Dictators, Yes or No?

The Romans were tired of dictators and their power. After Caesar's death, they elected his adopted son, "Augustus", the Roman power. I truly do not agree with the fact that he was not a dictator. He attempted, and succeeded to hypnotize his people into thinking he was fair. In this post, I will demonstrate some of the ways in which he hypnotized. Come on, lets begin.

The first and most important aspect, would be the public appearance and actions.Augustus especially payed attention to this fact. He was kind and perfect in the eyes of the people, but few did know the inside of him. In the textbook, the early empire part, it states that Augustus avoided to be called king. Instead, he wanted to be called the "first citizen". Although this is a fair name, it already arises many discussions. Why first, why not just "the citizen"? These are the factors that Augustus payed attention to. He was a real smart emperor, and he used his intelligence with great care. He knew, that once he had the peoples pride and honor, it would allow him to achieve many glories. After all, the first major factor was pleasing the people, then pleasing yourself.

The second reason in which I believe that Augustus was a dictator is because he had total power over the Roman Republic. He controlled the military troops and appointed the government officials. He had a real hand with power over the Romans. Augustus conducted the Roman world and everything went his way. As I mentioned earlier, the population was hypnotized and could not clear their minds with the thoughts of Augustus' actions.

Although Augustus achieved many improvements to make life easier, you can put the puzzle together and find out he wasn't really fair and did not think about his people. Firstly, the public actions, in my opinion, were all well developed tricks. Once the people were on his side, he knew he would dominate. Secondly, the power he had was also overwhelming. Augustus controlled the military and government, therefore he could run Rome with great ease. Once again, the people come in effect because they backed up all his actions. Finally, his basic feelings, actions and emotions were harsh and straight. Once he announced, "I found Rome built of sun-dried bricks. I leave her covered in marble". This is of course true, but it is easy to notice the selfishness in which he stated this. Once again, I truly believe that Augustus was another dictator.

In conclusion, Augustus was just another ordinary dictator, but with much more brains and trickery. Once he fooled the people, he knew he would dominate and every part of his plan worked. In the public, Augustus was a normal ruler, but inside, he wanted to take advantage of every single move.