ABSTRACT
Over half a century separated the assassination of Julius Caesar and the death of Augustus in AD 14; during that time memories of the chaos of the late Republic had dimmed, and Augustus’ restored Republic appeared to most to guarantee security and prosperity. Its government, as we have seen, was based on a combination of institutional features introduced by Augustus and the ability of the princeps to guide and persuade through his personal auctoritas. Tacitus and others, however, believed that Augustus’ insistence on a dynastic succession was in conflict with the libertas that was traditionally a key factor in the working of the respublica. In the medium term, one legacy of Augustus was the line of successors from the Julian and Claudian families which was finally terminated by the pressures which led to Nero’s suicide in AD 68. At that point, Nero’s successor, Galba, who had come to power as the result of a military coup, argued (in the oration reported/composed by Tacitus) that it was the dynastic nature of the succession that stood in the way of libertas, not the Principate itself. The variety of approaches adopted by the Julians and Claudians demonstrated that within the broad framework of the Augustan system many different styles of government might appear.
