In the opening section, you'll note that Caesar Augustus is not mentioned as one of the great leaders of world history, but instead as the person most responsible - after Julius Caesar - of leading to the demise of the Roman Republic and having it replaced with an empire with himself as its sole leader. The institutions and checks and balances that had existed previously were undermined and all power was concentrated in the single, arbitrary hands of whoever happened to be emperor.This look at Augustus - on the 2000th anniversary of his death - is a bit more kind to him, mostly because it tells us that the republic had seemingly run its course. Conflict was no longer solved through peaceful political means, but through warfare and bloodshed.
The consolidation of power in the hands of the emperor was also a way to keep the peace. And that's what happened, 200 years worth of peace which allowed Rome to reach new heights of prosperity. The author suggests that Augustus was able to achieve peace by masking his consolidation of power. Outwardly he still respected and seemed to defer to other institutions, but beneath the surface all Roman institutions were oriented to him. As we will see soon, this concentration of power - notably the legislative, executive and judicial - is the definition of tyranny, at least as adopted by James Madison.
- Click here for the article.
To get a better handle on the Roman Empire, click on this collection of maps. Why the fuss? Allusions to Rome - especially why the republic was good and the empire bad - were common among the American founding generation. GOVT 2305 students will notice these as we proceed through class.