Political Maneuvers: Bribery and Propaganda

Caesar’s Promised Payments

In his will, Julius Caesar granted his adopted son a unique political opportunity. Immediately upon his arrival in Rome, Octavian accepted his adoption and claimed Caesar’s name and property. He then asked Antony to immediately turn over Caesar’s vast fortune so that he would be able to pay to the Roman citizens the amount of money promised by the dictator[1].

Antony, granted temporary control of the fortune by the dictator’s wife, refused to hand over control of Caesar’s wealth to Octavian, who he saw as a potential threat to his political position[2]. Octavian responded with a bold political move: he decided to pay to the Roman people the money promised by Caesar, even if he did not have direct control of the dictator’s wealth. After selling much of his own property, both from his own family and inherited from Caesar, and receiving financial support from friends and supporters of Caesar, Octavian acquired a large enough fortune that he could provide the Romans with the promised payments[3].

On its own, a payment of money or a bribe is a decent way to garner support, but this particular action reinforced his ties to the popularity of Caesar among the urban plebeians. The generosity of Caesar added to his status as a great man, as seen when the will was revealed. By acting as the vehicle through which the dictator presented his gifts to the people, Octavian tied himself to the popular support base of Julius Caesar. The payment came from Caesar, but was delivered by Octavian, allowing him to take credit for this generous action[4]. The political action of giving money to the people improved Octavian’s position by reinforcing his ties to Caesar’s power and popularity and by acting as a bribe used to purchase the loyalty of the population.

Glorification and Deification

Because his power was tied to the legacy of the popular dictator, Octavian used propaganda that glorified the power of Caesar to reinforce his new support base. In particular, he used the new wealth that he had gained to hold festivals honoring Caesar, which were used to rally support around the memory of the dictator.

At one such event, Octavian put on display Caesar’s special golden throne, which in addition to several other symbols was one of the honors voted to the dictator at the height of his power. Antony, trying to placate the senate, attempted to block this display; Octavian turned this around to say that Antony was disrespecting the memory of Caesar. He reminded the people that if the honors voted to Caesar were to be removed, they could not have confidence that any of the benefits they had previously received from the dictator’s decrees would be maintained.Viewed as a political maneuver, the attempted display of Caesar’s honors helped to remind the people of the dictator’s apparent greatness and turned public opinion against Antony for preventing the display[5].

Then, ancient sources—corroborated by Chinese astronomical records—reported that a comet appeared in the sky, which the population took as a sign of Caesar’s deification[6]. Either this was a spontaneous decision by the people, which shows how popular Caesar was, or a powerful piece of political propaganda[7] that allowed Octavian to increase his own power by glorifying Caesar and thus himself, since he claimed to be the legitimate successor to the dictator. Thus, Octavian’s propaganda glorified Caesar, enhancing his own power as Caesar’s son, with the added bonus of pulling support away from Antony when the consul tried to prevent the display of Caesar’s honor.

The Dutiful Son: Octavian’s Pietas

Octavian used the payment of money from the will and glorification of Caesar to gain power by reinforcing his ties to the dictator and taking responsibility for Caesar’s generosity. These actions mirrored an essential piece of Octavian’s political strategy: the continual use of bribes and Caesarian propaganda among the plebeians and Caesar’s veterans to gather support[8].

In addition, Octavian’s actions helped to portray him positively in relation to Roman cultural values, particularly the value called pietas that emphasized duty and respect towards one’s family and country[9]. Octavian claimed that he wanted only to honor his father and pay the promised amount of money to the people, as his father wanted[10]. In light of this, it is likely that the plebeians viewed Octavian as a selfless and dutiful son because he was taking on his familial duties by holding the festivals and honoring the last request of his father to pay the required portion of money to the people, despite a lack of funds.

Octavian pulled support away from Antony by claiming that the consul had disrespected his father by preventing him from fulfilling his familial duties, like in the case of Caesar’s honors. As part of this, the dictator’s heir used the anger that Caesar’s supporters felt towards Antony for refusing to punish the assassins to gather more support for his own cause[11]. Octavian portrayed himself as a dutiful son in the eyes of the Romans, possibly winning more popularity, while portraying Antony in a negative light in order to harm the consul’s support base.