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Wed 7 May, 2008 09:25 pm
looking back to the history of Roman
Augustus Caesar was the most powerful man in his times, and he could force anyone in Roman to tell the lies.
do you think Augustus Caesar hidden the truth?
No.
(That was very close to comprehensible English. I suggest that you need to do a lot more study, though.)
The transformation of Rome from its traditional republican form into what has often been referred to as the "Golden Age of Rome", was largely the consequence of Augustus Caesar's life. Born into the family of Julius Caesar, Octavian was perhaps the wiliest politician ever born. The old republic was tottering, and a power struggle over who would dominate Rome brought Julius Caesar to the fore. Julius was an outstanding military leader and self-propagandist, but he was also known for his vaunting ambition.
Julius Caesar prevailed, but he miscalculated the resentment that conservative supporters of the old republic harbored for his ascension to almost total power. He was assassinated, and Octavian, his heir, entered into a lengthy struggle for control of Rome. When the dust settled, Rome was larger, wealthier and stronger than before... and Octavian was the head of state. Octavian, later Augustus, was more subtle than his Uncle. He refused high-blown titles, and insisted that he was just a Roman citizen. He gave back to the Senate their traditional role, but held the real power within his own hands. He chose who was to rule, "suggested" what legislation and policies should be followed, and let others take the heat for failures. Actually, there weren't many "failures".
The Roman people were worn out and tired of the chaos that enveloped Rome for a couple of generations. Augustus restored order and security. The wealth of conquered nations flowed into the treasury, and Augustus saw to it that those funds were spent wisely. He embarked upon numerous building and rebuilding projects, he put on free entertainment for the masses, and supplied free food and lodging for multitudes. Slave labor was abundant, and opportunities (within one's class constraints) were better than they had ever been. The People love Augustus, and turned a blind eye to the fact that he was a puppet master pulling most of the strings through a small army of servants.
During the Golden Age, Augustus was a patron of the arts and there was a flowering of literature, sculpture, music, etc. There was no direct censorship, but artists and authors knew what Augustus liked and disliked. Why choose to displease the Prince, when his hand rested so lightly on the throttle? As a result, most of the surviving materials from that period are fairly uncritical of Augustus. His successors, Tiberius and then the notorious Caligula, were monsters compared to Augustus and as a consequence long after the death of Augustus people were finding nice things to say about him and his administration of Rome.
I quite agree with you, Asherman.
Augustus was a good, kind and powerful emperor
but he could not be a perfect man
no human in this world is perfect.
Augustus was even close to being the "perfect" man, but he was an unusually astute politician whose quiet dictatorship contributed greatly to Rome's reputation.
yes,
and some anecdotes of Augustus always attract me a lot.
In one story, he pretended to be a bagger and then went into a slum along to see how people lived in Roman.
whether the story is true or not, that one really reflects that in the heart of people in Roman he was an ideal emperor.