The Family of Caesar Augustus (3rd from Left)

Early in his multi-volume History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, Edward Gibbon summarizes the contribution of Caesar Augustus:

The principal conquests of the Romans were achieved under the republic; and the emperors, for the most part, were satisfied with preserving those dominions which had been acquired by the policy of the senate, the active emulations of the consuls, and the martial enthusiasm of the people. The seven first centuries were filled with a rapid succession of triumphs; but it was reserved for Augustus to relinquish the ambitious design of subduing the whole earth, and to introduce a spirit of moderation into the public councils. Inclined to peace by his temper and situation, it was easy for him to discover that Rome, in her present exalted situation, had much less to hope than to fear from the chance of arms; and that, in the prosecution of remote wars, the undertaking became every day more difficult, the event more doubtful, and the possession more precarious, and less beneficial. The experience of Augustus added weight to these salutary reflections, and effectually convinced him that, by the prudent vigor of his counsels, it would be easy to secure every concession which the safety or the dignity of Rome might require from the most formidable barbarians. Instead of exposing his person and his legions to the arrows of the Parthians, he obtained, by an honorable treaty, the restitution of the standards and prisoners which had been taken in the defeat of Crassus.

In present-day Rome, there exists a fitting symbol of Augustus’s peaceable intentions. I am referring to the Ara Pacis, or Altar of Peace, which presents Augustus and his family in a religious procession. Here are no swords or helmets or military cloaks. According to Adrian Goldsworthy in his biography of Augustus, the image symbolizes “the harmony of the family and the assurance … offered for the future.”