[Multi-AAR] - History of men

Don't tell people how to do things, tell them what to do and let them surprise you with their results.
-George S. Patton

Princeps Augustus

Res gestae divi Augisti, written by Augustus

[10]
It was the year 725 ab urbe condita [28 BC] when it became obvious that the Roman State was safe and no one threatened to destroy the Senate and the people of Rome. Therefore it was my honest desire to give back my special powers given to me by the people of Rome. It was agreed in the Senate that in the following year [27 BC] I would give up this position.
After this had happened I was now one among many senators, but no one would doubt that I surpassed them all in my prestige. It came to me as a honour when the Senate asked me to continue my exceptional work for the Roman Republic. The Senators stepped up as a whole, started to applaud and announced that I would be granted the name ‘revered one’. […]

The Roman Empire, by Wolfgang Schreier, Bonn 2003

After Octavian Caesar had returned to Rome in 32 BC he would confirm his dominion on the basis of the Roman constitution. At first he celebrated a triple triumph: Over Illyria (that means Marc Anthony, but without naming him), over Egypt and over Cleopatra. The Senate swore to acknowledge all actions done by him and in 30 BC the temple of Janus was closed.
Now he was the sole ruler in the Roman state.
But that meant he stood before the same problem like Silanus, Nero and his adoptive father Caesar: How do you bring the personal power and prestige into an enduring and legal form?
Octavian was more cautiously then any other of his predecessors. His position as a triumvir was obsolete, and for the time being he was content as a consul, a position he held until 23 BC.

Something strange happened on the 13 January 27 BC. Augustus laid down his potestas, some sort of special power he had. He does not tell us what sort of potestas, probably because of the constitutional issue he had with it, but it is most likely that he still had the power of a triumvir given by the lex titia. He gave up this power in a great act of state, in which the state would be put up on a new basis.
What happened in January 27 BC? The ex-triumvir and holder of triumviral power laid down his position and integrated himself back into the political system. He was now a senator, one among many, but the one thing that divided him from the others was his extraordinary prestige, his actoritas.
The Senate then asked him to continue ruling the troubling provinces for a ‘limited’ time. These provinces where the Spanish and Gaulish provinces, as well as Kilikia, Syria and the somewhat special Egypt: For these provinces Octavian received the imperium proconsulare which was a normal republican position. He only received it for a limited time, but each time this position was prolonged: In 27 BC for 10 years, 18 BC for five, 8 BC and 2 AD for ten years and finally in 12 AD for five years.

Octavian had become the Princeps Civitas, the leader of the Roman State. His resignation in 27 BC only became a believable political move, because it had some sort of seriousness in it. Of course we don’t know what was real and what was staged. But the Roman society had become so weary of civil wars that it wanted peace.
Besides that Octavian was honoured by the Senate in numerous ways: his house was decorated with laurel, he received the corona civica (civil crown) and a golden shield where his virtues where noted: virtus (virtue), Clementia (mercy), iustitia (just) and pietas (devotion).
Octavian also received an honorary title and it is something he mentions above of all: The Senate awarded him the name Augustus, the revered one – and finally we can call him the way history got to know him: as the first Emperor of the Roman Empire.

[Multi-AAR] - History of men - EB part