Augusto de Lima was governor of the state of Minas Gerais, and he idealized the transfer of the state's capital from Ouro Preto to Belo Horizonte (then "Curral Del Rey"). In 1903, he became a member of the Brazilian Academy of Letters and was elected its president in 1928.
In 1906, Augusto de Lima was elected deputado federal (house representative) and moved to Rio de Janeiro, the federal district. There, he married Vera Monteiro de Barros de Suckow, granddaughter of Hans Wilhelm von Suckow, Major of the Prussian Army (who fought Napoleon's army in the Battle of Waterloo) and patron of Brazil's horse racing — the first breeder of race horses in Brazil.