Greek terms. 48. Hyg. Astr. 2.25. Hyg. Astr. 3.24 appears to note the blindness of Fortuna (Virgo). 49. For the name of Place 11, see Man. Astron. 2.888. For the name of Place 12, see Man. Astron. 865. See Greenbaum (2015) for the associations of the word δαίμων with the Places, especially in later astrological texts. 50. See Taylor (1931) 9–​10 on the equivalence of the Greek δαίμων and the Roman genius. 51. See Pl. Ap. 31d for Socrates’ δαιμόνιον, which took the form of a warning voice. 52. Hor. Ep. 2.2.187–​9. See Hor. Carm. 1.36.10 and Hor. S. 2.3.246 for albus and ater as marks on a calendar for lucky or unlucky days. See also Dicks (1963) 69–​70. 53. Ovid in Tr. 3.13.8 refers to his natalis [genius]. See also Cens. DN 3.1. 54. Plat. Tim. 90A. See also Nock (1959) 12.

46

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Notes

App. BC 1.105.492. Plu. Pomp. 76.6. Nic. Dam. 23.83. Plu. Caes. 69.6–​14 and Plu. Brut. 36. See also App. BC 4.134.565. See Flor. Epit. 2.17.7–​8: the κακός δαίμων of the Greek writers is identified as the malus genius. 59. Nock (1937) 109–​10. 60. Plu. Brut. 14.3; Plu. Caes. 66.1. 61. Plu. Caes. 69.2. See also Ov. Fast. 3.705–​7. 62. V. Max. 1.8.8; App. BC 4.134.566. 63. Hor. Carm. 2.17. 64. Plu. Ant. 73.3: Antonius’ birthday occurred after that of Cleopatra. Compare Plu. Ant. 74.1: Octavianus began to engage in military operations again after the winter ended (τοῦ δὲ χειμῶνος παρελθόντος). 65. Dio 51.19.3. 66. See Fasti Ver. and Fasti Opp. in Ehrenberg and Jones (1976) 45. See OSU Knowledge Bank “CIL I(2), 231–39” for the Fasti Praenestini. See also Michels (1967) 63 n. 9; Feeney (2007) 155 and 281 n. 111. 67. Suet. Cl. 11.3. See Dio 60.5.1 for the ludi to be held in the Circus on the anniversary of the birth of Drusus, which were decreed by Claudius. 68. See Feeney (2007) 155–​6 following Suerbaum (1980) 327–​34. 69. Plu. Ant. 86.5. 70. For other analyses of the genitura of Antonius, see Brown (1963) 119 for Capricornus and Abry (1993) 62–​8 for Leo. 71. For January 14, 83 b.c. as the birthdate of Antonius, see Abry (1993) 62; Feeney (2007) 155; Hurley (2001) 106. No planets or luminaries appear in Virgo on this date. 72. App. BC 3.76.309. 73. Plu. Ant. 2.5. See also Plu. Ant. 3.4 and 4.2. 74. Plu. Fortuna Rom. 319F–​320Α. 75. Plu. Ant. 33.3–​4; App. BC 5.76.3. 76. Vell. 2.82.4; Sen. Suas. 1.1.6; Dio 48.39.2. 77. App. BC 4.128.536. 78. Plu. Fortuna Rom. 319E–​319F. 55. 56. 57. 58.

C h a p t er 9 1. Vell. 2.95.1. 2. Suet. Cl. 1.1. 3. Dio 48.44.5. 4. Suet. Cl. 1.1. 5. Suet. Tib. 6.4: The nine-​year-​old Tiberius would deliver the funeral eulogy for his father from the Old Rostra in the Forum Romanum.

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6. Suet. Aug. 70.2. See Wardle (2014) 447 for Cassius Parmensis. 7. Suet. Aug. 70.1–​2. For scholarly discussion and different interpretations of the banquet, see Miller (2009) 15–​8, 30–​9; Huntsman (2009) 151–​2; Wardle (2014) 443–​6. 8. Suet. Aug. 74–​5. 9. Suet. Aug. 85.2. For other epigrams written by Octavianus, see Macr. Sat. 2.4.21, 2.4.31. 10. Suet. Aug. 70.1. 11. Liv. 5.13.4–​8. 12. Liv. 22.10.9. These statues perhaps represented the Roman di consentes, See Enn. Ann. frag. 7.24; Var. L. 38.70 (dei consentes). See also Wardle (2014) 444 and Roller (2017) 109–​11. 13. Liv. 22.1.19. 14. Ov. Tr. 2.497–​8. See also Dio 56.41.7–​8. 15. Cic. Att. 10.10.5 and 10.16.5 (both May 49 b.c.); Plu. Ant. 9.4. 16. Cic. Fam. 9.26.2 (November 46 b.c., in the intercalated month, Cicero to Papirius). 17. Fantham (1989) 156. 18. For Demodocus, see Hom. Od. 8.266–​366. 19. Suet. Aug. 4.2. 20. Macr. Sat. 1.24.23. 21. Suet. Aug. 75. 22. Versnel (1993) 146–​63. 23. Ov. Tr. 2.490–​1. 24. See Macr. Sat. 2.3.11 for Mallius. See Carter (1982) 192 and Wardle (2014) 445 for discussion. 25. Verdière (1972) 294 suggested Mania, who was the mother of the Lares and a goddess of the house, as an emendation. 26. Lindsay (1896) 6. 27. Catul. 68A.54 (lymphaque . . . Mālia). In Greek, the name is Μηλίς (Doric Μαλίς). 28. Ov. Fast. 4.673. 29. See Le Boeuffle (1987) 113–​4 for the astronomical meaning of declino. 30. See Fasti Amit. in Michels (1967) 186–​7 for December 17. 31. Hom. Il. 18.489; Hom. Od. 22.197–​9; Verg. G. 1.246. 32. Ov. Met. 1.774 and Met. 2.1–​2. 33. Suet. Aug. 72.2; Vell. 2.81.3. See Wardle (2014) 455–​6 for the associations of Syracusa with Archimedes and Dionysius of Syracuse. 34. On the house, see Varinlioğlu (2013–​2022) and Wiseman (2019). For a terrace, see Claridge (1998) 131. 35. According to Tac. Ann. 6.21, Tiberius also practiced astrologia on the upper floor of his villa (edita domus parte) at Rhodes, which was located on a cliff overlooking the sea. See also Michels (1967) 100, which notes the unobstructed view of the horizon to the east and to the west on the northeast end of the Capitoline Hill (the arx), which was opposite the Palatine Hill with the Forum Romanum below and in between.

46

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Notes C h a p t er 10

1. App. BC 5.92.384. 2. Plu. Ant. 35.3. 3. See Plu. Ant. 35.1 (two daughters); App. BC 5.95.399 (one daughter). Since the younger Antonia was not born until 36 b.c., the second daughter to whom Plutarch says Octavia had given birth may have been one that died in infancy; see Pelling (1988) 214. 4. Plu. Ant. 35.4. 5. Plin. Nat. 15.40.136–​7; Dio 48.52.3–​4. The villa was subsequently named Ad Gallinas Albas (At the White Guinea Fowls) in honor of this omen. For the villa, see Klynne and Liljenstolpe (2000). 6. Vell. 2.80.1–​3. 7. Cic. Fam. 12.10.1 ( July 43 b.c., Cicero to Cassius). 8. App. BC 5.97.404–​98.406. 9. App. BC 5.100.418. 10. For the date, see Acta Arv. in Ehrenberg and Jones (1976) 51 and Michels (1967) 179. For the battle, see App. BC 5.118–​21. 11. App. BC 5.99.412. 12. Plin. Nat. 9.22.55; Suet. Aug. 96.2; Dio 49.5.5. 13. App. BC 5.100.416–​7. 14. Suet. Aug. 16.2. 15. Hadas (1930) 147. 16. See also Gowers (2010) 83–​4 and Louis (2010) 159 for the interpretation that Octavianus was contemplating the heavens. See also Wardle (2014) 141–​2 for discussion of the episode. 17. See App. BC 5.118–​21 and Dio 49.9–​10. See also Hadas (1930) 144–​5 and Welch (2012) 276. 18. App. BC 5.128.528. See also Vell. 2.81.1 and Dio 49.13–​4 for the mutiny. 19. Dio 49.15.5. 20. App. BC 5.130.542. 21. See Aug. RG 4.1; Fasti Cap. in Ehrenberg and Jones (1976) 34; Suet. Aug. 22.1; App. BC 5.130.541. 22. Dio 49.14.4. See also Vell. 2.81.3. 23. See Plin. Nat. 37.6.13 for the birthday of Pompeius Magnus; also Hannah (2005) 117. 24. Dio 49.15.2. 25. Plu. Ant. 36.3–​4. 26. App. BC 5.140.583. 27. Dio 49.18.7. 28. Plu. Ant. 53.3–​6. 29. Plu. Ant. 53.2; Dio 49.33.4. 30. Dio 50.1.5.

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31. See Plin. Nat. 36.24.121–​2, which quotes from Agrippa’s own list of accomplishments, and Dio 49.42.2. See also Purcell (1996) 788. 32. Dio 49.43.1. 33. Dio 49.43.5. For discussion, see Cramer (1954) 83; Barton (1994) 51; Ripat (2011) 117–​8. For the word astrologus, see Le Boeuffle (1987) 62–​3. 34. Cic. Div. 1.58.132. 35. Hor. S. 1.6.113–​4. 36. Liv. 39.16.8. 37. See Scott (1933). 38. Plu. Ant. 4.2–​3, 60.3. 39. Ov. Her. 9.159–​64; Ov. Met. 9.124–​272. 40. Plu. Ant. 9. 41. See Liv. Per. 132 on the notice sent; Plu. Ant. 57.2–​3 for Octavia’s reaction. 42. Plu. Ant. 57.3. In Ant. 31.1–​2, Plutarch appears to have confused Octavianus’ younger full sister Octavia, who was the daughter of Atia, and his older half-​sister Octavia, who was the daughter of Ancharia. 43. Dio 50.3.4–​5. 44. Plu. Ant. 60.1; Dio 50.6.1. 45. Dio 50.8 and Plu. Ant. 60.2–​3. 46. Aug. RG 25.2–​3. 47. Vell. 2.84–​5. 48. Flor. Epit. 2.21.5–​8. 49. Plu. Ant. 61–​8; Dio 50.12–​35. See also Tarn (1931); Pelling (1988) 272–​85; Carter (1970); Murray and Petsas (1989); Lange (2011). 50. Plu. Ant. 62.1. 51. Plu. Ant. 65.3. The description of Octavianus’ actions in Suet. Aug. 96.2 (descendenti in aciem asellus cum asinario occurrit) is brief and compressed. Suetonius’ words are usually interpreted to mean that Nikon with its driver met Octavianus who was making his way down to the site of the battle line; see, for example, Lange (2009) 1 and Wardle (2014) 537. But Suetonius may mean that Nikon and Eutychos met Octavianus, who lowered his eyes and looked in their direction, which would be consistent with Plutarch’s description. 52. Pl. Tht. 174A. 53. Arat. Phaen. 567–​8; Cic. Arat. 33[PHI 34].347–​9. 54. For the date, see Acta Arv., Fasti Amit., Fasti Ant., and Fasti Val. in Ehrenberg and Jones (1976) 51 and Michels (1967) 179. See also Dio 51.1 for the date and its critical importance. 55. Plu. Ant. 63.6. 56. See Arat Phaen. 590–​5 and Cic. Arat. 33[PHI 34].370–​8 on the rising of Leo. 57. See Weinstock (1950) 48–​9; Cramer (1954) 67–​8. 58. Hor. S. 1.5.31–​2. See Gowers (1993) on the poem.

468

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59. See Graf (2007). 60. See Man. Astron. 1.407–​10 on Sirius. 61. Hom. Il. 22.30–​1. Gem. Phaen. 1.17.26–​46 offers a scientific view. 62. Man. Astron. 1.405. 63. See Eratosth. 11 for Virgo and Isis. 64. Vell. 2.85.2; Plu. Ant. 65.1–​2. Other individuals in command on both sides are also mentioned. 65. Plu. Ant. 65.4. 66. Plu. Ant. 66.1 (no ramming); Dio 50.32–​3 (limited ramming). 67. For the wind, see Plu. Ant. 66.2 and Dio 50.33.3. 68. For the hour, see Carter (1970) 224; Powell (2015) 92–​3. 69. Plu. Ant. 67.4. 70. Plu. Ant. 68.1. 71. Suet. Aug. 17.2. 72. Hyg. Astr. 2.6.1. See See Ov. Met. 9.271–​2 for the catasterism of Hercules. See also Rogers (1998b) 85–​6; Volk (2009) 188–​90. 73. Plu. Ant. 68.3. See Vell. 2.86.2 for Octavianus’ clemency. 74. See Galinsky (1996) 297–​9 and Miller (2009) for Octavianus and Apollo. 75. Hor. Ep. 9.15–​18. On the poem, see also Wistrand (1958) 35; Williams (1968) 212–​8; Cairns (1983). 76. Prop. 3.11.69–​70. 77. Verg. A. 1.33. 78. Prop. 2.34.66: something greater than the Iliad was being born (nescio quid maius nascitur Iliade). 79. Verg. A. 8.675–​713. 80. Verg. A. 8.675–​7. 81. Var. L. 7.83. 82. Verg. A. 8.678–​88. 83. See Pollini (2012) 420–​34 on Castorian imagery. 84. Verg. A. 8.689–​706. 85. Verg. A. 8.707–​10. 86. See Cairns (1984) 129–​88 for the poem as a choric hymn. 87. Prop. 4.6.11–​14. 88. Prop. 4.6.33–​36. 89. Prop. 4.6.37–​44. 90. Prop. 6.53–​4. 91. Prop. 4.6.57. 92. Prop. 4.6.29–​30. 93. Prop. 4.6.14 and 4.6.23–​4. Jupiter was in the heavens at sunrise on September 2, 16 b.c., the day of the Actian celebrations in this year. 94. Prop. 4.6.59.

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469

95. Prop. 4.6.60. See Cairns (1984) 167–​8 on Caesar’s appearance as an epiphany. 96. Prop. 4.6.69–​70. This image of Apollo as both musician and warrior is reflected in the fragment of a wall painting dated to the period of the saeculum Augustum that was found in the house of Octavianus on the Palatine Hill in Rome and that depicts this duality. Apollo’s hair hangs in two braids on his shoulders, and he has laurel sprigs atop his head. He is half reclining in a reddish colored chair and holds an intricately carved cithara in his left hand. Peeking above his right shoulder is the top of his arrow case. For discussion, see Miller (2009) viii, 186–​7. 97. Eleg. Maec. 1.1–​2, 1.9–​10. 98. Eleg. Mae. 1.45–​6. See Dio 51.3.5 on Maecenas being at Rome, not Actium. On Maecenas’ whereabouts during the battle, see Wistrand (1958) 16–​19; Cairns (2006) 262; Byrne (2016); Mountford (2019) 45–​6. Duff and Duff (1935) 115 suggest that Albinovanus Pedo may be the author of the elegy. Ov. Pont. 4.16.6 calls Albinovanus Pedo sidereus. See Ov. Pont. 4.10 and Sen. Controv. 2.2.12 on Ovid’s friendship with Albinovanus Pedo. 99. Extremos . . . equos in verse 56 is emended here to extremas . . . aquas on the basis of astronomical sense (misit ad extremas exorientis aquas). Compare Plin. Nat. 9.83.176: extremas fluminum aquas. 100. P.Herc. 817. For discussion, see Benario (1983); Kraggerud (1990); Macfarlane (2010); Fratantuono (2016) 94–​6. 101. P.Br.Mus. II inv. 256 recto, b =​ P. Lit. Lond. 62; SH 982, Anon. 163 FGE; Page (1950) no. 113, 469–​70. For discussion, see Page (1981) no. CLXIII, 483–​6; Miller (2009) 60–​6; Bremer (2013); Barbantani (2017). 102. See Wallace-​Hadrill (1986) 69–​70 on the coinage. C h a p t er 11 1. Plu. Ant. 71.3. 2. Dio 51.4.1. 3. Pelling (1996) 62. 4. Plu. Ant. 72–​4; Dio 51.6–​10. 5. Plu. Ant. 73.1; Dio 51.6.6. 6. Dio 51.8.2. 7. Suet. Aug. 69.2. See also Wardle (2014) 442–​3. 8. Dio 51.17.5. See Man. Astron. 1.847–​51 for shooting stars, which had the same fiery origins as comets and which are discussed prior in Man. Astron.1.809–​46. The words κομῆται and cometae are used in historical and poetic narratives for both comets and for shooting stars. See also Le Boeuffle (1977) 63–​75; Le Boeuffle (1987) 97–​8. 9. Vell. 2.82.4; Plu. Ant. 24.3–​4, 60.2, 75.3. 10. Hyg. Astr. 2.23.

470

470

Notes

11. For the date, see Fasti Prae., Acta Arv., Fasti Amit., and Fasti Ant. in Ehrenberg and Jones (1976) 49 and Michels (1967) 176–​7. For sunrise, see Plu. Ant. 76.1. 12. For Brutus and Antonius, see App. BC 4.130.547. See also Plu. Brut. 51.1 for Brutus. For the verse, see Eur. Med. 332. 13. Plu. Ant. 76.3. 14. Plu. Ant. 77.4. 15. Plu. Brut. 29.9–​11. 16. Plu. Cic. 49.6. 17. Plu. Ant. 78.2. 18. For the date, see Fasti Prae., Acta Arv., Fasti Amit. in Ehrenberg and Jones (1976) 49 and Michels (1967) 176–​7. 19. Plu. Ant. 74.1–​2, 84.2, 86.4; Dio 51.8–​11. 20. Suet. Aug. 17.4 suggests that the mausoleum was still unfinished at the time of Cleopatra‘s death. 21. Plu. Ant. 79.2; Dio 51.10.5. 22. Plu. Ant. 79.1. 23. Plu. Ant. 83; Dio 51.12. 24. Vell. 2.87.1; Plu. Ant. 86.2–​3; Flor. Epit. 2.21.11.11. See also the Carmen de Bello Aegyptiaco col. 6.1–​9 for Cleopatra’s experiments with the asp. 25. Plu. Ant. 86.4. 26. See Roller (2010) 161 for August 10; Skeat (1953) 100 and Rehak (2006) 79 for August 12. 27. Vell. 2.87.3. 28. V. Max 1.7.7. 29. Plu. Ant. 87.1–​2. 30. Aug. RG 27.1. 31. Plu. Ant. 87.3–​4. 32. Aug. RG 24.1. 33. Suet. Aug. 17.4. 34. For the date, see Wilcken (1937) 138–​9; Skeat (1953) 99–​100; Huzar (1988) 344. 35. Sen. ad Marc. 4.2. 36. Suet. Aug. 18; Dio 51.16. For discussion, see Erskine (2002). 37. Dio 51.17.5. 38. Dio 51.20.1. 39. Dio 51.19.3. 40. For the date, see Fasti Prae. in Ehrenberg and Jones (1976) 45. See also Dio 51.20.4. 41. Aug. RG 13. 42. Ov. Fast.1.510. See also Green (2004) 233. 43. For Potitus, see Syme (1986) 228–​9. 44. Vell. 2.89.3–​4. 45. Dio 51.20.3.

471

Notes

471

46. Dio 51.21.2–​5. 47. Dio 51.21.5–​9 provides the fullest account. For the dates, see Fasti Ant. in Ehrenberg and Jones (1976) 50. For discussion, see Gurval (1995) 19–​36. 48. Liv. 10.23.3. See also Ziòłkowski (1988). 49. Plu. Ant. 4.1. 50. Suet. Tib. 6.4. 51. Dio 51.21.7–​9. 52. For the date, see Fasti Amit. and Fasti Ant. in Ehrenberg and Jones (1976) 50. For the buildings, see Aug. RG 19 and Dio 51.22.1–​2. 53. Cic. Fin. 5.2. 54. Dio 51.22.2. 55. Plin. Nat. 35.10.27–​8. 56. Dio 51.19.2. 57. Plin. Nat. 35.36.91–​2. The lower part of Apelles’ painting was damaged before the reign of Nero, who replaced it with a copy. See also Str. 14.2.19. 58. Prop. 3.9.11. 59. Ov. Ars 3.401–​2. 60. Ov. Tr. 2.527–​8. 61. Ov. Pont. 4.1.30. See Dio 56.45.2 and Syme (1978) 156–​62 for Sextus Pompeius. 62. Dio 51.22.9. 63. For the date, see Fasti Maf. and Fasti Vat. in Ehrenberg and Jones (1976) 51 and Michels (1967) 178–​9. 64. Dio 53.1.6. 65. For the date, see Acta Arv., Fasti Amit., Fasti Ant. in Ehrenberg and Jones (1976) 53. Sacrifices were made at Rome to the Genius Populi Romani, the δαίμων or Essential Spirit of the Roman People, on this day, the seventh day before the Ides of October; see Acta Arv., Fasti Amit., Fasti Ant. in Ehrenberg and Jones (1976) 53. 66. Vell. 2.81.3. 67. Suet. Aug. 29.3; Dio 49.15.5. 68. On this temple, see Vitr. 3.3.4 and Prop. 2.31. See also Platner (and Ashby) (1929) 16–​9; Williams (1968) 434–​5; Zanker (1988) 63–​4; Richardson (1992) 14; Gurval (1995) 111–​31; Claridge (1998) 131–​4; Hekster and Rich (2006); Coarelli (2007) 142–​4; Zink (2008); Miller (2009) 185–​234; Steenkamp (2012); Wiseman (2019). 69. See Richardson (1992) 12 and Coarelli (2007) 264 for the first temple to Apollo in the Campus Martius, vowed because of a plague and dedicated in 431 b.c. by the consul Gaius Iulius Mento. It was rebuilt or restored later by Gaius Sosius (cos. 32 b.c.), who aimed to make it more magnificent than Octavianus’ Temple of Apollo Palatinus. 70. See Vitr. 3.3.4 and Wiseman (2019) 117. 71. See Claridge (1998) 131; Zink (2012) 389; Wiseman (2019) 122–​8. 72. Prop. 2.31.11.

472

472

Notes

73. Hunt (2008) 177–​81. 74. Prop. 2.31.5–​6. 75. Ov. Ars 3.388–​92. 76. See Claridge (1998) 404; Coarelli (2007) 157. 77. Suet. Gram. 20. 78. Plin. Nat. 36.4.24–​32. 79. Hor. Carm. 1.31.1. 80. Prop. 2.31. 81. Verg. A. 8.720–​8. 82. See Hardie (1986) 357–​8 on the imagery of brightness and light in the description of the Temple of Apollo Palatinus on the shield. 83. Plu. Cic. 36.4. 84. Ov. Met. 2.24–​5. Miller (2009) 209 considers Octavianus as the incarnation of the god Apollo, which would have been a questionable strategy at this time. 85. Catul. 64.271. 86. Suet. Nero 13. See also Dio Epit. 62.3–​4. 87. Dio 37.16–​19. 88. Dio 49.22.4. 89. Tib. 1.3.18. C h a p t er 12 1. Sen. Ben. 6.33.1 comments that there is no good reason to assume that Agrippa and Maecenas always told Octavianus the truth. 2. Dio 52.2–​13. The end of the speech is missing. 3. Dio 52.14–​40. The beginning of the speech is missing. 4. Dio 52.34.2. 5. Dio 52.36.3. 6. See Crook (1996) 77–​8 for Octavianus’ illnesses. 7. Dio 53.2.7. 8. Suet. Aug. 28.1. 9. For the date, see Fasti Prae. in Ehrenberg and Jones (1976) 45. See also Suet. Aug. 28.1. 10. For the speech, see Dio 53.3–​11. For Octavianus’ preference for reading from a prepared script, see Suet. Aug. 84.1. 11. For the name, see Ov. Fast. 1.589–​90; Vell. 2.91.1; Suet. Aug. 7.2; Dio 53.16.7–​8. 12. Aug. RG 34.2–​4. 13. Ov. Fast. 1.609–​12; Suet. Aug. 7.2. For discussion, see Taylor (1931) 158–​65. 14. Dio 53.16.8. 15. Vitr. 9.3.3. See also Le Boeuffle (1987) for augere (66) cross-​referenced with crescere (107). 16. Aug. RG 34.3. 17. Dio 53.17–​19.

473

Notes

473

18. Aug. RG 34.1. 19. Ov. Fast. 1.608. 20. Aug. RG 34.2; Plin. Nat. 16.3–​5; Dio 53.16.4–​6. For discussion, see Syme (1939) 313–​4; Green (2004) 270–​1 on 590; Herbert-​Brown (1994) 200–​4. 21. For the date, see Fasti Cum. and Fasti Prae. in Ehrenberg and Jones (1976) 45 and Cens. DN 21.8. Bakhouche (2012) argues that January 16 was more important on astrological grounds. 22. Dio 53.12.5. 23. Ov. Fast. 1.56. 24. Plin. Nat. 37.4.10; Suet. Aug. 50; Dio 51.3.6. 25. Plu. Alex. 2.3, 3.1. According to Suet. Aug. 50, Octavianus would eventually use his own image carved by Dioscurides as a signet. 26. Dio 53.20.1. 27. Cic. Q. fr. 3.5.8 (October–​November 54 b.c.). See also Dio 39.61.1–​2 and Aldrete (2007) 84–​5. 28. Syme (1939) 331 (in the middle of the year); Crook (1996) 79 (in August). 29. Dio 53.23.1–​4, 54.29.1–​4. 30. Dio 53.27.2 (in 25 b.c.). 31. Plin. Nat. 9.58.119–​21. 32. On the fall of Gallus, see Suet. Aug. 66.2; Dio 53.23.5–​7. 33. Verg. Ecl. 10 tells of the unrequited love of Gallus for Lycoris, a pseudonym for his mistress Cytheris. Gallus speaks to the shepherds directly in Ecl. 10.31–​69, ending with “Love conquers all things. Let us also yield to Love” (omnia vincit Amor: et nos cedamus Amori). According to Ov. Tr. 4.10.53, Gallus was chronologically the first Roman elegiac poet. He was followed by Tibullus, Propertius, and Ovid himself. See also references to Gallus in Ov. Am. 3.9.63–​4; Ov. Tr. 2.445–​6; Serv. Ecl. 10.1–​2. For discussion, see Hollis (2007) 225–​9; Keith (2011); Wardle (2014) 427–​9. 34. Suet. Aug. 66.2. 35. See Plu. Ant. 87.2; Dio 53.27.5; Serv. A. 6.861. 36. Dio 53.28.1. 37. Dio 53.18.1. 38. Suet. Aug. 81.1; Dio 53.30.3. Birley (2000) 730 suggests that the ailment was hepatitis. 39. Vell. 2.93.1–​2; Dio 53.30.2. 40. Suet. Aug. 66.3. 41. For discussion, see Reinhold (1933) 78–​83; Wardle (2014) 430–​1. 42. Prop. 3.18 is an elegy for Marcellus. 43. Dio 53.30.4. See also Wardle (2014) 410. 44. Serv. A. 6.861. 45. See Vell. 2.91.2–​3; Suet. Aug. 19.1; Suet. Tib. 8; Str. 4.6.7; Dio 54.3. For discussion, see Badian (1982) 28–​36 and Levick (2010) 100–​3.

47

474

Notes

46. Vell. 2.88. 47. Aug. RG 5; Suet. Aug. 52; Dio 54.1.4–​5. 48. Aug. RG 19.2. For the date, see Acta Arv. Fasti Amit., Fasti Ant. in Ehrenberg and Jones (1976) 51. 49. Suet. Aug. 29.3. 50. Vitr. 1.2.5. 51. Plin. Nat. 34.19.79. 52. Suet. Aug. 91.2; Dio 54.4.4. 53. Dio 54.7. For the date, see Crook (1996) 88–​9. 54. Ov. Fast. 5.579–​94; Suet. Aug. 21.3; Dio 54.8.1–​3. 55. For an image of this coin, see British Museum (2021). 56. For comets, see Man. Astron. 1.814–​46 and Plin. Nat. 2.22.89–​90. For issues of Augustan coinage, see Wallace-​Hadrill (1986) 778. For the coins, see Gurval (1997) 58–​60, which identifies the star as a comet. 57. Dio 47.18.4. 58. Dio 54.10.3–​4. 59. For the date, see Fasti Amit., Fasti Opp., Fasti Maf. in Ehrenberg and Jones (1976) 53. 60. Aug. RG 11. 61. Michels (1990b) 10. 62. For the date, see Fasti Cum., Fasti Amit. in Ehrenberg and Jones (1976) 55. For the Augustalia, see Dio 54.10.3, 54.34.2. 63. Michels (1990b) 11. 64. Suet. Poet. Verg. 35–​42. 65. Verg. A. 6.789–​97. 66. See Ovid, Met. 4.627–​8 for the location of Atlas in the west. 67. See also Dekker (2013) 85–​8. 68. For Thule, see Verg. G. 1.3; Plin. Nat. 2.77.187. For Thule as far northern Britain, see Sil. 3.597–​8; Tacitus Ag. 10.6; Juv. 15.112. 69. See Plin. Nat. 3.2.17; Dio 55.8.4. Agrippa planned the map, but it was unfinished before he died in 12 b.c. Work was started on the map by Agrippa’s sister Vipsania Polla, who consulted the design and notes of Agrippa (ex destinatione et commentariis M. Agrippae). The map was completed by Augustus, perhaps by 7 b.c., and displayed on the wall of the Porticus Vipsania. For discussion, see Tierney (1962–​1964). 70. See Dio. 54.6.5. 71. Ov. Fast. 1.464 mentions the Aqua Virgo, which today feeds the Trevi Fountain in Rome. See also Plin. Nat. 31.25.42 for the cool water that flowed in this aqueduct. 72. Suet. Aug. 63.1. See also Tac. Ann. 5.1. 73. Dio 54.12.3. 74. Dio 54.18.1. 75. Suet. Aug. 64.1.

475

Notes

475

76. See CIL 6.32323 for names of members of the quindecimviri, although the lists are not complete. See CIL 6.32323.150–​2 for nineteen men, including Augustus and Agrippa. See also Lewis (1955) 86–​9. 77. V. Max. 2.4.5. 78. See Var. L. 6.11 on the saeculum. On the history of the Ludi Saeculares and dates see Cens. DN 17.10–​1. For discussion, see Pighi (1965) 24–​5; Coarelli (1993); Thomas (2011) 271–​3; Wiseman (2019) 111. 79. Michels (1990a). 80. Aug. RG 22.2. 81. Val. Max. 2.4.5. 82. Tac. Ann. 11.11. 83. Aug. RG 8.5; Suet. Aug. 31.4. 84. Dio 54.18.2. 85. See Phlegon of Tralles in Thomas (2011) 277–​8 and Zos. 2.5–​6. 86. CIL 6.32323 =​ ILS 5050 =​Pighi (1965) 107–​19. See also Chisholm and Ferguson (1981) 150–​7 and Beard, North, and Price (1998) Vol. 2, 140–​4. 87. See Hor. Carm. 4.6.41–​4 for Horace’s inspiration. See Zos. 2.5.5 for the inclusion of the hymn and CIL 6.32323.149 for its authorship (carmen composuit Q. Horatius Flaccus). For discussion, see Putnam (2000); Feeney (2003); Lipka (2009) 159–​ 66; Lowrie (2009) 123–​41; Curtis (2017) 149–​58. 88. Dio 54.17.2. 89. Zos. 2.4.2. See Syme (1939) 411–​2 for Ateius Capito as “a sacerdotal lawyer, conservative and pliable.” 90. Zos. 2.6.6–​7. 91. CIL 6.32323.90 (May 31); CIL 6.32323.103–​4 ( June 1); CIL 6.32323.119 ( June 2); CIL 6.32323.139 ( June 3). See also Pighi (1965) 41–​52 and Feeney (2007) 181–​2. 92. Suet. Aug. 31.4. 93. See Richardson (1992) 377; Haselberger, Romano, Dumser, Borbonus (2002) 240; Lipka (2009) 152–​9; Sumi (2015) 245. 94. V. Max. 2.1.2. 95. See Man. Astron. 1.684–​700 for the path of the Milky Way through the constellations. 96. Cic. Rep. 6.16.16; Man. Astron. 1.758–​804. 97. Man. Astron. 1.750–​4; Hyg. Astr. 2.43. 98. Cic. N.D. 2.25.64. 99. See Hom. Il. 8.479–​81; Ov. Met. 1.113. 100. Hes. Op. 109–​11. 101. See Verg. G. 2.536–​40, 8.326–​7; Tib. 1.3.35–​48; Ov. Fast. 1.193–​4; Ov. Met. 1.113–​5. 102. Ov. Fast. 3.796–​802, 4.197–​204. 103. Verg. G. 2.536–​40; Verg. A. 8.326–​7; Ov. Met. 1.113–​5.

476

476

Notes

104. Var. L. 5.42; Cic. N.D. 3.17.44; Verg. A. 6.792–​4, 8.320–​7, 8.357–​8; Ov. Fast. 1.235–​ 40, 6.31–​2. 105. Verg. A. 8.319–​25. 106. Ov. Fast. 1.233–​40. 107. Verg. G. 1.396. 108. Ov. Fast. 3.883–​4. 109. Richardson (1992) 108–​9. 110. The temple on the Aventine was also known as the Temple of Diana Cornificia after its patron-​builder. See Zanker (1988) 67; Richardson (1992) 108; Coarelli (2007) 334. 111. See Green (2007) xviii and Thomas (2011) 83 n. 69. 112. Cic. Phil. 3.6.15–​17. 113. Arat. Phaen. 97; Cic. Arat. 16.6. See also Kidd (1997) 216–​7. 114. See Hes. Op. 256–​62 and Arat. Phaen. 96–​136. 115. See also Hyg. Astr. 2.25.1. 116. Suet. Aug. 94.8; Dio 45.2.3–​4. For discussion, see Wardle (2014) 524. 117. Suet. Aug. 94.6. 118. Hor. Saec. 66. 119. Hor. Saec. 17. 120. Hor. Saec. 13–​24. 121. Hor. Saec. 31–​2. 122. Hor. Saec. 1–​2. 123. Hor. Saec. 35–​6. 124. Hor. Saec. 75–​6. 125. Suet. Aug. 4.2. See also Green (2007) 34–​41. 126. Cic. Phil. 3.6.15–​7. 127. Hor. Saec. 1. 128. Hor. Saec. 61, 33. 129. Hor. Saec. 61. 130. Hor. Saec. 9–​11. 131. Hor. Saec. 29–​30. 132. Hor. Saec. 59–​60. 133. Hor. Saec. 50–​2. 134. Hor. Saec. 53–​4. Horace mentions the Parthians a number of times in his poetry: see Hor. Carm. 1.12.53, 1.19.12, 2.13.18, 3.2.3, 4.5.25, 4.15.7. 135. Hor. Saec. 57–​8. 136. Phlegon of Tralles 37.5.2–​4.34 and Zos. 2.6. See also Wiseman (2015) 153–​6. 137. Ov. Fast. 6.101–​2. See also Littlewood (2006) 34–​64. 138. Ov. Fast. 6.111–​8. 139. Ov. Fast. 6.131–​68. 140. Ov. Fast. 6.183–​6.

47

Notes

477

141. Ov. Fast. 6.195–​6. See also Littlewood (2006) 64. 142. For Iovis praepes used for Aquila, see also Ov. Met. 4.714; Fox (2004) 122. 143. Ov. Fast. 6.197–​8. See also Littlewood (2006) 65. 144. See Fox (2004) 122. 145. Eratosth.14. 146. Ov. Fast. 6.199. See also Littlewood (2006) 65. 147. Phlegon of Tralles 37.5.2–​4.147–​8; Zosimus 2.6. C h a p t er 13 1. See Suet. Aug. 34; Dio 54.16.1–​2. For discussion, see Frank (1975); Galinsky (1981); Wardle (2015) 272–​6. 2. Dio 54.16.3–​7. 3. See Verg. A. 7.761–​81 on Virbius, who fought on the side of the Italians against Aeneas. Ov. Met.15.497–​546 and Ov. Fast. 6.737–​56 identify Virbius as Hippolytus himself. See also Green (2007) 208–​31. 4. See Champlin (2003); Green (2007). 5. Serv. A. 2.116. Green (207) 41–​7 suggests that the removal occurred soon after Actium, but this time seems too early, given Octavianus’ situation and the incomplete state of the Temple of Saturn at that time. 6. See Serv. A. 7.188 for the other pignora: the sacred stone of the Mother of the Gods, a four-​horse chariot from the Etruscan city of Veii, the scepter of the Trojan king Priam, the sacred cloth of Priam’s daughter Ilione, the palladium or sacred image of Athena from Troy, and the shields of Mars. See also Green (2007) 43–​4. 7. Hyg. Fab. 261. 8. See Suet. Aug. 29.5; Wardle (2014) 238; Richardson (1992) 343. 9. Dio. 54.19.6; Suet. Tib. 9.3. 10. Dio 54.19.3. 11. Suet. Aug. 69.1. 12. Dio 54.19.7. See also Jul. Obs. 71, although the events noted should be placed all in 16 b.c. Satterfield (2016) argues that the prodigies constitute an Augustan fiction and belong in 17 b.c., which is unlikely because no ancient sources note prodigies at the time of the Ludi Saeculares. 13. The word λαμπάς was also used in Dio 50.8 to describe a celestial portent that appeared before the Battle of Actium. This λαμπάς was also probably the Milky Way (see Chap. 10). 14. Suet. Aug. 29.5; Dio 54.25.1–​2. 15. Aldrete (2007) 15, 58. 16. Plin. Nat. 36.12.60. 17. Dio 54.25.4. 18. Hor. Carm. 4.2.46–​8. 19. Suet. Aug. 81.2. On the wind, see Hor. Carm. 2.14.15.

478

478

Notes

20. Dio 54.26.2. 21. For the date, see Fasti Maf., Fasti Cum., Fasti Prae. in Ehrenberg and Jones (1976) 47 and Michels (1967) 174. 22. App. BC 5.131. See also Aug. RG 10.2. 23. Aug. RG 10.2. For discussion, see Brunt and Moore (1967) 52–​3. 24. See Ov. Fast. 3.419–​22 on the honor. 25. Suet. Aug. 31.1–​2. 26. See Wardle (2014) 247–​8. 27. See Dio 54.28.1–​3 (no month); Reinhold (1933) 126, n. 15, Roddaz (1984) 485 (March 12 b.c.); Syme (1939) 391 (February 12 b.c.). 28. Reinhold (1933) 126 suggests that Augustus was presenting gladiatorial contests in Rome on the occasion of the festival of the Quinquatrus (March 19–​23). 29. Dio 54.28.4. 30. Rich (1990) 207. 31. P.Köln 1.10. See also Haslam (1980) and Badian (1980). 32. Plin. Nat. 7.8.46. 33. Dio 54.29.5–​6. 34. See Vell. 2.79.1, 2.96.1 and Dio 54.29 for Agrippa’s estimable character; Suet. Aug. 66.3 for Agrippa’s impatience. 35. Dio 54.29.7–​8. 36. Plin. Nat. 10.16.34–​5. 37. Dio 54.29.8. 38. On Halley’s comet, see Reinhold (1933) 128; Ho (1962) 143–​8; Barrett (1978) 93, 97–​8; Hasegawa (1980) 64–​65; Ramsey (2007a) 179–​80; Seargent (2008) 36–​40. 39. Compare Dio 45.7.1 on the celestial object of 44 b.c. 40. Pi. P. 1.9. 41. Eratosth. 30. E. Rh. 531 refers to Aquila flying in mid-​heaven (μέσα δ’ αἰετὸς οῤανοῦ ποτᾶται) near sunrise, as it did on the morning of the funeral of Agrippa. 42. Man. Astron. 1.797–​8. For the suggested genitura of Agrippa, see Chap. 5. 43. Dio 54.30.5. 44. Suet. Aug. 63.2; Dio 54.31.2. 45. Suet. Tib. 7.2. See also Suet. Aug. 63.2. 46. Ov. Fast. 4.949–​54. For the date, see Fasti Cae., Fasti Prae. in Ehrenberg and Jones (1976) 48. 47. Ov. Fast. 3.425–​8. 48. Dio 54.27.3. 49. See Richardson (1992) 413; Fantham (1998) 275–​6. 50. Ov. Fast. 4.949–​54. See Wiseman (2019) 117 for the association of Diana with the Temple of Apollo Palatinus. Fantham (1998) 276 implies that Augustus is the third divinity on the basis of Ov. Fast. 3.421–​2, but this possibility is less likely. 51. Ov. Met. 15.864–​5.

479

Notes

479

52. Ov. Fast. 6.427–​36. 53. Dio. 54.35.4; Suet. Tib. 7.2. See also Fantham (2006a) 19. 54. Dio 49.43.8. See also Suet. Aug. 29.4 for the dedication by Augustus of the Porticus Octaviae; Liv. Epit. 140 for the theater and colonnade as memorials dedicated in the name of Marcellus. See also Plu. Marc. 30.6 for the dedication of the theater to Marcellus by Augustus. 55. Suet. Gramm. 21. 56. Hor. Carm. 1.12.45–​6. 57. Prop. 3.18.32–​4. 58. Verg. A. 6.860–​86. 59. Verg. A. 6.882–​3. For the reaction, see Serv. A. 6.861; Donatus, Verg. 32. 60. Ov. Ars 1.69–​70. 61. Ov. Tr. 3.1.69–​70. 62. Dio 54.26.1. 63. Plin. Nat. 8.25.65. See Suet. Aug. 43.4–​5 (no date). Richardson (1992) 382; the Chronological Table in Bowman, Champlin, and Lintott (1996) 95–​1005; and Wardle (2014) 233 suggest 13 b.c. Coarelli (2007) 268–​71 suggests 13 b.c. or 11 b.c. Barrett (2002) 373, n. 81 suggests May 7, 13 b.c. as the date of the dedication. 64. See CIL 6.32323.157. 65. Plin. Nat. 8.25.65; Dio 54.26.1. 66. Dio 54.34.1–​2. 67. Suet. Aug. 61.2. Dio 54.35.4–​5 lists her death with events of 10 b.c. Liv. Epit. 140 provides no date. See Wardle (2014) 402 for 10–​9 b.c., when Augustus was fifty-​ three (counting exclusively), and Sumner (1967) 414 for what Suetonius should have written, quinquagensimum et tertium (fifty-​third). 68. Dio 49.38.1. 69. Syme (1939) 373 n. 2. 70. Dio 55.1.1. 71. For the January date, see Fasti Cum., Fasti Cae., Fasti Prae. in Ehrenberg and Jones (1976) 46. 72. For the July date, see Fasti. Amit., Fasti. Ant. in Ehrenberg and Jones (1976) 49. See also Aug. RG 12.2. 73. Ov. Fast. 1.709–​22. 74. Suet. Aug. 21.2. 75. For discussion of this solar complex, see Buchner (1982); Beck (1994) 100–​5; Rehak (2006) 80–​95; Heslin (2007); Hannah (2011); Haselberger (2011); Pollini (2012) 213–​6; Hannah (2014); La Rocca (2014); Frischer, Pollini, Cipolla, et al. (2017). 76. See Plin. Nat. 36.14.64–​71 on obelisks. See Swetnam-​Burland (2015) 92–​3 on Pliny the Elder and Augustus’ two obelisks in the Circus Maximus and the Campus Martius. 77. Plin. Nat. 36.15.72.

480

480

Notes

78. Feeney (2007) 156, following Suerbaum (1980) 335–​7. 79. See Acta Arv. in Ehrenberg and Jones (1976) 46, listed for 58 b.c. 80. Barrett (2002) 309–​10 considers the arguments for Livia’s birthday in 59 b.c. or 58 b.c., but leans toward 59 b.c. See also Barrett (1999). 81. Dio 58.2.1. See also Tac. Ann. 5.1: Livia died at a very old age (aetate extrema). 82. Dio 58.2.5. 83. Dio 48.52.3. 84. See Barrett (2002) 139 on Augustus’ strategies for honoring Livia publicly. 85. Billows (1993) 80. 86. Suet. Aug. 29. 87. Moretti (1975) 3–​6. 88. On this modern celebration, see Moretti (1975) 6–​7; Andersen (2003) 1–​5; Rossini (2006) 17–​21; Coarelli (2007) 299. 89. For the debate, see Weinstock (1960) and Toynbee (1961). 90. See Petersen (1902) 194–​6; Mattingly (1923) 271–​2; Mattingly (1930) 384. 91. See Richardson (1992) 20; Favro (1993). 92. Aug. RG 12.2. 93. Billows (1993) 89: Augustus held fifty-​five supplicationes, each of them lasting an average of sixteen days. 94. Stat. Theb. 12.481–​518 (mitis posuit Clementia sedem); D.S. 13.22.7 (βωμὸν ἐλέου καθιδρυσάμενοι); Paus. 1.17.1 (Ἐλέου βωμός). See also Thompson (1952); Wycherley (1954); Kleiner (1978) 753–​8. 95. See Simon (1969) 23 on the attendants on the left side of the panel looking as if they could have stepped out of the procession on the long walls, and Anderson (1998) 33–​4 on the evident mismatch of the two panels. 96. See Strong (1937) 121–​5; Hanell (1960) 118–​9; Booth (1966); Galinsky (1966); Simon (1969) 29; Thornton (1983); De Grummond (1990); Holliday (1990); Elsner (1991); Galinsky (1992); Spaeth (1994) 87–​8; Anderson (1998); Rehak (2006) 109–​12; Pollini (2012) 230–​1; Tiede (2016) for other suggested identities for the central figure and the other figures. 97. Hyg. Astr. 2.22; Ov. Fast. 5.693–​720. 98. h. Cer. 2.5–​10; Ov. Met. 5.391–​4. 99. For Pistrix, see Arat. Phaen. 353–​6; Cic. Arat. 33[PHI 34].139–​42; Cic. N.D. 2.44.114; Hyg. Astr. 2.30; Germ. Arat. 356–​ 61; Man. Astron. 1.433–​ 7. De Grummond (1990) proposes a different identification related to the celebration of the autumn equinox. 100. See Phillips (1968) on Andromeda in Greece and Italy. 101. For Andromeda in chains, see Prop. 3.22.29 and Ov. Met. 4.672. In Arat. Phaen. 203, δεσμά refers to a band or bands that were part of Andromeda’s clothing. In Germ. Arat. 204, ignea . . . zonula refers to her fiery belt. See Eratosth. 17 and Hyg. Astr. 2.11 for Andromeda exposed but not chained.

481

Notes

481

102. De Grummond (1990) suggests that the figures at the left and right sides of the relief panel are Horae. Tiede (2016) proposes that the two figures are velificantes (atmospheric deities). 103. If Arat. Phaen. 138 is not an interpolated verse, Aratus imagined that Virgo had wings, on which see Kidd (1997) 231–​2. Virgo is depicted on the Farnese Globe with wings; see Fig. 4.6 and Fig. 4.7. 104. See Cic. Tusc. 1.30.73 for Apollo and swans. See also Pollini (2012) 286–​9 for this association and Kellum (1994) 33–​4 on the swans that appear in the acanthus friezes on the Ara Pacis Augustae. 105. Arat. Phaen. 443–​9; Cic. Arat. 33[PHI 34].214–​21; Germ. Arat. 426–​32. 106. Eratosth. 41. 107. Hyg. Astr. 2.40. 108. Ov. Fast. 2.243–​66. 109. Hor. Carm. 4.4, 4.14; Vell. 2.97.2–​3. 110. For the death of Drusus, see Liv. Epit. 142; Vell. 2.97.4; Val. Max. 5.5.3; Suet. Cl. 1.2–​3; Dio 55.1.1–​4. See Crook (1996) 98 for Drusus’ death on September 24, 9 b.c.; Barrett (2002) 43 for September 9 b.c. 111. Cons. Liv. 401–​4. 112. Cons. Liv. 405–​8. 113. Cons. Liv. 409–​10. 114. See Le Boeuffle (1977) 15–​16 for sidus used of the luminaries. 115. Cons. Liv. 221–​32: the god of the Tiber River held back his floodwaters at the time of the funeral. 116. V. Max. 5.5.3. See also Dio 55.2.1. 117. Suet. Cl. 1.4–​5. 118. Tac. Ann. 3.5; Sen. Marc. 3.2. See also Swan (2004) 44–​7. 119. Cons. Liv. 253–​6. 120. Suet. Cl. 1.5. 121. Man. Astron. 1.795. 122. See Buxton (2014) 100 for faint traces of an eagle in the apotheosis scene from the Belvedere Altar, the iconography of which Buxton argues is associated with the death of Drusus. This relief also displays a four-​horse chariot that suggests that of the Sun and a two-​horse chariot that suggests that of the Moon. 123. Sen. Ad Marc. 4.2–​3. C h a p t er 14 1. Dio 45.1.1. 2. Macr. Sat. 1.14.13 for a misunderstanding; Suet. Aug. 31.2 for negligence. See also Wardle (2014) 249–​50; Van Haeperen (2002) 223. 3. Dio 48.33.4.

482

482

Notes

4. Dio 54.21.2–​8. 5. See Hannah (2005) 118–​22; Stern (2012) 214–​6. See also Frischer, Pollini, Cipolla, et al. (2017) 1:85 (for 9 b.c). 6. Macr. Sat. 1.14.15. 7. Liv. Epit. 134; Suet. Aug. 31.2; Dio 55.6.6; Cens. DN 22.16; Macr. 1.12.35. 8. Dio 55.6.6–​7. 9. Vell. 2.88.2; Suet. Aug. 66.3; Dio 55.7. 10. Hor. Carm. 2.17. For discussion, see Dicks (1963) 70–​2; Nisbet and Hubbard (1978) 271–​87; Kidd (1982); McDermott (1982); West (1991). 11. Dio 54.31.4. See Swan (2004) 47–​8 for a chronology of Tiberius’ triumphal honors. 12. See Millar (1977) on the role of the emperor in the Roman world and the necessity of his meeting the many practical demands of the citizens. 13. Dio 55.9.1–​8. 14. Dio 55.9.7. 15. For the date, see Fasti Cap. in Ehrenberg and Jones (1976) 38. See also Suet. Aug. 26.2. 16. For the date, see Fasti Prae. in Ehrenberg and Jones (1976) 47 and Michels (1967) 174. See also Suet. Aug. 58.2. 17. Ov. Fast. 2.119–​44. See Le Boeuffle (1987) 203–​6 on orbis. 18. See Robinson (2011) 153. 19. Ov. Fast. 2.144; Vitr. Pref. 1.2. 20. Suet. Aug. 53.2, 78.2. 21. Ov. Fast. 2.131–​2. 22. Gem. 3.5. See also Kidd (1997) 236 n. 148; Aujac (2002) 129 n. 6; Le Boeuffle (2002) 193, Chap. 23 n. 7; Evans and Berggren (2006) 137 n. 5. 23. Aug. RG 21.1; Vell. 2.100.2; Suet. Aug. 29.1; Dio 55.10.1–​5. See also Richardson (1992) 160–​2; Claridge (1998) 158–​60. 24. Richardson (1992) 160. 25. Dio 55.10.1–​5. See also Suet. Aug. 29.1–​2. 26. See Favro (1996) 96–​7. 27. Coarelli (2007) 111. 28. Plin. Nat. 35.36.93–​4. 29. Aug. RG 21.1; Suet. Aug. 29.2. 30. Ov. Fast. 5.545–​98. 31. Galinsky (1996) 111–​3. 32. See Zanker (1988) 196–​201; Droge (2011–​2012). 33. Aug. RG 29.2. 34. Dio 55.10.6–​8. 35. For the date, see Fasti Cum., Fasti Maf., Fasti Phil. in Ehrenberg and Jones (1976) 48; Ov. Fast. 5.545–​98; Dio 55.10.1b–​6. For discussion, see Hannah (1997b); Hannah (1998); Swan (2004) 95–​6.

483

Notes

483

36. Hannah (1997b) 531–​4: the Temple of Mars Ultor was aligned with the annual dawn setting of the constellation Scorpios. 37. Arat. Phaen. 634–​46; Cic. Arat. 33[PHI 34].418–​58. 38. Some of the celestial placements on March 12, 2 b.c., notably Aquila, Virgo, the Sun, the Moon, and Cratera, also appear to be reflected on the breastplate of the statue known as the Augustus of Prima Porta, which was found at Ad Gallinas Albas, the villa near Prima Porta that belonged to Livia. The original bronze statue may have been commissioned earlier but it probably postdates the death of Augustus, who is depicted barefoot like a god. For an image of this statue, see Musei Vaticani (2021). For interpretations of the iconography of the breastplate, see Müller (1941); Zanker (1988) 189–​92; Pollini (1993) 272–​3; Galinsky (1996) 156–​60; Reeder (1997). Kleiner (1992) 67 suggests that the statue may have been commissioned both to honor the deceased and deified Augustus and to reference his successor Tiberius. 39. For the completion on August 1, see Dio 60.5.3. See also Shipley (1931) 54; Hannah (1998); Fantham (2006b) 85. 40. Green (2007) 41. 41. Plin. Nat. 7.8.46. 42. Macr. Sat. 2.5.9. 43. Vell. 2.100.3–​5; Tac. Ann. 3.2; Suet. Aug. 65; Dio 55.10.12–​16. See also Fantham (2006b) 85–​91. 44. Sen. Ben. 6.32.2. 45. Vell. 2.100.4. 46. Plin. Nat. 7.45.149. 47. Suet. Tib. 11.4. 48. Gel. 15.7.3. 49. Suet. Aug. 43.2. 50. Dio 55.10a.10; Suet. Tib. 13.2. 51. Suet. Tib. 14.4. See also the short epigram by Apollonides (Anth. Pal. 9.287) in which the eagle itself speaks. 52. Suet. Tib. 15.1. 53. For the date, see Fasti Ant. in Ehrenberg and Jones (1976) 51. For the inscription on the cenotaph for Lucius Caesar at Pisa see ILS 139 in Ehrenberg and Jones (1976) 69–​70. 54. For the date, see Ehrenberg and Jones (1976) 52. 55. For the date, see Fasti Ver. (February 22) in Ehrenberg and Jones (1976) 47. For the inscription on the cenotaph for Gaius Caesar at Pisa, see ILS 140 in Ehrenberg and Jones (1976) 70–​2. For the deaths of both Gaius Caesar and Lucius Caesar, see Vell. 2.102.3; Tac. Ann. 1.3; Suet. Aug. 65.1; Dio 55.10a.9. 56. Dio 55.11.1. 57. Vell. 2.122.2.

48

484

Notes

58. Vell. 2.94.2–​3; Tac. Ann. 1.10; Suet. Tib. 21.2–​5 (including excerpts from letters written by Augustus). 59. Dio 56.45.3. 60. For the date, see Fasti Amit. in Ehrenberg and Jones (1976) 49 and Michels (1967) 176. The fifth day before the Kalends of July ( July 27) in Vell. 2.103.3 may be a scribal error. The event is not mentioned by Ovid in the sixth book of the Fasti. 61. Vell. 2.104.2. 62. Suet. Aug. 65.1. 63. Aug. RG 14.1; Suet. Tib. 23 (the will). 64. Vell. 2.110.1. 65. According to V. Max 5.5.3, the fraternal affection between Tiberius and his brother, Drusus, had resembled that between the mythical Pollux and Castor. 66. Dio. 55.14.1. 67. Dio 55.14–​21. 68. Dio 55.22.3. 69. Dio. 54.29.5. 70. Vell. 2.112.7; Tac. Ann. 1.3, 1.4; Suet. Aug. 65.1; Dio 55.32.1–​2. For Agrippa Postumus, see Pappano (1941); Levick (1972); Jameson (1975); Barrett (2002) 58–​61; Wardle (2014) 418–​9. 71. For the date, see Fasti Prae. in Ehrenberg and Jones (1976) 46 and Ov. Fast. 1.705–​8. See also Suet. Tib. 20; Dio 55.27.4. For discussion, see Richardson (1992) 74–​5; Green (2004) 319–​21. 72. Dio 55.26.3. 73. Dio 55.32.2. 74. For the date, see Fasti Val., Fasti Amit., Fasti Ant. in Ehrenberg and Jones (1976) 50 and Michels (1967) 178. 75. See Liv. 27.37.14 for a description of a procession that took place in 207 b.c. See also Richardson (1992) 424. 76. Dio 55.31.3. 77. Vell. 2.60.4. 78. See Thibault (1964) for an analysis of the sources regarding Ovid’s exile. The common view of long standing is that Ovid was exiled in a.d. 8, although this date has not been without challenge; see also Heyworth (2019) 4–​5. Schwartz (1945) 28–​34 suggests November (?)–​December a.d. 9; Le Boeuffle (1965) 288–​9 suggests November a.d. 9; Lewis (2013a) suggests mid-​December a.d. 7. 79. For the possible family relationships of Ovid’s third wife, see Némethy (1913); Helzle (1989); Puccini-​Delbey (2000); Luisi (2007); Lewis (2013b). 80. See Syme (1986) 192. 81. Suet. Aug. 65.1; Tac. Ann. 3.24. 82. Suet. Aug. 65.4. 83. Vell. 2.93.2. 84. Suet. Aug. 65.4.

485

Notes

485

85. See Ov. Tr. 3.12.45–​8; Man. Astron. 1.896–​903; Vell. 2.117–​9; Tac. Ann. 1.60; Suet. Tib. 17.1; Dio 56.19–​22. For discussion, see Schlüter (1993); Swan (2004) 258–​74, 374–​5; Wardle (2014) 184–​5; See also Morgan (2019). 86. Vell. 2.119.2. 87. Dio 56.24.2. 88. Dio 56.24.4. Compare Man. Astron. 1.901–​2 (arserunt toto passim minitantia mundo /​lumina). No comet is attested for the year a.d. 9, but Barrett (1978) 98 and Ramsey (2007a) 180 include the ἀστέρες κομῆται of a.d. 9 in their lists of comets. 89. For the date, see Ov. Fast. 1.639–​40; Fasti Ver. and Fasti Prae. in Ehrenberg and Jones (1976) 45; Dio. 56.25.1; Suet. Tib. 20, erroneously noted as a.d. 12. For discussion, see Richardson (1992) 98–​9; Kellum (1993); Green (2004) 290–​3. 90. Dio 56.25.5. For a discussion of the edict, see Cramer (1954) 248–​51; Swan (2004) 280–​1. 91. In the fifth century a.d., Macr. Somn. Scip. 1.14.21 will distinguish ἀστήρ (stella, star, or planet) from ἄστρον (constellation). See Aujac (2002) 174 and Le Boeuffle (1977) 31. 92. See Arist. Cael. 300b 25 for διάταξις used in regard to the cosmos. 93. Suet. Aug. 94.12. 94. See Barton (1995) 49–​51 on the coinage. 95. On the usage of mox in Suetonius’ works to mean “later,” see Rose (1927) 64. Wardle (2014) 531 and Green (2014) 72–​4, however, suggest a publication earlier than a.d. 11. 96. Man. Astron. 3.581–​617. See also Green (2014) 31–​3. 97. See Gain (1976) 17–​20 on the uncertain possibility that Tiberius is the author of the translation. 98. See Le Boeuffle (1965) 61–​5; Gain (1976) 14–​16; Possanza (2004) 58. 99. See Montanari Caldini (1976) on Germanicus’ astrology. 100. Vell. 2.94.2. 101. Suet. Tib. 69.1. See also Juv. 10.94; Dio 57.19.3–​4. 102. For the date, see Fasti Prae. in Ehrenberg and Jones (1976) 44. See also Lott (1996) on the statue. 103. For the date, see Suet. Aug. 101.1. 104. Dio 56.29.1. Dio is referencing the official public birthday of Augustus in September, although in the text as it exists today Dio names the celebrations of Augustus’ birthday as the Augustalia, which was the name given to the celebrations that were held in honor of Augustus in October (ἐν τῇ τῶν Αὐγουσταλίων θέᾳ). For discussion, see Swan (2004) 297–​8. 105. Dio 56.29.3. 106. The verb ἐκλείπω was used by Herodotus to describe the Sun leaving its abode in the heavens in a solar eclipse; see Herod. 7.37: ὁ ἥλιος ἐκλιπὼν τὴν ἐκ τοῦ οὐρανοῦ ἕδρην ἀφανὴς ἦν. Its use for a lunar eclipse is appropriate. See Aujac (2002) 181.

486

486

Notes

107. Swan (2004) 300 notes that Dio’s report of a solar eclipse is in error. 108. For this lustrum, see Aug. RG 8.4; Suet. Aug. 97.1; Suet. Tib. 21.1. See Wardle (2014) 540 on the lack of literary evidence for this date. See Fowler (1911) 209–​18 on the lustratio. 109. Suet. Aug. 97.1–​2. C h a p t er 15 1. Tac. Ann. 1.5; Dio 56.30.1–​2. 2. See Wardle (2014) 541–​2 for a chronology. 3. Tac. Ann. 6.21; Dio 55.11.1–​2; Suet. Tib. 14.4. See also North (1990) 70. 4. Suet. Aug. 98.4. 5. See Wardle (2014) 546 for the quasi-​prophetic quality of the episode. 6. Suet. Aug. 98.5. 7. Vell. 2.123.1. 8. For discussion, see Wardle (2014) 548–​9; Swan (2004) 305. 9. Vell. 2.123.1. 10. Tac. Ann. 1.5. 11. Suet. Aug. 98.5. 12. Dio 56.31.1. 13. Suet. Tib. 21.2. 14. Suet. Aug. 28.3; Dio 56.30.3. 15. Suet. Aug. 99.1. 16. For discussion, see Wardle (2007); Toher (2012); Power (2013); Wardle (2014) 550–​1. Ihm (1908) and Wardle prefer εἰ δέ and Power (2013) 100 accepts this reading. Wardle (2007) 445 reads the first part of Augustus’ statement as εἰ δέ τι ἔχοι καῶς τὸ παίγνιο. 17. Rolfe (1951) 280 prefers ἐπεὶ δέ as does Toher (2012) 37. I am following both Rolfe (1951) and Toher (2012) in accepting that the first part of Augustus’ statement is ἐπεὶ δὲ πάνυ καῶς πέπαισται. 18. Dio 56.30.4. 19. See Plin. Nat. 7.46.147–​9 for the misfortunes that occurred throughout Augustus’ life; Sen. Brev. Vit. 4.2–​5 for Augustus’ sorrows; Suet. Aug. 19 for the conspiracies that were thwarted. 20. Cic. Rep. 6.19.20. 21. Frye (1957) 163–​4. 22. Dio 56.2–​3, 56.41.6. 23. Suet. Aug. 99.2. 24. See Fasti Amit.; also Fasti Ant. in Ehrenberg and Jones (1976) 50. See also Vell. 2.123.2 (year); Suet. Aug. 100.1 (hour, day, month, year). 25. Dio 56.30.5 (day, month, year). 26. See Suet. Aug. 99.1–​2; Plin. Nat. 7.53.182 for Caesar.

487

Notes

487

27. Tac. Ann. 1.5.1. 28. Dio 56.30.1–​2. 29. Suet. Tib. 14.2. 30. Tac. Ann. 1.6; Suet. Tib. 22. 31. John Adams of Massachusetts and Thomas Jefferson of Virginia, two of the Founders of the United States of America and early presidents (second and third), willed themselves to stay alive and to outlive each other if possible until July 4, 1826, the fiftieth anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence of the Thirteen United States of America. Too ill to attend any of the ceremonies marking the anniversary, both died on July 4, 1826, within hours of each other, Jefferson first. James Monroe, the fifth president, also died on July 4, in 1831. 32. Suet. Poet. Hor. See also Reckford (1959) and Argetsinger (1992). 33. Dio 54.19.4. 34. Tac. Ann. 1.9; Suet. Aug. 100.1. 35. Suet. Aug. 100.2. 36. See Levick (1999) 239 for the arrival of the body in the morning hours of September 3; Wardle (2014) 554 for its arrival on the night of September 2–​3. 37. Ov. Tr. 1.3.28–​9. 38. Suet. Tib. 23. 39. Suet. Aug. 101.1–​3; Dio 56.32. 40. Dio 56.33 (four rolls); Tac. Ann. 1.11.3–​4 (mention only of one roll); Suet. Aug. 101 (three rolls). For discussion, see Swan (2004) 317–​8. 41. Aug. RG 35.2. 42. Brunt and Moore (1967) 38 suggests that the preface was appended to the Res Gestae for a provincial copy but probably modeled on the original title. An inscription in Latin with a close Greek paraphrase (Monumentum Ancyranum) from the Temple of Rome and Augustus at Ancyra in Galatia appears to be a copy. Two other copies, from Apollonia in Pisidia and from Antioch, fill in the defective or missing portions of this main source. 43. Suet. Aug. 100.3. 44. For notice of the public funeral and cremation of Augustus in the Campus Martius but no date, see Fasti Cupr. in Ehrenburg and Jones (1976) 40. See also Levick (2010) 50 and Goldsworthy (2014) 467 for September 8. See Sumi (2015) 257–​62 on the performative aspects of the funeral. 45. Suet. Aug. 100.3; Dio 56.34.4. See also Wardle (2014) 557 and Sumi (2011) 225–​7. 46. See Dio 56.35–​41 for Tiberius’ oration, 56.38.1 for the δαιμόνιον. 47. Suet. Aug. 100.4 links this episode to the cremation following the funeral. See also Dio 56.46.1–​2. See Plu. Rom. 28.1–​3 for the similar situation regarding Romulus. Iulius Proculus, a friend of Romulus from Alba Longa, is said to have sworn that Romulus, adorned with the shining spolia opima that he had won in life, had appeared in front of him as he was traveling along a road and given him a message

48

488

Notes

to take to the Roman people. From that point, the Romans prayed to Romulus under the name Quirinus as a god (θεοκλυτεῖν ἐκεῖνον). 48. Vell. 2.123.2. 49. Dio 56.41.9. 50. See Fasti Opp., Fasti Amit., Fasti Ant. in Ehrenberg and Jones (1976) 52 and Michels (1967) 180. 51. Dio 56.46.1. 52. Vell. 2.124.3. See Gradel (2002) 274–​86 for discussion. 53. Ov. Met. 15.868–​70. See Man. Astron. 2.791 and Le Boeuffle (1987) 78 for caelum as “zodiac.” 54. Man. Astron. 1.799–​805. See Chap. 7 for the Latin text. 55. Germ. Arat. 558–​60. For discussion of Capricornus in the Latin translations of the Phaenomena, see Dehon (2003). 56. Man. Astron. 2.507–​9. 57. See Ov. Fast. 4.131 for maternus as “natal.” See Le Boeuffle (1977) 32–​3 for astrum as a constellation of the zodiac. 58. Man. Astron. 4.765–​6. 59. Cons. Liv. 409–​10. 60. See Ov. Fast. 6.455 for sub Caesare as “under the rule of Augustus Caesar” and Ov. Pont. 1.2.99 as “under the rule of a Caesar.” 61. Tac. Ann. 4.38; Dio 51.20.8. See Taylor (1920) on the acceptable worship of Augustus’ genius in Italy during his lifetime. See also Wardle (2012). 62. See Pollini (1993) 285–​6 on Tiberius as the one who commissioned the Gemma Augustea. The figures on this cameo have been variously interpreted. See, for example, Zanker (1988) 230–​1; Galinsky (1996) 120–​1; Rehak (2006) 73. 63. Jeppesen (1994) suggested that the Gemma Augustea represents the glorification of Germanicus and therefore identifies the figures differently. 64. Zanker (1988) 315–​6. 65. For the conflation of Augustus and Jupiter, see Ov. Tr. 1.1.81–​2, 1.4.26, 2.215–​20, 3.1.35–​38, 3.5.7–​8, 4.3.69–​70, 4.8.45–​8, 5.2.45–​50. See also Hejduk (2020) 212–​89 for Ovid. 66. For this notion, see Hom. Il. 18.489; Hom. Od. 22.197–​9; Verg. G. 1.246–​7. 67. See, for example, Verg. A. 8.138–​9. 68. h. Merc. 4.10–​20. 69. Tiberius, Augustus’ successor, would not receive the same divine honors as Augustus because the third Julio-​Claudian emperor, Tiberius’ successor Gaius Caligula, did not press for them; see Taylor (1929). Cameos would depict the souls of Claudius and Nero being carried in corporeal form to the heavens by eagles. A cameo housed in the Bibliothèque Nationale in Paris (Inv. No. Camée. 265) depicts a figure that has been identified as Claudius riding on the back of a large eagle with wings spread wide in flight. Claudius is holding a lituus in his right

489

Notes

489

hand and a cornucopia in his left hand. Another cameo (Inv. Camée. 1) housed in the Bibliothèque Municipale de Nancy in France portrays Nero riding on an eagle and holding a figure of Victoria in his right hand and a cornucopia in his left hand. See Beard and Henderson (1998) on images of apotheosis in the first century a.d. See also Cumont (1910) 132–​3 for Rome. 70. Capricornus is represented by itself with the uncurved tail of a fish on the Augustan Capricornus coins. See, for example, British Museum (2021b) for a denarius dated to 27 b.c. On the Farnese Globe, Capricornus is incomplete, but the upper portion that remains is depicted as a goat with two horns. On the Kugel Globe, Capricornus is depicted with two horns, bent forelegs, and a double tail. See Dekker (2013) 114, 104. 71. See Hor. Carm. 2.17.19; Prop. 4.1.86; Man. Astron. 4.791. 72. Eratosth. 9; Hyg. Astr. 3.24. 73. Eratosth. 11; Hyg. Astr. 3.24. 74. V. Max. 1.7.2. 75. Ov. Met. 15.850–​1. 76. Dio 56.46.4. 77. Dio 56.43–​46. 78. Ov. Pont. 4.6.17–​20. See Syme (1978) 80 on the identity of this Brutus as the rhetor Bruttedius Brutus who dealt with the publication of Ovid’s Epistulae ex Ponto, Books 1–​3. 79. Man. Astron. 1.799–​805; Germ. Arat. 558–​60. 80. Vell. 2.123.2, 2.124.3. 81. V. Max. 1.7.1, 2.1.10.

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The modern scholarly bibliography in English, German, French, Italian, and Spanish that has been consulted for this study is vast. The books and articles that are referenced in the notes and bibliography have been selected because they proved to be the most directly relevant to the focus of this book. Abbreviations for the names of scholarly journals follow the system used in L’année philologique. Citations of ancient Roman works follow the system employed in the Oxford Latin Dictionary, and citations of ancient Greek works follow the system employed in Liddell and Scott’s Greek-​English Lexicon. Abry, Josèphe-​Henriette (1988) “Auguste: La Balance et le Capricorne,” REL 66: 103–​21. Abry, Josèphe-​Henriette (1993) “À propos d’un symbole de Marc Antoine: Le lion,” in Jean-​Claude Goyon and Eric Julien (eds), Marc Antoine, son idéologie et sa descendance: Actes du colloque organizé à Lyon le jeudi 28 juin 1990 (Lyons: Société des Amis de Jacob Spon), 55–​68. Adams, J. N. (2003) Bilingualism and the Latin Language (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press). Aldrete, Gregory S. (2007) Floods of the Tiber in Ancient Rome (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press). Allen, R. H. (1899, repr. 1963) Star Names: Their Lore and Meaning (New York: Dover). Allen, Walter, Jr. (1956) “O Fortunatam Natam . . . ,” TAPA 87: 130–​46. Andersen, Wayne (2003) The Ara Pacis of Augustus and Mussolini: An Archeological Mystery (Geneva and Boston: Éditions Fabriart). Anderson, James C., Jr. (1998) “The Ara Pacis Augustae: Legends, Facts and Flights of Fancy,” in Mary T. Boatwright and Harry B. Evans (eds), The Shapes of City Life in Rome and Pompeii (New Rochelle, NY: Aristide D. Caratzas), 27–​51. Argetsinger, Kathryn (1992) “Birthday Rituals: Friends and Patrons in Roman Poetry and Cult,” CA 11: 175–​93. Arroyo, Stephen (1989) Chart Interpretation Handbook (Sebastopol, CA: CRCS Publications). Astrolabe Software (2014) Solar Fire Astrology Software V. 9. Windows.

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Index

For the benefit of digital users, indexed terms that span two pages (e.g., 52–​53) may, on occasion, appear on only one of those pages. The primary entry for a Roman man is listed according to the individual’s nomen, which represents the gens or clan. The name by which the individual is better known is also included with a direction to the primary entry. For example, the primary entry for Gaius Iulius Caesar is “Iulius Caesar, Gaius.” The name “Caesar,” by which he is identified throughout the book, is listed with a direction to his primary entry, “Iulius Caesar, Gaius.” For men who held the consulship more than once, only the year of the first consulship is noted. Augustus appears in the index in association with other topics but does not have a separate index entry. Figures are indicated by f following the page number. Achivo ritu (Greek ritual), 321–22 Acoreus, 72–74 Adams, John, 487n.31 Aemilius Lepidus, Marcus (cos. 46 B.C., triumvir), 61–62, 130, 156–57, 158–59, 195–98, 199–201, 203, 222, 227, 252–53, 256, 262–63, 338–41, 365–66 Aemilius Lepidus, Marcus (son of the triumvir of the same name), 282 Aeneas, 460n.108 Agrippa Postumus. See Vipsanius Agrippa Postumus, Marcus Agrippa. See Vipsanius Agrippa, Marcus (cos. 37 B.C.) Agrippina the Elder, 379 Alexander Helios, 223–24, 286–87, 290–91

Alexander the Great, 45, 287–88, 305 Alexandria, 70–71, 84–85, 96–97, 132–33, 223–24, 260–61, 263–64, 281–88, 305 Alfidia, 230 Allobroges, 38–39, 51–52, 249–50 Altair in Aquila and Aquila, 103, 176–77, 180–81, 182–83, 186–87, 203–4, 294–95, 315, 343–45, 347–49, 363–64, 391, 398, 403, 406, 409 altars, Athens Pity (Suppliants’ Altar), 355–56 altars, Rome Ara Pacis Augustae, 349–51, 353–61 Belvedere, 481n.122 Fortuna Redux, 315 Ops Augusta and Ceres Mater, 383 Vesta on the Palatine Hill, 345–46

526

526

Index

ἀνερρίφθω κύβος (The die is thrown. Let it fall where it may.), 61 Antonia the Elder, 251–52, 286–87 Antonia the Younger, 286–87, 349 Antonius Antyllus, Marcus, 251–52, 281–82, 286–87 Antonius Antyllus. See Antonius Antyllus, Marcus Antonius, Gaius, 165–66 Antonius “Hybrida” (Hybrida), 19–20 Antonius, Iullus (cos. 10 B.C.), 286–87, 337–38, 349, 376–77 Antonius, Lucius (cos. 41 B.C.), 224–25 Antonius, Marcus (cos. 44 B.C., triumvir), 9–10, 62–63, 71–72, 110, 156–63, 223–24, 235–36, 237– 38, 257–59, 260, 262–64, 271, 281–82, 283–85, 294, 462n.20 Antonius Musa, 290–91, 311 Antonius. See Antonius, Marcus (cos. 44 B.C., triumvir) Apelles, 294–95, 298–99, 370–72 Apollo, 218, 241–42, 244, 298–99, 307–8, 328–31 Apollonia, 130–31 Aqua Virgo, 261–62, 320–21 Aquila (constellation). See Altair in Aquila and Aquila aquila (legionary eagle) 59–60, 129, 194–95 Ara Pacis Augustae, 349–51, 353–54, 355–57 Aratea of Cicero, 96–101, 166 of Germanicus, 388–89 Aratus of Soli in Cilicia, 8–9, 27, 95–97 archaeoastronomy, 3 Archimedes of Syracuse, 47, 249–50 Aricia, 90–91, 325, 334–35 Arion, 84–85 Arius of Alexandria, 287–88, 363–64

Arpinum, 9–10, 19, 62–63, 143 Ars Eudoxi, 438n.74 Arsinoe, 70–71, 82–83, 223–24 Artemis. See Diana Ascendant (Horoscopos, ὡροσκόπος), 134–35, 147, 150–51 Asinius Pollio, Gaius (cos. 40 B.C.), 7–8, 227, 377–78 astral mysticism, 3 astrologers, at Rome, 132–33, 270 astrologia, 1–2, 270 astrological board, 135–37, 145–46 astrology Chaldaean, 132–33, 137–39, 142, 436n.34 Hellenistic, 131–35, 208–9, 232–33 astronomical diary, 45, 58, 74–76 astronomy, observational, 26–31, 91–92 Atia Balba, 89–91, 159, 163, 201–2 Atia. See Atia Balba Atius Balbus, Marcus, 90–91, 325 Atius Balbus. See Atius Balbus, Marcus Atticus. See Pomponius Atticus, Titus Augustalia, 315 Augusta Praetoria Salassorum, 447n.140 augustus, 306–7 Augustus of Prima Porta, 483n.38 Aurelia (mother of Caesar), 42 Aurelius Augustinus (Bishop of Hippo), 26–27 Aurora, 275, 300 aurora borealis, 47–49, 389–91   Bacchus, 24–26, 126–27, 180–81, 237–38, 283 Baebius Macer, 171–72, 175–76 Balbus. See Lucilius Balbus, Quintus Balbus the Elder. See Cornelius Balbus the Elder, Lucius Balbus the Younger. See Cornelius Balbus the Younger, Lucius

527

Index Banquet of the Twelve Gods (δωδεκάθεος), 241–50 Battles Actium, 271–72 Munda, 130, 195 Mutina, 194–95 Naulochus, 253–56 Perusia, 226–27 Pharsalus, 64–69 Philippi, 217–21 Thapsus, 74–78, 211 B.C./A.D. (B.C.E./C.E.), 9–10 birthdays Agrippa, 143–45, 256–57 Antonius, 235 Augustus, 21–23 Brutus, 218 Caesar, 166, 204–6 Cicero, 9–10 Livia, 351–53 Pompeius Magnus, 69–70 Board of the Fifteen, The (quindecimviri), 319–20, 326–28 Bona Dea, 38–39, 42 Brutus. See Iunius Brutus, Marcus   Caecilius Metellus Celer, Quintus (cos. 60 B.C.), 42–43 Caecilius Metellus Pius Scipio, Quintus (cos. 52 B.C.), 73, 74–76 Caelius Caldus, Gaius, 59 Caelius Rufus, Marcus, 58, 63–64, 199, 426n.29 Caelius Rufus. See Caelius Rufus, Marcus Caesarion. See Ptolemy XV Philopator Philometor Caesar Caesaris Thronos, 458–59n.76 “Caesar’s Comet,” 451n.99 Caesar. See Iulius Caesar, Gaius (cos. 59 B.C.)

527

calendar astronomical, 11–12, 62–63, 74–76 Augustan reform, 10–11, 365–66 Egyptian solar, 72 Greece, 84–85 Julian, 10–11, 78–79, 84–85 Paphos, 143–45 personal, 12–13, 58, 74–76 Roman Republican, 10–11 Sicily, 84–85 Calliope, 120–21, 277–78, 426n.38 Calpurnia, 79, 155–58, 162 Calpurnius Bibulus, Marcus (cos. 59 B.C.), 80–82 Calpurnius Piso Caesoninus, Lucius (cos. 58 B.C.), 79, 127–28, 158–62 Calpurnius Piso. See Calpurnius Piso Caesoninus, Lucius Capitoline Hill, 36–37, 39–41, 51–52, 55–56, 93–94, 158, 159–62, 190–91, 312–13, 321–22, 326–31, 337–38, 341, 383, 391, 399–400, 465n.35 Capri, 392–93 Capricornus, 119, 151–52, 407–9 Cardinal Points, 134–35 Carinae, Esquiline Hill, 158–59, 228–29, 377–78 Carmentalia, 288–89 Carmentis, 1–2, 288–89 Cassius. See Cassius Longinus, Gaius Cassius Longinus, Gaius, 156–57, 158–59, 162, 218–19, 221–22 Cassius Parmensis, 244, 286–87 Catilina. See Sergius Catilina, Lucius Catilinarian Conspiracy, 37–41 Cato. See Porcius Cato the Younger, Marcus Catullus. See Valerius Catullus, Gaius Catulus. See Lutatius Catulus, Quintus celestial display, 3, 34–35, 54, 80–83, 188–89

528

528

Index

celestial inclination (caelestis mens), 1–2 celestial sphere, 26–27 Ceres, 330–31 Cicero. See Tullius Cicero, Marcus Cilnius Maecenas, Gaius, 4, 225, 227, 274, 304–5, 311–12, 368–69 cineres Orestis (ossa Orestis), 334–35 Claudia Marcella the Elder, 286–87, 349 Claudia Marcella the Younger, 286–87 Claudia Pulchra (daughter of Marcella the Younger), 385–86 Claudia Pulchra (wife of Quintus Caecilius Metellus Celer [cos. 60 B.C.]), 42–43, 79, 87 Claudius Drusus Germanicus, Nero (Germanicus), 349, 388–89 Claudius Drusus, Nero (Drusus) (cos. 9 B.C.), 239–40, 346–47, 349–50, 361–62, 364–50 Claudius Drusus, Nero (son of Tiberius), 383–85, 395–96 Claudius Marcellus, Gaius (cos. 50 B.C.), 164–65 Claudius Marcellus, Marcus (son of Octavia and Claudius Marcellus), 228–29, 286–87, 290–91, 311–12, 346–47, 363–64 Claudius Marcellus. See Claudius Marcellus, Gaius (cos. 50 B.C.) Claudius Nero Germanicus, Tiberius (the emperor Claudius) 320–21, 488–89n.69 Claudius Nero. See Claudius Nero, Tiberius (prae. 42 B.C.) Claudius Nero, Tiberius (cos. 13 B.C., the emperor Tiberius), 4–5, 230–32, 290–91, 335–36, 345, 346–47, 368–69, 376–77, 378–81, 388–89, 392–94, 464n.5, 465n.35 Claudius Nero, Tiberius (prae. 42 B.C.), 230

Claudius Pulcher, Publius (Clodius Pulcher, Publius), 43–45, 55–56, 57–58, 225–26 Claudius. See Claudius Nero Germanicus, Tiberius (the emperor Claudius) Cleopatra. See Cleopatra VII Cleopatra VII, 4–5, 70–71, 80–83, 143– 45, 158–59, 223–24, 257–59, 260, 263–64, 270–71, 281–82, 285–86, 299–300, 308–10 Cleopatra Selene, 223–24, 286–87, 290–91 climata, 134–35 Cloaca Maxima, 261–62 Clodia Pulchra (daughter of Fulvia and Claudius Pulcher), 199–201, 224–25 Clodia Pulchra. See Claudia Pulchra (wife of Quintus Caecilius Metellus Celer [cos. 60 B.C.]) Clodius Pulcher. See Claudius Pulcher, Publius clouds, noctilucent, 217–18 coins as, 318–19, 463n.36 displaying a cornucopia, 280 “Divus Iulius,” 313–14, 411, 456n.187 quadrans, 42–43 colures, 439n.102 Coma Berenices, 125–26, 451–52n.107 “comet” of 44 B.C. (communis opinio), 450–51n.96 comets, 170–71 commentaries (astronomical) 28, 84–85, 94–95 computer programs astrological, 15 astronomical, 15 Conference at Tarentum, 251–52 constellations fixed, 27

529

Index forty-seven Aratean, 102–15 most significant for Augustus, 15–16 mythological narratives, 115–16 consultation (astrological) ancient, 137–38, 140–41 modern, 137–38 Cornelia (wife of Caesar and mother of Iulia), 89–90 Cornelia (wife of Pompeius Magnus), 69, 70 Cornelius Balbus the Elder, Lucius, 163–64, 186–87 Cornelius Balbus the Younger, Lucius, 336 Cornelius Cethegus, Gaius, 38–41 Cornelius Cinna, Lucius (cos. 87 B.C.), 89–90, 142, 162 Cornelius Dolabella, Publius (cos. suff. 44 B.C.), 86–87, 263–64 Cornelius Gallus, Gaius, 6–7, 285–86, 310–11 Cornelius Lentulus Sura, Publius (cos. 71 B.C.), 38–41 Cornelius Sulla, Lucius (cos. 88 B.C.), 42, 66–67, 142 Cornificius, Lucius, 325 Cornificius, Quintus, 83–84 cornucopia, 280, 330–31, 372–73, 396, 411–12, 488–89n.69 corona navalis, 256–57 corona, solar, 163–64 cosmical setting, 3 Crassus. See Licinius Crassus, Marcus (cos. 70 B.C.) crinitus, crinis, 172 cups, drinking (astronomically themed), 125–26, 127–28 Curia Iulia, 292–94 “curriculum,” Ciceronian astronomical in three parts, 101–25 Curtius Postumus, Marcus, 167–68

529

Cythera, 245–46 Cytheris (Lycoris), 473n.33   δαιμόνιον (divine power), 39–41, 71–72, 129, 195, 221–22, 256–57, 283–85, 361–62, 385–86, 402–3 δαίμων (daimon, essential spirit), 157–58, 162, 195, 199, 215–17, 219, 234, 286–87, 471n.65 Danaids, 298–99 Daphnis, 208–9 dates methodology, 11–12 significant and datable for Augustus, 16–18 days leap, 10–11 marking of on a personal calendar, 12–13 power of certain, 15–16 Roman, 13–14 Sabbath, 302–3 Saturni dies (of Saturn), 302–3 solar, 13–14 Solis dies (of the Sun), 302–3 Decimus Brutus. See Iunius Brutus Albinus, Decimus Descendant (Occasus, δύσις), 135–37 Diana, 2–3, 30, 245–46, 297–99, 322–24, 325, 328–31, 334–35, 373–75, 376–77, 399–400 Diana Aricina (Diana Nemorensis), 325 di consentes (dei consentes), 465n.12 Dionysus. See Bacchus Dipsas, 140–41 Dolabella. See Cornelius Dolabella, Publius Domicile (Domicilium, οἶκος, modern Rulership), 133–34 dominus, 24 Domitius Ahenobarbus, Gnaeus (cos. 32 B.C.), 228–29

530

530

Index

Domitius Ahenobarbus, Lucius (cos. 54 B.C.), 71–72 Domitius Ahenobarbus, Lucius (cos. 16 B.C.), 251–52, 335–36, 349 Domus Publica, 80, 155–56, 158, 159–62, 345–46, 402–3 Donations of Alexandria, 260–61 dreams, 1–2, 15–16, 36–37, 60–61, 65–66, 79–80, 130–31, 155–56, 164–65, 190–91, 210, 211, 234, 307–8, 312–13, 326–27, 429n.32 Drusus. See Claudius Drusus, Nero (cos. 9 B.C.) Drusus the Younger. See Claudius Drusus, Nero (son of Tiberius)   eclipses lunar, 49, 50–51, 389–91 solar, 49–50, 362–63, 381–82 ecliptic, 27–28 elephants, 65–66, 74–76, 80 epigrams, 96–97, 127, 224–26, 240, 241–50, 279–80, 395 equinoxes, 27–28, 92–93 equites, 22–23 Eratosthenes of Cyrene, 27, 115–16 Esquiline Hill, 15, 93–94, 104–5, 158–59, 228–29 Eudoxus of Cnidus, 94–95, 103–4 Euripides, 59–60, 220–21, 283–85, 334–35 Eutychos, 267–70 eyesight Augustus, 172–73, 213 Cassius, 218–19 Dante, 453n.127 Tiberius, 166–67   Fabius Maximus. See Fabius Maximus, Paullus (cos. 11 B.C.) Fabius Maximus, Paullus (cos. 11 B.C.), 347–49, 383–85, 392

Farnese Globe (Farnese Atlas), 116–18, 157–81, 210, 315–18, 325–26, 412–14 Fasti, monumental, 9–10 fatum (fate or destiny), 137 Feriae Latinae, 47–49, 71–72 Fides, 85–86, 120–21, 126–27, 177–79, 180–81 Flavius, Marcus, 84–85 Fonteius Capito, Gaius (cos. suff. 33 B.C.), 270–71 Fortuna, 69–70, 119–20, 150, 151–52, 153, 221–22, 233–34, 271, 304–5, 311–12, 315, 345, 372–73, 380–81, 385–86, 411–12 Forum Augustum, 373–76 Fulvia, 4–5, 37–38, 201–2, 203, 224–27 funerals Agrippa, 341–42 Augustus, 402–3 Caesar, 159–62 Cornelia (wife of Caesar), 89–90 Drusus, 363 Iulia (aunt of Caesar), 66 Iulia (grandmother of Augustus), 89–90 Marcellus, 311–12 Octavia, 349   Gaius Caesar. See Iulius Caesar, Gaius (son of Iulia and Agrippa) (cos. A.D. 1) Gaius Marcellus. See Claudius Marcellus, Gaius (cos. 50 B.C.) Gaius Octavius. See Octavius, Gaius (father of Augustus) (prae. 61 B.C.) Gallia Cisalpina, 19–20, 60–61 Gallus. See Cornelius Gallus, Gaius gambling, 232–33, 240–41, 262–63 Ganymede, 119, 185

531

Index Gardens of Maecenas, 377–78 Gemini, 15–16, 120–21, 146, 147, 151–52, 153–54, 192–93, 195–98, 256–57, 268–70, 276, 308, 312–13, 350, 372–73 Gemma Augustea, 407–12 genealogy Julian, 66–67, 89–90 Julian astro-, 89–90 genitura, 1–2, 24–26, 132–34, 140, 153– 54, 235–36 gens (clan) Antonia, 262–63 Claudia, 230, 363–64 Cornelia, 62–63 Fonteia, 55–56 Iulia, 2, 168–69, 180–81 Octavia, 34–35, 90–91, 142 Germanicus. See Claudius Drusus Germanicus, Nero Glaphyra, 225–26 globes, celestial, 115–17 globe-view, 117–18 Gnaeus Pompeius. See Pompeius, Gnaeus (son of Pompeius Magnus), 129, 223–24 Greek, knowledge of among Romans, 96–101   Halley’s Comet, 343–45, 451n.98 Hecate, 245–46 heliacal rising, 3 Helice the Greater Bear, 98–99, 102, 105– 7, 120–21, 175, 177–79, 187–88, 268–70 Helvius Cinna, Gaius, 96–97, 162 Heracles. See Hercules Hercules, 146, 221–22, 257–59, 262–63, 271–72, 283, 290–91, 294, 298–99 Hermes. See Mercury

531

Herod the Great of Judaea, 4–5, 281–82 Hesperus (Venus), 31 Hipparchus, 28, 94–98, 103–4, 105, 121–22, 388–89 Hippolytus, 334–35 Hirtius. See Hirtius, Aulus Hirtius, Aulus (cos. 43 B.C.), 74–76, 192–93, 194–98 Horace. See Horatius Flaccus, Quintus Horatius Flaccus, Quintus, 6–7, 272–74, 320–21, 368–69 Horos, 140–41 Hortensia, 201–2 Hortensius Hortalus, Quintus (orator), 201–2 Hortensius Hortalus, Quintus (son of the orator of the same name), 249–50 hours before sunrise, 110 day, 13–14 eleventh, 448n.31 equinoctial, 13–14 night, 13–14, 105, 315 seasonal, 13–14 Hyginus. See Iulius Hyginus, Gaius   Iacta alea est (The die has been thrown.), 60–61 Ides, 9–10, 39–41, 76–78, 143–45, 155–56, 256–57, 290–91, 305–6, 307–8 illness Agrippa, 341–42 Augustus, 217, 305, 308–10, 311–12, 392–95 Caesar, 76 Cicero, 74 Drusus, 361–62 Livilla, 396–98 Lucius Caesar, 378–79 infans, 24–26, 36–37

532

532

Index

intercalation, 10–12, 58, 84–85, 365–66 iubar, 215 Iulia (aunt of Caesar), 66 Iulia (daughter of Augustus and Scribonia), 230, 251–52, 311, 318, 343–45, 368–69, 376–77, 385, 400–2 Iulia (daughter of Caesar), 59–60, 82–84, 163–64 Iulia (grandmother of Augustus), 2–3, 89–91 Iulia (mother of Antonius), 203–4, 227, 228–29 Iulius Caesar, Gaius (cos. 59 B.C.), 1–3, 7–8, 22, 34–35, 39–41, 55–56, 60–61, 63–69, 70, 71–72, 74–76, 78–82, 84–85, 155–63, 183–84, 185, 187, 204–6, 209–10, 213–14, 221–22, 383, 398, 402–3, 405–6, 412–14, 415 Iulius Caesar, Gaius (son of Iulia and Agrippa) (cos. A.D. 1), 21–22, 318–19, 368–69, 372–73, 377–79 Iulius Caesar, Lucius (son of Iulia and Agrippa), 318–19, 320–21, 368– 69, 372–73, 378–79 Iulius Hyginus, Gaius, 298–99 Iulius Marathus, 20–21 Iulius Obsequens, 171–72 Iulius Proculus, 487–88n.47 Iullus Antonius. See Antonius, Iullus (cos. 10 B.C.) Iulus, 2–3, 70, 83–84, 315–18, 355–56, 370–72, 377–78 Iunia Secunda, 156–57 Iunius Brutus Albinus, Decimus, 156–59, 191–92, 195, 199 Iunius Brutus, Marcus, 5–6, 39–41, 69– 70, 157–59, 162, 198–99, 215–17, 218, 220–22

Jefferson, Thomas, 487n.31 Juba, King of Numidia, 74–76 Juba II, son of Juba, King of Numidia, 286–87 Jupiter, astronomical and astrological significance for Augustus, 34, 151–52   Kalends, 9–11, 47, 58, 74–76, 84–85, 192–93, 204–6, 235–36, 252–53, 283, 312–13, 366–69, 414–15 katarchē, 132–33, 270–71 Kugel’s Globe, 117–18   Laberius, Decimus, 83–84 Lares, 463n.36 lectisternium, 242–45 Lentulus. See Cornelius Lentulus Sura, Publius (cos. 71 B.C.) Lepidus. See Aemilius Lepidus, Marcus letters, dating of, 11–12 Leucas, 266, 274 liberales disciplinae (liberales artes), 130–31 Libra (Chelae), 208–9 Licinius, 365–66 Licinius Crassus, Marcus (cos. 70 B.C.), 37–38, 42–43, 45–46, 55–56, 59–60 lineage, maternal, 424n.72 Little Lyre (Equuleus), 83–85 lituus, 294–95, 354–55, 372–73, 409, 488–89n.69 Livia Drusilla, 213–14, 230–32, 239–40, 251–52, 279–80, 285–86, 297–98, 311–12, 318–19, 335–36, 349, 351–53, 354–55, 356–57, 363–64, 378–79, 381–82, 385, 392, 394–95, 396–98, 400–2, 403, 409, 412–14 Livia mit Büste des Divus Augustus, 412–14

53

Index Livia. See Livia Drusilla Livius Drusus Claudianus, Marcus (father of Livia), 230 Livius, Drusus Libo, Marcus (cos. 15 B.C.), 230–32 Lower Midheaven (Imum Caelum, ὑπὸ γῆν), 135–37 Lucceius, Lucius, 5–6, 86–87 Lucceius. See Lucceius, Lucius Lucifer Sun, 362–63 Venus, 29–30, 31 Lucilius Balbus, Quintus, 100–1 Lucius Ahenobarbus. See Domitius Ahenobarbus, Lucius (cos. 16 B.C.) Lucius Caesar. See Iulius Caesar, Lucius Ludi Apollinares, 166 circenses, 204–6, 208, 261–62 Critonius, July 44 B.C., 166–67 funebres (for Iulia, daughter of Caesar), 82–83, 168–69 in honor of Caesar in 44 B.C., 167–69 Plebeii, 191–92 Saeculares, 319–33 Veneris, 82–83 luminaries (Sun and Moon), 2–3, 15–18, 27–28, 29 Lupercalia, 162–63 lustrum, 391 Lusus Troiae, 83–84, 261–62, 296–97, 347–49, 372–73, 377–78 Lutatius Catulus, Quintus, 36–37   Maecenas. See Cilnius Maecenas, Gaius magnitude, apparent, 453–54n.136 Mamurra of Formiae, 184–85 Manilius Antiochus, 137–38 Manilius, Marcus, 8–9, 31, 105, 132–33, 137– 39, 150, 164–65, 177–79, 181–83, 203–4, 343–45, 386–88, 406

533

Manilius. See Manilius, Marcus Marcella the Elder. See Claudia Marcella the Elder Marcella the Younger. See Claudia Marcella the Younger Marcellus. See Claudius Marcellus, Marcus Marcia (cousin of Augustus), 392 Marcius Philippus, Lucius (cos. 56 B.C.), 90–91, 163–65, 166–67 Marcus Cicero. See Tullius Cicero, Marcus (son of Cicero) Marius. See Marius, Gaius Marius, Gaius (cos. 107 B.C.), 66–67, 69, 89–90, 142, 424n.72 Masgaba, 393–94 mathematicus, 1–2, 24–28, 132–35, 137– 38, 140, 232–33, 393–94 Matius, Gaius, 167–68 mausoleum Augustus, 305, 312–13, 341–42, 349, 353–54, 363, 400–2, 403 Cleopatra, 285–86 Menander, 60–61 Menas (Menodorus), 228–29, 240, 252–53 Menologium Rusticum Colotianum, 420n.51 mensis (month) Augustus, 366–68 Iulius, 166, 252–53 Quintilis ( July) 166 Sextilis (August) 366–68 twelve Roman months, 9–10 mentula, 184–85, 225 Mercury, 121, 132–34, 151, 180–81, 410 Messalla. See Valerius Messalla Corvinus, Marcus (cos. suff. 31 B.C.) Michalitsi, 266 Midheaven (Medium Caelum, μεσουράνημα), 135–37, 147, 151–52

534

534

Index

Milky Way, 116–17, 181–84, 212–13, 215, 312–13, 322–24, 363–64, 405–6, 439n.102 mime, 83–84, 242–44 mimus vitae, 395 Minerva, 55–57, 143, 202–3, 292–94, 345–46 Moerae, 321 Monroe, James, 487n.31 Mucia, 228–29 Munatius Plancus, Lucius, 190–91, 334–35 Mussolini, Benito, 355–56   Nero Claudius Caesar (the emperor Nero), 12–13, 72, 301–2, 488–89n.69 Nero. See Nero Claudius Caesar (the emperor Nero) Nicomedes, King of Bithynia, 184–85 Nigidius Figulus, Publius (mathematicus), 1–2, 8–9, 23–27, 38–39, 44–45, 85–86, 87–88, 115–16, 132–33, 146 Nikon, 267–68 Nile River, 72–74, 121, 270–71, 299–300 Nola, 394–95 Nones, 9–10, 39–41, 56–57, 166, 331, 369–70, 420n.51 Novius Facundus, 11–12, 345–46 novum sidus, 210 novus homo, 19 Numerius Atticus, 402–3   obelisk, Egyptian in Campus Martius, 11–12, 350–51 observational astronomy. See astronomy, observational Octavia (daughter of Ancharia), 462n.14 Octavia (daughter of Atia), 227–28, 251–52, 260, 263–64, 349

Octavius, Gaius (father of Augustus) (prae. 61 B.C.), 1–2, 21–22, 34–35, 90–91 Octavius, Gnaeus (cos. 87 B.C.), 142 Oppius, Gaius, 74–76 Orestes, 334–35 ostenta (visual omens), 15–16, 60–61 apparitions, 15–16 birds eagle, 15–16, 59–60, 129, 184–85, 201, 217–18, 219, 251–52, 377–78, 385–86, 391, 402–3 eagle owl, 15–16, 341–42 guinea fowl, 251–52 kite, 15–16, 63–64 owl, 15–16, 57, 264–65 pigeon, 15–16, 36–37, 129 raven, 15–16, 202–3, 204–6, 341–42 swallow, 15–16, 264–65 vulture, 15–16, 195–98, 201, 217–18, 264–65 wren, 15–16, 155–56 celestial objects, 15–16, 57, 283, 335–36, 343–45, 361–62, 385–86 children fighting, 264–65 fires, 341–42 fish, 253–54 lightning, 15–16, 50, 57, 163–64, 297– 98, 341–42, 361–62, 386 solar, 198–99, 203–4, 217–18 vault of the heavens, 15–16 wolves, 335–36 ovatio, 227, 256–57, 368–69 Ovidius Naso, Publius, 97–98, 383–85 Ovid. See Ovidius Naso, Publius Ox-heads on the Palatine, 21–22, 93–94, 147–48   Pact of Bononia, 199–201 Pact of Misenum, 228–29

53

Index Palatine Hill, 21–22, 34–35, 56–57, 93– 94, 104–5, 208, 249–50, 256–57, 297–98, 321–22, 328–31, 341–42, 345–46, 372–73, 399–400 Palladium, 345–46 Pandateria, 376–77 Pansa. See Vibius Pansa, Gaius (cos. 43 B.C.) paranatellonta, 121–22 parapegma (parapegmata), 12–13 Parcae. See Moerae pater patriae, 39–41, 159–63, 369–70 Pax, 350 Pedius, Quintus, 165–66, 195–98 Penates, 230–32 pergula, 141 Philippus. See Marcius Philippus, Lucius (cos. 56 B.C.) pignora (pledges of Roman imperium), 334–35, 338–41 Pinarius, Lucius, 165–66 Pindenissitae, 58 Places (Loci, τόποι) (astrological, modern Houses), 133–34, 135–37 places, emotional resonances of, 292–94 Planasia, 382–83 Plancus. See Munatius Plancus, Lucius planets astrological, 133–34, 139–40 astronomical (five ancient), 2–3, 29–32, 96 planets and luminaries (most significant for Augustus), 15–16 Pollio. See Asinius Pollio, Gaius (cos. 40 B.C.) Pollux and Castor, 120–21, 146, 151–52, 153–54, 159–62, 254–56, 268–70, 276, 357, 382–83 pomerium, 22–23 Pompeia (Caesar’s wife), 42–43 Pompeius Magnus. See Pompeius Magnus, Gnaeus (cos. 70 B.C.)

535

Pompeius Magnus, Gnaeus (cos. 70 B.C.), 14, 38–39, 41–42, 55–56, 59–70, 78–79, 157–59, 183–84, 187–88, 198–99, 228–29, 234, 256–57, 264–65, 302–3, 402–3 Pompeius, Gnaeus (son of Pompeius Magnus), 129, 223–24 Pompeius, Sextus (son of Pompeius Magnus), 129, 195, 199–202, 228–29, 240, 253–54, 259–60 Pomponius Atticus, Titus, 3–6, 9–10, 11–13, 42–44, 56–57, 58, 87, 159–62, 166, 167–68, 345 Pontius Aquila, 186–87, 195 Porcius Cato the Younger, Marcus, 39, 76–78, 183–84 Porticus Octaviae, 261–62, 346–47 Posidonius of Apamea, 43–44, 46, 87–88, 130–31 P.Oxy. 235, 135–37, 147–48 precession, 28, 133–34 Proculeius, 285–86 prodigium, 15–16 Prognostica, 44–45, 166 propaganda campaign, before Actium, 241–42, 244, 250, 259–60, 262– 63, 287–88 proscriptions (43 B.C.), 201–4 Ptolemy XIII, 69–73 Ptolemy XV Philopator Philometor Caesar (Caesarion), 74, 79, 158–62, 260–61, 286–87 Ptolemy Philadelphus, 257–59, 286–91 Publilia, 86–87 Puteoli, 228 Pythagoras, 31   Quinctilius Varus, Publius (cos. 13 B.C.), 336, 385–86 Quinctilius Varus. See Quinctilius Varus, Publius (cos. 13 B.C.)

536

536

Index

Quintus Cicero. See Tullius Cicero, Quintus (brother of Cicero) Quintus. See Tullius Cicero, Quintus (son of Quintus Cicero) Quirinal Hill, 11–12, 383 Quirinus, 207–8, 398, 400–2, 406, 487–88n.47   regiones, in Rome, 368–69 resources, astronomical, 26–28 Rhodes, 95–96, 140–41, 150, 210, 217, 368–69, 377–78, 392–93 Romulus, 208, 306–7, 487–88n.47 Rostra Iulia (Rostra Aedis Divi Iulii), 294–95, 349, 402–3 Old, 41–42, 57, 159–62, 203, 259–60, 294–95, 349, 376–77, 402–3, 464n.5 Rubicon River, 60–61, 155–56, 195–98   saeculum Augustum, 3–4, 319–20, 321 Saepta Iulia, 308–10, 321–22 Salvidienus Rufus, Quintus, 130, 227–28 Salvidienus. See Salvidienus Rufus, Quintus Saturnalia, 7–8, 38–39, 58, 225, 242–44, 245–46 Scalae Anulariae, 104–5, 130 Scipio. See Caecilius Metellus Pius Scipio, Quintus Scribonia, 226–27, 228–29, 376–77 Scribonius Libo, Lucius (cos. 34 B.C.), 226–27, 228–29, 230–32 Scribonius Libo. See Scribonius Libo, Lucius (cos. 34 B.C.) sellisternium, 321–22, 324–25 senatus consultum ultimum, 37–38 Septem Triones (Septentriones), 102, 103, 175, 177–79, 433n.140 Sergius Catilina, Lucius, 4–5, 19–20, 21, 39–41

Servilia (betrothed to Augustus), 199–201 Servilia (mother of Brutus), 157–58, 211 Sextus Pompeius. See Pompeius, Sextus (son of Pompeius Magnus) shooting stars (meteors), 170–71, 217–18, 287–88, 427n.56 Shrines, Rome Chalcidicum (to Minerva), 292–94 fanum (planned for Tullia), 87 Janus Quirinus (Janus Geminus), 288–89 site of Caesar’s cremation, 204–6 Sibylline Books, 319–20, 341 Sibylline oracle (Ludi Saeculares of 17 B.C.), 320–21 sidus crinitum, 170–85 sidus, Iulium, 211–12 sidus novum, 208 sidus, patrium, 212, 275–76 Signs of the zodiac (Signa, ζῴδια), 133–34 sky maps, 31–32 sky-view, 103–4 Society of Those Pledged to Die Together ([σύνοδος] συναποθανουμένων), 281–82 Society of Those Who Live Life to the Fullest (σύνοδος ἀμιμητοβίων), 223–24 solstices, 3, 27–28, 92–93, 102 Sosigenes, 78–79, 84–85 Sosius. See Sosius, Gaius Sosius, Gaius (cos. 32 B.C.), 23–24, 264–65, 471n.69 Sparta, 230 Sphaera Barbarica, 85–86 Sphaera Graecanica, 116–17 Spurinna, 156–57 stella comans, 210, 213 stella crinita, 171–72 Sulla. See Cornelius Sulla, Lucius (cos. 88 B.C.)

537

Index Sulpicius Galba, Servius, 194–95 Sulpicius Rufus. See Sulpicius Rufus, Servius Sulpicius Rufus, Servius (cos. 51 B.C.), 86–87 supplicatio, 59 Syracusa, 249–50 Syrus, Publilius, 83–84   Tarentum (Terentum), 320–21 Tarutius of Firmum, 133–34 technyphion, 249–50 Tellus Relief Panel (Tellus Panel), Ara Pacis Augustae, 356–61 Temples Apollo in the Campus Martius, 471n.69 Apollo Medicus, 22–23 Apollo Palatinus, 277–78, 297–302 Concordia, 38–39, 206, 264–65, 334–35, 385–86 Diana on the Aventine Hill (Diana Cornificia), 325 Divus Iulius, 294–95, 349 Genius Populi Romani, 201, 206, 264–65 Hercules Victor, 292 Jupiter Capitolinus, 256–57, 260–61, 312–13 Jupiter Libertas, 312–13 Jupiter Stator, 37–38 Jupiter Tonans, 312–13 Mars Ultor, 370–76 Pantheon, 308–10 Saturn, 242–44, 334–35 Venus Genetrix, 79–80 Venus Victrix, 65–66 Terentia (wife of Cicero), 5–6, 38–39, 42–43, 86–87 Terentia (wife of Maecenas), 282, 335–36 Terentius Varro, Marcus, 133–34

537

Thales of Miletus, 267–68 Theaters Balbus, 347–49 Marcellus, 347–49 Pompeius Magnus, 157–58, 261–62 thema, 386–88 Theogenes of Apollonia (mathematicus) 1–2, 127–28, 131–32, 141–42, 148–49 Thrasyllus of Alexandria, 137–38, 140–41, 392–94 Thurii, 34–35, 244 Tiberius. See Claudius Nero, Tiberius (cos. 13 B.C., the emperor Tiberius) Tiber River, 79, 158–59, 261–62, 308, 320–22, 324–25, 326–27, 336, 372–73 times for events (methodology), 15 time telling clock (anaphoric water), 14 clock (personal water), 14 evidence from Cicero’s letters, 14 gnomon, 14 small segments of time, 14 sundial, 14 Tower of the Winds, 14, 180 Tiridates of Armenia, 301–2 Tiro, 5–6 toga virilis Antonius Antyllus, 281–82 Augustus, 71–72, 89–90 Gaius Caesar, 368–69 Lucius Caesar, 368–69 Marcus Cicero, 62–63 Treaty of Brundisium, 227 Trimalchio (Pompeius Trimalchio Maecenatianus, Gaius), 12–13 Triumphs Augustus, 289–91 Balbus the Younger, 336 Caesar, 78–82, 130–31 Pompeius Magnus, 187–88, 256–57 Tiberius, 368–69

538

538

Index

Triumvirate First, 59–60 Second, 199–201, 251–52 Tullia, 63, 86–87 Tullius Cicero, Marcus (cos. 63 B.C.), 1–2, 4–6, 8–10, 36–37, 39–45, 49, 56–57, 63–64, 74–76, 85–86, 93–94, 96–97, 99–100, 158–59, 164–65, 170, 190–93, 198–99, 202–4, 230, 252–53, 261–62, 264–65, 283–85, 292–94, 300, 330–31, 388–89, 415 Tullius Cicero, Marcus (son of Cicero), 98, 283–85 Tullius Cicero, Quintus (brother of Cicero), 5–6, 38–39, 45, 59, 87–88, 202–3 Tullius Cicero, Quintus (son of Quintus Cicero), 202–3 τύχη (tychē), 195–98, 221–22, 233–38, 239–40, 264–65, 283–85, 304–5, 311–12 twilight (nautical), 15, 31–34   Urania, 45–54   Valerius Catullus, Gaius, 6–7, 184–85, 426n.29 Valerius Messalla Corvinus, Marcus (cos. suff. 31 B.C.), 6–7, 210, 308–10 Varian Disaster, 385–86 Varro. See Terentius Varro, Marcus Velitrae, 34–35, 90–91, 93–94 Veni, Vidi, Vici, 78–79 Venus Anadyomene, 294–95 Vercingetorix, 82–83 Vergilius Maro, Publius, 6–7, 8–9, 315–18 Vergil. See Vergilius Maro, Publius Vesper (Venus), 31

Vesta, 157–58, 345–46 Vestal Virgins, 39–41, 158–59, 228–29, 263–64, 345–46, 400–2 veterans in Italy, 222, 224–25, 282 Vibius Pansa, Gaius (cos. 43 B.C.), 192–93, 194–95, 199 Vipsania Agrippina (wife of Tiberius), 345 Vipsania Iulia Agrippina (Iulia the Younger), 385 Vipsania Polla (sister of Agrippa), 474n.69 Vipsanius Agrippa, Marcus (cos. 37 B.C.), 3–4, 142–47, 153–54, 251–52, 256–57, 261–62, 289–90, 304–5, 308–10, 311–12, 315–18, 341–45 Vipsanius Agrippa Postumus, Marcus, 16–18, 372–73, 379–83, 385, 392, 396–98, 400–2 Virbius, 334–35 Virgo, 15–16, 82–83, 103, 115–16, 117–18, 119–20, 133–34, 143–45, 150–51, 210, 233–34, 235–36, 237, 325–26, 330–31, 358–59, 360–61, 372–73, 383, 407–9, 411–14, 415–16 Vulcanius, 170–71   wills Antonius, 263–64 Augustus, 400–2 Caesar, 158–59 Vergil, 315–18   years Athenian, 27–28 eponymous, 9–10 sidereal, 28 solar or tropical, 28   zodiac, 27, 207

539

540

541

542

543

54