ABSTRACT
In this chapter, we will investigate the meaning, causes, and consequences of Augustus’ acceptance of the new title “Father of the Fatherland” in 2 B.C.E.
The concept of a parent of the country had precedent, and this background gives us some insight into the meaning of Augustus’ new title. As far as we know, Cicero was the first Roman to employ the metaphor of parenthood to describe political authority.1 Later, after exposing the Catilinarian conspiracy, Cicero became the first man to receive as a title Parens Patriae, “Parent of the
Fatherland.”2 The context helps illuminate its force. At the same time, the senate also considered granting Cicero the corona civica,3 the Roman military award for a soldier who had saved the life of a fellow citizen, here for the first time in thanks for saving the state as a whole.4 In the case of individuals, the saved was also traditionally under obligation to treat his savior as a father,5 so in many ways the notions of father and savior were closely aligned in the first Roman formulations of the title Parens Patriae. Cicero also proposed that the day of the definitive senate meeting on Catiline be made a new birthday for the city of Rome and otherwise associated the position of a new founder with that of the rescuer and the parental protector of the state.6 Although conditor, servator, and parens were not used as exact synonyms, they entered Roman political discourse at the same time and were employed to describe outstanding public service in distinct but interrelated ways.
