Notorious adulterer is shocked that his daughter is a notorious adulterer
1d 5h ago by piefed.social/u/PugJesus in roughromanmemes@piefed.social from media.piefed.social
Explanation: Augustus, the first Emperor of Rome, was a notorious adulterer who slept with a great many women (and some men) during his rule. But much of his propaganda was oriented around a restoration of 'traditional' conservative values (regardless of how 'traditional' they actually were - generally not very), which included control of the sexuality of women.
His daughter, Julia the Elder, was also a notorious adulterer. Something which would not have been particularly out of place in the Late Republic, but which ran directly contrary to Augustus's goals of appearing as a STRONG FAMILY PATRIARCH. Eventually, Augustus would banish his own daughter to a Mediterranean island for embarrassing him so, and executed several of her (many) lovers.
This was actually rather unpopular amongst the Roman people, as were several other of Augustus's reactionary measures, but as an effective autocrat, Augustus held all the power. Julia was never allowed to return to Rome.
Augustus's socially conservative measures would remain on the books after his death, but very rarely enforced as the Early Empire's social mores became even more permissive than the Late Republic.