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Augustus was a sickly lil' guy who was constantly unwell throughout his life (media.piefed.social)

submitted 1 day ago by PugJesus@piefed.social to c/historymemes@piefed.social

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[–] PugJesus@piefed.social 25 points 1 day ago (2 children)

Fun Facts: Octavian, who would later become known as Augustus, the first Emperor of Rome, missed one of the final battles of Julius Caesar's civil war because he was sick (I am sure he had a doctor's note). During his own civil war, he was constantly ill and reliant on his right-hand man, Agrippa, to command his forces. By later accounts, he rarely went outdoors without a broad-brimmed hat to protect his delicate skin from the sun.

[–] Unforeseen@sh.itjust.works 19 points 1 day ago

By later accounts, he rarely went outdoors without a broad-brimmed hat to protect his delicate skin from the sun.

One of us!

[–] khannie@lemmy.world 6 points 1 day ago

Agrippa

The real MVP

[–] Diplomjodler3@lemmy.world 10 points 1 day ago (1 children)

And yet his legacy enabled the Roman empire to survive another 400/600/1400 (choose a number at your convenience) years.

[–] finitebanjo@piefed.world 2 points 19 hours ago* (last edited 19 hours ago)

NOT 2000 YEARS THO. THAT ITALLIAN IN THE 1930s WAS A LIAR AND SCUM!

[–] finitebanjo@piefed.world 11 points 1 day ago (1 children)

TBF i expect a lot of people didn't survive illnesses as often as he did in those days.

[–] PugJesus@piefed.social 20 points 1 day ago (1 children)

It was actually a constant shadow over his reign. Every half-decade or so Augustus would get deathly ill, and everyone, including Augustus, would start worrying about who would succeed him.

It's astounding that he lived to 75. Especially as the most powerful man in Rome.

[–] NoneOfUrBusiness@fedia.io 9 points 1 day ago (1 children)

It was actually a constant shadow over his reign. Every half-decade or so Augustus would get deathly ill, and everyone, including Augustus, would start worrying about who would succeed him.

One would expect them to answer that the first time around.

[–] PugJesus@piefed.social 16 points 1 day ago (1 children)

He tried - his heirs were not so lucky - they constantly died. If memory serves, five of his selected heirs died before he did!

His eventual heir, Tiberius, was his morose and uncharismatic (though competent and dutiful) stepson, whom he only chose as successor after some ~25 years of everyone else he picked pre-deceasing him.

Tiberius, for bonus points, didn't want the job. But it's hard to say no to your stepfather who's also an autocrat with total power over the polity you live in.

[–] finitebanjo@piefed.world 2 points 19 hours ago (1 children)

Damn, I'm not versed on the reign of Tiberius but he sounds like a really great choice. Good Job, August.

[–] PugJesus@piefed.social 3 points 19 hours ago (1 children)

Well, there's the whole "Didn't want the job" problem. He spent ten years being a good Emperor, then fucked off to a private island with no contact with anyone for a while, then returned after it turned out there was a conspiracy to murder him by his right-hand man and had a bunch of treason trials that spiraled into paranoia.

The problem with giving a job to a man who doesn't want it is that he may eventually try to stop doing it...

[–] finitebanjo@piefed.world 2 points 19 hours ago (1 children)

The only problem I see there is he wasn't driven enough to give the job to somebody else who also didn't want it.

[–] PugJesus@piefed.social 2 points 19 hours ago

He tried to give power back to the Senate. The Senate, filled with Augustus's bootlickers, didn't want it.

He constantly complained about the Senate lacking initiative during his reign. "Men fit to be slaves", he notably once called them (in line with his lack of charisma, this made him few friends in the Senate he was trying to convince).