Page:Collier's New Encyclopedia v. 01.djvu/428

LEFT AUGUSTUS 342 AUK him and Antony and Lepidus, and this was followed by the conscription and assassination of 300 senators and 2,000 knights of the party opposed to the tri- umvirate. Next year Octavianus and Antony defeated the republican army un- der Brutus and Cassius at Philippi. The THE STATUE OF THE EMPEROR AUGUSTUS victors now divided the Roman world between them, Octavianus getting the West, Antony the East, and Lepidus Africa. Sextus Pompeius, who had made himself formidable at sea, had now to be put down; and Lepidus was deprived of all authority (36 B. C.) and retired into private life. Antony and Octavianus now shared the empire between them; but while the former, in the East, gave him- self up to a life of luxury, and alienated the Romans by his alliance with Cleo- patra, Octavianus skillfully cultivated popularity, and soon declared war osten- sibly against the Queen of Egypt. The naval victory of Actium, in which the fleet of Antony and Cleopatra was de- feated, made Octavianus master of the world, 31 B. c. He returned to Rome 29 B. c. Gradually all the highest offices of state, civil and religious, were united in his hands, and the new title of Augus- tus was also assumed by him, being formally conferred by the Senate in 27 B. c. Under him successful wars were carried on in Africa and Asia (against the Parthians), in Gaul and Spain, in Pannonia, Dalmatia, etc.; but the deiiat of Varus by the Gemnans under Armin- ius with the loss of three legions, A. D. 9, was a great blow to him in his old age. Many useful decrees proceeded from him, and various abuses were abolished. He adorned Rome in such a manner that it was said, "He found it of brick, and left it of marble." He was a patron of literature; Vergil and Horace were Ix;- friended by him, and their works and those of their contemporaries are the glory of the Augustan Age. His death, which took place at Nola, plunged the empire into the greatest grief. He was thrice married, but had no son, and was succeeded by his stepson Tiberius. AUGUSTUS I., Elector of Saxony, born 1526. During a peaceful reign he greatly beautified Dresden, his capital, and built the palace of Augustenburg. Died 1586. AUGUSTUS II., Elector of Saxony, and King of Poland, born at Dresden in 1670. On account of his enormous mus- cular power, he was surnamed the Iron- handed, and the Strong. He succeeded his older brother in 1694, and com- manded an expedition against the Turks. Owing to the death of John Sobieski, in 1696, the throne of Poland became va- cant, and Augustus, after many in- trigues, was proclaimed King in 1697. He then formed an alliance with Peter the Great against Charles XII. of Sweden, but the latter hero defeated Augustus in a sanguinary battle at Pultusk, penetrated to Warsaw, and there caused Stanislaus Lecszinski to l>e elected King of Poland, in place of Augustus. A long war followed, without advantage to Augustus, until the over- throw of Charles, at Pultowa, which event replaced him on the throne. The Poles regarded him as a foreigner and a usurper, and as the mere vassal of Russia. Augustus died in 1733. AUGUSTUS III., Elector of Saxony, and King of Poland, born at Dresden, 1696, was the son of Augustus II. He was an indolent, idle, and pleasure- seeking prince, and his politics were entirely dependent on Russia. His daughter, Maria Josepha, was married to the Dauphin of France, from which alliance sprang Louis XVI., Louis XVIII. , and Charles X. Died in 1763. AUK, the name given to several sea birds, especially the great and the little auk. The great auk is the alca impennis of Linnasus. Its bones left behind show that it was formerly abundant on the shores of Iceland, Greenland and Den- mark. The little auk of Pennant and