Karl Marx, Age of Augustus

Karl Heinrich Marx Fuente: http://infnts.blogspot.com.ar/2011/05/karl-marx-age-of-augustus.html

1818-1838 AD
Trans. RMBullard
Latin (Modern Era)
AN PRINCIPATUS AUGUSTI MERITO
INTER
FELICIORES
REIPUBLICAE
NUMERETUR?

ROMANAE

AETATES

[CAN THE IMPERIAL REIGN OF AUGUSTUS DESERVEDLY BE

COUNTED AMONG THE HAPPIEST PERIODS OF TIME OF THE
ROMAN REPUBLIC?]

Examinatio Maturitatis (1835)

[Examination of Maturity, 1835]

Quaerenti, qualis Augusti aetas fuerit, plura occurunt, ex quibus de

ea judicari potest;

[To a person who asks, "What was the period under Augustus
like?", many things bear relevance, from which one can thing can
be determined concerning this matter;]
[first of all, a comparison with the other periods of time in Roman
history,]
[you see, if you should illustrate that the age of Auguste had been
similar to the periods of time prior, which people call "happy"]
[then those truly are the ones upon which you can make a guess
concerning this matter, that is, the ones that had established
through the judgment of fresh and equal-minded men, and whose
traditions came to be overturned and warped in a worse direction,
when things went south in a time of war, and then, one must ask
["what were the things that men of old said concerning this very
matter,]
[what did foreign nations think about his empire,]
[that is, did they fear or despise it,]
[and lastly, what truly were its specimen of arts and letters?]
[So let me truly not be too long-winded than is necessary,]
[as I shall compare the most beautiful period of time, the one
before Augustus, in which came about a simplicity of customs, a
passion for good worth, in which the integrity of the common folk
made the offices of state blessed: the age, in which lowly Italy was
stood up, I shall compare to that notorious one under Nero, in

primum comparatio cum aliis Romanae historiae aetatibus,

nam, si ostenderis, aetatibus prioribus, quas felices appellant,
similem fuisse Augusti aetatem,
illis vero, quas aequalium et recentium judicium, versis et mutatis
moribus in pejorem partem, republica in factiones divisa, in bello
etiam rebus male gestis, dissimilem, de ea ex aliis conjecturam
facere potes;
tum quaerendum est,
quae veteres de ea ipsa dixerint,
quid externae gentes de imperio habuerint,
an id veriti sint aut contemserint,
denique vero quales artes litteraeque fuerint.
Ne vero longius sim, quam necesse,
pulcherrimam aetem ante Augustum, quam morum simplicitas,
virtutis studia, magistratuum plebisque integritas felicem fecerunt,
aetas, qua Italia inferior subigebatur, illamque Neronis, qua nulla
miserior, cum Augusti aetate comparabo.

which no age could be more miserable.]

Nullo tempore
abhorruere,

magis

studiis

optimarum

artium

Romani

quam aetate ante bella punica,

eruditione minime aestimata,
cum in agriculturam summi illarum aetatum homines praecipue
studium operamque collocarent,
eloquentia supervacua,
cum paucis verbis de rebus agendis dicerent neque orationis
elegantiam, sed sententiarum vim peterent,
historia vero eloquentiae non egente,
cum res gestas tantum referret
solumque in Annalium confectione consisteret.
Tota vero aetas patrum plesbisque lite impleta;
nam ab expulsis regibus usque ad primum bellum punicum de
utriusque jure certatur
et magna historiae pars leges tantum refert,
quas tribuni aut consules, magna utrimque cum contentione,
fecere.
Quid eo tempore laudandum sit, jam diximus.
Neronis aetatem si describere volumus,
non multa verba opus sunt,
nam, optimis occisis civibus, turpi regnante arbitrio, legibus
violatis, urbe cremata, ducibus cum vererentur,
ne res bene gestae suspicionem excitarent
neque quid ad magna facta eos commoveret, pace potius quam
bello gloriam quaerentibus, quis interrogabit, qualis illa aetas
fuerit?

[In no period of time did the Romans flee in horror more from the
passion to master the best of skills,]
[than in the age right before the Punic war,]
[when education was least esteemed of all,]
[and when the greatest men from these generations most of all
called upon their passion and concentration, for agriculture,]
[while eloquence was deemed beyond useless,]
[since they not only spoke using a few words, whenever they need
to carry out their affairs, they neither sought to gain any eloquence
for their speech, nor any power to form their thoughts,]
[though, in fact, their previous history did not lack examples of
eloquence,]
[although only a single man wrote down in records of their feats]
[and alone, he constantly worked at a finished product of their
yearly records.]
[So truly, their entire generation was filled with strife between the
senatorial order and the common folk;]
[you see, since the time when the kings were kicked out, up to the
very first Punic War, a fight endured concerning the legal status of
both factions]
[and a great portion of their history so greatly concernings their
laws,]
[that is, that laws that the tribunes, or consuls, enacted, with great
contention between the two sides.]
[I've already said why this is something to be praised in a time like
that.]
[If I shall desire to describe the period of time under Nero,]
[it will not require many words,]
[you see, the best citizens were being murdered, while people
began to panic, from the filthy decision-making of their leader, and
his violations of their laws, and the burning down of their city,]
[fearing that should they would incite suspicion, should they do
anything
decent,]

Quin Augusti aetas huic dissimilis sit,

nemo dubitare potest,
nam ejus imperium clementia insigne est,
cum Romani, quamvis omnis libertas, omnis etiam libertatis
species
evanuerat,
jussis principis instituta legesque mutare valentibus omnibusque
honoribus,
quos prius tribuni plebis, censores, consules habuerant, tum ab
uno
viro
occupatis,
tamen putarent, se regnare, imperatorem tantum aliud nomen
dignitatibus,
quas prius tribuni aut consules tenuissent,
neque libertatem sibi dereptam viderent.
Hoc vero magnum clementiae argumentum, si cives dubitare
possunt, quis princeps sit, an ipsi regnent, an regnentur.
Bello vero Romani nunquam feliciores, nam Parthi subiecti,
Cantabri victi, Rhaeti et Vindelicii prostrati sunt:

Germani vero, summi Romanis hostes, quos Caesar frustra

pugnasset, singulis quidem proeliis et proditione et insidiis et
virtute
silvisque
Romanos
superarunt:
sed omnino et Romana civitate, quam singulis Augustus praebuit,
et armis, quae duces periti gessere, et inimicitia, inter eos ipsos
excitata, multorum Germaniae populorum vis frangebatur.
Domi militiaeque igitur Augusti aetas non comparanda cum
Neronis pejorumque principum tempore.

[one shall not need to ask what motivated men like these to great
deeds, and why they should glory from times of peace rather than
war, and what type of generation of people that age was?]
[Whether or not the period of time under Augustus was similar to
the one aforementioned,]
[no one can be in doubt,]
[you see, his control of the state was remarkable by virtue of its
sense of mercy,]
[when the Romans, despite the fact that all notion of freedom,
even the open appearance of freedom, had vanished,]
[which had been replaced by the degrees of their emperor, and
with all of his official powers of state capable of reforming their
laws,]
[which, at which, only the tribunes of the plebs, censors, and
consuls held, but now were seized by the likes of a single man,]
[and yet, people began to think that only the emperor should rule
using an official title connecting the duties]
[which the tribunes or consuls previously had possessed,]
[and did they perceive that their liberty had been taken from
them.]
[In fact, this is great indication of his mercy, if the citizens can be
in doubt whether he was their leading man, or they themselves
were in control.]
[In fact, the Romans were never any more successful in war, than
when they subjected the Parthians to defeat, conquered the
Cantabres, and the Rhaetians and Vindelices were laid down:]
[The Germans, in fact, the greatest of the Romans' enemies, whom
Caesar had tried in vain to combat, actually overpowered the
Romans in individual battles, using both treachery, tricks, their
courage and their knowledge of the woods:]
[but, in every way possible, the power of many peoples in Germany
was broken by the Roman city, which Augustus supplied in every
case with the arms that their experienced generals wielded, and

Partes litesque
invenimus,

autem,

quas

aetate

ante

bellum

punicum

tum cessarant,
nam Augustum omnes partes, omnes dignitates, omnem
potestatem in se collegisse videmus,
neque igitur imperium a se ipso dissidere potuit,
quod omni civitati summum affert periculum,
auctoritate apud externos populos ea re dimminuta,
et rebus publicis magis ambitionis causa quam propter civitatis
salutem administratis.
Tali modo vero Augusti aetas oculos ad se rapere non debet, ne
multis in rebus illa aetate inferiorem videremus,
nam moribus, libertate, virtute aut dimminutis aut plane demotis,
dum avaritia, luxuria, intemperantia regnant, aetas ipsa felix
nominari
non
potest,

sed imperium Augusti, instituta legesque hominum, quos elexerat,

ut rempublicam perturbatam meliorem redderent, valde
effecerunt, ut perturbatio, a bellis civilibus evocata, decesserit.

Exempli causa Senatum, quem corruptissimi homines ingressi

erant, a vestigiis sceleris expiare videmus Augustum,
multis ab eo expulsis,
quorum mores ei invisi,
multis introductis, qui virtute et intelligentia excelluere.
Augusto principe semper viri, virtutis et
praestantes, munere reipublicae fructi erant,

sapientiae

gloria

nam Maecenate, Agrippa quis viros eo tempore majores nominare

potest!

enmity which was incited between these same men,]

[Therefore, at home and abroad, the period of time under Augustus
cannot be compared with the period of ime under Nero, and the
worse
emperors.]
[And still, the factionalism and strife that we find in the era before
the Punic War,]
[came to an end at that time,]
[you see, we see how Augustus tied all the factions, all the
positions of honor, all state power to himself,]
[and so, he could not detach the control of the state from even
himself,]
[because it would bring the greatest degree of danger to the entire
citizenry,]
[should this civil authority of his be diminished among the foreign
peoples,]
[and the Republic be governed more for the sake of ambition than
in support of the city's welfare.]
[In fact, the age of Augustus ought not to draw one's eyes to itself
in such a way]
[that we should think it more lowly in that period of time, in many
respects,]
[that is, when their traditions, their sense of liberty, their sense of
courage were either diminished or noticeably degraded,]
[so long as avarice, excessive living, and immoderation rule the
day, the era itself cannot be declared a happy one,]
[but the government of Augustus, his institutions, and the laws
passed by the men whom he had appointed resulted in rendering a
thoroughly chaotic republic better, and they very much found
success in getting the atmosphere of disturbance, which had been
called forth by their civil wars, to yield.]
[For example, we see that Augustus purged the long-standing
misdeeds of the Senate, which the most corrupt men you can

Principis ingenium ipsum, quamvis nunquam simulationis

integumentis
nudatum
conspicimus,
ut jam diximus,
potestate non abutens, invisam vim mitiore specie tegens videtur,
et si respublica, qualis ante bella punica fuerit, illi tempori
aptissima
erat,
quod animos ad magnas res excitabat,
viros hostibus terribiles reddidit,
pulchram inter patres plebemque aemulationem, a qua vero non
semper invidia abest, evocavit, respublica, qualem Augustus
instituerat, ejus temporibus aptissima mihi quidem videtur,
nam, animis effeminatis, simplicitate morum decessa, civitatis
magnitudine aucta, imperator potius quam libera res publica
populo
libertatem
afferre
valet.
Jam ad id venimus,
quale veterum de Augusti aetate judicium fuerit?
Eum ipsum divinum apellant
neque hominem sed deum potius putant.
Quod non dici posset,
Horatio tantum teste, sed strenuus historiae scriptor, Tacitus,
semper de Augusto ejusque aetate maxima reverentia, summa
admiratione,
amore
etiam
loquitur.
Litterae vero artesque nullo tempore magis floruere,
ea aetate plurimis scriptoribus viventibus, a quibus fontibus quasi,
omnes populi eruditionem hauriebant.
Cum respublica igitur bene instituta videatur,
principe populo felicitatem ferre cupiente,
summis viris vero eo auctore honores tenentibus,

imagine
had
previously
entered]
[once a great deal of men were cast out of, ]
[that is, whoever's code of conduct were despicable to him,]
[and many men, who excelled by the sake of their virtue and
intelligence, were introduced.]
[While Augustus was the emperor, at every instance, the men who
excelled from the high reputation of their good qualities and
wisdom,
benefitted
from
positions
of
power
in
their
commonwealth,]
[you see, who can name men greater than Maecenas and Agrippa
from this period of time?]
[The very genius of the emperor, although we never see it stripped
of the trappings of its dissimulation,]
[as I've already said,]
[appears not to abuse its power, but to conceal any spiteful brute
force with a gentler appearance,]
[and if the Republic, at least the one that used to exist before the
Punic Wars, was most suited to that period of time,]
[something which began to stir spirits to tremendous
accomplishments,]
[it exposed terrible men back to their enemies,]
[he evoked the beautiful rivalry between the senators and common
folk, from which indeed there is never a sense of jealousy, and the
Republic, that is, the one Augustus had established, from whose
dates it certainly appears to me to be most appropriate,]
[you see, even though their minds grew ennervated, and the
sincerity of their customs gave way, and the magnitude of their
city increased, the emperor was better able to bring a sense of
liberty
to
his
populace
than
the
free
Republic,]
[And now I come to this question,]
[what what was the opinion of older generations concerning the
age of Augustus?]
[They say that he himself was divine]
[nor do they think that he was a man, but rather a god.]
[Which is something that could not possibly be declared,]

cum Augusti aetas optimis historiae Romanae aetatibus non

inferior,
malis vero dissimilis videatur,
cum partes litesque cessas videas, artes litterasque vero florentes,
Augusti principatus merito inter meliores aetates numerandus
valdeque vir aestimandus,
qui, etsi omnia ei licerent,
tamen, assecutus imperium, reipublicae salutem tantum efficere
studuit.

***

[even Horace swore to it, and Tacitus, a hard-working writer of

history, spoke about Augustus and his period of time always with
the greatest sense of respect, utmost admiration, even with love.]
[Truly literature and art flourished more at no other period of time,]
[when, in this age, all the people used to imbibe the learned
wisdom from so many scores of comtemporary writers, almost as
though
from
fountains.]
[And so, since his state seems to have been established on solid
foundations,]
[with a leader who desired to bring happiness to his populace,]
[and in fact, with the most important men enjoying the offices of
power as a result of this men,]
[and since the age of Augustus seems no less superior than the
very best ages of Roman history,]
[when you can see factionalism and disputes in decline,]
[Augustus' rule as emperor must deservedly be counted among the
very best ages of time, and the man greatly esteemed,]
[that is, a man who, although every power was granted to him,]
[still, once he began to establish his reign, he remained eager to
bring about so tremendous a state of bounty for his republic.]
***