CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
Emperors: Caring for the
Empire and Their Successors
Peter Herz
The Mental Situation
Like most people in antiquity the Romans of the last centuriesbcloved stability and
security in all parts of their life. It made no special difference if this applied to their
private life or to the state in which they lived. Res novaeor new things were equival-
ent to unwanted and dangerous changes or even the enforced ruin of the existing
order. On the other hand the glorified past of their own state and their own society
was looked upon as ideal.
The Romans knew very well that those common and desirable goals “stability”
and “well-being” could not be achieved or secured by their own abilities. Achieving
and securing those things were the direct result of the social and political behavior
of the whole Roman state, where everything was done according to the will of the
gods of the Roman state.
The aim of all these efforts was the creation of a harmonious situation that one
could describe as consensus between human beings and gods (consensus deorum
hominum). The Romans themselves were proud that they were the people that paid
most attention, when it came to the point, to fulfilling all obligations to the Roman
gods. This was a special kind of behavior that the Romans themselves called religio.
Therefore Cicero was very proud when he declared the Romans the most religious
people that existed on earth (populus religiosissimus). The visible result was that the
Romans had become the masters of the whole world with the gods on their side.
This fundamental attitude was additionally emphasized because there existed no
difference between secular and religious authority in Rome. On the contrary, each
political or military competence was firmly connected with religious demands and
religious authority. The symbiosis of these two parts is still reflected in the expres-
sion “right to order with the right to consult the gods” (imperium cum auspiciis),