Intelligence Activities in Ancient Rome by Rose Mary Sheldon;

Author:Rose Mary Sheldon; [Sheldon, Rose Mary]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781135771065
Publisher: TaylorFrancis
Published: 2022-03-30T00:00:00+00:00

Octavian, thus at last openly attacked, sent numerous agents to the towns colonized by his father, to tell how he had been treated and to learn the state of feeling in each. He also sent certain persons in the guise of traders into Antony’s camp to mingle with the soldiers, to work upon the boldest of them and secretly distribute handbills among the rank and file.53

As self-proclaimed restorer of the Republic, Augustus characteristically sought to disguise his imperial absolutism. We know little about his practices for protecting state security; the extent to which he relied on undercover agents after 27 bc is especially obscure. Because Augustus was so broadly popular, he did not need a large-scale spying operation as did rulers like Herod of Judaea.54 The emperor himself was so tightly protected by the Praetorian Guard that only persons familiar with court procedure could have gotten close enough to assault him. Nor did Augustus and his early successors rely on any one agency to detect and expose subversion. There are hints, however, that secret agents were engaged in various tasks. Maecenas, as Augustus’s prefect of the city, probably employed secret agents to uncover the plot against the emperor’s life by Lepidus the Younger. Maecenas quietly and carefully concealed his activity so that he could crush it without disturbance.55

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