ABSTRACT
. For many years the Roman world had been moving toward that issue which came in the supremacy of Augustus, — an absolute despotism. A century of civil wars had created necessities which only a single ruling authority could meet. Once and again unlimited power had been given in emergencies to dictators, consuls, and triumvirates, but only for a special purpose and for a limited time. Even Augustus, as Octavian was now called, was granted imperial rule for ten years, and it was only due to his adroitness that he did not give offence by assuming more than a temporary supremacy. Julius Cæsar had fallen because he made known his wish to take to himself sovereign power, and Augustus had studied well the causes of his predecessor’s failure. Nevertheless he had from the first the ambition to be the controlling will in the realm, and in keeping with his cold, calculating nature he made haste slowly. Tacitus tells us his method of procedure:” Renouncing the title of triumvir for that of consul, Augustus, for the purpose of protecting the people, was at first contented with the power of a tribune. Soon afterwards, having gained the soldiers by his largesses, the people by distributions of food, and all orders of the state by the sweets of peace, he grew bolder by degrees and drew to himself without opposition the whole power of the Senate, the magistrates, and the laws. The bravest of the nobility had perished in battle or by proscription; the rest, won over to servitude by riches and honors, preferred the present with its safety to the past with its dangers. These changes did not displease the provinces; they dreaded the rule of the Senate and people on account of the rival ambitions and cupidity of the magistrates, who were feebly checked by laws which were powerless against violence, corruption, and wealth” (Annales i. 2).
