Cæsar and Cleopatra, Avcre put to death ; and in B.C. 29, after disposing of several aifairs in Egypt (which had now become part of the Ro- man Empire), Greece, Syria, and Asia Minor, Augnstus returned to Rome in triumph, and, closing the temple of Janus, proclaimed universal peace.
His subsequent measures were mild and pru- dent. To insure popular favor, he abolished the laws of the triumvirate, adorned the city of Rome, and refomied many abuses. At the end of his seventh .consulship (B.C. 27), he propcsed to retire from office, in order that the old repub- lican form of government might be reestablished, but he was ultimately indnced to retain his power. Hitherto, since Ca-sar's death, the consul had been named Octavian ; but now the title of Aiif;ustiis (meaning sacred or consecrated) was conferred on him. In the eleventh consulship of Augustus (n.o. 2.3), the tribunitian power was conferred on him for life by the Senate. Repub- lican names and forms still remained, but they were mere shadows. Augustus was in all but name absoKite monarch. In B.C. 12, after the death of Lepidus, he had the high title of Ponti- fex JIaximus, or high-priest, bestowed on him. The nation surrendered to him all the power and honor that it had to give.
After a course of victories in Asia, Spain, Pannonia, Dalmatia, Gaul, etc.. Augustus (a.d. S) suffered the greatest defeat he had sustained in the course of his long rule, in the person of Quintilius Varus, whose army was totally de- stroyed by the Germans. (See Akminius.) This loss so afflicted Augustus that for some time he allowed liis beard and hair to grow as a sign of deep mourning, and often exclaimed: "0 Va- rus, restore to me my legions!" From this time Augustus confined himself to plans of domestic improvement and reform, and so beautified Rome that it was said. "Augustus found the city built of brick, and left it built of marble." He also founded cities in several parts of the Empire, and altars were raised by the grateful people to commemorate his beneficence; while, by a decree of the Senate, the name Augustus was given to the month Sextilis. Agrippa and Maecenas were his friends and counselors.
Though surrounded thus with honor and pros- perity, Augustus was not free from viomestic trouble. The abandoned conduct of his daughter Julia was the cause of sore voxation to him. He had no son, and Marcellus, the son of his sister, and Gains and l^ucius, the sons of his daughter, whom he had appointed as his successors and heirs, as well as his favorite stepson Dnisus. all died early; while his stepson Tiberius, the son of Livia, was an imamiable character, whom he could not love. Age. domestic sorrows, and fail- ing health warned him to seek rest, and to re- cruit his strength he undertook a journey to Campani.a, but his infirmity increased and he died at Nola (An.gust in, a'.d. 14), in the 77th vcar of his age. According to tradition, shortly befoi-e his death he called for a mirror, arranged his hair neatly, and said to his attendants: "Have I played my part, well? If so, applaud me!" Augustus had consummate tact and ad- dress as a ruler and politician, and could keep his plans in secrecy while he made use of the passions and talents of others to forward his own designs. The good and great measures which marked his reign were originated mostly by Augustus himself. He encouraged agricul- ture, patronized the arts and literature, and was himself an author: but only a few fragments of his writings have been preserved. Horace, Vergil, and other celebrated poets and .scholars were his friends. His was the Augustan Age of literature. His death threw a shade of sorrow over the whole Roman world ; the bereaved peo- ple erected temples and altars to his memory, and numbered liim among the gods. Consult: (Jardthausen. Aiir/Kstiis n»d urine Zeit (Leipzig, ISOl); Beule, Aitgiiste, sa fniniVte et sps amis (Paris, 1867) ; and Boissier. Tm religion romaine, Vol. I. (Paris. 188.3).
AUGUSTUS, Apotheosis of. A famous
cameo in the Cabinet des Medailles et Antiques
at Paris. It is cut on a sardonyx, measuring
nearly a foot in height, and is the largest cameo
known. It contains twenty-six figures of great
Romans, and formerly was thought to represent
a triumphal procession of Joseph in Egypt.
AUGUSTUS, Arch of. A triumphal arch
with three openings, erected in honor of Augus-
tus on the Roman Fonim in B.C. 29, in com-
memoration of his victories in Dalmatia, in
Egypt, and at Actium. It was destroyed by
worlcmen about 1540. the foundations alone
being discovered in 18SS between the temples of
Caesar and of Castor and Pollux.
AUGUSTUS, Forum of. The .second of
the imperial fora at Rome; founded by Augus-
tus. It was surrounded by massive walls and
colonnades, and was adonied with statues of
distinguished men of the Republic. In the centre
of the forum stood the temple of Mars Ultor,
commemorating the battle of Philippi, and
dedicated B.C. 2. An entrance arch and portions
of the walls and of the temple still remain.
AUGUSTUS, Mausoleum of. An imposing
circular structure of white marble, 280 feet in
diameter, erected by Augustus in B.C. 27 in the
Ca.mpus Martins at Rome. It was surmounted
by a cone of earth covered with trees. On the
sides of the entrance, on the south, stood two
obelisks, now in the Piazza del' Esquilino and
the Piazza del Quirinale, copies of decrees in
honor of those interred in the mausoleum, and
the Res Gest.T of Augustus. The first burial in
1;he vaults was that of the young Marcellus in
B.C. 28, the last that of Nerva in a.d. 08. Dur-
ing the Middle Ages the cone of earth was re-
moved, and the top transformed into a hanging
garden. The structure was later used as a
stronghold, a bull-ring, and a circus. The brick
shell is still visilile.
AUGUSTUS, Res Geste (exploits) of. A
very important document for the history of
Rome prepared by the Emperor Augustus in the
latter part of his life, and engraved on bronze
tablets placed on columns flanking the entrance
of his mausoleum. It gives the autobiography
of the Emperor and forms his political testa-
ment. The document is known from numerous
copies, and is frequently quoted by Roman
writers.
AUGUSTUS (152G-8()). Elector of Saxony,
the son of Duke Henry the Pious, and of Kath-
erine of Mecklenburg. He was born at Freiburg,
then the seat of his father's court. While still
a youth, he spent some time at Prague, and there
formed an intimate friendship with Maximilian,
afterwards Emperor Maximilian II. of Germany.
