AUGUSTUS Works on Roman History, etc. ROMAN LIFE UNDER THE CÆSARS. By ÉMILE THOMAS. With Numerous Illustrations. Small demy 8vo, cloth, 7s. 6d. ROME AND POMPEII. By GASTON BOISSIER. Translated by D. HAVELOCK FISHER. With Maps and Plans. Large crown 8vo, cloth, 7s. 6d. THE COUNTRY OF HORACE AND VIRGIL. By GASTON BOISSIER. Translated by D. HAVELOCK FISHER. Large crown 8vo, cloth, 7s. 6d. ROME: FROM THE EARLIEST TIMES TO THE END OF THE REPUBLIC. By ARTHUR GILMAN, M.A. 3rd Edition. With a Map and Numerous Illustrations. Large crown 8vo, cloth, 5s. (“The Story of the Nations.”) LONDON: T. FISHER UNWIN. [Illustration: AUGUSTUS With _Corona Civica_ Photographed from the Bust in the Vatican Museum Edⁿᵉ Alinari] AUGUSTUS THE LIFE AND TIMES OF THE FOUNDER OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE (B.C. 63-A.D. 14) BY E. S. SHUCKBURGH, LITT.D. LATE FELLOW OF EMMANUEL COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE ILLUSTRATED [Illustration] LONDON: T. FISHER UNWIN PATERNOSTER SQUARE · 1903 (_All rights reserved._) Preface Augustus has been much less attractive to biographers than Iulius; perhaps because the soldier is more interesting than the statesman; perhaps because the note of genius conspicuous in the Uncle was wanting in the Nephew. Yet Augustus was the most successful ruler known to us. He found his world, as it seemed, on the verge of complete collapse. He evoked order out of chaos; got rid one after the other of every element of opposition; established what was practically a new form of government without too violent a breach with the past; breathed fresh meaning into old names and institutions, and could stand forth as a reformer rather than an innovator, while even those who lost most by the change were soothed into submission without glaring loss of self-respect. He worked ceaselessly to maintain the order thus established, and nearly every part of his great empire had reason to be grateful for increased security, expanding prosperity, and added amenity of life. Nor can it be said that he reaped the credit due in truth to ministers. He had excellent ministers and agents, with abilities in this or that direction superior to his own; but none who could take his place as a whole. He was the centre from which their activities radiated: he was the inspirer, the careful organiser, the unwearied manipulator of details, to whom all looked, and seldom in vain, for support and guidance. We may add this to a dignity never forgotten, enhanced by a physical beauty and grace which helped to secure reverence for his person and office, and established a sentiment which the unworthiness of some of his successors could not