Editing Augustus (section)

=== Stability and staying power ===
[[File:Glyptothek München – 18.04.2022 – Augustus Bevilacqua (4).jpg|thumb|upright=0.8|Bust of Augustus wearing the [[Civic Crown]], at [[Glyptothek]], Munich]]

A final reason for the second settlement was to give the principate constitutional stability and staying power in case something happened to Princeps Augustus. His illness of early 23&nbsp;BC and the Caepio conspiracy showed that the regime's existence hung by the thin thread of the life of one man, Augustus himself, who had several severe and dangerous illnesses throughout his life.<ref>[[The Twelve Caesars|Suetonius]], ''Augustus'' [https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Suetonius/12Caesars/Augustus*.html#81 81].</ref> If he were to die from natural causes or fall victim to assassination, Rome could be subjected to another round of civil war. The memories of [[Battle of Pharsalus|Pharsalus]], the Ides of March, the proscriptions, Philippi, and Actium, barely twenty-five years distant, were still vivid in the minds of many citizens. Proconsular imperium was conferred upon Agrippa for five years, similar to Augustus's power, in order to accomplish this constitutional stability. The exact nature of the grant is uncertain but it probably covered Augustus's imperial provinces, east and west, perhaps lacking authority over the provinces of the Senate. That came later, as did the jealously guarded tribunicia potestas.{{Sfn|Syme|1939|pages=337–338}} Augustus's accumulation of powers was now complete.