Other senators went along with this because they considered Cato a moral leader. In 59 B. In the Roman Republic, saying the gods were angry was an acceptable reason to declare a holiday and postpone voting. As Rome grew, it periodically amended its republic to keep it functioning. However, by the time of Cato the Younger, the republic had functioned so well for so long that a lot of people took its ability to survive for granted.
Augustus realized that his subjects were traumatized by the status quo. In other words, a lot of Romans were okay with Augustus assuming supreme control as long as he kept the peace—never mind that he had actually contributed to the violence and property thefts he now claimed only he could fix.
Historians like Watts are still surprised—and unsettled—by the longevity of the Roman state following its massive governmental collapse. But if you see something that doesn't look right, click here to contact us! Twice a week we compile our most fascinating features and deliver them straight to you. Live TV. This Day In History. History Vault. The relationship between political life, consensual sexual behaviors, and traditions of morality were complicated in antiquity, as they are in our modern age.
Laws took the name of the person proposing them. Iulius Caesar Augustus. Some of the laws passed in the Augustan period were not put forward by Augustus himself, but seem to reflect the same ideologies as Augustan legislation propagated. Minor Laws. For general commentary on the laws see, Suetonius, Aug. The laws, especially those on marriage and adultery, appear to have been bitterly resisted.
In AD 9, there appears to have been a major demonstration against the laws Dio, Dio, It was also suggested that he left because his now illegal affair with Terentia was causing hostile gossip. In the time-honoured fashion of moral legislation, Augustus was finding that the enforcement of the laws had many unfortunate consequences. He was driven to forgive some people their transgression, and thus inevitably increase the bitterness of those whose were not forgiven.
The laws followed an agenda. There was a focus on social discipline and future generations. The reforms were also restorations and looked back to an older order, though there is every reason to believe that the fond memories of conservative Romans were based on an overly simple and romantic view of their past.
They were part of the same ideology of restoration that had been at the centre of Augustan ideology since 28 BC. The future of Rome would appear, in the Augustan mind anyhow, depended on a return to the past. Returning to the past required forcing through unpopular regulations that would affect individual moral actions.
These regulations restricted individual freedom and the strategies employed by families supposedly for the good of the state. The history of civil conflict convinced most Romans that they were facing deep-seated problems in Roman society. The Romans conceived moral behavior as primarily a public issue.
Morals defined how Roman citizens behaved towards each other. Such politeness was essential for the proper working of the Roman state. Morals also defined the relationship between parents and children, husbands and wives, families, and individuals and the state. The Romans associated their imperial success with their high moral standards. The restoration of high moral standards was therefore seen as essential for continued Roman social and political success.
The reforms implicitly and perhaps explicitly made claim for Augustus to be the moral leader of Rome. They were a justification for his hegemony. Who else could deliver those reforms?
Who else could put Rome on the secure track to the future? Thus, whether you had extra-marital sex became an issue of concern to the state.
Who you married was a concern to the state? Your duty to the state was to marry. The number of children you had was a duty to the state. Of course, many have felt that the Augustan reforms were not the great step forward towards a past age of virtue.
They might have felt that it was a grotesque and unnecessary imposition on their individual freedoms. They may have felt that who they slept with was not an issue with which the state should concern itself. But the message from the Augustan state was that it was bringing into being a new golden age and if love poets objected , they risked trouble.
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