Augustus: Psychological Portrait of a Complex Emperor

Augustus (63 BC – 14 AD) remains an enigmatic figure in Roman history. Beyond the conqueror and empire builder lies a complex personality, traversed by revealing contradictions. By applying modern diagnostic tools from clinical psychology, we can decode the psychological mechanisms that shaped his decisions and political legacy.

1. Young's Schemas: Augustus's Psychological Architecture

Jeffrey Young proposes a theory of thought schemas that structure our core beliefs. In Augustus, several fundamental schemas appear manifest.

The Abandonment-Instability Schema

Octavian loses his father at age four. This early loss establishes a fundamental abandonment schema: the conviction that loved ones will disappear or betray him. This psychic matrix explains his surprisingly dependent behavior toward Mark Antony initially, then his ruthlessness toward those who dared leave him or contradict him. The proscriptions of 43 BC, where Augustus condemned his own allies to death, testify to an inversion of the schema: mastering abandonment by exercising it oneself.

The Mistrust-Abuse Schema

Raised in tumultuous Rome, Octavian learns early that trust is a fragility. His political adoption by Caesar reinforces this paradigm: he is never truly certain of his place. This systematic mistrust explains his elaborate espionage system, his networks of informants, his methodical surveillance of the population. Augustus transforms paranoia into an instrument of governance.

The Perfectionism-High Standards Schema

Augustus idealizes order, rationality, stability. His legislative work, administrative reforms, monumental architecture reflect a quasi-obsessive demand for control and perfection. Rome must be orderly, predictable. This psychological rigidity allows him to exercise lasting power, but at the cost of significant emotional restriction.

2. Attachment Styles: Securing Through Control

Attachment theory, developed by Bowlby and applied in CBT, reveals in Augustus a profile of anxious-preoccupied attachment that would later evolve toward a detached-avoidant style.

Phase 1: Early Anxious Attachment

Octavian's youth is marked by dependence on unstable adult figures. Caesar, his adoptive great-uncle, fascinates and frightens him simultaneously. Augustus constantly seeks confirmations of security, proves conciliatory, adopts Antony's wishes to preserve the relationship. His political marriage to Livia stems less from love than from stabilization: a woman who will not leave him, since she is economically and politically interdependent.

Phase 2: Shift Toward Defensive Avoidance

As his power grows, Augustus progressively disables his attachment needs. He controls those close to him—his daughter Julia is confined, his generals surveilled—rather than creating authentic bonds. This pattern reflects a defense mechanism: not needing means not being able to be abandoned.

Restricted Relational Intimacy

Historians note Augustus's strangely barren emotional life despite three marriages. There is no trace of deep emotional attachment. His relationships follow political rationality: utility over affect. His legendary inability to produce a direct heir becomes symptomatic of profound emotional frigidity.

3. Big Five: Measurable Personality Traits

The Five Factor Model offers a standardized framework for evaluating Augustus.

Openness: Moderate-Low Augustus values tradition, institutional stability. He preserves religious rituals (restores the temple of Jupiter Optimus Maximus), disdains uncontrolled innovation. His thinking is pragmatic, little speculative. Philosophers fascinate him less than technicians and administrators. Conscientiousness: Very High Dominant trait. Augustus is meticulously organized, reliable, obsessed with detail. He writes his own memoirs (Res Gestae), maintains rigorous records. This compulsive conscientiousness is a tool of control: to document is to master. Extraversion: Moderate-Low Paradoxical contrast: emperor at the center of power, Augustus remains introverted. He delegates grand speeches, appears reserved in public, prefers restricted meetings. His charisma is institutional, not charismatic in the Weberian sense. He represents function, not personal seduction. Agreeableness: Low Augustus is ruthless, manipulative, driven by political self-interest. The proscriptions, arbitrary exiles, adoption of proteges then their political elimination reveal an inability toward empathy. He prefers to be feared than loved. Neuroticism: Moderate Paradoxically, Augustus maintains apparent emotional stability. This regulation reflects, however, emotional anesthesia rather than genuine serenity. His rare outbursts of rage (documented by Suetonius) suggest underlying tension.

4. The Dark Triad: Psychopathy, Narcissism, Machiavellianism

The Dark Triad describes a constellation of amoral traits. Augustus embodies several expressions of it.

Narcissism (Dominant) Augustus constructs a personality cult: statues, coins bearing his image, the title of Augustus (the Augmenter). He proclaims himself son of Apollo, symbolically restores the golden age. This grandiose mythic construction compensates for a paradoxically fragile self-esteem. The orphaned child become king of the gods: the narcissistic fantasy materializes. Machiavellianism (Very High) Augustus is the political strategist par excellence. He manipulates alliances, uses and abuses propaganda (Res Gestae is a learned auto-hagiography), eliminates rivals while claiming to restore the Republic. His systematic hypocrisy—accepting absolute power while affecting modesty—is a masterpiece of machiavellianism. He understands that lasting power requires ideological consent, hence his investment in symbols, institutions, myths. Psychopathy (Moderate) Augustus's psychopathic traits are real but mitigated. He certainly possesses low empathy (massive proscriptions without documented remorse), controlled impulsivity (rages followed by cold calculation), but he does not manifest the chaotic instability of the classical psychopath. It is a legitimate psychopathy: channeled, institutionalized, sublimated into legal power.

---

Therapeutic Lessons: CBT Insights

Lesson 1: Early Schemas Create Mental Prisons

Augustus illustrates how early trauma (paternal absence) structures the entirety of future life. CBT teaches us to identify these fundamental schemas. For a patient reproducing Augustus's pattern—chronic mistrust, excessive control—the work consists of exploring the schema's origins and generating corrective experiences: relationships where trust does not engender abandonment.

Lesson 2: Secure Attachment Cannot Be Negotiated

Augustus's evolution from anxiety to avoidance demonstrates a dead end. Many patients imitate this movement: after disappointments, they withdraw. CBT proposes a third path: secure attachment involves mature emotional regulation, accepting vulnerability without submitting to dependence. Augustus never found this balance.

Lesson 3: Conscientiousness Can Become Compulsion

For patients with hyperactive conscientiousness (often executives, perfectionists), Augustus offers an instructive mirror. His devotion to order became pathology: inability to truly delegate, to accept imperfection, to enjoy. CBT proposes distinguishing healthy conscientiousness (responsibility) from compulsion (anxious control).

Lesson 4: Narcissism and Identity Fragmentation

Augustus reveals how grandiose narcissism can mask identity fragmentation. Behind the god Augustus exists Octavian, the vulnerable orphan. In narcissistic patients, CBT aims to recreate identity integration: accepting weakness as part of humanity, not as shame to deny.

Lesson 5: Machiavellianism Isolates

Despite his absolute power, Augustus dies surrounded by relational voids. Systematic manipulation erodes mutual trust. For manipulative patients, CBT proposes reorientation: the psychological cost of manipulation exceeds its benefits. Authenticity creates a security that lies never offer.

---

Conclusion

Augustus embodies a textbook case of psychopathology: a man of political genius emotionally destroyed by early vulnerability. His empire endures, but his personal life remains a museum of unresolved issues. As a therapist, his portrait reminds us that external power never heals internal distress. CBT offers what Rome never provided Augustus: integration, authenticity, genuine attachment.

---

Also Worth Reading

• Napoleon Bonaparte Psychological Portrait Personality
• Voltaire Psychological Portrait

---

To Go Further: My book Understanding Your Attachment deepens the themes addressed in this article with practical exercises and concrete tools. Discover on Amazon | Read a Free Excerpt

Recommended Reading:

• Reinventing Your Life — Jeffrey Young