Introduction
By the first century BCE, the Roman Republic controlled large territories outside Italy. While this expansion brought wealth and power, it also resulted in social and political tensions that the Republican form of government could not handle. Although Julius Caesar tried to establish a centralized government by setting up a dictatorship, his attempts were premature for Roman society. After proponents of the republic assassinated him, his adopted son, Octavian, had to fight for his inheritance of power. Octavian defeated his main rival, Mark Antony, in the Battle of Actium in 31 BCE and began ruling Rome under the title Augustus (Bentley et al. 212). Augustus was faced with the complicated task of devising a new form of government that would enable the ruler to control large territories and would not find resistance among the people. This paper will argue that Augustus fostered the transition of Rome from a republic to an empire by creating a monarchy in disguise, reforming the army, and establishing Roman peace.
The Monarchy in Disguise
Augustus is the founder of the Roman Empire and can be truly considered its first emperor, although he never called himself so. Instead, he chose such titles as Caesar, Imperator, and Princeps or First Citizen (Strauss 31). This is because Augustus was well aware of the Romans’ hatred toward kings and the practice of concentrating power in a single citizen’s hands (Wallace-Hadrill 25). Therefore, the emperor created a monarchy in disguise: in theory, Augustus was a public official who ruled upon the request of the people and the Senate, but in practice, he was a monarch controlling the most vital aspects of the country.
Augustus created a government that laid the foundation for individual rule for the subsequent emperors. He retained the traditional republican government but changed its nature completely. In particular, he asked the Senate to give him the power to propose legislation, exercise a veto, and control the military in Rome and the provinces (Strauss 29). The Senate agreed to it because Augustus ruled on legal grounds. As a result, people’s tribunes ceded their political influence to Augustus and his successors. When deciding on whom to include in the government, Augustus chose to place in important positions only those who were loyal to him (Bentley et al. 213). While all these measures seem to contradict the Roman understanding of the republic, people did not object to Augustus’s rule. The reason for this may be that he placed himself outside the ordinary operations and was perceived as a “loan from heaven,” a guardian, the purpose of which was to bring peace to the Roman people (Wallace-Hadrill 30). Combined with the effective masking of his monarchic rule, such public image enabled Augustus to concentrate power in single hands and provide the basis for a future empire.
Military Reforms
In addition to changing the government, Augustus conducted military reforms to strengthen the power of the emperor. In the late Roman Republic, the main problem with the military was that generals had their personal armies (Bentley et al. 213). In addition, citizens had the right to bear arms and were obliged to serve for up to 16 annual campaigns (Wallace-Hadrill 40). Consequently, whenever people or the ruling class were discontented with the government, they had the power to initiate a rebellion or a civil war. Augustus addressed this issue by establishing a standing army, the commanders of which had a duty to give allegiance directly to the emperor (Bentley et al. 213). Furthermore, he changed the obligation to serve 16 campaigns to a minimum term of unbroken service of 20-25 years (Wallace-Hadrill 41). The unpredictability of annual pay and discharge was also eliminated by the introduction of fixed pay and discharge bounty (Wallace-Hadrill 41). As a result of these reforms, the boundary between citizens and soldiers emerged, and Augustus managed to significantly reduce the risk that somebody would use military force to disrupt the imperial regime.
Moreover, Augustus established the police to maintain order in the streets. His first attempt to create the police failed because Messala Corvinus, who was assigned a police chief, resigned his post soon after the appointment because he considered it “uncitizenly” (Wallace-Hadrill 69). However, by the end of his reign, Augustus formed the Urban Cohorts, a permanent institution consisting of three thousand men under the command of a senior senator who had the power to administer justice (Wallace-Hadrill 69). In addition to the Urban Cohorts, Augustus created the Praetorian Guard, which served as a bodyguard of the Roman emperor (Strauss 33). These measures further helped Augustus transform Rome from a republic to an empire and ensure the new government’s stability.
Roman Peace
Augustus’s rule was marked by a period of prolonged peace, known as the pax romana. Learning from the mistakes of his predecessors, the emperor found a way to create a stable peace, in contrast to Julius Caesar, who performed great on the battlefield but lacked success in politics (Strauss 27). In order to accomplish this, Augustus reduced the size of his army from over sixty legions to twenty-eight, so his total military consisted of three hundred thousand men (Strauss 28). Although this move limited the power of the Roman military, it also decreased taxes, which benefited citizens. Furthermore, the emperor increased the efficiency of grain distribution to the poor and developed public works programs (Strauss 33). Tending to the needs of the impoverished people was necessary to ensure peace because this social class often was the source of riots.
Roman peace was essential for the successful transformation of the republic into an empire. Beginning with Augustus’s rule, the pax romana lasted for over two centuries (Bentley et al. 213). During this period, communication and trade among different areas of the Mediterranean were significantly enhanced (Bentley et al. 213). The trade extended beyond the Mediterranean, and the Roman Empire could exchange goods with India, Arabia, and Africa, allowing Romans to enjoy spices, silk, incense, and other products (Wallace-Hadrill 136). Since people saw that Augustus’s administration brought many benefits, they did not object to his imperial rule, which helped him create a strong basis for an empire.
Conclusion
Augustus made a significant contribution to the transition of Rome from a republic to an empire. He came to power at difficult times after Julius Caesar tried to create a centralized government but failed to win public support for it. Learning from the past and being aware of Romans’ hatred toward kings, Augustus created a monarchy in disguise by retaining a republican government but concentrating the power in his own hands. The unified army loyal to the emperor was also a significant measure that secured the position of the emperor in Rome. Finally, although Augustus came to power through force by defeating his rival at Actium, he ruled softly, bringing long-term peace to Rome and, thus, avoiding people’s discontent with his imperial government.
Works Cited
Bentley, Jerry H., et al. Traditions & Encounters: A Global Perspective on the Past. 7th ed., vol. 1, McGraw Hill Education, 2021.
Strauss, Barry. Ten Caesars: Roman Emperors from Augustus to Constantine. Simon and Schuster, 2019.
Wallace-Hadrill, Andrew. Augustan Rome. 2nd ed., Bloomsbury Academic, 2018.