GOOD OLD-FASHIONED VALUES THE AUGUSTAN MORAL REFORMS

After almost a century of unrest and civil war, the Roman world, under the sole rule of Augustus, had entered a new period of relative peace and prosperity. Instead of fighting other Romans, Roman armies were now, once again, fighting barbarians, as they should be. For many Romans, moral decline had been the root cause of the horrors of the last decades. Augustus turned to legislation to reverse this decline, outlawing immoral behaviour.

Jason S. Whitmarsh

THEME: The age of Augustus THEME In the years 18–17 BC, Augustus enacted legislation as part of his goal to emphasize Rome's pietas, a sense of virtue and religious devotion that had allowed for so much of its success as a civilization. Pietas, something every Roman was expected to possess, marked the Stoic farmer, courageous soldier, and dutiful citizen. Yet by the early days of the empire, many young people chose not to marry and contribute children, wealthy citizens avoided public service, and many rested on the laurels of their riches, contrary to the good old-fashioned values that had defined Rome during the Republic, promoted by authors like Cicero and Sallust. To patricians like Cicero, virtue lay in citizens who asked not what Rome could do for them but what they…

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Ancient History (Digital) - 1 Issue, AH 50

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