CHAPTER XI THE ROMAN EMPIRE TO THE TRIUMPH OF CHRISTIANITY Section 45. The Reign of Augustus The death of Alexander the Great interrupted in mid-career Far-reaching the conquest of a world empire stretching from the frontiers of of^cSar'"^^^ India to the Atlantic Ocean. The bloody deed of the Ides of ^f^^^ j, J^^J^^ March, 44 b.c, stopped a similar conquest by Julius Caesar — Octavian a conquest which would have subjected Orient and Occident to the rule of a single sovereign. A like opportunity never rose again, and Caesar's successor had no such aims. Over in lUyria the terrible news from Rome found the murdered statesman's grand-nephew Octavian (Fig. iii), a youth of eighteen, quietly pursuing his studies. His mother's letter brought by a secret messenger bade him flee far away eastward without delay, in order to escape all danger at the hands of his uncle's murderers. The youth's reply was to proceed without a moment's hesitation to Rome. This statesmanlike decision of character reveals the quality of the young man both as he then showed it and for years to follow. On his arrival in Rome Octavian learned that he had been Early career legally adopted by Caesar and also made his sole heir. His bold claim to his legal rights was met with refusal by Mark Antony, who had taken possession of Caesar's fortune and gained elec- tion to the consulship. By such men Octavian was treated with patronizing indulgence at first — a fact to which he owed his life. He was too young to be regarded as dangerous. But his young shoulders carried a very old head. He slowly gathered the threads of the tangled situation in his clever fingers, not forgetting the lessons of his adoptive father's career. The most 271
