Augustus, Williams - B+

           This National Book Award winner is half-a-century old, and is considered one of the greatest historical novels ever written. It tells the story of Gaius Octavius Thurinas, later Gaius Caesar Octavius and ultimately, Augustus. It consists of letters and notations of his contemporaries, and finishes with a composition by Augustus. 

          He was born in 63 BC and adopted by his great uncle, Julius Caesar. When he learned of Caesar's assassination, he told his three comrades: "I swear to you all now, and to the gods, that if it is my destiny to live, I shall have vengeance upon the murderers of my uncle, whoever they may be." Caesar named him his son and heir, and Caesar's enemies dismissed him as a mere boy. Marc Antony told him to leave Rome for the safety of the countryside, while Cicero denigrated him as an inconsequential youth. Octavius soon challenged Antonius for primacy in Rome, and the Senate supported him. He defeated Antonius and was made Consul. Octavius then pivoted, came to terms with Antonius and they allied against Brutus, Cassius and Pompey. In a battle at Phillipi in Greece, both Brutus and Cassius lost their lives. Pompey died soon thereafter. Octavius and Marc Antony settled into an uneasy peace.  By 37 BC, they were at loggerheads, and a year later, Antonius married Cleopatra after divorcing Octavius' sister. The substantial forces of the two men clashed at Actium, a naval battle off the Grecian coast, in 31 BC. Octavius' forces prevailed and Marc Antony and Cleopatra fled to Alexandria and committed suicide. A decade and a half of civil war was over. Octavius was now Caesar Augustus, first Emperor of Rome.

       Augustus was married to Scribonia whom he divorced the day she gave birth to his only child, Julia. He immediately married Livia, pregnant with her second child by Claudius Nero.  Marriage in his court was purely a political matter. Fearing for his health, he married Julia off when she was fourteen to her cousin Marcellus who died a few years later. He then married her to his friend and colleague, Marcus Agrippa, thus distressing Livia who had hoped Julia would marry one of her sons.  Julia gave Agrippa sons who Augustus immediately adopted. When Agrippa died, Augustus arranged for Livia's son, Tiberius, to divorce and marry Julia. Tiberius left after a year as both parties to the marriage despised each other. Eventually, Augustus banished Julia from Rome for her many lovers and her proximity to a treasonous group. Augustus was alone, separated from his wife, his only child exiled, and all of his friends dead.

       In his 76th year, he composed a long letter the week before he died to an old friend reminiscing about the previous six decades. He foreswore friendship and true love in order to seek his destiny as Rome's ruler, and to commit himself to the country. Those efforts led to 40 years of peace during which no Roman fought another and no barbarians entered Italy. Prosperity and justice has been a gift to all the peoples of the empire. "Throughout this world the Roman order endures. Te world looks in awe upon the Rome I found built of crumbling clay and that is now built of marble." He died on 19 August 14 AD.