This was an Augustus forever powerful, forever young. His deft, some might say devious, mix of patronage and military power, which he concealed behind the familiar offices and titles of the old Republic, has served as a model and a master-class for ambitious rulers ever since. He built new roads and developed a highly effective courier system, so that the empire could be effectively ruled from the centre and so that he could be visible to his subjects everywhere. He reinvigorated the formidable Roman army to defend and extend the Imperial borders, and he established a long-lasting peace during his 40 years of steady rule, initiating a golden period of stability and prosperity famously known as the 'Pax Romana'. He'd brutally fought and negotiated his way to the top, but now he was there, he wanted to reassure people that he would not be a tyrant. So he set to work to make people believe in him, and more astonishingly want to follow him, brilliantly turning subjects into supporters. We asked Boris Johnson, a classicist and a political leader, how he rated Augustus:
這就是力量與青春永駐的奧古斯都。他仍保留了羅馬共和國的表面形式，執政手段靈活狡黠，恩威并施，成為后世野心勃勃的統治者們的榜樣。他鋪設新的道路，建立了更高效的郵遞系統，使帝國的中央控制更為有力，他的形象也變得隨處可見。他整治并加強原本就戰無不勝的軍力，保衛疆土，擴大版圖。在他統治的40年中，政治穩定，國內戰火平息，羅馬進入了長期穩定并繁榮發展的黃金時期，史稱羅馬和平時期。在通往權利頂峰的途中，奧古斯都曾經經歷過殘暴的斗爭，但在成為君主之后，他并不希望百姓將自己看作暴君。他用了種種措施來獲取百姓的信任，最終成為他們所愛戴的君主。我曾問過古典文化學者兼政治領袖鮑里斯約翰遜對于奧古斯都的看法:
"He became a vital part of the glue that held the whole Roman Empire together. You could be out there in Spain or Gaul or Cyrenaica-you could be all over the world-and you could go to a temple and you would find women, with images of Augustus, of this man, in this bust sewn onto their cowls. People at dinner parties in Rome would have busts exactly like this above their mantelpieces-that was how he was able to infuse the entire Roman Empire with that sense of loyalty and adherence to Rome. If you wanted to become a local politician, in the Roman Empire, you became a priest in the cult of Augustus."
他是羅馬帝國團結一致的關鍵。在西班牙和高盧，無論走進哪座神廟，都能看到隨身佩戴奧古斯都頭像，或將他的半身像縫在自己衣服上的女性。羅馬人舉行晚宴時，旁邊的壁爐架上擺放著他的半身像，就像這座一樣。他能讓整個帝國完全效忠于他的政府。事實上，成為羅馬帝國的官員，便意味著你成為奧古斯都教的一名神父。
來源:可可英語 http://www.ccdyzl.cn/Article/201412/346612.shtml
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