. Six thousand years of history. ted withthem all, or who dictated the election to them all, wasthe Imperator, the head of the State. His power wassecured by the military establishment, of which he wasthe permanent head; to him every soldier swore personalfidelity; by him every officer was directly appointed. Thelegionaries and the aristocracy were thus alike devotedto his will by the restraints of discipline, the allurementsof honor, and the ideas of military devotion. The im-perial system was, in fact, a military despotism underRepublican forms, the names of the ancient free Statebeing retai
. Six thousand years of history. ted withthem all, or who dictated the election to them all, wasthe Imperator, the head of the State. His power wassecured by the military establishment, of which he wasthe permanent head; to him every soldier swore personalfidelity; by him every officer was directly appointed. Thelegionaries and the aristocracy were thus alike devotedto his will by the restraints of discipline, the allurementsof honor, and the ideas of military devotion. The im-perial system was, in fact, a military despotism underRepublican forms, the names of the ancient free Statebeing retained as a veil to cover the fact of autocraticrule. The provinces were divided, as to their administra-tion, between the Senate and the Emperor, in such that those in which regular armies were stationedbelonged to Augustus, while the rest were assigned tothe Senate and the people. The Governors of the Sena-torial provinces held their office, according to the ancientcustom, only for one year, while the Lieutenant-Gov- 254. HISTORY OF ROME 255 ernors appointed by the Emperor kept their posts forvarious terms. The dignity of the Senate was outwardlymaintained by a deference to its decision on the mostimportant question of peace and war; in civil and crim-inal matters it was the highest judicial court; in legisla-tion it was held to be supreme as representing theRoman people. The debates were conducted with muchshow of freedom, and the Emperor sat and voted as aSenator among his equals, or, at the most, as a leader inthe Assembly. No outward show, as of sovereignty,was assumed by the real ruler of the State; and in thisway all popular jealousy as to kingship, which was sohateful an idea to Romans, was avoided. The boundaries of the Roman Empire in the time ofAugustus were as follows: On the north the EnglishChannel, the Rhine, the Danube (Ister), and the BlackSea; on the east the Euphrates and the Syrian Desert;on the south the great African Desert (the Sahara), andon the w
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