A fairly irritating history of August

It is rather telling that on the first day of August, President Obama plopped himself into the international news via a potential, monumental economical epic fail that was sort of narrowly avoided but could have been completely avoided if only he weren't from the hapless Democratic Party and was capable of behaving like a proper President. Or alternatively, if only he were more like Augustus, the first emperor of the Roman Empire, or Lord Voldermort, the Dark Wizard / Raging Psychopath. 

It's hard to keep track of all the monikers of Augustus, because he changed his name more times than Facebook would ever have allowed.  But Augustus must have been his fave because the month of 'Sextilis' was renamed August in his honour in 8 BC, after he picked this particular month because it was the time of several of his great triumphs in his rise to power, including the conquest of Egypt and when he killed Lily Potter. Perhaps the Obama Messiah will now rename August in his honour; now that he has saved the U.S. economy from being swallowed by Death Eaters. 



Poor Augustus didn't get a salad
named after him. But he got the month
of August, so he no complain.

Similar to the Obama Messiah and Voldermort, Mr Augustus held a collection of powers that were granted to him for life by the Senate, including those of tribune of the plebs and censor, and the intellectual property rights for use of the Killing Curse as a threat. His magical powers stemmed from financial success, ability to apparate out of awkward press conferences, resources gained in conquest, the building of relationships with dodgy, decrepit nation states throughout the Empire, the loyalty of many military soldiers and veterans, and the respect of the muggles, believe it or not.



Although the most powerful individual in the Roman Empire, Augustus wished to embody the spirit of the average muggle's virtues and norms, so he tried to relate to them and pretended to connect with their pathetic little concerns. He did this by throwing good money after bad, pretending to cut back on lavish excess and banning Twitter tweets that use the wrong version of there/their/they’re and you’re/your.  He didn't even have to pretend about the last thing - he hated it for real.    



In 28 BC, in an attempt to appear frugal and modest and ghetto, he generously decided to melt down 80 silver statues erected in his likeness that he had built because he was "born this way" and everyone needed to know it. And in 29 BC, Augustus paid 400 sesterces each to 250,000 citizens, turned bad romans into Horcruxes and raised the debt ceiling so he could keep buying spears and whores whilst looking like the savvy shopper.



The good news is that Augustus eventually died. The bad news is that his reign laid the foundations of a regime that lasted for nearly fifteen hundred years. And this is why they have four-year terms in the United States.