Escalating abuse of elections was a hallmark of the collapse of the Republic that governed at Rome for nearly 500 years before it was swept away and replaced by emperors and Empire. The causes of the Republic's fall are well-explored, but electoral abuse was one of the agencies by which it was brought low - a "how" that helps explain the "why." The abuse of regular electoral form, practiced by all parties, inured the Romans to further and ever-widening abuse. In the end their elections - and the Republic - lost both meaning and independence. This is a controversial claim that falls within the modern debate over the significance of the late-Republican turmoil and just how "democratic" the system was at all. A review of the primary source accounts shows a pattern of abuse that clearly accelerated over the final century, until the turning-point of the 60s and 50s B.C., a morass of elections delayed, canceled, marred by violence, ruined by bribery or prearranged by bargain. We can categorize these abuses and examine their effect on societal attitudes and subsequent practice. After 50 B.C. control of the state passed to Caesar and then the second triumvirs, who used these precedents to do as they pleased. In the end Augustus "restored" the Republic by restoring its old forms - with an unspoken different meaning. It was no coincidence that Augustus paid showy respect to the Republican voting assemblies, the voting-places and the annual election rituals. The escalating abuse of elections inculcated in the Romans the idea that their constitution and the rule of law had no intrinsic value by themselves, but existed only as tools in the service of power and desired goals. With the rule of law battered into submission, the Republic all the more easily succumbed to the rule of men. The fall was brought about not by external armies or revolution, but by the Romans' own tacit agreement that their rules could be bent and broken as needed. For the Romans, at least, the argument that "the ends justify the means" proved to be the antithesis and the undoing of constitutional government.

Born in London in 1791, George Augustus Middleton attended Cambridge University but failed to graduate. Ordained priest for the Colonies in 1819, he arrived in Sydney, New South Wales, in January 1820 and shortly after commenced work as Assistant Chaplain at Parramatta in the role of locum tenens for the Reverend Samuel Marsden. In 1821 he was appointed to the convict settlement of Newcastle, where, over the ensuing five and a half years he found himself in constant conflict with both the military and ecclesiastical authorities because of his perceived absenteesim and his agricultural dealings. His conflict with the Commandant of Newcastle, Major James Morisset, originated from his perceived interference in, and condemnation of, Morisset’s disregard for the Sabbath and Christian morality. Relations between the two men broke down completely and Middleton found himself criticised from the Governor down and very much isolated. In 1825, Archdeacon Thomas Hobbes Scott, a former secretary to Sir Thomas Bigge during Bigge’s enquiry into the state of New South Wales, arrived in Sydney and commenced the first structural organisation of the antipodean Anglican Church. Almost immediately relations between Scott and Middleton deteriorated to the point where, in 1827, Middleton resigned and moved to his land grant at Paterson, about 70 kilometres from Newcastle. Scholars since then have incorrectly seen the main cause of their conflict as Middleton’s perceived absenteeism, unaware that far greater differences existed. To Scott, Middleton was an incompetent administrator, a lax pastor and unfit for ministry. After resigning, Middleton acted as a pastor, farmer, Justice of the Peace and community member until 1832, when, forced by drought, he moved to Sydney where he established a school by which to support himself and his family. In 1836, William Grant Broughton, formerly the Archdeacon of Australia, and later the first and only Bishop of Australia, returned from England, and in 1837, licensed Middleton to the parish of Butterwick and Seaham. There Middleton served as pastor until his early death in 1848. / Masters Thesis

In this thesis finite element analyses were performed to investigate the behavior of fill fences installed in underground mines to retain Cemented Paste Backfill (CPB) pressure. For this purpose, two fill fences installed and tested in the Cayeli mine in Turkey were modeled using a 2-D nonlinear finite element analysis program, Augustus-2, and a 3-D nonlinear finite element analysis program VecTor4, and the results were compared with measured field data. Different models were employed representing the material properties, boundary conditions, reinforcement ratio, and geometric properties, and it was found that boundary conditions (stiffness of surrounding rocks) has the highest influence on the pressure capacity of the fence among the other factors. The accuracy of the Augustus-2 program was investigated by modeling and comparing the analytical response with test results of 12 axially restrained beams tested by Su et al. (2009).

In this thesis finite element analyses were performed to investigate the behavior of fill fences installed in underground mines to retain Cemented Paste Backfill (CPB) pressure. For this purpose, two fill fences installed and tested in the Cayeli mine in Turkey were modeled using a 2-D nonlinear finite element analysis program, Augustus-2, and a 3-D nonlinear finite element analysis program VecTor4, and the results were compared with measured field data. Different models were employed representing the material properties, boundary conditions, reinforcement ratio, and geometric properties, and it was found that boundary conditions (stiffness of surrounding rocks) has the highest influence on the pressure capacity of the fence among the other factors. The accuracy of the Augustus-2 program was investigated by modeling and comparing the analytical response with test results of 12 axially restrained beams tested by Su et al. (2009).

Propertius, affected at an early age by Augustus' quest for power and the submission of the conquered, had attitudes critical of Augustus, but he felt pressure to veil his true opinions by flattering the Emperor in his poetry for the sake of self-preservation. Many of his poems praise the military accomplishments of Augustus, but they also contain signals that Propertius is not expressing his true attitudes on the surface. Propertius gives descriptions of military conquest a distasteful flavor, and he rejects outright the Augustan program of pax through the total subjugation of Rome’s enemies, with whom he identifies as a victim of imperial conquest. / text

Auctoritas was the foundation of Augustus' legitimacy, success, and survival in Roman politics. The necessary precondition of successfully founding political legitimacy upon auctoritas, however, was that Augustus' auctoritas had to be supreme. This thesis will show that one of the most important ways Augustus achieved supreme auctoritas was by integrating himself into traditional beliefs about the stars and by harnessing the associations with the divine and supernatural that were latent in these beliefs. Augustus reinforced his association with these beliefs by employing a number of powerful symbols drawn from among the stars. Chapters Two and Three will focus upon one of these symbols, the sidus Iulium (the comet of Caesar). Chapter Two will demonstrate how Augustus harnessed the general acceptance of Caesar's astral apotheosis (catasterism) and of catasterism in general in the Roman world at that time and then used the sidus Iulium as a symbol of his connection with Divus Iulius and of his own semi-divine status. Chapter Three will explore how Augustus promoted the sidus Iulium as the harbinger of a golden age for the Roman people and as an omen of the fact that it was his destiny to lead them into it. Chapter Four will turn to another astral symbol, the constellation Capricorn. This chapter will examine how Augustus integrated himself into the greatly popular discipline of astrology and used its language of fate to promote himself as a man of great destiny. Throughout we will consider a variety of evidence, particularly numismatic and literary. This will help us to achieve the fullest possible picture of the lengths to which Augustus went to create a useful ally of the stars in his never-ending quest for auctoritas. / Thesis (Master, Classics) -- Queen's University, 2009-09-14 18:14:44.877

Augustan propaganda surrounding Apollo provided the perfect literary device through which Augustan poets could express their sentiments about the new regime. Augustus transformed Apollo from a relatively insignificant god in the Roman pantheon to his own multi-faceted god whose various attributes were meant to legitimize his new position within the Roman Empire. In this thesis I discuss how Ovid uses Augustus’ political affiliation with Apollo to comment on Augustan marriage legislation in two of his texts. In Ovid’s manual on seduction, the Ars Amatoria, he denies poetic inspiration from Apollo at the beginning of his work, preferring instead to draw from his own experiences. However, Ovid seemingly contradicts himself by having Apollo appear later on to offer him advice. In his Metamorphoses, Ovid ridicules Apollo’s failed pursuit of Daphne. However, Apollo is seemingly victorious after all, since he uses Daphne’s laurel as his perpetual victory symbol. In both these instances, Ovid veils his political commentary by initially ridiculing Apollo in matters of love, only to seemingly glorify him shortly after. By excluding Apollo from matters of love, Ovid indirectly is disapproving of Augustus’ involvement in social affairs in Rome. Ovid proves to be a master of language yet again as he plays with the literary tradition and political implication of Apollo in these two texts to convey his discontent regarding Augustan marriage legislation.

Zugl.: Chemnitz, Techn. Univ., Diss., 2008

Thesis (doctoral)--Humboldt-Universität, Berlin, 2004. / Includes bibliographical references (p. [447]-478) and index.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Wisconsin--Madison, 1967. / Typescript. Vita. eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 450-456).