Further thoughts on the death of Augustus : notes

In this note I attempt to supplement my recent discussion of the treatment by Suetonius of the death of the emperor Augustus in which I argued that the biographer carefully constructed an account of a perfect imperial death. I shall first consider an aspect that escaped my first treatment and then consider the contribution made in another recent study of death to which I did not have access in 2006, both of which relate to the presentation of the repentina mors in Latin sources. Lastly, I shall return to the notion of theatricality and acting that has played a central role in most interpretations of Augustus's last words to his friends to reassert the point that in the interpretation of Augustus's actions that Suetonius follows, based on Stoic ideas, there is no room for the notion of insincerity.