Constitutional reforms of Augustus


The Constitutional reforms of Augustus were a series of laws that were enacted by the Roman Emperor Augustus between 30 BC and 2 BC, which transformed the Constitution of the Roman Republic into the Constitution of the Roman Empire. The era that began when Augustus defeated Mark Antony and Cleopatra in the final war of the Roman Republic in 30 BC, and ended when the Roman Senate granted Augustus the title "Pater Patriae" in 2 BC

Republican framework

Historic constitution

The constitution of the Roman Republic was a mostly unwritten constitution which developed organically from the Republic's founding in 509 BC. Significant emphasis was placed on custom, the mos maiorum, in the managing of Rome's affairs. The most important institutions within the Republican framework were the Consuls, the Tribunes, the Provincial Governors, and the Senate.
In 82 BC, the general Lucius Cornelius Sulla marched on Rome and assumed control over the Republic's government. Sulla was appointed "Dictator for Writing the Constitution and Laws of the Republic" by the Senate, an emergency official dating from the early years of the Republic. As Dictator, Sulla was the Republic's supreme military and civil official. In particular, the Senate granted Sulla the power to reorganize the Republic's constitution. Unlike the traditional dictatoral office which held office for six months, Sulla's term was for an unlimited term.
Sulla, a wealthy aristocrat himself, was naturally conservative and reactionary. As such, he sought to strengthen the aristocracy against the masses, in particular the powers of the Senate. Sulla required Senatorial approval before any bill could be submitted to the Plebeian Council. Sulla also reduced the power of the Tribunes. Through his reforms to the Plebeian Council, the Tribunes effectively lost the power to initiate legislation. Sulla then prohibited ex-Tribunes from ever holding any other office, so ambitious individuals would no longer seek election to the Tribunate, since such an election would end their political career. Finally, Sulla revoked the power of the Tribunes to veto acts of the Senate.
Sulla then weakened the independence and prestige of the various magisterial offices by increasing the number of magistrates who were elected each year, and required that all newly elected Quaestors be given automatic membership in the Senate. These two reforms allowed Sulla to increase the size of the Senate from 300 to 600 members. This removed the need for the Censor to draw up a list of senators, since there were always more than enough former magistrates to fill the senate. The Censorship was the most prestigious of all magisterial offices, and by reducing the power of the Censors, this particular reform further helped to reduce the prestige of all magisterial offices. In addition, by increasing the number of magistrates, the prestige of each magistrate was reduced, and the potential for obstruction within each magisterial college was maximized. To prevent obstruction, the various magistrates looked to the Senate for advice and guidance. This increased the importance of the Senate as the principal organ of the Republican government.
To further solidify the prestige and authority of the Senate, Sulla codified the cursus honorum, which required an individual to reach a certain age and level of experience before running for any particular office. In this past, the cursus honorum had been observed through custom but had never actually been a legal requirement. By requiring Senators to be more experienced than they had been in the past, he hoped to add to the prestige, and thus the authority, of the Senate as a body.
Sulla also wanted to reduce the risk that a future general might attempt to seize power as he himself had done. To reduce this risk, he reaffirmed the requirement that any individual wait for ten years before being reelected to any office. Sulla then established a system where all Consuls and Praetors served in Rome during their year in office, and then commanded a provincial army as a governor for the year after they left office. These two reforms were meant to ensure that no governor would be able to command the same army for an extended period of time so as to minimize the threat that another general might attempt to march on Rome.
With his reforms enacted, Sulla resigned as Dictator and retired to private life in 79 BC, dying the next year in 78 BC. Without his continued presence in Rome, Sulla's reforms were soon undone. Gnaeus Pompey Magnus and Marcus Licinius Crassus, two of Sulla's former lieutenants, were elected Consuls for the year 70 BC and quickly dismantled most of Sulla's constitution. While the Senate continued to be the primary organ of the Republican government with the magistrates subservient to its will, the Tribunes regained the powers Sulla had stripped from the office.

Caesar's reforms

in Gaul from 59 BC to 49 BC, which granted him unmatched military power and popularity with the people of Rome. With the Gallic Wars concluded, the Senate ordered Caesar to lay down his military command and return to Rome as a privatus. Caesar refused, and marked his defiance in 49 BC by crossing the Rubicon River at the head of his army, leaving his province and illegally entering Roman territory under arms. Civil war resulted, from which Caesar emerged as the unrivaled ruler of Rome.
With the legitimate government of the Republic defeated, Caesar set about initiating his own constitutional reforms. Caesar immediately set about consolidating the various offices of the Republic into himself. He was first appointed dictator in 49 BC but resigned it within eleven days. In 48 BC, he was re-appointed dictator, only this time for an indefinite period, and in 46 BC, he was appointed dictator for ten years. Finally, in 44 BC, Caesar was appointed dictator for life. In addition to holding the dictatorship, Caesar held the Consulship in 48 BC, 46 BC, 45 BC, and 44 BC. By holding the dictatorship and the consulship simultaneously, Caesar's imperium was supreme and all provincial governors were subservient to his will. With his unchallengeable command authority, Caesar could remove any civil magistrate or military commander from office at his pleasure.
In 48 BC, Caesar was granted tribunicia potestas for life, which granted him all the powers of a Tribune without actually holding the office itself. His person was made sacrosanct, he was allowed to convene the Senate and lay business before it, he was allowed to veto the actions of any magistrate, and he could convene the Plebeian Council and lay legislation before it. Significantly, his holding of tribunal power without actually holding the office allowed Caesar to veto the Tribunes without being vetoed by them in return. Caesar thus dominated the Plebeian Council, preventing the election of Tribunes who might oppose him. On at least one occasion, a Tribune attempted to obstruct him. The offending tribunes in this case were brought before the Senate and divested of their office. After the impeachment, Caesar faced no further opposition from other members of the Tribunician College.
In 46 BC, Caesar gave himself the title of Praefectura Morum. While the office itself was a new institution, its powers were identical to those of the Republican Censorship. Thus, he held the powers of the Censors without subjecting himself to the checks the ordinary Censors were subject to. The ranks of the Senate had been severely depleted due to Caesar's civil war, and so Caesar used his Censorial powers to appoint many new Senators, swelling the Senate's membership to 900. All of these appointments were of his own partisans, which robbed the Senatorial aristocracy of its prestige, and made the Senate increasingly subservient to him.
While the legislative assemblies continued to meet, all candidates for election required his approval and all bills submitted to the assemblies for enactment required his approval. This caused the assemblies to become effectively powerless and unable to oppose Caesar or operate outside his direction. Caesar then increased the number of magistrates who were elected each year, which created a large pool of experienced magistrates, and allowed Caesar to reward his supporters. This also weakened the powers of the individual magistrates, and thus of the magisterial colleges as a whole. To minimize the risk that another general might attempt to challenge him, Caesar passed a law which subjected governors to term limits of no more than two years in office. As Caesar began to prepare for a war against the Parthian Empire in 44 BC, he passed a law which allowed him to appoint all magistrates in 43 BC, and all Consuls and Tribunes in 42 BC. This transformed the various magistrates from being representatives of the people to being agents of Caesar.
Caesar was assassinated on the Ides of March 44 BC. The motives of the conspirators were both personal, as well as political. Most of the conspirators were Senators and many were angry that Caesar had deprived the Senate of much of its power and prestige. There were also rumors that Caesar was going to proclaim himself king. With Caesar's death, the various powers and authority he had assumed lapsed and many of his constitutional reforms were undone.

Second Triumvirate

Following Julius Caesar's assassination, his adoptive son Caesar Octavian and former generals Mark Antony and Marcus Aemilius Lepidus united in 43 BC to defeat the assassins of Caesar and to assume power over the Republic. The Triumvirate was legally established as the Triumviri Rei Publicae Constituendae Consulari Potestate with the enactment of the Lex Titia.
The Triumvirate was granted power to rule the Republic for five years and was, in effect, a three-man dictatorship. The Triumvirs adopted the positive collegiality principles but not the negative ones. All three Triumvirs were vested with the full power of office but did not possess the ability to veto the others. Much like Caesar's dictatorship, the Triumvirs were granted imperium superior to all civilian magistrates and provincial governors subservient to their will. Their supreme military authority allowed the Triumvirs to remove any civil magistrate or military commander from office at their pleasure. Like Caesar before them, the Triumvirs held the authority to name all magistrates and to punish those who disobeyed their commands.
After the Battle of Philippi in 42 BC, the Triumvirs entered an arrangement to divide the Republic's territory between themselves. Octavian received the provinces of Gaul, Hispania, and Italia. Antony received Greece, Asia, and the Republic's eastern client kingdoms. Lepidus, the clear junior partner in the Triumvirate, was left with the province of Africa. The Triumvirate's powers were extended for another five-year period beginning in 37 BC. In 36 BC, Octavian and Lepidus launched a joint operation against the rebel Sextus Pompey, who ruled Sicily. Despite initial setbacks, Sextus' fleet was almost entirely destroyed by Octavian's general Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa at the naval battle of Naulochus. Both Lepidus and Octavian gathered the surrendered troops, yet Lepidus felt empowered enough to claim Sicily for himself and ordered Octavian to withdraw. Lepidus' troops deserted him, however, and defected to Octavian since they were weary of fighting and found Octavian's promises of money to be enticing. Lepidus surrendered to Octavian and was ejected from the Triumvirate, but was allowed to retain his position of Pontifex Maximus. Government of the Republic was now divided between Octavian in the West and Antony in the East. Though the Triumvirate officially expired at the end of 33 BC, both men continued to govern their respective halves.
Despite having married Octavia, Octavian's sister, Antony openly lived in Alexandria with Queen Cleopatra of Egypt, even siring children with her. By using anti-Egyptian propaganda, Octavian turned public opinion against his colleague. Octavian illegally obtained Antony's will in July 32 BC and exposed it to the Roman public: it promised substantial legacies to Antony's children by Cleopatra, and left instructions for shipping his body to Alexandria for burial. Rome was outraged, and the Senate declared war against Cleopatra, an important distinction, because Octavian did not want the Roman people to consider it a civil war. Octavian's forces decisively defeated those of Antony and Cleopatra at the Battle of Actium in Greece in September 31 BC, chasing them to Egypt in 30 BC. Both Antony and Cleopatra committed suicide in Alexandria, and Octavian personally took control of Egypt and Alexandria.
The complete defeat of Antony and the marginalization of Lepidus allowed Octavian to become the sole master of the Roman world.

Transformation into Empire

Pre-settlements

First settlement

Eschewing the open anti-elitism exhibited by Julius Caesar and Mark Anthony, Augustus modified the political system in this settlement, making it palatable to the senatorial classes of Rome.
In 28 BC Augustus invalidated the emergency powers of the civil war era and in the following year and announced that he was returning all his powers and provinces to the Senate and the Roman people. After senatorial uproar at this prospect, Augustus, feigning reluctance, accepted a ten-year responsibility for the "disordered provinces". As a result, Augustus maintained his imperium over the provinces where the great majority of Rome's soldiery were stationed.
The second part of the settlement involved a change of title. Firstly, he would become princeps. Roughly translating as "first in order", this title traditionally meant leader of the Senate and assured the right to speak first in meetings. The title lent plausibility to his claim to be the restorer of republican institutions vitiated during the civil wars, and as Oxford historian Craig Walsh notes in his seminal work Classics in Room 39: "Princeps was pretty much the same idea as the latin Primus Inter pares".
On the motion of L. Munatius Plancus, he was also given the honorific cognomen Augustus, which made his full name Imperator Caesar divi filius Augustus. Imperator stressed military power and victory, emphasising his role as commander-in-chief. Divi filius, translating as ‘son of the divine’, showed that whilst he himself didn't have a "god complex" and wasn't an autocrat, he was on the shoulders of the gods, enhancing his legitimacy. Caesar forged a connection to the deified Julius, illustrating where he got his authority. This would have gone down well with Rome's urban poor. Lastly, Augustus was a stamp of religious authority. Meaning "the illustrious" or "the majestic", it associated the ruler with Rome's traditions, gave him extra-constitutional status, served as a demarcation from "Octavian's reign of terror", and was not too suggestive of autocracy like rex.
The first settlement put him in an ideal political position. As summed up by the Res Gestae:

Second settlement

The second settlement was announced in 23 BC, in the wake of Augustus' ill health. Aware that his holding of the consulship inhibited his powers of patronage and may have created resentment among Rome's rising political stars, Augustus gave up the position of consul completely. However, where power was concerned, the compensation he received was more than adequate:
Instead of relying on the powers of the consulship which he gave up, he instead relied on the tribunicia potestas, or tribunician power, which enabled him to:
  1. propose laws to the Senate whenever he wanted.
  2. veto any laws he wanted.
  3. grant amnesty to any citizen accused of crime.
Whilst effectively giving Augustus legislative supremacy, the honour of tribunician power had popular connotations, harking back to the traditions of the republic, and was thus not offensive to the aristocracy. As well as leader of the Senate, Augustus was now guardian of the freedom and welfare of the Roman people.
Beyond Rome, Augustus was granted a form of greater proconsular imperium. Along with governing his own provinces and armies, this position meant that he could effectively override the orders of any other provincial governor in the Roman Empire, which, as the Edicts of Cyrene indicate, he was quite prepared to do.