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of his government. He managed this partly through giving them honours and

gifts. But did he also use threats and fear?

2. It is unclear is how much resistance there was to Augustus’ rise to power. Early
on his armies were so badly defeated by German tribes that he temporarily
halted his wars of expansion. When he attended one senate meeting to discuss
changes to their membership he wore body armour under his toga (Julius
Caesar had been murdered in the senate). But beyond these hints there is
insufficient evidence to know for certain how strong opposition to him was.

We can only guess.

3. Curiously, Augustus’ “template of empire” never defined what an emperor
actually was. This was partly because he used the old political language of the
Republic to disguise his power-grab. Augustus always referred to himself as
“first among equals”. This was clearly a fiction. But what was he? Roman
emperors didn’t have coronations. Augustus referred to himself as the son of a

god, which was true insofar as Julius Caesar, his adoptive father, was made a
god after his murder. Augustus was made a god when he died. The cynical
emperor Vespasian said, during his final illness, “Oh dear, I think I’m becoming
a god.” But the earthly powers of the emperors remained undefined.

4. It was not clear how future emperors should be chosen. Augustine had made
himself emperor by force, by winning the civil war. He had no surviving son. His
wife Livia made sure her son Tiberius (Augustus’ step-son) succeeded. But it

was never assumed that sons should succeed. It helped to be a family member
but even that was not essential. Later emperors were chosen in all these
various ways:

• The emperor’s son succeeded

• Another member of the emperor’s family succeeded
• The “obvious” i.e. ablest successor simply took over
• The obvious successor was adopted by the old emperor, then took over
• The praetorian guard, the emperor’s military body-guard, chose a successor
and staged a take-over
• Soldiers stationed in the provinces rallied behind a popular general, marched

to Rome and staged a takeover.

Augustine’s “template of empire” never resolved the problem of succession.