the Principate was to strive to make the best of the means left by the victorious Republic for the government of the world. The Republic had indeed laid a solid foundation for ordered rule, and although we are accustomed to think of the Roman Empire chiefly in connexion with the three peaceful centuries of the Principate, it should not be forgotten that the work of the latter was chiefly the introduction, not of original ideas, but of those slight but decisive modifications which are sufficient to change a clumsy into a workable machine. A more effective, although far from perfect, system of military defence, a greater division of authority amongst the organs of government, a more careful estimate of provincial burdens, a competent although perhaps over-rigid civil service,—these were the immediate gifts of the Principate to the world. The results were comfort and peace; but a comfort that was too often divested of even local patriotism, and a peace that was singularly devoid of intellectual ideals. A universal citizenship was also amongst the hidden treasures of the Empire, but it was a gift conferred in proportion to its valuelessness, and the Princeps whose edict was to make the world a city was a calculating spendthrift bent only on increasing the taxes of his subjects. But, since the golden mean of Empire had yet to be found, we cannot blame the Principate for doing too much that which the Republic did too little. Every reaction is violent, and in this instance at least over-*government was intended to be in the interest of the subject. The subject acclaimed it, at least in its initial stages,[1] although his descendant was to find it a burden in comparison with which the yoke of the Republican proconsul would have seemed a trifle.
Augustus with characteristic modesty and discretion reserved his strength for the most difficult of the provinces—those on the frontier which demanded military occupation and unusual vigilance in administration—and thus created the distinction between Caesar's provinces and those which were public (publicae) and were entrusted to the care of the Senate and people.[2] There were occasional interchanges of provinces between the co-rulers.(Dio Cass. liii. 12). These provinces are "propriae populi Romani" as opposed to those "propriae Caesaris" (Gaius ii. 21).]
