Dio On Augustus’ Place In Roman History

Abstract The program of Dio’s magnum opus offers few surprises to a reader brought up on standard political histories of Rome. From Trojan and Latin origins and the rule of kings (Books 1-2) it passes quickly to the foundation of the Republic, the creation of new institutions, wars of survival against hostile neighbors, and relent less expansion through peninsular Italy (Books 3-10, to 265 B.c.). There follow the collisions with Carthage and the other great transmarine powers whose defeat gave Rome dominion over the Mediterranean world (Books 11-21, 264-146 B.c.). Although Books 22-35 of the History (145-70 a.c.) have been lost almost entirely, their exiguous remains indicate a denser narrative fabric and a slower chronological pace, dictated by the complex domestic and external crises that marked the period from the Gracchi to the coup d’etat of Pompey in 70. From 69 B.c., where we at last have the Roman History intact, Dio’s focus is on the agonies of the Republic out of which Julius Caesar emerged with monarchic power only to fall to counterrevolution in 44 a.c. (Books 36-44). The next twelve books (45-56, 44 B.C.-A.D. 14) contain Dio’s “Augustan” account, which is climaxed by two epochal events. One is Octavian’s victory at Actium in 31 a.c., which made him militarily and politically supreme, closing a century of civil strife. The other is his death and consecration, as Divus Augustus, forty-four years later, after orchestrating the succession and the continuation of the system he had established. There follows in Books 57-76 a gallery of the reigns of his successors from the advent of Tiberius in 14 to the death of Septimius Severus in 211, the original terminus of the History. Dio was later able to extend his narrative to cover the reigns of Severus’ successors Caracalla, Macrinus, and Elegabalus (Books 77-79, 211-222), and to add a highly personal epilogue sketching events from the accession of Severus Alexander in 222 to his own retirement in 229 (Book 80).