-9 AD- Augustus was now getting pretty old. Because of all the bad luck and his old age, he was starting to grow more cautious and paranoid.
-More and more responsibility was being given to Tiberius as well.
-Over the course of his reign, Augustus had really done a lot to improve the infrastructure of the empire.
-Due to corruption and property rights, there were a lot of works and shit that could have been improved or torn down and then rebuilt anew, but weren't.
-Augustus worked long and hard to untangle the mess and get shit running smoothly (with the help of Agrippa, too).
-Augustus also introduced a police/fire department (the vigiles), something that hadn't existed before!
-Because of this, Augustus had finally put a stop to obnoxious shit like Crassus extorting property owners as their buildings burned.
-Augustus also put an end to tax farming out in the provinces.
-What was tax farming?
-A private agency would bid to collect taxes in a certain area. The winning bid paid to the Senate was the money that the government received as the "tax revenue". The business model was then for the tax agency to go out and raise extra taxes from the populace to cover the price the agency had already paid in addition to a profit for themselves.
-Obviously, this grew to be extremely corrupt and fucked up, and resulted in constant revolts and problems.
-Augustus also set up a central treasury solely dedicated to the payment of Rome's military.
-This took the power out of the hands of the generals, who were paying for a lot of the armies themselves. This would help prevent future problems with generals who would want to seize power for themselves.
-Augustus also was quite tolerant of freedom of speech and criticism of the state, as his advisers had wisely advised him to allow people to openly speak about their grievances, as censorship would just cause shit to go underground.
-Tiberius, on the other hand, was insecure and would crack down on freedom speech; criticism of the regime was treason.
-Before dying, Augustus wrote an autobiography that portrayed himself in a very flattering light (of course)- "The Deeds of the Divine Augustus".
-Augustus also wrote documents recording how he wanted his funeral instruction, for Tiberius on how to rule, and his will.
-13/14 AD- Augustus travels to the tiny island where Agrippa Postumus had been exiled to.
-Why did Augustus do this?
-There are many theories, but it's actually unclear. It's entirely possible that Augustus also wanted this trip to be kept secret.
-One theory suggests that maybe Augustus wanted to see if Agrippa Postumus was ready to come back to society.
-Another theory suggests that maybe Augustus wanted to see if Agrippa Postumus would try and seize power once Augustus had died.
-Others have suggested that maybe Augustus wanted to see if Agrippa Postumus had changed and would actually be a better heir than Tiberius.
-Regardless, Augustus had decided that Postumus Agrippa was too dangerous to return to society (for a variety of reasons, possibly), and so he mysteriously ended up dead later that year... did Augustus order his death? Did Livia? Maybe even Tiberius? No one knows!
-14 AD- Tiberius set out to govern in Illyrium, and Augustus went to his private villa in Nola (outside of modern-day Naples, Campania) to recuperate from a serious illness.
-Everyone knew that his time was getting close :(
-With Livia by his side, Augustus finally died on August 19, 14 AD, at the age of 75. Bro had ruled Rome for over 40 years!
-His alleged last words were something like, ""Have I played the part well? Then applaud as I exit".
-Of course, there are many conspiracy theories about what REALLY happened regarding Augustus' death, typically involving Livia, but who knows?
-Tiberius returned to Rome after Augustus' death. Everyone knew that Augustus had died, and Tiberius was to control.
-According to Augustus' will, 2/3 of his property was given to Tiberius. The remaining 1/3 went to Livia.
-Surprisingly, Augustus had posthumously adopted Livia as his daughter (!) as well!
-This allowed Livia to continue enjoying power as an official daughter of Augustus (as opposed to just being his widow).
-Augustus was also deified as an official Roman god- "the Divine Augustus".
-So, what about Augustus' legacy?
-It's actually complicated... was he a tyrant? A puppet of Livia? A benevolent dictator?
-Maybe he was all of these things. Or maybe none! Either way, he's usually considered to be Rome's greatest emperor, in addition to being one of the most important and influential people in all of Western civilization!
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