The Moral Reforms of Augustus What did he do?

Problems Civil wars and political upheavals of the previous hundred years = heavy population losses, weakening of traditions of family life, increase in celibacy, sterile marriages 18BC – politically sorted so attention now on social problems Extravagance – excessive luxury, vast amounts of money spent on food, clothes, jewellery, houses Adultery – common & fashionable Divorce – frequent Marriage – less frequent Not enough children to increase population of native Italians and noble Romans

Solutions Supplement religious policy (see later in the course) with moral legislation Leges Juliae (18-17 BC) – used his tribunician power to push these through the senate They encouraged marriage and having children They established adultery as a public crime punishable by exile and confiscation of property fathers were permitted to kill daughters and their partners in adultery husbands could kill the partners and were required to divorce adulterous wives

Was Augustus an hypocrite? Augustus married three times, even taking his third wife from another man when she was pregnant with her second child Only had one child from three marriages; the first 2 (& 3rd?) marriages were politically motivated No. 1: Clodia Pulchra (42-44 BC), step-daughter of Mark Antony, divorced her citing lack of consummation (divorce led to Perusine War) No. 2: Scribonia (40-39 BC): daughter: Julia. On the day that she was born, he divorced Scribonia to marry (a month later) No. 3: Livia Drusilla (38 BC – AD 14; survived him) In 2 BC, he exiled his own daughter for sexual immorality & relegated her to the tiny island of Pandateria (in 8 BC – exiled her daughter also!) Suetonius – he “kept Julia [the Elder] for five years on an island before moving her to the mainland” and would not allow her any wine, luxury or male company. “Nothing would persuade him to recall his daughter from exile” (Divus Augustus, 65) Suggestions of adultery by Augustus?

Did these new Julian laws work? Badly received! (Suetonius: Divus Augustus, 34) Modified in AD 9 by the Lex Papia Poppaea: a law to encourage and strengthen marriage Amended and supplemented the Leges Juliae Named after consuls of that year Encouraged and strengthened marriage Against adultery and celibacy Encouraged population expansion Nicknamed: ‘law of the three sons’ = law that rewarded married men who had three sons Bachelors and young widows who would not marry were not permitted to receive inheritances or to attend public games

Aims of the Julian Laws? Why did Augustus push through the Julian Laws? To limit excessive luxury (though he didn’t succeed!) To protect marriage by regulating sexual relations and divorce To encourage marriage and rearing of children by giving rewards and incentives