Told through invented letters, journals, and memoranda, this novel traces the life of Octavius Caesar from the murder of his great-uncle Julius Caesar through decades of war and rule as Rome's first emperor, ending in the private grief and isolation behind his public triumph.
Books mentioned in Augustus (2)
The Aeneid by Virgil: “"Vergil, when he invoked the Muse to assist him in the writing of The Aeneid, did not in any substantial way believe in her whom he invoked..." — a real work discussed in the narrative.”
Letter to the Pisos by Horace: “"...that contained more recently in the so-called Letter to the Pisos—a poem upon the art of poetry of which, I must confess, I am not particularly fond." — Horace's Ars Poetica, genuinely discussed in-narrative by a fictional letter-writer (medium confidence: it's given by its alternate historical title rather than 'Ars Poetica').”