Page:General History of Europe 1921.djvu/217

CHAPTER XIII THE ROMAN EMPIRE: TWO CENTURIES OF PEACE FROM AUGUSTUS TO MARCUS AURELIUS I. THE AGE OF AUGUSTUS (30 B.C.-A.D. 14) 243. Origin of the Roman Empire. When Octavian returned to Italy there was a general impression that peace had at last come after a hundred years of revolution, civil war, and devasta- tion. The great majority of Romans now felt that an individual ruler was necessary for the control of the vast Roman dominions. There was, therefore, no further opposition to Octavian, and he devoted the remaining forty-four years of his life to giving the Roman Empire the efficient organization and good government which it had so long lacked. The Senate conferred upon him the title of Augustus, that is, " the august " ; but his chief official title was Princeps, that is, "the first," meaning the first of the citizens. Another title given the head of the Roman Empire was an old word for com- mander or general ; namely, Imperator, from which our word "emperor" is derived. Augustus, as we may now call Octavian, regarded his position as that of an official of the Roman Republic, elected by the Senate and the people. The Roman Empire, which here emerges, was thus under a double government of the Senate and of the Princeps, whom we commonly call the emperor. The emperor was, however, the real ruler, because as general he had the legions at his command. So the Roman Republic tended to become a military monarchy, as we shall see. 244. The Army and the Frontiers. Augustus seems to have thought that the Roman Empire was quite large enough, and he '53