The story of the greatest nations, from the dawn of history to the twentieth century - a comprehensive history, founded upon the leading authorities, including a complete chronology of the world, and (14591683277)

Identifier: greatestnations03elli (find matches)
Title: The story of the greatest nations, from the dawn of history to the twentieth century : a comprehensive history, founded upon the leading authorities, including a complete chronology of the world, and a pronouncing vocabulary of each nation
Year: 1900 (1900s)
Authors: Ellis, Edward Sylvester, 1840-1916 Horne, Charles F. (Charles Francis), 1870-1942
Subjects: World history
Publisher: New York : F.R. Niglutsch
Contributing Library: University of California Libraries
Digitizing Sponsor: Internet Archive



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of securing tohim the support of the army, which was the real strength of the country. Heacknowledged the Senate as the representative of the public will, but causedhimself to be vested with the powers of the censorship, which, you will remem-ber, gave him authority to revise the list of senators. This right he exercisedwith discretion and wisdom. It will be recalled that Julius Caesar degraded thebody by adding to it many men of low degree, including obnoxious foreigners.Octavius restored the old number of six hundred, and kept strictly to the re-quirement of property qualification. He placed himself at the head as Przn-ccps, which, while it implied no substantial power, was looked upon as thehighest honorary office. This civic dignity was always held for life. While he was thus gathering these powers to himself, he prudently waivedall formal recognition of his sovereign status. He refrained from reviving thedictatorship, and permitted no one to hail him with the title of King. Still
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C-ALiGULA TITU^ RULERS OF THE EARLY EMPIRE Rome—Octavius Establishes the Empire 405 he craved a title, and consulted with his trusted friends. Some suggested thename of Ouirinus or Romulus, but the one was a god and the other had perhapsbeen slain as a tyrant. Finally the name Augustus was proposed, and itseemed to fit the requirements exactly. It had not been borne by a pre-vious ruler, but as an adjective it possessed a noble meaning. The rites of thetemples and their gods were august, and the word itself came from augu-ries by which the divine will was revealed. And so the name of Octavius wasdropped, and the lord of Rome stood forth as Augustus Caesar. This man was thirty-six years old when he became master of the Romanworld, though there was no open establishment of a monarchical government.He aimed to maintain, so far as possi^ble, the old law, to defend his countryfrom foreign aggressions, and to make it as truly great as was within the com-pass of human endeavor. The