1.1.19 to 1.1.20

Military operations continued in many frontier areas. In 25 BC recalcitrant Alpine tribes were reduced, and Galatia (central Asia Minor) was annexed. Mauretania, on the other hand, was transferred from Roman provincial status to that of a client kingdom, for such dependent monarchies, as in the later republic, bore a considerable part of the burden of imperial defense. Augustus himself visited Gaul and directed part of a campaign in Spain until his health gave out; in 23 he fell ill again and seemed on the point of death. Feeling, amid reports of conspiracies, that new constitutional steps were necessary, he proceeded to terminate his series of consulships in favour of a power (imperium majus )that was separated altogether from office and its practical inconveniences. This power raised him above the proconsuls; it was never referred to on the official coinage or in Augustus's political testament but was intended to be exercised mainly in emergencies and on personal visits. He was also awarded the power of a tribune (tribunicia potestas )for life. Earlier he had accepted certain privileges of a tribune. The full power he now assumed carried with it practical advantages, notably the right to convene the Senate. But, more particularly, the office of a tribune surrounded him with a "democratic" aura because of the ancient character of the annually elected tribunes of the people as defenders of the plebs. This was, perhaps, needed all the more because Augustus himself—while admittedly supporting the interests of poorer people by a great extension of the right of judicial appeal—tended to back the established classes as the keystone of his system. Agrippa, too, was granted superiority over proconsuls, presumably in order to ensure that the armies would be in safe hands in case one of Augustus's recurrent illnesses proved fatal. The next to die, however, was the emperor's young nephew Marcus Claudius Marcellus, who had been married to his daughter Julia and might eventually have been envisaged as his successor. In the same year, 23 BC, Agrippa was sent out to the east as deputy princeps; two years later he became Julia's second husband. Meanwhile Augustus himself traveled in Sicily, Greece, and Asia (22-19). Important reorganizations were put into effect wherever he went; and immense satisfaction was caused by an agreement in 20 BC with Parthia, under which the Parthians recognized Rome's protectorate over Armenia and returned the legionary standards captured from Crassus 33 years earlier. In 19 BC Agrippa completed the subjugation of Spain. In this year there was some adjustment of Octavian's powers to allow him to exercise them more freely in Italy, and the two following years witnessed social legislation attempting to encourage marriage, regulate penalties for adultery, and reduce extravagance. In 17 there were resplendent celebrations of ancient ritual, known as the Secular Games, to purify the Roman people of their past sins and provide full religious inauguration of the new age.