Augustus gives up his permanent consulship soon…

Herod in 23 BCE takes as his his third wife the daughter of the priest Simon Boethus, Mariamne II, esteemed (according to Josephus) as the most beautiful woman of the time.

Herod immediately deprives Jesus the son of Phabet of the high priesthood, and confers that dignity on Simon.

He builds a palace in Jerusalem and …

…constructs the fortress Herodion (Herodium) atop a volcano-like hill with a truncated cone located twelve kilometers (seven and a half miles) south of Jerusalem, near the city of Bethlehem in the present West Bank.

Agrippa's friendship with Augustus seems to have been clouded by the jealousy of Augustus' nephew Marcus Claudius Marcellus, which was probably fomented by the intrigues of Livia, the third wife of Augustus, who fears his influence over her husband.

Roman historians after Augustus' death will claim that Agrippa's sojourn at Mytilene on the island of Lesbos, from which he administers affairs in the East as deputy princeps, was the result of such jealousy.

Agrippa sends only his legate to Syria, while he himself remains at Lesbos and governs by proxy, though he may have been on a secret mission to negotiate with the Parthians about the return of the Roman legions standards that they hold.

On the death of Marcellus, which takes place within a year of his exile, Agrippa is recalled to Rome by Augustus, who finds he cannot dispense with his services.

In the context of the crisis in 23 BCE it seems unlikely that, when facing significant opposition and about to make a major political climb down, Augustus would place a man in exile in charge of the largest body of Roman troops.

It is more probable that Agrippa's 'exile' is the careful political positioning of a loyal lieutenant in command of a significant army as a backup plan in case the settlement plans of 23 BCE fail and Augustus needs military support. (The nature of Agrippa's constitutional power at this time is controversial. It will be argued whether the Senate had in 23 given him an imperium greater than that of any other proconsul, or provincial governor, in the East.)

Horace completes three books of eighty-eight Odes, his most admired work, in 23 BCE.

Admitting frequently to his forty years, he views his and others' enthusiasms, whether amorous or political, with ironic tolerance.

In his call for temperate pleasures, he rejects both unbridled passion and totally dispassionate, impersonal preoccupation with monetary matters.

Speaking with an utterly controlled voice of reason, Horace captures the complex problems of the middle-aged and champions an ideal of rational contentment.

Following Antony's rejection of Octavia, their divorce, and his eventual suicide in 30 BCE, Octavia had become sole caretaker of her five children—two by her marriage to Antony and three by an earlier marriage to Gaius Claudius Marcellus.

Some of the implications of the settlement of 27 BCE are becoming apparent by 23 BCE.

Augustus' holding of an annual consulate makes his dominance over the Roman political system too obvious, while at the same time halving the opportunities for others to achieve what is still purported to be the head of the Roman state.

Further, his desire to have his nephew Marcus Claudius Marcellus follow in his footsteps and eventually assume the Principate in his turn is causing political problems and alienating his three biggest supporters—Agrippa, Maecenas and Livia.

Feeling pressure from his own core group of adherents, Augustus turns to the Senate in an attempt to bolster his support there, especially with the Republicans; after his choice for co-consul in 23 BCE, Aulus Terentius Varro Murena, dies before taking office, he appoints the noted Republican Calpurnius Piso, who had fought against Julius Caesar and supported Cassius and Brutus.

Augustus suffers a severe illness in the late spring of 23 BCE, and on his supposed deathbed makes arrangements that will ensure the continuation of the Principate in some form, while at the same time put in doubt the senators' suspicions of his anti-republicanism.

Augustus prepares to hand down his signet ring to his favored general Agrippa.

However, Augustus hands over to his co-consul Piso all of his official documents, an account of public finances, and authority over listed troops in the provinces while Augustus' supposedly favored nephew Marcellus comes away empty-handed.

This is a surprise to many who believed Augustus would have named an heir to his position as an unofficial emperor.

Augustus bestows only properties and possessions to his designated heirs, as an obvious system of institutionalized imperial inheritance would have provoked resistance and hostility among the republican-minded Romans fearful of monarchy.

With regards to the Principate, it is obvious to Augustus that Marcellus is not ready to take on his position; nonetheless, by giving his signet ring to Agrippa, it is Augustus’ intent to signal to the legions that Agrippa is to be his successor, and that no matter what the constitutional rules were, they will continue to obey Agrippa.

Herod begins rebuilding a small and ancient Phoenician port, located thirty-four miles (fifty-five kilometers) north of modern Tel Aviv, Israel, in 22 BCE.

He renames the site Caesarea Maritima (modern Qisarya) for the emperor and transforms it into a major port.

Also in 22 BCE, Augustus grants Herod the regions Trachonitis, …

…Batanaea, and Auranitis to the northeast.

Many of the political subtleties of the Second Settlement seem to have evaded the comprehension of the Plebeian class.

When Augustus fails to stand for election as consul in 22 BCE, fears arise once again that Augustus is being forced from power by the aristocratic Senate.

In this year there is a food shortage in Rome that sparks panic, while many urban plebs call for Augustus to take on dictatorial powers to personally oversee the crisis.

After a theatrical display of refusal before the Senate, Augustus finally accepts authority over Rome's grain supply "by virtue of his proconsular imperium", and ends the crisis almost immediately.

Nevertheless, there are some who are concerned by the expansion of powers granted to Augustus by the Second Settlement, and this comes to a head with the apparent conspiracy of Fannius Caepio and Lucius Lucinius Varro Murena.

In early 22 BCE, charges are brought against Marcus Primus, the former proconsul (governor) of Macedonia, of waging a war on the Odrysian kingdom of Thrace, whose king is a Roman ally, without prior approval of the Senate.

He is defended by Murena, who tells the trial that his client had received specific instructions from Augustus, ordering him to attack the client state.

Later, Primus testifies that the orders came from the recently deceased Marcellus.

Under the Constitutional settlement of 27 BCE such orders, had they been given, would have been considered a breach of the Senate’s prerogative, as Macedonia is under the Senate’s jurisdiction, not the Princep’s.

Such an action would have ripped away the veneer of Republican restoration as promoted by Augustus, and exposed his fraud of merely being the first citizen, a first among equals.

Even worse, the involvement of Marcellus provided some measure of proof that Augustus’s policy was to have the youth take his place as Princeps, instituting a form of monarchy—accusations that had already played out during the crisis of 23 BCE.

The situation is so serious that Augustus himself appears at the trial, even though he has not been called as a witness.

Under oath, Augustus declares that he gave no such order.

Murena, disbelieving Augustus’s testimony and resentful of his attempt to subvert the trial by using his auctoritas, rudely demands to know why Augustus has turned up to a trial to which he has not been called; Augustus replies that he has come in the public interest.

Although Primus is found guilty, some jurors vote to acquit, meaning that not everybody believes Augustus’s testimony.

Then, sometime prior to September 1, 22 BCE, a certain Castricius provides Augustus with information about a conspiracy led by Fannius Caepio against the Princeps.

Murena is named among the conspirators.

Tried in absentia, with Tiberius acting as prosecutor, the jury finds the conspirators guilty, but it is not a unanimous verdict.

Sentenced to death for treason, all the accused are executed as soon as they are captured without ever giving testimony in their defense.

Augustus ensures that the facade of Republican government continues with an effective cover-up of the events.

Augustus now returns membership in the Senate from nine hundred to six hundred.

Agrippa is soon back in Rome to act on behalf of the emperor, who himself leaves for the East in 22.