The defeat on Antony and Cleopatra left sole authority in the hands of Octavian, and as it turned out, this event marked the end of the republic. Though Octavian insisted on
Claiming that he had restored republican rule—that he was the leading citizen among many, not a supreme leader—historians identify him as the first Roman emperor.
This became clear in 27 b. c., when the senate conferred on Octavian a number of formal titles, each of which had a very real meaning. They named him Imperator, which meant commander-in-chief of the armed forces but also meant “emperor.” They gave him the title Caesar, thus turning the family name of the former dictator into a title, just as the ptolemies of Egypt had done. Finally, they bestowed on him a new personal name: Augustus, meaning “exalted” or “sacred.”
In accordance with his new name, Augustus and the emperors who followed him would come to be treated as gods. Yet he was shrewd enough to assume absolute power very slowly, so that no one became alarmed. He maintained the trappings of the republic, including the fiction that he ruled only with the approval of the senate.
Augustus did not really have to fool the Romans, who were willing to give up a few freedoms in exchange for political stability. He proved a wise and fair ruler. He reformed the military, reducing its size and bringing it back under civilian control, and expanded the empire greatly. In a. d. 9, however, his troops suffered a devastating defeat at the hands of the Germans. From then on, Rome's northern border would be fixed by the Rhine River. After that point, the empire would continue to grow, but more slowly.
World History
