The settlement toward which Augustus had been feeling
his way ever since the battle of Actium may be regarded as
complete in 22 b.c. In that year a sort of partnership,
sometimes called a dyarchy, had been arranged between the
republic (officially restored in 27) and the princeps, as
Augustus now began to be styled. In theory there was no
suggestion of a monarchy or of a monarch; the emperor ¹
was simply a general of the republic to whom certain ex-
ceptional powers had been intrusted for a term of years.
Although no formal change was ever made in this legal
theory, yet before his death Augustus had come to be an
emperor in the modern sense and the absolute ruler of the
entire Roman world. The purpose of the present chapter
is to call attention to some hitherto neglected causes for
this striking transformation.

Although in point of law a general of the republic, the
powers conferred upon the princeps were so sweeping as to
make him a partner of the senate rather than a subordinate
officer in the government. To his sole control had been
committed a number of provinces, and over these he ruled
supreme by virtue of a formal law of the Roman people.
These provinces embraced the greater part of Spain and all
of Gaul in the West, while in the East they included Syria,
Cilicia, Phoenicia, Cyprus, and Egypt. Great as were the
powers thus given, the charge of these regions involved yet
other responsibilities. The provinces of the princeps had
been so selected that they carried with them the control of
the army and of the foreign policy of the empire. The great
majority of the Roman legions were stationed in his
provinces and by his proconsular imperium Augustus had
sole command of them. It is true that the governors of the

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