Editing Augustus (section)

===Overview===
Augustus created a regime that maintained relative peace and prosperity in the [[Greek East and Latin West|Roman west and the Greek east]] for two centuries,{{sfn|Galinsky|2005|pages=1, 6}} initiating the celebrated {{lang|la|[[Pax Romana]]}}, though historian [[Karl Galinsky]] affirms that the "Augustan [[Golden Age]]" myth of the {{lang|la|[[Pax Augusta]]}} obscures the complicated political challenges that Augustus had to face during his reign.{{sfn|Galinsky|2012|pages=84–85}} His regime laid the foundations of a concept of [[Universal monarchy|universal empire]] in the [[Byzantine Empire]] and the [[Holy Roman Empire]]s down to their dissolutions in 1453 and 1806, respectively.{{sfn|Hammond|1965|page=152}} Both his adoptive surname, Caesar, and his title {{lang|la|augustus}} became the permanent titles of the rulers of the Roman Empire for fourteen centuries after his death, in use both at [[Rome|Old Rome]] and at [[Constantinople|New Rome]].{{sfn|Hammond|1957|pages=21–54}}{{sfn|Shotter|2005|p=1}} In many languages, {{lang|la|Caesar}} became the word for ''emperor'', as in the German {{lang|de|[[Kaiser]]}} and in the Bulgarian and subsequently Russian {{tlit|ru|[[Tsar]]}} (sometimes {{tlit|ru|Csar}} or {{tlit|ru|Czar}}). The cult of {{lang|la|Divus Augustus}} continued until the state religion of the empire was changed to Christianity in 391 by [[Theodosius I]]. Consequently, there are many statues and busts of the first emperor. The reign of Augustus was viewed favorably by later Romans, embodied by the Roman Senate's formal wish to every emperor after [[Trajan]] that they "[[Felicior Augusto, melior Traiano|be more fortunate than Augustus and better than Trajan]]".{{sfn|Galinsky|2012|page=xxiv}}

Augustus composed an account of his achievements, the ''{{lang|la|[[Res Gestae Divi Augusti]]}}'', to be inscribed in bronze in front of his mausoleum.{{sfn|Suetonius||loc=''Augustus'' [https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Suetonius/12Caesars/Augustus*.html#101.4 101.4]}} Copies of the text were inscribed throughout the empire upon his death.{{Sfn|Eck|Takács|2003|pages=1–2}} The inscriptions in Latin featured translations in Greek beside it and were inscribed on many public edifices, such as the temple in [[Ankara]] dubbed the {{lang|la|Monumentum Ancyranum}}, called the "queen of inscriptions" by historian [[Theodor Mommsen]].{{Sfn|Eck|Takács|2003|page=2}} The ''{{lang|la|Res Gestae}}'' is the only major work by Augustus to have survived, though he is also known to have composed poems entitled {{langr|la|"Sicily"}}, {{langr|la|"Epiphanus"}}, and {{langr|la|"Ajax"}}, an autobiography of 13 books, a philosophical treatise, and a written rebuttal to Brutus's ''Eulogy of Cato''.{{Sfn|Bunson|1994|page=47}} Historians are able to analyze excerpts of letters penned by Augustus, preserved in various works of [[Classical antiquity|antiquity]] that reveal additional facts or clues about his personal life.{{Sfn|Shaw-Smith|1971|page=213}}{{Sfn|Bourne|1918|pages=53–66}}{{Sfn|Ohst|2023|pages=262-268}} In his ''Res Gestae'', Augustus defined the relative peace established by his reign as a pact "born of victories" ({{lang|la|parta victoriis pax}}), one that brought disastrous Roman civil wars to an end and ensured Romans and subjugated peoples within their Empire upheld a cohesive social pact: the latter would relinquish their sovereignty and pay taxes in exchange for the preservation of their native customs, economic stability, security and protection afforded to them by Rome.{{sfn|Galinsky|2012|page=85}} This theme of peace being rooted in conquest is also featured prominently in [[Augustan and Julio-Claudian art|Augustan-era visual artworks]].{{sfn|Galinsky|2012|pages=94–95}}[[File:Gemma Augustea, a two-layered sardonyx depicting the Emperor Augustus surrounded by goddesses and allegories, 9-12 AD, Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna (21036461833).jpg|thumb|[[Gemma Augustea]], a two-layered sardonyx depicting the Emperor Augustus surrounded by goddesses and allegories. 9-12 AD, [[Kunsthistorisches Museum]],[[Vienna]],]]The city of Rome was utterly transformed under Augustus, with Rome's first institutionalized [[History of criminal justice|police force]], [[firefighting]] force, and the establishment of the municipal [[praefectus|prefect]] as a permanent office. The police force was divided into cohorts of 500 men each, while the units of firemen ranged from 500 to 1,000 men each, with 7 units assigned to 14 divided city sectors.{{Sfn|Eck|Takács|2003|page=79}} A {{lang|la|[[praefectus vigilum]]}}, "prefect of the watch", was put in charge of the [[vigiles]], Rome's fire brigade and police.{{Sfn|Bunson|1994|page=345}} With Rome's civil wars at an end, Augustus was also able to create a [[standing army]] for the Roman Empire, fixed at a size of 28 legions of about 170,000 soldiers.{{Sfn|Eck|Takács|2003|pages=85–87}} This was supported by numerous [[auxilia]]ry units of 500 non-citizen soldiers each, often recruited from recently conquered areas.{{Sfn|Eck|Takács|2003|page=86}}

With his finances securing the maintenance of roads throughout Italy, Augustus installed an official [[courier]] system of relay stations overseen by a military officer known as the {{lang|la|praefectus vehiculorum}}.{{Sfn|Eck|Takács|2003|page=81}} Besides the advent of swifter communication among Italian polities, his extensive building of roads throughout Italy also allowed Rome's armies to march swiftly and at an unprecedented pace across the country.{{Sfn|Chisholm|Ferguson|1981|page=122}} In the year 6 Augustus established the {{lang|la|[[aerarium militare]]}}, donating 170&nbsp;million sesterces to the new military treasury that provided for both active and retired soldiers.{{Sfn|Bunson|1994|page=6}}

One of the most enduring institutions of Augustus was the establishment of the [[Praetorian Guard]] in 27&nbsp;BC, originally a personal bodyguard unit on the battlefield that evolved into an imperial guard as well as an important political force in Rome.{{Sfn|Bunson|1994|page=341}} They had the power to intimidate the Senate, install new emperors, and depose ones they disliked; the last emperor they served was [[Maxentius]], as it was [[Constantine I]] who disbanded them in the early 4th century and destroyed their barracks, the [[Castra Praetoria]].{{Sfn|Bunson|1994|page=341, 342}}

[[File:Augustus-in-Kalabsha.jpg|thumb|upright=0.8|left|Augustus as [[Roman pharaoh]] in an Egyptian-style depiction, a stone carving of the [[New Kalabsha|Kalabsha Temple]] in [[Nubia]]]]
Although the most powerful individual in the Roman Empire, Augustus wished to embody the spirit of Republican virtue and norms. He also wanted to relate to and connect with the concerns of the plebs and lay people. He achieved this through various means of generosity and a cutting back of lavish excess. In the year 29&nbsp;BC, Augustus gave 400 sesterces (equal to one-tenth of a Roman pound of gold) each to 250,000 citizens, 1,000 sesterces each to 120,000 veterans in the colonies, and spent 700&nbsp;million sesterces in purchasing land for his soldiers to settle upon.{{Sfn|Eder|2005|page=23}} He also restored 82 different temples to display his care for the [[Roman mythology|Roman pantheon]] of deities.{{Sfn|Eder|2005|page=23}} In 28&nbsp;BC, he melted down 80 silver statues erected in his likeness and in honour of him, an attempt of his to appear frugal and modest.{{Sfn|Eder|2005|page=23}}

The longevity of Augustus's reign and its legacy to the Roman world should not be overlooked as a key factor in its success. As Tacitus wrote, the younger generations alive in AD&nbsp;14 had never known any form of government other than the principate.{{sfn|Tacitus|loc=[[s:The Annals (Tacitus)/Book 1#3|I.3]]}} Had Augustus died earlier, matters might have turned out differently. The attrition of the civil wars on the old Republican oligarchy and the longevity of Augustus, therefore, must be seen as major contributing factors in the transformation of the Roman state into a ''de facto'' monarchy in these years. Augustus's own experience, his patience, his tact, and his political acumen also played their parts. He directed the future of the empire down many lasting paths, from the existence of a standing professional army stationed at or near the frontiers, to the dynastic principle so often employed in the imperial succession, to the embellishment of the capital at the emperor's expense. Augustus's ultimate legacy was the peace and prosperity the Empire enjoyed for the next two centuries under the system he initiated. His memory was enshrined in the political ethos of the Imperial age as a paradigm of the good emperor. Every emperor of Rome adopted his name, Caesar Augustus, which gradually lost its character as a name and eventually became a title.{{Sfn|Eck|Takács|2003|page=124}} The [[Augustan poetry|Augustan era poets]] Virgil and Horace praised Augustus as a defender of Rome, an upholder of moral justice, and an individual who bore the brunt of responsibility in maintaining the empire.{{Sfn|Kelsall|1976|page=120}}

However, for his rule of Rome and establishing the principate, Augustus has also been subjected to criticism throughout the ages. The contemporary Roman jurist [[Marcus Antistius Labeo]], fond of the days of pre-Augustan republican liberty in which he had been born, openly criticised the Augustan regime. In the beginning of his ''[[Annals (Tacitus)|Annals]]'', Tacitus wrote that Augustus had cunningly subverted Republican Rome into a position of slavery. He continued to say that, with Augustus's death and swearing of loyalty to Tiberius, the people of Rome traded one slaveholder for another.{{Sfn|Starr|1952|page=5}} In a 2006 biography on Augustus, [[Anthony Everitt]] asserts that through the centuries, judgments on Augustus's reign have oscillated between these two extremes.

Tacitus was of the belief that [[Nerva]] (r.&nbsp;96–98) successfully "mingled two formerly alien ideas, principate and liberty".{{Sfn|Starr|1952|page=6}} The 3rd-century historian [[Cassius Dio]] acknowledged Augustus as a benign, moderate ruler, yet like most other historians after the death of Augustus, Dio viewed Augustus as an [[autocrat]].{{Sfn|Starr|1952|page=5}} The poet [[Marcus Annaeus Lucanus]] (AD&nbsp;39–65) was of the opinion that Caesar's victory over Pompey and the fall of [[Cato the Younger]] (95–46&nbsp;BC) marked the end of traditional liberty in Rome; historian [[Chester Starr]] writes of his avoidance of criticizing Augustus, "perhaps Augustus was too sacred a figure to accuse directly."{{Sfn|Starr|1952|page=6}}

The [[Anglo-Irish]] writer [[Jonathan Swift]] (1667–1745), in his ''Discourse on the Contests and Dissentions in Athens and Rome'', criticised Augustus for installing tyranny over Rome, and likened what he believed Great Britain's virtuous [[constitutional monarchy]] to Rome's moral Republic of the 2nd century&nbsp;BC. In his criticism of Augustus, the admiral and historian [[Thomas Gordon (Royal Scots Navy officer)|Thomas Gordon]] (1658–1741) compared Augustus to the puritanical tyrant [[Oliver Cromwell]] (1599–1658).{{Sfn|Kelsall|1976|page=118}} Thomas Gordon and the French political philosopher [[Montesquieu]] (1689–1755) both remarked that Augustus was a coward in battle.{{Sfn|Kelsall|1976|page=119}} In his ''Memoirs of the Court of Augustus'', the Scottish scholar [[Thomas Blackwell (scholar)|Thomas Blackwell]] (1701–1757) deemed Augustus a [[Machiavellianism (politics)|Machiavellian]] ruler, "a bloodthirsty vindicative usurper", "wicked and worthless", "a mean spirit", and a "tyrant".{{Sfn|Kelsall|1976|page=119}}