Cultivating The Memory of Octavius Thuri

Journal of Ancient History 2015; 3(2): 242–266
Trevor Luke*
Cultivating the memory of Octavius Thurinus
DOI 10.1515/jah-2015-0012
Abstract: This article offers a reexamination of Suetonius’ account of Augustus’

early cognomen, Thurinus. In its first part, a historical explanation of the sur-
name’s longevity is presented. Augustus’ biological father’s success in suppres-
sing bandits in the ager Thurinus established a patron-client relationship between
the Octavii and Copia-Thurium and its surrounding environs. Both Octavian and
the Thurians revived this memory when it served their respective interests.
M. Antonius therefore used it derisively because of its topicality, not its obscurity.
The second part discusses Suetonius’ use of his gift to Hadrian of the Thurinus
statuette to revive a forgotten exemplum from the life of Augustus’ biological
father. Through this device, the biographer showcases his scholarship’s ability to
recover fading exempla in the tradition of Augustus. The author also uses the
statuette to intimate the positive prospects for a successful outcome to Hadrian’s
ambitions to be a new Augustus.
Keywords: Suetonius, Augustus, Hadrian, Roman statuettes, Roman names
In chapter seven of his biography of Augustus, Suetonius, exploring the possible

origins of Octavius’ former cognomen Thurinus, describes a bronze statuette of
the boy Octavian he had earlier given to the emperor Hadrian as a gift:1
Infanti cognomen Thurino inditum est, in memoriam maiorum originis, vel quod regione Thurina
recens eo nato pater Octavius adversus fugitivos rem prospere gesserat. Thurinum cognomina-
1 Suet. Aug. 7.1: “A cognomen was given to the babe, Thurinus, for the remembrance of the origin
of his ancestors, or because soon after he was born his father prevailed over fugitives in the
Thurian region. I have proposed that he was given the cognomen Thurinus on the basis of reliable
evidence, for when I obtained an ancient bronze statuette of the boy, inscribed with this name in
iron letters that were now almost rubbed away, I gave it to the emperor as a gift, and he worships
it among the Lares of his private chamber. Also, Octavian was often called Thurinus by M. Anto-
nius in correspondence as a way of insulting him, and he himself responded with nothing more
than that he marveled his former name was being cast at him as an insult.”
*Corresponding author: Trevor Luke, Department of Classics, Florida State University,

Tallahassee, FL, USA, E ˗ Mail: tluke@fsu.edu

Authenticated | gfarney@andromeda.rutgers.edu
Download Date | 10/30/18 11:41 PM
Cultivating the memory of Octavius Thurinus 243
tum satis certa probatione tradiderim, nactus puerilem imagunculam eius aeream veterem,
ferreis et paene iam exolescentibus litteris hoc nomine inscriptam, quae dono a me principi data
inter cubiculi Lares colitur. Sed et a M. Antonio in epistolis per contumeliam saepe Thurinus
appellatur, et ipse nihil amplius quam mirari se rescribit, pro obprobio sibi prius nomen obici.
Suetonius ostensibly brings up the statuette in order to support the claim that
Octavian once bore the cognomen Thurinus. The modern portrait of Suetonius the
scholar may incline one to accept at face value his scholarly explanation for this
gesture.2 The present examination begins with the assumption that there is more
that can be gleaned from this passage in terms of both history and historiography.
It seeks, first, to explain the longevity of the memory of Octavian’s obscure, early
cognomen. Then, it pursues the possibility that Suetonius was conveying far more
through this small image than hard evidence of the first emperor’s childhood
name. By cultivating the memory of C. Octavius’ victory in the ager Thurinus and
its commemoration in Octavian’s early cognomen, Suetonius emulated Augustus
as one who preserved and transmitted the exempla of famous figures of the
Republic. More speculatively, it is suggested that the statue and Suetonius’
account of it, recalling as they did Augustus’ passage from childhood to adult-
hood, symbolized a positive outcome for Hadrian at a time uncertainty.
This article is divided into two parts. The first part pursues the history of the
name Thurinus to provide a tentative explanation for the endurance of an obscure
early name (prius nomen) of the first emperor. It is argued that Octavian cultivated
the name Thurinus in order to connect himself to his biological father’s achieve-
ments in south Italy in the period between Octavian’s initial landing near Lupiae
and the Battle of Mutina. The name was then revived briefly in 40 BCE when
Sextus Pompeius was raiding Consentia and Thurium. In the second part, the
discussion turns to the significance of the statue of Octavius Thurinus in its
Suetonian context. Suetonius uses his account of the gift of the statuette to
valorize his scholarship as a tool for restoring moribund exempla in manner that
emulates Augustus’ efforts in the Forum of Augustus as described in chapter eight
of the emperor’s Res Gestae. It is also hypothesized that Suetonius’ description of
the gift and Hadrian’s interaction with it may be interpreted as symbolizing hope-
ful prospects for Hadrian realizing his ambition to be a new Augustus. This
exploration widens the range of questions and evidences considered in connec-
tion with the name Thurinus in order to reach for more satisfactory answers to
unresolved questions and a deeper understanding of both the name and Sueto-
nius’ methods.
2 Wallace-Hadrill (1984).
244 Trevor Luke
I Octavius becomes Thurinus

Arguably the best point at which to enter a discussion of the historical signifi-
cance of Augustus’ prius nomen Thurinus is Suetonius’ reference to the epistolary
exchange between Antonius and Octavian on the subject in the Triumviral period.
Antonius taunted Octavian with the claim that his great-grandfather was a freed-
man ropemaker from Thurian country (libertinum … restionem e pago Thurino),
and when the triumvir persisted in calling his junior colleague Thurinus as a put-
down, Octavian marveled that Antonius should use his old name as an insult
(Suet. Aug. 2.3, 7.1). As evidence for the reality of the name, this exchange is more
reliable than the statue—the evidence Suetonius appears to place the most weight
on—since the letters show not only that Antonius used the name multiple times,
but also that Octavian owned the name as authentic. The problem with the
statuette’s evidentiary value, as Dennison pointed out long ago, is the possibility
that Suetonius mistook an image of some deity or other person for the boy
Augustus.3 It is also quite possible, if not likely, that the statuette was a fake.4
Finally, Suetonius’ description of the image does not specify the presence of the
name Octavius on it. He only refers to Thurinus. It may therefore be the case that
the statue did not depict the boy Octavius at all.
So, although Octavius’ cognomen Thurinus is genuine, the questions of its
origin, meaning, and historical significance still await resolution. Suetonius
offers two possible explanations for its origin. The first explanation is that the
name was given to Augustus during his infancy in memory of the origin of his
ancestors; the second is that it commemorated his father’s victory over a band
composed of remnants of the Spartacans and Catilinarians in the regio Thurina
(Suet. Aug. 7.1). The first explanation is highly dubious. Since Suetonius com-
menced his biography of Augustus with a historical anecdote set in the Octavii’s
ancestral seat at Velitrae, it is safe to say that he did not intend to bolster the
credibility of a theory of the family’s origin that was probably based largely on
Antonius’ epistolary needling of his fellow triumvir (Suet. Aug. 1, 6.1). The second
explanation is much more attractive. The cognomen commemorating a father’s
military victory was not unknown to the late-republican era. Fraenkel pointed to
Asinius Pollio naming his son, born in 40 BCE, “Saloninus” in memory of his
victory over the people of Salona in Dalmatia in 39 BCE.5
3 Dennison (1898), 46.

4 Gross (1980), 128–129.
5 Wardle (2014), 101.
Fraenkel’s theory is reasonable, as far as it goes, but it is worth noting that

the circumstances surrounding Asinius Pollio’s commemorative naming of his
son were quite different from the proposed circumstances of Octavius’ naming of
little Thurinus. First, Pollio’s act of naming post-dates C. Octavius’ by two dec-
ades; second, unlike C. Octavius, Pollio celebrated a triumph for the victory in
Dalmatia, and it was the triumph that prompted him to confer the new name on
his son in honor of the victory; and third, Pollio probably conferred the new
cognomen on his son in person.6 While the latter is not an absolute necessity, it is
nevertheless the case that Asinius dubbed his son Saloninus in close chronologi-
cal proximity to his Dalmatic triumph. In contrast, Octavius’ victory in the
Thurian region could not have resulted in a triumph and Octavius likely did not
see his son again after his departure for his province in 61/60 BCE.7 Moreover, one
is left to wonder why it is that Octavius hastened to confer upon his son a name
that commemorated a comparatively insignificant victory over bandits, when he
knew that he had yet to reach his province and the opportunities for more
distinguishing military action that it would afford.8
The circumstances of Octavius’ life after his victory in the ager Thurinus
militate against the likelihood that it was he who gave his son the cognomen
Thurinus. Indeed, there is very little about the claim that Octavius conferred the
cognomen Thurinus on young Octavius that makes sense given the predominant
practice of bestowing honorific cognomina in honor of victories during the
Republic. Most cognomina of this kind were borne by the victors themselves in
consequence of an acclamatio imperatoria for a victory over peoples outside of
Italy. There is no record of an imperial acclamation for C. Octavius for his victory
in the ager Thurinus. Such a surname was at first informally used, no doubt with
the victor’s encouragement, and then might eventually be formalized by senator-
ial decree, usually in connection with the grant of a triumph.9 Thurinus as used of
6 D.C. 48.41; Hor. Carm. 2.1.15.

7 The identification of some of the bandits as Spartacans, if true, would have excluded the
possibility of an honor greater than an ovation, since the Spartacans were fugitive slaves. See
Marshall (1972), 672. Although it is possible that Octavius took his family to his province (a known
practice of governors), nothing indicates that he did. In fact, his mission in the ager Thurinus
militates against the possibility.
8 One potential explanation is that Octavius sought to emulate, to the extent possible, the
inflated recognition (imperatorial acclamation, supplicatio) C. Antonius received for his victory
over Catilinarians at Faesulae. See Brennan (2000), 533.
9 Linderski (1990), 160–161: “As a first prerequisite for a “victorious” surname we should posit
not the triumph itself … but rather the acclamatio imperatoria or more generally … the militaris
favor, aura popularis or adsentatio familiaris. Thus the fons et origo of the honorific surnames was
the private appellatio of the (victorious) general (which naturally enough may have been engi-
246 Trevor Luke
C. Octavius’ young son does not conform to any of these criteria. It is for this
reason that Fraenkel must appeal to the example of Saloninus over two decades
after C. Octavius’ victory.
The history of Roman boys acquiring honorific cognomina from their fathers’
victories in the early Empire made this explanation plausible to the second-
century author. Suetonius probably saw Octavian’s honorific cognomen as
roughly parallel to the surname Germanicus, which was passed on to the children
of Drusus in honor of his victories in Germany, as the author reports in his
biography of Claudius.10 Since the honor was awarded posthumously, the chil-
dren bore a name derived from the accomplishment of a deceased father. Indeed,
the Senate probably extended the honor to Drusus’ children because Drusus was
deceased.11 Nevertheless, Suetonius’ beliefs are, in a sense, historically beside the
point. However plausible it was to Suetonius, the idea that C. Octavius or Atia
called their infant son Thurinus is hardly credible. “Bessicus” would have been
far more believable, since Octavian’s troops did hail him imperator after his
victory over the Bessi.12 This leaves us with the more likely explanation that the
name was coined by the Thurians for C. Octavius père (either at the time of his
victory or later) and voluntarily assumed by his son Octavian much later.
In order to understand why the latter explanation is more plausible, it is
necessary to reexamine C. Octavius’ victory over the Spartacan-Catilinarian force
in the region of Thurium and the early days of Octavian’s return to Italy after the
assassination of Caesar. First, a brief overview of elements of the history of
Rome’s activities in the ager Thurinus will be useful. Rome established a Latin
colony in the area of ancient Thurii in the first decade of the second century.13 This
colony began as a legionary settlement named Castrum Frentinum.14 The colony’s
name was later changed to Copia. The identification of Copia with the exact
location of its Greek predecessor, the colony Thurii, is to this day uncertain.
During his raid of Italy, Spartacus seized the mountains near Copia-Thurium and
neered by the general himself) …. [A] general apellatus Creticus remained Creticus regardless of
whether he received a triumph or not. But as imperator did not equal triumphator, so also the
surname ex virtute was hollow without a triumph. It was a great honor if the senate acknowledged
the honorific surname by including it in the decree granting the triumph; only then would the
general appear on the official roster of triumphatores in the full splendor of his name ex victa ab se
gente.”
10 Suet. Claud. 1.3. Another example is the Senate’s conferral of the cognomen Britannicus on the
emperor Claudius’ son. See D.C. 60.22.2.
11 Barrett (2002), 151.
12 CIL VI.41023; Vell. 2.59.2.
13 Liv. 34.53, 35.9; Strabo 6.13.
14 Erdkamp (2006), 112.
the city itself (Appian, BC 1.117). Even after the defeat and death of Spartacus,
survivors from his makeshift army continued to occupy the area and harass its
people. To get some sense of the condition of the ager Thurinus after Spartacus,
one can turn to Cicero’s pro Tullio (71 BCE), which depicts a region still bearing
the fallow fields and burnt buildings left behind by the depredations of Spartacus’
army.15 Cicero provides a peek into the extensive Roman interests in the ager
Thurinus, which endured after Spartacus’ death. The ager Thurinus described in
Cicero’s narratio has large estates and villas owned by Romans.16 Spartacan
destruction provided buyers in Rome an opportunity to pick up damaged proper-
ties on the cheap. With fertile farmland and easy access to the sea, the ager
Thurinus was an attractive investment, despite its risks.17 In the conflict depicted
in Cicero’s pro Tullio, Fabius may have drawn from remnants of the army of
Spartacus to supplement the armed slaves who initially attacked the men of
Q. Catius and then M. Tullius.
A decade later, survivors of Catiline’s failed rebellion joined forces with these
Spartacan bandits.18 The combined forces, occupying the ager Thurinus, consti-
tuted such a threat to Roman interests that the Senate assigned the ex-praetor
15 Cic. Tull. 14. Münzer (RE s.v. Fabius 1909, 1747–1748) first connected the destruction described
in the pro Tullio to Spartacus’ army. See also Frier (1983), 221–241. Lintott (2008), 69 attributes the
destruction instead to the Social War, but he does not argue the issue.
16 Cicero’s client, Marcus Tullius, inherited his farm in the ager Thurinus from his father
M. Tullius. The defendant, P. Fabius, whose slaves massacred the slaves of Tullius, purchased his
land from the senator C. Claudius. When Claudius had purchased the farm for a high price, it had
been integrum et ornatissimum. In other words, this was a well-established property. By the time
Fabius purchased it, however, Claudius’ farm was poorly cultivated and its buildings were
burned. Doubtless Spartacan forces had attacked the farm, and Claudius chose to dump the
property rather than repair the damage. Fabius had a partner in the purchase, Cn. Acerronius,
who lived at Rome (Tull. 16). Acerronius pulled out of the partnership, forfeiting his investment,
when he realized Fabius was up to no good. The first victims of Fabius are two slaves of Q. Catius
Aemilianus, whom Cicero describes as someone familiar to the court (Tull. 19). He, too, was
Roman, bringing the total of number of Romans involved in business near Thurium in Cicero’s
narratio to five. On Catius, see Zumbo (2008), 161–176.
17 During the initial process of Roman colonization in Thurii, 36,000 iugera of arable land, i.e.,
one-third of the entire surveyed territory, was left unassigned. This extra land was exploited in
subsequent decades, legally or otherwise. See Liv. 35.9.7–9; Gargola (2008), 505.
18 One of the alleged Catilinarian conspirators was Titus Volturcius of the town of Croton
(ancient rival of Sybaris). See Cic. Cat. 3.4; Sall. BC 44.3; Plu. Cic. 18. His participation in the
conspiracy raises the possibility of local support for Catiline, and thus the promise of a familiar or
even hospitable refuge in the aftermath of the failed conspiracy. On the other hand, Stewart
(1995), 62–78 has proposed that the name Catiline was attached to, and has thus papered over, a
larger problem of general Italian unrest. This may very well be true. In that case, Octavius’ victory
would be one more example of the spurious use of the name Catiline to gild one’s achievements.
248 Trevor Luke
C. Octavius the extraordinary (extra ordinem) assignment of suppressing them en

route to his province of Macedonia.19 Once one appreciates the extent of private
Roman investment in land, buildings, equipment, and slaves in the ager Thurinus
a decade earlier, it is not difficult to see why these bandits continued to target the
region and the Senate responded by assigning a Roman governor the task of
suppressing them early in 60 BCE.20 Octavius’ task probably did not involve a
pitched infantry battle but instead a drawn-out process of rooting out bandits,
some of whom had been living and operating in the area for roughly a decade,
well ensconced in the mountains.21 Local cooperation was absolutely necessary in
the laborious task of eliminating, or at least checking, this bandit scourge.22
The duration of the bandit problem and Thurian memory of Spartacan occu-
pation of the city were sufficiently important to those who lived in, or at least
owned ample property in, the ager Thurinus that, however insignificant in the
grand scheme of things, Octavius’ victory would have been enthusiastically
celebrated. Both landowners in Rome and local Thurians (whatever their ethnic
origins) would have had reason to show Octavius their gratitude. Perhaps there
was a local victory celebration and the people unofficially acclaimed Octavius
“Thurinus.”23 Land and other property may have been offered to the victor as
tokens of gratitude. Wealthier local Thurians may have sought out the promising
ex-praetor (who was a potential consul after all) as a patron. Although one cannot
be certain regarding the particulars, the tenacity of the name Thurinus suggests it
sprang from a substantial cause. The fact that Octavius’ victory in the ager
Thurinus addressed a longstanding problem that vexed wealthy senatorial and
local Thurian families partly explains the name’s enduring purchase.
In any event, after his assignment in the ager Thurinus, C. Octavius went on
to become a successful governor. Cicero proffered him as a model judge and
governor for his brother Quintus to emulate (Q. fr. 1.1.7, 1.2). He defeated the Bessi
19 Suet. Aug. 3. Carter (2009), 92–93; Wardle (2014), 89. For an insightful summary of Octavius’
proconsulship, see Brennan (2000), 534–535.
20 Brennan’s (2000), 534 timeline has Octavius arriving in his province in June of 60. This would
have given him ample time to undertake a fairly extensive operation to root out bandits in the ager
Thurinus earlier that year.
21 On banditry, see Shaw (1984), 3–52.
22 Shaw (1984), 19.
23 Although C. Antonius received an imperatorial acclamation and a supplicatio for suppressing
Catilinarians at Faesulae, he probably secured these through the influence of his consular
position. For the novus homo Octavius, there was no question of obtaining official kudos for an
operation against bandits. See Brennan (2000), 533–534. Such a local, informal celebration of
Octavius’ victory would not have had the same ramifications as the imperatorial acclamation of
his soldiers.
in battle, killing numerous enemy combatants, and at that point his troops
acclaimed him imperator.24 After this acclamation he could have justifiably
assumed the cognomen Bessicus on an informal basis. With such success under
his belt, he may have also considered petitioning for a triumph and certainly had
in mind to run for the consulship.25 He hoped that his familial connection with
Julius Caesar (cos. 59) would bear political fruit. Unfortunately, on his way back
to Rome C. Octavius died at Nola, where he probably owned an estate, and left a
wife and three children: Octavia Maior, Octavia Minor, and C. Octavius.26
The death of C. Octavius did not end the relationship between his family and
the ager Thurinus.27 Octavius’ son, the future emperor Augustus, lived with his
paternal grandparents, perhaps at Velitrae, until his grandmother died, which
occurred sometime after his mother remarried in 57 or 56 to L. Marcius Philip-
pus.28 Perhaps he visited Copia-Thurium at some point in his childhood or teen-
age years. If so, then he could have seen any land that grateful Romans or local
Thurians gifted their liberator C. Octavius. Local freedpersons managing an Octa-
vian farm or engaging in local business may have inspired Antonius’ joke about
Octavian’s freedman ancestor, the Thurian ropemaker. On its own, however, the
hypothetical patron-client connection between the Octavii and Copia-Thurium is
still insufficient to explain Antonius’ abuse of the name Thurinus and Octavius’
acknowledgement of it as a genuine, albeit former, name.
24 See n. 12.
25 Brennan (2000), 534–535 argues that Octavius would have dismissed the idea of seeking a
triumph because of the difficulty of obtaining one. His decision to seek the consulship, attested by
both Suetonius and Velleius, would have presumably precluded the option of seeking the
triumph, as it had earlier for Caesar. In order to obtain a triumph, he would have had to wait
outside the pomerium, which would have rendered impossible the declaration of his candidacy
for the consulship.
26 Suetonius tells us both that C. Octavius died suddenly while returning to Rome from his
province (decedens Macedonia) and also that Augustus died in the very same room his father had
died in at Nola, Italy. In other words, Octavius died in his villa at Nola at a stop on his journey back
to Rome. See Suet. Aug. 4.1, 100.1.
27 As Wardle (2014), 94–95 has noted, it may even have been the case that Octavius had family
ties in the region, if Cassius of Parma’s barb about Octavian’s paternal grandfather being a
money-counter from Nerulum (Suet. Aug. 4.2) connects with any reality. See also Cova (1992), 65.
28 Suet. Aug. 94.7 relates the story of the miracle of the toddler Augustus silencing the croaking
of frogs on his grandfather’s suburban estate (in avito suburbano) as soon as he learns to talk.
Nicolaus of Damascus (F 127.3) reports that Octavius went to live with his mother and L. Marcius
Philippus after his grandmother’s death. For the marriage of Atia and Philippus, see Southern
(2001), 4. Nicolaus (F 127.3) also reports that the nine-year-old Octavian gave a speech at Rome,
but there is some question about the transmission of his age in the text. It could be that Octavian
visited Rome for the first time since his father’s death around 54 BCE.
250 Trevor Luke
In the period preceding the assassination of Caesar, problems reemerged in

the ager Thurinus. These problems were once again connected with events in
Rome. After Caesar’s departure for Greece to fight Pompey, the Caesarian praetor
M. Caelius Rufus proposed debt relief, was suspended from office, and then
joined a rebellion against Caesar (Dio Cassius 42.22–24). While he actually sought
to join the former tribune Milo in Campania, he pretended to be setting out for
Caesar in order to get out of the city. Finding that Milo had been killed, Rufus
appealed to the pastores (often associated with banditry) of the ager Thurinus.29
Depending on which source one chooses to trust, either the Thurians (Caesar,
BC 22) or the army of the consul P. Servilius Vatia Isauricus (Velleius Paterculus
1.68), acting on the authority of the Senate, checked Rufus at or near Copia-
Thurium. Perhaps both are true. When these events in the ager Thurinus were
transpiring, Octavian was outside of Rome on one of his father’s estates, perhaps
the one at Nola (Nicolaus of Damascus F 127.4). He had been sent there at the first
outbreak of the civil war.
Not long after the suppression of Rufus’ rebellion, Octavian assumed the toga
virilis (October 18, 48).30 Caesarians would have had much to celebrate in the fall
of 48, since Caesar had defeated Pompey at Pharsalus in early August and the
threat to Caesarian government in Rome had been quashed. The people of the
ager Thurinus would also have had reason to celebrate. They had at the very least
assisted Caesar’s ally and co-consul in repelling and defeating the rogue praetor
Caelius Rufus. Caesar’s success in Greece amplified their jubilation. In this spirit
of celebration, the people of Copia-Thurium may have sent a small bronze statue
of Octavian to Rome, bearing the name Thurinus in memory of his father’s
Thurian victory. The statue, an imaguncula puerilis, depicted the boy wearing the
toga praetexta and bulla and in this way resembled other such statues of freeborn
Roman children. Statues of this kind were perhaps dedicated to the gods (includ-
ing the Lar familiaris?) in gratitude for the divine preservation of the child to
adulthood.31 In this case, the people of Copia-Thurium sought to maintain and
strengthen their ties to the Caesarians by exploiting their connection with the
family of C. Octavius. That statue, or a copy of it, was given to Hadrian as a gift by
Suetonius Tranquillus.32
29 Caes. BC 3.20–22; Vell. 1.68.

30 Suet. Aug. 8.1; D.C. 45.2.5. Nicolaus (F 127.4) has him assuming the manly toga at fourteen.
31 Palmer (1996), 17–22.
32 This statue has been explained away as a learned fake or Suetonius’ misidentification of a
statue of the Etruscan Mercury, Turms. On the theory that the statue is a fake, see Gross (1980),
128–129. For its misidentification, see Dennison (1898), 46. See also Wardle (2014), 102–103. It
would not have been the first time the people of Thurium honored a Roman with a statue. In the
After Caesar’s assassination, Octavian, who had been in Apollonia preparing

to accompany Caesar on his Parthian campaign, returned to Italy. At that time,
Octavian wrestled with the issue of how best to deal with Caesar’s legacy and the
perils attendant upon taking it up. Clearly Octavian exercised a great deal of care
in his physical arrival in Italy. He landed first at Lupiae, a relative backwater,
before he proceeded to the more popular entrance point at Brundisium, which he
reached on March 28.33 The risks involved in bearing Caesar’s legacy also recom-
mended to him the wisdom of some flexibility regarding his self-presentation and
name. Although he seems to have decided to take up the name Caesar fairly soon
after learning of his father’s will, he had to contend with the resistance of his
stepfather and the anxiety of his mother.34 Atia yielded in a letter Octavian
received at Brundisium, but Philippus was not addressing him as Caesar almost a
month later.35 The power of Caesar’s name, coupled with the gravity of the
decision to take it up, had the historiographical effect of effacing the memory of
more complex strategies of self-presentation in the early days of Octavian’s return
early third century, they honored the tribune C. Aelius with a statue for bringing aid to the city.
See Plin. NH 43.32. Suetonius’ gift of a Thurian bronze statue may have triggered another Aelius’
(Hadrian) historical memory of the earlier statue.
33 On Octavian’s landing in Italy and progress to Rome, see App. BC 3.10–12; Nic. Dam. F 130.42–
42; Toher (2004), 174–184. For the date of Octavian’s arrival at Brundisium, see Becht (1911), 41.
34 App. BC 3.11; Nic. Dam. F 130.51–54; Vell. 2.50. Atia’s letter to her son regarding the will of
Caesar reached Octavian at Brundisium on March 28. Octavian considered adopting the name
Caesar no later than this and perhaps earlier, as Philippus’ letter warning him not to do so
suggests. Indeed, Octavian’s declaration of his intention to use the name Caesar is probably what
prompted Philippus’ warning. See Nic. Dam. F 130.53. Nicolaus (F 130.54) then writes that Atia
was the first to assent to Octavian’s use of the name Caesar. Nicolaus’ account of the letters of Atia
indicates that she sent several on the topic of her son’s return. The first (F 130.38) was sent to
Apollonia. It reported the assassination and included a request that Octavian return to her. After
landing in Calabria, Octavian waited at Lupiae for more letters, including one from his mother (F
130.51). Then Octavian set sail for Brundisium. There he received another letter from his mother,
which urged him to return to her quickly lest he come to harm as he was now Caesar’s son (F
130.52). Nic. Dam. F 130.54 tells his reader that Atia assented to Octavian’s use of the name Caesar.
Velleius (2.50) refers to her displeasure regarding its proposed assumption. This seems to indicate
that she resisted the suggestion for a time. Philippus continued to call Octavian C. Octavius during
the latter’s stay at Cumae, which occurred from April 19 to at least April 22. See Cic. Att. 14.10, 11,
12. This sequence suggests that Atia first assented to Octavian’s use of the name Caesar after
Octavian had reached Brundisium, but Philippus continued to use the name C. Octavius as late as
the second half of April 44. Based on this evidence, it is reasonable to suppose that the young
Octavian did not publicly adopt the name Caesar until Brundisium. Before then, he may have
traded on the memory of his father’s achievements in south Italy by calling himself C. Octavius
Thurinus.
35 Cic. Att. 14.12.2.
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to Italy.36 Nevertheless, before Octavian’s arrival at Brundisium, when he was

traveling in the south, the memory of C. Octavius’ exploits in the ager Thurinus
would have been most useful to the untried youth. He may have referred to himself
as C. Octavius Thurinus at this time, particularly before his mother had yielded to
his determination to take up the name of his adoptive father Caesar (Nicolaus of
Damascus F 130.54). When people from the surrounding regions streamed to
Octavian’s side at Brundisium, some from the ager Thurinus might have shown
their support by carrying a copy of the little bronze statue of Octavius Thurinus.37
After he was publicly called Caesar at Brundisium, Octavian need not have
dropped the name Octavius Thurinus all at once. Especially while he remained in
Magna Graecia, his tie to the ancient city of Thurii would have lent the unaccom-
plished Octavian an air of independent substance, at least so the young man
imagined. Even as he prepared to arrive in Rome, he may have used the name to
ingratiate himself with Cicero.38 The shrewd Octavian would have used Cicero’s
esteem for the deceased C. Octavius, Cicero’s supposed partner in the war against
Catiline, to win over the pater patriae who had saved Rome from the Catilinarian
conspiracy. Legend interwove the lives of Octavius and Octavian with the Catili-
narian crisis in more ways than one. Suetonius reports that Octavian’s birth
caused Octavius’ tardiness to the Curia at the time of the debate over the Catilinar-
36 Indeed, it is Antonius’ awareness of the power of the name Caesar, to which Cicero refers at
Phil. 13.24–25 (et te, o puer, qui omnia nomini debes!) that prompts him to prick Octavian by calling
him Thurinus.
37 The brandishing of appropriate statues was standard practice for partisans who intended to
show support for a leader or his faction. Julius Caesar displayed statues of Marius during his
political rise in the 60s. See Suet. Jul. 11; Plu. Caes. 5.2–4. The supporters of Sextus Pompeius bore
statues of Neptune to express support for him in 40. See D.C. 48.31.5.
38 On Octavian’s visit with Cicero, see Cic. Att. 14.10, 11, 12. See also Southern (2000), 23. Cicero
(14.10) reports Octavian arrived at Naples on April 18, and came to see him at Cumae the next day,
April 19. At that time Octavian informed Cicero that he intended to take up his inheritance. Shortly
thereafter, according to Cicero’s letter to Atticus of April 21 (14.11), Octavian took up residence at
the villa of Philippus, which was located right next to Cicero’s. In fact, Cicero implies that the
reason Octavian had come to the neighborhood was because he was so besotted with Cicero (mihi
totus deditus)! By April 22, Cicero (14.12) reveals the fear he feels regarding the Octavian phenom-
enon, which inspired Octavian’s followers both to salute Octavian as Caesar and also to threaten
Cicero. Octavian nevertheless treated Cicero perhonorifice and peramice. Thus Cicero felt confi-
dent following Philippus’ lead in not addressing Octavian as “Caesar.” Interestingly, nowhere in
this letter does Cicero refer to Octavian calling himself Caesar or demanding that others do so.
Cicero also does not characterize Philippus’ persistence in calling Octavian “Octavius” as an
explicit refusal to address him as Caesar. Philippus and Cicero are simply not emulating Octa-
vian’s followers. Cicero’s description suggests that the young Caesar handled the issue of his new
name with sufficient tact to avoid pressuring others, particularly his elders and superiors, to use
it.
ian conspiracy.39 When Nigidius Figulus discovered why Octavius was late to the
Senate, he announced that the master of the world had been born.40 The meeting
of young Octavian and Cicero, wherein a boy of eighteen sought to capture the
favorable attention and support of the senior statesman, may have sown the seeds
of such later tales.
Cicero may have mentioned C. Octavius’ exploits in Italy and the name
Thurinus in a speech he delivered in support of Octavian during preparations for
the campaign to rescue Decimus Brutus at Mutina.41 At this juncture, when it was
being proposed that Octavian receive pro-praetorian imperium, Cicero’s reference
to C. Octavius’ earlier success fighting Catiline’s brigands would have provided a
boost for Octavian and allowed Cicero to remind others of his own prior success
in saving the Republic—as he was wont to do. Finally, we might imagine Cicero
using the name Thurinus rhetorically and slyly. Certainly it was not to be taken
too literally, and such a gesture was in fact in keeping with Cicero’s thinly veiled
disdain for the youth.42 Cicero could have easily walked such a fine line.
Once Octavian could boast of his own success at Mutina, the usefulness of the
name Thurinus would have quickly expired. During Octavian’s conflicts with
Sextus Pompeius and Antonius in 40 BCE, however, the name may have been
resurrected at Copia-Thurium as a rallying cry against Sextus Pompeius. At that
time, Sextus Pompeius launched cavalry attacks against the territories of Consen-
tia and Thurii, both cities on the southern Italian coast and thus easily accessible
to Sextus’ ships (Appian, BC 5.56). The Thurians managed to fend off Sextus and
39 Suetonius seems to be following Vell. Pat. 2.60 in drawing attention to the coincidence of
Augustus’ birth and the consulship of Cicero. The difference is that Suetonius goes further in
linking the birth with Cicero’s finest hour in the consulship. He extends the connection another
step by associating Octavian’s father with the destruction of Catilinarian survivors in the ager
Thurinus.
40 Suet. Aug. 94.5; D.C. 45.1.5. According to Dio, Octavius, patriotically fearing for the Republic,
considered killing the boy, but Nigidius told him that Fate would not allow the baby to die. Plut.
Cic. 20.3 reports the involvement of Nigidius in Cicero’s private deliberations on the subject of the
punishment of the conspirators, after a sign appeared to Cicero’s wife Terentia while she was
participating in the rites of Bona Dea (Cic. 20.1).
41 Dio’s speeches for Cicero and Calenus on the occasion of the preparations for Mutina deal
extensively with recent Republican history. The figures of Pompey and Catiline are raised
repeatedly. See D.C. 45.18–46.28. At 45.29, Dio reports that many other arguments were presented
on both sides, with the result that Octavian was voted certain privileges and money to pay for the
troops he had already raised. Presumably, the arguments referred to here would have addressed
the character of Octavian, and would have touched on his father’s accomplishments. Plut.
Ant. 17.1 mentions the fact that Cicero persuaded the Senate to send Octavian the fasces and the
other insignia of a praetor. See also Suet. Aug. 10.2–3; App. BC 3.50–51; Cic. Phil. 3, 4.
42 Cic. Fam. 11.20.1; Vell. Pat. 2.26.6; Suet. Aug. 12.
254 Trevor Luke
his cavalry (Appian, BC 5.58). One imagines that the memory of Copia-Thurium’s
relationship with the Octavii could have provided a psychological boost that
steeled Thurian resistance against Sextus’ forces.43 Whatever prior utility it had,
Antonius continued to find the name Thurinus useful fodder for his own humor at
Octavian’s expense. It is possible that Antonius initiated this joke after Thurii’s
success against Sextus, or when he and Octavian celebrated a dual ovation in
40.44 Perhaps in making the joke Antonius was actually responding to a jab from
Octavian regarding Antonius’ father, “Creticus,” whose failed invasion of Crete
and subsequent death on the island rendered his father’s honorific surname, also
unofficial like Thurinus, susceptible to derision.45 Such a joke certainly would
have been salient during Antonius’ siege of Brundisium. In any case, Octavian’s
response to Antonius’ joke about Thurinus was to profess bemusement that
anyone would resurrect his old name (prius nomen) as a means of insulting him
(Suet. Aug. 7.1). In the following year (39), Asinius Pollio would emulate the name
Octavius Thurinus indirectly by naming his own son Saloninus after his conquest
of Salona—an achievement he doubtless felt was worthier than C. Octavius’, or
the more recent exploits of the young Caesar.
Up to this point, this article has proffered a plausible reconstruction of the
history of Augustus’ name Thurinus. The aim has been to account for its presence
in the correspondence of Antonius and Octavian as well as the effort Suetonius
put into explaining it. The tentative conclusion is that it was Octavian who revived
his father’s informal honorific name during his travels in south Italy after the
assassination of Caesar. The name was coined by the Thurians when celebrating
C. Octavius’ liberation of the ager Thurinus. Although we are accustomed to
43 Consider the closely contemporary siege of Perusia, in which insulting messages were
inscribed on the bullets shot by both attackers and defenders. See Hallett (1977), 151–171.
Propaganda of this kind played an important role in the psychological aspect of siege warfare.
Doubtless positive messages were promulgated by the recipients of negative propaganda in order
to counter the latter’s impact.
44 After the Perusine War, Antonius allied with Domitius Ahenobarbus and besieged Brundi-
sium. See App. BC 5.55.56. Sextus’ attack on Consentia and Thurium constituted part of his
contribution to this effort. See App. BC 5.56. When Sextus was repelled from Thurium, Antonius
may have taunted Octavian with the insignificance of the victory by calling him Octavius Thurinus
in the tradition of Octavian’s father. Appian (5.60) depicts Antonius referring to letters he sent to
Octavian by the hand of Caecina. Dual ovations followed the pact of Brundisium in the fall of 40.
See D.C. 48.31.3; RG 4.1. The exact reason for the ovations remains uncertain. Humphrey and
Reinhold (1984), 60 n. 1, relying on Suet. Aug. 22, opined that it was possibly a delayed celebration
of the victory at Philippi. Sumi (2005), 196 sees the ovations as a celebration of the peace between
Octavian and Antonius. Uncertainty at the time about the justification for the ovations may have
inspired humorous attributions to small victories.
45 Florus 1.42.3; Linderski (1990), 161–164.
imagine Octavian becoming fully Caesar all at once and at the first possible
opportunity, Nicolaus of Damascus, who relied on Augustus’ autobiography, tells
a different story. Octavian carefully considered the issue of his name just as he
considered where he should first land in Italy. Furthermore, one ought not
suppose that Octavius Thurinus was dropped completely as soon as Caesar was
taken up. It is more likely the case that Octavius was Thurinus where and when
he and others found it useful, including, hypothetically, during the preparations
for the Mutina expedition. In the year 40, Thurian resistance to Sextus Pompeius
may have involved the revival of the name Octavius Thurinus. In the late 40s,
Antonius could have become aware of the name Thurinus through a variety of
sources in Italy and Rome. He used the name to needle Octavian, however, not
only because it was not Caesar, but also because it had played a minor but
surprisingly tenacious role from the time of Octavian’s return to Italy up to at least
40 BCE.
II A gift for the princeps

Now we will consider Suetonius’ purpose in capping off his argument for the
authenticity of the name Thurinus by referring to his gift to Hadrian. If Suetonius
planned to limit his overt references to the emperor to a single one, we must
conclude that his reference was chosen carefully and to maximize its impact.
Hadrian sought to emulate the emperor Augustus and wanted others to see him
as a new Augustus.46 One supposes that Hadrian’s interest in Augustus informed
Suetonius’ decision to dedicate so much effort to his biography of the first
emperor. Perhaps, had he completed the biographies under Trajan, Caesar would
have received the greater share of attention.47 In any case, one can safely assume
that Suetonius wrote with Hadrian’s devotion to the memory of Augustus in mind.
When Suetonius reports that he gave Hadrian a small statue of Octavian in the
biography of Augustus, it appears that, despite the fact that Septicius Clarus was
46 The most tangible instance of Hadrian’s imitatio Augusti is his mausoleum. Birley (2013) has
documented the many ways in which Hadrian sought to present himself as a new Augustus. A
particularly striking example is Hadrian’s speech, preserved by Charisius (Gramm. Lat. 1.222), in
which he represents himself as anxious to obtain the Senate’s consent in his petition to place a
silver shield next to the statue of Augustus in the Curia. This shield imitated the gold shield voted
to Augustus. See Birley (2013), 201.
47 Power (2010), 159–162 argues that Suetonius’ De viris illustribus may have been completed in
110 CE, leaving Suetonius plenty of time to work on his De Vita Caesarum before the death of
Trajan.
256 Trevor Luke
the dedicatee of the imperial biographies, the author has, in a sense, gifted this
life to Hadrian, too.48
The mention of the gift, then, should not be viewed as trivial. To the contrary,
it is more likely that the abundant space given to the subject of Thurinus served
the purpose of justifying a reference to the gift.49 Augustus, after all, bore many
names and nicknames over the course of his life. Suetonius might have devoted
greater effort to any of the others. Thurinus turned out to be ideal because: 1) it
was obscure and thus afforded him an opportunity to demonstrate his scholarly
acumen; 2) it allowed him to tie together Octavian’s father, his birth, Antonius’
abuse, and Suetonius’ gift to Hadrian, all with a single name; and, 3) it served as
a symbol of his own connection to Hadrian. To his patrons in imperial politics, the
latter would have been at once both a skillful boast and also an expression of
gratitude. Pliny would have been especially pleased.
One word especially draws our attention to the salience of Suetonius’ discus-
sion of the statuette in connection with Hadrian’s emulation of Augustus: exoles-
centibus. Suetonius uses exolescere principally in two senses. The first, which
relates to the surface sense of this passage quite well, is “to fade away,” or “to be
forgotten.”50 Suetonius employs this meaning of the word when he describes
Claudius’ Augustan-style restoration of moribund practices (exoleta revocavit),
and when he describes Galba’s antiquated custom (veterem civitatis exoletumque
morem) for dealing with his household slaves.51 The passage on Claudius’ restora-
tion of ancient customs is undoubtedly an allusion to Augustus’ Res Gestae,
where the emperor boasts that he brought back the fading exempla of the
ancestors (8: exempla maiorum exolescentia … reduxi). In the case of Augustus,
the fading exempla are not merely a metaphorical allusion to old-time virtues;
they also refer literally to the elogia bearing record of past accomplishments
attached to statues in the Forum of Augustus. Augustus uses his own bronze
inscription of his res prospere gestae, displayed before his Mausoleum, to refer to
the inscriptions of Republican heroes on display in the Forum.52
48 For the dedication to Septicius Clarus, see Lydus, De magistratibus 2.6. Birley (2013), 96, 108
points out the distinctly Hadrianic tinge to Suetonius’ understanding of Augustan policy.
49 Included in this reckoning are Antonius’ claim regarding Octavian’s Thurian grandfather and
Suetonius’ account of C. Octavius’ exploits in the ager Thurinus.
50 OLD s.v. exolescō, entries 2 and 3, respectively. The meanings of 2 and 3 are sufficiently closely
related to justify treating them as one in the present discussion.
51 Suet. Claud. 22; Galb. 4.
52 Other scholars treat the word exempla more metaphorically as a reference to ancient and
Augustan virtues. See Ramage (1987), 90–91; Ridley (2003), 109–112; Cooley (2009), 143–144.
Ridley (ibid. 112) does, however, briefly mention Augustus’ Forum.
Suetonius’ description of the fading letters (exolescentibus litteris) on the

bronze statuette must be read in the context of both the author’s reference to
Claudius’ restoration of old customs and Augustus’ boast of bringing back fading
exempla. When understood in this context, the allusive nature of Suetonius’
description of the bronze statuette becomes clear. Suetonius’ description of the
fading letters of a bronze statuette of the boy who would later author the Res
Gestae divi Augusti is not coincidental. In tying his gift to the emperor to the
accomplishments of Augustus’ father in the ager Thurinus, Suetonius engages in
his own imitatio Augusti by restoring an exemplum, albeit through a literary
monumentum. Suetonius intends to show that, while the epigraphic letters on
statues may fade, the scholar’s eye and the biographer’s pen are quite capable of
restoring exempla in the tradition of Augustus.
The topos of establishing the superiority of the spoken or written word over
the plastic arts in commemorating great men goes back to the foundation of the
encomiastic tradition and later appears in Cicero’s discussion of history in his
letter to Lucceius.53 In his Evagoras, Isocrates argued that the spoken or written
word was superior to statuary because it could embody acts worthy of emulation
(Ev. 75–76). Cicero declared that the accomplishments of famous men would
endure despite a lack of images, thanks to the good services of writers.54 Sueto-
nius here demonstrates the ability of his scholarship to rescue exempla from
oblivion. Without Suetonius, Hadrian might not have known that Octavian’s odd
cognomen was significant because it recalled the accomplishment of his father.
Furthermore, he may not have ever been aware of C. Octavius’ exploits in the ager
Thurinus, since Augustus had only publicly commemorated those of his father’s
exploits undertaken suo imperio.
Another form of exolescere appears several times in Suetonius’ biographies:
exoletus. Exoleti were male household slaves who had outgrown their status as
delicati, since they were now physically mature, but who continued to be the
object of their master’s sexual exploitation.55 Naturally, the thought that the
phrase exolescentibus litteris could have anything to do with exoleti in the context
of Suetonius’ gift seems at first to be quite a stretch. Moreover, the notion that the
freeborn Augustus could be an exoletus is absurd on its face, especially since the
53 Isoc. Ev. 73–76; Cic. Ad Fam. 5.12.7.

54 Ad Fam. 5.12.7: nec minus est Spartiates Agesilaus ille perhibendus, qui neque pictam neque
fictam imaginem suam passus est esse, quam qui in eo genere laborarunt; unus enim Xenophontis
libellus in eo rege laudando facile omnes imagines omnium statuasque superavit.
55 Butrica (2005), 223–231. The former view, which Butrica corrects, is that exoleti were male
prostitutes.
258 Trevor Luke
passage has no explicit sexual references whatsoever.56 That said, it is important

to remember that exoletus comes from the primary meaning of exolescere: “to
become an adult.”57
The statue’s exolescentis litteribus may allude to the boy Octavian’s coming of
age in addition to conveying the explicit meaning of “fading letters.” In the
sophisticated pederastic culture of the Trajanic and Hadrianic imperial courts,
which involved not only sex qua sex but also, at least in Hadrian’s case, Hellenic
philosophical ideals, many shades of meaning and metaphor related to this
sexual predilection will have been employed to appeal to the tastes of the
emperors and those who shared their preferences.58 The modern tendency to see
something lurid in every reference to this far-removed sexual culture should not
blind us to a broader range of possible meanings in such allusions, some of which
will have touched on not only sexual desire, but also aesthetic ideals and
philosophical ideals of masculine virtue.59
In other words, exolescere does not only denote the fading letters; it also
connotes both the passing of childhood (when one assumed the toga virilis) and
an associated idealized (and subtly eroticized) beauty. Thus, when Suetonius
describes Hadrian worshiping the image among the Lares of his private chamber
(inter cubiculi Lares colitur), there is a hint of his cherishing it for such beauty
and the idealism it might inspire.60 The idea that statues could inspire sexual
desire was a commonplace in Greco-Roman antiquity. Perhaps the most desired
statue of all was Praxiteles’ Aphrodite of Cnidus. Said to have been modeled
after Praxiteles’ courtesan lover, the Cnidia was the most copied of classical
Greek statues. A strikingly explicit example of lust for Cnidia is Pliny’s account
of the man who so admired her image that he tried to make love to it, thus
leaving a stain on the statue as evidence of the attempt (NH 36.4.21). Cnidia is
not the only instance of a statue inspiring eros. In Hadrian’s day, Juvenal writes
of the statue of Ganymede that served as a meeting place for lovers, no doubt
56 Both the lex Scantinia and the lex Julia de adulteriis coercendis can be interpreted as forbidding
the male penetration of a freeborn young man. See Richlin (1992), 224. Still, there is abundant
evidence that parents feared and guarded against the possibility. Ibid. 223–224.
57 OLD s.v. exolescō, 1.
58 Trajan’s pederasty: D.C. 68.6.4; Bennett (1997), 58–59. Hadrian’s pederasty: D.C. 69.11.2–4;
SHA Hadr. 2.7; Lambert (1984).
59 Bartsch (2006), 59–83 discusses the traditional association of pederastic eros and philosophy
and the tension it caused for Romans. For a response to Bartsch, see Edwards (2006), 84–90. On
Roman ideals regarding the beautiful male youth, see Richlin (1992), 225–226.
60 On the use of such small images in private and domestic cult, see Bonfante (1984), 1–17; Bodel
(2008), 248–275.
because its sexual associations and its appearance were both appropriate and
titillating.61
Suetonius obviously did not intend to signal raw sexuality in this passage.
Rather, the allusive conjuration of an aura of youth on the verge of manhood adds
to the sense of beauty Hadrian may have seen in this statue and others like it. The
emperor’s worship of the statue among his cubiculi Lares fits this image. After all,
the Lares were ordinarily represented as handsome youths, among whom a
comely statuette of young Octavius Thurinus would not have been out of place.62
The Lares were also commonly associated with the Dioscuri, Castor and Pollux,
who served as symbols of the scions of the imperial house.63 The constellation of
these deified heroes was Gemini, ruled over by the youthful Apollo—the arche-
typal Augustan deity (Manilius, Astron. 2.440). As it so happened, Apollo was also
the founder of Thurii (Diodorus Siculus 12.35). Octavius Thurinus thus might also
be interpreted as a form of Apollo, his placement among the Lares recreating his
rule over the Dioscuri in Gemini. Such an arrangement would have appealed to
the astrologically literate Hadrian.64
On the other hand, to minimize the possibility of a pederastic allusion in
Suetonius’ description of his gift to Hadrian is to fail to understand the broader
role of pederastic culture in the biographies. The ethics of this culture are raised
in the early chapters of the biography of Caesar, where reference is made to the
young Caesar’s scandalous relationship with King Nicomedes of Bithynia, a
subject later dealt with at some length in the biography.65 The relationship is
scandalous because Caesar is a freeborn Roman male of the nobility who is also
past the appropriate age to be an eromenos. In terms of his age (not his status),
then, Caesar is an exoletus, and C. Memmius will later even charge that Caesar
played cupbearer for the king (i.e., he was Ganymede) with the rest of the exoleti
(Suetonius, Iul. 49.2). Caesar, in turn, placed three legions at Alexandria under
the command of his own exoletus Rufio, the son of one of his freedmen (Sueto-
nius, Iul. 76.3).
61 Juv. 9.22–23. On the dating of the poem to the reign of Hadrian, see Courtney (2013),
1. Lactantius (Inst. 1.11.29) criticized the placement of statues of Ganymede in temples of Jupiter on
the grounds that they served to excite the sexual appetite.
62 Waites (1920), 250–252.
63 Waites (1920), 252–261. On the Dioscuri as symbols of imperial scions, see Kellum (1993), 291.
64 SHA Aelius Verus 3.9: fuisse enim Hadrianum peritum matheseos Marius Maximus … demon-
strat. Barton (2002), 56; Gregorovius (1898), 303–304.
65 Suet. Iul. 2.1. Osgood (2008), 687–691 attributes Caesar’s lengthy stay in Bithynia not to a
homosexual relationship but to his efforts to gather a foreign clientela.
260 Trevor Luke
In all of this there is a strong impression that Caesar transgressed propriety

and emulated the alien practices of Hellenistic monarchs in his relations with
Nicomedes and Rufio, respectively. This extended to Caesar’s relationship with
Octavian. Antonius accused Octavian of having won his inheritance by submit-
ting to Caesar’s illicit desires: M. Antonius adoptionem avunculi stupro meritum
(Suetonius, Aug. 68.1). Regardless of the fact that some of these claims were items
of stock invective, they do not appear to have been utterly dismissed by Sueto-
nius. Instead, the author tends to add weight to them, if only through repetition
and enumeration. The overall impression of the Suetonian image of Caesar’s
homoerotic and pederastic behaviors is that the author was treating them as
though they should be taken seriously. One cannot, therefore, simply assume that
Suetonius dismissed the accusation regarding Caesar’s pederastic relationship
with Octavian on the grounds that it belonged to the factually dubious category of
invective speech.
There was also a gentler side to Suetonius’ use of pederastic and homoerotic
imageries. Suetonius’ reader is treated to portraits of dashing young imperial
heirs and youthful emperors represented as the darlings of Rome. Germanicus,
heir of Tiberius, is presented as the absolute spiritual and physical ideal:66
omnes Germanico corporis animique virtutes, et quantas nemini cuiquam, contigisse satis
constat: formam et fortitudinem egregiam, ingenium in utroque eloquentiae doctrinaeque
genere praecellens, benivolentiam singularem conciliandaeque hominum gratiae ac promer-
endi amoris mirum et efficax studium. Formae minus congruebat gracilitas crurum, sed ea
quoque paulatim repleta assidua equi vectatione post cibum.
Even the one area in which Germanicus fell short of perfection—the proportion of
his legs–the young man corrected through regular, targeted exertion. The Roman
people loved him to the point that crowds endangered his life merely by their
eagerness to be in his presence (Suetonius, Gaius 4). When his son Gaius
succeeded Tiberius, the reflection of Germanicus’ memory conferred upon the
young emperor a blinding star power. As he approached the city for the first time
in his role as emperor, they hailed him by the auspicious pet-names of “star,”
“chick,” “babe,” and “foster-son” (Suetonius, Gaius 13). Titus attracted similar
affection. Suetonius’ introduces the biography of this celebrity emperor by calling
66 Suet. Gaius 3.1: “It was generally agreed that Germanicus was blessed with every virtue of
body and mind to a greater extent than anyone else. He was handsome, exceedingly brave,
eminently skilled in both Greek and Latin learning and eloquence, uniquely kind-hearted, and he
possessed a remarkable and efficacious way of winning people’s esteem and earning their love.
The slenderness of his legs did not suffice for his frame, but these too he bulked up little by little
through horseback riding after every meal without fail.”
him the love and sweetheart of humankind (Tit. 1: amor ac deliciae generis
humani).
The term deliciae, often rendered “pet,” was frequently used of children
(mostly slaves but many freedpersons too) who were objects of amusement in an
elite household.67 The more troubling side of that amusement involved sexual
abuse, as Suetonius’ portrait of Tiberius’ sexual practices shows.68 Suetonius also
used the term deliciae more loosely to characterize sexual relations with an adult
inferior. Vitellius’ freedman Asiaticus had once run away from Vitellius because
Vitellius was abusing him sexually when he was an adulescens, but Vitellius
recaptured him, freed him, and made him his plaything (Suetonius, Vit. 12: in
deliciis habuit). Clearly the word deliciae as applied to Titus is not to be taken
literally as in the case of Asiaticus, just as the allusive aspect of exolescere is not to
be interpreted in a predominantly sexual sense in reference to the statuette of
Octavius Thurinus. The boundaries dividing genuine erotic interest from the sexual
metaphors applied to favorites were blurry among Romans, Suetonius included.
The youthful appearance and possible divine associations of the statuette of
Octavius Thurinus suited the sentimental or even subtly erotic regard older
admirers directed at handsome young nobles in Roman culture. Suetonius pro-
vides a parallel example in his account of the death and commemoration of
Caligula’s older brother, Gaius. In the Caligula’s biography, Suetonius reports
that one of the children of Germanicus and Agrippina, who died just as his
coming of age was being celebrated, was posthumously represented in the form
of a statue (effigies) dressed as a Cupid.69 Livia dedicated one copy this statue in
the temple of Capitoline Venus (Erycina).70 Augustus placed another copy in his
private chamber (in suo cubiculo). Whenever he entered, he would kiss the image
fondly (quotiensque introiret, exosculabatur). The representation of the deceased
67 Laes (2003), 298–324.

68 Suet. Tib. 42–44; Laes (2003), 317–320.
69 Suet. Gaius 7. The young man died in 12 CE. Erotes or Cupids often appear in funerary art
commemorating deceased children. See Muller (1941), 497. The costuming of living children as
Erotes was not unheard of. When Cleopatra, in the guise of Aphrodite, approached Antonius in
Cilicia, she was accompanied by children dressed as Erotes. See Plut. Ant. 26.2.
70 According to Richardson (1992), 408 the Temple of Capitoline Venus is the aedes Veneris
Erucinae. This Venus was the Sicilian Venus of Eryx, on the western side of the island, which
Vergil claimed Aeneas had dedicated. Her temple at Rome was vowed in response to the disaster
at Trasimene in the Hannibalic War and dedicated by Q. Fabius Maximus Cuncator. For discus-
sion, see Orlin (2010), 40–47. The dedication of the image of the child Gaius in the form of Cupid, a
god closely associated with Venus, transcends the usual sentimental representation of the
deceased child as Cupid, and marks out Gaius as a descendant of Venus and Aeneas for whom the
goddess’ protection might have been expected.
262 Trevor Luke
Gaius as Cupid, and the fond kisses the aged Augustus lavishes on the image, are
reminiscent of the transformation of Cupid into Ascanius, who then beguiles
Dido, in Aeneid 2. There Cupid embodies divine aid of an erotic kind for securing
Trojan salvation in the court of Dido.71 Popular scions of the imperial household
similarly represented hope for Rome’s future. When these darlings of the next
generation were in peril, it could throw the populace of Rome into deep despair
about the prospects for the empire’s future, as was the case when Germanicus fell
ill and then died in 19 CE.72 Some people even threw their Lares familiares out into
the street upon hearing the news of Germanicus’ death.73
III Conclusion: symbol of a felicitous future

It was suggested above that Suetonius’ reference to his gift of a statuette to
Hadrian was perhaps a way of signaling that his biography of Augustus was also,
in a sense, presented to Hadrian as a gift. At the conclusion of this wide-ranging
investigation, one is prompted to ask what Suetonius intended to convey in
(re-)presenting his gift in this way. Power has argued that Suetonius very likely
commenced his work on his imperial biographies up to seven years before
Hadrian became emperor, and that he thus may have completed them before he
was ejected from the court in 122 CE.74 If this appealing theory is indeed correct,
then the biography of Augustus could have been first read either when the
Principate of Hadrian was considered a likely possibility or when it was still
relatively young.75 In other words, in the liminal phase comprising the end of
Trajan’s and the commencement of Hadrian’s Principate, when the empire’s
future was on the minds of many, Suetonius gave the gift of a statue of a young
Octavius Thurinus, about to come of age, to a soon-to-be or new emperor.
The gift of his biography of Augustus would follow not long thereafter. The
statue, especially as read through the lens of the biography, may thus represent
the promise and risk that belonged to the critical time of the cusp joining the
71 Ziogas (2010).
72 Suet. Gaius 5–6; Tac. Ann. 2.82–84.
73 Suet. Gaius 5: Lares a quibusdam familiares in publicum abiecti.
74 Power (2010), 159–162.
75 This statement assumes that: 1) Power’s (2010), 158 dating of the De viris illustribus to 110 CE is
correct; 2) that Suetonius started work on the De Vita Caesarum shortly thereafter; and, 3) that
readings of portions of the work (such as individual biographies) occurred before the whole was
completed. If he started with Divus Iulius and worked forward chronologically, he might have
completed a version of the Divus Augustus before Hadrian succeeded Trajan.
reigns of Trajan and Hadrian. Hadrian appropriately placed this statue of Octa-
vius Thurinus, emblem of a happy outcome, among the protecting Lares of his
private chamber in the hope that its promise would come to fruition. Like the
statue, that hope did not take a generic form. For Hadrian it was the hope that his
reign would be the reign of a new Augustus, who, like divus Augustus, would in
his turn be an exemplary model for future princes.
Other small images fulfill a similar literary function in Suetonius’ biogra-
phies. Also in the Divus Augustus is an account of Q. Lutatius Catulus Capitolinus’
dream of Jupiter placing a statuette representing the Republic (signum rei pub-
licae) in the sinus of the Octavian’s toga praetexta, thereby signaling the god had
entrusted Rome’s welfare to the boy.76 Another version of the dream portrays
unusual intimacy in Jupiter touching Octavian’s lips then moving his fingers to
his own mouth in a gesture of divinely motivated adoratio.77 A strongly negative
example is Nero’s imaguncula puellaris, the statuette of a nameless girl Nero
worshiped three times a day in the hope that it would protect him from assassina-
tion (Suetonius, Nero 56). If one accepts that the statuettes given to Octavian and
Hadrian are symbols looking forward to a felicitous future from the vantage point
of a time of uncertainty,78 then Nero’s relationship with this mysterious image
may be taken to represent the desperate and excessive actions of an emperor
whose reign is essentially already over.79 Nero is clinging to the empty hope of a
lost past. In this way, he stands as a warning to an emperor with an imaguncula
puerilis who hopes to experience quite a different outcome.
76 Suet. Aug. 94.8. The fact that the boy is wearing the toga praetexta is evident in the Suetonius’
description of him as e praetextatis compluribus … unum. For commentary on the dreams, see
Carter (2009), 202; Wiseman (2009); Wardle (2005); (2014), 524–528.
77 Wardle (2014), 526 interprets this as Jupiter signaling his acceptance of Octavian’s worship.
78 Catulus’ dream occurs after the birth of Octavian in 63 and before the death of Catulus in 60,
in a turbulent period of the late Republic. For Catulus’ death, see Cic. Cael. 59; Att. 1.20.3.
Revealing the identity of a new guardian of the Republic, Catulus’ dream can be interpreted as an
omen of his own death. At the same time, Catulus’ and Cicero’s prophetic dreams about Octavian
(94.8–9) are presented as harbingers of a better future. Cicero’s dream occurs the night before
Caesar assumes his first consulship in 59. See Wiseman (2009), 114. Wardle (2005), 41–42; (2014),
527 argues that the date must be 48 based on the fact that Caesar would be unlikely to summon a
child of three or four to the Capitoline for his inauguration as consul. None of the traditions
regarding these dreams, however, is particularly realistic, so one wonders whether the implausi-
bility of such an invitation is as important as the symbolism of the timing. A date of 59 for Cicero’s
dream would put it less than a year after Catulus’ death.
79 Whereas Suetonius situates Octavian’s imaguncula puerilis near the beginning of the Divus
Augustus (7.1), he places Nero’s imaguncula puellaris right near the end of the biography of Nero
(56). It would thus not be inaccurate to say that Suetonius’ Julio-Claudian dynasty is bookended
by two imagunculae.
264 Trevor Luke
This article has sought to offer greater illumination regarding two questions
about Suetonius’ account of Hadrian’s imaguncula of Octavius Thurinus. The first
question concerned the origin on the cognomen Thurinus and the causes behind
its longevity. It has been proposed that the cognomen arose during the informal
celebration of C. Octavius’ victory in the ager Thurinus, but that neither Octavius
nor Atia conferred it upon the infant Octavian. It was Octavian who revived the
name and applied it to himself during his return to Italy, and it was brought to life
again during Thurium’s struggle with Sextus Pompeius. It was at these times that
any bonds between Octavian and the people of the ager Thurinus would have
been particularly helpful to him.
The question of the literary purpose of the Suetonius’ reference to the gift is
more challenging and necessarily more speculative. Nevertheless, the argument
presented here is that: 1) Suetonius emulated Augustus in preserving and perpe-
tuating exempla that otherwise might have been forgotten when he reported
C. Octavius’ lesser-known victory in the ager Thurinus; 2) Suetonius also used the
statuette to symbolize a certain moment of promise and potential peril in life of
Hadrian. More specifically, Suetonius viewed the statuette of a boy Augustus on
the verge of manhood as symbolic of Hadrian’s circumstances sometime late in
the reign of Trajan or early in Hadrian’s reign. The image of such a noble youth
was charged with hope, idealism, and a certain eroticism that would have
appealed to the pederastic Hadrian, but it was also freighted with anxiety about
the uncertainty of the future. This element of anxiety, however, was more than
compensated by the divinity of the subject of the statuette. Suetonius, in giving
this gift, recognized where Hadrian was but also flatteringly hinted at where he
believed the emperor would end up: as a new Augustus.
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Cultivating The Memory of Octavius Thuri

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Journal of Ancient History 2015; 3(2): 242–266

Abstract: This article offers a reexamination of Suetonius’ account of Augustus’

Keywords: Suetonius, Augustus, Hadrian, Roman statuettes, Roman names

In chapter seven of his biography of Augustus, Suetonius, exploring the possible

*Corresponding author: Trevor Luke, Department of Classics, Florida State University,

I Octavius becomes Thurinus

3 Dennison (1898), 46.

Fraenkel’s theory is reasonable, as far as it goes, but it is worth noting that

6 D.C. 48.41; Hor. Carm. 2.1.15.

C. Octavius the extraordinary (extra ordinem) assignment of suppressing them en

In the period preceding the assassination of Caesar, problems reemerged in

29 Caes. BC 3.20–22; Vell. 1.68.

After Caesar’s assassination, Octavian, who had been in Apollonia preparing

to Italy.36 Nevertheless, before Octavian’s arrival at Brundisium, when he was

II A gift for the princeps

Suetonius’ description of the fading letters (exolescentibus litteris) on the

53 Isoc. Ev. 73–76; Cic. Ad Fam. 5.12.7.

passage has no explicit sexual references whatsoever.56 That said, it is important

In all of this there is a strong impression that Caesar transgressed propriety

67 Laes (2003), 298–324.

III Conclusion: symbol of a felicitous future

Bonfante, L. “Dedicated mothers.” VRel 3 (1984): 1–17.

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