There are two sports teams. Each of them is run by a team leader, but
each team used a different method to pick their team leader. Team
number one decided that the top few players would hold a vote. The
player who got the most votes became their team leader and now makes all
of the important decisions for the entire team. The other team didn't
hold a vote. Instead, they stood by and watched while all of the
players fought until one of them won, and then the team allowed him to
lead. Which team do you think will have a better leader? Which team
would you rather be on?
Team number one trusted that
together the top few players would make the best choice for the team.
The idea was that because all of the players know each other, they
could choose the best candidate for their team leader by voting. A
republic is a state where the power is held by its people, who vote on
important things, such as who will be their leader. From the years 508
to 26 B.C., Rome was a republic, just like team number one. Rome did
not stay a republic though.
The other team worked a
little differently. Well . . . a LOT differently. On team two, all of
the players did whatever they could to get to the top. That, after all,
is where all the power is. An
empire is a state where only one person
at the top holds the power, making all of the important decisions for
everyone. Team number two's way of picking who should get the most
power often leads to fighting. One player has to show the others that
they are the strongest and that they would be the best leader. In Rome,
winning wars was a great way to show that you were good at leading
people. In an empire, there is no one to stop the person on top from
making choices that affect the lives of millions of people. You might
believe that choosing a leader based on how much they fight is a bad
idea, but it didn't always have a bad ending.
At the
end of the Roman Republic, around 27 B.C., one man came to power over
all the others. His name was Augustus Caesar. Instead of people voting
for him to be leader, he rose to the top for other reasons. First, he
was the adopted son of the last leader of Rome. This leader, named
Caesar, was so loved that Romans saw him as one of the gods. Second,
when he got older, Augustus became friends with two other powerful
people. Third, as soon as he was well known among the people, he
brought the empire together under his rule by defeating the other people
who wanted to rule Rome.
Augustus Caesar was the first Roman emperor
to make large changes that led to a long peace for Rome. Like the
leader in team number two, he did whatever he could to get to the top. And the result . . . wasn't too bad, actually.
Believe
it or not, it worked out really, really well. Augustus used his place
as emperor to make some big changes in Rome. He built roads and
bridges, grew the army, and most importantly, made peace.
Pax Romana
was a two hundred year period of peace for the Roman Empire that was
started by Augustus. This was not easy, because at this time, Rome was
larger than it had ever been! So what about the answer to our first
question? Which team has a better way of finding a team leader? The
answer? It depends on the leader they get.
The
Romans were really lucky. The people who fight their way to leadership
positions so they can have control over what everyone does are not
always good people. Augustus Caesar was a great leader though. His
changes to Rome brought on two hundred years of peace. Maybe that's why
the last words Augustus spoke were "I found Rome a city of bricks and
left it a city of marble." No one argued with him then. Few do now.
References:Ducksters. "Biography of Augustus" Ducksters, 2014. <
http://www.ducksters.com/history/ancient_rome/augustus.php>
History Lectures. "Augustus Caesar and the Pax Romana"
historyguide.org, 2011. <
http://www.historyguide.org/ancient/lecture12b.html>
History.com. "Augustus" history.com, 2010. <
http://www.history.com/topics/ancient-history/emperor-augustus>