I don't know of any detailed works on Augustus off the top of my head. A brilliant source for daily Roman life, though, is Jo-Ann Shelton's As the Romans Did, which intersperses modern commentary with primary sources. Worth checking out.

And I vaguely recall there being a rather large amount of evidence for Cleopatra's lack of traditional beauty.

Not going to touch pilae as a plural for pilum; high blood pressure runs in my family enough as is.