There is no better means of giving an idea of the mission of the Roman Empire in the world than to summarise the life and work of this famous personage.  Augustus has been in our century somewhat the victim of Napoleon I. The extraordinary course of events at the beginning of the nineteenth century made so vivid an impression on succeeding generations, that for the whole of the century people have been able to admire only the great agitators, men whose lives are filled with storm and clamorous action.  Compared with that of Napoleon or of Caesar, the figure of Augustus is simple and colourless.  The Roman peace, in the midst of which he died, was his work only very indirectly.  Augustus had wearied his whole life in reorganising the finances and the army, in crushing the revolts of the European provinces, in defending the boundaries of the Rhine and the Danube, in making effective in Rome, as far as he could, the old aristocratic constitution.  All intent on this service, a serious and difficult one, he never dreamed of regenerating the Empire by a powerful administration.  Even if he had wished it, he would not have had the means—­men and money.

For the past century, the vastness and power of the administration that governed the Empire has been greatly admired.  Without discussing many things possible on this point, it must be observed that this judgment does not apply to the times of Augustus and Tiberius, because then this administration did not exist.  During the first fifty years of the Empire, the provinces were all governed, as under the Republic, by proconsuls or propraetors, each accompanied by a quaestor, a few subordinate officials, freedmen, friends, and slaves.  A few dozen of men governed the provinces, as vast as states.  Augustus added to this rudimentary administration but one organ, the procurator, chosen from freedmen or knights, charged with overseeing the collection of tribute and expenses; that is, caring for the interests, not of the provinces, but of Rome.  Consequently, the government was weak and inactive in all the provinces.

Whoever fancies the government of Rome modelled after the type of modern governments, invading, omnipotent, omnipresent, deceives himself.  There were sent into the provinces nobles belonging to rich and noted families, who had therefore no need to rob the subjects too much; and these men ruled, making use of the laws, customs, institutions, families of nobles, of each place, exactly as England now does in many parts of its Empire.  As in general these governors were not possessed of any great activity, they did not meddle much in the internal affairs of the subject peoples.  To preserve the unity of the Empire and the supremacy of Italy against all enemies, within and without; to exploit reasonably this supremacy; for the rest, to let every people live as best pleased it:  such was the policy of Augustus and of Tiberius, the policy of the first century A.D.  In short, this was but the idea of the old aristocratic party, adapted to the new times.