9Augustus

Augustus’ death was also nothing if not theatrical. Which was appropriate, given that his entire life had been nothing but an act.

Augustus was essentially a warlord who had achieved power through targeted murder, merciless brutality, and civil war. Augustus’s whole life had been an act of what the Romans called dissimulatio, keeping up appearances, concealing one’s real thoughts and emotions behind a carefully positioned public mask. Augustus wore this persona right up until his last days, sitting through public performances and fulfilling his public duties while his body was wrecked by diarrhoea and a digestive infection.On his deathbed, he requested a mirror so he could rearrange his hair, and repeatedly asked if his demise was causing any trouble on the streets. Augustus’s entire life had been about projecting his image as a fundamentally good, moral, family-centred emperor.

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