, Campania
Augustus dies at Nola after 41 years in power
Augustus dies at 75, near Naples. Suetonius says he asked his friends whether he had played his part well.
“Do ye think that I have acted my part on the stage of life well?”
Campania
A region in this history (Pleiades 432742). 3 posts and events, oldest first.
27 BCE – 53 CE: Augustus and the first emperors
Augustus, Campania
On his deathbed, in Suetonius
What was going on: Nola, 14 CE, the day Augustus died, as Suetonius tells it over a century later. Ill, he had stopped at Nola after games at Naples and talked privately with Tiberius. That day he asked for a mirror and had his hair combed before his friends came in.
Why it matters: The question whether he had played his part well is remembered as Augustus's famous last words.
Did I play my part in life well? If so, clap for the actor, and do it gladly.
Then asking his friends who were admitted into the room, “Do ye think that I have acted my part on the stage of life well?” he immediately subjoined, Ei de pan echei kalos, to paignio Dote kroton, kai pantes umeis meta charas ktupaesate. If all be right, with joy your voices raise, In loud applauses to the actor’s praise.
Augustus, Campania
Augustus' last words, as Suetonius tells it
What was going on: Campania, 14 CE: the day Augustus died, at 75, after 41 years in power. As Suetonius tells it, over a century later, he had his hair combed, asked his friends whether he had played his part well, then sent them out.
He died suddenly while Livia kissed him: Livia, remember our marriage, and goodbye. It was the easy death he had always wanted.
…he expired suddenly, amidst the kisses of Livia, and with these words: “Livia! live mindful of our union; and now, farewell!” dying a very easy death, and such as he himself had always wished for.