Augustus

Augustus, the heir to Julius Caesar, was the guiding light in the transformation of the Roman Republic into the Roman Empire. In this biography, Pat Southern traces the life and works of the emperor chronologically, presenting idealogy and events as they occurred from Augustus' point of view, including his transition from heir and successor of Julius Caesar to head of the new Principate and his development of the Roman Empire. Augustus did not have a master plan of politics and legislation, but instead, he had to wait and occasionally change course before he settled on a version of government that the Senate and people found acceptable. While there have been many books covering the political, social, and aesthetic culture of the Augustan Age, this is the first book to present the life of Augustus, the man.