sylla1

I don't think there is any limit on the number of times any candidate can be picked.

Anyhow, your options are both great:
- MV Agrippa was by far the greatest henchman of Augustus, and
- MT Cicero was as a scholar exponentially greater than the political-miltary glory that he always so passionately yearned for.

M.E.T.H.O.D.

I like how Agrippa is always described as an humble soldier rather than the "glory and the power seeker" figure very common in the late republic.Plus, he also financed the original Pantheon and many other infrastructure of Rome.

okamido

Henchman has such a negative connotation. M.Aggr was as solid as it ever came as a Roman.

sylla1

What's wrong with a solid Roman henchman?

okamido

Jimmy Cagney had henchmen, Octavius had confidants, and Augustus had a partner.

It should be remembered that Agrippa received imperium maius, placing him on completely equal terms with Augustus and was well known for his imposing of orderly government throughout the empire and handling of regional govenors. This is of course outside of the military, engineering and civic works that he is better known for.

sylla1

Military, engineering and civic works were attributed even to some children of the Augustan dynasty too. Nono of thos nominal atributions could change the fact that Augustus was an absolute autocrat.

If you want analogies, Augustus was the capo and Agrippa the consigliori.

"Partners" is something like Octavius & Antonius during the triumvirate; after Actium, Augustus never ever required partners again.
By any standard, both Agrippa and later Tiberius were de jure & de facto his subordinates.

Even if from a relatively unknown branch, the machiavellian Octavius was a Roman noble, and incidentally the grand-nephew and adopted son of the deified Perpetual Dictator Son of Venus.

Agrippa on the other hand was politically exactly nobody. He was an excellent military commander, but his political career and personal success was entirely due to Augustus; that's exactly why the triumph for the former's victories was entirely enjoyed by the latter.

okamido

In the beginning...most definately. At the time of the imperium maius, as well as Augustus' need to keep him placated and closely joined, this couldn't be farther from the truth.

sylla1

At the time of MV Agrippa's Imperium Pro Consulare in the East (DCCXXXI AUC / 23 BC) he was still just Augustus' lieutenat in the East, with an imperium anlagous to any other pro-magistrate, just covering several provinces; nothing less, but nothing more.

okamido

In 18 bce, Agrippa was granted full imperium maius, given him all the power that the princeps had.

sylla1

I have some problem mixing the 23 BC and the 18 BC episodes; can you please quote your Classical source on the Imperium Maius & Tribunicia Potestas granting?

Thanks in advance,

Anyhow, ny 18 BC the situation was entirely different; Marcellus had already died and MV Agrippa was the son-in-law of Augustus and father of the latter's grandson Gaius Caesar; i.e. he was already a full member of the patrician Julia gens and the Augustan dynasty.