It has been my object to illustrate the policy of Augustus by constant reference to the Court view as represented by the poets. But in his later years Ovid is a poor substitute for Horace in this point of view. The Emperor’s own catalogue of his achievements, preserved on the walls of the temple at Ancyra, is the best possible summary; but a summary it is after all, and requires to be made to live by careful study and comparison.
The constitutional history of the reign is that which has generally engaged most attention. I have striven to state the facts clearly. Of their exact significance opinions will differ. I have given my own for what it is worth, and can only say that it has been formed independently by study of our authorities.
I have not tried to represent my hero as faultless or to make black white. Nothing can clear Augustus of the charge of cruelty up to B.C. 31. But in judging him regard must be had to his age and circumstances. We must not, at any rate, allow our judgment of his later statesmanship to be controlled by the memory of his conduct in a time of civil war and confusion. He succeeded in re-constituting a society shaken to its centre. We must acknowledge that and accept the bad with the good, But it is false criticism to deny or blink the one from admiration of the other.
I have to thank the authorities of the British Museum for casts of coins reproduced in this book: also the Syndics of the Pitt Press, Cambridge, for the loan of certain other casts.
