Augustus
First Roman Emperor, founder of the Principate (63 BCE – 14 CE)
Also known as: Augustus Caesar, Octavian, Octavius
Augustus (63 BCE – 14 CE), first Roman Emperor and founder of the Principate, is Quigley's archetypal figure of Universal Empire — the moment a civilization's Age of Conflict resolves into a single ruler-administered consolidated state. He appears throughout Weapons Systems and Political Stability and The Evolution of Civilizations as the textbook case of Stage 5 in Quigley's seven-stages model.
The principate as Universal Empire
Quigley dates the moment of consolidation precisely: "the so-called 'principate' of Augustus Caesar (27 B.C.–A.D. 14)" was the establishment of "naked military force" behind a constitutional facade (WS 372). The principate "worked for about 45 years because of the political skills of Augustus and because Roman citizens of all classes were worn out by more than a generation of civil war, violence, and bloodshed" (WS 441) — the same logic Quigley uses to read modern post-civil-war consolidations (compare Francisco Franco). "In the case of Augustus the situation was made easier by his willingness to allow the forms, dignities, magistrates, and assemblies, including the cursus honorum, to continue" (WS 442). The military victory at Actium in 31 BCE "over Mark Antony and Cleopatra" closed the civil wars (WS 324).
Civilizational stage
In Evolution of Civilizations the consolidation under Augustus marks the transition into Classical Civilization's Universal Empire stage. "With the triumph of Augustus Caesar in 31 B.C." the imperialist wars continued as external Roman conquests "and led to the conquest of Gaul, of Egypt, and of Britain. By A.D. 96 the Universal Empire of Classical civilization had reached its golden age, a subperiod that continued for about" the next century (EoC 312). The Augustan moment is, in Quigley's scheme, the moment when the old aristocratic-competitive politics of the Republic — described elsewhere as the cursus honorum and clientage system Cicero exemplified — is finally subordinated to a single executive (WS 408). The principate model recurs across the corpus as the canonical type of Stage 5 consolidation in any civilization.
Cited in
- weapons-systems-political-stability · p. 69 Quigley
Instead of her unwieldy galleys, Cleopatra might have defeated Augustus at Actium!
- weapons-systems-political-stability · p. 324 Quigley
From the Punic Wars to the final victory of Augustus over Mark Antony and Cleopatra at Actium in 31 B.C.
- weapons-systems-political-stability · p. 372 Quigley
Naked military force under the so-called 'principate' of Augustus Caesar (27 B.C.–A.D. 14). The facade was ripped off completely, fifty-five years after the death of Augustus.
- weapons-systems-political-stability · p. 441 Quigley
The principate worked for about 45 years because of the political skills of Augustus and because Roman citizens of all classes were worn out by more than a generation of civil war, violence, and bloodshed.
- weapons-systems-political-stability · p. 442 Quigley
In the case of Augustus the situation was made easier by his willingness to allow the forms, dignities, magistrates, and assemblies, including the cursus honorum, to continue.
- evolution-of-civilizations · p. 312 Quigley
With the triumph of Augustus Caesar in 31 B.C. The imperialist wars continued as Roman attacks on outside peoples, and led to the conquest of Gaul, of Egypt, and of Britain. By A.D. 96 the Universal Empire of Classical civilization had reached its golden age.